#he’s actually trying to get shi to go somewhere in a few of the Loops lmao

[cosmicourple]

finally, FINALLY posting some out of context! Blender Timeloop A.U memes :’) (#1)

(⚠️: references to sui & violence (rlly hope no one is offended & / or triggered by this 😅))

Some of these r way 2 details hahrwgweggfvf im srry :’)

hey at least I got these out after creating them two days ago—

Edit: I have so many tags I can’t fit in FUCK

[royalblue-star]

helpless- zuko

Pairing: Zuko x Raeder

Summary: This pic was based off of Helpless from the musical Hamilton! Zuko and the reader have been secretly engaged for a long time. And the secret starts to come out once the Gaang notices that reader is wearing an engagement ring.

(gif not mine)

"So (Y?N)," teased Sokka. "Who's the lucky man?"

His gaze was set on my ring finger, and I had forgotten to remove the ruby ring that Zuko gave me.

See, Zuko and I had been secretly dating for years now. My father and I had worked closely with the Fire Lord when the two of us met. We had only been dating for a year before his banishment, and even then we managed to keep our relationship strong. I would send him letters using one of my father's hawks, and he would reply as fast as he could. When he returned, our relationship became a little rocky. But when he found himself and asked me to escape with him, it began to blossom again. He knew of my hatred towards the war and of how poorly I was treated among other court members. This way, we wouldn't have to be apart any longer. He gave me a ring as a promise of the proposal once the war was over. But neither of us had actually told the rest of the Gaang about our relationship.

"Oh, I-'

"Is it some guy who works for the Fire nation?"

"No! He doesn't work for them!" I blushed, trying my best to not look at Zuko.

"How did you two meet? Oh! That must be an interesting story!" The water tribe boy exclaimed, gaining the attention of everyone else in the Gaang.

"What are you going on about Sokka?" questioned an exasperated Katara.

"Somethin' about (Y/N) being engaged," Toph said nonchalantly.

I sent the earthbender a glare she couldn't see. This was not how I intended to tell the group about Zuko and I. Honestly, I hadn't intended to tell them at all.

"Well, I could use a story." Aang chimed in, his eyes wide and full of an innocent curiosity.

"That's a good idea!" joked Zuko. "Why don't you tell us how you two met (Y/N)."

'Traitor.' I thought, glaring at the fire nation boy. He knew what he was doing. He was egging them on because it was me who was being questioned, not him. Oh, if it was him, he'd be singing a different tune.

"Well, we met a few years ago. The Fire Lord's advisors thought that it would be a great idea to hold an evening gathering, or party, for all the members of the court..."

~

"We are going to break so many hearts tonight!" exclaimed my sister, Angelica.

"You are, that's for sure." I grinned at her, looping my arm through hers.

"Shut up! Have you not seen yourself! You look gorgeous!"

The two of us made quite an entrance, entering the party. It seemed as if all the eyes in the room had turned toward us. I glanced over at my sister as we descended the steps. She looked as if she was glowing under the candlelit room. Her gown as a simmering gold that caught the light perfectly every time she moved. I chose to contrast her with a simple dark red gown. Hers had long gold sleeves, while mine had a thin pair of straps. Her dress was light, and mine was dark, a perfect way to reflect our personalities at a party. One sister living in the spotlight, while the other shies away in the corner.  

The room was beautiful. There were sets of golden tables and chairs around the outskirts of the room for people to sit and talk at. The center was completely cleared, and couples were dancing gracefully together. There were assorted tapestries hung around on the walls. Most of them barred the symbol of the fire nation while others had various designs on them.

"Come on, let's find somewhere to sit." I urged my sister, trying to stop her bounding off into the party. As soon as we found a table, however, she was off of my arm and racing towards the dance floor, grabbing some poor gentlemen along the way. I laughed as he quickly accepted his fate as my sister's current dance partner.

She seemed to light up the room, quite literally with that dress of hers. This was Angelica's scene, not mine. She was always the more adventurous one of the two of us. I admired her for that.

For most of the night, I sat back and watched Angelica entrance most of the room with her dazzling smile. Occasionally, I would talk to someone too, but it was mainly painful small talk about my father and his work.

"You are such a bore." my sister teased, plopping down into the chair next to me. "There must be someone here that is remotely interesting to talk to."

"No, there hasn't been-" My breath hitched. Across the room, someone new caught my eye. The crowd parted to reveal a tall, handsome young man. His golden eyes shined as they roamed the crowd. He held his head high, and he seemed to radiate a sort of calmness.

'What! (Y/N) what is it?" Angelica shook my arm furiously.

"This one's mine." I was at a loss for any other words, so instead, I just pointed at him.

I was so busy shamelessly staring at the mystery guy that I failed to notice my sweet sisters smirk. She suddenly stood up and, without a word, made her way over to the man.

My stomach twisted into knots. "Angelica! What are you doing?" I hissed, but it was too late. She was already across the room.

The two of them talked briefly, but it felt like forever. My heart started to sink, they looked as if they were getting along quite well. "It's okay, there are other guys here anyway," I mumbled to myself as I tore my gaze away from my sister and the mystery guy.

I couldn't help myself, I had to sneak another glance they're direction. And I was shocked to see the two arm-in-arm headed towards me. I stumbled slightly as I stood up to greet them.

"(Y/N) (L/N)," I greeted holding out my hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"(L/N)?" He questioned while bringing my outstretched hand to his lips.

"My sister," Angelica explained quickly.

"I think I finally see a good reason to attend this party." His gaze didn't leave mine.

"As do I."

~

"Are we ever going to learn this guy's name?" exclaimed Sokka. He earned an elbow in the ribs from Katara and multiple shushings from the rest of the group.

"Well, just because you said that and interrupted me; No, you will not be getting his name." The group collectively groaned on cue.

"What the heck Sokka!" shouted Toph, throwing a rock at his head. The two inevitably started bickering.

I glanced over at Zuko quickly. He was busy laughing quietly to himself, and the sight of it made my heart warm. It had been so long since I had seen him smile genuinely. It had been long since we had been able to be formally alone together, and I missed him.

I cleared my throat loudly, and all chaos that had broken out stopped abruptly.

"Thank you. So, from there.."

~

"How about we escape this place and walk around the palace?" Mystery guy asked, offering me his arm.

"That sounds lovely." Taking his arm, he guided me through the crowd and out into the courtyard. It was beautiful, the perfect night. The moon shone above us, illuminating everything in the surrounding area. It was gorgeous.

The two of us talked for hours about anything and everything. It felt nice to talk to someone new. He didn't expect me to be a certain way, he was just interested in me. For years the only people I had talked to were my sister, my father, and some of the other generals. I didn't have any friends, but that was the life of the general's daughter. My sister and I embodied the two different paths that were laid out for us to take. One was to be married off to a general's son, or learn the ways of war and participate in council meetings. There wasn't any time for me to do anything but assist my father in meetings and breath occasionally.

I learned that Mystery Guy and I weren't so different in that respect. It gave us a common ground to fall on and a mutual understanding of one another. He told me of his past and his dreams of the future. His eyes lit up as he spoke about his passions. It felt as if I was the first person that he had truly opened up to.

"Let's stop here." He gestured to a small pond in the middle of the courtyard. It was cute, but the turtle ducks were even cuter.

For a moment, we sat in comfortable silence while the cool air surrounded us. It was at that moment that I regretted wearing a sleeveless gown.

"Are you cold?" He asked, noticing my small shivers.

"A little, but it's alright," I assured, trying to suppress another shiver. He scooted closer to me and closed the space between us by wrapping his around my bare shoulders.

He pulled me into him ever-so-slightly and asked, "Is this alright?"

Unable to trust my words, I just nodded. He was so warm that I couldn't resist leaning into him. And I mean, he didn't exactly stop me. If anything, his grip tightened. I felt at home next to him. Like I had finally found peace. The moment felt so perfect, I never wanted it to end.

"Do you think we could stay like this forever?"

"I think we can certainly try."

That was all I needed to hear. I moved my head to look up at him, and apparently, he had the same idea. Our eyes locked and I felt a new sensation wash over me. He had managed to break down every single wall that I had built up with a single look into my eyes.

He delicately brought his hand up to the side of my face. "May I?"

"Yes," I breathed out. And the next thing I know, his lips have crashed into mine. The kiss was gentle. My arms threaded themselves around his neck, pulling us just the slightest bit closer.

"Wow," I said once we broke apart.

"Wow indeed." He replied. "(Y/N) I-, I don't know how to say this, I'm not that good with words. I just wanted to say that there's something about you. Something extraordinary. And I want to be with you! I know we just met, but it feels right."

I pressed my lips gently onto his. "I would love that."

~

"..And we've been together ever since." I finished. A chorus of "aws" was heard around the campfire, but one person was laughing. It was Zuko laughing, of course. Only he would laugh at me telling this story.

"Dude shut up!" Sokka hissed at the prince. "She just told us her love story and you're laughing!"

"Sorry," Zuko managed to get out between laughs. "it's just, you make me sound so sappy. We both know that's not what I said."

"Shut up!" I gasped. "You're just embarrassed that you are extremely sappy deep down."

"You're still wrong, love."

"Okay, so I might've exaggerated a little bit of what you said, but you still got all emotional!"

"You're a dork."

"Shut up, idiot!"

Ah, how I missed our bickering. Zuko was beaming at me. He knew that he had won that fight.

"Wait a minute, he's the one that you're engaged too!" Questioned a puzzled Katara.

My eyes widened. We really did just give ourselves away.

"Surprise?" I offered meekly.

"WHAT!" Screamed Sokka. "How! How come you never told us!"

"Because," said Zuko walking up behind me. "We never told anyone. It's always been a secret."

From his position behind me, Zuko wrapped his arms around my waist. Instinctively, I leaned into him.

"So you guys have been engaged this whole time, never told anyone, and the only explanation you offer is that your relationship has always been a secret??"

Zuko and I made eye contact and the twinkle in his eyes instantly told me his next move. "Bedtime?"

"Bedtime," I confirmed. And with that, the two of us took off running towards his tent, leaving the Gaang to yell at us to come back.

[cynergy-laughter]

Obey Me! One Master to Abridge Them All! Ep.3

3: I Pact You a Lunch~! (Rated PG-13)

MC: *laying in bed, thinking about stuff* I’ve met all but one... who’s the youngest brother? The Avatar of Sloth... I imagine him as a scene boy, carrying a pillow everywhere.

*D.D.D. Vibrates*

📶________0️⃣1️⃣:4️⃣3️⃣________🔋69%

Levi: So you are sure that Lucifer said that Mammon’s assets were frozen? Like he said the word frozen?

MC: Yes, for the 18th time, as in Let it Go, as in ❄️❄️❄️ Like what do you want from me?

Levi: ... Come to the kitchen.

MC: You getting another Game Fuel energy drink?

Levi: NO... Maybe... no! Just come to the kitchen. And be quick about it, normie.

__________________________________

MC: *smirks* It’s been a day and Otakon still hasn’t noticed.

————

MC: *walking into the kitchen, and hears a rustling in the kitchen* A burgular is eating our food? *walks backward, and hides behind the wall* okay... 1... 2... *jumps into the kitchen* FREEZE SUCKA!

Beel: *jumps up and hits head on the top of the fridge* OW! *cough cough* ah shi-...! You startled me!

MC: I startled you?! B-Beel?! I thought you were a burgular! But I can see I was right, you’re the Hamburgular!

Beel: *eating a leftover burger* I eat when I’m lonely... and hungry, and my whole life. What are you doing here?

MC: Oh I’ve been there... But I was seeing if there were anything to eat, I couldn’t sleep.

Beel: Ah, a fellow midnight snacker, Huh? Well sorry to disappoint you, but I just polished off everything in the fridge.

MC: Well, I guess I’ll have to resort to my own stockpile.

Beel: You were holding out on me with snacks earlier. I want more.

MC: Alright, but first... *pulls out a snack cake* Sit.

Beel: *sits*

MC: Roll over.

Beel: *rolls to the right*

MC: ... Play dead.

Beel: *faints in a dramatic way*

MC: *blinks and goes over to Beel and rubs his belly* Good boy! Who’s a good boy?

Beel: *chuckles and squirms* Thahat tickles.

MC: *gives him the snack cake* There you go.

*interview*

MC: As frightening as the amount of stuff he eats is, Beel is pretty adorable... I absolutely love how he’d do anything for food. He’s like a mix of Garfield, Nermal, and Odie. Always hungry, super cute, and innocent, to an extent. That’s my first impression of him anyway, watch him really be a hard rock.

————

MC: By the way, where’s the 7th brother?

Beel: Do not talk about him, especially not to Lucifer! You should just stop sticking your nose into business that isn’t yours. Thanks for the snack cake, but I’m leaving. *storms off*

MC: ... Call Me... *takes out another snack cake and eats it*

*interview*

MC: ... I guess that was a sore subject... I think I heard him crying... Now I’m determined.

