#every few hours I check socials to see if she’s posted anything

[lewmagoo]

we own the sky | rhett abbott

part two: under pressure

read part one here

series info: new parts will be uploaded every friday at 7pm est. want more? read the synopsis here. listen to the playlist here. see the posting schedule here.

description: in which you decide to face your fears

warnings: 18+ only, heavy themes, mentions of character death, grief, blood and injury, angst with a positive ending, panic attack, allusions to sex, eventual smut, inaccurate weather terms, please do not check my science lol this story requires some suspension of disbelief. i usually try not to say anything about reader's family in fics but i do mention them having an unnamed great-aunt, as it was necessary to the plot

pairing: rhett abbott x f!reader

word count: 11,838

notes: this story is inspired by twisters. you do not have to watch the movie in order to understand this story, because aside from the storm chasing aspect, it has nothing to do with the twister universe. i've been working on this story for 2 months straight, and it is my pride and joy. i am so excited for everyone to read it! without further adieu, here is we own the sky!

You curled up beneath the covers that night, eager to get some much-needed rest after a day spent cleaning and socializing. Your body was so weary, and as you snuggled into the softness of Rhett’s bed, your eyes grew heavy as soon as your head hit the pillow, and you drifted off into dreamland. 

But a few hours later, you woke to the sound of your name being sharply whispered into the gray morning light. It took a moment for you to draw yourself to consciousness, climbing your way out of layers of dreams, before your eyes flew open and you found yourself staring into Rhett’s face. 

“Hey, sorry t’ wake ya so early, but there’s storm activity over by Sapulpa. Wanna come with us?” He asked, voice low. 

You squinted, glancing over at the small digital clock on the nightstand. It was barely five in the morning. It had only been a few hours since you’d pledged to go on a chase with Rhett. You had certainly not been prepared for it to be this soon. 

“Fuck it,” you grumbled, tossing the covers off. “I’ll come.”

“You don’t have to if—”

“I’m comin’,” came your sharp reply. You hurried to your suitcase, where you dug out some clothes to change into. 

“Alright, I’ll be in the truck.” He kept his voice at a whisper, but there was an excitement in his tone, electricity in the air. 

When he left the room, you let out a breath, a shudder running through your body. The beginnings of adrenaline had begun to course through you, and your heart rate picked up as you realized what was happening. This was it. You’d made a bet and now you had to follow through with it. 

So, running off of four hours of sleep, with a body that ached from exhaustion, you got dressed, shoved your feet into your shoes, grabbed your phone, and quietly scurried out into the hall and down the steps. 

You were surprised to see Cecilia in the kitchen doorway, waiting for you. “Take this,” she said, placing a paper bag full of breakfast goods such as granola bars and homemade muffins in your hands. Then she patted your hand. “And be careful, you hear me? Both of you.”

“We will be,” you assured her. 

She didn’t seem at all surprised that you were going. Either Rhett had already told her, or she’d simply assumed you would end up going at some point. 

After you bid her goodbye, you burst through the front door and onto the porch, shoes scraping against wood as you bounded down the steps. You jogged to the truck, and in the distance, you could see an F150 and an RV coming down the road. 

The team was coming together. It was time to chase down some twisters. 

With your heart pounding in your chest and your hands trembling, you climbed into the passenger seat of Rhett’s truck, shoving the bag of food down onto the floorboards. Rhett was already in the driver’s seat, fiddling with the radio dial, trying to find a weather broadcast. 

“Y’ready for this?” He asked you.

A shuddering breath escaped your lungs. “As I’ll ever be.” A lie. You were nowhere near ready for this. But you’d already made a promise, so you had to stick it out. 

“Hey,” Rhett continued, bumping your arm gentle with his own. “If you need to stop at any point, just let me know, alright?”

You mustered a smile. “I will,” you promised. You folded your hands in your lap so they’d stop shaking. 

Moments later, after the team pulled in, you glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Zara jump out of the Ford, headed for you and Rhett. With her thick curls piled into a bun atop her head, a pair of smart denim shorts and a tucked in button-down with the sleeves rolled up, she looked ready to get down to business. 

When she saw you, her face broke into a grin. “You’re coming!” She exclaimed, speaking through the truck window Rhett had just opened. 

“Yeah! Had to carry out my end of the bargain,” you told her, trying to sound humorous, but you were certain that your trepidation overshadowed any attempt at being funny.

She held up an iPad. “Here, I’ll let you monitor the radar, if you’re comfortable with that?” 

You looked at weather radar screens for a living. You were more than capable of monitoring the storm path, but you still felt your chest tighten with uncertainty. Even so, you reached out and took the device from her. “Sure, I can do that.”

“Great! All of us communicate through walkies, so if you have any questions, just radio me.”

“I will. Thanks,” you replied with a nod. And then, “Oh! Here, have some breakfast for the road.” You reached into the bag from Cecilia and pulled out some muffins and breakfast bars, thrusting them into her hands. “Give some to Finn and Danny too!”

“Thank you! See ya on the road!” Then she was off, jogging back to the truck.

You settled back against the seat, breathing out a sigh. Beside you, Rhett leaned closer. “Hey,” he hummed, “you’re gon’ be just fine.”

You tried your best to believe him.

As he pulled onto the main road, headed toward Sapulpa, you unlocked the iPad, familiarizing yourself with its layout before you located the radar app. With trembling fingers, you put the location into the search bar and waited for it to pull the correct screen up.

Seconds later, there it was. A large, red colored cloud moving over the map, indicating severe weather activity. Sapulpa wasn’t too far away. A fifteen-minute drive and you’d be there. 

As Rhett drove, accelerating ten miles over the speed limit, you found yourself secretly hoping that you would not encounter a twister on this run. Maybe it would only be a storm. But you knew this area. You were more than familiar with the weather patterns here. 

You looked up at the sky, noticing the angry gray clouds in the distance, roiling with thunder and lightning, full of raindrops, just waiting to unleash their fury upon the earth below. 

It felt as if you were driving straight into the belly of the beast, and essentially, you were. 

Forcing your eyes back down to the screen in your lap, you studied the radar, taking notice of the severe weather banner that had just popped up across the screen. In your pocket, your phone buzzed, and you didn’t have to look at it to know that a tornado warning had been issued for the area. 

Oh, god. 

“Y’ still with me?” Rhett’s voice pulled your attention to him. 

“Yeah, I…I’m fine,” you lied right through your teeth. You glanced out the back window of the truck, and eyed the trailer full of nitrogen tanks, metal rattling loudly. 

It was up to you and Rhett to get these tanks into position. You had to face the danger head-on, get ahead of the potential twister, and make the drop, all while trying to avoid being blown off course by the wind. 

This was a suicide mission. 

But you refused to back out, swallowing your terror and keeping a close eye on the radar. You were getting closer to the brewing storm. Although it was early morning and the sun had just begun to rise, it was eerily dark, clouds casting a shadow over the rolling plains. 

As your gaze flickered to the fields that framed the stretch of highway, you watched the grass ripple in the wind. Without thinking, you moved to open the window, and a blast of humid air hit you in the face. 

A flash of lightning tore through the sky, and seconds later, a deafening clap of thunder made you jump. 

Beside you, Rhett eyed you briefly, unbeknownst to you. He was watching your body language, looking for any signs of distress. Just a few days ago, you’d sworn to him you couldn’t stomach the thought of chasing again. And now here you were, sitting beside him. 

He questioned if you were ready for this. But you seemed fine, so he left it alone. 

“How’s the radar lookin’?” He asked you.

You tore your gaze away from the sky, quickly pressing the button to shut the window before you looked at the screen. “It’s moving fast. Rain will probably hit soon.”

Before you even finished your sentence, the first few drops began pelting against the truck. Thunder rumbled. Your heart skipped a beat. 

You could hear Zara speaking over the radio, but you were too busy focusing on the sky, searching for any sign of funnel activity. Your limbs buzzed with adrenaline. Your chest felt tight. Your breathing was rushed. 

The rain gave way to hailstones, clattering against the truck, and the sky above took on a sickening green hue. 

Sirens began to wail, a haunting sound that made you want to cover your ears. You hadn’t heard those sirens in so long. Hearing them now transported you back to the day you’d lost your dearest friends. 

You could hear Rhett speaking your name, but he sounded so distant. You were too busy staring at the sky. And then the hail stopped, and aside from the sirens, the outside world was deafeningly quiet. 

You thought your terror was going to swallow you whole. 

“Talk to me!” Rhett finally exclaimed, grabbing your arm, pulling your attention to him. His eyes were wide, searching your face. 

But before you could speak, a loud roar drowned out any possible conversation. You turned back to the window, and you saw it. A funnel protruding from the sky. 

A twister had touched down. 

Rhett stomped on the gas, headed east, trying to get ahead of the twister so the trailer could be put in place. You were frozen, staring up at the phenomenon, body cold with fright. 

“I need you t’ stay with me, you hear?! You gotta keep an eye on it, I need to know where to drop the trailer!” He called out to you. 

“O-okay!” You managed to shout back. 

The truck moved faster and faster as Rhett fought to stay on track. You wanted to guide him. To communicate with him and tell him exactly what to do, where to go. But you couldn’t. The words wouldn’t come. All you could see was that tornado, coming right at you. This was how your friends had died. Staring into the face of this vicious funnel. 

Was this how you were going to die?

“Rhett.”

“Am I at a good distance?!” 

Had he even heard you? “Stop.”

“Talk to me! Can I drop the trailer now?!”

“STOP!” 

Rhett glanced at you and he saw the distress on your face. He knew what he had to do. “Shit,” he swore. He gripped the steering wheel, knuckles turning white as he made a split second decision and violently yanked the wheel to the left, veering off the road and into the cornfield on the other side. 

He nearly lost control as the truck careened forward several miles, jostled against the uneven earth. You thrust your hands against the dashboard, fighting to hold yourself steady. The iPad in your lap went tumbling to the floor. 

“Rhett! What’s going on?!” Jeslyn shouted over the radio. 

He was too busy trying not to overturn the entire truck. When he slammed on the brakes, the force sent the entire trailer of nitrogen tanks on its side, snapping the hitch right off. 

Your fight or flight response kicked in, and in a desperate attempt to escape the situation, you threw your door open, unable to spend another minute in the claustrophobic truck cab. Rhett yelled your name, but you didn’t hear him over the roar of the wind. 

As soon as your feet hit the ground, you were running, eyes searching for a ditch or any sort of shelter. The wind whipped around you, its force pushing you along. You couldn’t see the twister over the high stalks of corn, but you didn’t need to see it to feel it.

Raw power, so overwhelming it took your breath away.

And then, all of a sudden, something solid collided with your back, and a pair of arms cinched around your waist. “Are you insane, girl?! Gon’ get yourself killed!” Rhett yelled over the storm.

You let out a shriek of surprise as he wrangled you to the ground, his body on top of yours, shielding you from the danger. 

And then, all at once, everything went silent. You heard the sound of crying. It took you a moment to realize the sound was coming from you.

“Hey, hey, I’m here, I’ve got ya,” Rhett’s voice was in your ear, breathless and gruff. He moved to sit on the ground, pulling you up with him, tugging your body against his chest. You buried your face against the side of his neck and sobbed.

He held you tight, listening to you cry. The residual breeze from the storm blew through his hair. He’d lost his hat when he jumped out of the truck and ran after you, he realized. But that didn’t matter now. The danger was gone, but you were falling apart. 

He should have known this was a bad idea. But you’d insisted you could handle it. And now he was cradling you in his arms as your tears soaked into the collar of his shirt. He remembered so vividly holding you this way when Perry, Rebecca, and Lydia had been killed. He was hit with a deeply rooted pain, blossoming through his chest as he relived the memory.

It still hurt just as badly as the day it happened. And here he thought he’d buried that grief long ago. It had been there all along, just waiting to rear its ugly head.

“It’s gon’ be okay,” he whispered against the top of your head. “I’m right here, you’re safe, nothin’ is gonna hurt you. Not while I’m here.” 

You lifted your head to wail out, “I-I ruined it! I should have ne– never come!”

“No, darlin’. Y’ didn’t ruin anythin’,” he tried to reason.

“A-all of Zara’s hard work! It’s messed up because of me!” You were spiraling, filled with regret. This had been such a colossal mistake. 

At that moment, voices could be heard in the distance. Rhett lifted his head, listening. He could hear his name and yours being called. Thank god the rest of the team was alright.

“Found ‘em!” It was Danny’s voice, full of panic as he burst through the wall of cornstalks, eyes wide. “Holy shit, are you guys alright?!” He slid to a halt, lowering to his knees beside you both.

Behind him, Finn, Zara, and Jeslyn all appeared, looking just as disheveled and frightened. 

“Oh my god, what happened?!” Zara exclaimed. She eyed your trembling form, crying into Rhett’s shoulder, and her face softened.

Rhett caught her gaze. The two shared unspoken communication. She knew what he was trying to convey with just his face. You hadn’t been ready for this.

You managed to bring yourself to look into Zara’s face, tears streaking down your cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have come with you guys.”

“Hey, no, don’t apologize,” she said, reaching out to touch your shoulder. “You’re safe, that’s what matters.”

You shook your head, wiping your cheeks with the back of your hand. “No, I…I ruined everything, I’m so sorry.”

Finn and Danny stepped away to check on the equipment, while Zara and Jeslyn remained with you and Rhett. 

“No, honey. You didn’t ruin everything. Trust me, those tanks are fine,” Jeslyn assured you. Her eyes were kind, and her voice was gentle. 

Thunder boomed overhead again, and you jumped, pressing yourself even closer to Rhett. He held you just a little tighter. You were safe with him. He would make sure of that.

“Everything looks alright!” The sound of Finn’s voice carried over the field as he and Danny jogged back over. “The hitch snapped, but we can fix it. I figure Rhett can weld it back on since it’s his truck and all.”

“Yeah, it ain’t a big deal to fix,” Rhett replied. 

“Tanks are okay too, they even stayed in the trailer, nothing fell out.” Finn looked at you, making sure to catch your eye. “No harm, no foul.”

“It was a quick twister anyway, not even that big. We probably wouldn’t have been able to get the tanks open fast enough as it was, so it really isn’t a big deal that we didn’t get ‘em into position. Don’t beat yourself up,” came Zara’s words. 

Sniffling, you managed a nod. You were deeply grateful for everyone’s kindness and understanding. You still felt terrible, however. Part of you felt like a scared little child, and you hated it. You were angry at yourself for being unable to handle it. 

“So what’s the plan now? We gotta get those tanks back to Rhett’s place, plus it’s gonna downpour any minute, so we should probably work fast,” you heard Danny say. “There could end up being another twister in the area if the storm keeps at it.”

As the girls and guys put together a plan, you tried to calm yourself down. Rhett hadn’t let you go yet, choosing to remain on the ground with you curled safely against him.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Hey, look at me.”

You brought your eyes to his. The blue was so intense, it nearly took your breath away. 

“Don’t go sayin’ you’re sorry. You got nothin’ to be sorry for.”

“I just kept thinking about that day, and I…I froze,” you whispered, throat tight with a knot of emotion. “I was so stupid to think I could do it.”

“At least you tried, alright? That’s what matters. Nobody expects you t’ just jump right back into it after all these years.”

“I know, I just–”

“No, don’t you start spiralin’ on me, y’hear? Stop beatin’ yourself up about it. Nobody got hurt, and that’s what we all care about at the end of the day. When it comes down to it, if I’ve gotta choose between makin’ sure you’re safe, or stoppin’ a twister, I’m gonna choose you every damn time.”

His words made your chest grow warm, and your bottom lip quivered. He hadn’t changed in all this time. He was just as caring as ever. 

When you threw your arms around his neck to hug him, he hugged you right back, rocking you from side to side before he finally released you. Cool drops of rain began to fall from the sky, interrupting your moment.

Quickly, Rhett stood, reaching for your hand to pull you to your feet. “C’mon, let’s get to the truck.” With his hand still wrapped around yours, he pulled you along, and you ran back through the field to the place where he’d stopped the truck.

When you reached the old Sierra, the team was just finishing putting all the nitrogen tanks in the back of the truck. It appeared that Danny and Finn had managed to jury-rig the trailer so that Rhett could get it back home.

Hurriedly, Rhett guided you into the truck in an effort to shield you from the rain, slamming the door shut and stopping only for a moment to talk to the guys before they parted ways. He jumped into the driver’s seat and started the engine, maneuvering through the field and back out onto the main road. 

The drive back home was silent, save for the sound of rain pounding against the roof of the truck. You stared out the window, still upset at the way you had reacted. 

“You don’t have to hold up your end of the deal now, since I couldn’t hold up mine,” you finally told Rhett, referring to the promise he’d made to ride in the rodeo that weekend.

But he shook his head. “Nah, you still did, even if ya didn’t hold out for the whole thing. If you had to face somethin’ that scares you, it’s only fair that I do it too. I’m gonna get on a bull this weekend, because that’s what I said I’d do.”

You let out a breath. “Well, I’ll be in the stands cheering you on then.”

“Jus’ like old times, huh?”

“Yeah…like old times.”

You were choosing not to dwell on the fact that during ‘old times’1, you’d felt his blood seep through your fingers as you fought to keep him alive after that bull had driven a horn into his stomach. That was a freak occurrence. It wouldn’t happen this time around.

At least, that’s what you hoped.

Later that morning, you arrived back on the Abbott farm, feeling weary from the adrenaline crash, as well as the lack of sleep from the night before. Once Rhett stopped in the driveway, you stumbled out of the truck and onto the red dirt. 

The sky was gray, indicating that the storm was following you, and would surely dump buckets of rain on the property. It seemed to have calmed down, so it didn’t appear as if it would turn into anything serious. You knew your poor nerves could not handle another twister that day.

The team converged as you headed toward the porch, but you paused when you heard Danny speaking to Rhett. He was trying to keep his voice low so you wouldn’t hear, but you caught it anyway. “There’s more damage than we thought. Specifically to the wiring on the trailer. It’s gonna take longer to fix,” he explained.

You felt an aching pang in your chest. This was all your fault.

You didn’t stick around to hear what Rhett had to say. You simply trudged up the porch steps and into the house. You just wanted to be alone, but to your dismay, Cecilia was in the home office, which had a full view of the entryway you were currently in.

She saw the bleak look on your face, and she immediately rose from her seat at the desk. “Honey, what happened?”

Her concern was what broke you. Instantly, more tears welled up in your eyes, and your shoulders shook as a sob left your throat. Without hesitation, she came to your aid, wrapping her arms around you. “Hey now, you’re gonna be just fine.”

You didn’t believe that.

When Rhett stepped into the house, he took in the sight of his mother comforting you, and he spared her a saddened glance. She nodded in understanding, though no words were shared between the two of them. He headed into the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee, deciding it best to give you space.

A few minutes later, after you finally excused yourself to head upstairs and get some rest, Cecilia joined her son in the kitchen.

Rhett stood at the sink, idly stirring his coffee as he stared out into the water-washed scene unfolding outside the kitchen window. “She wasn’t ready, Mom,” he murmured.

“I can see that,” she replied. “What happened out there? Radio said a twister touched down.”

“It did. We were tryin’ to get in range so we could drop the tanks. But as soon as it touched down she started panicking. Like full-on hyperventilatin’. I had to swerve off the road and as soon as I stopped, she jumped out. Scared me to death. Thought the twister was gonna take her from me.”

Saying those words sent his heart quickening in his chest. He had to face the fact that he still cared so deeply for you, and couldn’t stomach the thought of losing you.

“Glad you both made it outta there safely,” Cecilia murmured, moving to pour herself her second cup of coffee for the day. “Just give her time, Rhett.”

“I will,” he agreed. He downed the rest of the bitter liquid in his mug before he set the ceramic in the sink. “Gon’ go out and fix some of the stuff that got damaged in the twister. We won’t be goin’ out again for a bit, not ‘til we get everythin’ up and runnin’ again.”

He said this to give his mother peace of mind. He knew how much she worried whenever he went out on a chase. The fear of losing her boy was a very real one. 

Meanwhile, you were curled up in bed, curtains drawn, swathing the room in darkness. You hoped you would be able to get some sleep, but you were wide awake, mind racing a mile a minute. So, instead of wallowing in self-pity, you forced yourself to get up. Might as well busy yourself to get your mind off of things.

You decided to head to your great-aunt’s house to continue your cleaning project. As you ambled outside, you caught sight of Rhett, Danny, and Finn in the barn, working on getting the trailer repaired. Grimacing, you averted your eyes and instead climbed into your car.

For the next few days, you avoided Rhett, because you felt so terrible about the entire debacle. But there was never any judgment in his eyes when he looked upon you. He truly did not blame you for what had happened.

