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narniagiftexchange · 4 years

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THE WINTER NARNIAN GIFT EXCHANGE.

for: @lukejulies from @teenagedpevensies.

my best friend, my sibling.

for @lukejulies from @teenagedpevensies

“Why your Majesty it’s such an honor to run into you here,” Lucy curtsied deeply, giggling.

“Oh yes your Majesty, simply divine, what have you done with your hair?” Edmund bowed, keeping a serious expression fixed to his face.

“Brushed it, for once, your Majesty, and I must say where has your famous body odor gone this evening?”

“You mean you aren’t accessorizing with leaves and dirt anymore? Fascinating. You’re quite the trend setter, your Majesty, and if you must know my dearest sister I’ve taken the liberty of bathing today.”

“First time all week! Daring of you.”

“I thought so, yes.”

“Oh your Majesties! What an honor to run into you!” A noble from Archenland walked out into the hall. She was lady something or other, Edmund couldn’t quite remember which made him a little guilty. A little. To be fair, there were a lot of nobles here, and he was only twelve and had many many kingly duties. Like hiding out from the celebration with his little sister because if either of them went into the ballroom, they’d have to meet approximately 80 guests and then be expected to remember all of them. Very serious business, hiding from festivities.

Cair Paravel had finally gotten all fixed up, so they were hosting a huge celebration. It had taken about a year and a half to finish repairs and cleaning and furnishing, and it was good that the work was over and good to celebrate! But being in a room full of stuffy adults wasn’t Lucy or Edmund’s idea of a celebration. It wasn’t the first gathering the kings and queens had hosted since being crowned, but dear god it WAS the largest by a lot. Edmund had snuck out of the great hall and found Lucy sitting by the door making flower crowns, also having escaped from the chaos.

“Yes, good to see you again, madam,” Edmund said politely.

“Oh, your Majesty! Where did you get those divine flowers?” The lady motioned to the crown Lucy had placed haphazardly on her head.

Lucy and her quickly got into a lovely conversation about the flowers until the lady went to go find the gardens for herself. Lucy sent her off with a flower crown of her own and a brilliant smile.

“How do you do that?” Edmund asked.

“Do what, Ed?”

“Make friends with- well with everyone?”

“It’s not everyone, Tumnus’s nephew still hates me.”

“Impossible.” Edmund dismissed the statement with a wave. “Everyone likes you.”

“I’m just nice, I guess.”

“Well, I’m nice!”

“No, you’re polite, Ed. It’s different.” She took a seat next to one of the heavy wood doors.

“Is it really that different?” He sat next to her.

“Maybe. Or maybe I’m just cuter and sweeter and funnier than you and everyone thinks I’m an angel. It comes with being the youngest.”

Edmund shoved her, she laughed, the door opened, and Mr. Beaver stepped out.

“There you are! You can’t just disappear like that, Susan thinks you’ve been kidnapped. Or assassinated.”

“Oh Mr. Beaver, don’t make us go back in,” Lucy begged. “It’s lasted hours already, and I’m so tired.”

“Who said anything about going back in? Scoot over, I think I can hide away for ten minutes. It’s every creature for themselves at these things. The others can hold their own.”

The summer air in Narnia was heavy and warm, like the mantle of some great beast had been draped over them while they sat in front of a roaring fire. On days when there were no responsibilities to attend to, the teenaged kings and queens would often ride down to the river and swim there for hours, until their whole bodies shivered with the ice of the water. Susan and Edmund started the game of climbing the trees that trailed branches over the water and jumping in, and Peter and Lucy turned it into a competition to see who could make the biggest splash.

Sometimes the river turned their toes to prunes, or they began to fear catching a cold, and then they’d run around the forest, befriending squirrels and tree nymphs, climbing trees and rocks, and dancing and singing in clearings.

“Race you to the top of this tree,” Edmund shouted to Lucy, as she raced to catch up with him.

“No fair! We all know you’re the best at climbing!”

“Sounds like an excuse!” He was the best at climbing and demonstrated this with his graceful ascent into the tree’s lower branches.

“Edmund!”

“Better hurry up then if you want to win!”

Lucy reached the base of the tree, huffing and puffing, with a twig caught on the hem of her dress and dirt caking her bare feet. She jumped up to reach the lowest branch, caught hold of it, and promptly lost her hold. Edmund was seated on one of the middle branches of the tree by this point, watching with amusement.

“You’re the worst!” She called up, but she was grinning.

“Yes, but the best climber.”

“You have to race me later on foot, to make it up to me.”

“Actually Lucy, I don’t have to do anything.”

She caught hold of the branch and pulled herself up.

“One down!” He started climbing again, “only about twenty to go!”

She huffed in response.

They were quiet for a minute, both focusing on not losing their grip as they climbed higher and higher. Narnian trees, even the ones not inhabited by dryads, are particularly lovely. They are exactly the right height, always. They touch the sky or are as short as Peter and either way it’s right. They feel genuine; they make you think, this is a tree that knows, a tree that thinks, and feels. This tree has seen so much and is so beautiful, and being near it feels like being young. Each leaf is its own kind of beautiful, a tiny art piece. And each branch is strong and healthy, and holding onto it feels safe. Or maybe the trees back in England are like this, too. Neither Lucy nor Edmund could quite remember.

“I think I’ve gotten as high as the tree will hold me” Edmund called down after a bit.

“What do you-” Lucy stopped to catch her breath after heaving herself onto a particularly difficult branch, “what do you see Ed?”

“The forest, what do you think?”

“Oh whatever,” Lucy scowled up at him.

“Well, the trees all look plenty green up here. Like a sea of its own. The sky is lovely, it must be about noon, the sun looks to be straight up from here. The clouds look particularly alive today. Oh, is that-?” Edmund carefully stood, clinging tightly to the trunk of the tree, craning his neck to see something closer.

“What is it?”

“It’s a birds nest! Lucy get up here!”

“I’ve been trying! Don’t touch the eggs!”

“I’m not going to touch them, I’m not stupid.”

It was a phoenix nest, the eggs were red and looked hot to the touch. Lucy finally got to the top branch, Edmund giving her a little help by calling directions on where to put her feet for the last few branches, and the siblings stood on the branch together, overlooking the forest.

“We should name them,” Lucy said reverently, studying the three eggs.

“They have parents, you know.”

“Sure, but these can be special names that only we know. Then when they hatch, we’ll see phoenixes flying around and say to ourselves, I wonder if that’s little-” Lucy looked at him expectantly.

“Bartholomew?” He laughed at her scowl.

“You’re the worst. Pick a serious name,” she demanded.

“We should be climbing down, Susan and Peter are probably ready to head home about now.”

“Right.”

“Lucy?”

She didn’t meet his eyes, looked down at her hands instead as she picked at her fingernails. “It’s a bad night.”

It was late; most of the castle was asleep. Edmund hadn’t been, he was finishing the last chapter of the book he’d been reading. And clearly, since she was here, Lucy wasn’t sleeping either.

“Come on in.”

They sat on the floor, beside the mural on Edmund’s wall. They’d painted it for him when he turned 13. It turned out Mr. Tumnus had quite the artistic talent. Trees, tall and strong, the sun shining through the leaves. They’d all helped, and Susan said her favorite part was Lucy’s little squirrel she’d painted in the top left corner.

“What’s bugging you?” Edmund asked her, solemnly.

“Well not- Not bugging me so much as it’s just…” she paused. “No, I guess it is bugging me. We love it here, right?”

“Right.” They’d been over this conversation before, the two of them, and they’d both talked to Peter about it, and Susan, and many times all four of them had spoken about it in tearful tones.

“There’s no place I’d rather be, and it’s home, and we’ve been here for five years, and I’ve never truly really wanted to leave but. Do you ever think about it?”

“The professor’s house?”

“No, bigger.”

“Where our parents are.”

Neither acknowledged that they hadn’t said its name. Neither admitted that they no longer remembered.

“Do you remember what dad was like?” Lucy asked. She looked just as small as she had been, that very first day when they’d found Tumnus’s house empty.

“Brave. Funny. He told us stories.”

“I remember those. Do you remember what mom was like?”

“Worried.”

“And?”

“Kind. She loved us. She used to sing us lullabies.”

“I don’t remember the lullabies anymore.”

“I do. One of them at least. Do you remember anything?”

“A little. Nothing solid. It feels like that place was a dream. Like we were always meant to belong to here instead.”

“We do. We belong there too, but we do belong here.”

They were quiet for a moment.

“Do you think they miss us?” Lucy asked.

“Of course they do.” Edmund sighed. He laced his fingers together, remembering being a very small boy and holding his father’s hand to cross the street.

“Do we miss them?”

“You’re here, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Is there anything else you want to talk about?”

“No, not really.”

“Well, you can stay as long as you’d like.” After a minute, he picked up his book again, and Lucy sat quietly, staring off into the middle distance.

“Edmund?”

“Yeah, Lu?”

“Will you sing one of mom’s lullabies for me?”

Edmund hated singing. ”Sure.”

She scooted over to sit next to him, and he hugged her.

“Um, the only one I really remember is this,” he cleared his throat and began to sing, resting his chin on Lucy’s head. “Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye, four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie. When the pie was opened the birds began to sing— Wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?”

He sang that song, and remembered another so he sang that one too, and another, and another. When he finally looked down at Lucy, he noticed that she’d been crying.

“I don’t remember any of them,” she said softly.

“I’m sorry, Lucy.” He felt close to tears himself.

She was quiet for a long time, sniffling.

“Do you need to talk any more?” He asked gently.

“No. I think I’m going to go back to bed.”

“Probably a good plan.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course.”

When she left he set to work writing down as many songs as he could remember. He wanted them to always have them.

It’d taken teamwork and dedication and a week of trying but Lucy and Edmund had finally figured out how to scale the pillars of the throne room to perch in the rafters. And they were taking full advantage of it.

“Lucy! Edmund!!” Peter called from somewhere a few hallways away.

“Should we go see what he’s after?” Lucy asked, munching on a scone.

“Of course not, he either wants us to do some chore or other, or he found out about the scones.” They were Peter’s scones, he’d baked them yesterday.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have stolen them?”

“Hey, he bakes a whole batch every week and never finishes them before they go stale. We’re helping.”

“Fair enough.”

“Plus he’s being a jerk.”

“That too.”

Peter had been training all week for a tournament with some important noble. It was supposed to just be a friendly match, but Peter treated it like he did any of his other kingly duties, far too seriously. He was tired from training and tired from still keeping up with all his other work, and he’d been far more snappish than he normally was. This was agreed to be, by the two younger Pevensies, completely justified payback for the way he’d been behaving all week. Plus, his scones were delicious.

“LUCY! EDMUND!”

Peter was in the throne room now, stomping around. Magnificent though he was, and extremely kind most days, their brother acted like a toddler when he lost his temper over something petty. Lucy and Edmund exchanged looks. When Peter was below the rafter they were situated on, Edmund drew something from his pocket. Making a shushing gesture toward Lucy, he daintily dropped the acorn in his hand onto their brothers regal head. Both of them gathered themselves, hiding any trailing sleeves and dangling legs from Peter’s line of sight as he looked up. Lucy muffled giggles into her elbow, and Edmund hid his smile behind his hand. The door to the throne room opened and shut. Peeking over the side of the rafter and verifying that Peter wasn’t there anymore, they allowed themselves to burst out into laughter.

“Glad you find it so funny, now what HAVE you done with my armor?”

And there was Peter, leaning by the door. It had been a ruse.

“Armor? Why brother dear, I haven’t the slightest notion of what you’re talking about,” Lucy said sweetly.

“Get down here.”

“Come up and get us,” Lucy challenged, and there it was. Peter was hiding a grin, and soon trying and failing to climb the pillars of the throne room while they alternatively cheered him on and said he would never catch them, and his missing armor was completely forgotten in their laughter.

A good thing too because the smiley face they’d painted on the armor was still in the process of drying.

“I don’t know, Lu, doesn’t it seem a little. Well, risky?” Peter asked, moving a pawn.

“And how is it risky? It’s just a stag.”

“Yes, a magical stag. One that no one knows much about. I don’t think we should risk it.” Susan said, scribbling away on the paper that rested on the arm of her chair. She was writing a letter to someone, had been writing letters almost constantly for months, and no amount of pestering from Lucy or sleuthing from Edmund or curious looks from Peter had gotten answers as to who it was.

“Risk what? A few days away from the palace? Tumnus and the beavers and Oreius are perfectly capable of looking after things, they always have been before, and there’s nothing too pressing going on! Catching the stag could be big!” Lucy kicked her feet against the legs of her throne as she always did when she was excited. She was already dressed in her riding outfit as if she expected to go out and hunt right then.

“I think we should listen to Lucy,” Edmund spoke up from his game of chess with Peter, one that he was about to win by the looks of it.

“And why is that?” Susan sighed, casting an irritated look at her little brother.

“Because she’s never been wrong before,” he answered easily. “Well, other than thinking Tumnus is a good cook.”

“Is this still about finding Narnia?” Susan asked crossly.

“It’s always about finding Narnia. Lucy found our home, Susan, and we didn’t believe her, and she was right. That has to count for something.”

“I’d nearly forgotten about that,” Peter said thoughtfully.

“Me too,” Lucy said, a soft look crossing her face as she looked out the window at the people outside. Their home.

“Well just because she’s been right in the past doesn’t mean she’s always right,” Susan said, but her scowl had softened considerably. She smiled at Lucy. “No offence Lucy.”

“Still, she’s right about this. And who knows, we haven’t gone hunting well… hardly ever, it could be fun,” Edmund moved a piece on the board. “Checkmate! What does that bring our score to, Pete?”

“You’ve won nearly every game for the past year. I’m pretty sure our score is ‘I am solidly losing’” Peter looked at Susan. “What do you think?”

She sighed, fingers playing with the ends of her dark hair. “Fine. Let’s go hunt the white stag. Why not?” Her eyes glittered. She was excited about this even if she didn’t say so.

Lucy shouted with joy, stood right up and did a jig on the spot. “You won’t be sorry! Edmund! What should we ask it for when we catch it?”

“Well, we have to catch it first! I’m going to go to the library to research it.”

“I’ll come with!” Lucy looked out the window again, to the sea, to the people on the shore. She was glad that they were there. She looked at her siblings, the furrow in Susan’s brow as she thought of what to write next, the twinkle in Edmund’s eye as he headed off towards the library, the grin Peter donned as he tried to read over Susan’s shoulder. Yes, it was good that they were there. Very good.

#tcon #tconedit #lucy pevensie #edmund pevensie #narnia #narnia gift exchange #narniagiftexchange #winterexchange: 2 #type: fanfiction #for lukejulies #from teenagedpevensies

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stevesnailbat · 4 years

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hi!! can you write something where steve’s having a pool party at his house, and he invites the new girl in town (reader), cause he’s got a crush on her, and when he sees her in a bikini he goes crazy. kinda smutty but not so oblivious you know? more like, teasing and steve being super flustered and hard thank you love!

warnings: teasing, a little steamy, nothing too smutty

word count: 2.0K

There was no denying the fact that every guy in Hawkins had their eye on the new girl. Her family moved into town in the beginning of June just after the school year had ended, but word spread of them fast—mainly about her. She was stunning, to say the least. She was like summertime personified—like a golden ray of sunshine brought into the typically dull and boring Hawkins.

Steve first laid eyes on her when she walked into Scoops Ahoy! in the middle of a Tuesday, their slowest day of the week. She had the brightest eyes and most inviting smile that he had ever seen, and the look on his face would have told her that he was enamored with her from first glance if she had been looking at him. His mouth was slightly agape as she approached the counter, but he closed it quickly and gained his composure.

“Ahoy there!” he said a little too loudly, trying to hide his nerves behind some smooth talk. “What can I get for you today?”

“Just a one scoop of strawberry in a cone, please.” she replied, a smile dancing on her lips as she locked eyes with him.

“You got it.” Steve said coolly, pulling his ice cream scooper out while reaching for a sugar cone. “Y’know, I haven’t seen you around here. Are you new to town?”

“Yeah, my family just moved here last week.” she shrugged casually, digging in her purse for her money. “Today’s really the first day I’ve gotten out of the house, though. My parents have kept me busy with unpacking for the last ten days.”

“Oh, so you haven’t seen many of the great wonders of Hawkins then.” he said sarcastically while scooping the pink ice cream from its tub.

“Yeah, not many.” she giggled, sliding two one dollar bills onto the counter. "Starcourt is my first stop of the day, then I’m going to find my way around the rest of the town after this.”

“Well, if you ever get lost or need a tour guide, I’m happy to help.” he suggested as he handed her the cone and gathered the money. “It was nice to meet you—“

“I'm Y/N. And thank you for being so kind…” she trailed off, eyes flickering to his name tag as she licked the ice cream. “Steve. It was nice to meet you too, I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

And she was right. Steve saw her around all the time, which might have had something to do with the fact that she actually lived two doors down from the Harrington’s. He had never paid too much attention to his neighbors in Loch Nora, but his parents always did. They came back from some business trip the day after he met Y/N, he knew he wouldn’t be there for long, though. Come Friday, he’d have the house to himself again and planned on having a pool party.

“Oh Steve, you’re home! I need you to do me a favor.” his mom said to him after his Wednesday shift at Scoops, she was about to leave the house as he walked in. “Take the cookies that are on the counter over to the new family that moved in two houses down, will you? I have to run to a meeting in town.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll take them in a minute.” he said, dropping his keys on the counter next to the plate of cookies.

Steve went up to his room after saying a quick goodbye to his mom, finally able to change out of the stupid sailor outfit he’d been stuck in all day. He was halfway tempted to change and throw himself into bed as soon as he did, but he knew his mom wouldn’t let him hear the end of it if he didn’t bring the cookies to the newcomers. His parents were always trying to welcome new neighbors in Loch Nora, but he knew they’d barely be around to even meet them. They always sent him to deliver housewarming treats, because they were always busy, of course.

So, he trudged two doors down with the cookies in hand and knocked on the door, expecting the mother of the family to answer as usual. What he wasn’t expecting was for Y/N to be standing on the other side of the door, but there she was. She was just as beautiful as he had remember from the day before, her eyes were just as inviting and her smile was just as warm.

“Steve?” she said as she opened the door, the bright smile on her face as she looked to the very caught off guard boy in front of her. “What’re you doing here?”

“Uh—Hey, Y/N!” he stammered, giving her a nervous smile as he pushed the plate of cookies in her direction. “I—My parents always have me bring a housewarming gift to newcomers in the neighborhood, I didn’t even realize that it was probably you. But here you go. Welcome to the neighborhood!”

“Oh, well that’s very sweet of you guys! Thank you, Steve.” she giggled, taking the plate from his hands.

“Did you have any luck with finding your way around the town yesterday?” he asked and she nodded with the grin still on her lips. “Make any new friends or anything?”

“I mean, I met a few people, yeah.” she shrugged. “I did meet you yesterday, so that was pretty cool.”

“Oh yeah? Nobody cooler than me?” he teased, she shook her head and giggled once more. “Well, in that case, maybe I can introduce you to some of my friends.”

“When?” she questioned, looking up at him hopefully.

“I’m having a pool party on Friday if you want to come. It’s not gonna be a lot of people, but it’ll be fun, I promise.” he offered. “I told everyone to come around four, so you can come around then. I just live two houses down from here.”

“Well, that’ll be great.” she said. “I’ll make sure to be there.”

Steve thought he was crushing hard on her before that day, but seeing her show up to his house that day made it even worse. She was wearing a thin, black cover-up dress when he answered the door for her, and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. She looked that good in a cover-up, now he was getting of scared about how he’d react to her in a swimsuit. He stayed cool as he led her through the house and to the backyard where a few unfamiliar people were in the pool. She recognized one of them as the girl who worked with Steve at Scoops. He introduced her to them all, then pointed them out one by one: Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, Cameron, Lucy, Ali and Tyler.

“Do you want anything to drink or anything? I have some beers inside if you want one.” Steve offered.

“Oh, sure!” she said, and he nodded before slipping inside through the sliding glass door to grab them.

When Steve came back outside, he almost dropped the two beers he was holding after catching a glimpse of Y/N after she had stripped out of her cover up. She was wearing a red bikini that showed her in the best ways, and was sitting on the side of the pool with her feet in, talking to Robin and Ali. Robin had noticed the way Steve was drooling over Y/N but kept it to herself. Steve finally made his way over to where she sat and joined her on the concrete, handing her one of the beers as he tried to stay calm.

Y/N could tell as soon as Steve sat down that he was getting a little frazzled by the situation, and knew exactly why. He hadn’t really made much of a move on her, but she could tell he had a crush. And she couldn’t lie, she did too. Seeing him shirtless, a little sweaty and a little flustered was just confirming the crush she had developed in the last few days. Of course, she couldn’t be upfront about it with all of these new people around. So, she opened her drink and began her teasing.

Steve was surprised to see her sudden change in attitude as she sat by the pool, any shyness that she had slipped away quickly. The girls seemed to like her, Robin even gave Steve a few suggestive looks as if to tell him that she approved. Two beers and an hour passed and Y/N was starting to get a little too warm just sitting on the edge of the pool.

“Wanna get in with me?” she suggested to Steve as she finished her second beer, who was halfway distracted with staring at her breasts. “I’m sweating."

“I will in a minute, not yet.” he said with a blush on his cheeks, snapping his gaze to her eyes knowing that he’d gotten caught.

“C’mon! You’re the only one that’s not in!” she teased, tugging on his hand as she slipped into the water.

He sighed teasingly and followed suit by wading into the water from the side of the pool after her. A satisfied grin spread across her face as he slid in, feeling him come dangerously close to her in the water. A breath hitched in his throat as she brushed past him, her hand running along his arm as she sent a wink in his direction. She continued her conversation with the other guys in the pool as if nothing had happened, but he couldn’t get past it. He was glad they were in the water now, because anyone would be able to see his growing hard-on if they weren’t.

The night came quickly after that, plenty of jokes and teasing exchanged between them as the day turned into dawn. Once the sun began to set, everyone started to wind down and make their way inside for more drinking. Y/N was getting out of the pool alongside Steve when she noticed that the necklace she had gotten from her mom on her sixteenth birthday wasn’t around her neck anymore.

“Shit.” she mumbled, checking along the concrete by the edge of the pool for any glimmer of silver.

“What?” he asked, sitting down on the edge by where she was searching. “Lose something?”

“Yeah, the silver necklace I was wearing earlier.” she said, still searching along the ground. “Wanna help me look?”

Steve nodded and climbed back into the pool, diving under the water to search for the chain as she looked along the side some more. It didn’t take long for Steve to find it, since it was near where they had been sitting most of the day. It must have slipped off when she slid into the pool the first time. He came from below the water and was right next to her once more, catching her off guard this time.

“This it?” he asked, holding it up as she nodded at him. “Here, I’ll get it.”

He snaked his arms around her neck to clasp the necklace around it. After getting it on, he realized how close they were to each other. He couldn’t stop himself from dipping down and pressing his lips against hers gently. She stood on her toes as he did, leaning into him to deepen it. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pressed her against the wall of the pool, his hands traveling to her waist. Their wet bodies pressed against each other, adding to the heat of the moment. She pulled away from the kiss and grabbed one of his hands, a satisfied smirk on her lips as she guided it to her breast.

“You’ve been staring at them all day, so I guess this is only fair.” she giggled, pushing some of his wet hair from his forehead.

“Hey, Dingus!” Robin called, standing at the sliding glass door. “Hurry up, we’re about to play some stupid drinking games!”

A deep blush spread across Y/N’s cheeks as she peered over Steve’s shoulder to see Robin with a grin on her face. She hid her face in Steve’s chest for a moment, letting out a groan of embarrassment at the interruption. Steve hooked his finger underneath her chin, making her look up at him as he smiled down at her.

“We can continue this later, right?” he questioned hopefully, kissing her cheek gently.

“Of course we can."

tags: @sourapplebaby @harringtown @charmed-asylum @lemonypink @daddystevee @jxnehxpper @a-magey @igotmadskills @heart-eye-harrington @queenofthehairharrington

#steve harrington #stranger things #stranger things 1 #stranger things 2 #stranger things 3 #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things imagine #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington smut #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington oneshot #steve harrington one shot #stranger things fluff #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #stranger things smut #stranger things fanfic #stranger things x reader

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erixyin · 4 years

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Idk where i saw this but i need to write my own

MLQC Boys React - MC wearing their shirt/tshirt as a dress in public.

Note: have been dating for a while, like 6 months?

A little NSFW but not too bad x

Victor:

You had stayed over at his for the weekend and now it was Sunday and you had run out of clean none-casual clothes. And you had forgotten to pack any with you or go shopping because you had been very distracted all weekend. By victor without a shirt on wahhhhhh

You rummaged through his closet quickly. Boi was already at work he had a 6am meeting. You dont know how he has the energy to do that. You would literally die if someone said you have to be out of bed before 6am

He looked at his long fancy shirts and you had an idea. You grabbed the one that felt the nicest and that was not the boring grey shirts he usually had. It was a purple silk shirt and it came down to about your knees. MC is so small.

Little did you know that that was literally one of the most expensive shirts he owned...

NOT IN THE CAPACITY TO KNOW FANCY BRAND NAMES OK

You sinched it in at the waist with a belt you had worn over the weekend and put on some gold earrings and necklace. You finished the look with black tights and your black doc martens, PRAYING that no one at work would mind that you looked more SMART CASUAL than SMART.

You thought u looked hella cute in the mirror so u went to work at 9am.

You had forgotten you had a meeting with Victor at 11am.

he did a double take when you walked into the room.

He squinted at your “dress” and you could tell he was going through his memory bank of where he had seen it before.

“Is that... new?” He asked eyeing you every so often before glancing back down to your weekly report

“Uh... yeah relatively. Do u like it?” You asked innocently batting your eyes.

“Where’s it from?” He passed you back your report, forgetting to give any negative comments unusually. He thought you looked hella cute but he totally wasn’t going to tell u that.

