#i just woke up slightly hungover and took a shot

[angelstrawbabie420]

[notlhecxzsa]

Accidents II - S.J

Hiii, this is a very very sensitive fic and everything is not a real happenstance. Hope you enjoy!

WARNING ⚠️: Forced sex, super mean drunk Scarlett, physical abused, mental abused, hurt reader.

~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~

3rd Person's POV:

Scarlett woke up groggily, her head pounding with the ache of a hungover. Memories of last night seems to have ran away from her mind, all she could think of is how to wash away the alcohol in her system, externally and internally.

Blinking away the brightness that continuesly seeping through the thick curtains, she thought about how she would take a shower first and then having a very much needed hot coffee along with some painkillers.

Her body still felt slightly high because of the substances she took from last night, but then again, last night was completely forgotten.

Curiosity filled her when she realized that she slept in the guest room.

What the hell happened last night? She thought. Wishing, that she didn't slept in the guest room last night because you told her so, a possible result from one of her stupid doings when she's drunk.

Speaking of which, where are you right now? Maybe still sleeping, as far as she remembered you did took a shot or two before she demanded for you to drink only some of the fruit cocktails so you wouldn't be that drunk, because she fully knows well how light you are.

Taking some minutes for herself to take in everything, before sitting up, without looking back, she was quick to make her way towards the bedroom you shared, expecting for you to be still in your dream land, but she was met by a neat bed, without any signs of being used.

The 2 black cards she forgot yesterday was still laying on where she had left it.

Frowning, she continue to move around thinking that maybe, you did slept her and just cleaned everything up immediately, like you usually do and maybe, you just slept on the side of your bed peacefully without moving her side.

After she took a very much needed shower, thinking of everything she have and want to do today with her work and with you. So far, she wasn't busy, so she took it as a chance to spend the whole day with you.

She went downstairs expecting to see you there, to hear the music that you would play in the morning as you dance around the kitchen while cooking the most delicious breakfast, but, instead, she was met by silence.

"Y/n? Baby? Darling?" She called and called as she wandered around the house, in every corner where she thinks she could possible find you.

But, same things happened. You were nowhere to be found, which makes her frown.

Seeing that she couldn't find you and will not be able to know where you are, she decided to call you. So, she went in the sala, hoping to find her cellphone so she could call you.

But, to no avail, even her cellphone wasn't there, so she walked towards the kitchen and there she saw her phone on the floor, with Y/n's bag and the things inside it scattered around the floor.

Worry rush through her veins, and before she could even make a move, someone called her name.

"Scarlett, did you not heard me? Gosh, I was almost already screaming outside." There goes her manager, Lucy.

"Hey, do you know where's Y/n?" Lucy stopped in her tracks, the greeting is not what she expected. A hi or hello would be enough.

"No...? Why? Aren't you with her?- Oh,  and by the way, how was she? Last night was a complete fucked up mess." Scarlett could only throw a very confused face to Lucy as her manager rummage through her fridge.

"What?" Scarlett asked.

"I saw how she was so shaken up- oh, and you!..." Lucy stood up from her crouching position and turned to point a finger on Scarlett, now completely forgetting what she was trying to find. "Why did you dragged her like that? God, I saw how you almost ripped her arm. I hope you know by now that, that man was harassing her." Lucy once again, started rummaging through the fridge.

