#junior:ashap1

[tmrmary]

broadmoored​:

party crashers | danicamp + jowards

Asha beamed at Tahir’s short but sweet toast, the approval showing in her eyes as he met them. “Cheers, Tahir,” she offset his enthusiastic French words with their English counterpart, quiet enough for it to remain between just them. She too was brought back to the attention of the man of the hour by Lochlan’s shout. She’d been so preoccupied taking in all the new information and stimuli she wasn’t even aware she was receiving in the past few minutes, that looking up was almost a reminder that Junior and Mick were present at all.

Asha stepped back from Tahir’s space as the other two approached closely, bringing herself back to the group and it with, back to the several situations at hand involving Junior. The worry she’d begun shedding in Tahir and Lochlan’s company crept back as she remembered the reason she’d ordered two shots in the first place was to take the edge off her best friend disappearing into the crowd to do who knows what in his inebriated and underlyingly anxious state. 

Once more pulled back to reality, this time by the sound of Tahir’s voice, Asha fixed him with a smile that caught even her by surprise at the return of the nickname of a rank he’d bestowed upon her. She gave him a two-fingered salute paired with a quick wink before turning her attention to Lochlan’s words. To him, she gave a flourished and dramatic bow, being proud of her ability to hold her alcohol. “Thank you, thank you, keep it coming, boys, I’m here all night.” Though Asha didn’t actually need to think about her answer to Tahir’s question, she did put a finger to her chin to prolong their encounter and his lingering attention on her. “Mmm, yeah. Sounds good,” she ultimately grinned until his back was turned to her. 

Asha wasn’t sure why she was surprised to suddenly find herself and Junior alone. She’d sought these moments out all night but now it caught her off guard. Still, she welcomed his approach and though she appreciated seeing his smile again, her own was softer around the edges. “I am. I mean the guys are a riot and I’m a riot, it was basically a match made in heaven,” she offered him genuinely as not to trample over his inquiry and interest. But once she got that out of the way, Asha brought a hand to gingerly touch his forearm before asking him with a sincerity in her eyes, “Are you okay?”

At Asha referring to herself and the boys as riots, Junior unwaveringly chuckled, before letting it simmer into his subtle smile. He nodded to himself, as this was his ideal situation. “I’m glad to hear that.” His voice transitioned softer, as Asha in her concern, checked up to see if he was okay. “Yeah. Yeah, I am. Sorry.” It was in that second Junior realized that he left without any explanation for her. He knew the guys would pick up on his vibes and respect whatever he’d do, even if it wasn’t necessarily the right thing for Junior. But even if she got along like one of the boys, Asha wasn’t one. Unintentional and unaware of when this shift had happened, but Junior set in his mind the highest expectation for himself when it came to Asha. Maybe it was late, but he empathized for just how worried she might have been over him. “I got in my head.” He explained. “Mick talked me out though.” It wasn’t a first but it was an uncommon occurrence. His pure mind added on without any thought. “And I remembered.” Hinting at what they’d discuss earlier.

Junior cleared his throat. As much as he worried about his sister, he was more than ready to change the subject. The more time he settled back into Asha’s presence and the planned energy of the night, Junior’s comfort enveloped him, allowing him to jump back more genuine at the cheery thought of his closest loved ones bonding. “And I’m with the best company. If you all are bonding, then I don’t want to spend a minute wasting that milestone.” He shot her up a smile to reassure her he really meant what he said. He really was doing okay. Referring to seeing the two hit it off so well, Junior claimed. “I knew you and Tahi would hit it off. I feel like you guys have a lot in common.” Asha only had to give him a look for him to know she wanted to know more, in which he added. “Both of you have this... uncanny way of being my voice of reason. I mean, you already know.” He took a deep inhale, as the gentle giant shrugged his shoulders in the most bashful way. “I mean, Amy and I would’ve never gotten together if it wasn’t for Tahir. In a way, this is all kinda a celebration party for him too.”

[tmrmary]

broadmoored​:

party crashers | danicamp + jowards

Keenly aware of his body language even in her inebriated state, Asha noticed when Tahir brought himself to be more on her level. As he spoke, her eyes bolted between his eyes and his lips not once, twice, but on three separate occasions. The first when he called her fierce, the second when she was called protective, and the third when she was told of her beauty so overtly and boldly. She craved this so badly, for someone to cherish her so recklessly and without shame, for someone to be proud of her and their attraction to her. She wanted so much for someone to hold her as high as she held herself and to god damn speak it too.

