#every time I go out with them somehow jello shots are always involved

[lovelyisadora]

I have another Halloween costume party tonight and i’m like. frankensteining different pieces together to be idk really witchy. But I can’t find my last pair of contacts everywhere and my nerd glasses will ruin it lol

[mello-jello]

Hi Jello! Got a prompt for you (feel free to do a drabble/one-shot or a fanart for this): Levi and Hange playing tabletop games but Hange's too competitive so Levi lets them win once in a while even though he knows every strategy (hint, hint: would be nice if you could base this off on how you and your husband interact!) Enjoy!

Thank you for the prompt R.K! So... Here's some projection...

Hange crossed their arms and slumped backwards into the kitchen chair, pouting.

They lost again.

Levi sat across the table and calmly started collecting cards and pieces. "Good game," he says.

"Was it?" Hange asked, a little too bitterly.

Levi barely reacted to Hange's tone and replied, "Of course; I like playing with you."

Hange's eyebrow twitched as they fought the urge to flip the table. They were being childish and they knew it. It was just a game and they were just spending time with Levi, but something about the way he always won was infuriating.

He never took long to take his turns. It was like he never struggled with finding the right strategies or like Hange’s turns weren't challenging for him at all. They would try so hard to have good turns, really racking their brain as to how they could most benefit themselves while also being a hindrance to Levi.

The scores were almost never even close and no matter how much effort Hange put into a game, Levi expected everything Hange could think of and had a counter-move ready for it. After spending up to 15 minutes taking their turn, the most they ever got was a, "good move," and then Levi would effortlessly take the lead again.

It was maddening. He wasn't even trying!

"Do you want to play again?" Levi asks before closing the box.

Hange scoffed and stared at raindrops on the window. They were conflicted and somewhat embarrassed that they felt this way.

"Well? Or we can try a different game?"

Hange sighed, putting their thumb and index finger on the bridge of their nose, not giving a real answer. They both did and did not want to play again. On one hand, Levi was their most favourite person in the whole world and they wanted to participate in his hobbies. On the other hand, Hange knew their salty attitude was taking over. It would be really nice to win once in a while. Or even feel like they had a fighting chance.

Levi and Moblit were into intense tabletop games. Games that took 8-9 hours to complete, like Twilight Imperium. Nine hours is way too long! For the lighter games, there were monthly board game nights with Erwin, Mike, Nifa, Moblit, Eld, and Petra. Hange was always invited and welcomed, but they were often miserable. Turns out, a lot of board gaming involves keeping track of numbers, which did not appeal to them as a relaxing activity.

Hange uses their brain all day at work and when they get home most days, they just want to relax with a book or Netflix.

Why couldn't Hange be more like Petra? She wasn't especially skilled, but she was gracious and was always down to play whatever the group suggested, and seemed to genuinely enjoy herself.

Levi pulled out his favourite game: Sakura Arms. He held the box up with a pleading face. Hange's chest felt heavy. Oh fuck, not that one. It was so complicated! First you have to pick your characters that somehow have to complement each other’s stats, then build a deck with synergy, and then battle Levi, who has played this game countless times with numerous opponents that were all better than Hange.

The last time they played, Hange conceded early and said, "I think I made a terrible deck and there's no way I can win from here".

"Okay, let me see".

Levi took a look at Hange's hand and said something along the lines of, "No, this isn't terrible. You could do this, this, or this, oh and that is an option too. You'll want to play around the card I obviously have in my hand, so that stops you from using this, but you could have survived a few more turns".

Hange stared at him, dumbfounded. "Obviously?"

"Yeah, you know I have it because I used it two turns ago, but I used this card to reshuffle my discard pile on my last turn."

They continued staring. How the hell does he keep track of all that? Hange was smart, right? This is just a silly game that's supposed to fun, what the fuck?

So when they saw the box in his hands, and the eager look in his eyes, Hange couldn't help it; they felt the tears coming. Stupid, childish tears, betraying them. It was ridiculous to cry over this. Although they suppose crying is better than raging.

"What's wrong?"

Hange sniffed. “I’m sorry, I'm such a big baby".

Just play the stupid game with your husband, they mentally scold themself. They love Levi with all their heart, so why was this so exhausting? It’s not like he ever asks them for anything. He cooks, cleans, does the laundry, and also has a job of his own and he never complains. Why couldn’t Hange just pretend for his sake?

Levi put the game down. He walked to the other side of the table and wrapped his arms around Hange’s shoulders, and gave them a quick peck on the cheek.

"You don’t have to play if you don’t want to. And you're my big baby, and I love you anyways". He gives them a reassuring squeeze.

Hange scoffed again, looking at the ceiling to keep more tears from spilling over. Great, now he was being sweet and Hange felt guilty. What did they ever do to deserve this man?

“That’s the thing: I do want to. At least I want to want to,” they explained and Levi tentatively listened while returning to his seat. “I just… it feels shitty to always lose. I feel so stupid. But I know you’re not going to let up on me”.

Levi gave a knowing look. "Hange, you don't actually want me to let you win. That would be an insult to your intelligence. When you do finally beat me, it's going to be because you deserve it".

Hange smiled on one side. He was right. It would be patronizing if he just let them win. And it wouldn't be rewarding either, knowing he was going easy on them. “Okay, but be honest: is it actually fun for you to play against me? Doesn’t it feel like you’re playing with a toddler?”

Levi snorted. “Give yourself some damn credit, Four-Eyes! You’re only stupid for thinking you’re stupid”. He crossed his arms, genuinely offended at the notion of Hange being self-conscious.

“Wouldn’t you rather play with someone more challenging? Like Moblit?”

“I didn’t marry Moblit”.

“That’s a shame,” they said sarcastically, already feeling better. Levi gently kicked them under the table.

“But, it really is fine if you don’t want to play, I appreciate you trying though. As it turns out, I just like hanging out with you.” Levi was serious again, but Hange was back to their bubbly self and felt like being a little shit.

“You know, I’d be okay with Moblit being your board game side-hoe. He can satisfy all of your needs,” they wiggled their eyebrows at him.

Levi scowled and said, “Yeah, there are a few needs of mine I am certain Moblit can’t help with”.

“Hoo HOOO there’s an image!”

“Ugh, can you not?”

“The two of you, huddled in a dimly lit room, strategizing late at night, silence only fueling the sexual tensi-”

“Please stop,” Levi covered his face with his hand.

Hange giggled, satisfied with his bashful reaction.

“How about we watch something instead?” He offered. “There’s a new episode of “Assault on Gargantua” coming out on CrunchyRoll in 20 minutes. The horrors of that show are nothing compared to what you just put in my mind, so it’ll be a nice palette cleanser.”

Hange beamed. “I’ll get the popcorn!”

[werezmastarbucks]

coming back was a mistake?

the reader bonds with kai over their shared dislike of mystic falls

previous part

kai parker x fem!reader

word count: 4180

music: cherry by lana del rey, stella maris by moby

She came to the football field every evening at approximately the same time. Kai started weighing which sight he liked more: the pretty smart dog catching its frisbee in the air, or the grumpy girl in her skin-shade top, running around like the devil was trying to bite her in the ass.

Well, the dog hopped so high, and it was so lively! Plus, dogs are all adorable.

But the crop top though.

After several evenings Kai started noticing the pattern. She always stood in one place, as she was catching her breath, and looked at the clouds. She might not even notice she stops at the same very spot every time she finishes running. After the second evening, and after she left, Kai came down to the court and put a scratch five inches long on the ground with a jackknife. She always stood exactly there. He looked up into the now darkened sky, seeing the first stars, and pondered, as if her thoughts could be captured by him now, floating there, above where she’d been. What was she crying about so gravely? Her hands were shaking as she pressed them into her mouth, like children do. After she was done, she walked away to her house, relieved, and didn’t look back.

That was puzzling. Might as well busy himself with the mystery of the sad moody girl who cries on the football field every evening, while he’s waiting for the merge.

You stood, silently praising yourself for throwing your jacket into the car at the last moment (come on, monkey! we ain’t got any more time! Damon was yelling. He couldn’t hide how much he liked it when you came to visit every year, and you felt bad for despising the visits). The wind was unusually ferocious for the warm month, but then again, this place was deep in the waterfall region, up in the hills, an open spot. Plus, there must have been some hardcore magic ingrained right in the soil. As you stood, and watched, while the Salvatore brothers were humping and cracking their backs, digging up the earth, you pretended to feel the magic oozing out. The burial places always felt special. Having lived in Mystic Falls, you worked up this rare type of intuition.

You didn’t want to come. As you returned, and was busted by the Mystic Falls gang on the very first evening, you reminded them of your foremost rule: you do not engage in their bullshit anymore. Let them fight all the original vampires of the planet... or the werewolves... whatever... you only came back once a year, for seven days, and weren’t keeping up with the Draculashians. A tiny part of you was curious. But it hit back hard, every time. Involving yourself in the MF action was dangerous, and made you feel like an old woman who keeps complaining about them kids being loud in the street.

You were on your way to Caroline’s when somebody called Damon, and he put on his working face. Turned out, they need to undig some bodies exactly today, because the Little Shit (Damon didn’t specify whom they referred to) made his conditions. Well, work’s work. You hadn’t been to this spot before. From up here, you could even see the distand hills of New Orleans. You missed that place.

“How many bodies do you need?” you asked them. Stefan stood up to look at you curiously. As if saying, there are the bodies - we need to get them. Get them all!

“It’s not how many”, Damon helped, “it’s which ones”.

“And what are you gonna do with them?”

“I will eat them”, somebody whispered. You shivered a little under your clothes, but didn’t budge. You looked at your side. Malachai from the bar.

“Joking”, he snickered, “I don’t eat corpses. But I do have jello worms, you want some?”

You examined him thoroughly.

“You have blue ones?”

He looked down the pack.

“I think so...”

As you tried to fish out the blue ones, he looked at you.

“Do you eat bodies?” he asked.

“No, not really”, he sighed. “Thanks”.

“Mm-hm”, he was chewing, looking at the vampire brothers as they worked. Damon shot you two a glance which didn’t say anything specific.

“You’re the Little Shit?” you guessed.

“They call me that? Rude”, he moved his shoulder as if he was a bit cold. “I guess I do somewhat irritate them”.

“Somewhat?!” Damon growled. You cringed.

“And what are you, a digging up works inspector?” Kai went on. You grinned.

“Oh, you’re Y/N! You’re the girl they’ve been talking about, non-stop”, he realized.

At the grave, the brothers exchanged glances, since of course, they haven’t been talking about you in Parker’s presence.