————

???: Psst! Hey!

MC: *looks up* God? Is that you? Grandma? Uncle Jack? Dad?

???: No! Down here! Help me out!

MC: Levi, what are you doing down there?

Levi: Planting a garden and talking to the tomatoes, what do you think I’m doing? I was hiding from Beel!

MC: Are you stuck?

Levi: N-No! I’m not! I’m just... grr... sore cause you... ack! Kept me... come on... waiting!

MC: *takes out D.D.D., gets down onto the floor near the island and makes a video of them and Levi.* Just making memories with my best bro Levi.

Levi: Gah! Hey, what are you doing?!

MC: Levi thought it would fun to try and dive through the island, and he got stuck! Heh, classic Levi. So glad you chose to stop gaming and hang out with me, your best pal! *stops recording*

Levi: YOU DELETE THAT RIGHT NOW! I WILL NOT BE LOOPED INTO YOUR NORMIE POSTS!

MC: Heh, okay okay... there, it’s deleted, alright, let’s get you out.

*interview*

MC: It’s not really deleted, I just sent it to my other phone and deleted it off the D.D.D. It actually gets good reception down here. So, I have some leverage, and Levi thinks that it’s not on my D.D.D. Maybe next time, don’t talk trash about my baby boy Shizuo Heiwajima.

————

Levi: Ugh, finally. Now, back to business... since Lucifer told you that Mammonms assets were frozen, there’s only one place it could be.

MC: ... So why are we in the kit- no. You’ve gotta be kidding me... in the freezer?

Levi: I mean it’s worth a shot. After all, Lucifer wouldn’t put it somewhere far away, like over on Diavolo’s personal ski resort.

MC: Well... work smarter not harder. Which also works better cause it deters idiots.

Levi: *opens the freezer* Let’s see... Hmm... Frostbitten Salmon... Freezerburn Gorgon steaks... Oh, there’s Beel’s ice cream sandwich he lost a few thousand years ago.

MC: *blinks* That’s an ice cream sandwich? It looks like the inside of a meteorite...

Levi: Oh! Here it is! *picks it up and falls down, the block of ice with the credit card resting on his chest* Ack! It’s cold and heavy! H-Help!

MC: You are a demon, you are stronger than me, and I’m a human.

Levi: Just help me team lift it to the microwave!

MC: Alright, hold on!

————

Mammon: Hey! What are you two doi- *gasps* Is that Goldie?!

Levi: Yep! I found it all by myself.

MC: ... Oh hell no, you got me messed up Boku No Shut-in... Wait... he named his credit card Goldie?

Mammon: Shut it human, me and Goldie have been through so much together, you don’t have what we have!

MC: You sound like you both starred in a romcom called The Golden Moron.

Levi: *snorts at that* And you aren’t getting it back until you do what I say.

Mammon: P-Please sir, Please May I have her?

MC: This guy did an Oliver Twist impression... I’m done.

Levi: I will when you give me the Seraphina figurine you won.

Mammon: The Sera-who?

Levi: Seraphina.

Mammon: *blinks* Seratonin?

Levi: Ser-A-Phi-Na! You don’t even know about her, you probably forgot all about her! I got pile driven by you trying to get her back, and you were half asleep naked!

MC: ... lucky bastard...

Levi: How dare you forget about the cold, egotistical Queen of the High Elves who wants nothing more than affection and love-!

MC: Hey, Otakon 2020, can we wrap this up here, I’d like to get some sleep before Lucifer blasts the morning bugle, thank you very much!

Levi: *slowly turns head, hurt* How dare you...

————

Mammon: I’ll do anything, just give me back my card.

Levi: Only if you also make a pact with Enn. So I can finally get my money back from you.

MC: Oh now we’re getting somewhere.

Mammon: Ain’t no way I’m gonna be making a pact with this simple, lowlife, good for nothing, piece of garbage.

MC: I’ve been called worse, you Pell Grant Reject.

Levi: Oh Luciferrrrrr~ 🎶 Mammon’s defrosting his credit card~!

Mammon: I mean yes, i’ll form a pact with this amazing, first class, special, beautiful slice of heaven. It would be my honor~.

MC: Don’t push your luck, Mammon.

*interview*

MC: This fucking sucks! In prison, you have to take down the biggest baddest mfer down in order for people not to mess with you and get respect, and then the funniest. Now I only got the funniest guy and the biggest and baddest is still not taking me seriously. So what the heck does this mean for me? I’m at second best right now.

Mammon: *next to them* Hey, you know I’m right here right?

MC: Yeah, and you started the insulting first, and plus, I said you were the funniest, take credit where it’s given, dumbass.

*moment of pause*

MC: I’m sorry I called you dumbass...

Mammon: Oh you’re so kind, Enn, I’m so grateful to be your demon. *Fake Smile™️*

MC: Well now I’m not sorry Yeager Sarcastic.

[gold-and-rubies]

In It For The Long Haul - Chapter 3

Warnings for Violence. Claudia’s POV.

Claudia leaned against a wall of the Rexford as she waited for MacCready. They had finished at the Castle with just enough time to get back to Goodneighbor. The ultimate goal was to get back to Sanctuary, but it was too far away to reach by nightfall. So they settled at the Rexford for the night. Staying the night there was decidedly better than some random abandoned building.

She thought about MacCready as she waited for him. He was not what she had been expecting when the ghoulified Mayor Hancock had steered her in his direction. Sure, he acted like how she would expect a mercenary to act, for the most part, but she was not expecting him to be so young. It was a little jarring to her. It was like seeing what she could have become if she had grown up in the wastes.

“Boss,” MacCready said in greeting, shaking her from her thoughts.

“Ready?” she asked.

“When you are.”

Her nose wrinkled when she stepped out of the hotel. Goodneighbor was not exactly the best smelling place in the world. At least it was safer than the ruins that surrounded the place.

“I gotta ask, boss, why are we goin’ to this place? It’s on the edge of the Commonwealth,” he complained, trying to mask it as a question.

They had only been traveling together for a day, and she had already noticed how much he tended to complain. They usually came in the form of sarcastic or backbiting comments. She had learned that the hard way when she made him help clean up the Castle.

“It’s… where I live when I’m not on the road, I guess?”

“Seems a little far away to be helping people,” he muttered.

“There’s actually two allied settlements pretty close by, so it’s not as bad as you think,” she said, “Besides it’s safe, and there should be clean drinking water available. For free.”

He seemed to lighten up a bit at the promise of something free, even if he was not the one paying for it. She figured it was because it meant she could afford more ammunition.

The area around Goodneighbor was eerily peaceful. She closely followed him as he weaved through the ruined buildings. He paused every now and then to listen and watch for threats. They got to the Charles River in a surprising amount of time. He led them down the river all the way to the train tracks that spanned across it. It was not the most direct route, but it was certainly one of the safest.

When they got to the tracks Claudia took point. She looped around the farm that the tracks ran through, wary of the robots that were working there. From there they made their way along them until they reached the newly established settlement of Starlight.

A lone figure sat working at a water pump. When he noticed the pair, he reached for his gun. In response MacCready readied his rifle.

“Who are you, and what do you want?” the man demanded.

“Put your gun down, MacCready,” Claudia whispered.

He looked at her as if she was crazy, but followed her orders.

“Don’t worry, we’re friendly. I’m Claudia Flynn, General of the Minutemen. We’re just passing through,” she said calmly.

Her words seemed to soothe him. He still looked a bit wary, but he lowered his gun.

“General, huh? Sorry I pulled my gun on ya, especially since I should be thanking you for an opportunity like this.”

“It’s quite alright. It’s a rough world out there,” she said with a small smile.

“Well, you’ve given me a decent place to set up, so if you and the Minutemen ever need anything just ask.”

She nodded, “And if you need anything just ask. There’s a place called Sanctuary to the Northwest. Just head there.”

“I will, and thank you again, for this place.”

“No problem,” she smiled. She shot a look at MacCready. He was watching the man warily as they walked across the cracked pavement. His rifle was ready to be fired at a moment’s notice.

“He pulled a gun on us, and you just let him go?” he muttered.

“He didn’t know who we are,” she shrugged, “besides this kinda stuff is going to happen a lot. I’ve noticed people aren’t quick to trust. Even when you’re trying to help them.”

“Noticed? No shi- kidding, boss. If you haven’t noticed the wasteland isn’t like that vault you came from. You’re gonna get killed if you aren’t suspicious of everyone.”

She frowned at him. She could handle the complaining. The more sarcastic comments could be funny. She could not, on the other hand, handle him treating her like she was an idiot. She was new to the world, not a dunce.

She rolled her eyes in response.

“Yeah, I noticed,” she said sarcastically, “I’m not an idiot you know? Just new to the Commonwealth. If you have an issue with it you can leave.”

His eyes widened at that, seemingly caught off guard by her sudden change of tone. She hoped he did not take her up on her offer. At least not until she had someone else to follow her across the wasteland.

“No, no. Just trying to offer some advice,” he said, verbally backing off.

She relaxed slightly. She was thankful he did not walk off on her, but she wondered why. She decided not to ask, because she figured whatever the reason was it was good enough for her.

She led the way through Concord. As they got closer to Sanctuary she relaxed more and more, but she did not let her guard down. She doubted any raiders would be there for a while, but the wildlife was a different story.

As they crossed the bridge that spanned the river that wound around the island Sanctuary sat on, MacCready completely stopped walking.

“What is this place?” he asked, almost completely in awe.

She raised an eyebrow at him. His tone seemed out of character from the very little that she knew about him, but it also made her feel a bit sad. When she looked at the dilapidated houses all she saw was the ghost of a once beautiful neighborhood. A painful reminder of a past she was still avoiding coming to terms with.

“Sanctuary.”

“A bit on the nose, don’t you think?”

“It always has been,” she said wistfully. She started walking again before he could respond. He had to lightly jog to catch up to her again.

After a few steps off of the bridge Dogmeat bounded up to her. His tail wagged at a frankly ridiculous speed. Seeing how happy he was to see her made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.

“Hey, boy. Did you miss me?” she asked as she scratched just behind his ear, causing him to thump his foot on the ground.

She smiled up at them, saying, “This is Dogmeat. He helped me clear out Concord and Corvega.”

“You cleared out Corvega?” he asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah. Given how easy it was, I’m surprised no one else had,” she said straightening back up. The moment she did Dogmeat started to aggressively sniff MacCready. She tried to stifle her laughter at his worried look.

“Should I be worried?” he asked.

She shook her head, “He’s just trying to make sure you’re not an enemy is all.”

When Dogmeat seemed to be satisfied with his assessment he bounded off back towards the heart of Sanctuary. She watched him run off with a smile.

“Seems like you passed the test.”

“Yay me,” he said sarcastically.

As they got closer to the house that had the workbenches stationed outside of it they caught Sturges’s attention.

“Hey, General!” he greeted enthusiastically, looking up from the turret he was working on. The table littered with various tools and pieces of the turret. A protective mask was pulled up on top of his head instead of covering his face.

“Hey, Sturges.”

“I hope you’re here ‘cause things went well at the Castle,” he said hopefully.

“Yeah. I can say with full confidence that the mirelurk infestation has been dealt with. Oh, and the old radio station is up and working again,” she said triumphantly.

“Looks like things are finally startin’ to look up, thanks to you.”

She smiled awkwardly at the praise, but before she could say anything he changed the subject.

“I see you’ve made a new friend too.” he gestured towards MacCready, who had been standing behind her silently.

“oh, yeah, this is MacCready,” she said, turning towards him, “he’s going to be helping me make my way across the Commonwealth.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. A friend of General’s is a friend of mine.”

MacCready merely nodded in acknowledgement. She frowned at him.

“How long do you think you’ll be stickin’ around for?”

“I don’t know,” she answered, “until someone needs us, I guess?”

“So, not very long then.”

She sighed. She had been hoping they could get some rest before they had to go somewhere else. The journey from Goodneighbor had not been hard, but it had been long.

“Did someone come by while we were gone?”

“Yeah. One of the Abernathy’s. Said they needed some help with raiders. They’ve got a farm just south of here built around an old electrical tower. Can’t miss it.”

“I know where that is. Thanks for passing along the message, Sturges.”

“No problem. Also, where’s Preston?”

“Oh. He stayed behind at the Castle. Wanted more people to be there before he left.”

He nodded thoughtfully before beginning to work on the turret again.

She turned back to MacCready.

“I want to repack my bag before we head out,” she explained.

“You sure we should head out today, boss? Sun’s gonna start setting soon.”

“We should have enough time to at least find a place for the night.”

“If you say so,” he grumbled.

She rolled her eyes in response as she headed towards her house. Inside she emptied her pack of everything she did not need and refilled the things she did. She noticed he did not follow her inside. She looked over her shoulder to find him awkwardly leaning against the door frame.

