#like my father was around 12 at the time. driving a truck

[robinsnest2111]

man I kinda wish my mother hadn't intervened when my father was about to teach me how to drive a car when I was around 4 or 5 years old :/

he got as far as putting me in the driver's seat with my booster seat under my butt, showed me the brake and the gas pedal, was just about to explain what the stick shift deal was

but then my mother came running out of the house, screaming at him to stop

[probably-writing-x]

The Stars That Shine

Summary: could you do something w conrad based off of mary’s song oh my my my by taylor swift 🥺

Author’s Note: Im so sorry I struggled so much writing this but I hope you love it and it’s what you were hoping for <3

It was like there was just something between you and Conrad that everyone else could see even when you couldn’t. You’d grown up in the house next to his in Cousins and so, every summer without fail, you spent every waking moment with him. It was like summer started so nothing else mattered. He was two years older than you and for the majority of your life he’d made that abundantly clear - he treated you like a little girl in comparison to him. He saw you in the same way he saw Jere, younger than him and so someone he had to be responsible for.

When you were 8, he threw you into the pool and then fought you when you tried to get back at him for it. You’d slipped on the concrete and cut your knee, and Susannah had told him he was too big to be fighting you. He’d patched you up with a plaster over the cut and bought you an ice cream from the van when it came past.

When you were 10, he punched a boy that jumped the queue in front of you over at the boardwalk. You’d been queuing to use the karts, and a boy had treated you like you were invisible. Conrad grabbed your arm and pulled you behind him, turning the guy around and clocking him in the jaw. He bruised his knuckles and you bought him fries from the stall to make up for it. You remembered it every time you ended up back at that boardwalk.

When you were 12, he got dared to kiss you one night when the group of you were all camping out at the beach. He refused at first and both of you forgot about it. But, later that night, he’d stopped you on the sand and told you that he never backed down from a dare. You ran away before he had the chance. Neither of you mentioned it after that day.

When you were 14, you realised for the first time that you liked him. He was getting ready for a date and you watched him fix his hair in the mirror, the pain settling on your chest that it wasn’t you he’d be with. He’d told you to wish him luck and you couldn’t find a word to respond with. A few hours later, Conrad had returned and told you dating wasn’t for him, he’d shook hands with you that he’d never go on a first date again. You’d laughed and taken the bet, hoping to God for just a moment that the next one would be with you.

When you turned 16, it was like Conrad saw you completely differently. You turned up in Cousins that summer and he saw you as a whole new person. He’d looked at you on the driveway like he was looking at a stranger, until his hand stretched out and he ruffled your hair on your head. You blushed under his touch and prayed he didn’t notice.

But there was just something so different about that summer. You felt Conrad’s eyes on you whenever he had the chance, the way he listened in to what you said just a little more intensely, the way he defended you when the boys started being dicks. The little things that just didn’t feel the same as they normally did.

It was that same summer that Conrad first took you out in his truck. His father had bought it for him for Christmas and got Jere one too - now that both of them could drive. Conrad had always complained that he’d have to wait for Jeremiah but it didn’t seem to matter now that he had his car. It started with just little trips to the store, spending a little longer with each other browsing through the aisles before he took the long way home. And then one night, when you couldn’t sleep, it felt like everything changed.

———

You made your way slowly downstairs, breezing past your parents’ room where they both slept soundly. With no real reason why, you just couldn’t sleep tonight. And there was only so long you could lay in bed waiting for sleep to take you.

You slip on a hoodie over your bralette and shorts and grab a pair of flip flops, heading out of the back door and into the yard. It was so much more peaceful at night. You’d sleep out here if you could.

It was rare you spent much time at home in this place, however. All of your best memories were made in the house next door - Susannah was the hostess and your parents always accepted that. You walk down the length of the garden alongside the hedged fence joins the two yards, your eyes flicking into their side.

That’s when you see him. Illuminated by the lights in the water, seemingly giving him an eerie glow, his legs drifting back and forth under the surface from where he sat at the edge of the pool.

“Con?” You hiss into the silent air and he instantly bolts his head up to look at where the noise has come from.

He smiles when he sees you, standing up from the poolside and wiping his hands on his shorts, “Are you stalking me (Y/l/n)?”

“Don’t flatter yourself Fisher,” You roll your eyes, wrapping your arms around yourself.

He smirks and makes his way over to you until you’re both stood in front of each other, separated by the short hedge between you.

“Why are you awake?”

Conrad shrugs, “I never sleep early.”

You nod, “I can’t sleep.”

You feel the way his eyes watch you, the way they seem to melt into your skin. The way you seem to heat up just a little under his gaze.

“Do you want to go somewhere?”

“Now? Con it’s like 1am,” You frown, glancing back up to him.

He shrugs, “Do you have anything better to do?”

And so, he disappears back into his house and you take the alleyway at the side of yours, waiting for him out the front against the passenger door of his car.

Only moments later, he steps outside, swinging his keys around one finger as he makes his way over to you. You both clamber in and he drives off without another word.

You look out of the passenger window at the passing cars and don’t notice the way he watches you. The way his eyes are on you as if they can’t be torn away. Conrad wasn’t exactly sure when things had changed - or if they’d ever changed at all. He just knew that he saw you now and saw someone he couldn’t be without. Like someone had made him see you in a completely different light. Had he always felt like this and only now realised?

“Have you seen the-“ You turn your head back around and notice his eyes solely on you, feeling a blush burn at your cheeks, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I just-“ He stops himself.

“Focus on the road Fisher,” You roll your eyes, drawing your knees up to your chest on the chair.

“That’s my sweatshirt,” He points out, turning another corner as the two of you drive down another country lane.

Eventually, he parks the car up on the hills overlooking the town, both of you still sat in the front seats staring out over the dark view.

“So why couldn’t you sleep?” Conrad asks you, leaning his head back against the headrest.

You shrug, “I don’t know. Just stuff on my mind I guess.”

He nods, “Go on.”

“Do you-“ You stop yourself, shifting in your seat so that you’re sat sideways, facing him directly, “Do you feel like… I don’t know, like this summer has been different than before?”

You watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows the lump in his throat, “In what way?”

“Come on Con,” You scoff, “I feel like I stranger showing up here again, I know you’re all looking at me like I’m a new person.”

He jumps the gun quickly to correct you, “It’s not like that, I know you’re still you.”

You roll your eyes, “Then why are you being so different with me?”

“I just-“ He stops himself, reaching out to brush your hair away from your face, as if he wants to frame your features in the perfect light, “It just feels like this summer I actually woke up. Saw what was right in front of me.”

“And what’s that?” You stop yourself from smiling, feeling so nervous with the way he cupped your cheek.

His thumb brushes along your jaw, until it is at the base of your chin, “You.”

Slowly, cautiously, like he’s giving you both the time to overthink, he draws you into him and you pull to him like a magnet. His breath fans over your lips before you close the space between you, his lips soft and uncertain against yours. You hadn’t kissed anyone before, you didn’t have a clue on what to do. But his hand keeps you pulled into him and his fingers are in your hair and his lips move against yours like they were meant to be there. He holds you like he’s been waiting to for a short forever.

Conrad’s hands move lower, pressing against your back to pull you into him, both of you angled awkwardly over the console of the car. He fumbles in his seat to draw you close to him despite the block between you and both of you laugh against each other.

“Terrible place for a first kiss,” He mumbles against you, his forehead pressing against yours.

You smile and pull away from him, “I think we’re just impatient.”

“Oh I think we’ve both waited long enough to do that,” He scoffs, “C’mere.”

One hand drops to draw his chair as far away from the wheel as it will go before they’re both back onto you, gripping and grasping at your hoodie to pull you over to him. You giggle as you clamber over onto his lap.

He grips your waist as you settle down onto his thighs, your noses bumping together in the small space.

“Hi,” You grin, holding both of his shoulders as if convincing yourself he was real.

His hands slip beneath the waistband of your hoodie, for no other reason than to convince himself that you were real too, that he could feel you there.

“Hi.”

———

You and Conrad had stayed together for the following year without any hiccups. He drove to your home, you drove to Boston, you met in the middle in Cousins. You spent Thanksgiving with his family, and he came to yours after Christmas. You called each other nearly every night and the long distance never seemed to feel like too far. All up until when the two of you were back in Cousins. Your parents hadn’t come this summer but you had, and you stayed at Susannah’s place. It was the most time you and Conrad had ever spent together, waking up together, going to sleep together, it was all you’d been wanting since he’d first kissed you in that car.

But all pieces of heaven come with tiny bits of hell. And it didn’t take too long for the perfect bubble to burst.

You’d been at the beach at a bonfire party, and you’d been accepting any drink that someone offered you. It was starting to hit you a little bit, the sort of buzz that warmed your veins and heightened your confidence.

“Where’s Con?” You frown at Jeremiah, squinting around the mass of bodies to try and spot your boyfriend.

“I don’t know,” Jere shrugs, “I think I saw him with Steven by the fire.”

You nod and trail your steps in that direction, stumbling a little on the uneven sand.

“Hey!” An unfamiliar pair of hands grab your waist, “Come and dance with me.”

You push them away and turn your head back to see a boy you don’t recognise, rolling your eyes.

“Oh come on, don’t be boring,” He encourages, “Dance with me.”

His hands snake around your waist again and you push them off.

“Get off me!” You exclaim, turning around to face him.

“Oh is that how you’re playing it?” The boy smirks, “What have you got a boyfriend or something?”

“I-“

“Hey, do you want to back the fuck off?” Conrad’s voice bellows from beside you, coming up towards the boy and shoving him square in the chest.

He stumbles backwards on the sand but catches himself before he falls.

“Who the fuck are you?” The boy scoffs, looking up to meet Conrad’s eyes before looking back at you, at the way Conrad shields you with his body, “You’re her boyfriend?”

“How about you leave her alone?” Conrad waves the boy off, watching as he walks off from the both of you before he turns around to face you.

“God he wouldn’t get off me he-“

“We’re going home.”

Conrad’s voice is cold, emotionless - a way you’d never heard him speak towards you.

“Wh-“

“We’re leaving,” He snaps once again, “I’m driving.”

“Con wh-“

He holds your arm in his grasp and tries to lead you away from the party, getting you as far as being just slightly away from the big crowd.

“Conrad get off me, you’re hurting me!” You exclaim, pulling your wrist from his grip, “What’s wrong with you?”

“(Y/n) you’re drunk and we’re going home,” He says harshly, looking at you with eyes that didn’t feel like his own, “Now get in the car.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” You wrap your arms over your chest, “Why are you being like this?”

“Because you’ve got guys fucking trying it on with you, thinking they’ve got a chance with you, and I’m stood right there (Y/n)!”

“Nothing happened!” You half-laugh, “He grabbed me and I told him to stop. What the fuck is wrong with that?”

“You think they don’t think they’ve got a chance with you?” Conrad raises his eyebrows, “Are you fucking blind?”

“No I’m not blind Conrad but I’m not going to fucking cheat on you with the first guy that shows me attention. Who the hell do you think I am?”

His shoulders drop a little like he’s realised the effect, but Conrad being Conrad will only let the mask slip for so long before he’s back to the coldhearted demeanour he seemed to have adopted for the night.

“Okay, we’re taking both of you home,” Steven walks over to interject, “I’ve not been drinking, I’m driving.”

You look at Conrad for a moment longer like you’re hoping he’s going to change his mind and reach out for you and apologise but he doesn’t make any move to do so.

He walks off ahead with Steven and you walk behind with Belly and Jeremiah.

Everyone is deathly silent on the drive home until you reach the house and they mumble a quick ‘good night’ before going into separate bedrooms. Conrad still hasn’t looked you in the eyes and, as you sober up more and more, you’re convincing yourself he never will.

“Con can we please-“

You pause as you watch him rummaging through the closet to pull out a pillow and blanket.

“What are you doing?”

“Sleeping downstairs,” He returns bitterly, turning around towards the door.

“You can’t be serious,” You scoff, “That’s it? You’re not even going to talk to me about it?”

“I’ve said what I wanted to say,” Conrad shrugs, “We’re not going to agree so now what?”

“We fight it out Conrad. We talk about it like fucking adults,” You shake your head, “We don’t just give up and act like each other’s worst enemy.”

He doesn’t respond.

“You’re unbelievable.”

“I’m unbelievable? I’m not the one with a guys arms around my fucking waist!”

“What the fuck was I supposed to do?” You yell, unbothered about every other pair of listening ears in the house.

Conrad doesn’t reply once more, stepping past you to walk into the corridor.

“You know what? Go fuck yourself Conrad,” You state coldly and he glances back only momentarily to watch as you slam the bedroom door, feeling it shake the room around you before you fall to the floor in tears.

The only other sound comes from his feet creaking the stairs on their way down.

—

The following morning, you’re up before anyone else in the house. You could barely sleep in the night, feeling oddly cramped in the spacious bed, feeling cold in the too-hot room.

Eventually, you give up on trying to sleep any more and instead make your way downstairs.

The couch is empty, apart from a small pile with the pillow and blanket stacked on top of each other. You frown a little at the sight, desperate for the calm of seeing Conrad asleep and peaceful. Your eyes draw outside to the garden where you can just about make out the shape of a body across one of the sun loungers, tucked away in the shade at the side of the pool.

He must be freezing.

You grab the blanket from the couch and tuck it under your arm, stepping outside as quietly as you can to reach Conrad.

His arms are wrapped over his chest and his heads tilted to the side, stretching out his prominent jawline. His breaths are calm and even and you’re conscious as ever to not wake him as you stretch out the blanket to lay over him.

You’re just about to turn away when you see his eyes start to flutter open just a little.

“(Y/n)?” Conrad’s voice croaks as you turn back towards the house.

You grimace a little and look down at the floor, “I- I thought you might be cold.”

Certain more than ever that this wasn’t the time to start up another argument, you start to make your way back inside with hurried steps.

“(Y/n) wait!” Conrad calls after you, “Will you stay?”

You pause in your steps and turn around to face him, “I-“

But it’s easier to not say a word, as if you don’t want to ruin the moment. You walk over to him slowly and he shifts over on the lounger so that there’s one thin half of it for you to lay on. He stretches out an arm and you lay down, resting your head on his chest whilst his other arm drapes the blanket over you. Both of you are silent at first, as if wanting to breathe in every ounce of contact you’d been missing.

