#had a ton of these dudes on my porch last night | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

obx-adventures · 4 years ago

Text

The Story

Summary: You and JJ had a moment and he blew it. Now you’re dating someone new but JJ thinks the new guy isn’t what he seems.

----

“John B! JB! Are you home?” I run up the stairs to the Chateau’s porch and barge in without knocking. When I don’t see my best friend in the living room, I run into his room, only to find it empty. I growl in frustration and run back outside to see if the HMS Pogue is there.

“Y/N? What’s wrong?” I jump and clutch my heart as I spin around to the new voice.

“JJ?” His frame is still hidden in the shadow of the porch but he’s the only other person who would be here. “Where’s John B?”

“He’s with Sarah.” JJ looks concerned as I walk back to the porch. “What’s going on?”

“Ughh, shit,” I grumble as I throw myself onto the porch’s couch.

“Is everything ok?” Even with my head resting on the back of the couch and my eyes closed, I can hear the worry in his voice.

“Yea, I just needed to talk to JB.”

“Is it something you can talk to me about?” I lift my head up, peak open my eyes, and study the disheveled blonde that is suddenly sitting next me.

“Well… I guess I don’t have much choice.”

“Ouch…” I cringe at my lack of tact and feel guilty when I see the genuine pain flash across his features. “Look, I know we aren’t as close as we used to be but you can still talk to me.”

“Sorry, JJ. I didn’t mean it like that.” I tentatively reach out to pat his hand but chicken out and let my hand fall.

“Yea you did but it’s alright.” JJ shakes his head a little as if he’s trying to forget a bad memory. Before I can try to comfort him, he puts on a false smile and steers us back to the topic at hand. “What’s on your mind?”

“You know that new server at The Wreck? Tom? Well, he asked me out.” JJ has to lean closer to me to hear everything I say since my voice drops almost to a whisper as I realize how awkward this is for us.

“Oh… what does that have to with JB?”

“I wanted to see what he thought about it.”

“You ask JB for his opinion before you go out with someone?” JJ knows that John B and I are really close but he didn’t think John B was so involved in my love life.

“Yea… ever since the debacle between us…” I let my voice trail off completely and I wish I could disappear right here and now.

“Oh…” JJ’s hand goes to the back of his neck and he averts his eyes. I’ve known JJ for almost as long as I’ve known JB and I’ve never seen him look so ashamed. Is he really this embarrassed by what happened or does he feel bad? Now isn’t the time to get into this though so I decide to diffuse the tension.

“JJ, it’s ok.” This time I actually let myself grab his hand and he freezes in place. “We’re ok now. I just didn’t think through my decisions with you, so I try to talk it out with him beforehand to make sure I’m being…”

“Smart?” JJ interjects when I can’t find a diplomatic way to finish my thought.

“Yea… I’m sorry, JJ.” I offer him a half smile and hope he understands.

“Don’t be.” JJ rests his hand on top of mine and gives me a small squeeze to reassure me. He releases my hand quickly and I pull my hand back, a little bit of awkwardness still in the air. “So, do you like Tom?”

“I mean I don’t know him that well, but I think so. He’s a kook so that made me a little nervous but Kie knows his family and says they are good people.”

“If he’s a kook, why is working at The Wreck?”

“His parents don’t want him to be a spoiled asshole like Rafe and Topper. So that’s a good sign, right?”

“Sure.” JJ’s eyes screw up in concentration and I let him think for a moment. “When he asked you out, did it seem like he assumed you would say yes?”

“Uh, no. He was pretty nervous.”

“That’s good, at least he doesn’t have a big ego like most kooks. Did you like him before he asked you out?”

“What do you mean?” I can’t tell if JJ’s prying or trying to be helpful, but I decide to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Well, have you been hoping he would ask you out?”

“Uh, I didn’t really think about. Why?”

“Then I guess you need to ask yourself if you want to go out with him because you like him or because you like that he wants to go out with you.”

“That’s actually pretty insightful, J…”

“No need to act so surprised.” For the first time since my arrival, he gives me real JJ smile and I can’t help but smile back at him. “So what are you going to do?”

“I think I’m going to say yes and see how the date goes. Thanks, JJ.” I give him a quick kiss on the cheek, something I haven’t done since everything happened between us. He seems momentarily surprised but pulls me into a hug on instinct. I stay in his arms for a moment but pull myself away before my emotions get the best of me.

I’m glad that he and I becoming more comfortable around each other again, but I still have my guard up. I can’t let myself forget that he broke my heart.

----

It’s been three months since Tom and I went on our first date. JJ was right that I only liked Tom initially because he wanted to go out with me. But, that changed quickly as I got to know him. He’s smart and kind, driven and focused, and treats me like a princess. He also gets along with the Pogues. The first meeting at the Boneyard was a little rough but Kie scolded all the boys before inviting him back for day out on the marsh. All the guys could see how happy I was with him and decided to give him a real chance.

Our three-month anniversary just so happened to be on Pope’s birthday, so I told Tom that we needed to spend some time at the Chateau before we went out for dinner. I could tell everyone was already pretty drunk when we arrived, but I missed any signs that something was wrong with JJ until it was too late. If only I had stayed outside with everyone instead of running into the house to get a sweater.

“Hey, Y/N…” I jump and clutch my chest in surprise.

“Shit, JJ. You scared the hell out of me!”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s ok.” I move closer to him and try to make out the expression on his face. “Why are you sitting in the dark by yourself?”

“I was just thinking.”

“Dude, it’s Pope’s birthday. Stop being such a downer and come party with us before I have to go.”

“Y/N, I need to talk to you…” He reaches out and grabs my hand, stopping me before I can get back to the door. I stop and study his face before sitting down next to him.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as I place a hand on his shoulder.

“Look, I’m the last person who should be talking to you about this, but I can’t let this go on any longer…”

“What’s going on, J?”

“You know how I cut the Cameron’s grass?” I nod and he continues. “Well, I saw Tom there this morning.”

“What? Why? He’s not friends with Rafe.” Tom has told me multiple times how Rafe is a dick who gives all kooks a bad name.

“That’s not what it looked like. They were smoking pot and laughing like they know each other.”

“Tom doesn’t smoke, JJ.” I tease him all the time about how it could help him relax.

“I’m telling you, he was there.” JJ shakes my hand from his shoulder and stands up to pace in front of the couch. “And they were talking about you. I heard Rafe ask when Tom was going to close with you. Tom said tonight’s the night. And Rafe said ‘well it better be or the bet drops down to $50.’ Tom laughed and told him not to worry and he would have you screaming his name before the midnight deadline.”

“What the fuck, JJ?!” The full weight of what he just told me hits me like a ton of bricks.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry…” He sits next to me and places his hand over mine, trying to comfort me.

“No!” I forcefully pull my hand back and stand up to get away from him. “Look, I know you’ve never liked Tom, but you can’t just make something like this up! It’s cruel!”

“I’m not making this up, Y/N!” JJ pulls on his hair in frustration but tries to settle himself down to talk to me. “I swear, he was there, and I heard them say all that shit.”

“Fuck off, JJ!” I push away from him and storm out.

“Wait, Y/N!” JJ follows me outside and tries to catch my arm before I get down the porch stairs. “Please just listen to me!”

“Go to hell! I can’t believe you!”

“Whoa, what’s going on?” JB asks, looking between his two best friends.

“It doesn’t matter.” I look around for my boyfriend and gather up my stuff. “Tom, let’s go.”

“What happened?” John B and Tom ask at the same time.

“Y/N, wait!” JJ shouts over them as I walk to Tom’s car.

“JJ, stay the fuck away from me.” I tell him as I get into the car without looking back.

It takes every ounce of my strength to keep myself from crying. Tom quietly climbs in, starts the car, and tries to catch my eyes before he pulls out onto the road.

----

After dinner, we go back to Tom’s house and he leads me up to his room. I’ve been quiet since we left the Chateau, trying to understand why JJ would say all those things about my boyfriend.

“Y/N, can we try to get past whatever happened tonight with you and JJ and try to enjoy our three-month anniversary?” Tom asks as we walk up his stairs, pulling me from my thoughts.

“I’m sorry…”

“No need to apologize, I just don’t want you to miss my surprise for you.” Tom opens his bedroom door to reveal fairy lights and soft music. I gasp as I take in the ambience he created. “Do you like it?”

“Tom, it’s wonderful!” He grabs my hand and pulls me into the room. “You didn’t have to do all of this for me.”

“I just wanted everything to be perfect for tonight.” While I love the sentiment, I can’t help thinking about what JJ told me.

Before I can respond, Tom pulls me in for a kiss. His hands settle on my waist, but his fingers find my bare skin under the hem of my top right away. He deepens the kiss and my head starts spinning. Tom and I have made out before but his kisses are more desperate this time.

We’re interrupted by my phone ringing. I see that it’s JB and silence it. As I put my phone down, I see that I have 2 missed calls from Kie, 3 from Sarah, and 2 from John B. I also have 35 unread text messages.

“Whoa, something is going on.” Before I can check my messages, Tom takes my phone out of my hand and puts it in his back pocket.

“Come on, baby. Just focus on us tonight.” My eyebrows knit in confusion and I study his face. Tom has never taken my phone from me before.

“Tom, what’s going on?”

“Nothing. I just want you to pay attention to me tonight.”

“I am but there is clearly a problem because all my friends are calling and texting me. Give me my phone, Tom.”

“Give me a kiss.” He pulls me into his chest and crashes his lips to mine.

When I try to push him back, he holds me tighter. I finally have to bite his lip hard to get him to back up.

“Tom, what the hell is going on with you?” Then realization hits me. JJ was right. “Do you think we’re going to have sex tonight?”

“Well, it has been three months.”

“So what? Why are you rushing this?”

“I’m not rushing anything. You’re acting crazy.” He tries to bring me back in for another kiss but I turn my head away from him.

“If we have sex tonight, are you going to split your winnings with me?” I ask to see how he responds.

“What? I… uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about, Y/N.” Way wrong answer.

“Fuck you, Tom. Give me phone so I can leave.”

“No, just hear me out.”

“Give me my damn phone. Now!”

“No! Just fucking listen to me!”

I storm out of his house without my phone, too disgusted and embarrassed to look at him for another minute. It started to rain while we were inside, but I refuse to ask him for a ride home. Instead, I start walking towards the Chateau, too angry and humiliated to care how cold the rain is.

When I arrive at JB’s, I deflate when I see the Twinkie gone. But I figure he’ll be back soon and let myself inside.

“Y/N?” I jump again at his voice.

“Fuck, JJ. You have to stop scaring the shit out of me.”

“What are you doing here? Did you walk?” JJ’s voice is full of concern and he approaches me like a cornered animal.

“Yes. Where is everyone?” I can’t meet his gaze, so I look around the house again, even though I know it’s empty.

“They went looking for you.” He tentatively touches my chin to get me to look at him. “Why didn’t you call for a ride?”

“Tom has my phone.” I can’t handle the emotion in his eyes, so I pull away and start squeezing the rain out of my hair. “Why are they looking for me?”

“After you left, I told them what I told you. Sarah went to confront Rafe and he admitted to the bet. Everyone tried to call you, but you didn’t answer so they went to find you. Kie remembered where you guys were going to dinner, so they were starting there. Why does Tom have your phone?”

“He took it from me when John B called and wouldn’t give it back before I left.”

“Why did you leave?” JJ asks quietly.

“C’mon, JJ, you know why.” I finally meet his eyes and stare at him defiantly. “Go ahead and gloat.”

“No, I mean what happened to make you believe me?”

“He was really… single-minded once we got back to his house.” JJ anxiously looks me over, trying to find any sign of Tom’s aggression. “Then he wouldn’t let me call JB and tried to guilt me into having sex with him.”

“Are you ok?” His voice is unbelievably gentle as he cups my cheeks.

“Not even a little bit. But he didn’t physically hurt me if that’s what you were asking.”

“I’m sorry.” JJ grabs a towel and wraps me up before pulling me in for a hug.

“No, I’m sorry for not believing you.” I allow myself to lean into JJ for support as tears stream down my face. I kept my composure on the way over here, focusing intently on my rage, but his kindness after how horribly I treated him earlier is enough to finally make me break down.

We finally pull apart when JJ’s phone rings. He sees it John B and tells him that I’m there and ok but Tom has my phone. I excuse myself to get cleaned off in the bathroom. After seeing how terrible I look, I decide to take a shower. My pity party is interrupted by a soft knock.

“Y/N, it’s John B. Can I come in?”

“JB, I just need some time. I know you mean well but I just need to be alone for a little bit.”

“Ok, take your time. I’m going to bed, but you can wake me up if you need anything.”

After drying off, I realize I don’t have any clean clothes to put on. I peek my head out and call softly for JJ, hoping he didn’t go to bed when JB did.

“Yea?”

“Can you get me some dry clothes?”

“Sure, give me a minute.”

After he hands me some of his clean clothes, I close the door to get dressed. I thought he went back to what he was doing before I called for him, but I hear him softly call my name from the other side of the door.

“Uh, yea?”

“Umm… you can sleep in my room tonight. I’ll take the couch.” I open the door as he finishes his offer and get the distinct impression that this isn’t what he wanted to tell me.

“Ok… you ok, JJ?”

“Yea… I’m just going to head to bed.” He turns away from me quickly and throws himself down on the couch with his arm over his eyes.

“Ok, night…” As I climb into his bed, his smell overwhelms me, and I’m transported to a night six months ago.

“JJ, I think I’m in love with you.” His mouth stills on my neck and he moves back to look me in the eyes.

We are both a little drunk from the day on the marsh and the party but I can’t deny that I’ve been hoping this would happen for a while.

“Y/N…” JJ’s eyes show how confused he is, so I give him a moment to think. He closes his eyes and takes a steadying breath before moving to my side. “I think we should stop.”

“What? JJ, I don’t want to stop.” I try to kiss him again, but he gets out of bed and starts putting his clothes back on.

“You should go,” he says quietly, refusing to make eye contact with me.

I feel my eyes glazing over with tears as I try to put my clothes back on. JJ leaves me crying in his room. Why couldn’t I just keep my damn mouth shut?

----

“So Y/N, I need to tell you something.” I look over at Kie and frown at the worry in her voice.

“I saw Tom today.” I close my eyes in relief that I wasn’t working the lunch shift. Tom quit after everything happened with us and I haven’t seen him in almost a month. “He asked me to have you call him.”

“Did you tell that asshole that he can suck a dick?” John B yells over the waves.

“No, JB. I told him I would tell her.” Kie looks back at me and shrugs her shoulders. “He looked pretty upset. Maybe he realizes how much he fucked up?”

“So you think she should call him?” JJ asks, anger seething off him.

“No, JJ. I think she should make her own decision. I’m just telling her what he said and how he looked.”

“Kie! Come on! After what he did to her?”

“I still talked to you after what you did to her!” Kie yells.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Pope shouts as he holds out his arms. “Let’s all take a deep breath.”

The rest of the ride to the marsh is silent and tense. JJ moves to the back of the boat and sits with his head in his hands. Once we get to our swimming spot, I let everyone else jump into the water before I go over to talk to him.

“J, you ok?” I nudge his knee with mine to try to get him to look at me.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” He finally looks up at me and I see tears streaming down on his face. “Oh, J. Why are you crying?”

“Because Kie’s right. What Tom did was fucked but I’m no better.”

“JJ, she’s not right,” I say with a sigh. “Those are two very different situations. Tom dated me for three months as part of a bet. He tried to get me to have sex with him so he could win money from Rafe fucking Cameron. You… you didn’t do that.”

“No, I just acted like a pussy and shut you out instead of talking to you.”

“What are you talking about?” For the first time, I’m wondering if there is something I didn’t understand about the night JJ and I almost had sex.

“That night, when you said how you felt about me, I didn’t say anything. I just shut down and made you leave.”

“Look, J, I was pissed at you for a long time but then I realized I was just embarrassed and hurt. We were drunk and I jumped about a million steps and told you I love you when we had just kissed for the first time like 20 minutes before that. That would have freaked out anyone. Did you handle it in the best way? No, not even a little bit. But you weren’t fully at fault either.”

“Y/N… I wanted to –” But he’s cut off from explaining further by John B yelling for him.

“JJ, stop being a baby and come swim with us! Kie’s sorry for crossing the line. You’re sorry for being a dick. It’s over.”

“JB, hold on.” I yell back at him, desperate to find out what JJ was about to tell me.

“No, Y/N, JB’s right. Let’s go swim.” He gives me a fake smile and moves to the front of the boat before I can ask him.

What the hell was that?

----

“Dude, let’s go!” I’m tapping my foot while I wait for JJ to finish getting changed.

“Relax!” he yells to me from his room. “Why didn’t you just go to the Boneyard with the others instead of staying here to harass me?”

“You begged me to wait for you, you jackass. Now hurry up!”

“I’m ready, I’m ready…” I grip JJ’s hand and drag him outside. “Why are you in such a hurry? You normally aren’t this jacked for a kegger.”

“I’m just ready to shake off the residual Tom energy.”

“I thought you were doing better…”

“I am and now I want to celebrate. Just want to get back out there, you know?”

I look back when JJ doesn’t respond to me and notice him looking at his feet. His body language is reminding me of how he was on the boat a couple days ago but I can’t really figure out why.

“J, you good?” I ask tentatively.

“What?” His head pops up as if just realizing I’m still there. “Oh yea, I’m totally good.”

“You are so full of shit.” I say with a nervous laugh.

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know… you look… sad?”

“I’m fine. Let’s go get you back out there.” JJ throws his arm over my shoulder and leads me the rest of the way to the Boneyard with both of us lost in our heads.

When we get to party, we go straight over to our friends by the keg. Before I can finish saying hello to them, Kie hands me a cup and pulls me out to the dance area. She holds on to my free hand and spins me around to the music. Within minutes, we’re laughing non-stop and dancing like idiots.

After a couple of songs, I feel a warm set of hands settle on my waist. I spin around, thinking one of the guys has joined us, only to find Tom’s smug face.

“Get your hands off of me!” I shout as I pull out of his reach. He quickly follows me and grasps my shoulders harshly.

“Y/N, I just want to talk. Please.”

“Well, I don’t give a shit about whatever you have to say. Leave me alone.” I turn my head to look for Kie and see that she’s already run over towards the guys. “Look, Kie went to get JB and JJ. You should go before they get over here.”

“Fuck them. You’re the person I came to talk to. Just hear me out.”

“There is nothing you can say that will make what you did ok. Go away!”

As the last word is coming out of my mouth, I feel a strong set of arms wrap around me from behind and pull me away. Then a tall blur comes from the left and punches Tom in the face.

“Shh, it’s ok…” I freeze for a moment as I realize that JJ is the person holding me instead of the one throwing the punches. “John B has got this, let’s get you out of here.”

“JJ?” I search his face while he looks at me tenderly. “I thought you’d be the one throwing punches.”

“No, Y/N. You’re more important. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

I’m stunned into compliance and walk with him to the edge of the party. I spare a glance back at the fight between JB and Pope and Tom and Rafe and stop moving. When JJ realizes I’ve stopped, he follows my line of sight back and again tries to move me away.

“JJ, what the hell! Why aren’t you helping them?! You know that Rafe probably has Topper and Kelce nearby!”

“Listen to me.” He places both hands gently on my cheeks, demanding my full attention. “JB and I made a deal this afternoon in case this happened. It’s my job to get you back to the Chateau, JB will take care of the rest.”

“How did John B talk you into that?” I ask as his hands drop.

“What do you mean?”

“How did he convince you to be on babysitting duty?”

“He didn’t. I volunteered.” JJ mumbles the last part as he stares at his feet and rubs the back of his neck.

“Why?” I lift JJ’s face with a gentle finger under his chin.

“I told you, you’re more important.”

“I don’t understand…” I search his face for answers but can only find confliction in his eyes. JJ never turns down a chance to fight Kooks, especially one that has treated one of his friends like shit.

“I’ll try to explain better when we get back to the Chateau.” He puts a reassuring hand on the small of my back and guides me away from the party.

Throughout the walk back to the Chateau, I am lost in my own head. Why would JJ babysit me instead of punching out Tom? Why would he leave John B and Pope when he knew they were about to be outnumbered? What emotion did I see flit over his eyes when he told me I’m more important?

“Whoa, watch your step,” JJ warns as I almost trip up the porch stairs. I didn’t even realize we were already back at John B’s.

Once we get inside, JJ immediately gets a couple of beers from the fridge. He taps my hand with mine since I’m still not paying attention.

“Are you ok?” he asks me cautiously.

“Uh… yea. I’m just really confused.”

“Why? What did he say to you?” JJ’s voice full of concern again.

“Not about Tom. I don’t give a shit what he says. I’m confused by you.”

“Why?” JJ looks at me with genuine curiosity.

“Well, I’m trying to put the jigjaw pieces together but I think I’m missing some.”

“Huh?”

“I’m missing information.” When he still looks confused, I roll my eyes and be as direct as possible. “You haven’t been open with me.”

“I’m an open book, Y/N. Ask whatever you want. But… make sure you want to know the answer.”

“Ok, that’s not cryptic at all,” I say sarcastically. “I guess let’s go back to the other day on the marsh. It seemed like you were trying to tell me something about the night we almost had sex.”

“Oh, we’re just jumping right into, huh?” I can’t help but smile at his obvious nervousness.

“You told me I could ask whatever I wanted.”

“I know… let me figure out the best way to explain it…”

“JJ, just be honest. Don’t worry about saying it right.”

“That night, do you remember what led us back to my room?”

“Uh, yea… we were dancing and a slow song came on.” I pause for a second and then add. “I told you that it reminded me of you and then you kissed me.”

“Do you remember the song?”

“It was an old one by Brandi Carlisle. Uh, The Story?”

“Yea... do you remember what you said when I asked why?” I can’t help but feel like a participant on a quiz show with all of his questions.