Each of Tahir’s words in his flawless accent and surety flustered her chest and made her smile a corner of the lip-bitten smile. If this were any other man in any other bar she would have daringly jolted to press her lips to his already. But as she wasn’t entirely sure when the other members of their party would return to intrude upon private matters, Asha kept that impulse to herself, be it just for the time being.

“I think if I never made it here tonight I would’ve met you at the event the whole of tonight is prefacing and I would’ve found you just as dashing and the moment might not have been exactly the same but it would’ve been unique in its own way.” Asha shrugged, her body language comfortable as it leaned into his, their shoulders touching intimately. “Some things are inescapable. Just meant to be.” He tilted her chin up to bring her lips to his ear solely to add, just between them, “And you’re not overstepping. Maybe you’re under stepping. Maybe I’d dare you to step further. If you’re just as unafraid, that is…”

Asha’s lip bitten smile didn’t go unnoticed to Tahir’s eye. More and more, he was beginning to find his gaze trailing off to other parts of her face than her eyes, thinking to himself and holding back on his private desires. Surely, if this has been any other girl at the moment, Tahir would’ve already had his hands around their waist, as their lips moved against each other for a passionate kiss. But this wasn’t just any other girl. Asha Johar was not just some girl. And even then, in the grand magnitude of things, Tahir hadn’t completely understood why just yet.

Some things are inescapable. Just meant to be. Just then, Tahir was indeed met with the same forwardness he had been desiring. He could’ve asked her for a dance. He could’ve taken her by the hand, maybe shot a quick glance at the boys, and guided her slowly to the dance floor, snaking through the crowd of people. He could’ve romanced her through his moves, let the electricity of their physicality be what sealed the space between them.

Maybe in a more sober state of mind, he would’ve done exactly that. After all, Tahir had his own valued mindset when it came to approach. Surely, knowing his best friend well, Tahi knew Junior would not be bothered either way, but even then, his instinct was to check in with him and get his two cents on the matter, possibly followed with a blessing.

Instead, all of those possibilities were just “what if’s?” And did not match the unfolding of reality, as Tahir’s hand made its way to slither up the side of Asha’s cheek. A gentle exhale spouted from him. His eyes bouncing down at Asha’s lips and then back to her eyes waiting for her confirmation. And without another second of hesitation, he made his way in and suddenly, they were sharing that deep, impassioned kiss he’d been imagining for the last half hour.

[tmrmary]

broadmoored​:

party crashers | danicamp + jowards

Asha’s expression turned into a somewhat slanted frown when Junior apologized. She didn’t want him to feel bad for however he reacted to whatever he was feeling, more along the lines of honesty and clarity on all of it now if he couldn’t afford it before. But Junior didn’t offer more than a bare bones explanation, and though that made her frown wanted to deepen, she pushed herself to focus on the fact that he was alright now and that Mick had helped him through it. His addendum to what brought him back to reason gave Asha a feeling on what he was talking about but no proper evidence. Still, she accepted it for now and as she spoke, she dipped her touch from his forearm down to his hand to squeeze slightly, “I’m glad he was there for you.” Make an assumption on what he was in his head about, Asha added, “They’re going to be alright, Vic. Just this one night, let us take care of you, okay?” 

She offered him a gentle smile before untangling her fingers slowly from his and stepping back, having consciously for a few months now, refrained from letting the intimacy between them linger for too unbearably long. “A milestone, huh?” She easily teased his enthusiasm, enjoying seeing him act a little more himself than she had all night. At the mention of Tahir, however, Asha raised a brow. She didn’t think she’d been too overt with whatever was going on between the man she was decidedly sure she was in love with and one of his closest friends…but Junior did know her better than most people. She shouldn’t have been surprised that he noticed the smallest inclination that she favored one of his friends over the others. 

It made Asha smile slightly to hear that she and Tahir had such an integral personality trait in common, but the gesture faded slowly to hear what the French man was responsible for. It was easy for her to play off the mention of Junior’s fiancée as surprise over his anecdote, she ever threw in a, “Wow, you’ve never mentioned that before,” for good measure. Absolutely uninterested in hearing more at a time when she was several drinks in and already had been working all night to put it out of mind that this party was meant to preface Junior’s wedding, Asha gave a chuckle that was not intentionally a little nervous. “We should go find the boys before they indulge themselves with drinks without us, huh?” 