In the end, he was the one who came to you, unable to deal with your withdrawn demeanor. He approached you one morning as you were getting ready to leave.

“Hey, I, uh, was wonderin’...I know you’ve got a lot of stuff to haul outta your aunt’s house. Want some help? I can bring my truck.”

You began to protest. “Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

“I want to,” he insisted. “Y’ shouldn’t have to do it all by yourself.”

He looked so earnest, his eyes pleading, his mouth curved into a hopeful smile. How could you say no to him? “Okay, sure. Why not?”

He tried not to appear too eager, but it was written all over his face. “Alrighty, I’ll bring the truck ‘round!”

That was how you found yourself in the passenger seat of the Sierra again, happy that you were headed somewhere that didn’t involve a raging storm that could potentially kill you both. 

When you arrived at the house, you led Rhett up to the porch, where you stopped to retrieve the spare key from beneath the welcome mat. 

“Some things never change,” he murmured upon seeing you locate the key. “She always kept that key there, didn’t she?”

You smiled as you unlocked the door. “She did.”

As you stepped into the house, Rhett paused in the entryway to glance around. A lot had changed since you’d arrived. Many things were packed away in boxes. But it still held a nostalgic feel. 

“Remember when she’d let us crash here in between chases?” He asked.

How could you forget? “Do I ever. Those were the days.”

You remembered so vividly, curling up in sleeping bags around the living room floor, too excited to sleep, knowing a storm cell could be developing at any moment. Oh, to be young and naive again, endowed with a feeling of invincibility. 

“So…weather analyzin’. How’s that treatin’ ya?” Rhett continued in an effort to kill any awkward silence.

You shrugged as you set about organizing the kitchen, motioning for him to get involved. “Pretty well. I actually really like it.”

“Yeah? Must be a lot cushier than facin’ the storms head-on. At least you got a screen separatin’ you from all the destruction.”

“Yep. It’s a lot safer, that’s for sure.”

“How’s livin’ in Silver Spring?”

“I can say we don’t get many twisters. Which I’m happy about.”

“Guess that’s a plus,” came his response.

You opened up the pantry, preparing to sort through all the food that remained there. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot,” Rhett said as he grabbed the box of garbage bags you silently pointed to. 

You continued speaking as he placed the box in your hand.  “How’d you meet Zara and all them? They all went to OU together. You’re the odd man out.”

He smirked. “What, think a dumb hick like me can’t hang around educated folk?”

You rolled your eyes as you opened one of the garbage bags. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“I know, I know,” he assured you. “Actually, Zara heard about us. She read the news stories about what happened. She got a hold of me a couple years ago and started askin’ questions. Wanted to see if I’d like to get involved with her project. So I said, why the hell not? She introduced me to her team and had me come to OU to see how their setup worked.”

“You got to see it in action?” You were intrigued.

“Yeah. Jeslyn’s pretty fuckin’ brilliant when it comes to building things. She and Danny and Finn are the ones that put together a machine that can simulate a twister. Zara used a tank of nitrogen to stop the twister. Obviously it ain’t the same as the real thing, but I thought it was pretty damn cool. Figured I didn’t have much to lose, so I teamed up with ‘em, and we’ve been workin’ together ever since.”

“Have you guys been testing out the nitrogen stuff for very long?”

“It ain’t been field tested, if that’s what you mean. We’re tryin’ to see if it works on an actual twister first. After that, Zara wants to get a grant so she can start testin’ on a larger scale. Plus, Danny and Finn are workin’ on this new radar equipment, once it’s ready we’re gonna take it out on a chase with us. The idea is that it’ll help us track storm cells better, and hopefully let us know what we’re up against faster.”

“Huh, I didn’t know they were working on that,” you mused, intrigued. 

“Yeah, they’ve been puttin’ it together for months now. I think they don’t wanna jinx it, so they haven’t said anything. But Finn just told me the other day that it’ll probably be ready for the next chase we go on.”

“Wow. They’re all weather geniuses.” Knowing they were doing so much sent a pang of deep longing through your chest. 

Part of you wished you were doing more than sitting behind a screen at work, watching the weather ravage the country, unable to do anything more but issue warnings and hope for the best. If only you had the guts to actually get out there and take action against the phenomenon that had taken your friends from you.

“They sure are,” Rhett agreed. “Sometimes I feel pretty damn inadequate because I’m just a farm boy from Oklahoma. But they still wanna hang with the likes of me, for whatever reason.”

“Because you’re pretty great,” you heard yourself say. You hadn’t meant to speak it aloud.

His gaze lingered on you for a moment before he smiled a crooked smile, the apples of his cheeks rounding. 

In an effort to change the subject, you cleared your throat and asked, “Did anyone talk to Beau about you riding this weekend? After what happened on Monday I, uh, was so frazzled that I forgot to track him down.”

“Zara talked to him. Said she wasn’t gonna let me get out of it so easy. So, I’m on track to ride after the rest of the contestants. Beau said it was gon’ be an honorary thing, ‘cause apparently it’s been ten years on the dot since I rode last.”

Ten years. Had it really been that long? So much had happened since then, it felt like both a lifetime and no time at all had passed. 

“Are you nervous?” You questioned.

He shrugged, suddenly finding an old box of crackers very interesting, avoiding your gaze. “Kinda.”

He was scared to death, you realized. You could see it in his eyes. But he was pushing himself to do this. At this point, it wasn’t just because he’d made a deal with you. It was because he wanted to prove to himself that he could do it. That he could face his fears and come out on the other side. Perhaps not unscathed, but a better person because of it.

“You’re gonna do great,” you assured him, offering a vote of confidence.

“Sure hope so.”

The rest of the morning carried on with quiet conversation as you worked to clear out the kitchen. A few hours later, you were feeling accomplished, and hungry. So Rhett offered to take you to the diner in town for lunch.

That was how you found yourself sitting in a booth across from him, a spread of food between you both. You reminisced about the past, talking about times before everything had fallen apart. Good memories that you could both share laughter over. 

You found yourself gazing at Rhett, at his easy smile and his sparkling eyes, illuminated by the early afternoon light shining through the windows, and you were transported back to a time when you were so in love with him. A time when you promised him you would be his forever. 

“You listenin’?” His voice, low and velvety, pulled you back to reality.

“I…I’m sorry, I was distracted,” you sheepishly replied.

He looked at you, brow pulling together, as if he knew you’d been admiring him. But he didn’t acknowledge it. “I was askin’ if you wanted to get outta here and head back to the farm.”

“Oh, um, sure. Yeah, let’s get back.”

With that, he opened his wallet and pulled out some cash for a tip before he stood to his feet. You followed suit, and once he’d paid for the meal, you made your way back out to the truck. Things were comfortable between the two of you again. The events that had happened earlier that week during the chase faded into the background, nothing more than a memory. 

You were glad you had agreed to let him come and help you. It had cleared the air and made way for your friendship to continue blossoming, slowly repairing after so much time apart. 

The rest of the week went by in a breeze. You kept busy with working in your aunt’s house, allowing Rhett to tag along when he had the chance to. When he wasn’t with you, he was working alongside his father on the farm, or he was repairing the trailer so it could be reattached to the hitch on his truck.

Strangely enough, the weather had calmed down, despite it being storm season. There had been some rain showers here and there, but no storms, and no twisters, either. You were glad, because you weren’t sure if your poor nerves could handle another storm that week.

You were glad for the lighthearted distraction of going to the rodeo. You hadn’t been to one in such a long time. You were looking forward to all the sights and sounds. Aside from Rhett’s near fatal injury, you had nothing but good memories of attending rodeos. 

You couldn’t help but catch on to the joy emanating from Amy at the prospect of watching her uncle ride a bull. She was over the moon about it. She had never seen him ride before, as she hadn’t even been born yet when he was still competing. All she knew about that time of his life was through the stories that he and her grandparents had told her.

“Hey! You wanna help me make a sign for uncle Rhett?” The girl asked you as you came downstairs that Saturday morning. 

You could see that she had all of her supplies ready, spread out across her grandmother’s office floor. An assortment of colored markers, glitter glue, paint, and poster board. You couldn’t help but smile at her eagerness. 

“Sure! Let me get a cup of coffee and I’ll come help,” you told her.

Her eyes went wide with excitement and she bounced on the balls of her feet. “Yay! Okay, I’ll be in here waiting for you!” She said, scurrying into the office.

Her childlike wonder warmed your heart. You were happy you’d agreed to stay at the Abbotts, if only for the whimsy Amy brought to the experience. Her personality was almost too big for her small body. It was clear that she was the greatest joy in both her grandparent's and Rhett’s lives. 

You were more than happy to help her make a sign for the rodeo. After you poured yourself a cup of coffee, you settled on the hardwood floor of the office, right beside Amy. She handed you different supplies and even allowed you to write the words she wanted to say on the poster board. 

“You write better than me, so I want you to do it. I want the words to be really big, so Uncle Rhett can see ‘em!” She explained. 

“Okay, what do you want me to write?”

“I was thinking ‘you got this Uncle Rhett!’”

“I like it!”

You settled into the carefree fun of making a glittery rodeo sign, enjoying Amy’s creative little touches here and there as she added stickers and designs. 

Halfway through, the screen door squealed open, and Amy jumped up in a panic when she realized it was Rhett. 

“What’re you gals up to?” He asked as he strolled into the house. 

“Don’t come in here!” Amy cried, rushing to push him away. “We’re workin’ on a top secret surprise!”

His brows shot up, and he stole a glance at you, currently holding the poster board at an angle so he couldn’t see what it said. “Oh yeah? You in cahoots with my niece now?” He asked you, smile playing on his lips. 

“Maybe,” came your playful response. “Don’t go spoiling your surprise now. We’ll let you see it later.”

His eyes twinkled with mischief. “Alright, alright. I’m goin’,” he said as he held his hands up in surrender. 

You kept the sign hidden until you knew for certain he’d gone upstairs. Amy bounded back over to you, pretending to wipe sweat from her brow as she exclaimed, “Whew! That was close.”

“Let’s hurry and finish it so we can hide it until later,” you suggested, voice hushed and playfully urgent. 

The girl agreed, and you both set to work, hurriedly finishing up the sign. Once you were done, you put it in an inconspicuous place, hidden away from Rhett’s prying eyes. As you helped Amy put all her art supplies away, you were struck with a warm feeling, blossoming through your chest. Here you were, making signs to cheer Rhett on, anticipating his ride later that night, just like you used to not too long ago.

You were always his biggest fan at the rodeo, that was for certain. You’d made many a sign in your day, with his name scrawled across the poster board, decorated with curlicues and glitter. You never thought it was something you’d be doing again. Oh, how things had changed. In the short time that you’d been here, your fondness for Rhett had returned. You supposed it had never left, to begin with. It had just been lying dormant for six years.

You should have known the blue-eyed cowboy would win you over again. You never could resist him.

Later on that day, as evening time approached, the excitement was palpable. Amy was bubbling with it, and it was rubbing off on everyone else. Zara, Jeslyn, Finn, and Danny arrived at the house to wish Rhett good luck before his ride. 

Cecilia was fretting, making sure Royal and Amy were ready, never one to be late to anything. Royal was amused at her behavior, and you caught him smiling fondly at her, a glimmer in his eyes. He, too, was eager to see his son ride, he just had a much different way of showing it.

He never could fully accept that Rhett had walked away from riding. In fact, there had been a time when he was even disappointed in the boy for doing so.

Royal himself had once been on top of his game as a bull rider, when he was but a young man. He had suffered many injuries during his time in the riding circuit, but he’d always gotten back on the bull. He had chastised Rhett for quitting, and although he never said it, part of him felt that his son was too soft. He needed to toughen up and get back in the ring.

It had been a point of contention between father and son, but they had since moved past it. However, now that Rhett was getting on the back of a bull again, Royal was very pleased. He might even go as far as to admit that he was proud. 

Rhett, on the other hand, was riddled with anxiety. He remembered so clearly the way he used to feel before a ride. It was as if electricity was thrumming through his veins, driving his every movement. It was deliciously exhilarating. But now, all he felt was fear. 

He kept replaying the night of his injury. It was just a freak incident. It wouldn’t happen again. But there was still the question of “what if?” in the back of his mind. He didn’t remember the pain he felt when it happened. He’d been too hyped up on adrenaline. It was almost an out-of-body experience. As if he wasn’t the one being gored by a bull. That was someone else. Another unlucky rider.

Even as he stumbled backward, his body colliding with the sand beneath him, it wasn’t real. It was a dream. A figment of his imagination. Until he was being dragged to safety and you were above him, voice filled with terror as you begged him to stay with you. That was when reality hit him like a ton of bricks, and the pain began to radiate throughout his entire body.

But that was then. This was now. Things were different. He’d long since healed from his injury, though its scar remained, a constant reminder of what he had endured. But after losing his brother and sister-in-law, along with one of his dearest friends, he had learned that oftentimes, the pain of grief was far worse than any sort of physical pain. 

If he had been able to survive the agony of loss, then he could survive a brief ride on an angry bull.

Having the people he loved most there to cheer him on made it a little easier to stomach the thought of riding. But most of all, having you there was the most wonderful part.

“You’re gonna do great. We’ll all be cheering you on the whole time,” you assured him, voice soft, as you shared a moment alone. 

He mustered a smile, humming lowly. “Y’really think I can do it?”

“I know you can.”

Your vote of confidence meant the world to him. It was his driving force as he climbed into his truck and headed to the rodeo grounds. He was going to be just fine.

Later that night, you were all arriving at the rodeo, spirits high as you all climbed out of your respective vehicles. You’d ridden with Royal, Cecilia, and Amy in the beat up old Ranger that had been in the family for years.

As soon as you climbed out of the truck, Amy was pulling you along, talking a mile a minute. “C’mon! We have to get some kettle corn before it starts!” She urged. She waved the rest of the group along.

You all found yourselves in line for the aforementioned kettle corn. The different food smells transported you to rodeos past, and the pressing weight of nostalgia took your breath away. 

“How you doing?” Came the voice of Zara, who stood behind you in line.

You turned, offering her a smile. “I’m okay! Kinda nervous for Rhett, but I know he’ll do great.”

She nodded in agreement. “Oh yeah, he’ll be just fine. I’ve never seen him ride before, so I can’t wait! He tells us all stories sometimes about his riding days. It’ll be cool to finally see him in action.”

“He was awesome,” you told her, “really, he had such a knack for it. I’m glad he’s getting back out there, even if it’s only for one night.”

“Yeah. It’s brave of him, I think. Facing his fears and all that.”

“It is.” Or maybe it was foolish. Either way, it was happening, and you were going to support him if it was the last thing you did.

Once everyone had their own respective snacks, you all followed Royal and Cecilia up to the stands. The voices of those around you overlapped. Fragments of conversations. Old friends catching up. Church ladies gossiping. Young girls giggling over the cute cowboys who would be riding that night. 

You took your seat, eyes flickering across the ring, searching for any sign of Rhett behind the gates. Your belly was fluttering with butterflies. Your heart was racing. Your palms were sweaty. When it came time to stand for the National Anthem, you could hardly sing along, voice coming out shaky and breathless. 

The late spring air was cool against your heated skin, but you hardly noticed it, hand swiping at your forehead where perspiration had begun to form. As you sat back down after the anthem, you felt Cecilia’s hand on your arm.

She shot you a reassuring smile, but you could see the wariness in her eyes. She was worried, too. “He’ll be fine,” she said, more so to convince herself.

You nodded. “Yeah, he will be.”

Then the announcer’s voice came over the loudspeaker. “Good evenin’, Amelia County! We’ve got a fantastic lineup for y’all tonight!” He began listing the names of the boys who would be riding in the circuit. “We’re changin’ things up a little with an honorary ride. Want you to give a warm welcome to Rhett Abbott, Wabang native, who used to ride regularly in our rodeos! He’ll be closin’ out the circuit for us tonight with a final ride. So sit back, relax, and get ready to cheer on our riders! Let the fun begin!”

His choice of words was amusing. Watching bull riding was the least relaxing thing out there.

“We have to wait for everyone to go before we can even see him ride?” Amy complained.

You were inclined to agree with her dismay. Your anxiety was only going to increase as time passed. You knew you wouldn’t be able to focus on any other riders because you would be too busy thinking about him.

With each contestant that was called up, your anticipation mounted. You tuned out the rest of the crowd. All the voices, all the sounds, the reverberation of the loudspeakers. None of it mattered. 

You used to be behind those gates, when you were working in the first aid tent. You’d witnessed Rhett’s pre-ride jitters more times than you could count. He would often seek you out for comfort. He loved when you’d come up to him and wrap your arms around his middle, resting your head against his back. It would always ground him. 

He didn’t have that now. He was behind those gates by himself. Part of you wished you were back there with him, but you quickly pushed that thought aside. He was a grown man, he could handle it alone. 

You instead tried your best to focus on each rider, attempting to enjoy the rodeo. 

Subconsciously, you were counting down the minutes until Rhett’s ride. 

Much to your relief, it all went by quickly, and before you even realized it, it was time for him to come out. Beside you, Amy jumped to her feet and held up her sign, hoping to get his attention as he climbed into the chute. You leaned forward in your seat, and at that very moment, he lifted his head, and locked eyes with you.

You gave him a reassuring smile, placing your hand over your heart. He nodded, and then bowed his head. Sitting atop a creature teeming with virile energy sent his pulse pounding in his ears.

He was surrounded by handlers, all making sure he was securely in place. Some of these guys he’d known his entire life. A few had even worked alongside him when he was still riding regularly. 

“Y’ready, son?” One of them asked. Jason McGowan.

Rhett let out a breath, shifting his gaze straight ahead. His gloved hand was wrapped securely in the rope beneath him, keeping him in place. The animal he was seated upon shifted, snorting loudly, growing antsy and impatient.

“As I’ll ever be,” Rhett murmured. His chest felt tight. His thighs were trembling. Was he even strong enough to hold on for this? Could he really do it?

He counted down in his head. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Then he nodded, and in a split second, the chute burst open, and he was lurching forward as the bull jumped out into the ring. The beast writhed and roared beneath him, bucking furiously, tossing him about like a rag doll.

In the stands, you shot to your feet, holding your breath as you stared at Rhett. Come on, come on, come on. He held on for dear life, free arm in the air. The clock was ticking, but you never dared to glance at it. You would not take your eyes off of him. 

Cecilia grabbed your arm again. You held tightly to her, both of you watching your boy, silently praying for him to succeed.

Just a little longer. You can do it. 

And then he let go. His body sailed through the air, and he hit the dirt, but he kept running, stumbling away from the raging animal as a pair of rodeo clowns directed the bull’s attention elsewhere. 

Rhett straightened, shoulders squared as his eyes flickered up to the large screen to see his time. His name soared to the top of the scoreboard. 

He had the best time of the night.

Around him, the crowd went wild. But he didn’t care about any of them. Frantically, he searched for you, electric blue filled with pride and shock all at once. He finally saw you, cheering for him at the top of your lungs, screaming his name from the stands. He swore he could hear you. Over everyone, there was your voice, praising him, calling for him.

His cheeks were wet, and he realized there were tears pouring down his face.

But he was grinning, teeth flashing white, beaming in the golden light cast upon him. 

I did it. I fuckin’ did it.

He wasn’t sure when his legs started moving, but before he knew it, he was running, boots kicking up sand as he threw himself over the barricade separating the stands from the ring. He took the steps two at a time, making a beeline for you.

Your beautiful face was full of adoration, and the moment you saw him coming at you, you pushed your way through the crowd, nearly tripping over your own feet as you rushed to meet him. You heard whistles and cheers around you, friends and strangers alike urging you both on.

As soon as you reached each other, he was throwing his arms around your waist, crushing you to him. You laughed musically, despite the tears that were running from your eyes. You held him tightly, one hand coming up to cradle the back of his head.

“I did it,” he whispered in your ear. Then he laughed. “I did it, honeybee!”

You pulled back to gaze into his beautiful face. Honeybee. Oh, how you’d missed that nickname. “You did, Rhett,” you echoed. “I’m so proud of you.”

He lingered, shining eyes locked with your own. The surrounding activity faded into the background, and it felt as if you were the only two people in the entire world. You were suddenly very aware of the warmth of his body against yours. The feeling of his chest heaving in time with his breaths. The beating of his heart. If only for a moment, you were transported back to a time when you were so in love. 

It hit you like a punch to the gut, stealing all the oxygen from your lungs in one fell swoop.

Oh my god, I’m still in love with him. 

You let go of him as if you’d been stung, and before he could react, he was flooded with congratulatory hugs and pats on the back. You faded into the background and watched him receive showers of attention. But you were reeling, trying to process the emotions swirling through you, much like the tornadoes you used to chase. 