"Wait, wait, wait..." Scarlett stood up and ran towards Lucy and almost forcefully turned the older woman towards her. "What the fuck happened last night?"

~~~~~~~~~~

"Fuck, Lucy, I need to find her, right now. Can you please go around the house and help me find her? I'll just try to call her." Scarlett said before she began to wander around the house, checking the guest room on the first floor, while Lucy began to check the 2nd.

To no avail, Scarlett didn't saw Y/n, even a silhouette, as soon as she stopped in the middle of the living room, phone in her hand, typing away so many text for Y/n, a bloodcurdling scream was leashed out throughout her house.

Snapping her head up upstairs, her legs moved quickly until she was brought in front of the guest room she woke up this morning, a worried frown formed in her face when she saw Lucy standing over the end of the bed, looking down at something.

"What the fuck, Scarlett? Did you do this?" Lucy made a quick work to kneel down infront of the shaking black and white bruised body of Y/n, who is whimpering quietly as she put all her weight in between of the bed and the bedside table, naked with the comforter around her body that provides enough privacy, but not warmth.

Everything became muffled to Scarlett, the sweet comforting nothing that is coming out of Lucy's mouth was blocked out as Scarlett's blurred by tears in her eyes widened at the sight in front of her.

She saw how Y/n forced herself to be smaller in between of the furnitures, she saw the bruises littered all over her wife's black and blue body, as Y/n continuesly shaking her head that is bowed down side to side, afriad to be touched, scared to be seen, so sensitive to even move her mouth to talk.

Very traumatized.

It was a horrific sight that Scarlett felt her knees getting week, a muffled sob coming out of her mouth.

"No! Please..."

"Scarlett, please!"

"It hurts... I'm sorry... Please..."

"No, no, no- AHHH!"

"S-Scar-... Scarlett..."

Everything seemes to hit her like a massive truck, as she finally got everything settle inside her.

"No!" Y/n's shaking voice boomed weakly throughout the room, and Lucy looked back up at Scarlett with tears in her eyes threatening to spill.

Everybody loves the girlfriend of the actress, god, she was a ball of sunshine, has a smile that could light up the room. She was everything that everyone could ask for. She was so loveable, a fragile thing that no one would ever attempt to hurt her even verbally.

God, it broke Lucy's heart to see one of her dear friend like this. Y/n's like a little sister to her.

"Did you do this?" Lucy already knew, deep inside, she already knew, with how drunk Scarlett was last night, how she held Y/n around like she was weightless.

Scarlett came forward crouching down in front of her girl carefully, hands shaking as she ignored the question.

"I-..." Her own sob choked her up, her own words crumbles down on her throat as she took in your sight.

"Bab-..." She whimpered, as if she was feeling how hurt you are right now. "I'm-... I'm so-... I'm sorry." She stumbled speaking.

They heard you whispering, which broke their heart even more.

"No..."

"Please..."

"I can't anymore..."

"It hurts..."

"Stop..."

"Help..."

"Fuck, Scarlett." Lucy whispered, holding back a huge sob.

She can't believe it.

She can't believe anything that's in front of her.

Scarlett hurting Y/n would be a fever dream, she knew the actress could never ever, ever do that. Not in a million or billion of years.

Scarlett doesn't even let anyone touch her girl in such way.

God, even just looking at Y/n in a wrong way could build up so much anger inside of Scarlett, and a war would appear.

But...

This?...

It can't be true, does it?

"Fuck, Scarlett." Her voice is much more louder this time, tears started spilling out as she looked at Scarlett with so much hatred and disappointment, Scarlett only looked down at Y/n as if her whole world is crumbling down.

But, that seems to snap something out of Scarlett, everything was too much. So so much. God, she hurt the one best thing that has ever happened to her.

She hurt you.

"I know! God. Fuck, I know, Lucy." With that, broken sobs came out.

With that, Y/n's body moved, her voice became louder as she started to plead.

"No! Please. No, I can't anymore. Please, stop! I'll- I'll be good, I promise, please, d-don't." In each and every words that came out of Y/n's mouth, was like a sharpened knife slowly digging its way inside of Scarlett's heart.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I- I won't- I won't hurt you-" Scarlett started to reach out, and Y/n saw it that made her eyes wide, automatically, she forced herself to stand up out of fear, making both of the older woman in front of her to stand up too.

Wrong move, because as soon as Y/n stood up, her throat tightened, even though she was gripping the comforter in her hands to continue to cover up her body she now felt more showed off.

Her weakened knees started buckling, her vision blurring as she started to feel so light headed while words of pleas continuesly coming out of her mouth without any stop.

Her breathing became much more ragged, and they can see her situation.

But, she leaned towards Lucy, holding onto the woman with her dear life, as the woman hold her the same, as Scarlett took steps forward to also hold her girl, but Y/n only started to pushed herself more towards Lucy as if it was even possible.

"Y/n, angel..."

"Oh, sweet girl."

"D-don't touch me, please..." It was faint. "Get-... Out of here... Want out... Away... Please..." Now, it was only a mumble.

Both of their heart stopped when Y/n fell down, thankfully both of the woman caught her just in time.

They were still in shock, doesn't know what to do, or what to say.

But, they know that Y/n need them more than anything.

I can't say the same thing to Scarlett.

And, she knew that Y/n would need everyone but her.

And, that just broke her heart even more.

[ashiemochi]

bestie, I ain’t gonna lie - I’m very hungover at work for reasons I’ve already told you

Can I have a comfort drabble of Leon taking care of an icky and hungover reader 😭 I’m dying

You were promoted -- and that was all it took to convince you to invite Leon for a celebratory night out with loads of drinks and snacks. Leon tried to convince you that there was no need for you to take care of the bill, but you were stubborn.

"You always buy drinks for me, so it's my turn!"

You really just wanted a reason to spoil him instead.

One drink turned to two, then to three, then to four, and then more.

You weren't shooting for that many drinks, but Leon kept going as if he didn't have a liver. You knew about his high tolerance for alcohol and his history with drinking, but it seemed like he learned how to not relapse.

And maybe he didn't drink as much as you. Maybe it was him just taking small sips and enjoying the beverage unlike you who was going all out for the weekend. You were calling the shots (and downing them) as Leon casually busied himself with his Brandy and the small cup of peanuts.

You'd ramble about random things that didn't make sense with those red cheeks of yours and those drunken and slurred giggles. Leon was just as happy as you were about the promotion -- though let's be honest, his monthly paycheck was your whole year salary.

And more.

Even when you went to dance with some friends from work, Leon chose to stay by the bar. It wasn't like he hated dancing or mingling with the crowd -- if it's with you, he'd recreate a whole Step-Up scene. If it's with you, then he'd do anything.

But from his spot, Leon sat quietly with a drink in hand, his eyes trained on your swaying form like a hawk. In both lustful and protective ways -- and love.

So, when the night ended and morning came, Leon was still there for you. Though he didn't know how someone like you could vomit that much.

"Fuck me, I'm going to dieeee..."

Leon bit back a snicker as he held your hair back, inwardly cringing at the sounds of you emptying your guts. You didn't even manage to open your eyes before you found yourself rushing to the bathroom with a pounding headache.

For a split second, you even thought you passed out but it was just your legs giving out from the sudden movements of hopping out of bed. And because you were extremely hungover, but that's beside the point.

You were dying.

"No, you're not going to die." Leon rolled his eyes lightheartedly at your dramatic nature, his hand rubbing your back, "You're just hungover. It'll pass."

"You mean... I'll pass away..." You drawled, your voice croaky and still heavy with sleep.

Leon chuckled and that made you straighten up a bit, turning your head slightly to look over at him and he cocked up a brow at the scowl on your face.

"What?"

"You're laughing at me..." You mumbled, "You think this is funny?"

"Absolutely not, baby," Leon laughed and shook his head, "I think it's very cute. You were practically drinking for the both of us last night."

"Ugh... I knew it..." You moaned, dropping your forehead to your arm that was resting on the toilet seat, "You didn't drink shit."

"I did, just not as much as you." Leon pointed out, leaning forward to press a quick kiss on your head, "C'mon. Luckily for you, I know exactly the right things to do in this situation."

"Die?"

"Not even close."

Leon was a gentleman. First things first was to get you some rest to get rid of that headache. He got you some painkillers and water, emphasizing you finish the whole cup. It was one of the few moments where he'd be stern with you.

Only during the times when you wouldn't be taking care of yourself.

Next thing was food. By the time you woke up, it was in the afternoon and you were starving if not still a bit nauseous. So, for something light on the stomach but filling, Leon made some chicken noodle soup.

A banana smoothie too for the hangover to dissipate completely.

Third, a hot shower which Leon turned it into a hot bath instead as you were a bit lightheaded still.

By the end of the night, Leon had you all snuggled up against him on the couch in your comfy clothes with nothing but some ice cream and even more water.

[threadandlace]

In the Auditorium- Seamstress for the Band series, part ten (12.0k)

Masterlist- to start at the beginning

Your head was pounding and your stomach was doing flips when you woke up. Sake doesn’t sit well with ice cream. You barely made it to the toilet before everything from the night before came back up.

Leaning back against the cool porcelain of the tub, you took a few deep breaths to steady yourself before flushing the toilet and moving to the sink. The idea of toothpaste made you sick to your stomach again, so you used the bottle of mouthwash on the counter to quickly rinse out your mouth.

The clock on the bedside table read 8:15 am and you groaned before flopping back into bed. There’s no way I’m going back to sleep now. The thought of breakfast nearly made you sick again, but you knew that by the time you were truly awake, you’d need something bland on your stomach. Or greasy. You decided to chance it and texted the group.

You: anyone up? I need something greasy, stat.

You waited for a reply, figuring everyone else was likely still asleep. A minute later your phone pinged.

Danny: I’m up! There’s a café down the street, who’s down?

Jake: I’ll get Josh up. Give me a few.

Danny: Meet in the lobby?

Jake: perfect

You picked out a shirt and jeans and slipped on a pair of Birkenstocks before throwing your hair into a bun. Checking the mirror on your way out, you realized you looked rough. They’ve seen me look worse.

Danny was the first one you saw when you got down to the lobby. “Good morning,” he greeted with a warm smile. He always looked impeccable, not a single curl out of place. “I guess you slept well?” you asked as you took a seat at the bench beside where he was standing. He chuckled. “No, actually, Sam was mumbling in his sleep the entire night. I think having sugar late at night really just wreaks havoc on him.” 

You nodded in response. “Is he up?” you asked. “Oh, no, he won’t be up for another hour probably. Maybe more. I’ll just bring him something back,” Danny replied as he turned to face you. “You feeling okay?” he asked, his eyes closing slightly as he searched your face. “Oh, just had a little too much to drink last night. Do I look that rough?” you asked as your hands raised to your hair, which you tried to smooth out. “Oh, no, you look great! As always! You just, um, seemed a little off is all. Wanted to make sure you’re doing okay. Touring is… a lot” he added, giving you a slight grin. “Nope, I’m great. Tired, hungover, but still good!” you said, standing when you saw Josh and Jake exit the elevator.

Josh looked like he felt about the same way you did. “Morning,” he said quietly to you and Danny. “You okay, brother?” Danny asked him as he wrapped his arm around Josh’s shoulders. “Don’t jostle him too much or he may get sick,” Jake said with a laugh. “That bad?” Danny asked and Josh nodded as he pulled a pair of dark sunglasses out of his pocket and slid them on. You pulled your own pair out of your purse as you all walked outside, the bright sunlight burning your eyes. “You too?” Jake asked as you walked down the stretch of sidewalk. “Oh yeah, I was pretty sick this morning. I’m better now,” you replied as you watched Danny hit the button for the cross walk. “Ice cream and sake doesn’t mix,” Josh added, repeating your own sentiments. Jake laughed as he followed Danny across the street, you and Josh following behind.

“Ah, Josh, they have bloody Mary’s! Your favorite!” Jake teased after you all had been seated at the breakfast place, menus opened. Josh looked up over his sunglasses at Jake, “I don’t even want to think about vodka right now.” Jake and Danny laughed and you shot Josh a sympathetic look from across the table. You took a sip of your black coffee, something you only craved when you were hungover. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink coffee black. Last night really killed you, didn’t it?” Danny asked from his spot across from you. You nodded your answer before turning back to the menu. 

“Huevos rancheros, thank god,” Jake muttered from beside you. “That’s definitely what I’m getting,” you said, closing your menu decisively. Jake shot you a smile, “good choice. Great minds think alike.” Jake pointed to Josh and whispered to you. “He’s going to get eggs benedict, and I will bet money on that.” You chuckled before shaking your head. “I know better than to bet against a twin.”

Sure enough, Jake was right- Josh ordered eggs benedict with a side of potatoes. Danny got a BLT and you and Jake ordered huevos rancheros. “A BLT? At,” you checked your phone, “9 am?” He nodded, “I don’t usually love breakfast food. And I’m always down for a BLT.” Josh pointed at him. “Daniel, bacon IS a breakfast food. As is the toast that it comes on.” Danny rolled his eyes. “The lettuce makes it a lunch or dinner food. Or brunch. I’ll give you brunch-adjacent at best,” Danny replied, and Josh chuckled.

The four of you discussed plans for the day and the three musicians discussed the setlist. “Look, I’d like to never do Highway Tune ever again,” Josh said, pausing to take a bite of his food before continuing. “Shit is overplayed, overrated and just… I’m ready to cut it from the setlist. Forever.” 

Jake shook his head, “it’s what got us here, Josh. It stays.” Josh raised his hand, about to continue when Danny spoke up. “Why don’t we do some sort of combination? Add something to Safari? Give them both, but mashed up? You know how much they love it when we give them something different. And, this way you don’t have to sing the whole thing, but we still pay homage to the original stuff,” Danny added, giving a compromise. Josh sat back, giving his suggestion some thought. “What do you think?” Josh asked, turning to lock eyes with you as he waited for an answer. “Oh, I am not the person to be asking. I’m not even completely sure what songs you’re talking about” you said, raising both hands up.

Danny pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned it to show you a music video playing on the screen. “This one is Highway Tune,” he said and you turned the volume up just enough to hear the song. You gasped as soon as you saw the band come into view. “How long ago was this?” you asked. 

“Has to be about… seven? Eight years?” Jake replied, taking another sip of his coffee. “And that’s you?” you asked Josh as you turned the screen to show him. He nodded slightly, giving you a reserved smile. “God, you guys were so young. It’s crazy to see how far you’ve come,” you mused as you watched the video, taking everything in. 

“I will say, I think our style has evolved. Thank goodness,” Danny pondered with a chuckle. “I don’t know… I think the completely ripped shirt was a good look for Josh,” you replied with a laugh. Josh rolled his eyes, “let’s not talk about it.” 

“No, let’s!” Jake shot back, pointing at him. “You were such a hotshot back then. Would you believe that he pulled the most girls out of all of us? Looking like a guy straight out of a frat. Do you remember that one girl that produced the video for us? At the bar? Such a classy guy,” Jake reminisced, Josh clearly uncomfortable as he fidgeted with the napkin on the table in front of him. “Or,” Danny continued, “the one girl Texas? Where we had to wait outside of her apartment in the van because her roommate was home? God, that was hilarious. Luckily it only took about five minutes, but I remember Sam was so high that…” “Okay. That’s enough.” Josh snapped, giving Jake and Danny a look before looking over to you. Clearly they’d hit a nerve.

“Well,” you started, wanting to change the conversation, “if Safari Song is the other one similar in sound to this one, I think it’ll be a good mix. Maybe worth a try? Don’t listen to me though, I don’t know anything about music,” you finished. Luckily your food came out, providing another distraction. Josh nodded after taking a bite of his food, “I’m down to try it at sound check.” You all turned to face Jake who rolled his eyes but nodded in agreement.

“What will Sam think?” you asked, breaking the silence. “I don’t think he will care. He likes Highway okay, but he’s always down to do some creative mixing. He was the one that suggested adding snippets of new songs into stuff on the last few tours,” Danny added as he took another bite of his sandwich. Danny pulled the waiter to the side and gave him the to-go order for Sam. The rest of breakfast was spent discussing how the mashup would work, Josh adamant that he would not be singing more than a few lines from the one song.

“You really don’t like that song, do you?” you asked Josh as you all headed back towards the hotel. “No, I don’t. Least favorite one out of all our discography. It’s just…” he paused, picking the right word. “Stale.” You laughed at his choice. “Stale?” you questioned, and he nodded. “I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s just… old. It’s not us anymore. Neither is Safari, but I’d rather do that one.” 

You nodded as you walked side by side. “Like, is there just something you never want to make another one of? Like a specific piece?” he asked, trying to help relate his feelings to yours. You thought for a minute before replying. “I’d be happy to never make another jumpsuit.” He looked at you, his eyes wide before you started laughing. “Josh, I’m kidding. I love the jumpsuits! To be honest, there’s not really anything I don’t like to make. I can get pretty tired of doing beadwork and repetitive motions, but everything I do is different. Kind of like how each time you perform, there’s something different. The crowd, the venue, the specific way you sing each part.” He thought for a minute, taking in what you’d said. “You know, you’re kind of right,” he replied, clearly thinking more deeply.

Everyone returned to their rooms for a bit and you chose to take a quick shower. You slicked your hair back into a ponytail before putting a more professional outfit back on and doing a light application of makeup. You were packed up and back on your bus within an hour, ready to head to the venue. Albert boarded the bus a few minutes after you, walking back to visit before everyone was ready to get on the way.

“How are you doing Albert?” you asked as he shuffled past you, peeking into the closet to view the outfits you’d been working on. “Oh, I’m just dandy, sweet girl,” you said, turning to give you a smile. “Can I touch them?” he asked, pointing to the suits hanging on the left side of the closet. “Of course!” you replied, turning your desk chair so you could face him. 

You watched as his weathered hands moved carefully over the floral embellishments on the side of Jake’s suit for Georgia. “You are truly talented,” Albert whispered, giving you a wide smile as he pointed to Josh’s Georgia jumpsuit. “I love the yellow. What show is yellow?” Albert asked. “They’re for Georgia. I don’t know why, but I just felt like Atlanta needed some yellow,” you replied, and Albert nodded. “I like that. You’d think Florida would be yellow for being the sunshine state,” Albert said. “I thought about that. But I am doing red for Florida, switching it up. It was actually Jake’s idea- he wanted to end on red for the first leg of this tour, and I felt like that was a good idea. Ending at the beginning almost,” you said, watching as Albert ran his hands over Josh’s red jumpsuit. Albert chuckled as he turned back to face you. “He’s almost like Elvis isn’t he? With the jumpsuits?” You nodded and gave Albert a smile. “Elvis, but with a bit more rock. Little more modern too,” you added.

As if on cue, Josh walked back into the workspace, sitting down on the bench with a huff. “We were just talking about how you and Elvis have so many parallels,” you told Josh, his face cracking into a smile. “He may have me beat on the heartthrob level, but I have a better vocal range,” he said with a laugh. Albert chuckled as he headed back up to his seat. 

Josh’s face fell and he turned to you. “Can I ride with you? They’re driving me nuts trying to figure out how to combine the two songs. I don’t know why it must be done by tonight, but Sam liked the idea and now it’s all or nothing,” Josh said as he rubbed his temples with his thumb and pointer finger. “Of course, Josh. You never have to ask- you’re always welcome to ride with me,” you replied, giving him a soft smile. You pointed to your backpack, “do you want some Advil?” 

Josh nodded, “I could use some. My head is killing me.” You fished the bottle out of your bag and handed it to him as you walked over to the mini fridge in the kitchenette. You returned with two bottles of water, exchanging one for the bottle of pills back. You both took two pills and laughed after swallowing them with some water. “I feel like no matter what, we are always in sync,” Josh said with a smile as he leaned back against the pillows on the bench. You nodded in agreement, reflecting on how true the statement was.

Josh relaxed back into the pillows on the bench, watching you as you did a double check of everything you’d need for the night. “I’m sorry about the vulgarity of some of the topics at breakfast,” he said after a moment. He was more relaxed, the medicine starting to work on relieving his headache. 

“It’s fine. I feel like we all were a little crazy in our late teens and early 20’s,” you replied, giving him a smile. “I really wasn’t. They made it seem like I was this jerk, just hooking up all the time. I promise that I really wasn’t,” he added. You turned to give him a shrug. “Even if you did, it wouldn’t matter. Although I don’t think you could have ever been a jerk. Ever.” He chuckled. “You’d be surprised. The ounce of fame we had went to my head a little too fast. Front man syndrome. I’d like to think I’ve settled into things well though,” he said quietly. “Josh, you’re a good person. Solid. A good head on your shoulders. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” He nodded slowly, his eyes trailing up to meet yours. “That means a lot coming from you.”  

You both settled into your own quiet routines- you busying yourself with preparing the clothes for that night’s performance, Josh flipping through his sketchbook. By the time the bus pulled into the backlot of the venue, Josh was fast asleep and snoring lightly, his leg twitching every so often. You texted the group chat

You: Josh is passed out. What time do you guys have sound check?

Danny: Emily said we have about an hour. We are still working on this combo but will come get him when we need him.

You stood and went to lower the curtains on the windows in the workspace and close the curtain dividing the front and back of the bus before laying on the opposite bench. They’ll get me up when Josh gets up. You turned to watch him, the rhythmic rising and falling of his chest lulling you to sleep.

-----------------------------------------------------

The lights flipped on, rudely waking you from your sleep. Sam was staring down at you and jumped back when you opened your eyes. “God, I didn’t think you were breathing there for a moment,” he said, leaning forward to pat your arm. 