Junior smiled, like he knew he would be looked after even beyond that very night. “Okay.” He uttered, confirming to her his trust in her promise. Feeling Asha bounce back Junior’s own enthusiasm made him feel more at ease with every second. He added, “Oh yeah. Definitely a milestone.” Followed by a little nod and a soft, joyful grin. Everything had been going smoothly, until Junior noticed the word ‘wow’ didn’t particularly sit right in her voice. At least, not like it had before. However, it had been too late as Junior had already succumbed to his good mood. And so after a couple seconds of that creeping insecurity, he just brushed it off as bump in the road, something he was possibly making up in his head and would get him worked up for no reason.

Junior thought about how the inception of his and Amy’s story never came up before. “I haven’t, huh?” In pure intention, only to be compared with the soul of a newborn pup, he realized he wanted to share that bit of his life with her. Just as he had shared every other thing about him, even the detailed parts even his band of baboons didn’t wholeheartedly understand. “It’s a funny story. I mean, Tahi had his own girlfriend at the time and Amy happened to be best friends with her-” Though, the moment had been cut off at Asha’s chuckle, his thought process being cut off. Then paused at her suggestion. “Oh, uh-” It didn’t take long for him to concede. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s go!” It wasn’t like he wasn’t going to go along with anything Asha said.

Junior and Asha went ahead and made their way over to the bar where Tahir and Mick had been hanging out, waiting for the next round of drinks to be placed down. As they’d sauntered over, Mick’s peripherals got a glance of the two of them, prompting him to call out “Oye!” It might not have been clear to Asha who he was addressing, but it was clear to both Junior and Tahir. “Are you really a riot as Tahi says you are?” He got up from leaning against the bar counter to better plant his feet on the ground. “I’m Mick, by the way. Victor’s partner.” He threw up a nod to her. “Well, go on. Tell us. Or better yet, sweetie, show it. After all, my dad always said ‘Guid gear comes in sma’ bulk.’” Yeah, it was a bit muttered that last bit, but even then, Junior could clearly tell the little bit of Scottish in Mick was bulging out. Tahir matched a glance with Asha a quick moment after, giving her a wide-eyed cock up of his eyebrows. A reference to his earlier comment that Mick could be a bit rough around the edges.

[tmrmary]

broadmoored​:

party crashers | danicamp + jowards

Asha was going to suggest that they move closer onto the dance floor to keep a better eye on Scamp and Danica, but when Junior spoke, she looked up and realized he seemed to be frozen in place, stunned at the sight before them. She took a deep breath when she realized with his first few words alone that her friend was spiraling. Being one of 12 siblings in a massively blended family, Asha knew what it was like to watch chaos reign down in the lives of people she felt responsible for, people she felt a natural impulse to mother into making the right choices at all times. It was also a very quick lesson to find out she couldn’t be in control of it all and had to let some lessons be learned the hard way. But for Junior, who seemed to even now be working towards finding his footing in his relationship with his sisters, she could see the blatant lack of the lesson learned- a lack of willingness even. 

Asha listened to Junior ramble on, watched his reactions become physical and eventually brought a hand to his upper arm to settle it back where it belonged. It took a beat for her to shake off how utterly good he looked and sounded in this state of frazzled that she normally didn’t see him in but that was certainly beside the point. She opened her mouth to interject but it seemed he wasn’t done and Asha always waited until he was done.

“We can Accio your wand, Vic,” she told him gently, first and foremost tackling the directly solvable problem at hand. “And if you can’t, I can. Just let me know if you want me to.” A subtle reminder that he didn’t have to be alone in his spiraling, paired with a slight squeeze to his arm. “And you are their older brother, but they’re also adults. I know you feel like you have to protect them from every single thing that can hurt them but sometimes all you can do is make sure they’re alive and functional and call it a day.” Asha waved a hand vaguely in Danica’s direction as she said this.

She took a breath and made sure Junior was still listening before she continued. “Sloane left Amy’s party just before we did, she took off and I don’t know where she went. But she’s smart and she’s clever and if nothing else she’s frickin fierce- both your sisters are.” Asha waited until Junior met her eyes before going on, “They’re going to be okay. And just like I couldn’t help you till you asked, you can’t help them till they ask either. Okay?” Her gaze was so very earnest on his as she ran a soothing hand down his arm. “You don’t have to force yourself to have fun tonight if this totally put a damper on things. I didn’t want that for you when I asked Danica if she wanted to come over, just wanted to get her some place surrounded by familiar faces that she could maybe take her mind off of things. But we can keep an eye on her from afar all night if that makes you feel better. That’s all though. If she wants to solve whatever is going on by herself, we have to let her.”