What were you going to do with this knowledge? You supposed it had always been there. From the moment you saw him when you returned to Wabang, the feelings that had been dormant for six years were brought back to the surface. 

You were supposed to have moved on. But the truth was, you never had. 

You couldn’t do anything about it. It felt like the worst possible time to realize you loved him. You had a job and a life back in Maryland. You couldn’t make a relationship work with him, even if you wanted to. 

It was no surprise that you found yourself in the parking lot, wanting to be away from the crowd. Wanting space. If you’d driven yourself to the rodeo, you would already be leaving. But you were dependent on other people to get you back to the Abbott's. And you certainly weren’t about to walk back by yourself. 

Instead, you found yourself leaning against Royal’s truck, your mind moving a million miles a minute. Why couldn’t you just move on? You’d had plenty of time to do so. What was it about Rhett that rendered you unable to let him go? 

He was your first love. Your only love. You had tried dating other people, but nothing had worked out. You always chalked it up to you having high standards, but you realized that perhaps all this time, it had never worked with other people because you were still in love with Rhett. 

What a predicament to be in. 

You were still reeling slightly by the time the rodeo was over. It wasn’t long until you heard the sound of familiar voices. Amy’s voice rang out over the parking lot as she praised her uncle. 

“You were so awesome! I knew you would be! You looked so cool on top of that bull!” She rambled on. 

Rhett was grinning, face flushed, as he tugged Amy into his side for a hug. “Thank y’, Ames,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss the top of her head.

“The kid’s right, you knocked it outta the park, man,” you heard Danny say as he clapped Rhett on the back. Everyone else chimed in with their own two cents. 

You pushed yourself off of the truck and came into the light, integrating yourself back into the group. You wondered if any of them had noticed your absence.

“I think we should go out for ice cream to celebrate,” Finn suggested, at which Amy turned to her grandmother with wide, pleading eyes.

“Please, Gramma, can we?!” She begged, folding her hands beneath her chin.

Cecilia relented, a smile on her face as she leaned over and patted Rhett’s back. “Since it’s not a school night, why not?”

As Amy clapped in excitement, Rhett lifted his head, and he caught you looking at him. You held his gaze. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he opened his mouth, as if to say something, but his attention was pulled away again by the sudden weight of Royal’s hand on his back.

A wordless “I’m proud of you, son.”

Rhett didn’t get to speak to you until after you’d all settled in at Marigold’s Ice Cream Parlor. After everyone had ordered their respective ice creams and milkshakes, and you stood nearby with two scoops of chocolate in a small cup, he approached you.

He had a cone of rocky road, his all-time favorite ice cream flavor. “Hey there,” he murmured, speaking lowly. He’d taken his hat off and left it in the truck, and he now sported a head of hat hair. 

“Hi,” you answered. You suddenly felt like a pair of shy teenagers.

“Are y’alright?”

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” You didn’t mean to sound defensive, but that was how it came out.

Rhett shrugged, licking at his ice cream. “I dunno, you ran off after my ride. You looked kinda panicked. Just thought I’d check on ya and make sure you were alright.”

Should you tell him? Would it be foolish to do so? “Well, I…”

“Hey Rhett, c’mere!” Jeslyn’s voice suddenly sounded across the parlor, cutting you off, and he glanced over. She was waving at him, encouraging him to hurry.

“One sec!” He responded before he turned back to you, expectant.

“Sorry…sorry, yeah, I’m totally fine. The crowd was just a lot.”

You could tell he didn’t quite believe you. “Okay. Just, uh, just wanted to make sure.” He offered an endearing smile, and your heart clenched in your chest. “Anyway, you wan’ come join us?”

You nodded and followed him to the table where everyone was seated. You found yourself sitting between him and Danny, and if only for a little while, you pushed aside all the stressors and uncertainties and allowed yourself to melt into the lighthearted atmosphere created around that table in the little family-owned ice cream parlor.

You found yourself laughing along with Rhett’s family and friends, listening to stories and anecdotes, sitting through Amy’s dramatic retelling of an anime she’d watched. You realized that you felt like you belonged here. As if this was where you were always meant to be. Your story was supposed to intersect with the stories of those around you.

Your life was always supposed to intersect with Rhett’s.

No matter where you went, or how far you ran, he would always be part of you. He was ingrained in your bones. In the very cell makeup of your being. The red string of fate tied you together for all eternity. 

It was time you accepted that, and stopped trying to escape it.

So you chose not to fight it anymore. You let yourself care about him. Let yourself love him. And perhaps somewhere along the way, you would find it in yourself to tell him how you felt.

For now, you relished in the peace you felt with these people. And as you followed Royal, Cecilia, and Amy back out to the truck after your ice cream was long finished, you felt at ease for the first time in…well, as long as you could remember. 

Maybe everything was going to be okay after all.

That night, you found yourself in the kitchen, making yourself a cup of herbal tea to help relax your body, which was tense and sore from the events of the last several days. As you idly dipped the chamomile sachet in the mug full of hot water, you were alerted to the sound of the front door opening.

You turned to find Rhett stepping into the house. He’d come home around the same time you had, but he’d remained outside for a while, tinkering in the barn with the nitrogen trailer. It was completely repaired, and he was eager to get it back on the road for another chase soon.

As he toed his boots off quietly, he was made aware of your presence, and he offered you a sleepy smile. “Hey. Didn’t know anyone was still awake,” he murmured, socked feet padding against the floor as he walked into the kitchen.

“I couldn’t really sleep,” you replied, “figured I’d make some tea. Want some?”

He shook his head as he opened the fridge, leaning down to glance at its contents. “Naw. Ain’t a tea guy, remember?”

You couldn’t help but smile. Of course you remembered. The only tea he liked was sweet iced tea. Instead, he pulled a jug of milk from the fridge and poured himself a glass. You longed to occupy the silence, so you spoke.

“You were great tonight.”

He took a swig of milk and then gazed into his glass, swirling it in his hand. Then he looked at you, bashful smile on his face. “Thanks.”

“Think you’ll do it again?”

At that, he scoffed. “Hell no. I loved it, I gotta admit. But my arms and legs are so fuckin’ sore right now. I’m too old for it. My days of bull wranglin’ are over, that’s for damn sure.” He downed the rest of his milk before he set the glass in the sink. While he gazed out the window into the night, he continued. “Storm chasin’ is my calling now.”

You hummed softly, eyes falling to a random spot on the floor. You toed it with your slipper-clad foot. “For what it’s worth, I’m proud of you. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”

He turned to face you. “It wasn’t. But I’m glad I did it. Showed me I can face m’ fears and still come out stronger on the other side.”

“Yeah,” you quietly agreed. His words struck something in you. A strange ache in your chest. A yearning for something. 

He pushed away from the sink, how forehead crinkling as he raised his brows. “Welp, I’m gon’ jump in the shower and head to bed. See ya in the mornin’, girl.”

Before he could leave, you called out to him. “Rhett?”

He paused in the doorway of the kitchen, the orange glow of the counter lamp casting shadows over his handsome face. “Yeah?”

Your heart fluttered in your chest as you considered what you were about to say. “At the rodeo, after your ride, you, um, you called me honeybee.”

He hesitated, his body language stiffening slightly. “Oh, I did?” He brought a hand up to scratch the back of his neck. “Didn’t realize it.”

If the light had been brighter, you might’ve seen the tips of his ears turn pink. 

“What I’m trying to say is, I…I liked it.”

His sheepishness gave way into a small, crooked smile. “In that case, I meant t’say it then.” 

You couldn’t hide your own smile. “Reminds me of…” You trailed off. 

“Before. I know,” he agreed. 

You took a step forward. The words were on the tip of your tongue. The realization you’d come to when he held you in his arms after his ride. You could confess it to him. Tell him everything. 

“Uncle Rhett?” Suddenly, the small, tired voice of Amy cut through the tension in the air. 

The spell was broken. Rhett turned, seeking out the source of the voice. “What’s wrong, Ames?” He asked, moving to her aid. 

“I just need a glass of water.”

He stepped toward the staircase and held his hand out to her. “C’mon. Let’s get ya some water.”

He guided the girl into the kitchen, and you took that as your opportunity to sneak out while he tended to her. When he turned to look for you, you were gone. 

With your tea in hand, you crept up the stairs, careful not to spill any of the hot liquid as you went. When you made it to Rhett’s room, you set the cup down on the dresser and hurried to shut the door behind you. 

Letting out a breath, you closed your eyes. You had almost admitted everything to him right there in the middle of his kitchen. Part of you was glad for Amy’s interruption, while the other part was upset.

You knew your feelings would come out into the open sooner or later. 

But you also had some other things to consider now. More than just rekindling feelings for your first love. 

What Rhett said had struck you. Face your fears and come out stronger on the other side. 

You still had a deal to carry out, after all. If he could face years of trauma and fear and live to tell the tale, so could you.

You made your decision. You knew exactly what you needed to do. It was time to stop running from the danger, and instead, run toward it.

The next morning, you woke to the sun streaming in through the window. It was Sunday morning, which meant Cecilia would be rushing about, getting ready for church. You allowed yourself a few moments in bed, staring up at the ceiling, before you finally swung your legs over the edge and stretched.

You quickly readied yourself for the day, throwing on some clean clothes before you padded across the hall to brush your teeth. You could hear activity happening downstairs, and the smell of breakfast cooking reached your nose. 

Eager to join everyone, you finished your routine and then scurried down the squeaky old steps. In the kitchen, you found Rhett, Royal, and Amy all around the table as Cecilia flitted about the kitchen, finishing breakfast preparations.

Rhett saw you first, and his face broke into a smile, eyes glimmering in the golden sunlight that streamed in through the window over the sink. “G’mornin’,” he greeted.

Amy’s head popped up, and she grinned at the sight of you. “Oh, good! You’re up!” She exclaimed, rushing over to take your hand and usher you to the table. You giggled at her eagerness, and you didn’t miss the fact that she guided you to sit in the open chair next to Rhett.

“Mornin’, hon,” Cecilia called out as she stepped over to the table with a skillet full of bacon. “Get yourself a plate and have some breakfast! Was rushin’ this mornin’ so I forgot to set one out for you, I’m sorry.”

“I got it,” Rhett volunteered before you could even stand. He rose from his seat and retrieved a plate from the dishware cabinet.

“Thank you,” you told him, taking the plate from his outstretched hand and nodding to show your gratitude. His eyes lingered on your own before he took his seat beside you again.

“Are you guys in love?” Amy blurted from across the table. 

Rhett nearly choked on the sip of coffee he’d just taken. You hesitated, unsure of how to answer. Cecilia made a chastising sound, tapping her granddaughter’s shoulder in disapproval at the question. But you could see that even she was barely hiding a smile. Luckily for Royal, who was beside you, he could hide his own smile behind his coffee mug.

“What makes you ask that?” Was what you finally settled on as your reply, trying to sound nonchalant. You grabbed a biscuit from the bowl in the middle of the table, busying yourself with pulling the bread apart to be buttered.

“Gramma says you are.”

“Amy.”

“What?! You did say that.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you should repeat it,” Cecilia scolded.

The girl huffed, shaking her head as she poked her fork at her scrambled eggs. “I just wanted to know.”

“Leave ‘em be, Amy,” Royal said, despite the amusement still on his features. He glanced at you. Even he knew the answer to the question Amy had asked. Thankfully, he’d saved you or Rhett the embarrassment of answering. You knew what you would have said, but were you ready to admit it out loud? Was Rhett?

Aside from the slightly awkward question from Amy, breakfast carried on without a hitch, but you were distracted, so many things heavy on your mind. Everything was about to change, you could feel it. Building in the distance, like an impending storm.

You volunteered to do the dishes to allow the rest of the family, sans Rhett, to get to church on time. Cecilia expressed her gratitude as she rushed Amy out the door, and soon, you were all alone in the house with Rhett.

“Y’alright? Got kinda quiet at breakfast,” he murmured as he helped you clear the table. 

Your heart skipped a beat. You turned, your eyes meeting his. “Yeah, I’m fine,” you assured him.

You stood there together at the kitchen sink, staring into each other’s faces.

“You sure?”

“Uh-huh.”

He leaned in closer. “Because if Amy’s question bothered you…”

He was so close you could smell his cologne. The proximity took your breath away. “Oh, um, it…it didn’t.”

“Good.” Did his gaze just flicker to your lips?

“Yeah. Good.”

He’d definitely looked at your lips. You caught him that time. A look of longing swirled in the deep blue, and you suddenly felt as if you were drowning, swallowed up in an ocean. Your chest went tight. You could barely breathe, and yet, you’d never felt more alive. 

“What would you ‘ve told her, if you answered her question?” He inquired.

I would tell her that I love you. I never stopped loving you. And I never will. 

“I…” 

You lost your train of thought, dizzy at his proximity, at his smell, at the sound of his hitched breaths. It was as if an invisible force was between you, pulling you toward each other. Your mouth parted, but no words came out. 

He was going to kiss you, and you were going to let him.

And then, as if the universe was playing a terribly cruel joke on you both, the sound of pounding on the door made you both jump apart as if you’d been struck by lightning. Your hand flew to your chest, pressed over your racing heart as a shock of fright sizzled through you.

“Jesus,” Rhett grumbled under his breath as he whirled around, crossing the floor in a few big strides before he threw open the front door, only to reveal Danny on the other side of the door.

“Didn’t you get my text?!” Danny asked, chest heaving. 

“What? No! I ain’t even looked at my phone since this mornin’!” Rhett answered, breathless.

“Nasty storm’s rolling in! Up in Coal County!”

“Shit, gimme one sec, I’ll meet you guys outside!” He turned on his heel and rushed to grab his phone from the living room, where it was charging. Then he retrieved his hat from the peg near the door.

You watched him scramble, preparing to meet another storm head-on, and you knew, it was now or never. Before you even registered what you were doing, your feet were carrying you forward, out of the kitchen, right to the door.

“Rhett,” you heard yourself call out his name.

He stopped in the doorway, turning to look at you, one foot on the floor, the other on the porch. “Yeah?”

You squared your shoulders and spoke more confidently than you ever had in your life. “I’m coming with you.”

A silent understanding passed between you both. He nodded his head, and simply replied, “Let’s go.”

-

taglist:

@withahappyrefrain @rhettabbotts @ryebecca @peachystenbrough @attapullman

@sebsxphia @delopsia @damrlova @fragilefearnie @floydsmuse

@hangmanapologist @lovinglyeternal @likearolloftape @bobfloydsbabe @nobody7102

@mearslot @torturedpoetspsychward @floydsglasses @hearteyesforlewis @shamelessghostwagonwobbler

@cloudofbutterflies92 @keep-on-burnin @ravenmoore14 @queenbbarnes @phoenixhalliwell

@lyn-js @sunsetsimpsblog @ixxvixcviii @shinycupcakebaker @frequentnosebleeder

@atoncments @eolsens @casuallyclassless @desert-fern @perfectprettypisces

@parcetamoldaisy @zirrocom @rhettsgirll @just-in-case-iloveyou @ada--44

@sydney-malcontent @9ullmans @bradshawsbitch @callsignmedusa @antiquitea

@ohmyeyesmyeyes @spidervman @oddlymighty-witch @dreams-in-anthracis @fairyheart

[sexynetra]

[rinhaler]

i cant stop thinking abt noncon + stepcest Rin who cant control himself anymore after noticing how much his lil step-sister has grown since he was away bc of soccer n shit yk..

(btw your blog is goated)

GOATED WHAT A COMPLIMENT AKGHDSAKLH thank u very much I hope u enjoy this <3

warnings: 18+ MDNI, fem!reader, stepcest, dub/noncon, slight fingering, vaginal sex, nii-chan/rin-nii used, slight degradation, praise, dacryphilia, calls ur pussy 'she', shush kink?

words: 2k

“You’re always flirting with me.” Rin speaks. It’s the first time he’s said anything to you since he got back from Paris. He’s always been cold with you, short-tempered and even cruel. But you hadn’t expected to hear him say something like that.

You scoff, shuffling your position on the couch to get more comfortable to read your magazine. He always notes how often you change your position when you read; you can never sit still for more than a few minutes. You often read with your bedroom door open, and if he passes by to go to the bathroom, you’re always in a different position by the time he walks back to his room again.

“What was that?” he asks, pulling a disgruntled face at your dismissive response. “You think you don’t? You only wear short skirts when I’m visiting. I see your socials.”

“Oh… so, you’re stalking me then?” you giggle. “Don’t flatter yourself, Rin-nii… I jus’ feel pretty like this.” you defend yourself despite knowing he’s right. He thinks you’re dumb, and the fact that you smile and giggle after every word is a dead giveaway. You’re a flirt, and you’re a liar.

He also hates that you’re absolutely right.

Not a day goes by where he doesn’t check your social media profiles. He likes to see what you’re up to and who you’re seeing. It’s only been a recent development, though, he saw a particularly sultry post on your Instagram and he quite frankly hasn’t been the same since. He hadn’t realised you’d grown so much and come into your own. He can’t get you out of his mind.

You gulp a little as he leans forward, his fingers lingering on your chin and guiding your eyes to meet his own. He doesn’t speak immediately. Instead, he opts to examine your responses. The way your forehead forms a tiny bead of sweat under the pressure of his gaze. The way your tongue quickly swipes over your plump lips when his eyes drift to stare at them. The way your breasts almost spill with each heave of your chest as you try and keep your composure.

“Be grateful, little sister. Good nii-chan’s keep an eye on their little sister’s, you know.” he tells you matter-of-factly.

“T- uh, thank you, Rin-nii…” is all you can muster beneath his intense stare. He smirks, too fucking coolly before withdrawing. You close your magazine and stand up, desperate to hurry to your room to calm your nerves. He watches you walk away as he flicks through the channels on the TV.

“Oh God, miss you on my lips… hm-mm-mm…” you sing along with your record player as you listen to Lana Del Rey, following a muted makeup tutorial on your phone to pass the time. You grunt in annoyance when you realise that maybe you aren’t destined to perfect winged eyeliner today.

After locking your phone, you immediately tap the screen to see the time. You almost gasp as you realise it’s 7PM and five hours have passed since you last checked what time it is. Dinner will be ready soon, you grab a makeup wipe and begin to cleanse your skin. You should probably do your skincare, too, but it can wait until right before bedtime.

You examine your face to see if you’ve missed any makeup. Your eyeliner is stubborn but eventually comes off. And so with that, you get up to toss the wipe into the bin in your room.

“Jesus Chri— Rin! What are you doing?” you ask, spotting your elder brother in the doorway of your room. His eyes follow the stained wipe as you drop it into the bin, but his eyes linger on you once more as you wait for him to answer. “Oh… is there something on my face? Thought I got it all…” you tell him, leaning over your dressing table again to make sure your face is spotless.

“Tell me the truth.” he sighs, entering your room without closing the door. You look at him through your mirror before you turn to face him, an eyebrow quirked in confusion as he continues to close the distance. “You flirt with me.”

“This again?” you laugh. You lean back against your dressing table, fingers curling beneath the tabletop as you cross one ankle over the other. You feel heady as he gets closer and you smell his cologne. It doesn’t suit him, you think, but it’s nice. The scent is generic and sporty but Rin Itoshi himself is nothing close to generic.

Though it doesn’t matter, ultimately, not when it’s flooding your senses and drowning your mind.

“You’ve gotten so big…” he sighs, placing a hand on your hip. He smirks at how you shudder from his touch on your bare skin. Your watery eyes make his heart swell, unable to believe how trusting you are. You don’t stop him when his hand smooths over the curve of your ass and fingers dip under your skirt, though you’re trembling. Thick fingers prod at your panties and a tiny mewl escapes your lips. A condescending chuckle leaves him as you uncross your legs, widening them to give him better access. “Your panties are soaked. I knew you wanted me…”

You grab his wrist, urging him to stop when you remember the bedroom door is still wide open. It doesn’t deter him, though. His heavy fingers still press against the material covering your cute little cunt, his bulge growing tenfold when he pushes by your puffy lips to tease your throbbing clit.

“Don’t act coy, now. I know you want this, you opened your legs for nii-chan to play with you.”

“We can’t.” you whisper, biting your lip in a feeble attempt to stifle yourself. “Not l-like this! Not when they’re home… please nii-chan.” you beg, though it’s fruitless. Your eyes flutter closed as his head sinks, his lips meeting your neck to kiss you delicately.

You barely have the energy to fight when he encourages you to hook your legs around his waist. He carries you to the bed, mumbles of protest leave you but you don’t dare make too much noise and draw attention.

“Has to be now, princess.” he tells you. “Don’t know when we’ll get a better chance.” he continues.