“You know you can come inside, right?”

“Don’t want to intrude on your space, boss.”

She chuckled, “My space is the room on the right side at the end of the hallway. Besides, I’m having you stay across the hall, so this,” she gestured to the room, “now belongs to both of us.”

“Why? There are other houses.”

“True, but that’s the only room that has a bed that hasn’t been claimed yet…” she paused, “...it’s also cleaner than the other rooms.”

She turned away from him, so that he could not see her struggling to keep her composure. It had been her grandmother’s room before the bombs. She had torn that room apart the day after she woke up. She had completely gutted the room of everything except a dresser and bed that were both in surprisingly good condition. That room being in a complete state of disarray was the exact opposite of what it had been before the war, and it hurt her too much to look at it like that.

“Fair enough,” he said walking over to the counter where she was sorting through supplies.

“I have extra supplies if you need anything,” she said. Her voice was far weaker than she had intended. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him raise an eyebrow at her, but he did not comment on it.

“You have any bullets?”

“Not the kind you use.”

“Then I’m good.”

When she was done packing they were on the road again. Claudia led the way through the tall grass. MacCready made snarky comments as they walked about it. Fortunately for him, she thought some of them were amusing. It seemed to her that he knew that he made his constant complaining more bearable if he made it funny.

They made it to Abernathy Farm in just over half an hour. As they walked closer to the house they were greeted by a man leaning against the railing of the porch.

“That’s close enough, strangers. We’re a peaceful farm. We don’t want any trouble.”

“It’s ok,” Claudia said, “We’re friendly. Not looking to cause any trouble.”

“If you say so. But be warned, we’re armed here, so don’t try anything. Let me tell ya, farmin’ ain’t easy. Out in the field, all day, every day? And every moment of it spent watching your back.”

“Farmin’s hard work.”

“Won’t argue with that. Blake Abernathy, you new to these parts?”

“Uh, no. Not exactly,” she answered hesitantly.

“Well it’s nice to see a new face. What about you, ever think about working the land?”

“I’ll probably give a try some day.” She was not sure if that was a lie or not.

“Well, good look to you then. Word of advice though. If you do start up a farm, be ready to deal with the raiders. Why do all the hard work when you can just take what you want at gunpoint?” he demanded.

“That’s why we’re here actually. I’m Claudia Flynn, general of the Minutemen, here to help,” she explained. It was weird introducing herself like that. It was only the second time she had done it, it felt just as odd. She figured she would get used to it with time.

Mr. Abernathy nodded carefully, before carrying on. His voice was pained.

“The last time those raiders hit us, my daughter Mary tried to stand up to them. Now, she’s buried out back of the house. Only twenty-one years old, and they shot her down without a thought. That’s why we need the Minutemen back, and the sooner, the better.”

Her heart broke at that. She knew better than anyone what it was like to lose a loved one, but thought losing a child was a whole other type of pain.

“My God… I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose a child.”

“I hope I never have to experience that feeling,” MacCready murmured from behind her. His voice was barely audible, and sounded almost sorrowful. She wanted to ask him if he was alright, but she knew that that would be crossing a boundary that should not be crossed.

“I… I don’t have much to offer, but those raiders that killed Mary took her locket too. It’s been in Connie’s family for generations. It would mean a lot to us if you could get it back for us.”

“Don’t worry,” she assured him, “we’ll get that locket back for you. And we’ll take care of those raiders. Just tell us where to go.”

“Thank you. There stationed at a place called Satellite Olivia to the northwest of Concord.”

“Alright, we’ll head there now.”

“Thank you again.”

As they walked away MacCready piped up, “You know, boss, we could have saved a lot of time if you had said you’re a Minuteman from the start? Why did ya let him drone on about farming?”

“Customer service?” she shrugged. Truth be told, she liked learning about people.

“Who cares? We’re savin’ their a- butts.”

“True, but we need support from them, and they’ll support us if we are kind to them,” she explained in an exasperated tone.

He grumbled something, but she could not make out what he said, so she took it as a sign that that conversation was done for the time being. She began to wonder if him being an ex-gunner had anything to do with his attitude. They definitely were not the nicest people in the world if she was to go off of what she had heard, but they sounded more evil than rude. She knew that greed could be a hell of a motivation, but she doubted anyone that bad would want to join up with a Minuteman. He did not even seem to be that bad of a person either so far. Sure, he was no saint, but he also did not seem to be a walking pile of human garbage either. He was grey, and as annoying as it could be, she could work with grey.

The sound of gunshots in the distance shook her from her thoughts. They were coming from the satellite as they drew nearer to it. It seemed as though MacCready read her mind. Before she could even get out a word to tell him what to do he lifted up his rifle and stared through the scope.

“Two raiders and an attack dog. Looks like they’re fighting… molerats?” he relayed back to her.

As soon as he finished speaking an explosion sounded through the air.

“Uh nevermind,” he said lowering his gun, “who the heck makes a suicide vest for a molerat?”

She looked at him in pure confusion.

“Did I-” she started.

“Yeah, you heard me right,” he interjected.

“Well… less work for us then,” she said walking off toward the bunker.

Inside they quietly walked down the stairs, and made sure they did not trigger the tripwire at the bottom. They wanted to make sure they had the element of surprise on their side.

When they encountered the first raider, he was in a room by himself with his back to them. Not wanting to draw attention to themselves yet, Claudia quietly sneaked up behind him, and planted her knife in his neck. He made a strangled noise, but it was not enough to alert the others.

The next room was more of an issue. Claudia peaked into the room without being noticed. There were four raiders inside, and one had a minigun. She motioned to MacCready to come towards her. When he was in position she mouthed ‘minigun’ to him. He knew what to do without further instruction. He poked his rifle through the doorway, lining up the shot. The raiders noticed this, but before they could do anything he hit the woman wielding the minigun right between the eyes. Together, Claudia and MacCready dove into the room, and took out the remaining raiders. When they went down, as if on a cue, the remaining inhabitants of the bunker were taken down.

“Do you think that’s all of them?” she asked.She tried to shake the way killing the raiders made her feel. She knew it was the right thing to do, but she was still getting used to that fact.

“Should be.”

“Then let’s start looking for that locket.”

“Sure thing boss.”

She turned to the small toolbox at her feet, and opened it. Sure enough the locket laid inside, glinting at her in the dull light. She picked it up. She let it hang from her fingers as she inspected it.

“That was easy,” MacCready said.

“No kidding,” she said “do you want to look around before we leave or?”

He shook his head, “I’m gonna go check how dark it is outside, and have a smoke. It was sunset when we got here, and it’s starting to set faster now that it’s getting closer and closer to late fall.”

“Alright. I’ll be in the main room when you come back.”

She scoured around the main room as she waited for him. She found an assortment of loot that she placed on a desk. Most of the ammo she found was either 10mm or 5mm, so she took most of it for herself. Even though she knew he would be happy to claim the minigun as his own, she also knew he would not want to haul it all the way back to Sanctuary. She evenly split the caps, stimpaks, and radiation medications. She left the chems she found alone, not wanting them for herself. She pulled the fusion core from the generator, and placed it on the desk as well. She doubted he had access to power armor, but she did not want to be greedy. Everything else was either weaponry, or something that could be considered scrap or junk. He could grab that stuff for himself.

When he came back he had an annoyed look on his face, but it softened at the sight of the various goodies she had found.

“Too dark to travel,” he said simply.

“Damn. Well, at least this place should be safe, right?”

“Except for some exploding molerats, yeah,” he joked.

She laughed quietly at that. She liked that he was already able to make her laugh easily. Not only did it make it easier to travel with him, it distracted her from the grief she was desperately trying to avoid.

She picked up the fusion core, “I’m assuming you don’t have access to power armor, so is it alright if I take this?”

“You have power armor?”

“Yeah. You didn’t see it at Sanctuary?”

“Obviously not. Why don’t you wear it?”

She shook the core in her hand, “Lack of power mostly, but it’s also not in great condition. Sturges is fixing it up.”

“Then be my guest. Power armor is worth more than a few caps.”

She placed it securely in her bag. Sturges would be happy with the find.

They searched the rest of the bunker for anything of value. They found a miniature warhead, which they agreed not to touch. When they finished they returned to the main room to settle down for the night. They sat around a trash can that had a fire burning in it. She pulled some deathclaw jerky Marcy had made from her bag, and started to eat. MacCready pulled some food from his bag as well. She could not tell what it was, and decided it was best not to ask.

After her small dinner she fiddled around with her Pip-Boy. She marked the location of the satellite, and poked around in the settings looking for something interesting.

MacCready broke the silence, “What’s with you vault dwellers and those Pip-Boys?”

She looked up at him, “What?”

“Every vault dweller I’ve heard of has had one. Do you know why Vault-Tec gave them to you?”

She saddened at the memory of pulling the device from the skeleton's arm. The visions of the vault being full of dead bodies haunted her. She cleared her throat before she spoke.

“This… was not given to me.”

“What do you mean? They’re one of the few things all the vaults have in common. That, the jumpsuits, and that every single one had some sort of fu- messed up experiment.” He suddenly looked like he regretted what he said. “Sorry, that was probably too far,” he winced.

She looked at him with wide, sad eyes. She had not thought of other vaults before. His mind had been full of other things.

“Does… does every vault have a different experiment?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah,” he said in a rather somber tone, “I’m sorry I should not have brought it up. I know how bad vaults can be.”

She suddenly felt incredibly alone. Everyone she had known was dead. Everyone who had been locked in that vault with her was dead. There was no one who had gone through what she had. No one who could truly understand.

“Boss?” he asked nervously, “are you good?”

“I’m fine,” she lied. It was an obvious one, but she was not ready to talk about the vault yet, especially not with him.

“Don’t worry about it,”she said, staring into the fire.

“If you’re sure…” he said hesitantly. “This place is pretty secure, but I think we should still keep watch. Why don’t you sleep, I’ll keep first watch,” he suggested.

She nodded in agreement, hoping sleep would keep her from her thoughts. She set up her bed roll silently. Sleep did not come easily, but it was dreamless.

Chapter 2 Read it on ao3

[meteora-writes]

Can you do a good Omens ineffable husband's fic with one of them being touch starved? Sfw 100%, ideally. Or 85-99%. Angst and/or comfort much appreciated, but mostly I want to see what you come up with.

The 14th century is without a doubt Crowley’s least favorite. In fact, he hates it. Between the wars and the black death and political uprisings and such, he hasn’t really done much for the past hundred years. They’re doing enough on their own that he can just claim credit for.

Sure, he tempted some nobles and caused a bit of mischief. But people are so dodgy and afraid of human contact for the better part of the century that he’s sort of just let himself slither into the shadows for, well, he isn’t sure how long it’s been at this point.

He hasn’t even seen Aziraphale in ages. And they usually run into each other every now and then. The longest the ever went without an encounter before this was maybe 40 years? It’s definitely been longer than that. Maybe 70? Maybe more.

Things have finally started to calm down across Europe to a degree when Crowley gets orders to go tempt a priest somewhere in the south of Italy. Finally an opportunity to get out and do something in a place where the locals don’t demand you stay back for fear of the plague. 

Just because he prefers to dress in all black doesn’t mean he’s ill or a damn doctor.

He decides to use a little demonic miracle and procure a boat in good condition to take him there without any other passengers. It’s nice. Though he finds himself feeling a bit lonely. The further he gets from England the more people seem to be alright with people in close proximity. Though when they see his close they still shy away a bit. He should probably fix that. 

It’s ridiculous that he feels bothered by this. He’s a demon. He shouldn’t care that nobody wants to have a chat about the weather or sit by him at a tavern when he offers to buy them a drink.

But it does.

And it doesn’t really hit him just how much until he sees a familiar figure in the marketplace he’s wandering through on his way to the side of town the priest he’s been sent to tempt is living in.

Aziraphale is happily chatting away with a merchant about a book as Crowley approaches. He’s clearly been here a while, speaking perfect Italian and wearing the local fashion, mostly all white of course, with some light blue and gold accents in places. The only thing missing is one of those ridiculous hats he keeps seeing people wearing.

Crowley wonders for the briefest moment if the angel will even notice him, but the thought is banished as Aziraphale is turning and smiling so brightly it could block out the sun as he spots Crowley at the far end of the marketplace.

They both start to walk towards one another, Crowley doing his best not to give more than a smirk when he wants to grin at the sight of his friend. “Hello, Angel,” he greets.

“Oh, it is so good to see you, Crowley!” Aziraphale exclaims before doing something Crowley hadn’t expected and actually hugging the demon as if they were just good old human friends and not hereditary enemies as he often liked to call them.