You nodded.

“You long here?”

“A week”, you said, and rubbed your arms, “why is it so damn cold”.

“It’s the spirits disagreeing with the whole vandalizing ungraving, you know. I can’t calm them down just yet”, the guy said knowingly. You wondered internally what he was after all. He squatted a bit, putting his palm to the ground.

“Hold it”, the pack of candy was shoved into your hand and you filled your mouth with sour-sweet worms. Your jaws were about to get glued together.

“Woah, yeah, they fight back”, he took the hand away. “Listen, you”, he pointed his finger at the soil. You looked up at Damon and Stefan, asking them silently what was up with this dude. “I’m about to suck out your whole miserable existence, so you better comply, bitches”.

“Bonnie’s really good at communicating with spirits”, you said musingly.

“She’s also very good at lying, cheating and tricking people into trusting her and then stabbing them in the back”, Malachai said happily, standing up. He reached for some worms politely, forgetting it was his pack to begin with.

“You’ve met her?”

“Met her? Ha, I’ve been locked up with her. What a controversial creature”.

“Where is she? I haven’t seen her since I came”.

“Yeah, she’s... uh...” Kai cocked his head, thinking, “I might have left her in a... magical prison, you know”.

“What an asshole”, you said. You remembered the judgemental, brilliant, restless Bonnie Bennett. “Get her back”.

“It’s not that easy, miss”, Malachai sniffed. “Why do you care, anyway?”

“We studied together”.

“Okay then. See the diggers? We’re doing this all to get back there and get Bon Bon out”.

Damon puffed as if he could get tired. He was just probably listening and was severely annoyed. You knew at once when you saw Kai here how Damon could be deeply irritated by him. Their personalities did not correlate.

“And you? What are you doing?” he asked. Like he meant something else. You watched his curious face, the sweetness filling your mouth so much the gums started hurting. You needed water.

“I’m just here, man. Chilling”.

He nodded to his own thoughts.

“Hm”.

You turned back to the Salvatores simultaneously.

“You wanna go on a date?” Kai asked.

You haven’t been on a date in years. You were not the type to go dating.

“Stop this freaking wind, will you”, you shuddered yet again, instead of the answer. Kai got to the ground immediately.

You drove up to the corner and walked a little to the Grill doors. Malachai was standing there, waiting, like he was the Italian lover boy at the times when families of two children were willing to start war over dignity, and he was serenading to somebody. He didn’t say anything, just smiled at you; his gaze said things instead of him. Putting his arm above your head, he opened the door, and you entered the bar.

“The other way”, he took you by the forearm and then his fingers slid down to your wrist. Somehow, you got goose bumps on your skin at his touch; it was irrational. As the music filled the space, crappy, hipster Mystic Falls music, he led you to one of the tables closer to tha bar counter. You were trying to decipher the glint in his eyes, almost haunting, when you realized you‘re staring at each other.

“What?” you grinned even, uneasy, as your head cocked, and you caught yourself blushing on the inside. Get your act together. He’s not even that handsome. Well, maybe, okay, he is very handsome, but he’s one of those, so, don’t get your hopes up. You recalled how you two mocked the working Salvatores together, eating the chewing candy and cursing the dead. Nothing like doing nothing, bullying busy grumpy people. The conversation started itself.

“The music here is awful”.

“You’re very pretty”, he said shyly. “Maybe even too pretty”. He gestured towards you. There wasn’t any ogling with him, he was sincerely charming. He must be dangerous.

“The whole face and the... hair thing. Do you ever have problems because you’re pretty?”

The waiter, Maureen, approached you, and you had to stop for a while. She looked at Kai obediently, without paying you any attention. You found it eerie.

“No”, you began, and then thought. Well, every ‘pretty’ girl has problems sometimes. When it comes to brushing against the majority, the bar for ‘pretty’ is very low. If you walk down the street, and somebody throws a glance at you, they manage to see you as ‘pretty’.

“Well. You know, you sound like an asshole if you say you have problems because you’re good looking”.

Kai cocked his head like a bird, question in his eyes.

“Speaking of assholes, explain again how Bonnie ended up somewhere alone?”

He sighed.

“It’s a long story”.

You shrugged.

“We’ve got the whole evening”.

“You know, I’ll tell you, she killed me, you’ll ask how, I’ll have to go back a bit and explain how the magical prison works, you’ll ask what she and Damon were doing there, I’ll have to go back and explain, you’ll ask how I ended up there, and I’ll have to give you my whole life story”.

You took the straw in between your lips.

Kai’s nostrils flared a little.

“Alright. Maybe it was my fault a little bit”.

You were just drinking, not saying anything, and Kai started crumbling down. Must be the whole face and the hair thing.

“Alright! Alright. You ever heard of the Gemini coven? Of course you didn’t”.

You shook your head. You weren’t sure if you wanted to actually listen to the whole life story of this guy. That’s exactly how Mystic Falls tricks you into being one of them. It’s just full of dramatic, twisted life stories.

“It’s a witch coven, the coolest one, well, it used to be. Now almost all of them are dead, and soon, I will be the only one left”.

“Because you’ll kill them all?” you asked innocently.

“Yeah”.

“Yeah, of course. Why am I asking. Stupid”.

“I was born without magic. We have this thing, in the coven, the twins have to duel when they turn twenty one. The one with stronger magic wins and lives and absorbs the other’s life force and powers. But I was born without magic, so”, he tilted his head left and right, as if saying, well, you guess how it goes.

“Big disappointment. My mom used to lock me up in the basement for days not to embarrass guests”.

“What?!”

“Yeah. And this thing... I can absorb magic, because I’m a siphoner. It’s like... if I feel magic somewhere, I can take it. Then use it. Then I need more”.

“So, that’s why you were crawling on the ground there”.

“Yeah”, Kai nodded, “and the oldest bodies of those witches have the most magic, so, I now have enough strength to go back and bring your precious Bonnie home”.

“So, your folks gave you hard time then?”

He got distracted by your nails clicking on the glass. He was like a cat, his eyes clutched the sound, the flickering lights of the evening Grill dancing in the dark of his eyeballs.

“Do you sharpen them on purpose?”

“Of course”, you muttered, “that makes people want to touch me less”.

An uneven breath left his lips. You realized you found him endearing. What a cute, chaotic creature, dressed like a Soft Boy, but with a dark scheme on the back of his mind, eyes darting from here to there, and the tongue completely detached from brain. No wonder Mystic Falls couldn’t handle him.

“Scratch my hand”, he asked, putting his palm on the table. Amusement curled your lips.

You put your palm on his and tickled.

“Were you a twin?” you asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I was. My sister is still alive, but you know, if the merge ended up happening, she’d be dead. Because even without my own magic, I’m stronger than her. She’s all... spells from the books, rules of conjuring, flower growing magic. I’m a natural. Which is ironic”, a sad chuckle clouded his voice for a second. “My dad used to tell me he wished I was never born at all, even if it meant they missed an opportunity to have a set of twins for the merge”.

You eyed him carefully. He talked sad, but looked entertained. He was turning and pulling his hand under your tickling, like a child.

“You’re a big boy now”, you heard yourself, “you know how them fanatics are, right?”

“Hmm?”

“Just because it’s their fucked up world doesn’t mean you were a mistake”.

Kai nodded.

“I killed half of them anyway. My sisters and brothers, and my mom”.

You stopped tickling for a second.

“Uh, you killed your siblings and your mom?”

He was taking a sip and nodded.

“Mm-hm, yeah. I hanged my little brother from the banisters on the staircase. Have you ever killed somebody?”

An uneven chain of thoughts raced through your mind. Any other place, you would’ve freaked out. Here, it’s kind of fine. Everybody’s like that. Kai was a bit extreme, of course. Him confessing killing his child siblings on your date was a bit of a thrill pill. It’s not like he smothered Caroline with a pillow. Or pushed Elena’s car from the bridge. Of pinned Damon to the wall of his own living room. Or turned a sixteen year old schoolgirl into a raging vampire right in time for Halloween.

“You look like you killed somebody”, he whispered conspirationally. You turned his hand and scratched a bit harder. He didn’t notice.

“Is it your witch observation, or a pickup line?”

Kai grinned.

“I’ve told you everything. You tell me why you’re coming back every year”.

“Who told you I do?”

“Damon”.

You rolled your eyes.

“Just to visit”.

He narrowed his eyes.

“That is a lie. You’re lying to me. You hate this place. You don’t come here for a full week out of your own will to visit people you don’t even like”.

“It’s not that I don’t like them, I just...”

“Can’t stand them”.

“Their shenanigans. How long have you been here?”

“Since spring”.

“Have you noticed”, you even leaned over the table a little bit, and his fingers wrapped around your palm with determination. His hand was warm and dexterous. “That they’re in deep shit every week? These people don’t chill. It’s one cosmic threat after another, and most of the time, it’s Damon’s fault”.

“Yes”, Kai said gravely. “Yes. And it’s always about romance. Everybody is in love with everybody”.

You started laughing with relief you didn’t know the source of.

You were tickling his palm gently as you spoke, and didn’t even notice. Suddenly, Kai nearly jumped.

“Wait, you said, awful music?”

“Of course”.

“Give me your phone”.

You didn’t reply, looking at him.

“Come on. You wanna dance or not? I’ll go talk to the DJ”.

“Talk to the DJ?”

“Yeah. I’ll bring it back to you”.

Kai didn’t. A minute after he left with your phone, the mood changed. Even the lights went darker. You finished your drink and then recognized your own playlist coming in on the speakers. When he returned, pulling you into the crowd of people gathering to dance, you looked around at the couples. Malachai, the guy who grew up being locked in the basement by his mother and hearing that he was a mistake of nature, turned out to be an okay dancer, in fact. Perhaps he was just fucking around when he sang in the karaoke. He pulled you up to him and couldn’t stop himself from touching your arms as if tapping you for magic you might have been hiding. His hands explored the lean lines of your waist as you moved, and it didn’t feel forced. Going on a date with someone you barely know, you usually expect all kinds of awkward collisions, but this here was light-hearted, sincere, like neither of you cared enough, connected with your shared displeasure with this town. Neither of you really wanted to be here; Kai said he was waiting for something connected with the merge in September, because, after all the years he spent in the prison, he thought he had another shot at merging with his sister. Apparently, they’re all stoked to duel and kill their twin or die, well, let them. The less mental cases.

Not wanting to be here made you pull close to each other as if you were a proud unit, judging people around silently. People, weirdly, didn’t seem to mind to dance to Lana Del Rey the whole evening, then switching suddenly to relatively unknown soft hip-hop. They just moved, drunk on the evening, consumed by the calm twilight of the place, and you danced, too, with Kai’s hands sliding up and down your shoulders, soothing you like a snake charmer.

