#but i read the entire thing in a day when i hadnt finished a book in over half a year at that point

[supercantaloupe]

kurt vonnegut wasnt even in the realm of fucking around

[oh-for-fic-sake-library]

Thicker Then Water Final

Masterlist

Summary: being a vampire is not what youd expected. There are odd instincts and strange protocls you adhere to. But one thing remains an issue, diet. Sherlock decides enough is enough, if you cannot stomach the donations then you will live feed.

Warnings: vampire au, feeding, coercion, gore?, fluff, swearing and poorly written vampire lore😅

A/N: here is the final chapter! Woohoo! Im glad i got this finished for Halloween, that was my goal. So yay! Anyway i have enjoyed writing this and am happy with how it turned out. I hope you all enjoyed this little fic!

The last few weeks had been the strangest and most euphoric of your life being with sherlock and the boys was just? Something else. You were complete. There had been a mundane emptiness in your mortal life. Worry, money, health, bills, food everything was just so? Fucked up! You hadnt realised how inconvenient makeing food was or just how much your period impacted your entire life, not just that one painfull week. It was insane but you felt like you could live your life properly. The vampirism had freed you from a very constricted human life.

Thats not so say adjusting was a walk in the park though. You still did daily human things, watching and fretting over the news. Sometimes you forgot what you were and made a coffee only to curse and tip it in the sink going into a rage swearing the house down before curling into sherlock after having the man eye you sternly. You quickly aplogized and sulked about how yoh didnt meant to be so ratty. But it never lasted long, hushed words and gentle kisses always helped perk you up. And sex. Yeah sex helped alot, youd be a liar if you said you hadnt faked a few tantrums to get some tough lovin'

And sure the diet was still shit, the others still insisted that it would get better. They tried to use mikey as an example but the boy was only three weeks ahead of you and still joined you at the sink spitting out blood occasionally. Sometimes you just couldn't force it sdown and you seemed to set one another off. He'd mention it was salty, then you would notice it, then hed get up heaving spitting it into the sink and you'd be right on his heels doing the same.

And you did miss the sun. Not that you never saw it, saw it from inside. The uv protective glass letting you admire the huge star. But then you fell asleep after a few moments of sunrise, it was the type of sleep anesthesia gave you. A blanket suddenly smothering you and then nothing. You fought it, each night... day? You were like a child wanting to stay up later with everyone else. But you failed each day time passing out. Only to wake the next night curled up in sherlocks daybed with him drawing light patterns across your skin as he read what ever book had captured his interest.

But there were other unexpected changes to being a vampire. Random embarrassing vampire quirks, and they were pissing you off now. Your fangs dropping randomly, the sniffing and scenting, growling and purring even some ridiculous possessive. It was just so wierd, the others found it sweet as you began falling to instinctive behaviour.

You roughhoused with mikey and clark who were both young enough to give in to almost pack like playfulness. You'd hiss and pounce at them nipping one another as if learning your own strength and bite pressure. Youd been embarrassed at first as you squabbled and tussled with them like a child. But sherlock was quick to sooth you, explaining it was all part of the change. It was a natural process just like many other predators you were learning through play fighting.

The worst part of your new instincts revolved around sherlock himself though. You'd randomly get protective over him a rush of fierce anger and indignation would wash over you if the others got too close to him. Youd race over putting yourself between him and who ever was. Bareing tiny newborn fangs at them.

You felt so proud when youd made sy back away when he moved to fast around sherlock. Youd climb onto sherlocks lap almost too fast for you to even realise you had moved. Youd sat on sherlocks thighs crushing the new paper hed been reading not that he cared. His heart swelt as you gave into the protective pull. You glowered up at sy snarling savagely rising slightly as he blinked down at you smirking scoffing at you muttering how cute you were comparing you to a puffed up pomeranian small and feral

You slumped feeling a little pathetic, disappointed that you hadnt scared him. A wave of sadness washed over you. How were you going to defend your maker when you cant even scare a single lone vampire off! You flicked your gaze beack up. And grinned excited as Sy paled and backed off quickly retracing his steps and retreating. You spun to your mate proud as punch, beaming up at him

"Did'ja see that!? I made him run off! I did it, i did it!" Sherlock wrapped his arms around you tugging you close not willing to tell you it had been he who'd frightened sy off, bareing his own fangs at the boy releasing a growl you felt rather then heard. Eyes glowing and pupils lengthening to slits warning sy off.

"I did see, your becoming a fearsome little fledgling already. I will have to watch my back, soon you'll be challenging me for the top spot" he hummed laughing softly nuzzlung you sweetly soaking in your scent.

Sherlock would never let you know who sy had actually retreated from. He'd never break your little heart like that. He wanted you to become confident in yourself, you had to believe in yourself and your new abilities. Find your feet and trust in the change,not just accept your new outlook and little quirks but hone them, thrive even. Over the years sherlock had found that a fledgling that was confident and proud of themselves and their achievements accepted their change quicker. Self esteem was important, it helped avoid morbid thoughts and resentment.

And you were certainly a little firecracker, having already nipped august and walter when they had been too careless with their words. Youd drawn blood on both occasions, and felt absolutely terrible afterwards. Youd cried some5hing fierce upset youd attacked them. But it was natural, they had unknowingly challenged you and youd whipped them into place. You were the alpha female, second in command despite being newly turned.

August and walter hadnt minded much, infact they both felt a tad sheepish afterwards. They had forgotten themselves and paid the price, it didnt help that after youd succumb to your slumber that day sherlock had made a spectacle of them infront of their brothers chastising the both of them. It had felt like turning the clock back as he upended one and then the other making them both retreat to their rooms afterwards feeling sorry for themselves and embarrassed.

"What is going on?" You asked peaking out from the games room as you heard scuffling in the hall. Napoleon and august froze on the spot quickly trying to cover the third person with them. A sniffling shaking human that stunk of acidic urine who was pleading in half sobs, a bag over his head.

"O-oh shit" August grunted looking like a deer caught in some headlights. Leon glanced from you to his brother and then back to you, words failing him. You crept out of the games room fully to face the trio. You scrunched your nose sniffing the air once before shaking your head at the stench.

"August? Leon? Whats going on? You know how sherlock feels about this whole... role play thing in the house" you uttered recitin one of the unofficial rules pf the nest. No human sex-capades or role play fantasies within the home. Especially not with fledglings in the house. One drop aof blood and you and mikey could go apeshit... perhaps not this mortal though? He smelt of piss and panic. Salt, sweat grime. Ew.

"Its not roleplay-i do not roleplay with men;agh fuck! LEON?!" August quickly grunted, seemingly insulted you thought he'd be into those kind of extracurricular activities with his own sex. He was cut of with a swift punch to the gut, leon had spun and stuck him true. They gleared at one another, august snarling makeing to retaliate but you stopped him by speaking up.

"Not role play? August? That human has a bag over his head!" You exclaimed waving a hand to the dank human in a 'what the fuck?' Motion. Because what the fuck?

"He is a gift!" Leon huffed and gave a rough sco.ding shake to his bagged charge as his knees almost gave out under him. You blinked perplexed by the statment. August sent a sharp loo, to leon but sighed nodding in agreement. You got the feeling you werent supposed to have been told about this 'gift'.

"A gift? For who?" You asked flic,ing your eyes from one assassin to the other. They shrunk under your gaze for a moment, deliberating whether to reveal just who was receiveing such an odd gift. Finally they seemed to agree and both looked at you.

"You Mother" the two words confused you. They were giving you a human? To do what? A pet? Do vampires have pet human? You hadnt heard about it before? Perhaps you were deemed old enough to get introduced to the darker side of vampire life.

You shook your head frowni g at them and shifted on your feet not con ecting the dots. Just as you gave up and made to ask sherlocks voice called out from a doorway you swore had never been there.

"Boys? Oh good you found him! Brilliant; this way, take him down into the crypt" sherlock said in a chipper tone. But despite his s,ile here was so thing else? A chill in his gleeful words. Ice in his eyes that burned, stinging and swift. Leon and august both quickly shuffled into the doorway, managing to squeeze through woth the human tucked between them. You sworethere were faint aplogetic whines from them as they passed their maker.

"Crypt? We have a crypt? What crypt; Wait sherlock? Do you know about this gift?" You questioned stretchingnonto yourmtippy toes trying to follow where leon and august had just dragged the unfortunate human. Sherlock tipped his head to you before capturing you in his arms, pulling you to his chest when you tri÷d to sweep past him. You grunted and swerved, now far to intrigued to let this go. You had a fucking crypt! Maybe it was spooky with candles and coffins!

Your mind wandered, conjuring scenes with armands nest from invterview with a vampire. Sherlock chuckled at your excitment thrumming through the bond. But quickly spun you and rested his chin on your crown amused when you whined. You hated that, it was a short thing apparently. He coiled his arms around ou and began slowly letting you follow his sons into the crypt.

"Yes love. Well no, we dont have a crypt persay, but we do have a concrete vampire proof safe room incase anything unfortunate happes. But mostly it has been used as a time out. Its just a room thats stong and easy to clean." He spoke with amusement as you grunted and tugged him along with determined steps, making your way down the once concealed hallway.

"But yes i did arrange for a little present for you." Sherlock finalised. Before halting you, weaving arohnd you and pressed a neavy hand on your shoulder squeezing once and then tentered the room where the human was nos sbdued. A large manacle on each writst weighingnthem down, each one connedted to the floor with a few yards of chain.

You hovered by the door for a moment. The room was plain. Cpncret walls and floors a simple spotlight in the center illuminating the space in a dark orange glow. Ou ould make out the slight tilt to the floor, a grate covered drain in the center below the humans feet. It was like a big sink, designes to let everything find the drain. You shuddered for a moment there was only one thing meant to be drained away in this room.

Sherlock strode in like he owned the place. But the again he did so no surprises there. Both leon and august moved back from the human as sherlock prowled around him. Making his shoes grind on the floor with a slight twist. His grin darkened as the human began sobbing in earnest shaking and twitching, turni g his head trying to follow sherlocks movements.

Your mate finally came to a halt before the human and glared at him sinisterly. And then he beckoned you raising a hand, palm up waiting foryou to enter the room. You felt both leon and augusts eyes on you, their excitement growing. Sherlock pivoted his head to you and then spoke softly.

"Come my love, dont be so aprihensive. This is a gift. For you. I know how hard it is to feed from livestock and I want you to be healthy and well fed." You crossed the space between you and held his hand tightly. He squeezed it reassuringly before be8nging your hand to his lips kissing it gently.

"So today we start your vein feeding"

"really? so soon" you asked quietly, bearly whispering. Your stomach dropped and suddenly you were tense. There was something dark about this. Sherlock wasntmyour sweet lovable mate. Since entering this room he had become your master, your maker, a predator and more frightening then anything you had ever seen in your life.

"It easier when you hate the human. You have less guilt if you accidentally kill.You need to learn to feed from the vein eventually, this is the easiest way" sherlock explained sharply, cleary letting you know he expected you to obey him in this, this was serious business.

"I... i cant i dont think;" your throat tightened as you vocalised your defiance. Your chest hurt, it was unnatural to go against your maker. Your eyes teared, red blurring your vision and you shook your head glancing at your mate lleading with him silently. You wasnt ready for this.

"Love, im afraid you must. Its something we all must master, feeding and handling human frailty. And the bagged supply isnt as healthy for us. You are falling behind, soon you will become ill we must act now prevention is better than cure" sherlock insisted softly, cooing at you making sire to be gentle but firm. You were going to have this lesson today. Here and now because he will be damned if you let yourself waste.

Though he was pleased with your progress in other areas you were under nourished, you were failing to feed as much as you needed to, and were a few weeks behind in development. You should be strong enough to sprout your secondary fangs and a few pin teeth by now! But your weren't even close. It unsettled him. You need to vein feed, higher nutrition in a smaller amount. And he couldnt very well bring in some human livestock and pay out a hefty insurance for an accident and be black listed. It just wasnt worth the risk right now. So hopefully this will.

"But what if?" You began questioning sherlock,peering up at him but he hushed you quickly.

"If he dies he dies. Come lets see what our boys have brought you" sherlock uttered rubing his hands up and down your biceps, holding you infront of him.

"Mother here he is!" August announced and tugged the bag from the humans head revealing your gift. You froze, gasping as you took in the sight. You felt sick to your stomach, quivering and tried backing away but sherlock hushed you, coaxing you to take some calming breaths as he blocked your escape. He will not let you run from this mortal, you ahd no reason to fear.

"Tada! The one who caused you such pain" August finished and slapped the him on the back drawing a yelp from him. You bearly heard the vampires gloating. Your entire being was transfixed on watching your tormentor as he blinked rapidly still sobbing whilst trying to adjust to the light.

"He can pop your vein cherry so to speak, or if you dont want to puncture him i have these new interesting figit spinner knives;" leon began getting excited and was about to launch into how you could slice and dice to get the best out of your prey.

"Leon" sherlocks voice was nothing but a rasp, a gravely threat echojng off the barren walls. He stepped around you slightly dropping his hands from you entirely and stood tall befor Leon with a stern look.

"Sorry father, i got excited" leon had the decancy to look sheepish and ducked his head away from his fathers gaze. Sherlock eyed him for a moment before sighing.

"Yes well im beginning her lesson. August, i will call you and walter down to clean up once we are done" both august and leon took that as their cue to leave and inched past you, each placing a kiss to your cheek wishing you a happy feed. And just like that it was you sherlock and the terrified mortal.

A few moments of silence fell over the room, the harsh breaths of your would be victim seemed to become the backing track to you and your makers stareing contest. You hadnt been aware you were challenging him at first. You were at a loss. You didnt want to feed from a mortal yet. Certainly not this one!

Sherlock hovered and his eyes narrowed, head tiping forward you could practically hear him 'What do you think you are doing?' Finally you looked away unable to endure his unwavering stare. Your fingers twisted your top nervously and you made a point to knaw at your lip glancing around the room avoiding eyeing both your lover and the whimpring man in chains.

"My love i wanted to take the pressure off. You dont have to be worried about ending his life. Because if you kill him during a feed it will be one hundred times kinder then what death i have planned for him. slow, painfull as he deserves for ever hurting you. No one survives attacking my heart" sherlock reasoned, trying to make you come arohnd to his way of thinking. You wanted 5o argue, but there was never any arguing with sherlock. Especially when he was in this dominant kind of mood. You hadnt seen him this extreme before, but you knew when he would budge. And now was not the time.

You nodded to your mate in a reluctant acceptance. The sooner you faced this the better? It might not be that bad. Bite suck

Leave right? What happened dow here after you fed wasnt your business. If sherlock killed him the it was a natural death right? A predator ending his prey. Thats how the food chain worked. You inched closer to your maker finding yourself agreeingnto give this vein feed a try. It was the least you could do after august and leon had hand delivered your meal. It was like just eat! In a morbid kind of way.

"Ana! oh My god your alive!?" The spell was broken as the male finally recognized you as you stepped closer.

"God ive been so worried! We were looking but never; the vampires? Everyone assumed you were dead!" His words were desperate, lies dripping with a panic that so ehow felt relieved. Like he now bthought yoh wouldnt dare let anything happen to him. That you were obligated to protect him despite all he had done?

But then again if you were mortal you probably would vouch for him. Feel some sense of responsibility for him because your were kin. Mortal. Human, that being the same species placed some kind of responsibility on you?

It was an odd realisation. That your humanity had somewhat vanished in that respect. Were you scared? Of course, did you fear your violent nature? Yes. But your fear wasnt about the act, or worry for your would be victim. No your aprihension was somthing more selfish. You feared youd cross a line and become a monster driven only by hunger and greed. You feared making yourself a murderer. You did not fear the act of killing, or the consequences.

"Ana? Ana where? Your here? Youve been here all this time right? They thought you were dead! But your here! You can! Ana please! You gotta help me out here... ana?" The hope in hos words was tangible, you could feel the desperation and pleading undertone in every hushed syllable. It made your stomach churn. Yet sherlocks grin widened, his fangs clearly elongated from the excitement. He looked frightful.

"Why are you just standing there!? Help me! Talk to them! Tell them this is a mistake! Your close to them; friends even!" Anger seeped into the male as his panic rose. Yet you watched on, trying to figure out how to avoid this mess. Not just to escape live feeding, but also to avoid this particular reality.

You could ignore what youd become all the while drinking from blood bags and coffee cups. But this? This was something no one could mistake. It was a hurdle, possibly the final one to solidify your acceptance. You were not human anymore. You were a vampire, a predator, a killer. And tonight it seems was your night to prove it to yourself and make peace with it.

"Ana? Wait... ana... whats wrong? You look different." You hissed through your teeth as sherlock slowly crept closer to you, coaxing you forward so the once cruel now pitiful mortal could see you properly.

"Oh... oh god, oh god no! No! NO ANA NO, PLEASE NOOO!?" The penny finally dropped and he began to scream once more, louder and shrill. He had realised he was beouht here to endure a fledglings feed. And wouldnt make it out.

You whined, shivering and shook your head, hands snapping over your ears as the man youd once cowered from screeched high enough to hurt your sensitive ears. Your ear drums threatening to burst.

Sherlock snarled as he saw and felt your discomfort. The terrifying sound echoed off the barren chamber walls and he lunged hands gripping the human startling him into silence. Whimpers and harsh yet quiet breaths drowned out everything around you. Sherlock left you to clm down, feeling the way you eased again. Clearly uncomfortable about what must be done but like all obedient feldglings you were willing.

"Here my sweet child. The first lesson, you grip here. The hair at the base of the scull" sherlock called you closer, lulling you as he did so. His hands were frim on the mortal, controlling his head and neck with one well placed fist in the hair. His words captrued your attention and you lowered your hands to your sides slowly.

"Normally youd caress gently, coo soft reassuring words. But we dont need to be as delicate with this prey now do we?" You nodded absentmindedly agreeing with sherlock. This human was undeserving of any mercy. Thats what sherlock felt, and honestly youd be lying if you didnt admit to thinking this was somehow karma? But you realistically youknew it wasnt karma. Your confusing rage and conflicting though were from revenge.

"Come, its fine he wont harm you. He is small, weak. Insignificant. He has no power over you anymore love. You are stronger then he will ever dream to be." Your mates coaxing was topped with subtle command. You couldnt find it in you to refuse him. Your feet carried you closer and finally you stood beside your lover warily, shifting on your feet eyes seeking out his willing him to let you leave this lesson for another day. But the pleading gazr did nothing to sherlock. He had slipped into another head space. For the time being you were not his heart, you were his child, his weakened fledgling that bordered being malnourished. And you will obey him, come hell or high water you will feed properly tonight.Thats not to say he will be a brute about it.

"Its okay my love. See hold here, see how you can twist his head around, side to side, front to back? You can choose your side" his voice was calm, soft but somehow still firm. He directed you gently pulling your hand to the quivering humans hair and perssing you to latch on with a tight fist tangling into the strands.

You moved you hand slowly, testing out your grip. Twisting your victims head this way and that. And then stopped grunting as the thundering vein on the column of his throat caght your atention. The blood pumping furiously below the thin skin capturing you in a trance.

"Ah, i see your instincts are awakening. And youve choseen the correct side. The right side is always better full of oxygen rich blood, it has the most nutrients. High in iron, exactly what a new little fledgling needs" he announced, excitment bubbled inside of you from the praise, you smiled at him casting your lover a glance. Sherlocks hand moved towards your victim and before you knew what you were doing youd snarled at your maker ferociously, warning him to back off whislt suddenly jerking your meals head to the left and tried to bite.

But for all the speed you instincts gave you sherlock was older and faster. His hand captured your jaw with frighteneing precision and held you still a breath away from the violent thudding vein. He moved another hand to you, wagging it in your face before tapping you on the nose and scolded you.

"Ah ah, no. We do not just dive in, we are not werewolves fighting over a carcass. We are refined creatures and i will not have such an ill-mannered fledgling" the chiding words made you whine up at him with wide eyes. You suddenly felt like a small child being told not to chew with your mouth open.

"Now pretend this is wine, or a fine meal. Savour it. Scent him first." All embarrassment left you as you took in his words, drawing in a few deep breaths trying to find the subtlety hidden in your meals scent.You paused frowning and drew another breath and grinned.

"See? Its so much better when they are frightened; it gives them a light acidity like lemon but maybe sweeter citrus" sherlocks explanation should have troubled you. But it didnt? Was this it? Was thisthe moment of true transformation? When you let go of humanity and embrace your nature. Accept your new fate and food?

"Oh like err oranges?" You asked quietly, trying to block out all the frightening questions that roamed you kind. This wasnt meantmto be a thinking moment. This was instinctive, you were meant to learn, not question the morality of your new diet.

"Yes, you dont get the same... seasoning from the blood bags. Each emotion add a garnish. Fear citrus, lust and sex adds a honey or maple sweetness, hate and anger is like a smokey hint" you blinked at him nodding as much as his hpld on your chin and jaw would allow, but couldnt help your gaze flicking down to the mortal impatiently. Your not sure at what point youd stopped caring about the life of your meal, or your human morals. But they had dissolved, crushed under your new undeniable need. Sherlock chuckled shaking his head at you. You were a darling little fedgling, he almost felt for you. He'd triggered you on purpose, drawing you close to your meal, letting you lock onto your vein before moving unexpectedly. Forcing you to react in a natural food aggression. Once you had let yourself subconsyourself seperate the concepts of human life and food, it was easy to give in.

"Now i belive we have waited long enough darling" you swallowed dryly as sherlocks hand dropped from your jaw. He smiled nodding to the vein subtly encouraging you. You frowned unsure if it was a test? Lost in this strange primal feeling yet still trying to hold back and behave. You didnt want to disappoint your maker a secodn time. So carefully sniffed the human again with your eyes still watching your maker.

"No no, its okay love, drink up you need it" with that you threw caution to the wind and clamped down harder then you probably should have. You whined feeling something shift inside of you as your fangs descended into the flesh of your tormenter. As if the odd transition from mortal to immortal had finally been complete. Any fear or guilt youd have around feeding left you as you tore into you meal. A Ravenous hunger spurring your every movement, for the first time since your own bite you could taste something reminiscent of human food, the bloods salty copper twang was overpowered by a fearful citrus flavour. Sweet orange with a light sour note. You understood now why som many vampires accidentally killed their first few meals. After relying on bags of sickly salt monstrosities having something fresh to taste was heaven. You couldnt stop. You wouldnt.

Sherlock watched you with a light smile, pride lighting his gaze. His hands resting on your hips as you drained your first human. It was a morbid act, terrifying and horrific to a human. But for makers it was a proud moment, it meant their feldgling would survive. It was private and signified the final stepping stone in a vampires creation. Sherlock could now officially grant you your rightfull place beside him as his mate and the mother of his nest. And he could now reveal you publicly to the night society. And he couldnt wait to flaunt you.

[messrmoonyy]

The fluff 49 with Remadora!!

I literally used to always just write from Doras thoughts yet here I am now obsessed with writing outta Remus’ head. Jealous Remus. We love to see it. Prompt from this list.

Prompt: ‘ is somebody jealous? ‘

Pairing: Remus lupin x Nymphadora Tonks

Warnings: mild language

You can find all my other writing on my masterlist and remember my ask box is always open, so drop me a request! Check my masterlist for who I write for!

Remus didn’t think he was a particularly jealous person. And he had plenty to be jealous of when he thought about it. But it just… never crossed his mind to be jealous. He was too far past having an emotion so useless, jealousy would never get him anyway. Being jealous of a man with more money than he had wouldn’t magically make a hundred galleons appear in his pocket. Being jealous of other people his age who were settled down with families wouldnt make his family return from the dead. Yet…. There he was, sat at his desk in the Grimmauld place library, practically seething.

He knew he was being ridiculous. Completely. But watching Sirius and Nymphadora laughing on the other side of the room was making his blood boil. He felt a little stupid in fact, they were related after all. But. The Blacks did have a bit of reputation for that didn’t they. And there was the matter that he’d heard Harry talking to Hermione about how he thought Nymphadora and Sirius were secretly a couple. And of course to top it all off Sirius had, and probably always would be, an absolute ladies man.

