#but i’m like packing up for the summer now. i guess i could semi- clean the bathroom before my roommate gets back.

[livvyofthelake]

huge update i might get to go home tomorrow… my professor is opening our final on wednesday instead of just thursday so now i just need to see if my friend i planned to take the exam with can do it wednesday and then if she can (she almost certainly can) i can go home after……. i wanna go homeeee i want this semester to be OVER as soon as humanly possible!!!!!!

[reilemon]

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ Under The Stars ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

♡︎ pairing: Xavier x fem!reader

｡°⚠︎°｡MINORS DNI (18+ ONLY)｡°⚠︎°｡

♡︎cw:unprotected sex, tent sex, semi-public sex, oral sex (male receiving), dry humping, pussy job, cum swallowing

♡︎word count: 3.9k

♡︎synopsis: What happens when you share a tent with your crush? The story starts where the memory Precious Bonfire ends.

♡︎a/n: I wrote this during my ovulation week. Also, I went over this once, so if you see any mistakes, no you don't.

♡︎ special thanks to my beta reader ♡︎@its-de♡︎ for reading and helping me with this!

banner by @cafekitsune

Xavier looks up from the game card “Ah, I figured out what I want my payment to be.” He smiles softly at you and hands you the card, “Tell me when you’re overwhelmed next time.”

A little confused, you absent-mindedly take the card that’s not even yours. “That doesn’t sound like a payment.”

“Well, it is.”

“No, it’s not. Think of something else!” You say with playfulness in your voice. Of course you don’t mind accepting to “pay him off” in this way, but he’s been so helpful and resourceful today, that you’d feel bad for asking for more assistance.

He just shakes his head and stands up from his seat in the camping van, and walks away. End of discussion, I guess.

୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆

You spent a few minutes sitting alone in the van, decompressing, but also thinking of ways to return the favor. Seriously, what’s a good way to show him your gratitude? You know he’s not doing this because he expects something in return. Xavier is a genuine and sweet soul, someone who is reliable (except in the kitchen) with a soothing presence. He never seems overwhelmed, even when he lights his oven on fire.

You sigh wistfully. You were hoping he was going to say “Let’s go on a date!” or “Can I sleep in your tent?” or maybe “You know, the front of my pants is feeling a little tight, could you lend me a hand –“ you blush, hiding your face in your hands. If only.

You glance at your phone to look at the time. You decide you’ve spent enough time away from everyone, letting your mind wander – how big is it? – okay, you really need to focus and go back to your colleagues.

୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆

The rest of the evening went uneventful – you hung out with your friends, cleaned up the mess and then took a relaxing shower. Somewhere between cleaning up and the shower, you swiped a pack of chocolate covered strawberries from the mafia game winner. You wanted those strawberries the moment your eyes landed on them in that pile of snacks.  And you’ll buy them later and give them back, so technically you’re borrowing them!

Besides, you want to give them to Xavier as a small thank you. He deserves more than this, but it will do for now.

Anyway, after the refreshing shower, you’re looking around the campsite. Most of your colleagues are cozying up in their tents, only a few still talking and drinking outside. Where’s Xavier?

You saw him earlier hanging out with others, but now… your eyes land on his figure, lounging by a tree away from all the tents.

You approach him. “There’s no way I’m letting you sleep outside.”

Xavier, not opening his eyes, says “I have no problem sleeping outside.”

“Well, as the captain of this group, I very much do.” You extend your arm towards him “C’mon, you can sleep in my tent.”

He opens his eyes as he hears the offer. “Are you – “

You grab his hand, “Yes, the tent is big enough for the two of us.” You suddenly remember that you only brought one blanket, but this summer night is nice and breezy so it shouldn’t be an issue.

Hesitant at first, Xavier nods and gets up while holding your hand. He moves his backpack to your tent and goes to take a shower, giving you time to change into pajama shorts and tank top; not really appropriate in this situation, but who cares!

As you spread out the blanket over the sleeping mat and two pillows, (yes, two, the other one was meant for your knees), you sit there waiting for him and then you realize – wow, it’s kinda fucking cold in here!

You were so focused on being a good captain and taking care of everyone that it completely slipped your mind that you should pack warmer pajamas and maybe a sleeping bag; it doesn’t matter that it’s summer, nights are always colder in the woods.

As you wonder if the blanket will be warm enough, from the corner of your eye you notice Xavier approaching the tent. He’s wearing a loose white t-shirt and gray cotton shorts. You move a little to make room for him, and when he crouches to step inside, your eyes are glued to his muscular legs. The staring makes you miss the way Xavier’s eyes take in your figure, the smooth skin of your thighs and your pebbled nipples poking underneath your top.

You quickly shift your gaze to his face; he’s looking around the tent. Suddenly you’re nervous. It hits you that you’ll be sleeping next to Xavier in this small ass tent. You feel an awkward tension, so you say “I hope this is enough room for you! I don’t have one more blanket but I do have an extra pillow!”

Xavier chuckles, and gives you a reassuring smile. “It’s good enough for me. I just hope you’re comfortable with this.”

“Of course I am!” You say very convincingly. As you nervously shift, your thigh grazes the box of strawberries. Right, I almost forgot! You take them and offer the box to him. “Here, a small token of my gratitude.”

He eyes the fruit, not taking them immediately. “Where did you get those?”

“The winner gave them to me.”

“Really?”

“I stole them.” You say with a shy smile. Some things are just impossible to hide from him.

He chuckles, “I’ll take them, but only if you have some as well.”

You agree and he opens the box, placing it between you two.

You’re the first one to try them, and you’re so pleased that your little crime paid off. And by Xavier’s little mm!  you know that he enjoys the sweetness of chocolate and the strawberries as well. You sit there for a while, eating and chatting about whatever; mostly about the books he’s been reading and the new game both of you started playing.

You don’t feel that tired anymore. It’s probably the shower that washed away all the fatigue of the day. And the adrenaline from talking, not only talking but sharing a tent and then later sleeping next to your crush. You’re actually so excited you could run laps around the campsite, but at the same time so flustered you don’t know what to do with yourself.

After you take another bite of the fruit, you notice that Xavier’s eyes are lingering on your lips? No, your cheek?

His hand slowly goes towards your face, and you stand still, unsure of what he wants. His ring finger gently wipes the corner of your mouth.

He smiles, “You had some chocolate there.”

When he’s about to lick his finger, you joke “Hey! You’re taking my chocolate!”

He stops for a second, looks at the finger, then at you. “You’re right. Do you want it back?” He asks with that teasing glint in his eyes as he holds the digit in front of your lips.

You’re stunned for a moment, trying to read the situation. Does he really want you to lick it off?

Okay, you can play along; with your eyes on his, you start to lick the chocolate. Xavier’s eyes widen for a split second, his lips slightly part as he watches you lick and suck his finger clean. It made his shorts tighter, and he hopes that you don’t notice the outline of his erection on his gray shorts.

And you’re so frustrated at yourself because of how wet this little interaction made you.

When you’re done, with a light blush on his cheeks, he pulls back his hand and clears his throat. “You’re really good at this.”

You only sheepishly smile and continue the conversation like nothing happened.  

୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆

“You didn’t bring a sleeping bag?” Xavier asks as you as you both get ready to sleep. It’s gotten late, it’s dead silent as everyone around you is sleeping or trying to fall asleep. You’re surprised that Xavier managed to stay awake this long.

You admit that you forgot the fact that it’s colder at night here than back in the city. “But the blanket should be big enough for both of us.” You offer to go ask someone for one more blanket, but he refuses and says that he’s worried about you being cold.

His eyes scan over your barely covered body “I can borrow you my hoodie. But it smells like campfire.”

“I’m gonna to be fine. Let’s just go to sleep.” You reassure him (and yourself). With that, both of you lie down, your backs turned, and cover yourself with a blanket that is not enough for two people.

Xavier lets you take most of it, but tries to not make it obvious, so he holds onto it, only his back covered.

Ten, fifteen, maybe twenty minutes pass, you don’t know. You just can’t fall asleep. Not only because your ass is freezing, but because he is lying right next to you. And judging by his deep breathing, he’s asleep. Of course he is. You turn on your back and stare at the stars peeking through the mesh screen of the tent. You don’t want to move around too much or step outside because you don’t want to wake him. He’s had an exhausting day too.

You turn on your side, facing his back. You can’t see much in the dark tent, the only light source being the moon and the stars, and faint fairy lights outside. But it’s visible enough to admire his light fluffy hair and how wide his back is. You crave to trace your fingers over his shirt, through his hair… you completely took over the blanket!

You cover his figure, but then you’re a little exposed. With a sigh, you move closer to him as quietly as possible. Now, time to turn around in the same manner. But, Xavier is already switching to his other side, turning to you, and you’re so close, almost nose to nose and he opens his eyes.

You’re holding in your breath, freezing in place. “Sorry.” You whisper. “I just wanted to cover you.”

His sleepy eyes stare at yours, then at your lips. It takes him a second to register your words. “You’re still awake?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you cold?”

You take second before answering “Maybe.”

“Turn around.”

You do as you’re told expecting him to roll you into the blanket like a burrito and then you’d feel really bad. Those thoughts evaporate when you feel his warm arm slip around your waist, pulling your back against his strong, yet soft, chest, while his lower body keeps a respectful distance.

His breath tickles the skin of your neck, making you shiver. “Is this okay?”

You only muster a squeaky ‘mhm’, and then he falls silent again, with his face nuzzled against your neck. You close your eyes, and try to count sheep.

One sheep…two sheep… your arm gets uncomfortable so you place it over his that’s resting on your waist, the contact making his hand search your hand, entangling his fingers with yours, and then pulling you in a tighter embrace.

Exhaling a shuttering breath, you continue… three sheep… you’ve been keeping your legs pin straight this whole time and they’re starting to feel stiff and sore. But if you bend them, they’ll be exposed to cold air, but if you curl up you’ll be pressing your butt against Xavier’s crotch, or at least lower belly.

Four sheep…

The gentle whisper of your name against your ear makes you yelp. You thought he fell asleep.

Xavier repeats your name, and you can hear the smirk on his lips “Position yourself however you please. I want you to be comfortable.”

You exhale a breath you’ve been holding. “Okay.”

You move into the fetus position, making yourself as comfortable as possible, warm in his embrace, your bottom keeping an awkward distance from his lower half.  You bite your bottom lip and try to regulate your breathing. He can probably feel how fast your heart is beating. You think how it’s unfair that he can feel how flustered you are.

You feel his slow heartbeat, but you can’t see his feverish red cheeks.

“Is it better now?” He asks.

“Yeah, it’s just that...” It’s just that your legs and buttocks are still cold.

When you don’t finish your sentence, he nudges your neck with his nose. “Your legs are cold.”

The hand on your waist moves and his fingers lightly glide over your upper thigh. When you don’t protest, he starts caressing, warming up your skin. The contact makes you hot between your legs, making you unconsciously rub your thighs and arch your back, your butt backing up against his front. 

You immediately flinch, jolting your middle forward outside the covers. “Sorry.” You mumble, your cheeks burning in embarrassment, your body staying in that awkward position.

Xavier can’t help but laugh at the position you’re in. He rubs your shoulder in an attempt to console you. “It’s okay. I don’t mind”

It takes you a few seconds to muster up the courage to go back under the cover, closing the distance between your bodies, letting him spoon you.

You feel like you could melt in his arms; he’s so warm, smells like fresh linen and herbal hair shampoo. Even though you’re still nervous, your body is able to relax and press further against him, unintentionally grinding your soft bottom against his quickly hardening length.

Your pussy clenches as you feel his clothed hard dick against you. He doesn’t say anything, but shift a little further from you.

You don’t know if it’s the weariness, the horniness, or the boldness (if you can call it that), that makes you whisper. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.” And you close the distance again, this time slowly sliding your ass against him to prove your point.

A shuddering breath leaves his lips, as he starts moving at your pace. He shifts to rest on his elbow and his hand moves up to cup your cheek, and you turn to face him, your hips halting the movement.

He gazes into your eyes and nudges the tip of your nose with his. He softly breathes your name and his soft warm lips leave a feather light kiss on yours. He waits for your reaction with those puppy eyes that always make you weak.

With the hand that was under you, you hold the side of his face and pull him into a soft kiss. Your lips softly graze and nip as Xavier adjusts his body, elbows resting on either side of your head, his chest resting against yours, but his pelvis is hovering against yours.

You decide to be the one to take the next step; fingers of one hand run through his hair as you deepen the kiss, your tongue glosses his bottom lip and slipping inside, tasting his. The other hand pushes down his lower back, and he takes the hint.

You gasp into the kiss as his dick grinds right between your clothed folds, grazing your clit just right. Your cheeks and core are burning as Xavier starts rutting waster and harder, you can feel his heartbeat pounding against your chest. Both of you are panting between kisses, suppressing moans and whines.

He breathes against your lips “We should stop.” When he notices a flash of disappointment on your face, he adds, “It’s so easy to hear everything here.”

You nod. “Yeah, you’re right.” You gulp and take in deep breaths. Your tent is the furthest from the rest, but still close enough to hear if someone is getting it on.

He rolls over to his side, still facing you. His eyes take in your features as his fingertips graze over them. He pulls you in by the back of your head into a slow kiss. Your lips taste each other, tongues licking, his teeth playfully nibbling your bottom lip.

The hand on the back of your hand travels over your jaw to hold your chin, and a deep sigh leaves his lips. He whispers, “It’s so hard to hold back.” and the continues tasting your plump lips.

Those words make your panties wetter than they were. You throw your leg over his hips and soon you’re straddling him, and his arms envelop you, pressing your body flush against his, his hips bucking up to meet yours once again.

But you crave more contact and so does Xavier. At the same time, Xavier pulls down his shorts and you take off yours. A whimper escapes your lips as you sit back down on his rock hard dick, your sexes only separated by thin fabric.

He pulls you into a deep, hungry kiss, his hands grabbing your ass, moving your hips in the same rhythm with his. The friction feels so good, too good. Your pussy is creaming so much, making a mess of your panties and his boxer briefs. Then he shifts his hips a little and his cockhead starts hitting and rubbing your clit over and over, and you’re mewling and panting into the sloppy kiss.

He smirks against your lips. “Honey, I need you to stay quiet. I don’t want anyone else to hear you like this.”

The heat pools in the bottom of belly. “Xavier, I’m close.”

“Yeah? Is my little bunny feeling good?” He pants, and by the twitching of his cock, you think he’s close too.

You hold back a disappointed whine when he puts a distance between your hips, but then you feel him push down his boxers freeing his throbbing dick. He pulls your panties to the side and brings your hips back down, your dripping pussy lips sliding against his thick length, and he immediately locks your lips with his, swallowing your moan.

He has you in a tight embrace, one hand on the plump flesh of your ass and the other on the back of your neck. His lips leave a wet trail from your lips over your jaw to the shell of your ear, and you listen to his restrained pants and grunts.

His hot breath fans over your ear “Let’s come together.” He pulls up both of your shirts a bit, and you feel his hard ab muscles tensing against your skin.

You can only nod as the tip starts hitting your clit again, and in a few seconds you’re coming undone on top of him, hiding your face in the crook of his neck, muffling your moans.

Xavier follows shortly after, his cum spilling over both of your bellies.

You take a moment to calm down and you notice that he’s still as hard. You come up to meet his gaze.

His eyes are veiled with so much lust and craving. “I – “

“Please, fuck me.” You need more.

With those three magic words, he’s on top of you again, his shirt and the blanket disregarded somewhere in the corner. He pushes your tank top over your breasts, his hot lips latching onto your nipple while his fingers play with the other one, while his cock is sliding with ease between your slippery folds.

You know that he wants to prep you more, but you feel like you’ve been edged for too long, your hole clenching around nothing.

Xavier’s breath hitches against your nipple when you reach down and wrap your hand around his member, feeling how long and thick he is (he’s longer than your thought).

He comes up and holds your gaze as you tease the tip against your soaking entrance “I need you now.”

His hand switches with yours, slowly easing into you, his gaze never leaving yours. He swallows thickly, and cursing under his breath as he feels your walls clench around him.

And you’re a mess under him, biting your lip to contain your moans and whines, but your pussy is already fluttering around his length, second orgasm building up.

When he’s finally buried to the hilt, he rests his body on top of yours, neither of you caring about the slippery cum between you, if anything it spurs you on even more.

He slowly starts rolling his hips, his lips leaving open mouth kisses over your collar bone and your neck. You fingers find purchase in his hair and nails lightly scrape the skin over his taut back muscles. In your daze you take a moment to admire his strong back and then you move your hand from his back to grab his biceps. Fuck, you wish there was more light here.

Xavier’s lips lock with yours in a sloppy kiss, his tip grazing your sweet spot with every thrust while his fingertips rub your sensitive bundle of nerves. His voice is raspy from all the strangled groans, “You’re squeezing me so hard, princess. Are you gonna come for me?”

You only manage a small moan in response, and you don’t even care if you’re loud. And the wet smacking of his pelvis against your creamy cunt is already giving you away.

You barely give any warning as suddenly another orgasm crashes over you, his free hand covering your mouth. He coos in your ear that’s right and you’re so pretty and sweet names that you barely register as you whimper against his hand and your pussy spasms around his cock.

As you come down from your high, he picks up the pace and soon you notice him twitching inside you, his hips stuttering and his pants becoming shallower.

He murmurs “Where do you want me?”

You fight back the urge to say ‘inside’, you want him to fill you up so bad, but now is not the place to make that kind of mess.

Still, you don’t want spill it outside. “Use my mouth.”

His face burns and his dick painfully throbs at those words. You rest on your elbows as he pulls out and straddles your waist, his hand resting on your head.

You let him guide the tip past your lips, and you swirl your tongue around it tasting your mixed juices. He swallows a moan as you take him in deeper; swollen lips enveloping his cock, tongue swirling, tasting him, and grazing his pulsing veins, and he can’t help the pang of jealousy that hits him with how good you’re at this.

Pushing those thoughts back, he caresses your cheekbone with his thumb. “You’re taking me so good.”

He starts thrusting, unable to hold back much longer. He whispers between pants “Tap my arm if I go too hard.”

You hum against his length, focused on relaxing your throat as his cockhead starts hitting more and more with each thrust and stutter of his hips.

You feel him throb hard in your mouth, and his hand travels under your chin. You hear him demand with a strangled groan “Look at me.”

Your eyes lock with his, the sight of you sucking him in with a fucked-out face making him tip over the edge, filling your mouth with his hot cum.

He takes shaky breaths as he twitches in your mouth as you suck him and swallow each drop, not letting anything go to waste.

After he pulls out, he sits next to you and gives you a chaste kiss on the lips.

He holds your face in his hands, his nose nudging yours. “Are you okay?”

You nod and kiss him again. And then you feel cold air hit the wet spots on your body. You chuckle “We need to get cleaned up, though.”

With that, you wipe yourselves with wipes and dress up to make an awkward walk towards the bathroom. You just hope that no one heard what you were doing in the tent. Or the shower.

[hammeredalcoholic]

my only friend

kira yoshikage / reader ;

rating: mature, no 18+ content yet ; kira & reader are portrayed as 18 years old ; tension at the end of chapter

here is chapter 2! link to chapter 1. hope you guys enjoy this, i am falling back in love with writing this thing. cross posted to ao3.

here is a spotify playlist to go with this fic.

“you've been riding two wheelers all your life it's not like i'm asking to be your wife i wanna make you mine, but that's hard to say is this coming off in a cheesy way?”

The skies were covered in clouds, smoldering and dark, threatening to spill rain at any time. The air was chilly, causing goosebumps to line your arms and make the hairs on your neck stand up. Fall was just upon you, the summer months had passed within seconds it seemed. Not that you really cared-- autumn was beautiful, bringing colored trees and pretty sunsets. 

Your shoes scuffed against the concrete you sat upon, your fingers barely holding onto a lit cigarette. You really ought to quit-- but the high of nicotine was just too much to give up. The taste of tobacco on your tongue was all you tried to focus on, but it was hard. 

Hard when you sat outside of a dingy apartment, of a person you didn’t know, waiting for your companion to take their miserable life. 

This was normal. You’d go a few days on the road, staying at whichever place you could, before Yoshikage started to feel the urges, as he called them. He had said it once before to you, and it was something that you hadn’t been able to quite let go. 

“I just-- can’t help it,” His words were soft, and small. His hands were fidgeting in his lap, ghosting over the frayed edges of his baby blue sweater. “I can’t control myself when I get this way. It’s just that it’s in my nature to kill.” 

Kira’s eyes were hidden behind his blond bangs, deep and dark and full of sorrow. He couldn’t help that he was this way, despite the fact that he wanted to live a quiet life. He didn’t want to be a bother on others, but it seemed like he had just dug himself in a hole. 

Your mind jumped from that memory to another. The phone call. The one that changed your life drastically. 

3:31 AM flashed on your alarm clock. The landline was ringing, practically jumping off your bedside table. Who the hell would need to call you right now? All of Morioh should be asleep-- your hand reached for it, gently picking it up off the receiver and holding it to your ear. 

“Hello?” 

A shaky voice was on the other end. Distant and gravely-- barely speaking above a whisper. 

“D-Did I wake you up? I-I’m so sorry,” He sounded awful. Hiccups between every word, and you were positive he had been crying. “Yoshikage-- What happened? What’s going on?” 

Yoshikage Kira had never sounded like this. He sounded so broken-- like a glass vase shattered across a concrete floor. There was a small hiccup, and a breathy sigh on the other end. “I made-- I made a big mistake. I need your help.” 

A big mistake? What the hell did that mean? 

“Can you please meet me at Reimi Sugimoto’s house? You know where that is right?” He sounded even more desperate with each passing second. Yes, you did know where she lived-- it was on your walking path to and from school everyday. It should only take you about 5 minutes to get there, if you booked it. 

“Yes, yes, okay. I’ll be there soon. Whatever you do, don’t run away.” With those words being said, the line was cut off. Quickly, and being as quiet as possible, you got some pants and a sweatshirt on, stuffing a pillow under your blankets to make it seem like you were still sleeping. Thinking semi-clearly, you grabbed a backpack and put some extra clothes and your trusted pocket knife inside. 

Slinging the bag over your shoulders, you grabbed your keys from your desk and slipped out of your room. This wasn’t the first time you had snuck out, so you knew each creak and cranny in the wooden stairs leading to the main entrance of your house. As quickly as you could, you slipped out of the house without a sound. 

