#had i not been channel-surfing at far too late an hour

[fictionadventurer]

I could never have known that watching Cook's Country at one in the morning would have such a profound impact on my future Christmases.

[natalievoncatte]

1. Leaves

Lena was, in all honesty, having the time of her life. Since they’d arrived here, she had finally relaxed. Really relaxed. Lex was gone. Capital-G Gone. The last of Cadmus had been mopped up. The Conpany was no longer a problem- L-Corp was being sold off, from entire divisions down to sales of old office chairs. The Estate and nine-tenths of the family holdings were all being sold off, and the money quietly funneled into a holding company. Sam Arias would manage Lena’s wealth.

Lena had nothing to do anymore, and it was glorious. She’d done what she’d never done in her entire life: rest. She ate when was hungry, slept when she was tired. She stayed up late finishing a thriller novel she’d grabbed off one of Kara’s tables and slept it off the following day. She could do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, so one day she said, “Let’s go watch the leaves change.”

“Not much of that in National City,” Kara had said, not looking up from her laptop.

Lena was flipping channels when she made the suggestion, another pedestrian activity that had been too far beneath her to ever indulge during her CEO days.

“I’m serious,” said Lena. “I’ll rent us a cabin, book a flight, and we’ll be there by tomorrow morning. Vermont, or maybe New Hampshire.”

Kara looked up. “I could just fly us.”

“Short distances only,” said Lena.

Kara weighed it for a moment. She looked at Lena for a drawn out instant, eyes darting this way and that. Lena knew she had a deadline; she had become privy to the details of Kara’s life ever since she started couch surfing at Kara’s place after dumping her chic penthouse on some petroleum heir from the Emirates.

She had been “crashing” at Kara’s place for three months and had her own key, but they weren’t talking about it. Lena had remained on the couch, falling asleep to YouTube videos of molten lava and cat purring sounds, while Kara puttered around the house.

There were moments of tension. Pauses during shared meals. Moments when they pressed closed on sofa, times when Kara got up to go to bed and Lena felt this yearning to follow that she never quite obeyed.

Kara was thinking. Hard.

“Rent a cabin?”

“Yeah, someplace remote. So you can take a break. You’ve been working harder than ever, Darling. It almost feels like you’re avoiding me.”

Kara swallowed. “Okay,” she said. “We’ll fly. The regular way.”

They did, arriving in Maine less than a day later. Lena rented a Land Rover (because they were on an Adventure) and did all the driving, three hours from the airport to the cabin.

Kara rode in silence, though Lena heard her gasp.

The trees were beautiful. They were alive with color, as if an impressionist master had made the world a canvas and run riot. It was more than a mass of reds and yellows and oranges. It was astonishing.

It was dark when they arrived at the cabin. Lena had chosen one with two bedrooms, though she hesitated when she did. It had a full kitchen with a gas stove and all the amenities but also a fire pit and picnic table and gazebo, and overlooked a private swath of a small lake. It was like something out of a Bob Ross painting.

They were both tired from the flight, or at least Lena was, and turned in right away. When she rose the next day, she cheerily told her cabin-mate she was headed into town to get some supplies.

Kara went out to chop wood. Lena, of course, watched a few swings before leaving. Kara didn’t really need an axe but Lena didn’t care; she was preoccupied watching the muscles of Kara’s shoulders and back as she swung the splitting maul.

Lena got back before noon and carried the groceries inside, enough for her to use the fancy kitchen to prepare a mighty feast for her companion.

She didn’t hear the sobs until she had most of it put away. Lena bolted to the back door and stopped.

Kara was sitting on the picnic table, feet resting on the long board that acted as a seat. She was holding a single golden leaf on her hand, studying it and sobbing softly to herself.

“Kara?”

She looked up, soft blue eyes wet with tears. Lena felt a wave of grief but also panic, rushing to the table.

“Kara, what’s wrong?”

“I,” Kara started. “Lena, I’m scared.”

Lena swallowed hard. “Why?”

Kara looked at the leaf. “Another year past. The leaves turn colors and fall, school starts, things change.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Alex is married now. They’ve got a kid to raise. Nia and Brainy will probably get married soon. We hadn’t had a game night in two months.”

Lena swallowed. Kara was right. When Lena had first joined, then rejoined, this wonderful found family had been aggressively social, and now they forgot to text as often as not. They all spent more time at home or at their real jobs than at the Tower. The world had just started moving on. Kara didn’t even wear the cape every day anymore.

“I know,” said Lena, her voice thick. “But you’ve got me.”

Lena felt her pulse start to race. Kara had been so distant, she couldn’t help wonder if she was enough. If boring, retired Lena wasn’t enough. Oh God, what if Kara was thinking about going to Argo? Or the future?

“Not forever,” said Kara, her voice cracking like glass. She let the leaf drop from her fingers. “Eventually you’ll go. All of you. Brainy, Nia, Alex, Clark if he doesn’t come back from Argo. You.”

“Oh,” Lena said, softly. “Oh, Kara.”

“I think I might be immortal,” Kara whispered. “I don’t feel any aches or pains. Nothing about me changes. I don’t forget things like people do. My body just keeps repairing itself and it never makes any mistakes. What if I’m just like this forever? Or even a thousand years? What if everyone is gone and their kids are gone and no one knows who I am anymore?!” she was frantic now, the words coming too fast.

Lena reached out, tentatively. She put her hands on Kara’s shoulders and pulled herself in, wrapping her best friend in a hug.

Birds chirped, the waters of the lake made soft glug-glugs, and all around them was the soft tapping sound of the leaves, already letting go.

“I won’t leave you,” Lena whispered. “Kara, I won’t. If I have to live forever I will. I’ll find a way. Tech, magic, fifth dimensional imps. I’ll find a way.”

Kara sighed, arms firmly around her.

“Do you need space?” Lena asked. “I could leave you alone for a bit. Look for a place when we get back, so I’m not on the couch all the time.”

“I don’t want you to leave,” Kara blurted, almost cutting her off. “I know I’ve been distant, it’s just… I keep looking at you and thinking about all the time I’ve lost and all the mistakes I’ve made and how I’ll regret it forever. We have so little time and I’m so scared I’ll lose you.”

Lena pulled back to look at her. “We have a long time to make more memories. As many as we can.”

“I’ll lose you too,” said Kara. “I know you want more. A family, a partner. You’ll start to have less time for me. You’ll all just fall away and I’ll be stuck here alone.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“How can you say that?”

Kara started to pull away. Lena stopped her with a tug on her arms. It stunned her, sometimes, how she could overpower a god with her tiny human hands. How she could stun the other whirlwind or a touch.

“Kara,” said Lena. “I don’t want someone else. I want you.”

“Me?” Kara squeaked.

Lena cleared her throat. “I wanted to tell you at the wedding. I mean, I didn’t dress like that and go stag for the hell of it. I just lost my nerve and you seemed so overwhelmed.”

Kara blinked a few times.

“You want me?” said Kara.

Lena felt a cold rush of terror. She’d just blurted it out, artlessly, unplanned.

“Like want me want me? Like kissing want me?”

Lena licked her lips. “Yes. I’d like to kiss you right now, if you let me.”

Kara settled back into the table, leaning forward. Lena leaned in, pushing her back slightly, moving her hands from shoulders to hips, scoring the way Kara tensed and trembled. She was hardly inexperienced, Lena knew, but something about this felt like a first kiss, even for her. It tasted like one, too, down to the quivery way their lips met.

Kissing quickly became something more. Lena didn’t know if she was pulling or Kara pushing. It didn’t much matter; the path led to the bed in Kara’s room, marked by a trail of shed clothing.

Years of anticipation overwhelmed them both; dinner was forgotten, and they didn’t even emerge until the next day.

It was in the morning sun, the light turning Kara’s skin gold, that Lena saw it. Twisted within one of the curling locks of hair, splayed around Kara’s head on the pillow, was a faintly visible thread of purest silver, chased through the gold like an engraver’s masterpiece. Lena couldn’t help but twirl the errant strands around her finger.

As Kara slept, she looked up through the window and watched the wind as it caressed the leaves.

[insomniac4000]

Panic Stations ChrisMD

Chris helps you through a tough time.

You would thinking having a YouTube channel, centred a whirlwind of challenge videos, travel documentaries, and chaotic collaborations, pulsed with charisma would mean confidence. She was the girl who hiked volcanoes, surfed in Indonesia, and beat four lads in a "Survive on £5 in London" for a week challenge. She was witty, magnetic, and always had the best laugh in the room.

But lately, the laugh came slower. Sometimes, not at all, slowly it was like a light was being dimmed bit by bit. Her energy was fading, she was becoming ever frustrated with her edits as nothing looked right, she was harsher on herself. She didn’t feel like eating or going to her dance classes, everything was an effort. It wasn’t like she felt sad it was more of a numb feeling at first but it then spiralled.

She’d stop replying in the group chat as quickly. Started missing the casual pub nights or declining spontaneous shoot invites from her friends. She had an office in The Fella’s building which meant often drinks with Will, George, Theo, Reev, Cal, and especially Chris were arranged. She didn’t feel like going much anymore and when she did show up, she was quieter. Her eyes never quite reached people’s anymore she felt uncomfortable there, like she didn’t belong.

ChrisMD also known as Chris Dixon noticed. He’d known her for years now, their offices were next to each other’s; they’d filmed together, travelled together, laughed until their sides hurt. He’d seen her tired or stressed before, but this was different.

She didn’t seem particularly stressed but she was distant. Dulled.

He wasn’t sure when he first clocked it properly. Maybe it was the day she uploaded a video, something about surviving 24 hours in the woods and she didn’t share it on Twitter or Instagram, didn’t dope it in the group chat, didn't respond to any of the comments. Didn’t celebrate the fact it hit a million views in two days.

It wasn’t like her.

Chris messaged: “Proud of you, that vid’s class.” She replied four hours later with: “Ta x”

That was it.

It got worse, the apathy went to frustration which moved into feelings of inadequacy. She sat on her sofa one morning, eyes dry from lack of sleep, the YouTube dashboard open on her laptop. Her latest video was trending, comments overflowing with praise and admiration. But all she felt was… nothing.

She hadn’t washed her hair in three days. Breakfast was a handful of dry cereal, dinner the night before was half a glass of wine. Her phone buzzed with texts, emails, notifications from brands and editors, but the noise blended into a meaningless hum. Everything felt… off.

And the worst part? She didn’t know why. Nothing had happened. No disaster. No heartbreak. No scandal. Just a slow erosion of her drive. Her joy. Her self.

Even walking to the kitchen felt like a mission.

Even smiling at herself in the mirror felt fake.

She tried to film a video that afternoon—just a simple Q&A. She did her makeup, forced a cheerful intro, and by minute three, shut the camera off mid-sentence.

She sat on the floor, back against the cupboards, knees pulled into her chest. Staring at nothing.

Chris knew about mental health struggles,. He’d been open on his channel about it before. He understood that feeling—the irrational dread, the spiralling thoughts, the impending sense of doom. He saw the change in her and hated it, knowing he needed to do something he invited her to a shoot with George and ArthurTV—some silly football challenge. She said she was busy. He asked if she wanted to grab dinner after. She left it on read.

Then one afternoon, he went by her place.

She opened the door in a hoodie far too big for her frame, hair tied up messily, the curls looking matted in places, face pale. She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Hey,” she said, voice flat and quiet. “Didn’t know you were coming.”

“I figured I’d surprise you. We haven’t hung out in ages.” He paused, frowning slightly. “You okay?”

She nodded. “Just tired.”

They sat on the sofa. Chris talked for a while, trying to keep the energy light—funny stories, YouTube gossip, the usual. She smiled in the right places, even laughed once or twice, but something felt missing. Like it was a performance, it all felt a bit forced like a very early Youtuber you hasn’t quite figured out their online persona yet.

After a while, she stood up, saying she needed to edit something.

Chris watched her walk to her desk and sit, back hunched. He left not long after, unsettled.

That night, he messaged her again.

“You’ve been really quiet lately. Want to talk?”

No reply.

A few days later Chris saw her in the office, his face dropped she did not look like herself at all. It was obvious that she hadn’t slept she looked tired. Her chest felt tight. The room felt like it was shrinking.

She went to fill up her water bottle Chris was in the kitchen already making tea when he heard a noise—something between a gasp and a sob. He turned sharply.

“Y/N?”

She rushed to the worktop and placed her hands on is squeezing it tight, she was, trembling. Her eyes were wide, unfocused. She looked like she couldn’t breathe.

“Y/N,” he said again, softer this time, stepping closer. “Hey—look at me.”

Her knees gave slightly, and Chris reached her just in time, steadying her by the elbows.

“I—I can’t—” she stammered. “I can’t breathe, I think something’s wrong—my heart—Chris, I—”

“It’s okay,” he said immediately, voice low and calm. “It’s a panic attack. Just a panic attack. You’re not dying. I promise you’re safe.”

She shook her head, eyes wild, chest rising in fast, shallow bursts. “It doesn’t feel safe—my chest—it hurts—”

“I know,” he murmured. “I’ve had them. Loads, actually. I know it feels terrifying. But you’re okay. I’ve got you.”

He gently guided her to the sofa, keeping one hand on her back.

“Okay, we’re going to breathe together, yeah? Just you and me. You trust me?”

Tears streamed down her face as she nodded, barely able to speak.

“Alright. Put your hand here,” he said, guiding her palm to his chest, over his heartbeat. “Feel that? I’m right here.”

He took a deep breath—slow, audible, controlled. “In for four, okay? With me. One… two… three… four. Now out. One… two… three… four.”

She struggled to match him at first, but he kept going, anchoring her with his voice, his presence.

“You’re doing so well,” he whispered. “Let’s try again. In… two… three… four. Out… two… three… four.”

Her breathing began to slow. Still uneven, but no longer so rapid her breaths were too shallow. Her grip on his shirt tightened.

“I’m scared,” she whispered.

“I know,” he said, thumb gently brushing the back of her hand. “I’ve been there. Middle of the night. Or sometimes in a crowded room. Your brain lies to you. Tells you something awful is happening. But I swear it passes. Always.”

She clung to him, shaking. “I forgot you got them.”

“I used to try and hide it too,” he said softly. “Even from my family at first. Thought it made me weak. It doesn’t. Just means you’re overwhelmed. That’s all this is. A wave. And we’re riding it out together.”

They sat like that for a while— pressed against his side, her head resting on his shoulder, her breathing finally slowing into a manageable rhythm. Her fingers had stopped trembling.

“You’re alright,” he said, resting his cheek gently against her curls. “You’re okay now.”

Her voice was hoarse when she spoke again. “I felt like I was disappearing.”

Chris’s heart clenched. “You’re still here,” he said. “I’ve got you. You didn’t disappear. I won’t let you”

A long pause.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Chris pulled back just enough to look at her properly. Her cheeks were damp, her eyes puffy, but she was grounded again. Present. Real.

“You don’t ever have to thank me for this,” he said seriously. “You help everyone else, all the time. You carry so much. Let’s share the load a little bit yeah? I’ve got muscles.” He flexed and laughed a little and nodded, eyes glassy.

“I hate that this is what you went through,” she murmured. “Alone.”

He shook his head. “Not anymore.”

Another pause, soft and still.

“Next time,” she said, her voice breaking slightly, “will you stay?”

He smiled. “Every time.”

She curled into him then, fully and completely, and he held her with both arms wrapped around her like a shelter, like he could keep the world out if she just stayed there long enough.

And for a while, they didn’t speak. Didn’t need to.

It was enough to just breathe together. In. Out. Safe.

A week passed, Chris messaged often not wanting to be too domineering but he was still worried, he hadn’t seen her much still and didn’t know how she was, not really.

Then they were in the office the same day again.

Chris noticed her fingers trembling slightly when she was trying to gather water bottles for her team, it was a team meeting they always had one on a Wednesday. He notice how small she looked, how was she avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room, how she had barely acknowledged anyone’s’ greeting.

At one point, she stepped out. Chris followed.

She was in the stairwell, breathing heavily, hands pressed to her face.

“Y/N?” he said gently.

She looked up—and that was when everything cracked.

Her eyes were red. Her lips quivered. And then, before she could stop it, a sob broke out of her chest.

It was ugly. Raw. Painful.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she gasped. “I can’t do it anymore, Chris. I can’t smile or film or think straight. I’m so tired. I feel like I’m drowning.”

Chris stepped forward instinctively, pulling her into a hug. She shook in his arms, tears soaking into his t-shirt.

“I didn’t want anyone to know,” she mumbled. “I thought it would go away.”

His voice was low, steady. “Hey, hey… it’s okay. You’re not broken. You’re just overwhelmed. You don’t have to go through it alone.”

She held onto him like he was the last solid thing in the world.

The shoots for the rest of the week at least were cancelled Chris told the others she felt unwell and was taking the rest of the week off, no one questioned it.

He stayed with her the whole evening.

They didn’t talk much—just sat in silence on her sofa, a blanket around her shoulders, the TV playing softly in the background.

Eventually, she whispered, “I think I need help.”

Chris squeezed her hand. “That’s the strongest thing you’ve said all day.”

She started therapy the next week. Took a break from YouTube. Posted a message to her community: “Taking time to look after my mental health. Thank you for being kind.”

The response was overwhelming—supportive, loving, understanding.

Chris checked in daily. Sometimes they went on walks. Sometimes they just watched stupid movies or Tiktoks. Slowly, the colour came back to her face.

One day, a few weeks later, she smiled at him—really smiled.

“I think I’m getting better,” she said.

Chris smiled back, heart lifting. “You are.”

“It’s all thanks to you.”

“No, you’ve done the hard work. It’s not an easy road to walk down.

“Well you put the tarmac down for me. I’ll always be grateful to you. I owe you a drink every single time we go out now,” she smiled, it was genuine.

“I hope there’s a lot of outings in the future for you me,” Chris said softly, but that was another conversation for another day.

[claireelle18]

Everything Turns Out Right - Ross Colton

He’s out of surgery and she meets him in his room afterwards, telling him “you know, they almost didn’t let me in here. They said I had to wait until you were up and asking for me.” Her pointed look towards him.

“They only let me in because you had me listed on your paperwork as your wife. Though I had to convince them, due to us not having the same last name.” 

He put his hands up in a half-hearted attempt, “I’m trying to manifest the things I want by speaking them into the universe.” 

“And you want a wife?” A faked pointed look shot to him. 

“Only if it’s you.” A cocky grin spreading to show his pearly whites. 

“I think your meds are too strong. You, mister, are lucky. I was able to convince them we hadn’t agreed to us taking each other’s names yet and that we were waiting for my passport to be renewed before anything else.” 

He chuckles, “So you’re going along with this wifey?” Her heart racing hearing him jokingly call her that name she desperately wants him to actually mean. 

“Only because I wanted to be here,” she stuck out her tongue, settling next to his bedside. 

Hours must have passed before the next person visited. “Mr. Colton…” stated a middle aged nurse.

“Shhh…please. She is trying to sleep,” he motioned to her curled up in the corner of the hospital room couch. “Kept her up all night worried with the injury as she had to fly in before learning anything further.” 

“So sorry, Mr. Colton. I was trying to inform you that visiting hours are soon to be over.” 

“She’s my wife. She can stay.” 

“My bad sir.” The nurse ducked out of the doorway. She stirred soon after. Blinking around, searching to understand her surroundings. 

“Tony is on his way here with real food for you. You need to eat. I’m pretty sure you last ate that snack size bag of Cheez-Its before the airplane ride.” He said. She squinty-eyed him. “You know I’m right.” 

“You need to eat too, R,” she huffed. 

“Already ate. Hospital food. Not half bad,” he shrugged, motioning to the bed tray with the past dinner plate. 

“I can go down to the cafe and get something before they close for the night,” she started to protest. He shook his head. 

“Too late sweets. He’s on his way. Meantime I’ve been channel surfing and I found a Jurassic Park movie marathon.” 

Thanks to Tony coming in with true food for her before retreating back to the team’s hotel, she was left with him again. “Come here sweetheart,” he motioned to the slightly larger than a twin bed. 

“R…” she started to protest. 

“Nuh uh honey. Join me, I need you here to make sure no dinosaurs come to eat me.” She rolled her eyes. 

“You’re a dork.” 

“Yeah, yeah, but I’m your dork. Now get over here.” She gingerly climbed into the bed as best as she could to avoid bumping into his shoulder. 

Before the team jetted off to the next city for the next game in the road series, a few stopped by to check in. She had slipped out to grab a cup of coffee while the men all talked briefly. “Soooo Tony spilled the beans that you told the docs she’s your wife…” Patty joked. 

“Well I knew she would just be too anxious to sit in the hotel room with one of you guys. No offense,” he replied back.

“You must really love her to go that far to lie about her to a hospital,” Brayden chimed in. 

“And to have us use your card to buy her that emergency flight,” Steven commented. “Ross you have to just tell her the way you feel. Sandra tells me that the way she looks at you is the same way that all of our ladies look at us, but that there is that look of longing written deep in her expression. Hate to break it to you now, but do something about it. Seriously.” No one knew that she had returned from her coffee adventure to over hear the conversation. 

Steven was right. All the guys were. Sandra was, and she knew exactly her feelings towards the New Jersey native as it was a family common topic of discussion in the family box. “I want to give her the entire universe. I wasn’t really lying about the whole wife part, more just trying to actually speak what I want into existence with her. I know Tony knows this since he was there to help me pick it out, but I have the ring for her.” A ring?! So he had that planned out already. 

She burst into the already cramped hospital room, carefully flinging herself into the body of the man she loved so much. A couple of the guys chuckled at the scene in front of them. “I love you so much, R.” 

“So I am guessing you heard the conversation,” his laugh reverberating through her. 

“Every word.”

“Well fuck this wasn’t really the way I had thought it would happen,” he glanced around the room at the guys. “I don’t even have it with me. Didn’t expect to have you here with me, even if it is due to the unfortunate circumstance.” 

“I don’t care if you physically have it. You have known that items aren’t important to me.” Her eyes getting all teary.

“Sweetheart, it’s important as it’s my promise to you. You deserve to have a ring. It’s been in my nightstand drawer for months.” That was true. He bought the ring almost a year ago. She had left for a weekend to visit her family, which meant he was able to go pick out the right ring for her. He had been speaking with a local jeweler for a handful of weeks, and the designed ring finally came in. 

The team left, and the couple (well Ross) was discharged from the hospital. The flight back to Tampa was uneventful, except for the company of one of the trainers to make sure there were no unforeseen complications to the injured offensive. When the two arrived home, he pulled the velvet box from that back part of his nightstand. Her tears springing to blur her vision. “Again, not how I had imagined or planned to do this for you,” he started. 

She shook her head, a silent laugh shaking her body. “My love, you have been the best part of my life,” he continued on. “The nonstop love you have for everyone around you. How much you pour yourself into your life. I could not even imagine life without you in it. When you came into my life, the sunshine brightened the world even further. I saw it from a different outlook that only you could show me.” He watched her closely as he momentarily struggled with the small box. 

Pulling it open, revealing the large custom ring to her. “Will you do me the honor of continuing that life, and be my wife?” He asked her. 

“Absolutely yes! I would say yes in every life time to you Ross.” She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it, and was so glad he felt the same. Through it all, life would be amazing with each other by their sides. 

[craftycheetah]

Purr Like an Engine Finale

The sunlight shined through your windows, illuminating your cats’ fur, luring them out to sunbathe. It was a quiet day inside, but outside, the streets were lively. Kids running along the streets and people walking along the sidewalk, not an ounce of fear in their bodies.

‘Mrow.’

You turn around, smiling when Cookie Shake trots up to you, Neo not too far behind him. “Good morning, my babies~” You lean down and pet their heads, scratching under Neo’s chin while Cookie Shake tries pouncing on your hand. “Hey, no biting! I’ll go get you some breakfast.”

Cookie Shake follows happily, weaving between your legs while Neo trots in and jumps on the counter above her bowl.

Your phone buzzes on the counter.

You read over the message again, smiling to yourself. Your screen flashes before you put your phone. Afterward, your body sprawls freely on the couch, and you relax into the cushions. After channel surfing, you find a marathon of your favorite show. After a couple hours, you get pulled away by soft knocking from your front. 

“Coming!” You shout. 

You pause the episode, get off the couch and stretch. You notice Cookie Shake sleeping peacefully on the other side of the sofa, and you rub behind his ear. Your feet carry you to the door, a hand coming to your eyes to rub the sleep out of them. You turn the knob and open the door, your demeanor changing upon seeing a familiar face. 

“Hey (Y/N)!” Hitoshi smiles.

Your jaw drops when you see him standing on your porch. “Hitoshi…you’re on my porch. Oh my gosh, what’re you doing here?!”

“I came to see you.”

You step aside, letting him inside. “That’s so sweet! Come in, come in.”

Hitoshi takes his shoes off by the door and places a small bag on your coffee table, noticing Cookie Shake on the sofa. “Oh my goodness, my little man,” he coos, petting his fur. “Is Neo here?”

You point to the kitchen and giggle when Hitoshi walks over to Neo and gets cuddled the second she recognizes him. “Looks like she missed you.”

“i missed her too. So, how’re you doing?” Hitoshi asks, scratching under Neo’s chin.

“Much better. The nightmares are slowly going away.”

“Nightmares? What nightmares?” 

You shrug and sit beside Cookie Shake, who sleeps peacefully. “About a month or so after the trial…I got these weird messages, and I had to go to the police about it. It stopped eventually but the thought of someone getting Tenk—ah , I mean Tomura out terrified me. That little voice in the back of my head saying, ‘He’ll come back for you. He always makes good on his promises.’ It freaked me out, Hitoshi,” you sigh. “Then I kept having this recuuring nightmare where I’d open the door and there he was soaking wet and dishelveled in his jumpsuit. He’d always have this crazed look in his eye. My feet would be stuck to the floor and I’d wake up just as he’d pull me out the door.”

Hitoshi walks over with Neo in his arms and lets the cuddly cat sit in his lap as he gently takes your hand. “I promise that as long as I’m here, you’ll always be safe. Even if that cracked face bastard somehow gets out, I’ll be here to protect you.”

You look at him, his slightly calloused hand gently cupping yours. “Hitoshi…” you mutter.

“You mean a lot to me,” he smiles, stroking your hand. “I don’t know how to put this exactly, so I’m sorry if this sounds cheesy or corny.”

“I won’t judge you. Just take your time and say what you need to say.”

Hitoshi takes a deep breath and nods. “Alright. I've been thinking a lot lately and want to get something off my chest. “The truth is, I have a crush on you. The more I get to know you, the stronger my feelings grow. You have this effortless charm and kindness that draws people in, and I find myself falling deeper with every passing day. These last few months we’ve spent together have been amazing. Seeing you and your fur babies have made my life even better because I got to have you in it. 