He didn’t really have a right to be jealous. Yes he and Tonks had been getting very… close, if that was even the best choice of words. He didn’t think close did justice right the several bouts of snogging he had found himself in a multitude of places around Grimmauld place. Only the previous night on the exact sofa she was pratting around on with Sirius now. Not to mention the nights Tonks snook into his room, or cornered him in the back of the library. And there was that one time he’d practically jumped her in the drawing room after a meeting. But there hadnt been any real discussion on what they were.

The only vague discussion being after their first kiss, when Remus has avoided her for a good four days after. Wracked with guilt that he’d let his self control slip. But she’d cornered him in the kitchen and forced him to confront the situation head on. He’d tried to tell her it was probably a mistake. That he wasn’t exactly the best of choices for her. But she’d told him he was ridiculous, that she didn’t care about his age. His condition. But there hadn’t been a talk on their situation since. He didn’t like to bring it up. Maybe it was simply casual for her. A late night hook up when she had stress form work to blow off. So he couldn’t be jealous could he.

But he was. Insanely so. His grip tightening on his quill as Sirius flung another awful joke at her and she threw her head back with laughter. Remus didn’t get it but she clearly did. He tried to distract his jealousy away by focusing on just how beautiful she was when she was laughing, how her eyes crinkled at the corners and her cheeks flushed pink. But it didn’t work as well as he hoped. Because if he noticed those things. Sirius must too.

“ if you two are going to continue being so noisy then would you just leave. Some of us are trying to work “ he snapped, slamming his fist to the desk for good measure. Sirius made some grumbled remark about Remus being a bore. But he didn’t care enough to pay attention.

“ ooo Tonksie that’s his professor tone “ Sirius said in a loud whisper before laughing again and nudging Tonks with his elbow “ sorry sir. Detention for talking in class? “ they both burst into laughter, Tonks steadying herself with a hand to Sirius’ shoulder. Remus sighed and tried to ignore them, his knuckles turning white around his quill. “ oh come on Re. Have a drink, lighten up “

“ I’m not in the mood. I’m trying to work “ he grumbled, purposely not looking over at she’d Sirius now had his arm slung around Tonks shoulders. He was being ridiculous. Though Tonks seemed to pick up on it.

There was then some hushed talking between the two of them, that his heightened senses would’ve allowed him to hear if he cared enough. But instead He huffed and looked back down at his mission report. There was the creek of the library door as Sirius left with another remark about how boring Remus was and then quiet. Assuming that Tonks had followed Sirius out of the room he debated on going to find her. But a few moments later her arms looped around his neck from behind him, her nose brushing against his cheek.

“ is somebody jealous? “ she said quietly, mischief evident in her tone. He’d hoped he hadn’t been so obvious. Clearly he had. Of course he had. He wasn’t exactly well practiced in the art of hiding his affections for someone. And besides, Tonks could read him like a book.

“ I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about “ he felt her smile against his cheek and she tightened her hold on him, bringing her chin down to rest on his shoulder.

“ he’s my cousin Remus. I might technically be a Black by name, but not by nature. Not really into the whole ‘ fuck your family members ‘ thing you know? Especially not Sirius. Merlin. It’d be like shacking up with a brother or something. Nasty. Ugh now you’ve put that imagine in my head “ she shivered at the thought and he couldn’t help but smile.

“ you said yourself he’s handsome “ he pointed out, remembering the conversation that had actually lead to their first kiss, in a much similar situation to the one they were currently in. His so thought non existent jealousy coming out to bite.

“ doesn’t mean I wanna shag him Remus “

“ you always have such a way with words “ she laughed lightly and moved around in front of him, hopping up onto the desk and folding her arms.

“ I’m quite offended actually “ Remus sat back in his chair and watched her intently. Her cheeks were flushed slightly from drinking “ I mean come. On. Remus. You’ll be saying I’m shacking up with Arthur next because I laugh at his dad jokes “ when she put it like that he guessed he had been a bit irrational with his thoughts.

“ I heard Harry talking about it with Ron and Hermione. I think most of the kids believe you and Sirius are up to something “ she scoffed at that and quirked an eyebrow.

“ so you’re listening to the theories of the most unobservant boy in the entire country? I mean I love the boy I do, but I think he needs a new pair of glasses. His clearly aren’t working well “ a small smile tugged at his face then, Harry was a bright boy but he did have a tendency to be quite…. Oblivious. To everything. Tonks was quiet for a few more moments before tilting her head to the side inquisitively, chewing lightly on her bottom lip. She looked deep in thought “ so what’s this really about then? “ Remus frowned and raised his hands as if in mock surrender.

“ nothing. I told you I heard Harry and the way you were with Sirius.. it’s nothing “ she rolled her eyes and hopped off the desk, stepping either side of his legs and wiggling to get comfortable in his lap. His hands flew to her waist, unable to stop himself as she placed her hands to his shoulders and titled her head again.

“ Remus “ her voice was slightly sterner but she was smiling at him “ you can talk to me. You know you can “ he debated telling her the truth. That he was just getting jealous because she could do far better than him. She could have whoever she wanted, whenever she wanted. And he was scared to lose her. What they had, whatever it really was, was great. Remus hadn’t been so happy in a long. Long. Time. He didn’t want to push too far and send her packing. But he didn’t want to hang too far back and have her run off to someone else. It was a constant dilemma in his head.

“ you and I “ he started, not really even sure where he was going with his speech “ it’s good. It’s. It’s marvellous “ she laughed a little and nodded with a tight lipped smile.

“ it is. Though I sense a ‘ but ‘ incoming “ he sighed and fiddled nervously with one of the beads on her shirt. They were haphazardly sewn all over it and he wondered if she’d added them herself.

“ I’m just waiting for the inevitable “ he said after another short moment of silence. Deciding now was a better time as any to tell her. She was stubborn and she had him right where she wanted him. So it was going to come out there and then whether he liked it or not really.

“ ‘ the inevitable’ being?…. “

“ finding someone better- no now before you make that face let me finish. Please “ she had sighed as soon as the words left his mouth, sitting back slightly with an eye roll.

“ Remus we’ve talked about this. Can you just get it into your head, that I fancy you. Not Sirius. Not some random ‘ someone better ‘. You “ he couldn’t lie that the words made his heart pound just that bit faster. The confirmation being all he’d really needed. But there was always going to be that worry in the back of his mind. It would never go away.

“ I know. And maybe I’m a fool to keep bringing it up. But you have to admit that I’m not exactly at the top of most peoples most eligible list “ she took his face in her hands then, making him look her in the eyes. He’d noticed she didn’t change their colour very often anymore after he’d made an offhand remark about how beautiful her natural brown eyes were. They were captivating.

“ no one else bloody matters though. You’re at the top of my list. That’s all that matters. Maybe I’m mental. Maybe I’m not. All I know, is you’re one of the only truly decent man I’ve ever met. You don’t make me morph. You’re so respectful it’s practically dripping off of you. And you’re proper fit too which is totally just a bonus “ he hoped she couldn’t feel his cheeks heating up under her hands. But her smile told him she probably could.

It was odd for him to look at her and think that some one could ever even have the nerve to make her morph for them. To fit their idea of what was perfect. He thought she was marvellous in whatever form she thought was best fitting for her each day. He’d never dream of making her change. In his eyes, there had never been a more perfect specimen of a person to walk the earth. She made him laugh. Made him feel normal. Cared for. He couldn’t believe she would ever have eyes for him. But she did. And he guessed that miracles must truly be real.

“ I’m sorry for being so jealous “ her face softened again and the backs of her fingers brushed over his cheek.

“ it’s fine. I mean. At least it shows you care? “ she laughed a little and he felt his tension melting away a little.

“ I do “ her hand crept towards the back of his neck, her fingers slipping into his hair and she shuffled a little closer again.

“ good. Now stop being a mope and realise we’re on own again “ she whispered the last part, her face inching closer so he felt her breath on his lips. And with a smirk she caught his lips in hers.

[probably-writing-x]

Unexpected

Request from @oldfashiondisturb : The reader is Samuel's sister, and best friend with Nadia, but in love with Guzman since the start of the year. She tries to forget him with Valerio, but some boy aka Guzman is jealous, even if it wasn't planned like this for him, he is the first surprise but he has to do something ? :O

Gif is not my own

Requests are always open❤️

This studying has grown boring almost an hour ago as you flicked relentlessly through pages to keep up with the subject. You, your brother Samuel, and Nadia did this regularly whenever there were exams. It always got dull for you a lot quicker than it did for them but you continued nonetheless. If you actually wanted to pass the year at Las Encinas, you’d have to put up with it.

“Can we take a break?” You groan, tossing your pen down onto the table, “There’s only so much I can do.”

“The test is tomorrow (Y/n)!” Nadia laughs, turning the page in her book and answering the next question with ease.

You run a hand through your hair, “It’s boring! And you know you’ll pass anyway Nadia.”

“She’s just taking Guzman’s influence, right (Y/n)?” Your brother nudges you, a smirk playing on his lips.

You glare at him and try to stop the blush from tainting your cheeks, “We said we wouldn’t talk about that anymore.”

“What? Your obsessive crush on the most annoying boy in our class?”

You hit your brothers arm and stand up from the table, “He’s not that bad. And I’m over it.”

Nadia and Samu share a knowing look and laugh at each other.

“I hate both of you.”

They had a habit of doing this. Ever since you’d first confessed that you might like Guzmán, they’d been set on making little comments to wind you up. Actually, it was Samuel that made the comments and Nadia that laughed at them. Really, she felt quite sympathetic toward you. But they were right - you hadn’t really got over it.

- - - - - -

The test going badly was most definitely an understatement. Maybe you should’ve revised more last night - you could see Nadia inputting answers like she’d been programmed to ace it from the start. You on the other hand? You’d come down to the pool instead to distract yourself.

“Was it really that bad?” It’s Guzmán that questions you as you finish another length of the pool.

You glance up and watch as he walks down the side, eying you for the entire time.

“Wasn’t it for you?” You push yourself up and shift round so you’re sat at the poolside, legs dangling into the water.

He scoffs, “Tests here are always bad for me.”

You smirk a little and run your hands over your slicked hair from the water, setting your goggles onto the surface beside you.

“Lucky for me, I’m a good swimmer,” Guzmán cocks a brow, “I can’t say the same for you.”

“Well, thanks,” You roll your eyes.

You’d grown tired of questioning why you continued to have a crush on this boy. The majority of your conversation with him, which generally only happened at the pool when it was only the two of you, would consist mainly of him mocking you. Other than that? You’d practically be invisible to him around school. He was surrounded by his group and Lu. And you were just Samuel’s sister.

“Don’t wallow in your own self pity, please?” He says as he gears up to start training, “You’ll distract me. And you can’t be that bad.”

It shouldn’t make you blush and you hate yourself for giving into it. But there you were, thankful as he jumped into the water so he wouldn’t see your cheeks turn a burning shade of red.

- - - - - -

“Nadia!” You grin as she walks up toward you and Samuel, always managing to look completely different when she was out of her school uniform.

“Hey!” She smiles, hugging you quickly in greeting, “Sorry I’m a bit late.”

You were all at the club tonight for another party, though they generally consisted of you three sticking with each other - Omar joining you whenever he could.

“It’s not like you were missing much,” Samuel rolls his eyes, glancing around at the growing crowd, “Who’s that?”

All three of you turn towards the boy that had just arrived. He had an appearance that you could already tell would match perfectly in tune with his loud personality. The bold curls on his head, the open arms like he was introducing himself to the world, the bright print on his shirt.

“Lu’s brother,” Guzmán comments as he walks past, heading over to the boy who greets him with a brotherly hug.

You knew Guzmán had probably only gone over because Lu followed behind the boy but you brushed it off quickly. The other boy seemed intriguing but certainly not somebody you’d usually concern yourself with. He seemed far too arrogant, too certain that he would never find anyone as good as himself. But his grin and his carefree attitude seem oddly interesting.

- - - - - -

“So if you take this,” Nadia points to a number on your page that you couldn’t even work out how you’d got to, “And divide it by this... I’ve lost you again?”

You sigh and put your face in your hands, “It’s like I’ve never even learnt it.”

She smiles and tries her best to remain patient, “Thats okay, we can go again if you need to.”

“Is there room for one more in this class?” You don’t recognise the voice as somebody you know but it’s distinctive already - it would only match the new boy.

“You’ll probably be better than I am,” You mutter half to yourself, staring at the page of maths like it would make anymore sense.

“Oh, darling,” He laughs, sitting down in the seat beside you and throwing an arm over your shoulder, “I think you’ve just given yourself a challenge.”

The three of you spend the rest of the period trying to get through this topic before the bell sounds and Nadia packs up for her next lesson.

“I never caught your name,” The boy points out, “I’m Valerio.”

“Valerio,” You repeat, “I’m (Y/n), Samuel’s sister.”

“I don’t care for the family history, you interest me enough on your own.”

And just like that, he seemed a little more intriguing.

- - - - - -

“No seriously Valerio!” You squeal as he lifts you up with ease, spinning you around, “We need to-“

Your laughter soon stops any words from escaping you as he throws you down onto the couch.

“We need to what?” He cocks a brow, hovering above you as he falls closer to your face.

“You’re a distraction,” You comment, referencing the fact that you’d originally come to his house with the intention of studying. Just as you had done the day before, and the day before that.

“(Y/n), you’ve been distracting me since day one.” He mumbles, leaning closer to you as his hands trail up your sides.

Things with him felt exciting. He was living in a whole different realm to what you were used to. He didn’t mock you, didn’t make you nervous - he made you distracted (in more ways than one). You weren’t certain of any feelings for him, any possibility, but he was interesting. And he seemed like a good person beyond this exterior. Though it seemed like neither of you were too fussed about what lay beyond surface level.

He dips down and is just about to kiss you when the door unlocks.

“Valerio!” It’s Lu’s voice.

You watch as he rolls his eyes and presses up to kneel on the couch, “You’re home early.”

“We finished dinner early,” She responds quickly, “I thought you were meant to be studying.”

We. She wasn’t alone.

You push yourself up so you’re now visible to the pair that stood at the door - Lu and Guzmán. Somehow, you and Guzmán make eye contact for a moment and it seems to linger for more than that - like you’re trying to read any expression that crosses his face. But, to your own disappointment, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything.

“With the García?” Lu scoffs, “Come on Valerio, seriously?”

“Lu!”

It’s Guzmán. With an oddly warning tone to his voice.

“I should go,” You say quickly, fumbling to get off from the sofa and grab your jacket.

“Hey, hey, no,” Valerio stops you, standing up beside you and throwing an arm over you, “Is there a problem, Lu?”

She looks between the two of you and tuts, “It won’t last, darling.”

But all you can do is keep your eyes focused on the boy beside her. The boy who now refused to look in your direction. And who oddly seemed to have a completely different energy to him now.

- - - - - -

When you walk in for swim training the next morning, your heart sinks like a lead balloon at the sight of who was just swimming perpendicular to where you walked. Who else would it possibly be?

Guzmán finishes his length and glances up to check the clock, smirking before he turns toward the door. He knew this was the time you always got here in the mornings. Every single time - practically to the exact minute.

“I’m surprised you’re not busy with your new boyfriend,” He calls, not bothering to make any actual effort to look at you properly.

“Shut up Guzmán,” You roll your eyes, setting your towel down on the bench. Maybe he hadnt changed as you’d thought. This still seemed relatively typical.

“What’s he got you doing now? Trying out his latest drug mix? Who can drink the most before they pass out?” He lists, face growing colder and more stern as he speaks.

You don’t respond. Why had you assumed he’d react any differently? You were nothing more to him than somebody to mock, to taunt, to treat as separate from him because you hadn’t grown up like the rest.

“You should be careful with him, (Y/n),” Guzmán says simply, “He’s not like you.”

For the first part of that, he’d impressed you. He’d made it actually sound like he gave a damn. But the second part struck you right back home.

“Not like me?” You scoff, tugging your goggles over your head and hanging them around your neck, “You mean he didnt grow up in a two bedroom flat with three brothers? Or he isn’t only at the school because of a lucky break?”

Guzmán remains silent, his cheeks heating with a tint of red. You take it as just a consequence from fatiguing after swimming.

“Thanks Guzmán but I can take care of myself. That’s what us poor ones do, isn’t it?”

Before he can say anything more, you dive into the water and thank the pool for creating a barrier between the two of you. He’d stay in his lane and you’d stay in yours - literally and metaphorically.

- - - - - -

“Hello beautiful people!” Valerio calls as he walks proudly across the floor towards you and Samuel.

Him and Lu were hosting a party at theirs tonight. It was for some particular reason that you hadn’t paid attention to when Valerio first invited you, but you’d been thankful for the opportunity to avoid some more studying. Things with him had been nothing more than the two of you just having fun to put it simply. It was pretty apparent that you didn’t have feelings for each other. But also apparent that there were other reasons why you needed the distraction. You didn’t care to explain your reasoning to him, and you never pried enough as to find out why he did. For now, you were comfortable with using this to keep your mind off Guzmán. Although maybe it hadn’t been exactly successful in that field yet.

You could tell from his breath as his arm fell around your waist that Valerio had already been drinking enough as it was. You weren’t big on drinking - always growing up fearing when your father would come home drunk. And drugs were a whole different story, with similar reasoning to the first.

“Can I get you guys a drink?” He suggests, swaying into you as he waves his arm at Samuel too.

“I’m fine, thank you,” He shakes his head, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

You’re relieved when Ander and Omar make their way over - hoping they’d at least distract Samuel a bit. He was in no way approving of you spending any time with Valerio, he’d made that very clear. And he’d encouraged you that Nano wouldn’t have let you anywhere near him if he was here.

He turns you to him and holds both arms on your hips, “You look hot tonight.”

You roll your eyes and try to brush him off, “And after how many drinks are you saying that?”

He smirks and leans down to you, lips grazing your ear, “How about I get you up to my level?”

He moves one hand away from you and reaches into his back pocket, pulling out a small clear packet that would be recognisable to anyone. Even the sight of it pools a sickening feeling in your stomach. You’d had far too many sleepless nights on the end of your bed with your brothers, listening to your father’s yelling, smashing, hitting - all as a consequence of the drink and the ‘little white powder’.

“No, no, definitely not,” You try to push him away, hoping he’d be sober enough to get the message and forget it.

“Come on, you’ll love the feeling,” He encourages, waving the packer closer to you like he was taunting a child with a toy.

You try to push away from him again, “Valerio, no.”

Before he can say anything more, there’s somebody between the two of you. They have their back to you and their face close enough to Valerio to instantly intimidate. Originally, you’d assumed it to be your twin brother - expecting Samuel to have the same reaction to the drugs as you had. But the frame is too tall to be Samuel, towering above you. And those broad shoulders can only be owned by one boy.

“Leave her alone, Valerio,” Guzmán’s tone is calm but icy, warning but not stepping above the line.

“Come on!” Valerio chuckles, “It’s a party!”

“I won’t ask you again, man. She told you no, now go take your fucking drugs somewhere else,” He speaks through his teeth, getting closer and closer to Valerio until he grips onto the lapels of his jacket and shoved him away from both of you.

Valerio stumbles just as his sister approaches the outbreak.

“Is there a problem?” She asks with a tone that she’s trying to keep positive.

“Ask your boyfriend, if you can even call him that anymore,” Valerio smirks, swiping a bottle from the table as he pushes through the crowd of people.

Lu looks between you and Guzmán before turning around to follow in the footsteps of her half brother. It’s only then that Guzmán focuses any of his attention on you.

“Are you okay?” He asks, eyes looking between each of yours.

He’s closer to you than he has been before and you take in the scent of his cologne on his torso. Not noticing his height above you until your eyes were in line with his heart.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, thank you,” You fumble, glancing around at the people who were now solely focused on watching what had just unfolded.

He follows your line of sight and smirks, “They’ll always find a reason to watch.”

Your heart is pounding and your vision trying to keep its focus on his face but he’s gone quickly. He takes off into the party where he blended in so easily and you’re stuck once again with that weird, unsettling excitement he always managed to cause.

- - - - - -

The next morning, you arrive to the pool before Guzmán gets there and you feel your excited heart fail for just a second. Why should you expect anything to come from last night? You’d spent this entire school year expecting something to come from every moment you shared with Guzmán. Why would that party have changed anything?

You set your towel down on the side, hold your goggles in one hand, stretch out a little, and prepare to start your training for the day. But you’re interrupted as the door swings open.

In he walks. Torso and legs exposed as he’s covered by the smallest level of material, hair damp from showering and small beads of water trickling down past his pecks.

“Good morning,” He nods, setting his towel down beside yours as he walks straight past you.

“Morning,” You say, following his path with your gaze.

Here goes nothing.

“I just wanted to say thank you for last night,” You begin, keeping your eyes now focused on the tiled floor beneath you.

“You don’t need to thank me,” He says, tone short and a little abrupt.

“I know, but you really didn’t have to do anything and I-“ You fiddle with the strap of your goggles to try to give yourself anything as a distraction, “I don’t know, I just wanted to-“

“It’s fine, (Y/n),” Guzmán smiles quickly, “But I told you he wasn’t good for you.”

“I know,” You nod, “Nothing was ever going to happen between us though.”

“Have you ever had a boyfriend, (Y/n)?” Guzmán interjects and it instantly surprises you that he takes any interest in your life.

You glance up and swallow the lump in your throat, “No.”

He smirks a little, “I didn’t think so.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“See,” He starts walking closer to you, “I convinced myself that last night I was just helping you out, and I would’ve done it to anybody that Valerio had been pestering. But then I realised that all I seemed to focus on for the rest of the night was you - if I’d seen you wear that outfit before, what drink you had in your hand, how many times you made a joke to your brother. I kept focusing on you and I hated it because I couldn’t understand why.”

You’re frozen still as he speaks, now with only one stride between you and him.

“And then it hit me. It was you. The try-hard, innocent, never been kissed, García Domínguez that I’d never really paid much thought to,” He shrugs, “I’ve got Lu pining over every move I make and the only girl I could think about, was you.”

You can’t tell whether to be annoyed at his description of you or utterly dumbfounded by the fact that he’d just confessed this so quickly.

“And that’s why I’ve been showing up to swim on time every morning, why I’ve been checking with Valerio to see if anything’s happened with you, why I keep listening out for anything you say,” He scoffs, “Because, somehow, I’ve fallen for Samuel’s sister.”

He falls silent and looks down at his feet for a moment before speaking again.

“I don’t think I can go to another party where I have to watch you with him, or turn up to Lu’s and expect to see you there too. I don’t want that.”

“Guzmán I-“

“I’ve been a dick to you, a complete and utter dick. But I swear to you I wouldn’t have done any of that if I’d have known how I felt sooner.”

You let out a laugh at that, “Well, thanks.”

“Though,” He takes a half-step toward you, “You are still failing class and a pretty shitty swimmer.”

“And you’re still trying to convince yourself that you’re not as shit as me,” You defend, finally making eye contact with those piercing orbs.

“Well, that’s it, you’ve had my confession,” He finishes, “Shall we swim?”

