#but mostly ready to start! as soon as i finish the paid work that let me afford this set of supplies alskdjf

[shinesurge]

i'm learning to use alcohol markers! i've been picking at traditional art again since we moved, but it's only been colored pencil sketches before (and there was a lonnnnnnng gap while i dealt with like an eight month rsi flare up lmfao) BUT gym is helping and im giving it a shot again as time allows ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ fun 2 learn a new skill im gonna make some manga-lookin-ass kc art

[echantedtoon]

A Lovers' Circle (Poly Haishira x Reader) Ch16 Setting Hearts A Blaze P2

Taglist: @shadyd3ar @jcrml

@tengensangel @miniverse-zen @mysteri0uz @jjamsbangtan

@the-unknown-fandom

@lavenderdropp @mimisweetz. @purplesoulsapphire

@kksmush @denkpanda18 @whomisi @lessthanimperfect @silver-rin

@namis-noodlebox

@k1ttyluverz @akiramente

@rascalraccoon @ravenclawkae1

@gilded-sunrays @crescent-blades

@yukari1k @bloodymarysgirl21

@artbyrebel @abaker74

Remember if you want to be added to the taglist lemme know

"Does something feel off to you today?"

"Hm? No. Not particularly. Why do you ask?"

It was a bit more nippy out today than usual. Really feeling that Christmas snow getting ready to come in. It had been at least almost three weeks since your aunt had gone on her trip to the wedding and came back. You had picked her up at the airport despite her insistence on getting a taxi back home, and on the long drive home had asked her about it.

"How was your trip?," you asked her with a smile as you began to pull out of your parking spot. "Did the ride back go well?"

"Honey, I think I'm gonna have to take a bus next time." She groaned stretching out her back. "Didn't know you could get jet leg from a plane."

"How was the wedding?"

"Pretty generic as far as weddings go. Wedding cake this. Walk down the aisle that. Though I might get some future business if I'm lucky."

"...Did you do as I asked?"

"Sweetheart." She smiled at you in a smirking knowing way. "Someone's gonna love you.~"

You gave her a weird confused look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, just wait and see.~"

"That still doesn't answer my question."

It still didn't. And your aunt wouldn't give you a straight answer. So you took it as a maybe it'll work or maybe it won't. You'll have to wait and see if anything did change. However days went on. November was passing by slowly and coldly. Soon enough it would be December and the time to start decorating for Christmas. Still no word from Kyojuro...then again you really hadn't seen or heard from him since he picked up Koto for Sanemi from the daycare. You didn't ask Mei or anyone else figuring it'd be rude to ask about someone else's business, and let it be.

However you couldn't shake the feeling that something seemed... different about today. You couldn't figure out why for the life of you even as you both were helping to pick up toys strewn about the place and disinfectant all the surfaces sticky little hands would touch but he had looked up hearing you ask him a question.

You shrugged spraying a toy stuffed bunny with disinfectant spray. "Oh I don't know. It just feels like something is off today is all."

"Did you leave anything on before you left the house?"

"No "

"Did you leave your house unlocked?"

"No."

"Perhaps you forgot to pick up something?"

"No. I paid my bills this month and I went grocery shopping yesterday. I got everything I needed." 

"Perhaps your classes?"

"I've been keeping up with both classes." The bunny was tossed into the toy box nearby and you moved on towards something else to clean. "I don't know what it is, but I just feel that something's off somehow."

He hummed again. "Whatever it is it's probably not too important if you aren't worried about it. I'm sure whatever it is will sort itself out soon enough."

"You're probably right. I'm just a bit stressed out with all the work I guess."

He was right. Whatever it was probably wouldn't be very important if you couldn't remember what it was or figure out what it is. It'll be forgotten about in no time at all. Which is why you put it mostly out of your mind. It was still in the back of your mind but mostly forgotten about in favor of finishing clean up with Gyomei and leaving to go do that day's part of the project with Giyuu and Shinobu. Giyuu had mentioned repeatedly wanting to go by his sister's restaurant again to try out the new home made breaded fish cutlets she was trying out. Sounded good to you but you weren't expecting to see some familiar faces in the park as you waited for a walk about.

It was just business as usual. You met up with the stoic couple. Gyomei opted for waiting again as he did want to make a call, something about a package mix up at the post office. And off you three went. Around one time, and then partially around the second time when you saw a familiar face..

Or rather a familiar face saw you.

"Y/N!!!" 

You nearly jumped out of your skin at the loud voice behind you. You turned- "AH!?" And was quickly scooped up by Giyuu who's face did not change when a pink and green blur whizzed past you both.

Mitsuri had skidded to a stop both arms thrown out still in mid tackle huh before those shiny green eyes blinked, and turned behind her. She let out a happy gasp again before squealing and running towards you both that seemed almost inhuman. This time Giyuu didn't move fast enough and both of you made surprised sounds when he was swept off his feet... Literally.

You blinked as you were sat there in Giyuu's lap with his arms securely wrapped around you, while he blinked as he in turn was held up bridal style by a very affectionate Mitsuri. ....Just how strong WAS this petite lady?! 

"It's you! It's you! It's you!," she squealed happily hopping about. "And Giyuu and Shinobu!~" She sang out before quickly gasping again in a hopeful beam. "Are you three going out?"

....You blinked as you tried to comprehend the situation. "Um...Were out here doing our project."

"Which we need to finish." Shinobu tapped the phone still recording like it was obvious.

Mitsuri gasped again. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!"

Slowly Giyuu was placed back down to his feet and you still processing what was going on just asked, "What are you doing here?"

I'm on a date with Tengen and Kyo!" With a turn and a full arm wave, she happily waved down two other people slowly walking up to you all. Tengen with an arm affectionately lazily resting around Kyojuro's shoulders. 

"GREETINGS!!" "How you doing?" They each greeted you both.

"We were on our way to this new restaurant that just opened up with these huge kabobs I wanted!...*sigh* But they were closed."

Shinobu smiled. "What a coincidence. We were just going to eat ourselves. Why not join us?"

She squealed again. "Really?! That's a great idea! We can all make it a triple date!"

"As soon as Giyuu puts Y/n down."

Said blue eyed man blinked before looking down at your form, suddenly realizing that you were still held, turned a bright pink, and then quickly put you down on your own feet muttering rapid fire apologies. Things sure went on a surprising twist that rest of the day. What turned into your plan on just joining a few friends for dinner and then going home turned into a triple surprise dinner date you were dragged into thanks to Shinobu. You didn't mind of course when you were finally able to process everything  but you did feel slightly guilty about springing it on Gyomei whom was just as surprised when the extra footsteps and voices reached his ears."

And the familiar bone crushing hug of Mitsuri wrapped around his middle. For a brief moment you wondered if she was strong enough to lift him up too or if Gyomei's unusual size and weight prevented her from doing so. You might never know because she didn't try to lift him up.

"It's quite a surprise to see you all here-," he said with a curious tilt of his head, "-but weren't you three going to that barbeque place you wanted to go to?"

"We were! But they're closed and we ran into you guys!" Mitsuri beamed throwing around her arms in excitement as she babbled. "We can all go together and make a date outta it! What do you say?!"

"Oh? That's a good idea but it would depend on what Y/n feels like doing."

"I don't mind." He turned his head to you. "It might be fun to hang out together."

That's how you found yourself walking all the way to the delicious smelling restaurant so familiar with you by now and shivering from the warmth cascading over your body from the inside. Tsutako was happy to see her brother and all him friends, happily greeting you all and gesturing to a large table to seat everyone. 

Perhaps it was a strange coincidence that you were sat right across from Kyojuro as the beaming man laughed loudly at some joke Tengen made that was loud enough to gain the attention of a few other tables in the small restaurant. A few orders later and you seven were left waiting and listening to Tengen telling the tale of the time he flashily narrowly escaped the clutches of a rabid wolf on a hiking trip and was only able to barely escape from it using his survival skills he learnt from his days as a boy scout-

"Wait. Are you talking about the time you jumped into a tree because a lady's rottweiler scared you at the park?," Giyuu asked bluntly silencing the taller man.

Tengen had frozen mix smile before he scowled hard at him. "NO!!"

"Yeah..I remember now. This big rottweiler ran up to you and you jumped into the oak tree. That dog was just a big puppy-"

"S-SHUT UP!!" Tengen's face burnt a bright red only made worse by Mitsuri's high pitched giggles and Kyojuro's loud booming laughs. 

"I remember that! I wanted to get one but the thought of Tengen climbing the furniture out of fear stopped me!"

"JUST DROP IT ALREADY!!"

You giggled at the hilarious reaction to everyone around the table leaving poor Tengen to pour red faced at everyone's expense. To be fair the thought of a huge man like Tengen jumping into a tree to escape a friendly dog was amusing. It'd be if Gyomei ran away from a tiny kitten or Shinobu swatting at a butterfly. The constant giggling only got Tengen to pour more however, mumbling something under his breath and looking away despite the sympathetic part on the shoulder Kyojuro gave him. 

However said firey man then surprised all of you by his next announcement. "How about a change of topic?" No one protested mostly because he spoke again before anyone could say anything else. "I wanted to wait until everyone else was present but they'll be told sooner or later anyways. I have incredible news!" His smile suddenly became as big as his plate. "My father has gotten a job!"

A small moment of silence was broken by Shinobu. "Of course he does. The dojo."

Red hair swayed as he shook his head. "No!..I mean YES!! Yes but no!"

"I'm confused."

"The strangest thing happened earlier this month!," he explained. Your attention immediately went from your cup of tea to the man right across from you, pausing mid sip. "He received a call from the Kimetsu Academy Chairman himself! He wants to hire Father as their new P.E. coach for the kendo team!"

"Eh. Ain't that the prestigious school your mom works at or something?"

"INDEED!!," He beamed proudly crossing his arms. "They only hire the best, so choosing my father proves just how good he really is! I'm very happy for him!" 

"And you're just telling us this now?"

"He didn't want anyone to know until he had time to make up his mind on the matter. Now that he had, he'll be starting next semester!"

"That's wonderful news," Gyomei finally spoke with a smile. "I suppose Senjuro's desire to establish a new club has taken off in ways that even we didn't expect."

Kyojuro hummed tilting his head. "You know that's the strangest part of it." Gyomei hummed back in question. "The Chairman didn't find out about my father's business through Senjuro despite him presenting the idea of a kendo club to him."

"Then your mother was very kind to convince the school of his talents."

"It wasn't her either. In fact she was as confused as he was when the Chairman wished to speak with him. It's incredibly hard to believe but somehow the Chairman was given one of Father's business cards." He made his hand into a semi rectangular shape as if demonstrating actually holding one. 

"Well you did make them to be passed out. One of them must've been passed to him through a parent."

You calmly say back in your chair and sipped your tea to avoid any unwanted attention. You had a feeling of what happened but you weren't entirely too sure.

"That's the strangest thing. Senjuro wasn't able to pass them out at school yet. We had lots made but a good chunk of them went missing not too long ago. Instead he had gotten the card at some social event from a lady called...." He hummed red eyes looking up as he tried to recall the name. "Daki. Dakota. Dakita? Something along those lines."

Gyomei slowly lowered his drink and tilted his head at Kyojuro as if something fell into place.

"Wow. It's like a super early Christmas miracle!," Mitsuri gushed, "*gasp* Maybe it was an angel! Sent to answer your prayers!"

"Yeah..I doubt that, Mitzi."

"Did you say 'Dakita'?," Gyomei's voice spoke slowly making you suddenly freeze right next to his larger form.

Kyojuro nodded. "Something like that I believe. I can't be for certain as it's second hand knowledge."

.....Gyomei suddenly turned to you making you freeze up even more under his raised. "Don't you have an Aunt Dakita?"

You swore it was like a domino effect of everyone turning their heads turning to you. Nervously you gulped under the intense feeling before smiling nervously to laugh it off. "I do. She's a really good matchmaker."

"Hm. That must mean she has a lot of networking to do. Did you not take a card from Rengoku during the party?"

You gave him a look. Was he TRYING to throw you under the bus or something?!

"Your aunt is responsible for the Chairman's call?"

Kyojuro's sudden intense look, eyebrows raised in surprise, had you pausing as a feeling of awkward silence come over the table. You felt like you were suddenly in an interrogation room being stared down at by seven pairs of eyes...Well six pairs of eyes and one pair of ears in Gyomei's case. Either way it was an awkward intimidating moment.

You shrugged. "I-I mean..I did give her a few cards Senjuro was passing out." Wasn't a lie. Senjuro was passing them out but specifically you gave her the ones he didn't get to get. Your f/c looked everywhere but the intense gaze of the man in front of you. "She does a lot of n-networking with clients and you guys seemed like you needed a hand so, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and help a little bit..."

You trailed off fiddling with the tablecloth under her hands as the silence resumed. Nothing but the clinking and murmuring of the few other tables being occupied by other people in the restaurant with your group. For a moment no one said a single word until something you didn't expect broke the silence.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!!"

You jumped, looking up and blinking at Kyojuro who had thrown his head back and was.. laughing. Loud, happy, and not what you expected to hear. He kept laughing and laughing. His smile contagious to everyone else at the table as they also smiled at him. Eventually his smile was directed back to your confused face.

"Mitsuri should've dressed you up as an angel for the party instead of a queen!," his delightful voice spoke out.

You blinked. "...What?"

"Gyomei couldn't have picked a nicer woman to join us! Now I can see why everyone likes you so much!"

Gyomei gave him a look that seemed both a mix of surprise and confusion raising a brow at Kyojuro. However you could only blink again.

"Wait. You're not mad?"

"Absolutely not! Why would I be angry with someone who's been the one who put the ball into motion for my family to get better?"

"Well-" You made a motion with your hand. "-it wasn't really me. My aunt did the real work of getting the right connection."

"Hm. That's true! I'll have to thank her if I ever get the pleasure of meeting this wonderful lady!," he announced loudly. 

Oh gods no. The chaos from that would be so embarrassing to say the least. Just the thought of the two chaotic forces meeting had you filled with dread. 

"I'll pass along the message for you." Without thinking too much about it you just reached out to pat Kyojuro's hand making him blink in surprise while waving him off with your other hand. "I'm genuinely happy to know that I was able to help your family." He blinked as you smiled at him brightly and genuinely. "I'm very proud of your dad getting a good job! He deserves it definitely!"

For a moment Kyojuro didn't speak when you pulled your hand away and turned your attention to the drink you hadn't finished yet. Thankfully no one got a chance to say anything else about the situation because Tsutako came back out with some of your food. Kyojuro however slowly closed his hand where you had gripped it. A pleasant feeling running up his arm and tickling his face a pink as a large beaming smile at you.

"So, Tengen. Have you painted anything new lately?," you asked shifting the topic back onto someone else.

Said white haired man perked up at the question. "Well since you asked, I've been working on this absolutely beautiful landscape of the nearby mountains."

With the attention thankfully off you now, you could relax and eat the daikon in front of you to fill the emptiness in your stomach and hopefully you would be able to get through the rest of this month normally...

No such luck.

Not even a few days later and you were back on schedule again working at the daycare, attending classes, and the usual. So when you were checking out children one Tuesday afternoon, you were surprised when you saw a familiar face walk in again. No not Sanemi.

Kyojuro.

He walked right in smile beaming with happiness. You were both surprised and confused to see him there but have him a smile as the usual greeting you normally gave.

"Hi, Kyojuro. What a surprise! Are you here to get Koto for Sanemi again? I don't remember him telling me about it."

He shook his head long hair swaying. "NO! I actually swung by to see you!"

You blinked. "Me?"

"INDEED! I've regaled your genuine selflessness to my family and they'd like to personally invite you and your Aunt to dinner so they can personally express their gratitude!"

You stared. "..What?"

"Furthermore I'd love to have you come join us more often for outings since I don't quite think we're acquainted enough yet! In fact the girls are going out this Saturday! You should come along!"

"....What?"

[crescencestudio]

๋࣭⭑ Devlog #42 | 6.25.24 ๋࣭⭑

tis the season of Kayn

HAPPY SUMMER!!

Hope you're all doing well and keeping cool <3 I know for me it's started getting to.... the Hot Season. To celebrate the start of Hot Girl Summer (and the beta route going live), I of course had to draw the hottest girl, Kayn.

we must stay cool brothers

Now that we've paid respect to The Hot Girl, let's get into the devlog!

Writing has been fun this month. A lot of it has been dedicated to Etza edits and writing Kuna'a's route. We're getting to about the halfway mark with Etza edits, so we are definitely chugging along!

Sneaky peeky of a recent edit

For Kuna'a's route, I said I wanted to have his first draft complete or almost complete by the next devlog, and I'm VERY PLEASED AND PROUD to say their first draft is In Fact almost complete! This is, of course, the very, very first draft so I'll be going back in to flesh some scenes out here and there and rizz him up even more. But I'm happy with the fact that at least the very base draft is done ^^

This month, I did quite a bit of drawing actually! I finished rendering two of Kayn's CGs, meaning 8 out of their total 9 CGs are finished YYYEEEAAAHHHH!!!!!

it feels so good to see the ending cg titles ouuggHHHH

Because Fenir's beta will be going out soon, I wanted to make some headway on his CGs. This month, I ended up finishing 3 of his CGs and sketching two. I'd really like to get 5-6 of his CGs finished so that it's a similar amount to Kayn's beta, so here's to praying!

baby girl

I also finished Senja's (they/he) sprite and base expressions. His outfit was designed by very talented bestie @saffein-e so please thank them for doing god's work o7

Finally, this past month we worked mostly on Kayn's beta route and getting Fenir's beta route ready for Patreon access!

If you'd like to try out Kayn's beta, you can get access to it if you subscribe to my Patreon (tier Hydra). Beta access to Kayn's route will close as soon as Fenir's beta goes up which will be early July, so if you want to experience Kayn's beta, definitely make sure you subscribe before it ends!

Player feedback for Kayn's route so far has been really positive, which has been a relief, especially since Kayn's route is the first one I wrote so is arguably the roughest (I have a big soft spot for it and like it, but I'm obviously Biased). So I hope you're all looking forward to it!! <4

beta feedback: so real

I also have started the voice acting sessions for the characters, which is EXTREMELY EXCITING!! That's the last asset I need basically, so the fact we have finally entered a stage where we can start recording is crazy. Our current session is for Kayn's route, but in the coming months we'll be moving to the next routes similar to how beta-testing is going :')

Aside from Kayn's route, I've also been working on coding Fenir's beta route. Rereading his script and he's... a cutie, I'll admit. So I hope the Fenir fans are excited for his route to enter the beta phase!

LET'S.......... GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Last thing, but I also ran a poll on Alaris's release, basically asking whether you all would prefer a full or segmented release. The results were basically 50/50 LMFAO and that's the vibe I've been getting in general. So while I don't want to solidify anything yet, just let it be known that Alaris may end up having a segmented release, where the first four Central routes are released first, and the Fae routes a bit later. I'll see how I start feeling as the year goes on and where Alaris stands, but thank you all for the support and understanding for the poll <3

I was pretty busy this month, so I didn't have too much time to do market research :cries:

But............

I did see the new Haikyuu movie..................... And I am the biggest Haikyuu fan. Quite literally if you want to know everything about who I am as a person and creator, watch Haikyuu and you will understand who I am to my deepest depths.

obviously I had to draw baby

But aside from that, I want to give one last shoutout to our Hot Girl Summer cross-promo! If there are any games you haven't tried out in this little set, I highly recommend giving at least 1 or 2 of them a peek! All of the games are so charming and have some similarity to Alaris, whether it's a personality mechanic, hot Fae, or a fantasy/ adventure story :')

Links to each game can be found on the Alaris Game page under the magic and mystery otome section!

I'm pretty happy with the progress we made this month. While there's still a lot to do, it's satisfying to see Alaris come more and more to life with each month. See you all next month with hopefully more exciting progress!

[justsome-di]

Nobody Ends Up Dead in a Bathtub, Everyone Keeps Their Organs: Chapter 13

Summary: Alex is an ordinary, highly-introverted office worker. He clocks in and out and goes home to his little apartment he shares with his younger sister. He hasn’t dated in years. Until his co-workers set him up on a blind date.

The only issue is he and his date are not on the same page. At all.

While  Alex thinks it’s a normal date, Damián is under the impression Alex is a  client who paid to be there. No-so-quickly, they realize something is  up. It’s all a prank. Damián is a sex worker Alex’s co-workers hired as a  sick joke.

After reassuring that they’re both okay, Alex decides he wants revenge for both him and Damián. The plan is to use the  stigma of sex work and start a 6-week, scandalous fake dating scheme  with a big finale at the office Halloween party. Alex’s co-workers will  be too horrified to try to prank him again. At least, that’s the plan.

You can also read this on AO3, or Patreon  (patrons also get chapters a week early along with bonus content). If you’re enjoying the story and want to support me in other ways, I do have a ko-fi! Or consider dropping me a message in my inbox or reblogging this post!

Martin and Sam picked up the check. Alex assumed they did it out of guilt and for a quick escape. They excused themselves as soon as the waiter returned their credit card, saying something about their dog getting restless in their apartment.

Alex and Damián stayed behind at the table after their exit. Alex finished his wine and thought about what Martin would report back to the guys. There were a few possibilities. He could either tell the other Douche Bags that Marcus was a totally chill guy and hide the fact that he had been mortified. Or he would say he got bad vibes from Marcus—that he intentionally embarrassed his wife. Or he would say nothing at all, too embarrassed that he had spent the evening with a sex worker and wanting to avoid all the jokes that would get hurled at him.

Alex could just imagine what the guys would say. Andrew would probably make a quip like, “You spent a whole evening with a prostitute and didn’t get laid? How’d you manage that?”

Or there would probably be worse, whispered comments. Questions about what Marcus was like, how he dressed, how he acted. It made Alex angry just thinking about it.

Maybe, he thought generously, Martin was going to say nothing because he was genuinely trying to make up for the prank. The dinner, after all, was his and Sam’s attempt at an olive branch. Sam did seem to actually disapprove of her husband’s actions. Martin had seemed genuinely remorseful. 

It could have been safe to assume that Martin meant no further harm.

Alex turned to Damián, ready to ask if he wanted to head out. Damián was staring off again. He was watching everyone around him and picking at the skin around his nails. His plate had sat mostly untouched through the evening. By the time it was picked up, Alex was sure he had barely eaten.

“Hey,” Alex said quietly. He put his hand on Damián’s elbow. It brought Damián back. “I know I keep asking, but are you okay?”

Damián opened his mouth but closed it again. Alex kept his hand on his elbow. It felt like the right thing to do. Like Damián needed a tether to the world.

“Yeah, I’ve just been a bit out of it this week,” Damián said.

“And this dinner probably didn’t help. I’m sorry. I didn’t know she’d start asking questions—“

“It’s not your fault.”

His friend crush was hitting him at full force. He wanted to make Damián feel better. He wanted to bring Damián back to himself.

“Can I do anything?” Alex asked. “To help cheer you up?”

“You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’d like to. If you’d let me.”

He wanted to worry about Damián because it was a privilege to have someone to worry about. They had laughed so well an hour before. He thought, maybe, that was a sign they could take another step towards being friends. Friends, after all, was all Alex could hope for.

Damián’s face softened. His frame weakened. “Okay.”

“Do you want to do anything else tonight? A shitty dinner seems like a bad way to end the night.”

“I was being serious about Pretty Women. If that’s not too much. I’d like to watch it with you.”

Alex’s heart sped up. “It’s not too much. Do you want to go back to my apartment?”

“If it’s not imposing—“

“I just don’t want to send you home as you are.”

“Alright. Okay.”

“Just a heads up, though, my sister might be home. If you’re not up for more company, I can probably shoo her away.”

“No!” Damián sat up a little straighter. “That’s fine. You don’t have to hide her. But does—who does she think you’re with right now?”

“She thinks I’m on a normal date with a guy named Marcus.”

Damián nodded. “Got it.”

“I can pay you since it’ll be like working—”

“It will be nothing like working. Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Really. It’s fine.”

They donned their coats and pushed their chairs in. Had Alex left his apartment clean? Was Eve going to be asleep by the time they got home, passed out on her couch? Would Alex have to shuffle his little sister off to his own bed and ask Damián to keep it down while they watched a movie? No, it was far too early for Eve to be asleep. She was going to be conscious and annoying.

The most he could do was try to be a good host with what he knew he could offer.

“I can you make something to eat, too,” Alex said.

Damián blinked at him, almost like he was forcing himself to look confused. “What?”