Suddenly, he leaned into a kiss and you didn’t pull away. You collided like waves, gentle at first, then, hungry, and wild attraction made your head switch off. His one hand laid on the back of your neck and the other, secured the low of your back, like he was a completely normal guy on a completely normal date, having completely normal heat coming up to his throat. Maybe he was, at the moment. You found it hard to break the kiss, feeling how strangely comfortable it was, like you knew each other forever. Shared spite does miracles to people’s minds.

You drank a little bit too much, perhaps, so your head started spinning, and you were forced to open you eyes. You looked around, still in his arms, and everybody - and that means everybody - in the bar was watching you, not dancing anymore. The music was still on, but people froze completely, mesmerized, and stared at you without any expression.

“What are they looking at?” you whispered.

“They’ll remember witnessing something beautiful, but won’t know exactly what”, Kai said nonchalantly. You shot him a glance.

“What?”

“I compelled them all”, he brushed them away with his hand, “it’s a private party”.

“That’s abuse...” you thought out loud.

“You think I’m evil?” Kai asked. Somehow it didn’t sound connected to your notion.

“Nah”.

Perhaps you should’ve given it more thought. You didn’t even see how impressed he was by the easiness with which you shook your head.

“Just bitter”.

He looked around, and people moved again, like nothing happened.

You couldn’t stop kissing each other even after you left and walked down the street away from the bar.

“You wanna go see a special place?” he mumbled into your face, his breath warm and sweet. “Your heels will disagree with it though, we’ll have to take ‘em off”.

There was almost lust in his voice.

‘Special place’ turned out to be the watching tower behind the school. Mystic Falls was such a small, pathetic place that it only had one sport court, one square and one park. The watching tower was called that because, when you were all fifteen, the bravest kids used to climb up the platform to watch the Founders Day fireworks. It was a steel construction resembling the tower for the musical engineer at a gig. Nobody ever figured out what it was initially for. Maybe Damon and Stefan should’ve dropped their whole vampire wars and first ivestigated that.

Kai was right though: the narrow ladder was made of iron and you had to take off your shoes. The platform itself stood about twelve feet up and was big enough for five people. You laid shoulder to shoulder, and only then you finally realized. It was the night for Perseids.

Brilliant white comets were shooting through the skies. Kai put his hand under the back of his head. You thought of how once you were watching shooting stars with your father back when you were a child; one of the stars fell somewhere behind hills and he said that it exploded. He convinced you he’s seen the afterglow of the explosion, and with time, you have convinced yourself you’ve seen it, too. Bright, short, white flash of misty light, like a flickering halo above the mountain. This memory was completely fake. Just like his belief that the red stars are the youngest. Father knew jack shit about space.

“You ever compare yourself with the size of universe?” you asked. You were afraid to sound too romantic, or stupid, but you were drunk enough.

“Yeah. I like stars”.

“Do you feel small or big?”

“Small”, Kai replied obediently.

“Does it make you feel lonely, or is it a liberating feeling?”

“Lonely”.

“Does it make you wanna die or live forever?”

“I’m planning to live forever”, he said with convitction. You turned your head and discovered he’s been looking at you.

“Aren’t you mortified of the future?”

“I’m just very tired of dying”.

Your brows gathered together. You reached for his cheek and touched it with your fingers to make sure he was flesh and blood.

“You can’t die in prison world”, he explained.

“Oh. Are you alive right now?”

Now, Malachai was a little surprised.

“I think so”, he chuckled. “Hey, you. I’ve been spilling the tea all night and then you distracted me with kissing, and now I’m realizing you said nothing yourself”.

You wondered what Kai has done to deserve the title of Little Shit. You imagined he somehow incorporated you into his plan since he was so nice to you. He looked like he was geniunely interested.

“Nothing to tell. I don’t want to”.

“That’s not fair”.

You shut him up with a kiss.

As he let go of her hand, seeing the yellow light from the window, he has already decided everything. The door let the wave of bright flood him, and, before it closed behind her back, he turned invisible and hopped inside.

The house stood empty, with the light on in the kitchen. He didn’t know if she seemed like somebody who’s afraid of darkness, but it was strange. Kai let her go upstairs alone and cruised a little around the kitchen and the living room; her house, like her, felt mysterious and so familiar. When Kai finally made it upstairs to her room, she was taking a shower. Malachai touched every little thing that laid around: he put his palm to the wall, fidgeted with the jewelry she left on the bedside table; sat on her bed, opened and closed the curtains and left the outline of his hand on the window. He touched the handles of the wardrobe and brushed lightly over the dress she’s just been wearing, that she threw onto a chair.

When the girl came back, he expected her to cry again. Because of their date, she skipped her running session and didn’t go to the football field. As she stood at the mirror, Kai came up so close to her, he even wondered how she didn’t feel the tip of his nose barely touching her wet hair. She threw the towel on the floor, and Kai looked in the mirror. He couldn’t see himself, but he knew he was there. He wondered what they would’ve looked like together.

Then she froze and turned her head as if hearing something. Kai managed to step away as she rushed to the chair for clothes. She put on sweatpants and a shirt, and went downstairs. Kai was sure he didn’t hear anything.

Curious to no end, he followed, down to the living room, and then the kitched, the light turned on virtually everywhere in the house like she was terrified of shadows.

“No, I just came back”, she said, to nobody. Kai walked in front of her and stood in the middle of the kitchen. She looked over his shoulder. Then sat at the table.

“Fine, when did you come back?”

Pause.

“I thought you said you didn’t leave the house nowadays”.

She was talking to the empty room, a bit sad, not like when she was with him.

Wow, she is nuts, Malachai thought. Then he thought hard and repeated, to himself,

she is absolutely insane!

[alison-anonymous]

flawsome bandits pt. 8 ♡ sonic

Flawsome Revivals

Very important note that I would love for all of you to read at the end ♡

Warnings - much angst! Mention of death, FLUFF FLUFF FLUFF

♡♡♡   

This couldn’t be happening. It was insane how Y/n’s worst fear was something tangible. Something that she could feel as she pressed her fingers against Sonic’s slowing pulse. 

She was losing him… again.

Because she was a coward.

The tears refused to stop. Even when a crowd of concerned Green Hill citizens began to abandon their late night dinners and see why this glowing ice blue hedgehog was crying over another one that they could only identify as Crazy Carl’s Blue Devil.  Even when Tom and Maddie finally made it back to the scene and felt their own hearts begin breaking as they watched their daughter begin to sob over Sonic’s body. Even when the Egghead responsible for all of this began to make his dramatic descent out of the portal and took a moment to bask in the glory of their defeat. Her tears dripped onto Sonic’s fur as he tried his best to work his way out of unconsciousness, to let his crush know that he was alright, but his limbs felt like jello.

“P-please, Sonic…” Y/n sniffled. “Ge-get up…”

“Well, looky here! Bonnie lost her Clyde, oh, the humanity!” He let out his signature evil chuckle, raising his goggles on to his forehead. “You are such astonishing creatures, aren’t you?” On the ground before him, Tom caught sight of the bag of golden rings. He slyly picked them up and kept a close eye on the scene taking place before him as Y/n slowly raised her head up from Sonic to stare at the evil man in the drone. 

The tears continued to stream endlessly down her face as her gaze hardened.

“It’ll be amazing to take you back to the lab to perform some exploratory procedures. Any last words, Bonnie? Clyde?” He waited for a moment as the ice blue hedgehog’s grip on Sonic’s side tightened. 

“Go. To. Hell.” Y/n snarled, somehow managing not to choke on her tears. Her e/c irises began to glow a mystical blue as her emotions began to take a toll on her. Eggman’s eyes raised a little in surprise. Funny, he thought Sonic was the only one whose powers were affected by emotion. He shrugged and plopped his goggles back on. 

“I can’t tell you how many procedures have been made possible by animal testing. And how am I supposed to one-up others in my scientific discoveries if I’m in hell, hmm?” The whole time he was bragging, he didn’t notice Tom appear behind him and jump onto his drone. Y/n watched from her spot next to Sonic, putting her acting skills to the test. Tom was quick to punch Eggman in the face mid-sentence, initiating a very brave mini-battle between the two until Tom got thrown out onto the ground, groaning in pain. Watching Tom get shoved onto the pavement like that only made Y/n’s emotions grow more fierce as her body began to hum without any use of her vocal chords, an electric light blue pigment beginning to radiate off of her. 

“Why would you throw your life away for such useless things? You know, that’s why I don’t have friends.” Eggman rolled his eyes. Y/n’s eyes arched into slits, but for once she actually didn’t have to say anything as the townspeople began to gather around in an attempt to fight off the man. Apparently Tom had somehow gotten the word out already that the second hedgehog was his daughter, as even Crazy Carl was pulling out a chainsaw in order to defend the two.

“You leave those kids alone!” He revved it up.

During all of the ruckus, Y/n had been keeping one of her hands on Sonic’s neck in order to track his pulse, and her heart stopped dead once she realized… it wasn’t there anymore. Panic began to set in as she quickly turned him onto his back, shaking him roughly by the shoulders.

“Sonic? Sonic! No, no, no, no, no, no…” The tears began to spill down even faster as she shook him, every second with no response causing her heart to shatter a little more. “Please! I can’t lose you again…” 

Tom, Maddie, and the Green Hills citizens felt their own hearts break as they watched the scene unfold. Y/n’s body practically toppled on top of him as she pressed her forehead against his, her back racking with the sobs. 

Sonic… was gone.

“I don’t mean to be indelicate here, but someone should gather up a tub of ice. Keep the body fresh.” Eggman just had to chime in. His words only made Y/n cry worse, in her fit not noticing how her body began to hum the tune she usually sang. Her tears got soaked up into Sonic’s fur, in turn beginning to make his fur hum in return. Were her abilities… healing him? But how could that be possible? Could her powers be deterred due to the emotions she was going through? 

“I’m so sorry, Sonic…” She whispered, just quietly enough that he would have been able to hear. “I’m such an idiot…”

“Oh please, he was just a silly little alien! And so is she, regardless of pre-biology! They don’t belong here!” Robotnik cried out in frustration, angered that a death was getting involved in his plans to take the two and go. His insensitivity struck a flame in Tom as he turned towards the man, jaw clenched.

“Those little aliens know more about being human than you ever will. And they aren’t Bonnie and Clyde, their names are Sonic and Y/n. This is their home.” All the while he was talking, Y/n was finally finding a way to say what she had always wanted to say to him, her words coming out as soon as Tom had finished his.