[mousehole5000]

tgcf chapters 107 - 120 this is one where i give some Opinions. i do overall like hualian a lot but i have some quibbles

wait why am i still taking screenshots? i can copy/paste again afskldfjasad

It really was hard to tell whether people would feel happy after watching such performances. However, in truth, slaughter and the sight of blood did create excitement in people. Whether or not there was fear, after the initial shock was over, a rush of adrenaline would be produced in the heart- me watching horror movies

“Shi Qingxuan said. “Then, Your Highness, Crimson Rain Sought Flower! I order you to—to immediately strip each other’s clothing!” - djslkadjlsd WHY DID HE SPECIFICALLY SAY THEY HAD TO STRIP EACH OTHER THISALSKDJ is this a normal thing is it a wingman attempt what is happening

“I’ll tell you what it is,” he said softly. “To watch with your own eyes your beloved be trampled and ridiculed, yet be unable to do anything. That’s the worst suffering in the world.” ... “Ming Yi asked, “What’s the biggest regret of your life?”- when truth or dare gets a bit too real

On the side, Hua Cheng was still only observing, and was already bored to the point where he’d changed back into his red robes. Then he changed to black robes again. Then to white robes. Almost every time Xie Lian looked back, he would be donning a different appearance, and with every new look there were different hairstyles, and different accessories, and different boots, and so on; sometimes playful, sometimes elegant, sometimes deadly, sometimes glamourous. Xie Lian was growing dizzy from all the colours and kept looking back, unable to look away. - THIS ISNT THE TIME HUA CHENG. YOURE PRIMPING. THE WINDMASTER HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED AND YOURE PRIMPING

obsessed with xie lian not being able to figure out to use the windmaster’s fan and just. using it to SMACK

also windmaster??? whats going on??? :( i know some things from spoilers like who is not to be trusted but i really have no clue whats happening rn

anyways back to puqi shrine lets check on those kids also can we PLEASE get some funds for this restoration smh. hua cheng and xie lian doing mundane hard labor together to fulfill prayers.... :pleading:

jailbreak in the heavens 2: dig a tunnel

Sure enough, the moment Ming Yi put pressure on his shovel, a hole opened up before them. With the shovel raised, he burrowed crazily ahead while Shi Qingxuan, in the middle, cheered him on crazily. As the only non-crazy person, Xie Lian brought up the rear. That treasured shovel of the Earth Master was indeed magical, and with only a few strokes, a new tunnel of over ten meters was dug. - anybody remember mulch diggums from the artemis fowl series? this is much more dignified than that but i think this is only the second time ive read a character just starting digging a tunnel as a plot point

okay so much is going on i wish i hadnt spoiled who certain characters actually are for myself but i have no one to blame but me for a) not blacklisting spoilers at all and b) just having a little freefall through the tags. oh well. anyway heavenly college admissions scandal except way worse. the corruption extends to the heavens and the windmaster is having a very bad day

i guess we’re having a high seas adventure now?

im gonna keep it real im getting tired of how often we get told how handsome hua cheng is. i know its all xie lian’s pov and while im not terribly familiar with it i know what genre we’re working with and im assuming thats pretty typical. its something i dont much care for in general and idk maybe it sounds better in the original but ngl its starting to make me roll my eyes. love you goth king but god okay we get it.

i guess what i will say about hualian so far is that overall i like them and i like how they interact in general they have a lot of nice moments and they just genuinely seem to like each other which is really nice to see EXCEPT for when it actually comes to things that could be romantic or sexual which is a shame bc i dont think it has to be like this. again disclaimer that im only reading a translation and dont know everything might not have all the knowledge necessary to accurately criticize etc etc and im assuming a lot of this is expected from the genre (disclaimer to this disclaimer that i cant say that for sure its just based on things ive picked up about the bl genre over the years) but idk like xie lian was so distressed after their underwater kiss scene. it was kind of uncomfortable to read and maybe im being unfair i know his cultivation is based around abstinence or whatever but idk i dont care for it. and that scene alone doesnt have to be a bad thing like idk i guess its his first kiss ever (?) and it would make sense if he feels weird about it but i just have my doubts thats going to be addressed or resolved in a satisfying way. also im like. dude everyone is like centuries old. xie lian’s been on earth for 800 years. has he really never met or heard of a gay person during all this time? maybe he hasnt idk what he got up to yet maybe that’s actually a thing. also same thing with the reactions from the immortals to xie lian in a dress and characters like the windmaster like again you’re all centuries old and its not uncommon to be able to just completely change gender presentation. why are you all weird about a man wearing a woman’s dress? i just feel like that shouldnt be a big deal to these characters idk

also again not going to lie part of this that im not really a big fan of reading romance in general. yes i am reading this book. yes i do read and write a lot of fanfic that includes or centers romance. im multifaceted. but really what im talking about is the like physical side of it and descriptions im extremely picky about it. ill give an example. early on in the torture pit (or whatever it was called i cant remember lol) when xie lian kind of accidentally felt up hua cheng in the dark when he was being carried. i dont think thats a bad thing to have happen between the two romantic leads i think thats fine and good to include that early but i just did not enjoy reading it when it happened idk maybe it was the wording and i do think that moments like these work better in a visual medium. ive definitely read het romance that reads like this and i wasnt a fan of that either lol same with fanfic i get tired when writers go on and on about how hot one characters finds another character. this isnt a huge criticism of it like i said im picky but again like with the way that hua cheng is described it just makes me roll my eyes sorry kings

okay back to the reading. this whole saving the fishermen thing feels like a big set up for something narrative-wise. hua cheng specifically insisted on coming and i know one of the characters involved ends up dying im wondering if thats now it would be a good time tbh if things get just a bit too unfortunate during this heavenly calamity... and the brothers are notably not having a harmonious time... also tho it feels very likely we’ll just have another Hualian Moment (tm)

In such a situation, Pei Ming still acted the same. In the evening, when they rescued a few fishermen girls, so scared their eyes were blurry from tears, he held them in his embrace and soothed them with a gentle voice; a true show of honeyed romance, affectionate and charming. - pei ming please get pickled again.

also its funny that hua cheng is just kinda hanging out and everyone else just has to deal with it

Looking down from above, the entire area was painted in a terrifying black. It was easy to see the collision between the two different-coloured currents. Their fierce battle was what formed this enormous whirlpool. As the eye swallowed the ship whole, the two currents of water separated. However, the battle was far from over. Like two venomous vipers, they continued to snap at each other. Each collision was followed by a mountain of angry waves. - this pretty dope ngl. also love our wind and earth masters just chilling on a shovel i dig it. hehe

Yet, other than discovering Hua Cheng had a fine body, there were no other finds. Xie Lian was at his wit’s end and started to worry. - okay see this one’s funny im just also irritated bc im like WE KNOW!!! WE GET IT HE’S HOT AND XIE LIAN THINKS HE’S HOT OKAY GOT IT

okay kiss #2 again its not the kisses themselves its xie lian’s reaction it just bothers me idk im not saying i need him to be super into it and completely unconflicted about it rn but he’s just so freaked out about it and idk i just dont really like it just feels weird i dont care for that aspect of it. also dude hua cheng is a ghost and he did this exact same thing for you before just chill. i wish instead of xie lian literally running away while screaming that hes sorry he was just like “oh haha youre fine thats cool im gonna go look around the woods i dont feel weird about this at all haha” like idk its kind of funny but when its literally our two romantic leads i just feel like its confusing like it kind of makes me feel like they shouldnt be together if one of them freaks out this much again considering the fact that they are both CENTURIES old. i know i know xie lian is an 800 year old virgin but. he hasn’t been like this about anything else so yeah idk like it still could have been awkward and funny i just dont think it needed to be so :/ that being said it was funny that xie lian was then internally like “oh i did it wrong? perhaps i should ask him for more.. instructions....” if that actually happens i might like it bc it would complete this little watery theme

Before he finished, he immediately remembered. Coffin wood. There were trees here everywhere; and a deceased? There was one right before his eyes. Sure enough, Hua Cheng smiled. “Won’t it be fine once I lie inside? - love that hua cheng just sat on the fact that he can turn anything into a coffin. that would have been really useful information earlier but no he just waited until everyone but xie lian was gone afjaklsdjf

also i do think that oblivious xie lian thinking “wow whoever it is that hua cheng fancies is an idiot for not liking him back theyre totally taking him for granted :/” is kind of funny and sweet. actually the whole conversation they have at the campfire is good and im bookmarking it to think about later

“...You on top and me on the bottom,” Xie Lian replied. “Isn’t top and bottom the same?” Hua Cheng asked. - okay im sorry but. mood whenever theres discourse about top/bottom dynamics for a ship im just like jesus christ i dont care. tbh i rarely read fanfiction if its just sexual and ngl if i see a fic specifically tag characters as top or bottom i wont read it lmfao. especially when people have really strong opinions about this stuff when theres nothing canonical to back it up like headcanon all you want but whenever i see people argue about it im just like no offense but go work out your own sexual issues and dynamics instead of arguing with strangers on the internet about who’s a top and who’s a bottom. sorry to be mean but just thats how i feel lol

this was mostly a ramble with a few excerpts but im getting sleepy im going to TRY to take a break from this for like a day but we’ll see how that goes i do very much want to know what happens. anyway if you read this whole thing hiiiiii sorry for subjecting you to my opinions on top/bottom discourse

[shadedrose01]

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good Turned Very Good Day

Ship: Parkner (Harley Keener/Peter Parker)

Summary: Harley has a bad day, then Peter promposes to him.

Tags: Febufluff, Day 11, proposal, Promposals, light angst, Light Angst, Harley is sad at the beginning, But he gets happy so its okay, Fluff, SO MUCH FLUFF, sweet and cute, Cute, Sweet, short and sweet, Im pretty proud of this one, Even though its short, Mutual Pining, Gay Harley Keener, Bisexual Peter Parker, Boys In Love

Day eleven of Febufluff: "Proposal"!

--

Harley puffs out a long sigh, dragging his feet to his locker. It has been one of the worst days Harley could remember having. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and late, so he had to rush to school. He hadnt eaten breakfast because of the aforementioned lateness, so he was starving by lunch time. He realized that he had forgotten to pack a lunch, so he had to buy the cafeterias terrible, cardboard tasting food. He bombed a literature test that he had studied for for days, and he had almost failed a math test on top of that. AND, as if that wasn't bad enough, he noticed that his friends were acting... weird around him all day. They would be talking in their little group, but as soon as he approached them, they'd stop and act like they weren't doing anything. MJ was constantly whispering things to Ned, and Ned to Peter, and they almost seemed like they were avoiding him at times, ducking out of the way as soon as he tried to approach them. He wasn't going to lie, it hurt like a bitch, and he was the entire day wondering what he had done wrong, thinking about the hushed conversations and immediately drawing assumptions. I mean, they had to be talking about him, why would they stop whenever he was around if they weren't?

Peter was the worst of the bunch, and that made Harleys heart ache even more. He was acting jittery all day, nervous, picking at his clothes and his nails, being extra jumpy, and stumbling and stuttering over his words like he used to when they first became friends, almost two years ago. Harley thought they had moved past that awkward stage, had grown and become so much closer in the past two years, especially in the past few months where guys thoughts of Peter went from 'best friend' to more. But Harley must've thought wrong. And it sucks.

So yeah, a terrible, awful day. The only thing keeping him going was that it was friday, and now, that it was the end of this day, so he could go home and not have to deal with any of this shit anymore (minus the fact that he has a mountain of homework to do, but he couldn't handle to even think about that right now, so he doesn't). He puts in his combination, and tries to open the locker, but the lock doesn't budge. Of course, even his locker would fight him today. He just wants to go home. He redoes the combination again, slower, and it opens (thank god). He goes to put his last classes books away when he catches glimpse of a bright pink stick note attached to the inside of his locker door.

'meet us at the chem lab, loser -MJ'

Harley grits his teeth, feeling a flash of irritation swirl in his stomach. What kind of sick joke is this, to avoid him and talk behind his back all day, only to try and meet up with him now?? But the feeling soon disappears, drowning in the pit of despair Harley's found himself in all day, and Harley finds himself shutting his locker, making his way to the specified lab. Because why not, really? What else could go wrong?

Harley doesn't know what he is expected when he pushes the heavy door open, but it sure as hell wasn't this. Right in the middle of the room, stood directly in front of Harley is Peter, Ned and MJ stood on either side of him in some sort of open triangle formation, all three of them wearing the lab safety gear, lab coats, big, goofy goggles, gloves and all. But the thing, the person that catches Harley's attention right away is Peter, it's always Peter, but more specifically, the bouquet of roses in Peter's arms, the shy, anxious smile on his face, and the poster clutched in his other hand. Harley's reads the words on the big page ('I hope you don't react badly, but I think we have some great Chemistry together. Prom?') and immediately bursts into tears.

Peter's eyes widen in fear, but before he can panic too much, Harley launches into Peter's arms, hugging him tightly as he sobs loud, ugly sounds. Peter embraces him just as tightly, the poster and flowers getting in the way and making it slightly awkward, before coughing slightly. "I-uh- I had- have a speech but uh, I just- are you okay??"

He sounds so worried, and Harley cant help but to laugh loudly, pulling away with the biggest smile on his face, even as tears run down his face. "I'm perfect." He whispers shakily, sniffling and wiping away the snot that starts to run from his nose with his sleeve. "Tell me? Please?"

Peter smiles back lightly, still noticeably worried but mostly relieved, before clearing his throat, his fingers twitching nervously. "Harley Keener, you have been my best friend for two years, 5 months, 13 days aaaand," he squints at the wall over Harleys shoulder. "6 hours ish, but who's keeping count, right?" Harley chuckles a little at that, ignore the tears that are still pooling at his chin and dripping onto his shirt. "And those two years have been some of the best in my life. And lately, I feel like our friendship has grown and evolved into something- something better, something..."

"More." Harkey finished for him, and Peter's doe eyes light up, his lips tilting up higher.

"Yeah, more." He whispers, something looking like hope growing behind his pupils, behind his irises. "So, uh, I was wondering if you maybe not only wanted to go to prom with me, but maybe wanted to go as... my boyfriend?"

Harley feels himself brighten at the words, feels his chest loosen and his heart soar, his body glowing and tingling, and he sobs again, choking out a firm "yes, yes!" before hugging him again, burying his face into Peter's shoulder, the wetness on his face soaking into collar of the lab coat. But its okay, because he can feel Peter's wide grin buried into his neck. He hears his two friend cheering around them, Ned shouting out "I'm so posting that online!" and MJ stating "Finally, you two idiots wont be pining after each other anymore."

Harley just laughs again, and pulls Peter, his prom date, his boyfriend closer, any memory of his bad day fading into oblivion.

[theamazingcaptdeadpool]

Sinday Meme for Characters Who Share a Brain

The original meme can be found here: x Characters: Wade Wilson (@theamazingcaptdeadpool), Frank Castle (@mementomorimthrfckr) and Ajax (@cantfeelsht) Warning: An abundance of words, massive TMI, cursing duh, threats double duh, Any complaints may be directed at our lawyer; @hellsainted

Frank scoffed as Wade had spent the last three minutes trying to figure out a title, brainstorming no pun intended with himself – and the result he landed on you already read. “That sounds terrible, Wade.” he grumbled and sipped his coffee. A sort of bribe to get him to partake in the thing. “You come up with a better one then, Skulls, and we’ll use that.” Wade fired back, thankful that Frank wasn’t known for his creativity. “What was wrong with the original title?” Ajax wanted to know and crossed his arms. He was leaning nonchalantly against the wall, watching the other two with what one could describe as ‘calm suspiciousness’. “It was too long.” Wade complained. “Not catchy. And we’re replying as ourselves. The original title suggested that the co-pilot do it for us. Or arms dealer. Or whatever the hell you call her.” he explained, because he could see Frank straining as he tried to work it out. Be nice Wade. I’m always nice.  “Why don’t we just get this over with.” Ajax’s stare moved from Frank to Wade. His former subject was the most keen on this, after all – surely he would kick it off.  “Best idea you’ve had, Francis.” Wade murmured as he counted the questions of the meme. “Alright, there are twenty questions. Let the sinning commence!” he clapped his hands and rubbed his palms eagerly. 

“Jesus,” Frank exclaimed and leaned over the table, snatching the laptop from the merc with a dirty imagination mouth. “I’ll read these.” He glowered at Wade who raised his hands in defeat. There was no point in challenging the Punisher this early in the game.   “What muse needs the most attention on sinday?” Frank read and for some reason found himself looking glumly up at Ajax who shook his head.  “Wade it is then.” It wasn’t that Frank wouldn’t mind the attention… he just wouldn’t actively seek it.   “Yeah, that’s a no brainer.” Wade murmured, he had somehow produced whiteboard signs and written “Me!” on one side and “Not me!” on the other. What? I came prepared. I always do. Yes, that is me being suggestive. He gave one to Ajax who reluctantly accepted.  “Just making it easier for us.” He explained, surprisingly caring.  “Whatever it takes to shut you up,” Ajax looked at both sides to make sure he hadn’t written anything funny on his. 

“Easy, Francis,” Wade began only to be interrupted by Frank who read the next question loudly. “Which muse usually stays silent on sinday?” Frank sniffed. He hadn’t partaken in any sindays, yet. “I’m not it.” Wade said quickly. “I love me some sinday. Actually every day is sinday in my book. Doesn’t always have to be sex. Severe procrastination. Excess eating. Pillows of blow…” “You ever hear of TMI?” Frank put the laptop down on the table with more force than he intended.

  Wade wiped one of the sides of his sign clear and wrote “NO!” only to hold it up for Frank to see. None of them had noticed how Ajax was holding up his own sign reading “Me!” and it took all his effort not to wack Wade in the back of the head with it. “Let’s move on.” Ajax shot in, before Wade could start one of his endless rambles. Frank glared at Wade like a teacher glare at the kid in class that won’t ever stay silent – that they’re afraid to take their eyes off because they know they’ll cause trouble. “Share some headcanons about your muses’ sexual and/or romantic orientation… You want to go first, Ajax?” Frank offered without looking at him. “Francis.” Wade corrected him. “Can’t feel. He can’t get it up – and can’t get it off.” Ajax closed his eyes, his jaw tense. “Wade is right.” he murmured. “I’m asexual. Except for specific muses. That has to be talked over in detail.” “Contracts has to be signed. Very Christian Grey. Wouldn’t play with him.” Wade turned towards the room and whispered to no one. Well, at least none that Frank and Ajax were aware of. They shared a moment of confusion, waiting for something to happen – someone to reply. As the silence bordered awkward Frank nodded and continued with the survey; “I’m bi with a preference towards women, but I’m not really looking for anything.” His voice was low. He wet his lips and averted his eyes, bouncing his foot impatiently. 

“I’m pan – the comics has me paired up with women and Spiderman. Over here, meaning Tumblr, I have a preference towards men.” Wade stated the obvious. Frank drew a breath to read the next question, but then Wade continued; “Men with metal arms. Men that are Avengers. Men that’s purple… Is that even a man?” “You done?” Frank wanted to know. They’d missed how Wade had fixed the other side of his sign – and was now holding up a “YES!”. “What are your favourite ship for your muses?” Frank was visibly confused by the question.   “For me it’s the Millenium Falcon,” Wade answered – hoping it would make it easier for the not so shockingly thick marine. “Oh, and I love my warship.” “I don’t ship.” Ajax shrugged. He saw no need to. “Cablepool, Winterpool, Cappool, Hawkpool – the one with Colossus, I forgot its name…” Wade counted on his fingers. “Thunderpool is kinda cute.” “You any idea what he’s on about?” Frank turned towards Ajax. “You don’t want to know, mate.” Ajax said with a sigh. “It’s a question about who you see yourself with.” “No one.” Frank answered shortly. He couldn’t be with anyone, because whoever got close to him ended up dead or worse. 

“Why so glum sugarplum?” Wade leaned forward. “What about Castlevania?” “Are you…” Frank was about to get fired up but by some miracle managed to compose himself. He cleared his throat and shifted. “Nevermind. The next question – “ Frank decided he best ignore the entire thing; he thought they were done with Castlevania. He was not to be ‘shipped’ as the kids called it – with Dracula. “Which muse is the kinkiest?” “Next!” Wade called – he was holding up his sign. “Me!” it read. And maybe that was the truth. Wade is into a lot of things, after all… “Which muse has the strangest kinks?” Frank read warily. Wade slammed his sign down on the table to grab everyone’s attention and held it up again. He pointed to it and looked between the other two; “Unless you want to list some kinks?” “Next.” Ajax nodded towards the screen. “You sure, Francis? I won’t kink shame. Maybe I could interest you in – “ “Next!” Ajax insisted. “Choose one muse and tell us how they lost their virginity.” Frank read. He thought perhaps they could draw straws or… “Rock papers scissors lizard Spock.” Wade said with remarkable speed and accuracy. 

“I lost mine to and older girl at one of the many orphanages I visited.” Ajax said flatly, wanting them to believe that it hadn’t really mattered.   “You’re so boring, Francis.” Wade pouted. “At least give us some details.” “It was quick, messy and left me wanting more.” Ajax squared his jaw. “Satisfied?” “Unlike you’ll ever be again; yes. Thank you. I’m touched, Francis.” Wade sniffed as if he was sincerely moved, whilst Frank hid a chuckle and shook his head, clearly relieved that he didn’t have to spill the beans.

“Each of us have to share a random sex fact… I…” Frank rubbed the back of his neck. “I like it when the woman is on top of me, so I can see her pleasure and have her in control.” he admitted. Wade gave an approving nod. “I prefer to be the sub – to give up the control, but more often than not I’m taking it because I get impatient – I think. What about you Francis? Any sexy secrets about your preferences? Oh that’s right…” “I get off on watching others emotions. Pleasure – pain? Doesn’t matter.” Ajax admitted – his tone threatening. Wade gasped loudly and murmured ‘Sadist’ under his breath. Frank blinked and tilted his head slightly to the side – as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Remind me again why we haven’t killed this guy?” Frank asked Wade. “You tell me. Hey, Francis, would you like to hurt me a little – how about that, huh?” “Yes, how about that?” Ajax pushed off the wall, his eyes like pits of hell. Dark, angry. A far too familiar smirk tugging at his lips. 

Frank’s arm shot out – stopping the villain from getting too close. “You’d like that wouldn’t you?” Wade taunted him. “Yeah,” Ajax snarled – pressing against Frank’s hand. “If you could organise… Seriously who made up these questions? Are these,” Frank turned the laptop around, unable to mask how mortified he felt. “Are you behind these Wade? Because I swear to god…” “I can take the blame for a lot of things – but not that.” Wade pointed at the screen. “Finish the question. I’m curious now.” Frank sighed and tilted his head upwards, as if he was asking for patience. 

“Alright. Alright��� Argh… God. If you could organise a threesome involving three of your muses, who would you choose? I guess this one isn’t for us. And… heaven forbid the three of us ever get put in a room together again. Because the next time? I won’t go easy.” Frank pushed Ajax so he fell back against the wall and stared threateningly at Wade. “Careful Frank, he might like it.” Wade taunted. Ajax pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He hated Wade for his ability to get to him.   “The next one is for her as well. What muse she’d like to write a ship for…” Frank shook his head again. “What the fuck’s up with all these damned boats? Anyway… I assume she’d like to try me out with Billy.” “Kinky.” Wade purred. “I’m already in quite a few ships. If we’re adding to… pfft.” Truth was, Wade was content with his situation, so it took some thinking. “A Nathan would be nice? And no ships for Francis. His ship sank the day he let Michael Jackson Dr. Killebrew fiddle with his body.” Wade clicked his tongue and winked at Ajax. 

“How can you possibly know – “ Ajax began – cut off by Frank as he read the next question. “What are some preferences when deciding whether or not to ship a muse?” Frank frowned at the screen. “Read the rules, play nice, write well – I don’t know.” Wade hummed in agreement.  “And don’t assume we’ll ship – I don’t know about the other two, but I’m picky.” “You? Picky?” Ajax scoffed and leered at him. “Do you get to be?” “Well – I can’t fuck all the people who’s bummed because you couldn’t get it up for them.” Wade fired back. 

Frank rubbed his face – considering shooting them both. Ajax wouldn’t feel it, but he could die. Wade would feel it and couldn’t die. What a trio they were… “Are you guys DONE bickering yet?” he sounded tiredly. “Never,” Wade answered as he breathed in. Ajax rolled his eyes. “I prefer missionary or the cowgirl or whatever it’s known as these days. I like the intimacy. The control or giving up of. I like to touch, to see…” Frank’s words grew with passion as he spoke. Wade blinked and looked at him. “What are you on about?” “The next question. I figured I might finish this on my own and get the hell out.” Frank was done with the bullshit.   “What was the question?” Wade put his hands on the table and leaned forward. “Headcanons, sex positions.” Frank scratched his cheek, and glanced up at Ajax. “You outta this one, too?”

