#i’m planning on coming out to a lot of family during my thanksgiving break

[clowningcrows]

how do i know if my chosen name is the right name :(

[corazondebeskar-reads]

fall, with you: part four - thanksgiving

Joel Miller x gn! reader

main masterlist |mini-series masterlist | prev

words: 2.3k

summary: the new world may be hell, but you still have things to be thankful for.

warnings: pre- and post-outbreak, death, cordyceps, loss, grief, outbreak day, fluff weaponized for angst

note: anything in italics is either during or post outbreak. everything else is pre-outbreak. this story is not told chronologically and skips around a lot. i'm experimenting for fun.

dividers by @saradika-graphics

Nate finds you exactly where he thought he would. In the kitchen of your new home, packing your backpack. 

“No,” he says bluntly. “Nope. Nuh-uh.”

You turn on your heel and stare at him. “It’s not up to you.”

“Was he abusive?” 

You’d fine back to packing and freeze to look up at him again. “No. God, no.”

“So what was it? Cheated? Ran over your dog?”

“No, it wasn’t anything. It’s none of your fucking business.”

“Oh, fuck you,” he spits, knocking your bag off the table. 

You sneer. It’s not the first time you’ve butted heads like this. Neither of you has a great trauma response, given the whole apocalypse thing. “I decide where we go,” you snarl. “You don’t.”

“Not this time. Not when we’re finally somewhere safe. Somewhere normal. I have never questioned you, I’ve never even complained. Just followed you across the goddamn country. But unless you have a good fucking reason, like he’s some psycho ex—“

“He was the love of my fucking life,” you snap.

“I mean it, sugar. I know it seems like I’m bein’ impulsive but I swear I got a ring waitin’ back home,” Joel said, thumb stroking your cheek as his hand cradled your face, thick fingers warm and gentle against it. “I ain’t ever been more serious. You’re the love of my fuckin’ life. Say yes, baby. Marry me.”

“What’ll Sarah say?” You blurt. 

He grins, crooked and fond. “See, that’s what I mean.” He kisses you, slow and tender, and you melt into it, almost forgetting why you’re sitting on the ground in tears to begin with. 

“Whaddya say, sugar? You gonna be mine? Gonna make us a family?”

As if you could say anything else. “Yeah, Joel,” you murmur, “I’ll marry you. Of course I will.” You wait a beat. “You really got a ring back home?”

“Sure do. Whole speech planned out ‘n shit, too. But I couldn’t fuckin’ wait anymore.”

You let out a shaky laugh, a crooked grin of your own. “Y’ain’t supposed to get me gifts on your birthday.”

He puts on a fake pout. “You’re my gift, baby,” he says, lip twitching as he fights the smirk. 

You shove him away playfully. “Gross. You old sap.”

He laughs, head tipped back. “What can I say? It’s all for you, sugar.” 

You’re horrified to find tears burning in the corner of your eyes. “It doesn’t matter,” you mutter. 

But he’s right. He’s right, he’s right, he’s right. You can’t drag him back out into the wilderness, to another failing QZ, to inevitable death. This is a town, a community, a home.

A chill is just starting to settle over Jackson, the hint of a frost in the early morn, when Tommy Miller turns up on your porch. 

You open the door after several beats of insistent knocking, and the man stands there in the flesh and blood, looking just the same but twenty years and a lifetime older. 

“Does my brother know you’re here?” he says, eyes as wide as the early November moon.

“Who’re you? Does my brother know you’re here?” 

You let out a strangled cry and spun around, sponge raised as if it would frighten the intruder. But you recognize him from the photos all around the house and relax, grimacing as soapy suds drip down your arm. “Nah, I like to break into houses and do the dishes,” you drawl. “You must be Tommy.” You introduce yourself and realization dawns on his face. 

You fumble for a towel to dry your hand before proffering it. He takes it and matches your firm handshake before scratching the back of his neck, looking sheepishly to the side in a mirror of his older brother.

You can’t say anything. Your mouth gapes open, but nothing comes out. It really is him. Not that you really doubted it, because the evidence was kind of indisputable, but there he is. The man that was to be your brother in law getting mud all over your porch. 

Finally, you just shake your head, stepping aside to let him in the house. 

He comes in and starts pacing, tracking clods around the living room. 

“Tommy Miller, you take your goddamn shoes off in my house,” you scold.

He freezes and looks up at you. “Jesus Christ,” he whispers, and suddenly you’re being smothered, stifled in the bulk of his jacket as he wraps his arms around you. “ Jesus Christ.”

Nate chooses that moment to clomp down the stairs like a herd of horses. “Is that him? Damn, he’s not your type at all.” 

You start to laugh. It sneaks up on you, silent at first, shoulders shaking, until it’s bubbling out of you. Maybe it’s a little hysterical, but you’re allowed, you think.

There’s a plan. Tommy insists. As much as you’d like to pretend you can avoid running into Joel, the fact is that this town is small and collaborative. You can’t avoid anyone. 

So. There’s a plan.

Tommy breaks the news to him gently at their weekly dinner. Ellie comes by later to swap comics with Nate and reports that Joel had stood up and left, bypassing his jacket and going straight out the door. No expression, no words, nothing. 

It could have been worse. You expect fully that he doesn’t want to see you, doesn’t want any reminders of before. Of Sarah. And truth be told, you’re not that thrilled to have been forcibly dragged down memory lane, either. 

But Tommy’s a persistent bastard, and so it happens anyway. He calls your name, flagging you down as you stand with your tray in the mess hall, looking for a seat. The man sitting across from him whips around, head turning so fast you can almost hear his neck crack. 

Where Tommy Miller has grown into the apocalypse with relative ease, the same cannot be said of his brother. Joel wears each year, each loss, each kill in the lines of his face, the cold of his eyes, the set of his jaw. You stare for a moment into the hazel eyes that used to crinkle with laugh lines, that used to darken with hunger in the deep night, that used to be your safe space. 

But there’s none of that now. The wrinkles on his face speak of more stress than a human body should reasonably endure. His eyes darken with something so anachronous to your Joel that you can’t even identify the feeling. And there’s no mistaking them for anything soft or safe. The lips that used to map every inch of your body are twisted in a scowl.

You don’t realize your hands are shaking until your drink spills, knocking you out of his thrall. Abandoning your tray on the nearest surface, you bolt. 

Born and raised in QZs, it became painfully apparent that Nate was terrified of animals. And seeing how that wasn’t really sustainable in a town like this, you’ve taken to slowly introducing him to the fluffier, nicer critters. But now it’s time. 

You’ve got to teach him to ride.

Horses are the worst. They’re big and tall and wrong , he says, like someone was trying to put them together and kept messing up but was too lazy to fix it. “And they know too much,” he adds, standing four feet away as you saddle up the gentlest mare in the stable. 

You snort. “The fuck does that mean?”

“Look at their eyes. Their cold, dead eyes. They know things. Secrets.” 

You roll your eyes. “Sure. They know secrets. My dad’s horse knew a secret,” you say with a conspiratorial grin. “He used to wait until my daddy turned his back and then he’d pick up his Coke between his big teeth and throw his head back.”

Nate stops in his fretting. “Your dad’s horse drank Coke?” 

“Yep. Little conniving sneak, he was. Absolute troublemaker. But Penny here ain’t gonna give you a lick of trouble.”

It’s not long before he’s comfortable in the saddle, if not thrilled about it. When you finally join him on horseback, you’re a little more nervous than you want to admit. It’s been twenty years, after all. 

But it feels familiar. “Just like riding a bike,” you mutter. 

“Maybe I’m not the expert since I’ve never been on a bike, but like logistically, this has to be very different,” Nate says. 

After your ride, you send him off while you untack and groom the horses. You’ve hung up the reins and are reaching for a brush when someone else’s hand bumps yours. “Oh, sorry,” you start instinctively and recoil when Joel pulls his gloved hand back sharply. 

It’s too much, in the little tack room, this close, this distant. 

Joel’s eyes on you, taking you in and trying to parse the you now from the you then.

Joel’s eyes on you, roaming, craving.

Joel’s beard scratching against his glove as he rubs his chin.

Joel’s beard scratching against your belly on his way down.

Joel, with you, in a barn, sweaty after a long ride, bundled up against the creeping winter. 

Joel, with you, in a barn, sweaty after a long ride, bundled up against the creeping winter.

Your head is spinning. You take a staggering step back, wavering.

You wake up on a cot in the clinic.

Nate’s sat in a chair by your side, picking at his nail beds and trying not to look worried. He relaxes minutely before getting pissed when you confess to the doctor that you haven’t been eating much. You don’t keep much at home, nobody really does, and you’ve been avoiding the mess hall for reasons that you don’t need to say out loud. 

They let you go with a scolding about the dangers of doing activities without proper nutrition, like you don’t know that, like you haven’t been starving in the wasteland like the rest of them at some point.

Tommy stops by with a frankly absurd amount of soup. “Heard you had a little fall today,” he says. 

“Whole town know I’m a klutz now?” you joke half-heartedly.

He gives you a look. “Nah. A big grumpy birdie told me.”

You cringe. 

“Look,” he says with a sigh. “Come by our place for the harvest, okay?”

“Come ‘round our place for Thanksgiving,” Joel says. 

“I can’t intrude,” you protest.

“Ain’t intruding on anything, baby. We want you there. But I gotta warn you, we do things a little different. It ain’t your regular Thanksgiving fixins, okay?”

“What?”

“We’re doin’ a harvest dinner. Kinda like Thanksgiving. There’ll be a lunch at the mess on Thursday but we’re havin’ family ‘round that night.” He sees you open your mouth and keeps going, ignoring you. “I don’t want to hear it. And just so you know, he suggested the invite. So.” 

And then Tommy leaves you with more questions and more soup than you know what to do with.

On Thursday, you drag your sorry ass to the mess hall for the lunch, determined to give Nate another holiday experience. You didn’t need to work yourself up, though, as Joel is nowhere in sight.

You wish you had thought earlier to ask what to bring, but it’s been a long time since you’ve dined at someone else’s table, and food ain’t been for sharing in just as many years.

“What should I bring, if it ain’t traditional?”

He thinks for a moment. He wants to tell you to bring your sexy self and nothin’ more but he knows you won’t go for it. “Bring popcorn,” he says finally.

You had. And you do. Cooked on the stove the old-fashioned way. It’s a risk, god, you know it’s a risk. But you walk into Tommy’s house with a heaping bowl of lightly buttered popcorn.

You walk into Joel’s house with a heaping bowl of butter-laden, salty popcorn, and Sarah cheers. She takes a handful before retreating deeper into the house where Tommy is setting the table and Joel is in the kitchen, hard at work over the… toaster. There’s a stack of buttered toast on a platter beside him and he’s adding to the pile. 

“Hey, sugar,” he says, pulling you by the waist into his space, chasing your lips with a kiss. “Thanks for bringin’ the popcorn. Ain’t Thanksgiving without it.”

“If you say so,” you say. “Where do you want it?”

“On the table is fine,” he says.

It takes you a minute, as you stand in Joel’s dining room, staring at the eccentric assortment of what can loosely be defined as dinner. There are a few bowls out, overflowing not with stuffing or mashed potatoes or casserole. No, there’s little pretzel twists and what looks like candy. You set the popcorn down in an empty spot and it unlocks in your brain with a snap.

You turn on your heel and go back in the kitchen. For a moment, you’re distracted by the scene in front of you. Joel and Sarah are delicately swirling whipped cream in excess atop strawberry ice cream, taking turns squirting some in their mouths in between and then scolding one another playfully.

“Are we having a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?” you ask.

Sarah beams. “I told you she’d get it,” she tells her dad. 

Joel opens the door at Tommy and Maria’s. He looks down at the bowl in your hands, and you suddenly think you’ve made a terrible mistake. There’s a taut, hefty silence where you’re both just staring at the bowl.

He moves, both hands up toward you in a jerky, sudden motion that has you flinching back. It doesn’t deter him. It was like the action was pressed behind a coil and now that it snapped, he can’t stop. Newton’s Law, and all that.

His rough, calloused palms engulf either side of your face, his chapped lips smashing against your unexpecting ones. Your heart could be halfway to Dallas by sundown with how fast it’s galloping in your chest. It only takes a moment before your hands are on him, too.

“C’mon, not over the popcorn,” Nate gripes, snatching the bowl away and going inside to find Ellie, leaving you in Joel’s embrace.

the end

[cjsinkythoughts]

Starbucks Endgame Ending

1384 unedited words that I wrote at midnight last night as an avid Stucky shipper still salty about Endgame

Also...  

HI! I’m semi-back. Not gonna be back for much longer, maybe a few months. I have a lot of news about my life if anyone is interested, but if not that’s cool. I know it’s been a hot minute and I promised things that never happened. Maybe I’ll do them now! We’ll see. Enjoy this surprise that I didn’t think I’d post, but I had a random urge to get back on here and post something!

Warnings: Uhh...a few injuries, I guess, and fluff??? Kinda??? I honestly dunno what this is. Don’t come at me for it being a downgrade. I haven’t edited it, I’ve barely reread it from writing it last night. Just wanted to say hi and post again. I miss you all!

Everything happened so quickly. Helicopters appeared, cars drove up, agents filing out and around the team.

Steve felt gross and tired and he hurt, but they won. They won and it was all okay.

Most of them were flighted back to Manhattan, to the Avengers Tower since the Compound was in rubble. Tony was already drawing up plans for a new one. Everyone was separated to be patched up. Steve and the other five originals were herded into a room to be debriefed, which was stupid. To their surprise, Nick Fury was there with news about reorganizing SHIELD.

Steve sat there in slight disbelief. He didn’t expect thanks or any special reward or anything, but they just went through the biggest fight of their lives. Couldn’t they get some time off before being shoved into politics again?

With the government down their throats, wondering what happened, the captain really didn’t think they’d get a break, but Fury stepped up after nearly six hours of meaningless debates and debriefs that Steve and the others were falling asleep during, and decided to let them go. Steve was never more grateful.

They checked in on everyone, finding most of them and congregated on the main floor, lounging around, in conversation about the past five years.

Tony immediately broke off to hug Peter, the kid having been talking to Carol animatedly. Thor reunited with Loki and the other six Asgardians who came back to the Tower - Heimdall, Valkyrie, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three, as Steve recalled. Bruce was also pulled into that group. Clint stepped aside to call his family, bringing Natasha, who he hadn’t left the side of. Steve looked around for the one person he wanted to talk to, but he couldn’t find him. Instead, he moved from group to group, eventually getting into a conversation with Tony, Nat, T’Challa, Carol, and Thor about what the next move was.

“I’m gonna take off soon,” Carol said. “There’s a lot of other planets that are going to need help pulling things together.”

“You can plan something with the Guardians.” Tony suggested, nodding over to the group that was spread out making new Earth buddies.

Carol scrunched her nose up, before shrugging. “Yeah, I probably will. The more the merrier and all that. What are you gonna do?”

“I have Asgard to help set back up.” Thor declared, smiling over at his group. “But I have a feeling I won’t be needed there for long, so I’ll be back shortly.”

“And we get to have meetings with the UN.” Natasha sighed, rubbing her temples. “So much fun.”

Steve crossed his arms, leaning against the kitchen island they were near, letting his head bow. “It’s not going to be easy, but it needs to be done. Hopefully we can get things sorted to a certain degree by Christmas. Get people home to their families.”

Tony frowned. “I know they said no one’s allowed to go-”

“I think everyone deserves at least a couple weeks off.” Steve reassured him. “We’ll meet back here-”

“Nah. The new Compound should be done in record time. By Thanksgiving.”

“Alright, well, we’ll meet back at the Compound, then. Everyone. Probably sign a few things that everyone agrees with. Hopefully get things structured enough that we won’t be needed.”

“Nick’s already on it.” Natasha gave a small chuckle. “He hasn’t even been back for 24 hours and he’s already got the government in a headlock.”

Tony nodded. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more grateful to that man.”

“He’s a good guy.” Carol agreed with a grin. “So…what about the people?”

“Yeah,” Steve sighed. “We have to do head counts. Or at least the governments will have to. And the team will have to be set up. I don’t even know who we have here right now.”

Natasha shrugged. “We got separated before I could really see. But it seems most everyone’s down here socializing. I’m surprised we’re all on our feet, to be honest.”

Tony yawned, stretching his arms out. “You can say that again. I’m beat.”

“Yeah, me too.” Steve admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m really just waiting on the confirmation that everyone’s fine.”

Every time he heard the elevator ding, he looked over wishing to see him, but he hadn’t come yet. It scared him. What if he ran off again in the midst of all this chaos? What if this whole Snapping business scared him off? Steve wouldn’t blame him if that was the case, of course. He wished he could run away too.

The four continued the conversation, but Steve was spiraling a little bit. Now that everything was slowing down, hearing the laughter and seeing the relief in his team as he looked around, he felt…weird. Like it hadn’t really hit him-

Ding!

Or at least, it hadn’t until he walked in.

He was gorgeous. He’d showered, his hair washed, the dirt previously stamped on him washed off. His skin was littered with bruises and cuts and stitches, but so was everyone else’s. He was laughing, actually laughing, Sam walking beside him, a hand on his shoulder (his other arm in a cast). Peter, like a little puppy with his tail wagging, ran over to talk to them.

It was like a tidal wave crashed into him. Steve saw his entire life, every scene involving that man, flicker through his mind. Every up and down. From the moment he was eight years old getting saved from a group of older kids by a tiny nine year old, to their first dance, their first kiss, his mother’s passing, their apartment, their late night arguments, their early morning make ups, the fear of the War, the missing piece during the USO show, keeping warm in a cold tent, wet socks, the train, the heartache, the cold…and now. Here. Flashy lights, mind blowing technology, new friends, new family, new foes, aliens, betrayals, secrets, politics, robots, experiments, running, dying, living, crying, laughing…

He couldn’t stop the tears that came flooding down his face. He vaguely registered Tony’s concerned voice, but he was running. He was running faster than he was sure he ever did. He felt like a kid, bones rattling, muscles aching, lungs hurting, but it didn’t matter, just like it didn’t matter back then. Because his destination was worth it. He’s always been worth it.

“Bucky!”

The brunette caught him, arms holding him up as the blonde clung onto him, legs winding around his torso. Steve buried his face in Bucky’s neck and did something he hadn’t done in a very long time.

He sobbed.

He cried and cried, fingers gripping onto Bucky’s soft t-shirt, not caring about the others around. Not caring about the persona he’d built all these years. Not caring about the shield, or Captain America, or the Avengers, or Thanos, or anyone. He didn’t care. He had Bucky. He had Bucky.

Bucky fell to his knees, holding Steve just as tight, one hand wrapped around his back while the other rested in golden locks, arms cradling him protectively.

“Stevie.”

It was whispered into his hair, a simple word, but for Steve it was everything. He was everything.

They were boys again, Steve crouching down to Bucky’s level, the brunette holding his scraped up knee with tears in his ears. Bucky climbing into bed with a sick, tiny thing, holding him to keep him warm and promising to never let go so long as Steve didn’t, either. Two boys comforting each other after nightmares. After losses. After fears turned reality.

Bucky and Steve. Steve and Bucky. 

“Don’t leave. Please.” Steve whimpered, tightening his grip as if it were possible to get closer.

“I’m right here.” Bucky reassured him, pressing his lips against Steve’s temple, eyes clenched shut.

Pulling away from Bucky’s throat, Steve held the brunette’s jaw so tenderly, eyes wide and teary. Bucky sniffed, having cried a few tears himself, before giving that charming smile. It was like a breath of fresh air; one he hadn’t taken since 1941.

“I’m with ya, love.” Bucky murmured, setting his forehead against Steve’s. The captain laughed, a sob mixing with it.

“‘Til the end of the line.”

“You better believe it, punk.”

Steve shoved him, saying, “jerk”, before pulling him back in, this time for a kiss.

[superhero--imagines]

Part 1 Here! / Part 2 Here! / Part 3 Here! / Part 4 Here! / Part 5 Here! / Part 6 Here!

A/N: If I had to give this part a title, I would title it “(Y/N) and their human friends” Also I lied. This part was too long so it might be another part (or two) before we get to the Bella Arc.

* “You know you would be pretty good looking without the glasses.” Lauren says twirling a strand of hair and ignoring the algebra worksheet in front of her.

* Yeah that’s kind of the whole point

* “Contacts kind of freak me out.”

* You’re expecting a snarky response but instead she nods.

* “It’s the whole sticking your finger in your eye thing right, I totally get that.” She’s watching you with such inquisitive eyes, it almost you uncomfortable.

* It’s been a few months since you started school, you’re almost at thanksgiving break. So far you feel like you’ve assimilated well, and you have a good balance between school and caring for your animals, but it’s situations like this that totally throw you off.

* “Hey (Y/N/N), what did you get for number 5?” Jessica asks, you’re thankful for the distraction.

* “I got X = 8” Jessica confirms she got that too, and moves onto the next one

* You three are in the worlds most unlikely group. You didn’t even know Lauren was in this class you usually just pair up with Jessica.

* “Hey, me and a some people from the volleyball team are going to Port Angeles, you should come with, we could give you a makeover.”

*You wonder what the other angle here is

* It didn’t take long for you to realise that somehow, even with the ugly-duckling routine, the Cullen’s were at the top of the social hierarchy.

* Part of their popularity was probably because they didn’t really seem to interact with anyone outside of their own social circle. Which just made them all the more desirable.

* “I don’t know Lauren, I would have to ask Esme if it’s okay.” Though you can already bet Rosalie isn’t going to like this.

* “Oh cool, just let me know!” Lauren smiles, it turns out the act of considering her invitation was enough to placate her.

* For once you’re actually glad Edward’s waiting for you outside of your class when the bell rings.

* “Edward read that girls mind.”

* “It’s always straight to business isn’t it. No, ‘hi Edward how’s it going?’ Or ‘How was your class, how has your morning been treating you?’ It wouldn’t hurt you to make some small talk” You give him a look, and he returns it with an expectant expression. You sigh.

* “Hi, Edward how was your class?” You plaster on a smile, and he returns with a smile of his own.

* “It was fine. A little repetitive, we’re reading “to kill a mocking bird” in English.” You nod, offering a consoling pat on the shoulder

* “That sounds super boring,” the books great and all, but you’re guessing he’s already read it like 30 times by now. “Hey Edward,”

* “Yes (Y/N),” He nods, hiding his grin behind his hand.

* “Would you mind doing me a favor?”

* “Of course, anything for you.” He grins openly now.

* “Would you mind telling me what that girl Lauren Mallory is thinking so I can know why she invited me,” and not Jessica her good friend. “to hang out?”

* Edward loses his smile.

* “The varsity members on the volleyball team suggested it, they think it’s a shame they couldn’t have got you on the team since you just moved here.”

* Unexpected but not the worst. You’ve really been half assing it in PE so you’re surprised they even want you.

* “Lauren-she thinks you could be-“ a lopsided smirk twitches onto his face. “in her words- ‘two super good looking best friends’ “

*oh. So she just wants a pretty b*tch squad?

* “Maybe I’ll go with them then” you were scared they were going to force you to show them the Cullen’s house and introduce you to everyone, or leave you stranded in port A as some kind of prank or something.

* Edward stops you

*“you can’t be serious” he has his eyebrows scrunched together

* “Why not?” Nothing more natural to fitting in then hanging out with your classmates. Unless- “if you’re worried about any accidents don’t, I know they all look healthy but they eat a lot of carbs. Way too starchy for my palette.”

* “It’s not that-“ he gets that brooding-existence is suffering look. “You shouldn’t trust humans too much, they’ll let you down.”

* Well what’s that supposed to mean, but before you can ask he’s already walking to his class.

* Well whatever, at least Emmett will tell you a good joke to take your mind off of Mr. Eternal Damnations ominous words.

* Too bad when you get inside he’s not here, instead Mike Newton perks up when you walk into the room.

* “Hey Eleazar, how’s it going?” You still have a hard time adjusting to use Eleazar’s name as your own. Apparently they came from a time when last names were only for nobles, so he offered you his first name instead.

* “Hey Newton, any plans for this weekend?” You take Edward’s advice and start with small talk. Mike Newton smiles, you guess he’s kinda cute, all soft cheeks and baby blue eyes

* “No I’m completely free!” Weird how he’s so enthusiastic about being alone, he must be one of those “relish time alone” types. Good for him.

* “Everyone needs some time alone sometimes.” He deflates, oh man you guess that’s the wrong thing to say.

* He looks like he wants to say something to you, but then Emmett sits beside you.

* “Can I have a swig from your water bottle?” You hand it over

* “Making out with Rosalie make you thirsty?” Emmett cracks a grin

* “It’s that whole bookworm-soccer mom get up, it gets to me yknow?” That’s actually pretty funny

* “So what she’s the Velma to your Freddy?” When the reference doesn’t sink in you rephrase “the nerd to your jock.” He grins again.

* “I think I might join the swim team just so I can see her wear my letterman” that’s actually pretty cute

* “You should do that, I’ll cheer you on at your swim meets” Emmett grins.

*”I’ll hold you to that”

* School life goes on like it always has.