You quickly bolted to your car that was slightly down the street, thanking your past self for the distance. Your parents wouldn’t hear the car start, or you driving off to save your friend. Hopping in and starting the engine up, you quickly left in the direction of the Sugimoto residence.

Screams were faint in your ears. 

Deciding that another cigarette was inevitable, you quickly pulled it out of the pack and lit it. You could have waited in the car, but-- you didn’t want Yoshikage to get hurt. You wanted to be there for him until the very end, so there you sat, against the grimy brick wall, feeling all sorts of out of place. 

You let your mind drift again. 

Driving well over the speed limit, you made it there in less than 3 minutes. From the outside of the house, it didn’t look like much had happened. The lawn was normal, the house the same as when you had driven past yesterday. That was until you noticed him-- a figure, clad in a pale blue sweater, sitting on the front steps of the building. 

His hands, covered in his sleeves, were pressed firmly against his face. If it hadn’t been in the middle of the night, you would have been able to make out the bright red stains that coated his clothes. Quickly pulling the car to the side of the road, you got out without a second guess. 

Quickly rushing up to the boy, you stopped only feet away from him. 

“Yoshi… What-- What happened?” Blood. Blood on his sleeves-- his pants-- his hair. Fuck, his face was even coated in it. His hands dropped from his face, and he looked up at you with wide, cold-dead eyes. They were bright red and puffy, telling that he was sobbing his eyes out only moments previously. 

“I-- I made a mistake.” Kira’s voice was only a whisper. If you hadn’t been listening, you would have thought it to be the midnight wind. “What mistake?” You pressed, stepping closer to the seated boy. 

“I-- I,” Yoshikage stuttered, before tears lined his eyes. “I killed them.” He spoke so softly, before looking at his blood stained hands. “I killed them.” He stated, louder, looking up at you again. “I killed her parents. Her dog. And then-- her.” His voice was shaking, tears now freely flowing down his cheeks. “I don’t-- I don’t know what to do.” 

You stared at him in disbelief. He-- Yoshikage Kira, the boy that grew up with you, silent but friendly, playing with only you throughout elementary, hanging out with you during middle school and high school-- your best friend. He had killed someone. Not someone, multiple people. 

Fist shaking at your sides, chills running up your spine, sweat practically dripping from your temple. 

You had a choice to make. 

Leave him, let him get caught-- probably executed. Or--

“I’ll help you. Let’s go.” 

You’ve never seen Kira’s eyes light up like that before. Bright blue, even in the pale moonlight. They were so blue, you swore you could have gotten lost in them. That’s your favorite part of the memory, thinking back on the relief he must have felt. It sent warmth through your body, butterflies floating in your stomach. 

You knew, despite how much you question your own motives now and again, you wouldn’t be able to leave Kira. He’s been a staple in your life, much like you must have been to him. Why would he ask you for help if that wasn’t the case? 

The skies had grown dark as you were reminiscent, and your stomach growling had alerted you that it might not be a bad idea to get some food. Glancing at the door to the apartment, you briefly wondered if Yoshikage would even notice if you left. But, then again, he might be hungry too. You weighed your options, and decided it would be best to just ask him. 

Getting up to your feet, you flicked the butt of your cigarette over the railing of the complex. Your feet tingled with sleep, and your fists clenched as you stared at the awful wooden door. Your mind ran a million miles an hour, going through several thoughts about what he could possibly be doing behind that wretched piece of wood. 

Just as you were about to knock on the door, it opened. 

Kira stood there, eyes wide when he noticed you standing in front of him. He was absolutely drenched in blood-- his sweater was stained, khakis barely recognizable. His face and hair were also decently covered. His eyes quickly darted to his ruined chucks, and he spoke very softly. 

“I-- I’m done.” 

You let out a quick sigh of relief, and decided not to question him. “Well if that’s the case, how about we go get some food and find a place to clean you up?” Kira didn’t say anything, just nodded. With that, you both left the apartment complex. 

As the night went on, you both decided that getting some fast food and trying to find a laundromat was in order. You were rather thankful for the dark, as the person who took your measly ones at the burger joint didn’t even bat an eye at your companion’s appearance. 

Luckily, there was a laundromat just down the street. Pulling up and parking in the vacant lot, you both got out your burgers and ate in relative silence.

After downing your food in what felt like 3 bites, you looked over at your friend. He didn’t look like he was thinking about much-- his hands were steady, eyes somewhat glossed over from the food, and completely ignoring the fact that he was still very much covered in blood. 

“Do you feel better?” The words felt almost foreign on your tongue, despite feeling like you asked him this every single time. Kira looked over at you, swallowing the bite he was chewing before responding. “Yeah. I do,” He rolled up the remaining half of his sandwich in the wrapper, putting it back in the bag. “But I would like to clean up my clothes.” 

You snorted, grabbing your drink from the console and taking a few gulps. “I’m sure you would. It looks like it’s fairly empty in there, so I’m sure we’ll be fine.” You glanced at the clock in your car, and the bright red numbers informed you that it was well past midnight at this point. Kira must have noticed it too, and he began to get out of the vehicle. 

Doing the same, you pulled the bag of quarters you keep in the console out and stuffed them in your pocket. You followed Yoshikage inside, quickly turning and locking your car before entering the building. 

The place was very much run down-- old washing machines lined the dirty walls. Neon lights glimmered from outside, casting weird shadows across the floor. Kira kept walking to the back of the building, deciding to use the machines that were farthest from the windows. You followed him absentmindedly, hoping up on one of the machines and pulling out your little sack of change. 

Yoshikage’s eyes glanced at your before they went down to his feet, and he quickly shrugged off his baby blue sweater. You swore that thing had been through its life cycle already-- ever since he got it at the beginning of high school, it seemed to be the only article of clothing he wore. He threw it into the washing machine next to you, his hands going back up to unbutton his undershirt. 

At that point, you found it hard not to stare. 

Yoshikage Kira may have been your best friend from preschool to now, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t attractive. Bright blonde curls and icy blue eyes-- along with a jawline that could surely cut glass. 

The coins in your hand quickly became your second priority, as your eyes lingered on each inch of skin he revealed. This wasn’t even your first time seeing him semi-nude-- he sleeps in the same bed as you most nights. But this-- this was different. 

Soon enough his button up was shrugged off and tossed in the washer, and you quickly averted your eyes to the coins you held in your palm. You were playing a very dangerous game, and you weren’t sure what Kira would do if he caught you looking at him like a piece of meat. 

As you tried to count the quarters that were needed for the machine to run, you heard your companion’s shoes be kicked off. Then, the sound of a button and fly being undone made your cheeks heat up within seconds. Your mind was doing mental backflips, going back and forth between looking, and keeping your eyes down. 

From the corner of your eyes, you saw his soiled khakis drop around his ankles, and he carefully stepped out of them, throwing them in the machine. 

“Hey. I need a dollar and twenty-five cents to start it.” His words practically made you jump, and you held out your palm with the money he needed. Kira easily noticed how flustered you were, and let his fingers linger in yours while he took the coins. Soon enough, the machine roared to life, and you heard Kira take a seat next to you. 

Swallowing your pride, you decided it wasn’t worth avoiding his gaze, so you looked over at him. 

His skin was almost glowing in the awful lighting of the building, collar bones prominent and his muscles were exceptionally toned. You felt your eyes linger on his hips, almost tracing the V shape that dipped into his boxer briefs. As soon as you realized what you were doing, your eyes immediately went up to meet his own. 

They had grown dark, silver pools watching your every move. A small smirk had formed on his lips, and you almost had to bite your lip from making any sort of noise. 

Your mind screamed at you to look away. Stop staring at him and just look at literally anything else. 

But then, something else happened that made your world turn upside down. 

Did he fucking wink?

[dopescotlandwarrior]

Unforgettable-Final Chapter

Also on AO3            A very special thanks to @statell​ for all your help

Chapter Nine

A young man knocks hard on a wood pole of a tukul, a round shelter made of grasses, mud, and wood poles, very common in South Sudan and the only type of structure on this UN base. It is officially known as the United Nations Protection of Civilians Site Bentiu. It was constructed outside the scorched city of Bentiu in the poorest nation of central Africa. The civil war had been raging for three years and when a peace treaty was signed in 2015 it failed to stop the fighting, so the war raged on.

The young man knocked harder on the tukul making the structure wobble in its feebleness. “Claire! Wake up! Treatment three and hurry! The door opened in a rush and Claire stood on the other side pushing her t-shirt into her pants.

“Jesus, I hate waking up to a flood of adrenalin! Nabbi when the tukul shakes like that the creatures in the grass roof fall to the ground, or on me.”

Nabbi smiled mischievously at his favorite nurse, “and now you are up and need very high, doctor says run!”

Claire felt her thighs burning as she sprinted to the treatment ward. Rounding the corner she saw both doctors bent over bodies that were unrecognizable. Casualties of government soldiers shooting, raping, and burning a village in the night.

Sterile gloves slapped back on her hands that were held aloft. There were no sterile gowns and no clean water on most days.

“I’m ready!

A long stream of Gaelic profanity was growled as Jamie threw his instruments on the wooden tray. He hung his head wondering what the intensive nine-month training he endured was for as he lost more than he saved. The patient was removed by workers and another mangled mess was placed on his table. Claire held his gloves open and his huge hands jammed into them.

“Pea! On the double, bring a clamp pack, this boy is bleeding out!

Claire felt like she never stopped running when the wounded arrived from a village raid.

“Clamp the arteries as fast as you can. I have the chest, you take the abdomen. We can save this one if we hurry.”

Claire’s steady hand held the row of clamps as she jammed the forceps into one and pinched a bleeder off by squeezing it around the vessel. She worked fast from three months of practice at this level of trauma. Her eyes flicked at Jamie every few minutes because she was worried about him. He was losing weight and had dark circles under his eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she saw him smile.

“Eyes on the bleeders sweet pea, your betrothed is fine, just frustrated.”

“I’m worried, Cutter, he doesn’t look well, as a matter of fact, either do you. Thank Christ we’re getting out of here in four days.”

(NSFW under the cut.)

Hours later they each had a bucket of semi-clean water to pour over their heads. One bucket per day. Claire spent many hours daydreaming about long showers with her favorite scented body wash and it was finally just four days away. She took a seat next to Jamie at the grub table and ran her hand down his leg. Looking up at his tired face made her long to lay in his arms and kiss him to sleep. She missed him. Nine months of working his practice while completing his field training had kept him away from her and then they were off to South Sudan to do their part with Doctors Without Borders. He had done that for her and now she just wanted to get him home.

She thought about the visiting doctor they met the week before. He, Jamie, and Cutter had much to talk about allowing Claire to watch his face, the slump of his shoulders, and his haunted eyes. He headed a research team of five other doctors that were sent to Africa to treat the outbreak of Ebola. Once their treatment protocol was established, he flew back to the states to compile the mountain of data that would be coming. All five of those doctors, his colleagues, and friends, died a horrifying death and their corpses were left rotting in the jungle until procedures were developed to bring them safely home.

Claire recognized the symptoms of survivor's syndrome, his guilt that he survived when his team did not was taking a toll on his promising life. Snuffing out the flame that once burned bright. Their contribution to the treatment of Ebola would save thousands of lives, possibly millions in the future. Once the paper was published the doctor resigned his position at Harvard Medical, locked his lab, and left civilization. Now he headed a program for monitoring the doctors on the front lines of emerging pathogens. He had come to examine the medical staff and clear them to return to America.

Cutter left to write a letter to his wife and Claire asked Jamie to take a walk with her. The compound walls stretched for a mile in each direction and U.N. peacekeepers manned the turrets along the wall with machine guns. It was crowded with people seeking refuge from the war making a relaxing walk impossible. Claire’s mantra played over and over in her head, I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home.

New doctors arrived two days later and spent twelve hours with Jamie and Cutter, learning the base, the wards, and the one-hundred seventy patients being treated. They walked through the rape ward where the girls and women were kept away from the other patients. Little was said about the brutality of the attacks. They would find out soon enough.

The pediatric ward was last. It was Jamie’s poison to watch the babies, sick with Cholera, malaria, or malnutrition succumb to their illness, week after week. Cutter had taken over the tour and Jamie sought out the quiet of their tukul. When Claire found him later, he was respondent.

“I’m sorry we came here Jamie, I’m sorry you are suffering because of me. Please talk to me before I die from sadness. I am left to guess what has struck you down, pulled you away from me. When it didn’t happen after three months, I thought I wasn’t cursed anymore. Wh…when you didn’t turn against me I mean, I thought we were safe. It just took a little longer this time, right Jamie? Now you hate everything I do and every breath I take.”

She put her arms around him and cried the words out until he turned to her and held her closely, shushing her and saying no.

“My sweet Sassenach, stop, ye dinna speak my truth lass, I’ve never loved ye more. Ye break my heart when ye cry like that.”

“Then tell me what it is and if we’re over Jamie.”

“We are powerless to save these people that have come here to die. We have no supplies, no sterile theater, and no freshwater. We are but undertakers for the almost dead. The babies, so innocent, so sick, have no chance. Born to a short life of misery. Where is God Sassenach? I can kill a man, face to face because I battle the devil. I would feel better to be let out of here where I can do some good.”

Jamie stood up abruptly and started walking to the door like he would walk out of the base and join the war.

“No!” Claire jumped on him crying no. Begging him to stop, not to leave her, not to die. “Tomorrow Jamie, we leave this dreadful place tomorrow. Please, don’t break my heart today!” She jumped off of him and ran to the door to stand in front of it.

“Let me out, Claire”

“You will have to hurt me for that to happen because I’m not moving! I understand how you feel now, and I agree, this was a terrible choice of location. In sixteen hours we board a plane to get out of this hell, why can’t you hold on until then?”

Jamie knew he wasn’t making sense and he knew this was the last night here. He took a deep breath and held his arms out to Claire.

“Please, Sassenach. Let’s go to bed, and I promise to just hold ye all night. Please, Claire, stop cryin, we will get out tomorrow and go back to our life. Come here.”

Claire flew into his arms and he carried her to bed, to hold her, until morning when this nightmare was over. She couldn’t relax until she pulled a piece of twine from her belongings and tied it around Jamie’s wrist. With much effort and Jamie’s help, the other end was tied around her wrist. She found a comfortable spot but woke up through the night to make sure he was still there.

Before they left, Claire found Cutter coming out of the surgical ward covered in blood.

“Shirt off Cutter.”

He smiled wickedly and pulled his shirt over his head. Claire held him around his middle and cried. She would miss him until they met again next year to find a new location for the summer. Jamie came up behind them and told Cutter to get his disgusting hands off his future wife. The two men shook hands and hugged, both feeling the relief this trip was over.

“Until next time friend,” Jamie said through a smile.

Claire stowed their bags and busied herself with grabbing a blanket for Jamie. She was able to get stiff drinks for both of them when they were finally in the air. She passed a mixed drink and a shot of whisky to Jamie, looking back a minute later to see two empty glasses. She got on her knees and released Jamie’s seat kissing him sweetly. That and the alcohol sent him into the quiet of his dreams for the next five hours. Claire felt relief this exhausted man could sleep, and she guarded him from the steward and other passengers that might wake him. They were accustomed to the brutal heat of South Sudan and she noticed Jamie shaking in his sleep. She turned the airflow away from him and then covered him with the blanket.

When they were notified of landing for their connection, she stroked his arm to avoid jolting him awake. Jamie pulled the armrest up and pulled her to him, covering both of them with the blanket.

Claire leaned into his neck and felt powerful arms around her. She had not felt this close to him in a very long time and wished they could cuddle for another hour. There was another huge feeling in her stomach at the same time. Her phone! She could make calls while they waited for their connection and she was bursting with excitement. She was digging in her purse while they disembarked the plane making Jamie laugh.

“Who will be first Sassenach?”

“Jenny of course,” said as she punched her speed dial.

Jamie looked down at her marveling at her ability to accept changes in her life and then put the effort into creating the life she wanted. He remembered his sister’s stone face when they met for lunch so long ago. Jenny was convinced he had become a total tool and womanizer and nothing he said would change her mind. He was so disappointed she was making him choose between her and Claire. When Claire asked him to invite Jenny and Ian for dinner one weekend, he decided it was time for Claire to know the family dynamic at play. Claire sat across from him at the kitchen table and listened to the timeline he shared with Geneva and how she poisoned Jenny’s mind against her. She felt sad for Jamie because there was now an ultimatum standing between him and Lallybroch. I can fix this, she thought, just need a little luck.

Over the next week, she checked in with Geillis and Laoghaire to get caught up on the details of Geneva’s life. She broached the subject at the club when her friends were three sheets to the wind.

“So I understand Jamie dated this girl Geneva while I was gone. I totally understand because I told him I was not coming back to Scotland, ever. Now she has lied to his sister about their relationship, so I need all her details girls.”

“Her family is rich and she flaunts that over everyone since she was in elementary.” Laoghaire was clearly harboring a dislike for the lady and Claire seized the opportunity.

“I heard she was really nice,” Claire lied.

“She is not nice! She’s a cold, calculating bitch actually. She was all sweet to me until Jamie dumped her and now she doesn’t seem to recognize me. That’s okay, she is gettin what’s due her now.”

“Do tell sweetheart,” Claire inched her chair closer to her friend.

Geillis started to laugh wickedly, “the lass got herself knocked up by some hotshot, handsome, rich, and new to the area. He’s developing the new mall and already well known around town. They were datin for a month and she told him at her birthday party she was pregnant. He instantly left the party and she cried for the rest of the night. We were there and saw the whole thing.”

Claire’s mind was churning the facts and she smiled broadly at her two best friends. ”Is that a fact?”

It took two days for Jamie to fall asleep before she did and she took his phone outside and sent a text message to Geneva to meet him at the house tomorrow, twelve noon. Then she deleted the message and blocked text messages from her.

When she answered the door the next day, she leaned against the door jam and stuck out her hand with a smile. Geneva was not happy about the intrusion of this girl and demanded to see Jamie.

“Of course, come in, let’s get acquainted. I’m Claire by the way, Jamie’s girlfriend.”

It took some persuading to get Geneva to the kitchen table where she could deliver the coup de grace.

“I am so happy to spend time with you before Jamie gets here. You see, his sister Jenny has a misconception of your relationship, and it's causing a rift in the family. I want you to fix that, today.”

Geneva snorted a weak laugh and looked at Claire with utter disdain. “Not likely, I told her the truth. I feel sorry for you because you were duped by Jamie. He was with me, actively with me, until a week before he broke it off. We talked about getting married and then suddenly he was done with me. Poor baby, you’re next.”

“I know the truth of it Geneva and you will come clean to Jenny, today. If you don’t, it’s high time your father knows about your pregnancy to a guy that has run from any association with you. An abortion, trapping him with a paternity test or just hoping he comes back will do nothing but tarnish your family’s good name. You’re a social parasite Geneva and I can see your father cut off your support and throw you to the streets to cohabitate with others as misguided as you. You must be working on solutions to your situation so tell Jenny the truth and I leave you alone. Otherwise, everyone in town will know, including your parents.”

Claire smiled sweetly at Geneva and waited until she bolted out of the house cursing under her breath. She could only hope she was right about the family dynamic and how this news would poison Geneva’s position in it.

Jamie came home the next night with company. His contrite sister was there to apologize to Claire and ask to start over with her. Claire was over the moon and made plans with Jenny for a night out on the town the following weekend so the four of them could have some fun. It was like magic to a grateful Jamie. The four of them got on so well and Claire and Jenny started a friendship that would bond them to each other like sisters.

Jamie grabbed the phone from Claire and asked Jenny to hold on a minute. He pulled Claire to his lips and kissed her deeply sparking a look in her eyes that made him weak. He handed the phone back and dropped his head to the back of his chair, asleep in minutes.

The wait for their connection was long enough for Claire to check in with Laoghaire and Geillis also. She drifted to the gift shop and purchased a beautiful bracelet made in Africa. She felt done with the excursions into remote parts of the world to render aid to the less fortunate. She just felt empty inside for such an effort again. Deep inside she knew the reason. She had her suspicions for a month but couldn’t confirm it. She felt lonely suddenly and walked quickly back to Jamie who was awake.

“Hey, sunshine, how do you feel?”

“Sleepy Sassenach. I want ye to keep me awake so tell me a story, aye?.”

Claire held her breath, wanting so badly to tell him her truth.

“Jamie, I think I’m pregnant.”

He stared at her for a good minute, expressionless, “stay here Sassenach, I’ll be right back.”

Jamie ran to the boarding counter and asked where he could find a drugstore in the airport. He sprinted away while Claire watched in total confusion. He must absolutely hate the idea, she thought as she slipped into depression.

Ten minutes later Jamie ran back with a small bag and lifted Claire to her feet guiding her to the ladies' room.

He put the bag in her hand and pushed her into the room, looking wide-eyed, almost wild.

Claire took the pregnancy test out of the bag and read the instructions. She still could not read Jamie’s emotions and felt her folly at surprising him with something life-changing and yet unverified. Holding the stick in the air to dry it she looked at the results window and felt her world tilt. It took so long to get to the sink when she looked at herself in the mirror Jamie was standing behind her.

“May I see it, Sassenach,” he whispered, looking at Claire’s pale face.

When she lifted the stick for him, he grabbed her and spun her around until she was dizzy. She smiled weakly at him trying to take in his reaction. He was absolutely beaming and kissed her face a dozen times telling her this was the best news. He gushed over her ability to make him deliriously happy, neither of them noticing a toilet flushing and a woman join them at the sink. She smiled knowingly at the two young people in love.

Spoken with a Swedish accent she told them, “now you must get off the street and get a job for your baby. You will be very happy.” She walked out of the restroom leaving Jamie and Claire clearly shocked at what she said.

Claire bent over laughing at the comment. “No shower for three months makes us look like bums on the street!”

Jamie looked like he had seen an angel and wrapped her up in his powerful arms.

“Sassenach, when we land in Scotland, I will have an agenda that will keep my mind occupied for at least two days. I willna have the brain space to utter a single sentence I’m afraid. Come, lass, let’s talk about this miracle and makin an honest woman of ye while I can.”

Jamie pulled her back to their seats and looked at a confused Claire.

“I don’t understand Jamie, what is so important for you when we get home?”