“Because your mom used to sing it to you.” I look at my hands, knowing his mom is a difficult topic for him.

“You’re the only person who knows that about me.”

“Really?”

“Yea, my dad doesn’t even know that. She would only sing it when he wasn’t around.” That makes sense with everything I know about their marriage, but I’m really confused about what this has to do with anything.

“Well, I’m honored that you told me, J. But I don’t understand how that gets us here…”

“In that moment, I realized that you know me better than anyone else in the world and… and you still stick around. My mom used to tell me that the point of the song was finding someone who knows all of you, the good and the bad, and wanting to share every part of your life with that person because they give it meaning. You give my life meaning.”

“JJ…” I’m overwhelmed by his openness. I never would have anticipated him being so honest about something so personal.

“No, let me finish.” I nod at him but take his hand in mine. “Kissing you was something I wanted to do since 5th grade. So, I leaned in and kissed you without thinking about what I was risking. Then things escalated and we ended up back here. It was like my dreams were coming true. When you told me you loved me, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. I didn’t think it was possible that you would ever feel that way about me. Maybe you were too drunk or confused, I wasn’t sure. But I couldn’t risk you telling me later that you didn’t mean it. So… I did what I do best and shut down.”

“JJ, I meant it.”

“I realized that a couple days later when you wouldn’t come over.” His sadness is written across his face as he explains further. “At first I thought you were just embarrassed but then JB punched me in the face and yelled at me about breaking your heart.”

“He did what?!” When John B convinced me to tell him what happened, I specifically made him promise not to address it with JJ.

“It’s ok, I deserved it. Normally when I self-destruct, I’m the only one who gets hurt. But this time, I hurt the person I love too.”

“The person you what?” I shake my head a little in disbelief.

“The person I love. I didn’t just want to kiss you because you’re smoking hot, even though you are. But because I’m in love with you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me when you found out I was heartbroken?”

“Well I already hurt you, I didn’t think you’d still feel that way anymore.”

“So all this time, you’ve been in love with me?” I can’t keep the surprise out of my voice, causing him to look at me apologetically.

“Yes.”

“Since when?”

“Since John B’s 12th birthday party. Don’t laugh!” The giggle slips out on it’s own and I quickly cover my mouth.

“I’m sorry, J. But why that specific day?”

“That was the year when we all got into a huge cake fight, remember?” I nod and he offers me a shy smile. “Well, you snuck up behind me, jumped on my back, and smashed a handful of cake in my face. I grabbed your arms and pulled you off me and had to hold you up because you were laughing so hard. You got the hiccups and tears were running down your face and I remember thinking that I want to make you laugh like that forever.”

“You’re such a softie…” I whisper as I poke his side.

“Shut up…”

“No, it’s true. You’re a big softie. Why are you finally telling me now?”

“I guess I feel like I can now that you don’t love me anymore. I don’t need to worry about breaking your heart again.”

“Wha –” I’m cut off by a crash out on the porch, causing both of us to jump up.

“Hey, can one of you guys get the door for us?” Kie screams through the window.

JJ rushes to help Kie and I gasp when I see John B’s bloodied face. Pope has a swollen eye and a nose bleed but otherwise looks ok.

“JB! Oh my God, are you ok?”

“I’m fine, Y/N. Just a few cuts from Rafe’s stupid rings. Kie, you don’t need to hold me up, I can walk.” Kie ignores John B and guides him over to the couch while I run into the kitchen for some ice and paper towels.

Over the next hour, we clean up Pope and John B while they tell us about how Tom and Rafe called over Topper and Kelce (like I predicted). A few other pogues jumped in to help when they noticed JJ wasn’t there. The whole fight only lasted a couple minutes but it ended the party so they had to clean up before they came back to the house. Soon, Kie offers to drive Pope home and JB decides to head to bed, leaving me and JJ alone again.

“Are you staying here tonight or do you want me to drive you home?” JJ asks softly.

“Uh, I’ll stay here.” I hate the awkwardness between us right now.

“Ok, night.” He turns around quickly and goes into his room before I can say anything else.

After tossing and turning on the couch for a couple hours, I decide that I’m not going to be able to sleep until I talk to JJ. I jump up and tiptoe quietly into his room. Instead of knocking, I just let myself in and am surprised when I find him looking back at me.

“Y/N? What are you doing in here?”

“I couldn’t sleep…”

“Is everything ok?”

“No.”

“Oh… do you want to talk about it?”

“Yes… JJ, I need you to know someth –” Before I can finish my thought, JJ cuts me off.

“No, Y/N, listen. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I hope you know that I don’t expect –”

“Shut up, JJ.” I cover his mouth with my hand to get him to stop talking. “I need you to know that I’m still in love with you… I never stopped loving you.”

I slowly remove my hand from his mouth and study his face. At first, I’m not sure that he believes me but then he breaks into a brilliant smile. He pulls me close and kisses me fiercely. He puts every ounce of emotion into the kiss and I need to pull back sooner than I’d like to take a breath.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“Well, you didn’t respond that great the first time.”

“But you were with Tom…”

“Yea, I thought dating someone else would help me get over you.” I tell him with a shrug.

“We’re both idiots,” he says as he pulls me in for another kiss. “But, God, I love you.”

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mbti-and-academia · 4 years ago

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INTJ + INXP roommates 2

INTJ: (lounging on sofa, typing something on the computer)

INTP: (appears from the kitchen, holding a shot glass filled with some clear liquid)

INTP: Hey INTJ. So you know how it snowed a crapload last night, right? (downs the shot, disappears into the kitchen)

INTP: (reappears from kitchen, shot glass full again)

INTP: So I had an idea of what we could do with all of it. We should totally build a snow fort, like a proper one, old-school style.

INTJ: (watches with some curiosity and concern as INTP drinks yet another shot, then disappears into kitchen again, and returns with another shot)

INTP: There's a ton of boards lying around - you know, the ones we stole from the porch of that frat house that one time... (drinks half of the shot) and I was thinking we could use them as building materials to establish base structural integrity, and assemble them into kind of a yurt structure, and then pack a ton of snow around that...

INTP: (finishes shot, disappears into kitchen, returns with another shot)

INTJ: Um... hey, INTP...?

INTP: And I have a ton of extra LEDs lying around from that light-up underwear project last year, and also we could use some of INFP's faerie lights to light the thing up epically. (Drinks shot, disappears into kitchen again)

INTP: (From the kitchen) But just a heads up, I'm totally serious about this, so it'll probably be a whole-day affair at the minimum, so... (reappears with another shot)

INTJ: Dude! Hold up... (stops INTP as he is about to take another drink)

INTJ: Did I just watch you down four shots of vodka, just like that, while we were having this conversation?

INTP: What? Oh, this? (raises shot glass) No dude, chill out, it's just water...

INTJ: Wait... that just raises even more questions. Why are you drinking water out of a shot glass??

INTP: I don't know, why not?

INTP: It was there...

INTJ: But that's so... incredibly... inefficient (somewhat shocked). Why don't you just use your own cup?

INTP: I ...don't know where it went. I would just drink out of your cup like I usually do at such times, but I lent that out to ENFP to plant cactuses in.

INTJ: Oh good god... (sighs, hand on forehead) Where do I even begin with this.

INTJ: And the rest of our cups? We had at least like, five communal ones.

INTP: Oh yeah... those. Well, it was INFP's turn to do dishes these past five days and I guess he just... didn't?

INTP: (checks sink) Yeah. Yep. He didn't.

INTJ: Oh for f... sake... (mutters and sighs)

INTJ: Also, you... use my cup?

INTP: (shrugs) Maybe. At times.

INTJ: And why would you just give it to ENFP without asking me? ......Can you even grow cactuses in a cup?

INTP: (shrugs) Most likely not. But ENFP didn't seem to care, she was more excited at how cute and girly your cup is, so...

INTJ: (sighs) Never mind... I'll just... deal with this.

INTP: Hey, INTJ? I could totally help out with the dishes situation, you know.

INTJ: Let me guess, you don't want to clean them either, so you're about to suggest we go buy a week's supply of paper cups and plates instead, am I right?

INTP: Bingo.

INTJ: (sigh) Oh, fuck it. Let's go. I'm driving.

INTP: Shweet. Oh, and, I'll be inviting ENFP and ENTP over for the snow fort building too, just so you know.

INTJ: ...

INTJ: Urgh, fine, I guess I'm in.

#intj #intp #mbti #intj things #intp things #mbti roommates #infp #mbti stories #intj problems #intxs will build an epic snowfort with enxps

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valwrite · 4 years ago

Text

hide & seek; daveed diggs

masterlist

summary: Y/N L/N can´t keep a promise. (sequel to leap frog & hopscotch)

warnings: cushion violence.

fic style: drabble.

word count: 1807

author’s note: this is the third and final drabble from the leap frog series. sorry that it’s kind of short and not really as good as the other two, i’ve got a bit of writer’s block right now. like, i have tons of ideas of what i would like to write but, when i try to write, my brain forgets the whole english dictionary and is just like “qué?”.

It was official. Rafael Casal was going to kill Daveed Diggs and Y/N L/N.

The sun had barely risen an hour ago; the air was still crisp with the chill of the night; some people were just making their way home, exhaustion and last night's makeup painting their face, and there Rafa was stood, phone pressed to his ear whilst his fist banged against the oak door repeatedly. He'd spent fifteen minutes in the very same predicament, alternating between calling Daveed and Y/N. Neither of the two were picking up despite the fact he was sure he could hear their phones ringing from indoors.

It was typical, honestly, for the two to pull such a stunt on him. The poor man was juggling having to worry about his friends whereabouts and his own health, which was progressively slipping away from him as his stress levels grew from having both their close relatives breathing down the back of his neck and questioning him on where exactly the two could have disappeared to.

When they both had first agreed to spending the night apart, Rafa was quick to laugh in their faces and tell them they'd find themselves crawling back to the other by the end of the night. Hell, the two barely survived nights apart brought on by work- Rafa had once walked in to Daveed's hotel room and found him asleep whilst Y/N slept on his propped up phone screen, nothing but FaceTime to unite them during their time apart- so how in the name of Hell would they willingly choose to sleep without one another? The satisfaction of his impending "I told you so" was the only thing keeping Rafa going.

“Screw this." He muttered, shoving his phone back into his pocket. Crouching, Rafa picked up a few of the plant pots that decorated the front porch until he found the hidden key.

Quietly, and carefully, he turned the key in the lock. When the door opened, he pushed through slowly and held his breath, awaiting for it to squeak. A squeak never came, meaning two things: Daveed must have fixed the door and Rafa was safe to continue venturing into the home. Of course, he had to continue with the slowed movements and the careful breathing. The last thing he needed was to wake up the couple's four legged friend, that would only lead to an influx of tail wagging and puppy kisses being branded all over him. No, Rafa had to treat this like the most serious game of hide and seek he'd ever taken part in, on the off chance that Daveed was actually alone. The man was never a morning person, so being the person to wake him up, whether by accident or on purpose, was practically a suicide mission. Add that in with a reminder of the fact he'd (possibly) slept alone, Daveed was not going to be a happy bunny.

Rafa made his way through the living room where his eyes couldn't help but focus on the picture frames scattered along their television unit. They held so many stories, most of which he'd been present for and some he'd just been told about by the couple.

There was the cheesy one of them under some mistletoe on their first Christmas together, where Daveed had accidentally tripped over his own two feet and landed chest first into the cake she'd spent the whole day baking. There was the picture from a Warriors match they'd gone to, where Y/N spent most the night near drooling over the players and Daveed had silently prayed he still had a girlfriend by the end of the game. A candid photo of the both of them at some music festival, arms around each other and heads resting on shoulders. A collage section, filled with each cringe worthy matching Halloween costumes they'd worn. A picture of Daveed in a hospital bed, cast around his arm and Y/N sat at his side, their hairs still tousled from the kiss Rafa had walked in on before capturing the moment in a photo. At the time, they'd told him to delete it but the man was adamant they'd thank him one day when they were getting married and they realized that, without his meddling, the two of them would have never ended up on that date, in that hospital room.

With one of those things nearly down, Rafa was just counting down the hours till they came to the epiphany of his involvement in their love blossoming.

As he made his way out of the living room, the sound of a squeaky toy invaded his senses. Confused, Rafa looked down to see he'd stood on one of the dog's toys. All movement froze. He waited a couple heartbeats, to see if the pup had awakened. When no fur-ball came running his way, he assumed it was safe to move again.

The kitchen was up next. Rafa held back a laugh at the matching Mr & Mrs aprons which were hung up, mentally storing the reminder to mock them about it in his speech later on. A cupboard was slowly pulled open, a large bowl- in which countless of his favorite goodies were made by top baker Y/N- was lowered out of it and the tap was switched on, water trickling out of it and directly into the dish he was holding up.

Rafa now had to move more carefully than ever, his eyes flicking back and forth between the floor in front of him and the sloshing water in the bowl. But he had made his way safely up the stairs, down the hall and, now, he was finally rounding the corner to their shared bedroom. He could see the door had been left half open and, like the most tense scene in a thriller, Rafa took one step, two steps, three steps before he stumbled upon the exact image he'd been awaiting.

There they lay in bed, all shamelessly tangled up in silk sheets and limbs. His head on her pillow, her face buried in his neck. Casual sleepwear adorned them both- much to Rafa's own relief - whilst their outfits from the night before were strewn across the whole room. Each of their chests rose and fell in sync with one another, their breathing more peaceful than that of a monk. They so perfectly detailed what it meant to wholeheartedly be in love with someone, with no real effort whatsoever. It was such a shame Rafa was about to ruin their whole picture perfect sleep.

Eyeing the dog bed, Rafa affirmed that the pup was peacefully off in dreamland, with no sign of waking up and ruining his little surprise. He tiptoed from there onward, making his way around the king sized bed, stepping over abandoned cushions and swerving between articles of clothing. Panic coursed through him as Daveed let out a groan, rolling over where he lay. When the man's eyes remained shut, Rafa continued his careful journey to his best friend's bedside. After snapping a few pictures of the sleeping, unsuspecting fools, he lifted the bowl of water, carefully balancing it over them with his hands.

The first few drops fell onto the pillow, but the rest? They completely soaked Daveed and Y/N (mostly Daveed, he was Rafa's main target after all) and sent them both flying out of bed, eyes still half shut and wet hair dripping water all over the place. The first thing they noticed was Rafa, bent over at the waist, hand clutching his sides as laughter shook through his rib-cage.

“What the fuck, dude?” Y/N was the first one to speak, as she picked up and threw one of the cushions at Rafa, who smoothly ducked from her aim.

“What time is it?” Daveed had sat back on the bed at this point, shoulders hunched as he tried to find his phone.

“It's eight am.” Rafa passed him his phone. “And don't you what the fuck? me." He put on a high pitched voice as he addressed Y/N, dodging another one of her cushion attacks.

“I do not sound like that.”

“You do in my head.” Another cushion, this time it actually whacked him on the thigh. “I told you guys you wouldn't sleep apart and you two agreed to the bet, the forfeit being I get to dump a bowl of water over you both.”

“Hey, this isn't my fault.” Daveed stood up again, reaching for a pair of sweatpants off the floor. The bundle of fur had woken up by then, barking at Y/N's feet until she reached down to pick him up. “I was here alone last night, ready to sleep alone when she showed up at the door. She forced me to lose.”

“Oh, please!” Rafa was glad to see Y/N redirect her flying cushions at Daveed. “You practically dragged me into bed last night. I didn't force anything on you.”

“It wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me to turn away a tired woman at my door.”

“And they say chivalry is dead.”

“I brought it back just for you, babe.”

The buzzing of his phone in his pocket reminded Rafa of the fact that this was no ordinary day, where the two idiots in front of him had the entire morning to have meaningless arguments. Today, they were all on a strict schedule and Rafa was half responsible for making sure it all went well.

“As fun as this is,” He paused, redirecting his complete attention to Y/N. “you have a car waiting for you outside, to take you back to your parents home to get ready. So, with all due respect, fuck off and let me get D ready for you.”

“Fine, whatever, I'm going.” He could tell she wasn't really as bothered as she tried to seem, especially from the way her shoulders were shaking in silent laughter. “Be warned, Rafa, if you try take credit for our relationship in your speech, I will not hesitate to deck you in front of my whole family. Capiche?”

“You know, it's not too late to change your mind, Y/N. There's still a chance to rekindle our old flame and reenact that kiss we shared years ago.”

“Hey, watch your mouth!” Daveed made his way over to Y/N's side and wrapped an arm over her shoulder. “That's my wife you're speaking to.”

“Not yet, Diggs.” Rafa grabbed at the other man's arm, stripping him away from Y/N as the two tried to share a kiss. “Save that for the altar, you two.”

The couple collectively let out a frustrated sigh as Rafa guided her out of the house, both aware of the fact that the next time they locked eyes, they'd be swearing eternal fidelity and love to one another and, as much as neither would admit it out loud, they owed it all to Rafa and his gossiping ways.

#daveed x reader #daveed diggs #daveed diggs x reader #daveed diggs fluff #daveed diggs oneshot #daveed diggs fanfiction #daveed diggs imagine #daveed diggs scenario #daveed diggs drabble #daveed diggs hamilton #daveed diggs clipping.#valwrite #daveed diggs x y/n

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wanderingcas · 5 years ago

Text

☆ for @cottondean, as a part of her benefits on my Patreon! thank you so much for your support:’) ☆ prompt: a college au where big, tough (*cough* softie) football player!Dean calls entomology major!Cas to come get a spider out of his kitchen because his roommate is gone

. . .

There’s a certain part of the quad that Castiel loves to sit. It’s a small field of grass with two large oak trees, far away from the busy shuffling of students walking from class to class. It’s the only patch of nature he can seem to find within a five-mile radius in the bustling city.

Before he buries his head into the textbook for his Insect Behavior lecture, he takes a moment to tilt his head back against the tree and squint up at the sun, shattered by the hundreds of leaves fluttering in the gentle wind. He takes a large breath and sighs. It’s the calmest part of his day. The only peace he can find with his back-to-back classes, labs, homework, and it’s just lovely to be able to sit and—

His phone buzzes obnoxiously in his jeans pocket. He opens an eye and glares at it. Closes his eyes and tries to find his peace again. The phone vibrates again, this time louder and more insistent.

With a sigh, he fishes out his phone and flips it open.

Hey, this is Cas, right? It’s Dean Winchester, we were in Biology lab together last semester. Okay this is a weird thing to text, but you like bugs and everything, right? Well I don’t, and there’s this spider and it’s HUGE like this might be a freaking tarantula and can you kill it? Kevin usually does but he’s out of town.

Castiel stares at the block of text. Another text message comes in:

Kevin’s my roommate. I should have mentioned that

He’s pushing the button to respond when another text buzzes in his palm:

OMG it’s on my cookies!! Wtf!!

“What the fuck indeed,” Castiel agrees in a low tone. He clicks the call button and holds the phone to his ear.

“Oh hey,” comes Dean’s deceptively breezy voice over the receiver.

“Dean?” Castiel asks. “Are you okay? Your texts seemed very… distressed.”

“Me? Distressed? No way. You can ignore that. I took care of it. I just—” Dean abruptly makes a very high-pitched noise.

“The spider is still there, isn’t it?” Castiel asks.

“It’s staring at me, Cas. I think it can smell fear.”

“Oh my god.” Castiel pinches the bridge of his nose. “I can be at your apartment in five minutes. Do you still live in the same room?”

“Yes,” Dean whispers.

Castiel stands and shoulders his backpack. “Why are you whispering?”

“Did you not hear me when I said this is a devil spider?”

Castiel sighs as he begins to walk to the Circle Apartments across campus. “Well, just make sure not to make any sudden movements, or it may think you’re prey to hunt.”

“Oh my god, Cas, why the fuck would you tell me—”

“I’m kidding,” Castiel sighs. “I’ll be there soon.”

Another text comes in as he ends the call. Charlie’s quick text flashes across the screen.

U @ the tree?

Castiel texts back, No. Going to help a friend.

ooOOO who??

Castiel glances around before typing out, Fall semester hot lab partner.

Rolling his eyes at the caps locked letters he gets back from Charlie, he shuts his phone. Telling only his best friend Charlie about his crush on Dean Winchester is already one person too many.

Castiel remembers Dean’s apartment’s location from the night they studied for the Biology lab final together. They had sat on Dean’s bed, listening to Led Zeppelin while Castiel quizzed Dean (being an Entomology major, he knew most of the material from his AP Bio classes in high school, so didn’t need to study as much). He still remembers the tint of blush in Dean’s cheeks whenever Castiel praised Dean for his correct answers.

“You’re actually making me think I can get this stuff,” Dean had said. “I always thought I was too dumb to get this science crap. Not a ton of time to focus on academics, with the football scholarship and all.”

“Of course you can get it,” Castiel said. “You’re far from stupid, Dean.”

When Dean had grinned widely at that, Castiel had decided that he’d love to put a thousand more smiles on his handsome face.

Castiel shakes his head as he climbs the stairs to Dean’s apartment door. He lost his chance with Dean months ago; he needs to remember that.

He’s barely rapping his knuckles against the door before it bursts open. Dean yanks him inside. “Hurry, it disappeared! I think it went under the stove!”

Castiel stumbles into the narrow hallway, catching himself with a hand against the wall. He stares at Dean, who is dressed in nothing but gym shorts and a thin white t-shirt, oven mitts on his hands and a colander on his head.

“What in the hell are you wearing?” Castiel asks.

“Defensive gear,” Dean replies, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

Castiel blinks. “Um—”

Dean grabs Castiel’s arm and pulls him toward the kitchen. “C’mon, dude, it’s getting away!”

“Dean, it’s not going to hurt you,” Castiel says as he trips after him. “Most spiders in this region don’t even bite.”

“Yeah, most, but knowing my luck this one will.” Dean pushes Castiel forward, hiding behind his back. “Okay, now, go do your… bug whispering.”