You’re trapped beneath him, making a point of looking away from him as he humps against you pathetically. And you want him, of course you want him, but the risk is too high. He’s lost all sense, instead thinking with his cock rather than his brain. But you’re not too far gone yet. You can put a stop to this.

It needs to stop.

“Why are you being like this?” he wonders as he pulls out his length, jerking it slowly all the while still humping the tip against your clothed, wet panties. “I have to do this… little sister. I have to know how tight you are around me.”

“Another time, please! What if we get caught? P-Please stop, you’re smarter than this!” you beg once again, the request falling on deaf ears. You gulp as you feel his fingers hook under the gusset of your panties, moving the material into the crease of your thigh. Your voice breaks, a whiny moan following as he presses his tip into your sticky cunt. The stretch is heavenly, and you can barely catch your breath. His glimmering green eyes staring down at you as he inches further and further into your welcoming warmth makes you feel humiliated. You don’t want this, but fucking hell, you really do. “Aaah~!” you sob.

His palm flies to your mouth, the pressure almost suffocating as lust blown eyes turn impatient.

“Shut the fuck up,” he whispers, still bullying his cock into you. “Gotta be quiet, don’t want our parents to see what a little slut you are for nii-chan, yeah?” he warns you.

You don’t know what to do with yourself. You aren’t sure where to put your hands. They grip into the duvet below before you begin pulling at his shirt. He doesn’t have the patience to take it off, though, not when you’re sucking him in and squeezing around him like a fucking virgin. Are you? He doesn’t want to know. His head dips as your nails begin to claw up his back, marking your territory unintentionally.

He moves his leg, hooking his ankle around yours to keep your thigh pinned in place and open wide. You feel him hold your other ankle briefly, kissing it softly before he moves his hand under the bend of your knee. Your eyes cross as he pushes your leg until your opened up for him like a blooming flower. The new angle is monstrous, his thick, intimidating length reaching depths you didn’t even know existed.

He groans as he watches tears roll out of your innocent eyes. Those trusting eyes that didn’t think your nii-chan could be capable of something so salacious. He’s sure he won’t last long. Not when your clamping around him like this and looking at him with those pathetically wet eyes. You’re mumbling something beneath his dampening palm, but he isn’t stupid enough to free your airways and risk you crying out needily for your dear nii-chan.

You panic as you feel him withdraw his length, though deep down you know it’s for the best. But your eyes roll over white as you feel him stab it in again.

“Pretty little sister… want you to cream this cock for me…” he announces, repeating the motion again and again as he basks in the way you can barely look at him in your ecstasy. He can’t take his eyes off you, though. He doubts he’s ever seen a more beautiful sight. “I’m gonna cum inside, princess. I belong inside, yeah?”

You shake your head, his words stirring in your mind and bringing your senses back once more. Oh God, he can’t. You’re on the pill, all should be fine if he does cum inside but it’s so damn wrong.

“Did you just say no to your nii-chan? I don’t like that answer.” he replies, his hips picking up the pace again. His body shimmers with a sheen of sweat, and his breathless pants become heavier. “You should be begging me for my cum. I’m sure you didn’t mean it, don’t worry, I’ll give it to you.” he continues. Each thrust of his hips is deep and powerful and you’re sure your inner thighs might be developing bruises.

You whimper, again, knowing you can’t do anything to change his mind.

“Your pussy is so cute… think your clit needs some attention, though. Touch yourself for me, let me watch.” he requests. “Go on… she’s so swollen.”

It’s like being hypnotised. Your dominant hand flies to your cunt and begins to rub your needy clit. And it’s minimal, after barely any touching at all and you’re creaming for your beloved nii-chan. The sight is too much for your brother and the way your walls squeeze him for all he’s worth are an additional lure into his release. His own eyes turn white briefly before he looks down at where you’re joined. Your combined coupling forming a beautiful white ring around the base of his cock with every shallow impale.

“F-Fuck… don’t wanna pull out.” he tells you, finally uncovering your mouth to kiss your lips intimately.

You’re speechless. You aren’t surprised your brother is so experienced or so filthy with his words. Not when he’s travels and fucks girls around the world. But how are you meant to be without him now? When he goes away again… how will you stand it? His cock is made for you, of that, you’re sure. But you doubt he’ll keep it in his pants for your benefit.

Fuck, this was a mistake.

“Dinner’s ready!” your mother calls up the stairs, your nii-chan’s hand instinctively flies to your mouth and he shushes you before chuckling again.

You cry desperately as he withdraws his softening length from your twitching hole. But neediness turns to discomfort as you feel your brothers fingers move the gusset of your panties back into place. It’s so wet and sticky and gross, your face distorts at the unpleasant feeling.

“Come on, don’t want to be late, do we?”

© 2023 rinitxshi

[olderthannetfic]

Being a trans man and not being an anti is also isolating, which is part of why I think trans guys gravitate towards either being an anti or reposting anti posts. If you're not an anti, you get booted from discord servers, blocked on social media at best or sent misgendering rape threats, death threats and suicide bait by other trans men at worst, and now that I'm in college I've found IRL that not being an anti makes a lot of people in queer spaces available to the average college student incredibly uncomfortable. So you have to either be entirely alone - which is very difficult when you're young, queer, and just coming into your own identity - or you have to be around it a lot without saying a word. Agreeing with it at first wouldn't even be necessary. You just have to not say anything against it, and then you'll be able to be around other people.

It doesn't help that most trans men who get sucked into anti circles are teens at the time. There's 501 proposed anti-LGBT laws right now, not counting everything that has passed, the majority of it anti-trans. If you're a teenage boy seeing all this transphobia on the rise, you're going to feel powerless. Bullying people like antis do makes you feel power over at least a few people. Being told you can consume your way into being a good person via media intake makes you feel like you have power and control over at least that.

I was sucked in incrementally because I wasn't exposed to the more violent antis who fantasized about murder and hurting people for writing fiction, I met my only friend - who was an anti - after my dad had beaten me for coming out as trans, and I was sixteen. I got out when I was eighteen because once I went to live with my mom, a psychologist, she gently corrected me when I would say things that aren't based in fact. She pointed out how upset these people were making me. She taught me how to fact-check claims and look into the veracity of claims.

And when I tried to convey to my friends that no, what they were saying wasn't supported, they turned on me. Including the only person who had been there for me when I was hatecrimed, who had reached out to me specifically because she met me what day. I lost every friend I had in roughly 30 hours.

If I hadn't had a really great mom, a very intelligent rabbi who's well-versed in psychology and is a former lawyer who saw the "fiction made me do it" excuse used to defend heinous crimes and doesn't buy it, and an older half-sister who lived through people calling her a psycho lesbian because she's a lesbian who played D&D, listened to metal and dressed Goth in small-town Montana in the 80's/90's, I would have probably killed myself. Having those three people who accepted me and did not accept this extremist rhetoric kept me sane and repaired my self-esteem enough to keep me going.

But a lot of people don't have three adults who are intelligent, supportive, and know better than to fall for this faux-psychology. A lot of people don't even have one. Often, they have unsupportive people who also believe firmly in the faux-psychology of "if you watch a thing you'll do that thing IRL". So there's not only no one hauling them out of this, it's getting reinforced.

Being a non-anti who is a trans man gets me a lot of shit from a lot of people online and offline. (As other anons have mentioned during the ace discourse, online talking points come up on college campuses and in real life, because the internet is not an alternate dimension, it is something being used by the people around you who exist in the same physical space as you.)

A reality that I don't think people want to discuss is that trans men, just like all other people of all other genders, suffer a lot of psychological distress if they're put in a position where they have no support. I sure as fuck wasn't happy being in a position where I went from having tons of online friends, discord servers I could hang out in and fandoms I associated with good vibes to none of that, plus harassment, plus massive misgendering.

It's a lot less awful of an existence to be a trans man and an anti when you're young and need community and support than it is to not be an anti and be isolated. And humans gravitate towards the least awful option 99% of the time.

--

Yuuup.

Having some kind of real support network, usually offline but at the very least not randos you met a day ago on discord, is vital and is the difference between not only whether you rot in a pit of antidom forever but in stemming the massive flood of trans teen suicides. The overall queer rates aren't great, but the specifically trans rates... they're bad. They're so, so bad.

[crimsonhydrangeavn]

(For those wondering, Rita's Birthday is actually September 19th. )

Ironically enough, the reason why I wasn't able to post something on her birthday was because I was swamped with work thanks to an unrealistic deadline.

But hey, better late than never right?

As an apology to Rita and to you all, I wrote a "little" birthday story detailing how her "Birthday Cookies" came to be!

It was almost two weeks before the date when you found out Rita's birthday was coming up.

It was purely unintentional. You see, you spotted her open planner when she asked you to grab something off of her desk. Most of the days on her calendar had a note or two written in black text, however September 19th was the only exception. She had used a cute little birthday sticker that, you presumed, came with the planner.

At the time you made a mental note of it before fetching her the document she requested and getting back to work. However, that was the moment you knew you wanted to do something special for her. Like you, she had recently moved to the island and had really only focused on getting the bookstore up and running before getting consumed with work. From what you had seen she hadn't really socialized much outside of work, so the chances of her actually having birthday plans were slim.

However you intended to fix that! After all, she was the best boss you had ever had. She was kind, patient, hardworking, responsible, understanding, and made it a point to check in on how you were doing often. It was hard NOT to want to do something special for her given just how much you appreciated her.

During the following two weeks you made it your mission to learn as much as possible about her preferences. You didn't want to outright ask her, otherwise it would be too obvious. So, you would make sure to subtly bring it up with customers whenever Rita was within earshot so she would, hopefully, join in on the conversation, or you would be able to naturally follow up on the topic later that day.

Admittedly it was a pretty round about way of collecting information, but you really wanted to make sure your plans were a complete and total surprise

You also invited her out to the local bakery one day during lunch when she seemed to have a particularly rough day dealing with a bunch of annoying teenagers. It was then and there you had learned that she actually hated cake.

Marcelo, who was in ear shot when she made the comment, couldn't help himself and asked why.  According to her, she was never a fan of the "cakey" texture and she HATED frosting. Marcelo couldn't hide his surprise and began listing a variety of cakes, most of which you had never even heard from before. However Rita had not only tried all of them, but disliked each and every one.

Poor Marcelo had to return to work defeated while Rita and yourself remained seated sipping on your respective drinks.

" If not cakes, cupcakes, or pastries, then what kind of sweets do you like?" You questioned, praying that she would give you something, anything, to work with.

She took a sip of her black coffee as she considered your question. After a few beats she finally answered.

" Chocolate chip cookies."

" Really?" You questioned, surprised by the simplicity.

" I know, I know, It's a pretty basic answer... but I can't help it. It's always been a bit of a comfort food for me. Nothing beats a warm freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. " She paused for a moment before continuing, a soft wistful expression on her face.

"Growing up my grandma would make them for us on Sundays and... Well, it was the highlight of my week." She answered with a warm smile as she glanced down at her coffee.

" I mean, I can't really blame you. After all chocolate chips cookies are a classic for a reason." You commented with a smile, only to earn a gentle and affectionate look from the woman before you.

Fast forward a week later and you and a handful of coworkers quietly arrived at work nearly an hour early. Thankfully you had a key to the back door and was able to slip in without much effort. You all spent the next hour quietly decorating the break room without alerting Rita of your presence.

So when she finally descended the stairs an hour later, she was surprised to find you all standing in the dimly lit break room shouting " HAPPY BIRTHDAY RITA!"

She nearly fell down the stairs in shock as she stared at all of you wide eyed.

" W-what on earth...?"

It was then you stepped forward with a wide grin, pleased that your birthday surprise for Rita had been a success.

Well, at least the surprise part was anyway.

" It's your birthday isn't it? We wanted to do something to celebrate! Now why don't you sit down? We have a few surprises up our sleeves." You said with a smile as you grabbed her arm and gently led her over to the couch to sit down.

It was then all of your coworkers presented their gifts and cards to her, thanking her for being such a great boss and how they'll miss her once they returned home for the winter. Fortunately Rita had recovered from the shock by then and politely thanked them all, chuckling along and having a wonderful time.

Once everyone else had given her their gifts, you were up to bat.

" There's one more surprise, so make sure to close your eyes okay?" You said with a smile.

Rita raised a brow before doing as she was told, a playful smirk on her lips. " Oh? What's next? A piñata?" She teased gaining a few chuckles out of your coworkers.

You slipped into her office where you had hidden away a plate of freshly baked cookies you had made earlier that morning. You popped them into the microwave one of your coworkers had relocated to Rita's office right before you started decorating.

Once they were rewarmed, you placed a little candle in the center cookie, thankful that the warm temperature allowed it to stick.

Once they were ready you finally headed out to Rita, carrying the plate of cookies. Placing the plate on the coffee table in front of her you told her to open her eyes before singing happy birthday as your coworkers joined in.

When Rita's eyes finally opened she was surprised by the lack of cake, only for her features to soften considerably once she realized why you of all people had given her cookies instead of a cake. Your coworkers had initially teased you for your choice, however after seeing her tearful and grateful reaction, it was clear that you had made the right decision.

The rest of the gathering went smoothly and despite it all, you all were still able to open up on time. Then most of your coworkers ended up leaving once the festivities were over since it was technically their days off.

It wasn't until nearly everyone had cleared out or gone to the front that Rita finally approached you.

" You know Y/N... I've never gotten birthday cookies instead of cake before." She commented playfully as her eyes shined with affection and mirth as she looked over at you.

" I know I know, an unconventional decision... You have no idea how much everyone roasted me once they realized what I brought instead of a cake." You chuckled remembering their reactions.

"but... I wanted to make sure the birthday girl enjoyed her birthday treat." You met her gentle gaze, a small knowing on your lips.

"Well, I'd say she more than just enjoyed it. Thanks Y/N. This is one of the best birthdays I've had in a really long time." And with that, she wrapped her arms around you in an incredibly warm and thankful embrace.

[therapycat21]

All Right Now Part 4

Travis Kelce x Famous!Reader Description: The reader catches the eye of famous footballer Travis.

Warnings: None

Social Media AU

I’ve been on cloud 9 since that night, he has been texting and calling me almost every day, calling just to ask if I was feeling okay, what kind of flowers I liked, and how I preferred cats over dogs. For the first time, it feels right, actually true and real. Compared to the last few years and the relationships I’ve been in, this falls at the very top of my list.

Ever since that night at the restaurant I’ve been counting down the days until I get to physically see him again, we both have been so busy with life that I'm only able to see him on Facetime.   

But today is the day of his game against the Jets and I'm so excited to finally see him again, and bring my mom to her first football game. 

My thoughts still swirling, I’m interrupted by a knock on the door, checking the time, I know it’s my mom. I run to the door and open it to see my mom in full Chiefs gear, also wearing a #87 jersey like me. I give her a giant smile before we pull each other into a deep hug. “Ugh, I missed you so much Mommy,” I tell her, getting a little emotional from not seeing her “Oh I missed you too my baby” Our hug lasts a few more seconds before we let each other go. “So, how's Travis?” she asks. Yes, I already told her about him, I can’t not tell her, we’re way too close for me to keep secrets from her.

I try to hide my smile but inevitably it pops out “he’s good, he called me today before heading to the stadium, he’s a little nervous” I tell her, she frowns slightly “Why’s he nervous, he plays absolutely amazing” she tells me “we know that but he’s more nervous about how they'll treat me cause we all know they're gonna be ticked off about me being there and doesn't want it to give me bad press” I tell her slightly frowning.

I look over at her after not hearing her say anything. She is slightly smiling “What are you so smiley about?” I question

“Oh nothing, this is just the first time I’ve ever heard one of your boyfriends actually be concerned for you, your feelings, and your safety.”

 I sigh turning back around and gathering my things to leave “We have not had that talk yet Mom, so please refrain from saying anything about that to him.” “Oh honey if you think that man does not want to be your boyfriend, you are very mistaken, if only you saw how he looks at you,” she tells me grinning.

Looking at her confused, I question “What do you mean how he looks at me?” she belly laughs from the doorway looking at her phone “From when you guys went out to dinner that night, I’m looking at the picture now”. I look at her in a panic and rush to open my phone and find what she is talking about. Opening Instagram I see a post from ENews.

Mouth agape in shock “Oh my god, I can't believe they saw us.” I say out loud. My mom laughs loudly “Honey no offense but you're a famous singer and he’s a famous footballer, of course, they would’ve found out. Look It’ll be okay I promise” I sigh a little in relief from her reassurance.

But I still have to let Travis know, that is what gets my nerves to skyrocket not knowing how he’ll take the information. I shake my hands a bit to shake off some of the nerves hopefully “Ohh man, okay let’s go, we will be even more late if we stay here” I tell her smiling at her assuringly. We both left the apartment.

1 Hour Later in The Chief's Family Suite

We both found our seats and ordered ourselves drinks and some light food. I lean over to my mom “So? How is it so far?” I question smiling at her “Oh honey this is so fun, I wanna do it every weekend” she tells me smiling. 

Before I respond we’re interrupted by someone calling my name I turn around to see Kylie and the two girls. I jump up to go greet them “Hey you guys, I didn’t know you were coming today,” I say while hugging Kylie she hugs me back responding “I know Jason decided last minute to come so his mom didn’t have to drive by herself” I nod smiling before turning my attention to the two girls and bending down to reach them “hey pretty girls” before I can fully greet them they both rush in to hug me “ugh I just love seeing you two” I tell them, letting them both go and standing back upright.

 “Oh you guys, this is my mom Katalina. Mom this is Kylie Travis’s sister-in-law and these two beautiful girls are his nieces” I introduce them. My mom stands to greet them pulling them each into a hug “Oh it is so nice to meet all of you, I heard so much from y/n, do you wanna sit with us over here?” she asks. Kylie smiles before nodding and guiding the girls into the seats between me and her. I look around searching “Where’s Jason?” I ask Ky “Oh he’s grabbing some drinks and snacks with his mom, he should be here soon.” she lets me know “Their mom is here?” I question with a twinge of fear lacing my voice. I can tell she noticed because of the sympathetic look on her face “Don’t worry Trav and Jason have been telling her amazing things about you, I know she’ll love you” she reassures me. I give her a small smile before turning back to my mom waiting for the game to start.  

A few minutes go by before we hear the oh-so-boisterous voice of Jason Kelce. Me and mom turn to face the sound and see Jason with a smaller and shorter woman. We wait for them to greet Kylie and the kids before I stand up to greet Jason “Hey, there my girly!” he says reaching to pull me into a bear hug.

 Laughing I hug him back before letting go and introducing him to Mom, he reaches around and pulls her into a hug before guiding us to meet Donna who he said was his mom's name. “Momma, this is y/n and her mom Katalina” I smile about to reach out and shake her hand before she laughs and pulls me into a motherly hug “Oh it is so nice to meet you sweetheart” After a few seconds she lets go “it’s so nice to meet you too, Travis talks about you all the time” I tell her smiling, she laughs “touche my dear” she smirks at me. I blush before introducing her to my mom. After all of the pleasantries are done we all sit down. My mom was on my right, Donna on my left with Jason and the kids, and Kylie on her left.

The game finally starts and we finally see Travis run out onto the field with the other players. Once the players are settled on the field I see him look over and up straight at me with a soft fond smile on his face, he slightly waves at me before turning back to the game.

I blush and turn to see his action brought attention to me in the suite. I look down to see some of the crowd taking pictures and videos. I catch the eye of one of the fans before smiling, blowing them a kiss, and waving at them.  A few minutes of this go by before everyone goes back to the game with fans occasionally looking back up here at us. In the meantime, me, my mom and Donna are all laughing and making jokes together. (if only I knew what gonna come from that on the internet). 

And as expected I look up from the field to the jumbo, smiling as I see my own face. I give a quick smile and wave before turning around and showing my jersey number with a proud smile on my face. Everyone gives a laugh before I sit back down and the jumbo goes back to the game.

The laughter halts for a moment after seeing Pat throw the ball and Travis jumps to catch it, everyone stands up jumping and cheering as Travis runs to make the touchdown with them winning the game against the Jets. The stadium breaks into hollers and screams, me included. Kylie still standing screaming for Travis reaches over and hugs me before Donna pulls me into a hug. We all hug each other before everyone calms down as Travis does his touchdown dance.

As the excitement dies down, everyone starts to gather their belonging. I’m then approached by one of the workers. “Hello, we were asked to escort you down to Travis and the car is that okay?” he asks me I look over at my mom, and she gives me a smile slightly pushing me towards the doors “go, it’s okay Donna and I are gonna go out to eat and talk some, okay” I smile reaching over to give her a big hug telling her I love her, I do the same to Donna “tell him he played amazing for me and I love him” she tells me I give her quick nod before nodding to the man and rushing over to go see Travis.