“What the fuck are you being so loud for,” Josh mumbled as he sat up. “I am not being loud,” Sam shot back, turning to face his brother. “Sam, I hate to break it to you, but you’re almost always loud,” Jake replied as he leaned against the wall of the bus. “We need our front man,” Sam said, turning and starting to pull Josh up from the bench. “We need an objective third party too,” Sam added, turning to you and reaching his hand out to help you up off the bench. 

“What am I being objective to,” you said as you and Josh followed them off of the bus. “We need you to listen to what we came up with. See if it’s any good,” Sam said excitedly as he skipped down the stairs. “I think it’s going to be really good. Really get people excited,” Sam added as he started towards the venue.

You gave Jake a look as you walked, and he shrugged. “We won’t know until we hear it all together,” he admitted. Danny was walking behind you with Josh, explaining something he’d scribbled out on a piece of paper.

Once you got inside the venue, you all walked in the direction of what you figured was the stage. You popped out a side door and ended up in the general admission area on the floor, security from the venue following behind you. “Well, I guess we are almost in the right place,” Sam said with a grin before taking off across the arena floor, reaching a full sprint as he ran towards the barricade. You all watched him run, laughing as he slid into the barricade, tripping as his feet got caught up in the metal feet of the fence. 

Jake grinned at you before doing a cartwheel and landing on his butt, leaning back and laughing from the floor. Danny and Josh watched the shenanigans from over the paper they’d been studying, both of their heads tilting back as they laughed. Josh handed Danny the paper and started strutting towards the stage, switching the way he was theatrically walking with every few steps. You couldn’t help but laugh as you watched him- something about the almost cartoon way he moved absolutely tickled you.

You and Danny walked to the stage normally, watching as the Kiszka brothers made their way up onto the stage, continuing their antics. “Have they always been like this?” you asked. Danny grinned, “always. Some things never change.” Danny made his way up onto the stage and you leaned against the barricade, watching as they sorted out their gear.

Josh came over to the edge of the stage while his brothers got their instruments tuned and adjusted. He had his in-ear monitors slung around his neck and a microphone in hand as he came and plopped down on the edge of the stage, kicking his feet over the edge. “See, now, if I had this view each night, I don’t think I’d ever get nervous,” he said with a chuckle as he placed a monitor in his left ear. Does he mean me? Or probably the empty space. 

“It’s so quiet without the fans,” you mused, turning to look out across the arena. “To think that every space will be filled is just… surreal,” you said after turning back to face him. “It is. It’s a dream,” he replied. He pointed to Jake, who was bent over, discussing something with one of the sound people. “It’s really his dream but,” Josh pointed to Sam and Danny, “I think we are all happy to be along for the ride.” 

You grinned, “I didn’t think designing for a band would be my dream, but here we are.” He gave you a wide smile as Jake walked up behind him, nudging his leg with his foot. “Come on, let’s give it a shot,” Jake said, leaning forward to offer Josh a hand as he helped him up off the floor.

The creative process behind their music was unlike anything you’d ever seen. It was a true four-way collaboration as they all worked together to create something completely new, yet familiar. The band may have been Jake’s dream, but the talent each member had was undeniable. Watching these men go from doing cartwheels and goofing off to absolute craftsmen, oozing rock n’ roll and talent as they worked out kinks in the song was astounding. These were two completely different sets of people. They were congruent, yes, but the group on stage was not the same as the men you’d sat and had breakfast with earlier in the day.

Once they’d sound checked another, full song, they all came up to the front of the stage. You were still staring in wide-eyed amazement when Danny talked, breaking your trance. “What did you think?” he asked as he handed his drumsticks off to an assistant before sitting down on the edge of the stage.

“Amazing,” you answered quietly, unable to give more than that. “Well, that’s a given,” Sam said as he slid off the stage. Sam tried to vault over the barricade but ended up falling back into Jake, who had also jumped down onto the main floor. Danny pushed the barricade aside and the rest of them filed out onto the main floor. “Give us an actual review, please,” Jake asked as you all headed back the way you came. 

“I can see why people fight for a spot at the barricade,” you answered honestly. “You guys are beyond talented. It’s truly something special seeing you guys together,” you added, hoping you weren’t overdoing it. Josh bumped your shoulder with his, giving you a grin, “I’m glad you liked it.”

Emily appeared above you, leaned against the railing of one of the seated sections. “What the hell are you doing down there?” she barked. “Well, we finished sound check and…” Sam started. Emily pointed towards the doors at the back end of the arena, “they’re about to let GA in! Get the hell off the floor!” Everyone exchanged panicked looks as you took off towards the side of the giant arena, looking for the doors you’d come through.

You had all barely made it through the doors to the backstage area when you heard the crowd enter the arena. Sam opened the door just enough for you all to watch the fans file in, security shouting as they attempted to control the chaos. Everyone watched in silence as they watched the various people and groups coming onto the arena floor. 

“We like to read the signs,” Danny whispered from beside you, pointing out the various signs people were holding. “Oh, that is lewd,” Jake said with a laugh, pointing out a girl holding a not-so-subtle sign about a blowjob. “And look at that, she’s a Danny girl,” Sam laughed as he slapped Danny on the shoulder. Danny shook his head and rolled his eyes. “They are definitely going to confiscate that,” Josh said, pointing to a girl carrying a flag with a giant meme featuring Jake on it. “God, I hope not. That shit is hilarious,” Jake replied as he laughed.

After a few minutes of people watching, you all headed towards backstage. “I need some lunch. Or dinner. Whatever time it is, I’m hungry” Sam grumbled. Sam spotted Emily in Jake’s dressing room and yelled her name.

Emily came over to the group, looking incredibly puny. “Emily, are you okay?” Danny asked. She nodded and went to sit in a chair outside the room. “Great. What’s up?” she asked. You gave her a look. She hasn’t told them she’s pregnant? 

“What’s for lunch? Dinner? Linner?” Sam asked. “Uh, barbeque. And seafood,” Emily said, making a face. “What’s wrong with barbeque? I thought that was something you liked,” Jake said, watching Emily as she shifted in the chair. “No, I do just… not today,” she answered with a weak smile. Sam backed up slowly, “are you sick? I am NOT getting another stomach bug on tour, I will NOT!” Sam exclaimed, raising his hands. 

“I’m not sick,” Emily started, looking at everyone’s concerned faces. “I’m actually pregnant,” she said after a beat, looking from person to person in order to gauge their reactions. Josh was the first one forward, carefully pulling Emily into a hug. “Congratulations,” he whispered, squeezing her shoulders gently as he pulled back from her. Jake was next, giving her a careful hug as he rubbed her back lightly. Sam pointed at her belly as he moved forward. “This was a planned baby? Or?” he asked, and Emily laughed. “Not really planned so much, but we are happy about it!” she answered as Sam hugged her. Danny was last to move forward, pulling her into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so excited for you,” he said softly, and she pulled back, tears in her eyes. Sam turned to you, noticing your smile. “You knew?” he asked, and you nodded. “I needed help reading the test,” Emily clarified.

Sam looked at her, suddenly worried. “Does this mean you won’t be with us for the entire tour?” Emily nodded. “I probably won’t be going out of the country. But Jack is very capable and will be taking over more of my job in the next few weeks.” Everyone nodded, clearly saddened, but also excited for what was to come.

Emily headed out to check on “linner” as Sam was calling it, and everyone went their separate ways. You rounded up a couple of venue staff to get the outfits for the night’s show from the bus. You carried Josh’s jumpsuit in and directed where each of the other outfits went before knocking on Josh’s door. He opened it and stepped back to let you in. 

Josh grinned as he watched you hang the jumpsuit up on the rack against the far wall. He came over to inspect it, running his hands over the fabric flowers adorning the black sparkly material. “These need to be in a museum somewhere,” he mused. “Yeah, the rock n roll hall of fame,” you said with a chuckle. He tilted his head as he thought. “Maybe. But I would make sure your name was in bold on the plaque.” 

You laughed and brushed him off. “Yeah, put my name right under yours and ‘one of the greatest vocalists of our generation,’ that’ll be hilarious!” He wasn’t laughing though when he turned to look at you, his face serious, “I really don’t think you realize how talented you are.” You chuckled. “If I’m good enough for you guys, then I must be pretty good. And I’ll take that,” you replied. He nodded, finally at least slightly pleased with your answer.  

Sammy popped his head into the room and looked from you to Josh and back again. “Linner is here!” he said quickly before popping out as quickly as he’d appeared. You and Josh shook your heads but followed behind him.

“Carolina barbecue is unmatched,” Danny murmured as he took another bite of his food. “Whatever,” Sam replied as he rolled his eyes. “Don’t start,” Jake warned, knowing Sam was about two seconds away from a rant about meat eating and sustainability.  “You just don’t want to hear it because it’s true and you know it,” Sam shot back and Josh raised his hand, Sam falling silent. “You get it,” Sam whispered to you and you smiled, appreciating whatever alliance you could get with him. You thought back to the first week of the tour and how different things had been.

Josh finished first and threw his plate in the trash. “I’m going to go get ready,” he said, giving the group a smile. “Josh, we have…” Sam checked his phone, “two hours.” Josh nodded, “I know. Just a little antsy. It’s fine.” He turned and disappeared into his dressing room and you watched as Jake and Danny exchanged looks. 

“I thought he had gotten over that,” Danny whispered. “What?” you asked, concerned over what they were clearly worried about. “Josh used to get really anxious before shows. Back for a few years with some of the bigger venues and stuff. We’d know he was struggling a little bit when he’d get ready super early and just sit, completely ready. He hasn’t gotten ready this early in… a while,” Danny explained as Jake nodded. “I’ll go check in,” Jake said as he rose from his seat. You all watched him go and you couldn’t help wishing you knew how to help.

You, Danny and Sam chatted for a few minutes before Jake returned. “He asked for you,” he said after settling back into the couch. “Me?” you questioned, and Jake nodded. “Is there something wrong with the jumpsuit?” you asked, slightly panicked. “No, no, I think it’s fine. I know he had a question about something, but I don’t think it’s anything bad,” Jake clarified. You nodded and headed towards Josh’s dressing room.

The door was slightly open so you walked in, knocking on the door as you entered. Josh was sitting on the couch in his dressing room, his black jumpsuit a stark and glittery contrast to the beige couch. He smiled when he saw you and patted the couch next to him. “What’s up? Everything fit okay?” you asked as you leaned forward, waiting for his permission to touch the front of the jumpsuit to double-check the fit. He nodded and you gripped the fabric, slightly adjusting it. “Everything is fine,” he said quietly, “I just needed a calm presence.”

You slowly looked up at him. “Me? Calming?” you said with a chuckle, “I don’t feel like I am.” He shook his head, “no, you’re very calming. Soothing. Your aura and everything.” You took a second and nodded. “Well, then I’m here. To be a calming presence,” you said with a smile. He nodded and stood, going to the table in the corner of the room. “Do you want a hot toddy?” he asked, and you nodded. “Sure. Just put like, half the whiskey you put in yours in mine please,” you added with a chuckle, and he gave you a salute in response.  

You and Josh sat in comfortable silence as you both sipped on your warm drinks. Josh looked a little funny fully dressed in his elaborate jumpsuit and you in your normal clothes. He was slightly more relaxed, the whiskey helping take the edge off. Jake came in a little while later, Danny trailing behind him. They showed off their outfits, doing a little spin for you to see the entire thing. 

“Feel good?” you asked, and they both nodded. “I love the boots,” Danny added, turning to show Jake the embellished flowers you’d painstakingly added to the sides. “Those are cool as hell,” Jake said as he bent to examine them closer. “Can I make a request for flower shoes?” he asked, and you nodded. “Your boots for Georgia have flowers. It’s part of the fabric, but still pretty cool,” you replied. He grinned in agreement as Sam flew through the doors. 

“They said we gotta go now,” he said out of breath as he spun quickly to show you the fit of his suit. Sure enough, the stagehands were gathering outside of the dressing room, Emily appearing and calling for the group to hurry. “Good luck!” you said to them as you reached forward to quickly squeeze Josh’s hand. He turned to face you. “You got this. Just another show, just like the others,” you said quietly, and he nodded. He squeezed your hand back before letting go and following his brothers down the hall and towards the stage.

You watched the show from the TV mounted on the wall in Josh’s dressing room, working intermittently on some more sketches for the outfits for the rest of the tour. The show went as it always did- absolutely perfectly. The group was perfectly in sync even though they decided not to play the mashup that night. You watched the encore and waited for them to enter the dressing room after they had exited the stage. It was always surreal to see them on the screen and then, moments later, standing right next to you.

Danny was the first one back, waving to you from the hall as he headed to take his shower. Sam was next, coming to hand you his jacket, which he had taken off while on stage. Josh was next and he walked into the room, clearly preoccupied and deep in thought. He closed the door and started to unzip his jumpsuit, pulling it down and off his arms and chest. The fabric slid down past his waist, slinging dangerously lay on his hips. 

You cleared your throat, reminding him that you were still here. He turned to look at you, wide-eyed, as he pulled the fabric back up slightly. “Shit, sorry!” he exclaimed, and you turned to gather your stuff up, shoving it into your bag as you headed towards the door. “No, my fault! It’s your space, I don’t even know why I am in here,” you mumbled. 

He reached out to gently grab your arm. He was warm and his touch sent a jolt of electricity up your arm. “You don’t have to go. I will just refrain from getting butt naked out here,” he chuckled, and you relaxed. “Unless…” he joked, raising an eyebrow. “Nope, I’m going to get a pretzel” you said quickly as you headed back out the door.

You leaned against the wall after you had closed the door, waiting until you heard the shower start on the other side of the door to breathe. You zipped your backpack and slung it over your shoulder as you left in search of a pretzel.

As you walked and asked for directions, you thought about what had happened. Something about the way the fabric had just draped, barely covering him, made your stomach do flips. The way he didn’t want you to leave, had reached out for you. He was just being nice. You shook your head and turned to watch the groups of people leaving the arena.

You found a stand still selling food and purchased a cup of pretzel bites and stopped by a bar for a margarita. You headed back to the backstage area, the security guard luckily recognizing you. As you headed back through the barricade, you heard a commotion behind you. You turned to see a group of fans waving at you and gesturing for you to come over to them. You obliged, although your previous experiences made you nervous.

“Hey,” one girl greeted, giving you a smile. You nodded and smiled in greeting and waited for the group to speak. “We were wondering… we’ve seen you a lot. On twitter and stuff,” one girl started, talking quickly. “Are you dating Danny?” another girl interrupted, her tone serious. You chuckled and shook your head. “No, I’m just their designer. I am not in a relationship with any of them. Well, beyond friendship,” you answered honestly. The group nodded and you could tell that only some of them believed you. “I promise,” you continued with a smile. The group chattered and you waved to them as you turned to leave. “Have a great night!” you said with another smile before walking back down the hall and taking a long sip of your margarita.

When you got backstage, you noticed that everyone was packing up and getting ready to go. Sam pointed to your cup of pretzels, and you held it out, letting him take one. “Shit, these are good,” he mumbled. You offered Jake one and he shook his head. “I’m just ready to go to sleep,” he said, clearly exhausted as he shifted his weight from one side to the other. 

Josh was the last one out and emerged with his wet curls still clinging to his face. “We ready?” he asked, and the group turned to look at you. They were all carrying their own clothes, something you weren’t used to seeing. “Here, let me take these,” you started, but they turned away. “We can carry it out, it’s fine,” Danny said. You shrugged and took the boot box off the table “I’ll never turn down help.” “Shall we?” Jake asked and Emily, who had appeared at the end of the hall, nodded.

Everyone placed their outfits where you instructed on the wardrobe bus. Jake, Sam and Josh told you they’d see you at the hotel before heading to their own bus. “Can I sleep here?” Danny asked, gesturing to one of the benches. “Of course,” you said as you began your cleaning process. “Sam has continued to talk in his sleep, and I need a break. It's always quiet on your bus,” Danny explained as he laid down on the bench, watching you as you worked.

You looked up and smiled at Albert as he made his way back to you and Danny. “Alright, we are about four and a half hours away and will be stopping for gas and snacks about halfway,” Albert said, giving you a smile. “Perfect. Thanks for keeping us updated,” you replied, Danny agreeing. Albert gave you both a nod before heading back to his seat.

You worked on quietly cleaning the clothes as Danny fell asleep. He mumbled a little in his sleep too, and you chuckled at the irony. Before you knew it, the clothes and shoes were cleaned and neatly put away. You had started your fifth check over the clothing for the South Carolina show when the bus came to a stop. Danny was still fast asleep, and you decided you’d ask the others if you should wake him. You got off the bus and waved to Albert, who was filling the bus’s gas tank. You shivered as you walked towards the other bus, where Jake and Sam were coming down the stairs.

“Danny is asleep, I didn’t know if I should wake him,” you said. Jake shook his head, “nah, let him sleep. We left Josh asleep too. We will get them some snacks for later, but they’ll probably just sleep until we get there.” You nodded and followed them towards the convenience center part of the gas station.

You felt a hand reach for yours and you jumped, twirling quickly to see who had touched you. You swung around and saw Josh, hair a mess and eyes partially closed, reaching out for you. He was clearly still half-asleep. “I thought I heard you out here,” he said with a grin as he threaded his arm through yours and headed in the direction of his brothers. “I thought you were asleep?” you asked, and he chuckled. “Yeah, but I’m up now. I’m not one to miss out on a gas station taquito,” he replied with a grin. You scrunched your nose and shook your head as you both walked into the gas station and headed your separate ways.

“We got Danny’s order,” Sam said when you approached the counter with your picks. “Great, thanks,” you replied with a smile as Jake gestured to the clerk about what items to put in what bags. Josh was the last to the counter, half a taquito sticking out of his mouth. “Josh, you literally have drool on your face,” Sam teased and Josh shot him a deadly look as he placed his items on the counter and wiped at his face with the sleeve of his shirt. Jake paid for the order and handed you the bag containing the items for you and Danny. “See you on the flip,” Sam said with a salute as he headed back onto the bus. Jake nodded to you and Josh squeezed your shoulder before climbing back up the stairs to their bus.

You fished out the Reese’s cups from the bag and handed them to Albert after you had boarded the bus. “How’d you know?” he asked, and you laughed. “Your wife always packs you Reese’s cups, I see them in your lunch! I figured you like them at least a little,” you clarified. “You’re the best,” Albert said with a gracious smile. “Need me to heat this up?” you asked and gestured to his coffee cup. “It’s still warm! Thank you though. You’d better settle in, we have probably another three hours to go,” Albert replied and you gave him a smile before heading back towards the workspace.

Setting the bag on the table, you quickly removed Danny’s items and placed the drink in the fridge. You set the food out on the side of the table closest to where he laid, still fast asleep. Cracking open your Gatorade, you took a few sips as you watched Danny sleep. 

He looked so peaceful, his mouth slightly open as he breathed deeply, his hands resting gently on his chest. You dug in the bag for your nerds gummy clusters and opened the package carefully before shaking a few into your hand. Something about the crunchy, sweet and tangy candy quieted your brain. You ate a few more before setting the package on your desk and getting back to checking the clothes for tomorrow’s performance.

 ___________________________________________

You woke up to Danny gently rubbing his hand along your arm. “Hey, we are here,” he said quietly, seemingly still half-asleep himself. You nodded and pushed yourself up to sit on the bench where you’d been asleep. Danny handed you your suitcase and backpack. “Thanks,” you smiled as you took the luggage and followed him off of the bus. “Good night Albert! Thanks for getting us here,” you said, giving the older man a squeeze as you headed off the bus. “Sleep well!” he replied as he turned to finish his post-drive checklist.

Sam handed Danny his luggage and everyone walked into the lobby together. Emily was sitting in the lobby and rose when she saw everyone. She was clearly tired- probably more tired than all of you combined as she worked to keep everything running smoothly while also growing a human. She handed out the key cards and reminded everyone of the schedule for tomorrow. “Tomorrow’s time is 2:00 pm for sound check, so we need to leave here by 1:00 pm to get there without issues. Breakfast is in the dining room from 7:00 to 10:00, although I doubt you’ll be awake for that, so food is on you. Good night,” she finished before turning and heading down the hall.

The ride up to the third floor was silent, everyone exhausted. You checked your phone, the time glaring at you. 3:15 am. “Well, I’m certainly not setting an alarm,” Jake said with a chuckle as you all filed off of the elevator. “We will see you guys at some point I guess,” Danny agreed, following behind Sam who was making a beeline for their room. “Good night everyone,” Josh said with a wave as he opened the door to his and Jake’s room. 

You slid your key into the door beside the twins and chuckled. “This whole floor and you got stuck next to us, how lucky,” Jake said with a laugh and you shrugged. “Better than with the two sleep-mumblers,” you replied and Jake nodded in agreement. “Night,” Jake said quietly, and you repeated the sentiment before closing the door.

You stripped off your clothes from the day and put on your pajamas, glad to be wearing something warm and comfortable. You went through the motions of brushing your teeth and washing your face before plugging in your phone and crawling under the fluffy duvet. You decided to set an alarm for 11:00 am, knowing you definitely needed to be up by then, before flipping the bedside lamp off.

