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captainlondonman · 1 year ago

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New Skin Boss

Jed was glad it was Friday. His Boss allowed Friday to be the day when staff could wear what they wanted. During the week Jed had to tone down his gear, just jeans, thick soled shoes and a sweatshirt and anyway he had to wear a warehouse coat over. However on a Friday he did not give a shit what the other two lads in the warehouse thought and he always put on his Skin gear. Christ if you are a skin you have to show that you are, so out came the bleached jeans, the Fred Perry T shirt, the yellow braces and the yellow laced 20 hole Ranger boots. Like all good skins he wore no underwear and you could see the outline of his cock down one leg made more obvious by the piss stains from not shaking his knob when finishing his piss. The other guys wore their jeans and some boring top always looking at him as if he was an alien.

‘Well fuck them’, Jed thought

The Boss , Brian, was young, early 30s and seemed fixated with golf spending most of his free time on the golf course with his boring suburban friends. Jed had to admit he was good looking but God knows if he was straight or not. Had to be Jed thought with all this bloody golf. He was 6ft. good build, gelled hair with perfect parting and one thing Jed always noted was that there was a nice bulge hidden in his chinos. The guy obviously wore boxer shorts so his cock could swing around a bit. This Friday as they were packing up to go, Brian looked at Jed and said.

‘You always wear your Skinhead gear on a Friday, Jed. I just can’t see why and always so tight on you.’

‘Once a Skin always a skin, Brian. You wouldn’t know.’

‘Too right there, Jed, however I do admire you for looking like that. It may not be for me but it actually does suit you.’

That night Jed met up with his pals at the local Skin club. Great always to be with fellow skins in their gear. Some wore rubber versions of skin stuff and a few of the bigger blokes would bring their slaves in with a thick collar and chain and make them kneel begging for a beer. This was his home and often he would hook up with another Skin for a night of raw sex but it was usually a one night stand. Christ he had probably had half the guys there. He was talking to Otto who was considered the leader of the Skins who frequented the club. Everyone called him Otto because he loved to go off for weekends to the Berlin Skin scene and besides you would not mess with him, he was at least 6’2” and built like a brick shit house, both arms heavily tattooed and a spiders web tat covering his head. Jed was telling the group abut Brian and his comments.

��Mate it sounds as if you fancy yer boss. I fucking hope not as us Skins stick together.’

‘Shit, Otto, no way am I having sex with anyone other than a Skin.’

‘So what Jed if this boss was a skin, what would you do?’

‘Well IF he was, I fucking love to be his fuck bitch judging from that cock outline I see in his chinos. But that’s not gonna happen ain’t it.’

‘Stranger things have happened. If you are up for it me and two of me mates could help out a bit. Always want to make us Skin boys happy.’

‘You’re bloody joking’

‘Am I? What say we have a go next weekend but I will need all the weekend and you stay out of things till I call you. You will just need to let us in before you leave and then you bugger off till I call.’

‘Not sure I can believe all this but hey man you are such a boss I’m willing to give it a go.’

‘Great, I like the sound of this commission. Will make for a good weekend.’

The following week at 5pm the other guys had gone off and Jed did as he was told by putting something Otto had given him into a cup of tea for Brian.

‘Thought you might like a cuppa before I go off, Brian’

T’hat’s nice of you Jed. No doubt you are off for one of your boys night.’

‘You can say Skin instead of boys Brian.’

‘Maybe but that’s not my thing but if you insist yeah, Skin nights. Hope you enjoy. I’ll be another half hour and then I will lock up.’

‘Have a great weekend. I’m sure its gonna be special’

‘Who knows Jed?’

Jed whispered to himself ‘I know’

He then opened the door to let Otto in and his two sidekicks.

‘You put the liquid in the tea did you, Jed’

‘Of course just as you asked’

‘Christ what have you there? It looks like a bloody huge suitcase.’

‘A bit like that but don’t you worry. Bri’s not gonna know what has hit him but the result will be exactly as you are wanting.’

‘I’m not sure now,’ Jed replied

‘Look fuck off mate and leave this to the professionals. Go.’ And with that Otto pushed him out the door and quietly shut it behind him.

‘Right lads lets give Bri 20minutes. That should be enough.’

They then opened the office door and saw Brian slumped over his desk.

‘Look like it’s worked boys so lets get to action, open up the case. First, hand me the shaving cream and razor as well as the chains and ropes but before we do anything lets get this guys clothes off.’

All three skins quickly removed Brian’s clothes

‘Well’ Otto said, ‘Jed is right, the guys got a good sized cock, I reckon a good 8inches when stiff but well find that out soon enough. A real waste in a pair of chinos. Dom, put these clothes in a bin bag and shove in the bin outside.’

Otto tied Brian to the chair with the ropes and taking out a good thick leather collar buckled that around his neck and then chained it to the back of the chair so his head was fully upright and unable to move.

Otto then took his electric razor and started on Brian’s gelled hair, great pieces falling to the floor. Once most of it was off he sprayed on the shaving foam, mixing it in with a couple of thick heavy globs of spit for good measure. Taking the razor he worked his way around the scalp once and then another go to make sure the head was smooth and properly scalped.

‘Shit that looks better for a start. He has a good Skin shape of head. Fucking hate blokes with all that gel thinking they look bloody great. Better shut him up before he comes round but first let’s close the blinds and set up the video system for him.’

Brian started to come to and as he started to open his mouth, he felt a round rubber ball being forced into his mouth almost making him gag and then it was strapped round the back of his head. He could not move his hands were firmly tied behind the chair and his head was immobile. He was vaguely conscious of a thick leather strap around his neck keeping his head firmly in position.

As his eyes still had a fuzz, he could make out in the dark room three men standing in front of him. They all looked dressed the same and he could make out high boots and shaved heads but little else.

One was bigger than the other two and came forwards so his face was up against. The guy looked fearsome and he could make out the guy was a Skinhead as he was dressed similarly to the clothes Jed wore on a Friday. The guy was bulky with thick legs encased in his bleachers and on his head a large tattoo of a spider’s web. On one cheek was another tattoo of a swastika.

‘So Bri, I’ve just put a ball gag in yer mouth to shut you up for now. You might see you’re naked but don’t worry that will get sorted out. Us lads are going to leave you for a while but before going we have a little piece of equipment we think will help you.

Otto opened up the ball stretchers and fitted them around Brian’s hefty pair of balls. As he clicked them in Brian let out a howl of pain as he felt his balls firmly locked and being stretched. You’ve a good pair there, boi, but we want them to give you a lower voice like us and besides you soon grow to love them and never want them off.’

By now Dom had set up the machine with a screen directly in front of Brian so he could not miss what was to be shown.

‘Ready Bri?’

All Brian could do in his anguish was mumble

Otto started the machine. The first video showed a group of skins hanging around some with knuckle dusters and others with bats, a group of chavs started to walk by the with Skins shouting at them. Every word was Fuck this, fuck that, Oi oi. Then the Skins waded in hitting the chavs with the bats punching the lads with their knuckle dusters, showing their power and making the chavs submit and run off. More videos started up all with real aggro Skins, looking for trouble, and always with the volume set loud, Fuck Fuck, Oi Oi. These words kept thumping in Brian’s eardrums

‘Right Bri, good stuff for you to watch. Well leave you now.’

While Brian sat tied up rigid unable not to watch the violence, the aggro, the sheer force and manliness of the Skins, Otto and his mates went next door for a couple of hours for a few beers.

When they returned Brian was wriggling in his seat, trying to force himself free, a look of sheer anger on his face, his eyes bulging with fury. His arms straining to be free.

‘Now what’s going on here Bri. Lets get that ball gag out.’

As Otto forced Brian’s mouth open and took out the gag Brian let rip

‘Fuck, fuck fuck, Fucking Skins. Oi oi ‘which he kept repeating his voice now deeper and his accent different, a working class sound erupting form his body. ‘Fucking skins,’

‘That’s more like it Bri. What I was hoping to hear.’

‘So for now we will leave the gag off but change the videos.’

Ok Dom put the other ones on for our mate here

The machine started up again and the new images flashed on to the screen. Again groups of Skins but this time no fighting, no fists. Instead the Skins were licking their Mates rangers, all in either bleachers or camos, tight, showing off their package, their hands rubbing against their crotchs. Other images showed some young Skins being forced down on their knees and their heads rammed against the older Skins bulges, unzipping and taking out their erect cocks. Being told to get on with their blow job . the older guys grabbing the head of the younger ones and forcing them to take the full shaft down the back of their throat. In other images other guys unzipped their bleachers and took out their cocks slowing wanking for the camera, eyeing each other and some helping their mate out, hands firmly grasped around the dicks, then coming with reams of thick white spunk at the camera. Other shots showed Skins with a rear zip having it undone and the top Skin shoving two or three fingers up their butt, , or getting down to give them a face fuck letting their tongues explore their mate’s arse. Then pictures and a full fuck as the main guy grabbed the other’s waist and pulled him onto his rigid cock, all the time shouting Fuck. Another video showed a fist fuck with bottom getting down on his knees and sticking his arse up so his mate could slowly start with a. couple of fingers moving then around to open up the guys arse and adding a third and fourth finger as the bottom squirmed begging for the full fist. Then the hand started to disappear in the guys cheeks and finally the arm moved in and up to the hilt. His own cock was out and wanking as he fist fucked his mate, both shouting with Fuck me mate, take my fist you fucking Skin boi.

As these pictures appeared so Otto and his mates decided to leave.

‘Bri needs a good few hours seeing all this, and you two can come with me otherwise you’ll be wanking each other raw. Later OK’

Brian was left alone to force watch the videos

As the guys were downing their beers and smoking their fags they eventually heard a voice next door shouting

‘Fuck the shit out of the bastard.’

‘Go on fucking wank yerself’

‘Get that fucking cock down yer throat’

The words went on and on in Brian’s new voice

Otto opened a beer and added something to it saying

Time to move on to the next phase boys

They went in and looking at Brian staring at the screen, still shouting

‘Fucking hell, Otto’ Dom said. ‘He’s luving all this, look at that fucking dick of his.’

Brian was sitting shouting at the screen urging on the blow jobs, the wanking and the fucking and his cock was stiff showing a full 8’ of thick manhood with a decent head. It was as if Brian wanted to break free and grab his cock for a wank

‘Good boi.’ Otto smirked. ‘Glad you luvin this what we Skins do to each other. No one has sex like a Skin. So take a beer and calm down’

Brian slurped down the beer and had not even drained the bottle when he conked out.

‘Right lads get the kit out, time for a bit of art work. Otto took out the tattoo kit with all the needles and colours

‘Time this guy looked more like us eh?’

Dom said ‘what you going to do mate’

‘Well we have to make a start and he can always add himself later as he will do. So I’ve worked out a few ideas. There are a couple of obvious ones.’

Taking hold of Brian’s hand he started to etch out Skin on his left hand on each finger, all in black letters a good inch high.

‘Well he can’t hide that now and lets give him another for every bloke to see. Taking the black needle again he etched out a spiders web on Brian’s neck, not as big as his own on his head but one about 4inclhes in diameter and one that no shirt would hide.

‘Looking good. Lets do one more.’

He made a pair of Ranger boots on his right arm with yellow laces.

‘I like a bloke with yellow laces.’ Otto said. ‘Always the sexiest. Right lets clear this up and give him a quick rub with some disinfectant. The bruising will soon go and he can admire himself.’

‘Ok Chas now get the next bit of gear for our friend.’

Chas took out a full rubber hood with no eyelets and just a plastic tube coming out from the mouth. Otto took the hood and put it over Brian’s head zipping down the back to make sure it was a very tight fit. He then fitted a funnel to the end of the tube.

‘Perfect. Christ I’ve been dying for a piss after those beers and cant save it much longer so Bri here is in for a fucking long drink. So lets wake the boy up .’

With that Otto took his hand and gave Brian a resounding slap across the rubber bound mask. ‘Fucking love hitting a bloke in rubber. Take that you fucking shit heap, and take that again,’ whacking Brian 3 times to make sure he was awake.

As Brian came round Otto opened his bleachers fly and pulled out his large thick tool.

‘Shit man,’ Dom said ‘I always luv seeing that big dick of your. Never fails to get me going’ as he started to rub his crotch.

‘Later man but for now lets give Bri here a good drink’

Otto put his dick over the funnel and start to let a stream of hot piss down it. Brin suddenly felt this wave of acrid piss spilling into his mouth but was totally unable to stop swallowing it. At first he hated the taste and tried to block it out as it poured down his throat but something clicked in his mind. It didn’t taste that bad, in fact he loved the taste and the more Otto poured down the more enthusiastically Brian swallowed.

‘You now fucking luv that boi, don’t you. Take my piss, after all those beers there’s plenty for you, as wave after wave poured down.’

Both the guys watching started rubbing each others crotches, thick outlines in their bleachers showing.

‘Ye see Bri, yer getting me mates all worked up and you can expect some luvly creamy spunk coming yer way from them. So guys hold yerself for now. The guys still rubbed each other precum stains showing through. Brian drank every drop of Otto’s piss.

Otto removed the funnel and then the rubber mask showing `Brian’s skin head glistening with sweat.

‘That was fucking great.’ Brian said. ‘Make sure you get a few more beers and let me have it again.’

‘See boys, the change is working. Well done Bri youre on the right road. Now me, Dom and Chas are gonna stand in front you. I’m gonna remove your neck chains but not the collar, it suits you, and take off the ropes. Us skins like our Rangers nice and clean and with all that piss of mine in yer mouth you are gonna lick every one so now get down on yer knees. ‘

Otto grabbed Brian by his leather collar and forced him down on his knees

‘You got 6 rangers there boi that need a good lickin so get on with it.’

Otto kept his hand on the chain that was attached to the collar and pushed him to start with Chas’s. Brian knew what he had to do and do it right

Chas shouted ‘Get fuckin right down Boi and let me see that tongue shine up me boots.’ Brian let his pissed stained tongue lick deeply on the toe caps using his spit to shin up the spit oozing out his mouth

‘That’s it boi get all the way round.’ Brian was grovelling on the floor licking round the toe caps and the backs of the Rangers his chin buffing up and his hands firmly around the boots. He looked up at Chas to make sure he was doing a good job and saw that he was stroking his crotch and Brian could see the outline of a good sized dick stretching down the inside of his bleachers

‘You lick well boi, gets me going. Me cock now nice a hard., as he unzipped his fly and let his hand go deep inside his bleachers to pull out a long cock.

‘Now fucking lick mine’ Dom shouted. He already had his dick out and was stroking it dropping some spit on to his shaft.

‘Fucking lick and use your tongue and spit boi,’ Otto shouted putting one of his boots firmly on Brian’s head and forcing it down onto the boot. ‘When we say lick you fucking lick got it.’

Chas and Dom now had their hands on each other’s cock giving one another a good wank.

Otto said,’ I’m saving you for later Bri but come on lads let’s see you both spunk over Bri’s face you can see he’s gagging for it

Shit I’ve a load of good spunk ready for him’ Chas shouted

‘Me too’ Dom said ‘I love your hand rubbing me cock, Chas, keep it going. As for you Bri sit up and lets see your face. That’s it, stare at our pricks and get ready for our cum.’

Dom was now using his hand up and down the full length of Chas’s cock and Chas was working Dom’s head knowing he loved his head rubbed with spit.

Otto watched rubbing his own crotch, smirking at his lads getting off on each other.

‘We’re gonna cum together boi so be ready to swallow and what you don’t I’m gonna rub all over yer face’

Dom and Chas had worked one another up to shoot their load.

‘I’m ready now Chas’

‘Me too Dom, yer fucking great at wanking me off, Christ im coming’

‘Take aim’

Both guys let out a stream of cum onto Brian’s face, Brian trying to swallow as much as he could loving their spunk and started using his hands to wipe it into his mouth whilst Dom and Chas rubbed what was left all over Brian’s face

Christ that fels better Ive been dying to shoot ever since we started his on the guy.

Otto said don’t worry I think youll both be at it again soon.

Otto took a wet cloth and wiped Brian’s face removing all excess of spunk.

‘I think its time to get some clothes on you boi, it the only clothes you’ll be wearing from now on, you never want to wear anything else. Once a Skin always a Skin. I’ve your new uniform.

Otto opened the suitcase and brought out the clothes for Brian. A Fred Perry black T shirt with yellow piping, a pair of camos with yellow braces, yellow long socks and 20hole ranger boots.

‘Ok Chas help the guy on with his gear. He needs to know how to do the laces of his boots.’ As Brian put on his clothes he started to feel even more different and wondered what clothing he had ever worn before this weekend. He seemed to know this was right for him and he felt it suited his body, showing off his chest and firm arse. The putting on of the boots was like a sexual surge, feeling them tight around his legs, knowing he could kick the shit out of someone wearing them with their steel caps. The pressure around his legs gave a pressure to his cock as it grew in length down his leg.

,Right Bri time to see the new you. This is what it’s all been about and hope you like what you see.’

Dom brought a mirror in and Otto pushed Brian in front

‘Well boi you look fucking horny,’ Otto said rubbing his dick

Brian was amazed. He now looked just like the others there and his spider Tat looking like a real Skin, but then he is a real Skin. He clenched his fists and could see the Skin tat on his knuckles. By clenching his fists he looked ready for a fight, tough, real aggro and so fucking manly, such a fucking turn on. His cock was rigid.

‘Right Bri time to finish off the transformation and I get the pleasure. Get over here.’

As Brian moved over towards him Otto unzipped his flies and put his hand deep down inside to pull out his thick veined 9inc rampant cock. This ain’t been washed in days boi so all the better for fucking you now bend down over your desk.’

Brian saw Ottos cock and for a moment winced at the thought but seeing this rough man standing in his Skin gear with his massive cock out at the ready, Brian knew he wanted to be fucked by this monster.

Brian did as he was told and Otto unzipped the rear of his camos.

‘I make sure all my bois have a rear zip as I love to fuck them in full gear. Dom you can call Jed now and get him down to see his Boss.. That’s some arse you got there, Bri, just as I like good firm cheeks and a deep cleft at your hole.’

Otto spat two large globs of spit onto his rancid prick.

‘Makes it a bit easier for you first time.’

As he put his arms around Brian’s waist he moved his cock into the crack.

Dom and Chas were both watching rubbing their cocks knowing how well Otto fucked.

‘Well Dom no point in the two of you just watching and feeling horny so Chas get over to the desk next to Bri and let Dom fuck you at the same time. I know you love his cock.’

‘I fucking do’ Chas said as he leant over next to Brian and unzipped his rear fly Cum on Dom give it to me.’

‘Watching Otto fuck the hell out of Bri will make you even more horny.’

Otto took his hands and spread open Brian’s cheeks to let his cock find the hole.

Nice little hairy arse you got there boi and I can see a good slit you have for my big dick.’ With his hands keeping the arse wide open he let his head meet Brains hole and spat another glob to push the head in.

‘Fucking hell Otto what a cock you have, you’ll bloody well split me.’

‘Don’t worry boy once I get the head past, my shaft will glide up your arse right to the hilt. Just look at Chas and how he takes Dom’s cock.’

Chas was starting to move his body back to allow Dom into his arse. Dom had taken Chas by the shoulders and was pushing him against his balls.

‘I want to feel that arse of yours right up tight against my balls. Make em swing Chas.’

Chas rammed his body back as much as he could until he felt Dom’s pubes rubbing against him.

Meanwhile Otto had started pushing in the full length of his cock. That’s it boi take the full load as I’m gonna blast you.’

‘Shit this is fucking great, I’ll never want anything but dick again.’

By now both Dom and Otto were fully up as Chas turned next to Bri and taking hold of his head kissed him plunging his tongue down Brian throat.

‘That’s it bois enjoy one another while we enjoy you.’

‘Come on Dom lets give our lads everything we got and cum together’

The two men fucking started pummeling, grasping their prey and pushing their dicks in an out with increasing force and rapidity. Brian and Chas were giving each other deep throat groaning as they could feel the dicks up their arses ready to explode in side them

‘Christ Bri this is your moment there’s no going back now once I cum inside you. Dom get your jism ready as I’m about to cum’

‘Me too mate’

And with that both Skins erupted their spunk deep inside Chas and Brian.

The door opened and Jed stood there transfixed at the scene.

‘Fucking hell it’s a bloody orgy. What have you been doing.’

Otto slipped his cock out of Brian’s arse giving his cheeks a hard slap.

‘Well done Bri, you know how to use that bum of yours. Now see who’s here. It’s your mate Jed who asked us for help to change you.

Otto zipped up Brian’s rear and let him stand up to face Jed

‘Christ you looking fucking amazing’ Jed said staring at his boss. ‘I could never have imagined. I don’t know what to say Otto.’

‘I think you are about to find out.’

Brian walked over to Jed and before Jed knew what had happened Brian had him in a stranglehold making Jed unable to move.

‘So it was you, you fucking little shit who caused all this. You’re the one you has put me through all this, you fucking little wanker. I should have known. It’s you who have made me a skin’, he sneered into Jed’s face spitting at him and using his spare arm to rub it in. ‘Fucking great life you’ve given me You made me a Skin just like you and Otto here. You’ve changed my life for ever.’

Jed did not know what to say ‘I didn’t know it was going to end this way Brian,’

‘Well it fucking has and let me tell you, its bloody brill. What a fucking great life you’ve given me. Who wants to be anything but a skin but I’ll tell you now having just been fucked good and hard by Otto, my cock needs to get rid of plenty of spunk and its your arse that’s gonna take it all.’

Brian threw Jed at the table and as he undid Jed’s jeans he could feel Jed with a full erect cock.

‘So you like seeing me like this do you. Well all these times I’ve seen you checking out my package you’re now gonna get it as I am so horny after Otto.’

Brian undid his zip by now his camos showing a large stain of precum.

‘Christ I’m ready for you and that arse Jed.’

With one arm firmly on Jed’s back he took hold of his cock and pressed against Jed’s crack which was already moist and waiting. He knew he was going to be fucked and he so wanted Brian inside him.

Brian decided this was no slow fuck he wanted Jed to feel every inch as he rammed the 8 inch prick all the way up so Jed could feel he could go no further. His movements were rapid but Jed wanted it all and was pushing his arse back and forwards to help the sensation and while being fucked he had his hand over his own shaft wanking for all he was worth.

‘Christ Brian fuck me, let me have all your cream as I’m about to spunk all over your desk. Go on faster and faster I want you. Christ I’m ready to explode’

‘You little horny skin you Christ I m ready to give you all my spunk’

‘Me to, shoot mate’

And with that both men groaned deeply and came at the same time a great spray of cum shooting across the desk from Jed and Brian at last cumming as he had so wanted to do during the weekend. He was a Skin and he loved fucking.

‘So guys, looks as if I’ve had another success. I can pack up.’ Otto said

Brian replied, ‘thanks Otto. Jed you’re coming home with me tonight I’ve not finished with you yet. I think you and I have something together and a good night of fucking will see what happens. I may have another job for you Otto.

On Monday morning Brian and Jed were waiting in full Skin gear for their warehouse staff to arrive. The two guys walked in and saw Brian, no longer in his chinos and light blue shirt, but looking a full skinhead in his bleachers, Rangers and Fred Perry, totally shaved and the spider tattoo showing. He had an arm around Jed and as the blokes took in the scene so he tongued Jed.

‘Well lads as you can see there have been a few changes. You see me as I want to be and I’ve promoted Jed to be my personal assistant. I’ve decided to take the company in a new direction and in order to make the changes I’ve brought in some help, so meet Otto, Dom and Chas.’

The 3 Skins came in and stood behind the employees.

‘You won’t be going home for a couple of days as Otto will be working on you. We are all going to be one fucking great Skin team.’

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galactickle · 2 months ago

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Last Resort

Teddy Lobo x reader

summary: You're from a rival crime family, Bella Lobo isn't a fan, what happens when you change her mind?

Masterlist

“Uhhh… Dad?” you ask, eyeing the gold pillars and lions.

