#for so long the loading screen kept warning me of Greg

[simbico]

Afterwards, nearly everyone had changed into more comfortable clothing and headed to the afterparty at the fair.

Fern could feel a building connection between her and Jayden the more time they were getting to spend together.

And I had my FIRST Greg sighting!! As he angrily ran away from the fair as soon as all the teens took over. He wasn’t having any of it. 😆

[wiypt-writes]

Riding High

Ch11: I’m Thankful for Chicken Nuggets

Chapter Summary: It’s Thanksgiving and Mary’s eating chicken nuggets.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (NSFW, no under 18s thanks!)

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Yeah yeah I know it’s the wrong time of year but hell, we’re all on lock down so the days and months don’t actually exist anyway at the moment… The Boat Company used here IS an actual company in South Pas, but I got no idea who runs it so this is completely made up- roll with me here.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 10

 “Good morning, Handsom.” Fliss smiled as she held her phone between her shoulder and her ear as she continued to fork up the bedding in the stable.

“Morning sweetheart.” His soft voice hit her ear.

“Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Back at ya.” He chuckled softly “You at the yard?” “Yeah, been here a few hours now.”

“Do you need a hand with anything or…” “That’s really sweet but there’s not much left to do.” she replied, honestly “They’re all out for the day and are staying there until tomorrow morning so I’ve just a couple of stables and then some paper work to sort out before I pop back this evening to do a check.” “Ok so, once you’re done for the morning you’re free for a while?” “Yeah, why?”

“Mary had an idea.” “I did not!” Fliss heard the seven year old scoff  “It was your…” “Ok, WE had an idea,” Frank conceded and there was some scuffling and Fliss could imagine he was holding Mary at arm’s length as she made a grab for the phone, “that maybe you might wanna come join us for dinner if you have time.”

“You mean your Thanksgiving dinner of chicken nuggets?” Fliss grinned “How could I turn that down?”

“Cool, just head over when you’re done.” “I might need to head home and shower.” She looked down at herself. “I’m filthy and probably don’t smell great either to be honest.” “You can change here if you want.”

Fliss paused, she had a spare change of clothes in her car. Well, a pair of sweats and a different polo shirt. She normally kept them there just in case of a downpour.

“Erm, sure, if you don’t mind…” “No of course not.”

“Alright, then, I’ll see you in about two hours or so?” Fliss smiled.

“Great.” Frank replied “See you soon.” ******

Fliss didn’t bother knocking. She opened the door to the apartment and was immediately barrelled into by a flurry of blonde hair.

“Hey!” she chuckled, dropping her bag. “Wanna let me get inside first Stack?”

Mary stepped back and Fliss straightened up and smiled as Frank walked into the kitchen.

“Hey, Beautiful.” he smiled, dropping a kiss to her lips. Mary sidled off into the main room, a smirk on her face.

“I stink.” Fliss warned “I mucked out twelve stables today.”

“Yeah, you’ve smelt better!” Frank laughed as she snorted. “You know where the bathroom is. Fresh towels in there. You need anything out of this or…” He gestured to her bag, as he went to pick it up.

“It’s just my clothes so…”

“I’ll put it in my room.” He smiled, giving her another kiss. “I would offer to come scrub your back but…” he inclined his head to the main room and Fliss gave a snort.

“Calm down, Sailor” she teased “Plenty of time for that later.”

“Promises, promises.” He grinned, picking her bag up and heading through to his room. He dropped her bag onto his bed, glancing round. He’d attempted to tidy a little bit after the realisation she’d actually never been in his room before. After their night together the previous week they hadn’t managed another night alone, Fliss being a little ‘uncomfortable’ at being together like that when Mary was literally outside the door and to be honest, it wasn’t something Frank was particularly happy about either. It had never bothered him before, because Mary was never there when he brought a girl home but this was different. That said, he knew he was going to have to find somewhere bigger soon, Greg had warned him it would likely be a condition of him being awarded Guardianship. He’d be lying if he said it wasn’t concerning him a bit, living pay-check to pay-check didn’t leave him a huge housing budge but he’d work something out, he always did.

Pushing the worry from his mind, he closed the bedroom door and headed back into the room. Mary was sat on the rug looking at the instructions to the new lego kit he had bought her for Thanksgiving.

“Sussed it out yet Stack?” He asked and she gave him a withering look. He bit back the laugh that was bubbling in his throat and sat next to her, taking from her, trying to figure the instructions out to make the Storm Trooper helmet, Star Wars being her latest obsession.

“That’s upside down…” She rolled her eyes, taking it from him to turn it the right way up.

“My bad.” He shrugged, looking at it again. “Ok, so…this piece…and we need one of these…” Together they began to pull together the elements they needed for the first section and the next time Frank looked up was when Fliss walked into the living area, a little shyly, wrapped in a towel. Her long, auburn hair was piled up on top of her head and her shoulders were speckled with water. She smiled as she padded past to his bedroom, Mary not even looking up as Frank watched her with his eyes as she closed the door behind her, giving him another smile. There was something so simple, so domestic about the situation, Frank couldn’t help but feel a warmth in his chest.

Roberta was right, he definitely had it bad.

“When we gonna give Fliss her present?” Mary asked, looking up at Frank.

“After dinner.” He said “Which reminds me, best turn the oven on.”

“Would be a start.” Mary agreed.

Frank rolled his eyes and stood up, heading into the kitchen. Shoving the stuff in the oven, he returned and found Fliss was now sat with Mary who was showing her the instructions.

“I LOVE Star Wars.” Fliss grinned, “So does my Dad. He has a Cinema Room in the house upstairs and a poster from every single Star Wars film on the wall. I’ll show you later tonight.” “A Cinema Room?” Mary asked. “Like, with a huge screen?” “Yeah. It’s pretty cool. When I finally get round to buying a house I’m gonna build one too.” “Do you think I could watch something in there tonight?”

“Mary,” Frank started to warn her but Fliss smiled.

“Frank it’s okay.” she said. “And yeah, course you can. If you have a favourite DVD we can take that or you can pick. We have loads on the hard-drive and Sky.”

It wasn’t long before they were sat round the small kitchen table which had been pulled into the living room to allow them more room. Frank and Mary both showed Fliss their favourite thing to eat in the world- Chicken Nugget Sandwiches. After a sceptical look, Fliss leaned over to take a bite of Frank’s as he offered it and gave a small laugh announcing that it was actually pretty good. After a large slice of Chocolate cake each that had been made for them by Roberta, they collapsed onto the sofa, Mary once more on the rug, Fliss groaning about the “food baby” she was growing, rubbing her hand over her stomach.

“Hey Frank?” Mary looked at him. “Is it time now?”

It took Frank a moment and then he realised what Mary was talking about. “Oh, yeah, hang on…”

He hopped off the sofa and headed into his bedroom, pulling the small gift bag from his dresser. He walked back into the living room and sat back down, shyly handing it to her.

“You got me a gift?” Fliss’ eyes went wide.

“Yeah.” Frank shrugged.

“You really shouldn’t have…” Fliss looked at him. “I didn’t get you two anything…” “That’s not the point of giving a gift.”  Mary looked at her sternly. “You don’t give to receive, right Frank?”

“Right.” Frank nodded, leaning back on the sofa, looking at Fliss “And I wanted to…” he gestured between him and Mary where she was sat, Fred crawling into her lap, “…we wanted to, say thank you for everything over the last few months.” Fliss smiled at him and then Frank saw a childish excitement cross her face “Can I open it now?” He nodded, glad she was going to as he wanted to see her face when she did.

With delicate fingers she gently undid the ribbon that the woman at the store had wrapped it with and her mouth dropped open when she saw the white box which was emblazoned with the Pandora name and logo

“Frank,” she looked at him, before she opened the box and stared at the contents. She blinked before her hand gently covered her mouth as she saw the silver charm bracelet that was inside.

“I thought it was time you started a new one, for new memories.” He said gently as she reached into the box and took out the bracelet which held a single charm in the shape of a boat.

Fliss swallowed, and her eyes filled with tears. “I…” She took a deep breath and Frank frowned as he saw her struggling for composure.

“Hey,” he said, turning sideways on the sofa. His hand gently rubbed up her arm and she fell into him, pressing her face to his chest as he wrapped his arms round her.

“You made Fliss cry. On Thanksgiving.” Mary deadpanned, throwing a ping pong ball for Fred.

“Why don’t you go do that outside?” Frank asked. “Stay on the step.” Mary shrugged and stood up, doing as she was told.

“You ok?” He asked Fliss softly as his hands rubbed at her back. He placed a kiss to the top of her head and she nodded taking a deep breath.

“Sorry, that was…” she sat back, wiping her eyes. “Absolutely fucking ridiculous…”

“You do like it right?” he asked, suddenly feeling a little nervous.

“Baby, I love it.” She smiled at him, and he felt his chest swell not only at the fact she liked the gift, but that was the first time she’d used that particular pet name, and he kinda liked it. “I just, well, I can’t believe you remembered about my bracelets.”

He shrugged as she reached out to gently cup his cheek.

“Thank you.” she smiled softly, leaning over to kiss him. He happily leaned into the kiss, his tongue snaking into her mouth, sliding against hers as she met him movement for movement before there was a light cough and Frank groaned, resting his forehead against Fliss’ as he turned to look at Mary.

“What?”

“Need another ping pong ball. The last one flew under Roberta’s BBQ and I aint going under there…spiders and stuff.” She headed to the box at the back of the room, dug in and retrieved a net of ping pong balls, digging one out.

“Wanna go outside?” Frank asked and Fliss nodded. He stood up and held out his hand, pulling her up with him and they headed out after Mary.

A little while later, after a game of tag on the lawn which resulted in both the girls tackling Frank to the floor in a huge tickle fight, Fliss noting that he was ridiculously ticklish and filing it for future reference, they headed back inside, grabbed their things and after an almost tantrum from Mary who wanted to bring Fred and Frank refusing, they headed off in Fliss’ jeep for the yard to do the final checks for the evening. They were just about to head up to the field to make sure all the horses were settled and the waters were topped up when Bill walked onto the yard.

“Shouldn’t you be with mum getting stuff ready for the party?” Fliss frowned at her Dad, surprised to see him.

“Are you joking!” Bill scoffed “You know what she’s like.” He coughed and then put on a light, airey voice “Bill, those champagne flutes are grouped in threes, not fours. No, those plates don’t go there, they go there. What are you doing with that cheeseboard, the grapes go in the middle…”

Frank felt his eyebrow raise slightly as Fliss laughed. Champagne, cheeseboards? This was not the type of party he was used to, at all.

“Oh don’t worry.” Fliss clocked his face. “It descends into debauchery and chaos after about an hour, mum just likes to play the part of hostess with the mostess…”

“I like cheese.” Mary piped up.

“Good, we got plenty of it.” Bill said. “But, anyway, I dropped by for a reason. I picked something up earlier this afternoon that I think you might like.”

“Me?” Fliss frowned, but before she could say anything else Frank’s attention was taken by a man who was walking down the side of the barn. He slightly taller than Frank, quite stocky and had a shock of dark brown hair and looked ridiculously like Bill. Fliss gave a little shriek and ran towards the man, throwing herself into his arms as he laughed, twirling her round slightly before he dropped her to the floor.

“That’s her brother.” Mary supplied and Frank gave her a look.

“Yeah I kinda figured that.” He rolled his eyes. “How do you know anyway?”

“Saw a photo of him.” Mary shrugged.

Frank turned his attention back to the two siblings and Fliss was now looking between her father and her brother, confusion on her face. “What, I mean, how, why are you here?”

“In New York for a stag do on Saturday.” Steve replied “Thought I’d take the chance and pop down here for a day or so.”

“Does Mum know you’re here?” she asked.

“Yeah, she does now.” he laughed “There were a few tears when I rocked up.” “Frank made Fliss cry before.” Mary said, and all attention turned to Frank who hung his head and let out an audible groan.

“Seriously?” He looked at her as Fliss burst out laughing.

“Because I was happy.” She said, shaking her head “He bought me a new Pandora.” Frank didn’t miss the exchange of looks between father and son, both wearing identical expressions of surprise which morphed into soft smiles as Fliss moved and slid under Frank’s arm.

“Frankie, this is my brother Steve.” she smiled, as Steve stepped forward, holding his hand out. “Or Steeb, Steeby…whatever you want to call him.” “Nice to meet you.” Frank smiled as Steve shook his hand, his grip firm.

“Likewise.” Steve smiled “Heard a lot about you.” He then turned to his left and looked down “And you must be Mary.” “Yup,” She smiled, looking at him “Did you bring your kids?”

“Mary.” Frank warned gently as he looked at her, shaking his head.

“What?” She asked, “I was just asking a question. I wanted to meet them.” “No, not this time.” Steve smiled “Just a flying visit. But they’re coming over for Christmas so I’ve no doubt you’ll get to see them then.” He straightened up and smiled at Fliss. “Where’s that grumpy ginger Nag?” Fliss narrowed her eyes “Don’t you talk about Heidi like that. She’s in the top field.”

“I thought he was talking about V.”  Bill mumbled to Frank who gave a snort, and then looked at the man, the pair of them bursting into laughter. By the time they had composed themselves, Steve and Fliss were stood, watching the pair of them, hands on their hips in almost identical poses.

“They do this all the time.” Fliss shook her head. “Come on, I’ll take you to see H. I was on my way up to check them all anyway. You coming Stack?” she looked at Mary. Mary grinned and ran forward, linking her hand into Fliss’.

Frank miss the eyebrow raised on Steve’s face, before the man smiled softly, dropping an arm round Fliss’ shoulder, pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

*****

Fliss changed quickly when they were home into a pair of jeans, a strappy top and a pair of sandals before the three of them walked over to the house after another near argument about getting Mary to leave the bucket of lego she had brought with her in the annex, which Fliss cleverly managed to avoid with the mention of the Cinema Room.

The house was busy, not packed but busy, and there was no way Frank was going to remember everyone’s names. But he smiled and shook hands as Bill introduced him to people, and he was surprised to find he felt at ease. Most of the people were older than him and Fliss, bar her brother of course, and it was a different circle and class of people he would normally mix with but he certainly didn’t feel like any of them were looking down at him, a stark contrast to how he used to feel at his Mother’s parties.

Well, they weren’t really parties, more like a gathering which rich snobs used to brag to other rich snobs about how much money they had.

“And this is Mike, Martin and Keith.” Bill said, nodding to the final three men, one of whom was giving Fliss a hug.

“You look great!” She beamed at him “How much weight have you lost now?” “40lb.” the man called Keith nodded and Fliss grinned.

“That’s awesome.”

“All down to the golf.” He smiled, gesturing to Mike, Martin and Bill “These guys drag me up there regularly enough.” “Frank hates golf.” Mary said. “Says it ruins a good walk.”

There was a pause as Frank groaned, wanting the ground to open and swallow him. He glared at Mary who looked at him, frowning.

“What?” She asked as Bill suddenly began to roar with laughter, the other men joining in.

Frank shook his head and looked round. “It’s just not my thing…”he said, by means of an explanation. “I prefer playing basket ball or baseball.”

“Each to their own.” The man called Martin beamed. “To be honest when I was your age I hated it too. Was far more into drinking and women.” “Frank likes that too.” Mary said, and Frank then really did give her a look.

“Shut up.” He said, but of course she didn’t as the men continued to laugh.

“Although I’m glad he finally got together with Fliss, because she’s my favourite. Miss Stevenson would not have been a good choice.” Frank groaned again and he felt Fliss beginning to chuckle besides him.

“Miss Stevenson?” Bill asked.

“We don’t need to hear about that…” Frank said, his neck growing hot.

“She’s my teacher.” Mary nodded “She stayed at our house one night. I wasn’t supposed to be there but I saw her coming out of the bathroom wearing Frank’s sheets and…” “Ok, Mary, why don’t we go and see the Cinema Room.” Fliss hastily cut her off as the three men were now all howling with laughter.

“Oh, okay.” she shrugged, before she pondered something “Why was she in your sheets Frank, and not in a towel like Lissy was before?”

At that Bill arched an eyebrow and Fliss felt her cheeks grow warm “I had a shower, I’d mucked twelve stabled out.” There was a pause before she recovered and steered Mary out of the room.

Frank grimaced and looked back round as Bill patted him on the shoulder, wiping tears of mirth out of his eyes. “I bloody love that kid.”

“She’s yours if you want her.” Frank said. “I could gift-wrap her for you. Just say goodbye to your private life being private.”

Thankfully the Cinema Room kept Mary out of the way, especially when she had a stash of popcorn, sweets and soda to keep her occupied. For the next few hours Frank stuck mostly by Fliss’ side, talking to people, chatting to her brother a bit about his job and the business he had taken over from Bill, his kids, but Frank got the impression the man was being a little guarded with him. He was polite enough, and wasn’t being rude but he wasn’t overly warm either. But he supposed that was understandable. She was Fliss’ big brother after all.

Mary came down a few hours later and tugged on Fliss’ hand. Fliss went with her and Frank headed into the kitchen to grab himself another beer after being told by Verity to “stop asking and just go get”. He turned round, flipping the lid off, almost bumping into Bill.

“Sorry.” He apologised to the man who smiled at him as he held the fridge door open.

“There’s someone who just arrived that I want you to meet.” Bill said, gesturing for Frank to follow him. With a slight puzzled frown, he did as he was told and wandered through to the large lounge where a number of people were congregated. 