* Weeks pass, marked by tests, homework assignments and projects.

* You actually kind of become friends with Angela, Lauren, Jessica, Connor and Mike.

* “So like, are you and Cullen close?” Mike asks. You and the group are over at Tyler’s house using his fire pit to roast marshmallows. The others are invested in another conversation but you can tell by Lauren’s subtle head tilt that she’s eavesdropping.

* “Which one?” Mike gets flustered at that

* “The one in our grade.”

* “Hmm, well I’d say Alice and I are kinda close, but-“

* “N-no not her,” he clears his throat. “The other one-Edward”

* “Oh, Edward’s my best friend.” The answer slips out automatically.

* “I-Is that why you’re staying with the Cullen’s?” Jessica asks. Everyone’s blatantly listening now, the only one who seems uncomfortable is Angela.

* You sigh. You know everyone at school is probably wondering about the weird relationship. Jessica’s just the only one brave enough to ask you.

* “I mean, it might be.” You’re sure, Edward’s friendship with you is the reason everyone was so quick to accept the living arrangement. “But I actually met Car-I mean Dr. Cullen before I met the others.”

* “How does that work?” It’s Connor who pipes in this time.

* “Well-“ you sigh you really don’t want to do this but at least your sob story will make you seem less suspicious. “So Eleazer and Carmen, they’re my parents, but they’re not my birth parents.”

* You tell them how your parents passed away in an accident many years ago, and how Carlisle had been your Doctor at the time while you recovered. He worked with you for a long time, and you’re pretty sure he wanted to adopt you, but the agency liked Carmen and Eleazer better, probably because Carlisle already had so many adopted kids.

* “Still, Carlisle stayed in my life as my doctor and a family friend. Then I met Edward and the rest of the Cullen’s and... the rest is history...I guess.” You’ve found it’s best to mix a little bit of truth into the lie, though really all of that was mostly what happened.

* Everyone looks testy eyed, Angela is holding back tears, and Lauren hastily wipes her away so no one can see. You wonder if maybe your powers leaked out a bit while you were telling your story.

* “Dude... you’re so strong.” Tyler claps a hand on your shoulder and pulls you into a hug.

* “Ah, it all happened a long time ago, I’m mostly over it now” You tell them all about your Coven in Denali, and how you have two families now, how you don’t regret anything. Well, the only thing you regret, is not staying human, but you can’t mention that so you fake a smile instead.

* Connor breaks out a bottle of vodka he stole from his mom, and pours a shot for everyone

* “To (Y/N)” everyone raises their glass, and not for the first time you feel the urge to cry but no tears escape you.

* You’re a lot closer to everyone after that. You even start sitting at their lunch table every so often.

* In fact the others follow your lead and assimilate with their classmates with ease. Rosalie joins the school book club, and very loudly debates Jane Austen’s to whoever will listen.

* Emmett follows through and joins the swim team. Jasper starts hanging out with some wood shop kids, you’ve caught him arguing about the superior wood in between classes with his new friends. Even Alice joins the art club.

* You try out for the dance/cheer team, it’s the only thing you don’t have to hold back in. Also you’re a great base, you could hold everyone on the team up single handedly during stunts. But you won’t know if you made it until summer vacation

* Everyone seems to be assimilating well, everyone except for Edward

* “You can’t expect me to trust these people (Y/N), not when I know everything they’re really thinking.” You roll your eyes

* “I’m not saying you have to be their best friend Eddie, I’m just saying it looks super suspicious that all the Cullen’s only hang out with each other and refuse to get to know anyone else.” You shove a text book into his chest, and he scoffs

* “It wouldn’t hurt to make some small talk.”

* And so Edward joins your group of human friends, much to the joy of your female companions and dismay of your male ones.

* Life is still strange. But it’s good.

* When you’re surrounded by your new friends, it makes you feel - almost like you’re human again

* And then everything falls apart.

* It’s almost summer vacation. You’re excited, maybe you can go to the beach again soon, and you wonder if it will be alright to take a trip to Denali to see your Coven. You’re pretty confident you made the spirit squad so you’ll have to pencil in camp somewhere. You held back, but just enough by your own parameters to make the bottom end of Varsity.

* You’re at your locker, when Rosalie, and Edward show up. Quickly followed by Emmett, Jasper and Alice.

* “Oh hey guys, you wanna go on a hike tomorrow it’s supposed-“

* “You have to leave.” You’re surprised when it’s Emmett that says this. Kind, jovial Emmett holds a grave expression.

* “What, why-“ for a second you wonder if the Volturi has finally come to get you. It’s been at least seven years since your transformation, it’s about time they started thinking about you.

* But then you notice everyone staring, the quiet buzz of phones vibrating only detected by your super hearing. People are always staring, especially when you’re all together. but this time you notice they’re not staring at the six super models gathered in front of the lockers.

* They’re staring at you.

* “There’s a video of you going around,” Jasper says, and Rosalie placed a comforting hand on your shoulder. “I think it’s better if you see for yourself.”

* He hands you his blackberry, and the grainy image of you come into focus.

* It’s a YouTube video

* You’re in the locker room, your (Your Color Skin) in full view under the fluorescent lights. You’re wearing your underwear, and your abs are on full display. You’re Grey PE uniform shirt is limp in your hands, you remember this, you got extra laps as a penalty and as a result, you were running late for class, you were alone in the locker room

*well you thought you were alone.

* Your body is literally perfect, the way you’ve always dreamed, but you feel white hot shame rise in your throat like acid.

* Your hands shake as you scroll down to see the comments

* ‘Damn who knew they had a body like that under those dorky sweaters’

* ‘(Y/N) Eleazar: Best body Forks HS 10/10 would f*ck’

* ‘Hot body, if only they ditched the glasses, and started wearing some tighter shirts’

* And the comments go on, there’s at least a hundred. You hold your cardigan a little closer to your body. You don’t have the courage to turn around. You can already imagine them staring at you, picturing what they saw in the video transposed onto your body

* “I’m sorry, I didn’t see this coming until it was already happening-“ Alice touches your shoulder and continues her apology but you don’t hear anything.

* You want to cry, you want to be angry. But all you feel is shame. And the worst part is, you didn’t even do anything wrong. So why do you feel so ashamed?

* “Hey, look at me.” Edward grabs your face in his hands, your amber eyes meet his.

*”Snap out of it.”

* Oh, your powers are leaking through.

*Your gaze turns to your foster family, all of whom sport equally uncomfortable expressions.

* You take a deep breath, and imagine reeling in your emotions, imagining them receding back into a locked box, just like Eleazer taught you.

* You need a calm mind right now.

* “Are you fine now?” Edward asks, his hands still on your face. You nod, resting your hand on top of his

* “I’m good.”

* “Good, because we have to get you out of here.” He’s moved his hand to your arm, about to tug you back home when you pull back and shake your head.

* “We can’t do that.”

* “What do you mean?” Rosalie hisses, her hand curls around your wrist “we have to leave NOW.”

* “No think about it, they’re right.” Jasper says, his eyes meeting yours. At least someone’s on the same oage

* “Think about it Rose, if I leave now with all of you it’s going to look weird.” Normal 15-17 year olds wouldn’t think to handle the situation on their own, especially not entitled rich kids like the Cullen’s.

*She seems to have gotten it because her hand retreats to her side.

* “Well what should we do then, I’m not letting you walk around here with everyone-“ she cuts herself off, a deep frown creasing onto her face as her teeth dig into her bottoms lip.

* “We need to call Carlisle or Esme, they’ll pretend they saw the video from someone else and file a complaint with the school.” You take a deep breath, and imagine the locked box in your mind. Your emotions held carefully within.

* “Until then we all need to pretend like it’s not a big deal.”

* “No way in hell am I doing that!” Emmett growls. “I’m going to rip that fucking peeping Tom piece by piece.”

* “Not all of us need to pretend,” Alice says, her gaze somewhere far away, flicking between futures. “Only Edward, Rosalie and I do.” Her gaze lands on you.

* “You need to go to your class like normal,” a hint of a smile curls onto her mouth. “Everything’s going to work out fine.” Edward’s focusing on Alice, reliving her vision.

* “Do you think you can manage being alone?” Edward asks, you don’t have the next class with any of the Cullen’s. You’ll be on your own.

* You catch Jasper and Alice whispering to each other, but pay it no mind. Flirting even in the middle of your entire world crumbling down.

* You take a deep breath, picturing the locked box over and over, making it a visual mantra.

* “I can get through a period.” Everyone disperses, and Jasper walks you to your next class. Edward wanted to, but Jasper insisted.

*”You’re always hogging them, give someone else a few minutes Edward.”

* You’re almost near your class when Jasper talks to you.

* “Hey, I don’t know if I should tell you this”

*You wonder if he’s going to offer to beat up the person who took the video, or if he’s going to offer you a comforting word.

* “Alice told me you’re going to raise some hell on a misogynist in there” he gives you a wicked grin, his incisors sparkling.

* How is it that every vampire seems to say what you least expect to hear and yet, it’s exactly what you need in the moment.

* He holds out his fist, and you bump it with your own. A grin curling onto your face.

* “Hell yeah I am.”

* You take your usual seat in Spanish like normal. You sit in the front row in this class, diagonally from Jessica. Mike and Angela sit somewhere in the back.

* You just need to focus and keep your emotions in check for 45 minutes. You visualize the box, calming yourself separating the mind and body.

* How did the saying go... a calm soul resides in a calm body?

* “-Zar, Miss. Eleazar!” Your eyes pop up to the teacher, the locked box falling out of grasp.

* “Yes, sorry?” The teacher sighs, you look to the white board to see you’re going over the answers to the worksheet. You’re about to provide the answer for the number you’re on when the teacher cuts you off.

* “I know you might be focused on body building, but in my class you need to focus on the material.” There’s a scattered laugh that fills the room, but your blood runs cold

* “Excuse me?”

* And that’s when your teacher knew he fucked up. He stutters over himself, the sentences overlapping

* “-really you should take it as a compliment-“

* “Oh you think I should take it as a compliment that someone recorded me without my consent while I was changing?”

* The rooms pin drop silent. Your teacher is sweating.

* “Hold on now- I think you’re being a little dramatic don’t you think” A smirk curls onto his lips. “You were in your underwear, it was really no different than wearing a swimsuit” he’s got this smug smile, like he’s right.

*Honestly you were ready to put everything behind you and move on if he just apologized. It’s gross that a teacher is watching videos of a student changing, but what would you have done in his situation if a co-worker showed you.

* “It’s all about perspective, a positive per-“

* But not anymore, you’re not in a forgiving mood, especially not for an idiot like this.

* “No it’s all about consent.” All the anger and despair you’ve been holding back comes flooding out. “When someone wears a swimsuit they’re consenting to show skin and be seen, but I wasn’t contesting to being seen when I was changing in the privacy of the locker room.” You don’t stop for air, your voice trembling

* “And another thing, I wonder how the school administration will feel knowing the same faculty that’s supposed to make students feel safe and enrich their lives is watching creepy videos-“ you stop when you meet your teachers eyes, tears streaming down his face.

* Oh f*ck

* You look to your right, finding your classmates in a similar state, holding back tears.

*So this is what happens to humans when they come in contact with your power.

* You try to visualize the box, but it’s too far now. And all the crying people around you don’t help.

*You need to get out of here.

* “Pathetic, not even an apology for your gas lighting.” She shake your head as confidently as you can, grabbing your bag with trembling hands.

* You walk quickly, maybe there’s a mountain you can climb and wait it out on. You’ll text Carlisle and let him now what happened. It shouldn’t be too-

*” Hey wait!”

* You’re already in the hallway when someone call out to you. You turn, expecting it to be Angela or Mike. Never in a million years would you expect her to be standing there in the middle of the hall, her hand hastily wiping away a stray tear.

* “Mr. Peterson’s a f*cking jerk.” Jessica sniffles, walking quickly to catch up with you. You don’t miss the fact that her bags not slung across her back.

* She must have left a minute after you did. You haven’t thought about her as a friend. Not a real one at least. She’s kind of like hot sauce, it’s fun when it’s around, but if it’s not then that’s not a big deal.

* So to see her here, the first to follow you out, rambling about wether you want to get frozen yogurt or pizza, it warms your unbeating heart.

* “Hey Jessica?” She stops mid-sentence, her eyes swinging up to you.

* You haven’t been fair to her. But you’re going to change that.

* “Thanks for being my friend.” And she smiles at you, her arms wrapped around her tight. It’s not the fake ones you see often the ones she throws to Lauren when she’s asking for Jessica’s opinion on an outfit, or when Connor tries to copy her homework’s. it’s a genuine smile.

* Before she can open her mouth, you hear two more shouts from the hallway.

*Angela and Mike are jogging down the hallway to catch up with you. The latter carrying a bright pink backpack in his hand.

* “Geez Jess, the least you could do is take your bag before you go bolting out of there” Mike’s panting as he holds out her bag. You don’t miss the blush ghosting her face.

*Looks like she still has a crush on him.

* “Hey, are you okay?” Angela asks, and you wish you could cry as you nod.

* “Is it weird that I’m kind of happy right now?” And the three of them smile, before wrapping you into a group hug.

*They all smell terrible. Jessica smells like boiled broccoli, Mike is like the overwhelming stench of fat mixed with sugar, and Angela.. Angela’s probably the worst. She’s sickeningly sweet mixed with a healthy dose of starch.

*it’s disgusting. You have a hard time believing any of the Cullen’s would lose their minds when they’re this close to any of them.

*still, even with the repulsive stench, it’s nice. You haven’t felt the body gets of another human in a long time, or heard the quiet thump of their beating heart. Even the odor is nice, it reminds you that they’re human.

*And for a second it’s easier to pretend you’re human too, just like them.

* “Dude why are you so cold?” Jessica groans, breaking the moment. She taps your arm but doesn’t pull away.

* “While we’re asking questions, Mike how much axe do you use?” Angela’s eyes are watering as you both laugh.

* “Like you’re one to talk, I can smell your strawberry shampoo two hallways over!”

* You watch the three of them untangle and start walking to the back exit from the gym.

* “So where do we go now? We can’t stay here.” Angela says

* “I was thinking maybe a coffee shop, if we take out books we might pass for having a free period” Jessica pipes in

* “Oh, how about the Arcade? A buddy of mine works there since he’s already on break from college, I don’t think he’ll minds us hanging out there.”

* So this is what Alice meant when she said everything was going to be okay.

*Your Human Friends were going to save you

*You haven’t forgotten Edward’s warning, someone did break your trust and let you down.

* But that’s what it means to build friendships, you open yourself to being hurt, and so do they.

* “Hey (Y/N/N), what do you think?” Mike asks, and they all turn around to notice you’re not walking with them.

*You try not to smile to wide. You don’t want to scare them off now.

* “I think there’s something fun about an arcade during the day, no lines.” You say, walking a little bit faster to catch up with your friends.

Tag list: @moonlights27 @thebluetint @the100thtwilight @awesomebooklover17 @oneofthepotterheads @smileygirl08 @imdoingathingmom @iconicgguk @yrawn @alyciaswhore @little-horror-show

[beautiful-songbird]

The Strings of My Heart [19] - Unearthing the Past

← Chapter 18 | Chapter 20 →

Pairing: Zoro x Jupiter

Genre: fluff, angst, f2l

Word Count: 2.1k

Warnings: mentions of trauma

Summary: Zoro’s moved to sunny California for college to escape from the life of fame for a little while. But when he loses his violin case in the second week of school, he’s sure his college experience has just gone up in flames. What will he do when, despite all odds, his case is returned to him?

—————

Zoro was glad for the break that came with the Thanksgiving holiday.  For his family, it was mostly just an excuse to get together and eat.  Eat a lot, that was.  That was followed by Black Friday, where his grandparents went to cut down their Christmas tree.  He’d be joining them this year.  It wasn’t often he was in town during November, but he did remember the couple times he’d gone to get a Christmas tree with them.  He’d been ten the last time he really remembered doing it.

Admittedly, the drive down to Temecula was awfully boring alone.  He’d discovered this in February when he’d driven down to escape Jupiter’s parents and the memory of the airport, but he’d been too panicked to care then.  Now, he was wishing he had Jupiter to accompany him like she had in the summer.

Oliver was out the front door the moment Zoro pulled up to his uncle’s house.

“You’re here!  You should change and come down to the beach with us.”

“Ollie, get back inside!  Let Zoro breathe!”

Zoro climbed out of his car just in time to see Luna waddle down the front path.  His eyes widened.

“I haven’t seen you this pregnant in five years,” he laughed.

She groaned. “Don’t remind me.  I’m so tired of being pregnant, but I still have a whole month to go.”

“When’s the baby due?”

“Your dad’s birthday.  Isn’t that funny?”

“That is funny,” he chuckled.

Oliver tugged on his hand. “Come on, Zoro.  Go change!  It’s half an hour to the beach.”

“You do know I’m staying with Grammy and Grandpa, right?”

“I don’t care!”

Luna nodded towards the house. “Kohen’s gonna be here soon to pick us up.  We’re headed down to Carlsbad.”

Zoro sighed. “All right, fine.  I’ll come.  Let me go change.”

◇◆◇◆◇

Zoro was crammed into the back of Kohen’s dinky car with Oliver not fifteen minutes later.

“I wish you’d told me you were headed there.  I drove through Oceanside on my way here.”

Luna winced. “Sorry.  I didn’t realize you were coming to our place first.”

“Grammy and Grandpa said they wouldn’t be home until six, so I can’t go there yet.”

“Oh, that’s right!  They had a meeting with someone.”

“Luna, tell him the news,” Oliver prompted.

“News?” Zoro asked.

“We’re getting married in March,” Luna smiled.

“Wow!  That’s coming up quickly!”

She nodded. “We would’ve done it sooner, but planning a wedding in a month isn’t really something you can do.”

“You’re one to talk,” Kohen laughed.  He glanced at Zoro. “She wanted to have it before the baby is born.  I said no, because there’s no way we can get all our family into town in less than a month!”

“He had a good point when he said it would be much easier to find a wedding dress without a pregnancy belly,” Luna laughed. “Do you think you could come, Zoro?  We’re having it on the sixteenth.”

“I’m flying out the next week, so I don’t see why I couldn’t come a bit early.”

“Flying out?”

He nodded. “I’m staying with Jupiter for Christmas, so I told Mama and Appa I’d come home for Mama’s birthday.  I’ll be missing Jupiter’s birthday, though….”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  Her birthday is two days after my mom’s.  Or three, if you count the time zone difference.”

“I can’t believe you’re missing your girlfriend’s birthday for your mom!”

“Are you kidding me?” he asked. “You’d skip your mom’s birthday if Kohen’s birthday was around the same time?”

Luna pressed her lips together. “Why can’t you just take Jupiter with you?”

“She has work, and all her siblings would miss school.  Besides, flying with nine little kids would be a disaster.”

She sighed. “I’m glad I’m not you.”

He chuckled ruefully. “You should be glad for more than one reason.”

“Don’t look at me like you’d prefer to be me!  Try getting pregnant twice while you’re single.”

“I don’t think I can try that.”

She tossed a towel at his head. “You know what I mean!”

◇◆◇◆◇

Zoro found himself sitting at his grandma’s island that evening after an exhausting afternoon of chasing Oliver around Carlsbad.  Luna couldn’t keep an eye on him, and Kohen insisted on staying with his fiancée.

“Ollie wore you out today?” Grammy asked with a laugh.

Zoro nodded. “I didn’t know what I was signing up for when I agreed to go with them.  We walked two miles just to get ice cream!  And then we had to walk back!”

“What?  Is four miles too much for you?”

“Not really, but it was too much for Ollie.  I had to carry him halfway back.  That was too much for me.” He laid across the chairs at her island. “I never would’ve imagined doing this in November.”

“Are you going to Korea for Christmas?”

“No.  Jupiter’s the main caretaker for her siblings now, and I’m not about to take nine kids to Korea with me.”

“Good choice.  We never used to go on flights when your mom and aunts and uncles were younger.”

“Uncle Ryan was probably the main problem there.”

“You’d be surprised.  It was Sophie.”

“Really?” Zoro asked, pushing himself up so he could make proper eye contact with his grandma.

She laughed and nodded. “When we moved out here, we took a plane.  Sophie was five, and she screamed for half the plane ride.  We didn’t go on another plane until she was thirteen, and the only reason for it was because your mom’s roommate was throwing her a birthday party.”

“Aunt Indigo?”

“Yep,” Grammy nodded.

Zoro laid himself back down on the chairs and sighed. “Well, anyway, I’m spending the holidays with Jupiter and her siblings.  We’ve already decided to not go down to Florida.  That’s where her aunt and her mom’s cousins live, apparently.  I am honestly not ready to see her aunt again, and I don’t really think she is either.”

Grammy hummed to let Zoro know she was listening.

“It feels stupid that I can’t face her, you know?  That was ten years ago, and she’s a heck of a lot smaller than me now.  She’s not even in New York, and I can barely bring myself to be there even for Jupiter.  The airport is still terrifying, but I’d never tell her that.  I think she figured it out, though.”

“Maybe you need to see her to put your fears to rest,” Grammy suggested.

“I’ve thought about that.  It’s just….”

“So scary you feel paralyzed?”

He sighed. “Yeah.”

“That’s how trauma is.  And it seems that nothing you’ve tried so far has let you fully let go of that.  You haven’t seen her since you were nine, so to you, you’re still tiny and helpless compared to her.  I think that now, seeing what little power she has over you would really help.”

“It would.  I just don’t know what I’m afraid of, really.  I can’t figure out if it’s her or the airport or just anyone having the potential to do that to me again.”

“It might be all of those things together, Zor.”

“Yeah.  I don’t know what to do about it, though.”

“I think that when you’re ready, you need to face Jupiter’s aunt with Jupiter.  I can’t tell you that it’ll fix the problem fully, but I think it will help.”

“I’ll think about it.  Thanks, Grammy.”

◇◆◇◆◇

December seemed to roll around in the blink of an eye, and Jupiter was giddy as she anticipated her boyfriend’s return.  Her mother and the baby had been home for almost two months already, and getting guardianship had been significantly easier than she’d expected.  Almost everything seemed right in the world again.  Except, there was a small part of her that missed her dad.  She wasn’t sure why she missed him.  He’d never been around, and even when he had been, he hadn’t paid much attention to her at all.  They hadn’t had a good relationship in years.

On the other hand, she remembered the father that he’d used to be.  She didn’t remember much, but before Venus was born, Jupiter’s father had given her all the attention that her mother neglected to give her.  He’d been harsh in the workplace, but there was the occasion that he’d take her out for ice cream and treat her like a normal little kid.  They’d chat about life, or he’d tell her how well she’d done in her training that day.

Nothing like that had happened in the past eleven years, but Jupiter still missed the man her father had once been, even if that once was only for a few minutes each month.

Regardless, Jupiter went on with life as if nothing had happened.  She had a company to run and siblings to take care of.  Not to mention Zoro would be staying with them for a few weeks before his apartment would be ready, so she needed to get ready for him.  That probably only entailed finally taking those glow-in-the-dark stars off her ceiling.  Zoro had seen her house is various levels of disarray before and had never commented on it.

Jupiter was halfway to being disappointed that Zoro wasn’t moving in with them, but there really was no space for him.  He’d been sleeping in her bedroom for the whole summer while she’d taken her parents’ bedroom, and now that her mom was back, they couldn’t do that.

Another odd thing was that her mom had been acting almost normal for the past couple months.  She actually paid attention to more than just the baby, and she’d even helped cook dinner a few times.  It was overall a very odd experience to see her mom acting more like a mom than just a nanny for the baby.  She was definitely still partially absent, though.

◇◆◇◆◇

Zoro was jittery as he packed his apartment up on the last week of school.  Truthfully, he could’ve stayed for a few weeks longer, but he knew Jupiter needed him, and spending Christmas alone seemed like an awfully depressing thing to do when he was already not going to see his family for the first time on the holiday.

As he made one last check of the apartment to make sure he’d taken absolutely everything, he frowned.  He’d spent over a year in this dinky apartment, and he was sad to leave it behind.  So many memories had been made in these rooms, and now he’d be leaving this place for good.  He and Jupiter had studied here many times and had little dates together, she’d surprised him for his birthday, they’d practiced their instruments together, and so many other little things that he would never forget.  He supposed the important thing was that he still had the girl.  The apartment could go.

He stacked his many suitcases into his trunk along with a few boxes full of valuables.  If he thought flying here last summer had been ridiculous, he was about to spend four days on the road just to drive to New York.  He had too many things to fly to New York, and he wanted to keep his car.

He walked around his apartment one last time to bid it goodbye before turning his keys in.  The good thing was that he didn’t have people to say goodbye to as well.  He’d never really talked to any of his neighbors.

He had one last lunch with Peyton before leaving.

“Man, I can’t believe you’re moving to New York right after I moved away from there!”

Zoro laughed. “At least one of your parents will be living in New Jersey, right?  You can visit me while you’re up there.”