“...I love you, too.”

Sonic’s eyes burst open, supercharged with energy. Electric blue bolts of lightning shot furiously out of his body, enveloping him in the light as he slowly began to rise to his feet. Y/n broke out into a tearful grin as she quickly scrambled to her feet, watching in amazement as the lightning cast brilliant blue shadows across her face, her own body becoming luminescent with her own light, the hum growing louder by the second. Through the midst of the dramatic moment, Sonic’s electrified gaze met Y/n’s luminous one, and he winked. 

Shit was about to go down.

“He’s all yours,” Tom spoke to the two, smiling thankfully as he pulled Maddie along with him to the sidelines, getting everyone to back up. Y/n turned back to her rightful side next to Sonic and they exchanged a small smile before turning back to the doctor, gazes hardening and powers maxing to the top. They saw a look cross over Eggman’s face that they hadn’t seen before as he calculated the effects of the two. They were both much more powerful than he had ever anticipated, super fueled by their emotions for one another and for the situation. One on one, he could have taken them. But combined?

Was he… intimidated?

“I think you have something that belongs to me,” Sonic spoke, forming a fist before him as it became supercharged with a clash of lightning. Y/n couldn’t help but swoon next to him, trying her best to recover from it before he noticed. Their combined electricity made Eggman’s drone begin to malfunction as he swerved in an attempt to regain control, Sonic’s bolts eating away at the control panel. 

“These are our powers, and we’re not going to use them to run away anymore,” He glanced over at Y/n for approval, who responded by grabbing onto his hand. Another clash of electricity gobbled up their physical touch as Y/n’s abilities began to merge with his, making the adrenaline go through the roof for the two. “And we’re using it to protect our friends!”

Choosing to take the silent route, Eggman slowly began to ascend, pulling on out the lasers as the tension began to increase like crazy. The lasers slowly found their way to Y/n and Sonic’s body, beginning to line up on every single spot of their electrical fur, especially near the heart. Any normal person would have ducked and ran for cover. But instead? 

They stood their ground, a slow smirk beginning to make its way across Y/n’s lips. 

Sonic gently let go of her hand as he began to get down into a runner’s formation, the lasers following his every move. Y/n squared her feet, placing her fists out before her and channeling all of her power (supercharged with Sonic’s) into her body, beginning to hum her signature tune slowly and methodically. The second that he launched his missiles, the two took off, racing and flying through the air. They had been practicing communicating without words for years and learning body cues, so the second that Y/n saw Sonic jump from the wall of a building to Eggman’s ship, she knew exactly what to do. With their combined forces, they began to pummel the ship by jumping from the walls and onto the ship and back again so quickly that they became nothing but electrical blurs in a moment, setting the whole city up with light. Robotnik did his best to take cover as the windows began to break from their impact, trying not to admit that fear was rising in his chest.

Finally, the two skidded to a stop a couple meters away from him, making quick look-overs to assure that they were alright.

“Oh, now you’ve done it!” Robotnik scoffed angrily.

“News flash, Egghead! We’re not leaving earth. You are. Star Chaser?” He looked over at his partner in crime, who flashed him a knowing smile.

“But of course! Donut Lord?” She turned to her father just as he pulled out one of the rings. He sent them a wink and threw the ring straight behind Robotnik’s ship. Robotnik fueled up his ship and launched it forward with just as much flame as his fury at the same time that Y/n and Sonic began racing towards it. In slow motion, the two began to form the position that Longclaw had taught them a very long time ago in order to use both of their powers to the fullest extent. While Sonic curled up into a ball, Y/n used her powers to float behind him, and used all of her might to give him a super charged push, sending him flying into Robotnik’s ship. As time fell back into place, Sonic burst into the nose of the ship, their combined power causing the entire drone to crumble into pieces, sending Robotnik’s screaming figure straight into the portal to Mushroom Land. The portal closed with a blinding bright light and Sonic and Y/n gradually powered down as the city erupted into applause. 

Sonic turned to his partner and gave her the cutest heartfelt smile she had ever seen, holding his arms out wide. She let out a tearful chuckle, e/c eyes returning to normal as she crashed into him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and burying her face into his shoulder. 

He was alive. And he was okay.

Tom and Maddie jogged their way over to the two just as they reluctantly pulled away, cheeks beginning to turn a bright red as they realized they were going to have to talk soon. 

“You did it!” Tom cheered ecstatically.

“No, WE did it,” Sonic corrected, smiling at the two. Tom held up his hand proudly, and Y/n and Sonic jumped up and had a classic Three-Musketeers-inspired high five. A huge smile spread across his lips, and in his ecstatic happy fit, he did the only thing he could think of. 

He picked Y/n up by the waist and spun her around.

Y/n was shocked at first, but gradually began to relax into it, letting out a gleeful giggle until Tom cleared his throat and they both froze, Sonic holding Y/n up and her hands resting on the top of his head. Tom raised an eyebrow and Sonic quickly set her down, sheepishly putting his hands behind his back and smiling innocently.

“Ugh, Dad,” Y/n rolled her eyes, but smirked at her father. He simply shrugged.

“Just doing what dads do, kiddo.”

♡♡♡

A few days after the showdown, Tom and Maddie were enjoying a nice, quiet Monday when a loud knock came at their front door. The couple approached the door with caution, glancing at each other skeptically. Who would be coming to their door this late in the afternoon? They swung the door open to reveal a man in a very official looking uniform holding an envelope with two men in military uniforms standing guard by his vehicle. The man gave them a warm smile, causing the skin around his eyes to wrinkle.

“Good day. Are you Mr. and Mrs. Wachowski?” He asked in a deep voice. 

“Uh, yep, that’s us,” Tom replied. The man held out the white envelope to the two.

“A token of appreciation on behalf of your keeping quiet about recent incidents that never occurred.” A bit condescending, but who were they to decline a free compensation from the government, am I right? The two chuckled in surprise, Tom taking the envelope from the man and smiling at his wife.

“Wow, wonder what it is?”

“Money to fix the house?” Maddie suggested, her mind instantly going to the wreck that had been left in their place after their first run in with the crazy doctor. Tom nodded.

“Or a letter from the president?” He asked. The man simply smiled.

“You’ll see.” Tom finally ripped the envelope open and pulled out a slim piece of folded parchment. He smiled excitedly at his wife and flipped it open to reveal… 

“A… fifty dollar gift card to Olive Garden?”

“Have you tried the Never Ending Pasta Bowl?” The man asked, paying no mind to their obvious dejected expressions. “It never ends!” The two nodded awkwardly until Maddie finally broke the silence.

“Yep, well, thank you! We really appreciate the gesture.” The man nodded and turned to leave right before a question popped into Tom’s head.

“Oh, hey, I guess we can close the file on that Robotnik guy, right?” 

“I’m sorry, sir, but no such person exists or ever has existed.” He said blatantly, adding an emphasis to the final part.Tom nodded, clicking his tongue.

“Wish that were true.”

“You haven’t by any chance been in recent contact with two, oh, I don’t know, exotically colored alien creatures, have you?” The man asked, using small hand gestures as he spoke. It was quite obvious who he was talking about. “We would love to have a chat with them sometime, very casual. Maybe a brunch, perhaps.” 

Yes. Yes. They would take two very powerful alien hedgehogs who sent an evil doctor to another dimension to brunch. Totes casual. 

Yep.

“Oh, you mean the Bonnie and Clyde hedgehogs?” Tom finally asked, allowing the images of his foster daughter and Sonic to pop up in his brain. The man excitedly nodded. “Oh, no, no. Haven’t spoken to the two of them since the incident and probably won’t ever hear from them again.” The man stayed silent for a moment, not doing a very good job at hiding his skepticism as even when they bid their farewells and closed the door, he remained staring through the cracks until the door was shut in his face.

“To be honest, I’m pretty pumped about that Pasta Bowl,” Tom chuckled as the two began to walk back into their living room where their dog rested on the couch next to a certain ice blue hedgehog. 

“Not if I eat it first,” she teased, e/c eyes glittering at the mention of food. Sonic’s head popped up from behind the couch and he folded his arms across the top of Y/n’s head, making her ears go to the sides.

“So, you guys wanna watch a movie, or what?” He asked. 

“Sorry, bud,” Maddie sighed, leaning into her husband’s side. “But it’s a school night. Time for you to go back to your cave.” Both Y/n and Sonic’s jaws dropped open, the defenses piling onto their tongues.

“What? Mom, come on!” Y/n protested.

“Yeah, it’s only three in the afternoon!”

“You know how you get when you’re tired. And besides, Y/n has some homework she needs to get done without any distractions.” The icy hedgehog’s cheeks burned a deep crimson as her mouth clamped shut. Maddie giggled at her daughter’s reaction, watching as Sonic sighed in defeat, and slid over the couch to begin walking towards the door. Y/n was quick to follow after him. 

“I’m not like anything! You guys are so uncool! And I’m not distracting! Right, N/n?” He looked towards his partner in crime only to find her staring dreamily at him with her hand supporting her chin. She quickly snapped out of it once she realized he was staring at her.

“What? Oh, no, of course not! I concentrate just fine around you!” She lied like a sinner in church. A smirk formed on Sonic’s lips as he turned to grab on to the door handle.

“Hey, buddy, where are you going?” Tom asked, a knowing smile on his face. Sonic turned around and looked at the family in confusion.

“You said I have to go back to my cave.” 

“We did,” Tom looked over to his daughter and gave her a warm grin. “Y/n?” She took her que with great excitement as she rushed over to her crush and grabbed his hand in hers, practically dragging him all the way up to the attic. As they entered the room, Maddie switched on the lights to reveal an (almost) exact replica of Sonic’s cave back in the woods with some personal touches like a racecar bed, some holiday lights, and some pictures that someone had taken on the great escapades of the Blue Blur, Star Chaser, and Donut Lord. Sonic’s jaw dropped open as he raced across the room, taking in the grand gesture with a pure heart.

“Oh my god… you guys did this?” 

“Yep,” Tom and Maddie grinned next to their daughter. “You’re part of our family now, bud.” Sonic felt his heart melt at his words, it was all that he ever wanted. He jumped up onto his bed as the other joined in, Y/n and Sonic in between Tom and Maddie. They all exchanged a big group hug, savoring the sweetness of the moment.

“And Y/n’s room is right down the hall if you need anything,” Maddie chimed in. 

“BUT don’t get any ideas,” Tom quickly burst in, making Y/n snort.