“I’m sorry about last night,” Conrad says, trailing one hand up and down your back, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

You nod, “I’m sorry too. I should’ve just listened to you and I know you we-“

“Baby,” He speaks so softly you’re sure your heart swells at the feeling of him coming back to you.

You lean up slightly, just enough to rest on your elbow and turn your head to face him.

“I was in the wrong,” He assures you, “I’d been drinking and I saw you with that guy and I just flipped and I shouldn’t have.”

You nod, resting a hand on his chest, “It was kind of hot when you shoved him though.”

Conrad chuckles, wrapping his arm around your waist to pull you between his legs, letting you lay over his torso, “You think?”

You shrug, “Just yell at the guy more and not me next time.”

He smiles softly, “Noted.”

———

Arguments came rarely and calmly between the two of you after that day. When you did disagree, it was softer and sadder - less fuelled and less aggressive. Conrad never raised his voice at you, and you never raised your voice at him. You told him when you were upset and he told you when he was irritated. It worked.

You’d been together for five years before things changed again. You were a year out from graduating college and Conrad was practically waiting for the day when you would. He’d already graduated so he came to visit you on the weekends when he could, he worked a job in a research lab in Boston and he’d call you when he finished to tell you about what he’d done that day. The plan for after you graduated was to get the money to buy your parents’ Cousins house from them. The two of you, in Cousins, in the place you’d fell in love. It would be a dream.

You were back in Cousins for the summer after your third year of college and you were, of course, staying with his family and the Conklins. Everything had been completely normal until this one day where it felt like the whole house’s mood had shifted.

“Morning babe,” You yawn as you walk downstairs, into the kitchen where Conrad and Jere are speaking in hushed tones.

They stop abruptly when you walk in.

“Hey!” Jeremiah smiles a little too widely, “I’m gonna… I’m gonna head out.”

You frown as he hurries past you and turn back to Conrad.

“What was that about?”

He shrugs and walks over to you, wrapping his arms around your waist, “Jere’s Jere.”

You rest your head against his chest and breathe in the scent of cologne that clings to his clothes.

“Do you fancy waffles?” He suggests, his hands moving up to your shoulders to massage the skin over the material of your baggy t-shirt.

You pull away from him and narrow your eyes, “Waffles?”

“Don’t look at me like that, Im being romantic,” He rolls his eyes at you, walking away to get the ingredients from the cupboard.

“Oh I’m not complaining,” You grin, pushing yourself to sit on the countertop, “Did I forget an anniversary or something?”

“Can’t a guy do something nice for his girlfriend without an ulterior motive?” He questions you, walking over to open the cupboard beside your legs, pulling out the waffle iron.

You shrug, “We’ll see.”

As he stands back up, he leans in quickly to kiss you, “I’ve got some errands to run later but I’ll be back in time for dinner, Belly suggested we all go out.”

“Our for dinner? We never go out for dinner,” You frown, “Why would we-“

“Stop being so suspicious,” Conrad scoffs, “We’ll go somewhere nice.”

“You’re weird today,” You joke and he rolls his eyes at you once again.

—

Later that day, Conrad’s still out and you get a text from him telling you he’ll meet you at dinner rather than coming home first. You’ve been lounging around the house since he left, soaking in the sun in the garden before you came in to shower.

Belly knocks on your bedroom door as you’re laying across the bed watching The Office.

“Hey!” She grins, “Do you know what you’re wearing to dinner?”

You frown as she drops down onto your mattress, “No I’ll probably just put a jumper on or something.”

“I think-“ She looks around your room, “I think we should dress up.”

“Dress up? You’ll never get the boys to agree to that,” You laugh, “Where are we even going?”

She shrugs, “You’ll find out.”

You lean up onto your elbows and narrow your eyes at her, “Why’s everyone being so suspicious today? What aren’t you telling me?”

She laughs and her mouth moves like she can’t find the words, “I’m not saying anything.”

“Belly!” You exclaim as she hurries off from your bed.

“Just… wear something nice,” She sticks her head around the frame of your door, “Maybe that white dress that Conrad loves.”

You glance over to the closet and glaze over your appearance in the mirror. Maybe you should make an effort, it was rare you were ever going anywhere fancy enough to do anything like that. But they all seemed set on making this night a good one - who were you to question that?

Within the hour, you’ve done some light makeup, brushed through your hair and curled the bits around your face, and pulled on the white dress that Conrad loved so much.

When you step out to walk down the stairs, Belly, Steven, Taylor and Jere are all stood looking up at you.

“What the fuck is going on?” You laugh, “I feel like I’m going to prom.”

“Wh-“ Steven coughs, glancing at the others, “We’re just, um, you know, we don’t want to be late.”

You grab your purse quickly and hurry down the stairs, “Calm down, Im ready now.”

They follow you outside and you all walk over to Jere’s car where you go to open the back door.

“Um,” Belly stops you, “You can sit in the front.”

You look at her with a puzzled expression before climbing into the front with Jeremiah, watching as the other three pile into the back.

“Seriously guys what the fuck is going on?” You question as Jere pulls off from the driveway and starts down the road.

“What are you talking about?” Taylor shrugs, “We’re just hungry.”

“Everyone’s like treading on eggshells with me today, it’s weird,” You comment, “Con seemed like weirdly nervous before he left earlier too, I’ve never seen him run out of the door so quickly and I-“

You pause as the sights around you seem to change, Jeremiah taking a turn down a country lane.

“Jere this isn’t the way to the restaurant we need to go…”

You stop yourself once more as his face breaks into a grin that it’s impossible to hide.

“Seriously what aren’t you telling me?” You turn around to glance at the three of them in the back, all of their heads close together looking out of the windscreen.

Belly nods her head in that direction and you turn back to the front, your lips parting and every single sensation in your body seeming to ignite and disappear all in one moment.

There, in the exact spot where he’d first kissed you, is Conrad.

There’s a scattering of rose petals laid out across the grass and candles lining the edge of the cliff that dips down towards the town.

“Oh my god,” You exhale, glancing at the others in the car with tears already in your eyes.

“Go on, I think he’s waiting for you,” Jeremiah nods, squeezing your arm.

The other three look at you with widened eyes and bright smiles on their faces as you open the passenger door and step out.

“I was worried Jere would take you the wrong way,” Conrad calls over to you as you walk over towards him.

“Conrad this is-“ You stop yourself, glancing around at the sight that you’re sure is something out of a dream, “I don’t even know what to say.”

“You look beautiful,” Conrad reaches out his hands for you to hold, “I- God, I’d planned this whole thing and now it’s like I don’t know where to start.”

You step just a foot in front of him and squeeze his hands, looking up at him with watering eyes.

“(Y/n) I love you,” Conrad smiles back at you, “And there are a thousand words I could say now to tell you that, but nothing will be more important than telling you that I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life loving you. And so…”

“Oh my god,” You release again, watching as he lowers down onto his knee, reaching back into his pocket to pull out a small velvet box.

“(Y/n) (Y/l/n) will you marry me?”

“Oh my god,” You repeat once again as if they’re the only words going through your brain, your eyes spilling with tears.

Conrad looks up at you with overwhelming emotion in his eyes, “Well?”

“Yes!” You laugh, grasping either side of his face in your hands as he stands up onto his feet, “Of course! Yes!”

He looks down to push the silver ring onto your finger before wrapping his arms around your waist, lifting you up into his grasp before he lowers you down to the ground. His eyes shift into that same adoration they’d held for you when you first came here that night, and he leans in to kiss you with the same excitement as that first time too.

At the sight, a chorus of cheers extend from the car and you both glance over to see all four of them staring out the window with wide grins over their faces.

You laugh through the tears in your eyes and Conrad tightens his arm around your waist, pulling you as close to him as humanly possible.

In that moment, in that perfect moment, you think of your six year old self, when you’d been a blushing mess meeting Conrad for the first time. Your twelve year old self so terrified at the thought of kissing him. The sixteen year old self that first kissed him in that car. And every year since of loving him.

You see yourselves getting married, your families laughing and telling you they knew it would be this way all along. The two of you growing old together, watching your kids grow up too. And, eventually, being sat in the same spot on this same cliff overlooking this same town, with the boy who’d held your heart for your entire life.

The boy who’d always be your Connie.

[callumsluvr]

How would Rafe react to one of his little girls telling him that she has a bf after school one day

I feel like mama would thinks his reaction is funny

omg i think he’d have a heart attack 😭

i can see vivi coming to him at like 7, claiming that she has a boyfriend at school and they’re having a play date soon and she’s soooo excited!

and rafe just 😧😧 and momma, of course, already knew about this little boy and she set up the play date with his mom, who she plays tennis with at the club.

momma would just laugh when rafe grills vivienne for questions about this “oliver” kid 🙄🙄🙄🙄 (he’s 7)

vivi is just so excited all week to see her “boyfriend” and rafe cannot cope because why is she interested in boys all of the sudden?????

momma definitely has to calm him down because again, they’re 7, and rafe cannot bully a child.

*

rafe is in his office, watching summer play with her baby doll under his desk, when he hears you, vivi, lottie, and “oliver”(🙄🙄🙄🙄) come home after school.

he can hear the giggles of his two girls, and so can summer, because she immediately barrels out of the room to see her older sisters.

he can hear you giving them snacks and asking them about their days, so he decides to walk into the kitchen.

“hello.” he says, looking at all the kids, sitting on barstools around the kitchen counter, watching you plate some chicken nuggets, fries, and some veggies for them.

“hi daddy!” vivienne and charlotte say in unison.

“hi, mr. cameron. i’m oliver trafford.” the little boy speaks up from his place next to vivienne. he reminds rafe oddly of himself, always wanting to seem mature, especially to his fathers business partners.

“hello, oliver. ‘s nice to meet you.” rafe nods, walking over to you and kissing your temple.

*

after the playdate, vivienne and oliver stayed best friends. until they were 13, which is when oliver came to get vivienne to take her on a first date. rafe and you stood at the door, talking to oliver’s mom while oliver stood awkwardly beside her, desperately waiting for vivienne.

although oliver had spent so much time with the cameron’s in all their years of being friends, rafe still scared the shit out of him and he was never afraid to admit that.

after vivienne and oliver’s arcade date, the two became “official”, for what you could consider official at 13.

*

when vivienne turned 16, she was so excited to finally get her car.

it made babysitting so much easier and she could stay later, which made her more money.

the night that rafe had decided that oliver could officially never leave the family was when vivienne was coming home from babysitting late one night, and rafe, who could never sleep until any of the girls got home, got a call from vivienne.

“dad.” vivienne trembles, panicked

rafe immediately gets out of bed and begins to put on clothes, “viv? what is it?”

“dad i wrecked my car- i was- i was driving- and then all of the sudden- a deer just jumped out- and i-“ she cries, with vivienne, rafe can’t tell if she’s crying because she’s hurt, or because she feels guilty about hitting a deer, or crashing the car.

“viv, are you okay? are you hurt?” he asks, throwing on his shoes and moving to wake you up.

“no, i’m fine- i just- i pulled over to the side, the deer ran away- but the front of my car is-“ he can tell she’s shaking, and he doesn’t bother to wake you up, he’ll call you when he’s on the way back.

after rafe tells vivienne that he’ll be right there, and he looks at her phone location, he speeds there, not wanting to leave her alone in the dark at 12 am.

it’s not until he sees another set of headlights by your car that he realizes you’re not alone.

as rafe pulls up, he realizes that it’s the black range rover that oliver had also recently gotten for his 16th birthday.

rafe rolls his eyes and slams his truck door, walking to vivienne, who had just gotten out of the passenger side of the black car.

“dad.”

“hey- vivi, are you okay?” rafe says, walking towards her, and holding her shoulders to inspect her for marks

she nods, “i’m so sorry about the car- i wasn’t even going that fast-“

rafe shakes his head, “i don’t care about the car, vivi, that’s an easy fix, i promise. are you okay?”

she nods again, hugging him. “i’m sorry-“

she’s cut off by oliver getting out of his car.

rafe and vivienne look over while he speaks,

“mr. cameron, do you need my help with anything? i um- i can stay as long i need to.”

vivienne speaks up, “when i got off the phone with you, i called oliver, he lives in the neighborhood i was babysitting in, so i knew he’d be close, and i knew you didn’t want me to stand out here alone.”

rafe’s eyes flutter between the both of them and he reaches out to shake oliver’s hand, “you’re a good man. thank you for taking care of her.”

oliver shakes his hand back with wide eyes. he had never been complimented by rafe, ever.

*

once they had gotten viviennes car figured out, you had yelled at him for not telling him about vivienne until they were on the way back to the house, and they had followed oliver back to his house to make sure he got home okay.

rafe sat in the car with vivienne at a red light, looking over at her in the passenger seat.

“you know i like the kid, right? he’s uh- he’s a good kid.”

[lost-girl-2021]

I'll elaborate more later, but I'm coming off a 12 hour shift and about to sleep before my next 12 tonight, so enjoy the tight I had on my drive home this morning:

I see your (our, I also wrote this lol) City Kid Spider with his skateboard and asthma and raise you Country/Small Town Kid Spider.

Instead of a big city called Pandora, think of a small town in the middle of nowhere. There are more trees than people (as it should be, if you ask Kiri) and everybody knows everything about everyone. News travels fast, even faster if you post of the actual real life bulletin board outside the single grocery store in town (yes, it is a Walmart)

Spider lives in a treehouse him and his friends found as kids. He's run away so often they've stopped taking down the "Have You Seen Me?" Posters hung around town. Everyone knows that Spider guy lives in the woods. The younger kids drop off candy and cans from their Mama's pantry as offerings to the Lord of the Woods.

Some of the parents think he's on drugs, most of them tell their kids to steer clear of him. Better safe than sorry, when it comes to him. (Haven't you heard, his father killed his mother? He looks just like him, too.)

Quaritch doesn't quite fit into this world, but imagine he's from the Deep South, not this small town-almost a suburb-almost the country wishwash. (Think Tennessee vs Texas. Different cultures/experiences entirely) When meets his son, he's expecting a younger version of him, for lack of a better idea. He doesn't care if he's bad at school or has a bad attitude, he even expects it, cuz that's how he was at 15/16.

Spider is an amalgamation of all things Pandora. Pandora, with it's strong Native American ties and even stronger traditions. He wears his hair long like most of his friends do. He does hunt and fish and ride around on the Sully's ATV any chance he gets. He takes the familiar winding roads sharp and fast, his beat up, barely running truck gliding down the street like they're flying.