Junior had asked and Asha delivered in the most honest way she could. Now, holding his arm as she had been all night, leaning against him in the most intimate manner two people so comfortable could be, she gazed up at him, waiting for confirmation that he understood, that he was willing to take a breath or in the least, go down a distressful rabbit hole together. 

Scamp was otherwise preoccupied with the heat bubbling within him, in front of him and in each space in between. “I never said anything about leaving altogether,” he corrected, the sly smirk always playing on his lips as he worked out his mannerisms with her like moves on a chess board. “But I see where your mind is now.” He allowed a chuckle to tremor past his throat, dipping low so she could feel it just as well as she could hear it, “I just thought it would be more decent to put my hands on you the way I wanted away from prying eyes. But if you want to put on a show for these drunken primates, so be it.”

Scamp’s eyes narrowed, but only a hair when his hands were redirected. The shift was nearly imperceptible, but there he was, noticing acutely that what was an intimate gesture was moved to be a more sultry one. He chose not to read into it. Scamp didn’t respond her question verbally, just ran a large, firm hand up her hip, along her side. His mouth dropped from hers to her jaw, then to the length of her neck, smelling so sweetly and uniquely of her. His answer to what she said was a low rumble escaping his lips, indicative of nothing and everything all at once.

Feeling Asha’s hold on his arm, just as the hold she had on his peace and well-being, let Junior reconnect with his breath. His throat swallowing in a moment to clear his throat, as well as his mind. He had found some sort of center even through the slight spiral of intoxication. And so, he assured Asha about his wand. “No, no need.” He moved into with the smallest reactive lean, stating plainly with half crooked up corner of his mouth. “You’re right.” Junior wasn’t yet convinced his sisters were out of the clear just yet... but he understood what was the right thing he needed to do. After all, he couldn’t solve all their problems. Otherwise, were they ever truly solved? No, he would wait until they asked - and if that moment ever came, he wouldn’t hesitate for even a second.

Junior nodded, more so still for himself than to notify Asha of his agreement with her advice. He remembered why they had made it onto the dance floor in the first place. Thinking out loud, his gaze wandered around the crowd, head turning from side to side as he muttered. “I should make the most of the night. We still need to find the guys.” A puff of breath let out in an exhale. as he wore his usual goofy smile. “It’s still my bachelor party, right?” He should make the most of it. And he was going to try exactly that. In immediate impulse, Junior slipped out of her hold just to wrap his big arm around from her the back, and in one fair swoop, he had brought her petite body in to squeeze the heck out of her side for a surprise hug. His cheerfulness emanating from his soul as he kissed her forehead in button. 

Junior gazed into Asha’s eyes and in that honest, delicately charming tone he held in his voice whenever he spoke with sincere gratitude, he said, “Thank you.” Thinking he had seen his buddy Tahir off in the distance, Junior cut off that moment to let go of his best friend and signaled her over with the bob of a head. “Come on.” Junior stuck his hands back in his pockets as made his way to their next stop. As they maneuvered through the crowd, Junior was sure that where he met up with his three favorite apes was a destination near enough to Danica and Scamp. They inched closer to the dance floor to keep a good eye on them, but still keeping in mind what Asha said about giving them their space. But also giving space for themselves - Junior was there to enjoy this night with the people he cared about more than anything in the world. Asha, his friends, and himself deserved it just as much.

On the contrary to her brother, it was long now that Danica had paid any attention to the thought of him. She was too enamored with the moment of feeling Scamp’s kisses trail down her neck - the sound of his reverberating growl echoing like thunder in the spaces of her mind. “What’s fun about being decent?” Her exasperated words purred from her lips. Before he could get too far, it was Danica’s turn to bait, turning her back onto his chest just after taking his hands and interlocking fingers with her own. With their hands clamped, she took and wrapped her own torso with Scamp’s augmented arms, practically enveloped in a blanket of his much larger physique. Her dainty figure in comparison grinded against him, letting the music’s beats dictate the rhythm of her body pressing against his. Her senses all fading as they came down to the physical touch. His touch. Her fingers slowly letting go with the joint of his, now just placed over his wrists as she suggestively guided where his touch would go. Every push back, every caress, every breath bringing the feeling of utter euphoria. 

