#my cousin’s friend from california’s little brother had a SECRET BABY.

[fagrackham]

i love hearing abt drama concerning people i don’t know

[thedroneranger]

Beached. Part 14

Jake "Hangman" Seresin

Précis: Kyle Jassen was looking for a quiet day at the beach, but a rogue football put her en route to a whirlwind romance with a hotshot naval fighter pilot

Note: I couldn’t help myself. This fic is cross-posted, and my first TGM fic. Since I was like an excited child and immediately began writing this fic after my first time watching TGM, some canon has been ignored. Another shorty but goodie.

Warnings: 18+ only—sexual content, contains adult themes and language; minors do not interact

Word count: 2.2k

I had volunteered to help set up for Asher and Maddie’s party. Lindsey took me up on my offer, but because they could hire help, it was a ploy for us to hang out before the festivities. Emma also came, and we drank Irish coffees on the patio. Primarily, I drank coffee while Emma and Lindsey chatted about the family. Every now and then I would be called upon to answer a question about California Jake.  

Lindsey sighed and sat her coffee on the table. “Those two idiots.” She was referring to her father and brother. “I’m just glad they didn’t rope Todd into boxing.” Lindsey pinched the bridge of her nose. “Normally Todd ends up wrapped in their shenanigans,” she explained.

“It’s never a dull moment with Jake.” I added, sipping my coffee. 

“Not much has changed.” Emma snorted. 

My eyes widened. “Do tell. I’d love some Jake anecdotes to hold against him later.”

I drank up every story as they spilled Jake’s adolescent antics. Well, the ones they knew about. My mind drifted, thinking about what he got into as the only boy—surely his sisters were spared that knowledge. 

The afternoon came too soon. Todd summoned Lindsey for hosting duties, and Emma was resigned to babysitting as her niece and nephew begged her to play with them. I took advantage of the alone time and continued to sip coffee. 

Jake had arrived but was busy reacquainting with cousins, aunts, uncles and longtime family friends. We already discussed that I was not expected to shake hands and kiss babies with him—we’d save that for the wedding the next evening.

I remained tucked away on the patio, not wanting to draw any attention, for as long as possible. After discreetly joining the crowd to sing “Happy Birthday” and watch the twins open their gifts, I wandered back to my perch. 

Upon my return, I found Elma. “Hi!” I greeted her. 

“Come, sit!” She patted the cushion next to her. She had a full tea service with sandwiches sitting on the table. She readied me tea as I sat. With a grateful nod, I accepted the cup. “Are you enjoying your stay?” She asked as she sipped her beverage.

“It’s been lovely. Mostly,” I replied, mirroring her actions. 

She sighed. “I’m sorry about dinner. Thomas is often a Grade A ass.” Elma took a sip of tea.

“Why?” The question fell from my lips before I realized I had asked.

Elma’s shoulders rose toward her ears. “It’s hard to say. I think he needs Jake and is a little jealous that Jake managed to carve his own path instead of following Thomas’ wishes.”

Before Elma and I could dive any deeper, Jake appeared. “There you are.” His Seresin Smile™ beaming.

I smiled back. “Hey.” He sat down beside me and stole my tea. Elma scolded him while she prepared another one. I took the fresh one and shot him a glare. Happily sipping my, now his, tea, he pretended not to notice.

“How was your morning?” He looked at me. Elma also waited for me to respond.

I leaned back in my seat. “Mhmmm, I learned a lot about baby Jake.” His eyes widened. “Not from Elma, from your sisters. Although, I think Elma might have juicier stories.” I leaned over and winked at her. “We’ll have to chat later.” She chortled.

“Oh, boy.” He put his teacup to his lips. “I suppose it’s time for you to learn more Seresin family secrets, including our football plays.” My eyebrows rose. “I told you I needed you to throw the pigskin with my dad. It’s time for our family football game! Tradition at every birthday party.”

“You’re kidding.” I stated more than asked. Elma was shaking her head. 

He put his cup on the table, repeated his actions with mine and presented his hand to help me up. “Serious as a heart attack.” He kept hold of my hand as we neared a slew of people getting pinnies and being sorted into teams.

“What happened to a casual backyard toss around?” I inquired.

“It’ll start more casual than usual—there are kids in this game.” He lowered his sunglasses and winked.

Thomas and Jake served as the starting quarterbacks and captains. In the years of Jake’s absence, Todd had been serving as a captain. However, Thomas was quick to let his son-in-law know that his biological son was much more athletically inclined and would call the shots. 

It was fun cheering on the kids as they ran the ball like tiny drunk people down the field. The touchdown dances caused scores of laughter from kids and adults alike. Little did I know, Jake was beaming, watching me with his niece and nephew. At one point, they toppled me over and dogpiled on me. Everyone was unharmed, but Jake was quick to my rescue, tossing the pair over his shoulders.

Eventually, the kids got bored and it was time for the adults-only game. “Kyle.” I turned just in time to two-hand catch a ball that Jake spiraled right to me. “You’re up.”

“Excuse me?” Thomas looked between us.

Jake shrugged. “My team, I decide the positions. Kyle is QB.” Jake lined us up offensively for the first snap. Thomas quickly lined up his team to defend. “Enjoy the view.” As my center, Jake looked over his shoulder and winked as he crouched down in front of me to snap the ball. I rolled my eyes as I got into position. 

Since I was still learning the Seresin playbook, Jake called the play and hiked the ball. I caught it and watched everyone running in front me. I dropped back into the pocket and looked for an opening. Jake was streaking up the field, his dad, not even close, but the closest opponent to him. Aligning my fingers with the laces, I pulled my arm back behind my head and launched the ball. It spiraled perfectly and nestled in the crook of Jake’s elbow for him to run into the end zone. We all threw our arms up in celebration. 

Thomas stared at me as I jogged down to celebrate with Jake. Jake threw an arm around me as we walked back for the next snap. Thomas shrugged with a smug look on his face. “Lucky throw.” Unconsciously, a smile pulled the corners of my lips as I thought about how mad Thomas was going to be when every throw was just as lucky as the first one.

Now on defense, my team lined up. Our team had discussed the play. I had my route to cover the opposing receiver, which was Todd. The ball snapped, and I tracked his path. Thomas threw the ball, and I leapt to intercept it with one hand. Cradling the ball, I charged down the field, walking by the time I crossed the end zone. Jake was whooping and hollering along with the rest of our team. 

Thomas seemed incredulous as we walked back to reset. The next four drives all ended with me throwing to a receiver for a touchdown or me intercepting the ball for a pick six. It didn’t matter what play Thomas ran, I anticipated and countered. 

Not slouches themselves, Emma and Lindsey were very impressed with me. “Where did you find this machine?” They asked Jake. 

He laughed. “We didn’t name her MVP for nothing!” His arm hooked around my neck and kissed my sweaty temple.

Thomas was clearly unhappy with how the game was going.“Let’s mix up the teams—redraft!” Thomas yelled. 

“Redraft!” Everyone echoed. We all lined up. In addition, Thomas decided Todd could reclaim his captain position. Jake fell into line with the rest of us. Thomas allowed himself to choose first and selected Jake, so Todd picked his wife (of course!), and then Thomas chose his other daughter. Ever the good son-in-law, Todd played right into Thomas’ hand, choosing me next. 

My body shook with laughter. Thomas eyed me like he wanted to have me committed. “I assume Jake didn’t have time to tell you how we met as you were punching each other in the face?” His expression never changed. I shrugged my shoulders. “Your loss.”

Jake and I lined up across from each other. “We’re doing full contact?” I winked at him. He just shook his head in disbelief. I blew him a kiss in response. Todd began shouting the play. 

Through the entire quarter, every play, every position, I out ran, out jumped and out performed Jake or whoever else Thomas put in front of me. The icing on the cake was me sacking Thomas (it was a soft tackle!), forcing a fumble and recovering the ball for a touchdown. 

Thomas was still pouting on the ground after my team was done celebrating. I walked back and extended a hand to help him up. He stared at me hard for a minute and then accepted it. We locked eyes as he stood. Jake clearly inherited Thomas’ height as I looked up to keep eye contact. “Good game.” I smiled and walked away. 

Later, I learned I had cemented my claim as Elma’s second favorite human (behind Jake, of course). Emma and Lindsey were still in awe, and Linda was proud of how I handled Thomas. 

Jake, well, it was like the day we met all over again. However, this time, his behavior wasn’t at all reserved. 

As we returned to our cabin, my adrenaline was still soaring. That was my championship game. I managed to put Thomas in his place and further my rapport with the rest of the Seresins.

From behind, Jake’s hands hugged my hips and his face nestled into the crook of my neck. Quickly, I turned to face him, my hands resting on his chest. His sank to my ass. 

We stared at each other, and then I pushed myself onto my tiptoes so our lips met. One of his hands slipped to the base of my neck and the other stayed planted on my backside. My hands wandered south and dipped past the waistband of his shorts. 

Jake was already semi-hard. He growled as our lips separated. His jaw came to rest against my temple, and his hand stayed anchored on my neck. I looked between us and pulled his shorts away from his body just enough to allow a stream of saliva to drop into my hand. He purred as my hand worked along his length. Occasionally, I would run my thumb over his tip. Soft neck squeezes let me know he was enjoying himself.

A smile graced my lips as I listened to the string of curses and praises leaving Jake's mouth. I continued my work but guided his body to the closest surface, which happened to be the plush reading chair in the library nook. My hands left him just long enough to push him into the chair and then pull his shorts to his ankles. He wanted to step out, but I kept him shackled. 

Our gazes locked, me looking up at him through my lashes. I was still clothed, kneeling on the floor. I sat back on my calves to continue guiding my hands along him. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as he white-knuckled the chair arms. It was taking all his might not to buck his hips, which he knew would lead to me dragging out the handjob longer. 

I held his stare as my lips moved to his tip. My lips rested on it as I let spit pool and drip down his length, my hand helping spread it down his shaft. My tongue lapped the underside of his tip, and then traced the ridges. Eventually, I slipped the whole head in my mouth. Slowly, I began bobbing up and down, adding more of his length each time. Suddenly, I felt Jake take a deep breath. I watched, never faltering, as he remembered to breathe. 

My palms came to rest on the floor in front me as my mouth continued to work. At this point, I was in a rhythm, taking his whole length. Purposefully, I exaggerated some of my sounds to fulfill Jake’s favorite porn fantasies. Every so often—him plunged in the back of my throat—I’d hold him there and slide my tongue around his balls. 