“My chosen major does not mean I whisper to bugs,” Castiel says.

“You know what I mean. Go, like… beat it into submission.”

Castiel sighs. He carefully walks across the linoleum kitchen floor, careful not to step on the small creature in case it decides to run under his feet. He spots the spider climbing its way up the side of the stove.

“Hey, little one,” Castiel says softly. Based on the lack of distinct marks on its brown body, it’s likely a harmless cellar spider. Holding out his hand, he stops the spider’s trek with his fingers, cupping it in his palm. He ignores Dean’s horrified gasp behind him.

“You’ve had a busy afternoon,” Castiel murmurs to the small spider in his hands. He stands and turns toward Dean. “Can you open a window?”

Dean scrunches his face into a frown. “But it’ll just come right back in.”

“It’s warm outside. It’s likely that it’ll simply go look for food.”

“Ugh. Fine.” Dean tentatively steps past Castiel and opens the balcony screen door. “Put it out here, I guess.”

Castiel walks out onto the porch and carefully deposits the spider onto the railing. “Good luck,” he says as it scurries away.

“You’re safe now,” he tells Dean tonelessly as he walks back into the kitchen, sliding the balcony door closed.

Dean sighs and pulls off the oven mitts. “Thanks. I hate those things.”

“May I suggest that you may have arachnophobia?” Castiel asks.

“How can you not with those things?” Dean dramatizes a shudder. “They’re nasty.”

Castiel shrugs. “I think they’re quite beautiful.”

Dean gives him a strange look. Huffs a laugh. “You know, I forgot how quirky you are.”

“It has been a few months since our class concluded.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

Castiel pointedly does not mention, or think about, the awkward moment that made them stop speaking again after the end of the semester.

Dean waves a hand. “Well, anyway, thanks man. For helping me out, and all.”

The moment that Dean had leaned toward him on the bed, only inches between them, his eyes closing—

How fear made Castiel quickly jump off the bed, avoiding the kiss at all.

“It’s no problem,” Castiel says quickly, shutting off his line of thinking. He avoids looking at Dean’s lips. “I should probably get back to studying.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” Dean rubs at the back of his head. His hair is sticking up wildly after taking the colander off his head. “You know, I’m in another Biology class, actually.”

Castiel’s eyebrows raise. “Oh really?”

“Yeah.” Dean grins. “Kinda was inspired by you, actually. You made me like that last class, so I thought… why not another one?”

Castiel feels something in his chest lighten. He smiles. “Oh, that’s—that’s good.”

They both stand awkwardly, staring at their feet. “You know—” Dean says as Castiel begins, “I should—”

Dean smiles. Castiel hides a laugh behind his hand. “You go,” he says.

“I was just gonna say, uh—” Dean waves a hand toward the living room. “I was actually about to study, too, if you, well… want company?” He quickly adds, “I can make you dinner for helping with the spider, too.”

Castiel says, “I do remember your cooking being delicious.”

Dean’s face lights up with a grin. “So you’ll stay?”

“Yes. Besides, if any insects come flocking at the smell of food, I will need to be here to protect you.”

Dean rolls his eyes and aims an oven mitt at Castiel’s head. Castiel ducks, this time letting his laugh resound throughout the kitchen.

They barely get any studying done; Castiel doesn’t mind. He’s perfectly content sitting in Dean’s sunny living room, watching Dean animatedly show Castiel each of his records and ramble off facts over the booming bass. Castiel complains about his classes, propped against the counter with a glass of wine in hand, as Dean cooks pasta.

They watch Casablanca on the couch; it was Dean’s mom’s favorite movie, and coincidentally, Castiel’s. Not that they make it far; they’re in each other’s arms, kissing and ripping off each other’s shirts like their lives depend on it, barely five minutes into the movie.

Castiel is lying contentedly on Dean’s bare chest and listening to his heartbeat when he murmurs, “I hope more spiders come into your kitchen.”

He feels Dean kiss the top of his head. “Y’know what? Me too.”

. . .

☆my patreon☆ ☆my ko-fi☆

#destiel fic #destiel #THIS WAS SO FUN TO WRITE THANK YOU <33 #patreon prompt

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creek-cryptid-deluxe · 3 years ago

Text

I witnessed the most insane but satisfying arrest last night.

While The Spawn & I were opossum watching, we heard a man go into the neighbors' backyard & start pounding on what we thought was the sliding glass door yelling. Then we heard it break, heard more yelling & shit breaking inside.

(For reference, we live in a townhouse so we aren't nosy, the yards are connected. Their middle school aged kids frequently tell our dogs to shut up, which is fair.)

While we are in shock, debating what to do, we hear more yelling, a woman sobbing, then she yells that she's calling the cops & has everything "on video this time!" Ok. We decide I'm going out front to chat with cops when they arrive.

By the time I'm out front, 3 police SUVs are already on scene & they have a white dude on the curb that they are talking to. I overhear that this dude's name is... Kyle. Fitting. I also overhear that how he 'was raised is that women should know their place.'

B R O. This ain't the 1950s. Slow your fucking role.

So I awkwardly get the officer's attention & ask if I can speak with him. He says he will be over in a minute, so I let him know I'll be on my porch. I hear him introduce Kyle to 'the lead investigator for this incident' & explain that's he's going to probably ask a lot of the same questions but he needs to answer them.

Officer walks over & I let him know what we heard. He says "Yeah that's what we are hearing from both parties. He broke the window pounding on it, again. He's pretty drunk. Thank you for your help though."

Note: a few months back, this neighbor came to me asking if we'd had break in attempts (never in the time we've lived here because of our proximity to a busy street) because a window in her backyard was smashed out. We discussed the cameras I have for the garden due to vandalism. Turns out, that was our man Kyle. Fun.

So I go inside, but they are right by my window. These cops are trying SO hard to give this dude a break. At one point they even tell him they are 'trying to give some leeway here' but dude isn't having it. Some highlights:

Cops: "Do you have a history of violent acts?" Kyle: "Yeah. I've been kicked out of or banned from some places." Cop: "You ever think about getting some help & talking to somebody about that?" Kyle: "No. I was raised that you handle your own shit & don't take disrespect." (Newsflash Kyle: you are NOT handling your shit.)

Cops tell him he cannot go back in the house that night or until the matter is resolved & ask if there's someone they can call to come get him. Kyle doesn't like this. Kyle's brilliant response? "Am I being charged with anything? If not I'm going inside. You can't stop me if you're not charging me." The cops sigh heavily & tell him that it doesn't work like that.

The cops genuinely try to work with Kyle, despite him being actively a pain in the ass who believes he's done nothing to deserve an hour long chat with the officers without shoes on sitting on the curb.

That's right. They tried for AN HOUR.

After they realize he's not going to leave, an officer says, "Ok you wait right here." Kyle in his brilliant stupor says "Oh you calling for backup bro? Go on! Call for backup! They can see you holding me for no reason other than trying to get in my house." (Spoiler: Kyle doesn't live there.) The cop, still cool with a conversational tone, says "No, I'm not calling backup. We're good. Just give me a sec." And leaves him with the investigator.

When he comes back he says, "I need you to stand up & put your hands behind your back." Does Kyle cooperate? He hasn't thus far, why start now? Instead he says "No. You're not arresting me. I'm not going to jail." I hear the officer audibly chuckle before saying: "I am & you are. Stand up & put your hands behind your back."

I guess Kyle complied because they were telling him how they were going to walk him to the car. They asked if he wanted shoes. Oppositional to the bitter end, Kyle says, "No I don't need fucking shoes and I don't need to go to jail for entering my house." The officers just said, "Ok, Kyle." Then loaded him up & drove off.

And thus ends the tale of Kyle, who is a credit to his name.

Also, our police force locally has done a massive overhaul & huge amounts of training over the last 1.5 to 2 yrs.

Example:

The other night there was a man at the park who looked like he was having a psychotic episode similar to what I've seen my mom have & seen in a clinical setting. No shirt, no shoes, writhing & flailing & chatting with himself. He was directly in front of the bathrooms but wasn't at all aggressive to anyone who walked by or spoke to him. He even chatted back, although it was the word salad that I tend to associate with a schizophrenic psychotic episode.

They came out and calmly talked to him & over the course of an hour convinced him to get into an ambulance. He hadn't wanted to go to the hospital when his symptoms started because he didn't have someone to care for his small dog, who was with him. One of the officers promised to care for the pet while he was away & that she would have it when he got healthy enough to come back home.

I can tell you that about 7-10 yrs ago, he would have been presumed to be on drugs & arrested while not being treated kindly. The overhaul came about from an incident involving a college student who had multiple people in his life call wellness checks on him because they could tell something wasn't right with his mental health. Within a week it escalated to him wandering the student off campus housing complex he lived in with a massive kitchen knife. The incident ended with him being shot.

His family, friends, & a huge amount of the community was outraged & demanded that our PD do better. They made the excellent point that with our massive student population and the average age of most mental illnesses emerging, our PD needs extensive mental health crisis training & better de-escalation skills. A ton of officers who basically said 'fuck that' got replaced.

Never thought I'd be proud of our PD but here we are.

(Kyle absolutely deserved to be arrested & they gave him FAR more chances to cooperate than I would have but... I'm a domestic abuse survivor so... bias.)

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give-me-back-my-rhodey · 4 years ago

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Let’s Burn the World Down - AUgust Day 6

Title: Let’s Burn the World Down

Author: Purple_ducky00

Rating: Teen

Relationship: Clint Barton/Tony Stark, Background relationships: Bucky/Natasha, Steve/Sam

Link: Read on AO3

Summary: Tony falls in love with the guy he keeps meeting in the ER. Too bad the guy already has a girlfriend... or does he?

+++++++++++

For a billionaire, Tony has to go to the hospital very often. Whether it’s a lab accident, a car accident, an assassination attempt, and/or anything else, Tony finds himself in the ER at least once a month. His insurance is higher than his standards, which isn’t saying much, Tony surmises, because he’s halfway in love with the guy he sees almost every time he goes.

They’ve seen each other so frequently that they’ve started nodding to each other and saying, “What are you in for?” like they do in the movies at the police station.

Although he’s being truthful, Tony knows that most of his incidents sound very made up. “Oh, they sent someone to assassinate me, but I managed to flirt my way out of it with only a stab wound.” “My lab exploded.” “My robot dropped a steel sheet on my foot.” “I tripped on something and fell off my porch to the porch below.” But he is even more disbelieving of this man’s injuries.

The guy says stuff like “I shot myself with a boomerang arrow.” “I was skydiving with my dog and my parachute got caught on a tree branch, and an eagle attacked me.” “I think that pizza I ate was too old.” “My old circus buddy tried to kill me. He failed.” “I fell out of the vents, and the bad guys beat me up.”

Today Tony comes in because he had to jump through a window to avoid Sunset Bain. He now has glass sticking out of his side, and he’s sitting calmly until a doctor can see him. The man limps in, bloody and skin mangled on his leg. The others in the ER gasp as he signs in and takes a seat beside Tony. “Hey man, what you in for?” He asks.

“Jumped out a window to avoid my ex.”

“Mood.” The man nods sagely. “I just battled a cougar and won. Before you ask, yes it was the cat kind, although I don’t doubt that a middle-aged woman couldn’t do this if she was rejected.” He gestures to his leg. Tony barks out a laugh.

“Oh, they could. Trust me. By the way, I never got your name. Or did you want to stay anonymous?” Tony asks.

The man shakes his head. “We’d go great no matter how we do it. Name’s Clint.”

“I’m Tony.”

“Yea, I know.” When Tony looks at him, surprised, Clint pats his shoulder placatingly. “You’ve got these people fooled with your greasy shirts and hats, but I never forget a face. Don’t worry, I won’t rat you out. But why do you come to this crappy ER all the time? Aren’t you supposed to go to the ones that are made for rich people?”

Tony shrugs. Truthfully, the first couple time he came, it was because he had happened to be in the neighborhood when disaster struck. He had struck up conversation with Clint, and he decided that if he were able to talk with him, Tony would keep coming to this ER. “I don’t know. I’m in the area a lot, I guess.”

Tony gets that he has problems. He knows that he quickly falls in love with anyone who will show him kindness or even just the time of day because he didn’t get enough love and attention from his parents as a child. He goes to therapy, and he does make an effort to figure out which people are being nice only because they want something, which people are just simply being nice, and which people are flirting. It’s still hard sometimes, like now. He doesn’t think Clint wants something because 1.) he just said that he won’t rat Tony out and 2.) he could have taken Tony’s wallet very easily many times. But is Clint just a nice dude, or does he like Tony?

A nurse gets Tony just as another comes for Clint. Tony lies on his side for far too long as they pull glass from his body. When he’s cleared to go, the doctor tells him, “You have to be more careful, Mr. Stark. You’re not invincible, and I’d hate to see anything happen to you.”

“Thanks Doc. I’ll do my best.” He shakes the man’s hand.

On his way out, he sees Clint talking to a beautiful redhead. She is reaming him out in Russian, calling him and idiot and a few other unsanitary words. Clint tries to console her, but she grabs his hand and pushes him into her car. She speeds off, still shouting in Russian. Tony’s heart drops. He has no chance with Clint now. No one would give up a woman like her for him unless they wanted something.

The next time Tony gets hurt, he goes to the ER near his home. He is in and out shortly, but Tony feels incomplete. He misses the easy camaraderie with Clint. I can still joke with him as friends, right? There’s no harm in that. He reasons, but he chickens out the next time, when he accidentally burns his arm with his blowtorch, and then when he gets shot. This keeps happening until it has been at least three months since he last saw Clint.

Tony gets drunk in a bar | in Brooklyn. Very, very drunk. The thing about being a Stark – you can hold your liquor very well, and even when you are so drunk most people black out, you can still walk and talk albeit hindered a little. Well, Tony is that drunk, and this is when he tends to overshare. He’s telling the bartender, a beefy man with long brown hair, about Clint. “So, there’s this guy, you know. Only time I see him is when I go to the ER. He’s really cute, he’s got like tons of biceps, and he’s funny. We used to see each other all the time, and I think I love him. But one time, I saw him, and he had a girlfriend. Super, smoking hot redhead – like I don’t even stand a chance. So, I’ve been avoiding him. It’s dumb because he doesn’t know I like him, and I keep convincing myself that I can still talk to him as friends and such, but then my brain just tells me he has a girlfriend, and I end up going to an ER near my house. You know?”

“Not really.” The bartender grins. “But I’m not an ER regular.”

“That’s too bad. It’s fun there sometimes.” Tony pats his hand somberly. “Sometimes we freak people out with our injuries. But we’re calm. It happens so much that we’re just like ‘meh’. The doctor told me to be careful because I wasn’t invincible, and I was like ‘ok, I’ll tell my enemies to stop trying to kill me. I hope it works.’”

The bartender throws back his hand and laughs. Tony drains his glass of Scotch and asks for another. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” The bartender asks. What was his name? Barney? Barn?

“Barnes!” Yells someone from the other end of the bar. “I need a mimosa stat!”

“Shut your whore mouth Wilson!” Barnes yells back. “I’m not serving you anything after what you and Steve put me though last night!” He turns back to Tony. “The dude’s dating my step-brother, and our walls aren’t soundproofed. I hate them so much.”

“I could soundproof your walls for you.” Tony offers. He’s not sure why he offered, but he did. It’s not like he hasn’t done it before.

“Thanks for the offer, but Nat and I will get them back at some point. Maybe we’ll do it on the couch.” Barnes grins. “Someone else can make Sam’s mimosa. Wanda’s working that end of the bar anyways.” He gives Tony one more Scotch and says, “This is your last one. I’m going to have to cut you off because I don’t want you to die.”

Tony quietly sips on his drink while Barnes makes other drinks. Once done, he stuffs a few hundreds in the tip jar and turns to leave when a scarlet-haired woman sits on the stool beside him. Tony blinks at her for a second, thinking that she looks familiar. Barnes’ face lights up, and he comes over to her. “Hey, come here often?” He asks, fake seductively.

“Don’t be an idiot,” She tells him and pulls his face in for a kiss. Tony realizes why he thinks she looks familiar. She’s Clint’s girlfriend!

He spins on his stool to face them. “You bitch!” He yells at her, then clamps a hand over his mouth as Barnes growls a warning. “I am so sorry. I don’t know your situation. You could have broken up with him, or hey, you’re a threesome, or an open relationship. I’m sorry. I was just caught up… and I’ll just go.”

Tony stumbles off the stool and heads out of the bar. Mind swirling with liquor and shame, he doesn’t notice he’s in the street or the ugly purple car headed towards him until it’s too late. Frozen, he stares down the lights until the car smacks into him.

Lying on the ground, the last thing he remembers is a person jumping out and yelling, “What are you doing, you idiot? Tony?”

Tony wakes up in a strange place. He feels like he should be in the hospital, but he’s not. Looking around, he sees a lot of… purple. “Ugh, no one should have this much purple anything,”

“I take offense to that.” A voice says. Wait… that’s Clint. Tony wildly tries to sit up, and Clint comes into his line of vision. “Hey, hey lie back down! I don’t think anything’s broken, but you should probably just let your body rest for a while.”

“What happened?”

“I hit you with my car because you were standing in the middle of the street. Why were you standing in the middle of the street?” Clint looks worried.

Tony tries to wave him off. “You know, just for the thrill.”

“Tony, most things I do are just for the thrill, and I know it’s idiotic to stand in the middle of the street.”

“Yeah well, the thing I did before it was idiotic, too, so I’m pretty good at that.” Tony sighs. He doesn’t really want to get into it because Clint will probably make him leave. Tony’s good at leaving. Everyone makes him leave after they learn his true self. Ah, well, what does he have to lose but the love of his life?

“So, last time we were both at the ER, I saw the woman who picked you up. I guess I just figured you were dating the way you both interacted with each other,” Tony explains. “Well, at the bar last night, she came in and made out with the bartender. I called her a bitch because my first thought was that she was cheating on you. Then I remembered that it had been three months, and I didn’t really know anything about you – you might have broken up, or were poly, or open relationship. Point is, I’m an idiot who speaks before he thinks then faces the consequences, even if they’re not direct.” He is very confused when Clint starts to laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“I can’t believe you called Natasha a bitch and still live to tell the story.” Clint says between gasps. “That’s fuckin hilarious. I am sorry that I hit you with my car.”

Tony is thoroughly confused, and Clint takes pity on him. “Natasha is dating Bucky, the bartender. She’s my best friend and confidante. She gets angry when I do stupid things, but I still do them. We are not dating, never have, and never will. Hopefully, that clears things up.”

“A little.” Tony just feels disoriented. This is not something he has ever had to deal with before.

There’s a knock at the door. This “Natasha” pokes her head in. “Hey Clint, is he ok?”

“Yea, come in. Tony meet Natasha Romanoff. Natasha, this is Tony Stark.” Clint gestures to the both of them.

Natasha smirks. “Hi Tony.”

“Hi,” He says weakly. “I’m sorry for calling you a bitch. I sometimes talk before I think, and I’m sorry.”

“Just don’t do it again. Are you guys hungry? Bucky’s making blini.”

Clint nods. “Tell him I love him. We’ll take two plates. You like blini, right?” He directs the question at Tony.

“I think so. I’ve only had them once or twice,” Tony says. When Natasha leaves, he tells Clint, “You don’t have to stay with me. I’ll be fine.”

“Well this is my room, so I want to stay here. By the way, how have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while. I was starting to think you took my fancy ER comment seriously.”

Tony grimaces. “Well, it’s a long story. But I did end up going to the ER near my house a couple times. It’s hard to get no injuries in the stuff I do.”

“Well, I don’t blame you for going to the uber fancy ERs, you know, because there’s better service or whatever. But if you do, can we hang out somewhere other than the ER, then? I kind of missed you, man.” Clint looks at Tony earnestly.

“The main reason I stopped going to our ER is that I saw you with Natasha and thought, ‘how could I ever compete?’ I would tell myself to just go. I could talk to you as a friend, and not me crushing on you, but I always psyched myself out when I got hurt, and I just went to the ER by my house.”

“You’re crushing on me? Wow. I did not know that. I crushed on you the first day I saw you, and I thought you were just being nice. I’m a dumpster fire on my best days.”

Tony shoots him a wicked grin. “Then let’s burn down the world together.”

#ironhawk #background buckynat #background samsteve #au_gust_2020 #i write!#hospital au #no powers au #tony stark #clint barton

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galadrieljones · 4 years ago

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As You Were (Chapter 5)

Fandom: The Last of Us | Pairing: Joel x OC | Content: Fix-it | Rating: Mature

Masterpost

When Joel and Ellie take a wrong turn on their journey from Pittsburgh to Wyoming, they find themselves lost in, what feels like a time warp: a beautiful place with a dark and dangerous secret. While there, they meet Cici and Noah, a mother and son fighting tirelessly for survival, and who have recently endured a terrible tragedy on their family farm. Amidst their joint desire to find hope for the future, the two groups decide set out west together, changing the course of the story (as we know it), and the very course of their lives.

This is an AU, starting after the events of the Summer chapter in the first game, and extending into the timeline of the second game. Joel lives.

Chapter 5: Living Room Jam Session

"There are a million ways we should have died before today, and a million ways we can die before tomorrow. But we fight, for every second we get to spend with each other. Whether it's two minutes, or two days, we don't give that up. I don't wanna give that up."

That night, Cici went out to the circuit breaker next to the shed, and she switched on the electric fence. It worked after all.

“It’ll use up a lot of fuel,” she said to Joel. “But we can’t risk it.”

The farm was peaceful. Almost like nothing had ever happened. A couple cows had escaped, earlier that day. Joel had offered to help wrangle them, but Noah said don’t bother. “We can’t feed them anyway." He shrugged. He slaughtered a cow in the early evening. He showed Joel how to clean and butcher the meat, and how to salt and cure it for longer term use. They had steaks for dinner that night, prepared this time with a few potatoes, seasoned with dill from the garden, which was picked almost clean.