After a few minutes or so, curious mischief tickled her to turn around, locking back into his embrace only to match up with his gaze. Looking up at him, her pout was full as ever, but impotent in holding back her smirk. “We do put on a pretty good show.” Danica’s inhibitions exhaled out of her, as she began to sink into their dancing once again, syncing up their movements as if they were the waves of a forming current. However, this time there was no motive behind it. This moment she had left to enjoy it for herself. To enjoy him. Her fingers steadily reached back up to pin down his pecks. For the first time, she didn’t feel herself reaching to play with his tie. For the first time, she was finding herself to break their stare to see who could possibly make the first one blush. Instead, she found herself loosing herself to his embrace again, closing her eyes as she placed her forehead against his chest. She could feel herself growing attached to his body, as if in their closeness she’d become an extension of him, and in turn, her. 

Time was relative, and what felt like few, brief moments selfishly poached for each other’s intimacy possibly could’ve been as long as thirty minutes - maybe longer. Danica paid no attention to it. As her hands unknowingly melted down to Scamp’s backside and her face shifted to its side, still pressing on his chest, she was able to spot Junior from her corner peripheral. He wasn’t too far off in the distance, as she could steal glimpses of him and who he was with in between the shapes of the people next to Danica and Scamp. Her brother in that moment seemed so happy and elated. His guard completely down, goofy as ever, with the blissful sparkle in his eyes as he foolishly danced to the same music she was listening to. Even scream-singing the songs back to the faces of those he kept for company, most specifically the witch who had accompanied Danica here. She hadn’t even questioned the fact that she’d never seen Junior so free out of his own head before. And how Asha so effortlessly brought out that side out of him. She was jealous of him. Jealous of her. Jealous of people like that... not just Asha. 

Was she really jealous? Jealous of her dopey brother? How could she? What was weighing her down? And that time period of peace, where she actually enjoyed being the accessory to someone’s existence again, shifted. The echoes sifting through her tricky subconscious creepily snuck up on her to ring:

“He doesn’t deserve to be dragged into this mess-”

Her breath clenched in a split second. This was unexpected for Danica - a surprise she had imagined to retain these words from her older brother at all. Her chest hurt as if the organ laying in the center of her anatomy had sunken deep into the pits of Danica’s soul. With her breath at a loss, she felt herself having to purposefully pay attention to her respiration, as if not to forget to do it. She searched in the deep chasms of her mind to make sense of why this phrased bothered her so much. Of course, she was petty and being called a mess vexed her like nothing other. But this annoyance wasn’t about that. Or rather, it wasn’t an annoyance at all... it resembled more so of a feeling of concern - of guilt - of fear. That Junior’s words actually held a ringing of truth in them. Scamp did not deserve to be in the middle of whatever this was. Her embrace on Scamp tightened, truly only slightly enough to enclose whatever was left of space between their bodies, but in her mind, the hold felt more like a constricting grip unwitting to let him go... It was if she deeply cared about him?

“-if that’s all that you’re using him for.”

Those words felt dirty. The truth of her beginning intentions for this arrangement looming on her like the shadows of rain clouds rung in by the early thunder. Knowing that for any second if he really knew how this all started out, she’d loose him. She was convinced of it. People had left her for much less. It didn’t matter if she’d grown to care about him... to like him. To desire to know him beyond just one night of fanciful fun and greedy pleasure.

And so, for the first time in her life, the contemplation of loosing the attachment she had grown for a man she’d only really known for almost two months, letting her guard down for what felt like brief, stolen moments, physically made her sick.

“If she were to find out-”

She stopped. She couldn’t think anymore. Danica began to notice that her fading senses were actually consequence of the alcohol intoxication and not of the Broadmoor she clung to. Her vision growing blurry her with every passing moment. She slipped out of his embrace, now looking at the ground below her feet. Her right hand coming up for her palm to pinch against her temple, reactively muttering, “Shit- I need another drink.” Danica didn’t even spend a moment to hesitate, as she walked from their spot away from the dance floor. A passing half-giant waiter - who had such an immense and eccentric stature - held a similar looking tray from the previous waiters. This posed opportunity for Danica to walk up to them and grab with each free hand two more shots, downing them so quick, giving her no time to react and comment to the odd-looking club lackey.

Her face drew a very blatant pout of unadulterated disgust, as she was expecting the taste of gigglewater and it completely proving to be the opposite. The bitter taste burning down her throat reminded her that just as she had expected for this to be a familiar drink, the same could be said for her lack of judgement with the Broadmoor. Maybe Danica was feeling that she was growing too comfortable.