#her first post ever and she drops her sun wheel lol

[naelysvelaryon]

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there was a quiet buzzing that seemed to ring in her ears within this crowded great hall, candles hanging low during this lithia festival; it were time for life to begin again, for her to leave loss and grief buried within the steps she had taken off her father's greatest pride - his galleon. but the music, though not very loud at all, seemed entirely thundering as she held onto a small sunwheel within her hand, already crumpled and half torn to avoid the bad habit of tearing at her own fingernails.

her breath seemed to remain in her chest, and it only exhaled when they were directed to begin making the walk down to the rushing rivers; deep indigo clasped around her shoulders in the form of a cloak as she walked, hand still clutching onto the crumpled sunwheel - the sound of rushing footsteps did not do anything to break the quiet peace she found in walking amongst the night air and listening to the rushing currents. she would not have noticed it, unless she heard a voice specifically call her name.

when she turned, her amethyst orbs seemed to momentarily light up, and she waved as the lady of ninestars approached her - she would have reached out to pull her into an embrace, but all who knew naelys velaryon well she were not one for physical touch and comfort. and so instead she reached forward to close their distance, opening her mouth to say something when she suddenly dropped her sun wheel - it was carried away in the blink of an eye in the dark of the night, and went directly into the rushing currents.

"...you know, i don't think i'll be getting that, ginny." naelys spoke, her tone slightly apologetic as she looked down at the sun wheel ginny was holding - still in perfect condition. no tears, no rips in it. pristine. "come, i'll watch you release your one."

who: @naelysvelaryon where: during the release of the sun wheels in the riverlands

Her hands delicately held the finely crafted sun wheel, flowers interwoven beautifully with an assortment of twigs. The little slip of parchment Ginevra had written on, was nestled securely and safely in-between. It had taken her longer than she would like to admit; to find something to either let go of or to wish for. Her insides had been chaos as of late. Too much she knew she wanted, too much she knew she did not want. And secrets? Those secrets had no place written down.

Ginny had settled on something eventually, but she could not help but think it superficial. She would have to see if it helped, to release her words down the river and watch them disappear. Would have to see if there was a lessening on her shoulders, her soul.

The crowd eventually departed to walk toward the river and the orange glow of the lanterns posted alongside the stream to light the way. In the faint glow, Ginevra could spot a familiar head of dark hair just a little up ahead. Her steps quickened and Ginny called out to slow Naelys' steps. "Come on," she beamed, "We can release them together, what do you think?"

[sparklingchan]

The Prince and I || Jeong Yunho(Ateez)

Pairing : Reader (fem.) x Yunho.

Word count : 9.2k+

Warnings : Cuss words, minor injuries, Yunho BEING A FLUFFBALL!!

Genre : Fluff, angst, Arranged marriage au, Royal au.

Description : Your marriage to Prince Yunho feels like nothing less than a fairytale - but a fairytale is incomplete without a villain, right?

A/N:  This fic took longer than I thought it would lol  

This is a part of the holiday treats event conducted by kafenetwork.          This fic is for the lovely Anna! I hope you like it and I hope it didn’t disappoint. I’m sorry I cannot tag you here because this site always decides to eat up my posts with tags in it :((

Enjoy!

"This wedding dress is a little expensive, granny."

The silky cloth slips away from in between your fingers, as quick as sand. You hadn't ever touched a piece of cloth as beautiful and smooth as this one, really. In fact, you'd never ever seen anything like the dress presented before you at the moment. And well, as much as you want to buy it, you knew you couldn't. Not unless you use up all your life's savings.

"I'm sure Ms. Claire here could find us something less...royal." you mutter again when your Grandmother doesn't respond.

Ms. Claire, the owner of the elegant boutique you find yourself standing in this morning, smiles at you sheepishly. "Oh, what nonsense! You will be married into a royal family, y/n. I cannot have you wear a normal wedding dress."

You sigh, turning away from the mannequin that donnes your dream wedding dress and crouching down to speak to your granny, "Granny, we won't have any money left if we buy this."

Your grandmother has been in the wheel chair for as long as you could remember. But she has more energy and life in her than most young people out there, including you. She's like this ball of sunshine who adores you to death. And now that the most important event of your life is slowly coming close with every passing day, you find her enthusiasm increasing likewise. She would wake up every morning and coax you to work out and do your skin care routine every night before bed. Today too, she forced you to allow her to tag along on your last shopping trip before your big day. Though you never say it out loud, your grandmother is nothing short of an angle. And you'd do anything to make her happy.

"I have saved up enough money to buy three such dresses, y/n." Your grandmother says as you lean down , "Miss Claire, pack this one up please."

Miss Claire nods and smiles at your granny, "Surely, madam."

Her assistant takes away the mannequin to get it packed up and billed.

You sit on the small couch present in the room as your eyes roam around the room full of pretty dresses and veils and shoes. It feels surreal all of a sudden, as if you were in a day dream you'd often think about as a teenager.

"What? Do you want anything else? I have enough money for that too." Your grandmother chimes in, rolling the wheelchair a little towards you, "Should we buy one for your mom too?"

Your mom, though equally excited for your wedding as your grandmother, was more on the realistic side. She'd give you a reality check ever so often - about husbands and in-laws and everything surrounding it. You're also not very sure your mom would appreciate spending so much money on dresses in a single day, especially when your wedding stands only four days away.

"No, granny, mom has enough dresses." You run a soothing hand through her grey and thin hair, "Aren't you tired? We've been out for a long time now."

"Do I look tired to you? " she raises an eyebrow, her eyes wrinkling up as she smiles at you sweetly. She's such an adorable little woman that it makes your heart melt everytime she looks at you.

"No," you roll your eyes, "Guess we can go and pick up Maya's dress while we're at it."

"Maya as in your best friend? The annoyingly loud girl from your college?" You snort at your granny's choice of words to describe your best friend.

You hear Miss Claire call you towards the payment counter and before you could move a finger, your granny races you to it.

"Come on, girl, what are you- eighty?" She teases you with a loud chuckle.

And still, you may not say it out loud , but your granny is your whole world. And when you are married off into the royal family of your father's old hometown, the only person you'll miss badly is probably your sweet old grandmother.

Later that evening, after dropping your grandma back home, you decide to walk to your best friend's apartment which is located just a few blocks away from yours. You carry her dress with you but deep down, you know that's not the only reason as to why you wanted to visit her this late at night.

"I need advice. "

"About what?"

"Marriage and life. "

Your best friend's eyes widen at your words. Her lips part as if she wanted to comment something but then stopped herself. "Maya, dude please. I'm terribly scared and I can't talk to anyone else at home." You admit, playing with the hem of your dress. A sudden sense of embarrassment and shyness washes over you but you push all that away before they get the best of you.

Maya puts down her dress on the bed.

"Y/n, I could give you all the advice in the world but believe me, you won't be able to apply it practically. I married a normal man from a normal family. We live in a cozy apartment in a city. But for you, it's different. You'll not marry a common person- you're marrying a prince for God's sake. A Crown Prince on top of that. You'll be living in a castle far away in the mountains. I don't know how my advice would be of any help here, y/n." Maya says, her hand gently patting yours.

You shift in your place, the bed creaking softly beneath you.

Maya is unarguably right - her advice won't be useful in your case. In fact, no one's advice would be useful to you unless they've had a first hand experience with an arranged marriage and a royal life. Yet these facts do little to comfort your growing fear and anxiousness.

"I haven't even met him in person yet. I only saw him over a few stupid video calls and in his pictures. I don't know what to expect." You say.

His Highness Crown Prince Yunho is a pretty busy man it turns out. So busy that he hasn't even been able to take some time out of his duties and come visit his fiancé for a few hours. He's a beautiful man, you have to say. Elegant and stylish and well mannered and everything about him screams Royal. He often texts you in his free time and calls you once in a blue moon. He seems like a nice man indeed, the kind you'd love to marry even without his royal heritage. But being his wife and a Crown Princess is a challenge you'd have to face completely on your own.

"Your granny thinks he's a good man, y/n. Maybe you should trust her judgement. Old people have that in themselves, you know." Maya says with a small smile, "Plus he's a Prince. You'll live a luxurious life, y/n. Don't be so pessimistic! I'm sure things will turn out great."

You give your best friend a tight hug for trying to cheer you up and helping you forget your fears even if it's just for a few hours . That night, as you toss and turn in your bed, trying to keep your mind free from thoughts about your life after marriage, you realise how big of a change this one thing will make.

And you're not very sure if you're ready for that change yet.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

The weather is quite pleasant today, the sun shining softly through the thin curtain of clouds and the humidity deciding to be a little forgiving today but too bad you're stuck inside your room, folding clothes and making sure all your necessities are packed in the luggage.

"Well, this is not how I expected my last day at home to turn out, " you complain to your mother who sits across from you on the bed, helping you pack your things, "But it is what it is, I guess."

Your mom chuckles, placing your folded clothes into huge black suitcase spread open on the floor. "This isn't bad. You're alone with your family and friend, what more do you need?"

A fancy Bachelorette party with your friends and a few male strippers didn't sound like a very appropriate response so you decide to just shake your head.

"Aren't you angry though? Even just a little bit?" She asks. You scowl at the unexpected, out of context question. You are scared and anxious and nervous but angry? Not at all.

"What do you mean? Why would I be angry?" You reply, crossing your arms in front of your chest, "I'm fine."

She sighs, momentarily pausing her actions to face you. Her eyes are a little moist, you notice, and her lips pressed into a sad line. "Your grandmother betrothed you to Prince Yunho when you guys were just nineteen. It is an arranged marriage, to a person you don't know and a family which holds so much power. She didn't give you freedom to choose your own partner. Aren't you angry about that?" She elaborates.

You feel a soft tug in your heart at her words. You've been so preoccupied with worrying about how you'd handle yourself after marriage that you never really thought about this. Even so, when you really think about it, you can't find it in yourself to be angry at your grandmother.

"Granny and Prince Yunho's grandmother were best friends, mom. They made a promise and I respect that. Plus granny never forced me to say yes. I did that on my own account. " you explain yourself, your hand slowly reaching over to squeeze your mom's shoulder, "Don't worry about me. I'll manage. I always do."

Its rather funny how you were the one needing assurance from Maya a few nights ago and here you are, repeating the same words of encouragement to your mother. A part of you is obviously still terrified of the future, but that's not your mom's problem to deal with. It's entirely yours.

Your mom sniffs, but a tear manages to roll down her cheek, "I'll miss having you around. Why couldn't she have arranged your marriage to a normal person who lived in the same city?"

And then it finally dawns on you. It really is your last day at home. Your last day in the city you so dearly loved, your last day in the house which has seen you grow from a little baby to a beautiful, young woman. It's your last day as y/n y/l/n, your parents' only child and your grandmother's favorite grandchild. Tomorrow, you would be a Princess, a wife, a person of political importance. And your heart breaks a little at the thought of never getting this life back again.

"Mom.." you mutter, your eyes tearing up as well. Words fall short when it comes to describing how much you'll miss everyone and everything here. Starting from your friends to your family to the smallest of decorative items in your room that you've managed to collect over the years. It's like a piece of you would just cease to exist. As the night grows darker and the day crosses over to the next one, you hold your mother close as the both of you let out the quietest of sobs and realise that this might be the last time she'd have you all to herself.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡   

The journey from your parents' old house to Prince Yunho's ancestral palace is short - not with respect to time but with respect to the fact that amidst tearful eyes and memory flashbacks, the car ride gives you little to no time to settle your hurricane of thoughts.

As your dad's car slowly pulls over in front of a huge black metal gate, you are welcomed with a view that seems right out of a fairytale. The Royal palace is located in the most beautiful locations you've ever been to, a place you never thought could exist in real life. It almost feels like you are in a dream. With the beautiful backdrop of lush green mountains in the back, the Palace stands tall on the foothills of the mountains. The pastel pink walls and the carefully carved window panes look ethereal with contrast to the tall black gates that securely surround the palace. A group of servants are rowed in front of the man main entrance, with warm smiles and trays full of welcome drinks.

But you're far too mesmerized by the place to bother consuming anything at the moment.

This place - this breathtakingly gorgeous palace with the biggest gardens and tallest fountains- would be your home. For a long time, home meant your crammed little apartment which always smelt like cinnamon and bread. It had no big gardens, no servants, no fountains but it was your home. Your safe place. You wonder if this place could ever feel like home.

"Geez, y/n, I'm so jealous." Maya whisper-squeals in your ear as the servants lead you inside, "Do you want to exchange husbands?"

You nudge her gently with your elbow, "Shut up. Or I'll have you thrown out."

You are made to walk through a quiet hallway that has a huge wooden door at the end. On both sides of the hallway, pictures and paintings and vintage weapons are displayed like in museums and the marble floor beneath you shines like water under the sun. Every nook and corner of this place is a treasure waiting to be discovered, you realise.

The servants open the wooden door and lead you inside into what appears to look like a Throne Room. Now, you'd never really been to one before but movies and books have taught you that this is what a Throne room probably looks like - with a Grand Throne placed at the very center and numerous chairs placed on either side of it. The walls in this room are graced with more pictures and paintings of kings and queens and common people and soldiers. You wonder if your picture would ever be up there somewhere in the future.

"Oh, hello lovely people!" A manly voice booms through the hall, "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

A few quick taps of feet on the floor and there stands in front of you a very familiar face - as if you'd almost seen him in a dream.

Black tuxedo, perfectly styled hair, a walkie-talkie in his hand, the man before you looks right out of a James Bond movie. "I'm Choi San, Prince Yunho's personal secretary and the royal family's representative for the day."

He claps his hands together, "Her Highness the Queen Regent, Her Highness the Queen Mother and His Highness Crown Prince Yunho sadly couldn't be here since they have some important charity event to attend. I deeply apologize for that. In their place, allow me to welcome you to the Jeong family's Grand palace!"

"You'll all be taken to your rooms now because you must be tired from the journey. If you need anything, just tell one of these servants."

The servants nod at San and signal you and your family to follow them.

"Uh, lady Y/n. Mind if I have a word with you?" San interrupts.

Although surprised, you nod as you let your family walk off to their rooms.

"Yes?" You ask San.

San's eyes are focused on your frame - every movement, every expression, every word - he's observing you as if to make sure you're the right person for Prince Yunho. You feel self conscious all of a sudden.

"Yunho did say you're a charming person. I just didn't think I'd agree with him before, but now..I definitely do." San giggles, offering you his hand, "I'm Choi San at your service, madam. Your wish is my command."

You bow gently at him, "I'm y/n y/l/n. It's nice to meet you too, sir."

San chuckles, "Please don't call me that, your Highness. I'm your employee. Besides I have something important to talk to you about. "

The last few words form a tight knot in your stomach, fear finding it's way through your veins.

"Y-yeah?"

"You have a coronation ceremony tonight. I hope you know that. We've already hired a stylist who will take care of all you from now on. She'll meet you immediately after lunch." San explains, "And here's my business card. Contact me if anything comes up, okay?"

You gulp as you accept the shining business card from him, "Thanks. I'll do that."

San smiles sympathetically, as if he understood the fears swimming inside you. He offers you a gentle, encouraging pat on the shoulder.

"I know how you feel. A palace is a scary place, I won't deny. But if I can survive here, so can you. Plus you have Yunho. He's the nicest man a person could ever ask for, I'm sure." San says.

Your whole body relaxes a little as a soft breeze of comfort washes over you with the words leaving San's mouth. This is what you'd been wanting to hear for a long time - a reassurance that you'll be safe and okay as a member of the Royal family and that Prince Yunho might be a person you could love. But for now, you focus on keeping your self calm.

"Now, do you mind walking me to my room? I find myself a bit lost." You giggle.

San finds himself chuckling in response, "Of course, your majesty."

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

When San had told you that you'd have your own personal stylist, you did not expect this . Even in your wildest dreams, this is not something you'd catch yourself wanting.

The beautiful blue gown clutches to your upper body at just the right places and then flows down your waist like a beautiful waterfall under the sunlight. A diamond necklace graces your otherwise empty neck complimented with matching earrings. The stylist - Alisa - puts your hair up in a pretty bun and then places a beautiful diamond tiara on your head. And when your eyes finally land on your reflection in the mirror, your mouth hangs open with no words but just air slipping out of it as response.

"Do you like it, your Highness?" Alisa asks with hopeful eyes. Her shy smile giving away the fact that she wants you to like what she's done, her efforts and ideas.

You have to blink hard for a few more seconds before coming to terms with the fact that you look so beautiful right now. A part you is in denial while a part of you is jumping around, doing a victory dance in happiness. You weren't used to seeing yourself look this good. Your heart leaps at the thought of Prince Yunho seeing you like this - almost like a princess who's lived in castles all her life. And then you realize that you would be one ; in only a few minutes.

"I love it, Alisa. You're brilliant!" You exclaim, wrapping your arms tightly around the stylist in happiness. By Lisa's stiff response, you are sure you'd taken her by surprise. Royals do not go around hugging normal stylists yet this hug was a symbol of your thankfulness towards her for putting so much effort into you, to make you feel special. Alisa's proud smile reaches to her eyes as she quickly works on placing the brooch pin in the right place on your dress.

A knock on your room's door attracts your attention and you are quick to fix yourself in case it was someone from the Royal family.

"I'll get that." Alisa jogs quickly towards the door.

When the door creaks opens, you see a familiar face standing there - familiar enough to know it was your fiancé, the most handsome man you'd ever laid eyes on, with the kindest smile and brightest eyes. Your heart stops beating for a dangerous second.

"Oh, hello your Highness. " Alisa greets him, bowing slightly, "Miss y/n is ready to go."

And when Yunho looks at you, your soul as if escapes your body. "H-hi, Prince Yunho."

He walks towards you with warm, red cheeks and perfect black hair and a stylish black tuxedo and offers you his hand, "It's nice to finally meet you, my lady."

How does one ever respond to that? How does one ever behave in front of an actual, real life prince, who also happens to be your fiancé? He presses his lips to your fingers ever so gently.

The butterflies in your stomach go wild.

"Shall we go now? Everyone's waiting for you, my lady." He asks.

You nod, wrapping an arm around his, "Yes."

The short walk towards the throne room is mostly filled with a comfortable sense of silence, except for the times when Prince Yunho points at some random picture on the wall and talks about it. Your eyes seem to be following every movement of his, and everytime your eyes meet, you find yourself melting under his gaze. You are smitten by him and there's no denying in that.

On entering the throne room, all heads turn towards you - ministers, relatives, your family, Yunho's friends, San and all servants present there observe you as Yunho walks you down the flowery aisle leading to the Throne. You could feel everyone's eyes on you, scary yet exciting, they follow your every movement and every word and every expression.

And when they bow down slightly as you stand on the right side on the Throne, you realise these people weren't just bowing at Yunho, there were also bowing down at you. Because you'll be his wife tomorrow, a princess, a figure that should be loved by the people. The only thing keeping you grounded is Yunho's gentle hand softly clutching yours. It's as if he could sense your inner turmoil before even you do it yourself. "Are you nervous?" He whispers in your ear.

"Yes, a little. "

"Don't be. I'm here with you."

The main door to the hall opens and two women walk inside, at least ten soldiers walking in front and behind them, guns at ready and eyes critically scanning all the faces.

The older woman, who you assume to be the Queen Mother and Yunho's grandmother, wears a sweet smile and walks as gracefully as ever even in this senile age. She waves gleefully at the crowd bowing down to her. On her left stands a slightly younger woman, Yunho's aunt and the Queen Regent who has been the ruler of this kingdom after Yunho's parents passed away in a tragic accident ten years ago. Rumor has it that the Queen Regent is a strict, emotionless ruler who has no mercy for criminals and is harsh with all the employees of the palace. You notice her serious gaze fixed in your direction and shudder in fear even though you've barely ever talked to her before.

"May the Queen Mother live long! May the Queen Regent live long!" Someone chants and the others follow suit in the blink of an eye.

You suddenly feel as if you are in some period drama.

The Queen Regent takes her place on the throne while the Queen Mother takes a seat on the left side of the Throne. A single wave of the Queen Regent's hand and the crowd goes completely silent.

"Hello to everyone gathered here today. I am very, very glad to welcome a new member of the family - lady y/n y/l/n. She is to be the wife of my beloved nephew Yunho and the future Queen of this kingdom. Please give her a warm welcome!"

The hall erupts into claps and cheers and your name being repeated as if in a chant. Your grip on Yunho's arm tightens.

"I'm there, my lady." He says again, "Don't be afraid."

San brings out a huge sword and places it in the Queen Regent's hands. This sword is what you assume to be the Jeong family's old, sacred sword used by generations and generations of brave kings and queens to protect themselves as well as the citizens of their beloved country. This sword is a symbol of pride and victories. And a lost history.

"As per ancient traditions, I will now be crowning miss y/n as a princess before her wedding with the prince tomorrow. From now on she will be called her Highness Crown princess Y/n. She is an important member of our family from this day forth."

"Y/n, go on and kneel in front of my aunt." Yunho whispers, nodding at you with a proud smile, "You're doing so great already."

You comply by his words and kneel in front of the throne, your head hanging low and eyes squeezed shut with anxiousness of what is to come.

"Welcome to the family, y/n." You hear the Queen Regent's voice before she gently taps your right shoulder with the tip of the sword and then the left one. You feel a few droplets of water being sprinkled on your face.

"Rise, Crown Princess. Face your people and let them welcome you with open arms."

It is done. You are a princess now. This can never be undone, this name, this title will stick with you till the end of time. You're no longer a normal girl with small dreams and basic requirements, you're a future Queen now.

Rise, Crown Princess.

And you do.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

Every person has dreamt about their own wedding at least once in their life - whether it is in the peak of their teenage or in the innocent wonders of their childhood or the wildest dreams of their adult years, this thought found itself in everyone's mind.

You had one such dream too.

But your dream had always been very simple. A nice man, your closest friends and family, a cheap and beautiful wedding dress, a small party with limited people - that is all you've ever wanted. You didn't want a gathering of four hundred people who you barely knew, the new reporters shoving their cameras into your face, heavy make up or expensive jewelry, or a husband who you barely knew. But guess that is what the Gods had written in your fate. And you have no option now than to accept things the way they are.

You don't remember much from the wedding ceremony or the huge party that follows, really ; you only remember Yunho's lips pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead when the priest asks the groom to kiss the bride(probably the best part of the day), your grandmother's tears of happiness and Alisa and San winking at the two of you after the ceremony was over. Everything else felt like a blur, as if your head had been underwater all this while.

An hour or so into the party, Prince Yunho asks you to walk with him. Alone. Though reluctant, how could you ever say no to those innocent eyes? The discomfort from being surrounded by hundreds of unknown people slowly disappears as the two of you walk around the garden, your eyes never meeting but a sense of familiarity settling between the two of you.

"I'm not used to this, you know." He says with a shy smile.

The sky is beautiful, decorated with stars and a full moon but nothing compares the glow on Yunho's face when he turns to glance at you.

"Used to what?" You enquire, "Having so many people here?"

He shakes his head, "No. I'm used to having a lot of people here. That's all I've ever seen. What I'm not used to is this. Having a partner or someone else live in my room with me."

"So...?"

"I'm happy about it. I really am. But I know you're new to this royal lifestyle and we barely even know each other that well but I hope you don't regret this marriage. Because I'm sure that I won't. " Yunho sighs, "And if you ever feel like it's not worth your time anymore, you are more than free to leave. Forget about everyone else, do what your heart says. "

The last phrase catches you off guard. It is very, very rare to find people who give you this sort of freedom in any arrangement. The fact that he opens up his thoughts to you makes your heart leap with happiness. And a little sadness too that he'd think you'd leave him so easily.

"Hey," you pat his arm, "I'm not leaving anytime soon. I promise. We made a vow, didn't we?"

Yunho blushes at your words, but under the bright moonlight it goes unnoticed by you.

"Do you mind if I hold your hand?" He suggests after a few seconds of silence.

The butterflies in your stomach are seemingly having the time of their life these past few days.

"I don't." You slide your hand into his and your fingers intertwine almost instantly. His warm palm presses against your cold one, bring a sense of comfort you never thought you'd ever experience. In the midst of a chaotic royal gathering and the paparazzi trying to sneak in through the gates, you and Yunho find a small world for yourselves that no one else can ever have access to.

And for the first time in months, you realise that this marriage might be worth more than what you thought it would be.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

You've always wondered what the people in royal palaces do. Do they spend all their time greeting the citizens and walking in the gardens? Do they keep dancing in the ballroom all the time? Or do they busy themselves with war conspiracies?

Sadly you realise that royal life sounds very exciting and extravagant only when you're not the one actually living a life like that. And this conclusion dawns on you only after ten days of the wedding.

The first week is packed with activities, alright. Visiting the common people and distant relatives and going to various public events. Your curiosity was at its peak till a few days ago, but now here you are, sitting on the edge of your soft bed, phone in lap and eyes drooping with sleepiness, wondering how to keep yourself occupied.

"Y/n?" The door creaks open as Yunho peeks inside shyly, "Can I come in?"

You nod, "It's your room, Yunho. You don't need my permission to enter."

"Oh, I was just making sure you weren't doing anything you didn't want me to see."

Oh. Your cheeks turn into crimson fruits as his words finally hit you.

"Anyway, I actually came to get my file. But I saw you sitting here. Are you bored?"

Are you? Heck, yes!

"Yes." You reply almost guiltily.

Chuckling, he leans down to press a loving kiss on top of your head, "Come on. I'll show you something."

You took pride in the fact that after only a week of staying here, you knew the palace fairly well. The corridors and paintings and artifacts and the workers weren't as foreign to you anymore. Yet the path Yunho takes you to seems weirdly unfamiliar.

Guess new surprises await everyday.

Soon enough, your steps halt in front of a huge wooden door labeled as ' library '.

Rows and rows of books welcome you the moment you step inside, Yunho leading the way into the most beautiful library you'd ever seen in your life. As always, paintings grace the wooden walls and a huge crystal chandelier hangs from the middle most point of the ceiling.

"Yunho...is this..what heaven looks like?"

The smell of old and new books hit your nostrils as you run a gentle hand over the book kept in the shelves, feeling the various materials of book covers brush past your fingertips.

"Maybe." Yunho responds with a grin.

Yunho's heart feels full with adoration and content at the sight of you dancing around the books shelves, gleefully taking notes of the books you plan to read on the days to come. Your eyes curl up into crescent moons as your toothy smile seems to have taken Yunho's breath away. Beautiful is what you look. Simple and elegant and so innocent.

All his life he's spent among royal people, people with political intentions and lots of money. But you make him feel differently. Being with you feels like a breath of fresh air for Yunho. And who wouldn't like that?

"Earth to Yunho." You click your fingers in front of his face after you catch him staring at you. Not that you didn't like it, but you had to do something before you turn into a mush before his eyes, "What are you thinking?"

"Oh, um..nothing." you. He was thinking about you, "How about I ask the workers to bring my office stuff over here? I can work here while you read. I don't want you to be alone."

A shameless grin plasters over your lips.

"I'd like that, Yunho. I'd like that very much. "

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

"How's the married life treating you?" Your granny asks you this question every damn time she decides to call you. 

And surprisingly somehow, you always answer positively to her query.

"Well, good. I think so at least. " you smile to yourself, remembering the soft kiss Yunho had placed on your head as he left for an official trip this morning. Even in your half asleep state, your cheeks had turned bright red, "Prince Yunho is a nice man. "

"Oh, of course he is! I wouldn't have asked you to marry him otherwise, you idiot." She yells at you although you know she's smiling through the phone, "Anyway, I can't talk for long today. I have a doctor's appointment so I'll need to dress up for that."

That comes as a surprise, "What? Are you sick ?"