“Yes dear?” he responds, not even bothering turning to look at you.

“What are we doing at the Lobo’s?”

“There’s just a small matter of business we need to deal with here,” the way he was withholding information from you made you uneasy, your father was always honest with you, ever since you committed your first act of defiance.

The car rolls to a stop, and the door is opened for you by one of the Lobo's henchmen, you eye him wearily as you exit the car, following your father into the ostentatiously decorated building.

“Anthony, dear!” Your father is greeted by Bella Lobo with a hug. “And Y/N, how lovely to see you again!” She approaches you and you shoot her an intense look that says you don’t forget the last time you saw her. “Sit, please,” she gestures to the table behind her, and you slowly move towards it, taking a chair near your father.

You sit in the Lobo’s club, observing the way it was decorated like a shitty themed Vegas casino, reminiscing about the last time you saw the woman who was now sitting opposite you and your father.

It was a sunny summer day, you sat in your golf cart staring at your phone while you waited for your golfing tutor to arrive for your lesson. The golf course was empty besides you, but that wasn't uncommon, it was quite elite.

The sound of another golf cart slowly wheezing towards you drew your attention. While you had never met the tutor you were supposed to meet with before, you instantly knew the man who arrived wasn't him. This man was clearly trying to hide tattoos with a long sleeve polo shirt and full length khakis, you could see the edge of one peeking out of his collar.

“Y/N! I’m Jason, are you ready for your lesson?” he approached trying to seem normal but you still knew something was off.

You smile, hopping off your golf cart, “Of course, it's nice to meet you Jason!”

“You as well,” he grabbed your golf bag for you and led the way to where you would tee off. Setting down the bag, he pulled a club from it, handing it to you, “This is a driver, it allows the ball to travel the farthest.”

You accept the club, and he proceeds to set the tee down in front of you, placing a ball on it gingerly. You take your stance in front of the tee, and he adjusts you into a better one. You take a few practice swings, and he notes a few things you could change. Though the whole time you could see him fiddling with something in his pocket out of the corner of your eye.

When you’re finally ready to hit the ball, you set up your stance, taking into account the notes given, and you swing the club back, Jason stands behind you, out of sight. As you take a deep breath, and exhale, about to swing, you hear the undeniable -shink- of a switchblade. You swing your club swiftly and with grace, missing the ball, and doing a 180 to club Jason in the head. As he collapses to the ground the blade rolls out of his hand.

You sigh, looking out from your spot on the hill, and in the distance on a hill adjacent to you, you see a woman with dark brown hair and clean style drive away in a golf cart with another man.

The stomps of someone running down the grand staircase excitedly snaps you out of your memory. Teddy Lobo appears, looking down at his phone.

“Mom, I'm heading out for a b-” he stops short at the sight of you.

“Teddy dear, lovely for you to join us, have a seat,” Bella interjects when he doesn't finish his statement.

He sighs, pushing a hand through his gelled hair, and takes the seat opposite to you, “What's uh, what's going on?” he addresses his mother, though barely taking his eyes off you.

“Well dear, me and Mr. L/N, have some business we need you and Y/N here to take care of,” the two of you eye everyone suspiciously.

“A few years ago, I’m sure you remember, our two families were on different sides,” your father starts, “but after your mother tried to kill my dearest Y/N, we struck a deal,” Teddy gapes at his mom, and she brushes him off, “A deal for peace,” your father continues. You were still waiting for the ball to drop, “That our two families would work together so long as I provided your mom with a suitable candidate to take over her dynasty.”

The looks of confusion you and Teddy wore must not have shocked them. “Teddy, you are to marry Y/N, she will help you lead our family to be one of the greats!” Mrs. Lobo finishes. You head shoots to your father who solemnly nods, not looking you in the eye.

“Can we talk for a minute?” you ask your father.

He nods again, guiding you out of earshot.

“You sold me to the Lobos? For what? Money? Power? I-” you go off on him.

“-Your life,” your father butts in, “Bella was going to have you killed, I would rather you be alive and a Lobo than dead.” You stare at him sternly, “You're the only thing I have left Y/N, after your mother passed there's no one else I care for other than you..”

You soften, reaching out to your father to pull him into a hug. “I'll never forgive you for this.”

“I know.”

While the two of you talked, Teddy was questioning his own parent. “Mom, what do you mean I’m ‘to marry Y/N’?” Teddy looks to his mom with puppy dog eyes, they worked on occasion but not often enough.

“Dear, I love you, you know that, but look at you,” Bella frowns, “and look at her,” she points to where you stand, scolding your father. “I need someone strong, who will do what needs to be done to continue my legacy, and you don't have the heart for it…” She places a hand on his shoulder, “but she does.”

“But she's the enemy!” he whines.

“She used to be, but now me and her father have grown to get along and so will you. Otherwise you will be shunned from this family.” Teddy frowns aggressively but nods nonetheless.

#teddy lobo #tedward lobo #teddy lobo x reader #ben schwartz #renfield 2023

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photmath · 2 years ago

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Comme Les Fleurs - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: First Time Jitters

Summary: Left with no other options, Kylian must rehab his newly injured leg at a stranger’s home for the next month and she isn’t at all what he expects. Meanwhile, Aurèle has to deal with easily-irritated and sullen Kylian as she opens her home to him.

Word Count: 6.2k

Warnings: cursing, hospital

Note: Enjoy Kylian being needy!

Kylian hated feeling helpless. He knew he didn’t have many options, either he could run across Aurie’s lawn and hope that her mother was awake, or he could find Aurie’s keys and drive her himself. The last time he was behind the wheel of a car he was seventeen, even then, it was a golf cart. However, he knew her mother was probably the last person Aurie wanted to see at the moment.

He scratches his neck as Bleu lets out another whine. Aurie reaches out for the small trashcan next to her wall and dips her head inside, throwing up from the nausea. The collar of her shirt darkened with sweat as Kylian debated with his options.

He curses quietly to himself, “Where are your keys?”

“They’re downstairs by the door,” she lets out. He stands up, crouching behind Aurie, and then hooks his forearms through her arms. “Ow—ouch!”

“Sorry,” he mutters. “Are you sure this isn’t something else?”

“I’m positive,” Aurie wraps one of her arms around his shoulders while he steadies her upright. “Watch your leg.”

“Maybe this is just a cramp—”

“You’re such a sweet boy,” she coos, which makes him roll his eyes.

Kylian stands on the right side of her, trying his hardest to steady himself as she leans up against him. The two of them concentrate quietly on getting out of Aurie’s bedroom and down the stairs. Aurie is groaning with each step and Kylian chews on his tongue, growing more nervous with the idea of being in a car with Aurie. His mind couldn’t help but to replay images of him driving the car into her house, the wooden panes crumbling around them as Maple and Bleu were stuck inside.

Kylian grabs her keys from the holder, gulping down as he stuffs them into his pocket.

Aurie watches his Adam’s apple bob, “You’re going to do great. Pretend it’s a giant go-kart.”

He shakes his head, “How am I going to back out of this driveway?”

The two of them stop at the passenger door, Aurie immediately gets in and cringes at the throbbing pain going deeper into her stomach. She exasperates, “I’ll walk you through it, now hurry up.”

Kylian rushes to the other end and hops in.

Aurie puts her hand up, “Seat belt.” He nods, looking at her to make sure she has hers on and realizes she doesn’t. He reaches over with haste, pulling the strap and buckling him in. Aurie grins but it’s painful, “Thank you.”

He buckles his and then turns on the car, waiting for Aurie to talk but she’s quivering in pain. “Aurie.”

“Fuck, just give me a minute,” she clutches onto the door handle, shutting her eyes. “Careful with the pedals, it might hurt your calf, so press it gently.”

Kylian looks around, still not comforted with her words. He checks his mirrors but the night sky and the lack of streetlights down her driveway gives him nothing. He looks down at the throttle and puts the car in reverse, letting go of the pedal slowly before accelerating. He immediately slams down on the brake after the car jolts.

“Kylian!”

“Sorry,” he grits. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Aurie, this is really fucking dangerous.”

“You were doing good,” she opens her eyes. Kylian darts his eyes away, not wanting to bear a second of looking at the pain in her eyes. They held a darker and unfamiliar tone to them, it made him uneasy. “The car is going to move because of the rocks, don’t let it scare you. Now turn the wheel as you reverse, it doesn’t matter which way.”

He frets, checking his mirrors again but it’s dark. It annoys him that he can’t see what he’s reversing into but he trusts Aurie’s word for it.

“There isn’t anything back there, I promise,” she says. “It’s all open grass, you’ve seen it. I don’t have a gate or anything.”

Aurie digs her head against the headrest again, muffling the pain through her closed lips, trying to focus on Kylian. He was nervous. There was a wrinkle between his eyebrows as he constantly looked between the mirrors. Only small breaths escaped through his lips and his knuckles were on the verge of turning white.

“Okay, now brake slowly, you don’t have to slam down on the brake at this speed,” Aurie instructs. Kylian follows, now glad that he could drive with the aid of the headlights. “Get it out of reverse and then while still pressing onto the brake, turn the steering wheel all the way to the right until it stops.”

Kylian looks at her, turning the steering wheel swiftly until it halts.

“Good. Now press down on the accelerator and we can go slow. Remember, the car is going to shake.”

Kylian focuses on her strained breathing as he drives down the gravel, not even going more than five kilometers per hour. Aurie was sure he wasn’t pressing down on the pedal, only letting the momentum of the car thrust them forward.

“A little faster won’t kill us, Ky.”

He doesn’t bat an eye at her comment, only continuing at the speed he was going. He had no idea where the street started and there weren’t any markers helping him. “How much longer do I have until I get to the street?”

“At this rate, five hours.”

“Aurie,” he says sternly. “Be serious right now.” She snorts, and then immediately doubles over in pain, pinching at her thigh. Kylian glances at her, pushing her hand away from the spot on her thigh, “Stop that.”

She was trying to do anything to redirect her pain, “I’m sorry, but the road is coming up soon. You’re going to have to press down on the pedal a little harder to make it over the bump.”

He frowns, “You want me to go faster?”

“At least 40.”

“40?” he shrieks, coming to a more gentle stop as they come up to the street. “There’s no way. You’re talking, you can drive.”

“We’re almost there,” Aurie face palms herself. “It’s five minutes! Come on, world champion, you got this.”

Kylian huffs, looking both directions, “To the left?”

“Yes, you can take all the time you need on this turn, there aren’t any cars,” she smiles even though he isn’t looking at her.

“There aren’t any lights. This is such a shithole, how do you drive at night?” He complains, squinting his eyes into the window.

“I can promise you there aren’t any cars over there, you can see the reflective things on the ground. The yellow spots.”

Ah-hah. That made more sense to Kylian the longer he looked at the space. Aurie didn’t want to point out that he already had the high beams on. She presses the emergency lights and Kylian’s eyes bulge down at the arrows flashing on the dash.

“You’re fine,” she points out. One would think he has never been in a car before. The pads of her fingers continued to dig into her hip the longer they stalled. She shuffled around into a different position as Kylian finally started his turn. She stayed quiet throughout it, hoping that it didn’t bring another wave of nausea.

Kylian couldn’t help but to let out a small smile from the excitement of not overestimating his turn and driving them both off the road. Meanwhile, Aurie kept any snarky remark to herself; she didn’t want to boost his ego, but also didn’t want to make him any more nervous than was.

“This is a little better,” he comments. The headlights lit up the rest of the two-way road for some meters, and the pavement was a lot smoother, making the steering wheel easier to control. “Should I go a little faster?”

“If you think you can handle it, I’m okay.”

He bites onto his lip, “You don’t sound okay.” He accelerates a bit more, cringing at the dull ache in his calf.

“Stay under 50.”

He takes a quick glance at her. Her face glistens with more sweat than when he had helped her into the car. “How are you feeling, Aurie?”

“Still the same.”

“Do you need to throw up?”

“Not at the moment, but I have chills.”

“But you’re sweating—a fever?”

“So smart you are,” she smiles. Kylian chuckles for the first time but the two of them are interrupted by a ringing phone.

He groans, “That’s mine. It’s in my pocket.”

Aurie maneuvers herself so that she can grab it from his pocket, fortunately it was on the side where she sat. She mutes the ringing, “It’s your dad.”

Kylian kisses his teeth, “Of course.”

“He’s calling you this late?”

Kylian shrugs, “I don’t know why either.” He had a couple of guesses but he didn’t want to worry Aurie, especially during the state she was in.

“Sorry,” she closes her eyes for a second, “I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s okay.” Kylian notices the set of lights in the rearview mirror, “Merde.”

“Stay calm, they can go around if you’re going too slow for them.”

Kylian continues looking forward as the car nears closer. He grew more nervous the closer the car got; them deciding to flick their high beam lights on didn’t help either.

“Ow,” he groans, blinking rapidly.

“Don’t close your eyes, you idiot!”

“I didn’t!”

“Just stay calm.”

“I am!”

Aurie wasn’t the only one sweating during the car ride. He swiped at the sweat on his hairline before turning on his indicator to turn left.

“The other way,” Aurie mutters. Kylian looks down, pushing the knob down from the upright position. “Let that car pass you and then fully stop to turn. No rush.”

Kylian blew out a raspy breath as he slowed down. He watched as the car drove past him and then slowly accelerated into the crowded parking lot. “There’s other cars here.”

“I would hope so,” she says. “Turn right, and go all the way to the front. Take your time.”

Kylian nods, turning the wheel with one hand while he squeezes Aurie’s hand with the other. It was brief, but enough to calm the both of them down for a brief moment. Aurie’s jaw and cheek hurt from clenching her teeth together, and her mouth still tastes of copper from her biting on her lip. She didn’t want Kylian to worry about her while he drove, knowing that he was already in so much stress from driving in the dark for the first time.

The car halts abruptly as he stops in front of the entrance. He sheepishly responds, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, we made it. Put the car in park and I’ll have someone park the car in the front. Come on,” Aurie unbuckles her seatbelt as Kylian makes sure the car is in park before rushing out to the other end. He helps Aurie out as nurses crowd them.

Their voices and movements are quick, stealing Aurie from his grasp and placing her in a wheelchair. They roll her away before he can mutter what’s wrong with her. He sighs, looking back at Aurie’s car and the front doors. She had already disappeared behind the hallway and no one had motioned to drive the car to a spot in the lot.

He sighs, dropping his arms to his sides as he walks back to the driver seat. He gets in and slowly drives the car to the back where there aren’t any cars. It takes him nearly three tries to get the car in between the lines; each time he has to open the door to check how far he was off. He’s already bothered because somehow we triggered the heat although he swore he had not pressed any more buttons that he needed to. He twists the key out of the car with haste, not bothering to check how well he parked the car because he already knows it isn’t perfect. He would have to call his driver to come pick them up in the morning from the hospital because there was no way he was driving Aurie back.

He walks back to the entrance with his head hung low, seldomly looking up until a nurse approaches him. He cringes at her bright yellow scrubs before forcing a smile at her.

“Aurie is asking for you,” she walks ahead of him, motioning for him to follow her.

Kylian hesitates, “Isn’t she supposed to be in surgery or something?”

“She’s about to be in about,” she looks down at her watch, “fifteen minutes. She’s on some meds right now to calm down some of the pain so she might be a little…overexcited.”

He raises his eyebrows and follows her closely as she leads him down the light brown halls. He mutters, “When is she not?”

The nurse laughs, “I see you’ve grown to know Aurie. She’s a great physio, but a horrible patient. Doctors are always the worst.”

Kylian’s steps falter. This was the hospital she worked at whenever she mentioned it, no wonder they didn’t spare a second glance at him when he stood at the entrance looking lost. They were her old coworkers who cared deeply about her, and seeing one of their own in pain must have sent them through a panic.

He stops as they near her room, “She used to work here, right?”

She nods, “Yes.”

“Stefan. She had a patient named Stefan from the Netherlands, what happened to him?”

Her eyebrows furrow, “I’m sorry, but we can’t disclose patient information.”

He grimaces, “Is there any way I could get into contact with him?”

She shakes her head, “I’m sorry, but I’m not at liberty to say.”

He nods defeatedly. He was going to have to search for the boy himself.

“Kylian!” Aurie greets, holding her hands wide as the nurse opens the door for him. She leaves the two of them alone in the room and Kylian gives Aurie a simpering smile. “What’s the face for? Are you not excited to see me?”

“I saw you ten minutes ago,” he responds, scooting one of the chairs to her bedside and sitting down beside her. Her hand drags to his cheek and he swats it away.

She had an IV hooked into her left hand, its wire taped down onto her arm. She looked silly in light blue scrubs, and it only made Kylian smile harder. She chuckles to herself, “I missed you.”

He leans down closer to her, resting his head on his elbow, “Are you on that medicine that is supposed to knock you out in a couple of minutes?”

She nods, her eyes fluttering closed, “Yes, but I still have a couple of more minutes in me I think.”

“I already see you drooling,” he teases.

Her eyes widened, “Don’t play games with me right now, I’m vulnerable and currently wearing paper.”

He snorts, “You look great.”

Her hand finds Kylian’s cheek again, but he doesn’t move it. He lets her caress his cheek as the two of them sit in a moment of silence, comforted with each other’s presence. Her thumb hooks into his dimple, pushing his cheek upward into a lopsided smile. She giggles, “And you’re…really cute.”

Kylian’s cheeks grow warm at her kiddish compliment, “Stop that.” He kisses her hand before he grabs it and clasps his fingers with hers. Her sleepy figure was unfamiliar to him, he wondered for a moment if this is what she was like whenever she fought her sleep. When the exhaustion and delirium had settled in from the activities of the day. He snickers, “You’re a horrible flirt.”

She raises her eyebrows, “Do you want me to say to take off all your clothes instead?”

His jaw drops, “Aurie—”

She laughs, “I’m kidding! We’re in public, have some decorum, Ky.” Kylian’s jaw is still agape while Aurie groans, “Ugh, I feel myself about to fall asleep. You should’ve come earlier so we had more time to talk.”

He feels Aurie’s grip tighten up while she blinks rapidly. He chuckles, and can’t help himself, selfishly kissing her hand, “We’ll have all the time to talk after your surgery.”

She deadpans, “Oh sh—we’re going to have to get Martin to facilitate your treatment for the next few days. I can most likely still do it though, but just in case.”

He nods, “Okay, then we’ll do that. Let me handle it, and stop fighting your sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“Thank you.” Her voice is soft but her eyes are telling. It’s more than a simple note of gratitude for him being with her at this moment. It’s her thanking him for driving her when he didn’t want to. Listening to her to spit out her life’s story without judgment. No longer giving her a hard time as they both navigated the cards they were dealt with.

“Of course.”

Her eyes flutter closed and he stands up to press a kiss on top of her forehead. Her lips tug into a small smile as she squeezes his hand harder before dropping it. “See you in a bit, chérie.”

---

Aurie had spent the rest of the night in the hospital even though her surgery lasted about an hour. Kylian used that time to talk with his father and the conversation was anything but lighthearted. He was glad that he was able to wait in the same room Aurie had been in because he used the entirety of it to pace back and forth, arguing and conversing with his father.

His message was short: figure out his summer’s move. Many people were expecting him to leave PSG, but he had one more year under his contract. Offers were being made but they were buried in the depths of the media, bypassing any attention from the public.

And the press had been overly quiet. Kylian had been out of the limelight for the past few weeks and Martin and Galtier’s plan had been working, but it only stayed quiet for so long. Kylian knew it.

In the hospital, the early hours were more quiet, but Kylian watches the activity pick up outside of Aurie’s bedroom. He has been awake for the past two hours, his stomach grumbling from having not eaten in the past hours. As the nurses walked with haste back and forth across the hall, he waited patiently for Aurie to wake up from her sleep. When she first came back from her surgery, she was groggy and barely acknowledged him, too tired to recognize him, and the bright light had forced her to keep her eyes closed. Even as the nurses checked her vital signs, she was dismissive of them and only nodded and shook her head, wanting to go back to sleep.

He wanted to laugh from the corner of the room. It was like watching a teenager throw a fit for waking up too early in the morning. She had curled herself in a ball, her back towards the window and him to shield herself from the light. The thin piece of blanket was draped lazily over her shoulder and once the nurses left, he adjusted it so that it covered her more. She had snuggled into the warmth of his hand pressed against her shoulder, so for the rest of the night, he sat down in the chair beside her bed and laid his head against her bed. He knew his arm was going to hurt when he woke up but he didn’t care.

“What time is it?” Aurie asks, her voice hoarse. Her eyes go big as she hears it.

He chuckles, pouring water from the pitcher of water that he had been drinking from all throughout that morning. “Almost ten.”

She gulps down the water, refilling it herself before Kylian can help her. He sits down on the edge of her bed, “They said we can leave whenever you wake up, I can call for my driver—”

“And wait another hour? You can drive in the daytime, more practice!” she beams, clutching onto her gown as it wants to slide down from becoming untied as she tossed around in her sleep.

Kylian turns away, shaking his head, “No, he’s in town. I called him.”

She swats at his hand and he scowls, “You have to stop waking up people in the dead of the night while they sleep with their families.”

“It’s only for today,” he reasons, texting his driver that they were ready.

Aurie chuckles, “And where is my car?”

“Back at your house.”

“Kylian,” she silences. He laughs as the nurse walks into the room with two trays of food, a special perk as Aurie was once one of them. Kylian picks up his dish and leaves the room to give the two of them privacy.

Despite the significant lack of pain Aurie had, her movements still felt sluggish, like she weighed much more than she did. It was a mix of the anesthesia wearing off and interrupted sleep she had gotten, but it made her feel incredibly hazy. Throughout the car ride back to her home, she leaned her head against Kylian’s rock-solid shoulder. It wasn’t comfortable, but he was warm, and a much better option than the car’s window.

Kylian wasn’t shy to place a kiss on her forehead, one that absolutely sent her mind into a frenzy. Sometimes being around Kylian, she felt like a different person. One that was more open, not worried about someone—in particular, her mother—judging her every move. She was already strong-willed, not caring about others' opinions, but she couldn’t shake off her mother’s eyes no matter how hard she tried. Could anyone ever?

But with Kylian, the walls were never up with him. She felt it immediately. How his presence was not something that she felt intimidated by but instead driven. Driven to do whatever she wanted. To feel whatever she wanted. He was her weak spot, and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, he was it. He filled that spot the moment he got up to help with the dishes the first night he was here. The smiles he would send to Simone that only the two of them understood made Aurie’s heart swarm with butterflies.

It made her weak.

Aurie looks up at him, his eyes flickering down towards her as the car rocks against her driveway. They were almost inside but she couldn’t wait. Lifting her body up towards him, she kisses him, a palm fisting his shirt to bring him closer to her. His lips part within it as he laughs from their noses bumping into each other, but kisses her back nonetheless. His hand had stayed clenched around her knee throughout the drive and it was only squeezing her harder now.

They only released when his driver let out an awkward cough, and then they realized the car already stopped. Kylian snickers as he relieves his driver of his duties and goes around the other end of the car to help out Aurie. Bleu comes from the backside of her yard and wags his tail keenly as he sees the pair.

“Hi, Bleu,” Aurie giggles, bending down to massage his fluffy head. Aurie then stands up and sneaks her arm around Kylian’s torso.

“What?” he titters. “Do you need help?”

“I’m helping you.”

He shakes his hand in front of her face, “I can walk just fine.”

Aurie searches for her keys but sees the slight bump in Kylian’s pockets, and then she digs into his pocket without a second thought. His breath hitches as he feels her fingers roam them.

“You know,” she starts. “For someone who has barely started to drive, you did pretty good.”

He can’t comprehend what she’s saying. All his mind is fixed on is the way the keys got stuck in his pocket so now she had to use both of her hands to maneuver them out.

“Jeez,” she mutters, finally looking down to see what the fuss is about.

He’s holding his entire breath in, praying that nothing was out of the ordinary as she pinched at his trousers. The keys finally jingle and she turns to place it inside the lock. Thank god.