“Yeah, but who knows when they’ll sort that out,” he rolled his eyes. “Both of them will probably live up there after everything’s said and done, but they’re still fighting over it!  I want to tell them to just sell the house, split the money, and buy two smaller houses!  They wouldn’t listen to me if I did, though.”

“Well, if you ever want to come visit, just let me know.  I’ll have a couch in my apartment you can crash on if you’d like.”

“Awesome!  I don’t know how I’d get the money for plane tickets, though.”

Zoro nodded.

“Are you really driving all the way across the country this week?”

“Yep.  I’ve got a friend I’m going to see on my way to New York.  I haven’t seen him in years.”

“That’s cool!”

Zoro and Peyton parted ways after lunch, and Zoro began his long trip to New York.  Maybe by the time he got there, he’d be mentally prepared to see the city again.  At least this time he didn’t have to enter it via the airport.

—————

Chapter 20 →

This is part of the Dad!BTS series that can be found here

Series M.list

A/N: haha. Back to multiple updates in a row! Isn’t that lovely?

It would be greatly appreciated if you reblogged the story if you liked it!

Taglist: @jiminie-and-his-pinky-finger @jinnie-forthe-winnie

[amanda-glassen]

But would Serena would swap out Jamie's workout playlist with a Zombie Chase workout?

(I feel I already know the answer, but wanted to check)

Yes. Yes, she would, and I loved this thought so much that I had to write a drabble about it. (But it's technically not a drabble because it's over 1000 words). I love these two idiots so if you have any other horror/autumn-themed requests I will gladly write them.

Slightly less than a month after their wedding, Jamie found herself back in Beverly Hills for Thanksgiving with the Benson family. It was her first time spending the holiday away from home, but with Serena’s family in Beverly Hills and her family in New York, they agreed to alternate between the two cities for the holidays. The morning after Thanksgiving, Jamie decided to go down to one of the basement-level rooms that had been converted into a gym. Her wife had stayed up watching Krampus and Black Christmas and a few other slashers with her siblings and Olivia the night before because they were considered holiday movies in the Benson household. At twelve, she felt Olivia should be watching The Grinch and she shook her head when she realized it was too late for Olivia; she had already become one of them.

So while the rest of the Benson family was still asleep, Jamie pressed play on her workout playlist and started running on the treadmill. She was five minutes into her workout when she heard someone start to describe a zombie apocalypse story and was given the revelation that a horde of zombies was chasing her. “Damn it, Serena!” she said as she put the treadmill in cool down mode.

“You rang,” Serena said jokingly, standing in the doorway in some flannel pajama pants and one of Jamie’s hoodies.

“I’m not even gonna ask if this was you,” she said as she stepped off the treadmill. “I know it was, but the joke’s on you because it actually seems interesting.”

“Come back to bed, Jamieson,” Serena insisted. “I like smelling you when you’re all sweaty.”

Jamie grabbed her phone, towel, and water bottle. “I wouldn’t admit that to too many people, Ser Bear.”

Although her workout didn’t last long enough to break a sweat, Serena cuddled up to Jamie in their bed and nuzzled into the crook of her neck. “This is your usual scent. I wanted my sweaty wife.”

Jamie couldn’t help smiling when she saw Serena’s pouty face. She placed a kiss on her wife’s forehead and started to rub her arm. “What’s come over you?” Jamie chuckled. “Are you pregnant? Did I knock you up on our honeymoon?”

“Just the opposite,” Serena responded. “The bloodening has happened earlier than expected. I’m cramping and I want cuddles.”

“Did you take something?” Jamie asked. “Want me to get you some Advil? A heating pad? Your cranberry tea?”

Jamie felt her wife pinch her lips shut. “Stop talking, Jamieson. No words. Just cuddles.”

“You know what’s really good for that time of the month?” Jamie asked once she was finally able to speak. “Exercise.”

“Ugh,” Serena groaned. “I am trying to not feel miserable.”

“A lot of couples exercise together. I think it’d make you feel better, too. You could cut down on the caffeine and actually have natural energy. Maybe if we both change our eating habits too it’ll－”

“You’re not attracted to me anymore?” Serena immediately sat up. “Are you cheating on me, Jamieson? What’s her name? Do I know her? Is she younger?”

“What?” Jamie asked in disbelief. She noticed the look in her wife’s eyes, the look she saw in movies right before wives killed their husbands. Be careful, Jamie. Not only is it her time of the month, but she’s crazy even on her best days. “Serena, no one has ever loved anyone as much as I love you and I’d rather gouge my own eyes out than check out another woman.”

With that statement, Serena’s mood went from homicidal to soft. She pulled Jamie back down to cuddle her, making her feel grateful that she had said the right thing. “Good,” Serena said as she cuddled up to her again. “Because if I ever caught you checking out another woman, I’d gouge your eyes out myself.” And we’re back to homicidal.

“I’m sorry, Ser Bear. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. Wanna know something funny?”

“Always.”

“That first Saturday morning we spent together and you wore those athletic leggings and a sports bra, I got the impression that you were one of these women who went hiking or went to the gym on a regular basis. I thought it was something we had in common.”

“Yeah, that couldn’t have been further from the truth,” Serena smiled. “I wear those athletic pants when I’m too lazy for regular pants and, as for the sports bra, that all comes down to me not wanting to wear anything with underwire during the weekend.”

“I’m gonna get you to workout with me. I think you’ll like running if you use the zombie app.”

“My zombie apocalypse plan is not to run, Jamieson,” Serena said defensively. “If all you do is run, you’ll be running from zombies your entire life. My plan is to kill.” Imagining this 5’5”, 108 pound woman as a killing machine would have been laughable to those who didn’t know her, but Jamie felt it was entirely possible. “If the zombie apocalypse were to happen, my family and your family are going to the house by Tahoe. The whole reason that house was built is because Great-grandpa Benson went crazy and became a survivalist.”

“Serena, I know you’re messing with me again.”

“No, it’s true. One day back in the ‘90s, he just went crazy and had a house built with crawl spaces, a lookout tower, and a basement that could withstand an atomic blast. That last one is up for debate though. He also has a weapons room.”

“Like guns and knives?” Jamie asked nervously. “There was a shit ton of weapons in the house that we spent our honeymoon in?”

“Guns, knives, the bow and arrow he taught me to use when I was seven,” Serena said nonchalantly. “Lexie had her cheerleading. Kyle had baseball. I learned to kill a man from one hundred yards away.”

“That’s impressive and...frightening.”

Serena reached over and gently smacked Jamie on the behind. “You’re safe with me, Pumpkin Butt. You can like...plant us a garden or something while I protect our families.”

Jamie held Serena close until she fell asleep, careful not to disturb her. I love you, my little zombie killing machine.

[broadstbroskis]

thanksgiving | jeff skinner

a/n: it’s here!!! this is like 4k that i threw together in like a week after i took it as a personal challenge from @blueskrugs after i asked why we don’t write more thanksgiving fics. a huge shoutout to her and @danglesnipecelly, for inspiration and cheering me on for this, as well as literally anyone else who’s cheered me on to finish thing, you’re all the real mvps and i love you all 💚

-----

Jeff shrugs, and from across the table filled with pizza, beer, and a bunch of other things that are most definitely not on his approved list of foods, you stare at him.

“I dunno. I don’t really have plans, I guess? Probably just sit at home, relax a little?” He says. Your jaw drops. He has...he has what now? “You're going to your parent’s right?” You nod slowly, still stuck on the fact that he’s going to sit at home and do nothing on Thanksgiving, the best of all holidays. Not spend the day with some teammates, not make a quick trip to his family, nothing. “That’ll be fun!” Jeff grins, dimples popping. “What are you-”

“You’re doing nothing?” You get out finally, the words coming back to you.

Jeff’s smile falters, but only slightly, and he nods. “Yeah? I mean, there’s no practice, no games. I’ll just…” He trails off for a second and then shrugs. “Rest.”

“You’re not going to go, like, visit your parents? They’re right across the border!”

“It’s a Thursday.” Jeff says patiently and you abruptly remember that his Canadian-ness is the whole point of this conversation.

“Thanksgiving is the best holiday! You can’t sit at home alone on it; I forbid it!” Jeff’s smile grows again as he laughs and you try and fight your own grin as you shove at his shoulders, to no avail. “Come home with me!”

“What?” He laughs again, but this time, it’s more like disbelief.

But the idea is already growing in your mind. “Come home with me! You know my parents love you, they won’t mind at all!”

“I can’t just invite myself to your Thanksgiving!” Jeff protests.

You wave him off. “You’re not, I’m inviting you! Come on, we’d love to have you!” He still looks hesitant, so you add, “Our Thanksgiving is huge anyway; one extra mouth to feed isn’t going to put anyone out, Jeff.”

“Alright.” He caves, and you grin, pulling your phone close to you to text your mom and let her know. “But ask your mom, okay? Like, really ask her, don’t just, like, tell her I’m coming.”

“Too late!” You say cheerfully, showing him the text you’d sent in your family group chat, telling them you were bringing Jeff with you next week. Your mom’s already responded with a string of happy face emojis and your younger sister with a How I Met Your Mother gif about Canadian Thanksgiving. “Be prepared for a lot of Canada jokes!”

“Is that supposed to be different than any other time I see your family?’ Jeff deadpans, but you’re pretty sure he looks like, at least 50% more relaxed, so you count this as a win and ignore him completely, already mentally planning for the best holiday of the year.

-----

The drive back home to your parents takes about an hour longer than you’d like, stuck in the same godawful traffic as everyone else trying to leave Buffalo on Wednesday so that they can get back home in time to go out that night. 

When Jeff finally pulls his car up in front of your childhood home, you can already see that it’s bustling with activity, getting ready for tomorrow. Most of your siblings have already arrived- only your older brother, with his wife and daughters will come in tomorrow, with the rest of your family- but your younger brother and sister have already come home, a fact that’s even more evident when you and Jeff walk in the front door and immediately trip over three pairs of sneakers.

“Liam!” You cry, grabbing onto Jeff so you don’t fall. “Motherfucker, move your shoes!”

Your brother pops his head out of the living room, AirPods in his ears. “I’m on a call!” And just as you're marveling at the fact that your brother is a real person with a real job taking real work calls, said real person with a real job spots Jeff and lights up. “Jeff! Bro! What’s up, man?”

“I thought you were on a call.” You snap at him.

“I’m on mute.” Liam slaps his palm against Jeff’s pulling him in for a ridiculous handshake-bro hug combo, before he finally comes over and lifts you off the floor. “Yo!”

“Yo!” You repeat, honestly unable to believe you’re related to this kid. If the two of you didn’t look exactly alike, you’d probably think he was adopted. “You still coming out tonight?”

“Hell yeah, this is my last call. I’m ready to go.”

You snicker, looking down at his sweatpants and dress shirt combo- he must have taken a video call at some point today. “Yeah, okay, bud.”

He ruffles your hair, in that annoying way he’s been able to do ever since he grew taller than you. “Don’t you worry, I will be.”

You laugh, ducking under his arm, to let him get back to it. You’ve got no doubts about that. Liam’s always ready to party. “Finish your call so we can start pregaming.”

He grins, like you knew he would. “Now we’re talking.” And then he ducks back into your dad’s office.

Jeff is laughing when you look back at him and you give him a look. “What?”

“Nothing, just forgot how the two of you were when you got going.”

“Yup, and you’re stuck with us for next two days!” You grin.

Jeff rolls his eyes at you, but he’s still smiling when he follows you to the kitchen, in search of your mom. She’s at the counter, rolling dough for biscuits, her only other contribution to the annual Thanksgiving dinner that she hosts, besides the turkey; a holiday that she’d taken over hosting once it had become too much for your grandmother to handle, but only on the caveat that everyone began contributing food toward the meal. It’s been a potluck style holiday ever since.

She’s ultra-focused, the volume on her favorite playlist high (this wild mix of 80’s pop and today’s hits that’s actually kind of a banger), so you sneak up behind her and wrap your arms around her. “Hi!”

“Jesus!” Your mom jumps, elbowing you in the process, but you’re laughing too hard to care. “Don’t do that!”

“Just excited to see you!” You beam at her, squeezing her once more, before pulling away. “Where do you want the pie?” Jeff lifts the pie you’d made yesterday, showing your mom.

Your mom purses her lips, studying the kitchen around her. “Leave it on the counter for now; I’ll have your dad clear some space in the garage.” She gestures with her elbow. “Hi Jeff!” 

“Hi!” Jeff pulls out his best smile, a real one, dimples super popped. “Thank you for having me-”

Your mom cuts him off before he can finish, like you knew she would. “Oh, we’re so happy you could make it! You’re welcome anytime, Jeff!” She assures him.

“Is the guest room ready?” You ask. “We’ll throw our stuff upstairs before Dad sees it at the bottom of the steps and has a fit.”

Your mom fights back a laugh at that- a statement that everyone in your family knows all too well-but then looks almost apologetic as she finishes, “It is, but we gave it to Katie.”

“Oh, Katie’s here too?” Your sister’s roommate at college was, at this point, basically another sister to you. She hardly went home for breaks within the semesters, usually came up for at least a month during the summer, and more often than not came home with Abby when she was back for anything. The “guest room” really was more like Katie’s room at this point. 

“Where else would she be?” Abby appears, right on cue, with Katie right behind her, practically matching in leggings and oversized sorority shirts. “It’s Thanksgiving; she’s ready to rage tonight.”

You actually can’t wait for the babies to be hungover tomorrow-both were 21 for their first Thanksgiving Eve and you know they’re going to be in a super rough spot tomorrow-but you keep that thought to yourself. 

“It didn’t even occur to me!” Your mom says apologetically. “I just gave Katie her usual room.”

“No, it’s cool. Jeff and I can share. He doesn’t mind, right?” But you barely even wait for his shrug and nod in agreement. It’s not like you haven’t before, when you’re either too lazy or too drunk to go home. You’re both adults, it’s no big. “I’ve shared a bed with you before; I’ll spare Katie the bruised shins.” You tease your sister.

Katie cracks up as Abby sputters out how rude you are. “It’s a hazard!” Katie agrees, dodging the swat your sister sends towards her. It sets the two of them off, which you take as your cue to grab Jeff’s hand and drag him (and your stuff) up to your room.

Of course, usually when you’re sharing a bed with Jeff, it’s a king sized bed, or at least a queen- definitely not the double that your parents just shoved in your old room to replace the queen bed that had been in there until you moved out and took your furniture with you. You hadn’t realized how small it was though, not until today, until the idea of actually having to share it with someone, with Jeff, who might not be a giant, but isn’t tiny.  “Sorry.” You apologize, almost unsure of what you’re saying.

Jeff shrugs. “Well, at least you don’t kick.” He smiles, as then it’s like everything’s back to normal, that awkward feeling that was growing over you gone as quickly as it came. 

“She’s a bruiser, don’t let her tell you otherwise.” You throw your bag down, rifling through it for the sweater you were planning to wear tomorrow, to hang it up so it isn’t too wrinkled.

Jeff laughs. “I’ll take your word for it.” He’s holding up his shirt, a button down and a tie. “Where can I hang this?”

“You can’t wear that!”

He frowns, likely at the vehemence you’d just spoken that with. “Uhh, why not?”

“You’ll get roasted.” Seriously, you’d told him it wasn’t a dressy affair. God, what part of not dressy does he think requires a tie? “Don’t you have, like, a sweater?”

“I mean, yeah, but-”

“Sweater and jeans, that’s fine.”

Jeff gives you a look. “That doesn’t seem-”

“Sweater. And jeans.” You repeat. He’ll thank you tomorrow, when your uncle doesn’t ask him when tea is. When your cousin doesn’t talk to him only in a fake British accent for the entire night. 

Jeff hands over a sweater, a soft thing you’ve seen him wear on many occasions, and you smile your thanks at him, hanging it up next to yours. “Meet your standards?” He asks; you think he’s aiming for teasing but he kind of misses the mark, sounding a little more nervous than joking.

“Perfect.” He smiles back at you and you laugh. “Come on, you dork. Let’s go see what’s for dinner tonight.”

-----

“Don’t wake me up when you come in tonight!” Your dad calls, as he drops the five of you off at Mel’s, the bar for Thanksgiving Eve. Your friends are already at the bar, you’re anticipating a high school reunion for sure, and you’ve warned Jeff of this, even though he assured you that he could handle it, and he was just excited for a nice, chill night.

You’d actually laughed out loud at that. Oh Jeffrey. 

“Pshh.” Liam waves your dad off. “I haven’t done that since I was like 16 and still having to sneak out.”

Your dad gives him a look. “I was talking to your sister.” He looks over at Abby, who ignores him completely, in favor of taking a SnapChat with Katie, and he sighs resolutely. You all absolutely know she isn’t listening to a word he says. “Have fun, be safe. Uber home.”

Liam salutes him. “Will do.”

Inside the bar, the night starts exactly as you and Liam have started your last few Thanksgiving Eve’s-with a round of shots at the bar as you’re ordering drinks, before splitting off to find your respective friends to start the evening.

Jeff fits in with your friends fantastically, laughing and joking around with them like he’s known them forever, even though you’re sure the only one he’s met is your oldest friend, Ashley. But he greets Ashley and her husband, Brian, like old friends, and quickly joins conversations with all your other friends, and soon hours have passed before your brother is sliding up behind you. “Heads up.” Liam mutters as he passes. “Douche at 3 o’clock.”

You tense as it takes everything in you not to turn and look over. “Hey.” Jeff nudges you, concern clear in his eyes as he looks at you, and you’re not sure what he pulled himself away from, but you must look pretty bad. “You okay?”

You nod, kinda spacily, but leaning in closer to him, and he takes the cue to curl in toward you- you’re not really interested in shouting to the entire bar and you’re really not interested in drawing attention to yourself. “Yeah, just- my ex is over there.”

Jeff purses his lips for a minute and then schools his face back to neutral. “I take it things didn’t end well.”

“No.” You say, thinking of the demise of your relationship with Dylan. “It did not.”

You hadn’t even realized that Jeff grabbed your hand until he’s squeezing it gently. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” You shake your head. “It was...definitely for the best.” It might have taken you a while to see that, but you can now, even if the rare instances you still see Dylan sometimes rattles you. “I thought I was going to marry him, at one point, but I’m so much happier here now.”

Jeff smiles. “Good.”

You squeeze his hand once more, a thanks for his comfort and care, before both of you rejoin the conversation, and you forget about Dylan entirely for the next hour, until you physically run into him coming back from the bar with another round of drinks for you and Jeff.

“Hey!” Dylan beams at you, goes right in for a cheek kiss, like you’re still that familiar, and once again you stiffen up.

“Hi.” You return politely, ready to sidestep around him and return to Jeff and your friends.

“No, wait.” Dylan steps with you, blocking your path. “I haven’t seen you in forever. Let’s catch up a minute, what’s new?”

“No offense, Dylan, but I’m not really looking to catch up with you.” You say flatly.

He opens his mouth to respond, but before he can another voice cuts in. “Everything okay here?” Jeff asks politely, stepping very purposefully next to you, and Dylan’s eyes immediately fly over to him.

“Mhmm,” You nod. “Was just on my way back to you.”

“Good.” Jeff says, in a tone far more harsh than you usually hear him take. “Let’s get back.” He positions himself again, clearing a space for you to easily slip past Dylan, and then steps closely behind you, catching up quickly.

“Thanks.” You lean against him, gently, not looking to spill either of your drinks, but Jeff solves that problem by taking his.

“Any time.” Jeff says softly and you don’t have much else to say on the matter so you just nudge him once more in thanks and walk back toward your friends with him at your side.

-----

When you wake up the next morning, you’re warm and comfortable and only a little hungover, which you count as a huge success. There’s not too much noise going on downstairs yet, which means you definitely have some more time to sleep, so you curl back into your pillow, humming contently when it pulls you in closer.

And then your eyes pop open abruptly, because pillows don’t do that.

Except they do when they look like Jeff Skinner, who looks just as soft and warm and comfortable as you feel right now, still sleeping judging by the evenness of his breath. 

It’s just...it’s a really nice way to wake up, with Jeff’s kind-of smiling face, looking super soft and cozy as he breathes just on the wrong side of too loud, but not so loudly that it drives you nuts. 

It’s a little too early to unpack that, and your hangover might not be that bad but it’s definitely bad enough that you’re not ready to think on that, so you close your eyes and let yourself curl into Jeff and fall back asleep.

-----

When you do finally get out of bed, Thanksgiving morning is its usual chaos, running around with last minute errands, cleaning, and helping your mom in the kitchen. The last to shower for the day, by the time you arrive downstairs, the Lions vs. Bears game is well underway, your notoriously early grandparents have already arrived, and your grandmother is already asking your mom where that one turkey decoration she bought her one year is.

You bypass the kitchen entirely and move toward the living room, where you find your dad, grandfather, Jeff, and siblings all gathered, just as you’d expected. You slide down on the floor next to Jeff, knowing that it’s only a matter of time before more of your family arrives and you’re offering your set up anyway, and wait for the next round of chaos to begin.

It doesn’t take long. Your aunts, uncles, and cousins start pouring in and then it’s just introduction after introduction, as you wrap up showing off Jeff to one group just as the next arrives. You are absolutely confident he has no idea who anyone is, but it’s fine, because he’s still laughing and joking around with all your uncles and cousins that have joined you in watching football. 

The kitchen is its own brand of chaos, when you make a quick stop in on your back from a beer run, but chaos has never stopped your aunt before and it certainly isn’t today. “Oh my god!” She exclaims, after you’ve pressed a smacking kiss to the top of your grandmom’s head. “That boy!”

“What boy?” You ask, like an idiot, which is immediately clear from the looks you get from everyone in the kitchen, even your usually oblivious uncle, who’s doing...something...with the ham they’d brought. “Who, Jeff?”

“Yes.” Another aunt stresses. “He’s cute!”

You shrug. “Yeah, I mean-”

But your grandmom cuts you off this time. “And so friendly! Just the nicest boy! Oh, you couldn’t have found anyone better!” She exclaims.

“Well, I haven’t.” You announce, watching all of their faces fall. “So sorry to burst that bubble.”

“Why?” One of your older cousins frowns. “Girl. Get on that. You are not going to do better than that boy in there.”

“I truly don’t know if that was meant to be a dig at me or you all think that highly of Jeff already, but regardless. We are just friends.” Now everyone in the kitchen is giving you a look. You gather the beers and retreat, distributing them as you return to your spot on the floor near Jeff.

He’s giving you a look as you pass him his, but whatever’s on your face must not be too bad, because he just thanks you as you pass him the bottle, and you nod in return as you try to find the same comfortable spot as before, leaning against his thigh.

-----

Your dad catches you a bit later, as he’s coming back with beers this time and you’re coming out of the bathroom, and he nudges you carefully as you take a few bottles from his hand. “So Jeff?”

You groan. The tone of that statement was far too loaded. “Jesus, you too?”

Your dad laughs. “Who else?”

“Everyone.”

“Well maybe that should be your hint.” Your dad says teasingly, but also not? There’s definitely some seriousness to this. “That Jeff’s pretty perfect for you.”

You stare at him. “You’ve met Jeff, like, a hundred times. Why’s this coming out now?”

“I always thought you were my smart kid and that you’d figure it out yourself.” He muses. “Now I realize you’re only book-smart and you’d never figure this out on your own.” And then he leaves you there in the hallway, with your jaw dropped and too many thoughts, as he continues on, laughing at you.

-----

When the call to come serve yourselves echoes into the room, the usual mad scramble follows immediately. It’s only as you’re getting into line behind your brother that you realize that Jeff’s not with you anymore, and you abandon the long line waiting for food, in favor of seeking out Jeff.

You find Jeff upstairs, in your room, just kind of lounging on your bed, and you lean against the doorway. “Hey! Food’s ready.”

“Yeah.” Jeff nods, the smile he sends you back in return far too tight and forced to be genuine. “Be right down.”

But he doesn’t move, so you step in and climb into your bed next to him. “What’s wrong?”

Jeff laughs; it’s kind of hollow and doesn’t sound anything like his usual loud laugh or his giggles that you love. “What- nothing. Nothing’s wrong.”

“Jeff.” You say softly. “Come on.”

He sighs. “Why did you bring me here?”

That...was not at all what you expected. “What?”

“Why did you bring me here?” He repeats. “Why did you bring me home, to your family? I thought, maybe, finally…” He trails off for a minute. “Except, there’s like ten other randos here too!” He laughs again, that hollow thing that you’re already hating. “Everybody in this family just brings people home, and that’s awesome, okay? Please don’t ever change that about yourself. I just-I thought we had something special, is all.” He says, sounding almost sad? Melancholy? 

“You are special.” You hate this. Jeff should never be sad; he should always be happy and smiling and joking. This is worse than seeing him after losses, worse than seeing him at low points in the season, that one game when he realizes that shit’s done and they’re just playing to keep playing now, that playoffs won’t be coming this year, again. “Jeff, you’re-”

“I’m in love with you.” Jeff says and it’s so straight-up, matter-of-fact, like it’s never not been a fact for him. “And I’m sorry I’ve fucked things up here for tonight and made this so awkward. I just- being here with you and your family just made me want you that much more.”