“Frank, this is Alan Maxwell.” Bill introduced a short, stocky white haired man who was wearing a pair of modern thin-rimmed glasses and a cream blazer over a dark polo necked shirt and dark jeans. Frank took him in, noting his outfit probably cost more than Frank’s entire wardrobe.

“Hi.” Frank smiled, shaking his hand “Frank Adler”

“The boat mechanic?” Alan asked.

“Yeah.” Frank looked at him then to Bill, frowning a little.

“Alan’s in the Repair and Retail business.” Bill offered and Frank gave a nod of understanding.

“I own MarineMax in St Pete’s” Alan smiled.

“Oh on Gulfport?” Frank looked at him and Alan nodded.

“You know it?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” Frank scratch at the back of his neck “I errr, I applied for a job once but I didn’t have the relevant experience so…” Alan looked at Frank for a moment, “How long you been a mechanic now?”

“Over six and a half years.”

“And you’re freelancing?” Frank nodded.

“Good success rate?”

“Over ninety-eight percent.” Frank said. “I mean, I only do one boat at a time because I’ve been juggling my hours around Mary for the last 7 years but…” he shrugged “I have regulars who come back so I must be doing something right.” “Could you get references?”

“Yeah.” Frank nodded “Pretty sure I could.”

“Hmmmm.” Alan looked at Bill who inclined his head towards Frank with a smile.

“I told you, I’ll vouch for him.” he shrugged “He’s sleeping with my daughter after all.”

“Jesus Bill.” Frank groaned as the two men laughed.

“It’s a compliment” Bill smiled “If I didn’t trust you I wouldn’t let you within three foot of her”

“Thanks, I think.” Frank looked at him taking a drink of his beer.

“Come see me next week.” Alan looked at Frank, pulling a card from his wallet and handing it over “I may have a position you’d be interested in.”

“I errr…” Frank was temporarily sideswiped by the suggestion “I…that would be…”

“I know it will be different to freelance but it’s a full time job, full package of benefits and a negotiable wage plus bonus scheme.” Alan said, “I’m not a huge outfit, but I pay my guys well.” Frank nodded, placing the card in his pocket “I’ll stop by.” “Just give me a call the day before and I’ll make sure I’m around.”

“I will.” Frank nodded. “Thank you.”

Frank made his excuses, realising he hadn’t seen Fliss for a while and headed off looking for her. He moved from room to room, realising there was no sign of her or Mary. He headed into the kitchen and then poked his head out of the large bi-folding doors which led onto the large raised decking area which spanned the length of the house.

“Hey.” Frank spotted Fliss’ brother leaning on the railing, lit cigarette in one hand, beer in the other. “You seen Lissy?”

“She was in the living room last time I saw her.” Steve said chuckling slightly, shaking his head.

Frank frowned at the man’s demeanour and Steve noticed, and smiled. “Sorry, just seems strange. Hearing someone else call her Liss or Lissy other than the family.”

“Yeah, well, I kinda picked it up from Bill and it stuck.” Frank smiled.

“Yeah she doesn’t suit Felicity.” Steve shook his head “Although that’s all he ever fucking called her. Apparently nicknames were deemed too common.” “Yeah well, he’s a dick.” Frank shrugged

“No arguments here.” Steve looked at Frank. Frank watched as the man studied him for a second, clearly thinking about something before he returned to leaning on the rail of the decking, looking down over the huge garden area as he took a final drag from the cigarette, before stubbing it out in the fire bucket to his right.

“Okay,” Frank stepped outside, “let’s have it.” “Have what?” Steve asked, looking at him.

“The big brother lecture. The one where you threaten to rip my head off if I hurt your sister.” Frank said as Steve gave a huff of a laugh.

“Well, rest assured I will.” Steve looked at Frank as he too leaned on the railings. “But Dad says you’re a good bloke so, that’ll do for me.” Frank nodded and took a pull of his beer. “I have no intention of hurting her, in anyway.” he said, his voice loaded with meaning and Steve sighed.

“I know.” he said gently “I just, well, I worry.” “Understandable.” Frank nodded, and it was. He got it, he really did.

“I hated that fucker.” Steve shook his head, “right from the start. Smarmy assed, stuck up Yank. Sorry, no offence.” Frank laughed “Non-taken.” he waved Steve’s apology away.

“I know she’s only actually my step-sister but well she was only two when I met her and…”

“Blood doesn’t make you family.” Frank nodded. “If you ever meet my mother you’ll realise that.” “Yeah, Fliss wasn’t very complementary of her.” Steve snorted.

“She called her a cold hearted bitch to her face.” Frank raised an eyebrow as Steve laughed.

“I shouldn’t be pleased at that.” Steve smiled. “But not long ago she wouldn’t have been brave enough to be that outgoing.” “Oh she certainly isn’t backwards in coming forwards.” Frank shook his head

“Something he managed to suck out of her.” Steve sighed.

“You know, I’d love to get that fucker alone in a room” Frank glowered. “Five minutes, that’s all I’d need.” “Get in line.” Steve shrugged, “Behind me and dad.” “Yeah, Fliss said something about there being a queue.”

“The day she said she was moving to Boston to be with him full time, it was the worst day of my life. And Mum and Dad’s” Steve took another drink. “But we knew if we tried to stop her it would give him the perfect excuse to turn her against us. So what could we do but support it?” He hung his head slightly and Frank’s brow furrowed at the man’s open display of vulnerability

“I wish we’d done more, you know, anything, but we didn’t know how bad things had got. Not that he was hurting her, not like that.” “None of it was your fault.” Frank looked at him. “Or your parent’s. Or Fliss’”

“No, I know that but it doesn’t stop any of us feeling guilty.” Steve sighed. “But, anyway, it’s in the past now. That is until he goes for parole, which he will.” Frank shrugged “We’ll greet that when it happens.”

“Yeah?” Steve looked at him. “You ready for all that? Because I guarantee what she’s told you, well it won’t even scratch the surface, Frank.”

“Are you asking me if I’m gonna bail when the going gets tough?”

“Suppose I am, yeah.” Steve looked at him.

Frank took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, quelling the frustration that was brewing at the man’s questioning, reminding himself that he had a right to worry, a right to be concerned. He’d feel the same if it was Diane in this position.

“Look, Steve, I know she hasn’t told me everything. And I’m not gonna push her to either. It isn’t important to me to know every sordid little detail of what that cunt did to her. What is important is that she’s happy with me, and that she feels safe and knows that I’d never hurt her like that and I sure as hell won’t abandon her when the road gets a little bumpy. She was there for me through a very bad time recently and, well…” Frank shrugged, “even if we decide that what we have isn’t working I’d still be by her side.”

Steve’s face remained passive for a second before it split into a grin “I don’t think there’s any worry about that, Frank. From what I’ve seen this afternoon and this evening, Lissy’s besotted. In fact, I’ve never seen her like this before.” Frank felt his cheeks flush a little and he looked down “Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual.”

Steve opened his mouth to say something else but they were interrupted.

“My ears burning?” Fliss asked, eyeing the two men up.

“I was just making sure his intentions are honourable.” Fliss rolled her eyes with a snort “his intentions are honourable? What are you, like ninety?”

Steve shrugged “No, but I’m three years older than you and still your big brother Titch.” “Whatever, Steeby.” She moved over to where Frank was stood and slid under his arm. “Quit with the 3rd degree or I’ll tell Mum you’ve been smoking.”

“You wouldn’t!” he said in mock horror as she raised an eyebrow. Steve turned to Frank and raised his eyebrow, jerking his head towards his sister “Sure you know what you’re letting yourself in for?”

Frank laughed “her bark is worse than her bite…owww!” he said, as she nipped his arm.

“Sure it is.” Steve winked as h pushed himself off the railing and headed inside.

“Was he being an ass hole?” Fliss watched him go before she turned to Frank and he chuckled, pulling her closer.

“No,not at all.” he said, dropping a kiss to her lips “Where’s Mary?”

“With Dad in the living room with the guys from the golf club.” she said, shrugging.

“No doubt revealing more of my dark secrets.” Frank groaned.

Fliss laughed “Nah, she’s got her lego. Bill and her will have some kind of building contest going on no doubt.”

“I told her to leave those in the annex.” Frank shook his head. “She did. I took her to get them.” Fliss shrugged

“Seriously?” Frank looked at her, rolling his eyes.

“What? She was bored and wanted something to do.”

“You’re a pain in my ass.” he said, his arms circling her and she grinned as he dropped a kiss to her lips.

“Hush, Sailor, you love it.” she smirked against his mouth.

“Yeah, yeah I do.” he muttered, pulling her closer for a deeper kiss.

******

It was about midnight when the party started filtering out. Mary was crashed out on one of the sofas so Frank suggested they call it a night and Fliss, feeling the effects of a fair amount of alcohol, agreed. They made their goodbyes and Frank easily scooped Mary up and the three of them made their way, a little slower than usual, to the annex.

Once they’d roused Mary and she’d changed for bed Frank tucked her in, in the bed in the spare room and she was flat out before he even closed the door. He headed into Fliss’ room and laughed as she was led on the bed with her legs over the edge, feet flat on the floor. She was wearing just her bra and jeans, and her arm was bent over her eyes.

“My jeans are too tight.” she said.

“What?” Frank laughed.

“I can’t be bothered to take them off.” She leant up on her elbows and ginned at him “Wanna help me out Sailor?”

“Happily.” he grinned, and moved towards her but she stopped him.

“Ah ah.” she pointed to his polo-shirt. “Off.” With an arch of his eyebrow he reached back and grabbed a fist full of his shirt, pulling it over his head. “Better?”

“Yup.” she nodded as he moved towards her, gently dropping down and undoing her jeans. With a tug he pulled them down over her thighs, his hands softly tracing up her skin as she sighed, before his lips met hers.

“You were a hit in there.” she smiled gently, her fingers tracing the muscles on his arms as he propped himself up over her.

“Yeah?” he asked, gently shifting so that she moved with him, laying further up the bed.

She nodded. “Charmed the pants off all the posh bastards you did, Adler.” “There’s only one person I’m interested in charming the pants off.” He quipped and she laughed, shaking her head.

“Smooth.” “Is it working?”

She glanced down. “Nope, they’re still on.”

“Guess I’ll have to use my hands then.” He said, and with a quick move down he slid them over her ankles and gently pressed his lips to her knee, trailing soft kisses up the inside of her leg, nipping at the inside of her thigh. Fliss gave a soft sigh as he moved, his short beard scratching at her skin as he moved, her hands fisting in the sheets. When he reached his target he gently placed a long lick up her entrance. Instinctively, one of her hands fisted in his hair before she hastily moved it and Frank paused, reaching up, and placing it back where it had been.

“I like it.” He peeked up at her, a cheeky look on his face before he dropped his head back down and Fliss’s head fell back against her pillow as she gave a shaky moan.

She couldn’t remember the last time a man had gone down on her. John had certainly never done it, making it clear from the start he found it disgusting, but still happy to shove his dick in her mouth when he wanted a blow. But Frank ate her out like a man starved, moving his mouth as he paid attention to how her body reacted and when he found her spot, she gave a cry, her back arching off the bed, and she felt him double his efforts, his lips and tongue teasing her, in a delectable way. Pleasure lanced through her entire body, the heat rising from her very toes and as she felt her orgasm rising her fingers tightened on his hair and he gave a low moan at her touch, which vibrated through his mouth right against her clit and that was it. Her hips bucked upwards as she came, hard, her knees tightened slightly around his head, her arm flying to her mouth to stifle her loud moan.

Working her through her release, Frank moved back, stripping off the remainder of his clothes before he crawled up her body again, kissing his way up from her naval to her chest. She arched her back and he reached around to unhook her bra before he set his attention to her breasts. Fuck, he could listen to the noises and whimpers she was making all day but after a week he was aching for her.

“You got any…” he started to ask softly and she nodded, her hand gesturing to her bedside table. He paused and pulled open the drawer, and had to smirk as he saw the new, full packet of condoms in there. Pulling one out he opened it, whilst Fliss gently gave his dick a stroke causing him to hiss slightly, his fingers fumbling on the foil and she grinned.

“Something distracting you, Sailor?” “You know damned well what’s distracting me.” His voice was almost a growl as her hand moved over his whilst he rolled the latex down.

Her giggle turned to a moan as he buried himself inside her, his entire body feeling coiled like a spring, and his thrusts began slow, and deep before soon she was begging for more and he picked up the pace, each movement rolling against her spot, causing her to breathlessly whisper his name as he buried his face into her neck, nipping and biting at that spot that drove her wild. At some point she moved, gently pushing on his shoulders, and he understood, rolling onto his back. She straddled him, pulling her long hair over one shoulder as she leaned down to draw him into a deep, sultry kiss before she sank down onto him, taking him in.

“Fuck, Lissy,” he said, his hands gently gripping her hips as she began to move, rolling her pelvis, “God you feel so good.” She preened at his praise, yup, she definitely had a praise kink, and her pace quickened as she leaned forward again to kiss him, a moan falling from her mouth as he raised his hips to meet hers, his fingers tightening on her hips. Frank looked up at her, her mouth slack, lips plump, freckles still visible in the soft light from the outside lights, breasts bouncing softly as she moved.

“So beautiful.” He whispered, sitting up and she cried out at the change of depth as he pulled her close, thrusting up into her.

“Frankie, I’m…” and with a low whine her head tipped back as her release washed over her for the second time that night, a slow, deep burn which left her slack in his arms, as she collapsed forward. After a few more desperate thrusts he was right behind her, clinging to her, his face buried into her shoulder, his own groans stifled in her skin.

They stayed like that for a little while, both recovering, hands softly dancing over skin before he leaned up to give her a soft kiss.

“Thank you.” She whispered and he pulled back, frowning a little.

“What for?”

“For making me feel good. For making me feel wanted.” She swallowed, tears filling her eyes and Frank let out a sigh, his arms curling round her, pulling her close, his own chest tightening at her words as he understood instantly that it was clearly something she wasn’t used to.

“You deserve it.” He spoke softly, , “Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”

She moved back, her hands cupping his cheeks as she gave him another deep kiss, her lips curling into a smile and Frank smiled back, before he kissed her again.  

***** Frank woke the next morning and, as he blinked, he realised he was alone. Sitting up he rubbed his eyes, and could hear soft voices from elsewhere in the annex. Grabbing his phone he looked down and with a start realised it was past ten.  Running a hand over his face, he climbed out of bed, grabbed his bag and retrieved a clean pair of boxers and a t-shirt before retrieving his jeans which were now folded and placed over the back of the chair by Fliss’ vanity unit. After sorting himself in the bathroom he made his way downstairs and found Fliss and Mary sat outside in the small yard, an array of breakfast items on the table. Fliss long hair was pulled into a messy pony tail and she was wearing an oversized shirt and a pair of denim jeans. Even like that she looked effortlessly gorgeous.

“Morning.” He greeted, stepping out onto the decking and Fliss smiled at him.

“Hey.” She smiled, accepting the kiss he dropped onto her cheek before he sat down next to her. “Sleep well.”

“Hmmm I was tired for some reason.” He quipped, causing her to grin.

“Fliss says I can go ride Monty today.” Mary looked at Frank. “Is that ok?”

“It’s not your week for a lesson.” Frank spoke.“And it’s Friday.”

“It’s ok.” Fliss smiled. “The riding school is shut. Joanne’s done the morning shift so we can just go up this afternoon. I need to work Cap and Bronson but she can ride if she wants.” “Please.” Mary looked at Frank who sighed.

“I’ve gotta nip to the boat yard.” he looked at her. “Got some guy who needs a motor looking at and I said I’d meet him today.” “I don’t wanna go to the boat yard.”  Mary pouted.

“It’s okay, she can come with me.” Fliss offered “I don’t mind, honestly.”

Frank hesitated, he didn’t want Fliss to think she was obliged to take Mary. He knew that the pair of them came as a package but still.

“You sure?” Frank asked. “Roberta would normally take her but she’s not back until tomorrow.”

“Yeah, its fine.” Fliss nodded “She can help me and Joanne.”

“Okay then, yeah, you can go.”

Mary grinned and turned her attention back to her book.

“You want breakfast?” Fliss asked, moving to stand.

“I’ll get it. You stay there.” Frank offered, but Mary suddenly jumped up.

“No it’s okay, we made you something special…” With that she shot into the kitchen.

“Special?” Frank looked at Fliss, and she grinned as his lips met hers.

“Yeah.” she nodded to Mary who emerged from the kitchen, giggling. Frank gave a snort of a laugh and shook his head as she thrust the box of Special K into his hands.

“Thanks…” he deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

**** Chapter 12

[spaceskam]

i’m a free spirit, that means free from you

i wrote a fic awhile ago about Michael exploring his sexuality. Now that it’s day 6 of @alexmanesappreciation (lost decade/missing scenes), it felt fitting for it to be Alex’s turn!

Warning: internalized homophobia and unhealthy relationships

ao3

.First Kiss.

“Oh, c’mon Alex, she likes you.”

Alex tried to smile as Kyle pestered him after they snuck out of their cabin and started wading through the woods. Summer camp was fine and all, but the longer he stayed there the higher the chances were that he was going to get in trouble. He just wasn’t sure what he was going to get in trouble for. It was just this stupid thing in his head that told him to be good, act normal, stop that.