“Meet me in the rehab room in about fifteen minutes.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, shutting the door behind him as he entered, “Fifteen? Aurie you need rest.”

She pouts, “I need one cup of coffee and then I’m all yours.”

“I would love that, but I see it in your eyes. They’re heavy and on the verge of sleep.”

She rubs at them, trying her hardest to appear awake in front of him and he only laughs at her poor attempt.

“Real mature.”

“It’s one hour of rehab, either you do it with me right now or we get Martin,” she says and he sighs. “Alright, now come on. We have the night session too, I’ll let you practice headers or something.”

“Do you want to make it a challenge?” He raises his eyebrows.

She crosses her arms, walking in front of him, “Why would I do that?” Her glowing, round eyes looking up at him made his mind swirl. The knuckle of his pointer finger rubs across her cheek, stopping at her ear as his hand spreads to cup her neck. She smiles, sliding her arms around his waist, entranced with the way with his eyes bounced back and forth between hers.

“Winner…” Kylian whispers. His mind halts at the look in Aurie’s eyes. She’s suspicious but intrigued. He hovers his head over hers, their lips merely inches apart.

“I have one,” she pulls back and he frowns. “If you win, you have to come with me to watch Naomi Osaka take on Serena. If you lose, Simone comes with me and you have to wash the dishes for the rest of your stay.”

His jaw drops, “No no, that has too many conditions, you didn’t even want me to go to the tennis match anyway. It’s going to attract everyone’s attention to you and you didn’t want that. Unless—are you changing your mind?”

She shrugs, taking her time to search for the right word, “I—I want you to come to the match with me, but I also feel like I’ll change my mind at the very last minute.”

“You can change your mind, I won’t care if we’re already there and you back out.”

“Stop saying things like that,” she sinks her head against his chest and then peers up at him. His small grin only grows larger.

“I don’t want you to feel obligated, Aurie. I’m excited for this potentially happening, but are you sure you want to go through with this?”

She nods, “No PDA.”

“None,” he sticks out his pinky finger and she grasps it. “You’ve asked me on a date twice now, I’d feel horrible if I lose.”

She chuckles, “I’m already on a losing streak.”

“You are not,” Kylian pulls his waist closer to his body and Aurie has to wrap her arms tighter against him. “I doubt you’ll make it easy on me.”

“I definitely won’t.”

He kisses her cheek and trails his lips down her neck. Aurie uses his arms to keep herself upright because her legs feel like they’re made of goo. His voice vibrates against the skin of her neck as he nips at it, “How about tonight I cook you dinner? Call it a date in your kitchen.”

“I’ll show you where I keep the candles.”

The quiet laugh in her ear is what makes her lose it, she pulls away, “Alright, princess.” She tries to regain herself from her flustered state and Kylian only smirks. “Ten minutes.”

He nods, letting her go to the kitchen and her coffee with haste. She was no longer feeling tired after that encounter, that’s for sure.

She could lose the challenge and make Kylian go with her, but she did have her doubts. Even if they didn’t show PDA, rumors were going to start. He may have made her feel like she was being held without any chains, but this was a different breed. It was the eyes of the public.

What was she doing? She knew his lifestyle would always affect her, but she also felt the need to compel against the threat. She hated being intimidated, and she realized that the only way to get rid of it was to go against it. She’d probably hate every second of it, but she would have done it. She would have ripped off the bandaid. Besides, Kylian was able to maintain a rather private personal life after being in front of the public for years. Everything of hers was already private, the most anyone could find out about her is her previous various locations of employment. She certainly didn’t need to explain her resumé to someone.

---

As promised, Aurie had the challenge set up. There were four bins placed around the spot Kylian had sat on the floor. He was supposed to use the strength he generated from the floor to propel the ball into the bins. They were on different heights. One of them was right in front of him, two on the table above him and the last a distance from him. He didn’t want to stroke his ego, but he was good with aiming his headers.

But so was Aurie, and he could infer that she was too because she would have to be doing the same thing as him.

“The one who misses the least out of twelve wins,” Aurie says. “But you can only score into a bin three times.”

“They should be scored based on difficulty,” he comments.

“Why?” Aurie adjusts the two balls against her hip. She only had four footballs that she could find with enough air in them, so they would have to pause in between every four tosses to retrieve the balls.

Kylian sneers, “It makes more sense.”

“Are you scared?”

He rolls his eyes, “Fine, let’s get on with it.”

Aurie laughs, “No pressure. Are you ready?”

Kylian adjusts his seating, nodding from the floor as Aurie releases the first ball. He heads it towards the taller bins, it falls perfectly into one. She tosses the next and he heads it at the bin in front of him, another solid landing.

Ball after ball and he hadn’t missed one. He goes for the farthest one and it bounces off the rim, “Agh.”

She chuckles, “You got it.”

He makes the next three perfectly, 7-1. Despite the brief pauses, they’re able to make the rhythm flow with constant throws. Kylian lands all the balls in the front three bins and only has the farthest bin to fill. He misses the next one, letting out a loud scream followed with a laugh. 9-2.

“C’mon, put your back into it,” Aurie encourages.

“It’s a lot harder than it looks.”

“It’s physics.”

“It’s what?” Kylian hits the ball with more force and it goes into the bin in spite of his confusion.

Aurie can only shake her head as he hoots in celebration, finishing 10-2.

She retrieves the ball as Kylian stands up, tucking the balls underneath his arms. Aurie settles down in the spot where Kylian was previously at and nods at him to start. She aims towards the farthest bucket, reeling her body towards it and Kylian’s eyes go wide as she makes it.

“No way.”

“Throw the next one.”

He gives her a bad toss on purpose, but she is able to pop the ball up to make it into the bin on one of the tables, sending him a glare. He chuckles, tossing another. She makes the next one in, and the next, and the next.

“Go for the farthest again,” Kylian murmurs.

“Don’t be a sour puss.”

Kylian had given her awful tosses on purpose, catching on that she was better than he thought at this. His toss switched from a little too high, to too low, but she was able to adapt easily. She did it with ease as well, somehow able to still generate enough power to send the ball to the last bin.

She hadn’t missed one.

He frowns, going to go get the balls. Aurie’s chances of winning were growing, and his chance to go to that tennis match were diminishing. He couldn’t tell if Aurie was doing it on purpose, that she could have also possibly changed her mind. However, the more he thought of it, the more he hoped she would. He wanted to keep her away from the public. That she be his little secret. The chances of them finding her were slim. She didn’t live in Paris and from what he was able to observe, she didn’t travel there often. Perhaps public glimpses of them would be seen if she was ever in Paris with him.

And he could live with that.

He throws her a ball from afar, and she misses the bin that’s the closest to her.

“Ahh,” he teases. “You were a defender. That’s why you keep missing the close one.” It was true, she had missed that first bucket twice already. If she had missed another, Kylian would automatically win. Her winning streak was coming to an end.

The last ball depends on her making it into the first bucket and Kylian wears a devious smirk, wanting to fumble it for her, but wanting to see if she’ll make it. It was amusing to him how she kept missing that bin with too much power every time, and it hit the same exact spot. She makes contact with the ball, and it goes sailing past the bin.

“YES!” Kylian chimes and Aurie rolls her eyes, stretching out her arms behind her as she watches Kylian pump his fist in the air. He looks at her and immediately rushes to her, his shoulder nudging her as he folds down beside her. “Simi is going to hate me.”

“No she won’t, she doesn’t know about it. Be careful with your leg,” she groans as she falls back, “and my stomach.”

He gets off of her quickly, “I forgot, I’m sorry about that—”

“I’m not hurt,” she shoves him away, sitting back up. He looks down at her lips, leaning in to kiss her. “Guess what.”

“Hmm,” he gives her another peck.

“You have dinner to cook, and I have a nap to take.”

He sulks, pulling her closer to her chest. His slightly dampened shirt presses up against Aurie and she jokingly gags but concedes to his touch. His head rests on top of hers as his arms are wrapped snugged, “Stay with me.”

“I’ll be on the couch.”

“With me.”

She snickers, “How about you shower first and then we can nap together. Besides, it might be a little too early to start dinner.”

He nods, pressing a chaste kiss at her forehead before he helps bring her to her feet.

---

Aurie had fallen asleep while Kylian was still showering, but she had woken up to the sound of him coming out of the restroom. She had stretched out her arm and held up the blanket for him to come join. They hadn’t unfolded the tucked mattress so they only had the width of the couch to share. Neither of them minded.

Kylian’s arm scooped underneath Aurie and the other wrapped around her. The two of them tangled into each other as if they had done it a million times before.

Aurie let out a whimsical sigh as she traced Kylian’s back, his eyebrows knitting as she pressed her fingers deeper into his muscles. He groaned at the contact, pushing more of his weight onto her.

“Sleep, Aurie.”

“Sorry,” she mumbles. Kylian’s eyes flutter open as he sees her playful smile.

He reels away, “I should’ve known you were up to no good.”

“It’s the coffee and nap mixing together—that ten minute nap felt like hours!”

He rubs his hand over his face. Aurie was full of tricks. Constantly fighting the little voice in her head to sleep or to not sleep and Kylian could only laugh. He rushed through his shower so that he could have more time with her on the couch.

“You look handsome this close.”

“Shh,” he grumbles, tucking his head deeper into the cushion.

Aurie kisses his cheek, watching the curl of his lip go higher with each kiss. Her fingers outline the features of his face as she pulls his head closer to her chest. She kisses his forehead once more before closing her eyes.

“More,” he whines after a moment of silence.

She presses a slow kiss on his nose before Kylian opens his eyes and pushes himself up to kiss her lips. His lips carry more passion than he intends but Aurie doesn’t shy away from him, only wrapping her hands around his head tightly. Kylian’s thigh slots between hers as they shuffle around, wanting to get rid of the blanket. The temperature of their intertwined bodies brought enough body heat as is, and Kylian’s scolding, hot legs from his shower only stung against hers.

He drags his lip down her neck, keeping his hands tight on her waist. Her ragged breaths flood his ears as her lower half curls towards his. He moans at the contact and concentrates on leaving soft kisses on her skin, every so often biting against the skin.

She didn’t want to restrain herself in front of him anymore, but she knew they should probably stop before it continued any further. They were getting too ahead of themselves, but god did Kylian’s lips feel heaven-sent. Her grip loosens against his waist but her legs stay in between his. He pulls away with a foolish grin, kissing her lips and then letting her snuggle up into his chest.

“You drive me insane.”

“You make me feel so much worse, Aurie.”

------

Note: Ooooo we’re going to pretend Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams are currently playing, although both of them are currently on “sabaticals.” Sorry for the delay! Finals weeks are coming up so mmm, another possible delay for chapter 7. We have a date night and tennis match to look forward to next >>>

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#kylian mbappe #kylian mbappe x reader #kylian mbappe x you #kylian mbappe fanfic #kylian mbappe fanfiction #mbappe x reader #kylian mbappe x oc #em.writes #comme les fleurs

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say-hwaet · 3 months ago

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High Sierra: A Red Dead Redemption Story

Chapter Six: The Outlaws and the In-laws

Arthur finishes shaving his face and washes his razor in the bathroom sink. Looking at himself in the mirror, he does see that he has aged. Perhaps it was being out in the sun for many hours of the day, the stress of the last three years, or a combination of both. He wonders why any woman would be interested in him.

"You're not fooling anyone," he says out loud to himself. He backs away from the sink and turns to grab his shirt hanging on the door knob. Putting it on, he hears a knock on the door. "Yeah?"

"Grampy wants to know if you're ready to go, Daddy." It’s Isaac, his voice somewhat muffled from behind the door.

"Yep, I'll be right out." He straightens out his shirt collar and opens the door. Isaac stands in the doorway in green shorts and a buttoned shirt with parrots on it. "Well, you clean up nicely, son!"

"Grammie helped me pick it out!"

"Shoah," he smiles. "Let's head out to the car."

As Arthur plans to take Isaac home after the cookout, Arthur is taking his car separately. Given the option, Isaac decides to ride with his grandparents, leaving Arthur to ride alone with Copper. So much for loyalty.

Following Hosea, they begin the long drive back to the city, where the Marstons live. They live in a nice suburb, with barbecues, pool parties, and a nearby golf course. Truly the life of luxury.

Arthur never liked being in the city. When he went to college, he had to reside in the dorms his first year and absolutely detested it. The small quarters weren’t the problem, but the noise and endless parties. Arthur preferred a whiskey in the corner of a room while reading his textbooks. Regardless, the city and the dorms gave him the same feeling: dirty and crowded.

Without having Isaac in the car with him, he can be alone with his thoughts. He begins to think about where he is in life and where he wants to be. He started to think about what Hosea said. Why hasn't he married Eliza? Is it commitment issues, fear, the desire for independence, or a combination of all three? Maybe if Mary had never re-entered his social circle, he would have eventually asked Eliza to marry him, but now it's not so straightforward. Not anymore.

And now he has different obstacles in his way. His job and Isaac's cancer. He couldn't possibly think about marriage, at least, not yet.

***

Pulling up into the driveway, Arthur steps out of his SUV and feels the heat of the sun. There are no trees nearby to cast their shade, and he squints his eyes. Once his eyes adjust, he sees the rest of his family get out of Hosea's truck. He turns for a moment to open the back passenger door of his SUV and Copper jumps out. He energetically turns around and as Arthur begins to meet up with his family, Copper follows closely.

Music can be heard from behind the house, but it sounds fresher than a stereo...live music?

"Looks like the band is playing," Hosea calls to Arthur, as he catches up to them.

Arthur nods, smiling softly. "It sure sounds like it. They sound pretty good!"

"Of course, they do," Bessie says matter-of-factly and she takes her grand baby’s hand. "Let's go in.”

As they head up the front steps, the gate to the backyard swings open. A tall man in a red dress shirt and black slacks approaches them. The many rings on his fingers glimmer in the sun.

"Hosea!" Dutch calls, waving.

"Dutch!" Hosea turns to go back down the steps to embrace his long-time friend. "I almost didn't recognize you without being in a suit!"

"Oh, this is a casual gathering, my good friend. I'd hate to get mustard on a thousand-dollar piece of Italian art."

They hug each other, laughing. Dutch steps aside from Hosea and sees who has accompanied him to the cookout. "And Bessie, how nice to see you."

Bessie smiles. "Hello, Dutch.” And then she looks down at Isaac. “Do you remember my grandson?"

Dutch squats down to look at the young boy standing in front of her. "This couldn't be Isaac? You were such a string bean when I last saw you." Isaac smiles shyly. "You look so much like your mother."

Isaac’s eyes light up, that curiosity proving Dutch’s observation. Every time Arthur and Eliza have talked about it, she’s always insisted that he looks mostly like his father. But Arthur can’t deny the resemblance in their eyes, their curiosity, and softness of spirit. Isaac is like his mother. "You know my mom?"

"Of course, I do! Lovely woman." He stands and looks at Arthur. "I know everyone."

"Somehow, that don't surprise me," Arthur comments, extending a hand to Dutch. Dutch shakes it and uses his other hand to clap Arthur's shoulder.

"Good to see you, son."

Arthur feels somewhat awkward, as Dutch was one of the three people that witnessed the event at the last party. "Hi, Dutch."

"How have you been?"

Arthur shrugs and answers vaguely. "Oh, fine. Glad to see you're doing well."

Dutch grins from ear to ear. "Never better! I've got big plans for this group, big plans! We've got advertising, we've got PR, we have a bodyguard, and we have a makeup artiste." The look he gives Arthur indicates there's something special about the makeup artist, meaning it has a feminine shape.

Arthur snorts. Dutch will never cease to do something new, or spare no expense. "Bodyguard? Really?"

"Why sure! I'd ask you, but you're all caught up in protecting baby bunnies and little birdies."

Arthur rolls his eyes. "It's more than that, Dutch."

Dutch replies with a hint of sarcasm and condemnation. "Oh-oh of course it is! Now, let's go back to the shindig, shall we? John's been talking about nothing but you boys since this morning!"

Dutch leads the way as Hosea catches up to walk aside his friend. "How's Annabelle, Dutch?"

Dutch gives his friend a bitter look. "Annabelle's off to see her sister."

"Is that so...?" Hosea's voice drifts off, already knowing why she isn't here to celebrate the band's first tour.

Arthur, too, knows. Perhaps the makeup artiste has something to do with it. Dutch has always been one for the ladies. They just can't seem to resist the fashion sense and ol' Dutch charm. Regardless of age, he has always seemed to charm his way in and out of anything. Poor Annabelle loved him to a fault, and Arthur can never see her leaving him. She would be back, like always.

Arthur begins to look around. There is a good amount of people here, some have gathered in groups and are socializing. There are some children who are running around with balloons, so it is safe to assume that these people are family to the band members. As a group of children run by, Arthur recognizes one of them as the four-year-old John "Jack" Marston. Jack glances at them as he passes then quickly stops, recognizing them.

"Uncle Arthur!" he cheers and runs to him.

"Hiya, Jack!" Arthur greets, as he picks the boy up to give him a hug.

Isaac looks up at Jack and smiles. Jack sees him and waves. "Isaac, hi!"

"Hi,” Isaac replies softly. He isn’t as outgoing as Jack is. That is something he gets from both Eliza and Arthur. In fact, it is by chance that they ever met. A simple accident and happenstance. Like as though fate couldn’t have planned it any better.

Jack studies his friend and sees Isaac's scar. He frowns and points a small finger. "What happened to your head?"

Arthur quickly clears his throat. "Uh, Jack, why don't you and Isaac go play, huh?" Arthur puts Jack down, who seems to forget he had asked a question.

"Okay!" Jack sings.

Isaac points a finger at the balloon floating above Jack’s head. "Hey, Jack, where did you get that balloon?"

"Mama was making them,” Jack says as he turns, already on the move again. I can show you!"

"Sure," Isaac smiles and follows Jack as they run off in a different direction. Copper watches for a moment and looks up at Arthur. Arthur nods and Copper takes off after the children.

Dutch and the rest have already moved on, and Arthur walks quickly to catch up to them. Passing by someone manning the grill, they stop in front of the band which is finishing a set. They have a simple setup, but it is clear that they are a full band. Sean McGuire mans the drums, Javier Escuella with guitar, and John plays the bass as he sings into the microphone. Two women that Arthur doesn't recognize are doing background vocals, while one plays the violin. Together, they make a fine country rock band.

Javier plays a quick riff on his guitar and leaps into the microphone.

"Dejé mi corazón contigo en St. Denis,

pero si me llamas te digo que "¡Si!"

botella tras botella,

que no pudieron reemplazar,

¡las estrellas, las estrellas,

en tus hermosos ojos...!"

Then John comes back in again, with the vocalists joining in:

"But you were a tame queen,

I was a wild thing,

You were of the city,

I was the country

And we could never be!"

Another musical riff and both Javier and John join the microphone.

"'Cause I am an outlaw!

An outlaw

On the run!"

Sean hits hard on the drums and John strums one time and lets it ring until it fades. Those who are gathered applaud and cheer. John bows and gestures to the rest of his band, who all take a bow.

"I guess they're done?" Arthur asks out loud.

"Oh, they'll be playing again," Dutch reassures him. "But they've gotta mingle with the fans." Dutch approaches the band, who are gently setting their instruments aside. "Well done, gentlemen! And oh, ladies." He looks over at the backup singers who giggle.

"Thanks, Dutch." John says. John never called Dutch "Dad" like Arthur had called his adoptive parents. Dutch and Annabelle adopted John when he was twelve, but it seems that their relationship has always been more like a business transaction. Deep down, Dutch has a good heart, but he is always about image. And money.

Dutch walks off to greet some other guests, leaving them to their own devices.

John sees Arthur and eagerly steps off the stage to greet his brother from another mother.

"Arthur!" They take each other by the arm and hug. "Good to see you, brother."

"Good to see you too, John.” When they break away, he gestures to the bandstand with a swing of his arm. “Looks like you got yourself quite the group!"

"Oh yeah, all part of Dutch's plan," he scoffs, his voice more raspy than usual. "It was his idea to sing the whole album for this get-together. My voice better hang on, otherwise, I'm gonna lose it."

"You could just tell him no," Arthur chuckles.

John shakes his head. "I can fire a manager, but I can't fire a manager who happens to be my dad."

"I could see how that would be difficult," Arthur nods.

John comes beside Arthur and wraps an arm around his shoulder. "So how's Isaac doing?"

The tone of the conversation shifting, Arthur’s smile falls. "I wish I had good news…”He pauses, swallowing hard. “His cancer's back."

John removes his arm and swears under his breath. "Then what was all that treatment for?" he asks, his brow furrowed. They both continue to walk about the yard, the sounds of other conversations and laughter filling the property.

Arthur appreciates John’s empathy, someone why shares in the anguish he’s been holding inside his chest. He rolls his shoulders, tucking his chin. "That's what I thought, but Eliza has hope that this new treatment will work."

"Eliza, huh?" John gives Arthur an inquisitive look. "So...how's that going? Heh, or should I even ask?"

Arthur sighs, might as well tell him, given he saw the exchange that started this mess. "It's...better than I thought. But I'm taking a step away from everything. I don't want anyone hurt."

John nods his head, clapping Arthur on the shoulder. "Hey, that's a good plan, Arthur. I've always known that you were a sensitive type."

Arthur gives him a look, but it fails to conceal his smirk. "Hey—"

John then leans in and lowers his voice a tad. "But I need to warn you, Dutch has hired on some new people to represent the band."

Arthur thinks about the bodyguard and beautiful woman that Dutch hired. "Yeah, he did mention that."

"Sure, but did he say who?"

Arthur shrugs, lifting a brow. "Some makeup artist?"

"Yeah, but that's not—"

Arthur doesn't need John to finish that sentence. A few feet away, Dutch is working his charm on a lady, a woman with black hair, in a turquoise party dress and pearls, and little black heels.

It's Mary.

Arthur feels himself freeze in his stride, turning away from her. "Why did he bring her here?"

"She's our advertising,” John explains with a regrettable sigh.

Arthur places a palm on his forehead, eyes wide. "You've got to be kidding me, since when?"

"A week ago?"

He looks at John sharply and points his thumb behind him, in her direction. "He saw what happened!"

John shrugs his shoulders, narrowing his eyes. "You think my dad cares about drama? He creates it for a living!" Arthur quickly walks in the opposite direction and tries to avoid being seen. John follows. "I'm sorry, Arthur."

Arthur shakes his head. He doesn’t want John to feel bad about it. He wasn’t the one kissing her. "It ain't your fault."

"Sure, but that doesn't mean I'm happy for you."

"Do you think she saw me?"

John looks back and after a moment he shakes his head. "She was talking to Dutch, and she was looking right at him."

Arthur looks at John with half lidded eyes and lips forming a flat line, unimpressed. "It's called peripheral vision, John."

John waves off the correction dismissively. "Whatever.” Then suddenly, his eye brightens and he lightly smacks Arthur’s arm. “Hey, have you said hi to my wife?”

"Nope, we just got here."

He points to the house. "She's probably inside. Let's go see."

John leads Arthur past another group, under the patio, and through the sliding doors. It has been a while since Arthur has been here. Going through the back, they pass the living room, down a hallway, and into the kitchen. It is no surprise to see Abigail, hard at work, cutting watermelon. She brushes away her bangs and looks up. "Oh! Arthur! When did you get here?"

Arthur waves at her. "Not too long ago. Isaac is running around with Jack."

Abigail smiles, smoothening her hair with a swipe of her palm. "Oh, that's great, how is the boy?"

"They say his cancer is back," John answers, coming up to her and taking a slice of watermelon.

Abigail clicks her tongue, her smile instantly disappearing. “Oh no. Arthur, I'm so sorry. You know I don't work in the cancer unit, but if I did, he would be my favorite patient," she reaches over and squeezes his arm empathetically.

Arthur feels a lump in his throat and quickly swallows it, nodding his head. He has to keep it in, like he does everything else. "Yeah, he's a good kid."

"How is Eliza taking all this?"