It’s not a quick, friendly little hug either. The angel wraps his arms fully around Crowley’s lithe frame and pulls him in close enough that their bodies are practically flush against one another. The demon's arms wrap around the angel's body in turn purely on reflex, and he honestly doesn’t think they’ve ever done more than shake hands or clap one another on the back in the last few centuries.

He doesn’t hate it.

In fact, it’s rather quite nice. Fulfills some deep need that he hasn’t been able to satiate on his own for quite some time. 

When the angel lets go Crowley finds himself leaning in, trying to keep contact with the one person that hasn’t shied away from him in so long. Aziraphale doesn't miss this, and he pauses, hands going to Crowley’s shoulders as he looks the demon over.

“My dear, you look as though you’ve been living under a rock. What do you say we get lunch and then go find you some new clothes, hm?” Aziraphale asks before turning and looping his arm through Crowley’s, leading the way down the busy street.

Crowley tries to pretend like it’s nothing. Like having someone, especially his angel, so close after so long alone doesn’t fill him with some deep desire to have more. To take. And he is a demon, he tends to take what he wants.

So he lets Aziraphale take him to lunch, where they sit side by side at a lovely little food stand by the water and chat about what brings them both to Italy and what they’ve been up to since they last saw one another.

It’s nice. Like a piece of him that was missing has been returned. They always have worked well together. Known how to read one another. And Aziraphale is reading him like one of his beloved books even as they sit and chat and nibble away at their meal.

They spend the next few days like this. Sticking close to one another to the point of almost always touching as Aziraphale shows Crowley around Italy and they both do their respective jobs. The arrangement gone by the wayside for the moment as they both don’t really want to part any time soon.

One night Aziraphale even is so bold as to take Crowley’s hand while they’re walking. His skin warm against Crowley’s, which is usually a bit cool thanks to his snake-like nature. They both share a glance from the corner of their eyes, and both say nothing as they continue to walk along.

Eventually, they do have to part. Crowley’s job is done and Aziraphale must stay to continue working minor miracles here and there until his orders to move on come along.

They share one last hug, that Crowley pretends not to care for, but he gives Aziraphale an extra squeeze in way of a thank you before they part with a promise to try and run into one another again soon.

Aziraphale thinks London will be a good place to meet again. And Crowley agrees with a nod and a smile before he turns and saunters off to his next assignment in Spain with a warm feeling throughout his whole being. If his wings were visible they would be all fluffed up with how pleased he’s feeling at the moment.

He’s going to miss his angel, but they’ll see each other again soon and he has that to look forward to.

[chyrstis]

From your lips to my ears

This was not what I had planned for a follow up, but apparently wanting Sharky and John to interact more in general lead to…other things. I’m also stuck in OT3 hell for the foreseeable future, so please don’t send help.

Pairing: Sharky Boshaw/John Seed, Sharky Boshaw/F!Dep/John Seed Rating: E Word Count: 9.2K

Link to AO3!

___

John’s looking for advice on a specific topic, and while Sharky’s not sure he’s the right person to ask, he’s certainly willing to give it his best shot.

Sequel to Oh, the things we could do (to see this thing through)

______________

This was not how he expected things to go. Hell, where he expected any of it to lead to.

Sharky had assumed it was going to happen once and that was it. The three would get together, have a go at it if anyone was feeling it – and they damn well did – and things would even out. Go back to as close to normal as things ever got for them, risking the morning after awkward ‘heys’ in the hall that happened whenever the sex had been all right but not spectacular, and hadn’t been enough of a bonding experience to immediately brand them all boner-bros, or whatever else he could come up with to label it.

At least, judging from his last and only other attempt at a threesome, which had crashed and burned pretty badly out the gate. A former bro of his had scored a shot with a chick he’d liked. Sharky had been wingman for him that night, and had to pinch himself when she mentioned wanting both of them at once. That had already blown all of his expectations out of the water, thinking he would walk away with her friend’s number at best, and a few rounds of beers at the worst.

Well, one thing lead to another, and one round of failed expectations later, not even he wanted to look them in the eye the next day.

Thinking back on it even now made him want to wince, and lucky for him he didn’t let that color any of what he thought was going to go down when John arrived. Because no amount of helping on his end – and he’d tried like hell to get that shit going, and make it work – could’ve salvaged it.

But going back to this, Hana had made a solid point. Assuming anything was going to lead to them banging it out had been pushing it. A movie was a movie, and the one John brought seemed like a sure-fire boner-killer, but it swung that way. And maybe he did nudge it along by getting handsy, but Hana took little convincing and John even less, and right around the time he’d gone from having John’s hand on his dick to having Hana sitting on his face, he’d considered it a rocking success. Not to mention John had thrown him for a loop and blown him while he was at it, scrambling him for a good day and a half afterwards.

So, he made a few more assumptions after that. Seemed safe enough considering what he had to work with.

That John was being his own brand of nice – 'cause he was still fucking John Seed, just not as much of a mega-douche as he used to be - and wouldn’t pay him as much mind the next time he was invited over and they all got physical. He’d give Sharky a jerk or two every now and then just so he wouldn’t feel left out or whatever, and then go back to the whole reason they were both there to begin with: making sure the redhead between them had zero complaints, or chances to voice them.

But around the third time he’d found himself sandwiched between the two, it was starting to look pretty deliberate. John never shied away from touching him, and each time Sharky grew a little more confident that while he didn’t have the same amount of experience with dudes as John seemed to have, he at least wasn’t fucking it up with this one.

With Hana at his front, kissing him breathless, and John at his back leaving him covered with marks only his hoodie would cover up the next day, he was honestly having the best sex of his life. No joke. That he was having sex with these two at all was something that blew his mind on a regular basis, even after three years and some change with Hana, and Sharky wasn’t about to question a damn thing about it. She wanted him, actual honest to monkey Jesus wanted to spend her days and nights with him, and John…

Well, John wanted her too. And while it could've been weird to see them together, it wasn't. They’d already sorted through most of it only for John to pitch him a fast one and really, really land him in a spot he was still scratching his head over. Because with her it all made sense. Him, not so much. Not enough for him to fully believe any of that would ever be aimed his way, at least.

So, he was still questioning some things about it, but not the feeling that settled into his chest every time Hana would curl up next to him in bed during the night, right before stealing the blankets. Or the way he’d nearly trip over random shit in the hall when John would catch his eye, holding the look long enough to give him a knowing smile before walking off.

They were both probably going to send him to an early grave at this rate, given the gymnastics his heart’s gotten up to lately, but even if they did at least he’d die happy. There were worse things to end him, for sure.

Like the thing he was currently staring down. Beeping and hissing, he and the technician with him checked the gauge, and he made an adjustment with the wrench at his side, tightening it until the reading evened out.

Dealing with the massive checklist that came with monitoring the bunker’s generators, air purifiers, and fuel was a pain in the ass for fucking sure. It needed to be done, and while he wasn’t one of the engineers that helped to build them, he knew enough at this point from messing around with this kind of stuff back on the surface to tag along with them if they needed the manpower.

Yeah, it was mostly to find ways to pop shit off and get one hell of a finish, but he could apply what he knew to other areas. Fire wasn’t the only thing he was good with, it was just the thing that helped to take the edge off of everything else. When the buzzing would start up, reminding him that he had at least four more years of being cooped up down here, waiting. Wondering just how bad things would be once they were able to get topside, and he’d be able to see the other half of his family again.

Someday, he’d keep on telling himself. But someday was still a long way off.

“Try it again. We need to see if that’s normal.”

The woman with him, Vicky, was someone he’d worked with before. She was nice enough for a former Peggie, at least in terms of letting him talk just to fill in the massive gaps of silence between them, and didn’t slap the tools out of his hands every time he touched something.

But she was serious. Sometimes way too serious, and when he flicked at the gauge just to see if it’d respond, he felt her eyes boring into his back. “It’s spitting out readings, no problem.”

“For now. If you keep on doing that, however…”

“Yeah, yeah, I get you.” He didn’t tweak it again, settling for watching it bob back up to where it needed to be, hovering around the number the system needed. “We cool?”

“Mostly. Just one last check’s left here before we can head down the line to the next, and then that should cover this-“

There was a short whistle from somewhere behind him, and he started.

“Hey, working hard, or hardly working?”

Sharky peered over his shoulder, and once he noticed just who it was, he loosened up immediately.

Walking down towards them with a slight swing in her step was Hana, wearing a wide grin that he quickly matched. She had on what passed for her uniform down here – jeans, and a button-up shirt in deputy green - and was all suited up for a day spent doing the rounds in the bunker. Walking, talking, doing that whole ‘I am the law’-type shit that she swore she wasn’t trying to overdo or go into total Judge-mode over.

Course that wasn’t counting the times she’d deliberately quote a few Stallone worthy lines guaranteed to have him grinning, but that was something a little extra she’d save just for him.

“It’s serious work, you know,” she’d say, sneaking a quick kiss off of him between shifts. “What with the whole crime being the disease, and me the cure bit. You know how it goes.”

But this time around she didn’t have anyone with her, which was rare. That could’ve meant anything, but a chance to see her was a chance to see her, and he wouldn’t ever turn that down.

“Wasn’t thinking we’d catch you down here today, shorty.”

Paying absolutely zero mind to the fact that he wasn’t exactly alone with her, Sharky might’ve flexed a little harder on the next adjustment he made. Just, you know, to show off how hard he was working, even if he’d hardly broken a sweat.

“No? You know there’s always a chance I might stop on by. See how one of my favorite guys might be doing.”

Now he was definitely showing off, and only wanted to amp it up even more. “Sure thing. Might wanna pull up a seat if you’re looking to stick around, though. We’re checking on a leak in the line.”

That made her go serious fast. “Oh. Just one of those, huh? Judging from the lack of alarms, and how we’re chatting like this instead of making a break for it, though, I’m guessing everything’s fine?”

“Yeah, it’s cool. At least here it is.” He removed his cap and swiped at his brow. “We’re taking these in pairs seeing if we can track it, but no luck yet.”

Vicky jotted a few notes down on her clipboard. “There’s a possibility it’s just a faulty reading from one of the gauges, but that means checking each one by one.”

“Nice to see you too, Vic. They take you off of sanitation?”

“No,” Vicky said ruefully, as she adjusted her glasses, “but a break’s a break, Deputy, and I’d much rather deal with this at the moment. Higher priority.”

“Sounds absolutely thrilling.” Sharky shook his head, and Hana struggled to keep a straight face when Vicky scowled at him. “I think I’m going to have to side with Vic on this one, hon. Boring’s better, at least when it comes to stuff like this. Anyway, I was just passing through, but if you get a break, come find me. I don’t want to distract you any more than I already have.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to have you hanging here while we’re working, H. In fact, the extra company might be kinda nice. You know, to help break things up.”

“You sure about that? I think someone might disagree with you on that one.” She winked at Vicky, making the other woman roll her eyes. “But don’t think I’m not tempted. They need me down towards storage, so I can’t drag my feet here too much longer.”

“Bunker business?”

“Bunker business. Not the whole nine yards, but close. Oh, and one quick thing,” Hana said, snapping her fingers as she recalled it. “If you see John anywhere near here, kindly redirect him towards that area too. I’ve got a bone to pick with him, and I don’t want him slipping out of it if he can help it.”

Sharky gave her a suggestive look as he opened his mouth, and she held up a finger to stop him.

“No, not that kind of bone, and you know it. Now, if you’ll both excuse me, I’m going to exit stage left, and wish you both happy hunting.”

She blew him a kiss on the way out, leaving him with a silly grin for a good minute or two before he noticed Vicky’s hand waving in front of his face. When she snapped her fingers right after, he realized she was still waiting on him.

“Uh, shit, I’m here. Were you saying something?”

“Yes.” Vicky sighed deeply, and turned to head down the hall. “Come on. We’re not even halfway through this.”

An hour passed, following the same steps.

Check. Adjust. Re-check.

Check. Adjust. Re-check.

No amount of whistling, talking, or singing was going to make it any less painful. Vicky gave him a funny look more than once when something clinked when it should’ve clanked, but when he had nothing else to do but check for problems that weren’t there, he had to make do.

And failing that, distract himself from getting distracted to begin with. It was a circle, and he lapped it more than once as he forced himself to listen to what Vicky was telling him to check for.

Maybe he should’ve found a better way to twist Hana’s arm into staying with them, because at least then he’d have something pretty to look at. Someone to smile at and joke with, instead of numbing his brain sorting through these numbers and all this metal bullshit-

“Boshaw.”

He fumbled the wrench and nearly smacked himself in the face with it. There John was, somehow coming out of nowhere like a ghost, and looking dead serious as well. “Fuck, man! Give me some warning first.”

“I’ve been told there’s a problem in the back.”

“P-problem?”

Next to him, Vicky had gone ram-rod straight, not expecting to see John either. It was always weird to see the ex-Peggies react to him, because while they weren’t following the project any longer, that mix of fear and respect never really went away.