“Dad. Don’t make it weird.” 

“It’s my job to make things weird.” 

♡♡♡  

What’s that? No? Flawsome Bandits ISN’T over yet? Even though Alison already reached the end of the movie plot line? That’s right, you incredible darlings, you! Flawsome Bandits is not ending at just 8 chapters! Now, I’m going to explain a little bit so please take the time to read this message. This next part of the story is going to revolve around what I am imagining a sequel to be like by analyzing the post-credit scenes of the movie and what I know about the very messy Sonic the Hedgehog plotline. That being said, it is NOT a sure thing that my ideas will become the very potential sequel. My main idea for the sequel is for Doctor Robotnik to be making his return to plot revenge against our favorite Bonnie and Clyde hedgehogs, but he can only make it back to the realm where Y/n and Sonic grew up and this will be how I introduce Knuckles into the story. I also plan to include Tails as well, and I’m still debating on whether or not to introduce Amy. Metal Sonic may or may not happen, but please let me know if you have any ideas of people or concepts you would like to see in these next chapters! I would love to have some suggestions as I’m looking for a love rival for Sonic (another character that falls for Y/n) and just to help bring more action to the plotline as a whole. There will also be TONS more fluff between Y/n and Sonic, so don’t worry, the gradual buildup was very necessary to prep you all for what’s coming ;) Needless to say, the next update might come a little later than how often I’ve been updating due to me still trying to figure out where I want to take this story. Like I said, suggestions are very welcome! I’ve been experiencing a little burnout, too, so perhaps taking a break to brainstorm with all of you is a good idea. Stay safe and bless all of you little darlings for sticking with me and supporting me through this flawsome journey. It is far from over yet! ;)

♡ a.a.

[unabashedwriterandreader]

An Orc, A Human and a Wolf Walk Into A Bar

“Mix, I need your help.” The Scottish burr came through the phone.

Great, this was the last thing I needed.  It was one thing to do a favor for friends and family but when you OWED a wolf a favor there was no way out.  I rubbed my eyes and bent over continuing to try to wriggle out of my jeans.

“Mixie!” it was a demand.  I realized I hadn’t responded.

“Here Knox, I’m just waking up.  Where’s the fire?”

“No fire.  Young Russell is in trouble.  He’s too big for me to move, not without a Change ye understand.  Out at a human bar, drinkin’.  Need ye’ to come ‘n talk him off this cliff.”

Well, shit.  “Young Russell” was a five hundred (give or take) year old Orc who was a bakery regular.  At some point he’d developed a fondness for me and would blush every time he placed an order.  I, of course, hadn’t realized it until Knox, one of my closest friends and a dire wolf, had pointed it out.  Russell’s skin was a very pale beige green so a blush was hard to spot.

The favor I owed Knox went back at least five years when I’d first opened the shop.  He’d tangled with a ghoul who had taken up residence in the shops basement and kept anyone from buying the building.  And he’d told me after he’d cleansed himself of ecto-snot the ghoul had blown at him, that I owed him a favor.  Wolves didn’t do favors or make friends easily.  At least not with humans.  I think probably because we’re basically a food group to them.  Somehow Knox had seen past my status as a happy meal and decided I was worth doing a favor for.  And now he was calling it in.

“Tell me where to go Knox.  I need five minutes to get dressed.”  The wolf named a human bar in the central district of the city.  It was a meat market, and not in a wolfs- eat-the-human kinda way.  Well, I wasn’t there to find myself a sleep over so it didn’t matter.  At least I wouldn’t have that favor hanging over my head anymore.

I arrived at the Gilded Goat 30 minutes later, clean jeans and a sweater, hair in a clamp.  Hey, at least I combed it, it was past my bedtime as it was.  The Goat was popular tonight.  A ridiculous name for a disco-esque bar with glittering lights and lots of chrome and pink fuzzy pillows thrown round the place.  A bow to what humans thought of as bacchanalian excess. The name made as little sense as the foaming turquoise drinks that were guzzled by skinny human 20-somethings with too much time spent in Sephora.  

The bouncer, a large orc sporting gold hoop earrings that probably cost more than the bakery made in a month, spotted me and waved me to the front of the line.  

“He’s at the raised bar behind the stage.”  I threaded my way through the dancing’ drunken crowd, pinched once on the rear by what I was sure was a fae and groped from behind briefly by what could only have been a vampire since the hand that tried to glide its way under my sweater was cold as the ever lovin’ grave.  The things I did for my ‘friends’.

Knox was at the bar, leaning toward ‘Young Russell” talking in his ear with a determined expression on his face.  

Knox was big when in human form.  I’d never seen him in fur, but he had to top 6ft 5 and any girl interested would have been intrigued by his broad shoulders and large long fingered hands.  He wasn’t pretty by human standards, his forehead a little too high, his eyebrows in need of some manscaping.  But with the dark chestnut hair that waved around his head, shot here and there with silver and his trimmed van dyke he turned heads.  Always.  

Knox might be big but orcs were bigger than even some of the gargoyles I’d met.  Russell was enormous, probably two feet taller than Knox and had the huge, bulging muscles that I’d only ever seen on a non-human.  The strange thing about Russell was that while he had the heavy fangs and sharp teeth that all orcs were born with, young Russell had pale blue, gentle eyes.  It had occurred to me before that Russell might have an orcs body but he had the soul of a choirboy.  If orcs even had souls, that is.

Knox spotted me and moved back from the bar, giving the human on the closest bar stool a snarl until he bolted, foaming drink left behind.  I took the seat and looked over at Knox who had one eyebrow raised like I was supposed to know what to do.

We’d done this before, he and I, when an imp we both knew had lost her job as a receptionist because she got creative with the phone messages.  One fake phone message to a manager saying his wife was sleeping with the neighboring wolf (She was) and it was all over.  The imp thought it was hilarious until she was pink slipped.  Then she became suicidal over the loss of her job.  I’d spent three hours in the rain on a bridge trying to convince her not to toss herself over the side.  It wouldn’t have done any good anyway, there was troll who would have snatched her before she hit bottom but we didn’t go into that detail.  I’m not sure when I became Knox’s choice as a non-human’s answer to therapy but lately that seemed to be how we rolled.

“GIve me ‘nother”  Russell grunted at the barman who literally scurried away to bring another...cosmopolitan?  The big orc was drinking a bright pink cosmo in a martini glass with lights twinkling in the stem.  Wow.  I wouldn’t have taken Russell for a girl drink kind of orc.

“Laddie, you’ve had enough.”  The Scottish burr was back and I could tell by the tension in Knox’s voice that his temper was fraying.

The orc growled.

“Hey there Russell.”  I tapped him on his elbow, which was as high as I could reach.  

The green head swiveled toward me and the big pale eyes blinked twice.  

“Mitzi? My sweet friend”  Russell grabbed me with one big arm and drug me to his chest.  I was gasping a little, his hold was not light then I realized that Russell was sobbing.

I managed to pop my head out from under his grip, gasp for breath and squeak out “Russell, honey...a little air.”  Pushing against his chest, I gained an inch of space. I looked up to see giant tears rolling down Russell’s square chin.  “Hey, buddy, what is it?  It’s ok, I’m here.  You can tell me.”  I began to stroke and pat his arm, hoping he’d turn loose before I broke a rib.

“Thank you Mitzi.  My only friend.”  He gave a long drawn out sniff and I grabbed a cocktail napkin.  If whatever that was dripped down, I’d be drenched.  Russell held the napkin under his nose, thank the gods.

Knox stepped back but waved the barman away when he approached tentatively with another pink girly drink for Russell.

“She refused the chain.” Russell finally said, dragging in choked breath.

“She...who honey?  Who refused the chain?”  This was bad. Very bad indeed. My basic understanding of orc mating rituals told me that for lack of a better term, when one got engaged to an orc prior to official mating, it involved not many clothes, and a lengthy period of time spent chained to the beloved fiance with something that looked like it could it could hold the anchor for a luxury liner.  You had to be in it to win it to deal with that nonsense.

“Circe”

“You mean Shirley?  The witch?”

“She prefers Circe”  this was accompanied by another long sniff.

“Oh Russell.  I’m so sorry.”  The patting continued.

“She’s the first one I’ve ever asked.  Ever.”  This was momentous for a young orc.  Everyone had to get there heart broken at some point, at least that was my theory.  But this guy had just had his dished up on a platter and handed back to him.  Orcs were traditionalists.  Female orcs were rare on the ground.  As far as I knew Russell had never even met a female orc, other than his own mother.   And the poor guy had tried to hook up with a witch.

“She doesn’t deserve your chain Russell.  You know that?  Any witch, or orc or female would be proud to be your one and only!”  I made the pronouncement firmly, hoping I wouldn’t fall into the human in question category.

“Really?”  Russell turned his pale eyes back to me, a glimmer of hope showing.

“Really.  ‘Cmon, let’s get out of this meat locker and go get a pizza.  I’m starving and Knox and I will be your date.  I’ll tell you about the time Shirley signed up for the jello wrestling at the Orc bar.  It cleared the house.”

[starboyholland]

Therapy - Harry Holland One Shot

Requested: No

Rating: PG-13 for idk cursing, drinking, that kinda stuff idk this isn't too rough :)

Summary: You and Harry have been rivals for as long as you can both remember. Last week, the two of you fucked and you can’t get him out of your head. Now, the two of you are at the same, crazy party, and you just can’t seem to avoid each other. (Inspired by ‘Therapy’ by Khalid).

A/N: ‘Y/L/N’ stands for ‘your last name’ just for clarification. 

Happy reading!

“Something that you’re doing has me falling all the way”

Harry had been staring at you all night. He’d been staring at you since seventh fucking grade, actually. His staring had been what initiated your feud. He had been caught off guard by the pretty, smart, witty girl who sat three seats down from him in his seventh grade English class with the droning teacher. One day you’d caught him looking at you for what had felt like the billionth time, so you had leaned forward so the two of your eyes locked, unobstructed by the people sitting in desks between you. “Maybe you should take a picture, it would last a while longer,” you had questioned, the words had flown straight from your lips and bitten into him, he had recoiled as if he had been punched. The only way he could think to respond was more violently than he’d intended. 

“Of you? In your dreams, YLN.”

He had spat the words with a tone much more harsh than the one you’d employed and he still remembered how you’d frowned slightly before making sure the teacher wasn't paying attention before spitting out the words, “then fuck off, Holland.” Ever since, the two of you had a rivalry the entire school knew about, that neither of you made any effort to hide. 