“So, (Y/N), I'm putting my heart on the line here and asking if you'd be willing to go out with me?” he asks, giving you a kind yet nervous smile.

You let Hitoshi’s words sink in. ‘He likes me back…’ you think. You gently squeeze his hand and smile. “I’d love that.”

Hitoshi’s eyes widen. “Yo…you’re serious?”

You giggle at his reaction. “I had a crush on you too.”

Hitoshi laughs softly before pulling you into a hug. “Oh my God, I was so nervous you’d say no,” he mumbles into your scalp.

You hug him back and nestle into his shoulder. “I was nervous you’d say no when I finally mustered up the courage to confess,” you admit.

He pulls away and gently cups your face his touch sending shivers down their spine. “I could never say no to you.”

Their breaths mingled, warm and sweet, as they leaned in, their lips a mere whisper away. In that moment, time seemed to stand still. The world around them faded into the background, leaving the two bathed in the enchantment of their shared connection. As your lips met, melding together in a tender, passionate kiss, a symphony of emotions filled you—an explosion of longing, tenderness, and the sheer joy of having someone who truly loved you.

Once you pulled away, you pant softly. “Wow…” you mumble. “That was…”

“Yeah, amazing,” he chuckles, finishing your sentence.

←prev || Masterlist ||

A/N: It took me a year but I finally finished this SMAU lmao. School kicked my ass and I had almost NO free time. Enjoy and stay on the lookout for the ending to my other SMAU and maybe something new

»Summary: Bikers weren’t necessarily a problem in your city, but to you, they were like the bubonic plague. After running into one of them, you had to ask yourself, are bikers really that much of a nuisance?

Ghost readers don’t get fed!

Taglist: @theebussyqueensblog @milkmademozzarella @mxonigirimiya @kurocantcommunicate @minninugget @readergurl20 @kingsheir

[typhos-c-dragon]

perhabs,, early relationship, Paul wanting affection but being anxious and not knowing how to go about it?

Ceej, you understand me and my Paul hcs on a spiritual level, thank you for my rights and an excuse to write soft nonsense. It's uh... It's a little long.

Being in an honest-to-god romantic relationship was taking a bit of re-getting used to for Paul. He hadn't dated anyone since college, and suddenly wham, he's head over heels for a cute, snarky barista who seems to return his affections. It was odd, but no less wonderful, feeling his heart flutter in his chest whenever Emma so much as smiled at him. He hadn't felt this way about someone in damn near a decade, and then this beautiful 5'0 biology student walked into his life, and god, his brain just didn't know how to handle it.

Paul and Emma had started seeing each other around late October, hooking up in the Beanies break room during a Halloween party her boss Nora had thrown. It was mid-December now, a week and a half before Christmas, and things were still going strong between them. Though there had been... something strange on Paul's mind for a few weeks now, something that had never bothered him before in his past relationships.

Paul was a tactile guy with people he liked, something his friends all knew well. He was never sure exactly how he'd rank the five love languages as applied to himself, but touch was definitely his number one. Casual shoulder squeezes and light nudges were common gestures of his among friends, as Bill could easily attest. With romantic partners, this was cranked up a bit. Lots of light kisses to their temple or resting his hand on their back, stuff like that. It was always the easiest way for him to show that he cared. His partners... were never as tactile as him. It was very all give and no take on Paul's end when it came to physical affection, and he hadn't really minded it. At least, he was pretty sure he hadn't...

But now? With Emma? Her touch was something he actively craved. And it's not as if Emma never touched him outside of sex, far from it, she was probably the most physically affectionate partner Paul had ever had. She held his hand, kissed his cheek, cuddled up against him during movie nights, and gave him playful little jabs in the side when he was being a smartass. But she wasn't quite as casually affectionate as Paul was with her, and he couldn't help but wish she was.

And sweet jesus christ, did Paul find it embarrassing. It made him feel like some dopey lovesick teenager whenever he thought about it. Like, what was he supposed to do? Ask her to touch him more often? He'd sound like a total fucking weirdo if he tried to explain it to her. But still, he couldn't help but think about it a lot.

It had been a lazy Sunday evening, the one day of the week when neither half of the couple had work. And of course, they were... taking advantage of their day off, as it were. On Paul's living room couch, no less. They'd just finished up, and Emma had gone off to use his shower and whatnot. After washing up a bit, Paul had promptly put some comfy sleepwear on (because it was December in Michigan and Paul was not one to lounge around in the nude with temperatures like that outside), and was now absentmindedly channel surfing whilst laying on the couch.

Nearly half an hour later, Emma had emerged from the bathroom, hair tied into a braid and clad in a bright red hoodie that Paul recognized as his own. He couldn't help but smile, it was so big on her, and she looked adorable in it.

"Find anything to watch while I was in there?" she asked.

"Hallmark movies, a bunch of stock Christmas faire, and like three separate Harry Potter marathons," Paul replied. "None of which I'm particularly interested in watching, so we might have to retreat to the DVD shelf again."

Emma shrugged. "Hey, fine by me, TV edits are usually garbage fires anyway," she said. She strode over to the other side of the living room, where Paul kept his DVDs, and eyed the shelf. After a minute or two, she plucked a case off the shelf, snickering. "Monty Python: Life of Brian, that's a Christmas movie, right?"

"Absolutely," Paul quipped. "Anything can be a Christmas movie if you stretch the definition enough."

"Good, because I wanna watch Monty Python."

After popping the disk in, she turned back to the couch, and Paul sat up to give her some room. As she sat back down, Paul took in the sight of her. God, she was lovely. And she looked so cozy in his hoodie, it was hard not to find the sight of her absolutely heart-melting. His heart fluttered a bit, he was getting that feeling again. Unfortunately, Paul found himself staring at her instead of the screen for a bit too long, and she took notice.

"Paul?" she piped up, snapping him out of his trance with a befuddled smile. "You good, babe?"

Paul felt his cheeks flush. Had she ever called him "babe" before? "It's, uh... it's nothing," he stammered unconvincingly. "I just zoned out for a bit."

Emma, being the observant person she was, eyed him with skepticism. "You look like you have something on your mind," she noted. "What's up?"

Well, shit. Feeling his face burn hotter, Paul attempted to weasel himself out of this inevitable awkward conversation.

"N-nothing's up, I'm fine!" he tried to assure her, perhaps too defensively to sound convincing.

"That's the voice of a man who definitely has something up," Emma observed. She grabbed the remote, and paused the film before continuing. "Something's bothering you, Paul, I can tell."

"It-it's just..." Paul tried to begin, feeling momentarily reassured by Emma's soft gaze. But when the right words wouldn't come to him, he groaned and buried his flushing face in his hands. God, why was he like this? "Nevermind, it's really stupid, can we just watch the movie, please?"

"Paul, I know stupid, I work at Beanies," Emma retorted playfully, earning a brief chuckle from Paul. "Whatever's bothering you, it can't be any worse than the shit my co-workers complain about on the daily. I promise you I won't laugh."

Paul removed his hands from his face, meeting her gentle gaze once more. "You mean it?"

She nodded. "I'm all ears."

Exhaling a deep breath, Paul took a moment to think of how to word his self-imposed predicament in the least stupid way possible. Probably best to start small.

"Um, y'know how... when we watch movies or whatever together," he began, trying to force himself to talk above a whisper. "You'll like, lean against my chest, and I'll wrap my arms around you and play with your hair and all that?"

Emma nodded, looking somewhat confused. "Yeah...?"

"Do you think we could... do that the other way around this time?"

There was a brief moment of silence, and Paul was pretty sure his face had turned a shade of red that had only ever been seen by shrimp before. Jesus, that must've sounded so stupid.

"That's all?" Emma asked.

Yep, there it was. Paul looked down at his lap again, embarrassed beyond belief. "Basically, yeah..." he chuckled despite himself. "I know, I know, it's really dumb, and I probably got you all worried for nothing-"

"Whoa, whoa, Paul, slow down!" Emma cut him off, reaching out to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. She smiled at him softly. "I mean, sure! If that's what you want, we can do it!"

Paul took another deep breath. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Emma replied. She leaned back on the arm of the couch, and opened her arms. "Come on, bring it in."

Still nervous and flustered, Paul slowly eased himself against Emma, resting his head against her chest. He could feel her heartbeat, even through the thick fabric of the hoodie. Emma rested one hand on his back, and began to thread her fingers through his hair, just like he would do with her. Paul felt a chill go down his spine. God, he forgot how much he loved having his hair stroked. He wrapped his arms around her torso, face still flushing like nobody's business.

"How's that?" Emma asked, undoubtedly noticing the ridiculous smile that had forced itself onto his face.

"Wonderful..." he sighed, finally beginning to calm down a bit. "Thanks, Emma."

"No prob," Emma snickered, still stroking his hair. "But before we un-pause the movie, can I ask why it was such an ordeal for you to ask me about this?"

"It's kinda hard to articulate," Paul explained, adjusting himself so that he wasn't muffled by the hoodie. "My, um... my past partners weren't really the, uh... the affectionate kinda types, y'know? So it just kinda felt weird to ask you to... do this... I guess..."

"...Well," Emma began after a moment's pause. "I'm not your past partners, so I'd be more than happy to do this more often."

"You would?" Paul inquired hopefully.

"If it makes you feel as loved as it makes me feel," Emma said, rubbing a calming circle between his shoulder blades with her thumb. "Then I'll do it anytime."

Paul could've melted right then and there. He was loved... In a somewhat indirect way, Emma said she loved him. Perhaps now was the time...

"Thanks again, Em," he said, slightly choked up. He craned his neck a bit to press a kiss to her neck. "I, um... I love you."

Emma briefly paused in her stroking of his hair, only to resume moments later, and press a kiss to his forehead.

"I... I love you too, Paul."

[petite-ely]

Afraid // JJ Maybank

two - the calm after the storm

Pairing: JJ Maybank x fem routledge! reader

Warnings: bad language (as usual), underage drinking, fear of drowning and deep waters, mention of a hurricane, probably some mistakes too lol

Description: After the surge hit the island, the pogues decide to enjoy a nice day out on the hms pogue, until they find something unusual hidden in the marsh.

A/n : hey there buckaroos, I know I just posted the previous part but I felt so bad for not updating sooner. So here ya go. Hope you like it :)

Previously next

Afraid masterlist

Song recommendation:

There was always something really weird about the day right after a hurricane. It was like that feeling when you know something isn’t right but can’t quite put your finger on it, at least that’s what it was like for y/n. She found those days both extremely stressful and relaxing at the same time. As a child she never had to worry about the stressful part, but as someone who lived alone with two teenage boys and no adults, it was pretty nerve racking. She used to wake up really late on those days, enjoying the silence and comfort that reigned inside the Château. It was not something she did anymore.

When big John disappeared, John B and her had to learn how to take care of themselves. And that also meant becoming more responsible. So here she was, at 9:30 in the morning, standing in the fruit aisle of the grocery store, debating whether to buy cherries or peaches.

Fuck it, she thought putting both in her shopping cart.

You see living without parents at 16 also brought a thing called learning things the hard way. For example, if ever there’s a big storm or hurricane hitting your town and there’s a chance of the power being cut, you have to go grocery shopping before. Otherwise you have only two options. Either wake up at the butt crack of dawn and hunt down which grocery store is still open (and that’s only if no one else raided it before you ). Or you have to survive on the only things still good in your pantry - probably molded bread and peanut butter- until the nearest store opens.

Y/n being the intelligent teenager she was, decided to go with option one. So she woke up super early, wrote a note for her brother - which he probably wouldn’t even see, carefully attached a cooler to back of her bicycle and made her way into town. It was now almost two hours later. She had finished buying the necessities for the next few days and had already put all the perishable things inside her cooler and taped it shut so it wouldn’t spill its content onto the road.

She looked at her phone quickly. The hurricane had not only taken away the power but also the cell service towers. Which meant she couldn’t contact any of her friends at the moment. A sigh leaving her lips, she made her way to Kie’s house, hoping the other pogues hadn’t already picked her up.

“Hey, girlie,” her friend greeted as she turned into the driveway. “Hey, cutie,” y/n responded, placing her bike against the side of the house. “The pogues haven’t come by yet?”

“Nope, it’s just you and me for now. Come, we’ll go chat one the deck until they come.” Kiara motioned to the dock further away. “So, how bad is it at the chateau?”

“Oh you know, the usual,” she sat down beside Kiara, “no power, leaking roof, the yard is pretty dirty too, oh and I think a tree fell down.”

“Yikes.”

The two girls looked away in the distance as they heard the sound of a boat engine approaching them. “I think that’s our ride.”

Y/n saw her brother nudge JJ’s arm and point at her. “See, I told you she’d be here.”

“I left you a note, dumbass, didn’t know you couldn’t read anymore,” she put her cooler and her backpack onto the boat before getting in. “I went to get food for the week so we wouldn’t, you know, starve.” JJ snickered at her comment.

“Well, good morning to you too, y/n/n.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Here’s your breakfast, you greedy cow.” She tossed him a breakfast burrito. It was still warm and fresh, bringing a tasty smell in the air as it flew from y/n’s hand to her brother’s.

“Hey, no need for such words, I was only being polite.” Stated John B. “Thank you, for feeding me, my dearest sister.” Y/n cringed at his horrible impression of a British accent.

Just as she was going to make a joke about it, she noticed something sticky on her arm. Turning her head to the front of the boat, her eyes landed on JJ. He was, once again, trying his stupid beer trick, which failed and only resulted in splashing alcohol everywhere but in his mouth.

As she heard all of her friends complain about his behaviour, she decided it was enough and got up. She was about to take the bottle out of the blond’s hand, when the boat crashed into something. The impact had been hard enough to eject JJ out of the boat and make him fall right into the marsh.

“Ugh,” y/n groaned loudly. Since she had been standing when the boat stopped, she had tripped and fell into a very uncomfortable position. She had landed butt first on the hard metal edge of the boat, hitting her thigh at the same time.

“Jesus, Pope!” Kie said from where she was seated.

“You okay, JJ?”

“I think my heels touched the back of my head.” Usually, this kind of remark would have made y/n laugh, or even smile, but right now, she was not in the mood for laughter.

“Is everyone else okay? Y/n? Kie?” John B offered his hand to his friend. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“I think I broke my ass,” y/n winced as pain shot in her leg. “God, I never knew I was that flexible.”

The girl untangled her legs from the unnatural position they were forced into and reached for the cooler, taking a beer bottle inside. To minimize the pain she walked in a penguin-like way, taking very small steps. She must have looked very ridiculous doing so due to the weird look Pope gave her. She hissed as the cold of the bottle hit her leg. “What even was that?”

“Sandbar. The channel changed .” JJ swam back towards the hms. “No shit.” “Ugh this is probably gonna mess this whole place up.”

Pope approached the end of the boat, looking down with confusion painted on his face. “Guys,” his eyebrows scrunched even more, his eyes focusing on something hidden in the depth of the water. “I think there’s a boat down there.”

“Shut up.” “What?” “No way.” “Uh?” Y/n furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at the spot where Pope’s gaze was fixed. To her surprise there was actually a boat there, sunken and stuck into a pile of sand.

“Oh my god.” She looked back at her friends behind her. “He’s right!” She focused her attention back to the boat, trying to catch details of it. A thought crossed her mind. Could it be? No, it couldn’t. It wasn’t possible. There was no way that was her father’s boat down there, right?

“Guys.. Is this?” Y/n looked at her brother, he had thought the same thing as her. “It’s a boat!” Pope shouted with excitement.

“Holy shit he’s right, let’s go!”

Y/n’s friends all rushed to remove their clothes and jumped into the water. They seemed so excited. A small feeling of anxiety grew in the pit of her stomach. She felt left out, but at the same time she was scared. She practically knew the marsh like the back of her hand and yet she couldn’t help but worry. She looked down at the boat, it was way too far, she could never swim that deep.

The girl winced as she sat on the tip of the boat. She was looking at her four friends, their figures slowly shrinking as they swam deeper. When she looked at them it seemed so easy. Here they were swimming so carelessly. Why couldn’t that be her. Maybe one day she’d get over her phobia, but for now, it seemed impossible.

She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding when the heads of her friends reappeared at the surface. She could hear them talk with excitement, but they were too far for her to understand exactly what they were saying. Clearly, they had found something.

“You guys found anything cool?” She offered her hand to Kie. “It’s a Grady White,” JJ shook his wet hair. “A new one of these is like 500 Gs easy.”

“It’s a primo rig.”

“Yeah, that’s the boat I saw when I surfed the surge.” JB added, making his sister’s smile disappear. “Maybe it hit the jetty or something.”

“You surfed the surge?” Kiara’s tone dripped with worry. “What the heck.” Her voice lowered down as she spoke those last few words. “That’s my boy! Pogue style!” JJ encouraged, giving a slight pat to John’s back.

Y/n frowned at his words. “Please don’t encourage him, J.” She crossed her arms on her chest. “It was a very stupid thing to do.”

“Wait, wait. Do we even know whose boat it is?” “No, but we’re about to find out.”

“Wait ,” y/n gripped her brother’s arm, “ are you sure it’s safe?” “Yeah dude, it’s too deep.”

John B bent down to pick up the anchor from the compartment where it was kept. “Only for the weak and feeble JJ.” “Well, I’m not resuscitating you I’m just making that clear.”

“That’s fine.” He turned to his sister, who was looking at him with worried eyes. “Please be safe, okay bird?” She was using the nickname their father had given him when they were younger. She barely used it anymore, so he knew she was really worried.

“I promise,” he nudged her shoulder softly, “little bug.” “Diver down, fool.”

“Diver down.”

Taglist

@drewswannabegirl @kaelyn-lobrutto24 @poguestyle17 @im-a-stranger-thing @lasnaro @thoughtsofthestars @briandaflores19 @lunaposey @allycat449-blog @ifilwtmfc

This means it wouldn’t let me tag you :(

[mysingularitybts]

Unexpectedly Expecting a Min Yoongi One-Shot

Pairing: Idol! Min Yoongi x reader 

Genre: angst, romance

Warnings: none

The paper in front of you didn't lie, yet you stared at it in disbelief. While you had your suspicions, you didn't want to accept it. It's not that it wasn't in your plans because it was, but not so soon. After all, it had only been a few months since you had married Yoongi and between him being an idol and you managing your growing business, how was it all going to work out? 

You read the paper so many times, staring at the bold letters spelling 'positive'. You were pregnant. How were you going to tell Yoongi? He was an amazing husband and a great person, but the thought of telling him still made you nervous because this was not in the plans. You could only hope he would react positively, and you were sure he would, but there was this pesky annoying voice in your head saying he would get mad or upset.

According to what the doctor told you you were twelve weeks along. One would think you would notice you were pregnant, but you have been so busy with work it hadn't passed through your mind that your period was late at least until a week ago. Realizing the situation you left work and quickly went to the pharmacy, bought a pregnancy test, and took it. It came out positive, however, you had to be a hundred percent sure so you went to the doctor. The wait for the official results had been agonizing and stressful not only because of the results, but because you went through it alone without Yoongi to support you.

Weeks have passed and every time you tried to tell him the words did not want to come out. They would get stuck in your throat, your heartbeat would quicken, your palms would get sweaty, and he just looked at you expectantly waiting for you to say something. When some words managed to come out of your mouth they were not the ones intended. Deep down you know you shouldn't be too worried because he loved you and while it was sooner than thought he would receive the baby with open arms. So, why were you so damn hesitant? It might be the fact that it was such a life-changing situation and it happened very unexpectedly might I add.

Sitting at home you were surfing through the channels looking for something to watch, but it was soon forgotten as Yoongi walked into the room.

"Hey babe, remember to pack your bags for tomorrow," he said as he sat beside you on the couch.

"Yeah they are almost done," you said unenthusiastically looking at him.

"What's wrong? You don't want to go camping?" he asked with a chuckle taking your hand into his.

It had become a habit for him to take your hands and play with your wedding ring. You had asked him about it once, and he said it relaxed him and that it was a reminder he had you by his side.

"It's not that it's just I'm not really in the mood," you sighed pitifully. Maybe he will let you off the hook this once.

"You'll have fun with the guys you'll see," he reassured, cuddling you and putting his head on your neck.

"There's no doubt about that," you laughed feeling his hair tickling you.

The boys were always fun to be around. Being with Yoongi for years now you have gone on trips with them and they never failed to amuse you. From losing passports to filming funny videos to getting matching shirts to getting drunk and blacking out. There was never a boring moment. But camping while being pregnant? It did not sound good at all. As of recently one of your pregnancy symptoms has been constant urination. Like every half hour. The thought of going into the woods constantly to pee didn't motivate you to go on that camping trip.

Yoongi and you were the last ones to get to the camping site. It might have been because you were dragging it out, sadly, you couldn't stop the inevitable. Getting out of the car the boys greeted you.

"Ah thank god you're finally here we need help with the tents," Jin exclaimed from his spot reading some instructions.

"Y/n, I'm so happy to see you it's been a while," Hoseok greeted you excitedly with a hug.

You couldn't help but let out a chuckle, "It's only been a week, Hobi."

"Yah that's too long," he complained, releasing a pained sigh.

Since you had taken so long to get there the sun was already going down and, surprise, you had to pee. Urgently. You peeked a glance to the woods, the trees were tall with big branches casting a darker shadow, you could faintly hear the rustling of the wind and the movement of small animals. Overall, the woods gave off a dark and scary look. Your mind started racing at all the things that could be out there, what if there were bears or you got lost? Thinking of what to do you had two choices: either suck it up and go alone or drag your wonderful and fearless husband with you. The latter was the way to go.

"Yoongi, honey?" you called walking over to where he was by a tent.

"Hmm," He was focused on assembling the tent.

"I need to go pee," you said sheepishly.

Seeing as he didn't react you nudged again, "I really need to go."

He only waved you off with his hand. You swear that man can sometimes be clueless. With an exasperated sigh you clue him in, "Come with me I'm scared."

Glancing up at you he understood. He got up and left Jungkook to finish building the tent. Jungkook will manage he thought to himself.

You walked far enough and did your business as Yoongi busied himself somewhere else to give you some privacy. Unfortunately for Yoongi, this happened many more times too many for it to be normal. Each time you dragged Yoongi along he got a bit annoyed but then he got concerned because while you tended to pee a lot it has never been to this extent. What if there was something wrong with you or you were sick? On one of the many bathroom breaks to the woods, he decided to ask you about it.

"Are you okay?" he asked as you walked back to the camping site.

"Huh?" you spoke at his sudden question, yet you saw it coming.

"You're peeing too much," he said with an obvious tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Maybe it's all the water I'm drinking," you mentioned nervously. You didn't know how much longer you could keep this up. It was suspicious.

"Hold up, seriously," He stopped walking and turned to face you, "What is this about?"

"Um-well there is something I have to tell you," The gig was up, it was now or never.

"Is this what you have been trying to tell me for the past few weeks," he questioned you as he raised his eyebrows. There was worry in his eyes but he didn't let it show in his stance. Typical Yoongi.

"Oh, so you noticed?" you asked with your eyes widening seeing as you hadn't played it as smoothly as you thought.

"Of course, I know you better than I know myself," he said with a serious look.

"I decided to give you time and tell me on your terms," Yoongi shrugged.

"This is why I love you," you smiled at him.

"So, are you okay?" he nudged again crossing his arms.

"Overall yes but I-" It was happening you were going to say it. Of all the scenarios in your head, you hadn't expected to do it in the middle of the woods.

"I'm pregnant," you announced, your eyes not leaving him waiting for his reaction.

"I'm going to be a dad?" he unfolded his arms and went slack.

"Yes?" you gave him a nervous smile.

With a simple gummy smile, the biggest you have ever seen, your worries went away, and relief flooded your body.

"You. Have. Made. Me. So. Happy," he exclaimed as he hugged you and pecked you in between every word. The happiness you were feeling was overflowing as you laughed. Needless to say that little voice in your head was wrong all along.

"So, you are not upset or anything?" you asked making sure he was okay with the news.

"Why would I be?" Yoongi said as he pulled away from you, not letting your hands go.

"When we talked about kids, we had agreed not to have any for a few more years," you explained.

"It doesn't matter. They were always on the plan," he reassured, "It happened sooner than we thought, but we'll make it work."

"Is this why you were so apprehensive about camping?" he asked thinking back about your behavior.

"Yeah, I didn't know how it would go down with the pregnancy symptoms I've been having," you mentioned.

"You should have told me. I wouldn't have pressured you into it," he scolded you.

"It's fine," rolling your eyes, you began walking once again.

"Let's go home," he said, swinging your intertwined hands.

"Home?"

"Yeah, I can't keep taking you to the woods to pee," he teasingly said.

"yah!" you exclaimed with a smile.

"Will the boys be okay with us leaving?" You hoped they wouldn't take it the wrong way.

"They'll be fine, they love you," Yoongi said.

On the way to the boys, you had both decided to tell them the big news. Yoongi tried acting aloof, but you saw through it. He was so excited he couldn't keep the news to himself and wanted to tell his brothers. You found it adorable.

"Hey guys we are taking off," you announced grabbing one of the bags.

"What? Why? We only got here a few hours ago," Jimin questioned from his place by the fire, his cheeks and nose red from the cold air.

The others looked in your direction waiting for the answer. It was unlike you and Yoongi to leave so suddenly.

"Yes, but I have to take care of y/n," Yoongi said dubiously.

"Why is she sick?" Taehyung asked as he walked over to you and placed his hand in your forehead checking your temperature. With a laugh, you swatted his hand away and he gave you a pout.

"No, but she is pregnant," he revealed the corners of his mouth turning up into a big smile.

"Makes sense," Jin said, not having processed the words, "Wait, what?" he suddenly turned around, eyes open in surprise.

The reaction of the boys was a mix of gasps and shocked looks. In a heartbeat, all of the boys stood up and went towards you and Yoongi to congratulate you. They were all very excited for you and the new family member to come. They even started planning all the things they were going to do with the baby.

It was a happy moment you were surely going to remember for the rest of your life. Looking around to take it all in one more time you saw Hoseok and Namjoon patting Yoongi in the back while Taehyung and Jin fussed over you. Jimin and Jungkook talked excitedly between them placing bets on whether it will be a boy or a girl. Yoongi caught your eye as he gave you a joyful smile and mouthed an 'I love you'. Everything was going to be okay, your unreasonable worries staying in the past as you looked forward to the exciting months to come.

A/N: As always if you guys enjoyed it please make sure to like and reblog. Let me know what you think!

What would you have done? Told him immediately or wait?