“Okay, and…?” Sharky asked, his voice rising.

“And I want you to come with me to fix it.” Still wearing that same expression, John raised an eyebrow expectantly. “Preferably, sometime today.”

“Is it a major issue?” Vicky stepped up beside him, looking concerned. “We’re both available if that’s the case.”

“Nothing catastrophic, believe me, but…only one set of hands should be needed.”

And with that, John’s eyes were focused on him again.

Sharky swallowed the growing lump in his throat, and let out a nervous laugh. “Right. You want me to drop everything and…shit, fine. I’ll smack whatever it is a few times and see if that solves it.”

He could feel the eyes of Vicky on his back as he stepped out with John, and wondered just how bad this problem was going to be. Sure, he was kidding when he mentioned smacking it a few times, but he’d do it if desperate times called for desperate measures.

John led him down towards the area in the back, only to take a left down a twisting hallway. This was further than what he’d expected, but he followed, shoving the wrench into his toolbelt as they kept on walking.

When they finally found the place, some small area tucked way back in a maze of pipes, John stopped and gestured towards the spot in question.

“This it?” Sharky asked, wondering if John was going to be more specific than waving his hand at what looked like a breaker box. “That what’s busted?”

He gave him a thin smile. “Yes.”

Okay, so no, he wasn’t. Sharky rubbed his hands together. “Cool, so let’s see what the problem is.”

He opened it up, and checked the wires, checked the switches, and read the small labels marking the inside. Scratching at his goatee, he stood there, taking in the almost neat way the whole thing was set up, and after five minutes of doing nothing but staring at it he turned to point at John.

“You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?” John didn’t say anything, but the smile that slid onto his face said it all. “That’s real low.”

“Is it? It did exactly what I hoped it would. To bring you over here so we could speak privately.”

“Private, huh?” That got a reaction he’d hoped to keep under wraps, clearing his throat as he averted his eyes. “Kinda tough to see any part of this place as private, but this ain’t too bad. Depending on, uh…what you’re going for, I guess.”

Yeah, his mind was running through a few things. Recalling how he’d snuck around with Hana, finding any available nook and cranny they could, only to see if this would be the one that got them caught. They never started anything they weren’t able to finish, though it came close at times. Close enough to have her act as the distraction for the person nearly finding them while he hid long enough to get his zipper back up.

Applying that same idea to John, wondering how they could be caught here was just as appealing, and he knew that walking down that line of thought was a dangerous one. With the way his dick was starting to harden, he knew he didn’t need to be entertaining it either. But he did, and with the way John was eyeing him as he approached, some of that had to be running through his mind too.

“I have an important favor to ask.”

Favor? That got his brain firing off any and all suggestions that train of thought could lead to. “Shoot. What is it?”

“I’ve been conflicted lately. Down to choosing three to four new poems that I believe Hana might be amenable to, but…I can’t seem to narrow them down further.”

He almost wanted to laugh. Poetry. He was here to talk to him about poetry. That was a curveball he hadn’t prepped for, or even remotely considered.

“Is that right?” Sharky fiddled with his toolbelt, and wished that the machine in front of him was actually broken so he wouldn’t be standing there half-blushing like the fool he was.

“Yes. Now, you know her rather well. What she enjoys, and what grates on her, so I was hoping to get a second opinion.”

He nearly dropped what he was holding on his foot. “No fucking way.”

“As I said, you know what she likes, so it makes sense to have you look it over before she does.“

This was not poetry night take two. Or it was totally poetry night take two, Boshaw edition. Or it was just him asking for actual advice for stuff to offer on poetry night, and he was overthinking it, jumping straight into the assumption that John was asking to have sex with him.

Which even if he did directly, Sharky would’ve still stood there staring at him like he’d grown a second head. Like he was currently, as John actually started to look uncomfortable with the amount of silence between them.

“Perhaps I spoke too soon-“

“Yeah! Oh, wait, not-aw, shit,” Sharky blurted out. “It’s good! It’s all good, never mind what I said at first. I’m down for that.”

“You are?”

“It’s, um…you’re better at that flowery shit than I am, but you’ve gotta be desperate asking for me to help you go through page after page of that stuff just so you can get laid, man.”

The small smile he wore seemed to help John relax a bit. “It wouldn’t be for my benefit only.”

“But it’d go a long way to getting there,” Sharky replied, raising his eyebrows. “And with a Boshaw on your side, well, you sure you’re ready to deal with sex getting thrown at you 24/7?”

John stared at him, giving him a look before replying drily, “I think I can manage.”

---

He all but sprinted to the showers once his shift was officially up. The hot water was welcome, along with the chance to crank out a quick one, because there was no thinking straight with that hanging around.

It was no big deal. It wasn’t anything major, but the longer he thought about it, the more the thought skittered around, and by the time he managed to find Hana where she mentioned she was earlier – hiding in the back of one of the storage rooms, but struggling to grab stuff off of a high shelf – he was on the verge of blurting anything and everything out.

Not his best move, but as he reached over to drop the item into her hands, he kept his mouth firmly shut. A real struggle, as he tried to work out exactly how to phrase any of this.

Hana jumped as he reached over her, and she spun around. “Geez, now you’re being the sneaky one.”

He kissed her before he could talk himself out of it. She sank into it immediately, throwing what she held to the side so she could wrap her arms around his neck. Having lost the chance earlier, he wanted to make up for it now. Just to have her close, to be able to press a kiss to her hair, her nose, and her chin to see how long it’d take to have her giggle until it’d break into a snort.

It was almost silly of him to want it that much, but it helped. It always did, and he loved her for it.

“Yeah, totally a sneak,” Hana said, biting her lip. She kissed him again, letting it linger long enough for him to start pressing her against the shelves, and she grinned against his mouth. “God, don’t tempt me like this. That’s not fair.”

Sharky drew back. “Hey, you said to find you once I was on break. Couldn’t exactly do this earlier, but now…?” His grin fell as he suddenly recalled exactly what she’d told him to do. “Aw, shit.”

“What?”

“The whole ‘if you see John pass him along towards you’, and I blew the second part. He wanted to talk to me about something, and it threw me off. Had a good groove going up to that point too.”

“He did? Everything okay?”

With Hana’s attention directly on him, it was worse, and his words picked up speed as he spoke. “Nah, said he wanted my opinion for some reason. Guess he couldn’t make up his mind on whatever it is he’s got hiding back in his room. And…yeah. Figured I’d help. Maybe head on over tonight and see what’s going on.”

She looked concerned at first, but started side-eyeing him when he scratched the tip of his nose and didn’t quite meet her eyes. After a minute, however, a smile crept in. “Well, you are a pretty decent tie-breaker when it counts.”

“Right? I thought I was pretty good at that, myself.”

“And if he needs another set of eyes, yours definitely wouldn’t hurt. Just one thing, hon,” Hana said, leaning up on her toes.

‘Yeah?”

“Don’t have too much fun, now.”

Sneaking a kiss to Sharky’s cheek, his face burned as she grabbed the box she'd tossed to the floor and left the room. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Her wide grin said it all, and he swore to himself as he tried not to say anything else to spoil it further. Sure, he was heading over to see John. Sure, she suspected enough to jump to a conclusion or two, but he had a reason for it. Not just…assumptions, and he wasn’t feeling too much like an ass yet, so he figured he was doing okay.

But ruining the surprise like this would’ve been the exact opposite of helping, and the last thing he needed was to get drummed out of any future invites just because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

That idea stewed a little, enough for him to backtrack to the shop to get out the welding torch for a while, but he could only mess around for so long until he had no choice but to take a deep breath and dive in anyway.

Finally accepting that, he let that burst of 'fuck it, let's do this' carry him all the way to John’s doorstep.

Were his hands sweaty? He wiped them off on his jeans before knocking on the door, and shoved both deep into his pockets afterwards. There he wouldn’t have to worry about them, and it wasn’t like John was going to want to shake his hand anyway.

Or, uh, shake anything else.

He made a face. What the fuck, man. Cool it. It’s just a damn get-together to work out whatever poetry problems he was having, they could shoot the shit after that, and then he’d head out. Nothing to it.

Something flickered overhead, and he zeroed right in on it. One of the lightbulbs blinked, the action spaced out over a minute, and he stared at it all while waiting for literally anything else to happen.

John opened the door, and Sharky didn’t wait. Just let his mouth run on autopilot. “Hey, man. Don’t know if you think it’s working, but you should get these lights checked.”

The pleased look on John’s face went straight to confusion. “What?”

“That’s going. Unless you want to head on down to the showers in the dark, or break something heading out in the night to take a piss, you’ll want someone to jump on that shit soon as you can.”

It flickered again, and John leaned out to stare up at it, one of his eyebrows raised.

“Real pressing shit, you know?”

He did not agree, judging from the way he aimed that eyebrow at Sharky as well. “Would you like to come in? Or is this something you wanted to take care of now, since you’re insisting on it so heavily?“

“No, I’m-I’m coming, I’m just-“ Fuck. He cringed, internally and externally if he was being honest, and went inside before he could come up with another thing to blurt out at random.

The door shut behind him, and he stood there, his hands still crammed into his pockets as he took in the room’s appearance a second time. Last time he’d only been focused on one thing, getting the question out. This time really wasn’t any different, he told himself as he tried to shake off the feeling weighing him down. He was here because of a question, and maybe this time it wouldn’t end with him getting a door shut in his face.

“Are they right over here?” He walked up to John’s desk, taking in the number of books on it, along with the stack of papers nearby. “Dude, how many did you sort through? Looks like half of the shelf’s out here.”

Picking one up to thumb through, he blew out a breath at the number of pages paired with the size of the text.

“It pays to be thorough. But it’s rather time-intensive, and seeing as you picked that particular one up, I’m sure you can see why,” John said, walking up behind him.

“Yeah, this just looks like it’ll put you to sleep.”

He set it down, and grabbed another nearby as John came to stand by his side. Looking over at him briefly, Sharky noticed he was back to being amused again, and the small smile he wore grew when he caught his stare. “That one should be better.”

“You sure about that?” Flipping through a few pages, he went to John’s first bookmark and skimmed it. It got a laugh out of him almost right off the bat. “All right, that kinda works. And that ain’t talking about anything other than-“

A hand came to rest on his lower back, and when it slid lower to tuck under the edge of his hoodie, his entire posture went rigid.

The minute it happened, John snatched it back like he’d burned him.

And while Sharky didn’t turn to look at him, he could see John starting to back off out of the corner of his eye, and ticked off the seconds as silence filled the room. Then gave up on waiting, because if he was going to shoot himself in the foot any further with this, he might as well go for broke.

“Look, I’m used to the idea of you wanting Hana by now,” Sharky admitted, setting the book down. “Long before you both started banging on the reg, I knew you were into her, and even called that shit up on the outside before. It’s a given by this point, and that’s not counting what we’ve all done together, 'cause fuck, those were some major banging sessions. And going off of that, yeah, it’s cool to reach over and give a courtesy jerk, or go down on anyone that’s in danger of feeling left out, but the idea that you want some of this outside of that?”

He gestured towards himself, and gave John a conflicted look.

“Not that you made me feel like anything we did during those nights was a pity fuck, but…that’s taking longer to sink in, amigo. No weirdness intended.”

John was as hard to read now as he always was, but he wasn’t pissed at him, or offended. If anything, he looked as close to sorry as he’d ever seen him. “None taken, or intended either.”

“Not that I’m not…uh, fuck. I’m into it. You’re-“ Sharky looked him over, gave him a good solid once-over, and found himself drawn back to his eyes like he always was. “You’re the kind of hot that has someone thinking about it long after they see you, you know? Right at the worst times, either when you’re about to sit down for dinner, take a leak, or when you’re about to get in some shut-eye.”

John didn’t move any closer, but the tension that had settled into him seemed to fade the longer Sharky kept talking.

“It’ll pop up, right as you’re cracking open a beer to relax. Just ‘fuck that guy’. Like, seriously, fuck that guy for looking like that and knowing it. I still remember thinking right when you all came here trying to get us to sign up, ‘Look at this asshole. This guy comes sweeping in, with chicks hanging off of him only to say that there’s no fucking allowed? Man, that blows.’”

A frown covered John’s face for a second only to give way to an amused sigh. “Clearly, what mattered at the time.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t important, but it stuck. At least for a little while.” Sharky shrugged, and gave John a light punch to the shoulder. “And it still doesn’t change the fact that they went for you, in most of the videos and the posters, hoping to get people to sign up knowing they’d be throwing ass at you left and right.”

“They didn’t.”

“Didn’t pick you, or didn’t throw a ton of ass at you? I knew at least three people that would’ve dropped and spread ‘em in a heartbeat. What with you walking around acting all like you’d be able to get it with only a look.” He wet his lips. “'Cause you could’ve. Or just asked. That’s a given too.”