He does still have asthma, but this kid has not been to a doctor since he was ten and didn't care enough to pay attention to what his foster parents told him most of the time. That wheezy thing his chest does? Rub some dirt on it, he'll be fine. So what if he needs to sleep it off or pass out to feel better. He's fine. He's tough.

Jake is ofc from a big ass city, stationed in the city after an incident with the elementary school nobody will talk about. He met Neytiri, a police officer and the mayor's daughter, and she showed him the beauty of a small place like Pandora (knowing people you see walking the street, feeling safe enough to leave your doors unlocked, big town events, etc)

The whole reason Quaritch is the Bad Guy is because he was trying to (eh legally not really) evict/kick people off their land to drill for oil. Pesticides on farmer's crops, cutting fences, building expensive shops to drive the price up, etc.

Lo'ak and Neteyam are roughhousing, military kids who follow every order to a tee only to fuck around and find out every time they're left alone.

Kiri is the weird kid. She cut her hair short last summer and wears a lot of handmade bracelets that rattle whenever she moves. She wears overalls with daisys on them she painted herself and flowy flower patterns, only to pair it with the muddiest, ugliest boots you've ever seen. She talks back and took much for most people's liking and doesn't seem to care that people think she's weird. Or at least doesn't show it.

Tuk is loved and lovable across all universes.

Boom

Done.

For.now....

Bedtime. Goodnight.

[roe-and-memory]

MACK HEADCANONS PLZZZ

OF COURSE!!

mack is seriously one of my favourite side characters. i literally adore him SO much

- i think mack has like. 5 sisters. and hes the oldest and only boy of all of the siblings. this is a hc roe and i have had for a while, he just has such oldest brother of the family vibes but also like hes so gentle as if he grew up with sisters. i can imagine him, 17, the second oldest being somewhere around 11 or 12, and theyve convinced him to bake cupcakes with him. hes got his mothers pink apron on, hes doing all the work, while his sisters are hanging off of him and playing with their toys all over the kitchen floor. he couldnt bake for shit, but anything for his baby sisters

- adding onto above, i dont think he did too much in school. his mother worked two jobs and his father was away a lot on business trips, so he very willingly and very happily took care of his younger sisters 24/7. and im not saying his parents were neglectful - not at all. i think his parents worked hard to take them on trips and keep them afloat. the did family trips as many times a year as they had the chance to and their parents made sure the kids knew they were loved.

- AMAZING driver. hes been driving since he was young, and he can maneuver his hauler better than most other drivers. both his parents contributed to teaching him how to drive, and they both gave him their separate tips and tricks, so he is quite literally the collective bunch of his parents driving habits all in one.

- he left to work for rusteze as a truck driver when he was around 22/23, when the second oldest sibling was old enough to hold down the fort. a lot of his extra cash went to his family back home, but he stayed on the road.

- not too interested in relationships, he’s always been kind of held down and its nothing against his family but now he likes the freedom of home being on the road

- his truck (1985 mack superliner) was his grandfathers cab. he bought it brand new and never used it much, trucking ran in his family (even his father was a trucker before he met macks mother and settled down), so his grandfather gave him the cab for free as a gift one year and he’s used it and kept it in tip-top shape ever since

- lightning is like that little brother he never had. he found the kid at a truck stop, a distressed fifteen year old looking to get out of town (he was running away from home) and saved him from getting his shit rocked by some pissed off old guy because he’d asked for two dollars for chips and the guy took a personal offence to it. mack literally felt sick at the idea that this kid was out this far from the city alone. lightning had WALKED from henderson to vegas to see the race, and then just decided he wasnt going home. mack was so heartbroken because the thought of one of his sisters ever being in the situation that this kid is in right now made his stomach churn. the kid had begged to go with him, and mack felt so guilty he said yes. he initially tried to take the kid somewhere safe, like a home for kids or something, but lightning was quite content to stay, and it felt like having a little brother around and it was Different (mack checked the news every day for any missing child reports and Nobody reported lightning missing. it literally destroyed mack emotionally because How do u not report ur own child missing when he leaves and doesnt return.)

- his truck has bunk beds since its a sleeper cab and he let lightning decorate his bunk with posters and those glow in the dark stars and literally anything the kid wanted he could plaster on the walls and mack did not care. this also included a bunch of stickers, because oh Lord that boy is obsessed with little stickers

- mack had no idea how to bond with lightning considering he himself had grown up being forced to play barbies with his little sisters (they would try to make him be evil ken but then they’d get mad because he was too nice. he got to play as the dollhouse dog instead) whereas lightning grew up with Nothing. lightning didnt really know how to interact with toys without feeling ridiculous because he’d been conditioned to believe toys were for Babies. mack eventually gave up trying to guess what lightning liked and just took him to a toys r us, where lightning Immediately found a stuffed dinosaur he liked and got like 2 hot wheels cars and then proceeded to profusely apologize for wasting macks money on such stupid stuff. mack did not give af, as long as his little brother was happy he was ok

- he gave lightning his first ever hug. before that not a Single person had ever hugged that child and mack was so sad to learn it because how do parents go 15 years without ever hugging ur own flesh and blood

- he taught lightning how to drive in a field with the truck during break days, and realized the kid’s potential and signed him up for late model stock races after a bit of talking. rusty and dusty also took an interest in racing at this point, and allowed mack to carry the kids late model stock car in the truck (they figured out a way for him to get both product and the car in the truck, and conveniently every delivery was for the city lightnings next race was in)

- hes kept all of lightnings late model stock trophies, the kid was a real good winner even back then and he’s even got photos that photographers had taken of the wins when little 15 year old lightning mcqueen was standing on the roof of his car holding his trophy above his head with the biggest smile in the world plastered on his face (those wins were like the proudest big brother moments ever until he got into the piston cup)

- hes a MASSIVE harv hater but hes too nice to say it. when doc starts expressing his own dislike for harv, mack starts talking to him about it and they bond over the fact they hate that man so fucking much that they end up managing to get him fired

- during the piston cup off season he goes back to delivering product for rusteze

- even though lightnings older now he still sees him as a younger brother

i think this is it.. THANK U FOR THE ASK!!! i love talking about mack :3

[callsign-hexen]

Barn Lights and Haylofts

Summary: After being away on a trip out of state, you find yourself going to the Abbott ranch to visit on your way home. Little did you know that you were about to walk into something would make you wish you just drove off...

Word count: 3.9k

Warnings: cursing, sexual tension, the character death of an asshole, descriptions of a dead body (my hyper fixation on the stages of death really starts showing in this), hiding said body, possible grammar mistakes, an insane amount of commas (Seriously, you could take a shot every time you see one and be completely hammered by the end of this), if I miss any let me know!

Author’s note: I finally wrote something! The editing is slim to none, I was too excited!

tag list: @beacheybabes97

You watch as the headlights of your truck light up the road. The moon lights the rest of the way as you drive through the fields of Wabang, Wyoming.

You’ve been out of town for nearly a month at craft festival down south. As much as it feels great to be outside of state lines, you can’t help but feel homesick, so you take a few stops as possible on your way back. You’ve been driving for half a day in the beaten old truck.

You’ve lived in Wabang for as long as you can remember, you were born there, and you can see yourself buried there with the rest of your lineage. Your family worked in wood crafts. For generations, your family has hand carved many items throughout the town. Instead of playing with dolls, you grew up learning to carve. The business was run by you, your mother, and your father. That was, until your mother passed when you were 14, and your father just three years ago. It was all yours now. The old house, the workshop, and a small plot of land that a few cows and other animals that have made their home there.

The shop was where you met Rhett.

When you were 12, Royal brought Rhett with him into town to run some errands, one of which being to pick up an order he had placed. It was a simple wooden plaque with Abbott name burned into it to sit on the front porch. Your family ran the business in the workshop across from your house. Your days were spent waking up early, making sure the cows are taken care of, go to school, and come home to learn about wood working. When the Abbotts came by you were sitting on the workshop bench whittling your next little project, a carving of a little wolf howling at the sky. You turn around as you hear them come in.

Royal and the younger Abbott boy stopped at the entrance as they noticed it was just you. Royal greeted you with a call of your name, “Is your dad around?” he asked. You nod your head, hopping off the bench. “Yes sir, he’s over yonder in the pasture. One of our calves started wondering off so he went to make sure she’s alright. Are you here to pick up, Mr. Abbott?” you answered him, shifting your eyes over to the boy next to him. Rhett was in your grade, but the two of you never shared a word to each other, barely even a glance at one another. You sat on the opposite sides of the room and never got near enough to touch.

Now that you stand just a couple of feet from him, you almost feel like you can’t move anymore. Frozen in place until you finally snap yourself out of it before he thinks you’re as weird as everyone else does. You were always the loner everyone picked at.

“Right you are, does your father normally leave you alone at the shop?” Royal asked as you went to pick up his plaque off the shelf on the wall of the workshop. You take it over to him and placed it on the table for him to observe it. “Yeah, but only if it’s either an emergency or if he’ll only be gone for a few minutes. He should be back soon, the calve didn’t wander too far today,” you said. Royal picked up the plaque, admiring the work your father put into it, with a little bit of your help here and there.

“Damn fine work, Cecelia is gonna love this hanging up on the porch,” Royal gestures to Rhett as he looks at the woodwork. “This is my son, Rhett. I understand y’all go to school together.” Rhett shifts his gaze from the projects laying around the shop to you, his height is about the same as yours, his blue eyes looking into yours. He nods his head as a way of acknowledgment, you nod back. No words were said, you didn’t think you could for them in regard to him. You couldn’t tell at the time, but it might have been a schoolgirl crush.

The older Abbott paid for his plaque and the two made their leave. Before hopping into the truck, Rhett looked over to you one more time to see you whipping your head the other direction, trying not to let him see you looking at him back. You continued to see more of the Abbotts bit by bit since that day. You two didn’t get closer until your mothers passing, Cecelia would invite you and your father over for dinner every once in a while, when things got tough. Since then, Rhett began to play the role of some type of bodyguard. He was your only friend. When people would pick on you, they had Rhett to deal with. He would walk you home from school and drive you once the two of you were older. You would work together on his ranch, and he would help around your field if it was needed or keep you company in the shop when you were alone. As the years go on, the schoolgirl crush didn’t go away, but may have worsened. You couldn’t tell him, especially when the two of you were 16 when he caught his eye on Maria Olivares. You never felt like you could match up to her, the prettiest girl in school that every guy fawned over. It wasn’t too bad, at least Rhett was still by your side in one way.

Now the two of you are in your 20s. You’ve attended every rodeo, watched him fall off of every bull and was there to patch him up after every bar fight. After the first few months of your fathers passing, the roles were reversed for a while. You would drink a bit more, and all it took was for one buckle bunny to make a snide remark and her face would meet your fist in a timed record. Rhett dragged you out from the bar one night and drove you home. As he patched you up in the low light at your kitchen table, you would never forget what he said to you.

“Listen, I know this is hard. I know I don’t completely know how you feel, and I won’t for a long time. But it’s not just you still. You have me, and I will always be here. You have Mom, Dad, Perry, and Rebecca. Amy looks up to you and even calls you her aunt. We’re always gonna be here for you, and we don’t want to see you dig yourself into a grave. Let us help you, please.”

You stopped drinking so much that night, and you cried in his arms that night when you finally accepted your grief. He went as far as to sleep over at your house a couple of nights so that you wouldn’t be alone in your childhood home.

You’ve managed to keep the business running well and good. It’s been tough with it being just you, but you’ve been able to keep up with all your father has taught you through the years. You were even able to keep things well enough to go to the craft festival like you and your father did every year. The two of you would spend months preparing all of the little trinkets and projects to sell, and you would sell damn near all of them. You’ve been successful enough to pull it off the past three years.

This is what lands you to where you are now. In the late hours of the night, you were finally made your way back.

It feels like forever, but the Abbott ranch finally makes way into your line of site. You don’t see Rhett’s old, blue GMC in the lot. He doesn’t seem to be home, but with seeing the other cars, everyone else is. You wonder where he could be, it’s later than usual for him to be at the Handsome Gambler. The lights in the house are off except for the faint light from window in the kitchen. You were feeling guilty about possibly waking everyone up, but you feel better knowing that at least someone is still awake at an ungodly hour. Turning off the lights to the truck, you cut the engine and step out. You make your way over to the door leading to the kitchen and gently knock a few times, alerting whoever was inside of your presence. It takes a couple of moments, almost enough to where you think of going ahead and heading home, turning in for the night and catching up on some of the rest you have lost from the drive. As you’re about to turn around, the door finally opens to reveal Royal. He lets out a breath and nods to you, “Well look who it is, when’d you get back in town?”

“Just now actually,” you said with a small laugh and a smile, “thought I would come by and see you guys on my way home, make sure I wasn’t forgotten.” Royal laughs at the statement and gives you a pat on the shoulder. “I doubt that could ever happen, Amy’s been asking when you’d be back almost since you left,” he said.

You both gave a laugh as you thought of Rhett’s niece. You were both 15 when she was born. He was unsure of the arrival of a new child in the house, but the second he held her he knew he would protect her the best he could. He’d take care of anyone who messes with her the same he did with you. Amy follows you almost everywhere you go. When she’s not in school, she’d come with you to the shop with Rhett and watch you work, and you’d teach her how to make a few small things if she begged you enough. “I’m sure she’ll be excited I’m back. I’d go say ‘hi’ to her now, but I don’t want to cause a bother waking her up,” you said. You were about to ask if it was okay to come in and chat a minute, let him know how business was at the festival and how proud you were this year when a noise came up behind him.

You look passed him as Rhett came downstairs, catching your eye in a hoodie sporting a split lip and a bruise on his cheek. He stops and turns in your direction, you lock eyes from across the kitchen as he halts in his place, almost startled at your arrival. “What are you doing here?” he asks you. You chuckle, looking him up and down, “Well that’s something to say after not seeing me for almost a damn month,” you respond. You smoothly walked past Royal, making your way to him to inspect his injuries. You gently take his chin to move his head side to side, he makes a low noise and lazily moves your hand away. “Jesus,” you playfully scold him, “I leave for a while and you get yourself into shit, I really should keep you on a leash, shouldn’t I? Who’d you fight this time, one of the Tillerson boys?” Your comment makes his eyes widen; you see something that you can’t make out in his eyes. Not quite startled, but more of a bit of fear and uncertainty. Within your time together as you got him out of fights here and there, he grew to have a tiny bit of fear over being on the wrong side of your temper. “I guess you can say that,” he says almost as a whisper. You laugh again, glancing back at Royal, “like I said, leash.”

