#i love her so much aaaahh

[battydora]

i'm almost done with my MHA sona i'm so excited!!!!! /srs

[coffehbeans]

OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH... *explodes*

Isabell and the Lads CH 2: The Healing Process (2.4)

Writing Masterpost First Part | Last Part | Next Part (eventually) Word Count: ~2.1k Warnings: Angst, blood mention, injury mention, nightmares, talk of dehumanization

---

Isabell lays down on the tiny couch, letting herself sink into the cushions. Just for a moment, she thinks,, resting her head on the plush pillow and hugging her arms around herself. I can be cozy for a little while. She watches the movie play with bleary eyes, and her blinks begin to grow longer and longer.

She’s not going to fall asleep here.

She couldn’t possibly let herself fall asleep here.

Not in the middle of a gigantic room, displayed in the center of a coffee table with two humans lingering nearby. That’s not going to happen. No chance.

She’s just going to rest her eyes for one second.

---

She floats in an endless expanse of nothing. Well, no, she’s not floating. She’s still solidly grounded, her leg anchors her to this table, taking away all her autonomy, her ability to move, to run, to escape. From her grounded position, the ‘endless expanse of nothing’ extends out all around her. The dark open space seems to stretch on forever. This only punctuates the fact that she is entirely other. Ever since she was caught- rescued? – Ever since she’s been out here in the open, with the humans, fully aware of her, she has been painfully, unavoidably aware that she does not belong in this world. Even with the best intentions at the heart of the humans around her, this world was simply not made for her. At best all she could ever hope to be is insignificant. A mild nuisance for anyone kind enough to pity her, perhaps. Of course, she is already well acquainted with what ‘at worst’ looks like for someone of her kind. It’s cages, it’s dehumanization, it’s the act of endlessly being observed. Placed in a plastic box, on a shelf, to be a curiosity for all those who pass by.

She briefly registers Zeke’s form kneeling over her. She manages to blink up at him with hazy eyes, not entirely convinced that she’s not just dreaming this. He seems to move in slow motion as he reaches forward to drape a blanket over her.

Shards of thoughts float to the forefront of her mind as she shifts to pull the blanket close around her.

Warm.

Soft.

Smells nice.

Her mind dances on the blade’s edge of consciousness. Dipping into the void of sleep, and yet remaining vaguely aware of the waking world around her, that horrible, never-ending openness. The vulnerability of her position never leaves the back of her mind. Somewhere inside her there should be instincts, alarms going off. There should be some semblance of self-preservation to pump her with more adrenaline, to keep her going, to push her just a little further. There should be. But it would seem as though her supply has run dry, and then some. Her body aches, her emotions are sapped, she has to face it, she’s already grasping at straws here. She’s already pushed her body well beyond the point of exhaustion. The consequence of that is that now, her body has relinquished the reigns from the part of her brain that holds her rational thought, the part of her that is responsible for keeping her safe, out of the hands of humans. Instead, the control is finally given over to sleep. Once sleep claims her, it digs its claws in deep.

And it is not kind when it lets her go.

Isabell wakes with a start, some unknowable amount of time later. In that split second before her mind catches up to her, a heavy fear pounces on her.

Where am I?

The room is dark. It’s massive. It’s a space for humans, and she’s in the open.

No, no, no.

As soon as she attempts to move, her whole body is wracked with pain. Her leg throbs, her ribs ache. There’s something tangled around her, ensnaring her.

Stuck. Trapped. Captured.

Despite great protest from every inch of her, she sits up. If she had just one second to breathe and take in her surroundings with a clear mind, she maybe could calm herself down. She could assure herself that she is safe.

But she doesn’t get that luxury. Out of the corner of her eye an impossibly large shadow rises over her. A human. Its eyes glint in the darkness and she knows that it is focused right on her.

She’s hurt, she’s vulnerable, out in the open, and she’s been spotted.  She does the only thing that sounds rational to her, she panics.

Isabell shoots to her feet, whirling around to face her captor. That’s her intention at least, unfortunately, she’s still tangled in the blanket. When she goes to correct herself, she places too much weight on her wounded leg. Her leg is of course tired of being pushed beyond its capabilities. Her leg is of course tired of her increasingly stubborn refusal of rest. So, her leg makes its own executive decision in that moment. It buckles underneath her weight, making her cry out with the shock of pain it delivers. Her leg demands rest and rest it will get. Even now, even one arm’s length away from the giant looming above her.

She crumples to the ground in a tangled heap, betrayed by her own body. The shadowy monstrosity leans forward, closing the distance between them. Leg or no leg, she’s not getting swept up into a massive hand today. She scrambles, kicking herself free from the blanket, and shoving herself backwards. She foolishly attempts to secure her footing once more. The effort is fruitless, and painful. Her leg simply refuses to cooperate.

“Hey,” the giant’s voice rumbling through her does little to calm her nerves.

She continues attempting to abscond. Her mind is focused on creating any kind of distance between herself and the looming creature. So focused in fact that she doesn’t see that she’s running out of table, until she’s already falling. She lets out a sharp yelp as she’s pulled over the edge. The human curses and instantly there’s a cacophony of sound and movement. The human lurches forward, much faster than a being that large should reasonably be able to move. One massive hand slaps down against the face of the table, the other swoops in beneath her. She lands flat against the center of his palm, knocking the wind out of her, but leaving her otherwise unharmed. Suddenly, she feels as if she’s falling in the opposite direction as she’s yanked through the air, entirely out of her control. His warm, leathery fingers curl around her securely. She can’t possibly just sit here and wait for him to squeeze the life out of her, she needs to act, now.

She has no weapon, she can’t escape. She twists in his grasp and sinks her teeth into the nearest digit until a hot metallic taste filters into her mouth.

The giant swears again, jerking his hand away sending her tumbling into his other hand. Before she can even think about defending herself, the human is ready for her. He clamps his massive thumb down across her middle, pinning her back against his fingers. The side of his thumb digs firmly into her bruised ribs. She sucks in a sharp, pained breath. He stands to his full height and strides across the room.

Isabell’s breathing staggers, her mind flooding with all of the gruesome possibilities of what’s yet to come.

“N-no!” She cries out, her voice breaking with panic, “I-I’m sorry. I’ll be good! I’ll be good, I swear!” She doesn’t want to go in a jar, she doesn’t want to be stuffed in the back of a dark closet without food or water or light for days on end. She doesn’t want to be-

A light clicks on, jerking her fully into the reality of the waking world.

“Stop,” Zeke’s voice is firm. He gazes down at her with wild eyes, his hair tousled, one hand clutched close to his chest.

All at once she realizes where she is, and against all odds, part of her stills at this revelation.

Then all at once she realizes what trouble she caused, and she can feel panic and dread welling up inside her chest all over again.

“I- Zeke, I’m –” she begins stammering out an apology.

“No,” his tone is clipped, “stop.”

Oh, he’s mad. He’s got to be. What is he going to do to her? He’s going to retaliate, humans always do. They only have so much patience, and she bit him. She’s displeased him so many times in the last two days or however long it’s Been. He’s got to be at the end of his rope with her.

He sets his hand down on the coffee table. Releasing his thumb from across her midsection, he tilts his hand so she gently slides off.

“Just… breathe,” he says rising and extending a hand to give her a gesture that very clearly says ‘stay there.’ With that, he walks off down the hall.

She blinks, piecing together the whirlwind she just went on, separating fact from fiction.

Isabell pulls herself onto the couch, gathering her discarded blanket. This doesn’t look like it belongs with the sets of doll clothes and furniture. Zeke must have made this, she realizes. He made me a blanket, and I bit him. A weird sense of guilt burns at the edge of her consciousness. She’s felt a lot of things concerning humans, but guilt was never one of those feelings.

Zeke comes back into the room after clattering around in the kitchen for a moment. When he returns he’s carrying a few things, but she can’t get a good look at what he has. He kneels down beside the coffee table.

“Drink this,” he says, setting a tiny cup down. The bright pink vessel is only slightly oversized for her. They must have gotten that today with all of the doll stuff.

She hesitates for a moment, looking at the cup placed in front of her with a dull suspicion.

“It’s just water,” his tone is flat, impatient. Right, of course, nothing gets past him. Great, now she’s bitten him, and she’s subtly accused him of trying to poison her.

“Sorry,” she obediently drinks the water, not wanting to upset him any more than she already has.

“Do you want to splash some water on your face?” He asks, setting down a small dish. As he reaches forward, she catches that his finger has a small Band-Aid on it now. She tears her eyes away from his hand, feeling that weird sensation of guilt again. She nods numbly and scrubs her face with the cool water placed before her.

“Better?” He asks after she’s dried her face off with a scrap of washcloth. She doesn’t trust her voice, so she just nods. “Here. Try to eat something.” The snack Marcus said he was going to make was resting on a plate close by, she didn’t even notice it before. Zeke slides it over to her. There’s a variety of things on the plate, some peanut butter, a cracker broken up into manageable pieces for her, some cheese, and some small bits of fruit. With a trembling hand, she assembles herself a small snack and nibbles on it cautiously.

Seemingly satisfied, Zeke heaves a long sigh, scrubbing a hand over his eyes. He leans his elbow against the table, resting his head on his hand. Her eyes are drawn back to the scattered pictures decorating his arms, his tattoos he called them. Humans are so strange, but she thinks she likes his tattoos. In a strange way, they make him easier to look at. Like, she can focus on this one small part of him, without having to confront the entirety of him.

“I, um, I didn’t know where I was,” she explains sheepishly to the picture of a broken wishbone placed near the middle of his forearm. “I’m, um, I’m fine now,” she adds, adjusting the blanket around her shoulders. This isn’t exactly true, she’s jittery, and she hurts everywhere, but the human doesn’t exactly need to know all that. It’s unclear whether or not he buys it or not, but he nods anyway.

“I’m sorry for startling you so badly,” he says quietly.

“It’s okay. Um, thank you for not letting me fall… I’m… sorry that I bit you.” Silence hangs between them. “A-are you… are you going to put me back, um, back in the box?” She stammers the question out, wincing at how small she sounds.

“No. Isabell, of course not,” he says, his voice softening.

[dekariosclan]

Karlach x Gale romance ending ❤️

Finally reached the end of my Karlach origin run! She doesn’t get a proposal from Gale (since they have to go to Avernus immediately for her heart) BUT she gets the sweetest declarations of love & loyalty from him 😭 Video below:

I love them so much!

And this part in particular:

Ready & willing to go to hell for the ‘raging inferno’ that he loves 😭 🥹 Aaaahh Gaaaalee ❤️

[cosmowgyral]

Falling into Sin with the Black Tiger ~ Gilbert's 4th Birthday

▪︎ A Story from his POV

This is a fan translation so please don't expect it to be 100% accurate. Creative liberties have been taken. All content belongs to Cybird. Reblogs are appreciated. Hope you enjoy!

NSFW/MDNI

I thought the beast of destruction was a greedy creature.

Countries and people alike, can go to any lengths to get what they want.

Despite my self-confidence, I didn't realise it until I was asked, "What do you want?"

I hadn't really thought much about what lay ahead after obtaining everything.

Emma: Gil, aren’t you going to sleep?

After returning to my room from the ballroom, I was gazing aimlessly at the sky when Emma, who had been lying down, suddenly sat up.

Gilbert: I thought I’d bask in the afterglow of my birthday a little longer.

Emma: Then I’ll join you.

She embraced me from behind and the cold night air turned into warmth.

(I noticed that you weren’t sleeping and was waiting for you to join my company…..)

(If I say it out loud, I might get into trouble.)

Gilbert: You should go to sleep.

Emma: I can’t sleep.

Gilbert: Even though we did all sorts of things?

Emma: ……

Just by lightly tracing the hand that had been hugging me, Emma began to get flustered.

The corners of my mouth quirked as I felt the quick increase in heartbeat from my back.

(Maybe I went too far.)

--*flashback from the dining room*--

Emma: Mmm….aahh…your fingers…nghh

Gilbert: You want me to take them out? But I’m not moving them.

Emma: Nnn....you’re lying….

Gilbert: You know I hate lies.

Emma: Aaaahh

Gilbert: See, you’re acting on your own again.

Emma: No…Gil….you just bit my breasts.

Gilbert: It’s cruel to blame others.

Emma: A…ahhh...

--*flashback ends*--

(But it couldn’t be helped. She had a face that was saying “please eat me”.)

When we returned to my room from the dining room, or when we took a bath to wash our messy bodies….

I liked Emma’s reactions, how she tried her best to respond despite being embarrassed, and so I ended up being a little too mean.

Emma: Maybe because of all the things that happened to me…I can’t sleep at all.

Gilbert: You’re right. It’s no wonder you can’t sleep if you’re this anxious.

Emma: …So you can hear my heartbeat.

As Emma tried to move away feeling flustered, I grabbed her hand and pushed her down onto the bed.

Pressing my ear against her soft chest, I could hear her heartbeat more clearly.

Gilbert: It’s becoming faster again.

Emma: That’s how much I love you.

Gilbert: Hehe, thanks?

(The date has changed and so my birthday is over now.)

(You give me what I want every day.)

(I know you’re the only one who will never betray me, even without any threats or domination.)

As she caresses my hair in a pampering manner, the drowsiness is overshadowed by a sinful feeling.

When I poked the bulge visible through her negligee, a sweet sigh escaped from Emma’s mouth.

Emma: What are you doing?

Gilbert: It was right in front of me.

Emma: …Not now.

Gilbert: Because it will come back again?

Emma nodded without understanding a thing.

Gilbert: If you really don’t like it, I can stop….

I pulled up the hem of her nightgown and stroked my fingers between her legs.

It was so wet that it couldn’t have been caused by simple teasing, and it immediately swallowed my fingers.

Gilbert: Is this why you can’t sleep?

Emma: Ahh…again..

Gilbert: It’s a problem to be loved this much, isn’t it?

If I expose Emma’s weakness deep inside her belly, her poor, tormented lower abdomen will soon start dripping with her honey.

Gilbert: Does this mean ‘I love you’?

Emma: That’s….right…

Gilbert: Heehee, I see.

(No matter how many times I experience your ‘love’, it always feels good.)

I massaged her breasts over her negligee, also moving my fingers inside her to scoop out her arousal.

The love I sensed in her warm gaze was genuine.

Even though I’m such a terrible man, Emma always loves me.

(You asked me to be selfish on my birthday this year….)

(I thought my last selfish wish in life was to meet you.)

(I made up a reason to go to Rhodolite and get involved with Emma, even if it meant ruining her life.)

(I had never thought of anything more selfish than that, and I could never think of anything else.)

When I kissed a breathless Emma, she put her hands behind my head as if welcoming me.

I was moved by the way she kissed me, as if conveying that she wasn’t opposed to this at all.

(….Now that I think about it, it seemed obvious.)

(It’s only recently that I’ve started thinking about my future.)

When our lips part, a thread hangs in the dim light.

Emma: You too, Gil….

Gilbert: Hmm?

Emma’s hand rested on my cheek, and I was smiling kindly, too kind for a villain.

Emma: You act like you love me.

Gilbert: Hehe, isn’t that obvious?

Gilbert: I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t love you.

I pull out my fingers from inside her and help her sit up.

Emma seemed to understand my intentions immediately, and blushing bright red, she climbed on to my lap.

(I’m spending time now that shouldn’t have existed in the first place.)

(And if you plan on staying here from now on….)

(Maybe it is a good idea to take some time to think of my own future.)

(Most of my memories are already made up of blood and corpses, painted all black…)

(The memories we make give me hope for the future.)

Emma lowered herself on me, and hugged me tightly.

Emma: Haah…Gil…

Gilbert: You’re okay with moving on your own again?

Emma: That’s…not true…

Emma said “that’s not true”, but as she moved her hips she lets out a small shriek.

It seemed she had moved unconsciously, and again, I couldn’t help but laugh.

(When I’m with you, I feel so happy.)

(…I’m sure Emma knows very well what it means for me to be happy.)

I secretly watched Emma bustling about preparing for my birthday, but this year too, I couldn’t keep a smile on my face.

I imagine Emma had her own thoughts about giving her blessings to the great villain.

Even so, I didn’t sense any hesitation.

She had already made up her mind to celebrate this blood-soaked man.

Emma: I think…you’ll be asked…'what you want to do’ next year as well.

Emma: So please, give it…a lot of thought.

Emma: I’ll make all your wishes come true.

Gilbert: Does that mean you won't be listening to me until next year?

Emma: If you have one now…please…ah

I intentionally move my body and Emma’s expression changes again.

I never get tired of her expressions filled with ‘love’.

(For now, all I can say is….)

Gilbert: I’d love to go on a date with you again.

Emma: Like…the other day?

Gilbert: Yeah. I like spending casual times like that.

Emma: Me too.

Gilbert: After that….

Bodies intertwined, lips pressed together, heartbeats synchronized, and then our gazes meet and we smile together.