Arthur catches the side-eye from John before answering Abigail. She also had the pleasure to see the exchange and Arthur’s sure she and John have talked about it. "She's taking it hard, we both are."

Abigail nods, understanding. "I'm sure. I haven't heard from her in a couple of days, so I was starting to worry. Now I can see why."

"Yeah, well, at least she talked to you."

Abigail gives John a nervous look, then looks back at Arthur and smiles. "Well, I am glad that you and Isaac could make it. Jack has been so excited! He needed something to be happy about, on account of John leaving on tour."

Arthur puts his hands in his Jean pockets, turning to John. "How long are you going to be gone, John?"

"Three months. We are going eastward, stopping in a few cities, finally landing in NYC."

Arthur lifts his brow, impressed. "Sounds like quite the trip."

"I'll say," Abigail says under her breath, as she aggressively chops at the watermelon.

"It'll go by fast." John's attempt to reassure her doesn't appear to be working, as she taps his hand when he reaches for another slice.

"But it won't be long before Dutch has you go on another tour." She adjusts her posture and voice to mimic her father-in-law, "'Just one more tour and we're in! Just. One. More. Album and we're in, son!" She chops the watermelon again. "It never ends!"

John draws closer to his wife, lowering his voice. "Hey, we've talked about this already, Abigail, do we need to rehash it in front of Arthur?"

"Well, we got to see them fight, now it's our turn!"

"Abigail..."

Abigail goes to speak, then stops herself. She looks to Arthur and her expression softens. "I'm sorry, Arthur. Please forget I said anything."

Arthur waves it off. "I think I'm going to see what Isaac is up to. Hopefully, he isn't getting into something he shouldn't." Arthur steps back and turns around, soon hearing John and Abigail muttering to each other.

He feels his phone in his pocket vibrating and quickly pulls it out. His caller ID says it's Charles.

He answers. "Charles?"

"Arthur, are you at home?"

"No, I'm at a party...or something. What's going on?"

"Can you get to a TV?"

Arthur looks back and sees Abigail and John busy talking, so he goes to their family room where he last remembered the TV sat.

"Yeah, hang on." He enters the family room and turns on the TV. "It's on."

Charles’ tone still remains calm, but there is a budding urgency in his voice. "Go to the local news channel."

Arthur doesn't have cable TV at home, so it takes him a minute to use the remote. "Yeah, give me a sec."

Using the menu, he searches for the local news channel and selects it.

On the TV screen, a young woman stands in front of what looks like orange tape bordering a selected area of woods. He recognizes it to be a campground at a state park where he has patrolled. There are several people in the background. Upon further inspection, he sees Charles on the phone!

Arthur nearly spits and he takes another step toward the television. "Charles?!"

On the screen, he sees Charles’ mouth move, matching the words as he speaks to him over the phone. "I'm hanging up now. I don't want them to know I called you."

"But—"

The call ends, but Arthur continues to watch as the scene unfolds.

A nameplate appears on the screen underneath the news reporter. It reads, Tilly Jackson, High Sierra News Reporter.

"We are here now in the northern region of Redwood Falls, where another hunting accident has been reported. It was found by a game warden, who chooses to remain anonymous, on one of their routine patrols. The identity of the body has not been disclosed at this time, to allow time to contact the family, but we do now have the identity of the first victim of a hunting accident. His name is Thomas Downes, and he is known in the community for philanthropic work at homeless shelters and church functions. He was out on a boar hunting trip and had accidentally shot himself while at camp.

"Now, this recent accident has similar circumstances, so to ensure that precautions are being taken, this area of the park is being temporarily closed. Parks and recreational areas that permit more checkpoints and security will remain open until a new procedure can be in place.

"I have here with me Special Operations Warden Michael Barnes, who has been leading this investigation. Warden Barnes, what can you tell us about the incident?" She points her microphone at him. The smug look on his face clearly shows that he is enjoying the attention.

"Well, Ms. Jackson, this is again another typical case where a hunter does not take necessary precautions in gun safety. It is important to follow all safety guidelines that the Department of Conservation provides. In order to receive your permit, you need to be schooled in gun safety. This victim did not have a permit, and was most likely not properly trained."

Ms. Jackson pauses for but a few seconds, before asking another question. "Is it true that this victim was alone?"

Michael nods his head slowly, a smug grin on his face as he eyes the young reporter. "Yes, and I thank you for asking that question," his attempt at flattery makes Arthur cringe. "You should never go hunting alone. You never know what dangers you may come across."

Ms. Jackson looks unimpressed, moving on to her next question, "Could any of these indicate suicide?"

"Certainly not! With the first accident, there was no suicide note, and after speaking to his family, there was no indication that the victim would commit suicide. Mr. Downes was just a happy-go-lucky dude--er man."

"Is there a coincidence to these accidents happening so closely in succession?"

Michael shakes his head. "Of course not, they are accidents. The only thing they have in common is that they are both so tragic."

The reporter nods. "Understood. Thank you, Mr. Barnes."

"That's Special Agent Barnes."

Ms. Jackson does not respond but turns back to the camera. “Back to you, Tim."

Arthur has heard enough, he can get more details from Charles later. He turns the TV off.

Another victim. The fact that Charles called him suggests there was something that wasn't right. An accident was an accident, and it was all paperwork, but to have another one so quickly...It was another murder.

And that meant something darker was lurking.

There could be a serial killer, ready to kill again.

And Arthur wants to do something about it.

Sorry this one took so long! Been kinda busy with other things, but I hope to get back and post chapters.

Tag Requests:

@photo1030 @moeitsu @cassietrn

#red dead redemption 2 #red dead fandom #fanfiction #arthur morgan #ao3 writer #arthur x eliza #high sierra #modern red dead #modern au #Murder mystery story #Charles and Arthur are a dynamic duo #John is in a country rock band

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slow-motionlovepotion · 2 years ago

Text

𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 | 𝒃.𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒔

𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈: SonsBestFriend!Bucky x OlderWoman!Reader

𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕: 3.2k

𝒂/𝒏: a very simple plot bunny (college Bucky likes milfs) got out of hand so please enjoy 3k words of pure Christmas smut. no beta, we die like men.

𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔: 18+ - age gap (21ish!Bucky x mid-late 40s/early 50s!Reader), explicit language, smut, cunnilingus, fingering, unprotected sex, multiple orgasms, inappropriate relationship, infidelity, a lil bit of subby Bucky - minors do not interact.

𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: Your sons best friend comes to stay for Christmas

Bucky Barnes stands in the doorway of the kitchen smirking. Eyes trailing up and down your body, pausing at your glossy red lips, the peak of cleavage in the v-neck of your dress, and the curve of your hips. You can feel his eyes on you but you don’t look over.

You definitely didn’t dress up for Bucky, you didn’t pick this dress with its neckline more revealing than normal, you’re definitely not wearing the lipstick he complimented the last time he visited.

You definitely haven’t made an effort to impress Bucky Barnes.

“Anything else to go out?” he asks casually, like he’s not spent the last five minutes blatantly checking you out

Bucky’s been a darling all day, insisting on helping you with the prep for your annual Christmas party, taking round plates of appetisers, chatting to Mrs Marshall from next door, ensuring your wine is never empty.

“Just this, if you wouldn’t mind” you finish plating the mince pies and hand the tray to Bucky, his fingers brush yours as he takes the tray off you and his touch feels electric.

When your son mentioned Bucky was planning to stay at university over the Christmas break you’d extended an invitation almost immediately, your house was plenty big enough and you always cooked too much for just the three of you. And Bucky had been so lovely when he’d come to stay for your husband’s recent birthday, you couldn't stand the thought of him spending Christmas alone.

“Thanks for having me” his words are muffled by his face pressed into your shoulder, arms wrapped around you in the most welcome hug.

“Nonsense, can’t be having you alone at Christmas” you loosen your embrace, immediately missing the heat of his body.

“This is for you” he blushes, handing you a bottle of wine.

You take the bottle, noticing the label as your favourite “Bucky you shouldn’t have”

“My ma taught me you never show up to a woman’s house empty handed” Bucky winks at you, the implication not missed.

You’re in the kitchen wiping down the counters when Bucky finds you at the end of the night.

The majority of the guests had gone, just two of your husband's golf buddies left outside, smoking cigars and drinking some expensive whiskey with your husband and son, the same tradition every year.

“Everything alright sweetie?” His cheeks and nose are red from the cold and he’s rubbing his hands together to warm them up.

“Yeah, I thought I'd come see if you needed any help with anything.” He leans against the counter and you can’t help but think he looks very comfortable in your kitchen, almost like he belongs there.

“Oh, everything’s all done don’t worry” Bucky notices your empty glass on the side and goes to refill it but you place your hand over the top to stop him

“I shouldn't” you explain.

Bucky scoffs at you “One more, it's Christmas” He can tell you’re almost persuaded, “How about I join you?” He takes another glass out the cupboard and you remove your hand from your glass.

Bucky hands the full glass to you, holding his out you clink your glass to his “Cheers”

You barely take a sip of your wine before the glass is pulled from your hand and Bucky’s lips are on yours.

One hand reaches for your waist, the fingers of his other hand trace the line of your jaw, tipping your head back as it does. Your hands grab the collar of his shirt and pull him closer as all self control dissipates.

There’s no explanation if you’re caught like this, your son and husband only outside. Your husband who, in all your years of marriage, had never once treated you like this. Your husband who’s sleeping with his secretary. The brief pang of guilt disappearing at the thought.

Bucky’s lips feel like fire against yours, searing hot and stealing your breath. You wrap your arms around his neck as he lifts you into the kitchen island, his lips burning a trail down your throat and chest as you wrap your legs around his hips.

As a woman of a certain age, you’d learnt a few things over the years. You certainly had a bit more experience than the young man grinding between your legs.

“Bucky…Bucky” a muffled hum of acknowledgment comes from between your breasts

“Bucky. Get on your knees” his head shoots up at the instruction and he slides to the floor, eyes never leaving yours.

You want to take your time with him, tease him, get him all worked up before giving him everything he wants but it’s too risky.

Dragging your dress up your thighs, you slide to the edge of the counter. Bucky takes this as his que and dives his head between your spread legs, licking a stripe over your already damp underwear. Lifting yourself up from the counter Bucky helps you slide your underwear down your legs before he slips them into his back pocket. His head is back between your thighs, tongue working your cunt, focused on pulling the pleasure out of you as quickly as he can.

Bucky’s all enthusiasm, lacking the finesse of a more mature man but his eagerness makes up for it. His arms wrap around your thighs, holding you against his mouth as he sweeps his tongue against your entrance, you can feel your wetness practically puddling on the counter.

He’s a quick study, so when his nose bumps your clit and your breath hitches, he moves his attention, pressing soft kisses to your clit before lapping and sucking with chaotic fervour.

“Fuck, that’s it Bucky” he groans against your core, the vibrations edging you closer to your climax. Keeping his attention on your clit he slides a thick finger into you, adding a second that makes you gasp, the gentle stretch making your eyes flutter and your head fall back.

“Yes baby, yes, so good” You slide your fingers into his hair, holding him close as you rock your hips against him, legs shaking as you feel yourself teetering on the edge of utter bliss. A gentle crook of his finger has you crashing over the edge, waves of pure pleasure lapping over you.

Bucky continues his relentless assault on your clit, sucking harder and licking sloppily, his fingers still buried in your cunt, coaxing that sweet spot “Again” Bucky mumbles against your clit, you open your mouth to protest, your first orgasm not even over but you can already feel the pressure building again. Your hips rock without your control and a gentle graze of his teeth on your clit has you gripping his hair as the force of your second orgasm overwhelms every fibre of your being. You let out a quiet sob as you pass your peak, legs trembling, and completely breathless.

Your hand in Bucky’s hair guides his head back, looking down at his swollen and wet lips, the throbbing between your legs is almost painful. He’s breathing hard and his eyes are soft and needy. You release the grip on his hair, moving your hand to lift his chin, running your thumb along his lips

“Good boy” your praise sends a shiver through him and there's no hiding the desperation in his eyes.

The sound of the back door opening crashes you both back down to earth. Faster than lighting Bucky stands and helps you down from the counter, you quickly grab a tea towel, pretending you’ve just finished washing up. Bucky bends over the island, burying his face in his wine, hiding the swelling in his jeans and the sticky mess you left behind on the counter.

Your husband's golf buddies wave at you as they pass the kitchen “Bye Jim, Bye Nick” you smile and wave as they leave, you look like the perfect housewife and if only they knew. Your husband stumbles a few steps behind them, clearly he’s overdone it on the Shiraz this evening.

The drinking had become a bit of a habit for him and on nights like this you put him to bed and sleep in the spare room. You’re always up before him anyway, and if he notices he’s never said anything. Your husband wobbles and your son catches him “I’ll put him to bed” he nods at you knowingly “C’mon dad, lets go” Your husband mumbles something as your son leads him up the stairs.

You’re left in the kitchen with Bucky, you can feel your wetness sticky between your thighs, a delicious reminder of what you’ve just done. You’re absentmindedly fiddling with your wedding rings and Bucky notices.

Truthfully, you hadn’t been wearing them much recently, your relationship with your husband could be described as rocky at best. You had to laugh at the irony when you found out about your husband and his secretary. He didn’t know you knew and you weren’t ready to deal with that yet. You hadn’t decided what you were going to do and didn’t want your son to think anything was wrong, so you’d put your rings back on to keep up appearances.

“You okay?” There’s concern in his voice but it’s underlined with lust, he stands and you can see the thick outline of his cock straining his jeans.

Upstairs you hear your son’s voice as he answers a call and the sound of his door closing leaving the rest of the house in silence. You ponder your next move for a moment before bringing your wine to your lips, you tip your head back, finishing the last of it, Bucky follows suit.

Taking Bucky’s hand you lead him down the stairs to his room, thankful for your foresight to purchase a house with a separate guest suite, two floors away from the bedrooms currently occupied by your husband and son.

Bucky enters the room first, settling himself on the end of the bed. You close the door behind you and pause for a second, resting your back against the cool wood.

“Come’re” Bucky’s words are barely a whisper, you can hear the desperation in his voice and the desire flashing in his eyes.

You take a few steps towards him, stopping just out of reach

“Please” He begs and reaches out for you, hands hooking behind your knee, bringing it to the bed by his hips, copying the motion with your other leg, sliding his hands up your thighs to pull you down against him. Your bare cunt meets the fabric of his jeans and the thick line of his cock. The moan in the back of your throat catches when you hear the groan Bucky lets out as he gently rolls his hips, lost in the feeling of your body pressed to his, thrusting against you with breathy moans.

“Need you, need to feel you” He’s muttering against your cheek, dragging his mouth against yours, desperate and needy, tongue working its way between your lips, you can taste the wine on his mouth and your moan finally falls from your lips. Bucky’s hands grip your hips as he continues to buck into you, he breaks the kiss, unable to focus on anything but your heat seeping through his jeans, he throws his head back, a whine falling from him with one particularly hard thrust.

He tugs at the neckline of your dress, pulling your dress below your breasts he closes his hot mouth over your nipple, licking, and tugging gently with his teeth.

Each thrust has him pressed harder against you, the rough material dragging on your clit and you could cum like this, rutting against each other but he’s already made you cum twice and you desperately want watch him unravel as you fuck him.

“You still with me?” He hums in response, eyes closed and blissed out “You wanna fuck me?”

Bucky’s eyes flick open and his usual blue has been replaced with black “Yes, god yes, yes, please”

Guiding him flat on his back you lift yourself off his thighs, he lets out a disappointed sound before you bring your hand down to trace the outline of him over the fabric. He urges you on, tugging at the buckle of his belt and you swiftly push his hands away.

“Let me” You roll to his side, giving yourself more space to work the buckle and button open, pulling the zip down, you slip your hand inside and you can feel a damp spot on his pants before you quickly drag his jeans and boxers over his hips. His cock sways heavily between his legs, red and dripping. You try to mask the shock on your face because you really didn’t expect him to be so big, he’s long and thick, curved just so and you’ll know he’ll hit every spot perfectly.

“Oh Buck, such a pretty cock. So big, you’re going to fill me up so good” You reach out to grasp his length, giving it a slow stroke that draws the neediest whine from him.

“Fuck, I need you. Please, need you. Now, please” The hazy desperation has been replaced with heated desire as he pushes your dress up round your hips, tugging at the bodice “Get this off”

You guide his hands to the zip of your dress and he makes quick work, helping you pull the fabric off. Bucky sits up, dragging his shirt over his head before discarding it on the floor with the rest of his clothes.

He cups your jaw, capturing your mouth with fierce urgency while he moves you, pulling you back on him, your bare core this time meeting his aching cock. “F-uck baby”, you arch into him, tilting your hips to press your aching clit against him.

Raising yourself up, you slide your hand between your legs, nails ghosting over his tip and he shudders at the contact. His grip on your waist is gentle yet possessive and it tightens when you wrap your hand around his length and stroke once, twice, pulling a roughened groan from him.

Hovering with his tip just pressed against your cunt, you touch your fingers delicately to his face “Look at me.” Only once his eyes meet yours do you ease yourself down onto him, the stretch almost painful despite how wet you are. Bucky whines, his hold bruising your hips and his eyes rolling back and fluttering closed.

When you’re fully seated, the curve of his cock presses deliciously against that sweet spot deep inside, one that isn’t reached by your fingers or toys, and it sends a shudder through your body.

The sharp clench of your cunt is enough to snap Bucky from the daze he had momentarily been lost to

“Shit, please move” He bucks slightly, pushing himself even deeper and the ache is exquisite.

You begin to move, rolling your hips, lifting yourself and sinking back down. Your hands find Bucky’s chest, pressing him hard into the mattress, increasing your speed as you ride him.

“Yeah, just like that, fuck” Bucky’s chanting under his breath, letting you take what you need from him. Your shallow breaths are painful in your lungs, unable to pull in enough oxygen you can feel your head getting dizzy. A familiar heat coils in your belly, overwhelming and driving your need.

Noticing the falter in your hips and the catch in your breath Bucky takes over, thrusting from beneath you, driving into that spot over and over until you cry out, “Shit, oh fuck, yes”, thrashing waves surge beneath your skin, uncontrollable tremors rolling through your body as Bucky holds you steady, nails clawing at his chest, your cunt quivering around his cock.

He gives you just enough slack to rock your hips as your orgasm subsides, writhing against his thighs, breathing unsteady.

“You’re so fucking pretty when you cum” He’s moving you as he speaks, rolling you both, pushing you down onto the sheets in the middle of the bed “You look so fucking good.”

Your legs instinctively open as he crawls up the mattress towards you, hooking your legs over his hips, his cock rests heavily on your belly. He pauses, taking in the sight, thighs flush against your bum, cock reaching up to your belly button. “Can’t believe you can take all of it” he breathes.

You reach down to trace the length of him, fingers gently teasing the underside of the head

“C’mon Buck, fuck me” your tone is encouraging, maybe a bit teasing but he takes your instruction.

Dragging his tip down your slit, teasing the head against your entrance. It’s a tighter push after your orgasm and he watches you take every inch, eyes never leaving where his cock is splitting you open “Shit” He lets out an unsteady breath as he bottoms out.

It doesn’t take long for Bucky to pick up the pace, grunting softly against your lips “Fuck. Need’t- Fuck, feels so good” He lifts your leg, wrapping your knee around his waist, burying his cock deeper. “That’s it” You hear him groan and you’re not able to stop the shiver that runs through your body.

The pace he sets is relentless, there’s not an inch of space between your bodies and the sounds of skin on skin and soft moans fill the room.

“So good, filling me so good Buck” The familiar heat is building in the pit of your stomach, your head can’t comprehend the approaching fourth orgasm but your body is racing towards ecstasy, already lost to it.

“You gonna cum?” Bucky pants against your cheek and you nod “yeah? Fuck, need you to cum, wanna feel it”

Bucky pulls up, giving you space to slip your hand between your bodies if you want to but you don’t feel the need to, his cock hitting just perfectly to throw you over the edge.

“Fuck yes, c’mon” Bucky’s whiney and needy, desperate to make you cum he doubles down, thrusting harder, chanting a soft string of “yes, yes, yes” as he feels the tell-tale clench of your release.

“Buc-Ah” You can't help the strangled cry you let out as you fall over the edge, vision blacking and body arching, hands clawing at the sheets beneath you.

Bucky sobs your name quietly as he buries himself inside you and you pull him closer with your legs. Blistering heat floods inside you, “Fuck, fuck, fuck ” Bucky pants in a whisper as his cock throbs.

You reach up to touch his face, pushing his hair back from his sweaty forehead, he presses his lips to yours, breathing heavily against your mouth. Letting your legs fall away from him, he hesitates slightly before slipping out of you.

Bucky moves to lay next to you, pulling the duvet from underneath your boneless body and covering you both with it. Your body feels heavy and you shouldn’t stay, you know you shouldn’t but the warmth of his body next to yours is nice, and when he reaches for you, pulling you close and mumbling sleepily “don’t go” you don’t want to leave, can’t bear the thought of the cold empty guest bed waiting for you upstairs.

So you stay, wrapped in the arms of a man half your age, promising yourself you’ll deal with the consequences in the morning.

𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒊 - ♡.

𝐁𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes smut #college bucky barnes #sons best friend bucky #older woman reader #subby bucky #christmas smut #bucky smut #college!bucky #bucky x you #love potion writes #love potions writing #han writes

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ladylooch · 10 months ago

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Ahhh I absolutely love that lio and Connor both stay in New York

I am dying for more bromance between them

Maybe when they are both in committed relationships since you have blessed us with a few of when they were both single ha

hehehe let's keep this like their rookie year and go with some quick events that happen:

Connor has to teach Lio a lot about being in a committed relationship. Starting with, "when she says it's fine, it is absolutely NOT fine." like "yep, it's fine if you go out with your teammates instead of meet my parents this weekend." Connor, when Lio's repeats the conversation to him asking where her went wrong: "Literally everywhere. Wow, we have some work to do."

Lucie and Savannah get very chatty when the four of them meet up. Usually, they have a drink at one of their places before going out for their dinner reservation. Connor and Lio create a drinking game to get through the non-stop gabbing. Drink every time Lucie says "I love that!" and every time Savannah says "no way, shut up!" Double drinks for if they smack the others arm while saying it.

The boys take Stella to mini golf and start getting really competitive. Naturally, they begin fighting in the middle of the course because Connor thinks Lio is cheating. Little Stell just stands there with her bedazzled, pink sunglasses, counting the number of bad words her daddy says for her lego jar. Mama will have to convert it to dollars for her. "Do I get credit for Uncle Lee's words too!? Cause I counted!" (she didn't)

One of the things they do as a group is go to the trampoline park. Connor and Lio are instructed by the girls to absolutely NOT try to bounce each other to the ceiling with their big bodies. That lasted about two seconds. It was all fun and games until Connor almost lands on Stella. He looks over at his wife, laughing like "ope that was close". She didn't find it funny. "you're a fucking imbecile." She snaps at him in Swiss German. Lio had to hide his face in the collar of his shirt to hide his laughing.

Both men participate in fantasy football leagues, both within their team and with some other players outside of their organizations. One year, Connor had to get a Brazilian for being in last place. They made Lio go with him to make sure he did it. The next year, Lio was laughing a lot less hard during his punishment: getting his eyebrow pierced and having to leave it in for at least 48 hours, or until he was interview with it in, whatever was longest.

#lio & lucie #they are dumb I can't 🤣

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the-dalseum-duet · 3 months ago

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gay Panera Bread date gone wrong! (there was blood!) (and slurs!) (not clickbait!)

@svwhssftr mandatory mako coparent tag come look at your well-behaved gentleman of a son

just some Sutton Valence-adjacent shenanigans for tonight after a long golf practice. it’s hard to explain but in the original Sutton Valence, characters who had children that were also major characters (like Gregory and Adam) were not seen as parents and children. like it was acknowledged that Gregory was technically his father, but it wasn’t the same person. bc that Gregory was not the same age. if that makes any sense. just keep that in mind

anyway! they’re so Ricky Montgomery coded I love them DEARRRLY i fear I have fangstitch brainrot. in my delulu hopeless romantic era. I also fear that it’s not a Sutton Valence excerpt without something oddly serious covered.