“I-I can’t remember.” You blushed hiding behind the report a little.

He stood up and leaned against the front of his desk, now towering above you casually. “I thought you had enough clothes, without needing to borrow mind”

Ok. Now you were bright red.

“D-d-do you not like it?” You stammered and then flashed him a cheeky smile, “i can take it off and give it you back”.

Victor’s hear stopped momentarily before going “Dummy” and patting you gently on the head.

You walked out of his office 2 hours later feeling on top of the world. that’s not the only thing you were on top of

Mr CEO was surprisingly in a good mood for the rest of the day and even gave Goldman a small smile. GOLDMAN IS FREAKING OUT.

Lucien:

It had been a last minute decision sleepover... totally innocent absolutely nothing happened what are you talking about.

Lucien had already left for a lecture he was giving at the university. You had promised to meet up with him once he had finished his schedule.

Now you totally COULD simply go back to your apartment and pick out something you’d worn a few times and Lucien had seen you in. OR you could actually conduct an experiment of your own and make Lucien hella blushy - even if boi went a little red it would be a triumph in himself. BOI HAS A BETTER POKER FACE THAN VICTOR HOW

Being a little bit devious you decided to raid Lucien’s closet. BOI LIKES TO BE STYLISH

He has everything coordinated by colour and by season/activity. Jumpers go in the bottom right next to the winter coats and shirts were hung up towards the left for those “casual days”.

Boi doesnt own a tshirt, he only knows smart casual and smart. Loungewear? Sweatpants?? Boi has never heard of em

Most of his clothes were black and white with a tad bit of grey and brown in there but you found at the very back of the wardrobe a white shirt with pink butterflies patterned over it. Masculinity is so fragile, let the man wear pink. He can OWN it.

You decided to go for it and match it with thigh high suede wedges to give yourself a little extra height. You sinched it in with a simple black studded belt and added nude tights. You put your hair up into a “cute messy” bun and popped a pencil in to keep it in place. You paired it with a little black satchel and “natural” makeup with maybe a red lip tint? Lucien likes a red lip and you can’t tell me otherwise

It was about 2pm and you decided to head over to the university. A little spring in your step.

You knew his schedule by now so you knew he’d be in his office round about now. You checked the times 2:30pm. Half an hour before his next and final lecture.

You entered his office, you didnt need to knock anymore. He knew it was you. Students would always giggle LOUDLY outside his office before knocking. Mainly female students and you PRETENDED not to notice.

He could totally tell you noticed and were trying to hide it

You saw him tapping away on his computer, eyes lost in data.

You plopped your bag over the sofa and walked over to his desk. Kinda annoyed he hadn’t noticed you but also kinda excited because of the build up?

He had a light smile on his face, “Hello MC, i was expecting you a little lat-“ he glanced at your outfit. Boi actually halted his sentence. You were delighted.

You saw the tips of his ears turn pink. successs

he gulped and brought a hand up to his face as his eyes looked at your outfit in detail before looking you directly in the eye, a michevious look on his face, “i haven’t seen that shirt in a very long time. Have to say, it looks better on you”. He watched as you leant over the desk resting on your elbows.

“I think the thigh highs are a nice bonus” he said making it very obvious at where he was looking.

“What time is your next lecture again Luci?” You asked sweetly, leaning over to boop his nose gently.

“Actually my last lecture had to cancel due to some strange unforeseen circumstances”, he said typing the email as he spoke.

“Isn’t that lucky?” He chuckled while glancing at the office door

You gave him a brief kiss on the cheek, “very lucky”

He didn’t make it to the 3pm lecture

Gavin:

He had left some of his clothes at yours before heading out on a mission. He’d been gone for a few days but he had called and said he would be home soon. Weekends were usually spent with you waiting for gavin. He had promised he would stop going on big missions now he had something to come home to.

You kinda got bored waiting for him, because he said he’d be home today. You had told Eli that if he came back with a new bandage you were going to kill him and make him sit in a salt bath. Eli knew you weren’t joking.

You decided to pull out one of the many tshirts he had left at yours. It was an old rock n roll band tshirt. You didn’t know them too well but Gavin had liked to listen to their music every now and then. He didn’t wear it that often anymore, it was a bit too tight on him since he had bought it in his college days.

You had washed it already because you sometimes slept in it. You had been binge watching DIY youtube videos all day when you had a great idea. You really liked the look of the cut out ladder look the girl had done in her youtube video so you decided to do the same. You grabbed a pair of scissors and got to work.

You also decided to give the thsirt a little bit of a v-neck but leaving a piece around the neck for that fake choker look. You looked at your handy work and decided you really quite liked it. The back wasn’t too exposed because of the laddered look but you could always wear something underneath like a mesh top.

It came down to just lower than your thigh. You looked at yourself in the mirror. Considering it was the only piece of clothing you had on right now besides your little running shorts, you thought you looked really cute.

You spun around happy when you saw gavin staring at you COMPLETELY RED outside the window.

“Gavin!” You squealed excitedly as you went to open the window and let him in.

The wind blew underneath your dress/tshirt a little to lift it. You quickly pulled it back down.

Bird cop has stopped working

“You look...” Gavin stood in front of you staring at you. You could see there was a new scar on his neck and arm but no bleeding on any of his clothes.

“I’m so glad you’re home!” You wrapped your arms around him, breathing in his scent

He hugged you bag but went even more red - is that even possible??? - when he felt that the back was laddered and an entrance to your bare back.

“Um you look... very cute” he was now imaging you wearing all of his clothes. Boi was beetroot red someone help him.

“I could pair this with some denim shorts and it would be a date night outfit yeah?” You said taking a step back and spinning round for him

MC why u wanna make this precious boi jealous?? XD

He pulled you in for a quick kiss, “no this is just for me. You’re mine. No one else can see you looking this...” he paused as his ears started to go red again, “good”

Safe to say you didnt kill him for discovering he had several bruises across his back. BUT MC U SAID NO BANDAGES OR BLEEDING SO TECHNICALLY ITS FINE

Kiro:

You had woken up super late - like 11am - after gaming and doing other stuff.... all night. Your body still kinda hurt and ached a little... clearly from doing all of that just dance marathon stuff. If you think kiro isn’t a just dance kinda man i will fight you

The bed was more spacious than normal and you didn’t have a cute blonde cuddling up next to you. Odd. You looked over towards the bathroom but the light was off.

God what day was it? You reached over sluggishly to the bedside table and looked at your phone. It was Wednesday but thankfully you were having a week off after finishing a big project with Kiro’s help.

You had worked the hardest with the late nights and the weekends you had sacrificed. Anna and Kiki thought it was best for you to have a little holiday.

You stretched and sat up. You looked around. Kiro’s jeans were gone and phone. Maybe he had gone to the shops?

You honestly couldnt remember if had anything in his schedule today. Even though he was taking a mini holiday himself - you both timed it perfectly - he still had to do interviews here and there to make Savin happy.

You rubbed your eyes. You didn’t remember where you’re clothes from last night were but they were in NO state to wear. Clearly because of all the sweat from just dance AND NOTHING ELSE ;)

You opened Kiro’s walk in wardrobe. You lazily looked for something to just wear so that you could walk round the house, comfortable but not just nude. Kiro’s house was big and Savin had a key

You picked up a signature yellow and white tshirt that Kiro often wore to events and fan signings. It matched his hoodie but it was perfect for the warmer weather.

Boi was only a few inches taller than you so it JUST came to below your butt. You’d have to bend from the knees and not the waist. Unless you want your butt to be on show.

You found some black unused underwear and popped them on. You debated onto weather you could be bothered putting socks on or not. Then you remembered that Kiro had central floor heating so nahhhhhh

You wandered round the house looking for Kiro. Your bare feet making a gentle thudding noise across the marble floor.

You gave up home when you couldnt find him in the games room or living room so you decided to go get yourself a snack.

You walked in and froze as you saw Kiro. In front of a camera. A LIVE camera. And Savin sat just out of frame.

You just remembered that wednesday afternoons were the weekly Kiro livestreams.

KILL ME

Boi instantly caught your eye and then looked at what you were wearing - barely anything

Whatever he was saying before he was silent. Boi was SHOOKETH. He COUGHED LOUDLY and went a bright scarlet red from his neck to his face.

The livestream chat was going mental as they couldnt see you from the camera angle positioned on Kiro’s face. They were wondering what he was getting so worked up about. It was a really good job that the camera could only see from the waist up

“H-hey guys, sorry I’m gonna have to cut the livestream short.” Savin had his head in his hands, “I’m just not..” he stole another glance at you while you were trying to reach the top of the shelf where the cookies were and his tshirt lifted up higher exposing more. “I’m just not feeling too good.” He chuckled bashfully as he rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed.

The chat soon filled up with #get better soon kiro as well as #curiouskiro was trending. Some people speculated that Kiro might have a lover. The fan theories went mental.

“I’ll see you guys next week bye!” And the livestream ended. You blushed as you saw Kiro’s gaze and you crunched on your cookies while looking at the floor.

Savin got up to go and leave and sort things out for Kiro online, to make ensure his reputation wasn’t going to fall because of this unexpected situation.

“Thats my tshirt!” He said as he came over to you still red

“Yeah... and?” You mumbled a mouth full of cookies. Thats not the only thing your mouth’s gonna be full of in a minute miss chips - I’m sorry please forgive me i had to XD

“Miss chips is not allowed to look that good” he whined, “i was doing an interview, i was gonna be back in like half an hour and you looked so peaceful-“

You pressed a finger to his lips to shush him, “well we can still go back to bed now...”

SAY. NO. MORE

Boi picked u up and carried you upstairs, bridal style.

A week later you made your relationship public. At first the fans were a little upset but then soon adored you when you revealed a little of why Kiro was so blushy the previous Wednesday. #blushyboikiro was trending for a MONTH

BONUS: Shaw:

He had to rush off to his exam in the morning after promising to meet up afterwards for breakfast/lunch

This was at 8am. [bitch you aint getting out of bed at 8am on a day off? Beauty sleep is very important]

His exam was three hours long [the pain of uni exams, i get you Shaw i get you] and you woke up at 11:39

SHIT

You scrambled for your things but the night before outfit was not really brunch appropriate so you settled for something a lil more casual [and devious]

You grabbed one of his favourite tshirts which fell down to your mid thigh, and cut a slit at the bottom and safety pinned it together [ya know for that EDGY look] [i dont know what the kids are up to these days but i saw my friend do it and she’s cool so]

You grabbed ur cropped zip hoodie, put on some thigh high stockings, put on ur black boot heels from last night and you were ready to go. [you also sprayed some perfume on ur neck, wrist and garter while u were at it. LOOK SIS YOU DEVIOUS AND U KNOW THAT SHAW LIKES IT]

You rushed out the door and thankfully the subway wasnt busy and you got there just as the doors opened and the students came plodding out. You stood there with a coffee in your hand and the other one twiddling your hair in an OH so cute way. [you know how to look cute mmkay]

Several students walked out through the doors but you didnt end up seeing him. Darn you for being so short.

So you sat down on the low wall near the university’s fountain. Your little safety pin glistening in the sun and the tshirt putting your garter on show. [we like that casual but i secretly put in loads of effort kinda vibe]

You started scrolling through Moments incase he got out early but the shitty university wifi meant that it wasn’t refreshing. Furthermore the sun was shining in ur eyes so you couldnt really see much even when your phone was on full brightness

Then a tall shadow blocked the sun and you looked up and saw Shaw stood over you with a sleepy but piercing gaze.

“What are you doing wearing my Black Sabbath Tshirt?” He looked you up and down. Boi was clearly shook but he was damned if he was going to let you know this. Even though you already knew this.

“What you don’t like it? How did your exam go?” You said getting up to give him a quick hug. You knew Shaw had expressed he wasn’t a fan of physical affection but he secretly enjoyed the odd hug/hand holding or head scratch from you. Though he would never share this

“You really think you can distract me from your lazy sense of style?” He raised his eyebrows and looked you up and down again. You could see the twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

“Your rebelliousness has rubbed off onto me” [in more ways than one] you gave him a little spin raising your arms a little so that the top of the stockings and garter would come on show.

You could see that his nose went a little red along with the tips of cheeks. He coughed and placed both hands on ur arms firmly. “Let’s go get something to eat.” He swung you around so that you were now walking back to the subway, with his arm round you.

“But this is the way home...?” You started as you turned to look at his face, still walking

“Well we’re skipping straight to dessert” you could see the glint in his eyes and you allowed yourself to be lead.

Now that thsirt was his absolute favourite, especially whenever you decided to surprise him with it after an exam x

125 notes · View notes

saiilorstars · 4 years

Text

Falling in Temptation

Previous chapters • Sequel to Stars Dance • Fairy Tale Memoirs (Companion story)

Ch. 26: The God Complex

Fandom: Doctor Who // Pairing: 11th Doctor x OFC

Chapter summary: The travelers are stuck in a hotel hell-bent on showing them their worst fears. The Doctor's greatest fears shown to him is what finally pushes him to do something he should've done a long time ago.

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @perfectlystiles

[If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message!]

Avalon was sitting on mushy, green grass with her journal and pen. There was a sun, or a fake sun, shining up above in the 'sky'. There was a very visible flower scent that flooded the area with every breeze. Avalon loved the room the TARDIS had made for her, it was very...fairy-tale like. But also, it was the perfect place to attempt to write. It had only recently come up and Avalon couldn't be more thankful for the TARDIS again. She truly made life easier. The new room had been Avalon's new sanctuary to keep on drafting.

Of course, it usually only worked when a certain Time Lord wasn't around...and that was soon to end in...3...2...1...

"Gotcha!" the Doctor cheered as he took Avalon by surprise with a hug from behind.

The ginger flinched and dropped her journal and pen. She turned her head to the side and frowned, "I'm gonna slap you one of these days."

"But not today," the Doctor smirked and pressed a kiss to her lips. Afterwards, he moved over and sat down beside her, "So what are we doing on this fine morning?"

"How would you know it's morning?" Avalon chuckled, "You live in a time machine."

"Clearly because Amy and Rory were going into the kitchen for breakfast, duh," the Doctor playfully rolled his eyes.

"Don't be a smart alec with me, it'll cost you," Avalon warned and closed her journal, "Now I don't feel like being irritated in my own sanctuary."

"I would never," the Doctor mocked an offended face, making her laugh.

"I'm sorry," Avalon chuckled and set her journal down on her side. "I know I lock myself up over this thing," she nodded to the journal, "My family always got so irritated with me for it."

"I'm not upset, I was just missing you," the Doctor put an arm around her shoulders, "You're doing what you love, how can I be mad at that?"

Avalon scoffed, "As if I'm doing the thing I love. I want to be a writer but c'mon," she sighed, "We all know it's not happening, I just kid myself with this journal."

"Oi, I gave you that journal, let's not downplay its importance," the Doctor made a face, "And, not to mention, Emmalina gave you your first one, because she believed in you."

Avalon quietly picked up her journal and stared at its cover, her mind drifting off to the past, "She thought I could become one of the greatest writers in history."

"Well, it's not too late," the Doctor shrugged, "You're only 23, perfect age to begin."

"You've gotten to know me a lot better than anyone else, so you know that I'm not a very good person..."

"Let's not get into that topic," the Doctor sighed, "Because I've already told you that it's all senseless."

"No, it's not..." Avalon said quietly.

The Doctor ignored her comment and gently moved her to sit on his lap, "Okay, while I think you are completely wrong about that, I don't see any reason why you can't become a true writer."

"It's scary," Avalon sighed, "Plus, my reputation isn't all that great on Earth. Colleges literally look at everything and I've been arrested several times and I've actually gone to a juvenile detention. That alone disqualifies me, or discourages the admission. You see? There's no hope. I'm doomed to be an amateur for the rest of my life."

"Now wait a minute," the Doctor had to stop her, "Earth isn't the only place you can get some education. You're not even from Earth! You can go anywhere in the galaxy, Ava. They would look at your talent, your ambition, determination..."

"And do you think I have any of that?"

"Of course I do! All that and more," the Doctor kissed her hair, "Just say the word and we'll go and get you to see one of the professors."

Avalon lightly smiled as she thought of something, "You know, River's a professor, in the future," she raised her head to look at him, "You think she would be willing to help? Give some pointers?"

The Doctor hadn't quite thought of that, but knew right there it wouldn't be a good idea. "Ava, to contact that River right now would be far too dangerous. She'd be from way into the future and would have too much foreknowledge."

"Right," Avalon sheepishly smiled, "Guess I'd be on my own, then."

"Never, you'd have all of us, especially me," the Doctor nodded.

"It would be kind of nice," Avalon said and sighed a few seconds later. "I don't know. It's all so...new, you know? I don't know what I want to do."

"There's no rush, Ava. Take some time to think of all of your options and when you decide on something, you let me know and I'll do my best to help you."

Avalon nodded. It sounded like a good plan. She didn't want to rush into anything, especially something as important as an actual career. "You're incredible, do you know that?" She rested her head against his shoulder and smiled as she felt his arm wrap around her. "You're the best thing that's happened to me in my entire life."

"Wow, feel special now," the Doctor smiled. "Who'd known that the snappiest little girl in that sleepover would grow up and steal my hearts?"

"Mm, I had big goals," Avalon joked, "And don't call me 'snappy'. I wasn't 'snappy'. I was just making sure you weren't going to hurt my sister. But if your feelings are still hurt I'm sure there's something I can do about it now..."

"And what would that be?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow as she shifted her body to face him. She had that sneaky smile he came to love early on.

"A little of this," Avalon pecked his lips. "And a lot of this," she kissed him again but deepened it, making it so that both of them were left without air and quite dazed.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor excitedly popped his head over a staircase railing, looking down at the many spirals of the stairs below. The rest of the travelers did the same but unlike him, they were nowhere near pleased with the sight.

"'Let's go to Ravan-Skala,' he says," Amy began with a huff, ""The people are 600 feet tall, you have to talk to them in hot air balloons and the Tourist Information Centre is made of one of their hats,' he says."

"And yet, there are no such hats," Avalon finished for her and raised her head to look at the Time Lord, "You have lied and badly."

"This is just awful," Rory went ahead and added.

The Doctor looked at the three with a scowl, "Amy, Beaky—"

"I would think real hard before you nickname me," Avalon pointed a warning finger at him.

"Princess," the Doctor flashed a smile, Avalon playfully rolling her eyes as a response, "Now this could be the most exciting thing I have ever seen!"

"You're kidding," Rory shook his head.

"How can you be excited about a rubbish hotel on a rubbish bit of Earth?" Amy crossed her arms and stared at the Doctor in disbelief.

"I'm not that surprised," Avalon remarked, "He gets excited about the stupidest things."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and ignored their little remarks, "Because, assembled Ponds..."

"And Reynolds," Avalon interjected with an amused smile.

"And Reynolds," the Doctor quietly added it. It was slips like those that could create such problems for him and everyone else and yet his mouth still had the ability to continue making the error. It was just too much fun calling her a Pond. "This is not Earth. This has just been made to look like Earth. The craftsmanship involved... Can you imagine?"

"Then where are we?" Avalon grew tired of the ole mystery. Unfortunately for her, the Doctor didn't seem to agree as he led them through the staircase, returning back to where the TARDIS was parked, "Hello, Doctor?" she called again, making a face as he deeply sniffed a plant.

"I don't know," he finally answered her and turned around, "Something must have yanked us off course. Look at the detail on that cheese plant!" he excitedly pointed at the plant.

"You want me to be excited over a...plant?" Avalon raised an eyebrow and walked up to him, slowly smiling of amusement, "You're so weird," she rested her hands on his chest and chuckled, "Remember when you ate grass?"

"And you told me to never kiss you," the Doctor decided to remind her rather smugly, "Look at us now."

"Shut up," Avalon remembered that moment quite clearly. She'd never have imagined the alien who tasted blue grass and just about anything else he found intriguing would actually steal her heart.

"Um, hello?" Rory called back to them, pulling them out of their moment, "Who would mock up an Earth hotel?"

"Colonists maybe, recreating a bit of home," the Doctor thought as he turned Avalon around and wrapped his arms around her waist, "Like when ex-pats open English pubs in Majorca. No, whoever did this, I am shaking his/her hand/tentacle."

"Seriously, you get excited over the stupidest things," Avalon sighed with resignation.

Rory moved over to a wall full of photographs of various species, soon calling the attention to Amy, "Have you seen these? Look at the labels underneath," he pointed to a photograph of a Sontaran, "Commander Halke, defeat," he then moved onto a human, "Tim Heath, having his photo taken. Lady Silver-Tear... Daleks."

Amy agreed there was something strange in that and decided to look for herself, "Paige Barnes, other people's socks. Tim Nelson, balloons. Novice Prin, sabrewolves. Royston Luke Gold, Plymouth. Lucy Hayward, that brutal gorilla," she glanced over to the Doctor, "Doctor, what does it mean?

"I don't know, let's find out," the Doctor took Avalon's hand and pointed for them to start moving.

They entered the reception room where they could hear a soft tune playing in the background due to some radio player at the reception desk. The Doctor tapped a bell on the desk and immediately three people jumped from around the corner, one of them, a woman, brandishing a chair leg at them.

"Blimey, that was quick," the Doctor jumped back.

"We surrender!" cried the alien of the three strangers.

"No, it's OK, we're not..." Rory grew tensed and came up with, "We're nice!"

"She threatened me with a chair leg," the Doctor suddenly noticed and looked at the others in disbelief.

"Who are you?" the woman with the chair leg demanded.

"We're back in reception," the third of the trio took notice of the new room.

"We surrender!" repeated the alien.

"Never been threatened with a chair leg before!" the Doctor was still stuck on that, "No, I tell a lie."

"Did you just say, 'It's OK, we're nice?'" Amy had suddenly realized that and had to find out the reason for it.

"EVERYONE SHUT THE HELL UP!" came the loud yell of Avalon who successfully managed to quiet everyone down, "Thank you," she breathed in relief and straightened herself up. "God, sometimes…"

"Their pupils are dilated," the woman took notice of the travelers' faces.

"What?" Avalon looked at her with suspicion and confusion.

"They're as surprised as we are," the woman continued, "Besides which, if it's a trick, it'll tell us something."

"Oh, you're good," the Doctor pointed, genuinely impressed, "Oh, she's good. Amy, with regret, you're fired."

Avalon looked at him with a scowl, "Excuse you?"

"I'm kidding," the Doctor waved her off but looked at the woman and mimed holding a phone to his ear, "We'll talk," he whispered.

"EXCUSE YOU?" Avalon raised an eyebrow at him, "There'll be no 'talks'," she frowned, "Not unless you're prepared to die."

The Doctor loved when Avalon got jealous but battling it out in front of strangers wasn't exactly his idea of having fun. He tugged her to him, through struggle as she was clearly upset, and looked at the others, "I take it from the pathological compulsion to surrender, you're from Tivoli," he settled on the alien of the strangers.

"Yes, the most invaded planet in the galaxy. Our anthem is called Glory To Insert Name Here."

Avalon stopped struggling against the Doctor to glance at the alien, "That's...sad," she informed then continued to fight, mumbling a few curse words here and there.

"You with the face, Howie, you said you were surprised to be back in reception," the Doctor pointed to the young man with them.

"The walls move, everything changes," Howie struggled to say as he looked around.

"You, clever one, what's he talking about?" the Doctor had looked back at the woman in scrubs, "And what's your name?"

"Oh yes, that's working well," Avalon muttered and practically swatted his hands off her, but to no avail.

"The corridors twist and stretch, rooms vanish and pop up somewhere else," the woman explained, "It's like the hotel's alive. And, um, Rita," she was noticing the odd looks she was getting from Avalon and frankly felt a bit nervous.

"Let me go," Avalon ordered the Doctor and finally pushed him off. She rolled her eyes and jumped over the reception desk to the radio station, "New rule, this stays off all night," she glanced back at the others, "It's giving me a headache. Now, then, what were you saying about the hotel?"

"It's huge, with, like, no way out," Howie finished for Rita.

"Have you tried the front door?" Rory had to ask since the 'easiest way out' always seemed the most ignored option during their travels.

"No, in two days it never occurred to us to try the front door," Rita sarcastically replied, "Thank God you're here!"

"Oi, don't be rude to my best friend," Avalon snapped at her as she jumped on the desk again, taking a comfortable seat on it with her legs dangling.

The Doctor had taken out his sonic to scan the door and opened it to find a white brick wall, confirming Howie's statement, "They're not doors, they're walls, walls that look like doors. Door-walls, if you like, or "dwalls", "woors" even, though you'd probably got it when you said, "They're not doors." I mean, the windows are..." he moved over to a pair of curtains and flung them to the sides, only to find more wall behind, "Right, big day if you're a fan of walls."

"It's not just that," Rita quietly said, Howie and Trivol both also getting quiet, "The rooms have...things in them."

"Things? Hello! What kind of things?" the Doctor was once again excited, "Interesting things? I love things, ask anyone."

"Stupid things," Avalon remarked as she inspected her nails, clearly trying to seem disinterested.

"Bad dreams," Rita answered the question with fear evident in her tone.

"Well, that killed the mood," the Doctor's excitement faded.

"There was never a mood here," Avalon looked at him with a scowl, reminding him this hadn't even been their choice of adventure in the first place.

"How did you get here?" the Doctor focused on the problem at hand.

"I don't know, I'd just started my shift," Rita shrugged, "I must have passed out, because suddenly I was here."

"I was blogging, next thing, this," Howie gestured to the room.

"Oh, I was at work, I'm in town planning," the alien went next, "We're lining all the highways with trees, so invading forces can march in the shade."

"Still very sad," Avalon whispered to him.

"Which is nice for them," the alien continued, ignoring the comment.

"Yeah... So what have we got?" the Doctor reviewed the information they'd just gotten, "People snatched from their lives and dropped into an endless, shifting maze that looks like a 1980s hotel with bad dreams in the bedrooms. Well, apart from anything else, that's just rude."