Gilbert: Will you celebrate my birthday next year too?

(And commit many more sins…)

(Will you fall with me?)

[Chapter 3] [Masterlist]

He loves her sooo much omg, I really LOVED this story. I'm so glad he's happy.

Also when he said he went to Rhodolite for her....god, I just hate to imagine him going there for her, only for her to end up with the other princes (in other routes). Even though Silvio's my favourite, I feel miserable.

[causewayguy]

Kate - Part 2

‘Bi!!!!’

Jon felt embarrassed as the petite cutie sprang into his arms. Kate was just exiting a room with a customer when she saw Jon and immediately jumped him. Seeing his ‘masseuse’ jumping into another man’s arm, the guy quickly threw Jon a cold look and exited the shop. Not wanting to be in public too long, Jon registered and Kate led them into a room.

‘Hmmmmm you smell so good…’ Jon cheered inside his head, lucky he sprayed some perfume before coming over. He could feel Kate swooning all over his neck as she was hugging him, her lips and nose rubbing at the sensitive spots. Kate was in a little short black dress with her full back and sides all exposed. Jon’s hand was all over her exposed back, sliding down and grabbed her ass. Fuck, no panties.

‘Hehe…why so naughty you bi. So you come find me for massage…or something else ah?’ Kate slowly lowered her hands to fondle the front of Jon’s pants, which is already sporting a huge tent. Kate grinned hearing Jon’s groan as she was sensually stroking his hardened tool through his shorts. ‘Waaa, why so big already, make me horny also…’ Kate started rubbing her pussy on Jon’s leg for her pleasure.

‘Uhhh baby I cannot already!’ With his hands on her butt, Jon lifted the petite Kate up. Kate gave a shriek, crossing her arms and legs around Jon for support. They kissed like lovers, with their tongues in each other’s mouth. ‘Hm…Um….hm…’ Kate was dry humping Jon, his hard cock rubbing against her pussy. Jon purposely lifted her up and down, feeling Kate getting wet and staining his shorts.

Taking few steps, Jon brought them down to the massage bed. Without missing a step, Jon slipped out of his shorts while Kate pulled off his shirt. Kate quickly teased his left nipples, knowing it is one of Jon’s erogenous spot, and stroked his cock to maximum hardness. ‘Bi, I miss your cock so much, I need you now…’ No second invitation needed. Jon pushed her down on the bed and shoved his cock easily into Kate’s wet pussy.

‘Aaaahh-mmmmmmm!’ Kate begun to scream but quickly covered her mouth. Sex was not allowed here, on paper. So she tried to be quiet as Jon was slamming into her. Seeing Kate’s struggle, in her little black dress, Jon felt lion roaring in his heart and continue to plow into Kate without mercy. It was such a turn-on for him, where he was buck naked fucking a scantily dressed babe. ‘M…Mm…Ummm..Ahhh!’ The harder they fuck, the louder Kate get, before finally, Kate cummed.

Jon stopped and just enjoyed the wet squeezing sensation of Kate’s pussy. Kate gave him a deep French kiss as thanks. Soon, they changed position and Jon laying down while Kate positioned herself on top of him, her dress covering Jon’s lower body. ‘Don’t let you see…’ teased Kate and she slowly lowered herself onto Jon’s hard cock. Her pussy is amazing as usual, Jon felt the warm, moist linings of Kate’s pussy slowly squeezing him.

‘Uh…baby so tight…’ Kate was moaning again as she rode Jon on a slow, sensual pace. ‘Shuang mah bi… (Nice or not) feel so big so nice…’ Kate untied the knot around her neck and slowly lifted her dress off, showing off her boobs and erect nipples. She leaned forward and Jon naturally kissed and teased Kate’s boobies. Feeling more aroused, Kate gradually increased the pace of her riding and meeting Jon’s own upwards thrusting.

‘Bi..bi..cum with me biiii’ Kate couldn’t stand it and went full power on Jon. Jon groaned as he felt Kate’s her puffy pussy lips squeezing him tighter. He looked down and saw Kate’s body rhythmically swallowing his cock, from tip to base each time. Feeling the urge rising, Jon quickly held on Kate’s love handles and thrusted wildly into her, and finally unloaded a huge load deep inside Kate. They both groaned in pleasure, feeling the spurts of cum flowing deep into Kate.

‘So good…so strong my bi…’ Kate kissed Jon while laying down beside on him, allowing Jon's cum to leaked out of her well fucked pussy.

[everythingsbetterunderthestars]

HEARTSTOPPER S2 SPOILERS BELOW

None of my friends were able to watch season 2 yet and I need to externalise my feelings somewhere so hello osemanverse tumblr

(There will be no specific order to these thoughts and I will probably forget a thousand things I wanted to say but oh well)

THE PARENTS THIS SEASON I AM LOVING THAT WE GET TO SEE MORE OF THEM ESPECIALLY OLIVIA COLMAN AAAAHH and tao’s mom omg their scenes were everything this season

Also Taoelle <333333 finally

TORI TORI TORI TORI TORI TORI TORI

Naomi and felixxxx I love them so much

JAMES !!!!!!! AND ISAAC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Also did anyone else notice loveless in the background when they talk things through in the library??)

Ive recently become obsessed with Radiohead because of one of my friends so I really loved the moment with little Charlie and Tao

Just so much queer joy it was beautiful

TARA AND DARCY AND STRUGGLING BUT MANAGING TO COMMUNICATE IN THE END ALSO THE BALANCE BETWEEN CRAZY FUNNY WHIMZY AND DARCY’S FAMILY PROBLEMS I AM UNWELL ANDDDD THE I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU SCENE

Prom was so adorable aaaaaahhh

The outfits ??????!! 🤌🤌🤌🤌

Also I am absolutely gonna listen to this season’s songs on repeat they were AMAZING and it was so satisfying to hear some that I already knew (plus seven is the only Taylor song I like so it felt extra special and I remember Alice saying in an Instagram story that that song was very Tara/Darcy bf’zodjdkksjf) AND BABY QUEEN I ALMOST FAINTED WHEN I SAW HER AT THE PROM

Also I need you all to know how much like Isaac I am about books. (Also I’m so proud of him aaaaahhh my baby)

The teachers. You agree.

The diner scene was so iconic

Obsessed with the Ben apology scene and Charlie’s reaction

Also is that an Imogen/Sahar thing i sense coming?? Or maybe cool female friendship development im not picky that would be awesome too (ngl though im kinda starting to ship them now)

Oh yes Imogen this season aaahh that was a rollercoaster but I’m so proud of her slay queen

Well that’s all I can think of for now :) all in all I loved this season even more than the first one even though I have no idea how that’s possible but yes I will definitely rewatch it and soon

[iiposblog]

Hi I LOVEE what you’re doing/gen and I hope you don’t mind if I use your blog as an excuse to ramble about how much I love my favorite girl ever: cabby

I first saw II s3 at a friend’s house and mate when I tell you, it was literally a love at first sight XDD

Within Cabby’s first few seconds of speaking I instantly was like “THATS THE ONE!!! THATS MY FAVORITE!!!” And I still have screenshots from me livetweeting my experience watching her character arc hehe!!

I remember like exploding with such genuine joy seeing her rejoin the game, and every episode she stayed I considered it a win for me, and when she WON!!!! OMG!!!! I LITERALLY NEEDED A MINUTE TO COOL DOWN FROM HOW OVERWHELMED I WAS/POS

I love Cabby a lot XDD I have 2 models of her in my room and am currently working on a 4’ cutout of her JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT HEHE

She motivates me to get through really hard moments, because I knew that if she could do it when EVERYONE was against her, I can get through whatever I’m going through.. I’m just so AAAAHH CABBYS SO AWESOME!!! SHES SO CUTE AND SWEET!!!! I LOVE THIS WOMAN SO MUCH!!!!

Sorry if it’s too much I just wanna share the love hehehe :3

Ty for the positivity!

[heyiwrotesomethings]

Oh!!! It's a good thing I was staying up late or else I might've missed this!! (Oh god this got a lil long, I'm so sorry ajdgskahd)

Using she/her, how about a kakegurui one where R(eader) is a relative of Yumeko's, maybe her sister (or cousin could work too), and it's like. Yumeko's the fun loving one, her canon sister I imagine is the calm one, and R is like the angry takes no shit from anyone type, and she's there to watch over Yumeko's trouble attracting ass to keep her inline, so to focus on that, she doesn't gamble (Yumeko does enough of that for both of them) but now that's making trouble turn to R instead in the form of an infuriating Kirari, R like back talks to her and would probably bite a hand that gets too close if she has to, and when Kirari in one (underhanded) way or another manages to corner R into a gambling match with some poor soul so Kirari can observe her, R shows that she's just as good and insane as her relatives (though calms down faster?) , aaaahh I don't know what else to add on or how to end this, can't think much this late so here you go!! I hope you have fun!!

The Jabami Blood Flows

Jabami Sister Reader, Yumeko Jabami and Kirari Momobami (Platonic)

A/N: Here it is! Sorry I didn’t really get into the gamble. I couldn’t make myself research exactly how craps works and I’m not smart enough to calculate any math or cheats. The canon gambling timeline might be a little messed up too because it’s been awhile… But I think I captured the spirit of what you were asking for. Thanks for reading! Word Count: 2,523

(Y/n) couldn’t remember what life was like when her parents were alive, nor could she really remember what her oldest sister Souko was like before Yumeko had to send her away to live in that special hospital. All she knew was that life as a Bami was eat or be eaten, take or be taken from, and she hated it.

When Yumeko told (Y/n) of her plans to transfer to Hyakkaou, she was dead set against her going. That was where she went to school, Momobami Kirari. The one who had a hand in their older sister’s decline in mental health along with their own aunt. However, nothing that she said to Yumeko could get her to change her mind. So (Y/n) did what any good and responsible sister would do and filled out her own transfer papers so she could tag along.

It was difficult keeping track of Yumeko when they were two years apart, especially when the middle school was in a separate wing of the sprawling building.

But after she had heard about Yumeko becoming a house pet within the first week, (Y/n) had nearly blown a gasket. In retaliation, she quickly sized up the casino disguised as a school and realized the students could do basically whatever they wanted. (Y/n) was disciplined, a diligent worker and good student, so she got all of her schoolwork ahead of time and did it at home so she could keep an eye on Yumeko throughout the day.

She allowed Yumeko to take part in the Debt Swapping Game to undo the damage she had done to herself and her “new friend” Saotome, but after that (Y/n) was all over her… not that her nagging was very affective, unfortunately.

“You’re so cute when you pout!” Yumeko gushed, squeezing (Y/n)’s cheeks.

(Y/n) grabbed her sister’s wrists and groaned, “Neesan, I’m serious! No more gambling! We have the money, pay off the debt so you can stop wearing that ridiculous tag!”

“Sweet little sister, always looking out for me. You don’t worry so much, okay? I want to keep this tag just for awhile longer.”

“Why? It makes no sense, people treat you worse than an animal!” (Y/n) only got more upset the longer this conversation dragged on, “Get rid of it!”

“I’m not going to do that,” Yumeko smiled, somehow so carefree, “it makes for some really interesting gambles!”

“You’re so stupid!” (Y/n) suddenly yelled, finally shocking the smile off of Yumeko’s face, replaced by mild surprise, “It’s like you want to end up like Oneesan, you want to leave me all alone!”

“(Y/n)—“ Yumeko reached out her hand to (Y/n) but she ran passed her and kept running until she found an empty classroom to cry in.

She couldn’t cry forever though, and soon fell into a quiet, simmering anger that began to boil the more she thought about how their lives had come to this.

“Momobami Kirari.” She hissed hatefully. She ruined Souko and was in the process of taking Yumeko away from her too. Well, (Y/n) wasn’t going to standby quietly.

She wiped her eyes and and stood up, tromping through the halls, she followed the signs until she came to the Student Council room and without bothering to knock, she pushed the door open with a loud thump, making the pair that resided within look up.

“You can’t just charge in here like that!” Sayaka was quick to reprimand.

But Kirari put up a hand, “Don’t be troubled, Sayaka. It’s just one of my dear little cousins paying me a visit. I’d recognize a Jabami anywhere. Care for tea, (Y/n)? I haven’t seen you since you were quite small, you’ve grown a lot.”

“Jabami…” Sayaka’s mood soured a bit more. One Jabami was already one snake too many.

“And you look very cute in the middle school uniform.” Kirari continued on, tilting her head towards Sayaka, “I remember your middle school days Sayaka, you looked very cute in that uniform too, although this one is nice as well.” She tugged on the hem of Sayaka’s jacket for emphasis.

“Thah- thank you, President.” And like that, Sayaka was subdued, but still a little wary of their impromptu guest.

“I don’t want your stupid tea, or small talk!” (Y/n) yelled. “I want you to get rid of the house pet system!”

“You can’t just storm in here and demand such a thing!” Sayaka bristled.

“Ah, is Yumeko refusing to pay off her debt?” Kirari sat back in her chair slightly, “Unfortunately for you, I’m not inclined to accept your request. Your sister is just too fun to watch.”

“I hate you!” (Y/n) seethed, Kirari’s eyes widened, but it was clear amusement rather than surprise at the outburst, “I hate what the Bami clan is under your rule! If it was someone else— if things could have been different— My parents would be alive, Souko wouldn’t be in the hospital and you wouldn’t be trying to take Yumeko from me right now! I hate gambling! I hate that when people gamble, they are risking the happiness of people they are supposed to care about too! I hate you for pitting everyone against each other all the time! You have the power to stop all this before we all destroy each other for good, but you don’t use it, and I despise you for it!”

“Oh my,” Kirari cupped her between her thumb and index fingers, “so much resentment for a girl so young. Are you sure you aren’t Saotome’s little sister?” She chuckled.

“This isn’t funny!”

“Is it not? I find it a bit amusing at least. For someone with Jabami blood flowing through her veins, you are very adamantly going against your nature. It’s interesting. You might be one to watch as well.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“I think Yumemi has plans for your sister today. You might want to start making your way to the auditorium to cheer her on.” Kirari said instead, steepling her fingers in front of her coral blue lips.

A look of realization and then dread fell over (Y/n)’s face. She gave Kirari one more glare, then bolted from the student council room.

“What a rude girl!” Sayaka huffed. “Has she no respect for upperclassmen at all?”

“Easy Sayaka,” Kirari soothed with a teasing lilt, “I think my week just became a little more interesting.”

***

In the days after Yumeko’s admittedly unique gamble against Yumemi, (Y/n) had taken to giving her dear older sister the cold shoulder. It made Yumeko sad and pouty of course, but until she could promise (Y/n) that she was done gambling for good, (Y/n) refused to talk to her. She started going back to her classes like normal instead of following her sister around and did her best not to think about all the bad situations Yumeko could be putting herself through.

But she couldn’t ignore her sister for long, not when an unfamiliar upperclassman came to her classroom to summon her for a gamble. Apparently, Yumeko had got herself in a lot more trouble than (Y/n) had dared thought possible, or so the house pet had claimed.

“Where is she? Yumeko!” (Y/n) ran into the room, only turning around when she heard the door lock behind her. “Hey! What are you doing? Open the door!”

“That was a lot easier than I thought it would be.”

(Y/n) whipped her head to the back of the room to see a tired looking upperclassman, another house pet, sitting at a fancy craps table in front of a large mirror that almost took up the whole wall.

“I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this to get back at Jabami for what she and Saotome did to me at that damn debt swapping game. You’re her little sister, right? What am I saying, of course you are.”

“What do you want? Who are you?” (Y/n) asked defensively.

“Kiwatari Jun.” The upperclassman answered with a smirk, “And I’m gonna turn you into a house pet.”

“Like hell you are. You can’t force someone into a gamble unless they are part of the council. Unlock the door.” (Y/n) commanded, but Jun chuckled darkly.

“You’re right, I can’t make you do anything, but the door is locked from the outside, and I don’t have the key.”

“Then I guess we’re just stuck here forever until we die.” (Y/n) hotly retorted.

“Not the case,” he knocked on the mirror behind him. “See this, it’s a one way window. People can see us, but we can’t see them. Once we gamble, someone will come and let us out.”

“I’m not going to gamble you.”

“You will. Word is your sister is going on a gambling tear without you yapping in her ear. She’s got a real big gamble coming up today with that crazy Beautification Committee officer. You know, the one who likes swinging a gun around.”

“Yumeko already gambled her and was disappointed. She wants nothing to do with Ikishima now.” (Y/n) had really hated that gamble. It was exceedingly frightening. She was glad Yumeko had been put off by Midari’s recklessness in some shape.

“She came up with a new gamble that really has your sister going. Safe to say she’s giving her another chance. I don’t expect you to believe me, but is it really a risk your willing to take? If you aren’t there… you might not see her again.”