“Crow, do you have any formal clothes?” Mako anxiously slid the hangers of his cramped wardrobe as he brushed through his collection of nicer clothing.

“Nothing that would fit you.” Crow crossed his legs as he mashed the buttons of his Switch. “Where are you two going, anyway?”

“Panera.”

“Panera?” Crow repeated as he paused his play-through of Deltarune to stare at Mako, mouth agape. “You’re asking me for formal clothes for a date at Panera?”

“I don’t have anything!” Mako exclaimed. “I mean, he’s a big fashion guy. What if I wear something entirely inappropriate?”

“I can guarantee you that formal attire at Panera Bread would be entirely inappropriate,” Crow said.

“What do you think I should wear, then?” Mako sighed.

“I don’t know, man. I’m a fan of the collared shirt and sweatshirt combo, personally. It never misses.”

“Collared shirt,” Mako repeated, standing on the tip of his toes as he swung the metal tops of his hangers. “Nice sweatshirt.”

Meanwhile, Gale adjusted the button of his shirt as he puffed out his hair in his bathroom mirror. It was a simple ensemble. Mako liked simple, right? Did it really matter, in the long run? He already agreed to their date.

“Kai, you’ve been going out with Noeul for a while, right?” Gale asked, propping open the bathroom door with his foot.

“Something like that.” Kai dramatically stretched himself over his bed. “Why do you ask?”

“How often do you go on dates?” Gale asked.

“Never,” Kai responded. “Why would we do that gay shit?”

Gale cocked his head. “Because you want to further your relationship and understanding of each other?”

“I think we understand each other perfectly fine.”

“I guess we’re just different.” Gale habitually picked at his cuticles, chipping his bronze nail polish.

“Thank God,” Kai sneered, staring at the popcorn ceiling.

“Can I borrow your blue sweatshirt?” Gale asked. “I’ll be careful with it.”

“It’s going to swallow you whole, but sure,” Kai said. “Just don’t get, like, cum or shit on it.”

“Huh?” Gale said, his head craning around the door.

“You heard me, Porter. Just don’t get freaky with your boy toy on my vintage Alexander McQueen, and we’ll be fine.”

“That’s vintage McQueen?” Gale asked, his eyes widening. “And you never told me?”

“It never came up.” Kai shrugged.

“I might have to borrow it more often,” Gale said under his breath.

“Where are you going, anyway?” Kai asked.

“The little Panera down the street.”

“Panera?” Kai laughed. “God, you are a faggot.”

“It’s cozy! They have good soups!”

“You are a pansy,” Kai cackled.

“You’ve shagged significantly more men than I have, Shirogane.” Gale narrowed his eyes as he tucked Kai’s sweatshirt into his khaki pants.

“Shagged?” Kai said. “What, am I some kind of rug?”

Gale rolled his eyes. “You should be more familiar with British slang by now.”

“And you should be more familiar with some dick by now.”

“I’m not interested in his… manly bits… right now-“

“What the fuck?” Kai cried.

“What?”

“Why do you talk like that all the time?” Kai asked. “‘His manly bits.’ This has to be a joke.”

“Welcome to Britain, Kai! Sorry, we have dignity and a healthy relationship with sex.”

“You clearly don’t have a healthy relationship with sex.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend who sleeps with Sonnet Chea behind my back.”

Kai blinked. “That’s not true, Gale.”

“It most certainly is true!”

“I know Noeul fucks Sonnet. I just don’t care.”

“Oh.” Gale’s voice cracked.

“I’m just saying, you should loosen up a little,” Kai said. “Learn to take a joke, man.”

“Your jokes aren’t very funny,” Gale said, grabbing his bag and wallet from a hook on their door.

“They get me good dick,” Kai said. “What do your nonexistent jokes get you, Gale?”

“A boyfriend who actually gives two shits about me.” Gale stiffly smiled as he closed the door and headed down the hall to meet Mako.

As Gale traversed the halls, Mako’s eyes were locked on his bedside alarm clock.

“Does it look okay?” he asked, his voice wavering. “I think it looks okay.”

“You look great, dude.” Crow awkwardly patted Mako’s back. “I think the blue sweatshirt and khaki pants complement each other.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I’m nervous.” Mako fidgeted with the shark keychain dangling from his wallet. “I’ve never been on a date before. I think he really likes me, and I don’t want to fuck up-“

“If someone somehow doesn’t like you, then they’re the problem,” Crow said, instinctively adjusting the chain of Mako’s paperclip necklace. “Gale seems like a good guy. Just have fun.”

“Do my teeth look weird?”

“As fucked-up as always.” Crow smiled.

“Perfect.” Mako confidently grinned as he swung open the door of his dorm room. His face dropped as he saw Gale across the hall. Gale waved at him, and Mako slammed the door.

“Crow, what do I do?” Mako exclaimed.

“What’s wrong?” Crow had just returned to his game, so he was moderately annoyed.

“We’re wearing the same exact outfit.”

“You’re what?”

“I saw him down the hall. It’s the exact same. Blue sweatshirt, collared shirt, khakis.”

Crow burst out laughing. “Are you serious?”

“This isn’t funny, Crow!”

“You’re right, this is hilarious. Open the door, let me get a picture of you two.”

“Absolutely not-“

Gale managed to knock on the door twice before Crow aggressively opened it, slamming it directly into Gale’s nose.

“Ah!” Gale shortly screamed, curling over to shield his nose with his hands.

“Oh, fuck,” Crow whispered. “Gale, I’m so sorry, man-“

“No, I’m okay!” Gale nasally confirmed. “It’s not that bad, I promise.”

Gale removed his hands to reveal a stream of blood pouring from his right nostril.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Mako gasped. “I’m so sorry, Crow’s such an asshole.”

“Hey!” Crow snapped.

“No, I’m fine!” Gale laughed. “This happens sometimes. Nosebleeds, I mean. Do you have any tissues?”

“I got some from Crow’s desk. Here.” Mako shoved a wad of tissues into Gale’s face.

“Wait, are we wearing the same outfit?” Gale murmured through a glob of bloody tissues.

“Yeah, I think we are,” Mako laughed, his face bright red.

“Smile!” Crow perched atop his bed with a digital camera and excitedly waved at the couple. He did not wait for them to smile. Instead, he caught a candid shot of Gale wiping blood from above his lip and Mako looking incredibly pissed at him.

“I think I’m okay,” Gale confirmed, tilting his head down and admiring himself in Mako’s mirror. Blood no longer stained his upper lip.

Crow threw a black hoodie at Mako. “This is the hoodie we agreed to get at the Ricky Montgomery show. I’ve hoarded it for long enough. You can finally wear it.”

“Is it clean?” Mako asked.

“Dubiously.”

Mako shrugged. “It should be fine.”

Crow couldn’t help but notice Gale staring off at his quilted throw as Mako got changed. It was nice to witness some form of respect as opposed to the raging horniness he was accustomed to seeing.

“I should be ready to go,” Mako said, taking Gale’s hand. A warm flush crept across Gale’s cheeks.

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’m ready, too,” Gale said. Mako reached to open their door.

“Y’all be safe,” Crow called, doing his best impression of the Kentuckians he had grown to know and love.

“Take care, now,” Mako replied in an equally horrific Southern accent.

“You’re learning!” Crow excitedly clapped.

“Never say that again,” Gale said, leaning into Mako. With that, the duo embarked on their romantic first date at the local Panera Bread.

#prose #sillyposting #not edited lmao #fangstitch #I think I need a fangstitch tag

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whatliesbeneath-ao3 · 7 months ago

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MANAGERIAL NOTE

Once you've recovered, you continue to read through the files.

“Anem!” His mother calls. “Breakfast!”

Anem groans, blinking from the sunlight pouring through the curtains. He flips over onto his other side…

…and promptly falls off the bed with a crash, yelping as he hits his head on the ground. The door opens as he’s recovering, sitting up and adjusting his pajama shirt like nothing happened. His younger sister stands in the doorway, with a smile like she fully anticipated this.

“Fell again?”

“Never,” Anem replies, with a laugh. He takes her hand as she helps him up, snorting at his t-shirt. It’s a plain white shirt with a print of a shrimp doing a thumbs up; one of his favorites, and arguably one of his most fashionable. “What?”

“Nothing,” She replies, sing-song, stepping out of his room. Their brother peeks his head out of his room, seeing Anem slightly ruffled. His younger brother laughs, too. “Right?” His sister says, and Anem raises an eyebrow, smiling.

“What?”

“You’re so lame, bro,” Their brother says, and they make their way to the kitchen table together. Their mother stands in front of the stove, and their father is reading a newspaper seated at the kitchen table. His siblings sit, and their mother serves them all food. But Anem stays standing. “What is it?”

He blinks, his heart like a drum in his chest. “N-nothing.” His voice comes out as a stutter, and he pulls out his chair. But the instant he does—

“Ack!”

—he falls face first onto the ground of his dorm room at Lobotomy Corporation. Anem groans, a welt the size of a golf ball quickly forming on his forehead. There’s already a bandage from Punishment Bird’s ferocious pecking, and now this. He pulls at the collar of his pajama top, his favorite. It’s frayed on the sleeves, but he cherishes it and the memories it holds—the memories he can’t get back, and the days he can’t return to.

Anem climbs back into bed, and stares up at the ceiling until his alarm blares, signaling that the day was just beginning.

#Managerial Note #The First Day Event #Anem

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oblivious-aro · 1 year ago

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Friends in Strange Places Ch. 5

What if Vlad was good instead of evil? Link to chapter 1:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14074558/1/Friends-in-Strange-Places

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

Although no one was paying attention, Jazz continued her narration. Tucker and Sam sat in silence, avoiding eye contact with anyone, while Danny stared out the window.

"Hey!" Danny interrupted Jazz "I think I can see the lake!"

Jazz stopped talking and looked out the window.

"Yeah!" she said "And some of the houses. Wow, the architecture is just phenomenal!"

Tucker and Sam rushed over to look too (the lakeview was only on Danny and Jazz's side, and the Fenton parents had always been pretty lax about seatbelts).

"Finally!" Tucker pumped his fist "I am so ready to get out of this vehicle."

"There sure are a lot of trees. It's nice. Shady." Sam remarked. "Those houses are a bit much, though. Which one's Vlad's?"

"Vlad's house should be coming up right about..." Maddie scanned out the window "There!"

She pointed to a minty green house they were steadily approaching. It was decadent, but nowhere neat as large as all the other houses on the lakefront.

"Ope, there's the driveway, turn there Jack."

They turned and drove down Vlad's (very long) driveway, to find Vlad himself standing at end of it. Danny wondered if he'd been standing there long.

When Danny stepped out of the RV behind Sam and Tucker, the first thing he noticed (besides his wobbly car legs) was Vlad's outfit. He wasn't wearing his usual suit, but instead a yellow golf shirt with green stripes around the waist, sleeves, and collar tucked into khaki pants.

"Ah, The Fentons, and friends." Vlad nodded towards Sam and Tucker "Welcome to my summer villa." Vlad gestured to the beautiful structure behind him.

"Wow Vlad," Maddie said "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but this is much ritzier than the little cottage I was expecting."

"Did I say cottage on the phone? Ah, see my mother had taken to calling it 'The Cottage', and it seems at some point I picked up the habit."

"Yeah, that does sound like something Nedelya would do." Jack nodded. "I see you managed to sneak in the ol' Packer's colour scheme past her?"

"Ah, so you noticed."

"You betcha! I suppose the inside is littered with yellow trim?"

"Gold, to be precise."

"Classic Vladdie!" Jack slapped Vlad on the back, knocking the wind out of him.

"Classic Jack." Vlad wheezed.

"Alright, as much as I'd love to stand around chitchating," Maddie said "We'd better get the food we brought into a fridge."

"Oh Maddie, you're barely staying for two days, you didn't have to-"

"Oh, nonsense Vlad. You're being very generous by letting us all stay at your place, including Danny's friends. The least we can do is bring some groceries."

"Well, since you've already gone to the trouble, I suppose I'll show you the kitchen."

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

While Jack and Maddie started putting the groceries away, Vlad took the kids upstairs. He dropped Sam and Jazz off at their room, and then showed Danny and Tucker theirs.

"Feel free to explore wherever you'd like in the house." Vlad said "I'll be in the office, which is just in the next room over, finishing up some straightening if you need anything." Vlad gave a small wave as he left.

Danny and Tucker's room was identical to Sam and Jazz's. The floor was made of some kind of dark hardwood, and the walls were green with thins gold designs on it. There were two beds with solid wooden frames and green covers. Mounted on the wall between the beds, above a wooden nightstand, was a golden light fixture with a little chain hanging from it.

Tucker flopped onto one of the beds.

"Springy, yet firm with just enough give." Tucker folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "Very nice. And I must say, I'm a fan of all these decorative pillows."

"Seems like a bit much." Danny said "What on earth does one person need seven pillows for?"

"Sneak attack!"

Danny turned intangible as a pillow sailed through his face and hit the wall behind him.

"Hey! That's cheating!"

Danny turned tangible and stuck his tongue out at Tucker.

"Nothing you can do about it, Tuck."

Tucker crossed his arms poutily.

Danny tossed his backpack onto the other bed.

"I'm gonna go talk to Vlad real quick." he said.

"Alright, don't be too long though, cuz I definitely want to grab Sam and go house-exploring before dinner. Maybe we'll find a hidden passageway!"

"What about Jazz?" Danny asked.

"Oh yeah. I keep forgetting about Jazz. It's been a while since we've really hung out with her."

"It really hasn't." Danny rolled his eyes as he left the room.

The door next to their guestroom (which Danny assumed was the office Vlad was talking about) was open, so Danny stepped inside.

The office had the same green walls as the guestrooms, just without the gold designs. A bookshelf with glass doors took up the entire left wall. Vlad stood at the back of the room by a plain empty wooden desk.

It didn't seem like this office was used for much.

"Are you and your friends finding everything all right?" Vlad asked.

"Yeah, we're all great." Danny closed the door behind him. "So, you're telling my parents this weekend, huh?"

"Indeed. Speaking of, how did things go with your sister? You did talk to her, right?"

"Jazz? Oh yeah, I did tell her. It turned out she already knew, actually."

"Really?" Vlad's eyes widened "And you had no idea?"

"Apparently she saw me go ghost a while back, but she wanted to wait until I was ready to tell her."

"Well," Vlad blinked, his expression unreadable "It sounds like things went well then."

"Yeah."

"I'm glad." Vlad smiled.

"Me too. I didn't tell her about you, though. I wanted to make sure you were okay with that first."

"I appreciate that." Vlad nodded. "You may tell her about me. It would probably be best to have her in the loop. Especially once your parents know about me."

"Yeah." Danny nodded "Are you gonna tell them tonight?"

Vlad didn't answer right away.

"No. I think I'll do it tomorrow. Later in the day. Probably after dinner."

"I think we'll be gone before then. Mom and Dad said we'd need to set out by 2:00 so we're not home too late."

"Ah yes, I suppose you do have school Monday, don't you? I'll tell them after lunch, then." Vlad sighed. "It truly is tragic how short the weekend is."

"Agreed. You, uh, nervous?"

"I'm...trying not to think about it too much until the moment arrives. I'm going to tell them, and that's that. There's nothing to be gained in dwelling on it."

"Yeah, I get that."

There was pause in the conversation.

Danny felt like he should say more. He knew what Vlad was going through better than anyone else possibly could, but the fact of the matter was that they didn't actually know each other that well. What encouraging words could Danny offer this person who was three decades older than him, and whom he hardly ever spoke to?

"You know," Vlad said "It brings me great joy, seeing you surrounded by people who know what happened to you and accept you. I wouldn't say I've had a bad life, far from it, but I'm glad you aren't going through what I went through alone."

Vlad sounded happy, but for some reason that made Danny feel worse for him than if he'd sounded sad.

"Well, for what it's worth, you're not alone anymore Vlad. Even if my parents don't accept you, you'll still have me and my friends. Not that they won't accept you, I know they totally will."

Vlad gave Danny a tired smile.

"I certainly hope so Little Badger."

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

"Ah there you are, Vlad!" Maddie smiled as Vlad entered to the kitchen. "Got the kids all situated?"

"Yes, they're all set." Vlad said "I'll show you and Jack your room after we get the food all taken care of."

"Sounds good. It's so nice that we're finally able to spend some real quality time together." Maddie commented, putting a head of lettuce in the fridge.

Vlad gave her a small smile.

"Yeah, V-man!" Jack wrapped an arm tightly around Vlad. "I can finally catch you up on all the stuff Maddie and I have been working on! You are gonna love the Fenton-combobulator!"

"If you two don't mind," Vlad wriggled out of Jack's grip "I would actually prefer it if we didn't talk about anything ghost-related this weekend."

Jack frowned.

"Well, okay Vladdie. But, why-"

"Jack." Maddie said warningly.

Not that she wasn't also curious...

It couldn't have been trauma from the accident, Vlad had been very enthusiastic about their inventions when Jack took him down to the lab.

Especially the portal. He'd gone right up to it without a trace of fear or hesitation.

But she didn't want to risk pushing the issue. They'd wanted to spend time with Vlad like this ever since the reunion, and now that it was finally happening, Maddie just wanted to enjoy it. Preferably without without any drama.

"Alright, alright." Jack held up his hands. "No ghosts. I got it. Gives me more time to razz you, anyway. Seems The Packers aren't making it to The Super Bowl this year. Again."

"The Super Bowl isn't everything, Jack."

"I suppose that's true, but it's when Maddie makes her special chicken wings, so it's the most important football event as far as I'm concerned! By far!"

"Jack, that's far from a unique opinion." Vlad pinched his nose. "Though I must say, I'm interested in seeing how The Patriots..."

Jack and Vlad soon started throwing around terms and numbers that went over Maddie's head, but listening to their conversation still made her smile.

This was the Vlad she remembered. This was her friend.

For a while she'd wondered if he was even still in there, but now she could see him; he'd just been hidden behind some stuffy mask ever since the college reunion. The mask had slipped briefly in the lab at Fenton Works and in Colorado at three in the morning, but now it felt like it was truly and fully off.

This was the Vlad she and Jack had stayed up late running through concepts for theoretical inventions with, had scrounged the library for old newspapers with any articles on ghost sightings, had split whatever the 'deal of the day' was at Tony's Pizza's at least three days a week with.

It turned out that Vlad was still there, he just ordered more expensive pizzas these days.

Speaking of pizza...

"We should probably start getting supper made." Maddie said "Danny's friend Sam's a vegetarian, so she brought her own bean-based burgers, and we brought some vegetables for salads."

"And potatoes!" Jack piped up.

"Yes Jack. You start the potatoes, I'll do the salad, and Vlad can start on the patties."

Vlad's smile faded as he eyed the packages of ground beef on the table.

"You...didn't happen to bring any premade ones, did you?"

"Of course not!" Jack laughed. "The ones you make are waaay better V-man! Don't worry, we got the garlic powder and all those other spices and stuff you need!"

"Is there a problem, Vlad?" Maddie frowned concernedly.

"Well, it's jus been a while since I've actually- wait," Vlad eyed the little plastic bags next to the beef "You still remember the spice mixture I used?"

"Of course, V-man!" Jack patted Vlad's shoulder. "I'd never forget the spices for your burgers. Best I've ever had!"

"We actually use your recipe for burger night at our house." Maddie said.

"They never turn out quite as good as yours, though." Jack patted Vlad's shoulder again. "I don't know what your secret is Vladdie!"

It was strange. The fact that Jack and Maddie still remembered something as mundane as his hamburger recipe after all these years warmed his heart, but it also made it ache longingly.

"Well, Vlad, if you're not up to it, I certainly don't mind-"

"You know what?" Vlad cut Maddie off, his earlier hesitation replaced with burning drive "I'm pretty sure I remember how to do it." The fact that his friends had held on to such a small detail moved Vlad. "They aren't actually particularly difficult to make, I just haven't had anyone to make them for in a while."

Vlad turned to some cupboards next to the fridge.

"I know there's cutting boards around here somewhere...Jack, check the drawer near the stove for the kniv- on second thought, you should look through the cupboards while I find the knives, since you're, uh...taller than me."

"You got it V-man!" Jack beamed.

Maddie smiled as she watched Vlad opened and shut a few drawers.

Yes, that was the Vlad she knew. The Vlad she'd been missing. She continued to smile as Vlad and Jack handed her a knife and a cutting board and she began slicing tomatoes.

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

"Those were way better than the burgers Mom and Dad make!" Danny said.

"Yeah." Jazz agreed. "They're a lot less charred."

"Can't really give an opinion on the burgers," Sam said "But I am half-considering trying to talk my parents into getting some of that artisanal root beer."

The kids were all standing on Vlad's back deck. Danny had corralled them all outside after supper cleanup, figuring Vlad would want some tiem to catch up with Jack and Maddie privately.

"You know," Tucker said "I like Vlad Masters. His burger's are worthy of my mother's cooking, and he's a technological genius, but there is something weirdly off about him. He's too polite."

"Being poite's a bad thing?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"That's not what I mean, Danny. He's polite in a...weird way."

"Oh please," Sam said "He's putting on a front. I'd recognize the 'polite rich person' persona anywhere."

"Not to mention the fact that he's been living alone in a football themed castle for the last twenty years." Jazz said. "It'd be weirder if he wasn't a little off."

"It is strange that he suddenly invited your family out here after months of silence." Sam narrowed her eyes "It's kind of sketchy, actually."

"I actually might know something about that." Danny said.

The other three all turned to look at him.

"Vlad told me he was planned on telling Mom and Dad...something important this weekend."

"Is he going to tell them he's half-ghost!?" Jazz asked, her eyes widening.

Danny's heart skipped a beat.

"Wait, what?"

"Oh, sorry. Do Sam and Tucker not know? I assumed they did, since Vlad invited them out here too."

"No, they know." Danny said. "The question is how do you know?"

"Wait," Tucker said "You didn't tell her about Vlad?"

"I was just about to! I had to get his permission first, and he's not around a lot."

"I mean, considering he sets off all the same ghost devices you do," Jazz started to count on her fingers "He was also the victim of a ghost portal accident, and the fact he's been avoiding Mom and Dad ever since said accident, it wasn't that hard to piece together."

"So, does that mean he's telling them right now?" Tucker asked.

"No. He said he planned on doing it tomorrow. I figured he wants to wait a bit and take the opportunity to spend some time with them before he tells them. You know, break the ice before he drops the bombshell on them."

"And spend one last weekend with them on the off chance they never want to see him again." Jazz added.

It took her a few seconds to realize that everyone was staring at her with horrified expressions.

"Not that that'll happen!" she backtracked "Sure, Mom and Dad will be pretty shocked and probably have a million questions, but they will accept him. I just mean that it might be hard for Vlad to have faith in them right now, you know, all things considered."

"Hey wait," Sam turned to Danny "Once your parents know that half-ghosts are a thing, doesn't that open up the possibility of your parents figuring you out?"

"I was also kind of worried about that." Danny said "But Vlad said he'd throw them off the scent when he talks about the details of his accident. Also, considering all the stuff they've missed in the past, do you really think my parents'll put two and two together on this one?"

"Yeah, probably not." Jazz, Sam, and Tucker all said at the same time.

"And you know, if things do go well, I...actually kind of might want to tell Mom and Dad too."

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all gave Danny a sympathetic look, but didn't say anything.

"Anyway, I think we should give them some time at the house. Let them catch up or whatever it is adults do." Danny said quickly.

"Yeah, sure thing." Tucker nodded. "But what on earth are we supposed to do in the meantime?"

No one answered him right away.

"Wanna go sit on the dock?" Danny shrugged.

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

Tucker sighed as he sat down, letting his feet hang over the edge.