There’s so so so much you want to say to Jeff, but it’s like time is frozen. You can’t speak, can’t move, can’t do anything except look at him in awe, until he starts to move off your bed, when you reach for him, finally, resting your hand on his thigh, relieved when he looks back at you. “My dad thinks I’m an idiot.” You blurt out and Jeff just gives you a look. “I’m sorry; that wasn’t what I wanted to say.” You take a deep breath, trying to gather the jumble of thoughts in your head. “Or at least, not the only thing. He thinks I’m an idiot because he thinks you’re perfect for me and I didn’t see it. My whole family thinks you’re perfect- cute and friendly and nice- and god, Jeff, you are! You’re all those things!” He’s still watching you, with like, barely the smallest hint of a smile on his face. “I just-didn’t realize you were perfect for me until we came here.”

Now he’s full on beaming, dimples showing, and you don’t even realize that you’re returning the grin until his hand comes up to your face, thumbing at the corner of your lip. “I’m sorry I’m a dumbass.” You finish lamely, too busy smiling at Jeff. “Please kiss me so we can make sure we get biscuits.”

Jeff hums. “I don’t know if I can kiss you now and just...stop.”

“Well I’m not going down to eat until you do.” You say stubbornly. “And you’ve been hyping up those biscuits since breakfast.”

“Fair enough.” Jeff laughs and then you’re smiling into the best first kiss you’ve ever had, tangling your hands into his hair and wondering if you may actually end up missing the meal this year.

[berriusagi]

Stomach Bug Ch3

Future Plans

Thank you everyone who’s reading this fic and enjoying it. It really means a lot that you guys like this fic so much.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Everything settled down once Alfred stepped in the announce dinner, Jason was forced to relinquish Marinette so she could regain her footing and settle her stomach. Damian helped steady her as she took a few slow deep breaths to calm her stomach. Dick still much too animated, was herding the two youngest into the dining room where the table was filled with a large array of food plates set out and silverware pristine.

Damian helped her to a seat beside himself making sure she was comfortable before taking his seat much to the amusement of his family. “What?” he glared, catching his family all staring at him with a mix of glee and surprise.

“Oh nothing, just didn’t take you for a helicopter boyfriend.” Jason chuckled taking his seat and started to pile his plate full of Alfred’s amazing cooking.

“She’s pregnant, she should be careful.” Damian glared filling his and Marinette’s plate with all the vegetarian options he could find.

Marinette sighed softly watching Damian’s antics, a small smile on her face as he set her plate down in front of her, “Thank you Dami.” She whispered trying hard to ignore the three brothers across from her making exaggerated cooing and gagging noises at them

Bruce shook his head a fond smile on his face as everyone got their food and settled in to eat a comfortable silence falling over them as everyone enjoyed the meal. Of course, this is the Wayne household so silence never lasted long and it was Bruce to break it this time.

“So, Marinette why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself and you’re planning now that you’re pregnant, what do you plan to do for school?” Bruce asked sipping on some wine as he watched the two youngest.

“Schooling won’t be a problem. I was already doing online classes, so it won’t be a problem keeping up with my classes. As for the future I just want to do what is best for the baby and my future.” She smiled sipping on some water.

“And we’ll be there to help her out every step of the way,” Harley grinned, reaching over to ruffle Marinette’s hair.

“Of course, however, we should discuss her living arrangements.” Bruce nodded, setting his glass down pointedly ignoring his three eldest dramatically rolling their eyes and their comments of, ‘oh Christ’ and ‘he has to stop at some point.’

Harley just looked him in the eye and crossed her arms, “She will be living with her mothers, we can provide for her just fine Bruce. She should remain somewhere she is familiar with and comfortable so she doesn’t stress herself out.”

“I understand that, however, I’d very much like to get to know my son’s girlfriend and would like to know that she always has someone with her.” Bruce said eyeing both women at his table, “I don’t mean to sound rude but you two are well-known guests at Arkham.”

“Ivy and I haven’t gotten thrown into Arkham since we got Marigold,” Harley glared, getting to her feet, “And I don’t like your tone you are not just going to swoop in and take my daughter just because she’s carrying your grandchild Bruce. She is staying at home with us where we can help her and make sure she is happy and comfortable.”

“I don’t mean to insult Harley.” Bruce said, raising his hands in a calming manner, “I want what is best for her as much as you. We can get her a private doctor who won’t go to the press if they find out whose child she is carrying. We can watch over her in the event of you two having to handle up on other matters of less legal means.”

Tension filled the room as the kids watched Harley and Bruce go back and forth with their arguments and reasoning for why it would be best for Marinette to live with them as opposed to the other. Jason seemed greatly entertained enjoying the show while Dick seemed to want to play mediator trying to cut in but failing each time as they just grew louder. It wasn’t long until the room was filled with Bruce’s stern voice and Harley’s animated accented speech.

“Maman,” Marinette shouted, effectively shutting down the argument as Harley turned to look at Marinette, “Maybe we can compromise?” she asked a bit quietly.

Harley sighed, sitting down, and waved her hand signaling for Marinette to continue as she grabbed a roll biting into it as she waited for Marinette to say her piece.

Marinette took a moment to breathe and collect her thoughts before turning to look at Bruce, “Mr. Wayne, do you want me to live here?” she asked, getting his nod of confirmation, “Maman, and Mum you still want me to stay at home?” she added looking over at Harley and Ivy getting their nods as well.

She nodded, taking another moment, “How about we have a sort of… custody agreement?” she asked, trying to think of the proper words, “All my schoolwork and projects are at home and I don’t want to completely relocate this late in the year. I can still stay with my moms’ during the week and on the weekend I can stay here. On holidays all of us can come over and spend the break here.” She said looking between the adults, “That way I’m still with my moms and you all can still get to know me and you can keep your eyes on me since no one thinks I can function now that I’m pregnant.”

The adults fell into silence thinking the proposal over. Harley let out a sigh letting her head fall back in her seat, “I suppose it’ll do but if anything happens to you while you’re here we are locking you in your room away from Bruce.” She quickly threw in.

“And if either of you end up in Arkham then she’s being moved to the manor immediately.” Bruce tacked on staring the two women down.

“So… doesn’t everyone agree to the terms?” Marinette asked, looking between the two a bit warily as they continued to stare each other down.

“It’s a good compromise.” Ivy said putting a hand on Harley’s arm, “Right Bruce?”

“Yes it is,” Bruce nodded, finally tearing his eyes away from Harley to look at Marinette, “I’ll have Alfred prepare a room for you.”

Marinette nodded a soft smile on her face as the tension began to leave the room as everyone went back to quietly eating. Until Jason decided to cut in, “You met Demon Spawn through a pen pal assignment, right? How’d that go?”

Marinette giggled softly as Damian got this slightly pained look on his face at the mention of how they met. “I used to go to school in Paris, we had a pen pal assignment. We would send letters back and forth at first it was only for the assignment. I’ll admit I wasn’t aware he was from a well-known wealthy family and since it was just for school we didn’t share many personal details at the beginning.” She admitted.

“What was it that caused the snowball?” Damian asked, leaning back trying to remember.

“You mentioned in your letter that you were in the middle of a feud with your brothers because one of them threatened to eat Batcow and another hid Jerry the Turkey around Thanksgiving.” Marinette said giggling at the memory, “I was so confused that you had farm animals, and then the next letter you sent pictures of your animals. I still have them in an old photo album somewhere.”

“From there we just started talking more when the assignment was due to end she sent me her email and we continued to talk through that later it turned into video calls then we swapped numbers when she came to Gotham.” Damian finished pointedly ignoring his brothers looking at him as if he was a clone.

“Why did you move to Gotham?” Dick asked looking at Marinette a bit curious, “Not many people pick Gotham when they’re looking for new places to live.”

“I came to Gotham because that’s where my moms live. They adopted me a little over a year ago and I was flown out here once the adoption was all finished.” She said her formerly bright and happy smile fading away to a more somber one.

“You mentioned projects.” Jason quickly cut in drawing Marinette’s attention, “are they school projects or hobbies?”

“Oh, they’re commissions for an online store I have. I like to keep them in one spot part of why I don’t want to leave home just yet it’ll take a while to properly pack everything up so nothing is ruined.” She smiled a bit of her shine coming back, “I run a small online boutique and make clothing. The sweater and jeans I’m wearing I actually made. I don’t often buy premade clothing unless it’s to customize.”

Once the sudden round of questioning came to an end other conversations began to flow smoothly after that everyone taking turns to ask a question or to throw out an answer. The tension from the previous custody argument seemingly forgotten as the Wayne boys took turns trying to learn as much about Marinette as possible. However, Marinette made it a tad difficult for them to get any real personal information on her as she seemed to masterfully skirt around certain questions while making it seem like she wasn’t dodging the question.

If anyone noticed her doing so they didn’t comment on it. Soon the plates were cleared away and Alfred was coming out with a plate stacked with macarons of multiple colors and flavors. Alfred walked around and set down a few macarons on everyone’s plate before disappearing back into the kitchen with a few leftovers for him to enjoy. Everyone kindly thanked Marinette for bringing the dessert even though she didn’t have to as they each picked up their cookie to take a bite.

Soft chatter began to fill as the boys began complimenting Marinette on the macarons as they all enjoyed the sweet cookies. “These are delicious Marinette where did you learn to make them?” Dick asked his cheeks ballooned out like a chipmunk as he chewed.

Marinette giggled happiness filling her as everyone enjoying her dessert, “I grew up in a bakery most of my life so baking is just second nature at this point.” she smiled, “I usually make bread for the week on sundays so it’s one less thing we have to worry about getting at the store.” she added.

The Wayne boys nodded as they enjoyed the cookies and continued with their previous attempt of questioning Marinette though didn’t get very far once again. Marinette seemed to know how to handle questioning quite well to answer a question by not giving an answer at all and it didn’t even bother them.

All too soon dinner came to an end and the Isley-Quinzels had to leave so that Marinette could get to sleep for her classes in the morning. They all stood at the front door saying their good-byes and planning when best to drop Marinette off on the upcoming Friday. “We’ve also already found her an OB-GYN we’ll send over the information and when we have appointments settled we’ll be sure to notify you if we keep this doctor,” Ivy said as she pulled on her coat.

“You trust this doctor?” he asked looking at her as the boys were busy trying to say their good-byes to Marinette.

“We won’t know for sure until we’re in her office. Marinette is a good judge of character if she doesn’t trust the doctor then we won’t continue to go to them.” Ivy said as Marinette kissed Damian on the cheek before coming over to join them, “We’ll keep you informed on how everything goes but we won’t be able to set up an appointment until sometime next week.”

He nodded and opened the door for them, “You three have a safe night and I’ll see you on Friday Marinette.” Bruce smiled gently patting her back as she nodded following her mother’s out.

“Have a nice evening Mr. Wayne.” She smiled softly up at him as they all left heading down the stairs as Bruce closed the door and turned to face his sons. He let out a tired sigh watching as they all seemed to be ganging up on Damian trying to interrogate him about Marinette to learn as much as they could before Friday rolled around.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

@myazael @beautiful-disasters-sunshine @moonlightstar64 @moonlitceleste @stainedglassm  @casual-darkness @mochegato @ultimatetornshipper @heemsanddamemes @nathleigh @qualitypeacepainter @killer-frost-ladybug @maskedpainter @demonicbusiness @dood-space @trippingovermyfeet @emimar7 @indecisive-mess-named-me @changelinggarden

[some-kindofgnome]

august slipped away

i. ii.

Otherwise known as the Thanksgiving fic.

characters: mirio x f!reader

wc: 2.6k

warnings: smut (18+ please!), quirkless AU, angst, Thanksgiving long-distance woes, mirio’s very ugly little subaru

notes: Happy Birthday @drapetomaniac​! I’m so glad I was able to get this finished on time. I’m so grateful to have met you on this lil site, so consider this my birthday gift to you! 💖  This serves as a part ii to my Kinktober fic “with autumn closing in.” It got ANGSTY. I hope you love it.

on the prompt: “It’s November – the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines.” This beautiful line was written by Lucy Maud Montgomery, a wonderful Canadian writer, in her novel Anne of the Island, published in 1915.

MASTERLIST

Mini Prompt Event!

It’s November – the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines.

Despite the traffic, the drive into your hometown’s been remarkably quiet. You’ve hitched a ride with a friend, and with Starbucks in your cupholders and weeks worth of laundry piled into her trunk, you ride back in near-silence.

She knows what’s on your mind as she pulls off the exit, the all-too-familiar sign that marks your hometown sending a rush of anxiety straight to your gut.

You’re not looking forward to this weekend as much as you should be. You miss your family- your parents, your dog, your bedroom- but there’s another gaping question mark that fills the rest of the weekend, too harrowing to ignore.

Mirio.

After a very tearful goodbye at the end of the summer, things were good between you. You texted all the time and called him whenever you could. You even wrote letters back and forth in the first month of the semester. Mirio’s were never decked out in stickers or lavish penmanship like yours were, but they teared you up all the same.

But college is difficult. And you’re both starting this year, so it’s been a lot for both of you to adjust to. You and Mirio always kind of sailed through high school without too much extra studying, so the amount of work it takes to do well in college has been a massive wake-up call.

It’s putting a strain on your relationship with him. Slowly, at first.

You were too busy with papers and assignments to call during the week, but he was too busy with practices and games and training to call on the weekends. The letters dwindled in frequency and then ceased altogether. Now you’ll go days without hearing from each other at all.

There’s never been a doubt in your mind that long-distance was going to be difficult. But you’re pretty sure it’s not supposed to feel like this.

Your friend drops you off in the driveway and squeezes your tight shoulder. She promises you that it’s going to work out, one way or the other. Then she pulls away to continue to her own city and you climb up the front steps with two garbage bags of laundry in your hands.

You’re attacked by your ecstatic dog at the door, and your mother doesn’t follow far behind. The house is already fragrant with the spiced aroma of baking pumpkin pies, and your mother cries as she hugs you tightly. So do you.

A few minutes later, with your first load of laundry spinning away, you flop onto the couch. To your delight, there’s a text from Mirio. You’re kind of hoping to see him tonight, but you’re not sure what time he was planning on getting into town. Still, a text from him seems promising.

Home yet? It reads.

You’re trying not to let it show that you’re brimming with happiness.

Just got in, you text breezily, curling your knees to your chest with a little smile tugging at your lips. It feels so good to talk to him again here, knowing you’ve got nothing but time to spend with him this weekend.

You text back and forth a little bit, soft little messages about how good it feels to be home and how glad you are that he got home safe. The last message you type out feels indulgent but so good, and you send it with every expectation of an immediate response.

Wanna come over?

Read 7:12 pm

Dull silence persists from your phone. One hour goes by. Two hours. The temptation to send him another message is overwhelming. You’ve been well past the point of avoiding double texts for as long as you can remember.

But this feels… different. Like you shouldn’t bother him. Like, somehow, that’ll only make the silence worse.

So you don’t. Fair enough.

The next day, you’re up to your elbows helping your family get ready for dinner. Your mom has an unfortunate habit of pulling out the stops, but the meal turns out fantastic. Dealing with your extended family is as draining as always, but you’re texting Mirio every so often under the table and he seems happy enough to respond.

You think about bringing up his sudden disappearance last night, but figure he’d been preoccupied with his family. Tonight, his texts are in good spirits.

It’s not until you’re curled up in bed with a belly full of turkey that you try again.

Wanna do something tomorrow? I have brunch in the morning, but I could meet you after.

Read 10:36 pm

Nothing.

Fool me once, you don’t want to let yourself think. But Mirio’s pretty good at putting his phone down when it’s time for bed, so you tell yourself he’s just gone to sleep. He’s gone to sleep and in the morning you’re going to wake up to a sweet little text from him with fresh plans from the afternoon.

Unfortunately, the trend continues. You catch and hold his attention for a few messages a time every day, but every time you mention meeting up in person, you get radio silence. It’s gotten to the point where you know it’s on purpose, and yet every time you fail to confront him, your embarrassment deepens.

Mirio doesn’t play games with you. It feels wrong, to have him jerking your heart around like this. But you give him the benefit of the doubt all weekend.

Finally, it’s Sunday. Your washed, folded laundry is packed neatly in the hallway. You’re finishing up dinner and your family knows, at this point, to keep quiet about Mirio.

You’ve given up on seeing him entirely.

As your family cleans up, you try one more time. You know you shouldn’t. You have every expectation of being treated the same way you have all weekend- why should this time work out any differently?

But you do it anyway.

Hey… I know you might be busy with family stuff, but we’re both going back tomorrow so tonight’s kinda the last chance I can see you…

To your surprise, just a few minutes later, you get a reply,

Want me to pick you up?

Within half an hour, his familiar little Subaru is waiting for you in the dark. Your heart clenches tightly, watching him parked in the driveway. You haven’t seen him in months.

You’d expected a happier reunion.

Still, there’s a sort of lightness that tugs at your heart as you pick your way down the front steps. You tug open the passenger’s side door- the inside of the car is toasty from the rattling little heater that’s always smelled just a little bit burnt.

Mirio has a sad sort of tired smile on his lips, but you can see the relief in his gaze. You’ve almost forgotten what he looks like in real-time like this.

“Hi,” you gasp, almost shyly. You tug the door shut and he shifts the car into gear. You can’t help the little clench of anticipation you get when he puts a hand on the back of your seat to glance over his shoulder.

When he looks back at you, he looks a little brighter.

“Wanna get some coffee?”

He takes you through the Starbucks drive-thru and buys you both iced coffees. The ice rattles cold and sweet inside the cups as he drives you out of town, taking you up the winding road to the point. Neither of you says a thing. You haven’t planned a thing, but you don’t need to.

As you draw closer to the familiar little lookout, your stomach tightens.

Something feels very wrong about the way he’s treating you. By the time he pulls off the road and rolls along the battered gravel path, you’re almost in tears.

You should’ve seen this coming the first time he left you on read. Mirio’s never left you on read before.

“Well,” you mumble, your heart pounding in your throat. You know you’re going to regret this, but it’s killing you to sit in silence. You reach into the centre console and grab your coffee, shaking it weakly in front of him.

“At least you bought me a coffee before breaking up with me.”

Mirio reacts visibly in the dark next to you.

“What?” He looks over, dark eyes shining with betrayal. His blonde brow is firm and set, but there’s genuine surprise in his expression.

“Break up with you?” His voice is trembling. “W-why would I-“

Now you feel even stupider. The tears come, hot and fast and unrelenting. Your next words come in a pinched sob.

“Why wouldn’t you?” You’ve cried like this in front of him before, but this is the first time it’s ever seemed embarrassing.

“I tried to see you all weekend, all I wanted was to see you.” You’re sniffling wildly, and you knee open the glove box because you know he always keeps tissues there. “I missed you so much and-and you wouldn’t even talk to me.”

He whimpers your name, quiet as a prayer. He’s tearing up, too, gripping the steering wheel tightly with his face screwed up in pain.

“I’m sorry,” he croaks. “I was… I thought…”

He’s pausing like you’re going to interrupt him, but you don’t. He bows his head, continuing.

“I was afraid to see you,” he confesses, “because I thought you wanted to break up with me.”

The relief you expect doesn’t come. Instead, a deeper, sicker pain wraps itself around your heart.

“Why would you think that?”

“Because you don’t talk to me anymore,” he ejects. “Not in the same way. I… I know you’re busy, and I know I’m busy, but… things just felt different. Ever since Homecoming, I-I just…”

Homecoming was the one weekend that Mirio had been to visit you since the summer. That was a reunion that felt as good as it was supposed to. You’ll never forget bounding out of your residence hall to find him there, leaning against the edge of his little car like it was a souped-up Harley Davidsen. You’ll never forget the way he laughed when you launched yourself into his arms.

But that was where the bliss had stopped.

Homecoming was a bad weekend for him to visit. You should have seen that coming. You were busy with your brand new friendships, hopping from party to party. And though you were both all smiles when he was climbing into his car again on Sunday night, you’d known he left feeling a little neglected.

“Mirio,” you sob, reaching for him. You pull his eyes to yours with a hand under his jaw- a little unshaven, scratchy- and his cheeks are wet with fresh tears of his own. “I missed you like hell. I love you. I mean that every single time I say it. And I-“

You hate this kind of thing with him. Neither of you takes conflict very well. And though there have always been fights, this is the largest reckoning you’ve ever had.

“I had so many plans for us this weekend,” you admit, and the hurt takes over. Because no matter how you resolve this, that’s time that you can never get back. “And now I have to go back tomorrow and so do you and this is all we’re gonna have.”

“I know,” he sniffles right back. His voice is weak. Trembling. You haven’t seen him like this since his dog died, right after you graduated high school. “God, I-I… I’m so sorry.”

He’s reaching for you now, winding his arms awkwardly over the centre console to pull you close. You have to lean way over but you do, burying your face into the chest of his jacket.

You both sob openly, for nobody but yourselves.

“I don’t want it to be like this,” you plead. “I don’t want to be fighting for things to feel right. I can’t take four more years of this, Mirio, I can’t.”

He’s stroking a palm down the back of your head now, burying his nose into your hair.

“It won’t be,” he promises. “I’m gonna try harder. I’m gonna- I promise.”

“It’s both of us,” you reply. Your voice drops as you start to, slowly, regain control. “It’s me too. I need to try harder, too. I don’t want it to end like this.”

You nose your way to the surface, peering up at him. You both look ridiculous, faces pinched and teary. But none of that matters when you’re leaning up and he’s leaning down and he’s kissing you, all soft and loving in that way that used to make you melt.

It still does.

You let it grow heated, let yourself grab him by the cheeks and pour all of the desperate longing you’ve been doing into this kiss. It becomes very clear to you that you’re not going to be getting out of this car a single woman. And relief spreads warm and gooey through your gut.

“I wanna,” you whisper, pulling back with your eyelashes fluttering. Mirio cups your cheeks and warmly swipes the last of your drying tears away. He leans in and nuzzles the chilled tip of your nose with his.

“You sure?”

You bite your lower lip and shoot him a quiet, sly little nod.

This time, when you climb into the backseat together, no blankets or pillows are waiting for you. But you don’t care. You let him splay you across the narrow back seat, hitching one knee up over the backrest and stretching the other one out alongside him.

It’s a good deal colder this time around. And you can’t wait to get to each other. Your clothes are barely shoved out of the way by the time he’s nudging his stiff tip against your folds. You’re pushing the long hem of his sweatshirt out of the way for him, and he looks down at you with such determined adoration that you wonder why you ever doubted his love in the first place.

He eases into you slow and gentle, just like the first time. Very unlike the second time, harried and rushed under the covers of your rickety dorm bed.

You drag his lips to yours while he bottoms out inside you, wrapping that free leg around his hips and keeping him buried tight.

He fucks you just like that, in deep, tiny little strokes that nudge the tenderest parts of your belly and send pleasure trickling right down your spine each time. He kisses every part of your skin that he can reach, whispering his devotion to you over and over and over again until his voice breaks. Until all he can do is grunt and sigh and shake above you as he pours his climax into you, bringing you to a quiet little peak beneath him.

You stay tangled for a long time, despite the cramps quickly developing in your forcibly angled limbs. He lays between your thighs, listening to your heartbeat as your lazy fingers drift through the sweat-damped strands of his golden hair.

“Hey,” he murmurs warmly, lifting his chin to find your eyes. “I wanna drive you back to school tomorrow, okay?”

“What?” You frown. “Mirio, that’s two hours in the opposite direction for you. Don’t-“

“Please,” he insists, and something in his tone makes you stop. He slides his hands up your sides. “I want to. I didn’t… I should’ve seen you more this weekend. Let me. Please?”

You give a breathy little laugh, laying your head back against the edge of the seat. Your heart throbs with that all-too-familiar warmth.

“My mom’ll be pissed,” you tease, and you feel him grin against your chest.

You’re going to be okay.

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

Winter/Holiday Challenge

Hello wonderful Tumblr Peeps! It’s that time of year where we get all those festive feels. @sagechanoafterdark and I wanted to throw a bit of a holiday party for all of us. 

Below you will find some prompts, a bit of everything that we had pulled together to help inspire you either in writing, mood boards, or other forms or artwork you would like to submit. Either just seasonal fun or holiday specific. Also throwing this out there, if you wanted to switch up some of the prompts from Christmas to something a little different, but want to use the idea in the prompt, please feel free. We encourage it, just please specify if its another holiday so I can write it down. We personally know most Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions, but would love to see (as well as learn) other traditions that you all celebrate. We are leaving this as an open fandom challenge, and will be making a masterlist with all the works submitted to us. Happy Writing! 

Below the cut, you will find the rules and prompts provided.

Can be anything you want to submit, writing or art work. 

Non Con and Dub Con is allowed

Underage, messing with animals, toilet play is a hard NO for us.

All that being said, Properly label your work for anything that’s needed. We have the right to refuse reposting/adding to the official list if it's incomplete with its warnings. 

Please send Sweater your request in a ask, with the number/s and character/fandom you want to write for.  

AU, OC, Y/N, etc is allowed. 

There will be no date to have it submitted by, we know people have lives and cant always get to stuff ASAP. Or the muse has stepped out. No worries, we got you. Submit when you can. 