He groaned. “Can I cum in your throat?” Always a gentleman, even on the brink of orgasm. Encouraging his release, I constricted my throat. He melted back into the chair and gripped the arms. I stayed with him as his hips bucked. We stilled as he twitched in my mouth. I watched his rollercoaster of facial expressions as his cum coated my esophagus. After a minute, I hollowed my cheeks and began to pull away. His tip came out with a pop, and I licked my lips. 

“A gift for my biggest fan.” I got off the floor and stood in front of him. He was spent—his bare chest sweaty and knees splayed but ankles together, cuffed by his shorts. His elbows rested on the chair arms and his forearms dangled off the sides. His body was low in the chair because his hips were still at the edge. He was relaxed, unguarded. After a few seconds, he looked at me. 

“God, you’re gorgeous.” In his post-orgasm haze, I’m sure I looked ethereal to him—lips swollen and cheeks flushed. A smile played across my face as I leaned forward and put my hands on the chair arms. 

Our faces were close. “Just wait until you see me cleaned up.”

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[voidvannie]

꒰ఎ REJECTION HURTS! ━━ PART ONE

⋆✩⋆ ─── adore you masterlist main masterlist

⋆✩⋆ ─── part two part three

⋆✩⋆ ─── IN WHICH . . . luke overhears a conversation between jack and emersyn that he shouldn't have been listening to, and it ends in rejection, embarrassment and the end of emersyn's stay at the lake house for a while.

⋆✩⋆ ─── feel free to send in any request for things you want to see in this series, or in any of the other series on my page. Or if you just want to share some thoughts about what you read, or if you want to talk about oc's!

July 9, 2013

"I don’t wanna tell him!” Luke stops as the hushed voiced of Emersyn and Jack through the locked door of Jack’s bedroom.

"Why not?! This could be a good thing, and you could end up being my sister in the far future!” The youngest of the Hughes clan tilts his head to the side, face scrunched up in confusion as he walks closer to the door to hear better.

“No, Jack. Quinn is never going to know about my crush on him.”

“Alright! Fine! Your secret is safe with me.”

Hours later, Jack and Emersyn had joined their brother’s and the boys' friends, and everyone had begun to notice how weird Luke was being.

“Luke!” Jack snaps over at his little brother, who was shaking the entire table they were all sat at, a deck of cards passed around all of them.

“Stop shaking the tab—,”

"Emmie has a crush on Quinn!”

Everything falls silent as Emersyn sits frozen in her spot, everyone looking between the girl and the oldest brother.

“Awe, Quinn!”

“The baby has a crush on you!”

Emerysn can feel the tears weld up in her eyes as Quinn’s friends started to tease her.

“Emmie, I don’t like you like that.” Quinn laughed in her direction. “I — You're like my sister. I would never like you as more than that.”

“Em, I’m sorry.” Luke frowns as she stands up and quickly rushes out of the room.

“Nice going, idiot.” Jack scoffed, rushing after his best friend, “Emmie! Emersyn!”

June 8, 2014

“What?!” Jack stares at his mom in disbelief as Luke and Quinn follow their dad into the lake house.

“What’s going on?” Quinn frowned at the upset look on his brother's face.

“This is your fault!” Jack spins around to look at his younger brother.

“What’s going on?” Jim looks at his wife for the answer to his and his son’s question.

“Claire just called; she says that Emmie decided she was going to California for the summer instead of joining us all here.” Ellen said, “She’s gonna spend the summer with her cousins.”

“If Luke wouldn’t have opened his big mouth last summer and Quinn wasn’t scared to admit that he liked her, then Emmie would be here!” Jack stomped up the stairs and slamming the door to his room shut.

June 10, 2015

“I’m sorry, Jack.” Emersyn frowns as she sits in the airport with her phone pressed against her ear. “I’m gonna spend another summer in Cali.”

“What? Emmie…is this about—,”

“Yeah.” She sighs, “I can avoid him at school, and around our houses, but I can’t avoid him for three months without thinking about him rejecting my feelings for him. Even if it did happen two years ago.”

Its Jacks turn to sigh, “No, I get it. At least keep me updated. And promise that you’ll call and text me.”

“I will.”

"Love you, Jackie.”

“Love you, Emmie."

June 4, 2017

“Have you heard from Emersyn?” Quinn leaned against Jack’s door in the lake house, arms crossed over his chest, “Is she coming this year?”

Jack scoffed, “No. She’s going back to Cali, again. Where she’s been going for the last couple of years.”

“Is she—,”

“No, okay. Don’t. This is your fault and Luke’s.” Jack tells his older brother.

“How is this our faults?”

“Because! It’s Luke’s fault for listening to something that didn’t concern him and telling you about it! And it’s your fault because you embarrassed her in front of all of your little friends you had over! And you know what? I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t step another foot in this lake house.”

“Maybe I can call her—,”

“Don’t bother.” Jack mumbles as he brushed by him, “She changed her number a year ago.”

June 22, 2017

“Wait, Emmie’s calling me.” Jack pulls his phone out as he sits around a fire pit with a few friends, putting the phone on speaker. “Hey, Emmie!”

“Jack! You will never fucking believe what just happened the other night!” Emersyn’s excited squeal filled the night air.

Jack laughed at her excitement, “By the sound of it, something crazy happened.”

“Yes! So, Ava and some of her friends took me to this karaoke bar that lets teens in every now and then, and of course they forced me to get up and sing—.”

“As they should have.” Jack cuts her off, “You have the voice of a fucking angel!”

“Thank you! Anyway, so as we’re walking out, I bump into someone and it’s Justin fucking Bieber!” Another squeal leaves her lips, “He goes on about how he’s just walking and head me singing so he had to walk on and check out it. Then he tells me that he wants to sigh me to his label!”

“But, because I’m only 17, I had to call mom and dad! then yesterday, I called Justin, and he automatically signed me to his label!”

“Emmie! That’s amazing!” Jack is smiling so hard his face begins to hurt.

“But that means that I gotta move to California.”

The smile slowly begins to face from Jack’s face before he stands up, taking the phone off of speaker and walks towards the lake house, his voice fading as he talked, “What do you mean you’re moving to California?!”

Quinn stares out at the burning flames in the fire pit, a frown on his face and an unfamiliar feeling of dread deep in his stomach as his brother’s words circled around in his head.

Was Emersyn really going to move to California?

June 29, 2017

“Do you have everything that you’re taking with you?” Jack sits on the end of Emersyn’s bed as he looks around at the near empty room.

“Yeah, I think so.” The brunette nodded plopped down next to him, laying her head on his shoulder, “It’s weird.”

“Leaving?”

“Yeah, this is the only place I’ve known since I was eight. Now I’m moving out to California.” She sighs, “We haven’t been apart since I started going to California.”

“We’ll have FaceTime, text. And when I’m drafted for hockey, wherever I go, then we can fly to each other.” Jack smiles as he looks at the wall ahead of him. “Are you gonna say goodbye to Luke and Quinn?”

“Luke, yes. Quinn…. I don’t know.” Emersyn frowned. “I’m not embarrassed anymore that he rejected me in front of his friends, I think I’m more hurt over the fact that I’ve been in love with him since before I even knew what love was. And he laughed and brushed it away as if it meant absolutely nothing to him.”

“Emmie, everyone can see that Quinn looks at you more than just a sister. Even then, but he’s been quieter since you stopped coming to the lake house. I think you should say bye to him.”

“Okay.”

She never did.

[noladyme]

La Cuervo - Chapter 4

She is used to the biker-life, having grown into a woman in the familiar embrace of SAMCRO. A bad decision and a gun-shot later, she gets whisked off to Santo Padre, and put under the protection of another club. What is supposed to be a short stint in the Mayan headquarters just north of the border to Mexico, turns into something more; when la quervo begins to develop feelings for el angel - and he seems to return them in kind...

TW: violence, blood, drug use, alcohol, smut, fluff, angst

In the spirit of "The Crown Princess of Charming", this is a story about O.C. Nina and Angel Reyes. It is obviously non-canon, as characters who have passed on on Mayans M.C. are present in it, and others have been excluded completely. Nina is written as a cis-female, but I have tried to keep her race and looks as ambigous as possible. Should you find any of this story offensive, please let me know.

Nina spent the next week doing her best to avoid Angel. He, in return, acted like they’d never had the encounter in the cage – or any encounter at all, for that matter. He spoke to her about as much as the next girl in the clubhouse; though, unlike with the other girls, he avoided all kinds of flirting or terms of endearment, other than the occasional mami, when he asked for another drink. Women crawled all over him, and he seemed perfectly content and used to the fact. Deciding she was better off for how everything had turned out, Nina threw herself in to helping Chucky in the office, and reading some of the books EZ had left in the trailer; when she wasn’t slinging beers behind the bar. The atmosphere was still awkward, though; and she was beginning to feel something like homesickness.

Not having heard anything from Charming since she’d arrived, Nina went over to Bishop with a pair of beers for him and Taza, who were deep in conversation one evening; after they’d just come back in from some meeting or other. They’d been sending her discrete looks throughout their discussion, and she thought now was as good a time as any, to check in with them. Setting down the beers on the table, she paused for a moment, before speaking. “Bishop? I don’t mean to intrude, but I was just wondering if you’d heard from Chibs? Or Tig, maybe?”. Bishop shook his head. “Sorry, sweetheart. No word from either of them”, he said earnestly. “We boring you here?”. “No, of course not… I didn’t mean… I really appreciate you taking me in. I guess I just don’t see the need for all the secrecy…”. Taza gave his president a hard look, and Bishop nodded. “Take a seat”, he said to Nina.

Sitting down, Nina felt her heart racing. She didn’t like the look on the faces of the men in front of her. “Do you know who El Palo is?”, Taza asked. Ninna nodded. “He’s president of Vatos Malditos…”, she said. “How do you know that? Have you heard about our relationship with them?”, Bishop asked. “Of course not”, Nina replied, knowing that would be the right answer. Bishop let a smile ghost his face. “So SAMCRO told you. Are they working with them?”. He was testing her. “I just serve the beers”, she said. “Good girl”, Bishop said. “If you know who he is, you probably also know that he’s a grade-A psycho”, Taza said. “I’ve heard things…”, Nina muttered. Palo’s reputation was terrifying; SAMCRO spoke of him almost like a ghost – one of the murderous kinds. “Palo used to have a cousin up in northern California. About a month back, he was shot and killed by who Palo thinks is a hooker, in a date turned mugging”, Taza said. “It turns out that the truth is a bit more complicated than that”, Bishop said. Nina was beginning to connect the dots, and felt her heartrate go up. “Palo’s cousin’s name was….”, Taza began. “Gael…”, Nina interrupted him in a whisper. “Yeah”, Bishop said. “You in serious shit, sweetheart”. Nina’s hands were shaking. “I didn’t know… I thought Chibs brought me here to keep me away from the police-investigation. I mean, it was self-defense, but…”, she croaked. “Why didn’t they tell me?”. “They probably didn’t want to scare you”, Taza replied.