You look back to Rhett, nudging him in the chest, “Seriously, you gotta let me give Luke and Trevor, or whichever one you got into it with, a piece of my mind next time I see them”

Rhett cleared his throat and shifted his stance on his feet. You narrowed your eyes at him a bit, stepping back to completely look at him. You’ve always been able to tell if there was something wrong, or if he was lying. And you can tell now, the stench of lies goes up to high heaven. “You doin’ alright Rhett?” You asked him. He nodded his head a couple of times, “Yeah yeah, my minds just a little fuzzy from the drinks and fightin’ tonight” he said, avoiding your eyes. You nodded your head “mm-hmm” you hummed. You looked back at Royal again, he was looking out the window, as if he was expecting someone. You looked back at Rhett; he still doesn’t meet your eyes. “What did you do?” you asked in a lowered tone.

He finally looks at you, a little more alarmed, “Nothing” he said a little more rushed than he meant to. You stared him down hard, “Nothing” you repeated to him. “So why do you seem so…. jumpy tonight?” He holds your stare, he can tell you have something on him, and he’ll be able to break soon. He was never that good at lying to you or able to keep things from you. “Like I said, drinkin’ and fightin’ cloudin’ my head” he says.

“Rhett” you hear Royal say from behind you. You both look to him; he nods his head to outside in a “hurry up” notion. Rhett seems to understand what his father is trying to say to him and he looks back to you, “Look, it’s gettin’ late, and you drove a good while. You need to go get some sleep. I’ll talk to ya tomorrow, okay? I’ll walk you the truck” he says, motioning you to walk with him. You still stand there, not completely trusting the situation. “Rhett,” you say, “Whatever it is, you might as well say now. I know that you know I can tell when you’re hiding something, and if you want me to still talk to you tomorrow, you’d say it right now.” Rhett almost feels like a child getting in trouble, hell he might as well be. He looks to Royal, who thinks for a second and then sighs, motioning the two of you to go with him. Rhett turns back to you as you await your answer.

“Come on” ……………………………………………………………….. They walk you to the barn across from the house, the moon lights your way as you walk behind Rhett’s towering figure. Your mind is racing, trying to think of any of the possible, stupid situation that Rhett could get himself into, and what it could have been to be hidden in the barn. And how severe could it be for him to try to hide it from you, his closest and only actual friend. When you reach the barn doors, Royal turns around to you.

“Before we show you, you have to swear that anything that you see here must not leave this property. You do not say anything to anyone, especially not to Amy,” he says to you, lowering his voice to where only the three of you can hear. After a moment of contemplation, your mind still soaring over the different situations that this can lead to, you nod your head at him. Royal opens the barn doors, the lights almost burning your eyes as they adjusted to the brightness as dim as they were. When you were finally able to see right, you see that Rhett’s truck is inside rather than where it’s normally parked outside, answering your question from earlier. You shift your attention to Rhett himself; he puts a hand on your back, gently pushing you forward. As you walk closer, you start to see something laying closer to the back. You get a chill running through your spine as you begin to realize what was lying motionless in the back of Rhett’s truck.

Trevor Tillerson was lying in the truck bed, face covered in blood and looking as if he were sleeping. But you have a terrible feeling he’s not. You walk over to him, looking over his pale complexion.

“Him and Perry got into it behind the bar. I wasn’t there when it happened but know Perry’s temper, I’m sure he said something he shouldn’t have while Perry was in the state he was in,” you hear Rhett say behind you. “I left to bring the truck around, he was on the ground when I got back.”

You swallow the lump in your thought that began to rise as you looked at the body. Reaching down to put your fingers to find a pulse point, only to find nothing as you touch his cold skin. You hear Rhett say your name, you can tell he is getting worried at your silence. Your shift your hand to his face, lifting his eyelid, his eyes have already become cloudy just slightly. A sign that this night isn’t gonna end for a long time. You’ve seen death before, all of you have, it’s hard to run a ranch without seeing it. But there’s a hard difference between livestock and a person.

“What are you gonna do now?” you said after what felt like eternity. “What?” Rhett asked. You turn around to the two men behind you. “Rigor mortis sets in within a couple of hours after death. Unless you want to walk up to the police station with a stiff body, I have feeling you guys are gonna try to hide him instead. So you might want to make your plan before we sit here all night staring at a dead body, especially of you don’t want his brothers coming around looking for him.” Rhett looked at you as if you had two heads, walking towards you as he tried to think of what to say to get you out of this. “As far as anyone is concerned, you’re still out of town. If anything, you need to go home before anyone knows you’re here.”

“Are you kidding? I’m standing here, I’m looking at him, this makes me part of it by just being here!” you try to reason with him. They’re gonna need help and they know it; if anyone asks where they were, Rhett could say that he was with you on your first night back as an alibi. Rhett can feel himself starting to get aggravated, he wants you far from here. He wishes he could take you home, or anywhere else as long as it wasn’t the Abbott ranch. “No, your DNA isn’t on anything, you can still go and try to forget this, you need to go before something else happens,” he says. You’re about to defend your case before Royal interrupts you both, “both of you shut up and listen!”

You both turn your attention to the elder man. “Rhett, you help me get him out of the truck, after that I want the both of you to burn the shirt and clean out the back of the truck. I’ll take care of the body,” Rhett was about to say something before his father shot him a look. “We can’t stand here all night arguing, we need to hide the body before his brothers realize something happened.”

After they get Trevor out and wrapped up, you help them get his body strapped to the horse, Tillie. While you strap him in, the lights start flickering. But not in a fuse shortening way, but like they were being manually flipped on and off. You all share a look, “Perry” Royal said. You run over to the door and peak through, “shit!” you say as you see the Tillerson’s at the house. You look back to the men, “The Tillerson’s are here, we gotta hurry.” Royal nods as he mounts Tillie, Rhett going to open the back door. After Royal rides out, you and Rhett quickly throw some bales of hay into the truck bed. You look up at each other as you start to hear voices coming closer by the second. Rhett looks behind you, “Hayloft, up the ladder. They won’t be able to see us under the hay.” You both start that way as the door starts banging against the lock. You both rush up the ladder as fast as you can, falling into the hay just in the nick of time. The Tillerson brothers, along with Perry, walk in only to find an empty stable with a truck full of hay. Not looking up to see the two of you as you cover yourselves.

Rhett holds you close to him as you both hide in the stash of hay. Your bodies flush against one another. You won’t lie and say that you never dreamed of being in this position, except those dreams didn’t involve covering up an accidental murder case.

Rhett’s trying to keep his breathing low, all while trying to catch it. It almost feels like the past two hours have been a blur. With the rush of adrenaline caused by the fucked situation mixed with seeing you after so long, he feels like he could pass out right now with you in his arms like he’s been wanting to for years. The both of you can feel yourselves warming up from the body heat as you lay low in the hay, but not to where you’re suffocating.

After they finally leave, you both keep still as you finally allow yourselves to breath once again. Your body relaxing against Rhett as you calm down from the rush. You can feel his breath against your cheek. His arms tighten around you, almost like he thought you could slip from his fingers. You look over to him, your nose brushing his with how close you were. You shift your body to completely face him, his arms still around you as you two begin to look like lovers in a warm embrace. How you wish that were true. You look at each other, nose to nose, all it could take was a slight movement and you could brush your lips against his. Rhett can feel his heartbeat in his ears, his eyes leaving yours only to look at your lips and back up. You do the same, staring into his bright blue eyes.

You don’t know what makes you pull away slightly. Maybe it’s the fear of rejection, maybe it’s the feeling that it’s the wrong place for this, or maybe you don’t want to ruin how things are between you two. You pull away only an inch from him, still close to feel his body against you, but enough to cool off a bit. “What do you think is gonna happen, Rhett?” you whisper. He looks at you with uncertainty. “I’m not sure,” he says so quietly that you almost couldn’t hear him. “All I know is that it’s not gonna be good.” He tucks your head into his neck as you both lay there in the hayloft. He wishes you could both lay there forever, or at least until sunrise.

As you shut your eyes, you wrap your arms around him. You two try to make the most of this calm moment in between chaos. None of you know of what’s to come, but until then, you both rest.

[luinhealthcare]

Hello lovely Lofty❤️

What would you say is the pros and cons of EMS work?? Or like, things you would say to someone looking to be an EMT?

I have a full time job I don't plan on leaving, but tbh learning about what you do and reading your stories has kind of put it on my heart and I was curious if volunteer EMT jobs are a thing. Like, getting all the training done and then volunteering when I can?

Idk, I was just curious if you had anything to say regarding this😅

I could probably google some of this info but if if you feel like answering it would be appreciated! I value your opinion❤️

Ok, give me just a sec—*SQUEALS excitedly into pillow*

Hello Anon! :D That’s so exciting to hear!! I’m glad you’d rather just do it volunteer, as career EMS pays very little (my nursing job is what keeps a roof over my head, not my EMS one lol), but nearly every agency in my area has volunteers so I imagine it’s the same for your area!

So general pros and cons for EMS:

Pros

Tight knit work crew - These people see some bad things together, and trauma bonding is a thing, so they tend to be pretty close and have a lot of fun together. A note of care, we all have dark senses of humor. It’s a natural coping mechanism for people, and it can make life really funny too. But generally, working with EMS providers is quite fun! There will probably also be things like banquets, cookouts, and other fun bonding activities!

Boo boo bus - Driving is one of my least favorite parts of the job, but it is very fun to drive the truck around with lights and sirens and have the power to stop traffic and go through a red light lol. Super dangerous, but very fun

Knowledge - You learn so much in EMS! Medicine and our understanding of diseases and injuries is constantly changing, so you’ll always learn something new if you keep up with your training. Speaking of which, your agency will provide training opportunities to help you grow!

Patient care - You’ll find that the majority of your calls aren’t actually emergencies, but when you can actually take care of someone who needs you, you’re gonna ride that adrenaline high for ages. I still remember calls from years ago where I actually made a difference in someone’s life, and it’s a thrilling feeling.

Shift style - We work in 12-24 hour blocks, which means you knock out your work week in 2-3 days. As a volunteer your hour requirement would be much less than 36, but you could knock out a 24 hour monthly requirement in a single day if you wanted. Also, depending on a few factors (day vs night shift, busyness of your run area), you could literally just be spending your time chilling between calls. Sometimes I bring video games to work and play the switch because we have so much downtime. At night we get paid to just sleep if nobody’s calling 911.

Cons

Management/staffing - Like most jobs, somehow we’re all cursed with idiots in charge. Obviously this is variable, but a general trend in EMS is to overwork its people and toss them out to sea before they sometimes feel ready. And also like most jobs, we’re perpetually short staffed and everyone gets stretched thin to make up for it. Luckily for you, this shouldn’t be as big a problem because volunteers are usually treated very well!

Patient care - It’s a pro but it’s a con too. 85% of your calls are going to be for things that people should have never called 911 for. Your big pretty Boo Boo Bus is mostly going to be an Uber. And it will get frustrating, and you will have frequent flyers, and some people are not kind at all. They’ll call for your help and then get pissed off at you for trying to help. Anyone who’s worked customer service can relate, I’m sure. You get trained to handle life and death emergencies and then instead you’re picking someone up for a cough they’ve had for three days and you’re wondering when you became their mother/father and have to take the baby to the doctor when they haven’t tried anything to take care of themselves at home or see a less urgent health facility. It will burn you out if you’re not careful.

TMI - Speaking of patient care, get ready to see people at their absolute lowest. Hoarder houses, maggots, abusive households, all that jazz. Another reason for trauma bonding with your coworkers! 👍🏻 (This won’t be the majority of your calls, but you’ll see them)

Physical strain - If you don’t take care of your body, this job will hurt you. I’ve thrown my back three times working EMS; there were times where I was hobbling around like an 83-year-old and I was 22. You’ll be lifting patients of every weight, you’re gonna be contorted in weird positions trying to splint someone, CPR is a cardio exercise in itself (lol), you will probably be sore after some calls like you just went to the gym. Also, we don’t take meal breaks - you eat when you can, and you will become a speed eater very quickly in this line of work.

Mental strain - You’re gonna learn a lot about yourself and others in this work. How do you cope with stress? You will watch people die, you will see suicides and shootings and stabbings, you will watch family hurt each other and grieve over lost loved ones. You will be on edge for the majority of your shift as you wait for the tones to drop, you will be stressed trying to find an address or navigate the road and make sure nobody gets into a wreck with you. Military and first responders are so alike because the stress level and distribution is quite similar - downtime with boredom gets interspersed with spikes of huge adrenaline rushes. Have good coping skills, have a strong support system, take care of yourself. 95% of the people I know on duty are in therapy to stay sane.

Overall, I adore EMS. If I could survive off EMS pay I’d work it full time and do nursing as a side gig for funsies lol. The majority of the work is fairly mundane, but when you get to make a difference boy do you get to make a difference. And you’ll have so many funny stories to share. And the people are awesome.

Hope this helps! :D

[scullysexual]

You're Never Just Anything To Me (1)

@today-in-fic | ao3 | Prev. Chapter

A look into Mulder and Scully's relationship starting from Millennium going all the way up to Requiem.

I. Millennium.

His lips still tingled with the feeling of their kiss. Their first kiss. Mulder always imagined their first kiss would be when one of them was near death. He always imagined it to be sad, angsty, a moment too late when all was about to be taken away from them.

In the back of that truck, clutching tightly to her hand, the fungus eating away at his mind, believing he was going to die that he wishes they had kissed. A whole life gone by, a new turn in their relationship and he hadn’t even got a chance to kiss her. Somehow it made perfect sense.

But they hadn’t died. They had recovered. They were alive and together but Death still lingered around every corner, ready to take them at a moment’s notice. If they wanted to make the most of each other then they were going to have to go a little quicker. One night they agreed, Scully agreed, take the next step.

Until Cancer Man reappeared. Until Scully was suddenly in Africa and he became miles away. Maybe there wasn’t a next step, not for them. Every time they tried something happened, something got in the way.