“I noticed you didn’t eat much.”

Maybe Sam’s questions rattled him too much that he couldn’t eat. Maybe it was whatever it was that put him in a fog that also took away his appetite. Alex wasn’t going to push, but he did feel like he owed Damián something.

“I’ll make you something at home,” Alex said. “Fair warning, it won’t be fancy or anything.”

Damián put his hands in his pockets. He bit his lip. Finally, he nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

And they left together, Damián insisting on paying for an Uber. Alex protested once, to be polite. When he saw the surge prices, he felt a touch guilty. But Damián said that it wasn’t a big deal. If Alex was going to host him for a couple of hours, then Damián could pay for them to get to his apartment. Damián booked the car without even flinching.

Waiting on the sidewalk, Damián slipped his hand into Alex’s elbow again. Alex’s stomach flipped over. He hadn’t been touched in so long. Just having Damián’s hand on him twice in one night was making him feel all sorts of things.

Damián pulled away when the Uber pulled up, and they sat in comfortable silence through the drive. Alex sent Eve a warning text that he was bringing home a guest. It went unread.

“It’s not the nicest building,” Alex said when the Uber came to a stop at the curb.

“No, it looks like every other building in the city,” Damián said.

“That’s my point. It’s an average New York apartment.”

“Well, my point is, I wasn’t expecting The Dakota or Hudson Yards. I’m sure the building is very underwhelming.”

Alex got them into the building and suggested they take the stairs rather than the rickety elevator. It was probably fine, but Alex was starting to feel more and more nervous on it as it came to increasingly jolting stops.

He apologized for the hallways which were dim and currently carried a smell of weed. Damián asked him if he thought he had never seen an apartment building before. Damián just seemed so bougie, Alex thought, that it would be odd to picture him in any apartment that wasn’t brightly lit with nice potted trees and new wallpaper in the corridors.

They reached Alex’s door which had no personality just like every other unit in the building. There was a deep, slow voice coming from inside. Alex shoved his keys in the lock and gave them the little jiggle they needed to actually unlock the door.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “That’s my sister. She listens to her podcasts too loud.”

Damián wasn’t bothered by it.

The door opened. The sound of the podcast flooded into the hallway. Damián stepped inside so Alex could shut the sound out again, giving their neighbors across the hall a little relief.

The voice, so familiar that it felt like Damián and Alex were walking in on an old friend, was clear now.

“Oh!” Damián said. His shoulders lost a little tension. “Night Vale. Nice.”

“She’s getting caught up,” Alex said. “She’s two years behind and got upset that I spoiled something.”

“That’s valid. I’m months behind.”

Alex stepped further into the apartment. He pulled off his coat and threw it over a bar chair that sat on the edge of the living room and the kitchenette.

He was regretting bringing Damián home already. Eve had left dirty dishes on the counters and stove. There was a pan with crumbs from, probably, vegetarian chicken nuggets. Alex knew the familiar smell. A pot with a colander sitting on top. The fist-sized speaker that played Welcome to Night Vale sat in the middle of it all.

The bathroom door was open. Alex shoved his head in. Eve had her hair pulled up in a bun, showing off her undercut. She was in pajamas—a baggy shirt she had stolen from Alex and sweatpants—brushing her teeth. The bathroom was a mess, as well. Her clothes from the day were on the floor. A bottle of face wash and moisturizer sat out on the counter surrounded by little globs of their own contents.

Just as Eve turned to Alex and Alex readied a stern request for her to clean up, Cecil Palmer announced the weather. Twice as loud as he was speaking, a guitar began strumming something fast.

“Turn it down,” Alex snapped, trying to raise his voice above the music. “We’re going to get noise complaints again.”

“They should be thankful,” Eve said around toothpaste foam. “It’s premium gay culture.”

“Just turn it down.”

She rolled her eyes, but she grabbed her phone and turned down the volume until the music coming from the kitchen could barely be heard.

“And clean up a little, we have a guest,” Alex said.

Eve’s eyes widened. She pulled her toothbrush out of her mouth and spit.

“Am I meeting him? I’m meeting this guy?” She smiled, and Alex thought it looked evil.

But then she looked down at herself, shoved Alex out of the bathroom and closed the door.

Damián was still standing around, hanging up his coat on the coat rack and unlacing his boots. Of course he was a polite house guest who took off his shoes before fully entering someone’s trashed apartment.

“She’ll be out in a second if you want to say hi,” Alex said. “But I’ll shove her in my room for the night.”

“It’s really okay. You don’t have to shove her anywhere if she doesn’t mind being around us.”

Alex looked at the mess surrounding him. How did one girl manage to do so much damage in one hour? He started folding the throw blanket Eve had crumpled up and thrown to the floor and made a move to open a window to air out the smell of slightly-burnt fake meat.

“I’m sorry it’s so messy,” he said. “If I had known a tornado passed through when we were gone, I wouldn’t have suggested we come back here.”

“It’s okay! It’s an apartment. It’s supposed to be lived in.”

Damián started to help tidy, and Alex felt awful about it. If Alex’s mother had seen his guest was cleaning, she would have killed both him and Eve. Damián picked throw pillows off the floor and put them back on the couch. Alex gathered a dirty water glass and plate from the coffee table and rushed them to the sink.

The bathroom door opened. Eve stepped out, fully dressed in her jeans and a different baggy t-shirt. She walked awkwardly towards the living room where Damián was still crouched over and picking up a book off the floor. He had stopped to look at the cover and examine the bookmark placed halfway through. It was Giovanni’s Room.

“Marcus, this is my sister, Eve,” Alex said.

He dug his nail into a cuticle. Eve was a good kid, he knew. She would know better. She would be on her best behavior.

Damián turned around. As soon as he saw Eve, his face lit up brighter than it had all evening. He set the book down on the coffee table.

“No way!” he said. “This is crazy.”

Eve stared at him and then at Alex. She pointed to Damián. Alex didn’t know what was happening.

“Uh. Alex? I don’t know how to tell you this.” She looked at Damián again. “This guy isn’t Marcus. His name is Damián.”

“Fuck,” Alex breathed.

“This is wild.” Damián looked back and forth between Alex and Eve. “You two look exactly alike. How did I not notice?”

“How do you two know each other?” Alex asked.

“He’s been coming to my book club for a year,” Eve said. “He’s the one that helped me ask my professor if I could retake my midterm.”

“How did that go, by the way?” Damián asked. He took Eve by the hand, and Alex tried not to feel jealous of the sudden yet comfortable physical contact between them. “I’ve been meaning to swing by the bookstore and ask.”

“He agreed to let me make it up,” Eve said. “And I found a tutor!”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I asked Academic Resources if they had any special hours because I thought it was something you would tell me to do, and they set me up with this one guy who said he’d stay late with me. His name’s Leo.”

Damián gasped. “Leo?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. This is freaky.” Damián held up his hands, palms out. Alex was still confused. “Leo’s my brother.”

“No shit!” Eve shouted.

“Noise complaints,” Alex reminded her.

“This,” Damian said, “is the most insane string of coincidences. This is—this complicates things, doesn’t it?”

He put his hands on his hip and pursed his lips at Alex. Alex sighed.

It wasn’t good. He didn’t want Eve to know. He didn’t want her caught up in it. He didn’t want her to have reasons to think he was a sleazy guy. His guilt was back, thinking about how he must have looked from someone else’s perspective.

“Why are you calling him Marcus?” Eve asked. She turned to Damián. “Did you tell him your name is Marcus?”

Damián and Alex shared a look.

“She doesn’t know about my job,” Damián said. “Do you want her to know?”

“It’s up to you,” Alex said. “It’s your life.”

Damián looked to Eve. “Yeah. You’re cool, kiddo. Let’s talk for a minute.”

Kiddo. Alex never gave Eve a cute nickname. She wouldn’t have allowed it. She would have said he was trying too hard to make up for their age gap.

Damián led her to the couch. They sat next to each other, and Alex perched on the arm behind Damián. The apartment was too small for three people. It was already cramped when it was just Alex living in it. 

“So, I’ve never told you what I’ve done for a living,” Damián said.

“I’ve always assumed you had some super cool job,” Eve said.

“I do.” Damián patted her knee. “I’m an escort and a sex worker.”

Eve looked at him, unfazed. “Okay. What else?”

Damián looked over his shoulder to Alex. “Why can’t everyone react like that?”

Yeah. Alex had had a fucking panic attack when he found out. Sam had conducted a violating interview. The Douche Bags had made it all a prank.

“So, the date we had a couple of weeks ago, it wasn’t a real date,” Alex said.

Eve’s mouth opened into an O shape. Her eyebrows scrunched together in disgust, and she pressed her hands to her ears. “I don’t need to know that you hired a sex worker. I respect it, Damián, but that’s my brother. I don’t want to know about his sex life.”

“No, it wasn’t like that,” Alex said.

“It was a set-up,” Damián said. He explained it so calmly to Eve as if he hadn’t backed himself up in a corner like a scared animal when it was happening. “It was a prank. Neither of us knew what was happening. And now we’re in a bit of a revenge situation.”

Damián continued to explain their plot, detailing everything from the diner dates to the office party at the end of the month. Eve stared Alex down with a nasty glare. He shrunk in on himself. His feelings of guilt came back threefold. If Eve didn’t approve of the whole scheme, it had to be wrong.

She knew Damián better than he did. And fuck. That was heartbreaking on its own. He thought Damián was his own little thing. But now he had to share him with his sister. And she was already so much closer to him.

“You’re using a sex worker for your own personal gain?” Eve asked.

“No, it’s not like that,” Damián said. “This is what I do. I’m an escort. I do this every single week.”

“But it is kind of like using you, isn’t it?” Alex said.

Damián threw his hands in the air. There was a flash of annoyance that Alex had never seen before. “I can’t explain enough that this is my job. I pretend to be a partner for people. It’s just like if Eve got hired to do write a code for someone. Or if you, Alex, got asked to. I don’t know. Buy better candy for your office?”

“I do more than that.”

“Make an Excel sheet?”

“Yeah. That works.”

“So you see my point? It’s all a business transaction.”

He was talking directly to Alex which only made him feel worse. But he did see Damián’s point. He was just working.

“Yeah.”

“When you feel like you’re using me,” Damián went on, “it feels like you’re pitying me and my career.”

“Oh.”

Alex supposed he understood now. When Damián put it like that, he saw it how Damián saw it. But it also felt like Damián was implying Alex was strictly a client, and it was all strictly work. Not that Alex should have let himself believe that they were ever going to be anything more.

“And I have autonomy. You’re not forcing me to do this. I take the jobs I want, and I hang out with the people I want to hang out with.”

“No one wants to hang with Alex, though,” Eve said. “He hasn’t gone out in years.”

“I like hanging out with him,” Damián said. “And excuse you, little miss, you were home alone on a Friday night listening to Night Vale. Don’t throw stones.”

Eve crossed her arms over her chest. “I was also reading.”

Smugness swelled in Alex. Finally. Someone took his side. Years of little Eve getting away with everything had come to an end. And did Damián say he liked hanging out with Alex?

His emotions were all over the place. He couldn’t handle it. He had never felt such a rush before. He wished Damián would touch his elbow again.

“All I’m saying is, I do what I want to do,” Damián said.

“Okay,” Alex said.

“And right now, I really want to watch Pretty Women.”

“We can find Pretty Woman. But I did promise you I’d make you dinner.”

Damián waved his hand. “You don’t have to.”

“No, it’s fine. Let me see what we have.”

Damián’s fingernails scraped against his jeans. “Only if you want to.”

“Wow, the table turned quickly, didn’t they?” Alex said. “I also do what I want.”

Alex didn’t. He did what his anxiety told him to do. Or not do.

Damián turned his head away. He looked forward at the television’s blank screen. “You’re stubborn, aren’t you? I should have known you and Eve were related.”

It would also make Alex feel better if Damián ate just for the sake of eating something. He would feel better if Damián got a little bit of color to his cheeks and stopped his shivering that had persisted. And if Damián needed to be coaxed into eating after a rough week, then Alex would be honored to be the one to do it.

He would feel better if he could make Damián dinner as a sort of apology. He was itching to do something that could prove he was a good potential friend and that he valued the time they were spending together. That even if it was just a job for Damián, Alex still appreciated all the effort Damián was putting into it. Making him dinner at home felt almost embarrassingly intimate, but Alex was going to allow himself to do it.

[queen-scribbles]

Since we all know I need minimal encouragement(ty Alex and Claire <3) to ramble about my children, Swallowtail family backstory incoming(mostly Orion and Minnie). :D

---

Jas inherited three things from her father: green eyes, red hair, and serious wanderlust, though Orion had spent all of his shortly before the family came along.

He was part of an adventuring group, typical monster slaying/ruin delving for a handful of decades until the day they bit off more than they could chew. Ruined castle, infested with monsters, they heard. We can handle that, they said. No, we can't, they realized two dead and three wounded later. Orion was the most seriously wounded, not even conscious by the time they stumbled into the tavern in the nearest hamlet.

They got rooms for the next couple nights, got a healer to look at Orion and the less wounded. No healing magic, bc this was a very small town and the group's cleric was one of their dead. :)) With funds lower than expected since they didn't get the haul they were counting on, the healthy/walking wounded members skipped out on their tab, leaving Orion behind.

He came to a couple days later with heavily bandaged injuries, none of his friends around, and the kindly but exasperated tavernkeep informing him as the last member of the group still under his roof, Orion was responsible for the tab his "friends" ran out on. ("Some friends, if they just left ya for dead" the man groused, and he can't really argue with that)

The tavernkeep being a fair man, even if he has a business to run, offers to let Orion work it off since he has about 2 silver 3 copper to his name. They can start with very easy, light labor jobs like folding linens up to more demanding things as he feels ready, if he wants. Orion agrees--not like he has much choice since he can't exactly go anywhere and it would be dishonorable to try and weasel out. Turns out most of the bill is his room and the healer(he finds out later the tavernkeep and his wife paid for a couple extra visits; "We weren't gonna letcha die, lad") so it feels even more fair for him to work it off.

Minnie is the tavernkeep's daughter. Over the months of Orion recovering and ostensibly working off his debt, they become good friends. Orion has lots of tales from adventuring, always relayed with flair and a fond smile for the life, and Minnie an avid listener; patient and kind with his recovery, and charming besides. She falls for him first, but doesn't say anything bc she expects him to return to adventuring and move on soon as he's healed + worked off what he owes her parents. It's somewhere around the eight-month mark she slips up and says something around him, and Orion gently informs her he finished working off the debt two months ago, and was well enough to travel even before that(he does wind up with a limp, but it's not anything that would hamper traveling). The beastie that almost killed him knocked the wanderlust clean out; a more settled life sounds perfect to him now. Like, say, working at a tavern. Also, he's been sweet on her for a while, too, and just too tongue-tied to figure out how to tell her.

So they court, get married, take over the tavern when her parents are ready to retire. Orion has some fairly impressive scars he's always happy to spin a tale about. He has it perfected to enrapture any audience. Minnie knows running a business inside and out, charming customers and smoothing ruffled feathers with ease.

And then come The Girls. Delilah first, Maren a couple years later. When Mila follows, Orion starts joking about being outnumbered and when Magdala and Jasiri arrive in quick succession it turns to playful resignation. By the time Avalee joined the throng, it wasn't even a surprise. xD All the girls adore their daddy, even if Maren and Jas take after him the most, constantly asking for stories and piggyback rides. Delilah and Avalee are momma's girls, Mila and Magdala intent on forging their own paths--though they both have a fair bit of both parents in them.

They're a close knit group, the Swallowtails, though with Orion's wanderlust in their genes, it's not really a surprise when half of the girls turn to the adventuring life. They always wander back home from time to time. Until Jas gets her own kingdom and an angel boyfriend. All the sisters have accomplishments to their names, some further afield and some closer to home. All of them love each other. All of them make their parents proud.

(Minnie, Delilah, and Avalee are "civilian" enough I wouldn't give them offical D&D/Pathfinder classes, BUT I'd say Orion's a Ranger(Gloom stalker), Maren's a Bard, Mila's a Fighter, and Mags and Jas are both Clerics.)

[fel-mi-er]

crossedtheline​:                                

No Place Like Home for the Holidays           

At the mention of hitchhiking, Jinx had to cringe. Didn’t this guy know better than to trust a stranger by now? Besides that would pose the same problems riding along with others presented. Not enough time, not predictable. They could end up dead in a ditch somewhere and no one would ever find them. 

Teleportation was another matter altogether. They could hypothetically cast a teleportation spell, but the fact of the matter was that Epel was a freshman and Jinx had some educational delays. Sure Lilia could do it, but they were definitely not Lilia.

“Lilia is fae, Epel, they basically are made of magic, they use magic for everything. We’re not… as competent as Lilia is,” he chose his words carefully, “You’re a freshman, and I’m no master mage myself. We could try it, but chances are our education has some holes that would make it, at least, really difficult.” 

He finished off his croissant, and started sipping his cocoa more frequently. He had a feeling they would be leaving in a minute. 

“But, we could try it. Casting is mostly about intention, and there’s two of us so it’s less likely either of us will overblot,” he shrugged, “So, let’s give that a shot. If it doesn’t work, I have no problem swallowing my pride and calling my brother.”

He had a huge problem with calling his brother, but beggars can’t be choosers and he would certainly have to beg. There was no way they were going to teleport across a continent and live to tell the tale, so Jinx mentally steeled himself for the phone call he was about to make. It was almost justifiable, Epel’s safety mattered a great deal to him, and he was doing this all to keep them out of trouble, right? Apologizing was a small price to pay for safety. 

The waitress came by with the receipt and Jinx paid in cash, leaving a hefty tip for her. He polished off his cocoa and stared at the bottom of the empty cup, considering how they were even going to attempt a teleportation spell. 

“… Let’s go back to the mirror. We’ll try the spell there, alright?” He starts pulling his coat back on, “We’ll have to be there anyway when- if I have to call my brother.” 

Epel sighed. He knew Jinx was probably right about them not being able to pull it off-- but they at least had to try. He perked up a bit, pleased, when Jinx agreed to giving it a shot.

Going back to the mirror sounded like a good enough plan, and Epel started to pull his coat back on. "We'll have to be there anyway when- if I have to call my brother."

Epel caught that. He bit his lip, but otherwise didn't allude in any way that he knew what Jinx was thinking. He totally didn't believe in them... sure, it was a pretty tall order, but they weren't gonna do a very good job if they had admitted defeat before they even started, right? Epel would just have to have enough enthusiasm for the both of them.

Epel chugged his cocoa and stuffed his croissant in his mouth, getting ready to leave as soon as possible. They had no time to waste right now! He stood up and started walking towards the exit, trusting Jinx to follow him.

In his head he was going over possible approaches to a teleportation spell. He was really better at potions than spells, if he was being honest... but even if he knew a recipe for a teleportation potion (if such a thing existed? He could think of a few relevant ingredients...), he probably couldn't procure the necessary components right now, and there wasn't an alchemy table in sight.

Teleportation spells, teleportation spells... he wished he had his notes right now. Maybe they could work off another spell as a base, modify it until it suited their needs. Or maybe there was some kind of spell they could use to reactivate the mirror? Would that work better actually? Maybe the mirror just needed to be charged up with more magic, and once they hit it with some it would turn back on again, good as new, ready to go.   

He wanted to ask Jinx about it, but what came out was "Ahblh, muhf--" Ah. Right. Croissant.   

He tried to chew the lump in his mouth as best as he could, quickly gulping it down, then took a second to catch his breath. "What if we don't even need to do a teleportation spell? What if there's a way we can just charge the mirror back up from here?"

[nurse-buckley]

To Keep Me From Freezing

Fandom: 9-1-1 Word Count: 3,383 Pairing: Buck x Reader Warnings: Being locked in a walk in (honestly my biggest fear when I worked in a grocery store!) Minor medical exams/ mentions.  Tagslist: @firemedicdiaz , @fireladybuckley @winterreader-nowwriter @iamasimpingh0e @dayrin085 @floralbuckleys If you want to be added or taken off my tagslist please let me know!  Thank you @floralbuckleys and @firemedicdiaz for helping revamp and reading over this fic for me and @floralbuckleys for the amazing graphic. <3 

‘Have a good shift.’

You smile as your phone lights up with a notification from Buck, you pocket the device with a sigh knowing it was time to start getting yourself ready to leave for work. You’d been taking on more shifts in the store trying to keep yourself busy while Buck was away for his long shifts. The added bonus of overtime was also a very good incentive. 

Throwing on your store branded jacket and name tag, you grab your keys and make your way out of the door, walking the familiar route. 

The shift went by as usual, stocking the shelves in your assigned aisle, helping the off customer here and there looking for various products or advice. You enjoyed the quiet of the night shifts, unlike the majority of your colleagues, fewer customers meant you could work mostly uninterrupted. Having the shelves fully stocked, neat and tidy at the end also gave you satisfaction, Buck teased you for it endlessly as you’d found yourself doing the same at home, constantly reminding him to rotate the food in the cupboards in date order. 

You glanced at your watch, finding relief that you didn’t have long left of your shift. The display you’d been working on just needed a few finishing touches and then you could go home, shower and spend the day with your boyfriend. You spot your manager walking past, looking beyond stressed as she paces up and down the aisles looking for someone. 

You sigh when her eyes land on you and she begins to make her way over to you. “Y/N, I hate to ask…” she begins. 

“It’s fine, Elise. What’s up?” you reassure her, kicking yourself for the offer, hoping the task won’t take too long. You guessed you weren’t her first choice but you were happy to help if it meant a little more overtime.

You watch the relief wash over her face, happy you weren’t going to be another in what was probably a long line of colleagues who chose to blow her off. “Everyone’s gone home, and you know I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate but that shelf in the walk-in freezer is broken again, someone’s just left stock all over the floor. I’ve gotta go to an appointment so I can’t stay until open,” she says all at once. 

“Elise, it’s fine. I’ve got it. I’ll just finish up here and then I’ll see what I can do.” 

She flashes you a smile, giving you a clap on the shoulder before turning to leave. “You’re a lifesaver!” Elise tosses you the keys to the store, going over the instructions on how to lock up when you finish, assuring you’d be paid for the overtime. She continues her thank yous as she walks away, leaving you by yourself in the store. 

You pull out your phone, sending a quick text to Buck, ‘might be home a little later, gotta fix something in the walk-in and then lock up. Going to need a hot shower when I get in…maybe someone to join me too?’ You sent with a few emojis. 

Your phone lights up as the three dots appear, then disappear as Buck decides on how to respond. You let out a laugh as your phone buzzes with a new notification, Buck having replied with a few suggestive emojis. 

Pocketing your phone once more, you zip up your jacket as far as it can go and pull on the gloves before heading to the back of the store to the walk-in freezer. You should feel slightly ridiculous at the attire, considering the climate you live in, but they were needed in the biting 0 degrees of the freezer. 

The cool air hits you as soon as the doors open, causing you to suck in a deep breath. Your boss hadn’t been lying when she’d said the stock was everywhere. In fact, she probably hadn’t been entirely truthful with you. Realizing you would probably be in there longer than you thought, you decide to close the door behind you, not wanting to let in the warm air or hear the robotic voice reminding you ‘door open, please close the door,’ on an endless loop. 

Unsure of where to start, you begin by shifting the stock around to give you a bit more room to work. It probably wasn’t the wisest decision to go in with only your jacket, but you knew the sooner you got in, the sooner you would be out of there and you could be on your way home. You shake off the cold, focussing on the task at hand, hoping you will be done soon. 

Your fingers are numb and you’re barely able to grasp at the last few items by the time you are done, the gloves just about doing their jobs none they were damp from the melting ice from the frozen produce. With the shelf finally fixed, you make quick work of restacking the boxes of frozen vegetables and oven fries before turning to leave. 

You give another pull on the handle, surprised as the motion jerks you. You were stuck. Not quite believing it, you give the door handle another hard yank, trying to keep the panic from rising further, but once again the door doesn't budge.  

You try to swallow the anxiety that has risen in your chest as your biggest fear has come true. ‘The safety release, it’s there for a reason. Try that before you panic,’ you thought to yourself as you pulled on the emergency release next. Dread washes over you, the uncomfortable sensation of your stomach dropping with the realization that the door is still jammed tightly shut. 

With all the strength you could muster, you try one more time, hoping it is just a small build up of ice that is preventing your escape. Your strength, however, is of no use. The lever hardly budges. You slam your hands against the freezer food in frustration as you let out a choked sob as you finally admit to yourself that you’re stuck. Turning your back against the freezer door, you allow yourself to slide down, your emotions finally taking over as you let the tears you’ve been holding back escape. 