Anything that is over 500 words, please use a ‘KEEP READING’ Lets not clutter our friends blogs up. (if you're on mobile, we understand it's not easy to use, no worries.) 

Please Reblog this for people to see, we would appreciate it. 

You don’t have to follow us, although be cool if you did

When you tag this, please use #ssholidaychallenge and tag @sagechanoafterdark​ and @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ in your fic. 

Also probably send one of us a message if one of us doesn’t respond in a timely manner, it’s most likely where Tumblr is not sending notifications. 

You can mix and match prompts. If you wanted something from each category, feel free. Just send the info in your ask. 

There will be no restrictions in prompts, more than one person can have the same prompt. 

2 stories per person though.

HAVE FUN with this. 

Prompts

Person A surprises Person B by being home in time for any holiday of choosing @just-one-ordinary-fangirl with Steve @angrythingstarlight with Andy, Dark!Steve

Person A is great at baking, Person B is not. Chaos @nekoannie-chan with Steve/Brock

Person A is very particular about decorating, Person B just wants to put the decorations wherever they want. 

“That's the ugliest sweater i’ve ever seen.” @icanfeelastormbrewing and @what-is-your-plan-today with Jake and Stella

“My house, my rules. Christmas music stays on.” @optimistic-dinosaur-nacho with Ransom

“Yea, uh, alcohol doesn't go in hot chocolate.” @viinchester

“I love you, but you are a shit decorator.” 

“Step away from the cookies.” @pagesoflauren with Ransom @the-soulofdevil

Pulling you/character in for a kiss from the scarf @imma-sucker-for-a-beard with Chris @queenbeean​ with Ransom

Christmas Cookie Baking Day

Hiding the pickle in the tree @thefanficfaerie with Steve

“Can we pretend we’re dating at my family's Christmas Party? Then keep it up till New Years?” @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad 

Accidentally breaks ornaments decorating @stuckonjbbarnes with Loki

“Are those lights singing?” “Yes” “I hate them” “I love them” 

Kinky Gift Exchange

“Let's do something to put us on the naughty list” @imma-sucker-for-a-beard with Chris

Wrap yourself up like a gift

Get caught nibbling on forbidden holiday treats @sweeterthanthis

“All I want for christmas is you” @queenbeean​with Curtis

Finding the PERFECT tree @what-is-your-plan-today with Rogers @thefanficfaerie with Chris

Meeting the family for the holiday @mcubabydotcom with Ransom @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad 

Snowed in and make a fire for warmth (and cuddles) @romaxnogersav with Bucky @steebsbabygirl with Steve

Holiday Movie Night! (any movie of your choosing) 

Exchanging Secret Santa Gifts @navybrat817​ with Bucky

Lighting the Menorah

Eight Days of Hanukkah

Exchanging homemade gifts on the last day of Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa party! 

Seven Days of Kwanzaa

Playing the dreidel and other games

“Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Merry Christmas Bitch, I love you.” (feel free to leave out the swear if you want) 

“Do you wanna build a sno-” “Don't you dare finish that” @twittytelly with Chris @bananapie99 with Bucky

“You look like this gingerbread man” proceeds to take a bite. @optimistic-dinosaur-nacho with Ransom

“I love Christmas more than anything” “what, even more then me?” @just-one-ordinary-fangirl with Ransom

“You’ve burnt the turkey.” 

“I’m freezing, you’re warm. Hug me.” @arrowsandmixtapes @steebsbabygirl with Steve @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad 

Exchanging Secret Santa Gifts

Donating toys to children @redhairedfeistynerd​ with Chris

“Did you put antlers on the dog?” @what-is-your-plan-today with Adlers @viinchester with Chris 

“Im freezing, you are warm, hug me.” @nekoannie-chan with Steve/Brock

Song Prompts

41. Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt @angrythingstarlight​ with Andy

42. It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams

43. White Christmas - Bing Crosby

44. Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms

45. Frosty The Snowman - Gene Autry

46. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autry

47. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Bruce Springsteen

48. Blue Christmas - Elvis

49. Last Christmas - Wham

50. Mr Grinch - Thurl Ravenscroft @stargazingfangirl18​ with Frank Adler

51. Silver Bells - Dean Martin

52. Mele Kalikimaka - Bing Crosby

53. Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Johnny McMathis

54. Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives

55. Feliz Navidad - José Feliciano

56. Hippopotamus for Christmas - Gayla Peevy

57. Holly Jolly Christmas - Dean Martin @optimistic-dinosaur-nacho​ with Ransom

58. All I Want For Christmas - Mariah Carey @angrythingstarlight​ with Dark!Steve

59. Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer - Elmo and Patsy

60. Rockin Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee

Movie Prompts- 

61. Four Christmases- You and Character of choice go to your different family Christmas’s, each with their own disasters. 

62. National Lampoon's Christmas- The whole family gets together in one house to celebrate. (Cousin Eddie anyone?) @pagesoflauren​ with Ransom

63. Jingle All the Way- Got to find THE GIFT of the season last minute

64. The Grinch- Someone just doesn't like the holiday, heart is three sizes too small. But it can all turn around and find the holiday spirit @verdandi-storm​

65. It's A Wonderful Life- Someone gets an awakening during the Holidays at just how lucky they are from a visitor.

Picture Prompts-

66.

@bananapie99 with Bucky

67.

68.

@twittytelly​ with Chris @stuckonjbbarnes with Bucky

69.

@the-soulofdevil​ @angrythingstarlight​ with Dark!Steve

70.

@donutloverxo​

71.

@gotnofucks with Sam/Bucky

72.

@sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ with Sam

73.

@sweater-daddiesdumbdork​

[cdt12345]

We've been friends many years but I've never thought to ask; Top 10 gay OTPs?

1.) Ian & Mickey (Gallavich) - Shameless us

What can I say about these two that we haven’t already said about them?! They are my absolute all-time favorite couple ever! Gay or straight. They perfectly complement each other, they love each other on a level I feel like I’ve never seen before (and I have watched a lot of tv/movies), they’re like a comedy duo, they support each other, understand each other better than anyone else ever will, they fell in love as kids, they bring out the best in each other, and they’re each other's best friend. I’m a sucker for opposites attract, who are also best friends. Gallavich really fits that bill. I wish they didn’t have to struggle so much to get their happiness, but I’m happy they finally got it. When they got married, it felt like the biggest victory ever! We went through those years of struggle with them, rooted for them, mourned for them when John Wells let Noel go after season 5. So much has tried to keep these two apart, even real-life circumstances tried to keep them apart. The chemistry between these two characters and between Cameron and Noel was so powerful, they were brought back to the show. That kind of thing doesn’t happen very often. When an actor leaves a show, they don’t usually come back as a series regular, let alone two actors who have already left the show. It felt like a miracle! I will never forget getting the news that Noel was coming back from you @luckyshazmrsmonaghansblog I was crying with happiness bc we wanted this for so long and I never believed we would get to see both Cameron and Noel back on the show. Or that they would get their happy ending outside of a jail cell. Especially after Cameron left the show in season 9. With their return we got a wedding, an entire season of them as a married couple, we got to see them dance with each other twice, we got them singing together, we got to see them start a lucrative business together, we got to see them free and happier than we’ve ever seen them before, and we got to see Terry get what he deserved after putting them through hell. We are only halfway through season 11, but I already feel so fulfilled with this extra time with gallavich that we were never supposed to have. JW tried to take that away from us. I will never understand why, but he failed. I am not surprised this is the one I wrote the most about. I can go on and on about gallavich!

2.) David and Patrick - Schitt’s Creek

This was everything I ever wanted to see onscreen, where there was zero homophobia. The pansexual character didn’t need to have a big coming out or tell everyone in the town of his sexual orientation, except his best friend. The gay character had a coming out with parents who loved and accepted him for who he is and was only upset that he felt he couldn’t tell them sooner. I dreamt of a day where I could see this kind of representation onscreen. The casual treatment of their sexuality was so refreshing and something I’ve been waiting for. There is no darkness or huge struggle they had to overcome to be together or a sad ending for them. They were allowed to be together without the major conflicts most LGBTQ characters have to go through. Once David made the first move Patrick was comfortable allowing himself to fall for David and start a relationship with him. He was so sure of his feelings for David after that first kiss, he never looked back and I loved that. They had such an adorable love story. Truly one I have been waiting to see for so long between two LGBTQ characters. They made me smile every time they were on screen. They are another of my OTPs that are exact opposites who complement each other perfectly. Patrick was welcomed into David’s family and blended in with them so well, even when he and David had very different upbringings. Patrick serenading David with Tina Turner and then Mariah Carey at their wedding is one of the most romantic things I have ever seen!

3.) Holt and Kevin - Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Captain Holt and Kevin are strange men on their own but together they are the perfect pair. They get each other in a way no one else does. The best part is their adorable fur baby, Cheddar! They seriously make the cutest family! I was so nervous when they went through a rough patch for a while because I didn’t want them to split up. Thankfully, they made it through and are still going strong!

4.) Will and Vince - Will & Grace

On the show's first run, Will and Vince were in a serious relationship and Vince was Will’s longest relationship on the show. They broke up a few times but were together by the series finale. The two reunite during the funeral of Will's father. There was a time jump on the series finale. Though I didn’t love everything about the last episode, I did love the fact that Will and Vince had been together for 20 years and raised a son together, who was conceived through in vitro fertilization with a surrogate. After the time jump, nearly twenty years later, their son goes to college and meets Grace's daughter, whom he would eventually marry. Though I wasn’t happy with the fact that Will and Grace didn’t stay close over the years, it did allow for their kids to one day meet, fall in love, and get married. I did like that outcome out of the finale. My family and I used to watch the original show, but we refused to accept or watch the 2017 revival because they completely changed everything from the original series finale. The second I found out they were changing everything; I knew I couldn’t watch it. They even wiped the existence of their kids from the first series finale. The revival was an attempt to cash in on the reboot craze and I wasn’t happy about that already, but even more so when they were going to break up one of my OTPs for easy money. Bobby Cannavale, who played Vince, has become even more famous since starring in Will & Grace. So, I already figured he wouldn’t be back for the show as a regular, but I know he did guest star. I won’t accept the revival and to me, Will and Vince stayed together, and their son married Grace’s daughter. THE END!

5.) Albert and Armand - The Birdcage

Miss Albert and Armand were the earliest gay couple I remember ever watching onscreen when I was eight years old. I have watched this movie more than I can count over the years. It is a family favorite that we quote often. Their son is planning to marry a girl whose father is in politics and is very conservative. They have to hide the fact that he has two gay fathers for one night, but everything goes awry, and comedy ensues. Nathan Lane and Robin Williams give a wonderful performance without resorting to using the stereotypes that are often used on gay characters, especially back then. It’s a classic!

6.) Stefon and Seth - Saturday Night Live

Okay, hear me out on this one! They’re not the most conventional OTPs on my list, but I really do love them so much! Stefon started doing a correspondent segment on Weekend Update on SNL. The first time Stefon came on, he flirted with Seth Meyers. The second he did I was like ooh they would make a cute couple! Stefon the wild party guy and Seth the serious news anchor. It was a match made in heaven for me. Before Seth Meyers left SNL to do Late Night with Seth Meyers, Bill Hader came back to play Stefon for Seth’s last episode. I didn’t expect what happened next to happen at all! They gave Seth and Stefon the ending that I haven’t even gotten from some actual scripted shows. I never expected Stefon and Seth to have this big ending, but I could not be happier that they did. I’m posting the link to the six-minute skit/ending and I hope it works. It’s worth watching. Though the video says it’s Stefon’s farewell it was really Seth’s farewell episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj-wYWMdWNk

7.) Mr. Simmons and Peter - Hey Arnold!

Anyone who grew up watching this show already knew that Mr. Simmons, Arnold’s teacher, was probably gay. It was hinted at in the Thanksgiving episode. Arnold and Helga visit Mr. Simmons on Thanksgiving at his house and his family and “friend” Peter are there. Mr. Simmons mother says she didn’t know Peter was coming to dinner and Peter responds with the infamous line “There’s a lot of things you don’t know.” When Mr. Simmons mom tries to get him to take a woman friend to the ballet, he says he loves the ballet and Peter gives him a disapproving look and Mr. Simmons immediately declines. Those were enough hints for us fans to decide Peter was his boyfriend. Years later, the show's creator Craig Bartlett finally confirmed Mr. Simmons is gay and had them together in the 2017 Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie. It was so exciting to finally get the confirmation years later, even though I was already certain of it for many years. I was happy that the cartoon no longer had to settle with vague hints about it.

8.) Callie and Arizona - Grey’s Anatomy

I was very happy to see a lesbian couple on prime time tv and I really liked both characters. I was excited to root for them but sadly as most couples on this show, their relationship took a turn, and I wasn’t thrilled about it. I was disappointed that it came to an end. By then I was already getting tired of watching the show. It was starting to feel like a chore to watch it every week. I tried to stick it out because I don’t like to give up on shows in the middle of it, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. I’m glad I did though because the shocking events with Derek Shepard, is something I’m glad I wasn’t around for. Anyway, I heard things between Callie and Arizona got even worse, so I was even happier I left when I did.

9.) Sherwin and Jonathan - In a Heartbeat

This was one of the cutest things I have ever seen! I wish this got the full-length movie treatment instead of a short film. But it was still a step in the right direction for the LGBTQ community. Gay characters in cartoons always bring me such joy and that was the focus of this short. A boy with a crush on another boy with a cute ending. What is not to love?!

10.) Mitch and Cam - Modern Family

Another show I had to give up on in the middle of the series. The show began to be less funny and more annoying to me. Another reason, that really has nothing to do with the show itself, that used to annoy me was that this show repeatedly beat out Parks and Recreation during award season. Parks and Recreation is a superior show when compared to Modern Family. This show won almost every year for years and it got really annoying especially when the quality of the show started slipping and they kept winning. After a few years, they finally stopped winning all the time. But before all that, I was a fan of Cam and Mitch. They were a great couple who I loved watching on the show. They were the best part of the show most of the time. But sadly, my annoyance of the show no longer being as funny as it used to be, was enough for me to stop watching.

[carolina-bleus]

~Something You Read: From Rick to Michonne~

“I cannot believe he actually logged into class this morning from his bed! I think he’d just woken up like five minutes before. He could barely hold his eyes open and had bed hair and everything. Who even does that?” Michonne scoffed.

Rick chuckled. “That sounds exactly like something Shane would do.”

“Mr. Horvath even had to tell him to put on a shirt...which got a lot of grumbling from some of the girls.”

“You included?”

Rick outright laughed at the look of disgust Michonne shot him through his phone’s screen.

“Richard Sutton Grimes, I am offended! You know I have better taste than that. No offense to Shane, but it would have to be the end of the world and we’d have to be the last hope for continuation of the human race before I’d even consider him anything other than a smug nuisance.”

“Ouch! So I’ll take that as a no.”

“Take that as a hell no!”

“Michonne Colette Richardson with the potty mouth! I’m gonna tell your mama and daddy.”

“What’s the worst that could happen? I get grounded and confined to the house and not allowed to go out with my friends? Too late, Miss Rona already beat them to that,” Michonne replied glumly.

“Yeah, it sucks. I can’t believe this is how we’re spending our senior year of high school. I thought everything would be back to normal by now.”

“I don’t even know what normal is anymore.  I certainly hope this isn’t our new normal...going to school online, not being able to hang out and only seeing each other “face to face” through a screen in class or during phone calls.”

“I never thought I’d say this...and if you tell my mama, I’ll deny it...but I actually miss school. Not the work,” Rick quickly added. “I miss interacting with everybody, even Eugene and his mullet.”

“Really, Rick? Of all the classmates you could name, you pick Eugene...and his mullet...and not me?”

“You know you’re not just my classmate. You’re my best friend, Michonne. Of course I miss you.”

More than you even know, Rick thought.

“I miss you, too. The two of us haven’t been in the same space in what feels like forever and I’m over it. We don’t even get to go the mountains for Christmas this year,” Michonne lamented.

The Grimes and Richardson families were extremely close. The teens’ parents grew up together in King County and had been close long before Rick and Michonne were born. The families had been planning to spend Christmas break in a vacation home rented out for the holidays. But, now instead of a big Christmas celebration in the mountains, the families were doing as they had for Thanksgiving and keeping their celebrations small and confined to immediate family. Gift giving was even different this year.

The families decided to keep it simple and follow a modified version of the five-gift rule. Each household pulled the name of someone from the other household. The gift recipient told the gift giver what category they wanted their gift to represent. Luckily, Rick and Michonne pulled each other’s names. But even if they hadn’t, they would have managed to get a gift for each other a gift anyway. Michonne wanted “something you read” and Rick asked for “something you want.” Michonne’s gift was already wrapped and ready on Rick’s nightstand.

The canceled vacation and altered holiday routines were just another reminder of how different things were this year. Rick and Michonne had been inseparable since they were babies. They’d seen each other just about every day before pandemic brought their in-person interactions to a halt. The physical separation was something neither teen had really gotten used to even after so many months.

Michonne sighed. “You think it will be like this when we get older if everything does go back to normal and we can get on with our lives?”

“What do you mean?” Rick asked.

“We’re about to go off to college in some form or another and start the next phase of our lives. Do you think this is what it will be like...never seeing each other except through calls or whenever there is a holiday?”

“You think we’re going to grow apart?” Rick asked with a tilt of his head.

Michonne shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope not. But I never thought I’d live through a pandemic either. Life’s funny that way.”

“I know you want to explore the world and go to all these exciting places during and after college. But what about later? Do you think you’ll come back home? To your family?”

To me?

Rick had been in love with his best friend for as long as he could remember. He’d never quite found the words to tell her. He thought maybe he’d ask her to prom and do it then but prom most likely wasn’t going to happen this year. Rick worried if he’d even get the chance to hug Michonne again before they went off to different colleges next fall.

“You mean come back home to live?”

Rick nodded. “Yeah.”

“Is that what you’re going to do...come back home after college?”

“That’s been the plan.”

“Have you ever thought about living somewhere else?”

“Not really...but I guess I would for the right reason.”

And the right person.

“What reason would that be?”

You.

Rick shrugged. “I guess I’ll know when I know.”

Michonne looked away briefly before clearing her throat. “Oh...well, we don’t have to worry about that for a little while longer, anyway.  Soon it will be Christmas break. And then it will be New Year’s Eve and we can put this hellish year behind us and start looking forward to the future...wherever that takes us.”

“Michonne, I---

A knock sounded on Rick’s door.  It opened and his mom stood in the doorway.

“Honey, I know it’s distance learning but you still need to get some rest for tomorrow. Michonne, you do as well,” Mrs. Grimes added, knowing without question who Rick was talking to this late.

“Yes ma’am,” the teens replied in unison.

“Alright. Goodnight you two. Love you both.”

“Goodnight, Mama.”

“Goodnight, Auntie Suzanne.”

Once his mother closed the door behind her, Rick turned back to the screen.

“Rick, what were you about to say before?”

“Oh...umm...just that I hope you like the Christmas gift I got you.”

“You always pick out the best gifts, so I’m not worried. Well, I guess we better head to bed. Talk to you in the morning before classes?”

“Of course. Goodnight, Michonne.”

“Goodnight, Rick.”

The best friends ended their call and Rick slouched down with a sigh. He had been about to confess his feelings to Michonne right then and there. Her conversation about them growing apart scared him. He didn’t want to lose her.

But what if telling her how I feel pushes her away?

Needing to get his feelings off his chest somehow, Rick tore a piece of paper from his notebook, grabbed a pen and began to write.

Dear Michonne,

You’ve been my best friend since before we could talk and I hope you remain so even after I tell you what’s in my heart. Michonne, I love you...I’m in love with you. Whew! It feels good to FINALLY say that. I’ve loved you since...well, honestly, I can’t think of a time when I didn’t love you in some way.  Every moment that’s meant something in my life has had you in it...holding my hand when I was scared on our very first day of school, when you helped me study for and win the spelling bee in third grade, when we took down the school bully, Phillip, on the playground in fifth grade, being each other’s first kiss in sixth grade and each other’s date for our first high school dance, sitting and crying with me when my grandpa died from the virus, stressing about applying to college early decision and celebrating together when we both got into our dream schools. The serious moments, the fun moments and everything in between...you’ve been there.  And somewhere along the way, my love for you grew beyond friendship.

I can be my whole self with you because you bring out the best of who I am and you inspire me to want to be even better.  You’re the one person I can tell anything and everything to without hesitation. You’re the only person I want to tell everything to. So, you’re probably wondering why I never told you how I feel. Well, I haven’t told you for the same reason your question about us drifting apart scared me...I don’t want to lose you. I can’t imagine...I don’t want to imagine...us not being in each other’s lives. I didn’t want to risk pushing you away or making you feel weird. I still don’t want that. But this year has taught me more than ever that life is short, time is precious and you have to let the people in your lives always know how you truly feel about them while you can.

Whatever you feel for me, please know that your happiness and our friendship are the most important things to me. And I want us to always remain friends, and in each other’s lives, whether or not we ever become a couple. I know we’ll be walking different paths for the next few years, but I hope those paths always lead us back to each other.

This is my first love confession I’ve ever written so I’m not really sure how to end it. I guess, thank you for reading it.

Love always,

Rick

P.S.- If you don’t feel the same way, you don’t have to say anything. We can just pretend this never happened.

Finished, Rick neatly folded the paper in half, wrote Michonne’s name on the front, and placed it on his nightstand beside Michonne’s gift.

Now the question remains if I’ll ever give it to her.

*****

Before Rick knew it, there was only one more week until school let out for the holiday break. He’d decided to have a change of scenery and attended school in his dad’s study today. Returning to his room, Rick plopped down on his bed and reached for his phone that he’d left on the nightstand. To his horror, the phone was there, but Michonne’s gift...and more importantly, Michonne’s note...were both gone.

“MAMA!”

“What?! Why are you yelling?”

“Mama, where’s Michonne’s gift?”

“Your Aunt Sheila and I did our socially distanced gift exchange this afternoon. I dropped their gifts off on their porch and ours were waiting there in a box. I already put them under the tree.”

“So you got Michonne’s gift from me off of my table?”

“Yes.”

“What happened to the piece of paper that was there as well?”

“Well, it had Michonne’s name on it, so I put it in a nice envelope...since you neglected to do so...and added it to her present.”

“Oh, Mama, you didn’t,” Rick groaned.

“Yes, I did. It was beside Michonne’s gift. It had her name on it. It was meant for her right?”

“Yes, ma’am. It was.”

“So why are you looking like I just destroyed your world?”

Because you may just accidentally have.

“Uh...it’s nothing,” Rick hedged. “I uh...I just wanted to exchange gifts in person.”

Mrs. Grimes nodded sympathetically.

“I know sweetie. We all wanted to do that this year, but we have to take the necessary precautions to keep everyone safe.”

Unfortunately, my heart might have just become collateral damage.

The morning after he wrote it, Rick had decided not to give Michonne the letter. He still felt the same way, but he just couldn’t run the risk of his confession altering their friendship in a negative way. However, now all he could do was wait and hope Michonne didn’t take an early peek at her gifts like she used to do when they were kids.

Rick looked at the date on his phone...December 10...fifteen days until Michonne opened the letter. He smiled wistfully at his lock screen.  It was picture of him and Michonne that she forced him to take on the last day they saw each other before their world got turned on its head. They were lounging in the hammock in his family’s backyard just talking about their hopes for senior year and beyond. It had been a perfect afternoon. He’d almost told her how he felt then but backed out at the last minute. Now the decision to tell had been taken out of his hands.

Man, I hope I didn’t make the biggest mistake of my life.

 *****

As the days to Christmas dwindled down, Rick didn’t notice a change in Michonne or their interactions. They still spoke every morning and every night and she acted the same as always. Rick didn’t know if that meant she hadn’t yet read the letter or that she had and was just not saying anything because didn’t have any romantic feelings for him.

Rick had tried to bribe Michonne’s younger brother, Noah, to find and destroy the letter. But that ended in utter failure. Noah couldn’t find the letter and he got yelled at by Michonne for snooping around her room. But Noah was true to his word (and the fifty dollars Rick sent to his cash app) and never implicated Rick in the plot.

~Christmas Eve~

Rick’s nerves were shot.

One more day until I know if I need to ask to go live with Granny Grimes down in Florida to finish out senior year.

Rick hadn’t spoken to Michonne at all today, which was a rarity.

Maybe she’s avoiding me.

Rick trudged glumly down the stairs so lost in thought that the sudden ringing of the doorbell scared him.

“Did y’all order food?” Rick called out to his family.

“No! It might be a package though,” his father yelled back.

Assuming the delivery person left the package on the porch, Rick pulled open the door without hesitation. He nearly fell over when he saw who was waiting.

“Michonne?! What are you doing here?” Rick started to push open the storm door, but caught himself. “Wait, a second.”

Rick grabbed his mask off the hallway table and put it on before stepping outside. The teens stood on opposite ends of the porch.

Michonne offered a small wave. “Hey, Rick. I came over because I wanted to see you.”