But not tonight. Not tonight at 12am on the 1st January 2000. Tonight, Mulder was going to take the next step. What else could happen, he wondered. If the world was going to end let it happen while he kissed Scully.

The world didn’t end. Not theirs anyway. Scully had smiled and he knew then that their world was just beginning.

At 12:07 on the 1st January 2000, he leans, grinning to himself like an idiot, against the passenger side door clutching at his arm that was beginning to throb slightly in the background.

“So any big plans for tonight?” Mulder asks as Scully presumably drives him home.

“What do you mean?”

“Usually I won’t see you again until the 2nd. What do you normally do on New Year’s Eve. Or New Year’s Day?”

“Oh, uh…Well, normally I’ll go to my mom’s- Or Bill’s- for Christmas and stay there for New Year. We’ll celebrate and then I’ll drive home on New Year’s Day ready for work the day after.” She pauses, frowning. “What about you? What do you usually do?”

It dawns on the both of them that they have never had this conversation before. Mulder knew, to some extent, that Scully spent the holiday season with her family but he never knew she stayed that long. It made sense, her father’s dead was tangled up in the same week (With Emily’s not too far after), of course she would want to stay around her family as long as possible. He felt guilty for depriving her of that. The unplanned ghost hunting had her behind schedule by two days and while she went to her mother’s on Boxing Day she had returned on the 29th to him and an unofficial X-File case.

Mulder shrugs. “Watch some movies, maybe go after an unofficial X-File case. With everyone indoors it’s nice to feel like the only person on the planet.” He misses out the part where he says he wishes she had been with him during that time. Crouched in some forest in Nowhere, USA was lonely without his partner beside him.

“Oh, Mulder…” Scully says with a hint of sadness. “And you do that every year?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

There’s a pause then. Before Scully asks. “And what about this year?”

“What about it?”

“Is that your plan? Are you going to go off on some adventure tomorrow- later today?” There’s a hint of something in her voice, something Mulder can’t quite make out.

“Well usually I don’t have a broken arm at this time,” he says with a smile. “But to answer your question, no, I don’t think I was planning to go anywhere later today.”

An energy hangs in the air between them. Here they both there, annual plans changed, both in the same state, in the same city, at the same time.

Scully takes a sudden turn unexpectedly, bashing Mulder’s bad arm into the side of the door. He grimaces, looking around.

“This isn’t the way to my apartment,” he says as if he needs to say it at all.

“No. It’s the way to mine.”

…

A wine bottle clenched between her legs, Scully pulls the cork free gently, careful not to spill any of the wine. Music plays from the radio and a sense of déjà vu overcomes her. She was in this exact scenario almost three years ago but instead of a shape-shifting rapist on her couch, the real thing sits there. She smiles, watching him clutch at his arm and look around her apartment like it’s the first time he’s ever been there.

Scully pours two glasses and then makes her way back over to the couch. It’s late, almost 1am. Once upon a time she would’ve gone out, drank and danced until the very early hours of the new year, stumbled home and woke up with a hangover from hell the next day. Now it consists of being with her family and driving home on empty, lonely roads. She thinks of Mulder, of him traversing some random town in search of Bigfoot, an alien, the truth. She almost wishes she could’ve been there with him.

She coughs, catching his attention.

“I probably shouldn’t be giving you this,” she says holding the glass of wine out towards him. “You’re not supposed to mix alcohol and pills together.”

Mulder reaches for it anyway. “That was three hours ago, my arm is hurting. I promise I won’t take any pills until the alcohol is fully out of my system.���

“I’m holding you to that,” Scully says seating herself down on the opposite end of the couch.

They take a drink and Scully lets the wine warm up her body, filter itself all the way to her brain. She settles back, letting the warmth and the music and the alcohol consume her.

“So what’s this about?” Mulder asks.

“Hmm?”

“You were gonna take me home,” Mulder clarifies. “What changed your mind?”

“Here we are together on New Year’s Day for the first time.” She takes another sip of her drink. “Together,” she emphasises and Mulder quirks up an eyebrow, grinning. “It just felt right to spend it…together.”

Mulder nods taking a sip of his own drink.

“And we’ve never actually done this,” Scully adds. “Not…me and you anyway.”

Mulder looks at her and a smile crosses his lips. He too is thinking of Eddie van Blundht.

“I’m glad you changed your mind, Scully.”

She smiles behind her wineglass knowing he wasn’t just referring to her inviting him around tonight.

“Me, too,” she says her lips still tingling with the remnants of his kiss. She wants him to do it again. Then she remembers she can do it too.

But she doesn’t. She takes another sip of her wine, the last drain and when she finishes it, gets up to grab herself another one- remembering to bring the bottle over with her when she comes back.

....

They are three glasses of wine in and a fourth sits in their hands. It’s approaching 4am, the CD has stopped playing and Scully’s feet are bare and his in lap, he keeps his arm away from her jostling feet as he listens to stories from her childhood of the new year.

He feels warm and fuzzy, the pain in his arm long gone, lulling himself into a trance, watching his finger trace up and down the arch of Scully’s foot.

Scully has suddenly gone quiet and he looks over at her. Her head rests on her hand, her eyes hooded but looking at him in that alcohol-induced tired way.

“Sleepy?” he asks.

Scully nods letting out a tired sigh. “I’m usually in bed by 10pm. 10:30 if you decide to call.”

Another bout of guilt courses through his body. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he grins letting him know she’s joking. “I like it when you call.”

Love and happiness blooms in his chest. He smiles at her and she is smiling back. Then his eyes fall to her lips and he’s overcome with the desire to kiss her. He reminds himself that it’s okay to kiss her now but he still teeters on the edge of uncertainty.

Mulder swallows. “Scully, can I…” He sees her watching him, her breath caught in her throat. “Can I kiss you?”

“Please,” she barely says. It falls from her mouth like a whisper.

She removes her feet from his lap as he hovers, one-handed, over her, lower part of her body resting between the V of her legs. His lips descend on hers, tasting the wine on her lips and on her tongue. He drinks her in, craving more. Her arms wrap around his torso, her hips lifting off the couch.

She jostles his arm and a searing pain shoots through it. The kiss is broken and Mulder yelps out in pain, grasping his arm. Scully sits up, a worried, sorry look on her face.

“I’m sorry. Maybe we should wait,” she says.

Mulder shakes his head, the pain in his arm subsiding, the semi in his pants making itself known. He doesn’t want to stop. He’s tasted her now and he wants more.

“It’s fine, we’ll figure out a way.” He stops then. Maybe he was getting ahead of himself. They only just got to the next step, what if he was moving too fast.

But one look at Scully and he knows she’s on the same page.

“I’ll be careful.”

…

This is Mulder, she thinks over and over again as he kisses her.

It’s 4:30am on New Year’s Day and Mulder stands in her bedroom, a head full of wine, sleep fog skirting the edges of her brain. What if what they’re doing is wrong? What if this changes everything? What if this fucks up their partnership? Would they even be able to recover.

Mulder pulls away, frowning. “Are you okay?”

She looks up at him then. Mulder. Her one in five billion. Her constant. Her touchstone. This could never be wrong, she thinks.

“Yes,” she answers and she kisses him again, careful not to catch his broken arm.

Tiredness of alcohol propel her forward. Without breaking their kiss she tugs at his t-shirt, helping him manoeuvre it around his sling. He chucks it to the side and then makes a start on her sweater. When it’s off he stares at her in awe. Why, she has no idea. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen before; their first case, the countless times he’s walked in on her mid-dressing because he refused to knock on their adjoined door (to be fair, she could’ve locked it but she’d be lying if she said the thrill of him walking in on her didn’t turn on her) In those instances, he’d quickly averted his gaze, muttered a trail of apologies and he spun around. Now there was no need to apologise, now he could stare until his heart’s content.

While he does, Scully’s attention turns to his sweatpants. Unchartered waters lay beyond two pieces of clothing. She places her hand on his hips, testing the water, trails her fingers along his waistband. Mulder waits, allowing her this time, a gentle nod to say it’s okay.

A lip caught between her teeth, she pulls at the waistband, yanking his sweatpants down, boxers too.

She gasps when his cock springs free, her mouth suddenly dry, and hands itching to reach out and touch. Not yet.

Scully’s hands go to the button of her jeans as Mulder pulls his own pants off him completely. He stands there, completely naked, in her bedroom. This is Mulder, she realises once more.

Not before long, they both stand there naked in the moonlight aside from his sling. Mulder sighs, falling down to his knees as he pulls her closer, inhaling the skin at her naval.

“Scully…” he says looking up at her, his chin resting just under her stomach. “I need…Can I…?”

It suddenly dawns on Scully just what he’s asking. She lets out a surprised “Oh!” suddenly feeling like an inexperienced teenager. “I guess so…If you want to…?”

Mulder wastes no time. He guides them back towards her bed, pulling her gently down atop of it. Once she is seated, he kneels between her legs, his face millimetres from her centre.

Scully waits, holding in a breath, as he leans forward and…

She clutches the bedding, a moan escaping her lips as Mulder’s tongue slides through her folds. She doesn’t think she’s ever felt anything like it. Her body falls back onto the bed as Mulder moves up towards her clit. He bites it like one of his sunflower seeds, trying to break the shell, then he soothes it with his tongue, sucks it with his mouth. Scully’s breathing becomes more erratic, she can’t stop the gyrate of her hips.

Her orgasm breaks like a dam, she feels it through her entire body. It surges through her and escapes from her mouth as a cry. She hopes her neighbours are out tonight.

Mulder gently guides her through the aftershocks, knowing to stay well away from her clit as he helps her ride the lingering effects of her orgasm. He kisses his way back up her body, coming to lay down next to her, the effects of her post-orgasm making her twitch every so slightly. He kisses her shoulder, rests his chin against the spot.

“Was that okay?” he asks sounding so unsure, as if she hasn’t just had the most mind-blowing orgasm of her life.

Scully rolls towards him with a bewildered smile across her face. Hazy, and sleepy, and drunk, her orgasm still sending little tremors through her body. “Are you kidding me?” she asks and then she is kissing him. The taste of herself and the wine making her want more as she rolls him fully onto his back.

“How’s your arm?” she asks, hovering over him.

“Fuck my arm,” he answers simply, his mouth devouring her again. Scully laughs, pulling away.

“I can think of fucking something better.”

She grasps him by the base, not harshly, slowly pumping her hand up and down. His free hand tightens around the hip.

“I wish I could hold you with both hands,” he says with longing.

“Give it 6 to 8 weeks and you can.”

Her cock beneath her, she slowly sinks herself onto it.

“I can’t wait—Fuck, Scully…”

His nails bite into her side as Scully lets herself adjust around him, wincing at the slightest of pain as she stretches to accommodate him.

“You okay?” he asks, looking at her with concern.

“Yeah just…give me a second.”

“Sure.”

She clenches around him, trying to ease the sting.

“If it helps, you feel fucking amazing.”

Scully reopens her eyes, looking down at him. His hand is squeezing her side and she realises how hard he’s trying to not move. She smiles at his patience and his care, feeling a sudden burst of love and appreciation for him surge through her.

She chances moving, slowly at first, feeling the pull and the release. Eventually the stinging eases, making way for the pleasure that blooms through her core.

“Are you close?” Mulder asks through gritted teeth.

And she is, she is right there, there’s just something missing.

“Nearly. I need…”

She doesn’t need to finish her sentence; Mulder knows. His thumb against her clit, he circles at a fast pace. She’ll show him how she likes it one day, perhaps not tonight, but another time, they have a lifetime. For now it works, she falls over the edge and three thrusts later Mulder in following her.

It's 05:17 when they finally fall asleep. She’s peed and cleaned and lays snuggled between her sheets, her head resting against Mulder’s good arm. She feels satisfied, sated in a way she hasn’t felt for years. Mostly she feels safe and happy, secure in her bed, in Mulder’s arms.

…

Sleep still curls around the edges. There’s a pleasant ache between her legs, the feel of cotton sliding against her bare skin. Memories of New Year kisses, wine, and a distinct smell of sex come to her and she is reminded of Mulder’s presence.

Scully rolls towards the other side intending to find a sleeping Mulder, to snuggle up into his warmth and fall back asleep.

What she is greeted with instead is an empty side and cool sheets. A panic grips her. Did he go home without telling her goodbye?

“…Yeah, I’ll call her as soon as and tell her.” Mulder’s voice drifts through the partially open door. “Of course. Happy New Year to you too, sir.”

Scully opens her eyes slightly to find a shirtless blurred Mulder standing in her doorway. She smiles happily.

“Morning Sunshine,” he says as he places his cell phone on the dresser and wanders towards her.

“Morning,” she answers croakily. She lays back down, diagonal, her head on the pillow Mulder slept on. She feels the bed dip beside her, an arm wrap around her pulling her closer. She inhales the clean detergent smell of Mulder’s sweatpants.

“How’s your arm?” she asks eyes still closed, arms wrapping around his waist.

“Better,” Mulder answers. “I took some more painkillers so I should be okay for some time. How are you feeling?”

“Tired.”

“Yeah, late night last night, huh.” She hears the grin in Mulder’s voice.

“Who was on the phone?”

“Skinner. He’s got a case for us.”

Her heart sinks. “Today?” Today was their day off, she had zero intention of spending it anywhere other than this bed. Preferably with Mulder in it.

“No, silly.” His hand cascades through her hair, playing with the tresses. “It’s not urgent. It’s on our desk for tomorrow.”

His ministrations are half lulling her back to sleep.

“What are you doing today?” Scully asks. She waits, barely daring to breathe, awaiting his answer.

“Well unless you’re planning on kicking me out, I was gonna stay here. Watch a movie, hang out with you.”

“Just hang out?” Her eyes are open now, looking up at him.

“Well,” he answers with a grin. “I wouldn’t mind doing some other things.” His hand starts to trail downwards, venturing as far as he can reach which is around her mid back. “And then maybe order some food. Unless you’re sick of me then feel free to get dressed, drive me home, and then I’ll leave you to your day.”

She had no intention of leaving this bed for another hour much less kicking him out, getting dressed, and driving him home. She makes her point clear by snuggling deeper into the sheets and into him.

“Later maybe,” she says with her eyes closing. “I’m still tired.”

“Don’t let me interfere with your sleep habits.”