They got louder every single time one of the other boys got too close to him when they were in their swim trunks.

“Yeah, but Katie? She’s not my type,” Alex said, mimicking what he’d heard his brother Greg say about the nice girl that was in the band at the high school. She made him cookies, wore a lot of stuff with skulls on them, and introduced him to a cool band called Blink-182. She stopped coming around after Greg told her she wasn’t his type.

“Type?” Kyle laughed, “She’s a girl! She’s got boobs!”

Alex tried to remind himself that he was supposed to like that even though he didn’t quite understand why.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Alex said, nodding. 

They reached the riverbank where the rest of their friends‒or, really, Kyle’s friends‒had congregated, sneaking out after the counselors had gone to their own party for the night. It was ten of them in total, five from the boys side of camp and five from the girls. Alex didn’t even want to sneak out, really scared of what would happen if someone found out, but Kyle had grabbed his arm and begged him and he just said yes.

“Let’s play truth or dare!” Katie said, making sure to look right at Alex as she said so. He instinctively looked to Kyle, hoping he would be on his side and say no.

“Oh, fuck yeah,” Kyle said, agreeing like the rest of the guys and girls. Alex was the only one who didn’t want to, but he couldn’t be the only one who didn’t want to. That’s how you get people to make fun of you.

So they all sat down and the game just started. Everyone was being dumb, daring dumb things that Alex thought were stupid. He was the only one that kept saying truth and, even then, they weren’t anything fun and then he couldn’t come up with anything good and it just wasn’t fun. He kept looking to Kyle, kept trying to signal to him that this wasn’t fun, but it didn’t seem to click.

“Alex, truth or dare,” Katie said, eyes on him. She was pretty, she was. She had pretty hair and a pretty face and... boobs or something. But every time she looked at him, he got a little nervous. 

“Truth,” he said again. Everyone immediately started complaining.

“You can’t keep saying truth!” Wyatt told him, “It’s no fun, you’re ruining the game.”

“Yeah, Alex, just say dare,” Kyle pressed. Alex glared at him for a second before sighing and slumping his shoulder. What could one dare do? Kyle had already drank river water.

“Fine,” he agreed, “Dare.”

“I dare you to kiss me,” Katie said. Everyone around them ooh’d and Alex felt straight up terrified for a moment. He was a kid, he was way too young to be kissing anyone. Thirteen was way too young, didn’t they know that. 

“In front of everybody?” Alex asked, voice cracking. She rolled her eyes dramatically. 

“No, silly,” she said and he almost sighed in relief. Almost. “In the woods.”

Another round of ooh’s surrounding him and making him feel like he had literally no fucking choice in the matter. He knew that if he tried to tell them he didn’t want to, they’d make fun of him. He knew if he asked for a different dare, they’d make fun of him. And, at the end of the day, it was just a kiss. Why not get the first one over with anyway?

Alex did what he was told and stood up. He and Katie went into the woods, just out of the line of sight of the rest, and then they just stood there. She was a little taller than he was and way too close, smiling at him as wide as she could.

“So...”

“So,” she said, “Kiss me.”

“I-I don’t really know how to,” he said. She rolled her eyes.

“It’s easy, you just do this with your lips,” Katie told him, pursing her lips and closing her eyes. And then she waited. Alex just stared at her for a minute until she opened her eyes and looked at him expectantly. “Alex, you gotta do it too.”

“Oh,” he said. And he did. And he kissed her.

It was quick and weird and he understood the whole kissing thing a billion times less than before. But when they separated, she was smiling so big and her face was red. Clearly she’d enjoyed it which had him lost even more. Did something happen that he missed? It just felt weird.

“You’re my boyfriend now, right?” she said. He blinked in confusion.

“Uh...”

“Yay!” Katie said, grabbing his hand and leading him back towards the group.

He wiped his mouth off on the back of his hand and started planning ways to avoid that ever happening again.

.First Crush.

Alex bit down on his thumb nail as he looked around the room, making sure no one would look over his shoulder.

Of course they wouldn’t, he knew that, it was a public library and no one cared, but still. His eyes swept around a couple more times before he realized the more he did that, the more suspicious he looked, so he might as well just do what he came here for.

He gulped harshly and, with shaky hands, clicked the internet icon. Quickly, he typed in how do you know if you’re gay in the search bar. It loaded too slow and it made him look around again as if his dad was going to come out of nowhere. He knew that wasn’t it. He was fifteen now, his dad did let him go to the library by himself. 

He scrolled through all the web pages, skimming the little summary but none of them answered his question. He just needed an answer, he needed someone to tell him. The more people around him called him gay, the less he felt like he understood it. How was he the one being called gay when they were the ones who compared their dicks in the locker room and he didn’t want to be apart of it? How was he the one being gay when he was the only one who looked away during that gross puberty class? How did watching the I Write Sins Not Tragedies music video more than once make someone gay? More importantly, what was so gay about having friends that were girls?

They all threw that word and none of them seemed to make sense. They never called him gay when he accidentally stared too long the first time he got in the locker room with the seniors. They never called him gay when he forgot how to breathe every time Mr. Edwards bent over to pick up a pencil. They never called him gay when he was really interested in watching wrestling. How was he supposed to know when everything seemed so disjointed?

Alex scrolled a little more and saw a link to something labeled ‘Am I Gay? Quiz 100% Accurate’ and, well, he couldn’t help himself.

 Question #1: What do you consider yourself? Straight, Gay, Bisexual, Other

He stared at it with furrowed eyebrows, the cursor hovering over each option maybe a little longer than he should’ve. He eventually settled on straight. He had kissed girls and had girlfriends before even if it wasn’t great, it was still what he’d been doing. That was straight. 

Question #2: In the locker room, did you ever peek over at another guy? Yes seize the opportunity, Yes but out of curiosity, No gross, No but I wanted to

Alex swallowed hard, his stomach churning. The mouse hovered over the first option. But was it like that though? Yes, he had looked, but he wasn’t trying to be gross or anything. He didn’t want to make anyone feel bad. He quickly selected the second option instead.

Question #3: You’re in a relationship with a girl, but you discover that there is a guy who likes you. What do you do? Stay with the girl because you like her, stay with the girl because you feel like you should, never go out with a girl in the first place, break up with the girl for the guy

That one at least felt obvious. Of course he would stay with the girl. What kind of person just breaks up with someone because someone else likes them? That’s just mean. He chose the second option instead of the first and decided not to think too hard about why.

Question #4: Would you ever cheat on a girl with a... girl, guy, I wouldn’t cheat

He smiled at the second no-brainer in a row. He would never cheat. He wasn’t an asshole. 

Question #5: Why are you taking this quiz? I’m bored, I’m confused, I’m gay

Alex stared at it longer than he should’ve. Why was he taking this quiz? Shouldn’t he know these things? It shouldn’t be hard. He should know who he was sexually attracted to, right? He should know. But it wasn’t that fucking easy. He’d met girls who were pretty. Did he want to sleep with them? No, but he hadn’t really met any guys in person that he wanted to sleep with either. It was too much, too confusing.

So, he clicked that he was confusing.

The loading bar stayed on the screen for way too long, but, sure enough, a screen popped up that he was, in fact, straight just a little confused. Which was apparently normal. Alex leaned back, nodding to himself. He was normal.

Alex exited out of the browser and got up, pulling out his iPod from his pocket. He put his headphones over his ears and waved to the nice librarian as he left before pressing play. He felt good, normal, as he walked in time to the MCR song that flooded through his ears towards Bean Me Up. He’d taken a test and even it said he was fine. He’d be fine.

He ordered a coffee and walked to the other side of the counter to wait, leaning against the wall. A smile easily found his face as Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off by Panic! At the Disco started flooding into his ears. He found it impossible not to smile when he heard Brendon Urie’s voice. How was someone that fucking talented?

Then everything slowed down as someone appeared outside the window.

The seductive singing only seemed to set the stage as Marcus Lopez, current quarterback at Roswell High, slowed to a stop, breathing heavy and sweating with his workout gear clinging to his brown skin that literally was glowing under the sun. Alex couldn’t fucking breathe as he pulled his shirt up and over his head and used it to wipe his face dry, exposing his toned stomach and flexing his biceps. He pulled a water bottle out of nowhere and poured it into his mouth, some of the water missing and sliding over each crevice of his body. 

Oh.

Oh.

.First Boyfriend.

“What are you playing?”

Alex looked over to the doorway to see Elijah Thibodaux staring at him. He was the senior boy who got the lead in every school musical and every solo in choir. He was talented and every girl in theatre and choir was obsessed with him. Alex, however, kept his appreciation to himself.

“Oh, uh, I wrote it,” Alex admitted, shyly looking back to his guitar. He tried to keep playing so he’d come off as cool, but he was feeling a little flustered. Boys didn’t really talk to him if they could help it and this one boy was not only talking to him, but he was super cute. 

“Musetta’s Waltz.”

“Huh?” Alex asked. Elijah smiled at him and walked further into the music room, straddling the chair beside him.

“That’s Musetta’s Waltz,” Elijah told him, “Not an original.”

Alex stopped playing, embarrassment filling his system. Leave to him to fuck it up the minute he tried to be cool. Elijah just laughed it off though, scooting closer. Alex tried not to seize up as his hand touched his back. Why was a suave senior touching him? What the fuck was that supposed to be mean?

Elijah’s hand slid up to Alex’s shoulder and he looked over at him.

“Go on, play something for me,” Elijah told him, looking at him with those obscenely green eyes and batting those long eyelashes against his pale cheeks. Alex swallowed hard and nodded, looking back down to his guitar. Instinct took over and Alex slowly started strumming the chords to Wonderwall. Elijah moved his hand up to his jaw. “You’re really good.”

“Thank you,” Alex said, looking over at him and trying to remember how to breathe. His strumming got a little sloppy, but it didn’t seem to matter. Elijah just leaned in close, smiling and his eyes flickering down to his lips and back up again. Alex didn’t have time to even process it before he was being kissed.

Alex stared with wide eyes as Elijah pulled away, struggling to comprehend what the hell just happened. It didn’t make any sense. Elijah was gorgeous and desired and Alex was… What?

“You just kissed me,” Alex said blankly. Elijah grinned.

“Yeah.” And then he did it again.

Alex melted at the attention. It was the first time a boy had ever given him so much attention. He had no idea what to even do with it. 

After that, Alex slowly found himself at Elijah’s beck and call. They would make out behind the bleachers and late at night after sneaking out. Elijah flooded him with compliments and only persuaded him a little to send raunchy pictures or do things he wasn’t quite sure about. But it was fine because he was his boyfriend. That’s what you did with boyfriends.

They carried on like that for a few months, all of it secret. Alex wanted to tell Maria and Liz about him a few times, but Elijah said it was a bad idea and he knew it. He loved them but he wasn’t sure they’d be able to keep it a complete secret. And no one could find out about Elijah and him because of his dad.

But it was a couple nights before the spring choir concert when Alex started hearing things about Elijah having a girlfriend. That didn’t make sense to Alex and he was sure it wasn’t real. People must’ve gotten things confused. Elijah was close to a lot of girls, it was bound to happen. Elijah was Alex’s boyfriend. No one else’s. But, still, Alex found himself a little more willing to send more explicit pictures for a couple days just to make sure he still held his attention.

Which didn’t stop him from walking down the hall, hand in hand with a girl on the day of the spring choir concert.

Alex didn’t know how to deal with the pain that flooded his system at the sight. He got irrationally upset and wanted to confront him right there, but he decided to wait. He waited until lunch time and they met up at their usual spot behind the bleachers. That’s where they would kiss and talk and do boyfriend things.

“I saw you with that girl,” Alex said boldly as Elijah went to greet him with a kiss. He had the audacity to be confused and, when he realized Alex was serious, he rolled his eyes. “Are you cheating on me?”

“Look, it’s not that big of a deal. I started talking to Cassie way before I even started talking to you,” Elijah told him. The way he said it made it sound like it made it less mean. It didn’t stop Alex’s heart from breaking. “It’s not the same.”

“What do you mean it’s not the same? You’re cheating on me!”

Elijah sighed, “Don’t be dramatic, it’s not cheating.”

“Then what do you call it?”

“Alex, it doesn’t even count. I mean, you’re a guy.”

Alex blinked and swallowed harshly, trying to follow his train of thought. It counted for him. It really, really counted for him. That wasn’t fair.

“I don’t think we should see each other anymore,” Alex said softly. Elijah scoffed.

“Oh, c’mon, don’t be like that.”

“No, ‘cause it counts for me. It’s cheating.”

Alex was proud of himself for being man enough to walk away.

Less proud of himself for taking all the way up until Elijah graduated two months later before he stopped answering every time he called.

.First Love.

“You trust me?”

“Um, yes.”

“Then c’mon.”

Alex bit down on his bottom lip as he caved and jumped into the passenger seat of Michael’s truck. They were newly graduated, fresh adults, and everyone was supposed to be going to graduation parties. Of course, Liz wasn’t around anymore and Alex was finding it hard to celebrate when Rosa was dead.

But he still told his dad he was going to one which meant he could sneak off with Michael.

Part of him felt a little guilty for allowing himself even a shred of happiness, but then all he had to do was look at Michael’s fucked hand and he realized nothing really mattered. Soon, he’d be off to basic and he’d have to leave Michael behind. He was going to steal all the happiness he could.

Michael draped his arm around Alex’s shoulders as he drove out to the middle of nowhere and Alex leaned into his side. His head hit his shoulder and his eyes closed, soaking up the closeness of, well, him. He smelled like motor oil since he drove straight from work to graduation. Alex didn’t mind. In fact, he was pretty sure he would miss that smell when he was gone.

Alex tilted his head back to press a kiss to his neck and, from the corner of his eye, saw Michael smile. He had such a gorgeous smile. He was just gorgeous in general with his big, expressive eyes and sunburnt cheeks. Beautiful, kind, caring, what more could someone ask for in a boyfriend?

The truck pulled to a stop in the middle of the desert, far away from where anyone could stumble upon them, much less find them on purpose. It was a comforting thought.

The two of them climbed into the bed of the truck and laid out his sleeping bags to give them some sort of cushion before they laid down. Alex laid directly in his arms and Michael responded with a sweet little hum as they got comfortable.

“So, what’s next?” Alex asked, “What’s your plan?”

“I don’t know. Fix up cars, work on ranches, save up money.”

“What happened to UNM?”

Michael was quiet for a moment before he exhaled heavily for a solid ten seconds. Alex tilted his head up to see that he very clearly hadn’t anticipated this conversation. Which was valid. But Alex knew they had limited time together. He wanted to make sure Michael was going to do something good with that big brain of his.

“I don’t think I’m gonna go,” Michael admitted, “Too big of a change all at once.”

Alex furrowed his eyebrows. “How? Everything’s gonna change already.”

“Yeah, but… At least staying here I have Max and Isobel,” Michael said. Alex lifted his head to meet his eyes. Michael was visibly sad, but he was trying to hide it. He sucked at hiding it. “I don’t know, I’m just not ready.”

“But you’re so smart. What happened to ag? You’ve been wanting to do that since I met you,” Alex pointed out. Michael forced a flirtatious little smile.

“Well, who’s gonna cheer me on when you’re gone?” he teased. But Alex didn’t find it funny.

“Guerin, don’t base your future around me. As much as I would love to be there with you every step of the way, you need to think about it for real. You could be something great, don’t bury yourself in me,” Alex told him, watching his smile fade. It was replaced by a sad bit of understanding.

“I know. I’m just gonna miss you,” he said.

“I’m gonna miss you too,” Alex agreed. 

Michael stared at him for a moment before looking away and up towards the sky, no longer making eye contact as he steadied his breathing. Alex knew he didn’t like talking about the future or the fact that Alex was leaving or the idea of growing up. For someone who had no real sense of stability, he hated any type of change. It was confusing and Alex didn’t know how to make him understand that he just wanted what was best for him.

Then it dawned on him that maybe that’s what love really was.

“Hey,” Alex said, gently laying his palm on Michael’s cheek and guiding his sight back to him, “I know it’s going to be weird after I leave and I still want you to do something good with your brain,  but this isn’t forever. I’m coming home. I don’t know when or, or who I’ll be when I do, but I’m gonna come home to you. I promise.”

And that seemed to be good enough for Michael. At least for that night.

.First ‘I Love You’.

“Like it fuckin’ matters? No one in our crew is a queer anyways.”

Alex forced a laugh and focused on his food. As of this morning, DADT was finally gone. Part of him thought he’d feel safer once it was, but he didn’t. The threat was still there. Now he just didn’t have a whole law to keep his self esteem from eating away at itself.

He wanted to shout it from the rooftops that he was here, he was queer, and if anyone had a problem with it, he would show them up. But then people that he hung out with every day, his friends, said things that scared the shit out of him. He knew that, if he came out, they probably wouldn’t actually care and would only require a little bit of reform, but the word probably still kept him in his cage.

“Manes!” Alex lifted his head to Col. Monroe, the man looking slightly more irritated than usual. “Do I need to send you to go hunt down Lawrence or is he on his way? I need to have a talk with him.”

A talk. Alex’s stomach dropped, but he didn’t let it show. Instead, he stood to his feet.

“I’ll go find him, Sir.”

“Good man.”