But then last week had happened. Last week with a club meeting that had ended up in a way so unexpected that you could barely convince yourself it had happened. But you knew it had, of course, as after it’d happened, Harry had grown only colder towards you, his comments carrying more of a sting than usual. You couldn’t tell if you were just extra sensitive, or if something had changed, or both. 

But now, it had been exactly a week, and you were both at the school football game. Both of you there to photograph the student section and the game. You and Harry had shared your usual un-pleasantries as you worked, both of you in the school photography club, and the best photographers for the yearbook staff. Harry had bumped into you as you were in the middle of taking a photo and you reprimanded him sharply for blurring the picture you had been so excited to take. 

“God, Holland, there’s an entire stadium around here and you decided to walk right where I am?” you’d rolled your eyes and brought up the blurred photograph on your camera screen, doing your best not to show your surprise that the picture actually looked good, as though it had been blurred on purpose. 

“Get a grip, YLN, like I would want to get any closer to you than I have to,” he had scoffed. “I probably made the picture, better, anyhow, y’should be thanking me,” he had then turned and walked away, leaving you alone beneath the bright lights of the field to take your pictures. 

You tried to convince yourself that you didn't miss the company. You tried even harder to convince yourself that you even remembered why you and Harry hated each other so much. 

Your school team won the game, the student section had gone ballistic and shortly after, everyone had piled into cars and headed to a party to celebrate your team’s win. Your friends had convinced you to go, and before you knew it, you found yourself with a red plastic cup in your hands and your bones shaking from the volume of the music that pounded like a pulse in the house. 

You were a light-weight, you knew that from the first sip you’d taken that night, not used to the burn and buzz of the alcohol everyone else around you seemed to be tolerating so well. You were so drunk that you saw two Harry’s instead of one staring t you from the other side of the dim room.

“I’m tripping off your love and all the other drugs we’re taking”

At this point, you had injested just the right amount of Jello-shots to make your away across the crowded basement, rolling up your sweater sleeves and walking right up to harry, so close that your chests nearly touched. His friends noticed you immediately and didn't wait to begin giving the two of you some space. Harry smirked at you, crossing his arms, smirking at you. You could tell your face was flushed slightly, partially from the alcohol and partially from the heat of being in a crowded room in your thick sweater 

You didn’t really process the image before you, you didn’t notice that Harry’s eyes were red, or that he slightly swayed on his feet unintentionally.

“I don't mean to come off aggressive”

“Why do ya keep starin’ at me, Holland? Hm?” you inquired, poking your finger into his chest in an accusatory fashion. He said nothing, only continued to smirk. “You’ve been mean t’ me all week,” The alcohol that had settled deep in your veins now pushed you on, causing you to step even closer, Harry didn’t back away in the slightest and now your chests were touching, not a measurable space between the two of you.  

“Have’nt been this close since they made us dance for gym in eight grade,” Harry teased. “Sure you savored that moment,” you quipped back. 

“Why d’ya hate, me, Holland?” you questioned more quietly now, your mood swinging wildly with the alcohol in your veins. Harry’s smirk faltered as you continued. “’S there somethin’ wrong with me? Why are ya always starin’?” now you were pushing slightly on his chest with both hands. 

“You fuckin’ had sex with me, like, a week ago, and you’re actin’ like it never happened, was it that bad? Do you despise me, or somethin’? What did I do-” Your voice was hushed but growing louder with emotion.

Before you could continue, Harry’s hands rested on your forearms, holding you steady and silencing you at the same time. You wished that you could self-regulate your actions, but at the moment you didn’t mind because Harry’s touch was a nice kind of warm. 

“No, ‘f course there’s nothin’ wrong with ya, YN, you’re the most goddamn perfect person I know,” he admitted quietly, his hands dropping to his sides before he made the bold decision to grab one of your hands in his own. “Let’s go out there,” he said, weakly pointing towards the door that led to a patio. His hands were clammy and slightly shaky in your own, you hadn’t stopped to consider that he was nervous. You hadn’t thought until now that Harry was just as gone as you were, his eyes were pink and so were his cheeks.

The two of you found your way to the empty patio that sat above the large backyard of the house, lots of your classmates mingling around below where you sat, walking around the lawn on legs that made them look as stable as new-born deer. 

Harry found a chair around an empty patio table and you sat in a chair across from him, trying to get comfortable as you felt yourself growing more and more sober, the buzz you’d felt earlier beginning to ebb away now that you’d realized what you had done. You’d just made it very clear that you cared more than you’d previously let on to Harry, just as your friends had told you to do for years now. You’d always told them you never would, but you supposed that was now a lie.

“I’m just here to pass off the message”

 “So,” Harry began, trying to think of what he wanted to say and how he could possibly say it sounding more put together than he really was. 

“So,” you repeated quietly, playing with the sleeves of your sweater, thankful for the light breeze that whispered throughout the backyard, the music in the house seeming more like background noise now through the closed patio doors. 

“Why is it so hard to talk to you when I’ve seen you naked- I’ve fucked you, for fucks sake, and I can’t even talk to you,” Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration, and leaning heavily back in his chair. His feet slid forward just enough to tap against yours at the movement and you winced as though the slight contact could somehow do you harm. 

Harry cringed internally at the fact that the unexpected touch made you recoil so obviously. “I don’t hate you,” he spoke out loud, looking up from his hands that were sat in his lap, his fingers tangling and untangling themselves. 

You nodded. “I don’t hate you either, don't even know why we have this whole rivalry thing goin’ on, if I'm honest,” you spoke, a quiet laugh slipping past your lips as you looked up to meet Harry’s eyes. 

He wished he could express how wild you drove him. Not wild in a way that made him want to beat you at everything the two of you competed at, not the kind of wild that had the two of you shooting comebacks at each other constantly. 

No, something about you- everything about you, drove him the kind of wild that made him search up your social media pages and tiptoe around the ‘like’ buttons to fawn over you. The kind of wild that made him want to bring you up at every possible moment, the kind of wild that made his friends sick of hearing about what you were up to. Everyone assumed that it was the rivalry, that his actions were driven by spite but they were wrong, his actions involving you were, and always had, (even since that day in seventh grade) been driven by his feelings for you. Harry Holland had a crush on you. He had since he met you in middle school and some- if not most days, he was convinced he always would.

So when you looked up at him with those pretty doe eyes, and your smile that made him think of stars. Your mannerisms that had made him look up your compatibility according to astrology websites more than he would ever admit. 

It had been worse since the two of you had found yourselves kissing in a back hallway after photography club, with nobody around to see. That had ended up with you on top of him in the back seat of his car in what he was sure was the best moment of his life. The two of you had dressed and acted as though nothing had happened. He couldn't get your face, your touch, your taste from his head. He couldn’t stop thinking of how your voice had sounded calling his name as your head was thrown back in his car. 

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” was all he said.

“Then it’s probably good that we’re talking,” you replied with a small smile.

“I need your therapy”

Harry nodded, he had never needed to talk to somebody so bad in his life, he wondered if this was what having a shrink was like. Probably not, he decided quickly.

“I think I have a crush on you.” You blurted out, you clapped your hand over your mouth for a second before dropping it helplessly at your side, shutting your eyes in disbelief that your self control had dwindled down so much that you had allowed yourself to become so vulnerable.

Harry, on the other hand, had never felt so relieved, so light, so elated in his life. He felt like the sparks that shot out of a dying star, he felt like the rays of sun that warmed the earth, like a firework, he felt like the human embodiment of a lightbulb, a hot air balloon, a candle, a lightning bug, a fireplace,the first rainbow. Harry felt like love poetry and the like the music that pounded in the house. He couldn’t hold back the smile that spread from one side of his face to the other. 

“Great, now you’re never goin’ t’ let that one go, might as well start to transfer out of our school now, you’ll probably spread that around like wildfire-” You sighed, pulling one of your legs close to your chest. Harry had never shook his head faster in his life. 

“I hope I made the impression that I was always interested, all the feelings I kept in”

“No, listen, I like you too, have for like, forever,”

“couldn’t have liked me for forever, Holland, only ‘ve known ya since year seven,” you quipped, wishing you could suck the words back into your mouth. “Sorry,” you spoke quickly. “old habits die hard, I guess,” you spoke quietly, kicking yourself internally for ruining the mood. Harry laughed a little bit, his eyes crinkling. 

“No, ‘s okay, I think you’re funny, ‘s been hard not to laugh at the funny things you say all this time,” he admitted slightly sheepishly. You couldn’t hide your disbelief. “Really?” You inquired, your brows furrowing. Harry nodded his head to indicate ‘yes’.

“said I liked ya, didn’t I?” He grinned, his lips falling slightly as he continued to talk. “I’m sorry, I know I’ve been a real ass t’ you, especially this week. I tried to tell you one time, several times actually, but I could never get it out. Been tryin’ since like, fucking year seven,” He laughed at himself and you tried to process what he told you, taking the adorable sentiment to heart and letting it warm you from the inside out for a moment before returning sharply to the reality of the situation.

“So what should we do? Whatever you want to”

“So what do we do with this? Like, where do we go from here?” You questioned, finally giving voice to your uncertainty. Harry shrugged. Without thinking, you ascended from your seat, rarely letting your eyes leave Harry’s. 

You realized, now that you allowed yourself to freely think about Harry, that after the last 5 years of constantly competing, the two of you had learned quite a bit about each other. You knew the face he made when your jokes were no longer funny and he could no longer continue banter, you knew the music and movies and books and classes he liked, you’d learned what he wanted to do for a living nd what his family was like, you realized that you and Harry were more well-acquainted than anyone, even the two of you, would give yourselves credit for. 

You walked around the table and within a few quick steps you were upon him again, the two of you connecting as though you had been lovers for years, and not a few days. 

You had managed to get one leg on either side of his lap, similar to how the two of you had been in his car, but Harry broke from the kiss long enough to slow you down. “Wait, wait, don’t want t’ have you like this, want to be able to remember every moment in the morning, don't want to take advantage of ya, as bad as I want ya right now, believe me I do,” He spoke quickly, pressing kisses to the side of your face lightly and your neck in between his words. You leaned forward into him, your tiredness catching up to you unexpectedly. The shots you’d taken earlier working against whatever energy you had left. 

“I’m not the type for relationships, it’s overrated”

“Are we just going to keep doing this? Just keep this, whatever it is a secret, and not put any labels on it?” You asked, trying to keep your expectations as low as possible to avoid getting hurt tonight by the boy who had come to mean so much to you. You’d heard him say in passing before more than once that he didn't see himself as “a relationship kind of guy.” That was part of what made you leave his car so quickly after you’d finished, pulling your clothes back on and pulling your hair up as quickly as you could, grabbing your backpack from his floor-mats and trying to look normal walking away on slightly shaky legs, forcing yourself not to look back. 