_______________________________________________

The first thing you noticed was the flashing light, which was strange because the blaring alarm was practically shaking your bed. You shot up, taking in your surroundings for a beat before grabbing your phone off the charger. 4:23 am. The smell was familiar. Fire. You shoved your feet into your shoes and grabbed your purse before swinging open your door, surveying the hall. 

The hall was smoky, and you started to panic. You felt a hand on your arm, and you turned to see Josh grabbing onto you for the second time that night. This time, however, his eyes were wide with panic. “Come on, the stairs are that way,” Jake said, pulling both of you behind him. 

Jake pounded on Sam and Danny’s door, yelling as he did so. People were starting to flood into the hallway, the volume rising as people started panicking. The door flung open and a petrified Sam stood in the doorway, shirtless and in his underwear. “Sam, put on some fucking pants, let’s go!” Jake snapped as he pushed his way into their room. Danny was up and pulling on a sweatshirt, throwing clothes at Sam. “Does everyone have their wallets?” you asked, pulling Josh along with you into their room. Everyone did a quick mental check before you all headed out towards the stairs.

There were tons of people making their way outside, all of them seemingly coming from nowhere. Once you’d made it out to the parking lot, the group headed towards Emily and some of the other roadies who were standing by the buses and vans. You all turned to watch as smoke billowed out of the windows on the far side of the building. 

“What a fucking disaster,” Jake mused as everyone watched. “You can say that again,” Emily said, a hand protectively over her stomach. “Well, at least we have a place to sleep,” Danny sighed, pointing to the buses. “Did Albert and Dean make it out?” you asked, searching the faces for your friend. “I’m here!” Albert said as he walked around the corner of the bus, “can’t get rid of me that easily!” Everyone laughed, exhaustion clearly settling in. “Well, I’m going to sleep,” Sam said before heading onto the bus.

Everyone worked out sleeping arrangements, Emily deciding to take everyone who didn’t usually travel on a bus to the hotel down the street. She called and reserved the rooms, doing a head count as she coordinated. The guys, along with you, decided to just sleep in the bunks. As the rest of the group loaded into the vans, you finally felt like you could relax. Everyone got out, everything is fine. You continued to watch the firefighters working to contain the fire, which you’d found out was on the opposite side of the building on the second floor. The parking lot had started to empty as the hotel relocated people, the sun starting to rise.

It was only when you turned to get onto the bus that you realized Josh was still holding onto you, one arm around your waist. “Josh?” you said and he slowly turned his head to face you, still entranced by the ongoing action. “You okay?” you asked. 

You watched as he returned his consciousness back to himself, letting go of you. “Yeah, sorry,” he stammered as he took a step back, away from you. “It’s fine, Josh. But, are you okay?” you asked again. He nodded slowly. Jake turned to watch his brother, assessing him. “I think it’s time to get some sleep. Come on Josh, let’s go,” Jake said quietly as he reached for his twin. Josh nodded, following behind Jake. “Good night,” they mumbled to you as they headed towards their bus. You decided to do the same thing and unlocked the door to the wardrobe bus, locking it behind you before walking back to your bunk.

You laid there for a moment, letting the stress and worry wash over you. God, all my clothes. My toiletries. But I have my purse. And everyone is okay, that’s the important thing. You fell asleep with your mind swirling with the never-ending anxious thoughts.

­­­________________________________________________

A hand gently rubbing your arm woke you up. You slowly sat up and noticed Jake leaned into your bunk. “Hey, sorry to wake you. We wanted to see if you wanted to go to lunch before we head to the venue. Most of the team is going. The hotel is covering it because of the damage.” 

You nodded and shoved your feet out through the curtains as you sat up. “Is our stuff…” you started and Jake shook his head. “They aren’t letting anyone go back up into the hotel right now because of the smoke and they don’t know if there’s structural damage…” Jake continued on, although you couldn’t hear what he was saying. 

All of a sudden, the night came back into crystal clear focus and the realization hit you, your body going cold. Jake stopped, noticing your eyes widening and your face suddenly going slack. “Jake, my sketchbooks. With all my designs. And I had a panel for your Atlanta suit in my backpack. Oh my god,” you said in a quick, hushed voice. Tears welled in your eyes as you looked up at him, his face reflecting the panic likely etched on your own. “Shit,” was all he was able to utter before you started to sob, the panic and pain surging through your body.

You felt the bunk mattress sink down a moment later and you were pulled into someone’s chest. “All her sketchbooks were in her room, and a part of my suit,” you heard Jake explain to whoever was holding you.

“It’s going to be okay, alright?” you heard Danny whisper in your ear. You nodded into his chest as he held you. “What’s going on?” you heard Sam ask and Jake explained the situation. “Well, shit, can’t we just pay one of those firefighters to go get it? We don’t even know if our rooms were impacted,” Sam replied, his voice bouncing back and forth as he most likely paced. 

“They said it’s going to take at least another day to assess the structural damage before anyone can safely go in to get stuff or see just how bad everything is. It'll probably take longer than that though,” Danny said, shifting to talk to Sam. “Well, fuck,” Sam shot back, now frustrated. “My ukulele was in there. Our clothes!” Sam said, clearly exasperated by the heightened emotions. 

You wiped the tears off your face and turned towards Sam. You noticed Josh was now standing next to Jake, watching you closely. He had deep purple bags under his eyes, his face tired. You noticed how much the twins looked alike when they were both clearly exhausted. “You know what? Everything will work out. I’m an idiot for getting so upset, I’m really sorry. Let’s just go to lunch, and you guys can go do sound check and maybe some of us can go to Walmart or something and get some clothes to last us until the next break,” you said, trying to rally.

“You’re allowed to be upset. This situation sucks,” Danny replied, rubbing your arm. “You know what, you’re right. May as well just take on this adventure, right? We can all get matching shirts, it’ll be great,” Sam added, swinging to the other side of the emotional spectrum. You stood and straightened your clothes. “We all look a little ridiculous, so at least we will be in solidarity,” you said with a chuckle as you assessed everyone’s outfits. You were in a plaid winter pajama set, a stark contrast to Jake’s shorts and sleeveless tank top, Danny’s mismatched sweat suit, Sam in a pair of rainbow shorts and a hoodie, and Josh in one of the casual jumpsuits you’d made for him. Everyone realized how crazy you all looked and laughed along with you.

“How’d you manage to put that on in the middle of an evacuation?” you asked Josh as you headed off the bus. He pointed to his jumpsuit, “this?” You nodded and he shrugged. “It’s pretty easy to get on and off. And I already had it laid out to wear today,” he answered thoughtfully. “I know it’s easy on and off, I did design it,” you said with a laugh, gesturing to the closures. He gave you a smirk but said nothing else as you approached the group gathering between the two buses.

In the daylight, it was easy to see just how crazy everyone looked in either their pajamas, or the first set of clothes they’d been able to put on during the evacuation. “Alright everyone,” Emily shouted above the small crowd of about fifteen people. “We are all going to head down the street to the restaurant that the hotel has set up for lunch. While we eat, I need everyone to fill out a couple of sheets, one is of the belongings that you have left inside, and that’s for insurance purposes for the hotel. Another sheet will be of what kind of clothes, toiletries, et. cetera that you’re now missing that you’ll need for the next few stops. We will be doing a store run during sound check to try to get everything y’all need, so be specific. I have another couple of things to get signed by everyone, but we can discuss that at lunch. If y’all have any questions, some find me. And with that, let’s head to lunch!”

You were already amazed by Emily and her ability to be calm, cool and collected in all situations, but seeing her orchestrate a plan in a set of leopard pajamas and serious bedhead had you realizing she might actually be superhuman. Everyone walked together to the small Italian restaurant down the street, chattering about the events of the day. 

“This is the Dreams in Gold nightmare part two,” Josh said from next to you with a sigh. Sam nodded in agreement, “I think our tours will just forever be cursed.” “Don’t say that, or it’ll manifest,” Jake hissed, and Josh waved him off. “It’s too late- it’s already a shit show,” Sam replied, Josh nodding in agreement.

Everyone sat around a couple of big tables, a waiter passing out menus as Emily passed out the forms and pens. You scanned the lunch menu and made your selections before turning your attention to the forms. 

“Hey, what size pants do I wear?” Sam asked you from across the table, pen suspended in the air as he waited. “Your street size is probably a 30x32 and a large,” you answered. Jake turned to give you a look from his seat next to you. “Do me.” You thought for a moment. “32x30, medium,” you answered easily. “There’s no way you just know that” Jake replied, signaling you got it right. “I think you’re forgetting I have made you all countless outfits and know all of your measurements,” you replied with a laugh. Jake shrugged and went back to assessing the menu.

Josh leaned towards you from his spot on your other side. “Did I do mine right?” he asked in a whisper, pointing to his measurements. “Yes, those look right,” you replied with a smile. “Look right? Or you know they’re right?” he asked. “I’m pretty sure. Your jumpsuits are made a little differently than suit pants and their sizes,” you added, giving him a nudge. He rolled his eyes but nodded in understanding.

A waiter came around to take everyone’s orders. “I’ll do a tuna melt with sweet potato fries,” you told the man, a strikingly handsome guy about your age. He gave you a wink before moving on to take the other orders. Sam tapped his hands on the table in front of you enthusiastically. “A tuna girl too! We will be matching!” Danny made a face at Sam’s comment and Jake laughed. “Matching in smell,” Jake dug, Sam kicking him under the table. “Because your cheese steak with roasted cow is going to smell so much better,” Sam shot back, Jake laughing in response.

Everyone continued to fill out their forms as they ate, struggling to remember everything they had left in their rooms. “Did I take my camera in with us last night?” Sam asked Danny, who shrugged in response. “How much do you guys think toothpaste is worth?” Josh asked in regards to the question about how much your belongings were worth. 

“Yeah, I have no idea how much to value my sketchbooks at. The hours of time and creative energy is just… immeasurable,” you added quietly. “Easily worth a million, maybe even two” Danny replied with a smile, obviously trying to up your spirits. You put down a general guess based on your hourly rate and the hours you’d likely put into the designs. “Jake, how much is my iPad worth?” Josh asked and Jake laughed. “The one from like 2018? With the cracked screen? Maybe $20,” Jake replied. “No use getting a new one when the old one works,” Josh replied with a hint of sass.

After the meal, Emily gathered everyone’s sheets up. She caught you on the way out and pulled you aside. “Can you come help me get the items on everyone’s lists? We will compensate you, I promise,” Emily asked, her eyes tired. “Of course. I need to be back to double check everything with costuming though before they go on,” you replied, giving her a squeeze of reassurance. “We will be, don’t worry. I’m going to probably have to do everything in like, two shifts. At least. Because this,” she gestured to the lists in her hands, “is a lot.”

On the walk back to the hotel parking lot, you helped Emily sort through the paperwork. Danny walked alongside both of you, acting as another set of hands as papers were shuffled. Emily went to give a hotel administrator the paperwork outlining what everyone was missing as you climbed onto the wardrobe bus and prepared to make a master list of all the things you’d need to buy.

Everyone needed at the venue headed to sound check on the other bus while you, Emily and Ava prepared for the supply run. Ava had volunteered to help, ensuring that Olivia could take care of the social media side of things for the afternoon. 

“Okay, so for toothpaste, most people didn’t put a brand or flavor,” Ava said as she read the lists scattered across your workspace. “Well, they’re going to get what they get and not pitch a fit,” Emily replied, rubbing her temples. “Sounds good to me,” Ava said with a nod as she added ‘toothpaste- qty 15’ to the list. Going over everyone’s lists and figuring out how many articles of clothing and of what size was proving to be more difficult.

About an hour later, the three of you loaded into a van and headed to the local Walmart, giant list in-hand. You all worked well together and were able to get the toiletries sorted out within another half-hour, using tote bins and a sharpie to separate the supplies by person. Emily also consulted the rider list from the venues and texts to ensure the right products were being purchased.

Emily sat on a bench in the pharmacy area, stretching her back. “Onto clothes?” she asked, you and Ava nodding. “Do you think it’d be easiest if we each took five people?” Ava suggested and Emily nodded in agreement. “I do not want to do the boys,” Ava added, putting her hands up in defense, Emily agreeing. “I don’t mind doing them,” you replied with a chuckle. “They may not get exactly what they want, but hey, I’m pretty sure I can ensure comfort and fit.”

The three of you split up, Danny, Sam, Jake, Josh and your own totes laid out in your cart. Choosing clothes for yourself was easy, the other four a little harder. You decided to mess with Sam, his personality making it easy, as you picked out more colorful clothes. For Danny, you stuck with mostly tee shirts, grabbing a few pairs of jeans and casual pants. You stayed on track with Jake’s style, picking casual button ups and lighter pairs of pants. For Josh, you grabbed a pack of his signature white, long-sleeved tee shirts and a couple other staples.

Everyone reconvened at the checkout, equally surprised that the entire trip only took three hours. The checkout process took nearly another hour, but you were walking into the venue right at 6:00 pm, having made perfect time.

When you rounded the corner backstage, Sam was the first one you saw. You were surprised that he seemed to be the first one ready, sitting outside the dressing rooms in his suit as he ate a piece of pizza. The gold accents on the right side of his suit were a striking contrast to the pearls aligning the left side of the dark purple suit jacket. 

“If you get sauce on that, I will kill you,” you threatened as you walked over to him. He gestured to the stack of napkins in his lap and the plate he was holding directly under his chin. “I’m being careful!” he mumbled, his mouth full. You rolled your eyes and pointed towards the other rooms. “What’s the status?” you asked and waited for him to swallow. “Jake and Danny are good, Josh is having a zipper issue,” Sam answered, gesturing towards the furthest dressing room. “Shit, okay,” you said as you headed to find Josh.

You knocked gently on the door and heard Josh shout his approval as you entered. Josh had the jumpsuit partially on and was working with the zipper on the front of the jumpsuit. “I can’t get it to unzip,” he grunted, gesturing to the zipper. He released it and the jumpsuit fell loosely around his hips, the front dipping dangerously low. 

“Josh, are you wearing compression shorts?” you asked and his face paled. “I just wanted to make sure it fit before I got fully dressed,” he started, and you took a deep breath. “Okay, do you have a pencil?” you asked and he nodded, gesturing to the sketchbook and pouch of writing utensils he had on the coffee table. You rummaged through the pouch and found a sketch pencil. You held it out to him. “Okay, rub the lead on the zipper and then try to zip it up,” you instructed. He gave you a questioning look, “do what?” You gestured to the zipper and tried to explain again. “Here, you can do it, I’ll just push the fabric outwards,” he said, slipping his hand between his pelvis and the jumpsuit.

You swallowed before bending down to grab the zipper and start to rub the pencil tip along the metal. Josh was breathing slowly and deeply as he watched you work. “So, uh, what is that supposed to do,” he asked. “Graphite is a natural lubricant for metals, so it will hopefully help the slider over the chain,” you answered. He took a deep breath but kept his lower body completely still. You pulled the zipper upwards before trying to unzip the jumpsuit a bit more. Sure enough, your trick worked, and it unzipped easily.

“Oh, shit,” you heard come from the direction of the hall and you spun around to see Danny standing in the doorway, his eyes wide. You quickly stood up, turning to face Danny as you held up the pencil you had in your hand still. “Stuck zipper,” you offered, Danny’s eyes darting from you to Josh and back again. Jake walked in past Danny, clearly unaware of the position you’d just been in. 

“How do I look,” Jake said, doing a spin for you. You heard Josh shuffle into the bathroom and close the door, and you turned to focus on Jake. His suit was slightly more plain for this show, a deep purple base with golden accents on both the jacket and the pants. “Looks great! How do the shoes feel?” you asked, trying to change the subject. “Good!” Jake replied as he moved to take a seat on the couch in the middle of the room.

You turned to Danny and held the pencil out to show him. “The graphite acts as a lubricant for the metal mechanisms on the zipper,” you explained, and he nodded. “Lubricant?” Sam asked as he walked into the room, rattling the ice in his drink as he walked. “Yeah, Josh’s zipper was stuck,” Danny clarified as he moved to sit down next to Jake, pulling a pair of drumsticks and tape out of his back pockets.

Josh emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, fully dressed. “That was uh, a great trick,” Josh said to you, gesturing towards the pencil, which you’d placed on the table next to his sketchbook. “Yeah, you work in fashion for so long and you learn all kinds of weird things,” you replied with a chuckle, hoping the exchange was less awkward than you felt it was.

“Well, what do we think?” Josh asked as he posed for the group. The shape of the jumpsuit was fairly plain, but it was covered in iridescent tiles which shone purple, the color of the night, in the light. “Looks great,” Danny said with a tight smile. He looked great in his own outfit- deep purple pants with rhinestones along the sides and a black, sheer top with strategically placed embroidered flowers. “I think you all look really great in purple,” you added, all of them smiling in response. Emily stuck her head through the door. “Let’s go,” she said, gesturing for everyone to follow her.

You waved the group off as they headed towards the stage, Sam already barefoot. You looked around for his shoes, but realized it wasn’t worth it. “They’ll show up,” you whispered to yourself as you turned and headed in search of the pizza you’d seen Sam eating.

After walking back and forth along the entirety of backstage, you realized there was likely no pizza left. You texted Ava, whose number you had gotten during the shopping trip.

You: Did you see pizza anywhere?

Ava: Dave said it’s all gone. Want to go hit up one of the concession stands?

You: Yeah! Do you not have to film?

Ava: Nah, Tim the sound guy is covering for me. I’ll meet you by the bus exit?

You: Perfect!

You waited for Ava, who showed up within a few minutes. “I should’ve figured you’d already be back here,” she said with a smile. “What does that mean?” you asked with a laugh as you both headed in the direction of the main part of the venue. “You’re always back here, working on stuff! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you out on the floor,” she clarified. 

“Yeah, no, too many people. It’s nice and quiet back here- I’m able to get some work done which is good,” you replied. “Well, in Georgia you need to come out with me, see them in action. It’s a surreal experience,” Ava countered. You agreed to try it, knowing you’d probably come up with an excuse when it came time to deliver.

Ava ordered chicken fingers and fries and you got a baked potato from the first vendor you saw. You topped your baked potato with sour cream and cheese before heading back towards the backstage area. 

“I can’t believe you have to remake an entire part of a suit,” Ava said, shaking her head as you chatted on your way back. “It’s a bummer for sure. The beading was almost complete too. I can probably finish it tonight though, on the drive to Atlanta,” you replied, contemplating the amount of work you’d need to complete. 

“It’s only gonna be like, four hours. If that,” Ava added, balancing her food as she dunked a fry in ketchup. “I think I’ll simplify my original design, and it should be doable. I know we have the day off tomorrow, but I won’t be able to relax until it is done,” you continued, mentally piecing together the design as you walked. 

A worker from the venue recognized both of you and let you both backstage. “I think we are going to the zoo tomorrow too, I don’t think you’d want to miss that,” Ava added as she scooted past the worker, nodding her thanks as she slid past. “I definitely do not,” you said decidedly, knowing that Sam at the zoo would certainly be a sight to see.

Once you and Ava made your way backstage, you both sat and worked for a bit as you finished your dinners. Ava was editing a TikTok video she had been working on while also editing a marketing plan for new merch. You had begun redoing the sketches you could remember from the sketchbook you had been forced to leave behind at the hotel. 

“It’s crazy how different our jobs are,” you mused as you sat back in your seat, watching Ava as she hunched over her laptop. She paused and stretched, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath. “You got that right. Incredibly different, but essential.” You nodded in agreement before returning to the sketch you were working on. Ava leaned over to examine your work and you turned the book so she could see. “I know who that’s for,” she said with a smile.

You looked down at the design you’d been working on. It was clearly a costume for Josh, the outline of a jumpsuit giving it away. You’d been sketching the outline of his face, something you had recently started to do more often. You looked up when you heard the tell-tale commotion signaling the end of the show as the group headed back to their dressing rooms.

Sam was the first one you saw, jacket in hand and pants already unbuttoned. He was still barefoot, and you grimaced. “What?” he asked, noticing your face. “Your feet!” you replied, pointing. He lifted his foot to show you the bottom, which was completely black. “Disgusting,” you stated, rolling your eyes as Sam cackled at your reaction before disappearing into his dressing room.

Jake and Danny were next, completely engulfed in a conversation but pausing to give you and Ava a smile before heading to shower. Josh brought up the rear, Emily at his side. “She passed out,” Josh said, helping Emily into a chair. “I did not!” she protested, Josh lifting his brows in response. 

An EMT rounded the corner and Josh waved him over. It was quite a sight- Josh gesturing and explaining things to the medical worker in his fantastical jumpsuit, iridescent panels shining in the bright light.

 “And she’s… Em, how far along are you? In the pregnancy?” Josh asked, placing a protective hand on Emily’s shoulder as the EMT worked to get a blood pressure reading. “I… um… I think I’m about 12 weeks, but I’m not sure” Emily answered, her face pale. “Your blood pressure is pretty low. I’d like to take you in, just to get you and the baby checked out,” the EMT responded, and Emily waved him off. “We need to be on our way to Atlanta, I’m sure I’m just tired,” Emily responded, removing the blood pressure cuff.

Ava set her computer down on the table and went to sit next to Emily. “I’ll go with you Em. It probably won’t take much time and then we can head to Atlanta together,” Ava said quietly, giving Emily a reassuring smile. Emily looked up at Josh, who was standing with his hands on his hips. 