(Y/n)’s blood froze. She didn’t want to believe this guy, in fact, she was sure he was lying, but her fear of losing Yumeko was stronger than reason. Saving Yumeko was the only thing she could think of that was truly worth gambling for…

“What is the game?” She finally asked through gritted teeth.

“Craps,” he swept his arm over the table, “A simple dice game, what do you say?”

“I want to test the dice.”

Jun exhaled though his nose, “Not a gambler, huh? You sure seem to know what to look for.”

“When you grow up in the world that I have, you can’t help but pick up a thing or two.” (Y/n) sat down at the opposite side of the table, she could feel her heartbeat picking up like it would at the starting line of a race, or before reading a speech in class. She hated the feeling. She hated how her body loved the feeling. The excitement of doing something that felt totally crazy.

Despite not remembering her mother very well, she was definitely her daughter. That blood flowed through her veins as it did with Yumeko and Souko. A red glow briefly reflected off of her eyes.

“Are we doing this, or not?”

All of Jun’s little tricks were exposed round after round, but even if (Y/n) had let them slide, she was rolling perfectly every time, a skill she had picked up by merely watching Souko practice as a toddler, just a baby even. If she wasn’t so dead set against gambling, she could probably be making millions of yen a week. Her playing style reminded Jun more of Mary, but every once in awhile, she’d make an absolutely insane call that could only be something a Jabami would ever think to do.

It didn’t take long before all of the money the student council had leant him was on the other side of the table and with it, his dreams of freeing himself from his house pet chains. Now he was another four million yen in the hole.

“No… you’re just a snot-nosed middle schooler!” He hissed, pounding his fists against the table, making the dice and chips clink together. “I was supposed to win.”

“Idiot.” (Y/n) smirked, the red gleam appeared in her eyes once more, “Don’t you know nothing is guaranteed in gambling, nothing but disappointment for someone anyway.” She got up from her chair, not even caring to take her winnings with her. “A pity a had to lose my no gambling streak because of you. You weren’t even a challenge.”

She walked over to the door, pleased to see it was already opening in anticipation of her approach. She was a little surprised to see it was Sayaka who opened the door, however. She was even more surprised when Sayaka pulled her forward and a zapping noise met her ears, followed by a heavy object hitting the ground. She turned to see Jun curled up on the floor and saw the taser in Sayaka’s hand. He must have been coming up to attack her for humiliating him so badly.

“You never learn, do you, Kiwatari?” Sayaka tisked, “Lose with dignity for once.”

“Thank you for the show, Jabami (Y/n).” Kirari rounded the corner seconds later. She must have been watching from the other side of the glass. Suddenly this impromptu gamble was making a lot more sense. Jun didn’t seem smart enough to come up with a scheme like this himself.

“I should have paired you up with someone interesting, but I wanted to see what I was working with first. You did not disappoint. We will have to do something like this again soon.”

“No way,” (Y/n) could already feel herself coming down from the brief high of gambling a upperclassman into submission, “I’m not going to let you catch me in a position like this again. No way in hell! Yumeko isn’t even in trouble, is she?”

Kirari smiled, “No, she’s not. However, I’m sure I could make an offer or two you simply would not be able to refuse. Whether it’s to forbid your sister from gambling in this school again, ending the house pet system, dethroning me as student council president, or even as the head of the Bami clan, I’m sure we could work something out. I think it would be really exciting for us to gamble one day.”

(Y/n) hated the shiver of excitement that ran up her spine. There were a couple of options in that short list she wouldn’t mind seeing to fruition, yet she shook her head and bumped into Kirari as she passed her.

“Just stay away from me!”

“I’ll be seeing you around, (Y/n). Have a good rest of your day.” Kirari waved, watching (Y/n) stomp away with amusement.

***

“Oh, (Y/n)?” Yumeko was surprised that after days of the cold shoulder, (Y/n) had sought her out for a hug, but she was very happy for the suprise affection to say the least and instantly returned the embrace. “You’re being so sweet to me! What brought this on, I wonder?”

“Don’t gamble with Ikishima ever again, got it?” (Y/n) ordered, “And always make sure you have your phone on you so I can ask you what you’re up to, okay?”

“Okay, okay!” Yumeko giggled, “You don’t have to worry. That person you just mentioned is dead to me anyway.”

A strangled moan of Yumeko’s name could be heard in the distance, but no one acknowledged it.

“Hey,” Yumeko’s eyes lit up, “let’s go do something fun this weekend. Just you and me, anything you want, okay?”

A small smile worked its way onto (Y/n)’s lips and she nodded, hugging her sister tighter.

“Yeah!”

[fernsnailz]

hi its me again !! everything arrived today and all of the things i received are absolutely amazing. thank you so much <3 here is a little attachment i made for my amy charm :3 i think she would have loved it . promise i square knotted everything i just had to put a bow over the one visible knot it's what she would have wanted

AAAAHH THATS SO INCREDIBLE you’re absolutely right she would love that!! the beads on there match her perfectly this is such a genius move

[anto-pops]

Is there any chance at all that you'd be willing to write a Sebastian x F!reader smut fic, or blurb even, focused on him creampie-ing her? 🫣 The way you write smut is immaculate 🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

AAAAHH THANK YOU MY LOVE !! 💕 I honestly think the breeding kink fic is gonna cover that angle for me, it’s very much up that alley. But I’ll share a lil’ snippet of it here, hopefully it satisfies your request for the time being 👀

“That’s it, darling, take it all– you’re gonna look so pretty full of my kids– fuck.” He threw his head back as his own finish crept in the far reaches of his mind, the undeniable urge to fill you to the brim taking over. “Come on my cock– let me feel your cunt swallowing my load. Come for me, love.”

Rutting back onto his sharp thrusts, you felt the telltale heat in the pit of your stomach grow stronger. The way Sebastian was holding you down, possessively gripping you with that strength that made your throat dry up, left you panting helplessly beneath him as your climax crashed over you violently for the nth time tonight. You buried your cries of his name in the mattress as wave after wave of pure bliss coursed over you, and the way your clenching heat seemingly sucked his cock in further was about as much as Sebastian could take.

He let go of the hand he had pinned to your back so he could drape himself fully across you, bucking deep into your sensational heat– and your muffled, high pitched noises were what finally sent him spiraling over the edge after you. Sebastian came with a shaky moan, thick ropes of his cum painting your insides and squelching out the sides of your folds as he withdrew his cock halfway before shoving every last inch back in. Your voice was gravelly as his name fell from your lips over and over again like a desperate prayer, and when his hips finally slowed to a stuttering halt, you felt him mouth soothingly at your shoulder as the two of you came down in tandem.

[yuujispinkhair]

I think an AU that would be a perfect fit for a SukuIta fanfic would be a retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone. Hades kidnapped his niece to take her to the Underworld and by trickery, bound her to him and the Underworld.

In this AU, Sukuna would still be the King of Curses, who rules with absolute power over Hell (or Makai as the Japanese call it) since the Heian era, and just like in the myth, he also develops an obsession with his nephew, Yuuji, who is just a normal boy who knows nothing about his connection to the King of Curses, until Sukuna kidnaps him. Undoubtedly, there would be a lot of angst involved before Yuuji starts to fall in love, but Sukuna is determined to keep Yuuji by his side ❤️😩

This is just an idea I wanted to share, I hope I'm not bothering you ^^

AAAHHHH 💗💗 You aren't bothering me at all!! I love this idea for Sukuita!! You are right, it fits them so well!! I once wrote Sukuna as Death/The King of the Underworld for a Sukuna x Reader fic, and it is one of my favorite things I ever wrote!! It just made so much sense to imagine Sukuna like that.

And I think Yuuji would be so perfect for it, too, because he has so much LIFE in him and is so warm and kind and has that sunshine smile and those bright golden eyes... He is the opposite of death. He would bring his light into Sukuna's eternal darkness and of course Sukuna would want to keep him forever 💗💗😭😭 aaaahh I love this!!

Thank you so much for sharing this with me!! I am sending you lots of love 💗💗

[witchexia]

Dr. Hexenstein - ''Hexia'' headcanons !(SELF INSERT!) part 1 maybe?⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

LET'S GET THE BASIC STUFF HERE FIRST! they're a thaumaturgy researcher in site 19, clearance lvl3, pansexual and nonbinary, born april 20 and they're a silver fox-human hybrid! also born in 1992!

with their hybrid anomaly, they ARE capable of temporarily transforming into a silver fox! though they can choose when to turn back into original form anytime!

originally from slovakia! makes sense because they're my self insert and guess what JA SOM OD SLOVENSKAAAAA AAAAHH (psst eastern slovakia!)

not to mention the HUGEEEEEEE crush on simon glass ! well OBVIOUSLY ITS SIMON HAHAHAHAHAHAHA WE BOTH LOVE SIMON GLASS SO MUCH

they love collecting ANY interesting trinkets! MOSTLY trinkets based off of the occult!

of COURSE they practice witchcraft! i am them and WITCHexia !

their favorite witchcraft practice is divination! absolutely LOVES tarot cards and pendulums!

also loves collecting rings and bracelets!

i feel like they would LOVE any incense-ish perfumes! ill be real any incense smells AMAZING i want an incense perfume too irl

oh SPEAKING OF INCENSE, her favorite incense smells are frankincense, dragon's blood, jasmine and lavender!

VERY in tune with the moon! if its time for a full moon she keeps vials of water on her window sill for moon water!

about the windchime thing, she is ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED WITH THEM!!!!!! THE SOUNDS AND THEYRE SO PRETTYYYYYY (i also love windchimes LOL)

LOVES wearing scarves! it's just a comforting feeling haha

with the BIG crush, some of the details on her mirror simon's! for example, the heart ahoge and the duck element!

can speak four languages! english, slovak, czech and a little bit of german! (just like me!!!!!)

also I KNOW I SWITCHED HER PRONOUNS MANY TIMES HERE, but her pronouns are she/they!

a subtle but big detail: her shadow has the shape of a horned humanoid or a demon! whatever you wanna call it!

LOVES listening to witch house! (witch house is amazing btw DEFO get into it!) and rammstein!

on the psychological state, she gets EXTREMELY jealous of people most of the time! not to forget the depressive episodesssss

personality wise, she is timid, introverted but also kind and sweet!

friends/acquaintances with many people at site 19 and people from site 17!

has HUGE sensory issues!

the ONLY thing she looks forward to in therapy is seeing simon glass !!!!!

binge watches witchtok every night! i mean witchtok has some pretty amazing tips! (also a little tip from me to my witchy oomfs, if you're making a spell jar and you want crystal chips but you cant get any, buy a crystal bracelet, cut it up and you can use the crystal bits!) ASK ME MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT THEM IF YOU WANT TOOOOOOO AAAAAAAAAA ! XX

[chidoroki]

yeah so what if I am??

Ordered from youngest to oldest:

[paintbrushnebula]

Listed below are some Spiderverse hot takes/controversial opinions I have that'd id like to ramble about

I wish Gwen and Pavitr were overweight. Like midsized. I'm very happy we got a heavier *young* girl on the team with Margo at least, but I'd like there to be a heavy *young* guy. I noticed that Pav is certainly not as petite as Miles is, but that's more of a flex for how skinny Miles is, it's not really saying that Pavitr is chubby. And Gwen, idk I always just draw her as heavier. It just suits her better and again we need more mainstream skinny x fat/overweight ships. I've never drawn Pav yet but if I happen to I'm drawing him heavier too. 

I don't think Miles and Gwen were about to kiss before Rio interrupted them at the water tower. Everyone thinks this was what the scene was trying to implybutI don't think that's what would've happened at all. The camera was zooming in and the two of them were getting dangerously close to each other, they were definitely going to get more intimate, Miles was definitely looking at her lips and thinking of sssssomething, but they were not gonna KISS. They would've gotten real close and quiet, maybe held hands, then realize what they're doing and then break apart all awkward and embarrassed. And like, it's not just that i don't think the scene leading up to a kiss, I don't want that to have been the case. It's shallow, these two were SO not there yet. Gwen was not even fully in love with Miles yet. "But they're teenagers that's just normal teen friskyness, man 🤷‍♂️" Yeah I know, I've watched teen romcoms. We don't need to apply all the cliches to Ghostflower. 

Not a huge fan of whenever people write Miles and Miguel becoming like a sweet, surrogate son and father dynamic post-BTSV. If you want your found family tropes and you wanna give Miles a secondary daddy besides. his actual daddy, Peter B is right there 🤷‍♂️. Yeah I know ATSV wrecked their relationship but idk I personally headcanoned a whole mini arc for them to reconcile in my mind that I love, it's easy. Just play with the potential drama that's already sitting there. 

Ok so. This is more of a complaint against like, the original conception of the character, obviously there's nothing the movies could do about it. But. I don't like the name Miles very much. Idk i...do y'all ever love a fictional character and then like, pay close attention to their name, and go "hey uh, I actually don't think that name suits the character." Naming a character is like a whole process for me, I take character names very seriously. The name "Miles" just sounds too...unsentimental. Like they (Miles' original creators) wanted to name him something cool and hip. I just. Idk! I feel like he should've been named something else. Certainly nothing generic, but something more personal or meaningful, at least cute! I mean like at this point I'm used to the name and it's like, whatever, doesn't change anything for me. But still it's just a gripe I have. Idk does anybody feel this way. I'm genuinely curious. 

I am saying both this as a Hispanic and someone who likes Miguel O'Hara that I never found the ATSV script describing Miguel as animalistic or beast-like to be offensive. The guy was running on all fours and had talons and was trying to bite people. Because he's part vampire. They were literally just describing his actions as they appeared in the movie. He was literally behaving feral, he's not full human. He's a spider man. Now onto George. Now I hate when a white man's actions are sugar coated to appear less severe than when the same actions are committed by a person of color, I really hate it. But the script isn't gonna use "animalistic" vocabulary to describe George pointing a gun at his daughter. It's pig-headed, certainly. But like, George can't run up walls with claws or smash through metal, he's just an awful guy with a gun. It requires different vocabulary than "feral." this is all like, just sort of circumstantial. 

Bro imma be real. Ay. Aaaahhhhhhhghh, esto si lo odio. I'm sorry. I hate it when people write Miles and Gwen to be Mayday's godparents/uncle and aunt. I've seen people do this. I've read BTSV prediction fics that write in this moment where Peter B will...declare Miles and Gwen--PRESENT DAY Miles and Gwen, as in. 15-16 yr old Miles and Gwen--as Mayday's godparents. ????????? Peter, Miles and Gwen are young enough to be Mayday's siblings??? You think of Miles like your son (oh and you SUCK as a self-appointed dad btw sorry not sorry). Idk it's just silly to me. Like why do you as a middle aged man give legal guardianship over your daughter to two high schoolers if you die. I don't. What even are you, Peter. lol

The character "acting"--aka the way the characters' facial expressions and body language are animated--in ATSV is worse than it was in ITSV. I noticed this before, but it becomes so much more obvious when I watch the two movies back to back. It really stinks because I just KNOW this is a direct result of the crunch the crew went through. You cut corners when you crunch. Things get overlooked when there's no time. You don't have time to polish. It's the one obvious way that the poor working conditions during production actually shows. I mean, the character acting in the first movie was amazing.  That part when Miles is being choked by the Prowler. The part when he removed his mask, when Aaron turns off the thermal sensor vision in his cowl to actually look at his nephew and you see Miles just broken. His eyes already start welling up with tears and his lip quiver. Man and that's just one example. ATSV's character acting...it's good! Overall. It has its moments when the expressions are amazing, certainly, just as good as the first movie. But they're fewer. The Right to Remain Silent scene, the scene where Miles has the vision at the Spider Society, that little moment where Miles smirks at Gwen out the window, all two times Gwen smiles, all of Hobie's body language, that face Gwen makes when Rio warns her not to break Miles' heart, Gwen's speech to her dad when she returns to her universe, there's a lot of great ones. But then...there's like, a lot of frames where characters look weird. Have you seen how many times a character looks off??? Like if a character's face is just a little far away the model looks weird. Like look at this shot--look at Gwen.

In the actual scene, she says "Peter?", but why is she so...unanimated??? It's like, she's moving, yeah. Her mouth moved. She blinked. But it's so minimal. Her animation is not conveying enough emotion. Honestly, the weaker character acting is another one of the big reasons I really hope they're not crunching Beyond the Spiderverse. That movie should be ALL the feels, and I want characters to be emoting properly and fully, and for the animators to have the TIME to do that ETHICALLY. You see what happens when they ARENT provided with that LUXURY.

[witchyleehibernates]

hi I LOVE LOVE LOVE your hunger games AU and had a question

How do you think the trauma from the games affects Soda after he gets out? And how does he deal with everything and what does his life as a victor look like in general?

Aaaahh!! I’m so happy to hear that people are loving this AU! That makes my day to hear!