Alex discarded his tray quickly and headed to Jay’s place on base. His heart was thudding in his chest and slowly began to think this was probably on purpose. Jay Lawrence was a very reckless man and if almost pissing off someone high ranking was what it took to get Alex alone, well, he didn’t put it past him. 

Alex knocked on the door and it opened almost immediately. Jay stood at attention just to be safe, his toned body barely restrained by his almost-too-small uniform when he flexed, but he gave a sneaky little smile once he saw Alex. Then he pulled him inside. Once the door was closed, Alex was being kissed so senseless that it took him a moment to forget why he even came in the first place. 

He grabbed Jay’s elbows, breathing him in as he reluctantly pulled away. When he opened his eyes, Jay was just staring at him like he was the best thing to grace the Earth and it was easy to feel flustered by that. Alex wasn’t stupid, he knew Jay liked him more than he liked Jay. But Alex admittedly liked the attention and he definitely liked not feeling so alone, so he said nothing.

“DADT is fucking gone, A,” he said, a weight very clearly thrown off his shoulders, “Like officially. No rumors of it being gone, no vague date, no waiting. It’s gone. We, we could be something for real.”

Alex rubbed his thumb over his forearm, smiling slightly. He was younger than Alex, not by much but by enough. He had a family who loved him, who he was out to and who didn’t mind. They all agreed to keep hush so he could serve his country though. He was so pure and kind. He was way too good for Alex.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Alex teased lightly, sliding his hand up to the side of his neck. He’d never been with a man who was so dark that it made him look so pale in comparison before, but, like always, he found it hard to stop staring. They looked good together, objectively, aesthetically. They could be so good. “People still don’t like it. They were bitching about it in the DFAC.”

“Fuck them, what are they gonna do?” Jay asked, stepping in close again to go for another kiss. Reluctantly, Alex dodged it.

“Monroe sent me to find you. Said he wants to talk to you,” Alex told him. His smile faded just a little.

“Okay, then I’ll go, but don’t change the subject,” Jay said, moving his hands to his hips, “C’mon, let’s talk about it. When can we make it public? Or, just, like stop trying so hard to hide?”

Alex stared at him, trying to find a way to say never. If it got back to his father that he was seeing someone in the Air Force, Jay would be so fucked. His career, his life, his entire self would never be the same if his father had a say. That was difficult to explain, especially to someone who had never met the man. But Alex heard it loud and clear when he first met the General and he said, “Manes? I served with your grandpa. Good man.”

He could never be safe and queer here.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Especially not here, not now,” Alex said softly. Jay’s smile dropped and Alex’s heart ached in its wake.

“A,” Jay said, shaking his head, “You said once DADT was gone, we could‒”

“The stigma is still there. We’ll still be targeted and I don’t want that for you, for either of us.”

“Fuck them!”

“That’s not how this works,” Alex said calmly, “These are people we have to fight beside, you can’t make them hate who you are and you can’t not care what they think.”

“I love you,” Jay said desperately, trying to get him to understand how much he didn’t care about anything else. Alex felt his mouth go dry and his eyes widened. “Look, if it’s that bad, let’s leave when our contract is up. I wanna be with you more than I want to be some fucking war hero.” 

“I…” Alex said, clearing his throat as he took a step back, “I’m not leaving the Air Force. I’m not coming out. I’m sorry.”

“Are you serious, right now?” Jay demanded. The hurt was clear on his face and Alex felt so fucking bad. But it wasn’t an option. “So what was all that shit you told me, huh? Just stuff to keep me around so your dick had something better than your hand?”

Alex didn’t know what to say, so instead he said nothing. Jay shook his head and sniffled and suggested that he leave. So Alex left.

The Colonel ended up telling Jay that his sister, a strong willed woman slowly climbing the ranks in the army, had committed suicide. He left after his term was up.

Alex thought about him more than he would ever admit. 

.First Pride.

 “Do you think I look too gay?”

“I am going to destroy that thought process one day. One day.”

Alex rolled his eyes, but Forrest grinned over his shoulder and dragged his hands over his hips and it was hard to be annoyed. Forrest was kind and supportive and brought a side of Alex out that he thought had been long buried. It made him feel a little bit better, a little bit stronger. Something was still missing, but he wasn’t scared anymore.

“But to answer your question, no, you don’t look ‘too gay’. Whatever that means,” Forrest said, “Even if you did, we’re literally going to a pride party so it doesn’t matter.”

“I don’t want your friends to think I’m weird.”

“Alex, all of my friends are queer. All of them. You will be the only straight-passing one there.”

“Straight-passing? That’s a thing?”

“You have so much to learn.”

Alex rolled his eyes again, shaking his head. Forrest just pressed a kiss to his neck before putting his hands on his shoulders, trying to massage out the tension. Alex didn’t think it would work. He was nervous to be so… out there. Sure, he kissed Forrest in the Wild Pony, but that was different. He was high on adrenaline. This was real and prolonged.

This was going to a gay bar with a man on his arm.

He spent a lot of time trying to decipher what exactly out was for him. Was it screaming from the rooftops or was it just being comfortable in his skin? He still wasn’t quite sure. For right now, though, he could try screaming from the rooftops. Forrest seemed to like it and, well, it was better than hiding.

As they made their way towards Planet 7, Alex felt himself get even more anxious. He was so fucking terrified that he was going to do something wrong, that he was going to embarrass himself. He still was trying to comprehend the difference between being too gay and not gay enoguh, where he fit on that scale, if it mattered. 

Forrest said it didn’t matter, but then he would start talking about shit Alex had never even heard of and he suddenly felt like he was bad at being queer. There were so many words he didn’t know, so much he had to learn about not only being a gay man, but the other people who were LGBT+ and the history behind it. It was almost overwhelming. Fascinating, though.

“Hey,” Forrest said as he walked up to a table. It was four of Forrest’s friends, all having colorful hair and having pride-themed makeup. Alex tried not to feel so out of place or envious. He had a feeling that if he met people like this back in high school, he would’ve become someone a lot different. It was hard being the only punk one in Roswell. 

“This must be the boyfriend,” one of Forrest’s friends said. Alex gave a smile and shrugged as Forrest led him to sit beside him at the table. “I’m Em, I use they/them pronouns.”

“I’m Casey, Em’s girlfriend, I use she/they.”

“Ryan, he/him.”

“And I’m Sophie and I use ‘em all.”

Alex hesitantly looked over Forrest for guidance. He just gave an encouraging smile and nodded towards them as if he didn’t feel out of place as it was. But he was willing to try.

“I’m Alex, I use he/him, I guess,” he said. He felt like he was back in basic, starting from scratch on how to interact with people. He didn’t wanna fuck up.

“I may have told them you needed a solid introduction of everyone,” Forrest laughed. Alex tried to laugh a little too and definitely did a lot better once he got some alcohol in his system.

For the next couple hours, Alex mainly listened to them talk, but he wasn’t bored. It was a nice change of pace. No aliens or government conspiracies. Instead, they spoke of politics and movies and books and people. They invited Alex to go with them the next weeked when they planned to give supplies to homeless people (something they did regularly) and tend to the community garden they’d started to supply people who needed it with free food. They didn’t seem to mind that he was learning the proper language or the way to act, they welcomed him with open arms because he was trying to learn. It made it so much easier to relax.

But then Isobel and Michael walked in.

They didn’t approach him, but they waved and he waved back. After a few too many minutes of wondering how the hell Isobel got Michael here, Alex offered to go buy the next round of drinks. He went to stand by them as he did so.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Isobel teased. Alex gave her a warm smile and then did the same to Michael. He looked a little tired, but he was able to smile back easily. 

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” Alex said before ordering the drinks, “Shocked you got Guerin all the way out here.”

“I’m trying something new,” Michael said. Alex nodded.

“I feel that. So am I.”

“How does it feel to be out? I’m loving it,” Isobel said. Alex snorted.

“I know you are,” he said, “But it looks good on you, all the confidence and ‘fuck you’ attitude. Suits you.”

“Speaking of, I’m going to go work on getting laid,” Isobel sighed happily, turning on her seat and heading to where people were congregating and celebrating most. And then there were two. 

“What about you?” Michael asked.

“Hmm?”

“You said all the being out looks good on Isobel. What about yourself?” Michael said, staring at him like he really wanted an answer. Alex licked his lips and thought about it, looking over to where Forrest and his friends were laughing.

“I don’t think I know yet,” Alex admitted, “I’m still trying to figure out what that even means to me, you know? Like Isobel and Forrest, they like that it’s known from the moment someone sees them. And it’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just…”

“Invasive,” Michael noted. Alex nodded.

“Yeah. But it’s better than hiding, so I think it’s good for me.”

“I’m happy for you,” Michael told him and he sounded sincere even as he sipped his virgin daiquiri. Alex smiled.

“Thank you.”

Alex took the drinks back to the table and fit himself back into the conversation. Another couple hours went by before it was nearing its way towards midnight and they decided it was time to go home. They said their goodbyes and nice-to-meet-yous before going their separate ways.

“You were uncomfortable.”

“Huh?”

Alex turned to Forrest who had happily agreed to stay sober to drive while Alex drank to release the tension. The night sky was full of stars and the moon was full and Forrest was smiling, but it didn’t make sense with his words.

“Tonight. Being there made you uncomfortable. Was it the crowd? The rainbows? Just overwhelming in general? Talk to me,” Forrest pressed. Alex licked his lips and shifted in his seat.

“I-I think I’m more of a private person, I guess,” he tried, hoping his words didn’t come off as offensive, “It’s nice being out and proud, but… I guess I still don’t feel like me.”

“You know there’s a middle ground, right?” Forrest said. Alex gave him his full attention, eager to hear about what that might look like. “It’s your business, Alex. Not showing it always doesn’t mean you’re hiding.”

“I guess.”

“Some people that’s who they are, you know? It’s not a bad thing, it’s just who they are, it’s who I am. Our personalities are loud and that part of us shines through. You don’t have to force yourself to be bigger than you are to be queer enough. As long as you feel like yourself then it doesn’t fucking matter,” Forrest said. Alex gave him a confused smile.

“But I thought you said‒”

“Well, maybe I was wrong,” Forrest admitted. Alex relaxed more than he had in awhile. “That was before I got to know you and your past and before I understood that being private didn’t mean you were ashamed. I don’t want you forcing yourself to be someone you’re not for me. You can be Alex Manes, war hero who happens to be gay. You don’t have to be Alex Manes, gay war hero.”

Alex closed his eyes and smiled to himself, feeling better than he had in a long time.

Maybe he could just be him.

.Forever.

“Holy fuck, what did you take?”

“Um, antidepressants?”

A shocked laugh bubbled out of Michael and Alex smiled in response, propping his head up on his hand as he stared at the man he was going to spend his life with. He was all laid out after what honestly could’ve been two hours of fucking outside‒Alex wasn’t sure, he wasn’t really focused on the clock‒and he was in a blissful, sweaty daze. It was one of Alex’s many favorite sights.

After about a year of living in town together and talking about what they wanted to do, the two of them made the unanimous decision to fully renovate Jim Valenti’s hunting cabin and make that their permanent residence. Sure, the drive was a pain, but everything else made it worth it. They had all the privacy in the world to do things like fuck on the daybed Isobel insisted putting on their back porch the minute they mentioned building a pool.

“Aren’t antidepressants supposed to make you less sexually active or something?” Michael asked, slowly regaining his strength and using it to reach for Alex.

“I mean, it’s a common side effect, but I’ve only had that problem a couple times,” Alex admitted, sinking back into the daybed to press a kiss to his sweaty chest. Michael wrapped his arms around him and Alex found himself smiling even wider.

If someone had told him five years ago that he would be happily engaged to Michael Guerin, he would’ve laughed. He never saw himself being in a place where he felt comfortable enough to be in a loving, committed, serious relationship. Every other time, it was so easy to hide‒whether that be hiding in himself or from himself. Michael was the only one who seemed to be on the same wavelength.

It just took him awhile to get there.

“God, I fucking love you,” Michael groaned, squeezing him so tight that Alex couldn’t help but smile so wide it hurt his cheeks. He accepted the kisses that doused his face. 

“I love you too.”

Alex tilted his head up to meet him in a kiss, one leading to another until they were slipping into a lazy makeout session. They would eventually have to get up, clean off, get dress, act like useful members of society, but wasn’t it so much fun to do nothing but enjoy each other?

They were over 30. They’d wasted their 20s being confused and lost and sad and now they were grown ass men and they’d both refused to waste their lives being so miserable. A little bit of therapy and self-inspection had made it clear they just needed to work a bit harder to make that possible. Apparently, they had very similar hangups.

So they adjusted to make things work. Michael assured Alex that he was enough all the time, doting on him in a way that Alex craved and needed so he wouldn’t second guess himself. Alex made sure to always keep Michael in the loop even if it felt stupid, a small but difficult change to make sure Michael never felt like he was going to be left behind. They always let each other know where they were, who they were with, what they were doing. It wasn’t about control, it was about comfort. They’d gone too many years not knowing. It was so much easier to know.

“I was thinkin’ about our wedding,” Michael whispered, breaking the endless string of kisses. Alex smiled at the word. He never in a million year saw himself getting married. But, damn, might as well. “What if we did it in that big church in the middle of Roswell?”

“You wanna get married in a church?” Alex laughed. Michael ran his hand over his chest.

“I mean, not really, but I think it’d be super fucking funny. Besides, wouldn’t that make us the first queer couple to get married inside Roswell lines? That’d be fuckin’ hilarious.”

“Oh, you want our wedding to be funny?”

“I mean, yeah,” Michael admitted. Alex laughed softly and shook his head. “I know you don’t like big stuff like that, but c’mon. We could laugh about it with our grandchildren.”

Alex smiled even bigger and pushed himself up to give him another kiss. Wedding, grandchildren, fiance. He got to use those words all for himself. Wasn’t that wild?

“Okay, let’s do it. Our wedding pictures can have us flipping off everyone.”

“See?” Michael said, “You get it.”

A few more kisses later, they eventually decided to be grownups and they pulled themselves to their feet to go inside and clean up, make dinner, take care of themselves. Everything felt so easy. Sure, bad days came still and arguments still happened, but Alex was happy.

It turns out, while his goal had always been to just be able to relax, the real happy ending was freedom.

And, with Michael, he was free.

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Riding High Ch 11: Thankful for Chicken Nuggets

Chapter Summary: It’s Thanksgiving and Mary’s eating chicken nuggets.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (NSFW, no under 18s thanks!)

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Yeah yeah I know it’s the wrong time of year but hell, we’re all on lock down so the days and months don’t actually exist anyway at the moment…

The Boat Company used here IS an actual company in South Pas, but I got no idea who runs it so this is completely made up- roll with me here.

As always I’m a ho for a REBLOG and COMMENT! 

Series Masterlist  Main Masterlist 

“Good morning hot shot!” Fliss smiled as she held her phone between her shoulder and her ear as she continued to fork up the bedding in the stable.

“Morning sweetheart.” he said softly

“Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Back at ya.” he chuckled softly “You at the yard?” “Yeah, been here a few hours now.” she said.

“Do you need a hand with anything or…” “That’s really sweet but there’s not much left to do.” she said, honestly “They’re all out for the day and are staying there until tomorrow morning so I’ve just a couple of stables and then some paper work to sort out before I pop back this evening to do a check…” “Ok so…” he said, “Once you’re done for the morning you’re free for a while?” “Yeah, why?”

“Mary had an idea…” “I did not!” Fliss heard the 7 year old scoff  “It was your…” “Ok, WE had an idea…” Frank said, and there was some scuffling and Fliss could imagine he was holding Mary at arm’s length as she made a grab for the phone “That maybe you might wanna come join us for dinner if you have time.”

“You mean your Thanksgiving dinner of chicken nuggets?” Fliss grinned “How could I turn that down?”

“Ok, well, just head over when you’re done…” “I might need to head home and shower.” she said, looking down “I’m filthy and probably don’t smell great either to be honest.” “You can change here, I mean...”

Fliss paused, she had a spare change of clothes in her car. Well, a pair of sweats and a different polo shirt. She normally kept them there just in case of a downpour.

“Erm, ok, if you don’t mind…” “No of course not.”

“Alright, then, I’ll see you in about 2 hours or so?” Fliss smiled.

“Great.” Frank replied “See you soon.” ******

Fliss didn’t bother knocking. She opened the door and was immediately barrelled into by a flurry of blonde hair.

“Hey!” she chuckled, dropping her bag “Wanna let me get inside first Stack?”

Mary stepped back and Fliss straightened up and smiled as Frank walked into the kitchen.

He beautiful.” he smiled, dropping a kiss to her lips. Mary sidled off into the main room, a smirk on her face.

“I stink.” Fliss warned “I mucked out 12 stables today…”

“Yeah, you’ve smelt better!” Frank laughed as she snorted. “You know where the bathroom is. Fresh towels in there. You need anything out of this or…” he gestured to her bag, as he went to pick it up.

“It’s just my clothes so…”

“I’ll put it in my room.” he smiled, giving her another kiss. “I would offer to come scrub your back but…” he inclined his head to the main room and Fliss gave a snort.

“Calm down Sailor” she teased “Plenty of time for that later.”