After a few minutes of walking, we hit the elevator the man guides me in before pushing the button to go down, a few silent seconds go by before the man slightly turns towards me “I’m sorry if this is unprofessional but Is it okay If I get a picture with you for my daughter? She loves your music” I look at him “Absolutely and believe me you’re not being unprofessional, how about I make a video for her, what’s her name ” he smiles reaching to fish his phone put “Her name is Jessica” I smile as he turns to video and I lean over to say a few words to her before he thanks me to put his phone away. I grab my phone and ask for his information “Is it okay if I get your information, I’d like to send her some stuff if that’s okay” I ask. He looks at me in shock before hurriedly nodding at me “Of course, you just made me the father of the year” he jokes at me, we laugh and talk a few more before the doors open and we’re greeted by Travis leaning against the wall with a few teammates. He gives them quick goodbyes before I walk out.

He makes quick strides toward me lifting me into a deep hug, his face pressed into the side of my hair. “Oh I missed you so much,” he tells me still hugging me. I relish in the feeling of his warmth before responding “I missed you too” he lets me go putting my feet back onto the ground “Oh by the way your mom asked me to tell you that you played amazing and she loves you” he gives a fond smile before it turns quizzical “you and my mom talked?” he questions. I panic a little “I’m sorry I didn’t know she was gonna be the—” he cuts me off with a laugh “Baby, it wasn't a bad thing you talked to my mom I was just surprised I thought she wasn't coming to this game that’s why” I sigh in relief happy he isn't upset “yeah Kylie said Jason decided to come last minute and drove your mom too” I tell him. He nods understanding.

“Anyway, did you wanna go home and watch a movie and chill for the night?” he questions. I nod profusely, excited for a chill night in before a concert the next day. “Yes please” I smile at him he gives me a nod before grabbing my hand and turning me towards the doors using his other hand to brush the back of my head pulling my forehead to kiss it “Oh you’re so adorable,” he tells me before stopping abruptly “what’s wrong?” I question he turns towards me “I was about to walk out this door exposing us to the world before asking you if you’re okay walking in public together yet?” I blush a little before raising my hand to his cheek “I am totally okay with being seen in public with you” I tell him proudly. He blushes turning his head down before nodding and clasping my hand in his leaning down and brushing his lips over mine. “Alright let’s go announce to the world I am the proud boyfriend of the infamous y/n l/n,” he says pulling my arm. “Ho ho hold on there a sec, boyfriend?” I question pulling my arm from his hand to get him to stop walking. He looks at me sideways “Um yeah, In case you didn’t know we’ve been together since I even looked at you that cool with you?” he smirks at me staring intensely. I blush underneath his gaze I ponder for a second “Yeah, yeah it’s cool with me.” I tell him before turning back to the door.

He nods also turning back to the door and we are then blinded by flashing lights as we are engulfed in the sounds of flashing cameras and screaming fans.

Why does this feel like the end??? Do yall want more of this series or no???? please let me know...

Like my writing? buy me a coffee! I would be so grateful!

Taglist:

@whitemanswhore3

@bxdbxtxh15

@cixrosie

@kkrenae

@the-untamed-soul

@calirindo

@armystay89

@hotwheels1108

@awatt31

@bobthe-turmpetman29

@goldenharrysworld

[etherealvistas]

Driving in Palestine now is more dangerous than ever.

Yesterday, I drove from Ramallah to Dura, a village near Hebron to attend the funeral of Ahed, my friend’s baby sister, who had just become a mother. She was shot by an Israeli sniper. A heartbreaking loss.

If I could use Israel’s apartheid roads designated for settlers, it would be an 80-90 minute drive, but it took me 4 hours.

Why?

First, we’re forced to take segregated Palestinian only roads which make it a 2.5 hour drive because of checkpoints.

But these days, it’s even worse as Israel has imposed an even more strict strangulation policy over the West Bank, which means even some of those segregated roads are blocked and there are 10 times as many checkpoints.

Taking this drive outside our village/cities of residence is extremely dangerous for three reasons:

Settler attacks: Israeli settlers are in rampage mode, and you don’t know when you could get hit by a rock or bullet from one of their raging mobs.

Soldiers at the end of a wrong turn: There are no signs for what “roads” are currently opened or closed for us, you have to guess or stop to ask locals every few miles. If you make a wrong turn and end up face to face with soldiers, they can shoot you, and claim you attacked them.

Arrests for social media posts: If you’re stopped at a checkpoint, soldiers these days are taking folks’ phones and checking their WhatsApp’s and telegram and instagram. If you have a message standing in solidarity with Gaza, or anything the Israeli soldiers see as offensive, they’ll beat you to a pulp, and could even arrest you. My friend Diala, a human rights lawyer, was just arrested at one of these checkpoints this evening. We don’t know why, but it likely relates to her work and messages they found on her phone about it.

On my end, driving back at night was a nightmare, mainly because I had a friend in the car and was worried about him.

As we drove back, these historically busy streets were ghostly empty because nobody is taking the risk of driving at night unless necessary.

Every turn I’d take, I’d slow down to a crawl to make sure there was no trigger happy soldier or angry settler ready to pounce.

I got lucky as, although we waited at a checkpoint for an hour, the soldiers got bored and literally opened the checkpoint for all the cars to pass without any security check — proof they’re using these checkpoints arbitrarily as collective punishment.

In Dura, I saw where Ahed was shot.

The soldiers had stormed her village as part of their intimidation tactics in the West Bank to keep people anxious. Ahed ran to her roof to warn her husband to come home. An Israeli sniper shot her in the head.

As I drove home, thinking of Ahed, her heart broken family, the families of my friends in Gaza, all the souls we’ve lost, and how easy my life could be taken for simply driving across my ancestral lands to help my friend in her grief.

It shouldn’t have to be said, but our lives are precious. They’re beautiful. They’re equally worthy of joy and basic dignity.

I’m committed to one day being able to drive across my people’s ancestral land a free man, surrounded by my liberated people.

If Israel’s death machine is haunting us around every corner, we might as well live fighting for a life worth dying for.

[torialefay]

☀️ Everyday Idol 🌙 (Chapter 2)

✨ head on over to my masterlist if you haven’t read chapter 1!

✨possible bangchan x reader (f), possible jungkook x reader (f)

✨wc: ~2k

✨ friends to lovers? possible love triangle? future angst and smut??? definitely fluff.

✨ summary: JYP Entertainment launches a new show and y/n somehow gets recruited. Even though she doesn’t particularly care about the outcome of the show, she does particularly care about one of the artists she met: Chris from Stray Kids. Does Chris feel the same or will a potential relationship with one of his friends overcome what y/n feels for him?

✨ author’s notes: pls pls pls let me know if you’d prefer shorter, more frequent chapters like this one, OR longer chapters posted about once per week. i’m heavily debating lol

✨ warnings: cursing from time to time.

Chan’s POV:

He’d been in his studio working on a new track. ‘For way. Too. Long,’ he thought. Every beat was starting to run together and every sound was starting to become the same. He leaned back in his chair, letting out a sigh and took his time standing up out of his chair. A walk is what he needed. He figured he would grab a drink while he was at it. He reached to the couch behind him to pull on his hoodie, grab his wallet, and pick up his phone. He brought his phone to his face to see any notifications that had popped up in the past couple of hours. He would normally silence it when there was something he really needed to get done for the day. He scrolled, Bubble notifications, Instagram notifications, a few Youtubers he watched had uploaded new videos.

New text: A. Felix. Chan quickly tapped over the notification and held his phone up to his face to unlock it.

‘Huh? What is he on about? I don’t think I’ve even seen anyone recently to talk about that kinda stuff.’ Chan thought.

Chan decided to wait back a minute in his studio. Sitting back down in his chair, he hoped Felix would text back soon. Now he was invested.

‘I mean, yeah, I’d hung out with him the other day… He definitely brought up girls though and didn’t mention anything to me about it other than if we found someone, we’d better promise to not totally abandon each other afterwords. He didn’t mention a new girl though.’

‘Weird, but whatever,’ Chan thought. He sprung up out of his chair and headed out the studio door. Whoever it was, he figured he didn’t know them if JK didn’t even bring them up. It was a good distraction to give him a bit of a break though.

Chan made his way out of the company building and headed to the nearest convenience store. ‘A pineapple juice is in order,’ he thought. He grabbed some snacks quickly, before heading to the check out. He stopped outside of the company building, chatting with some of the JYP trainees and idols, continuing on the inside of the building too. If there’s one thing about Chan, it’s that he’s the biggest social butterfly there ever was. If something happened in the Kpop industry, he would know about it. That was why it took him a little aback when Felix was getting the scoop instead of him.

He made his way back to his studio, setting his new treats down on his desk before settling back into his chair for the evening. He pulled his phone back out to check for an update from Felix.

Of fucking course. ‘Good job Chris, good job,’ he thought to himself. ‘You waited too long to say anything and this is what you get. I mean you even introduced her to him! What did you expect?’ He thought back to the day you and Jungkook had been at the apartment. Nothing was said out of the ordinary, was it? He remembered how beautiful you looked that day, and how your eyes meeting his made his heart race. How he had a stupid grin on his face once you left. How he had beaten himself up for not coming up with a way to ask for your number.

‘No wait,’ he thought, suddenly pulling a memory out of his ass. Once he had plopped back onto the couch with Jungkook, he had leaned in and said you seemed nice. “Yeah, she’s great,” Chan had responded. Is that all it took? For JK to meet you for 2 minutes and hear that you’re a good person? That’s really all it took to get him interested in you to the point of asking you out? ‘He has balls, and you don’t Chan. Why would she be interested in you over him anyways?’ He thought.

He let himself lean all the way back in his chair, running his hands over his face. He let out a breath he hadn’t even known he’d been holding in. Hands resting on his forehead, with elbows flexed up above his head, he allowed himself to sit like that for a minute. He knew he should be happy for his friend. He knew he should be happy for you. It sounded like you’d been going through a lot and it’d be great to have something good to look forward to and to distract you. But in the tiniest, most hidden corner of his mind, he was hoping it would be him. Some day. FUCK.

——————————————

Y/n’s POV:

“Okay there, I sent it,” you excitedly looked up at Anna. You were shaking the tiniest bit, but you hoped she didn’t notice.

“What did you settle on?” she spun your phone around to read the message to Jungkook.

Sure, that sounds like fun! Just let me know something.

“Cool, calm, collected. I like it,” she smiled at you, turning the phone back to you.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to seem like I was like- expecting anything, ya know? Like I don’t want to put pressure on it and make him feel like it’s a date or anything. Cause I feel like it’d be a lot easier if it’s just casual.”

“I mean, I agree. But DM’ing asking to hang out doesn’t exactly scream ‘casual’ to me,” she smirked.

You blushed. “I don’t knowwww, I just- I don’t know what to expect.”

“Valid, but just try not to worry about it. A literal babe just borderline asked you on a date. I don’t think he would’ve done that if he didn’t think you were great,” Anna rotated her head back and forth at you, rolling her eyes to the side. “TRY to enjoy this. I bet he’s nervous too.”

“You think?”

“Oh I KNOW. I bet he’s been sweating his balls off ever since he sent that, waiting for you to respond. You probably put him through hell not responding for hours!”

It made you giggle to think about… almost in a guilty way. “I don’t know about HELL, but -“ your phone buzzed in your hand, cutting off your sentence. You quickly craned your head down to read the message on the screen.

Abcdefghi__lmnopqrstuvwxyz: I’ll have some down time tomorrow? Are you free?

Your heart jumped a little as you read it.

“Hey, let me see, let me see!” Anna poked her head over top of the device. She looked at the screen intently. “Of course you’re free tomorrow! And if you aren’t free, we’re gonna come up with a plan to make you free!”

You went over tomorrow’s schedule in your head. Professionalism training in the morning- going over things you are and aren’t allowed to say and do once the taping of the show starts. Hair and makeup around lunch time. You should have some sort of lunch break in there since there were so many other contestants who also had to get made up. Then shooting materials that will be used as your introduction on the show. You weren’t too sure what all it entailed, but you knew you’d have to talk a bit about yourself and Changbin would be brought in at some point. You’d have to act like this was your first time meeting him, so that’s awkward. The company scheduled a mandatory dinner and drinks night for the new Everyday Idol cast so that everyone got to know each other well before the show. Now THAT, you were excited for. You figured some people would be cut throat, but you were just here to have a good time. You were excited to make more friends and see who you’d vibe with. You weren’t sure if any of the JYP staff would be there as well, but it would be good to know them too.

Your thumbs automatically flexed on the screen.

I have a pretty full schedule tomorrow, but I could probably do something around lunch! Can I text you tomorrow closer to when I know I’ll be ready? You know how the scheduling is.

You said this out loud as you typed. You looked up to Anna, silently asking for her approval.

“Perfect,” she said. With a deep breath in, you hit send. You both sat, waiting for a response since his other had been fairly quick. You held your breath almost the entire time. Why were you so nervous?

*DING* Another message.

Abcedfghi__jklmnopqrstuvwxyz: Great, I’ll pick you up to get some lunch. On me of course. Just message me tomorrow and let me know a time. Can’t wait! :)

“Ahhhhhh!” Anna squeeled.

“Ahhhhhh!” you squeeled back. Neither of you could contain yourselves, waving your hands back and forth in the air.

“Bitch, you have a date with Jeon Jungkook… BITCH YOU HAVE A DATE WITH JEON JUNGKOOK!!!!” she screamed, jumping up and down as she sat. The smile on her face spread from one ear to the other.

“I KNOW, I KNOW!!! … Oh my God Anna, what am I gonna do?! What am I gonna talk about?! Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!” You were now jumping up and down as well, mildly freaking out all the while.

“I don’t know, but you are gonna CRUSH it,” she squeaked, hugging you. “And it will be okay, just deep breaths! You are so smart, you will literally have a million things to talk about.” You were still holding your breath.

“God I feel like I could pass out,” you laughed.

“Well don’t. Not until after your date.” ‘DATE.’ Jesus Christ. Your nerves were on fire. ‘I’ve got to calm down. It’s nothing, it’s literally nothing. It’s just a normal date. Honestly, he didn’t even call it a date. It’s just two people hanging out, that’s all. PLUS, let’s not forget that he kinda sucked when you met before. There’s only pressure on him. HE has to prove why I should like HIM, not the other way around,’ you thought.

You decided to “Like” the message, making it more casual. “I’m gonna go take a shower. I’ve gotta shake these nerves off,” you said, standing up.

“Well I’ll be right here waiting and game planning what you’re gonna wear tomorrow,” Anna beamed up at you.

“Yeah, yeah,” you smiled and rolled your eyes. Heading to the bathroom, you slowly turned the shower to almost the hottest the water would run. ‘Fuck, I need to shave EVERYTHING,’ you thought. ‘This is gonna have to be a longgg shower.” You quickly removed your clothes and set them on the ground beside you. You tapped on your phone to get a nice, calming playlist going before your marathon shower started or else you’d be bored, huffing and puffing out of your mind trying to get the razor up your leg for the millionth time.

Dang, another instagram notification. Maybe Jungkook WAS really into you. You tapped to open the chat again.

gnabnahc: Hey! I know this is random, but if you have any time tomorrow, could you meet me in my studio? I’ll be around in the morning and at lunch after hair & makeup. If you have time of course, I understand if not. I just wanted to talk to you about something.

‘Good fucking God,” your heart dropped. “Anna… I need you. NOW!” you screamed.

-------------------------------------------

✨ Contiue to ➡️ Chapter 3

✨if you enjoyed, please consider liking, commenting, or re-blogging

[mojowitchcraft]

2024 Fic Tracker

I decided to start tracking the fics I'm reading for 2024 and I thought I'd maybe do a monthly round up of my favourite fics and post on here, but I'm one week in and there's already so many great fics that I'm reading that I wanted to yell about!

Not sure how consistently I'll post these, but I love hyping up my fellow writers and friends, so here's some of my recent faves, mainly Steddie fics but some others in here!

change your mind

by helix_stomper [@pixelizedrifles] Rating: E | Words: 168k | Chapters: 13/17 | Pairing: Steddie

Summary:

After his breakup with Nancy, Steve Harrington keeps it a secret that he hasn’t made an effort to meet his soulmate. When he accidentally wakes up next to them a few days after his 18th birthday, he’s surprised to find that it’s not only another guy, but somebody else in Hawkins. Between losing all his old friends, learning how not to be an asshole, and balancing his newfound sexuality in a closed-minded town, Steve has his work cut out for him. Eddie Munson doesn’t believe in soulmates, but that doesn’t stop him from waiting in the dreamscape every night for his. Balancing life as an openly queer, drug-dealing super senior in Hawkins, Indiana is no cakewalk, especially with Billy Hargrove on his ass. But maybe, just maybe, there’s something to that whole soulmate thing after all.

📓 💭: [Read most recent chapters of this ongoing WIP] I was so excited when I saw that helix_stomper was writing a soulmate fic, and it does NOT disappoint. It's a totally different vibe from the Boots & Budweiser series but it's so so excellent. A completely fresh and interesting take on the soulmate trope with dreamscapes, a healthy dose of identity porn and some *drama*

they're going to send us to prison for jerks

by @greatunironic Rating: E | Words: 16k | Chapters: 1/1 | Pairing: Steddie

Summary:

GARETH 11.46am it’s been like five hours should we do a welfare check on him? JEFF 11.47 am why? you think it’s possible to die from jerking it too much? GARETH 11.47am ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah In which Eddie is TikTok famous, and his personal favorite creator just had an unexpected face reveal.

📓 💭: I love me some modern au / alt format / social media shinanegans and this did not disappoint! Super fun and cute

Paint & Glitter

by unhappy_peaches [@ghast1yghosts] Rating: T | Words: 2.3k | Chapters: 1/1 | Pairing: Steddie

Summary:

"face painter Steve's next in line is an excited 20 y/o Eddie who wants a dragon"

📓 💭: [Reread] This came up in covo with a friend and I had to reread it cause it's so damn cute.

Tentative

by Eddywow [@eddywoww] Rating: E | Words: 90k | Chapters: 11/? | Pairing: Steddie

Summary:

“Oookay," The woman drew out, one ringed hand sweeping at Stevie's hair. "Hey there, Uhh. You're kind of in my lap. Can you get up?" Rude. Couldn't she see Stevie was trying her best?

📓 💭: [Read most recent chapters of this ongoing WIP] I was a little late to the party starting to read this but it's SO FUCKING GOOOOOOOD!! (would we expect anything less of Eddywow? Doubtful) Love going wild with my friends about stressy depressy big tiddy Stevie. Such a fun dynamic between them in this gender bent girl band modern au.

We Can't Both Be Billy Joel

by audacity_of_bluejays [@audacityofbird] Rating: E | Words: 34k | Chapters: 4/5 | Pairing: Steddie

Summary:

Classically trained concert pianist Steve Harrington’s dreams went on pause when the world shut down in 2020. When you’re the last one in, you’re the first one out when the concert halls shut down, no matter how much time, effort, work or talent you put in. So, three years later when his adoptive father and owner of Skeleton Keys Piano Bar in Indianapolis calls him home from New York City to help save the family business, he finally has a way to use his skills and experience. Turns out you can come home again. The only problem is, the plan is to bring in dueling pianos and Steve has to work with the current piano player on staff. Eddie is stupidly talented, annoying and friendly even when Steve isn't. It's infuriating. Can they work together and save the bar from closing? Or will they both get more than they bargained for?

���� 💭: [Read most recent chapters of this ongoing WIP] love love loving my gal Birdie's modern au piano bar fic. Honestly did not expect to get turned on by them playing the piano but the 'playing the piano as foreplay' tag did not lie to me! This is super fun and sweet and the final chapter is getting posted tomorrow!

Steve & Robin

by audacity_of_bluejays [@audacityofbird] Rating: M | Words: 46k | Chapters: 8/22 | Pairing: Evental Steddie, with on and off Stommy as a treat

Summary:

It's 1995. Two sets of best friends find themselves in Chicago and in each other's orbit as they try to figure out how to best navigate the world, work, relationships, family, and friendships in their mid-twenties. Chrissy is starting a new job in a new city with only an old friend to help tether her. Eddie tries to help his band find their big break. Steve tries to get his matchmaking family off his back and Robin hatches a plan to help him do that in an unconventional and seemingly logical way. They're all finding themselves and their way to each other. So, who cares if they stumble along the way? At least they have each other.