The tears only made you colder as the moisture hits the cold air. You try, in vain, to stop, hiccupping as you try to choke back the tears; but the fear and anxiety were too much. 

You pull out your phone from your pocket, glancing at the top right hand corner of the screen to see what you had expected; no signal. Elise had likely already left, so you knew there was no point in ringing the safety buzzer either. With no one to call and the store empty, you choked out another sob at the realization that the morning team wouldn’t be in for another hour. 

With the knowledge you wouldn't be able to get out, your mind turns to survival mode. You vaguely remember something from one of the survival shows Buck loved to watch; you needed to keep calm. Panic would only burn energy and your body needs that to keep warm and to survive. 

You glance around, noting the broken down cardboard boxes you’d cleared, sitting by the door to the freezer. You place a few on the floor, hoping it would be enough of a barrier to insulate you from the cold ground. You also spot the roll of saran wrap you know is kept in the freezer to wrap the full cages and begin to frantically unravel the rolls, folding it as you went to make a makeshift blanket. 

You sit down on the insulated floor, wrapping the improvised blanket over your head and around your shoulders. With the remaining cardboard, you cover the rest of your body, hoping it will stave off the chill from the cool freezer air. 

Despite the makeshift shelter, you can’t help the involuntary shivering causing your whole body to convulse as it tries to keep you warm. 

You can gradually feel yourself growing more tired, not sure if it's from the cold air or the effect of the long shift you’d completed, not that you cared either way. 

For once, you’re thankful for the thermal socks and heavy uncomfortable steel toe cap boots, at least your feet are warmer than your hands. You know it’s not looking good for you when you begin to lose the feeling in your fingers, despite having your arms wrapped around you and your hands tucked beneath your armpits. Rubbing your hands up and down your arms helps to warm you some, the action helps to keep your blood circulating, praying to any god who would listen that you’ll make it out of this alive. 

You clumsily fumble your phone from your pocket, with the hope that by some miracle you might have at least one bar of signal, but as suspected, nothing. Checking the time, you sigh, sliding the phone back into your pocket, fumbling it slightly as your fingers are no longer cooperating. 

As the time passes, you feel yourself growing weaker by the minute. You can feel yourself growing more tired, fatigue sapping the remnants of your energy. Your head jerks forward, startling as you temporarily lose consciousness. 

Your thoughts drift to Buck, the last you checked the time, you knew he’d be home soon, having completed his own shift. Hopefully he will realize something is wrong when you’re not at home to greet him; but the message you sent earlier about staying late left you with little hope he wouldn’t think anything of it. 

The longer you spend in the cold, the less feeling you have in your fingers and the sensation only continues to spread, your arms and legs beginning to lose feeling, growing numb. It's not long before you don’t even have the coordination or energy to keep your arms moving up and down, letting them fall weakly onto your lap. You begin to slip once more, too confused to even attempt to stay awake, forgetting the importance of it. You just knew the darkness felt inviting. Comforting. 

Before consciousness fully leaves you, you’re aware of a clanging sound, the familiar sound of metal against metal as the freezer door slides open; you’re too far gone to care, allowing the darkness to finally consume you. 

As soon as B shift comes in, Buck wastes no time in saying his goodbyes, leaving a miserable Eddie as he prepares to pull another shift of overtime. He checks his phone, confused when he doesn’t see any messages from you telling him you were on your way home or had arrived home. ‘That freezer job must have been bigger than the manager let on,’ he thought to himself. 

Buck tucks his phone into his pocket, getting into his Jeep and pulling out of the parking lot, he decides he wants to surprise you at work, not wanting you to walk home after what had turned out to be a demanding shift. By the time he pulls into the parking lot of your store, Buck can see one of the morning staff heading in early. He quickly puts his car into park and hastily makes his way towards the entrance. 

“Hey! Do you mind if I come in? I’m picking up Y/N, they said they were staying late fixing that shelf in the freezer, but I can’t get hold of them.” 

The young girl nods, “sure, come in. The walls in that freezer are so thick, you can never get any signal in there.” 

Buck follows her inside, looking around for you. “Hey, do you mind showing me where the walk-in is?” 

Your colleague nods, gesturing with a jerk of her head for Buck to follow her as she makes her way through the store, out through the ‘staff only’ doors. 

An uneasy feeling passes over the firefighter as he sees your backpack against the wall, opposite the freezer doors. 

Buck is broken out of his thoughts as the woman, who’d lead him out back spoke. “That’s weird.” 

“What?” Buck replies, following her gaze to the red flashing light on the panel next to the walk-in. 

“The freezer is running too hot,” she comments as she gives the door a tug. She sighs in frustration when it doesn’t budge. “This stupid door has been playing up all week, damn management won’t do anything about it.” 

Buck’s heart sinks as he looks between your abandoned backpack on the floor and the woman before he attempts to open the freezer himself. He body shoves the woman out of the way, a little more aggressively than he’d meant to as he tries to open the door himself. It takes a few tries but with one hard pull, much to his own relief, the door opens. Metal grinding again metal as the bright lights from the freezer illuminate the dim hallway. 

Nothing seems out of the ordinary at first; the shelves look in order, the boxes and cages neatly stacked. Buck’s heart feels as if it’s in his throat as he notices a familiar pair of work boots sticking out from behind a pile of stacked cardboard. 

He rushes into the freezer, not caring how the chill of the cold air bites against his exposed skin, still only wearing his LAFD issued navy t-shirt. Buck frantically pulls the cardboard away, finding you nestled in the makeshift cocoon you’d made yourself in order to keep warm. He thanked god you had, as it may have just saved your life. He looks you over, noting how pale you skin is, the slight tinge of blue to your lips. Placing gentle fingers on your neck, he releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding, relieved to feel the gentle thrum of your pulse against his fingertips. 

“Y/N, can you hear me? I need you to open your eyes for me sweetheart,” he calls urgently. 

You can hear his voice in the distance, wanting desperately to wake up and tell him you’re okay, but your body betrays you. 

Buck watches your eyelids flutter as you try to muster the energy to come back to him. 

“B-,” the name is heavy on your tongue. 

“I know, I’m here. I’ve got you.” Buck’s worry grows as he gets no further response from you, swearing as he realizes the situation is quickly turning dire. He looks back towards the employee who is still standing at the doorway, shocked at the scene unfolding before her. 

“I need you to call 911 now. Tell them there’s a hypothermic victim, trapped in a commercial freezer, unknown length of time, unconscious and hypothermic. Let them know firefighter Evan Buckley with the 118 is on scene. Once you’ve done that, I need you to get the first aid kit and find the emergency blanket.” 

She nods her understanding before frantically pulling the phone from her pocket, shaking as she dials the number. Buck turns his attention back on you, trusting her to relay the relevant information. 

He gently pulls you forward into his arms as he gets himself into a better position to help lift you to your feet, careful not to jostle you too much. Buck easily helps you up and out of the freezer, moving you away from the entrance and cool air. He places you gently down on the floor before he begins his assessment. 

Buck shushes you gently as you let out another incoherent moan as you feel Buck moving your sore and stiff muscles against your will. 

“I know, I know. I’m sorry,” Buck soothes gently, “but we need to get you out of these cold and damp clothes.” He continues his reassurances as he removes the garments, leaving you in your undergarments. Your colleague returns moments later, the foil blanket in hand as she opens and shakes out the blanket, handing it to Buck and helping him to wrap it around you. 

With no other immediate method of rewarming, Buck sits against the wall, gently maneuvering you to sit between his legs. He pulls you into his chest, allowing his own body heat to help. The only thing keeping him calm is the gentle rise and fall of your breathing as he holds you close. 

He places a gentle kiss to the side of your head, not sure who he’s trying to reassure more. “I’ve got you.” 

Buck’s not sure how long he sits there with you, but he soon finds relief as he sees the familiar uniforms of the firefighters and medics being led to you by your colleagues. He’s even more relieved when he sees the face he’d hoped would turn up. Eddie. 

Eddie sets his kit and monitor down next to the pair of you, reaching around Buck to take your wrist, taking your pulse while his friend gives him the low down on your condition. The older firefighter can feel the chill coming from your skin, even through the barrier of his gloves, shaking his head as he decides his next move. 

The medic next to him is already shaking out another blanket, manoeuvring around Buck to secure it around your body. 

“Y/N? Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes for me?” 

A familiar voice breaks through the haze as you’re finally able to open your eyes, glancing up to see Eddie kneeling in front of you. You try to move your body, try to speak to tell him you’re okay but everything is too heavy, takes too much effort with the little energy you have. You register the weight of someone's arms around you, shifting your head slightly to see you’re in Buck’s arms. 

The effort of the interaction saps what little energy you have as your body betrays you, eyelids droop, head falling back against Buck’s shoulder. You’re vaguely aware of Eddie’s calm voice, followed by a slightly more panicked tone coming from Buck, but you’re too far gone, the warmth of unconsciousness, once again, too inviting. 

Eddie continues his assessment, a little more urgently, placing electrodes on your chest, attaching you to the various monitoring equipment. Thankfully, you’re blissfully unaware of the extra attention, not even feeling the sting of someone inserting an IV. 

As soon as the medics are finished with their assessment, Buck gets to his feet, gently lifting you with the help of Eddie and his partner. Working together, they set you down onto the waiting gurney, working in synchronicity they get you safely tucked under more blankets and strapped in. Buck helps wheel the stretcher to the waiting ambulance, climbing in with Eddie after you. 

It’s not hard to miss by the sight of your unstable vitals on the monitor and the look Eddie gives Buck that you’re not quite out of danger yet. Buck takes a seat on the bench next to his friend, keeping out of the way as he continues treating you as the ambulance pulls out of the parking lot. 

Buck wants nothing more than to reach out and hold your hand, whether to reassure you in your unconscious state, or ground himself, he’s unsure. The way you’re tucked into the blankets doesn’t give him access to your hands, so instead he places a gentle hand on the bundle of blankets over your arm. 

“We’re almost at the hospital, stay with me, alright?” 

Eddie gives him a tight lipped smile from the seat by your head as he continues charting vitals and monitoring you. He’s unsure of how he can reassure his friend, let alone if he was going to take any of it in with the state of shock he’s in from discovering you. Eddie leans forward, clapping a hand on Buck’s shoulder, “we’ve got them. We’ll get them through this, okay? Y/N’s a fighter.” 

Buck sighs, taking a breath of relief as the paramedic driving announces you’re less than a minute out. The ambulance pulls into the emergency department entrance coming to a halt, a few seconds later the doors fly open, doctors and nurses surrounding the stretcher. Buck sits unmoving, staring ahead as they take your gurney away, only moving to stand when Eddie guides him out of the rig, and into the hospital behind you. 

[faghubby]

FOUND OUT

My name is Luke 31 I been married for 3 years, to a wonderful woman Keri 29. We had a nice life. But I had never told her about my cross dressing fetish. Mostly panties but all sorts of lingerie. It started with my mom's when I was 11. Now I secretly wore my wife's when she was out. This is about when she found out and what happened after.

"Babe, I don't seem to have any umderwear" I told Keri one morning there whereby dozen pair in here yesterday.

"Yes you do I got you new ones" she handed me a big bag from her favorite lingerie store.

"What's this?" I asked

"Your new underwear, since you like wearing mine much" she told me.

"What?" My voice cracked

"Here these are my favorite" she reached in the bag and pulled out a pair of pink panties with ruffles all down the ass.

"Keri, I can't wear" I started

"OH yes you can and will" she said sternly. She showed me her phone of me dressed. In her nightie jerking off.

"What if someone see" I whined.

"Then they will know your a sissy bitch" she told me holding them so I could step in. She pulled them into place. I got an erection immediately.

"See they ride low so no one will see" she said her finger pulling back my waist band.

"You will need to shave after work though" she told me.

"Keri, we can talk about this" I said

"No, we could have years ago, now you will do as your told or maybe everyone will know." She retorted. I finished getting ready for work. I had never worn anything outside the house. And now I was on my way to work with the girliest panties ever. Keri sent me articles about Female Led Relationships to read.

"Make sure you read this carefully" she would add. Or messages like

"How is sissy bitch feeling in her new panties?" I responded to every message. At lunch I read alot of the articles she had sent and asked questions.

"You want me to do all the chores? How is that fair" I asked

"You will the woman's share" as she put it. "You will also be put on a strick allowance" she informed me. The panties drove me crazy all day. Often getting an erection just because I moved. I rushed home wanting jerk off so bad. When I got home Keri was already there I normally got home before her.

"Work clothes off" she told me as soon as I stepped inside.

"Then to the bathroom. I will show you how nice I want your body kept" she told me taking me by the hand. She explained every stepm as if I was 5. As she covered me in hair removel cream. From my chin down even my arms. It started to burn and she tossed me in the shower, my body hair which there was alot fell away in clumps. When I was done she checked everywhere with a razor.

"You will make sure you stay hair free" she told me. I was hard the whole time but she paid no attention to it.

"Keri, please" I begged.

"What?" She asked. I just looked at my hard cock.

"OH, I suspect it will be hard and alone alot" she told me. She led me to the bedroom where she had me put on a pink satin nightgown with matching panties.

"There don't you feel better" she said "no more sneaking around wearing my clothes" she sat me down and started to give me a pedicure. She explained every step. Then grabbed purple nail polish without a word and painted my toes.

"Keri" I whined

"Your not going to cum until you except your a sissy bitch. And sissy bitches paint their toes" she told me.

"Now I got these for you too, you will need to practice walking in them." She slipped a pair of open toed shoes with a two inch heal on my feet. She watched as I walked around the house. She didn't let me stop. Correcting my walk. Making me swing my hips.

My feet and calfs where burning when she finally let me sit down

"Do you have any questions?" She asked. I started to rattle them off. What did she expect? How long would this game continue? Allowance? Chores?

She answered everyone carefully. But most where till I say, or you don't have to worry about that.

"Now get on your knees and bring me to two orgasms with your tounge. She told me. I pulled her leggings and plain white panties off and started I to lick her.

"No, she smacked my head. Gentile. She gave me instructions and she came quick. But I was not allowed to stop. She laid back further

."lick my ass" she told me. And as I did she finally had her second

"Chores" she said plainly. I got up and went to load the dishwasher.

At 9 pm

"Bedtime" she informed me. I was moping the floor. I finished quick.

She led me through my new night time routine. How to clean my face. Brush my hair. And teeth. She taught me everything like I was a child. She even had me sit to pee. And wipe not shake.

I slept in my sexy nightie while she slept in a pair of my boxers and a oversized tee.

It was Saturday morning we usually slept in. But Keri woke me. As she ran her nails down my back and over my ass. She already had my panties pulled down and my butt exposed. She applied lube to my ass. Pushing a finger in.

"Keri please" I begged.

"I know this isn't the first time you had your ass stuffed" she told me. And showed me a pic of me with her vibrator buried in my ass.

"I can explain" I tried

"I know you could but we both already know" she told me and removed her finger and worked something much harder and bigger in. After a few minutes she managed to get it past then my ass pulled it in. She had a butt plug in my ass. She got up and dragged me to the shower. She had me use her soap, her shampoo. After I used her deodorant and had to cover my body in moisturizer.

" We need to control that" she told me.

"Well we could," I told her

"Lock it in chastity?" She laughed great idea. And pulled a velvet bag out.

"No, that's too far." I told her. She picked up her phone and showed me a pick of me licking her vibtrator I was on my knees dressed in her bra and panty.

"This one to all the guys I think" she smiled. "Go get a bowl of ice" she told me. I obeyed. And bought her the ice she had me hold it so my balls where in it. I shriveled up. She fussed with the device switching this or that having me hold the ice the whole time. Then she produced a small lock and handed it to me. I knew what she wanted and Iocked it on.

"Now let's see white I think" she said pointing me to the bag of panties I had not yet put away. I dug to the bottom and found a while bra and panty set. She helped me with the bra adjusting the straps and showing me how to clasp it. She also stockings. Shoeing me how to properly roll them on. She didn't stop there.

Next came one of her skirts and came just to knees but I knew it was longer on her. And a blouse it was green and sheer material you could easily see even the white bra underneath.

"You make such a pretty sissy bitch" Keri told me. Then sat me down. She applied cover up and blush. Again explaining every step.

"I want you to be able to do all this by yourself" she informed me. I freaked when she plucked my eyebrows.

"Please someone will notice" I begged

"Of course they will. But you want them too don't you?" She teased. Her robe fell open she was naked and she caught me staring at her breast.

"Jealous you don't have a nice set like mine?" She asked rubbing me through the shirt and bra. She lastly adjusted a wig to my head.

"There all done" she took a pic. "Stand up show me some sexy poses" she demanded. She told me how to stand and pose. Without and with the high heels on. As she took pics.

"Now go clean the house." She sent me a list of chores on my phone. It was the whole house. She spent most of the day in the office with the door closed. She texted me if she needed something. As I cleaned up I found things. A book on Female led marriages on my nightstand. The bathroom completely removed of anything masculine. My video game console was gone. So was a great deal of my clothes. Found instructions sheets very detailed in the laundry and kitchen about clothes or cooking. I cleaned all day and made dinner from a recipe Keri had sent me.

I had forgotten about the plug when Keri emerged from the office. She pushed against me from behind and pushed on the plug. I never stopped cleaning there was always something more. At around 9pm Keri again told me to get ready for bed. I went thru my night routine Keri helped with makeup removel.

"Leave on the stockings " she told me leading me to bed in my white lingerie.

"I am going to fuck you" she told me bluntly. She had me get on the bed. She pulled off her sweats and she wore a strapon pick cock.

"This is what you can expect as sex between us" she informed me. Pulling down my panties and removed the plug.

"I will teach you to suck cock properly as well. But not today." She worked the head in easy after wearing the plug all day. Soon she was fucking me with her 6 inch cock.

"It's OK if you cum, and it's OK if you dont" she said. "Look up sweety. My side of the bed. As I did I noticed a camera.

"Good boy" she told me. As she fucked My ass. She did so for awhile before she stopped and pulled out. My dick was leaking some thru the cage.

"Here" she showed me how to put pantiliner in my panties so I would leak into it and not ruin my panties. She kissed me

"Night baby" she said and left me in bed. I wasn't tired but knew she didn't want me to get up. I couldn't find the remote.

"Keri, where is the remote." I called she appeared in the doorway

"Spend your time reading" she told me. "Two chapters I think" she vanished as fast as she had appeared.

I read the book. It talked about relationship structure. And the male taking a domestic role. The female making the rules and controlling the money. I fell asleep.

When I woke Keri was in bed. She wore again my old boxers and a tee shirt. It was early I got up and threw on some sweats and went to check the scores of last night's game. Only to find parental controls on the TV. I had access to lifetime and some cooking network. It seemed. When I checked my phone I found similar restrictions but was able to get the scores.

I had disturbed Keri.

"You could spend your time reading" she said and went back to sleep. Not much else to do I read more. Diving into sex. There was talk of cuckolding as well as denial. It was specific just ideas and theory. It was hours before Keri got up. She had me make her breakfast.

"Why aren't you dressed?" She asked. Sending me the bedroom. She had me wear a pink thong and leggings. A chamisol and sneakers. As shs found even more chores for me to do.

"I shouldn't have to tell you" Keri explained.

This is how it will be from now on.....to be continued

[rottingflowrs]

*ཻུ۪۪✧꒱a rainy afternoon.

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anonymous: fluff with eddie 😭

pairing: Eddie Munson × gn!reader

warnings / contains: fluff ,me not knowing how cookies are made, my writing lmao.(let me know if there's something I need to add)

a/n: my love with eddie is never going to end istg .This is short idk why and the title isn't my fav.this really isn't my best work :/ also pls try to be more descriptive with asks so I have like more to go off on :)

It was pouring hard. The sound of rain droplets hitting the top of Eddie's trailer could be heard. The smell of the fresh breeze, rain and the cookies you set in the small oven filled the trailer.

You both decided to get wet in the rain, but after the rain slowly became stronger, you retreated to Eddie's trailer.

His uncle was out for the day, so you had the entire trailer to yourself. Eddie ushered you into the bathroom first to get a warm shower, worried you would catch a cold without a second thought. Not worrying about him falling into the same faith.

Before he went in, he told you to pick out a movie, but you decided to put a batch of cookies in the oven before knowing exactly how long Eddie takes once he's in the shower.

When he came out, the oven dinged. The cookies were ready. You quickly placed them on the plate, not worrying about burning your fingertips. Blowing on them when a cookie was hotter than the other ones.

You took them to his room, placing the plate on his bed. Eddie had a lot of CDs to choose from. Yesterday you both went to the family video and Robin had helped them pick out a movie you wouldn't have seen by now, but you settled for Ghostbusters. You had watched the movie countless times by now, but it wasn't like either of you paid attention to the movie when you were together.

You watched Eddie as he finished getting dressed from his bed, pulling the plate of cookies close to you.

Eddie jumped onto the bed, laying his head on your lap.

The movie started, but it was mostly just white noise as you made conversation. Your fingers came up to his hair after a while, gently tugging and moving through his hair as you continued talking.

It was hard for Eddie to focus on what you were saying with your hand in his hair.

"Eddie?" you called out softly.

He hummed in response.

"I was asking if you had Hellfire this Friday."You informed, chuckling, "I thought we could go to the arcade. There's this new game that I think you'd like. " You added with a soft smile.

"I do, but I can reschedule," he said, smiling. "Which game?"

He stared at the way your eyes lit up as you talked about the exciting new game that the arcade had; the small cut near your eye from a tag game gone wrong from when you were kids. Soon he felt his eyes flutter.

"How about we ditch the movie?"

"Sleepy, love?" you asked, a small smile on your face.

He simply hummed, a dopy love-sick smile on his face as his eyes finally shut.

You let out a soft laugh as you adjusted your position so you could both be more comfortable. You slowly placed a pillow under his head as you joined his side.

You wrapped your hands around his body and nuzzled your nose into his neck. cuddled into each other's bodies, and warm under his duvets. Both the rain outside and the movie inside were white noise, creating a beautiful scene as the night sky slowly became darker.

[baldwinboy5ive]

I call this Cobra Drive. AU where a sad boy meets another sad boy in his building elevator and they just stare longingly at each other for extended periods of time. (Daniel LaRusso, who made the crane kick famous, gets to add to his repertoire of bird karate moves by stomping Mike Barnes to death in the same elevator like a secretary bird.)

I also wrote some crap for this AU, even though I am not much of a fanfic writer. However, it’s not that bad. It’s just regular bad. 

“If I drive for you, you get your money. You tell me where we start, where we’re going, where we’re going afterward. I give you a five minute window when we get there. Anything happens in that five minutes and I’m yours. No matter what. Anything happens a minute either side of that and you’re on your own. I don’t sit in while you’re running it down, I don’t carry a gun, I don’t do karate - not anymore. I drive. Do you understand?” 

The well-rehearsed speech was delivered in an accent that was undeniably East Coast, but from a man who knew well the 100,000 streets of Los Angeles. Daniel ended it every single time with a secret tribute to his beloved mentor, whose life lessons were always punctuated with “Understand?” 

And Daniel did. He always understood what Mr. Miyagi had told him, and replied “Yeah, I understand,” even if some of his lessons had taken awhile to really make their impact on him. 

-----

Daniel moved frequently. It was routine now for him. Funny how things changed. He often remembered how monumental that first cross-country move had been, how the course of his entire life had shifted that summer of 1984. Now, his moves were quick, efficient, and all within LA. 

On his second day in his newest building, Daniel returned to his apartment by elevator. Another building resident stepped in with him, hauling a basket of laundry from the basement. 

He was familiar. Daniel kept his eyes trained at his feet while he felt the familiar man’s gaze on him for a moment. He allowed himself one quick glance, but didn’t manage to time it as well as he’d wanted. The golden-haired man who now shared a building with him was still staring back at him. 

His eyes were beautiful and sad. 

It was Johnny Lawrence. 

-----

“You just move back to LA or something?” was the question Johnny finally settled on after he and Daniel hauled his groceries into his second story apartment. There was too much he wanted to ask. It had been 34 years. Something in those 34 years had hardened the look in Daniel’s eyes.

“No, I’ve been here for awhile.” 

“So just new here?” 

Daniel nodded. 

“What are you up to now, LaRusso?” 

“I drive.” 

“Like, those internet car things?” Johnny asked, a touch of confusion on his face. 