See you guys later ;) 💜 x

-Nikki Marie

[bxthharmon]

Never Go Home Again, Pt. II || JJ Maybank x Reader

Words: 2327

Series Warnings: violence / talking about abuse / toxic relationships / talking about nudes sex tapes and sex tapes / drugs / underage drinking

Pt. Warnings: underage drinking

Series Summary: A new girl, a shoebox of old memories, a past she’s trying to forget coincide with a hotheaded, but selfless, boy.  teenagers getting in way over their heads

Pt. Summary: JJ helps you unpack, and the treasure hunt begins

A/N: I literally spent all day planning this series out, and I have a couple more parts drafted, so hopefully updates won’t be too slow! thanks for the love so far! anyone who wants to be tagged, let me know!

Chapters linked in my masterlist.

“masterlist”

JJ turned up at your house at eleven on the next Monday. Thankfully, you were home alone, so you invited him in, explaining that you were unpacking the last of your stuff. He had happily helped, putting your things on higher shelves that you couldn’t reach or doing the heavier lifting. You saw how he inspected each polaroid, photo or ticket, looking for clues to who you were in LA. 

His favourite discovery was a polaroid of you with a girl he didn’t recognise, both taking disgustingly huge bites of cotton candy at a carnival, recognisable as the same place the picture of your mom was, in the shoebox. He had mocked you for it, and you had explained that it was an annual funfair every March, and you and the friend had been high as kites on MDMA in the picture. When you were getting to the bottom of the last box, he found an envelope, stamped as a file from the Los Angeles Police Department, and he flipped it over, the seal worn like it had been peeled open and pushed shut a hundred times. He saw how you hunched up when you saw it, snatching it from him and pushing it under the shoebox in the wardrobe, ignoring his attempts to ask about it. He found a homemade farewell card, and when he opened it, the card was full of little notes from at least fifteen people; ‘Jamie’, ‘Lily’, ‘Ella’, ‘Mia’ and a long note on the back from ‘Cassie’. He put it down on your desk, amongst the picture frames and polaroids. Some of the stuff, you were more open about. When he found a plastic lightsaber, you had enthusiastically explained to him how you and your brother used to pretend to be jedis fighting the evil empire (aka, your dad), or the tickets to museums or theme parks or theatres. Each had a story, a reason, a clue. Every memento was a drop in a vast ocean of whatever had pushed your family of two onto the Outer Banks. 

When everything was away, you flopped down on the bed, pulling him in a tow, so you were in a similar position to only two nights before. You turned to look at him.

“Why aren’t you at school, Jay?” you asked, and his heart fluttered at the shortening of his already-shortened name.

He shrugged, “I had better things to do.”

“Like me?” he shrugged again, but his face gave away that he had skipped for you. “You trying to say you wanna do me, Maybank?”

He looked you in the eye, “At some point, hopefully.”

At that, you both completely cracked up, cackling and doubling over, laughter hurting your ribs. “Smooth.” you rasped out, between your bouts of laughter.

“Why aren’t you at school?” JJ asked.

“There’s only two weeks left so the principal decided it would be best if I just started in September.” you explained, and he nodded. You turned onto your side so you could face him properly. “Jay?”

He hummed in acknowledgement, snuggling into you, ever so slightly.

“Promise me you’ll go to school as much as possible for the rest of the term?”

He looked up at you, “You serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“Y/N, there’s only a month left.” he reasoned, “And finals are over so there’s literally no point.”

“Jay, there’s only a month left.” you mocked, “So you’ll manage just fine.”

He groaned, “Damn Y/N, I’ve known you half a week and you’re already making me a better person.”

Couldn’t be further from the truth, you thought, Oh JJ, if only you’d known back in LA.

“What can I say,” you grinned, “I just have that effect on people.”

The storm kept you wide awake. 

You couldn’t sleep with the sound of the window panes rattling and wind whistling past the house, so after a few hours, you wrapped yourself in your fuzzy throw blanket and shuffled down the stairs. You crept into the living room, seeing your dad asleep on the sofa. You sat down on the seat away from him, curling your feet in and pulling the blanket up to your chin. You sat there, every time your eyes drooped, a crash or bang would snap them right back open, alert. At some point, your dad woke up.

“Hi, honey,” he groaned, sitting up. “What are you doing up?”

“Couldn’t sleep.” you explain, wiggling your toes around a bit. “Storm’s too loud.”

He nodded, “How are your new friends?”

“They’re good.” you smiled, “Everyone here’s so different.”

“In a good way?”

“Yeah. they’re nicer, less judgy, less… I don’t know.” you trailed off. “JJ said he’d teach me how to surf.”

“Who’s JJ?” your dad frowned, “Sounds like a boys’ name.”

“Oh my God, Dad, chill.” you groaned, “We’re just friends.”

“Just friends?” he smirked, “Or just friends?”

“Dad, you’re literally the most infuriating person I know.” you threw your head back on the back of the armchair, too unsure of what you and JJ were to even want to describe it to him.

“Honey, just be careful, hm?” he softened, that smile on his face fading away, “You’ve been through so much lately, and I don’t want you to get hurt. You’re delicate.”

“I’m not delicate.” 

“Yeah, you are.” he looked at the floor, “and you don’t deserve anything this family has put you through, much less anything that boy did to you.”

That boy. God, comparing JJ to him was like comparing a puppy to Hannibal Lector.

“Well he’s almost three thousand miles away, so let’s just forget about him, yeah?”

“Yeah, of course, sweetheart.”

JJ appeared at the ass-crack of dawn, saying him and John B wanted a day out with the Pogues. He hadn’t relented when you said you wanted to sleep, and you found yourself giving in quicker than you would like to admit.

He waited for you to get dressed (bikini, shorts and crop tops seemed to be what you lived in, currently) and then dragged you to John B’s to get the HMS Pogue and go out to the marsh. JJ and John B had attempted to sweet-talk Heyward, and Pope ended up being (willingly) kidnapped. Next, you picked up Kiara, and her cooler full of beer, before heading to the marsh.

JJ, much to Kiara’s frustration, had decided it would be a great idea to try and teach you how to air the beer, using the speed of the boat. It was ridiculous, because you were somehow doing it better than him, even if you had beer all in your hair and bikini top. 

You were just getting the hang of it when the boat jolted to a stop, sending you and JJ flying fifteen feet forwards and crashing down into the waters.

You found yourself sinking, a frenzy of bubbles rising around you, the shape of JJ falling visible somewhere next to you. You kicked towards the surface, gasping as you broke the surface, pushing your hair out of your face as JJ appeared to your side, flicking his long hair out of his face.

“I think my heels touched the back of my head.” JJ complained, and you laughed, treading water next to him.

“At least I don’t have beer in my hair anymore.” You reasoned, clinging to JJ’s shoulder as you maneuvered out of your soaked shorts and threw them onto the boat.

“Pope,” you groaned, “What did you do?”

“Sandbar. The channel changed.”

“No shit.” JJ moaned. “Hey, I saved the beer though!”

“Congrats, JJ.” John B said.

“Guys,” Pope said, “I think there’s a boat down there.” 

“Right,” you laughed, “Sure.”

“No, no, guys, I’m serious. There’s a boat down there.” he insisted.

“Oh shit.”

You peered down at the shapes beneath you, recognising the shapes of a boat.

“You think there’s  a dead body down there?” Pope asked.

You inhaled, and then kicked downwards, the others following suit, as you all peered inside, trying to see anything of note, and then pushed back up, resurfacing.

“That’s a Grady-White!” JJ laughed, “A new one of those is like 500 Gs, easy.”

You hauled back onto the boat, gushing about the wreck.

“That’s the boat I saw when I surfed the surge.” John B pointed out, making Kiara turn around to glare at him. “Maybe it hit the Jetty or something?”

“You surfed the surge?” Kie asked, frustrated that they could be so reckless. 

“That’s my boy, Pogue style.” JJ grinned, and you shook your head at him, rolling your eyes.

“Wait,” You paused, “Do we know who’s boat that is?”

“No,” John B shrugged, “But we’re about to find out.”

“Dude, it’s too deep.” JJ scorned.

“Only for the weak and feeble, JJ.” John B responded.

“Well I’m not resuscitating you. I’m making that clear upfront.”

You took the anchor. “Resuscitate me then.”

“Diver down, fool.” Pope shrugged.

“Y/N-” JJ started.

“Diver down.” you jumped, letting the anchor pull you to the bottom.

Everything was blue and hazy, your eyes stinging in the salty water, but you adjusted, knowing you didn’t have long. In your short amount of time before your lungs would collapse, you scanned over the controls, finding a set of keys. You pushed back, out of the boat, and let the air in your lungs pull you to the surface.

“Oh my God that took forever!” Kie sighed, JJ finding your eyes with panic set in his features.

“Any dead bodies?” Pope asked.

“Looting potential?” JJ asked.

You shook your head. “All I found was some motel keys.” You held them up, squinting in the sun but still treading water.

“Great, we salvaged a motel key!” JJ said, sarcastically.

“Guys we should report the wreck to the Coast Guard, maybe we’ll get a finder’s fee.” Kiara reasoned.

“And not work all summer!” JJ grinned, “Thanks Agatha, ya biatch!”

Following JJ out of the boat, something about the motel was setting you on edge, making your stomach churn uncomfortably.

You began to walk with JJ, when Pope called out to you, “Y/N, Don’t let him do anything stupid, he doesn’t listen to the rest of us.”

“I’m not making promises.” You shrugged.

You looked back at John B and Kiara as she told him to “be careful”. You shot her a questioning look, and she simply shook her head. You took the keys from John B, walking a couple of feet ahead of the two boys. You scanned the room numbers, pretending not to listen to them talk about Kie. If you didn’t feel bad about the place already, hearing the way JJ talked about Kie seemed to be adding to the feeling.

“Twenty nine.” you cut them off, taking the keys off John B, “This is us,”

“Housekeeping!” JJ mocked, and you shoved his shoulder playfully, gaining access to the door, which you unlocked.

JJ and John B took a beeline to the map, while you went through the bathroom, finding nothing but unused shampoos and body washes.

“Find anything?” John B asked as you came through.

“Just a Dopp Kit,” you shrugged, sitting down on the bed.

You left JJ to his rambling as you handed a John B a code to unlock the safe with.

Stacks of cash, a gun, an envelope. Your eyes widened, and you let out a whistle. You called JJ over, and he immediately grabbed the gun, both you and John B yelling for him to put it back as he asked for a picture.

Hearing a crack on the window, you saw Pope and Kiara signalling that there was someone at the door. JJ confirmed this, peaking through the blinds. 

You forced the window, allowing John B out, before following. JJ followed you, shutting the window after himself. You shuffled along so he could stand, only giving you space for one foot, right on the edge of the roof. You grabbed the post in front of JJ and he wrapped an arm around you to keep you from falling.

You could see John B and JJ mouthing to each other, but you couldn’t see, what with JJ being in the way and being preoccupied with trying not to fall. JJ turned slightly, to look back at Pope and Kiara. His grip loosened, and you almost lost your footing. 

JJ, pulled you back in, allowing you to regain balance, but the combination of your small scream and the clatter of the goddamned gun falling, one of the cops looked out the window. 

In JJ’s attempt to stop the two of you from being seen, The two of you ended up face to face, barely an inch apart, with his grip holding you tight as fuck. You could smell weed and mint on his breath. 

“Your eyes are really blue.” you murmured, watching how they lit up as he stifled a laugh.

You were sitting on JJ’s lap with an arm thrown casually around his neck, ever conscious of his fingers tracing patterns on your side, as the group were talking about what your next moves were.

“So we need to lay low right?” you began, the group nodding, and an idea popped into your head. “Okay, so if you're laying low, everyone would expect you to stop doing shit right? Be super discreet about everything?” the group nodded, unsure of your path, “well, in that case, do what they least expect.”

“Hand ourselves in?” JJ joked, and you sighed, exasperated.

“This place is the polar opposite of LA, but it has one thing in common - with my area at least. It’s fucking full of broke teenagers, and if broke teenagers are good at anything, it’s getting a hold of vast amounts of alcohol, right?”

“Fuckin’ amen.” JJ muttered, and the others all looked at you in confusion.

“So, gather your resources, and throw whatever the Outer Banks version of a beach party is!”

“Let’s throw a kegger.” Kie grinned.

Tags: @tangledinsparkles @jellyfishbeansontoast @lolitstiana @ilikealotofpeople-younotsomuch

[charlthotte]

Breaking Through The Iron Wall - Aone Takanobu x Reader

Chapter 10

Arising on the Saturday morning, the atmosphere rang out with the sounds of the late morning. I never really awoke at such a late time, but at that moment my body and mind were in a rather large need of energy, as I had been worrying about our match - which on that day, was less than ninety-six hours away. I must had slept for at least ten hours, a far contrast to the miniscule amount of sleep I usually got.

After making my way to the dining table, my dad greeted me with a warm and welcoming smile, my mother nowhere to be seen. Once again, it wasn't surprising, just disheartening. "Good morning, (Y/N)." He declared, sipping on his mug of coffee.

"Morning, Dad." I said unenthusiastically.

"What's the matter? You never wake up this late." He looked me in the eyes, genuine concern laced in his face.

"I guess I'm just a bit nervous about going to Tokyo." I suspired, hanging my head in my hands.

"(Y/N)... You'll be completely fine - you're only spending one night there." He reached out and patted me on the head, something he had been doing since I was a toddler.

"I guess so... Thanks, Dad."

Soon after that, my dad started droning on about how he'd been getting a large influx of customers in the last few days, he seemed so excited that his business was finally going somewhere. It was quite a nice sight seeing him in such a purely happy mood. Quite quickly, I grew uninterested in his chattering, so when the opportunity struck, I sneaked away from the dining table and rapidly trundled up the stairs towards my room. I didn't really feel like making an effort with my outfit so I just threw on the first items of clothing I could find. They weren't exactly the most fashionable combination, but at that moment in time - I wasn't in the right frame of mind to care. I studied for a while, rerunning over the topics that I wasn't one-hundred percent confident in.

Once the clock hit half-past three, I decided to end up my studying portion of the day. My throat was rather dry at that point, so the most logical thing to do was to head downstairs for a glass of water, so I did just that. However, when I opened my bedroom door - a little piece of paper fluttered down from it. It had obviously been written by my dad, my eyes flicked across the paper; smiling at the little message he had left for me.

'I've just left for work a little early, but I didn't want to disturb you. See you later.                                                                                                                   P.S. Have a good time with Aone today. :)' 

As always, he had left a small smiley face at the end of his message - it was kind of a signature for him. But of course, he had to mention Aone, just like he did in nearly every conversation we had. He seemed quite supportive of our friendship, but just sometimes, his supportiveness was a little too over zealous. 

Since I had nothing else to do, I turned the television on with a swift flick of the remote, however - there didn't seem to be any programs that interested me. Most of them were generic, run of the mill shows - most of which had been previously aired. I continued channel surfing until I came across a history documentary about Isabella, the 'she-wolf' of France. History was always rather interesting to me - as every little thing in the past had lead to the exact circumstances of the present day. I always imagined that if one thing in the past had gone down a different path, everything as we knew it today could have been completely different.

It only took a few minutes for me to become fully engrossed in the television, I couldn't notice or become distracted by seemingly anything. I barely even took notice of the ringing of my doorbell, possibly it rang around three separate times before I snapped out of my trance. Immediately, I sprang towards the doorway, almost rushing the twist the keys in the lock - somehow dropping them in the process. I was even close to slamming the door open, trying to greet the visitor as quickly as possible. I knew who the visitors would be, after all - they did come here everyday, my walks with Aone and Shiro were definitely the highlights of my week.

But today, there was only one visitor waiting for me to open the door. Only Aone stood there, his face almost wiped over with the slightest hint of melancholy. I almost crouched down expecting one of Shiro's ecstatic greetings - but all that was next to Aone was a void, completely devoid of Shiro's presence. 

"I'm sorry for taking so long, but where's Shiro?" I asked, almost out of breath from my quick dash to open the door.

Aone's eyes almost seemed to prick with the flash of hurt, staying completely silent for nearly a minute - his body tensed up the the point that he looked as if he could snap in half. Every single hair on his head stood on end - perfectly vertical. Something was very blatantly wrong. Right before she whispered, his body shivered - presumably from the cold, but probably from what he was feeling. "...The …Vet..."

My heart skipped a beat upon hearing that, "Oh, Aone... I'm so sorry. Come inside and I'll make you some tea." He quickly obliged himself to my command, dragging his feet behind him, his head hanging low. Almost seeming like an empty vessel as he slumped down into the sofa, letting his entire mass sink into the cushions - he barely moved after that, almost as if he had been petrified.

As I stirred his tea, my hands were almost quivering. The sheer amount of nerves that were tweaking inside of me were indescribable, even though the dog wasn't even my own. Even while I handed the beverage over to him, the liquid swirled around in the mug - threatening to crash over the sides of its confinements. As he took the tea from my hands, the mug began shaking even more. I could see in his eyes just how terrified he was, my mind urged to know the full story. However, I couldn't dare question Aone about him, I was terrified of putting him under more stress - his expression was already pained to a point where it genuinely hurt me.

For what felt like an eternity, I stood inert - at a loss with what to do with myself. Without even giving it a thought, I plummeted down beside Aone, my hands grasping onto his shoulders - the same way he'd comfort me, our eyes deadbolted onto each other. 

Giving his shoulders tiny little squeezes, I endeavoured to solace him with my voice, "Aone, I'm confident that Shiro will be absolutely fine, he can get over anything."

Silence was returned to me, he didn't speak nor make any gesture to reply.

"Shiro wouldn't want you to feel like this, he'd want you to feel happy no matter what."

Silence.

"I'm sure you'll be fine - it won't be long until you can see him again - all happy and healthy."

Silence.

"Aone... I'm here if you need anything..."

Everything was silent once again, the air stagnant and melancholy... Until Aone just let his head fall, fall onto my shoulder - feeling tiny little wet patches drop from where his eyes rested. The tiniest sound escaped from his mouth, the most heart breaking sob I had I ever listened to. I just knew that he was trying to conceal the noise, but all to no avail. Almost immediately, my arms wrapped themselves around his broad back, drawing little circles into the cotton of his shirt.

Straight after that, he unmasked all of his pain - tears began cascading from his eyes - the sound of his sobs rising in a rapid crescendo. His whole stoic persona has crashed onto the ground and shattered into millions of pieces, now he was the embodiment of a child whimpering in my arms. The vibrations of his lamentation shook my body to the same rhythm as him. Almost in an instant he wrapped his arms around me, as if he was searching for a way to curtail his pain, he was close to crushing me with his strength - but that wasn’t a problem at that moment in time.

My whole body froze, making me as solid as a diamond. But also flushed with an immense flash of heat, my interior temperature surpassing that of molten lava, wiping the slate of my brain clean. Almost as if I had short circuited right on the spot - the whole world passed us by, leaving me like a stone statue - as if Medusa had just stared at me straight into my eyes. 

What seemed like hours flew by, with Aone still a crumpled heap in my arms. His whole weeping session must have exhausted him, gradually his tears grew close to a halt - calming down - if you could describe it as that. It took me a while to realise that he'd fallen asleep with his head still on my shoulder. Yet, his arms still remained wrapped around me, not an inch of strength was lost from his awoken state.

I couldn't move. I knew that if he woke up; he'd snap straight back into his lamentation. Even though I wasn't situated in a comfortable position at all, not once did I shift from that placement.

Several programs ran across the television, with each one passing, the sky grew slightly darker. Not once did Aone stir. As he slept, he almost seemed peaceful. No longer were tears streaming from his eyes, no longer was his breathing at an erratic pace. Once or twice, he even nuzzled his face further into my shoulder - his head almost resting in the crook of my neck, just like a baby. Little by little, signs of being in a dreamlike state exerted themselves from him - he began twitching, along with the movements of his dreams. One twitch in particular was rather violent, jerking him awake. Almost as if he had just been thrust out of the grasps of a nightmare.

He suddenly lurched upright, his eyes wide and worried. They almost had an element of shock in them, as if he was somehow confused about his current situation, after that he quickly shot up to stand on his feet - his flushed with an intense reddish hue. Almost immediately, he edged away from the sofa.

"What's the matter?" I inquired.

Rather than answering my question, he dodged straight around it - only to reply with something completely unrelated... "I'm sorry..." He darted his eyes away from me, trying to find some other object to focus on.

"Hey..." I sighed, moving myself into his line of sight, "There's nothing to be sorry about, you're just worried about Shiro."

Once again, he shifted his eyes away from me - folding his arms over his chest, as if to try and comfort himself. Hearing Shiro's name must have let a painful pang ricochet through him. Obviously uncomfortable, he swivelled around - trying to escape my company.

"Aone... You're not going anywhere without me going with you. You shouldn't be left alone right now." I attempted to keep up with him, eventually making it to the doorway before he could escape. I couldn't let him leave by himself.

He almost pouted as I blocked his exit, along with huffing out like an annoyed child. We stood in silence again, both of us unsure of what to do next, and after what felt like an age - Aone nodded - giving in to me. But after that, the atmosphere grew awkward with the stagnant silence. Desperately, I tried to break it. "...So... Would now be a good time for us to go see him?" I didn't mention Shiro's name in trepidation of upsetting Aone.

Aone stuttered, "I-I think s-so." His words were broken, mimicking the state of his mind. Without saying a word, I acknowledged his statement, grabbing my shoes and jacket - readying myself for the outside world, Aone too.

Somehow I could sense both of our anxiousness, I tried to ameliorate my mental state by taking a deep, deep breath. And with that, we stepped over the threshold to the outside world - ready for any news that could be thrown upon us. But even though we were ready... It didn't mean that the news couldn't break us.

[tinabean37]

My Superman Part 2

Catch up with Part 1

Summery: After being saved by actor Henry Cavill from an unfortuanate situation, you hoped you didn’t blow it when you were able to spend more time with him.

Warnings: None

Important: I do not know or own Henry Cavill. The characters in this story are made up by me. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had always considered yourself to be a pretty normal person. Almost boring really. But as you mentally recapped the events of your night so far, you were starting to change your mind about that. Starting with going out for drinks with your new co-workers, which you would usually never do. Then you add in the creepy stranger Andy who wouldn’t take no for an answer, forcing you to approach a random stranger and pray that he would play along that he knew you in order to get Andy to buzz off. And it all culminates to you sitting at the bar, watching the end of a rugby match and sharing laughs with your savior, your own personal superhero, actor Henry Cavill. It had been a hell of a night.

After the crisis was averted, you agreed to let Henry walk you home to make sure you got there ok. He bought you another drink, and so here you sat with this gorgeous man trying to wrap your head around the whole thing. 

“So, y/n, you don’t sound like you are from around here. Are you just visiting London?” He asked? 

“No, I’m actually from the Boston area. I came out here a few months ago to visit an old friend from college, and fell in love with the place. After a really bad breakup, I decided I needed a change. So, here I am.” You spread out your arms in a flourish to accentuate your statement. That earned you one of his amazing smiles. “What about you? You’re not exactly low profile. Do you usually hang out at bars to watch television and save damsels in distress? I’m sure you have more glamorous places to be.” He let out a hearty laugh, and you knew then you needed to make him make that glorious sound again. You hadn’t really followed all of his work, but you always appreciated how amazing he looked whenever your eyes passed a picture of him online or in a magazine, or you channel surfed by a movie of his. However, that kind of media did not do the real man any justice. 

“Well, I am pretty lucky that I am left alone most of the time when I am home. So it gives me the chance to be myself. Like taking my dog for walks, going to the shops, and even head down to the local pub to catch the rugby. Damsels in distress are just an added bonus.” He joked. You found it very easy to talk to Henry, and the conversation flowed freely. Before you knew it, 2 hours had passed. 

“I didn’t realize how late it had gotten.” You said as you checked the time on your phone. “I really should be getting home. I have work in the morning.”

“Why, yes. Let’s get going then.” Henry stood up, and helped you on with your coat. “I have an early morning as well. Why the perfect light has to be so damned early, I’ll never know.” He commented with a smile, which earned a chuckle from you. You both headed outside into the cool night air. The small breeze felt nice after being inside the stuffy bar all night. 

“You really don’t have to walk me home you know. It’s later than anticipated, and if you have an early day, I can just call a cab.”

“I won’t hear of it. The damsel was promised a chaperone to accompany her to her quarters. It would be improper of me to refuse.” Henry chided in a very put on fancy English accent and added the flourish of a bow. Your head tipped back in laughter and you were sure you weren’t hiding your excitement very well at the thought of spending more time with him. As to continue with the chivalrous character he was playing, he held up his bent arm to you, and you accepted it by looping your arm at his elbow. You pointed in the direction of your home and began to leisurely stroll in that direction. 

The conversation came just as easy as it did in the pub, if not deeper. You talked about what your life was like back home, and how much you missed your family. He told you about what it was like growing up with 4 brothers, and how lucky he is that most people in his circle still treat him the same, given who he is. Too soon, you arrived home. You pointed out which house was yours, and headed up the short walkway to your front door. 

“Henry, thank you again for everything tonight. You really are a superhero. You turned a real rotten night into such an enjoyable time. I’m glad you were the tallest guy I could find.” He let out an almost embarrassed laugh as he smiled his winning smile at you. 

“You are most welcome y/n. You made my night quite enjoyable too. It was great to get to know you. You can be a damsel to me anytime.” You both let out a chuckle. And then, you both froze. You stared at Henry not knowing how to proceed. You would love to spend more time with him but you weren’t certain there was room in his busy life. You just wish you could tell what he was thinking as his blue eyes held yours. Henry reached out and took your small hand in his large ones. You decided it was now or never, so you took your shot. 

“Henry, I know my night started with unwanted attention from an undesirable, but it ended quite the opposite. I would really like to spend time talking with you again. Would that be alright?” Wow. When did you get so bold? Your eyes searched his face for any sign that you overstepped, but his expression was amused and almost relieved. 

“Yes, I would like that too. If you would pass me your phone?” He asked and outstretched his hand. You pulled your cellphone from your purse and handed it to Henry. He chuckled as the phone screen lit up, and you remembered your screensaver was a picture of you and your nephew back home making silly faces at the camera. His nimble fingers entered information into your phone for a brief second and smirked at you while he handed it back. Unexpectedly, he placed his big hands on your shoulders and leaned in to place a friendly kiss on your cheek. You were sure he could feel the warm blush that instantly appeared when his lips met your skin. He leaned back and once again, granted you his golden smile. “I look forward to hearing from you, my lady.” He bowed again, and laughed as he turned away and headed down your walk, and off into the night. 

You stumbled inside and plopped down on your couch. That had to be the most bizarre night you have ever had. You smiled to yourself as you remembered his eyes, his laugh, and the amazing way he smelled as his soft lips pressed to your cheek. Unable to stop yourself, you turned on your phone and quickly opened your contacts. You scrolled down to the H’s, but didn’t see his name. Confused, you scrolled further down, not sure where he entered his info. You stopped on the S’s. There it was. Entered in as Superman. You couldn’t contain your smile. He definitely was. 