“I agree. And technically I’m your boss, so I feel like I have some pull in this situation,” Josh replied, giving her a soft smile that ensured he was serious, but it was because he cared. Emily nodded, but reached for her clipboard, calling out for Jack. He appeared and sat next to Emily as she handed over her clipboard, explaining all the details about the hotel and reservations for Atlanta.

The EMT finally convinced Emily to give it up when his partner showed up with a gurney. “I will not be getting on that,” Emily contested as she pointed to the apparatus. “It’s procedure,” the new EMT said with a smile that said he truly hoped Emily would go willingly. Josh offered Emily his hand and she took it before standing, shimmying onto the stretcher. Josh gave her a quick hug and you gave her a wave before the EMT’s took her down the hall, Ava trailing behind.

Josh turned to face you. He had unzipped his jumpsuit slightly and his hair was sweaty and clinging to his forehead. “You think she will be okay?” Josh asked, concern bubbling in his voice. “I’m sure she will be fine,” you ensured, giving him a small smile. Josh nodded and looked in the direction Emily had gone. “I guess I’ll go shower then,” he replied, and you nodded. You watched him go, his way of moving utterly effortless.  

What a day.

taglist: @eyelinerjake @radmads-gvf @gretavansara @everyglowinthetwilightknows @joshs-jonch

[museqmeg]

Reporter’s Notes - Chapter Seven: Toast

___________________________________________________________________

A vashmeryl fic

Author’s Note:

A little follow-up chapter to divulge in the aftermath of the Tristamp group’s drunk shenanigans.

___________________________________________________________________

Meryl slowly woke to the feeling of her tongue being unbearably dry and thick. Her head was splitting and while she had a deep thirst, the thought of consuming water made her already sensitive stomach turn. She tried to sit up, but her head hurt too much and the room was slightly spinning. She flopped back down on her pillow, arm flung over her face. Great, she was the one hungover after she admonished her traveling party to not do what she clearly did. Pot, kettle, black.

She groaned and wiped her face, rallying herself to get up. As she did so, her thumbs grazed her ears and a little warning bell went off. One of her earrings was missing! She grabbed at both ears and was surprised to feel a little round shape hugging her right lobe. She got up quickly, the room spinning more, to hobble to the bathroom and look in the mirror. That was Vash’s earring!

She racked her brain to piece the fuzzy details of the previous night together. She remembered taking shots, Roberto’s comment about a leash… leash! She groaned, face and ears turning bright red. She remembered now… She had somehow gotten the brilliant idea to accost poor Vash by sitting in his lap and swapping their earrings. How embarrassing! What he must think of her!

Her face was all red and the blood that had rushed to it was doing nothing for her hangover. She turned the tap on cold and rinsed her face, palming water pat on her neck. That felt a little better. She sighed and turned the tap off as a loud banging was at her door.

“Yo shortie! Gramps is ready to go! Get a hustle on!” barked Wolfwood.

She winced at the loud noise before answering back, “Just give me ten minutes, I’ll be right out. And keep it down! I’m sure there are other people still trying to sleep!” Really, she just wanted peace herself. She heard him reply, “Righto,” as his footsteps dissipated.

She huffed, getting her toothbrush and paste out. It would be nice to get the gross aftertaste of her consumption from the night before out of her mouth. She brushed her teeth, trying to recollect the rest of the evening with no luck. The most she could remember was spinning around. She spat and grabbed her comb to untangle the mess that was now her hair. She looked awful. Today was going to be a day of comfortable clothes.

Meryl gathered her toiletries and pulled a hoodie and some fresh leggings out of her bag. She quickly changed and looked by the door where she usually kept her shoes… they weren’t there. She looked around the room and spotted them placed neatly on the floor by the bed. Odd… she knew she was too drunk to do anything but kick them off, if she had the sense to even take them off before falling asleep. Did someone take her to her room? She racked her brain and couldn’t remember.

Another knock on the door, “Newbie! Let’s go! You should’ve had plenty of beauty rest by now.”

“Yeah, yeah… I’m coming!” She slammed on her shoes and grabbed her packed bag to head out the door with Roberto.

“God, you look like hell,” Roberto said, looking down at her.

“Gee, thanks. You notice when I don’t look good and can’t give me a compliment when things are normal or even call me by my actual name.” She grimaced at him. She was not in the mood for their back and forth this morning.

“What did you kids get up to last night?” He asked. “I took the rest of the bottle with me to my room to keep you three from getting dumber than I left you.”

She just glowered at him and pulled her hood over head, tightening the drawstrings. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder and walked ahead.

“I see… so we feel as good as we look this morning,” Roberto chuckled.

Meryl snapped her head back at him. “Enough with the mockery, I really can’t handle it right now.”

“I see that… Go on ahead to the truck then. I gotta grab the Stampede. He’s been downstairs wolfing down breakfast for the past half hour. He seems chipper this morning, so you guys couldn’t have had that much of a time.” He waved her off, going down the stairs.

“Of course Vash would be fine,’ she thought to herself, putting on her sunglasses. He was at least twice as big as her and had the same amount of drinks. She really shouldn’t have taken the bait when he taunted her with the extra shot.

——————————-

She made it out to the truck and tossed her bag in the trailer, when Wolfwood appeared.

“Good Morning, little lady,” he drawled, leaning down to her and sliding her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose. She squinted against the harsh morning sun and the sharp pain that hit her temples.

“Ugh! Get off me!” She snapped, swatting his hand away.

He just laughed at her, “You look like shit. Were my dance moves too much for you last night?” He exhaled a plume of cigarette smoke in her face.

Meryl coughed at the smoke and strong smell of nicotine. “Dance moves…?” Meryl thought for a moment, trying to jog her memory. The spinning! “If you call treating your dance partner like a rag doll, then sure…”

“Ouch! I gave you a thrill and that’s the thanks I get?” He put his hand to his chest in mock hurt.

“Mornin’ Meryl!” A vivacious Vash chirped.

Meryl grimaced at the bright sound of his voice and put her hand up to hold her head. Another sharp stab in the temple.

Vash looked down at her concerned, “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah, the newbie is hungover,” Roberto said, coming up behind Vash. He put a brown paper bag in Vash’s hands and a to-go coffee cup. “Here, sit in the back with her and make sure she eats this. I guess I’ll have to be the driver today.” He walked to the driver’s side door, “Just another way my newbie found to limit my drinkin’ and smokin’. Talk about shit luck.”

Wolfwood got into the passenger side front seat while Vash followed Meryl to the seat behind him, clearly ready to help her if need be.

“I got it,” she groused and clumsily hauled herself up the truck. Vash didn’t move until he saw that she was seated and shut the door for her. Meryl took off her sunglasses, propped her elbow on the armrest and rested her head in her hand. She felt the rock of the truck as Vash hauled himself in on the others and did his best to quietly shut the door. ‘At least one of them was considerate,’ she thought.

Roberto started the truck up, put it in gear, and they were on their way.

Vash only waited about five minutes before he scooted the brown bag to her and held out the coffee, “You should eat, it’ll help.”

Meryl turned to look at him. He looked so worried and pathetic. She was going to refuse since her stomach didn’t feel up to it, but she got the feeling that saying no to him would be like kicking a puppy.

She silently took the coffee from him and gave it a sip. Her stomach still felt sensitive, but the heat and richness of the black coffee did quell down some of the other symptoms of her hangover. She took one hand and opened the top of the bag. Inside was a couple of pieces of plain toast. Right, hangover breakfast.

Meryl took a piece out and a bite when Roberto asked, “So, what did you three get up to after I left last night?”

“Needle-noggin was playing some honky tonk piano like a madman. I thought he was going to set it on fire, but instead he got everyone dancing.”

Vash gave a bashful grin up at Roberto in the rearview mirror.

“I was there for that part… but this old drunk didn’t want to participate. That’s when I called it a night.” Roberto said.

“Oh yeah…” Wolfwood mused as he knocked the ash end of his cigarette out the truck window.

“Meryl danced with Wolfwood!” Vash piped in, chuckling.

“No…” corrected Meryl, “Wolfwood accosted me and swung me around like a sack of potatoes. I thought I was going to throw up.”

“Nahh… you had a blast, shortie.” Meryl could see his shoulders shaking from silently laughing at her. “What I really enjoyed was your performance, little lady,”

“Performance?” Interjected Roberto, “What did you do, newbie?”

“Oh, Vash got her to sing to the whole crowd. He joined in too, but it sounded like someone was strangling a thomas. The crowd loved our tiny reporter though. That’s when she passed out and Vash had to carry her to bed.” Wolfwood looked into the rearview mirror at Meryl, smirking.

She had finished her toast and most of her coffee at this point in their ‘recollection’ but she got suddenly embarrassed at being called out for her drunk antics. She forgot about the singing! And it was Vash who took her to bed?! She set the bag and cup down on the floor before laying down on the bench and turning to face the back of the seat, pouting.

“Hey now, guys, Let’s take it easy on her… she’s not feeling good,” Vash said, rubbing her shoulder with his prosthetic hand.

“Are you kidding me blondie? Now’s the time to play with her, she’s too out of it to spit her usual fire.” Wolfwood grinned into the mirror at Vash. Vash just countered him with an unamused expression.

Meryl was too out of it to really jab back. She did, however, notice that Vash’s hand on her shoulder wasn’t as hard or uncoordinated as she anticipated, given that it was a prosthesis. It was uncharacteristically light and had the same delicate movements as a normal hand. She knew it was lost technology, but was still perplexed by its movements and material.

Vash lowered his voice to her, “It’s okay, Meryl. I was the biggest fool out of everyone last night. I told you I get silly when I drink!” He took a finger to pull back her hood a little and smile down at her.

Meryl just turned her head more into the seat and let out a big sigh. Vash chuckled a little before proclaiming, “Oh yeah! My earring!”

Meryl had her eyes closed, but felt his real hand gently unclasp it from her ear. “Since we’re not drunk anymore, we don’t need our leashes!” She heard him laugh at his own little joke.

“I guess it worked, though,” Roberto said. “You too managed to stay in the inn all night.”

Meryl felt cold and warm fingers gently attach her earring to her ear. Vash placed her hood back over her face and gave her head a light pat.

“Ugh… you two act sickenly sweet sometimes. Did anyone ever tell you how much alike you are?” Wolfwood complained looking at Vash in the rearview mirror.

“I have,” Roberto answered, “A few times. They’re both bleeding hearts with no regard to their own safety.”

“You got that right, gramps. It’s a good thing they have each of us to babysit them.” Wolfwood said.

“Yeah… I guess, but that wasn’t in my original job description,” Roberto groused.

Wolfwood just chuckled at him.

Meryl decided that rather than listen to them talk about her, or Vash, she was just going to sleep off her hangover. As she drifted off, Vash’s left hand still resting on her shoulder, she thought of all the little instances in their time together that proved how similar her and the Typhoon were.

—————————————————————————————————————

Well shit… that chapter was longer than I planned. Oh well

[slywood]

The Shakes

It's early January of 2012. I wake to sunlight creeping through the side of the curtain. It must be around noon. My unpaid cable bill means my digital clock just blinks hyphens. I lean over to the counter to check the radio. It's a bit past 10. I have a few hours before deciding if I'll go to work today. I pull the blue comforter—one that isn't actually mine—over my head and plunge into darkness.

An eternity seems to pass. I toss the comforter aside and again lean over to the radio clock. Only two minutes have passed. Annoyed and surprised that I'm not still sleeping, I feel the hangover starting to hit hard. Then, the anxiety kicks in. I don't remember if I took my medicine.

I usually keep my necessary pills in my jeans' change pocket. That mini pocket is perfect since it keeps the pills secure, and whenever it's empty, I know I've taken them, even if I'm too drunk to remember. This time, I hadn't followed my routine. I woke up hungover yesterday and went straight to a New York Rangers playoff game with a friend. I hadn't planned on staying out all night and blacking out, but I did.

Work is now officially out of the question. I need to decide what to do next. I can't sit still, and I feel the monster inside me begging to be set free. I dart to my bookcase and pull out my medication bottle. I take half of my daily dose immediately. If I already took them, one more shouldn't hurt. If I didn't, at least I have half a dose in me. Then, I grab my generic Xanax bottle and pour out the remaining pill. It's empty. I must have already taken it, although I don't feel its effects. I climb back into bed.

My right arm jerks. The fear is starting to take over. My left hand seems steady. I feel control over my body slipping, my power over it tenuous at best. I don't trust sleep at the moment. I'm too scared to even try.

I need to keep busy. Alcohol is my insurance policy. The last three days, though, have taken a toll on my body. I don't remember getting home any of those nights. Now I feel the beast, and I fear it's entirely my fault. The withdrawal is terrifying.

Disregarding poor judgment, I open a Corona bottle and drink half of it. I pace around the kitchen, trying to gauge how I'm doing. Not much has changed. I need a shot. Weighing the options, I decide to stay in control the only way I know how. I take out a bottle of Jameson and pour a shot. I drink it, and the warmth envelops my body. I think this is going to help. I finish the rest of the Corona bottle in one gulp.

There's no immediate change. Pacing seems effective. I end up in my room, staring at the medication bottles. I wish I had some Xanax. I look around for the one I had in my pocket last night but suddenly find it on the cologne shelf. I swallow it immediately without a second thought. I instantly feel like I have the situation under control. I really needed that pill.

Both my hands are jerking now, although they’re easing up. The Beast is still in me, but I'm beginning to tame it. Both the alcohol & the drugs are slowing me down. I'm not afraid of sleep anymore. Maybe I'll just watch a movie though.

Fuck off, Beast. I win this round. You're no match for my alcoholism.

As I settle back under the comforter, I try not to think about the vicious cycle I've settled into. The hangovers, the blackouts, the anxiety attacks are all something I'm all too familiar with. This isn't normal, but I can control it. I'm in control, I think. Still, I can't help but wonder, what if I'm not?

These thoughts are quickly drowned out by the numbing effects of alcohol and Xanax. My eyes start to get heavy, and the allure of watching a comforting, familiar movie draws me in. Maybe it’s just another form of escapism, but for now, it’s the only thing that promises a brief respite from the chaos raging within my head.

I think about reaching over to grab the remote, but my hands are still shaking slightly. The jerks are fading but I need to stay awake for just a bit longer, just to be certain. I forget about my troubles & I just focus on the present. I cover my face with my brother's comforter and the darkness lets me focus completely on my body. I am in control. I feel a small sense of relief. I'm in control.

[beidaydream]

Here is a random story I wrote on a whim.

Story title: All I want

Summary: Your woke up to a stranger in your bed and a euphoric memory of last night in your head. But one-night stands aren't really suppose to stay for this long..right?

======

The morning after a party is something to dread. Your head pounds from all those stupid shots you took last night to impress them You can’t remember much of last night, but seem to remember that they didn’t notice you anyway. You wake up to someone in the bed with you.

A one-night-stand? While you were in love with someone else? Bad decision.

But either way, you let them sleep for a while more. You get up from the bed and make your way to the bathroom. You’ve never dreaded doing your morning routine as much as today. The mirror relays an image back of one who looks like death itself. You groan and proceed to wash your face, and do your skincare routine.

Being hungry and hungover, with a stranger still in your bed, is not the best situation to be in right now. You just want to eat something comforting and that stranger to leave as soon as possible. But as the good host you usually are, you start preparing ingredients to make breakfast for 2. Whilst you are whisking the egg yolks and parmesan together, you hear footsteps. He must’ve woken up. The footsteps makes slowly makes its way down the hallway and towards you.

Warms hands start to find its way around your waist and a heavy head rests on your shoulders.
“Good morning..” He asks you. His morning voice, hoarse and tired. You sneak a look at his face, eyes barely opened and hair as messy as yours. But for some reason it looks adorable on this handsome stranger...

"What're you making?" His voice breaks your train of thought about his appearance.

“Just pasta, hope you don’t mind.” You reply him with a small smile.

His arms wrap tighter around you, making you feel a few butterflies in your stomach. He buries his head in your shoulder, mumbling something that doesn’t reach your ears.

“Did you say something? I didn’t catch that.” You chuckle. 
“Mmmm” He doesn’t reply with words, just a small grumble that vibrates your bare shoulder. “Can we just go back to bed?”

His reply catches you off guard and it makes your ears turn slightly red. But you regain your composure, “Nope, I don’t want to waste these ingredients.” You say, sternly, while buttering the pan to start cooking the pasta.

His arms let go of your waist and his head lifts from your shoulder. ‘He must be disappointed that I’m not wanting to do more’ You think to yourself. But to your surprise, you feel a hand exploring the front of your hips, slowly reaching lower and lower.

Your breath starts to get heavier as you realize what is going to happen. But as you put the spatula down to take his hand off your body, his free hand holds yours firmly down on the counter. The hand on your hips start to take up more space and push your lower half back towards him.

You try to use your free hand to turn off the stove and take his hands off you. "Not.. not right now" You say in between heavy breaths from melting as his warm touch on your abdomen, bouncing you closer to his body.

"Why not princess?" His words are just making you succumb to him even more. "You're telling me no but your body is signaling something else."

You can't even deny it. You don't want to lose though, so you clear your mind as much as you can and swiftly turn around. Now his body fully touches yours, his hand not following your body and is now on your ass, and his eyes looking you up and down with so much lust.

You take a moment to acknowldge his appearance. Realizing how handsome, tall, and fit he was. Making you forget about what you wanted to say, don't even need to mention your, so-called, "crush". You wonder how he looked last night, when you guys had sex-

"Mmm" He hums, moving his hand from your ass to your waist and using the other to fix your hair. "Done checking me out, doll?"

His question made you realize that you were staring at him for a bit too long.. 'Snap out if it y/n!' You mentally slap yourself out of those thoughts

"U-uh.. Yes.." You stutter, emberassed. "As I wanted to say, Not now. I-Iwant to have breakfast. I have recollection of eating yesterday after coming home.. and I bet you haven't eaten either." You tell him, making yourself sound as serious as possible.

"Oh princess.." He replies. His voice so deep and smooth, you can't help but get flustered. What doesn't help is that his face starts getting closer to you, hand still twirling your hair. "I did have dinner, and so did you." He hums, his lips centimeters away from yours. It takes you a while to understand what he said. But once you did, your face turns crimson and you cover your mouth with the hand of your hand, trying to avert any eye contact if him.

He backs up a bit to take that hand in your hair to hold yours. He interlocks your fingers with his and flips your hand around, softly kissing it. "And I would like to have my breakfast now." He says with his eyes locked on you.

All you were able to do was look in his direction for a bit. Completely speechless by how straight-foward but flirty he was. "T-then wait for me to finish cooking.." You mumble, trying to look at him. He stares at you for a bit longer and then nods his head.

You take a second to calm yourself. A few deep breaths, and a few peaks at this man. He's sitting at your small 2-person dining table, his head resting on his hand, facing you. Chuckling and clearly amused at how flustered you got. You collect yourself and pout at him before continue cooking.

~~

"Thank you for the food!" He excitedly says while you sit down

[storiesofsvu]

Her Everything Ch 18

When you arrived at the playground the next morning you managed to swipe Amanda’s coffee out of her hand before she even realized you were next to her.

“Hey!” She protested, “get your own.” As she grabbed it back she took in your appearance, the sunglasses darker than your usual ones. “Are you hungover?”

“Kind of?” You groaned, tugging your hair up into a top knot before your sunglasses slid up to your head.

“Is that a hickey?!”

“What? No!” Your hand shot to your neck, wincing slightly at how tender the skin still was, “Cat bashed me with a toy the other day.”

“Oh, yeah, okay.” Amanda snorted, her finger coming out to poke around the bruise, “she give ya the beard burn too?”

“What?”

“This is beard burn, and that’s a hickey!” To enunciate her point she jabbed her finger into the purpling mark.

“Ow! ‘Manda!”

“Can’t believe you were out on a hot date while I was stuck with three kids.”

“I wasn’t out on a hot date, it’s not like I planned this.” You snagged her coffee for another swig, “it was more a…drink…that turned into a kiss..followed by one hell of a hot make out session.”

“And some sex.” She smirked, grabbing the cup back from you.

“Steamy, steamy hot sex. Holy shit Amanda…I- first time I’ve ever squirted. I mean..wow..”

“Jesus! You better be calling him back.” You snorted a laugh in response, Olivia’s voice cutting through just as you were about to reply.

“Hey, sorry I’m late.” She passed a tray of coffee over to the two of you. “What’d I miss?”

“Y/N’s steamy, steamy sex she had last night while I was babysitting.” You smacked Amanda’s arm as Liv laughed.

���Really?” She paused for a sip of coffee, “when’re we gonna meet him?”

“Yeah…what’s his name?” You bailed under the pressure of both women’s attention fully turned to you, slightly hiding behind your coffee cup.

“Rafael…”

“Barba!?” Amanda practically shouted. Liv inhaled a sip of coffee down the wrong tube, choking on the beverage as she shot you a glance of surprise.

“How did that happen?” The brunette asked.

“Like I told Amanda! He came to drop something off, we had a drink and…one thing lead to another..”

“He really made you-“

“Yup.” You cut the blonde off, it was one thing kissing and telling under the umbrella of anonymity but knowing who the other person was…

“Good job Barba.” She muttered, taking a sip of coffee while she did a quick head count of the girls on the playground.

“Hope you were safe, don’t wanna end up with two whoopsie’s like this one.” Olivia teased.

“Hey!”

“Believe me, the moment Cat came out, that IUD went straight back in.” You laughed.

“How drunk were you guys?” Amanda asked.

“The first time?” That got a rouse out of them, “like, three quarters of a bottle of scotch. Then we ordered food and polished off a second bottle.”

“So you guys talked about it then?” Olivia asked, a genuine interest on her face that you were unscrambling all the wires.