“No, for the movies.” 

“You mean all the car chases and stuff?” 

“Yeah.” 

Johnny let out a soft laugh. “Isn’t that dangerous?” 

Daniel fully met Johnny’s eyes, and stared challengingly, the words “Oh, now you care about my safety and well-being?” hanging between the two of them unspoken. Daniel’s lips quirked into a slight grin. So did Johnny’s. Then Daniel knew. Johnny remembered it all. 

The intensity of Johnny’s bright blue eyes and the pain they carried eventually became too much for Daniel, who was the first to drop his gaze. He broke the silence by saying placatingly, “It’s only part time. Mostly I work at a garage.” 

“Where?” 

“Reseda Boulevard.” 

After a few more beats of silence, Daniel nodded his head towards the teen boy sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework, as if only just noticing him even though he’d rode up in the elevator with them. “He yours?” 

“They sometimes just come with the apartment. Old place here is infested. Overrun with roaches, children, teens. You might want to check under your kitchen counters and shit if you haven’t already, LaRusso.” 

The boy snorted, not offended in the least. “I’m Miguel,” he said. 

A door in the apartment slammed open, and another teen boy wandered into the kitchen. “Who’s this?” he asked, pointing at Daniel.

“This is LaRu- Daniel. Daniel, this is Robby.”

Daniel stared at the two teenagers. Neither of them resembled Johnny. Perhaps Johnny hadn’t been kidding about them surfacing from under the kitchen counters. 

-----

At the garage, a sly smile spread on the face of the man who’d given Daniel all of his jobs. “Oh, you and the kid know each other,” he said, gesturing rapidly between Daniel and Johnny while leaning over the open hood of a car he’d been working on. 

“Don’t,” Daniel warned. He stalked off, but not without grinning at his employer. 

“Uh…” Johnny began. A “He kicked me in the face when we were teenagers, but I did sort of deserve it a little, and it’s actually at least a 126 minute-long story” died on his lips. 

“We’re neighbors,” Johnny said. 

“Ahh,” said Daniel’s employer, as if that was all there was to know. 

Johnny explained in more detail what was going on with his Firebird, and was told that the repairs would take a few days. 

“Miguel, call us one of those car things from your iComputer.” 

“It’s an iPho-” 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” cut in Daniel’s employer. “You and the kid are neighbors! He’d be happy to give you a ride.” 

Johnny met Daniel’s eyes from across the garage. He did indeed look happy.

---

“Hey, I know you. Come on, we met last year! Well - met again. It’s me. Snake. You drove me and Dennis back from Palm Springs. Hey, I got this sweet job planned out --” 

Fury blazed in Daniel’s eyes. Someone both recognizing him and talking to him about his jobs was more than enough to make Daniel disappear for a few months, but this wasn’t just any someone. This was one of Terry Silver’s men. Over the years, Daniel had done everything he could to be free of Terry and his mob. But every time Daniel thought he was safe, eventually, Terry would always come back. And there would always be a job. 

Terry’s man - and therefore Terry himself - reappearing in his life would have been bad enough before, but now? Now he had Johnny. He couldn’t just pick up and leave. He realized with anger burning up in his chest that he didn’t want to pick up and leave. 

Daniel cut Snake off with a low whisper. “How about this? Shut your mouth. Or I’ll kick your teeth down your throat, and shut it for you.” 

All Daniel had wanted was to finish his dinner and coffee in peace, until it was time to drive Johnny to the bar for his night shift. Daniel stared at Snake, never taking his eyes off of him until Snake quietly retreated from the diner. Only then did Daniel feel comfortable returning to his food.

-----

Daniel’s face took on a detached and aloof manner when he addressed the man Terry had sent. 

“When you get your money, his debt’s paid. He’s out for good. And you never go near his family again. Do you understand?” 

-----

Daniel did everything in his power to keep his voice even. Confident. Balanced. But that voice on the other end of the phone would always terrify him. Some things never changed. 

“I’m going to give you a time and a place and you’re going to come and get your money. Do you understand?” 

Terry barked out a laugh. “What do you get out of it, Danny boy?” 

“Just that: out of it.” 

Daniel hung up. For once he had the satisfaction of dictating terms with Terry Silver. 

-----

“They came to my apartment. How did they know where I live?” 

“I told you, I was going to call Kreese, I just wanted him to know that… that it wasn’t about the money… that you’re not interested in the money… that you just did it for him.” 

Daniel exploded at the man who had been his longtime employer. So this was how Kreese and Silver and known it was him. “Why?! You told them about Johnny! Why did you tell them about Johnny?!” 

“Calm down, kid. Just calm down.” 

“I should fucking kill you - you told them about Johnny! That’s how they figured it out, you know - that it was me. You told them about Johnny and then they knew it was me.” 

“I just wanted him to know… that as soon as you returned the money, that was the end of it, that’s all! I didn’t know. I didn’t know. How was I supposed to know?! How was I supposed to know… that everything led to Silver!” 

Daniel’s voice was breaking as he screamed at the old man. Daniel’s eyes were wild and he was breathing hard. Breathe in, breathe out, echoed the voice of his dear sensei in his head. Soon, his racing heart slowed just enough for him to calmly tell his employer, “They came for me, and now they’re going to come for you, too. You have to get out of here. Do you understand?” 

-----

John Kreese pleaded with his lifelong friend. “Anybody finds out you stole from the family, we’re both dead. The money always flows up, Twig. You know that!” 

Terry Silver fell uncharacteristically quiet amidst their shouting match. He looked at Kreese ruefully. “That’s why this driver’s gotta go, Johnny. That’s why he’s gotta go. He’s gonna tie me to this robbery.” 

It was too bad. Terry had always been fond of Daniel. 

-----

Daniel hoped he would never again have to fear for Johnny’s and his kids’ lives. He flicked his eyes up to the rearview mirror. Miguel and Robby were fast asleep in the backseat - and safe. Alive. 

Daniel did, however, find comfort in knowing that he didn’t have to pretend anymore, didn’t have to keep his karate hidden and tucked away. If Johnny ever needed it again, Daniel would use it. He’d help Johnny remember his. He thought fondly of the way Mr. Miyagi had once insisted that only Daniel’s root karate came from Mr. Miyagi, and had urged him to make his karate his own. 

If Daniel could do it, so could Johnny. Johnny’s Cobra Kai would be better - different, new. A product of the goodness Daniel was confident Johnny had inside of him. Johnny would use that goodness to teach Robby and Miguel. And Daniel vowed to be there with them. 

If anyone ever again tried to hurt any of them, the four of them would be ready. 

Another Mr. Miyagi lesson surfaced in Daniel’s memories as he continued driving. Back in 1994, Mr. Miyagi had returned to Daniel in LA after a long stay in Boston, and over the course of several days, had told him all about Julie Pierce, and the lessons he taught her. The final lesson had been: “Fighting not good, but if must fight - win.” 

That was what Daniel had done. 

Daniel smiled at the beautiful man in the passenger seat next to him, whose sadness never left his eyes, but who, despite this, could now smile back warmly at him. Daniel checked the rearview mirror once more, never taking his attention from the road ahead of them. Miguel and Robby were both still asleep. 

Daniel turned his gaze back to the road for a moment, feeling the hum of the car around him and those he loved. 

“I’m yours. No matter what. Do you understand?” 

-----

OH SHIT i forgot to mention, the idea for the cobra on the back of the jacket AND for including Robby both come from @idontknowkaratebutiknowcrazy !!!! Thank you for your moral support and help on these concepts! I always knew I wanted Daniel to be the Driver, so it didn’t even OCCUR to me to have the cobra on his jacket, until @idontknowkaratebutiknowcrazy said it, and then she said he can give it to Johnny later (even though it won’t fit him haha!). Just a note - I changed up the cobra design from the Cobra Kai logo though because the original logo looked kinda goofy as a silhouette. 

[bloody-bee-tea]

Worry

Jiang Cheng sighs and leans closer to Nie Mingjue when Wei Wuxian goes off on one of his tangents again.

It’s good to see his brother again—he has been rather busy now that he and Lan Wangji adopted A-Yuan—but this is one of the things Jiang Cheng didn’t miss.

He can already feel his headache forming.

“Relax,” Nie Mingjue whispers and rubs his thumb over the fleshy part between Jiang Cheng’s thumb and index finger. Jiang Cheng isn’t sure if it’s really doing anything for him, but the steady motion and the knowledge that Nie Mingjue is right there next to him do wonders to relax him.

Jiang Cheng mostly tunes Wei Wuxian and his babbling out, but he pays a bit more attention when Wei Wuxian leans over the table.

“What are we going to do?” Wei Wuxian asks and Jiang Cheng frowns because he has no clue what Wei Wuxian is talking about.

“About what?” he asks, relishing the look of surprise on Wei Wuxian’s face.

“You didn’t even listen!”

Nie Mingjue chuckles softly at Jiang Cheng’s side and it causes Jiang Cheng to smile.

“No, I didn’t. I almost never do,” he says, mostly just to rile Wei Wuxian up and it works beautifully.

“You!” It seems like Wei Wuxian is having trouble finding his words and Jiang Cheng takes the opportunity to turn his head and press a kiss to Nie Mingjue’s cheek, just because he can.

“I was talking about family dinner! What are we going to do about family dinner?”

Jiang Cheng is still missing crucial information here, mostly about why this family dinner would need any special actions, but he decides he simply doesn’t care.

“I’m bringing Mingjue. No matter what has you this worried, I guess it’s going to be overshadowed by that,” Jiang Cheng easily tells him and Nie Mingjue sighs.

They have talked about this already and Nie Mingjue agreed to come to dinner this time, even though he wasn’t happy about it.

Jiang Cheng isn’t happy about it either, if he’s being honest, but Nie Mingjue has to meet his parents at least once and Jiang Cheng prefers if he can decide when and where. At least family dinner has a set end time, so it will be over before either of them even knows it.

“You what?” Wei Wuxian shrieks. “You want to bring your sugar daddy to family dinner? Are you insane?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Jiang Cheng hisses back, because how dare Wei Wuxian call Nie Mingjue his sugar daddy. If anyone is behaving like a sugar baby, then it’s Wei Wuxian. And he’s not afraid to say so.

“If anyone is behaving like a kept man, it’s you, with how much your boyfriend is spoiling you,” Jiang Cheng grumbles, which only adds to Wei Wuxian’s outrage.

“Fiancé!” he almost yells and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes and nudges his shoulder against Nie Mingjue’s.

“Can you believe this guy?” he fake whispers over to him. “He didn’t know he was in love with him for thirteen years and now he gets all offended.”

Nie Mingjue makes a little noise in response and it’s enough to make Jiang Cheng frown.

“You okay?” he asks, concerned at Nie Mingjue’s reaction.

“Sure. It’s my turn to pay, right?” Nie Mingjue asks, reaching for his wallet and Jiang Cheng’s frown deepens.

“I can pay, too, no problem,” he gives back, but before he can get his own wallet Nie Mingjue has his already on the table.

“See, I tell you,” Wei Wuxian says as he leans over the table. “Sugar daddy.”

“We have a standing agreement to switch,” Jiang Cheng says and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I am pulling my own weight in this unlike other people,” he says with a meaningful look at Wei Wuxian.

“But I’m poor,” Wei Wuxian wails.

“And your fiancé is paying for you,” Jiang Cheng says. “Tell me again how that is not a sugar daddy?”

“Well at least we have the sex to make it work, too,” Wei Wuxian says, suddenly completely unconcerned and Jiang Cheng has had enough.

“Mingjue, you ready to leave?” he wants to know, getting up and dragging Nie Mingjue up behind him without really waiting for his answer.

Jiang Cheng is not even sure if Nie Mingjue paid yet, but for all that he cares, Wei Wuxian can take this bill. Would serve him right, too.

“Hey, you alright?” Jiang Cheng asks Nie Mingjue again when they are outside of the coffee shop and Nie Mingjue is still uncharacteristically quiet.

“Sure,” he easily gives back, but Jiang Cheng spots some tension in the lines around his eyes and in the way he holds his shoulders and it worries him.

“You sure?”

“Let’s just go home,” Nie Mingjue sighs and Jiang Cheng thinks that it’s maybe just a Wei Wuxian induced headache.

Those are usually unavoidable and Jiang Cheng would completely understand if Nie Mingjue succumbed to one as well today. Wei Wuxian was especially grating this meeting, and his flippant comment about their relationship was just the tip of the iceberg really.

“Okay,” Jiang Cheng agrees and decides to do something nice for Nie Mingjue once they are home, like a massage or something.

Nie Mingjue deserves it, but especially today. It can’t have helped that he had to go in to work before this meeting even though it’s supposed to be their week off.

The ride home is quiet which worries Jiang Cheng if he’s being honest, because Nie Mingjue is a chatty driver. At the very least he sings along to the songs on the radio and he’s not even doing that, so either his headache is really bad or he must be pretty upset over something.

“I love you,” Jiang Cheng says and reaches for Nie Mingjue’s hand.

He doesn’t want to ask again if everything is alright—clearly Nie Mingjue doesn’t want to talk about it right now—and he figures this is the next best thing he can do.

“Love you, too,” Nie Mingjue mumbles but even that sounds lacklustre and a tiny spark of worry settles in Jiang Cheng’s gut.

He doesn’t bring it up again, though, because he figures the car is not the best place to get a man as stubborn as Nie Mingjue to talk, and so he keeps quiet until they are in their apartment.

“Okay, my soul, I love you, and usually I respect your need for silence but something is wrong and I need you to tell me, please,” he says as soon as Nie Mingjue has his shoes off and Jiang Cheng closes the door behind them.

“Nothing is wrong,” Nie Mingjue mutters, but he’s not meeting Jiang Cheng’s eyes and if that wouldn’t be a dead giveaway that something is so very wrong, then the way he keeps his shoulders up would be.

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Jiang Cheng gives back, and marches off into the living-room.

“Is it because of Wei Wuxian? Or because of dinner with my parents?”

“It’s not—” Nie Mingjue starts and then trails off so Jiang Cheng must have gotten decently close with his guess.

“You don’t have to meet my parents if you don’t want to, you know that, right? Just say the word and we’ll cancel. It’ll be a disaster anyway and I am in no rush to do that,” Jiang Cheng says with a shrug, because he couldn’t care less if his parents get to know Nie Mingjue.

The people Jiang Cheng cares about and who care about him already met Nie Mingjue and that’s all that matters.

Jin Ling loves Nie Mingjue and what else could Jiang Cheng wish for, really.

“You would just cancel,” Nie Mingjue says but his voice sounds off.

“If you want to, yes,” Jiang Cheng says but he narrows his eyes at Nie Mingjue. “Is it the dinner that is upsetting you?”

“I’m not upset,” Nie Mingjue snaps and it’s so obviously not true that Jiang Cheng huffs out a laugh.

“Please, my soul, you’re so upset. Just tell me why, so I can fix it. If it was Wei Wuxian, I’m gonna fight him for you, promise.”

Nie Mingjue works his jaw a few times, and Jiang Cheng knows it to be a sign that Nie Mingjue is fighting with himself and whether to say something or not so he keeps quiet and let’s Nie Mingjue work it out for himself.

“Wei Wuxian—what he said—it’s not true, right?” Nie Mingjue eventually asks and his voice sounds small in a way that it hasn’t in a long time and Jiang Cheng immediately gets up and hugs him.

“What’s not true?” Jiang Cheng asks, once he has Nie Mingjue in his arms and he can still feel the underlying tension in Nie Mingjue, so he presses a kiss to his throat for good measure, too.

“The thing about—that we’re—that I’m your sugar daddy,” Nie Mingjue gets out with much difficulty and Jiang Cheng freezes, which of course is the exact wrong thing to do, because Nie Mingjue pushes his arms off and steps out of range.

“It’s just—he is kind of right. You’re not poor, by no means, but since you decided to stand on your own feet money has been a bit tight for you and when we go out to eat, it’s usually me that pays. You moved into my apartment and I know you offered to pay rent and I refused but—”

“But know that he said it, you’re doubting,” Jiang Cheng finishes and brushes his hand over his face. “Fuck, Wei Wuxian,” he mutters.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t even know which of Nie Mingjue’s points he wants to argue first and so it takes him too long to answer.

“I didn’t think he was right,” Nie Mingjue dejectedly says and Jiang Cheng vehemently shakes his head.

“I love you!” is the first thing he says, because he thinks that’s the most important, but Nie Mingjue shrugs.

“And for what? My money? It’s not like there’s much else going on for me, with how brutish and angry I am. I know I’m a workaholic and Huaisang will always come first for me, so what is there really for you to like?”

“That’s some absolute bullshit,” Jiang Cheng spits out and steps close to Nie Mingjue to take his hand into his. “You are amazing and gentle and compassionate. Hell, if push comes to shove, I’d put A-Ling first, too, and it’s just one of the things I love about you. We’re family people. You’re a workaholic, yes, but you love what you do and your employees love you in return, so how mad about it can I really be? And you’re not brutish and angry. You’re one of the biggest softies I have ever known! Hell, just yesterday you cried when we saw a baby bunny in the park, how is that not the most adorable thing ever?” Jiang Cheng says and ducks his head far enough to catch Nie Mingjue’s eyes.

“Stop it,” he mutters, clearly embarrassed and Jiang Cheng shakes his head.

“No. Not until you believe me. You are not my sugar daddy, that’s not the kind of relationship we have. We have a committed, romantic relationship, okay?” Jiang Cheng says and he geos warm just thinking about how much he loves this man, no matter how stupid he’s being at the moment.

“But the money—” Nie Mingjue says and Jiang Cheng stops him with a squeeze of his hands.

“If it really bothers you this much you should have said. I can pay rent. We can divide the costs for groceries and eating out, if it makes you happy. I know I’m no longer quite as loaded as you are, but I can pay for my own stuff. You just have to say so.”

“I don’t want you to pay for your own stuff,” Nie Mingjue says with a sigh. “I like taking care of you.”

“Okay. Then let’s just figure out where the line is for you and we’ll work around that, okay?”

“The line is your brother speaking without thinking,” Nie Mingjue grumbles which makes Jiang Cheng laugh.

“Yeah, he’s quite the idiot,” Jiang Cheng easily agrees, though he does have to admit that he breathes easier, now that Nie Mingjue seems more relaxed again.

He hates it when his soul gets all lost in his head, and while it’s been happening less and less recently, it’s still far too often for Jiang Cheng’s taste.

“Seriously, if anyone has that kind of relationship, it’s them,” Jiang Cheng goes on and steps closer to Nie Mingjue again, so that he can hug him again. “Have you seen Wei Wuxian with a wallet in the past year?”

“But they are getting married,” Nie Mingjue whispers. “That’s different.”

Jiang Cheng is silent for a moment, his ear over Nie Mingjue’s heart, just listening to its steady beating for a short time and then he pulls back enough to look at Nie Mingjue.

“I would marry you, too,” he then says and tries not to think about the vague plans he already had about a ring.

Nie Mingjue goes stiff with surprise.

“You would?”

“Of course. I love you. I don’t just say that, you know. I do. I love you so much, and I want this; you and our life. We can marry.”

“That’s not a very romantic proposal,” Nie Mingjue says, but Jiang Cheng spots the tears in his eyes and he knows that this means a lot to Nie Mingjue.

“Well, it’s not like I was planning on proposing today. I don’t even have rings yet,” Jiang Cheng mutters and then the breath is knocked out of him when Nie Mingjue crushes him to his chest.

“Yet?” he asks, clearly hopeful and Jiang Cheng squeezes him back just as hard.

“Yet,” he confirms. “It’s not like I have concrete plans yet, I just wanted to look. But I do want that, eventually, with you. And if you’re still worried, we’ll make it sooner rather than later, no worries.”

Nie Mingjue presses a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s hair and Jiang Cheng knows him well enough to know that he’s crying. It’s one of the things he loves so much about him. Nie Mingjue emotes so hard and so often and he always genuinely means it, too. It’s absolutely endearing.

“One worry,” Nie Mingjue says after a few minutes, and he sounds composed enough. “I am not meeting your parents for the first time and tell them we got engaged.”

It startles a laugh out of Jiang Cheng and he pulls away so he can double over more freely.

“I can see why you’d be worried about that,” he agrees when he gets himself back under control. “So the proposal will have to wait until after dinner.” Jiang Cheng grins up at Nie Mingjue, who seems better now.

Less tense and more happy.

“Alright,” he agrees, a soft smile on his face.

“Come here now,” Jiang Cheng says, deciding that after this they deserve a good cuddle on the couch.

He pushes Nie Mingjue down, before he snuggles up to him, their legs tangled together and Jiang Cheng’s ear over Nie Mingjue’s heart again.

“But seriously, if the rent or money thing worries you, just say so,” Jiang Cheng says, almost as an afterthought, because he doesn’t want Nie Mingjue to worry.

He can damn well pay for himself, it’s not a problem at all, and if Jiang Cheng is being honest he didn’t even notice the pattern they fell into. Maybe it is time to change things up a little.

“No, it’s not a worry,” Nie Mingjue denies. “It’s just—”

“Wei Wuxian got into your head a little bit,” Jiang Cheng finishes for him, because he knows the feeling.

Wei Wuxian never thinks twice before he says anything, but his words have a tendency to hit where it hurts the most and where people are most vulnerable. He doesn’t mean it, and Jiang Cheng doubts he even knows he’s doing it, but it’s a problem.

“Yes,” Nie Mingjue sighs and slides his hand into Jiang Chen’s hair. “He did.”

“Stupid Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng grumbles and turns just far enough to be able to press a kiss to Nie Mingjue’s chest. “We don’t have that kind of relationship, there’s nothing to worry about,” he says again, just to make sure that Nie Mingjue understands.

“Alright,” he easily enough agrees and Jiang Cheng even believes that he does.

“Talk to me if you get worried about that again. About anything, really,” Jiang Cheng slurs, sleep suddenly tugging at him and it doesn’t help that Nie Mingjue’s heartbeat is a steady rhythm in his ear.

“I will, my heart,” Nie Mingjue whispers and the last thing Jiang Cheng knows is that he presses a kiss to the top of his head.

Tomorrow, he’ll invite Nie Mingjue to dinner, just to drive the point home, Jiang Cheng decides and then falls asleep with a content smile on his lips.

Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!

[maybeimamuppet]

i'll take you anywhere but dinner

hiiiiiiiii happy wednesday 

have this 

based on the tumblr post above bc i’m real creative 

also big thanks to parker (@parkitaco /Whyyyyy on ao3) for letting me borrow her brand lol. please go read their stuff bc they do it more beautifully than i ever could lol

tw for 

mentioned sexual harassment 

mentioned canon stuff (outing etc) 

and as always if i’ve missed something please let me know so i can add it in!

enjoy!

————-

“Do we have to go out this time, guys? I’m tired,” Cady whines, fluffing her hair out after tugging on her Mathletes jacket. 

“Yes,” all of her teammates say at the same time. 

“It’s tradition, Africa,” Kevin tuts. “We won, don’t you wanna celebrate?” 

“Ew,” Cady groans as Kevin wags his eyebrows suggestively. “We’re going to Sunshine’s, not Hooters. Pervert.” 

“I got game anywhere, Heron,” Kevin hums. “Let’s roll out!”

“It’s a block away, Kev.”

“Heron, get off my dick!” 

—————

The diner is mostly empty since it’s past midnight, so they all seat themselves in a booth and wait to be served. Kevin and Tyler immediately start dicking around, blowing straw wrappers at each other and pelting one another with the peanuts on the table. 

After a brief wait, their waitress finally walks up to their table with their menus. 

“Damn, girl!” Kevin says immediately after laying eyes on her. Cady looks up to see what he’s on about this time and nearly chokes on her peanuts. 

Their waitress is gorgeous. Tall, vaguely muscular, beautiful even in the unflattering uniform the employees wear. Her hair is tied back in a ponytail, the ends of it a platinum blonde and the roots a brown so dark it’s almost black. 

She looks at Cady’s motley crew, mirth twinkling in her coffee brown eyes and a smirk gracing her red-painted lips. Her makeup is darker than Cady thinks Sunshine’s uniform allows, but damn if it doesn’t work on this girl. 

“Welcome to The Sunshine Diner, where the sun always shines, even if it’s the middle of the night,” she begins with a small sigh, clearly tired of repeating the schtick to every table. God, even her voice is beautiful. “My name is Janis, I’ll be your server this… uh, morning. What can I get for you?” 