First night back, the three brothers curl up together and they hold each other all night long, Darry didn’t get much sleep, but Sodapop and Ponyboy were out so quickly. Sodapop was so relieved to be home that he slept all night without stirring once. And waking up to Darry making a sorta big breakfast for the gang made Sodapop cry a little (he really didn’t think he was going to make it home).

Sodapop absolutely tries to brush off the trauma caused by his games, though his brothers (and Steve) can see right through his lies. Two-Bit, Johnny, and Dally let Sodapop lie to himself because they’d both been there too, though they know that they shouldn’t be letting him lie to himself, there were worse coping mechanisms and Two-Bit would contest to that himself.

He definitely has nightmares that he’s still in the arena, and there was once where he’d accidentally hurt Ponyboy when Ponyboy tried to help Sodapop center back in the moment to realize he was safe and at home. Sodapop feels so absolutely guilty that he’d hurt Ponyboy, and mopes in his own room for nearly a week. Ponyboy’s nightmares had come back in full force and it left Darry trying to pick up the pieces because Sodapop was still scared of himself and his own reactions.

Steve ended up finding an outlet for Sodapop that helped reduce some of his ‘outbursts’ (there was a good month/month and a half where Sodapop was so out of character because he was trying to bury his trauma). Sodapop started gardening again (headcanon that Mrs. Curtis loved to garden and as a small child, Sodapop would join her, it was “his mama time”). And the two of them started sparring/wrestling to help calm him down throughout the day. Sodapop also has a job that help give him a focus so that he has other things to think about.Also, after the first week, he breaks down because while his brothers were attempting to get along (and Sodapop could see that, he could acknowledge that) and he yells at them and he breaks down both perspectives and almost essentially everything that he does in canon, so that happens much earlier in canon, just like the Curtis Parents death.

Also, i'll absolutely try to make another post about life as a Victor for Sodapop later, but I need to think about that a little more! And if there's anything you'd like expanded upon, feel free to ask!

[yazzberry]

new chapter of endgame (published here, ao3, and wattpad)!!

So….I'm back! I started college a while ago and it's been a lot, to say the least. I haven't had much time to write, but finishing this chapter brought me immense comfort in maintaining that connection with the things that sustained my happiness through childhood (me saying that as if I'm not still a kid lol).

That being said, I know it took me forever to get this out (and trust me, I've been dying to share this chapter with you all), but it's a really long one—so cozy up and grab a nice snack because you're gonna be here for a while.

Enjoy, mwah <3

Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama or any of the characters, only the plot of this story. Okay? Okay.

Chapter 1, Strangers in the Night

— ꕥ —

Bridgette, for all her giddiness and excitement in reuniting with her long-distance bestie, was simply too ecstatic to drive herself.

"No seriously!" she exclaimed, "I'll crash my poor car!"

So who other than Geoff, bless his head-over-heels-in-love soul, would drop their Sunday morning plans to drive her over to Courtney's new residence.

Bridgette sighed as she admired his side profile from the passenger's seat. "You're the best boyfriend ever, you know that?"

He scoffed (and blushed), "I bet you tell all your boyfriends that."

"No, just the ones I actually like." She laced her fingers with his free hand.

"Don't I feel special. Anyways, it's nothing—in Wawanakwa, nothing is more than a 10-minute drive." Geoff shrugged as he brought her hand up to his lips and planted a sweet kiss.

Bridgette had to completely hold back her swooning, because yes, even though they had been dating for 6 months going on 7, and even though she'd been crushing on him majorly for about a year before that, the feeling of butterflies in her stomach never left her whenever she was around Geoff.

She really was a hopeless romantic.

"No, but I know you're exhausted after yesterday's party, it took a long time to clean up once everyone left. And! I know you're not an early bird. in. the. slightest."

"Bridge, don't you get it by now?" He chuckled as he shook his head.

Then Geoff, being the responsible driver that he is, waited until they reached the red light to turn and face Bridgette. It was blue on hazel, an electric spark joining the two.

"There is nothing I wouldn't do for you."

Bridgette leans in for a meaningful kiss when suddenly the car behind them honks to no end—sadly, the light turned green.

"My bad, yo!" Geoff yells out the window before continuing on their drive, but Bridgette never removed her hand from his, nor did the feeling of the butterflies wear off at any point the whole ride over.

— ❥ —

It was the distinct honk of Geoff's loud, vintage convertible that signaled to Courtney of her friend's arrival.

Courtney tried to remain cordial about the whole thing—I mean, really, it hasn't been that long since we've last seen each other.

But her heart played an entirely different tune, threatening to burst in excitement at the sight of Bridgette's wavy blonde mane jumping ecstatically out the car and onto her front porch. Watching it all from her room's window, Courtney rushed out and down the stairs to meet her friend out front.

Just at the opening of the front door, Bridgette launched herself onto Courtney in one of her signature bear hugs.

"COURTNEY OH MY GODDD!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE HERE IT'S JUST NOT REAL!!!" Bridgette squealed as she hugged tighter and tighter, as if trying to hold onto the moment lest it all be a cruel dream.

"I can hardly believe it myself," the brunette sighed with resignation in attempting to bottle up her excitement. "I mean one minute I'm biking down Manhattan Beach and the next I'm somewhere in the middle of Canada? Talking to you? Tell me that doesn't sound like some fever dream??"

"AAAAHH, but isn't it great??!!!!" She squealed, jumping up and down.

"Of course it is, I'm so happy you're here," Courtney sighed with gratitude, giving her a heart-wrenching smile.

Suddenly a look of remembrance flashed on Bridgette's face, "Oh my god, and look who else is here!!"

She grabbed Courtney's hand and guided her out to the front porch, where Geoff was already hopping out of his car and making his way towards them.

"MOCHA'S BACKKKK!!!" He chanted as he jogged over with his arms outstretched in a victory pose.

"You and your stupid nicknames," She chuckled as she let herself be scooped up by Geoff's overbearing embrace. "It's great to see you, Geoff!"

"Aw come on, I know you love my nicknames! No one out there better at giving them," Geoff boasted with fake pride as he fixed the backwards baseball cap on his head (a fun alternative to the cowboy hat, which God knows needed a break).

"This makes me so happy—our summer squad is back together!!" Bridgette cheered as she hugged her two favorite people close together.

"Back and better than ever, baby!" Geoff hooted as he gave Bridgette a quick peck on the cheek.

"Honestly, having you guys around makes this all so much better, I don't know what I'd do if I was completely new, I mean, you guys know how bad I can be at socializing."

Geoff winced at the thought, and Bridgette offered her friend a pitiful, sheepish smile. "Well, it may not be your strongest suit," the blonde lamented.

"Calculus? I can do. Writing a thoughtful, well-structured essay on Victorian literature? I can do. But making friends? Sue me, I guess, everyone has their Achilles' heel," Courtney pouted, clutching her hands to her face in frustration.

Why she never got the hang of being a people person like Josie or Bridgette or Geoff was simply beyond Courtney—really, she blamed her parents. I love that I have another thing to blame them for.

"That's not totally true! We're your friends!" Geoff defended.

"Well no offense to you guys, but I'd have to actually be socially inept, or the biggest bitch in the world, for you guys not to befriend me," Courtney chuckled as she crossed her arms.

Bridgette just rolled her eyes and enveloped the brunette in a side hug, "Hey, we like you for who you are, and if we can see how great you are, so will everyone else."

Bridgette always had a special talent for quieting her anxious thoughts, and reassuring Courtney to keep her from spiraling. It wasn't that Courtney was too strung out by her inability to make friends (she really didn't mind the moments spent alone nor the quiet lifestyle), but she'd be lying if she said she didn't care at all about how people perceive her. 

Truly, who doesn't care in the slightest about what others think? The day she met someone like that….

But, sometimes Courtney got a little too self-conscious; not exactly insecure, just entirely aware of the fact that people were constantly building perceptions of her that she couldn't control. And that scared her.

"Bridge is totally right," Geoff pulled her out of her thoughts with a hug on her other side, "You'll have no problems making friends, I already know Gwen, Duncan, and Heather are gonna be stoked to meet you!"

Courtney offered a smile to both of them—it made so much sense to her that they were a couple. She could never imagine them getting into a fight, or having any sort of love troubles.

"Thanks guys, sorry about the mush. I didn't mean to make this into a pity party, your friends sound cool! It'll be nice to meet them," She offered a hopeful smile—a rare sight, since she wasn't usually the hope-filled type.

At that, Geoff grinned with a devious expression, "Y'know Mocha, it's funny you mention that..."

— ❥ —

"No, no, no, and oh, did I forget to mention...no!"

"Oh Courtney, come on, you don't even have to stay the whole time! It'll be so much fun!" Bridgette pleaded to her friend before turning to Josie for support, "Come on, back me up on this!"

Josie laughed as she sauntered over from the kitchen into the living room with a bag of plantain chips and flopped onto the couch (still wrapped in plastic, they hadn't finished furnishing the house) beside her little sister.

"She's right, Courtney. This is the kind of teenage shit you need to experience," she offered as she popped a chip in her mouth.

"Don't be a traitor. I'm just not really in the mood to meet so many people and socialize," Courtney cringed at the thought before stealing a chip from Josie, in a sore attempt to sweeten her mood. "And I'm exhausted! Did I mention we got here at 3:00 AM??"

Josie snorted, knowing her sister's evasive ways of making dumb excuses.

"Court, you said yourself you wanted to meet our friends. And besides, you'll just have to do all that socializing anyway on the first day of school. At least, at Geoff's darty, you can do it at the lake! Way more fun, don't you think!!?" Bridgette clasped her hands before the brunette, standing before her and speaking in an exaggerated manner to convince her much-too-stubborn friend.

"Geoff is the guy that just left, right? Also, what the fuck is a darty?" Josie asked.

"A darty is a day party! Geoff, yes the guy that just left, always throws an end-of-summer bonfire party at his lake house—it's always so much fun and I really think Courtney's missing out if she doesn't come."

Courtney sighed, biting her lip as she looked back and forth from Bridgette's eager and expectant expression to Josie, nonchalantly eating her chips. But then Josie tossed the chips on the coffee table (also still wrapped in plastic) and sat up to meet Courtney eye-to-eye.

"You said you wanted a fresh start here, maybe this is it. Go out, explore a new side of yourself! And I won't have to worry about you because you'll be in good company," Josie said as she passed a knowing smile to Bridgette, who still had her hands tightly interlaced with her chin resting on them.

So, Courtney was done. Really she was done the second both Bridgette and her sister decided to team up on her—the former too earnest and the latter too persuasive for Courtney's personal comfort. Between the two of them, they could probably get the brunette to do anything short of murder.

She threw her head back in acceptance, "Fine! I'll go."

"YESSSS!!! Court, you won't regret it!!! Oh my god! I have to help you find an outfit!!" Bridgette exclaimed, as she excitedly rushed up the stairs into Courtney's room, eager to tear her closet apart.

Josie simply chuckled as she reached for her chips again, "Well I'm probably going to sleep early tonight since I start my shift super early tomorrow...just don't stay out too late? And don't do anything stupid."

Courtney sighed as she sank into the couch, already regretting her choice in anticipation of a stressful night, "Please, like you have to tell me that."

— ❥ —

Of course, if Courtney was actually agreeing to such insanity, she needed to go out on a run and clear her mind the best way she knew how.

Exercise diffused her anxieties, and made her feel good about herself. Others pregamed with alcohol, she pregamed with productivity (though she'd probably still need a drink or two before heading out).

It'd have to be a short run, since Bridgette was coming to pick her up at 4:00 PM, and Courtney would still need to shower and get ready. Nevertheless, a short run was still a run.

It was perfect that their new house had private entry to a hiking trail that led into the sprawling forests and mountainous terrains of Wawanakwa Falls—one of the many perks of living in a small town, where the neighborhoods were integrated with nature.

It was one of the many selling points Josie brought to Courtney when she announced that she was moving to Nowheresville, Canada. It honestly didn't take much convincing on Josie's part, since Courtney's alternative option to moving with her was to go back to their parent's house in Connecticut.

Josie could be moving to Antarctica and Courtney would still opt for that over her parents.

What are you doing, Courtney? This is the opposite of clearing your head, she thought to herself as she mentally rolled her eyes.

Determined to maintain her zen (or whatever was left of it), she let her senses wander to the scenes of nature moving around her: the subtle cracks of crestfallen leaves (one of the many signs that autumn was coming) crunching with every step; the harmonic chirps and chimes of birds above; the crispness of the forest air, a palpable chill filling her lungs with every inhale; the raging sun and clear blue sky; the rich bark of the trees, its linings displaying the carvings of time and of...a skull?

Did she see that right?

The double take she did almost caused her to trip on a fallen branch. Courtney quickly saved herself by grabbing onto a nearby trunk for support, only to find that this tree also had the carvings of the same anonymous artist, except this one had writing on it: "Punk's Not Dead", and another skull symbol.

Courtney crossed her arms in disapproval, letting out a loud exhale of frustration as she shook her head. "What kind of idiot is out here vandalizing trees?" She muttered to herself as she studied it a little more.

Then, in her peripheral vision, she noticed the slight iconography of yet another skull on another tree, this one far more detailed than the last ones—she could tell its author spent quite some time on it. It would've intrigued her more, if it wasn't so destructive to the tree itself.

She follows this path of carved trees, each one either having the same carving of the skull or some insipid writing on it, "D-Man", or, "Life Sucks And Then You Die", and other such emo sayings.

Courtney considered just turning around and going back on the trail—after all, what was she really hoping to gain from humoring this guy's vandalism with an audience? It wasn't going to lead anywhere, anyways.

So that's what she should've done...but then the slightest glint of something silver caught her eye from afar. And if Courtney had any weaknesses, it was her stubborn determination to see something through.

She found the hollow of a tree, probably stolen from a poor squirrel trying to nest there for the fall, and within it a stash of all sorts of things: Altoid tins with old joints inside, packs of cigarettes (some empty), and the silver thing in question—a lighter.

It was a custom lighter, not the cheap kind you find at a convenience store; it weighed heavy in Courtney's hand, with a sort of emotional importance, and a small inscription etched in simple lettering on the side of the lighter reading, "Take a walk on the Wild(er) side."

"Hmph," she scoffed, "so he's a stoner. That checks out."

Courtney absentmindedly put the lighter in her pocket and took a pack of cigarettes while she was there (a true guilty pleasure of hers, if ever one exists). Serves him right for leaving stuff here, and for carving into trees, she justified to herself.

Feeling that her business was done, the brunette trotted back towards the direction of her path, trying to occupy her mind with something else to distract from the fact that she soon had to walk back down and get ready for Geoff's bonfire. Oh, the horror.

She started singing to herself a bit, an old habit of hers that never really died and always came back whenever she was by herself. Recently obsessed with Fiona Apple, the lyrics to Paper Bag start fighting their way out of her mind through her voice—the perfect melody to match her serene pace.

Hunger hurts,and I want him, so bad,oh it kills,

Before getting back to the trail, she finds a slightly worn path going towards a lookout spot.

'Cause I know I'm a messhe don't wanna clean up.

Deciding that she can spare an extra 10 minutes she decides to follow it.

I've got to fall 'causethese hands are too shaky to hold,

And suddenly she's met with this amazing view of the whole town and the forests expanding far beyond it—a scene as commanding of the eye as a compass is obeying of a magnet.

Hunger hurtsbut starving works,when it costs...too much to love.

And maybe it was the scenery before her that just physically took Courtney's breath away, or the overwhelming breeze that had picked up at such a high altitude, but upon realizing that she was, in fact, not alone up there, and that she was among the presence of another, Courtney nearly felt her chest seize.

"Pretty voice. Why'd you stop singing? Paper Bag is one of my favorites."

Courtney turns to face him. Wow, his eyes.

The crystal blue quality of his eyes were the first thing to strike her about him, and Courtney found herself staring into them for much longer than she'd like to admit.

The next feature of his aspect she noticed were his piercings—his ears, a stud on his nostril, one of his eyebrows, and a flash of silver peeking out from his tongue. He also wore other forms of jewelry, some rings and chains that stood out against his black hoodie. He had very strong features: a defined jawline, deep set eyes (upon further inspection, she noticed the cerulean iris contrast greatly with the tinge of redness across his eyes, he'd obviously been smoking), prominent brows—his side profile was so defined it almost cut the scenery behind it.

But, perhaps the most distinguishable thing about him was hair; it was full around his head, straight locks with a slight wave and messy ruffle to it. From the root through most of its length, it was jet black, very striking against his pale complexion; but the tips were a bright neon green that Courtney couldn't tell whether she found off-putting or attractive.

Attractive?! Please, Courtney, get a grip.

"So you must be the tree vandal?" Courtney forced herself to say, realizing that she'd been staring at him for too long (and he noticed, too, owing to his smug disposition).

"What, this?" He threw a lazy thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the tree behind him that he was apparently working on before Courtney interrupted him. "Aww, don't worry about it. The trees don't mind." 