Joel was beginning to gather that their time on that farm was coming to a rapid conclusion. They couldn’t stay there, not much longer. If there were spores in the tributaries, that meant they could get into the water table, too. Cici and Noah knew this. They had been making four hour drives to the Fox River in Fon du Lac for several months now, bringing back water sourced from Green Bay. They said this was how they were able to trade for their fuel for the generators, from the Amish on the other side of the hill—making long drives to clean water. Even with the rain, they could no longer water their crops or sustain their livestock, and the Infected were becoming more of a threat every day. They had a lot of reserves, but it was only a matter of time before they ran out of food, or worse. Like Cici had said, him and Ellie showing up like they had, it was almost happenstance.

“I can get you your fuel tomorrow,” said Cici. They were still outside, leaning against a tree, looking at the circuit breaker. “You made good on your bargain. Thank you, Joel.”

Joel had got a big old cut on his forehead from the events down at the trench. She had patched it up for him with alcohol and gauze. Hadn’t made a fuss, just did it. “Cici, I know we ain’t known each other that long, but I ain’t leaving you and Noah here to deal with this all by yourselves.”

“You don’t owe us anything.”

“I know that,” said Joel. “And trust me, I been wrestling with it myself. But it don’t change anything.”

Cici straightened up off the tree and looked around. Her hair was down now, kind of tangly and windswept. Noah and Ellie were inside the house. “Noah said he told you about LaCrosse.”

Joel looked down at the grass as if to count the moonlit blades. “He didn’t go into a lot of detail,” he said. “But yes, he gave me the gist. Said your husband, he died in a fire. I’m sorry, Cici. I truly am.”

She just shrugged her shoulders. “We never got to find out, what’s been going on,” she said, blinking back tears. “We couldn’t stay, after it happened, and then we couldn’t go back.”

“Noah wants me to come with him,” said Joel. “Back. To LaCrosse. He asked me after dinner.”

“There’s no point,” she said. “There’s nothing we can do. Even if you find the source of the problem, the farm is too far gone to save.”

“I think it’s more about closure,” said Joel. “He didn’t say as much, but I get it. I told him I’d go. I hope I ain’t crossing any lines in doing so.”

She closed her eyes.

“Me and him are gonna head up tomorrow,” he went on. “I figure, the sooner the better. Shouldn’t take more than a couple days. I was gonna ask if you wanted to come with us, or if you'd be okay staying here, with Ellie. I don’t want to take her, because she’s just a kid, and she’s been through enough, and I don’t know what the hell we’re getting into up there, but I won’t leave her here alone.”

“It’s okay,” said Cici. She didn’t even try to argue. “I’ll stay. I don’t—I can’t go back there anyway.”

“Do y’all have anywhere to go?” said Joel. “I mean, aside from this farm? Noah mentioned family down in Moline. The I-80 runs right through there. I don’t know what we’ll find, but we could take you.”

Cici shook her head slowly, staring at the earth. “My sister-in-law was trying to get back there like six months ago. She said she’d come back for us, if it was all clear, but we never heard from her again.”

“I heard about some turf wars going on in the Quad Cities,” said Joel. “Just warning you. It was the kind of place too small for a QZ, but it was too big and too isolated to try and save. The military all but abandoned it. Now that was years ago. Things could have changed. Either way, it’s right on the Mississippi, so if your little problem extends into Illinois and Iowa, it probably ain’t gonna be pretty. But we can try.”

She took a deep breath, and she opened and closed her fists a couple times. She had little bones. She was small, but she wasn’t a weakling. “I wanna think about it.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s go inside,” she said, pulling herself together. She had this way of tucking her hair behind her ears. It was like hitting a reset button or something. Truth be told, he was a little confounded by Cici. Not in a bad way. He just found it very hard to predict her, despite her seeming steadfastness, as a woman. “Ellie and Noah are into the vinyls," she went on. "Who knows what they’ve got playing in there.”

“You guys got a ton of records,” said Joel as they headed back to the porch in the moonlit grass. “What is it with that? You just collectors or something?”

“My husband was,” she said. “William. He used to say that if the apocalypse ever came, at least we’d still be able to listen to music.”

“Well, he was right,” said Joel.

The seemed to comfort her. He saw her almost smile, out the corner of his eye.

“What’s this band called again?” said Ellie. She was sitting on her knees on the floor, in the middle of a big old pile of records. Noah was on the floor nearby, sifting through the pile one-by-one. It had been a long time since he’d really taken inventory, since before his dad died.

He picked up the vinyl, examined it front and back. “The Wallflowers.”

“The Wallflowers?” said Ellie. “Weird name, but I like it.”

“Do you know what a wallflower is?”

“Uh,” said Ellie, “like a flower that…grows out of the wall?”

Noah was amused. “It’s a metaphor. It’s like, somebody who stands on the sidelines. They don’t really get in on the action.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” said Ellie.

“The singer for this band is Bob Dylan’s son.”

“Neat,” said Ellie. “Who’s Bob Dylan again?”

Noah started going through a stack on his left, where he kept the sixties stuff. “This guy,” he said.

“Ah,” said Ellie. “The Blowing in the Wind guy. Very cool.”

“Did you guys ever listen to music in the QZ?”

“Yeah,” said Ellie, “but we didn’t have records. And everything I wanted, I had to steal or trade for with my ration cards. It was like, music or food sometimes. I had a walkman though, so I would just listen to tapes.”

“Do you still have it?”

“No,” said Ellie. “It broke like a thousand miles ago.”

“Bummer,” said Noah.

“Pretty much.”

They listened to the song. It was called “Josephine.” I know you’ve been sad. I know I’ve been bad. But if you’d let me, I’d make you ribbons from a paper bag.

“What do you think this song is about?” said Ellie.

Noah thought about it, looking up at the ceiling. “I think it’s like, the end of a relationship,” he said. “The guy messed up, but he doesn’t feel like he’s good enough for Josephine anyway. He’s apologizing, and he knows he can’t get her back, but he still loves her. That’s what I get from it, but it sounds dumb as hell when I say it out loud.”

Ellie examined the sleeve. It was just a whole bunch of yellow stars on a black background. “It’s not dumb,” she said. “It’s just really sad. Why doesn’t he think he’s good enough?”

“I don’t know,” said Noah. “Why does anyone think anything?”

Ellie thought this was kind of funny. “Good point.”

“Let’s try this one,” said Noah.

He took the Wallflowers record off the platter, put a new record on.

“What’s this?” said Ellie. “Lightning Bolt. Pearl Jam? I think I’ve actually heard of these guys.”

“This one’s got a story behind it. You want to hear?”

Ellie straightened right up. “Hell yeah.”

“Okay,” said Noah, looking down at the sleeve. It was like this big, red eye, full of white lightning bolt decals. “So apparently like, this album was supposed to be released a few weeks after the day the outbreak officially hit in 2013. It got pushed back like everything else, and then the stores all closed and it just like, never happened. My dad had really been looking forward to it, so like six weeks after shit went dark, him and some guys went to a Best Buy up in Madison and looted all these unreleased vinyls from the warehouse.”

“Holy shit,” said Ellie. “That’s fucking awesome.”

“I know. He said he had to get by military guys and everything.”

“Dude, your dad was a total badass,” said Ellie. “You should be proud.”

At first Noah got quiet. Ellie hadn’t thought anything of it. She’d never had a dad, or a mom, or anyone to be proud of like that. She just thought it was so unbelievably rad that he had a story like this to tell other people, about his dad. Eventually, Noah smiled. She smiled along with him. He said, “There’s one song on here I like a lot.”

“Play it,” she said. “As long as it’s not about people breaking up. Because that shit sucks.”

“It’s not,” said Noah.

He set down the needle, and together, they listened.

The song was slow and beautiful, thought Ellie, but it grew. Piano—crisp and clean and rushing as the river—gave way to a man’s voice and the guitar, big as a boat. She sat without talking. She tucked her hands in her lap and looked down at her wrists. She closed her eyes and tried hard to let the music overwhelm her. It was hard for Ellie to let things overwhelm her. She wore heavy armor. She would make a joke. She would roll her eyes.

But this was different than the other song, thought Ellie. It was sad, maybe sentimental, but it was a good kind of sentimental. All the missing crooked hearts, they may die, but in us they live on. I believe. I believe 'cause I can see. Our future days. Days of you and me. It was strong, and it seemed to be about trying. Like, trying to be better, through the eyes of someone else. Loving, and being loved, even when it’s hard. You have to try. It put her back in time, almost to another universe, but she hammered it away. She liked this song much better than the last song. She wished to live inside the music.

When it ended, she looked at Noah, who was looking at the ceiling again, leaning back on his hands and listening, with intent. The song had filled the house with a purifying energy and brought it down, made it simple. The bad things that had happened that day, they were clean.

“That one was awesome,” said Ellie.

“Are you okay?” said Noah. He seemed like he was half-joking, but sort of earnest. It was enough joking to make her smile, but not too earnest to freak her out.

“Oh,” said Ellie, looking down at her shoe laces. “I’m fine. I just—these songs sort of remind me of someone I once knew. In another life I guess.”

Noah waited what seemed like a long time before he spoke again. He was mulling it over, with his elbows now resting on his knees. Then he said, “I get that.”

They played the song again. Then, they couldn’t take it anymore. They took it off and put on some emo shit by a band called Coldplay. It was kind of terrible, they agreed, but they listened anyway, as it was like a dream.

A little while later, Joel and Cici came back inside. Joel held the door for her and once they were in the living room, raised his eyebrows and made fun of the Coldplay.

“You guys okay in here?” he said. “Sounds like you made a wrong turn somewhere.”

“Oh, we’re great, Joel,” said Ellie. “You guys are seriously missing out on our jam session.”

“Ha,” said Cici.

Joel stretched and got real big, and then he leaned against the kitchen table. He seemed kind of faded, thought Ellie. He had that cut on his eye. He seemed very tired. “It’s been a long day,” he said. “I think I’m ready to head up. You wanna come Ellie, or you fixing to stay awake a while longer?”

Ellie got up and wiped her hands on her jeans. They’d gotten kind of dusty from handling all the vinyls. “I’ll come up,” she said. “I’m pretty wiped.”

“I’ll have breakfast ready early,” said Cici.

“Sounds fine,” said Joel.

“See you guys in the morning,” said Noah. He glanced up at Ellie then, as if thankful for something.

When they got upstairs, Ellie went to look in the mirror on the bureau and she took down her ponytail. Her hair felt like a rat’s nest. She started to brush it out, aggressively.

“Where’d you get that hair brush?” said Joel, taking his shoes off.

“Cici let me borrow it,” she said.

“Right,” said Joel. He put his face in his hands then, scrubbed them down his cheeks. “Ellie—"

She stopped mid-brush, turned around. “Noah told me about LaCrosse,” she said. “I wanna come.”

Joel took a deep breath, as this had caught him by surprise. “Ellie, no.”

“Well what the fuck?” she said. She set down the brush on the bureau, hard. “Why the hell not?”

He just took to staring at her. She wasn’t actually that mad, he thought, she just seemed genuine in her confusion. “Because,” he said. “I got no idea what we’re walking into up there.”

“Oh, but you did in Pittsburgh, when you drove us straight into a fucking trap?”

“That is beside the point.”

“How, Joel?” said Ellie. “Noah is only four years older than me. I can hold my own.”

“Those are four critical years, Ellie,” said Joel. He was trying not to raise his voice. “And honestly, it don’t matter whether you can hold your own, because this thing going on in, it ain’t about you. It ain’t about me neither. You understand? It’s about Noah atoning with his dad’s death. He needs help, and he asked me, and I am providing that for him.”

“I can help,” said Ellie.

“I know you two get along,” said Joel. “But you're helping most by staying put.”

“What about Cici? She doesn’t wanna go?”

Joel waved her off, started rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “No,” he said. “Cici’s made her peace. Or what’s left of it.”

“She doesn’t seem…at peace.”

“I didn’t say she was at peace. I just said she’s made her peace.” Ellie seemed to understand this, and now, he could tell she was just scared, of being left behind. “Look, Ellie,” he said, shaking his head. “You can’t come. That’s the end of this conversation. But we’ll only be gone a couple nights. You got Cici with you. She might seem quiet, but I think she's pretty hardcore, and you two got the electric fence. Me and Noah, we’ll be okay.”

“I know,” said Ellie, like she was defending herself. She had flipped open her switch blade, was studying the tip. “I know.”

“We good then?” said Joel.

She hesitated, but then she closed up the knife and flopped back onto the bed. “Fine,” she said.

He was relieved.

“But then you better fucking bring something back for me.”

This surprised him. He gave her a look. “Bring something back?” he said. “Like a souvenir?”

“Yeah,” she said. “A souvenir.”

“A souvenir from LaCrosse?”

“You heard me.”

Joel tugged the covers back, was getting ready to crawl beneath. The day had become a heavy weight, all of it resting right on his eye lids. He was glad it was all okay. “All right,” he said, yawning. “I’ll see what I can find.”

“Good,” she said.

“Now get some goddam sleep.”

“Ay ay, cap’n.”

A few minutes went by. Joel was about ready to get under the covers for good when Ellie said, “I gotta pee.”

He looked at her. “Now?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” he said. “Okay. Just—just be quick.”

“You think I wanna take my time peeing in that thing? Outhouses are like the one bad thing about this place. Other than the whole, contaminated-water part, I guess.”

Joel took a breath, told her he would leave his lamp on. “Just hurry, and turn the lamp down when you get back.”

“I will,” she said.

Ellie went pee in the outhouse and did her best not to make any sounds. When she got out, she didn't feel tired, so she went over and stood by the river like a detour. She did not plan on staying long. She just looked at it, right down into it, and then it blinked back at her like the little bitch it was, bubbling deceptively in the moonlight. She suddenly hated that something so innocent could also be so deadly, and so fucking sad. The night was cooling down but it was still humid. She switched open her knife and wiped the sweat from her forehead on the back of her hand. She switched her knife closed again, then open again. She tried thinking about anything else, but that stupid Pearl Jam song had awakened something inside her.

“I haven’t seen you in…in I don’t know how long,” she said.

"Forty-five days?” said Riley. She was nervous. “Well, forty-six. Technically. Wanna know what I’ve been up to?”

The rain outside was like a drum. Ellie didn’t care. “All this time,” she said. “I thought you were dead.”

Riley felt everything, but just like everybody else in the whole wide world, she couldn’t show it. “Yeah,” she said. And she took off the dog tag. “Here. Look.”

“God fucking dammit,” said Ellie. She was on her knees now, overcome by something, and she stabbed the knife into the river bank. “Stupid fucking bullshit. Fuck you.” She stabbed it again, and then she felt like a complete dumbass, put it away. She thought about crying but she stared back at the river instead. “Go away,” she said.

“Ellie?” said someone. It was Cici, she was calling out to her from the porch. It must have been too long. “Ellie, you okay?”

“Shit,” said Ellie. "I'm okay." She got up, frantic, and her knees were all wet from the river bank. “I'm okay. I'm coming."

"Just checking," said Cici.

When she got back up to their room, Joel was under the covers. The lamp was dim. He lie very still, on his side, facing the wall, and she stood watching him for a second to see if he'd roll over and scold her or something. But he seemed like he was sleeping, and she was relieved. She didn't know why she cared, but she did. So she turned down the lamp right away and tried to be as quiet as she could so as not to disturb him. She took off her shoes and set them down silently, one by one. Then she took her jeans off, too, hung them over the bedpost to dry. She only had the one pair. She got under the covers and pulled them up to her chin, trying to sink into the mattress, forcing her brain to shut the fuck up. Please. For once, just shut the fuck up. But then,

“'Night, Ellie,” said Joel. He had not moved, by the dim light of the moon coming through the window.

She was near on startled. His voice was really deep and it always filled the room no matter how quiet. “Oh, shit,” she said. “Sorry, Joel."

"That's okay," he said.

"‘Night, Joel.”

Days of you and me.

***

On the record player: “Josephine” by The Wallflowers, “Future Days” by Pearl Jam, “The Scientist” by Coldplay

#the last of us #tlou #the last of us 2 #tlou2 #joel tlou #ellie tlou #as you were #cw: animal death mention

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psychospeak-blog · 5 years ago

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Won’t Go Slowly // 64

One // Two // Three // Four // Five // Six // Seven // Eight // Nine // Ten // Eleven // Twelve // Thirteen // Fourteen // Fifteen // Sixteen // Seventeen // Eighteen // Nineteen// Twenty // Twenty One // Twenty Two // Twenty Three // Twenty Four// Twenty Five // Twenty Six // Twenty Seven // Twenty Eight // Twenty Nine // Thirty // Thirty One // Thirty Two // Thirty Three // Thirty Four// Thirty Five // Thirty Six // Thirty Seven // Thirty Eight // Thirty Nine // Forty // Forty One // Forty Two // Forty Three // Forty Four // Forty Five // Forty Six // Forty Seven // Forty Eight // Forty Nine // Fifty // Fifty One // Fifty Two // Fifty Three // Fifty Four // Fifty Five // Fifty Six // Fifty Seven // Fifty Eight // Fifty Nine // Sixty// Sixty One // Sixty Two // Sixty Three

A/N: Thanks to @howaboutskam for making sure that I didn’t overuse commas or have an excessive amount of run-ons, and @hockeyandstuff91 as always for listening to me “For such a little person, you've got a ton of stuff, dude," Tyler said, Bentley kicking his legs where he was laid across your bed on top of his blanket, in response to Tyler talking to him, and you could see him smiling behind his pacifier, which you'd try to slip back in his mouth immediately after feeding him. You didn't have a light on in your room, other than the night light in the corner, the bathroom door open just enough that you could see, leaving a band of light across the room.

"Does everything fit?" you asked tentatively, because even though you'd insisted that Tyler pack the car the day before because you intended to leave so early in the morning, it was practically the middle of the night and you couldn't very well pack his bassinet when Bentley needed to sleep in it . Hell, when you thought about taking a family vacation it was still with your mom and your sister that you'd pictured, like the way things had been your last few years of high school, only now you'd just bring Bentley with you. You hadn't thought about taking him anywhere alone, especially not when he was this young and couldn't appreciate it, not like the photos that you'd had in your baby book of trips to the lake, sitting with your mom and then your dad on the beach blanket, because it seemed just kind of a little lonely to think about having to get a stranger to take a picture of just you and your baby on the beach.

Honestly, you'd truly imagined that your first actual trip with Bentley would be going down to Dallas to visit Tyler, because he had seemed to want you to so badly, even though that idea had seemed so overwhelming to you then. But now going away seemed exciting, with only a twinge of anticipation about travelling with a baby.

"Oh, yeah, it's fine," Tyler whispered. You had to take his vehicle, which obviously had a lot more room, and you didn't even think that you could fit all the baby stuff in your car, let alone the dogs. But that had meant transferring the car seat from your car to Tyler's, which you wanted to do ahead of time to make sure it was secure, which meant that Tyler had just been driving around with an infant seat in his back seat for the last day and a half, which tugged at your heartstrings for some reason. "Wait, how many bags do you have?"

"One," you said, frowning because he knew it was still by the door, just waiting for you to add your toiletry bag to once you were done with it this morning.

"That's it?" he asked, hand on the back of his neck like he was surprised, and you nodded. "You don't have some secret girl bag?"

"Some secret girl bag?" you laughed, "I mean, I have the diaper bag, which is like my purse."

"Yeah, you know how girls over pack."

"You travel with a lot of girls, then?" you whispered back, grinning, Tyler giving you a look.

"Ones I'm related to, yeah," he said, "But I should actually be all romantic and stuff and carry your bags for you."

"You always carry my bags for me," you said, because usually he was dramatic, complaining that they were too heavy, even though you were perfectly capable of carrying them for yourself.

"Well, maybe I like you just a little bit," he said sweetly, holding his fingers together as he took a step just inside the doorway. Gerry lifted his head, one eye still half closed, giving Tyler a weary look and Cash snored from the foot of the bed, which just made Bentley smile again, stretching out his arms and his legs in his sleeper excitedly.

"He is way, way too awake for it not even being 5 A.M.," you said, because the plan was to get up to go early, when Bentley would still easily go back to sleep, so he could just sleep on the drive. And Tyler was quite often up early anyways to go into the city, so he promised you that it was no big deal for him to drive the whole way, that you could go back to sleep in the car.

"Yeah," Tyler whispered, although it seemed that the dogs were more bothered by the conversation, and you ran your finger over your forehead in anticipation of Bentley crying the whole time. "At least he's happy though."

"I know, but usually he goes right back to sleep at this time," you said. Although, sometimes, when Tyler was up he'd get up and change him after you fed him, and then you'd crawl back into bed for a couple more hours, Tyler putting Bentley back in his bassinet to sleep. Honestly, you had a pretty good routine going, you thought, Tyler and the dogs ended up at your place every night other than the weekend he was gone in Dallas, although there'd been once when he had a dinner meeting and he thought he'd just crash at his place and see you in the morning, the dogs with you, only you'd heard his car pull into the driveway and gotten a text that he gonna crash on the couch until the baby woke up, and then he'd just ended up coming into the bedroom, stripped off his clothes on the floor, wedging himself silently into the bed between you and the dogs.

"Umm...I mean, maybe he sometimes chills with me when I have my coffee, 'cause he doesn't want to go back to sleep right away," Tyler said, looking at you sheepishly.

"He does?" you asked, "I thought you just changed him."

"I do, but then he's awake and all smiley, so he likes to sit in his little chair thing and watch me cook breakfast," Tyler said, "Then we cuddle and he goes back to sleep, and like, I know that's probably not a good idea, but usually when you're around he wants you, and if you're not there then he'll take me."

You smiled still, hand brushing across the top of Bentley's foot. "Well, he's also probably supposed to actually have a bedtime, but I've just always let him sleep on me or in the living room until I...or we go to bed."