"God, no. I'm not a weakling, okay? It's the regular check up. Don't worry." She says, "Bye now. "

The line goes silent.

Sighing, you put your phone down on the night stand. On times like this, when the room is too quiet and you are too lazy to walk out and talk to other people, you start missing home. A lot more than usual. Your house, though only consisting of four people was way too noisy from sunset till sundown and somehow, you'd gotten used to it. The quietness has yet to grow on you.

A slight knock on the door attracts your attention and you immediately allow whoever it is to come inside.

"Oh, Alisa. It's you!" You exclaim as relief washes over you on seeing a familiar face.

"Yes, your Highness. How have you been?" She bows down to you, "Are you able to adjust to this new life?"

"I've been okay, you could say. Still a little overwhelmed whenever I have to face people but I think I'm getting there." You laugh a little.

Alisa gives you an understanding nod, "I totally understand. But I'm glad you're feeling more comfortable. By the way, I came here to ask you if you wanted to visit my boutique in the town nearby. It's a new one and I wanted you to come see it before the inauguration. "

Your heart jumps at the offer. You remember back in your college days, you would often go shopping with Maya, especially on weekends. The two of you would wait for months for a sale or special offers because online shopping sometimes just doesn't do it for you. You smile, nostalgic, "I'd love to go."

"And then maybe we could go and eat in the pizzeria nearby. It serves the best pizza in the world, I swear."

This is just beyond tempting at this point, a literal trap to have you step out of the role of a royal Princess and embracing the careless city girl inside of you and who are you to keep her hidden for too long?

"What are we waiting for then?"

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

Yunho surprises you every now and then.

On the outside, he is a strict man with the sharpest of brains and the most observant eyes. The title of being a crown prince sits heavy on his shoulders and with every passing day, the weight just get heavier.

On the contrary, the Yunho you get to see everyday is very different. Soft and cheerful and smiley, he's the literal embodiment of the sunshine and your heart doesn't seem to rest everytime you see him.

It must have been roughly a month since the wedding when he makes an impromptu plan of visiting your city and your parents' house since it had been a long time you last saw them.

"Heard you were going to your parents house?" You had gotten ready to go before Yunho did, so instead of sitting in your bedroom, you decided take a short walk outside in the gardens. And as you strolled around aimlessly among the flowers and bushes, deep in thoughts, you had come across the Queen Mother sitting by the water fountain.

"Yes, your majesty." You reply, rather intimated by her aura.

It's hard to accept sometimes that this person is best friends with your grandmother, when the both of them are as different from each other as the two poles! Your grandmother is the ever so sweet, smiling, supportive person. You would never see her angry or upset. But on the other hand, the Queen Mother is uptight, very quiet and rarely ever smiles. Just like her daughter, the Queen Regent. Maybe it's a royal thing but you're glad you don't have to see this serious side of Yunho on a daily basis.

"Good. The farther from here, the better." She mumbles.

You are alarmed at her words, "I'm sorry?"

She sighs, her walking sticking tapping the marble wall of the fountain, "Y/n, I adore you. I might not show it but I'm glad my grandson has someone like you to make his life less lonely. But you have to be careful. Not everyone is appreciative of a person of common birth being crowned as a Crown Princess. "

Fear slowly clutches you in its palms. You had gotten very occupied with Yunho and being a crown princess and making new friends, you admit. So occupied that you let your guard down. And the Queen Mother's words sound more like an advice than a threat.

"Should I be worried?" You ask, your skin going cold at the thought of someone actually wanting to hurt you.

"Not yet, no. But be very, very careful. You cannot trust anyone here. Not even me. The only person you can lean on is Yunho. Why? Because he might be as much in danger as you."

Have you ever seen how people start panicking when any sort of alarm goes off? Yeah, thats exactly how you feel at that moment.

"Y/n, let's go!" You hear Yunho call you from the front gate, already taking his seat inside his car.

You bow at the Queen Mother before jogging towards Yunho, your heart no longer into the trip as it were a few minutes ago.

Yet seeing your parents and granny after so long did comfort you.

They had prepared this small barbeque party in your backyard, your dad playing guitar and purposely singing badly to embarrass you while your mother shows Yunho your childhood pictures. And the food, oh, the food! The five star chefs from Yunho's palace could never replace this comfort food you had at your parents house. It might not be well decorated with garnishes or spices or fancy plates but it made you feel like everything will eventually be okay - which is exactly what you needed at the moment.

The entire evening you try hard to talk to Yunho but when your house is full of three excited adults, it is hard to do that. Around one am in the morning, you finally find yourself in your old bedroom, Yunho's fascinated eyes roaming around the room that feels like it were straight out of some teenage romance movie. Where in reality you'd honestly been too lazy to change the room's layout once you outgrew your teenage obsessions and interests.

"You seem to be liking my room a little too much. " you chuckle, scrolling aimlessly through your phone, your face partly squished into your favorite pillow.

The boyband posters, old polaroids from your school functions, romance novels stacked up neatly by the nightstand - all of this is as foreign to him as his palace is to you.

Yunho lies down beside you, still in awe of the room, "Yeah, it literally mirrors your personality. "

"How?"

"I can't explain it, you know," he clicks his tongue, "But everything in this room screams y/n. Like everything here is made only for you."

You raise your eyebrow at his words. He's very observant, that you've noticed, but the fact that he knows you this well in barely a month warms your heart.

"What about our bedroom in the palace? Is it not made for me?"

"Oh, it is. Of course it is. But you're staying there because you have to, right? Because we're married and all that." He replies.

"No, I'm not. I told you Yunho - I'm staying there because I want to." You say, now no longer in a mood to joke around.

Suddenly, the words from The Queen Mother swim back into your mind, as you start seeing her words in a completely different light.

Yunho has somehow always expressed how he is unable to believe your presence around him and how he acts like you're doing a favor by doing that. And you find yourself wondering if Yunho knows what she'd said to you. The danger that looms above both of your heads must not be as much of a secret to him than you thought it would be. So instead of confronting him, you decide to comfort him.

"We'll be fine, Yunho. " you drag your hand towards his, your body relaxing the moment he squeezes it back, "Both of us."

Yunho looks at you with love and desire clear in his eyes, his free hand slowly dragging towards your face. You could see it now- the loneliness from the loss of his parents and the negligence from his aunt and grandmother throughout his childhood still very much exists behind the mask of a happy prince. You do not know the language of royal people or politics but you do know the language of love and more than a stupid gold crown, he needs someone to love him. And thats exactly what you intend to do.

Was it too soon? You didn't care anymore. And you know for a fact that he didn't either.

You lean in close and press your forehead to his, "You're not alone anymore. Okay?"

You see him smile from your hooded gaze, your breath mixing with his in an intoxicating mixture. "Thank you, y/n. You have no idea how much I appreciate it."

And that in itself are a combination of words much more heavier than a simple 'I like you.'

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

"The Queen Regent wishes to see you."

San runs up to you the first thing the next morning, right after breakfast.

"Why?" You ask, your eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

You had a plan to accompany your granny and the Queen Mother to their small tea party in a nearby Farmhouse but you couldn't obviously say no to meeting the Queen Regent. Because well, she's the Queen.

"I don't know, your Highness. I try to stay away from her as much as possible but whenever our paths do cross, she always assigns some work to me." He whines, "Go on, I'll tell the Queen Mother that you're occupied. I will be heading out with Yunho right now anyway."

Shaking your head in annoyance, you make your way to the Queen Regent's office.

Her office smells like expensive cigars the moment you step inside, and the full ashtray on her table only feeds into your conclusions.

"You asked for me, your majesty?" You ask in a low voice.

When she looks up from writing in her journal, your heart skips a few beats in fear. Her eyes hold no resemblance to Yunho's angelic ones or even The Queen Mother's serious ones. They look like two deep, bottomless black holes that swallow everything and anything in its vicinity. Her long hair is tied in a braid and her lips quiver passively upon seeing you.

"Ah, yes." She replies, "Please have a seat."

You take the chair in front of her desk, uncomfortable at the close proximity between you and the one person who everyone tries to avoid.

"How are you?" She begins, closing her journal and keeping her pen inside the drawer, "How are things going with Yunho?"

"I'm good, thank you for asking. And yes, things are going well with Yunho."

Her question seems odd, but you let it pass.

"Okay. That's really great to hear. Anyway, I met your husband a little while ago. And he asked me to tell you that he intends to see you on the rooftop alone later tonight." She raises an eyebrow, a gentle smile playing on her lips, "Looks like he has a date planned."

Her words seem too far fetched to be true. Too unrealistic. Not the date part though, but the part where he specifically ask her to pass on the message to you. He could have easily asked San or Lisa or even told you in first person, so why would he choose the Queen Regent out of so many people when he you've barely seen him talk to her?

But you're a Crown Princess, and she's the Queen and you cannot question her. "Okay, I'll be there." You get up from your seat and bowing gently, "Thank you for letting me know, your majesty. By the way, did he mention what time I am to go ?"

"Oh um...Around seven in the evening?" She's fumbling on her words, and you're sure she's lying about something.

Still you suppress your doubts and walk back to your room, hoping to find the truth behind her words this evening at seven.

The entire day goes by in the blink of an eye, but to you it feels like an eternity. The curiosity has you sitting at the edge of your bed, ready to make a run for it if any danger ever comes your way.

Yunho, who was out with San for some official work has surprisingly not texted you today at all. And it only adds to your doubts of the Queen Regent being a liar.

And when night finally falls, you find yourself tense up more than you'd done the entire day.

The night is quiet, calm but beautiful and as you step into the terrace and the soft wind kisses your face, you almost believe the Queen Regent's words. Maybe Yunho did really plan a surprise date for you. Because this is everything that Yunho likes. A beautiful night and a company he loves.

The terrace stands high giving you a beautiful view of the entire palace complex, the gardens and everything beyond. And for a moment, your worries diminish as you step near the railing, inhaling the fresh air and you feel safe.

But, you see, that's where you are wrong. This imaginary cloud of safety that you'd thought was around you was never there in the first place. Since the first time you stepped into the palace, all eyes have been on you - on every action, every activity, every word. You'd always been swimming in a dangerous sea. One wrong move, and you realise the shark is right behind you. And just how the Queen Mother had told you, you were only ever safe with Yunho by your side. But he isn't here anymore.

So it doesn't come as a when a pair of rough hands give you a single, harsh push, sending you falling right down five floors.

"You will never be our queen." Is what you hear before your vision dissolves into a black hole.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

When you were six years old, you fell down your bike once while trying to copy some stupid stunt you'd seen people on television shows do. The excruciating pain that followed the fall was something which you thought you'd never have to experience again. That was the kind of pain which hurts you down to your very bones, sending waves of shock through your body with a single movement of your hands.

And that is exactly how you expect to feel the moment you open your eyes and come face to face with a familiar ceiling. But all you feel is sore, like how you feel the morning after exercising after a long while.

The bandages on your arms and abdomen indicate that your fall wasn't as bad as you thought it'd be but it was, nevertheless, a fall which was very much done on purpose.

"Y/n, honey, are you awake?" You hear Yunho's groggy voice coming from somewhere near the foot of the bed you lie on.

"Y-yeah. What happened?" You manage to sit up even though your body feels heavy with fatigue, "How did I fall?"

Yunho appears by your bed side in the blink of an eye and your heart clenches with relief when he bends down to kiss your head.

It feels like you hadn't seen him in days, years, where as it had only been around two days since you passed out. Yunho had rushed back home the moment he found out about it, leaving all his stupid official work for some other day. Hell, he would happily give up all his responsibilities if it means he could see you and keep you safe. He'd cried for nights and days, never leaving your side even when the nurses would change your clothes or bandage dressing. The mere thought of you never waking up again was too dark for him, especially when he'd found such a happy place in you. You are the owner of his heart and everything else that he could give you. You are, literally, his only family member. His whole world. And if he loses you, he would lose himself with you.

"A-are you okay?" He sits down on the bed, holding your hand so tight as if he was afraid you'd disappear if he let's go, "does it hurt anywhere?"

"Just a little bit, but I'm okay. I feel fine." You say, smiling through your busted lips.

Your smile as if breaks a wall he'd been holding onto for days, and his eyes immediately tear up.

"I'm so so sorry, y/n. I should have been there. I should have been protecting you. I keep forgetting I'm not a stupid guy with a normal life and that people I associate with might get into trouble anytime. I'm so sorry, I should have protected you from my Aunt and Alisa. I'm so fucking sorry."

Aunt? And Alisa? What is he taking about?

"Yunho, what are you -"

"They planned it. The entire thing. They purposely sent me and grandma away so no one would doubt them. Aunt had supposedly promised my hand in marriage to Alisa a long time ago but Grandma got us married instead. They were angry. So angry that they went ahead and tried to k-kill you. " he sobs into his hands, the tip of his nose turning bright red, "Alisa was the one who pushed you. They forgot to remove the CCTV footage."

You freeze for a second, Alisa's betrayal hurting you worse than The Queen Regent's. You almost thought you could find a friend in her, just like Maya. You trusted her. You felt safe around her when in reality, she'd only been a time bomb - waiting to blow up.

"Alisa did?" You mutter, your lips drying with fear, "I-I don't know what to say. Yunho, I- I can't believe Alisa would do this."

"I didn't either. But both of them have admitted to it. The police took them. I'm so sorry, y/n. " Yunho rubs his tears away, "I talked to your granny and parents. They said you could move back in with them. The divorce will take about a year or so to get finalized but you don't have to stay here till then. You can go back home whenever you want."

Your heart crushes in your chest. The fear of abandonment Yunho carries within himself yet he has the guts to let you go is something you would forever admire and hate in him. How could he think this way, especially after you've reassured him countless number of times that you're here to stay.

"I didn't agree to a divorce. What the fuck are you even cooking up in that mind of yours?" You say, stern and angry.

He looks up at you, his guilty eyes making the pain in your chest more painful.

"Y/n, please, you cannot stay with -"

"Shut up. Just shut up. I don't care. I don't care what you think. I am an adult and the crown princess of this kingdom and I will do as I please. " you almost yell, "I am staying here, with you, for better or worse. I told you I wouldn't leave. "

Yunho bursts into tears, wrapping his arms gently around you, hiding his face in the crook of your neck as you gently pat his back, reassuring him that you'd always stay. No matter what.

"Y-you might get hurt again, y/n. I don't want you to stay and get hurt again." But his tight hold on your body tells you otherwise.

"We're both in danger for the rest of our lives. Does that mean we stop living?" You whisper, pulling away from the embrace only to grab his chin, "Does that mean we stop loving?"

He shakes his head as his lips curve down and a shaky sob escapes his mouth, "Nothing will ever happen to you again, I swear. I will keep you safe. You will not have a reason to complain again."

You nod, dabbing his tears away with your thumb, "I know. I believe you. "

You stare into his eyes - his beautiful eyes made of the finest stardust that make your brain go hazy every morning that you wake up and find them right beside you. And that's exactly how you choose to wake up every morning till the end of your days.

"Is this the part where we kiss or what, because I've waited a long time -" he cuts your blabbering off by finally placing his plump, peachy lips on yours ever so tenderly.

He steals all the air from lungs, driving you breathless and crazy with every movement of his lips on yours and the gentle touch of his fingers on your face only adds to the unbounded euphoria you feel at the moment. He's beautiful. Even with your eyes closed, you know that he is beautiful. And not just with his face, he is a beautiful man inside out. He is yours and nothing in this world can ever change that. So when he pulls away, panting and out of breath, and gently kisses your forehead, you say, "I love you, my prince."

These words. These damn words that he'd waited for months to hear, nights he spent dreaming about hearing them. And he has to mentally slap himself to make himself believe this all to be true.

Stealing a quick kiss from your lips again, he whispers, "I love you, too, my princess. "

[lunarmessenger]

Hard Regrets (Pt. 3) - 707 x MC

I changed up a bit of the prompt; I made her missing for a bit longer for dramatic effect lololol but here’s part three my loves !

warnings: angst :) LOL

word count: 1.8k

(pt. 1) (pt. 2) (pt. 4)

He was numb. His gaze was empty much like his heart, the bags underneath his eyes bruising a light purple as he sat on his bed.

Two months. It’d been two months since he’d seen or heard anything from MC. It didn’t matter where he looked, what systems were hacked; there was nothing. He’d gone so far as to check obituaries, but she wasn’t anywhere to be found on there either. His nose twitched as his mind fixated on the fact once more, the tears pooling in his eyes as he continued to stare at the wall.

It was like she’d just completely disappeared.

He thought he’d known emptiness; when his mother treated him and his brother horribly. When his father tried to get him killed. When he had to leave Saeran behind, all under a false pretense that he would be okay without him. That had to be true hurt, right? Things couldn’t get any worse…right?

Wrong.

He was so wrong; this was it. This was the worst he’d ever felt, and the guilt. God, the guilt was eating him alive, and while part of him wished so badly for it to stop he knew that this is what he deserved. What if he never saw her again? What if she was out there, lost and yearning to see him, and he couldn’t find her? Or, the worst case that he never allowed himself to think for more than one minute: What if she didn’t want to see him at all?

What if she’d rather; never see him again?

There was a slight knock on his door, his twin brother slowly pushing it open as he spoke quietly.

“Saeyoung…?” No response, the red head simply keeping his gaze to the wall as he sat still.

“Did you find anything?”

“N-No, Saeyoung.”

“Then keep looking. I’ll start looking again.” He stood, for the first time today as he rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, face still blank as he walked towards the hall.

“Saeyoung wait.” Saeran tried to grab his arm but he was shrugged off, watching helplessly as his brother sat himself down at his laptop and typed with haste. It was like this every day; he would work himself until he passed out from exhaustion, drink enough water and eat a couple of chips to keep himself going, then start the process all over again.

After everything he’s been through, he thought that he’d seen it all with his brother. But this…this was the worst he’d ever seen him. He pulled out his phone as the sound of a chat notification went off, immediately opening the chat to see a message from Jumin.

Anything, Jumin?

No. I’ve had my people search everywhere and still no sign of her.

These things take time, Saeran. If she is still alive, we will find her.

Okay, please keep me posted. I’m going to search the area. Let me know if you hear anything from Zen.

Not only had MC disappeared, but Zen wasn’t ever in the chat anymore. Saeran figured it was because he was rather close with her; and he couldn’t blame him for distancing himself after her disappearance. His heart ached; not like his brother’s, but enough to where he felt like there was always something weighing heavily on his chest.

“I’m going to go look again, Saeyoung. Call me if anything changes.” He was met back with silence, a sigh escaping his lips as he opened the door and shut it behind him. He took the elevator down to the garage, met with the many sports cars Saeyoung was collecting. He didn’t know which one to take; honestly it didn’t matter. He just matched up the keys with the car that beeped in response, slowly climbing in and shutting the door behind him.

He started the car, the engine roaring to life as he leaned back. He turned to look in the passenger seat, his heart racing when he noticed that one of MC’s sweaters was left piled in the seat. He slowly reached a hand over, his fingers running over the soft fabric. He brought it up to his face, the familiar smell of her causing him to let out a choked breath as he exhaled.

Her familiar laugh rang in his ears, her long hair cradling her face as she sat in the grass, sun beating down on her face. Her warm hugs and soft touch; everything that made her, her. It was gone. Within a split second she was gone, and Saeran didn’t know if he would ever see her again.

“Saeyoung you fucking idiot!” He screamed, his head pressed against the steering wheel as he sobbed.

+

He parked at a random office building in the city, head leaned back against the car seat as he brought his phone up again. Still no news from Saeyoung nor Jumin, the sinking feeling of finding nothing again sitting heavy in his stomach. He put his phone down and ran a hand through his hair, deciding to get out of the car to get some air.

He couldn’t help it; while he wanted to help his brother find the love of his life, half of him was just so angry with him. He’d never say it out loud, but he most definitely blames Saeyoung for her disappearance. If only he hadn’t got so caught up in his work; maybe if he’d paid her better attention. Then none of this would have happened; they could have continued being the way that they always were.

Despite the chilly air he continued to pace around the car, the jacket he was wearing keeping him warm as he glanced up. That’s when he noticed; a very familiar motorcycle parked in front of the hospital across the street. He furrowed his brows, another blast of chilly air blowing in his face before the clouds slowly opened up, warm sunlight draping over him as he continued to walk towards the hospital.

As he approached the motorcycle it became more clear that it belonged to Zen. But…why was he here? Had one of his family members suddenly have a medical emergency? No…none of them lived in this area. He quickly hid behind a post when he saw the familiar silver hair of his friend flash in the sun, Saeran’s curious gaze honing in on the bouquet of roses he carried with him from the flower shop next door.

“What would he need those for…” He made sure to keep a distance as he followed Zen into the building, slipping past the visitors desk in the front as he watched Zen wave at the two women and state the room he was visiting before heading towards the elevator.

“Such a sweet boyfriend. She’s a very lucky girl.” Saeran’s eyes widened as he took the stairs to the floor Zen was going to, his mind racing as he tried to rationalize what he just heard. Since when did Zen have a girlfriend? And for how long was he going to hide this from everybody? He kept to himself as he entered the floor, nurses walking from room to room while others did paperwork at the desks in the middle of the floor.

His eyes landed on the room Zen had easily waltzed into, the sound of his voice cheery as he grabbed a random cap off a stranded chair and placed it over his head. He kept his head low, leaning against the wall while slightly craning his neck to listen to the conversation.

“…Just think! You’ll be ready to be discharged in a couple of days! Don’t worry, you can stay with me until you figure things out, okay? Are you hungry?” Saeran couldn’t hear this random person’s replies; he was a bit pissed off that Zen hadn’t shared this new person in his life with the rest of them. Especially right now; how could he be giving all of his attention to some random woman, when one of their own was missing?

“I’ll be right back! Surely I can find some good food without being gone too long. I’ll see you soon!” Saeran immediately backed away from the door and turned his back, hearing the familiar sound of Zen’s boots hurriedly walking away and towards the elevator. He turned back and slowly walked into the room, his curiosity getting the best of him.

As he slowly went around the curtain his heart dropped, eyes wide as he realized who this person was. She looked unfamiliar; her hair was cut short and she had small scars all over her arms and thighs. One of her legs had a large nasty scar, clearly from the work of stitches as she kept her gaze focused on the warm sunlight that streamed through her window.

It was her.

After all this time of feeling hopeless, feeling as if he would never find her again she was here. The shock was enough to make him fall to his knees, the sound catching her attention as she turned, brows furrowed. Though there were small changes her eyes were still the same, realization forming inside them as she gasped.

“S-Saeran?” The man quickly pulled himself up, approaching her as her eyes quickly darted around the room. “Is…is he with you?” All he could do was shake his head, a sigh of relief escaping her lips as she looked down and fiddled with her fingers.

“Can I?” Her head jolted up as his facial expression finally sank in; tears streaming down his face as he opened his arms out to her. After a couple of minutes to think she nodded, opening her arms to him. He fell into them, quickly, the familiar smell he’d been missing so much causing him to burst into tears.

“You’re alive. Thank God you’re alive. I’ve missed you so much, I’m so glad you’re okay.” It was hard to understand him but she was getting every word, tears filling her own eyes as she cradled him. Though he was his brother he was still her friend, and she felt guilty for not reaching out to him sooner.

“I’m so sorry Saeran. I’m sorry…” The two of them held each other, his hold gentle while hers was tight; she herself didn’t even realize how much she’d missed him.

“MC, I managed to find some…” His familiar deep voice caught the attention of Saeran first, his cries coming to a halt as MC’s hold slowly loosened as she looked at him.

“Zen…” Saeran turned around, his eyes filled with rage as he balled up his fists.  While he felt a small pang of guilt he didn’t back down, Zen slowly putting the bag filled with snacks and treats down on the nearby table.

“Saeran.”

“You knew. This whole damn time? You knew…” Zen put his hands up in defense as Saeran took off his jacket, tossing off the random hat as he slowly walked towards him.

“I’m going to fucking kill you.”

[shimmershae]

My thoughts on Episode 3--Hunted.

 Most of you lovelies already realize this, but my thoughts tend to zig and zag quite a bit, lol.  So.  To save some of you the headache and spare you from seeing spoilers you’d rather not see yet, I’m again placing them behind a cut.  

First things first.  I have totally turned into Yvette Nicole Brown with her TWD notebooks, lol, and I’m not even sorry.  I just felt like it would be fun to go back when the final episode is in the books and see how well my thoughts from these early episodes line up with what I’m feeling when we say our (not-so) final goodbyes.  

But that’s enough about that. Let’s get to this thing.  

It really is insane how very much I love Melissa McBride.  Just hearing her doing the previously on TWD recap voiceover makes me ridiculously happy.  

Cole!  Dude!  We hardly knew ya.  

Not gonna lie.  That first shot of Maggie in all the chaos reminded of a shirt I’ve seen.  It says--”Well, well, well.  If it isn’t the consequences of my actions.”  

I have to hand it to Angela and the rest of her team.  These opening scenes--on all 3 episodes--have been BOMB so far.  They really hook you in right away.  At least IMHO.  

I realize I’m behind the game on this little tidbit, but how much do I adore the fact that Dog is now in the opening credits?  

Okay.  Alexandria might look like it’s been on some kind of post-apocalyptic bender but all our girls are looking beautiful as ever.  Maybe it’s Maybelline, lol.  

I love to see Kelly and Carol still gravitating toward each other.  It really speaks to each woman’s heart.  Carol wants to make amends so badly and Kelly just has the most lovely, warm, forgiving heart.  

Carol’s point about Alexandria still needing the horses to help with the heavy lifting and pointing out the walls and rebuilding won’t matter quite as much if they’re limited by their  hunger and what they can physically lift on their own isn’t wrong.  But I’m sure the same viewers that were okay with Daryl and Co. going out on Maggie’s suicide mission (using the same reasoning) and saying it made sense for the bigger picture will pretend not to recognize that the same element is there in Carol’s desire to go out there and look for the horses.  You know.  Because it was Carol’s idea and not that of their fave(s).  

Aaron, Man.  Or maybe I should say Angela.   You just had to put a pit of dread in my belly mentioning Buttons like that.  RIP, Buttons.  You deserved better.  I’m still traumatized.  

Look at all the babies bonding.  Look at RJ getting to sit at the big kid table.  

“My mom always comes back.”  She damn well better.  Those babies need her.  Until she does, though, Uncle Daryl and Aunt Carol (and Aunt Rosita and everybody else) are going to be there.  

Anyway.  Poor RJ.  He barely ever gets any lines, lol.  

Hershel and Judith are obviously the mini-adults in this group and baby Rhee is already more cynical and jaded than his sweet daddy was until they reached Alexandria and the wheels started to come off.  

So.  Does Maggie just think everybody’s already dead here or what?  Hmm.  

You know.  Any building can be creepy AF when the lights are off and it’s dark, lol.  Any building.  

So much darkness so far this season.  I’m going to have to invest in some blackout curtains.  I just know it.  

Where are all those stairs leading?  Why am I thinking of Hitchcock?  Am I mixing up my scary, suspenseful movies?  Probably.  

Of fucking course, Maggie dropped her flashlight.  Thank goodness she had that lighter at the ready just before Ghost Face Reaper took a swipe at her.  

Is that Father G with a screwdriver impaled in his thigh?  Listen.  These people deserve a Mega Bottle of pain killers and a week just vegging out in a soft, luxurious bed.  

All these horror movie tropes.  Some of them are cheesy, yes.  But I’m totally here for it.  

LMAO.  That’s it, Maggie.  A good old punch in the nuts works every time.  

Alden really is having a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.  

Negan is still Negan.  Self-serving and looking out for number one.  But I believe the man really does feel the group is his group too.  He’s like that long lost, sketchy uncle nobody wants to acknowledge much less invite to the dinner table, but that bond?  However thin?  Is there.  