“Why? It must be important if you came in person.”

Oh, man. Is she going to break my heart in person?

“I promise to explain. But, first, I need you to answer some questions.”

“Questions? Why?”

“You’ll see.” Michonne pulled out her phone and unlocked it. “Okay, have you experienced any of the following recently...fever, cough, or headaches?”

“No.”

“Good. Fatigue...muscle or body aches...loss of taste or smell?”

“No.”

“Sore throat...nausea...diarrhea?”

“Michonne!”

“Rick, just answer the question.”

“No.”

“Has anyone in your family experienced those symptoms recently?”

Rick shook his head. “No.”

“Where have you been in the past fourteen days?”

“I’ve been home.” Stressing out over a letter.

“You haven’t gone anywhere outside? Not even to the grocery store?”

“Other than the porch or backyard, I’ve been in the house.”

“Good. I’ve haven’t gone anywhere for the past fourteen days either. I’ve been in the house and avoiding anyone who doesn’t live in my house...basically a self-imposed quarantine.”

“Why?”

“So I could do this.”

Michonne removed her mask and walked over to Rick.  She reached up and removed his mask, smiling at the question in his eyes before leaning forward and placing a soft kiss on his lips. After a moment of shocked delay, Rick quickly responded by wrapping his arms around Michonne and deepening the kiss.

Needing a breath and a moment to process it all, the couple slowly broke off their kiss and stared at each other with twin smiles on their faces.

“I take it you read the letter?” Rick asked.

Michonne nodded. “Exactly fourteen days ago.”

“You read it the first night?! Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I’ve never had anyone confess their love for me before...at least not outside of a daydream. I needed time some time to deal.”

“And do you feel the same way?”

“Rick, I quarantined for fourteen days just so I could kiss you. What do you think that means?”

“Maybe I just want to hear you say it.”

Michonne rolled her eyes but couldn’t keep the smile off of her face.

“I love you, too, Rick.”

“Romantically?”

“Yeah.”

“For how long?”

“For as long as I can remember.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

Michonne shrugged. “It’s the same reason you didn’t. I was scared and I didn’t want to lose you in case you didn’t feel the same way.”

“But we both feel the same way. So...we’re a couple?”

“Almost. There is something you have to say first.”

“What?” Then it dawned on Rick and he flushed, suddenly shy. “I wrote it in the letter.”

“Maybe I just want to hear you say it.”

Rick chuckled at his words being thrown back at him, before he turned serious.

“I love you, Michonne.”

Michonne’s face lit up with a smile that took Rick’s breath away.

“Now, we’re a couple,” she declared.

Rick took Michonne’s hand and led her over to the porch swing.  The couple drew close under the blanket Rick’s mom kept there for the chilly winter nights.

“Guess I won’t have to open any gifts tomorrow.”

“What do you mean?” Michonne questioned.

“Christmas came early. I have everything I want now.”

Michonne smiled and pulled Rick into a hug.  When they separated, a sudden question occurred to Rick.

“Hey, did you open my actual gift I got you to read?” Rick asked.

“Not yet, I was waiting until tomorrow. I only opened the letter because I thought it was a card. I’m glad I didn’t wait though because that letter was truly the best thing I’ve read in my entire life.”

Rick blushed happily at Michonne’s words. 

“Well, maybe you’ll read something even better one day.”

“Like what?”

“Our wedding vows.”

Michonne’s eyes widened before she smiled sweetly, “Yeah, maybe one day.”

The couple shared another kiss before they cuddled against each other and slowly rocked in the swing, enjoying the Christmas lights shining across the neighborhood.

@richonnefics

[purplesurveys]

1426

surveys by @swanky-surveys

Blank Survey #2

1. Have you ever witnessed someone having a seizure? No. I also wouldn’t know how to handle that situation, if ever :/ I’ll have to read up on that.

2. What’s the most uncomfortable situation you’ve ever been in? I’ve experienced two instances wherein I was walking on a street and a guy suddenly lunged at me and laughed with his friends when I flinched. Pretty much cemented my permanent discomfort around men.

3. What’s your favorite type of cheese? I looooooove feta cheese.

4. What is the first movie that you remember seeing in theaters as a child? Stuart Little 2 when I was around 4.

5. What is a meal that your family used to make as a child that you really disliked? Do you still dislike it now as an adult? I really really disliked and even dreaded having curry as a kid because the flavors used to come off as too strong and spicy for me – which is funny, since it’s literally one of my favorite dishes now.

6. Have you ever accidentally set something on fire before? No, but I’ve watched someone else do this. It was in fourth grade and we were being taught how a Bunsen burner works, when a classmate of mine tinkered with the equipment, tipped it off on its side and ended up setting part of the lab table on fire.

7. Would you rather witness another human or an animal give birth? Uh, animal, I guess. I’ve watched animal birth videos off YouTube anyway.

8. Where did you get your most recent scratch on your body? I have no clue actually. I saw a scratch on my right ring finger this morning and I don’t even know where that could’ve come from.

9. When’s the last time you washed/changed your bedding? Around a few weeks ago.

10. What’s the last thing you purchased online? Food delivery for my family last week.

11. What’s a television series that you think everyone should watch? Breaking Bad.

12. At what age did you move out of your parents’ home? I haven’t.

13. Are there any common holidays that you do not celebrate? Thanksgiving - at least it’s common on the other side of the world.

14. Has the ending of a book ever been spoiled for you? In a sense that the book is wildly popular/is too much of a classic that the general public is already aware of its ending, like how a lot of people know how Romeo and Juliet or Harry Potter ends. But I’ve never been spoiled with a book I’m currently reading and invested in. Idk if that makes sense??

15. What’s the worst injury you’ve ever sustained? Infection from a coral reef, on my left foot.

16. What is a food that you really enjoy but only eat during special occasions or not very frequently? My grandma’s filet mignon. OOH and risotto, since it’s impossible to find it being offered in most restaurants.

17. What is the last surgery you underwent? I’ve never had surgery.

18. How old were you when the training wheels were taken off your bike? I still don’t take them off...

19. What size bed do you sleep in? Twin.

20. If you were able to choose a new pet, what would you get? I’ve only ever wanted dogs.

made by @swanky-surveys

--

Blank Survey #3

1. Have you ever tried a yoga class? Nah. I’ve dabbled in yoga once or twice, but I didn’t feel meditated or calm at all. It just ended up boring me and I didn’t really revisit it anymore.

2. What is your favorite form of exercise? I don’t like exercising, period. I’ve really, really tried getting into it before, but it’s just not for me.

3. Have you ever gone on a diet before? Nope, never really needed to.

4. What’s the riskiest thing you’ve ever done? Hiding a same-sex relationship for six years.

5. Can you appreciate a good dad joke? Yeah, I’m not really the type to facepalm at corny jokes and always appreciate the effort to crack a joke lol.

6. What’s a unique band you love that not many people know of? I’m not familiar with a lot of not-super-popular bands.

7. What is your favorite type of cuisine? Indian.

8. When will you be finished with school - or when were you? I graduated college in 2020 and not really planning to pursue studies again any time soon.

9. Do you have any sort of relationship with your neighbors? Nah. There’s a funny thing that happens occasionally though, when I’ll hear a neighbor loudly play BTS songs the same time I’m listening to my own playlists. I still have no idea which neighbor it is, but when they play their music back at me I’ll do the fanchants that go along with the song they currently have on, just to let them know I hear them loud and clear.

10. Have you ever ridden a motorcycle before? Nah, the most I’ve been on had been a scooter which didn’t go very fast to begin with.

11. At what age did you learn about birds and the bees? I was around 12 or 13. Which is hilarious to me because we were actually taught the reproductive system when I was 11 - but it was taught in a very technical/objective way, with no context whatsoever that it was literally sex education. I had no clue what we were being taught, until i just pieced it on my own a year or so later.

12. What’s the highest number of sneezes you’ve done in a row? Around 6 or 7 but that’s a rare occurrence.

13. How many years have you inhabited this Earth? It’ll be 24 this year.

14. What’s your favorite alcoholic drink? Long Island iced tea.

15. How large are your feet? Not very big; I’m a size 6.

16. What’s the last thing you burned yourself on? This doesn’t happen very often, so I no longer remember.

17. Does your home have stairs? Yep, two flights - one leading up to the second floor, and the other one leading up to the rooftop.

18. Who was the last person you hugged? My grandma.

19. What was your least favorite sport in P.E. class? Basketball.

20. Approximately how many hours a day do you spend on your phone? I want to say anywhere around 15-18. I’m on it a whole lot.

made by @swanky-surveys

--

Blank Survey #4

1. What item did you last replace the batteries in? My BTS lightstick.

2. How many streaming services do you have? I’m subscribed to Netflix and Spotify; and if YouTube Premium counts then I have that too.

3. When’s the last time you changed a lightbulb? I’ve literally never done that.

4. Who’s the last person that you visited in the hospital? My mom after her myoma surgery.

5. How many siblings do you have? Two.

6. What’s the last food that’s gotten stuck in your teeth? I’m not sure...I think chocolate? My co-worker brought brownies to the office last Friday and I remember having some bits stuck in my teeth for a moment.  

7. What color are your couch cushions? They are brown.

8. Do you have friends or acquaintances in other countries? Yeah. Filipinos are known to migrate lol, so this is pretty common.

9. When’s the last time you took a nap, and how long did you end up sleeping for? It’s been weeks, probably even months. I rarely nap on the weekends because I usually want to savor my free time as much as possible.

10. When is the last time you ordered food for delivery? (Door Dash, GrubHub, etc) What did you get, and from where? Last Sunday. I got Mexican food for my family, which included burritos, chimichangas, and quesadillas.

11. If you were someone else, would you want to be friends with yourself? Sure.

12. When’s the last time you went up onto a ladder? Why? I don’t even remember. There’s not a lot of instances where I get to do that lol.

13. What’s the last thing you microwaved? Pork chop.

14. Which side of your fridge door is the handle on? The left door has the handle on its right side; the right door has the handle on its left.

15. Who’s the author of the last book you read? I can’t recall the last book I read, whoops.

16. When’s the last time you had a good idea? What was it? Sometime last week since I’m constantly required to come up with a stream of smart ideas for work.

17. Are you a vegetarian or a vegan? I am neither.

18. Have you caught CoVid? Yep.

19. Who was your last loved one who passed away? How old were they? My Uncle Plady. I’m not sure how old he was, but I would guess either late 60s or early 70s.

20. What’s the last bill you paid? The postpaid bill I incurred on one of my shopping apps.

made by @swanky-surveys

[ssfghfrrggf]

Heavy is the Head Chapter 5: To Family!

ao3 link

“Am I the only one who feels like it’s been years since we managed to have Christmas day off?” Mouch asks looking up from his newspaper. It seems like they always end up on shift Christmas day, and spend the day putting out fires caused by people over filling their turkey deep fryers or Christmas tree fires. He’s not even sure why people do live christmas trees anymore; they’re just a recipe for disaster.

“That’s because it has been years,” Herrmann says flatly, and sips his coffee. He always seems to get more grouchy around the holidays because he’d rather be home with his family than on shift. “A shift always manages to swing it perfectly so they get Thanksgiving, Christmas eve and christmas off.”

“But we have it off this year,” Nathan offers helpfully. “Today’s Christmas eve so…”

“There’s always time for things to go wrong, kid,” Herrmann says dubiously. “Just ask Mouch.”

“Yeah, it’s scary how often C shift calls in with food poisoning,” Mouch agrees. It’s always something with that group.

“I’m not covering them this year. I’m not doing it,” Herrmann says firmly. “I’ve missed too many Christmases.”

***

“You don’t look to good there, chief,” Sylvie says, stopping by Matt’s office; he has his elbows resting on his desk and his face buried in his hands. “Is meeting my family really making you that nervous?”

Casey groans in response and runs his hands through his hair before leaning back in his chair. “No- I mean yes I am nervous, I’m just trying to figure out how to break some really bad news.”

“Oh no…”

“I’m not sure how an entire shift gets food poisoning all at once but-”

“C shift managed it again?” Sylvie finishes for him, her heart sinking. She knows Casey isn’t going to make anyone pull over time to cover the shift, but she also knows he’s going to lead by example and stay on shift with whomever else decides to stay. Which means no Christmas dinner.

“Yep, and half the A shift guys booked it out of state after shift this morning,” Casey sighs and stands up. “We can do day after Christmas with your family.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they won’t mind,” she says, trying not to sound too disappointed. She’d been really looking forward to the idea of a nice quiet dinner with her family and Casey.

“Well, I better go break the bad news.”

***

“Okay guys, bad news-” Casey barely has the words out before there’s groans spreading across the entire common room.

“Don’t say it chief. Don’t do it!” Herrmann says, backing toward the door, like he can escape what’s about to be said.

“C shift has somehow managed to get food poisoning-”

“Has a doctor verified that? If not you should require doctor’s notes from the whole lot of them!” Herrmann cries, he’s always the most desperate not to spend Christmas on shift.

“I’m not going to make anyone stay and pull overtime that doesn’t want to. I’ll pull floaters to cover who ever leaves, but I’ll be staying,” Casey finishes.

And Cruz lets out an exasperated sigh. “Well we can’t exactly let you pull a christmas shift without us.”

“We don’t have any better plans,” Stella says, taking a swig of her coffee where she’s sitting with her legs propped up on Severide’s lap. The Squad lieutenant nods in agreement.

“Ahh, Trudy’ll flay me for it, but holiday overtime pay is good,” Mouch says, and settles a little deeper into the couch.

“It’s either hang out with this loser off shift or hang out with him on shift,” Gallo says and playfully ruffles Ritter’s hair. “Might as well be useful.”

“Aw come on!” Herrmann protests. “I can’t be the only one not staying!”

“Herrmann, if you want to go be with your family that’s perfectly okay. No one here’s going to judge you,” Casey says understandingly. Most of them don’t have family outside of 51 anyway, so they all’d end up hanging out with each other anyway.

“I’m not gonna be the only one who doesn’t stay,” Herrmann says angrily. Casey can practically see the smoke coming out of his ears. “Especially when Joe is missing Brian’s first Christmas. I’m staying.”

“You sure?”

“Don’t tempt me chief!”

“Okay, I won’t. And I’ll go let headquarters know we don’t need any floaters,” Casey says with a sigh. He hates that he had to ask them to do that. Even if they’d all end up hanging out with each other for Christmas, doing it not on shift is different than doing on shift. It’s more relaxing.

“Hey chief, can I duck off for about an hour?” Nathan asks, catching up to Casey as he retreats to his office. “I’ll keep my radio on and take my gear with me in case we get a call.”

Casey sighs, he’s not a big fan of letting people run off during shift, but he’s done his fair share of it in his day so he can’t exactly deny the candidate his request. “Yeah, just be back in an hour and make sure your lieutenant’s okay with it.”

“Yes sir, and you won’t regret it,” Nathan says and springs off to go do whatever it is he wants to do.

“That was lenient of you,” Sylvie comments.

“Yeah, well call it my Christmas present to the kid. He’s staying an extra 24 hours on shift,” Casey shrugs.

“And my family is about an hour away,” she adds with a smile and bumps his arm with her elbow. 

“I thought they were going to come up when we could actually have a proper dinner.”

“They’re going to stay at my place until we get off. I think they’re planning on coming to visit the house,” she says.

“Are you sure you want them meeting everyone at once?” Casey snorts. He’s excited to meet her family, but meeting everyone at 51 can be a little much to take in all at once, especially when Herrmann has been thrown into full on grinch mode.

“Yeah, i think it’ll be fun,” Sylvie says confidently. “Don’t worry about it babe.” She plants a kiss on Matt’s cheek and then ducks off. “I gotta go do inventory.”

***

“Hey, Lieutenant, where’s our probie going?” Gallo asks as Nathan ducks out the back door.

“He’s running an errand and since we’re going to be here for two days I figured I’d let him,” Stella replies disinterestedly.

“Cool, can go run an errand too?” Gallo asks, prompting a glare from his lieutenant. “Kidding…”

“So what are we going to do for dinner tomorrow?” Ritter asks, spinning his chair around to face Gallo. “It’s too short notice to do a turkey, it won’t have time to thaw or anything.”

“Steak and potatoes?” Gallo suggests.

“We did that last year,” Herrmann says, instantly shooting down the idea.

“Shut up, you like steak and potatoes and you know it,” Cruz says, looking up from his magazine. “You get away with acting like the grinch every year, but this one. All your attitude does is make everyone else miserable.”

“Well maybe I was looking forward to spending the holiday with my family!” Herrmann retorts.

“And you don’t think I was too?” Cruz snaps back. “But I made my choice and so did you. The least you could do is try to not make everything so miserable.”

“I’m going to go do inventory,” Herrmann grumbles and excuses himself from the common room.

“This gonna be a long shift,” Gallo mutters under his breath. If everyone is already this snappy with each other it’s going to be bad by Christmas day, and only get worse.

“I’m going to go help him,” Ritter says and stands up to follow his lieutenant. “I’ll help you brainstorm Christmas dinner when we get done. And we’ll get Nathan to help us out too.” 

“Sounds good,” Gallo says and gets up to find something to snack on. He’s pretty sure he’s the only one who doesn’t mind being on shift for Christmas, in fact he likes it. He likes being with his fire house family for the holiday, because when he’s not- when he’s at home alone all he ends up thinking about the family he lost and what he wouldn’t give to have one more Christmas with them, to watch his sister squeal for joy one last time…

***

“Hey Lieutenant,” Ritter says cautiously as he walks out onto the bay floor and approaches his lieutenant who is angrily making check marks on the inventory sheet and slamming compartment doors.

“What?” Herrmann snaps angrily, clearly displeased with the interruption.

“Are you okay?” Ritter tries, knowing it’s liable to get his head bitten off.

The lieutenant slams one of the compartments closed and turns to glare at him with a look that clearly says what do you think?

“Sorry,” Ritter mumbles and looks away. He wishes there were a way he could make the lieutenant feel better. He can’t count the amount of times Herrmann has picked him up off the floor and made him feel better, and he just wants to do the same for him.

Herrmann softens and lets his arms fall to his side, seeming to realize he snapped. “Sorry kiddo, I didn’t mean to get snappy with you. I’ll be fine.”

“But you’re not right now,” Ritter says looking back up at him.

Herrmann sighs and sets his clipboard down on the truck. “Just a little pissed. I’ll live though.”

Ritter nods. “I’m sorry you don’t get to go home and see your family.”

The lieutenant shrugs. “Cruz was right. I’m choosing to stay, so it’s no one’s fault but mine. Shouldn’t’a taken my anger out on you.”

“It’s okay lieutenant,” Ritter says, forgivingly.

“Nah, not really, but I appreciate that,” Herrmann says in a rare moment of tenderness, then shakes himself free of it and hands Ritter the clipboard. “Check stuff off as I call it off to you.”

“Yes, sir,” Ritter says, and help but smile at his lieutenant’s odd gruffness. It always kind of amuses him; he nevers stays soft and gentle for long before getting uncomfortable and reverting back to his default grouchiness.

***

“Truck 81, Squad 3, residential accident.”

“Finally, something to do,” Stella says and swingers her legs off Kelly’s lap that she was using as a footrest. Things have been a little down in the dumps since Casey gave them the bad news, and the atmosphere was just miserable to be around, so she’s glad for an escape from the melancholy mood and depressing hum drum that’s been dragging on for hours. 

“Lieutenant, Marks isn’t back yet,” Gallo reports as he and Mouch meet her in the bay. And he seems slightly smug about it, like he’s been waiting for an excuse to bust the new guy’s balls about something. Gallo’s been nothing but welcoming to the new candidate, but she’s always kind of gotten the impression that he’s just waiting for the house’s golden child to trip up somewhere- and he is the golden child.

“Well we’re not waiting for him,” Stella says pulling herself up into the truck. They don’t have time, and he’s already late getting back from his one hour leave request.

***

“I told him not to try to move the bookshelf, I said there was no point in rearranging my whole house since he’d be leaving the day after Christmas, but he just had to go moving the damn thing, and then, big surprise, it fell on him!” the woman standing in the front door of the little yellow house they arrive at is hollering at them before Severide even has both feet on the ground.

“Cruz, you’re with me, Tony and Capp, stay behind, I’ll let you know what we need,” Severide says as he approaches the woman. 

“What kind of shelf are you talking about here?” Stella asks, beating Severide to her by mere seconds, she has Gallo with her.

“I don’t know,” the woman says cluelessly. “A big one?”

It’s encouraging that she doesn’t seem super worried, there’s a good chance that means the scene inside isn’t that bad.

“I told you not to call the fire department!” they’re greeted with a not so friendly shout from the guy laying on the ground with the bookshelf tipped over on both of his legs. It’s not a ridiculously heavy or large shelf, and the man probably doesn’t have any broken bones, just bruises- it’s really something truck could’ve handled on their own, but Severide doesn’t mind being there. It’s something to do.

“Shut up! Are you ever not a dick? They’re here to help!” the woman snaps back.

“Well I don’t need it!” the man shouts back. 

“Alright, how are you feeling?” Stella says squatting next to the guy.

“I’m fine, my bitch sister is just a drama queen.”

“Can you not be awful for five seconds!” the woman snaps at him angrily.

“Ma’am, we need you to back up and stop yelling at your brother, please,” Severide warns and pushes her back just a little.

“If i’m so awful then why do you always make me come up here to this horrible city!”

“I don’t! Mom does! If it were up to me I’d never look at your stupid face again!”

“Ma’am please,” Severide insists, patiently and pushes her back a little more.

“You’re legs don’t hurt or anything?” Stella asks, eyeing the shelf.

“How do you want to play this Lieutenant?” Severide asks, watching his girlfriend as she contemplates the shelf.

“The four of us can probably just pick it, and if he’s as fine as he says-”

“I’m not lying! I’m fine!” the man interrupts Stella.

“-than he can just pull himself free,” Stella finishes, and looks like she’s about 2 seconds from getting up and leaving the guy trapped under the bookshelf.

“I’m never coming back here,” the man grumbles as Stella gets up and gets in position on the book shelf to help lift it.

“Good-”

“Would you both please, shut. Up!” Cruz suddenly shouts, piping up for the first time, and sounds like he’s about to blow a gasket. “Just be grateful you get to spend time with your family for Christmas! At least pretend! Not everyone gets to spend christmas with their family, some of us have to work and help idiots like you guys!”

Severide lifts his eyebrows in surprise as the firefighter continues his rant.

“You people are lucky! Some of us would love to be home with their family, spending time with their son on his first christmas on the planet. But we don’t get to! So just shut up, and think about that!”

“Cruz-”

“Think about the sacrifices people are making-”

“Cruz!” Severide raises his voice, and cuts off the firefighter. He’s not angry with him, hell him yelling at these two idiots has worked to get them to stop talking, but he can’t have one of his firefighters chewing out a victim, even if it’s one who’s miserable to be around. “Go wait in the truck.”

“What?” Cruz demands, looking shocked.

“Go to the truck and take a breath. The three of us got this,” he repeats.

“But-”

“Go.”

“Yes sir.”

The woman watches Cruz go with her mouth hanging open, and her eyes wide. “The nerve-”

“Don’t,” Kelly warns, not about to tolerate some stranger trying to bad mouth Cruz, even if him yelling at her was out of line. He makes a mental note to talk to Cruz after the call. Nor to yell at him for his behavior, but because the guy’s been quiet the whole shift and is really seeming down.

***

“Cruz a word.”

Joe stops in his tracks at the sound of Severide’s voice behind him. The lieutenant doesn’t sound pissed, but he can still practically feel the talking to coming.

“Listen, lieutenant, I’m sorry but-”

“I’m not here to get on your case, Joe,” Severide says with a rare softness and understanding that takes Joe by surprise.

“O-oh, then what?”

“I wanted to check on you,” Severide replies, and Joe can see the concern on his face. “What you were saying on that call… you can take tomorrow off. Squad will be fine running as a three man.”

“That wouldn’t be fair,” Joe replies. If Herrmann isn’t going home to spend the holiday with his family, then he won’t either.

“It’s not fair that you have to cover for C shift because they all got food poisoning. It’s not fair that you have to be working for your son’s first Christmas,” Severide reasons. “If you want the shift off, it’s yours. You not being there isn’t fair to Chloe or Brian either.”

“I appreciate the offer lieutenant, but I can’t,” Joe says and turns to go. He wants nothing more than to go home and spend Christmas with Chloe and Brian, but he can’t make himself do it. Not while everyone else is staying behind. He signed up to be here. He chose it. He agreed to missing birthdays and first christmases, sporting events and school projects… It was never something he thought about as a younger single firefighter, and part of him wishes he had… not that it would’ve made him rethink becoming a firefighter. He might have just been able to prepare himself a little better.

“The job doesn’t always have to come first.” Severide’s words stop him. “We swore to serve this city, but sometimes it’s okay to do something for yourself.”

Joe smiles and look at him. “I know lieutenant, but I’m not going to leave while my crew stays behind and works just to make myself happy.”

“You’re a good man, Cruz.”

“You are too, Severide.”