"Says the rudest alien I've ever met," Avalon hopped off the desk with a clean smirk, "Now then, can we please get out of here? This hotel is creeping me out..." the Doctor agreed and reached to take her hand but she put them behind her back and sharply looked at him, "Under probation," she announced and headed off.

The Doctor made a face and looked at Amy and Rory, "Dare I ask what that even means?"

"Em, no," Amy shook her head and went off after Avalon, motioning for the others to do the same.

"See when Ava went out on dates she designated them as 'under probation'...and then she never saw them again," Rory decided to inform the Time Lord and had to hide his teasing smirk. It wasn't often he got to do that and since the Doctor had practically done that to himself, Rory figured why not?

~ 0 ~

As the group was coming up the staircase, the Doctor explained the plan to them all, "We'll pop back to the TARDIS, I'll do a planet-wide diagnostic sweep, then we'll have a sing song..." he trailed off when they'd reached the space in which the TARDIS was supposed to be in.

"And the TARDIS is gone," Avalon sighed, not very surprised as well, "Cos you parked it here, didn't you?"

"What's a TARDIS?" Howie looked at the travelers with confusion.

"Our way out," Rory groaned and held his head in his hands, "And it's gone!"

And suddenly, the music Avalon had shut off in the reception room played soothingly over the speakers.

"Okay, this is bad," the Doctor declared, "At the moment, I don't know how bad, but certainly we're three buses, a long walk and eight quid in a taxi from good. Are there any more of you?" he looked at Rita for the answer.

"Joe, but he's tied up right now," Rita leaned on the rail of the stairs, her eyes drifting to the side.

"Doing what?" the Doctor asked her.

"No, I mean he's...tied up right now," Rita made a face as the group realized her words now.

~ 0 ~

And Rita's words were proven true when the group entered the dining room that contained Joe strapped to a chair at one of the tables, identical laughing dummies surrounding him at the other tables.

"This is beyond creepy," Avalon breathed as she looked from one dummy to another, feeling even worse when the dummies all stopped laughing to turn their heads to them. "Oh yeah, we're definitely in a scary movie."

The Doctor went straight for the tied man, determined to figure out what was going on, "Hello, I'm the Doctor."

The man didn't seem quite there as he made a response, "You're going to die here."

"Well, they certainly didn't mention that in the brochure. Is Joe there?" the Doctor reached for a chair, "Can I have a quick word?"

"Oh, it's still me, Doctor, but I've seen the light. I lived a blasphemous life, but he has forgiven my inconstancy, and soon...he shall feast."

"Well, you've been here two days," the Doctor reminded, "What's he waiting for?"

"We weren't ready. We were still raw."

"But now you're what? Cooked?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, suddenly lost.

"If you like," Joe shrugged then smiled, "Soon you will be, too," he assured, "Be patient. First...find your room."

"My room..." the Doctor followed.

"There's a room here for everyone, Doctor. Even you."

"You said you'd seen the light now."

"Nothing else matters anymore. Only him. It's like these things. I used to hate them! They make me laugh now," Joe had a laugh with the dummies, "Gottle o' geer! Gottle o' geer! You should go. He'll be here soon."

The Doctor stood up with a fake smile and grabbed a hand dolley to put under Joe's chair, "I think you should come with me."

~ 0 ~

The group returned to the reception room where the music was once again playing in the background. The Doctor was looking at the four strangers with curiosity, "Why you four? That's what I don't understand. Aside from all the other things I don't understand," he mused while he shut the music off.

"What does it matter?" Gibbis shook his head, "Sooner or later, someone will come along and rescue us. Or enslave us."

Avalon stared at him in utter awe, "That's the spirit," she remarked sarcastically.

"Okay, look, first we find the TARDIS," the Doctor said then wagged a finger at all of them, "If you feel drawn to a particular room, do not go in, and make sure someone else can see you at all times."

"Joe said 'he' will feast. Is there something here with us?" Rita wondered nervously while looking at Joe who was still nowhere with them in mind-terms.

Joe laughed after the question had been asked and so the Doctor glanced at him, "Something to add, Joe?"

"Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop off your head," the man started saying, "Chop, chop, chop, chop."

"Can we do something about him?" Howie put a hand on his head as he tried ignoring Joe's words.

'I'm all over it," Avalon raised a hand as she moved to the desk, hopping on it and reaching underneath to pull out black dutch tape, "Put it on," she chucked it to Howie then looked at Joe, "He's saying stupid stuff I'd rather not hear."

And so, after Joe was taped over the mouth, they all headed for the hallways in an attempt to find the TARDIS.

"Personally, I think you've got the right idea," Gibbis said to Joe as he pushed the man's chair, "Times like this, I think of my old school motto, "Resistance Is Exhausting."

"I've worked out where we are," Howie announced to Rory.

"Hmm?" Rory looked at him.

"Norway."

"Norway?"

"You see, the US government has entire cities hidden in the Norwegian mountains. Earth is on a collision course with this other planet, and this is where they're going to send all the rich people when it kicks off."

"Amazing," Rory blinked.

"It's all there on the internet."

"No, it's amazing you've come up with a theory even more insane than what's actually happening."

The group was stopped when an older man came out of a room in front of them, "Have you forgotten your PE kit again?" the teacher looked at the Doctor, "Right, that's it, you're doing it in your pants!"

The Doctor shook off the odd moment and turned to see Howie nearing a door, "Hey! Don't!" he ran, even the group shifting to try and stop Howie.

The door to the room was opened and allowed the others the sight of young women looking like they were at a party. They all looked over and started laughing when they saw Howie, "Oh, look, girls, it's H-H-H-Howie!"

"What's "loser" in K-K-K-Klingon?" one of the girls asked then laughed again.

Howie backed away from the door, "Shut the d-d...the-the door!" the Doctor did as told, "This is just some m-m-messed-up CIA stuff, I-I-I'm telling you."

"You're right," the Doctor agreed with him in an attempt to calm him, "Keep telling yourself that. It's a CIA thing, nothing more..." he looked at the others and nodded for them to keep moving.

They reached a hallway that was in rather odd conditions. The Doctor looked at one of the walls with light sconces and plaster scraped off. Avalon found a paper on the floor and bent down to get it.

"Guys?" Rory had taken a double look at a fire exit that stood big and proud several feet away from him.

However, the growl of the beast grabbed everyone's attention and made everyone save Rory gather around.

"OK, whatever that is, it's not real, yeah?" Avalon questioned the Doctor, though she wasn't very convinced herself.

"No, no, I'm sure it isn't," the Doctor took her hand yet still backed away with her, "But just in case, let's run away and hide anyway. In here," he reached for a room and flung the door open, motioning for the others to get in while Rita took herself and Joe into another room.

"You liar," Avalon snapped at the Doctor.

"What? I can't try and make my Ava feel better?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh shut up," she looked around him to where Rory was, "Oi, Rory! C'mon!" Rory was trying to find the fire exit that had mysteriously disappeared on him, "Rory!"

"Ava, please, get inside," the Doctor tried pushing her into the room.

"No, not without Rory," Avalon struggled against him, "Please?"

The Doctor groaned and turned for Rory, "COME ON!" he shouted for the human frantically. When Rory finally started coming towards them, the Doctor got Avalon inside the room and a couple seconds he and Rory followed.

"Aiiee!" the Doctor nearly fell over when he saw two Weeping Angels statues in the room facing them.

"Don't...blink," Amy was staring dead hard at the Angels and practically forcing Howie to do the same since Gibbis was cowering inside a cupboard on the side of the room.

"They're gonna get us," Avalon breathed as the lights flickered and the Angels changed positions.

"Ava, get back," the Doctor grabbed her arm while Rory took Amy's, "Why haven't they gotten us yet?"

"Do you really think we should be questioning that?" Avalon would've given him a look if the Angels were taking up her attention, "Why not 'oh, how can we get out of this?'.

The Doctor moved in front of her as he went towards the statues. Nervously, he tried touching one only to realize they weren't even real Angels, "They're not real," he said to the others.

"What?" Amy frowned, still not taking her eyes off the statues.

"They should have got us by now," the Doctor turned to Amy, "Amy, look at me, focus on me. It's your bad dream, that's all."

"I don't even think they're for us," Rory finally realized as the lights flickered again but the statues remained in place.

Avalon made a face as she looked around, "But if it's not Amy, then who's the room for—" she didn't get to finish her question when Gibbis let out a sharp scream from the cupboard and shut the door, answering her question right there and then.

The Doctor heard the steps of the beast getting closer so he went for the door, confusing the others.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" Amy had to ask, wondering what kind of plan he was forming to save them.

"I'm sorry, I just have to see what it is. I just have to see," the Doctor apologized and peered through the peephole in the door, finding the shadow of the beast on the other side, "Oh, look at you... You are beautiful..." he gasped when the beast suddenly stood on the other side staring right at him, "Oh, dear..." he cautiously stepped back.

"It's on the other side, isn't it?" Avalon assumed with a sigh.

"That...may be a possibility," the Doctor slowly went for the door again.

"And looking back at it again would make things better, how exactly?" Avalon grew nervous as he stared through the peephole. That door was just a door and if the beast wanted to it could take it down, the Doctor being the first one to go down with it.

"I think it's going after Joe," the Doctor announced as the beast started heading off. Once he thought they were safe, he opened the door and peered out into the hall, seeing the body of Joe being dragged around the corner, "Leave him alone!" he called and went after.

"No, Doctor!" Avalon moved to follow when Rory yanked her back, "No, what are you doing? We have to go help!"

Rory shook his head and gripped her arm, "The Doctor can't split himself into three to save himself, you and Joe. Stay here, okay?"

Avalon huffed and looked back in the direction the Doctor had gone off in. Even if she wanted to make a run for it, the hotel would probably shift the hallways and mess with her. She would just get lost and cause havoc.

But she knew why Rory had stopped her in the first place, they all knew.

It seemed like the Doctor's paranoia concerning their safety being completely on him had not gone away. Avalon was the first and foremost one to feel the presence of his senseless guilt. She tried and tried to make him see that everyone was responsible for themselves, as well as the fact that they were all aware of the dangers that came with traveling, but nothing worked. In the end, she, Rory, and Amy just tried to be more careful during their trips in an attempt to help the Doctor a bit.

~ 0 ~

Joe's body had been placed on a small dais in the dining room and was being scanned by the sonic, meanwhile the rest of the group was a bit dispersed through the room trying to get over the happenings.

Amy and Rory sat at a table trying to forget everything but it was harder to do than they thought. They were quietly conversing but when Avalon joined them, they stopped.

"Okay listen up," she plopped down into the empty chair. "Remember how I told you about the Doctor and his guilt? Well, it's about to overflow. We need to be careful for his sake."

"We're doing our best, believe us," Rory sighed.

"I know, just...try a little harder?" Avalon shifted in the chair only to feel something funny in her pocket. She remembered she'd stuck the scrap of paper she'd found earlier into her pocket. "Oh, wait!"

"What?" Rory watched her pull out the paper.

"I found this earlier..." Avalon mumbled as she skimmed the writing. She jumped from her chair and hurried towards the Doctor, "Doctor, look at this. I found it in a corridor, I completely forgot I had it." The Doctor quickly took it out of her hands and just as he was about to read it, she surprised him with a kiss on his cheek. "It is not all on you," she said for his puzzled face. "Please try to remember that."

The Doctor smiled at her for a moment before turning his attention to the paper. As kind as her words were, he couldn't give himself the luxury of getting distracted with her sweet kisses. There was a beast roaming the hallways and she could be its next target. He needed to get them out of there fast.

"My name is Lucy Hayward and I'm the last one left. It took Luke first. It got him on his first day, almost as soon as we arrived. It's funny. You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it, then you realize it could never have been anything else. I just saw mine. It was a gorilla from a book I'd read as a kid. My God, that thing used to terrify me. The gaps between my worships are getting shorter, like contractions. This is what happened to the others... and how lucky they were. It's all so clear now. I'm so happy. Praise him."

"Praise him," Howie said not a moment after the Doctor had finished reading out loud.

"What did you just say?" the Doctor looked at him with surprise.

"Nothing," Howie shrugged but it was obvious he was fighting against something, "Praise him!" he nearly shouted then clapped his hand over his mouth.

"This is what happened to Joe!" Gibbis said in alarm as he rushed away from Howie.

"God, it's going to come for me now," Howie panicked while the others spoke over one another, definitely not helping the case.

"You'll lead it right here," Gibbis accused in terror.

"I won't leave you, I promise, you have my word, "the Doctor assured Howie but the young man wasn't so sure.

"I don't want to get eaten!"

"Howie, calm down!" Amy tried her hand at it as well.

"He's going to lead it right here!" Gibbis kept saying in the background.

The Doctor had enough and so activated the sonic above his head creating a high pitched noise that made everyone stop, "Thank you!"

"Don't you see? He'll lead it right here!" Gibbis was the first one to speak again.

"What do you suggest?" Rita turned to him.

"Look, whatever it is out there, it's obviously chosen Howard as its next course. Now...tragic though that is, this is no time for sentiment. I'm saying, if it were to... find him," Gibbis 'delicately' said. "It may be satisfied and let the rest of us go." Everyone looked at him in horror. "All I want to do is go home and be conquered and oppressed, is that too much to ask?!"

"You're no longer allowed to speak," Avalon declared not a minute later.

"We stay together," the Doctor announced and walked up to Gibbis, "Your civilization is one of the oldest in the galaxy. Now I see why. Your cowardice isn't quaint, it's sly, aggressive. It's how that gene of gutlessness has survived while so many others have perished. Well, not today. No-one else dies today. Right?"

"Yes..." Gibbis mouthed.

"Brilliant," and the Doctor turned back and went for Howie, "Howie, any second, it's going to possess you again," he informed as he sat the man down at a table, "When it does, I'm going to ask you some questions. Please try to answer them."

"I hope my mum's all right, she's going to be w-worried..." Howie mumbled, slowly slipping into a change that was clear through his face.

The Doctor sat across him and put on an enthusiastic expression, "Howie, you're next, we're all dead jealous, so tell us...How do we get a piece of the action? Why isn't he possessing all of us?"

"You guys have got all these distractions," Howie tapped his head while smiling in a languid way, "All these obstacles. It'd be so much easier if you just let it go, you know, clear the path."

"You want it to find you?" Avalon realized with horror, "Why? Don't you understand what it's going to do to you?"

But Howie seemed even more excited at the thought of it, "Are you kidding? He's going to kill us all! How cool is that?!"

The Doctor quietly stood and led the others away from the table, "It's as I thought, it feeds on fear. Everything, the rooms, Lucy's note, even the pictures in reception, has been put here to frighten us. So we have to resist it. Do whatever you have to, cross your fingers, say a prayer, think of a basket of kittens, but do not give in to the fear."

"OK, but what are we actually going to do?" Amy asked him curiously.

"We're going to catch ourselves a monster," the Doctor announced with a genuine smile this time.

~ 0 ~

"Can't believe we're doing this," Avalon mumbled to Rory as they stood on guard of the beast.

They were standing outside the beauty parlor of the hotel, Rory with a mop in his hands. They were waiting to lock the beast inside the room where the Doctor was, something Avalon wasn't too pleased with. Once again, she hadn't been allowed to help him because it was "too dangerous" and "she might get hurt" and all the usual crap that had taken custom to being thrown at her. Apparently, locking a door was the only thing she could do without getting hurt.

"Is it really such a surprise?" Rory countered her remark with a small smirk.

"No, as well as the fact that I'm playing guard again," Avalon rolled her eyes, "The Doctor's getting crazy with this protectiveness," she huffed.

"He's trying to keep you safe, Ava. Appreciate it."

"I do but there's a fine line and I don't want him to actually lose his mind trying to protect me, you and Amy. He's too hard on himself."

Rory could agree on that but what was he supposed to do? The Doctor was the Doctor. He long ago made his choice how to act and think. There was no changing his mind after a near thousand years of living.

"Rory, he's in!" they heard Amy's shout from the other side.

Quickly, Rory blocked the door behind them with the mop. Together, he and Avalon stayed near in case there was something else needed to be done.

"He shouldn't be there on his own," Avalon mumbled as they waited.

"Now who's overprotective?" Rory teased and nudged her side, earning a mock glare.

Avalon groaned. She hated when he made sense.

"I'm here!" Howie's voice filled the hallway, "Bring me death!"

"How did he get out?" Avalon then smacked her head, "Stupid question!" she scolded herself, "Remind me, WHY why did we leave Gibbis with him in the first place?"

"That..." Rory looked to the side, "...is a very good question."

"Mhm," Avalon groaned and went back to the door, "We have to make sure this..."

"No, no, no, no!" she managed to hear the Doctor through the other, "Ava, Rory, watch out!"

The glass of the door shattered and sent Avalon and Rory down to the floor. They missed the beast getting the mop out of the door handles to get out. A couple seconds later came the Doctor with Amy and Rita.

"Ava!" he helped Avalon sit up while Amy helped Rory, "Are you okay?"

Avalon groaned as she put a hand on her head, "Does this mean I can't even be a guard, then?"

The Doctor was slightly amused as he helped her up, "You're meant to be my princess," he pecked her lips once he made sure she was alright, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some saving to do..." He ran off after the beast to save Howie.

"What happened?" Rory looked back at the parlor where they could see basically everything shattered.

"I think we should be asking why Howie's out in the first place," Avalon shook her head, "I swear that alien is going to hear me."

"Okay, let's just go find the Doctor," Amy turned around and moved to walk. She only made it a couple steps down when she stopped and looked at a room, room 7, and instantly felt the urge to go inside.

"Amy..." Avalon was watching her curiously. Amy didn't listen and turned the knob of the door and peered inside, "Amy!" Avalon rushed down and slammed the door shut then yanked Amy back, "You shouldn't have done that. What did you see?"

"Nothing," Amy slowly got back to normal, "Nothing...I don't know, it was weird."

"C'mon," Rita called from the other side of the hallway.

Avalon sharply looked at Amy and grabbed her arm to get back with the others. They found the Doctor kneeling by Howie's body, instantly knowing the man was dead.

From around the corner, Gibbis showed himself, meekly speaking, "He got free. He overpowered me," the Doctor ignored him as he strode back to the others, "It might leave us alone now. Maybe now we'll be safe. Wait!"

~ 0 ~

The Doctor stood in front of the wall pictures they'd looked at earlier, specifically Howie's. Rory came to join him and immediately the Doctor had to wonder, "Have you found your room yet?"

"No, no," Rory shook his head, "And neither has Ava. I have to wonder, though, is that good or bad?"

"I believe the phrase went 'Avalon Reynolds does not get afraid'," the Doctor smiled, "Maybe she got that from you."

"I used to be afraid," Rory shrugged, "But then...after all the time I spent with you in the TARDIS, what was left to be scared of?"

The Doctor sharply looked at him, "You said that in the past tense."

Rory was silent for a few seconds until a sigh slipped through. "My family. River's out there, in prison, and we have Avalon here but...she's already gotten so hurt. My biggest fear now is what could happen to my family."

The Doctor swallowed hard. That could directly be linked to him. "I'm trying to keep everyone safe…"

"I know," Rory turned to him. "But it's like Avalon said, not everything is on you. Sometimes things happen and no one can prevent them."

The Doctor could only nod but to believe him right now was a difficult task. He instead moved away from the wall to go meet the others. On his way, he met Rita halfway there. "Rita! Brilliant! How are you? Not panicking, are you?" But he didn't wait to hear the answer when he continued, "Good, good. Because I am literally an otter's toenail away from getting us out of here."

"Why?" Rita finally managed a word in.

"Excellent question," the Doctor acknowledged but instead went around her, "Excellent question," he remarked but stopped once he realized he had no idea what she meant, "Why what?"

"Why is it up to you to save us? That's quite a God complex you have there."

The Doctor looked down to where Avalon and Amy were downstairs, "I brought them here," he said quietly, "They'd say it was their choice, but offer a child a suitcase full of sweets and they'll take it. Offer someone all of time and space and they'll take that, too. Which is why you shouldn't. Which is why grown-ups were invented."

"All of time and space, eh?" Rita called as the Time Lord continued his way down.

"Oh, yeah," he glanced back, "And when we get out of this, I'll show you, too."

Rita laughed, "I don't know what you're talking about. But I have a feeling you just did it again."

The Doctor nodded then noticed a security camera up on the corner, " Right down to the smallest detail. Got you, Mr Minotaur..." he dashed down the stairs and made note to head to the cameras' room.

Avalon was hurrying down the stairs with Amy and Rory, all trying to locate a missing Rita, when suddenly Avalon stopped in a hallway. She didn't know why but...something stopped her. She took a few steps forwards, ignoring Amy's and Rory's call back at the staircase to follow them. They'd continued on without her.

Suddenly, all the doors on both sides of her faded so that only one door stood out. Number 51. Her feet moved and before she even registered what she was doing, her hand found the doorknob and pushed the door open.

The room was a bright white with a medical bed and the standard IV pumps: a hospital room. Avalon saw a woman's back as she sat on the bed holding an infant in her arms. There was a nurse waiting for the woman on the side.

"What will you name her, ma'am?" the nurse inquired.

"Don't care," the mother answered rather coldly.

It certainly took the nurse by surprise. "Excuse me?"

Avalon could see the mother's head rising to meet the nurse. "I said I don't care. She's a nuisance. I don't want her here, I don't need her, so if you could just..." The mother held the infant out for the nurse.

"Ma'am, this is really unusual," the nurse was flabbergasted. "Are you sure you don't want to think about naming-"

"I don't care!" the mother snapped. "I don't want her! Take her! Put her up for adoption or something!"

"But I-I don't...ma'am if this is really what you want, we need a name-"

The mother groaned. "You want a name? Fine! Go with, uh, Avalon! There! You got a name, now take her away!"

Avalon watched as the nurse pulled the pink blanket from the infant's face to reveal a soft tuft of orange hair. Her breath hitched. That was her?

"TAKE HER!" The mother yelled at the nurse, making the woman jump in her spot. "God! Not even her father wanted her and I am not going to be stuck with her! GO!"

The nurse jumped one more time before rushing out of the room...right past Avalon.

"That can't be me..." She said as if she was trying to convince herself.

At the sound of her voice, the mother looked back and though Avalon met her gaze, she couldn't say that she remembered the woman at all. But she knew the look of hatred when she saw one.

The mother's face contorted with utter loathing. "Don't tell me it's you! God! What the hell do I have to do to get away from you? Haven't you taken the hint already?"

Tears pooled in Avalon's eyes as the woman kept shouting at her to leave the room. "You can't...you can't hate me..."

The mother barked a sardonic laugh. "I do! because you were a nuisance from the start! From the moment that I knew you existed! I knew you that you were going to be a waste of space and I decided that I didn't need that in my life. You could be someone else's burden!"

"But I'm your daughter," Avalon barely choked the words out. She felt like she couldn't breathe and suddenly she really wished she could have a hug from that woman. Her mother.

"You're a waste in the world," the mother snapped. "You were born to cause trouble. I had the right idea to get out before you hurt me. Tell me, have you hurt anyone in your life?"

Avalon blinked once and suddenly she was no longer in a hospital room. There was a breeze and sand and water...and a gunshot. An astronaut had fired at the Doctor until he was dead on the ground.

"NO!" Avalon screamed at the top of her lungs and ran forwards.

'Have you hurt anyone in your life?' The wicked mother repeated over and over. 'Have you hurt anyone in your life?'

The astronaut pulled off its helmet just as Avalon came to a stop beside the Doctor's body. It was her. It was a straight, emotionless her who turned away and disappeared.

"I didn't mean to, I wouldn't..." Avalon hands went back and forth while she decided whether or not to touch him. "I wouldn't hurt you, I wouldn't hurt you..."

She just couldn't, not him, never him.

~ 0 ~

In the dining room once again, the remaining group sat in a dispersed manner contemplating their next move, all in the meanwhile the Doctor was finishing up a rather big tantrum. To say he was unhappy would be the understatement of the year. Three people were dead and the next one could be anyone and so far he had nothing to save them. This was becoming a running theme for him and his good streak of luck could end at any moment. This time could be the time he loses someone, Amy, Rory, or Avalon. It always happens, at some point something has to happen.

Avalon cleared her throat, pushing aside her own turmoil at the moment to focus on the big picture. She didn't want him to find out about her room. "I may be temperamental but even I know throwing things isn't going to help," she said quietly. The Doctor gave a small nod and took her extended hand, "So why don't we review, instead?" she offered and looked around, "We know the beast preys on people's fear and possesses them."

"But Rita wasn't afraid, she was brave and calm," the Doctor said in pure frustration, "Maybe it's something to do with the people, some connection between the four of you that'll tell me how to fight it."

"Yes. You keep saying that, but you never do. And while we wait, people keep dying," Gibbis remarked in irritation, "And we'll be next!"

"Look, he'll work it out, he always does," Amy spoke up, "Just let him riff and move anything expensive out of his way."

"Oh, nice, Amy, support the tantrums," Avalon threw her a mock-scolding face.

"We support yours," Amy countered with a small smirk.

"Hey!"

While the two gingers went back and forth, something had sparked inside the Doctor's head, something of Amy's, "Oh, no. Oh, no, no..." he started repeating.

Avalon looked at him, worried, "What? What is it?"

"It's not fear. It's faith. Not just religious faith, faith in something," he got to thinking and even pacing, "Howard believed in conspiracies, external forces controlling the world. Joe had dice cufflinks and a chain with a horseshoe. He was a gambler. Gamblers believe in luck, an intangible force that helps them win or lose. Gibbis rejected personal autonomy and is waiting for the next batch of invaders to tell him what to do. They all believe there's something guiding them, about to save them. That's what it replaces. Every time someone was confronted with their most primal fear, they fell back on their most fundamental faith," he sat on a barstool and rubbed his face as he realized, "And all this time, I've been telling you to dig deep. Find the thing that keeps you brave. I made you expose your faith. Show them what they needed."

"But why us? Why are we here?" Rory frowned in confusion.