Scully starts to drift off again to the lull of Mulder’s fingers grazing her back and his spicy, sleepy scent flooding her nostrils.

[i-heart-yellowstone]

12 - New Parenting Style

Part 13

Raised Fair Share of Hell

Tag list @bvbwestfall l @hcwthewestwaswcn @child-of-of-the-sunshine @elenavampire21 @keep-the-wolves-close @kmc1989 @tallrock35

“Faith, sit down in your seat please.” I warned my daughter who was basically bouncing up and down in the passenger seat while I was driving the truck down the driveway on my way to take her to see her father since I felt bad they hadn’t gotten to spend time together since I had left him.

She sent me a half smile that only lasted about a second before she squealed. “I’m going to see daddy. I’m going to see daddy!”

“I wish I still had your energy, kiddo.” I shake my head, chuckling with the rest of the drive was easy enough with us parking outside the main house. Getting out first I opened the door and unbuckled her seat before she climbed over my body seeing her father coming down the steps.

Kayce barely caught her body in his arms. “Daddy!”

“Woah. If you get any bigger girl you might have to start carrying me.” He chuckled holding her up on his chest grinning up at her.

Leaning my back against the side of my truck once I had shut the passenger door. I felt bad for keeping them apart but I wasn’t sure I could let my heart fully care for the youngest son as easily as I had at 17 years old. “I’ll be back before dinner to pick her up.”

“Stay momma.” Faith reached out with one of her tiny hands extended out to me.

Kayce teased with those puppy dog eyes of his. “Yeah, stay with us, momma.”

“Don’t call me momma, Dutton!” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest.

He bites his lip before smirking at me not being able to not tease me, had been that way since we were teenagers. “Momma Lissa Rae.”

“Faith, jump.” I ran forward where she jumped out of his arms watching me tackle her father into the gravel driveway. She laughed so loud, enjoying the sight before her. I moved my hands over his body, finding his ticklish spots that I knew far too well.

Kayce attempted to grab my hands and stop me but he couldn’t stop cackle in laughter squirming underneath my touch. “Alissa, stop - Lissa!”

“Will you stop calling me momma?” I asked, barely pausing on my tickle attack.

He released a breath staring up at me before rolling me onto my back, pinning me down in the gravel by holding my wrists down. “I can’t help it’s true. You are a momma.”

“Our daughters, not yours.” I stick my tongue out at him.

He smiled hoping my nose was getting up to stand then offered a hand helping me up off the ground too. “I’ll get back later just you wait, Lissa Rae.”

“Mommy, why does he call you that?” Faith asked tugging on my hand closest to hers.

Kayce picked her up in his arms, holding her against his hip. “That’s her nickname, sweet girl. Like how Grandpa John calls you Faithy Rae.”

“What’s your full name, mommy?” She eyed me with the curious eyes of a child.

“Alissa Rae Lambert.”

She stuck her tongue out at me. “Don’t you mean Dutton like daddy?”

“Oh yes. My bad.” I ruffled her hair playfully making my way back over to get inside my truck knowing I should probably help my family out with their cattle since that was where we were living currently. “I’ll pick you up later.”

Kayce slightly turned his body towards me, stopping me from leaving. “You could stay for the day. I’m sure your sister can understand that you should have time with your family.”

“Fine, I’ll stay. But you owe me for a few nights of babysitting Kayce.” I pointed my index finger at him with a warning look in my eyes.

The evening eventually rolled around where the three of us were all sitting in the living room just playing old games because that was one of the things our daughter liked doing besides riding horses all day like her parents. Laying on the couch in the living room I just silently watched the two play rock, paper, scissors for I think the 10th time in a row. “Three. Two. One. Rock, paper, scissors!”

“Oh come on. How are we matching each other?” Kayce slapped a hand to his forehead with his other hand and his daughter's back coming up with Rock. The reason they had done ten rounds simply because they had thrown out the same option for half of the game.

Faith giggled, falling on her back on the rug. “We’re mind readers, daddy.”

“My little telepath.” Kayce crawled over to her on his hands and knees till he was hovering over her and began tickling her stomach. That was her serious tickle spot where she cackled out in a fit of giggles.

Running a hand over my mouth it hurt me to not tell him that I was secretly seeing someone else even though we were married until death do us part. I feel like even if we split up we’d always find our way back to one another because we’re best friends and that bond lasts forever. “Faith, it’s gettin’ to be bedtime. You better get your little butt to bed if you want to stay the night with your daddy.” I looked at the time on my phone screen seeing it was almost nine o’clock meaning it was already past her bedtime.

“Five more minutes.” She begged me for those puppy dog eyes.

Kayce raised a brow glancing over his shoulder up at me where I gave him a silent look that he knew I meant business. “Not tonight, Rae Rae.”

“But daddy.” She whined with a sad expression.

He rose to his feet helping her up to her feet gently pushing her towards the hallway where her bedroom was and thankfully she listened to his order. “Not but’s, Rae Rae. You gotta get some sleep if you want to go riding tomorrow like we talked about.”

“Goodnight baby girl.” I kissed her forehead when she passed me and waited till I heard the bedroom shut before I went in the direction of the front door to grab my coat and boots to leave. “I’ll pick her up after I help my sister put some new saddles on our horses.”

“So we’re just not gonna talk about us before you leave huh?” My husband asked seeing me slip the sleeves of my coat on, keeping my back facing him the whole time.

“What exactly is there to talk about, Kayce.”

He sighed heavily, dropping his hands down at his sides in frustration. “You just pack up all your things and go back to your family's home. You take our daughter away from me and refuse to talk to me for longer than a few seconds. I want to know why.”

“Kayce, I’m not keeping your daughter from you. She’s sleeping down that hallway right now. So I don’t see the real problem you’re talking about.” I slowly turned around on my feet to face the rancher with my hands on my hips.

“I want you to explain what we truly are and why I saw you kissing one of my fathers ranch hands a while back.”

Taken back by his statement I knitted my brows in confusion and slight horror. “W-what. I haven’t been seeing anybody else. Why would you say such a thing?”

“Don’t lie to me, Alissa. I know you and Ryan are hooking up.” Kayce snapped sharply back at me. “I came over to your parents house after work and saw you making out in the living room.”

Completely changing my demeanor I ran my hands down my face snapping back at my best friend. “You've been spying on me then, Dutton. I can't believe you would do something like that. I'd never do something so hurtful to you!”

“Oh you mean cheating with another guy behind my back.” Kayce shouts back at me, stomping up to me until there’s barely any space left between us. “I’ve been thinking that we were still in this together. But apparently, we’re not in the same marriage that I thought we were in.”

Leaning up on my toes I pushed my nose against his, intensely staring into his chocolate brown eyes. “We haven’t truly had a marriage, Kayce. I became your wife but you’ve spent more time with Monica then me and I know why cause I have your family and my own whereas she didn’t have much. Your mother raised you to be a good person.”

“I’m gonna try to be better, to do better, Alissa.” He spoke down to me until I slapped him across the face, holding the side of his burning cheek.

“You say you’ll do better but I can’t believe anything you say anymore. When we were teenagers you promised me that we would always be together and protect one another. Our families revolve around each other and live the same lifestyle. Except looking at you now all I want to do right now is get as far away from you as physically possible.”

My best friend softly asked me a question I wasn’t expecting to come out of his mouth. “Are you saying you don’t love me anymore?”

“I honestly don't know.” I breathe out heavily, dropping my shoulders. “I don’t hate you but I’m not sure I love you anymore.”

Kayce blinked through some tears that had slipped out when the words came out of my mouth. “I think - you should go.”

“Kayce, I didn’t mean it like that-“

He held up his hands ordering me outside without another word. “Just go Alissa.”

“I’m - I’ll see you in the morning.” I muttered slipping out the front door and to my truck. Slamming the drivers door closed I hit my hands on the steering wheel, heavy tears I began sobbing not thinking this would be how my night ended.

[thebranchesofshe]

Abe Kisro

"I just go walkin' sometimes when I sleep. I see people long gone. My mama had it too, and I hope she ain't still walkin' now that she's gone. By the way, Miz Liz, that paintin' of a horse in your son's room is the most heartbreakin' beautiful thing I ever seen."

Three words: observant, unorthodox, empathetic.

Name: Aberham Kisro

Date of birth: April 9, 1948.

Age as of Chapter I: 22.

Height: 6'2"

Gender: Gender? I hardly know her! (He's such a boy.)

Orientation: yes.

Occupation: nothing at the moment but there's a vacancy at Vick's Diner.

Where's his middle mame?: don't have one.

Is his name really spelled like that?: yes and it's gotten him out of a few jams when someone was looking for an "Abraham" Kisro.

Favorite book: he doesn't read so well. His brain gets a little cloudy.

Favorite film: he doesn't really go to pictures either.

Favorite treat: the boy has a soft spot for chocolate cake.

Background: he was born in east Texas and lived there all his life until just now. His mother was a sex worker and his father was a circus clown who quite literally came and went. Abe was mostly deafened by a shotgun blast when he was 12, which is around the time he dropped out of school. Not because he was deaf, but because he figured he could read, write, and do math, the basic tools anyone needs. That, and he needed money. He tended to horses since he was small. By 13 he was driving farm trucks. By 17 his mother had died and he went into boxing after discovering after one too many fistfights that he could get hit a lot and not fall down. He's a 6'2" welterweight.

Why is he in Tennessee?: he killed a guy.

How?: guy starved and dehydrated to make the weight class and died during the bout.

Sounds like an accident: yeah, and it is, but Abe was traumatized by it and swore off of boxing and violence in general. He also started having photosensitive seizures after too many hits to the dome. He had no real ties or roots anywhere so he started drifting from town to town in his truck. Tennessee is a pretty nice place to be, he heard.

What's with the walkin' thing?: he astral projects when he goes to sleep. Make no mistake, he knows exactly what that is.

What does he want?: he wants connection, community, roots... to help people, do good. He doesn't quite know how, but he wants to try. He's been looking for a place to put down roots for a long time.

Can he see the man with the blurry face?: and how!

Does he like books? Movies?: he can't make much sense of fiction, but he likes art books and nonfiction stuff, and movies are too visually unpredictable, but he likes that they're loud. Mostly he just likes watching public access television. It's kind of fascinating to him. He likes music, folk, country, prog rock, but he can't listen to it often because he needs it loud.

What else?: he's constantly drawing. All the time. Keeps notepads on him. Draws surreal little doodles of people he sees.

What would he change about himself if he could?: he would like to not have seizures. Why do you ask?

There's someone coming to Decaelo who might be able to take them away: Lyle? Lyle Everett Love? The faith healer? That guy's a phony.

Does he know any sign language?: not much, but he has some stolen library books about it and he sometimes practices in front of a mirror. He wishes he had someone to talk to.

Does he have any friends?: he hopes he will soon.

Any enemies?: it's hard to have beef with a dadaist noodle.

What does he look like?: tall slender pale dude with very straight black hair that's always a little greasy and a little too long to do much with, so he brushes it back. Pale blue eyes, tall forehead, little upturned nose. He wears sunglasses all the time and has a scar on his cheek.

Bro you're just describing like... a strung out 70's Nick Cave: shut up no I'm not.

I lied, bitch!

[westernbitch]

chapter 12!! bar fight ahead:))

Ty pulls up to the front of the house where I am waiting with Beth. "Ma'am, would you mind if I drove Evy to dinner?" I turn to Beth with a smile. "Did you ask her father?" Tyler gets out of the truck and walks to us. "Yes ma'am, I have asked both Rip and John." He takes my hand and opens the door for me. I hop in and get this giddy feeling. I feel a breeze on my chest and look down at my v cut shirt. "Ty, can I borrow a wild rag?" He grins and passes me his one with his brand. "Your wearing the one with my brand on it." I look into the back seat and see four other ones. "Put it on." I put it on and pull down the mirror to take a look, then take it off immediately. He watches me and sighs. "What is your fucking deal Evy? It looked good on you and you know it. It is like every time you like something you try to stop it." I turn toward the window. He hits the brakes and pulls over on the side of the road. He gets out of the truck and slams the door. I swing the door open and stomp to him. "No Tyler, what is your fucking deal? You make fun of me and then lay me in a field and make me want you and you stop. You kiss me on the first night and you come into my life and make me think. I am fucking tired of thinking!" I am pissed, I feel my heart beating faster and faster. I want to hit something, I start pacing. I start to walk away and he pulls my wrist and wraps his arms around me. I pull away but he is too strong. I start banging my fist against his chest. "You are fucking toying with me! Grow a fucking pair and tell me what you want!" I hit and hit, and he takes it. "Evy! Stop! Baby! Evy, I have been cruel. I like you and I want you, but I want you so bad, I can't take it." I crumple into his arms. His arms hold me up. "We gotta get to dinner, your dad is gonna kill me if I keep you from family dinner."

His chest is beet red and so is my face. "I am so sorry Ty, I hate that I hit you." He grabs my hand and walks me to the front of the steak house. He reaches up and ties the wild rag around my neck and places a kiss on my cheek. "I will stop making you mad and start making you very happy." I look into his warm eyes before we walk in.  We are guided to a private back room, Tyler pulls out a seat for me by Rip. He takes the other chair besides me. Rip gives me one look and whispers in my ear,"Evelyn May, tell me right fucking now or I will strangle him with my bare hands." I kiss him on the cheek. "Daddy, it is my fault." His jaw clenches and looks confused. "Tyler why the fuck has she been crying and why is your chest red? She said it is her fault, but boy you better choose your words wisely." I look to see Tyler tense, fear is deep in his eyes. "Sir, I-" I look to the waiter and ask for a big glass of wine. "I.D. ma'am," Rip turns to the man a gets up. "She is a Dutton and if she wants wine you get her wine." The waiter nodded and hurried toward to kitchen. John yelled, "make that a bottle!" He turns back to Tyler, "Son, why did she cry and why is your chest red?" Tyler looked like he wanted to die. "For fucks sake, he wanted me to wear his brand and I tried to deny him. He has been a fucking idiot for weeks. He tried to hold me and I started to hit him. I told him to grow a fucking pair and show me what he wants. I am wearing his brand, so for fucks sake can we have dinner and get drunk?" John stares at me. I feel myself turn red and tears prick my eyes. I hear Rip laughing. I whip my head to him, he passes me the glass of wine. "Do you want me to yell at you too? Dad, I don't think you want to do that. I may ruin you." I hear Beth's drink catch in her throat. She coughs and is belly laughing. "Oh honey! Please poke the bear. I wanna see my girl rip some ass!" 