“Promises, promises.” he grinned, picking her bag up and heading through to his room. He dropped her bag onto his bed, glancing round. He’d attempted to tidy a little bit after the realisation she’d actually never been in his room before. After their night together the previous week they hadn’t managed another night alone, Fliss being a little ‘uncomfortable’ at being together like that when Mary was literally outside the door and to be honest, it wasn’t something Frank was particularly happy about either. It had never bothered him before, because Mary was never there when he brought a girl home but this was different. That said, he knew he was going to have to find somewhere bigger soon, Greg had warned him it would likely be a condition of him being awarded Guardianship. He’d be lying if he said it wasn’t concerning him a bit, living pay-check to pay-check didn’t leave him a huge housing budge but he’d work something out, he always did..

Pushing the worry from his mind, he closed the bedroom door and headed back into the room. Mary was sat on the rug looking at the instructions to the new lego kit he had bought her for Thanksgiving.

“Sussed it out yet Stack?” he asked and she gave him a withering look. He bit back the laugh that was bubbling in his throat and sat next to her, taking from her, trying to figure the instructions out to make the Storm Trooper helmet, Star Wars being her latest obsession.

“That’s upside down…” she rolled her eyes, taking it from him to turn it the right way up.

“My bad.” he shrugged, looking at it again. “Ok, so…this piece…and we need one of these…” Together they began to pull together the elements they needed for the first section and the next time Frank looked up was when Fliss walked into the living area, a little shyly, wrapped in a towel. Her long, auburn hair was piled up on top of her head and her shoulders were speckled with water. She smiled as she padded past to his bedroom, Mary not even looking up as Frank watched her with his eyes as she closed the door behind her, giving him another smile. There was something so simple, so domestic about the situation, Frank couldn’t help but feel a warmth in his chest.

Roberta was right, he definitely had it bad.

“When we gonna give Fliss her present?” Mary asked, looking up at Frank.

“After dinner.” he said “Which reminds me, best turn the oven on.”

“Would be a start.” Mary agreed.

Frank rolled his eyes and stood up, heading into the kitchen. Shoving the stuff in the oven, he returned and found Fliss was now sat with Mary who was showing her the instructions.

“I LOVE Star Wars.” Fliss grinned, “So does Bill…he has Cinema Room in the house upstairs and poster from every single Star Wars film on the wall. I’ll show you later tonight.” “A Cinema Room?” Mary asked “Like, with a huge screen?” “Yeah. It’s pretty cool. When I finally get round to buying a house I’m gonna build one too.” “Do you think I could watch something in there tonight?”

“Mary…” Frank started to warn her but Fliss smiled.

“Frank it’s ok.” she said “And yeah, course you can. If you have a favourite DVD we can take that or you can pick. We have loads on the hard-drive and Sky...”

It wasn’t long before they were sat round the small kitchen table which had been pulled into the living room to allow them more room. Frank and Mary both showed Fliss their favourite thing to eat in the world- Chicken Nugget Sandwiches. After a sceptical look, Fliss leaned over to take a bit of Frank’s as he offered it and gave a small laugh announcing that it was actually pretty good. After a large slice of Chocolate cake each that had been made for them by Roberta they collapse onto the sofa, Mary once more on the rug, Fliss groaning about the “food baby” she was growing, rubbing her hand over her stomach.

“Hey Frank…” Mary looked at him. “Is it time now?”

It took Frank a moment and then he realised what Mary was talking about “Oh, yeah, hang on…”

He hopped off the sofa and headed into his bedroom, pulling the small gift bag from his dresser. He walked back into the living room and sat back down, shyly handing it to her.

“This…you got me a gift?” Fliss’ eyes went wide.

“Yeah.” Frank shrugged.

“You really shouldn’t have…” Fliss looked at him “I didn’t get you two anything…” “That’s not the point of giving a gift.”  Mary looked at her sternly. “You don’t give to receive, right Frank?”

“Right.” Frank nodded, leaning back on the sofa, looking at Fliss “And I wanted to…” he gestured between him and Mary where she was sat, Fred crawling into her lap, “…we wanted to, say thank you for everything over the last few months.” Fliss smiled at him and then Frank saw a childish excitement cross her face “Can I open it now?” He nodded, glad she was going to as he wanted to see her face when she did.

With delicate fingers she gently undid the ribbon that the woman at the store had wrapped it with and her mouth dropped open when she saw the white box which was emblazoned with the Pandora name and logo

“Frank…” she looked at him, before she opened the box and looked at the contents. She blinked before her hand gently covered her mouth as she looked down at the silver charm bracelet that was inside.

“I thought it was time you started a new one, for new memories.” he said gently as she reached into the box and gently took out the bracelet which held a single charm in the shape of a boat.

Fliss swallowed, and her eyes filled with tears. “I…” she took a deep breath and Frank frowned as he saw her struggling for composure.

“Hey…” he said, turning sideways on the sofa. His hand gently rubbed up her arm and she fell into him, pressing her face to his chest as he wrapped his arms round her.

“You made Fliss cry…on Thanksgiving.” Mary deadpanned, throwing a ping pong ball for Fred.

“Why don’t you go do that outside?” Frank asked. “Stay on the step.” Mary shrugged and stood up, doing as she was told.

“You ok?” he asked Fliss softly as his hands rubbed at her back. He placed a kiss to the top of her head and she nodded taking a deep breath.

“Sorry, that was…” she sat back, wiping her eyes “Absolutely fucking ridiculous…”

“You do like it right?” he asked, feeling a little nervous.

“Baby, I love it.” she smiled at him, and he felt his chest swell not only at the fact she liked the gift, but that was the first time she’d used that particular pet name…and he kinda liked it. “I just…well, I can’t believe you remembered about my bracelets.”

He shrugged as she reached out to gently cup his cheek.

“Thank you.” she said softly, leaning over to kiss him. He happily leaned into the kiss, his tongue snaking into her mouth, sliding against hers as she met him movement for movement before there was a light cough and Frank groaned, resting his forehead against Fliss’ as he turned to look at Mary.

“What?”

“Need another ping pong ball. The last one flew under Roberta’s BBQ and I aint going under there…spiders and stuff.” She headed to the box at the back of the room, dug in and retrieved a net of ping pong balls, digging one out.

“Wanna go outside?” Frank asked and Fliss nodded. He stood up and held out his hand, pulling her up with him and they headed out after Mary.

A little while later, after a game of tag on the lawn which resulted in both the girls tackling Frank to the floor in a huge tickle fight, Fliss noting that he was ridiculously ticklish and filing it for future reference,  they headed back inside, grabbed their things and after an almost tantrum from Mary who wanted to bring Fred and Frank refusing, they headed off in Fliss’ jeep for the yard to do the final checks for the evening. They were just about to head up to the field to make sure all the horses were settled and the waters were topped up when Bill walked onto the yard.

“Shouldn’t you be with mum getting stuff ready for the party?” Fliss frowned at her dad, surprised to see him.

“Are you joking!” Bill scoffed “You know what she’s like…” he coughed and then put on a light, airey voice “Bill, those champagne flutes are grouped in 3s,not 4s…no, those plates don’t go there, they go there…what are you doing with that cheeseboard, the grapes go in the middle…”

Frank felt his eyebrow raise slightly as Fliss laughed. Champagne, cheeseboards? This was not the type of party he was used to, at all.

“Oh don’t worry…” Fliss said, clocking his face “It descends into debauchery and chaos after about an hour…mum just likes to play the part of hostess with the mostess…”

“I like cheese.” Mary piped up.

“Good, we got plenty of it.” Bill said. “But, anyway, I dropped by for a reason. I picked something up earlier this afternoon that I think you might like.”

“Me?” Fliss frowned, but before she could say anything else Frank’s attention was taken by a man who was walking down the side of the barn. He was tall, slightly taller than Frank, quite stocky and had a shock of dark brown hair and looked ridiculously like Bill. Fliss gave a little shriek and ran towards the man, throwing herself into his arms as he laughed, twirling her round slightly before he dropped her to the floor.

“That’s her brother.” Mary supplied and Frank gave her a look.

“Yeah I kinda figured that.” he rolled his eyes. “How do you know anyway?”

“Saw a photo of him.” Mary shrugged.

Frank turned his attention back to the two siblings and Fliss was now looking better her father and her brother, confusion on her face. “What…I mean, how…”

“In New York for a stag do on Saturday.” he replied “Thought I’d take the chance and pop down here for a day or so…”

“Does Mum know you’re here?” she asked.

“Yeah, she does now.” he laughed “There were a few tears this morning.” “Frank made Fliss cry before.” Mary said, and all attention turned to Frank who hung his head and let out an audibly groan.

“Seriously?” he looked at her as Fliss burst out laughing.

“Because I was happy.” She said, shaking her head “He bought me a new Pandora.” Frank didn’t miss the exchange of looks between father and son, both wearing identical expressions of surprise which morphed into soft smiles as Fliss moved and slid under Frank’s arm.

“Frankie, this is my brother Steve…” she smiled, as Steve stepped forward, holding his hand out. “Or Steeb, Steeby…whatever you want to call him.” “Nice to meet you.” Frank smiled as Steve shook his hand, his grip firm.

“Likewise.” Steve smiled “Heard a lot about you.” he then turned to his left and looked down “And you must be Mary.” “Yup,” she smiled, looking at him “Did you bring your kids?”

“Mary…” Frank said, looking at her and shaking his head.

“What?” She asked, “I was just asking a question…I wanted to meet them.” “No, not this time.” Steve smiled “Just a flying visit. But they’re coming over for Christmas so I’ve no doubt you’ll get to see them then.” he straightened up and smiled at Fliss “Where’s that grumpy ginger Nag?” Fliss narrowed her eyes “Don’t you talk about Heidi like that. She’s in the top field.”

“I thought he was talking about V…” Bill mumbled to Frank who gave a snort, and then looked at the man, the pair of them bursting into laughter. By the time they had composed themselves Steve and Fliss were stood, watching the pair of them, hands on their hips in almost identical poses.

“They do this all the time.” Fliss said, shaking her head “Come on, I’ll take you to see H. I was on my way up to check them all anyway. You coming Stack?” she looked at Mary. Mary grinned and ran forward, linking her hand into Fliss’. Frank didn’t see the eyebrow raised on Steve’s face, before the man smiled softly, dropping an arm round Fliss’ shoulder and pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

*****

Fliss changed quickly when they were home into a pair of jeans, a strappy top and a pair of sandals before the three of them walked over to the house after another near argument about getting Mary to leave the bucket of lego she had brought with her in the annex which Fliss managed to avoid with the mention of the Cinema Room.

The house was busy, not packed but busy, and there was no way Frank was going to remember everyone’s names. But he smiled and shook hands as Bill introduced him to people, and he was surprised to find he felt at ease. Most of the people were older than him and Fliss, bar her brother of course, and it was a different circle and class of people he would normally mix with but he certainly didn’t feel like any of them were looking down at him, a stark contrast to how he used to feel at his Mother’s parties.

Well, they weren’t really parties, more like a gathering which rich snobs used to brag to other rich snobs about how much money they had.

“And this is Mike, Martin and Keith.” Bill said, nodding to the final three men, one of whom was giving Fliss a hug.

“You look great!” she beamed at him “How much weight have you lost now?” “40lb…” the man called Keith nodded and Fliss grinned.

“That’s awesome.”

“All down to the golf.” he smiled, gesturing to Mike, Martin and Bill “These guys drag me up there regularly enough.” “Frank hates golf.” Mary said “Says it ruins a good walk.”

There was a pause as Frank groaned, wanting the ground to open and swallow him. He glared at Mary who looked at him, frowning.

“What?” she asked as Bill suddenly began to roar with laughter, the other men joining in.

Frank shook his head and looked round “It’s just not my thing…”he said, by means of an explanation “I prefer playing basket ball or baseball…”

“Each to their own.” the man called Martin beamed. “To be honest when I was your age I hated it too. Was far more into drinking and women.” “Frank likes that too.” Mary said, and Frank then really did give her a look.

“Shut up.” he said, but of course she didn’t as the men continued to laugh.

“Although I’m glad he finally got together with Fliss, because she’s my favourite. Miss Stevenson would not have been a good choice.” Frank groaned again and he felt Fliss beginning to chuckle besides him.

“Miss Stevenson?” Bill asked.

“We don’t need to hear about that…” Frank said, his neck growing hot.

“She’s my teacher.” Mary nodded “She stayed at our house one night. I wasn’t supposed to be there but I saw her coming out of the bathroom wearing Frank’s sheets and…” “Ok, Mary..why don’t we go and see the Cinema Room…” Fliss hastily cut her off as the 3 men were now all howling with laughter.

“Oh, okay.” she shrugged, before she pondered something “Why was she in your sheets Frank, and not in a towel like Lissy was before?”

At that Bill arched an eyebrow and Fliss felt her cheeks grow warm “I had a shower, I’d mucked 12 stabled out.”

There was a pause before she recovered and steered Mary out of the room.

Frank grimaced and looked back round as Bill patted him on the shoulder, wiping tears of mirth out of his eyes. “I bloody love that kid.”

“She’s yours if you want her.” Frank said “I could gift-wrap her for you. Just say goodbye to your private life being private.”

Thankfully the Cinema Room kept Mary out of the way, especially when she had a stash of popcorn, sweets and soda to keep her occupied. For the next few hours Frank stuck mostly by Fliss’ side, talking to people, chatting to her brother a bit about his job and the business he had taken over from Bill, his kids…but Frank got the impression the man was being a little guarded with him. He was polite enough, and wasn’t being rude but he wasn’t overly warm either. But he supposed that was understandable. She was Fliss’ big brother after all.

Mary came down a few hours later and tugged on Fliss’ hand. Fliss went with her and Frank headed into the kitchen to grab himself another beer after being told by Verity to “stop asking and just go get”. He turned round, flipping the lid off, almost bumping into Bill.

“Sorry.” he apologised to the man who smiled at him as he held the fridge door open.

“There’s someone who just arrived that I want you to meet.” Bill said, gesturing for Frank to follow him. With a slight puzzled frown, did as he was told and wandered through to the large lounge where a number of people were congregated.  

“Frank, this is Alan Maxwell.” he introduced a short, stocky white haired man who was wearing a pair of modern thin-rimmed glasses and a cream blazer over a dark polo necked shirt and dark jeans. Frank took him in, noting his outfit probably cost more than Frank’s entire wardrobe.

“Hi.” Frank said, shaking his hand “Frank Adler”

“The boat mechanic?” Alan asked.

“Yeah…” Frank looked at him then to Bill.

“Alan’s in the Repair and Retail business.” Bill offered.

“I own MarineMax in St Pete’s” Alan smiled.

“Oh on Gulfport?” Frank looked at him and Paul nodded.

“You know it?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” Frank scratch at the back of his neck “I errr, I applied for a job there about 6 years back. But I didn’t have the relevant experience so…” Alan looked at Frank for a moment, “How long you been a mechanic now?”

“Over 6 and a half years.” Frank said.

“And you’re freelancing?” Frank nodded.

“Good success rate?”

“Over 98%.” Frank said “I mean, I only do one boat at a time because I’ve been juggling my hours around Mary for the last 7 years but…” he shrugged “I have regulars who come back so I must be doing something right.” “Could you get references?”

“Yeah.” Frank nodded “Pretty sure I could.”

“Hmmmm.” Alan nodded, looking at Bill who inclined his head towards Frank with a smile.

“I told you, I’ll vouch for him.” he shrugged “He’s sleeping with my daughter after all.”

“Jesus Bill…” Frank groaned as the two men laughed.

“It’s a compliment” Bill smiled “If I didn’t trust you I wouldn’t let you within 3 foot of her”

“Thanks…I think.” Frank looked at him taking a drink of his beer.

“Come see me next week” Alan looked at Frank, pulling a card from his wallet and handing it over “I may have a position you’d be interested in.”

“I errr…” Frank was temporarily sideswiped by the suggestion “I…that would be…”

“I know it will be different to freelance but it’s a full time job, full package of benefits and a negotiable wage plus bonus scheme.” Alan said, “I’m not a huge outfit, but I pay my guys well.” Frank nodded, placing the card in his pocket “I’ll stop by.” “Just give me a call the day before and I’ll make sure I’m around.”

“I will.” Frank nodded. “Thank you.”

Frank made his excuses, realising he hadn’t seen Fliss for a while and headed off looking for her. He moved from room to room, realising there was no sign of her or Mary. He headed into the kitchen and then poked his head out of the large bi-folding doors which led onto the large raised decking area which spanned the length of the house.

“Hey…” Frank spotted Fliss’ brother leaning on the railing, lit cigarette in one hand, beer in the other. “You seen Lissy?”

“She was in the living room last time I saw her.” Steve said chuckling slightly, shaking his head.

Frank frowned at the man’s demeanour and Steve noticed, and smiled. “Sorry, just seems strange. Hearing someone else call her Liss or Lissy other than the family.”

“Yeah, well, I kinda picked it up from Bill and it stuck.” Frank smiled.

“Yeah she doesn’t suit Felicity.” Steve shook his head “Although that’s all he ever fucking called her. Apparently her nicknames were too common.” “Yeah well, he’s a dick.” Frank shrugged

“No arguments here.” Steve said, looking at Frank. Frank watched as the man studied him for a second, clearly thinking about something before he returned to leaning on the rail of the decking, looking down over the huge garden area as he took a final drag from the cigarette, before stubbing it out in the fire bucket to his right.