“We could still be lovers, that’s all I’m saying”

“Do you want more?” He asked, his hand running encouragingly up and down your spine, the fabric of your sweater making him feel even more at home with you pressed close to him. 

“I just know you’ve said you aren’t a relationship kind of guy, so we could still be like, lovers, or something-” your words came out slow but quickly sped up as your nerves increased, worried about saying the wrong combination of words that could send Harry flying away from any form of commitment that was too much in his eyes.

“Whoa, whoa, love, I’m not goin’ anywhere, don’t worry,” he said, and you could hear the slight smile in his voice. You nodded slightly, your face against his chest. 

“What do you want?” You questioned, letting on of your hands play with his hair, he hummed quietly at your touch. “I want you,” he finally replied and this made you perk your head up and change your position slightly so the two of you were face to face again. “Meaning what?” You asked, your noses almost touching. 

“Meaning,” he paused for a second to think. “I would be a relationship kind of guy with the right person, and I like you, and tell me if I’m wrong, but I think you might like me a bit,” his voice sincere, only carrying the familiar teasing tome towards the end.

“ You’re not wrong,” you assured with a smile, resting your forehead against his lightly, Harry’s hands around your waist. 

“Well, YN,” His lips turning up into a smile. “Think that we’re ready to call a truce?”

[artificialqueens]

Make America Gay Again (Shalaska) - Chapter 2 - Grey

A/N: Thank you for the kind messages on the last chapter! I really appreciated them. 

An ear splitting ring shot through the air. Sharon covered her ears as she watched Michelle pick up the phone installed in the bus. She tried to shake the nightmare she had been having, all that glass and wood collapsing around her as Alaska, covered in blood, continued to throw grenades into her grave, laughing.

This was worse than being hungover. This was far, far worse. Her head pounded, shoulders screaming with pain. Her legs were basically jello they were so tired, lungs aching for a breath, her ribs bruised.

She slowly, painfully changed into boy clothes and finally washed her face with some hand soap and water from a bottle.

It was still morning, the thin light trickled through the slats in the windows. She couldn’t have gotten more than an hour or two of sleep. Her mouth tasted sour, and when she brushed her teeth she spat out blood.

Michelle stayed on the phone for hours, her serious face on, talking to headquarters. Sharon wasted the morning, scared to look at Alaska and nervous to be around Willam after their tift.

The bus had parked in a deserted county an hour north of Austin, waiting for instructions on the next mission.

Eventually, Sharon found herself opening the emergency exit in the roof of the bus, just above the highest stacked level of bunkbeds.

It was February, early springtime in Texas, the earth barely shaking the dregs of winter. Springtime had been coming earlier than ever after Trump made the executive decision to end all attempts at preventing global warming.

She pulled her aching limbs onto the metal roof, relishing in the heat on her sore muscles. She laid out, pretended she was suntanning at the beach. She could practically hear the distant crash of waves, the call of seagulls, Alaska’s ecstatic laugh at her side. They used to go to Lake Erie together every summer, where Alaska had grown up. She’d tell Sharon stories of being a kid, riding her bike through those same roads, getting ice cream at that now-closed convenience store when she got chore money from her mom.

Sharon could recall their drive up the lake the last  summer they were together. Trump had just been declared as the Republican nominee the night before. Alaska had held Sharon’s hand the entire car ride up, silent, rubbing her long thumb along Sharon’s knuckles. The quietest act of rebellion.

Sharon was yanked harshly out of the memory as Phi Phi climbed through the hatch and laid down next to her on the roof.

They were quiet for a few moments. Tensions between them had been high after their season of Drag Race, but it was hard for Sharon not to come to like Phi Phi. She was so determined and headstrong, so brash and unafraid. So unbelievably extra. It had taken a while, but eventually they realized the reason they had feuded so much was because they were so alike.

“It’s so nice up here” Phi eventually said, looking up at the wide desert sky. Not a cloud in sight, the sun was steadily climbing higher and higher as the time spun closer to noon.

Sharon “humphed” in agreement.

“Not like the mess in the bus.” She said. Another long pause rocked between them. “Alaska’s gonna be okay. She climbed far enough away from the explosion that most of her injuries were just from the fall from the crane.”

Sharon nodded slightly, her tangled hair swaying slightly in the weak breeze.

“Are you mad at me for letting her do it?”

“Phi Phi, I love ya girl, but if you’re looking for a fight now is not the time.”

Phi scooted herself closer to Sharon, turning her head to look at her. “You can’t make enemies out of all of us. Willam alone could kick your ass.”

Sharon turned to look at meet the other’s eyes, glaring. I could totally kick Willam’s ass. She thought annoyed, before seeing the glint in Phi’s eyes, the half smile on her tan face.

The two locked eyes for a moment before Sharon snorted out a laugh, rolling her eyes. “Okay, fine, I’m not mad at you. I just don’t know how all of you could be so irresponsible.”

Phi rolled her eyes. “Sharon, you’re being ridiculous. If you were the one to throw the explosives you’d do it in a heartbeat. And what the fuck are you doing now? Yelling at Willam for playing a small role in maybe slightly injuring Alaska, who you haven’t even talked to since we got back?”

Sharon bit her lip slightly. They had deflated since juviderm had become inaccessible. They made her feel so young, so untouched. It brought her back to being a kid, when she felt afraid all the time. Of the bullies, of herself, of all the uncertainty she had housed in her skinny frame.

She was absolutely terrified to talk to Alaska, for a thousand reasons she didn’t have words for. Alaska seemed like this distant concept, this idea that she had missed so fucking dearly for the past year. She couldn’t be real, that perfect person couldn’t actually exist. Her bony elbows and kind eyes and soft lips were some sort of fever dream, and holding them so close to her body last night as she ran back to the base was frighteningly real.

It felt like standing on one foot, reaching out into the mist, hoping someone would steady you. And Sharon was too afraid to see if Alaska was still standing in all that fog.

“Do you miss Mikhael?” She asked finally.

“He… he got deported, last May.” her voice shook, turning her eyes away. “They cut overseas mail, so I haven’t spoken to him since. I don’t even know where he is. I don’t even know if he’s alive.”

“I’m so sorry.” Sharon said, touching Phi’s shoulder gently. “I didn’t know.”

“You know, all those Trump supporters? How can they still believe in him? How has any part of this country become greater than it was before?”

Sharon sat up, legs folded crookedly under her malnourished body. “They’re evil fucking people. And if they’re not, they’re terribly misguided.”

Phi Phi wiped away a stray tear, rising into a seated position.

“I really am sorry about Mikhael.”

That fire returned to Phi Phi’s eyes. “Don’t let them take Alaska away from you Sharon.”

“We’re not… we aren’t… that’s over.” Sharon struggled out. “We can’t focus on that right now. She doesn’t love me anymore.”

As that sentence left her lips, she was hit with the idea that it might be true. That it probably was true. It had been a year, after all, since Sharon had refused to join Alaska and their friend Jeremy on the last plane out to California. A year is a long time in a war. Sharon had never considered the possibility that Alaska might have moved on. It was too painful.

Phi Phi was looking at Sharon like you’d look at a lost dog, a mix of pity and something else playing along her lips. A soft noise came from behind and they both turned to see Courtney, half out of the hatch, resting her elbows on the top of the bus with a crooked smile on her face. Her pink hair was tousled around her shoulders, mixing with the freckles dotted along her tan skin.

“You don’t just un-love someone.” Courtney said in her Australian know-it-all way. But her words had a soft certainty to them that drew Sharon in. “Sure, the other emotions, the new experiences might pile on top, might stifle the love. But it’s always there. You can’t run away from it all Sharon. Once you slip into that intimacy with another person, you’re linked forever. You already knew that.”

Courtney’s smile grew at the incredulous looks on the other two’s faces. “Come on back into the bus, make up with Willam. We’re going to eat soon.”

+

They ate lunch around the small coffee table that rested in the middle of the sitting area of the bus. Next to it was the long couch Alaska was recovering on, bookended by the two small armchairs that smelled like mold. Lunch consisted of cold beans, granola, and limp lettuce, with chicken for the non-vegetarians.

Sharon, cross legged across from Alaska, struggled to maintain eye contact with her mash of food. She didn’t know if she was embarrassed, guilty, or-god forbid-feeling things.

Willam plopped down next to her. “So ya gonna say sorry?” she spouted through a mouth full of chicken.

“I didn’t think you were the kind of person who needed an apology” Sharon asserted, looking up from her food.

“However-” she cut off Willam as soon as she opened her mouth. She didn’t need one of Willam’s monologues right now. “-I am. Sorry, that is. You did the right thing, the plan or whatever. I just got scared.” she quieted at the last sentence, stealing a quick glance at Alaska, who had miraculously been able to sit up for her meal.

“Ha! Pussy.” Willam laughed, but it wasn’t mean. Somehow all the shit that spurred out of Willam’s mouth never seemed to be mean. Sharon joined in laughing. She was just glad to be back on Willam’s good side.

Trixie slunk in from the bunk area, finally awake. “Mornin’ sleepyhead.” Willam chidded.

“How are you Alaska?” Trixie asked, her Wisconsin accent stronger with exhaustion. She was in one of her pink nightgowns, but wig and makeup-less.

Alaska moved to sit up a little more, Michelle hovering around her cautiously. Not having her real daughters to fret over had made Michelle more protective than ever.

“I’ll be fine” she drawled. And despite the damage she had sustained - it looked like she would be. Her arm was still fractured and her head wound would sporadically start bleeding sometimes, but the dizziness and confusion was fading.

“I’d rather be in your shoes than have to have another fucking night on guard with Michelle” Trixie rolled her eyes.

“You sure missed some drama” Raja joined, perched on the arm of one of the chairs. “Sharon nearly had a conniption, and Willam was passed out for a good minute or two after the shit went down.”

“You guys get all the fun” Trixie pouted jokingly.

“You were on guard because you were the only one who hasn’t been involved in any revolutionary activities before.” Alaska explained, always the rational one.

“So I hope fucking Katya in Australia for the past year was worth it.” Willam yelled, Trixie screeching and smacking him.

“For the record it was, you cunt” she stuck her tongue out as the noise died down.

“Heard she’s a total slopabottomus now.” Willam said factually, finishing his food and slinging an arm around Courtney.

“Do you have a fucking radar for when tops turn to bottoms?” Sharon asked incredulously, having confirmed Katya’s new sexual position by the redness spreading across Trixie’s cheeks.  