I feel like I am floating on the way to the truck. Rip has his arm around my shoulder and is holding me up. "Daddy! Lets go dancin'!" Rip nods to Tyler and lifts me up to the truck. He drives toward the bar down the street. I hop out and run to Beth. John leads Lynelle into the bar. The music is loud and starts to buzz around me. Ty leads me to the dance floor and swings me around. I feel myself giggling and smiling more than I have in years. He passes me to John, "I am sorry grandpa, I was disrespectful earlier. I will make it up to you I promise." He winks at me, "don't worry about it darlin'. I haven't met a 16 year old like this, well, besides Beth." He walks me to the table and hands me a drink. I took a drink and made a face. "My turn," Rip grabs my hand a leads me out again. His stone appearance melts a bit when I start to laugh. "Daddy, I am sorry. I never want to disappoint you, I was awful bac--" Rip dips me and swings me back up. "Don't you dare apologize to me. I have only loved two women in my life, Beth and my momma. That was until God gave me a daughter. Never apologize to me." He pulls me in and kisses my head. "I love you too, daddy."

I found my way to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I was smiling ear to ear. I have a dad. A dad who loves me and protects me. I walk out to find the table when I feel a hand slide into my pocket. "Ty!" I feel the heat on my neck. I turn to see a random man. I tried to jump back, but he grabbed my hips and pulled me in. I feel my heart pounding through my chest. "Get the fuck off of me you piece of shit!" I scanned the room looking for Rip. The man reaches his hand down and I feel it grip me between my legs. I screamed, "Get the fuck off of me!" I grab at his hands and pry them off me. I start hitting and scratching him. I feel my fist connect with his face. A hand drags me down by the hair. I picked myself up and started hitting the woman who grabbed me. "You little slut!" The woman swung at me again. I caught her fist and threw her elbow down over my knee. She screamed in pain. I felt myself getting pulled away, I was pulling and trying to get away. The bouncer puts me in a head lock and drags me. The woman comes and punches me. In the face and then the stomach. I fall on the ground. "Don't put your fucking hands on her." Rip starts pummeling the mans face. I roll on the ground trying to gasp for air. I feel fire in my chest, the burning won't stop. Beth starts with the woman and is pulled away by John. Lynelle steps up, "get out of the fucking bar!" She hissed it and threw a bottle toward the woman. Beth turns back to me and comes to the floor. "Honey, breath, are you hurt?" I try to talk, but my lungs burn, begging for air. 

[windsongs2]

Most people when they hear someone's been abused thinks it's physical and yes it can be physical but also could be emotional mental and financial plus other types of abuses

Mine was all of the above plus verbally abused

What I'm going to post is the verbal abuse, the emotional abuseand mental abuse I got from my ex husband.

Even though I make light of his threats in this post that I posted on Facebook.

It's very serious cuz it doesn't always start out with physical abuse and people need to realize that.

unfortunately I didn't and not only why I was abused this way, so was my child that I dearly love she was abused too in all ways.

I forgiven my abuser my ex for what he did to me and my child but I will never forget it.

I will never like the person and I will never tolerate that with anybody else in my life.

Here's the post:

"Laugh away.... number 4 always gets me a chuckle. Lol

Things the ex used to say ( and yes he meant them...and I did laugh out loud and/or told him how stupid it sounded)

1. If I die before you (no matter what age) you have stay unmarried to show respect for my family...... plus you have to go live with them. <<<<< gag

2, a woman can't drive trucks

3. No matter what i say you must always agree with it, in public and private <<< yeah, like I am a mindless empty headed person...lol

4. You had a boy instead of a girl cause you didn't think girl thoughts ( you all can stop laughing now..lol)

5. Women can't live without a man , they need to be told how things are done ( about 6 months before the divorce he said that one and o am doing fine without a man telling me..thank you very much)

6. Women aren't made to be bosses, they will fail. <<<< ok tell that to the women run companies..like Avon.

7. In public I would never put you down, I would wait till we are home. <<< in which I rapidly replied " like hell you will, you can forget that idea"

8. No matter what my mom will always be number one over you, you don't mean anything in my family <<<<< thats ok your family isn't worth me thinking about and your mom tried to kill me 3 times so I really think shes not going to be missed by me too

9. You need to start being a vietnamese person now your are married to me. <<< hmm.. white skin, blue eyes, red hair, a mind of my own I don't think that's going to work to well plus we live in the USA not Vietnam

10. Once your past 50 you have to be serious minded, can't party, be a stay at home type person <<< you haven't got a clue of what I am like do you?

11. I want a all white house... walls, furniture, carpet and floors. <<< you do know we have 1 year old right???

12. Your family hates you, they don't want you or love you, I am the only one that can love you. Don't listen to them . <<< he said that many times .

<<< so I promptly told him that it's his family that is the one that's screwed up and he can go to hwll with that notion.

13. God is nothing , I am above him.<<<< well I guess god will set him straight about that.

I don't know how one person could be so so screwed up.... but I didn't pay him any mind . And lucky for my daughter I was there to tell her that "whatever her father said do not to believe him and always ask me about it.""

One of my hashtags says fight back. This doesn't mean physically fight the person because more likely that person will kill you.

It means do what you must

what I did to protect me and my child is I told him what was what, not with my child is around because I didn't want to her to hear mother go off on her father.

Fight back means be strong stand against what they're trying to be with you, know that you are not the victim, know that you did not cause this abuser to be angry with you, know that you are better than them.

fight back!! Don't let the abuser get inside your head and change you and make you weak.

I didn't.

[overthinkinlinc]

I've never been on a road trip before so here is a list of things that I've experienced thus far:

1. Cars. So many of them.

2. A truck driver who gave me a nice little wave when I let him in front of me

3. A different truck driver who is currently participating in a blinker boycott, Maybe a lot is going on at home. Idk.

4. A woman, who when I told her I was going to Oklahoma, told me to not.

5. A big trucker truck that had the suicide hotline on the back of it and I thought that was pretty neat™

6. Road. Road. More road. Tree. Rock. Person?? CLIFF.

7. A dog who I gave a little bit of chicken strip in a parking lot of a motel

8. A cat, in the same parking lot, who did not want to be my best friend forever even after I offered.

9. My friend, Who is actually the best, and is watching my cats and has called me and sparked all the joys.

10. Being a bamboozled into listening to a self-help book on tape narrated by an old woman who has told me to stop abusing infants. I think it was metaphor. Idk.

11. Kingman, Arizona. Which has no kings just man and I feel like that's false marketing.

12. A twink, whom I apologized to four times; unrelated to him being twink.

13. My father who has been sending me lyrics to songs as I give him updates. "Happiness is Lubbock Texas in the rear view mirror"-George Strait

14. SIGNS. so many signs

"puff puff.. pass the keys" - 10/10 don't drive high

"Drive hammered. get nailed." 4/10 low key confusing, possible innuendo.

"Welcome to Texas, drive friendly" 0/10 bad bad lies

"KNIFE CITY" k, what

15. Trees. They are so pretty and are doing such a great job.

16. A button in my car, which I know does something I'm just not sure what.

17. A town in Colorado which I'm utterly convinced houses every single Hallmark movie.

18. Nobody knows how to use a passing lane.

19. Dads. Nothing in particular just a lot of them.

20. Speed traps. which I have gotten around by going too fast for them to see me.

21. Snow tires make you a fucking god

22. I learned how to pump my own gas and it makes a vrrmmmmzzz sound and I like it quite a lot

23. Sour gummy worms and Coca-Cola should not be the only thing consumed while driving for 11 hours straight, your body will also make a vrrmmmmzzz sound and I do not like that.

24. A shipping container on top of a mountain that said vote Trump, I do not know how they got it on top of that mountain.

25. Every place I stop at talks about route 66 and I have no idea why because I've been driving on route 40.

26. My friend, again, who is watching my cats and not murdered me for where I keep things in my house.

27. A woman who was staring at me so I climbed on top of my car.

28. Lubbock, Texas is in fact an awful place.

29. So many Dollar Generals I'm convinced that they're all just connected into one giant omnipotent Dollar General.

30. My legs. I can't feel them. :)

[wyn-n-tonic]

I got a lot of really lovely asks about Frizzy last night and I've been having quite a few really lovely conversations about them and how the book is going for a while so I wanted to talk about them for a minute to, just like.... give you guys the proper update you deserve.

Long post so... behind the cut.

First and foremost, I'm really grateful to everybody for the patience you've given me as I work through this. Not only has it been difficult and blocking to walk away from what their story was in order to turn their story into what it is becoming but I've had a lot going on. My depression sends me into really horrible bouts of writer's block and between a really stressful job and moving and other stuff, the thought of writing at all has been terrifying because I don't want to mess things up. But especially these idiots because I love them so genuinely. So... let's get into it.

Lizzy is staying Lizzy, 26 - 27 over the timeline. She's 5'6/5'7 and still feels awkward in her body. She had these big plans for herself that got derailed and she ended up in a not great situation and ended up calling her brothers to come get her. She's been back in Raleigh, NC, for two years at this point to get her life back on track and, despite formerly being really great friends with Frankie, that's no longer the case. She doesn't know him. She doesn't speak to him. The only time she sees him is when he's around her twin brother since her older brother lives in Washington DC.

Danny (26 - 27), Lizzy's twin, is a firefighter by day and a cagefighter by night (literally what his Tinder profile says). Ladies man but not really. Kind of comes off as a douche but in that goofy, endearing way not in the predatory, frat boy way. He likes baseball and bad beer. Extremely unmedicated ADHD.

Robert (Rob/Bo) (32) is Lizzy's older brother. He works for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Loves dinosaurs, books, grilling, a nice cocktail and his husband.

Leo (33), Rob's husband, is an anesthesiologist who does Doctors Without Borders now that he meets the requirements. His hope is to take two to three months (minimum requirement of availability for anesthesiologists for DWB is 8 - 12 weeks) every year or two to put forth his services.

Gabriel Francisco (30 - 31) is Rob's best friend, how he met Lizzy and Danny and Leo. He always wanted to be a pilot like his dad and grandfather who were in the Air Force but they both made it clear to him that they would not accept him joining the military because, "What would our sacrifices have been for if you just repeat the cycle?" Went to school for aerospace engineering, works in aircraft design. His grandfather, Emilio, died and he's been struggling a lot with that as well as having just broken things off with his girlfriend a few months previously to the start of the book. Feels an intense amount of responsibility for everybody around him but doesn't ever really let anybody else in.

New characters:

Matt (Lizzy's ex boyfriend. Danny stole every remote to every device in the house when he moved Lizzy out).

Jen (Frankie's ex girlfriend. She hated his connection with the Millers and called them bad influences on him. Called him Gabriel or Gabe even though he hated both of them because, 'Frankie is so juvenile and you're a grown man.').

Frankie drives a 2008 Ford F-250 (dark blue) and, yes, there is a certain scene in the back of the truck that is staying.

Story starts with a certain kiss in the kitchen.

Frankie's house is pretty bare, no decorations or paint. He only has it because he wanted to show his grandfather, who was dying, and his father that he had 'made it' and could take care of himself at a very young age without struggling the way they did so that when he does have a family, he doesn't have to struggle more.

Currently being written in first person with half of the chapters following Liz's thoughts and half of them following Frankie's because the story is both of theirs.

I'm making really good progress on it now and I'm doing my best to get this to you guys in 2023.

[softboynick]

$12 bottles

~940w, fluff, two boys in falling in love

steve and tony have their first date.

happy valentine’s day, my loves! <3 | fic inspired by “$12 bottles” by sir, please.

—

On the night of their very first date, Steve picks him up with the old beat-up pick up he’s been spending all summer fixing up with his dad.

He almost thinks he’s got the wrong address when the GPS sends him down a gravel road and towards a wrought-iron gate. With a gate like this, he almost suspects there’ll be someone checking his car for any illegal substances, but no one comes, and all he has to do is press a button on the intercom.

He clears his throat, afraid his voice will crack. “Uh, hello. I’m here for Tony?”

A smooth, British voice answers, “Yes, Mr. Rogers. We’ve been expecting you.” And that doesn’t sound ominous at all.

The gate opens, and he pulls his truck through. The tree-lined road eventually opens up to a large roundabout with a fountain smack dab in the middle. He squints and notices that it has a replica of the Venus de Milo sitting amid the shooting water.

He parks his truck, and he has a moment of panic, before he has to talk himself down.

Just about everyone in this town knows how loaded the Stark family is, but he wasn’t prepared to see the opulence of their home in real life.

It’s almost comical the way he fidgets in the middle of the Stark’s extravagant foyer, covered floor to ceiling in white, sparkling marble, under the cool stare of the family’s butler. He tries not to move an inch, scared that he’ll scuff the floor with his dirty, beat-up converse. Everything in here is immaculate, and Steve is hyper aware that he doesn’t fit in. He tries—and fails—to make small talk.

“Um, you’re Jarvis, right?”

“Yes.”

“Cool.”

And that’s that.

He doesn’t relax until he sees Tony coming down the stairs, and all his worries seem to flush right out of his system the moment he sees the look of excitement on Tony’s face.

“Hi,” Steve says dumbly.

Tony’s eyes crinkle with delight as he smiles. “Hi,” he says in reply.

Before he knows it, Tony is taking Steve’s hand and pulling him towards the front door. “Bye, Jarvis! Don’t wait up!”

They step out of the door, and Steve is suddenly self-conscious about the sight of his truck, looking like a dirty smudge in the front garden. But it doesn’t look like Tony seems to mind, so he tries not to bring it up as he opens the passenger side door for him.

“What a true gentleman,” Tony gushes, climbing in.

Steve quickly circles around the front to get into the driver’s side, and that moment of panic returns when it has to take him about three times to get the truck moving. “Sorry,” he mutters sheepishly.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

Tony’s still smiling, so he doesn’t worry about it.

Steve drives them out to the lookout point where almost everyone brings their first dates. Thankfully, no one else is there to disturb them, and he parks the car with the bed of the truck facing the city below.

His ma had helped him out with all the cooking and set up, because Steve, for the life of him, had been too nervous to do anything but worry. But she’d assure him that Tony was going to fall head over heels for him, because the best way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. That’s how I got your father, she’d say with a wink.