She eyed Bishops smokes on the table, and he handed her a cigarette. The two men frowned at her, as she grabbed her inhaler from her pocket, and took a hit, before lighting the cigarette. “Don’t… I get enough shit from Tig about this”, she said. Another smile ghosted Bishop’s face. “Palo contacted El Padrino… Alvarez; as Gael died so close to our Oakland charter territory”. “San Joaquin county”, Nina said, and took a huff from her smoke. “He called in Mayan help to find you… Offered good money for any info”. “Why didn’t he hand me over, then?”, Nina asked. “Marcus’ loyalty to SAMCRO, and the promise he made to Jackson Teller, to stay on good terms with them, weighs more than money”. Nina closed her eyes and sighed. “I guess I owe you more than I know”, she said. “Well, reaper paid us a bit more on top of the loyalty we owe them”, Taza chuckled. “But, you’re safe with us. Palo won’t think to search in his own back-yard”. “What do you mean?”. “The Vatos’ territory borders our own. In more ways than one”, the VP said. “They’ve claimed the area just south of the wall”, Bishop said.

“Fuck… Fuck!”, Nina rasped, and ran a hand over her face. “So why are you telling me this? If Chibs didn’t think I should know”. “Keeping it a secret from you won’t keep you safe”, Bishop replied. “If we’re going to protect you, and keep our promise to SAMCRO, you need to know how serious this is”. Nina narrowed her eyes. “But you’re not letting the rest of the club know…”, she said. “The lady’s got a point, Bish”, Taza said. Bishop held up a hand, and hardened his expression. “We talked about this, Taz’. You know the shit we’ll get in to at the table, if they find out we’re double-crossing a business-partner like this”. “We haven’t dealt with VM in months. There’s no money between us anymore”, Taza said. “And there sure as shit won’t be in the future, if Palo finds out about this”, Bishop said, and gestured towards Nina. When he saw her expression, he sighed. “Look, I made a promise to our brothers in SOA, but I’m not going to risk future Mayan-business over it. For now, this stays between us, you got that?”. “Yeah… whatever you say”, Nina muttered. Bishop raised a brow at her, and she made a frustrated sigh. “I know how club business works; it’s not my place to mess with it”.

The door to the clubhouse opened, and Coco, Gilly and Angel – accompanied by the blonde he’d ignored the night Nina had arrived in Santo Padre – walked in. Nina was about to get on her feet, and walk back to the bar, when Bishop grabbed her hand. “This is also why I don’t want you starting things up with Angel. All due respect, I don’t need him losing his head over some croweater from Charming, if this blows up in our faces”, he said. “You have nothing to worry about. Nina said, an edge to her voice. Bishop tightened his hold on her hand. “I’m serious. I need my men focused on business; and if Angel starts thinking with his dick, instead of his head, there’s a good chance he won’t be able to make the right decisions, when push comes to shove”. “As in, you’re worried he won’t be able to hand me over to Palo, if necessary”, Nina almost hissed. “That’s not what I’m saying, Nina…”, Bishop said. “Then, what are you saying?”, she replied. The president let go of her hand, his expression turning almost guilty. They both looked over at Angel, who’d put his arm around the blonde. The girl tugged at his beard, and he leaned down, letting her kiss the corner of his lips. “Like I said, you have nothing to worry about”, Nina muttered, and walked away as quickly as she could.

---

Once behind the bar, she put on a mask of calm indifference. “Can I get you anything?”, she asked. “Sol. Thanks, niña”, Coco said, holding up two fingers to imply one for him and one for EZ. Nina served the beers without correcting Coco. He’d stuck to the nickname since the moment she’d climbed onto his bike, and she decided to take it as a compliment. EZ and he went over to rack up a game of pool. “You?”, she asked Angel. “Dos Equis”, he said, with an indifferent smile. Nina – knowing his regular order – had almost already grabbed a bottle with XX on the label, and put it on the counter; before he finished speaking. The blonde girl pressed against Angel, and ran her hand inside his cut. “It’s about to be tres equis, baby…”, she giggled. Angel cleared his throat, and stretched his neck. “Take it easy; yeah, mami?”, he said, keeping his eyes straight ahead. He gave her shoulder a standoffish clap, and walked over to the pool-table to join his friends.

The blonde gave Nina a saccharin smile, and tilted her head slightly. “Sorry about you and Angel…”, she said in a phony tone. “I’m sure you are”, Nina smiled as friendlily as she could. The girl looked at her for a moment, narrowing her eyes. “Do you know how to make a screwdriver?”, she asked. Nina was taken aback. “Do I know how to make a screwdriver…?”, she repeated back at the girl. The blonde scoffed, and laughed a little. “Yes, a screwdriver… I know you’re new here, but if you don’t know how to work a bar…”. “Yes, I know how to make a screwdriver”, Nina cut her off, and turned around to get some orange juice from the fridge. She began mixing vodka and juice in a glass, ignoring the daggers the blonde was staring at her. “You should really be less rude to me… Consider who you’re talking to”, the girl said. “I’ll keep that in mind”, Nina said, and set the drink down in front of her. “We’re out of ice”. “Just go get some from the freezer out back”, the blonde scoffed. “I don’t want to”, Nina replied, and walked out from behind the bar.

There was a gush of wind behind her, when suddenly Nina felt her hair being yanked, and she stumbled backwards. In the flash of an eye, her face and top were drenched in vodka and orange juice. “I told you, I want ice; bitch!”, the blonde snarled. Nina reacted promptly, lifting her arm over the girls, and then hooking it underneath. She lifted her bent arm upwards, making the girl squeal in pain, as she had her arm in a lock; and she let go of Nina’s hair. Bishop and Taza quickly got on their feet; and Angel, EZ and Coco ran towards them. Nina’s hand gripped the blonde’s throat, and looked coldly at her. “I’d call you a nasty skank, but I’m a lady; so, I’m just gonna ask you nicely to never do that again”, Nina hissed. The blonde was gasping for air. “Let go of the nasty skank, Nina”, Bishop said, his hands up in a calming gesture. Nina let go of the girl, and she stumbled backwards into the arms of EZ. She was about to step towards Nina, when Coco got between them. “Nah… Don’t be like that”, he said. EZ and he pulled the girl away to the other end of the room, and the prospect held her there, while Coco stood in front of her; his eyes on Nina, as if she’d explode at any moment, and attack. Nina locked eyes with Angel, who looked at her in disbelief. His eyes were deeper than ever, and his stance was tense. Nina’s shirt was cold and sticky, her breath was raspy, and her blood was pumping; making it tricky for her to keep her voice even. “I’m gonna… go. Now”, she said, and left the clubhouse, walking as calmly as she could towards the trailer.

---

Through the sound of her own blood pumping like waves of the ocean in her ears, she heard loud talking from outside the trailer door. “You saw what she did!”, the blonde woman was complaining. “You’re just gonna let her do that to me?”. “Go home, Daniella”, Angel replied. “Aren’t you going to give me a ride?”. “No”. “Puto…!”, the girl snarled. “Puta! Get the fuck out of here!”. There was a volley of curses flung through the air, mostly from the blonde; before Nina heard EZ come outside, and offer the girl a ride home. Soon after, a bike started up, and drove out of the lot.

Nina was standing stiff as a board, clenching her fists, and trying to calm her breathing. There was knock on the trailer door, and she shook herself out of it, to go open. Angel was standing outside, looking sheepishly at her; one hand leaning against the doorway. “You ok?”, he asked. “She ruined my last clean top”, Nina muttered, and stepped aside for him to enter. He went over to a cubby in the small bathroom-area, and pulled out a white t-shirt. “EZ’s”, he muttered, and handed it to her. “Thanks…”. Leaning against the counter, Angel looked her over. “I don’t know whether to be impressed or scared of you right now”, he said with a slight smile. “Maybe even a little flattered”. “Why?”, Nina asked, still standing in the middle of the trailer, unmoving. “You weren’t defending my honor back there?”, he asked. “I was trying to get a crazy woman to let go of my hair”, Nina replied coldly. “And, what honor?”. Angel scoffed, and shook his head. “Shit, woman. Talking to you is like a bullet to the head”.

She didn’t know it had happened, before she’d done it. Her palm was stinging, and Angel held his hand to his cheek; where she’d slapped him. “What the fuck was that for?”, he growled. “You… Don’t say that…”, Nina croaked. “Not that”. Angel clenched his jaw, and the furrow between his eyes grew deep. “I’m trying here, Nina”, he said. “I tell you I wanna spend time with you, you get pissed. I give you space, you beat up a chick…”. “It was self-defense!”, Nina exclaimed, unsure which situation she was referring to. She was still stuck on his words. Bullet to the head… “And now I’m trying to talk to you again, and you smack the shit out of me…”. He moved his jaw from side to side. “Shit, how much do you bench, querida?”.

They looked at each other for a long moment. Adrenaline was still surging through her, and pent-up energy was threatening to split her at the seams. Angel just stood there, looking like everything she wanted and needed just at that moment. “Look, I’m just…”, he managed, before she shut him up, by planting her lips on his. He pulled back, and looked at her confusedly; before his eyes darkened, and he grabbed her by the back of the head and kissed her back. Their kiss was frantic and wanton; one that made it clear that this was only headed in one direction. Tugging at her wet top, Nina managed to get it off, while Angel opened his pants. She quickly pulled down her shorts and panties, and used Angel’s shoulders as leverage to get her butt onto the counter. Angel took the time to – unnecessarily – spit into his hand, and make the head of his cock wet; before he sunk in to her. The hard edge of the counter was digging in to her butt, but all she could focus on, was the man between her legs. Holding on to his shoulders, and burying her face in the crook of his neck, Nina tilted her hips; to let Angel get as deep as possible inside her. With groaning whimpers, Angel thrusted possessively in to her. She dug her fingers into his shoulders, and struggled to keep her legs lifted to get the best angle. Angel grabbed one of her thighs, and held her leg around his waist. He hooked his free arm under her other leg, finally getting into a position that brought him as deep as it was possible for him to get.