"It doesn't want you. That's why it kept showing you a way out. You're not religious or superstitious, so there's no faith for you to fall back on."

"Me?" Amy was next to frown, disliking what had just been said, "Why me? Why not her?" she glanced at Avalon.

"It seeks out the strongest faith," the Doctor explained but Avalon interrupted him with the revelation that she had seen her own room as well. It seemed like hiding it wouldn't be happening anymore.

"I saw it," she whispered, eyes downcast. "It was there...number 51."

"Oh Ava," the Doctor immediately came to her and wrapped her up in his arms. She wanted him to hold her as tight as possible. "I'm so, so sorry," he whispered to her. He wouldn't ask what she saw just as he hoped that she would never ask what he saw in his own room.

"Okay but if Avalon saw a room too...how do you know it didn't bring us here because of her?" Amy had to ask just for the sake of clarity. She would much rather have the beast come for her instead of Avalon.

"Because I don't have a strong faith system," Avalon said. "I don't believe in hope very much. I'm like you, Amy, in that I know my Fairy Tale Man will always try to save me but I also know that he's not always able to do everything. That would just be unrealistic." She leaned her head against the Doctor's chest. He tries his best, though."

"I will always try," he whispered to her.

"Okay, so...what's going on with me then?" Amy questioned, swallowing hard now that she was next on the list of the hunted. "

"It's your faith in me," the Doctor sighed and looked at Amy who was staring at him in horror, "That's what brought us here."

"But why do they lose their faith before they die and start worshipping..."it"?" Rory inquired.

"It needs to convert the faith into a form 'it' can consume. Faith is an energy, the specific emotional energy the creature needs to live. Which is why at the end of her note, Lucy said..."

"Praise him," Amy said, and finished.

"Exactly," the Doctor nodded and for a moment no one realized what...

"Did she just...?" Avalon's eyes widened.

"No. Oh, please, no," Rory stood up from his chair and moved to Amy, and already they could hear the beast coming for her.

~ 0 ~

Now the group ran as fast as they could down the hallways, away from the beast who wasn't that far away. Amy suddenly stopped and turned to face the beast.

"Amy?" the Doctor had noticed and looked back.

"What the hell are you doing?" Avalon hissed, "Get over here now!"

"He is beautiful," Amy hadn't heard a word as she gazed upon the beast getting closer.

"Leave her! Just leave her!" Gibbis nearly begged as he backtracked.

The Doctor and Rory hurried over to Amy and dragged her away. They ran into a room that happened to be Amy's. Inside was her younger self sitting on her suitcase as she waited and watched the window, simulating the night she had waited for the Doctor.

"Boy does that bring back memories," Avalon blinked. To think, she had scolded Amy for being so naive for waiting for an alien that they would probably never see again. Now look where they were?

Amy knelt to the floor with her hands on her head, "Doctor, it's happening. It's changing me, it's changing my thoughts."

The Doctor looked around the room in desperation, Avalon and Rory were trying to keep the door shut and Gibbis was cowering once more. He had to do something, and that something would cost him. Slowly, he knelt beside Amy, "I can't save you from this, there's nothing I can do to stop this."

She looked at him in confusion, "What?"

"I stole your childhood and now I've led you by the hand to your death. But the worst thing is, I knew. I knew this would happen. This is what always happens."

"It's in!" Avalon cried as the beast swung open the door of the room.

"Forget your faith in me," the Doctor insisted to Amy, flinching as the beast growled at the doorway, "I took you with me because I was vain, because I wanted to be adored. Look at you. Glorious Pond. The girl who waited for me. I'm not a hero. I really am just a mad man in a box. And it's time we saw each other as we really are," he kissed Amy's forehead and smiled at her, "Amy Williams. It's time to stop waiting," he stood up and watched the beast stumble back into the hall.

As the beast fell to the floor, the lights began flickering, the room changing into a darker one with just a control panel and the TARDIS.

The Doctor moved over to the beast and knelt down by it, "I severed the food supply. Sacrificing their faith in me. I gave you the space to die. Shhh, shhh."

"What is this place?" Avalon looked around in awe.

"The real location we've been in this whole time," the Doctor looked around as well, "A ship, a prison ship."

"And what is it, a minotaur?" Amy looked at the beast, "Or an alien? Or an alien minotaur? That's not a question I thought I'd be asking this morning."

"It's both, actually," the Doctor walked to the control panel and checked the screen for any information, "Yeah. Here we go. Distant cousin of the Nimon. They descend on planets and set themselves up as Gods to be worshipped. Which is fine, until the inhabitants get all secular and advanced enough to build bonkers prisons.

"Correction. Prisons in space," Rory pointed to the porthole he and Gibbis were looking through.

"Where are the guards?" Avalon asked.

"No need for any. It's all automated," the Doctor gestured to the controls, "It drifts through space, snatching people with belief systems and converts their faith into food for the creature."

"It didn't want just me," Amy decided to point out, "So, you must believe in some god or someone, or they'd have shown you the door, too. So, what do Time Lords pray to?"

But of course, the Doctor had acted as if the question had not been asked, "According to the in-flight recorder, the program developed glitches. It got stuck on the same setting, the fears from the people before us weren't tidied away."

Avalon turned to the beast as it growled, "It's still alive...but what's it saying?"

The Doctor listened in as he moved closer to the beat again, "An ancient creature, drenched in the blood of the innocent, drifting in space through an endless, shifting maze. For such a creature, death would be a gift," he knelt down and put a hand on the beast, "Then accept it. And sleep well," he stood up and started his way back to the TARDIS with the others when the beast growled again.

"I wasn't talking about myself."

That alone was the making of a big decision.

~ 0 ~

Later that same day, Avalon was rummaging through her room frantically. It wasn't until there was a knock on her door that she finally halted, "Come in!" she gave the shout and continued her search.

The Doctor stepped inside and watched her for a moment, "What...are you doing?"

"I can't find my journal!" she sighed in irritation as she slammed shut a drawer from her vanity desk, "The thing's gone! Disappeared!" she rubbed the side of her head, "You wouldn't have happened to see it, did you?" her tone was full of hope.

"Now that you mention it, yeah, I think so. In the console room," the Doctor held a hand for her, "Want to come and search there?"

"Yes," she nodded and took his hand, "I don't understand, I know I left it in my room. I put it on my desk on the first drawer. How could it get into the console?"

"You probably just forgot," the Doctor shrugged, "No big deal."

Avalon scoffed, "This coming from the man who loses it completely when his screwdriver isn't in his pocket."

"Oi, it's valuable!"

"Well, so is my journal," Avalon concluded. As soon as they entered the console room Avalon started searching frantically again, missing the sad stare the Doctor was giving her all the meanwhile, "I don't see it, are you sure you saw it around here?"

"Uh, yeah, silver book," the Doctor nodded, "Definitely in here..."

Avalon made a face and sighed as she continued looking around. She was getting agitated that her journal wasn't showing up. She couldn't just lose it!

"Ava," the Doctor recognized her angry face and he definitely didn't want for her to be angry now. He slowly moved around the console for the ginger, "Ava?"

"Hm, what?" she muttered while looking.

"Don't be upset, please."

"How can I not be!?" Avalon growled as she stopped the search, "You gave me that journal, you spent time on it for me...and I lose it? No! I have to find it, I'll find it, I promise."

The Doctor smiled and put a hand under her chin, "Don't worry so much."

"How can I not? Not only is it my prized possession but it's also a sentimental gift from you," she said quietly, "I don't want you to think that I'm careless about it."

The Doctor had to laugh at that one, "You? Careless about your journal? Ava, I could never think that. If there is one thing you care for it's that journal. Sometimes I think you care more for it than your own life!"

"It's special..." Avalon mumbled with a small pout on her face for being laughed at.

"But none more special than you," the Doctor gave her a peck on the lips, "And, just a note, you are very special."

"Shut up," she blushed lightly.

"Why? I'm saying the truth," the Doctor put an arm around her waist and brought her up against him, "Ava doesn't like hearing praises about herself?" he chuckled as she blushed even deeper.

He was going to miss that.

"You just love messing with me, don't you?" Avalon groaned.

"Don't you do the same to me?"

"Yes...but it's cute when I do it," Avalon innocently shrugged, "And besides, usually when I do it you get one of these," she kissed him, "So everyone wins."

"Everybody wins?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Just like that?" Avalon nodded with a clean smile on her face, making him chuckle again, "You're so adorable. I..." he slowly wrapped his other arm around her as well and leaned closer to her.

"You what?" she asked in anticipation.

The Doctor raised a hand to rest on her cheek and gazed at her for a minute, taking note of all her features to remember them perfectly when she was...

"Doctor?" Avalon asked again, "You what?"

But the Doctor didn't answer as instead he chose to kiss her. Satisfied with the alternative, Avalon fell into the kiss. Gently, the Doctor turned her around and leaned her on the console, deepening the kiss. Avalon had never felt a kiss like that and if she hadn't been so into it she would've questioned it.

"Where did that come from?" she finally took a breath after they'd pulled away. "And how can I get that to happen again?"

The Doctor laughed lightly. "You have no idea the power you have over me." He rested his forehead against hers, bringing up a finger to stroke over her cheek. "You're my princess, my Ava. I love you."

Avalon smiled. "I love you too, Fairy Tale Man."

They both heard footsteps coming from the corridors and looked in time to see Amy and Rory walking out.

"Ah, glad you're both here," the Doctor straightened up and took Avalon's hand, "I have a surprise for you two," he looked at the human pair.

"You do?" Amy raised an eyebrow, confused. She thought with the trip earlier all he would want to do was stay inside the TARDIS.

"You'll like it," he assured as he turned for the console and started setting in coordinations, gripping Avalon's hand tighter than ever as he knew what was coming.

~ 0 ~

The group stepped out into a sunny, calm, Earth, street. There were colorful townhouses in a row across them with a park on the other side.

"Don't tell me. This isn't Earth, that isn't a real house," Amy nodded to one of the houses they were approaching, "And inside lives a goblin, who feeds on indecision."

"Good one," Avalon laughed.

"Nope. Real Earth, real house," the Doctor tossed Amy a set of keys, "Real door keys!"

"You're not serious?" Amy looked between him and the keys.

"The car too?" Rory was hypnotized with the bright red car in front of them, "But that's my favorite car! How did you know that was my favorite car?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he reminded Rory, "You showed me a picture of it once and said, 'That's my favorite car'," he tossed Rory the car keys.

"Wait a minute..." Avalon was slowly putting pieces together, at least in regards to Amy and Rory, "...you're doing this be-" but the Doctor placed a finger over her lips.

"We'll talk," he gave a smile, a fake one, "Can I have a word with Amy, first?"

"Okay..." Avalon whispered and nodded. The Doctor gave her a small kiss and turned her for the house that now belonged to her grandparents.

"I'll go with her, there's a tone to celebrate," Rory happily said but stopped beside the Doctor before actually leaving, "Now, Amy's probably going to we can't accept this because it's too extravagant and we'll always feel a crippling sense of obligation," he looked over his shoulder to Amy, "It's a risk I'm willing to take!" he laughed and went after Avalon inside the house.

Amy leaned against the bonnet of the car and patted the spot beside her, "Hey," she called to the Time Lord, "So... You're leaving, aren't you?"

"You haven't seen the last of me," he assured, "Bad Penny is my middle name! Seriously, the looks I get when I fill in a form..."

"Why now?"

"Because you're still breathing," the Doctor quietly said, falling serious.

"Well, I think this is about the washing-up, personally," Amy remarked, making them both laugh a little, sadly. She stood off the car and glanced back at the house, "And Avalon? What happens to her?"

"Amy, you know the Silence is still out there. I can't...I can't keep acting...I can't keep pretending like I don't know what's coming," he swallowed hard.

Amy studied his expression, waiting for him to say more, but she soon understood what he was struggling to say...and it broke her heart. "Oh my God, you know." The Doctor avoided her gaze but his silence was answer enough. "You know about Lake Silencio."

"Knowing what's coming...I cannot and will not have Avalon around for that. I'm her Fairy Tale Man and I would rather die than put her in danger. If the Silence wants me, then let them have me but they will not touch her. Never again."

"I understand, I do, and I'm very grateful you're thinking about her safety but leaving her behind on Earth...don't you think that's just as dangerous?"

"No, I'll have eyes on her. I'll give Jack and Martha a call, I'll be in touch with a slightly older River Song. I'm keeping Avalon safe until...until I figure out how to defeat the Silence. Either Kovarian dies, or I will." The Doctor straightened himself up, standing by his words, and reached inside his jacket to pull out Avalon's silver journal. He had taken it from her room to avoid having to explain to her why she needed to bring it out of the TARDIS right now. He brushed a hand over the cover. 'A.H.R.' was still shining brightly as the day he carved it. Avalon Harmony Reynolds. Beautiful name for a beautiful girl who deserved to live out her days in peace.

He held the journal out to Amy, willing her to take it. "Tell her she can be anything she wants to be. She's the impossible girl, after all. Been doing the impossible ever since she was born."

Amy took the journal from him and nodded. "You don't want to say goodbye to her?"

"If I see her again, I won't be able to leave," he confessed with a heavy sigh. "I love her too much and that's my weakness. If she asks me to stay, I'm going to stay." And he couldn't do that to her. His room had shown him the consequences if he continued to ignore the future. He would die before he had to hold Avalon's dead body in his arms.

"She's going to continue asking so many questions..." Amy said sadly, choosing to understand his motives as the best option for all of them.

"Answer them. Answer everything she wants to know, even about River."

Amy suspected that wouldn't happen anytime soon. Avalon had no interest in learning about her biological mother. "Listen, if you bump into River, whichever version you meet, you tell her to stop by because her daughter's going to need her."

"Will do," the Doctor promised and gave her a quick hug.

"Look after yourself, please," Amy said, watching him backtrack to the TARDIS. He opened the door, glancing back at Amy who already had tears in her eyes, "Bye," she waved.

The Doctor waved back and entered the TARDIS, soon de-materializing. Of course, that happened right about the time Avalon and Rory had stepped out of the brand new house.

Avalon, who'd been carrying glasses in her hands, dropped them to the ground and hurried down the steps as she saw the blue box disappearing, "What happened!? Where's he going!?" She ran up to Amy.

"He's saving us," Amy said quietly and held her journal out.

Avalon swallowed the lump that'd formed in her throat. "No…" If he had left that then it meant he'd left all of them for good. "No, Amy, don't...don't give me that…"

"I'm sorry," Amy tried giving her the journal but Avalon threw it to the side, as hard as her strength allowed.

"He can't just leave me! He can't...the Silence wants him!" Avalon yelled with tears in her eyes. "He can't be on his own!"

"Ava…" Rory wanted to touch her but she backed away from them.

"You don't get it!? Kovarian wants him to be alone! He's going to do something stupid and I'm...I'm stuck here!"

"He's trying to save us all," Amy stepped towards her.

Avalon directed a rather furious glare on her. "How could you let him go like that!? I told you! I...I need to find him!" She clapped a hand over the watch on her wrist. "I love him, he can't just do this!"

"Avalon-"

"NO!" Avalon screamed. "Don't...I have to find him! He doesn't know - he doesn't know that I could still be the astronaut! That's what was in my room! I'm the astronaut and I kill him! The Silence can't have him! I'll drown myself first before I ever put on that astronaut suit!"

"Avalon, please calm down!" Rory wanted to catch her but she was backtracking further from them, completely hysterical.

"Leave me alone!" She turned away and ran off. She had to go find the Doctor before the Silence found him first.

#ocappreciation #doctor who #11th doctor #fd: doctor who #dw #11th doctor fics #11th doctor imagines #doctor who imagine #dw imagine #dw fics #oc: Avalon Reynolds #fic: falling in temptation

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cheekymochiiii · 4 years

Text

Surprise

part 4. [cont. from Where is Lucy ->]

✰ Mini Series

✰ NaLu Short

Natsu and Happy stand wait outside the guildhall door’s of Blue Pegasus debating the best way to approach Anna Heartfilia. The pair knows Gajeel may already have a head start but the boys know Anna is their best resource to find Lucy.

“Are you suuuure you wanna do this?” Happy asks uneasy about seeing Ichiya and the Three Idiots. Remembering the last time they were here the boys were forced to dress in penguin suits and be escorts to random people.

A job the boys were not wanting a repeat of.

“Anna is our best chance to find Lucy,” Natsu states fiercely.

“Aye sir!” Happy nods matching Natsu’s bravado.

Natsu knocks and the guild’s doors swing open.

“Welcome to Blue Pegasus, how can we—oh Natsu and Happy. What are you guys doing here?” Hibiki asks cocking his head to the side. Before the pair can answer Hibiki’s eyes light up, “I know! You’re here for the entertainment!”

“Huh?” The duo asks in confusion.

“Places everyone we have newcomers!” Hibiki announces ignoring them and pulls the boys inside before shutting the door behind them, the lights clicking off and a spotlight shining on Jenny who is standing on a center stage.

There are other customers sitting in the booths that allow them a view of Jenny. All the men drool and stare with wide eyes. Natsu and Happy begin trying to sneak away but Hibiki forced them to stay in their spot.

“Hey man we’re just looking for Anna,” Natsu complains.

“We’ll tell you where she is after you watch our number,” Hibiki says, “Don’t move!” He tells the best friends as he runs to join the other two, Eve and Ren, who are background dancers to Jenny.

Jenny begins singing a soulful song and with each line she begins stripping her clothes. Natsu’s eye twitches, “Let’s get out of here Happy,” Natsu states turning to leave when Ichiya blocks them from the doors to freedom.

“Meeeennnn,” he croons while striking his signature pose, “What brings Sir Natsu and Sir Happy to our humble guild hall?”

“We’re looking for Anna,” Happy states using his exceed wings to hover.

“Lady Anna is at the school as we speak. She is in the middle of teaching a class on the outskirts of town,” Ichiya informs the two while stepping back and forth in that small dance he does.

“Great we’ll find it ourselves,” Natsu states pushing past Ichiya to escape the torturous performance.

“You don’t want to watch the rest of Jenny’s performance?” Ichiya questions.

“No thanks,” Natsu quickly denies causing Jenny to send a glare at his back as the duo quickly ventures off.

“How will we know which direction to go?” Happy asks as he soars next to Natsu.

“My nose, duh!” Natsu grins as he easily picks up Anna’s scent and begins tracking her, “We’ll find her in no time.”

The duo manages to reach the teacher in the middle of her outdoor activities with her youngest class. She is chasing a few of the children in a game of tag, some of them even using magic to get away from the others.

“Yo! Anna!” Natsu greets as Happy is instantly attacked by the children’s grubby hands and all try taking turns to ride and pet the exceed.

“Natsu and Happy what a pleasant surprise, what can I do for you two?” Anna asks kindly as she picks up one of the students off of Happy but the others are relentless in their chase to catch him.

It still surprises Natsu how much she and Lucy look and smell alike. It makes him smile at how different they are in personality. While Anna is refined and graceful, Lucy is brash and rowdy much like the guild she joined, which he likes far better than how she was the first time he met her. He remembers she would be haughty and scared of nearly everything but she’s changed. She isn’t scared anymore and isn’t the princess she was supposed to be. He wonders what she would be like if she had stayed at her estate. What he didn’t like to think about was if he had never met her at all.

“We’re looking for Lucy,” Natsu states pulling himself out of his thoughts, “She’s been gone a few days now and we aren’t sure where she is.”

Anna’s face changes then as she recalls where her relative is. “Did she say how long she would be gone?”

“She only left us a note about being gone for a week,” Natsu shares.

“A week?” Anna echoes unsure if that time would be too long for poor Lucy.

“Do you know where she is?” Natsu questions wondering what is with all the secrecy.

“Yes she, um...” Anna trails off trying to decide if it would be appropriate for her to tell him where she is. After all, Lucy had turned down her offer to accompany her to Acalypha. Anna looks to Natsu and can see the desperate look behind his eyes.

“I need to know where she is so I can beat Gajeel to her!” Natsu says competitively as he shakes a fist to the sky as if Gajeel could see him.

So that’s why he looks so determined, Anna thinks with a funny smile.

“Natsu help!” Happy cries as the children have now somehow managed to tie him up and have gone to tossing his precious fishies back and forth as a game with each other.

Natsu starts laughing, “They sure got the jump on you didn’t they buddy.”

“Hey why are you talking to Miss Anna?” One of the children with wild blonde hair asks looking up at Natsu with scrutiny.

“I’ve got to find a friend kiddo,” Natsu answers raising one eyebrow as he looks down at the boy.

“I’m not a kid!” The boy shouts looking to Anna with a blush, “I’m a mature man just like the wizards at Blue Pegasus. More mature than you are clearly.”

“You think those weirdos are mature?” Natsu mutters, “Wait a second!”

“If it’s Miss Anna you want, then I’ll fight you for her!” The boy challenges Natsu.

“Oh yeah? Bring it on!” Natsu grins.

Anna only laughs, “Now boys there will be no fights while I’m the teacher here. Reo it’s time to go inside anyway. Why don’t you go ahead and pick out a book for me to read to the rest of the class?”

The blonde haired boy nods fiercely, “Right away Miss Anna!” He agrees and leaves to the classroom.

“Alright children that’s enough rough housing for today let’s get back inside for our story time!” Anna orders the class as she opens the door for them. They all cheer with excitement to learn more from Anna and rush inside the school house.

“That snot-nosed kid,” Natsu grumbles.

“I’m afraid I don’t have much time but I can tell you where Lucy is. She will need her friends most today,” Anna says with a sorrowful look.

• • •

The morning for Lucy was long. She was tossing and turning all night after she had finished her writing. She wasn’t sure why she was so anxious. All she knew was that the moment she saw her parents it would melt away. Luckily, the sun was out and brighter than ever. Despite the cold snow and air the sun was keeping Lucy’s face warm from its rays.

She spent time in the market getting items for her picnic, but when she tried to find two flower bouquets for her parents the shops were out of stock. All that were left were empty vases and wilted stems.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you flowers,” she tells her parents now standing before their gravestones with a sad smile, “I’m also sorry I couldn’t face either of your for so long,” Lucy admits sniffling.

“Hey Lucy.”

The celestial wizard turns recognizing the voice and is in awe of the bouquets of flowers in Loke’s arms.

“Loke? What are you doing here?” She asks.

“These flowers are from all of us,” he explains holding them out to her, “Plue told us you were in need of flowers before you closed his gate and we all chipped in with some flowers from the celestial spirit world.”

Lucy gazes at them in awe as she gently takes them from Loke. In the sun the chrysanthemums twinkle and almost glow beautiful shades of purple and blue that remind her of the skies in the celestial spirit world. The stems are long and have leaves that are a vibrant green against the snow.

Lucy feels tears building in the corner of her eyes, “Thank you so much,” she tells Loke as she meets his eyes, “They’re beautiful. You all did an amazing job putting them together.”

“Plue said you’ve been upset and we all wanted to try and ease the pain,” Loke admits and gives her a glistening smile, “You’re far too beautiful to have permanent frown lines and puffy eyes so if it will make you feel better I’m willing to go out with you now,” he says putting a gentle finger under Lucy’s chin and leans incredibly close to her.

“You never give up,” Lucy rolls her eyes as she swats his hand away from her and begins placing the flowers on the graves. She dusts the snow off of tombstones and gives them a sad smile as she places the stunning bouquets down. “I wish I could talk to you both...one more time,” Lucy tells them with a sad smile, “I’ve gone on so many adventures and made even more friends. I think you’d be proud of me Father. I never got to thank you Mother for the sacrifice you made for me...” Lucy trails off and feels the tears sliding down her cheeks as she wipes at them.

Loke puts a gentle hand on her shoulder and helps stand her up as he does a quick dark movement flashes across Loke’s periphreal vision.

“Lucy look out!” Loke exclaims and pushes her out of harms way causing a metal clawed hand that is connected to a chain digs into his side and the wielder of the the weapon pulls back causing a gash to form in his side.

“Loke!” Lucy cries out for her celestial spirit.

“Damn it!” Loke grunts and disappears back to the celestial spirit world leaving Lucy alone.

“Surprise!” A voice shouts with enthusiasm, “Well, well, well look at who we’ve got here, Lucy Heartfilia,” the person says with a terrifying grin.

Lucy looks over at the person and sees a man with a red and black striped sweater and a black fedora on his head. He’s wearing worn pants and heavy boots too. He swings the metal claw around on its black chain with a malevolent swagger.

“Looks like I’ll finally have my revenge today,” he says licking his lips as he looks at Lucy.

✰exxtra comment || y’all I finally updated from my short like months ago! lol I’m only doing one more chapter to this mini series so I hope y’all will like it when I finally get it done.

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daggerzine · 3 years

Text

Stephen Smith of The Morning Line opens up.

I believe that Bay Area musician Stephen Smith began sending me stuff to listen to/review with his band The Morning Line a few years ago. I really like the band’s brand of melodic rock/pop and was curious to know more. I then realized it was the same Stephen Smith who had been in Boston faves Salem 66 many years before. I then wondered what other bands he had been in that I had maybe checked out (or own records by) so I tossed him some questions that he was more than happy to answer. Read on and give the band a listen, they really deserve your time.

RAWK

Where did you grow up? Was it the Boston area?

North Shore of Chicago until about 14, then high school in the Boston suburbs. I stayed in and around Boston, with stints in New York, L.A., and North Carolina, until I was 25. I was into music as a kid in Chicago, but too young to really be going to shows or anything. Boston was where I really had my musical coming of age. There was a surprising amount of stuff happening in the Suburbs. I saw Husker Du in Concord. The Dead Kennedys in Waltham. And Boston was only about 45 minutes away by train. I remember going into the city and buying records at Newbury Comics, with Aimee Mann behind the register.

What was the first instrument you picked up?

Why I started playing french horn at 11 or 12, I don’t know. It didn’t last. I started playing guitar pretty quickly after that. My first electric was a Stratocaster. I was probably 12 years old. 1979? It was used, so I’m guessing it was an early 70’s one. Got stolen at CBGB while I was loading in in the mid-80’s. Thieves work fast! Let me know if you’ve seen it.