“I don’t know about that, but it’s nice of you to say,” Severide says with a shrug. “If you change your mind, let me know.”

***

“I’ve got a gift for you,” Gallo says and pushes a mop and bucket toward Nathan as he comes out of the cold. “The lieutenant wants the bay mopped and then the trash changed.”

“What-” Nathan tries to protest. He’d been out trying to be helpful, and he’d had permission.

“You missed a run,” Gallo insists and pushes the mop into Nathan’s arms. “I don’t make the rules, but you shouldn’t have been late.”

“But-” Nathan makes a second attempt to argue and this time looks to Severide for help hoping the lieutenant will back him up.

“Don’t look at me kid, I’m not your boss, and as much as I hate to admit it, Gallo’s right,” Severide says with a shrug. “You’re best off to swallow it and just mop the floor.

“Yes, sir,” Nathan says ducking his head, and giving up on fighting his punishment. He’s got a lot of stuff to do before tomorrow, and now he also has chores to do as well so he’s going to have multitask to hard.

***

“So my family decided they aren’t actually going to stop by the station today,” Sylvie says coming into Casey’s office and plopping herself down on the couch without knocking. She sounds disappointed and upset. 

“I’m really sorry, Sylvie,” Matt sighs, putting his paperwork aside to get up and sit next to her on the couch. “If you want take tomorrow off to spend time with your family while they’re here, you can. I’ll find you a floater-”

“Don’t even think about it, Matt,” Sylvie says and sits up. “I’m abandoning Mackey and letting her get stuck with someone awful like Ogle on Christmas.”

“Why’d they decide not to come visit?” Matt asks, resting one hand on her leg comfortingly. He can tell she’s putting on her “I’m trying my very best to be happy, but am actually super sad” face, and it hurts. He hates seeing her upset.

“They were tired after the drive, and didn’t feel like fighting city traffic to get here. Not that I can blame them,” she replies with a little shrug. “I get it.”

“Still sucks that you don’t get to see them until the day after Christmas,” Matt says, and wraps a comforting arm around her shoulders and pulls her close to him.

“It’s okay, it’s all part of the job. Besides, I have family here that I get to spend the holiday with,” Sylvie says quietly and leans her head against his chest.

Matt smiles and rests his chin on her head; she always sees the positive- the best in everything. He’s still not sure what he did to deserve her.

***

“Hey, Cruz you okay, buddy?” Herrmann asks, walking past the squad firefighter who’s sitting with his head rested on the table.

“I’m fine,” he says in an uncharacteristically standoffish tone.

“Listen, uh, sorry I was being such a downer earlier. This just sucks ya know?” Herrmann says, trying to cheer Cruz up at least a little bit. He knows what it’s like missing big important firsts with kids; he missed not only Lee Henry's first birthday but his first christmas too. Cindy had brought him up to the station for part of the day both times, but it’s not the same. “All this- I’m sorry you’re missing Brian’s first Christmas.”

Cruz lifts his head off the table and looks up at him with sad brown eyes. “I was really looking forward to it.”

“I know you were,” Herrmann says and sits down next to him. “And hey, I know what it’s like, and you tell yourself missing this stuff is what you signed up for when you took the job, but it really don’t help.”

“No,” Cruz agrees sadly.

Herrmann wishes there were more he could do for Joe to help him feel better about all this, but the truth is it sucks. “I know it’s not the same, but you can celebrate the day after. There’s always room for new traditions. And he’s too young to remember it so at least he won’t be bitter about it.”

Cruz snorts and smiles a little. “Always the optimist, huh Herrmy.”

“Eh, well, you know someone’s gotta be. And I’ve done enough being negative for one day.”

“Thanks buddy.”

***

“You okay, Kelly?” Stella asks and stops walking as she notices Severide standing looking at the wall of fallen heroes. 

“I’m fine,” he says quietly, but doesn’t sound like it; he looks a little lost.

“Are you sure about that?” Stella asks and sidles up close to him, wrapping her arms around one of his. He’s looking at the picture of Shay.

He sighs and glances at her. “It just hits me sometimes, you know?”

Stella nods and leans her against his shoulder. She never had the pleasure of meeting Shay but from the little bit Kelly’s told her about her, they would’ve gotten along.

“I know,” Stella whispers. It’s been years since the paramedic died, but she knows Kelly is still feeling it at least a little. That’s why he went and stole the door off the old 61 when it got scrapped.

“She was my best friend. I could’ve spent the rest of my life with her,” He says softly and then cracks a smile. “She saved my sorry ass more times than I can count.”

“Sounds like me and her would’ve had something to bond over,” Stella replies and gives his hand a little squeeze.

He snorts, finding amusement in Stella’s comment and nods. “Yeah, yeah you would’ve.”

“Excuse me,” Stella pulls away from Kelly, startled by the unfamiliar voice drifting timidly toward them.

“Hey,” Stella says turning around to face the speaker who’s standing with a man who’s probably her husband and a younger guy- a son maybe. “What can I do for you?”

“We’re looking Sylvie,” the older man says.

“Oh, um…” Stella glances at Kelly who gives a little shrug that says ‘how the hell should I know where she is?’. “She might be-” She catches sight of Mackey walking out toward the bay. “Hey, Mackey, where’s Brett?”

The paramedic pauses for a second. “I think she’s in the chief’s office.”

“Thanks,” Stella calls to her before turning her attention back to the family standing in front of her. “So she’s apparently in with the chief at the moment, not exactly sure why, but I can give her a message or you guys can leave contact info so we can let you know when she’s not busy.”

“Oh, we can come back. She had just said she wanted us to come by and meet everyone-”

“Woah, wait, are you guys her family?” Stella says, connecting the dots.

“Yes,” the woman laughs.

“Oh! Welcome to 51!” Stella cries, dropping her formality. “You guys can go in there and start meeting everyone. I’ll go get her-”

“She’s not busy?”

“No, it’s fine. The chief’ll wanna meet you guys too,” Stella replies waving off the notion. She’s entirely Sylvie’s told them that she’s dating the chief.

***

Sylvie can feel the nervous energy coming off Matt as they walk to the common room; it’s a little funny. She’s never seen him like this.

“Matt, it’ll be fine. They’ll like you. I promise,” she reasures him just before they walk into the common room. 

“Sylvie! Hi sweetie!” Her mom cries as soon as she sets eyes on her and pulls her into a tight hug. It feels like forever since she’s got one of those hugs, and she didn’t even realize how much she missed it until now.

“Hi mom,” Sylvie mumbles, she wants to stay like forever, but she pulls away anyway. “Um, this is Matt, and it looks like you guys met everyone else.”

“I’m so happy to finally be meeting you, Matt!” her mom says enthusiastically and shakes his hand that he has extended out to her. “I’m Jan, and this my husband Craig.”

“Good to meet you sir,” Casey says politely and shakes her dad’s hand. Her dad gives Matt a small head nod, that says he approves; Matt’s the first person to have ever gotten that head nod on a first meeting.

“I’m Daniel,” her brother speaks up and takes his turn shaking Matt’s hand. In most families, it’s the dad’s approval you have to worry about, and while her dad definitely isn’t a quick sell, her brother is probably the hardest to impress. He’s younger than her, but he’s always been protective like a big brother.

“We brought you all some pizza,” Sylvie’s mother says and points to the stack of boxes sitting on the counter. “I know it’s not four course christmas meal or anything, but we thought you guys might enjoy it. Sylvie told us you guys are all pulling a long shift.”

***

“Nobody here is going to complain about pizza, you’d be amazed how quickly one of those things will disappear around here,” Stella says inviting herself into the conversation and grabbing four slices out of the box.

“Some of those better be for Severide,” Casey warns, knowing full well she’s more than capable of downing four slices. 

The truck lieutenant stops like a deer caught in headlights, she was definitely taking all those slices for herself. “Yes chief… definitely. Takin’ em to Severide…”

Casey rolls his eyes. “As you can see we eat more than you might expect.”

Jan laughs at this comment, and Casey feels a small amount of success that he got one of his future in laws to laugh.

“Between Craig, Daniel, Sylvie and I, believe me, this family knows how to put away a couple boxes too. I’m no stranger to hollow legs,” she replies, clearly amused by what a hit the pizza is.

“Thank you Missus Brett,” Mouch says, being the first to show some real manners as he takes two slices. “But I’ve got to warn you, most of us here have two hollow legs and at least an arm. There can never be too much food, especially when it’s food like this. And it’s a pleasure to meet you, by the way. You did a fine job raising that young lady.”

“It’s our pleasure!” Jan replies with a pleasant smile.

“Randell Mcholand, by the way,” Mouch says, seeming to remember to introduce himself. “Everyone here calls me Mouch though.”

“And why is that?” Jan asks innocently.

“Well you see…” 

***

“What do you think the probie’s up to?” Ritter asks as he comes up to Gallo. Gallo’s been acting distant and spacey all shift, and he’s about  90% sure that it has to do with the holiday and missing his family. But Nathan has been acting weird and secretive as well, and that can’t go unnoticed, it might even provide a good distraction for Gallo.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out,” Gallo says looking out the window to the bay where Nathan is pacing back and forth talking on the phone. “This is the fourth phone call he’s made today.”

“You wanna ask him about it?” Ritter asks, hoping Gallo will tag along. He’s not one for mischief or messing with the new guy, but he knows Gallo is, and he knows it’ll cheer him up.

“I don’t think he’d tell us,” Gallo says squinting out the window.

“What are you two idiots up to?” Mackey asks, and pushes her way between them.

“We’re trying to figure out what the candidate is up to,” Ritter answers and watches the kid pace back and forth talking on the phone. He is a little curious.

“Did you try asking him?” She asks skeptically.

“He wouldn’t tell us,” Gallo says confidently, seeming to get a little more invested in the idea of figuring this out.

“Maybe,” Mackey says with a shrug and heads to the bay doors.

“Where are you going?” Gallo protests.

“To ask him,” she says disappearing through the doors.

“Should we follow her?” Ritter asks.

“No, We’ll watch from here,” Gallo replies as Mackey approaches Nathan and greets him. They exchange a few words that Ritter can’t make out and then Mackey smiles and heads back to the door.

“Well???” Ritter and Gallo both say in unison as she walks back into the hallway.

“Well what?”

“What did he say?”

“Sorry boys, it’s top secret,” she says with a coy smile and heads into the common room.

***

12 hours later...

Engine 51, Truck 81, Ambulance 61, Squad 3, house fire, smoke showing.”

“What a way to start off Christmas morning,” Mouch grumbles and hauls himself off the couch. Calls on Christmas are always the worst, they’re to be expected on Christmas eve, but Christmas Day? They suck. Always. Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy and happiness, not emergencies and fires and misery and heartbreak.

“Marks, we need a man behind today, you’re it.” Stella asks, stopping the young recruit before he can get on the truck. Mouch is pretty sure the kid’s still getting punished for missing the truck the day before.

“Please no lieutenant,” Nathan pleads desperately. Mouch can see him die on the inside.

“You have the least experience. You’re staying.” Kidd says with more force this time.

“Yes lieutenant.”

“We’re really riding short handed again?” Mouch questions, swinging up into the truck. It seems like a risky move.

“Yes,” Stella replies shortly. “Now roll us out of here.”

“Yes ma’am,” Mouch says and gives her a playful solute before turning the key and bringing the truck roaring to life.

“I’m not going to complain,” Gallo jokes and stretches himself out in the back. “There’s more space back here when it’s just me.”

“Maybe next time I’ll make you be the man behind,” Stella says flatley, promptly shutting Gallo up.

***

“The tree just went up! The whole living room-” a woman with a smoke stained face is crying frantically to Casey before he even has his white helmet mounted on his head. He’s first on scene even after doing his 360 check around the house, but he can see the trucks coming down the street. “My husband went back for the kids!”

Casey grits his teeth. Christmas trees always go from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds. It takes a matter of minutes for them to fully engulf a room. “It’ll be okay Ma’am. How many kids do you have?”

“Two,” she sobs helplessly, gripping Casey with desperate hands. “They sleep on the top floor.”

“Unit’s be advised, we have three confirmed rescues, all possibly on the second floor, and safety bars on all first floor windows,” Casey says into his radio as the trucks pull into place by the house. It’s only a matter of seconds after that the everyone is piling out of the trucks. “Squad 3 I want you guys on search, 51 you’re interior attack and cover for squad. This is gonna be a hot one, started with a christmas tree.”

“You got it chief,” Herrmann says energetically. “Ritter, pull the inch and three quarters.”

“Where do you want us?” Stella asks, approaching Casey. He can see she’s ready to jump in there, but that’s not a truck's job today.

“You guys are RIT,” Casey says.

“Chief-”

“That’s an order lieutenant,” Casey says firmly and turns his attention back to the structure that’s already belching dark smoke into the late morning sky as Squad and 51 make entry through the front door. He can feel the heat coming off the house just from where he’s standing. It’ll be a miracle if the family makes it out alive.

“Gallo, get the K-12 and start cutting the safety bars off the windows,” Stella orders walking back toward her crew. Casey knows being stuck on RIT sucks, but he’s glad to see she’s taking a proactive approach to it. “Mouch, me and you are going to put ladders on every second story window up there in case our guys need to bail out.”

“Battalion 25 chief to main, requesting a second engine company and two more ambos to my location,” Casey says into his radio as he waves Brett and Mackey over to check out the woman coughing in his arms.

“Acknowledged Battalion 25.”

He can tell just from looking at this one that it’s going to be an all dayer.

“It’s rolling pretty bad in here,” Severide’s voice crackles over the radio, making Casey shift nervously. The place looks like it could flash over at any second. 

“You guys have one minute and then I want you out,” Casey replies, judging the smoke. A minute seems generous but there are three victims inside.

“Chief, we got the family and are coming out,” Severide reports no more than 30 seconds later, and Casey allows himself a small sigh of relief. They’re not out yet, but just the fact that they were able to find the family so quick seems like an act of God.

Squad 3 and 51 exit the structure with the father and two kids with them just as engine 91 rolls onto the scene to assist with fire suppression. The mother breaks off at a run from 61 to go to the family.

“Case, that was crazy,” Severide laughs, making a b-line toward Casey. The dad and two kids look relatively unschathed. “Like Christmas miracle crazy.”

“What do you mean?” Casey asks as the lieutenant reaches him.

“I mean I’ve never seen fire do what that fire just did,” Severide replies with a smile that only comes along when he’s coming down from inhuman amounts of adrenaline. “The dad and kids were in a stairwell that was somehow mostly clear of smoke- like the whole place was rolling and then I don’t know what happened. As we were coming out our path out cleared.”

“Don’t pull my leg, Sev,” Casey scoffs. He’s heard more than his fair share of crazy stories about fire doing crazy unexpected things, but he was never sure any of them were true, this one especially.

“I couldn’t make it up even if I tried. You should’ve been in there.” Severide laughs, and heads off to find Stella. It’s a simple off handed remark, one that probably shouldn’t even be taken right down to the letter, but it still hits Casey in a weird way. He hadn’t really thought about that kind of thing when he took the chief position- the impact it might have on Severide and even everyone else, that they might miss making entry with him. He can’t help but wonder if Severide didn’t actually mean it a little bit: he should’ve been in there.

***

Even the squad stays and helps with knocking the fire out; Herrmann can’t remember the last time he saw Severide pick up a hose line and use it, but he’s there right alongside everyone else helping throw water at what’s become a glorified bonfire. Casey ordered everyone out of the house and it’s all strictly defensive exterior fire attack now. The fire’s big, the people are all out safely, and it’s christmas. There’s no reason to be risking anyone's lives by doing interior attack. Even truck has been called off from venting. The only job now is to drown the damn thing, and with two engines and the combined force of all the companies they might actually get back to the station on time to have a decent dinner.

***

“You guys smell that?” Cruz asks, stepping off the truck, and peeling off his bunker gear as he sniffs the air. There’s the usual smells of diesel, floor cleaner, and the bitter smell of structure fire that makes his nostrils burn coming from everyone’s gear; the fire was a big nasty one with a lot of black smoke and nasty stuff. He’s pretty sure the house will be smelling like it for weeks if not months, and he’s also pretty sure the smell will be stuck in his nostrils for a long time, but there’s something else in the air too- something good. Something warm and inviting.

Mouch frowns and sniffs too. “Smells like turkey… and other stuff, but there’s no way Marks could make a turkey in the two hours it took us to take care of that garage fire.”

“Well it sure smells like he did,” Herrmann say, and leads the charge through the double doors leading inside. Everyone shrugs to each other and follows him inside.

Cruz nearly runs into the engine lieutenants as he stops right in front of him in the doorway of the common room. He barely has time to register why Herrmann has stopped when a shout rings out from the people gathered inside-

“MERRY CHRISTMAS!” -it’s everyone- Chloe is there with Brian, Trudy, Boden, Donna, little Terrance, Cindy and all of Herrmann’s kids- even Brett’s family is there, along with Kylie who was under strict orders from Casey and Stella not to work on the holidays. He can barely believe it, and the joy swelling up inside of him as he makes eye contact with Chloe from across the room as she cradles their son in her arms- it’s the greatest gift he could ever recieve on Christmas. 

Nathan is sitting on the counter grinning from ear to ear. He’s just made everyone’s day or possibly even everyone’s year and he knows it.

“I can’t believe you guys are here!” Joe cries and rushes over to his wife and son, wrapping them in a big hug. “I can’t believe it!”

“Of course we’re here, baby!” Chloe laughs, and kisses him.

***

“Candidate, what did you do?” Casey laughs and walks up to the house’s newest member. He could practically feel the whole house’s moral jump from zero to 60 as soon as they walked in the room. He’d known the candidate was up to something, but he never expected this- everyone’s here.

“I just pitched the idea to a good old retired chief,” Nathan replies. “He was the one who knew how to contact people.”

“Don’t let him give me all the credit,” Boden says sternly with a rare smile on his face. “He planned everything. I just made phone calls. But we should probably eat all this food.”

He gestures to the various platters of food sitting on the counters and tables.

“I second that,” Casey says and looks around at everyone already mingling with their loved ones.

“Alright, everyone listen up!” Boden announces loudly, silencing the room and demanding it’s full attention in a way Casey still hasn’t been able to master. “We’ll eat in just a minute, but first Nathan here gets to say some stuff because all this was his idea.”

Nathan looks a little taken by surprise, but doesn’t blanch at the sudden shift of attention on him.

“Um, I’ll make this quick because we all know how things go around here, but about 10 year ago Kelly- lieutenant Severide saved my life and ever since then this house has become like family. I haven’t been here long, but I know you all see each other as family and even your family’s outside 51 are family to each other- and family should be together on Christmas! Now lets eat before the tones drop!”

“Here here!” Herrman says, prompting everyone else to do the same. He’s the happiest Casey has seen him since this 48 hour shift started. “To family!”

***

“So, have you guys thought about tying the knot?” Sylvie’s mother asks, part of the way through dinner, and Casey nearly blows coffee out of his nose.

“Mom!” Sylvie scolds. Casey had a feeling this would be coming up, her mother seems like the kind of mom who would ask about it, but he just hadn’t expected it while eating dinner with the entire house present.

“You know what they say, Sylvie. Three times is the charm,” Daniel adds, and there’s a hint of disapproval in his tone.

 “We want to make sure we’re both good and ready before we go down that road,” Sylvie says and looks over at him. “We’re taking it slow.”

“Right,” Casey says through a cough, and blinks his eyes as they start to water from him almost choking. He’s kind of grateful pretty much everyone else is too involved in their own conversation to have really heard the question. He does want to marry Sylvie. He’s sure of that much, and he’s even pretty sure Sylvie would say yes if he asked, but he’s not sure if he’s ready… Ready to put himself out there again, ready to try to start a family again, ready to open himself up to hurt again. And frankly he’s not sure if she’s ready either. She had her fair share of failed relationships as well.

“You know what that’s code for, right,” Severide whispers, leaning close to him so no else can hear him. “She wants you to ask.”

“Shut up Sev,” Casey hisses under his breath. “You’ve been beating around the bush Kidd way longer.”

Severide gulps awkwardly and scoots away from Casey in a hasty retreat. Matt gets it though. He knows Kelly would die for Stella, the same way he himself would die for Sylvie, but the Squad lieutenant has also had his fair share of heartbreak and betrayal. He’s scared, though he’d never admit it outloud, and Casey can’t blame him. People tend to look at Severide and his past actions and see someone afraid of commitment, someone like Benny, but that’s not Kelly. He’s one of the most committed people Matt’s ever met, he’s simply scared of heartbreak.

“Well, I guess it’s good to make sure you’re both ready,” Sylvie’s mother says before taking a bite of mashed potatoes, but Casey catches her undertone that clearly says, ‘ask my daughter to marry you already.’ Matt sighs. It could be worse though, Sylvie’s parents could hate him and be gunning for them to break up… he’s not entirely sure her dad likes him, but that kind of goes with dad territory.

***

“Hey, you did good with this, kiddo,” Kelly says and bumps Nathan on the shoulder gently with his fist as he comes to get a second round of food. There’s a proud look in the lieutenant’s eyes, and he’s smiling bigger than Nathan’s used to seeing from him.

“I didn’t do much,” he shrugs.

“Don’t undersell yourself, kid,” The squad lieutenant says and glances over his shoulder at the group of firefighters mingling with their families, and a fond loving smile drifts across his face. It’s a rare kind of smile, and not just coming from Kelly, but anyone. It’s soft and gentle, fond and loving, and content. This is Severide’s family, and he loves them. “This is the happiest any of us have been on Christmas in a long time, and you made it happen.”

“It’s what they deserve,” Nathan says simply. He didn’t do it for cool points or to in anyone good graces. He did it for the crew that saved him, the crew that protected the neighborhood he grew up in, the crew that built his school a library, the crew that took care of him… the crew that’s now his family, he did it for them because no matter how hard he tries he’ll never be able to thank them enough.

Severide looks at him with a mix of pride and fatherly love and smiles a warm smile. “The future of this house is in good hands.”

It seems to make perfect to Severide to say this, but it takes Nathan by surprise. He’s never thought of himself of being the future of the house, he’s just here to work and learn and help people and repay everything this house did for him. He also never really thought about how Severide might be worried about something like leaving the house in good hands, to Nathan he’s this unstoppable force welded into the fibers of 51 that can’t ever leave. He hasn’t been here long, but he can’t picture the house without Severide. He can’t even picture being a senior firefighter. The future is so big, none of it seems real- the only thing that seems real is the present.

He’s about to say something to the lieutenant that saved his life and gave it purpose, but before he can even open his mouth the tones sound prompting a groan from everyone in the room. It’s time for them to go back to work, to answer the call.

[twinklecheeks]

Friends With Benefits (Jeff Wittek Imagine) Part 11

Summary: Jeff and Y/N have been hooking up for a while. The whole vlog squad assumes they’re dating and Y/N does too but Jeff doesn’t like labels. He eventually starts to express interest in Natalie.

Note: Planning on making this a multiple part series, depending on how good it does.  You’re 21 & Latina in this (maybe) series. Also, I’d like to apologize for the typos, if there is any. I’m just illiterate lmao.  

Side note: Sorry it took me over a week to post this! I just started my last semester of college and I also have a part time job, so I’ve been super tired. I’ll try to be more consistent.

Warnings! Pregnancy, Smut 

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 , Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,

Word Count: 2k

Christmas Eve 12/24/2019

Y/n: *Wakes up and stares at Jeff peacefully sleeping*

Jeff: *moans*

Y/n: *looks down and notices Jeff has a boner* Hmmm *gently rubs the swollen tip of Jeff’s cock*

Jeff: *thrusts into y/n’s hand*

Y/n: *Smirks and quietly gets out of bed to lock the door* *Pulls Jeff’s boxer’s down and sees his cock slap against his abs* *Softly licks the base of his Jeff’s cock all the way to the tip and sucks the head*

Jeff: *moans* mmm fuck.

Y/n: *You use the entirety of your palms and fingers with just how big and long he is. You hum greedily as you do this*

Jeff: *wakes up and smirks* I guess it’s a very Merry Christmas to me.

Y/n: I can suck on your cock all day daddy *winks*

Jeff: *groaning at how fast you’re going* F-fuck baby the way you’re moaning. You’re gonna kill me *bucks his hips*

Y/n: Shhh, I don't want them to know I’m sucking your cock ;) *continues to deepthroat feeling him twitch*

Jeff: Oh my fucking god baby yesss. Fuck me, fuck me, over and over. I swear I’d be fucking you every nigh- JESUS FUCK *cums inside her mouth*

Y/n: *swallows and sucks his cock clean* That was a great way to start Christmas.

Jeff: *laughs* Me cumming in you?

Y/n: *smirks* Mhmmm, I love it when you’re in me ;)

Jeff: What time is it?

Y/n: It’s 7:42am. I think your mom is already up cooking.

Jeff: Well if you want to see the Christmas parade at 11 w/ Jonah’s family, round 2 in the shower has to be a quickie.

Y/n: *looks down at his cock* You’re still hard? You just came a bunch in my mouth.

Jeff: I’m always hard for you babe *winks*

*After the Christmas Parade*

Suzie: I loved the parade! New York is so pretty during Christmas.