[probably-writing-x]

Live Capture.

Arón Piper x Reader

Request by anon: would you be able to do an Aron Piper imagine where his girlfriend is a YouTuber but she’s very shy to show him on her channel as a way of protection even though he’s used to the public & then they go out in public & a fan starts to record them...you can take it on from there :) hope you’re staying safe xx

Gif is not my own

Requests are open 🤍

“On your left, on your left!” You call through your microphone, “Yes, downed him, another team coming up behind us.”

Your friend speaks through your headset and updates you on his own progress as both of you were midway through a game on Warzone. You took a moment to glance at the chat on your livestream to YouTube and smiled at a few of the messages before turning back to focus on the game.

“Alright we’ve got enough for a loadout,” You comment, “Cover me.”

He follows your advice and does exactly that, only moments before you’re shot at from another direction and both of you are killed.

“Shit man,” You groan, “I really wasn’t on it that game.”

“Still top ten though,” Your friend points out, “Alright, Imma head off for the night. I’ll catch you tomorrow.”

You say your goodbyes and turn back to your chat, reading a few of the comments you’d missed, “I think I’m going to turn in for the night too, thank you guys so much for watching this livestream. And I’ll be uploading a video tomorrow at 6pm so keep your eyes peeled for that one. Good night guys!”

You turn off your stream and shut down everything on your PC, the true sign that you’d be turning in for the night. You grab the empty plate from where your dinner had been and the empty drinks from over the course of the hours that you’d been on stream.

“Hey honey, any luck?” Arón asks from the couch, where he lay with his arm tucked under his head, turned to watch the TV screen.

“We got a couple of wins,” You nod, “Nothing great. I didn’t know you’d still be up.”

“And go to bed without you? Would I ever?” He laughs, “C’mhere.”

You yawn and walk over until you’re close enough that he can reach out and pull you down to lay with him, letting you rest on top of his chest, “What are you watching?”

“One of your videos,” He chuckles, “There was nothing on TV and I didn’t want to watch any of that series without you, so I’m watching your channel.”

“Why?” You smile, looking at which video he’d chosen.

“This is from that day we went to the beach and you were teaching me how to surf. I dont know how you managed to keep me out of the whole video!” He exclaims, “Genuinely there’s not even a glimpse of me.”

“Because I spent about four hours rewatching it and re-editing it to make sure. I’m very secretive when I need to be,” You remind him, leaning up to kiss at his jaw, “They all still ask questions.”

He hums in response, “Do you want to go to bed darling?”

Your eyes are already fluttering shut as he asks the question and he somehow has to figure out how to get you from the couch to your bed without disturbing you too much. It was a regular occurrence after you streamed late at night, and he’d grown to be very good at taking care of you after you’d drained yourself after a long day.

You’d been dating for a little under a year now but it felt like you’d loved him for a lifetime. He’d quickly become everything you could ask for in a boyfriend and the two of you somehow became the perfect match for each other. With him as an actor, and you as a YouTuber, both of you lived very unconventional lives at times - but that’s what made it work so well. You’d kept your relationship away from the public for this entire time, not wanting to risk it ending up like the majority of YouTube relationships nowadays. You liked the fact that your relationship still felt like your own, and you didn’t have to fear the audience response to seeing you with a boyfriend. They’d never seen that side of your life, and truth be told, you were fearful of showing them. For now, it felt so much more comfortable to keep Arón separate. Like it still meant you had him all to yourself.

- - - - - -

The next day, after waking up a little too late, you make sure to post your video on time and read through the comments as soon as it reaches your audience. It had been a fitness challenge that you’d had to ask Arón to help you film when you were at the gym. He’d spent half the time zooming into your face far too close or stopping filming because you’d made him laugh and you could hear him on the recording. Somehow, you’d still managed to avoid showing him in the footage and made sure that he couldn’t be heard too much through the microphone.

“What do you fancy for dinner, darling?” Arón asks as he steps into your filming room and sees you sat at your desk in your gaming chair.

“I’m just reading through the response to the video,” You explain as he comes up behind you and wraps his arms around your shoulders, you run your hands along his arms as they encase you.

“Are they all talking about my brilliant filming skills?” He grins, kissing your cheek.

You point out one comment that questions in all capital letters ‘who does she have filming this? Y’all seriously can’t tell me she’s still single!!!!!’

Arón laughs and clicks to read the responses to the comment, pausing on one that is a timestamp from the video. A specific second in the footage that you find yourself skipping to on the video timeline to find exactly what one of your fans was talking about. Quite rightly so, at that exact second, you can just about make out Arón in the reflection of one of the mirrors in the gym. His face isn’t visible but his distinctive curls are obvious enough.

“Shit, do you think they know it’s you?” You ask, sitting more upright in your chair as you look through the rest of the comments about that exact moment.

Some people were suggesting different names, different people that could take the face of that curly hair - but only a few had actually suggested Arón. Someone mentioned the fact that you’d been at the Élite premiere and pointed out that you could’ve been going as his date rather than just a guest at the event - that was, in fact, the truth. Someone else mentioned how Omar followed you on Instagram - the initial way you’d met Arón.

“Oh come on, look, they’re saying loads of names,” He points out, “Theyre all just guessing, my name was bound to be in there at some point.”

“I’m so sorry, I had no idea that they’d be able to see y-“

“Hey,” Arón turns your chair around so you’re facing him, “It’s fine, honestly. I don’t care, okay?”

“Are you sure?” You sigh, smiling as he cups your face in his hands.

“Positive,” He nods, leaning in and kissing you, “I say we just order in for dinner.”

You laugh and let him pull you up to stand, “Good idea.”

- - - - - -

The following day, you and Arón are on your way to your parents place for your father’s birthday. You manage to get up at a semi-acceptable time and keep yourself away from social media to avoid all of the questions about your mystery boyfriend. You step into the taxi and try to keep yourself relaxed.

“Hey! I know you!” The taxi driver speaks up, glancing in the mirror at Arón, “You’re on Netflix. My daughter watches your show all the time!”

“Thanks man, that means a lot,” Arón smiles politely, glancing at you for a second.

The man rambles on a little more about the show and how much he’d learnt about it from his daughter, laughing at how jealous she’d be that he’d met Arón.

“And is this your girlfriend?” The taxi driver asks, glancing at you in the mirror too.

“No, just a friend,” Arón nods, forcing a little smile in your direction, “So, have you been busy today?”

You’re relieved that he steers the topic away from you and tries to keep some level of awkward small talk with the driver as you eventually pull up in town.

“You can just drop us here, buddy, thank you,” Arón comments, getting out of the car and waiting for you.

“That’s a sign! That’s a sign, people know about us,” You state simply as you step out of the car, “I’m certain.”

“(Y/n)!” Arón laughs, “It’s fine! We have no certainty that people know we’re together, and we’ll let it stay that way. Stop worrying honey, you’ll give yourself a heart attack.”

You sigh and try to relax under the influence of his words.

“You’re cute when you get stressed,” He chuckles, reaching for your hand and squeezing it, “Really cute.”

You cock a brow, “You know, maybe I should tell everyone about us - feed you to the lions type of attitude.”

Arón laughs, “They’ll fucking love me!”

He cups your jaw with his free hand and dips his head to press a kiss to your waiting lips. It’s soft and it gives the sincerity to his words that his tone hadn’t done. You were so worried about everyone finding out about you, mainly because you were terrified of it ruining a time in your life where you were happier than you’d ever been. It was silly but you liked the idea of preventing your relationship from being strained by the public view. For now, it felt so much easier to keep this between you. When it had first started, you wanted to keep things private until you knew that this was something real and something you were sure of. But when you’d started to feel that way, it felt even more important to keep that private - knowing that you cared too much about Arón to jeopardise anything.

“Come on, lets go grab some food,” He encourages, locking his hand with yours before swinging an arm over your shoulder so that your interlocked hands rested just over your heart, “What are the odds that the taxi driver was actually a fan? I bet he doesn’t even have a daughter!” Arón jokes and yet again manages to say exactly what you needed to hear to ease your stress.

- - - - - -

A little later, as you’re sat at your parents house with your parents and your siblings, Arón comes walking through from the kitchen with your nephew in his arms.

“There she is!” He grins when he sees you, letting your nephew run over until he jumps into your arms.

“Where have you two been?” You laugh, looking at his disheveled Arón appeared.

“We’ve been on the trampoline,” Arón groans, flopping down beside you, “I think I’m too old for that now.”

“You think?” You smirk, “You’re a mess!”

He grabs your phone from the side and checks his appearance in the black screen. Your nephew giggles and reaches over to grab at his messy curls. Arón smiles and goes to tickle him, only glancing away when he sees your phone ping in his hand.

“Jeez, you’re popular today,” He comments, showing you the endless list of notifications on your phone.

“Probably just the boys asking about playing later, can you open it for me?” You ask, shifting your nephew so he was now stood on your thighs facing you as you make silly faces at him to keep him occupied.

“Oh shit...” Arón mumbles.

“Arón!” You hiss, making wide eyes in the direction of your nephew.

“Sorry, babe, but you need to see this,” You set your nephew down and he runs off to his own mother before you take your phone from Arón.

His reaction now seemed completely justified. In a group chat with a bunch of your friends from YouTube, you’re being bombarded with messages. Some of them are accompanied by photos but the majority are accompanied by laughing emojis. Quite rightly so as the photos show clear shots of you and Arón from earlier. The images had clearly been taken from across the street when you’d first got out of the taxi. One of you laughing at something he’d said, one of you kissing, another of you kissing, and a few of you walking away with his arm around you.

“Who took those?!” You exclaim, “I didn’t even see anybody... or hear anybody...”

“Hey, hey, look,” Arón nudges you, handing you his own phone that showed all of his mentions on Instagram.

You’d already been tagged in a flurry of posts about the situation - 100% of them being purely positive and excited for both of you. People saying how perfect you were for each other. Some pointing out moments from your streams and from YouTube where it was obvious you were talking to someone behind the camera - who they now understood to be Arón.

“They’re all so excited,” You half-laugh, “Look, theres even a fucking video of us!”

You show him a video a fan had taken of you two together that’s accompanied by the caption - ‘I wanted to speak to them but they’re just so fricking cute I didn’t want to disturb them!!!’

You smile at all of the supportive messages from your fans, commenting on how happy they were for you, though some were jealous of you being Arón’s girlfriend.

“Well, looks like that turned out better than we expected,” Arón comments, “Should we say anything?”

You look at him and grin, flicking your Instagram camera on as you pose for the photo. He wraps an arm around your shoulder and rests his head against yours as you both smile at the screen.

You type out a quick caption ‘You got us...’ and post it to your story. Though you lock your phone before you can become too bombarded by replies to the image.

“Shit, does this mean I can play Warzone with you now?!”

“You’re still terrible, maybe when you get a bit better,” You laugh, kissing him quickly.

[saiilorstars]

Metamorphosis

Ch. 2: The Doctor and the Vortex Butterfly

Current Masterlist // Previous Story //

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 11th Doctor x Female OC

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel​

[If you would like to be added to this specific OC’s taglist, let me know!]

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Chapter summary: Renata and the Doctor have 20 minutes to save the world with absolutely no equipment. It's a time where they each have to show the world who they are, although Renata is surprised that the world may already know her. In the end, when they're alone, they finally get to speak the words on their mind.

Twelve years.

Twelve years had passed by for Amelia Pond. The more Renata thought about it, the more terrible she felt. She made a promise to that little girl that it would only take them 5 minutes to come back to her.

"O...kay…" Amelia pushed her orangey hair behind her shoulders. "You don't...you don't have to cry or anything…"

"It's been 12 years," Renata bit her lower lip, her eyes shining with genuine tears. "I have never been that late."

"It's true, she's never been late for anything in her life," the Doctor agreed. Of course Renata would feel a massive amount of guilt for something that was truly an accident. He felt guilty too but he wouldn't beat himself up over it, not when it hadn't been in his control. "And you know what? You hit me with a cricket bat."

Amelia rolled her eyes and continued to walk away. "12 years!"

The Doctor grabbed Renata's hand and followed after Amelia. "A cricket bat!"

Amelia scoffed. He thought that was bad? He only got a blip of the anger she had simmered for 12 years. "12 years and four psychiatrists."

"Four?" Renata gave her a strange look, making Amelia feel somewhat conscious about the reason behind the number.

"...I kept biting them."

"Why?"

"They said you weren't real!"

"And you thought biting them was the appropriate solution!?"

"Hey!" Amelia only stopped to point at Renata, though the abruptness nearly made her poke an eye out. "Twelve years!"

'Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated.'

They had made it to a small park in the town and now the message was blaring at them through an ice cream truck.

"No, no, no, come on…what? We're being staked out by an ice-cream van?" Amelia frowned at the perfectly normal ice cream van she visited all the time. They could not be related to anything alien.

"What's that!?" the Doctor marched over to the van where the vendor was hitting the radio the message was coming out from. "Why are you playing that?"

"It's supposed to be Claire De Lune!"

"Stop hitting it," Renata made a face as she took the radio from him, though not a second later the Doctor had snatched it out of her hands. He missed her brief glare as he listened to the message closer.

'Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat, Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated.'

He would then notice the same message broadcasting in a jogger's mp3 player and then from a few cellphones. Little by little, the message had reached everyone via technology.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Amelia saw everyone's confused faces as they tried making sense about why their technology had stopped working. Instead of answering, the Doctor raced towards the nearest house.

"Doctor!" Renata called for him as she followed, though when he leaped over a white fence she refused to do the same. "Honestly — there's a door!"

Amelia zipped by and took Renata by the arm towards the front of the house. When they reached the house, they found the Doctor had already made himself comfortable by surfing through the television channels.

An elderly woman sat on the couch and was watching him go through every channel. "I was just about to phone. It's on every channel." She smiled upon seeing Amelia. "Hello, Amy, dear. Are you a policewoman now?"

Amelia unconsciously tugged on her skirt. "Well, sometimes."

"I thought you were a nurse."

"I can be a nurse."

"Or, actually, a nun."

"People like to kiss nuns? At parties? Why are humans so weird?" Renata crinkled her nose at the last bit. Amelia jabbed her elbow into Renata's side, making it clear that she didn't want to hear anymore of those questions.

"Amy, who are your friends?" the elder woman asked after studying the Doctor and Renata. She was sure she'd never seen them before.

"Who's Amy?" the Doctor looked away from the TV screen to see the elder woman looking at Amelia. "You were Amelia."

"Yeah, and now I'm Amy." Amy Pond was a huge step up from the little girl who'd been picked on nonstop because of who she believed in.

"Amelia Pond—that was a great name," Renata was gazing at Amy sadly, wondering if the name change had also been a result from their tardiness.

Amy brushed them both off with a roll of her eyes. "Bit fairy tale."

The elder woman had slightly pulled the Doctor back to see his face. "I know you, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before."

The Doctor shook his head. "Not me. Brand-new face…" He moved his face just to make a point. "First time on."

"You look like a child, stop that," Renata said, though she was smiling from amusement.

He smirked. "Yeah? Make me."

Renata froze for a mere second before a blush overtook her face. Oh, this him was going to be a huge flirt and far bolder. She didn't know that was possible. How she would get used to it, she had no idea.

"Why is that on the TV too?" Amy unknowingly pulled Renata out of her thoughts. She had moved around the living room to see the television. The same message was broadcasting from there too.

The Doctor left the television and went for a radio on a window table. With the sonic's help, he heard the same message there too but in different languages. "OK, so it's everywhere, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world." He put the radio down and opened up the window, sticking his head out to look up at the sky.

"What's up there?" Amy stepped towards him but at the last moment decided against it. What if there was some alien about to shoot them? "What are you looking for?"

The Doctor hadn't heard her questions as he was making his own calculations. Eventually, he shut the window and turned back to the room. "Okay, planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core...they're going to need a 40% fission blast."

A young man with a computer bag around his shoulders walked into the house and was of course confused to find to strangers in his home. The Doctor barely paid him attention but did acknowledge him in a rather odd manner.

"But they'll have to power up first, won't they?" He had walked up to the man who was far taller than him. Despite this, the man only blinked at the Doctor while he rambled on. "So assuming a medium-sized starship, that's 20 minutes. What do you think, 20 minutes?" the Doctor had to stand on his very tippy toes just to see the man eye to eye. "Yeah, 20 minutes. We've got 20 minutes."

"20 minutes to what?" Amy had done her best to follow everything the Doctor had said but she felt like it hadn't even been said in proper English!

Realization struck the young man suddenly. "Are you the Doctor?"

At that question, the elder woman finally got it as well. "Oh, he is, isn't he? He's the Doctor!"

Renata ignored the hullabaloo as she crossed the room to take the Doctor's arm and turn him to her. "We've got 20 minutes and zero contacts right now."

"Well, it's like you said, hasn't ever stopped us before," he smiled at her.

"Yes, but I meant you!" He was the one who always did the big, unexpected things that would solve everything. She was just along for the ride.

"I can't believe it, Amy, you were telling the truth," the elder woman was still laughing away on the couch, much to Amy's embarrassment. "It's the Raggedy Doctor. All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy Doctor, it's him."

"And that's the Butterfly Mother!" the young man pointed at Renata, now getting Renata's attention. "Never mind the Mother of Dragons - you're the Mother of Butterflies!"

"The what?" Renata unconsciously gripped the Doctor's arm. She flipped her head back to him. "He called me the what?"

"Fitting name," the Doctor said in bemusement. He took a few strands of her dark hair out of her face then bopped her nose. He headed back for the television that now had the same huge eye Amy once saw in her bedroom. "They're not talking about your house, they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship and it's going to incinerate the planet. 20 minutes to the end of the world."

Amy nearly keeled over.

~0~

The Doctor led the way back to the town's park hopes of finding something a bit more useful than a normal house. Renata was right, they had no contacts right now and they didn't have time to waste!

"What is this place? Where are we?" he asked after making it back to the rather boring, quiet park.

"Leadworth," Any said, but she doubted either of them would recognize such a quaint town. She wouldn't blame them.

"Where's the rest of it?"

Yup, there it was. Any rolled her eyes. "This is it!"

"I like it," Renata said but Amy wasn't sure if she was saying it to be nice or if she actually meant it. Renata wasn't lying, though. She looked around the small town with a smile. It seemed so peaceful and it seemed like everyone would know everyone. She could see little shops lining the streets around the park and she had no doubt that most of them were owned by the very residents of the town. "Very homey."

"That's a word for it," Amy let her eyebrows raise upwards. She'd almost forgotten how Renata was, and even then she wasn't that sure because she'd only met Renata for like 2 hours! But at first glance, the Time Lady had seemed like a woman who could fit perfectly with one of those family shows from the olden days. Somebody very proper.

"Is there an airport?" the Doctor asked after making his own conclusions of the town.

"No."

"A nuclear power station?"

"Uh, no."

"Even a little one?"

Amy's expression asked him why they would have something like that in a small town. "No!"

"Nearest city?"

"Gloucester, half an hour by car."

"That's too long even if we called in UNIT," Renata sighed. "20 minutes!"

"Do we have a car?" the Doctor expended his last try, but once again Amy told him no. "Well, that's good! Fantastic, that is. 20 minutes to save the world and I've got a post office. And it's shut! What is that?" He had found a small pond to the left of the park and for some reason stormed towards it.

Amy couldn't understand why that would suddenly be so interesting and after checking for Renata's reaction, Amy concluded she wasn't alone. "It's a duck pond."

The Doctor had leaned very close to the pond that Renata had to grab his arm in case he lost his balance. "Why aren't there any ducks?"

"I don't know. There's never any ducks."

"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?" Renata was the one to ask this time. That bit was curious. Why name something a specific way if it didn't make sense?

Amy didn't see it that way. She folded her arms with exasperation. "It just is. Is it important, the duck pond?"

The Doctor yelped and nearly fell into the pond had Renata been holding onto his arm. She used his grip on his arm to help him sit on the ground. "I'm not ready, I'm not done yet," he groaned and clutched his chest. Like last time, he needed some time to calm his body through the regeneration process, but he was on the clock!

Renata wanted to do something to help him stand but a process like this truly was individual. She could only stand by him. She scooted closer to him, putting her hand over his hand that clutched his chest. "I'm here," she said what she thought would be useless for him but he leaned on her side for comfort. Renata was surprised but she welcomed it fast.

Suddenly, the sky started darkening up and Amy knew that it couldn't be night time already. "What's happening? Why's the sky getting dark?"

Renata and the Doctor looked up at the sky, not even having to shield their eyes from the sky. There was no sun anymore, it was behind a grey shade. It only lasted for a few seconds before the day returned to normal.

"So what's wrong with the sun?" Amy frowned and looked down at the pair on the ground.

"Nothing. You're looking at it through a force-field," the Doctor said. Renata was helping him stand up. "They've sealed off your upper atmosphere, now they're getting ready to boil the planet."

Renata sighed loudly when she noticed all the humans in the park were taking pictures and videos of the sky instead of doing the sensible thing and running home. "Oh, why are humans so…" she was about to finish the sentence with the word 'stupid' but she caught herself in time after glancing at Amy staring at the sky. "They should be home instead of going crazy on their phones."

"This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big wind-up," Amy decided it was the only option that didn't make her feel scared out of her mind. She wouldn't give the sky another glance.

"Why would we wind you up?" the Doctor gave her a strange, almost offended glance.

"You told me you had a time machine."

"And you believed us."

"Then I grew up."

"Oh, you never want to do that," the Doctor gave a shake of his head and if he was going to add on then Renata didn't allow him. She had covered his mouth and took over in the conversation.

"It's nice to grow up but it doesn't mean you have to stop believing," Renata said. "Plus, I don't lie—" she winced at herself. That wasn't true and she knew it. "Well, I try not to lie anymore."

The Doctor pushed Renata's hand off his mouth. "Wait, hang on!" He abruptly flapped his arms so that he almost smacked Renata's head. She threw him a glare for such a messy movement but he was none the wiser. "I missed it!" He smacked his forehead enough to make Renata wonder if it would leave a mark on his skin. "I saw it and I missed it." And another smack!

Renata seized his hand and forced it to his side. "Stop that! Seriously, cricket bat and two smacks? Should I just help along and hit you too!?"

"I saw something!" he insisted and because he did, Renata grabbed his other hand in case he got the same idea.

"Then just tell us before you put yourself into a coma!"

The Doctor shut his eyes and stayed silent. There was something he knew that he missed and he just needed to think about it again. Humans were everywhere in the park, taking pictures…

There was a woman near the phone box looking up. Parents by the swing-set snapping pictures of the sky. And one nurse who following Amy's steps. His phone was on another person, never the sky.

Renata slowly let go of his hands when she was sure that he wasn't in danger of himself. She checked the clock on a nearby building and saw their time was getting shorter. Uh, Doctor, our 20 minutes?"

"20 minutes, the planet burns," the Doctor opened his eyes and looked at Amy. "Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help me."

Amy held his stare with an expression that easily switched from stoic to anger. "No!"

That wasn't the answer that he was expecting. "I'm sorry?"

"No!" Amy grabbed him by the tie, ignoring his and Renata's cries, as she dragged the Doctor to a nearby car.

"Amy, are you out of your mind!?" Renata shouted in vain at the ginger.

Amy had slammed the Doctor's tie into the car door and made sure it stayed locked with the remote.

"Amy, I am going to need my car back," the driver of the car told her rather nervously since she looked angry as hell.

"Yes, in a bit. Now go and have coffee," Amy's response came out sharply but she was always looking at the Doctor.

"Amy, this is ridiculous!" the Doctor yelled at her but she wasn't budging.

"Who are you?" Amy yelled right back at him.

"You know who I am!"

"No, really, who are you?" Amy threw the question out for him and Renata as well.

"Oh for God's sake," Renata shook her head. "Amy, the world's about to end in 20 minutes and there are some people we are especially interested in saving!" She was sure that somewhere her best friend, Martha Jones, was going crazy trying to figure out a way to help UNIT. Captain Jack, if he was back on Earth, would surely be doing the same. And Donna? Renata's heart ached for their lost friend. She must be terrified out of her mind.

"Amy, catch!" the Doctor tossed an apple to Amy. She barely caught it but when she did, she was mighty confused to find the apple in her palm. "I'm the Doctor, that's Renata. We're time travelers. Everything we told you 12 years ago is true. We're real. What's happening in the sky is real, and if you don't let me go now, everything you've ever known is over."

Amy wouldn't look at the apple yet. She leveled the Doctor's gaze. "I don't believe you."

"Amy, please," Renata sighed as she moved beside the woman. "We didn't lie. We got it wrong, yes, but we didn't lie. Check the apple." Amy gazed at the apple briefly then back to Renata. The Time Lady sighed again. "I meant turn it over."

With eyebrows slightly furrowed, Amy brought the apple back to her eyes. She turned it over and found the butterfly carving she first saw on it when she was seven. It was still fresh as the day Renata gave it to her.

"We try to get it right," Renata insisted in a low whisper. "Please?"

Amy's eyes flickered to the Doctor who seemed just as hopeful as Renata that she would believe them. Renata's gaze was more intense than the Doctor's but at the same time, it compelled Amy to feel like everything would be okay. She didn't know why Renata had such a look but it made Amy shift.

"Fine, what do we do?" Amy unlocked the car door and the Doctor quickly scrambled away from it.

"Stop that nurse!" He ran straight towards the nurse in the park. "The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?"

The nurse was stunned to have his phone snatched, even more so when he saw Amy behind the strange man and beside a woman he didn't know. "Amy?"

"Hi! Oh, this is Rory, he's a... friend," Amy nervously looked between the aliens and completely missed Rory's indignant huff.

"Boyfriend!"

"Kind of boyfriend!"

"Amy!"

"I'm confused, how do you have a 'kind of' boyfriend?" Renata genuinely wanted to know the answer because up until now she had never heard the term. Amy, however, didn't seem interested in explaining.

The Doctor gave Rory a not-so-gentle shake from the shoulders. "Man and dog, why?"

It was then that Rory realized why Amy was around these strangers. He looked the Doctor over, especially the ruggedness of his clothes. "Oh, my God, it's him! The doctor. The Raggedy Doctor!" His eyes flickered to Renata and the flower dress on her. "You're the Mother of Butterflies!"

"Yeah, they came back," Amy sighed, trying her best not to look so embarrassed.

"But they were a story. It was a game!"

The Doctor grabbed Rory by the shirt, pulling him face to face. "Man and dog—why? Tell me now!"