“Uhm…not exactly. I mean..we were kinda caught up in the after glow, ya know? Just…enjoyed each other’s company. It was nice to finally have that kind of intimacy again.”

“K, but I’m more interested in just how many more times were involved.”

“Let’s just say…he was certainly making up for lost time.” You smirked, “and if you think my neck’s bad you should see my inner thigh.” Amanda lost it at that while Olivia playfully rolled her eyes, “I’m certainly not complaining about the beard.”

“You must have at least talked about it this morning?” Olivia noticed the immediate awkwardness in your eyes at her statement.

“I-uh-may have snuck out before he woke up?”

“You just left him in your apartment?!” Amanda was fully invested in this now.

“He’s got keys! He can lock up himself and we’ll do that whole awkward interaction tomorrow…which will be fucking horrible because Lucia is going to catch on real quick…shit…”

“Hope you’re planning on wearing a scarf.” Liv teased and you shot her a glare that she laughed at. “You should really talk it over though. I know it’s rocky territory all things considered, but you’ve said it yourself, he’s doing a wonderful job as a Dad, which honestly…I never would have expected from Barba. You guys have been getting along so well this year. You can’t fight me on that, I’ve seen you looking at each other when the other’s not looking the exact same way you were before I even knew you were dating.”

“And you certainly got along last night.” Amanda cut in, causing you to smack her arm again, “besides, it’s not like this was some drunken one night stand where you passed out right after and did the walk of shame never to see them again. You guys were hanging out, having a good time, and you continued to after, and had more sex..it was a….” she eyed you with a sly grin. You rolled your eyes knowing exactly what she was prompting you for.

“It was a four night stand…”

“I wish I got that many orgasms a night.”

“If we’re counting it like that it was seven night stand.”

“Jesus.” Olivia muttered, distracting herself by double checking on the girls while Amanda howled.

“Barba’s got stamina…damn.” Amanda took a swig of coffee, “but Liv’s right. I mean, you guys were sickeningly in love, it made me want to puke like..half of the time. Despite everything that’s happened, it can’t be hard to fall back in love with him.”

“Considering I never fell out of love with him…no…it can’t.” Your statement was softer, and you weren’t surprised when both of the women turned toward you, though they were surprised at the very subtle glimmer of tears in your eyes suddenly. “What?” A watery chuckle left your lips, “I was alone for so long, and I mean completely, family wise, not just the ‘ooo I’m lonely cause I’m single’ kinda thing. Rafael…he was my everything, he was the love of my life. I never thought I’d get married and there I was picking out venues and hours d’oeuvres alongside his Mother. He made me feel like I actually deserved all of that, like I deserved to be truly happy.” Amanda’s hand softly grasped yours, her thumb reassuringly rubbing against it, “he could break my heart a million times over and there would still be a part of me that loved him. If it wasn’t for Cata…I don’t know if I would’ve made it through that breakup.”

“So talk to him..” Liv softly countered, “he loved you more than anything in the world, and I know he still cares about you, and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he was still completely in love with you.”

“Then why did he walk away five years ago?”

The three of you all jumped at the intrusion of a new voice from behind the bench you were sitting on.

“Because he was a coward. And an idiot who was terrified, and thought the only resolution was running away.” He only had eyes for you, it was as if the other two didn’t exist in that moment, the apologies written on his face as he looked down at you.

“Raf..? How’d you even know where we were?” He grinned, holding up his phone.

“Find my Iphone…you know you really should change your passwords once in a while.” You smacked at his arm with a smile, “you got a minute?” You shot a glance toward the other two women, who both nodded lightly in encouragement.

“Course.” Standing from the bench you followed him a short of enough distance that you had some privacy,  “how much of that did you hear?”

“Enough.” He smiled, “you always leave your conquests alone in your apartment?” Laughing lightly you rolled your eyes, the back of your hand smacking his chest.

“No..I…was scared. I didn’t know how you’d react. Like you just said, sometimes running makes the most sense in the heat of the moment.”

“Carino…” his hand stroked down your arm softly, “I know I’ve apologized a million times over about everything, and that they’re empty words by now, but I do need you to know that I was being incredibly fucking stupid. I was terrified that I’d be sent to jail, that you would hate me for what I did, that even if I got off, you would want nothing to do with me anymore. I was utterly ashamed at the entire thing, and for some idiotic reason I felt like I couldn’t show my face here anymore…even to the people I love the most.”

“Love?” Your voice was barely above a whisper, “as in…present tense?”

“Oh Hermosa…” hand stroked your cheek ever so softly, “every. Single. Day. I would look at this and remind myself how much I love you, and pray that you still loved me. And since being back, being with you and Cata, it’s meant so much more.” Your brow scrunched as he reached inside his coat,

“What’re you-“

A little laminated card was between his finger and thumb, the colour catching your attention first, your breath hitching in your throat as your hand shot to your mouth. The other one gently grasped it as your eyes moved up to his illuminating emerald ones. You flipped the card over and your suspicions were confirmed. It was the purple post it…the one you’d made as an impromptu Christmas tree ornament on your first Christmas together, the words ‘I love you always’ scrawled across it in your hand writing.

“You kept it?” You could feel the tears brimming in your eyes, just daring to escape.

“I was a moron for walking out on you, I needed a part of you to hold onto, to selfishly help me through everything. That little note…I keep it on me always. I look at it every day and the little part of me that prays you’ll be able to forgive me eventually reminds me that each time…you said ‘always’ and I said ‘forever’..and that there was some slim chance you’d still feel like that, even after I fucked up so horribly.”

“Rafael…” His thumb stroked softly at your cheek and suddenly the entire world vanished, your voice soft and wavery, but he knew you meant it when you spoke, “I’ll never stop loving you.” It was when you wrapped your arms around his shoulders, pulling him into you for a deep kiss that the wolf whistles echoed through the park. The hand you had around his bicep shifted so you were discreetly flipping off Amanda and Olivia, the laughter of the situation evident on your lips, causing Rafael to smile against you, kissing your head softly as you moved away, your blushing face turning toward your friends before it turned back to him.

“I love you forever y/n.” You giggled softly, rocking up on your toes to peck his lips.

“And I love you always.”

Truthfully, there were still a lot of logistics to work through, but that was to be expected in a situation like this. The following day Lucia certainly did give you shit for sleeping together before actually figuring things out, but she was at least happy that you were working things out romantically, that you would actually be a family again. Catalina wasn’t really aware to what was going on at first, she was young enough it didn’t really affect her, she was just happy to know a few months down the road that Papi was moving in and she got to spend all her time with both of you. The squad was all in support of it, even Calhoun gave you a soft ‘congratulations’ when she passed you in the courthouse.

Everything fell into place easier than you’d expected it, there was no way you could be happier than you were now, and there was no place Rafael would rather be than at home with his family. One that he never thought he’d ever have, but one that he adored more than anything in the world. The day he moved into the apartment you had a small shadow box style frame ready and waiting alongside a stack of purple post its. Once everything was settled and you’d finished off the pizza Cata was oh so excited about for dinner you had her write her own little I love you message on a fresh post it.

The three of them found their way into the frame, ‘I love you always’ beside the ‘I love you forever’  the coloured in heart sitting underneath between them, bringing your little family together, there was absolutely nothing that could tear you apart now.

**

Well…that’s all folks. Thanks for not only inspiring me to write a hell of a series off a request for a one shot, but for sticking with me through a story that spans TEN years, wow. I also 10000% have an alternate ending coming, so it’s *technically* not over yet

[steinfellds]

Can I have a Natasha x Avenger!reader where at the start of their relationship Natasha asked reader to do one thing and that’s to never lie to her and then later on reader lies to her about something (you can choose the lie)

Just some angst to fluff

Liar

Pairing: Natasha x gn!Reader

Warnings: Angst, alcohol, weed.

1.3K words

/ masterlist / / n.r masterlist /

When you and Natasha first started dating she made you promise you would never lie to her.

You agreed because you thought you would have no reason to lie to your girlfriend but that was proven wrong after she refused to let you go to a party with some old college friends.

Natasha wasn't normally a controlling person but you had a mission in 3 days and she knew you would drink at the party so to avoid you being hungover on the mission she refused to let you go.

You both had argued for an hour before you had gotten sick of your girlfriend and stormed out of your room. You hung out with Tony for a couple hours before you decided on how you would go to the party without Natasha knowing.

You decided that you would lie to Natasha and say you were going to your mother's house for the night because you needed a break from her. Though in reality, you would have your friend, Sarah, pick you up from the bus station near your mother's house.

Natasha looked disappointed that she had made you want to leave but didn't say anything. She did find it strange you didn't pack a bag for your stay, but she didn't think much of it because she knew you would never lie to her.

You sat and the bus station for 5 minutes until Sarah pulled up in her car.

"I thought you said you couldn't come," Sarah grinned, sticking her hand out the open window.

You rolled your eyes and smiled, "I'm not a child, I'm allowed to go out,"

Sarah laughed and started to drive towards the apartment where the party was.

As soon as you entered the party, you were met with the smell of weed and alcohol.

Benji, Sarah's brother, ran over to you and hugged you. "Y/n! You made it," He exclaimed excitedly, handing you a beer bottle.

You hesitated on taking the beer bottle, remembering what Natasha had told you earlier. Benji frowned when he saw your face, "You okay, Y/n?"

You nodded and grabbed the bottle from his hands, figuring that you had already lied to Natasha so there isn't any reason to not have fun while you were here.

You had stayed at the party for 11 hours before letting Sarah drag your drunken body back to her apartment. You slept for 9 hours and could have slept longer but Sarah softly shook your body. "Here, hun, have some water," She held a cup of water in front of your mouth, waiting for you to take a sip.

You let out a loud groan as you lifted your head up from the pillow and took a sip of water.

"You need to eat. Whatcha' want?" Sarah wiped your mouth with the back of her sleeve to get rid of the water that stayed on your lips.

You groaned and flopped back onto your pillow, "Not hungry," You mumbled out, closing your eyes so you could get some more sleep.

"Get some more sleep and then you have to eat, okay?" You heard Sarah yell out before you fell into a deep slumber.

You didn't sleep for long. Maybe two hours at most.

You woke up to the front door aggressively being open. "Where the hell are they?" Your eyes immediately opened at the sound of your girlfriend's voice.

"Down the hall on the left!" You heard Sarah yell out.

You quickly sat up and watched Natasha angrily walk towards you. You let out a small sigh as you looked up at Natasha who stood next to the bed with her arms crossed.

"Where the hell were you last night, Y/n?" Natasha's angry gaze slightly scared you but you knew Natasha would never harm you.

"Who are you? My mother?" You shot back with the same anger in your voice.

"No, but your mother is also quite worried after I asked how you were and she said she didn't know where you were!"

You rubbed your eyes and stood up from the bed, wincing softly when you felt a headache coming on. "Listen, I'm an adult. I can go out to parties and do whatever the hell I like."

Natasha sighed and softly grabbed your arm, "Come on, we're leaving,"

The car ride was silent as you drove back to the compound. You started to drift back asleep as you felt so exhausted and honestly just need a massive sleep.

You were asleep when Natasha pulled up at the compound.

Natasha slowly picked up your body and carried you into the compound in bridal style.

She pulls the covers back and softly placed your sleeping form down onto the bed. She kissed the top of your head and sat down at her desk to finish some mission reports while she waited for you to wake up.

She wasn't mad with you, more so just disappointed and upset you had broken the only promise she had asked you to keep.

You woke up when Natasha accidentally hit a bunch of pens and pencils out of her pen holder. She cursed softly when she noticed she woke you, "Sorry, sweetheart." She muttered, picking up the fallen pens and pencil.

You went to smile and tell her that it was okay but you quickly remembered what had happened before you fell asleep. You frowned angrily as you expected Natasha to start lecturing you on drinking a couple days before a mission, but Natasha simply waved her hand at you. "I'm not going to lecture you. Not right now at least."

Natasha stood up and quickly went to the bathroom, returning with some aspirin and a cup of water. "I've taken you off the mission cause' there is no way in hell am I letting you go on a mission hungover." You pouted and went to protest because you wanted to go on the mission but Natasha shut you up quickly with a glare.

She gave you the aspirin and the cup of water. You swallowed it quickly and winced at the uncomfortable feeling of the tablet falling down your throat.

Natasha stood up and started to head back to her desk but paused when you blurted out an apology, "I'm sorry, Natasha,"

Natasha nodded slowly, accepting your apology but she still felt upset that you had lied to her.

You noticed this by her facial expressions. "I know you said to never lie in our relationship but I don't think you understand how badly I wanted to go to this party, and I know that isn't an excuse but I just wanted to put that out there." You rambled, fiddling with your fingers.

Natasha hummed, signaling for you to continue as she knew you wanted to say more.

"I'm really sorry, and I swear I'll never lie to you again," You sighed out "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Natasha sat on the end of the bed with a small sigh, "I want you to rest for the day, and please just be honest with me next time, I almost had the entire team come looking for you after your mother said you weren't home."

You immediately felt guilty. Had you really scared Natasha that badly?

"I'm sorry," You apologise again, tears forming at how guilty and mad you were at yourself.

Natasha's face softened and she reached out for you, sitting her back against the bed and hugging you tightly. "Shh, it's okay, detka, I'm not mad at you."

You clung to her tightly as you fought back tears. You felt awful about lying to Natasha and your hangover wasn't helping.

Natasha raked her fingers through your hair softly, scratching at your scalp occasionally. "You're okay, I forgive you."

She did forgive you but if you ever lied to her again she wouldn't be happy.

[arumin-arureruto]

Better Than Advil (AOT college AU series)

art by pechaberriee on twitter

no warnings! just some light fluff

word count: 2.5k

established relationship with Eren + light fluff with Armin

mostly gender neutral

authors note at the end please read

I suggest you read the first 2 parts of the series first:

I think I like when it rains (part 1)

happy birthday Eren (part 2)

The sun is too bright. The air conditioning was too loud. Everything was too much. You reached over to the spot where your boyfriend was supposed to be but all you felt was an empty space and covers. you reached over for your phone, the clock showing that it was 8:54am, why was Eren up so early? You sat up and were about to get up to look for him when a sharp pain in your head stopped you.

Your hands immediately started rubbing your temples and you started regretting every decision you've ever made, how much did you drink last night at the party? The lack of sleep due to certain... nightly activities probably didn't help. While you sat there feeling like your head was gonna explode, Eren walked out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Good morning" he walked over to the bed and leaned down to give you a kiss. You groan in response and fall back down in bed. "Hell of a hangover huh" he said while rummaging through his drawers for some underwear "Yeah no shit" you shot back, Eren put his hands up in defense "jeez ok I won't say anything anymore". You felt kinda bad for being rude "sorry" "don't worry, but I'm worried about who's gonna take care of you while I'm out" Where was he going? "Out where?" he didn't mention going anywhere, or at least you don't remember him doing that. "We were supposed to go visit my parents since they didn't get to see me on the day of my actual birthday, but I don't think you wanna go anywhere right now do you?" Oh crap you had forgotten about that, although Eren's family was particularly fond of you you don't think they would appreciate you being hungover at a family gathering. "Sorry I'm missing it" You felt bad for not going with him but there's no way you would be able to function at the state you were currently in. "Don't even think about that, focus on getting better" he said as he finished getting dressed.

While your head felt like it was going to explode and every bone in your body urged you to stay in bed, you still got up to go to the bathroom to take an Advil. When you looked in the bathroom mirror you realized, god you looked rough, Eren walked in and saw you staring in the mirror spaced out and made a face at you while grabbing his toothbrush, "why are you taking your toothbrush?" you thought it was just a day trip. "In case I end up sleeping over, you know how my family is they always insist we stay longer so I thought it was better to prepare." "oh ok" You felt a little sad you would spend the day and possibly the night alone but it wasn't the end of the world. You took an Advil, went back to bed and tried to sleep while Eren packed a bag to stay the night. After 20 or so minutes Eren woke you up, his face inches from yours. "I'm leaving, take care okay? I love you" He smelled so damn good. "I love you too." He smiled and gave you a kiss. You watched him leave and readjusted yourself in bed, listening to your boyfriend grab his keys and locking the door, leaving you alone for the day in your apartment.

The Advil kicked in fast pulling you into a deep sleep, after what it felt like seconds had passed you woke up again. Although you still felt slightly groggy from sleep you decided to get up and start the day, staying in bed all day wasn't gonna make you feel better. You got up and went to the bathroom to brush your teeth and wash your face, the cold water to the face woke you right up. Despite feeling slightly more awake the effects of the hangover were still prominent, so you decided to take it easy. After you were done washing your face you went to the kitchen for some breakfast, when you were done with breakfast you took a shower and started to tidy up the house, wanting to be able to snuggle back into bed with 0 responsibilities.

While cleaning you came across the flannel Armin had let you borrow yesterday after you accidentally spilled wine on your shirt while at Costco. You had left it in your bag and forgotten to give it back to him at the party. You picked up the flannel. “If I don’t return it now i’m gonna forget again and never give it back to him” you thought to yourself out loud. You put on some shoes and headed down the hall to armin’s dorm. You knocked and waited a couple seconds, silence, you knocked again and waited more, after a little while you realized he was probably not home and turned to leave, until you heard footsteps growing near. Armin swung the door open.

-“sorry, I was giving garlic bread a bath and he was being difficult” he said out of breath, water droplets all over his shirt.

-“oh don’t worry, I just came here to return your flannel” you handed him the flannel, feeling kinda awkward since you interrupted him while he was busy.

-“ohhh thank you I was wondering where I had left it”

-“sorry the rush of the party made me completely forget to return it” you said apologetically.

-“oh no don’t worry about it, do you wanna come in? you can watch while I try to get garlic bread to sit still in the bathtub." His golden hair tousled, his face flushed from probably chasing garlic bread around the house, his warm smile was inviting as always, you almost accepted his offer.

-"I would, but I'm still feeling kinda hungover from last night and some more sleep would do me good." With Eren out of town it would be nice to have some company, but your warm comfy bed called your name.

-"Oh I hope you feel better" he put his hand behind his head, you mistook it for him feeling embarrassed but it probably wasn't that.

"Thanks" silence fell between the two of you, you could hear the sound of the ventilation in the empty hallway. After 10 seconds of silence you opened your mouth to say you had to go but Armin spoke up first.

- "Hey Eren is out of town right? He definitely wouldn't want you to be alone while hungover so I'll come check up on you later.

-"Oh no don't worry I'll be fine, some more sleep should do the trick." You waved your hands in front of your body in an attempt to convey that he didn't need to worry about you. Armin laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "If you say so, take care y/n." you said bye and turned to walk back. While you walked back you couldn't help but wish he had insisted a little bit more.

Back in your apartment you dragged yourself around to finish some chores and then dragged yourself back to bed, the minute your head hit the pillow you were engulfed in a deep sleep once again.

knock knock

sounds coming from the living room woke you up, still groggy from sleep it took you a couple seconds to realize someone was at your door. What time was it? You looked for your phone and found it under one of the pillows on your bed. 7:56pm, you had slept for roughly 4 hours.

Knock knock

Shoot, you forgot someone was at the door. "Coming!" you called from your bedroom, hoping that whoever it was could hear you. You took one quick look in the mirror and headed over to open the door.

You opened the door to see Armin standing there with a bag of what you assumed was food guessing by the smell.

"Okay okay I know you said you would be fine by yourself but I couldn't leave you here alone and hungover so I ordered (favorite food) and thought we could have dinner together?"

Surprise turned to confusion which quickly turned to happiness, you laughed and let Armin come in.

- “You’re so sweet Armin I don’t even know what to say” you said while smiling.

- “Don’t say anything, grab a plate and come sit with me.” you headed over to your small kitchen to get plates, glasses and cutlery.

You and Armin sat across from each other on the floor at your coffee table. Although the coffee table wasn’t super small, it was still cramped enough that even cross legged your legs touched underneath. While Armin took the containers out of the bag and served you both. "I love the food from this place, I think about half of my salary goes just to them." You said, almost drooling over the smell alone. "I know it's your favorite so I figure you would appreciate it" He finished loading your plate with food and set it down in front of you ",fun fact, I had no idea this restaurant even existed, it was my first time going there." He started filling his own plate with food. You raised an eyebrow and smiled "How did you know it was my favorite?" He ate a spoonful of food, swallowed it and spoke, "oh y/n I know a lot of things about you, even if you don't know a whole lot about me" you laughed, both your legs shifted under the table, rubbing against each other.