“Against a wall… Or relentless teasing,” Ajax didn’t even get to finish before Wade corrected him; “Endless foreplay,” “To draw as much sound from the other part as possible.” Ajax blinked and turned slowly towards Wade. “What about you then, collared and on your knees begging for it?” 

“Actually that’s not that far from the truth. But I like a lot of things. Depends on my partner and whether I’m giving up control or not.” Wade shrugged. “How much time – “ Frank already began reading the next question. “ – none, then.” Wade sighed. “Has she written smut for you guys? Because that’s a no for me.” Frank didn’t take his eyes off the screen – this he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. Ajax arched an eyebrow and cocked his head, Wade nodded vigorously. “I suppose neither of you know whether she prefers to write it or not?” Frank huffed and leaned back into his chair. “How are we supposed to answer these questions when they’re not even… yes… Wade?” Much to his surprise Wade has raised his hand. 

“Thank you. I happen to know that she don’t mind writing smut, but she has to feel comfortable with the person she’s writing it with.” “Multiship or singleship?” Frank turned to Ajax. He couldn’t stand the guy, but at least he’d had the decency to explain some of these things to him. “Is no ship an option?” Ajax smirked. It should be pretty clear at this point that he didn’t ship. “It is now. I’m on the fence. I wouldn’t ship with someone exclusively I think.” Frank grimaced at himself, as he was now using Tumblr and games own terms.   “Good call, Frank! For me it’s multiship all the way.” Wade drew a horizontal line in the air before him. “I’m not exclusive either.” “Huh, I think we just answered the next question. So… What is our shipping preferences? Weren’t we over that? Chemistry?” Frank thought that slow-burn sounded nice, but neither of the other guys seemed like the “slow burn” type. He didn’t know how wrong he was in his assumptions. “Yeah. What would you call my ship with Thanos? Because… that’s like… unhealthy. Toxic ships? I guess we’re semi into that? Aren’t we Francis?” Wade winked at him. Damn was he having a field day. Ajax on his end just shook his head and slammed his shoulders back against the wall. “What’s an OC?” Frank glanced up from the screen, relieved that they were close to done.  “Original character. We don’t really do those.” Wade knew that was frowned upon in the roleplaying community, but he didn’t give a shit. “I don’t know about you, but I have more than enough with the canon characters.” On most days, he actually had more than enough with himself. Ajax and Frank both seemed on board with that. 

“So,” Frank turned the laptop off and pulled the screen down. “That’s it. We’re done. Let’s never do it again.” his knees cracked as he stood up. 

“Or the next time we can get naked and –“ Wade began,  Frank pulled his gun and aimed it straight at his crotch. 

“You don’t want to finish that sentence.” his voice was low, barely audible.  “You don’t want to shoot me, Francis might get off on it.” Wade kindly reminded him.  “Oh my fucking…” Frank rubbed his face and headed out of the room. There wasn’t enough booze in the world to make him forget. 

“Hey – are you off to kill someone? Do you have a team yet – hey Frank, wait up!” Wade picked up his swords and chased after the Punisher. Ajax sighed and pushed his shoulders down. Being around Wade always made him tense up. He rolled his head from side to side, then left through the back door – half expecting the two of them to be waiting to kill him.

If you made it this far, please let me know what you think. No, Frank didn’t kill Ajax. Yet. 

[antihero-writings]

In Plain Sight –Pandora Hearts Fic for Phmonth18 Golden Trio Week – Day/Prompt 3: Friendship (Full fic)

Fic Title: In Plain Sight

Fic Synopsis: When Break hides Gilbert’s favorite Christmas ornament somewhere in the Rainsworth manor, the Golden Trio must spend the afternoon looking for it

Notes: I originally wrote this for the prompt “Ornaments” in an alphabetical Christmas prompt list my friends and I did last year. However, nobody got to read it last year, and since I didn’t get the chance to write anything for the first week of phmonth18, I wanted to at least post something, and decided this worked well for the Golden Trio! Especially since Christmas is fast approaching. I think it works best for the day 3 prompt: Friendship. I hope you like it! I had a lot of fun writing this, and am rather proud of how it turned out! I would really appreciate it if you left a comment to let me know if you enjoyed it!

I posted the entire thing here, but you can also read this on Ao3. It’s under the same title, by I_prefer_the_term_antihero

P.S. This is a repost of an old fic!

Fic:

��You’re the tallest, Gil, you should put the star on top!”

“Ooh! It looks yummy! Like a big cookie!”

“It’s not a cookie, Stupid Rabbit!”

It was a few days before Christmas, and the trio was at the Rainsworth manor. Finally, everything was ready for the holiday; a fire was dancing in its place, the stockings were all lined up on the mantle, and they had just put the finishing touches on the tree. The only one who hadn’t been informed about the festive season, was the sky outside; it had been raining for the past few weeks. There was a chill in the air, it was frosty, but snow hadn’t quite come yet. Still, they made the most of their time indoors.

“Perfect!” Oz exclaimed.

Oz Vessalius was the fifteen-year-old heir to the Vessalius dukedom, but after his escape from the Abyss that year, when he wasn’t off on adventures, and missions, he spent most of his time at the Rainsworth’s.

“It’s so pretty, Onii-chan!”

On account of the ten-year gap, Oz’s sister, Ada, was older than Oz now, but, no matter what, she would never stop seeing him as her older brother. She was on Christmas break from Lutwidge Academy, and more than happy to spend it at the Rainsworths, with her brother. She had, of course, brought her two cats—Snowdrop and Kitty—with her, (which Gilbert maintained a healthy distance from, due to his phobia of cats).

“The Rainsworths will have the best-decorated tree in town!”

Oscar, their uncle, was spending the afternoon with his niece and nephew too. He was a bearded, bespectacled man, with the same blonde hair and green eyes as the rest of his family. At the moment, he was sitting on one of the couches, with a cup what he called ‘tea’, but which the rest of them guessed probably had something stronger in it.

“I can’t take all the credit, Gil and Alice helped a little,” Oz joked.

“‘A little!’”

Gilbert was Oz’s servant; a dark-haired man, who often appeared cold and reserved, but who was rather sensitive, and a worrywart. He still sometimes acted as though they were only a year apart in age too, despite the fact that he was now ten years older than his master.

“Yeah, manservant!” Alice challenged, “More like we did all the work!”

“I was just teasing!”

“Well,” Sharon had a way of returning things to order with her calm and proper words, “you all did a wonderful job.”

Sharon was the heiress to the Rainsworth dukedom, and looked like a thirteen-year-old girl, though was really in her twenties or thirties—(they knew better than to ask her exact age). Her chestnut hair was usually tied back into a kind of half-ponytail, and, as always, she outmatched them all on style points; today it was with a dress of a wintery blue that looked as if she was trying to encourage the snow to fall. As per usual, she held a cup of tea in one hand—peppermint, she had informed them, for the Christmas season—and a pastry in the other. She was sitting at a small round table on the other side of the room, with Reim—duke Barma’s bespectacled, hard working, servant, who spent more time at the Rainsworth’s than anywhere else, with his two best friends—Sharon and Break.

“Well, I’m beat,” Alice stretched and yawned, “Seaweed-head, when are you going to make me some meat?”

Most Chains (creatures from the Abyss) didn’t look like Alice did; like a fourteen-year-old girl, with floor length brown hair, and an almost cat-like physique—(though it was a giant rabbit she often turned into). Also unlike other illegally contracted Chains, she did not have a thirst for human blood, although she did have a particular love for meat, as well as almost anything edible.

“I suppose I can make you something, now that we’ve finished,” Gil sighed.

“Oh? Have you now?” they turned to see Sharon’s servant, Xerxes Break, grinning as he poured himself another cup of tea. “Are you sure nothing’s…” he leaned back against the table, “missing?”

Break was a red-eyed, white-haired man, also much older than he looked. Even those close to him would say he was a bit of an acquired taste; his love for teasing, the creepy doll on his shoulder, and his general lack of regard for other people and their feelings, made it difficult for those subject to his mischiefs—such as Gilbert—to acquire any kind of affection for him.

Gilbert froze, turning his head slowly to the tree. His eyes immediately found the empty space where a certain ornament had been.

“Break!” he shouted, spinning back to him, “Must you do this every year?!”

“Let an old man have his fun.” Break grinned.

“I believe he must, Gilbert-sama,” Sharon answered Gilbert’s question, nonchalantly taking a sip of tea before continuing, “It has become something of a tradition.”

“I should have spent Christmas with he Nightrays this year,” Gilbert grumbled, reluctance in his motions as he began to pick up books, and other objects around the room, as if searching.

“You’re so mean,” Break chided playfully, then spoke a little more seriously, knowing Gilbert had no intentions of spending much time with his adoptive family, and real brother, “You’d rather spend Christmas with the sewer rat, than us?”

Gil gave him a death glare.

“Sorry…but what’s a tradition?” Oz asked, turning to Sharon and Break.

He wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes, especially with things like this, the ten-year gap could make Oz feel like an outsider.

“Every year Break takes Gilbert-sama’s favorite ornament,” Sharon explained, “And hides it somewhere in the manor.”

“Ooh! That sounds like fun!”

“It’s not fun, Oz!” Gilbert hollered at his master, “It’s a waste of a perfectly good afternoon! Not to mention annoying, and rude!”

Break laughed. Gil had yet to learn his outrageous reactions were what made this sort of thing so fun for the prankster.

“Don’t worry, Gil!” Ada bounded up to him, “I’ll help you look!”

Gilbert flushed, “T-Thank you.”

“What does it look like, Gil?” Ada asked.

He looked at Oz, then turned back to Ada, and explained it quietly enough that only she could hear.

She nodded, beaming, and began to look in a different part of the room.

“What’s the matter, Gil?”—Gil gasped as his master appeared suddenly at his other side—“You don’t want me to know what it is?” Oz’s laugh faded into a more puzzled expression when Gil averted his eyes, turning redder.

“It’s a secret, Onii-chan!” Ada answered for him, “You’ll see when we find it!”

He didn’t get the chance to ask anything more, because Alice broke in, having been observing all their interactions,

“Does…Does this mean I won’t get my meat?”

“Uh huh,” Gilbert sighed, “That’s exactly what it means.”

“No! I will not allow it!” Alice shook her head, and whirled around on Break, pointing at him in an accusatory manner, “Clown! Return Seaweed-head’s stupid ornament his instant!”

“It’s not stupid, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Aren’t you a spoilsport?” The Mad Hatter teased, then the doll on his shoulder, Emily, finished,

“Why should I listen to some dumb bunny?”

Alice growled, her hands clenching into fists. She spun to Gilbert, declaring as she ran up to him,

“Then I won’t rest until I find that ornament! With the great Alice-sama on your side, you cannot fail!”

“Sure you won’t just get in the way?”

She kicked him in the shin, then crossed her arms, “You’d be lost without me, Seaweed-head.”

“Don’t kick me, Stupid rabbit!” he rubbed his leg, “Now go look for it over there!” he stamped his injured foot back down and pointed to the opposite corner of the room, (to which she quickly ran, proceeding to tear her designated space apart in a matter of seconds.)

“Is this ornament really all that important, Gil? I mean, we have lots of—”

“Yes!” he answered before his master could finish, “it is!”

Oz sighed, knowing how attached his servant could get to things, “Alright. So…is us helping against the rules?” he asked, watching Alice destroy the room in search of it, Ada calmly remove things, and put them back where they were meant to go, and Gil as a mix of the two.

“Don’t you think we would have stopped them if it was, Oz-kun?”

Sharon shook her head, “It doesn’t matter who finds it, watching him search is the fun part.” Her mischievous side was showing; most of the time she was this prim and proper lady, but being close to Break had its effects.

“That’s right; the more people searching, the funnier it is when they can’t find it,” Break sang. “Though, tell me, Ojousama,” he turned to his mistress “are you merely saying that because you wagered he’d find it early—before 18:00?” he asked knowingly, sitting up on the table—(Reim gave him a look that could only be interpreted as: can-you act-any-less-like-a-servant?)

They turned to the clock—it was 15:00.

“Why do you want to know, Break?” his mistress asked with a tone of false interest, “Are you afraid your skills as a prankster have gone down with age?” she patted her mouth innocently with a napkin.

“What do you take me for, Ojousama?” he smirked, crossing his legs, narrowing his eyes at Gilbert, “He’ll need all the help he can get.”

Gilbert returned to him an even more murderous look.

“You… betted on this?”

“All part of the tradition, Oz-kun,” Break mentioned, stealing a mini pastry from Reim’s plate—(the incense was more than evident on Reim’s face, and probably why Break did it).

“It’s not money we wagered, though; If I win, Break has to swear off sweets over Christmas—as well as make me a lavish dessert full of those sweet things he can’t have. And if Break wins, I have to buy him an equally lavish amount of extra Christmas candy and sweets.”

“Nice! Break, I didn’t know you could bake!”

“He really can’t,” Sharon chuckled, “But it’s fun to see what he comes up with.”

Break glared at her.

“So… is this how you bet every year?”

“Sometimes it’s different. But it’s usually something to the effect of giving Break a taste of his own medicine…Though I seem to recall one year, I wanted Break to do this dance I had heard of in a book, if he lost. I believe it was called ‘Futterwacken.’”

“That’s a weird name for a dance!” Oz laughed, “So? How did that go?

“I suppose it is,” she smiled, “That was one of the tamer punishments, but, when he did lose, he refused—rather blatantly.”

“Really?!” he turned to Break.

“How many times must I tell you? I have no talent for dancing.”

“Truly, as a servant of the Rainsworth Dukedom, it would be better fitting that you learned,” she shook her head, then turned back to Oz, “Anyway, after that, we thought the chance to take away his candy was rather enjoyable.”

“Aw, I want to join the bet!”

Gilbert looked affronted, but before he could speak, Oz continued, boyish excitement simmering in his tone,

“Say, what if, if Break loses, I get to eat his candy instead?!”

Sharon and Break glanced at each other.

“Let me ask you something, Oz-kun;” Break set down his tea, “Are you willing to risk the consequences of such a wager?”

“Ehh…consequences?”

“Why of course. I couldn’t give little Oz-kun the chance of stealing my candy without the proper torment in store if he lost.”

“Eh…” Oz knew just how mean Break could get, and that this could very well turn into a prank war that ended in actual blood, “I think I’ll pass.”

“I always said you were smarter than you looked,” the Mad Hatter picked up his tea again.

“Maybe you could join in by helping me look, instead of encouraging them, Oz!” Gilbert whirled on him.

“Aww, do I have to?” the fifteen-year-old groaned.

“Oz!”

Oz turned to the masterminds, as if silently asking for them to give him an excuse not to.

“Hey, Oz-kun is sharp,” Break began, then Emily added,

“Probably smarter than these three put together!”

—two of the aforementioned three gave him what can only be described as ‘fight-me’ faces, and Ada looked disheartened—Break took no notice, and finished,

“So that depends; whose side are you on?”

“Well,” Oz thought for a moment, then mused, grinning, “it would be fun to see Break trying to swear of candy!”

“Is that so?” Break’s eye narrowed.

“In any case, why isn’t Reim-san helping?” he shifted the focus. “You’re not the kind of person to sit back while others are in trouble”

Reim sighed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “While that may be true, these two are often harsher with me, than others. If I help you, I have a feeling I shall pay for it in some way later,” he shot them an icy look, “dearly.”

“Whatever do you mean, Reim-san?” Sharon asked innocently. “We thought you enjoyed our company.”

“Yeah, it’s only because you’re our favorite, Reim-san,” Break gave a fake sappy voice.

“Then pick a new favorite!”

“That’s not how it works! You have a lifetime guarantee!”

“Sharon,” it was Ada who spoke. She had been focused on searching on the mantelpiece, and inside the stockings, “Why are there nine stockings?”

“What do you mean, Ada?” Oz asked, stepping over to her.

“Well, I was just thinking; there’s me, Onii-chan, Uncle, and Alice,”—Alice looked annoyed at Ada mentioning her name—“since we’re staying here for Christmas,” she pointed at each of the stockings in turn, “and these belong to Sharon-sama, Break, Duchess Rainsworth-sama, and Reim-san, right? But who does this last one belong to?” she held the bottom of the last one, careful not to pull it off the mantle.

They turned to Break and Sharon, who glanced at each other, their mischievous grins fading into more somber, reminiscent expressions.

“It was Break’s idea,” Sharon answered.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit—“

“It’s for my mother…That has become something of a tradition as well. We just thought it would be nice, to have something to remember her by during the Christmas season.”

The tone in the room quieted; the rest of them knew that Shelly was Sharon’s mother, who had died sometime after Oz’s coming of age ceremony.

“That’s…actually really sweet,” Oz noted, “Break, I’m surprised you thought of it!”

“You think you’re cute, don’t you? And you say that like I’m cruel.”

“Well…” Oz rubbed the back of his neck, smiling nervously, trying to formulate a non- insulting answer in his mind.

“I think what Oz is trying to say,” Reim started out gently, then finished harshly, “Is that it’s high time you realized you can be a jerk, Xerxes!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say jerk’…” Oz began.

“I would,” Gil mumbled.

“My…I cant believe that you all….” Break began softly, then Emily jeered,

“Just figured that out now!”

The anger was evident on all of their faces.

“Really, why are you all ganging up on me,” Break grinned, without a hint of hurt in his voice, “when you should be focusing on the task at hand?”

“Because it’s your fault we’re in this mess!” Gilbert shouted, then ran his hand frustratedly through his hair, observing the mess they had made of the room, before demanding, “Is it in this room?!”

“Given up already, have you?” Emily teased.

Gilbert clenched his hands into fists, biting back a retort.

“Did anyone see him leave the room?!”

Everyone looked at Gilbert blankly, or up at the ceiling, trying to think if they had, realizing they had no idea, and knew full well Sharon could have used Eques to transport him when their backs were turned anyways. Gilbert put his hands on his hips, sighing at their silence “Alright. We have a whole manor to look through, it’s best we move on from this room,” he paused, turning again to Break, with malice in his eyes, “Right?”

“Sure, kiddo!” Emily replied, and he gave the fakest grin yet.

Gilbert gritted his teeth, then shook his head, directing them,

“Let’s split up; Ada, you go down the left hall, Stupid Rabbit, you take the right. I’ll go downstairs.”

“I won’t let you down, Seaweed-Head!” Alice sped down the hall, not even searching, as if she had forgotten the task she’d been given.

Ada nodded, “Come on, Snowdrop, Kitty!” she called to her cats.

Oz sighed, “Alright, fine. I’ll help too.”

Gilbert smiled, about to thank him, when Oz added,

“But I expect to be rewarded for my troubles!”

His servant rolled his eyes.

“I kinda need to know what it looks like, though, don’t I, Gil? You seemed to want to keep it a secret earlier.”

“You’ll…um….You’ll know it when you see it,” Gilbert looked anywhere but at his master.

Oz sighed, putting his hands on his hips, “Really? That kinda makes things harder, you know.”

“Oh, not up to the challenge, are you Oz-kun?” Break goaded.

“No, no, I can do it! I just feel like we’re not addressing a key part of the puzzle here!”

With that Gilbert pulled him out of the room and into the search.

Gilbert was right; it did seem like a bit of a waste of an afternoon; exhausting wasn’t the only word that came to mind after rifling through each room one by one, with no clue as to where it might be. Especially because the feeling began growing in them that Gilbert was way too attached to things, as well as that Break was, indeed, a jerk. They didn’t know how much time had passed before they met up again in the hall, everyone hanging their heads in shame and disappointment.

“What should we do?” Ada asked quietly.

“We can’t let the clowny bastard win!” Alice slammed a fist into her other palm to emphasize her point.

“That’s right!” Gilbert agreed, “For years I had to put up with his constant teasing, it’s high time we got him back!”

“I don’t think losing the bet is really going to make him stop. I mean, he’s lost before, right?”

“You don’t have to be so blunt about it!” Gilbert complained.

“Sorry,” Oz shrugged.

In the moment of silence that followed, Ada’s cat started rubbing against Oz’s leg, as if trying to comfort him.

“What do you think, Snowdrop?” Oz asked jokingly, picking up his sister’s cat, (Gilbert eyed it, a whine developing in his throat, scooching away), “Do you have any idea where it is?”

Oz gasped.

“What is it, Onii-chan?”

Tied into the cat’s collar was a ribbon, attached to a little ornament. He pulled it free and placed the cat on the floor (it meowed and padded away).

The other three gasped in turn, leaning in to get a better look at it.

“That bastard!” Gilbert slammed his fist into the wall behind him. “He knew I wouldn’t go near your cats!”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, “leave it to Break to take the cheap shot.”

“What are we waiting for?!” Alice demanded, “Didn’t I just say we can’t let the clowny bastard win!”

“You’re right!” the others said together, and bolted down the hall.

“We found it!” Oz held the ornament high, like a trophy, as they burst through the door.

At the same moment that he held up the evidence, the hour chimed.

They each glanced at each other, then at the clock, which read exactly 18:00.

“My, my, isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” Break remarked, stretching, “It looks like it’s a tie, Ojousama.”

“It would appear,” Sharon smiled “In that case, would you please excuse me for a moment?” she gathered her dress and hurried out of the room.

“So, which one of you found it?” Break asked, walking over to them.

“I did.”

The prankster smirked, “What did I tell you?” he ruffled Oz’s hair, “Oz-kun’s sharp.”

“So… what does that mean about your wagers?” Oz tried to put his hair right. “Since you tied?”

“Just a moment Oz-kun,” he put his hand on Oz’s head, his sleeve falling over his eyes, and looked over their heads

Sharon quickly did return, a little out of breath, holding a small package wrapped in a ribbon.

“Here you are, Break!” she held it out for him.

He took it from her and unwrapped it, opening the little red box to reveal that it was filled with the the candy she had promised.

“Just the thing I needed” he patted her head, unwrapping a piece and tossing it into his mouth. “Better luck next time, Ojousama,”

Oz and Alice stared at him, open-mouthed, dumbstruck that he had beat them.

“Now I suppose I should get started on that dessert of yours,” he waited until the proper moment to add.

“Please do.”

“Huh?” Oz and Alice asked simultaneously.

“Since we tied,” Sharon spoke, as they both turned to them, “we both win.”

“So…does that mean the clown still has to swear off candy?” Alice asked hopefully.

“No—Unfortunately,” Sharon added, glancing at her servant, who rolled his eyes, eating another piece, “We both get the rewards of the wager, but no one gets the punishment.”

“More in the Christmas spirit, wouldn’t you agree, Ojousama?” he said between candy crunches.

“Since when do you care about ‘Christmas spirit’?!” Gilbert demanded.

“Better luck next year, I guess,” Oz tried to put a positive spin on it.

“Next year?!” Alice fumed, “I want to settle this now!” (Gilbert held Alice by the neck of her jacket.)

“Believe me,” Reim grunted, eyeing Break, “it’ll only end worse for you,”

“Who knows?” Break shrugged, “There may not be a next year, Oz-kun.”

Alice continued to seethe while the others glanced at each other, unsure of how to respond to such a statement.

“There you go again,” Reim scolded. “You can’t just mention something like that!”

Break dismissed him with a wave of his hand, chuckling to himself, and muttering something about his uptightness, as he made his way down the hall to the kitchens.

After Break left, Oz looked down at his hand, opening his fingers to reveal the little clay, painted oddity he was still holding. Alice came behind him and looked over his shoulder at it.

“What…is it?”

“You didn’t know what you were looking for?!” Gilbert questioned.

“Because you never told me, Seaweed-head!”

Gilbert looked away, clearly wanting to bite back, but without argument with which to do so.

Oz shook his head, staring at it. It was rather crudely made, ineptly painted. But he couldn’t mistake it for anything else—and Gil had been right, he did know it when he saw it.

Because he was the one who made it.

“I can’t believe you kept this, Gil.”

Gilbert looked away, nodding and turning red.

Now he understood why Gilbert was so intent on getting it back. This ornament had probably become a symbol to Gilbert—much like Shelly’s stocking on the mantelpiece was for Break and Sharon—for Oz himself. This ornament, through the years, had probably become tied to his faithful valet’s unending hope that his master would come back. Each year Break took it, as if teasing that perhaps he wouldn’t (and, maybe this was his roundabout way of him trying to prepare him for that), but Gilbert always got it back, as if displaying that he would never lose that hope.