What was the first record you remember buying? As a kid nay band knock your socks off?

My memory is embarrassing, but I recall three early purchases. Singles of ELO’s “Turn to Stone,” and Gary Numan’s “Cars,” and a Beatles comp called “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music.”

The most recent album from 2019.

What bands were you introduction to punk/new wave/alternative music?

I remember very distinctly tuning into WLYN (later WFNX) and hearing Gun Club’s “Sex Beat”, and Bush Tetras’ “Cowboys in Africa,” and being amazed. I’ll tell you what, though, high school girlfriends were absolutely key to my musical education. Gang of Four? X? Learned about them through my first girlfriend. The Replacements? Through my second. I’m the great beneficiary of other people being better informed than me. Through these same people, I became aware of what was going on locally, and was turned on pretty early to stuff like Christmas, Volcano Suns, the Proletariat.

Was Expando Brain your first band? If not what?

As a fifteen-year-old, I had a couple bands with friends playing covers (I remember Gang of Four’s “Essence Rare,” X’s “Riding with Mary,” “Brand New Cadillac”). But Expando Brain was the first “real” band. I think I was 16 when we started that. Being that age and getting to play shows (like that CBGB one where I lost the guitar), make a record, and be ever-so-slightly enjoyed by some people, was a thrill. I suppose obviously.

Tell me about your time in Salem 66? Howe did you initially meet those ladies?

I don’t remember how we got together! I’m going to guess it was David Savoy’s doing. David managed Expando Brain for a while. He later managed Husker Du, before passing in early 1987. I think he got me together with them. I was 18-19 at the time. They were all 5-10 years older, so we wouldn’t have been traveling in the same circles.

It was absolutely thrilling for me. They were a great, interesting, band. They had “made it,” in my youthful eyes. Signed to Homestead Records? Come on. Gerard had rejected Expando Brain. So I was gonna be on my favorite label (well, maybe SST aside)! I was only in the band for nine months (I think I was a pretty relentless pain in the ass), but so much happened in that time. I think it was all in 1986. We did a tour through the south, so I saw places I’d never seen. We did another tour as a part of our travel to make “Frequency & Urgency,” so I got to see California, an unknown place that loomed so large in my imagination. We stopped in Needles, on the CA/AZ border, and I skated the pool of the motel we stayed at (very poorly). We made the record with Ethan James, who had recorded one of my favorite records of all time (“Double Nickels on the Dime”). I got my first tattoo while we were in L.A. making the record. It was just a dream for a 19-year-old who wanted to be a musician. In some minor way, I *was*.

Waiting for the pizza delivery.

Was God’s Eye next? If so how did that band begin (and end)?

Yes and no. After getting booted from Salem 66, I went to school. Spent a year at Vassar College. There, I started the first version of God’s Eye with my brother, Tim, who would drive out to Poughkeepsie from Boston now and then to rehearse, and with Ivor Hanson, another Vassar student, who had earlier been in Faith and Embrace (and has gone on to lots of other things, musical and otherwise). I was just writing riffs then, nothing very substantial, and that came to an end at the end of the school year. At the same time, I answered an ad in the Village Voice. A band in North Carolina, apparently signed to a major, was looking for a guitar player. I noodled some notes onto a tape, took a picture, and sent it. I got an audition, then the gig. The band was called the Right Profile and, at the time, they were signed to Arista. ….but no record ever came out. Sort of a roots/American thing before that was a thing. Maybe Petty-ish? I hate to pigeonhole. So I moved to North Carolina. The band was led by a guy named Jeffrey Dean Foster, who is still making great music today. The drummer was Jon Wurster, a name I’m sure you know. For about nine months – again - I played with them. I was the wrong guy for the job though. I didn’t really have the kind of sideman chops they needed. Can’t remember if I jumped or was pushed. Maybe some combination. As an old man, it’s been nice reconnecting with them through the miracle of social media. A year or two after that, I restarted God’s Eye with my brother. In candor, it wasn’t very good. I had decided I needed to sing in a lower register, and it was really just bellowing. Despite that, we had remarkable success. We were managed by Boston dynamo Joyce Linehan, who would later go on to work at Sub Pop, work with Joe Pernice, and work as chief of staff to the Mayor of Boston. She got us much further than we (I) deserved. We made an album, an ep, and a single for Domino in England. The album also came out on Rough Trade in Germany. We got to play some dates in London. Nothing ever came out in the U.S. We had some interest, but it never materialized.

Anything in between that band and your move to the west coast?

Near the end of God’s Eye, I also played a bit with Green Magnet School. They needed a bassist, and I pitched in. Chris Pearson, one of the guitar players in the band, returned the favor, adding a second guitar for God’s Eye. I was lucky to be able to record a single with GMS, the Sub Pop double-single with Six Finger Satellite.

When did you make your movie to the Bay Area and what prompted that?

Frustration with music prompted it. I remember having breakfast with an exec from Stone Roses’ label. Silvertone, if I recall correctly. He sounded so into it! He was gonna put out the God’s Eye record in the U.S.! But it didn’t happen. I decided I needed to have more control over my life, so I bore down, finished college, and moved across the country to San Francisco, sight unseen, to go to law school.

The latest single from earlier this year.

Were you in any bands before the Morning Line in San Francisco?

In law school I met a fellow student, Jason Hammon, who was in the midst of a pretty successful rock career. He was in Dance Hall Crashers. We stayed friends and, in 2000 or so, we started a band called My Fellow Astronauts, with his brother Gavin (another DHCrasher) and my friend Scout (Scout Shannon & the Willing Deceivers). We played some shows, recorded some demos, but nothing ever came of it.

Tell us about the beginnings of The Morning Line?

It’s 2004 or so. My friend Marco Baroz (Lucy & the Long Haul) played bass, David Knupp played guitar, and somehow we found David Shollenbarger. Maybe craigslist or something? David had played for awhile with Agent Orange. We were in our late 30’s, and knew not to take it too seriously. But we made some demos, and an album in 2007 (“Stay My Satellite”). We were and are very fortunate to have a friend named Peter Craft, who has a great studio called Boxer Lodge, and great skills. We got to spend a year working on the album, and get it just the way we wanted. We self-released, but got a few reviews and a few fan letters, and that’s all I could hope for. Eventually, the lack of success that comes with being in a band of forty-somethings took its toll, and the band was pretty much dissolved in 2008. But Peter (also a terrific drummer) and I kept making demos. I wrote some stuff I liked in about 2015, so we started recording again using The Morning Line name. “Stephen Smith” is too generic to get the job done.

“Smoke,” from 2017, is a collection of things we did over a few years. “North,” from 2019, was a focused, intentional album project, all recorded with Peter, David Knupp, and Brian Mello (the Bellyachers). That’s the band today. I write the songs and sing, but it really wouldn’t sound like it does without them, especially Brian (I don’t think Peter or David will be offended by that).

I know you just released a Morning Line single. What’s next for the band?

Not sure! I’m still riding the high of getting a couple songs done with all of us in quarantine! We’re talking about putting out a collection of odds and ends: demos, the songs from this new single, some remixes. But I’m not sure. We’ll be putting out a couple of those old outtakes as a Big Stir digital single in June. An album of all new material is probably in the future, but I’d guess at least 18 months out. We’re . . . deliberate.

Prior to COVD was the band actively playing locals shows and or doing any touring?

Not really. We play from time to time, but it’s mostly a recording project at this point. You’d be surprised how little interest there is in watching an obscure group of fifty-somethings peddle their wares.

A man, his dog and a weird-ass mountain (ok, hill).

Who are some of your favorite current bands, local or otherwise?

I’ve been oddly incurious about new music the past few years. I just looked at the Outside Lands schedule and was like, “scarypoolparty? What?” I know that’s inconceivable to you. I tend to get excited by friends’ new products. People I’ve mentioned here, like Brian Mello and Scout Shannon, have had things out over the past year or two. My friend Russell Tillitt has something coming out. Jeff Shelton’s Well Wishers. Just off the top of my head. Bigger name stuff? I like the new Besnard Lakes record. The most recent Sleaford Mods. I’d be happy to hear the new Wrens record, which I suspect may never come.

What are your top 10 desert island discs?

You know how hard this is. Every day a different answer, right? Here goes:

Neil Young – Live Rust The Clash – London Calling Wrens – Meadowlands X – Los Angeles Gang of Four – Entertainment Replacements – Let it Be Jesus Lizard – Goat Jam – Sound Affects Teenage Fanclub – Catholic Education Wipers – Over The Edge

Those and a hundred others.

Final words? Closing comments? Words of wisdom?

Thanks for giving me the chance to think about this stuff. It’s fun to do a little reminiscing. As you know, there’s a deep bench of older indie-rock folks out there, still at it, and doing it pretty well. Thanks for giving us some attention.

BONUS QUESTION: Red Sox or Giants?

60/40 Giants. It's nice to have a team in each league.

https://themorningline.bandcamp.com/

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valeptraglia · 4 years

Text

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Battle of Calormen

(All rights to C. S. Lewis)

Chapter 5: "A warm breeze and a poisoned edge"

The next morning I woke up early. A thin line of sunshine entered through the small opening between the two curtains and right in my face. I blinked a few times to accustom to it and tried to cover my eyes with my hand and pillow hopelessly. I finally gave up and sit up leaning on my elbow looking at the window with a grimace. The light coming from it was orange so that meant in was early in the morning, or maybe late in the evening?

I stood up and walked over the window, when I reached it I could see dust floating through the light. I slowly opened the curtains and a beautiful view greeted me.

As I opened the balcony doors delicious fragrances from the flowers below in the garden hit me; roses, lilies, daisies, jasmines, daffodils, iris, marigolds, gerberas, orchids, and many others I didn't even know their names. Mum used to make me help her with her little garden, and she would point a flower and said its name and how to take care of it, after a while doing this the names just stayed in my head.

Also there were beautiful trees in which under their brunches you could see dryads sleeping heavily, caressing their trees in a motherly way or brushing their hair. But what caught my attention were the big apple trees near the stone walls in the orchard. I smile broadly remembering the day the moles planted them and said some day we would be grateful planting them, something I really doubt at the moment, funny how things turned out. Years later I found myself eating hungrily the delicious apples in order to not die from hunger.

Further on I could see and hear the waves crashing lightly against the stone of the cliffs. Home.

Once I dressed and washed my face I got out of my room and walked through the deserted hallways.

I walked through several rooms, some were locked, and some leaded to different studies.

One leaded to a circular room, on its walls hang some paintings of the forests and mountains of Narnia, of dancing fauns and nymphs, of the dryads and their trees, of glorious armies, of men and creatures all like equals, of old Kings and Queens, including some of me, Peter, Susan, Lucy and Caspian; of the wasteland of the lantern, and the most beautiful painting of the Great Lion, Aslan. He looked magnificent with his golden mane and wise gaze.

I looked at his painting intently as I remembered the first time I met him, I could still hear his valuable words ringing in my ears, words I would never forget.

I remembered all the times he sent us here, to Narnia. The first one to saved it from the White Witch, the second one to return freedom and the reign to the right person, Caspian; then to help Caspian to find the lost lords, next he sent Eustace and Jill to save Rilian; and now he sends us here along with two more strangers to help Narnia against the calormens when we shouldn't be here, nor me, nor my brother and sisters, we weren't supposed to come back.

I sight in frustration and turned to leave the room when I felt a warm breeze. I turned quickly. I was sure I hadn't seen any windows in this room. I looked around carefully and sure enough there weren't any windows.

Then my gaze set on the Great Lion's painting. I couldn't look away or move my feet, I was like glued to the floor. I looked deeply in those wise eyes and I was sure he was holding my gaze. A twinkle shone on his painted eyes.

Carefully I touched the painting. "we are going to help them. Narnia won't fall. We won't fail these people. I won't fail you" I promised. Then I stood there in shock. The lion in the painting shook his mane and open his mouth his breath hit me right in the face. I closed my eyes tight and opened them again. The twinkle in its eyes was gone and the painting was still again but I was sure it had happened.

I left the room feeling light.

Soon I found the library in the east wing of the castle, on the third floor, it was huge, shelves covered in books decorated the walls, some coffee tables, desks, chairs and comfortable armchairs were spread across the room in between shelves or in front of the fireplace. A chess game was placed in one of the coffee tables. This would be one of the places I'll visit the most.

As I left the library I saw King Erasmus coming through the hallway. His faced was twitched with concern and a frown; he appeared to be thinking hard. Dark circles under his eyes. But as he raised his head and saw me he smiled broadly, like a father with his child.

"Edmund!" he said surprised giving me a clap on the back, "Good morning! What are you doing so early?"

"Just walking" I answered with a smile of my one and shrugging my shoulders. "Sleepless night?"

"Yes, I guess you could say so" he said with a tired voice.

We resume walking down the hall. I saw Erasmus was scratching his chin deep in thought and I started getting curious of his attitude.

"Is everything alright?" I asked him.

"What?" he looked quite surprised by my question.

"I meant, if everything is alright, did something happen? You have that serious face…"

"Oh! Yes, well, too much to process. So much I am trying to understand through the last few months. I am just worried" he looked at me warily and I nodded my head knowingly. He continue "And then there's the prisoner, a healer was with him yesterday taking care of his wound, but he is reluctant to talk, Diácano was with him the whole night but still no progress unfortunately"

I nodded my head in understanding. We kept walking in silence for a while.

"Do you think he will talk?" he asked suddenly.

"I don't know. But we will figure this all out" I said sincerely.

He sighed and then smile to me. "Today I'd like to have a council with you and your siblings. I wish for your advice, to be honest I feel kind of lost here." He looked at me hopefully and then quickly added "If it's alright with you, of course, I don't want to pressure you, I know it's been a little too much since you came back"

"By all means, yes, don't worry, we will meet you at the council. We are glad to be helping you." I reassure him.

Erasmus gave me half-smile and we kept walking making small conversation. He showed me around the "new" Cair Paravel, the royal chambers were at the east wing, while the guest's chambers were on the west wing, all chambers were on the second floor while the paintings room, library, council room, the King's studio and other sparcing rooms were on the first floor. The kitchens, the thrones' hall, and the dining room were on ground floor.

"Fancy some breakfast?" asked Erasmus gesturing to the dining room.

"Do you have to ask?" I replied with a smirk.

We greeted the fauns posted at the doors and walked past them into the dining room. As we entered Erasmus opened his arms wide and jovially spoke to someone. "Good morning Anne! You sure are an early bird"

A young lady was seated at the table, already with a cup between her fingers. She looked up and gave him a small smile. I observed her quietly until I realized, she had taken care of my arm the night before on the infirmary.

"Dear, may I introduce to King Edmund?"

I stepped forward and offered her my hand to shake, she took it with hesitation.

"A pleasure to formally meet you, your Maj-"

"Edmund, just Edmund" I corrected her. "And it is a pleasure to meet you too Anne"

"How's your arm?" she asked pointing at my bandaged arm.

"It's great actually, it doesn't even hurt that much. Thank you" Really, the wound was excellent, the inflammation was gone and the pain was barely there.

"Anne has a unique talent for herbs. She's been taught by the centaurs themselves" he was looking fondly at her, like a proud father. She blushed and dismissed him with a hand movement.

"Well, that's quite impressive. Centaurs don't teach just anyone" I told her sincerely. Centaurs are rather misgiving with their knowledge.

"Told you" said Erasmus with a pointed look "well, let's have breakfast, shall we? A long day is ahead of us".

A short time after Queen Calantha made an entrance and soon one by one the rest came down to share a very fresh breakfast.

"As I was telling earlier to Edmund" Erasmus said in between bites "I am holding a council in the evening and I would really appreciate if you were there. If it's not too much to ask of you. I am looking forward to hearing suggestions from experienced people"

"Of course, we'll be there" Peter assured him to which Susan and Lucy agreed nodding their heads with solemn smiles. Although Susan's smile didn't reach her eyes. I made a mental note to talk to her later, she's worrying me.

"I would like to see the prisoner first Erasmus" he looked surprised at my request but complied anyways.

I was curious, given the fact that he was so reluctant to talk it was worth the try.

After breakfast I went down to the dungeons accompanied by Diácano and two wolves, part of the King's personal guard. They were slender and powerfully built creatures, a little bigger than an average wolf probably, and with large yellow eyes. Big and heavy teeth adorned their mouths. Accalia, a she-wolf, had black shiny fur, less massive than his partner, Amaruq,a huge grey wolf, his fur was dense a looked quite fluffy.

In spite of being talking creatures they preferred to walked around the castle in a menacing silence. Their eyes warily taking in their surroundings.

We descended the last flight of stairs leading to the dungeons and we met Bavra, the faun, on guard. He nervously bowed at me and quickly open the iron door. I could hear Amaruq grunting under his breath when he walked past Bavra who visibly shivered and suck on his breath.

·Stop that" Accalia reprimanded him.

Amaruq was shaking with quite laughter while Diácano and I grinned at him. We came to a top at a dark cell. It was very silent and through dark a bulk was visible on the floor.

"Get up" I commanded the prisoner with a loud and strong voice.

Nothing.

"Haven't you heard the King? Get. Up." demanded Diácano nearing the bars of the cell. Nothing. He looked back at me.

"Open the cell" I told him.

He quickly turn and galloped back to Bavra in search of the keys. I approached the cell with my hand on the bars, I tried to look past the darkness but it was impossible, so I grabbed the torch from the wall and illuminated with its dim fire the cell. Effectively the man was lying on the floor and he wasn't moving. At all. Besides me Amaruq and Accalia were grunting leaning over the cell, their tail up and active. They glanced at me worried.

Hearing the sound of hooves on the stone floor we withdraw to let Diácano open the cell and soon I was standing besides the prisoner. I passed the torch to Diácano as I squatted in front of him.

"Your Majesty, should I call a healer?" asked Bavra from his spot on the cell door.

"It's too late. He is already dead" I stated making him gasp.

The man's eyes were wide open, his skin pale, violet spots beginning to appear on it, his hand cold.

Accalia approached and started smelling the body and as she near his stomach she scrunched up her nose shaking her head. "Poison" she confirmed.

Carefully I lifted his shirt to reveal a cut on his abdomen, it was a thin line, not even deep but it's outline was black, as if rotten.

Directing towards Amaruq I ordered him "Find King Erasmus. Do not talk to anybody on your way there. Tell him to summon the council now, we can not wait any longer"

Nodding his head the grey wolf took off. I then turned to Diácano, his face expressed the same worry I felt.

We had a traitor in the castle.

(End of Edmund's POV)

#narnia #narnia fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #chronicles of narnia #the battle of calormen #edmund pevensie #king edmund the just #peter pevensie #high king peter #king peter the magnificent #susan pevensie #queen susan the gentle #lucy pevensie #queen lucy the valiant

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wolferals · 4 years

Text

audition

Arón Piper imagine

saturday, january 18th 11:22pm • Today was Monday, August 22nd and all I've seen since 8am were wannabe actors reading their stupid lines to us pretending they were fucking Johnny Depp himself. God I was so sick of it, but since I've been grounded my dad made me cast people for this movie he was going to direct. Why were you grounded, you may ask. Well let's say, we just moved to Madrid basically to the end of the world since I grew up in America all my life. Yeah, my first days of school didnt really turn out to be super great, my english teacher was super racist in my opinion. She kept making „jokes" about my country/ and at some point i just snapped and told her how she dared to be so fucking racist. My class agreed with me yet my teacher didnt and put me in detention first and then called my dad. So yeah, thats why he's making me do this.

Some might think, its not a punishment to cast people for a „super cool movie" but have u ever been in a all white room for 10 hours listening to the same sentences over and over, being read by the worst people ever? No, exactly.

Its been exactly 4 hours now, its been around 12 when we decided to take a short break to get some food. I walked around the building for a while, grabbed a iced coffee at the bar and then sat down on a couch in the foyer to immediately text my friends from back home about how horrible i was feeling.

I didnt even get to text 5 words until my dad came around the corner saying something like:"Y/n, lets go. The people wont cast themselves. I mean they'd love to but that's our job." He then laughed loudly and almost couldnt stop. One thing about my dad: He thinks he's hilarious but in my opinion he's a little too full of himself. No offense, i love him of course.

Therefore I walked back to the cruel looking white room and sat down on my chair sipping my iced coffee. „Alright, next up, we have a Joshua Hamilton reading for the part of Jamey." I rolled my eyes. Yet again another Jamey. Ive heard the line:"No way Daniel, are you insane?! Have you even thought about the fact that you could get fucking killed?" about 50 times today.

And to be honest, the only person i'd like to get killed right now would be myself.

„Hello, my name is Joshua Hamilton, I'm 22 years old and I'll be reading for the part of Jamey." The tall, skinny looking guy then spoke after *extremely happy looking* entered the room. Well no offense but super happy people make me puke.

He then read his lines, horribly. He was just too enthusiastic and grinning through the entire thing. It was supposed to be a mad Jamey yelling at his brother who was about to attack his ex girlfriend's killer.

Dad then told him, they will call him. But lets be honest here, obviously they wont. • Alright so another 4 hours passed and we had almost all important characters casted, except Jamey. The crew was getting impatient and we were all super tired. „Dad how many are left?" I then asked because I wanted nothing more than this to end. „26." he answered, sounding annoyed. So was I. „Jeez, for fucks sake." I exclaimed and leaned back in my chair. „Y/n, watch your language!" He scoffed and took a sip of his water before leaning back as well.

„Okay next off we have a Arón Piper. He is Spanish-German, which wouldnt quite match with the way we pictured Jamey. But lets get the guy, kay?" Evan, the producer spoke after reading some reviews.

„Mhm." my Dad hummed. He seemed extremely tired and messed up to be fair.

As I said, I was annoyed and super damn hungry but the second this guy walked in, all my senses were on and I couldnt help but stare at him. He was tall, had curly hair, an earring on his left ear, chocolate brown eyes and a smile that could kill. „Hola,, I'm Arón." My dad seemed to like him too because he sat up straight scanning him up and down. „How old are you Arón?" Lucy, the executive producer asked him, smiling as well. „I'm 23." The handsome guy answered calm and sent me his billion dollar smile.

fuck • I smiled back and for whatever fucking reason I just said:"You must be working out, am I right?" Everyone looked at me but I didnt care, I just looked him right in the eyes and saw him laugh. „Y/n what the hell?" My dad whispered sounding pissed yet confused. „Jamey is a fit dude, he goes to the gym 6 times a week. We have to consider the fact that the actor has to be healthy and all as well." I tried to get out of the weird situation but actually I was just wishing for him to take off his shirt to show us -okay, me- his amazing abs I bet he had. „Uhm to be honest, I just dance, thats it. But you could call that a work out since Ive been doing it since I was 7 years old."

The others seemed impressed too, so Lucy cockily said:"So if acting wouldnt work, youd become a professional dancer?" Arón laughed again and answered:"Yeah, probably. But i havent even read my lines yet."

The entire time he was acting his lines, I was just staring at his god like face, every emotion, every move, every little change in his body language was perfect. My dad looked like he was impressed too and he then, after Arón had finished, spoke:"Thank you, Arón. That was amazing!" He smiled happily and answered fully paying attention:"Oh gracias, it means so much coming from you!" He walked up to my dad to shake his hand and then took back his portfolio. „Honey what do you think? Should we put him in round 2?" I looked over to my dad, took a glance at Arón who was smiling cutely at me. „Nah."

Everyone gave me a confused look and in Arón´s eyes I could see pure fear.

„I think we should give him the part.“

My dad smiled, nodded at me and then spoke:“Alright, Arón Piper, congratulations.“

Arón walked over to me and stuck his hand out for me to shake it. I slowly took his hand and, okay that might sound weird, but it felt so damn good to touch him. God I sound like a creep. No but for real his hand was a lot bigger than mine and really warm compared to my -always cold- claws. „Gracias." he said quietly and stared directly into my eyes while smiling. I wanted to say something like:"Of course, you deserve it, you were amazing." but i just couldnt, i wasnt able to look anywhere but into his beautiful brown eyes.

My dad saw that and cleared his throat loudly. „Thank you again Arón, we will call you next week for further information. But for now, since Jamey is the main male protagonist and we will be filming most of the scenes with you, we'd like to invite you and the other main actors to a dinner party tomorrow night. We hope you're free and we would text you further dates later on today."

-„Yes I'm free, that'd be amazing! Thank you so much! See you tomorrow then, bye guys." He grabbed his jacket from off the floor and left the room smiling brightly.

-„We've got it! We found, first of all the perfect Jamey, and we finally have all the actors, people!" Lucy shouted and sighed relieved. „Alright then, lets celebrate!" My dad exclaimed happily and the others stood up after him. „I'll be right out, I'll go to the bathroom real quick." I informed the guys and just simply hit the bathroom next to the audition room. When i checked back to see if the room had been locked, I noticed that a portfolio book was left on the table. I grabbed it, opened it and and noticed it was Arón's.

Right, he grabbed it before, then shook our hands and put it down again. Then he walked out without it.

So I quickly locked the door and ran through the building, past my dad saying:"Be right back." I figured, Arón couldnt have gotten very far, so I sprinted down the stairs, out of the front door of the building and i looked around if I might spot him. I then saw a guy that looked like him walking down the street towards a silver car and i ran as fast as i could to reach him.

„Arón!" I yelled and stopped once I finally reached him. „Yeah?" he was about to get in the car but turned around. „You forgot that." I passed him his book and tried to catch my breath real quick. „Oh god, thank you! I totally forgot about that. Gracias." He took it smiling.

While I was trying to breath, he opened the car door and said:"Just a second." Me, still dying from all the running, I was now leaning against a wall. „You okay?" -„Huh? Yeah. Im.. good." I was kind of embarrassed at how unathletic i was. „U sure?" he came closer and looked actually quite concerned. „Ya dont worry. Uhm.. See you.. tomorrow..at the.. party?" i tried to play it off and stood straight again Arón smiled again and answered:"Of course. Cant wait!" He then walked back to the car and sent me another smile before getting in.