They didn’t speak in words, only communicating through grunts and moans. Nina felt the coil in her lower belly tighten, and had to bite into Angel’s shoulder to keep from crying out. “I gotta… soon”, Angel croaked. “Uh huh”, Nina nodded fervently. Her walls began tightening, and the thin thread keeping her from falling over the edge finally snapped; making her spasm around him; and all the pent-up emotions wash away as if by a wave. Angel groaned when he felt her come, and it was barely a second later that his own climax came; and he spilled himself inside her.

The door swung open. “Yo, is she cool?”, Coco asked from the doorway. “Fuck, mano!”, Angel growled, and covered Nina’s mostly naked body with his own mostly clothed one. “My bad”, Coco said, and closed the door quickly. Angel looked down at Nina apologetically. “Sorry”, he muttered. Nina nodded, and gave him a slight smile.

Angel gently pulled out of her, and quickly grabbed a paper towel for her to clean up, so she wouldn’t have him dripping down her leg; before giving Nina a hand to get down from the counter. After tucking himself back into his pants, he grabbed the blanket from the cot, and handed it to her; and Nina wrapped it around her chest, to cover herself. “I’m gonna… take a shower”, Nina said quietly. “Yeah”, Angel said. “In there”, she reiterated, and gestured towards the bathroom area, which Angel’s tall frame was blocking. “Yeah, sorry”, he said, and moved for her to pass. Before she could make it all the way, he grabbed her arm. “Nina… I do want to…”. “I know”, she said. “But not now”. “When?”, Angel sighed exasperatedly. “It’s like you got all this shit going on you don’t wanna talk about, and I just want to… I want you to trust me”. Nina took his hand, and merged her fingers with his. “I hear you. I do. Just… Not tonight”, she said. “You should go”. Angel clenched his jaw, and shook his head in frustration. Nina tugged at his t-shirt under his cut. “Please”. Angel let out a defeated grunt. “Ok”, he said, and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

Nina locked up after him, and stood for a moment; leaning her forehead against the door. Then she dropped the blanket, took off her bra, and went to take a cold shower.

---

“Good morning, slugger”, Taza said, as she came out of the trailer the next morning. He and Bishop were having a smoke on the porch of the clubhouse. “I didn’t hit anyone”, Nina muttered. “No, you just almost broke the arm on one of our regular hangarounds”, Bishop said. “Sorry”, she said. Bishop shrugged. “She looked like she deserved it”, he grunted. “But let me know if you want a turn in the cage, with one of the boys, at some point. I’m sure we could make some cash on bets”. Nina chuckled embarrassedly.

EZ came out of the clubhouse, a mug of coffee in hand. He handed it to her with a smile. “From Chucky”, he said. “Thank god for that freaky-fingered, little man”, Nina said, and took a big gulp. “Is that my shirt?”, EZ asked. Nina looked down at herself. “Yeah… Daniella messed up my last clean top”, she said. “You said something about a laundromat?”. “Yeah, I can take you”, he replied.

Coco and Letty came out of the clubhouse at the same moment. Coco did his best to look anywhere but at Nina; who stifled a smile at his embarrassment. “Sorry. I need the prospect on the lot today. Laundry’s gonna have to wait”, Bishop said. “I’m fine with going on my own”, Nina said. Bishop frowned slightly at her, and she sighed. “I’ll keep my head down”. “I can take you”, Letty said. “We can use Coco’s car”. Coco nodded. “Yeah, uh huh. You… take my car. Anything”. His eyes met Nina’s for a fraction of a second, before he looked away again. Bishop grunted defeatedly, and went down the steps to talk to her. He nodded at EZ to take a hike, before looking at her meaningfully. “You carrying?”, he asked. “.38”, Nina replied shortly. Bishop nodded in recognition. “Straight to the laundromat. Straight back. Anyone asks, you’re a Mayan hangaround”. “I got it”, she said. “Hmm”, Bishop said. “I’ll send EZ by to check on you, if we can spare him”. He handed her an outdated smartphone. “Prepaid. It’s got mine and Taza’s number on it. Use it if anything comes up”. Nina nodded, and went to grab her laundry from the trailer. She wedged her gun down the waistband at the back of her shorts.

Letty was waiting behind the wheel of a black lowrider, when she came back outside. Nina got in the passenger-seat next to her. Coco came over to the driver’s window, and handed Letty a small wad of 20’s. “If you need to buy something… Like pants, or whatever”, he muttered. Letty frowned in confusion, and Nina once again had to chew her lips to keep from grinning.

---

The laundromat was luckily mostly empty from people when they got there. EZ had been right in his proclamation that it smelled like feet; but Nina was overjoyed at the prospect of having clean clothes again.

Letty was reading a magazine, seated on top of one of the washers. Her phone was buzzing constantly, and the first few times, she looked at it; before finally throwing it in a pile of towels someone had left behind. “You don’t wanna get that?”, Nina asked. “Nah… It’s just some guy”, Letty replied, looking at her from the corner of her eyes. “Should I be worried?”, Nina said. “What are you, my dad?”, Letty grunted. Nina raised her brows. “Sorry”, she said. Letty looked suddenly embarrassed. “No, it’s ok. It’s just… You know when you meet a guy, and hang out for a while; and then he won’t just let up calling you?”. “Yeah, I’ve met a few of those in my day”, Nina chuckled. Letty’s face lit up. “Yeah?”. “Oh yeah!”, Nina said. “You find out you’re not on the same page, and try to break it off. And then he’s calling you, like; but baby. We had something good…”. Letty nodded fervently. “Exactly like that! And then he tries to ask you out again, even if you said no thanks, so you gotta ghost him”. “Sometimes it’s like that”, Nina shrugged. Letty jumped off the washer, and went over to help her fold her clothes. “And then he shows up at your school in his truck, with a sixpack and a gas-station bouquet of roses. And you’re just like; dude, I sucked your dick onetime…!”. Nina narrowed her eyes at the teenager. “How old are you, Letty?”, she asked. “18…”, Letty replied. “Ok…”, Nina said, feeling calmer – though not by a lot.

“Is it like that with you and Angel?”, Letty asked, catching Nina off guard. “Like what?”, she asked. “Like, you fucked, and now he won’t give up?”. Nina thought for a moment, not sure how to answer. “No… That’s different. Angel is a good guy, I think. I’m just not sure that he can deal with my shit right now”. Letty smiled crookedly, and for a moment, her family resemblance with Coco was very obvious. “For what it’s worth, I think you’d make a cute couple”. Nina chuckled, and began putting the last of her now clean clothes in the bag.

Letty’s phone buzzed again. The teenager groaned, and finally picked up the call. “What…? No… Because I said so… Yeah… So? You, and everyone else… Yeah, he is…”. When she uttered the last words, Letty’s face suddenly looked anxious. “Well, he can be. I’ll just call him, and he’ll be right here… Yeah, you do that”. She hung up the phone. “We need to go”. “Everything ok?”, Nina asked. “I just wanna get back to the clubhouse”. “Let me just get the last of my clothes”. “I’ll go start the car”, Letty said, and hurried out of the laundromat, and down the side of the building to the alley where they’d parked.

Nina got her last things from the dryer, and quickly packed up. She left the laundromat, and went to go after Letty, when she heard commotion behind a dumpster. “Let me go!”, Letty was yelling. “You can’t do that to someone. You led me on, you little slut”, a darker voice said. Nina ran over to see what was happening, and found a broad-shouldered man holding Letty against the wall, by her wrists. She had a bruise on her jaw. Fear and anger bubbled in Nina’s chest, and she stormed over to the pair. “Let go of her!”, she snarled, and pushed the man away from the teenager. “You stay out of this, bitch!”, he growled, and went to take a swing at her. He was halted, when Letty slammed him in the back with a discarded shopping-basket. The man stumbled forwards, and Nina and Letty made to run, when the man grabbed Letty by the neck, and slammed her against the wall again.

It was like her body worked of its own accord. Nina slipped her arm behind her, and grabbed her gun, before holding it to the man’s head. “Let her go”, Nina said, her voice sounding like it came from somewhere deep within her. “You’re not gonna shoot”, the man laughed. She pulled the hammer. “I said, let her go”. The man slowly released his grip on Letty, and stepped backwards; all the while, Nina still aimed her gun at him. “Listen, lady. This girl, she’s…”. “Shut your mouth, you piece of shit”, Nina hissed. The man raised his hands in the air. “What are you gonna do? I let her go. You won’t shoot me now… Right?”. Nina felt physically sick. Letty was looking at her with scared eyes. “Nina, he let me go… You can put down the gun”, she said. “No”, Nina rasped.

There was the roar of engines, as what sounded like two motorcycles came up behind them. “EZ!”, Letty yelled. “We’re back here!”. Nina heard running, before EZ’s voice called out to her. “Nina…?”. She didn’t reply, it was like her arm cramped up, and she couldn’t lower the gun. “Shit. Angel! Get back here!”. Still frozen in place, her eyes were locked on the man in front of her. Another pair of feet came running up behind her. “Nina?”, Angel said. The man began stuttering. “Shit, man. You gotta do something. We were just having a conversation, and this chick pulls a gun on me…”. A small group of onlookers had gathered, and were staring at the situation with almost vulgar interest. Nina clenched her free hand, struggling to regain control of herself; as her audience awaited her next move.

“He was going to hurt her”, Nina said. “He was going to…”. Angel looked at Letty, who nodded slightly. The biker walked over to the man, and slammed his fist into his gut; making him fall to the ground. Nina moved her gun, continuingly aiming at his head. “Fuck…”, the man groaned. “Get that crazy bitch to put away the gun!”. Angel stormed forward again. “Shut the fuck up!”, he growled, and kicked him in the ribs; making him curl up even more. “Call Coco”, he said to EZ, who fished out his phone; while leading Letty over to the car.

Nina’s arm was beginning to hurt, but she couldn’t move. What if the man got up, and went after Letty again? Angel stepped in front of her, his arms raised calmingly. “You can put the gun down, Nina”. “I can’t…”, she whispered. Angel stepped slowly closer, and put his hand on hers, gently pressing it down. “Come on, querida. You’re ok. It’s ok”. He pried her fingers from the gun, and took it; putting it in his pocket. “See? Everything’s ok”. “Fuck that!”, the man on the ground rasped. “That bitch is crazy…”.