“Oy! What is it?!” Alice demanded again, upset her ‘manservant’ wasn’t focusing all his attention on her.

“It’s a bird, Alice,” Oz answered simply.

“Really, how do you figure?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look very good does it?” Oz laughed.

“Seaweed-head, why would a crappy ornament like this be your favorite?”

“Oy! You don’t see me criticizing your bad taste!”

“Bad taste?! I have impeccable taste! I eat meat every day!”

“That’s not what—”

“Its because I made it for him,” Oz answered her question quietly.

“You?” Alice laughed, slapping him on the back, “You have pretty poor skills, Oz.”

“Give me a break! I was a kid!”

Oscar laughed, walking up to them, “You’re still a kid, Oz. Yes…I can’t remember how old he was, but he made me, Ada, and Gilbert ornaments,” he laughed a little, putting his arm around Gilbert, “I remember how offended Gil was at his master making him a gift.”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, they all looked up at Gil, who got steadily redder the more they spoke, “We had to force him to accept it.”

“Why are you surprised he kept his, Onii-chan?” Ada asked, “Uncle and I kept ours. They’re back at the Vessalius manor. But! we could bring them over here if you want!”

“That’s okay, I believe you! Still… Like Alice said, they don’t look very good.”

“But, like you said, you were the one who made them for us,” Oscar ruffled his nephew’s hair.

“What were the ornaments you made for them, Oz?” Alice asked.

“Well, I made Ada a little cat, and uncle Oscar a camera. I didn’t really know what Gil liked, so I just made him a bird. Funny, how your chain is Raven now.”

“How come you haven’t made me one, Manservant?!” Alice hit Oz on the head.

“Hey! I’ve been busy!” he rubbed the spot where she hit him.

“In any case,” Alice turned to Gilbert, jumping quickly to the next subject, “now you can make my meat, Seaweed-head!”

“Break’s using the kitchen, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Then let’s go to the market! I’m starving!”

Gilbert sighed into his hand, “Fine. Let me get my hat and coat.”

“Can I come with you guys?” Ada asked—Alice looked peeved, but Gil and Oz had already welcomed her.

“I’ll go check if Break needs anything!” Oz ran off towards the kitchen.

As Oz arrived, he saw that Break had changed out of his white coat and purple shirt into more casual closing—likely so he wouldn’t ruin his normal outfit. He had rolled up the sleeves, and was wearing a pink apron Gil sometimes wore when he cooked for them here, but which probably belonged to Sharon’s grandmother, or mother. He had already begun to make a mess of things; flour was all over the counter, chocolate was on the walls, somehow there were even ingredients in in his hair.

“You need some help?” Oz asked, half-jokingly.

Break looked up.

“Oz-kun,” he noted, then grinned, “You? Help me? Gotten bored of Gilbert-kun, and Alice-kun already?”

“Nah. I just wanted to know if you needed anything. We’re going to the store.”

Oz knew that Break could have asked for help from the staff, or Gilbert, but Sharon called him ‘Mr. One-Man-Show’ for a reason; sure, it might not taste or look all that good, but at least he would have made it himself.

“You really think I wouldn’t have come prepared?”

“But, if you won, you wouldn’t have to make—”

Oz gasped. Realizing something:

They both had bought the supplies ahead of time. Oz thought one of them would have to go to the store, depending on who won the bet, (perhaps dragging the other begrudgingly along), but they both had already bought the necessary ingredients. Which meant, either the food one of them bought would go to waste, or be used in some other way, or, regardless of who won or lost, they still intended to give each other the gifts.

“You already had the ingredients,” Oz thought out loud. “and Sharon-chan already had your candy…”

“So?”

“I would have thought one of you would have to go to the store, depending on who won.”

“What’s your point, Oz-kun?” Break pushed his hair back.

Oz shook his head, grinning like he now had some secret information. “Break, you really are a nice guy, aren’t you?”

Break put his hand on the table, turning to him, “Wipe that cheeky grin off your face before I do it for you.”

Oz put his hands behind his back, sauntering closer.

“Oh, nothing,” he whistled, “Just that, well, you do this every year, don’t you? Sharon likes to give you a taste of your own medicine if you lose, but you both use this an excuse to give each other extra gifts, don’t you? I bet it was your idea in the first place.”

“How do you know we weren’t planning to use the supplies in some other way?”

“Because you’re not considerate enough to let others use your stuff,” he grinned, “Didn’t you just say there would be punishment in store if I got your candy?”

“Well,” he smirked at Oz’s discovery, twirling the spoon in his hand, “‘nice’ would be stretching it. But maybe occasionally I’m not a complete ‘jerk.’”

Oz grinned. That was all the confirmation he needed.

As if he were brandishing a sword, Break flicked chocolate on Oz’s face with the spoon, “Now get out of here.”

Oz rolled his eyes.

“Good luck, Break!”

With that he exited the room, and ran to the front door to catch up with Gil, Ada, and Alice, who were gathered there, waiting for him.

“Break doesn’t need anything!” he called to them, “Let’s go!”

At first it may have seemed like a waste of time, but, in the end, Oz realized; an afternoon playing a game, learning that after ten years Gil had still cherished the small gift he had once been reluctant to accept, seeing how Sharon and Break found ways to bring each other joy, spending time with his friends, spending time with his real family, would never be a waste of an afternoon for him.

[burclay]

Time, Space, and Texting: Chapter 2

The Doctor ☄��👋😂🌌🌈: THIS IS A SPACESHIP

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: WE’RE FOUR DAYS’ TRAVEL FROM THE TARDIS 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: On the other hand, General Eve Cicero is here 😍😍😍 what a legend!

AO3 Chapter 1

RyanS: GUYS I’M SO BORED

RyanS: WERE STUCK IN THIS WEIRD HOSPITAL AND THE DOCTORS NOT AWAKE

yaz01: is now really the time ryan

RyanS: YES

bad-wolf-girl: is the doctor okay?

yaz01: the medics say she’ll be fine. we got hit with some sort of weird space bomb but these people are taking care of us.

Graham O’Brien: Are we really texting right now?

yaz01: that’s what i said.

The Captain: When you say weird space bomb…

Graham O’Brien: I think one of the medics said “sonic mine.”

RyanS: theyre trying to find our medtags now. taking bets on how long it takes them to realize we havent got any

The Captain: A sonic mine? You know how lucky you are to be alive, right?

RyanS: picking up on it yeah

yaz01: hold on a sec, dr’s awake

DoctorJones: In the meantime, I’ve finally convinced Mickey to check his phone.

mickeyrick: hey, it’s been a while. heard there’s a new doctor. or however that works.

RyanS: might want to read up a bit

yaz01: ryan! get off your phone!

RyanS: you’re on your phone!

yaz01: only to get your attention! come on!

bad-wolf-girl: so we’ll just assume they’re busy, then

bad-wolf-girl: anyone meet any cool aliens lately?

cyberbill: heather and i went to a planet that was nothing but ocean. pretty cool.

oswin: you two are made of water or something, right?

oswin: suppose you were right at home there

cyberbill: yeah pretty much.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: THIS IS A SPACESHIP

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: WE’RE FOUR DAYS’ TRAVEL FROM THE TARDIS 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: On the other hand, General Eve Cicero is here 😍😍😍 what a legend!

The Captain: Whoa, really?

The Captain: *The* Eve Cicero? Named in the Book of Celebrants?

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: The very one!

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Anyway, got to go, I’m walking.

yaz01: while she’s doing that. cyberbill, did you say you’re made of water?

cyberbill: just bill. and long story, but yeah

RyanS: i give up making sense of you lot

yaz01: sometime i’d like to hear the long story!

cyberbill: well, sounds like you all are going to have time to read, at least. four days away from the tardis and all that.

RyanS: yeah n now the doctor’s gone off who knows where so we dont even have her whole crisis to deal with

cyberbill: i don’t even know where to start. to be honest, i’m not sure i even understand it all. but my crush got taken by this sort of water thing, and then i was a cyberman for a bit, and next thing i knew i was water.

cyberbill: heather says it’s all just atoms. she’s better with all this than i am

cyberbill: someday i’ll add her in here. don’t know if she’d say much.

The Captain: We’re all dying to meet her.

cyberbill: or *you’re* dying to meet her

oswin: oi, i’m already dying. don’t add this into it!

yaz01: you’re dying?

oswin: long story

yaz01: you all keep saying that

oswin: fair enough. basically i’m frozen in the moment right before i died. but i can still move around. so i’ve stolen a tardis and i’m running around in it now

RyanS: im beginning to understand how the doctor picks her friends

RyanS: ur all completely mad

oswin: not sure what that says about you, then

RyanS: oh i’ll accept me being mad too, that’s fine

johnsmith42: nothing wrong with a bit of madness!

bad-wolf-girl: says the man who reconfigured our entire television to not use the color green

johnsmith42: I don’t like green! what’s wrong with that?

bad-wolf-girl: everything shows in shades of red and blue now

bad-wolf-girl: good thing i figured out how to encase my laptop in dalekanium

bad-wolf-girl: for all their faults, Daleks are pretty good at indestructible metal

johnsmith42: for the record, I would NEVER mess with your laptop

yaz01: daleks?

oswin: oh boy

johnsmith42: VERY dangerous aliens. do NOT approach.

bad-wolf-girl: i’m sure you’ll meet one someday. they tend to pop up around the doctor.

yaz01: why?

bad-wolf-girl: that’s really her story to tell, sorry

yaz01: fair enough, i guess.

RyanS: glad ur computers safe

bad-wolf-girl: yeah me too

mickeyrick: so i finished reading up. sounds like you’re having a bit of a time.

mickeyrick: when the doctor gets back tell her i like her jacket

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: I’m back! 👋

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Oh, hello, Mickey! Thanks! 🤗

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Anyway, there’s something *very bad* going on. 👎😱👾😲

Graham O’Brien: And you’re spending time picking out emojis?

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Doesn’t take that long! 😡😡😡

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: ANYWAY. Something’s on board and it’s killed Astos. Ryan, Graham, Yaz, be careful.

RyanS: wed better go find her hadnt we

yaz01: yep

DoctorJones: Be safe!

bad-wolf-girl: good luck!

mickeyrick: i’m remembering why i never come in this chat

mickeyrick: my life might be dangerous but at least it makes sense

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Anyone know anything about something called a “Pting?”

bad-wolf-girl: you have a pting on your ship?

bad-wolf-girl: we came across one of those a few years back

bad-wolf-girl: didn’t exactly go very well

bad-wolf-girl: i’m sure you’ll be fine though

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: That’s not encouraging!!! 😱

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: We’re looking it up in the ship’s systems 😬

bad-wolf-girl: all you need to know is it eats *everything*

bad-wolf-girl: and its skin is toxic

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: 😱😱😱

The Captain: oh, boy

The Captain: Doctor, I’m going to need you to check in with us frequently until this one’s over

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Will do.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Got to think. What do we do???

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: THE SHIP’S GOT A BOMB IN IT 😱

johnsmith42: what???

The Captain: well, that’s a check-in, I suppose

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: It’s a Tsuranga ship, there’s a self-destruct in case anything happens that makes the ship a danger to the planet on which it lands.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: But we are NOT going to be a danger!

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: We are going to SOLVE THIS.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: So the bomb is really unfair!

bad-wolf-girl: too bad life isn’t fair i guess

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Oi!!! You shut up!!!

bad-wolf-girl: 😘

Amy: hey everybody! what’s up!

bad-wolf-girl: doctor’s in danger, the rest of us are laughing at her to hide our worry

Amy: must be Tuesday

bad-wolf-girl: pretty much

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: AMY! Hi Amy!

Amy: hey, doctor!

Amy: oh, never mind. looks like you have bigger things to do than talk in this groupchat

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: I’m procrastinating 😔😓 can’t think of a plan!!! 😬😬😬 Don’t worry, I’ll get there!

yaz01: doctor, we’re on our way back

yaz01: have you been talking to your friends this *whole time*?

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Don’t worry! I almost have a plan!

yaz01: i can’t believe i trust you with my life!

Amy: but you do…

Amy: it’s a trap we all fall into

Amy: side note, but is this version of the Doctor somehow more of a mess than the last two?

johnsmith42: *definitely* more of a mess than me.

bad-wolf-girl: keep telling yourself that 😘

johnsmith42: I will, thanks.

RyanS: ABOUT TO HELP DELIVER A MANS BABY WISH US LUCK

Amy: ???????

The Captain: Good luck!

bad-wolf-girl: good luck!

Amy: what happened to the alien?

cyberbill: something tells me they might be a little too busy to talk right now

oswin: good luck!

oswin: oops i’m too late

yaz01: THERE’S NO INTERNET TUTORIAL FOR STAZING A PTING

oswin: are those real words?

oswin: you’ve got to be careful. i swear the doctor likes to just make up words.

bad-wolf-girl: i second that.

bad-wolf-girl: i still make up words for everything i don’t understand and i blame him...

bad-wolf-girl: marrying his clone can’t have helped.

johnsmith42: oh, you love me

bad-wolf-girl: 😘😘😘

oswin: careful… use that many emojis at once and you’ll get confused for the doctor

bad-wolf-girl: lol

DoctorJones: Hold on… is everyone all right?

oswin: seems like the jury’s out

oswin: i’m fine tho

DoctorJones: Ryan, do you need help? I’m an *actual* doctor on Earth.

yaz01: not sure human medicine is entirely applicable

yaz01: but there’s a medic doing the heavy lifting, don’t worry

yaz01: ryan and graham are being doulas

yaz01: OH SHLJKKDSA

DoctorJones: Yaz?

bad-wolf-girl: everything all right?

oswin: what happened?

Amy: yaz???

yaz01: sorry yeah everything’s fine

yaz01: just drop kicked a pting nothing to see here

yaz01: dropped my phone mid-message

yaz01: sorry about that

DoctorJones: Glad you’re all right.

yaz01: yeah me too

yaz01: but no time to talk drs here

oswin: good luck

oswin: side note i just found a planet with six-headed lizards

cyberbill: what, you mean like the hydra?

oswin: yeah!

oswin: think they came to earth and inspired the ancient greeks?

Amy: doubt it

Amy: anyone can think up a many-headed dragon

oswin: true enough. anyway i’m going to go explore. ttyl

Amy: have fun!

mickeyrick: anyone else *really worried* about this whole alien-spaceship situation?

Amy: they’ll get out of it

DoctorJones: The Doctor does have a knack for getting out of these sorts of things. I’m sure they’ll be fine.

bad-wolf-girl: doesn’t always end well though

Amy: she’s had time to come up with a plan now

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Hi everybody I’m brilliant!

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Pting ate the bomb and now all we have to do is get the ship to Resus One, and then we can go right on back to the TARDIS.

Amy: told you!

bad-wolf-girl: nice!!!

RyanS: this babys so cute i might cry

Graham O’Brien: Not because of the heartwarming conversation you just had or anything.

RyanS: no its just really cute

RyanS: im serious its so little

RyanS: did you know they make people that little

RyanS: its fingers

RyanS: are tiny

yaz01: ryan have you ever seen a baby before

RyanS: leave me alone yaz!!!

DoctorJones: Is the dad doing all right?

RyanS: yeah hes fine

RyanS: hes gonna be such a good dad

RyanS: but thats not why i might cry i swear

RyanS: (grahams looking at me funny :-( )

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Bad news. General Cicero is dead.

Graham O’Brien: Oh, goodness.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: We’re going to be holding a funeral in the engine room. Ryan, Graham, do you think Yoss will want to come?

RyanS: ill ask

RyanS: he says yes

Graham O’Brien: Be there in a moment, Doc.

The Captain: Quite a loss.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: I know. 😢

DoctorJones: May she rest in peace.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: She lived a good life.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Died saving us.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: She had pilot’s heart. Knew she had pilot’s heart. Took over control of the ship anyway.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: All the emojis in my name are seeming really inappropriate right about now. 😢😢😢

bad-wolf-girl: i’m sorry doctor

Amy: I’ll add her to the list.

Amy: General Eve Cicero?

yaz01: the list?

bad-wolf-girl: when people die we add them to a list

bad-wolf-girl: we make a point of remembering them every so often

bad-wolf-girl: roughly once a year in the timeline of whoever’s holding the list

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: General Eve Cicero is right.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Also add Astos.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: He was the medic who died.

Amy: got it

<document: the list>

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Thanks, Amy. 💙

Amy: no problem

yaz01: wait, how often do people die??? this is a *long* list

bad-wolf-girl: this is over the course of maybe a thousand years in the doctor’s timeline

bad-wolf-girl: it’s a dangerous life, yaz

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: I’m sorry. I did warn you.

yaz01: yeah i know

yaz01: took me by surprise i guess

The Captain: General Cicero is 116th century, right?

The Captain: from Keeba?

The Captain: I know those funeral rites

The Captain: they’re beautiful

The Captain: I hope they carry her well

bad-wolf-girl: what’re they like?

The Captain: Keeba’s a solar system full of voyagers

The Captain: there wasn’t any life there until it got developed

The Captain: so their rituals and ceremonies assume every religion is real and has value.

The Captain: it depends on which planet she’s from and where her family’s from

The Captain: but they tend to involve everyone standing in a circle and speaking together.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: That’s exactly right. We had her android consort lead.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: She’s been laid to proper rest now. Among the stars. 🌠

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: And we’re almost to Resus One, which’ll teleport us back to the TARDIS.

The Doctor ☄️👋😂🌌🌈: Not sure my ectospleen’ll ever be the same, though.

RyanS: not sure your ectospleens our biggest concern

yaz01: i think she just fell asleep

johnsmith42: well, she’s clearly had a long day.

Graham O’Brien: I’ll say. I’m about to fall asleep myself.

RyanS: you do that

RyanS: im gonna go see if yoss will let me hold his baby brb

[winstonhcomedy]

“Dope A-F” 1/9-1/10  “Tonight Shows and Bro Re Nata”

Sweet baby lord had two hot ones last night at two dope shows. Had a super fun night of standup at two of my favorite mics! 

After work I headed over to Short Pump Town Center to get to The Funny Bone for the open mic hosted by Liz Carr. I was there super early so I decided to do a little shopping first. I picked up a new jacket at H&M. It’s a big puffy red, white, and blue jacket that has a real 90s ski movie vibe to it. I throw it on and then head to the candy shop right across from me. Where I proceed to spend 8 dollars on taffy because I am a toddler.

I do some writing in my car and head up to the club. When I get there comedian Brett Leake (5 Tonight Show appearances) is coming in the door. Brett is a comedian living with muscular dystrophy so he is not out at shows as often as he’d probably like.  So it is always a treat to see and talk to him.

After Brett and I get signed up we have an absolutely wonderful conversation about comedy. I get to ask him questions about his Tonight Show appearances. He walked me through the entire process the first time he was selected, and everything that went into that set. 

We then discussed the differences between comedy then and now. How when he started there was no real comedy about identity. Everybody just wanted jokes in the club and they wanted you to steer away from certain topics. He said that he wouldn’t talk about his MD too much on his first Tonight Show because they didn't want him to talk about it too much. Which is in stark contrast to comedy today. I really wish I had recorded this conversation because it was an invaluable discussion about standup. 

Times like this are why I’m glad to be a comic. He talked to me like a peer and a friend and that was really special. If you ever have a chance to talk to Brett or see him live go do it. He now does a mix of comedy and motivational speaking and he is always fun to watch.  Here is one of his appearances on morning radio.

We do the comics meeting and I notice there is a lot of newer comics here. I think other than Liz, Brett, Richard Woody and I no one on the list have been doing comedy longer than a year. I am also interested how shows like this are going to go. We then get the show rolling. Brett opens the show up and has a fine set. He is working out some material about numbers and some questions he has about a couple different religions. 

We then get into a string of newer comics. I can’t really remember anything too much about many of them. There are a few who have taken Patrick Buhse’s class (and it’s always exciting to see these people out at mics actually continuing to do standup). 

The show is going pretty well. Mu Cuzzo goes up right before me and he’s dressed up like he’s about to give a sermon. He has a hot set, and then it is my turn. I feel super good about my set. I worked on my new joke about witches and then riffed an idea about Trump not being the worst president. It got a laugh as well. I had a pretty good set and I’d give it a B-.

Rick went up later that night and ended up doing ok. He was doing new stuff, and people had left. He couldn’t really connect, but it happens. He stayed in the pocket and finished the set.

I then headed over to McCormacks to do some time. I get there and find out I am third and the show is about to start. There are a few comics that I hadn’t seen in a long time, and also a lot of newer comics as well. Looked like a good crowd and they seemed to be into comedy from the start. So as long as you could deliver you would be set.

I went third and I still heard a few hot takes about R.Kelly which is always fun. Nothing like newer comics taking a hot topic and beating it into the ground. I know that I could probably get some good material by focusing on what is in the news, but it just all feels so hacky right away since everyone is giving their take it is a deterrent. I need to get over this because some of my best jokes are about hot topics in the news, or news stories. It is a thing I am actively working on this year to get over that. 

I go up after and have a super hot set. Everything works. I do my two brand new bits, and add a bunch of tags to a third. I got a bell ring from the bartender which was dope, and didn’t have a down moment in my set. It felt really good and one of the better sets I’ve had at McCormacks in a while. Just feels like proof that the hard work is paying off. I’d give this set an A-. After my set I grabbed my stuff and headed home. All in all not a bad night for comedy!!!

The next night was my night to host a showcase at Pro Re Nata Brewery in Crozet. JR Stoffel is the usual host of this show, but he is in Las Vegas for CES for his job. So he handed the reins over to me. I got to book a fun lineup (Rick Williams, Paige Campbell, and Richard Woody), had a guest spot (Alex Castagne) and Chris Alan headlining. 

We had a pretty good crowd actually. I think at our peak we were at about 45+. Which is a solid number for a freezing cold day in Crozet. This show is continuing to grow and bring in business. JR has done a great job building the room. 

I went up first and had a pretty good set. I did new jokes and some light crowd work. I basically just wrangled the crowd for 10 minutes and get them in the mood. A fine hosting set, but I didn’t kill. I”d give this set a C+.

After me was Alex. He did pretty well. He had some lulls and he wasn’t happy with his set, but from the outside looking in he held his own and had some jokes get some pretty big laughs. 

Then Rick went up. He had a good set too. Most of his material worked and he actually got an applause break for a joke he has about kickball. He didn’t close crazy strong, but people definitely dug his set.

Richard Woody followed him with one of the strongest sets of the night. From beginning to end everything he did was working. He got some huge laughs and held crowd control for the duration. He did some material which included him reading his online dating interactions, and it did super well to close.

Paige Campbell had an uneven set. He’d hit really hard and then not get much. Which honestly seemed to be the theme for the entire night. Everybody would lose the crowd a little bit and then just get them back. They were enjoying the whole show but it was almost impossible to build momentum to really make them crack. No one did poorly, everyone did well and got laughs, but you felt like you could lose them at any second.

Lastly Chris went up and did 45 minutes. He was in his own head about it and didn’t seem to be enjoying his self. He was working out a lot of new material during this 45 minutes, and I was super impressed that he stuck with it even when it wouldn’t go anywhere. Then he would follow the lulls with a killer joke that would destroy. The audience could tell he wasn’t feeling it 100% but they stuck with him. I thought he had a good set, and a lot of his new material is super funny and is only going to get better. It was a solid ending to a super fun show. Chris is crazy critical of his self, and that’s what makes him a great comic. 

After the show people came up and were super supportive and said they’d be back for the future ones. I think JR’s room is slowly turning into one of the better comedy rooms in the area and I can’t wait to see what he does with it next. 

WHAT A HOT TWO DAY STRETCH FOR COMEDY! I will be at Cozzys tonight and tomorrow at 8! And Sunday at 8 I’ll be closing out the show at Hof Garden at 7. So come one and all. I love you laydees xoxoxo sugar!