Damn, this guy.

#aronpiper #aron x reader #elite #cute #casting acting #imagine

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saundraswriting · 4 years

Text

Hercules Chapter Three

SUMMARY:The Case continues with some interviews of the victims families. Morgan and Reid work on the Geological Profile. Reid begins pushing himself hard, and Morgan is the one to calm Reid down. It only works for a little bit when the realization hits the entire team that with the lack of connection and the breakthrough Reid finds, Reid will be the one to solve the case by working himself to death.

WARNINGS: Maybe slight self-harm? Spencer is pushing too hard.

Previous // Next

Hotch and Gideon were on their way to Leonard Davis' home. Mrs. Mary Davis, his mother was their interviewee. "Mrs. Davis, are you home? My name is Aaron Hotchner. I am with the BAU at the FBI. I wanted to ask you a few questions." Hotch said loudly.

"Hold your horses. I'm coming. Haven't I answered enough questions? but come in, come in." Mary held the door open, and only Hotch's years of experience prevented his flinch. Her blonde hair was falling out if its clip, she was dressed in a teal cami and black yoga pants. She had deep bags under her eyes and a half empty bottle of gin in her left hand.

"Hello. I'm Mary. If we could hurry this up, I have a lot to do yet." Mary stood by the sink, took a swift swallow of the gin and dumped the rest down the drain. "Self-medication was okay for a little, but time continues on and so should I"

"He was in the top 15 of his class. He was going to do great things I just knew he would. I was so happy to find out that his meds were working and that he liked them. " Mary's voice was as soft as the wind.

"Medications for what?" Hotch asked?

"Depression. His best friend was his sister. She was killed by a drunk driver when she was 16. He was 13. she had left in a hurry when we were fighting over the divorce announcement. After words I sent Leo to a therapist to help with the issues he was going through. I figured it couldn't hurt, right? Turned out he really liked going. Sorted out a lot of problems that Leo was having at the time. Things looked like there were turning up and then he turned 15. He began reading, psychology, sociology, Buddhism, Hinduism. He would question me randomly, about my thought on God and the state of the world and Creationism among other things. Please remember I wouldn't have even noticed had I not gone into his room the night he was murdered. I saw the books and I understood. Leo was lost and confused, all I did to help was hand him over to a therapist. I never forced him to go to church with me, I let him return to therapy seeing it may help him. Then 3 weeks later Leo is found strangled to death." Mary sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "Are we done here? I don't want to talk about Leo anymore. I have several appointments today as well. "

"We don't have any more questions for you. Thank you for your time, Mary. If you need us please call." Gideon said, handing over his and Hotch's card.

"Good day to you as well." Mary walked them out.

Hotch and Gideon arrived at the station a few minutes after Morgan and JJ returned from their interview with Lucy Basset. They walked into Spencer's cave where coffee cups littered the table.

"Pretty Boy, got anything?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, sit please. I talked to Garcia and if this doesn't check out. then we'll move on. First, you guys; what did you find out?" Spencer pointed to the seats round the table.

"Ophelia resents the fact that her dad died. vocally questioned God. Mom is on meds and Ophelia's been running the household since she was 16." Morgan explained.

"Leo was a great student. Was in therapy for the divorce + death of his sister. Leo was researching psychology, sociology, Buddhism, and Hinduism. He was vocal but not drastically so." Gideon explained. Reid's eyebrows rose but wrote the observations in the notes taped to the wall opposite of the maps.

"Ophelia refused to light the candle of her father's shrine Lucy made. Besides that, I am not seeing any family involvement." JJ mentioned.

"Which makes sense considering the amount of violence the victims suffered But it wasn't torture becasue it wasn't for a period of time, the cause of death is the only wound on them. So not a sadist, not family, does that mean we have a run-of-the-mill serial killer whose delusional we need to crack?" Morgan ground out through his teeth, frustrated.

"I may have suspects. It's a long shot but worth a try. Garcia found two people in the 20 Mile radius of the image the relevant sites make that have RR as their initials. I labeled and mapped out the relevant places: Potential kill site based of distance, the dump sites and family homes. When I get the actual kill sites I can narrow it down more-anyway-I feel like I'm missing a link, a piece to the puzzle. The map isn't looking right at all. I did the locations in order from oldest murder to most recent and in crime order so family home to kill site to dump site. It will get more accurate with more information. I know that with the mass of uncertainties that we have right now, this is going to take a while but it is the biggest help we have. Feel free to look in here if you need anything, this map will update as I get information. I will keep working on this. There may be a pattern." Spencer rambled quickly. He gulped out of his coffee cup.

"Sirs and madame, we have the official kill sites now. Forensics gave us a very close locale adn we checked them out to get the exact coordinates. I have them for you Agent Reid." A uniform handed out a list of places to each of the BAU.

"Come here." Reid demanded. The two consulted the map for a few quiet moments and then the purple marks were moved. Reid's key gained a new color: Orange for new information and the black got changed to permanent. The team took the pause to gather their thoughts. Morgan used the table speaker to call Garcia.

"Garcia, any new info on our possible suspects"

"Well, hello, to you too, Chocolate Bar."

"Hey mama. Please give me something good."

"Well you are down to one. Numero dos has been found in jail-GTA. Numero uno is worth a shot." She rattled of an address. Hotch jotted it down and left.

"Pretty Boy, anything else?" Morgan asked.

"No! Damn it, this case is residing on my ability to crunch numbers and find a pattern, on my geological profile. And I can't make rhyme or reason." Spencer ranted. Morgan grabbed Spencer and herded him out of the room.

"Break time. Get some coffee, sit and breathe, Spencer." Morgan began making a cup, pulling hazelnut creamer out of the fridge.

"No, Morgan! I need to get back in that room. This profile. is the only thing going for this case right now. There is no vicitmology, no sexual sadism, we really can't form a normal profile." Reid stated. He sipped at his coffee, eyes widening at the taste.

"Spencer, calm down man. you'll go into a anxiety attack if you keep worrying like this. Listen to me, everything will be fine. Ask a local uniform to get the distances if they can. After that begin your in-depth look at everything. You are fine, you're doing great. Chill out a little." Morgan soothed.

"Morgan, you wouldn't have but hazelnut creamer into my coffee, would you? Thank you, I don't deserve a friend like you. But right now, even the smallest pieces of paper, the smallest connection can help us." Spencer said.

"You can go back in, if you calm down. Promise me?" Morgan pleaded. Spencer nodded and sipped his coffee slowly.

Morgan stood near Spencer, silent and still as a sentinel. He had a bad feeling about this case and they still had one family to interview.

"Morgan, Reid, I'm gonna visit the Brown's. Garcia said that Tabitha Well's parents are drug addicts won't be any help. They are in rehab and the program forbids visitors." Gideon said. Morgan nodded and helped Spencer stand straight. He was swaying slightly. Spencer yawned deeply. Morgan felt his concern for his friend grow.

"Let's go. We can get started looking at the G.P. Can I have a uniform please?" Morgan said. Matthew stepped forward. The trio walked into the map room.

"We need the exact distances between each point on this map. As soon as possible, please." Spencer paused "And each victim's personal effects. Tell me that you did search their rooms and houses." Spencer said.

"I believe so, at least as much as the families allowed. I'll be right back." Matthew smiled timidly at Spencer before leaving.

"Hey, man. Mr. Matthew is into you. You gonna jump on that?" Morgan teased. The name tasted sickly sweet and tangy on his tongue like new metal.

Spencer sighed and shook his head at Morgan's antics. He appreciate the never-ending support he had gained from the team when he came out as gay months ago. JJ and Garcia had been enjoying it the most though, they spent the evenings at the clubs and bars checking out the men and finding dance partners for the girls.

"I don't do case relationships. You know that. Why aren't you hitting Maddie up? She seems into you." Spencer shot back.

"No. I'm not, uh, feeling it now." Morgan answered. Spencer side-eyed him but didn't push the issue. Morgan exhaled in relief.

"So, I am thinking about the connection between victims will be unorthodox in comparison to a 'normal' serial killer. It will be something in common with the age group. 14-20 year olds- teenagers. Maybe they are in favor of a controversial topic. one of their generation's problems brought them all to the attention of the killer." Spencer rambled, writing under the victims: Atheism.

"Okay, they are high-school to college students from messed up homes all vocal about something their generation is facing. Drugs? Legalization of weed is a big problem, Colorado, Washington and the District of Colombia all legalized recently. Maybe the UnSub didn't want it legalized and saw them using in the open?" Morgan questioned aloud.

"Today, 90% of teenagers don't do drugs-including weed-, smoke tobacco, underage drinking. The majority of people gunning of marijuana legalization believe it is a victimless crime and unlike other substances aren't full of horrible chemicals. So no, that isn't it, I think. Not drugs, not war, not environment...Gay rights?" Spencer looked over at Morgan.

"Back up, boy wonder. Why not war and environment? And why write down Atheism?" Morgan's confusion drew Spencer's gaze once more.

"If our UnSub was against the current War, don't you think that there would have been something majorly different in his behavior? People that make statements dealing with War or politics blow coffee shops up, gas stations, malls. Large, obvious signals. If the victims were on either side, it would have been obvious even for the uniforms here. If it was environmental issues, they would have home set-ups: recycling on a very detailed scale, composting, gardens, homemade snacks, re-purposing of things. So far each victim has dealt with a devastating death close to them. When that happens, people in general turn to God, but each person in this case has turned away from God at some point at some level. A typical problem with many people of this age group is coming out to people that matter and if they will be accepting or rejected. So it could be both but from what I have heard about the families, victims, and their lives none were open or closeted Bisexuals, or Homosexuals. I am heavily leaning towards Atheism. We will know for sure when Matthew comes back with the evidence." Spencer rambled quickly, his words practically attached to one another. Morgan tilted his head and shrugged, agreeing with the young genius.

"Dr. Reid. I have the evidence you requested. Unfortunately we don't have anything to give you for distances. When we looked on G.I.S technology and the ones we used varied, so we validated the coordinates for you to calculate." Matthew explained from the doorway.

"Damn it. That is going to take me a while. Okay-Morgan go outside and sort through the evidence. Use social media of any type, journals, diaries, photos, to see if there is anything relevant or strange. I need to not be bothered while I do these calculations, they are going to be extensive." Spencer ordered, He turned to the map. He stilled, body tightening with a laser-like focus. Morgan chuckled softly and herded Matthew out the door.

"Okay. You heard Spencer. Lets get cracking. He is gonna work himself death on this. We can at least help." Morgan spoke to Matthew and the three other volunteers he had gathered along the way. Everyone grabbed a different tub and began sifting through the journals, pictures, and printed pages from social media.

************

Gideon arrived at the Brown's home. He knocked and patiently waited to be invited in. "Kimberly Brown? My name is Jason Gideon. I am an agent of Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. I have a few questions for you and you family. I shouldn't be too long." Gideon said entering the well designed home.

"Okay, Agent Gideon. I have a few minutes to talk. Come on in." Kimberly was dressed in a pencil skirt and blue button up shirt.

"I just want to know how Everett was before he died. How was he in school. Did someone close to him die?" Gideon asked. Kimberly grabbed two glasses and filled them with ice and water.

"Everett was a good student. Not the greatest, but he did well with football and baseball pre-seasons, season, and off-seasons. He was the star Quarterback for three years and and the star pitcher for two. He loved it. We were immensely proud. He was working on the final things to be ready for Oregon State University to play football for them and go into business and economics. It was the best thing that happened to us." Kimberly said. Gideon noticed that her tone was rather practiced and empty.

"Who were talking to? Cause that wasn't my brother. He did football for so long becasue you would disown him if he did. He wanted to be a doctor, Pediatrician specifically. He wasn't going to play at OSU. He decided his grades would be more important. Everett loved science. He never made a decision without thinking all the variables through." A male voice from the door said.

"Cameron. Enough." Kimberly snapped harshly.

"He wrote me letters-emails really. I brought them with me. Some were really strange, written in a code or something? I'm not sure. With Mom into fashion design and Dad into the stocks, Everett really didn't have anyone to turn to. So he vented to me. He would even write the first word of the subject line: Ventilation so I knew not even to open those ones. I did sometimes anyway. I go to Columbus for English and History. I am a novelist. I felt that he may not want a response but he deserved to get one." Cameron explained nervously.

"Can we have those? They would be marvelous help. I know he recent death must be difficult but this could help find the murderer." Gideon pointed out. Cameron nodded his consent.

"I can show you his room? I know that the police would have taken things they found relevant, but the BAU is different, isn't it?" Cameron ignored his mother's protests and showed Gideon to Everett's room. The room was tidy, shelves and cube organizers were everywhere. Everything had a place but it seemed that the items didn't return instantly to its place. The room had small stacks of books here and there, probably from the overflowing bookshelf. The clothes were in the hamper, and the walls covered in pictures and collages. "We traveled a lot. Everett believe even if he was a science man, he should be creative with something. called it Art therapy. He did these all himself." Cameron explained.

"I am sorry. We work hard to stop these people but more just slip right through." Gideon looked around and on the desk saw a piece of paper with what looked to be gibberish. He picked it up to look closer.

"That may be true, agent Gideon. but at least you try. Hey, that is what the strange messages looked like." Cameron waved at the paper. Gideon put it in an evidence bag and nodded at Cameron.

"Thanks Cameron. We will keep you posted. If you need anything here's my card. Also at the police station." With that Gideon showed himself out, noticing the two cups from earlier were gone as was Kimberly. He continued to the station.

***********

"Okay, gather round, I've got something." Gideon said upon arrival.

"Me too. And Reid is working and said to not be disturbed. I will fill him in." Morgan said. A shout from the map room had them racing.

"Sorry. I just finished all those distance calculations. I had to do the distance between homes and kill sites, kills sites and dump sites, and homes to dump sites. I also did places last seen when they applied and kill sites. And the distances between the homes of the victims for information. That was 20 intricate equations. I had to validate each coordinate with my info and the police to make sure it was right....and I'm rambling." He cut himself off at Morgan's look.

"What did you find out Reid?" Hotch demanded.

"That it isn't a number compulsion. Each distance is different. And the points aren't making a closed shape, in any order. I rearranged this 6 different times but nothing made sense. I think I am missing a location. Or the homes isn't where they were picked from. Any evidence support home break-ins?" Spencer asked. Hotch shook his head. "So, it isn't the home that are important. That isn't the grab site. I need coffee." Spencer's stomach growled.

"And food maybe?" Morgan commented.

"I will be fine. Give me some more time and coffee and I will have more." Reid said leaving the room.

"Wait, you're a genius but you haven't had a breakthrough? What good are you?" Someone said sardonically. Reid and the rest of the team froze instantly; Reid from terror-that tone brought back awful memories and the team from reacting to Reid's tense body language. JJ and Morgan felt murderous.

"I am a genius, maybe-if an IQ of 187 reading 20,000 words per minute, holding three PhD.s, two bachelor degrees and working on a third is considered genius. But I don't like measuring intelligence with numbers and such. People refer to me as a genius, if that helps. I have just crunched out 120 intricate equations, 20 for each of the 6 different order I have arranged them trying to find a pattern. In my head. From this conversation alone I can tell your life story and I am trying to do the same for someone I have never met and leave me dead people to examine. I think what progress I and my team has made is more than you and your colleagues. Now, I was being nice, pleasant even. If this happens again, I can't guarantee that the two fully-certified murderous looking agents behind me won't do you bodily harm. So do me, you and everyone a favor and sit down and shut up." Spencer sassed. The room was deadly silent. Morgan couldn't (didn't) stop the proud smug look from settling on his face. His Pretty Boy just went Alpha Male on the local bully and Morgan couldn't be happier.

In the quiet Spencer made his coffee and returned to his room. He settled in a chair and rubbed at his temples drinking his coffee. Morgan looked in quickly and returned to JJ. "JJ, can you order some food. I don't know when the last time he ate was. He and us need something, anything. His sugar is getting high, too much sugar in one cup let alone several pots. Gideon, Hotch, I have something to share. Reid needs to hear this as well." the trio commented they'd be there in a minute.

Spencer stood in the middle of the room, hugging himself and trembling. Morgan stepped in close after shutting the door.

"Hey, Spence. You did awesome out there. You went all alpha on him and it rocked his world. Come on, sit down. You are fine. No one is gonna hurt you. I'm right here. He was an asshole and deserved the chewing out you gave him." Morgan sat Reid down and gave him a tight hug, exaggerating his breaths, trying to get Reid to catch on. Reid did, calming down slowly.

Spencer tensed slightly at the beginning of the hug but quickly reveled in the warm, human contact. Morgan and JJ and Garcia may touch him often and Gideon and Hotch less often but no one hugged him like this. He usually got fleeting touches, faint and quick as a butterfly's wing beat. Morgan may touch him the most but only claps on the shoulder, fingertips to a wound's dressing, a guiding hand on his elbow. No one ever touched him like this; with love and kindness, with the purpose to comfort and share your troubles. 'Isn't that the purpose of hugs in difficult times? To share your burdens with a second pair of shoulders? To share your space with another human, to make the world more bearable?' Spencer thought. He opened his (when did they close?) closed eyes and caught a swirly ray of the sun covering part of Morgan's neck. He knew from tracing Morgan's with his eyes and his own with his fingertips the eight outer swirls and the larger middle one from memory, seeing it this close made Spencer anxious for reasons he didn't know.

Morgan felt Spencer stop trembling but tense up. Morgan only squeezed tighter. He was confused about his reactions to the young genius as of late. He could barely tolerate seeing the look of awe and admiration in Matthew's eye when Spencer spoke in general, the look only got worse with direct communication. Morgan didn't even really understand why he felt so protective of Reid either. He understood as friends you try to protect one another but Morgan was ready to tear the asshole from earlier (Thomas)'s head off so thinking so little of the genius. Morgan wanted to make sure Spence was cared for-eating healthy and sleeping right. He wanted to be the one to administer the human contact he knew Spencer needed. Not just the fleeting touches he gave out but hugs, wonderful hugs that lessened the pressure Reid felt from the world. He wanted to be near Spencer if only to watch him think then so be it. Morgan never felt this way about anyone before. He knew that this was beyond friendship he was feeling but wasn't sure what it was he felt for the Boy Wonder.

"Thank you Morgan. I needed that. I was really scared. I thought he might hit me." Spencer said as they broke apart.

"Do you need any help? I am not sure what I can do but I can sure as hell try." Morgan glanced around and realized that with the case looking the way it was, Spencer would be the one to solve it. He would synthesis the evidence, he would be the one to get the breakthrough, he would be the one ending up overworked, overstressed, malnourished and fatigued.

"No, I've got it. could you get me some...uh...food? Please?" Spencer asked hesitantly. Morgan laughed.

"JJ is already on it. We will give you updates if we get anything. I will be around if you need anything. Just take your time and work you magic. I found something earlier, I was going to tell Hotch and Gideon right now. You keep working. If we need you I'll get you." Morgan left and stepped to the right of the doorway, seeing Hotch and Gideon standing there.

"We believe these texts to Leo, Tabitha, Ophelia, Everett, the emails from Everett to Cameron, the diary of Ophelia are written in a code. We also believe that the note you got from Everett's room was the key. I think he was a recent addition to whatever group uses this code, no one else had a key. We need to use the key to crack the code. Does anyone want to try?" Morgan asked Hotch and Gideon.

"Neither one of us would be able to do it in a timely manner. We know you are terrible with codes and riddles, Morgan. That leaves Reid and Garcia. JJ is having a rough time with the press right now." Hotch mused.

"Bring it all in here. You know that I am the best and really the only option."Reid called from his room.

"No, Spence, you have enough to do Garcia may have a program she can run." JJ said.

"You have to break the code first and then give it to her or she has to run all her programs on it. I can read 12 languages and am pretty smart I can at least break it quick. Hand it over." Reid strode out, sleeves rolled up and pen spinning in circles. A different persona than when he is calculating something where he has a specific formula and direct end goal, this is thinking-trying one idea to reject it and go to another. He needs to be loose, have no end goal planned.

Spencer began pacing and muttering, spinning his pen and pausing every once and while when a train of thought might lead somewhere. 15 minutes in and he stopped and looked up.

"It's pig latin." He said awestruck. Morgan internally sighed at the tone, it was usually followed by a statistic or random or obscure facts. Morgan wasn't wrong. "The single-page is a cheat sheet for most common transitions between English and Pig Latin. I mean a large number of the population can say they have heard of Pig Latin, smaller percentage say they have heard it, and an even smaller portion say they have ever spoken a word of Pig Latin. This is a great idea. It also means that whoever this correspondence was from or to is smart and manipulative. He had to know and be able to teach these kids Pig Latin, and to get them to use it willingly when talking about this group without brainwashing or violence is no easy feat. If they write in code then no sneaky parents will understand if they accidentally see it. Garcia should be able to help, I can if she can't." Spencer handed back the cheat sheet and return to his lair of maps and used coffee cups.

"Hey, man. None of them were open or closeted Bisexuals or Homosexuals. Leo and Ophelia were openly Pro-gay rights but I don't know about the others." Morgan said to his retreating back. Reid paused and turned.

"Nothing of relevance. So I was wrong. That word is around me more in the case than my life. But at least we aren't dealing with homophobia or something, those cases are touch and go. So it has to be Atheism. We are dealing with religion." Spencer saw Hotch's mouth open. "No, I don't know what that means, but we have something. We can work with something. Give me some time to think." Reid walked in and shut his door.

"That kid is going to kill himself with this case." Morgan murmured. The others consented their agreement.

Previous // Next

*******************************************************************************************

Okay, The focus of the fic shifts from here. This isn’t a case fic so to speak, it is a soulmate au fic. So be prepared for that.

#saundrasays #saundraswriting #dr. spencer reid #derek morgan #spencer x derek #spencer reid x derek morgan #Criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfiction #Hercules fic #cm fanfiction #cm #morgreid

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mwub · 5 years

Text

Hmmm, thought I had posted this but evidently I didn’t, it was supposed to be a multichapter but I couldn't figure out how to continue it.

Toward Tomorrow

”Hey Lucy, what do I look like?” Came to a playful snicker from Lucy’s now open window as a young man with vibrant spiked pink hair that seemed like it hadn’t met a hairbrush in weeks pulled himself into the windowsill. Although the guild liked to joke otherwise, Natsu was quite handsome, not classically like Gray or princely like Loke but he held a certain spark that drew one's eye.

“What do you mean?” Lucy absently hummed as she sorted through clothes, holding up a powder blue sweater with an inquisitive look before tossing the sweater to the side with a derisive shrug.

“I mean, what do I look like?” Natsu responded with a slightly impatient edge to his naturally husky voice. At his tone, Lucy glanced his way to take his appearance in. The sunlight seemed to dance on his hair in knots and waves, one moment a soothing salmon color the next a bright Sakura pink, almost as if it couldn’t decide what color it wanted to be and changes from moment to moment. Oddly enough it perfectly suited his tan skin and his sharp dark olive green eyes that often sparkled with mischief. The mischief that wasn’t absent now as Natsu rocked back on his heels in order to gain a more comfortable balance on the window, a bright fanged smirk gently pulling on his lips as he studied the blonde.

Lucy was supposed to be packing for the 100-year quest that Natsu claimed they were going on, they just were now awaiting Makarov’s permission to do so which they surely would receive. Of course, Lucy was taking forever to pack, choosing each outfit carefully despite knowing it probably wouldn’t matter anyway when it came down to a fight. Natsu thought she looked beautiful always, even though he wouldn’t say it aloud with her in earshot, the only one he had openly admitted his feelings to was Happy and he was tied and bound in secrecy under the threat of no fish for a month.

Lucy looked especially beautiful to him right now, a millennial pink knit sweater suited her pearly skin, bringing out a natural blush under her skin that’s not ordinarily seen unless you were looking for it. Her hair was tied back in a curled ponytail with a simple white ribbon and white ruffled skirt that ended mid-thigh accentuated her legs that seemed to go on for days before ending in a pair of delicate sandals. Natsu felt a warm glow of pride when he saw a pair of gold flash from Lucy’s ears as she bent to scrutinize a pair of dark jeans. A pair of red ruby eyes glared back at him in the form of two small dragon shaped dangly earrings, they were a gift for Lucy’s birthday a month before and it amused Natsu to no end to see her wear them so often.

Natsu knew he didn’t own Lucy, that he had no claim over her, she was her own person and couldn’t possibly ever be owned. But the fact that he had managed to give her a that she appreciated so much gave him a warm feeling in his heart.

Lucy quirked her eyebrow as she saw his eyes falter and glaze over slightly as he asked that question again, “Like the same Natsu I’ve always known, am I supposed to notice something different today,” Placing a hand on her hip, smoothing down her skirt, “did you get new clothes, cause most of them look the same to me.”

“No… nevermind,” Natsu grumbled, breaking his gaze before flopping forward onto his back, landing with a soft thud on Lucy’s pink comforter before grabbing her pillow and burying his face from view. “Just hurry up already, we are leaving in a few days, we don’t know when we’ll be back so you’ll need you’re more travel-ready clothes anyway. I don’t see why ya wanna pack those daggers you call heels.”

“I know that I still think we should go on one more job before we leave, the more rent money I give to my landlady ahead of time the longer I can help you guys finish whatever this quest is. It doesn’t have to be a big one, just another months worth of rent should be enough.” Lucy finished with a pleading look, her pink lip poking ever so slightly out in an adorable pout.

“...Alright fine, we’ll take that one job in Hakobe forest clearing out some were-rabbits. Shouldn’t be too dangerous as long as we catch them by surprise.” Natsu reluctantly agreed finally, “Pays 200,000 Jewel, that sound like enough to you, we’ll stay two days and be back in 4 days.”