I am both hating that Maggie is being forced to work with the man that murdered her husband (my baby Glenn) and finding it fascinating the lengths she’s willing to go to survive.  This your plan, Angela?  

Rosita and Carol!  How sad is it that the last really significant scene I can remember the two of these women sharing was way back?  Before Rick and Co. attacked Negan’s outpost and Maggie and Carol were subsequently taken?  If only the show had done more of these kind of scenes.  

How much do I love all the girls working together?  Gimps would never.  They’d all be stuck back at Alexandria minding the kids and the community.  

Shallow aside--Rosita is so pretty in this scene.  

Rosita being worried about Carol honestly makes my heart hurt, because it’s about damn time more of them actually did.  Her saying Abraham is trying to tell her something in her dreams is interesting.  Angela sure loves her dreams, doesn’t she?  

Where are Daryl’s dreams, hmm?  No.  Seriously.  I guess they want to give some viewers plausible deniability until the bitter end.  

“Really?  We’re just gonna go toward the screaming?  Cool.”  Hahaha.  You know.  Even the smart people in horror movies sometimes bite it, Negan.  Just saying.  Maggie really does need to “stop running up the staircase” when she could just run out the front door though, lol.  

Poor Duncan.  I think you could have been another Tyreese, Jerry type for me.  

WTF does this show have against horses?  Those poor creatures.  

Kelly is totally me right now.  I’d be freaking inconsolable.  

Carol needed that hug.  Thank you, Magna.  From the bottom of this tired fangirl’s heart, thank you.  

Why give us that beautiful, golden shot with the horses when you’re planning to stab us through the heart later and twist the knife.  Oh.  Yeah.  That’s exactly why.  

Oh snap!  Father G’s delivery when he tells that Reaper “I’m not.  God isn’t here anymore.”  Cold as ice.  

Judas.  That the Reapers’ work.  Or.  Damn.  Either way, that’s harsh.  

Back to what Alden was saying.  All these oprhaned children.  Who’s going to take on Adam if he dies?  That poor kid has had a rough go of it.  Knowing that, makes you wonder what Alden was thinking volunteering for the suicide mission.  

Omigosh.  There went Agatha.  Terrible way to go.  Right, Beatrice?  

I’m sobbing.  Carol with the horse.  That hurt my baby so much but she hurt herself for her family the same way she has been doing since the Prison.  Melissa Mcbride?  When she cries, I cry.  Every effin’ time.  Aaron being there just made it hurt more.  But at least someone was there to see how and really take in how she continues to break pieces of herself off to keep her family as whole and safe and happy as she can.  

Rewinding a minute--that Magna and Carol conversation.  I get Magna’s reasoning too.  I do.  But Angela is just making everything so dire right now so that the sun when Connie is ultimate found shines a ltitle brighter.  

Those babies know they’re eating horse.  I could never.  

That’s got to be a different Coco.  She’s even smaller.  But she’s gorgeous.  

Fucking finally.  Angela having the other characters notice after an eternity of being blind to it, just how much Carol sacrifices of herself for them.  It’s so long overdue and I imagine Rosita’s even more worried for Carol now.  It’s a shame it’s taken 11 seasons.  My baby’s had blood on her hands trying to keep her family safe and whole and happy and fed for a long damn time.  So heartbreaking watching her try to scrub the blood away.  

Sweet, sweet hug that Kelly gave Magna.  She’s such a sweetheart kid sis to all of them, isn’t she?  

Interesting place of refuge.  A gutted church.  A visual symbol, Angela, of where Maggie and the rest of our people are now perhaps?  

��It’s easy for you, isn’t it?  Being reckless with sombody’s life...”  Maggie.  Maggie.  Those words would have hit so much harder if we hadn’t spent the majority of the last 2.5 episodes watching you ignore sound advice just because it came out of the mouth of somebody you (justifiably) hate.  

But will Alden be there when Maggie and Negan get back?  That is the question.  Or will he eventually Lucille himself?  

That little bit of lineup Negan music to remind the audience of Negan lovers and sympathizers that he once took great pleasure in murderously swinging a bag at people’s heads was a nice, subtle touch there.  Like agree with her or not, Maggie  is literally left to rely  on the hope, however small it is, that Negan has changed just enough that he won’t try to finish a job he taken on years before--killing what’s left of her.  

Oh lawd.  Next episode sees the return of a character literally nobody asked for.  How excited am I not?  

Dog better not be harmed or so help me.  

Now for Angela’s weekly explanations of WTF she/there were thinking because they been doing this plausible deniability thing so long some people out there watching with biased, muddy stan glasses can no longer separate head canon from canon.  

Is Maggie worried at all about Daryl or does she just assume his superhero powers are in full effect in this episode?  

“You can’t really say it wasn’t going to happen anyway.”  Not Angela pointing out that simply laying the blame for literally everything bad that ever happens at Carol’s feet isn’t the answer.  Say it louder for those in the back.  Alpha was going to do what Alpha wanted to do.  

“There is love there.  There is respect there.  However, there’s also frustration...”  You damn skippy.  Friendships and human relationships are complex AF.  Like Carol. She’s honestly one of the most complicated characters on this show and any show, IMHO.  That’s what makes her so memorable and such a lightning rod for discussion.  

I know I might be in a minority, but I really feel like they need more of those little scenes between the kids to keep things real.  

Kang saying she always feels like she’s going to get murdered in a staircase or parking lot is relatable, funny, and sad all at the same time.  It’s a girl thing.  

Why is Carol’s story giving me Dark Knight vibes?  Like I feel like she’ll gladly shoulder the burden of their distrust, their hate, or their judgment as long as the hard choices she makes keeps them safe.  And she’s still ultimately going to come back to save their asses even when they forsake her.  Just like Bruce Wayne/Batman.  Am I reaching too far, lol?  Because sometimes I do that.  

Anyway.  This is the third episode of the season and the third episode in a row that I mostly enjoyed.  I don’t know if I’m just so relieved and happy to have all the characters and my show back or what, but overall?  I’ve been pleased with the episodes and found something to love in all of them.  

There’s a much stronger horror vibe woven throughout Season 11 so far.  I feel like it’s a return to the roots of the show and I like that.  Literally none of the characters are making perfect choices and this viewer is here for it.  My only complaint so far is there hasn’t been enough Carol but what we’ve been given has felt like a gift and significant in a way that Gimps’ version was not.  Also?  I really hope the trend of the ladies working together and supporting each other continues because they rule the TWD world, lol.  

Hope you enjoyed at least some of my TWD word vomit.  

Until next episode.  

[ri-ahhh]

van life

I wasn’t gonna post this because it’s just like an overload of unrealistic softness but now that we know that they’re selling the van I think now is the best time if I’m gonna do it lol.

Also I’m sorry I can’t make this shorter on your dash by putting a ‘keep reading’ break. Tumblr is shitty and permanently fucked on my desktop where it just won’t load the page once I’m logged in so I have to do everything through mobile🙄

6k

warnings: fluff, smut, kinda unedited

***

MJ sighs as warm morning sunlight kisses her skin through the passenger window of the tiny house van. She and Grayson had decided to have a beach day to themselves — the first one of summer — and she could’t be more excited. Nothing makes MJ Macias more content and at peace with her life than laying under the Pacific sun until her nose freckles and her skin takes on that healthy golden hue. Wrinkles are a risk she’s willing to take as long as she has a nice, long podcast, something to munch on, and, of course, a good view of her boyfriend in the surf.

That view of him rivals the one of the ocean in her opinion, which is just past his window as they cruise down the PCH on their way to Malibu. MJ wiggles her white-painted toes on the dashboard and smiles as she watches him sing along quietly (and off-key) to the Tame Impala song filling the cabin of the van. She loves his profile so much: the perfect slope of his nose; his full lips; the chunk of hair that swoops across his forehead.

She lifts their clasped hands from where they rest on her thigh with their fingers threaded together, and kisses the back of his wide palm.

“You’re so handsome, Bear,” MJ murmurs against his skin.

Grayson stops singing long enough to look over at her and smile brightly, his eyes hidden behind his black Louis Vuitton sunglasses. He pulls their hands towards himself so he can copy her kiss, only to her her own soft skin.

“My pretty Peach,” he returns with a squeeze to her palm, making MJ flush the color of her pet name. “Always so beautiful in the mornings.”

MJ hums and takes her turn returning their hands back to her lap, trailing her long nails up and down his muscular, veiny forearm. Apparently they’re equally as headass for each other today. “Just in the mornings?” she teases, tickling the sensitive patch of skin near the crook of his elbow.

She can’t see his eyes roll, but she imagines they do as his grin turns playful. “Of course not, but especially in the mornings. Your hair is in that cute braid and your skin is all silky soft and your eyes are extra green.” He takes his eyes off the road for a moment to appraise her looking exactly as he described. “And, you know, usually on the weekends you’d still be naked at this time. I like that part about mornings, too.”

“Oh, Lord,” she laughs with a shake of her head. “Grayson!”

She gasps his name and giggles harder as he completely catches her off guard by moving their hands right over his hardening cock. MJ squeezes him reflexively, and Grayson gives a little grunt as he shifts in his seat with a smirk.

“What?” he asks in mock defense, placing both hands back on the steering wheel. “I had to show you how much you affect me! I only have to think about you naked in our bed and it goes up.”

“That’s sweet,” MJ says, stroking his dick one more time before moving her hand further down his thigh, “but if you think I’m giving you road head in this car on this twisty road, you’re very mistaken.”

Grayson makes an obnoxious little whiny noise in defeat, pouting playfully and muttering dejectedly, “I knew we should have taken the Tesla.”

MJ raises an eyebrow. “Well, we wouldn’t have been able to bring your surfboard. Or be the first ones to christen the tiny house.”

“Oh, shit,” Gray says quietly, surprised. MJ smiles at the small victory of teasing him, her eyes diverting back to the beautiful scenery ahead of them as her mind wanders to all the things they can do in that makeshift bed.

“How about road hand, then, to start it off?”

She lets out a frustrated huff, his request interrupting her daydream. If there was ever a scenario where she didn't trust Grayson, it was one in which he was receiving any overt sexual pleasure whilst controlling a giant motor vehicle.

“Gray, I love you, but you’re pushing it.”

“Understood.”

***

It takes about half an hour for them to reach their destination, but MJ knows it was worth the drive as soon as they exit the car and she inhales the clean, salty air. They park at a little camping lot they had reserved a spot in for the day, the glittering ocean a mere few hundred feet away.

“Surf looks good,” MJ remarks, her hand shielding her eyes as she gazes out at the water. It always makes her a little nervous when Gray goes out in big swells, so the mild waves are a happy sight for her. “Nice and small; just how I like ‘em.”

Grayson looks out as well as he climbs on the roof of the van to retrieve the surfboard. “Funny, I happen to know for a fact you like ‘em long and wide,” he jokes. He just couldn’t help himself, apparently, his wide smile looking down at her from the top of the ladder a clear display of how proud of the stupid joke he is.

MJ watches the exposed muscles in his arms and shoulders ripple under his skin as he begins wrestling with the hooks and ties securing the board to the roof racks. The sight combined with his words and thoughts of what transpired earlier in the car makes her center pulse dangerously.

Needless to say, he’s successfully turned her on despite her best efforts.

“You’re insufferable, Dolan,” she says with a shake of her head. Her body feels heated from his innuendo and also the midmorning sun that is steadily raising the outside temperature. She pulls off the hoodie she had thrown on in the chilly early morning and steps into the back seat to haul out the cooler and beach bag.

“Yeah, but you love me,” his voice comes from right behind her. She turns around and yelps in surprise when she sees Grayson peeking his head upside down into the cab from the roof. He’s inches from her and is just dangling there like an overgrown monkey, which makes her fall back in the seat in a fit of giggles. He wags his brows at her playfully. “Ooh! Spider-Man kiss!”

MJ rolls her eyes good-naturedly and happily scoots over to clasp his cheeks in her hands, granting his wish by planting a sweet kiss to his lips. The scruff on his chin tickles her nose peculiarly, but she’s not mad at it. “Too much. I love you too much, you goof.”

Finally, with all their beach supplies in hand, they walk together towards the ocean. The private beach that they can access with their camp site is quiet and secluded. Best of all, it isn't clogged with tourists or people in general, which they both greatly prefer. Less people means they’re less likely to be bombarded by fangirls, or paparazzi, or any other unwanted distractions from what MJ hopes will be a perfect day.

As soon as the texture under her feet changes from firm concrete to sunken sand, MJ is stopping to remove her flip-flops so her toes can dig into the fine powder. This moment of first stepping on the beach is one of her favorite experiences, as minute and insignificant as it seems.

She looks up at Grayson, who glances back down at her questioningly. “Race ya,” she challenges suddenly, hauling ass to a perfect open spot on the wide expanse of beach. If there’s one thing she and her boyfriend have in common, it’s a highly competitive spirit.

“Cheater!” Grayson calls after her. He has the surfboard under one arm and the cooler slung over his shoulder, but everyone knows Grayson Dolan is the last person to turn down a competition. Which is why he does his best to catch up to her even with the obstacles in his arms holding him back.

The finish line is also only in MJ’s head, so she stops when she finds a spot she likes. She drops their bag and turns around with her arms raised like Rocky. Grayson isn’t very far behind her, being as in-shape as he is he’s reached her quickly, but he slows down earlier than he really needs to so he can take her in. Her breasts heave beneath a leopard print bikini top, loose hairs escape from her messy french braid, and her long legs glitter with the sand she had kicked up on her run.

She’s the most beautiful, dorky, amazing woman he’s ever seen and she is his.

MJ watches smugly as her boyfriend stalks over to her. “I wi—“

Grayson releases everything he’s carrying to the sand and grasps her face in both hands, pulling her in for a long, lingering kiss. MJ lets out a little squeak of surprise, but she melts into him half a second later. Nothing warms her soul more than his lips on hers, and she wraps her arms around his middle to bring them as close together as possible.

When he pulls back, Grayson stares at her with complete, obvious adoration. Ethan would have called him a simp if he were there, that’s how sappy his twin looks. Grayson can’t help himself, though; he is a simp for MJ, and, truthfully, he doesn’t give two shits who knows it as long as he makes her smile up at him like she is now, every day.

It’s why yesterday he had casually opened a new browser window, convincing himself he was just curiously window shopping on the ring section of Tiffany’s and the like… even after he got sucked into the customization tool on one website for nearly two hours.

Shaking his head and biting his lip through a grin, he traces the freckles on MJ’s cheek. “I want a rematch later.”

MJ squeezes him and smacks his ass playfully before releasing him and reaching into the bag for the big blanket. “You’re always such a sore loser,” she teases, unfolding the cloth and weighing it down with Grayson’s help. She digs through the bag again and hands him his wetsuit. “Go catch some waves. I have to catch up on this podcast by this really sexy guy and his twin brother.”

If there could be snapshots of the rest of the day, they would have been out of a picturesque rom-com. For a while, MJ rests on her tummy as she watches Grayson glide through the water, his deep voice simultaneously reverberating in her ears through her AirPods.

Eventually, when he’s done surfing — looking like a beach Adonis when he walks up the shore with the top half of his wetsuit folded down at his hips, surfboard under his arm and his wet abs glistening in the sun — he joins her on the blanket.

In the early afternoon MJ props herself up on her elbow, appraising his form with hungry, appreciative eyes as he tans on his back next to her. He has his hands pillowed behind his head, which causes his biceps to bulge and her thighs to clench. MJ is lost in him as she trails her finger over the features of his face — down his button nose, smoothing over his arched brows, across his rosy cheeks, against his pillowy lips. She smiles as he sighs contentedly and drops a peck to the tip of his nose before settling with her cheek on his chest. He smells like tanning oil and ocean and that clean, woody musk that MJ knows as him.

Later, they wade around in the sea between batches of sun bathing. At some points, he’s holding her waist-deep in the water with her legs wrapped around his middle and arms around his neck, lips connecting occasionally amidst easy conversation. Other times they have full-on water fights that have her squealing and him laughing as they splash each other back and forth.

It isn’t until the orange and pink hues of the sunset paint the sky that they’re brought back to the beach for good. Once they rinse off and have all of their things collected, they head back to the van.

MJ removes her bikini inside while Grayson reattaches the surfboard to the roof. She slips on her sweatshirt and a fresh pair of soft shorts just in time for him to carefully crack open the back door to make sure she’s decent.

Grayson smiles widely as he crawls in on the already made bed where she sits and is piling her damp hair into a messy bun. “So fucking beautiful,” he murmurs, giving her a lingering kiss while her hands are still mid-twist in her long hair.

A pleasant warmth swoops through her belly at his compliment; it had taken her a while to get accustomed to not only how often Grayson rains sweet praises like that down on her, but how sincerely he means them, too.

She hums into his mouth right before he pulls away. “I left your shorts there, baby,” she says, gesturing behind her with her head. Gray thanks her and she starts to dig through the cooler as he tugs his swimsuit down his inked legs, following them back up with the clean shorts.

They eat dinner with the back doors wide open, a perfect view of the sun setting below the ocean’s horizon right in front of them. A pleasant breeze floats around them in the van, cool and refreshing from being picked up right off the water. MJ nuzzles her cheek on Grayson’s bare shoulder, and he presses a kiss to the top of her head as she chews her last bite of tofu.

“Thank you for such a perfect day,” MJ says a minute later, gazing up at him while he takes a sip of La Croix. “Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I felt so…carefree. Loved. In love. Not that you don’t make me feel those things every day, but… y’know. Today was just great.”

Her hand reaches to caress his stubbly cheek, a soft smile at the corner of her full lips. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Gray.”

Grayson looks down at her silently, but his eyes say everything his lips don’t. He tucks his can and their empty tupperware back into the cooler, tossing the bag into one of the back seats behind them so it’s out of the way.

He cups her cheeks in both hands, wasting no more time in bringing their mouths together. MJ sighs and shifts so she’s that much closer to him, just as his tongue prods gently at her pliant lips to coax them open.

They make out like that, slow and deep, with the soundtrack of crashing waves wafting through the open doors. Gray lies her down and supports the back of her head with his forearm, his free hand swooping up and down her side before settling in the dramatic dip of her waist as he pulls away just barely.

Eyes closed, their breaths come heavy and mingle sweetly in the minute space between them. Grayson suddenly lets out a little incredulous huff, shaking his head and diving back in blindly to suck softly on her bottom lip. MJ lets out a little moan and digs her nails gently down his bare back, her eyes fluttering open.

“What?” she asks with a little smile of her own, nuzzling her nose against his in an Eskimo kiss.

Grayson’s hazel orbs meet her green ones, and the hand resting on her waist comes to cup her face once again so he can stroke the new freckles that litter her high cheekbone.

“I’m gonna marry you,” he answers, chuckling at her shocked little gasp. He hurries to clarify himself. “One day, when we’re ready. You’re my world, MJ. Maybe it’s selfish, or self aggrandizing, but hearing you say that makes it so obvious to me that you’re the only person I’d ever want to spend the rest of my life with. Because I feel the same about you. I only ever want to make you feel that way; nothing makes me happier.”

MJ is stunned into silence. Grayson isn’t exactly the most eloquent person, so somehow she reasons that his perfect delivery of such meaningful words means they’re truly heartfelt. Not that she would have doubted him either way, but their relationship has suddenly shifted even deeper in the matter of one day. One simple, amazing day.

She feels the prickle of tears behind her eyes, and bites her lip through a watery smile as she raises her hand to run her fingers through the back of his hair. No matter how happy she is, her instinct for dealing with any emotions is to deflect with humor. “Can’t wait ’til I pop out a few of your babies. From the sounds of it, you’ll be worshipping the ground I walk on.”

That hits him right in the baby fever, his dick hardening even more behind his shorts at the thought of her belly swollen with his child. Joking or not, she’s absolutely right.

“Fuck,” he whispers, grinning as he ducks his head to nibble her favorite spot just behind her jaw and right under her ear. “How many of my babies? Hm?”

“Mmm,” she sighs, scratching lightly at his scalp, considering the question seriously. “Four little Dolan babies, I think. Three boys and a little girl.”

“Yeah,” Grayson agrees easily, making his way across her jaw with soft little suckles. “But make that three girls and a little boy, and you've got a deal.”

MJ giggles and grabs his face so they’re staring each other in the eye again. “No actual baby-making until there’s a ring on this finger.” She wiggles the digits of her left hand, which Grayson grabs and kisses the back of with a smirk. If only she knew just how close that moment might be. “But we can always practice in the meantime.”

Grayson nods and hitches her leg up his hip as he ducks down for a surprisingly chaste kiss considering her invitation a second before. As much as he wants her, he has a need deep in his chest just to be close to her for the moment. To feel her hold him and nuzzle into the warm crook of his neck, sucking gently on that freckle there to make his head swim like after a nice glass of wine.

MJ is just as happy with that arrangement, and she lets her body be still and her breaths tickle the sensitive skin at his collarbone. The ocean breeze billowing through the open doors of the van is cool and salty and comforting.

“It’s crazy,” Grayson whispers after a few peaceful minutes, his fingers starting to trail up and down her covered back slowly. MJ pulls back a little so she can see his face. He isn't looking at her, but rather out the open van doors at the last moments of the sun setting behind the water. “I remember feeling exactly this way the first day we met, only now it’s…more. You felt right then, so right it was scary. And here we are. How did I know that you were my person as soon as you let me walk you back to that tent?”

MJ smiles and her belly swoops. She thinks back to that night, how scared she had been and how instantly — well, as he said — right Grayson had felt the minute they crossed paths.

“I did kind of seduce you,” she chuckles, lifting her head to nibble at the underside of his chin and reveling in the sensation of his deep chuckle vibrating against her lips. “Maybe you’re just under my Black Widow spell. Have I never let it slip I’m only after your money?”

Grayson laughs louder, squeezing her to his body tighter. “Nope. But that’s the MJ I remember falling head over heels for in a matter of hours. Smart and witty and sweet and so fucking pretty with her green eyes and bright smile.”

MJ stares up at him with stars in those emerald eyes he adores so much. He is unreal to both see and hear; his skin has turned olive and his hair has the crisp of the ocean still in it, and the fact that he can still pinpoint the little things he liked about her from so long ago…

“Do you love me?” she asks quietly. It’s so ridiculously unnecessary to ask, he tells her multiple times a day, every day.

“So much, Peach,” he murmurs back predictably, finally swooping down to capture her lips like she wanted earlier, tongues meshing instantly.

He tastes so familiar and sweet. She wants to devour him slowly, intimately, like she has a thousand times before.

“Close the doors?” MJ gasps after the simple swipe of his thumb over her nipple through her sweatshirt makes her thighs tremble and her hips grind onto his half-hard erection. Something about the heartwarming intimacy of the day has translated to her body being physically sensitive beyond belief.

Grayson nods and sits up, reaching for the switch of the fairy lights MJ had hung up a few weeks ago before slamming the doors shut on the nighttime scenery.

While he does as she asked, she scoots up to rest her head on a pillow and watches his bare, chiseled torso glow in the dim, sensual lights. Right as he turns around he catches her struggling to free herself from her hoodie.

“Let me do it, Peach. I wanna do it,” he breathes, dipping down to kiss her soundly before tugging upward on the hem of the soft fabric. MJ drops her head to the pillow to break the seal of their lips, lifting her arms up so he can pull the garment over her head.

Grayson flings it to the front of the van and brings their mouths together so quickly, like he simply can’t be away from her lips for longer than a second. His hands reach up and cup the pliable mounds of her breasts, which are several shades lighter than the rest of her chest. Clearly, he could care less, and MJ sighs softly as he massages them firmly, his calloused palms creating delicious friction on her hypersensitive nipples.

“Still the prettiest tits I’ve ever seen, too,” he smirks, making his way across her jaw. MJ smiles too, eyes closed in bliss as he kisses the familiar trail down her sternum. Predictably, his warm lips suction around the bud of her left breast, and she lets her mind wander through the pleasure to flash back on the first time he did this.

“We’re still kind of in a tent, too, y’know,” she gasps as he switches sides, letting out her first moan of the night when he scrapes his teeth against her. “Just…more bougie.”

Grayson hums, quickly getting lost in the feel of how soft her tits are and how much he loves the sensation of her hard nipples under his tongue. He drops his hips down so he can grind his full erection against her hot center, eliciting wanton gasps from both of them.

MJ groans again, the feminine sound literal music to his ears and the perfect reinforcement to keep going. She hooks her legs around his waist to hold his hips against her, thrusting up against him as he continues to bite and lick and suckle her breasts.

“Holy shit, Gray, right there… I’m gonna cum,” she whimpers, grasping at his hair to hold him down where he was sucking perfectly on her breast, and continues to grind roughly on his dick. Sure enough, a few seconds later she’s shuddering with the most intense orgasm she’s ever had without manual stimulation. Even from Grayson.

Grayson himself can hardly believe it; they have a great sex life, but he can’t remember the last time he had gotten her off just through some intense dry humping.

He isn’t going to question it, though, because it only means one thing: she’s as voracious for him tonight as he is for her. He growls when she starts to come down and surprises her with his mouth planting roughly back on hers. MJ kisses him back lazily as her mind clears some, smiling and fluttering her eyes open to meet his dark gaze when she feels his middle finger replace his tongue in her mouth. She closes her swollen, pouty lips around the digit and sucks, holding onto his hand and maintaining complete eye contact with him when he moans softly. She pulls his hand out of her mouth and pushes it into her shorts.

“Fuck,” he rasps, collecting her slippery cum against his finger, swirling it against his thumb before trailing his middle finger up to her clit. He soaks in her expression as her eyes roll back at the first contact, his favorite reaction she has to his touch. “Fuck, MJ. So fucking wet for me.”

MJ nods quickly, opening her eyes again to watch him watch her. “Lemme taste,” she whimpers.

She pulls his hand back up and doesn’t wait for permission or leave him time to process her demand as she sucks the slick moisture straight off his finger, the taste of herself gracing her tongue causing her pussy to gush even more. When his brain finally catches up, he’s immediately ripping his hand away from her with a harsh groan and hooking it around the back of her neck to kiss her deeply. His tongue plunders her mouth as he searches for traces of that sweet, earthy tang he knows oh-so well. MJ’s hands distractedly push at the waistband of his shorts, desperate for the feel of his dick in her hands.

“Please, baby,” she whines against his lips when they break for air, using the moment of clarity to tug more determinedly at his shorts. “Need you.”

“Need me where?” he teases, backing up so she can’t reach him as he pulls her own shorts down her long, newly tanned legs. Once he flings the scrap of fabric to join her sweater, he ducks down and swipes his tongue quickly over each of her nipples. “Here?”

MJ groans and shakes her head, her brain not operating at enough capacity to tease back, it’s so clouded with desire for him. “Gray…”

Grayson smirks and grabs one of her hands that are coasting down his back and attempting to pull him down against her. He cups her petite palm against his pulsing erection, sighing a little when her fingers wrap around him through his shorts instinctively. He drops his hand and brings it to her pussy, his fingertips dancing delicately against her swollen lower lips. His head swims at how wet she is and how the solid feel of him seems to have brought her mind back to earth, because as soon as he lets go of her hand she delves past his waistband to grip him directly.

“My dick, baby, you need my dick?” he asks softly, his voice a little high and his breath pitchy as she strokes him steadily now.

MJ moans and her pussy throbs simply at his words. She nods hastily. “Need it in me,” she manages, meeting his heated gaze as she gives him a firm squeeze. “Love your dick.”

“Yeah,” he sighs, his touch leaving her as he helps her in getting him completely naked, kicking his shorts off when they reach his ankles.