Sharky watched John’s eyes zero in on him as he edged closer, how they scanned his face completely, before dropping to focus on his mouth. “That you would say yes?”

“Not back then, but now?” His voice nearly cracked, but his next few words were even. “Yeah. Hell, yeah.”

“Maybe that was my mistake then.”

“What?”

His eyes flicked back up to his own. “Failing to ask from the start.”

Sharky stepped forward and kissed him hard, both hands reaching for his shoulders only to pull him closer shortly after. Standing there, holding onto him tight, he didn’t want to let go.

John let him take the lead, opening his mouth to him seconds after contact. On the third or fourth kiss, he slipped a hand behind Sharky’s head to keep him there, while his other hand hooked his belt. That brought his hips right up against him. Helped him to feel the friction between them as the slow grind made him moan into John’s mouth, and didn’t object at all when John broke the kiss to move his lips along his jaw.

The beard always tickled more than Sharky thought it would, but he was getting used to it. Fuck, was he. “So…”

“So?” John nipped at his skin, and went for the space below his ear.

“You were hoping for it, weren’t you?”

He paused, giving Sharky a chance to trade a look with him. “I was keeping the option open.”

“But you wanted it.” Sharky’s grin grew as John gave him a small shrug. “Don’t lie now.”

“I never said I was.” John’s hands went for the hoodie, pulling it and the tank under it, up and over Sharky’s head. His hat was caught up in the mess as well, disappearing with it, and when John kissed him next, it was with a light push towards the back of the room. “But I did need to be clearer, didn’t I?”

Before long the edge of the bed hit the backs of Sharky’s legs, and he sat down, getting to work on John’s belt right after. It didn’t take long to undo it, and he glanced up at him as John worked to get his shirt open.

John raised an eyebrow, not exactly smiling at him, but the hint was there. “Hmm?”

“It’s…uh,” John stripped the shirt off, and Sharky idly realized he still hadn’t done much to remove his own jeans or shoes. He kicked his sneakers and socks off soon after, and hoped that no one would trip over them later. “Just thinking.”

“About?”

“Random shit. Nerves, I don’t know. It’s all kinda kicking in and taking turns.”

He undid the button to John’s pants, but right when he was about to drag them down his hips, John crouched down to kiss him. Amused by how insistent John was being, Sharky grinned as he kissed him back, and felt John’s hands work at his own jeans.

“Dude,” he managed between kisses, “you wanna make this difficult, don’t you?”

“Exactly the opposite. I was aiming for easier,” he said, helping Sharky to get them out of the way.

The heated look he wore after doing so made Sharky pull him onto the bed with him.

He lost track of John’s hands after that, focusing on how well he could work his pants down all while seeing if he could actually get a hickey on him for once. It wasn’t easy, between taking him in hand and sucking hard at any of the spots he was covering John’s neck with, but he did it. He kept his hand moving, his mouth right at his throat, and had every intention of going up until either John finished, or he told him to stop.

John’s breathing went ragged, but he drew it back in line somehow as he held himself up and over Sharky. “Flip over.”

The request wasn’t forceful, but there was no mistaking how John intended it. Sharky turned around in his arms, propping himself up on his forearms, and after a few seconds and some rustling, felt John press an open-mouthed kiss to the back of his neck.

“Now, what could we possibly do like this?” John asked, wrapping his arms around him.

His hands ran down Sharky’s chest as he continued to kiss him, lightly brushing his thumbs over his nipples before giving them a tweak. Sharky jumped slightly at the sensation, but wouldn’t have minded if he did it again. “Got a few ideas.”

“Do you? Any that you would like to share?”

“It’s…it’d definitely start like this. What with, you know. You there, behind me.” Not that he’d had a good chance to fantasize about this much before, but he was well on his way to it now, feeling what he was sure was John’s cock against his ass. “You, hard like that’s nice too. 'Cause it’d really blow if after all of this you didn’t have some kind of a boner going.”

He heard John do something suspiciously close to a snort, and wished he could’ve seen his face. “I see. Are you comfortable with that? Any form of penetration?”

One hand traced down Sharky’s back, the warmth of it making a shiver run through him. Then traveled even further down from the base of his spine, running right along his ass. That got a rough exhale. “…Uh, that’s a 10-4 on that.”

“Charlemagne. A simple yes or no would suffice.”

“What, you don’t know half of the shit your truckers would’ve said on the road?” When John didn’t answer, Sharky took a look over his shoulder only to catch the annoyance crossing his face. “Seriously, yes, I’m cool with this. That. Shit, anything.”

John got up, but not before Sharky got a quick kiss off of him. That made him freeze in place, but his frown faded as he slid off of the bed, and walked over to his desk.

“But yeah, about that.” Sharky flipped over to look at him, leaning up on his forearms. “So, Hana and I have done some anal. It’s not a big deal, and she’s liked it well enough, but…after a few times she asked if I’d be into it too. If it’d be cool if she’d slip me a finger or two while blowing me. Just for science.”

“And?”

He watched John bend down to reach into one of the drawers, and slowly let out a breath. “It’s pretty fucking good. Not gonna lie.”

“But no more than that?”

“Uh, no. Not yet,” he said. “But that’s looking to change, so…?”

John chuckled, and shook his head at him as he walked back over. “Well, we can try a few things tonight. See if they agree with you, and maybe we can plan for that in the future accordingly.”

All he had with him for now was a small container of lubricant, but watching him slip a generous amount between his hands as he rubbed them together made Sharky’s mouth go dry. This was actually on the verge of happening, and that made disbelief want to kick him squarely in the shins, yet again.

“…And aren’t you supposed to be on your hands and knees?”

That nearly made him swallow his tongue. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” The sharp look John gave him made him sit up. “Maybe can mean all sorts of things. Such as, maybe I did invite you here for more than just your opinion. Maybe I did intend to see how many ways I could fuck you tonight all before cracking open a single book. And maybe, just maybe,” he said, drawing the words out slowly as he reached the bed’s edge, “I could see how quickly I could get you to come for me, knowing full well that I plan on testing that the next time the three of us meet.”

“That’s-uh, that’s a lot of maybes,” Sharky replied, looking up at John from his spot on the bed. And not a single one of them did a damn thing to kill the hard on he’d had from the minute John laid his hands on him.

“Oh, I’m not done. There are plenty more I could choose to share, but if you wanted to turn any of those maybes into a yes…?”

He moved; a hell of a lot quicker than he thought he could. That he was that eager to do so made his face burn, but hearing John’s hum of approval only made him harder.

“That’s at least one maybe well-removed. Let’s see about removing the others now, one by one.”

Starting from the middle of his back, he felt John press a kiss there before traveling up, leaving more as he went. His left arm curled around Sharky’s midsection as he did so, bringing his fingers up along the underside of his cock.

It was when his palm came to cup him, sliding back and forth with ease as he started to cover him with the lubricant, that Sharky tried to focus on breathing through his nose. Swallowing hard as John’s fingers closed around him, he twisted them in a gentle spin as he slid from the base of his cock up to tease at the tip.

“Is this all right?”

He was warm at Sharky’s back as he leaned into him, wanting more of it. A bunch of responses ran through his head, all of them in the affirmative, but he didn’t let any slip until he felt John’s other hand return to where he had felt him before. His slick fingers pressing against his ass, making sure that he was well coated there too.

“Yeah.” He nodded, then quickly repeated himself. “Yeah, that’s good.”

“And this?” he asked, his mouth teasing at Sharky’s neck.

The hand wrapped around his cock kept on moving at a slow pace, the lube making every slide heaven. “That’s-that’s just not fucking fair.”

“Why would you say that?”

“'Cause, I-“ Pressing down gently, John started guiding one finger into him, and Sharky felt his brain stutter to a halt. “…Oh, jumping Jesus, holy fucking shit-!”

“Mmm. Casual blasphemies? Given how a certain deputy tends to respond to my efforts in a similar fashion, I think we’re on the right track,” John deadpanned.

“Fuck you, man. It’s-it’s just hard to think. Hard to keep everything straight when you’re…you’re doing that,” he breathed. “When I can’t even see you, or touch you much. That’s not cool.”

He tried groping behind him for John, only managing to find and dig his fingers into his thigh. That got Sharky a kiss to the side of his neck that was guaranteed to leave a mark, all while John continued to slide the finger inside of him in and out. It was a slow, gradual build with each press, deeper and deeper, and he felt himself starting to lean more into it.

“Good. Just like that.” He could hear John close by his ear, making pleased sounds himself. “Ease into it. Feel me as I’m feeling you.”

The encouragement almost did it for him just as much as the change in angle, feeling it more when he arched back into him. When another finger slipped in, filling him further, it wasn’t a sound that escaped him, not exactly. But John heard it, increasing the pace gradually as his breaths became shorter with every thrust.

And it felt good. Good enough to know that if John were to pull his fingers out now only to slide in himself, Sharky would have a mess on his hands in seconds. His dick couldn’t get any harder, the sensation bordering on painful, and when he felt another finger start to tease at him, he knew he wasn’t going to last much longer.

“That’s about where you need it, right?” Sharky pushed back against John, urging him deeper, and heard him inhale sharply. “Where you’d need me?”

“…Close, but yes.”

“Well, what are you - you trying to draw it out or something? I-I want to feel you.”

The groan that slipped out of him after hearing that was music to Sharky’s ears. “Later. We have all the time in the world. Focus on this for now, and if you close your eyes, you’ll find it’s still me.” The fingers slid deep, all of them in time with his other hand, and John’s voice was just as rough as his was. “I’m still inside of you. Moving with you. Feeling everything, and waiting to see just what it’ll take to make you come for me. Because isn’t that what you want?”

“What I-what I want?”

The words came in a rush, hot by his ear. “Don’t you want to come for me?”

“Oh, fuck,” he rasped, feeling John’s hand start to jerk him harder. “Fuck, fucking-“ With every stroke of John’s, he kept his hips moving, wanting to take John deeper even if it wasn’t possible.

“Don’t you?”

He didn’t know how, but he responded, his voice shaky and uneven. “Yeah, just-yes.”

“Then go ahead. Don’t make me wait.”

Coming then, was easy. All too easy after that. His body tensed, hot, wet heat spilling out onto the sheets, all drawn and encouraged by the hand grasping him. Arching back into John, he nearly collapsed, but let him take some of his weight as he came back to himself.

Hanging his head as he gulped down air, he felt John’s lips at his neck again, the touch almost soft. “Are you all right?”

That he didn’t shift away immediately was a relief, and Sharky nodded. Responding was harder, but he managed that after a few seconds. “Yeah.” He inhaled, and exhaled, feeling the breath waver. “Still here.”

“Good.”

John withdrew slowly, making sure he could adjust to it without pain. Once Sharky gave him an actual signal, the sloppiest a-ok he’d ever managed, John got up, leaving him to his spot on the bed.

Sharky rested there in the meantime, with his eyes closed as he felt his body relax, and let himself fall onto his side, knowing he was still a mess, but just too high from the feeling to care about it.

“I’ll have you know, we’re not done yet.”

He could hear John at a point further away in the room, either cleaning his hands, or lubing up for an encore. Odds were better for the first, but the thought of the second made the ache running through him twice as good. “I know. Just give me ten like last time. Or fuck, maybe fifteen or twenty.”

“And then again?”

“You want me to open a book for you? To do any serious reading or thinking?” Sharky rolled over and held up two fingers. “Throw in two more rounds of that, and I’m sold.”

Two was pushing it, since after the first time he wasn’t thinking his clearest, and after getting John under him the second time – finally, touching him in the way he’d wanted to earlier – his brain was toast. Blissed out, and content to be lazy as hell as he laid there, almost on the verge of drifting off.

At least for a little while. There had been a purpose behind getting him there after all, and after cleaning up and changing out the sheets, John handed him the first book.

The theme he’d settled on was ‘Wildfire’, said in that airy way John took to whenever he was presenting something he thought was important. It had Sharky struggling to stifle a laugh as he was handed book after book, and flipped through them to the pages John had placed bookmarks.

He had told him three or four poems earlier. It was actually down to eight or nine, and the two were soon surrounded by open books on John’s bed.

Sharky ran a hand through his hair, feeling plenty relaxed at this point, but not sure if he was actually of help here. The poems all sounded good. All of them hit the topic straight-on.

But John wasn’t happy with any of them. At least not enough to narrow them down further.

“Oh, man. Go for this.”

He handed the book to John, and watched as he read through the words, examining them closely. It was an intense amount of focus for what amounted to thirty words total, and Sharky watched a frown work its way onto his face.

“No good?”

“It’s missing something. That…” John started moving one of his hands, rotating it in a circular motion as he searched for the right word to fit what he was thinking of. “Impact. The sense of heightened emotion, the diction-“

“Heh, diction.” John glared at him, and Sharky cleared his throat. “Uh, right. All of that diction. Just hanging out there, you know?”