“Your digits,” Kevin says. Janis looks at him with a small grin. 

“We’ll see how well you tip,” she replies easily, scrawling down their drink orders in her notepad. “Back in a sec.” 

“Kevin, quit skeezing on the waitress,” Cady huffs as soon as she’s out of earshot. 

“Africa, I have been single since the eighth grade. I can and will shoot my shot anywhere,” Kevin replies. 

“Clearly,” Cady grumbles. 

“Ooh, is Cady jealous?” Marwan teases. 

“No!” Cady says, too quickly, as all the boys laugh. 

“You so are!” Aaron teases. “Want her to take you in the back and show you how they make their milkshakes?”

“Her milkshake would certainly bring all the boys to the yard,” Tyler sighs, resting his head on his hand. 

“You guys are so gross!” Cady groans. 

“Please don’t be gross in my section, I have to clean up after you,” Janis says as she returns with a tray of drinks seemingly effortlessly balanced on her arm. “Alright, lemonade for you, Sprite that we’re legally not allowed to call Sprite for you, coffee for you, bold choice but I dig it. A water, and… a chocolate milk for the lady.” 

“Loser,” Tyler teases, gently kicking Cady in the shins beneath the table. She kicks him back a bit harder. 

“Crackhead.” 

“Hey, caffeine is legal!”

“It’s midnight!” Cady retaliates.

“It’s morning,” Tyler hums, taking a sip of his coffee. 

“And I gave you decaf,” Janis smirks. “Are you ready to order?” 

“Thank you,” Cady says, genuine gratitude in her voice. Caffeinated mathletes are not what anyone needs this late at night. “I’ll have… um…”

“A piece of that-”

Cady claps a hand over Aaron’s mouth before he can even finish his sentence, knowing it won’t end well for anyone. 

“Maybe for dessert, pretty boy,” Janis hums. “But, I don’t get paid if I don’t feed you, so. Food?” 

Marwan and Tyler both get cheeseburgers, Kevin gets a chicken pot pie, Aaron decides on fried chicken for his actual food, and Cady tries not to stutter through ordering her Belgian waffle. 

“So, aside from taking my breath away, what do you do for a living?” Marwan asks flirtatiously once Janis has their orders written down. Janis tucks her pen behind her ear and looks down at her uniform, raising an eyebrow at him. 

“Smooth, Marwan,” Kevin teases. “Seriously though, I thought this was a diner, but it must be a museum, because you are a piece of art.” 

“I’m gonna go give you guys some time to work on your chat up lines,” Janis says, putting her notepad in the pocket of her apron and walking away with a smirk. 

“Nice going, Kevin,” Aaron huffs. 

“She’s just going to put the order in, that wasn’t my fault!” Kevin defends. 

“You scared her off!” Tyler accuses. 

“Why do you care? I don’t see you trying to get in there!” 

“‘Cause you made her leave before I got the chance!” 

“Guys,” Cady begs softly. “For the love of god. Can I please just get my waffle?” 

That gets them quoting Vines instead of trying to work on pickup lines for when Janis comes back. Which is still insufferable, but slightly less so. It’s manageable, at least. Cady groans quietly and gives up on having a peaceful evening, resting her head on the table while she waits. 

—-

“Alrighty, sorry about the wait,” Janis says when she returns with their meals. “Here you go.” 

Her hand brushes Tyler’s when she hands him his burger, prompting him to joke, “Wow, I’ve been touched by an angel.”

“You’re certainly touched by something,” Marwan retaliates. 

“Hey!”

“Can I get anything else for you?” Janis says with a slight chuckle. 

“A picture of you so I can show Santa what I want for Christmas,” Kevin says. 

“You don’t even celebrate Christmas!” Aaron accuses. 

“I would for you,” Kevin says, blinking at Janis like some kind of cartoon character trying to flirt. 

“I’m flattered,” Janis responds flatly, but she’s still smiling. 

“Can I please get a refill?” Cady asks softly. Janis takes her empty glass of chocolate milk. 

“Coming right up.” 

“Thanks,” Cady grins. Janis winks and heads back to the kitchen. 

“How is Cady the one who got a wink?!” Marwan asks in shock. 

“Because I’m respectful,” Cady hums haughtily. “Unlike you perverts.” 

“Nah,” Kevin says. “Must be the Kenya magic working its charm.”

“Yeah, definitely,” the other boys all agree. Cady shakes her head in exasperation as she pours syrup over her waffle and cuts it into bite sized bits. 

“Why do I hang out with you people?” she asks. 

“Because we are the chillest, dopest crew in town!” Aaron scoffs. Kevin gives him a high five, happy his slogan has caught on. 

Cady begrudgingly gives them a smile. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You love us,” Marwan teases. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Cady hums. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.” 

“This is definitely going to,” Tyler pouts. “I can’t believe she gave me decaf!” 

“Can you blame her?” Kevin asks. “It’s one in the morning.” 

“And that is a perfectly reasonable time to drink coffee!” 

“Just shut up and eat your cheeseburger,” Aaron says. Tyler huffs and pops a french fry in his mouth, choking a bit as their waitress makes her return. 

“Here ya go,” Janis says, placing Cady’s new glass of chocolate milk in front of her. “And… I snagged you a crazy straw. Can’t drink chocolate milk without one.”

Cady laughs as Janis hands over the bright purple twisty straw. “Thanks.” 

“No prob,” Janis grins. “Everything good for you guys so far?” 

“Yeah, thank you,” Cady says. 

“A date with you would make it a lot better,” Marwan purrs. Janis laughs. 

“Would it now?” she hums. Marwan nods. 

“Is your middle name Gillette?” Kevin asks. “Because you’re the best a man can get!” 

“You guys just keep those coming, huh?”

“They could go all night, save yourself,” Cady says. Janis laughs again. 

“Duly noted. I’ll be back in a bit. Enjoy, guys.” 

“Oh, we will!” Tyler calls. 

“You are truly exhausting,” Cady sighs. “All of you.”

“Thanks!” Kevin replies. 

“Not a compliment.”

“I think that’s for us to decide.”

—-

After they’ve gorged themselves on delicious, greasy diner food, they all slump down in the booth as they try to kick their digestive systems into gear. 

“How was everything?” Janis chuckles as she returns, resting their bill on the table. 

“Incredible,” Aaron groans. 

“Glad to hear it,” Janis replies. She looks at them oddly as they all suddenly sit up and wordlessly begin rock paper scissors, excluding Aaron since he paid last time. Cady and Kevin eventually end up neck and neck, but Cady comes away with the win. 

Kevin sighs and plops his card on the tray, breezing through the mental math to calculate a generous tip. Janis takes it back to process. 

“I hope you tipped her extra for having to deal with you pervs,” Cady jokes. 

“I’m not a total douche,” Kevin huffs. “And hey, maybe I’ll get her number. She said it depended on the tip.”

“No way! If anyone is going to it’s me,” Aaron says. “I’m handsome.”

“Yeah, and that’s your only character trait,” Tyler retaliates. 

Cady massages the bridge of her nose as all four of her friends get into another argument. She’s very grateful that they’re the only ones left in the diner. 

“We can never come back here,” she whispers. 

“Pfft, yeah you can,” Janis says, making Cady jump. “I need the money.” 

“Thank you,” Kevin says genuinely when she hands his card back. 

“My pleasure. Oh, and uh…” all four boys look very excited as she pulls a scrap of paper out of the pocket of her apron and scrawls something on it. She folds it up and passes it to Cady. “Text me. Have a nice night, guys.”

She winks at Cady and saunters away, leaving Cady blushing like a fool and all the boys yelling at her in indignation. 

“God damn it, Africa!” Kevin grumbles as Cady dances out the door. “You got too much game, it’s not fair.”

“Someone has to balance out the rest of you dweebs,” Cady says. Realization dawns on her then. “Oh my god, I got her number.”

“Yeah, yeah, rub it in.” 

—————

Cady has a small panic the next day, trying to work up the courage to text Janis. It takes a full hour of her Mathletes screaming at her in their group chat and threatening to text her themselves for her to send the first message. 

She pulls the crumpled paper out of the pocket of her Mathletes jacket, tapping the number into her phone. She grins a bit seeing the messy half-cursive scrawl, and realizes with a small grin that Janis wrote it on the back of their order ticket. 

africabytoto: Hey it’s Cady! :) 

She sends it and clicks her phone off, resting it facedown on her bed and curling into a ball as far away from it as she can get. She doesn’t know why she’s so nervous, but she can’t help it. 

Her anxiety only grows when minutes tick by and by. Almost a whole half hour goes by before her text tone pings off. 

snarkisian: do i know u?? 

africabytoto: OH shit uh

africabytoto: I was at the diner last night, you gave me your number 

africabytoto: Sorry I forgot to mention that

snarkisian: oh!! hey :)) 

snarkisian: it’s all good

snarkisian: sorry it took me a while to get back to u i just got off work 

africabytoto: It’s fine!! 

africabytoto: I’m sorry about my friends by the way

africabytoto: They’re good guys but they can be a lot sometimes lol 

africabytoto: I’m sorry if they made you uncomfortable 

snarkisian: nah they’re all good 

snarkisian: part of the job and all that

snarkisian: and i much prefer when it’s dudes my age and not sixty year olds staring at my ass yknow 

africabytoto: Oh god yeah 

snarkisian: i do have one question 

africabytoto: Oh yeah go ahead 

snarkisian: have ur friends ever like

snarkisian: *seen* a lesbian 

africabytoto: HAHAHA no way 

snarkisian: i gave u my number for a reason ;) 

Cady feels her heart skip a few beats. It wasn’t just to prove a point? Janis… actually wanted to give her her number? 

snarkisian: shit i didn’t scare u off already did i 

africabytoto: No

africabytoto: You didn’t 

Cady starts typing out Sorry I’m just and then pauses. What does she say? 

She eventually settles on thinking and hits send. She laughs when Janis responds with a few eyes emojis and a care to share?? 

Cady sighs. She starts typing a few times, deleting everything every time she gets past a few words. Does she really want to tell this girl she only met yesterday everything running through her head right now? 

She decides to at least broach the subject. Janis does deserve to know at least a little bit. 

africabytoto: You’re just the first girl who’s ever like, maybe shown an interest in me 

africabytoto: And I don’t have much experience in general 

africabytoto: Idk I’m just weird 

snarkisian: that’s not weird 

snarkisian: not like many pretty girls willingly take my number lol

snarkisian: and if u don’t want it to this doesn’t have to be anything like that. u seem chill and like you’d be a good friend 

Cady bites her lip, worrying it between her teeth as she tries to think of what to say next. Kenyan courage, come on. 

africabytoto: What if I do want it to be like that?

She thinks she can taste blood as the typing bubble pops up and disappears no fewer than five times. Did she read this that wrong? 

She only snaps out of it when she hears the little whoosh signifying she’s gotten a message back. 

snarkisian: really? 

africabytoto: Yeah

africabytoto: I don’t think that much harm could come from giving it a shot at least 

africabytoto: As long as you want to

snarkisian: i think giving it a shot sounds tits 

africabytoto: Is that a good thing? 

snarkisian: tits are the best thing 

africabytoto: Oh

africabytoto: Then grool

snarkisian: grool ?? 

africabytoto: Huh?

africabytoto: Oh shit

africabytoto: I meant to type great and then started to type cool

africabytoto: The one time autocorrect doesn’t come to my “rescue” 

snarkisian: oh lmao 

snarkisian: so

snarkisian: would it be grool of me to ask you on a date ?

africabytoto: Very much so 

africabytoto: What did you have in mind ?

snarkisian: idk i’ve never made it this far 

snarkisian: uh

snarkisian: do u have any ideas ?? 

snarkisian: i’ll take u anywhere except dinner 

africabytoto: Haha yeah that sounds fair enough

africabytoto: Ok I know this might be super babyish 

africabytoto: But I really want to try mini golf and I’ve never done it 

snarkisian: really ?? 

snarkisian: we can totally do that 

snarkisian: but how have u never done it ?? 

africabytoto: Not many places to mini golf in Kenya 

snarkisian: kenya ?? 

africabytoto: I grew up there 

africabytoto: My parents are zoologists 

snarkisian: that’s so cool omg 

snarkisian: if i ever introduce u to my friend damian pls never tell him i just used omg in earnest 

africabytoto: My lips are sealed 

snarkisian: man so the africa thing makes a lot more sense now

snarkisian: i thought u were just a really big fan of the song 

africabytoto: It’s a song ?? 

snarkisian: holy shit

Cady spends the rest of the day texting Janis without really realizing it. Conversation with her is just… easy. She even puts talking to Janis ahead of her calculus homework, something not even Regina managed during Cady’s brief stint as a Plastic last year. 

Eventually, regretfully, Cady does have to go to sleep. She’s stayed up so late to chat that her keyboard is starting to go blurry beneath her thumbs. 

africabytoto: I hate to do htis but I’m fallinh asleep

africabytoto: I gotta goto bed 

snarkisian: i do too 

snarkisian: talk more tomorrow ?? 

africabytoto: Sounds grest

snarkisian: tits 

snarkisian: goodnight caddy 

africabytoto: Goodnight

africabytoto: It’s Cady 

snarkisian: ;) 

Cady rolls her eyes affectionately and plugs in her phone before rolling over and drifting off to sleep, a fond smile on her face. 

————-

They wind up texting every single day that week, every free second they have in common going towards talking to one another. 

Janis sets their mini golf date for the next Friday, and Cady finds herself unreasonably excited. She (begrudgingly) allowed her Mathletes to help her choose an outfit over FaceTime, and surprisingly, they did a pretty good job. A yellow t-shirt with ruffly sleeves paired with some jeans. 

A panicked text conversation with Gretchen confirms it’s not too casual, so she finishes it with a matching ribbon tying her hair half-up and her usual converse. 

Janis texts that she’s outside right as Cady is tying her shoelaces, so she quickly calls a goodbye to her parents and rushes outside. “Whoa.”

Janis is leaning casually against a truck, clad in an Alanis Morissette t-shirt covered with a black leather jacket, dark shorts over fishnet tights, and clunky combat boots. Her hair is down today, and Cady notices that one side is shaved past her ear. Her makeup is also significantly heavier and darker than it was at the diner, with dark eyeshadow and eyeliner surrounding her eyes and a deep purple lipstick coating those perfect lips. 

She distantly notes how creepy that sounds as she makes her way over to this goddess. Janis smiles as she sees her, and Cady almost trips. 

“Hey,” Janis says. Cady can’t bring herself to look away from a single part of her, nor can she control her muscles enough to speak. 

“Legs,” she blurts. Nice start, dumbass. She shakes her head and tries again. “Shit. I mean hi.” 

“Hi,” Janis laughs, gently nudging her with an elbow. “You ready to go?” 

“Yeah,” Cady says eagerly. Janis grins again as she chivalrously opens Cady’s door for her, closing it again once Cady manages to awkwardly clamber her way inside. “Your truck is really nice.” 

“Thanks,” Janis says as she puts the key into the ignition. “I kinda rescued her from the dead. Was what I did with my free time before I started working.” 

“That’s really cool,” Cady says. “You did a great job.” 

“Thanks,” Janis says again. “Jodie’s my favorite child.” 

“Jodie?”

“Like Jodie Foster,” Janis explains.

“Who’s that?”

“Only the most iconic lesbian in all of Hollywood!” Janis scoffs. “God, I have so much to teach you.” 

“If you really want to,” Cady giggles. “You seem like you’d be a good teacher.” 

“Teach gay classes,” Janis nods. “I could do that.” 

“Like… classes on how to be gay, or about gay stuff?” 

“Both,” Janis says. “I’m versatile.” 

“Nice to know,” Cady says. Janis flushes slightly and clears her throat. 

“So, um…” she begins awkwardly. “What sport do you do?”

“Sport?” Cady asks, tilting her head in confusion. 

“You were wearing a… sport… jacket,” Janis says. “At the diner.”

“Oh!” Cady laughs. “No, I’m just a Mathlete.” 

“A Mathlete?” Janis chuckles. “That’s cool.”

“No it’s not, you don’t have to lie,” Cady teases. 

“No, it is! Means you must be smart,” Janis says. “Maybe not the… most traditionally cool choice of extracurricular, but it’s still… neat.” 

“I guess so,” Cady says with a grin. “But you saw the boys, did you really think any of us do anything remotely athletic?” 

“One of them looked kinda sporty. Figured the rest of them must be water boys or something.”

“Actually, Aaron is the water boy for us,” Cady laughs. “But he does play soccer too.” 

“You have… water boys… for Mathletes?” Janis asks. Cady can tell she’s biting back laughter. 

“It’s hard work!”

“I never said it wasn’t!” 

“You implied it,” Cady humphs, crossing her arms and turning away. 

“No, I’m sorry,” Janis pleads, gently resting a hand on Cady’s arm. Cady tries not to jump and scare her off, trying to figure out a way to keep Janis’ warm, soft hand where it is. 

Janis mistakes her brief panic for a bad one, and starts to pull back. Cady, in a fit of bravery, gently rests her hand on top of Janis’, sliding it down to link their hands together. It could easily be mistaken as a platonic motion, but they both flush like they’ve done something particularly scandalous. 

But, to both of their delight, Janis decides to leave her hand there. She switches her grip on the steering wheel to drive the rest of the way one-handed, leaving the other for Cady. 

“So how long have you been working at Sunshine’s?” Cady asks once she’s recovered from the lump in her throat that came as soon as Janis’ warm hand touched her. “I go there all the time and I’ve never seen you before.”

“Not too long. A few months,” Janis says. “My usual shifts are right after school or, like, the lunch rush during the weekends. So we probably just didn’t overlap.” 

“Do you enjoy it?“

“God, no,” Janis laughs. “I mean, I meet some… interesting people, I guess. But it’s just a job. Something I do for extra money.” 

“That makes sense,” Cady nods. “So what do you enjoy, Snarkisian?” 

“Already giving me nicknames, eh?” Janis chuckles. 

“Just your screen name.”

“For now,” Janis winks. “I enjoy… um… painting. I still wanna do some stuff in here.” She gently gives a pat to Jodie’s dashboard. “I like art and stuff. And I’ve always liked anything I can do with my hands. Hence getting Jodie back into shape.” 

“I like stuff like that too,” Cady grins. “I’m not an artist though, god. I was homeschooled until last year and still failed all my art classes.”

Janis laughs out loud at that, and Cady can’t help but smile at the sound. That’s just unfair. “Maybe on our next date I’ll teach you some stuff.”

“Next date?” Cady grins. “We haven’t even had this one yet.”

“Oh- I-I mean- uh…” Janis stutters frantically, blushing a spectacular shade of scarlet. 

“I’m teasing. This one is going pretty well so far,” Cady says with a smile. Janis looks at her for a split second and smiles back.

“Glad you agree.” 

They keep making light conversation as they drive, until Janis pulls into the parking lot of the mini golf facility. Cady looks around eagerly as best she can still buckled in. “Whoa!” 

“Come on, Cads,” Janis chuckles, being a true ‘gentleman’ and opening Cady’s door for her. “Let’s go smack some balls!”

“You’d get on really well with the boys,” Cady sighs. It’s much more endearing coming from Janis. 

“They do have excellent taste in women,” Janis says sarcastically, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Cady laughs and follows her into the building, taking a second to spin around and look at everything. She jumps when Janis calls to her from a ways away. “Cady. What color ball do you want?” 

“Huh? Oh!” she replies, running over to her. “I get to pick?” 

“Yeah,” Janis says. “Here.” 

Cady looks at the rainbow of golf balls and putters on the wall, considering every one carefully. Pink, yellow, orange? Blue? Purple? 

Janis already chose purple, so she supposes picking purple too would just be confusing. She eventually settles on green, pulling a ball from the plastic tub in front of her and standing on her tippy toes to reach the putters hanging from the hook. 

Janis laughs slightly as Cady only succeeds in batting at the handles a couple times, and comes up behind her to pull one down. 

“Thanks,” Cady says sheepishly, taking the club when Janis hands it to her with a grin. 

“No problem. This way,” she says, gently taking her hand and leading her out one of the doors to the outdoor area. She pays their entrance to the golf course before Cady can protest and leads her in through the gate. “You wanna go first?” 

“Yeah,” Cady says anxiously. She gently rests her ball on the tee, looking at Janis to confirm this is what she’s supposed to do. Janis nods, so she gets into what she assumes is the proper stance, takes a breath, and whacks the ball as hard as she can. 

“Jesus!” Janis yelps as the ball ricochets off the small wall and heads towards her at great speed. She manages to duck and avoid being concussed at the last second, throwing her hand up to catch the ball. 

Cady watches everything go down in horror, her hands pressed over her mouth. Janis bends at the waist, green ball next to the purple one in her hand. Cady is concerned she’s crying, or otherwise upset with her, as she’s well within her right to be. But then Cady notices… Janis is laughing. 

“God, Cady,” she gasps around her laughter. “It’s mini golf, you-you don’t have to hit it so hard!”

“I’m so sorry,” Cady mumbles, hands still firmly over her face. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Janis laughs, wiping tears from her eyes. “God, you could join the military with that. Death by golf ball.” 

“Hey!” Cady whines. “I’ve never done this before.” 

“Come here,” Janis says, still chuckling gently. She puts Cady’s ball back on the tee and presses against her back. She gently moves Cady’s hands to where they should be on her putter. “Gentle. Like… that. There, try now.” 

Cady pulls back the way Janis showed her and hits the ball, with much less force than the first time. The ball rolls down the green, in a straight line. The first hole doesn’t have any obstacles, so she can get a feel for the stroke. Her ball gently bounces off the wall and comes to a stop about four inches from the hole. 

“I did it!” she says proudly. 

“Yeah, there ya go!” Janis says. “Much less lethal.”

“Hey!” Cady whines again. “I’d like to see you do better.” And also for you to hold me like that again please and thank you. 

Janis rests her own purple ball on the starting spot and takes a second to look down the green, before she takes a gentle whack and her ball. It rolls perfectly down the fake grass and into the hole with a satisfying clunk. 

She straightens up and looks at Cady with a cheeky wink. Cady huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. “Cheater.” 

“Attempted murderer,” Janis retaliates, pulling her ball out and waiting for Cady to take her next shot. 

“Hey, at best that would be accidental manslaughter,” Cady huffs, lining up and putting her ball into the goal. 

“I’d really prefer not to find out,” Janis chuckles. “Nicely done.”

Cady grins and follows her to the next hole, making light conversation as they both make quick work of the next few. 

“Can I ask you something?” Cady asks as she’s lining up a shot. 

“Yeah,” Janis replies. Cady pauses when it sounds far away, just before her putter makes contact with her ball, and finds Janis cowering behind a garbage can. 

“Hey!” Cady whines. “Just because I almost accidentally killed you once.” 

Janis laughs and pokes her face out. “I’m just being extra careful. Can’t tell with you.” 

“Hmph,” Cady grumbles, putting her ball through the little windmill a ways down. 

“What do you want to know?” 

“Oh! Yeah,” Cady says, suddenly remembering what sparked this whole thing. “How old are you?” 

“Seventeen,” Janis chuckles as she gets ready to take her turn. “How old did you think I was?” 

“I dunno,” Cady shrugs. “Close to me. But I haven’t seen you at school. So I wanted to ask.” 

“I transferred to the south side when I was a sophomore,” Janis explains. “I used to be at North Shore too. So that’s why you haven’t seen me.” 

“Transferred?” Cady asks, tilting her head in confusion. “Did you move?” 

“Not by choice,” Janis sighs under her breath, whacking the ball with a bit more force than she has before. 

“Oh. I’m sorry,” Cady says frantically. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, I was just curious. Sorry.” 

“It’s okay,” Janis says, groaning when her golf ball bounces off the windmill and lands almost back where it started. “I was outed by my best friend in eighth grade. My parents pulled me out for the rest of the year so I could go to therapy and stuff, and then I went back as a freshman. But when I went back I was bullied so badly I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. I didn’t want to, but I wasn’t safe at North Shore. So we moved and I started going to another school.” 

Cady freezes in horror as her story continues. “Oh my god, you’re Janis,” she whispers. 

“Yes, I am,” Janis chuckles. “Nice of you to notice. You okay?” 

“No! Oh my god, you’re Janis!” Cady says. “I was… I was friends with Regina last year!” 

“Really?” Janis asks, like this is still a casual conversation and the two of them haven’t dropped major bombshells on each other. 

“Yeah,” Cady says. “I was new and she invited me to sit with her on the first day.” 