Rory blinked with the harsh pull but he answered nonetheless. "Sorry. Because he can't be there. Because he's…"

"...in a hospital, in a coma," they ended up speaking in unison.

Rory wasn't sure if he should be relieved that somebody finally believed him on the matter, or if he should be afraid.

"Knew it. Multi-form, you see?" the Doctor let go of Rory and turned to the women. "Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed, a psychic link with a living but dormant mind."

And at that moment, the creature - the man and dog - snarled at them.

"Prisoner Zero," Renata sucked in a breath.

Rory's eyes might as well have been dinner plates. He kept changing gazes between the man and dog then to Renata and Amy and finally to the Doctor. "What, there's a Prisoner Zero too?"

"Yes," Amy answered just before they heard an electrical buzzing in the sky.

Everyone looked up as a huge spaceship flew across the sky. It stopped right above the park and showcased its famous one eye that would swivel back and forth.

"What's it doing?" Rory asked, terrified.

The Doctor whipped out his sonic to point at the sky. "See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver." He made a show of activating the sonic at the right moment and scared everyone even more when the street lights shattered, car alarms blared and sirens wailed.

Renata closed her eyes with a small sigh. That was one way to get everyone's attention. She did open her eyes when she heard a fire truck and the angry yells from firemen. They were chasing the truck that was running on its own.

"Oh, that was just going too far!" Renata turned to the Doctor, madly gesturing at the fire truck running down the street.

"I didn't mean to do that," the Doctor made a face and winced - as did everyone else - when they heard the truck crash.

Prisoner Zero barked at them but before it could move a step towards them, the Doctor redirected the sonic at a phone box nearby and made it explode. A few seconds later, the sonic itself sparked and fizzled between his fingers. The Doctor yelped and threw the sonic to the ground.

"No, no, no, don't do that!"

"Oh no," Renata watched the ship take leave without even eyeing Prisoner Zero.

"No, come back, he's here! Come back!" the Doctor called after the ship in vain. "He's here, Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero is…"

"Not so much anymore," Renata lowered his flapping arms and pointed at Prisoner Zero who was turning into pure mist.

"It just went down the drain…" Amy made a face as they all watched the remnants of the creature disappear through the ground.

"Well, of course it did," the Doctor groaned. They'd been so close and like always...so far.

"Well, what do we do now?"

"It's hiding in human form. We need to drive it into the open. No TARDIS, no screwdriver, 17 minutes! Come on, think. Think!"

"Stop!" Renata grabbed his hand just inches from his forehead. "Seriously," she lowered it between them. "Please don't hit yourself." They needed his mind completely unharmed for what was to come.

"So that thing, that hid in my house for 12 years?" Amy finally tore her gaze from the drain.

"Multi-forms can live for millennia. 12 years is a pit-stop," the Doctor explained as he took his hand back from Renata, though he had to tug twice for her to let him go.

"So how come you two show up again on the same day that lot does? The same minute?"

"Well, it's not our fault," Renata argued weakly as she brought her arms over her chest. "Yes, they followed us to get to him but...I mean...one of these days they were bound to come anyways."

"What?" Rory blinked at her.

"Now, sport, give me your phone," the Doctor held his hand out for Rory's cellphone, but Rory was too out of it to notice on the first try.

"How can they be real?" Rory was looking specifically at Amy, wondering how the hell she was so calm with everything that was going on. "They were never real."

The Doctor grew impatient and waved his hand in front of Rory's face. "Phone, now, give me!"

Rory had no idea what he wanted from it but he handed his phone over and continued going off. "They were just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as him!"

Renata looked between the two humans with bemusement. "Really?"

Amy felt her face reddened and before Rory could say what she dressed up as, she asked the Doctor what he was looking for.

"These aren't coma patients; they're all the multi-form. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero!"

"But he had a dog, though. There's a dog in a coma?"

"The coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog. Laptop! Your friend, what was his name? Not him—" the Doctor jerked a thumb at Rory, missing Rory's indignant huff, "—the good-looking one!"

"He doesn't mean that," Renata tried stepping in but Amy made it worse.

"Jeff?" she asked right on the spot.

"Oh, thanks!" Rory exclaimed.

"Doesn't mean it," Renata tried again with a nervous smile.

"He had a laptop in his bag, a laptop. Big bag, big laptop, I need Jeff's laptop!" the Doctor went on without ever noticing his rudeness. "You two—" he said for Amy and Rory, "—get to the hospital, get everyone out, clear the whole floor. Phone me when you're done." He promptly reached over for Renata's hand and yanked her away.

They returned to Jeff's home, barging inside without so much of a knock. Renata couldn't stand for that, no matter how much she tried. She skidded to a stop in the living room where Jeff's grandmother sat. "Really sorry about that."

"Hey!" Jeff cried from his room.

Renata jumped and nervously smiled at the grandmother again. "Sorry!" She ran into the room and saw the Doctor basically fighting Jeff for the laptop. "Oh Doctor, this is too much even for you!"

The Doctor won the fight and took a seat at the edge of the bed, patting the empty spot beside him. "C'mon—blimey!" He motioned Renata to stay right where she was. "Get a girlfriend, Jeff."

The door behind Renata opened up to let the grandmother in. "What are you doing?" she curiously asked the trio.

"The sun's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, there's going to be a big video conference call!" the Doctor explained in a rush while he madly typed on the laptop. "All the experts in the world panicking at once, and do you know what they need? Me."

"Being so modest, aren't we?" Renata smiled and got a smirk in return. She walked over to the bed and sat next to him just as his callers answered.

"Ah, and here they all are. All the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore!"

"Ooh, I like Patrick Moore," Jeff's grandmother might have inched a few steps towards them.

Renata chuckled while the Doctor promised to get her his number.

"You can't just hack in on a call like that!" Jeff exclaimed as he got off his bed.

"Oh trust me, this isn't even a quarter of what he can do," Renata shook her head. She had stories beyond his dreams about the things the Doctor could do.

The Doctor was more than ready with his psychic paper to answer the initial questions of who he was and what he wanted. He had about fifteen minutes left!

"Hello. I know, you should switch me off. But before you do, watch this!" he dropped his psychic paper on Renata's lap then started to type again. "Fermat's Theorem, the proof, and I mean the real one, never seen before. Poor old Fermat, got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault, I slept in. Oh, and here's an oldie but a goodie - why electrons have mass. And a personal favorite of mine, faster-than-light travel with two diagrams and a joke. Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get. Fellas, pay attention!" The Doctor knew he had them on his hook. He glanced at Renata just to make sure they were on the same page and found her staring at him instead. Initially, he was confused why she was smiling like...that. It was familiar but it took him a few seconds to remember when she smiled like that. In his defense, the last time she had a smile like that was in her first incarnation and she had a face that went red incredibly easily, even easier than this current one.

She was enthralled with him. She leaned close to him, widening her smile. She'd forgotten what it felt like to be so close to him while he did that. Whenever the Doctor got into his 'I'm a genius' mode, Renata was unashamedly attracted to him. He was just so incredibly intelligent. Renata honestly thought he was the smartest man alive. It wasn't news for her, not since the first time she saw it back on Gallifrey, but it was one thing knowing it and seeing it. She loved seeing it.

There was a tingle that started down her spine that was soon followed by the dozens of butterflies in her stomach (ironically). It made her puddy in his arms. Her last incarnation had been too worried about the Doctor finding out who she was that she barely had moments to really let herself feel things for him again. The little she allowed was always pushed away to the deepest end of her mind and hearts. And when the Doctor had found out who she was, she'd fallen ill. She was dying and she couldn't think about anything else other than saying goodbye. She didn't exactly know what they were right now, but she wouldn't fight it this time. There was a warmth in her body that brought her closer to the Doctor and she would finally let it be.

"I forgot you could do that," she said breathlessly, saving something else she wanted to do for later.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her but she didn't say anymore. His gaze lowered to her lips since she was biting her lower lip pretty hard. "Interesting…" He took notes for later when they weren't in the middle of saving the world. From now on, he would be using anything at his advantage.

~ 0 ~

Within five minutes, the Doctor had concocted a whole plan for the humans to follow. He'd gone back and forth between the laptop and Rory's cellphone whilst talking at light-speed to the humans on video call.

"Sir, what are you doing?" one of the men from the computer screen asked after the Doctor spent a significant amount of time on the cellphone.

"I'm writing a computer virus. Very clever, super-fast, and a tiny bit alive, but don't let on. Why am I writing it on a phone?" the Doctor raised a finger for a few seconds. "Never mind, you'll find out. OK, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you sending this everywhere. Email, text, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, radar dish - whatever you've got. Any questions?"

"Who was your lady friend?"

The Doctor deadpanned the man on the screen. "Patrick, behave!"

Renata laughed softly beside him while Jeff's grandmother beamed.

"What does this virus do?" another man inquired.

"It's a reset command, that's all. It resets counters, it gets in the wifi and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calendars, anything with a chip will default at zero at exactly the same time. But, yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain." The Doctor waited for Jeff to cut in but for some reason the human stayed silent and away from them.

Renata raised an eyebrow at Jeff. "Uh, Jeff, that would be you."

Jeff genuinely looked confused to learn that. "What?"

The Doctor had closed the laptop but Renata made a motion for him to stay put. She got up from the bed and moved over to Jeff. "Listen I know you're scared and I honestly would be a little concerned if you weren't but this is your your moment. It's sort of like, uh, this is a moment where you're trying to get investors. Right?"

"Uh...not...sure if that's the way I'd put it," Jeff said slowly, glancing at the Doctor and his grandmother for some clarification.

The Doctor seemed to be smiling but not at him. He was nodding at Renata, encouraging her to keep going. It was a sight watching her try to relate to humans. At least now she was trying. Her last incarnation, while helpful, didn't seem very interested in that. She'd wanted to fix the problem and then move on without making much of an attempt to get to know humans. The only time she expressed interest was the day she met Gabby. Though she was a bit rocky...she'd get it with time.

Renata was aware that her comparison didn't entirely fit with the current situation so she tried re-wording it. "I used to be somebody who would have to persuade people to invest in my foundation, so I'd have to put myself out there and give one hell of a show. That's what you need to do right now and afterwards those guys—" she made a nod at the laptop, "—will be offering you any job you want."

"How do I get them to do that?" Jeff turned another glance on the laptop, now more interested in the idea.

Renata put her hands on his shoulders and fixated a smile on the man. "You have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. Old news to me."

"But I've never done that…"

"Put yourself out there!" she exclaimed and turned him for the Doctor and the laptop. "This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."

"But why me?" Jeff asked as the Doctor sat him down on the bed and handed him his laptop.

"It's your bedroom!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Now go, go, go!" He grabbed Renata's arm and headed out the room, though stopped abruptly and turned back. "Oh, and delete your internet history!"

Renata raised an eyebrow at him when he came out of the room again. "What?"

"Nothing. Oh, and great job back there!" he pulled down the living room and out the door.

"For what? All I did was just talk!" Renata laughed out of confusion.

"Words mean everything!" the Doctor turned abruptly once they were out on the street again, making Renata bump into him.

"You certainly did that as well back there," Renata said and suddenly found her lower lip was a chewing gum. "I just...helped a bit in the end."

"You were amazing," the Doctor stepped closer to her. He couldn't help but let his gaze linger on her lips.

"Uuh...Amelia - I mean Amy, she-she's probably waiting…" Renata nervously moved around him and studied the street for any way to get around. Alright, maybe her body needed a bit more time to adjust her...feelings. She couldn't possibly revert back to her school-girl ways from her first incarnation. "We need to find a way to get to the hospital."

The Doctor rejoined her and studied the nearly empty sidewalk. "I...may have an idea…"

Renata turned her head at him to see the wide smirk on his face. "Ah, so that'll be your mischievous face. Duly noted."

The Doctor once again yanked her down the street.

~ 0 ~

When Amy called them, they were nearly to the hospital. Renata refused to accept that stealing the fire truck had been a good idea.

"It was irresponsible!"

The Doctor didn't seem to agree as he happily drove down the road. "Oh, c'mon, Gabby would have loved this!"

"Oh sure, teach her to steal why don't you!?"

"I'm not stealing, I'm borrowing! Plus, look!" he reached for a specific button beside the wheel and turned on the fire engine. "Yeah!"

Renata rolled her eyes and looked out the window, but she found it was hard not to crack a smile. She knew he was right: Gabby would love this bit.

A short moment later, Amy called them again only this time she was more distressed. Prisoner Zero had found them in the building and had chased her and Rory into a coma ward.

"Listen, which window are you?" the Doctor asked but because of the fire engine, Amy hadn't heard.

"Oh for God's sake!" Renata reached over to turn them off. "Amy, which window are you!?"

"First floor on the left, fourth from the end!" Amy managed to answer before screaming.

"Amy!?" the two aliens simultaneously called but they only heard warbled voices, one belonging to neither her nor Rory.

"It must be Prisoner Zero," Renata ended the call. "Now what?"

"We do what every human does: we text!"

"Text?" Renata crinkled her nose. "A Time Lady does not...text."

The Doctor laughed. "Just tell her to duck!"

Renata wasn't even sure how to do such a thing. She never actually paid attention to Gabby when she tried giving her lessons back on Zhe's gallery. It'd been one of the many things Gabby would try to distract her with while she battled her illness. Since Martha liked to call every now and then, Gabby thought it was a good idea to learn to text. Plus, she thought it was fairly ridiculous that such an intelligent Time Lady didn't know how to do such a basic task.

The Doctor had successfully crashed the right hospital window so that its ladder shattered the glass of it. "Out! Out! Go!" he tried ushering Renata to the ladder first but she wasn't having it.

"I'm wearing a dress!" she argued, motioning him to take the lead.

"Oi! I'm not like that!"

"Just go!"

The Doctor groaned but went ahead first. He wouldn't ever be like that but she was overly shy anyways. Why argue over something so petty? When the two climbed into the coma ward, they found Amy and Rory standing in the middle of the room while a woman with two little girls stood at the entrance.

"Right! Hello! Are we late?" the Doctor didn't exactly wait for the answer as he went on. "No, three minutes to go. So still time!"

"Time for what, Time Lord?" the woman titled her head.

"Oh, so you know things," Renata snapped. "Doesn't mean it'll get you out of this. Take your disguise off and save these humans from further despair."

"Not happening," Prisoner Zero smiled sarcastically. "The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire."

"OK. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again - just leave!" the Doctor exclaimed. At this point, he would take anything because time was now running on 2 minutes.

"I did not open the crack."

"Well somebody did and I'm willing to bet we know who it was," Renata mumbled so that only the Doctor could hear. "The Master and Rassilon."

Fair guess, the Doctor thought.

But Prisoner Zero seemed to know more than what they thought. "The cracks in the skin of the universe - don't you know where they came from?" A great big smirk spread across the woman's face, teasing the pair for their lack of knowledge. "You don't, do you?"

The little girls started laughing as they chanted, "The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know. The Vortex Butterfly doesn't even know!"

Renata's eyebrows furrowed together at the name once used at her 'rebirth' on the Crucible. She thought after the Daleks and the Reality Bomb, she'd never hear that name again. "Hold on—"

"Doesn't know, doesn't know!" the girls laughed for another minute before the woman spoke again, much more serious.

"The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."

The Doctor lost interest when they heard a clicking noise. His eyes flickered to the clock on the wall flashing '0:00' at them. "And we're off! Look at that. Look at that! Yeah, I know, just a clock, whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team is working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is zero. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute?" the Doctor pulled out Rory's cell phone from his pocket, giving it a triumphant wave in the air. "The source, by the way, is right here. Oh! And I think they just found us!"

"The Atraxi are limited," Prisoner Zero said, remaining totally calm. "While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me."

"Sorry, do you think we're stupid?" Renata made a face, almost offended. "Of course we planned for that - rather Rory planned for that." She glanced back at the man in question who even pointing at himself to confirm she meant him. Renata chuckled. "Well done Rory."

The Doctor once again waved the phone in the air. "Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Oh, and being uploaded about now. And the final score is - no TARDIS, no screwdriver - two minutes to spare!" He cheered with his arms out, spinning around. "Who da man?"

Renata made a face at him, not even needing to say it for him to know she begged him never to do that again. She reached over to lower his arms to his sides. "Gabriella would've laughed at you."

"Yeah, she would've," he mumbled and thanked the Gods that Gabby wasn't around right now.

"Then I shall take a new form," Prisoner Zero said smugly.

"Please," Renata scoffed. "It takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"And I've had years."

A bright light took over the woman's body at the same time Amy collapsed to the floor.

"Amy?" the Doctor called as he and Renata rushed to the woman. "You've got to hold on. Amy! Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please!"

"You need to let her go!" Renata glanced back at Prisoner Zero only to see a much more different disguise. "Oh dear."

"Doctor?" Rory blinked fast once he saw the new disguise.

The Doctor followed their gaze to see Prisoner Zero had turned into a young man. "Well, that's rubbish. Who's that supposed to be?"

Rory threw him an incredulous look."It's you!"

"Me?" the Doctor made a face and quickly glanced at Renata."Is that what I look like?" She gave him the confirming nod.

"You mean you don't know!?" Rory almost shouted with exasperation. How could he not know what he looked like!? What kind of crazy was that!?

"It's been a busy day," Renata supplied with the briefest explanation.

"Why me, though?" the Doctor asked with genuine confusion. "You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?"

"I'm not," Prisoner Zero answered but it hadn't been through the Doctor's mouth. Amy's seven year old self moved from behind him. "Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you've been."

"Oh hey that's not fair!: Renata scowled. "And you're one to talk considering you're a convict!"

"No, no," the Doctor gazed down at Amy. There was something else he was missing again. She could have dreamed of anything right now, probably something happier than what the situation was, but she chose him. "Oh! She's dreaming about me cos she can hear me!" he carefully cupped her face and called to her. "Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see? Remember you went inside. We tried to stop, but you did. You went in the room. You went inside. Amy…dream about what you saw."

"No! No!" Prisoner Zero started to cry out as the shifting began once again. "No!"

"Well done Amy," Renata smiled proudly of the unconscious girl. "Bet you didn't see that coming, huh?"

Prisoner Zero was immediately captured with the shining light from the window.

'Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained.'

"Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall," Prisoner Zero said his last words before disappearing.

"Oh no," Renata gritted her teeth with anger. "They are not going to pull that on us! I don't think so!" She swiped the cellphone from the Doctor's hand - he'd been about to use it again - and put her fingers to work. "You and Gabriella might just be proud of me right now!" She flashed the Doctor a quick little smile before returning her focus on the phone.

"The sun - it's back to normal, right?" Rory was relieved to the sky returning to normal through the window. And even better that Amy was waking up. "Amy? Are you OK? Are you with us?"

"What happened?" Amy asked slowly, still a bit hazed.

"They did it," Rory nodded to the pair who were suddenly very close to each other. Renata was still working the phone. "The Doctor and Renata did it!"

"Not quite yet," Renata called before asking the Doctor something in a hushed manner.

Amy and Rory both heard a 'Write in...make sure those numbers…'

"What are you doing?" Amy raised an eyebrow at them once she sat up.

"Tracking the signal back! And the Doctor's sort of filling in the gaps for me," Renata sent another quick smile at the Doctor. She knew her way around things as well but there was always a little something she hadn't come across yet. "And sorry in advance, Rory."

"For what?"

"The phone bill! Promise UNIT will reimburse you for that!" Renata winked at him before putting the phone against her ear. She cleared her throat and the next time she spoke her voice was no longer sweet and kind. It was hard and sharp. "This is Renata and you may not know me but that's okay because I know the Shadow Proclamation pretty well. Article 57, ring a bell?" She paused but of course there would be no response. "This is a fully established, level 5 planet, and you were going to burn it? The idea that you could get away with it is laughable! Get your sorry behinds back here now or so help me…" There was another pause she took, a brief one as she considered if she really wanted to say her next words. And she decided: Why the hell not? It didn't mean anything wrong because she wasn't bad. She wouldn't hurt people like other versions of her in parallel universes had. "You lot, back here now or you'll have the Vortex Butterfly on you. See you in 30 seconds and not a second more!" She promptly ended the call and tossed the phone to Rory. "Seriously, though, UNIT will reimburse you for that." She then faced the Doctor who was looking more or less fascinated with her.

He had never been more attracted to her than right now. She had just ordered an entire prison ward to come back - under a specific deadline - and she had a new authoritative voice that made him shudder. If things weren't such a crunch time, he might have kissed her there and then.

"You going to stand there or come help me put these people back in their spots?" Renata smirked. She wanted to believe she had made him feel exactly the way he had done to her earlier. "We gotta get to the roof!" She laughed and dragged him out of the room with her, leaving a mighty confused Rory and Amy behind.

"No, no, wait! We can't!" the Doctor stopped them down the hallway. Amy had scurried after them, leading Rory to do the same.

"Where are you going?" she asked the pair.

"To change!" the Doctor made a quick turn into a different hallway.

"What? Doctor!" Renata went after him with a groan. "I said 30 seconds! That went for all of you!"

"I'm quick, don't worry," he had found a changing room and was already searching through one rack. "If we're saving the world I'm going to need a decent shirt! Not fair you got your quick change!"

Renata looked down at her flower dress that, truthfully, could use a good wash now. It still smelled like chlorine water from the swimming pool mishap. Still, it would do just fine until she could get into the TARDIS. "Well, fine! Just hurry!"

"To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show!" he spun around trying to find something else in another rack.

"Sorry, I am so confused here," Rory rushed into the room with Amy. "You just summoned aliens back to Earth!"

"Yeah, never really done that before - quite a rush really!" Renata's face definitely said so. She giggled even, making the Doctor pause for a moment just as he was about to change shirts.

Rory didn't seem that happy about it. "But they're actual aliens! Deadly aliens, aliens of death and - now he's taking his clothes off!"

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you!"

"A door, Doctor! Seriously! Nothing bad happens if you use a door!"" Renata groaned as she turned away from him, ignoring the warmth in her face. She might have seen a bit of his back and that was enough to make her wonder what it might be like to press her hands against his skin.

"Amy, you're not going to turn around!?" Rory's incredulous question brought Renata out of her thoughts.

She blushed even more for realizing what she'd been thinking about and decided to put her attention on Amy. "Yeah, you are!" She turned the young woman around, shooting her a little look for trying that. What was Amy thinking!?

The group arrived on the rooftop in 27 seconds, but it was only because Renata forced the Doctor out before he could finalize his outfit. She compromised by letting him bring along a mess of ties around his neck. He'd choose on the way.

"On time, perfect," Renata spat at the waiting Atraxi ship at the end of the rooftop. Soon as she and the Doctor were in its vicinity, it scanned them.

"You are not of this world."

"What was your first clue?" Renata cocked her head to the side. "And the fact that we're not from Earth shouldn't be the reason you came back. You should come back because you did something wrong. You broke the law. Count your lucky stars I haven't phoned the Shadow Proclamation to shut you down."

"We took necessary measures," the Atraxi argued but only angered Renata more.

"No, you really didn't!"

"Why don't we think about it in this way?" the Doctor tossed a few ties over his shoulders, letting them hit Amy and Rory behind. "Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" The Atraxi delayed the answer. "Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. IS this world a threat?"

After projecting a series of holograms showing the Earth's history, the Atraxi finally answered. "No."

"Second question, are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?" Renata decided to add since she knew the answer would further prove their point.

"No."

"One more. Just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here." The Doctor once more threw a few more ties behind him. He found one color that suited his fancy, all in the meanwhile the Atraxi went through the course of his enemies landing on Earth. "Oh, there have been so many! And what you've got to ask is...what happened to them?"

The Atraxi went through every incarnation of the Doctor as it found that he was responsible for ending every single battle.

Just as the Doctor finished putting on his new tie - a bow tie! - he noticed that at the end of the hologram, it showed Renata's previous incarnation but it had been no ordinary moment in her life. Her spectacle as the Vortex Butterfly on the Crucible had certainly gotten around because that's the moment the Atraxi chose to show.

Renata was astonished that they would include her. She'd only meant to call them back and scold them. It was what she did best. She suddenly felt the Doctor's hand slip into hers. He gave her an encouraging nod to speak out, say what she wanted to finally end all this.

Renata took in a breath as she looked at the Atraxi again. "You've seen what we can do and don't think that I would hesitate to bring the wings out if you ever try to do something like this to Earth again. I suggest run. You wouldn't want the Doctor and the Vortex Butterfly after you."

There was no need to go on, for the Atraxi ship had taken off in a second. Amy and Rory broke into laughter to see their world completely safe again!

Renata ended up laughing as well after it truly donned on her what she'd done. She turned to the Doctor, pointed at herself. "Did I just—"

"Yes, you did, and you were amazing!" the Doctor leaned closer to her but suddenly felt something burning in his pocket. He hissed and pulled away from Renata. He dug a hand into his pocket and pulled out the TARDIS key that was glowing.

"Oh, she's done," Renata gasped. She gave the Doctor a nod and the two were off on a chase for the TARDIS. Renata laughed as they hurried down the street and even across several lawns. She would never do that but she was too gleeful to stop.

They returned to Amy's backyard where the TARDIS stood. Straightaway, they could see the box had even given herself a new shade of dark blue.

"OK! What have you got for us this time?" the Doctor stopped in front of the doors, exchanging curious eyes with Renata. She was anxious to see what the TARDIS would look like now. "Ready?" he asked her.

"Mhm!"

He opened the doors for them and walked in at the same time. They were immediately blinded by the bright orange and gold exterior. It seemed more spacious than the last one since now they could see the bright staircase leading up to the second floor. The console was on a raised dais with a glass floor that allowed them to look below to the wires.

"Oh, you sexy thing! Look at you!" the Doctor laughed and wondered what Renata thought about it.

Her dark eyes were still widened but there was a grin marking her face. "I've never seen such a more...elegant console room!" The TARDIS hummed as if she was thanking Renata for the compliment. Renata laughed and made her way up to the console, because now there were even small glass steps leading up to it. "Seriously, well done!"

"Trip to the moon to stabilize her!" the Doctor reminded her as he started moving around the console, pressing the new buttons.

"And I don't see a mallet anywhere nearby," Renata genuinely went around the console searching its lower drawers for any mallet. "Guess she finally got rid of that!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes and stopped by the new lever. "So funny. Would you like to hang on?"

"I wouldn't have to if you drove correctly. You can't drive a TARDIS nor a fire truck, what am I going to do with you?"

"I can think of a few ideas," he flashed a smirk then pulled the lever.

The TARDIS rumbled as it took off.

"We should go get Gabriella," Renata said as soon as the TARDIS went still. "I think it's about time she came back permanently in the TARDIS...if that's okay with you, of course. Your TARDIS and all."

"Renée, it's ours," the Doctor said. "I've said this countless times before but I suppose we weren't really in sync in our last bodies."