“Ok…” Frank stepped outside. “Let’s have it.” “Have what?” Steve asked, looking at him.

“The big brother lecture. The one where you threaten to rip my head off if I hurt your sister.” Frank said as Steve gave a huff of a laugh.

“Well, rest assured I will.” Steve looked at Frank as he too leaned on the railings. “But Dad says you’re a good bloke so…that’ll do for me.” Frank nodded and took a pull of his beer “I have no intention of hurting her, in anyway.” he said, his voice loaded with meaning and Steve sighed.

“I know.” he said gently “I just…well, I worry.” “Understandable.” Frank nodded, and it was. He got it, he really did.

“I hated that fucker.” Steve said, shaking his head “right from the start. Smarmy assed, stuck up Yank…oh, sorry, no offence.” Frank laughed “Non-taken.” he waved Steve’s apology away.

“I know she’s only actually my step-sister but well she was only 2 when I met her and…”

“Blood doesn’t make you family.” Frank nodded “If you ever meet my mother you’ll realise that.” “Yeah, Fliss wasn’t very complementary of her.” Steve snorted.

“She called her a cold hearted bitch to her face.” Frank raised an eyebrow as Steve laughed.

“I shouldn’t be pleased at that…” Steve said, smiling “But not long ago she wouldn’t have been brave enough to be that outgoing…” “Oh she certainly isn’t backwards in coming forwards…” Frank shook his head

“Something he managed to suck out of her.” Steve sighed.

“You know, I’d love to get that fucker alone in a room” Frank glowered. “5 minutes, that’s all I’d need.” “Get in line.” Steve said, “Behind me and dad.” “Yeah, Fliss said something about there being a queue.”

“The day she said she was moving to Boston to be with him full time, it was the worst day of my life. And Mum and Dad’s” Steve said, taking another drink. “But we knew if we tried to stop her it would give him the perfect excuse to turn her against us. So what could we do but support it.” He hung his head slightly and Frank’s brow furrowed at the man’s open display of vulnerability

“I wish we’d done more, you know, anything…but we didn’t know how bad things had got. Not that he was hurting her, not like that.” “None of it was your fault.” Frank looked at him. “Or your parent’s. Or Fliss’”

“No, I know that but it doesn’t stop any of us feeling guilty.” Steve sighed. “But, anyway, it’s in the past now. That is until he goes for parole, which he will.” Frank shrugged “We’ll greet that when it happens.”

“Yeah?” Steve looked at him. “You ready for all that? Because I guarantee what she’s told you, well it won’t even scratch the surface Frank.”

“Are you asking me if I’m gonna bail when the going gets tough?”

“Suppose I am, yeah.” Steve looked at him.

Frank took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, quelling the frustration that was brewing at the man’s questioning, reminding himself that he had a right to worry, a right to be concerned. He’d feel the same if it was Diane in this position.

“Look, Steve, I know she hasn’t told me everything. And I’m not gonna push her to either. It isn’t important to me to know every sordid little detail of what that cunt did to her. What is important is that she’s happy with me, and that she feels safe and knows that I’d never hurt her like that and I sure as hell won’t abandon her when the road gets a little bumpy. She was there for me through a very bad time recently and, well…” Frank shrugged “Even if we decide that what we have isn’t working I’d still be by her side.”

Steve’s face remained passive for a second before it split into a grin “I don’t think there’s any worry about that, Frank. From what I’ve seen this afternoon and this evening, Lissy’s besotted. In fact, I’ve never seen her like this before.” Frank felt his cheeks flush a little and he looked down “Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual.”

Steve opened his mouth to say something else but they were interrupted.

“My ears burning?” Fliss asked, eyeing the two men up.

“I was just…making sure his intentions are honourable.” Fliss rolled her eyes with a snort “his intentions are honourable? What are you, like 90?”

Steve shrugged “No, but I’m 3 years older than you and still your big brother Titch…” “Whatever, Steeby.” she moved over to where Frank was stood and slid under his arm “Quit with the 3rd degree or I’ll tell Mum you’ve been smoking.”

“You wouldn’t!” he said in mock horror as she raised an eyebrow. Steve turned to Frank and raised his eyebrow, jerking his head towards his sister “Sure you know what you’re letting yourself in for?”

Frank laughed “her bark is worse than her bite…owww!” he said, as she nipped his arm.

“Sure it is.” Steve winked as h pushed himself off the railing and headed inside.

“Was he being an ass hole?” Fliss watched him go before she turned to Frank and he chuckled, pulling her closer.

“No,not at all.” he said, dropping a kiss to her lips “Where’s Mary?”

“With Dad in the living room with the guys from the golf club.” she said, shrugging.

“No doubt revealing more of my dark secrets.” Frank groaned.

Fliss laughed “Nah, she’s got her lego. Bill and her will have some kind of building contest going on no doubt.”

“I told her to leave those in the annex.” “She did. I took her to get them.” Fliss shrugged

“Seriously?” Frank looked at her, rolling his eyes.

“What?” Fliss looked at him “She was bored and wanted something to do.”

“You’re a pain in my ass.” he said, his arms circling her and she grinned as he dropped a kiss to her lips.

“Hush, Sailor, you love it.” she smirked against his mouth.

“Yeah, yeah I do.” he muttered, pulling her closer for a deeper kiss.

******

It was about midnight when the party started filtering out. Mary was crashed out on one of the sofas so Frank suggested they call it a night and Fliss, feeling the effects of a fair amount of alcohol, agreed. They made their goodbyes and Frank easily scooped Mary up and the three of them made their way, a little slower than usual, to the annex.

Once they’d roused Mary and she’d changed for bed Frank tucked her in, in the bed in the spare room and she was flat out before he even closed the door. He headed into Fliss’ room and laughed as she was led on the bed with her legs over the edge, feet flat on the floor. She was wearing just her bra and jeans, and her arm was bent over her eyes.

“My jeans are too tight.” she said.

“What?” Frank laughed.

“I can’t be bothered to take them off.” she leant up on her elbows and ginned at him “Wanna help me out Sailor?”

“Happily…” he grinned, and moved towards her but she stopped him.

“Ah ah…” she said, pointing to his polo-shirt. “Off.” With an arch of his eyebrow he reached back and grabbed a fist full of his shirt, pulling it over his head. “Better?”

“Yup.” she nodded as he moved towards her, gently dropping down and undoing her jeans. With a tug he pulled them down over her thighs, his hands softly tracing up her skin as she sighed, before his lips met hers.

“You were a hit in there…” she said gently, her fingers tracing the muscles on his arms as he propped himself up over her.

“Yeah?” he asked, gently shifting so that she moved with him, laying further up the bed.

She nodded “Charmed the pants off all the posh bastards you did, Adler.” “There’s only one person I’m interested in charming the pants off.” he quipped and she laughed, shaking her head.

“Smooth.” “Is it working?”

She glanced down. “Nope, they’re still on.”

“Guess I’ll have to use my hands then…” he said, and with a quick move down he slid them over her ankles and gently pressed his lips to her skin, trailing soft kisses up the inside of her leg, nipping at the inside of her thigh. Fliss gave a soft sigh as he moved, his short beard scratching at her skin as he moved, her hands fisting in the sheets. When he reached his target he gently placed a long lick up her entrance, causing her hands to tighten on the soft covers besides her, before one gently fisted in his hair. His lips and tongue gently teased her, all the time Frank relishing the fact that her breathing was quickening as she neared her release, her body writhing in pleasure. It wasn’t long before her hand tightened on his hair and he gave a low moan at her touch, which vibrated through he body, and her hips bucked upwards. Placing a strong arm over her waist he held her down as her knees tightened slightly around his head and she let out a gasp, her arm flying to her mouth to stifle her loud moan as she came hard. Working her through it he then moved back, stripping off the remainder of his clothes before he crawled up her body again, kissing his way up from her naval to her chest. She arched her back and he reached around to unhook her bra before he set his attention to her breasts.

He could listen to the noises and whimpers she was making all day but after a week he was aching for her.

“Need you…” he said softly into her ear and she nodded, her hand gesturing to her bedside table. He paused and pulled open the drawer, and had to smirk as he saw the packet of condoms in there. Pulling one out he opened it, whilst Fliss gently gave him a stroke causing him to hiss slightly, his fingers fumbling on the foil and she grinned.

“Something distracting you Sailor?” “You know damned well what’s distracting me…” he said, his voice almost a growl as her hand moved over his whilst he rolled the latex down.

Her giggle turned to a moan as he buried himself inside her, his entire body feeling coiled like a spring, and his thrusts began as slow, and deep before soon she was begging for more and he picked up the pace, each movement rolling against her spot, causing her to breathlessly whisper his name as he buried his face into her neck, nipping and biting at that spot that drove her wild. At some point she moved, gently pushing on his shoulders, and he understood, rolling onto his back. She moved to straddle him, pulling her long hair over one shoulder as she leaned down to draw him into a deep, sultry kiss before she sank down onto him, taking him in.

“Fuck, Lissy…” he said, his hands gently gripping her hips as she began to move, rolling her pelvis, “God you feel so good…” She preened at his praise, her pace quickening as she leaned forward again to kiss him, a moan falling from her mouth as he raised his hips to meet hers, his fingers tightening on her hips. Frank looked up at her, her mouth slack, lips plump, freckles still visible in the soft light from the outside lights, breasts bouncing softly as she moved.

“So beautiful…” he said, sitting up and she cried out at the change of depth as he pulled her close, thrusting up into her.

“Frankie, I’m…” and with a low whine her head tipped back as her release washed over her, a slow, deep burn which left her slack in his arms, as she collapsed forward. After a few more desperate thrusts he was right behind her, clinging to her, his face buried into her shoulder, his own groans stifled in her skin.

They stayed like that for a little while, both recovering, hands softly dancing over skin before he leaned up to give her a soft kiss.

“You ok?” he asked, and she glanced down at him, her hands cupping his face as her lips ghosted over his.

“Never better.” she whispered to him, kissing him again.

***** Frank woke the next morning and as he blinked, he realised he was alone. Sitting up he rubbed his eyes, before he could hear soft voices from elsewhere in the annex. Grabbing his phone he looked down and with a start realised it was past 10.  Running a hand over his face he climbed out of bed, grabbed his bag and retrieved a clean pair of boxers and a t-shirt before he grabbed his jeans which were now folded and placed over the back of the chair by Fliss’ vanity unit. After sorting himself in the bathroom he made his way downstairs and found Fliss and Mary sat outside in the small yard, an array of breakfast items on the table. Fliss long hair was pulled into a messy pony tail and she was wearing an oversized shirt and a pair of denim jeans. Even like that she looked effortlessly gorgeous.

“Morning.” he greeted, stepping out onto the decking and Fliss smiled at him.

“Hey.” she said, accepting the kiss he dropped onto her cheek before he sat down next to her. “Sleep well.”

“Hmmm I was tired for some reason.” he quipped, causing her to grin.

“Fliss says I can go ride Monty today.” Mary looked at Frank. “Is that ok?”

“It’s not your week for a lesson.” Frank said, “And it’s Friday.”

“It’s ok.” Fliss said “The riding school is shut. Joanne���s done the morning shift so we can just go up this afternoon. I need to work Cap and Bronson but she can ride if she wants.” “Please….” Mary looked at Frank who sighed.

“I’ve gotta nip to the boat yard.” he said, “Got some guy who needs a motor looking at and I said I’d meet him today…” “I don’t wanna go to the boat yard.”  Mary pouted.

“It’s ok, she can come with me.” Fliss offered “I don’t mind, honestly.”

Frank hesitated, he didn’t want Fliss to think she was obliged to take Mary. He knew that the pair of them came as a package but still.

“You sure?” Frank asked “Roberta would normally take her but she’s not back until tomorrow.”

“Yeah, its fine.” Fliss nodded “She can help me and Joanne.”

“Ok, then, yeah, you can go.”

Mary grinned and turned her attention back to her book.

“You want breakfast?” Fliss asked, moving to stand.

“I’ll get it…you stay there.” Frank said, but Mary suddenly jumped up.

“No it’s ok, we made you something special…” With that she shot into the kitchen.

“Special?” Frank looked at Fliss, and she grinned as his lips met hers.

“Yeah…” she nodded to Mary who emerged from the kitchen, giggling. Frank gave a snort of a laugh and shook his head as she thrust the box of Special K into his hands.

“Thanks…” he deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

@momobaby227​​ ​ @marvelfansworld​​​  @cobalt-gear​​  @asgardlover75​​ @jennmurawski13​​​​  @jtargaryen18​​​ @saiyanprincessswanie​​​  @navispalace​​​ @patzammit​​​  @joannaliceevans-fanficblog​​​ ​​ @djeniiscorner​​​  @ayamenimthiriel​​​  @coldmuffinbanditshoe​​​  @disneylovingal​​​ @madzmilllz​​  @sgtjaamesbaarnes​​ @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​​ @southerngracela​ @goldenfightergir​ @kellymat​ @official-and-unstable-satan​ @icanfeelastormbrewing​ @pagesoflauren​

[magicallygrimmwiccan]

You Are Called To The Trees

Summary: Three boys, demons or cursed, end up alone together in the woods. One of them needs to learn to face their past.

Notes: For my lovely friend @the-slinky-to-your-turtle​! Happy birthday, Zoe! 

It was an empty house, once upon a time. It was empty and cold, no scrap of joy or life in the old, broken-down, decaying oak walls. No creature dared to approach it, too intimidated by the sheer aura of rot and ruin that permeated the air around the house. No storm could destroy it. Fire would not burn it. Old age would not crumble it into nothingness. It was almost as if the universe itself wanted the house to stay standing.

It was an empty house, until the boy came. A boy with one hand of pure ice and the other of clawed metal. The boy who once had flowing locks of gold streaming from his scalp, now which were choppy and lifeless. A boy with eyes as frigid as an Arctic glacier, whose eyes held the pain and suffering of entire worlds in their turquoise depths. He did what he could to fix the house. He froze walls upright, he patched holes with snow, he carved new furniture from blocks of ice. The boy of ice was lonely, but he did his best to make the old, abandoned house in the middle of the forest into his home.

It was a lonely house, until the young man came. A young man with eyes of acrid gold, with sharpened teeth, and a predatory smirk. The young man who dressed for his own funeral at an age far too young to consider such tragedies. A young man who smiled to hide the pain and who bled to hide the other pain. He came and helped the ice boy with the house. He conjured food and cozy knickknacks, he shingled the roof so it would stay, he carved a new set of tables and chairs from fallen trees in the forest. The young man who walked with dreams was desperate, yet he did his best to make the old, lonely house in the middle of the forest a welcoming home for the both of them.

It was an unstable house, until the Caretaker came. A lost soul shrouded in navy blue and white, with a tall red hat to warn off predators. The lost soul with multicoloured eyes that glowed at the slightest disturbance and antlers that showed the true emotions lurking in the soul. A lost soul who hid the pain behind a facade of apathy, who poured all humanity into a lantern fed with trees of oil. The Caretaker came and helped the other two with the house. The walls became stabilized, held up by new, healthy trees with strong roots. The interior filled out with all the furniture one could need, made purely from trees and surprisingly comfortable. The kitchen was now stocked with fresh, healthy food. The Caretaker wreathed in plants was sad and empty, so he did his best to make the old, lonely, unstable house in the middle of the forest a perfect home for all three of them.

And so, the three of them worked. They lived and cohabitated and bickered and cried to each other. The desperate young man and the sad ice boy mellowed out and began to find small kernels of true happiness, which pleased the Caretaker. Life was getting better, for most of them, and that was all that mattered to the Caretaker.

“Wirt~! There you are!” Bill yelled. Wirt braced himself as the dream demon tackled him the second he stepped in the door, his arms loaded down with groceries. He had only been gone for two hours. Why Bill insisted upon greeting him as if he had been gone for a year or more eluded Wirt. Small stirrings of something bubbled in his chest, whispering Greg, but he did not allow the stirrings any more power before brutally squashing them down. It was better this way. Who needed emotions?

“Yes, here I am. Am I allowed to set down the groceries, or shall I allow them to spoil?” Wirt intoned, eyes swirling with glowing pastels. Bill just laughed and detached himself from Wirt, beaming that disturbing grin that was far too wide for his face (just like Greg, the voice whispered before he brutally shut it up again, just like Greg).

“Nah, you can set them down. I’m just happy to see you, Tree Boy!” Wirt nodded, not acknowledging this at all, and glided into the kitchen, beginning to put away groceries in their proper places while Bill chattered on and on about something trivial that had happened while Wirt was away. Wirt hummed and nodded at appropriate times to cultivate the illusion of participation and attention and walked back into the living room, only to be tackled by Finn.

“Wirt! You’re back! We’re having a movie night, we need to get ready for it, why are you still in your Caretaker clothing, come on, get moving-” Finn babbled, yanking Wirt back into his bedroom. Wirt merely sighed and allowed himself to be pulled along. He had learned long ago that it was easier to just humour Finn and Bill and go along with their crazed schemes stemming from the strange notion that the three of them were friends, family even, even though Wirt knew that this was extremely false. He kicked Finn out of his room and changed into the clothes that he had designated as his “Movie Night” attire. The soft dark red flannel pants, paired with an oversized navy blue sweater and tall black wool socks, only saw use when a movie night was called. Wirt would never admit, even on pain of death, but these clothes were extremely comfortable. He adjusted the binder under his sweater, took a steadying breath, tucked his lantern into its safe space after making sure it was fueled for at least the next day, and then exited the room, prepared to face a night of animated movies, junk food, and human contact.