"In fact," and he took a couple of steps towards her, nonchalantly putting his hands in the pocket of his hoodie, "I had a real heart-to-heart with this exact tree here and, it doesn't mind."

Courtney scoffed at his condescension, "You're mocking me?"

"What? I'm totally sincere. Can't you tell by my eyes?" And he closed the distance between their faces by an uncomfortable amount, gazing directly into Courtney, "They say eyes are the window to the soul."

And while she found it hard to break eye contact with him, Courtney took an unsteady step back, trying to regain her composure, "Don't be an asshole, you're harming their ecosystems."

She crossed her arms defensively, "And with tasteless graffiti, too."

"I take it you don't like my art?"

"That's a generous label. I'd hardly put your 'art' on the same order as Monet."

"The whole point of art is that it's subjective, no?"

"Frankly, there's being subjective, and then there's just having taste."

At that he clutched a hand over his chest, feigning injury, "You're breaking my heart, babe. What made you so cold?"

She just rolls her eyes, "Don't expect me to humor your theatrics with a response...and don't call me babe."

A moment of silence passes between them. For a good minute, it was just him eyeing and studying Courtney the way she had been doing to him—and it made her immensely uncomfortable. She was willing to blurt out anything to make the moment pass: "You know Fiona Apple?"

It takes him a second to snap out of his daze and form a response, "Don't sound so surprised, does it look like I don't have taste?"

She pauses for a moment, thinking before responding, "You do that a lot—answer my questions with more questions. Why is that?"

"Just an old habit of mine I guess. Those die hard, you know," he nonchalantly sighed, tilting his head to the side as he not-so-subtly studied Courtney. But it wasn't like she wasn't doing the exact same thing to him, taking in his appearance, words, and presence as a whole.

"Well, as for the taste thing, I'm afraid that's already been established," she grimaced.

"In that I have none?" he cocked a quizzical brow in smugness.

"Precisely."

He simply scoffed at her guarded disposition and looked around, searching for a response, before focusing those teal irises back on her, "You don't like me," and he paused for a second, considering what to add, "you don't know me, but you don't like me."

And now it was her turn to feign a cheery expression. "What? No, I think we get along just fine!"

"So, why are you still here then?"

The brunette rolled her eyes at his crudeness. "Whatever, I didn't mean to barge into your smoking spot anyways. I just came for the view, but I'll be leaving now—"

"No, you stay. I'm outta here. My buzz is killed."

"How chivalrous." She scoffs as she watches him walk away. He throws a lazy hand up in the air as a goodbye, not even bothering to look back.

"To a princess like you? I've got to be," he calls out before disappearing back into the woods.

Courtney breathes a sigh of relief, feels her shoulders slouch and her arms fall from their crossed position once she confirms that he's out of sight.

"Don't call me that," she mutters more to herself than anyone else before turning back towards the view, her original reason for coming there.

Having committed the naturalistic scene to memory, she turns on her heels to leave, when a splash of color briefly catches her eye. It was the tree that he was working on—one of his usual carvings, but this time, it was a rendition of the landscape she had just spent 5 minutes staring at. As much as it pained her to say, it was a good rendition, too.

He was actually using some paint for this one, and didn't even bother to clean up his station before leaving; small bottles of paint and brushes were littered on the ground. 

Courtney considered picking the mess up and throwing it away, but she figured he'd be back for them himself.

The brunette studies the carving a little more, and while she wouldn't admit it to anyone but herself, she recognized the faintest quality of talent in the etching before her. And, with a simple hum of thought, she turns to follow the path back towards her new home.

— ♔ —

The car is almost completely silent, save for the quiet sound of Heather's finger rhythmically tapping on the driver's wheel.

The ravenette checked her phone again for the time—4:11 PM. Duncan was supposed to come out at 4, what the hell is he doing??

"Can't count on men for shit," she sighed to herself as she clicked on the FaceTime app, ready to call him.

She's interrupted, though, by a sudden rap on the passenger seat window. Slightly startled, Heather looks up to see none other than Gwen, more affectionately known to her as 'weird goth girl', standing outside her car.

"When the hell did you get here?!" She exclaimed, rolling down her window. Gwen crouched down to meet her eye level, leaning on the window sill. "I literally live a couple of houses down," she said, pointing down the row of houses to where she lived.

"So you're as pale as a ghost and creep up like one, too." She shrugged, unlocking the car doors to let her in. But just as she's about to get into the backseat, Heather remarks, "Why are you getting in the back? Do I look like an Uber driver to you??"

Gwen, visibly restraining herself from saying something snarky and mustering all the patience in the world, moved to the passenger seat door and grudgingly got in. The goth seemed to mutter something to herself, but whether or not Heather cared, she didn't question it.

"Remind me to never ask you for a ride again. I'd rather walk," she huffed, blowing some of her bangs out of her eyes.

"You honestly should—God knows you need the tan."

"I'm not that pale."

"Keep telling yourself that, maybe it'll come true!"

Gwen palms her forehead in frustration, "What the fuck is taking Duncan so long?!"

Heather starts honking her car horn nonstop, hoping to get the aforementioned boy's attention and shorten the amount of time she had to spend alone with Gwen.

It wasn't that Heather totally disliked the girl or held some sort of hatred for her—it was just admittedly too easy to pick on her at times.

A part of her also resented the fact that everyone had taken to Gwen so quickly: Geoff, despite them being polar opposites, always made a point to include her in everything; Bridgette (okay maybe this one wasn't as surprising) in the way that she'd always hang out, study, joke around with her; and Duncan. Well, he was the most shocking one of all, because he wasn't exactly the type to make a conscious effort in befriending people.

Maybe it was because of their shared emo-ness ('edgy humor', they liked to call it), or their numerous overlaps in interests, whether it be music, movies, shows, etc., but the two quickly became as thick as thieves.

Obviously, Heather had to be blind to not notice the fact that Goth-y had a major crush on the guy. It wasn't that she didn't understand the appeal (obviously Duncan was hot, but too emo for her, and frankly? An absolute dick, he was a walking red flag in most respects), but the fact that Gwen thought she had a chance? Hilarious.

Sure, he seemed to maybe, slightly, care about Gwen as a friend, but in terms of romance (which Heather wasn't sure he was even capable of anymore), she was completely far from his type—at least, based on past precedent.

"Alright, alright!! You can stop honking now, he's finally coming out!" Gwen shouted over the loud horn, her hands covering her ears.

"Hmph," Heather pouted as she glared down Duncan, who was taking his sweet time walking towards the car.

"Aww, how sweet of you girls to wait up," he said smoothly as he made his way into the backseat, the strong smell of his cologne filling up her car.

"This is the last time I do you the favor of picking you up," Heather scoffed, turning around to squint her eyes at him.

Gwen chuckled, "What took you so long anyways? It's not like you had to do your makeup or anything."

"It takes time to look this good, I'll have you know," Duncan nonchalantly sighed as made himself comfortable—his head tilted back on the headrest, man-spreading to his content.

"So who are you trying to look good for anyway?" Heather smirked at him as she put her sunglasses on and started the engine to her precious car. The smooth purr of its engine was like music to her well-adorned ears—she greatly appreciated a car well taken care of.

"Dude, everyone at school is so ran-through. I can't hook up with anyone without immediately getting into some BS drama with someone else. I need is someone new," the punk loudly complained.

"The only thing I miss about my old school was that you could kinda do whatever you wanted and not have it spread to the rest of the school within minutes," Gwen sympathized, putting her head against the window sill to feel the cool afternoon breeze against her temples, "Here, it's like living under a microscope."

"So what I'm hearing is that you're going back to Dakota tonight?" Heather inquired.

Duncan rolled his eyes in annoyance just at the thought of her, "Fuck no. I've already hooked up with her three times, she's gonna start getting attached and shit."

"Three times?! Yikes, Duncan. I've never broken the cardinal rule of getting with a hookup more than two times—unless it's an established friends-with-benefits kind of situation."

"I know, Heather, I'm not stupid. I'm avoiding her like the fucking plague tonight. I've been talking to one of her friends, though, Taylor?"

"Taylor McAuley??" Heather could hardly keep her composure, "I thought Dakota was her best friend?!"

"Beats me. She's thick as fuck, though." Duncan now seemed to be scrolling through her Instagram on his phone, "but is it really stupid of me to get with her?"

"Uhhhh," Heather thought on it for a second, "normally I'd say yes but they're seniors so they'll be leaving soon anyways. Besides, if Dakota ever finds out, she'd get way more pissed at Taylor than you. Girl code, or whatever."

"Wow, you guys are both assholes." That was all Gwen could contribute to the conversation, deciding to focus her attention on the passing scenery around them on their way to the lake.

One thing Heather and Duncan had uncannily in common was their approach (or rather, aversion) to relationships: purely for the cheap thrills, no strings attached, no messy feelings. It was just easier that way.

And frankly, it was nice for Heather to have someone to talk to so casually about sex and hook-ups. Bridgette was Ms. Relationship, she wouldn't even kiss a guy if they didn't have any verbal commitment; Geoff wasn't too much of a slut before Bridgette, but Heather knows he'd gotten with at least two of her old friends before practically marrying Bridge (come to think of it, it was probably Geoff who ruined those friendships for her, not that she really cared); Gwen mentioned a boyfriend at her old school, but it didn't sound like she was too interested in hooking up with people anyways (or if she was, she never made an effort to).

So that left Heather and Duncan to swap war stories, ask each other for advice, and set each other up with friends and mutuals so that neither of them was left high and dry.

And while Duncan was definitely an established man-whore at school, Heather was way smarter at keeping her sexual life on the down-low; that sort of reputation was always worse for girls than guys. 

People slut-shamed her enough without knowing her body count; they'd all go to town if they knew the actual number.

It's easy to hate a pretty girl, Heather sighed to herself as she admired her reflection in the side view mirror.

"Don't worry, Pasty, it's all just dumb fun," he said as he yawned, stretching his arms back above his head, before resting his hands there. "The second you decide you wanna hook up with someone, just make sure they're not like me."

"Got it."

That dry response was enough for Heather to know exactly what was going through Gwen's head, and a part of her sympathized with that sense of unrequitedness.

"So Heather, what are your plots for the night? Justin again?" Duncan asked with a sly grin, completely oblivious to the moody goth in their presence.

"Hell no. He may be hot, but he's got no personality. Which normally I wouldn't mind, but kissing him is like kissing a wall."

"Harsh!" Duncan cackled his ass off.

"No, I'm a junior now. It's time I start to aim higher—I'm thinking Jose."

"Burromuerto?"

"The one and only. Hooking up with him will be easy, but if I can get him to like me enough to take me to Homecoming, then I've got Junior and Senior Prom Queen in the bag," she stated intently, tightening her grip on the wheel with determination.

"Yeah, except...you have to get him to like you," Duncan teased, even earning a chortle from Gwen, who was still facing away from them and towards the window.

"Oh, please," she turned to smirk at him, "for me, it'll be a piece of cake."

— ༄ —

Geoff had outdone himself this time.

Almost 70% of the school had already pulled up and were vastly enjoying themselves at the lake shore; drinks were going strong, people were playing cup pong, 'beach' volleyball, chicken fights in the water. Some people had even started to hook up already, and it was only 5:07 PM.

Despite the darty's avid success, the only people he cared to share it with weren't even there. But, as if in response to his thoughts, the blond's phone starts ringing to show an incoming call from Heather.

"Where the hell are you guys?" Geoff exclaims, holding the phone close to his ear since it was hard to hear anything over the music-blasting speakers.

"Take a pill, Geoff, we're here already. I just need you to open your garage door so I can park inside. Like hell I'm leaving my car out for some drunkies to try to break into and hook up in."

And he could just barely hear Gwen's retort in the background, "You're so fucking dramatic."

"Don't worry, brah, I'm coming over right now." And he hung up the phone before hearing anything else.

He rushed over to the garage and did as he was asked; currently, only his car was sitting in there, leaving space for Heather's car and Courtney's. But both of their spaces were empty at the moment.

Geoff checked his phone again to make sure he wasn't missing any notifications from Bridgette, before sighing at finding none and pressing the button to open the garage door.

Heather smoothly drove in and parked her car, they were all out and joining him on the lake within a matter of minutes.

"Now this is a party!" Duncan exclaims as he walks up to Geoff to dab him up.

"Fuck that, this is a darty!!" The blond exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm not saying that corny ass shit," Duncan chuckles as he looks around, taking in the whole scene before him.

"Geoff! Please tell me you have some weed leftover from last night—I never got to hit it before I left," Gwen pleaded, giving him her puppy eyes.

The blond simply laughed at her desperation, "Don't worry, brah, my plug's coming later to restock me."

Satisfied with his answer, she simply looks around to see if she can find any other familiar faces.

"Wow, Geoff, this is big—even by your standards," Heather commented, crossing her arms conservatively.

"I know, right?!" He responded incredulously, "I mean, I should just host all my parties out here—we can be as loud as we fucking want! WOOOO!" He shouted victoriously, as if to demonstrate his point.

"Wait, how is Bridge not here yet?? I thought she was helping you throw this," Heather kept scoping out the place, trying to spot her bubbly friend.

Geoff's mood was watered down at the reminder of his girlfriend's absence. It may sound cheesy as fuck, but stuff really was way better whenever Bridgette was around. And the fact that she hadn't texted him in so long was just a little off-putting for him.

"Uhh, I'm sure she's on the way. She said she was getting ready with Mocha, and the two of them together is a recipe for lateness," he faked nonchalance, a hand fixing the cowboy hat atop his head.

"Mocha? You mean Courtney, the girl Bridgette mentioned yesterday?" Gwen asked, arching a brow in curiosity, to which he responded with a simple nod.

"And Bridgette wanted me to tell you that she's off limits, Duncan," he said in a serious tone, well, as serious as he could muster.

"Damn, okay. Not like that was even on my mind or anything," his hands were up in innocence, but the devilish smirk on his face said it all, "Why? Is she hot?"

Geoff knew Duncan better than most, and he could tell Bridgette's warning almost registered like a challenge in his friend's mind. It probably would've been better that Geoff had said nothing, never even planted that seed of thought in his brain.

He just rolled his eyes at Duncan, "Just don't be a dick to her, and you're good. Actually, that goes for you, too, Heather."

"What, me??? I'm not a dick!!"

A moment of silence befell them.

"Okay, you assholes! Maybe I can be mean—but I'm just honest. Everyone's so damn sensitive," the ravenette crossed her arms defensively.

"Geoff, you do realize that other than you and Bridgette, everyone else in our friend group is really unapproachable. I'm not even that rude, and people still call me intimidating," Gwen pointed out.

"That's just because you're weird and unlikable," Heather shrugged. But at the following moments of awkward silence as everyone stared her down, she simply sighed, "Sorry, it's too easy sometimes. I can't help myself."

"I don't mean to worry you guys too much about it," Geoff tried moving forward with the conversation, "To be honest, Mocha's pretty unapproachable herself. But, just...be nice guys."

"Yikes, does that mean she's a weirdo?" Heather winced, "We all know Bridgette's not above taking in strays," and, of course, she gave Gwen a wicked side eye.

Geoff really didn't understand Heather, or girls like Heather, at all sometimes. Of course, he's gotten to know Heather enough since the start of high school to know she's not a complete mean girl, but there were times where she could've fooled him. Namely, right now.

And he could never really tell when she and Gwen were on good terms; sometimes they were indifferent and other times at each other's throats—it was hard to keep up. Girls, man. Thank God Bridgette's not so hot-n-cold.

"Well, Bridgette's a good person, and a good friend to people and animals alike—lucky for you, she's not disgusted by snakes," Gwen shot back, leaving Heather with a gaping expression.

And before she could even respond with one of her usual witty retorts, Bridgette, in her usual diffusive manner, saunters over to the group, completely oblivious to whatever verbal catfight had occurred moments before.

"Babe!" Geoff breathes out a huge sigh of relief, opening up his arms, ready to scoop her into a hug.

She's more than willing to jump into them, and Geoff held onto their embrace for longer than Bridgette probably expected.

"Awwww, did someone miss me??"

"So all this hype about Latte, or whatever, and she's not even here?" Duncan asked, crossing his arms expectantly.

"What are you talking about, she's walking over right now," Bridgette laughed as she turned back around and pointed a finger to single Courtney out—though she didn't have to.

The crowds of people were naturally parting a path for Courtney as she walked directly towards them, looking as beautiful and picturesque as ever.

Geoff and Bridgette chuckled to themselves, as if sharing a secret only they were in on. 

They were used to these kinds of reactions from people whenever they introduced Courtney to them; just the 10-second delay that goes on as their brains try to process that such beauty can exist in one person.

All their friends were just staring at her, mouths gaping in surprise.

Duncan, the only one with a verbal reaction: "No fucking way."

— ❥ —

Okay, so one could be the most secure and confident person in the world, and still be shitting bricks if they were in Courtney's shoes at the moment.