Vardon: Christmas is also more fun w/ snow.

Jonah: Guys it was fucking freezing outside.

Y/n: It was only 38 degrees.

Jeff’s mom: Oh good you guys are back. Marie (Jonah’s mom) and I are almost done with the food.

Jeff: Ma you’ve been cooking since like 6am. Have you had a break?

Jeff’s mom: We also did some last minute shopping/ gift wrapping. Everybody gets to open one present today and the rest tomorrow.

Y/n: You guys open presents tomorrow?

Jeff’s dad: Yeah, doesn’t everybody?

Y/n: Well in the Hispanic/ Latinx community, we call today Hispanic Christmas. So we open our presents today and then we spend the 25th stuffing our faces in left overs. We open on the 24th cause we’re too impatient and yes, we know Jesus was born on the 25th.

Jeff: Maybe we can do that w/ the girls next year.

Jeff’s mom: *tears up* Oh god you’re going to have daughter’s next year.

Jeff: Maaaa don’t cry again.

Y/n: Oh we are definitely doing hispanic christmas. If my sister comes over, she’d want to open the presents like a week before. She’s the most impatient. One year, she opened presents at like 3-4pm.

Jeff’s mom: I’m such a cry baby. Now help me set up the table!

*everybody helps set the plates and food*

Jeff’s dad: does anybody want to start the prayer?

Jeff: I’ll do it.

Karyn: Really? The last time you did it was Easter 2005 and you couldn’t stop laughing.

Jeff’s mom: Karyn.

*everybody holds hands*

Jeff: oh Heavenly Father, thank you for all that you’ve brought us. I know that Christmas is about you but I’d like to say thanks. Thank you for keeping everybody here in good health because I don’t know where I’d be w/ out them. I’m grateful for the supportive family and friends you have given me and most importantly, y/n. I know we were very rocky until recently but you brought her into my life for a reason. She was changing me into a better person and I was too stubborn to accept it. Now she’s going to be the mother of my 2 amazing daughters. Those babies already have me wrapped around their fingers and they’re not even here yet. I can’t wait for the day y/n and I get married and have however many babies you give us but don’t make it twins each time cause that’s gonna make my hair gray fast

Jeff’s mom: Jeffrey-

Jeff: okay I’m just kidding… kind of but you know what I mean. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me and the rest of my family. Amen.

Everybody: Amen

Jeff’s dad: Hun are you crying?

Y/n: *sniffles her nose* NO. Maybe…. I wouldn't have thought Jeff was religious.

Karyn: Only during Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

Jeff’s Dad: Karyn stop teasing your brother. Now that the prayer is over with, let’s eat!

Jeff’s mom: Marie and I spent all morning cooking. Also, since this is y/n’s first Christmas w/ us, I wanted to bring some of the food she eats during the holidays.

Y/n: What food?

Jeff’s mom: *shows the Pernil* (pernil is pork shoulder)

Y/n: NO YOU DIDN��T *tastes the food* AND IT TASTES JUST LIKE OUT MY DAD MAKES IT. How did you make it?!

Jeff: She asked me a couple of days ago what you eat during the holidays and I found your sister on instagram. I got the recipe from her.

Jeff’s mom: I saw that it was a Puerto Rican dish so I asked one of my friends who knows how to make it to show me the steps.

Y/n: Oooo imma try not to cry again but THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Jonah: Can we eat now

After Dinner

Y/n: I ate so much, I think I’m having triplets. But thank you once again. I was pretty nervous to come here because I didn’t know how y’all would react to me.

Karyn: Just know that when we get mad, it’s at Jeff cause he’s always the one that somehow messes up.

Jeff: What time is it?

Suzie: It’s 7pm. Should we watch Christmas movies and then open presents before bed?

Vardon: Let’s watch the Grinch

Jonah: *ignores Vardon* Any other suggestions? Please. ANY OTHER.

Karyn: Y/n what do you watch for Christmas.

Y/n: Well, my personal favorite is Jingle all the Way but the Christmas Line up in my family is usually Home Alone 2, A Diva’s Christmas Carol, A Very Brady Christmas, the I Love Lucy Christmas episode and other’s I can’t remember.

Jeff: I mean, we are in New York. Home Alone 2?

Everybody: Sure.

*After watching Christmas movies*

Jeff’s mom: It’s 9:45pm. I think we should be opening our one present before we go to bed.

Jeff: Youngest to oldest! So my niece goes first, then Vardon, Y/n, Suzie, Jonah, etc.

*Jeff’s nieces and Vardon opens their gifts*

Vardon: No way. Jeff got me airpods! Thank you *Hugs Jeff*

Jeff: You’re welcome. Now time for y/n to open her gift from me.

Y/n: Oooo okay. *opens gift and sees two little gold bracelets* what are these for?

Jeff: I always see babies w/ the small little charm bracelet. You mentioned your sister and you never got that from your parents but your older brother did. I wanted to do that for our girls even though they're not here yet. So once we pick out the names, we’ll get the charms.

Y/n: *sniffles* Dammit why do you keep making me cry.

Jeff: Cause I don’t want you to ever forget how much I love you.

Jonah: Can we move on from this sappy shit so I can open my gift.

Everybody: JONAH.

*After everybody opens their presents*

Y/n: Thank you so much for accepting me on such short notice.

Jeff’s mom: Hun we’re family now. You’ll always be a part of us. Same for the Antonyans. We know how much Jeff misses having us around since he’s been living in LA and y’all have been a family to him.

Jonah’s mom: I love Jeff like he my own son. He help us so much.

Jeff’s Dad: Y’all just have to make sure to visit us often. Get’s kind of lonely here w/ Karyn living in Kentucky, Jeff living in LA. I mean Steven lives in the city w/ his kids but we miss having all of you together here.

Jeff: I’m starting to think that having girls runs in the family. Karyn has a daughter, Steven has twin girls and now I’m gonna have twin girls.

Jeff’s mom: I mean you never know if the nurse made a mistake. They thought your brother was a girl for half my pregnancy. Then they did the last ultrasound a week before I gave birth to him and they said he was a boy.

Y/n: Oh god I don’t even want to think about that. I’m already stressed out about the babies possibly being deaf now I gotta be worried if the nurse misgendered them….

Karyn: The babies are gonna be deaf?

Y/n: Hmm?

Jeff’s dad: You just said there’s a possibility the twins will be born deaf.

Y/n: Fuck. I did say that, didn't I… Jeff, you wanna help me out here?

Jeff: Ummm. Damn we weren’t planning on telling anybody this for a couple of weeks. We got a call a couple of days ago after we did some genetic testing and the doctor said the babies have a high chance of being born hard of hearing/ deaf.

Karyn: My doctors told me the same thing. Luckily my daughter turned out fine

Steven: I wasn’t a carrier for the gene…

Jeff’s mom: We’ll love those babies no matter what. If we have to learn sign language for them, then we’d do it. I’ll fly out to LA once it gets close to the due date to help out.

Jeff: Thanks ma. Means a lot.

Y/n: Thank you so much. I don’t know if my own parents would forgive me by then to be there for the birth.

Jeff’s mom: Anytime sweetheart. My god look at the time, It’s 10:15, we have to go to bed before Santa comes.

Jonah: Haha, but santa isn-

Jeff: Jonah you better better not finish that sentence cause my nieces are here and I don’t wanna see the magic ruined for them.

Jonah: What I was saying was, isn't Santa a little late?… He should’ve been here by now…

Going to bed

Y/n: I am so stuffed. Christmas turned out a lot better than I thought.

Jeff: See, you had nothing to be afraid about. Also, good job on keeping the deaf thing a secret haha.

Y/n: Hey! It’s been on my mind since we found out. WAIT. Jonah and Suzie.

Jeff: What about them?

Y/n: they were there…. What if they tell everybody else.

Jeff: Suzie would never… Jonah on the other hand… I have little faith in him.

Y/n: I’m afraid to check my phone.

Jeff: Same. I haven't looked at it all day. On the count of 3…

Y/n: One….

Jeff: Two.

Y/n & Jeff: Three. *looks at phones*

Y/n’s phone: 82 text messages & 24 missed calls

Jeff’s phone: 77 text messages & 21 missed calls

Vlog Squad GC

David: Was what Jonah said true?

Natalie: Is it serious?

Jason: Y’all I’m so sorry

Zane: There has to be a way to fix it. My babies will be okay right?

Erin: I’ll postpone my wedding until the babies are okay

Carly: Oh no Carly and Erin jr :(

Corinna: The babies are gonna be deaf?

Mariah: Is it confirmed?

Heath: Have y’all seen other doctors?

Matt: Guys they’re busy. I don’t think we should be spamming them on Christmas.

Toddy: We’ll stop one they answer us!

David: I’ll put in whatever money you need for surgeries or anything.

Jason: Guys stop. They’ll tell us everything once they’re ready.

(end of conversation)

Jeff: I’m gonna kill Jonah.

Y/n: Oh hun, so will I…

The next chapter might take a bit because I’m still thinking what will be in it. You guys can give be suggestions and I can give you credit for it!

Comment if you want to be on the taglist!

Taglist: @elvlogsquad​ @siemprestan​ @zavidzobrik​ @galxydefender​ @iminlovewithenchilidadas​ @ilsolee​ @ranprivate @one-sweet-gubler  @sunwardsss @shamalamashams @michellemxndes

[captain-josslett]

Broken Melody - Part Two

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven,

Summary: Grammy Award winning Emma Danvers is the first to say she has a pretty good life. But what happens when it implodes around her and it looks like things will never be the same again?

Words: 3k+

Warnings: None... yet… Maybe need a filling for all the fluff I wrote in this part through...

Pairings: Emma Danvers x Lena Luthor (Eventual)

In This Part: Emma and Lena spend some time together. It’s not a date, even though they both wish it is.

The angst still hasn’t happened yet! Got probably two more parts to write before things get angsty! 

As always B!D is named.

Thank you for reading and let me know if you wanna be tagged or any general feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Taglist: @thewitchandtheassassin , @natasha-danvers , @life-is-hella-unfair , @finleyfray​, @supergirl-writingz​

Emma Danvers is happily playing on her Playstation, munching on popcorn and having some much needed rest time. The band are having a break from the farewell sold out world tour. With the holidays coming up they decided to split the tour up to allow them time with their families. The last part will be around America after the New Year. The last gig happening in National City, where their first major gig happened. Emma pushed this idea, finding it quite poetic to finish with the band in the place it all accelerated for them.

Emma didn’t mind the over a month long break. It meant she was home for Thanksgiving and spending more time hanging out with her sister’s, friends and Lena.

Speaking of Lena, the first thing Emma did when she was back in National City was to surprise the CEO on her birthday. She took her best friend to all their favourite hang outs that had a gift at each place until leading Lena back to her apartment where the Superfriend’s were waiting to celebrate with her. By the end of the day Lena was a tearful mess and thanked Emma as she held onto the blonde in a tight hug. 

Emma smiles at the memory and her eyes quickly look at the clock above the huge tv. They had planned to have dinner together tonight as recently Lena has been so busy planning Gala’s and Charity events as well as her CEO job, Lena hasn’t had much time to meet her friend individually.

Seeing it was time to get ready Emma smiles, saves the game and turns everything off. She gets up and bounces into her bedroom to change into some smart casual clothes.  

Quickly looking through her walk in wardrobe Emma picks out her favourite deep blue skinny jeans that make her legs and ass look incredible. A white lace shell top under a red blazer and black high heels. She finishes the outfit off with her layered necklace, a leather wrap around bracelet and natural looking makeup. She pulls her hair out of the high ponytail and lets her naturally wavy blonde hair fall around her shoulders.

Looking herself over in the mirror Emma nods and grabs her green clutch. Placing her keys, small journal and phone inside. Making her way down to the bug Emma hums a song she’s working on, but, as always, it’s not quite there yet.

Soon she pulls into L-Corp’s garage, the security guard waving her through. She parks in Lena’s space and gets out.

“Hi Miss Danvers!” The security guard calls and waves at her.

“Hi David!” Emma calls back as she locks the bug. She waves and smiles at him as she makes her way to the elevator.

When the elevator doors slide open Emma steps inside and presses the button for the top floor where Lena’s office is. Her phone pings inside her clutch and Emma gets it out. Smiling at the message Kara sent to the Danvers sisters group chat.

Kara: I hope you and Lena have a nice time tonight!

Emma goes to respond but a message from Alex appears below Kara’s.

Alex: Traitor.

Kara: What did I do?

Alex: Not you! Emma! It’s sister night!

Emma: Aww I’m sorry Alex, but this was the only evening Lena had free. I promise to make it up to you.

Alex: How?

Emma: Anything you want.

Kara: Yea I’m actually a bit annoyed too!

Emma snorts with laughter at Kara’s message. The doors slide open and Emma slowly exits the elevator as she composes her next text.

Emma: Same goes for you Kara. Also, here’s an idea… Why don’t you both meet up? *Le Gasp!*

Alex: Kara, I’ll be round in 30 mins!

Kara: Bring Potstickers please!

Alex: Already ordered!

Alex: Have a great evening Peanut!

Emma: Thanks! You too! Love you!

Kara: Love you too! (followed by hundreds of emoji’s that widens Emma’s smile.)

Alex: Love you too! (followed by a red heart emoji and means just as much to Emma.)

“Are you planning on coming in?” Lena’s bemused voice calls out.

Emma looks up and realises she stopped in the open doorway of Lena’s office.

“Meh, I’m okay here.” Emma cheekily says and hovers for a few seconds before approaching Lena’s desk.

The raven haired beauty smirks at her before looking down at the papers she was signing. Emma’s eyes wander over Lena’s torso, mainly her chest. How the off the shoulder black dress fits in all the right places. Emma can’t wait to see it fully when Lena stands. In the meantime, Emma goes right up to Lena and hugs her from behind.

“Hi.” Emma whispers and feels a sudden urge to kiss Lena’s neck and back, which is on show due to Lena’s high ponytail and the off the shoulder dress. It takes everything in her to not look down at Lena’s chest.

“Hi.” Lena responds in a breathy voice, almost like she senses what Emma is feeling. “I’m almost done.”

“Take your time.” Emma gives Lena a squeeze before pulling away and stepping out onto the balcony.

Lena’s hand moves swiftly across the pages as she signs the last of the papers for the Christmas Charity Concert L-Corp is organising for the Luthor Children’s Hospital next week.

When she’s finished Lena gathers them up in a neat pile and rises from her chair. She looks around her office to see where Emma is and pauses when she finds her on the balcony, looking out at the city. Lena can’t help but gaze up and down Emma’s toned body. When her eyes land on Emma’s shapely ass, she bites her lip slightly. But when Lena realises where her thoughts are going she quickly shakes her head and turns away, grabbing her handbag and clearing her throat.

“Ready to go?” Emma’s voice says behind her.

“Yes!” Lena says over her shoulder. “All done.”

“Great!” Emma walks up to Lena’s desk, her eyes going up and down as she takes in all of Lena. She goes to walk out of the office but is stopped by Lena’s hand on her shoulder.

“Can I have a proper hug now?” Lena smiles brightly at the blonde.

“Of course you can!” Emma wraps her arms around the CEO. Sighing happily when Lena’s arms do the same. “You seriously give the best hugs.”

“Don’t let your sister’s hear you say that!” Lena laughs into Emma’s neck, causing the blonde to shiver.

“Yea, they’d both have a fit!” Emma chuckles as she pulls away. She holds out her arm for Lena to take and they exit the office. “How’s your day been?” Emma asks while they walk to the elevator.

Lena sighs heavily as she presses the call button.

“That good huh?”

“Well, it's recently gotten a lot better.” Lena squeezes Emma’s arm. Her eyebrows almost shoot up when she feels the muscle underneath. She knows Emma is fit, but not that fit. The doors slide open stopping her train of thought and they both enter. Lena lets go and Emma leans against the side of the elevator, looking at her friend.

“Yea must be such a relief finishing for the day.”

“I meant seeing you, you dork.” Lena's smile widens when Emma throws back her head and laughs. Lena loves Emma’s voice but her laugh is pure magic. She could listen to it for days.

“I’m honoured. Seeing you has been the highlight of mine too.”

“But the night is still young.” Lena tilts her head.

“I can’t imagine anything that can top you.”

‘I wish you would.’ Lena thinks, almost biting her lip again. “What if the restaurant has Creme Brûlée?” She chooses to say instead.

Emma pouts her lips, as if deep in thought.

“Arse.” Lena shoves Emma’s shoulder lightly causing the blonde to laugh again.

“I think it would come a close second to you.”

Lena’s insides melt at that comment and she smiles shyly.

The doors slide open and Emma holds her arm out again, walking with Lena to the bug. She opens the passenger door for her friend.

“My how gentlewomanly!” Lena slides in and Emma closes the door beside her.

‘Cool it Em!’ The blonde berates herself. ‘This is not a date.’ Emma gets into the driver’s seat and starts the bug. ‘Rao I wish it was a date.’

“So, how was your day? Other than seeing me being the highlight?” Lena asks as Emma pulls out of the garage, waving at the security guard as they pass.

“It was… okay?”

“Is that a statement or a question?”

“Er… I mean, I went for a 10k run and did some weight lifting. Worked a bit on a song, played Mass Effect.” Emma shrugs. “It’s been a very general day for me.”

“How you run 10k and do weights everyday is beyond me.”

“It’s fun!”

“If you say so darling.” Lena laughs and rolls her eyes.

“I do say so!” Emma laughs too. “But I do have recovery days as well.”

A noticeable drum beat starts on the radio and Emma whoops, recognising it as one of her current favourite songs. She turns the volume up high and dances along. Smiling brightly when Lena joins in. Not caring that people can see them when they wait at a red light.

A few do a double take as they walk past the bug and wave when they realise it is Emma in the yellow VW and Emma waves back with a smile. Generally fans in National City are respectable to Emma’s privacy and space. When fans do approach her Emma is always polite and will always give them her time. One such time she sat with an kind, eldery lady who had approached her while Emma was sat on a bench at the park. She gushed at how Emma’s music had helped her during the loss of her husband. Tears fell down her old cheeks and Emma gave her a tissue. The blonde listened to the many stories the eldery woman had and gave her a hug when they had to part ways.

Soon Emma and Lena pull up outside the restaurant and valet jumps to open Lena’s door. Emma reluctantly gets out to let the valet drive the bug to the parking area.

“The bug will be fine darling.” Lena says taking a hold of Emma’s hand as the blonde watches the yellow VW be driven away.

Emma weaves her fingers through Lena’s and smiles at her crush. Nodding she walks to the entrance and takes the elevator up to the top floors where the restaurant is.

“Ah! Ms. Luthor and Ms. Danvers! Welcome back!” The host greets them warmly before showing them to their favourite table in a secluded corner by the window. Emma especially loves the view. They are given the menus and the specials for the day. Emma quickly scans through but she already knows what she is ordering.

While they wait for the food the two women catch up. Chatting about anything and everything. Smiles permanently on their faces.

“So how’s things for the events going?” Emma asks while sipping on her Pepsi Max. She’s never been a lover of alcohol, seeing the effects it has on Alex and her peers put her off for life.

“It’s-” Lena pauses for a moment.

“Lee?” Emma frowns.

“Well, we’ve hit a bit of a road block.” Lena sits up a bit straighter. “You know the concert happening next week?”

Emma nods and she tilts her head. She’d already got her ticket with the Superfriends and was planning on anomalously donating a large sum of money to the children’s hospital.

“Well, the act had to pull out and I’m not sure where to find a replacement so quickly. I would ask you but I know this is your rest time and I completely respect that-”

“Lee!” Emma reaches out and takes a hold of Lena’s hand on top of the table. Lena’s cheeks start to blush, but she is blaming the red wine she is drinking. “Take a breath!” Lena does.

“Sorry, it’s just been a bit stressful.”

“I bet.” Emma says sympathetically. “But, I would love to help.”

“Really?”

“Of course! I know of a great gospel choir that could sing with me. Would actually be nice doing something different to country, you know?”

And Lena did know. Emma’s singing voice didn’t naturally have the country tone so she did have to add it in. Lena had been blown away one time when she heard Emma’s natural tone. She had been waiting for Emma to finish in the shower and she heard her voice singing out. Doing runs and riffs that had Lena’s jaw hitting the floor. Lena even got closer and stood by the door to listen better. When Lena heard Emma approach the door she quickly and quietly scurried away.

“Yes, would do you good to try something different too? For your solo career? Let the fans hear more of what you can do.”

“That’s if they want to hear it.” Emma looks away at the city below them, her insecurities bubbling to the surface.

“They would be fools not to Em.” Lena squeezes Emma’s hand and the blonde looks back at her.

“Thanks.” Emma gives Lena a small smile. The anxiety of stepping out into her solo career still worries her. “So-” Emma lets go of Lena’s hand and takes out the journal from her clutch. Opening it and clicking her pen. Her mind switching into work mode as she thinks about the concert. “What songs would you want in the set? And for how long? Do you want the audience to sing along? Will you give a speech?”

Lena pauses as she sips her wine. “Well… I guess the classics and no I don’t think the audience need to participate. It’s not a carol service. You have free rein other than it needs to be wrapping up around 9pm. A speech will be given, probably from someone from the hospital rather than me. Maybe ten or twelve songs, allowing the speech to be near the end and have an upbeat song to finish.”

“Okay.” Emma makes some notes and song ideas. She grins as a surge of excitement hits her. “Can I be a bit rude and message the lead of the choir, Karen?”

“You may. I mean I have dumped this on you.” Lena laughs and takes a sip of her wine while Emma gets her phone out.

“Er… Will the choir be paid?” Emma looks up at her. “I mean I can pay them, that’s no issue. Forget I said anything.”

“Em! It’s okay. And yes the choir will be paid. Ask them what they, Karen? Charges.”

Emma nods and quickly sends Karen a message. Who responds instantly in all capital letters that they will definitely perform with her at the concert and, in Emma’s opinion, quite a low price. Emma sends a message back confirming a time to meet the next day to go over ideas and songs. Already planning a set list in her head.

Lena watches Emma with a smile on her face. How Emma starts to radiate even more with her excitement.

The food soon arrives and like a true Danvers Emma digs right in.

“Oh Lee!” Emma moans, causing Lena’s brain to short circuit. “You need to try this!” Emma puts a piece of her food on her fork and holds it out for Lena. She watches as the raven haired beauty leans forward and slowly wraps her mouth around her fork. Emma swallows thickly when Lena moans too.

“That is delicious.” Lena agrees. “Do you want to taste mine?”

“Sure.” Emma waits for Lena to cut into the food and hold the fork out to her. And like Lena, Emma tilts forward, keeping her eyes on the raven haired beauty as she wraps her mouth around the fork. Emma can’t help the sound of pleasure that escapes her lips as she tastes the food. Closing her eyes briefly and when she opens them she swears she sees Lena biting her lip. “Wow, you made a good choice there.”

“I’m not sharing!” Lena laughs and starts eating again.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Emma says before digging in.

However they do share a Créme Brûlée and Lena has to clench her legs together when Emma sounds like she’s having a mouth orgasm with every bite.

“Okay, no, maybe this is the highlight of my day.” Emma says while licking the spoon and winking at a blushing Lena.

“I don’t know whether I should be offended or not.” Lena raises an eyebrow at the blonde.

“Nah, nothing compares to you Lena. You know that.”

The two women smile softly at each other before continuing their conquest of devouring the dessert.

When it’s time to leave Lena is having an intense tug of war with herself. She wants to come clean. To reveal to Emma that her feelings have gone deeper than friendship. As Emma drives her back to her apartment Lena wants to ask Emma to come up with her. But her past stops her from talking.

“Lee?” Emma notices how quiet Lena has gotten. “You okay?”

“Yea.” Lena says softly.

“You sure?” Emma presses further, knowing Lena is not fine.

“Yes, just tired I guess.”

“I bet you are!” Emma knows this is only partly the truth. Instead she drops it and gives Lena a sympathetic smile. “I really appreciate you spending time with me. I really do mean it when I say it's the highlight of my day, well week, even month! And I know how busy you are around this time of year, so thank you.”

“You’re welcome love.” Lena can’t deny the warmth that fills her heart. “It’s been the highlight of my month too.”

All too soon Emma is parked outside of Lena’s apartment building. “Well, thanks again. Shall I let you know the order of songs etc?”

Lena nods. “You can also send it to Jess as well.”

“Will do.” Emma smiles brightly and leans forward, opening her arms up for a hug. Lena happily falls into them. “Love you Lee.”

“Love you too Em.” ‘More than you’ll ever know.’

They sit like this for a while, just enjoying being in each other’s arms. Lena finally pulls away, knowing if she doesn’t go she will never leave.

“Good night.” She says while opening the door.

“Night. Sleep well!”

Lena is about to step out of the bug when she thinks ‘Fuck it!’ Lena leans back over to Emma and places a kiss on the corner of Emma’s mouth.“You too.” She quickly gets out of the car and enters the building. If she’d looked back she would have seen the brightest smile on Emma’s face as she watches her go.

(Part Three)