Jamie held her cheek and sighed, letting her see his need for her, making her squirm in her seat. “Oh, I see, well that trumps everything, doesn’t it? I love you Jamie and as long as you still look at me that way, I fear nothing.”

The second leg of their trip home, Claire curled up against Jamie and dove into the calming sea of her dreams. Jamie pulled her head to his lap and made sure nothing and no one disturbed her. It was a magic seven hours for him as he contemplated the family of his future with the fierce loving, free spirit who slept in his lap.

When the front door opened, two battle-weary lovers dropped their duffle bags and struggled to the shower. Jamie covered Claire with her favorite body wash followed by scented shampoo that made her moan with pleasure. He pulled the shower curtain aside and wrapped her in luxurious towels before heading back for his own time with the soap. When he emerged, the beard and mustache were quickly eliminated, and he felt like a new man anxious to devour his love in the slowest, most thorough way possible. He walked into the bedroom with his curls dripping water onto his shoulders and found Claire sitting on the side of the bed, head jerking up from falling asleep. His heart nearly melted in his chest as he pulled her to him and held her down until sleep came and took her away.

Claire woke up feeling groggy from her deep sleep. She knew they had two days to re-acclimate before work pulled them apart. Jamie looked like an angel to her as he slept. She could take a bit of time to recreate the body she preferred. She snuck quietly to the second bathroom and filled the bath with hot water and scented bubble bath. She placed two new razors on the tub and scraped off the unwanted hair that invaded her most intimate body parts over the last three months. It was liberating and unleashed her arousal, dormant for so long. By the time she was done, it was a struggle not to jump on Jamie and win her release that was throbbing between her legs.

Standing at the foot of the bed, she watched him sleep, noticing the room had become grey with the coming sunrise. She knelt to kiss his feet, followed by his calves, licking the back of his knees and causing him to gasp. She ran her tongue slowly up the back of his legs and buried her face under his buttocks to lick his balls until he flipped over and looked at her.

Jamie struggled to contain his need to pound her and his mind was full of this wonderful woman. I must slow my heart, he thought. She is kneeling over me naked and I canna get enough of her, clean shaved, smelling like sex. Her hair is falling around her face as she runs her eyes up and down my body. Jesus, she is beautiful and has no idea how I want to take her. Brutally, lovingly, dominating her body and mind until she gives in to me. I must fight the urge to consume her. She is the mother of my child and I will use all my strength not to overpower her. God, when she pulls my nipple into her mouth it strips my resolve. I want to take her, my way, without consent, without mercy, until she’s mine.

“Sassenach, my love, come here.”

She is resistant. Careful lass, dinna tempt me, I’m no that strong. What is this? No, not a good idea, keep yer beautiful mouth away from me. It’s not fair but oh…my…God it feels so good. Jesus lass, stop or I’ll come down yer throat before I can worship yer body. Come here, love.

Claire felt Jamie pull her to his lips and crush her. He flipped her over and pulled her legs apart feasting his eyes on her gorgeous pussy. She dropped her fingers to her fold and held it apart for him to gorge himself on her throbbing core. She arched her back into her first orgasm and tried to pull him to her. He entered her softly and slowly making her pant for more. She grabbed his face to her and looked him in the eye.

“I don’t want Sunday school. If I say, uncle, I do the wash for both of us. Show me how much you love me Jamie, right now, and don’t hold back or I’ll go back to sleep, I swear I will.”

For the next thirty minutes, Claire felt the power of Jamie and it thrilled her as he pulled her into the most intimate and edgy positions that most women would push away from. She opened her body to him, and he feasted, growling into his orgasm that stung his balls as he ejaculated. Claire was vaguely aware of the quilt pulling up to cover them and Jamie’s soft kisses on her face. They were clinging to each other as they fell into another five hours of sleep only to repeat the intensity once again.

Many hours later, Claire heard the quiet ringtone alerting her to a call coming in. She patted the bed until she found the offending phone and opened her eyes just before clicking the dismiss button. She answered hoping she could stay awake long enough to let him talk.

“Joe, why are you calling in the middle of the night?”

“It is one in the afternoon gorgeous and it’s time to get up.”

“No, it’s time to sleep some more dear one. What do you want?”

“I want to say welcome back to civilization, hear about your tour in Sudan, and one more thing Claire.”

She looked at the phone and shook her head, trying to wake up. “What other thing Joe?”

“I found Luna.”

“What?!”

“She’s in an orphanage Claire, has been since the raid on the hospital. The rebels leveled the settlements nearby and Luna’s family was wiped out. Thank God those monsters have respect for the innocent. I thought you would want to know.”

Claire was on her feet and pounding Joe with questions as she paced the bedroom. Running for her laptop she brought up the URL Joe dictated and raced through the pictures of babies and children that were up for adoption. Her fingers abruptly stopped when she found the face of her angel and she gasped at the sight of her.

“Jesus Christ Joe, she’s been in that place for over a year! How can I get her out?”

“It’s not easy Claire, but someone has to help her.”

Joe gave Claire the number to call the adoption agency in Honduras and what little he had discovered about Luna. He warned her the adoption protocols were temporarily closed for unknown reasons and forwarded the email listing the steps to adopt a child from a country outside of Honduras. It included two stays in-country to live among the culture of the child as the agency went over her dossier.

Claire was crying with the love and fear she felt for Luna and promised Joe she would keep him posted. When she felt Jamie’s hand on her bare shoulder she looked up into compassionate eyes and she felt him say, I’m here to help you, trust me with your truth, I will help you bring her home.

Claire clicked off from Joe and dissolved into her tears and fears while Jamie held her with his strength.

Jamie looked at the pictures of Luna on the website and felt his heart open up and pull her in. Her face was the picture of innocence, her huge eyes revealed her loveless life and fear. He waited for Claire to be distracted and returned to her picture again and again. Claire loves this beautiful little girl like she was her own. Something had to be done.

Luna became their project during their off-hours. Returning to work was hard enough, but Luna was a constant presence in both their minds. The requirement for being considered as an adoption family were rigid including two prolonged stays in-country. When Jamie brought that up Claire would start shaking and he could see the war going on in her head.

“Stay in Honduras for two weeks? I could see Luna during that time, but we must be invited and they have had our dossier for three weeks, Jamie. When are we going to hear from them?”

Claire was clearly scared shitless about entering that country again, even when Jamie assured her the city was safe. He talked it over with John during an afternoon hike when Claire was working. When John bid him farewell he followed up with, “I’m going with her Jamie because you can’t. Tell her to schedule the visit right away before I’m assigned to a case.”

When Jamie told Claire John would go with her to Honduras she cried and hung on his neck. Within a week, Claire was invited by the agency to come and see Luna. Jamie had mixed feelings letting go of her at the airport.

“Sassenach, I’m so sorry I canna go with ye. Are ye alright with John lass?”

She looked into his eyes feeling such gratitude he would let her go without him. She smiled and kissed him before breaking out of his embrace to jog to her boarding gate. John settled into the seat next to her and complained that her pregnancy put a stop to partying enroute to Honduras.

“You’re a very selfish person, curbing my happiness on this trip. I just wanted you to know that Claire.”

She smiled at him and got comfortable for the long plane ride to a country she hated.

They strolled through the nursery the next day, a requirement of the agency to look at all the children up for adoption. Claire could hardly breathe waiting to see Luna. She heard a familiar cry and looked through a window at numerous cribs with children inside. The minute her eyes saw Luna she struggled to stay on her feet. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she smiled at the infant who was having a tantrum, shaking a stuffed toy in Claire’s direction. They were forced to view the rest of the infants before returning to the nursery where Luna was.

Claire walked directly to Luna and smiled at her obvious recollection. She held her arms out for her and Luna moved into them gripping Claire’s hair with both fists and burying her face in Claire’s neck. They both clung to each other with tears that flowed freely. Even John was choked up and turned around to cough harshly. The rest of the afternoon, Claire held Luna in a huge rocking chair and seemed far away in a world she shared with Luna alone. John paced the hallway watching with growing concern.

“Jamie, I’m worried. These two are obviously bonded and Luna remembers her. Claire is in another world and just wants to hold her. I’m not sure this will end well for Claire. What should I do?”

“Protect her John. Dinna let anyone close to Claire. Other than that, let it play out. Ye willna be able to drag Claire away until they tell her to go, aye?” Claire cried so hard on her last day with Luna. She heard the baby wailing for her until they were out the door of the orphanage. John held a weeping Claire all the way back to Scotland and was anxious to hand her to Jamie to console. He really didn’t get the emotional part of this mission.

Claire returned to work and pushed Luna out of her mind so she could function. The next in-country requirement was a four-week stay in Honduras and Claire made contact with the agency every week asking for an invitation to come. She was being stone-walled without any explanation and it was taking its toll on her.

Jamie watched her brave attempts to act normal but as her pregnancy progressed her expanding waistline reminded him constantly of her delicate condition. He was prepared to accompany her to Honduras as soon as they were allowed. The weeks turned into months and Claire could not take it anymore. Jamie held her close and promised to find an answer to why they had not been processed already. He looked into her eyes and asked her with a sincere and loving heart to marry him, right now.

The following weekend, they were married at the Justice of the Peace with Jenny and Ian standing as witnesses. Claire was six months pregnant and Jamie knew the window of opportunity to travel to Honduras was closing.

Cutter answered Jamie’s call with a heartfelt hello to his friend. Jamie asked about other means to push the adoption through since the agency had closed the proceedings at the order of the government. It was a match to kindling as Cutter felt Claire’s despair to save Luna. He remembered her asleep on the Lazy Boy with a hand in the incubator, waking every hour to feed this doomed child. He was mobilized to cut through this ridiculous bureaucracy and get some answers from the agency.

On a whim, Cutter wrote a letter to the president of the United States, detailing the surgical procedure that saved Luna and how one nurse fought for her against all odds. He told of her bravery when the hospital was raided, how she was shot and barely escaped her own death. These terrible events befell her because she pledged two years of her life to help the Hondurans. He included her husband’s bravery when he got all of them out of the country, risking his own life. He completed the letter with his wish to reunite this forgotten child with the only mother she ever knew. “Go with God.” The envelope was sealed and sent.

A month later, Cutter received a letter from the White House. A duplicate letter was received by Jamie and Claire. Both letters were signed by the President with the amazing news that Luna was coming to America the following weekend and they were invited to the Dallas airport to greet her.

Claire sat down hard in the rocking chair and stared at the floor as Jamie read the letter. She looked up expecting the next shoe to fall and watched Jamie typing into his phone. Claire was frozen watching Jamie pace as he arranged a flight for the following weekend. She felt the tears fall down her cheeks as she waited to hear bad news or wake up from a dream.

Jamie knelt on the floor to look into her eyes. “She is coming home Sassenach, in four days! The president arranged this for you, and for Luna. Be happy Sassenach, it is happening and we will have her home with us by next week!”

Jamie pulled Claire into bed and held her close telling her it was going to be perfect and to have faith. Claire gripped his sides and shook, feeling so small in this miraculous undertaking.

Claire gripped Jamie’s hand at the Dallas airport and heard her mantra repeated over and over again, please let her be on that plane, please let her be on that plane. She looked up at an entourage coming out of the plane. They were obviously secret service and surrounded a woman in the middle of all those bodies. Claire and Jamie stood waiting, barely breathing.

A petite, young, blonde woman with striking features was revealed and she held Luna in her arms looking around for a familiar face. When her eyes found Jamie she smiled and walked to him, seeing Claire’s face she knew who she was. Luna was handed to Claire as she dissolved in grateful tears and sat down to avoid falling over as Luna’s face pressed to hers.

Jamie looked down at the office manager and his eyes were shouting his thanks to her. “Mission accomplished soldier, I would salute ye if I could. I am so grateful.”

She looked at him with compassion, her face showing her delight in helping this mission come to pass. She placed her hand on Jamie’s arm.

“The U.S. President salutes you, Jamie, from behind the scenes as you and I have come to know it. It was a three-country effort to arrange the adoption, the U.S., Scotland, and Honduras. How the U.S. President got involved I’ll never know but it was his clout that got the attention needed. Luna belongs to the two of you now. I pulled strings to get assigned to this mission so I could carry her to you. It’s my going away present and no one is more deserving than you.”

Jamie was reeling from the disclosure. He looked up and saw Dougal hanging back looking like he was a stranger, waiting to board his flight. He turned slightly and locked eyes with Jamie and the two men nodded slightly to each other. Jamie looked at Claire and Luna feeling like his heart would burst in his chest. There was much to do to ready the house for this precious child and another soon to be born. He took a deep breath and looked for the office manager but she was gone, as was Dougal. They melted into the airport population on their way back to Scotland.

Jamie felt the tears on his cheeks and sat down next to Claire and Luna, holding them close and thanking God for this miracle. His head was bowed as he prayed his thanks until a tiny hand reached out for him and pushed her body toward him. He pulled Luna to him and locked eyes with his new daughter.

“I’m Da, Luna.”

She touched his face and then his tears with her finger, looking at him like he was the most important person she had ever met.

“No more fear lassie, ye’ll have a life of love, I promise.”

Jamie struggled to push the tears back. Not for his pride or appearing weak. He wanted his eyes clear so he could see his two lassies and Claire’s round abdomen that held his next son or daughter, closely protected and fiercely loved.

The End.

The spirit in me bows to the spirit in you...Namaste and thank you.

[yamithediaperdork]

He’ll always be her baby (Legend of zelda)

It was a warm summer day when Link made his way back to the kokiri forest. Instead of returning to the past as Zelda had wanted, he stayed in the future to help her and after 2 years of hard work the kingdom was back to normal more or less and Link was actually betrothed to the princess. In a odd way that was part of why he was going to the woods today, he wanted to get the blessing of his semi mother Saria about the union. (Link of course knew that Saria wasn't his real mother, but having raised him from a baby, and changing his diapers all those years, she certainly qualified in Link's mind.) Just how long she HAD been changing his diapers was a sore point for the hero of time, as he'd been a total failure at potty training till he was 7..And even then had still been fighting bed wetting until a few weeks before he'd started his quest. (actually when Saria had run up to talk to him that morning she'd been coming over to see if he'd kept his bed dry.) Today however such thoughts were pushed out of his mind as he left Epona at the entrance of the forest and left the horse go and do whatever it did when he wasn't around, as the beast got uneasy around all the kokiri who crowed it not used to seeing horses. Saria was waiting for Link with a smile on her face even as she tried to resist the urge to introduce Mido to her fist, a familiar urge of course but one that was winning as Mido whined on and on about how he had wanted to hang out with Saria. "I'm just saying, he shows up here acting like some sorta big shot and well..I'm a big shot too!" Mido whined. "..Mido you guarded part of the path to the forest temple. Link saved the world from Gannondorf." Saria pointed out, rolling her eyes. "exactly! I was a big help!" Mido huffed and puffed out his chest. "Mido?" Saria said and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Go home before I have to give you anther black eye please." Mido huffed, but stormed off, muttering about how he was leaving because HE wanted to, as Link came into view. "There's my little guy!" Saria coo'ed and held open her arms for a hug. "Heh..not so little anymore Mom." Link said, bending a knee to get down so she could give him a big hug, both of them smiling. "Hush now, you're not too big I can't still take you over my knee." Saria scolded playfully and reached around to give link's bottom a playful swat. Link played along and winced. "oh nooo, not a spanking!" he chuckled, then got back up and as they headed for Saria's house instinctively reached out and took her hand, with her leading the way. 'amazing how after everything I've been though, and how much i tower over her she can make me feel like a Lil kid again with such ease.' Link mused to himself. 'amazing how no matter how old or big he gets, Link's still such a little guy.' Saria mused. Of course from her Point of view, while she knew that link had saved the world and was a very capable fighter.. she mostly interacted with him when he came home due to the limitations of her race. Thus she knew him best as a silly big goofball. "So, what brings you around? the carrier you sent just said you had important news for me." Saria said as the made it into her home, and Link dropped his travel bag. Now more indoors though Saria noticed that link frankly smelled, though anyone who'd ridden all day on a horse was expected to have a certain funk to them. "Well see-" "Hold that thought. somebody needs a bath." she said and held her nose, but smiled. "uh..oh yeah..ehehe..Guess I am a little ripe." Link said sweat dropping. "I'll just go hop in a river and-" "No need! I finally broke down and got a tub installed in the house." Saria said, grinning ear to ear. she had been the first to semi get indoor plumbing (well OK, it just went out a tube to a ditch behind her house) and was now the first with a indoor tub.. and looked proud as heck about it. "Oh neat! I bet Mido is turning green with envy!" Link chuckled and Followed Saria up the steps. "oh you know it. he tried to get one for his house but couldn't get the sage discount.. then he spent like a week running around in the tall grass trying to find rupees. by the time he got a tub installed it was barley big enough for him and he was too pooped to complain." Saria snorted, then added "Watch your head Linky, the second floor is more my height." Link had not forgotten that fact, as he was already hunched over but smiled at the warning. "Thanks mom. heh.. maybe I should just start crawling when on the second floor." he joked. "...don't offer something that adorable up if your not gonna do it." Saria said with a wink and a smirk, then lead link to the bathroom. Looking at the toilet and the tub in the bathroom, link tried to hid his disappointment as neither was terribly big but then again they were made for Saria's size. "You'll have to activate the fire spell runes to warm up the water, and that'll take about 10-15 minutes depending on how hot you want your bath." she said and nodded to the markings by the tub. "Uh..thats gonna be a problem.. had to use up alot of my magic getting here, ran into some left over moblins." Link groaned. having to take a bath without being able to lay down unless he wanted his legs over the side of the tub as it looked like, and now a cold one was NOT going to be fun. "well I guess I can stay inhere and warm it up for you." Saria said and smiled, then noticed the look on Link's face. "oh don't give me that! I've wiped your poopy butt, you don't got anything I haven't seen before!" she scolded, hands on her hips. "I..well..uh..Just.." Link whined and squirmed. "Pffft..Your too easy. I can just get the tub filled for you and then leave the room while you get naked and soak. just don't take so long that you need me to warm the tub up Little guy." she said laughed. "...that wasn't funny!" Link huffed and looked pouty. "Yes it was and you know it." she laughed. after scrubbing himself clean and draining the tub, Link had to admit he felt like a new man and as he dried off he went to grab his clothes.. only to notice that they were gone. 'I swear..she's like a little ninja.' he though with a sulk and wrapping the soft towel around his waist Link made his way downstairs. Saria was sitting at her table, enjoying a glass of berry juice and having a mischievous look on her face. "I don't suppose you know where my clothes are do you mom?" Link asked sarcastically. "well if i had to guess, some kind and wonderful lady who fancy's herself your mom thought what good would it do to have you go and take a bath if you were just going to put on your smelly clothes afterwards, and talked Mido into washing them in exchange for a date at some point." she said and sipped her drink. "whattt? why would you go on a date with that little twerp?" Link huffed then shook his head. "And what am i suppose to wear while i wait for doofus to finish washing and drying my clothes?" he added. "...I had assumed that you had packed a change of clothes." Saria said, then got a sheepish look on her face as Link blushed and looked at the ground.  "Notttt so much huh?" "I uh.. brought extra rations of sweetmeats and those pastry's you liked.. and a few health potions.." Link said in a small voice. "Well uh..it's not like i just have clothes in your size laying around here..well, mostly." She said and rubbed the back of her head. "..Mostly?" Link asked. "Welll uhhh..know it's been awhile since you spent the night..but if you had ever decided to..I wanted to be prepared for my little bed wetter." Saria said and quickly took a drink of her juice as Link put two and two together. "Moooom! I've told you! I'm notta a bed wetter anymore!" Link huffed as his cheeks turned crimson. "well you should be thankful I thought you were, or you'd be going around naked till your clothes are cleaned." she said matter of fact. "...so my choices are..walk around in the buff, or waddle around in a diaper?" Link asked, putting a hand to his face. "Mmmmhmmm. Your choice though Lil guy. like Mommy said, you don't have anything she hasn't seen before." Saria said sweetly. "...what even is my life anymore?" Link groaned. In the end Link decided that wearing the stupid diapers couldn't be worse then going around naked, but made it clear that A) he'd be pampering himself, and B) it was JUST to cover his junk up, he wouldn't be using them. Saria had just smirked and gave a little wink, as if to say 'whatever you say' and after getting out the thick massive cloth diapers for link, and the huge diaper pins, let him head back up the stairs by himself to put himself back in diapers. she had tried to offer him the green plastic pants that she had gotten him as well, but he'd turned those down since that would of just been needed if he was gonna soak them, and she decided not to press the subject. Discarding the towel, and laying out the diapers, Link stared at them for a few seconds..then a few more till actually five minutes had passed, trying to figure out just HOW to do this. "good grief." he muttered to himself. "I can solve puzzles in dungeons while being attacked by monsters but not figure this out? how hard can it be?" Ploping his butt down on the thick cloth and tugging it up and reaching for a pin, he found out it could be very hard as he jabbed his thumb with the end of the diaper pins over and over, cursing softly at first but by the fourth time he started to let out a loud curse. "Son of a mother-" he growled onto to be cut off by Saria downstairs. "Language little man!" she called up. "..Brisket eating weevil." he huffed and took a second to suck on his poor thumb to ease the pain, before realizing just how that HAD to look. Finally getting the diaper pins in, though being careful not to stab himself yet again, Link stood up and smiled, proud of himself for having figured the stupid thing out even if the diapers were sagging on his hips. Waddling due to the thickness that kept him for getting his thighs to close together, link came down the stairs just beaming with pride. which as Saria turned and looked, made her break out into a big grin of her own, he just looked so damn proud of himself for figuring out how to get a diaper on. then she spotted his thumb, wet with drool and the red marks on it and came over. "oh link! your poor thumb! why didn't you ask for help?" she asked, and as the padded hero blushed and squirmed, she wiped his thumb off then gave it a kiss. "there, all better! she coo'ed, kissing his boo boo better just like she used to. "Uh..thanks mom.." Link said in a sheepish tone and Saria caught herself. "Oh..yeah..ehehe..Guess kissing it better isn't really a thing anymore..force of habit." She said and rubbed the back of her head, now looking sheepish herself. Link went to tell her that it was OK, when his diapers slid down from around his hips and landed on the floor around his ankles. "..Maybe mommy should help you with your diapers after all." Saria said, covering her mouth and trying hard not to laugh as Link just stood there, mortified. Saria was a little bit worried about Link as she got him to lay down on the floor. He seemed out of it and with a distracted look on his face started to suck on his thumb, just nodding and helping her however she asked as she adjusted his diapers, getting them on much tighter this time, though they still seemed to sag a little. "Link? sweetie? Mommy thinks you should wear the plastic pants to help keep your diapers from falling off again, is that ok?" she asked in a sing song voice, rubbing link's tummy and tickling it a little just like she used to do when he was 5. Link giggled and coo'ed a little and nodded his head, drool coming down his chin. getting a cloth and wiping his chin, Saria then unfolded the plastic pants which had honestly set her back a little bit and frowned. till now she hadn't actually looked at them, having just assumed they would be as she had ordered and was dismayed to see a row of  white ruffles on the butt. 'oh, he's going to just LOVE this.' she thought dryly, suddenly glad he was still in baby mode. getting the plastic pants over his feet and ankles, and down his legs Saria called out to link to lift his hips, and when nothing happened she tried a different command. "Butt up." automatically Link's hips lifted and she got the plastic pants (or what that panties with the ruffles she wondered) around his hips and smiled as they were nice and tight and would clearly keep link from accidentally flashing anyone again. Helping link sit up he giggled and took his thumb out of his mouth, clapping happily..then seemed to freeze and looked around the room, then down at his crotch and then over his shoulder at his butt. "...explain. Now." he whined and squirmed, looking around for something to cover up in. "You went baby brained after flashing mommy and uh, with the plastic panties on your diapers won't fall down again!" Saria said quickly. "...and the ruffles?" Link asked, though his annoyed tone had shifted to almost a whining tone by now. "Not my chocie! Honestly i never looked the plastic pants over and just assumed they didn't have them." saria said and after a beat. "but they do make your butt look cuter." "Moooom!" Link whined and crossed his arms, his bottom lip sticking out. "Oh don't be such a grumpy Gus..unless you wanna go for a nap." Saria said as a joke but then noticed how link just huffed and looked away. "...do you wanna go for a nap Link?" "I..ngh.. I am tired.." Link said in a little voice. "of course you are. you rode a long way here, battled some mean old Moblins, and then all of this mental stress. How about I set you up for a little nap, and I'll wake you when your clothes are ready?" Saria asked, and ruffled link's hair. Link let out a cute little gurgle as his hair was ruffled and leaned into it, making Saria mentally gush. "I..that sounds good mommy." Link said, almost in a babyish tone. rolling over onto his side and then making use of a nearby couch to get out, Saria was trapped between gushing and laughing at how frigging cute he looked with his puffy ruffled diaper butt pushed out, then he was toddling unsteadily as he headed for the stairs. "Easy there link, I bunched up the diaper more then you had it so it's a bit thick-" Saria started as Link yelped and landed on his padded rear with a crinkle. "er.." Link blushed and rubbed the back of his head, then slowly made his way to his feet again and paused for a second. "er..Mommy..could you maybe.." he asked, holding out a hand for balance. Saria smiled and rushed over, helping him make his way to the stairs where he used the railing to help himself up the steps but as they got to the second floor both of them paused. "..there's no way your gonna be able to crotch down and keep your balance up here." Saria said. "...Yeah I know." Link whined then looking around, as if to make sure only mom was gonna see, he got down on all fours and started to crawl. standing behind him and watching him crawl Saria had little hearts in her eyes, this was just too friggen adorable! With his fat diapered bottom swaying back and forth Saria easily caught up to Link and getting him into her bedroom she toyed with trying to get him into his old crib. then looking at his size, then at the crib, knew while it would be cute as fuck there was just no way Link would be able to get a good sleep in the tiny thing (and there was a good chance he'd break it getting in anyways) Thankfully her bed was MUCH bigger then she really needed as she was prone to tossing and turning, and had a bad habbit of leaving things on the end of her bed rather then putting them away so Link barly was able to fit as he crawled under the blankets and rested his head. adjusting the blankets herself Saria leaned down and planted a smooch on Link's forehead and noticed that he was squirming and looking around a lot. "what's wrong Link? do you need to use the potty? want a bed time story?" she asked. "I uh..well..it's 'brassing." Link mumbled, and turned to hide his face in her pillow. "...More embarrassing then having me diaper you?" she asked with a smile. "..Do you..uh..maybe still have..one of my old soothers?" Link asked, though he kept his face in the pillow so Saria wasn't sure she heard him right at first. "..heh. well I think so.. let me go and check the box where i put your old baby stuff." she said, in a amused tone while link whined but let out a soft 'kay.' She found the pacifier, with relative ease, the large yellow nipple was dusty though as was the green lip guard so she took it to the bathroom to wash off before coming back with it for link. she also left the box of baby items out on the off chance maybe after his nap link would wanna play with his old rattle or blocks. (Sadly his old stuffed deku scrub had fallen apart with age) "open wide lil man." She said in a sing song voice holding out the pacifier for her big baby and link opened up for her like the good little boy he was. she slip the paci in and smirked as he instantly started to nurse on it, his face bright red but smiling behind it and he closed his eyes and snuggled into her pillow. within seconds the little cutie was asleep, and Saria briefly wondered if she should of asked what the big news was before putting him down for the nap, but figured that could wait for later, and just tip toed out of the room, shutting the door as quietly as she could. The end