Renata thought that was an understatement. "It's not like we made it easy on each other, especially me. I'm sorry."

"Stop," he said suddenly, startling her with the quickness he had said it too. "No more apologizing. You've done that over and over, as have I. I forgive you. I really do. I forgive you for keeping your identity a secret. And most importantly, that night on Gallifrey? The night that's been a nightmare for us...I understand why you said no to me."

Renata's arms couldn't seem to find the right way to move as he went on with their past mistakes. "If I could go back to that night where you asked me to run away with you...I would have."

There was a certainty that the Doctor heard and it made his hearts swell. She hadn't been sure about that in her last body. He asked her to run away with him on the eve of his wedding to another woman and when she said no, it shattered him. Even when he learned that she said no because of her blackmailing sister...it still broke him. It was single-handedly the most painful moment of his lives. Now to hear her say that she would choose him over everyone...that brought a closure that he didn't know he needed.

"You...are you sure?" He moved around the console until he stood in front of her. "I get that I asked too much of you. You had to leave your family...your foundation...your people…"

"You were my everything back then. I-I should have trusted that you could take care of yourself, that my sister couldn't actually hurt you. And I should have been braver. But you...you have never stopped being the love of my life. I am 758 years old and in all that time I never really learned to love anyone else like I loved you. And it's not like I didn't try. Elek was sweet and I did love him but our marriage never gave me the same rush I had when I was with you."

"That's exactly how I felt," the Doctor told her with a small smile. "It's funny how that works. Centuries can pass but the feelings are still there, raw as if it was still the first day I realized I loved you."

Renata matched his smile with her own. She looked down out of shyness and embarrassment. "So...so what happens now?"

"Well...I think...if you'd like...we're both at a place where we can start again?" the Doctor was thinking about it himself. There were no more lies, no more anger, no more illnesses and no more need of saving the world. Everything was good and calm. It was exactly what his last incarnation told her on the day that he had to leave her with Zhe. He wanted to be with her but at that time he was still too angry with her for lying to him. There were too many things between them that needed to be solved. But that was in the past. He didn't hold onto that anger now; all he wanted was her.

Renata raised her head at him, revealing a nervous tint in her eyes. "You think we can do that? It's been so much time, so many things happening. Do you think we could work this time?" It seemed so surreal to even think about them actually working after centuries of their first attempt.

"I will definitely put my best efforts," he chuckled, though that wouldn't distract her from his own nervousness.

"It's just...I don't really know how to do that anymore," she admitted. "I never thought that I would make it here. I didn't think I would regenerate. Plus, I thought that I wanted to die. I guess I'm just trying to say that I'm sort of rusty at this 'being in a relationship thing'."

"Darling, so am I."

Renata's scoff was hard enough to make the Doctor wince. "Please! You've snogged more people than I can count! And that was just in your last body!"

"Oi! It's not like I planned it!"

"No but you certainly didn't seem to mind!"

"Well none of that matters because the only one I want to kiss from here on out is you."

Renata blinked at him and smiled pretty fast. There was that warmth in her face again. "Really?"

"Yes. I've been wanting to kiss you all day today, especially when you made that call to the Atraxi. Talk about sexy!"

Renata's eyes widened all over again. "Doctor!" She playfully hit him on the chest while he laughed. He could see her reddened face which made it all the more funny.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her steady in front of him. "So what do you say? Shall we try again?"

Renata met his gaze slowly. The redness in her face had died down and all that was left now was a softened expression. After centuries of lies and denial, she was really getting a second chance with him? He must be mad if he truly wanted to her of all people, but then again she was just as mad for wanting him. They were polar opposites from the start! She was seen as a law abiding Time Lady and he had no idea what a law was. On the other hand, he loved travelling and he practically knew everything about the galaxies and she was still learning. Plus, he always had a way of doing things that she just didn't agree with. But that also drove her madly in love with him.

It was the same for the Doctor. He saw her as the pinnacle of what a Time Lady should be, everyone who knew her on Gallifrey thought the same. She was always elegant and graceful and so proper. She was always kind to whoever she met; she literally could not be rude to anyone. How could he not fall in love with her? Yes sometimes her law abiding trait irritated him and sometimes they did bicker over their different views on the rules, but he couldn't think of another person he'd want to bicker with. She was it for him.

"I would like to start over," Renata whispered. "I would definitely like to try again."

A huge grin took over the Doctor's face. "Run away with me?"

Renata laughed. The same question that once began their centuries-long torture was now the start of what could be their genuine happiness together. "Anywhere you want," she leaned on him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. That was the answer they should have had centuries ago. They should have been free. Better late than never.

"Our first stop is to Gabby but...there's one thing I'd like to do first," the Doctor lowered his head so that they were mere inches from each other's faces.

Renata had half an idea of what he was going to say but she was too enthralled with their closeness. I actually get to have this now, she made the realization seconds later. "What?"

"I said I've been wanting to kiss you all day today and now we're alone...in a TARDIS where interruptions are not possible…"

"Mm, that's not quite true. We have been interrupted before even when we were inside—"

The Doctor playfully rolled his eyes at her and went ahead to kiss her. She could possibly ramble on for hours about everything that could go wrong, or everything that had gone wrong before.

Renata now welcomed being cut off. She would much rather kiss him too. She'd been wanting to do that all day just like him. She brought her hands to his arms, gripping them while he pressed his hands against her back. It was like an endless loop, whenever he pressed against her back, she would grip his arms. It was impossible to be any closer but they continued to search for ways.

Renata pulled away for a moment - it really would be just for a moment because she was not done - and looked the Doctor over. She hadn't really looked at him with everything that happened.

His style had drastically changed. Suits were abandoned for something a bit more classic, at least in her opinion. She could appreciate the dark brown tweed jacket - though she knew for a fact Gabby would have a few comments about that - but she would have some questions on the bow tie.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked her after a while of watching her study him.

She raised her gaze off his clothes and met his new green eyes. "I like this you."

The Doctor laughed. "Well, that's good to know. I like you too, darling."

Renata smiled along with him. She slid her arms up and around his neck. "Did we have a midlife crisis?" She referred to the fact that now both of them wore far younger faces than their last bodies. "I've never had one before."

"I think we just wanted to start fresh," the Doctor's answer was a viable one. She would take it. "Do you want to go pick up Gabby now?"

Renata titled her head and hummed. "Yes…" the Doctor made a move towards the console but she tightened her grip around him. "But after we do more of…" She brushed her lips over his, giving him a tantalizing smile.

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh...right, right...I'd like that. I'd definitely like—"

Renata pressed her lips against his. She wouldn't let him get away so quick, not after all that they dealt with. Look at me being so bold, she commended herself.

The Doctor's hands once against found her back and pressed against it. The fabric of her dress was far too thin as he first noticed when they climbed out of the TARDIS in Amy's backyard. Now he had the full proof and he loved it. Eventually, one of his hands traveled up to the back of Renata's neck to keep her right against him. They were moving their lips in a sweet sync in the first minutes but after getting over it - because it had been centuries of longing - they started moving into a more rough type of kiss. They needed each other. They wouldn't realize to want extent that might be just yet but the seed was still there and it was being planted right now.

Renata gasped when the Doctor hoisted her up on the edge of the console. She laughed out of surprise, making a face that told him she'd never done anything like that, which only made him smirk. With him, she'd be able to do anything she wanted. There would be no more rules binding her.

They resumed their kiss, quickly finding their level of heat again. If they were more aware, they would've realized how easy it had been to reconnect; to re-establish the same intensity they once had centuries ago. One new thing Renata found truly pleasant was the fact she could hold onto the Doctor's hair. It was longer. She would love doing that from now on, she just hoped that the Doctor could find something about her that he liked too.

He had.

But he would keep that with him for a bit longer.

[fightevilandthengetblownup]

FIC: The bright lights, the merry go

---

Sitting at the kitchen table, she let out a quiet soft sigh to herself as her thoughts continued to buzz quietly in the silence surrounding her. There was the occasional plinking sound as the kitchen tap let out slow, irregular drips, and the whirr from the refrigerator motor humming quietly in the space, and a soft noise as the oven slowly brought itself up to temperature. Jo had turned it on earlier, uncertain as to her plans for the day, but as she’d pottered around the house aimlessly her interest in baking in the empty house had fizzled out, and upon slumping into the seat at the table she hadn’t had the energy yet to get up and turn it back off.

It was one of those rare mornings that the other was out doing what he needed to rather than taking the morning to catch up on the sleep he missed out on, staying up playing his games and on hand to soothe away the nightmares that plagued her. As soon as the nightmarish voices had faded away and her body returned to herself, Jo’d caught up on a few kisses despite her protests of morning breath and been teased as she’d changed into her running gear to take their baby out while Grey’d pulled on a clean hoodie and his sneakers before departing for whatever hunt was on his agenda that morning and might let him be home by the afternoon.

Jo had gotten back from her longer than usual run with their fluffy baby, and spent a good while pampering the happy dog with a good brushing and cuddles before going for a soak in the bath with a copy of the latest Madeline Miller book to while away the cloudy morning. It was peaceful, if overly quiet, and gave her the time to relax but as she’d gotten out of the tub and dried off with the fluffiest towel she could find, Jo could feel the boredom - or at least that’s what she was thinking of it as - sinking in at being home alone.

She’d first tried to distract herself with some television but found herself starting and stopping new episodes of six different shows and channel surfing even the shopping network before giving up that idea. Her book was her next port of call, but even that just led to her shuffling about the house trying out different places to sit - one too cold near the window, another too far from the light far from it, the bed she couldn’t find a comfortable way to lay or perch, and sitting at the kitchen table to read her book felt strange. Jo tried working in her study next, pulling books that Harry had managed to locate from a contact in Mexico with a Spanish-English dictionary beside it had taken up about half an hour before she’d called quits on that as translating the words started to add to the headache she could have sworn had been developing all morning.

That was when the idea of baking had struck, her stomach growling for a very late breakfast as she moved down to reheat one of the cinnamon buns left in the fridge from the weekend and put the kettle on for her first cup of green tea of the day, but even as she sat at the table tearing at the bun and sipping her drink as the sun’s rays only just busted through the grey clouds to shine through the window - Jo couldn’t find the motivation to get up and do that either. Everything was just too heavy lately, after tearing her psyche apart recently and the hard work of stitching herself back together was still underway - it was too hard to do anything on her own again while she was still struggling to work her way through all that.

Nana had walked in after a little bit, burrowing her nose into the joint behind Jo’s knees and looking up at her with those big soulful eyes until she’d gotten a few bites of the warmed cinnamon bun for her own lip-smacking enjoyment. The unconscious movement to comply with her baby’s wishes were so rote at this point that Jo barely realized that the last perfect mouthful had been handed to the joyful pup before the smart dog noticed the empty plate and made off down to the lounge room with a happy wag of her tail leaving Jo slightly at a loss all over again to her thoughts and inadequacies to do anything. Everything was too hard to do, and now she hadn’t even gotten to have the middle circle of her bun.

“Balls,” Jo muttered quietly to herself under her breath as she stirred mindlessly at her tea before sighing into the silent room. “...Fine.” Grumbling to herself, she got up finally and moved towards the oven to click it off before slumping down onto the floor, resting her back against the warm oven door with a soft sigh as she closed her eyes for a moment.

That moment seemed to be a lot longer than she’d thought, as the next thing she knew was the sound of pounding paws on the hall floors and the warm baritone greeting the pup and that the oven behind her was no longer warm to the touch as she thunked her head back silently.

It took another few seconds before Jo tried to scramble quickly to her feet at the approaching sound of footsteps. It wouldn’t do at all to be found like that, it’d just worry her love too much. He shouldn’t have to worry about her very weird brand of crazy. Struggling, Jo let out a loud cry as she accidentally hit her head on the oven handle as she struggled up to her feet, rubbing at the sore spot. “Fuck! Bollocks, motherfuckin’ bullshit, crap!”

“Jo? Are you okay?” The panicked tone from the other was exactly what she’d tried to avoid, but as Jo finally got to her feet, the ache at the back of her head seemed to disappear as she looked into the warm and concerned blue eyes staring back at her as Grey rushed to her side. His hands were in her hair and gently placing pressure against the sore spot that had been throbbing painfully before, and all she could see was concern and love as his fingers massaged the area gently and his eyes danced between each of hers. “What happened, pretty one? Oh, that egg feels bad-”

“It’s not so bad-” “Jo, that feels like a bad bump.” “I just banged it a bit, I’ll be fine.” “Of course you will, let’s get you seated, hm?”

Jo found herself nodding gently without dislodging that comforting touch as she was gently guided back to her seat. She felt herself blushing however as the other picked up her now cold mug of tea before moving to put the coffee machine on instead as he poured the cold liquid down the drain without comment. Letting out a quiet groan to herself, she slumped back down again, resting her cheek on the table and rubbing at the sizable bump on the back of her head gently without worrying much about hiding that it hurts now there was no point to it.

“You want a coffee, Jo?” Grey asked gently as he rinsed out her mug and moved towards the fridge. Jo could tell he was looking at her in concern even as she let her eyes close and gave a positive-sounding groan in response. “Did you need anything else - pain killers, some chocolate, something?”

“I’m sure the coffee’d be just fine. Maybe…” “Maybe what?” “Maybe another cinnamon bun possibly.” “Coming right up then!”

Her cheeks felt hotter all over again as she rolled her forehead against the table before lifting her head to look at the confused and concerned yet adoring look she was getting in response. Grey was chewing on his bottom lip as he took not only the milks but two of their remaining cinnamon buns from the fridge to be warmed through in the toaster oven on a tray to catch any errant cream cheese frosting.

“I was tryin’ to decide what to do today, and I have no ideas,'' Jo mumbled out as an explanation, rubbing at the back of her head gently as she dropped her gaze down. Her head was already feeling better, but that was probably just her elation at the other being home so quickly. “I… I was almost thinkin’ of cleanin’ the oven, actually. I was that bored.”

“You, bored? Oh, we can’t have that.” The other smiled warmly as he came over with two mugs of steaming coffee - perfectly poured and balanced with their individual milk preferences and as Jo took a sip the pleasurable taste of caramel got a pleased groan from her in surprise - and sank into the seat beside her before reaching out to rub at her head instead. “What did you get up to while I was out to be so bored already, pretty one?”

“I tried some television but everythin’ was borin’. And I’d already taken Nana on a run and read some while in the bath that I didn’t want to do more of that. Otherwise?” Jo shrugged a shoulder, leaning into his touch with a sigh. “Didn’t know what to get up to. Was thinkin’ of bakin’ but I just… I guess I just wanted some company.”

“Well,” Grey’s smile was so soft and inviting and felt like a warm blanket wrapping around her in its soft embrace as she looked back at him, the tiny crease in his brows the only showing of the concern at her words that she could see. “If my company is what you want, then that’s what you get today.”

“But-” “No buts.” “Grey…”

“Nope, we are doing whatever catches your fancy today, my dearest pretty one,” Grey shook his head, smiling softly at her before he leaned in to kiss her gently for a moment. His touch was so comforting to her, and leaning into the kiss, Jo barely held back the whimper at the loss as he pulled back. The smug smile she got as she blinked her eyes open made her feel flushed all over again. “Now, you’d said something about wanting to do some baking?”

“Mhmm.” “Baking it is then. Not that I’m anywhere near as good as you.” “That’s not true at all.” “Oh yes it is, your baking is a thing of beauty.” “Hunny-” “No fighting me, not about your amazing baking, Jo.”

There was a pause as Jo opened her mouth to argue more before letting out a sigh instead and leaning her head back into his touch instead. “If this is the hill for you-” Jo let out a small giggle, shaking her head gently not to dislodge him before adding cheerfully. “Bakin’ it is I guess.”

Grey gave a decisive nod at her words, leaning in for another long kiss that would’ve made her knees buckle if she’d been standing before pulling back again and hopping out of his seat at the beep of the toaster oven. Jo chewed on her lip thoughtfully as she tried to think about what she would like to do together. They had almost anything and everything on hand given they’d done the groceries the day before, but also it wasn’t like the other wouldn’t fetch her any ingredients they were missing if she longed for them. If she wanted some vanilla fresh from Madagascar or some fancy French chocolate or milk straight from some Jersey cows, she was certain it would be in her hands with a moment’s notice. Whatever her heart desired, she knew without a doubt she’d have it.

“So, what do you think we’d make?” Grey asked cheerfully as he slipped into the seat beside her again and sat the plate with two warmed buns between them. Jo shrugged a shoulder as she watched him for a moment, before letting out a small giggle and reaching a finger out to wipe the melted cream cheese frosting that clung to the corner of his lips after he’d taken a big bite before licking it off. She blushed red to the roots of her hair at the heated gaze she got in return before dropping her eyes down to the other bun, tearing a bit for herself rather than acknowledge the electric hum in the air between them at that moment. There was a pause before the other added, voice thick and husky but fighting through it to speak nonchalantly. “If I recall, you had promised to teach me some things.”

“Oh yes, many a thing.” “Did you want to try some of those?” “What? Like the doughnuts or puff pastry?” “Yeah, exactly.”

Jo thought for a moment, chewing the mouthful of her bun and taking a sip of her coffee careful to avoid looking up at the other as she was unsure what she’d see reflected back at her. She had the most patient man in the world, but even patience would wear thin one day - especially when they both bucked against it equally but equally uncertain as it was. She couldn’t face if he was disappointed with her, focussing instead on gently nibbling on the warm, soft bun before eventually shaking herself free of those concerns and turned towards the idea of doughnut-making instead.

“Hmm, well, we’ve definitely got what we need for some typical glazed doughnuts,” Jo hummed to herself thoughtfully as the pair continued to eat their belated breakfast and sip their coffee. “Could do some custard-filled ones but I’m not the biggest fan.”

“Agreed,” Grey replied quickly, smiling softly at her over the rim of his mug as Jo tapped a finger to her lips thoughtfully. There was a pause before he set the drink down and reached out instead to rub gently at the bump on her head gently. “Did you have any other ideas? Or is there something else we could make with the dough instead of just the glazed doughnuts?”

“Hmm.. We could make some fried fritter things?” “Oh?” “Yeah, like, get some soaked raisins or fruit of some kind-” “We just got some apples yesterday?” “Oh yes! That’s a great idea!”

“So, doughnuts and apple fritters are the plan?” The other asked gently, his fingers soothing what little pain still radiated at the back of her head away as Jo finished her second bun of the day and tilted her head into his skillful hand. “That sounds like a fun way to spend the afternoon.”

“Well, late mornin’ and afternoon!” Jo giggled, quirking a brow back at him as she got a rueful grin in response. It was barely morning, it was true, but it amused her to correct him as they both looked at the oven clock showing that she was right for the next two minutes. The bemused look she got in response brought on another round of giggles as Grey shook his head at her and those last moments of the morning disappeared as he finished his cinnamon bun and she finished her cup of coffee.

As they finally finished, Jo reluctantly finally pulled back from the calming touch to push her chair out and get to her feet with an over-done flourish of her hands and far more energy than she’d felt earlier. “Let’s get started on the teachin’ then, hey hun?”

Grey nodded his head, getting to his feet as well and picking up the plate and their mugs deftly with a smile. She could see the concern underneath the amusement in his eyes, but with him there Jo doubted she’d be feeling forlorn or even a little bit of the throbbing pain she might have otherwise. “So, where do we start, pretty one?”

“Well, I’ll get the ingredients out if you help clear off the table so we can have a clear work surface?” “As you wish.” “Thanks, farmboy.”

The laughter that filled the kitchen was so much better than the oppressive quiet that it had been before - and Jo found herself humming along quietly to a tune she didn’t quite recognize as she pulled the dry and long-life ingredients out of the pantry. That song suddenly filled her ears from the speaker in the corner as she moved towards the now cleared table and spotted Grey’s smile from the corner where he was likely putting together a playlist with an eclectic mix of both their favorite songs. Smiling to herself as she bobbed along to the song, Jo pulled out a few mixing bowls as well as the milk, eggs and butter they’d need to start with.

Once everything was assembled, Jo let out a bright giggle again at the feeling of arms wrapping around her waist before she looked down to notice the half-apron wrapped about her and Grey’s head pressing into her shoulder and neck as he tied the bow at the back for her. “Thanks hun!”

“No worries, Jo, can’t get you getting all covered in flour. Actually, that might be very cute, ignore my silly idea.” Grey chuckled against her shoulder before pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. He shifted to move the chairs from their side of the table and then leaned a hip against the tabletop with a grin at her, one brow raised curiously. Jo grinned widely in response, taking in the way he had chosen to wear the dark blue apron instead of the frilly yellow she had on. “Well, what’s our next step, oh baking goddess?”

“First things first - dough!” “Nut!” “Hunny…”

Jo found herself giggling again as she caught his cheeky grin, twisting to peck his grin away quickly before turning back to their ingredients - pouring the necessary amount of milk for a double batch of dough into a heat-proof container. “Like I said, first things first so we’ve gotta get the yeast started. Can you warm the milk up a little and I’ll get the yeast separated out for the doughs?” She barely had to wait for the nod before tipping the yeast into each of their bowls and pushing them aside. Once the milk was heated, Grey poured it evenly between the two bowls and set the heating jug aside on the table out of their way. Jo glanced down at the rest and gave a quiet sigh before pulling over the flour to start sifting into another bowl to get rid of the lumps. “I hate siftin’ flour-”

“Well, how about you give me that job and you do the next bit then?” The other asked gently, reaching for the setup and then giving her a hip-bump to move out of the way as she relinquished the task for him. Grey smiled gently at her before giving the flour an extra shake. “I don’t know why you’d not like this task, Jo.”

“Ugh, it’s just so boring to do but you always need to. Stupid recipes requiring sifted flour!”

That got a laugh from the other as Jo moved to check on the yeast before moving to grab the jug and put the butter sticks in instead to heat in the microwave. By the time that was melted through and she’d poured in the apple cider, vanilla and salt into that jug, Grey had finished sifting the flour and the yeast had formed a foamy, bubbling top in the respective bowls. Jo gently instructed for some flour to be added to each bowl but the remaining bulk left in the sifted bowl for now before she handed Grey a wooden spoon and picked one up herself to gently fold and wet the flour in the yeasted mix together.

“Alrighty, the annoyin’ bit is whisking in another bowl now - can you separate eight egg yolks into this bowl here and I’ll get the whisk and sugar?” “Absolutely, Jo. Any plans for the whites?” “Hmmm, save them and we’ll have egg white omelets for lunch?”

Grey peppered her cheek with kisses and praise for creative thinking for the unnecessary bits before he moved to crack and separate the eggs as requested. Jo tipped the right amount of sugar into the same bowl and started to whisk as he added each yolk before handing the whisk over to him to continue as she poured the butter and other bits mixture in with the creamed yolk and sugar mixture, followed by the remaining flour. Once combined, Jo poured it into equal measure back into the two bowls with the yeast-mix and each picked up their spoons to mix together the dough.

“Oh, they look about ready to knead now too-” “Yeah? Not too sticky?” “Doughnut dough is supposed to be stickish.”

Grey nodded thoughtfully at her claims, smiling across at her as Jo put a layer of flour down in front of both of them so they could start kneading their mixes gently. It took about three minutes before Jo’s dough had formed together into a lovely ball that was taunt and sprung back at a finger prodding. As she wiped out the bowl that had held it before and then gently oiled it before plopping her ball into the base of it, Jo smiled happily to herself before turning to see how Grey had gotten on.

“Oh my god, hunny!” Jo cried, eyes wide and shocked as she looked towards the other. “What on earth did you do to that poor dough?!”

Grey flushed a deep red as he unsuccessfully tried to free his hands from the extremely sticky dough-like mix that was stuck mostly to his hands and the table but didn’t resemble the consistency at all that Jo’s had achieved at that point. “I, uh, I don’t think I was prepared for how sticky it was.”

“You don’t say!” The blonde let out a loud laugh as she looked on at his futile attempts to free himself, before Jo shuffled in under his closest arm. “Alrighty, let’s see if I can help you rescue it, huh?”

“Saving things, it’s what you do best.” Grey’s words ghosted over her ear as he peered over his shoulder from behind her as Jo’s hands dove in alongside his to try to free them and wrangle the mess into some sort of dough.

It took another few minutes for the sticky mess to start to come together and begin to feel like a proper ball of dough - still the stickiness needed for the doughnuts but no longer attached like concrete to the tabletop or either of their hands - and Jo let out a little laugh as she could feel the other’s hands finally getting the hang of the pull and push motion needed to work the tricky dough into submission.

“You know, this is where the playlist should start up with Unchained Melody.” Jo quipped quietly as they slowly worked the dough together and she moved her hands to help coax Grey’s into the different cupping-and-rolling motion needed to roll the dough into a cohesive ball ready to be returned to the bowl. “And I’d be behind you, of course.”

“Oh, so you’d be Swayze in this situation?” “Well, dah. I am the one that knows how to make it after all.” “That’s very true. And I definitely feel safe in those arms of yours, pretty one.”

Jo blushed something fierce as they finished the dough and moved to plop it into it’s bowl beside the other and Grey grabbed up some tea towels to cover them before they moved each bowl to a warm sunny spot to rise. Scrubbing at her cheek, she let out an embarrassed giggle at realising she’d just rubbed flour all over her cheek before sighing.

“Here, let me.” Grey picked up a spare towel and started wiping off her cheek before pressing a kiss to the same spot and then drawing her in for a gentle yet deep kiss for a long moment. Pulling back, he pressed his forehead to hers and sighed softly. “Thanks for the lesson, Jo, I was…”

“Stuck?” “Absolutely.”

“You’re welcome, hun.” Jo giggled again, pulling back a bit to press a peck against his forehead before turning her attention back to the table. “Alrighty, can you put away the flour and milk and stuff while I clean up the mess and then we can start on the apples and stuff?” She got a nod in reply, and working in tandem the mess was cleaned up in no time with the dirty bowls set in the sink and her wiping the table top down with a damp cloth to get any leftover flour up.

The sound of running water surprised her, and looking over, Jo couldn’t stop the soft smile growing as she noticed the other start of cleaning the bowls and spoons and other pieces rather than leaving them to sit. Grey’s shoulders weren’t slumped forward like she had worried they might after a bit of a failure making the dough on his own originally, and she could hear him humming along absentmindedly to the song on their playlist despite it being one of the songs she would class as hers. It was such a small gesture but made her stomach twist, and untwist again and the gentle look that was thrown over his shoulder towards her.

Shaking her head, Jo ducked her head down before moving towards the counter top to pull out the chopping board and set the apples from the fridge down as well as a heavy skillet out. Butter went into the skillet on the stovetop to start browning up on the lowest setting as she started peeling the apples absentmindedly with a knife.