[notbang]

17. things you said that i wish you hadnt

This pretty directly references the goings on of this ficlet, so if you haven’t read that first you might wind up a little miffed.

They both stand in the doorway to the room, regarding the queen sized bed at the centre of it with a mix of horror and dismay.

“Oh no, it’s the sharing a bed trope.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing,” Maya gulps, pushing her glasses up her nose.

Nathaniel can’t be surprised, not really. Not after the day he’s had.

George had been otherwise indisposed, Maya had been begging to be entrusted with greater responsibilities for months now and he’d been in too much of hurry to consider the implications of spending two days alone with her on a last minute business trip—something that seemed to have escaped her notice, too, until roughly seven minutes into the car ride when Time of Your Life had come on the radio and she’d widened her eyes at him, jerked backwards in her seat and fallen uncharacteristically silent.

The aircon had stopped working twenty minutes in and the car had broken down completely after forty. Which had left them stranded on the side of the road with a busted radiator somewhere just outside of Riverside on one of the hottest days of the year with a two hour wait for a mechanic and every hotel in a ten mile radius booked out because of a Tamale festival of all things.

“This is so awkward turtle,” she babbles as she follows him across the threshold, the wheels of their respective cases trundling loudly along the tile. “This definitely isn’t supposed to happen to me. It should be Rebecca—she’s undeniably the leading lady in our law office sitcom. Though we are technically a classic example of UST, so maybe this storyline isn’t so out of left field after all.”

His throat tightens against his will at the mention of Rebecca, and he manages to channel the surge of bristling energy into an exasperated glare. “Excuse me?”

“Unresolved sexual tension. You know—there was that one time you came back to my apartment and we almost had sexual intercourse but didn’t because you—”

“What did I say about mentioning that?”

“…don’t?” Maya offers meekly, then adds off his expectantly raised eyebrows, “…ever?”

Nathaniel grunts and drops his messenger bag down on the bed.

“Oh, you’re a traditionalist, then. That makes sense.”

“What are you babbling on about now?”

She drags her pilot case around to the opposite side and stows away the handle. “Caveman theory? I read all about it in this month’s Bustle. Traditionally speaking, men are inclined to sleep closest to the door in order to place themselves between their bedmate and any possible intruders.”

“Well then,” he says derisively, widening his eyes at her, “you’re welcome.”

Before she can elaborate further, he fishes through his bag for a change of clothes, ignoring her attempt at dinner discussions and making a beeline for the bathroom to wash off the last three hours spent sans AC.

“Oh, I guess you can shower first if you—”

The click of the door latching shut cuts off the rest.

*

Maya orders a chicken salad from room service and eats it at the writing desk by the window with the TV on low while he fights with the hotel’s wifi connection from his laptop on the bed. She showers once she’s done, emerging from the bathroom in a billowing cloud of steam that has her scrubbing at her fogged up glasses with the corner of her towel.

Nathaniel glances up from the glare of his computer screen and eyes her pink satin rubber ducky pyjamas with thinly veiled disgust.

“Really? What are you, twelve?”

“No,” she retorts as she flounces over to shove her toiletries bag back into her suitcase, “and I wasn’t packing for an audience, either.”

(There’s a brief, awkward silence where both of them can’t help but consider what packing for an audience might have looked like for longer than either of them would be comfortable to admit.)

He clears his throat and makes a halting motion with his hand. “Just—just stop talking, okay? Quit making this weirder than it already is.”

She grimaces, and Nathaniel turns his back on her to rummage through his duffel bag for a toothbrush so he doesn’t have to look at the pathetic arrangement of her features any longer.

When he finishes up in the bathroom she’s already under the covers, reading a magazine, and as he slides in beside her he checks the alarm clock on the nightstand. 8:43. It’s still early, but it’s not like there’s anything better to do and the quicker they go to sleep the quicker they can get up, get back to the car and get out of this hellhole. He switches off the overhead lights without asking and even though she’s got the bedside lamp on she seems to get the message, slowly folding the magazine closed and depositing it on the stand.

He catches her sliding off her glasses and gulps—something about the lack of black frames as a distraction has him panicking suddenly at the recollection of the last time he saw her like this, cheeks flushed pink with intoxication rather than her nighttime skincare routine, and he cannot be thinking about that night, not at all, and especially not when they’re reluctantly sharing a mattress. He’s done an exceptional job of burying the more unfortunate memories of that ill-advised encounter—her lips on his, the ears (oh god, the ears), his hands on her waist as he held her awkwardly above him, her fingers fumbling around his… well, all of it, honestly—and he’s not about to drop the ball now. Not when there’s a voice in the back of his head telling him that his sanity is currently very firmly hinged on the mental distinction somehow made possible by her wearing those glasses.

“What are you doing?” he asks abruptly, his voice pitched a little higher than he’d prefer.

She looks startled, but he’s not entirely convinced that’s not just her face. “I’m—I’m taking off my glasses? To sleep?”

“Do you really need to take those off, hmm?” Nathaniel asks, clearing his throat. “In the interest of professionalism?”

“I don’t—”

“I’m just saying—what if there’s an emergency in the middle of the night and we need to evacuate?”

“They’d just be on the nightstand, so—”

“And waste valuable time fumbling for them?” He feigns incredulity, eyebrows raised as he looks down at where his hands smooth over the bedspread with a sniff. “Okay, if that’s the risk you’re willing to take.”

Maya looks like she’s about to cry from confusion. “I—I guess, I could leave them on?”

“Probably smart.”

He watches her out of the corner of his eye as she bemusedly pushes the frames back up her nose and lies very stiffly on her back, face tilted awkwardly upwards, blankets pulled up near her chin.

Satisfied, he eases down into a full recline and turns on his side, facing away from her. Nothing about this situation is ideal, but that doesn’t mean he can’t control it. Can’t keep it from being any weirder than it has to be.

*

When the alarm goes off in the morning he blinks awake to find Maya already upright in the bed, the muted light creeping in through the paper-thin curtains highlighting the red creases and forlorn look on her bleary-eyed face as she stares (albeit unfocusedly) down at the broken glasses where they lay in her lap.

She wears them anyway, and doesn’t say a word to him the entire drive home.

[burningalight]

my binders/locker in grade school were stuffed with so much shit i couldnt find anything...always crumpled up papers, trash etc

chewed pencils/pens, broke them taking them apart in class, lost them, often didn’t have one, frequently borrowing them and forgetting to give them back to the point that certain people wouldn’t give me pencils

could comprehend reading i liked very well, but when we’d have reading groups with boring books id always be lost,  or when the teachers would have one on ones and have u read something short and ask questions after to assess ur reading level, they’d often have to tell me to read it again bc they knew how much i remembered didnt add up to my intelligence and reading speed 

moms college friend gave me an unoffical iq test and i did much worse than i know i shouldve on the reading portion bc she’d play a story and then ask me after to list every detail i could remember and i couldn’t remember anything. but when she played 10 numbers and asked me to say them out loud backwards i scored extremely high ?

couldnt do projects, would be in tears, last minute every time, parents mad bc i need a poster board RIGHT NOW ITS DUE TOMORROW . hated assigned reading, horrible at essays even when they helped us plan them. 

i remember my 7th grade social studies teacher assigning a paper, i wrote extremely detailed and well in the first paragraph or 2, and the following ones got shorter and shorter and were completely bullshit bc i got bored. she told me ‘really strong first paragraph.’ and gave me a B  

talk too got damn fast. customers constantly telling me to slow down bc they cant understand me

my mom always says she had to challenge me as a kid bc i would get bored and get in trouble. i was acting out bc i was understimulated, i happened to like learning (esp numbers and puzzles) bc smart so that’s what i could fixate on and felt stimulated by

lunch detention frequently in 8th grade in my first highschool class, algebra, bc i wouldnt do my homework, at one point he just stopped giving lunch detention for that bc i wouldnt do it. i hated that class bc the math was boring and i never paid attention but would somehow pull off a’s and b’s on tests so i ended up with a B. my first B, and i had brought that up from a D (told my mom it was almost a C, he gave a really hard test and we all did bad etc, when she had to sign a paper about my low grade) at the end of the year, during the exam i was so confused the whole time, it was my first highschool exam and i didn’t know ANYTHING. i ended up with a 92 from guessing, and a curve, and every one of my friends got at least a 93 or better and i felt so stupid bc i was supposed to be the best at math

i would take every highschool class in honors but not one english class bc it required more essays and summer reading and i knew i wouldnt do the reading and would cry over the essays

the only other class i didnt take honors was chemistry bc i knew the honors teacher had a lot of projects and i would be stressing over them. i ended up with an A in the standard chem class even tho i never finished any work in class and didnt do homework, but i was still the smartest in the class and did the best overall

lunch detention for forgetting to get papers signed like report cards. they weren’t even bad grades i just couldnt remember. one time i got actual detention for forging my moms signature bc i got lunch detention for several days straight bc i kept forgetting to get the paper signed 

often had permission slips waiting to be signed the day before the field trip, or told my mom it was picture day the day before or morning of. one time i totally forgot it was picture day and didnt dress up

acting out and not thinking ab the consequences, many referrals.. many more times that my teachers let me get away with acting out when someone else doing the same thing would’ve been punished. one time anna and i left in the middle of class to go with emma to the library, only emma had permission, and my teacher had anna and i do wall sits instead of going to the office. in gym in middle school i would never dress out. i hated the clothes and hated gym bc i was awkward and if we didnt dress out we had to copy pages out of the health textbook the entire time and i would barely write 2 paragraphs bc i was so bored and my hand hurt and he never did anything ab it. i wouldnt dress out at least twice per week if not more. told my mom I had a C bc he had it out for me but i was the problem

in elementary school if we didn’t come to gym day wearing the right shoes we had to go into the back and pick out a pair of sneakers that fit out of a box of shoes, and also borrow socks if necessary. i had to do this frequently bc i never remembered to wear the right shoes

i would extremely often forget my library books and have to sit on the couch waiting for everyone to pick out their books for half an hour

when we were even younger we’d have story time and you had to sit in the middle of the floor inside a big circle of chairs where everyone else was if you forgot your library books. i lost one at one point for months and my parents didnt just pay for it so i had to sit in the middle every time. we found the book on a shelf somewhere in the house 

my chorus teacher never liked me bc i talked too much and i always felt like the worst singer, not bc of my singing but bc she wasn’t ever nice to me

in 7th grade science we learned latin root words and every day we’d play a game where we all stood up and one by one he’d ask for a root and we’d give it. if you got it wrong on the first round you’d have to write it on a piece of paper x amount of times and turn it in. if you were the last person left you were allowed to sit on your desk for the rest of the year, during these games while everyone else had to stand up. i wanted so badly to sit on my desk, esp bc i was fidgety and couldnt stand still, but i would never study them bc i’d forget or not want to if i did remember, even tho i really wanted to know them and sit on my desk. that teacher had a huge soft spot for me and one day i just started sitting on my desk during those. everyone knew i was smart, and it was all the smart kids who got to sit on their desks, so no one questioned it. im not sure if he knew i wasnt supposed to and just let me, or didnt realize i hadnt won bc i was smart. 

hyperlexia? mom said i could practically read before i was taught. i’ve always obsessively air written, ie writing words out w my finger in the air, on my leg etc. 

esp during lectures i doodle excessively to the point that my papers margins have always been covered with random scribbly overlapped words, or song lyrics. the words are usually something someone in the class said. ive started keeping an extra sheet of paper just for scribbling when im taking notes or listening in class. when we finished end of year tests in school i would write down full lyrics to songs on my scrap paper so i wouldnt be so bored. my hand cramps up so much but it was better than staring or trying to sleep with the lights on 

doing things and forgetting to turn them in

hyperfixating on books to cope w boredom and social anxiety, at one point read one per day, i was definitely one of the most frequent people in the library 

‘ The way I see it is if I can get information into my mind, I can do a lot with it but getting it in there in the first place is the really difficult part.’ - not mine

none of my teachers ever told my mom any of this i dont think, bc i was the smartest and i always got good grades, most had a soft spot for me BUT COULDNT SEE I HAD ADHD like damn. one time my fourth grade teacher whom i liked a lot was mad at us and indirectly calling people out, and referred to the fact that some of us never stopped talking , then made direct eye contact with me and i felt rly embarrassed bc i didnt realize i did that until she mentioned it

i often had to move seats if i was near friends bc i wouldnt stop instigating talking

at big lots when i had to run the register i was so painfully bored , fidgety, had to sneak my phone soo much bc i was so bored. when i was on the floor i would put away the go backs very quickly and then take upon myself a project like going through the entire wall of individual drinks and pulling out all the expired ones, it was like 5 carts full. my manager put me in charge of organizing the entire makeup section and all the gross clearance makeup bc she knew id do it the best and fastest 

when bosses have me do inventory i can count the products super fast and efficiently, but then when they have me put them into a spreadsheet i stare at it for hours getting nothing done bc distracted and its boring. ammar told me if i’d just get off my phone i could get it done bc he’d been asking for it for weeks, i wasnt trying to ignore it 

when im trying to do something at work that needs more concentration, i want to cry with frustration whenever i hear the door chime and have to get up and help customers and break my focus

[ktrsss1fics]

Passionfruit.

There is a saying that says, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”

In order for something to happen in Vegas, Georgina Ferguson needed to get to Las Vegas. She should have been getting ready for brunch with the girls but she wasn’t. She was currently stuck in a window seat on an overcrowded Delta plane at LAX. They had been stuck at the gate for the past forty-five minutes. She was on her way to meet her friends to celebrate Mags’ birthday and to watch Niall perform at the iHeartRadio festival.

At that very moment, she regretted her decision to book the flight. Her original plan was to drive out after work Friday night. She could have slept on the floor in Brittany’s room and enjoyed an extra night out with her friends. The universe had other plans for her. Georgina didn’t get out of the office until half past eight. By the time she finished packing, she’d be driving through the desert in the dead of the night. Too many dangerous hypotheticals had filled her brain so she decided against it.

Since arriving back from Aruba, she tried to be more of an active participant in her social life. She tried to not let work consume her. She spent a few nights a week bouncing between the homes of her friends. Most of those nights were filled with food and laughter. On the nights she wasn’t trying to change her friends’ perception of her, Georgina was sat in a theater room with a bottle of wine and a curious puppy.

Niall’s adoption of Scout had been beneficial to the entire group. They had something to occupy their time while he was gone. Scout took day trips with Britt and Dave, stayed the weekends with Mags and Jamie, and spent the rest of her time at Georgina’s flat. The little chocolate lab was a constant reminder of their Irish best friend. Everyone tried to spend as much time with her as possible.

When the plane finally was up in the air, Georgina used her time to mentally prepare for the weekend. Her itinerary included a little bit of gambling, some fun by the pool, and a good amount of alcohol. She had no issues with those plans. She had actually been looking forward to them all week.

There was one thing that she was worried about.

It was going to be the first time she’s seen Niall since he left.

They texted every day and FaceTimed when he could but things were different. She’d get to see him in the flesh for the first time in a month and she was nervous about it.

She was nervous that things were going to be different. She was nervous that him being away would change where things were headed. She was nervous that he had found someone new.

She knew it was her insecurities poisoning her mind. She hadn’t been in this phase of a relationship in a very long time. The last time she had a serious crush on someone was when she was thirteen. The last time she wanted to get to know someone better she still had posters of Take That on her walls. She felt like the rusted Tin Man in the forest and Dorothy hadn’t found her yet.

By the time she came out of her thoughts, the plane was ready to make its final descent. She hadn’t realized how quick the flight had been. She made a mental checklist of what she needed to do as soon as she got off the plane. When she headed to baggage claim, she turned her cell phone back on. A flurry of notifications flew across the screen. There were a few messages from work and a voicemail from her mother. The rest of the notifications were from her friends giving her a hard time for being late. She watched a series of videos on Snapchat of Niall and the boys giving her a lecture. Hearing his laugh, seeing his face, and realizing in a short few hours she’d be able to be in his presence made her nerves start to fade.

Her luggage came around the conveyor belt quicker than she anticipated. She was in the middle of setting up a ride on Lyft when the llama luggage tag her brother gifted her last Christmas caught her eye. As she went to grab her bag, a text message came in. Apparently, there was a car waiting to pick her up. She was so surprised by the gesture that she didn’t pick her bag up in time. She took a deep breath as she waited for it to come around again. She needed to get it together.

With her luggage in hand, she made her way towards the exit. A dark haired man, waiting by a black town car, held a sign with her name on it. Niall always thought of everything. The man was from Texas and reminded of her father’s brother. He made a few jokes as they fought through airport traffic. She sent the girls a message letting them know she was on her way.

Jenna’s aunt had helped the group get a block of rooms at a discounted rate at the Cosmopolitan. From the pictures that were sent, the rooms were nicer than all of their homes combined. It was going to be a good time.

As the car turned onto Tropicana, a wave of electricity shot through her body.

She made it.

She was in Las Vegas and she was ready for whatever the weekend had in store.

As soon as she got to the hotel, Georgina checked in and headed straight to her room. She wanted to change out of her flight clothes and into something more comfortable before she saw her friends. She pulled out two birthday cards from her carry-on bag. The one for Mags was filled out within a few seconds. She gushed about their friendship and how much she appreciated the older sister influence Mags brought to her life. The second card was left blank.

She didn’t know what she wanted to say -- not yet at least.

She grabbed one of the wrapped gifts from her luggage and her purse before leaving the room. Almost instantly, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She had put a ban on all work business for the weekend. When Debra’s name appeared on the screen, she knew that ban was a good idea. She hit ignore as someone catcalled her from down the hall. She looked up to find Jamie standing with a smug look his face and a bucket of ice in his hand.

“Does your lady know you’re catcalling other women?” Georgina asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Ehh, she won’t mind it.” He smiled as he waited for her to catch up.

Georgina picked up her pace until she met him. They shared a brief embrace before falling in stride with one another.

“You fly the plane here yourself, Ferguson?” He teased as they stopped in front of a room.

“Feels like it.” She sighed.

“You just missed Ni.” Jamie said trying to get his room key out of his wallet. “He had to go do soundcheck or an interview or something official.”

Georgina took the ice bucket trying to help, “Oh. How was brunch?”

“Bit overpriced if you ask me.” He shrugged. “But it was nice. Right now we are trying to make a plan. The um girls were thinking about going to the pool. The lads and I were going to start drinking. You are welcome to join either group.”

“Good to know.” She smiled. “How’s she doing?”

“Countdown to thirty has already started.” He said shaking his head.

“Is she mad I missed brunch?” Georgina asked slightly worried.

Jamie looked surprised. “No way. She totally understands. She had a meltdown Wednesday night because she didn’t think she’d get everything done on Thursday. Work comes first.”

“I feel so guilty.” She sighed. “I’ve been doing good lately. I just don’t want you guys to go back to disliking me because I work all the time.”

“Fergie, you need to cut yourself some slack. You’re doing your best and it shows. No one hates you.” He said stroking her back gently. “No one ever has.”

“But in Aruba…” She started to say but stopped when he turned to open the door.

“That was Keith being a twat.” Jamie shook his head. “We might give you shit but it’s because we love ya.”

Georgina faked a smile stepping inside the room, “If you say so James.”

“Who’s there?” Brittany’s distinct voice called out as she leaned towards the door. “Hey babe!”

“Fergie!” Mags squealed as she stepped out of the bathroom.

The two women pulled each other into a tight embrace.

“I’m so sorry I missed it.” She whispered in the older girl’s ear.

“Hush! You’re alright love.” Mags squeezed her a little tighter. “Didn’t miss much.”

“First rounds on me tonight, yeah?” Georgina said as she pulled away.

“Not gonna argue with that.” Mags winked before motioning towards the bar. “Help yourself.”

“Thanks.” She smiled before handing over the gift. “Happy Birthday!”

While Mags read her card, Georgina walked around the room greeting the rest of her friends. Brittany had gotten up to refill her drink. She filled up an extra flute of champagne and handed it to her best friend. Georgina placed a kiss on her as a sign of gratitude.

“Flight from hell?” Brittany asked with a laugh.

“You have no idea.” Georgina said taking a small sip from her glass.

“Did ya have a fucking layover in Wolvo or what?” Dave teased bringing over a container of orange juice for the blonde to add to her drink.

She put out her glass for him to fill. “It feels like it.”

“What took so long?” He asked topping it off.

Georgina tapped her glass against his as a thank you.

“Apparently, planes need fuel to fly.” She said dryly.

“You don’t say.” He replied in a faux posh accent.

“Shocking, I know.” She replied mimicking his tone.

“Ferguson, I love you!” Mags called from the room caressing a bottle of sherry.

“Love you too, Sister Mary Margaret.” Georgina teased making everyone in the room laugh.

“Who wants Bristol Cream?” Mags called out opening the bottle.

Brittany got up and headed across the room to fill up another cup.

Georgina felt Dave move closer to her. He raised his drink to cover his mouth but she couldn't understand what he was trying to say. He scanned the room. No one would notice if they slipped out onto the balcony.

Dave nodded towards the door and made his way outside. Georgina followed behind him. Once outside, she sat down on the chair in the corner. Her eyes trailed off to the sun soaked Strip as he sat down beside her.

Dave sipped on his beer slowly. Georgina took her eyes off the road and focused on him.

“What's up?” She asked nudging his leg.

“He's nervous.” He said keeping his eyes on the street.

It took a moment for Georgina to realize who he was referring to. Once she did, she didn't know how to respond.

“He's like really nervous.” He repeated.

“I would be too.” She stated deciding to play it cool. “I mean two performances in one day and all those people to sing too.”

“No babe. He's not nervous about that.” Dave said turning his attention to her. “He's done all that before. He’s used to playing massive crowds. He's nervous because he's going to be performing for you.”

She tried her best to fight off the blush that wanted so badly to form. “What?”

“You haven't seen him solo yet. He's worried he's not going to impress you.” Dave smiled.

“How do you know that?” She asked shyly.

“Told me during our cuddle this morning.” Dave said placing a hand on her leg.

Georgina’s face lit up. “Your what?”

“Britt went to Jenna’s room to help her with her hair so we just had a little cuddle and talked about the day.” Dave explained. “He just mentioned he was a bit worried that you wouldn't like it. You're the last one of the group to see him perform.”

She couldn't help but smile. Niall Horan was probably the sweetest boy she'd ever met. He always wanted to please his friends. He was such a perfectionist. If one of them wasn't pleased with something, he would try his best to fix it. He wanted them to like his music and so far he had succeeded.

Dave squeezed her leg, “Are you two together?”

She shook her head finishing off her glass. His straightforward approach took her by surprise.

“Really? He's more smitten than usual.” Dave said surprised. “I figured maybe you came to your senses.”

“We’re just friends.” She said glancing up at him.

Dave nodded. “Oh.”

“But like not like before. Like actual friends.” Georgina admitted softly.

“So you aren't being a dick to him anymore, that's good to know.” He teased making her blush. “That's probably why he's a lot happier.”

“He uh cares a lot. I couldn't do that to him.” She admitted. “I mean he's Marcus but he's not Marcus, ya know?”

Dave looked confused before it hit him. “Fuck. He's Marcus.”

She nodded slowly. “That's why I hated him.”

“But he's like top shelf Marcus,” Dave replied. “Like top shelf top class non-cheating Marcus.”

“So basically he’s not Marcus. He’s Niall.” She laughed making him smile.

“Yeah. Niall’s Niall.” Dave said.

“The reason I was looking for him that day was because I felt bad for being mean to him.”  She explained. “Our last dinner in Aruba made me realize everyone thinks I'm a bitch so I've been trying to fix it.”

Dave rolled his eyes. “Fuck Keith. His opinion doesn't matter.”

“Yeah well it put things into perspective.” She sighed. “So when I couldn't find him, I thought he left for Ireland already and I had been mean to him so I wanted to fix things.”

“And you fixed them. Kid still thinks you shit rainbows and butterflies.” Dave teased.

Georgina shoved him playfully. “Fuck off.”

He leaned in close and lowered his voice. “I didn't tell Britt and I won't tell her about this either.”

“Why not?” She asked watching him finish off his drink.