“Wirt! Come, sit in the middle, we’ve got your favourite blanket!” Bill called, waving his arm ecstatically. Wirt padded over and sat down, bundling himself in the blanket. Bill had made it, during one of his craft phases. The black blanket with the white trees and white moon had been made first, and while most of the stitches were sloppy, they were firm and held. Wirt loved that blanket.

“What are we watching first?” Wirt inquired, voice flat. Finn beamed and held up a brightly-coloured DVD case, bouncing in his seat in excitement. Somehow, the cursed ice prince always managed to be cheerful, something Wirt did not understand but welcomed nonetheless.

“Up! It’s this really good movie I heard about from the nice librarian in town? Xe think that you’ll like it, Wirt!” Finn chirped. Wirt nodded and settled in, clutching the warm mug of jasmine tea between his long-fingered hands. Finn put the DVD in, and all three settled back to enjoy the film.

It only took ten minutes for Finn to be bawling his eyes out, and while Wirt was not feeling the same, he could understand why. Bill, for once, was not laughing, and was instead trying to comfort Finn. Wirt just kept watching the film, intrigued as to where they could go from there. Finn calmed down fairly quickly, and the trio once again settled in to enjoy the film. That is, until a certain Boy Scout was introduced.

At first, Wirt ignored the aching in his chest. He had been binding frequently lately; his ribcage was most likely just protesting his poor decisions. He would simply remove the article in between films, and everything would be fine. The ache, however, kept growing, reaching out from his chest into his stomach, his limbs, his jaw, his eyes, his brain. Bill glanced over, head tilted, and Wirt waved him off. He just needed to take a break from the binder for a few days, that was all. His eyes began to burn and the screen blurred and his hands began to shake and clutch so tightly at the mug that hairline fractures appeared on it, and Wirt finally began to admit to himself that something may, in fact, be horribly wrong.

“Hey, Wirt. Can you look at me?” a soft voice cut through his thoughts. Wirt blinked, his eyes still clouded, but managed to make out a yellow and black blur in front of him. The mug of tea was gently extracted from his hands, and he was pulled down into someone’s side as a hand began to run through his hair and another one grabbed his own hand.

“Okay, I think I know what’s going on, but I need you to listen, okay?” Wirt nodded. “You were muttering about Greg. Who is Greg?” Wirt’s throat closed up, and the blur sighed. “I know who Greg is, Wirt. I was asking for you. You’re repressing, and you need to let it all out.” Wirt shook his head, and the blur sighed again before picking Wirt up from the couch. “You’re going to take a nap, and we’ll talk about this later, okay Tree Boy?” Wirt tried to protest, to leave, to stop Bill (he knew what was coming and he didn’t want this-), but with a simple kiss on the forehead, Wirt was asleep, spiralling slowly downward into his dream world.

He landed in the forest, sunlight streaming through the branches and warming his skin. Wirt glanced around, brow furrowed in confusion. Why was he here?

“Hey Wirt!” a cheery voice chirped. Wirt’s blood chilled and he spun around to face a beaming six-year old with a teapot on his head and an intelligent frog in his arms. Greg. Images flashed through Wirt’s mind, of Greg wrapped in edelwood, of Greg almost drowning, of Greg almost dying over and over and it was all Wirt’s fault-

“I’m glad you found some friends to take care of you while I try to find you,” Greg continued. Wirt stopped breathing. What… what had Greg just said? “I’m not giving up on you, Wirt, but I’m glad you have someone to take care of you while I’m not there.”

“... what do you mean?” Wirt whispered. Greg was dead, wasn’t he? He… he had killed his younger brother, hadn’t he?

“I mean we’re getting close! I met these other really nice people— Mabel, she’s looking for her twin, and Bubba and Marshall, they’re looking for this person named Fionna— and we’re coming to find you! But I know I can’t be here, and I know you’re doing the Wirt Thing where you blame yourself and ignore your feelings. But you have people who will make sure you don’t do that!” Greg began to fade away at the edges, and his smile turned sad. “I love you, Wirt. I’ll see you soon.”

“Wait! Greg! Don’t go! I’m sorry!” Wirt yelped, lunging forward. He collided with the ground and let out a sob before-

“Wirt! Wake up!” Finn yelled. Wirt shot upright, gasping, crying, shaking, and was wrapped in a cold embrace. Finn whispered soothing words into his ear as Wirt cried, rocking him back and forth. “You’re fine, Wirt, it’s okay, it’ll all be okay.”

“Wirt, we’re here, okay? Just let it all out,” Bill’s voice soothed before Wirt was wrapped into another hug. And there, Wirt fell asleep again, in the arms of his friends— no, family. The three of them had a long road ahead of them, of course, but Bill and Finn promised, in that moment, that they would make sure Wirt was okay. No matter what.

[captainvictoryboat]

Behind The Scenes 4 (1/?)

Author’s note: So all this scene is from my rough draft (and the part from the sneak peek) so i am sorry that if some details aren’t too good and all. Again, I’m sorry that i cant finish the series, but as i explained i just can;t keep writing this anymore. I will also not be putting the link to the other parts because for some reason i can’t get it to work. So think rest of the posts will be in my blog profile.

This posts wont be linked to the rest of the series, they will just be linked to each other (when i post the rest of what i have) since there are not too many posts. This series also does not have it’s own GIF since i finished neither BTS 4 or the GIF for it. 

Summary: Jin finally sees Jinjin after the tour.

Word Count: 4013

WARNINGS: Physical abuse

Part 2| ALL PARTS 

This is my GIF. I made this for the last part, but i didn’t make a new one.

It was a cold 6 am as he walked down the snow packed sidewalk toward the familiar neighborhood. The exhausting performance of the night before were over ridden by the excitement he had over today.

In one arm he carried a bag of gifts meant for his son while his other arm adjusted the strap of his backpack filled with a change of clothes and other essentials.

Throughout his relatively quiet walk, he mentally prepared himself to the idea of sleeping on the floor of his son’s room for the next few nights and he day dreamed of the activities he had planes for the both of them.

Suddenly there was a distant sound of annoying barks that busted him out f his bubble. Soon he saw a tiny dog appeared almost out of nowhere. It was dressed in a pink sweater with matching pink booties and it was dragging a blue leash from its collar.

It yapped as it ran awkwardly in his direction. Jin couldn’t care less about the dog. He didn’t pay much mind to it until it began nipping at his pant leg. Under normal circumstances, he would have kicked the dog off and walked away, but today was different. Not even the annoying pup could piss him off this early, heck, he even found the small animal to be a bit cute.

He placed down his bag of gifts and picked up the golden furball.

“And who are you?” he asked it.

He noticed the dog’s purple collar “Hmm, let’s see, your name iiiiis… Peach? Wait… isn’t that the names of Jinjin’s dog?” he asked himself.

He brought the dog closer to his face to make eye contact with it. “Are you Jinjin’s puppy? Huuuuh? Are you?”

“Peach?!? Peach?!? Where are you?!?” Jin could hear a small voice from the direction he saw the dog run from.

Within 2 seconds, his now six year old son appeared from around the corner. Jinjin was in his thickest green jacket, a pair of black sweatpants (probably wearing a second pair under them) and in his snow boots. Wrapped around the little face that looked so much like his father’s, was his favorite Mario themed scarf and atop his head was a red beanie with a Mario logo.

“Peach?!? Peach- Dad? Daddy?!?” his son’s eyes lit up when he spotted him. “Daddy!” he squealed as his small legs moved faster.

Jin stood frozen as he took in the image of his son. Jinjin had grown taller since he last saw him. The chubby cheeks he pinched so much were not as chubby as they used to be and he shaven hair was now long enough to be combed down and poke out from his beanie.

Jin placed the dog down, leash still in hand, and opened his arms for his son to run to him.

Jin’s heart melted when Jinjin’s little body jumped to him.

“Daddy, daddy, daddy!” Jinjin chanted as he wrapped his arms tight around him, “Finally you are home!”

Jin didn’t care of his son’s cheerful and loud voice would wake neighbors, he was just happy to see his boy. “Ugh, I missed you Jinjin!” he pulled his mask off and covered his son’s face with kisses. “But, my little Jinsoo, what did I tell you about talking to strangers?!? For all you know, I was a bad man that could have stolen you!” he said with a slightly serious tone.

“But I knew it was you! You always wear the same bear mouth!” his son stated as he pointed to the bear mouth print on his face mask.

“Aish, you got me there, but why are you out here by yourself?!?”

Jinjin shook his head. “I am not alone. I was with Peach and Greg!”

“Greg? Who the fu- Who is Greg?”

“Jinjin?!? Jinjin where are you?!?” a man’s voice called out.

From the same corner his child came from, emerged a tall, thin man. Even at a distance it was easy to tell the man was taller than Jin. What was most noticeable was the blond hair that refused to stay in his black beanie.

“I’m over here!” Jinjin shouted as he waved his arms in the air.

The stranger’s blue eyes locked on Jin and his long legs pushed through the snow. “Hey! Put that boy down!” he shouted with an awkward accent.

Jin simply scoffed, “No!”

The “Greg” person was soon two strides away, his arm already loaded to land a punch when Jinjin finally said. “Greg, look! My dad is here!”

Instantly, Greg stopped in his tracks, slipping on the ice a bit. It took him a moment to catch his balance. “Oh!” he huffed. His cheeks grew even more red. “So, uh, you must be Seokjin?”

“The one and only.” Jin half smiled.

Greg nodded. “I’ve, uh, heard a lot about you…” he mumbled as his eyes danced between Jin and his son.

“And you are?”

“Oh! Where are my manners?” he gave a quick bow and then his hand shot out to give a handshake. “I’m Greg! I-“

“He’s mom’s boyfriend!” Jinjin finished

Jin’s eyes narrowed at the flushed faced man. “I didn’t know that Mina was in a relationship… and with a foreigner no less” he added under his breath.

“Dad, who is Mina?” Jinjin asked in confusion.

He couldn’t help let out a chuckle at how adorable his son was. “Jinjin, that’s your mom’s name.”

“What?!? Mommy’s name isn’t mommy?”

“I can’t believe I missed out on all this cute!” Jin smiled as he squeezed his son’s still pinchable cheeks.

Jin turned back to the man. Greg’s hand was still out for a handshake. However, instead of shaking his hand, he gave him the dog’s leash. “So, Mina’s boyfriend?” He asked in a darker tone. “How long has this been going on?”

“Almost a year.”

Jin blatantly scanned Greg from head to toe. “A year? Is that so? And where are you from Greg? You obviously aren’t from here.”

“I’m from England.”

“And you met Mina how?”

“Friends of friends.” Was Greg’s vague answer.

“I see… Well… Why don’t we get out of this cold?” Jin suggested with a fake smile

The walk to the house was not as awkward as it could have been, Jinjin spoke the whole time. He mostly talked about being so excited for Jin to come home that he stayed up all night and that Greg suggested they walk Peach as they waited for him. His son was a good distraction to his boiling rage. However, just like the small dog, this Greg guy wasn’t going to be enough to upset Jin, at least not yet anyway.

-

His ex stared at him in confusion. “Seokjin? I didn’t expect you here this early.” She said as she let them in the warm house.

“Well hello to you too. As I recall, I told a little someone that I would be here first thing in the morning.” Jin turned to the boy in his arms in fake anger. “Jinjin, I thought I told you to tell your mother.”

“Haha, I forget!”  Jinjin admitted as he hid behind his hands.

His ex rolled her eyes, “That’s what happens when you trust a six year old.”

Jin scoffed.” One has no other choice than to trust a six year old when the mother is acting like a six year old and won’t pick up her phone!” he said through his teeth

“Not answering my phone doesn’t make me a six year old. I was just busy doing some adult things.” She smirked, her eyes gliding towards Greg.

“So that’s what you do instead of being a mother?” Jin asked out right.

Mina’s head whipped back at him, her eyes warning him not to start anything,

He tried hard to hold himself back from doing something he would regret.

“C’mon Jinjin, why don’t we go up to your room and you show me your toys.” he huffed. Jin walked up the stairs, escaping the woman he only somewhat regretted meeting, carrying the boy that made up for that mistake.

He entered Jinjin’s room, it only looking slightly different from when he last visited a few years ago. The walls were still blue, covered in all things Mario. There were more toys thrown everywhere if anything and the bed was a bit bigger for his growing frame.

Jinjin slid out of his hands and ran over to his toy box. “Daddy! Do you want to see my toys?”

“Jinjin I think that can wait a minute. Why don’t you let daddy test out your new bed?” He suggested as he threw himself into the mattress. The bed was too small for him and his feet hung over the edge, but he was so tired, it didn’t matter.

“Jinjin, it is really early, why don’t we take a nap.” He yawned.

“Ok!” Jinjin moved some of the small toys he had left on his bed and crawled up next to him, still dressed in his outside clothes. With his son nestled in his arm, Jin fell to sleep quickly.

-

He awoke to the feeling of little fingers trying to pry his eyes open. “Jinjin, why aren’t you letting daddy sleep?”

“Cake?”

“Jinjin, it is still morning.” He stated as he took a look at his cellphone screen showed 10:45 am.

“But cake!”

He stood up from the bed and took a quick stretch. “Jinjin, let me show you the gifts I got you! We will make the cake later.”

He grabbed his backpack, kneeled by the bed and called Jinjin over.

“Wait! Where is Peach? I want her to see my presents with me!” Jinjin jumped from the bed. “Peach!” he called out as he ran out of the room.

He soon returned carrying his tiny dog. Jinjin jumped on the bed and made Peach sit next to him. “Peach are you ready?” he asked the dog.

Jin kept the bag hidden behind the bed.

“Okay, here is the first present!” At random, he pulled out the gift Jackson had picked out for him. “So this is from your daddy’s friend Jackson. You remember Jackson from GOT7 right? He knew you liked Mario and picked this out because he thought it was a mushroom from Mario” He lied.

Jinjin snatched the box, examining it up close. He was neither frowning nor smiling at his gift. “Hm… Pokemon… I don’t know pokemon a lot.”

“But?”

“But what?”

“But, it is still nice that he remembered you and likes you enough to buy you a toy right?” Jin said, pulling the gratitude out of his only slightly spoiled son.

“Yeah!” Jinjin smiled. “Can you tell him thank you!” he asked, remembering his manners

“Of course! Now time for the stuff I got you!”

Jinjin’s eyes widened once more and he pulled himself up straight trying to peek over the edge of the bed.

“Ok, so I ordered this online so I left it in the box. I only took it out to make sure it was the right size.”

He handed Jinjin the box and the young one attacked it. The box flew across the room as Jinjin found the Mario onesie within it.

“Wow!” Jinjin cheered. “I can be Mario!”

He didn’t even waste time. He ripped off his top winter layer and pulled on the onesie. When all was done, it was only a size or two too big. Good, so that it would last him a while.

“It fits!”

Jin couldn’t help but smile as Jinjin ran over to his Mario hat and put it on.

Jin then pulled out the next gift. “I was in Japan and I remembered how you told me your DS broke, so I got you a new one! They ran out of red ones, but I got you a green one.”

Again Jinjin was in a fit of glee, jumping onto his father with open arms.

Jin’s last gift was a handful of age appropriate games for the new DS, that only made Jinjin more excited to play it.

It wasn’t until his son had calmed down and was indulged in one of the new games, that he decided to get serious.

“Jinjin?”

“Huh?” Jinjin’s eyes were glued to the double screens.

“Why didn’t you ever bring Greg up before?” He asked this softly, scared that Mina could be in the hall and overhear.

“Mommy said not to.” Jinjin said in a zombie like tone.

“Why?” He could feel his anger toward his ex growing.

All the small boy did was shrug his shoulders

“Jinjin, what else has Mommy told you not to tell me?” He tried to keep his voice calm.

“Um…” Jinjin was too focused on the game to really think.” Uh.”

“Jinsoo, pause the game.”

Jinjin did as told. “Um, we might go to Greg’s house this summer.” He finally said.

“Greg’s house? Where exactly is Greg’s house?”

Jinjin shrugged again. “In English. That is what mommy said.”

“English? What do you- England?!?

“Yeah that!” Jinjin said as he played his game again.

“That motherfucking bitch!” Jin thought. “First she doesn’t tell me about that buck-tooth brit and now she is going to take my son to England!” he stood up. “Jinjin, why don’t you put that game away and let’s go down to the kitchen and start baking your cake.” He needed to get his mind off this. He couldn’t afford to get mad now. He wasn’t going to let that bitch ex of his ruin his mood.

Now in the kitchen, Jin searched for the ingredients. He let the stories of Jinjin’s last few months drain out the sounds of Mina’s and Greg’s giggles coming from the living room.

“Uh-huh… Wow…That’s great Jinjin…” He said robotically.

His frustration grew as his search came to an end and the only ingredients he had were eggs.

“What the fuck?!?” he grunted so that Jinjin couldn’t hear him.

He took a deep breath and decided to look a second time. This time with each failed attempt, he was beginning to slam the cabinets and drawers shut harder and harder.

Jinjin not at all phased by his father’s little tantrum, continued to play on the floor with Peach still in his Mario onesie.

However, the boy’s mother soon walked in.