Almost everyone was pausing their conversations and craning their necks to see her as she walked down the shore to where Bridgette, Geoff, and the rest of their friends were standing.

I guess they don't get too many new kids here, she thought to herself.

The bonfire was everything Bridgette described it as, and more.

"COURTNEY!!! Court!! Get over here!" Bridgette shouted at her, eagerly beckoning the brunette to pick up the pace as she made her way over.

A loose smile spreads across her face as she gives her blonde friend a knowing look.

For a moment, it was just everyone else in the group eyeing Courtney, who was trying hard not to squirm under their scrutiny.

"I'm Courtney. It's nice to meet you," and she offers a friendly wave.

The brunette first meets eyes with one of the girls—very pale skin with contrasting features, dark, almost black, eyes and jet black hair with some chunks dyed a faded, space blue. It was messily styled, her bangs sitting sparsely above her ultra-thin brows and the rest of it hanging it just above her shoulders at a grown-out-bob length. Courtney could tell from the dark berry lip gloss, silver septum piercing, and black hoodie used as a cover up over her black boyshorts, that she was very edgy—gothic.

Meanwhile, the other girl was intensely scoping Courtney out, as Courtney was her.

She's got a sharp glare, I swear it could cut right through me, she thought to herself as she took in the rest of the ravenette's appearance.

In credit to her descriptor, she had pin straight, raven black hair that just barely reached her elbow. She had very dark hazel, almost washed-out gray, eyes that oozed judgment, hidden behind a full set of well-kept lash extensions. Whereas the other girl's figure was pretty slim, this one's was toned, with very lean muscle. If Courtney had to take a guess, she'd either say this girl either did track, cheer, or dance.

"Gwen," was all the first girl said in response, before adding, "I was new last year, so, I know what you're going through."

"It's a little overwhelming, isn't it?"

Gwen merely scoffed at her, "It's basically hell for the first, hm, 3 months or so? But it gets better, I guess."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Bridgette piped in, wrapping an arm around Courtney in her usual cheery manner.

"You're sweet, Bridge, but I'm sure it'll take me some time to warm up to people. Or, at least, for people to warm up to me."

And then a third, previously silent voice joined the conversation: "Well, not if you play your cards right."

The ravenette was facing Courtney directly and outstretched a hand to rest on her shoulder, "I'm Heather. Something tells me we're going to be good friends."

Courtney slightly squints her eyes at the girl, not quite knowing what to make of her; it was clear from her gaze that Heather was a very calculated person, with intention behind every word said and action done. But honestly? So was Courtney.

Game, as they say, recognizes game. And this kind of stuff? Mind games, social politics, strategy—that, she was good at.

"Heather? Good? Oh, that's rich," Gwen chuckled to herself, earning a sheepish look from Geoff and a reproaching one from Bridgette.

Courtney also let out a slight chuckle, "For both our sakes, Heather," and she paused, giving the girl a look up and down, as she had been looking at her before, "I hope you're right."

And just for a second, Courtney could see Heather's guard falter, only slightly.

"I'm so lucky to have all my favorite girls with me!" Bridgette cheered as she clutched Gwen and Courtney's hand to her, completely oblivious to whatever was happening between the latter and Heather.

So that only left one person not yet introduced….

And, obviously, she'd noticed him walking up. How couldn't she? You don't forget someone like that, at least, not within a day of meeting them.

When she first caught sight of his green hair, Courtney stopped dead in her tracks; luckily, Bridgette didn't seem to notice and just kept on walking over to her friends. But Courtney needed a moment to compose herself and decide what she was going to do.

Well, what could she do? A) Pretend she'd never met him and be as cordial as possible, or, B) be her usual snarky self and pick up their bickering match where it left off in the woods.

Honestly, she was willing to not say anything or make a fuss about it, considering that he turned out to be one of Bridgette's good friends. After all, she really didn't mean to get off on a bad start with him—especially if they'd potentially be running in the same social circles.

"Oh! And Mocha, meet my bro, Duncan!" Geoff exclaimed, patting said friend on the back as he introduced them.

Duncan had been staring at Courtney the whole time she was there, with an expression that was very hard, even for her, to read.

"No need for the introductions, Princess and I go way back," he confidently remarked, earning puzzled expressions from the rest of the group.

"You guys know each other?" Gwen asked, drawing a finger between the two of them.

"We really don't, I don't know why he said that," Courtney rolled her eyes as she looked to the side in a sheepish manner, "And now you know my name. So don't call me Princess."

"That hurts my feelings, Princess, I thought we had a real heart-to-heart today—y'know, back at our spot," and he even had the audacity to throw in a cheeky wink at the end of his sentence.

'Our spot'?! What the hell is this guy's game? Why is he being such an ass?

"I don't understand," Bridgette said, hesitantly looking from Duncan to Courtney in complete perplexity.

"There's nothing to understand. We don't have a 'spot', we don't 'go way back', we don't know each other—plain and simple," Courtney seethed as she gave Duncan the dirtiest glare she could muster.

And Duncan, whether he picked up on Courtney's discontentment or not, was completely unfazed, returning her hostility with a lax disposition and signature smirk.

An awkward silence fell upon the group, no one quite knowing how to pivot from such a point of contention, and no one daring to. With one, notable exception.

"While you guys decide whether or not you know each other, I'm going to go have fun. This is a party, for heaven's sake." Heather scoffed as she turned on her heels, strutting away to make better use of her precious time.

Geoff let out a visible sigh at the given opportunity to diffuse the tension, "Right on! Let's party forever!!" He hooted, wrapping an arm around Duncan and Courtney alike.

The brunette merely let out a passive sigh and muttered a weak, "Yay." 

Bridgette linked her arm with Courtney's, leaning in to whisper, "Everything okay?"

She sighed, turning to her hazel-eyed friend. As off-putting as Duncan was, Courtney wasn't going to let him ruin the night. She's disliked people before, big deal. What's one more name to the list?

"Everything's perfectly fine." And with a curt nod, Courtney decided it was her turn to be the more impulsive one. "Now, let's get a drink! I need a Coke."

She grabbed Bridgette by the hand and pulled her into a playful jog towards the drinks table, barely hearing Geoff's shouts of encouragement, "YEAH, MOCHA!!"

It was about time she took a page out of Geoff's notebook. And besides, it'd be easier to forget about annoying, green-haired punks with a drink in hand.

— ❈ —

"Courtney…is so hot."

Gwen scoffed at Duncan's remark. It's not like she could disagree with him, the girl was gorgeous. Since she walked off with Bridgette, Duncan had not stopped staring at her the entire time.

Even as their conversations drifted to other topics, or as they talked to other people, Gwen couldn't help but notice that his eye would always find its way back to a certain brunette. 

She was used to Duncan always ditching her at parties to get with other girls, especially later into the night. It never bothered Gwen too much, except now it caused them to lose their previously undefeated cup pong streak.

Clearly, this was different than those other times—Duncan was keeping his distance from Courtney, which was definitely not par for the course. He was probably the most forward person Gwen knew…and maybe she could stand to learn a thing or two from him.

Anyways, why Gwen's treacherous mind forced her to focus on these things was beyond her—it's not like she was obsessively following his line of vision 24/7. But she couldn't help what she noticed; in fact, she wished she hadn't noticed these kinds of things. It'd make her life way easier, and her mind quieter.

She brushed all those thoughts away and gave Duncan a sly grin, "You really think so? I couldn't tell." He just rolled his eyes, still not taking them off Courtney.

Gwen cleared her throat, "Well, what about Taylor?"

"Who?" He scoffed.

"Taylor? You were literally just telling me and Heather about how you wanted to—"

"Who?" And this time he turned to face Gwen, giving her a deadpan expression.

Oh.

"Wow, you're forward," the goth crossed her arms in slight disapproval.

"And she's hot."

"Who, Courtney?" Heather asked as she walked up to the two of them and then gave them a bitter smile and eye roll, "That seems to be the general consensus."

"Jealous, are you?" Duncan challenged, giving her a knowing smirk.

"As if. Anyways, can you guys get over yourselves and help me out?" she scoffed, tossing her inky black hair to the side.

"Gee, since you asked so nicely," Gwen lamely rolled her eyes at her.

Completely ignoring her, Heather turned towards Duncan, "I need to start talking to Jose, like, now if I want him to be interested in me by homecoming."

Duncan and Gwen shared a similar look of dispassion, the latter crossing her arms in unwillingness.

Duncan sighed, "And how the fuck do you want me to do that?"

Heather patted an index finger on her lip, feigning thought, "Oh, I don't know—like this!"

And before Gwen could even blink, Heather pushed Duncan into the sand, making him bump into Jose—who was conveniently chatting with his friend only a couple feet away.

Gwen rolled her eyes. Here I thought she walked up to us because she wanted to talk to us.

Heather was already putting on her best performance of worry and concern, "Oh my god!! Are you okay?!" And she put a strategic hand on Jose's shoulder, "You'll have to excuse my friend, he's such a klutz."

"What the hell, Heather?!" Duncan complained as he got up from the floor, brushing the sand off his swim trunks.

"Aww, do you have a concussion? Go find Geoff." Heather couldn't get rid of him fast enough, pushing him again but this time right into Gwen, and twirling back around to focus her attention on charming Jose.

Not that it'd take a lot on her behalf; as much as Gwen hated to admit, Heather had a certain suavity when it came to flirting that made the goth just a little envious. It's not that Gwen had any direct interest in being some sort of femme fatale, but she's never known what it's like to be able to have that sort of effect on others. She was far too unsociable and off-putting for it.

"Nice friend we have, huh?" She rolled her eyes at said girl, who was laughing way too hard at whatever Jose was saying, and the consequential layer of blush covering his face was a sign of her charm at work.

"That's Heather for you," Duncan rolled his eyes, "but she's usually good about returning the favor."

"And speaking of…" He brought his palms together pleadingly. Gwen feared that she already knew where this was going…

"I need a favor from you."

Gwen only looked up at him with a cocked brow and crossed arms. Whatever was going to come out of his mouth next would probably come at the price of her contentment.

"I need you to go challenge Courtney to a chicken fight."

"What?! Why??" She shouted at him.

"Because she'll obviously say no to me! And I just want a chance to talk to her," he shrugged, beating around the bush for why he'd put in so much effort to get close to a girl when he could probably get with anyone else.

Gwen scoffed, "She's not made of stone, if you want to go talk to her, then do it yourself!!"

"It's not that easy…she just…look, if I could do that you know I wouldn't be asking you for a favor!" 

"Hello? I'm a terrible wingman! That's why you have Heather," Gwen shrieked, frankly disturbed at the thought of scoring Duncan a hookup.

"She's clearly busy right now! Come on, Pasty…"

And he did that motion of the eyes thing to Gwen again, his eyes so clear a blue that she swore she could even see her own reflection. As a cherry on top, he slouched a casual arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to whisper in her ear: "Do me a solid?"

Gwen's first instinct was to turn her face away from him, simply to hide the fact that her nose and ears were smeared an embarrassing shade of pink. So what if his proximity to her made her nervous?? 

She'd never let him know it.

The goth bit her lip as she stood in thought. She already knew what her answer was—how could she say no? She had no good reason to. 

At least, no reason that didn't involve an embarrassing confession.

Finally, Gwen let out an obnoxious sigh, "Alright! Okay! Jesus….but you owe me!"

"I knew you'd come through, you're the best!" Duncan explained as he grabbed her hand and jogged her to where Courtney was talking to Trent and Justin, Gwen leaving behind a trail of groans.

What the fuck have I gotten myself into????

When they walked up to the trio, Courtney's eyes seemed to flash with both recognition and relief at the sight of them.

"Gwen!" she exclaimed, rushing to hug the girl.

As much as it took Gwen aback, she felt herself fall easily into the role of Courtney's friend, even hugging her back. But that was probably more a response of shock than genuine affection.

Right before the brunette pulled away, she quickly whispered in Gwen's ear, "Please save me, the tall one won't stop talking and I've no idea how to get him to stop."

Laughter bubbled threateningly in Gwen's throat—she assumed Courtney was talking about Justin. Hot as he was, all sense of dreaminess and fantasy went away the second he opened his mouth…and never closed it.

Gwen never knew how his friends could stand him, like Trent, for example. Other than the fact that he played guitar and was relatively quiet, Gwen knew nothing about him. But the fact that he could stand to tolerate Justin on a daily basis told her that he had the patience of a saint.

"Courtney," Gwen began, almost forgetting the reason they'd walked up to her until Duncan had not-so-subtly elbowed her in the side. "Uhmm, I was wondering….well, we were wondering-"

Another elbow, this time to the rib.

"Nope! Just me! I was wondering if you, uhm….uh..."

Gwen kept losing her train of thought as she looked from Courtney, to Justin, to Duncan, to Trent, all dealing her puzzled expressions.

"Chicken fight?" She finally just blurted out. 

"Duncan and I against you and…" her gaze shifted to Trent, who could not look more uninterested, and then to Justin, whose eagerness could be smelled from miles away.

"Me!" Justin exclaimed before she could even finish her thought, and Gwen swore she saw Courtney's eye twitch. 

Trent, on the other hand, simply laughed out loud as he casually walked away from the train wreck.

Courtney hesitated, "Oh, I don't know…"

Justin put an arm around her, "Come on, Court, let's do it!"

Duncan cackled, seemingly at his pet name for her as well as her obvious discomfort with it, "Yeah, Court. Don't be a stick in the mud!"

"Who even says that anymore?" Gwen rolled her eyes at him. Why had she agreed to this in the first place…did she really like him that much?

The two girls shared an empathetic look with one another at whatever sad situation they'd both seemingly been roped into.

Until, a realization dawned on Courtney. 

"You know what? You guys are right, let's play." The brunette extended a hand and smug disposition towards her, "Gwen?"

It took a moment for said girl to catch on, but not as long as it took Duncan and Justin, who apprehensively followed the two girls as they walked, hand-in-hand, towards the shore.

— ꕥ —

"Okay, this isn't exactly what I had in mind!" Duncan shouted, as he struggled to balance Justin's lanky build on his shoulders.

Meanwhile, Courtney had no problem holding up Gwen's small frame, and even reveled in making competitive jabs at Duncan to throw him off even more while their teammates battled it out above the water.

It was all too funny for Bridgette to witness from afar, as she took a couple of hilarious action shots with her digital camera.

"This is definitely making it to the junior year scrapbook," she giggled to herself as she scrolled through all the prize-winning shots. She put her eye to the camera to take another nice picture of the sunset's yellow, orange, and pink before the frame was suddenly filled with tan, blonde, and blue.

"Geoff!" 

"Babe!" He picked Bridgette up and swirled her around. "Didn't I just make your shot 10 times hotter??"

She simply laughed as he ran a flirty hand through his blond, tousled waves, "How are you enjoying your party? Epic turnout, right?!"

"I guess," he lightly rolled his eyes, "but the only person I really cared about showing up was you."

Geoff touched his nose to Bridgette's nose, arms wrapped around her frame while her hands were occupied by the camera she held under her chin.

Bridgette considered sealing the deal herself and going in for a kiss, but instead she nuzzled her head into his neck and leaned into his embrace, which was more than welcomed.

She thought to herself for a moment about responding to him, only to come up with nothing. What more could she say?

Bridgette felt luckier than words could even express to have someone like Geoff in her life—someone who genuinely cared about her and was constantly thinking about her.

There were times when Bridgette felt she didn't know what to do with all this love, experiencing it in surplus. This was the kind of emotional encounter she'd only ever read about in her romance books, or seen in those movies her mom would take her to as a little girl. Where the prince swept the princess off her feet and everything was good with the world and they lived happily ever after. Period. The end.

But this was her reality. Geoff wasn't just Bridgette's dream guy—he was as real as the air she breathed, and lately, had seemed to be as intoxicating as it to.

As much as she wore her heart on her sleeve, Bridgette wasn't the overly vulnerable or codependent type. Lately, however, Geoff had her considering otherwise…

She quickly pulled away from him, "Hey, I'm gonna go check on Courtney, make sure Duncan isn't bothering her too much."

"Woah, woah, you leaving me so soon?" He whined, grabbing onto the blonde's hand as she tried to scamper away, "I feel like I've barely seen you at all today!"

"That's not true! I've seen you plenty!" She gave him a lopsided smile.

"Come onnn, let's go down to the hot tub! I specifically closed it off so we could use it!" he called to her, blue eyes beaming with hope.

"But, Courtney–"

"Look at her, Bridge. Doesn't seem like Duncan's bothering her at all—actually! She seems to be having the time of her life! Having fun! At my party! So you should do the same."

Bridgette didn't know where her hesitation was coming from as she bit her lip in thought. She blushed as she thought about the last time they were in the hot tub together; clearly, she'd enjoyed it then. So, why not now?