Before Angel had a chance to stop her, Nina had attacked. She was on top of the man, pounding her fists in to his face and chest; and when he tried to cover himself with his arms, she scratched at his skin. The man got a few shots in, before Angel wrapped his arms around Nina, and managed to pull her off him. “No, querida. Stop. He’s down”. “Get off me!”, Nina hissed like an angry cat, and pushed Angel away; looking at him with wild eyes. Moving her gaze to the bystanders, her chest tensed up, and she let out a choked gasp. Their eyes felt like literal fire pokes, prodding at her skin. Angel noticed her looking at the people around them, and broadened his frame; getting between her and the onlookers. “Get the fuck out of here!”, he roared. “You didn’t see anything. Go!”. The crowd quickly scattered, and they were alone in the alley.

---

[cblgblog]

Imagine Mildolyn, "Illicit Affair", Modern AU. Where Gwen's campaigning for Congress and all the meet and greets, showing up for charities for publicity, her 'cause'. At one for special needs children and their foundation she meets a very young CNA named Mildred and sort of falls head over heels in the dumbest of ways, both just love struck. Except she's campaigning to be in Congress, she's a politician, she cannot be queer and chasing after 19 year old ex-foster kids whos brothers are set to be the youngest executed on Death Row in California in decades for appalling crimes. But there she is, in hotel rooms her supporters pay for, with someone she shouldn't be with, trying to find ways to overturn cases that turned stomachs with their brutality, because a pretty girl smiled at her and called her 'ma'am' while showing her around the foundation/care home she worked at with children no one else had the time/patience to care for. Of course it goes terribly with 'dirty little secret' vibes, the breast cancer diagnosis announced on twitter before she tells Mildred in person, even if it's such a minor case ('so they say') and caught so early that it'll barely leave a scar, radiation won't be much of a deal at all. She doesn't get to tell Mildred that, she just gets to hear on Fox news about how the democrat's gonna die a horrible death and panic.

Mildred who has no patience for politicians and their fake concern, using patients as photo ops. It’s manipulative, it’s distracting to the staff, it’s awful, okay, she hates it. She is, in fact, a tad bit rude to Gwen when they meet. Gets her a death glare from Betsy Bucket, gets Gwen intrigued.

“Republican?” only half-joking.

“No.”

“Is it the suit? Should I have worn a different suit? I wanted to, but I’ve been told this one tested better.”

“The suit is fine.” It’s more than that, actually, but Mildred will not be saying that aloud, nope, uh-uh. “I don’t much care for politicians.”

“Ah, we have that in common then.”

“I doubt we have much of anything in common. Ma’am.”

And look, Gwen doesn’t usually go in for the chasing, the hard to get. She’s got enough trouble chasing votes. But this woman is so good with the kids on her ward, so patient. She’s got Disney scrubs on and as much as she’s got no time at all for Gwen, she seems to have infinite amounts for those kids. She stays with them individually, longer than any of the other staff Gwen sees, but she still manages to get a dozen things done in half as many minutes. And she’s also gorgeous, there’s that.

And Gwen has no good reason to ask her out for lunch. Honestly, none. Nothing good can come from this. Mildred asks if the citizens of California will be paying for this meal and Gwen swears that isn’t the case, no, absolutely not. Even still, Gwen doesn’t expect Mildred to say yes. She doesn’t think Mildred expected Mildred to say yes.

But she does. Tells herself it’s for Edmund, maybe this’ll be the one politician who listens, who’s willing to look past the surface facts, willing to help. Except she gets there and they don’t talk about Edmund. It’s not because Mildred doesn’t know how to bring it up, she’s made her case dozens of times. She just…they don’t talk about him, and that feels like a betrayal, but Gwen’s kind and funny and fascinating (much to Mildred’s annoyance), and she just…doesn’t feel like getting into it.

Meanwhile Trevor, Gwen’s campaign manager/law school buddy/best friend/lavender marriage soulmate, if they were in a different time, is like bitch, what’re you doing? Yes, everyone knows you’re gay as hell, but you can’t be chasing girls right now, you can’t afford to be distracted. You especially can’t afford to look distracted. And you can’t be robbing the cradle while looking distracted.

“She’s not that young.”

“Uh-huh. She wears Winnie the Pooh clothes.”

“Scrubs, those are scrubs. Scrubs aren’t clothes.”

“Uh-huh.”

“She works in a children’s ward, Trevor.”

“Uh-huh. I really wish you wouldn’t do this, but since you care nothing about me and my mental state and all the hours and hours of hard work I’ve put in for you—”

“After badgering me into hiring you over someone more qualified.”

“Hey! More qualified. I resent that. Anyway, if you insist on ruining my day, at least wear that face cream I gave you. Should make you look less like you’re robbing the cradle.”

“Go to hell.”

“And don’t do the oyster thing. Not on a first date, in the middle of the campaign.”

“It’s not a date, it’s just lunch.”

“Uh-huh.”

Gwen doesn’t do the oyster thing. Not on the first date, which neither of them acknowledge as a date, for entirely different reasons. But then there’s a second and a third, and sex, lots of sex, and it’s harder to pass off as just friendly.

And yeah, the sneaking around that Gwen hates. That Mildred says she doesn’t mind, and she actually doesn’t seem to all that much, which Gwen finds slightly concerning. Mildred’s good with secrets though, she’s good with being kept a secret. Mostly. Which again, Gwen finds concerning.

There’s pillow talk and Mildred admitting more about herself than she has to anyone, ever. Which still isn’t nearly as much as what Gwen admits, but it’s a relative thing. And still, Mildred doesn’t talk about Edmund. Gwen finds that one out on her own, stumbles across some old photos, a scrapbook of Edmund’s crimes. Gwen’s briefly concerned that Mildred is one of those people who’re deeply attracted to serial killers, but the truth is…something else.

Mildred tells her things. Some of the deeper, darker stuff, but not much, not yet. Tells her how she’s written to everyone she can think of because he’s a boy, okay? He was in an impossible situation, they both were, no one ever helped them, so Edmund decided he had to die. No one helped them before, no one helps them now. There’s anger and tears and Gwen holding her and she can’t help asking why Mildred didn’t talk to her sooner, if she’s had no problem asking for help from strangers.

“Because you aren’t,” Mildred says in a way that makes it clear she’s figuring this stuff out as she says it. “A stranger, you aren’t. You never were and I couldn’t…I didn’t want to become one to you. I didn’t want you to look at me like that.”

“Oh Mildred…”

Mildred doesn’t actually ask her to help. She doesn’t want Gwen to think that’s what it’s all been about. It was supposed to be, but it isn’t. She doesn’t ask. Gwen digs into things herself, digs into this kid who was barely double-digits when he did these things. Made all the headlines at the time, but that was over a decade ago, he’s been locked up ever since. Most of Mildred’s money goes to him, one way or another.

Gwen hides it from Trevor—the murderer, not the sex, he knew about the sex before she ever said anything—for as log as she can. But he’s always been nosy, and now he has a paid excuse to be nosy, and he nearly has an aneurysm when he hears why it is that Gwen’s suddenly digging into this case instead of kissing the babies of gay couples, like she should be.

Gwen cannot do this. Nope, absolute no. She cannot be sneaking around with the younger sister of the kid they’ve made all the documentaries about. Doesn’t matter that she’s running on a platform of prison reform, especially as it pertains to juveniles, this is not the case to start with, especially when she hasn’t won yet.

And Gwen knows. She knows. She argues with Trevor about it until he decides they both need to stop because Gwen has a speaking engagement tomorrow and she can’t sound hoarse. There are many further arguments, arguments about principles over politics, but Gwen knows he’s right. She cannot, should not, be doing any of this, at least not yet. It’s dangerous, it’s selfish, Mildred deserves better than being someone’s secret again. Gwen should break it off, at least until the election. She’s not being fair to either of them like this. They should stop, at least for a few months.

Except it’s Mildred and she’s totally hijacked Gwen’s everything, and the thought of stopping makes her ill, and everything about this is terrifying, the most terrifying thing ever.

And then there’s the checkup and the routine mammogram. Gwen started those earlier than most because somebody’s aunt on somebody’s side of the family got sick, somebody’s cousin on the other side did too.

Scratch that, there’s a new winner for most terrifying thing ever.

It’s good, they say. She started early, they caught it early, this is good, they have treatments for this. Good, they say, while Gwen damn near passes out. She’s got a campaign to finish, she can see the Too Sick to Serve headlines already. A bald look would not test well, she’s sure it wouldn’t. She talks to Trevor about that, about the campaign, until he tells her to shut the fuck up, yanks her into a crushing hug. He cries, damn him, and that makes her cry.

She’s glad he’s there.

She wishes Mildred was.

She is also relieved as hell that Mildred isn’t, that they’re on opposite sides of the state right now. No point having Mildred see her like this, having her worry. She’s got enough to worry about, enough to hurt about.

Not that Gwen isn’t planning to tell her. She is. It’s only been a few whirlwind months, but Gwen knows enough to realize that a lie of omission would be a bad, bad, bad idea where Mildred’s concerned, regardless of intention. Gwen doesn’t think of hiding it anyway, not really. Mildred deserves better then that. When and how to tell the public…that’s a completely different clusterfuck of a situation, but Mildred, Gwen just wants to tell her in person. That way Mildred can see her face when she promises it’s no big deal (hopefully without seeing how terrified she actually is), and Gwen will have all the paperwork and things she knows Mildred will want to see, and they can hold each other, and it’s just, it’s not phone call news.

Except then it’s headline news, because somehow it’s leaked. Fox News is having a field day, certain corners of the Internet are already gleefully writing her obituary, and she’s missed literally hundreds of calls by the time she gets a look at her phone. At least half of those are from Mildred. Mildred who actually sounds hysterical for the first time since Gwen’s known her, that bastard on the news with the hair, he says you’re dying, why aren’t you answering, how long have you known, please, please pick up the phone, just pick up the phone god dammit.

She’s managed to keep Mildred a secret for months. This? This doesn’t last three days before it’s everywhere. Gwen does get an I love you for the first time ever, but seeing as Mildred’s sobbing over her voicemail when it happens, the joy is somewhat muted.

[mischiefandspirits]

Bloodlines (2 of 3)

After receiving a vague warning from his mother about his cousin and Richard, Damian goes looking for his runaway ward.

Part of Batkid and Robin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Someone’s in the house.”

Damian paused, one foot out the door of the car. He turned to Jon to study him.