“Thank you! You’re the best, a little extra cash never hurt anybody right?” Squealed the excited blonde as she rushed over and squeezed him into a tight hug, Natsu struggling to hide a slight blush as he was painfully aware of how soft her rather large bust was pressed against his own toned muscles. How she didn’t notice how tight her sweater was he didn’t know but he wasn’t gonna complain if it meant he got the occasional sneak peek that other the other guys in the guild drooled after. Just because he respected her as a person doesn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate her gorgeous looks and all its assets.

“I’ll be here tomorrow morning to pick you up and we can walk there.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WALK THERE, IT’LL TAKE TWICE AS LONG TO WALK THERE AND BACK!”

“Fine, walk there and train back, unless you want me to have my insides become outsides the entire trip.” Natsu quipped slyly, knowing he won by the way the girl in front of his eye twitched at the prospect of playing nurse the entire trip.

“Fine.”

~~~~~~

“You complain about wasted time and yet you insist we stop at a Hot Spring.”

“Give it a rest Natsu, it was a great deal, two nights and three days for the price of one and there’s a to die for Sauna along with a open bar.” The blond finished with a prideful smirk.

“It’s only a great deal cause they are closing it to be renovated soon and desperately need customers. Probably no one there except a few stragglers and old people” Natsu said dismissively, shuddering slightly at the thought of seeing old crotchety men fight over sauna rights.

Would there be unisex saunas and baths? I hope so, these types of things are better with Luce’s company anyway. Natsu thought, getting slightly excited at the idea of teasing Lucy again for being so embarrassed wearing such a small towel. She was so weird sometimes, at least Happy was staying with Wendy and Carla, the idea of Happy teasing Lucy into a rage was not a pleasing thought even if Happy was his best friend.

“We’re here”

Before them stood the Gin No Taki hot springs, a rather large old Edo-era style building several stories tall with gorgeous paned windows reflecting like mirrors silhouetted by overarching maple trees, their leaves beginning to shift color from green to red in some places, leaves rustling with the gentle breeze and the buzz of nearby cicadas harmonizing with the distant trickling sound of running water. It looked heavenly.

“Let’s go inside!” Lucy squeaked in excitement, grabbing Natsu’s hand and dragging him along in her wake.

After being greeted by the staff and selecting a room, being fitted into their respective yukatas, they finally settled down for a late lunch consisting of a wide variety of local fish and vegetarian delicacies. Not enough protein for Natsu’s taste but it would whatever it takes to keep the tank full.

After choosing a piece of grilled fish with a side of steamed rice and pickled plums, Natsu couldn’t help glancing at the woman beside him. His jaw slightly going slack at the vision before him, a almost shimmering periwinkle robe hugged her curves, accentuating every crevice. Clouds and cranes dances across the fabric, almost luring him into finding out where they lead, where the clouds and birds chase on the river's breeze adorning the blonds skin. Her hair was pinned into a loosely braided bun held together with a set of pins adorned with silver crescent moon and stars, her hair almost seemed to shimmer pure gold in the afternoon light.

Being caught in a daze Natsu didn't immediately catch what Lucy said until she repeated herself with a slight laugh.

“You look nice Natsu” She giggled, hiding her smile behind her hands in amusement, having noticed his ogling a moment before.

“Thanks” Replied Natsu stupidly, staring down at his own chest. His was a lot more barbaric than hers, black with fire breathing dragons spiraling across it, he felt a certain pride while wearing it as the mere decorations injected him a with a new boldness he didn’t know he needed before. Interesting.

“Have you checked out the saunas yet, I heard there's a communal one… if you want to join me? I-I mean you don’t have to, just don't want to be separated from my partner is all haha” Lucy finished nervously letting loose a shaky chuckle, unconsciously nudging the shoulder of her robe off, displaying more lush cleavage.

Gulping and trying to hide his own blush, Natsu replied as nonchalantly as possible so as to avoid suspicion, “ Yeah, I’ve seen it, we can go if you want, doesn’t really matter to me” Yes it does “ And probably shouldn’t be apart for too long in case something happens to ya”

“Y-Yeah, well, my back is feeling a little stiff carrying that backpack all day, let’s meet there in an hour, ‘kay?

“Fine”

~~~~~~

“You’ve got to be kidding me”

The sauna was packed with at least half the members of SaberTooth. Apparently, Sting had thought it would be a good idea to have a guild-wide excursion to this exact hot spring to celebrate a recent unspecified victory of theirs. Which meant there was almost no room in the damn sauna, not with everyone filling it to the brim. Lucy’s eyes searched over the crowd of heads spying a pink head conversing loudly with Sting.

Picking through the crowd, squeezing her way past a gossiping Minerva, Lucy finally made her way over to Natsu, only come to find out it was just as crowded. Natsu put the man in man-spreading, Mavis does he have no shame? Sting was no better, if not worse.

“Lucy, It’s been a while, how you been? Come sit with us” Called Sting, beckoning her over, oblivious to the seating situation.

“ Yeah come sit” Natsu joined in, ignoring her indignant sputtering; “ I was just telling him about that time we went Celestial spirits realm thing. It was wild man, even if they are so weird. I’ll never understand how Lucy deals with them.”

“Maybe cause they listen when I’m talking to them, if you haven’t noticed there’s nowhere for me to sit peabrain.” Lucy groaned in exasperation.

“Yes there is, right here” Natsu smirked, smacking his thigh, “If ya wanted a seat you should’ve just asked.”

“No way, I’ll just wait until someone moves”

“Suit yourself” Chirped Natsu, eyes glimmering with amusement at the flustered girl. “By the way, met someone on the way in here. Apparently, they had the same idea on going to a cheap hot spring”

“Aye sir!” Came a high pitched voice, “Carla said she wanted to take a bath, kinda weird for a cat to want that but whatever she wants I guess.”

A familiar blue cat came floating lazily into view only to stop to sit on the bench next to Natsu’s right leg, “You’re all sweaty Lushi”.

“Uh, that’s the point dummy.”

“NATSU, LUCY IS BEING MEAN AGAIN.”

“AM NOT!”

Natsu could only double over in laughter as his Nakama argued over what the point of a sauna was. That amusement only doubled as Lucy, who had not been paying attention to her surroundings, was bumped from behind and toppled over.

Well, almost toppled over, if it weren’t for the fact that Natsu caught her just in time, pulling her firmly into his lap between his spread legs. A rosy blush soon bloomed across the girls pretty cheeks in a heated flush, quickly becoming aware of the precariousness of the situation she has now found herself in.

Natsu’s warmed calloused hand spanned across her flat stomach, fingertips peeking just under her thin white towel and ever so slightly squeezing the underside of her full breasts under his firm grip, holding her close to him.

Heart racing at this sudden action, Lucy couldn’t help but glance at the man for only to find that he was now engaged in a rather one-sided conversation with Rogue, who seemed rather disinterested sauna as a whole.

Relaxing slightly, Lucy leaned back into his well-toned chest, feeling the ripple and flex of his pectorals and abs after each laugh, after each breath. Lucy took note of the water and steam collecting in the laugh lines of his face and dusted his hair like diamonds. He was exquisite, he was exotic, he was might she dare say enticing. He looked like a god.

Feeling a bit bolder, she pressed even firmer back against him, wiggling her butt to fit more snugly against his shoulder and lean her head on his collarbone. Only to stop when she felt him stiffen slightly at the motion and relax again.

Lip quirking slightly, Lucy repeated the motion again, a bit firmer this time. Making sure to push the softness of her rear to the apex of his thighs, daring him to respond. And he did.

Fingers tightened around her waist, slipping even farther under the fold of her towel. A low, rough growl rumbled from the chest next to her ear, exciting her, and challenging a deeper part of herself.

“What do you think you are doing”

~~~~~~~

If you guys think I should rewrite and continue the next 2 chapters let me know, I had written a second one but I didn't like how it turned out😅

#fairy tail #fairy tail 100 year quest #nalu #nalu fanfiction #i guess Tumblr ate the original #ft fanfiction #natsu dragneel #lucy heartifilla

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duketheman · 5 years

Text

Generation 4 Part 6

We go to the Dining room & are seated. Menu consists of: Stuffed lamb breast with lemon, ricotta, & oregano variety of cheese, Selection of Bread & Cracker, Jams, chutneys, spicy mustards, caramelized onions, candied nuts & pistachios, Rich flourless chocolate cake with a glass of sweet port wine, Small pieces of chocolate & Brandy. Father says Prayers: My God in Heaven. Please Bless this meal & Bless our Family with Your Grace. We thank You my God for all that you've provided & for the Miracle of those two tiny new lives that You so Graciously Blessed us with. Thank You my God, in the Name of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen! 8:30pm we finish dinner & retire to the Drawing room for Coffee & Brandy! Sodas for the kids & Juice for Mary & Lucy. The Doctor recommended that Lucy attempt to Breastfeed again, so she too has decided to refrain from alcohol! The room is filled with Christmas Music! Mother says: ~Family, it's time to realize "The Reason for the Season"! We have a lot to be grateful for! It's time we start acting like it~ She begins to sing along with the music! We too begin to sing & the mood in the room becomes festive! We've hired a nurse to help with the babies, as to give a little bit of a break to our wives. Mary has pumped extra Breast Milk into bottles. Lucy has Formula for Anabel until she takes hold! It's now 12:45am & we've been enjoying ourselves so much, that we didn't realize how late it is! We decide to call it a night & go to our rooms. Mother was right! Tis the Season for Joy! God Bless us everyone!

I pick up my son & hold him, & pray a prayer of thanks to God! I turn to Mary, who's ready to feed him before we sleep & say: ~Darling, thank you for being the best wife a man could ever be Blessed with! I love you Mary Grace Newport!

She replies: ~'O my sweet Harry, no woman could ever hope to be Blessed with a husband as loving, generous, thoughtful & sweet a man as you! My love, you have never disappointed me in anything you've ever done. Now we're Blessed with another child. I feel my life is only getting better. You Harry, are my life!~ She has always made my every day & night! I thank God for allowing her into my life! She feeds little Harry, burps & changes him. Places him in his Bassinet, careful to lay him on his back. He falls asleep immediately. Such a good baby! We climb into bed & she falls asleep in my arms. I'm tired, Goodnight!

Skipping forward:

Sunday December 22 Little Harry's & Anabel's Christening

8:00am & the whole Family is enroute to Church. Today we'll be dedicating little Harry & Anabel to Christianity. It's 8:45am & we arrive. We enter the Church & the Family are seated. Mary, Myself, Lucy, George & both Babies are escorted to the front of the Church where when called, we'll bring the Babies forward! 9:00am service begins. After the Choir sings the opening hymns, Pastor Reverend Johnson calls the names of "Harold Joseph Newport Jr." & Annabel Josephine Richards" to the Altar. Mary holds little Harry in her arms & I stand by her side. The Pastor Asks: ~Who will be the Godparents?~ George & Lucy Step forward! Pastor Johnson recites: ~Harold Joseph Newport Jr., In the Name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy Spirit! He then pours water over his forehead three times. He wipes dry little Harry's forehead.

Pastor Johnson says: ~Who will be the Godparents?~ Mary & myself step forward! Pastor Johnson recites: ~Annabel Josephine Richards, In the Name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy Spirit! He pours water over her forehead three times. He wipes dry Annabel's forehead & Congratulates us! He invites the Congregation to take photographs! We're seated & service It's 10:30am & service is over. We're enroute back to Newport Mansion. 10:45am, we're arrive at the Mansion. We take the babies upstairs. The Family retire to their rooms to get ready for lunch. It's 12:00pm & Huntington rings: ~Lunch is being served in the Dining room!~ We go into the Dining room & are seated. Linguini, White Winter Truffles, Aged Parmesan is on the menu! The meal is delicious. 1:15pm we finish lunch & retire to the Drawing room for drinks & conversation! 2:15pm My wife & I are having a Date night. We're going to dinner & a movie! She wants to see "Jumanji, The Next Level". Showtime is 8:15pm at the Woodard. We go upstairs where she will feed little Harry. We'll nap a little before leaving!

It's 5:00pm & we're enroute to Grumpy's Diner on Main! There are no Fancy restaurants in Madison, but we do enjoy a good Burger & Grumpy's has great Burgers! We've arrived at the Diner at 5:45pm. We're seated & read the menu. I order the Steak & Tarter Special Combo with Lemonade. Mary orders the Burger Bowl Combo with Sprite. We finish eating & leave a tip. It's 7:40pm & we're enroute to the Woodard so we can get a good seat. It's 8:00pm & we park, buy the tickets & enter the Cinema. We're seated in the fourth row from the front. The previews are already showing, so I take time to by Popcorn, BomBoms & Soda! 8:15pm the move starts running. 10:20pm, the movie has ended. It was a great movie, starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, & Karen Guillan. It was funny, exciting, mind boggling, test of skills & scary all in one game! We both enjoyed it! 10:30pm we're walking out the doors & getting in the car. Enroute to The Waffle House on Bandit st for Coffee. 10:45pm we pull into the Parking lot & enter the restaurant. We wait to be seated just a few minutes. We order coffee, decaf for Mary! We tip the Waitress & leave the restaurant, its Midnight. Were enroute to Newport Mansion. It's 12:30am & we've arrived at the Mansion. We go upstairs & get ready for bed. Mary has that look in her eyes. She winks & smiles, holding the covers up for me. I know what that means & I'm eager. It's been a while & long enough. Goodnight!

Tuesday, December 24

It's 8:00am & Huntington rings: ~Breakfast is being served in the Dining room!~ We go into the Dining room & are seated! Menu for the Morning consists of: Waffles with flax & almond butter, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, a fruit salad & protein shake, juice, coffee! 9:30am, we finish eating & retire to the Drawing room to discuss tonight's festivities! Mother has planned a Christmas party for friends & family! The party will be in the Grand Ballroom! She's been known to have the most entertaining parties in two hundred miles of Madison.

Christmas Eve

It's 5:00pm, I'm putting on my Tux, while Mary nurses little Harry! I can't help but to think about those we've lost! But I know God has a plan for all of us. JR has another week before we've got to get him back to the Academy. We're lucky to be able to have him for the Holidays & his Birthday! He'll be sixteen on New Year's eve. My God, where's the time gone! It seems like yesterday I was holding him in my arms. Tomorrow morning is Christmas & the anniversary of the first day I met Mary, the day I began to live again!

It's 6:00pm & we're in the Drawing room discussing the music for tonight, Mother of course has the last say!

We're expecting Governor Ron DeSantis to attend, as well as other Dignitaries she's friendly with! Busy day ahead...........

7:00pm

Governor DeSantis arrives & my parents greet him immediately! Other guests are arriving, to include; Mayor Jim Catron & his wife, Chief of Police Reggie Alexander & his wife, & friends of the family totaling over 150 guests!

Huntington escorts each of the Guests to the Grand Ballroom where food & drinks are being served.

The tables each are marked with the guest's name on a card. Christmas music is playing. The wait staff are offering hors d’oeuvres & Champagne.

The menu consists of: Goose, apple sauce, ham, bread stuffing, crawfish cornbread stuffing, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli, ambrosia, a cranberry mold, goose gravy, a relish tray with green onions, watermelon pickles & olives, Russian caviar, pumpkin, pecan, apple & cherry pies. A crisp white wine, eggnog, syllabub, & sweet potato punch! More Champagne! We have Non-Alcoholic Champagne for Mary, Lucy & the kids!

My wife looks stunning in her new Red Christmas Gown.

George, I've never seen him decked out before. He looks like he belongs in that Tux. Lucy's wearing a Bluish colored Evening Dress, slitted in the arms & down the left leg; also looking quite Beautiful. The kids look like a Prince & his Princess! The whole family, I must say are showing their Best. Mother looks quite pleased with herself!

This will be a party to remember, I only wish Rachael could have been here! The babies are upstairs with the nurse. They're bringing more hors d’oeuvres & Champagne around.

My Father's dancing with Mother, to Tony Bennett's Christmas Waltz. It's my Mother's favorite. I better get my wife out on the Dance floor, before someone else does, I'm somewhat stingy!

The Governor & his wife Casey seem to be enjoying themselves! They've been on the Dance floor over two hours already! The Ballroom is alive tonight & Happiness is it's heart! My Brothers don't seem to have a problem finding someone to dance with, I wish they'd settle down & have a Family. Sis & Bill are dancing the night away! Santa is expected to arrive at 12:01am!

12:01 2019 Christmas

The music starts playing: "The Santa Claus Rock" by INFANTIL! Everyone's rocking with the music as Santa enters the room! The music stops, Santa grabs his Bag & begins to pass gifts out to the Family & friends! He calls out each name, without hesitation or looking at a note. He just hands the gifts out as if he knew what was in them! Everyone seemed surprised but pleased with the gift they received.

I ask JR: What did you get Son?~ He replies: ~The Nutcracker Soldier, I've been wanting it ever since I can remember! Only my Mother knew, she promised to get it for me for Christmas, the year she died!~ I ask: ~What's the card say?~ He replies: ~ From Mommy with Love! Dad, I never told anyone!~ We both left it like that! I received the Gold ring I lost some years ago off my Boat. I had dropped it in the water, never to be seen again; so I thought! It's inscribed with the words: Dolphins Bring You Luck" dated 2004. These were words Julia said on my Boat when I took her to see the Dolphins, the year we first started dating! She had given it to me for Valentine's day! The card read: Love never dies Harry, be Happy! anta leaves as fast as he arrived, with a HO HO HO, Merry Christmas to all, & to all a Goodnight! I followed him out, but strangely, he just disappeared, poof he was gone! I really wanted to congratulate him on how good he was & ask him how he knew! Mother says: ~Son, that wasn't our Santa, your Father was suppose to play the part! We have no idea who he was, where he came from or disappeared too!~ Kind of got everyone thinking....... The last song is playing: "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" by Bing Crosby! I take Mary out to the floor & dance the last dance with her, cheek to cheek! It's 2:00am & everyone's left. I & Mary say Goodnight & we go upstairs & get ready for bed! I didn't tell Mary about JR's gift, nor mine; but it was weighing on my mind! Even in Death she was able to keep her promise to our son & assure he got his Christmas present as well as; to send me a message! God is good! Merry Christmas to you all from the Newport Family & Goodnight!

Skipping forward:

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Happy Birthday John Ross/New Years Eve

It's 6:00am & my wife is feeding little Harry. We're drinking coffee in the room, Decaf for Mary. When finished, we'll go downstairs for Breakfast. Eggs Benedict, Toast, English Butter, Jelly, fruit, & juice is on the menu this morning.

We got to get things together for today. Its JR's Birthday & we want it to be a special! Mother has planned a big party for him, lots of guest!

The cake will be delivered some time today!Kellyanne has asked if I would take her & her Dad to the Mall, so she can buy him something special for JR! Tonight Mother will be putting on her Annual New Year Fireworks display!

7:00am, Huntington rings: ~Breakfast is being served in the Dining room ~ We go downstairs, to the Dining room & are seated! It's 8:30pm & we're finished eating. Myself, George & Kellyanne get in Father's car & proceed to the Valdosta Mall just over the State line. She wants to go to Jared's. It's 9:45pm & we're pulling into the Mall's parking lot. It opens in fifteen minutes. That's good, no rush. 10:00am sharp & they open the entrance, we head for Jared's.....

Kellyanne finds a ring she says is perfect! It's a Black Diamond ring 1/2ct tw 10k Gold running about $1300.00! I have to say she has impeccable taste. Not feminine looking, yet beautiful. JR will love it. She has them inscribe the words: Love is forever! I can't help to notice how much Kellyanne is like Julia the way she thinks! No wonder JR loves her so much!

It's 12:30pm & we are enroute to Madison. We stop at Dairy Queen for lunch. Its 1:00pm. 1:45pm & were on the way back to the Mansion. 2:10pm we arrive. Mother is outside supervising the setup for the party & Fireworks tonight. I go upstairs & my wife is talking a nap. I kiss her on the forehead, careful not to wake her, check on the baby & go back downstairs to have a beer & help wherever I can!

It's 3:30pm & the cake is delivered. The stage for the Band has just been finished.

Mother has hired The Frequency Band for tonight. Mother is a perfectionist, everything must be right. She's hire fifty extra staff for the Party, she loves JR. He was her first Grandchild!

Dinner will be finger sandwiches & hors d’oeuvres, as well as cake & ice cream; served during the party! Dress is casual.......

t's 5:30pm, the band has arrived & setting up! Though not like when he was a child, this party will still be big.......

6:00pm, the guests are arriving & the band is already playing music. They're quite good actually, from LA is what I hear!

7:00pm & the party is in full swing. Kids & adults alike are dancing. They're playing all the latest favorites. Drinks are being served but Alcohol is in one tent under the control of Huntington. Soda & Fruit Punch in another, self serve! There's Sweet Tea for the asking.....

8:00pm, the band starts playing Happy Birthday to John Ross, & a table is rolled out with a cake!

Two candles in the shape of the number sixteen, on top of a Beautiful Black Cake. JR makes a wish, blows out the candles, takes a knife & cuts the first piece.

Kellyanne hands her gift first. The ring & a kiss! She says: ~John Ross, take this ring as a symbol of my everlasting love for you. Happy Birthday John Ross, may you have many more!~ He slipped the ring on his finger & kissed her. He says: ~Kellyanne, I'll never take it off for as long as I live!~

He begins to open the many gifts from everyone here.

Mary bought him a Beautiful Compass inscribed: "To my son: Wherever your journey in life may take you, I pray you'll always be safe.

ENJOY THE RIDE & NEVER FORGET YOUR WAY HOME. I'm Always Here For You; Mom"! The compass is made of Gold in a Sailor's pocket watch casing. Quite elegant, I could see him trying to hold back tears!

I got him a Man's music box with my recorded words to him: "To my son: SOMETIMES IT'S HARD TO FIND WORDS TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH YOU MEAN TO ME. IF I HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN Loving you & breathing I WOULD USE MY LAST BREATH TO SAY ~I LOVE YOU~ I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE TO LOVE YOU, I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE TO SUPPORT YOU. You will always be my baby boy. ~Love Dad~"

My Parents got him a Pocket watch with the inscription: "To my Grandson: Never forget that I Love you. I hope you believe in yourself as much as I do.

George & Lucy gave him a Gold wristwatch.My Brothers gave him a check for a thousand dollars. My Sister & Bill gave him an authentic Navy 1860 Officers Cutlass with His name on it, inscribed: "With His Swift & Terrible Sword "

It's 11:00pm. JR received well over two hundred gifts. He will have to leave some of them behind when he returns to the Academy on Thursday!

11:59pm & were getting ready to countdown to the New Year. Were counting down from 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 & the Fireworks display goes off as the band plays "Auld Lang Syne" The new Year's Anthem! I take my wife in my arms , kiss her, really kiss her & tell her : ~I love you Mary!~ She replies back: ~I love you my Harry!~ Everyone is kissing, singing & wishing all well! It's now 1:00am & the Fireworks Display is over. The band has played it's last set & everyone's leaving! Everything went well & we all had a great time. It's New Year's day & JR goes back to school tomorrow. We will be going home too! It's been a great vacation except for losing Rachael!

We say Goodnight & go upstairs. We're tired, The baby senses we're here. Mary nurses him before we lay down. She lays little Harry down, we lay down & fall asleep in each other's arms!Wednesday, January 1, 20206:00am, I've decided to let Mary get some rest after a long night. I change little Harry, feed him with stored Breast milk in a bottle, burp & play with him a little while! This brings memories back of when JR was a newborn! He fell asleep in my arms, I lay him on his back in the Bassinet! It 8:00am, I wake Mary up to see if she's hungry. She wants to sleep another hour,I go downstairs & Brunch is being served. I ask Huntington to assure that Mary has something to eat when she wakes up. I sit down & eat, it's only myself, my parents & Mary's parents! Seems like everyone else decided to sleep in..... I say Good morning & they reply almost simultaneously: ~Good morning Harry!~ Mother asks: ~Sleep well son?~ I reply: Yes Mother, I did; Thank you! She says: ~How's Mary & the Baby, is Harry Jr sleeping through the night?~ I reply: ~Yes Mother, he is & Mary's sleeping in another hour!~ She replies: ~Good, a new Mother need as much rest as she can get!~ Mary's Mother adds: ~Yes they do! Harry, you're a good man, our daughter loves you very much & so do we! We feel Blessed having you part of the Family & you to John Ross!~ I reply: ~She is my Blessing Laura, she & my children are my life. I'm more than proud to be part of the Family & I love you two as well!~

8:30am, JR sits down at the table, followed by Kellyanne! They both say Good morning & sit down at the table. JR remarks: ~I'm starving!~9:15am Breakfast is over. Huntington has told Cook to hold Breakfast for an hour in case the rest of the Family is hungry! I go back upstairs & check on Mary. I find she's up & the baby seems to be hungry again. She's nursing him! I call downstairs to the kitchen & have them send Mary's Breakfast up to the room!...... We've got to pack & get ready for our trip home. JR's flight takes off for Valley International at 5:30am & the rest of us are scheduled to take off for Miami International at 7:15am! My wife finishes nursing little Harry, I take & burp him so she can eat! She says: ~Lord, I can really use a strong cup of regular coffee! But our son is more important! But just as soon as he stops nursing, I'm going to nurse on a whole pot of Community!~ She laughs, but she's more serious than she let's on..... I'm having fun with little Harry! He sure does smile allot, but Mary says it's gas! I think he smiles because he's a Happy baby! I put our son in his Bassinet because he's fallen asleep! I sit next to my wife & say: ~Mary Grace Newport, I love you! You married me & gave me life. You took my son as your own & raised him! Now you've given me another son! You have been & are my life. I'm truly Blessed! Thank you Mary, I only hope I tell you enough!~ She replies: ~Harry, you tell & show me every day! It fills my heart with joy & happiness everytime I hear your words. I love you Harry, with every essence of my being! I live for you Harry, you're my heart & soul!~ We embrace & kiss for more than a few minutes! We go ahead & pack up everything we can for now. We have laundry that has to be brought up to the room later!

Were just going to hangout with the Family today, we're going to miss them all very much! JR & I will visit the Cemetery this afternoon, so he can see Julia's & his Grandparents graves one more time before he goes back to Texas! He wants to plant flowers on the graves........ I think he wants to tell Julia thank you for his gift. I know that sounds strange but so do I, there's no other explanation!We go downstairs & everyone is congregating in the Game room. Mother has declared this day, "Family Day"! She says: ~We see far too little of each other, & I think it nice if we spend the day enjoying each other's company!~...... She has Finger sandwiches, Olives, Dill pickles, Cheeses, Sweets & Drinks set up on a table. We'll not have to stop for lunch, yet we can eat as we wish! I & George immediately challenge my Brothers to a game of Eight ball! I'm quite good at this, though it's been a while..... Father is acting as Barkeep! My Sister & our wives are Bowling on the indoor alley! Mary's parents & Mother are playing cards! JR & Kellyanne are playing Table Soccer!......... it's 4:30pm & as promised, I borrow Father's car: I & JR are enroute to Newport Cemetery to place flowers on Julia's & her Parent's graves. We'll place them on my Grandparents grave as well! It's 5:30pm & already getting dark. We leave the Cemetery enroute back to the Mansion. It's 5:55pm & as we're walking in the doors, Huntington rings: ~Dinner is being served in the Dining room!~ We all have our last Dinner as a Family! It's 7:30pm & Dinner is over. We retire to the Drawing room & share a little more time together. We plan next Christmas vacation together. It's 9:00 & we say our Goodbyes to my siblings. Mine & Mary's Parents will be up to say Goodbye in the morning. The Chauffeur will drive us to the Airport, theirs eight of us with the Babies & Father's Car won't have enough room. We say Goodnight & go upstairs so we can be fresh in the morning. Mary nurses little Harry while I take my shower! After; I take, burp & play with him while Mary takes a shower! I see him smiling more & more, warming my heart with everyone! He falls asleep in my arms & I lay him down on his back! I didn't know that SIDS was a growing threat in the USA & laying a baby on their stomach or side was the leading cause! Mary taught me that! She's a very cautious Mom & I thank the Good Lord for it! We lay down & I say: ~Mary Grace Newport, I love you!~ She replies: ~Harry Joseph Newport, you are my whole life &I Love you!~ We fall asleep in love!

Thursday January 2, 2020

It's 2:30am & we get up. Mary nurses the Baby while I wash up, brush my teeth & shave. I call for Huntington: ~Please take our bags down to the Limousine. Mary finishes feeding the little Harry, I take & burp him while my wife washes up & gets dressed. We go downstairs & meet up in the Dining room. Mother has arranged for an early Breakfast so we don't leave hungry! It's 3:30am & we say our Goodbyes. Mary & her Mother are crying & Mother is doing her best to hold tears back. They kiss, hug & kiss us all again as we walk out the doors! Father walks us out while the others stand on the stairs! He says: ~Harry, I love you kids, please have a safe trip. John Ross, you too, make sure you make next year son! Bye you all & take care of our Grandkids, I'm talking to you too. You're family too now! George replies: ~aye Mr Newport Sir!~

I tell my Father,: ~I love you Father, we'll call you as soon as we land! Bye now!~ It's 4:00am & were enroute to the Airport. Its 4:35am, we arrive at Valdosta Regional & the Baggage Valet loads our baggage onto a cart. JR checks in & the kids say their final Goodbye. Kellyanne is crying & makes JR promise to write every day! He hugs me & tells me that he loves me. He hugs & kisses Mary Goodbye & tells her he loves her. She's crying again! He kisses his little Brother & Anabel, he's only got so long until Boarding, so he has to get through Security! Its 5:30am & his flight takes off on time!

JR has one more year until he Graduates in June 2021. He's already been accepted & will enter Annapolis Naval Academy in January of 2021 He'll attend four years thereafter; he'll be Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant & serve a minimum of five years in the Marine corps! That boy has made us proud!

It's 6:15am & we're allowed to check in. We walk through Security & to the Boarding gate where we'll wait until allowed to board.. 6:30am & we're boarding the plane. It's 7:00am & our flight takes off on time! Its 11:20am & were on approach to Miami. Suddenly; we start climbing & are ordered to stay seated & buckled. We have a landing gear stuck & are circling the Airport! There's some panic, but all in all; most stay calm! We circle for twenty minutes & it begins to look like we're going to have to land without the the front Landing gear! Now I begin to worry a little! But I look at Mary & she says: ~It'll be fine Harry, God has us covered~ Suddenly; the front Landing gear comes down. Relief is felt all over the plane, people begin to cheer & clap! Mary turns to me, smiles & says: ~See Harry God is watching over us!~ I remember calling my wife an Angel sent by God, now I'm sure of it! She didn't worry at all, she knew we'd be ok! We're on approach again. We land & it's 11:50am. Late but safe! God is Great!!!! We get through Security, get our Bags from the Carousel & have our wives & Babies sit down & rest. George & I walk across to the Parking Garage & pick up my car. We drive around to the loading zone & help Mary, Lucy & Kellyanne into the back seat with the Babies. George & I load our bags & we're enroute home! I'm going to miss everyone but I'm so happy to be home! It's 1:00pm & we drop George & his Family off, they're looking tired & happy to be too! Kellyanne is still sad but she'll get over it! We're enroute to our house. It's 1:20pm & Home sweet Home! I help Mary into the house & come back for the bags. Mary takes our son into the Nursery & says: ~My sweet little child, welcome home Baby Harry!~ She lays him down in his crib & sings a Lullaby: The song is called "Sweet Dreams ". I've never heard it but it's quite beautiful! Mary is a wonderful Mother. I go in the kitchen & prepare lunch, as they don't serve food on flights anymore! Simple Ham & Cheese, Dill pickles, Lays lightly salted chips, Sweet tea! We sit, eat lunch & talk about all that's happened. We finish & she says: ~Harry my Love, I'm going to lay down & take a nap; I'm just feeling so tired!~ I reply: ~Darling, sleep well, you need to rest!~ I go into the Library & check my messages. I need to start the "Willow" back up after Vacation! Looks like I have a scheduled trip on Monday, January 6! I give George a heads up, grab a cold one & relax! It's 4:00pm & I think I'm going to cook dinner for Mary. She'll be awake soon & hungry, she has enough to do just taking care of the baby! I prepare Baked Chicken, Macaroni & cheese, Garlic Bread & I'll wait to see what she wants to drink!It's 5:00pm & Mary comes down. She's pleasantly surprised. We sit down to dinner & enjoy each other's company. We finish up & retire to the Living room. We sit on the Loveseat, listen to music & just cuddle. She has Baby monitors set up everywhere in case he wakes up..... He sleeps until 8:00pm, Mary says to me: ~I'll be back my love, let me nurse him, he's hungry! She goes up, feeds him & is back in my arms within twenty minutes! I love my wife & enjoy spending time with her. I am a CUDDLER! I love cuddling & showing her how much I love her! It's 11:00pm & she asks: ~How about a snack?~ I reply: ~Sounds great Darling~ She goes in the kitchen, goes in the pulls out two thinly cut steak out of the freezer & chops them up with onions & Bell peppers. She grabs four eggs & shredded cheese out of the refrigerator. She's making steak & cheese omelets! That's my favorite omelet, she knows me so well! We sit down & eat. We finish, I handle the little cleanup there is. She goes up & nurses the Baby. I'm done & I follow her to find her waiting for me, under the covers. She says: ~Come on Big boy, I need you!~ She smiles, winks & exposes her naked body! Goodnight all!

Duke Sherman

To Be Continued

#newports

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vannahfanfics · 5 years

Text

The Visit

Category: Romantic Fluff

Fandom: Fairy Tail

Characters: Natsu Dragneel, Millianna

Requested By: AwarenessBringer (FanFiction)

Millianna’s earthy-brown eyes were lidded in perfect contentment as she gazed out of the train window at the picturesque countryside just beyond Magnolia City stretching across the horizon. The gently rolling hills dotted with great oak trees and the occasional isolated homestead against the backdrop of a clear blue sky really had a painting-like quality that made Millianna feel at ease, almost as if she were home; it was an odd dichotomy, considering that she was far from her home, the mage guild Mermaid Heel, and traveling to the city for a personal visit. Everyone always just assumed that she was coming to see Erza- which she would definitely do before leaving- but in actuality, the people that who would be greeting her at the train station were none other than a certain cotton candy-haired fire mage and his little Exceed partner.

Millianna had been routinely commuting to the home of Fairy Tail for several months now, after the dramatic upset at the Grand Magic Games. The first visit really had been to visit Erza, considering that the fiery redhead had been missing for several years which had saddened Millianna terribly, but foiling a plot to effectively end the world really didn’t make for the best situation to play catch-up. During that jaunt, Millianna had run into Natsu and Happy; Millianna, despite growing up, was as enamored with adorable kitties and kitty-like creatures as she had ever been, and so naturally she had fawned girlishly over the confused but delighted Happy. Natsu had ever so graciously told her that she could come visit Happy as she pleased, and she had been elated to take him up on his offer. So, whenever she found herself off from missions, she meandered over to Magnolia City in search of the dragon-slayer and his beloved partner. At first, Millianna had really only been concerned about the little cat, but in time she had actually come to enjoy the time she spent with Natsu as well. He was a bundle of energy and fun that never ceased to make her laugh or smile.

In fact, Millianna was considering the possibility that she had a slight crush on him.

It wasn’t the most concerning revelation in the world. It wasn’t like there were any policies or laws forbidding relationships between members of different guilds. It was just strange because Millianna had never even considered any romantic pursuits at all, let alone with the fiery, passionate fire mage who had foiled their plans at the Tower of Heaven (which worked out perfectly well and for the greater good, but she digressed). Most of all, Millianna was just concerned that such a crush could only lead to her own heartbreak; she was almost positive that Natsu did not see her in that kind of light. There were plenty of beautiful Fairy Tail women that were much better options for him than herself.

Delving into her own subconscious made the landscape suddenly seem lifeless and depressing. Despite the blooming green and brown tones of the rolling landscape, that’s all it was- smudges of color with no real life to be had, just endless hills and forests. With a small groan, she tore her gaze away from the window to stare sadly at the empty seat across from her. Suddenly she imagined Natsu sitting there, holding his belly and groaning from motion sickness but still flashing her a small smile insisting that it was nothing, he would be just fine. He was a tough guy, both in talk and in action, but it was amusing how such a little thing could affect him. Millianna felt the smile forming on her lips; with a startled gasp, she smacked her cheeks and squeezed her eyes shut to banish the phantasm. It was utterly useless, because Natsu’s beaming smile just danced in the dark of her closed eyes, adorable and enticing.

“Oh, dear… This is not good,” she tutted to herself as she opened her eyes again to pull her knees to her chest and prop her chin on them miserably. Her inner instincts were buzzing for her to hop right on the train back, because surely this evening would go quite differently than the ones before. How was she going to be able to keep a straight face when she was head-over-heels for the handsome Natsu Dragneel?