“That’s even more surprising,” Janis chuckles. 

“Aren’t you mad?” Cady asks in worry. 

“Why would I be mad?” Janis replies, looking at her in confusion. She takes another solid swing at her ball and sighs as it bounces off the windmill again. “Other than that.”

“Because I used to be friends with the girl who kinda ruined your life?” Cady asks. 

“Used to be,” Janis replies easily. “And you’re from Africa. Can’t imagine you were aware what you were getting yourself into.”

“Definitely not,” Cady agrees. 

“Exactly,” Janis says. “I can’t hold that against you. And you’re not friends with her anymore, so something must have happened to, er… show you some sense.” 

“She got hit by a bus,” Cady says, in the split second Janis hits her ball yet again. The shock seems to knock Janis towards the right angle, because her ball finally rolls through the windmill. 

“Seriously?!”

“Yeah,” Cady giggles. “I shouldn’t be laughing. But yeah. Surprised you didn’t hear about it, it was all over the news.”

“Did she-”

“No, no. She’s fine now,” Cady says. “I think. She’s definitely not dead, anyway.” 

“That’s good,” Janis hums. “Anyway. Tell me about your Mathletes.” 

“Okay,” Cady giggles. “What do you want to know?” 

“Why are they the way that they are?” 

Cady bursts out laughing, taking the last stroke to sink her ball into the hole. “That’s a good question. They’re just… like that.”

“Fair enough,” Janis chuckles. “Do they do that to every waitress you guys have?”

“They all flirt with anything that moves,” Cady sighs. 

“I’m hurt,” Janis says in mock offense. “Thought I was special.” 

“You are special,” Cady says as she links their arms together to go towards the next hole. “They usually give up if it’s obvious none of them are getting anywhere. And I only go on dates with the most special of people.” 

“Is that so?” Janis hums, looking at Cady with a smile. “How many people have you been on dates with, then?” 

“Two,” Cady mumbles. “Including you.” 

“Really?” Janis asks. “That’s surprising.”

“It is?”

“Yeah,” Janis says, flushing awkwardly and massaging the back of her neck with her free hand. “You’re just… really cute. Surprised only one other person managed to get a date with you.” 

“I’m cute?” Cady asks in confusion. Janis grins and gently bumps their shoulders together. 

“Yeah, you’re cute. If I may be so bold,” Janis chuckles. Cady hums happily and rests her ball on the next tee. “So who was it?” 

“What?” Cady asks, entirely missing the ball on her first hit. 

“The other person you dated.” Janis says. “Can I ask who it was?” 

“Oh. Yeah,” Cady says. “Aaron.”

“Really?” Janis says. 

“Yeah,” Cady sighs. “We were in the same math class last year, and we got together in the spring. But we’d both been through a lot with Regina, and I was… realizing I’m not straight. And I realized I had been, like, projecting on him when I actually had feelings for… um, Regina. And we just realized we worked better as friends.” 

“Makes sense,” Janis nods. “Regina was your queer awakening too, huh?” 

“Yeah,” Cady admits shyly. “I’m surprised you guys were friends.” 

“I’m surprised you guys were friends,” Janis chuckles. 

“Then I guess we’re both full of surprises,” Cady says. 

“Oh?” 

“Gotta leave some for later,” Cady says with a wink, for once being the one to fluster Janis so much that she hits her ball in entirely the wrong direction. 

—-

“That was fun,” Cady says when they’re back in Janis’ truck on the way home. “Thank you.” 

“It was fun,” Janis agrees. “But you don’t have to thank me.” 

“I’m gonna,” Cady insists. “So, um… my turn to take you on a date next time?” 

“Next time?” Janis grins. “I think that sounds doable.” 

“Where do you wanna go?” Cady asks. 

“Mmm… have you ever been roller skating?” Janis asks. Cady shakes her head. 

“I’m clumsy enough without wheels on my feet,” she says. Janis laughs again. Cady wants to hear it forever. 

“You gotta try it once,” Janis says. “Next date.”

“It’s a date,” Cady confirms. 

Janis pulls into Cady’s driveway and chivalrously escorts her to the front door. Neither of them are totally sure what to do. Probably too soon to kiss goodnight. Shake hands? Dorky. 

Cady decides on a hug after about forty-five seconds of trepidation, giving Janis a quick squeeze. “Today was great.” 

“It was,” Janis whispers, squeezing her back. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Text me,” Cady says, echoing what Janis said when Cady first got her number. She winks and heads inside, leaving Janis blushing like a fool on the front porch. 

—————

Janis does text her, letting her know she got home safe. Even though they spent several hours together, doing essentially nothing but chatting, they still text well into the night. 

And the next day. And the next, and the next, and the next. 

After two weeks, Cady decides it’s high time for their roller skating date. 

africabytoto: Do you have work on Saturday? 

snarkisian: nope 

snarkisian: for once lol 

africabytoto: Then 

africabytoto: Drumroll please 

snarkisian: Sent a gif: drumroll 

africabytoto: Can I take you out on Saturday? 

snarkisian: let me think about it

africabytoto: :0

africabytoto: I Have Been Slandered 

snarkisian: lmao i’m kiddiiiiing 

snarkisian: i’d love to go out again 

africabytoto: Yay

africabytoto: Roller skating? 

snarkisian: hell yeah 

snarkisian: time for me to kick your ass at another thing 

africabytoto: Hey!

africabytoto: I almost won mini golf 

snarkisian: *almost*

africabytoto: I’m starting to question your intentions here lol

snarkisian: my intentions are to romance you and kick your ass at everything we do together 

africabytoto: Romance me eh?

snarkisian: damn straight 

snarkisian: wait

snarkisian: damn gay

africabytoto: I really do have to properly introduce you to the boys 

snarkisian: i should probably introduce you to damian 

africabytoto: Maybe on the third date 

snarkisian: are we already working on that one?

africabytoto: Let’s focus on rollerskating for now lol 

africabytoto: Pick you up at five? 

snarkisian: sounds tits :) 

—-

Cady is outside Janis’ house at five sharp, and is bold enough to go up and knock on the door. 

Janis opens it and smiles when she sees her, wearing one boot with the other in her hand. “Hey.” 

“Hi,” Cady grins. 

“You wanna come in for a second?” 

“Sure,” Cady says. She gasps and squeals when a chocolate lab comes running up and sniffs at her. “Oh my goodness, hi!” 

“That’s Colbie,” Janis chuckles. “She’s friendly, you can pet her if you want.”

Cady needs no further permission, immediately lying on the floor and letting the puppy lick her face and do somersaults to cuddle into her. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you have a doggyyyy?” Cady says, squealing a bit as Colbie snuffles especially close to her ear. 

“Because I didn’t want her to steal you from me,” Janis chuckles. “Colb, cmon, let Caddy breathe.” 

“Nooo,” Cady pleads. “I don’t need to breathe. Puppy.” 

Janis laughs and finishes tying the knot in the laces of her boots, coming to pry her dog off of Cady. Or, more accurately, pry Cady off of her dog. 

“Come on, Colbie, you don’t get to go roller skating,” she chuckles. 

“Yes she does,” Cady pleads, reaching back for the puppy. 

“This is why I haven’t introduced you two yet,” Janis sighs sarcastically. “She’s a real lady’s lady.” 

“I see where you get it from,” Cady giggles, standing and brushing fur from her baby blue jumpsuit. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Janis nods. Cady heads back out the front door and down the porch, waiting for Janis to lock up. 

“Bye Colb,” Janis coos, giving her pup some goodbye scritches. Colbie whines. Janis whispers, “I know, you like Caddy? I like her too. I’ll bring her back to play soon. Be good.” 

Cady grins, having to pretend like she hasn’t overheard their conversation as Janis locks the door and comes to join her. 

Cady returns the favors Janis paid her on their first date and opens the car door for her. Janis smiles as she climbs in, and smiles wider when Cady gently shuts the door and goes to the driver’s seat to join her. 

“I’m guessing you’re a dog person, then?” Janis asks as Cady enters the address for the roller rink into her GPS and gets them going the right way. 

“I’m an everything person,” Cady says. “But my favorite animals are lions, so I guess I’m technically a cat person.” 

“Lions?” Janis grins. Cady nods. “Why lions?” 

“They’re good listeners,” Cady begins softly. “People don’t really understand, but they’re not as scary as you’d think. They’re just protective. They will still hunt you, but they can also be so cuddly and playful and sweet. And they’re so majestic. I miss that most. Watching them on the savanna. And I miss playing with the cubs.” 

“You’ve cuddled a lion?” Janis asks in slight concern. 

“A few,” Cady nods. “Africa, remember?” 

“No, yeah, I remember that part,” Janis chuckles. “But when you said you lived in Kenya I didn’t think you meant, like… the actual savanna.” 

“I lived in a tent for thirteen years,” Cady nods with a giggle. “I think you’re the only person who didn’t immediately assume I lived in the middle of nowhere.”

“I think it’s the first time I’ve ever been wrong not to,” Janis says. “A tent?” 

“Yeah. We moved there when I was three for my parents’ work, they’re both zoologists. They got a grant to study migratory patterns in lions. So we had to be able to migrate too,” Cady explains. “So we had tents that we could pack up easily to follow them.” 

“That makes sense,” Janis nods. “And that’s really cool.” 

“Thanks,” Cady murmurs. 

“Do you have pictures?”

“Pictures?”

“From Kenya,” Janis says shyly. “I wanna see.” 

“Oh, yeah, I have tons of pictures,” Cady nods. “You really want to see them?”

“Yeah,” Janis says. “Of course I do.”

“You’re the first one who has,” Cady grins sadly. “I’ll definitely show you sometime soon, though.” 

“Can’t wait,” Janis says. 

Cady tells her some of her favorite Kenya stories until they pull into the parking lot at the roller rink. Janis is halfway out of the car before Cady even finds a parking spot, and hauls her into the building by her hand as soon as they’re both outside. 

“Janis, slow down,” Cady pleads. “I got little legs.” 

“Sorry, short stuff,” Janis chuckles, panting a little after their run. 

“Hey!” Cady pouts. “It’s not my fault you’re a giant.”

“Am I actually a giant or are you just tiny?” Janis teases. 

“I dunno, how tall are you?”

“Five foot ten,” Janis says. “You?”

“Five two,” Cady mumbles. “On a good day.”

“It’s both,” Janis chuckles. “Come on, let’s go get our skates.” 

Cady happily takes her hand again and lets herself be led to the skate rental counter at a much slower pace. Janis pulls out her wallet and seems fully ready to pay, until Cady sneakily snatches it and puts it back in Janis’ pocket. “My date. You don’t pay.” 

“Quite possibly the most aggressive way I’ve ever been told I don’t have to pay for anything,” Janis laughs. “Thanks, Peanut.” 

“Peanut?” Cady asks, blushing furiously. 

“Peanut,” Janis confirms with a nod. “You were eating them when I first saw you. And chocolate milk and Belgian waffle aren’t the cutest of nicknames.” 

“I like it,” Cady grins. 

“And you’re short.” 

Cady tries to protest again, but they’re interrupted by an employee coming up to check them in. Cady pays for their hour and a half on the rink and their skate rentals. Janis is obviously biting her lip to hold back a laugh when Cady asks for her size six skates. 

“Short,” she whispers in Cady’s ear when they head to a bench to put them on. 

“I’m gonna smack you with this,” Cady threatens, brandishing one of her skates. 

“Kinky.” 

Cady sighs and rents a locker for them to store their things. “The carpet here is interesting.”

“That’s one word for it,” Janis chuckles, putting her boots next to Cady’s sneakers in the locker. “Probably hasn’t been changed since the eighties. Or cleaned.” 

“Eww,” Cady whimpers. Janis laughs and motions for her to sit down. 

“You’ll be fine, trust me. This’ll be fun,” she comforts. “Put those on.”

Cady does, tying the laces on her skates and tucking them inside so there’s no chance of them getting caught in the wheels. With her luck, it’ll probably happen anyway. 

Janis finishes tying her own roller blades and stands up, reaching out for Cady. “Ready?”

Cady nods and takes her hands, letting Janis gently pull her to her feet. She immediately loses her balance, leaning every which way and clinging to a remarkably steady Janis for support. 

“Easy,” Janis murmurs. “There. How’s it feel?”

“Dangerous,” Cady replies immediately. Janis laughs and keeps a hold on Cady’s hands to help her keep her balance. 

“You’ll be fine, I promise. You wanna try moving?” Janis asks. Cady shakes her head. “You won’t fall, I gotcha. You can do it.” 

Cady warily scoots her feet, doing a sort of grandpa-shuffle style motion over to the actual rink. Janis, infuriatingly, manages to skate backwards, helping Cady over. 

“There, see? You got it,” Janis says once Cady has a wall to grab onto and carefully makes her way onto the slick wooden rink. Cady immediately slips, clinging to the wall and narrowly avoiding a rough landing on her bum. “Maybe not.” 

“No, I can do it,” Cady says determinedly, pulling herself back upright and continuing to scootch along and cling to the wall. 

“Cads, you’re going backwards,” Janis chuckles. “Push your feet more.”

“I’m moving, though,” Cady says. “So it’s working.” 

“You do what works for you,” Janis laughs. “It’ll actually help a little if you let go of the wall.”

“No thank you,” Cady says immediately. Janis laughs again and rolls the slightest bit closer to her. 

“Look, just watch what I do for a second. You can do it. This should be fun, I don’t want you clinging to the wall the whole time.” 

“But I like my wall,” Cady pouts. She does look at Janis expectantly, so Janis goes into teacher mode and demonstrates the proper form Cady should be using. Cady continues her slow scoot after her. Janis realizes when it’s too late that she’s not allowed to skate the other way back to her, so she finishes a rapid lap around and comes up behind Cady. 

“Got it?” Janis asks. Cady nods shakily. Janis gently takes her hands again and pulls her away from the wall, but leaves them close enough that Cady can still grab it if she feels the need to. “Straighten your back a little bit. Yeah, there. That’ll help you balance better. Now big pushes with your feet.” 

“Don’t let go,” Cady pleads for more than one reason. Janis’ hands are warm and soft against hers, and her presence is giving Cady much more confidence. 

“I won’t,” Janis says soothingly. “I gotcha. Give it a try, come on.” 

Cady does, trying her best to copy the big sweeping motions Janis did earlier. To her surprise, it is a bit easier, and she looks up in delight when she actually moves forward this time. 

“Yeah, there! You got it,” Janis cheers. “Keep going. Try to push me away from you. And tell me if we’re about to crash into anyone.” 

“Okay,” Cady says anxiously. She continues the motions, getting gradually more comfortable with how things are supposed to work. Before she knows it, she’s made a full lap around the rink. 

“Nicely done,” Janis says. Cady smiles at her. 

“Thanks. And thanks for not making fun of me,” she says. 

“I have plenty of other things to make fun of you for,” Janis says. “You think you’re ready for me to let go?” 

No, I’m ready for you to hold me forever, Cady thinks. But she nods, so Janis gently lets go of her hands and skates to the far wall. All Cady has to do on her own is skate the distance from one wall to the other, twenty feet at most. 

“I feel like a baby giraffe,” she grumbles. Janis laughs and reaches out for her. 

“You can do it!” 

Cady sets off, pushing off the wall for the slightest bit of a boost and trying her best to do the same things she did before. 

She only realizes when she’s within three feet of Janis that she doesn’t know how to stop yet.  Janis seems to realize this flaw in their logic too, because her eyes go wide and she braces. 

Cady crashes right into her, trying not to press her against the wall too hard and hurt her. 

“Hey,” Janis greets, gently wrapping her arms around Cady’s back. 

“Hi,” Cady giggles. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Janis chuckles back. “Probably should’ve taught you to stop, but I’m okay.” 

“Good,” Cady breathes. 

Neither of them move. Cady could easily let Janis go, and Janis could easily push her away. But instead, she pulls her closer. Cady stares into her eyes, losing herself in Janis and completely forgetting where they are. 

Janis inhales a bit more heavily, before she murmurs, “Would it be, like, terribly presumptuous of me to ask if I can kiss you?” 

“Oh, very,” Cady whispers back, gently resting a hand on Janis’ cheek and leaning in to press their lips together. Janis leans in as well, gently holding Cady against her and tilting her head slightly to the side for a better angle. 

They smile at each other when they take a second to breathe, before they both lean back in. 

Janis makes the mistake of moving her hands to Cady’s hair, gently tangling her fingers in it. Cady holds Janis’ waist, until she feels herself slipping. Before either of them can stop it, Cady falls flat on her face with a dull smack. 

“Shit, Caddy,” Janis yelps, bending down to check on her. “Are you okay?”

Cady just groans, resting her head in her arms and staying on the ground. 

“Peanut,” Janis pouts. “Did you get hurt?” 

“Only emotionally,” Cady grumbles. Janis grins in relief and gently helps her to sit. 

“You wanna go check out the arcade instead?” she asks, gently playing with the ends of Cady’s hair. Cady shakes her head. 

“You wanted to roller skate. We’ll roller skate,” she insists. 

“Are you sure?” Janis asks. “This is supposed to be fun.” 

“I’m having fun,” Cady comforts. “I mean, kissing you is the best part. But the skating is good too.”

Janis chuckles and gives her one more kiss before pulling her to her feet. “Well, in that case, I’ll have to kiss you a lot more.”

“Yes please,” Cady hums happily. “Catch me if you can.”

She skates away as fast as she can, about half a mile per day. Janis could easily catch her if she wanted to, but she just watches her go for a while, proud of her skating student. Until Cady falls onto her bum. 

————-

“So what did you think?” Janis asks as they head back out to Cady’s car. 

“My butt hurts,” Cady grumbles. “But I had fun.” 

“Good,” Janis grins. “I did too. We’ll do something less rough on your butt next time.”

“Great,” Cady giggles. “Did you have fun?” 

“Are you kidding? Watching you fall on your ass over and over and then kicking your ass at skee ball? Of course I did,” Janis says. 

“You’re so mean!” 

“I’m sorry,” Janis murmurs, gently pressing Cady against the car before she can open any of the doors. Cady looks at her with a faint smile gracing her face. 

“Maybe you should make it up to me,” Cady says softly, looking between Janis’ eyes and lips a few times. Janis grins and gently rests a hand on Cady’s jaw, fingers gently brushing behind her ear as she leans in to kiss her. 

Cady kisses her back eagerly, resting her hands on Janis’ hips and gripping the fabric of her jacket. 

“Better?” Janis whispers against her lips when they break apart. Cady nods happily. “This part’s fun too.” 

“Glad you agree,” Cady whispers. 

—-

“Can I see your phone?” Janis asks when Cady drops her off. 

“My phone? Why?” Cady asks in confusion. 

“Just trust me,” Janis says. 

“You can if I can say hi to Colbie again,” Cady says, ever the compromiser.

“Deal,” Janis says. Cady hands over her phone and watches as Janis flips her camera open. “Can I kiss you?” 

“Um… yeah,” Cady says in confusion. “What are you- mmph.” 

She can’t find it in herself to wonder what Janis is up to as soon as their lips connect again. Janis cups her jaw with one hand and holds Cady’s phone in the other. Cady winds her arms around her neck and kisses her back. 

She jumps a bit when she hears the shutter sound effect go off, and briefly breaks away from Janis. “Okay, what are you doing?” 

“Are you up for making your Mathletes a little jealous?” 

“Oh, always,” Cady replies immediately. “Clever thinking.” 

Janis hands back her phone so Cady can unlock it and taps into her messages. Cady is briefly confused when she sends the photos to herself first. Janis explains with a simple, “For prosperity.” 

Cady watches as Janis finds the Chill Dope Crew 🙄🤑➕ contact and correctly assumes it’s her Mathletes group, tapping into it and putting the photo in a message. She types something out before she turns the screen for Cady to check. 

You guys are really missing out, by the way -J 

Cady laughs and immediately hits send. It takes no more than a few seconds for the replies to start coming, the first being a Janis how could you?!?! from Kevin. Cady clicks her phone off as it pings frantically, the boys rapidly descending into chaos. 

“I was promised puppy,” Cady murmurs, winding her arms around Janis’ neck again. Janis gently kisses her once more before unlocking the door. Colbie comes rocketing out as soon as the door is open, almost knocking Cady off her feet. 

Janis rolls her eyes affectionately and sits down, watching her favorite creature and who’s rapidly becoming her favorite person rolling around in the grass to play. She listens with fond smiles as Cady promises to bring Colbie lots of toys and treats next time she comes to visit. Next time. 

Cady tires Colbie out within a few minutes, the pup panting and resting her head on Cady’s belly as she lies on the grass. Cady lingers there for a while, playing with Colbie’s ears and getting her fill of doggy cuddles. 

Eventually, she pries herself off the ground and back to Janis. “Bye, Jay.”

“Bye,” Janis replies, returning the kiss Cady offers. “Thanks for tonight.”

“My pleasure,” Cady grins. She waves and turns back around, heading back to her car. Janis turns to head inside, until she realizes something very important is missing. 

“Hey, gimme back my dog!” 

—————

A few more weeks pass, with more dates and more kisses and more them sprinkled in. She knows it’s probably just the honeymoon phase talking, but everything with Janis just feels right to Cady. 

She’s surprised when Janis texts her relatively early on a Saturday morning, knowing Janis well enough by this point to know she sleeps in whenever she gets the slightest chance. 

snarkisian: Sent a picture: do you wanna come to the dog park with us? 

Cady squeals at the adorable picture of Colbie, looking very stylish in her little bandana and holding her favorite rope toy in her mouth. 

africabytoto: Yes

africabytoto: Yes please yes 

snarkisian: tits

snarkisian: you up for a walk? colb needs some exercise 

africabytoto: Yeah totally 

snarkisian: tits

snarkisian: we’ll pick you up in ten

snarkisian: ish

africabytoto: Can’t wait <33 

Cady gets dressed for the day and ties her hair into a ponytail, in lieu of actually brushing it. She packs up the special treats she bought for Colbie and grabs the elephant squeaky toy she couldn’t resist either, and waits for Janis to arrive. 

She grins when the doorbell rings, opening it to find Colbie sitting very patiently on the porch. Cady can see how hard her tail is wagging, and she smiles back. 

“Hi, sweet puppy! Where did Janis go, did she leave you here all alone?” she coos, giving Colbie some scritches behind her floppy ears. Colbie doesn’t seem fussed with where her owner has gone, relishing in the attention from Cady. 

Cady shrieks as Janis sneaks up behind her and scoops her up, spinning her around in a circle and gently pressing a kiss to her neck. 

“Janis!” Cady squeals. 

“Hi,” Janis murmurs into her ear. “I missed you.” 

“I missed you too,” Cady breathes, releasing a startled chuckle. “Don’t do that.” 

“Sorry,” Janis replies, not sounding sorry in the slightest. “You ready to go?” 

“Yeah,” Cady grins, taking Janis’ free hand. Janis holds Colbie’s leash in the other and sets them off down the road towards the dog park. “When did you get her?” 

“When we moved,” Janis replies quietly. “So a bit less than two years ago. She’s still a baby.” 

“She’ll always be a baby,” Cady replies. “She’ll just be an old baby someday.” 

“Yeah, she will,” Janis chuckles. “Especially if you keep spoiling her the way you do.” 

“I have an entire bag of treats and a toy for her in my pockets.”

“Of course you do,” Janis laughs, leaning down to kiss her. “No wonder she loves you more than me.” 

“Nooo, she doesn’t,” Cady pouts. “She loves you the same.” 

“She never gets as excited to see me as she does to see you,” Janis says. “You should’ve seen her when I told her we were coming to get you.” 

“Aww,” Cady says. “Well, if it makes you feel better, I’m always excited to see you.”

“It does,” Janis mumbles. Cady grins and gently kisses her hand. “I get excited to see you too.”

“I’m honored,” Cady giggles. 

Colbie happily trots ahead, taking the occasional pause to sniff around or stare at squirrels. She tries to rush ahead when she sees her favorite place, so Janis and Cady lean in and run after her. Janis unclips Colbie’s leash once they’re inside the fenced in area and lets her run free. 

Janis and Cady sit on a bench and watch her dart around, sniffing at some of the other dogs before taking off like a shot again. Cady leans into Janis, resting against her shoulder and smiling as Janis kisses her hair. 

She gently fiddles with a stray thread on Janis’ jeans, feeling the warm skin of her thigh exposed by the rip. “Can I ask you something?” 

“Yeah, of course,” Janis asks, looking at her in concern. 

“What… what do you want us to be?” Cady asks softly. 