"He's a baby," Tyler said, in a sing-song-y voice, and you looked out where, well most of your boys were still in bed. "He doesn't need rules."

"Where's Marshall?" you asked, because he'd been pretty much glued to either your or Tyler's side since you'd started packing a few days ago, although he'd been fine coming to bed with you last night.

"He's...well, he was with me," Tyler asked, turning, "Marsh?"

You picked Bentley up, kind of instantly getting worried because you weren't entirely sure that Tyler had closed the front door, and it wasn't like Marshall was overly familiar with your neighborhood other than the usual way that you usually walked to and from Tyler's house. Of course, now that you had Bentley with you, Cash jumped off the bed to follow you, and then Gerry got up, thinking that something exciting would happen.

"I'll check outside," you said, going down the hall while Tyler was looking in Bentley's room.

"He won't be outside," Tyler said, as if he was certain of the fact, "I shut the door, he's probably just hiding somewhere."

"You shut the door or the screen?" You asked, Tyler's eyes shifting back and forth. You were so used to keeping it open during the day in the summer to get air circulating throughout your older house but, of course, you'd discovered last winter when you'd left the door open while you were putting something in the car that Marshall had figured out how to push it open. Really, it was something that you'd found charming when you first got this house but it kind of turned into a bit of an annoyance, and now you were starting to see it as just another opportunity for little fingers to get pinched or for a curious little toddler to head out towards the road. You'd already opened up the screened-in porch the spring after you'd moved in, but clearly you had a few more updates that you would have to do to before Bentley got mobile. Tyler called for Marshall again, although his voice was still quieter, not panicked like yours was.

You opened the screen door, fully prepared to step out into the driveway in your bare feet, seeing a glow of eyes coming towards you and towards the steps inside, Marshall's tail wagging when he got into sight, and you made a sad face when you realized the poor thing had probably been out there staring up at the trunk, waiting for it to open so he could jump in.

"Don't worry," you said, hand brushing over the top of his head as he walked by and back into the house. "You're coming with us."

"Come here," Tyler said, bending down to pet him, "You ready to go? Let's go. Let's go, Mom."

"I just need to get dressed," you said, waiting until Tyler stood up to pass Bentley over to him, Bentley letting out a noise that was half annoyance half cry.

"Oh," Tyler said, and then lowered his voice to a whisper again, "C'mon, let's go for a little walk."

You smiled at the way that he just took him, walking quietly back into your bedroom like your body still knew it was too early to be up for the day, slipping into the soft clothes you'd laid out on your bathroom counter last night.

"You're supposed to go back to sleep," you heard Tyler whispering when you went back into the living room, Bentley now laying in Tyler's arms like he was trying to rock him to sleep, leaning over to plant a kiss on Bentley's belly, Tyler's head turning to look at you, smiling when he saw you. "You look good in those sweats."

"Yeah?" you asked. They were his, of course, which you'd thrown on just for the car ride because you wanted to be comfy. And while you'd worn them a lot over the last year, you'd always just worn them around the house and, for some reason, it made you feel kind of a strange thrill to wear his number, like you might have felt as a sixteen year old when any boy gave you his sweatshirt because you were feeling cold.

"Mhmm, so cute," Tyler said, "I should wear mine and then we can be twins."

You laughed at the way that he grinned at you big, going to grab the dogs' collars and putting them on one by one, Tyler slipping past you and turning Bentley's car seat closer to him with his foot. "He's gonna scream," you warned, preparing yourself.

"Yeah, he might," Tyler said, shifting to settle Bentley into his seat where he scrunched up his face and then started crying immediately, Tyler trying to quickly buckle him in, Gerry barking around the entrance way like Tyler was doing something wrong, and you only hoped that you didn't wake your neighbors up. "Ger, shush."

"It's okay," you said, leaning into settle your hand on Bentley's chest, adjusting his pacifier in his mouth to try and get him to take it and calm down. "You're okay, we're just gonna go for a car ride, we're gonna get moving soon."

You were relieved when Tyler picked the carseat up, not wanting to delay things any longer than you had to, knowing that Bentley would eventually be soothed by the motion of the car, all three dogs coming with you and looking up at the little thing which seemed to be making a lot of noise, Tyler shifting the car seat in his hands easily to grab his keys and unlock the doors.

"What did that carseat ever do to you, bud?" Tyler asked in a gentle voice. "Oooh, you're mad."

"He doesn't like staying still," you laughed, taking the car seat from Tyler so you could snap it into the base in the back.

"Does he know he can't move?" Tyler asked in a stage whisper, "Literally have to carry that kid everywhere."

You laughed under your breath, crawling over the backseat while you could hear Tyler talking to the dogs, getting them into the backseat, smiling because as he adjusted the beds and blankets he'd laid back down there for them.

"Bentley Bear," you said, making sure that his pacifier was clipped to his sleeper so it wouldn't get lost in the depths of the car when he most likely would spit it out until he was tired of being upset and realized that it wasn't entirely so bad being in the car, "You just gotta do this every time, huh? We gotta go in the car to go to fun places, baby."

You leaned in, still trying to soothe him, adjusting the straps around his body as if that would help, even though you knew that he was perfectly fine, just annoyed at the situation, not that there was anything that was actually wrong, still leaning in with him until you felt a wide hand grip your ass, Tyler doing his best to try and lean in beside you. "I brought his blanket," he said softly and you smiled, reaching for it, knowing that you'd want it to drape over his carseat if he was sleeping when the sun started to come up. "You want to listen to some tunes, bud? Roll down the windows so you can feel the wind in that little bit of hair?"

You smiled, running your hand through Bentley's hair. "He's ready to go."

"Yeah, we can go," Tyler said softly, "you got everything?"

"I....well, I hope so," you said, trying to think everything over, which was kind of hard while you were still trying to soothe the baby. "Do you have everything?"

"Yep," Tyler responded, although you weren't entirely sure he thought about the question the way he responded so easily, although he'd always been much more easy going than you.

"Are you sure?" you asked, "Because I didn't pack anything for the dogs."

Tyler raised his eyebrow in response, his lips quirking with a smile. "Babe, you know I have packed for them without you before, and we managed to survive okay."

And you blinked because of course he was capable. "No, I know," you said, giving him a sheepish little grin, "Sorry, I've just never traveled with a baby before, I feel like I've got a lot going on in my brain."

And now you were rewarded by one of Tyler's smiles that made you feel that much more comfortable. "He's got somewhere to sleep, he's got outfits, and we've got his stroller," Tyler said, "So we run out of diapers or whatever, they do have stores there."

"I know," you said, feeling more relaxed now, "I did this when I took him on his first big outing to your mom's house. I had to remind myself that all he really, really needs is food."

"Well, we better not leave you behind," Tyler joked, "And you're also with me this time, I can be your cute little errand boy."

"Oh yeah?" you laughed, because he was smiling like a cute little kid excited about something.

"Mmhmm," he said, leaning in just close enough that your lips could touch. "I'm gonna go stick your keys in the neighbour's mailbox and grab your the baby bag."

"Thanks," you said, sitting in the backseat and watching as Tyler jogged across the street, going to tuck your keys under the neighbour's welcome mat, where you'd asked the elementary school aged brother and sister who lived there to water your plants and bring in your mail for you in exchange for a little summer spending money, a job they'd been quite excited to do for you. "Daddy's coming right back," you said to the backseat, your hand still resting on Bentley's chest. He was still crying, of course, which was making Gerry whine and then Marshall was barking at Gerry, while Cash was just laying there looking up at you like you were supposed to be doing something to fix the baby. Tyler bit back a laugh as he walked past the car at the ruckus that you were trying to contain inside, like your life was crazy but you loved it. "He's fine, I promise," you said, leaning one arm into the backseat to pet Marshall. "Sometimes babies just cry."

"Yeah, you should know," Tyler said, leaning behind you to stick something in the back and then sliding the diaper bag along the floor so it was in front of the car seat rather than under your feet. "Don't you remember how you used to cry when I left when you were a baby? Mom had to come over when she got home from work earlier in the summer to hang out with you. Good thing Daddy was smart and bought a house nearby ."

"I knew you only moved here because I did!" you said, maybe louder than you should, but he always acted surprised when he claimed that he only just realized your house was a five minute drive away.

"I told you, it's a nice neighbourhood," he said, "And of course it's a bonus that I could just drop by and bug you whenever I want."

You laughed, because sometimes it was a bit of a bother when he dropped by unannounced, especially when he seemed to want to overlook all your first dates, although he did actually ask when you had had a steady boyfriend, but you kinda had grown to love the summertime, when it was just so easy to drop by his place to cook for two rather than for one or to split a pizza, or to have someone to watch T.V. with for a couple hours in the evening before you went to your respective houses. Bentley gave another little angry cry, and you were jolted back into the present again, remembering that you weren't just two kids starting out on your adult lives anymore, that you had a whole other life you were responsible for. "I think I should ride back here with him for a bit," you said, looking at Tyler a little guiltily because you wanted to spend time with him, to have him pull your hand into his and run his lips along your knuckles with a kiss like he did when you were at stoplights, or see the way his eyes darted towards you even behind his sunglasses while he drove, but you couldn't very well enjoy anything with Bentley upset in the back.

"Yeah, I thought you were going to want to," Tyler said, "that's why I left you space."

You smiled as he slid the seat in front of you forward a bit so you had more room, and you leaned over to pull out a toy to distract Bentley for a bit while Tyler went around the driver's seat, and you were thankful that he started the car immediately before he even went to buckle his seatbelt, because the vibrations at least would usually start to calm Bentley down. "What kind of music do you want?" Tyler asked, looking back at you as he buckled the seat belt, like he was checking that you had your seat belt buckled up, too.

"Whatever you want," you said, trying to attract Bentley's attention with one of the crinkly toys that you could attach to his car seat or stroller, especially since anything that made that crinkly noise seemed to be what he was into right now, although it didn't seem to be overly interesting to him right now. "Maybe something relaxing."

"I was talking to Bentley," Tyler said, looking back at you as he drove fairly slowly down to the end of the road where the stop sign was, "I'm trying to get a five star rating here, and he's being a bit of a tricky customer. "

You laughed, trying to tickle Bentley under his chin, encouraging him to look at you. "Someone's trying to ask you something."

"Oh, you want your favourite album?" Tyler asked, pushing on the dash with his fingers and slowly turning up the volume so it wouldn't be too loud and scare the baby, you assumed, because he would definitely blast it with the intent of making you jump, trying your hardest not to smile when you heard the song coming through the speakers, running your fingers just above your eyebrows, because you'd half been expecting him to turn on some kind of children's music, even though you felt like that would give you an immediate headache.

"This is his favourite album or your favourite album?" you asked.

"Ummm.. his," Tyler said, like it was obvious, "It's Beerbongs and Bentleys."

"Yes, I know what it is," you laughed, seeing Tyler's eyes looking at you in the rearview mirror, just knowing what he what going to say. "No, I did not name my child after a Post Malone album."

Tyler cracked up laughing, "He's kinda into it though."

Living alone for so long, you typically often had music going though, and spending so much time outside with Tyler in the summer, it wasn't unusual for you to have music going all day. "I think he just likes all music," you said, thinking that you really should look into music classes to give the two of you something to do when Tyler was at the gym or in the city.

"How did you even come up with his name?" Tyler asked, "You never told me that, usually you tell me everything."

You smiled, looking at Bentley, and then towards where Tyler was. "Well, once I knew he was a boy, I knew his middle name was gonna be your name."

"You knew before you knew his first name?" Tyler asked, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Well, yeah," you smiled, obviously, feeling Bentley's hands moving around your own. "So I just knew that I wanted a name that sounded good with yours, so I just looked through a bunch of those name websites and I just really liked the way the 'B' names sounded, and then I just could not get the name Bentley out of my head, and like "Bentley Tyler", I just loved the way it sounded."

"It suits him."

"Yeah," you said, "I think so. I wanted to see him first before I decided, but I couldn't even think about anything right after either," you said, leaning your head once more to look at Bentley, perfect even though he was not happy.

"You didn't know before?"

"Well, I knew it was going to start with a 'B', and it was like 90% gonna be Bentley, I just wasn't 100% until after," you said, realizing know that Tyler had switched over to some quieter background music, something country and easy to listen to that you couldn't quite identify, "I didn't tell anyone my ideas though," you added, realizing that if things had been different, he'd probably have been the only one that you'd share it with. "I just....I don't know."

"Wanted to keep something just between him and you?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, I guess," you said, kind of realizing that you kind of had to rely on a whole group of other people as you'd navigated through this whole thing.

"Honestly, it's a good thing you didn't tell me, I would have cried, like, everyday until he was born, and only one of us should have been emotional. Probably the one of us that was actually carrying the baby," Tyler said, clearing thinking, "What would you have done if he was a girl? Tylerita?"

You were trying not to laugh at the way he was feigning seriousness to try and ask that, but then Bentley let out another cry and you tried not to laugh at that, reaching for his pacifier.

"Awe, it's okay, bud, Mommy wouldn't name you that," Tyler said, "We know you're a boy."

"You were meant to be a boy, huh?" you asked, "Then you could have a special name."

You smiled at Tyler in the rearview mirror, watching his expression as he spoke to you. "It's a good name," Tyler agreed, "But Bentley suits you better though because you can't even say that in an angry way, it's just impossible. If you ever get in trouble, we're gonna have to pull out the 'Bentley Tylerrrrr."

"Is that supposed to be your mom?" You laughed.

"Yeah, that's how I usually hear my name," he said, "he's a good boy though."

"Yeah," you said softly, using your thumb to wipe the couple tears from Bentley's face, now that he was making those infrequent little cry noises that were letting you know that he was starting to calm down, his pacifier abandoned now. "You want to check out your toy now?" You asked, and he just looked at you, letting out one last little wail, feeling Gerry try to push his head over the seats, his sniffing nose loud in your ear, but not loud enough that you didn't catch the sweetest little baby giggles, Bentley's eyes now on Gerry, your eyes filling with the same gooiness you felt in your heart.

"Is that funny, Bentley?" You asked, your eyes meeting Tyler's in the mirror again, seeking out his reaction to another one of Bentley's firsts, half laughing along with him. By now Cash's head popped up too, checking on what this new noise was, Bentley making a noise that was half cooing half a laugh.

"What're they doing? Are they being silly?" Tyler asked in a soft voice, the light in the back flicking on now, "Where's Marshall?"

The sound that followed could only be described as pure delight, followed by the sound of tails hitting each other and everything that you had packed in the back, while you tried to stop the excited dogs from trying to crawl up, which Bentley still seemed to find hilarious. "That's the cutest noise ever."

"Yeah, it is," Tyler agreed, "Yet, anyways. Just wait until I get him going though, that'll be like a straight belly laugh."

"He's laughing pretty hard, babe," you said, mainly because you didn't want Tyler to be too disappointed if Bentley was laughing as hard as he possibly could right now, knowing that Tyler would likely do pretty much anything to elicit a laugh from him, Tyler grin at your term of endearment.

"He's just getting warmed up," Tyler insisted.

And while you would have totally been happy to listen to Bentley laugh for the next 6 hours, you were happy that he did eventually fall asleep only so he wouldn't get too overtired later, honestly making it easy to the point where you could switch to the front seat and then back again when you stopped to change him or feed him. When you did arrive, you put your coffee aside for the moment, just appreciating the peacefulness of the mountains, even though there were plenty of families out and about when you drove through the village, and to the home that you'd be staying in for the next week, perfectly tucked away from everything, Bentley peacefully in another nap.

"We're here," Tyler whispered in a sing-song voice, the dogs seeming to hear him anyways from where they'd been curled up in the back, restless to get out and explore. "Is he still out?"

"Yeah," you said, although you could kind of notice his eyelids start to flicker once Tyler had shut the car off, your hand resting over the straps across his chest, trying to figure out if he was waking up enough to where you should take him out of his carseat, or if he was going to be grumpy if he was taken out before he was completely awake, his eyes flickering up at you like he didn't quite know what was going on his life, but he knew his mom was there so he was fine. "He did so good."

"Oh, he was awesome," Tyler agreed.

"Hi," you cooed at Bentley, leaning over as he shifted restlessly in his car seat, "I'm so proud of you."

Tyler cleared his throat loudly enough to attract your attention. "I was well behaved, too."

"You grabbed my ass," you laughed, a grin spreading across Tyler's face, giving you a clue as to what his eyes were doing behind his sunglasses.

"You were in the backseat, I can't be a complete gentleman in the backseat," he said, and part of you wanted to shake your head at him, but you kind of loved his flirty quips, and you really just wanted to be able to soak up all the moments of being able to touch like that, especially when it was just you guys and you knew he was doing it purely because he wanted to, not because he had that little sliver of playfully trying to get a rise out of you. "Leave him in there for one sec, babe?"

You didn't even have time to ask why, because then you were laughing because he was running around the side of the SUV, trying to get the dogs to stay as he climbed into the trunk with them. "We forgot to take a picture," Tyler explained, phone extended in front of him like he was trying to take a selfie and wrangle the dogs into it at the same time. "It's our first family trip."

"Okay, but wouldn't it be easier if you stayed in the front?"

"He's facing the wrong way," Tyler said, pointing towards Bentley, and you laughed, pushing back the sunshield that might have been covering part of his face, turning so you could get in the picture too, Tyler shaking his keys and making little noises to try and get Bentley to look towards him, but all it seemed to be doing was encouraging Gerry to try and jump up on Tyler, although he did seem to get at least one that was acceptable, and you made a mental note that you'd have to ask someone to take a picture of all of you at some point, when you hadn't been in the car for six hours, too, Bentley's little hands stretching out into the air. "You want my keys?"

You pulled Bentley out before he started getting upset, Tyler opening the door before you even had time to reach for it, smiling appreciatively at him, as you slid out, trying to secure the baby who was not squirming in your arms. "What are you doing?" you laughed.

"He's stretching his legs," Tyler laughed, the dogs circling around both of you like they were doing the same thing, Bentley leaning back a little in your arms, and you hand to move your hands, Tyler laughing even harder, his hand reaching for Bentley's head. "What? You stretching your back, too?"

Honestly, you weren't sure if he had moved quite so much since he was inside you, but you shifted, getting a better grip on him and thinking that he was probably ready to stretch out on a blanket and get some play time in. "I'm probably going to have to get him a new car seat soon, he's almost too long," you said, kissing at Bentley's neck, "I probably should have just gotten him one that wasn't for newborns because I should have guessed he would have been big with you."

"Huh?" Tyler asked, looking from his phone back to where he was punching numbers into the lock box to grab the keys so you could get inside the house. "What does his length have to do with me?"

"You're tall," you said, matter-of-factually swaying back and forth with Bentley and smiling at him as you tried to keep an eye on the dogs.

"Yeah, but you've never told me I'm long," he said, laughing even before he got the words completely out.

"Oh my god," you said under your breath, "that is not what I meant."

"Uh-huh," he said, grinning with the sarcasm, and you were trying to think of a rebuttal when you heard something metallic hit against a paving stone, turning.

"What was that?" you asked, trying to look around the baby.

"He threw my keys on the ground," Tyler said, sighing dramatically as he bent down to pick them up. "You're supposed to be helping me hold them, dude."

"Say 'sorry, I'm still trying to figure out how to work my hands'." You didn't even realize Tyler had even given them to him, honestly, because you already had enough trouble making sure that Bentley didn't drop his own plastic car keys on his face.

"I think you did it on purpose," Tyler said teasingly, leaning over to plant playful kisses all over Bentley's belly. "Not lambo keys, not Ferrari keys, you don't want it. You so fancy. Whatcha got on? Is that Baby Gap?"

You smiled at the way that Bentley was reacting happily the way Tyler was talking to and kissing him. "Is he teasing you?" You asked, placing a kiss on Bentley's cheek, "Is that funny?"

"Nah, I'm going for laughs," Tyler said, trying to tickle Bentley's belly while Bentley just kind of looked at him, and you bit back a laugh at the fact that he smiled bigger once Gerry decided to jump against Tyler, forcing him to take a step. "Okay, okay, you want to go check out where we're gonna hang out?"

And now you actually looked at the house that was before you, realizing that it stretched out much, much further than you'd initially thought. "How big is this place?" You hadn't actually done this part of the planning out, you only caveat being that there was enough space for Bentley's bassinet, and that there was either a sink big enough for you to bathe him or a bathtub, which apparently there were both, along with a hot tub which sounded nothing short of awesome to you, especially because you'd been pregnant the last time you'd been anywhere near one.

"Like the square footage?" Tyler asked, looking at you with a laugh, "I don't know."

"Like how many bedrooms?" you laughed, and now you were beginning to feel like you knew that he knew where you were staying was a little too much.

"Umm.." he said, the key in the lock now, "Five? Something like that?"

"Five?" you repeated, "There's only two of us!"

"No, six, right?" Tyler said, moving his finger around to count all both you and him, and then Bentley, and the dogs, his face dropping dramatically. "Damnit, I guess you and I are gonna have to share."

You laughed at the way he was leaned over against you like this was going to be a huge burden, lifting up with a sigh against Bentley. "Okay, okay, I guess you can sleep over with us too, bud," he said, the dogs roaming around both of you, "Okay, okay, I guess you all can

Although, now that you were thinking about it, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea to have a couple of bedrooms, because then you and Tyler could be in one until you actually went to sleep, like you usually did at your room at home before you brought Bentley out of his room and into yours, and maybe you could actually try and see if you could handle letting him sleep in a room by himself so you could have a little alone time, although we were pretty certain that you'd have at least one dog in bed with you anyways, and Tyler never seemed like he was put out by having the Bentley sleep in the room with you.

Although, once you stepped inside, you could see that it wasn't nearly as...well, boujee as you may have been worried about, although you were certain it was still nicer and more than you ever would have spent.