John pinched the bridge of his nose, and let his eyes fall shut. “To be to the point, the intent behind it doesn’t matter if in the end everything hinges on one single word.”

“One?”

He raised his head. “One. And if it’s the wrong one, it all falls apart.”

“You know we’re talking about Hana, right?” Sharky asked, giving him a wry look. “You could read through one of the bunker’s technical manuals, running down through all of the specs, and get the same reaction. Swooning, moaning, telling you to, I don’t know, go through the full hands-on demo for any of the pictures included. Provided the pictures come with positions, but I don’t think that’s gonna work here.”

“Because going through a list of pressure readings is the best form of foreplay.”

“With her, yeah. 'Cause she’s kinda got a thing for that. Or maybe just for you after all of that radio shit you kept up with.”

John’s lips pressed together in a thin line.

That made Sharky backpedal a bit. “Not that you were always going out of your way to tell her anything that sort of implied, or made her think you wanted to fuck her, but you kinda were. Talking all about screaming for you, how good it’ll feel to say ‘Yes’, and just hogging that frequency whenever she’d light any of your shit up. And I don’t think you know this, but when you threaten someone, sometimes you get into that low, breathy, ‘I’m not trying to, but you’re gonna be soaked by the end of this’ tone of voice, which works for more people than you’d think-“

“Charlemagne.”

That was a definite warning, and Sharky threw both of his hands up.

“Fuck, man, she likes you. Loves you, if she hasn’t said anything about it yet. And you’re sitting here worried that one word’ll ruin it all? That any of this’ll make her think this is a bad idea?” He pushed the books away. “That ain’t her for one, and two, you know that ain’t true either.”

Judging from the sharp stare John was aiming at him, he hadn’t let any of what he’d said before this go, but angled it away when Sharky refused to break eye contact. “It’s not that,” John replied with a huff.

“Then what? You’ve got performance anxiety all of a sudden?” He squinted at him, tilting his head as he did so. “…Can you even get that? Guess you can if we’re talking about it and you’re trying to sidestep it like I’d sidestep shit on a sidewalk, but seriously, here.” He picked up one of the books he’d shoved back and flipped it open to a random page. “Read it.”

John was still irritated as he took the book and scanned the poem, but when he started reading, it slowly faded. His voice was warm as he spoke, making his way through each line, holding the dramatic pauses just long enough to feel right, and brought out everything he was complaining about having lost not even five minutes ago.

It was tough not to keep his eyes on him as he spoke, and though he’d ripped on Hana a bit for mooning over this, after listening for a few he had to give it to her. It wasn’t half-bad. He’d still rather go for a night of disco, a round or five at the Spread Eagle, and time spent speeding down the trails in an ATV with a pack of cherry bombs, but not bad.

“Well?” John said, once done.

Sharky gestured down towards his lap. “I’ve got a quarter chub here so that might need some work, but everything else? …Nice. That’s mighty nice.”

He rolled his eyes, and sighed. “Thank you for sharing that.”

“Course. Thought it was only fair for you to get an honest, unbiased opinion of how you’re doing.”

John pulled over another book over, eyeing Sharky as he did, and opened it. The poem he settled on this time was slightly different, but kept fire as its focus. Midway through, he watched as John reached over to him, and tugged the sheet out of the way.

Then his hand was on his cock, slowly stroking him as he kept on going, not pausing or hesitating once as his eyes remained set on the book. That lit a fire in him for sure, and Sharky struggled to keep his hands to himself as John continued.

Thirty words hadn’t been much before. Now, it was borderline cruel and unusual. John kept everything level. Everything even, as if this wasn’t happening right next to him.

“Better?” he asked, once he’d snapped the book shut.

His hand was still moving, though the strokes became surer now. Faster as John turned to look at him directly. Swallowing hard, Sharky shifted his hips to rock into the motion. “Think we’re at three-quarters now, give or take. But that last one? Go for that.”

“Are you certain? I’d hate for you to say that knowing full well your bias towards activities like this. …And also, the subject matter.”

“Nah, it’s-it’s good.”

“Perfect?” John asked, leaning towards him. “You know I won’t accept anything less.”

Sharky looked at him, really looked at him, taking in the blue of John’s eyes and the way his lips had parted, and knew that after cleaning everything up they were about to have another mess on their hands.

He couldn’t help but smile. “Perfect.”

The door creaked as Sharky opened it, just enough to slip through without making any extra noise, but almost slammed shut when he let go of it.

His coordination had gone to shit sometime in the last ten minutes. Pushed along by a mix of exhaustion and the pleasant ache still running through him, he was beat. The best kind of beat to be, but beat regardless.

Resting his head against the metal surface for a moment, he leaned back when he had his bearings again, blinking against the dark as he started pulling his clothes off, and didn’t think his and Hana’s joint beds had ever looked as good as they had in that moment.

Not the least of which because of the person sprawled out on them. Stretched out, her limbs either curled up in the blanket or sticking out at odd angles, Hana was out like a light. And somehow just as fucking pretty dead asleep as she was awake and smiling up at him.

He took three steps towards the emptier side of the bed and faceplanted right onto it. It shook with the impact, and he let himself sink down into the mattress.

“…Hey, stranger.”

“Hey, Dep.” Sharky’s words went straight into his pillow, and he heard her laugh. It was softer, rough with sleep, and he hummed in contentment when he felt her fingers brush through his hair. There were a few things guaranteed to make him putty in her hands, and this was one of them. “Missed you.”

“Hmm?”

He turned his head towards her, and took in the bedhead she was currently rocking. “Missed you tonight.”

“Did you? I missed you too.” He tried to kiss her hand, ending up grazing her wrist instead, and Hana shifted it to stroke his cheek. “Funny how this setup’s almost too small with all of us on it, but huge when it’s just a party of one.”

“I hear you.” He kissed her again, and held his hand over hers. “It just ain’t the same.”

She shifted forward to curl up next to him and he wrapped her up in his arms. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he buried his face in her hair after, focusing on her slow, steady breaths.

He was right on the edge of sleep when he heard her speak up again. It was muffled this time, and he struggled to hear her clearly. “What’s that, shorty?”

“How’s John doing? Still his stubborn, charming self?”

“Yeah, ‘bout the same as he usually is,” he murmured.

“I bet. Didn’t give you too hard of a time?”

That made him go through a few responses. Some funny, some raunchy, some a hell of a lot more sentimental than he was expecting, but he settled for one that was straightforward. “Nah, he was all right. …More than all right. Don’t know if he really needed the help he thought he did, but…”

“He made it worth it?”

“Yeah,” he said, grinning in spite of himself. “I think he did.”

She moved in his arms, and he felt her press her lips to his cheek. “You know you can’t tease me about this anymore, right? That right’s hereby been revoked.”

He cracked open an eye to look at her. “Come on, I can get one in.”

“Can you? Really?”

“Though I know you like it better with two or three, so maybe if you let me wiggle it just right-”

He scored a pillow to the face for that one.

Yeah, totally worth it.

[mollymauk-teafleak]

67 for John and Martha? xxxx

Familiaritywasn’t always a good thing.

Martharealised that as she was confronted with a sight she’d seen before and hermuscles performed actions they’d done many times, as a heavy kind offamiliarity settled over her that held nothing even close to comfort, anentirely different species to the familiar smells of her favourite pie bakingin the oven, the familiar pad of her cat’s paws on the hardwood floor as hecame running up to greet her, the familiar opening notes of her favourite songthat she would always play on rainy days while she stared out of the windowbecause it made her feel alive.

Ifanything, it made the whole thing worse. Because why should she still have tobe doing this? Why should this be such a conversant scenario for her, one ofthe motifs of her life? How was that possibly fair?

Marthawrinkled her nose and felt a bone deep shudder as she realised this, somewherebetween reaching under the driver’s seat of her truck to fish for the first aidkit she kept there, finding it, popping it open with the edge of her thumb tocritically survey the vast assortment of antiseptic sprays and band aids ofevery shape and size, gauze and cotton pads and iodine, cool gel packs, evenstring and slim, wicked sharp scissors for real emergencies, and coming backaround to where John sat in stormy, blue black tension on her tailgate. Hisexpression didn’t help her bitter misery any.

“Yourface looks like a dropped cake,” she murmured in a paper thin, stilted attemptat humour, at their usual teasing comfort that would usually come back after hewas cleaned and stitched back up and they’d both made a silent, sharedagreement to pretend this never happened. Clearly, in the way his shoulderhunched and Martha felt a stab of guilt, the process could not be expedited,there were no shortcuts.

“Youshould see the other guy,” John shrugged limply as Martha came and sat beside him,making the rust spattered but still a pretty decent forest green bed of thetruck dip under their shared weight.

Marthabit her lip as the more rational, less emotion driven part of her brain beganmaking decisions and checklists for what bandages were needed for thisparticular ER session, leaving the rest of her mind to fret and worry, “Doesthis other guy have a name?”

“Martha,don’t,” was John’s short, sour answer, turning his face away to watch thesunset off to their right, illuminating the weather beaten, sun bleached dirtroad they’d parked on and making it look almost beautiful.

Herspine stiffened and her clam, green eyes hardened, “Don’t don’t me, John Laurens.”

Shecould overlook every time her best friend was late to meet her underneath thesteps at the front of their school after her choir practise and his tracktraining, every time she had to drive around town looking for him, scour everyempty classroom in the hauntingly barren school, check every place she knew hewent to sulk before finding him dripping blood and nursing twisted arms,bruised eyes and split lips, pulling him into her truck and resigning herselfto patching him up and having that be all she could do to help him. Marthacould bear that, even if the helplessness stung, but she would absolutely nottolerate him hiding things from her, treating her with the same cold cageyattitude he gave the rest of the world, out of fear and wariness. If he couldlet her press ice packs to his swelling, purple eyes and dab stinging iodine inthe gashes through the tears in his jeans, he could damn well give her somedetails.

Herbest friend’s frame slumped in guilt and sorrow and suddenly he was John again,not Laurens, not the icy young man who’d gotten into this fight, the man whodid her braids for her and baked with her on weekends and always let her beplayer one when they played video games, still honouring a fateful game of rockpaper scissors from when they were six.

“I’msorry,” he rasped, the bruises on his neck that looked sickeningly like fingermarks making it hard for him to talk, “I didn’t mean that, Martha.”

“Iknow,” she sighed softly, taking one hand and gingerly checking for any fingerjoints that needed popping back into place, “I just care, y’know? I won’t makeyou report them or anything, I’m not that stupid. But I care.”

John’sfull lips, the bottom one split and leaking blood onto the breast of his shirtthat was unfortunately white (but never would be again), moved into a thinline, his eyes shifting somewhere far away, softening until it looked like hewas in danger of crying.

“Iknow you do, Martha. You’re the only one that does. Believe me, I’m not gonnarisk that.”

Marthafelt her heart break in her chest and there wasn’t a band aid in the world thatcould fix that. She just gave a wobbly sigh and slipped her arm around hiswaist, resting her head lightly on his shoulder. Suddenly she wasn’t holdingJohn’s hand, he was holding hers and it was a little sad but genuine at thesame time.

Theyhad their moment, a moment where neither of them could bear to speak, and when itpassed they just continued on, shouldering the melancholic truth they’d carriedtogether for a while; that all either of them had in the whole world was eachother. Martha went back to winding a bandage around his sprained wrist, loopinga sling around his neck to hold it in place. She chastised him gently to holdstill while she dabbed sickly yellow iodine on the abrasions scattered acrosshis body in a sad kind of map, piecing together what had happed to him in herhead as she catalogued his hurts. Bruises on his shoulder blades from wheresomeone had pinned him to the ground. The marks around his neck where he’d beendangled in the air by the throat. Red angry marks edging from under the thicketof his sun brown hair where someone had yanked fiercely at his curls. Splitknuckles and drying black blood mixed with dirt where he’d slammed his fistinto someone’s teeth. A particularly livid storm cloud of a bruise across hisforehead where he’d head butted someone. Martha put the pieces together as sherepaired the damage, a good while before John actually opened his mouth andtold her.

“So,I guess Daniel doesn’t want to go out with me,” he mumbled in a sour voice thathid a lot of hurt underneath it.

Marthacouldn’t stop her jaw from dropping, surprise from flooding her gentle face,“He…Daniel?”

Johnnodded bitterly, “Him and his knuckle walkers. All that strength training payedoff, as you can see.” He made a limp gesture to his battered body.