He shrugged. “Like keeping secrets with you.”

“Just like primary school.” Georgina said patting his leg. “Never did tell Britt you had a crush on her.”

“No but fucking Sophie did.” He grumbled.

“Can't say anything around the women in that family unless you want everyone to know it.” Georgina said as the balcony door opened.

“You convince her to make out with Ni, yet?” Mags asked with a smirk.

Dave’s eyes lit up as he scanned between the two women. “What?”

“Nothing!” They sang in unison.

He narrowed his eyes at them. “Don’t believe ya. I’ll be keepin’ my eyes on you two today.”

Mags rolled her eyes dramatically. “Wastin’ your time love.”

“It’s girl talk.” Georgina said patting his leg. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Fergie Ferg, we are going shopping at Caesars.” Mags said. “Wanna come?”

“Sure.” She smiled as she stood up.

“Georgina, if you want to make out with him, he’d let you.” Dave said patting her leg as she walked past him.

Mags and the rest of the girls started laughing loudly. Heat rushed to Georgina’s cheeks.

“Oh fuck off, all of ya.” She rolled her eyes as she headed inside.

The best thing about Las Vegas is the mentality that rules don't matter. What happens there, stays there. The possibilities are endless. A person can openly drink a cocktail, smoke a cigarette and gamble all while waiting for their morning breakfast. Naked women are sprawled across the streets of the Strip while men from Australia strip for bachelorette parties full of intoxicated women. Buffets of surf, turf, and everything in between are accessible twenty-four hours a day. Alcohol is served in bowls, pyramids, and even the Eiffel Tower. It's every wild child’s paradise.

Georgina was trying her best to live up to that wild child persona. So far she had won fifty dollars playing roulette, bought a Celine Dion shirt for her mother, and watched Mags spend too much money on a pair of shoes. She even splurged on some Taco Bell on the way to the arena where the concert was being held. She was already enjoying this trip a lot more than the last time she was in Sin City -- and she hadn't even seen Niall yet.

She felt good and that in itself felt good.

She currently stood beside Jenna in an overcrowded line at a concession stand. Britt and Mags were right behind them. The boys had sent them on a beer run. They were only a few songs away from when Niall was due on stage and the boys wanted to do a celebratory toast in his honor.

Georgina couldn't deny that she was a bit nervous. The fear of the unknown was always something she struggled with. Being that this was the first time she'd get to see Niall by himself, she didn't know what to expect. She knew he was a great performer. But he wasn't going to have those four moving parts around him and that was a scary thought. The rest of their friends had already seen him perform on more than one occasion. They made it to Wango Tango, they caravanned down to see him in San Diego, they made the trip out to be at Summertime Ball, and they scheduled their life around the LA date of his current tour.

She couldn't do that. Her job wouldn't allow it.

She fit a tinge of guilt when she thought about watching him sing. It had nearly been a year since he released his first solo single and she hadn't taken the time to see him sing it live. She knew that he understood. Her work schedule was hard to plan around. But there was something inside her that made her feel like a terrible friend for waiting so long.

That's part of the reason why she needed to get her hand on a pint before he came on stage. She needed something to calm her nerves.

By the time the girls got back to their seats, Ryan Seacrest took the stage to amp up the crowd before announcing who the next act was. As soon as Ireland left his lips, it was pretty obvious who it was going to be.

A boisterous chant began as the lights went out. High pitched squeals and mind-numbing screams filled the air. The lights went out. A drum beat started to play as Georgina held her breath.

This was it. The moment she was waiting for.

By the time the rest of the band kicked in, a spotlight shone brightly on center stage. A charismatic boy from the midlands of Ireland stood with a guitar and a beaming smile on his face. As soon as the first note left his lips, Georgina and the group of women standing in front of her were done for. They had perfect reason to be. His voice sounded even better in person.

Two songs in, Georgina almost couldn’t believe her eyes. Niall Horan was the ultimate performer. The way he moved around the stage and interacted with the audience was electric. His dedication to his craft was admirable. Everyone in the stadium could tell that he genuinely loved what he was doing. He had grown so much since she’d seen him last. He wasn’t just the fourth member of a boy band. He was a confident (and incredibly sexy) independent artist with a story to tell. She watched the group of women in front of her melt over the boy who was so drunk at Jamie’s 30th that he sang a potted plant to sleep.

His set was short but the songs he chose were memorable.With one song left, Niall rested an arm on his mic stand while taking a sip from a bottle of water. The cameraman focused in on his face. A mischievous glint shone in his eye. That look was infamous amongst the group -- especially was booze was involved. Georgina didn’t know what was about to happen but she knew it was going to be good.

Niall grabbed the mic off the stand and put the bottle on the floor. “Oi Vegas!”

The crowd cheered in response.

���Mr. Cameraman, can you put the camera on the spot that we discussed earlier?” He asked with a smile.

Georgina watched as the camera scanned the crowd. It wasn’t long until her face was being projected across the jumbo screen. Brittany and Dave erupted into laughter.

“Oh look it’s Fergie! Hey Ferg.” Niall cheered into the mic.

Her eyes went wide as all eyes focused on her. She raised her pint in front of her face trying to hide but it didn’t work. Niall’s infamous laugh erupted loudly through the sound system. Georgina shook her head. She could feel her entire body getting warm from the attention.

“Why ya – why ya shakin’ your head at me? Is it the attention? Am I embarassin’ ya?” He asked with a  cheeky grin. “If any of you want to know any facts about flowers, Fergie’s your girl.”

Georgina casually flipped him off making the rest of her friends laugh. The group of women in front of her were quick to shoot dirty looks in her direction but she didn’t care. Niall was proving that things were going to be fine between them.

The smile on Niall’s face grew even bigger. “Fat Tuesday later?”

Wolf whistles escaped the lips of Jamie and Dave causing Georgina’s skin to grow pink.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He winked. He cleared his throat. “Anyways, we have to go over one more person. Op! There were go. Ladies and gentlemen, this is my friend Mags.”

Maggie dramatically took a bow making him laugh.

“Today is her twenty-ninth birthday.” He said making the crowd scream.

“You see the handsome devil on her left? That’s her fella Jamie.” Niall explained. “When the last song I’m gonna play tonight first came out, he was obsessed with it.”

“What is he doing?” Mags asked not knowing what was going on.

“Sang it in the shower, at the gym, on his way to work.” Niall laughed looking directly at his friend. “He sang it so much that little Miss Mags banned him from singin’ it.”

He jutted out his hip and started to mimic Mags’ accent. “If you aren’t Niall, you aren’t singin’ it.”

His entire group of friends keeled over in laughter. His impression was spot on.

“Anyways, if it’s alright with Miss Margaret, the last song of the night will be a little tune called ‘This Town’.” Niall said with a smile. “Is that alright with the Birthday Girl?”

The small brunette sent a double thumbs up towards the stage. The crowd cheered happily.

With a nod of his head, Niall placed the mic back on his stand as his drummer counted him in. The folky song about falling in love in a small town engrossed the audience. Brittany linked her arm around Georgina’s as a soft sing-along took form.

Jamie started off the song in perfect sync with Niall. By the time chorus came around for a second time, his singing stopped. No one really noticed though. No one saw him pull a box out of his pocket and get down on one knee. Mags gave him a confused look as he tugged on her hand. He started to speak but the sounds of the crowd made it hard to hear.

He realized his plan wasn’t working so he put a new one into place. This caught the eye of everyone around them. Tears formed in the eyes of Georgina and Brittany as they saw what was happening. Jamie opened the box to reveal a large diamond ring.

Without a second thought, Mags agreed. Jamie stood up and pulled her into his arms. A sweet embrace was shared between the newly engaged couple as the song came to an end. Niall peered into the crowd looking for his friends. Before thanking everyone for watching his play, he called out Jamie’s name hoping for good news. The cameraman panned the crowd until their group appeared once. Mags held up her hand showing off the ring that had just been put on. With a large smile on his face, Niall let out a small cheer before hopping off stage.

The lights went out and everyone prepared for the next performer to come on stage. Jenna worked her way over to the other girls. She pulled them into a group hug. Congratulatory kisses were placed across Mags’ face as her ring was inspected. They couldn’t believe what just happened. Their friends were engaged and the entire world got to see it.

Before the next performer went on, Georgina and the gang headed back to the hotel. They grabbed a few boxed meals from Taco Bell and a couple bottles of alcohol on their way up to Jamie and Mags’ room. A feast fit for a frat house commenced as they waited for Niall to join.

“Jim Jam, you take a loan out for that rock?” Georgina asked taking a sip of her mixed drink.

“I know Daddy Warbucks.” Jenna joked patting his back.

“Very funny.” Jamie rolled his eyes. “It was six months of overtime actually.”

“It’s stunning.” Brittany said grabbing Mags’ hand. “Absolutely stunning.”

“Way to put the pressure on mate.” Dave said. “We’ve got to compete with an entire planet.”

“Size shouldn’t matter.” Georgina said.

“We’ll uh let Ni know you think that.” Mags winked making the other girls laugh.

Heat rushed to Georgina’s cheeks as the boys started to join in on the teasing.

“I mean we aren’t sayin’ that’s an issue with him but uh it’s nice to know, right?” Keith said.

“Why do you guys always get naked together?” Brittany rolled her eyes.

Dave shook his head. “What we do by ourselves is none of your business.”

“You are all idiots.” Georgina said as a knock came to the door.

“Yeah yeah but you love us.” Jamie said as he left to answer it.

Standing with two magnum bottles of champagne and an excited look on his face was the group’s favorite Irishman.

“Nialler!” Brittany and Jenna cheered as he stepped inside.

Mags made her way towards him. “You are a little shit Niall Horan.”

“You loved every second of it..” Niall said with arms wide open.

“You’re right.” She whispered pulling him in for a hug. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

“Congratulations babe.” He said placing a kiss on her cheek.

“Let’s get those bottles opened.” Keith said getting plastic cups ready.

Niall handed the bottles over before going around the room saying hello and thanking his friends for coming to see him play. With a half eaten taco in her hand, Georgina watched Niall joke around with Dave. He looked happy -- like genuinely happy --  and that made her happy.

He casually slipped away from Dave and made his way towards her. She put down her food and stood up from her spot on the couch. The light in his baby blue eyes grew a little brighter as he saw the smile on her face. He opened his mouth to thank her for coming but she stopped him.

“You’re a little shit Horan.” Georgina said shaking her head.

Niall just laughed before pulling her into his arms. She sighed as he held her close.

He whispered in her ear, “Have I fucking missed you…”

“Can’t say the same.” She said as he tightened his grip on her.

Niall pulled his head away from her confused. “Why?”

Georgina stood back and hit him in the arm. “Four fucking people asked me for flower facts before we left!”

Niall giggled trying to defend himself from her. “Fergie! I’m sorry. I thought I was bein’ funny.”

“You do know a lot about flowers, G.” Brittany said eavesdropping.

“Yeah well that doesn’t mean the whole world needs to know.” She said shyly.

“Ferg, you bring those black heels for me?” Jenna asked from across the room.

Georgina turned her attention towards her friend. “Yeah have ‘em in me room.”

“I need them before we leave.” She said taking a sip of her champagne.

“What are we gonna do?” Jamie asked. “Like what’s the game plan?”

“First we are going to toast to the happy couple.” Dave said raising his cup in the air.

“Oi oi!” Niall said slinging an arm around Georgina’s shoulder.

“Out of all of us, we knew it’d be you two first. Congratulations to Jamie and Mags.” Brittany said as the rest of the group finished their drinks.

“Now that that’s taken care of, we need to get fucked up.” Dave said casually. “Only logical.”

“Why don’t the ladies get ready while us men head downstairs and pillage the tables?” Jamie suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” Mags nodded. “Ferg, did you bring your big curling iron?”

“Yeah in me room.” She said. “And Britt, I brought the lipstick you asked for.”

“Girls trip to Ferg’s room.” Jenna said heading for the door. “Bye boys.”

Georgina turned towards Niall. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Ni, you gonna come with us?” Dave asked as the rest of the girls made their way to the door.

“I need to get a quick shower in first. Kinda sweaty and need to calm down after all that.” Niall said. “But I’ll meet you down there when I’m done.”

“Sounds good. We’ll see ya there mate.” Jamie said. “You two change your shit and let’s go.”

The group headed their separate ways. The boys got dressed and headed down to have a few cigars at the bar. The girls made their way to Georgina’s room in search of things they needed to get ready. When she opened the door, a surprise was waiting for her.

Sitting on the dresser near the television was a gorgeous floral arrangement.

The group of women couldn’t believe it. These weren’t the run of the mill arrangements bought at the farmer’s market. These were top-dollar boutique flowers. Georgina had a feeling about who they came from but she didn’t want to get her hopes up.

“What the fuck?” Mags whispered. “Georgina! Who are they from?”

“There’s no note.” Georgina said smelling them.

“You’ve got a secret admirer, G.” Brittany nudged her.

“I wonder who they’re from.” Jenna said touching a few of the petals.

Georgina turned to look at her friends. “You guys did this. Didn’t you?”

Jenna, Mags, and Brittany looked at her confused.

“If this is you three sending these pretending to be Niall so I will make out with him, I swear to God I’m going to lose my shit.” Georgina said with a sigh.

Mags cackled loudly, “That would be fuckin’ brilliant.”

“If we were pretending to be The Baby, we’d leave a note.” Jenna said crossing her arms over her chest.

“And we wouldn’t spend this much money on ya.” Brittany winked.

Georgina rolled her eyes. “You three are such bitches sometimes.”

“We are only jokin’ babe. Bit of banter.” Mags said softly. “We love ya too much to be that cruel.”

Georgina’s cheeks grew a little warm. Maybe there were from Niall after all.

“Maybe there were for Mags and they got delivered to the wrong room.” Jenna suggested.

“Or it could be that new guy at work. What’s his name Ferg? Nasty Nate?” Brittany asked.

“Nathaniel?” Georgina said running a hand over the top of the arrangement. “I hope not.”

“What if it was Marcus?” Brittany teased.

“You can fuck right off Brittany Anne.” Georgina glared.

“I'm only joking. He wouldn't be able to afford anything this nice.” Brittany said heading towards Georgina’s luggage.

“Whoever sent it has good taste.” Jenna sighed.

“Why ya sighin?” Georgina asked stroking Jenna’s back lovingly.

“Just bein’ a jealous sad sap.” Jenna shrugged. “I think I need to get drunk.”

“That's our cue to get this show on the road.” Mags said linking her fingers with Jenna’s.

Brittany grabbed everything Georgina had brought for her friends. “Thanks for this babe.”

“Yeah no worries. Are we meeting back at Mags?” She asked heading for her bag.

Mags nodded. “Whenever you're ready.”

“Brilliant. See you then.” Georgina said as her friends headed back to their own rooms.

She barely got a shower in when a knock came to her door. With a toothbrush in her mouth and a towel on her head, she answered it. Standing in a button up shirt and a nice pair of nice jeans was a very tired looking Niall Horan. His hair was freshly tousled and his cologne was doing its best to reel her in.

“Sorry, your kind isn't allowed round these parts.” She said dryly.

“Why's that?” He asked shoving his hands in his pockets.

Georgina shrugged. “Don't really like your face.”

Niall rolled his eyes and walked past her. She headed back into the bathroom to finish brushing her teeth.

“Why aren't you going down with the boys?” She asked before splashing water on her face.

“Just wanted a few minutes to myself.” He called back from the other room.

“But you aren't --” She mumbled into the towel she was using to dry herself.

“You know what I mean Ferg.” He sighed.

“You spent too much time with them already.” She called back as she plugged in her hair dryer.

“Kinda. Just needed some time to regroup after all the chaos of today.” He explained.

“Understandable.” She said throwing her wet towel on the floor. “Not gonna be able to hear you for a bit so don't say anything important.”

“Won’t profess me undying love for you, don't worry.” He mumbled dryly.

Georgina rolled her eyes as she ran a comb through her hair.

He was such a little shit.

As he waited to spend some time with the one girl he’d been missing the most, Niall laid down on her bed and closed his eyes. It wasn’t even ten o'clock yet and the pop star wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. The past week was finally catching up to him -- the anticipation of seeing his friends, the excitement of performing in front of that large of a crowd, the travel, the night of drinking the night before. It was all too much for the twenty-four year old.

He needed a recharge but he knew it wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

They were in Vegas after all.

They were in Vegas. He really couldn’t believe it. He had been waiting for this day since he left for tour. They were finally reunited, even if it was for a night. Just knowing Fergie was going to be in the same vicinity as him boosted morale.

Georgina had unfortunately missed his show in LA. He knew she tried her best to be there but as usual her job got in the way. He was disappointed but there was a small part of him that was relieved. The amount of pressure he had put on himself to be perfect was ridiculous. The amount of pressure he put on himself to be perfect for Georgina was even worse.

He wanted her to like him. He wanted her to like his performance, his songs, his stage persona. She had always been a tough critic. Unlike their friends, she’d tell him the truth no matter how much it hurt. In the industry he was in, he needed those type of people in his life.

When he heard the dryer turn off, he knew he had two options. He could get up and be proactive about finding out her opinion or he could wait for her to come to him. He chose the latter.

“Ni?” Georgina called from the bathroom. “Do you know what clubs we are going to?”

“Omnia, I think.” He said trying to remember if the girls had said something earlier. “Maybe XS.”

“Hopefully not Hakkasan.” She said quietly.

The corners up his lips turned up into a smile. “Why not?”

“Niall Horan, you know the answer to that!” She exclaimed.

“Fergie, everyone’s forgot about that.” He laughed. “No one even saw you fall.”

“Clearly, that’s a lie!” She said stepping out of the bathroom.

“I know it is.” He laughed.”But I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Alright Mr. Life of the Party.” Georgina teased. She smiled at the sight she saw. He was curled up in a ball ready to fall asleep.

“You like the flowers? I did some research and did you know that striped carnations--” He started to say.

Georgina quickly interjected. “Mean I miss you.”

“Of course you knew that.” He mumbled shyly.

“Thanks for not including a card.” She said sitting beside him on the bed. “Sherlock, Watson, and Agatha were havin’ a field day trying to figure out who they were from.”

A deep belly laugh escaped his lips as he opened his eyes, “Really?”

Georgina nodded. “I tried to make them feel bad by saying they sent them as a  way to convince me to make out with you.”

“Why is the thought of us making out such a horrible idea?” He asked softly.

She shook her head before laying down beside him. His arm immediately pulled her closer.

“Us making out isn’t the issue.” She whispered. “It’s doing it in front of them.”

“We’d get shit for days.” He sighed kissing her forehead. “I know baby girl, I know.”

Georgina sighed nuzzing into his neck. “Let’s take a nap.”

“You’re supposed to be the disciplined one.” He whined.

“We can take twenty minutes.” She yawned. “Then you need to leave and go be a lad.”

“I want to be the old man of the group.” Niall yawned in return closing his eyes.

“You can’t. You’re the baby.” She said. “Speaking of, I got you a gift. You want it now?”

“There isn’t enough time for a nap and a blow job, love.” He deadpanned.

“Fine.” She grumbled in mock annoyance.

He peered out of one eye, “Wait, are you being serious?”

“You rejected my offer so the world will never know.” She smirked.

Niall leaned forward and placed his lips to hers, “You’re a brat Ferguson.”

She didn’t say anything. She just leaned in a little closer and kissed him.

This was the kiss that they had been waiting for. The kiss that had been building since the day that he left. The kiss that savored good morning snaps and good night texts. The kiss that had been on his mind all morning. The kiss that she had been wanting to give the moment she saw his face.The kiss that sent a shock through his entire body and woke him up.

He snaked his hand through her hair holding onto the back of her neck. The slow and intimate kiss turned into a few quick pecks as his lower lip got caught between her teeth. He took this as a sign. In one fell swoop, Georgina was on her back and his body was rested on top of hers.

The sexual frustration that had built up was finally being released. His hand made its way down to her hip. He held on tight. He was going to appreciate every inch of her body while he got the chance. As his lips worked against hers, she arched her back pressing herself against him.

It happened quickly. Flesh was bitten, a few moans escaped, and as soon as she felt his hardened member press against her, she knew it was on. Her hands slid down his midsection heading for his belt. It wasn’t until she got it undone that he pulled away.

“Ferg.” He panted. “We-we can’t.”

Georgina sighed. “I know.”

Niall nudged her nose with his own. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” She mumbled into his lips. “Was fun while it lasted.”

He peeled himself off of her and rolled onto his back. A deep rooted sigh left his lips.

She patted his stomach gently. “Night’s still young kid.”

“Yeah but Jamie is going to want to get obliterated.” He said as she rested her head on his chest. “And that means it’ll be a no-go.”

“Just ‘cause they are doesn’t mean you have to.” She said looking up at him.

“Right.” He said sarcastically. “Like that’ll work.”

“Well I’m not going to drink that much.” She declared.

“Like that’s going to work, love.” He tickled her playfully.

“Stop.” She giggled. “Niall! Stop.”

He interlocked her fingers with his.

“I’m just gonna blame it on work.” Niall decided. “Which isn’t lying. I can’t drink that much.”

“Don't forget you owe me a drink from Fat Tuesday.” Georgina whispered.

“I know.” He kissed her forehead. “Maybe two.”

“Ooh, someone’s doin’ well for ‘imself.” She quipped in a posh accent.

He blushed. “Fuck off Georgina.”

“Niall Horan, I will deny this if you ever bring it up in front of anyone but I’ve missed this.” She admitted looking up at him. “A lot.”

“Missed what?” He asked.

“This.” She motioned towards the two of them. “The banter. Hangin’ with ya. Us.”

“So really you just missed making fun of me? That’s real great Ferg.” He rolled his eyes.

Georgina nuzzled into his neck. “Can you please say that again in your whiny voice?”

Niall squeezed her hand gently. “I think I hear Davey callin’ me.”

“Hey! Don't go.” Georgina pouted. “I was only joking.”

“Stop being so cute. It’s gonna make leaving even worse.” He sighed.

“No.” She said fiddling with one of his fingers. “Not allowed to talk about that yet.”

“Well what do you want to talk about then?” He yawned.

“The fact that you’re a bloody magician.” She said softly.

“How so?” He asked confused.

“You can go from Mr. Chill Irish Man Child who’s all about golf and Guinness and making your friends drive all the way to your house because you don’t want to ever leave it...” She said dryly.

He just laughed at her backhanded compliment.

“...to Mr. Charismatic Musician on stage. It’s quite impressive.” Georgina admitted.

“Trust me it’s taken years of practice.” Niall said.

“Well it shows.” She said running her fingers around one of the buttons.

The room got quiet. Niall ran through different ways of asking the same question. He didn’t know how to approach it. Lucky for him, Georgina already had the answer he was looking for.

“So you know that I liked when you were in the band. Those guys were great -- especially Louis.” Georgina paused. “But I like you by yourself so much better.”

His skin grew warm. “Really?”

“Yeah, it just... fits you so much more.” She explained. “It’s so you.”

“Ye-yeah?” He stuttered before clearing his throat. “You think so?”

“You were worried for nothing. I was thoroughly impressed.” She whispered making his cheeks turn pink. “The song from Aruba is even better live, in case you were wondering.”

“Thank you.” He smiled. “That means a lot.”

The room grew quiet. Niall revelled in the fact that she actually enjoyed the show he put on. She liked his show. She liked his music. She liked him. That made all the pressure he had put on himself to be perfect worth it.

“So um what are you gonna do with those rugs when tours over?” She asked trying to be as casual as possible.

“Nice try, weirdo.” Niall laughed knowing where she was going.

“What the fuck? First it’s the chair in Aruba and now the rugs, why can’t you let me have nice things?” She whined playfully.

“If I let you have those things, then how will I get you to come over to my place? I know the chair is a prime selling point for all friend functions at my house.” He said softly.

“Hmm...you do have a point.” She said in a teasing tone.

“That's just plain rude.” Niall flicked her shoulder.

“You've got Scout and I've grown accustom to watching Project Runway in that theater of yours.” She said with a smile. “So I think you can give up the chair already.”