He takes a moment to gather himself and to slow down, trying to get himself back in that intimate headspace they were so deep in earlier, so that this doesn’t turn into just a hot, hard fuck. They love that, and it’s kind of their bread and butter in the bedroom. But he wants to hold her close and savor her body, to pass that loving energy between them in the most special, physical way.

MJ’s chest heaves as she watches Grayson hover above her, staring at her, and she parts her legs to welcome him back into her space. He looks like a fucking Greek god in the low light, his hair curly from the saltwater and sweat, his skin golden and his muscles bulging. She can’t possibly want him any more than in that moment.

“C’mere,” she whispers, reaching her arms out and making grabby hands at him. She can’t allow another second to go by without the sensation of his smooth skin against hers.

Grayson smiles sweetly at her, eyes sultry as he lowers himself at her request and presses their bodies together from chests to centers. She cups his cheeks and scratches her fingers against his scruff as they kiss slowly, deeply, desire building intensely once again as they grind together at the middle.

“Please, Grayson,” she finally says again.

All thoughts of any more teasing are out the door as Grayson obliges her. He dips his fingers in her pussy, testing her readiness and using her sweet juices to coat his dick.

MJ spreads her legs up and out, bent at the knees, and she throws her head back with a gasp as he enters her in a short thrust; a little more on the second, until he bottoms out with the third.

“Fuck me,” she whimpers, her hands pushing on the firm globes of his ass.

Grayson obeys with a groan, drawing his hips in and out steadily. “Wanna fuck you slow,” he says in her ear, thrusting all the way in and all the way out. The warm clutch of her perfect pussy is so intense at that tempo that he shudders and his eyes roll back. “Slow and deep, Peach.”

“Yes,” MJ agrees, her breaths coming in fast despite the maintained speed of his dick. He’s working her up so good, and she leans forward to bite into the junction of his neck and shoulder out of habit to keep her sounds muffled.

“Yes, baby,” she squeals quietly when her minute adjustment shifts the angle just right for him to hit her spot over and over. Her nails claw at his back, scraping over the work of art that is both his rippling muscles and the picture of the lions inked into them. “Oh my God, keep fucking me like that.. like that…”

The air confined in the van is warm and thick. Sweat drips from the ends of his hair, his hot breaths fan over her forehead, and his chain dangles enticingly across her face as he stares down at her all blissed out beneath him. Nothing turns him on more than her words of encouragement, which are usually muted due to the fact that his omnipresent twin brother lives across the hall. But now that they’re alone, in nature — just like the night they met — all filters are off. It makes him even more determined to get her to cum so hard she forgets any of those sweet praises she’s mumbling other than his name.

It’s already so, so good, but as soon as he gets on his knees just enough to gain more leverage to thrust even harder into her, that knot in MJ’s stomach starts growing in a fantastically unfamiliar way. Her eyes roll back and Grayson reaches a huge hand up to support her head against his shoulder, sensing how perfect the angle is for her and wanting to help her maintain it. She’s getting tighter and wetter around him, so much so that he has to grit his teeth and hiss to avoid having to pull out and stop.

“MJ,” he moans into her ear, tugging on her lobe with his teeth, an unspoken warning that he’s close. He’ll hold on as long as he can, but he absolutely needs to get her there first.

In the back of her mind, she comprehends his cue. But she’s so focused on reaching the bursting point of that expanding ball behind her belly, she can’t help but selfishly draw every ounce of pleasure she can from him. She thinks she knows what’s going to happen, and it will be a first-time experience for both of them.

It’s only going to take a few more deep, hard thrusts, and she’ll be there. Almost there…

“Gray!” she squeaks, squeezing a hand between their bodies to push against his abs, just in time for him to pull out and her to gush all over him and the blankets serving as makeshift sheets beneath them. It’s an indescribable release that washes over her, her own loud, shaky squeals of pleasure distant noises in the back of her head. She can only see colors behind her closed eyelids, greens and blues and lavenders sparkling in her mind’s eye like a mystical fog.

Grayson can’t believe what he’s seeing. His shocked and aroused groan sounds obnoxiously loud and foreign in his own ears; the fact that he doesn’t bust his nut right there on the blanket next to hers is a miracle. Instinctively, he reaches his fingers down to help her through it by rubbing her clit, huffing out an incredulous laugh when her thighs clamp instantly around his hand and a little more of her juices come out, soaking his hand. His name tumbles repeatedly out of her lips, just like he was aiming for and unwittingly exceeding his own expectations.

He’s painfully hard as he leans over her again, kissing her through her mindless whimpers as she starts to slowly come-to, her damp thighs opening once again and allowing him to slip between them. Right where he belongs.

“MJ?” he whispers, stroking her brow softly and watching her face intently. “You okay?”

Eyes still closed and breasts heaving, MJ takes a second to respond, but she moans quietly and nods, puckering her lips in invitation for him to meet with his. He obliges, indulging her for a moment until he can’t wait anymore. “Where do you want me to cum?”

“Inside,” she breathes at once, reaching down to grasp him and bring him to her dripping pussy. Grayson flinches at her sudden grip on him and the overwhelming wetness against the sensitive head of his dick. “Come on, Bear. Want you to cum hard inside me.”

With a groan, he slides back inside her, and a few hard, sloppy thrusts later, he’s shooting deep in her pussy. He’s never cum so hard in his life, and he whines into her mouth with the timing of his spurts. She hums contentedly, obsessed with that feeling of warmth that comes with, well, his cum.

“So good,” he murmurs when he’s finally done, pulling out of her slowly. He grabs a spare towel and cleans up the liquid white that follows him dripping from her center. “That was incredible, MJ. You’re incredible.”

MJ shakes her head in agreement, clapping a hand to her forehead and giggling softly, her knees bent and swaying side to side. “I thought we had done everything to try to get that to happen. Turns out we just had to go back to the beginning.”

Grayson lies down next to her, turning her head with a gentle hand on her cheek so he can press their lips together. “I love you,” he says simply. “My pretty Peach.”

MJ grabs a blanket and tosses it over the both of them, brushing her nose against his once they’re cuddled together. “And I love my Gray Bear. Mine.”

“Yours,” he whispers in affirmation, tucking her head into the crook of his neck until they’re both lulled to sleep in their cozy little bougie tent.

[welllpthisishappening]

21 for the kiss prompts. because I am me LOL

Alright, so, full disclosure, this is not CS fic. I was going to write CS fic for this. i was! I had this vaguely angsty Emma gets hurt and Killian loses his mind thing happening, but then—I didn’t write that. Instead, here’s Will Scarlet gets hurt and Belle French loses her mind and it’s hockey. It’s 2,000 words! I don’t know how that happened. Anyway, the prompt here was “bloody kiss” and I love Will Scarlet with the force of a thousand suns. If you guys want to send more kiss prompts, I’m still waiting for people to respond to my emails.

“You’re mad.”

“Your powers of deduction are truly unparalleled. What gave me away, exactly?”

Will bit his lower lip. Let his teeth dig down until he tasted blood and, well—more blood, he supposed. Six stitches later, though, and there wasn’t much blood left on his face, just a pair of narrow eyes doing their best to glare a hole through his cranium and he didn’t think that was entirely possible. 

Biology had never been his strong suit, really. Unless you counted hauling off and punching some rat-faced bastard on the Caps who couldn’t keep his goddamn mouth shut about a possible offsides that had maybe happened two periods before and they’d been winning and it was fine. Totally fine. This was his job. Punching and bruising up assholes. Just a little bit, to remind them who they were playing and what was on the line and—

It was entirely possible Belle’s eyes were not entirely human. 

His face flushed. Heat raced through either one of his cheeks, threatening what he could only assume was the structural integrity of his own eyes because Will couldn’t remember when he’d decided to widen them, exactly. Just that they were starting to dry out a little bit and Ariel was going to kill him. 

She’d made that very clear post-game. 

There might be a two-person line to wreak havoc, now. 

“You get this little pinch between your eyebrows,” Will said, leaning forward until the top of his head nearly hit the bottom of her chin, “makes it easy to tell.”

Belle huffed. Crossed her arms. Nearly punched him in the face, which would have been something close to the peak of irony at this point, and then maybe Ariel wouldn’t threaten to kill him again. No, that was wishful thinking. 

It’d be a miracle if they were allowed uptown later. Ariel had probably sent out an APB, or whatever the culinary equivalent of that was. No admittance until the blood had dried off his forehead and he laid prostrate at her feet, begging forgiveness for the error of his ways. 

Like hell, he would.

This was his job. He was the—

Fuck, maybe he was a goon. He hadn’t scored in a while. Not even a secondary assist, or anything. Skating at the edge of the blue line on a fledgling power play did not an All-Star make, and, well, now that he thought about it, maybe Will had started jawing first. There were mumbled insults, at least. 

From him, specifically. More than once, actually. 

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be back here, y’know.”

The pinch got—

Pinchier. Deeper. Like a tiny, little crevice between what Will was starting to realize were meticulously cared-for eyebrows and maybe he should get a CT scan or an MRI or something because it had taken him this long to notice she was also wearing his jersey. Too-long sleeves grazed the slight bend of her knuckles, looking as if she was actively stopping herself from fisting her hands at her side and that thought wasn’t supposed to make him smile. 

Still. 

Will’s lips tugged up. His eyes thinned. Nose crinkled ever so slightly. Something that had been growing increasingly familiar in the last few months of the season jumped between his ribs, like little flutters of wholly imaginary wings, and she kept wearing his jersey. Kept coming to games, and that was good because they’d gotten past the labels and expectations, all of which were sky-high on the NHL’s most romance-prone hockey team. 

God, maybe he wasn’t just a goon. Maybe he was a complete and total asshole. 

“This is Cap’s fault,” Will announced, and he’d been ready for the pinch. He was less prepared for those eyebrows he was starting to become a tad obsessed with to soar up Belle’s forehead, past the swoop of bangs that regularly messed with his cognizant reasoning. 

She scoffed. “Are you fucking with me?”

“No, but maybe when we get back to—”

“I will kick you in the shins, Scarlet, I swear to every God you can think of.”

He tried not to deflate. Really, he did. But his name seemed to crack out of her, punching the bridge of his nose like Belle had actually pulled her right arm back and her scoff was more like an exhale that time. That had never happened. 

Even before. Before the labels and the attempts at setting up Killian and watching that entire season and how often he stared longing at Emma, before Regina and Locksley continued to be parents extraordinaire and the jealousy started to eat away at him. Slowly, but surely and he never talked about that, but he figured she knew because Belle knew everything and—

“Bet you twenty bucks you could name more gods than I could.”

Another sigh. A tilt of her head. It made her bangs shift. He wasn’t sure what was happening in his chest. Expanding and contracting, a painful rhythm that hurt way more than the stitches or the shitty metaphors and he was glad she’d snuck into the locker room. Will didn’t want her anywhere else. 

Naming conventions, aside. 

“I’m sorry—” “—I love you.”

He almost fell over. Impressive, since Will was still sitting down and his feet didn’t entirely reach the floor from that position. His jaw dropped. He hated that. Partially because it hurt and mostly because he should have been way cooler, wanted to be way cooler, but there were dots of red on his girlfriend’s cheeks and teeth digging into her lower lip, now, and he resolutely ignored the ache in his calves when he slid back to his feet. 

Curling an arm around her waist, he didn’t think much about the precise way he yanked her. Forward. Directly into his chest and that didn’t leave much room to bend his knees, but Will was less concerned with specifics and the staging of this than actually getting to the good part. 

The kissing part. 

Plus, Belle pushed up on her toes. So, that helped. 

He groaned. Loudly, like embarrassingly loud. As soon as her head tilted and he could get his mouth on hers and they were all hands and lips and whatever she was doing with her tongue, tracing the lip he’d been so intent on biting through just a few moments before. Bending his knees did give Will some more leverage. To pull her even closer, moving his arm and ignoring her soft protests. 

Most of them died when he managed to get a hand under her left thigh. 

She groaned. Something to be said about symmetry, Will assumed. Although he also didn’t really...care. About the saying, mostly. Not when he was melting and falling, dropping into the deep end of a pool that was a shock to his system and the best thing that had ever happened to him and she was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Bar none. 

Especially when she did that tongue thing. 

Closing his eyes, he knew he had to tilt his head. Had to breathe and stay conscious and he didn’t want to think about the medical requirements of a professional hockey player at a time like that, but he knew consistent awareness of his surroundings was probably fairly important and the roar of triumph blaring through his brain made that a little difficult. Breathing would have to be enough for now. 

“I can’t—” Belle’s shoulders heaved. Fingers dragged across the back of Will’s neck and he had to admit he was fairly impressed with her balance. Her right foot wasn’t on the ground. “Shit, I—” He pulled her lip between his teeth, tried to memorize the next hitch of her breath and he was about five-point two-three seconds away from losing his mind. Rocking his hips up was a very bad idea. He did it anyway. “Babe, I can’t think when you do that.”

Everything was spinning. He was spinning. No, that wasn’t true. He wasn’t spinning. He was standing and touching and there was barely any color left in Belle’s eyes. 

Pride prickled at the back of Will’s brain. Until pain joined the fray, making a glorious and unwelcome return at the precise moment he realized there was moisture on his cheek again. Warm and red and Ariel was going to kill him. 

“Cap and Emma were making out in the hallway,” Will explained, “pre-game. Nothing they don’t normally do, and I don’t even think they knew I was there.”

“Is any of this supposed to make me feel better?”

He nodded. “I love you, too. Like it’s ridiculous how in love with you I am.”

Silence. As much as there could be in a locker room, at least. Water fell from shower heads a few hundred feet away, the low murmur of questions and Lucas-approved answers, squeaking sneakers and clacking heels, and the familiar sound of wheels rolling across linoleum as the equipment hampers moved down the hall. 

Will took a deep breath. 

Slowly, through his nose. Keeping the nerves off his face was harder than he expected, and even more ridiculous than whatever he’d just proclaimed because Belle had proclaimed first and it was entirely possible they were both colossal idiots. That put them on even ground, though. 

He appreciated that. 

“Why were you mad, ma moitié?”

There was the pinch, again. “Why do you think?” Will shook his head, brushing hair away from her eyes and he knew he didn’t imagine that sigh, either. Softer. More content. All that previous even ground. “Because I—” Belle started, and the color hadn’t left her face yet. “I know you think you’ve got to be this guy. Out there defending, not just the goal but the people and that’s...I’m super into that.”

“But?”

“But it makes me so nervous, I could spit.’

Will genuinely had no idea what noise he made. It might not have been human, really. Tearing out of his throat, his eyes bugged and he bent over without really meaning to, forehead finding Belle’s shoulder like that was the only reasonable landing place. He was still bleeding. Or bleeding again, whatever. 

“Say that again,” he mumbled. Into her jersey. His jersey. Whatever, part two. 

“Spit,” she repeated, making sure to enunciate every letter, “because I know you can hold your own in a fight, and that’s how you think you make a difference on this team, but—”

“It is that’s why.”

“Was my shin-kicking threat not threatening?”

He kissed exactly where his lips were. “Not really, no.”

“‘Cuz I’ll totally do it, I swear. To all those gods and goddesses and then they’ll descend from on high and tell you that they also think you’re an idiot who should know that letting some rat on the ice get under your skin is exactly what they’re trying to do. Plus, it’s way better when you check them, y’know?”

Lifting his head didn’t hurt. Made him a little nervous, anxiety churning his gut and this was not the way Will thought this would happen. Maybe he could get Belle to kick Killian too. For the making out. And the unspoken frustration. He was definitely an idiot. “Is it just?”

“Don’t make me say it.”

“Don’t have to. You’re very easy to read.”

Belle lifted her eyebrows. More. “That so?’

“You think it’s super attractive when I check another dude.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Didn’t have to. Also, I love you.”

“You mentioned that before, yeah.”

“And I am sorry for freaking you out.” Sigh number three wasn’t quite as resigned as the others, but it still left guilt rising in the back of Will’s throat and every single inch of him froze. As soon as Belle leaned around him, grabbed a far-too-large handful of gauze and started wiping blood off his cheek. “That’s way too much, babe.”

“Ariel can deal.”

“Ya gonna kick her too?”

“I’ll consider it,” Belle mumbled, back on both feet again. For, like, two seconds. Before she pushed back up on her toes, kissed the corner of Will's mouth, and added, “Don’t do that to me again, ok?”

“Aye, aye, Cap.”

He had much better reflexes than her. Pulling her back to his side before either one of her shoes could land a blow was easy and bordering almost close to joyful and that was a strange thing for him to be, but it was also easy and somehow even more simple and Ariel let them into the restaurant that night. They stayed for all of fifteen minutes. 

And Will told Belle he loved her once every five minutes on the cab ride back to his apartment. 

He timed it, and everything. Just to make sure the color stayed in her cheeks.

[urdearestmom]

I'll Walk With You

hello everyone shocked to see me posting yet again???????

i said after i posted that oneshot rehashing 3x06 that i was going to one day write something where mike and max have an actual conversation.... and here it is!! for your reading pleasure :)

i think i did them and their dynamic justice with this and i'm super proud of how it turned out. we're unlikely to ever get something like this in the show but i'm hoping s4 at least gives us them being actual friends so that i can infer that something like this happened between seasons lol

Max’s house is silent as the grave. She isn’t surprised, it’s been like this nearly all the time since the summer. Her stepfather will drink himself back to sleep on the couch, and her mother will say nothing. Max won’t say anything either. The day has barely begun and it’s already shit.

Most of the time she escapes the horrible atmosphere inside her house by going to school, but it’s Spring Break now and she has nowhere to be. She’ll be stuck with her thoughts all day if she doesn’t find something else to do, so after nearly two hours of trying in vain to entertain herself, she decides to head out and see if Lucas is free. She knows Dustin already left town with his mom the night before, and she’s not willing to have Mike third wheel her and Lucas, so she hopes he’s down to go do something with her. He’s good at distracting her from the inescapable cycle of guilt and anger she feels constantly nowadays.

Except when she gets to his house, his parents are in the garage putting things into the trunk of the family car. She stops at the sight. Erica is nowhere to be seen but Lucas is standing in the front doorway and sees Max coming right away. He meets her in the street.

“Max, hey,” he says. “What’s up?”

Max gestures to his house. “I came to see if you wanted to hang out, but it looks like you guys are going somewhere.”

Lucas frowns. “I thought I told you, we’re going to visit my cousins in Chicago for a few days.”

Lord, a few days? Lucas must see it on her face because he scrambles to assure her it’s not for the whole week.

“I’ll be back Wednesday,” he promises.

“Today’s Sunday,” she protests. She knows there’s literally nothing to be done about it, but it still sucks. What’s she going to do all week?

“I swear I told you,” Lucas repeats.

“Yeah. Yeah,” Max answers. “You probably did. I’m sorry, just… forgot.”

He frowns again. Max has been forgetting a lot of things lately. She’s not sure why, it just feels like everything in her life is too much and her brain can’t handle it the way it should. Freshman year has not been the greatest so far.

“You okay?” He asks her, reaching for her hands, and his concern makes her heart squeeze painfully in her chest. He’s probably the only person who actually cares about her well-being, seeing as her mom clearly doesn’t.

Max nods. “Yeah. I just didn’t want to be at home, but I guess I’ll find something else to do. Bye, Lucas,” she says, squeezing his fingers gratefully before turning away to bike off back down the street.

“Hey!” He calls. She turns back. He motions to the big house next door, equally familiar to her. “Mike’s still home, maybe you can ask him?”

Max crosses her arms. “Like he would want to hang out with me,” she scoffs.

Lucas sighs. “Look, I know he can be a bit of an ass sometimes-”

“That’s putting it lightly.”

“-But he’s not a bad person, Max, you know that. He’s dealing with a lot right now,” Lucas finishes.

Max rolls her eyes. “Yeah, well, he’s not the only one,” she says bitingly. She has never gotten along with the third boy in their group and at this point she isn’t sure she ever will. She’s also not really in the mood to look at his stupid face today, considering it’ll more than likely start an argument and she doesn’t have the energy for that.

“I know,” Lucas says. “I know. But you’re both my best friends and I think you guys are more alike than you think. If you just gave each other another chance, you’d get along.”

Max doesn’t reply. She doesn’t really know what to say because she knows Lucas is only trying to help her with what he thinks is the current best solution, but she doesn’t want to agree with him either.

“Just think about it,” he continues. “He’s the only one not going anywhere so if you really need to see someone…”

She gets what Lucas is implying, but really? “He’d probably laugh in my face if I showed up at the door. I’d rather stay home.”

At that, Lucas raises his arms in surrender. “I’m just saying he wouldn’t turn you away. We don’t lie to each other, alright?”

Max shrugs in response. “Whatever. I’ll figure something out.”

Lucas steps forward quickly to hug her. Pulling back, he keeps his hands on her arms. “I wrote my cousins’ phone number on the back of your math worksheet yesterday if you need it.”

She gives him a tiny nod and he returns it with a small smile, dropping his arms back to his sides.

“I’ll see you first thing Thursday morning,” he adds.

“Thursday,” she repeats, putting one foot back on her bike pedal. “Got it.” What’s she supposed to do until Thursday?

The answer, as it happens, is absolutely nothing. For the rest of Sunday afternoon, Max rides around town with no destination. She stops in a park for a while, sitting down and pulling up blades of grass and sprinkling them around her. A man walking his dog gives her a weird look and she flips the bird at his back. That action feels oddly satisfying, even if he didn’t see it. In the evening she makes her way back to her house, and everyone pretends like she didn’t just spend the entire day gone.

Monday dawns looking and feeling exactly the same, except Max decides to get a start on some homework. This way when Lucas comes back she’ll be free to hang out with him without the thought of her assignments hanging over her head. Her mom leaves to go to work and all it does is make Max hyper aware of Neil’s movements across the house. He’s supposed to go to work too, but Max isn’t sure he will. In fact, she sort of suspects he’s either quit or been fired. He’s missed too many days.

When she’s tired of writing and the lines of her character analysis of Mercutio are starting to blur into the equations on her algebra worksheet, she goes into the kitchen to find something to eat. Neil’s gone, so she makes herself a ham and cheese sandwich and stands by the sink to eat it. She feels exhausted, and it’s barely afternoon.

Hours later, she wakes up from a nap to the sun near setting and the noises of her mom puttering around the kitchen making dinner. The first thing her gaze lands on is the clunky walkie-talkie sitting on her desk, and her thoughts spring to the boys. Specifically, what Lucas said to her the day before.

Maybe it has more merit than she first gave it. It’s true that she doesn’t get along with Mike at all, but she might be willing to try again at some point, if only to appease Lucas. She had wanted to when they all first met. She liked the other boys just fine, but she could tell from the get-go that Mike was their ringleader and his opinion could sway the others. If she wanted to truly feel like a part of the group, they all had to be on board. Even after that, things weren’t so terrible between them; at least until summer and all the drama with El and then everything else that happened. Now, Max’s headspace is too occupied by other problems to care much about trying to repair her somewhat-friendship with him, and Mike has become more and more reclusive by the day. She even thinks she saw him smoking once, down at the far end of the field, which, although she isn’t an expert, she feels is extremely uncharacteristic.

Everything’s just weird now. There’s too many empty holes in all their lives.

Dinner is mostly quiet; nobody in this house ever says anything that has any true meaning anyway. Maybe it’s better this way. Neil ends up on the couch joined by his bottle of whiskey and Max’s mom shoos her away after she’s cleared the table, so Max retreats back to her room. The silence is almost deafening, and she wishes that dumb walkie-talkie on her desk would crackle. What she wouldn’t give for someone to say real words to her.

She considers calling Lucas, but she doesn’t want to bother him with her problems when he’s supposed to be having fun with his cousins. She also doesn’t want Neil to ask who she’s calling. In the end, she ends up tidying her room, gathering up all her comic books and folding the clothes she has on the floor before placing them on her chair. The walkie seems like it’s calling out to her as she glances at it every five seconds, and then finally lets her frustration out on it by snatching it up and launching it at her bed. She doesn’t want to break it, but she did want to throw it. Why does she keep looking at it? It’s not like anyone’s going to call her on it. The only people who might are both out of town.

Her emotions war inside of her. On the one hand, she knows what she wants, what she needs. She needs to talk to someone freely so it has to be someone who relates to what she’s seen, because being stuck virtually alone inside her house for the next few days until Lucas gets back is going to drive her insane. Unfortunately the only person she can think of is someone she isn’t on good terms with, which makes her angry for even having the thought. Is she really desperate enough to potentially embarrass herself?

Damn Lucas for putting the idea in her head. She’s sure she never would’ve considered it on her own. Damn Lucas and his stupid advice, damn Dustin for ever speaking to her that day and getting her involved in all their mess, and damn Mike for hating her from day one.

Damn her for going to talk to him anyway. She sneaks out her window, just as she has done to meet Lucas so many times, except it’s after nine and it’s dark out. She brings the walkie with her.

On the way, she wonders why she’s even doing this. She supposes it would make it easier for Lucas and Dustin when they all hang out together (which is getting rarer every week) if she and Mike aren’t constantly at each other’s throats about something or other. She also remembers something El said to her on the phone a while ago that she had forgotten about until this very moment. El had heard enough complaints from both of them about each other and was just wishing they would stop fighting. Max had scoffed at it and been about to launch into another rant about just how much of a jerk Mike was when El had said she didn’t care if they weren’t friends, she just wanted them to stop being so mad all the time.

Max kind of agrees with her. Being angry all the time is exhausting, and there are way worse things in her life to be angry about than Mike Wheeler and his dumb attitude. If she can make peace with him, maybe she won’t feel so out of place around her own friends. And maybe, if they can get over everything that’s happened between them, it’ll give her hope that the rest of her life might look up one day, too.

It’s only when she gets to his house that she realizes she doesn’t know what she wants to say. Maybe it doesn’t have to be a whole conversation, maybe just seeing each other for five minutes will give her enough stability to stay in her house until Lucas returns and she can talk to him instead. She just needs to be around someone who knows the things she’s been through since she moved here, someone who looks at her and knows why she is the way she is. Her mom can never know and will never understand, and Neil is too scary to ever think about approaching him with anything at all.

She drops her bike in the grass by the back of the house, making her way to the basement door where she knows the boys like to be. He’s probably in there still. Her stomach is roiling with nerves, scared that he’ll open the door and glare at her like he usually does, but she remembers there’s another way he looks at her sometimes. There are moments at school, when she passes the gym or sees the basketball team, where Max gets overwhelmed at the memories of her dead stepbrother. It’s almost like she can smell him, the way he used to get up in her face when he yelled at her and the way he looked when he died apologizing to her. It’s moments like that when Dustin and Lucas will be distracted with some petty disagreement that she looks to Mike and his gaze contains solidarity instead of hostility; reassurement that he knows what it feels like to be reminded at every turn of someone you cared about who is gone. He was there, too, and saw Billy sacrifice himself at the last moment just as she did. It’s not an image either of them can forget.

It’s this that gives her the courage to rap her knuckles on the glass pane of the basement door and wait for an answer. When she waits ten seconds and nothing happens, she frowns and knocks again. He wouldn’t know it’s her, why would he ignore it?

She pushes her face up to the door again and tries to see inside, her breath fogging against the glass, and then realizes all the lights in the basement are off.

“Shit,” she says quietly. She doesn’t want to show up at the front door at this time of night. His mom will probably answer and Max doesn’t want to explain herself. She wanders around to the front of the house anyway, looking at which lights are on. There’s one on the ground floor that flickers and seems like it might be a TV, and there’s one on in a room on the second floor. That room has pink wallpaper, though, so Max decides to assume it’s not the one she’s looking for. The middle upstairs window is dark, and the one on the left has the blinds pulled halfway down, but she spots a familiar figure walking past it in the half second her eyes jump to it. Bingo.