"It's so weird that both you and Mikasa are Eren's best friends, I mean me and Mika are practically conjoined twins but I feel like you and me almost never hangout,." Armin laughed, you felt his leg rub against your again. "We can change that y/n" You smiled and took a bite of your food.

2 minutes later you asked the question that had been in the back of your mind since he got here. “Was Annie too busy to come too?” You saw Armin hesitate for a second before answering, “She’s gonna be at her dad’s until spring break ends, so it’s just me and garlic bread for another 2 weeks.” He finished serving you both.

You ate in silence for a couple minutes before Armin spoke up again. "How long is Eren gonna be out for anyway?" you took a moment to finish chewing your food and replied. "He said it would only be a day trip but his family is pretty pushy on staying the night, so he'll probably come back tomorrow afternoon." Armin took the last bite of his food, setting his utensils down and picking up his glass filled with juice, the ice cubes clinked against the glass. "So you're alone for the night too?" he asked before sipping his drink. You nodded and finished eating the last bit of food on your plate. You picked up your glass and drank.

Armin picked up both of your empty plates and brought them to the sink, "Thank you so much for bringing dinner, you didn't have to." you said from the living room while Armin set down the dirty plates in the sink. "Oh don't thank me yet, there's still dessert." He was so thoughtful. Armin came back with a pint of ice cream and two spoons. "How are you even real?" you asked jokingly, you noticed he didn't bring bowls. "If we eat directly from the carton it's less dirty dishes to wash later," He explained, "We should probably sit on the couch, sitting across from each other it gonna make it hard to eat." his logic made sense. You got up and sat on the couch with him, shoulders touching, you got a whiff of a citrussy scent that followed him around everywhere.

"Because I'm a very nice person I'll let you hold the carton." He handed you the carton. "Oh what a gentleman you are" you joked "Why of course." He agreed and you both laughed. You ate the ice cream and talked about a tv show you had been watching, until the topic of eye colors came up.

“you know, I like having blue eyes, I find them pretty nice, except when Connie likes to make sure I know that, to quote him ‘blue eyes are a product of incest so that means that your relatives fucked each other’ and he says that to me at least once a week” You burst out laughing, that sounded very much like connie. “I’ve never thought too much about my eyes, I think they’re okay.” you said while getting another spoonful of ice cream. “I find your eyes really pretty y/n” you laughed and looked down. “You’re saying that to be nice.” he laughed a little, “No no no I mean it, here, look at me” Armin lightly grabbed your face, his thumb lifting your chin, you could feel heat rushing to your face as his got closer to yours. Those bright blue eyes staring at you made you feel naked. Armin kept staring at you, mouth slightly agape, he took a deep breath and swallowed, then slowly pulled away. “See, told you, you have nice eyes y/n” “Thanks” was all you could muster.

After the ice cream carton was empty you got up to throw it away, Armin followed you into the kitchen. “Do you need help with the dishes?” How was he so polite? “No it’s fine I got it, I cant thank you enough for dinner and the company.” He ran his hand through his golden blond hair, “That’s what friends are for is it not?” You smiled, “Yeah, you’re right, i’ll still make it up for you some day.” It was his turn to smile “i’ll be waiting”. A few seconds passed in silence before Armin spoke again. “I should get going, garlic bread might have ripped off my curtains since I haven’t given him food for 2 hours.” You laughed, “Yeah you should probably go, thanks again Armin.” “You’re welcome y/n”. He turned and left your apartment, leaving you alone in the kitchen with a smile on your face. Your day started with a nasty hangover and ended with a peaceful dinner with a friend, today had been a good day.

OUTSIDE YOUR APARTMENT

Armin walked out of your apartment and down the hall to his as fast as he could without seeming weird or rude, not even bothering to put his shoes on right. As soon as he walked through the door he slammed it shut and leaned against it. All he saw in his mind was you, the way you laughed, the way your eyes lit up when you were happy. Lost in thoughts of you. he looked around his living room and spotted the flannel he had let you borrow. Armin walked over, picked it up and smelled it, the scent on it not his own. It was yours, the flannel smelled like your perfume. he set the flannel down and sat down on the couch. His hand made its way to his heart. “Oh you treacherous thing.”

a/n: HEYYYY GUYS, this college au series is close to my heart and I want it to make as enjoyable as possible for everyone, my plan to do that is by letting you, the reader, choose your ending. What I mean by that is that you will have the option to choose if you want to end up with, Armin, Mikasa, or stay with Eren. How it's gonna work: Each character will get a "preview", and as you can see this one was Armin's, the next one will be Mikasa's then followed by Eren's, after the next 2 previews are published you will get to choose who do you want your final bae to be. I'll try to update all 3 routes as frequent as possible but I can't make any promises, hopefully this made sense!!! Any questions feel free to send an ask or comment, love you guys.

[daryl-dixon-daydreams]

Words: 2,193 Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader Reader pronouns: she/her Era: the prison Warnings: none really Summary: Y/N falls ill and Daryl goes to make sure she's okay, only to discover her cell is empty. A/N: Just a short and sweet fic! For all you fellow migraine suffers out there! Requested by: @winchestershiresauce and anon!

Your name: submit What is this?

“Gettin’ real sick of staring at these ugly fuckers,” Daryl said, smashing the end of the metal rod in his hand through the chainlink fence and into the brain of a particularly loud walker. He watched carelessly as it crumpled to the ground and was immediately replaced by another.  “Yeah, well—” you jabbed the crowbar in your hand into the temple of the seemingly endless infected clamoring at the fence, “someone has to do it.” You paused for a moment as your head suddenly swam. Daryl immediately noticed.  “What? Ya alright?” He thought maybe you looked a little pale all of a sudden, which was strange considering the sweltering heat and humidity. He was sure he was red-faced and he knew he was soaked with sweat.

You squeezed your eyes shut for a moment and shook your head. “It’s nothing. I’m good.” You resumed your thankless and grim task, picking out another infected dead one to put down. You felt Daryl’s eyes on you for a moment longer before he turned back to the fence. You wiped the sweat from your brow with the back of your hand and pushed on, but it was only a few more minutes when you felt your vision start to change and the familiar stabbing pain began to grow behind your eyes. Daryl watched as the crowbar dropped to your side and you froze again, squeezing your eyes shut, a grimace wrinkling your brow. “Hey—s’goin’ on? And don’t feed me some bullshit about how you’re fine,” he drawled. He watched your fist clench around the iron crowbar. “Just—just a little too much sun probably. I’m just gonna go get some water and shade for a bit. I’m fine. Really,” you said, opening your eyes again and turning to look at him. His eyes were narrowed as he peered back at you, concern obvious on his face. “I’ll walk ya up—” “No. No, Daryl, I’m fine,” you reassured him, forcing out a light laugh. “Just keep at it down here. I’ll see if Glenn or Maggie can come down. There’s too many walkers. We need to cut this herd down or we’ll lose the fence,” you said, already walking backwards toward the gate. “I’m fine,” you tossed out one more time, forcing a smile that you knew wasn’t entirely natural. He watched you turn and let yourself through the gate, taking the alleyway between the fences back up toward the prison. Hopefully you just needed to rest a little while... He continued to work on thinning the herd for a while but found himself distracted. Neither Maggie nor Glenn came down to help and it was possible they were just busy, but he found himself fixating on an intrusive thought that you’d collapsed somewhere of heat exhaustion on your way back to the cell block. He finally decided to take a break himself and make sure you were alright. He could see if anyone else was available to help on the fence too. The archer didn’t find you anywhere on his way back inside, collapsed or otherwise. He breezed into the cell block, stalking past Beth who had Judith in her arms. He slowed as he neared the cell you’d claimed and was surprised to see that it was empty. He spun on his heel and headed right back out toward Beth. “Hey. Ya seen Y/N come in here?” “She came through a little while ago, but she left again,” Beth said. “But ya did see her?” Daryl asked again. Beth nodded. “Yeah. I saw her. Why? What’s goin’ on?” She saw worry in the archer’s expression. “Any idea where she went?” Beth shook her head. “No. Daryl, what’s goin’ on?” “Nah, nothin’. She just—she was out on the fence with me and said she wasn’t feelin’ well. I just wanted to make sure she was alright. I was thinkin’ I’d find her in bed but she ain’t there.” “Oh,” Beth said. There was something like a realization on her face and Daryl paused. “What?” “Nothin’,” Beth said again, averting her eyes back toward Judith.  “Ya ain’t a good liar,” he said, a little annoyed that she obviously knew something she wasn’t saying. “C’mon. Spit it out,” he said, flicking his fingers at her. Beth looked up at him again and still seemed unsure. “It’s just—she doesn’t really want anyone to know...” “Know what?” he pressed. Beth looked hesitant, but the look on Daryl’s face convinced her to spill it. “Sometimes—she—she gets migraines. They can make her real sick,” Beth said, bouncing Judith on her hip. “Only reason I know is because I saw her leavin’ with her pillow one time real early in the mornin’ when I was up helpin’ with Judith.” “Leavin’? Leavin’ to where?” “She needs it dark and quiet... so I think she goes to one of the other cell blocks,” Beth said. “But she really told me not to say anythin’.“ Daryl stood stunned for a moment. “One of the other cellblocks?” Beth nodded. “Ya mean with those bloodstains and shit all over the place?” Beth shrugged. “I told her no one would care but she insisted I didn’t tell anyone anythin’.” Before Beth could ask him not to let you know that he knew, his broad shoulders were already disappearing back out the door. Daryl checked two cell blocks before he heard the sound of you being sick. He pushed through the cellblock gate, which creaked lazily on its hinges, and found you huddled over a bucket. You rinsed your mouth out with water and didn’t notice him standing in the cell doorway until you had sunk heavily back down on the edge of the mattress. You startled a little and Daryl watched your expression and body language just sag. 

“Great...” you muttered. “Did Beth rat me out?” you asked, sliding further back onto the bed and wiping a shaky hand across your clammy forehead. “On a scale of 1 to 10, how disgusting do I look right now?” you asked, leaning your head back against the wall behind you and shutting your eyes. Daryl was just about the last person you wanted to see you like this. He watched a flash of pain flit across your face. “‘bout a 5,” he drawled, stepping into the cell. You cracked one eye open to take in his expression and saw that although one corner of his mouth was quirked slightly upwards at his joke, he mainly looked concerned. You closed your eyes again as the light coming in the high cellblock windows made your head throb.

“I’ll be okay. I just need—if I can get to sleep, sometimes that stops it...” You pinched the bridge of your nose, feeling the thudding of your pulse beneath your fingers. “Sometimes?” Daryl repeated. You didn’t respond and he moved farther into the cell until he was standing at the side of the bunk. “I thought it was yer head. How come ya got sick?” he asked. You took in a deep breath and tried to let it out steadily. “If the pain’s too intense sometimes it can make me nauseous.” Oof. Talking was not helpful. “Mmm.” You shook your head. “Can’t talk.”  “Hmm...” Daryl considered you for a moment. “Scooch. And lie down.” You looked up at him, surprised, through bleary eyes, the aura of your migraine distorting your vision uncomfortably. “What?” “Ya heard me,” he said, his tone soft. You obeyed and shifted closer to the wall, settling down on your side. Daryl squeezed himself in beside you, sitting up with his back against the wall, legs crossed at the ankle.  Your eyes were closed, but he still saw your expression tighten as waves of pain crested and fell. “What can I do?” he drawled quietly.  You shook your head. “Just—nothing...” you murmured, feeling a hot wash of shame spread over you. The next moment your eyes shot open as you felt Daryl’s fingers running over your hair, following a strand gently, brushing lightly over you. You peered up at him in surprise and he immediately pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth and chewed it anxiously. His fingers left you for a moment. “Uhh—s’that... help?” he asked, his hand hovering above you. You nodded and closed your eyes again, just in time that you didn’t see how red Daryl’s cheeks and ears suddenly were. “Actually, yeah. That helps...” you sighed. His fingers landed in your hair again and resumed their gentle movements. He watched your breathing slow and deepen, and you seemed to sink more heavily into your pillow. Once you were asleep, Daryl carefully slipped from the cell and returned with a blanket for you, covering you over gently. He debated about heading back to the main cellblock, but the idea of leaving you there alone bothered him. Ya shouldn’t be in a fucking prison to start with, but alone in that cellblock that still held signs of unspeakable horrors? That was out of the question. So, instead, he slipped back onto the edge of the bunk, setting his back to the wall again, and settled in next to you. Maybe it was the hard work out on the fence earlier, but he was soon asleep too. When you woke up many hours later, you were surprised to see Daryl beside you asleep. his head nodded down toward his chest. He’d stayed there next to you? That whole time? He woke as you stirred a little, leaning up on an elbow and peering up at him, rubbing your eyes with your free hand.  “Hey,” he said, feeling suddenly awkward and climbing off the bunk and onto his feet. “How ya feelin’?” You nodded. “Better. Thanks. Just... a bit hungover,” you said wearily. The sharpness of your migraine had faded to a fuzzy kind of ache, and your whole body felt fatigued. “Hungover without the fun of gettin’ lit in the first place? That’s some serious bullshit,” he drawled, leaning back against the wall behind him, arms crossed over his broad chest. “Yeah, tell me about it,” you said, swinging your legs over to sit on the edge of the bed, the blanket falling from over you to land in a soft pile. “Thanks...” you murmured again, feeling that creeping wave of shame rising in you again. Daryl must have sensed it because you could feel his blue eyes on you, studying you, and you glanced up at him. “Why didn’t ya tell me?” he asked. “I mean, why hide it?” He looked around the empty cellblock and his eyes landed on the bloodstains on the floor outside the cell you were in and the piles of trash nearby. “This ain’t where ya should be when yer sick. Ya should be back where—where we can take care of ya...” He’d almost said “I” instead of we, and he felt his heart start pounding.  You hung your head and stared down at your hands.��“I don’t want to be a burden...” you said quietly. “It’s better if I just deal with it. Alone.” Daryl scoffed and you glanced up at him. “Tha’s stupid. Ya ain’t alone. Ya got a family. And ya ain’t a burden cuz ya get sick. Ain’t yer fault. Can’t control it. Ya didn’t choose it. It’s the shit hand ya been dealt.” You shrugged and peered down at your hands again, anxious. “This why ya had to back outta that run the other week at the last minute? And—that time when we were out tryin’ to track that horse?” Your jaw clenched and you nodded. “Usually I know when they’re coming on. Sometimes I have more warning and sometimes hardly any at all... Before the world went to shit I had a couple medications that really helped, but—can’t exactly walk into a pharmacy now and fill a prescription,” you said wryly. “It’s fine. I manage them. But... I know it makes me weaker...” “Weaker? Nah. That ain’t true. If anythin’ it makes ya stronger cuz ya gotta deal with that pain.” You shook your head. “No. What if I’m out there and one hits me? That’s a weakness, Daryl. It’s dangerous.” “Mmm,” Daryl hummed, chewing on his bottom lip. He seemed to make some decision at that moment and straightened up. “Look. From now on? If yer gettin’ sick, ya just tell me, alright? No matter where we are, I’ll always make sure yer safe. If we’re outside the fence, we’ll find someplace to hole up. If we’re in here, I’ll make sure ya get to bed and that everyone keeps fuckin’ quiet so you can rest—well, ‘cept Lil Asskicker, but can’t do nothin’ about that,” he drawled.  You managed a half smile. “Daryl, you don’t have to—” “I know I ain’t gotta, but that’s how it’s gonna be. Like I said, yer not alone.”  You were a little overwhelmed at the moment and you felt a bubble of emotion forming in your chest. You cleared your throat and tried to gather yourself for a moment before you looked back up at him. You knew there was no point in arguing. “You’re the boss,” you said, when you finally met his blue eyes. He rolled his eyes at you in response.  “Alrigh’, we both know that ain’t true... C’mon. Let’s get ya somethin’ to eat,” he said, tilting his head in the direction of the cell door.  You smiled and took in his broad shoulders and strong arms, feeling another rush of heat in your chest. The softness inside that badass warrior always melted you and you had readily come to the realization that he was simply your favorite person in the world. And soon you planned to tell him so.

[thesuncitysworld]

Final goodbye

This is my work and I would appreciate it if you didn’t steal it for your own use!

Characters: Rafe Cameron X Reader

Summery: when Rafe realises it’s a final goodbye between the two of you.

Warnings: drug use, drinking, slight abuse and it’s sad.

Masterlist

The gif isn’t mine

{two years ago}

“Rafe!” I called out to my boyfriend. He was in the living room with Topper, doing who knows what.

“Yeah?” He said back, from the way his voice distanced away you could tell he wasn’t really paying attention.

“I’m just nipping to the shop, there isn’t enough flour for my cookies.” I heard his foot steps on the hardwood floor. Rafe’s face came from around the corner, a smile presented on it.

“Be safe! You sure you don’t want me to drive you there?” He always did this when I wanted to go somewhere, making sure I’m safe and not getting hurt.

“I’m sure besides Tops here. I will text you when I get there if that makes you feel any better, yeah?” Rafe nodded, bringing me in for a hug. Kissing my forehead.

“Think you could get us a beer each, yknow me and Topper? And if you want one too.” He whispered in my hair, my smile slightly faulted but not for it to completely wipe off.

“Goodbye my love” The name made my heart rate pick up. Steeping back I corrected him.

“It’s see you soon, I’m not going anywhere!” He nodded. His hands coming in contact with my cheeks.

“See you soon, yeah? Be safe.”

{one year ago}

“Rafe!” I called out to my boyfriend. He was in our bedroom, hungover. He went out last night and the night before that and the night before that….

“No need to be so loud, love.” Rafe stopped with the my love a couple months ago. Said ‘you can get that tile back once you care for me.’

I do! I do care for him! Rafe only thinks this due to the fact we keep getting into fights about his alcohol and drug use.

Barry has been at our door more then usual these last weeks. When I brought that up Rafe didn’t like it, first time he hit me in the four years we have been dating.

I left the house with a gash on my cheek, staying at JJ’s house. I woke up with a bunch of texts from Rafe saying how sorry he is, when I got back we got into a bigger argument and he accused me of cheating on him.

I was gonna leave again but he stopped me from doing so, I slept on the sofa that night. In all seriousness I can’t remember the last time we slept in the same bed.

“I’m going out for a bit, okay?” I waited for a response hoping he doesn’t keep me here again. There was a thump from upstairs then the tapping of feet on the stairs.

“We’re you going? Huh?” Rafe’s eyes were blood shot, running nose, messy hair and shaking hands.

“you gonna go and fuck that dude from across the street huh?” His hands came in contact with my cheeks, flinching slightly. I was scared.

“N-no just going to the shop, there isn’t enough flour for my cookies.” I was belittled in his gaze and there was no escape. The Constant battle we have between eachother is tiring.

“Oh? Get me some beer then would you, sweets.” Rafe’s hands were still on my face the coldness on my cheeks was getting unbearable. His shaking hands were making my face vibrate a bit.

“Yeah sure.” I took a step back, waiting. I don’t what for, something good to happen maybe?

“See you soon. Keep em beers safe would ya?” The ghost smile on my face fell. He didn’t care for me and never will.

“Mhm. See you soon.”

{present day} 

“Rafe!” I called to my boyfriend. He was sitting in the kitchen. He wasn’t drunk. My heart aches for him, I just wanted my baby back. The one I fell in love with at the beach.

The Rafe that danced in the dark with me. The Rave that splashed me with the hosepipe because I through a water balloon at him. The Rafe that wanted to drive me two minutes down the road, to the shop, just to make sure I’m safe.

The Rafe that would hold me close to him no matter the weather. The Rafe that was just there. I miss it, I miss him. I have slept on the living room sofa for a year now. Only going into my room when completely necessary.

“I’m leaving!” I shouted. The clank of a glass hitting the kitchen surface could be heard from through the house.

“Where?” He asked, he wasn’t high or drunk. He was hungover, from last night, speaking very quickly because of his head.

“Wait! Why have you got a bag?“ Rafe whispered his question to me. Eyes darting all around my face and hand pointing to the bag in my hand.

“There isn’t enough flour for my cookies.” Was my only answer. He nodded coming closer to me. Rafe’s hands came in contact with me cheeks, they were warm. My eyes glasses over, one of his eyebrows propped up into a questionable gaze.

“Why are you crying, y/n” His thumbs wiped off the water leaking from eyes. There was no sympathy behind his face.

“You will figure it out soon enough. Okay?” I stepped back. Just waiting for my Rafe to come back and tell me to be safe. Ask me if I need a ride. Kiss me on the forehead.

“Okay. Don’t forgot to get my beer will you, y/n?” He was oblivious to anything around him and it pained me to see him like that. I just wish that he could get better, that he would get better.

“See you soon.” He left me standing there. Bag in hand tear streaming down my face. He was so far away from earth he didn’t even realise that I wasn’t in the kitchen making cookies. He was right there as well, sitting in the damn room.

“Goodbye Rafe!” I called out then left without a second glance. That’s when my phone went off the sound of a text echoing the streets.

It’s see you soon, you’re not going anywhere. Get my beer back safe would ya?

[losingitinjersey]

HAPPY BEST HOLIDAY OF THE ENTIRE YEAR!!  

It’s been such a wonderful day!  Well, not entirely.  I got my booster and flu shots yesterday so I woke up this morning (at 4 a.m. thanks to Aug) feeling slightly hungover but it’s totally worth it.  My bad for scheduling them the day before Halloween!

Since I didn’t feel 100% there was no walk but instead the girls and I got to listen to my Monster Mash Pandora station all morning!  Erp went down for her nap time at noon (where she took off her diaper within the first 30 minutes so I went in and put her in a sleep sack.  Then she took off the sleep sack and took off her diaper.  So fun.  I’ve purchased the toilet training book and toilet recommended by you guys, thank you!) and at 2 p.m. it was family photo time!  

This year’s costume theme brought to you by nostalgic Halloween.  Since Kevin couldn’t see under the sheet it was more of a challenging affair than I was expecting.  Erp was scared of the ghost costume and Kevin was sweating and blind under the sheet and the glasses kept falling off but we took a total of three pictures and thankfully one was good enough!  