📓 💭: [Currently catching up on this ongoing WIP] Another one that I was putting off reading and I'm now obsessed with!! Birdie has really found her niche with this fun screenplay style alt format. The way she describes the scenes and the cuts between things is SO FUCKING FUNNY and I can totally visualize it. My new fave sitcom.

stand still (so i can see your sillouette)

by audacity_of_bluejays, pizzabones [@glitterfang] Rating: E | Words: 4k | Chapters: 1/1 | Pairing: Stommy

Summary:

Immediately following the events of Chapter 7 of Steve & Robin, Tommy and Steve consummate this new version of their relationship. Will this be the beginning of something beautiful or the end of something that's run its course? Maybe Both. Tune in:

📓 💭: oh my god it's like if my favourite sitcom had a late night special. wowoowoweeeee!!! Love me some Stommy smut but also I couldn't relax and enjoy it the whole time cause I don't trust that man!!

sidelong

by Adure [@toburnup]

Rating: E | Words: 5.8k | Chapters: 1/1 | Pairing: Stommy

Summary:

Tommy draws his knees up toward him and leans his folded arms on top. He stares, unashamed, at the length of Steve's neck as he looks around. His chin. His nice smile. Tommy's drunker now that they're sitting in the brunt of the sun, and maybe that's why it takes a few extra seconds for him to realize that Steve's stopped talking. "Is there something on my face?" Steve asks, rubbing his cheek with the back of his hand. He looks confused. And he's waiting, because Tommy is slack-jawed and a little bit in love and he's really, really not ready for this shit. (Tommy can't help but look, and Steve can't stop catching him.)

📓 💭: some soft and squishy Stommy to heal the wounds that the above rec might give you. I love me some happy ending Stommy, just two dudes in love with each other trying to figure it all out!! Absolutely adored seeing my bestie Becca @glitterfang partner up with Vio and do some amazing art for this fic!!

Hungry Like The Wolf

by beetlesandstars [@beetlesandstarss] Rating: M | Words: 10k | Chapters: 1/1 | Pairing: Steddie

Summary:

“Are you a manifestation of my subconscious?” Eddie asks, tentatively shuffling closer to the wolf. He sways a little, stage-whispering, “What are you trying to tell me?” He knows the pills he took were strong but, well - he didn’t think they were ‘hallucinate a giant dog’ strong. (Or, the one where Steve turns into a wolf and befriends Eddie Munson.)

📓 💭: Werewolf Steve!! WEREWOLF STEVE!!! I need so much more of him!! Absolutely loved the identity porn of it all and wolfy cuddles. So good.

Sneaky Link

by morningberries [@morningberriesao3] Rating: E | Words: 121k | Chapters: 17/20 | Pairing: Steddie

Summary:

HailToTheKing: tell me what you look like   ELMst01: tall, pale af, few tats here and there   Steve lifts his eyes from his phone. He must be wondering why Eddie is smiling like a fucking idiot. He pretends not to notice Steve sizing him up from head to foot. Judging bastard.   HailToTheKing: sounds hot   HailToTheKing: just my type   OR   The only thing worse than Steve Harrington, is the fact that Eddie got paired with him for his college assignment. At least the sexy guy he subscribes to on OnlyFans is a good distraction to keep Eddie's mind away from Steve, and the annoying crush he hates that he's starting to develop on his project partner.

📓 💭: [Read the most recent chapter of this ongoing WIP] I've been loving this fic since the begining. I'm always feral for a modern au + university/college au + only fans? Come on!!! So much good soup in here. Plus the added Eddie is a thick headed dummy is so good

Slide It In

by gayhandshake Rating: E | Words: 1.7k | Chapters: 1/1 | Pairing: Steddie

Summary:

Without thinking, he yanks his hand back, Steve yelping, “Eddie!” in response. “Why does it feel like that?” Eddie asks, his mouth pinched. His voice is high-pitched and whiny and incredibly embarrassing, but seriously, why does it feel like that? He shakes his whole body out, wiggling his arms to dislodge the sensation. Steve cranes his neck to glare at him. “Like what?” “Like ‒ squishy and weird!” --- Eddie struggles with some features of the human body.

📓 💭: okay this is just pure silly crack and it made me laugh so fucking hard.

a snowfall kind of love

by @hexiewrites Rating: E | Words: 46.5k | Chapters: 7/11 | Pairing: Steddissy

Summary:

Chrissy has always been top of her class at the North Pole. She’s worked her way up to the matchmaking department, and has an impressive track record of successful Christmas relationships under her belt. This year's assignment should be easy, which is good, because if you asked her out of earshot she might tell you the whole thing is getting a bit… tired. Still: a happy but lonely mechanic meets an ornery author in the biggest slump of his career, whose bike breaks down outside of his secluded cabin in the woods where he's settled for his annual winter writing retreat. A house call, a little bit of that ‘snowed in, only one bed’ magic, Chrissy knows she’s in for an Elf of the Year award for this one. Only... what happens when the mechanic and the author are just as charmed by Chrissy as she is by them? When her little bit of snow gets a little bit out of control? With three of them snowed in, still with only one bed, and an elf fully cut off from her powers, can Chrissy still pull it off and help her marks find love? Or, can her marks help show her that there’s even more magic when Christmas ends, but the love is here to say?

📓 💭: [Read most recent chapter of ongoing WIP] Man I LOVE this, Steddissy is so much fun, plus the added hallmark cutesy christmas holiday of it all is so fun. I was howling with laughter about Chrissy being a covert Christmas elf, ducking behind things with bells in her hair wearing the LOUDEST Christmas outfits. Super cute and fun (and now smutty cause they doin the do and it's yum yum delicious)

[charlewiss]

dare / mick schumacher

pairing: mick schumacher x reader

summary: he has had a crush on you for the longest time. what happens when someone challenges him to do something about it?

word count: 957 words.

warnings: reuploaded cause it wasn't reaching anyone lmao I really liked this one and wanted it to go well :( also, italic parts are supposed to be said in french

even though the challenge was relatively easy to explain (after all, they just had to taste different kitcats and guess the flavours), it was getting progressively harder to keep focus when a certain german boy was looking at you with the most attentive eyes you've ever seen.

you had been working with haas for a few months now, as part of the social media team. your job was to create new fun challenges for the youtube channel that could show the personalities of the drivers while also maintain them entertained during the free time they sporadically had at the race weekends.

but since you came to the first race of the season, you just couldn't keep your eyes away from mick. you knew that it was wrong, so you never dared to say or do anything about it. just keep your safe distance and try to not blush every time his ocean blue eyes stared directly into your caramel brown ones. which, today, was proving to be harder than you expected.

'so, just eat it and say what flavor they are?' kevin asked, already seated in his place while putting away his phone. 'while blindfolded' you replied, handing them both the black piece of cloth. with mick's help, kevin put on the mask. when he had finished, the blonde boy shifted his gaze to you, and raised his eyebrows while signaling at the small piece on his hand. 'can you help me?'

you made your way towards him, and standing behind his back, helped him tie the mask. you tried to ignore how red mick got when you accidentally caressed his hair when you had secured the mask in its place. his demeanor changed almost immediately, but there was no time to ask questions, as the camera started rolling.

it was a couple of hours later, and you were in the little cafeteria that was placed inside the hospitality, working to get the video done to post it the next day. it was getting kinda late so everybody that had finished their tasks for the day was leaving, but you still needed to check the last part of the footage and edit it correctly.

mick was outside with esteban, his best friend at alpine, with whom he did the track walks every race weekend. the two of them approached the door, with the french boy about to leave before nodding at you and asking mick. 'you still haven't asked her out?'. the blonde one could feel his cheeks reddening instantly. 'what are you talking about?'

esteban laughed. he couldn't believe that his best friend thought he was being discreet. 'i don't know, maybe about your crush with the new media girl? you've been throwing puppy love eyes at her since the season started'.

they were used to switch between french and english without a problem, but they didn't notice that kevin was right behind them, and the piece of information reached his ears in the perfect language for him to understand. 'oh, you're talking about y/n?' he said, now making his presence known. mick's eyes widened instantly, and he felt like if looks could kill, his best friend would be dead on the floor. 'he wouldn't dare to tell her anything. hell, i don't think he's even capable of speaking to her' kevin joked, which made esteban laugh. the german boy couldn't believe that they were laughing at his face and his cheeks reddened again, now accompanied with a frown.

'i've talked to her before. I just don't want to bother her when she's busy' he said angrily, while peeping with his eyes inside the hospitality to see you looking at the notebook screen frustrated. it had been hours since you started editing and you were growing tired.

kevin and esteban noticed his lingering stare instantly, and smiled at eachother. 'i dare you to buy her a coffee' said his teammate, and mick's eyes returned to the two guys in front of him. 'i think she would gladly appreciate it' esteban added, and then he left, rather fast, to avoid being punched by his friend. but kevin stayed, and his smirk was only growing with the passing seconds. 'i knew you wouldn't dare'.

'watch me' said mick, and regretted it instantly when he crossed the doors and entered the hospitality. of course, the german wasn't one to be scared of anything, and being the competitive guy that he was, he just couldn't refuse the challenge. but he did it without giving it a second thought, and now was in too deep to go back. would you prefer coffee or tea? what was your order? would you think he was awkward?

so he went with something he was sure you would like: a rather simple vainilla latte and a cookie. of course, he asked for the same for him, and once the order was done, he made a beeline to your table.

'hey, sorry to bother, saw you were working for a while and thought that you may need something to eat' mick said, and even though normally he wasn't a shy guy, you noticed that he was acting quiet and avoiding your stare. 'not bothering at all. thank you! you can sit here if you like'. he nodded and proceeded to sit next to you, sipping his coffee.

you two sat there and talked until the video was finally exported and ready to upload. after watching it again to be sure that it was good to go, and laughing about the different faces that mick did when he didn't like a certain flavour, you scheduled it to be posted at the right time.

it was getting late, so mick offered to take you back to the hotel. after all, you two were staying at the same place, just different floors. while you two were walking side by side to his car, you didn't notice the driver watching you from afar, smiling. 'just took a stupid dare' said kevin laughing to himself.

[hardcandycigarette]

Long Way Down Part Four

Word Count 3.5K

Okay kids, here's Part Four. In Part Five we conclude our story. I can tell you this story has two endings. I will probably post both endings but in separate posts.

This part has a little mystery, a small bit of dad!rry and some angst.

Warnings: Language and implications of death

“But I don’t want to, Dad.” Archer swings his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Le’ me see, Arch.” Harry lifts the boy’s foot, while he examines it.

Harry notices that Archer's foot is swollen and not moving properly, which leads him to conclude that the boy needs a doctor. "Well, lil' man, we need to go to the doctor."

Archer starts to cry.

Harry leans down to look the boy directly in the eye. “Told ya you were gonna get hurt, and here we are brother.” Harry clears his throat and lowers his son's foot. “I know you don't want to, but we have to. Auntie Gemma’s comin’ and we’re all goin’ to the doctor. Mr. Liam’s goin with us too. It's going to be okay, son," Harry says as he sets his son's foot down. "It's nothing a little bit of care won't fix." Harry smiles at Archer. "We'll get you fixed up in no time. It's gonna be alright."

Harry walks to the closet and pulls down a hoodie and some jeans. He hands the items to his son. “I need ya to get dressed, I’ll get ya sister ready, and we’ll go. Once you two are taken care of, we can finally enjoy that ice cream I promised you."

Harry exits the room and heads next door to Lola’s room. Harry sees Gemma talking to the baby in a gentle, soothing manner and he smiles, feeling a warmth in his chest. He watches as Gemma carefully dresses the baby and he notices a deep bond between them.

“Arch is gettin’ dressed. When he's ready we’ll take off. Poppy's taken care of already. She’s in there with Liam reading. Can’t get caught up with the police and looking for Y/N until I get the kids to the doctor. Won’t be able to take care of it once the police get here.”

Gemma looks up. “Told you I could take them.”

“Parents are the only people who can authorize treatment. Maybe if we consulted with our regular doctor, they would work with us, but we have to go to the after-hours clinic. Let’s just head out and do what we need to do.”

Gemma sighs and shakes her head. “Need to change that at some point.”

“I know, but today that’s how it is. Jeff and Liam have already spoken to the clinic so they're expecting us."

   ###

“It's like a broken record, innit? The same questions bein' brought up over and over again with no resolution. How many more times are you gonna have to ask me these questions?” Harry asks as he pushes his hair away from his forehead.

The investigator doesn't look up as he continues to write, but says, "Sir, we need to be certain we're not missing anything. Let's see, we've established she withdrew $4,000.00 from her private bank account prior to her disappearance. Does that seem like a normal amount for her?"

Harry shrugs. "Dunno. It's her private account. I have a certain amount transferred to her every month for her to spend as she wishes. I've never asked if or what she spends it on. Don't even know what she has in there. We have a household account and credit cards for anything she might need for the house or the children. Of course, it goes without saying that she can call if I’m gone and ask for anything, and she’ll have it.”

"Right, and her phone was found, as you know just a few blocks from the Baby Gym. Are you sure she doesn't have another phone?"

"No, no other phone that I know of." Harry walks around, eyes looking at the floor. "I told ya everythin'. I told ya 'bout her tattoos, her moles, her scars. Ya talked to everyone she knows. Ya spoke to m' family, m' friends, and m' work colleagues. Dunno what to say."

The investigator watches Harry’s movements, as he searches for some clue. He's done all the necessary checks – interviewing people who know her, scouring social media, bank accounts, credit cards, tracking her phone. Although, just as before, nothing about Harry suggests that he is lying or hiding a misdeed. “And there is no place you can think of where she might’ve ended up. Maybe the holiday she wanted to take?”

"No." Harry shakes his head and tugs at the corner of his bottom lip, looking up at the ceiling. “I admit, yes, she was unhappy when she left, and yes, her mood was out of character for her, but there is nowhere she would want to be without her kids."

"In relation to the trip she talked about, what do you think about it?”

A long breath escapes his lips as he looks at the ceiling. “Ya lit'rly just asked that. Ya talked to the people she was gonna go with. Ya called the hotel they were plannin’ on stayin’ at. So, with all due respect, that seems ridiculous."

“Does it?”

“Yeah, yeah it does. M’ wife is missin’ and to keep askin’ me questions ya already know the answers to is asinine.”

“We are just asking.”

Hands on hips, Harry turns to the detective. “Well, I’d ‘ppreciate ya goin’ ‘bout ya day and lookin’ fer her.”

As the detective stands, he gathers his papers, and gestures towards the door. "I think that's it for the time being, Mr. Styles. We are sorry you and your family have to go through such a delicate and challenging situation. Please be assured that we will do everything in our power to find Mrs. Styles.” He leads Harry to the door.

“Y/N. Her name is Y/N. She's much more than Mrs. Styles.” Harry opens the door and enters the hallway, The muted gray walls, the fluorescent lights, and the scuffed white floors make him feel uncomfortable somehow. He never expected hot pink walls and colored lights, but it's awful, like a hospital.

When he passes through the office his heart rate picks up a notch, and his chest tightens as he hears murmurs. Harry holds his head down to avoid additional unwanted attention. The officer takes Harry to the front door of the station. “Sir, we will find your wife. Would you like an escort to get you home?”

He shakes his head. "No." He places his sunglasses on his face. His half-dried hair tumbles over his forehead as he walks outside into the cloudy day, despite the sun trying to peek out from behind the clouds. He’s aware paps and fans are taking photos, but he continues to walk to his vehicle. The wind feels cool against his warm skin, as he looks at his phone to see if he has received a call. No missed calls. Sarah sent a text.

Sarah

How’s it going?

Harry

It’s not. Useless fucking wankers.

                                                                              ###

Inside a large conference room in an empty office building friends and family have gathered. This is a location no one had heard of yet, so they were using the space as a kind of headquarters to gather people and information. It was advisable to keep the paps away from the actual investigation for as long as possible. They were out to exploit Y/N's disappearance. He's already given a press conference. He has nothing else to say right now.

Harry steps into the room. Several people wander around-friends, family, colleagues.

Nick Grimshaw is near the door when Harry enters. He grabs Harry as soon as he steps in. "So sorry Harry. Just wanted you to know I’m here. We’re talking about it everywhere. We’ll find her.”

Harry holds Nick tight. “I love her so much. Can’ be without her. Where is she?”

Tears fill Nick’s eyes. He shakes his head. “Dunno, mate. We all love her and you and the kids.” He releases his hold on Harry. “I also want you to know I won’t share anything about this location or anything the investigators tell me.”

Harry wipes the tears from his own face. “I know. Give me a minute, alright?”

“Of course,” Nick replies. He hugs Harry once more before he walks away.

There are people from his security team, a detective, as well as the private investigator he’s hired.

The room buzzes and hums with activity. Maps hang from the walls, empty paper cups of cold coffee are scattered around, and crumpled napkins litter the tables. There is a sweet scent in the air, maybe that of pastries or donuts. Harry is unable to identify it. And someone's vape emits a puff of smoke.

A few feet away Harry sees Joe Alwyn walking toward him. Once Joe is in front of Harry, he shakes his hand and pats his shoulder. “We both wanted to be here, but Taylor is back in the States. Jeff said it would be okay. I know we aren't close mates, but I wanted to help. Hope I am not out of place.”

“Course not. We can use all the familiar faces, and friends that want to help.”

“Look, anything Taylor or I can do for you just say the word. She mentioned it at the show last night.”

Harry gives a half-smirk. “So that’s an extra 12 million people who know.”

“Maybe a few less than 12 million.” Joe follows Harry’s lead with a small smile of his own. Joe turns to walk away. “I’ll let you get on with it, but I’ve got the day to help in whatever way you need.”

Harry nods. “Thanks. Thank you so much. It’s really kind of you to come. Tell Taylor thank you as well.”

“I will,” he replies, then walks away.

A short, bald detective approaches Harry. "I'm glad you're back. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?" he asks.

The man opens a pad of paper to reveal a fresh sheet of pale green, lined paper. “So, is there anyone you can think of anyone at all who might know where Mrs. Styles could be?” He looks up from the pad of paper, his gaze intense as he waits for an answer.

"Didn't I just answer this question with that Reeves fella at the station? And her name is Y/N. Stop calling her Mrs. Styles, and no, you dumbass, I don’t know of anyone else!” The roar that comes from Harry’s reddened face shakes the entire room. Harry throws his arms into the air and shouts, “Stop asking me that fuckin' question! All the resources that ya have at yer disposal, all the money that ya can spend, but ya continue to ask the same God damned questions.” His hands hit his hip. "Swear to God, I'll knock yer block off if ya' ask me that again."

“C’mon, let’s go over here, my man.” Pauli steps in with a firm but friendly request.

Harry pushes Pauli away. “Get ya hands off me.” Harry's tone of voice is stern. It’s clear that he means what he says.

Pauli steps away.

Harry turns to face the room and marches into the group of people. His voice booms through the space as he says, "Every one of ya's here tryin' to help ya don't know." He charges toward a trash bin and snatches up the dirty cups and napkins, tossing them into the trash can. “Why are you treatin’ this room like none of ya ever been indoors? Throwin’ yer napkins and cups all around.” He throws the bin across the room, and it crashes into the wall, its contents spilling onto the floor. His voice echoes across the room as he roars, "None of ya have any idea," Harry shouts. He stands in the middle as everyone slowly forms a circle around him. “None of ya’ know. Ya’ don’t know what she smells like fresh outta the shower, or the way her nose crinkles when she laughs at certain jokes. Ya’ don’t know what she looked like when she gave birth to my babies, the glow on her face. Ya’ don’t know. You think ya' know Y/N, but she’s mine!" Harry drops to his knees, his deep pink face floods with tears. “Mine!” He beats his fists on the floor and sobs, unable to stop himself.

As Jeff approaches Harry, Glenne quickly follows. He wraps his arms around Harry's neck and rests his head next to Harry's. "Let's get some air, man."

"Harry, we love you sweetheart," Glenne says in a hushed tone.

Jeff and Glenne guide Harry to stand. As he clutches the couple, he is shaky on his feet. The two escort him to the door with his arms around them. Harry takes a few tentative steps out of the room, knowing he's in safe hands.

###

"Oh no dear I'm sure it's her. It's the lady in the papers," the old woman says.

The officer asks, "And when did she arrive?"

"Sunday. Early Sunday morning. I know because I left the key for her to let herself in while I was at church. I usually arrive back by 9AM, and she was here when I got back."

"Did she give you a name?"

"Yes, Laura Lash," she says.

"How did she pay you?"

As she stammers, the woman replies, "You see that's the odd thing. She contacted me and said she knew it was against Airbnb rules but could I trust her and let her pay cash and reserve the room privately offline. Said she was traveling to visit a sick relative, maybe her mother? I can't recall. Anyway, and that she had lost her credit and debit cards. She told me she just needed to decompress. The phrase "decompress" was repeated several times, so I remembered it."