She takes a breath to steel herself before bringing the walkie-talkie out of her jacket pocket and pressing down on the button. “Mike, do you copy? It’s Max. Over.”

The walkie crackles with static for a few seconds, and then clears up as an answer comes through. “Yeah, I copy. What do you want? Over.”

“Can you come outside?”

It crackles again in the silence, and Max thinks that maybe this was insane and she should just go home. Then, “You’re outside?”

The blinds lift all the way up and Max sees Mike’s expression change from confused to surprised, like he didn’t actually believe she was there. In a second, he has the window pulled up too and his head sticking out of it.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, his tone of voice anxious, and Max realizes he probably thinks something horrible has happened. In his head, there’s likely no other reason she of all people would show up at his house at close to ten at night.

“Nothing happened, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she says, glancing away from him above her and noticing she’s standing in front of the front door. This is not a good place to be. “I just- didn’t want to be alone.”

She looks back up to find him staring at her like she’s grown another head. “So you came to me?”

Max huffs and crosses her arms. “Well, there’s no one else to go to!”

“Keep your voice down!” He hisses. “Do you want my mom to hear you?”

She glares. She’s starting to think that this was a bad idea after all.

After a few seconds of mutinous eye contact, Mike puts a hand to his forehead exasperatedly. “Give me a minute, I’ll meet you at the basement door.” He shuts the window and pulls the blinds down without another word, so Max heeds the order and circles back around to where she left her bike. A few moments later, he comes out the door shrugging on a jacket over what looks like-

“Are those Star Wars pyjamas?” She asks, her mouth twisting into a teasing little smile. What does El see in this guy? As far as she knows, Lucas isn’t this completely nerdy.

He gives her a flat look. “Why do you have to have a problem with everything that I do?”

She frowns. “It was just a question. Relax, jeez.”

In response, Mike puts his hands in his pockets and looks at her. “So what do you want to do?”

Max balks for a second, awkwardness taking over her. This is so weird. She’s never willingly chosen to spend any of her time alone with Mike, and now she doesn’t know what to do.

“Um… just- walk around, maybe?”

He shrugs at her answer and starts walking toward the line of trees behind the house, where there’s a little path that leads off to the next street. Max follows quietly, a little moonlight shining down on them, and she thinks that the silence between them doesn’t feel as explosive as it usually does.

Somewhere along the way, after they’ve crossed another street and gone down a path between two houses, Mike takes something shiny out of his pocket and starts playing with it, and Max sees that it’s a lighter.

“What’s that for?” She asks.

“Lighting things up,” he says.

“You smoke?”

“Only sometimes.”

“So what’s it for the other times?”

He looks at her and his eyebrows furrow for a quick second, seemingly surprised that she inferred something about him correctly.

Mike shrugs again. “Sometimes I go out to the woods and set dead leaves on fire one at a time just to watch them burn. It’s weird how something that was alive once can just disintegrate right in front of you.”

Max isn’t sure what to say to that, but she offers something anyway. “Sometimes I steal my stepdad’s Bowie knife. Use it to stab trees,” she says casually. “Sometimes I even carve that I hate him into them.”

She’s never told Lucas that. Something in her knows that he wouldn’t relate, that his way of dealing with his anger is much calmer and reserved, but Mike’s admission of low-level violence makes her feel less crazy for her own. Maybe Lucas was right in saying they’re more alike than they think they are.

They come out of the trees behind the houses, and the path continues down a hill to a small playground area. There's a swing set that Max sits down on, the cold rubber biting through the fabric of her jeans and making her shiver. The chains creak when Mike sits in the one next to her. He’s digging through his pockets for something.

Max is almost surprised when he pulls out a box of cigarettes and plucks one from the pack, lighting it, but given what he’d just told her two minutes ago it’s not that shocking. He takes a pull from it and then blows the smoke out into the air slowly.

“You want some?” He asks, turning to her.

She remembers the choking sensation she’d felt that time Billy had offered her a drag from his cigarette, and then her mom’s reaction to it.

“Yeah, why not.” Maybe if she still smells like smoke tomorrow, her mom will care enough to ask where she’s been.

Mike hands it to her and the tips of his fingers are warm. “You’ve smoked before?”

“Once,” Max says.

He nods and watches her, and she tries not to let the hot, ashy air she breathes in make her choke. She holds it for a few seconds and then blows it out, and it makes her feel less nervous than she was before about this whole situation.

The pair of them sit there in the darkness for a few minutes, sharing the cigarette in silence, before Max thinks to ask a question she never got a real answer for.

“Why do you hate me so much?”

Mike doesn’t look at her, sucking in another breath of smoke. “I don’t hate you.”

“You sure act like you do.”

“Oh, and you don’t?” He says sarcastically, still not looking at her. “If I hated you why would I be here right now?”

“Well, if I hated you, why would I have come talk to you?” She retorts, trying to restrain the irritation she knows is probably written all over her. If she doesn’t rein herself in, she knows this is going to go south quicker than she wants it to.

He laughs dryly. “You said it yourself. You only came because there’s no one else.”

Max bites back the anger that’s trying to rise. He does have a point there, but she’s not going to tell him that. He’s also not answering her question.

“Fine. Maybe you don’t hate me.”

“I don’t.”

“What’s your problem with me then?”

He hands her the end of the cigarette to finish and grabs onto the chains of the swing, dragging the toes of his Converse through the grass.

“You’re always starting shit with me for no reason and it makes me so tired,” he says. “Like, we’d be friends just fine if we didn’t argue every other day.”

“And whose fault is that…” Max murmurs under her breath, dropping the cigarette stub to the ground and putting it out with her foot.

Mike turns to her sharply. “Uh, yours? You made El break up with me! How am I supposed to forget that?”

“I already told you I didn’t make her!” Max says loudly. Why is he still on this? As far as Max is aware, they’re basically back together anyway so it’s not like it made a difference. “And how am I supposed to forget how shit you made me feel the first week I was here?”

He looks away again. “I was pretty rude, I’ll give you that.”

She scoffs. “That’s underrating it. You were a total asshole.”

He pushes himself forward a little bit and then lets himself swing back. “I guess I never really apologized for that. I do regret it.”

Max stays silent and waits for him to continue. He’s slumped over in the swing, looking smaller and sadder than she’s ever seen him look, and her heart twinges. She recognizes the defeat present in the way his shoulders are hunched, the complete and utter exhaustion at the state of their lives painted on his face. It’s what she sees every day when she looks in the mirror.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t like you, or something,” he tells her. “I was jealous that Lucas and Dustin seemed like they were moving on when I was so…”

“Messed up?” She offers.

Mike shrugs. “Yeah. And part of it was out of concern for you, too.”

Max furrows her brows in confusion. That’s new. “Concern?” She asks, shaking her head slowly. Her hair swings around her face like a curtain, blocking her vision, but she wants to look at Mike and see how he explains this. She tucks it away behind her ear.

“Yeah,” he says again. “I could see how fucked up Will was, and I knew how fucked up I was. And Dustin and Lucas are good at pretending stuff doesn’t affect them but I know it did. It does.”

“And?”

“And I didn’t want someone new getting mixed up in our shit, okay?” He bursts out, meeting her curious gaze once again. “I didn’t want someone else to have to experience the stuff we did. I thought if I made it obvious that I didn’t want you there, you would leave. You know now, but when Lucas told you we couldn’t tell you stuff for your own safety it was the truth.”

Max thinks about that. She supposes it makes sense. She has noticed that Mike tends to be the guy that worries about everyone else’s safety, and always wants to get to the bottom of the problem before anyone gets hurt. Lucas is the same and it’s something she admires about him, but it’s overtly obvious in Mike when he’s always the one stressing about coming up with plans. Lucas is a little more go-with-what-the-adults-say.

“I’m sorry that I hurt you,” Mike finally says, and his expression is earnest. He’s a bad liar anyway, so Max knows that he means it. Speaking of his lies… she has something to apologize for too.

“I’m sorry too,” she says. “For judging your relationship too fast.”

He makes a weird noise when he registers what she said, almost like a laugh but kind of mad, too. “Yeah, and for making my girlfriend dump me.”

Max reaches out towards him and smacks his arm, a spike of irritation fuelling her. “Mike, how many goddamn times do I have to tell you I didn’t make her?”

“Well, what the hell did you say to her to make her do that?!” He exclaims.

The peace of the previous moment is gone and Max crosses her arms over her chest defensively. “From what she told me, it sounded like you were just lying straight to her face so you didn’t have to see her. All I did was tell her that if you did it again, she should dump your ass. You did it to yourself.”

Mike throws his arms up. “Hopper made me lie! He told me if I didn’t, he wouldn’t let me see her anymore. You seriously think I wouldn’t want to spend time with her? After everything we went through?”

She thinks for a second about the way he’d looked when El had walked back into their lives; the way he had seemed to drop all the negativity he’d been carrying around the second she came through that door. Max remembers thinking she’d never been so sure about someone’s presence in her life.

He’s still on a roll. “What, is that why you’ve dumped Lucas, like, seven times? You just break up with him the second he does something you don’t like without even letting him explain himself?”

Bringing that up is a sore point. Max feels incredibly guilty for the way she’s treated Lucas in the past, and she’s trying to be better. She’d told him once that she knew she could be a jerk like her stepbrother sometimes, that she was angry just like he was, but that she didn’t want to be like him. And then she turned around and behaved exactly like him, manipulating Lucas’ reactions and dumping him over and over because she knew he would come back. It made her feel like she was in control, the dominant one, the complete opposite of what she saw in her mother and what she felt in her house every day.

But she had come to a point where she realized that one day, Lucas would get fed up with her. There would come a day when he wouldn’t stand for it anymore and he’d leave her permanently, and Max didn’t think she could live with that. From then on, she had decided to try harder with him and make things better, to talk about her feelings more. It’s always going to be difficult for her, but Lucas is worth it.

“Don’t say that like you know anything about why I did that,” she says sharply, gripping so tightly onto the chain of the swing that the cold metal feels like ice in her hand.

Mike glares back at her, indignant. “Oh, that’s rich! Like you knew anything about me when you said that shit to El!”

Max stands up suddenly. “I’m tired of the lies, Mike! Do you know what it’s like to live in a house where your mom will watch your brother get beat up and leave the room so she can pretend it didn’t happen? Where she doesn’t care where you go or how you feel or what’s going on with you because if she doesn’t ask, she doesn’t have to lie to herself that it’s okay? Where we all just don’t talk about anything and pretend it’s all fine when it isn’t?”

She’s breathing hard and he’s staring up at her with wide eyes, accustomed to her outbursts by now but not like this. Max sits back down on the swing, hard.

“I broke up with Lucas a lot because it made me feel like I had control,” she admits. “I needed to feel like I was in charge of the situation. I get enough of being treated second-class at home, and I don’t want to be like my mom, ever.”

She looks back at Mike on the other swing and he doesn’t look mad at her anymore, only like he’s processing what he’s just heard. It lets her own anger drain out of her.

“When El told me what you said, it reminded me of my mom,” Max continues. “She seemed so confused on why you would do that and to me it looked like you were just using her when you wanted her and dropping her when you didn’t. My mom kind of… disappears into whoever she’s dating and just goes along with whatever they do, and it looked like that for me,” she finishes.

“I get it,” he says, and Max raises her eyebrows. “I mean, I don’t get it personally, my parents aren’t like that. I just meant I get where you’re coming from. It makes sense why you would think that way.”

“I didn’t want the same thing that happens to my mom to happen to El,” Max adds. “She is her own person, and she of all people deserves the chance to be that.”

At last, they find common ground. “I agree,” Mike replies. “She’s been through enough in her life. And I’m happy you and her are friends now,” he adds. “Seriously. It was kind of weird to imagine her having girl problems or something and talking to my sister about it. I’m glad she has you.”

“I’m glad she has you,” Max says, and Mike looks shocked to hear her say it. “I might not get why, but I know you make her happy somehow. Even if you do wear Star Wars pyjamas.”

“Hey!” He says, offended. “You recognizing it means you’ve seen it too. And I know for a fact you read comics, so you’re just as much of a nerd as me.”

Max shrugs, giving him the point. “At least I can beat you at arcade games.”

“Is that a challenge?” He asks, swinging closer as if to intimidate her.

Max laughs, and it’s a real laugh for the first time in what feels like forever. “You’re on.”

“Tomorrow,” Mike suggests. “Twelve o’clock. I’ll meet you there.”

“Bring painkillers,” she warns him. “You’re gonna need them after I’m done kicking your ass at every. Single. Game.”

“You won’t beat me at Galaga,” he says proudly.

“Wanna bet?”

They stand up and shake hands, and his feels pleasantly warm. It’s a nice change from the frozen chain she was holding onto.

“Loser gets us fries,” Mike adds, and Max agrees to it. As if of one mind, they both turn back up the path they came from.

They’re back across the two streets they crossed and almost all the way back to Mike’s house when Max speaks again.

“So are we good?” She asks. She feels good about having aired out all the conflict she had with him, and he’s had this dumb smile on his face the whole time they’ve been walking back, which she’s choosing to take as a good sign.

“Yeah,” he says, looking at his feet. “We’re good.” He smiles wider.

It brings a small smile to Max’s own face. Having friends feels nice. “Why are you smiling like that?”

He coughs a little, scratching his head. “Just thinking about how happy El will be when she finds out we’re not enemies anymore.”

Max rolls her eyes good-naturedly. “You are so whipped.”

He shrugs as if to say, what can you do?

“I think Lucas and Dustin will benefit from having us not trying to kill each other every five seconds, too,” she says.

“Definitely.”

“Although I’ll probably still be annoyed by half the things you say.”

Mike makes a face like he’s not surprised to hear that. “Don’t worry about it. You’re still annoying, I just like you now. No more actual fighting.”

“Good,” she replies, feeling happier than she has in days as they arrive back in his backyard. She can faintly see her bike lying in the grass.

Mike has the door to the basement halfway open by the time she’s sitting on her bike ready to ride away, and at the last second lays a hand on her arm.

“Hey, anytime you need somewhere to go… I’m usually home,” he says, looking at her directly. It’s a simple thing to say, but she knows what he means by it. He’s telling her that he understands that sometimes her house is not a home, and that she’s always welcome in his if she needs it.

“Thanks,” she responds, and for once she is truly thankful for Mike Wheeler’s existence.

“Well, good night,” he answers, and awkwardly salutes her out of nowhere.

Max squints at him confusedly for a second. “I’ll... see you tomorrow,” she says haltingly.

He looks kind of embarrassed and shuts the door quickly, and Max rides off back to her house. That was random.

However, she is looking forward to tomorrow. She has a feeling Mike’s going to be the type of friend she’s constantly competing with, ribbing back and forth to see who can be worse just like they usually do, but this time knowing they’re both forgiven for their mistakes. It’s different from her other friendships for sure, but she thinks it’ll be good. Lucas is going to be pleased.

Maybe the wait until Thursday won’t be so bad after all.

[pogueshomecoming]

secret girlfriend - kiara carrera

requested? yes:  noticed you didn’t have anything for kie and the idea just popped into my head but maybe like she meets a girl (another kook? Idk) and starts hanging out with the boys less and they get suspicious so they follow her and see her with the other girl but kie never told them she’s queer so they’re surprised but are obviously super supportive and don’t care. this is my first time ever requesting so not sure if I’m doing this right but do whatever you’d like with it :) (you did great! haha no right or wrong way to request. thank you for sending it in💕) 

fill out this survey to join my taglist, here’s my masterlist, and requests are open.

warnings: I’ve never written for a girl before nor have I been with a girl but... we’ll see how this goes. i decided to make this more from the pogues pov until the end it kind of switches cause i suck lol. FLUFF AT THE END. it’s cute in my opinion. 

word count: 2.1k

++

“John B, can you drop me off first this time? I’m going to be late for my shift at the wreck.” Kiara checks her phone, pretending to look at the time.

“But we pass Pope’s place first... Why would we turn around and go back?” JJ scrunches his face in confusion, and Kie rolls her eyes, stomping her feet a little bit to get her point across. 

“Fuck off, JJ, I didn’t ask you. JB? Come on, I can’t be late again.” Kiara whines. 

“Sure, we could even come with you. Hang around out back so you can sneak us some food?” 

Panic rises in Kie as she quickly shakes her head. “My dad will be there all shift, so that won’t happen. You guys can’t hang around like that when he’s there.” 

She’s quick to defend, but none of them seem to notice. “Okay fine, but tell Mr. C that we said hi, maybe eventually he’ll like us if you keep doing that,” JJ interjects again, and Kie chuckles. 

“Yeah, maybe.” 

It’s only a few moments later that John B is pulling up to a dock. Kie jumps when she’s close enough. “Thanks. Love you guys! See ya.”

A chorus of, “Love you too” s ring out behind her as she runs away. 

“Was that weird to anyone else?” Pope asks as they pull away, turning back towards Heywards. 

“Nah. I think she mentioned the other day about someone quitting, so she’s covering shifts until they find someone else.” John B speaks without taking his eyes off of the water in front of him.

“Sweet, I’m going to apply,” JJ smirks, and Pope can’t help but shake his head. 

“You do that.” 

+

“Kie just texted that she’s not coming.” John B says as he exits the chateau. The four of them were supposed to go drive around the island, get up to some real Pogue mischief. 

“What? Did she say why?” JJ sits up in the hammock, causing it to wobble, and Pope almost falls out of the other side. 

“They’re painting the new wreck sign or something like that. Guess they haven’t hired anyone yet.” JB shrugs and shoves his phone into his back pocket. 

“Well, driving around doing nothing doesn’t sound like fun when there’s no anyone there to stop us from doing dumb shit.” JJ sighs.

“Hey, I’m pretty good at that.” Pope is offended but laughs it off. 

“We could go fishing? Kie hates fishing.” John B looks at the two of them, waiting for confirmation. 

“Alright, fine. Let’s go fishing.” 

-

“So you’re telling me that there’s a whole part of the island with teenagers looking for a job, and Mr. C hasn’t hired anyone in two weeks?” Pope thinks out loud. JJ and John B are pulling a net in, but Pope is lying on his back at the from of the boat. 

“What are you talking about? And why?” JJ groans, giving one final pull to get the fish on to the deck. 

“Kie keeps telling us she’s filling in momentarily. Do you guys really think it’d be that hard to find someone to work? Mr. C could replace anyone at any time.” Pope sits up to find John B and JJ both looking at him. 

“So, what are you getting at? That Kie is lying to us?” John B asks, his head tilting to the side ever so slightly. 

“Obviously, I don’t know for sure, but it seems like it.” 

It’s silent for a few moments.

“Wait, Pope is right. She’s been dipping out early or not showing up at all, and her excuse is always the wreck. Why don’t we go see if she’s there now?” 

“Good idea.” JB drops the net in his hand and resumes his spot behind the wheel. 

-

JJ and Pope are holding on to dock posts, waiting as John B goes inside to find Kie. He’s not gone for very long before they see him jogging back to the boat. 

“She’s not there. Mr. C was, though. Said he thought she was with us. I covered for her, but now we know.” John B shrugs as he steps onto the boat, pushing off with one leg. 

“Kie never lies to us. She’s gotta be macking someone she doesn’t want us to know about. Right? Any other ideas?” JJ looks to Pope and JB individually, but they both shake their heads.

“Ugh, what if it’s a kook. Surely she wouldn’t date Topper, right? Or Rafe? I guess Kelce is a possibility. In that case, she can keep sneaking around.” Pope groans and makes a gagging motion with his finger. 

“Oh my god, wait. That’s perfect, Pope. We’ve got to catch her in the act. The pogues haven’t had a Sunset Saturday to Sunday Sunrise hang out in a while. Let’s have one, invite her, and when she makes an excuse or straight up leaves, we’ll follow.” John B smiles proudly, and surprisingly, Pope and JJ praise him for his idea. 

“And if she doesn’t leave?” Pope asks. 

“We’ll do it again next weekend.” 

+

Sunset Saturday to Sunday Sunrise used to be a Pogue tradition. They usually happened during the school year. It gave them all time to hang out and be with each other after long weeks of learning. As summer started creeping up, they got less and less because their time spent together got higher and higher. 

When Kiara agreed and told them she’d be there, they all got even more excited to bring the tradition back. 

The four brought out every blanket and pillow in John B’s house to make their beds on the grass outside. Pope and JJ always combined and shared. It gave them more blankets, therefore, more comfort. They were always very proud of their result. 

As the sun went down, everyone shared a high and low from the week. JJ’s was something stupid like the actual high he got from a new strain of weed he tried. John B talked about waves he’d surfed at the beginning of the week. Pope said he liked sharing a makeshift bed with JJ, and everyone laughed. Kie said her high was finally finding time to hang out with her boys. They all side-eyed each other behind her back.

Their plan was to fall asleep, which isn’t supposed to happen on a night like this. The point is to stay up and watch the sunrise, but only a few hours in, each boy was performing their best fake snore. Kiara groaned, “Seriously? Have you guys gotten so old that you can’t even stay awake all night?”

Instead of getting up like they expected her to, Kie laid down. She snuggled into her blankets and followed them in falling asleep. 

-

Sunday Sunrise came soon enough, waking them all up with blinding golden light casting over the water. Each one moaned and groaned, sitting up to stretch out their backs and legs after sleeping on the ground. 

“Guess traditions change after a while.” John B laughs, and so do the others. 

“It was still fun.” Kie smiles back at him, and he nods. 

Then the four of them set up Kie’s phone on a timer and pose multiple times with the vibrant colored sky in the background. Most of them are too dark to see their faces as a result of the backlight, but no one complained. Laughter was shared, and that was all they needed. 

Until Kie picked up her phone, read a text message, and made an excuse to leave. Pope, John B, and JJ all exchanged looks as they hopped into the van to follow. 

The van is pretty easy to spot, so they had to be cautious of the distance they left between each other. Kie led them back to Figure 8, and when she passed her house, all three got more nervous. They parked the van at the edge of the neighborhood and began walking. It was 7am, no one would be awake this early on a Sunday. 

“Wait, guys, there’s her car.” Pope sticks his head out around a corner and then brings it back. 

John B leans so he can see around, JJ over him, and Pope over him. They watch as Kie gets out of her car. 

“That house was for sale a few weeks ago, do you think her parents bought it? Or some family members?” JJ contemplates.

“How do you know it was for sale?” John B asks, keeping his eyes on Kiara. She’s fixing her clothes, smoothing them out, straightening her shirt, and making small adjustments. 

“I look at listings sometimes when I’m at the hotel. Why not?” 

The front door to the house opens, revealing you. “Wait guys, shut up.”

All three of them focus on you as you smile big and welcome Kiara into your arms. 

“Bro does Kie have a sister or cousin we don’t know about? Damn.” JJ marvels at you.

Then, as you start to pull away from the hug, Kie presses her lips to yours. The boys can hear your collective giggles from here.

“Not her sister or cousin, JJ.” Pope clicks his tongue and stands up straight. 

“Damn it, I’m starting to think my type is girls who like girls.” JJ groans and also stands up straight. He’s not wrong. Recently, he’s been rejected by three girls because they weren’t straight. 

John B is still watching the two of you. Mostly because it’s cute, and JB likes seeing Kie happy. 

While John B is preoccupied, JJ and Pope had started messing around. Pushing and shoving each other playfully, whispering insults at each other as jokes. JB doesn’t know how it started, but he does know it ended with them knocking over a line of trashcans. John B straightens immediately, and the three boys freeze. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” John B pinches the bridge of his nose while he whisper yells at them. 

“What the hell was that?” They hear your voice instead of Kiara’s because Kie saw John B’s head snap out of view at the last second. 

“Let’s go see.” Kie pulls you towards the corner of the house, already pissed off at the boys. The three of them nearly jump out of their skin when she rounds the corner, pulling you by your hand. 

“It’s just my dumbass friends. What the fuck, boys?” 

“JJ is the one that pushed me into the trash can.” Pope blabs. 

“Hey! You pushed me first, I wa-”

“Dude, it doesn’t matter, you gave away our cover.” 

The three of them start bickering, and Kie looks at you with an eye roll. 

“Excuse me? Remember me? Can you tell me what you’re doing here?” Kiara waves her hand, and you can’t help but laugh behind her. 

Pope and JJ immediately look at John B, since this was his plan, after all. JB doesn’t catch on until way after he’s supposed to. “Fine, I guess I’ll tell her.”

“Basically, Pope said you’d been acting weird, and there was no way that your dad hadn’t hired someone at the wreck, which meant you were lying about where you were going. And-”

“Wow, thank you for putting the blame on me.” Pope flashes a frown. 

John B ignores him. “And we missed you. You know? You were cutting out on our plans early or not showing up, and it wasn’t as fun with you not around. So we thought you were dating one of the Kooks we hate... and that led to us following you over here.”

“And did you find what you’re looking for?” She crosses her arms over her chest. 

“Why didn’t you tell us, Kie?” John B looks up at her, a serious expression on his face. John B had always confided in Kie when he thought it was something JJ or Pope wouldn’t care about. 

“I don’t know, I didn’t know what you’d say if you knew I liked girls. Like I know you guys are always there for me bu-”

“No, not that part. Why didn’t you tell us that you found someone and you’re happy? That’s all we want for you, Kie.” John B stands up, and the other two follow him. Your heart is about to melt from the sweetness of their friendship. 

“He’s right.” Pope nods. Kiara looks at JJ last.

“Yeah, he’s right. I mean, I’ve had a crush on you since I met you, but I’m not hurt or anything.” JJ teases, shrugging his shoulders with a pouty face. “I’m kidding Kie, we’ll support you in anything you do.”

Kiara has tears in her eyes as she reaches forward to pull them into a group hug. “I love you guys.” 

She pushes them off of her gently and turns halfway, so she’s kind of facing you at the same time as them. The smile on her face is one of the biggest you’ve ever seen as she tugs on your arm to step closer.

“Oh, and this is Y/N, my secret but not so secret anymore, girlfriend.”

++

thank you for reading! please leave feedback and reblog if you liked it. 

kiara carrera taglist: @jjfuckr​

[artificialqueens]

Échappé / Chapter 9 (Branjie) - DenDenMonMon

A/N: So we only have this and another chapter left before the story is over. This was supposed to be some sort of joke. My friend of like ten years, better known as svpermodel, kept going on and on about this “Branjie movie” she wanted to see, I pieced her tweets together and offered to make it a fanfic instead. I knew very little about the pairing and secretly plotted to slowly turned it into a Trixya fic (which I kinda did lol), but never thought I would fall in love with these characters so hard. Needless to say, I had a total of four hundred and twenty seven breakdowns trying to figure out how to wrap things up, even when we had the outline done right from the start. It was so difficult for me to reach the end because… I didn’t want it to end. But enough of my rambling, thank you so, so much for reading and for taking the time to comment. It means the world to me.

As always you can find me as DenDenMonMon on here, twitter and ao3. -Monkey

AO3 Link

Chapter 9

It hardly ever rained in LA, except when something shitty needed to happen, then the sky seemed to be falling down in pieces. It was like a movie. When the climax was approaching, when the guy was dumped, when the girl lost her job, rain was always used to set a depressing mood. The drops carried instrumental music with them, intensifying notes that would lead the viewer to a tragic ending.

Vanessa liked the rain, she liked it a lot. She had come to enjoy it, to long for it.

Although, when it did rain, people didn’t know what to do. The city itself didn’t know how to react. The permanent state of sunshine made Angelinos forget that, every once in a while, the water cycle would make the clouds release countless gallons of rain. Yet, nobody was prepared for that one day of the year when the streets flooded and the canals overflowed, street posts fell down and the power went out. Nobody knew what to do with themselves when the TV signal became erratic, and billboards were ripped from their frames. There were car accidents, because one forgot how to drive when water fell from the sky, and currents dragged all the garbage left on the sidewalks.