Janis thinks for a while, twisting the end of Cady’s ponytail around her fingers pensively. “I don’t know. I’m happy with however I can have you.” 

“I am too,” Cady says. “I like what we have now.”

“But?” Janis asks, sensing one lingering behind Cady’s words. 

“But… I’d like… more,” Cady admits. 

“More?” Janis asks. “Like-”

“Be my girlfriend,” Cady interrupts desperately. “Like, officially. For real.” 

Janis feels her eyebrows raise and her lips turn up. She gently cups Cady’s face in her hands and pulls her in for a kiss. 

“I’d love to officially be your girlfriend for real,” she whispers. She feels Cady smile against her lips as they both lean back in, feels her small hands come to rest gently on Janis’ wrists, keeping the two of them held against each other. 

They are in public, so they keep things more chaste than they want to, but they do linger against each other’s lips for a long while. 

Cady shrieks when she feels a cold nose suddenly nudge against her arm. “God, Colbie, don’t do that, you’re as bad as your mother.” 

“Hey!” Janis laughs. “What’s up, Colb? You wanna play? Where did you find this ball, this isn’t yours. Go give it back, you have your own toys.” 

Colbie whines and drops the ball she found on Janis’ lap. Cady pulls out the elephant toy she brought as a bargaining chip. Colbie sniffs it excitedly. “Go give the ball back and you can have it.” 

Colbie runs off back towards a friend she made with the ball, delivering it back to the dog’s owner before she comes barreling back to them. Cady pulls the tag off and offers her the elephant, which Colbie chomps on eagerly, her tail wagging in delight. 

“Say thank you,” Janis instructs, laughing as Colbie leaps onto the bench with them and rapidly switches between each of them, giving them both kisses and wiggling happily at the cuddles and pets and love she gets. 

Cady stands as she runs off again with her elephant, ready to follow her and play. Janis leans in to gently kiss her cheek, which Cady returns.

“You smell like the dog.” 

“You’ll just have to cope with that,” Janis hums, kissing her lips this time. “Girlfriend.”

“Fine,” Cady sighs, a smile betraying her. “Girlfriend.” 

—————

If anything, they spend more time texting each other now that they’ve made things official. Practically every moment they’re not in school and Janis isn’t at work is spent with one another. And even some of that time is spent together too. 

Cady has long since given up on trying to hide who she’s talking to from the Mathletes during practice. She’s been busted more than once, but she doesn’t let it stop her. Janis has also been scolded for being on her phone while she’s on the clock, but hasn’t let that keep them apart either. 

What they haven’t done is called. Neither of them particularly enjoy talking on the phone, so they leave it to texting, Facetime and just meeting in person. 

Which is why Cady jumps out of her skin when her ringtone goes off in the middle of the night, getting startled out of her half-asleep state. 

She paws at her nightstand for her phone, squinting at the screen. Her heart drops when she sees Janis’ name and the picture of the two of them kissing lighting up her screen. 

She immediately presses the green button and holds her phone to her ear. “Janis?” she mumbles sleepily into the phone. “What’s up?” 

“Shit, were you asleep?” Janis asks immediately in lieu of an answer. 

“Almost. What’s going on?” Cady asks worriedly, sitting up in bed.

“Can-could… could you maybe pick me up?” Janis asks so softly that Cady can barely hear her. Cady frowns when she hears the slightest waver in it, too. 

“Of course. Where are you?” 

“Work,” Janis replies. “I’m sorry, I just-”

“No, hey, don’t be sorry,” Cady says, already sneaking down the stairs and tugging her shoes on. “Give me fifteen minutes, okay?” 

“Okay,” Janis says. “Thank you.” 

“Of course, darling,” Cady says. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Janis says immediately, but the tremble in her voice again tells Cady the real answer. 

“Alright. Fifteen minutes,” Cady repeats. 

“Fifteen minutes,” Janis echoes, gratitude flooding Cady’s ears through her phone speaker. 

—-

It winds up being closer to ten minutes, since Cady practically white knuckled it the whole way to the diner out of concern for her girlfriend. 

She finds her by the employee exit, sitting under the single light above the door and clutching her work apron in her hands, like she couldn’t bear to wear it any longer. 

Janis looks up when she sees her pull up and get out of the car. Cady blinks in surprise as she goes running to her and practically tackles her in a hug. 

“Hey,” Cady says gently, squeezing Janis against her and gently resting their heads together as Janis hides against her neck. “What’s up, buttercup?” 

“It’s nothing,” Janis whispers thickly. “Just-just… bad day.” 

“I’m sorry, darling,” Cady pouts. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

Her only answer is a sob, which stuns her enough she totally freezes. Janis always seems so cool and collected. Cady knows her girlfriend well enough to know how practiced it is, has been lucky enough to see through the little cracks in the act Janis has slowly but steadily been allowing to form and grow. 

“Sweetheart,” she whispers sadly. “Shh, come here. Come here.” 

She gently leads them back to the car, sitting sideways in the drivers seat and leaving the door open so Janis has enough room to cuddle into her lap. She does so eagerly, straddling Cady at the waist and continuing to weep into her shoulder. 

“Shhh, Jay,” Cady murmurs soothingly. “I got you, just let it out.” 

Janis does, sobbing into her shoulder and clinging to her neck. Cady wraps her arms around Janis’ waist, tracing gentle circles against her back with one hand and cradling her head close with the other. 

Whatever is on Janis’ mind is clearly quite significant, so Cady is perfectly content just to hold her and let her cry as long as she needs. She hushes her from time to time more as a reassurance than a genuine hush, rocking her gently from side to side and kissing her hair. 

“I’m sorry,” Janis snuffles suddenly.

“Don’t be sorry, darling,” Cady whispers, kissing her forehead gently. “You’re okay. Just do what you need to do.”

Janis nods slightly against her shoulder, continuing to cry gently. She’s quieter now, and Cady can feel her trying to breathe and ground herself in the moment. 

“You okay now?” she whispers when Janis’ sobs eventually slow to a stop, still cradling her in her lap. 

“Yeah. Sorry about the waterworks,” Janis mumbles. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Cady murmurs, gently pulling Janis away from her shoulder and brushing her thumbs over her cheeks. “Do you wanna tell me what happened?” 

“It’s stupid,” Janis mumbles in embarrassment. 

“That’s okay,” Cady says. “If it’s making you this upset, I’m sure it isn’t. But you’re allowed to cry over stupid things too.” 

“I just… everything went wrong today,” Janis says, voice still thick with emotion. “Jodie broke down again, so I was late and I got yelled at, and then I had a bunch of homophobes in my section and I didn’t know how perceptive they were and I spent their whole meal panicking about whether or not they were gonna do anything and then they left me one of those fake tips that’s actually a bible verse-” 

“Oh, honey,” Cady says sadly.

“And then right before closing I had another perv and he grabbed my ass when I was walking away from his booth and I thought I was gonna get kidnapped and then I remembered I didn’t have a solid way home and I hate closing,” Janis continues. 

“God, Jay,” Cady murmurs, gently kissing the corner of her lips. “No wonder you were so upset, you poor thing. That’s awful.” 

Janis shrugs. “Comes with the job.” 

“It’s still terrible,” Cady insists. “You deserve to feel safe wherever you work. Can I stay with you for a while or do you just want me to take you home?” 

“I wanna be with you,” Janis admits softly. Cady smiles and kisses her once more before she motions Janis over into the passenger seat. 

“Then buckle up.” 

Janis does, fastening her seatbelt and getting comfy in the passenger seat of Cady’s car. She absolutely refuses to let go of her hand, so Cady lets her borrow it and drives with the other. 

-

Janis looks confused when Cady pulls into a drive through, about the only place to get food that’s still open. She orders two milkshakes, one chocolate and one vanilla, and an extra large order of french fries. Janis holds it all in her lap as Cady drives, and it takes her a concerningly long time to realize Cady’s driving them in the wrong direction. 

“Where are we going?” she asks softly. Cady shrugs, which doesn’t fill Janis with a spectacular amount of confidence. 

“Here seems good.” 

“What?” Janis asks in confusion, looking at Cady as she pulls over and climbs out of the car. “What are you doing?” 

“You just sit there and look pretty,” Cady comforts, opening the back door and pulling out the blankets she keeps there in case of emergencies. 

Janis does, continuing to hold the food she’s been handed and trying to guess what Cady could be doing. There seems to be a lot of noise coming from above her, which is concerning. 

“Okay, come on!” Cady calls when she’s finished whatever she’s up to. Janis climbs out of the car and looks around, getting a bit panicked when she can’t find Cady. “Up here, darling.” 

Janis whirls around and looks up, finding Cady perched on the roof of the car. “What-”

“Come on,” Cady says, reaching out for her. Janis can’t hold back a laugh as she hands Cady the food and struggles through hoisting her way up. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Janis says. “What are we doing?” 

“Midnight picnic,” Cady shrugs, resting the fries and both milkshakes between them. “Doesn’t technically count as dinner, I think.” 

“I guess not,” Janis chuckles, taking a few fries and dipping them into the chocolate milkshake. “Thanks for coming to get me.” 

“Of course,” Cady replies, reaching out to hold Janis’ hand. She links their fingers together and leaves them lazily tangled between them, both of them using their free hand to dig into their midnight snack. 

The french fries, much like a man, last a disappointingly short time. Cady puts all their trash to the side to be thrown away later, and lies down on the blanket she’s spread across the roof. Janis lies down next to her, cuddling into the second blanket Cady pulls over them and looking up at the stars. 

She looks next to her when she feels eyes on her, finding Cady looking at her intently. “What are you looking at?” 

“You,” Cady whispers. “You’re pretty.” 

Janis rolls her eyes lovingly and turns onto her side. Cady follows the motion, and they both inch the slightest bit closer together. 

“I love you,” Janis whispers entirely out of nowhere. Cady blinks in momentary surprise before she smiles and leans in for a kiss. 

“I love you too,” she murmurs. 

Janis stares at the girl before her, a faint smile lingering on both of their faces. Janis braves poking a hand out from their warm blanket cave into the chilly night air to gently trace Cady’s features. 

“I fucking hate that diner,” she whispers as she brushes her fingers over Cady’s eyebrows and down her nose. “But I’m really glad it brought me you.” 

“I am too. Can I tell you something?” Cady asks, shuddering slightly as Janis traces the shell of her ear in a particularly ticklish way. Janis nods. “I didn’t even want to go out that night we met. We’d been in a tournament all day and I was so exhausted. The boys made me go.”

“Really?” Janis asks with a smile. Cady nods. “Can I tell you something?” Another nod. “You guys didn’t actually sit in my section. I thought you were so cute when you walked in, and my friend noticed, so he made me take your table instead.” 

“Really?” Cady giggles. “Well, I’m glad he did.”

“I am too,” Janis grins. “You have no idea.”

“I think I have some idea,” Cady responds. “I love you.”

“I love you,” Janis echoes. 

“I love you.”

“I love you.” 

They both repeat it, over and over and over until they both dissolve into giggles and lean in for kisses, smiling against the other’s lips and continuing to whisper the words in between. 

“I’m still not taking you to dinner,” Janis whispers after they break apart. 

“I think I’ll live.”

————-

thanks for reading! hope you enjoyed!

[rumblelibrary]

Hello 👀❤️

So... I don't know if this will work or not, but I thought why not, I send it in... And if you don't like it, that's completely fine ❤️🔥

I really like how you write the characters' mind... What they are thinking or how they act... I was thinking, maybe a new mechanic (Reader) at Ferrari (yes, it's a Niki Lauda fic, you know me❤️🔥) who is really shy, but very good at their job, and Niki likes them and he is an asshole with everyone (which is normal from him) EXCEPT with the Reader... And like... Maybe at first he doesn't realize this, but then he does, and gets all conflicted like why is he getting soft suddenly, out of nowhere... (It is obvious, but not for him)... I'm curious how you would see this, write this... The ending of this story is up to you ❤️❤️

Love you ❤️🔥👀

What Is This Feeling [Niki Lauda x Mechanic!Reader]

Word count: 2.5k Warnings: lot of swearing by our favourite Rat King Author’s note: Niki is quickly turning into my comfort character to unleash my sass, thank you for giving me the chance to write him!

Part 2

On your first day at Ferrari nobody took you seriously, but to be a mechanic wasn’t exactly typing letters, it was not a place where somebody high up in the ranks would set a lover to give her some benefit and a free pay check.

You didn’t talk a lot, you stood your ground from the moment you put hands on any part of the car, but you weren’t exactly the chatty type and, being the only woman, it took you time to be allowed to the after work beer, to the birthdays and all the balancing that came with a good team spirit.

In a world full of bias about women, you were spared thanks to your abilities and knowledge. Or maybe, because the mechanics team had someone bigger to fight: Niki Lauda.

To work with him was thrilling, but stressful.

He would walk in at any hour of the day, break some egos, pile up an amount of changes that to make a brand new car would be a faster option.

You sat on the floor beside the baby, yes baby was the car, it wasn’t like you had to stay on the floor, there were more than plenty working stations, but it felt more comfortable for you: it gave you the chance to stand and look at things from afar, you were in need to touch, to understand, to put things together. It was your skill, but also your curse, because it was hard to gain yourself a space on the floor in such a fast paced environment like the one at Ferrari. You were working on the ignition when he stormed inside, the soft chats died fast and the noise of the radio was the only thing left, but he didn’t seem to mind the effect he had on people.

In a couple of long steps he was in front of one of your colleagues.

“What is this?” The man looked down to his sandwich like it was self explanatory, but the following silence brought him to answer “my lunch”

“Nice” Niki said, his lips curling downward in a very sarcastic amusement “well, take your lunch out of my garage because I don’t want your crumbles in my engine” he hissed picking the crumbles that effectively fell on the working table and sprinkling them like salt on the man’s face.

The man frowned and left to eat outside and avoid to punch him as Niki proceeded to his next victim.

“And you call this a design development? I call this dog shit”

“If this is a well done job, I’d better retire already before I get your good job to crack my skull open”

“Just begin again, don’t even ask”

“Are you sure you don’t work for McLaren? Because by the quality of your work I am starting to wonder”

One after the other all your colleagues fell under the axe of Niki’s commentary.

Nobody was spared, it was a butchery.

“So? What is this?”

You looked up at him as he towered over you, Satan himself would be less scary, and probably less attractive, to your eyes. His standing figure with rebel curls and his Ray-ban glasses in his left hand, the polo shirt under the fancy jacket, even his bad character gave him the edge so many men more conventionally attractive lack.

“I am working on the ignition” you said as he bent down crouching beside you as you showed him, his cologne filling your nostrils like the best smell your nose ever encountered.

“Okay, in what way?” He asked resting his elbows on his knees.

You gulped softly “Well, I am trying to experiment if I change this in here” and you pointed to a section in particular “maybe the car will have a better performance at the beginning of the race”

“Have you considered that it could over work the battery?”

“I did, but I wanted to see if I make here something like this” and you took a little tube showing how you lace it around the section “if I use this to push the cooler to work into this part as well, we might avoid over heating”

He listened touching his chin with the edge of his glasses thoughtfully.

“Give it a try”

He just said standing up.

Your colleagues looked at you shaking their heads as he turned around and everybody looked down to their tasks again, so then he left.

______________________________________________________________________ This wasn’t the first time, he wasn’t letting you do things he didn’t approve, but he always listened to you, he advised you, and the harshest thing he said was probably “I think you’re not looking at the bigger picture”

Nobody commented on it and beside some joke here and there, the little preference he had over you seemed to pass unnoticed mostly by him.

“You know, you really need a girlfriend” Clay, the other driver of the Ferrari alongside him, said during some tests.

Niki looked at him.

“Why? Do I look like one that has to fuck a woman to be fine?”

He laughed as Niki was always so overaggressive “No, but you treat everyone like bullshit beside the new girl, so you either can be an asshole only with men or your seduction technique needs a real check”

He frowned, eyebrows furrowing together as his lips parted in disbelief

“You nuts”

“Maybe, but I haven’t heard you complain about her as much as you complain about the rest of the world”

He shook his head “You are just letting you Italian genes getting your head stupid”

Clay laughed at him nodding knowingly “Sure, sure” he patted harshly on Niki’s back knowing how much he hated to be patted around like that as he moved to talk to one of the mechanics working on his car.

Niki crossed his arms resting against the wall of the garage, his eyes instinctively looking for your figure finding you to one of the working table writing down some notes over the changes applied while looking at the projects.

His eyes dropping on your ass like it was the first time he checked it, realising it wasn’t the first time he mentally noted it.

Well, he couldn’t really say you were unattractive, or not his type, or a good mechanic.

His thought process was suddenly interrupted as Clay himself approached you and you moved on side showing him the papers you were just writing on.

He nodded and said something to you, his hand casually resting on the small of your back making Niki’s jaw almost snap for how much he was gritting his teeth.

You shuffled on side avoiding the touch with a casual smile, but Clay kept talking to you and from afar Niki saw him say something and wave his pointed finger between himself and you. You shook your head and smiled turning down whatever he just offered with all the politeness you had, Niki pursued his lips slightly in amusement for his best girl’s behaviour.

Wait a second. Best girl?

He glared at Clay that smirked at him from afar, a big ‘I knew it’ smirk on his lips.

Niki bit the inside of his cheek not liking it.

He was with you like with everybody else, what the hell.

Niki ignored you all day, when you showed him something he himself requested to be shown, he shuffled away, when you handed him something he was looking for, he looked for it somewhere else, he just wasn’t meeting your eyes and hell and thunderstorm fell upon anyone that even tried to engage a talk with him on that day.

“I can’t with your boyfriend anymore, I swear” one of your colleagues muttered to you.

“He is not my boyfriend” 

He looked at you “Then he’d better be soon, maybe he’ll chill out”

“Are you even paid to stand and do nothing?” Niki shouted from afar and you two parted ways faster than two kids smuggling candies during class. ______________________________________________________________________

The next day was the judgment day for all the changes done on the car, your nerves were cracking as Niki arrived in his driving suit and your eyes immediately snapped a mental photo on his figure.

Did you ever went home wishing to have his company? Yes.

Did you ever wondered if he was so aggressive ever in the intimate times? Way too much.

Did you have any chance? Probably no.

You let out a big sigh as your colleagues reassured you “Hey, if it doesn’t work we either get rid of the rat or have some more time to work on it” he joked but you didn’t feel any better.

Niki looked up as he noticed your worried look, your lips nibbling down on your lips, your foot tapping rhythmically and nervously, the sudden instinct to lean his hand on that waist of yours, to rest his leg beside yours to make it stop that nerve wracking dance, to forbid your lips any more damage not caused by him.

All of that crowded his mind and he growled tiredly.

Stupid Clay, with his stupid theories.

He finished getting ready and put on his helmet settling down in his spot rolling his shoulders back, he needed to focus.

The head mechanic came over him repeating all the changes and just annoying the hell out of him, he is not always around the car only to check you out.

“When you're done telling me what I know, tell me something I don’t, I beg you”

The head mechanic did a big effort not to spit into his face and just left him waving his arms in the air.

You touched on your forehead nervously, if you failed it would show in the timings or maybe the car won’t even start.

You looked at him, seconds before he pulled down the dark lid of his helmet, his dark eyes so focused a shiver creeped over you.

You gasped as the signal was given and the car started.

Your fingers finding their way to your mouth as you nibbled your skin.

The car was fast, that was sure, you leaned beside the head mechanic that was taking the time. You breathed heavily, your mind going through all the changes you did, all the small settlements, the little details.

An eternal list that kept repeating itself.

Then the question as he was halfway through the leap, what if you disappointed him?

What if he asked you to be sent away?

Then you looked down to the chronometer, he was already almost two seconds earlier than usual.

A smile started to grow on you, the excitement filling your veins.

The sound of the engine roaring beautifully, you made it!

Then it happened, some smoke raised up to the sky, one of the wheels snapped, the breath died in your throat.

The car flexed on side but Niki controlled it and guided it against the sandy side of the track that slowed it down until it stopped.

“He was breaking his record” the head mechanic sighed “now he is just going to break our balls”

Niki moved out of the car throwing his helmet on the ground pushing off roughly anyone that tried to help him or check if he was hurt, some of the mechanics moving to the tow truck to recollect the car, Niki moving past you, his face tense and his posture of someone ready to snap some necks. You didn’t see him for the rest of the day, nobody talked about him, nobody mentioned anything as the storm will fall on all of the team the next day.

Now it was the head mechanic to face it for all of you.

______________________________________________________________________

That night you stayed over time, the other colleagues told you to just go home, to not let the thing sink of you, to look at it with fresh eyes and all those circumstantial phrases people gift you when they try to cheer you up. 

As always on the floor, you had now the chance to spread the pieces out, collect them into branches of types and use. You pulled closer your notebook writing down the ideas and things to remember to check, the image of Niki almost crashing gutting you even if you soon realised it wasn’t your change that set off the wheel, but it was part of the cause, the car was now too powerful and the stress on the suspensions was deadly.

You yawned lightly pulling a catalogue of replacements parts trying to find the best mix you could manage, but you surely had to make up something about it. You didn’t expect to solve the problem or to find the solution for everything with a creative twist, but to, at least, plan a sequence of possibilities to present to your chief the next day.

A hand slowly leaning a mug of steaming coffee beside you.

You looked up to find Niki there, another cup in his hand, those messy curls calling to be touched, his impeccable style always winning you over with a dark turtleneck and his tweed jacket.

“Found the problem?” He asked sharply as always.

He was surprised to see you there, he spent the rest of the afternoon after the malfunction with the head mechanic and some of the administrators as he needed a solution in time for the upcoming race.

So he decided he couldn’t trust their promises and reassurances, but take the matter in his own hand, for a change. But when he arrived he saw the lights still on and you there. He was almost tempted to leave, it wasn’t a good moment to screw things with one of his most talented mechanics.

But you, again, were so into it, you looked so beautiful with your working jumpsuit and the hair messed up nibbling on that pen like it was a matter of life and death.

He couldn’t just let you stay so beautiful and alone, who knows who could approach you.

You nodded “I think so” you said showing him the piece, he leaned his head on side studying it 

“May I?”

You nodded as he took off his blazer before joining you on the floor, he crossed his legs, your knees touching as he stole those papers from your hand.

“Signal to the administration this night shift, or they won’t ever pay you” he muttered without looking away from the papers.

You smirked “I know, but it is more a matter of principle than money, I didn’t like the heart attack you gave me today”

You were surprised by your own words, maybe it was because you really were over caffeinated or just realising how it was the first time you were alone and how you felt comfortable around him. No, not comfort, it was trust, you trusted him.

He looked up from the papers up at you, he didn’t replied to your comment straightaway, he let it sink in, he let your presence sink in.

A one-sides smirk appeared on his lips

“It is going to be a long night, then” Tagged @cazzyimagines @lieutenantn @handmaiden-of-mischief@thesunflowersutra Let me know if you want to get added <3

[altsvu]

left in the dark

pairing: jj x kate callahan x bau!fem!reader, aaron hotchner x bau!fem!reader

wc: 1.6k

summary: you find out you’re pregnant with Hotch’s baby (in the most unexpected way) and you go to JJ and Kate about it since they’re also pregnant, but their only advice is to tell Hotch about it.

tw: pregnancy, fluff, mentions of blood/injury, breeding kink??

a/n: at first this was super hard for me to write, mostly because this is different than what i’m used to, but i think it turned out okay! enjoy my lovelies!!

criminal minds masterlist! ✯ taglist!

✯✯✯✯

“JJ! When were you gonna tell me?”

“I don’t know, I just wanted to wait till things played out.”

You smiled. “Well, I’m super happy for you regardless.”

“Thank you.” JJ smiled, pulling you into a hug. “So, how are things going with you and Hotch?”

You bit your lip. Hotch was the sweetest to you. He took you to romantic dates on off days and you always checked up on each via text messages and FaceTime when one of you were away.

Not to mention that your sex life was immaculate.

“Things are going pretty well, to be honest. We’re actually going to rent out the AMC movie theater in Arlington this weekend and watch our favorite throwback movies.”

“Oh, that sounds super romantic, I’m actually super glad that you two finally decided to get together after he was pining for you for years.”

You snorted. “We were both pining for each other. For a very very long time.”

“Yeah, the team had their suspicions.” JJ agreed. “You ready to head to the jet?”

You nodded and followed JJ out to the tarmac.

✯✯✯✯

You and Hotch had to go check out the crime scene, and it was a gruesome one. A family of 5 were bludgeoned in their home late at night, and the wife... well she had multiple knife cuts on her abdomen.