If it was a Bat, Jon wouldn’t have said anything so he could see how long it took Damian to notice. If it was Kon or Lara, he’d already be telling them off for breaking into their house. No one else in his family would have broken in and neither would most of their friends. If Jon didn’t recognize the person or considered the person a threat, he’d be worried. For most anyone else, he’d be annoyed.

He wasn’t worried or annoyed though, which only left one person.

“Stay here,” Damian sighed and got out.

Jon grunted, still staring at the house with enough fury that Damian was surprised his heat vision hadn’t activated.

Once inside, Damian dropped his keys into a dish on the entryway table then hung his jacket on the coat rack. “You know Jonathan doesn’t like it when you show up unannounced.”

“With your alien’s powers, I never should have made it inside without his knowledge.”

He came into the living room to see his mother sitting in an armchair, a pair of teacups waiting on the table next to her. “I asked you not to call him that. And it’s about being polite, Mother.”

She hummed and grabbed her cup. She tilted her head towards the chair next to her as she said, “He is never going to approve of me and I am never going to approve of him. This is something I have come to terms with so I wish you would as well.”

He ignored the invitation, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorway. “You only don’t approve because he doesn’t have any more interest in providing me -- and therefore you -- with an heir than I have in obtaining one so he won’t help you convince me to allow your scientists our DNA. You should just come to terms with the fact you’ll never have a grandkid.”

“But I already have one,” she said into her drink.

“What are you talking about?” he growled, marching into the room to loom over her. “What did you do?”

“Calm down, my Baby Bird, I haven’t done anything. You know I wouldn’t do that without your permission.”

“After what you did to Jason, how can I be sure?”

She sighed and placed her drink back on the dish. “This isn’t what I came here to talk to you about and, unfortunately, I don’t have time to debate with you as I have to cull another uprising of the Council of Demons. When was the last time you spoke to Richard?”

Damian frowned at the change in subject. “Why do you care?”

“The Demon’s Followers are gathering.”

“Have they joined forces with the Council?” That didn’t make sense. Mara was all about gathering power for herself and she wasn’t foolish enough to think she could use them for her own gain then betray them without facing serious consequences. “And what does this have to do with Richard?”

“So you really haven’t been paying attention to the boy’s antics.”

Damian bristled. He’d been watching as closely as was possible without risking Richard discovering the invasion of privacy, something he knew would surely drive the boy away forever. “I ask again, why do you care?”

His mother stood, brushing nonexistent wrinkles from her pants. “I suggest you look into what the boy has been up to. Perhaps ask your pet, I know he’s been hounding Richard.”

Damian opened his mouth to argue, but his mother just pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before slipping into the hall. “And tell your cousin that should my grandson face significant harm, the League will wipe her little organization from existence.”

“Mother!” He followed her into the hall, but she was already gone. He didn’t bother to give chase, knowing she wouldn’t tell him any more than she already had.

“What was that all about?” Jon asked, coming through the front door.

“I’m not sure.”

Oh, he could certainly put the pieces together.

Mara was up to something, something that could put Richard in danger, but what could she be up to that would put her on the Teen Titans’ radar? His team was efficient, but they didn’t handle the type of secretive things the League of Shadows or Outsiders dealt with. The kind of things the Demon’s Followers dealt in.

There was also his mother’s descriptor for Richard. Saying that his mother wasn’t fond of his family was an understatement. She absolutely loathed Tim and Duke, more than even Damian had during those first few months after he’d been brought back to life, and the Council’s interest in Tim had only aggravated her feelings for him. She was more neutral about Cass and Jason, but she saw his sister as a stand-in child that his father should have rid himself of when his true child arrived and she saw Jason as his and his father’s pet street trash. For her to not only claim his ward as her grandson, but to also place him under her protection was… out of character. They had never spoken about Richard before, what with her going dark due to the Council’s actions during his father’s absence followed by his feelings towards Jason’s death and resurrection, but Damian had assumed she’d feel no different for him than Jason given his circus heritage.

“Are you going to go talk to Richie?”

Damian shot his partner a look.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re giving him space. It’s been over a year, though, D. I think that’s enough space.”

“He has to come to me. If I force myself into his life -”

“He’ll resent you,” Jon finished. “Okay, but he’s got that Bat stubbornness you’ve all somehow managed to inherit from Bruce despite the fact most of you aren’t actually related to him. Richie’s not going to make the first move. So if neither of you reaches out…”

“I don’t have time for this,” Damian muttered, heading for the door to the basement. “I need to figure out what Mara is up to and if the Teen Titans can handle it on their own.”

“Bats,” Jon huffed and followed him down. He stayed on the stairs, though, as Damian opened the secret door that led down to the Perch. “Do you want any help?”

Damian paused. “… Not at this time. Somerset will need your focus while I’m distracted. If anything changes, I will let you know.”

“Alright.” Jon drifted up behind him to wrap his arms around Damian’s waist. “Just know I’m here if you need anything. And be careful.”

“I will.” He leaned back into his partner for a moment before pulling away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Red Hood was watching a factory burn when Flamebird found him. The teen had a gun pointed at his head before he could even speak. “Come for the fireworks, Boss-Bird.”

“I don’t want to fight. I need to talk to you. It’s about Robin,” Flamebird said, holding up his hands. He quickly ducked to the side when Red Hood shot at him.

“Yeah, no, you lost your chance to talk about him when you let Bitch-man kick him out.”

“That’s not what happened,” Flamebird said and threw a feather, lodging it in the gun’s barrel. “And it’s not the point. Mother came asking after him.”

That made Red Hood’s anger spike into fury, but at least he paused his attack. “She has even less of a right to talk about Red Bird.”

“Agreed, but I’m not about to ignore a warning about Robin’s safety, no matter who it came from.”

“So now you care?”

Flamebird sighed. “Hood, please, can we at least agree to put this aside for Robin’s sake?”

Hood threw the plugged gun at him. “You’ve got ninety seconds. This better be good.”

“Have you heard of the Demon’s Followers?” Flamebird asked as he grabbed the gun and slowly approached his brother.

“No. They related to your dear grandpa's cult?”

“Sort of. Like the Council, the Followers were a faction of the League that left when Mother took power. Instead of worshiping Ra’s, though, they follow my cousin.”

“You have a cousin?”

“Mara al Ghul, the daughter of one of Mother’s elder brothers. She resents me for leaving the League. She came after me when I was just forming the League of Shadows, but we took her down. The Followers have mostly operated as an organized band of mercenaries since, though Mara’s always looking for a way to gain power or spite me.”

“And you didn’t tell us about this because…?”

“I told Father, and I’m sure Barbara knows, but Mara shares Mother’s opinion of you all -”

“Meaning she thinks we’re trash.”

“- so there was never any reason to involve you.”

“Right,” Red Hood snipped. “And why does this matter?”

“Mother insinuated the Teen Titans have gotten or will get involved with the Followers, specifically with Mara putting Robin in harm’s way. When I asked for more information she acted surprised that I wasn’t already aware and suggested I speak to you. I looked into it and found evidence of the Followers in California, but nothing focused on Jump or the Teen Titans. So here I am.”

Red Hood crossed his arms and turned to leave. “Well, I haven’t heard about any Mara or her Followers so you’re out of luck. I’ll let Red Bird know to keep an eye out, though.”

Flamebird nodded, knowing he wouldn’t get any more out of his wayward brother. “Let him know she might use an alias as well. She has used Maria, Miranda, and Mariam for given names and Raatko, Tate, and Šabaḥ for surnames.”

“Sh-Shabac?” Red Hood said, looking over his shoulder.

“Šabaḥ,” Flamebird repeated slowly. “It means ghost in Arabic. She chose it to pay homage to her father, who went by White Ghost.”

Red Hood stared at him for a moment then pulled a communicator out of one of the pockets on his belt. “Shit, shit, shit!”

“What?”

“Shut up!” He brought one of his hands to his helmet and the red color leached away until only an X remained, the drain revealing a white skull on black. Similarly, glowing red X’s appeared on the back of his gloves and across his chest.

Red X flipped open the communicator and pressed a button on the side.

“What’s going on?”

“I swear, if they lost him again…” Red X muttered as the communicator rang.

“X -”

“Who is this?” a voice said from the communicator and Flamebird looked over to see Nightstar’s face staring back.

“Take a guess, Princess. Where’s Red Bird? And if you tell me you lost him to that stalker bitch again, I’m going to wreak bloody vengeance on the lot of you.”

Nightstar scowled, but was knocked out of view before she could say anything by Impulse. “What stalker? Do you know something about Robin’s disappearance? Howdidyoucallus? WhydoyouhaveaT-Comm?”

“Bloody. Vengeance,” Red X growled and Flamebird grabbed the communicator before he could destroy it.

Impulse gasped as he came into view, but he ignored her. “What do you mean Robin disappeared?”

“I, uh…” Impulse glanced between him and someone offscreen. She mouthed, Help!

The screen’s view expanded to show the rest of Robin’s team.

Virus was vibrating, the edges of their body going to static. Nightstar was glaring up at him, eyes glowing. Impulse was still gaping and Wonder Girl looked startled as well, but was working to hide it as she stepped forward.

“Flamebird, this is unexpected. What are you doing with Red X?”

“We’re looking for my baby brother!” Red X growled.

“X, calm down,” Flambird said and the boy flipped him off. “What can you tell me about Robin’s disappearance?”

“Why do you care?” Nightstar asked, eyes narrowing further.

Flamebird breathed out through his nose as Red X snorted. “Knew I liked you, Princess. I’ll make your death quick.”

“I received information about a dangerous group of mercenaries in your area. There may be a connection. What happened?”

Virus leaned towards Impulse and whispered, “Are the Teen Titans going to work with the Flamebird?”

“I think so. This is so cool! Do you think Batgirl will be there?”

“Or Nightwing!?”

“We can hear you, dorks,” Red X huffed and the two flinched, Virus ducking behind Nightstar and Impulse blushing. “Just tell us what happened to Robin!”

Wonder Girl cleared her throat. “Well, last night Impulse and Robin were on a date at the boardwalk.”

Flamebird blinked.

Red X snorted. “What? Didn’t know your kid had a girlfriend?”

“His kid?” Impulse squeaked.

“Flamebird is Robin’s father?” Virus asked.

Wonder Girl looked at her team, uncertain, and Nightstar sighed.

“Short answer: No, he isn’t. It’s complicated and not important right now,” she said with finality. “Robin and Impulse were at the boardwalk. They got separated in the mirror maze and no one’s seen him since. We searched the entire area, but couldn’t find any evidence of where he could have gone.”