Popping the cover off the bed of the truck, Steve reveals a bed of pillows and blankets tucked away for them to get comfortable. A cooler filled with food sits next to the makeshift bed along with a lantern that he turns on to give Tony the full view of the set up.

“Whoa.. You did all of this for me?” Tony asks in awe.

Steve nervously rubs the back of his neck. “Well, I mean. It is our first date. I just wanted to make it special.”

Tony beams at him and demands to be helped up. He settles into the pillows and grabs a blanket to cover himself with. “C’mon, you big lug. Get in here.”

Steve follows him in and sits himself right next to Tony, dragging the cooler closer to start serving up the home cooked meal his ma stored away in Tupperware. He took a closer look into the cooler and saw dessert—her famous apple pie—and a bottle of wine.

They eat away the night with the twinkling lights of the city below. They save dessert for last and cuddle up together under the blankets as they take in the view and munch up Sarah Rogers’ pie between sips of cheap wine.

“I know this ain’t no fancy dinner, but—“

Tony cuts him off with a sigh. “Steve. You really need to stop being so hard on yourself.”

“But—“

“Look, you and I both know that money isn’t an issue for me and my family. It’s not a secret, and I don’t want it to be. But I’d take views and a home cooked meal over fancy dinners any day. Especially if it’s with you. And before you say anything, I didn’t agree to go on this date with you because I pity you. I’d hate for you to think that. I really like you, Steve. And I want this to work.”

Steve stares at Tony, at the boy who has everything, and still, he wants him. “I really like you, too,” he whispers.

Tony smiles, and he looks just as beautiful as the stars in the sky and the ones flickering in the city. Perhaps, even more. “Good.”

[niskoo]

Burrito run

pairing: rich kid! Jake x rich kid! reader

genre: fluff, crack, bff2l! AU

warnings: food, swearing, sneaking out (??)

word count: 3k words

a/n: my dumbass posted this on my nct acc omfg

this was originally for haechan of nct for my nct acc (@daegall) but i thought i could treat you guys to hehe

networks: @enhypennetwork

You had known Jake for more than half of your lives. Thanks to both of your rich ass parents setting you two up for a playdate at the age of 12, now you have found your rock and partner in crime. You know when he's feeling down, when he wants to cause trouble for no reason, when he has an eye for someone, heck, you know when and how to get him out of any situation when needed.

Like right now, as he gives you a side glance as he talks boringly to a group of men. All they talked about was business. Jake wanted to talk about that one burrito place down the block, he wants to get out of there and go get some. He wants to get out of this stupid high class party he has no part of.

He knows you do too, he knows by the way you keep glancing at the back door by the kitchen, and how you occasionally move to each group closer to the door. You know he catches up to the plan, how he also moves from group to group, excusing himself every 2 minutes.

You politely excuse yourself from the many unknown rich aunts who just questioned your love life, giving them a very passive smile, before turning to move to another group.

You don't get to go to another group, because you're already so close to the door, and Jake approaches you.

"Why, hello there, miss Y/n."

You feign shock at his greeting, holding a hand to your chest, "My, Jaeyun, wasn't it? It's been too long!"

Your best friend nods, playing along to the small skit you two have created, "About 2 hours, I think? You've grown very beautifully,"

You flick your hand at him, nudging his shoulder not-so-gently, "Oh stop."

You bite your lip to hold back a loud laugh when Jake winces at your harsh push at his shoulder, watching as his face twists in playful anger. You can't help but thin he looks absolutely adorable, nose scrunched up and eyes narrowed in a non meaningful glare, you ought to kiss his puffed cheeks.

You shake the last thought from your mind, bringing the elegant glass of champagne to your lips, sipping lightly at the sweet and slightly sour liquid. You then take a double check around the spacious room, to see if anyone is watching.

Your mother and father were chatting at the far corner with the parents of Jay, a guy you met earlier this evening. He looked just as bored as you. Jake's parents stood not too far from your parents, greeting anyone who approached them.

This was your chance.

Quickly, as Jake was mumbling something about you growing up strongly as well, you grab his arm. He yelps in surprise, as you drag him through the back door, lightly blushing at your gentle touch at his wrist.

The back door soon slams behind the both of you, and you are met with a large yard.

"Y/n! What if someone caught us?"

Giving Jake a side glare, you start to trudge down the flight of stairs to the garden, "You were too busy complaining about my guns to notice we had a chance to escape. You're welcome."

"You're weak!"

"Am not!"

"Are to!"

You ignore the upcoming argument you could've started, taking off your painful heels. They were absolutely stunning, but stung your feet constantly. Beauty is pain, as mother says.

"Lead the way to the burrito truck you claimed to see on the way here!"

Through the many bushes, and many guards, and even more bushes, you finally make it out the the big mansion, and into the dark streets. It's 10 in the night, you hope the burrito place is still open or your only choice left is a McDonalds about an hour away or convenience store food. Not that you minded, but you haven't had a burrito since you were 18. You had it right after graduation day with one of your closes friends who you have no idea of her whereabouts now.

The last time Jake had a burrito is about last week, the first time he met another rich kid named Sunghoon. Their parents gave them a bunch of money to go spend on expensive and top quality foods, but they both mutually agreed to get cheap burritos that would probably give them a bad stomach.

Jake takes the lead, as expected, for he was the one who spotted the food truck. He took off his blazer some time ago, you don't remember when, but with his jacket thrown over his elbow and sleeves rolled up like that, you can't help but admire.

You notice every single little thing about him, his slow, rhythmic paces, occasionally kicking stray rocks on the sidewalk. You watch as his hair slightly bounces as he kicks yet another rock, and you want to pet his hair.

There was that one time when you were 16 and you had a movie night as your parents went away for some business, he had his head on your lap, you didn't mind for some reason. At some point you had started playing lightly with a few strands of his hair, but you didn't notice. The moment you softly ran your hands through his hair, you realized, and decided to keep your hands to yourself after that. To your surprise he protested against it, claiming it was very comforting. So now every time one of you come over to the other's house, you would somehow find yourself playing with his hair, like pure human instinct.

But now as you observed your best friend more, you have a different feeling running through you as you had an urge to softly play with them once more, as if it wasn't as platonic anymore. But that was absurd. you've been friends for 10 years now, why are you just feeling like this now?

Your heart jumps in your chest when you are suddenly met with Jake's eyes, shining brightly with a slight mischievous gloss glazing over them. "Can we pick up the pace please? I'm getting pretty hungry and I know you are too."

Your heart softens as he sticks his arm out, gesturing you to come next to him. You jog barefoot to his side, instantly looping your arm with his.

It doesn't take long to find the food truck Jake mentioned, just a 10 minutes from the mansion, somewhere near the center of town. You had to drive about 2 hours to get here, and so did Jake, so it's a bit strange how he knew his way around the town so easily. You guess he just is that way.

You practically drool at the smell of savory foods that lingers in the air, sucking the saliva in your mouth.

Your best friend eyes you playfully, nudging your hip with his, "See? What did I tell you? Burrito food truck!"

You don't respond, simply grunting and dragging him to the cashier to order some food.

It takes a lot of time to decide on what burrito you'd buy, there were even tacos, and weirdly, cookies and croissants. It was your dream food truck, really. In the end, you both went for the classic burrito, nothing could beat it.

There were no seats to the food truck, sadly, so you and Jake opted to sit on the curb, legs sprawled out on the road, hopefully no cars drive by.

"You ready?" Your best friend asks you, looking at you with much anticipation. You stare at your own burrito in much more anticipation, it's been 4 years since you had a burrito. You wonder how you could survive that long.

You nod vivaciously, already opening your mouth to take a bite. Jake chuckles as he watches you take your first bite, your cheeks instantly puffing out full of the contents. You shut your eyes in bliss, licking your lips for anything left on them.

As you continue to chew, you shake your head, "Shit, I haven't had anything this good in sooo long." You exaggerate, taking yet another bite of the heavenly treat.

Jake can't agree more, he just had a burrito last week, but somehow eating one with you feels different. Especially when you don't mind him seeing and pointing out the smeared food around your mouth, simply trying to search for it with your tongue instead.

Your best friend wants to cherish this moment forever, keep it deep in his heart and laugh at it in the future when he suddenly gets reminded of it, he wants to brag about it to his friends, maybe even share it with his grandchildren, he doesn't know. All he knows is that you're it for him.

You're the one he's spent all of his teenage years with, his first heartbreak, first sleepover, first drink was with you, heck, you were his first close friend!

You know so much about him, you share so much about yourself to him, he's the one you trust. He's the first person you call out to when you're down, first person you call out to in the best of your times. It amazing how much you've been through together, and Jake thinks anything is possible, as long as it's you.

Falling in love seems so much easier than ever, especially at that moment, eating a burrito instead of the expensive caviar at the party before, just with him. And nobody else.

He wants to make you his. Not just his best friend, his lover, his soul mate, his whole world. Not that you weren't already.

"What's wrong?" you suddenly ask Jake, startling him. "You nudge your chin at the burrito in his hands, "Why aren't you eating?"

Jake flushes, realizing he's been staring at you the whole time, taking a big bite of his burrito, before looking away bashfully. "It's nothing."

You grow suspicious of his actions, watching as he swallows and bites his lip shyly. You choose to leave it there, instead bringing up your parents being out of town next week.

The conversation keeps going, from one topic to the other, swerving all over the place, but that's just how it is, talking to the person you're most comfortable with.

The conversation goes on and on until you find yourself walking along the streets blindly, fiddling with the paper packaging of the burrito you ate. You also find yourself wearing Jake's shoes instead of walking barefoot, he gave to you after you complained about walking over so many rocks, and you didn't like how your heart swarmed and beat dangerously fast as he claimed it would be better if you borrowed them for the night.

Strangely enough, his blazer he took off about and hour ago now stayed on your shoulders, keeping you warm from the cold breezes of the night. All your best friend's actions made you swoon over him, and that wasn't something you would feel often. Maybe occasionally, but not everyday.

Jake doesn't know what got into him when he took his shoes off for you, or when he draped his blazer on your shoulders, or why he took your heels and held it for you. What he does know, is that he enjoys the way your lips purse and a light shade of pink dusted over your cheeks. Or how you pull his blazer tighter around your body and sub-consciously loop your arm around his again.

You two never really got to go through the proper high school experience, your parents forced you to go to a strict school with strict rules, they didn't even have celebrations.

Jake always imagines what it would be like to go to a dance, prom, maybe? Full of fun, dancing, and definitely you. You had a similar vision. Chugging down punch or soda and dancing crazily together until you both get sick and throw up in the bathroom.

Prom was like a mutual yearning for the both of you.

God, how you would kill to have a normal high school experience.

"You know," Jake starts, "this feels like I'm walking you home after prom."

You can't stop the grin from reaching your lips, giving into it and letting out a soft laugh. Softly, you elbow his side, "Corny."

There are a few laughs here and there after that, but overall just comforting silence that goes throughout the night. The crickets that echo throughout the night are your only noises, and the few cars rushing by. You two come to a stop at a random bench by a streetlamp, settling there until you realize it's time to go back to the party.

You realize it, but you just don't want to let go of the moment.

You feel Jake hook his leg under yours, swinging them together in sync as you rest and stare into the night sky. Tonight isn't that much of a pretty night, no stars, barely a moon, but that's alright, you're enjoying the most of it.

You turn your head away from the boring black sky, instead facing the mot interesting thing you find in life. Jake is staring down at your swinging legs, smiling at the sight. He fiddles softly with your fingers, caressing and tracing them as if they were one of the most precious things in the world.

Your eyes trail from your tangled legs, to your tangled hands, all the way up to Jake's face, tracing each and every detail with your gaze. You don't remember when he matured, you only remember the fluffy cheeked bowl cut Jake when you two were still middle schoolers. Now all that cheek has become more defined, especially his jaw, you can't help but admire him. He was like a piece of art. Your favorite piece of art.

For the second time that night, you focus on his hair, and ought to run your hands through them once again. To pull him into your embrace as he rests on you, to simply relax and twirl his strands around your fingers.

It seems like whenever you're staring at his hair, Jake just startles you with his eyes, still glossy, but this time they hold something different.

They admire you just as much as yours admire him.

Slowly, as if an unspoken agreement, you lean in closer to his face. His breath close to your cheek sets goosebumps trailing your body, and his touch now on your neck warms you inside.

Your eyes flit between his eyes and lips, oh those plump, soft lips you dream of. You would never admit it, but you have had many urges to crash your own upon them.

And that's exactly what you do. Though, crash isn't the right word to describe it. They press together softly more than recklessly, pulling into a soft lock, something much more than just platonic love being poured into it. Pure bliss and love are being poured like gentle and calm rivers, the ones you find clear and beautiful in parks. It runs faster as Jake tilts your head to kiss you closer, lips wrapped up in the warmth of yours. It feels like home to him.

Jake is absolutely perfect, you decide, despite all the many nights spent together breaking down, left for each other to pick the other up, it makes him perfect.

He thinks you're the most flawless thing he's ever seen, despite all the gems and crystals he sees in most parties, you're the brightest one shining, he could never find any jewel more valuable than you.

You pull away with one last soft lock of your lips, but stay close and ghost them together. You find his eyes the shining the most you have ever seen in the 10 years you have spent with him, one different emotion fluttering behind them. Love.

You surely don't feel that big of a person when you're at these big rich parties, even if everyone knew of your name. But kissing your best friend and being the one he sees, he loves, being his, you feel like you could rule the world.

You know you're his after this. How could you not? The way he breaks out into a very bashful smile when you leave one last peck on his lips, the way he holds you so close. There was no way he couldn't be yours after this.

A week later you have a very sleepy boyfriend on your couch, his head resting on your lap as you play softly with his hair. Nothing is all that different, except for all the kisses he steals when reaching up to you. And of course, the corny lines being thrown at each other as a competition to see who can come up with the cheesiest, most disgusting pick up line ever.

"I want to wrap you in my arms and make you my baerito."

"Ugh Jake that was just straight but bad! Not even funny or cheesy!"

Jake simply laughs, and wraps his arms around you just as he claimed to have wanted to, mumbling how he agreed into your forehead.

Being in his arms, you feel like you could fight everything that would try to hurt your lover, but for now you stick to the playful pokes he gives to your stomach and sides.