Thankfully, it hardly ever rained in LA.

Goosebumps appeared on her arms as Vanessa exited the church. Every piece of uncovered skin complained at the sudden change of temperature. The cold wind, charged with tiny ice molecules, played with the skirt of her black dress. It was probably too short for the occasion, but nobody would have expected her to wear anything else. The heat of her body, as it encountered the cool air, made her cheeks blush; the cold wind bit the delicate skin of her face. She pressed the girl closer to her side as they walked down the stairs. Vanessa did have half a mind to put something with a little more coverage on Elena that morning.

The sound of her high heels, mixing with the droplets hitting the ground, made everything feel even more dramatic for Vanessa. The only thing missing was a thunder slapping across the sky right that instant, to complete the horrific cinematic scene. Thing that didn’t happen.

People rushed by them, waving with one hand as the other held umbrellas, or any piece of available paper, over their heads. Promises were shouted at them, to meet in a few minutes. Neither Vanessa or Elena felt like rushing their steps. Their faces were more or less covered by the big hats and the thin veils, which shielded them from the rain – and the social responsibility to be polite. They strolled across the long parking lot, allowing their bodies to get wet and clothes to stick to their skin. After all, it hardly ever rained around there.

There was a bench at the back of the church. Its color had faded; the hard California sun had slowly but surely eaten the deep brown that covered the contraption, leaving rusty tubes of metal in full display. Even though old and colorless, the bench still served its purpose. They sat on it, water that had gathered on the seat trespassed the fabric of their dresses and reached their legs. Vanessa gladly took the reminder that she could still feel something, even if it was just the rain.

She took a moment to evaluate her life, because it was the only logical thing to do as she sat in the rain at the back of a church.

Vanessa had always thought her life was the hardest. There were some problems placed in front of her that surely nobody else could take. She was a champ for making it through so much heartache and hardship. On some days she felt invincible, she yelled at life, or God, or destiny, to bring on the next challenge. She could take it. On other days, she felt like she deserved a break. Knowing that she could overcome whatever obstacle was placed in front of her, didn’t mean that she wanted to keep on doing so.

Life had been testing her for a bit too long, it was time for her to have some rest. She thought she had found that pocket of time and space where the universe had secluded her from all harm. That was when Brooke had been thrown into the mix. Of course, Vanessa couldn’t possibly break down the most important moments of her life without thinking about Brooke. It didn’t matter if their paths had crossed only a few weeks ago, Vanessa was sure that they had been meant to find each other since the beginning of times. The girl walked into Vanessa’s life and flipped it upside down. She had never lost the ground like that. Regardless of the many emotional hurricanes she had faced, Vanessa had never felt so lost, and confused, and twisted in her entire life. It had been beautiful; nerve wracking, but beautiful. Just when she was ready to open up her heart, to let someone else in and help her carry the weight, everything came crashing down. Bad things just kept coming, one after the other.

With each battle, Vanessa knew she had the option to either let the pain make her bitter or stronger. The line separating those two was sometimes hard to see, with a tendency to change positions with every situation. The line was wiggly, drawn with chalk that threatened to disappear with the rain currents; it was volatile. She prided herself in always choosing to be grateful. At least her life wasn’t as hard as the girl’s who clung to her arm right that instant. The same girl that had to look away as the casket of her mom was placed inside the hearse.

Ben parked right behind it, and Vanessa pulled Elena by the arm to get up. The driver rushed to them with an umbrella, ready to shelter them from the merciless drops, but Vanessa shook her hand in front of herself. It was pointless, they were soaked already. Silently, Ben nodded his head, walked the short distance he had moved from the car and opened the door to help Elena in. Vanessa, jumped in the passenger seat, as it had become her tradition. Ben didn’t stop her, he never did. He settled behind the wheel and turned the car back on.

They followed the procession in silence.

Elena looked out the window with a heavy heart, her eyes were red and puffy from all the crying. Vanessa bit the loose skin of her cuticles; she tried to count the times the windshield wipers passed in front of her eyes. Anything that could distract her from the intense pain hovering above them.

“Thank you,” she whispered after a few minutes. “You really didn’t have to do this. You know I can’t pay you, right?”

With a soft smile, Ben’s stare found hers for the first time. The cars in front of them moved extremely slow. “You don’t have to, dear. I’m happy to do this, to help a friend.”

A huff escaped Vanessa involuntarily. “Don’t even mention that hoe.”

It was easier to stay angry, to be mad at the person who supposedly didn’t help; because anger was a lot easier to deal with than sadness. Vanessa couldn’t admit, not even to herself, that she had left a part of her in that condo, that every step she took away from that metal door felt heavier than the last. If she told herself how much she didn’t want to see a certain person, it prevented her from missing them.

Ben chuckled softly. “I mean you, you silly head. I’m doing this for you, and for her.” He craned his neck to look through the rearview mirror, spotting the girl drawing hearts on the tarnished window. “How is she doing?”

“Not well. It’s not like her mother was very present, but at least she had her mom, you know?”

Even when he didn’t know, even when he had never gone through an experience like that, Ben nodded. “I can’t imagine what she must be feeling; but, hey, at least she’s got you, huh?”

“Damn right!” With a heavy sigh she tried, unsuccessfully, to spot the girl through the side mirror. “She will always have me.”

Vanessa was set to keep her promise, she didn’t leave Elena’s side that day. They held each other as the casket descended, and together threw the first handful of dirt. They didn’t let go as they greeted people into Elena’s home. In a very Hispanic tradition, the whole neighborhood got together to say their final goodbye to a woman they didn’t like, showed up at the place of someone they constantly talked about behind her back. With a forced smile on her face, Elena accepted hugs, directed pots and pans wrapped with aluminum foil to the kitchen and jackets to her bedroom.

Soon, the small apartment was crowded with chatty ladies and running kids. Vanessa talked to some of the older women, discussing recipes she had never tried to cook, not even pretending she knew what they were talking about. She kept an eye on Elena, talking to her dance friends, putting a front, appearing much stronger than what she was truly feeling. Soon, Vanessa had enough and asked the ladies to excuse her so she could check on the girl.

“How you feeling, baby?”

Elena pressed her lips into a thin line, and shrugged her shoulders, not really wanting to give an answer. Silence enveloped them for a minute, until the other girls understood they needed privacy. Between whispers and made up excuses, they got up and left them alone.

Vanessa took one of the now empty seats next to the girl. “Aight. I get it. I’m done talking with those clucking hens over there, too.” She pushed her chin in the direction of the women she had been talking to. Her comment didn’t get the laughter she was expecting in response. Honestly, she didn’t even know what she was expecting, she had no idea how to act in that situation. But she did know Elena, and she knew that she needed to figure out things on her own. Vanessa wanted to be there, but, at the same time, give her enough space to breath. It was complicated, to say the least. “Fine. We don’t have to talk.” Her stare travelled around, her fingers tapped her own knee, unsure of what to do with herself. They both sat in silence, watching people eat, and talk, and laugh, because that was the norm in Hispanic households.

Suddenly, there was a tap on Vanessa’s shoulder. “Vanjie, can I talk to you?” Michelle’s steady voice saved her from the awkward moment.

“Bitch, yes!” Vanessa replied a little too quick, thankful for the distraction. Catching herself, she sat straight, placing a hand on Elena’s shoulder. “Will you be okay for a minute?” The girl simply nodded her head, still in her absentminded state. Vanessa leaned towards her and kissed her temple, before getting up and following Michelle to a different room.

Michelle pushed the many coats out of the way and sat on Elena’s bed. The floral print, in soft pinks and purples, was a big contrast against the all-black outfit that Michelle was wearing. An aura of solemnity surrounded her as she looked across the small space but, truthfully, Vanessa couldn’t think of a time when Michelle looked anything but regal. Vanessa admired her, in every sense of her being. Michelle always knew what to say, what to do; her mind always worked out the perfect plan for whatever situation she encountered. The way she carried herself through life, with such confidence and certainty, was something Vanessa always wished she could do herself.

This time around, Michelle looked, if possible, even more majestic than ever. She straightened her back, her large breasts in clear view thanks to the deep cleavage. “I have good and bad news,” she spoke in the same ceremonious way that she had been acting all day. “Which one do you want first?”

The question startled Vanessa, she didn’t expect having to make any decisions during the conversation. “The bad, always the bad. Then we cover the wound with the good.” She nodded her head approvingly, agreeing with her own words.

For a split second, Michelle casted her eyes down. She tangled her fingers in her lap and sighed. The facade fell for a single beat of silence before she lifted her head and looked straight into Vanessa’s eyes. “We lost the center.” The words came out in a single exhale, in a monotonous whisper that barely registered in Vanessa’s head.

She heard it. Every single syllable of that message entered Vanessa’s ears. It was her brain the one that couldn’t comprehend the meaning behind the words. She could feel them bouncing inside her skull, crashing with every wall and resounding with each hit. The sentence had been simple, one would think four words, strung in such a logical order, would be easy to understand, even for her bilingual brain. Yet, each hop and jump the letters performed through the wiring of her head, made it impossible for Vanessa to let them land in a spot of comprehension.

“Vanjie,” Michelle snapped her fingers in front of her, landing her back into reality, forcing the cogs inside her mind to kick back into gear.

“Wha-what you mean we lost the center? That can’t be true. It ain’t happening. We got the money, we did. Exactly what they asked for. They just needed to finish off the paperwork. That skinny bitch told me the lawyers would take care of everything, she told me that…” Words spilled out without her permission, she didn’t even know what she was saying anymore. She went on and on and on, until she lost track of her own thoughts and simply let her mouth run, hoping Michelle would stop her. She didn’t. Michelle didn’t scream at her to shut up, to get a grip and get it together. Michelle allow her to let it all out. Vanessa only stopped once tears ran down so rapidly that words could no longer catch up. “What-what are gonna do? What can we do to save it?”

“Nothing.” It was clear, there was nothing complicated about Michelle’s statement. They had lost, and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it.

“What happened? Did they at least give you a reason?” Vanessa asked once she recovered a grip of the situation.

Michelle shrugged slightly. “Someone offered them more money.”

“Nah, child, they can’t do that. Can they do that? She said it was ours, the lawyers just needed to finish the paperwork.” She was repeating herself, Vanessa knew it, but maybe if she said it a lot, it would become a reality.

There was no response from Michelle. She sat there, watching Vanessa pace back and forth inside the small room, giving her the time to absorb all the information she had received.

“Can we, like, sue them?” A head shake answered her question. “Is there a way we can get more money? We still have, like, two more weeks, right? We can have another ball.”

Michelle lifted her hand, figuratively stopping Vanessa from continuing. “There’s nothing we can do. Trust me, I have tried every possibility, exhausted every chance from every angle. It’s gone. Actually, that’s where the good news comes from.”

Vanessa’s mouth fell open in surprise. “What you mean good news?! What kind of fucked up news could come out of this mess?”

“Vanjie, I need you to really listen to me. Before you say anything, I need you to pay attention to what I have to say.” There was a moment of silence. The two women simply looked at each other, connecting in a paralinguistic level that was so unequivocally theirs. “I spoke to the girls,” Michelle continued. “We want you to keep the money–”

“Bitch, you wildin’! What makes you–”

“I asked you to listen to me, Vanessa.” The name was what got her. Michelle rarely called her that, unless things turned serious. Vanessa sat down next to Michelle, opening her mind, heart, and ears, for what Michelle had to say. “Elena is going to need someone to look after her, help her with her homework, love her like she deserves. Fight for that girl, take her out of the abusive environment she’s fallen into and give her a home.”

Vanessa shook her head. She had thought about that. Now that Elena’s mom was gone, the most obvious option was the grandmother. It didn’t matter how big of an asshole she was, that cranky old lady was still Elena’s only family. Any judge with half a mind would allow the girl to go with her. Nobody really knew how she was constantly putting Elena down, minimizing her abilities, reducing her to nothing more than the daughter of a drug addict, destined to follow the same footsteps. Nothing the girl did was enough to her eyes. As far as Vanessa knew, the abuela never attacked Elena physically, she wouldn’t have the strength to; but her acid tongue knew how to cut right where it hurt, causing a lot more damage that any tangible wound. Vanessa had thought about getting a lawyer and trying to get custody of the girl. Her chances were slim to none. Not to mention she didn’t have a dime under her name, she wouldn’t be able to support the two of them. Hell, she wouldn’t have been able to afford the lawyer to start with.

“Do you really think the court would let her live with a stripper?” There was a huff coming from Vanessa’s lips, highlighting the absurdity of it all. “Who, on top of that, lives in a shoe box apartment with two other hoes?”

“No.” Michelle was not playing around, she was not entertaining Vanessa’s sarcasm. “That’s why you need to do some changes first. Use the money to get a good lawyer,” Michelle suggested, practically reading Vanessa’s mind. “Get out of that small place and find something better. I talked to some people at this complex, they have amazing student discounts.”

“But I’m not a student,” Vanessa reminded her.

“You are going to. There’s no way you will get a job unless you get your act together. That starts with finishing high school. I can help you look for night schools, or maybe online courses.”

All of that sounded like too much work, Vanessa’s mind was already rejecting the idea as a whole. She didn’t want to get her act together, she was doing perfectly fine as she was. Instead of spitting back all the reasons why she didn’t want to follow Michelle’s plan, she allowed herself to really think about it. Among all those excuses, there was one thing, bigger than any pointless pretext, that would make it all worth it. Just then, the only motivation that she needed to be better, walked into the room.

“Can I hide with you guys for a minute?”

Michelle smiled widely, patting the space between her and Vanessa. “Of course, kiddo. Come chat with us.”

Elena obeyed. She sat down on the bed and rested her head on Vanessa’s shoulder. Vanessa knew there was absolutely nothing she needed to think about. The decision had made itself right then and there. If it meant having that beautiful angel permanently by her side, she was going to change, she was going to be better. She was going to do it for Elena.

And she did.

The following two weeks came and went in the blink of an eye. Vanessa contacted a lawyer that Michelle recommended and, just like she had suggested, Vanessa found a much bigger apartment in a nicer area. The next step was finding a job that the family judge would find decent. She started waiting tables at a Mexican restaurant that paid shit, but had good tips. Her personality helped her a great deal in that area. She knew when to smile, when to flirt, and when to make the customer believe the side of tortillas was on her. Stripping was left behind, and she was surprisingly okay with that. It gave her a certain sense of peace to think that the last time she did it had been for Brooke.

During the whole process of rearranging her life, Brooke had always been a latent thought. Not exactly there, but never leaving her mind completely. Brooke had been right, Vanessa was meant to do so much better, to achieve greater things. Vanessa didn’t know why she had been so closed to the idea, why she had felt attacked instead of empowered. Her stubbornness, mixed with her unwavering pride, was a dangerous combination that forced her to push such an amazing person away.

She had tried, Vanessa had messaged Brooke. One simple text was sent with a waving hand emoji. In her mind, Vanessa planned a whole conversation as soon as Brooke texted back. She never did; and double texting was never part of Vanessa’s brand. That was when she put Brooke on the back burner and concentrated on Elena, and Elena alone, becoming almost oblivious to the passing of time.

Before she knew it, she was standing behind a yellow ribbon, waiting next to the most important people in her life, for their dreams to be shattered. The hot California sun shone above their heads, Vanessa placed a hand to shield her eyes from the brightness as she tried to look up. The large wrecking ball hung from the tall crane. It looked… powerful, she decided after a moment. It looked heavy, and extremely capable of destruction as it swung dangerously close to her beloved building. Workers walked around the area, shouting instructions to each other, and writing things down on clipboards. Vanessa watched them, with their big boots and yellow helmets, as they pronounce the time of death of the community center.

Trixie, stood next to her, chewing a piece of gum rather loudly. “Why don’t you say something? A few, like, encouraging words?”

Vanessa looked down at her feet. “There’s really nothing I can say.” Even when her statement had been negative, her eyes travelled among the people she loved the most. “There really are not enough words, in English or Spanish, to explain how devastating this is. It is something that you just… feel. We are all feeling the same thing, I think, and it fucking hurts.” Her voice broke a little; hot tears gathering at the corner of her eye. “I just… I really don’t know what to say.”

“Can I give it a try?”

All eyes were directed to the shadow walking their way. Vanessa turned around and that was when she saw her. The long blonde waves had been chopped, now straight hair framed her face, curling slightly around her chin. She looked different, but it was her. She wore a white button down shirt, a black pencil skirt, and the usual high heels. Same that resounded against the payment, just like they did all those weeks ago, when Vanessa met her for the first time.

Brooke waved at them from the other side of the yellow line. A small smile played on her lips, but she bit her lower lip to prevent it. She was happy to see them all again, she was happy thinking about all the good things that were about to come, but the emotion in the moment represented a complete contrast to her happiness.

“What is your ass doing here?” Vanessa asked defensively.

Brooke had expected nothing else. She sighed deeply before she looked straight into Vanessa’s eyes. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t contact you in the last couple of weeks. I couldn’t trust myself to keep my mouth shut. There was so much work that needed to be done before I could talk to you. There’s something that I need to tell you.��� She lifted her head to address everybody that gathered in the park that afternoon. “Two months ago I was stuck in traffic and saw a group of girls dancing. It was like nothing I had seen before. They looked so happy, so genuinely happy just moving to the rhythm, with steps dictated by their hearts. I saw myself in them, the old me, the one that danced freely without a care. I just needed to talk to them. I wanted them to restore my love for dance. So I ran down from the car and approached them… then I met you,” she spoke directly to Vanessa. “You asked me if I was here to kidnap your kids and sell them in the black market.” There was a round of tearful laughter to her words. Brooke chuckled herself and took a risk, she extended her arms and held Vanessa’s hands in hers. “You love this place. You love it so much that you made me fall in love with it in an instant. I know how hard you have fought for it, how hard you worked to keep it from being demolished.”

“Yeah, well, here we are.” Vanessa tried to look away, to fixate her eyes on anything that wasn’t Brooke’s perfectly applied makeup.

“Yes,” Brooke agreed. “Here we are. About to start a new era. This building is going to be brought down just so it can be reborn as something bigger and better.”

Confused faces stared back at her, unable to follow her train of thought. Brooke chuckled once again and, still holding Vanessa’s hands, she directed her words to the crowd in front of her.

“This is your community center, the one you filled with love, and laughter, and music. You will still have the chance to do all of that, only that I have now decided to call it: The Dream Girls Youth Center.”

“You-you bought it?” Vanessa asked shocked.

Brooke simply nodded. “Yes, I did, but it’s not mine. It’s yours, it’s for the community. The only thing is that I have no idea how this works, I’m going to need someone to help me run it.”

In a quick move, Vanessa made her let go of her hands. “Bitch, the fuck you are talking about?”

Exasperated, Yvie slapped Vanessa’s arm. “She’s talking about you, you dumbass. She bought the center, is going to rebuild it, and wants you to run it. Am I right?”

Piece by piece the information was suddenly making sense in Vanessa’s head. The more she understood, the more she freaked out. “Is that true?”

A nod from Brooke answered her question.

“We get to keep the center?”

One more nod.

“And you want me to run it?”

Brooke finally allowed the smile to take over her whole face. “I could never do this without you, Vanessa. I’m going to need you by my side as we bring it back to life.”

Vanessa was physically taken aback by those words, she literally took a step away from Brooke as she digested the new information. They looked into each other’s eyes, feeling how their souls reconnected, making up for all the lost time. In that moment everybody but them disappeared, there was nothing around them but light. Emptiness surrounded them as their hearts synchronized yet again to beat at the same rhythm.

“By your side? Does this mean you are staying?”

Once again, a nod functioned as response. “If you want me to, that is.” Brooke moved as close to her as the yellow ribbon allowed her. She extended her arms, literally, figuratively, and even spiritually, baring herself to Vanessa. “What do you say?”

It took maybe a second for Vanessa’s brain to connect with her mouth, but it felt like an eternity before she could pronounce the words dying to leave her lips.

“Yes, bitch! Yes! A million times yes!”

She jumped straight into Brooke’s open arms. She wrapped her legs around Brooke’s hips and her arms around her neck. The caution band forgotten, crumpling between their stomachs. It became the least important thing once their lips met. They kissed with the passion they had built up, not only since the last time they saw each other, but with a yearning that came from a lifetime of being apart. They kissed slowly and deeply, letting go of all restraints and inhibitions. They kissed with full abandon, as two people in love that had finally found the person that complemented them.

[wackapedia]

The Void Inside My Heart

Youve been dating Ben for months. You havent had a serious talk on your relationship but you assumed you both were exclusive. Ben was yet to ask you to move im with him, which was fine with you because you didnt want to go too fast. He was a movie star, after all.

Ben left for New York a week ago. He didnt really explain why.

"Is it work?" You asked when he told you he was leaving on such short notice.

"Kind of." He said while packing a bag.

Fortunately your boss had given you a long weekend and you decided to spend it with Ben. Without his knowledge, you arrive at his hotel. You find him sitting on the dining area of the posh place. He was with someone. A woman.

You knew her from several magazines, she was a model.

You tried to keep the negative thoughts away as you forced yourself to walk closer to him. Your legs wouldnt budge.

Later you would think this as a blessing in disguise because Ben leans over to kiss the lovely blonde model. You started to walk away.

You didnt cry. All you felt was a tight pain in your chest. You wanted to cry but no tears would come from your eyes. The sharp ache was all you can feel.

You didnt know anyone from New York. It was an hour until midnight. You didnt have friends or relatives who live here. But you do know a friend of Ben.

Joe.

Joe Mazzello was Ben's best friend but youve only spoke to him on three occasions at most. Usually they were at loud parties where you can barely hear yourselves over the blaring music. You can tell he was a funny man with all the instagram goofs he posts with Ben.

You called him and tried your best to explain what happened over the phone. Your voice was surprisingly calm and steady, but your hands could barely grip the phone to your ear. Thankfully, Joe wasnt busy and came to pick you up in about five minutes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked as soon as you settle yourself in his car.

"I dont know. Im not sure if theres anything to talk about." You replied.

Joe assumed that you were in shock so he left it at that. The rest of the drive was quiet.

You arrive at his house. The walls were painted green and there were framed movie posters around the living room. Joe led you to a guestroom where you placed your bag. He pointed where the bathroom, the kitchen, and his room was, in case you needed anything. You thanked him for his kindness.

"Its no big deal. I'll see you in the morning." He smiled. The pain in your chest dissipates a little.

You fall into a dreamless sleep.

In the morning, you wake and realize that last night wasnt a nightmare. You still couldnt bring yourself to cry over what had happened and you couldnt explain why.

You quickly fixed yourself and headed to the kitchen where Joe was preparing breakfast. He was such a jolly person. The moment he noticed you had walked up to the kitchen, he gave you a smile that could melt your heart.

It made you smile.

The sun was blasting through a large window in Joe's living room. You took your time to enjoy the scene before you. It was so peaceful. You notice Joe's reflection from the glass window. He was looking at you. You turn from the window to face him. He had such a lovely face.

"I"m sorry." He speaks calmly.

"For staring?" You tried to answer cheerfully.

"About you and Ben. You didnt deserve that." He remorsefully answers.

You close your eyes to collect your thoughts.

"You can talk to me, you know. You have to let it all out or it will choke you from the inside." Joe offers as he sits on the sofa.

"It's just that... I dont feel anything. I'm feeling nothing. Is that normal?" You face him.

"Of course thats normal. Its valid to feel numb especially with what youre going through." Joe kindly explains.

"Okay." You say. The conversation diffuses.

Joe was about to leave the room when you spoke again "I really like talking to you, Joe. It's just that, I think, there's nothing to talk about regarding last night."

Joe walks back to sit on the sofa.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" He says while picking up the remote from the table. You agree.

A text from Ben alerts your phone saying he will be home tomorrow night. Your flight was tomorrow morning. You decided to ignore your phone for the rest of the day.

After several movies and a box of pizza, you fell asleep beside Joe on the sofa. It was late at night. Joe looks at your peaceful face before softly nudging you awake. You looked into Joe's eyes that were looking deeply into yours. He moved to floor to face you, lying on the sofa. For the first time in days, a tear finally slipped from your eyes.

"I don't want to go." You spoke before you could even understand this sentiment.

But Joe understood this.

"I know confrontations can be hard but they're healthy." His eyes drift down your lips.

But it wasn't that. You wanted to stay here with Joe. He radiates a feeling you get whenever you're in proximity. You don't know what it is.

You reach out your hand to touch his cheek. He closes his eyes. Your hand moves to the back of his neck to pull him closer to your face. He kisses you. It felt right.

The next day, Joe drops you off at the airport. He was wearing a plain white shirt and dark green pants and some brown ray-bans perched on his nose. His smile was sunny. You pick up your bag and wave him goodbye before entering the gate.

You had the most refreshing sleep you've ever had in years. You slept beside Joe last night. Plain sleeping, no funny business involved.

You couldn't even sleep in the plane because you had a healthy rest last night.

You arrive home. The entire place felt dull. In a few hours, Ben will arrive in your city and will most definitely drop by your place. You decide to have dinner elsewhere since you didn't feel like cooking.

Ben surprisingly arrives sooner than expected. You were still in the shower when you hear him enter. His luggage wheels roll through your room. "Y/n I'm home!" He yells. "I'm in the shower!" You yell back.

After a few minutes, you get dressed to meet him.

"What is this?" He points to your packed bag with an LGA New York Airport sticker.

"I went to New York." You answer simply.

"What were you doing there?" He sounded agitated.

"I went there to see you but you were busy." You avoided looking at him, pretending to fix something on your dresser.

"Where did you stay? Why didn't you tell me you were there?" He stood closer to you.

"You were busy so I stayed with Joe." You finally looked into his eyes

"Joe? Mazzello? "

"Yes"

"Why would you-"

"Because I saw you with her."

His mouth clamped shut.

"If it makes you feel better, Joe and I made out too."

Anger lit up Ben's eyes. His fists clench. How dare he gets angry over this?

Before he could speak, you sharply spoke

"Get out of my house, Ben."

A/n: This was supposed to be dramatic but it turned out to be bland and boring but it had to be written sorry also i was half asleep when i wrote this i needed to justify my numbness lol

[robinrunsfiction]

The Fantastic Adventures of Glitter Ghost and Killer Lux - Chapter 1

Co-Written with @mariawritesfanfic

Rating: Teen (for violence)

Requested By: None

Author’s Note: Set in the Danger Days universe, please enjoy this story featuring both the Fabulous Killjoys, the Youngbloods, and a couple of two badass babes who are looking to tear down BLI. 

I’m gonna take advantage of the fact that I am the one posting this to give a MASSIVE thank you to Maria for writing this with me. It wouldn’t be half of what you see here if it wasn’t for her help, and I really appreciate her patience with me and my tendency to get a bit too wrapped up in stuff sometimes and probably got kinda annoying with all my inane questions lol

I know I don’t write many OCs, but I really have come to love these two and I hope you do too.

Song recommendations for this chapter: Bad Girls by MIA and I Did Something Bad by Taylor Swift

"Lux, get up. Lux, come on, get up," Glitter Ghost shook Killer Lux's shoulder as she lay on the ground. Suddenly a shot went right over her head. Looking up, she spotted a Drac as it rounded the corner of the burning building. Glitter grumbled as she grabbed her gun and dropped the Drac right where he stood.

"Fastest 'joy in the Zones my ass," Glitter muttered pulling Lux to her feet and hauled her to their car. 

She pushed Lux into the passenger seat and climbed into the driver's side. It wouldn't be long before the area was crawling with S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W Units and Dracs. The mission went well; she secured the perimeter while Lux got inside and set her explosive that was rigged to a timer. Lux had assured Glitter over and over that she was fast enough on her feet to get out before it blew. But either Lux was wrong, or something happened because she had barely gotten out before the building went up, tossing her body across the ground. Now she was finally coming to, groaning in the passenger seat. 