“A bell goes off and a picture of the fallen top flashes in her mind, like the fucking hunger games.” Alaska replied, laughing. She made eye contact with Sharon for a second, still giggling. Sharon could feel her heart swell with pride. Making Alaska laugh was one of the most fantastically happy things a person could do with their life.

“Even halfway across the world” Sharon noted.

“There’s probably hot gay aliens Willam can sense bottoming right now.” Alaska replied, still laughing.

Trixie interrupted the two, “All aliens are gay and that’s a fact.”

“The dead dad from Contact wasn’t gay” Courtney chimed in.

“He wasn’t an alien, bitch he was just dead.” Raja said through a mouthful of food, completely drowned out by Trixie screaming that someone had brought up Contact.

Sharon, half listening to the yelling match about whether the dad from Contact turned into an alien when he died, watched Alaska’s pained face as she tug on Michelle’s arm and whisper something to her. Michelle guided her carefully off the couch and into the back room, as the oblivious queens starting animatedly discussing whether Matthew McConaughey was gay too (“He has to be, anyone who agrees to wear that priest outfit for an entire movie has gotta be on the Kinsey scale.)

Sharon waited a second before quietly stepping around the scattered queens towards the bunks. She hesitated outside the curtain, trying to make out the near-silent whispers of Alaska to predetermine how welcome her presence would be.

Michelle didn’t looked surprised to see Sharon as she shuffled awkwardly through the curtain.

“Sweetheart, I have to go talk to Shawn. Could you sit with Alaska for a while? She’s in some pain.”

Sharon sunk into a crouch next to the lowest bunk bed. Alaska had curled into it, carefully moving around her bandaged left arm, the ulna of which she had snapped.

She was still smiling a little, lips also slightly smaller now that plumpers weren’t readily available for refill.

Alaska looked so much younger, with her short hair and fuller eyebrows. But the war had aged everyone’s eyes. Sharon could remember how tired Alaska looked those first few days Trump was in office. Every racist, sexist, or homophobic executive order that got sent out was like a personal stab at Alaska’s giant heart. A heart that by now could probably barely fit in her absolutely emaciated chest. If Alaska was skinny before, she was verging on disappearance, tucked into the bunk.

It took all the restraint left in Sharon not to run her finger along the others cheekbone. Just to test and see that she was still as warm as she remembered. Still as soft. Still smelled like earth and sweetness.

“I’m sorry.” Alaska broke the quietness.

Sharon almost laughed, it seemed so ridiculous to her that Alaska was apologizing.

“We shouldn’t have deviated from the plan without letting everyone know. We didn’t account for you and Raja hearing the first explosion, or for Willam’s yell when it went off too close to her. Raja told me how much that scared you both.”

Sharon stayed quiet. She didn’t know how to reply without being overwhelmed in emotion.

“It was irresponsible and it could have gotten you hurt.”

Hearing Alaska in this executive position was definitely strange. Everyone knew she was the best person to lead the operation-level headed, calm, intelligent beyond belief, able to make difficult decisions-that’s why she had unspokenly been accepted as such. But Sharon still saw that fierce tranimal in the PIttsburgh clubs, breaking the rules and laughing about it. Watching her become this grownup…

“And I just wanted to apologize.”

“Alaska…” Sharon could feel her eyes welling up, meeting the wide blue specs of her former boyfriend, someone she never thought she’d see again…

The only words she could choke out, “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

They both stayed silent for a moment, making and breaking eye contact, flitting in and out of the past.

Sharon finally broke the silence. “Do you remember how we used to go up to Lake Erie over the summer?”

“Yeah and you’d bitch and moan about getting too tan and how your fans would be upset if you showed up anything other than ghost white.” Alaska laughed.

“That’s not… really?” Alaska kept laughing at Sharon’s incredulous confusion.

“Yes, and you wouldn’t go in the water because it was too cold.” Alaska kept laughing breathlessly.

“Do you… do you remember any good things?” Sharon took a shallow breath, distraught thinking that she had misremembered it all.

Alaska stretched out her arm, touching Sharon’s cheek gently with cold hands. “Of course.” She said quietly. “Of course.

“We’d sleep in my childhood room because we couldn’t afford to rent a beach house, and you whispered into my pillow, like it was a telephone to the past, that baby Justin shouldn’t worry so much about fitting in, because one day I’d find you and I’d be happy. And my mom would make us pancakes every morning, and you’d eat them even though you hate pancakes, just to make my mom happy. And you’d kiss me every time you saw a seagull and said it was for good luck, even though we both knew you made that up. And one summer you made me laugh so hard I peed myself in that candy shop, and I can’t even remember what the joke was about.”

Alaska blue eyes gazed into Sharon’s, inches away. Her slow voice drawled over the words preciously, giggling intermittently. Her hand still rested on Sharon’s cheek. The world had faded into that fog, leaving the only the two queens.

“Don’t you miss all that?” Sharon asked, barely audible.

“I can’t afford to think about that any more.” Alaska said, her lips only slightly parting around the weight of the sentence.

“I can’t afford to stop thinking about it.” Sharon said, surprised at her honesty.

The sentence hung heavy in the air. It was true, Sharon thought. The thought of reaching Alaska again was the only thing that had kept her going all those months.

Alaska pursed her lips softly, curling her hand off Sharon’s face and back into the bed sheets.

After moments of silence, Sharon broke eye contact, yawning deeply.

“You’re tired.” Alaska chewed her bottom lip before opening her arms, pushing back into the depths of the bunk. “I know the couch isn’t very comfortable. You can sleep here if you want.”

Sharon, slightly shocked, moved from her crouching position into the small bunk and Alaska’s arms, careful of the broken one. Alaska’s long arms tentatively crept around her waist. Sharon gripped at the other’s hands, overwhelmed that after day upon week upon month of imagining Alaska’s body next to hers, it was finally there.

Her hands were shockingly cold, but she still somehow smelled the same.

Sharon felt the other’s forehead nudge against the back of her neck, pressing her nose into Sharon’s spine. Alaska’s voice softly whispered into Sharon’s messy hair,

“The world doesn’t stop for two lovers gone wrong.”

Sharon laid silently for a moment, absorbing the thought. “Do you think we can try to get it right again?” Sharon replied quietly, but Alaska had already fallen asleep.

[lauren-ashley999]

Things to look forward to

I have been stressing out for about 2 weeks because I'm taking one of the toughest classes I've ever had. There are only 3 exams but if you fail one you fail the entire class regardless of how you did on the homework, quizzes and other exams. Tonight was the first exam, after spending 6 hours cursing and having an ongoing anxiety attack while studying for it, I got a 92. I cannot explain the adrenaline rush of seeing that grade load. It was like finally getting oxygen after not being able to breathe for a long time. But that's college. Onto less stressful topics -- August 5th is Shannon's 30th birthday and last year I decided that I would try to do one big fantastic thing for each person in my life as I am able to do it. I bought my sister tickets to see Ed Sheeran (which is holy shit expensive) as a birthday gift. For Shannon I have been planning my surprise for 3 months - 30 is a big milestone. She isn't following me on this Tumblr so I'm going to spill the beans here (I'm so excited). My idea was to do 30 gifts + 1 for good luck, encompassed in a perfect day. So here is the itinerary (yes I created an itinerary): 10AM: arrive to her house with coffee & bagels for breakfast. Present her with her first gifts-- a T-shirt with "1987: 30 years of being awesome" for her to wear through out the rest of the day until later that night. The idea is everyone involved in her day will sign the back with a good wishes message. 10:30AM: 2nd gift - a $100 gift card and trip to Torrid for her to pick out a birthday outfit she will change into later in the day 11:15AM: gel manicure & pedicure at a salon, yes I booked the appointment over a week ago 11:45AM: 100 pop culture stickers (because she has a bunch of stuff she can decorate them with) 12:15PM: a funko Sally (NBC) keychain (she just got a new car and I figured it'd be cute) 12:45PM: $50 Sephora gift card & makeup appointment 1:15PM: jack & Sally car decal (see the 12:15 detail) 1:45PM: an Alice in Wonderland POP figure of Alice (it's her favorite movie) 2:15PM: a hair appointment to get her hair styled for the day (I already have an appointment for her on the 30th of this month to get her hair dyed the way she wants so its all ready for her birthday) 2:45PM: an assortment of bath bombs (because every girl should be able to relax and pamper herself) 3:15PM: Alice in Wonderland wall art for her room or porch (again it's her favorite movie) 3:45PM: a promise friendship ring with 3 hearts from me, Pierre & Tony 4:15PM: some trees 4:45PM: a new glass piece from Wonderland 5:15PM: the deposit & tattoo appointment consultation with a $200 gift card towards her Alice in Wonderland tattoo 5:45PM: A bottle of her favorite wine 6:15PM: A special funny wine glass for our girls nights 6:45PM: A pack of cigarettes for the rest of the night 7:15PM: 3 gifts from Pierre 7:45PM: a $100 gift card, birthday shout-out, and picture taken at a fancy restaurant with reservations already made for dinner & dessert with her bf 8:15PM: a new journal for Q&A for 5 years (she loves writing) 8:45PM: a $20 gift card for coffee because she's going to need it 9:15PM: Slytherin PJ pants 9:45PM: a samcro t shirt (babes of anarchy is more like it) 10:15PM: a surprise party with jello shots & wonderland themed desserts 10:45PM: a NBC coffee mug 11:15PM: a stages of the moon watch (because I stalked her Tumblr and know she's wants it) 11:45PM: me running to a 24 hour Walgreens to start getting all the pictures developed as I bought disposable cameras for everyone involved to capture the day 12AM: a scrapbook for all the photos were going to develop with emoji stickers for her to caption the photos with I already told her about the Halsey tickets I bought us for October so cats out of the bag on that one :3 Hopefully she enjoys the day as much as I enjoyed planning each detail. Not every gift is something big and exciting but each is a small detail of our friendship. She's one of the oldest friends I have. We met in 2003 and we've definitely had our falling outs but somehow weve always worked it out. We may drive each other crazy because of our personality differences but I have to give her credit where it's due. She has never done anything spiteful against me even in the midst of our fights. She has respected any time I created distance. She has only wished good things upon me and so I wanted to give her a day to remember. I firmly believe everyone should have at least one perfect day a year. Of course I hope for more than one, but when I'm capable of creating one for a person so deserving I will do my best to deliver it. Well time for bed. Most of these gifts finally came in the mail this week & because that test is over I finally had some time to write about this. So excited to see everything come to life in a little over 2 weeks!