“Virus scanned the maze,” Virus said. “Impulse was worried Robin’s disappearance was the work of Mirror Master or Reflek, but Virus didn't find any energy anomalies, not even any that would suggest teleportation. Robin just vanished.”

“You didn’t even find evidence of a fight?” Flamebird asked and the teens shook their heads. “Have you faced anyone recently who could have taken out Robin without leaving evidence?”

Wonder Girl shook her head. “We’ve considered that, but there aren’t many of our villains that could who aren’t locked up right now. The only one we considered was, well,” she gestured vaguely, “X. But Nightstar said she had evidence he wasn’t in Jump City at the time.”

Flamebird nodded, well aware that his youngest brother had been taking down a warehouse of drug dealers in Gotham the night before.

“Did you consider White when you went through your list?” Red X asked pointedly.

The teens shared a look.

“White hasn’t bothered any of us since she came back to life,” Impulse said.

“Maybe because she’s been reconnecting with all her minions,” he snorted. “I thought Red Bird said he was trying to track her progress.”

The teens looked uncomfortable.

“Which none of you knew because you all get mad when he investigates her. Of course.”

Nightstar crossed her arms. “He’s obsessed. We -”

“News flash, your teammate is a Bat. Any of your relatives who’ve worked with one of us could tell you that obsession and Paranoia come with the gig. And that’s, you know, ignoring the fact that that psycho is stalking him.”

“Stalking?” Flamebird asked.

“You better hope he’s fine when I rescue him or I'll raze that tower to the ground,” Red X said then snapped the communicator closed.

“What’s going on? Who’s White?” Flamebird asked as Red X grabbed the communicator and shoved it into his belt.

The boy stared him down for a moment then groaned and switched his suit back to Red Hood. “Follow me.”

His brother led him to a dilapidated apartment building. As he perched on a ledge to open a window, he muttered, “I’ll have to burn this safehouse now.”

The apartment was sparsely furnished, just a small card table with two folding chairs on either side and a couch in front of a book-covered coffee table. It was tidy, though. The books on the table were in neat, organized stacks. The kitchen counters were wiped clean and the only dishes that were out were the ones drying on the rack. The mattress that could be seen through the half-open bedroom door was also made to Alfred’s exacting standards despite its lack of frame or box spring.

Red Hood stomped across the living room to a closet door, opening it with a keycode to reveal weapons and ammunition arranged on shelves. He grabbed a tablet off a lower shelf and pulled up a file.

“She’s called the White Woman,” he said, opening an image for Flamebird to see.

The woman was covered from head to toe in a white suit styled after a Komon. The skirt only went halfway down her knees, though, revealing grey leggings that matched the obi around her waist and the hood that hid her hair and neck by connecting the suit to her hannya mask. Like the suit, the mask was primarily white, just with silver teeth, horns, and eyes. She also wore silver boots and gloves along with a matching utility belt over the obi that was designed to look like an obijime. A sword was strapped to her back, though he couldn’t see what kind from the angle.

“She started setting up shop in Jump City around a year ago. Her motivations weren’t very clear at first. Her lackeys stole and she set other villains loose on the city, but there didn’t really seem to be any goal in mind.”

“But she did have a goal.”

Red Hood nodded. “Dick realized she’d been testing the Titans, toying with them. He thought she was planning something for them, like trying to figure out how to take them down so she could take over. He… miscalculated.” He closed the picture and opened a new one from the file. “She was only after one of them.”

The image appeared to have been captured by a security camera. Richard was clearly the focal point, but he wasn’t Robin. The suit he was wearing almost seemed to be mocking the Robin suit. The tunic was still red, but a darker blood-like color that had also replaced the green on his boots and gloves. His belt, cape lining, and tunic’s trim were a dull silver instead of bright yellow and his sleeves, pants, and cape had inverted from black to stark white. His domino mask has similarly flipped colors, going from a black mask with white lenses to a white mask with black lenses. The R logo on his chest was replaced by a silver and black bird’s claw.

“Don’t know a lot of what went down since Red Bird did a hell of a job burying everything, but Robin went renegade for a week or two and started working with White. I thought he had just been undercover, but one of the few things Dick would tell me about his renegade act was that he wasn’t doing it by choice. She forced him to become her apprentice somehow, the creepy bitch. She’s obsessed with him, and would probably still be after him if she hadn’t died about six months back after one of her schemes backfired on her.”

Flamebird frowned as he switched the picture back to White.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know where Talia is,” Nyssa had said when Damian had contacted her after he’d found out about Red Hood. “She cut contact with me two weeks ago. Apparently, she objected to my use of the pits. If only you had called earlier so I could have called out the hypocrisy. Healing my niece is a far better use of the pits than fixing your pet.”

At the time, Damian had been so focused on arguing that Jason wasn’t a pet, he hadn’t questioned why Mara had needed to be healed in the pit. Especially one of Nyssa’s, which rarely saw use as his aunt was far warier of the effects of the pits than his mother or grandfather.

“Mara’s the White Woman,” Flamebird said, eyes tracing her mask. It reminded him of the Oni mask she’d worn thirteen years earlier, when she’d first attacked his team. “But why would she suddenly target Jump City?”

“Specifically Dick,” Red Hood corrected. “And beats me. Like we established, none of you al Ghuls give a crap about us.”

Flamebird opened his mouth, to argue that he did care. He cared about his Robin and he cared about his Batkid, no matter what either boy might think.

Then he froze.

“Grandson.”

“What?”

“When she came to warn me, Mother called Richard her grandson,” Flamebird said, turning towards the window. “I don’t know why she’d claim him as family, let alone acknowledging him as my heir, but if she was willing to overlook our lack of blood relation -”

“White could too,” Red Hood finished, tossing the tablet back into the closet and slamming the door closed. It locked automatically as the anti-hero raced after his elder brother. “She’s been targeting Dick to get at you, and you didn’t. Even. Notice!”

“I need to find Robin.” Flamebird pulled out his grapple gun, but Red Hood grabbed his arm before he could fire.

“I’ll find him. You’ve done enough.”

“I have a list of places where Mara might be.”

“And I have a list of places where White might be.”

Flamebird pulled his arm away, but turned to the boy. “Then we can compare our lists and narrow it down.”

“Not happening,” Red Hood growled.

“Ho-Jason,” Flamebird said, setting his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “This is about Richard, remember. Our focus right now should be locating him as fast as possible. You can be as mad at me as you want later.”

Red Hood slapped the hand away. “I’m going to shoot you in the kneecaps when this is over.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For clarification:

League of Assassins: The normal LoA in the comics, ran by Talia (with Nyssa as an advisor when they aren't fighting)

League of Shadows: Dami's team (Flamebird, Nightwing, Abuse, Beacon, Flyway, Nobody, Quick)

Council of Demons: A cult that worships Ra's and seeks to bring him back to life

Demon's Followers: Mara's criminal organization

[mymarvelbunch]

Different Roads... Same Destination: Part Four

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader (established). This specific chapter contains a lot of Steve x Peggy! (Also, brief mentions to Steve x Sharon)

Summary: When the Avengers went back in time to get the Infinity Stones, new timelines were created. By not delivering them back to their exact same spots, you and Steve created major changes in those timelines. What happened? (Non-American!Reader)

This is a sequel to “Be Your Own Hero”. I highly recommend you read it first, since it features many major changes in canon that are addressed here.

Notes: Y/N = your (first) name; Y/Co = your home country; Y/Ci = your home city; Y/N/L = your native language (to be ignored in case you speak English).

Masterlist

Part Four

1945

Peggy was, naturally, in denial. It took a lot of time to convince her of his identity, and even then she was only fully convinced when she kissed him. “You kiss the same”, she whispered, pulling away after brief seconds (enough time for him to cup her face).

He had wanted to keep his return a secret at first, but he failed to account for Howard Stark. Soon Captain America was all over the news as ‘coming back from the dead’. Journalists gathered around him to get interviews, and for months he didn’t have a single moment of peace.

It didn’t matter much, not as he and Peggy danced to a newly released song, kissing every time the lyrics told them to.

“Kiss me once, and kiss me twice, and kiss me once again, It’s been a long, long time...”

1947

He and Peggy got married with only Howard, Jarvis and their wives as witnesses. On their honeymoon, he told her all about alternate Steve and showed the small notebook he gave him.

“Sergeant Barnes alive?”, she nearly gasped.

“Kept prisoner by HYDRA, according to this”, he said. “Had been injected by a prototype serum when I rescued him, which enabled him to survive his fall. Makes sense in retrospect.”

She bit her lip. “I guess it’s worth a look, though we can’t do anything useful before we go back to Washington.”

They didn’t wait long after that. Sgt. Barnes was successfully rescued four months later, along with other prisoners. “I’m offended I didn’t get to be your best man, punk”, was the first full sentenced Bucky said after stepping foot on American soil. Steve laughed, and Peggy grinned.

“I hope being our child’s godfather can compensate for it”, she said, placing her hands on her belly. Steve’s attention was suddenly all on her as he hugged her tightly.

Bucky joined SHIELD soon after Howard made him a new arm. “Way prettier than the one HYDRA gave me. More functional too.”

“Of course”, Howard boasted. “Don’t compare me to that shitty corporation.”

Bucky was also very vocal about not letting Zola inside SHIELD, which reminded Steve of another thing written in The Notebook. He would not tell Howard about his alternate self - he didn’t trust the man to keep his mouth shut - but he was able to reason with him.

“Zola belongs either in jail or in a grave”, Peggy spat. Pregnancy made her more prone to anger. The scientist was found dead not much after, and no one ever found out how he died (not that anyone bothered that much).

1970

Bucky got married in 1950 to Angie Martinelli, Peggy’s friend who was Sarah Rogers’ godmother along with him. Their first children (a couple of twins, Peter and Lyra) came to world two years later, a week before Steve and Peggy’s first son, Christopher.

Peggy was still director of SHIELD, Steve slowly fading to the background as its agent. Not that he minded, even though Peggy insisted on his importance as Captain America. “You are a symbol, Steve”, she’d say.

“Captain America is a title”, he’d reply. “It can belong to someone else.”

However, he was only able to pass his mantle when Sarah turned 20 and completed her training. All his four children (Sarah, Chris, Emily and Paul) were born with his serum on their veins, enabling them to follow their father’s steps if they wanted.