Out of nowhere, you felt sick to your stomach. This was unusual, especially for you since you got used to seeing many different types of crime scenes. You tried your hardest to breathe calmly but you felt yourself about to throw up.

“... he hurts them before finally killing them. Y/N? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just probably ate something bad-“ you couldn’t even finish your sentence when you found yourself running outside and throwing up. You wiped your mouth and took deep breaths, trying to process what just happened.

“Sweetheart?” Hotch whispered. You turned around and he held you by your arms. “What’s going on? This is very unlike you.”

“I- I don’t know what’s going on.” you replied. “This never happens.”

He pulled you into a hug. “Do you want me to take you back to the field office?” He murmured into your hair.

“No, you don’t have to. I’ll be okay.”

You caught Hotch still staring you down with a concerned look on his face.

“Damn it Aaron. Don’t worry about me. I don’t want to be the reason we don’t find this unsub in a timely manner.”

“Okay, you’re right. But can you please let me know if you don’t feel well?”

“Yes sir.” You smiled, pressing a kiss on his cheek and walking back to the crime scene.

✯✯✯✯

When you got back to the field office, Hotch had to talk to the field agent on the case in his office, and you had to go to the conference room to look over some case files.

Hunger then struck over you, so you headed to the vending machine you noticed earlier to find a snack to hold you over until lunch. The options that were there weren’t appealing to you, so it looked like you weren’t gonna be eating for about a few more hours. To your luck, Kate and JJ were in the conference room when you got back.

“Girls, I swear I’m gonna die if I don’t have anything in my system.”

“You want some saltines? It’s all I have.” JJ asked.

“Oh yes, please.” You nodded. JJ handed you a fresh pack.

You were so indulged in them that you almost finished the pack. JJ and Kate caught on

extremely fast.

“Are you pregnant too?” Spencer asked, walking in.

“What? What makes you think I’m pregnant?”

Kate sat next to you. “Well, for starters, you’re eating saltines.”

“Because I didn’t want anything at the vending machine.”

“There’s a pattern here. Kate ate saltines, I caught JJ eating saltines, and now you’re eating them.”

You sighed, putting the rest of the pack down. “Look, pretty boy, I think I would know if I were pregnant.”

“If you say so,” Reid answered with a smile on his face.

The rest of the team came in, and all thoughts of you being pregnant dissipated.

✯✯✯✯

Over the next few days, you had some of the same symptoms and you started to wonder if you were actually pregnant. You wanted to buy a test but it would be hard to do so when your job came first.

Soon enough, the case was closed and you were heading back home. Everyone on the jet was asleep except you and Hotch.

“Hey,” he said softly. “How you feeling?”

“Like eating a 5 course meal and throwing it back up.” you moaned, curling up closer to him for comfort.

“I’ll take you home and cook you a nice meal, okay?”

You nodded, mumbling “I love you” and he kissed your lips in response.

Finally getting home, Hotch did as he promised and you spent the night cuddling and comforting each other.

The next morning you felt yourself throwing up again so you decided it was time to get a pregnancy test. Hotch had already left to go back to Quantico to do some paperwork but the rest of the team was off. You dragged yourself to a nearby store to get a test and took it immediately.

Two lines.

How would Hotch react?

He always talked about having kids, in fact he almost got turned on at the thought of you with a baby bump. But the only thing was that he wanted things to be planned out.

You figured he was pretty busy at the moment so you called JJ and Kate and asked to come over to one of their homes. Ultimately, JJ invited you and Kate over.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Kate asked when you arrived.

“I’m pregnant.” You whispered. Both of the women hugged you and congratulated you. They then sat you down at JJ’s dining room table.

“Does Hotch know?”

You bit your lip. “That’s the thing. He doesn’t really know yet. I don’t really know what to do.”

“Well I think the best thing to do is tell him. There’s no way that he would get mad. He loves you too much.” JJ suggested.

You nodded in agreement.

“Also, he’s gonna find out soon enough, so it would be better to just let him know so he expects it,” Kate added.

“You ladies are so right. I’ll let you know how things go!”

✯✯✯✯

When you got back home, Hotch was at the couch watching a show, but it looked more like he was about to fall asleep.

“Hi baby,” you murmured against his skin after ridding yourself of your outerwear and shoes.

“Y/N...” he whispered. He sat up and held you by your waist. “I missed you when I came in.”

“Yeah, I just went over JJ’s for a bit.”

Hotch nodded. There was a bit of silence between you two.

“You look like there’s something bothering you.” he then said.

You shut your eyes, trying to think of the right way to tell him. “Aaron, I’m pregnant.” you said so very quietly.

His eyes widened in excitement. “Y/N! Oh my gosh, I’m ecstatic! This is amazing!”

You smiled and laughed in joy with him as one of his hands sneaked under your shirt and rubbed your belly. He was now sitting upright with you on his lap.

“God, I don’t think you know how long I’ve thought about this.” Hotch hummed, kissing your bare skin. “All those times filling you up with my seed in the bedroom paid off big time. I can’t wait to see your belly grow and grow.”

You leaned down and kissed his lips. “Mmm, I can’t wait either.”

✯✯✯✯

It was just a matter of time before the rest of the team found out. You did not hear the end of it from Spencer when he figured that he was right the whole time.

Hotch, on the other hand, didn’t waste any time serenading and whispering sweet nothings about how you looked so beautiful with your ever growing baby bump to you every day after work, even sometimes during work too. He’d always say that he was just super excited that you were pregnant with his baby every time you asked.

Your pregnancy was so special to the team that Kate and JJ threw a surprise baby shower, in which everyone found out you and Hotch were having a little girl.

In a few short months, your due date was inching closer and closer, and Hotch was there by your side through everything, from when your water broke in the briefing room to when you were being rushed to a hospital room to have the baby delivered.

And finally.

You welcomed a baby girl into the world.

“She’s so beautiful. Just like you.” Hotch smiled and kissed your lips after you were able to hold your baby again.

You nodded in agreement, tears escaping your eyes. You thought about what your life was going to be like now, since you had a precious little one to take care of.

During your maternity leave, each member of the team came to visit you at home, some bearing small gifts for your baby.

“Hey,” Hotch came up to you one night after putting your baby to bed. He tucked your hair behind your ear and kissed the skin behind it. “Can I tell you something?”

“Mhmm, anything.”

“I’m really glad that we have a baby to take care of. I’ve wanted this for such a long time, and having it with you just makes it even better.”

You smiled in response. “Yeah?”

“Oh yeah. I love you so much, Y/F/N Y/L/N.”

✯✯✯✯

taglist: @storiesofsvu @averyhotchner @ssaic-jareau @blackbeautifulqueen @virgo-gf @mstrinnyb @mrshadeelgibson @ssahotchswifemain @anxiousblanketqueen @hotchsbabygirl @willowrose99 @ssa-sarahsunshine @deiondraaa

[writertitan]

Midnight Snacks

pairing: eren x reader 

words: 2058

themes: college au, lots of fluff, eren being a little embarrassing with his gas station order 

requested by anon

Finals week had both you and Eren on high alert and in high panic. Truth be told, you didn’t need to really worry that much; you had prepared yourself for this all semester and had really kept up with your workload. Mostly, you were just stressed about the finals themselves and how, well, final they were. And so close together. A gift and a curse. You’d be done before finals week was even over. 

What really had you in a panic was Eren. The boy, bless his heart, was not apt for cramming. He’d kept up with his work like you had, but you knew him like the back of your hand; he was prone to leaving the harder things until the last minute. 

You glanced at your phone to check the time as Eren flipped back and forth between a page in his biology textbook, grumbling to himself under his breath. It was almost 12:30 in the morning and both of you had been at it all night, cramming and rememorizing things just to be prepared, and Eren especially was deep in concentration. You smiled to yourself as you watched his brows furrow even more than they already were, a feat you thought impossible. Just as you set your phone down to continue your own last-minute preparations, Eren sat up straight with a growl and pushed his textbook off your bed with his knee. 

“I feel like my head’s about to explode,” he complained, flopping over onto your lap. His eyes found yours immediately and he pouted as he reached up to stroke your cheek, then turned his head to glare at your textbook, as if personally offended by it, and pushed it off your bed to join his own. 

“Eren,” you whined, about to push his head off your lap, but he stopped you by reaching both hands up to cup your face. 

“C’mon, let’s just take a small break. We’re probably gonna be at this for a few more hours,” he said, fingers lightly caressing your jaw to entice you into going with his plan. You pondered it, then thought about arguing back with him about needing to study, but then realized he was probably right. All of this endless cramming with no break was just going to end up in you not retaining any of it. 

“Just a small break,” you relented, giving him a warning stare. He sat up, much brighter now, and pulled you off your bed immediately. He stretched his legs out and then reached his arms up to the ceiling for a full body stretch, already in a better mood. 

“Let’s go buy some snacks,” he suggested, wrapping an arm around your shoulders to pull you in. “That’ll help with the brain juice.” 

You hated Eren’s term, brain juice, but you knew he had a point. You had to keep up your energy. 

“Okay, let’s go to the vending machines and pick something out,” you said, moving to put some shoes on. 

“There’s a convenience store just down the street, babe. Please can we go? Your dorm’s vending machines aren’t gonna cut it,” he said, the pout back again. You rolled your eyes playfully but again relented, happy to just get out of your dorm room for a second. 

“Okay, fine. But you’re not supposed to be here, remember? It’s way past visiting hours. We have to be so sneaky,” you said, voice already lowering to a whisper. If you’re RA found out you’d been holing Eren up in your dorm well past 10pm, she was going to lose her mind. 

Eren made a show of zipping his lips and acting stealthy, which made you snort. You grabbed his hand after putting on shoes and jackets, and carefully slipped out to start your trek to the convenience store. 

You had to admit, it was a nice idea. And Eren was right, your vending machines didn’t hold a candle to all the other savory treats you really wanted. 

The night was a little breezy, but the impending summer weather kept the spring chill at bay. Eren had your hand engulfed in his, fingers laced as he swung your hands lightly, other hand messing with his loose bun. The night wrapped around him beautifully, streetlights casting glows that defined the most handsome parts of his face. 

He caught you staring after a minute of him being deep in thought, and you flashed him a mischievous grin which he returned.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he teased, the lame phrase making you giggle. 

“Okay,” you said cheerily, which took him off guard. You pulled your hand from his and giggled again at his confusion, before moving to stand behind him, hands reaching up to grasp his shoulders and give a small tug to make him stop walking. He knew immediately what you were getting at and crouched down enough to let you hop on, catching you easily and gripping your thighs as you wrapped an arm around your shoulders. Your other hand reached into your pocket to pull out your phone and you wasted no time in pulling up the camera app, jutting your arm out so you could capture Eren’s face right next to yours, the two of you flashing cheesy and ridiculous smiles as you snapped the picture. The automatic flash activated due to the low lighting and Eren whined and blinked, squeezing his eyes shut as the flash went off. 

When you looked at the end result, you showed Eren with a pleased laugh. You looked fine, all smiles and bright eyes. Eren, on the other hand, had blinked a little too soon. His eyes were shut, eyebrows raised, a dopey grin on his face that matched yours. 

“Delete that,” he complained, letting go of one thigh to try to reach for your phone. You were too fast, however, and eased it back into your jacket pocket. “Babe, delete it!”

“Nope! That’s my new favorite picture of us.” 

“I’m not buying you any snacks once we get there.” 

A lie, completely. If anything, Eren would play the little devil on your shoulder and egg you on in just a few minutes, into making not-so-smart choices. Why choose between the chocolate and the gummies when you can have both? 

You moved to hop off once you were in front of the store, but Eren’s grip tightened on your thighs. You angled your head to give him a confused glance, which he ignored, but he turned his head to peck your lips. 

“We’ll be quick. You’ll be my hands,” he said, and you rolled your eyes at his words, but hid your big smile into his shoulder. You knew he could feel the way your lips turned up over the thin fabric of his jacket and even thinner shirt. 

“Alright, what do you want?” you asked him, letting him lead you where you knew he’d go first: the Lunchables. 

“Ham and cheese and crackers, please,” he requested, but you already knew that and were grabbing at it with one hand. He kissed your wrist as a thank you and then asked, “Okay, what are we getting you? The usual?” 

“Yes, please,” you hummed, nuzzling into his neck as he made his way over to your preferred snack of choice. And, after grabbing two drinks, your hands absolutely full, you made your way to the counter to pay. The clerk gave you a bored look, not at all interested in the sight in front of him, and rang up your items slowly and announced your total. 

A contest as always, you and Eren both reached for your wallets. He somehow managed to be quicker, mostly because you were trying your best not to lose your balance as you held onto him with one arm and fished around for money with the other, and you grumbled as he paid for both of you. 

You held onto the bag as you exited the convenience store, again trying to hop off, and again being secured in place by Eren’s tight grip. 

“Aren’t you getting tired?” you asked him, genuinely curious, but Eren nearly guffawed at the question. 

“Are you joking? I wouldn’t even consider this a warm-up, babe. Carrying Jean’s blacked-out ass home after a party, though... that’ll make me break a sweat. I don’t know how he’s so fucking heavy.” 

You giggled, vividly remembering one of those times, and you rested your head on Eren’s shoulder after letting a yawn slip out. 

“I wish we didn’t have to go back to studying after this,” you pouted, pressing a pouty kiss into Eren’s shoulder. “I hate finals.” 

“Let’s eat our snacks before we get back to it,” Eren compromised. “My brain still feels heavy with knowledge. I gotta let it soak it all up.” 

“Always saying the weirdest things,” you teased him, squealing at the pinch on your thigh. 

Sneaking up to your dorm room was as easy as sneaking out, and you pulled Eren for a quick kiss as soon as the door locked behind you. You tossed the bag onto your bed and then began fishing your snacks out once your shoes and jacket were off and you were both able to situate more comfortably on your bed. Eren held you in his lap as he leaned back against your wall and browsed through his phone, the two of you watching dumb compliations on YouTube while you snacked. It was nice to turn your brain off just for a while, to rest up and come back to studying rejuvenated. 

His hand would occasionally sneak up your neck and grab at your hair, lightly massaging your scalp as he pressed tender kisses to your temple. You shared your snacks and really took your time with finishing, letting yourselves soak in your study break. 

“Thanks for making me take a break,” you told him, leaning your head back against his chest. “I forget sometimes.” 

“I know you do,” Eren chuckled, squeezing you into a hug and pressing you into his chest even more. He noticed yet another suppressed yawn from you and hummed in acknowledgement, and you knew what he was going to say before he said it. 

“I can’t go to sleep, I have to keep studying,” you said, beating him to it. 

“You’re studying for your final tomorrow and it’s not even until noon. You know a really important habit before taking a big test is to get enough sleep before it.” 

Damn it. You hated when he used logic against you. 

“Fine, but just a nap,” you grumbled, sitting up to grab at your trash and discard it in your bin. You set an alarm and gave Eren a tired smile. “I’m gonna drag you down with me, though. You need to sleep too.” 

Eren scoffed, his voice a little panicked when he spoke again. “No way. Unlike you, I have to cram. I’m nowhere near ready for my final tomorrow.” 

“Yours isn’t until the afternoon,” you pointed out, hitting him back with the logic he’d used on you. “Like you said, a good habit is to get plenty of sleep before a test.” 

Eren sighed, but you could tell he wasn’t going to argue with you. He looked just as tired as you and the two of you arranged yourselves in your cramped bed to doze off, if only for a little bit. 

His hands found your hair and he played with it softly as you both curled up into one another. 

“Love you,” he murmured, drowsy already, and you smiled to yourself, head on his chest with your hand tracing loving circles at his torso. 

“Love you too,” you answered, warming at the soft touch of his hand on your chin. He tilted your head up to steal a quick kiss to your lips, then to your nose. You closed your eyes and let yourself relax, about to really drift off when you felt Eren shift under you. 

Your ears picked up the quiet sounds of Eren taking your phone from your nightstand. You peeked an eye open, careful to stay quiet lest you arouse suspicion, and resisted the urge to let a huge grin overcome you as you watched him go to your camera roll, tap on the ridiculous picture you’d taken earlier, and send it to himself. 

[blackmissfrizzle]

Chill Out

Characters: Rio x black!reader

Summary: Wine drunk + dancing= a very entertained but annoyed Rio

Warnings: Smut

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEA 💖 @starrynite7114 thank you for being such a great friend. I hope your day is filled with joy 😘 love you, babes! P.S. this was so hard to keep a secret from you lol

I highly recommend listening to these while reading:

Today you were on a high. You woke up feeling good and the day just kept on getting better. Your friends came over for drinks and gossip. During that time the playlist that was playing in the background had hits after hits, causing y’all to be singing dancing fools.

Eventually, the girls had to leave because it was a school night, but it was perfect timing because as soon as they were leaving Rio came back home.

“You have fun, mama?” He kissed you tasting the wine on your lips. You started getting bolder, nibbling on his lips and neck. Oh, it was about to be one of those nights, Rio thought.

Rio pulled away from you and went to the refrigerator for a water bottle. “Not right now. I wanna watch the game.” He explained, plopping down on the couch.

You tried to hold in your whining. It wasn’t often that Rio got to relax, so left him be. “Do you mind if I play music while I clean up?”

“Nah, you do you. I don’t wanna hear the commentators anyway.”

With his permission you turned the music up. It was a little mix of everything so when Crush started playing you got hyped since you haven’t heard that song in forever.

It's just (aah) a little crush (crush)

Not like I faint every time we touch

It's just (aah) some little thing (crush)

Not like everything I do depends on you

Sha-la-la-la, sha-la-la-la

Rio side-eyed you as you began to sing and dance like every white girl in a 90s movie. “Really? You jamming out to this mess?”

“Rude.” You continued singing and dancing along while you were wiping down the counter. Then the next banger came on and you had to rope Rio in.

Motownphilly's back again

Doin' a little east coast fling

Boyz II Men going off

Not too hard, not too soft

Before you were in the kitchen singing and dancing, but with this new song you migrated to the living room dancing in front of Rio. “What you know about this?” You taunted him while doing the running man.

Rio secretly loved that you were dancing like a fool. You were the sunshine in his gloomy life.

He tried not to crack a smile at your silliness, but he couldn’t help it. “Come here,” he crooked a long finger at you.

Continuing to dance, you shook your head no. He wasn’t about to rain on your parade. “Come here.” Rio repeated with more authority in his voice.

This time you complied and stood between Rio’s legs. Grabbing onto your hips Rio pulled you into his lap. For awhile he massaged your scalp while he just stared at you lovingly.

Rio was the king of building up tension. Usually, you would snap and tell him to hurry up, but that would only make him prolong it. However, you were enjoying it this time. His nose rubbing against yours, his breath tickling your face, his hands running along your body.

Eventually, his lips graced yours. He held your chin as the kiss got a little messier. But as usual it was magical. “I love you,” he smiled at you.

“I love you too.” You kissed him once more before you got up. He smacked your ass as you walked away, enjoying it ripple before he got pulled away by the game. “Be ready as soon as the game is off.”

“Okay, daddy,” you giggled and went off to finish cleaning.

As you continue to clean you continued dancing. During commercial breaks you would dance in front of Rio causing him to roll his eyes like he wasn’t enjoying it. Mostly it was silly dancing, but then the twerk songs started coming on and you couldn’t help yourself.

Damn, I want all three (come here), ooh

Ashley (ayy), ooh, Ashley (ayy)

I get hard when she walk past me (look at that ass)

'Cause she thick (thick)

Thi-thi-thi-thi-thi-thick (thick)

Thi-thi-thi-thi-thi-thick (thick)

Thi-thi-thi-thi-thick, she make me stutter

Thankfully it was a commercial break because Rio probably would’ve pushed you out of the way when you started twerking in his face. Instead he gripped a chunk of ass and told you, “Aye, chill with all that.”

“Oh, so Jake from State Farm is more interesting than me?” Rio didn’t say anything for a bit. He just rubbed his bottom lip while his eyes roamed your body. “Girl, you better move before you have my full attention.”

Rolling your eyes you moved out of the way and grabbed you a glass of wine. Fine, if he didn’t want to play, you’ll have fun on your own.

Two wine glasses later and you didn’t give one fuck. You were all up in Rio’s face rapping along with lyrics about using men. Even though, Rio was mostly expressionless you still caught his little quirks of reactions.

“He always asking do I love him? I always be tellin' him, "Uh-uh" I told him he pushing his luck, he better be happy I fucked him.”

“Watch it,” Rio lowly warned you. As usual you paid him no mind and played the next song.

Got more milkshakes than Kelis

Ain't met a nigga who can handle me

I think I should be in museums (hey hey)

'Cause this body a masterpiece (yeah yeah)

Can I fuck ya to a trap beat? (huh huh huh)

He said girl you tryin' to trap me? (Huh huh huh)

Ah hell nah, nigga no I ain't (what what? Uh)

You can hit that door, here go ahead leave (what what? Uh)

Rio couldn’t focus on the game. Between you twerking and rapping in his face, basically saying ‘fuck him’ had him hard as fuck, but he wasn’t about give into you. However, your determination was stronger than his. The last straw though was when you got on the couch popping over ass cheek at a time while looking at him “innocently.”

I wanna bust it on your face

He wanna see my shit squirt like he squeezed it

He finna die by this pussy, he need it

He wanna keep it like lock it and key it

I tell him to bring me my money then beat it

Give a nigga back to the streets, ayy

Even though the song wasn’t your words, it was still a challenge to him. You were directing all that energy to him and you about to get it back ten-fold.

While you were in Meganland, Rio was able to pull your shorts and panties to the side. He didn’t have the time so he pulled his dick out of his pants.

“Rioooo,” you reached back to grab onto his wrists when you felt him split you open. “Nah, what you running for? Remember you were gonna ‘leave this dick up in a casket’?”

Rio loved this song. The moment when he sees the brattiness dies and you become a compliant whimpering mess. Only he could do this. Only he could make this independent, strong woman weak.

“Come on, baby. I thought you ain’t met anyone who can handle you. This sure looks like I’m handling all this shit.” Rio smacked your ass as he looked at your conjoined bodies.

It was too much and too little at the same time. Rio was giving you those long, slow strokes that had you near the edge, but could never quite push you over.

“Please,” you begged, trying to flatten yourself. “Nah, you gonna take this.” Rio pulled your hips up and got a tight grip on them to make sure you weren’t going anywhere.

“Please let me cum, Rio. I’ll be good. I promise.” Your man chuckled, making you want to cry. He either wasn’t in a forgiving mood or he was gonna make you work for it.

Grabbing you by your chin, Rio turned your face towards him. Instinctively, he stuck some of his fingers in your mouth. “You want cum, huh?”

“Mmmhmm,” you nodded, gently sucking on his fingers.

“Why should I? You wouldn’t let me watch the game.”

“Because I’ll make you feel good, daddy.” Rio smiled at you before he bent down and kissed you while wrapping his arm around your body to start rubbing your clit. “Cum on this dick, bitch.” He whispered into your ear.

Rio sped up his pace a bit and you were going crazy, yelling out his name. “Rio, Rio, tak-, tak-, take me to the room. I’m gonna squirt.”

“So?” His voice was strained letting you know he was close to finishing. “I’m gonna ruin the couch.”

“Fuck this couch. I’ll buy another. Now cum on this dick. I’m trying to finish the game.”

With his permission, you soaked Rio’s clothes and the couch and not too long after you felt his seed coat your walls.

“Shit, I love you,” you smile tiredly as you laid your head against the armrest.

“Uh-huh, get up and take all your clothes off.” Rio pulled out of you and smacked your butt. You were about to object, but when you saw the look on his face, you quickly undressed.

For a moment, Rio forgot what he wanted you to do. Your body always hypnotized him. He just stared at you with his lip tucked in between his teeth. “Come sit on this dick, mama.”

Ugh, he wanted you to ride? You didn’t have the energy for that, but you listened anyway. Facing the tv, you sank down on his dick causing you both to moan in unison.

You began to bounce up and down, but Rio stilled your hips. “Nah, you ain’t gotta do all that.” Thank god, he was gonna do all the work. “You’re gonna sit here and be still while finish watching the game.”

“Huh?” He couldn’t be serious.

“Yeah, you heard me,” Rio closed your dropped jaw. “And if you move I’ll watch the next game even though I don’t give a fuck about that team.”

Rio didn’t give you a chance to object. He turned on the tv and ignored. Guess you should’ve chilled out earlier.

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