“Jinjin, is that you playing hide and seek with Peach again?” she asked as she walked into the room. She still had a hint of a smile on her face.

Just seeing her face made Jin pissed. “Where the fuck are the fucking ingredients I asked you to get?!?” he snapped

“Ooh! Dad said a bad word!” Jinjin snickered. “Now you have to put a dollar in the swear jar!”

Jin quickly realized that he was still in the presence of his son and tried to calm down for a moment. “Jinjin, take Greg up to your room and show him the presents I got you.”

“Ok!” Jinjin jumped up and ran to the living room. “Greg! Greg! Come see my presents!”

Jin’s angry eyes then locked on Mina once more. Her arms were crossed and she was rolling her stupid ass eyes at him. “I was busy.” Was her sad ass excuse.

“Busy being a whore?!?” he spat

She furrowed her brow at him. “Just because I have a boyfriend doesn’t make me a whore! I have a fucking life Seokjin! I got out, I work, I take care of Jinjin all by myself!”

Jin couldn’t help but laugh at her saying the word “work”. “What do you mean you work?!? You make crappy ass DIYs and sell them to fat lazy bitches online! I am the one that works! I am the one that is providing for you and Jinjin!” he reminded, slowing moving in on her. “I am working my ass off and worried about my son and your over here fucking some random dude!”

“Don’t give me shit just because you are jealous!” she had the audacity to say.

Again he couldn’t help but laugh at her stupidity. “Jealous? Me? Me?!?”. He took a big step towards her. “If anything I feel nothing but pity for Greg because he hasn’t found out what a stupid conniving little bitch you are!” he said through his teeth.

She squinted her beady eyes at him. “I am neither stupid or conniving!” she stated in an actual attempt to defend herself.

Jin pushed her up against the fridge, “Yes you are!” he growled.

“How so?!?” she stood back up only to get pushed back again.

“How about lying about your parents kicking you when they found out you were pregnant. That you wanted to live with me because they were going to force you to have an abortion and move you away somewhere else?!? Or how about threatening to have an abortion when I wanted to break up with you when I found about that lie?!? Then going above and beyond to keep me away from my son for two years, but still take my money to pay for your damn lifestyle!”

“Fuck you!”

Ticked off by her voice, his hand cut through the air and slapped her across the face.

Her hand covered her throbbing cheek, but she still didn’t seem to want to back down.

“And then, you go and bring this European motherfucker into my house and you bring him around my son-“

“He is my son!”

Again his hand attacked her cheek. “How dare you introduce him to Jinsoo! I will die before I let some other motherfucker raise my son! And how stupid can you be to trust someone who can expose everything at a whim?!? He can tell everyone that Jinsoo is my son! The whole world will turn on Jinsoo if they find out!”

“Oh so you can date and let some random bitch around Jinsoo, but I can’t do the same?!?”

Jin could not believe what he was hearing. “Who the fuck could I possibly be dating?!?”

“I know you and Y/n are dating!” she accused.

“How fucking stupid are you?!? Jungkook fucking proposed to her last night you stupid bitch!”

“Oh please! I know you are fucking her! I see the pictures of you and her that Jinjin refuses to remove as his home screen on that stupid tablet you got him. All he ever talks about is dad and y/n dad and y/n dad and y/n!”

“You’re such a fucking-“

This time it was her hand that slapped him. “No! Don’t you dare finish that sentence! I know for a fact that you are dating her! Jinjin told me you all slept in the same bed together!” Mina was too busy blabbing away to notice the fury in Jin’s eyes, his nostrils flaring, his knuckles turning white.

“She and Jungkook are fake and are covering the fact that you are dating her! You all say they have been dating for two over two years or whatever, but she never showed up until a year ago and a half ago! That doesn’t add up! So If you get a girlfriend, I sure as hell can get a boyfriend, so don’t-“

It wasn’t until he punched her mid sentence that Mina let out a scream loud enough to be heard through the house.

He continued to punch her in a fit of rage.

“You fucker!” Greg’s irritated voice shouted as he tackled Jin off Mina. He was able to pin Jin down and unleash a series of blows.

Jin however was not as overpowered as Greg thought. Despite his larger frame, there wasn’t much power behind Greg’s hits. He was nothing compared to Rap monster, Jungkook or V.

All Jin did was let out a grunt as his hands clamped down on Greg’s sweater and pulled him down until their foreheads collided. It was a risky move, but an effective one. Jin wasn’t that dazed and he was able to pin Greg down. Now he was the one on top and he showed Greg what real punches were supposed to feel like.

“So you- think that- you- can just- walk up in- here- like you- own the place?!? You think-you can just- take my place,- take- my family?!?”

His knuckles were more and more raw as he continues beat on Greg, who proved to be a bigger wimp than he thought.

What Jin didn’t see coming was Mina hitting him over the head with the kitchen wok. The slam to the head was enough to daze him but not knock him out

He struggled to his feet and his eyes locked on Mina once again. “Fucking bitch!” he groaned

He made his way up to her only having the strength to pounce on her and bring her to the ground. With the wok out of her hand, she screamed out in fear, her only other form of defense lay across the kitchen floor in pain. “Jinjin! Jinjin! Jinjin call the police!”

“Shut up!” Jin slapped his hand over her slobbery mouth.

He was yelling now. He could feel his throat on fire, but he couldn’t actually hear himself say anything.  At this point he had no control over what he was doing. Not even as his fists continued to hit Mina. They just hit and hit and hit. He let himself go wild because how dare she. How dare she risk ruining the plan they kept up for so long, how dare she decide things for his son without his knowledge, who was she to judge him when she knew nothing about anything!

“Mommy!” Jin heard a small cry.

He looked up to find Jinjin standing frozen a few feet in front of him.

Jin stopped immediately “…Jinjin…?” He moved toward him, but at his slightest movement he saw his son flinch.

Instantly Jinjin began to hyperventilate, his young eyes scattered around the room absorbing the scene in front of him.

“…Jinjin…” He said softly as he slowly lifted himself off the floor.

At that move, tears leaked out of the boy’s eyes, terrified of being the next victim.

“Jinjin run!” Mina screamed in her muffled sobs.

“Shut up!” Jin shouted automatically.

This only made Jinjin scream and cry more. He dropped the new DS he had been clenching on to, covered his ears and crouched into a small ball.

Suddenly Jin was tackled down once more and Greg’s wiry body was pinning him down. “Jinjin run to your room!” he ordered as he landed a punch on Jin.

The life left his body as he heard little foots steps run up the stairs and slam a door shut.

Greg got a few good punches in before Jin came to his senses. With one hit, Greg was down. Jin jumped up from the floor and ran to the stairs. He took three steps at a time until he reached the top

The only door closed was the bathroom and he ran to it as fast as he could. The door was locked of course, but just fidgeting with the doorknob, Jinjin began to cry from the other side.

“Jinjin, open the door!”

“No! “his son screamed.

“Jinsoo… please open the door.” He said in a softer tone. He could feel his heart tearing as he heard Jinjin continue to cry. He felt a lump in his throat as he forced out the words “Jinsoo please, please, please open the door.”

Still there was no response other than crying.

“Don’t fucking talk to him!” Mina’s shrill voice screamed.

Jin turned to his right. Mina stood at the end of the stairs. Her face was bloody, her clothes a mess. In her hand she held a frying pan that she kept aimed at him. “Fucking leave!”

Greg soon appeared behind Mina, armed with a kitchen knife.

“Greg called the cops, so leave now before I tell them exactly what happened when they get here!”

“…Jinjin …” he tried one more time.

“I said leave!” Mina screamed loading the pan behind her head.

“…Fine…” Jin sniffled.

Eventually i will post the next part. There aren’t too many posts so after the official parts, I am going to post the outline i have and the few pictures of the edit.

If you have any feedback or questions about the series. feel free to send me an ask or a message.

[robertkstone]

2017 Jaguar F-Pace Long-Term Verdict

We fell in love with the sporty style and sharp handling of Jaguar’s F-Pace at our 2017 SUV of the Year competition, but a starchy ride and polarizing interior torpedoed it from the top spot. Still, we had to know what a yearlong jag with this all-new Jag would be like. Could we deal with the stiff suspenders? And what of the whispers of questionable reliability? Thirteen months of “loanership” later, we have plenty of miles and, oddly, some feelz (as the kids say).

As I live only 3 miles from work and travel regularly, I cannot take credit for all 22,431 miles we racked up. It took an army of commuting colleagues and long-distance haulers to spin the odometer, from social media editor Carol Ngo, to photographers Jade Nelson and Robin Trajano, to online pros Colin Woodard and Erika Pizano.

Everyone raved at the F-Pace’s curb appeal. “Beautiful design and everyday usability,” Instagrammer-in-chief Ngo noted.

I too liked how it looked from the beginning all the way to the day we handed the keys back. This is pretty rare, as I normally go blind to my long-termer after a two- to three-month honeymoon. But even to my jaundiced eyes, the F-Pace looks as fresh as ever. Taut, muscular, well-proportioned, and perfectly sized for my ’hood and lifestyle.

As Carol notes, the flexibility of this two-row, midsize SUV is compelling. Surfing is my regular thing, and fitting 6-foot boards in bags with either the 60- or the 40-side seat folded down was never an issue. The optional heavy-duty rubber mats in the cargo area and footwells were also a godsend for containing sand and moisture.

Our F-Pace even does a pretty good job as an impromptu shelter, associate online editor Woodard noted: “When we forgot our tent on a camping trip with features editor Scott Evans and his wife, my wife and I spent the weekend sleeping in the F-Pace. It wasn’t the Four Seasons, but we actually slept pretty well. We even had a good view of the stars thanks to the panoramic moonroof.”

For me, the drive was like a broken-in pair of jeans by the end of our loan, but only in “light load” mode, with 9 pounds of air pressure removed from each tire. At factory specs, the F-Pace’s ride crashes over the line of acceptably stiff. If you’re going to live with this vehicle in an area with especially bad pavement (hello, Detroit), consider avoiding it entirely—or swapping to a tire and wheel combination that gives you more bump-soaking sidewall.

The 340-horsepower V-6 took a second to spin up, but once underway it was always ready to punch holes in traffic, with a satisfyingly hollow growl. I spent the first 5,000 miles driving around in Normal mode and most of the rest of the time in ECO, which limbers up throttle response and aims for the most efficient gearing. Mother Earth–loving chill-out modes like this usually come at the expense of immediacy, but Jaguar’s ECO mode is one of the best. It didn’t turn the F-Pace into a penalty box in exchange for fair fuel economy. The 35t powertrain struck quite a nice balance, so it’s a shame the engine is an orphan, launched in year one as a stopgap ahead of the turbo four-cylinder gas and diesel options (a 380-hp version of the engine remains available, however).

All 2016 and newer Jaguar vehicles come with “EliteCare,” which is a limited warranty covering five years or 60,000 miles, complimentary scheduled maintenance, roadside assistance, and updates to the infotainment system (which are regular). Jaguar claims EliteCare is best in class, and a quick check of the competition reveals that to be true, sorta. Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz offer fewer years and/or miles on their warranties. The only one that matches Jaguar (and betters, with an additional 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty) is Genesis—but it does not currently have a CUV that rivals F-Pace.

The only mechanical issue we had with our vehicle was the combined ignition and auto stop/start gremlin, which was covered for free under EliteCare. While in for that service, we requested a four-wheel alignment that cost $99.00.

At the very tail end of our loan, our F-Pace did start to creak a bit coming in and out of driveways and over speedbumps, similar to the way our long-term BMW M3 did. I didn’t get a chance to have the dealer check out the problem to see if it was pieces and parts of the interior rubbing or the dust-in-the-door-seals issue we discovered in our BMW. That will unfortunately remain a question, but for the record, our F-Pace never left us stranded or completely failed to start, and none of the major systems threw error codes or warning lights. For at least one of the aforementioned road warriors, this wasn’t enough.

“I’m torn on the F-Pace,” Woodard said. “It sounded great, the V-6 made plenty of power, and it ended up being surprisingly fun to drive. It was also a practical daily driver, offering plenty of room for four adults, a week’s worth of groceries, and with the rear seats down, two bicycles. On the other hand, it had way too many electrical issues for a new car. From the infotainment system regularly glitching to the rearview camera occasionally not coming on when I put the car in reverse and all the surprise shutdowns, there was just too much that kept going wrong. Jaguar has some work to do before I’d feel comfortable recommending the F-Pace to a friend or family member.”

I can recommend an F-Pace, new or off-lease, provided interested parties are fully informed of the issues we had. Part of this is because of a new wrinkle to my loanership experience this time around: I discovered the extremely helpful world of online forums. After publication of our F-Pace intro, Greg Craig, an owner of the more powerful F-Pace S, reached out with the helpful suggestion to reduce my tire pressures and to consult the community at fpaceforum.com if I ever needed assistance. And so I did, about random topics including the stop/start issue, updates to the ICTP system, and creaks at 22,000 miles. The ability to compare notes and seek advice from a community was helpful and reassuring.

As my time with the orphan F-Pace 35t drew to a close, I found myself oddly sad about its departure. I’m normally an “on-to-the-next” kinda guy, but this Jaguar had character rare in modern cars, beauty and athleticism I never tired of, and flaws that weren’t deal breakers.

Read more about our long-term 2017 Jaguar F-Pace:

Arrival

Update 1: Baseline Testing

Update 2: How to Improve Ride Quality

Update 3: Coconut Juice Eco Mode

Update 4: Ride Quality and Key Fob Foibles

Update 5: Auto Stop/Start/Restart Part 1

Update 6: Auto Stop/Start/Restart Part 2

Our Car SERVICE LIFE 10 mo / 15,592 mi BASE PRICE $57,295 OPTIONS Technology pkg ($3,200: touch-screen infotainment, navigation, 60GB hard drive, CD/DVD player, 3G WiFi w/3 mo free data, TFT/LCD instrument panel, Meridian 825W audio w/17 speakers); Comfort and Convenience pkg ($1,800: ventilated front seats, heated rear seats w/pwr recline, remote 2nd row release, gesture tailgate release); metallic paint ($550); 20″ Blade wheels ($500); Rubber mats/cargo nets ($407), Activity key ($400), Gloss black roof rails ($350); Wheel locks ($191); Car care kit ($50) PRICE AS TESTED $64,743 AVG ECON/CO2 20.6 mpg / 0.94 lb/mi PROBLEM AREAS Auto stop/start MAINTENANCE COST $99 alignment NORMAL-WEAR COST $0 3-YEAR RESIDUAL VALUE* $52,500 (81%) RECALLS None *IntelliChoice data; assumes 42,000 miles at the end of 3-years

2017 Jaguar F-Pace 35t R Sport POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT Front-engine, AWD ENGINE TYPE Supercharged 90-deg V-6, alum block/heads VALVETRAIN DOHC, 4 valves/cyl DISPLACEMENT 182.8 cu in/2,995 cc COMPRESSION RATIO 10.5:1 POWER (SAE NET) 340 hp @ 6,500 rpm TORQUE (SAE NET) 332 lb-ft @ 4,500 rpm REDLINE 6,500 rpm WEIGHT TO POWER 13.0 lb/hp TRANSMISSION 8-speed automatic AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE RATIO 3.73:1/2.49:1 SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR Control arms, coil springs, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, anti-roll bar STEERING RATIO 15.1:1 TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK 2.5 BRAKES, F; R 13.8-in vented disc; 12.8-in vented disc, ABS WHEELS 8.5 x 20-in cast aluminum TIRES 255/50R20 109W (M+S) Goodyear Eagle F1 AT SUV 4×4 DIMENSIONS WHEELBASE 113.1 in TRACK, F/R 64.6/65.1 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 186.3 x 76.2 x 65.0 in GROUND CLEARANCE 8.4 in APPRCH/DEPART ANGLE 25.5/25.7 deg TURNING CIRCLE 38.9 ft CURB WEIGHT 4,416 lb WEIGHT DIST, F/R 51/49% TOWING CAPACITY 5,290 lb SEATING CAPACITY 5 HEADROOM, F/R 37.8/37.5 in LEGROOM, F/R 40.3/37.2 in SHOULDER ROOM, F/R 57.7/55.8 in CARGO VOLUME BEH F/R 63.5/33.5 cu ft TEST DATA ACCELERATION TO MPH 0-30 1.8 sec 0-40 2.8 0-50 4.0 0-60 5.2 0-70 6.7 0-80 8.5 0-90 10.6 0-100 13.4 PASSING, 45-65 MPH 2.6 QUARTER MILE 13.8 sec @ 101.0 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 116 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.83 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 26.8 sec @ 0.67 g (avg) TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH 1,700 rpm CONSUMER INFO BASE PRICE $57,295 PRICE AS TESTED $64,743 STABILITY/TRACTION CONTROL Yes/Yes AIRBAGS 6: Dual front, front side, f/r head BASIC WARRANTY 5 yrs/60,000 miles POWERTRAIN WARRANTY 5 yrs/60,000 miles ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE 5 yrs/60,000 miles FUEL CAPACITY 16.6 gal REAL MPG, CITY/HWY/COMB 16.2/25.4/19.3 mpg EPA CITY/HWY/COMB ECON 18/23/20 mpg ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY 187/147 kW-hrs/100 miles CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB 0.97 lb/mile RECOMMENDED FUEL Unleaded premium

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