Marthahissed sympathetically as she hurriedly went back to cleaning his torn up kneesof grit, knowing John wouldn’t want to see the sorrowful pity that bloomed inher chest and send it’s vines down her arms and into her gentle fingers as shetook care of him. But it was hard to curtail, after she’d heard John’sbreathless excitement as he’d spent their post-party, two in the morning tripto McDonald’s just two weeks ago bouncing in his seat and recounting how the best-looking,‘so hot you could get down on your knees and thank Jesus’ guy on his lacrosseteam had kissed him drunkenly and sent his hands wandering in the shadowycorner of the house thrumming and swelling with booze and music and teenagedebauchery. Martha had helped John weave plans to ask Daniel out, all whileprivately thinking that maybe the half slab of whiskey the guy had drunk mighthave had more to do with the fact that he kissed John, rather than any genuinebravery, and the swimming, reckless courage that alcohol, tight jeans, hormonesand loud music gifted wouldn’t hold up come Monday morning.

Butshe’d let herself hope, for John’s sake, desperately wanting to believe in thatlook in his eyes, the look of a young man lost and alone and scared finallyfinding someone like him, realising that he wasn’t a freak like the worldaround him wanted him to think. She’d kept her fears to herself and nodded andsmiled and hugged him proudly.

So,in a way, the hideous state he was in now was partly her fault. Hers and John’sand their shared naivety that maybe things weren’t as bad as they seemed. Martha’slips twisted acridly and she threw herself into doing what little she could. Asif that would take it all back.

“Comeon,” she sighed, straightening up and brushing down her flannel shirt once sherealised that they’d lost the light and night had snuck up on them, “You cancome to my place…”

Johndidn’t argue, he rarely did. Home would hold no comfort for him whereas Martha’swould have leftover peach pie, video games, cuddles from her cat, low budgethorror movies until three in the morning when they’d fall asleep in a pile onher comforter. And maybe for a moment, when he woke up, when the dawn light wasfiltering in through Martha’s curtains in the precious few minutes before hehad to get up, hug her goodbye, collect his sneakers and try and break backinto his own home without anyone hopefully noticing, maybe then he’d have that briefmoment where he would wake up with Martha’s head on his shoulder, her handentwined in his and he’d get to pretend that he was a normal guy with normalwants and nothing that needed hiding.

Itmade him feel sick with guilt, those moments, guilt for himself, guilt forMartha. He was betraying both of them so easily. But John had never shied awayfrom shoving morality aside for a fleeting moment of feeling happy. Not beinghappy, of course, just feeling something like it.

Henodded and slid off the tailgate, “Yeah. Let’s go.”

[elysiumscenarios]

Hellbender [Jackson]

You knew it was a questionable choice to bring Jackson to the aquarium with you when he was sleep-deprived and hopped up on caffeine, but somehow the two of you ended up there anyways.

The two of you had been trying to actual date-like things since the beginning of your relationship, but Jackson’s schedule and the pressure of being seen by fans had really limited the possibilities. After this concert rehearsal, however, he had somehow talked you into finally going out somewhere with him; there was an aquarium in a more out-of-the-way town near Seoul that you’d found online, and that felt like an option that both of you would like.

The day of the dress rehearsal, you waited patiently outside of GOT7’s dressing room. You’d already gotten dressed for the date, choosing to wear that blue shirt you knew Jackson liked. The staff and stylists knew you well enough already that they didn’t even raise an eyebrow at your appearance, skirting around you as you leaned against the wall, kicking your boot against the tiled floor. Finally the door burst open and an endless stream of chatter and laughter echoed through the hallway as the GOT7 members exited the room. They grinned at you as they passed by, Mark giving you a knowing wink and JB patting you gently on the back.

Jackson was the last one to exit, waving goodbye to his members and looping his arm through yours. “Shall we, love?” He pressed a gentle kiss on your cheek and you flushed briefly, muttering something about being in public but secretly enjoying the attention. You’d brought your own car to pick him up today so the two of you could have the entire evening to yourselves. You opened the door for Jackson, who raised an eyebrow but got in anyways, all but collapsing into the seat with a loud sigh. You got into the driver’s seat.

“Buckle up, mister. I know you’re tired, but the law doesn’t care,” you grinned, poking Jackson in the side. He groaned and swatted your hand gently but slid the seatbelt around himself anyways. The two of you set off to the aquarium, stopping once along the way after Jackson insisted he was going to die without getting some caffeine in his system. You usually shied away from letting him have too much coffee, because it made him even more hyper than he usually was, but you decided that because he’d had a long, hard, rehearsal, a little bit couldn’t hurt, right?

You quickly regretted your decision as Jackson returned to his normal hyper self...times ten. The caffeine seemed to have reawakened his excitement about going to the aquarium, and he was practically hopping out of the seat every five seconds.

“Seals! Whales! Sharks! Those really-” Jackson waved his hands around wildly, nearly hitting you in the head, “-shiny colorful fish that I don’t know the names of! Do they have dolphins too? Beluga whales?”

You sighed heavily, stifling the urge to bang your head against the steering wheel. “I don’t know, so I guess we’ll see.” You couldn’t really hate this poor excited puppy sitting next to you, but his excitement definitely could wear on your nerves sometimes. Nonetheless, you couldn’t help but feel your feels of elation bubble up inside your chest. You’d always wanted to go to an aquarium on a date with someone, and now was your chance to cross that off of your bucket list.

You got there before long, and it was all you could do to get Jackson to stay still as the two two of you bought tickets and entered. The entrance hall was gigantic and full of replicas of the animals that you could see inside. Jackson insisted on taking selfies with everything in reach, including a giant sea turtle and a manta ray. Snickering at his antics, you pulled him by the hand into the first room on the map: the jellyfish room. The dimly lit space was almost magical as the two of you stared at the little floating jellyfish. You squeezed Jackson’s hand gently, but he didn’t seem to notice as he bounced off into the next direction. The next couple of hours were a whirlwind of activity, from Jackson making bad dolphin noises to trying to commune with the whales. You had to stop him from pressing his entire face against the glass to get a better look at the sea otters, though the sweet smile he gave you truly melted any irritation you felt.

The caffeine high was still going strong an hour into the aquarium visit, and your legs were getting sore. “Jackson, I’m going to sit down here for a couple of minutes,” you called out to him as you lowered yourself onto the nearest bench. The two of you were in the amphibian and freshwater fish section now, and the ambient noise of fake cricket calls and water rushing was soothing. Jackson nodded in agreement and went to look at the nearby exhibits, still buzzing with energy. You closed your eyes and leaned your head back, content to enjoy at least a few seconds of rest, but it was interrupted by a loud shout and tugging at your sleeve.

“Looklooklooklooklooklook!” Jackson chanted, practically hopping up and down as he dragged you from your comfortable resting place. Rolling your eyes, you followed him nonetheless, making sure to complain about your sore legs. He grinned and muttered a quick apology, but dragged you towards one of the exhibits nonetheless.

You stopped in front of a tank of murky water. “What am I looking at here?” Jackson bit his lip and pointed wordlessly at the sign on the tank, barely concealing his laughter. You squinted at the words in the dim lighting “Hellbender, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis. What’s so special about this…?”

Jackson suddenly struck up a pose, making exaggerated noises and raising his hands from the ground. People around you look perturbed and moved away or otherwise laughed at the bizarre situation. You reached out and poked his cheek. “What are you doing, you idiot?”

Jackson looked mock offended. “I’m a hellbender, duh! It’s like a firebender, but cooler. Do you think these salamanders can breathe fire or walk on lava? Are they actually dragons?? There are so many possibilities…”

“No, no, and no. C’mon, you dummy. People are staring.” You linked your hands with his and pulled him away from the onlookers into a more secluded corner.

Jackson grinned and hugged you against him tightly. “You love me, though.”

You rolled your eyes and tried to protest, but he gave you a knowing grin and you sighed in defeat.

“Yeah, I guess I do. Idiot.”

[wallythayer]

Seize the Day

Growing up, Jon Levy was a bit of a wallflower. Struggling to fit in, he threw himself into learning about computers. He grew so proficient that his mom enrolled him in a winter camp as a way to get him to socialize more. It was here that he first observed the transformative power of new experiences.

Embracing random adventure has since become a way of life for Levy. The behavioral scientist and author of The 2 AM Principle: Discover the Science of Adventure has run with the bulls in Pamplona, defeated Kiefer Sutherland in a game of drunken Jenga, and explored Israel with a complete stranger.

He never shies away from a party either, thanks to The Influencers, a community he developed that comprises more than 800 thought leaders (including Olympians, celebrities, scientists, and Nobel laureates). A hallmark of this group is The Influencers Dinner, where Levy and a dozen new members of the community gather to cook and share a meal while discussing cutting-edge ideas and developing deep friendships.

One thing he’s learned from his conversations with fellow risk-takers and his own globetrotting is that adventures don’t happen by accident. These are his top tips for embracing life and creating deeper experiences.

Q&A

Experience Life | How do you define adventure?

Jon Levy | The dictionary defines it as “a remarkable journey,” but just because something is worth talking about doesn’t mean it’s adventurous.

I agree that an adventure is remarkable, but it also needs to possess adversity or risk, preferably perceived risk. You can live an incredibly exciting life that’s very safe. Now, there might be the risk of failure, but that’s very different from imminent peril.

Finally, an adventure must bring about growth. The person you are at the end is distinct from the person who started. If you look at any great hero’s journey, you’ll see he or she was changed by his or her experience.

EL | You talk about growth a lot. Why is it so valuable to come away from an adventure a changed person? 

JL | Research shows that, in general, people are happiest when they’re doing something just outside their comfort zone. One reason is that the major novelty center of your brain activates and triggers a response that causes and entices you to either explore or learn. It’s actually rewarding you!

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszent-mihalyi, PhD, examined people at peak human performance and discovered there’s a flow state we reach when we feel completely intertwined in our activity. This state of pleasure and bliss over having no self-consciousness occurs under three conditions: The activity requires skill, it’s something we’re striving toward but believe is achievable, and it’s not so hard that we’re constantly failing. If it’s too hard, we become too self-conscious because we’re failing all the time, and if it’s too easy we’re not engaged. (For more on flow, see “Go With the Flow“.)

Growth is an opportunity to get into the state of peak human performance and a way for us to redefine who we are in the process. Long past the time the adventure is over, we self-identify that we have greater capacity in life.

EL | Your goal is to make adventure accessible. Why do you think we often believe adventuring is only for a select few?

JL | I think the stories we’ve been told in books and movies are intended to inspire us to strive further than we think we can, but they often limit our vision.

Heroes — like Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, and Frodo Baggins —accomplish feats that often seem unattainable because their achievements fall outside the scope of normal human experience. As a byproduct, I think it shrinks what people consider extraordinary or what they feel comfortable attempting. When your hero is an immortal video-game character, how are you going to live up to that?

One of the reasons I highlighted the times when I screwed up an adventure is because I think we need realistic heroes. I’m no hero; I’m a ridiculous human being! I want to show people that they can have wonderfully adventurous lives without trying to hike through the Amazon by themselves.

EL | What steps can we take to create what you call “EPIC” (establish, push, increase, continue) outings?  

JL | To me, adventure follows four stages. First, you establish or put the right elements in place, such as the people you surround yourself with. You could be in a backyard, and if you’re with the right group of people, you will create something extraordinary.

Second, you push boundaries — social, physical, or emotional. I’m not saying do something illegal; I’m saying do something outside of your comfort zone.

The third stage is to increase, which simply means maximizing your enjoyment. Don’t leave until you have had all the fun you can. Do things that you’ve never done. If you’re with a group, get everyone involved by setting challenges like singing or telling stories.

The final stage is deciding whether to continue or not. Are you ready to keep going or is it time to call it a night? If you want to continue, decide where to go next, how to get there, and then loop back through the first three stages. If you decide to go home, make sure you end in style, because we tend to disproportionately remember the endings of events.

EL | What have you learned from your adventuring and by studying the experiences of others?

JL | First, I’m continuously surprised by people’s generosity. I’ve been in some really precarious situations and in unfamiliar locations and have found that people are typically more friendly, supportive, kind, and considerate than we think or expect.

Second, the world is a much safer place than most media outlets report. We’re instilled with this fear that the world is dangerous rather than wonderful.

Is nature dangerous? Yes. I mean, things happen. But the chances of getting hurt hiking or even skydiving are near zero.

Finally, I’ve learned that the size and meaning of your life is in direct proportion to how uncomfortable you’re willing to be. Life is more interesting and engaging when we say yes to things — even if they make us feel unsettled.

EL | What adventures remain on your to-do list? 

JL | Since I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff, I’m pretty injured. I hurt my back doing the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, and can’t do much physically. So I want to spend a year learning something from a master every month.

I’d like to learn the Wim Hof Method, for example. Wim Hof developed a methodology for cold-proofing your body through breathing techniques and, as a byproduct, has climbed some pretty severe peaks in just shorts and sandals. I want to learn to beatbox from the Godfather of Noise, Rahzel, who can do the beat and sing simultaneously.

Adventure isn’t always about going somewhere; it’s also about developing new skills.

Get the full story at https://experiencelife.com/article/seize-the-day/