There was an obvious answer to follow. So she ignored the slight pit in her throat and took Geoff's hand leading her back towards the lake house.

— ✪ —

So the chicken fight may have been a failure in most respects—Duncan had Gwen to thank for conspiring against him with Courtney—but, it wasn't a complete dud.

After all, there was something to be said for the fact that he was now alone with Courtney as they both waited for Gwen and Justin to bring some towels from inside the house. 

On the one hand, this was Courtney, the girl who simply couldn't stand him and dealt him judgemental looks every possible second; but on the other hand, this was Courtney, a hot chick with an insane build wearing a tiny bikini, who had legs for days.

The only bad part about all this was that Duncan couldn't speak a word without instantly annoying her, and there was no way any of his usual pickup lines would charm her.

See, a better man might've taken the hint by now and given up—but Duncan was, well, Duncan.

"So, good game?" he offered a cheeky smile. Maybe he couldn't outright flirt with her, but he could try his hand at small-talk.

"Maybe not for you."

Rejection.

"That was a pretty devastating loss," she scoffed, crossing her arms away from him.

"Are you kidding me? That was the upset of the century!"

"Funny, I never took you for a sore loser," she lightly tapped a finger on her chin in fake thought.

"How about next time you try holding up Justin while he flails around like fish out of water—it's not easy!" He pointed out, defensively.

Courtney simply smiled at his dismay, amused at how riled up he was. "True, I mean his muscles must make up, what, 90? 95 percent of his body mass?" And that only seemed to annoy him more.

"Probably to compensate for the fact that he's got no activity going on up here," Duncan scoffed, tapping a finger to his forehead. And then Courtney laughed, and something within Duncan felt…proud? For being its source. Now that was funny.

"And hey, it's not like your partner was any better!" He added on.

"At least she was good enough to win! She may not be the strongest…like, at all, but she still got him in the water," and Courtney couldn't even finish her sentence properly without them both bursting into laughter, reminded of a less than flattering memory of Justin screaming like a prepubescent boy as he went down into the water.

It took a minute before the laughter fully subsided, and even then the two couldn't keep a straight face—even the slightest chuckle threatened a whole slew of laughter.

"You know, I'm pretty sure there's an obvious answer to this whole situation," Duncan said between laughs. 

"What?"

And he tried to keep a straighter face as he said this: "I mean, come on. Isn't it obvious? We've gotta be a team next round."

"Next round?" Courtney chuckled.

"Admit it, we'd be unstoppable."

A bit of silence fell upon the two, Courtney not quite knowing what to say. But Duncan could see the cogs turning in her mind. In fact, she didn't even need to say anything for Duncan to know what her response was—the subtle smile on her face said enough.

She opens her mouth to respond, but is interrupted by a disheveled DJ jogging up to them.

"Yo!" He shouted as approached, "What's up, Courtney?"

Said girl smiled and waved at him before he turned his attention to Duncan, "D-Man, have you been checking the group chat?"

He cocked an eyebrow before reaching into his pocket for his phone, "Uhh no. Why?"

He saw that he had 20+ unread notifications from Messages.

"There's no more alcohol, we need more for later," DJ explained.

"So? Go get some." He shrugged.

"None of us have our fakes, and none of us are good to drive," he answered, hands laced atop his durag in distress.

"Bro, didn't you only have one can of beer?"

He rubbed his eyes as he spoke, "I also popped an eddy with Harold."

At that, Duncan couldn't hold back his laughter, "Pffft, Harold? Dude—"

"He's a solid guy!" DJ puts his hands up in defense, "and anyways, I'm not getting behind a wheel right now. Mama would kill me if she ever found out!"

Courtney only gave a sympathetic look, while Duncan sighed in annoyance, "DJJJ."

"Please man! Geoff would do it but he's not answering either, and I haven't seen Bridgette in a while so, you know…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Duncan said, shaking his head dismissively, "I didn't drive here, though."

DJ's expression instantly morphed from dejection to elation, "Okay, so all you need is a driver! Perfect!"

"Don't get so excited, almost everyone Ubered."

And suddenly, Courtney interrupted their conversation with an apologetic tone, "Right, well, this sounds like my cue to leave. I hope you guys find a driver–"

Just as suddenly, a thought occurred to Duncan, and he couldn't fight the smirk growing on his face. "Wait a second, didn't you drive here?"

Courtney was taken aback by his perception, "Stalk much?"

"Bridgette hasn't been driving lately, you guys came together, you haven't had any alcohol, ergo, you drove," he stated very matter-of-factly.

"Wow, so you do have a brain!" She said in fake-surprise.

He tilted his head at her, "Oh come on, Princess. Do us a solid?"

"I don't think I should—"

DJ cut into her sentence and pleaded with his hands laced together, "Please, Courtney! I promise I'll return the favor somehow!"

The brunette thought about it a little more, seemingly stuck between a rock and a hard place. But, in the end, one side prevailed.

She threw her hands in the air in acceptance, "Fine! Jesus Christ…but only because DJ asked me to!"

Duncan smirked at her, "Whatever makes you feel better—let's go!"

And just as he grabbed Courtney's hand and walked her towards the garage, Gwen and Justin were barely approaching a now solitary DJ.

"Wait, where are they going?" Gwen asked, holding an armful of towels.

"Getting some more drinks. We ran out." DJ shrugged.

Gwen said nothing, but observed them as they walked off together. She couldn't tell whether they were arguing or laughing together—or perhaps it was a bit of both.

Justin, who'd previously been concerned with getting the perfect ruffle through his dampened hair, came to the realization that Courtney had left.

"Wait, they left!? Damn it!" He exclaimed, slapping his arm against his leg. 

"I so wanted to ask Courtney for her number!"

— ♔ —

Heather had reached her final straw. She didn't know how much longer she could talk to a guy that had absolutely nothing going on in his brain, other than an obsession with himself.

The whole party had been nothing but her smiling and nodding as Jose talked about his accomplishments, his soccer stories, his camera roll, his unlaunched music career. It's not like she was ever expecting to talk philosophy with the guy, but this…this was worse than she'd expected.

So now, Heather found herself hiding out behind a tree, far removed from the festivities happening on the shoreline. Even just a few moments of silence, where she wasn't forced to hear him speak sentence after endless sentence, proved to be healing.

Lame as it sounded, Heather enjoyed having this moment to herself. She could hear her own thoughts, and forget all the social politics that she was so prone to obsessing over.

But somehow, becoming aware of the fact that she was alone, while everyone else wasn't, icked her out. 

"Ew, I'm like weird goth girl," she muttered to herself, shaking her head as she braced herself for making a reappearance at the party.

As she was walking back towards the shore, she inadvertently stepped into the middle of what seemed to be a group hangout—Noah, Cody, Izzy, and Owen were sitting in a semi-circle, some of them lounging on tree stumps while the rest sat on the floor. The pungent stench of weed also didn't escape Heather.

"Sorry, am I interrupting your orgy?" She scoffed down at them. 

"Aww, don't be bitter, Heather! You're more than welcome to join!" Izzy exclaimed, inching closer to her.

"Drop dead!" She scoffed, as she strutted away, hearing the roars of their laughter behind her.

Heather rolled her eyes—she really didn't understand people that chose to exclude themselves from social scenes. She simply didn't believe anyone that said they didn't care what others thought of them.

They were teenagers for crying out loud—they were supposed to care! She wasn't any crazier for obsessing about social status than they were for entirely dismissing it. People could judge her for it all they wanted, but at the end of the day, she'd graduate from high school leaving a legacy behind.

Queen Bee, Cheer Captain, and soon, only girl to bag the hottest guy in school. And! Only junior to get asked to Senior Prom.

Getting there proved to be harder than she expected—Heather internally cringed at the thought of having to talk to Jose again—but she had to do what she had to do. And she was going to succeed.

"Heather!" She's pulled out her thoughts by a voice calling to her, but her face drops any sign of interest once she sees that it's just Gwen.

"What?"

"Where the fuck is everyone?" Gwen exclaimed.

"What do you mean?"

"Geoff and Bridgette have been gone for well over an hour–"

Heather scoffed, "Does that really surprise you?"

"And Duncan and Courtney haven't come back yet."

At that, Heather's interest was piqued: "Where'd they go?"

Gwen looked sheepishly to the side, clutching her elbows, "To get more drinks, but the liquor store is like 5 minutes away and they've been gone for half an hour."

Heather thought to herself for a moment—she knew Duncan was interested in her, but Courtney didn't really strike her as the type to hook up with someone so fast. Then again, she didn't really know Courtney, like, at all.

"Okay…why does any of this concern me?"

"Excuse me for expecting you to be a real friend," Gwen rolled her eyes.

Heather crossed her arms, she didn't really know what to say or do. She didn't know how to be a friend to Gwen, even if she'd wanted to. It's not like they had tons in common.

The two seemed to be predetermined enemies based solely on their archetypes: Heather was the popular girl, Gwen was the weird goth girl. The fact that they both happened to be in the same friend group was an anomaly of sorts.

Just as Heather was about to speak in a lame attempt to start a conversation, she was saved by a lovey-dovey Geoff and Bridgette making their way over.

"Yooooo!!" Geoff hollered at them, and Heather noticed a look of relief wash upon Gwen's face.

"Finally! You guys were gone so long!" Gwen exclaimed as Bridgette dove in to hug her.

"Sorry!! We just, um, got caught up," the bubbly blonde sheepishly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, you can stop there," Heather said, crossing her arms.

"Where's Duncan?" Geoff asked, looking around.

Bridgette joined him in scanning the whole party, "And where's Courtney?"

Gwen and Heather shared a look, before Gwen finally sighed.

"Well…"

— ❥ —

Courtney sighed as she looked out the window of her car. "I don't know what the point of me coming was if I wasn't going to drive."

He took a moment at the red light to look over at her, shooting her a skeptical look, "You'd really let me drive your car by myself?"

"I mean, why couldn't you just ask anyone else for their car. Heather, maybe, or Geoff. You guys are all friends, no?"

He turned back to face the road, "Eh, don't read too much into it. This was the path of least resistance."

Courtney hummed as she refocused her thoughts on the scenery outside. Of course, this little beverage run had taken longer than she'd anticipated—nothing with Duncan was ever quick and easy, because once he recognized the cashier at the convenience store, he decided that now was the time to stop and share life stories—and now, the sun had long set and those same stars Courtney admired her first night in Wawanakwa made a reappearance.

If she was being honest with herself, Courtney didn't really mind this brief respite from the whole party scene too much, it let her social battery recharge. Even though she technically wasn't alone, Duncan wasn't too demanding of any effort when she talked to him.

Then, a thought occurred to her. She turned to face him, only to find that his eyes were intently set on the road, also deep in thought.

"Hey." 

He snapped out of it. "What?"

"Don't 'what' me."

"I'm thoroughly confused," he scoffed.

"Try amnesic," she rolled her eyes.

"If you have an issue with me, Princess, you've gotta learn to use your words."

"Well, you clearly don't remember me telling you not to call me Princess," she repositioned herself to face her body towards him, "I'm talking about earlier, when you told everyone that we knew each other."

"We did know each other," he said very matter-of-factly.

"No! We didn't! One conversation in the woods does not friends make," she huffed, at which he only laughed.

"Do you normally scramble your word order when you're mad? It's cute."

"You can be so insufferable—you'll do anything but listen to what I'm saying, won't you?"

"Don't you find it more fun that way?"

Duncan turned to look at her, and for a moment, nothing was said between them as they just held onto their eye contact.

He was the one to break it: "Though, I'm honestly not even sure you understand the concept."

Courtney scoffed, "Of what?"

"Fun."

"What?! Me…fun? Of course I do!"

He said nothing, but pressed his lips together in doubt.

"What?! I can take a joke! And I can make a joke, too!" Courtney sat up now, clearly disturbed by what he was insinuating about her.

"Calm down, Dr. Suess," he shrugged his shoulders, "I just mean. it's pretty obvious that things upset you easily."

She crossed her arms and turned away from him, "Well, it's pretty obvious that you don't know me."

Duncan sighed, sitting in silence for a second, before returning to the conversation, "Fair enough—tell me one fun thing about yourself."

"Try three: I like to read, I speak four languages, and…I dance ballet."

"Boring, boring, and….boring. No wonder you're so uptight."

Courtney turned back to Duncan and scoffed at him, "See, you fail to notice that the concept of fun is completely subjective. I mean, what can you tell me that you do for fun—vandalize trees? Poke holes in your face? Yeah, neither of those things sound fun to me."

"Quite the opposite, actually, those things are the product of boredom."

"I see, so you get bored, and you take it out on the trees?"

"It's not like there's anything else to do in this shit-hole," he shrugged, "Hell, I'm almost sorry that you got stuck in the most boring place in the world."

She shifted in her seat, not knowing how to receive his sympathies. Courtney thought of what to say to break the silence, but Duncan beat her to it.

"Tell me something, you're from California, right?"

"Right."

"So, you've been to the beach, then?"

"Of course I have."

Courtney can see him pause for second, internally debating whether or not he'll give this next question clearance through his mouth. In the end, he does.

"What," and he cleared his throat, "what's that like?"

Her response was immediate: "I don't think you need me to tell you that. Are you pulling my leg again? Another joke?"

"I've never been to a beach before."

"There's no way."

"What can I say? It's a terrible thing, to be landlocked."

She didn't know what to say, and for once, Duncan's expression seemed dead serious to her. This was unknown territory for her.

"Um, I don't know, it's nice. I wouldn't normally go during the day, it's much too crowded, and hot, and overstimulating…"

She paused to look at him again, only to find Duncan with a pensive disposition. He was waiting to hear what she had to say next, and when he realized her sentence came to a stop, he turned to look at her.

"I'd usually go by myself, at night."

"Yeah, and you call me emo."

A smile made its way to her face—this was the banter she was used to, and all feelings of discomfort simply dissipated. "Shut up! It's actually really nice at night, a good spot to think about things…or, to not think about things."

That seemed to be really intriguing to him, "To forget them?"

"Maybe."

Courtney considers stopping there, leaving her answer at that. But, maybe it was the inviting breeze of the night that drawled in through her cracked-open window, or the intrinsic beauty of the natural landscape surrounding them, or maybe it was him, Duncan….whatever it was, it made Courtney keep going.

"Whenever I'd go to the beach, I've always felt that, for a moment, all that there is, ever has been, or ever will be, is the blue right in front of me." 

"Hearing the waves crash against the sand and feeling the breeze moving through me, I guess it's nice to humor that maybe I'm just like…like a small grain of sand, tugged off-shore by a wave, or a wind."

She turns to face Duncan again, to see if he'd somehow gotten bored of her blabbing—but, much to her surprise, he still seemed utterly interested in every word coming out of her mouth. 

"The water, it makes you feel small, and all your problems small, by extension. Almost like none of it even matters in the end, because the waves will always just keep flowing and the world just keeps spinning." She chuckles sheepishly to herself, "I know that all sounds stupid and way too abstract, but it's comforting sometimes. To me, at least."

Duncan says nothing for a minute, for once, at a loss for words. Or maybe, it seemed to Courtney, thinking about how to parse through his thoughts and translate them into sentences.

"What? You're not gonna argue with me on this? Don't bother going soft on me now," she scoffed.

A smile crept onto his face, "You should be glad I'm ignoring the potential to make a dirty joke right now."

"And you've ruined the moment."

He laughs to himself, and so does she.

"No, no, I just…I always used to think that feeling small," and he laughed again (he really had the humor of a middle school boy), "I used to think that was like, a bad thing."

His expression sobered just slightly before he continued, "Small is…it's weak and powerless and shit. I mean, Wawanakwa, for example, is the size of a fucking thumbtack, and living here is like being stuck under a damn microscope."

Courtney sighed, "I guess it just depends on how you look at it. 'Nothing is always absolutely so'—so says Sturgeon, so says I."

"Uhhh. What."

She waved a dismissive hand, "It's nothing, just wise words from a dead man. He also said 90% of everything is crap."

"Sounds like my kind of guy."

Courtney laughs and considers whether or not she should let this particular slip out of her mind, but she goes through with it anyway, "You know, Duncan, you're not too bad when you're not being completely insufferable."

"Funny, I was going to say the same about you, Princess."

Duncan laughed as she rolled her eyes at that stupid nickname being used, yet again.

"I just meant that I didn't think you'd be a good conversationalist."

"To set the record straight, I'm not."

"Too cool for school, yeah?"

"Okay, see, I'm not really good at this…existential shit, and no one expects me to be anyways, so it all works out."

"I don't think anyone really is good at the 'existential shit'." 

Duncan looks at her in fake surprise, "Wow, did I just get you to curse??"

By now, Courtney's learned to ignore some of his antics, simply rolling her eyes before carrying on, "If there were right answers to these kinds of questions, we wouldn't be talking about them now."

"How thoughtful."

And another wave of comfortable silence falls upon them, but this time, Courtney is the one to break it: "Hey, thanks."