~~~~~~~~~~

As Millianna stepped off the train onto the platform, she instantly caught sight of a shock of bright pink hair. A beaming face and an excitedly waving hand were next to grace her vision; a pink rosy tint matching the shade of the dragon-slayer’s locks rose to her cheeks as Natsu ran over to her, little Happy tottering at his heels. Oh, here we go…

“Hey, Millianna! Glad you could make it,” Natsu grinned at her. He always had a habit of smiling so widely that his eyes scrunched up and one would swear that his face hurt. Millianna found it one of his cutest habits. Ah! Stop! You can’t think anything he does it cute! She scolded herself, discreetly pinching her leg through her striped stockings to punish such thoughts. Trying to seem nonchalant, she returned his beaming happiness with a small smile appropriate for a young lady who had no romantic interest in a young man- or, in her case, was desperately trying to hide blossoming feelings for said strapping young man…

“Hello, Natsu. Hello, Happy,” she added while crouching down to pat the blue Exceed on the head. As she scratched a little behind his ears, his tail waggled and he sighed in utter bliss.

“Millianna, you give the best head scratches,” he purred quietly. Millianna giggled, but the cute moment was cut abruptly short when Natsu grabbed her by the wrist and all but yanked her back to her feet. She cried out in alarm as he thrusted her hand into his fluffy locks of hair with a serious face.

“Really? Lemme see! Scratch my head, Millianna!” If her face had been the color of a carnation at the beginning of their exchange, then it was certified to be a rich, luscious shade of red now. Millianna knew that Natsu was just going to bug the hell out of her until she did as asked, so she resigned herself to the situation up front. With a hesitant expression, she gently began to run her fingers lightly through the tousled pink locks to lightly run her nails over his scalp, and was struck at how impossibly soft his hair was; it really did feel like cotton candy, bouncy and pillowy. After a few seconds she shifted her hand to scratch the area of his head right above and behind his ears, and almost like a cat would, Natsu leaned into the action with something very reminiscent of a purr. He gave her a sleepy smile with lidded eyes as she continued her ministrations. “Ahhh… You’re right, Happy… This feels so nice,” he sighed as his shoulders slouched down. He really was enjoying it!

“All right, that’s enough!” Millianna huffed. Natsu looked impossibly sad when she retracted her hand and even let out a miserable “Aw…” That sad little pout is so adora- Agh! No, Millianna! Bad! Bad! she scolded herself once more with an even more painful pinch. Dammit, she was going to get over this crush even if she went home with bruises dotting every inch of her skin. “Wh-What do you want to do today?” she asked quickly, trying to distract herself (and Natsu, so he could wipe that aggravatingly cute pout off his face). Like a switch had flipped, that equally endearing smile was back on his face. Millianna truly could not win; no matter what little action he performed, her little heart went a-fluttering. This is going to be harder than I thought…

“Oh, yeah! They’re having a little flower festival in the town square for a few days, Millianna, and I thought you might like to see it! I got dragged along by Lucy and all the other gals already, but it was kinda fun. So whadaya say?” he asked her. Millianna absolutely adored flowers and was definitely willing to visit the limited-time installment. Still, that nagging little voice in the back of her enamored mind could not help but chime that a flower festival was an undoubtedly romantic setting… Shut up, she told it grumpily, Natsu went with other girls already. He doesn’t find it romantic at all! She told herself that, but she still couldn’t help but blush brightly again when he grabbed her by the wrist and took off with her in tow when she nodded in agreement.

~~~~~~~~~~

Millianna momentarily forgot her present predicament when the two of them arrived at the town square. She stood in the entrance, eyes glimmering with unbridled joy as she basked in the brilliance of the flower festival. Though it was a small area, the town square was exquisitely decorated, beginning with an arch wrapped in trawling strawberry vines, complete with a mixture of blooming white flowers and succulent red fruits that begged to be plucked from the vine. There was no one around to chastise her, so she snuck up to the arrangement to do so, biting down on the end of the berry and practically melting as its tart yet sweet juices spread across her tongue. “They’re absolutely delicious!” she told Natsu as she chewed on the yummy fruit. Natsu nodded eagerly in agreement, having shoved a fistful of them into his mouth already. As he reached for another one, she walked over and lightly popped his outstretched hand. “Leave some for others to enjoy!” she scolded him with a waggling finger.

“Okay! Okay! No need to hit me,” he whined while waving his hand about. She hadn’t even hit him hard enough to leave a red mark; he was just being dramatic, she could tell, from the hint of a smirk that pranced in his pouty lips. Oh, there he goes again! So cute… she lamented silently as her heart began to incessantly pound against her rib cage. To avoid further dwelling on the situation, she hastily whirled around and marched through the arch.

“Let’s go!” The town square was arranged in a circular fashion with a large bubbling fountain as its centerpiece; spreading bilaterally in either direction from the arch were various sculptures made of flowers and hedges, finally meeting in the middle directly parallel to the arch with the grandest of them all. Millianna did forget her schoolgirl crush temporarily as she walked alongside Natsu around the town square, pausing to admire each work of floral art. One of them was a pair of little girls in pigtails carrying baskets of daisies carved from thick green hedges with their matching dresses demarcated by bright red poppies. Another bore the likeness of a massive dragon propped back on its powerful haunches, its wings formed by curtains of wisteria blossoms and its body formed by a collection of violets, complete with roiling flames made of white bell-like flowers spilling from its mouth. The next was a knight that bore eerie resemblance to Erza, down to her streaming red hair woven from huge roses. With each statue came a menagerie of soothing aromas wafting into Millianna’s sharp nose and easing her tensed nerves. How could she not be soothed among the beautiful flowers?

She would think that, until Natsu did something undeniably cute, like making funny faces at the Erza-yet-not-Erza sculpture or playing in the fountain with Happy until he got yelled at by the resident officiator of the festival. As she watched his energetic antics, Millianna laughed amiably with one hand over her mouth, unable to contain the sheer joy she got from seeing him live his life with complete zest, no matter what he was doing.

“Come on, Millianna, let’s go see the big one!” he called to her, running off for the other end of the square. As she watched him go, smiling back at her with his dragonscale scarf waving in the wind behind him, Millianna’s happiness was replaced with the sharp bitterness of pain. I really am… in love with him, aren’t I? she thought as her hand came to rest against her fluttering, fragile heart. No amount of reverse psychology or painful punishment was going to change that, despite her best efforts. Her gaze dropped to the cobblestone walkway; a smile was again on her face, but one of defeat and sadness. There’s nothing for it…

There was only one way out of it for Millianna: she would have to confess and have heart her broken, and that would be that. “Millianna? Are you comin’ or what?” came Natsu’s impatient cry from the large sculpture. Sucking in a breath to steel her courage, Millianna raised her head and hurried over to stand beside him in front of the festival’s pride and joy. It certainly was a magnificent specimen, a grand white castle with daffodils as gold accents and even a functioning drawbridge with a running-water moat. A blonde-haired princess waved a handkerchief from her tower window down at a young squire in a red-and-blue tunic. “Man, how long do ya think it took to put this thing together?” Natsu grinned in admiration as he craned his head back to observe the entire piece, one hand over his green eyes to shield it from the sun’s bright rays. Millianna only shrugged slightly in response. Though they had given her much joy beforehand, now Millianna couldn’t even force herself to enjoy the spectacle of nature’s brightest and most beautiful blossoms. Her sudden melancholy did not go unnoticed by the boy. “Millianna? Are you okay? You tired?” he asked her while cocking his head to the side. Under his innocent, curious gaze, Millianna squirmed uncomfortably. Of course the fact that he was concerned with her well-being ignited those butterflies in her stomach. There was currently no one else admiring the castle sculpture, so if she confessed now, there would be no one to witness the embarrassing spectacle of her rejection…

It's now or never, she insisted, but despite her consciousness raring to go, she could not force her tongue to form the simple words. She clutched her hands in front of her chest tightly, quivering as the anxiety gripped her body. She would’ve never imagined that it would be so impossibly hard! Millianna had always been a direct individual, always saying what was on her mind, but for once in her life, she could not do so. “Millianna?” As Natsu stepped closer to her with his eyebrows knitted together in concern, all she could do was eye him fearfully out of the corners of her eyes. Would he laugh at her? Would he find her crush on him abhorrent? As her mind spiraled rapidly into dark, depressing possibilities, the little voice in the back of her head actually said something useful for once. Natsu isn’t like that.

No… No, he isn’t. Millianna found that realization incredibly reassuring. Of course Natsu would never react so horribly; he was just such a nice, genuine person, after all. Even if his feelings for her were completely platonic, he would do his best to let her down easily and try to salvage their friendship, at least. Millianna sucked in a breath, finally ready to admit the truth to him. She turned to face him, determination flaring in her dark brown eyes… But she couldn’t open her mouth to speak for Natsu’s lips lightly brushing over hers.

Any bravado that Millianna had mustered up vanished like smoke in a fierce wind. Her face burned in an inferno so intense she could swear that Natsu was using his magic on her; of course, he was not. Natsu’s eyes were nearly as wide as hers. It seemed that Natsu had been leaning forward to peer into her face at the exact moment that Millianna had turned around, yielding their present compromising position. Though several seconds had passed, neither of them had moved an inch, so their lips were still locked in a light, feathery kiss that had Millianna both internally screaming and with the overwhelming urge to push forward to claim Natsu’s mouth fully. She almost, almost found herself doing so, but caught herself as her eyes were drifting shut. With a startled gasp, she jerked back, finally pulling her lips from his.

“I-I’m sorry, Natsu! I-I didn’t mean- um- o-oh dear…” she stammered as she turned her back to him, hands squishing her bright red cheeks as she effectively overheated in mortification. It felt like the world was spinning around her. Crap, crap, crap! What do I do now?! We just kissed! With a long, uncomfortable whine, she squirmed about as her jellified brain attempted to arrive at some logical follow-up, but it was pretty much useless. Her neural synapses were firing in all the wrong ways, more focused on her body’s physical reactions than actually being useful. She had her eyes shut tight the entire time, and once she cracked them open, she was terrified to find that Natsu had walked around to stand in front of her. With a loud “Kyahhhh!” she went to whirl right back around again, but he caught her by both her wrists to prevent her from doing so. “Wah! N-Natsu, what-?”

He didn’t answer her, just pulled her forward to crush his mouth against hers. Her brain melted further into a pile of goop so not a coherent thought formed in her mind; her body took over for her, thankfully. A soft “Mmm…” rumbled in her throat as she melted against him and her eyes drifted shut once more. The way his lips were dancing gently and rhythmically with her own sent electricity humming through her nerves, sending a warm, fuzzy feeling buzzing in every cell of her body. The butterflies were back, but not uncomfortable flapping in a frenzy, just lazily fluttering about to yield an oddly pleasant humming sensation. Her heart settled from a pounding drum to a steady thump in tune with the beating of Natsu’s own heart, which hovered over hers as their chests flushed together. She could faintly feel one of Natsu’s hands releasing her wrist to thread through her wavy chestnut locks; similarly, Millianna’s hand had migrated to the back of his neck to twist those fine, pink locks around her fingers. Millianna was not sure how long they stood there kissing in front of the magical castle sculpture, nor did she really care as Natsu pulled back slightly. Their eyes opened to lock gazes, Millianna’s warm brown tones meshing with the bright green of his. “N-Natsu… I don’t understand…” she managed to murmur finally. Her gaze dropped down to her feet as she tried to process what had just occurred. It couldn’t possibly be that Natsu… has feelings for me, too…? She did not resist him as he curled a hand beneath her chin to force her gaze back up to his. He had a saccharine sweet smile on his face that made Millianna’s heart clench in happiness and love. The way he was looking at her right now, like she was a divine blossom more beautiful than the crafted arrangements that surrounded them, unique and perfect… There was simply no denying it.

“Well, we came so close that I figured I might as well just finish the job,” he grinned teasingly. His hand left her chin to sweep across her cheek, as lightly as a feather but Millianna continued to feel his touch long after his hand had retreated to settle on her hip. “You were… going to say something?”

“I like you, Natsu… A lot.” It came out so easily that she didn’t even quite realize that she had uttered it. A satisfied smirk mixed with a loving smile crossed his lips, and intense feeling smoldered in his spring green irises as he continued to just gaze at her like she was the only thing in the world. She peered at him shyly through her lashes and was relieved to see that big smile that scrunched up his eyes with pure elation appear on his boyish yet handsome features.

“That’s good, otherwise that woulda been kinda awkward,” he laughed while rubbing the back of his neck. After he chuckled a minute at his own joke, he opened his eyes to look at her adoringly. “I like you a lot too, Millianna.”

“So… Does this mean you want me to keep coming to see you?” she asked with a small smile as she swayed slightly back and forth, hands clasped behind her back. The action really did make her look like a confessing schoolgirl.

“Uh-huh! And I’ll come see ya, too! I wanna see Mermaid Heel.”

“Oh, why?” He looked at her in amusement, like she had asked a really silly question.

“Because I wanna learn all kinds of things about you, Millianna.” Her heart hammered against her ribcage as she swooned dramatically at the purely effortless, endearing line. She was definitely head-over-heels now; little pink hearts were practically beating in her eyes. He grinned boyishly at her as he took her hand, entwining their fingers, and using his other to point towards the other side of the flower festival that they had yet to observe. “Whadaya say we call this our first date, yeah? We still got plenty of flowers to look at, and we can go eat afterwards, too!” He’s so dreamy! Millianna shrieked internally, clutching her heart as it threatened to pop right out of her chest from how hard it was beating. She simply couldn’t handle all his adorable lovey-doveyness.

“Okay!” she nodded gleefully, and even dared herself to lean her head on his shoulder. It was the perfect size and shape for her to nestle comfortably against him, making her feel even more giddy; dare she say they were made for one another! Pretty much nothing could bust Millianna’s elated bubble… except Happy, standing in front of them and sniffling as he stared up at them with tears dripping down his furry blue face.

“Happy? What’s the matter, bud?” Natsu gasped in alarm. Happy sucked in a breath through his nose to try and keep the snot from dripping from it as he rubbed at his big black eyes.

“You won’t forget about me now that you’ve got her, right, Natsu?” he asked miserably. Millianna couldn’t help but feel guilty at the poor little kitty’s distraught display. He loved Natsu so dearly; of course he would be worried that Natsu would become so engrossed in a new relationship that he would be left behind. Natsu shook his head firmly.

“Of course not, Happy! You’re my bestest bud!” Happy stared at him with wide eyes for a second, then began bawling harder than before. With a loud, relieved wail, he ran forward to hug one of Natsu’s legs and bury his teary, snotty face into it. “Hehehe, I love you too, little guy,” Natsu mused and leaned down to reassuringly scratch the top of his head when Happy mumbled something of the same sentiment into the fabric of his pants. Millianna watched to heartwarming exchange with a small smile. While Happy calmed himself down, Natsu tossed her an amused grin. “Shall we?”

“Mhmm!” Happy just sat on Natsu’s foot, arms and legs wrapped around his leg as he continued to cry of happiness, while Natsu began walking with Millianna to enjoy the rest of the festival. She nuzzled into him contentedly, enjoying the natural heat of his body spreading through her.

She had been right when she had envisioned that this visit would be different than the others, but she was so grateful that she hadn’t chosen to take the train back…

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