It was a very simple wooden dock that had been painted white. A large boulder that with house's address number carved into it was resting in a little garden by the walkway from the house. The walkway split into two separate paths at the dock that Jazz said ran along the whole edge of the lake.

The view of the lake from the dock was spectacular, but Tucker wasn't appreciating that right now.

"No wi-fi, no video games, no ghosts, what are we even supposed to do?"

"Have you tried relaxing?" Sam asked dryly "Maybe enjoying this gorgeous view of nature?"

"I feel you." Jazz plopped down beside Tucker. "I left all my textbooks at home. They made my suitcase too heavy. But now I don't know what to do with myself."

"Oh for Pete's sake," Sam shook her head. Listening to these two was making her depressed "We could...uh..." Sam looked around, her eyes falling on the lake water "Go swimming?"

Sam squatted down and stuck her hand in the lake. She immediately pulled it out and shot up to her feet.

"Never mind." Sam shook the water off of her hand "That's way too cold for swimming."

"It'd probably be perfect in summer." Jazz said, lazily draping her own hand in the water.

Sam leaned against a mailbox.

"Yeah, Probably." she sighed. "Hey wait, why is there a mailbox on the dock?"

"For the mail jumpers." Jazz said.

"The what?" Tucker sat up slightly.

"There's a boat tour that goes around to deliver and pick up mail on the docks. The mail jumpers jump onto the dock, put the mail in the box, then jump back on while the boat's still moving."

"That sounds incredibly impractical." Sam said.

"And really cool!" Tucker added.

"It's really more of a tradition thing nowadays. They only do it in the summer for tourists."

"This place seems like it's only fun in the summer." Tucker grumbled, slouching again.

Danny rejoined the group, holding up the hem of his shirt.

"Whatcha got there?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Rocks." Danny squatted down and dumped the rocks noisily onto the dock. He picked one up, wound his arm back, and tossed it at the lake. It skipped four times.

"Woah!" Sam and Tucker said.

"Pssht." Jazz rolled her eyes. "Only four skips? Is that really all you got?" Jazz picked up a rock.

"It's not my fault. These rocks are terrible for skipping. Unfortunately, they were the best I could find."

"Blame the worker, not the tools." Jazz tossed the rock she was holding. It skipped three times before sinking. "Oh, wow, these rocks are terrible."

"How'd you do that?" Tucker picked up a rock and threw it. It lamely sunk into the lake with a splash.

"You just throw it kind of like a frisbee." Danny said, skipping another stone. It skipped three times.

"I don't know how to throw a frisbee. You know this." Tucker glared at Danny

"You're a terrible teacher, Danny." Jazz laughed.

"Says you!"

"Yeah, says me," Jazz stood up "The current rock skipping record holder."

"I broke your records ages ago!"

"Uh-huh, sure Danny, you totally broke my record when no one else happened to be around."

"I totally did! I found the perfect rock and got sixteen skips!"

"Allegedly."

"Oh yeah? Give me ten minutes with one of them," Danny jerked his thumb at Sam and Tucker "And I'll make them a better rock skipper than you!"

"Oh please," Jazz rolled her eyes "You think you're the better teacher? I'm the one who taught you how to skip rocks, remember?"

"Ha! Jokes on you! I was never listening to a word you said and figured it out on my own!"

"This argument doesn't even make any sense." Tucker said "And I've told you two how I feel about being offered up to disprove your petty-"

"I call Danny!" Sam raised her hand.

"I- wha, hey!"

"It's settled then." Jazz grabbed Tucker by the shoulders. "Whoever's student can do the most skips with a single rock is the winner."

"Fine by me." Danny crossed his arms and smiled cockily.

"We're going to go down by the shore so you two can't steal my skipping secrets."

"Like we're going to need them!" Danny called as Jazz dragged the befuddled Tucker to the other dock.

"Okay," Danny turned to Sam once Jazz and Tucker were out of earshot "So you just wind your arm back at waist level, then launch it. Try to give it a spin and keep it parallel to the water. Flatter rocks work best, but these were the best I could find."

"Okay, so, like this?" Sam threw a rock. It sunk without skipping.

"Eh, you've almost got it. Just do it like fifty more times and it'll probably click."

"This is what you call teaching?"

"It's how I learned. And by watching Jazz. She's actually a much better shower than teller."

Danny threw a rock and it skipped three times.

"Ugh. Seriously, these rocks are awful for skipping. I can usually get way more."

"Great. I'm sure this will be a productive lesson."

Sam threw another one. It also sank. She scowled but picked up another rock, determined to get at least one skip.

Danny and Sam practiced stone skipping for a while, only pausing when they ran out of rocks to get more. Danny's usually skipped between three and five times (at one point he did manage to get seven), and Sam did manage to get a skip here and there, but most of her rocks just sank.

After watching the seventh rock in a row sink, Sam decided she needed a little break. She watched Danny wind up a stone.

"Hey, Danny..." Sam said "Can I ask you something?"

"Uh, sure."

"How old were you when you got your first crush?"

"Oh, uh..." Danny fumbled the rock he'd been about to throw. He hadn't been expecting her to ask that "I think I was, like, seven. You remember how I always picked Phoebe Phast in Turbo Racer Two as my racer?"

"Wait, you had a crush on Phoebe?"

"Well, I didn't really understand what it was at the time, but looking back, yeah it was totally a crush. Kind of explained why she was the only girl I ever picked as my character in a video game."

"Okay, so seven years old? Wow, that's younger than I expected. Okay, have you had any other crushes, besides for Paulina?" Sam almost managed to not roll her eyes at the mention of that name.

"Uh, yeah, I guess."

"You guess?"

"I mean, I don't think there were any other super noteworthy ones. Mostly celebrities and the same popular girls everyone else was crushing on in middle school. I kinda like Penelope Ryan, but she moved away before I could tell her. I probably wouldn't have asked her out anyway. I hated the idea of asking anyone out at the time, looking the way I did. Turns out undiagnosed dysphoria really amps up the whole pre-teen self-consciousness."

Danny laughed. Sam didn't.

"But...why?"

"Why what?"

"I don't get it. I mean, Penny was cool, I guess, but Paulina's a jerk, and Phoebe Phast isn't even real. I just can't figure out what you see in them."

"They're hot?"

"That's it? That's all you need? But that doesn't make any sense!"

"You don't have to be so judgy. It's not like I can pick who I like."

"I'm not being judgy! It's just...you make it seem like falling in love is so simple. Like, you don't put any consideration into it at all, like it just happens!"

Danny had no idea why Sam was freaking out so much, or why she was nitpicking his old crushes, but it was really annoying him.

"You sound like Tucker." Sam said "You're not making any sense."

"Sam, you're the one not making any sense." Danny snapped "I don't know what you're trying to get at, but Tucker and I are the normal ones. You're the one who's being weird!"

Danny's stomach dropped.

Sam didn't say anything. Her expression was a cross between being really deep in thought and really angry.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"It's fine Danny."

"No, really, I didn't mean-"

"Drop it."

Danny realized that Sam was looking over his shoulder. He turned and saw that Jazz and Tucker were coming back.

Jazz looked very grumpy.

"Uh, what's up?" Danny asked. He snuck another glance at Sam. Her expression was still unreadable.

"You win." Jazz crossed her arms.

"What?"

"I said you win!" Jazz threw her arms in the air. Tucker seemed to be avoiding eye contact with everyone.

"That bad?" Danny asked him.

"It bounced back." Tucker muttered.

"What?"

"It bounced back!" Tucker repeated louder.

"What do you mean?"

"He threw the rock," Jazz said "And I didn't see it skip, so I thought it sunk, but then it came sailing back out of the water right between our heads. So, for our own safety, we are forfeiting the competition."

"Woo hoo." Sam cheered dryly "We win."

She threw another rock into the lake. It sunk without skipping.

"Hey Sam," Tucker said "Are you okay?"

Sam threw another rock. It bounced once before sinking.

"I am now." she said with a small smile "With that, I've officially beaten you properly."

Tucker scowled and crossed his arms. Jazz patted his back sympathetically.

No one noticed the green tentacle emerge from the water. It patted along the shore where Jazz and Tucker had just been before slinking back into the lake.

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

The adults chatted idly as they finished the supper cleanup. Once everything was put away, they moved their conversation to the deck with coffee that Vlad had brewed with a French press. He claimed it 'brought out a richer earthier flavour'. Jack and Maddie had no idea what he was talking about.

There was a slight breeze that rustled the leaves as the sun began to dip below the horizon. It was a beginning to get a little chilly, but the warm coffee helped.

"You know," Jack said "I never thought I'd say this, but taking a break from ghosts has been sort of nice in a way."

"I know." Maddie said. "When was the last time we took a break Jack?"

"Hmm, let's see..." Jack scratched his chin. "I think the last time was my last fishing trip with Danny, and that was...huh, I think that was before we got the portal working."

"It's been that long?" Maddie frowned.

"You two are certainly in good company." Vlad said "I don't think I've taken a proper vacation in years!"

"You may not research ghosts anymore Vlad," Maddie elbowed Vlad in the arm "But it's good to see you've still kept your bad habits from working in the least supported branch of the sciences."

They all laughed, followed by a brief moment of comfortable silence.

"I've been meaning to ask, Vlad," Maddie said "How's your mother?"

"Oh...she...passed away. A little while ago."

"Oh." Maddie covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Vlad."

"Yeah, sorry to hear that V-man." Jack put a sympathetic hand on Vlad's shoulder. "Nedelya Masters was a wonderful person. Sweet, but with such a practical wit..." Jack sighed.

"How long has it been Vlad?" Maddie asked gently.

"About..." Vlad scrunched up his face "Five years at this point. She died in her sleep. Heart attack, the doctors said she went quickly. We didn't really have a full funeral, just a small ceremony."

"Oh Vlad," Maddie placed her hand on his "I'm so sorry we weren't there."

"It's alright, you didn't know."

"But I wish we had." Maddie's eyebrows were creased. "Tell me you had at least had someone with you?"

Vlad did have a support system, but he didn't think that Maddie meant his therapist and a committee of ghost vultures.

"Er...of course I did." Vlad attempted to give Maddie a reassuring smile.

Maddie sighed.

"We should have been there for you," her grip on Vlad's hand tightened "Five years ago...you should have told us, we could have-"

Maddie stopped talking. She let go of Vlad's hand, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

"You could have called us, Vladdie." Jack said softly "I know we hadn't spoken in a while, but we would have been there for you."

"I..."

Vlad wanted to say it was alright, it wasn't their fault, but he knew that that wasn't what they wanted to hear.

Jack looked between Vlad and Maddie. After a few seconds, he stood up and clapped a hand to both of their backs.

"Hey now," he smiled "I know that's pretty sad news, but this is supposed to be a happy visit. Old friends catching up, right? Here, I'll go make some more coffee and-"

Vlad and Maddie shot out of their seats.

"NO!" They shouted, simultaneously grabbing Jack's arms.

"Jack I love you, but Vlad's appliances are too expensive for your track record!" Maddie said.

"Remember what happened last time!" Vlad said

Jack held up his hands in surrender and sheepishly returned to his seat.

"The last time?" Maddie raised an eyebrow.

"Ah right, you weren't there for that." Vlad said. "Did we really never tell you that story?"

"No, you didn't." Maddie sat back down, staring at Vlad with intrigue in her eyes.

"Well," Vlad laughed and rubbed his face "You remember that week we told you you weren't allowed to come to our dorm room, and we wouldn't tell you why? Well, you see, Jack and I had just gotten a French press, and when we were trying it out for the first time, Jack decided to-"

"Hey, hey, wait a minute Vladdie! You forgot an important part! See Madds, when we went out to get the coffee press..."

Once Jack and Vlad finally managed to get through that story, it reminded Maddie of something that had happened with her roommate, which led to the trio swapping old college stories until it got too dark to be outside.

All things considered, it was a very nice evening.

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

Sam spat into the sink and set her toothbrush in the bottom half of its holder to dry.

She walked over to the bathroom door and paused with her hand on the knob.

"It's fine." Sam said to herself "It's just Jazz. Sure, you haven't really talked to her much since Danny became half-ghost, or before then really, but she's just Danny's sister. And it's just one night. How awkward can it be?"

Sam opened the door.

Jazz was sitting in the bed on the left side of the room, her blanket resting over her legs as she read a book.

Sam felt relieved. Reading meant no talking, and no talking meant no awkwardness.

Sam silently got under the covers of her own bed.

"Do you want to talk about what happened in the RV earlier?"

So much for no talking.

"What do you mean?"

"About your no-crush situation?"

So much for no awkwardness.

"What's there to talk about? I've never had any crushes, that's kind of the end of it."

"But how do you feel about that? You seemed a little defensive earlier."

"I wasn't defensive, I was just annoyed everyone was making such a big deal out of it. I haven't had a crush, who cares? Not me. I'm perfectly happy."

"Well I'm glad to hear that." Jazz looked up from her book "Although, just so you know, although it is perfectly normal for the rates of development in the adolescent psyche to vary from person to person, it's also normal to feel apprehensive about not reaching certain milestones at the same time as your peers."

"I'm not 'apprehensive'." Sam rolled her eyes. "It'll happen when it happens. I don't see the point in wasting my time with shallow high school romances that statistically don't last. Like, seriously, what's the appeal in hanging out with some guy not talking in a theatre? Or worse, trying to make romantic conversation at The Nasty Burger because most teenagers don't have the money for a real restaurant? I can just do that with friends, and it's way less awkward. What's the point in going through those motions?"

"While that's a perfectly valid perspective," Jazz said "There is value in the experimental relationships teenagers often have. It's true, those relationships often don't last, but they're a great opportunity for young minds to learn about things that'll be important for future more serious relationships, like personal preferences and boundaries. The negative impact of mistakes in the long term is also reduced in that time period, due to the lower-stakes nature of a high school romance compared to an adult one. I mean, the emotional reactions can still be quite volatile, but the lessons learned can help to form the foundation for dating knowledge later in life."

"That all sounds terrible. You're making me tired just thinking about it." Sam pulled the covers over her head, hoping to drown out Jazz's voice, but she just kept talking.

"I find it fascinating. You can learn so much about people from what they're like in a romantic relationship. Of course, like you said, it's fine if some people want to wait, or are aromantic. But I wouldn't dismiss-"

"Wait, aromantic?" Sam reemerged from the blankets "What's that?"

"It's when a person doesn't experience any romantic attraction."

"Like, at all?"

"I believe there are some nuances, but basically yes."

"That's a thing? I've never heard of that."

"Yeah, I don't think most people have. I did a lot of research into various LGBT+ identities when Danny came out, and I found some aromantic people online who talked about their experiences."

"Okay," Sam sat up straight "So you're saying it's possible for a person to never fall in love? Or get any crushes? Like, ever?"

"Yeah, turns out lots of people just don't."

"But, how do they know they won't ever?" Sam didn't know why her heart was beating so furiously "How can you tell it won't just happen later?"

"You know," Jazz scratched her chin "I don't really know. Maybe it's like how gay and straight people know they aren't bi. I suppose if we know you can know you can't possibly be attracted to some genders, then by the same principle you can know you won't be attracted to any of them!"

Jazz sounded like she'd just made an enlightening discovery. Sam just blinked at her in confusion.

"What I'm saying is there isn't really a way to tell. You've just got to figure it out for yourself."

"But how do you do that?"

"You seem to have a lot of questions about aromanticism. Is there maybe a reason for that?"

Sam suddenly felt...not fearful, more like she'd been caught doing something private.

"No."

But why did she feel like that? She was just asking questions, she wasn't even doing anything?

"Do you have any other questions?"

"No."

But Sam did have questions. So many questions. Questions she didn't even know how to ask.

"Hey, um, Jazz," she said "Are you...are you straight? Or something else?"

"I'd...like to keep that information to myself."

"Right, sorry." Sam's eyes snapped down to her bed sheets "I was being stupid. I shouldn't have asked."

"I'm not offended, Sam." Jazz smiled kindly "It's alright to ask questions, just as long as you respect the answer."

Jazz's words helped diminish Sam's embarrassment, but she wanted to change the subject.

Her eyes fell on Jazz's book.

"Hey wait a minute, I thought you said you didn't bring any of your textbooks."

"Huh? Oh, this isn't a textbook, it a book on the history of the Green Bay Packers."

"Oh?"

"I found it in the nightstand."

Sam opened the drawer and saw a small stack of books. They all seemed to be about the same football team.

"Wow," she said "Half-ghost and a massive dork. Vlad and Danny must get along great."

"Danny doesn't like football, but they probably would have lot's to talk about if Vlad ever bothered to visit."

Sam noticed a hint of venom in Jazz's voice.

"Maybe that'll all change after this weekend." Sam said.

"Hopefully, but..." Jazz pursed her lips "I didn't want to say too much in front of Danny, but do me a favour and try to be prepared for the worst."

"Wait, you think your parents aren't going to accept Vlad?"

"No, I do. Mom and Dad can be kind of tunnel visioned, but they're far from heartless. And they can be a lot more open-minded than they seem. I mean, they responded very positively to Danny being trans, despite having no idea what that even was until he told them, which I'll admit did surprise me. It's just...be ready just in case. Either way, be there for Danny for me. I know he really values your relationship. As friends, of course." Jazz added quickly "Having you and Tucker there really means a lot to him.

"Yeah, alright Jazz. You good if I turn the light out now?"

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Jazz set her book on the nightstand and yawned. "We should probably be well rested for tomorrow. No matter how it goes down it's going to be an ordeal."

"Yup." Sam reached for the wall light, but paused with the decorative chain in her hand "Hey Jazz?"

"Yeah?" Jazz had pulled the blankets up to her chin and didn't even bother opening her eyes to answer Sam.

"Having you there means a lot to Danny too. It means a lot to all of us."

Sam caught a glimpse of Jazz's eyes flickering open before she pulled the chain, obscuring her view in total blackness. She did not want to see Jazz's reaction.

Ugh!

Sam had felt like she should say something, but now she was regretting those last words. Could she have been any more cheesy?

Jazz didn't need reassurance, she was smart, she already knew how important she was to Danny. What was reassurance of something so obvious from Sam of all people worth?

Sam's spiraling was interrupted by a quiet voice in the dark:

"Thanks Sam."

The doubtful thoughts in Sam's head quieted. She silently smiled back at Jazz.

Sam laid awake for a while, thinking about what Jazz had said.

Everything she'd said.

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

Danny had just gotten out of the bathroom. He sat down on his bed and was about to turn off the light off when Tucker spoke.

"Hey, Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"If I ask you something, do you promise not to laugh?"

"Are you going to ask me what I saw in Phoebe Phast when I was seven?"

"What?"

"Uh, nothing. Go ahead, Tuck. I won't laugh, I promise."

"So you...you only like girls, right?"

Oh. This was about what happened in the RV.

"Um, yeah."

"So like no guys ever? Not even once in a while? Like, when they're really hot?"

"Nope." Danny shook his head "Not even once."

Danny waited for Tucker to continue, but a minute passed and Tucker still hadn't said anything.

For as long as he could remember, Danny and his friends had always come to each other whenever something was up. And by something, they meant anything, good, bad, big, or small.

This was especially true for Tucker, who'd always worn his heart on his sleeve, ever since Danny first met him in preschool.

His silence right now was incredibly concerning.

"Do you..." Danny didn't want to be invasive, but he felt like he at least try to get Tucker to talk about whatever was going on in his head "...maybe...not only like girls?"

Danny cringed. He hoped that didn't sound as awkward to Tucker as it did to him.

"I mean, like, yeah it's pretty much only girls," Tucker shrugged "But, like, occasionally there's someone, like some guy celebrities, and it's like, come on! You know?"

"Uh-"

"Sometimes there's just a guy who just checks all the right boxes, and I mean, how could anyone not be into that? Like, there's a reason Choi's as popular as he is! He's such a cool guy and his smile just makes the world brighter!"

"Oh, um-"

"But it, like, hardly ever happens. It's at least ninety-nine percent girls. I mean, not that there's anything wrong with liking guys, but like it hardly ever happens, so it doesn't really mean anything, right?"

Well, at least he was talking now.

Danny looked at Tucker's pleading eyes. He wasn't really sure what Tucker wanted to hear, but he thought it was pretty obvious what was going on.

"You know Tuck, it kind of sounds to me like you might be bi."

Tucker's expression made Danny wonder if that had been the right thing to say.

"I mean..." Tucker spoke slowly "Probably not? I only get crushes on guys really rarely. And I mean, like, really rarely. I'm not trying to be defensive about it, I swear, I just don't think I like enough guys to qualify for...bi."

The last word came out very quietly.

"I'm...not really sure if that's how that works." Danny said.

"And how would you know?!" Tucker snapped.

"I, uh..." Danny blinked, taken aback by the sudden hostility.

Tucker let out a strained sigh and turned away from Danny.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you."

"It's okay, Tuck."

"I know you're trying to help. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Hey, seriously, it's okay. Don't beat yourself up over this Tuck, I get it."

"Really? Cuz I don't." Tucker took off his glasses and rubbed his face "I'm just...really confused right now. I seriously thought every guy got crushes on guys sometimes."

"I mean, I can tell when guys are, like, attractive, I guess." Danny said. "Usually I just feel jealous, if anything, though."

"Yeah, there's guys I want to be, but it's definitely different from guys I like. Huh, that's...kind of weird to say out loud." Tucker sat up and looked back at Danny. "I mean, I guess it's not really a big deal, it's just...for some reason, learning that this isn't actually something most guys do, it almost feels like...like I'm a different person than I thought I was all my life. Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but I 'm not really sure how else to describe it..."

"No, that kind of makes sense. I kind of saw myself in a new light when I first realized I was trans."

"For real?" Tucker's eyes lit up "Was it kind of like you thought you knew where you were going one minute, and then you suddenly realized you had no idea?"

"Well...it was kind of the opposite, actually." Danny felt bad for crushing Tucker's hope, but he felt like he should be honest. "Once I found out what 'trans' was, everything kind of clicked into place. It was like...like I'd been trying to put a puzzle together my whole life, and someone had finally given me the box the puzzle came in so I could see the picture. It was a bit rough, but I finally had a map of where I was going."

Danny smiled at the memory, but then one look at Tucker's face brought him back to the present.

Between the conversation with Sam at the dock and now, Danny was being very unhelpful. He just couldn't seem to figure out what to say to make his friends feel better.

Was he a bad friend? He wasn't trying to be.

Truthfully, Danny didn't really understand why Tucker was so upset. Learning more about who he was had been enlightening for Danny. It brought him peace and made everything feel like it made so much more sense.

For Tucker, it seemed to be doing the opposite. If anything, he seemed to feel closer to how Danny felt before he figured out he was trans.

Maybe Tucker needed to hear something more like what Danny had wanted to hear back then.

"Although, it was pretty hard before someone gave me that map. I definitely felt totally lost before that. But I did learn something very important from feeling that lost for so long."

"Oh yeah, what's that?"

"You won't be lost forever, even if it feels that way right now. You might not figure it out soon, but you will figure it out eventually. And I mean, it's not like there's any rush."

Tucker didn't say anything right away. He set his glasses down on the nightstand.

"How are you being so calm about all of this?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, this...whatever this is, it kind of changes everything, doesn't it?"

"Not really?" Danny shrugged.

"Really?" Tucker raised a skeptical eyebrow. "The fact that I maybe like guys sometimes doesn't change the way you see me at all?"

"Um, no? Why would it?"

"The tone you and Jazz had in the RV suggested otherwise."

"Oh yeah, right."

Tucker did kind of have a point there.

"We were just surprised, that's all. Just reacting to new information."

Tucker didn't look convinced.

"Well, did it change the way you saw me after I told you I was a guy two years ago?" Danny challenged.

"What? No! No way," Tucker said quickly "Not even-"

Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, it was a bit of an adjustment." Tucker relented "But once we got the hang of using the right pronouns and stuff, everything went back to feeling normal pretty quickly. I mean, I guess it was a slightly different normal, but it still felt as normal as the normal before did. Huh, you know, I never really thought about it much."