I then changed out of my dress and heels into a more walk appropriate, yet still festive outfit, and we took a family walk down to the town square where there was a Halloween Parade!  Unfortunately, though we were there an hour before it was scheduled to end, it apparently was already over so we just hung out on a bench for a bit watching all the other families who were also late to the event.  A dad came up and asked about our stroller so I got to gush about it, which I love doing.  

Erp tried her first piece of candy ever and, amazingly, gave no hesitation before popping it in her mouth (unlike literally anything else we give her to try).  She was definitely a fan and kept going back to the bowl for more.  She had a total of two pieces (a Rolo and Heath bar) before she got cut off.  Excited to try trick or treating next year with her!  

[cosmobutcowboy]

Here’s a lil angst fic I wrote for a friend. But I’ll post it here too! Maybe y’all might like it idk..

I Don’t Do Well With Funerals.

We buried Dally the day after Johnny. Both funerals were a simple affair. Basic Wooden caskets, simple headstones and few at the funeral. I left cigarettes on both graves.

Ponyboy hadn't gone to either funeral. He was still concussed and Darry thought taking him would further upset him. He still wasn't fully out of the woods and had only just started to eat again.

His nightmares had gotten worse, he didn't say anything about it but We all knew. Even when I stayed with him he woke up every night shaking and crying. Sometimes he'd be calling for Mom or Dad, sometimes Johnny. Occasionally Dally.

The rest of the gang went to the funerals, same with the Shepard gang and a few of the guys from the rodeo. Johnnys parents were there. His dad reeking of beer and his mom standing, dazed. His dads eyes were reddened. Maybe he was crying, probably he was hungover.

Dally's old man hadn't gone to his. I wasn't sure he even knew Dallas had died. Hell, i didn't know if he even lived in Tulsa. Dal lived wherever he could. Buck's , Our's, Twobit's, the cooler. He'd even lived in Tims when they weren't at each other's throats.

I had been standing at the mirror, wiping my red rimmed eyes. I had never been much good with funerals, but was anyone? It was strange, I  think I cried more in the last two weeks or so than I had when Mom and Dad died. I think it was that it was so much. Pony and Johnny killing that Soc, them running away, Johnny dying, the rumble, Dally being shot. That gunshot and the awful thud when Dally hit the asphalt of the lot.

Darry walked into the bathroom. "I'm going down to Buck's to pick up Dallys things. You gonna come with?" He asked. I didn't really want to, but I thought Darry didn't want to go alone so I nodded and we got in the car. "You reckon Pony will be ok?" I asked. "I'm not sure. The doctor said he should start to come around in the next week or so but I.. I'm not sure." He said. "Yeah. But what if he's not?" I asked. "Don't worry about that, He will be." He said firmly. I don't think I believed him. But I wouldn't argue. Not today.

We arrived at Bucks after a few minutes in the car. I had barely been there outside of parties. I had never gone without Dally. It had a weird presence, without him. Last time I was there, it was a day or two after Ponyboy and Johnny took off. I had shown up asking if anyone had seen them. I saw my shirt, the one Ponyboy had worn that night. So I knew someone knew. Dally said he didn't but he did.

Darry knocked the door. "Doors open!" A Voice called. We opened it and went in. In the living room, Buck was leaning against a table, Tim was standing behind a sofa. They were both drinking, slightly drunk. Still in their funeral clothes. "Post funeral day drinking are we?" Darry asked, exasperation heavy in his voice. "Yeah" Buck said. "Typical" Darry sighed. "You what?" Tim asked. "Tim, you really think drinking's gonna do much for you? What, do you think it'll fix it?" Darry asked, an edge to his voice. "You rather I blew up like Dally did when Johnny died? You rather I robbed a store? Cuz we all know where that got him" Tim snapped. "Darrel, just leave it. Dal's dead. We were close to him we don't know what to do. None of us are good with Death n all. Can ya just leave it?" Buck asked. "Y'all were close to him? What and we weren't? You think his closest friends found his funeral easy. We watched him die. Do you think this is easy? My youngest brother is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. We're all a wreck. Every day we have to sit here, wondering what we could have done differently. For him, For Johnny and for us. But sure, drink through it. Typical. Fucking typical." Darry practically shouted.

Buck looked slightly intimidated. To be honest I was a bit scared. Darry rarely said anything like that, let alone cussed. "Don't blame yourself. There was nothing you could have done. None of us could." Buck slurred. "Myself? I blame you. Both of you. You let him run around doing whatever he wanted. You let him live in, what is this? A shitty low-grade honky tonk?" He said. Darry then turned to Tim "And you. You were always running around. Startin fights, ticking him off. Encouraging him". Tim stayed silent. It shook me up. I never knew Darry to be like this. I never knew Tim would be so quiet. He was always yelling and swearing over something.

Darry and Buck spent a few more minutes snipping at each other. The sound of their voices sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Eventually I couldn't stand it. "Damn it. Can y'all stop fighting. Dally wouldn't want it woudl he?" I said desperately.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds before I heard a dry bitter laugh behind me. "Well, y'all can stop arguing cuz we just found who really was closest to him. Wouldn't have Wanted this huh? I think he'd find it funny." Tim laughed.

"Leave him alone" Darry said. "I ain't doing anything to him" Tim said. I didn't want a fight to begin. I just wanted to go home. "Buck? Can we have Dallys old things?" I asked. "Yeah, yeah I packed his stuff away. I'll go get them" he said. I don't know why but I followed. We walked up the stairs and into the room Dally had basically lived in the last two years.

It had a DW scratched into the door and various stains and marks on the carpet. All his things were thrown in a box. Buck hesitated before heading me it. "Y'know I'll miss him." He said. "He was a nutcase but god, he, he was like a kid brother almost. you know?".

I nodded, overtaken with a fresh wave of Grief. I internally begged myself not to cry. Not here or now. The box was surprisingly heavy in my hands. "Oh yeah" Buck said, reaching in his pocket. "Found this in my glovebox. It's your friends isnt it?". He produced Twobits switch and handed it to me. I pocketed it, wondering why Dally had it.

I went to go downstairs. I turned to look at Buck, who was sat on Dallys bed. "You going back down ?" I asked. "Nah I'll stay here a while I think" he responded. "Right, I'll see ya around." I said. "Take care kid." He said. And I went downstairs. It was the last time I'd probably leave the place I'd known Dallas Winston to live since I was fourteen.

[so-writing]

Sugar, Honey, Ice and Tea - Matthew Tkachuk (14)

all posts in the master list

--

He said with his whole chest HE TOOK MY GIRL OUT

What the fuck?! I’m not his girl????!! 

And then he just fucking ran away, typical fucking idiot bitch behavior 

I’m so annoyed. Has he said anything to you?

Like, honestly, this is such bullshit! Who does he think he is!? HIS GIRL FUCKIN REALLY????

Brady was definitely not going to love the string of texts you angrily sent him but you were far too irritated to care and lately, he was really the only person you could talk to about Matthew. 

Because of ‘less than ideal ice conditions’ you had another day off and you weren’t sure what to do with your free time but you were confident that it was going to involve alcohol. 

Whatever was going on between yourself and Matthew had presented itself in the form of a giant dumpster fire and you were going to need something stiff to really think through it. Not in the mood to socialize, you decided against texting a few of your friends to meet for brunch, instead going to the local liquor store and grabbing two bottles of your favorite red wine and a small container of Fireball. 

You were sure you were going to regret the Fireball because taking shots of cinnamon whiskey while drinking red wine was fucking disgusting, but whatever, treat yourself, right?

++

Drunk. Druuuuuuunk. You were fucking hammered. 

“Why the fuck hasn’t he texted back,” you mused, “what could he possibly be fucking doing?”

Entirely too intoxicated, and too impatient in general, you called Brady.

“Everything ok?” he answered immediately.

“Yeah, yeah I just want to know if Matty talked to you.”

“Matty? Fucking hell, have you been drinking?”

“No,” you lied, “I’ve never had a drink in my life.” 

“My god, you’re wasted. Are you at home?”

“Yep!”

“Good, stay there.”

You didn’t argue as he ended the call and you downed the rest of your glass of wine. Twenty minutes passed until someone was pounding on your door and you were far too inebriated to bother checking who was knocking. 

Regret set in as soon as you opened the door.

“Getting fucking hammered they day before work isn’t a good look,” Matthew pushed past you and barreled into your apartment, “time to sober up.”

“No.”

“No?”

“You fucking heard me, Matthew, no.”

“Brady told me you had a lot to drink but I obviously underestimated him.”

“I like Brady, he’s nice to me.”

Matthew’s frown slipped into a grin as you spoke about his brother, “You need to sleep.”

“It’s like, 4pm, I don’t need to sleep.”

“Whatever you say.”

He quietly let himself out of your apartment as you poured another glass of wine, but not before grabbing a bottle of water from your fridge and ibuprofen from your medicine cabinet and sitting them the side table next to your bed. 

++

You woke up with a pounding head and heavy limbs. The amount of alcohol you consumed the day before was insane and you couldn’t believe you were up. You hadn’t bothered with your phone at all after calling Brady the day before but now you were catching up on your messages. 

From Brady:

You’re fucking gone. I’m sending Matt to make sure you’re good.

Don’t get pissed at me for that.

Text me when you’re up again, want to make sure my future sister is stable.

From Matthew:

Text me when you wake up, I’m kind of worried about you.

Please text me as soon as you see this. Please.

You fired off a message to Brady, letting him know you were safe and healthy and only slightly hungover. The last part was a lie, you were incredibly hungover, but he didn’t need to know. You ignored Matthew’s messages and didn’t bother to respond. You weren’t sure if drunk-you was trying to look out for hungover-you but you were more than grateful for the bottle of water and ibuprofen sitting next to your bed. 

As you dressed for work, you downed as much water as you could and tried your hardest to not look how you felt, which was like you’d been hit by a semi truck. You would need an entire lake’s worth of water and even more caffeine to get through the day.

++

“You’re kidding me, is that 9x9 white lightening?”

“It might be…” you trailed off, taking a sip of your coffee. 

“Rough night?” 

“A little bit.” 

You dropped into a chair next to your coworker and tried to ignore her judgement of your highly caffeinated, incredibly sugary drink. The morning meeting was always boring but you had a feeling that today’s would be worse, given all the forces working against you. 

Just as you suspected, the morning meeting was uninteresting and as soon as you exited the conference room, refilling your water bottle was the number one priority. 

You weren’t paying attention to what was happening in front of you, instead keeping your eyes on your phone and heading to fill your bottle until you slammed into the hard chest of someone else.

“Jesus Christ,” you spat, irritated that someone got in your way, “watch where you’re going!”

“Take your own advice,” he responded, and you knew exactly who it was that you’d run into, “thanks for texting me back this morning. I even asked nicely.”

“Oh,” your cheeks reddened, “sorry, didn’t check my phone.”

Matthew rolled his eyes, “no need to lie to me. I talk to my brother.”

Oh. Well, you were definitely fucking caught.

“Sorry, sorry, I just, sorry.” 

You avoided making any further eye contact with him and hurried past, trying your damnedest to get as far away from him as you possibly could.

*

He would never admit to anyone that it hurt, but it definitely hurt. 

“Sorry, didn’t check my phone.”

She lied and that sucked. She had no problem updating Brady, a person she’d never even fucking met, but she couldn’t be bothered to keep him in the loop?

He was serious about moving on from whatever feelings he harbored toward her but it was difficult when she was standing in front of him, even if she was lying straight to his face. 

Matthew needed something temporary, a bandaid, to get him through the night and he knew exactly who the call. Eden would answer and she would be more than happy to the spend night in his bed. 

++

“You’ve been kind of weird lately,” she pressed a kiss to his Adam’s apple as she waited for his response. 

“Sorry,” Matthew tried, “i’ve been off my game.”

“I get it, pressure and all that,” Eden continued her trail of kisses down his neck and across his chest.

He should have loved it. He should have enjoyed her soft lips make their way down his neck to his hips but the only thing he could think about was not Eden. He let her continue, though, and made sure he didn’t say the wrong name when she sucked him off. 

It wasn’t until she was seated on his hips, sliding up and down his erection that he realized it wasn’t fun for him anymore. Sleeping with anyone he could bring home used to be exciting and fun and kind of mysterious but not anymore.

He felt bad about it, but all Matthew wanted was for her to finish and get out of his apartment. He didn’t even care if he found his own high, because honestly, the only person he wanted to help him spill over the edge was someone else. 

There was no more denying it, no more pushing his feelings aside as he slept with women that meant nothing to him. 

He had a small taste of her, in the drunken kiss she’d given him, but now he was sure he needed more. No, not needed, he had to have more. He had to have her entirely. 

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

𝑀𝑎𝑓𝑖𝑎! 𝐴𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑧: 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑆/𝑂 𝐺𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝐷𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑘

Disclaimer: In no way am I condoning, supporting, justifying or encouraging mafia activities or lifestyle. This is all fictional and not meant to represent real life scenarios.

Bonus naggy mom disclaimer: Everyone please drink responsibly, alcohol can seriously mess up your five senses and you'll be hating yourself in the morning when you're hungover and remember all the dumb shit you did. And especially don't drink and drive, if you plan to drink, be sure to have a responsible designated driver or call an Uber, taxi, Lyft, etc.

✧𝓚𝓲𝓶 𝓗𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓳𝓸𝓸𝓷𝓰✧

You opened your eyes, the slight light coming from the slit of the curtains hurting your eyesight. You tried lifting your head, but ultimately failed as a killer headache took over. You groaned and fell back on the pillow.

"Maybe now you'll think twice before doing something stupid like, oh... I don't know? Hmm... getting wasted at a sketchy bar and then roaming around the streets alone!"

You didn't even notice Hongjoong was in the room till his nagging made you aware of his presence.

"Don't yell at me! My head hurts!" You exclaimed, clutching your head.

Hongjoong shook his head in disapproval as he reached over and poured you a glass of water. He wasn't actually mad at you. He was just panicked so much last night when he couldn't find you anywhere, thinking about all the things that could happen to you, if they didn't already. He was actually relieved to find you all in one piece.

"Here. I'll go make you something for your hangover." Hongjoong handed you the glass of water along the some painkillers before heading out to the kitchen.

"I love you Joongie." You called out, knowing full well he wasn't mad at you, just worried.

"Of course you do. Who else would put up with your crazy antics?"

You laughed at his usual way of saying he loved and adored you as well.

✧𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓴 𝓢𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓱𝔀𝓪✧

"I don't wanna go home!" You whined as you tried to break your hand away from Seonghwa's grip, who was currently dragging you through the parking lot.

"I never asked for your opinion and frankly right now I don't care." He replied, turning around and proceeding to lift you up and carry you into the car.

"You're so mean Park Seonghwa! Never letting me have fun." You said as you tried slapping his hands away as he strapped you into the seat.

"I let you have fun.... safe and wholesome fun. Not this kind of rowdy fun that ends with you complaining the next day." Seonghwa sighed trying not to hurt you.

"I never complain!" You protested.

Seonghwa smirked.

"Oh no? Let's see if that's true tomorrow."

He knew it was all bullshit. Tomorrow you'd be running your mouth, cursing yourself for drinking so much and he'd still be there taking care of you because he loves you and he's a sucker for you..... also to tell you he was right all along.

✧𝓙𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓨𝓾𝓷𝓱𝓸✧

Yunho was seriously regretting taking you to this club. He should have known that since you were tinier than him and Mingi, obviously your alcohol intake would be much lower than theirs. Mingi didn't help either, he kept pushing drinks to you even after Yunho told him to stop.

"Lighten up Yunho, when did you become such a boring stick in the mud?" Mingi complained.

"When I started dating, like seriously dating, not like you who just hook up with random people." Yunho couldn't help but take a jab at his friend.

Yunho decided to go outside to cool down for a bit, not wanting to make the situation more tense and to not lose his temper. He came back inside once he was calm and was scared when he couldn't find you.

"Where's Y/N?" He looked over to Mingi.

Mingi just snorted as he pointed to where you were and Yunho was speechless when he saw you on top of a table, dancing wildly as you tried to take your shirt off.

"Ok! I think it's time to go home!" Yunho pulled you off the table and covered you up in his jacket.

"But why? Don't you like it when I strip for you?" You teased him, almost stumbling back when you tried to walk.

"Baby trust me, I do enjoy it...when there's not like 500 people looking. Now come on, I'm taking you home."

✧𝓚𝓪𝓷𝓰 𝓨𝓮𝓸𝓼𝓪𝓷𝓰✧

You woke up and the first thing you saw was Yeosang staring at you with a sly smirk on his face.

"How's my baby feeling?" He couldn't hold back the snort in his voice.

"Don't. Fucking. Start." Your threat wasn't menacing enough as you fell back into the couch when you tried to get up.

"Seriously? You couldn't even take me to the bedroom?" You whined.

"Bathroom is closer in the living room, which actually, you spent a lot of time in, puking your guts out and I helped you out." Yeosang replied proudly as if he did something extraordinary.

"Go away if you're going to be like that, I'm not feeling good." You groaned and plopped a cushion over your head.

Yeosang pouted and gently patted your tush.

"Aww come on baby, you know I'm only playing. How about I go make you something to help you? Hmm?"

You nodded softly and Yeosang melted at how cute you were, and went to the kitchen to make you food.....but since he was also a little shit, he made it a point to make as much noise as possible just to annoy you.

"Kang fucking Yeosang! Stop making so much noise! My head is going to burst!" You screeched.

✧𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓲 𝓢𝓪𝓷✧

"Ok there we go."

San struggled a bit due to you squirming around, but he finally managed to get you tucked in bed. Your drunk self had other plans though and grabbed him by his belt loops.

"Sannieee....." You whined.

"What?" He asked, trying to stop your hands from wandering too far.

You giggled softly before saying:

"Please fuck me."

San blushed slightly and chuckled.

"Baby as much as I'd love to, you're too drunk and about to pass out anytime. I'm not going to take advantage of you in your condition. I love and respect you too much to do that."

You became emotional at his words and actually started crying. San became flustered.

"No please don't cry sweetheart! You're going to make me cry and we can't have that." San bent down and started trying to calm you down, stroking your hair and kissing your cheeks.

"I just can't believe you actually said that. You love me so much to-"

You didn't get to finish as you passed out immediately.

"There it is. You see? Told you you'd pass out."

San couldn't get mad as you were hilariously cute whenever you got wasted.

✧𝓢𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓜𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓲✧

Mingi stood staring at the people in front of him: San, Wooyoung and Yunho just sat silently in the living room, while Yeosang held a totally drunk you up.

Mingi sighed.

"You know....when I said keep Y/N company....I didn't mean get them wasted!" His voice boomed through the living room.

"Ok...true...but look on the bright side.... at least it was in your house and not some club or bar...right?" Wooyoung tried reasoning with him.

Mingi was so furious at them, he actually began scolding them, adding a few insults to reprimand them for dragging you, his innocent and pure baby, into their reckless behavior.

"Mingi..." You tapped on his arm for the 20th time.

"Not now sweety, I'm not finished yet." He shrugged you off.

"Mingi I think I'm gonna-" You clutched your stomach in pain.

Mingi immediately scooped you up in his arms and rushed you to the bathroom where thankfully, he got there in time so you could throw up in the toilet.

"It's ok sweetheart, let it all out." Mingi said as he held your hair up.

Once he was done taking care of you and putting you to bed, he was going to cut off the other's heads for this.

✧𝓙𝓾𝓷𝓰 𝓦𝓸𝓸𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓰✧

"Wooyoung! I think I'm dead!" You called out to him, who was currently in the bathroom.

"You're talking though." He responded.

"Yeah I know! But I'm dead!"

You pressed your face into the pillow, feeling like shit and wanting to die.

"So am I speaking to your ghost?" Wooyoung let out his high pitched laughing.

"Shut the fuck up Wooyoung! This is all your fault!" You screeched.

"How is it my fault?!" He popped his head out the bathroom.

"You're the bad influence! You were there last night repeating 'Another shot! Another shot!' and you kept at it till I swallowed the entire bottle!" You accused him.

"I did no such thing!" He said as he came into the room.

"Oh sure. Now you don't remember! Fuck you." You huffed and covered yourself in the blankets.

Wooyoung snorted and sat down next to you, gently rubbing you through the blanket.

"Come on baby, you know you're not mad at me. After all, who's going to make sure you're taken care of in your state?" He cooed softly.

You peaked out from the blanket.

"Are you really going to be the sweet boyfriend you are and take care of me?"

"Nope. I'm calling Seonghwa to come over and deal with your hungover ass." He laughed and backed away when he felt you shift.

"Jung Wooyoung!" You screamed as you threw the pillow at him.

✧𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓲 𝓙𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓱𝓸✧

Jongho was really holding back only cause you were drunk and you were in front of a lot of people, but you made it really hard cause you kept clinging to him and kissing him randomly. You always did get touchy whenever you got drunk

"Jongho?" You pouted at him.

"What?" He sighed, knowing you were going to say the same thing you've been saying the past 15 minutes.

"I love you." You said as your lips began attacking his neck.

Jongho tried to gently pull you off him, embarrassed that his Hyungs were snickering and laughing at his flustered state.

"Sweetheart could you maybe control yourself?" Jongho groaned when he felt you start to bite at his neck.

"Jongho! This was supposed to be a family friendly get together, not a spot for you two to get kinky." Wooyoung teased him, as Yunho and Mingi pretended to be making out just to piss him off.

Jongho had enough. He told them if they continued, he'd break their necks like one of his many apple victims. He then detached himself from you and picked you up to take you home.

"Enjoy this time while you can Y/N, cause tomorrow I'm making sure you understand why you shouldn't pull stuff like that in front of others."

Gifs not mine, credit goes to their respective owners.