[weirdponytail]

Ket’s Coping Strategies

(Covid post so if ya stressed about it probably don’t read this? It’s mostly me rambling my plan for if I get infected at Uni.)

So, whenever there’s a fairly unlikely (or somewhat likely) scenario that could occur that involves survival kinda stuff and I’m feeling stressed (generally not about said scenario tho), I usually make a packing list and then put together a backpack or box with items on the list if I have time/motivation. I’ve been doing this since I was about 5ish I think. It wasn’t about stress then, just a fun way for me to pass time during the summer and prepare for hurricane season because I’ve always been a natural disaster nerd. Start em early folks. 

Anyway, with my on-campus classes likely starting up in about 6-8 weeks (we’ll get more solid info on Friday) I’ve had to start thinking about what I’m gonna have to do if I’m confirmed exposed/infected with Covid. It’s highly likely, as there are already comments on my Uni’s social media posts about being “proud (insert uni slang for student I guess) wearing masks (which is now going to be mandatory on campus at all times” and there’s a bunch of comments from students that boil down to ‘yeah I won’t. Fuck you.’ Also, haha, I’m in Florida. I’m not the type of person to go to events or parties or anything, I’m way more happy just sitting at home with my dog, but because we’ll be in classrooms and such distancing is kinda nixed. My main issue is that if I do get exposed or infected (if my insurance or the school covers it then I’ll probably be testing every 8-12 days if possible), I’ll become a major risk to my dad since I still live with him and he’s ticking off nearly all the boxes for extreme risk of complication/death. 

So. The current semi-maybe-plan is that I would move into my dad’s empty rental house. It’s little more than a living room, kitchenette, tiny bathroom and a small bedroom (built in the 40s its quite cozy really!), and it’d be the first time I kinda lived alone, but it’d be the safest bet. I’d have to figure out how to set up a modem and all that internet jazz stuff (likely would have to purchase them the day I go there since dad prob won’t buy them ‘just in case’) so I can continue classes. Water and electric and all that are already up and running. I’ve got a camp cot and sleeping bags I can use as bedding. 

Right the whole point of this was to say that I’mma make a list of my ‘things to have ready/grab before leaving if infected’ and put together a duffle bag or something of stuff that I won’t miss (non-perishable food, towel, TP, extra toothbrush and toothpaste, blanket, etc., etc.) so that dad has to spend as little time with me if something happens. 

The thing I’m most worried about though is that I can’t really bring Lexi with me. I mean, I could, but I don’t think it would be fair to her. She’s got a half acre to run around in here at home without a leash and she’s quite happy. I’m loathe to leave her in dad’s care (forgetful). I’m also concerned that my dad would go through my stuff and throw a bunch of stuff out/break shit/have someone ‘clean up(throw everything in boxes and not tell me where anything is)’ my areas, which he’s done before without telling me. I still can’t find find things that I need that were moved/probably thrown out without my permission since the last time he had someone do it in December. I also know the man has no boundaries considering my privacy. But I digress.

Anyway if anyone wants the list of stuff I’ll be tossing together PM me.

[sevenseasofrog]

Lads ‘n Lasses

pairing: highschool!ben x fem!reader

summary: single sex schools are never boring

word count: 2982

a/n: wagwan gs, this might not be to everyone’s taste but i’ll see how it goes, this is the first time i’ve imagined myself as the reader while writing ?? not as someone else reading it ?? it’s also set in a manchesterish sort of place bc i had a major mind block trying to write about anywhere else other than where i actually live ,, that probably sounds weird idk aha, it’s defo an au where ben basically is still in education and all sorts of chaos takes place as the year moves forward ,, anyway ,, enjoy !! if you have any questions or likewise feel free to send an ask bc i see how it could be semi confusing ,, love u all a lotta :) ❤️

here’s also some stuff that could make it less confusing (especially if you’re not familiar with lingo from north west england, i’ll maybe add to this with each new chapter that comes out :)

St. Mary’s/ Mary’s- the all girls school the reader attends, quite middle class and full of students who like to make drama for their own entertainment, strong focus on languages and arts

St. Peter’s/ St. Pete’s - the all boys ‘brother’ school to St. Mary’s, very laddish with a focus on sports and science

Niamh & Maria - the reader’s two closest and longest friends

Tram/Met - British version of an overground subway?

Shout - another word for a houseparty

Snide - unfair

Swear down - saying you are telling the truth

also, the reader and ben are between the ages of like 17 and 18ish, the whole thing isn’t very accurate to the uk school system but it works a little better like that so yall are gonna have to go with it aha

ps, this chapter is spilt in two bc i got very carried away when writing it and tumblr has a word limit, hmph. however, that does technically mean that i can say i’ve written two chapters not just one ?? go me !!

Chapter 1: September

4th of September, the night before a new term, new academic year and a nearly fresh start. Your last year at St Mary’s had not been something you were dreading so to speak, and now it was finally here. Thanks to upcoming exams, you only had a little over five months to get through before freedom, and eventually, a completely clean slate at a new, far less intimidating school environment. Anticipation building, you called it a night

6:15am. You woke up to the painful sound of your alarm clock, early morning sun peeking through the split between the curtains. Eager to silence the blaring noise you crawled out of the comfort of the duvet and hastily clicked the stop button in the centre of your phone screen. You made your way into the bathroom, careful not to wake your parents, brushed your teeth and quickly got undressed before stepping into the shower, letting the cool water run down your back without getting your hair wet, since you had it cut and washed yesterday afternoon. Slipping on your school uniform you caught eye of yourself in the mirror and decided that you had nothing to lose by putting on a little makeup, you had time after all. It was about 7am when you made your way downstairs, the house still quiet with only you awake. These mornings were the ones you liked best, just you and your own thoughts, with no one to bother you other than the dogs. It was still relatively warm during the September days so you chose to leave your jumper hung over a chair in the kitchen, putting just your blazer over your crisp, white blouse. Throwing an apple and cereal bar into your bag for later in the day, you figured that you might as well also pack some paracetamol and chewing gum for good measure, knowing it would come in handy eventually. You headed into the hallway to sit on the bottom step of the stairs to put your shoes on, tying the laces as tight as you possibly could, slung the black tote over your shoulder and grabbed your set of keys, which were usually on a hook which your dad had attached to the wall earlier in the year.

The walk to the tram stop was pleasant enough. There was no real breeze and you walked with your hands in you pockets to the beat of the music. Skipping down the steps to the platform to buy a ticket for the week, the change rattled in your pocket, and you had to cover it to stop anything flying out. Once you had finally managed to get the machine to produce a ticket after it spat out the coins you tried to use a few times, you spun round and walked towards the sheltered seats down the further end of the stop. It was only 7:45 by this stage and there were still very few people around. Missing the school rush was certainly worth it for you, and it also meant there was time to grab a coffee on the way to school with Niamh and Maria, who both got on at later stops anyway. You pulled your phone out of your pocket, deciding to text your parents, as you did every morning to let them know you were okay. You skipped a few songs before slipping your phone back into your pocket and looking up to examine your surroundings, following a good few weeks of not coming to the somewhat grimy metro stop, nothing had changed. The ground was still caked in chewing gum, graffiti littered the ticket machines, and the bin was, as ever, overflowing.

There was one thing different though, slightly odd too. A blonde haired boy who you had never seen before was stood on the opposite platform. Weird. It was then that you noticed he was in the uniform for St. Peter’s, with a backpack hung on one shoulder and a gym bag on the floor- grim move from the newbie. It suddenly hit you however. He was on the wrong platform, and could end up getting on a tram further into the city centre rather than away from it. God, this was awkward. You could leave him? it would be kind of funny? but also a bit snide.

No.

Don’t do that you told yourself. Deciding to ‘start the new term right’ you cleared your throat before shouting across

“You going to St. Pete’s mate?”

He looked up from the ground, obviously somewhat confused, checking to see whoever the person who had shouted was talking too. Luckily, this was quite easy, given that he then noticed that he was in fact the only person on the platform. You gave a wave and as friendly a smile as you could muster given it wasn’t even 8 o’clock yet, in a desperate attempt to get his attention, which just so happened to work.

“Um, yeah. Why?”

“Because given that you’re on the wrong platform, you’re gonna have a very hard time getting there”. His jaw dropped a little

“You are joking, right?”

“Nope!”, you popped the ‘p’, just for emphasis, “So... are you just gonna stand there like a lemon or change platforms then?”. He quickly picked his bag off the ground and jogged up the steps to the bridge. As he crossed you rolled the waistband of your skirt up, realising that you previously looked a little to nun-ish for your liking. By the time you had finished fixing up your appearance the mysterious blonde was plodding down the steps, towards you. Shit. Now what?

You had just about composed yourself by the time he reached you.

“Ben. Ben Jones” he spoke, before offering his hand to shake.

“You’re very proper aren’t you!?”, you thought out loud “guessing you're not from up here then hm? Name’s y/n l/n by the way, I go to St. Mary’s”, you said, trying to remain friendly.

“Yeah, moved up from Bournemouth at the start of summer. My parents wanted to come up here so I had a chance of getting some sort of sports scholarship or something for rugby, y’know, for uni and that”. He spoke with quite a low, quiet voice, but definitely had a southern accent that you couldn’t imagine going any time soon. Now he was stood nearer, you had managed to get a clearer picture of Ben; he was very well built and had the physique of a genuine sportsman, He wasn’t too tall- but still taller than you by a considerable amount. His facial features were mostly soft, although his nose looked like it could have been broken in past games and he had the most striking green eyes.

“Well, you’d have had a pretty difficult time getting anywhere if you were stuck in the centre of town.” you both let out a laugh.

“Honestly, I’m such a melt, only I could do that on one of the few days that being on time actually matters”. You broke eye contact momentarily to see that a tram was approaching.

“Right then” you said, stepping towards the edge of the platform. “We’re a bit early but I normally get a coffee anyway, you can come if you want? I mean, you don’t have to get this one if you don’t want but if you do then the offer’s there..” You trailed off, noticing that you had waffled on a bit.

“Aha, no it’s fine! I’d be happy to get this one, you’re literally the first person I’ve spoken to who’s like, my age so it’s not like I have anyone to wait for. Plus, I’ll probably get lost if you abandon me now.” He looked up with puppy dog eyes after picking his gym bag off the floor again.

Stepping on the tram, you decided to offer him your first piece of valuable advice; “Right… Well. If we’re gonna be mates I better give you the rules of the road up here”.

“Go on then, local expert”, he said with a smirk.

“First things first. Don’t put your bag on the floor. It’s crusty and makes you look like a gimp”.

“Noted”, he spoke as the pair of you sat on the grey seats.

“Second. Most of the boys are maniacs and the girls are awful bitches, I’d say that I’d help you figure out who’s who but you’ll probably be able to decide for yourself”.

“Hm, you’re really selling it to me. The brutal honesty is a nice touch”. You gave a playful punch to the side of his arm, with a grin smeared across your face.

“Swear down mate, you’ll thank me later for this though.”

The journey passed in a flash, the pair of you talking like friends reunited. You learnt that he had a beagle named Frankie, lived not too far from you, he played rugby for teams but also enjoyed drama and music.

“You’re quite the character aren’t you! can’t say I took you for a performing arts kinda guy”

“Well… What kind of person did you take me as then, all knowing-y/n”

“Well Ben from Bournemouth.. that would be telling wouldn’t it, I can tell you however that this is our stop though”. You both stood up, grabbing your bags and heading for the doors of the carriage. You had a text from Niamh and Maria earlier on in the journey saying they’d be late and there was no point waiting for them, so you carried on the walk alone with Ben.

“If I left you here right now, would you have any clue where to go?” you questioned, genuinely intrigued.

“Erm.. no… I would have to stand around for a bit and hope someone takes pity on me”

“What about google maps though??”

“Hmm.. Let’s just say that there’s a reason I don’t take geography”

The coffee shop was about the same distance from the tram stop as is was from school, and it was about 20 past 8 when you pushed open the door with a small chime. It was a cosy little café, situated on the corner of the market street with wicker chairs outside and brown leather sofas inside. You never stayed in however, much preferring to enjoy whatever you brought during the rest of the walk to school. Today was a latte day, no questions asked. You liked to rotate throughout a few different drinks, depending on your mood. Ben stood close by as you explained how you’d most definitely be on black coffee by this time next week, but you might have the odd pumpkin spiced latte as September moved into October, just for novelty really. He gave out a small chuckle,

“You really are in a league of your own aren’t you? I’ve known you like an hour and I’m convinced you hold the secrets of the universe or some shit”. You liked Ben. He was good company and you had a fair bit in common;

“and what if I did hold the secrets of the universe huh?”

“I’d use the black market to sell you to a looney philosopher somewhere or other and make myself some fat stacks.” You both doubled over in complete hysterics. Would it be weird to say that you’d never bonded so quickly with someone? yeah, probably you thought, brushing the idea away quickly. Your giggle fit was quickly broken up however when the barista announced that your drink was ready, you fished the loose change out of your pocket and handed it over moments later,

“keep the change mate” you said politely, turning on your heel towards the door once again.

“You really are quite the angel aren’t you?” the boy walking next to you said “ooooo, keep the change mate, I’m y/n and I am the source of all life and joy” he mocked.

“You know it blondie”, you retorted with a smirk.

You had walked a fair deal further, now following the main road and considerably nearer to school when Ben reached into his inside pocket .pulling out a cigarette and lighter. You silently watched out of the corner of your eye as he held the stick in his mouth and lit one end, he inhaled deeply before taking it from between his lips to exhale. Before his could bring his hand back up however, you plucked it from his fingers and drew a breath from it yourself before throwing it down and stamping on it. Ben simply stood with his mouth hung open looking dumbfounded. “Whoa steady on...What the fuck was that about then? Oh… and for the record, you owe me a cig now!”, he spoke with a tone of shock mixed with annoyance

“Boo-Hoo”, you spoke back, “But neither of us can have a first day back if we get excluded before we even get to school you dimwit. There’s teachers stood by the traffic lights down there”, you pointed further down the pavement. “See for yourself if you want…” you trailed off. Ben looked a little guilty, realising that he could have got you both in a good deal of trouble,

“Ah, Right, Okay… Sorry about that..”

“Don’t worry about it. Honestly. It’s fine, you’re new! You’ve got a lot to learn still”, you gave him a reassuring smile, but you could tell that he still felt a twinge of regret.

The pair of you carried on the walk in a comfortable silence, and as you approached St. Peter’s a thought struck you. “Right. After school, wait for me here, I don’t really want you being lost in a new town stuck on my conscience all night”

“How noble of you, Miss y/l/n! How will I ever repay you for this selfless act of charity!” He exaggerated, running his hands through his hair as he spoke.

“We’ll have to see about that one won’t we, I guess”, You hitched your bag back onto your shoulder properly. Before he turned into the courtyard of his new school he grabbed your arm,

“Wait a minute... you give off way too much chaotic energy for things to run smoothly. What’s your snap or your number or something incase something goes horribly wrong” He spoke again, with a slight twinkle in his eyes.

“Hm, go on then, I’ll give you my number then you can just add me on snapchat with it too if you really want. Two birds with one stone ‘n all that”, you reached into your bag and pulled out a pen. “Gimmie something to write on, chop chop matey!” you spoke hurridley, realising that you only had 10 minutes before you needed to be sat down in your first registration of the academic year. In a panic, he stuck out his hand, and you began to scribble down the first few digits.

“Fucking hell! I thought you were writing it down not tattooing it!”, he took in a sharp breath.

“Hm.. What.. Wait! Shit, sorry.. I’m a bit heavy handed”. You finished writing the numbers down with a conscious attempt not to press quite so hard and then threw the pen back into your bag.

“Aight then, I’ll see you later yeah?” He looked up at you,

“See ya later lemon boy”. You shot another smile before continuing on a few meters further down the path and approached the gates of St. Mary’s.

Hello old friend, you thought before taking a deep breath and turning into the school, with no way out for the next few hours at least. You stepped hurriedly through the labyrinth of corridors before reaching the room where you’d be registered. Throwing your bag onto your usual desk you could feel two sets of eyes on you.

“y/n l/n, You have some explaining to do! go on then, who’s the boy?” Niamh began, a devilish grin on her face.

“Gimme a second to sort my life out yeah? I just need to get my bearings then you can interrogate me”, you spoke, followed by a heavy sigh. After you put your bag in your new locker you returned to the desk where you were greeted by your long time friends once again. “Wait a minute, how do you even know? started hiring government spies or some shit?”

“Erm, no. But that’s quite a good idea actually. If you’re that desperate to know, Lewis sent me a message asking if you’d got a boyfriend over summer..” You let out a scoff before Maria could continue. “He still really likes you ya know?”

“Yes mum, I do know, you remind me most days” You all let out a laugh, attracting some attention from the neighboring tables.

“We’re off topic, you still need to explain yourself and we have like, 3 minutes until the bell goes” Niamh interrupted, she had always been the most conscious member of the group, as much as both you and Maria hated to admit.

“Right, I’ll keep it simple. I was at the met stop and he was stood on the wrong side so I told him to switch otherwise he’d never make it to school then he told me that his name’s Ben and he’s new and he’s in our year and then we got on the tram and then we went to get coffee then he decided he wanted a smoke and then I told him off and then we got to school and then I told him I’d meet him after school then I walked into school and now I’m here with you two” You barely paused for breath and gasped before either of your friends could continue, both of them looking shocked and rather confused.