"There, see? And it's an even easier adjustment on my end. You're not even getting a hair cut."

"I hardly have any hair to cut."

"There's still some that can be cut..."

"Stay away from my hair!" Tucker yanked his beanie off the nightstand and covered his head with it.

Danny laughed. Tucker laughed a bit too, but then his smile shifted into a thoughtful expression.

"Do I...have to call myself bi?" he asked.

"I mean, it's up to you what you want to call yourself."

"I'm not sure I want to call myself anything right now, honestly. I...don't really know what I feel like. Or what I can really count as."

"That's okay, Tuck." Danny smiled "You can just figure it out later, or whatever. There really is no rush."

"Yeah."

Tucker let out a yawn.

"Man, having an identity crisis really wears you out."

"I can attest to that." Danny nodded solemnly.

"It feels illegal to be tired when you've spent half the day sitting in a car." Tucker took off his beanie and set it next to his glasses.

"I mean, we skipped a bunch rocks too."

"Danny, we regularly fight ghosts with enough power to level a city block. Throwing a few rocks cannot be that draining."

"Hey, rock skipping is a sport which requires a lot of precision and focus to-"

"I'm going to throw a pillow at you if you don't stop talking."

"Considering how well you threw that rock earlier, I'm not worried."

"Hey!"

Tucker glared at Danny for a few seconds, then the two of them burst out laughing.

"Aw man," Tucker shook his head "You know, I'm actually feeling a lot better now. I don't know what I was so worked up over."

"I figured talking would make you feel better. I mean, you're usually pretty gung-ho on sharing your feelings. You were honestly starting to scare me with how quiet you were being."

"Sorry." Tucker scrunched his eyebrows thoughtfully "I guess I just wasn't really sure how to explain what was going on. What Jazz said in the RV really blindsided me. I was just so sure about myself, and then suddenly I wasn't. But I think things are starting to settle in my brain, so I'm back to normal"

"Glad to hear it , Tuck."

Danny grabbed the chain for the light.

"Welp, I'm turning off the light now. I'm all worn out from being a supportive best friend."

"Which I appreciate. Just let me-"

Danny pulled the chain.

"Hey!" Tucker's voice called in the darkness. "What happened to 'supportive best friend'?"

"Shh! Sleepy time."

Danny heard a thwump that he assumed was a pillow hitting the wall a meter away from his head.

"Your aim suuuuucks." Danny whispered.

"Someone help!" Tucker said dramatically "I'm being haunted a ghost that's dissing my aim!"

"Whoooo!" Danny made his eyes glow green.

"Gah!" Tucker's startled cry made Danny laugh. "Jeez dude, don't do that! It's seriously creepy when it's this dark!"

Danny blinked his eyes back to normal and snuggled into his blankets.

Conversations from earlier started playing in his head as he began to drift off.

"...No. I think I'll do it tomorrow. Later in the day. Probably after dinner."

"...Geneva Lake was home to members of the Potawatomi tribe, who originally called the lake 'Kishwauketoe', meaning 'clear water'..."

'...I'm all worn out from being a supportive best friend.'

'...Tucker and I are the normal ones, you're the one who's being weird!'

Oh right, that. Danny felt his stomach shift guiltily.

He really hadn't meant what he'd said, but he'd still said it. Some 'supportive best friend' he was.

He really needed to talk to Sam tomorrow and apologize.

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

Danny eyes fluttered open. It was almost completely dark. He instinctively searched for his clock on the nightstand, but didn't see the glowing green numbers anywhere.

He sat up in a panic, but then he remembered where he was.

Vlad's house. Right.

Danny squinted at the analogue clock above the doorframe. It was about a quarter after eight.

It was morning, but still pretty early.

Danny tried to lie down and fall back asleep, but he just couldn't. He gave up after turning over for the seventh time.

Great. He'd barely gotten to sleep in any more than he did on a school day. Why couldn't Vlad have put windows in his guest room? Waking up panicking in the dark was not how Danny liked to start the day.

Danny floated out of bed so his footsteps wouldn't wake up Tucker. One of them might as well get to sleep in.

He stayed in the air as he intangibly pulled his clothes out of his backpack and got dressed for the day, only landing on the floor when he was out of the room and at the stairs.

As Danny got closer the the kitchen he heard a sizzling sound. He found Jazz standing at the stove in the kitchen.

The last step creaked when Danny stepped on it, causing Jazz to turn around.

"Huh," she said "Didn't expect to see you this early."

"Good morning to you too, Jazz. I tried to sleep in, but then I woke up and forgot where I was." Danny sniffed the air "Is that bacon?"

"Yup. I'm starting on some pancakes too. There's also cereal in the cupboard and fruit in the fridge. Mom and Dad packed a lot of food for a two-day trip."

"Feel like that one might have been more Dad than Mom. What are you doing up so early anyway?"

"I always get up at seven, Danny."

"Seriously? Even on weekends?"

"Yup."

"That sound awful."

"I actually find it calming starting everyday with a fixed routine. Of course, without my school work I didn't really have anything to do once I got up, so I figured I might as well start on breakfast."

Danny yawned and opened the fridge. He saw a big orange bowl filled with yellow liquid.

"What's in the bowl?"

"Scrambled eggs. I'm waiting for everyone to get up before I cook them."

"Oh. That's a lot of eggs."

"I'm feeding a lot of people this morning."

Danny pulled a carton of milk out of the fridge.

"Hey, you know what you should-"

"I am not doing that." Jazz's entire face wrinkled. "You can pour some of the eggs into a separate bowl if you want milk in them. The rest of us would like our breakfast edible."

"Mom likes them with milk too." Danny shut the fridge.

"So that's where you get your weirdness from."

Danny stuck his tongue out at Jazz and pulled open one of Vlad's cupboards.

"Wow," he said "Vlad's dishes are all like, in stacks. And you can see them all. It's so...so..."

"Organized? Convenient?" Jazz began to turn over the bacon in the pan "I know. Isn't it great? And nothing even tried to eat me while I was cooking."

"I'm actually a little scared to touch anything. For different reasons than normal. I feel like I'm gonna get in trouble.

"Don't worry," Vlad said "You won't."

Danny jumped. When had Vlad gotten here? He was pretty sure he hadn't heard the bottom step creak.

"Good morning Daniel, Jazz. Ah, I see you've started breakfast. How thoughtful of you."

"It's not a problem. I was up."

"Still, you didn't have to. It's quite appreci-"

"Good morning!" Jack interrupted brightly from the stairs. Maddie wasn't far behind him.

"Ooh, Jazz, you made breakfast, how nice of you." she smiled as she entered the kitchen. "Did you want any help? I could start on some eggs, or something."

"That's alright, Mom. I've already got some mixed in the fridge. Everything's already- Oh my gosh Danny! Do that over the sink! What is wrong with you?!"

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

Sam and Tucker slept a little longer, but were soon drawn downstairs by the sounds of conversation and the smell of food.

After breakfast was eaten and cleaned up, the kids went out to sit on the dock and practice rock skipping while the adults had tea out on the deck.

Well, Sam was practicing at least. Tucker was too scared to try again after what happened yesterday, and Jazz seemed to have finally decided to try relaxing on her vacation. She sat against the mailbox and lazily observing Sam's rocks skipping and sinking.

Danny was currently collecting more rocks for Sam. He stopped and looked back at the deck. From down here he could barely see the adults.

He wondered what they were talking about. He wondered if Vlad was going to tell them soon.

Danny shook his head and carried his latest selection back to the group.

Sam was now consistently getting two skips with her throws. She was concentrating deeply, and the others watched her silently.

The silence was broken by Danny dumping his shirtful of rocks onto the dock.

"Well," Jazz checked her watch "This is nice, but I'd like to walk some of the shore path before we leave. There are some very interesting houses belonging to some very influential people, and I'd like to take the opportunity to see at least some of that architecture in person."

She stood up and started down the left side of the path.

"Hey Jazz, wait up!" Tucker called as he started to follow her. He stopped and looked back at Sam and Danny. "Aren't you two coming?"

"Nah, I want to work on my rock skipping some more." Sam said "Besides, if I wanted to see some stuffy rich person's house I could've just stayed home."

"Suit yourself, but Jazz said there's one mansion with an actual pool on the roof."

"You know you won't be able to see that from the ground, right?" Sam said as she tossed another rock.

"Killjoy. You coming Danny?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"What? Well what if I told you we might get to see some of the Wrigley Company's estate?"

"The what?" Sam and Danny asked.

"You know, Wrigley's! They the company behind pretty much every noteworthy gum ever!"

"That sounds...really neat Tuck," Danny said "But listening to Jazz's lectures is not how I want to spend my vacation."

"Man, Jazz's lecture's aren't that bad. She actually says a lot of really interesting things sometimes. Whatever, it's your loss man. You two enjoy your rocks."

Tucker left them to catch up with Jazz on the path.

"Okay, I like gum as much as the next guy," Danny said once Tucker was out of sight "But looking at the house of the guy who makes it just doesn't sound fun at all. It's not like they're giving out free gum there."

"You're both geeks, but Tucker's definitely the bigger geek."

"We're both geeks? Isn't that kind of the pot calling the other pot black?"

"Okay one, black's my favourite colour, so that's a compliment. Two, the expression is 'pot calling the kettle black', Danny."

"What? But kettles aren't black, they're, like, shiny!"

Sam threw a stone. It skipped three times.

"Ha! New record." she grinned.

"Nice. Hey, uh, Sam," Danny rubbed the back of his neck "I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to say you're 'not normal'."

"Oh please Danny." Sam waved her hand. "You know I don't care about being 'normal'."

"Heh, I guess not." Danny smiled. He threw a stone. It skipped six times.

"Show off."

Danny beamed smugly.

"I, um, did talk to Jazz about that last night." Sam said "About the 'no crush' thing."

"Oh yeah? Did you get a lecture on 'the varying rates of development in the adolescent psyche'?"

"Yes. Yes I did. But she also mentioned something that kind of maybe made sense."

"Oh yeah? What was it?"

"Do you know what 'aromantic' means?"

"Eh...kinda? It's when you don't like romance, right?"

"It's not really about whether you like romance or not. Jazz said being aromantic means you don't really get crushes or fall in love or whatever. Like, ever."

"Oh. So, do you think you might be aromantic?"

"I don't know." Sam said. "Maybe."

"That's cool." Danny smiled.

"It is?"

"Yeah, you found a word to describe yourself. Doesn't that feel good?"

"I don't know, it's weird. Usually I do like figuring this kind of stuff out about myself, but I'm not really sure if it's quite right, even though it does feel kind of right."

"If it feels right, then how come you're not sure it is?" Danny asked.

Sam shrugged and threw a rock.

"I don't know," she said as the rock skipped once "I guess I just thought I had myself all figured out. I thought I had romance all figured out. I mean, I thought I was lightyears ahead of those girls in my class who were always fawning over those dumb boy bands who didn't even make any good music. I thought they were just shallow. I never considered the possibility that they were feeling something I wasn't capable of."

"Maybe you should stop assuming every girl with mainstream interests is being disingenuous."

Sam glared angrily at Danny.

"Right, not the time." he said quickly "Please continue."

"It's not that I don't like the idea of being aromantic, I just never realized that it was even an option until now. I mean, I never did really like any of that traditional romance stuff, but I figured I'd just do it right when the time came. And now it seems like I actually might not do it at all. It never even crossed my mind that this might be an option, and like, I'm actually fine with that, but for some reason I'm having kind of a hard time wrapping my mind around it."

"Maybe you just need some time to get used to the idea. Romantic interest as a concept is generally presented as a ubiquitous concept by our society."

Sam blinked twice then narrowed her eyes.

"Okay, there's no way you came up with that on your own. You lifted that from Jazz, didn't you?"

"Hey! I know big words too!"

"Sure you do, Danny."

Sam smirked at the pouting Danny as she threw another rock. It skipped twice.

"Maybe I should have expected this."

"How come?"

"Well, there's the fact that I've never had a crush before, and thought that everyone else was exaggerating when they talked about romantic feelings," Sam started to count on her fingers "I always thought romance stories were stupid, and it was always vaguely disappointing when characters I liked on TV started dating someone. Marriage always seemed like a terrible idea, and I sometimes felt this sense of satisfaction deep down when I heard that someone was getting divorced. Oh, and every classic dating scenario ever looks awkward and terrible to me. Like, I literally want to claw my eyes out when they do that awkward first date thing in movies. Even if it's going well, it's just so...so...ugh! Also, straight, gay, and bi never felt like quite the right labels for me, like they never really felt like they fit. There was also this one time, where my cousin and I were..."

Sam stopped talking when she realized how Danny was gaping at her.

"So you're telling me," Danny said "You thought all of that, and you're only just now considering you might be aromantic?"

"I thought everyone thought like that!" Sam threw up her arms "Like, this is how we all feel deep down, right?"

A grin began to spread across Sam's face.

"Well Sam," Danny said, grinning as well "I can assure you, that is absolutely not how most people feel deep down."

"Well that's obvious in hindsight!"

"Honestly, I feel like that's pretty obvious before hindsight."

"What? Danny, that's not how-"

Sam burst out laughing before she could finish her sentence.

"How did I not know?" Sam continued to laugh "Oh my gosh, it was so obvious. How did I not know until now?"

Danny couldn't help but laugh a little too. He didn't really get what was so funny, but he was glad Sam was happy.

The laughed for a little while longer and then just sat in silence, listening to the lapping of the lake.

"I think that's why I was so weird yesterday." Sam said. "I was just genuinely confused. I think I get it now, though."

The smile suddenly vanished from Sam's face and she slapped her forehead "Oh my gosh!"

"What?"

"I haven't asked you how you're doing at all!"

"Me?"

"Vlad's gonna tell your parents he's half-ghost sometime today, and I've just been going on about my problems."

"Sam it's fine. I wanted to listen to you. And honestly, I was glad for the distraction."

"Well, glad I could help, I guess. But how are you doing?"

"I mean," Danny let out a long breath "Nervous, I guess, but not as nervous as I thought I'd be? It almost kind of feels like it's not even really gonna happen, if that makes sense."

"That kind of sounds like you're in denial."

"What? No! Well, maybe a little. It's just not really how I thought things would go down, you know? I kind of figured if anyone was gonna tell my parents about half-ghosts, it'd be me since, you know, we thought I was the only person who was half-ghost in existence. It's just so bizarre that it's someone else. Like, I know Vlad telling them will affect me, but it also kind of doesn't, if that makes sense."

Danny threw a rock. It skipped four times.

"Everything's just so complicated and weird."

"I've found that anything that involves ghosts ends up making our lives complicated and weird. Especially yours."

"Yup."

There was another comfortable silence. Danny threw another rock and stood up.

"I'm gonna run to the bathroom real quick."

"Bring me one of Vlad's fancy root beers when you come back."

"You got it."

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

"I'm going to miss these outdoor conversations." Maddie sighed contently. "Oh Vlad, I forgot! Jack and I brought an album of the kids' baby photos we meant to show you."

Maddie set her empty cup on the table.

"There's some really cute ones of Danny in kindergarten, too. But, we'd better decide what to do for lunch. Sadly, we'll have to leave right after to get Sam and Tucker home at a decent time, Sam's parent were very insistent on that. I think we should get all of our stuff packed up and then have lunch at a restaurant, so we can just eat and go. Where do you recommend Vlad?"

"Hm?" Vlad hadn't been paying full attention to what Maddie was saying "Oh, yes, restaurants. There's...a lot of those around here. Perhaps a pizzeria? There are some very nice places that stone fire them. I'm sure the children would enjoy that, and it would cover Daniel's friend's dietary restrictions."

"Sounds great V-man!" Jack beamed and wrapped an arm around Vlad's shoulder. "So which one's the best around here?"

"Y-yes, of course, um..." Vlad had eaten at every restaurant in this town, multiple times, and yet he was struggling to recall even a single pizzeria's name.

Jack and Maddie frowned.

"What's up with you today V-man?"

"Um, whatever do you mean Jack?" Vlad smile unconvincingly.

"The Vladdie I know knows his eats, and he never," Jack jabbed his index finger at Vlad's chest for emphasis "Ever hesitates with his opinions on food. It's one of the traits I most respect about you."

"You do seem rather distracted, Vlad." Maddie said.

Vlad sighed.

"I was going to wait a little longer, but I suppose there's no point in putting it off." As much as he suddenly wanted to. "I have something that I wanted to tell you two. It's...about the accident."

"The accident?" Maddie repeated "As in the college proto-portal malfunction?"

"That's the one."

Jack and Maddie's eyes widened. Vlad pretended not to notice.

"Come, we should go to the living room to talk."

Jack and Maddie followed Vlad back into the house.

Danny stepped out from under the deck when he heard the soft thud of the door sliding shut.

If Sam was right about him being in denial earlier, he certainly wasn't now.

Now he was definitely feeling anxious.

Danny rushed back down to the dock.

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

"Sam!" Danny cried once he'd passed the address rock. His heart was pounding, but not from the running "Sam! It's happening! Vlad's-"

Danny stopped talking when he realized Sam wasn't on the dock.

"Sam?"

That's weird, Danny thought as he continued towards the lake, looking left and right. Sam was literally just here, and I was only gone for like five seconds. Where could she have-

Danny shivered as a puff of mist escaped his mouth.

Oh no.

"Sam!" he yelled, now slightly panicking "Sam! Where are you!"

"Danny?"

Danny whipped his head around and saw Jazz and Tucker standing a little ways off on the shore path.

"What's going on?" Tucker asked.

"Sam's missing!" Danny shouted as he ran over to them "And my ghost sense just went off!"

"Oh no." Tucker said.

"We have to tell Vlad!" Jazz started towards the house "He can-"

"Jazz no!" Danny grabbed her arm "Vlad's with Mom and Dad right now!"

"Yeah, he's been with them all weekend." Jazz tried to jerk her arm out out Danny's grasp "Danny, Vlad knows this area a lot better than we do. He'd be way more efficient at searching. I can get him away from Mom and Dad, and then we can tell him about the gho-"

"He's telling them that he's half-ghost right now!"

Jazz froze.

"Really?" Tucker's eyes widened "Oh, wow."

"Yeah," Danny continued "And if Mom and Dad hears there a malicious ghost on the loose that kidnapped Sam, and they pull out all the ghost weapons we all know they have stashed in the RV, and Vlad's just told them he's a ghost..."

"Yeah, that would probably not end up being a great situation." Tucker said.

"Besides, Sam's been captured by ghosts before, she knows how to handle herself."

"That's...not really comforting, Danny."

"It's fine, all of us have. Many times."

"Okay, how about you stop talking and we just focus on finding Sam."

"Alright." Danny let go of Jazz's arm "We can search faster if we split up. I'll start in the woods around Vlad's house. Those trees are pretty dense, there's plenty of places the ghost could be hiding in there."

"I'll go along the shore path for a bit." Jazz said "Maybe it took Sam the opposite way Tucker and I were walking."

"And I'll stay by the dock." Tucker said. "In case they come back to the scene of the crime."

The three of them nodded and set off in their respective directions.

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

He wasn't stalling. They should be sitting down when he told them. Somewhere comfortable. It just made sense.

Jack and Maddie were next to each other in the loveseat in Vlad's living room. He sat in an armchair facing them.

Nobody said anything right away. The ticking of the clock was thunderous.

Vlad wasn't stalling. He was just figuring out where to start.

Which was rather difficult, considering the magnitude of what he was about to reveal to Jack and Maddie.

"Is...everything alright, Vlad?" Maddie tentatively asked.

Vlad realized he'd been quiet for too long. It hadn't been because he was stalling, though, he was just planning what he was going to say. Carefully. It was a delicate matter.

"Yes, I'm alright Maddie. I'm..." Vlad adjusted his position in the armchair "I'm just not really sure how to...it's just that..." Vlad cleared his throat and took a breath "Regarding our last conversation, I realized that you were right. I have been distant. The reason for that is that I've been hiding something."

"Hiding? From...us?" Jack's sounded confused, like he'd never even considered the concept of Vlad not sharing something with them.

Vlad immediately felt guilty.

"I should have told you two a long time ago. I just...I wasn't sure how you would take it."

Jack and Maddie didn't say anything. Their expressions were neutral, but they were both leaning towards Vlad ever so slightly.

"After I was blasted by the proto-portal, there were some...side effects I didn't tell you about at the time."

"You mean the ecto-acne?" Jack asked. "I thought that faded. Our studies indicated that the acne was only acting as a temporary defense mechanism against the impure-"

"No, no, not the acne. That did fade after a month or so. This was...something else."

"Vlad, what are you talking about? What happened?" Maddie asked. Her voice was controlled, but there was a undertone of panic in it, like a parent who suspected their child might have ingested a toxic substance.

The words caught in Vlad's throat. He couldn't just say it, right? That'd be ludicrous. They wouldn't be able to process an idea as strange as a ghost-human hybrid if he just blurted it out.

Maybe he could start with the basics. Talk science. They were all scientists here. If Vlad could break the concept down for them, maybe they'd understand.

"It would seem that the portal's transmutative properties made the energy I was exposed to extremely volatile. So volatile that it actually restructured my DNA. In fact, it would seem that there was an ectoplasmic fusion on a molecular level."

Jack and Maddie raised their eyebrows, not really sure where Vlad was going with this.

"Yes..." Jack said. "And that's what caused the ecto-acne. Your body was purging the impurity. Although, I seriously doubt you were affected on quite that level."

"Well you'd be wrong about that. I've done numerous tests. The ectoplasm bonded with me and rearranged my cellular makeup, resulting in some...permanent side effects."

"What kind of side effects Vlad?" Maddie asked. She sounded slightly calmer, but much more confused.

Vlad was struck with the realization that he couldn't stall saying it any longer. His stomach lurched and it almost felt like someone else was saying his next words:

"The accident made me part-ghost."

The room was filled with silence.

Vlad felt like he was floating. Not in a happy carefree way, or like real floating that he actually did as a ghost, but more like an astronaut in a movie when the tether is cut off from the space ship.

Seconds felt like hours as Vlad analyzed every miniscule movement in Jack and Maddie's faces. He had to keep reigning himself in from the horrible conclusions his brain kept jumping to.

He'd gone over this with his therapist; be prepared for the worst, but acknowledge it's not the only possible outcome. Give them a chance. Don't make assumptions, don't jump to conclusions, don't push them away before they've at least had a chance to accept you.

Turns out that was easier said than done. The waiting was agony, and it was becoming harder and harder to keep the images of everything falling apart in his mind at bay.

Vlad desperately wanted to go back to the ship, go back to when he'd first had this idea of telling Jack and Maddie so he could stop himself, but that was impossible. All he could do was float there and wait for whatever was going to happen next.

He nearly jumped out of his chair when Maddie finally spoke.

"What...do you mean by that, Vlad?"

"I mean the accident turned me into a ghost."

Another silent pause. Jack and Maddie seemed to be waiting for him to elaborate, but what else could Vlad say? The concept was ludicrous, but it also really was that simple.

"Vlad," Maddie scrunched her eyebrow "That isn't possible. You're very clearly still human."

Vlad felt a surge of annoyance.

"Why would I be telling you this if it wasn't-"

Vlad forced himself to stop and breathe. It wasn't her fault she wasn't getting this right away. He might have reacted the same way twenty years ago.

"Let's hear him out Madds." Jack was calmer than Vlad had expected. Maybe he'd picked up on Vlad's obvious agitation. "Vladdie, what did you mean when you said you 'are a ghost'. You look pretty alive to me, man."

"It means that my DNA is partially ectoplasmic, I have ghostly abilities, and I even have a ghost form. So, to put it plainly, the proto-portal altered my genetic structure into that of a human-ghost hybrid."

There was yet another moment of silence.

"Vlad," Maddie pinched the bridge of her nose "If your trying to come up with some cockamamie story about why you've been away all these years, " her voice was steadily rising "I don't-"

"Hey, hey slow down Madds." Jack placed a hand on Maddie's shoulder. "Vladdie, what's all this about 'ghost DNA'? There's no possible genetic makeup that could be classified as both human and ghost. Your body should have purged all the impure ectoplasm by now."