"Most of the stuff up here is like for big groups of people to come skiing and stuff, I looked for something smaller but there wasn't really anything other than like a condo," Tyler said, "And this is good because he can be upstairs sleeping and we won't wake him up when we're playing games or whatever."

"Playing games?" you asked, because one thing you knew about Tyler was that he was not really one who would sit down for a round of Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit, unless, of course, he got to be on your team.

"Yeah, there's ping-pong and pool."

Of course there was.

"Oh, it's nice though," you said, because it was open and clean, everything minimal except for just the essentials, which was perhaps most what you loved about getting away.

"Mhmm," Tyler mumbled, leaning around you to press a soft kiss to your lips, feeling him smile against you, which only made you relax into him more, even though his toes were forcing your feet to slide out of the flip flops you had on, kicking them out of the way as soon as you could before you all walked around the house you'd be staying in, this trip somehow seeing momentous even though you had traveled with Tyler before.

"Oh, you know what we could do? We could have a big family vacation up here."

"Like with both of our families?"

"Yeah," you said, because you really couldn't think of anything that would be more fun for Bentley, once he was able to run around, than to be to have time to spend with all his aunts and his grandparents all at once, with little worry for bedtimes or the amount of treats he got in one day.

"Uh..." Tyler said, and for a moment you thought maybe you'd overstepped, "That seems like a lot of girls. But also a lot of home cooked food. Why are both of our families like all girls?"

You laughed at the way he looked all stressed, like he really didn't love it even though you knew he did. "We would get like a big place," you said, "Or we don't even have to all stay in the same house, either, like -"

"Now that idea I like," Tyler said now, "We'll just rent places next to each other and then I can lock the door of ours when I'm done."

"Tyler," you laughed, "It'd be fun. I thought it would be really fun for Bentley when he's older, not like right now."

"Oh, he'd love it," Tyler said, "All the boys would, I'm sure it'd be fun. I just really like the idea of being able to lock the door."

You followed Tyler in looking around the house with Bentley, or rather you followed Gerry, his tail hitting against your legs every so often as you walked, him right on Tyler's heels, and Marshall and Cash not too far behind. Except for when you had to stop to fix Bentley's pacifier clip, because it kept rubbing against you and you had to assume it was irritating Bentley as well, finding Tyler in the master bathroom, where he was laid out in the roomy bathtub, ducking down when he saw you, and you frowned with a laugh, and then he poked his head back up, and you realized he was trying to play with Bentley. "Do you think this is big enough for you to have a bath with Mom tonight, Bentley?" Tyler asked him, and you looked at Bentley, wondering now if he was big enough to actually try that with, but he was just looking at Tyler rather than you.

"He's wondering why you're in the tub with clothes on," you said.

"Do you see how she talks to me?" Tyler asked with a gasp, climbing out of the tub now, "Always trying to get me naked."

"That is not at all what I said," you laughed, although you really would not mind taking a bath with him at all, either, again. "You're the one whose barged in on me in the bath like all the time."

"Uh-huh, when you were this big," Tyler said to Bentley, his fingers barely any space apart. "Now you're so big you already know how to laugh."

Tyler tried tickling him again, and you shifted, trying to see if you could bounce some giggles out of him at least. "That's not his tickle spot."

"Where is?" he asked.

"I'll show you," you said, hands moving around Bentley's torso as you walked back into the bedroom, laying him out on the bed and leaning over him, kissing along the ridge of his neck, and making faces and little noises as you tickled him under his arms, Bentley smiling and making little noises back to you, feeling the bed dip as Tyler leaning over Bentley, too, his hand going out when Gerry jumped up to make sure he didn't accidentally step on the baby, Gerry sweetly curling up to lay down, and Tyler laying against him, his hands going around Gerry's back.

"Bentley," Tyler said in a sing-song voice, taking Gerry's ears and stretching them out so they were held out from his face, Bentley still kicking his arms and legs happily, but not laughing, Tyler letting Gerry's ears drop defeatedly, and then Gerry shaking his head like he had water in them. "I thought you thought the puppies were funny."

"Maybe he just doesn't think you're funny," you grinned, because Tyler had already made fun of you relentlessly for not being funny when you had tried to get Bentley to laugh again in the car.

"Yeah," Tyler deadpanned, breaking into a smile. "He's probably got your sense of humour, that's the problem."

"No, you make me laugh all the time."

"Yeah, I do," Tyler said cockily, and then you were laughing again when he delicately tackled you into the bed, kissing along your neck like you had been with the baby.

*****

You were honestly really, really glad that you had grabbed the pancake mix and cereal the day before, when you'd gone grocery shopping after you felt relaxed with all the baby stuff set up in your place. You’d done nothing other than taking the dogs for a walk and then spent a quiet night in with watching movies and eating the pizza and the popcorn you'd picked up as well. You weren't sure if it was all the sleeping he'd done in the car ride yesterday or just because his routine was off, but it meant that he hadn't really slept that great last night. Luckily he wasn't overly crabby, just staying up with you guys later than he would usually, and you were up with him several times in the night, finally starting your day just after the sun had risen. And while Tyler had gotten up with you a couple of times, he was such a deep sleeper that he often just half mumbled towards you,whereas you'd be completely awake, so it was just easier to let him sleep, especially when he couldn't really do anything. You did however still love the way he'd wrap his arms around you when you came back to bed, half asleep, even nuzzling his morning wood between your thighs, sighing peacefully before he'd fall back asleep.

Then you'd had trouble falling back asleep for an entirely different reason.

You'd somehow managed to creep out of the bedroom without waking Tyler, because you knew he was exhausted from the drive yesterday even though he didn't let on, hanging out outside with the dogs for a bit. Once you’d come in, you'd unearthed a waffle maker in one of the cabinets, having warm waffles and coffee with some fresh berries almost ready by the time Tyler had finally woken up, even though you knew he’d just have happily have taken you out for breakfast. He didn’t have any problems enjoying the waffles, though.

You were happy just to take things slow, though, with no other plans other than to head out to do a little shopping at some point. At least that was what you thought until Tyler ever so gently suggested that maybe you wanted to go get changed out of your PJ's while Bentley was having some morning playtime. When you came back, Tyler was only slightly more reclined on the floor, looking up at you with soft eyes. "You got milk for him in the fridge, right?"

"You think he's hungry?" you asked, because he seemed completely content, Tyler having flipped him onto his tummy so he could look at the dogs, the few toys you'd put out for Bentley now in Tyler's hand, although you weren't sure if that was to entertain the baby, or to try and keep them away from Gerry.

"Noo," Tyler said, drawing out the word and looking up at you with puppy dog eyes. "Just in case he gets hungry while you're out."

"Where am I going?" you laughed.

"To the spa," he said, like this was something that you should already have known, "For your massage. And you should probably leave soon if you want to have a sauna or a steamer before your appointment."

"What?" you said, rather dumbly, even though you knew by the look in his eye that he was serious. "Tyler...."

"You love massages," Tyler said, "And you've got that weird neck thing from holding the baby and feeding the baby and stuff. You need a massage."

"You rub my neck all the time."

"A professional," Tyler said.

"You have really strong hands," you said, and Tyler just looked at you and laughed. "Well, what about you, like you -"

"Get massages all the time," he finished. "And we're trying to have guy time so if you could just.."

You laughed at the way that he just shook his hand like he was trying to tell you to shoo away, but you took a couple of steps towards him and he smiled up at you from the floor, and then leaned down, kissing him, his fingers reaching to thread through yours like he needed to touch you in some way when you kissed. "Thank you," you whispered onto his lips, and he smiled against you.

"I texted all the stuff to your phone," he said, his hands pulling away from yours just briefly. "And you might need these."

You laughed, looking down at the plastic car keys that Tyler had pressed into your hand, going to push the big button on them, the music playing obnoxiously, Bentley making noises in response ashe tried to keep his head looking up, and then getting frustrated, and you instinctively picked him up before he started to cry. "My keys are on the table," Tyler said.

"Okay," you said, rocking back and forth with Bentley, "I pumped this morning so there's milk in the fridge. And his bottles are in the diaper bag, he ate a couple hours ago so he might be hungry in like an hour-ish?"

"Mmk," Tyler said easily, tossing the plastic car keys back and forth in his hand.

"Are you gonna have fun with Uncle Ty-Ty?" You asked Bentley, "what are you guys gonna do?"

"We can't tell you, you're a girl," Tyler said, passing the baby over to him now that he was standing up, Bentley started to cry pitifully almost immediately, and Tyler bit back a laugh. "Yeah, I know, Ilike that girl, too. She'll come back though."

You leaned down, kissing Bentley on the forehead, smoothing your hand over the top of his head. "You'll be okay, Mommy's just gonna go bye-bye for a little bit."

"Going bye-bye?" Tyler laughed, and you gave him a look, still crouched in front of Bentley, kissing him again, because he had been going through this phase where he knew when it was someone other than you holding him, which made leaving him that much harder. Tyler followed you through the house and out to the car, the baby in one arm so that he could open up the driver's side door for you, letting the dogs roam around the grassy area in front of the house. Tyler kiss you once more, and then you laughed against each other as Bentley fussed in his arms.

"You want one more kiss, too?" Tyler asked him, lifting Bentley up so that you could kiss him goodbye through the window, waving your hand as you started the car.

"You be good, okay?" you asked, rubbing his arm once more.

"I mean, I'll try, but I'm not gonna promise anything," Tyler said, and you smiled at him.

"Love you guys."

"Love you, too," Tyler responded, and then you couldn't stop smiling at him waving Bentley's little hand as you drove away, fairly certain that you could hear Tyler say that Mommy was going bye-bye but they were gonna have so much fun, walking around barefoot in the grass with the dogs, and you knew it wouldn't be long before he got distracted.

When you came back, beautifully drowsy and wonderfully light, it was only Marshall who greeted you at the door, and you could only assume that Cash was still guarding the baby, hearing quiet other than the murmur of the T.V., somehow recognizing the drone of golf announcers, turning the corner to see Tyler stretched out on the couch with nothing other than a pair of shorts on, Bentley resting on his bare chest, dressed in nothing other than a diaper and his eyes looking quite heavy, Cash laid out on the floor in front of them, and Gerry between Tyler's legs with his head resting by Tyler's hip, probably because Bentley was in his usual spot with Tyler. You ran your hand over Bentley's back, taking in the empty bottle next to Tyler's coffee mug on the end table, mouthing a 'hi' to Tyler, your hands reaching for Gerry's and then Cash's head. "Did he spit up?"

Tyler shook his head, and then noticed that you looking at the naked baby. "He's fine, I only took his clothes off because I needed to give him a bottle."

"What?" you said, wondering if there was something you were missing, your head spaced out.

"This is how we figured out that he likes me to feed him," Tyler said, gesturing at his bare chest and Bentley's body. "He's happier like this, I think he likes that it's more cuddly and he gets the skin-to-skin so it's more like when you feed him."

"Oh, okay," you said, nudging Gerry aside so you could sit down next to him on the couch, half wondering how long Tyler had been doing this with him for, not that you were terribly worried because he clearly wasn't cold, Bentley's blanket tossed over the back of the couch. "How was he?"

"So good," Tyler said, "He only really cried when you left and then he got a bit mad because I was taking too long to get his bottle ready and he's used to more fast food service. But we've just been been hanging out being golf watching buds. He loves it."

You were pretty sure Bentley's eyes were actually closed, though, and it may have been Tyler who loved it more, but you couldn't deny that he looked completely content with Tyler and you loved that, almost not wanting to disturb them but half curling up on the couch with them anyways.

"How was your massage?" Tyler asked in a whisper, his eyes looking rather heavy too.

"So good," you said, almost drunk off the feeling, and you really hoped that you turned this into an annual type of thing like you wanted, because you kind of wanted to go back there with him, just the two of you, while Bentley hung out at home.

You couldn't say you were entirely too surprised that you'd all ended up falling asleep on the couch though, finally leaving the house in the afternoon, with plans for shopping and grabbing dinner out, before you came home to take the dogs out for your regular evening walk, Tyler pulling the stroller out of the trunk, while you got Bentley out of his carseat, reaching to grab his diaper bag. "Look how cute these are," you said, tucking what were maybe the smallest sunglasses you'd ever seen onto Bentley's face.

"Awe, you got shades, dude?" Tyler asked, "I like them."

"I don't know if he'll keep them on or not," you said, "But they're so cute, I can't."

You were honestly pretty happy when Tyler offered to take a picture before you tucked Bentley into his stroller, a grin on Tyler's face as he looked flipped through the photos on his phone, and you felt like you could read his thoughts. "Such a stud."

"You can post it to your story," you said.

"Instagram?" Tyler asked, like he was a little surprised, but you could tell he was happy about it, too. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, he makes me happy," you said, tucking his wubbanub in next to him as you started to walk. "And I think he might make other people, too."

"Well, duh," Tyler said, already going to post it quickly, his fingers sliding along the keys, and then slipped his phone underneath into one of the pockets on the diaper bag, like he wanted to stay in the present. "Where do you want to go first?"

"Swimsuits," you answered, one hand on the stroller, the other sliding into Tyler's. "Get that over with first."

"Get it over with?" he laughed, "I don't know, watching you try on swimsuits sounds fun to me."

It wasn't, because it never really was, and you weren't really even sure what fits your body quite right now, everything having changed already. But you really wanted to have a bathing suit, even though Tyler had insisted that you pretty much did not need one for sitting in the hot tub with him, but he did agree that it would be a good idea for you to have one so that you could go in the pool with Bentley at his mom's house this summer, for splashing in the lake, too, maybe.

You had an idea that Tyler would make it fun, though, and usually he would teasingly complain about going shopping with you and other girls, although you knew he secretly was okay with it, but this whole thing had actually been his whole idea. It had been so long you thought, since you'd stepped into a store that greeted you with a whole table full of panties with him, not since he was trying to convince Kirsten to buy the skimpiest thongs like a teenage boy does. You’d almost been intimidated by him back then, not because you had hidden feelings for him, but because he seemed so much more comfortable and confident in himself than you did.

But he'd still go and get you other sizes before the sales associate did.

Now, though, there was hardly any distance between you, his hand on yours, only slipping away when the sales associate greeted you first, and then him.

"You are way, way too young to be in a place like this," Tyler whispered to Bentley, sliding his hand over the baby's eyes briefly as if to shield them, and you laughed, steering the stroller back to where the bathing suits were, taking a deep breath as you tried to contemplate whether you were going to be a two piece or a one piece girl now.

"What do you like?" You asked Tyler, who merely gave you a little half smile.

"All of them?"

At least if he wasn't helping with that, though, he was keeping Bentley entertained, pushing the stroller back and forth and interacting with him, acting like he'd easily stay there all day waiting for you.

You could hear laughter from other women in the dressing room, the music playing as you pulled on a one piece with what hadn't seemed like much of a deep v when you grabbed it but looked more pornstar esque on you, quickly stripping that off and pulling on a tribal patterned one piece, with a high neck, pulling it around your chest, opening the door and looking for Tyler, tiptoeing towards the open expanse of the store, spotting him pushing the stroller through the racks of pyjamas.

"Tyler," you whisper yelled, his head turning to look at you, eyes unabashedly running down your legs.

"I need help," you mouthed, and now he directed the stroller back towards the fitting room area, leaning over the stroller when he got close.

"What? You don't think it fits?"

"No, it's fine, I just don't know how I would breastfeed with this, and I grabbed a bunch of stuff with this high top thing because I thought it would hold stuff in? I don't know."

Tyler gave you a little smile. "Do you want me to grab you some other ones?"

"Would you?" You asked, hopefully, because you had visions of trying to juggle everything, with Bentley getting fussy, Tyler having to take him outside.

"Yes," he laughed, pausing for a moment, eyes wandering again, stepping in towards you, his thumb rubbing over your hip bone, pushing up the band of the swimsuit, revealing the faded purple mark that had appeared after that encounter after Canada Day in his bathroom, saying in a soft voice as he rubbed his thumb back and forth, a sharp contrast to how he'd given it to you, "Did I do that?"

"Mhm," you said, even though if you had your head together you could have made smartass remark that, no, it was your other boyfriend. "You have, like, a thing for that," you said, although this was definitely a new thing, like he wouldn't dare leave marks on you before you were his and he was yours.

"Whoops," Tyler said, like he was actually a wee bit remorseful, his hand running down the back of his hat, and then into around the back of his neck, "I mean, I wouldn't be mad if you gave me a hickey back."

"Okay," you said softly, giving him a look with your eyes that he should go, because there were teenage girls and you were supposed to be adults, not,half wanting to pull him back into the dressing room with you for a moment, to give him a kiss like you wouldn't dare in the bright light of the store.

"Okay," Tyler said, turning with the stroller now, "See, this is what guys have to do when they go shopping with girls, you can't just sit there, you've got all these errands to run."

You shared a look with the sales associate, still smiling when you went back into the dressing room, thinking about them walking around together like you had pictured them hanging out together practically the entire time you were getting your massage.

"Babe?" you heard Tyler call, and you responded, seeing another group of bathing suits being tossed over the door, opening the door yourself once you had the next option on, looking out towards the store, but instead seeing Tyler with Bentley on his lap and looking at his phone turned sideways in hand, and you could see some sort of cartoon playing on his phone in the reflection in the mirror.

"Wow," he said, while you were looking at the dark blue and white striped suit two piece, which you didn't quite feel comfortable in, Tyler's hands sliding over Bentley's ears. "That's like straight MILF."

You felt your face flush, even thought his words were meant to be teasing. "I just don't know about the top," you said again, because you could foresee Bentley pulling at the straps of the halter tie once he was big enough, and Tyler tilted his head.

"Mmm...the bottoms are definitely good though," he said, looking back up at your face again, bouncing the baby on his lap. "Bentley saw this one with flowers all over it that's all one piece. It's in the pile."

"Yeah," you said, "I had picked that one out, too, I just haven't tried it on yet."

"Look, you got good taste," Tyler said to Bentley, and you went back in, trying on the one piece with ruffles around the straps and the chest, making you feel a little like you were covered up and could actually move and play in the water, but it was cut a little higher around the ass like the last suit that Tyler liked, Tyler drifting Bentley's chin up to look to you when came out of the dressing room, "Wow, you think Mama looks pretty?"

You smiled, because this you could see yourself hanging out in the pool in, Tyler standing up with Bentley as you looked at yourself in the mirror, Tyler's one hand coming up and going down into the top of the suit, palming at your breast before you could even realize what he was doing.

"Tyler!" you whisper yelled, looking around as if people could see you.

"What?" he asked, carefully removing your hand. "I'm just testing to make sure you can feed the kid, I'm helping."

"Okay," you laughed, ready to just get the suit and move on to more fun shopping things, like dresses and shorts, looking for something for Bentley to wear that would commemorate your trip, like the onesie Tyler had bought him home for Texas. So, you were a little surprised when you opened the door again and Tyler was standing there with a black suit, that had a high neckline again, but sheer panelling down the centre of the swimsuit and around the waistline.

"I was gonna get this one, I don't want the high neckline."

"I know, not to buy, I just wanted to see what it looked like on you?" he asked, innocently enough. "Please?"

"Okay," you said, taking the suit from him, and going back into the fitting room, tossing the suit you were planning to buy over the handle of the stroller. You pulled it on, and you weren't gonna lie, it looked good, though it wouldn't typically be something you would pick out and would definitely be impractical, even though it really didn't show an impressive amount of skin. When you came back out, though, Tyler's eyes were dark as he swept over your body, briefly pulling his lips together like he was concentrating on something, making a little motion for you to turn around and you obliged, not even caring who saw.

"Yeah," Tyler said, his voice coming out a little high and wispy, before he cleared his throat. "You should definitely get something like that sometimes, yeah."

He gave you kind of a curious look, and you tried to hide the smile when you thought about the dress that you'd packed for your date, which was kind of similar in a way, because you wanted something that was sexy and yet appropriate enough for when you had your three month old in tow. And it was kind of hard to figure out what Tyler found sexy, because he seemed to like you in anything and everything.

Luckily, the more adult thoughts that were coming into your mind seemed to disappear when you changed back into the clothes you'd came in, finding Tyler holding Bentley in front of the mirror, letting him check himself out. He turned when he saw your reflection, and your heart melted all over again when you saw Bentley's little sunglasses hanging out of Tyler's shirt next to his, the top of his tattoo peeking out over top. "Why are you looking at my chest like that?"

"I was looking at the sunglasses," you said, "it's cute."

"Mmm...well then I'll remember to put them on them if it's bright when we go outside," Tyler said, smiling like he had it all figured out.

You honestly weren't even sure now if you had needed to bring the stroller, because Tyler ended up just carrying Bentley while you pushed it and went into Roots, picking out a little shirt for Bentley that said "Everyone Loves Canadian Boys" which Tyler seemed to think was quite true, and a little tank top romper, which Tyler seemed to think was a bit ridiculous, but you pointed out that it was really the only time in his life that he could actually wear it and look cute, and you thought it was summery and adorable.

Honestly, it was so much easier shopping with Bentley then you'd initially thought, especially with Tyler being able to carry him around, because there were so many things for him to look at, that he couldn't not be entertained, so you really appreciated that he would just kind of walk back and forth from the fitting room with him, taking him for little walks around the store, and you felt satisfied in that you could get some things to add to your wardrobe, shorts you could actually button up that didn't feel like you were trying to stuff yourself into. You were glad that you were done, though, because he was starting to get a little fussy, and you could hear him crying on and off in the store, which was honestly making you feel like you were getting close to needing to find somewhere to feed him pretty damn soon.

You swore you could hear Tyler talking to someone when you came out of the fitting rooms, him standing next to the stroller and holding Bentley now, talking to a couple girls you didn't recognize, but could tell from the looks on their faces that they were fans, and you heard them ask if they could get a picture, which happened sometimes, but it hadn't happened since you'd been a thing, nor while he was holding your baby. Tyler's eyes bouncing back and forth from Bentley to them, like he was trying to formulate his thoughts, shifting the baby in his arms. "I..uh...can't right now," he said, making a motion with his hand. "I can sign something for you though, you got a pen? Or I think.."