"Lux, you ok? Come on, get it together," Glitter urged worriedly, glancing across the car. Lux just groaned again in response.

The rest of the drive was silent as Glitter sped along the back route until the car started to make a noise she hadn't heard before.

"No, no, no, no!" She said banging on the steering wheel as the vehicle began to slow. She steered it to the side of the road and popped the hood although it was dark and she didn't know what to even start looking for to solve the problem of them being a couple of sitting ducks waiting for Dracs on patrol to come ghost her and Lux. Slamming the hood back down resulted in a wide-eyed and terrified looking Lux staring back at her from the passenger seat. 

Glitter sighed and looked up the road. Under the moonlight, she thought she could make out the silhouette of a building not far in the distance.

"Stay down," she said to Lux through the cracked window.

"Huh?" 

"Stay down," she shouted, motioning downward. She wasn't sure if Lux was complying or losing consciousness again, but she slid down in the seat.

Glitter jogged toward the silhouette, and as she got closer, she saw that it was an old burned outbuilding of some sort. Enough of the walls were standing that it would offer them shelter until she could puzzle out what was wrong with the car or find someone to help.

She hurried back to the car and opened the back door, pulling out their bags and hauling them over her shoulder, then she opened the passenger side door, causing Lux to jump.

"Shit, you can't hear a thing, can you?" Glitter muttered. She motioned for Lux to get out of the car. 

Lux moved slowly, groaning as she stood. "Feel like I got blown up," she mumbled.

"You did," Glitter said close to her friend's ear, as she pulled Lux's left arm over her right shoulder to help her down to the shelter. She just hoped their next move would be clear in the morning. 

~

It was a few days before Killer Lux finally began to get back to her version of normal. Glitter's assumption that her hearing was blown out was correct, but as it slowly came back, it didn't appear to be a permanent injury. 

"I'm just glad that my jacket didn't get wrecked," Lux commented as she examined the back of her wine-colored leather motorcycle jacket.

"Yea, because you could've gotten yourself dusted, but what really matters is that your jacket is ok," Glitter scoffed from under the hood of the car.

"But I got out, didn't I?" Lux sassed back.

"Barely."

"I tripped, ok? If I hadn't, I would have made it out no problem. And we'd still be stuck on the side of the road. Can we just walk? There's gotta be someone nearby that can at least help with the car."

Glitter sighed before slamming the hood shut. "Fine, we'll leave when the sun starts to set, so we don't roast alive."

Satisfied with her friend's concession, Lux grinned and started to wander back towards the shelter. The morning sun felt good against her bare shoulders after the frigid desert night. She tugged down the hem of her navy top over her faded black moto jeans and stifled a yawn. When she was back in the shade of their shelter, she pushed her black sunglasses up into her dark brown hair, unstrapped her black blaster and holster from around her thigh and laid down with her back against the wall, using her jacket as a pillow.

Lux really didn't try to worry about much in life. In the Zones, with BLI running things, she knew she wasn't long for this world, no Killjoy was. All she really cared about was having a little fun when she could, helping her partner in crime, Glitter Ghost, take down as many Dracs as possible, and running free in the desert without drawing too much attention to herself.

Not like Glitter, who was made to stand out. With her hot pink hair, a black polka-dotted shirt that strategically revealed just enough of her lace bra, baby pink moto jacket and an ever-present sheen of glitter that defied all logic, she grabbed attention no matter where they went. She was also obviously a total badass with her knee-high combat boots, pink blaster at her side, and at least half a dozen knives on her at any time.

But Lux knew Glitter was also a big softie at heart. They'd roamed a long way together, and she had seen the way Glitter took care of her. She would never leave another 'joy in need stranded.

"Gonna try to rest before tonight?" Lux asked without opening her eyes when she heard Glitter walk in.

"It's my turn to keep watch."

"I'll split it with you," Lux offered. "Who knows how far we'll have to go."

"I'll wake you in the afternoon," Glitter offered.

"Deal," Lux muttered, even though she knew she wouldn't be asleep at any point that day.

The sun had been setting earlier as the end of the year neared, affording them an earlier start up the road. Lux secured her black, and gold leopard print bandana over her face and Glitter pulled up her silver glitter facemask as the duo set out from their shelter. Glitter was on alert to anyone coming up behind them, and Lux watched up ahead.

"Glitter, look," Lux called over her shoulder after what felt like many miles. "Is that the diner?"

"A diner?"

"No, the diner! The one we heard about that one time, remember? Let's go check it out," she replied, leading the way.

~

News doesn't travel fast in the Zones, especially when Dr. Death Defying's broadcasting equipment was damaged in a clap with the Dracs like it had been recently. But now word of the BLI lab that no one else had been able to infiltrate getting destroyed had reached the diner hideout of the infamous Fabulous Killjoys. Party Poison, his brother Kobra Kid, and friends Jet Star and Fun Ghoul were huddled around with the Youngbloods, discussing who could have been bold enough to attempt, and get away with, blowing up that lab.

"They had to be fast to get in and out without getting themselves blown up," Party theorized.

"Sounds like the bomb was way bigger than it needed to be," Ghoul commented. His expertise with bomb-making left him impressed by the details he had heard.

"But to get away like that, what was it? Destroya? A ghost?" Soul Punk asked, thoroughly confused by the whole thing.

"Someone looking for a Ghost?" Glitter asked with a smirk behind her mask.

The eight men all turned, caught completely off guard by the two women that had walked into their hideaway. They were also surprised to find that women were totally undeterred by the eight brightly colored blasters now aimed at their faces.

"Relax boys, we just wanna know what the dinner special is tonight," Lux said, tugging down her bandana with a cocky grin.

"Who the hell are you?" Ghoul snapped.

"The only two Killjoys that could do what you couldn't," Lux replied smugly.

"You took out the lab?" Sandman replied, sounding skeptical.

"What, like it's hard?"

"But who are you?" Ghoul asked again, more irritation in his voice.

"I'm Killer Lux."

"And I'm Glitter Ghost," Glitter said as she jumped up and sat on the counter, facing the gangs.

The other Killjoys looked amongst themselves, each searching the others' face for a look of recognition. Kobra lowered his weapon first. "Why are you here?"

"Our ride broke down the night we took out the lab, not sure if it's related, but I can't figure out what's wrong. We're looking for a safe haven until we can get back to running," Glitter replied, pulling down her mask.

Party followed his brother's lead, lowering his weapon as well. "Sure, but you tell us how you got in there. Every detail."

"You only think it was impossible to get in there because there's one thing you haven't tried yet," Glitter laughed.

"What's that?" Sandman asked her suspiciously, his eyes trailing up and down her slowly. 

"Being a poor, helpless girl in need of a big, brave corporation, obviously," Lux replied, rolling her eyes. She glanced over at Glitter with a smirk, only to find her entirely distracted by the other Killjoy's attention. She stifled a laugh and turned her attention back to the others.

"So, what, you flirted your way in?" Ghoul asked.

"Not exactly," Lux shrugged. "Glitter secured the perimeter, I had the bomb in my bag and went to the gate, sobbing my eyes out, begging to be let in. I had been kidnapped and dragged out into the desert against my will by some Killjoy scum. They let me in without checking me over because they're fucking mindless idiots, and I took the two guards out. I got inside, took out the Dracs as I encountered them, there weren't many there that late though. Got as far inside as I thought I could risk it and dropped the bomb. I did trip on my way out, and almost didn't clear out in time, but here I am."

"Damn," Kobra said, looking impressed, and Lux grinned at him. The others murmured their approval as well.

"She couldn't hear for a day," Glitter piped up suddenly with a giggle. "I thought she was dusted!"

"Glitter, come on," Lux replied through gritted teeth, annoyed that her moment of glory was slightly undermined.

"No, that's awesome. I'm Party Poison," he said, introducing himself. "We'll take any allies we can get against BLI."

"I gotta know more about that bomb," Ghoul said. 

Lux pointed at Glitter. "That's all her." Glitter gave Ghoul a little smirk and patted the top of the counter next to her, indicating that Ghoul could sit next to her; the rest of the Killjoys proceeded to introduce themselves to the newcomers.

Glitter and Ghoul discussed the bomb that she had built, but she could still feel eyes on her, and when she looked up, she noticed Sandman was watching her. She gave him a small smile and went back to talking to Ghoul. "And that's how I set up the bomb to not only explode but also shoot off the glitter. Everyone needs a little glitter in their life," she laughed.

Ghoul sat there in awe. "So, you basically glitter bomb people? That's amazing," Ghoul clapped his hands.

"Yeah," Glitter laughed. "It's pretty awesome to watch Dracs get a face full of glitter, then realize there's a timer under it, or hear a ticking noise. Depending on how I'm feeling, the glitter will either go off before or after the explosion. This time it was after."

After finishing her explanation, Glitter sighed and looked around. She wasn't really sure about much lately, but now sitting here in this dinner with other people fighting against BLI, she was sure of two things: the first being Sandman was adorable, and she very much enjoyed looking at him. The second was that she was almost positive that Lux had eyes for the one called Kobra Kid. Spending as much time as they had together, Glitter had a feeling she knew Lux better than Lux probably knew herself.

Glitter also couldn't help but notice the difference in aesthetics between the two gangs - The Killjoys were more flashy, like she was, however, the Youngbloods had more of a muted color scheme going on. Glitter noticed that Phoenix and Novocaine seem to stand out among the four of them. Phoenix due to the brightly colored tattoos that covered every inch of exposed skin from the neck down, and he didn't seem to like to wear a shirt, and Novocaine because he had a large mop of dark curly hair that seemed to have a mind of its own.

"So, I really hate to be that person, but Lux and I haven't eaten in, what? A day, day, and a half?" Glitter looked at Lux, who was sitting next to Kobra.

"Yeah, about a day and a half," Lux answered.

"We don't want to put anyone out, but if we could eat that would be amazing." 

"I suppose we could spare a couple cans of Power Pup for the heroes of the day," Jet announced before going back into the kitchen and returning with two cans, a spoon in each and they started to dig in.

"Why haven't we seen you two around before?" Phoenix asked.

Glitter shrugged "We've always tried to keep a low profile and avoid BLI and their associates as much as possible."

"A low profile? Looking like that, you are literally wearing a crown made of flowers?" Novocaine scoffed.

"You wanna fight? Because I will drop you right now" Glitter jumped off the counter and was caught by Ghoul and Sandman as she tried to lunge at Novocaine.

"Whoa, whoa, there will be no fighting each other," Party stepped in between Glitter and Novocaine.

Glitter threw up her hands "Fine, whatever" she sat on one of the stools in front of the counter.

"We've always tried to stay on the edges and away from others, until now," Lux stated. "That lab we blew up? We discovered it by accident one day, and we knew we had to do something about it."

Glitter sighed, "The things that they were doing had to be stopped. It was horrible."

A deafening silence fell over everyone.

Glitter shook her head, "But it's done. That lab....is destroyed. Time to move on and think of other, less depressing, things." Glitter grabbed her can of Power Pup and started eating. "So now that we've introduced ourselves, explained how we blew up the lab, and got to know each other a bit," Glitter shot Lux a look, "would you guys be ok with us crashing here for the night?"

Lux looked around the room, batting her eyelashes at the men and pouting slightly, hoping to guilt them into letting them stay, much the same way she got into the BLI lab.

"As long as you don't start any fights, your welcome here as long as you need to be," Party replied.

[howdywrites]

Cotton Candy (Vanya/Female OC)

Summary: Vanya Hargreeves goes on a date with a friend (Female OC/Reader Insert) because it’s what she deserves. One Shot. Sweet and simple!

Word Count: 2,074

Warnings/Disclaimers: None except maybe some angst. As far as disclaimers go, I tried to make Katherine kind of ambiguous but it didn’t work out the way I hoped. Also, this is my first time posting any of my work online lol so I’m terrified.

Read on Ao3

They spent months as friends giving each other lingering gazes. Wondering if there could be more between them. Inching closer each time they hung out. Late night talks on park benches. Splitting off from the others when Vanya became overwhelmed. It was a matter of time before one of them cracked and asked the other on a date. Tonight would be the first time they hung out as possibly more than friends. She had put it off for weeks now, but the ever patient friend waited for her, not caring if it took years for her to accept the offer.

And the night finally came.

   Vanya stood in front of her mirror with a smile askew on her face. The hot pink dress Allison gave her years ago hung on her like an old woman’s drapes. No. Absolutely not.

   Tearing off the garment and discarding it over the back of the couch, she slipped back into her jeans and oversized button up. It wasn’t flashy or cute, but it was her and she could breathe again. Worried thoughts spiraled inside her head, prompting her to take the pill bottle from her pocket and dumping one into her hand. The water bottle in her hand shook.

   The rev of a motorcycle brought her back to reality. Or maybe it was the medicine. Some days it was impossible to tell. Fussing with her hair, she eventually gave up and left it down. Wallet, phone, keys. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she skipped out the door - nearly forgetting to lock it - and all but stumbled over her feet going down the stairs. In the foyer of her building, she paced around. Did she remember to brush her teeth? Would she be upset she didn’t put more effort into her outfit? As if standing at the end of a high dive, Vanya Hargreeves knew she couldn’t wait all night. She had to take the plunge.

Pushing open the door and bolting out, she came face to face with-

“Katherine, hey,” Vanya greeted, finding it hard to breathe.

   Blonde hair glittered in the sunlight as her date turned around. A bright smile painted her lips. She adjusted her black leather jacket and strode over towards her. Vanya had to tilt her head up to look up at her. She mirrored her smile as butterflies tickled her stomach.

“Hey, doll,” She said, leaning down to kiss the shorter woman on the head. One of her index fingers touched the bottom of her chin with a coy smile. “You can call me Kat, Vanya. Here-” She lifted her free hand to show her a brand new helmet. “I’ve never had someone ride with me before - so I’m not risking anything.”

   Vanya shoved her head inside the dark blue helmet and felt its weight when she let go. Kat rapped her gloved knuckles on the top with a pleased smile. “How do I look?” She asked, looking up at her date.

“Badass. And safe.”

   It took a bit of maneuvering for Vanya to get onto the back of the motorcycle. Its sleek black frame made it slippery and she was held her breath when a helmeted Katherine got on in front of her. They were nearly pressed into one another. Her friend looked over her shoulder at the way Vanya leaned away from her and chuckled.

“You can touch me, I don’t bite. Much.” Heat bloomed in her masked cheeks. The headgear came in handy in more ways than one. Sheepishly, Vanya leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Kat’s middle. If there weren’t layers of clothes between them, she swore the woman would have felt her heart drumming away behind her ribs. The motorcycle roared to life and they took off in a flurry of wind.

   Thrill struck like a shock of lightning. Hair whipped behind her as the rush of adrenaline trickled into her veins. So this is what it was like to feel? If only Allison could see her then. None of her siblings knew that she had finally stepped outside her comfort zone - not that they would care anyway. Vanya shoved her family deep into the back of her mind, snuffing out the weary glances and pursed lips from the last time she spoke with them. She laughed over the wind, arms squeezing tighter and catching the attention of Katherine.

   Smiling under her helmet, a hand reached and rested on Vanya’s thigh when they stopped for a red light. She flinched instinctively. “Having fun back there?” Kat asked over the rumbling of cars.

“I think this is the most free I’ve felt in years,” Vanya admitted, cheeks hurting from smiling so much.

                                                      ///

   When they arrived at the fair, the sun hung low behind buildings and vendor tents. Rainbow lights flickered and buzzed in time with the cheesy pop music lazily playing over the drone of laughter and chatter. Side by side, Katherine and Vanya entered the fair and took in the salty scent of fresh popcorn and pretzels. The leather clad woman paid for a handful of tickets, despite the insistence and near begging of the other.

“What do you feel like doing first?” Kat asked, peering down at her. Free from gloves, her bare fingers idly pushed a few strands of loose brown hair out of her face. Vanya froze and shuffled her feet around the grave beneath them. Rubbing the back of her neck, she began to stammer.

“I mean...we can do what you want to do first - you did suggest the fair,” She looked around, a thin smile stretched across her face. Eyes landed on the pirate ship heaving back and forth. Kathrine quirked a brow and followed her gaze to the ride.

“You always want to do what I want to do, Vanya. Tonight we’re doing what you want.” Long legs took off towards the pirate ship, hands shoved in the pockets of her leather jacket. She stopped and looked at the wide eyed woman still standing where she left her, a reassuring look dancing in her eyes. “Well? Are you coming or should I carry you? My nephews say I give the best piggy back rides.”

   Vanya shook her head, laughing bashfully and half jogged to catch up to her. They squeezed themselves into a back row of seats. Sandwiched between Katherine and the side of the ship, an arm draped over the back of their seat, just over her shoulders.

“I’ve got you,” Kat teased. “Wouldn’t want you to fall… like that spill you had on the ice a few months ago.” Vanya scoffed playfully, arms wrapped around herself.

“It was dark! How was I supposed to know they didn’t salt the sidewalks yet.”

   Their fond banter continued for a short while before the ship began to groan and jerk them around. Stomachs flipped and both women squealed with laughter each time the ride rose and fell. Vanya curled into Katherine without thinking, not that the other woman would mind. Legs turned to jello as they stumbled off at the end, holding on to the railings as their world swayed.

“Remember that time you had too many moscow mules?” Vanya howled, wiping away the gleeful tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. “And I had to convince you that we weren’t on a boat and you weren’t Captain Jack Sparrow?”

“I remember that night differently - I was in fact Jack Sparrow, and we were on a boat.”

“Kat, we were at Olive Garden.”

   The pair walked around the fair, talking about anything and nothing all at the same time. Katherine watched Vanya’s face, content to listen to her enthuse about what pieces she had learned recently and where she would be performing next. The fair was a dicey choice. The two tended to gravitate towards quiet cafes and parks. But the woman’s eyes shined brighter than she had ever seen them shine. Vanya rarely relaxed like that and Katherine had a front row seat, left to wonder if she knew just how intelligent, wonderful and extraordinary she truly was.

   The sun finally disappeared and the moon came out to play. Lit only by the string lights and neon bulbs, the fair set the mood. No more worries. No sense of impending doom. Just Katherine. Vanya requested the ferris wheel next to watch the moonlight glitter on the water just off the pier.

   Like the motorcycle, the narrow seats on the ride squished the two of them together. Arms and shoulders touched, jean-clad knees brushed against one another. On the outskirts of the fair, the screams and metallic clank of machinery became distant background noise. Vanya became hyper aware of how close they were. How Katherine’s hands twitched, mindlessly scratching phantom itches. She herself fidgeted. For the first time, they were quiet. One by one, the seats filled, lifting them higher and higher into the air. A gentle, salty breeze brushed past them. They watched the water shimmer. Waiting.

   A pinky finger brushed the side of Vanya’s hand. Her eyes dropped and noticed Kat had inched her hand over until it rested on the edge of her thigh. Without a word, heartbeat drumming in her ears, she nestled her hand beneath hers. Neither of them breathed or acknowledged the fact that their hands were interlaced, but both of them relished the simple touch.

   The rest of the ride was a blur. They murmured compliments to the ocean and the mysteries she stored beneath her mirrored surface. Emotion swelled in Vanya’s chest like the crescendo of a Tchaikovsky concerto. Comfortable. Safe. Two things she never thought she would have and she found them in Katherine. As they stepped off, their hands stayed glued together as neither of them wanted to break apart.

“Oh wow,” Vanya marveled, pulling them to a stop. A woman in a pink pinstripe apron stood behind a machine with cotton candy swirling around the cone she held inside. The blue fluff billowed until it made an unholy mound of sugar that sat precariously on top of its paper home. “I haven’t had cotton candy in years.” Katherine, smirking a bit, pulled away from her and immediately pulled out her beat up wallet. Vanya followed hot on her heels.

“Hey, you paid for tickets, I’ll pay for-”

“Pink or blue?” Kat asked, already forking over the small wad of ones to the vendor. “You deserve to be spoiled after all my pestering.” Vanya sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Blue.”

   With a sugar cloud bigger than their heads, they found a corner of the fair no one occupied. Old wood creaked as they stepped onto the edge of the pier, leaning against the railing. Cotton melted in their mouths. While Vanya meticulously picked at her side, Kat devoured her like a starving lioness. She paused her feast and let a few fingers trail over her shoulder. The shorter woman didn’t flinch, though she did attempt to hid the color in her cheeks by looking out over the ocean.

“You’re stunning, Vanya,” Kat spoke, voice low and gentle. “And extraordinary.”

“Stop,” Vanya laughed, shaking her head and letting the wind carry her hair back out of her face. Pain lingered in her eyes and she no longer smiled. Kat shifted, standing up straighter and shuffling closer. This was the side of her that she saw in those empty parks. A woman carrying guilt and shame, shutting people out as soon as they start to get closer. Yet so desperate for love and human touch.

“Vanya.”

“No, Kat-” Vanya stumbled over her words, flustered and doubting herself. “I’m just… normal. I can’t even make it to first chair. My family…”

“Maybe you’re not extraordinary-” Kat moved to stand in front of her, tender eyes studying her face. A hand laced fingers with Vanya’s sticky blue ones. Wet eyes flit around before dragging themselves up to look at her. “To them. But to me you are. I would watch you play for days if I could. Let you talk until your voice is gone. I adore you, Vanya Hargreeves. Absolutely adore you.”    Soft lips pressed into Vanya’s, capturing her before she could refute. She tasted sweet like candy. Slowly, Vanya let her eyes slip closed. Cotton candy fell from her hand as she pressed herself into Katherine. Even if this one woman thought she was enough… then perhaps that was all she needed to start believing it herself.

[deans-baby-momma]

Mainstreet

Y/N: Part 5 of my Hiatus Story. Eight more weeks until the premiere of Season 14. Who’s excited? I know I am. But while we wait, here is another installment; the prompt was Bob Seger’s song, Mainstreet. Mostly just the name. LOL ENJOY!!! With all the extra people now living in the Bunker, our food and rations depleted much more quicker than usual. It was swiftly decided that since we were the most known in the community, having lived here for 5 years, Cas and I would venture out on a supply run to replenish the provisions.                                   The angel lingered in the war room while I went to mine and Dean’s room to clean up a bit and look presentable. Since Dean had saved me from myself and my soul-draining lifestyle, I had started caring more about my appearance. Once I was dressed and looked decent, I met Cas and headed to the garage.Although the garage housed almost every type of classic car imaginable, I walk over to my 1988 Chevrolet Silverado. 

The red and white truck is my prized possession. I cherish it as much as Dean did Baby. The truck’s only moniker, though, is Mine; as in, it belonged to me. The only time anyone else was allowed behind it’s wheel was when Dean gave regular tune-ups. I hop into the driver’s seat as Cas slides into the passenger’s. “Buckle up for safety,” I singsong as I click my seatbelt into place. The confused look of the seraph’s face makes me laugh loudly.

“I do not need a harness for my safety,” Cas deadpans, causing me to laugh harder as I turn the key.Lebanon, Kansas is a quaint little town with a population of less than 300 people; well, now with the apocalyptic world people the Winchesters and I brought back through the rift, it’s probably closer to that 300, but no one is aware of their presence. Known as the center of the United States, Lebanon revels in that fact. As I drive down Mainstreet, I look at the charming city that dotes on tourism and travelers who journey through.

I drop Cas off at the municipal library to peruse their books and publications for information about the battle between Michael and Lucifer. We make plans to meet at Ladow’s Market afterwards.  As soon as he shuts the door, I press the gas and head off to run my errands.The post office is my first stop. Sam had been awaiting a package from a fellow hunter before he disappeared with Jack and Lucifer. Since taking up residence in the Bunker, the younger Winchester has assumed the task of updating the lore books and tomes. With the box addressed to him safely secured behind the seat of my truck, I take off toward my next destination, the hardware store.As soon as I step over the threshold of Lebanon Home & Garden Mr. Davis, the store’s only cashier welcomes me with a smile. “So good to see you today. Shopping alone?”

“Hello, Mr. Davis. Yea, I’m by myself,” I answer as I grab a cart. “Well just yell if you need help. Since you don’t have the two strong young men with you.”           I take the bags filled with ammunition, rope, sacks of rock salt, spray paint, and a new first aid kit and load them into the bed of my truck, silently thanking Chuck that Mr. Davis has never inquired about our abundant need for many of the items we purchase in his store. The sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky causing me to sweat. It’s hot but there is still a slight chill in the air. I wipe my brow with the sleeve of my flannel. 

The dry cleaner’s, where I pick up the fed suits we all owned, always freaks me out. I’m just waiting for the day that the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Kwan, to mention the amount of blood and apparent bodily fluids they must clean from the garments we bring in. But once again, the couple are all smiles as they hand me the clean outfits in apparel bags. I breathe a sigh of relief as I leave the business.

Cas is patiently waiting for me at the door to Ladow’s. He asks if I was able to procure all our needs and I nod my head before pulling the grocery list from my pocket and rip it in half. Cas grabs two carts and hands me one and I hand him his half of the paper. I follow him through the aisles of food and grab what is needed. I watch as Cas meticulously selects fruits and vegetables, laughing when an overly ripe tomato splatters him as he checks it for firmness. Cas looks over at me with a bitch face that would rival Sams.                                           And that causes me to begin missing the tall hunter and the nephilim. I turn my cart and head to the dry goods section.It’s only been a few days since the confrontation with Lucifer and his subsequently disappearing from the Bunker with his son and Sam. We are still no closer to finding them than we were then. We have no idea where Lucifer would’ve run off to and none of the myths and legends, lore and knowledge in the Bunker is giving any guidance. I hen begin to think about Dean. Dean, the bold but sensitive and caring, cocky yet still humble, courageous but cautious hunter; the love of my life; father of my child. Once he said yes and allowed Michael to use him, he also vanished. Off the fight his brother and to fight for his brother. I pray that he/they succeed in his/their endeavors./ I hang on to the hope and belief that Dean will keep his promise to me, to never leave or abandon me since rescuing me all those years ago. Now I need him more than ever. I need his beside me, with me as he child grows within me. 

Cas loads the groceries into the truck bed while I return the emptied carts. I smile as I catch a glimpse of Mrs. Ladow watching us through the window.    

“How are you today?” Mrs. Ladow asks as she begins scanning items.      “Good. And you?”She looks up as soon as she recognizes my voice. Mrs. Ladow and I were somewhat acquaintances, friends even. She is an older lady who treats everyone like one of her grandchildren. Always making sure they are happy and well taken care of; telling them that if there is ever anything she could do just to let her know. She and I had gotten close since I was the one who mostly did the shopping in her store. Her eyes rake over me and she smiles brightly. “Child you are glowing! Are you in the family way?”                                  I grin as I chuckle at her old-fashioned terminology. “Yes, I’m going to have a baby,” I happily tell her.                                                                                     “And that man of yours is allowing you to do all this shopping by yourself?” she asks, looking abhorred.                                                                                    “He’s away on business. But I didn’t come alone,” I explain to her as Cas comes into her line of sight. “Oh yes. The young man who speaks so eloquently. How are you today?”                                                                                           “Cannot complain,” Cas tells her as he finishes emptying his cart.Mrs. Ladow finishes cashing us out and comes around the machine to hug me. She smells distinctly of apples and cinnamon and wintergreen from the muscle rub I knew she used religiously. “You stay safe, child. You are not only responsible for yourself anymore but that tiny one too!”

I walk across the parking lot, placing a hand on my still flat stomach, knowing that a part of Dean is there. 