“Right. You can explain that all again later in a bit only at least 76 times slower. ok? thanks? nice” is all Maria managed to respond before the door swung open and your teacher walked in...

Hope you enjoy !!❤️

Let me know if you want adding to the taglist !! :)

[born-in-the-wrong-multiverse]

Didn’t Know I Knew You - Chapter 1

Synopsis: It started with a particularly cringeworthy double entendre. Clint Barton can’t believe his luck when the sweet barista (who didn’t even bat an eyelash at how bedraggled he looked) takes a liking to him. It would be almost perfect, if there wasn’t an unnamed, unidentified, and well-masked vigilante picking off drug dealers on Clint’s watch. Warnings: Language. Usual Marvel-esque violence. Pairings: Clint Barton x OC A/N: Taking a stab at something a little different, and would really appreciate feedback. I went through a pretty severe writing drought for a while there, but am finally feeling motivated and inspired! Pretty sure my partner would like to take all the credit for that (and if I’m being honest, he’d be right).

The hairs at the back of my nose prickled from the sting of week old garbage roasting in the summer heat. Warm thermal drafts carried the stench upwards, delivering it directly to my nostrils as I perched patiently on the rooftop of an apartment building somewhere deep in Hell’s Kitchen, waiting for the drop off. My informant had been a little sketchy on the details, but assured me it was going down that night, somewhere near that street corner, at approximately that time. I would've preferred something more concrete to go off of, but beggars can't be choosers, and I was getting pretty tired of second guessing everything and hoping I was in the right place at the right time, all the time. Movement at the south end of the street caught my eye; a figure in jeans and a black hoodie shuffled slowly towards the corner, head swivelling from side to side like a paranoid ferret watching for owls. My fingers curled around an arrow, plucking it from the quiver with the smooth ease of experience. I couldn't tell whether this was my mark, or just a run of the mill junkie wandering the streets aimlessly on the hunt for another hit or something that could be passably defined as edible in the bins that lined the pavement. Nocking the arrow, I waited, watched, and followed his every step with the arrowhead. If he was my mark, he was supposed to be joined by another piece of low hanging fruit any moment now. I didn't have to wait long. Another skittish shadow of movement to the north drew my attention away for just a moment, just long enough to determine these were definitely the two stinkers I’d been waiting for. The second figure was hidden beneath a baseball cap and bomber jacket that was at least three sizes too big, but I’d recognise the bulge of his semi-automatic tucked into his waistband even if he was wearing three extra layers.

I exhaled slowly, releasing the congested city stink from my nostrils and drew back on the bowstring. They'd never even know I was there, never even realise how close they were about to come to losing their undeserved lives. And I was pretty sure no one was going to be all that fussed about seeking vengeance, so it was meant to be a clean in and out job. Before I could loose the first arrow, the guy in the hoodie slumped unceremoniously to the ground. Half a millisecond later with barely any time to even soil himself in shock, bomber jacket hit the dirty pavement, too. A second or two after that, the twin claps of a high powered rifle pierced the air. It took me a moment to do the maths; the sniper was at least a few buildings down, maybe half a block away. “Shit,” I packed away my unspent arrow and folded up my custom recurve bow. “Shit, shit, shit.” Okay, so maybe this doesn't look like it was so bad, but an unidentified, unexpected sniper prowling the city was the last thing I needed. Who's to say the sniper wasn't a bigger baddie, a bigger problem, one that I sure as futz didn't want to run into or deal with? So yeah, this was bad. This was some knee-deep shit. I had to get out of there before things went any more pear-shaped. Not to mention I’d only just stringed this bow the night before; now I'd compromised it already with an unnecessary dry fire. Ugh. Bright side was, my marks were dead. Silver linings and all that, right? I hurled myself down the fire escapes, letting gravity carry them from one floor to the next, rolling as I hit the trash littered alley with a grunt. There was no reason for me to think that the sniper knew I was there, but that really wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. A cursory glance over the bodies as I contemplated cleaning the scene was enough to clarify that this was someone who knew what they were doing; each shot had punched a hole swiftly between the eyes, resulting in instant death. “Ah screw it,” I muttered. “Not my problem any more.” Leaving the scene for the police to deal with, I called it in anonymously from the nearest payphone, and continued on my way, almost daring to feel positive about the whole thing. Yeah, that feeling didn’t last very long. Draped all in black with a face cowl pulled up over their mouth and nose, and a deep hood casting dark shadows over their eyes, it was impossible to know whether the sniper was black, white, male or female as they stared me down from the end of the block. I couldn’t see their eyes, but I could feel them on me as they stood, still as a lethal silhouette in the night, rifle slung over their shoulder, before suddenly turning and vanishing into the shadows. An uneasy shudder slithered down my spine and settled somewhere in my intestines. My gut told me this wouldn’t be the last time I bumped into whoever it was beneath that hood, and the idea of being kissed by the barrel of their gun wasn’t exactly sitting right with the concoction of coffee and two day old pizza brewing in my stomach. I legged it out of there, compelling my mind to wander towards the rewarding promise of the last three slices of pizza slowly going stale in the box at home. After all, I’d earned it.

[isidar-mithrim]

{Once again, Albus Dumbledore changed the course of Remus Lupin’s life when he tracked him down to a tumbledown, semi-derelict cottage in Yorkshire. Delighted to see the Headmaster, Remus was amazed when Dumbledore offered him the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He was only persuaded to accept when Dumbledore explained that there would be a limitless supply of Wolfsbane Potion, courtesy of the Potions master, Severus Snape. – Pottermore}

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Note on the story: I was planning to translate other works before this one, but then the amazing FloreatCastellum wrote a piece about Remus meeting Harry on the Hogwarts Express and I felt eager to share this story first ^^ The last bit is an addition to the translation that was inspired by her work! 

Ps: a little heads up – if you’re expecting a fluffy, sappy meeting, you’ll probably be disappointed ^^’ I guess this is a slightly ‘unorthodox’ version of the moment, but there’s a reason for it: I started writing it before Remus biography was released on Pottermore, and I didn’t feel that I could give up on certain aspects of the story that I had grown fond of. I’d still say it’s enough pottermore-canon-compliant, and I promise it’s books-canon-compliants ^^

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Bounty hunter

It was a chill summer evening when Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Appeared before the gate of a tumbledown cottage that stood out in Yorkshire open country.

Only the rays of the waning moon enlightened the cobble path which led to the door of the shack, but it was enough to step forward with sure-footedness.

Albus Dumbledore pushed the rusty gate inward, making it screech at his touch, then he walked the short path and lowered his fist on the worn wooden door.

A few minutes later he had received no answer, so he knocked again, this time amplifying the noise with a bit of magic.

He had to wait only a bunch of seconds before the door slammed open.

On the threshold there was a man as worn as his home – his eyes marked by dark circles, his clothes ratty and old, his breath short to betray the sudden sprint he must have made to dart at the door.

Yet, the hand that held the wand against Albus Dumbledore was steady, sure, ready.

The Headmaster smiled serenely, looking at him with his piercing blue eyes.

“Remus. What a pleasure to see you,” he said, his gaze shifting to the still raised wand. “I suppose you weren’t expecting my visit.”

The man kept glaring at him. “I thought I’d done a better job with the defenses around the house,” he said sharply. “I haven’t heard you coming.”

“Oh, they are excellent defenses, but I still remember some old tricks, despite the advancing years,” said the Headmaster with glee. “Now, I’m desolate to bother you at this late hour, but there are several topics I would like to discuss with you, if you would be so kind as to invite me in.”

“You know perfectly well I won’t let you in until you’ve proven to me it’s really you, Dumbledore, even if I really wish you’re the only person capable of getting past my defenses without leaving a single trace.”

“Very well, very well,” nodded Albus Dumbledore, smiling gently. “I am pleased to see you haven’t lost your old and healthy habits toward prudence.”

The ancient wizard drew his wand, summoning his Patronus non verbally. A silver phoenix rose majestically in the night, then vanished in a burst of white flames. The Headmaster looked back at the younger man just in time to see a silver wolf running away and vanishing into thin air.

The man lowered his wand, stowing it behind his shabby robes, and he finally let a smile crease his lips.

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to see you here, considering the last news,” he said to the Headmaster, stepping aside to let him in.

The inside of the cottage was semi-derelict as the outside had promised.

Except for the bathroom, whose yellowish sink could be glimpsed behind the door left ajar, the house consisted in a single room.

The furniture was reduced to the essential – a bed, a small wardrobe, a table with two chairs – and eaten by woodworms, but overall the space would have seemed clean, if it weren’t for the chaos that ruled.

The table was doused in crumbled newspapers and tore magazines; in most of them Sirius Black’s moving picture stood out on the front page, while others  had been flipped through to highlight related news.

On the bed, frayed clothes laid messily near an old suitcase that just waited to be packed, and close by were stored several low-quality magical objects and ingredients, such as a Sneakoscope and potion ivy leaves.

On the shelf above the fireplace there was a small stock of food, a tiny pot half-filled with Floo Powder, and an old radio.

It was the house of a lonely, poor man – a man ready to leave.

*

The Headmaster looked around while he approached the chair he was offered. Dumbledore thanked amiably for the courtesy and sat down, but Remus stayed up and hastily collected the newspapers on a corner of the table. He then made the water in the kettle boil with a wave of his wand, poured the hot water in two mugs and put a teabag in each one.

When he sat down, Dumbledore simply stared at him through his half-moon spectacles for a while. Remus held his gaze, and eventually Dumbledore let his eyes wander again around the cottage. When he spoke, he did it with the cheerful tone of someone who is complimenting the colour of the curtains.

“I see you are about to leave, Remus.”

“It doesn’t take your keen intuition to guess that much.”

“Oh, it does not indeed,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “But I believe it is the where and the why the most intriguing part of the matter.”

Remus huffed. “As if it isn’t obvious as well.”

Dumbledore ignored the retort and serenely picked one of the magazines, which titled Sirius Black affected by Stockholm Syndrome?

“Obvious?” he asked, flicking through the pages of the Quibbler before looking Remus in the eyes yet again. “What it is obvious is that in front of me sits a capable, fair and talented wizard that in the past years had very few occasions to prove his worth. A wizard that has lived alone for too long, but has finally found the strength to get out and put his skills at use.”

Remus smiled coyly. He didn’t receive compliments very often, and they pleased him more than he was willing to admit.

“And yet, I wonder…” resumed Dumbledore, “is he truly driven by his noble ideals?”

The Headmaster rummaged around the newspapers, picked a front page with a big picture and stretched it out on the table: Sirius Black had a gaunt face and circled eyes, but he looked at them with a determinate gaze.

“I wonder… what lie convinced this talented wizard that it was right to track Sirius Black down?”

Remus frowned at him, clenching his jaw, but Dumbledore kept speaking, nonplussed.

“Has he told himself it is his moral obligation to capture Black because who, if not him, would be able to understand his moves – to anticipate them, even? Or has he told himself that becoming a bounty hunter he may finally be able to make a living?”

The Headmaster was perfectly calm, but Remus was fuming. How dared Dumbledore judging him?

“Do you doubt I’d be able to find him?” he asked with a harsh tone.

“Of course not, my dear Remus!” said Dumbledore with an amused smile that irritated Remus even more.

“Then you’ll see how catching him is my right and my responsibility,” he said through gritted teeth. “Not to mention that I’d finally have a purpose that would make my useless life a bit less useless, for a change.”

“That would be a very noble purpose indeed, but I believe that if you really felt obligated to help catch him, you would not be here making arrangements – no, you would have already used that bit of Floo Powder you have left to go to the Ministry and tell them everything you know.”

“Pity that the Ministry isn’t interested in tagging along with werewolves,” spat out Remus with resentment.

“I fear this is one of the several lies you are telling yourself, Remus,” said Dumbledore gravely, like if he was giving him an unpleasant diagnosis. “You know perfectly well they would be ready to cooperate with you, in order to put behind bars the first wizard that has ever escaped from Azkaban.”

“Well, let’s hear what this great truth would be, then, since I’m apparently full of rubbish!”

“Oh, the truth is very simple, I am afraid. You want to look for him on your own because you do not want to capture him.”

Remus couldn’t believe his own ears. “No, no, you’re right, I don’t want to catch the man who betrayed and killed my best friends, and who also happens to be Voldemort’s right hand and one of the most powerful and dangerous wizards around,” he said with bitter sarcasm.

“No, you don’t want to catch him.” Dumbledore took a deep breath. “You want to kill him. Stop lying to yourself, Remus. We know perfectly well it is not the moral obligation nor the money to drive you. It is a blind, insatiable desire for revenge.”

The Headmaster had struck a nerve, and Remus felt exposed in a way that put him on the defense. “And what if I do?” he asked harshly. “Not even you, with all your high-sounding names, can dare to come here and blame me. Especially not you, since you know perfectly well how deeply Black ruined my life, and not just mine.”

“I totally agree with you.”

Remus widened his eyes, dumbfounded. He had expected Dumbledore to try to dissuade him, to lecture him… not to cheerfully agree.

“It happens, in fact,” continued Dumbledore with a seraphic smile, “that I am not here to blame you. I am here to offer you an alternative, one that all things considered could… how did you put it? Make your useless life a bit less useless, I believe. One that, all things considered, only I and my high-sounding names can offer. And now, if you would be so kind as to listen to this old wizard a little longer, I will gladly discuss it in front of that cup of tea that I would serve before it gets cold, if I were you.”

Remus sent an inquisitive glance at Dumbledore, eager to find out what this was all about, but the Headmaster kept smiling seraphically, not giving anything away, so he stood up, brought the mugs to the table and grabbed a bowl of sugar from the shelf with the stocked food.

“I’ve got no milk,” he said with an apologetic shrug. “And only one teaspoon. How much sugar do you want?”

“Three, if you please. I’m afraid I can’t help indulging my sweet tooth, despite all Madam Pomfrey’s recommendations,” said Dumbledore with a wink.

They sat quietly for a bit, sipping their mildly warm and probably too strong tea.

It was Remus who broke the silence, too curious to wait much longer. “I’m listening.”

Dumbledore put his cup down and fixed him with his penetrating blue eyes. “You have to know, dear Remus, that for the last few decades two have been the worries that trouble me before the new term begins. The first is if someone will finally get me a pair of wool socks for my birthday, instead of the usual, overvalued books,” said Dumbledore with amusement. If Remus hadn’t known him well enough, he would have thought he was nuts. “The second is if this year I will finally have a Defence Against the Dark Art professor actually capable of teaching something to my students – provided that I have one in the first place. Now, I already know there is no hope about my first concern, but I am here to find out if I can sort out the second one.”

Remus’s hearts hammered at the Headmaster’s words, but he didn’t dare take them for granted. “You... are you offering me a job at Hogwarts?”

“Absolutely,” said Dumbledore with delight. “Between us, I am quite proud of my choice. I could have hardly thought of a more fitting candidate.”

“Are you kidding?”

The Headmaster smiled brightly. “Not at all. Of course that would mean you will have to give up your little... hunt, to move at Hogwarts on a permanent basis.”

“Teaching at Hogwarts…” murmured Remus, all the arrangements to leave suddenly meaningless. Could he really do that? It seemed crazy and too good to be true at the same time… It would be the best thing that happened to him in more than a decade… It would be a dream...

“I promise the castle is as welcoming as it has always been, at least until you run into Peeves,” said the Headmaster, clearly enjoying himself.

But Remus couldn’t share Dumbledore’s amusement, because he had just remembered the reason he had always struggled so much to find or keep a decent job – or any job at all, actually.

Was he supposed to transform in the Shrieking Shack? He felt an unpleasant lurch at the mere idea… The last time it had happened, he had had his friends beside him, and the idea of being there without them was painful and terrifying at the same time.

And there was the fact that when he had been a student not everybody had noticed his absences, but as a teacher all the school would have: students were meant to find out, eventually, and the Shack wasn’t even that safe, was it? He had been followed once, so it could happen again…

He swallowed. “What about the full moon?”

“Oh, I am very glad you brought it up, my dear Remus,” said Dumbledore with a pleased smile. “I should have mentioned right away that one of our teachers happens to be able to brew a perfect Wolfsbane Potion, and the school is willing to bear all the costs.”

Remus felt his eyes prickling at the unbelievable news; he blinked hastily, trying to maintain his composure. The Wolfsbane Potion… Merlin, he would be willing to work for free in exchange for a hot meal per day, a proper roof upon his head and a painless transformation.

A moment later he realised which teacher Dumbledore was referring to, and he almost choked on his tea.

“Snape?” he asked, loudlier than he intended. “You want me to drink a potion brewed by Snape?”

“I have complete faith in the goodwill of all my teachers and absolute trust in the talent of some. Severus is among them,” stated Dumbledore, looking truly serious for the first time.

Remus wasn’t very convinced by those words, and from Dumbledore’s look, he knew he wasn’t doing a great job of hiding it.

The Headmaster sighed. “Dark times await us,” he said, concerned. “With Voldemort who I am afraid soon or later will be back and Sirius on the run, Merlin knows how much Harry needs a professor capable of actually teaching him how to defend himself…”

Remus’s eyes widened upon hearing Harry’s name, his heart beating fast yet again. “Do you think… do you think Sirius will look for him?”

“As a matter of fact, I would be surprised if he will not, and I am quite baffled that you had not thought of it, being so determined to catch him.”

Remus could see how silly he had been, now. “I thought he’d be on the track of what’s left of Voldemort,” he admitted reluctantly.

“Oh, I do not doubt that this is one of his next goals, but I will not deny that I would sleep more peacefully knowing I have a trusted man at Hogwarts – one that knows the castle as well as Black, and Black better than anybody else.”

“What’s he like?”

“I should be the one asking you that,” said Dumbledore with amusement.

“I meant… Harry,” specified Remus, despite being sure that Dumbledore knew perfectly well who he was referring to.

“Why ask me when you have the chance to see it with your own eyes?”

Dumbledore put his mug down and smiled kindly before checking his unintelligible watch. “It is running quite late, I am afraid. I am sorry for taking so much of your time. If you are not interested, I will look for another candidate, but it has been a pleasure to s–”

“All right.”

“All right, what?” asked Dumbledore with a knowing smile.

Remus rolled his eyes. “All right, I’ll teach at Hogwarts. But only for this year, giving the circumstances,” he added on a second though. He would love to teach there forever, but he didn’t want to delude himself about it – he had been burned too often to fall in that trap once more.

“Wonderful!” Dumbledore exclaimed cheerfully, clapping his hands. “I will see you on the first of September, then.”

“Yeah… see you on the first.”

Dumbledore had already stood when Remus gave in to the temptation of asking for more. “Hagrid says he looks exactly like James.”

The Headmaster smiled softly. “He does… except for his eyes.”

Remus nodded. He remembered that. “He has Lily’s eyes.”

“He does indeed.”

Finally, Remus was smiling as well.

[bomberqueen17]

i would bullet point this but i don’t have that kind of mental energy.

went to bed at like, 9:30 last night. it was windy, and something in the air pressure made me feel weird, and I couldn’t sleep. I gave up around 1am and got my computer out and read online for a while, think maybe I made a whiny tumblr post? side note: an upside of a king size bed is that dude doesn’t seem to notice when i’m on the computer in the middle of the night, his breathing settled right down after i got the laptop out, and he’s a light sleeper.

around like 2, the cat came up and wanted to sleep on my face, so i closed the computer and lay down and snuggled her and she purred and purred and purred.

i was still awake for a goddamn long time, but i did eventually sleep.

and then a little before 6am, a beeping started.

beep beep beep (pause) beep beep beep (pause) beep beep beep (pause) ceaseless, without change. I got up at 6 and went and plugged in my laptop, and visited every room of the house to make certain nothing of mine was beeping.

No, it was louder on the porch: it was coming from outside. I gave up, and got back in bed. Dude had been awakened by it too, and asked what it was, and i said it was definitely outdoors. He pondered that, and we both tried to sleep, but it was too loud. So he got up and went outside, in his PJs and slippers.

he was gone at least half an hour.

I finally got out of bed. Before I could find shoes, he came back, brandishing a 9 volt battery.

“House across the backyard is for rent,” he said. “Whoever cleaned it out threw out a bunch of smoke alarms. Trash can blew open in the wind, smoke alarms got rained on. The one on top objected. Nobody’s home so they didn’t notice.”

What absolute bastard 1) throws away a smoke alarm 2) with the battery in it?????

The house in question is the one the old black patriarch with the magical radio lived in for our first, like, 12 years in this house, and he sold it to the white trash jerks who sat in the backyard telling awful gross inappropriate stories all summer long, who sold it to the person who had the child or dog whose name we knew because it was constantly being screamed (I believe it was “PARKER” because Dude and i still occasionally holler “PARKER U LITTLE SHIT” at each other apropos of nothing) (we still don’t know whether it was a child or a dog but context clues strongly suggested child, dogs aren’t usually quite so frequently reprimanded for clothing-related offenses), and it’s been quiet for a while and I guess that’s why, it’s for rent now.

I miss the elderly patriarch with the magic radio. He had a Deaf and developmentally-disabled granddaughter who did a lot of semi-wordless Hollering at all hours but that wasn’t nearly as upsetting as the nigh-constant PARKER U LITTLE SHIT.

Anyhow I slept like shit, and what solid sleep I was finally getting was destroyed by [house number streetname]’s fucking smoke alarm disaster, so I got out of bed and wonder of wonders, did not get on my computer, I had a bowl of cereal and got dressed and loaded my car and drove to Troy.

I would’ve made it nonstop but I was so goddamn hungry I stopped for a Starbucks whipped-cream-in-a-cup drink for some caffeine and empty calories. Fueled by that, I did reach Troy in time to help at the farmer’s market; i sold about $50 in chicken parts and $15 in pork products, the last dozen eggs, and a dried bouquet, and then helped tear down and pack up.

Then there was a potluck at the farm! So that was fun.

Farmkid’s best friend is a little blond girl with a haircut similar to hers. They’re very close in age, a couple of months apart, and they’re very close in size. They resemble one another strongly, but in that superficial kind of way that kids do-- they’re both blond, but the other girl is honey-blond and Farmkid is ashy-blond; they’re both child-shaped but the other girl is slightly stockier in build and Farmkid is a little more gangly, but not enough that you’d really notice unless you were alternately lifting each of them onto a statue or something. (They weigh about the same, and probably wear the same size clothing; it’s quite a subtle difference.) They both have round faces, but it’s likely Farmkid will wind up more oval-faced as she matures, and looking at her parents, the other kid will probably wind up with a squarer face.