He was looking down at the diaper bag, likely knowing that you always had a pen in your purse always, and you quicken your steps, closing the gap between you easily. "Here, I got him," you said, taking Bentley into your arms, Tyler giving you an appreciative glance, and you shifted Bentley off to the side, holding your hand out. "Do you want me to take it?"

Somehow, you managed to do it all, getting a clear shot, smiling as the girls thanked you, their enthusiasm contagious, and yet kind of feeling a little like you should be standing off to the side with the baby as he talked for just a minute longer, Tyler's arms slowly moving onto your lower back as they said goodbye and wished him luck for next season, moving with you so you could go and grab the items you had decided on, Tyler taking the stroller this time while you kept Bentley, feeling like he was going to get upset if you tried to put him down or give him back to Tyler now that you were holding him.

"He saw a store that he wanted to go to," Tyler said, tickling at Bentley's side.

"Oh did he?" you laughed.

"Uh-huh, a store with stuffed animals," Tyler said, nodding across the street. "We had to go outside for a bit, he was not into looking at the clothes."

"Okay," you laughed, shifting back and forth. "Then I think we're gonna have to go find somewhere so he can eat."

"There's like a bench down there by the water," Tyler said, nodding down to the end of shopping complex after you'd held the door open so he could get the stroller through. "If that works, or we can go back to the car?"

"No, that's perfect," you said, your pinky finger finding his again, going into what you assumed was the québécois version of Build-a-Bear. And, obviously, he was way, way too young to even be interested in stuffed animals like this or understand anything that was going on around him, but you were damn excited to actually have someone to take into these kinda stores. "Woah, look at all the animals. There's bears and penguins, and monkeys, and kitties."

"And a dragon," Tyler said, taking care to fly it in front of Bentley, who smiled, although you weren't sure if it was because of the toy or because of the sound effects that Tyler was making.

"Oh my god, babe, look," you said, "they have a black lab, no stores ever have black labs, it's Cash."

And you knew, because he had stuffed puppies that were brown and yellow, and even blue, but nothing black, already bending down to pick it up because you didn't even care how much it was, he needed it in his collection.

"Do you like it?" Tyler asked Bentley, "Is that your Cash doggy?"

"He needs it," you said, as if Tyler was even going to argue with you about it, smiling at you. And Tyler ended up being the one to get it for him, because Bentley decided he wasn't willing to wait any longer to eat, meeting you at the bench when you were already all set up to feed him, nestling the little black labrador in Bentley's spot in the stroller, Tyler coming to sit down next to you, staring out at the water. Because sometimes it was just so freaking easy with him, both of you just moving around the baby like you didn't even have to communicate about his care.

It was really peaceful, until Tyler's lips went to your temple and then brushing your neck as you sat in the comfortable silence. "Mmm....don't..kiss me there when I'm feeding the baby."

"What? You don't like it?"

"No, no, I do," you said quickly, because you could see Tyler's mind flying through all the times he'd kissed you on the neck. "Too much."

"Oh," Tyler said, knowingly, his eyes meeting yours with a smile. "'K."

But you didn't want him to feel like he couldn't touch you while you were nursing, even though you were close enough that you were sure that Bentley's foot was brushing against Tyler's side, resting your free hand on his leg, Tyler giving you a bit of a look, reaching for your hand and moving it closer to his knee. "What? You're not the only one whose allowed to have feelings."

"Oh," you said, quietly, and Tyler stuck his tongue out at you, but his hand remained in yours, holding it. And it was maybe kinda 10 minutes later, after you'd talked about where you were going to go to dinner, that he leaned forward to grab his phone, setting it up to capture nothing other than his hand in yours, the light reflecting of the water and the path in the background, typing LOML with one hand, and using his thumb to push the button to send it to his Instagram Story, sliding his phone back away.

"LOML?" you said, "What is LOML?"

He gave you a strange look, lips quirked in amusement, laughing. "Love of my life."

"Really?" you asked, feeling a little short of breath.

"Yeah," he said, turning his head so he could connect his lips with yours. "Duh. You know that."

#wont go slowly #Tyler Seguin #tyler seguin imagines #tyler seguin imagine #nhl fanfiction #nhl imagines #nhl imagine #hockey imagines #hockey imagine

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cherriready · 6 years ago

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I need my girl ~ Tony Stark x Fem!Reader

{This story may contain spoilers about Endgame! AND SCROLL, AND SCROLL BECAUSE I CAN'T USE THE 'KEEP READING' THING SINCE I'M WITH THE PHONE}

Warnings: Death of a main character, Angst, Blood...

A/N: English is not my maternal language, there can be gramatical errors. Sorry about that.

Last chance to keep scrolling, guys!

Morgan was asleep in Y/N's arms, as the female watched in silence and in the company of Tony, the incredible views from his porch. A fan of colors purple, pink, orange, yellow and blue flooded the sky, there was an incredible and imposing sunset in front of them, hidden behind the trees, just on the other side of the lake shore. The noise of the water, the crickets and the cicadas accompanied the majestic sunset, which transmitted a serenity that made them forget at times the truth that both adults would have to face the next day.

"I don't think you should have done it," the young woman broke the silence as she watched the girl, she hugging between her arms, trying to find a more comfortable posture. "I don't see it necessary."

"What are you talking about?" asked Stark as he looked at the woman with a confused expression.

"I'm talking about the video you recorded an hour and a half ago. I've seen you do it," Y/N spoke as she stroked little Morgan's hair and looked at Tony with a sad expression.

He lowered his head as he looked down at the floor and sighed. "I just want to leave something behind, something ready, in case something happens to me."

"No," said Y/N with a frown. "I refuse to let you come up with the conclusion that you need to leave something recorded in case something happens to you, Tony. It's not necessary, because nothing is going to happen to you tomorrow," she said as she raised her voice slightly, causing to the little girl to let go a little whimper. "Sorry, darling," she apologized to the kid.

"You don't know that," whispered Tony as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the gentle breeze caressing his face.

"Tony... You must think about her, about both of them, before doing anything. I know that our mission is to bring back all the vanished, but... Your real responsibility and concern is this!" Y/N pointed out as he looked at Morgan, letting Tony understand her message, what she really meant.

"I know, Y/N. But still-"

"For once, don't be the fucking hero. Leave that role to someone else, damn it..." whispered the woman with a frown, as she rocked the girl carefully. "For once in your life, I'm begging you, don't be the one who has to do everything!"

"You don't say all this just because you've seen me make the video before, do you?" asked the genius Stark as he pulled away the hair that fell on his daughter's face and put it behind her ear.

"No. You see, I've had these strange dreams again... Like the ones I told you about before the Sokovia agreements and the... You know, before everything that happened five years ago," said the woman with E/C eyes, as she bit her lip, trying to hold back the urge to cry.

"You have premonitory dreams again," said the brunette man looking at his friend with concern. He placed one of his hands on Y/N's shoulder to try to comfort her, but it was in vain as she began to cry in silence.

The youngest Stark seemed to notice how the woman holding her in a hug must have been feeling, so she unconsciously grabbed her with more strength, still asleep, as if she was trying to calm her, to comfort her, and make her understand that everything was fine. That she was there, and that everything would be fine.

"Aw, Morgan," whispered the c/h haired woman in tears, noticing how the little one was trying to comfort her. "Thank you, little miss Stark..." she said before posing a kiss on the crown of the toddler, so that she could rest her chin on the little head.

"Hey, guys," Pepper whispered as she approached the couple of friends who shared an intimate moment. "I've come for Morgan, it's time to put her to bed. It's a bit too late," said Tony's wife, as she crouched next to Y/N and held her daughter in her arms. "Thank you for being with her today. We missed you so much," the redhead said with a small smile.

"It's the least I can do for my goddaughter. After all, I missed her too. All of you." said the young avenger before caressing the girl's cheek as a sign of farewell good night.

Tony got up from the stairs on the porch so that he could give his daughter a proper kiss and send her off to bed. "Night night, Maguna. I love you tons, baby girl." he whispered softly in the girl's ear, before posing a long kiss on her forehead.

"I do it 3000, papa," said groggy the little one, as she rested her head on her mother's shoulder, looking for comfort and warmth in her.

"I'm going to sleep now, too," Pepper said, trying to disguise his desire to yawn.

"Alright. Good night, Peps." said goodbye Tony before giving his tired wife a short kiss on the lips. "Sleep well."

"Good night, Pepper" Y/N said goodbye to her friend with a small smile and a small hug, after getting up from where she had been sitting.

"See you tomorrow," the woman said goodbye before getting inside the house, this time with her daughter in her arms.

"I love you," exclaimed the Stark before he lost sight of the lady of the house.

"Tony." Y/L/N called his friend, thus gaining his attention. "This is something you can't miss for anything in the world. I wouldn't forgive you," she earnestly pointed out.

"How long have you been dreaming of my death?" asked the man as he folded his arms and watched his friend, while waiting for a sincere answer.

"Since we started looking for a solution to this fucking disaster."

"That's... plenty of time."

"I know, that's why I'm asking you to play your part in the background tomorrow. I can't afford to lose anyone else, you know? I can't afford to let anyone else die. It wouldn't be fair to anyone else."

"It would be great not to die," Tony said.

"That's why you're going to promise me you won't, okay?" She asked him.

"Y/N, you know I-"

"Alright!?" Y/N insisted, raising her voice slightly. "Tony?" she called her friend's attention as she folded her arms and stared at him.

The Iron-man sighed and looked at her attentively before nodding Slowly. "I'll do what I can."

"That's not good enough for me, Stark. You have to swear, give me your word or I'll kill you," threatened Y/N to Tony as she pointed a finger at him.

"You realize that doesn't make any sense, right? That's-"

"Anthony..."

"God, how stubborn you are, Y/N. Okay! I swear, I won't die tomorrow," said the man as he raised his hands as signal of surrender.

"Sounds like a plan to me!" smiled the avenger and then hugged Tony tightly.

Tony hugged her for a long time. He well knew that this might be the last time they could be like this, since the next day anything could happen, to any of them. Any scenario could develop, and that terrified him in an unimaginable way. Losing his family and friends was a blow that he would never know how to fit in, and so he preferred not to even think about it.

"I think it's time for me to go home. It's late and I had promised Nat that we would-"

"Y/N." said Tony as he held his friend's face between his hands and made her look into his eyes. "You know perfectly well that I love you very much, don't you?"

She nodded and smiled warmly. "I know perfectly well, Tony," she replied, causing Tony to pose a kiss on her forehead, then hug her again. "I love you too, Stark." whispered Y/N to him before she broke the hug.

"Goodbye, kiddo," said Tony goodbye as his friend headed to her car.

Y/N raised her hand as a bye sign and smiled at him broadly, with a little laugh. "See you, my dude." She wavered at him as she got into her car.

"Hey, Y/L/N!" Stark exclaimed as he watched the woman start the vehicle. "No surprises tomorrow!"

"Take your own advice, you old wreck. And remember you made me a promise!"

***

"I am... Inevitable." Thanos said arrogantly, before snapping his fingers, which didn't work, because the gauntlet didn't have a any of the infinity stones.

The mad titan looked with an open mouth and incredulous look at the gauntlet and then at the young woman in front of him. He saw how the power of the stones invaded the body of the female human and how her body react at such magnitude of power. Y/N was in pain. And because of that, she shouted and complained, until her body ended up adapting to all the stones.

But it wouldn't last long.

Oopsie

Y/N looked defiantly at Thanos, who had remained static looking at her, knowing what was coming next for him and that it was inevitable. "Yeah, well, and... we are... the Avengers!" snapped the young woman without hesitation.

A white flash flooded the place for a few moments, followed by it, all the allies of Thanos and himself, began to turn to dust in the battlefield, as 5 years ago millions of beings from all over the universe had done it before.

Karma is a bitch, huh?

"I just fried myself, well done Y/L/N..." commented Y/N to herself, trying to make her situation less serious, as the right half of her own body was totally burned and a huge wound in the area of her femoral artery from where emanated lots of blood.

"Y/N/N..." called a soft voice, which addressed to her. "What ha-... What have you done?"

Y/N finished sitting and leaning on a pile of rubble, looked up and saw Tony, Rhodey, Peter, Pepper, Steve and Thor approaching her. Some of them ducked on to stay at her height and others stood watching everything.

She smiled weakly and looked at his dearest friend. "I've made them to bite the... dust, you get it?" the woman laughed briefly, before grabbing her side because the pain she felt. "Goddammit..." she complained.

"Don't worry, we'll still take you to a place where you can be cured and-" Captain America tried to talk, as he approached his friend and tried to hold her in his arms.

"No, no... Steve, no. It's okay, there's nothing that can be done for me." she whispered as she took the captain's hand and stroked it. "Let it be, please..." she whispered and then gave Tony a warm look. "This is how it had to happen, you know..."

"No, Y/N, please..." begged Stark as he stroked her good friend's cheek, who was beginning to have trouble breathing. "Friday, tell me her situation." he asked to the A.I.

"Her vital signs are compromised, sir." answered Friday.

Everyone began to cry in silence. Tony sobbed a little before leaning his head against Y/N's head as he stroked her cheek. She smiled weakly and gently wiped away his tears.

"Your girls need you, Tony. Morgan has both parents. I can't ask for anything better..." she whispered as she looked at Pepper, who was crying in Rhodey's arms and dedicated one of her last smiles to them.

"But, I-I..." Tony whispered between loud sobs as big tears were falling down his cheeks. "Y/N..."

Y/N placed her hand on her friend's chest, over the light of his Ractor Arc, and then gave him one last, small but warm smile. Tony held Y/N's hand on his chest and watched her life flee by moments.

Indeed, nothing could be done for her, it was late.

"N-No, Y/N" Peter begged as he got on his knees and embraced the corpse of his friend. "Don't go, stay. Stay, stay, stay, stay, stay. Stay with us. Don't die. Stay... with us." he sobbed so hard, that Thor started to cry even harder.

"You were... No, you are also my girl. I need you in my life." whispered Tony in his dearest friend's ear, even when he knew that she couldn't hear him. "God, I need my girl." pronounced before closing Y/N's eyes for ever.

Silence and sobs ruled the place once again.

And that's how it all ended.

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tarithenurse · 5 years ago

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Orphan - 4

Starring: Fem!Reader and MCU characters! Contents: Spoilers for Endgame!! Cussing (as usual, take that for granted), some fluff, some angst, confusion, sadness, loss, good intentions, awkwardness, flashbacks. Feels...there are feels. A/N: So this is getting a surge. PREVIOUS CHAPTERS can be found on the masterlist. I’ve added more names to the tag list (because no one ever tells me they want in but still “like” anyways…so HA!). As per usual. Thanks for likes and reblogs and comments and tears…cheers! I mean cheers! ;)

4. Foster Care for Adults

… Reader …

You’ve had no energy to protest, but if you’d had then it’s likely nothing would’ve changed the mind of the grim mohawk-dude. Clint Barton, archer extraordinaire and known as Hawkeye, who (after squaring it with the wife) has opened his home to you and herded you onto a little dangerous-looking plane together with his family. The two older kids, Lila and Cooper, don’t say much if anything to you. Well, the little one doesn’t either, but at least he’s staring openly rather than pretending to be busy with the phones or each other.

“Mo-om?” Nathaniel’s clear voice cuts over the sound of the engine. “Is she gonna be my sisther?”

In a flash you’re back to the childhood where terms like siblings and parents were used too loosely or as a means to hurt you, keep you separate from other kids at school. Even within the foster home, there were kids who wielded those kinds of words as weapons, cutting deep reminders into your heart to make sure you never forget what you’d lost. As if that was possible.

In the same flash, the little kid should have fallen over dead from the glared his siblings send him. Turned into dust. Of course, he doesn’t notice, but looks at his mom for an answer she hardly can give.

“Listen guys.” Clint pushes a few buttons before turning the pilot entire seat to face everyone. “I know this is a…surprise. [Y/N] came back from the Blip too and she has nowhere to stay…” Nathaniel merrily begins to hum a song under his breath made up entirely of bleeps. “She’s gonna be a guest until things are sorted out, okay?”

It’s toe-cringing to listen to the Avenger give The Speech™. He means well. Facts are you’re an adult who can talk for yourself, and you don’t have as much of a choice in coming as Clint makes it sound.

Sitting on the bed of the motel, you didn’t know which hero to look at - none of them were the one you needed to get answers because Stark was dead and with him the hope of a better explanation than the documents and files on the tiny drive provided. Facts. The facts were there…but it wasn’t enough.

“How did you find out about the fu-“ Rhodes had to take a deep breath before continuing, “about the funeral?”

He already knew more about you than you liked, such as your (now delayed) university degree in Medicine and Technology where you’d been working on cutting edge ways to deliver medicine to the right place in the body with biodegradable nano-bots. Tony Stark and his old-time pal had kept track of you ever since you were born and your father decided to split…as if that somehow should compensate for the absence. Still, Rhodes and his buddies were questioning you for more information.

Glaring at the furrowed brows, you decided you already were royally fucked. “Watched the news, put two-n-two together, hacked a phone.”

“What do you want from Pepper ‘nd Morgan?” There it was – the protectiveness.

“Nothin’, I just…the Blue Group chick already asked me this!”

On and on they had gone, never relenting despite the circles you were talking in. In the end, only the talking raccoon was stubborn enough to continue (though both the coloured women had offered assistance by torture).

A shiver runs down your spine at the memory. Yeah, it’s a good thing Clint Barton decided to bring you along even if it’s just to keep an eye on you rather than help. You send Laura a shadow of a smile before unbuckling from the seat to make your way over to the pilot’s seat. The domed sky is intense, partially coloured with the drama of sunset but also much darker above the plane than you’d expected. It stretches towards the curve of the horizon, dotted with fluffy clouds. Far underneath are the rolling fields smaller than a fingernail, roads like grey thread cutting through a landscape until it finds a glowing pearl, a town where the lights are starting to shine.

“Not a bad view, huh?” The comment is so relaxed that you almost think it’s your imagination until the archer sends you a shy smile.

Maybe he’s not that bad. “Yeah…’s pretty.” There’s a silence between the two of you – less forced, somehow. “It’s umm nice of you to…y’know, let me stay. Better than a motel with a raccoon and a blue assassin.”

…

I’m gonna die! Clint Barton has landed the plane in the middle of fucking nowhere and you’ve never been further from civilization as you are now. Even in the darkness, you can feel the forest sighing, long branches creaking in the autumn wind as they try to reach you and the Bartons (who are completely unfazed by it). Give me streetlights! Anything! Flashes on phones light up the ground, granting your wish to a certain point.

At least they lead you away from the trees, and while it’s still night with no moon the darkness isn’t quite as dense out in the open. Tall grass catch on your salvaged boots and there’s a very distinct feeling of something chasing you…but nothing when you turn to look. For a second, you whish you were in Nathaniel’s place: he’s sound asleep on Laura’s arm, drool wetting her shoulder each time his head bounces from the steps she takes.

The house appears from the dark as a huge, even darker mass before the lights reach far enough to illuminate the wooden steps of the porch. Lila’s ahead, skipping up the steps and reaching the screen door where she flips a switch. Suddenly, stringed lights spread their glow and the house feels wonderfully real and safe even if it’s still dark inside.

… Clint …

The house still smells musty after years of misuse and there’s a ton of things for him to fix. The boiler works, though, and Laura and the kids have been busy cleaning the last few days while Clint took care of the leaks in the roof and the stock of firewood. Mostly, he’d walked in a daze simply to look at them, touch their hair, pull them into awkward hugs in the hopes it wouldn’t just be a dream.

I didn’t think I’d be back to live here. Clint had tried at first to be on his own, but it was wrong – an empty house full of the ghosts of his family and memories that threatened with eluding him even if the smallest item or scent brought them crashing down on him with a force that’d knock his legs away. That was why he went to stay with Nat at the Compound. She dealt by doing things, trying to clean up the mess one crime or fucked up situation at a time because there weren’t enough cops, no military strong enough. The remnants of the Avengers was needed and the two of them teamed up with others…and nothing was right anyways.

“Baby?” A soft hand curls around his elbow before stroking his triceps. Laura. “We’re here, honey, we’re with you again.”

She understands him better than anyone. The five years felt like seconds for Laura, but she understands how fucked up it was for him and how afraid he is that they’ll suddenly be gone again. Pulling her tight, Clint buries the nose in her dark hair to maybe memorize the scent, at least to have her inside and out.

“You’re the best wife I could ever want,” he mumbles.

Laura smiles against the collar of his t-shirt, making his heart flutter. “Oh, I know,” she smirks, “any other wife would’ve lost it after coming home to such a mess!”

It’s a joke and it does make him laugh…but it hurts too because now he’s added to the mess that’s their lives. “…or taken in a stranger.”

“Hm.” It’s almost a tiny scoff. “She needs a home and we have that. I just…it’s a horrible way to find out about your heritage. She must be so confused?”

… Reader …

Fed, watered, and teeth brushed? Done.

Bed, check.

Borrowed pyjama that’s only a little bit musty, check.

Settling down under the thick covers, it’s impossible not to enjoy having an entire guest room for yourself rather than the dorm at the hostel where ten other people snore and fart all night long. Tonight you’re going to sleep great, you decide as you turn off the bed side lamp. Your eyelids are heavy. It’s so dark, you can’t tell if you already have closed the eyes or not. Silence and sleep, here I come.

The wind outside the window picks up in strength, finding a gap between two boards to whistle with when the gusts hit just right. Somewhere in the house a floorboard creaks – maybe Clint is tugging his kids in? And then it might be his wife who’s using the water, making the pipes gurgle inside the wall. Whenever one sound ends another takes over, all unexpected and unfamiliar enough that they startle you awake. Burrowing deeper under the duvet, you try to cover the ears but then it’s your own heartbeat you can hear instead, thumping away with a constant rush of blood that mingles with the sighs of the wind.