Back at the Bunker, Bobby directs the young men to unload the truck as I take the package for Sam to his room. In the kitchen, amongst a flurry of activity, Mary instructs the young females and girls of where everything goes. I smile as I watch them all. If Dean accomplishes his mission by defeating Lucifer and saving Sam and Jack, I do believe everything may be okay, finally!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS HERE

@xxdragonagequeenxx @carryonmywaywardcaptain @sunskittlex @wayward-gypsy @darlingpeanut @sea040561

[goodnightkisseu]

147 and 148 park woojin please

Drabble Game: Send me a number (or numbers) + an idol

Park Woojin + “Is it a bad time to say that I really want to kiss you right now?”  and “I like to think we’re more than ‘just friends’.”

Note: Hi everyone! I’m finally back. Got a little busy because I was in the process of interviewing for a new job. But now that that’s all done (i start work again in April! Yay!) I can write pretty much up until I start working again, which will likely be when things slow down again >

Anyway, I had mentioned in an ask that I have about 15 of these drabble requests. This will be the last batch of them for a while, so please don’t request any more from this batch of prompts. I may make a list of my own prompts in the near future and we can do these quick little stories again. Also please look forward to the rest of the Valentine’s Series (yes I know it’s well over, but I have 5 more to post!) and all future fics! 

Anyway please enjoy this (lol drabbles are supposed to be short and this isn’t OTL) and look forward to future ones! Thanks for requesting lovely anon! ^^

- goodnightkisseu’s admin

It was quiet, almost pure silence as the small car madeits way down the road, following the bends and curves to your destination. Thesun, working its way towards the horizon brought some visibility, but overallit was still rather dark out. Your hands gave the steering wheel a lightsqueeze to keep yourself alert as you drove, your passenger still sound asleepin the seat beside you.

It had been a rough couple of days for Woojin. Things hadbeen rather stressful at his part-time job, and on top of that, his longtimegirlfriend had broken up with him. She told him that it was because he hadn’tbeen making time for her lately. He apparently tried to explain that work andclasses had kept him busy, but she wasn’t having any of it. She said he wasjust focusing on himself. Though he didn’t voice it, you had a sneakingsuspicion that he may have thought it was something else that caused them tobreak up, but Woojin wasn’t really the type to say those things unless he couldconfirm them to be true.

Either way, he was pretty heartbroken, and when thingsgot difficult, you were the first person he went to. The two of you had beenclose since middle school, becoming fast friends and eventually wereinseparable.

Woojin just stopped by and dropped himself on your couch,not saying anything for the first couple of days. The only time he spoke was totell you about what happened with his ex-girlfriend and that was about it. Hedidn’t go to work, he didn’t leave the house, and he just… stopped functioning.You let him be for a couple more days, but you knew this couldn’t continue. Itpained your heart to see him like this, mostly when all you had ever wanted wasto see him happy. So, you can home one day and told him that the two of youwere going on a trip to your favorite beach. You said nothing else, just thathe should pack his stuff and that you were leaving immediately. You took todriving while Woojin just tried to get better, mentally and emotionally.

“Are we there yet?” you heard him mumble. It scared youso much, after driving in silence for so long you could now say that you weren’ttired anymore.

“Not yet, but it’s a lot further coming from thisdirection than coming from Busan…”

“Do you want me to drive? You’ve been driving this entiretime and all I’ve done is sleep…” he said, his eyes adjusting to the dim lightof dawn.

You shook your head, reaching over a hand to lightlygrasp his. They were warm… they were always warm. “I’m fine. Just go back tosleep, Woojin.”

“Yah, you’re being too nice to me. I mean, I kind of likeit, but what did I do to deserve this?”

“It’s only because you’re feeling so down. Don’t get usedto it. I’ll be right back to teasing and sassing you right when you get better.”

Woojin smiled as he held your hand, his eyes growingheavy as he looked in your direction. He hadn’t quite fallen asleep just yet,he was… he was just admiring you. You were the most important person to him,the person he cared about the most. At first he had thought that it was becauseyou had been friends for so long, but when you both started university, he knewit was more than that. There was this awkward tension that would form betweenthe two of you sometimes. It was like the two of you wanted to do something,but couldn’t.

It had a habit of making this a little weird sometimes, mostlysince he was in a relationship for so long. But now… now could the two of youmake it work? If you were okay with it, he would have liked to try. He wantedto be happy… and he wanted to be happy with you…

========

“Woojin, yo, get up, we’re here,” you said as you lightlyshook him.

His eyes slowly opened, adjusting to how much lighter ithad gotten now. “Oh man, did I doze off again?” he asked, his voice low.

“Yeah, and you were snoring this time too, but don’tworry about it. Put on your jacket and let’s go.”

Woojin stretched before wiping the sleep from his eyes,reaching for his jacket and slowly pulling it on. He opened the passenger sidedoor and was greeted by the chilling ocean air. This felt familiar, in a goodway. This was how it was when the two of you visited the beach. You didn’t goto have a nice trip out in the sun, to play in the sand and go swimming. No,the beach was a place for the two of you to clear your minds. The crisp airearly in the morning would refresh you, give you clarity in a way. That was whythe two of you were here. It helped before, and it would help now.

You walked around to Woojin, pulling your jacket tightlyaround your form as you rested your head on his shoulder, your bodies leaningon your car for support. You stood there in silence, allowing the sound of theocean waves to penetrate your minds and just let Woojin work through all of thosedifficult things he had bottled up. Your difficult things were meniscal comparedto Woojin’s, so you just let the cool ocean air wake you up in preparation forthe ride back to town.

“I’ve been a mess this last week, haven’t I.”

Your friend’s voice pulled you from your thoughts. “Naw,just overwhelmed.”

“She wasn’t right for me, was she?.”

You sighed as you stood up. “I mean, at one point youwere, but recently…recently you really didn’t match,” you said honestly.

“Do you think we should have been together instead?” he asked,being frank, knowing that, if one person was going to be honest with him, itwas going to be you.

You sighed softly, knowing that he was going to ask thisquestion now. There was definitely something there. You couldn’t describe what itwas, but you definitely knew that they were feelings of more than friendship.Would now be the time to act on them though? “We could…but you still need timeto heal…” you replied vaguely as you felt Woojin reaching to pull you in frontof him, his hands on your waist.

“Is it a bad timeto say that I really want to kiss you right now?” he asked. “Or is it toomuch because we’re still, ‘just friends?’”

“I like to thinkwe’re more than ‘just friends,’” you said as he finally leaned in for thatkiss…

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

The Return of Cringe-Worthy Excerpts | Old Writing #6

Hey People of Earth!

So @sarahkelsiwrites​ and I decided to play another round of Cringe-Worthy Excerpts. I’m going to explain the rules here, AKA copy and paste what I wrote last time:

Basically, she’s generating a random word, and then we both look through alllllll of our book projects and share the cringiest lines. I’m actually going to share excerpts from all my finished works, AKA, on top of my 7 real novels, I’ll be sharing from my other ‘books’ as well. So 10 rounds of cringe.

And to quote past me:

These are all unedited. I didn’t touch ‘em for this game.

If you want to take part in this, please do! Here’s a link to PART ONE if you missed it!

NUMBER ONE:

Book: Sophie and Jake (2014)

(we stopped talking about the titles ok)

Word searched: Falling (don’t have a falling, using fall)

Excerpt (bear with me I’m literally dying):

“You, you understand me.” I feel my eyes get wet. I let the tear fall off my cheek and into my lap. Jake walks over to me, and puts his arm around me. He pulls me close and mumbles in my hair. He understands me. I think. I just sit there and sob in the arms of the man I was supposed to kill.

I’m going to go scream into a pillow now.

AND HE’S A FLIPPING BOY.

NUMBER TWO:

Book: The Dreamer (2014)

(we talked about the titles before, I understand if you need to barf now)

Word searched: Area

Excerpt:

I look up at the ceiling and stare at the shiny area. “Lake?” “Yes?” “Do you really like me for what I am? Was it true when you’d told me that you like me for me, not my face?” he sighs. “I meant every single word I said. You’re my special girl.” He smiles down on me. “You know, you’re special too. I’ve met many humans in my life, but you’re the only one who helped me control my dreams. You’re the reason I don’t dream violently anymore.”

I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO SHOOK IN MY LIFE OH MY GOD THIS IS ACTUALLY THE WORST THING I HAVE EVER WRITTEN OH MY GOD I’M DYING.

RIP RACHEL 2K17

I can’t even read that over, I’m literally covered in chills of cringe.

THE TRAUMA.

Je suis shaking.

LAKE???? NOOOO WHYYY POR QUEEEEE. ABORT MISSION ABORT. I FORGOT THAT WAS HIS NAME.

NUMBER THREE:

Book: The Treated (2014)

Word searched: Glance

Excerpt:

In and out, in and out. Calm down Meg. I keep my hands clasped tightly together and try my hardest to calm myself. I glance at my timer, forty-two seconds until Implantation. Forty-one seconds until my smile is stolen from me. Forty seconds until a chip is planted in my brain that stops me from smiling. Thirty-nine seconds before the chip is able to zap my brain if I dare raise the corners of my mouth.

‘Cos this is totally how you insert thoughts into narrative.

I don't smile anymore because of this excerpt.

NUMBER FOUR:

Book: Perks and Drawbacks (2014)

(I don't even have to share an excerpt with that cringe-ass title)

Word searched:

Excerpt:

“Yeah that’s great, get some paper will you?” he cuts me off. I stalk over to my dresser, grabbing the notebook I was using earlier and tearing two sheets from it. I grab two pencils and toss one at Gage. I hand him a sheet of paper and get back to my own. I immediately start sketching out his face shape, then his eyes. When I get to the hair I sigh, what? It takes a long time for it. I have to say, this one turns out even better than the last. I hold it up to compare it to the real thing, even though I prefer the latter. He looks up from his drawing, holding his own next to me. “Ready?” I ask, anxious. “Yep, on three, one two three!” we flip our drawing around. I immediately grab his. “Gage.” I mumble shocked. “What? Thought I couldn’t draw?” I look back down at the picture of me. It’s the moon. “That’s, wow.” I mumble again.

NOOOOOOOOOOO

Kill me.

#thatswow

#gagesoundslikesomedudethatwouldbeapartofanaltpopband

#gage

#hernameisfuckingstar

#alsotheresagirlnamedocean

#andanothergirlnamedphoenix

#andaguynamedLEAF

THAT’S WOW

NUMBER FIVE:

Book: Fostered (2014)

Word searched: Mess

Excerpt:

I love you guys, so I’m sharing two. :)

He raises the hand with his knife as to strike me with it, making half of the cage of his arms on the sides of my head disappear. I break my arm free from under him, snatching his wrist, the knife inches from me. I don’t bother trying anything else as this would mess with my plan. “You little.” He mutters, twisting my hand painfully and grabs my other, pinning them flat to the ground. I force my arms down, biting my lip from the pain. I thrust my knee into his back, flipping him over me.

#thereturnofyoulittle

#why

YOU LITTLE

“That’s easy, you don’t have to. I’m here, Ris is here, Essie’s here and we’re gonna help you too. You don’t have to be alone Reeve.” Foster answers for me, keeping his eyes on the ground, the faint tinge of pink fluttering across his cheeks. “But what if it doesn’t work out in the end? What if I mess up all over again? I’m going to trip over my own feet again, and I don’t know how to get back up again. What do I do?” I ask, my throat constricting. I feel the itch of frustrated tears sneak up on me, but I blink them back, not daring to let them spill over. By now, I realize I’m not talking about how we’re gonna get out of here. I’m talking about myself.

#fetusfosever

#immatripovermyownfeettooreeve

NUMBER SIX:

Book: This Is Where The End Starts (2014)

Word searched: White

Excerpt:

“So it’s gonna be different now, but hey, I’m here for you, okay Quinn?” she says, waiting for an answer. I stare at the ceiling, eyes sliding across the smooth white, getting lost in it, thinking of something to say. It’s a while when I finally do decide to say something, eyes now shut. She’s there for me. “Thanks.” I tell her, smile on my face.

That was the end of a scene. I wish there was more material to cringe with in this book, but for some reason I didn't actually suck as much at writing this book, even though I wrote it at the same time as FOSTERED?

NUMBER SEVEN:

Book: Hunted (Fostered #2, 2015)

Word searched: Dear

Excerpt:

“They know she’s not entirely there, so they don’t let her go anywhere. It’s pretty much a prison but I know she’s safe because of that. They won’t let her get out and she won’t leave.” His smile this time, is rueful and smaller than before, it almost dropping completely. He shrugs before shifting his eyes back over to the road, early morning sunlight filtering through the window in long rays. Harrison grabs something from the cup holder, putting the sunglasses on and grabbing me a pair from the top compartment. “Don’t want to get a headache from dear old Motherfucking Nature, now would we?” he asks me, and I look at him for a bit before lightly putting them on, the immediate relief of not having to squint through sunlight there and real. “Head better?” he murmurs after a while, speeding up, speedometer slowly ticking further to the right. “Harrison?” I croak out instead of answering his question, thinking back to when that slip of a memory came hurling back toward me when Lonan kicked me in the face. “Hmm?” I hesitate before I ask, biting my tongue hard at the throbbing of the steady pain at the back of my head. “Why’d you really help me when Lonan and Holly were gonna kill me?” I ask, hopefully nonchalant as I slowly edge myself onto the topic I really want to know about. I see him tense, bright sun outlining his silhouette. Harrison lets out a few sighs before quickly glancing at me, then to the road again. “Don’t be a fucktard,” he starts, small smile twitching at his lips. “first off, that’s not the question you were going to ask, and second, to answer that crap, it’s because I care Reeve. You seriously think I give a shit about whether or not you’re alive for the fricken government’s sake? You need to be alive because I want you alive. Tell me the real one, will you?”

Lol don’t be a fucktard - Harrison, 2k15

#italmostdroppingcompletely

#LONAAAAAAAN

#LONANBRUHYOUKICKEDHERINTHEFACEYOUDICKWADWOW

(lonan was once an antagonist)

(ha)

This was long. Because Harrison.

NUMBER EIGHT:

Book: Resisted (FOSTERED #3, 2015)

Word searched: Managing

Excerpt:

“Reeve, we need to go.” Harrison says, breaths hitching as he continues to listen to my sobbing shrieks. “Let me go, Ris! Put me down – I-I – let me please go back! [SPOILER]!” “I’m sorry –” “No!” I cry, somehow managing to squirm one arm free. I use it to push myself away, although it’s a struggle to run back into the house, passed the heavy wood door and to the kitchen where [SPOILER]’s body still lies limply, Lonan pacing a few feet away.

sobbing shrieks be like.

IS IT TOO LATE NOW TO SAY SORRYYYYY

NUMBER NINE:

Book: I’m Disappointed (2015)

(Using original draft for maximum cringe)

Word searched: Base

Excerpt:

“Yeah it is.” Her breath catches in her throat and I know she’s crying. “I’m sorry about everything, Clifford. I’m sorry that you went through such a tough time yesterday and no one was there to help you when we should’ve been. Cliff, I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re home though. I don’t know what any of us would do if you were gone.” “Lucky for you,” I sniff. “I’m not going anywhere.” Instead of leaving Grace, I take a seat on her bed, and she wheels forward. For a few minutes, we talk about yesterday. And what happened. What exactly Julian did. What I shouldn’t have. But we talk. And I like that. By the time we’re done, and I really am tired, I leave her with a final hug, and then go back to my own room, the real headache sprouting from the base of my skull, up to the tips of my ears.

I don't even know if this scene exists in the current version, LOL. Not that cringy, to be honest. For draft one, yeah, this isn't bad.

NUMBER TEN:

Sarah’s fresh outta projects, so I’m on my own!

Book: Hollowed (FOSTERED #4, 2016)

Word searched: Square

Excerpt:

It saddens me to share this excerpt since it’s so recent. lol

rip.

“Jesus, that was artful. So what? Is he sick of just being the sidekick now? He actually wants to be useful—” A hand yanks me back when I’m about to throat-punch him. When I turn around, it’s Ris. His eyes are warning and low, but he doesn’t say anything when he snatches Lincoln up by his shirt and lands a punch square on his nose for me. “Don’t fucking talk about my best friend like that,” He says, dusting his hands off as he watches blood spatter all along the floors. “You are an insignificant prick.” “God, all of you are so violent—” “Enough!” Lonan shouts, slamming his fist hard against the mahogany table. “I am done with your bullshit, I am done with your stupid words, and irritating mannerisms! If you don’t answer her questions, I’ll kill you and find my answers somewhere else! Stop prancing around like you know everything!”

lol.

the things I do for you.

IRRITATING MANNERISMS!

LONAN IS DONE!

MORTIFICATION!

plz laugh at me.

NUMBER ELEVEN:

Book: Fostered #5 (2017!)

Word searched: Least

Excerpt:

Foster woke up a few minutes ago. But before he could question what happened, I was out of there. I don’t know if Lonan and Ris are explaining what he did to me, but at this point, I’m too numb to even care. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. I know something inside of him is flaking and cracking—like shattering porcelain, but I don’t know why. After at least twenty minutes have past, and no one’s come looking for me, I keep going. Deeper and deeper into the station I go, walking until my legs are tired and burning, feet are aching with the weight of my body. I walk like my problems are behind me. Leave them in the shadows flicking across the walls where they belong.

the angst.

the recent excerpts are the worst to share to be honest.

I hide.

Okay, that’s it for now! I had so much fun writing this up again, regardless if I died a couple times. I’ll link Sarah’s post above once it’s up! Hope you guys enjoyed! And if you’d like to participate, please do, and tag us!

--Rachel

[mysticdelphox97]

Tagged by Kalosstarters c:

Welp, I got tagged by Tiia ( @kalosstarters ) so I guess I gotta do this lmao.

Rules: once you have been tagged you are supposed to write 92 truths about yourself. At the end, choose however many people you want to tag!

(this was 13 fucking pages long on Word jesus. I’ll add a “Keep Reading” break so it doesn’t take up people’s dashboards)

LAST…

[1] drink: a mocha coffee cooler from Baker’s Dozen ^^

[2] phone call: uhh, mom probably.

[3] text message: From Mom: “Here.” (she was picking me up from classes)

[4] song you listened to: I’ve got Pandora Radio playing while doing this, so I’ve heard Panic at the Disco and Against the Current so far.

[5] time you cried: Sunday night because I completely forgot that I had an art critique due the next day and I completely forgot and it was midnight and I was trying to churn out this pathetic paper for something I left until the last minute and [SCREEAAMMMMINGGG]

Phew. Okay, I think I’m good now.

 HAVE YOU EVER…

[6] dated someone twice: I haven’t even dated someone once.

[7] been cheated on: Considering I’ve never been in a relationship, thankfully I can say no lol.

[8] kissed someone and regretted it: Can’t regret something I’ve never done sooooo xD

[9] lost someone special: Yeah… ;^;

[10] been depressed: Ugh… yes. It’s… pretty awful, honestly. Couple that with anxiety and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

[11] gotten drunk and thrown up: I haven’t gotten drunk before, but I have thrown up after drinking an excessive amount of one of those Starbucks mocha drinks when I was a kid. I can’t even look at one of those things anymore because of that.

 LIST 3 FAVOURITE COLOURS:

[12] Purple, like an orchid. C:

[13] Sky blue is rather pretty~

[14] I know black isn’t technically a color but I sure have a lot of black shirts pfft.

 IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU…

[15] made new friends: Tiia and Beth ( @wingsonghalo)~! :D they might be internet friends but I love talking to them every day <3

[16] fallen out of love: Never really been in love tbh. I’ve had crushes that I’ve grown out, that’s close enough right?

[17] laughed until you cried: That’s pretty much me all the time tbh.

[18] found out someone was talking about you: In high school I think… but they weren’t really bad things.

[19] met someone who changed you: Like, for better/worse? I guess most of the people I’ve met have influenced me in some way or another.

[20] found out who your true friends are: Yep. Kinda happened after I graduated from high school.

[21] kissed someone on your Facebook list: Other than my mom and dad? Nope.

 GENERAL…

[22] how many of your tumblr friends do you know in real life: Other than my friend Kelsie, and a few people from high school. Sadly I do not know Tiia or Beth in real life and that makes me very sad, I wanna meet you guys so bad dang it T^T

[23] do you have any pets: Hah, oh god yeah. Three horses, three sheep (we used to have hundreds when I was a kid), three cats (two are mine and they’re my babies c: ), and two little dogs—a purebred pug and a pug/Pekingese mix. Oh, and my family lives on a farm, in case that needed some clarification.

[24] do you want to change your name: pfft hell no, I love my name. Besides, you’re not gonna meet many people who’s name is Rosaleen (and spelled exactly like that too)

[25] what did you do for your last birthday: I went out to a restaurant with some of my family. It was a school day for my brothers though, and my younger bro had football practice, so it was really just me, my mom, my grandma, and my sister with her baby.

[26] what time did you wake up: a little before 9 AM since I had to go to class.

[27] what were you doing at midnight last night: Pumping out mini profiles for my Pokémon fankids because my priorities are trash. Oh, and playing Candy Crush Jelly.

[28] name something you cannot wait for: MarissonShipping Week! :D I can’t wait to participate in it!!

[29] when was the last time you saw your mother: This morning when I got dropped off at college.

[30] what is one thing you wish you could change about your life: I wish I didn’t have social anxiety so I could actually go out and be productive, and not be so terrified of social interaction with strangers. It’s awful.

[31] what are you listening to right now: Whatever’s playing on Pandora Radio. When I got to this question, “Blood Like Gasoline” by Against the Current was playing.

[32] have you ever talked to a person named tom: Uhh, I knew a Tom in high school… he was kind of a bum though.

[33] something that is getting on your nerves: Whenever my brother doesn’t put away the dishes properly, or doesn’t put them all away. IT’S NOT THAT HARD BRO. HONESTLY.

[35] elementary: Like, elementary school? I guess it was okay… well, except for the boys constantly picking on me. That sucked. And that’s about the time my parents separated. That also sucked. Yeah, elementary school just really sucked.

[36] high school: Oh man I really miss the high school I went to. I flourished so well there and had a great time.

[37] college: Honestly… pretty boring. I’m just taking my general studies and getting them out of the way before I transfer to another college, so I can focus on what I love. The problem is, I really don’t know what I want to do with that. It’s very frustrating.

[38] hair colour: Oh god it always changes because it’s got a bunch of different highlights. It’s like, a reddish-brown with gold highlights, and it gets lighter in the sun. It’s really weird.

[39] long or short hair: Uhh, right now it’s like, a little over shoulder-length. I usually keep it a bit shorter because I never do much with my hair.

[40] do you have a crush on someone: Nope, and when I did get crushes it was always on the wrong kind of person. So I kinda hate crushes on real people since it always disappoints pfft.

[41] what do you like about yourself?: Oh jeez, what DO I like about myself? Well… I guess the fact that I can exceed my own expectations? Like, with driving, I didn’t think I’d do well with it at all—and now that I’ve been driving for over a year now, I’m actually a lot better at it. And on a couple of exams that I took a few weeks ago, I thought I’d get at least a B on them; turns out that I got A’s on both of them. And I like that a lot lol

[42] piercings: I’ve got one in my earlobes, and in high school I used to wear earrings all the time. Now it’s like, kinda sporatic.

[43] blood type: I think it’s a B-. RedCross really wants me to donate again because they keep calling me lmao.

[44] nickname: I go by Mystic on Tumblr and Rose in real life.

[45] relationship status: Single, and tbh that doesn’t bother me too much.

[46] zodiac sign: Virgo c:

[47] pronouns: she/her

[48] fav tv show: Lately I’ve been really into Forensic Files—it’s about older cases and the techniques that were used to solve them. I also love Bones and Criminal Minds. And, of course, there’s the Pokémon Anime.

[49] tattoos: Nope. Though I should get the backs of my hands tattooed so I know which one’s left and which one’s right. It’s a dumb thing to forget but agh I forget way too often.

[50] right or left handed: Right-handed!

 FIRST…

[51] surgery: When I was in first grade I broke my left arm and needed surgery. I also had my tonsils and adenoids removed.

[52] piercing: Ears. I believe I got them in eighth grade.

[53] best friend: My friend Miranda, we’ve been best friends since elementary school c: she’s mostly working now but I usually try to get together with her if her schedule allows.

[55] vacation: I remember going to Washington DC for the first time in fifth grade for a weekend. I don’t remember a whole lot about it though. I guess my first ‘real’ vacation was the class trip I went on in eighth grade, which was also to Washington DC but it was for a whole week. Though I twisted my foot literally the day before I had to leave, so I hobbled about on crutches for the most part, and I had a wheel chair for one of the night tours. A lot of my classmates had fun pushing me around in it lol.

[56] pair of trainers: Is that like, a kind of shoe or sneaker? I’m afraid I have no clue.

 RIGHT NOW…

[57] eating: Nothing. I have a protein bar but I’m kinda stuffed from the breakfast sandwich I had earlier.

[58] drinking: Still working on my mocha coffee cooler.

[59] I’m about to: Eventually post this, preferably before I go to class at 2:00 PM.

[60] listening to: I think I answered this question already earlier… well, now Pandora Radio is playing “Miss Jackson” by Panic at the Disco.

[61] waiting for: uh, nothing in particular. I guess for this day to be over?

[62] want: I can’t really think of anything at the moment.

[63] get married: Ehh, I guess of the person is rich I wouldn’t mind. Though if they want kids I’ll have to drag them to the nearest adoption center, there’s plenty of children there. I don’t necessarily want to procreate when there’s kids that can be adopted into a loving home.

[64] career: Currently a suffering student pfft. I guess I’d like to be an accomplished author or someone who works with animals. Maybe I could even help write movies? Who knows.

 WHICH IS BETTER…

[65] hugs or kisses: I’m a sucker for hugs

[66] lips or eyes: Eyes are nice.

[67] shorter or taller: Meh, I’m not picky.

[68] older or younger: Ehh, not picky here either.

[69] romantic or spontaneous: I like both tbh c:

[70] nice arms or nice stomach: bruh do I gotta choose. Bruh.

[71] sensitive or loud: sensitive

[72] hook up or relationship: Relationship

[73] troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant

 HAVE YOU EVER…

[74] kissed a stranger? Definitely not.

[75] drank hard liquor? I think I tried it (with parent supervision of course). It was nasty lmao.

[76] lost glasses/contact lenses? I don’t believe so. I can’t exactly see without my glasses so they’re usually on my face or on my nightstand.

[77] turned someone down: I think someone asked me out in sixth grade and I turned him down. I kinda felt a little bad because the people I was friends with at the time teased him about it.

[78] sex on first date? Bruh I haven’t even been on a date lmao xD

[79] broken someone’s heart? If I ever did I’m so sorry ;;

[80] had your own heart broken? Yeah…

[81] been arrested? No

[82] cried when someone died? Yes

[83] fallen for a friend? Yeah, it was a crush I had on a guy friend in middle school. We both loved Pokémon and would pretend to have battles during recess. We drifted apart eventually, and he hung out a lot with this other girl. I guess he had a crush on her, but I’m not sure. I kinda miss that.

  DO YOU BELIEVE IN…

[84] yourself? Uhhh, probably not as much as I should...

[85] miracles? It depends

[86] love at first sight? Meh, not really.

[87] Santa Claus? Kinda grew out of that a while ago lol

[88] kiss on the first date? Sure why not?

[89] angels?: I’m kind of indifferent.

 OTHER…

[90] current best friend’s name: Miranda, Kelsie, Beth, and Tiia c:

[91] eye colour: brown

[92] favourite movie: I recently watched Moana and I absolutely loved it, so I’m gonna roll with Moana! :)

 I can’t really think of anyone to tag at the moment, so if anyone wants to do this you’re more than welcome to ^.^