They will probably be very different heights and builds when they mature, and won’t resemble one another at all, but at the moment even quite observant people mistake them for sisters. I remember that happening when I was a kid, though, and it was always a lot of fun-- I had a good friend who had the same coloring I did, and nobody could tell us apart even though we really had very different features.

So, it’s fun. But it’s quite confusing for outsiders, which the girls both enjoy a great deal.

The two girls, who are both approaching 5 now, played an energetic game of tag with the other kid who came to the potluck, yet another little blond girl, but the other little girl was relatively tiny-- maybe 2, she was running okay but couldn’t do stairs well, and was in diapers and didn’t have very many/clear words. The older girls were extremely good with her-- they ran at full speed, but they never ran into her, they looped back to keep her included, and they played a game that let her participate, without any adults hovering or interfering. So we were all quite pleased with that. Especially the tiny girl’s mom-- clearly, this child is their only child so far and she’s not used to having her in the company of older children, so she was nervous about the bigger girls-- neither of whom have younger siblings, either, so they’re not used to little kids, but apparently almost five is currently old enough to be sensible, so that’s nice to know for the moment.

It is raining and is going to be 35 degrees tonight. 28 degrees tomorrow. I’ve already decided to try to take the yurt down this week, so I took the offer of staying in the indoors guest room and am on flannel sheets in a room that’s possibly as much as 65 degrees; it’s luxury.

I was texting with Dude; I’m happy to be here this week and all, I have shit to do, but I wish I could spend a bit more time with him, this week flew by. He said it’s drippy and cold there too, and it’s got him in a “big” mood, and I asked if it was a good or bad mood and he said neither, just “big”, and i feel that. I want to go snuggle with him.

But! Tomorrow, sheep and wool festival; monday I’ve got Farmkid duty so the sister and BIL can go buy a new used truck down Kinderhook way in the morning, and then I need to wash eggs and clean the egg room for the LAST CHICKEN PROCESSING of 2018, and then Tuesday is processing, and Wednesday I’ll probably take Farmkid all day so Grandpa can get out of child-watching to spend the day working on the barn, and then Thursday I gotta make as many dried bouquets as humanly possible, and Friday maybe I can take the yurt down, and Saturday I’ll help work the last outdoor farmer’s market (but one??) and then Sunday I can go back to Buffalo and maybe stay there until November maybe? Maybe. I gotta look at that calendar.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Azula Week Day 3: Summer

Modern AU; TyLee’s parents own a resort on the Cook Islands so TyLee takes Azula on a tropical holiday.

The best summer she ever spent, was the one she had with TyLee. The girl’s parents owned a resort chain one seemed to pop up on every island. And she had given Azula her pick of them. She had narrowed it down to a few, though there were many different islands that had drawn her attention. In the end, with some healthy input form TyLee she and picked Aitutaki Island. She wasn’t one for water but the turquoise hue she’d seen in the pictures had enchanted her. She had wondered if the water would be that pristine in person.

It was another week before TyLee was free from her summer classes. A week spent texting by the poolside and longing for the next one.

A week spent convincing her father that letting her travel so far abroad on such short notice was a good idea. She was almost certain that he was going to say no, especially since she had no good grades to charm him with. Instead, she compiled a list displaying where she’d be staying and for how long, some activities they planned to do, and her outline of predicted expenses. If she could give him a more solid picture, he would be more inclined to let her take her vacation. That sort of trick usually worked.

And it continued to do so.

She was unpacking her suitcase as a balmy breeze fluttered through the bungalow rustling the curtains. The wind carried the scent of mango and banana with what might have been a tinge of coconut.

She watched TyLee flop onto the bed.

“You already unpacked?” Azula asked.

“I packed less than you.” She shrugged. It was a fair point, Azula had a habit of over-packing--God forbid she forget something she needed. “Hurry up and finish! I have so much I want to do.”

“We have the whole week.” Azula pointed out. Even so, the other girl was ridiculously eager. Before she could even find a suitable pair of sunglasses, TyLee had her around the wrist and was dragging her onto the patio. This resort in particular offered over the water bungalows, the pair could jump off of the patio and be in decently deep water. Already Azula could see a turtle swimming by amid clusters of coral and anemone. All in all, they had a pretty decent view of the reef. TyLee was correct in noting that Aitutaki was a sound location for snorkeling.

“Come on!” TyLee gave a cheerful smile and with it she was already in the water, picking her way carefully around the coral. She hadn’t even shed her sundress.

Azula took the care to drape hers over the railing before dipping into the water. The water was cooler than she preferred, it would take some getting used to especially after allowing the sun to seep into her bare skin. She ought to go fetch some sunscreen, but TyLee’s eager face coaxed her further from the bungalow. She could already foresee a sunburn to match all sunburns on her skin. Still she met TyLee a few feet away.

“Look at this.” TyLee pointed. Azula was expecting another turtle, but instead she found herself face to face with a stingray. Before she could protest, TyLee began stroking it. “Come over and pet him, he’s friendly.”

Azula hesitated, she was a little wary of the ocean and marine life. She had been since her father had taken the family to Cancun some summers back when she was eleven years old. She and ZuZu had gotten a little brave--too brave--and she had a scar to show for it. They both did; the pair had gone cliff diving (her choice of activity, of course) and had landed right on the reef. Zuko had nearly lost his eye and she had jagged and deep scratches on her right thigh and up her ribcage.

Even so, she wasn’t about to let TyLee put on a display of more courage than she. As long as she kept her distance from the coral and urchins, she should be fine. The stingray was a good distance from the sea plants anyhow. Taking the care to avoid its tail, Azula carefully stroked its pectoral fins. They had an almost slimy feel that she shivered at, at first.

“Cute isn’t it?” TyLee remarked

Azula hummed to herself for a moment, “I guess so.” It was a rather majestic creature, she decided as she watched it flap away.

No longer having the stingray to occupy her, TyLee made her way closer to the reef. Azula had never been prone to fearing for another person, but the closer TyLee got to the reef, the more she squirmed on the inside. Absently her fingers fell to her scarred thigh. “TyLee, get over here.”

The girl looked back. “But the seashells and clams are over here.” She argued.

“I’m sure there are plenty of seashells on the shore.” Azula countered.

“Are there clams on the shore?”

“Probably not.” Azula grumbled.

As if that settled things, TyLee continued on her course until she came to the edge of the reef. It left Azula divided between wanting to maintain her distance from the reef and wanting to swim over and physically drag the daring girl away from it. “Do you think this one has a pearl in it?” TyLee inquired.

“I don’t know.” Repeating her prior statement she added, “probably not.” She couldn’t imagine that pearls were easy to come by.

“You need to be more optimistic.” TyLee declared.

“And you need to get away from that reef.” Azula snapped back. Finally she braved it out and moved closer.

Undeterred, TyLee carelessly surrounded her arm up to the elbow with jagged blade-sharp coral as she attempted to snatch the clam. Again, Azula was cringing and this time the cringe reached her face. The girl was going to shred her arm at this rate. “Here, let me get it.” She offered before she realized just what she was proposing.

Having struggled with it for a good three or so minutes TyLee surrendered and huffed a quick, “okay.”

Azula bit the inside of her cheek. Just lovely, now she was going to have to risk her own arm. She was already scarred from her thigh to her ribcage, she might as well get a matching set for her arm. Reluctantly, she reached for that stupid clam, thinking that it was anything but worth the struggle. She could already see a fine trickle of blood running down her arm and attracting sharks.  She had the clam in her hand and detached from the reef. She might have gotten away unscathed had it not been for the crab. The critter itself hadn’t done her much damage. It’s pinch however caused an reflexive jerk that sent her arm into the nearest coral. She hissed, almost dropping the clam altogether, but she clung to it; she hadn’t just gashed her elbow for nothing. It was a struggle to keep her composure as she was very nearly catapulted back to the day she’d almost died on the reef. TyLee’s expression was the picture of terror, terror and guilt. Azula took a few shaky steps towards her and pressed the clam into her hand. She couldn’t tell how deep the slash dug, but the blood flow was much too steady.

“Oh, this is all my fault.” TyLee mumbled. “I should have just left the clam alone.” To that Azula couldn’t argue. She made her way back onto the patio. “Can I see your hand. Oh gosh, you’re shaking.” The girl looked like she was going to cry.

“I am not.” Azula insisted and held out her arm.

With diligent hands, TyLee tied her hair scrunchies above and below the cut. With even more care she dabbed at it with a clean towel. “I don’t think it’s as deep as it looks.” There was an abundant sparkle of relief in her eyes.

Azula released a still semi-shaky breath. “No, it isn’t.” She removed the scrunchies and watched TyLee retreat into the bungalow to fetch a some gauze. With the initial shock out of the equation, her breathing began to level. It was just a scratch, a large one, but still just a scratch.

“I’m so sorry.” TyLee babbled. “I should have just stayed away from the reef like you said…”

Azula sighed, any animosity the situation had put between the pair was fading fast. She wasn’t about to let the reef ruin another perfectly good vacation. “Forget it. Let’s just finish dressing the cut and find something to do. I think I saw a tiki bar worth checking out.”

“I could go for a pina colada.” TyLee agreed. After fully wrapping Azula’s elbow she patted her hand affectionately. “There, all set.”

Sharp pangs were still shooting up and down her arm but she would ignore them. A drink or two would probably take the edge off anyways.

.oOo.

It was sundown by the time they reached the line of bungalows again. As they walked the deck connecting all of the bungalows, Azula listened to TyLee prattle on and on about pointless things. “That Chan guy was kind of cute.” She commented.

Azula rolled her eyes, “I suppose if you’re into tan, muscular, and dull in the head.”

TyLee cocked her head, she very nearly came to a hault, trying to figure out Azula’s type was like prying that clam for its spot. “Then what are you into.”

Azula shrugged.

Whether she realized it or not, wide-eyed and happy-go-lucky might be two such traits.

Island sunsets were infinitely better than any other, Azula decided to herself as she sat cross-legged on the bungalow deck. TyLee was undoing her braid and squeezing the water out. In the background shades of pink, orange, and purple were rippling in the water--a liquid mirror of the display in the sky. With chirpy and excited remarks from TyLee, Azula came to spy families of turtles coming and going. “I’d love to be a turtle.” TyLee piped up.

“You would.” Azula replied. She removed her sandals and set them aside before dipping her feet into the water. Every now and then a turtle shell would brush against her toes. Though she had to admit it might be a serene life to just follow the crowd and ride the current.

The sky was displaying shades of navy now, the last figments of daylight were falling away. In the distance Azula could hear the sound of traditional drums and a few cheers and claps. But she had no interest in the more touristy of the attractions. She liked the peaceful quiet. The sound of waves lapping against the posts holding the bungalow up.

A cloud of stingray drifted by, all too quickly, disappearing under the deck. Now there’s a creature she’d like to be, if she had to be any animal anyhow. They were graceful things, fluid, but with a dangerous edge to them. It was almost ethereal to see them pass by under a surface that reflected so many glimmering stars.

Azula yawned, such silent calmness always seemed to lull her into a more sleepy mood.

“Are you already ready for bed?” TyLee asked. “You promised me that we’d be going to one of those candle light dinners.”

She did say as much. It would be a few hours later, but she still fancied sitting under a beach canopy with white curtains and the petals of tropical flora scattered about the sand. “Yes, and we will. Just let me lay down for a few minutes.”

.oOo.

TyLee dropped an armful of seashells onto the deck. Azula couldn’t fathom why the girl needed so many. After a whole day of searching them out, they all started to look the same to her. And TyLee had been picking them up for five or so days. One thing she wouldn’t miss when going home was the unlimited supply of sea shells.

“I’m really happy you decided to come with me this week.” TyLee said as she dangled her legs off of the deck.

Frankly Azula felt like there would have been countless more productive ways to spend an entire week. Even so she found herself nodding and replying, “I am too.” Save for her second mishap with the reefs, the holiday had treated her well. “We never opened that clam.” She noted. Somehow it felt right to be opening it as their last day on the island came to a close. She pushed it towards TyLee.

“You want me to open it?”

Azula rolled her eyes, “it’s a clam, Ty, nothing to special.”

“Sure it is.” TyLee disagreed as she pulled the clam open. Azula didn’t think that the girl could grin any wider. Yet her smile widened as she withdrew the teeniest pearl Azula had ever seen. “I told you there’d be one!”

“I suppose you did.”

“Here.” She set the pearl in Azula’s hand. “You got cut on the coral so I think you earned it.”

If she were being honest, it was that TyLee was the one giving it to her that had more value than the pearl itself. “Thanks, Ty.”

She was supposed to be a summer fling but Azula had a feeling that putting TyLee out of her head wasn’t going to be that easy. In fact, she felt that she was lucky to have found TyLee. As lucky as finding a pearl in a clam.

[mlnmoongle]

Love Speaks in Flowers

Genre:  Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Fluff and Smut, Eventual Romance, Awkward Romance

Pairings: TaoHun;

Rating: Mature;

Length: Chaptered - 3/12;

Note: WIP;

Warnings: Smut, Semi-public;

Summary: Sehun's mundane job as a florist clerk is the same day in and day out. Until one rainy morning brings a change in Sehun's life in the form of Tao, a tattoo artist next door, and Sehun's not sure he's ready for him.

Sehun opened Twenty Flowers again today. He had a real love-hate relationship with opening shifts. The love came from getting off early to have the rest of the day off and the hate came from waking up early and having to deal with customers, but so far, today wasn't an awful day. There were only a few hiccups that occurred but were easily settled so before long by mid-noon, Sehun was assisting the last customer. Since Sehun was working the shop alone today, Junmyeon allowed whoever was working a shift alone a full hour break with the store closed. Preferably around the same time daily, but Sehun was running behind. Sehun very politely smiled and nodded at the customer's lame jokes as he was finishing up with him. The customer talked Sehun's ear off as Sehun walked him to the door. He stood with a strained smile as the man finished up his story and it was then that Sehun was politely urging the man out the door. Once the customer left Sehun immediately locked the door and flipped the plastic Will Return sign and sighed in relief, leaning against the door. At last, Sehun had a whole half hour to himself to sit and eat or nap, whichever sounded more appealing honestly, but before he did that Sehun needed to clean off the mess on the counter. So he walked back to the front and started cleaning off the counter, discarding stems and petals and leaves and whatever else was sprawled across the white top. He already felt more relaxed with the area being neat and tidy now. Sehun was still full from breakfast so he opted to not eat lunch and instead laid his head down on his folded arms at the counter. He really wasn't expecting to nap but just closing his eyes and resting his mind was good enough. The last few days have been stressful for him. Emotionally exhausting, actually. His mind has been non-stop thinking about his talk with Jongin and Tao and how complicated this all felt. Not that it needed to be complicated but Sehun couldn't make up his mind, or feelings. In his defense, he didn't know anything about Tao, but in Tao's defense, going on a date would solve that sad excuse. However, Sehun couldn't help but think back to dating Chanyeol. Chanyeol was also handsome and charming but left Sehun, so what would stop Tao from doing the same? Sehun groaned. This was stupid, so stupid, he was over Chanyeol, he was. A jarred clunking noise interrupted his thoughts and Sehun rolled his eyes. "Can't people read?" He mumbled to himself, not bothering to look up at the door because maybe if he played dead the moronic customer trying to get into the shop would eventually go away. So he ignored it. Then not even a minute later the phone was ringing. Sehun desperately wanted to ignore that too, but the last time he intentionally ignored a phone call almost ended in his termination, and he wasn't going to risk that again. With a heavy sigh, but not opening his eyes, Sehun answered the phone. "Hi, thank you for calling Twenty Flowers. How can I help you?" He intoned, and oh my god, he was not expecting the voice on the other line. "Hey!" “You." Sehun breathed and snapped his eyes open to gaze out the window to see Tao, waving to him outside the shop. "Hi. Did you know the door is locked?" Came Tao's familiar, husky voice. Sehun exhaled heavily. "I'm aware." He drawled. "Oh." Tao made a small noise on the other end. "Can I come in?" "I'm on my lunch break," Sehun informed, his tone still steady. "Great! Cause I brought lunch." Sehun watched Tao hold up a small bag, and he could only sigh. "If you must," Sehun droned, not sure if Tao was aware of his tone because Tao was smiling wide. Hanging up the phone, Sehun slid off the stool and made his way over to the door. He took one look at Tao grin as he unlatched the door. Sehun had no idea why he was doing this, but he was stepping aside anyway and letting Tao into the shop. "Hi." Tao said pointlessly, and Sehun offered a soft, "Hey" of his own. "It was good timing, wasn't it?" Tao strolled over to the counter and sat the small bag down. He immediately started unpacking the goodies he brought. Sehun eyed him as he did, walking back to the counter to sit on the stool again. "Was this really a coincidence or are you stalking me?" Sehun asked, attempting a joke if his small smirk indicated anything. Tao burst out a laugh and shook his head. "I promise you, I'm not stalking you. It's just...I don't know, a universal lunchtime?" Sehun gave Tao a questioning, but amused look. "Yeah because that makes a lick of sense..." He rolled his eyes but there was no animosity behind it. Tao laughed lightly and placed a small container in front of Sehun and then himself. "I hope noodles are okay. I don't know what you like, but they're pretty generic, I suppose." Sehun looked down at the container before scooting it away back towards Tao. "Wow you sure know how to make a meal sound mouth-watering," his tone clearly sarcastic and whether Tao caught on to it was beyond him, "But I'm not actually hungry..." He watched Tao's face compress as he stopped fidgeting with his own container. "Oh. Then we don't have to eat." Tao grabs Sehun's container to put it back into the pack and then tightened the lid on his own to put it away, too. "Well, that doesn't mean you don't have to eat." Sehun reached out to lightly grab Tao's hand to stop him from putting his portion away. "I don't mind if you eat..." But Tao didn't respond because he was too busy looking at Sehun's hand that was lightly grasping his wrist. Sehun pulled his hand back when he made eye contact with Tao and cleared his throat, folding his arms close to himself. He tried to fight the heat crawling across his face when he added, "I mean unless it's awkward for you? I really don't care either way..." Tao gave a small smile and pulled his container back out to open it. "It's not awkward, and besides...I'm starving." His smile turned sheepish and Sehun couldn't help but give his own small smile. As Tao ate, Sehun took it upon himself to get a good look at Tao. Now that he wasn’t dripping wet he actually looked like a decent human rather than a wet dog. Tao had his bleached hair messily pulled up in a small bun on the top of his head, some pieces hanging loosely over his forehead. His messy bedhead look was complemented by a sleeveless logo t-shirt and dark jeans. Of course, Tao would wear sleeveless shirts and pants that made his ass look absolutely fuckable. And Sehun was positive Tao didn’t wear a sleeveless shirt because of the summer heat or tattoos, or for comfort, but so he could flaunt his toned arms in front of him. Sehun was sure of this. Also, Sehun noticed Tao was wearing thin-rimmed glasses this time, too, and his eyes weren’t a striking light blue anymore but instead a soft brown. He looked absolutely gorgeous. Sehun couldn't keep his eyes off him and was starting to feel hungry. Minutes pass in silence with only the sounds of Tao’s soft chewing and the light outside noises filling the space. Sehun propped his chin in his palm as he watched Tao inhaled his lunch, wondering if he's even tasting it. “What are you doing here?” Sehun finally asked with an indignant expression on his face. Tao swallowed the mouthful he had. Sehun watched Tao's throat move with the action. “Eating lunch?” Tao answered.

Sehun clicked his tongue. “Obviously. I meant, why are you here? A flower shop isn't typically a hot spot for dining.” He quipped.

“Oh. Well, I'm going to buy flowers, too, of course.” Tao answered easily and added, “You said I could come back if I was a paying customer, and when I’m finished eating and you’re off break then I will be.” He smiled as he slurped up a noodle.

Lovely. “You literally just bought flowers not even two days ago.” Sehun pointed out. Tao smiled fondly. “Yeah, I know.” Uhg, why did he have to look at him like that? Brushing off the heat in his chest, Sehun composed himself again. “Let me guess. More Lilies?” Sehun asked dryly. Tao shrugged. “Hmm...Sure.” “‘Sure’,” Sehun repeated mockingly. Then with a cruel smile, he asked, “Did you just come here to bother me while I work?” Tao’s eyes gleamed dangerously. “Hm. Maaaybe.” A playful yet mischievous smirk spreading across his face as he packed the empty container back into the bag.

Sehun took a minute to retort because what were they doing right now? Were they flirting? Was he really allowing this? Sehun hummed, smirking. “Well, you’re out of luck then.” He started, narrowing his eyes at Tao, but Tao only leaned in closer, grinning now. “And why’s that?” He questioned.

"Because, you can only stay if you’re buying flowers, if not then you need to leave.” Sehun snarked, feeling triumphant in his retort. “Okay. Then I want those. Right over there.” As far as Sehun knows, Tao pointed in a random direction to one of the many racks of flower displays and Sehun followed with his eyes to which he was pointing to. “The... Chrysanthemums?” Sehun deadpanned, looking at Tao. Tao bit back an amused chuckle when he heard Sehun’s, barely audible, lisp. It was incredibly endearing. “Mhm. Those exactly.” Tao was still leaning on the counter, still close to Sehun’s proximity. Sehun could smell the faint aroma of peach radiating off Tao and it suited him so well, Sehun thought. With Tao being so close to Sehun, he was able to skim Tao's whole upper body greedily, to take in the details that he missed from the last time. Taking a quick glance at Tao’s arms, Sehun skimmed his beautiful tattoos again. Somehow they deemed from eye-catching today than the other day. Maybe it was because Tao's skin was just glowing today. The way that Tao had his arms folded under his chest made his biceps flex and, god, they looked so firm and delicious just like chest. Sehun was thankful that he was sitting because the sight made his knees weak.

Blinking the salacious thoughts from his mind, Sehun reminded himself that he needed to keep this professional and end the shameless flirting. So putting on his best poker face, Sehun stared at Tao for a moment, internally debating if he should even bother asking the number of Chrysanthemums he wanted or what color. Unfortunately, that was part of his job so crossing his arms, Sehun finally asked, “Okay then. What color?”