"Right, ma'am. And is she still there?"

"Yes, and she has only been out of her room for the shower, and toilet, maybe the kitchen a few times. The day she arrived, she contacted the market up the street. She offered to pay extra if she could pay in cash, and the market delivered her food. Since some of it is missing from the fridge, I assume she ate it, but I haven't seen her much. I've heard her cry many times. I thought she might be upset about her mother, but I didn't pry, though I did make her a cup of tea this afternoon. She came to the door of the room, said thank you, took the tea and closed the door."

"Ma'am this might sound like a strange question, but have you noticed if she's pumping breast milk?"

"Oh no, dear I wouldn't know. As I said she's only been around me a few times, but I'm certain it's her. We've had a few brief chats, and I do mean brief, less than a minute or two each time. She always keeps her head down. She's very odd."

"And how did she arrive?"

"I'm not sure. She was here when I came back from church as I said, but I can tell you there's no car here."

"Ma'am thank you for the information. Can you give me your address?"

The woman provides her address. “Okay ma'am we are going to send an officer who will call you when they are a few minutes from you. We'll have them meet you somewhere so that if it is her, she won't be scared off."

"That's fine dear. I will be here waiting. But hurry because who knows when she might decide to just leave."

One hour later no one has arrived. As minutes pass, the woman gets more and more anxious, constantly looking at the door expecting someone to arrive. She checks her phone repeatedly in case she's somehow missed the call.

She decides to knock on the guest room door. There is no answer. She knocks again, still no answer. She announces her presence before she opens the door. Y/N appears to be asleep, but she calls her name. "Laura. Laura.” She does not wake up. She shakes her a bit while continuing to call her name. She decides to check for any signs of life, like a pulse in case Laura has fainted or has any medical condition. She also checks to see if there are any other signs of distress in the room, such something to indicate an accident. Less than a minute later she is on the line asking for an ambulance.

                                                                        ###

Harry looks down at his youngest child and rubs her back. "I know it's beyond her bedtime, Mum, but I just want to hold her for a while," he says to Anne.

"It's OK," Anne replies with a tender smile. "It's moments like these that you need right now."

Harry knows that these moments are fleeting, and that his daughter will grow up before he knows it. He wants to make sure he cherishes every moment he can with her while she's still so young and innocent.

"Harry, you know how they are. One day they're ill, the next they're playing like nothing's happened. She'll be alright. Wasn't as fussy today. It's Archer and Poppy you need to worry about."

As he closes his eyes and nods, he says, "I get it, but I'm not sure how else to explain it to them without scaring them." Y/N has been gone for days now. He knows she's out there somewhere, but he has no way to know if she's okay. He worries about his children, who don't understand what's going on. He's overwhelmed by the responsibility of protecting his family, and knows he has to find the right words to ensure they feel safe and loved.

Anne reaches out for Lola. "Oh, let me take her dear." Harry hesitates to give the baby over. "They don't know why the police keep coming and going," Anne says. Anne pulls the baby close to her, and sways. “I think you should call your therapist. She’ll know how to talk to them, and you need someone to talk to also. No matter what the outcome Harry, even if she walks in the door tonight, your family will need someone, a professional."

He sighs. "I know, guess I just thought I'd figure it out."

"It's OK if you don't have all the answers," she says. Anne touches his shoulder. "You're a wonderful man, but you can't do this alone."

  ####

"Thanks, we'll be there as soon as we can." Investigator Reeves disconnects the call. Determined to resolve this issue quickly, he calls his partner, John. He needs to get to Y/N as soon as possible. He knows the longer it takes, the more complicated the situation will become.

"John, think we found Y/N Styles. Care for a trip to Old Holland?" Reeves asks.

"Scotland?"

"Yep."

"How the fuck did she wind up in Scotland? She must have had a good reason for going there, but what could it have been?" John asks.

"Don't know, guess we'll find out."

"It must have been something really important for her to make that journey, and to put so many people under this kind of stress."

"Alright, meet you at the station."

Before they leave the station the men agree not to contact Harry or the family. They must know it's Y/N and they must know what happened before they speak to anyone. They can't rule anything out until they learn more.

[syuga-s]

whispers in the dark

w.c 4.7 k pairing. my loveYoongi x afab!reader genre. fluff, sUgGeStIvE kinda, just romantic first encounters a/n. he's a dream I can't believe it, guys I love yoongi so much, idek why I've had this in my drafts for like a YEAR, I'm gonna try and upload stories more often so here you go. mentions of alcohol, moderate consumption nothing extreme 🤝

You noticed when this man sat down beside you, not invading your personal space but he was close enough, letting you marvel at his delicate features. You didn't care that he would see you looking at him, he sat next to you for a reason. His presence was alluring, however, it didn't mean that you’d be the one making the first move.

You weren’t in the mood to go crazy like Lisa and Zoe tonight. They let you know beforehand that their goal was to get absolutely wasted and after all these years of knowing them, you learned that you were no one to stop them.

Tonight you were sitting on a couch, downing your drink quietly, admiring the atmosphere, noticing how everyone was eager to get drunk and you could only watch them in awe. Is that how I look when I want to get drunk too?

You got lost in your own world, you didn’t want to pay much attention to your close surroundings. This week had been crazy and getting yourself looking pretty to drink and sit in a room full of strangers felt like the right choice.

You kept an eye on your two best friends, looking after them from afar, concerned about them getting too drunk or getting themselves in a dangerous something. Fortunately, they were just having fun, dancing, being the center of attention. Every single individual on the dance floor hyping them up or buying them drinks.

You were usually with them, you also liked being the center of attention, it’s not as if you don’t like to have fun but tonight wasn't that kind of night.

Tonight you were happy drinking by yourself at your table, being the safe-keeper of your purses. You weren't even checking your phone, cause to be honest there wasn't anything to check in there.

And you wouldn't dare post a story on Instagram. That would be an open door for a bunch of DM's from people you weren't interested in or them showing up unannounced and ruining your night.

Hoseok, Jimin, and Jungkook almost dragged Yoongi out here tonight. It's not like he doesn't enjoy going out but on this particular Friday, he ~really~ didn't want to come to a club to just plop down on a couch and drink when he could perfectly do so in the comfort of his own home.

But apparently, his friends told him that "he hasn't gone out in weeks" and that he "needs to socialize more".

He wishes that they would take into account that he does go out for errands plus he walks Holly often. And that he can perfectly socialize through texts. Nevertheless, he ended up agreeing to go out with them for a while.

“Fine but I’m gonna complain the whole time.”

His expectations for the night were below the ground.

Yoongi noticed you and your little group of friends since you arrived. There was an aura about you three that he immediately spotted but as the night progressed he understood that whatever he had perceived came only from you.

There was something about you that made him realize he had to make an effort to catch your attention. One way or another.

He also knew it wouldn't be easy because, for the past hour and a half, he's been hesitant to do anything thanks to your intimidating stare. You haven't even spared a glance at a single individual and your gaze feels so heavy even from a few feet away.

"Why is she by herself ?"

"She came with friends so it's not like she doesn't have anyone"

“She can drink well”

It's like he's studying your every move.

Jungkook was already buzzed by now. Hoseok and Jimin were on the dance floor since they arrived here, maybe they even were with Lisa and Zoe at this point. They were like the identical versions of each other's and their goal tonight was to get very drunk too. Those four are meant to meet.

Kook wasn't on his 'bad decisions' agenda tonight so he was really happy just drinking beside his friend. But then he started noticing that Yoongi wasn't drinking like he usually did. He seemed lost in thought.

"Everything cool Yoongi?" No answer.

He scooted over closer to him and asked again, "Are you okay?" Still no answer. Jungkook now decided to take his eyes where Yoongi had fixated his. And he understood it all.

There was this breathtaking girl a few tables away from theirs. All black outfit. She was only scanning the place with a drink in hand, no phone or friends on sight. Kook grinned at this and thought "just Yoongi's type."

"She looks very mysterious huh" and with these words, Yoongi came out of his trance. "Huh? Who? What are you talking about?" Jungkook now did laugh and threw his arm around Yoongi, "you should go talk to her, she's all alone!"

Yes, I know Kookie "what if she WANTS to be alone?" Yoongi paused and turned to his younger friend, "I saw her come with her friends, if she wanted company she wouldn't be by herself." He finished his drink and started fidgeting with the glass.

Kook pursed his lips at this, his fuzzy brain not letting him register the reason for his friend's doubts. “Yoongi… I can’t believe you sometimes, just go and talk to her, I know she’ll like you.”

And he wasn’t wrong.

You felt something about him as soon as he sat beside you and immediately started to wonder why you hadn't seen him before when you were scanning everyone in the place. He exudes class, way more than everyone in here but his energy feels so calm. That feels like an odd combo.

And well, it’s not like you were scouting for someone tonight but he’s everything you like at first sight.

You can’t behave yourself when a man looks as composed as him, has long black hair, wearing a perfectly neat suit with a t-shirt, and let’s not start with his hands.

You felt like a puddle as soon as you eyed his huge manly hands.

You finished your gin neat and the sound of ice clinking made Yoongi turn his eyes at your glass. You also checked out he wasn’t drinking anything anymore and debated within yourself if you should say something right now.

Yet he beat you to it. While you were playing with your ring on your pointer finger you finally heard his deep, raspy voice.

“You don’t like to dance?” He stated without making eye contact with you, he was looking at your friends with his friends on the dance floor.

You thought you misheard him because you weren’t expecting that question. You grinned at him and he was able to see your right dimple. Still avoiding eye contact you told him, “I do, very much, but I’m not in the mood tonight” you paused and decided you wanted to know why wasn’t he dancing either.

You rested your chin on your hand and turned to him, finally your eyes on each other. “What about you? I doubt you only came here to talk to antisocial girls.” He was the first to laugh at this, the sound of his laugh as attractive as him. “You should know I’m famous for approaching girls that are alone.” You flashed him another smile after those words. Maybe he’s nervous, you thought. That’s cute.

“I’m sorry I’m joking, I like dancing but I don’t usually come to these places.” You glanced at your friends and luckily they were in the company of two cute guys, Lisa saw you too and sent you a little wave. You smiled at this, knowing you could ease up a little and turned your attention towards the man beside you.

He was anxious about this, he didn’t want to make you uncomfortable because you were being really nice to him, all the opposite of what he imagined at first. “How come? Well no, I guess I get it, there are days when you don’t want to go out and ‘socialize’ right?” You were being really friendly but he still couldn’t get past your intense gaze.

“Yeah, today was one of those, but actually my friends over there — pointed to where Lisa and Zoe were, fancy seeing that now Jungkook had joined them — made me come, so here I am.”

“Oh my god, are those your friends?!” Both of you took a quick glance at the scene your friends were making and you slowly returned to give him a shocked look.

He had sensed the same thing sooner than you and confirmed “I am literally powerless to stop them.” “Happy to know we are both useless.” You giggled with him and made eye contact for a few seconds longer.

His company felt heavenly. No longer remembering that you wanted to drink alone. He was being really nice and you were feeling very attracted to him just by hearing his voice, even with all this noise. The conversation was easy with him. You honestly couldn’t stop stealing glances at him.

“You want to go out for some air?” He offered and you accepted. Quickly grabbing your three purses, you got up and made your way to the terrace.

He started walking behind and that’s when you took in the fact that he was slightly taller than you. This man hasn’t even done much and you were already feeling weak.

He didn’t want to hold your hand or your lower back on your way out. But he was dying to do so. I shouldn’t push it so soon, I don’t even know her name yet.

“So tell me, why did your friends had to drag you here?” You leaned against a railing and turned to face him again.

You made yourself take your eyes away from him right away, you literally couldn’t stop appreciating his features. How his little hair strands adorned his face, the way his earrings gave him an attitude that didn’t match with his endearing aura, his velvety pink lips begging you to lock eyes with them.

He’s not pretty, not handsome but a third grand thing that had you scared to fall in love at the end of the night. In all seriousness he IS pretty AND handsome AND hot.

Thankfully he was too busy figuring out what to say to you that he didn’t noticed the way you were staring so hard at him.

“Care to tell me your name first?” He wondered. He was dying to put a name to the attractive person in front of him.

You told him and asked him the same question. “nice to meet you y/n, i’m Yoongi.” He offered you his hand and when you took it, it felt like electric charges flowed from your hands to your whole body. You took your time shaking hands, both of you maintaining eye contact for what felt like the longest time.

The night went on and your conversation went through a lot of subjects. From the reason he doesn’t like going out that much and the reason he didn’t get to meet the extra outgoing version of you tonight; to the immense love you both have for your friends, your pets, what you do for a living and lastly, how you both really like to drink.

Yoongi’s quiet confidence and the way he listened to you with such attentiveness made you feel incredibly comfortable. You couldn't help but be charmed by his dry wit and his ability to make you laugh.

“I’m having a hard time believing you drink that much.” A teasing tone in his voice, his expression also reflecting it.

The smirk you gave him was sinful. “What can I say? I’ve developed some tolerance through my years.”

“Well, I’ll be the judge of that” a smirk on his face, perfectly mirroring yours. “Let’s go inside, I think it’s time for a drink.”

You smiled and followed him, once inside he opened a path in the crowd, it’s the first time you noticed how commanding his presence could be, just so the two of you could pass through and reach the bar counter. He held your hands really tight almost afraid you could escape from him. You noticed his hands were rough.

Once you got out the crowd, he came close to talk in your ear and said he needed to check something. You got surprised to the sound of his voice, to hear it that close for the first time. It was actually way sweeter and deeper than what you made it out to be. Maybe it was the intimacy of having him this close. If he wanted to stir something within you, he succeeded.

“You know what? I’m really… thirsty” you said.

You noticed that his hand was still holding yours when he shifted his hand position to tangle his fingers with yours and walk by your side towards the bar.

He looked very pleased to see you drinking from your glass like you had been in the desert for days. A trickle of alcohol escaped from your lips as you drank, you felt it running down your throat finding its fate on your chest. And as the alcohol trickled down your throat, Yoongi's gaze intensified, his eyes fixed on the path the liquid took. A subtle smirk played on his lips, indicating the desire building within him. The electric tension between you both seemed palpable as if the air crackled with anticipation.

Yoongi leaned in closer, his voice husky and laced with a newfound boldness. "Thirsty, huh? I can't blame you," he murmured, his breath teasingly brushing against your ear. The words sent a shiver down your spine, and a flush of warmth spread through your body.

Yoongi couldn't help but find it incredibly attractive. The way you didn't hold back, indulging in your drink with such pleasure and abandon. He had always been drawn to people who embraced their desires, and you were no exception.

The chemistry between you was undeniable, and Yoongi couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation building within him.

The alcohol kept flowing, inhibitions started to fade away and the sexual tension between you became more palpable. There were moments when your eyes would lock, sparks igniting in the air and creating an electric charge that neither of you could resist. The way he bit his lip, the way you ran your fingers through your hair, it was all driving each other crazy with desire.

It seemed like he wasn’t going to stop teasing you anytime soon.

Yoongi leaned in closer, his lips dangerously close to your ear as he whispered, "I can't stop thinking about what it would be like to kiss you." His voice was husky, sending shivers down your spine as you glanced up at him, the desire evident in your eyes. You didn't even trust yourself to respond with words.

Feeling emboldened by his proximity and the shared chemistry, you leaned in, your voice carrying a hint of playfulness. "Well, what do you suggest we do about it?" The challenge was clear in your voice, your eyes gleaming with mischief.

A mischievous glint sparkled in Yoongi's eyes as he gently released your hand, reaching over to rest his fingers lightly on your waist. The touch sent a surge of electricity through you, and you could feel the heat radiating between you. "Let's just make sure that I won’t lose my chance," he replied, his voice dripping with suggestion.

Together, you made your way to the bar once more, but the intention behind the act was far from simply ordering another drink. The drinks became mere props in this intoxicating game of seduction, as you both relished in the thrill of the escalating connection.

As the bartender prepared your drinks, Yoongi's gaze never wavered from you. The air hummed with anticipation, and the noise of the club faded into the background. It was as if the two of you existed in your own world, one charged with desire and the promise of an unforgettable night.

The bartender handed you the glasses, their coolness a stark contrast to the heat building between you. You raised your glass to your lips, but before you could take a sip, Yoongi's hand gently wrapped around your wrist, his touch sending an electric jolt through your veins.

"Wait," he whispered, his eyes locked on yours. "I have a better idea." With a subtle nod, he guided you away from the bar and led you to a secluded corner of the club, where the pulsating music became a distant hum.

A flicker of anticipation danced in your eyes as you wondered what he had in mind. Without a word, Yoongi stepped closer, his body mere inches away from yours. The proximity between you was intoxicating, and you could feel the heat radiating from his body.

Slowly, Yoongi raised his hand to your cheek, his touch feather-light yet full of intent. His thumb gently brushed across your lower lip, igniting a fire within you. The intensity of his gaze deepened, and you could sense his desire mirrored in your own eyes.

In that moment, the world around you ceased to exist as you became lost in the magnetic pull between you. The anticipation reached its peak, and the only sound that remained was the rapid beat of your hearts, synchronized in a rhythm that spoke of an undeniable connection.

Without hesitation, Yoongi closed the remaining distance, his lips meeting yours in a searing kiss. It was a meeting of fire and passion, a culmination of the desire that had been building since the moment you locked eyes. In that stolen moment, the club faded away, leaving only the two of you entwined in a dance of unspoken promises.

As the kiss deepened, time seemed to stand still. The taste of alcohol mixed with the sweetness of anticipation, heightening every sensation. In that stolen embrace, you knew that this encounter was not just a chance meeting.

And so, lost in each other's touch and the intoxicating allure of the night, you surrendered to the undeniable chemistry that brought you together.

Your lips met in a collision of desire and anticipation, a delicious melding of heat and longing. Yoongi's kiss was electrifying, his lips firm yet tender against yours. There was a hunger in the way he moved his mouth, a hunger that matched your own.

His hand gently cradled the back of your head, his fingers tangling in your hair. The sensation sent shivers down your spine, intensifying the intimacy of the moment. His touch was a delicate balance of passion and restraint, as if he wanted to savor every second.

You responded eagerly, your own hands finding their way to Yoongi's shoulders, feeling the strong contours beneath his shirt. Your fingers traced the fabric, reveling in the sensation of his body pressed against yours.

The world around you seemed to fade away as the kiss continued, the pulsating music and chatter of the club becoming a distant echo. All that mattered in that moment was the intoxicating connection between you, the unspoken language of desire expressed through the meeting of lips.

The taste of him was exquisite, a blend of warmth and subtle sweetness. Your mouths moved together in a rhythm that was both fervent and tender, exploring the depths of the connection that had ignited between you. Each brush and caress of your tongues only deepened the desire, igniting a fire that seemed to consume both of you.

As the kiss lingered, Yoongi's lips would occasionally trail along your jawline and down the curve of your neck, leaving a trail of soft, lingering kisses. Each touch set your skin ablaze, sending waves of pleasure coursing through your body.

Time seemed to stand still as the intensity of the moment grew, your bodies pressed close together, caught in that surge of passion. Every breath, every sigh, was shared between you, a testament to the intoxicating connection.

Eventually, the need for air became undeniable, and the kiss broke with a gentle reluctance. Both of you were left breathless, gazes locked and hearts racing, the world around you slowly coming back into focus. The chemistry between you remained palpable, the air charged with a newfound intimacy that promised more to come.

In that stolen kiss, something changed, setting the stage for a night filled with passion.

As you both caught your breath, the lingering heat of the kiss still tingling on your lips, Yoongi's eyes locked with yours. A soft smile played on his lips, revealing a mix of desire and genuine interest. The connection between you was undeniable, and he didn't want to let it slip away.

You realized that you had lost track of time. You looked around and saw that the club was starting to empty out. Your friends and Yoongi's friends eventually found the two of you, their laughter filling the air as they marveled at the unexpected connection that was happening before their eyes.

Introductions were made, and the air was filled with a mix of excitement. Yoongi seamlessly interacted with both groups, effortlessly blending into the conversation while never straying too far from your side. His hand found yours, offering a sense of comfort and intimacy amidst the group.

As everyone shared stories and laughter, the drinks continued to flow, each round fostering a feeling of newness.

The night had brought you all together.

Yoongi leaned in and whispered in your ear, "I have to admit, I wasn't looking forward to coming out tonight. But now I'm really glad I did."

As closing time approached, Yoongi turned to you, his voice carrying a mix of concern and genuine care. "Y/N, it's getting late. Let me drive you home, make sure you get there safe."

You felt a flutter in your stomach at the thought of spending more time with him, and you eagerly accepted his offer.