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bomberqueen17 · 4 years ago

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dang how i got that much data?

[image description: the Time Machine backup menu on an Apple computer open showing the dropped-down menu: “Backing Up: 534.0 MB of 3.45 GB”]

I don’t even have a ton of photos I took or anything so who knows how I got 3.45 GB of shit onto this computer in the last 34 days. It’s probably porn

anyway i’m home in buffalo, and they installed a new furnace before i got here yesterday, and boy do we need to clean our cold air return vents because the new fan is strong and makes a constant whistling noise in there so that’s today’s project for me.

Also there’s a sink full of dishes, most of which I was not here for the dirtying of, so I started in on those and also I had collected and dried a lot of thyme, some oregano, and some sage, and now I have those safely stowed on my spice rack-- I’d had to purchase dried thyme over the winter, that’s how bad things got around here, so I’m glad to have new stuff from the farm. It’s not the same!

Maybe I’ll have some time for writing today but I’m not holding my breath.

My cat claims not to have missed me. She spent a couple hours last night curled up partly on my face but is being aloof in daylight. she also doesn’t understand the concept of central air and wants us to let her out on the back porch because she likes it hot out, which, fair enough.

Our basement is so spotless, it’s astonishing. There’s a guy down there now doing some work on the vents and installing the whole-house humidifier that came with the furnace, so. That’s cool. It’s supposed to be hot today but isn’t yet, so we don’t have the new central air on yet.

I’m also supposed to be cleaning the cold air return vents so we’ll see how far i get on that today. i’m also-also supposed to be making grown-up phone calls but a lot of those issues have been working themselves out slowly from the panicked emails I sent a while back, so I sort of need to re-evaluate and take stock there, and I just don’t have the attention span for it at the moment. I’m on Menial Tasks today, not Decisions, because the latter are Not Happening. (Like, I keep thinking oh yeah sure I’m gonna, but then they... don’t... work, so. Best to delay, there.)

Also Dude very thoroughly re-did the little brick area between our sunporch and the fence to the neighbor’s house-- like, dug out all the dirt, laid down sand and gravel and edging stuff, and laid bricks into a tight pattern so there’d be a place for the air conditioner thingy to go, and that all looks astonishingly nice and tidy...

and there’s a four-foot pile of dirt in the center of the lawn because he seems to have decided that’s where that ought to go. “there’s some rhizomes in there, you want those plants?” well, if they’ve been lying in that dirt pile for a week or two now, they’re probably dead, so even if I did want those plants it’s too late now, thanks for asking! I guess that there’ll be a four-foot pile of dirt in the center of the lawn until I decide that I need to put it somewhere else, because he’s not going to do it, so like... that’s great but also fucking awful, if it gets rained on it’s going to just.

well maybe it’ll just spread itself out over the lawn. I don’t care. I don’t do anything with the lawn. I don’t care about the lawn. So whatever, man.

#about the author #could i take a day off?#no that's not how it works right #i don't know

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alecodys · 5 years ago

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Camp TV Biographies

This is a very, very, very long post!! There’s literally every Season One character in here and Tumblr tried to get me to cut it in half multiple times but like. lol no. Anyways, everything is under the cut!

Beth What’s your best quality? My detective skills! I have solved many small cases back on my farm at home, the largest of which being who was responsible for the grain going missing. Turns out it was just a rat.

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

My parents only have music from the 60’s, so that’s the only music I know.

I love pink! Especially more reddish ones.

What’s that one with a talking pig called? It reminds me so much of my own pig, Bertha!

My mum makes the best food ever, especially when it comes to pies.

Describe your craziest dream. I was a real detective, just like Sherlock Holmes! It was so cool, and I got to solve a murder, and I had a sidekick and everything!

Best memory from childhood? The day I got Bertha. She’s like a little sister to me.

Most embarrassing moment at school? One time I’d forgotten which shirt I had gotten dirty and I was in a rush, so I went to school in a muddy shirt with pig hoof-prints on it.

Describe the first job you ever had. I work on the farm as much as I can, in between school and detective work!

Ten years from now, what are you doing? I’ll have moved to England, and become the best detective in all of Scotland Yard!

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but it would be less of a date, and more like me interviewing him and asking him what goes on in the mind of a detective as great as Sherlock.

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Find out what caused it!

Bridgette What’s your best quality? My patience for others!

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

I’m not all that into music, but I do listen to recordings of the ocean like, all the time.

Definitely ocean blue.

I’m super into mermaid movies.

Anything that’s vegan, but especially seaweed brownies.

Describe your craziest dream. It’s not really crazy per say, but I was a dolphin and I got to hang out with this clownfish, and we were totally the best of friends. It was really cool, actually.

Best memory from childhood? My first time going boogie-boarding. It what made me fall in love with the water, you know?

Most embarrassing moment at school? We went out to the beach for camp one year and we got to go surfing, and I totally wiped out on one of the waves in front of everyone! It was terrible.

Describe the first job you ever had. I’m a lifeguard at the community pool after school! It’s not exactly glamorous, but hey, it’s pretty fun sometimes.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? Living back in Fiji with a nice girl, in a house by the beach and helping out Mother Earth.

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? I can’t really think of someone off the top of my head, but we’d totally go surfing.

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Make the most of it.

Cody What’s your best quality? Hm... my creativity, I guess? It helps for getting out of tough situations sometimes.

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

There’s this musician, uh.. Neil Cicierega! I like his songs, but the Samsung ringtone is pretty good too.

I like pale oranges and blues!

I don’t really watch movies all that often, but uh.. don’t tell anyone I told you this, but I really like kid films, especially LEGO ones. Weird, I know.

I’m a sucker for anything with sugar! Although, it tends to make me super sick.

Describe your craziest dream. I was actually popular. I was so freaked out I woke up before anything could happen.

Best memory from childhood? Whenever I got to go to my aunt’s house! She has, like, the greatest German Shepard ever!

Most embarrassing moment at school? Literally the entirety of grade eight. God, I used to insist on being called stuff like “Codester” and “Codemeister”. Ugh.

Describe the first job you ever had. I got to dog-sit my aunt’s dog when I was 12 and she paid me ten bucks.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? Hopefully going out with the person of my dreams, but if not then probably just chilling at home, eating ice cream, wondering where I went wrong.

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? Okay so like, there’s this really cute guy at my school, so probably him, and we’d just go to the carnival, eat cotton candy and go on rides, and after it’s all over we’d watch the sunset and it’d be super cute. I’ve put more thought into this than I should have.

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Cry over it.

DJ What’s your best quality? How kind I am, and it’s all thanks to my mommas!

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

Jamaican Reggae.

Lavender.

Anything with tons of animals!

My Mama’s chickpea Roti, although that may be tied with Ma’s cherry tarts... don’t tell her though.

Describe your craziest dream. I dreamt one time I was a cameraman for this reality TV show that took place in an abandoned film studio, and that I wasn’t paid a cent.

Best memory from childhood? Definitely the day my mommas adopted me. The orphanage was alright, but my mommas just give something that it could never, aside from stability.

Most embarrassing moment at school? The first day of school here in Canada, I only had shirts and shorts. I was freezing all day! I haven’t gone outside without a jacket or two on since.

Describe the first job you ever had. It’s not really a job, but Ma pays me a couple of dollars during summer to pick all the cherries from the cherry trees. They ripen late since it’s so cold here, but they’re absolutely beautiful.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? I’m in my house with my mommas, with a bunch of animals I adopted from the local animal shelter, eating chickpea Roti and cherry tarts.

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? I don’t really date. I just don’t see anyone that way, y’know? But I’d love to go around Central Park with my mommas in a horse and carriage!

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Hang out with my mommas.

Duncan What’s your best quality? My ability to break out of juvie.

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

Punk rock.

Neon green.

Any slasher film, really.

Το σουβλάκι του παππού, not that hard of a question.

Describe your craziest dream. I was a four year old trying to scare the shit out of this girl with pigtails, but I got tethered to some kid with a gap in his teeth. We ended up scaring everyone as a mummy. It was kinda funny.

Best memory from childhood? When I snuck my younger cousin into an R rated film with my older sister. My sister was thirteen, I was ten, and my cousin was four. I’m surprised we managed to pull off that dumb trench coat trick.

Most embarrassing moment at school? I used to get embarrassed when my sister would pick me up in her smart car. I kind of miss it now, though.

Describe the first job you ever had. Job? Ha! Yeah, right.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? I’ll probably be hanging around the town my cousin lives in, maybe score a couple of gigs in some punk band I’ve started to rival that garage band that plays over there.

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? Depends if anyone could take me. Or look past my criminal record.

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? ...Visit my sister.

Ezekiel What’s your best quality? My ability to list my best quality in eight different languages, eh!

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

Choir music! It’s the only music I know!

Forest green.

I’m not allowed to watch movies...

My mum and I work together to make the greatest biscuits ever, eh!

Describe your craziest dream. I was like a king of these mutated woodland creatures, eh. But I was all green and was wearing these really strange clothes, and I had no hair.

Best memory from childhood? My childhood wasn’t really all that eventful. I just stay inside all the time, eh.

Most embarrassing moment at school? When my teachers caught me trying to leave the house to go to a local school. They weren’t very happy with me, eh. I got grounded for five weeks.

Describe the first job you ever had. I don’t have a real job, since I’m always at home and my parents won’t let me outside.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? I’m at the farm, sitting on the porch and looking out over the fields. Pretty much what I do whenever school ends anyways.

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? A girl like me, eh. We can talk about living on our farms and not being able to interact with other kids until we graduated school, and bond over archery.

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Say goodbye to the cows.

Geoff What’s your best quality? I can party all night and all day, man! Also my hair is really soft apparently.

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

Party in the USA is my favourite song, dude! It’s, like, my anthem!

Bright pink! I may get weird looks for it sometimes, but I think it’s an awesome colour!

Literally any movie where parties are involved, dude.

Party pies! It’s the name, my man!

Describe your craziest dream. One time I dreamt that I threw the biggest party in Canadian history, and it was so big that like, even the news reported on it dude! But then the cops came and we had to shut it down. It was a massive bummer.

Best memory from childhood? My first birthday party ever! I was three and I invited all my friends from kinder, and we got to hit this disco ball shaped piñata and eat this giant cake! I’m still proud of it.

Most embarrassing moment at school? When I went to school with a blue shirt on instead of a pink one. I have a brand to uphold, man.

Describe the first job you ever had. Some kid at school tried to pay me five bucks to prank his bully and record it. I told him to keep the money and I did it anyways, because bullying isn’t cool, dude.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? Hosting a wicked party!

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? I don’t really know who I’d go on a date with, but we’d totally be having an awesome party out on the beach!

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Party hard!

Gwen What’s your best quality? My complete and utter lack of enthusiasm.

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

I like early 2000’s emo music, I guess.

Dark red.

Bloodbath 2: Summer Camp Reign of Terror. If this camp isn’t like the movie then I’m not going to be very happy.

Those teeth gummies, the minty ones.

Describe your craziest dream. I dreamt I was having a good time being interviewed for some dumb summer camp my parents forced me to go to. Can you imagine?

Best memory from childhood? When my little brother learned to ride his bike. It makes it easier to get away from him now.

Most embarrassing moment at school? I spilled blue food colouring over my clothes in science class one time and had to walk around with that stain in my shirt for the rest of the day. It doesn’t sound bad, but it kinda looked like I’d drooled all over myself.

Describe the first job you ever had. I cut my brother’s hair for five bucks from my mum one time. Of course, she didn’t give me any clear instructions, and I was six, so I absolutely destroyed his hair.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? I’ll probably have some dumb degree, I don’t know. Probably just have a job and hanging out with somebody who I live with and love.

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? It’s not a date really, but I’d love to time travel and meet Van Gogh. Unlike most artists, he was actually a really cool dude, and really tragic too. I’d like to meet Branwell Brontë too, but his whole family is cool.

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Watch the last sunset.

Harold What’s your best quality? My high tolerance for those who are intellectually and behaviourally inferior to me. But my mum tells me not to say that so I guess it’s how good I am at building fantasy worlds.

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

Nothing beats the Pokemon Red soundtrack.

Mossy green.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy, duh!

Beef stew, but especially the stew they serve at Medieval Steve’s Medieval Camp.

Describe your craziest dream. They named the Lord of the Rings something really dumb like Master of the Spheres.

Best memory from childhood? My first time going to a summer camp was pretty good. It was MSMC, but for “junior” kids, which basically meant people under the age of six.

Most embarrassing moment at school? Getting a fact about medieval history wrong in history class.

Describe the first job you ever had. I got paid by one of the kids at MSMC to beat the head troll in chocolate coins.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? A famous, bestselling author of a hit fantasy series that has been adapted masterfully into film.

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? One of the elves, I guess, but mainly so they could teach me about their culture and their language so I could one day join and become one of them.

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Try and stop it.

Heather What’s your best quality? I don’t really have that many good qualities, but people say they like how nice I am, so that counts for something, right?

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

Lo-fi

Any shade of red!

I liked that one Pokemon movie with the... ah, yes! Shaymin!

I love mochi! It’s so yummy...

Describe your craziest dream. I dreamt I was, like, super tall! It was really cool beans, until everyone began calling me mean things and they were talking about something I did to this girl named Gwen? I don’t even know any girls named Gwen!

Best memory from childhood? The first Christmas I remember! My parents got me this super cute tricycle and it was red with little blue streamers on the handlebars, and I rode it around everywhere! Or maybe when we rescued Cupcake... gosh, now I can’t decide!

Most embarrassing moment at school? When my friend yelled at me for not getting her an iced chai latte in front of the whole class... it was horrible!

Describe the first job you ever had. I run errands for my friends all the time! Sometimes the things they want me to do get pretty gross though...

Ten years from now, what are you doing? Opening a cafe that serves the best mochi in all of Canada!

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? With a nice guy that likes me for who I am, going to cafes and petting cats and dogs and just doing what I wanna do for a day... I think that’d be totally awesome sauce.

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Buy a Shaymin plushie! Then hug it for the rest of the day. Shoot, that was over the word limit...

Katie What’s your best quality? Sadie always says she loves my, like, optimism!

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

I love listening to pop and, like, 70’s rock!

Pastel pink.

Sadie and I love, like, watching Mean Girls together!

Dark cherries! They also make for some, like, really tasty earrings.

Describe your craziest dream. I was without Sadie for, like, an entire day!

Best memory from childhood? The day I met Sadie, when she moved to the house, like, next door to mine. She was, like, kinda hard to understand at first, but over time her Scottish-ness mellowed out a bit.

Most embarrassing moment at school? When I tried to stand up for Sadie when a bully was, like, pushing her around, and accidentally hit my funny bone on the locker door.

Describe the first job you ever had. Sadie and I work at this super cute ice cream shop together!

Ten years from now, what are you doing? I’ll own the ice cream store and have added, like, a bazillion more flavours! It’s quiet during winter, but there’s tons of people during summer, and that’s really all I need.

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? I’d so, like, love to go on a date with Sadie. We could go to a sewing workshop and I’d stitch her the best stuffie, like, ever!

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Kiss Sadie...

LeShawna What’s your best quality? All of them, duh.

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

Anything I can dance along to, sugar.

Yellow.

High School Musical 2.

Mango chutney is always good.

Describe your craziest dream. It was more of a nightmare, really. I was stuck in a room full of spiders and those eight-legged freaks covered me head to toe, but I couldn’t scream.

Best memory from childhood? When I won my first ever beauty pageant. Mind you, it was kindergarten, and I was the only participant, but that doesn’t matter.

Most embarrassing moment at school? Honey, I don’t get embarrassed. I haven’t got anything to be embarrassed about.

Describe the first job you ever had. I work at this dumb coffee shop. The only reason I’m still there is because I get free pastries.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? I’m the CEO of a multinational corporation, and, obviously, the most famous billionairess in the world!

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? Look, sugar, do you seriously think anyone is up to my standards?

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Dance the day away.

Lindsay What’s your best quality? My looks, of course.

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

Pop songs, definitely.

Pinkest Pink. It’s the pinkest shade of pink that exists.

Legally Blonde.

Anything that helps me keep my figure.

Describe your craziest dream. I was some other girl’s lackey. It was disgusting.

Best memory from childhood? The first time I tried out sparkly lip gloss. I still have the empty container somewhere so I can, like, look back on it and remind myself how far I’ve come.

Most embarrassing moment at school? Ugh, definitely when I forgot to apply my eyeshadow. My ‘friends’ may have pretended not to notice, but I could tell they had.

Describe the first job you ever had. I’m a cashier at Lush on the weekends. They give me discount on face masks as long as I, like, sell enough. So, obviously, I get, like, three free face masks a week.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? Applying my makeup.

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? Some hunky model, walking around town so everyone can envy us.

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Spread rumours.

Noah What’s your best quality? My cynicism.

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

The kind I can’t hear.

Meh.

No thanks.

Just ate.

Describe your craziest dream. I don’t care about my dreams enough to remember them.

Best memory from childhood? My first time playing a video game. I was three and I completed the first level within a minute.

Most embarrassing moment at school? People with brains and wit like mine don’t get embarrassed.

Describe the first job you ever had. I was a tutor for some high school jock when I was five.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? I’ll be at home, sitting on my couch, relaxing and reading a book.

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? I wouldn’t want to go on a date with him, since I have no idea what he looks like, but there’s a guy in my Underground Alliance that is really good at organising raids, so I guess him.

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Sleep.

Owen What’s your best quality? My appetite, haha!

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

Nickleback all the way! Woohoo!

Maple syrup brown!

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! I don’t care what anyone says, it just looks so deliciously good!

Anything that my stomach can take is good in my book! Which is just about everything, haha!

Describe your craziest dream. Hm... probably the one where doughnuts were raining from the sky! I wish something like that could happen in real life...

Best memory from childhood? When my Ma and Pa got me my first cookbook! There were so many delicious recipes in there, like that Cookie Monster ice cream cake, and the chocolate fudge cookies!

Most embarrassing moment at school? When I forgot to add one of the ingredients to my nachos in food tech, it just didn’t have the same cheesy, gooey goodness!

Describe the first job you ever had. I work at my parents bakery sometimes! I make apple strudels for them, and they always get way more customers when I do! It makes me feel super happy!

Ten years from now, what are you doing? Working at the bakery with my parents, making as many apple strudels as the people want, haha!

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? All of my pals from school, throwing a party in a cottage where we can make as many s’mores and finger sandwiches we want!

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Write down all my recipes!

Sadie What’s your best quality? Katie says she, like, loves how my eyes sparkle when I smile!

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

Late 2000’s pop music, the kind you can, like, jump around and party to!

Red, like the colour of my shirt.

Katie and I, like, love to watch Mean Girls together!

Honeycrisp apples! But, like, only honeycrisp.

Describe your craziest dream. Katie wasn’t my best friend, and it was, like, so weird!

Best memory from childhood? The day I met Katie! She acted kinda, like, weird at first, but we’re, like, the best of friends!

Most embarrassing moment at school? I tried to stand up for Katie because, like, this bully was teasing her, and, like, bullying isn’t cool! But I tripped on my heels and, like, knocked the bully over like a bowling pin. So, like, it wasn’t that bad.

Describe the first job you ever had. Katie and I work at the, like, cutest ice cream shop ever!

Ten years from now, what are you doing? I’ll own a cafe that’s, like, right next door to Katie’s ice cream shop, and there will be this door connecting the buildings so people can, like, buy lunch and then go right next door to Katie’s!

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? Oh, I’d love to go on a date with Katie! She’s just so nice, and pretty, and says, like, the sweetest things! We could go to the beach and I’d collect all the, like, prettiest seashells for her!

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Kiss Katie...

Trent What’s your best quality? Either my straight A’s or my ukulele playing skills, depends on who you ask.

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

I like those covers on YouTube where it’s just people singing and playing the ukulele, no matter what song it is. It helps calm me down.

Green, but I’m pretty sure that’s kind of obvious.

Love, Simon. I read the book, too, and both of them are fantastic!

I know it’s not really a food, but I love orange juice.

Describe your craziest dream. I followed my dad’s advice and became an accountant. I mean, can you imagine? Me? An accountant?

Best memory from childhood? When I won my first ever award at the school talent show. Looking back on it, I can’t see why they voted for me, since one of my ukulele’s strings broke mid-performance, but I’m still proud.

Most embarrassing moment at school? I don’t know, maybe when one kid almost set fire to the end of my hair in chemistry? But that wasn’t really embarrassing for me, really.

Describe the first job you ever had. It’s nothing that cool, I’m just a cashier at some supermarket.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? Hopefully, I’ll be known world-wide for my music and be on tour, playing ukulele and making fans happy.

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? Probably just hanging out with a couple of mates at the beach, swimming, building sandcastles, you know. The works.

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Write a song.

Tyler What’s your best quality? My sporting ability!

Faves? (music, colour, movie, food)

I like those tunes they play at the beginning of the sports part of the news, with the swishy 3D logo and everything!

Blue and green!

Bend It Like Beckham!

My high-protein high-carb energy bars!

Describe your craziest dream. I dreamt all the colours in the world were, like, inverted! To be fair, I had had around ten of my energy bars that day, so...

Best memory from childhood? When I headbutted the soccer ball into the net in my first ever soccer game! So what if it was just me and my dad playing, it’s the thought that counts!

Most embarrassing moment at school? When my mum was my substitute gym teacher and she kept assigning me places on the court where I couldn’t do anything. It was like she was trying to make me look bad or something!

Describe the first job you ever had. My parents won’t let me get a job. Something about me being too ‘clumsy’ or whatever.

Ten years from now, what are you doing? Playing in the big leagues! In every sport!

My dream date would be with __________, doing what? Jess from Bend It Like Beckham! We could play soccer together, and it’d be totally cool!

It’s the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do? Everything to the extreme!

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