Vlad sighed and rubbed his temple.

He could just show them. Maybe turn invisible or summon some ecto energy to his his hand. Or just simply transform.

No, a part of his brain said firmly. Seeing their friend using ghost powers would be too startling. They would freak out. True, they didn't have weapons to pull on him, but once they saw him doing ghostly things, they might not believe it was him anymore.

How could they?

No, Vlad had to get them to understand his ghostliness before showing them. It was his best shot at acceptance.

But how? He tried explaining things in detail, and he tried putting them as simply as he could, but Jack and Maddie still weren't getting it.

"I-"

Vlad was interrupted by a loud crash.

"What in the name of bratwurst was that?"

"It came from outside." Jack said.

The three of them shot to their feet and rushed out the front door of the house. It didn't take long to find the source of the noise.

"Maple smoked salmon!" Vlad cried.

In the middle of the lake, a giant green squid towered above them. Multiple red eyes darted around the lake while over a dozen tentacle towered out of the water

Three of those tentacles were wrapped around Sam, Tucker, and Jazz.

"Ghost!" Jack and Maddie yelled at the same time.

"And it has the kids!" Jack added, his tone urgent.

All of the squids eyes turned to the three new arrivals. They blinked simultaneously and then the squid began to thrash around, its captives screaming as they were flailed about in the grasp of the tentacles.

"We have to get to the RV and get-"

"We don't have time for that." Vlad cut Maddie off and took a step forward.

"But, Vlad-"

"Don't worry Maddie," Vlad turned to glare at the giant squid.

All of the fear and hesitation Vlad had been feeling vanished, suddenly replaced by a burning fury. This ghost had not only endangered the kids, but it had stolen Vlad's chance to explain things to Jack and Maddie, to make them properly understand.

This wasn't how he wanted to spend his potentially last moments with his friends.

"I can save the children. And...this is what I mean by ghost DNA."

Jack and Maddie jumped back as a black ring appeared around Vlad's waist. They stared dumbfounded as the ring split and changed their best friend into his terrifying ghost form.

Without looking back, Vlad shot off into the air and flew straight for the giant squid.

The ghost stopped flailing when it noticed Vlad coming. At least five tentacles shot towards him. Vlad expertly wove around them.

He didn't fool around. The second he was the right position, Vlad summoned a glob of pink ecto energy to his hand and waved his arm, sending out a razor sharp crescent that sliced right through the tentacle that was holding Sam.

Sam screamed as she fell through the air, but Vlad swooped down and caught her, carefully depositing her back on the dock before flying right back to the squid.

Sam's arrival on the dock snapped Maddie out of her stupor.

"Jack, run to the RV," she said "Get whatever you can to fight this ghost

Jack nodded and ran off to the other side of the house. Maddie started towards the dock.

The squid let out a roar of pain and rage, but its sliced-off tentacle quickly grew back.

The ghost was now lunging at Vlad more aggressively. Vlad duplicated and fused back together in rapid succession to confuse it.

After almost a minute of dodging, Vlad finally managed to get in a good enough position to slice the tentacle holding Tucker, but at the last second the squid moved the tentacle holding Jazz upwards, causing Vlad's blast to slice off both tentacles.

Jazz and Tucker screamed as they fell through the air.

There was a moment of panic on Vlad's face, but he quickly gathered himself and split into two, one Vlad swooping to catch Tucker and the other Jazz.

Just as Maddie arrived, the two Vlads set Jazz and Tucker down onto the dock before fusing back together. Vlad quickly wiped his forehead with his arm, steeled himself and flew back to the squid, launching ecto blasts at it.

"Kids," Maddie said "I know things are crazy right now, but we need to stay calm, and you need to listen. That ghost that saved you from the bigger ghost is actually Vlad!"

"Wait, that's Vlad?" Jazz asked, her head whipping around to the fighting ghosts. Tucker and Sam looked at each other with wide eyes. Maddie figured they were too in shock to say anything.

"It's a long story." Maddie said. "Wait! Was Danny with you?"

"No," Tucker answered "We haven't-"

A giant green ecto blast sailed past the group towards the squid. Everyone snapped their heads around to see Jack with a Fenton Bazooka propped up on his shoulder.

"Vladdie!" he called "Stay high so I don't hit you! My aim is not always the best!"

Vlad continued to shoot ecto blasts at the ghost. He gave no indication that he'd heard Jack, but he continued to fly near the top of the squid as Jack kept firing at the tentacles, keeping them away from Vlad. The throng of tentacles was thick enough that barely any of Jack's shots missed.

Jack and Vlad kept up their assault. Now that the captives had been saved, Vlad didn't have to hold back. He unleash a furious onslaught of ecto attacks at the squid's body, while Jack's kept the tentacles at bay with his bazooka. The ghost tried desperately to bat away the blasts, but just ended up with singed tentacle tips.

The squid slowly retreated further and further from the shore, but Jack and Vlad would not let up. Eventually, it let out a final roar before plunging below the water.

Vlad hovered above the lake for a few seconds, confirming that the ghost wasn't returning before heading back to the others.

"Are you children alright?" Vlad asked as he landed on the dock and morphed back into his human form.

"No broken bones." Sam reported, shivering and rubbing her bare arms.

"Yeah, d-don't worry," Tucker's added through chattering teeth "Th-this is only l-like, the eighth most t-traumatizing thing that's happened to us."

"Um, I would very much like to hear about those seven other-" Jazz stopped mid sentence and looked up at Vlad. She seemed to study him for a few seconds before her face was overtaken by a too-big smile.

"Well, thank you so much for saving us, Mr Masters." she said quickly "It is very cool and surprising for all of us to learn that you are half-ghost, but you saved our lives, so you're clearly not evil, so I'm going to take these two," she grabbed Sam and Tucker by their shoulders "And get them dried off and give them a mental checkup regarding the very wet and very horrifying ordeal we all just went through. Sound good? Okay great, see you later!"

Jazz began dragging Sam and Tucker towards the house before either of them could respond to what she'd just said.

Vlad smiled. What a strange child.

"Wow..."

Vlad's smile dropped at the sound of Maddie's astonished voice. He turned to find her and Jack staring at him. Maddie pulled back her hood.

"That was...so you...you really do have...ghost powers."

"Erm...yes?" Vlad could almost feel their gaze burning his skin. He shifted his feet uncomfortably.

"You mean," Jack did some quick math "For the last twenty years you've...and you didn't tell us?"

"But why Vlad? We were your friends!"

"You were ghost hunters. Capturing and dissecting ghosts was all you- all we ever talked about. I couldn't be sure how you'd react."

"Couldn't be sure how we'd..." Jack trailed off, rolling Vlad's sentence in his mind.

Vlad tensed when he saw The Fenton Bazooka shift on Jack's shoulder. Jack followed Vlad's fearful gaze and, after realizing what he was looking at, threw The Bazooka aside. It landed a good distance away with a small crash.

Maddie's eyes widened in horror.

"Vlad," her voice was barely above a whisper "You didn't think we'd..."

"You two were my dearest friends. I didn't want to risk you hating me." Vlad's voice was steady, but his heart was pounding, and his armpits were tingling.

Jack and Maddie knew. After twenty years of telling himself he'd never tell them, they finally knew.

Vlad honestly wasn't sure what was going to happen now.

"Vladdie, that's insane!" Jack threw out his arms "We'd never hate you, you're our friend!"

"Like I said, Jack, I couldn't be sure."

Maddie approached Vlad and placed her hand on his arm.

"Oh Vlad," she said, her eyes shining "It doesn't matter how ghostly you are. You're our best friend, we'd never..." Vlad felt Maddie's grip on him tighten. Not aggressively, but desperately. "Vlad we'll always love you. I'm so sorry we didn't make that clear enough to you."

Vlad let out a startled gasp as Maddie pounced, wrapping him in a hug.

"I..I..." Vlad tried to say something, but he couldn't find any words. His mind was completely blank. It was like he was frozen.

Suddenly he and Maddie were both crushed by Jack's massive arms.

"It's okay, Vladdie." Jack let out a sniffle "We're here for you now."

That was when his brain started to thaw.

Vlad had never allowed himself to even imagine this outcome. He had no idea what the future held now that Jack and Maddie knew.

The uncertainty terrified him.

But they didn't hate him. They didn't call him an imposter or a monster, they didn't want to capture and dissect him like he'd long feared.

Vlad could feel tears threatening to form in his eyes.

For the longest time those fears had driven so many of the decisions Vlad had made. Fears he'd been carrying around for over two decades crumble inside of him, tension drained from his muscles.

For the first time in years, Vlad let himself go.

He neck relaxed and he let his head fall somewhere between Jack's chest and Maddie's shoulder.

The tears began to flow down his face.

He was with his best friends. He was safe.

He could finally fall apart, because he knew his friends were there to support him, every part of him.

Behind the address rock they'd hidden behind, Sam, Jazz, and Tucker couldn't tear their eyes away from the emotional scene.

"They...they accept him." Jazz said, her voice a mixture between surprise and relief.

"Yeah..." Sam breathed.

"Hey, you found Sam!"

The trio all turned to see Danny approaching their hiding spot.

"Sam, we were looking everywhere for you! Where did you-" Danny stopped talking when he saw his parents hugging Vlad on the dock.

"...Um, did I miss something? And why are you all wet?"

"Mom and Dad know now." Jazz said.

"Oh."

Danny's eyes widened

"Oh!"

He looked over at the hugging adults.

"And they...it's..."

"Yeah." Jazz smiled softly.

"Wow." Danny breathed. He couldn't stop staring at the dock.

Sam and Tucker came over and each put a hand on Danny's shoulder.

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

After all the ghost fighting, hugging, and getting Sam, Jazz, and Tucker all dried off, they ran out of time to go out for lunch. Maddie told the kids they'd just make some sandwich's with the leftover groceries in the RV. Vlad grilled two of Sam's veggie burgers and wrapped them in aluminum foil, so she'd have something better to eat than a lettuce sandwich, while everyone packed up their stuff.

With all the hurried getting ready to leave, there wasn't a lot of time for Jack and Maddie to talk with Vlad about what had happened, but Danny heard Vlad say he wanted to 'get back together as soon as possible' when they were getting in the car.

It wasn't long before they were saying bye to Vlad and heading down the road back to Amity Park.

Danny looked at Vlad out the back window until he disappeared from view. He was pretty sure Vlad was looking back at him.

"So kids," Jack turned in the passenger seat after they'd been driving for a few minutes "I suppose you're all a little confused about what just happened."

No one in the back dared to speak.

"Maddie and I barely understand it ourselves, but it seems when Vlad got blasted by our flawed proto-portal back in college, it caused a mutation that seems to have given him ghost powers."

Jack didn't notice three pairs of eyes flash to Danny.

"Now, you don't have to worry. The ectoplasm in his DNA doesn't seem to pose any threat to his physical well-being, nor has it turned him into a terrifying monster. He's just..." Jack scrunched up his face and waved his and in the air.

"A scientific anomaly?" supplied Maddie.

"Yes, an anomaly! That's all."

"That being said," Maddie said "He would like us to keep it a secret. There's no telling what the media would do if they discovered a man of his prominence had ectoplasmic DNA. Understood, kids?"

"Yup." The four of them replied mechanically.

"They must still be in shock." Maddie said to Jack. He nodded.

"Don't worry kids," Jack turned back to them "This may be a...startling development, especially since we didn't even know this sort of thing could happen to a human before this morning. I mean, a human with the abilities of a ghost, that's just-"

"Jack."

"Right, right, sorry Madds. This is just very...oh man, imagine how it must have been for Vlad all those years, figuring his abilities out all on his own. He must've-"

"The important thing is," Maddie cut in "Even though we...certainly didn't expect this, Vlad's still the same person, even with ghost powers, and we're going to support him by showing him this information doesn't change our relationship with him."

"Yeah...we can do that." Danny said quietly, his eyes never leaving his parents.

Danny felt Jazz grab his hand. He didn't squeeze back, but he didn't let go either.

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

Outside of Jack and Maddie occasionally discussing directions, no one said much during the drive home, neither party feeling free to talk openly.

At some point Tucker and Sam dug out their Game Boys and started having Pokémon battles, while Jazz watched Danny play Pac-Man.

At some point they stopped at a diner. After they were seated, a server with a slightly shaky voice took their drink order. Her hand trembled slightly as she wrote and she apologized a lot.

"Was it just me, or does she seem a little nervous?" Maddie asked after the server had left to get their drinks.

"It's probably because we're such a big group." Jazz said "And she sounded like she might still be new."

"Oh, the poor thing." Maddie said "We should leave her a nice tip, Jack."

"Oh absolutely, Maddie." Jack nodded "Remember kids, customer service is one of the most grueling jobs in this country, and the Number One Fenton Rule, besides 'always be prepared for a ghost attack', is always treat people..."

Nervous server, observant Jazz, ranting Dad. All in all, this was a pretty normal restaurant outing for Danny.

Too normal.

They'd just had one of the least normal weekends of their lives, but you wouldn't have been able to tell from the outside. Jack Fenton continued to ramble on, as if his best friend hadn't just revealed to him that he'd been avoiding him for the last twenty years because he was freaking half-ghost!

It made Danny want to scream.

But instead he just sat there eating his chicken BLT and peanut butter milkshake, like everything was normal.

It was a relief when they finally got back to the RV and could go back to their video games.

Eventually, Sam and Tucker were dropped off at their respective houses. They both grabbed their luggage and said things like 'goodbye' and 'thanks for taking us', as if it had just been a normal weekend getaway.

Danny almost sighed with relief when they finally pulled up to Fenton Works. He really needed some time to by himself to think.

"Alright, you kids take your stuff upstairs while your father and I sort out the leftover food. " Maddie instructed once everyone was inside the house.

"Yeah, sure." Danny replied.

Both parents turned to the kitchen and Jazz started hauling her suitcase up the stairs.

"Hey Mom, Dad?" Danny said, causing everyone to snap their heads towards him "H-how are you guys doing?" Danny rubbed the back of his neck "Like, with the whole Vlad-ghost thing? That's gotta be a little weird for you guys, since he's your best friend and all."

Jack and Maddie flashed each other a look before smiling at Danny.

"You don't need to worry, son. We're all good."

"What about you, sweetie?" His mom came over and stroked his hair "I know this ghost stuff might be a little confusing for you and your friends. Did they seem alright with everything when they left?"

"Uh, yup! We're all good." Danny hoped he sounded casual "So it doesn't bother you that Vlad's half-ghost? Even though you two are ghost hunters?"

"Oh don't be silly Danny, he's still the same old Vlad, anyone can see that. What kind of friends would we be if we abandoned him just because he can fly through things now?"

Danny smiled at that, but tiny doubts still lingered.

"So you don't think he's some kind of mutant monster now, or that he's been taken over by an evil ghost, or that he's just some weird imitation of what he once was?"

Jazz's heart broke a little listening to Danny's list.

"Woah, slow your roll there, son." Jack came over and put a hand on Danny's shoulder "There isn't a smidgeon of doubt that the Vladdie we were talking to all weekend was our pal from college. It may seem far-fetched, and perhaps even a little scary for a human to have the same abilities as a ghost, but speaking as ghost professionals, Vlad seems perfectly alright and, although it might take us all some time to process this new development, we're gonna figure it out and in the meantime show Vlad all the support we can so he knows we don't see him any differently because of this. Just like your mother said."

Danny felt like a muscle he'd been unknowingly clenching for months finally relaxed.

"That's right Jack." Maddie gave Danny's hair one last ruffle "That being said, it is a school night, so you kids better unpack and get your homework done."

"I already did all my homework before we left." Jazz said. Danny remained silent.

"That's my Jazzerincess!" Jack beamed "But you still gotta unpack. You too Danny."

Jack gave him a friendly pat on the back that almost knocked him over.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going."

Danny paused on the first step.

"Mom, Dad?"

"Yes Danny?"

"I love you guys."

Jack and Maddie looked at each other. It had been a while since they'd heard either of their kids say that unprompted. They smiled at Danny.

"We love you too, son." Jack said.

Danny smiled back before following Jazz up the stairs.

When he opened his bedroom door, Danny's body immediately felt lighter. Staying at Vlad's lavish vacation house had been fun, but it was nice to be surrounded by the familiar model rockets and glow-in-the-dark star stickers again.

"So, how are you feeling?" Jazz stood in Danny's doorframe, suitcase still in hand.

"About what?"

Jazz set her suitcase down and crossed her arms.

"Come on Danny."

Danny sighed.

"A lot, I guess." Danny ran a hand through his hair "But also, weirdly calm? And scared? Not like...worried something bad will happen scared, but like...it's hard to describe."

"I'd imagine."

"I'm not going to tell them tonight, probably not even tomorrow."

"There's no rush."

"I know, I just..." Danny took a breath. They'd all been through a lot this weekend, especially Danny, and there was a lot going on in his head, he just didn't have the energy to put those feeling into words right now.

"Look Jazz, I'm really tired and I've got a lot of unpacking to do, so can we save the psychoanalysis for tomorrow?"

"This isn't 'psychoanalysis'." Jazz rolled her eyes affectionately "But, sure. I'll be in my room if you do decide you want to talk."

"Alright Jazz." Danny's rolled his eyes in a less affectionate way. He swung his backpack onto his bed. "I...do appreciate that."

Jazz smiled as she wheeled her suitcase to her room.

Danny waited a few seconds to make sure she was really gone, and then turned invisible and phased his head through the floor into the kitchen.

"...least the kids seem to be taking it well." Danny heard his mom say. She was standing next to the stove stirring two mugs.

"Mmm." His dad replied absently. He was sitting at the kitchen table, lost in thought

Maddie carried the two mugs to the table and sat down next to Jack.

"I suppose this explains why Vlad's been so...dodgy for the past two decades." she said.

"A human with ghost powers..." Jack stared into his tea mug.

"It shouldn't be possible." Maddie said.

"I mean, it apparently happened to Vlad, so..."

"I know, Jack. But do you know what this means for our research? The fact that a human body is even capable of sustaining a partial ectoplasmic structure whilst remaining human? This raises so many questions! I mean, the very implications that-" Maddie rubbed her forehead "I still can't believe he didn't tell us."

"He was scared, Madds."

"Jack, I would've gone straight to you two if I'd started developing ghost powers."

"I know Madds, I would've too." Jack took a big slurp of his tea. "I suppose that's Vlad."

"What do you mean, Jack?"

"I mean, he's definitely the most careful of us three, but he's also always been a little paranoid."

"You think so?"

"I might've seen it a little more, since we shared a room, but he was always like 'Jack, you're ignoring safety protocols!', 'Jack, that violates the laws of nature!', 'Stop tampering with the fabric of reality Jack!' You know, stuff like that."

"I suppose you're right." Maddie gave a little laugh. Personally, Danny was with Vlad on this one.

"Poor Vladdie." Jack shook his head sadly "He always seemed to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders."

"He spent all those years alone," All of the humour drained from Maddie's face "Genuinely afraid of us...oh Jack I feel so awful just thinking about it!" Maddie buried her face in her hands.

Jack rushed out of his chair and wrapped his arms around Maddie.

"I know Maddie." he stared blankly at the wall while Maddie let out a few quiet sobs "Me too."

Maddie gave one last sniffle and looked up at Jack.

"I'm fine now, honey." she said, wiping her eyes with her hand. "I'm don't know what came over me, I'm sor-"

"Shh, shh, You don't have to apologize, Babycakes." Jack patted Maddie's back softly. She leaned against his chest and rubbed his arm. "Oh, Vlad..." Jack said quietly

Danny felt a little bad for watching this private moment, but he had to know their unfiltered feelings about Vlad.

Their thoughts pretty clear at this point though, so Danny remerged into his room and resolidified.

"How's that unpacking going?"

Jazz was sitting crisscross at the base of Danny's doorframe, an open book in her hand.

"Hey! What are you doing in my room!"

"I'm not technically in your room." Jazz closed her book and stood up. "So what are Mom and Dad saying?"

"I mean, I'd say they're taking Vlad being half-ghost pretty well. It's just..."

"What?"

"I don't know, they were kind of talking about why Vlad didn't tell them earlier, and Dad said something about Vlad being paranoid..."

"Wait," Jazz narrowed her eyes "It sounds like you're saying they're pinning this all on Vlad and not considering how all their talk of destroying ghosts could've even possibly played into his 'paranoia'."

"Ugh, those two! How can such world renowned geniuses be so oblivious?" Jazz trailed off and shook her head exasperatedly.

"Maybe they just need some time? You know, to like, process it or whatever?" Danny shrugged "This whole situation is kind of a lot, and they did seem to feel pretty bad about Vlad not trusting them."

Danny decided not to mention Mom crying.

Jazz sighed.

"I suppose. Well, at least they accept him. All things considered, I would say their reaction was pretty positive." she relented.

"Yes, and I'm very happy and relieved with how thing's have turned out." Danny walked closer to Jazz "Now get out of my room!"

With that, Danny slammed the door shut, leaving Jazz standing in the hallway.

"Teenagers." she huffed to herself as she headed back to her room.

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

Danny climbed up the steps to school. He was pulled from his thoughts when someone bumped into him hard enough to nearly knock him over.

"Hey!" Danny yelped as he regained his balance.

"Sorry Danny, didn't see you there." a familiar voice said.

"Oh, hey Valerie." With everything that had happened, Danny had forgotten to check in with her. "Sorry, I meant to call you last night. So how did everything, uh..."

Danny took in Valerie's appearance. Her eyes were glazed over, her hair seemed flatter than usual, and she'd completely forgotten to put on her eye makeup (Danny didn't remember what it was called).

"You good? You look a little..." Danny searched for the politest way to say it "...tired."

"Huh? Nah, I'm great. Some ghost couple showed up on a motorcycle, and they had an evil shadow that let out all the pets in the pet store."

"You mean Johnny and Kitty?"

"Yeah, and then after I rounded up all the pets, the stupid shadow had made its way to the zoo!"

"Ugh, that creepy shadow is always so annoying!"

"And if that wasn't enough, the freaking Box Ghost literally showed up eleven times! All while I was trying to round up various animals! Eleven times in two days Danny! I counted!"

"Okay, that's a bit much, even for him."

"But it's all good." Valerie's voice calmed down "I handled it. All the ghosts are back in their world, and all the animals are back in their cages. Probably."

"Okay, good good, nicely done." Danny nodded. "Glad you made it through all that. You sure you should be in school today, though? You seem pretty out of it."

"What? Naah! I'm great. I am sooo great! I aaam the champion!" Valerie started to sing "And IIII'll keep on fiiiiighting, till the-"

Her song was cut off by a ghost phasing out of the ground between her and Danny.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"

"Not you again!" Valerie's unfocused smile turned into an unfocused scowl "This is the twelfth time in three days! Why can't your stupid butt just stay in the stupid Ghost Zone for five stupid seconds!"

Valerie took a swing at the ghost, but completely missed. Her body got caught in the momentum of her punch, causing her to fall over.

Danny and The Box Ghost cringed in sympathy as she hit the stairs.

"Hey, you okay Val-"

Danny was interrupted by a loud snore.

"You know what? You take a rest, you deserve it." Danny reached into Valerie's backpack and retrieved The Fenton Thermos. "I'll handle this one." Danny glared at The Box Ghost.

"BEWARE!" he shouted before zooming away.

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

Danny transformed and flew after him.

Valerie continued to snore on the stairs.

We finally made it! The Fenton parents know about Vlad!

But this story's far from over...

What's gonna happen next? Who knows? Not me!

Don't worry! I do have a few ideas. I'll probably do the thing where I upload a short bit and then a long bit later. Just seems to be what works.

Anyways, thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think :)

#Danny Phantom #dp #danny phantom fanfic #dp fanfic #fisp #my writing #my fanfic #writitng #fanfic

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