Together, you bid farewell to your friends and his, the excitement of the night lingering in the air. Yoongi's hand found its way to the small of your back as he guided you towards the exit, his touch grounding and reassuring.

The night air was cool as you stepped outside, finding yourselves in the quiet embrace of the street. Yoongi's car awaited nearby, a symbol of the transition from the pulsating energy of the club to a more intimate space shared between just the two of you.

As you waited for the valet to retrieve Yoongi's car, a sense of both anticipation and longing hung in the air. The connection between you had grown throughout the night, igniting a fire that couldn't be easily extinguished. Yoongi stood closely behind you, his left hand enveloping your waist, his presence both comforting and electrifying.

You could feel his breath hot against the nape of your neck, sending shivers down your spine. His voice, laced with desire and vulnerability, whispered into your ear, its warmth mingling with the cool night air. "Y/N, would it be too forward of me to invite you to my place? I'm not ready to let you go just yet."

His words sent a surge of desire coursing through your veins, stirring a yearning within you that matched his own. The raw honesty in his voice spoke volumes, revealing the depth of his attraction between you. You found yourself captivated by his audacity, his willingness to lay his desires bare.

As you turned to meet Yoongi's gaze, the intensity in his eyes mirrored your own. The vulnerability and desire mingled within them, baring his soul before you. It was as if he had thrown caution to the wind, offering you an unfiltered glimpse into his most authentic self.

The valet's footsteps echoed in the distance, a reminder of the impending end to this chapter of the night. Time seemed to slow, the world fading into the background as you contemplated his offer. The moment felt stuffed, as if the universe held its breath in anticipation of your response.

You felt Yoongi's hand securely wrapped around your waist, his breath teasing your ear, and his bold question hung in the air, leaving your heart racing. There was a magnetic pull between you, a connection that demanded to be explored further. At that moment, you decided to follow his path, allowing yourself to be swept away by the intoxicating energy of the man you met tonight.

A thrill coursed through your veins as you turned to face Yoongi, a glimmer of anticipation dancing in your eyes. A smile played on your lips, mirroring the desire that burned within you. "Yoongi," you whispered, your voice filled with a mixture of confidence and longing. "You can’t imagine how much I’d love that."

As the words left your lips, a spark ignited in Yoongi's eyes, a fire that mirrored your own. The world around you seemed to fade into the background as the promise of the night took hold. With a silent understanding, he tightened his grip around your waist, his touch conveying a mixture of possessiveness and tenderness.

Together, you made your way to his car, the anticipation building with each step. The drive to his place was filled with a comfortable silence that enveloped you, punctuated only by the soft hum of the engine, and unspoken desire. The journey was filled with stolen glances, small touches, and a growing sense of what lay ahead of both of you.

As you entered his home, a mixture of nerves and excitement danced within you. The atmosphere was filled with a potent blend of familiarity and newness, as if you were stepping into a realm where time held no sway. The soft lighting cast a warm glow across the room, creating an ambiance that invited intimacy.

In that private sanctuary, you allowed yourselves to get lost in each other, exploring the depths of your desires and unraveling the layers that had drawn you together. The night became a symphony of whispered words, stolen kisses, and passionate embraces. The room was consumed with the sound of soft moans and the sensation of wandering hands exploring each other's bodies.

Yoongi's touch ignited a fire within you, his hands exploring the contours of your body with a reverence that left you breathless. With each caress, each shared moment of intimacy, you discovered new dimensions of pleasure and connection that fueled your desires.

As the dawn painted the sky with hues of pink and gold, you lay entwined, the gentle rise and fall of your breaths synchronizing. You woke up with a smile on your face, replaying the events of the previous night in your head. You couldn't explain how easily you had connected with Yoongi.

Yoongi woke up shortly after and he couldn’t believe it either. Still in bed with the only person that had made him pour out his raw feelings.

It was too much to be the first thing to think about in the morning.

No longer able to contain his longing, leaned in closer as he whispered, "Would you mind giving me your number?” His request lingered in the air, waiting for your response.

A playful spark lit up your eyes as you teasingly replied, "Why not? I think I could manage to see you again." You asked him for a pen and a Post-it, —giving it some kind of old-school feeling—, you jotted down your number next to a doodle of a winky face before handing it to him. The exchange felt like a secret pact, a promise of more adventures yet to come.

“You know, to continue where we left off." A spark of enthusiasm in your eyes.

A smile tugged at your lips as you locked eyes with him. "I'm looking forward to it," he replied, his voice filled with a mixture of eagerness and intrigue.

[itsgirlcraft]

Hello! I appreciate any visitors here <3 Welcome to my weird lil cavern >:3

Pronouns: she/her, but I'm good with anything!

I do curse but not extremely, mostly for comedic effect.

Other social media: Youtube, Wattpad, Instagram

Expect: a lot of Minecraft, FavreMySabre, and Steve content, horrors of varying degrees (body horror my beloved), a very messy tagging system (I do not know what I'm doing <3), accidental ramblings on other posts (pls tell me if I'm overstepping!), writing and art, and minimal drama/discourse!

I do NOT engage in most controversy nor many of the "big" events happening worldwide or politically! I love humanity but my poor heart can't handle any talk of drama and worry <3 I wish you well though!

Sometimes I will just scroll someone's blog for a few hours, whether that's one of my mutuals or not. So expect to see a love attack every once in a while if you're anywhere near my sphere of interests >:D

My main tags (sort of):

favremysabre random (old, non-Sabre posts) months other (non-Sabre posts from 2023+) my post dsmp tma steve saga steve legends rainbow quest twisted rainbow stevetember 2024 alux rising my beloved creation queue incorrect quote info delightful my additions check in later (on-wait posts)

"My beloved" and "delightful" are both "favorites" tags, "my beloved" is for things that I care most about/make me very very excited. "Random" and "other" are both for non-Sabre posts, "other" is for posts from 2023 and newer.

I tag all posts based on month in the mass-post editor, so if anyone is looking for a thing, try searching by month like: April 2020. Sometimes it's not capitalized, so try that if you can't find what you're looking for!

[oreburghminingmuseum]

Welcome to the blog for the Oreburgh Mining Museum Fossil Pokemon Revival Program!

We're a museum based in Sinnoh that for the longest time focused mainly on telling people about Oreburgh's thriving mining economy- but in more recent years as more and more fossil pokemon become discovered, under the guidance of Doctor Kenzo, the museum has branched out into research and education about fossil pokemon!

We have herds and packs of almost every known variety of fossil pokemon, each kept in enclosures tailored to each Pokemon's needs.

Fossil Zoo hours are 8am-4pm if you'd ever like to come take a tour/look around our enclosures, and if you're interested in the museum side of things it's open from 7am to 6pm, our employees are always happy to answer your questions!

You may already be familiar with one of the residents of our nursery wing, Aegis of @sturdy-and-soundproof, and we hope you enjoy meeting the other residents within our facility!

Meet the OMMFRP Team!

Dr Kenzo, He/Him- The leader of the Oreburgh Mining Museum Fossil Revival Program (OMMFRP)! He's one of the leading experts in fossil research and restoration, with years of experience in different regions before beginning this project in 2000. He has a great love for fossil pokemon and is always happy to answer any questions you have! While they're not his personal pokemon- he does have a few favorite residents many regard as "his".

Kristen, They/She- The ever positive Kristen is always happy to answer questions about the nursery wing and the socialization of our young fossil Pokemon- She has a personal team of four!

Plover, They/Them- Plover handles anything from administering daily medicines to regular check-ups for our Nursery Wing. they've also been branching out into working with some of the older pokemon under the guidance of some of the more experienced nurses! They have a personal team of 2

Silver, He/it- One of our newest employees, though he's not specific to the nursery wing he's well versed in the training of pokemon, and has a personal team of 6!

Any other team members that frequent the blog will be added soon enough!

Thank you for visiting, we hope to see you again soon!

---

Pelipper Mail: Open!

Magic Anons: Closed!

(Ooc under the cut)

Hi, this is a blog by Tori, it's unfortunately mostly inactive at the moment(though I intend to post more eventually lolol) if you're interested in my other blogs please check out @twodragons-blooper-reel

[lollytea]

You said that asks may help you formulate your au thoughts and prompt you to talk about it so if it helps- I'm very curious about the cliffhanger the last lore dump left us on, re: Luz! Very curious to see how she fits into all of this. Sidenote about hunters deal: is Belos like. A stagemom in this au? A stage uncle? Highly entertaining if so. Demoted in power but still just as evil

Hmm!! Yeah I think it would absolutely be easier to drop info about the AU in little bits at a time depending on what questions I get. I've already thought about almost everybody in this AU and where they're situated but I guess I was getting overwhelmed with thinking about writing it all down at once.

Anyways!! Miss Luz Noceda!!

In this universe, the "fancy hospital" was located in California so Luz and her parents packed up and moved from Conneticut when she was a little kid. Her Dad Manny spent a few years drifting away, slowly at first, and then all at once. And Luz, a girl who's already a bright and imaginative storyteller, falls deeply in love with the fantasy book he left her.

What begins as a healthy coping mechanism devolves into escapism as Luz desperately clings to fiction in order to endure the difficulty of real life. School is hard, making friends is hard and nobody really understands her hobbies and passions, not even her mom (Even if she tries. She tries so hard.)

Living on the outskirts of the world of showbusiness, Luz quickly takes an interest in the magic of the screen. More than anything else, Luz wants to create. And creation comes in many forms and she has no intention of being confined to just one. Luz wants to be an actor, a writer, a director, an artist, an animator, a singer, a dancer, etc etc.

It's when her mom Camila finally puts her foot down and insists that Luz needs to learn to separate fantasy from reality, that her life really kicks off.

The Reality Check Center, an after school program which Luz is meant to attend every week day at 3:30pm sharp.

But after meeting somebody special, this is not where Luz goes every day after school.

Instead, Luz is hanging out in the house of Edalyn Clawthorne, an ex-starlet who Luz recognized on sight as Hecate in the 1980s Azura film adaption.

It's always been a mystery why Eda did not reprise her role for any of the sequels/spinoffs that Hollywood churned out for years afterwards. But upon meeting her and learning a little more of her story, Luz learns the truth from behind the scenes.

Eda has a chronic autoimmune disease and she was considered too "inconvenient" to have as a star of the franchise, so she was quietly let go after the first film released. She hasn't acted since and really has no intention of returning to that life.

Luz idolizes Eda and quickly latches on to her, demanding that she be her mentor and show her the ropes of showbiz. Eda hems and haws for a while before being worn down by Luz's persistent enthusiasm.

Luz meets Willow when the latter is trying to talk herself out of having a complete meltdown and the two quickly bond over being a pair of neurodivergent academically and socially challenged silly billies.

Willow is weak for pretty girls so she lets Luz talk her into sneaking her on set. Predictably, Luz causes havoc and gets banned from the premises within a few hours.

But that's okay! Because guess what! Turns out Luz is a perfect third musketeer for the funky little friend group Willow and Gus already had going on.

Luz does tons of stuff. She writes fanfiction. She has several notebooks full of anime art. But most notably, she has a YouTube channel.

Remember mid 2000s YouTube? Before it became the corporate husk that it is today? Back when it was just kids dicking around and posting their dumb silly vlogs.

Thats what Luz does. She posts dumb silly vlogs. She infodumps to the camera about her interests, she films herself while she's out with her friends. She just has fun, yknow?

Willow and Gus have fun too. Considering they are featured in like 90% of Luz's videos, laughing and joking around with her. But thats not all they do.

Willow, who has spent several months being the butt of the joke in the the Hexside show, is experiencing what it's like to be behind a camera while being respected and loved.

Willow is an exceptionally talented rollerskater. So of course Luz is filming her do tricks around the skatepark, whooping and hollering and chanting her name. Willow has a huge interest in botany. And superhero comics. And photography. And romcoms. And Luz will let her share fun facts about her interests, or maybe even babble for a bit, and Luz will act as though she's privileged to speak to a professor of the subject. It makes Willow blush and giggle, pretending it's not a big deal.

It's a huge deal actually.

It's through Luz's vlogs that Willow's authentic personality finally bleeds through the screen. Willow Park is not Paulina. She's not ditzy. She's not unobservant. She's something else entirely.

Willow Park is soft spoken but opinionated. She is witty and expressive. She's tough and sporty. She's wise beyond her years. She's wild and mischievous. She's sweet and silly. She's so many things that she'll make your head spin.

The scripts of the final Hexside S1 episodes are beginning to trickle out around this time and honestly? The writers are sick of Paulina. They're tired of the character. They're tired of the "She's stupid" joke. They feel like they've hit a brick wall with her, in a creative sense. But now they have Season 2 to work on and...ugghhh...

That's when one writer just happens to stumble across TheGoodWitchLuzura on YouTube and finds two young actors that they know very well, just existing outside of the set.

Willow is different on Luz's videos. While on set around the likes of Amity and Adrian, she simply keeps quiet, keeps her head down and does what she's told. She doesn't really spark any inspiration, yknow?

But after seeing this? This bright, sharp witted, skater girl on a griny camera recording? Well after seeing that, they really start feeling the urge to maybe spruce up Paulina's character a bit. Make her a little more compelling.

So, in that way, Luz Noceda completely changed Willow Park's life.

Willow still doesn't think she believes in God but if angels exist, Luz is definitely one of them.

If you said this to Luz, she'd disagree. She'd prefer to be a Demon >:3

________

ANYWAY!! On to the Belos question.

See, I think I'm going to take inspiration from the show's canon version of the Wittebane family as an endless cycle of pain and suffering.

Philip and Caleb Wittebane were a pair of orphan boys that managed to somehow weasel their way into the spotlight at an early age. It fed them well. It kept a roof over their heads. So that meant that this was a nice life, right?

The two brothers were considered timeless stars and their names would go down in history as some of Hollywood's finest.

In the year 1990, Caleb Wittebane was found dead in his home at the age of 30. Based on the evidence, it appeared he had taken his own life.

Philip was then given custody of his brother's infant son and promised that the boy would be raised to understand just what a wondrous legacy his father left behind.

Caleb Wittebane may have been buried 6ft under but Philip had no intention of letting him die. His DNA was still preserved, attached to this fat clump of an infant.

This baby was Caleb's second chance to live. Philip was going to make sure his stupid brother made the right choices this time.

Caleb wasn't going to throw it all away this time. Philip wouldn't let him.

[never-not-ever]

Last update was about a week ago. Sometimes I feel like what’s the point in posting these but then I remember how down the road I like looking back and rereading these. Although sometimes it’s triggering, but other times it’s like damn I’ve come far from that dark place.

I still journal and actually just wrote up an entry. It was a long one and I guess I can just use that to look back on but it’s easier and faster to type.

So that week were my doctor put me on that 3-11 1:1 I was on it for 3 days, Tues-Thurs. I came off it Friday and it was my doctors last day before her 2-fucking-week vacation. She’s back the day after Christmas and I wonder if I’ll still be here.

This past week I had this covering doctor who is a lot. He’s annoying in the sense that he interrupts me, writes up things in my notes like “feels tired this morning, doesn't think it's the trazodone this morning, but is worried that trazodone can / did make her tired this morning (self-contradicts herself)” and “inconsistency in statements” like so what if I said I didn’t think it made me tired but maybe now that I think of it maybe it did? And then that inconsistency thing is cause I said that I wouldn’t kill my self when I discharge cause I don’t want to hurt my grandmother like that and he said “well aren’t you hurting her by being in here and hurting yourself?”…

I miss my old doctor and now my social worker is out on vacation this week. I mean as annoying as this new doctor is he is somewhat helpful cause he’s all about problem solving and skills. Wait.. am I just contradicting myself again…

This past week he said some comments how my self harm is less severe cause I was punching the ground and not cutting my skin open. He also said on Monday “let’s be honest you’re probably going to hurt yourself later, so let’s focus on going to staff beforehand”. That part pissed me off, like don’t take away my control, don’t decide for me. I make the decision not you. And then that “less severe” comment pushed me over the edge and I ended up doing the later instead of punching the ground. Don’t get me wrong, I take full accountability of my actions. I am not blaming anyone for “well that’s why I self harmed”. No. Peoples words effect my thoughts and urges but ultimately it’s my choice to self harm or not and it’s no one’s fault but my own.

So because of the “later” he reinstated that 3-11 1:1 this past Thursday with the plan to keep it through the weekend. Every week for the past few weeks I keep saying I want to leave this week. On Monday, when I first met with him I asked “can I leave this Friday” and he replied that it “was possible but let’s see how the week goes”. Then I landed myself on that 1:1 so obviously I didn’t leave yesterday.

But during my team meeting yesterday I brought this brilliant idea to the table. I said to them how, as it’s been said multiple times, I’m just going in circles. I self harm, get put back on a 1:1, think “well it’s not that bad at least it’s not 24 hours”, stop self harming to get off it, last a few days, self harm again and then the cycle repeats itself. I hate that I have to say this but ultimately a 24 hour 1:1 is the thing that will prevent me from ever self harming again in here (well maybe… and I’ll get to that part later). Especially since my social worker said that the next 1:1 will be all belongings taken away. So my idea was take me off this 3-11 1:1 and I’ll know that if I self harm again I’ll go right back on it and 24 hours. He liked this plan and asked me how long the 24 hour 1:1 would be and k said I don’t know, it doesn’t matter cause it’s not going to happen. He still wanted me to give an answer and so I said a week. And to make sure I’m not being sneaky and self harming but not telling staff I said I will do arm checks each night to prove it. Even though it was my idea I hated it but I know it’ll prevent me from doing anything.

Now the maybe part- which I just thought of today… Wait, I did end up getting my idea approved so no more 1:1. And also I told them how I wanted to start proving to them I can be safe because if I get covid I want to be able to say “look at all these days I’ve been self harm free, now let me discharge now because I am NOT isolating myself after I just started being social”. There’s been two cases of covid this past week. We all tested again this morning. I’ll get my results tonight and I swear to god if it’s positive I don’t know what I’m going to do.

Back to that “maybe” part. I was thinking earlier how if the people I’m social with were to discharge before me there would be no reason to care about going back on the 1:1 which sounds horrible but like I said, I’ve been more social and it’s been great but like I still feel incredibly hopeless about my future. I still know that the self harm and drinking is going to start right back up when I get home, my SI is getting worse even though I’m swearing I won’t do anything. Like it’s not enough to keep me here especially if the self harm stops. Then again my reasoning to not self harm is to be able to discharge asap if I test positive. Not really to continue to be social. Ughh I feel like I’m making no sense and maybe this covering doctor is right and I’m just self contradicting myself…

My roommate discharged last Wednesday and I miss her so much but I still have this other girl that I’m close with here. We have a group chat and once we leave we’re all planning to hang out. Then there’s this guy… oh god.. I don’t even know where to begin or how much to share. He’s been here a week and I think we started including him in our card games his first night. He was and still is so mysterious. If looks could kill… That first night I started giving sarcasm right back to him and my two friends here said in the group chat that they think he likes me. I didn’t believe it cause 1) I’m gross looking and 2) who the fuck would like me? The next night he asked me how long I’ve liked girls for and I told him my coming out/sexuality changing rollercoaster. Came out in Jan 2017, didn’t want to label myself, just liked people. Then a few months later was like ugh guys are disgusting. Now that I’ve broken up with my ex I’m questioning myself and who the fuck knows. Him asking that made me wonder why he cares and my friends continued to come up with confirming reasons that he likes me. Which is so bizarre to me because it’s been so long since anyone’s showed interest in me. Maybe cause I’ve just made work my entire life and had no social life at all.

So since then there’s been lots of flirting and sarcasm fights. This guy he hangs out with keeps saying he can see the chemistry between us. He didn’t say those words but he speaks Spanish, very little English and the way he tries to insinuate that there’s something between us is hilarious. I actually love playing cards with him he’s so fucking funny.

So last night a bunch of us were playing cards. We’re sarcastically fighting like usual and this lady who’s doing a puzzle says that we fight like a married couple.. So he said how more people are starting to catch on and he’s right. Then my absolute favorite nurse walks into the dining room right as I call him an asshole. I told her that he’s mean and deserves it. That lady tells the nurse how we fight like a married couple and she agreed and I thought the nurse said “I thought you were less mean” to which I replied “you thought I was less mean???” Cause she knows me well enough by now. BUT she really said “I thought you were a lesbian”. There was my opportunity to start a cover story. So I told her “I am a lesbian, just a mean lesbian” and she started dying laughing. Then I told him “you know I’m not a lesbian, I’m mean clearly I’m not a lesbian”. I’m not going to go into the reasons why he knows I’m definitely not just into girls but I will say this has been my most interesting, risky, fun/thrilling inpatient stay I’ve ever had…

And that about covers it and brings me up to speed.