As she finished the last of the apples, Jo blinked and let out a surprised noise to notice Grey had moved over and started to dice the peeled apples and add them to the skillet as she’d zoned out. Setting down the paring knife, she moved to add some cinnamon and brown sugar in with the apples before leaning her head against the other’s shoulder at the closeness. It felt so warm and light in the kitchen right then, in a way that the heated oven hadn’t felt before, warm and comforting and like home as the smell of the apples and butter cooking was mixed with the faint scent she knew was uniquely her love’s as she pressed her nose against his arm.

Jo let out a quiet sigh as Grey moved to put the last of the apple in the pan and press a kiss to her neck right over her scar. “Hey, I’ll get started on lunch while you do that, yeah?” The other waited all of a moment before pressing another kiss to the same spot at Jo’s nod of approval and he turned to start assembling the omelets for their lunch and likely a little bit for their darling girl once she’d eventually wake up. The apples simmered down softly and were moved off the heat in time for Grey to claim control of the stovetop for their lunch as Jo bounced about instead to reset the kitchen table and consult a few food blogs on her phone to decide on exactly the best way to form their doughnuts and apple fritters later.

After a quick lunch - egg white omelets with spinach, tomato and cheese which Jo pronounced to be delicious even though Grey denied that it was any good after he kept changing which technique to use to fold the omelet over on itself so each of theirs looked different - Jo suggested they watch some television as the dough still needed another half hour to rise.

The half hour came and went though, both tucked up on the couch with their girl laying across their laps and Jo’s head resting heavily against Grey’s shoulder as she snuggled into his side under his arm. It was warm and comforting and felt so good for her to be pressed up against Grey. Jo stroked through Nana’s fur gently as she watched the show, and found herself grinning gently to herself to realise that Grey’s fingers were just as absentmindedly stroking through her own hair as well. Everything felt so right in that moment, and when her phone beeped the minimum resting time had passed, Jo snuggled in closer and decided to wait for the end of the next episode before suggesting they get up.

“So, you never answered my question.” Grey chimed out softly as the episode finished and he clicked around to just put some background noise on instead of starting a third episode for them, raising an eyebrow at her when Jo made a quiet whine. “C’mon pretty one, what did you get up to that was so boring, hmm?”

“Nothin’ really-” “Jo?”

It took a moment and for her to cuddle in and rub her face against his chest for a moment before replying, cheeks red and mumbling quietly at how ridiculous she felt acknowledging it. “I was just… I missed you. I was missin’ you so everything sucked and I didn’t..” Jo let out a sigh, turning her head to look down at their pup as Nana tossed her head back for a moment before clambering to her feet in a swish of her tail and obvious disgust that she could tell her mommy and daddy were about to get up soon enough. Shaking her head, Jo gave a soft smile to herself before flushing all over again. “I’ve just been exhausted lately, emotionally, so like.. I just didn’t want to do anythin’ without you, hun.”

There was a pause, and Jo wasn’t surprised at all when there was suddenly a hand under her chin, tipping her face up towards his, and then gentle lips on hers. It was exactly the response she wanted somewhere deep inside, so leaning into the kiss with a quiet squeak. Grey’s hand shifted softly around her jaw line into her hair with his other hand and she found herself shifting into his arms and lap to kiss him back harder. It took more than a few minutes before their kisses slowed and stopped with a tiny groan from both of them as they moved back reluctantly. Her heart was pounding, but as much as part of her wanted to make any barriers between them disappear in his arms - a larger part was still mixed up and unsteady that she wanted nothing more than to cuddle in tighter and feel the comfort and stabilising impact of the other’s arms to keep her safe against all those concerns.

Grey gave a quiet groan under his breath before he kissed her again, softly and gently and so sweetly, before he shifted to set her back on the couch beside him with a tight hug. “I missed you too, pretty one, and I’m sorry I left this morning then-”

“No, no. You had to go and do-” “I could’ve waited though.” “Maybe, but you would’ve had to go sometime, and by goin’ you got to be home earlier!”

“Well, you’ve got me there.” Grey gave a chuckle, and Jo could feel it reverberating through his chest for a moment before he finally pulled back and got to his feet with a blush at his moving to readjust for a second, before holding out a hand to help her up “Do you think the dough is ready yet?”

Jo nodded, rubbing at her flushed cheeks as well as she got to her feet quickly with Grey’s help, before grinning widely. “Oh it definitely should be - would’ve been ready an episode and a half ago.”

“We should’ve paused-” “Oh fuck no, cause why would we stop mid episode?” “Then we shouldn’t’ve watched the last episode-” “And not finish an arc?”

“You just have an answer for everything, don’t you?” Grey grinned back at her widely, and Jo smiled back hearing the laugh before letting out a yelp at the playful tap she got as she passed him by towards the kitchen. There was another laugh from both of them as Jo hurried down the hall and danced just out of reach from the other as he took off after her, giggles and laughter filling the hall and kitchen as they reached it with teasing kisses and hugs before finally sobering up some.

Jo gave a final tap to the back of the other’s head for a second before she moved over to their aprons and handed them out as she looked over for their dough bowls. “Wow!” Looking in the bowls as she pulled the tea towels off and reset her apron around her waist, Jo’s eyes widened at just how much the dough had risen before letting out a laugh. “Well, those got big.”

Grey exclaimed likewise as he came to look at Jo moved the bowls onto the clean kitchen table. “Are they supposed to grow that much?”

“Maybe not, but they should still be nice doughnuts.” “Fingers crossed.” “Could you put a pot on the stove, fill it with the new oil in the pantry and put it on low while I get these ready?” “Of course, Jo, easy done.”

Jo smiled softly as she looked over her shoulder to see the nodding head of the other as he moved around to get the cast iron dutch oven out of the cupboard and set it up with enough oil for their frying. Turning back to the table, Jo spread out a thin coating of flour in the two spots they’d be working to make the doughnut shapes, before moving to get the cooled apple mixture.

“Did you want to do the doughnuts first and then we can start on the apple fritters?” “Sounds good. Which dough is which?”

Jo chuckled, grabbing one of the bowls and then tipping it out onto the floured space before her and then split it in half with a bench scraper she grabbed from a drawer right then at realising they’d need it. Plopping one half of the mix in front of Grey instead and pulling out the rolling pins, Jo smiled softly as she watched him prodding cautiously at the slowly deflating dough in front of him. “Okay hun, time to roll carefully and then we’ll shape them and set them over on a baking sheet. Did you want to cut the holes out and cook the doughnut holes too, or do the more bagel-like finger poking?”

“Well, one way we get doughnut holes that maybe someone could have with coffee for breakfast tomorrow like some other time, hmm?” Grey quirked a brow at her as he spoke, reaching out to tug on the end of a strand of hair for a second before tucking it behind her ear at the light giggle she gave. “With some fruit of course.”

“But of course!” Jo chirped back with a smirk, well aware that the suggestion of doughnuts for breakfast was of course a conscientious decision from the other to give her something for whatever he thinks she must have been missing that morning with his being away. Shaking her head with a smile, she waved a hand to the other. “Okay, can you grab the really big circular cookie ring as well as a smaller one from the cookie cutters? I think they should be easy enough to find in the third drawer-”

“I’m allowed in the famed baking drawer?” “Only with my permission of course.” “Well, of course.”

The banter got a laugh from her, and as the other moved back over with the two cookie cutters she double checked the sizes and gave a decisive nod at them being just right. Of course Grey would pick the perfect pair.

It took a few encouraging comments and soothing words from her as they moved into rolling out and then cutting the doughnut shapes that he wasn’t rolling them too thin or that the slight tackiness to the dough was to be expected. Jo had to remind him three times about coating his rolling pin with flour, and was rewarded with a flick of the white dust towards her that settled on her cheek and in her hair with a laugh from both of them. Eventually the first bowl worth of dough was successfully worked and cut out into sixteen doughnuts and sixteen corresponding doughnut holes. There was even just enough dough that Jo rolled them out and cut out two little bone-shaped doughnuts that they’d not cover in any icing to be saved for treats for their darling girl.

At that, Grey noted it was almost Nana’s dinner time, and as he moved off at the pup’s whining cries to be fed, Jo moved to check on the oil and dropped a small handful of the doughnut holes into the glistening oil to check and test for the temperature and cooking times. The colouring was slow, but eventually the golden colour came to the bottom side and they were gently flipped with a metal spider as she moved to set up another tray lined with paper towel and then a cooling rack on top for them to cool and avoid getting too oil logged as they’d cook the rest.

“Those look beautiful, Jo.” Grey said gently as he came up behind her, hands wrapping carefully around her waist into a tight hug as Jo carefully lifted the balls out of the oil and set them out on the drying rack. “And you’ve already thought ahead to the cooling rack!”

“Can’t have them sitting in the little oil to get soggy!” “Of course not.”

Giving him a grin, Jo handed the metal spider to him as she pulled out of the hug. “Well now, your turn to cook some too, huh?”

Grey gave her a wide eyed look of surprise before nodding, and with only a few jokes he’d gotten two of the large doughnuts and one of the little bones floating and bubbling away in the oil under his careful watch. Jo smiled affectionately as she watched his cautious checking on the color changing on the underside of the doughnuts and stayed by his side as they waited to see how long they’d take to cook. The way they didn’t split or puff up any more as they cooked was a good sign that they’d cook well.

“I feel a lot more comfortable seeing how these are doing,” Grey remarked with a grin, flipping over the last of the doughnuts for them to start on the second side. He held the strainer carefully in his hand and pushed on the top of one of the bobbing doughnuts to watch it pop back up after a moment with a smirk. “I get the feeling that those Try Guys would have had an explosion or seven by now-”

“Oh no, Eugene’s beer doughnuts would have been a horrible wet mess-” “But somehow win in the end.” “Exactly!”

They both laughed at the ridiculousness before their attention was drawn back to the bubbling golden pastries. It was another minute before Jo gestured and Grey pulled them out to drain and started on a few others. “Okay, in a minute when they’ve cooled a bit can you check if they’ve cooked through? I’ll get started on the fritters while you handle the doughnuts, my padawan. I trust you with this.”

“Of course, I’m your best pupil after all.” Grey chuckled quietly but leaned over to give a press of a kiss to her cheek with a cheeky smile before Jo moved back to the table to work on the fritters. She heard their sound system start back up and an approving nod from the other calling out that the doughnuts appeared cooked through as the songs started up - one from her current favorite album lilting through the speaker and the soft voice of the other singing along to the male pieces as the song slowly built up - while she moved to dump out the remaining bowl of dough.

Singing along softly under her breath - “A universe away” - Jo moved to roll the dough out to an adequate thickness before spreading half of the apple mixture into the centre third of the dough rectangle she had made. Folding either side over in a booking-fashion, she slowly rolled it out again, again and then a third time until she had another apple-studded rectangle before doing the same again with the remaining half of the apple mixture. As she did another book-fold and then rolled the dough through to the original shape and thickness after another few turns, she used the bench scraper to cut the dough into three long thick strips, and then cut each strip into matching triangles with quick, sharp cuts. Each triangle fritter was set out on a third tray, and as she finished those, got a damp cloth to wipe up the remaining flour on the table and cleared the bowls into the sink with a smile.

She moved the tray of fritters over beside Grey’s mostly empty tray of uncooked doughnuts with a smile, and shared an affectionate hip bump when he acknowledged her arrival. Though the smile dropped from the other’s face as he noticed her moving to start on the dishes as he was stuck holding the strainer to take the cooking doughnuts out.

“Hey, you leave those Jo.” “Huh? Oh no, I’ll do the wash up today.” “No, no no. I’ll take care of that and the lunch dishes once I-”

Jo turned slightly, her hands planted firmly on her hips as she looked across at him as he impatiently flipped one doughnut too early and splashed a bit of oil out onto the counter top while the color was only just a pale yellow and not yet golden brown. Raising a brow as she glanced between it and Grey’s defiant yet uncertain look, she quirked the other brow up as well. “I don’t think so. You’ve still got doughnuts to fry and you clearly need to keep practising to get that timin’ right.”

“Jo-”

“So, you keep on cookin’ those and then the fritters, while I do the washing up.” Jo finished firmly despite his interruption, shaking her head at the aborted snort of disapproval from the other as she filled the sink with water and suds. Sure, she wasn’t a fan of washing dishes, but she wanted to do it - Grey didn’t always have to do all the washing even though he tried to. “And then we can work on the icin’ afterwards.”

“Isn’t it just a royal icing? Icing sugar and water or milk?” Grey asked, a small frown on his face as he flipped the slightly under-done doughnut back over and continued to cook the other two as if nothing had gone wrong. “Or you doing something special?”

“Was thinkin’ a chocolate glaze given it’s just the icing sugar, milk and some cocoa powder and vanilla.” “That sounds good, pretty one.” “Maybe I’ll also make a small amount of pink and we can drizzle some extra decoration?” “Artistic, huh?”

Jo giggled at that, nodding as she washed the dough bowls and the cast iron pan the apples were cooked in. The lunch dishes were just as easy as well, and doing them as well as drying the dishes and putting them away took her all the way through the last of the doughnuts and doughnut holes being fried and right up to the start of the apple fritters. Jo warned carefully that the extra water content from the apple mix might cause some splattering, and Grey cautiously grabbed the splatter guard from it’s hidden spot to cover and avoid any flying oil hitting either of them as he slid three of the fritters into the oil. They did splutter right away but it calmed down as the dough became more and more golden before doing it all over again as he flipped them to the other side.

Jo herself moved towards making glazes for both different types of doughnuts - mixing a glaze out of the milk, vanilla, icing sugar and cocoa powder as well as some without the cocoa powder but a few drops of red food coloring instead into two bowls quite quickly, and then a third glaze for the fritters with the milk traded out for a dash of apple cider instead and the vanilla for a pinch of salt to give a salty sweetness to those fritters instead. They were all clearly easy to tell apart from one another, and as Grey called her over to check if the first fritters had cooked through properly, Jo was so proud to see how good and fluffy their work appeared to be.

They traded off then, Jo taking over the metal strainer and getting a sweet kiss in return, as Grey saw the time and moved to start working on dinner for them - leaving the remaining fritters to Jo’s attention and frying. The songs shifted but neither minded if it was a song she liked or a song he liked as they each enjoyed the quiet domesticity as Jo finished off the last apple fritters and Grey moved to put the tray bake of vegetables and some roasting chicken marylands to cook over the next hour for their dinner.

Jo moved the trays of finished doughnuts and fritters over to the collection of glaze bowls, and let out a laugh noticing a fourth bowl filled with melted butter and a fifth with a cinnamon sugar mix that she hadn’t put there before. Smiling softly, she dipped some of the doughnut holes into the melted butter and then tossed them gently in the cinnamon and sugar in preparation for them heated through in the morning - thinking to herself how sweet the memories of coffee, fresh fruit and soft doughnuts brought back to her from many times she’d been given the treat. Turning about, she grabbed a tupperware out to store them in as she kept moving through the doughnut holes as she could hear the other pottering about behind her as she finished off the last few doughnut holes.

“So - ready to finish these off, hun?” Jo asked quietly, turning to look over her shoulder where she could see Grey taking care to stir what would eventually be likely a gravy with dinner, raising a brow. “Or are you busy with dinner?”

“Just setting this to simmer down for a while and then I’m ready to get back to it, teach.” Grey smiled back at her as he stirred the sauce a few more times as she moved to pop the cinnamon doughnut holes in their airtight container off into the fridge to stay for the next day. He dusted off his hands as he moved to turn the heat down to a gentle simmer before moving over to the table. “What now, Jo?”

“Now it’s time to make them pretty.” “That’s a lot of pressure.” “Pretty like a Pollock then?”

Grey grinned ruefully at that, bumping his shoulder against hers as Jo stuck her tongue out at him, before letting out a yelp at his leaning down to kiss her before she’d pulled it back. Laughing, Jo tapped a finger against his nose as they both turned back to the doughnuts and fritters.

“Okay, easiest job is to just roll the fritters in the apple glaze, so I’m goin’ to let the artist do the careful chocolate dippin’ instead.” She smiled up at Grey for a second before she lifted up one of the perfectly golden brown doughnut rings to demonstrate the twisting technique to rightly coat and avoid drips as she dunked one face of the pastry into the chocolate glaze and lifted it quickly with a twist and jerk of her wrist to stop the coating from leaving an obvious drip-trail. “See? And if you do get any drips it’d be artistic rather than a fuck up like mine!”

“Yours would not be fuck ups, Jo.” Grey shook his head slightly as he looked down at her, and she found herself glancing down to focus on setting the coated doughnut down back on it’s previous resting spot rather than face the obvious meaning to the other’s words or the emotion she knew would be in his eyes. “Well, I better give this a try then…” He sounded uncertain for a moment, and Jo found herself reaching out to hold alongside him as he dipped his first doughnut before doing the twist, guiding him through the movement and hearing a chuckle from the other as there was only a small drip down one side as they set that doughnut back down. “Is that artistic enough for you, pretty one? You sure I should do these and not the fritters?”

“Practice makes perfect!” Jo chirped back at him, tapping a finger with a little of the dripped glaze to his nose before giggling at the mark. Shaking her head, she laughed louder as Grey swiped a hand over the offending mess and licked it off the top of his hand rather than let it go to waste. “I bet by the time these are all coated, you’ll be a pro at it.”

“I can try, I guess.” Grey chuckled back as he shook his head and picked up the next doughnut to be dipped.

Jo tried not to watch too obviously as she picked up the apple cider glaze and began to toss and coat the fritters in the bowl before fishing them out to rest. It wouldn’t help with the pressure if Grey thought she though he couldn’t do it or that she was watching him closely, but at the same time she liked to glance up and see the slow and then fast improvement as he got the hang of the motion and by the last half a dozen was perfectly coating the doughnuts without a single bit of overspill or wasted glaze. It was easy to finish her fritters without concern seeing just how great the other’s technique had gotten - and as she finished her last three fritters rolled about at the same time Grey finished the last of his chocolate doughnuts, Jo exclaimed happily. “See, what did I say?! Those look fantastic, hun.”

“I mean the last few maybe-” “No, no, all of them look really good.” “Even that one that I dropped and got half of the doughnut overall covered in glaze?” “Are you complain’ about the idea of more glaze?”

Grey seemed to consider for a moment before laughing. “Okay, true. I call dibs on that one.”

Laughing her agreement, Jo smiled widely - teethy and tongue pressed up sharp against them - as she moved to set the two used and empty bowls of glaze into the sink with a little water.

“Can you grab an extra fork or spoon for the pink icin’, hun?” “Sure - how are we doing this?”

Jo moved back towards the table with a roll of paper towel, and quickly slid and covered the table around the row of doughnuts on their drying rack before waving a hand at the other tray of apple fritters for Grey to move them out of the way before she covered that open spot with paper towel as well. Moving the red icing bowl, Jo added a splash of extra milk to loosen it up again from how it had started setting before she dipped the fork Grey held out into it.

“I said Pollock, didn’t I?” Jo gave another toothy grin before she pulled the fork free and then gently flung it down towards the nearest doughnut, leaving strands of red icing to cover it in splatters and lines. There was a surprised noise from next to her, and paying no mind she dipped the fork again before doing the same thing over again - mottling the top of the doughnuts under her fork’s path with splatters and lines of a soft pink across the shiny brown surface. “See?”

“That is… That is definitely very Pollock like,” Grey agreed with a slight grin as he moved to pick up the spoon at her gesturing. “Very deliberately not-deliberate, right?”

Jo nodded, smiling widely as she moved to dip her fork again and that they both began splattering and drizzling the light pink glaze over the doughnuts together, giggling and laughing and teasing the whole while. No single doughnut looked the same, and they were all the prettier for it. The one that Grey had called dibs on, Jo even leaned down secretively to draw a very lumpy heart on it as she giggled quietly to herself, and she was unsurprised as soon as he’d noticed it that more hearts started to be added across the other doughnuts all claimed to be for her dibs instead. Shoulders bumped and arms reached over each other and the whole time made Jo feel so light and airy, so different to the heavy aching emptiness from earlier.

They finished their rather ridiculous art project as the pink glaze ran out, and Grey bundled up the paper towel that was splattered and kept everything else clean while Jo moved to rinse out and soak the icing bowl and utensils with the others. Packing away the apple fritters but leaving two out after Jo had batted her eyelashes until Grey finally agreed that one fritter before dinner wouldn’t ruin their appetites, she moved the two onto a plate as Grey grabbed the containers necessary to store the other doughnuts for later once the icing had dried for them to be stored.

“Dinner’s still another hour away, right hun?” Jo asked innocently as she fiddled with the plate as the other moved to get some drinks from the fridge.

Grey hummed in agreement as he collected a can of soda for each of them - more likely both for Jo as she always finished hers first in no time - and turned to look at her mischievous look. The smile on his face twisted into disapproval and then a grin as Jo smirked back picking up one of the heart covered doughnuts that wasn’t his and took a giant bite out of it, giggling loudly. “Jo! We agreed on one!”

Jo took another two large bites quickly, her mouth pulled into a tight lipped but cheeky grin - cheeks full of sweet, fluffy doughnut sticking out like a chipmunk - before she chewed quickly and cheekily mumbled out - “One fritter!”

The disbelief and them affectionate shaking of the other’s head was all the answer she did expect, and she had to focus on chewing carefully and swallowing her mouthful despite the wide grin she knew she had as Grey’d moved over to take a big bite of the doughnut himself before tapping her on the nose with the end of it as he wrapped an arm around her. This was what she’d been missing as she was pulled into a sugary sweet kiss that was softer and made her feel lighter and airier than even their perfect doughnuts before they set off to the lounge for another episode of Doctor Who before dinner.

Following after him, their banter light and freeing in it's playfulness as Grey started to compliment how good her dough was and Jo equally batted back that his dough and frying was so much better, she couldn't help but feel like things were righting themselves again. That heaviness of her troubles fading away, soothed and teased and gently coaxed away under the caring gentle treatment and the sweet attentions. The way she had felt a gaping hole inside after she'd worked so hard to cut away those feelings that held her back was being filled in again - slowly - with those gentle touches and sweet remarks that made her heart ache in all the best ways. This, this was how she would feel light again.

---

[stellar-alley]

Everfalls

•Chapter 18•

This is based off of the artwork by oceanteeeth on Instagram!

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

(Summary: Does Stanley's sickness interfere with the Ancestors getting to the bus on time? Will they make it home in time for the full moon? Well you'll have to read and see! )

~

“He’s been sick since tuesday, we went out after school and he was all congested and sneezy” Richie filled the Losers in as they sat in a circle outside the room where Stan was.

“And you didn’t tell anyone?” Mike asked, disappointment tainted his voice.

Richie’s shoulders sagged, “come on guys, we know Stan, he always gets a little sick, brushes it off then recovers! How was I supposed to know it would end up being a big thing”.

“No one could’ve known. Don’t beat yourself up Rich” Ben put a comforting hand on the wolf’s shoulder.

“Thanks haystack” Richie nodded his head slowly.

The click of a door opening caught The Losers attention. They all turned to watch Mr Brock emerge from the room, they caught a single glimpse of Stan through the door crack before it shut completely.

“What’s the status doc?” Riche put on a voice which got him an elbow to the ribs from Eddie.

“Beep Beep” he grumbled. Eddie’s hands were tense, up by his chest, anxiously fiddling with his compass.

“Well, he is sick. We tried contacting his parents but the storm that rolled through last night knocked out the phone lines” Mr Brock explained.

Richie cast Eddie a glance, he remembered how he couldn’t call his parents previously.

Beverly stepped forward,“What’s gonna happen?” She asked with her arms crossed.

“Well we-“ Mr Brock started when the sound of another door bursting open stopped him mid sentence.

Mrs. Stuart stepped inside, “Everyone on the bus, the tide is rising ahead of schedule, we do not have much longer” she informed them.

“We aren’t leaving without Stanley” Bill stated as he straightened his posture. The rest of the Losers nodded in agreement.

“Well if he is still throwing up then we can’t have him on the bus” Mr Brock shook his head sadly, “there’s nothing I can do”.

“I-I am fine” Everyone turned to find Stan had dragged himself from bed and had leaned up against the doorframe behind them. His face was pale, the bags under his eyes were darker than previously and his usual straight posture was unusually low.

“Stanley I don’t believe that that’s a good idea” Mr Brock worried.

Stan sharply inhaled, tierd of the bullshit, “I said I was fucking fine so lets just get on the damn bus, alright?”. He was tired but also worried, Stan knew Eddie and Richie needed to get home before the moon rose.

After the rest of The Losers got in on it, and they were all able to force them to allow Stan on, as long as he had a garbage bin in range the whole time. He agreed so they shoved a dollar store garbage bin into his arms and rushed the group onto the bus. They barely had enough time to get settled before the bus driver hit the gas and began on their way to the main rocky road.

~

“Shit” The bus driver cursed as he raked his hand through his thinning hair. “Brock? We’re too late” he sighed as Mr Brock rushed from his seat to the front of the bus to inspect the road. Which wasn't really a road anymore as it meshed perfectly with the ocean around it.

“Shit” Brock repeated.

“Language!” Richie shouted from the back seat.

Mr Brock had to withhold the urge to flip off his student. Instead he curled his fingers into tight fists and sighed.

Eddie elbowed Richie as a means of telling him to shut up as he shot him a look of daggers. Richie laughed lightly before he met Eddie’s gaze, that’s when it dawned on him, what this meant.

“Oh shit”.

~

“Okay guys so good news! We were able to get rooms for everyone in the castle’s hotel!” Mr Brock tried so hard to sound excited but everyone could tell he was stressed.

The two Ancestors snapped to face each other. “What the hell are we gonna do?” Eddie demanded, voice low and tense.

Richie’s face scrunched up in confusion, “How the hell am I supposed to know! I’ve never done this before”.

“Get a room you two” Stan groaned in his sick nasally voice from the seat in front of them. Without another word Stan turned, sat on his knees and leaned over his seat to face them. “Why don’t you two just fucking sneak out of the hotel and shift on the beach?” Stan suggested.

The other two shared a look of confusion, “You could hear us?” Richie quirked an eyebrow.

“Yes I'm pretty sure my cousins in Hawkins could hear you. So next time you plan to discuss your full moon activities, keep it down” He advised before turning back around and sliding down into his seat.

“It’s not a bad idea though” Eddie contemplated the idea as Richie shoved his hand up into his snapback and ruffled his hair while still keeping his hat securely on his head.

Richie looked around then responded, “Okay fine, plus I bet it’ll be just us in the room so it’ll be easy as hell to sneak out-“.

~

Mr Brock stood in front of the class in the lobby of the castle “Sadly there were only a limited number of rooms left so four people per room, everyone group together”.