Tao pursed his lips in consideration. “Violet?” He answered unsurely. Sehun hummed acknowledgment with a small nod. “Alrighty. How many?” “Ah! I want a bushel!” Tao answered right away, and proudly as if he’s been waiting for Sehun to ask. He probably thought it was a step up from the other day when he used a ‘bunch’ as an amount. Sehun gave a deadpan expression as he mouthed ‘a bushel’ and it took everything Sehun had to not to tell Tao to just leave.

“A ‘bushel’ isn’t a specified amount, Tao” Sehun informed flatly. “So if you don’t tell me how many you actually want, then I’ll have to just guess and charge you for whatever amount I pick.” He warned but Tao hunched his shoulders in a small shrug. “That’s fine. Surprise me.” He says airily, however, there was a challenging tone in his voice. With that, Tao leaned closer, If possible. He wasn't quite laying on the top of the counter, but he might as well be, and now Sehun was able to get a good whiff of Tao’s scent. Aside from the light peach scent, he could also smell Tao’s natural, virile spice mixed with a light antiperspirant. He smelled so damn good, and it stood out strongly even amongst the other aromas of the flowers and plants.

And to add insult to injury, the way Tao was leaning over the counter made the collar of his shirt hang low, giving Sehun had a clear view down his sun-kissed chest. Sehun only glanced for a moment but Tao must have followed his eyes because Tao was grinning wickedly, but before he could say anything Sehun was moving, walking around the counter and to the plant racks despite the light swelling against his pants. Luckily, he was wearing an apron so nothing was visible, he hoped. But for good measure, Sehun asked offhandedly, “So, are these for references again?” He was desperate to cut the tension between them because Sehun knew his face was red because he could feel it, and he knew there was a subtle tremble his voice because he could hear it betraying his stoic demeanor. Sehun hated this. He hated how attractive Tao was even when he wasn’t intentionally doing anything, and he hated how riled up he got over nothing. Sehun wanted nothing more than to run into the back room to hide or jerk off. Sehun had to lean down to gather the Chrysanthemums, and as he waited for a response he braved a brief glance over his shoulder at Tao, just in time to see Tao quickly avert his eyes up and to his face. “Huh?” Tao asked dumbly.

Sehun’s ears were probably red now, too. He turned back to the flowers. “ The Chrysanthemums. Are they for a reference piece or?” He asked again.

“Oh. No. Just for me.” Tao answered quickly, and Sehun stood up, turning to look at Tao with a raised brow. “Uh, my apartment is looking a little dull, so I thought these would brighten it up or something,” Tao explained, straightening up as Sehun was back behind the counter. Sehun nodded, setting the flowers down. “Well, these are a good pick…” He mumbled. “Good to know.” Tao smiled. Sehun ended up not picking an outrageous amount of Chrysanthemums and actually picked out enough for what he thought would look decent in a vase. Which reminded him, “You have a vase, right?” Sehun asked, bending down to grab tissue paper that was stored on a shelf below the counter. Tao was quiet for a moment as if the question was some kind of test. So, taking it as such he answered what he thought would please Sehun the most.  “...Yes?” His response was weak and a dead giveaway that he was lying, but Sehun didn't call him out on it and instead shrugged it off with a simple. “Okay.” Sehun tapped in the numbers to ring up tao's total. They exchanged money and with that, Sehun said, “Well then, you’re all set to go.” with a small smile, but Tao didn’t move.

“Did you need something else…?” Sehun asked. “Do you want to get coffee later?” Tao blurted out. “No,” Sehun replied quickly. Tao’s brows furrowed, all hope disappearing from his face. “Why not?” This conversation felt like deja vu. “Because I don’t like coffee,” he lied. “Do you like lunch?” “Yes.” “Then how about we go get lunch sometime?” Tao tried again. “No.” “Breakfast?” “Wha.. -No?” "Dinner?” “Uhg. Tao, why are you so persistent?” Sehun asked, feeling exasperated and the start of a small headache forming. “Because I like you,” Tao’s answer was simple and embarrassingly blunt. “You don’t know me,” Sehun reminded him crossly. “Well, I could get to know you if you would give me the chance to.” Tao countered. Shit. Well, he wasn’t wrong. Sehun was silent for a long moment and considered Tao's offer, but he rejected the thought immediately. Tao wasn’t awful or anything, and in fact, it really wasn’t about Tao at all. Sehun was keeping himself guarded because he didn’t want to fall and trip on his face for another gorgeous, charming, funny guy again. Sehun looked down at the counter and avoided Tao’s face and the question. “If you don’t need anything then else then please go. I have to get back to work.” He spoke softly, barely a mumble. Because Sehun refused to look at Tao as he rejected him for the second time, there was no way for Sehun to see the hurt expression on Tao’s face and how Tao quickly covered it up with a small, frayed smile. “Alright. I’ll let you get back to work. See you around, Hunnie.” Tao grabbed his flowers and lunch pack and headed out the door. Sehun only looked up when he heard the door chime open then chime shut. Sehun went home exhausted that night.

[piratepassion]

It was my birthday, 12/12 – BIG 35!  I told joel I want a special birthday this year, a full day to myself to relax, drink wine, bake, have a bath, watch movies.  I was going to jam pack that day with ME TIME!

10am – I was baking scones when the phone rang.  Ella’s school number popped up on the screen.  I hate to admit it but inwardly I groaned… I had a full day planned!! “Ella’s had a fall and chipped a tooth” I laughed, thinking thats not so bad!  he’s such a clutz!  I actually asked if she could finish the day – being the second last week of school they always do such fun things! The voice on the phone said no, and you’d better book her in to the dentist asap. I called around, Of course I couldn’t get her into a dentist on short notice.  No biggie I thought we’ll work it out later. I jumped in the car and off I went to pick ella up.  no handbag, no water bottle, (I usually dont leave home without it) just my wallet and my phone, I told Joel I’d be back in an hour (Ella’s school is 40ks away, about half hours drive)  gave Reece a wave and off I went on what would turn out to be one of the worst days ever.

Half way there I get another call to meet them at the district hospital…  Ok? Thinking thats weird – but still not too worried. I walk in to reception, the receptionist explains that they got the tooth back in… “WHAT?!” It was serious.  she’d knocked her tooth out and damaged the other one.  I walk in to her room, she looked….  AWFUL! blood all down her front, half a tooth jutting out at an awkward angle and the other one hlaf gone.  😢 Within 5 minutes the tooth fell out again and I popped it in the milk they had ready.

The dentist came in and told me they had called ahead to royal melbourne dental hospital (about 3 hours drive away) and we have to leave right away.  I mentioned going home (which is the oposite direction) to pack a few things, change of clothes etc and was told No, it’s really important I get there asap – to hopefully save the tooth!!  I can’t fault them, they’d organised for Ella to be seen as soon as we got there, printed a map where the nearest parking was (about a 10 minute walk from the hospital) one lady even went to her house to get Ella a change of clothes, as her uniform was wet and bloody.  So off we went! BIRTHDAY ROAD TRIP! (I guess?😂)

So we get a park, and of course Melbourne is a lot colder than home, I’m in shorts and a singlet, Ella in a summer dress, and All I had was her swim bag to carry stuff in (Including the container of milk holding her tooth)  the 10 minute walk turned into a 20 minute walk with ella, as she was tired, shivering and really not happy.  I was practically dragging her – and even carried her for as long as my back could take it.  I would have given anything for her wheelchair, and a jumper for her.  Nearly in tears myself I was working out how much cash I had on me, and seriously contemplated asking a stranger to literally buy the jumper off their back for her (of course being melbourne, and me being very country, I was also concerned about getting stabbed so I didnt do that lol)

Once at the dental hostpital I gave the refferal letter to the receptionist, told her they were expecting us and explained what was going on. she told me to take a seat and wait, and I did.   and waited, and waited.  Wrapping Ella in her damp towel (because that was all I had) She was clearly going into shock – shivering and crying.  We waited. After the first 2 hours I went and asked how much longer. “not long”

We Waited.

After another 2 hours later I complained, almost in tears, face red, shaking as I hadn’t eaten all day and I was just so bloody over everything at this point.  Different receptionist this time, she really went to bat for me, went and made sure we’d be next, was disgusted that we had waited so long, she got me the forms to make a formal complaint – and an hour after all that, sh even stopped someone else from going in as we were supposted to be next!

finally we went in – the dentist took one look at ella and said we needed to go to the royal childrens hospital.  I think I broke a little inside at this point.  It was 8pm by this stage, absolutly freezing outide at this point and getting dark.

40 minutes it took for me to get Ella back to the car.  She was crying the whole way and I tell you I wasn’t far off sitting in my gutter and doing the same!!

We Drove to the childrens (not far thankfully) Found a park straight away and in we went!  Got seen by the intake nurse in about an hour, then saw the dentist on call about an hour after that.

This detist was AMAZING! She explained that they could put her under – fix the teeth and reimplant the one that was out, they’ll put a brace on to keep it place until it fuses to the bone – but unfortuntly the tooth is dead, so it’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ she looses that tooth again.  I sign the paperwork, surgury is booked for the following day.

I drove to my grandma’s (luckily I have family in melbourne otherwise I dont know what I would have done!) She had some pj’s for Ella, I got her into bed and then drove to Kmart to pick up a few essencials (toothbrush, deoderant, change of clothes for both of us)

The next day could not have gone better! I got to see some family I hadn’t seen in a while – traffic back to the hospital was a dream and Ella got called in almost straight away.  Ella’s generally terrified of the face masks but We did lots of practicing ‘blowing up balloons’ and decorating the mask with stickers, plus a bit of bribary with a new hat i got her from kmart the night before – she finally got it on her face.

The chat with the dental surgeon beforehand while keeping Ella calm and entertained was hard – unfortunately the fact of the matter is the tooth won’t take. She said I had two options, she could go ahead and replace the tooth today, so the root will fuse to the bone. This means we’ll need to go back in two weeks for review, then she’ll need to be put under a general again to get the braces taken off, and then under again for a root canal, and then again after the root fuses to the bone when they’ll cut her tooth off at the gum and screw in a fake one, and As always there’s risks every time she gets put under. The other option would be to clean it up, and leave a gap – which has its own problems, the other teeth moving, trouble eating, infection etc In the end I decided to get it put back in – still not sure if I made the right call! 😬 It’s so hard to make a huge decision like that in the moment – and on very little sleep! She woke up pretty sore and upset, which is to be expected – but the braces looked adorable and she got a certificate for being so brave!

Home the next day with an appointment in two weeks to check and possibly get the braces off.  On the plus side since we actually knew about the next trip we made a family holiday of it, spent christmas with my family from melbourne, went to the zoo and got her braces off all in the same trip. (we even took our dog Lucy 😁)

So basically thats where we’re at now.  Ella needs to be careful with her teeth, semi restricted diet (no apples, buiskuits, anything crunchy) and eventually they will need to be cut off at the root and fake ones drilled in, and hope to jebus they don’t fall out (or get knocked out🤦‍♀️ ) before then! 

  All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth! It was my birthday, 12/12 - BIG 35!  I told joel I want a special birthday this year, a full day to myself to relax, drink wine, bake, have a bath, watch movies. 

[forkanna]

[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

Slightly nsfw at the beginning. Also, thank you all so much for your reviews! Both Kite and myself enjoy reading your reactions so much, and your thoughts on deeper topics as much as squeeing over fluff and smut. Hope you keep enjoying!

Anna awoke to the most obnoxious sound in the world coming from Elsa's phone.

She tried desperately to ignore it, burying her face into the soft mound she had claimed as a pillow and trying to fall back asleep. However, her semi-awake brain was quick to register the dull, though not unpleasant ache resonating between her thighs and the feeling of bare skin against her own and her brow furrowed slightly in confusion… especially when the pillow against her face moved and a stiff nipple poked her cheek.

Wait… pillows don't have…

Her eyes shot open, only to reveal that her pillow was, in fact, Elsa's chest. Her face flared up violently at the realization that she had been nuzzling her face into those boobs, perhaps all night. Not that Elsa seemed to care; she only squirmed and reached up to rest a hand against Anna's back, still more or less asleep.

It took a few minutes for Anna's heart rate to slow and her face to stop burning but once it did, Anna felt a fluttering in her chest. A grin formed the longer she watched her sister sleep until she could no longer keep to herself. She lay a soft kiss on the soft skin beside her face before kissing up until she had her mouth over Elsa's pulse, sucking softly on it.

"Hmmhhh…" The sound flowed out of her sister, and she cleared her throat slightly as her mouth dropped open. "Oooh…"

Anna giggled and sighed contentedly before snuggling into Elsa. "Turn off your phone," she murmured against her neck. "I want to sleep with you longer but I can't with that noise."

"Hmh? Oh… OH."

Then Elsa pushed back from Anna a little, staring down in shock at her sister with wide blue eyes. "A-Anna, what- why am I naked? Did… what did we do last night?"

The redhead's pleasant mood turned to slight worry and she bit her lip, unsure of how to answer. Did Elsa really not remember? The very thought of her sister remembering, only to regret everything they did last night, made Anna's heart sink into her stomach but she hid her unease behind a smile. "We showered, remember?" she prodded gently, not wanting to reveal too much right away.

"Right, we…" Then she gulped, pushing a hand into her face. "We did a lot more than shower… oh, Anna, I'm sorry — are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine," Anna reassured Elsa. "A little sore, but that's normal… a-are you okay?"

"Yeah… I guess I am. I mean, I'm not sure that should have happened, but…" After a moment, her lips twitched into a slight smile. "But it was pretty wonderful."

Anna beamed, her mood soaring again until she couldn't help but litter Elsa's face in kisses. "It really was wonderful," she cooed. Her adoration for her elder sister and the happiness left over from the night before made Anna feel like she was on cloud nine. "Are you… sore at all?"

"W-well, I don't… OOH!" she groaned, screwing her eyes closed when she tried to sit up. "Okay, it's not that bad; I… was just surprised!"

"Sorry, I'm usually a little sore for awhile after the act, too." Anna giggled softly as she reached out and hugged Elsa tightly. Elsa hugged back, nestling in against her after a little sigh. Everything felt right in Anna's world with Elsa like this and Anna felt herself starting to drift into a content, comfortable state, humming as she ran her fingers through Elsa's hair and carefully undid any tangles she found. She didn't want to move despite the voice in her brain nagging her to get up and work.

"I can't believe we did that," Elsa repeated herself, though she sounded less terrified by it now. "It's… I mean, I suppose looking back, we were heading in this direction, but it's still… I didn't expect to go from a few kisses to full-on sex so fast!"

The redhead nodded in agreement. "Yeah… but then life and love is unexpected like that," she laughed softly and kissed the crown of Elsa's head. Elsa was fully blushing already, as shy and inexperienced as ever despite all they tried the night before. It was adorable. "Fun though, right?"

"It was," she had to confess. "We… should try that again. Maybe not right away! But… yeah."

"I'd like that," Anna cooed and gave Elsa another kiss before yawning. "Hmmm, why can't it be Sunday so we can sleep?"

"Because it's Saturday," Elsa chuckled as she stroked over Anna's back. Really, they were lucky at least one of them was clothed or things could have been worse. "Come on. We don't really have time for a shower now, so luckily we took such a long one last night…"

Anna snickered, "Not that it matters considering we got dirty again." Shamelessly, she took a peek at Elsa's lower region and gave the fine hairs a light pat. "But yeah, at least the rest of us is clean."

"W-we only got dirty in one way," Elsa said with a shaky laugh, automatically twitching her thighs together. "And… and wow, I am still not used to this."

The redhead was reluctant but eventually, she got up off of her sister and started walking towards her own bed to start getting ready for the day. She glanced at Elsa, noting the way her bare body seemed to gleam in the pale sunlight streaming through the thin cracks in the blinds and she tried valiantly to ignore the arousal pooling in her belly again.

As she stooped to pull her underwear up past her ankles, she caught Anna watching her and smiled a slightly-bashful smile. "Shameless."

"Only where you are concerned," Anna teased with a grin, beginning to strip out of her sleepwear and stretching once it was off, her muscles aching in both pleasure and protest. "And you really can't blame me, either."

"No, I can't," Elsa breathed, having stopped after finishing the action to gaze at Anna. Seemed it was her turn. Anna let out a relieved sigh and shook her limbs free of the tingling numbness before pulling on a pair of panties and her bra. "Guess I'm not any better."

Anna chuckled and shifted through her pack for a top and some shorts; the day was supposed to be one of the warmest of the summer so pants or jeans wasn't an option. She pulled out a cute, blue blouse made of a light, flowy material that hung off her lithe frame in just the right way, a shirt Anna had picked during their shopping trip when she had noticed Elsa's gaze linger on it.

"Think I should wear this today? I think it's just cool enough for this weather."

Nodding appreciatively, Elsa finished with her own undergarments and moved on to pulling on ankle-socks. "You're going to get some of those pubescent boys watching you a little closer with that, you know. And the counselors doing it for other, less-hormonal reasons."

"Think it'll piss off Aurora too much? With my sin-tempting good looks, maybe she'll get mad because she'll find she can't resist me, either." Anna laughed at her own stupid joke before pulling on a pair of shorts, ones just long enough to be appropriate for the camp.

"Maybe, maybe." Next for Elsa was a longer pair of shorts and a polo shirt. "But don't tempt fate too much, Anna; I don't want to make this situation any more difficult on you than it already is."

"For me?" Anna regarded Elsa in concern. "It's you I'm worried about. I can deal with those kind of comments; girls at my school picked on me for being gay loads of times, so I can handle myself."

Shifting a little uncomfortably, Elsa said softly, "It's that, and… and if they drop hints that we're gay, and people start paying too much attention to us, they might figure out that we're… sisters, as well. That worries me just as much."

Approaching her with a gentle smile, Anna lay a soft kiss on Elsa's lips, sweet and reassuring. Playing with a stray strand on Elsa's forehead, she stared into Elsa's glacier blue eyes. "Just know that no matter what happens at this point, we have each other, okay?" She ignored the nervous flutter in her own chest and the worry and stress that came with the thought of such a scenario happening, instead focusing on keeping her sister from overanalyzing and potentially freaking out over the same thing.

Letting out a slow breath, Elsa nodded, as well. "Okay. Yes, you're right." Another deep breath, and she shook out her arms as she did so. "Ready? Oh, wait - we should probably brush our teeth, at least…"

"Yeah, we should. So we don't scare people away with our morning breath. You can take the bathroom first if you want."

"Okay." Hesitating on her way there, she looked back to ask, "Do… I really have morning breath?"

"It's not that bad," Anna said as she waved her hand dismissively. "Mine is worse."

                                                      ~ o ~

Thankfully, there were no real events scheduled on Saturdays. Instead, Anna and Elsa found themselves sitting in the shade of a large oak and watching a couple of kids from each age group play.

"They wear me out," Elsa breathed as they looked on passively. "But they are sweet, aren't they?"

Anna chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, they are a bunch of monsters but at least they're cute monsters." Elsa's weight against her side was comforting and Anna's hand found itself playing with Elsa's braid, her arm around her older sister's shoulders. It was very pleasant and the smile on Anna's face hadn't faded in the slightest since it first formed upon being assigned their group for the day.

"Stop," Elsa playfully whispered, though she was smiling just as much. "We really should be a little more discreet."

"We should." Anna flicked the braid playfully while she quietly flirted, "But It's so hard because I just want to hold you all day."

A low "shhh" issued from Elsa as they watched the children scamper around. After a few minutes, she waited until no one was looking, then left a fleeting peck on Anna's cheek. Anna's cheeks warmed.

"You're even worse than me," she teased. "Admit it, you can't keep to yourself any better than I can!"

"Better than you," Elsa teased right back with a smirk. "But… not by much. Can you-"

"Elsa! Anna!" A cheery voice interrupted Elsa and Anna grunted as a smaller body leaped into her lap and thin arms wrapped themselves tightly around her waist. Dark eyes twinkled merrily up at them and Olaf was grinning toothily from ear to ear. "You did it! You did it!"

Anna's ears turned pink as some of the kids closest to them looked over in confusion. Elsa also seemed to be a little taken aback, glancing between his and Anna's faces.

"W-What did we do Olaf?" Anna questioned the ecstatic boy, trying to keep her voice down so he would hopefully take the hint.

"Miss Elsa and you are glowing! Papa told me only people who are insanely happy with their partners do that! You confessed! You confessed!" The little boy gazed at the two of them adoringly, his expression full of pride. "I knew you guys would eventually!"

"Hush now, Olaf," Elsa warned him, glancing around at the other children with her cheeks starting to pinken. This was pretty obvious, as pale as she was. "Haven't we talked to you about this already?"

Anna took a quick glance and was relieved to notice that the other kids had decided to dismiss what was going on and return to their play. Olaf simply pouted in Elsa's direction. "But Miss Elsa! You guys are cuddling and look so happy!"

"We're very happy," Elsa told him honestly. "Our moods are very good, and we're closer friends now, and we're here at camp with all of you. But that doesn't mean you should keep bringing this up so much; we talked about that. It's very… distracting for the other campers, and could make things difficult for Anna and I. So can't you please try to keep those comments to yourself?"

Olaf frowned. "True love should be shouted from the rooftops!" he protested and Anna let out a sigh. She rested her hand on the little boy's head.

"Yes Olaf," she said patiently. "But at the same time, sometimes people don't like announcing it for everyone to hear. Me and Elsa… we prefer to keep our love quiet, can you respect that for us?"

The boy glanced between Elsa and Anna, looking put out, but he eventually nodded and said a quiet "Okay." Elsa patted him on the shoulder tenderly.

"Thank you. Now go on and play with the others." Once he had scampered off, still shooting a look over his shoulders at them on his way, she sighed and pushed a hand into her forehead. "He's going to be the death of us, I just know it."

"Yeah, probably." Anna watched Olaf as he joined his brother for a game of catch. "He means well though, so I guess we can't be too angry."

Taking Anna's hand between both of her own, she gazed out at them for a little while. "I'm… still a little in shock, to be honest. I think it's helping me be able to simply… be calm about this whole situation, instead of continuing to freak out."

"I'm here to help if it gets too overwhelming," Anna reassured, stroking Elsa's hands with her thumbs. "Do you need to get a drink or anything? Give you an excuse to get away?"