"You shouldn't be thanking me yet, I still have a whole school year to piss you off."

"And I'm sure you will….I just, I never realize the things I take for granted until I'm without them. I lose sight of things, and you just reminded me of them. Of the beach, for example."

"Hey, I'm just making conversation."

"How polite of you—cordial, some might even say."

"It's as I said before: to a princess like you, I've got to be."

She rolls her eyes for the umpteenth time that night, "I really hate that nickname."

"I know," Duncan says, without missing a beat.

And then they do that thing that Courtney partly likes and partly dislikes, where they're just looking at each other, analyzing each other, thinking about each other.

"I have a question for you," Duncan finally says.

She sets her sights on the road ahead and smugly crosses her arms, "Wow, you're just full of them tonight, aren't you?"

"It's the teacher-student thing…really turns me on."

"Don't be gross!" She lightly jabs at his arm, "You were saying?"

"I was saying…I thought they closed beaches at night. How'd you go, then?"

She paused to think about it for a moment, recalling the last time she went, "Um, I don't know, I guess I'd just sneak in."

"Sneak in? Doesn't that require", and cue the dramatic fake gasp, "breaking the rules??"

"Okay, stop. I know what you're doing," but Courtney couldn't fight the laughter bubbling in her throat.

"Woww, can't get so high and mighty on me now. What was it you were telling me about those trees?"

"Hey! There's a major difference between what I did and what you do!"

"Pot, meet kettle."

"God, you're so annoying!"

"I guess this means the princess has a dark side."

"Doesn't everyone?" She crossed her arms, "We're all a little fucked up."

Duncan thought about what she'd said for a moment, "You ever think it works the other way around?"

And there he was again, mischievous glint in his eye, turning the conversation inside out and back again, Courtney never quite sure which direction they were going next.

"What do you mean?"

"If everyone has some bad in them, then, do you think everyone has some good, too?"

"I don't really know. I guess, I like to think so. Do you?"

Duncan pauses again, eyes steady on the road. "Nah. We're all fucked up."

Courtney doesn't really know what to make of that, nor how to respond. Possibly because a part of her, the part that loathes a world in which people like her parents exist, knows that to an extent, Duncan was 100% right. And sometimes, it was so much easier to assume that dark side in people. 

But another part of her sat in quiet discomfort. She knew there was more to the human condition than could be categorized so simply into good and bad—there just had to be. 

After all, was she not looking at a perfect example of that, sitting right in front of her?

— ꕥ —

Bridgette checked her phone for the time, as she noticed the party starting to die down. 10:14 PM. For a darty, not bad at all.

She'd long noticed some friend groups dispersing and couples leaving to ride the rest of the evening out in the comfort of their homes. No one had gotten outrageously drunk, and clean-up wasn't going to be too bad. Overall, it was a good night!

She started scrolling through all the pictures she'd taken today: Lindsay and Katie tanning while Beth and Sadie drew designs on them out of sunscreen; Eva and DJ going head-to-head in an arm-wrestling competition; Izzy playing mermaids…well, by herself…while Owen was somehow drowning in the lake, only being 4 feet in; Courtney and Gwen cheering over their win while Justin and Duncan pouted like sore losers.

It brought Bridgette immense comfort to see all her friends, the people she cared about most, together and enjoying their fun. They wouldn't be teens forever, so she always took a secret moment to herself to relish in their youth and how relatively simple things were. 

"Alright, I'm out," Heather sighed as she walked up to Bridgette.

"Already?!"

"Is 5 hours not enough for you? I mean, then again, it is me, so I understand that I'll be very missed," she feigned concern.

"I was kind of thinking that you'd want to sleepover at my house tonight? We could make it a girls' night!" Bridgette dealt her the best puppy eyes she could possibly muster. And of course, contrary to popular belief, Heather wasn't made of stone, and the slightest hint of hesitation washed over her expression.

But instead of giving in, she sighed, "I couldn't even if I wanted to, Daniel starts school tomorrow and my parents are making me take him." 

Heather could only shrug, as Gwen and Courtney walked up to them.

"Wow, school actually starts on a Monday for him? Not a random Wednesday?" Gwen said incredulously, crossing her arms.

"Yep, it's crazy."

"Well please tell me that you guys can sleep over!" Bridgette pleaded, turning to her last two hopes of salvaging the night.

Gwen lets out an indifferent sigh, "Oh, what the hell. I'm game."

Now the blonde turned her attention to Courtney, who she knew would be the harder one to convince.

Under the scrutiny of three pairs of eyes on her, the brunette defensively clutched at her elbows: "I'd have to ask Josie."

"Josie?" Heather cocked a quizzical brow.

"Courtney's super cool older sister, who could not care less if you sleep over!" Bridgette clapped her hands together in hopes of swaying said girl, "Please, please, please, can you come!"

Heather squinted her eyes, "Hey, you didn't put this much effort in trying to get me to come."

"Pfft, that's because…" And Gwen trailed off before she could finish her snarky sentence, mainly due to Bridgette's deadpan look.

"Because! You have a valid excuse to miss out," Bridgette explained, putting a sympathetic hand on Heather's shoulder before she turned back to the brunette, "Come on, Court! We can even stop by your house if you wanna grab something."

There was another pause, as she mulled over her options. But Bridgette already knew she'd give in. Try as she may to make the rational choice, Courtney could never truly deny a fun opportunity when it presented itself. Especially if Bridgette had anything to say about it.

"Okay, okay, fine! I'm in!" She sighed, putting her hands up in defeat.

"YAY! Tonight is going to be so fun!" Bridgette squealed, swinging an arm around Gwen's shoulder, who only smiled in response.

Heather blew a strand of hair out of her face, "Nice to know how much I'm missing out."

Bridgette gave her a big hug goodbye, "Hey! It's an open invitation, if you ever decide to leave Daniel to fend for himself—not that I'm recommending that at all!"

"I'll consider it. Bye, Bridge." She said, hugging her back.

Then she turned to Gwen, and both girls just awkwardly waved, not quite knowing what to say other than the usual "Bye, Gwen" and "Bye, Heather".

"It was nice to meet you, Heather." Courtney nodded at her as she started making her way out.

"Yeah, same. We should talk more." Heather nodded at her as she reached for her car keys in her mini purse.

"Hey, wait a minute, aren't you driving Duncan home?!" Bridgette shouted at her as she started walking off.

Heather took a slight pause to her stride, before turning around and yelling in the general direction of the party, "DUNCAN! IF YOU'RE NOT IN MY CAR IN THE NEXT 5 MINUTES, I'M LEAVING YOU BEHIND!!"

Then, without another thought, she walked out the garage and went on her merry way out. Bridgette laughed and shook her head, Oh, Heather.

Duncan, summoned by her yelling, walked up to the three of them, pulling the hood of his sweater over his head. "Guess that means I'm heading out, too," he shrugged nonchalantly.

"Bye, Duncan!!" And Bridgette went in for another one of her signature bear hugs—Bridgette was probably the only person Duncan let hug him like that.

"I'll see you guys soon, we gotta hang out before school," he said, giving Gwen a fist bump, a signature trademark of their farewells.

"Hey, don't think I forgot. You owe me," Gwen smirked, and he shook his head laughing. Bridgette and Courtney exchanged a glance of uncertainty, both having no clue as to what was happening between them.

Bridgette noticed an awkward moment of hesitation as Duncan stood before Courtney, neither of them quite knowing what to do, when just as Duncan raised his arms to pull her in for a hug, she extended her hand for a…handshake?

Gwen chortled at the sight, "Oh, there's no way." 

"I thought you were going in for a handshake!" Courtney defended, clearly frazzled by the miscommunication.

"Maybe if this was a job interview or some shit," Duncan chuckled, the corner of his eyes crinkling from his smiley expression, while Courtney was obviously pursing her lips to bite back a smile as she looked up at him.

They stood like that for a surprising amount of time, and Bridgette squinted her eyes at them, but when she turned to see if Gwen had picked up on anything, the girl could not seem less interested as she scrolled through something on her phone.

Hmm.

"Heather's gonna leave without you, you know?" Courtney broke the silence.

"Right, then," he put out an open hand for her to shake, and she couldn't keep herself from laughing at his earnestness, "Bye, Princess."

She sighed, shaking his hand, "Bye, Duncan."

He turned to salute at Bridgette and Gwen, "Malibu, Pasty."

As he walked off, it didn't escape Bridgette that Courtney's gaze stuck to his figure until it went out of sight.

But before Bridgette could comment on it, Gwen spoke out, stretching her arms in the air, "Alright, so should we head out, too?"

"Yes!" Bridgette exclaimed, "but first, I wanna help Geoff clean up a bit. You guys can wait in the car!"

"Are you sure? We can help clean, too," Courtney assured her.

"We can?" Gwen asked, yawning.

"No, don't sweat it! I'll be fast, and I mainly wanna say goodbye to him."

"Say less," Gwen was already turning to walk to Courtney's car, lifting a single hand to wave behind her, "Tell Geoff I said bye."

Courtney shortly followed, calling out to her, "Let us know if there's more to clean than you thought!"

"Thanks!" She shouted back, practically jumping as she did so, in hopes of projecting her voice louder, "Also, I call shotgun! AND AUX!!!"

Gwen nudged Courtney with her elbow, "Get ready to listen to endless Taylor Swift."

"Let me guess, Lover album?"

"With some Reputation and Fearless sprinkled in."

"And 1989!"

"I guess you could say we know her…All Too Well."

"Taylor's-Version-ten-minute-version-from-the-vault?"

Gwen chuckled as she linked her arms with Courtney, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

— ❈ —

They were now in their third—yes, third—hour of Just Dance, and the only reason they'd taken a pause was because Bridgette needed a bathroom break. Gwen swore that girl had the stamina of a strung-out bunny.

Gwen took a long chug of her water bottle before belly-flopping onto Bridgette's bed, where Courtney was already laying on her back, absentmindedly playing with something in her hand.

Upon closer inspection, Gwen realized that it was a lighter. She furrowed her brows at the brunette, "Wait a minute—you smoke?!"

She was then seemingly pulled out of her thoughts, and offered Gwen a polite smile, "Trying not to, actually. It's a stupid habit to have—those die hard, I guess."

And then Courtney sort of smiled to herself, though at what, Gwen had no clue. Instead of trying to figure it out, she merely shrugged: "Everyone's allowed one of those, though I never pegged you for the type."

"Trust me, I’m not. It just finds its way back to me whenever I’m stressed or anxious…which happens more often than I can confidently admit."

"Hey, no judgment from me. I smoke too, mainly weed." This brought back the memory of Gwen’s last time smoking weed with Duncan, and how they both went insane at the local grocery, overwhelmed by a fit of munchies.

She almost laughs out loud again at the thought of Duncan sitting in the grocery cart, demanding that Gwen speed him through each and every aisle like some 4-year-old on a sugar high.

But she’s pulled out of memory lane by Courtney’s hesitant voice: "Hey, do you think something that's bad for you can also do you a little good?"

Gwen’s gaze started to focus a little more on the lighter that Courtney kept turning and playing with in her hand. It was like she was constantly analyzing the object, looking for something new in each of its surfaces. "Um, I don’t know, I guess so? I mean, if you're talking about smoking, it definitely does you more harm in the long run than—"

Courtney flips onto her side now, to level her face with Gwen’s. "No, I just mean in general. Like, by and large, the things and people you're cautioned against and supposed to stay away from, don't you think there's still something to be learned from them? Some value in experiencing them?"

"It sounds to me like you've already answered your own question."

"Answers, it seems, are the only things I'm without these days."

"For your sake, I hope you find them here, in Wawanakwa. A soul can only be so tortured until they become insufferable to themselves—trust me, I know."

Courtney laughs, "That sounds like the plotline of a really pretentious, indie, coming-of-age film…but I hope so, too. Anyways, don't bother with my ramblings, it's just dumb stuff that keeps me up when I can't sleep. Call them champagne problems."

Gwen smirked at the subtle reference, "Hey, you're talking to the queen of insomnia, these eyebags aren't just for the aesthetic." Yet another biological marker that penned Gwen into the goth girl label. She never really stood a chance otherwise, did she?

"It's nice talking to you, I see why Bridgette likes you so much," Courtney takes a moment to look away from the lighter and now puts her full attention on Gwen. She finds it a little intimidating at first, but Gwen also found comfort in how easy it was to talk to her.

She sighed, "Yeah, I wanted to hate you when we first met, but that's gonna be very hard to do now that I’ve actually talked to you."

Courtney's eyes widened, "What?! Why did you want to hate me??"

"No, don’t take it personal. It's my general policy on people: everyone's an asshole until proven otherwise. Sounds cynical, but trust me, it saves you loads of time that would be otherwise spent on fake small talk. Maybe I'd be able to stand it more if I had some talent for it, but…." and she let her sentence trail off with a shrug.

"Wow…I guess that's..productive? How's that worked out for you so far?"

"Well, I have friends I actually like—which you'd be surprised to see how rare that is here in Wawanakwa. That small-town hospitality only goes so far."

"Okay Bridgette and Geoff, I obviously understand. Heather…?"

"Is more of a frenemy," Gwen pressed her lips together, finding difficulty in labeling her relationship with Heather. 

"Yikes."

"Eh, I'm used to it. It's pretty interesting to see her every day, not knowing whether she's going to be a decent human being or literal bitch to me; honestly, it adds a nice variety to my daily, otherwise mundane, routine."

Courtney chuckles at her cynicism, "Amen to that. I guess my read on her wasn't too far off." She takes a pause, almost unsure as to whether she wants to continue, "And then, Duncan?"

Gwen prays that her cheeks haven't blushed, "He's, um, he's cool." She briefly turns her head to check the doorway to see if Bridgette's back yet, but mainly to hide her flushed expression.

"Oh, I'm sure he thinks that of himself," the brunette scoffed.

"He can seem like kind of an egotistical dick at first, but he's not actually that bad."

"See, now that's a line straight out of some high school rom-com," she pointed out.

"No I promise it's true! You just gotta get to know him better," Gwen played with one of the low-hanging strands of hair in her face.

"I suppose," Courtney hummed in thought.

Gwen pauses for a moment, deciding whether or not to ask, "Do you?"

"Do I…?"

"Want to get to know him better, I mean."

"Um…" She flips onto her back again, holding the lighter in the air so that the overhead lighting shines favorably on an etching Gwen knew all too well.

What the fuck. Thoughts raced in Gwen's mind as she tried to piece together what was happening…somehow, Courtney had Duncan's lighter, arguably one of his most prized possessions. Not that he'd ever explained to Gwen why he was so attached to it—sure, it was a nice lighter, of solid material, with a beautiful custom etching: "Take a walk on the Wild(er) side."

Either Duncan gave it to her, or she stole it from him, neither of which made any sense to Gwen. They'd quite literally just met. What. The. Fuck.

Courtney, absolutely oblivious to the discourse in Gwen's mind, sighed as she thought of how to respond, "I'm not sure yet. I haven't quite made my mind up about him."

And then, she saw it. Gwen saw it—a moment so brief and fleeting that it might've totally passed over anyone else's head. But Gwen, being Gwen, saw in Courtney what she'd been seeing in herself the past year, since the very first day her mom moved her to Wawanakwa Falls and forced her to take her little brother to the park, where she met Duncan for the first time.

That subtle tinge of pink that filled Courtney's face at the sound of Gwen's question, and the way she coyly trailed her finger across the lighter's engraved writing, wrapping it safely in her palms—that was enough for Gwen to see what she'd been denying in herself all along.

Vulnerability, feelings, interest…with, for, and in, Duncan.

And Gwen had never in her life felt more stupid, when suddenly, Bridgette barged in from the hallway and assumed the posing and persona of a famous, guitar-playing rockstar.

"WHO'S. READY. TO. ROCK?!?!"

—୨୧—

Whew. Finally got through chapter one, and I'm so happy to get it done.

Are there any other Fiona Apple fans?? I hope you guys appreciate the Paper Bag reference because that's been my most listened to song on Spotify for the last 2 years.

As always, comment out your thoughts and opinions on all the characters so far because I'd love to hear them! My current favorite character to write is Gwen—she's very jaded, but really relatable at times, at least to me. She's just a girl lol.

My writing schedule is all over the place at the moment, like most everything else in my life. But! I do have a general storyline for how I want this story to go, that's partially why it took so long for me to write this. I wanted to nail all the introductory scenes so they align with the general story arc. All that to say, hopefully writing chapter 2 won't take me too long, (it definitely will) but I hope the chapter lengths somehow compensates for how slow I am at writing. I just really want to emphasize that, no matter HOW LONG it takes me, I WILL BE CONTINUING THIS FANFICTION! Okay? Okay.

Anyways, go listen to Paper Bag in the meantime if you haven't already, or even if you have, this is your excuse to listen again!

See you next time <3

a. yasmine