The Losers looked between each other. That’s the one thing that kinda sucked about their lucky number, seven is an odd number, which meant that whenever they had to split up, the numbers were always off.

Richie and Eddie immediately stood together. Stan glanced at them and shuffled beside them, knowing they might need his help. Bill caught on and stepped beside them, because he wanted to keep an eye on those two, but also because Stan was his bestest friend after all. But in the end all The Losers just stood in one group.

Eddie leaned towards Richie, “We cannot room with Bill”.

“We’ll figure it out later, just act normal” Richie hushed him. Though he put on a relaxed face, he couldn’t help but check the time on his phone. It was 4 pm, the time they were supposed to be home at. The moon rose at 8, so they had a couple hours before they had to get out.

Slowly but surely Mr Brock and the other teachers approved and handed out keys to different rooms. When he finally reached The Losers he haulted with a sigh, “Sorry guys we said four per room, and Beverly, you need to room with people of the same sex” He said semi apogoltically.

Beverly groaned and tilted her head to look upwards, “Fuck my life” She rolled her eyes. “Welp looks like Imma go sleep in the bushes, peace” She held up a peace sign then walked a couple steps away backwards before turning and heading off on her way.

Before she could get very far someone who was vaguely familiar to Beverly walked up behind her and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. Bev turned around and saw a girl from her grade, someone she’s pretty sure she’s seen with Eddie before.

“Hey uh- Sorry I just saw you didn’t have a group and I was wondering if you wanted to join my group. We uh- just need one more person” She smiled warmly. She had brown hair that fell just below her shoulders in soft curls. She wore a shirt she swore she picked up herself at Hot Topic once, it was a black button up with cute line art of crystals on it.

“Sure… Yeah” Beverly slowly nodded then continued, “thanks-?” She questioned carefully.

“Alley” She supplied happily, “My group is over this way” Alley said as she showed Bev over to where he group was standing.

Sadly Ben and Mike were put into a group with two guys they didn’t know very well, Boris and Theo, they seemed oddly familiar but they kinda kept to themselves.

After everyone was shown their rooms, which all consisted of two queen beds, a couch, a tv, and a desk. Nothing too fancy but it was enough. The one thing that sucked was that the rooms didn’t have their own bathrooms. If you needed to go, then you’d have to go to the one that your floor shared. Since no one had any clothes to unpack, since they didn’t plan to stay the night, the four just kinda sat on their beds as Stan cradled his trash bin.

At 5 they were called down to have dinner in the dining hall. The table clothes were white lace and their silverware had exquisite floral designs on them. It was obviously not meant for a group of highschoolers.

While they ate there was some soft elevator like music that played in the background which was mixed with the sounds of low murmurs from the students. The kids spoke in hushed voices as they were slightly intimidated by how underdressed they all felt compared to the decorations of the room and the outfits of the staff.

“Yo would it be bad if I just let one rip right now?” Richie asked the Losers. Eddie rolled his eyes. Stan’s stomach turned at the idea of what that would smell like. Ben, Bev and Mike giggled to themselves while Bill focused on the food on his fork.

~

Bill was aimlessly channel surfing when Richie did a small backflip, rolling deeper back onto the bed before leaping to his feet and jumping on the bed.

“What? What are you doing?” Eddie questioned as he tilted his head back to look at Richie.

“Jumping!” He said simply.

Eddie rolled his eyes and grabbed his phone from his pocket, typing up a quick message before sending it off.

Eddie: WTF are we supposed to do about Bill?

Richie felt his phone vibrate in his pocket so instead of bouncing again he fell on his butt and checked his messages.

Richie: Wait a minute, I have an idea.

A couple moments passed before Richie abruptly got up from the bed and rushed out the door, firmly shutting the door behind him.

“S’he okay?” Stan mumbeled from where he sat hunched over the bin on the other bed.

Eddie shrugged, “Dunno”. He turned his head just in time to catch the weird glare he was getting from Bill. He quickly snapped his gaze down to his lap where his hands were aimlessly playing with the chain of his compass. With his anxiety levels high, and the fucking full moon rising, hsi viens had turned black again. He shoved them into his pockets and hopped Bill didn’t notice.

Richie waited in the bathroom for about 10 minutes before he left and made his way back to the room. He opened the door with a sigh and made sure he walked slowly up to the others.

“Guys I’m sorry but Eddie and I gotta go” Richie pulled his pants up uncomfortably.

“W-Why?” Bill stood up.

“Well… Last night I had mexican food, and the trash stomach isn’t happy about it. So I-uh, gotta be in a room closer to the bathroom” Richie informed them with an embarrassed tone.

“Why the hell would you do that? You know Mexican doesn't agree with you” Stan played along with the act.

“Right…” Bill nodded. “Then why do-does Eddie have to go?” He added.

“I-I need… support. Yep, that’s it, I need emotional support” Richie lied on the spot.

Eddie withheld a sigh, mentally face palming. But either way, he got up and stood by Richie’s side.

The wolf’s face fell “Sorry guys I feel another wave coming-” he announced before fleeing the room, Eddie in tow. The door closed with a slam and they didn’t stop until they were in the bathroom. Richie locked the door behind them with a sigh.

“Yeah cause this doesn't seem weird” Eddie commented.

“What do you want from me? This is the best I could come up with on such short notice” Richie looked down at his hands, they were the same as Eddie’s, black veins and all. He ripped his snapback off and started fanning himself, “Is it hot in here or is it just me?” He asked.

“Nope, it’s the moon” Eddie checked the time, 7:30. “We gotta get out of here, and fast” His ears were sweating from underneath his beanie which seemed to make his head way too hot at that moment.

Richie laced his fingers with Eddie’s then hovered his other hand over the doorknob, bracing himself, “Lay low alright? Anyone questions us, we say you need air because of your asthma”. Eddie nodded.

The werewolf squeezed his boyfriend’s hand with one hand and ran his other hand through his hair. His wolf ears immediately perked up. He closed his eyes and listened, carefully, he tried to pick up any sounds from behind that door and in the hallway ahead of them. The soft shuffling of foot steps filled the air, soon followed by the click of a door shutting. Richie waited a minute before he slid his hat back on, opened the door and stepped out. The two quietly tiptoed on the plush carpet that lined the floor of the castle’s hallway.

Halfway to the stairs, Eddie halted and clutched his abdomen. “Fuck” He gasped.

Richie reached a hand out but it was slapped away by Eddie.

“I’m fine. Just hurts. We need to hurry” He whispered through gritted teeth.

Richie squeezed Eddie’s hand but continued on. When they reached the metal door to the stairs Eddie stepped in front of Richie and with a swift flick of his wrist the door magically opened just enough for them to slip through, closing quietly behind them.

Rushing down the stairs they shared the same pain that shot through their bodies every time their feet hit the floor. They burst into the main lobby, relieved to see that no one was at the main desk desk and the lounge area was empty. They rushed past the fancy leather seats and the artifact cases. Eddie held his hand out to open the door when the sound of a lady clearing her throat stopped them dead in their tracks.

“Well well well, someone out for a late night stroll?” Elizah’s british accent sent shivers down Eddie’s spine. He’d heard her give speeches countless times in the past but her voice never failed to bring goosebumps to his arms. “Please turn around, it’s very disrespectful to not face someone when you’ve been spoken to, epssesually an elder” Her voice was like an ice dagger, cold and lethal.

Hesitantly the two Ancestors turned to face her. Immediately she scanned the two boys. A faint smirk spread over her lips but she spoke before either of them could examine it further. “See if I didn’t know any better, I would have assumed that you were one of our runaway Ancestors.” She paused to think, “Eddie Kaspbrak was his name… But oh no, that simply cannot be, as he’s supposed to be dead”.

Richie tightened his grip on Eddie’s hand.

“But as I said, he was a runaway.” She took a couple steps towards them, hands behind her back then moved to settle them onto her hips. “Runways always find their way back, don’t they, Edward” She sneered.

Eddie’s eyes widened as his jaw fell slack, unable to properly respond. He could feel Richie growl as it reverberated throughout his body. It began in his chest and spilled out from his mouth.

She continued before either of the boys could speak up, “And who might you be, a young were-“.

“Boys?”

The rabbit and the wolf turned to the familiar voice.

“What’s going on? You two are supposed to be in your rooms” Mr Brock stepped out from one the shadows of the various hallways. Confusion covered his face as he approached the boys.

“Eddie’s asthma was acting up, he needed some fresh air a-and our window didn't open” Richie spit out, a nervous sweat breaking out under his hat, that unsettled feeling suddenly turned up a notch.

“Oh well is everything better now?” Their teacher worried.

Eddie still couldn’t speak, his mind was running a mile a minute. She knew, the council knew. Suddenly all of his worst nightmares were becoming a reality.

“Yes, yes. He’s much better. But uh, sir would you mind escorting me and my dearest friend back to our room. We seem to have forgotten the key, we left in a hurry” Richie almost slipped into one of his voices. But with all things considered, he opted to keep things mature and serious. He anxiously grasped his key in his pocket. He hadn't forgotten it. It never left his pocket since the moment they entered the room, but he knew that Elizah wouldn’t make a move in front of Mr Brock, their teacher, a human.

Mr Brock seemed taken aback by Richie’s new tone, “Oh, of course” he nodded, extending an arm for the boys to follow him.

Without missing a beat the two left Elizah in the lobby and followed their teacher back to their room. The walk was quiet, Mr Brock kept up a steady pace a couple feet ahead.

Richie carfully rubbed his thumb over the back of Eddie’s hand as a way to sooth him as their inevitable transformations would have to wait a little longer. When they reached their room, they thanked Mr Brock as he opened the door. He also closed it behind them, they quickly locked it behind them.

Bill had been sitting on the bed, his foot hadn't stopped tapping against the carpeted floor of their hotel room since Richie and Eddie left.

A quiet knock interrupted whatever show they weren’t watching on TV. They both stood Before the door opened, surprised to see their two friends, and their teacher standing at the door.

“H-Hey” Bill said as the two entered the room.

Stan placed the garbage bin on the ground beside him, “Is everything alright?” questioned.

Richie started, “Yep, all is fine-”

“How the hell can you say that?” Eddie ripped his hand from Richie grasp, he shook his entire body as if it would rid himself of the past 10 minutes.

Richie sighed, his temper rising “Eddie can we not right now? We need to get the hell out of here, now”.

“W-Why? What’s guh-going on?” Bill stepped towards them.

“Not now” Richie growled, his yellow eyes practically pierced Bill’s soul, sending shivers down his spine.

“Hey” Eddie grabbed the wolf’s wrist, grabbing his attention. “Let’s go,” He demanded. He nodded his head towards the window.

Without another word the Ancestors stepped up to the window. They opened the latch but the window was sealed shut, Richie barling had to focus to use his strength, opening it with ease while Stan and Bill watched nervously. The moon’s raw power coursed through his veins, the power simply sat at his fingertips now, begging to be used.

Stanley spoke up, concerned about his friends “Wait where are you going-”.

“Stan, cover for us? Alright? And whatever you do, do not talk to Elizah Brightmoon” Richie explained before he stuck his head out the window, the drop was about 20 feet from their second story hotel room. “We can make it,” He said to Eddie who nodded.

Stan’s brow furrowed, “Wait what? Why? She’s the-”.

“She’s the leader of the council” Eddie put it simply, watching Richie stick his legs out the window and sit on the ledge.

No more questions were asked cause right after Richie dropped out of the window. The cool night air rushed past him before he landed on his feet. He took a second to regain his balance. Then he walked away from the hotel to make room for Eddie he watched as his boyfriend lingered momentarily on the window ledge before leaping down and joining Richie.

“What’d they say?” Richie asked as they began walking together towards the beach, away from the town.

“Just Bill being Bill” Eddie sighed, shaking his head.

When Eddie jumped, Bill and Stan rushed to the window and watched as their friend landed on his feet. They studied Eddie and Richie who began walking towards a location they didn’t know.

“They better make it” Stan muttered under his breath, but Bill heard.

“D-Do you know ab-about them?” He turned to face Stan.

“Umm, no?” Stan shrugged, really not wanting to lie.

“That’s such bullsh-hit Stanley and you know it” Bill snapped, he pointed a finger at Stan’s chest.

Stan refrained from meeting Bill’s gaze, instead he looked over his shoulder, out into the property surrounding the town. He caught something out of the corner of the window, someone. “Shit” Stanley cursed. He pushed past Bill to stand in front of the open window.

Bill didn’t wait to find what Stanley was looking at, his brows furrowed as he watched a lady in a long trench coat follow in the same direction that Richie and Eddie went. “Is that-“.

“Yes” The curly haired teen confirmed.

Bill twisted around to face the other, “We need to help them” he said, determination written all over his voice.

“What? But Bill you-“

“They’re still our friends. And they need us” There was no stutter in Bill’s voice.

Stan nodded a little, “Assemble the Losers” He declared.

Word Count: 3524

Guys I cannot believe there are only like 4 chapters left to everfalls, I think- I uh suck at math so enjoy that. But seriously next chapter- the rest of the chapters are all amazing. I mean they're all amazing but the next chapters are the final so they're just insanely better. So be excited for that!

Don't forget to like and comment, it really shows you care and wanna see more! But seriously thank you all for the support I've already gotten cause it means so much to me. Also go check out my new one shot Bubble Baths and Wet Cats, if you like tooth-rotting fluff and cats then that's the fic for you!

That's all from me y'all, so until next time,

So Long and Goodnight!

~

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[atths--twice]

Protective Covering

Day three of prompt/ask of a story. Today is a story about where the aprons both Mulder and Scully owned, came from. A tweet led to a discussion, which led to this fic. I hope you enjoy it. 

Mulder sat on his couch, his stomach rumbling with hunger. He had been off work since he came back from Bermuda. Bruised ribs, a slight concussion, and scrapes and bruises on odd spots of his body kept him home and resting. 

Scully had checked in on him, bringing food and staying for a little while every couple of days. Still working on the background checks, she complained about it to him when she came over, rolling her eyes and sighing a lot. 

She was out of town for the next few days. Her brothers were both in town and the entire family had made plans to go to Connecticut for Thanksgiving weekend. He was happy for her to get away for awhile and hoped she was having a good time.

His stomach growled again and he sighed as he glanced toward the kitchen, knowing the only thing he would find in there to eat was two cans of chicken noodle soup and some orange juice; which was most likely expired.

The thought of getting up and going out for something made him groan. The hour was far too late anyway and his desire to leave was more than minimal. And ordering in… well, he could only eat so much pizza and Chinese food.

Sighing again, he surfed through the channels, finding nothing of interest, until he landed on a cooking show. Setting the remote down, he rested his hands in his lap.

The woman on the screen was preparing a chicken with roasted potatoes. His mouth began to water as she started to describe the spices she was using and demonstrated how to cut the potatoes.

As the food was set in the oven, she took out ingredients for a strawberry shortcake and he audibly groaned as she whipped cream. He could practically taste the sugar and vanilla on his tongue.

His stomach growled again and he pushed himself from the couch, stumbling heavily into the kitchen and opening the cupboards, hoping some food had magically appeared.

Of course it had not, and he was forced to eat the chicken noodle soup, sighing repeatedly as he did, the meal a poor substitute compared to the one he had seen on TV. 

Putting the spoon in his bowl, he sighed. The meal not satisfying, he got up and searched the cupboards in more depth. Finding a box of Pop Tarts way in the back, along with a single bottle of ketchup, he sighed again. 

Placing his bowl in the sink, he grabbed a pack of Pop Tarts and headed to bed. Tomorrow morning, he would go to the store before it closed for the holiday, and buy some much needed staples. Perhaps he would even buy some items to make himself an actual meal every now and then.

Standing in a cookware store, he looked around, overwhelmed by the choices in front of him. Pots and pans, different cooking dishes, and types of utensils. Shaking his head, he walked past them and looked through a few cookbooks, finding simple recipes he could follow without screwing them up.

Deciding on one, he tracked down a sales associate. Showing her a few of the recipes and asking what she would recommend for a beginner like him. She laughed and led him back to the cooking dishes and utensils. As she explained how to use them, he listened intently.

Thanking her for her help, he took all of his items and headed to the register. Stopping as he passed some aprons, he doubled back. Laughing as he looked at them, he made an impulse decision, aprons not an item he had planned to purchase. Grabbing both aprons, he continued to the register. 

When he arrived at the store, he took the cookbook in with him, to see what he would need to create the recipe. As he walked through the door, he heard Christmas music playing, and he shook his head, the holiday arriving earlier every year. 

He pushed the shopping cart around the store, filling it with his regular items before adding chicken, vegetables, and spices he would need for the recipes he planned to try. 

Two trips to and from the car, and he had everything sitting on the table. Staring at it all, he sighed. It was more food than he had ever had in the apartment. Ever. Sighing again, he began to put it all away.

Once he was finished, he opened a bag of sunflower seeds and sat down at the table with the cookbook. Reading the step-by-step instructions on how to make the chicken and potato dish, he nodded, ready to try it out. Clearing away the pile of sunflower shells, he stood up and walked into the kitchen.

He washed the potatoes, cut them as directed, and placed them in a bowl. Pouring olive oil on top of them, he added the spices, and mixed them up. He washed the green casserole dish he had purchased, and dried it. Greasing the bottom with a little bit of olive oil, he placed the seasoned chicken breasts in the middle of it, pouring the potatoes around them.

Staring at the dish, he shrugged as he opened the oven door and set the dish inside. Cleaning up the mess he had made, he periodically checked the oven, sure he had done something to make the dish incorrectly. But soon, the apartment was filled with a delicious aroma of spices, and his mouth began to water. When the timer sounded, he picked up his newly purchased oven mitts and pulled the dish from the oven.

It bubbled and sizzled, and he closed his eyes and he took a deep breath, breathing in the delicious smell. Setting it down, he took off the oven mitts and smiled as he stared at the meal he had created.

“Well goddamn,” he said quietly.

Letting it cool, a few minutes later, he filled his plate and took a small bite. Raising his eyebrows, he nodded as he chewed a larger  bite of chicken and potato.

“Well goddamn,” he said again with a smile. 

_______________

Thanksgiving day, he went for a run and upon returning, he found he had missed a call from Scully. Not wanting to bother her, he did not call back, but smiled as he listened to her greeting, checking in on him and telling him happy Thanksgiving.

Walking into the kitchen for some water, he looked at the apron he bought for her, and the one for himself, and he laughed softly. He was sure she was going to absolutely hate it, but would also get a kick out of it.

He made a decision as he stepped into the shower. When she came back, he was going to surprise her with a home cooked meal and the gift of her apron, an early Christmas gift. 

Over the next couple of days, he tried a couple more simple and small recipes, surprising himself with his ability. 

As he cleaned up his most recent mess, he looked at his watch. He knew Scully was due to come home that day, but he was not exactly sure of the time. Putting the dishes away, he walked into the living room, intent on calling her. 

But then his cell phone rang with information from an unknown informant who worked at area 51. All other thoughts left his mind as excitement coursed through him.

Hanging up, he called Scully, grinning from ear to ear the entire time.

“Scully.” 

“Hey Scully, it’s me. How do you feel about taking a little trip?” he said, already walking into his room to grab a bag and pack some clothes. He heard her heavy sigh and he paused, realizing he should have asked how her holiday was and how she was doing, but the chance to go meet the informant had taken precedent.

“Nice to hear from you too, Mulder,” she said and he could practically hear her roll her eyes. “Fine, Mulder. Where are we going?” He smiled, as he continued grabbing some clothes and placing them in his bag.

____________________

The trip to Nevada was a bust, although some strange unexplainable things happened while they were gone. His apartment was clean, like really clean. And his bedroom… the boxes he had been moving around before he was injured, had begun to pile up, leaving only a path to the bathroom, had been cleared and put away. 

A new bedroom set had appeared out of nowhere and the mirrors on the ceiling… they had added to some interesting moments when he was alone in bed. No one fessed up to doing it when he asked the Gunmen. He did not mention the mirrors, knowing the questions Frohike would ask. 

The strange occurrences aside, they were back to the boring scut work placed on them by Kersh. They were bogged down with background checks, and even flew out to small towns, to talk to people who did not want to speak to them. He understood their irritation, as he himself did not want to be there.

They stayed in crappy motels or took red eye flights back home, both of them tired and annoyed with the assignments. Dragging himself home, he did not have the time to make any food, which eventually was thrown out, as it had collected mildew in the fridge as did the fruit on the counter. He looked longingly at the casserole dish, remembering the taste of the meals he had made.

Christmas was fast approaching and he knew Scully would have plans with her family. He wanted to have her over for dinner before she did, offering a home cooked meal as a thank you for putting up with him the last few months. He knew he was more difficult to be around and she had put up with a lot from him. 

A lot.

Plans were made for her to come over on Saturday the 19th. He purchased the food that he would need, the same chicken and potato meal he had made first, along with some wine.

Donning his apron, he put the meal together and placed it in the oven. About 25 minutes in, when it was beginning to fill the apartment with its delicious aroma with the wine open and breathing, he heard her knock at the door.

Stepping over to let her inside, he smiled as he opened the door. Whatever she was going to say died on her lips as she looked at the apron he wore.

“Wh… what?” She said her eyebrows going up.

“Step inside and you’ll see that what the apron says is true; Something Smells GOOD,” he said, extending his arm to bring her inside with a smile. She sighed, but allowed him to pull her in and help remove her coat.

“It does smell good in here,” she said, staring at his apron and then at him. “Have you seriously been cooking? Really?” He grinned with a nod. She stared at him in disbelief and he motioned to the kitchen.

She walked into the kitchen and he followed, wanting to see her expression. As she looked around, at the knives, cutting Board, and oven mitts, she raised her eyebrows, smiling in surprise.

“Impressed?” he asked, and she looked at his apron again and nodded with a smile. “Wine?” He poured them each a glass and they sat at the table as they waited for the food to finish cooking.

“So, you’ve become a chef the past few weeks? Mulder, you just keep opening like a flower,” she teased and he chuckled as he took a drink.

“Not exactly a chef, but I have learned to cook a few dishes.”

“How many have you burned?” she said, her eyebrow up, the wine glass and her lips. He raised his eyebrows and she smiled.

“Agent Scully, you wound me,” he said, a hand on his heart. She laughed and he went to her.

They continued to talk about nothing as they waited for the dinner to be ready. When the timer went off, she followed him into the kitchen to watch him take the dish from the oven.

“Well, well,” she said, crossing her arms. “It actually looks edible.” He looked at her with an expression of mock hurt and she laughed.

When it had cooled down, he served up their meal and brought it to her as she sat at the table. He nervously waited and watched as she took her first bite. Surprise, shock, and happiness crossed her face. She smiled and he nodded as he began to eat.

When they had finished and the last bit of wine was all that remained, she stared at him and he knew a question was formulating in her mind. She sighed as she glanced down at his apron again and then she laughed softly.

“That apron, Mulder…” She looked at him and he looked down at it. “What gives?”

“An impulse purchase and false advertising if I had failed, so I had something to aspire to,” he explained and she raised her eyebrows in appreciation. “Plus, you know, it protects my clothes from the day when I will inevitably spill something on it, as aprons do.” He smiled at her with a wink and she chuckled with a nod as they finished their wine.

When she stood a few minutes later, claiming it was late and she should be going, he stood with her.

“Scully, I know this has been a rough time for us. I wanted to say thanks, and this meal seemed like a great way to do it. So thanks… for putting up with me, going along on the off the book trips, and for just being there.”

“Since when have we been completely “on the books” with our trips?” she asked with a smile, as she grabbed her coat and put it on, buttoning it up and staring at him.

“True. To a point,” he said with a shrug. “Still, thank you.” He touched her shoulder and she nodded.

“Well you’re welcome, Mulder,” she said, opening the door. “Thank you for the meal, which was very good, and especially for the fun that the apron brought to the evening.” She smirked and he laughed as she stepped into the hall and turned around with a smile. 

“Good night, Mulder.”

“Night, Scully,” he replied and she chuckled softly, walking to the elevator. 

Stepping back inside, he closed the door and took off his apron. He laid it over his arm as he picked up the plates and glasses. He hung up the apron and washed the dishes. Turning off the kitchen light, he grinned as he glanced at the apron. 

__________________

“Now, um I know we said we weren’t going to exchange gifts, but, uh… I got you a little something,” he said, holding up her gift.

“Mulder,” she said.

“Merry Christmas.”

“Well, I got you a little something too.” She held up her gift and he happily exchanged with her. They grinned at each other and ran to the couch to open them.

As she untied the bows, meticulous even in how she opened gifts, he paused, wanting to watch her as she opened it. Catching his eye as a ribbon was set down, she raised her eyebrows, silently asking him a question.

“I just… hope you like it,” he said with a smile.

“Now I’m a little nervous,” she said as she ripped off the paper. He smiled as she looked down as the paper fell away.

“What… What is this?” She took the top off the plastic tube and pulled out what was inside. Unrolling it, she turned it around and laughed.

“Mulder…” was all she could say before she stood up, placed it over her head, and turned toward him. “This is hilarious.” 

He grinned as she stood wearing the black apron that was similar to his own white one. Except hers was slightly different as it read “Something Smells Goo-ood” in big, white block letters.

“You bought us matching aprons?” she giggled as she looked at him and he shrugged with a smile. “Mulder, this was not at all what I had pictured would be inside of that gift. Oh my God! Open yours!”

She laughed and clapped as she sat down beside him. the apron strings billowing behind her. “Open it!”

He grinned and opened it, tearing the wrapping paper, and throwing it on the coffee table. Flipping it over, he laughed as he looked at the title of the video tape she bought for him.

“Cooking is Easy,” he read out loud and she laughed, grabbing his arm. He looked at her and he laughed again.

“I thought it was funny, but now it’s even better,” she laughed as she gestured to the apron. “I mean, this is either really funny or I’m just super tired.” She pulled the apron out and looked at it, laughing again. She looked at him and he winked as he stood up and walked over to the VCR. He opened the tape she bought, pushed it inside, and turned on the television.

He joined her on the couch as he grabbed the remote. Turning up the volume, they sat together as an overly happy woman began to explain how easy cooking could be.

Scully giggled beside him and he glanced at her with a smile as she wore his silly gift. She moved a little closer to him and put her head on his shoulder, as she mocked the happy tone of the woman on screen. 

“This video is so much better than I had imagined,” she laughed. “I’ll have to have you come over for dinner now, Mulder. My apron has something to prove.” 

She yawned with a little moan, shifting her head on his shoulder. He smiled as she did, happy that she had not hated the gift at all. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it. 

He glanced over at the window and saw that the promise of a white Christmas had arrived. Smiling at the drastically different way the evening could have ended, he rested his head on hers, closing his eyes as he let the happy cheery voice on the video, explaining how to add water to a pot, lull them both to sleep.