"I'll be fine until we get back to camp." Sighing, she looked off into the trees. "Too bad those divas stuck us with babysitting duty all day… well, other than a few of the other counselors who aren't part of their scheme. I think I saw Rapunzel still in the camp."

"To be fair, this could be much worse. I don't mind watching the scamps over bathroom duty again."

"Oh, agreed," she sighed wearily, rubbing her forehead. But after a moment or two, she began to giggle. Anna bumped her head against Elsa's playfully, glad to see her sister's mood improve slightly.

"Got you to smile, at least."

"No, it's just… well, after what happened the last time we cleaned the bathroom, I would almost think you'd want to do it again."

"I'd rather we 'did it' when we didn't smell like disinfectant and bathroom spray," Anna laughed. "There is only so much sexy that can happen in a dirty bathroom like that one."

"Not in the bathroom; getting cleaned up afterward. But you're not wrong." She leaned in, as if to kiss Anna, but remembered to stop herself at the last moment. "This, um, is going to take some getting used to!"

Anna leaned in to gave Elsa a sisterly peck on the cheek, chaste enough to be mistaken for a friendly gesture just in case some of the kids saw them. "It gets easier, trust me." She grinned. "We're in the honeymoon phase. Just you wait until we can't stand each other anymore." Despite the joke, Anna's stomach twisted at the thought of Elsa and her arguing.

"I don't think that could ever happen now." When Anna didn't respond right away, she leaned over to hug her tightly to her side. "Honestly, it was only our mother's poisoning lies that kept us apart before now. Remember what we were like before that?"

"We were always so close." Anna returned the side-hug by placing her arm around Elsa's shoulders. "Mom and Dad had to fight really hard to get us to separate for more than ten minutes because we would both argue like crazy with them about it."

"Exactly," she sighed pleasantly. "All our other little bickerings were about nothing, and they didn't take long for us to resolve. So… so I think we're going to be just fine, if we can survive camp."

"You're right." Anna snuggled and closed her eyes. "When we part ways next week, we won't shut each other out. We'll keep in contact from now until we are together again…"

Anna didn't want to voice the worry that gnawed in the back of her mind. How she wondered if Elsa would reject her during their inevitable separation. If their mother's influence would scare Elsa back into shunning the closeness and the love they were sharing now. Would they reunite, only for Elsa to call it off? Say how wrong this was and… would she express disgust, an intent to sever all contact again?

Maybe that was foolish after all they had been through, but the thought terrified her. So she tried to focus on the encouraging way Elsa was smiling at her, squeezing her hand. Only time would tell.

                                                      To Be Continued…

[fureniku]

The return of my blog or something idk

Looks like in my last blog I said I’d not post my semi-private stuff here, only to a private blog.

Honestly, I can’t remember the name of the private blog; let alone the login/password. I think I only made one post there, to zero followers, and kind of lost the point of doing it. So fuck it, lets just go back to being here.

Days since last post: 614 Todays date: 30th September 2019 Start time: 20:39

Well, I guess we have some catching up to do.

I don’t know how many people on here were following me before. So, I guess I’ll start with a sum-up. My previous blog was just me ranting about anxiety/depression related things. It was a good platform for me to vent my thoughts without real life friends knowing; I had a few RL friends who followed it which was great as they could give me some support, but most of them didn’t know about the blog, which was also great as they then didn’t know a side of me I’d generally prefer to keep private. That blog was deleted in early January 2018, when the drummer from my then-band found it. I had made some comments about my frustrations in the band which were true, and I stand by them - but naturally it caused drama. I deleted the account, and instantly regretted it - I only had maybe 50 followers, but now I have two, so yeah.  Life since then has been... chaotic. Not specifically in a bad way, just a lot of things happened. When the blog ended I was; - Single - Playing guitar in a band - Working a dead-end job in a Warehouse - Had no ambition/drive to progress life

Three of those things have since changed; I’m still single (not for lack of trying but whatevs). I guess I’ll cover a timeline? Jan 2018: I deleted my old blog, and made this one, and a second one with a more secretive/anon name. I made a couple of posts on each, then abandoned it. Instead, I started relying mostly on just one friend to help me. May 2018: I got a new job, working for a games developer. It literally changed my life. Anxiety/depression started to clear up a lot, things just generally improved. June/July-ish 2018: I left my band. There was an argument about the fact another band was using our space for free, after we had offered it to them at a split rate and they declined. I instigated the argument, other members didn’t see eye to eye with me, so I quit. It was a final nail in the coffin kind of thing, but it was certainly the healthy thing to do. The whole situation had been kind of toxic for a little while, but I now get on just fine with all of them - I think if I had stayed much longer, that might not be the case. Our vocalist left very shortly after me as well - I don’t know the reasons why, but it seems the terms were... less happy.

September 2018: I started taking Japanese classes. Met a girl, had a crush on her for a bit, it didn’t go anywhere as usual. No biggie.

December 2018: Depression came back a bit, as it always does around then. Not much I can do about it so I just power through.

February 2019: I got made redundant from work. I was cool with it, I could see it coming for a while and there was like 12 other people too, my boss had fought hard to keep me but the game wasn’t doing so well, so I totally get it. I got a nice redundancy pay (which they by no means had to give me, so I’m super grateful). I applied for a job with another studio; quite a big one called Jagex. They were far from me so it would’ve involved moving and stuff, so quite scary. I made it to the final stages, but didn’t get it.

I now had a fair lump of cash (I had been saving for a house anyway), but not quite sure what to do with it. Followers of my previous blog can probably guess what I decided to spend it on...

April 2019: I went back to Japan! My mental-health-reset trip mark 2. I spent about two and a half weeks there (despite fucking up and accidentally buying a ticket to return mid-may... whoops). I got detained in China on my way home too but that’s a whole other story (it was all sorted and fine in the end).

While in Japan, I had time to clear my head and think. I decided I wanted to go back to university, so started thinking about how that would work. Here in the UK, we get a student loan to pay for university. It’s a bit complicated, but the way it works is you get your course length plus one year of funding. The day you set foot on campus, you use one year of funding. Now, I had already been to university previously - I studied music production. Totally dead industry, I dropped out about three weeks into my second year. That meant, I only had course length minus one year’s funding left available. So I have to pay the first year of university myself. At a cool £9,250.

My dad agreed to pay one term, so one third of that. I managed to save up another terms worth by working over the summer. I’m sat in my uni dorm right now, still not quite sure how I’ll pay for the third term... but I’ve got 6 months to figure that one out.

May 2019: I returned to my original job, back in the warehouse. Picking and packing sacks of bird food, so much fun. My mental health naturally slipped again, although everyone was really friendly to me while before it was kinda like I didn’t exist, so that was nice.

Around this time, I also joined an Overwatch team. It was a pretty big team with maybe 14-15 members, it was cool to make some new friends. Except one guy, was a dick. This OW stuff is like a whole side story from hereon... Anyway, I said to my squad leader (We’ll call her SN) that this guy is a dick. She said ok and she’d go talk to him. She said do you agree you’re being a dick, he said no. She said do you acknowledge one of the squad members thinks you’re being a dick? He said no again. Some other stuff I don’t know happened, and he got kicked off the team. He turned a load of people against her, caused loads of drama, and everyone blamed her when it was 100% my fault. So that was fun. The only reason I didn’t leave the team right then is because if I had, the entire drama would’ve been for nothing.

June 2019: My old boss who didn’t work there appeared at the end of may. I have a job for you. Ominous... but ok. Turns out, there was a new system being implemented on another contract. As I had experience with QA, and had done some IT stuff for them before, they wanted me to help with the testing and implementation. It was a job that would test my brain, while requiring little physical work - it was perfect for me. I really enjoyed it. It was supposed to be a four week thing, but we found lots of niggly little problems in the system... as far as I know, it’s actually only just gone live - but may have been delayed further.

While working up there, obviously there was downtime while waiting for fixes to be implemented. “What, you want this label a different size? oof, that’s gonna take about three weeks”. However, I got to stay in the office, doing odd jobs and stuff. One of the “odd jobs” ended up being a full on Android app, that my boss and me developed together. It was super fun to work on and really rewarding. That was worked on on-and-off between June and August.

July 2019: an interesting month. There was a major incident at work where a shelf holding very heavy metal shit stirrers collapsed. (The contract was a water treatment etc company, who provide all the clean water and water recycling for my local area. The things on the shelf literally stirred shit.) No one was hurt but it was a lot of drama, which was kind of entertaining to me as I was totally bunking off for the whole week where it happened. Not just the occasionally check Facebook on your phone at work kind of bunking off; I literally just messed about on Discord and worked on Minecraft mods for about two weeks straight. They had given me quite a big project to do, I automated the process... gg ez.

Around this time, the game I had been a part of before was to be officially cancelled. My old work invited me down to the studio to be a part of the formal funeral for the game, which was a big honour. I even got to fly the sky-whale which was awesome. It was bittersweet though, as the game meant a lot to me and had literally changed my life.

August 2019: haaaaaa august was a meme. I’d gotten kinda close with a girl (we’ll call her AP) in my Overwatch team. Like, we’d arranged to meet up at the end of August anyway but yeah, she was the first crush in a long time who actually knew I liked her. And she had certainly implied she felt the same way... like she’d been sending lots of hearts and stuff and talking to me 24/7, tagging me in “X has to take you on a date to Y place” memes and so on.  Anyways, so SN had apparently picked up on the fact I liked her, and started getting super pissy with me. I was pretty good friends with SN and we got on well, but in August she suddenly started getting crazy angry with me over tiny things. It all came to a head when I let AP kill me in a game (long story). Turns out, SN was like in love with me... despite breaking up with her boyfriend of over a year like 2 days before this conversation. So yeah, she told me to fuck off and that was that, she left the team etc, which thanks to chain of command meant that I was then in charge. fun. 

Anyways, get to the end of August, and I was due to meet AP. We met up, it was pretty cool. We hung out at a gaming festival, then suddenly like half way through she was like “lets split up for a bit” and I was like ........ok thats weird but alright. We didn’t meet up again until literally when she had like 2 mins to go, but it seems like she had a lot more fun without me being there. Clearly I’d done some major fuckup, which I still don’t actually know what it was. I had an anxiety attack before I even reached my car... and not a little one either. It’s quite possibly the biggest anxiety attack I’ve ever had, I barely made it to my car before having a total meltdown. It was the first one I’d had for about a year and it hit hard. It took me about 30 mins to calm down, then I headed home. 

I messaged her that night and asked her what happened, and she replied with “oh I never said I liked you”. It hurt a lot, like I’d been totally lead on. But hey whatever, that’s my life in a nutshell right? “Oh you want this happiness? this happiness right infront of you? HA nah”.  She said in the same message that I “seemed cool” and she’d like to hang out again sometime. But literally within a week she was clearly interested in another guy, so yeah whatever. We’re still friends and play games from time to time but I know she likes this other guy, so yeah. I still like her but whatever, not much I can do about it.

Work was a meme as well. I got taken off the fun and interesting projects to do paperwork. Literally, my job was to scan 35,000 documents because they couldn’t find a couple of bits of information. I suggested much better and more efficient ways, but the boss of the contract was like “no thats bad do it this old fashioned way we don’t want any fancy apps or anything” (I had suggested a spreadsheet or database). It took me about 3 weeks of just standing by a scanner which would jam up every 15-20 sheets in. It was mental health hell, especially in the last week after all the AP stuff had happened.

September 2019: I had one week left at work. I finished the hellish scanning project on Monday afternoon. “Oh as a thanks for your massive hard work we’ll make sure to find you things to do for the rest of the week” No it’s fine, I’m happy to just finish a few days early so I have more time to prep for uni. “No no no, we’ll find you stuff to do” They did not find stuff for me to do. I literally sat there, with nothing to do bar a few odd jobs “hey can you fix this printer”, for four days. It was incredibly mind-numbingly dull. The only thing ticking me over was “hey, maybe they wanna give me a card on my last day or something to say good luck and bye and thanks for doing this literal £20/hr job for half that because you’re agency staff”. But nah, a few people said cya later, but a lot forgot I was leaving entirely. So that was a fun way to finish what had mostly been a decent job...

I then had two weeks of freedom, before moving to university on the 21st. I was nervous; who wouldn’t be? but it was cool. I finally moved out of my house, and had a place where I could make a lot of new friends (LOL). On the day I moved in, I met up with someone I’d spoken to online a few times who was living in the same building as me, we’ll call her S. She was nice, we got on well, and it was kinda cool to have a friend who was a girl that for once I didn’t have a crush on (coz I’m still totally hung up on AP). We ended up going to a club in the evening which I’ve literally never done in my life, and she brought me out of my comfort zone a lot. She was great for my anxiety and really helpful. We’ve hung out a few times since, but I kind of feel like I was just a “filler friend” until she made new friends. She actually totally blanked me when I walked past her today, so that was fun. She has my Switch atm too coz I let her borrow it, I’ll probably just get it back later this week and then be done, its like I put in all the effort to be a friend and she couldn’t care less.

Anyways, so as I said I moved in on Saturday. I met one of my four flatmates on Saturday and another on Sunday, but hadn’t seen the other two at all. It gets to Thursday and I’m tidying the kitchen a bit, my mum’s about to pick me up so I can move in my last few things, and one of the mystery people appeared - she hadn’t actually moved in yet and was just unloading her stuff. She had loads of kitchen stuff, seems she’s really into her cooking.

Anyway, mum picks me up, we go to get my stuff, then we’re driving back, and my phone starts blowing up. S: Are you in? Me: No, why? S: Your building’s on fire. Me: lol nice joke S: no really *picture of everyone evacuated with fire engines outside* S: It’s your floor too, idk which flat. I wasn’t far out, so found her outside when I arrived. I’ve seen people going in, not being funny but one of them looked like [one of my flatmates]. Shit.  A few mins later, the girl who had just moved in came over. You know it’s our flat right? Shit. Turns out the extractor fan on the cooker malfunctioned. I won’t share the video itself coz one of my flatmates is in it, but yeah it just started spraying molten something all over the hob and surfaces. (They said it looked like molten metal, and they were there - but I don’t see how it would’ve gotten hot enough to melt any metal. My best guess is fat that hadn’t been cleaned from last years tenants)

So yeah, we got moved into another flat. The open cupboard right there was my one - I rescued my custom cup from it that the games studio had given me. It’s no good to drink from now, but it still looks ok so I’m glad I can keep it for decorative purposes at least. The rest of the food is waste, and I have to wait for the plates etc to get cleaned. I’m currently eating ready meals out of their cook-in containers, because I don’t have any plates, and only one fork and spoon. I bought some paper plates today though so I’ll use those from tomorrow, but I still don’t have any saucepans or anything.

I wasn’t around when they sorted out the replacement accommodation. Because of that, the other four from my flat went to the same new flat together, with one new person. I was put into a different flat which also had one other person in, my building manager assured me they’re “really nice”. I asked if they knew I was coming, BM said “they’ll know when we get up there :)”. That was Thursday, today is Monday. The only food in the kitchen is mine, I’ve not seen anyone. I’m 100% positive I’m alone in this flat.

And so yeah, that’s my uni experience so far. I had my first lectures today, it was cool because I already knew all the stuff so I got to feel smart (I’m doing computer games programming, and it was mostly about design docs which I read through extensively while working at the studio, so I knew exactly how they worked etc). But, I didn’t really make any friends. I kind of joined in with a couple of other people in each lecture, but it seems like they weren’t really interested, so whatever. I had an anime society taster this evening as well, and it was when I was on my way to that that S blanked me and I just got hit my like a wave of loneliness. I didn’t make any friends at the anime society, so I kinda just gave up and came back to my flat, and started writing this. As I was getting the fire picture from above though someone asked me if I wanted to hang out, so guess I’ll see how that goes. Not holding out much hope tbh and I’m at the point of becoming a full on hermit... I mean hey, at least I’d get a perfect score on my degree if I just focus on that and eliminate any social aspect right?

Finish time: 21:38 Length:  3,302 words/16,759 characters

[minyavd]

hey so i know you do head canons and i was wondering if you'd write an andreil one about them adopting a kid thanks

i have this issue where i start headcanons and they end up being fics so enjoy

Okay so Neil and Andrew are on thesame professional Exy team

They live in like the small urbanpart of Missouri or something, and they have a lot of free time because it’sthe off season

So Andrew goes to the library everyafternoon like clockwork

He’s studying up on law andentertaining the idea of going to law school after they retire 

Neil tags along sometimes and loves browsing the crime/mystery section

The library workers recognize them asthe famous exy-playing assholes, but they’re all older women who have nothingbetter to do than gossip behind the desk

Mary, the senior librarian, runs thechildren’s programs during the summer and makes sure to invite all the kidsfrom the nearby elementary school

It’s raining pretty hard outside whenNeil and Andrew stumble in one afternoon during Mary’s dramatic reading of TheFox and the Hound

Andrew saunters off upstairs whileNeil heads to the bathroom so he can wring out their wet raincoats 

(Nicky got them matching raincoatsfor Christmas that year, insisting that he needed to “keep up the theme”)

(Andrew refuses to wear the matchingred rain boots)

Neil hears muffled crying from one ofthe stalls, interrupted every now and then by a small hiccup

He knocks hesitantly on the stalldoor

“I’m in here!” the kid shouts

“Everything okay?”

“Uh.. yeah,” he sniffles, “I think”

Neil isn’t convinced. Not only can hetell when someone’s lying (he’s had enough experience he should be an expert bynow) but there was a small puddle of blood gathering on the tiles of the bathroomfloor

“You’re bleeding” it wasn’t aquestion

“I guess I am”

“I know how to stitch a wound”

“Congratulations”

Neil laughs. This kid was a littletoo similar to Andrew

“I have a kit in my car, I’ll beright back. Don’t move”

“…Okay”

Neil runs for the Maserati but makessure to fast-walk semi-casually past the group of elementary kids gathered infront of Mary

He comes back with a suture kit and some towels

(Neil insisted on making theunconventional first aid kit after Andrew got in a fight outside of Eden’s lastyear. Neither of them liked hospitals and Abby was three states over, so thelogical solution was to hit up the nearest Walgreen’s at three in the morning)

The kid had unlocked the stall doorin his absence, and was waiting patiently with some bloodied toilet paperpressed against his arm

Neil guesses that he’s about the ageof a third grader, but he could also be small for his age. He has light hazeleyes and brown skin, mottled with freckles across the bridge of his nose

“What’s your name?”

“Noah,” not a lie, “what’s yours?”

“Neil. Nice to meet you, Noah”

Noah nods distractedly and Neil getsto work unpacking the kit. He slowly removes the toilet paper, careful not thetouch Noah’s skin the entire time

Noah’s arm had been slit fromshoulder to elbow, deep enough to warrant stitches but not bad enough that Neilworries about blood loss. “Weapon?”

“Jack Daniel’s”

Neil nods, noticing the jaggedness ofthe wound that could only be created by broken glass

Neil works in silence, threading theneedle and cleaning the cut with rubbing alcohol. He doesn’t bother warningNoah before he begins suturing the wound, knowing that pain is pain whetheryou’re prepared for it or not

A quick intake of breath is all hegets from the kid, and Neil knows that reaction is not the best of signs

Halfway through the stitches, Noahlifts his free hand and taps Neil’s right cheek. “Weapon?”

“Dashboard lighter”

“Ouch”

Neil huffs out a laugh, “Yeah”

“Who did that to you?”

Neil pauses, “A friend of my fathers”

Noah winces in sympathy, butapparently the questions have stopped for now

“Who did this to you?” Neil asks. Hewasn’t only referring to the wound that was currently getting stitched up. Thekid was covered in yellowing and purpling bruises, the most prominent onessurrounding his wrists and upper arms

Noah immediately tenses up, cradlinghis free arm against his stomach, “Why should I tell you?”

“A truth for a truth”

Noah wrinkles his nose but doesn’toffer an immediate answer. Neil goes back to stitching and then bandages thewound with practiced ease, making sure to keep a light enough hold on Noah’sarm so he could easily break free

“Those will need to be removed in aweek and a half. Do you want to meet me here again or take your chances with apair of tweezers?”

Noah thinks about it for a momentwhile he pulls his shirtsleeves down, “I’ll meet you here. Mary takes us on theschool bus and it picks me up right at my house on Wednesday’s.”

“Then I will see you two Wednesday’sfrom now, Noah.”

The kid nods and gathers his backpackfrom the floor. Neil moves out of the stall and follows behind him afterthrowing the bloodied toilet paper into the toilet

He catches Noah’s eye before heexits, bending down to the kid’s level. “Follow me,” he whispers, opening thedoor and leading the way out into the library foyer. Mary’s group arethankfully absent for the time being. They probably migrated to the puppettheater area of the library after story time

He leads Noah upstairs, windingthrough large bookshelves until they find Andrew’s designated corner of thelibrary, surrounded by a dozen or so law dictionaries

Andrew looks up as they approach, butother than a cursory glance he doesn’t acknowledge Neil’s tagalong

“Sticky note?” Neil asks. Andrew digsin his backpack for a minute and then hands Neil a pack of pink sticky notesand a pencil

Neil scrawls his cell phone number onthe note, peels it off, and then sticks it to the front of Noah’s shirt

He bends down to look Noah in theeyes, “I don’t care if it’s the middle of the night or whatever, if they somuch as raise their voice at you,” he pokes the sticky note with his pointerfinger, “call me.”

Noah worries his bottom lip between histeeth, his eyes beginning to water. He hesitates for a minute, but then wrapshis hand around Neil’s in as firm a grip as a nine-year-old can manage, “Ipromise,” he says, “I promise to call you if my stepdad is bad again”

Neil smiles, “Thank you Noah”

Noah nods and then turns around tojoin his classmates again, wiping his eyes the entire way down the stairs

“First the cats and now a kid?”Andrew says, “You’re getting domestic”

Neil hums, leaning over the back ofAndrew’s chair so his chin rests on Andrew’s shoulder. “I like him. He remindsme of you”

Andrew swats a hand at his face,“That’s not a good thing”

“Maybe in some aspects”

“Think he’ll call?”

Neil searches Andrew’s face, but allhe gets is a blank mask

“If not, want to come with me to thelibrary two Wednesday’s from now?”

“That depends,” Andrew taps a fingeron the binding of a couple of law dictionaries, “do I have to brush up onadoption law before then?”

Neil laughs, “Don’t act like you can’t do that in a night, Andrew”