“Speaking of Scout, how's the ol’ girl?” Niall asked interested.

“She’s fabulous. She's spending the night at Keith’s. His roommate Phil is watching her.” Georgina explained. “She's really loving puppy school. Bit of a class clown -- just like Dad.”

“How are my other children?” He asked nervously.

“Everything but the bougainvillea is dead.” She said with a voice full of sorrow.

Niall wasn't buying it. He let got of her hand quickly, “You are shit at lying.”

“Fine.” She sighed. “They are all alive and accounted for.”

“Your mum was right about you.” He mumbled as he took a strand of her hair between his fingers.

“What was she right about?” She asked glaring at him.

“You're a major pain in the arse.” Niall explained.

“I don't like the fact that you hung out with my mum in London.” She said embarrassed. “It's not very fair -- you two ganging up on me ‘n that.”

“S’been four years of absolute shit from you. I needed to bring in reinforcements.” Niall said.

“She thinks you two are proper mates.” She looked up at him. “Every conversation after the London show has ended with ‘our boy Niall.’ She always has remind me to remind you to take your vitamins and get your rest. You might be young but sleep is important.”

“I love Mama Ferguson.” Niall smiled.

“She really appreciated you inviting her. As cringey as this might be, Slow Hands is her favorite song now.” She said shyly.

“A lot of the older ones like that song.” Niall blushed.

“Fit young boy singing about sex...hmm I wonder why they would like it.” She said dryly.

“Didn't ask for that sass, Ferg.” He mumbled.

Georgina sat up slowly, “My deepest apologies.”

His phone started to ring in his pocket. Georgina knew what it meant. She got up off the bed and headed for her bag. Niall answered the call and quietly talked to Dave about where to meet.

“I'll be down in five.” He said as he watched her walk towards him with a gift in her hand.

“Don’t read the card while I’m in the room. I was a little bit buzzed while I wrote it so I’m sorry if it doesn’t make any sense.” She blushed handing him his present.

“You know you didn’t have to get me anything.” Niall said holding onto the bag.

Georgina just rolled her eyes and motioned with her hand to open it.

His eyes lit up as he pulled out a massive book. It was an encyclopedia of every plant species in existence. He skimmed through it and couldn’t believe his eyes. Color photographs and paragraphs of information of plants from all around the globe covered the pages.

“It’s the latest version. I figured it’d be something fun to read on the road.” She said shyly.

“This is amazing Fergie.” He said glancing up at her.

“I saw it and thought of you.” She said tucking some hair behind her ear.

“I absolutely love it.” Niall said standing up. He kissed her. “I really, really do.”

“Good.” She smiled. “What’d Davey say?”

“They are going to go play a game of poker and they want me to join.” He sighed.

Georgina nodded. “I need to get ready anyways.”

“Want me to open this now?” He asked reaching for the card.

“Up to you.” She said before nodding towards the bathroom. “I’ll be in there.”

Niall sat back down on the bed as she walked into the bathroom. He slowly opened the orange envelope and pulled out a card. A birthday pun covered the front. As he read what she wrote on the inside, his eyes got a bit glassy. The words that she wrote were the words he needed to hear.

Niall always felt bad when he had to leave his friends for tour. But this time around was the first time he actually felt guilty for it. The day he left Los Angeles was probably one of the worst days he has ever had. The look on her face as he left her flat was etched in his memory. It always found a way to make an appearance on the nights he felt the most alone.

He felt so bad for leaving her. She was just discovering her feelings for him. She was finally allowing herself to open up and be vulnerable. She was finally letting him in and he just left. Niall didn’t want her to resent him for leaving. He didn’t need Fergie regretting her decision.

The words that she wrote made everything okay. He didn’t need to hold her hand through this. She was doing fine on her own.

He read the paragraph once more trying to soak up everything she had said. He deserved to be happy. He deserved to be touring the world doing something he loved. He didn’t need to worry because she was going to be there for him when he got home. This small sign of reassurance had refilled his tank and he knew the next couple months were going to be just fine.

He got off the bed and walked into the bathroom. She had a curling iron attached to her hair. Noticing his presence, she let the strand of hair fall. Turning towards him, she noticed his baby blue eyes were a bit shiny. Before she could ask what was wrong, the young man engulfed her in a hug. He didn’t say a single word. He just held her tight.

This was the hug she had needed since the day he left. The hug that told her everything was going to be alright. The hug that was more important than sex or making out or holding hands. The hug that meant they were going to make it through the next few months unscathed. The hug that showed how he really felt. The hug that was going to hold them together until they were reunited again.

“I know if this goes further, it’s not going to be easy.” He whispered in her ear. “My job, your job, our friends, the public… but just trust me when I say this... it’s going to be worth it.”

“I know.” She whispered back. “I’m ready for it.”

[peterpparkrr]

Changing the Tide: An Avengers Fanfic (4/7)

Summary: Wanda Maximoff is the new girl in town and also reconciling with the death of her twin brother, Pietro. As she starts to navigate her new life she manages to stumble into friendship with a group of teens who are surprisingly similar to her

A/N: This is basically just a highschoolAU for the Avengers without powers.

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7)

“Wanda? If you have any questions about any of that stuff let me know,” Bruce said softly, about halfway through class. Ms. Hill had just finished showing some examples and Wanda was furiously scribbling down answers on some of the older worksheets that had being at the bottom of the pile Bruce had given her.

“I’m pretty good at math,” Wanda replied, not looking up from what she was writing.

“Well, one of those papers has a list with all of our phone numbers on it. I uh… made it for you incase you ever need help with anything. It also has email addresses, actual addresses, birthdays um...yeah,” he finished lamely.

Wanda thought about saying that she didn’t need it, then she thought that she could just give it back to him, in the end she just said, “Okay.”

After math class Wanda got up and left before Bruce had a chance to finish packing up his stuff. She walked as quickly as possible to her next class, literature, which was hard to find without anyone’s help.

Once she got there she remembered that Clint had planted his friends in each of her classes. Jane and Dacy simultaneously waved her over to them. Unsure of what to do, Wanda figured it would be best to just sit with them and not start any drama.

When she sat down Jane and Darcy started talking almost immediately about all of the work that she needed to catch up on. By the time class started they had already clued her into the two essays she needed to write and the fact that they were already halfway through Hemingway’s book of short stories and Jane told her that they had discussions every week so she’d need to be caught up to where the class was by Friday. The entire time Jane was talking about Hemingway, Darcy pretended to vomit all over her desk.

Jane shot Darcy a look. “You know he was one of the most brilliant writers of the 20th century, he’s key to the understanding of what culture during his lifetime was like,” Jane told her, matter-of-factly.

“Doesn’t change the fact that he was a misogynistic asshole,” Darcy shot back, crossing her arms over her chest.

Their English teacher gave Wanda a copy of the book and told her that all of the assignments were on the website and that she just needed to have them in by the end of the month to get full credit on anything that she had missed.

They spent most of class going over Hemingway’s style and how it shaped later writers. Unfortunately, English wasn’t one of Wanda’s strong suits so she had a hard time following. Luckily, it also meant that she was so focused that she didn’t have time to think about Jane, Darcy, or any of their friends.

When the bell rang at the end of the hour Darcy offered to walk her to the Physics classroom but Wanda shook her head.

“I have some questions about one of the assignments that I missed that I want to ask before I forget them,” Wanda quickly made up, hoping her excuse would stick.

“I can wait for you,” Darcy offered.

“No, I think I saw it earlier today so I’ll find it easily,” Wanda replied.

Darcy nodded and left the classroom with Jane, Wanda could hear them start up their argument about whether or not Hemingway was an asshole.

After a minute or so she figured the coast was clear so she got up and walked out of the room. She actually found the physics classroom pretty easily, it helped that there was a group of guys in superhero t-shirts talking about the merits of different types of circuits heading in the same direction.

When Wanda walked into the classroom Tony was standing near the door and grabbed her hand before she could even register that it was him.

“Just wanted to make sure that you didn’t sit next to the wrong people,” Tony explained as he wove through the lab tables to one near the corner of the room. Clint was already sitting there, Wanda visibly tensed, Tony glanced at her, confused, but didn’t say anything about it. “Bruce texted me,” Clint said, looking up at her, Wanda couldn’t read his tone as she sat down next to him.

Tony looked confused once again but said something this time, “About what? What are you guys talking about?”

“Nothing, we’re not going to talk about it,” Wanda said definitively. She could feel both Clint and Tony looking at her but refused to look back at them. Wanda had decided during her conversation with Bruce that she wasn’t going to argue with them, she had a feeling she would lose. Instead, Wanda figured that her best option was to ignore them until they finally got the message.

Wanda was in this for the long haul.

“Wanda, please,” Clint said, his voice soft as he leaned toward her. Their teacher was already droning on about frequencies. Wanda tried to tune him out, she even shifter her chair away from him at one point, but Clint was persistent.

Wanda sighed, looked up from her notes and into his eyes, “After class.”

Clint nodded at went back to his work. Wanda tried to pay attention for the rest of the hour but she kept getting distracted, she had never been one for conflict. She kept running through scenarios of what was going to happen.

When the bell rang Wanda had a split second of wondering if she could just take off but she spent too long thinking wishfully so when she snapped out of it Clint had already packed up all his stuff and was waiting for her.

Wanda quickly stuffed her notebook and textbook into her bag and stood up.

“Let's go into the hallway,” Clint said, his face filled with concern. Clint led her out the door near their lab table into a part of the hallway that was more quiet than by the main door out of the physics classroom.

Tony followed them out and stood in between the two expectedly, “So why won’t anyone tell me what’s going on?”

Clint shook his head as Wanda nervously played with the zipper of her sweatshirt, “I think it would be best if the two of us talked alone,” Clint replied.

Tony could sense from Clint’s tone that this was serious and didn’t push it, “Okay,” he said before walking away, “See you later.”

“First of all, I didn’t tell my friends to babysit you, I just thought that since you were new it could help if I introduced you to some people,’ Clint said, trying to make eye contact with Wanda, who was staring adamantly at her shoes.

“Which required you making sure you had someone from your group of friends in every class of mine?” Wanda asked.

“I thought it would help if there was someone who could help get you caught up. It’s not like I changed anyones schedule, I just made sure that one of us were in your classes.”

“And how is that not babysitting me?”

“I’m just trying to be nice to you, I don’t see what the problem is.”

“Everyone here, all of your friends, they treat me like a child. They think that I can’t take care of myself.”

“That’s so not true.”

“Yes it is, no one thinks I’m capable of taking care of myself.”

“They’re just trying to be nice to you, is it really a bad thing that they want to help?”

“Yes! No one was ever helped me before, and I was doing just fine.”

“Your brother wouldn’t have wanted you to-”

“You do not get to talk about my brother!” Wanda cried, “Don’t you dare. You didn’t know him.”

“I didn’t mean to-”

“Just leave me alone, okay?” Wanda said, her voice cracking before she turned and walked down the hall.

Wanda made it to her locked and out of the school and down the block before breaking down, Clint hadn’t followed her and once she was far enough away from the school there weren’t students anymore. Wanda cried quietly into her scarf as she walked. When she got home she went to her room and found the shirt of Pietro’s that she kept in her closet and held it close. She didn’t move from that position until her mom called her down for dinner. Wanda didn’t say much about her first day of school, despite the thorough questioning that her parents put her through. No one mentioned Pietro at the dinner table.

After dinner Wanda went back to her room and set in on her schoolwork. She had to make up for the first week of school and was determined to do it before anyone could try and offer their help. Wanda worded late into the night, she hadn’t been sleeping much as it was so she managed to drill through more of the work than she had expected to, it gave her a well needed distraction.

[backtojuno]

yoooo ive been really inactive lately, ive been going through a lot of shit. under the readmore is a bunch of stuff i need to get off my chest/make sense of. just be warned, its really long

you can read it if you want but its mostly complaining and cursing

riiiiight so about 2 months ago shit hit the fucking fan. Ive had problems with my neck thats caused very, very bad headaches for maybe 5/6 years or so. mostly i wasnt able to get anything done about it, being dependent on 2 parents who are both very pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps kind of people.in june though, i started working extra shifts at my job so i could pay for a chiropractor. and it worked, i had no headaches... for about a month. for a month after that the headaches came back, even though i was still seeing the chiropractor. AND FUCKING THEN

i was at work, my last weekend before i went on a 2-week trip to see my mom up in ohio! i was super excited. but also in a lot of pain too. most of the way through my shift i cracked my neck, a little bit too hard. all of a sudden i was floating about a foot over my head, i was getting hot flashes, and the left side of my throat went numb. of course, i panicked, told my manager and called my dad. my dad called his doctor and he said that since my hands/feet/anything werent tingling or anything like that I was alright, but i should still see a doctor. dad decided not to take me to the ER, but I was still goddamn scared. I still am, honestly. of course, this got more complicated. it was a saturday, so doctors offices were closed and wouldnt be open til monday, the day that id leave for ohio. it was a really hard decision but if i didnt get on the plane to ohio, i wouldve had to forfeit the trip entirely. so, i went to ohio and my mom set an appointment for thursday for a doctor.

i waited, we went, and i told my story to the doctor. she didnt do any tests on me, didnt even touch me. just said i had probably hit a nerve and that i was fine, and offered to prescribe medicine which i didnt want. EXCEPT. FOR FUCKS SAKE. the day after i went to the doctor i started feeling this pressure on the side of my throat,right in that fleshy part just underneath the back of your jaw.i thought and hoped it would go away. it fucking didnt. some days were better than others but on some days id be sightseeing with my family and id be silent, standing in a museum looking at The Plane that The Wright Brothers Themselves built, and trying not to panic bc the pressure in my throat was bad and it felt like i couldnt get enough air in. when i told my mom she told me to calm down. that did not help, at all. anyways, the rest of the trip passed and i flew home. EXCEPT. JESUS CHRIST. while i was on the plane, i was having a hard time popping my ear. I didnt have any gum (and i hate gum anyways bc of misophonia) so i ended up spending the entire plane ride moving my jaw to try and pressurize my ear. that, of course, ended up with me doing something to the right side of my jaw that makes it crackle and sometimes pop when i move it. it also hurts sometimes, which is weird bc the only jaw pain ive ever had was when i had all 4 of my wisdom teeth taken out at once. with the pressure in my throat though, it was kind of an afterthought at the time

anyways. since doctor #1 really hadnt done anything and i didnt have a primary doctor, i decided to go to the primary doctor my mom and sister went to when they still lived down here with me. its probably a good time to mention that that side of the family is the one im close to and im stuck here in florida for another year while i finish college. anyways. getting to him was a long wait but i got there and told him my story and he ordered some x rays of my neck and bloodwork, and prescribed me medicine. i waited for the tests and waited more for the follow up. looked at everything and told me everything was peachy keen, perfect except for a little bit of degeneration in my spinal vertebrae. it looked like things were kinda (really) out of his area of expertise, so he prescribed me a different medicine and a few sessions of physical therapy and recommended a nose & throat specialist to go to if the throat pressure didnt go away. i am goddamn lucky my dad offered to pay for my medical expenses. Doctor #3 was more or less useless.

on to doctor #3! he’s a neck specialist. i managed to get an appointment pretty quickly with him so i waited to see him. i didnt see him on the day of the appointment, but rather his assistant. she listened to my story (except that i forgot to tell her about the throat pressure thing. i s2g i go featherbrained around doctors) and then tested my arm and leg strength/mobility/general usefulness/whatever. then she ordered an mri of my neck. i waited for the mri, then waited again for the follow up. She, of course, said there was nothing wrong and when i remembered to tell her about the throat thing (which had still not gone away, 2 months later) she just looked kinda confused. she, like doctor #2, prescribed me a different medicine and a month of physical therapy. i think somewhere along the timeline of seeing doctor #3 my jaw started acting up again? i dont remember the exact timing of that but it hurt, and it sucked. my throat also started getting pretty uncomfortable when i talked, like i had to work harder to speak at a normal level. that also sucks when you work in a customer service job

so i managed to rule out that the throat thing wasnt bc of my neck and that my vertebrae werent gonna spontaneously combust or anything, i booked an apointment with the nose & throat specialist, which was on tuesday. by this time i was a damn mess. i still felt at times that i was having a hard time breathing and i really couldnt even think about it without going on the verge of a panic attack. 2 months and NO answers other than “huh, that’s weird” (the physical therapist literally told me that to my face). i had started to do research on my own for lack of anything better. that led me to eagle syndrome! which described exactly what i was feeling! (http://www.livingwitheagle.org/t/es-information-common-symptoms-and-possible-explanations-for-them/1389) and from what i read, there’s no cure! just analgesics and surgery, really. that really, really did not help- if you cant do anything then whats the point, right?

EX-FUCKING-CEPT. right around the time that i figured that out, i started having pain in my chest. i didnt know why it was happening (i later figured out that its bc when i sleep on my side i put too much pressure on my chest and it hurts me where my ribs and my sternum meet. it just decided to act up then). still though, i didnt know that at the time and let me tell you, when your chest starts hurting after youve been having whats more or less a 2-month-long constant panic attack, its goddamn TERRIFYING. i had lost my appetite a couple days before and had not been eating much, so i was weak and my heart was beating weirdly. i asked my dad what to do. he told me to call my primary, and they told me to go to the ER. i asked my dad to take me to the ER. his answer? “no, we’re going to an urgent care clinic”. the urgent care clinic, of course, couldnt do anything, while i sat there crying. (the doctor there, doctor #4, literally told me to just wait to see the nose & throat guy and that “i should try to be more composed when i see him”) meanwhile, when trying to talk about what ive been feeling to my parents, aka several mentions that i feel like im choking, i was just told to calm down. as if everything wasnt crumbling and going wrong.

so i waited until the appointment on tuesday. actually, no i didnt, i went into depression mode(TM), getting nothing done, and ended up in the doctors office an hour and a half before the appointment on the verge of tears. since it was uncomfortable to talk and something just outside of my throat had started hurting a week before, i had typed up my story (named “The Big Clusterfuck” on my computer). doctor #5 did some tests and mentioned eagle syndrome, even though i had only described it in the paper and not named it, and TMJ. he gave me prednisone for a week and told me to come back in a week. i feel bad for the man, i cried a lot.

ive managed to get my appetite back and have started eating again, and spent all of yesterday evacuating florida. i really, really hope the prednisone works. i dont know what im gonna do if it doesnt. if youre religious or do witchy stuff or whatever floats your boat, please send along a prayer or a spell or something. im not as bad as i was last week but im still Not Okay

[shiroe-is-my-baby]

A Little Push

Summary: Shiroe takes the time to read one of Ashley’s works and takes matters into his own hands

W: self-insert, fluff

((Part one of two since my ass made this super long lol I thought of this cute little idea, because I really think Shiroe would do all of this. Part two will be up later!))

Part 1 ~ Part 2

Tapping my foot nervously, I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I observed the man through my eyelashes. I couldn’t look st him completely, hoping I wouldn’t catch a glimpse of his reaction. I didn’t want to know what he thought until he finished it completely. When I told him about the book I was working on, he was pretty adamant about reading it if I wanted to show it to him. Obviously I did, but I was a bit nervous that he’d critique too much. But thats what I needed.

Shiroe wasnt saying anything for a while now. I told him not to read too much since we’d be here all day. I had finished the last chapter last night, surprised that I had written it as fast as I did. It wasn’t like anyone would see it, but I felt extremely accomplished. Back in our world, I hadnt ever finished a novel that I worked on. I felt pleased with myself. Just knowing I could do it was a success. Even if I can’t publish it.

It seemed like hours had passed by, and I was still waiting for Shiroe to stop. He’s usually a fast reader, unless he’s trying to absorb the material. But there isn’t anything to absorb. Unless it’s so awful he can’t finish it. I felt my cheeks burning at the thought, my knuckles tightening with anxiety. I felt my heart racing when I saw his eyebrows furrow.

“Wow,” He said, “This is really good.”

“What?”

My eyes widened at the sound of his words, his own meeting mine. He smiled, the papers still in his hands. “I didn’t know you could write like this. You really have a talent, Ashley,” He said. I shook my head, the blush darkening with even more embarrassment. I bit my bottom lip, avoiding his eyes as much as I could. He was just being nice. There was no way it was that good.

“Th-Thanks, Shiroe,” I said, “It’s nice to hear that… but you don’t have to be so polite.”

“I’m serious. It’s really good. I really loved it.”

“Really?” I asked with a blush wide on my face.

He nodded, the smile growing on his face. Shiroe was the only one I showed, and he would be the only one I showed. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust them, but I just wanted to show one person. Shiroe was the first person that came to mind, plus he would notice mistakes and errors quicker. It was a bit more nerve wracking to show him, though. His opinion matters most to me.

When I asked him, he practically freaked. Which was kind of adorable. The fact that he encouraged me like this was nice. He was also helpful and ushering me to try to do something that’d make me happy. I’d been a little depressed lately, not having something to call my own. He was a bit help in reminding me to do things I wanted to do. To not let fear stop me.

“What made you want to write?” He asked, “I’m just curious.”

“Well, I’ve actually been writing for as long as I can remember. Back home I had wanted to be a published author, but I couldn’t ever finish anything. It’s just nice to know I can here.”

I pushed my bangs behind my ear, still avoiding his eyes. The two of us grew silent once again, and I started to shift in my seat. He pursed his lips in thought, placing his chin in his hand. “Mind if I borrow this? Look it over and maybe reread it?” He asked. Swallowing hard, I shook my head quickly. I wasn’t sure why he would want to keep it, but I wasn’t going to argue with him. Besides, I was super happy from the compliments.

“Sure. Uh… go ahead.”

I stood up from the couch, watching him stand along with me. The only thing I could think about doing next was bolting for the door. I had enough attention in me for one day. But before I could leave, I felt him grasp my arm softly. I lifted my eyes, feeling his hand touch my chin. Both our cheeks grew red, and I watched the smile soften on his lips.

“Thank you for showing me,” He said, “I’m glad you chose me.”

“Of course… you were the only one I wanted to show.”

That comment made him happy. I could see it in his eyes. I pursed my lips, my heart fluttering when he shifted to press a small kiss to my cheek. It was still the early stages in our relationship, so things like this always sent me ablaze. I’m always surprised every time he shows affection to me in some way. Because to me it’s still new.

I’m so used to myself making all the first moves. But now the tables were turning. I giggled softly, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “I’ll… uh… I’ll see you later,” I said. He nodded, watching me turn around and slowly release his hand. I pushed open the door, giving him one last wave as I calmly left the room.

When I closed it, I let out a soft sigh of both relief and happiness. That went a lot better than I expected. I walked down the hallway with a bright smile on my face. Nothing could ruin this fabulous day. I felt complete for the first time in a while.

The next day, everyone was acting weird around me. The whole entire guild kept smiling st me and greeting me differently. I assumed that there was some kind of rumor that circulated, since this was similar to how they acted when Shiroe and I first announced we were dating. But there was something different about today. Something that I didn’t notice until Akatsuki scared the living shit out of me.

“Ashley, I didn’t know you could write,” She said from in front of me.

I shouted, almost falling back onto the floor when she appeared in front of me. She dangled from the ceiling, her face inches away from my own. I took a couple steps back, staring at her with wide eyes as I tried to catch my breath. “Wh-What?” I asked, furrowing my brows.

Her eyes were soft as she smiled, holding out a book that was in her hands. I looked between her and the object, my heart stopping in my chest. “I had no idea that you were a writer,” She said. With my eyebrows raised, I gently took the book from her hands and opened it up.

“It’s really good, you know? I couldn’t believe it when Shiroe told me about it. Honestly, I couldn’t put it down at all this morning! You’re amazing!”

“Akatsuki, where did you get this? How did you-”

“My- Shiroe gave it to me. He said that you had written it, and-”

“Look, I’m really, really glad you liked it, but I need to know who else has one,” I said, interrupting her.

She furrowed her brows, disappearing from the ceiling and reappearing beside me. She saw the desperation in my eyes, worry filling her own. It was obvious that I didn’t want her to see it. She could see that easily. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I was genuinely freaking out.

What the hell did Shiroe do?