Sarah was the only one who did, much to Steve’s relief; he wasn’t looking forward to a family of spies. She officially took the title of Captain America on the week that marked Tony Stark’s birth.

It was another point of his and Peggy’s talks. The Notebook had notes on Howard’s only son; how he had not received enough love from his father, and only relied on his mother (and sometimes his family butler) for support. “If we got named as his godparents, we’ll have a perfect excuse to be in his life”, he told her, and she agreed.

It was a little odd, the time it took for Howard and Maria to have a child. By the time Tony was born, the only reason they weren’t grandparents yet was the fact that Sarah didn’t want to get married.

Meanwhile, Christopher and Emily were engaged to each of Bucky’s twins. “Reminds me of when the entire 107th though you and I were fucking”, his best friend said, laughing like it was the best joke he had ever heard.

Peggy didn’t help any. “You mean that you were ‘fondueing’?”, she asked while taking a sip of tea, like the British woman she was. Steve just groaned.

1976

Peggy’s sister-in-law (who was ten years younger than her husband) gave birth to her youngest child on the same month she and Steve became grandparents. Sharon Carter was mentioned in The Notebook, but in passing; he missed it on his first reading.

“Agent 13″, he read aloud to Peggy. She already had a few white hair locks, and the difference between their aging speed was visible (though he was sure he saw a white strand on the previous week). “I suppose this means she worked for SHIELD in the other timeline.”

“It might not be the case now”, his wife replied softly. “This is Sharon who had another uncle. She probably saw you looking less than 30.” A chuckle. “Who knows, this other Steve might have even dated her.”

“Absolutely not, she’s my niece.”

“She isn’t the other Steve’s.”

A loud groan was heard. “I really don’t want to imagine it, Peggy. We’re talking about a baby. A baby who’s our grandson’s age.”

~~

The amount of teasing Steve endured at that very moment could not be properly translated into words. You were no help, busy as you were laughing.

“Aw, I wish she was here to watch this”, Sam said. “Why didn’t you invite her, Scott?”

“I... don’t know her?”

“Where is she, by the way?”, Natasha wondered. You glanced at Steve, who huffed.

“I kiss her one time, and now I’m supposed to know all her whereabouts?” When you didn’t answer, just kept staring, he sighed. “I’ve heard she moved to California.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard.”

“I clearly have a type: women who can kick my ass and laugh at my expense.”

“I can’t kick your ass, not without Mjölnir, or Stormbreaker.”

“The mere fact that you can wield them already enables you to kick my ass.”

“Stop arguing before it gets kinky!”, Tony shouted. You two laughed.

~~

1991

Taking down KGB was not an easy task. Without HYDRA, the Soviets invested more on their national espionage division.

However, it got easier with the fall of Soviet Union. Following her father’s instructions, Sarah rescued many little girls training to be spies. One of them was to be brought to US, if she consented to it.

Natalia Romanova, a 7-year-old girl with dreams of becoming a ballerina, is adopted by the Starks. Tony, a 21-year-old adult, happily welcomes his little sister into the family.

“There’s someone else for us to look after”, he mentioned to Peggy. His hair was fully white now, and his ‘Adonis muscles’ had started to fade off, but he was still more energetic than most 73-year olds.

“There are many names, actually”, Peggy replied. She had just retired from SHIELD, after turning 70. She wasn’t as ‘preserved’ as her husband, but still looked younger than her age. “We only crossed Bucky’s, Tony’s and Natasha’s. There is still a lot of work to do if we are going to follow your notebook, and so far it seems to be the right thing to do.”

However, right after they took Clint Barton from the circus and had Emily adopt him too, they took a pause to mourn their youngest son.

In 1979, Paul told his parents he was gay. Although surprised, they simply told him that they’d always love and support him. He and Sarah moved out of their parents’ home and lived together, since neither of them would marry. In 1990, however, he was diagnosed with AIDS after he started coughing blood. It left the whole family terrified; Paul himself had been telling them about his other gay/bi friends who had been taken away due to that horrible disease.

Two years later, he died at home, holding his sister’s hand and gasping for breath.

~~

Was it okay to cry for a son you never had? Because tears were falling down Steve’s cheeks for Paul. You kissed his cheek and embraced him tighter, but didn’t say a word. You tried to imagine yourself in Peggy’s place. Steve might have already been prepared for the possibility of outliving his offspring; after all, no one knew how long he’d live with the serum in his blood. But Peggy was like you, a normal human. At the age of 70 especially, she would never think she’d outlive one of her children, let alone her youngest.

You had studied a bit about the AIDS pandemic at college, but no reading would do justice to the pain you could see in the faces of those alternate versions of your friends and their beloved ones.

~~

1995

By the time Carol Danvers showed on SHIELD’s radar, Sarah Rogers had already passed the Captain America mantle to her 15-year-old nephew John. “It’ll be temporary”, he warned, “until any of my siblings or cousins is ready to take it.”

Still, he was there to watch over Carol and rescue her from the Kree who tried to kidnap her. He took her to her best friend, and he could swear he saw his deceased uncle when Danvers and Rambeau smiled and embraced each other.

Ten years later, he’d pass the mantle to his young brother James as he and Monica Rambeau had their first child.

2008

Tony was still kidnapped in Afghanistan and still became Iron Man, his parents long gone (Howard had a heart attack in 1993 and Maria had a stroke in 1998). Looking back, he blamed himself for not listening to Aunt Peggy and Uncle Steve; they had always told him to shut down the weapons department of Stark Industries (but how could he? He had a duty to SHIELD).

This time, however, he had more than just Pepper, Rhodey and Happy for support. Natasha soon realized Obadiah Stane’s true intentions and unmasked him before he could do any real damage. Tony’s little sister got an iron suit of her own in her 24th birthday. 

Clint and Natasha still joined SHIELD, but with no red on their ledger to wipe out. Hank Pym still recruited Scott Lang, but years in advance, thanks to a ‘casual tip’ Peggy Carter gave him (he never left SHIELD or Stark Industries in this one). His daughter would eventually get a suit of her own, though hers would take more time.

Sam was recruited to SHIELD too, shortly after losing Riley. His new job gave him a purpose, and he was happy.

Banner never turned into the Hulk, not when he had Steve to talk him out of replicate his serum. “This is no blessing”, he told him. “Just look at mine and Bucky’s kids. Why do you think they married within our inner circle? Why do you think John married a woman who lived with a super-powered step-mom? None of us really fit in, we’re outsiders. You don’t want that.”

So, when Loki arrived with the Chitauri army, a slightly different team defeated him. James Rogers was barely 18, too young to lead, but Tony had grown up with Steve as his godfather and Sarah as his ‘cousin’ and knew how to do it. Iron Man, Iron Scarlet (there was no Black Widow alias for Natasha to adopt), Captain America (fourth of his name, as people called him), Hawkeye, Thor, Captain Marvel and Ant-Man teamed up rather easily.  (A couple years later, War Machine, Falcon and the Wasp would join the team.)

With no HYDRA, there is no Scarlet Witch, no Quicksilver. Tony is a different man here, not blinded by trauma and fear, and there is no Ultron either. T’Chaka is never killed, but this time, Wakanda is visited by the Avengers and the three former Captain Americas. Their borders are opened without a civil war, and eventually Shuri is the one added to the Avengers line-up (not in a Black Panther suit, of course; it’d be disrespectful).

Peggy passes away in her sleep in 2016. Steve is still strong enough to carry her coffin, with Bucky by his side and their sons behind them. “Did that notebook tell you that?”, his best friend asked after they left the cemetery.

“No. The notes end on ‘Thanos’ and ‘Infinity Stones’. I’m not sure what any of these mean.”

“You should pass it on to the Avengers. It’s past our time to help, punk.”

It was true. Both of them lost most of their built-up appearance, and truly looked like old men. Their third great-grandkid had just been born, and now both were widowers (Angie had died a year before Peggy, in a hospital, after fracturing her left femur). A week later, they moved to an apartment Tony bought for them, near the Avengers Tower. Steve gave the Notebook to James and retired for good.

2018

In the end, no warning prepared them for the Decimation. In their defense, Thanos didn’t really invade Earth this time. Ebony Maw showed up to get the Time Stone and, like in the original timeline, the battle was taken to space.

The heartbreak over losing so many of his family, so suddenly, not to mention his best friend, was too much for Steve. A huge service was made for the first Captain America, and small, intimate funeral was made for the man under the helmet and uniform.

Some things don’t change, though. Three years later, you still show up at the Avengers compound with an idea to reverse things. Time travel was still figured out, and they brought everyone back without any major casualties. You still fell in love with Captain America, and he with you. It was just a different person wearing the mantle.

Bucky died less than a year later. His last words were “till the end of the line, pal”.

~~

It was odd to see a timeline where you never met Steve. “Honestly, it was better this way”, he commented when you pointed that out. “I really don’t want to see if we’re meant to be when I’m over 100 years old. I’ll gladly let this version of you be with my grandson instead.”

“He looks better than you, punk”, Bucky added. “Must be the addition of Peggy’s genes and mine.”

“Your alternate wife also helped”, Natasha agreed.

They laughed. “That was the last one”, Strange said after they stopped laughing. “I’m not doing this again.”

You smiled anyway. “Thank you, Strange. It was fun to watch, especially among friends.”

He nodded and gave you a tiny smile in return.

~~

We’re nearly finished! All that’s left is the epilogue. I plan on writing it to be cute <3

[glenncoco4]

Raising the Bar (Ch.1)

A/N: This is gonna be a collaboration with @mashmaiden, @wanna-be-bold, @psyched1328 and @detective-and-agent-deeks. Hope you guys like what we've got for ya!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kensi turns around as the door to the bar opens, her face lighting up when she sees who it is. “Hey, babe. How’d court go?”

Deeks relaxes at the sight of his wife. It’s been a stressful couple of hours and nothing makes him feel better more than her. “Well, I prevented my egghead of a friend from going to jail for assault with a deadly weapon.”

“Deadly weapon? I thought he broke his jaw with his fist?”

“Under California state law a fist can be considered as a deadly weapon if bodily injury occurs.”

“That’s a felony. How’d you mange to get him out of doing jail time?”

“Don’t you remember, baby?”

The brunette’s brow furrows in confusion. His thought train has clearly left the station and she’s not on it.

“You married an exceptionally good lawyer.”

She may look annoyed on the outside but her heart is fluttering on the inside. Her man is sexy period but when he’s confident his sexy factor goes up by like a billion. “How could I ever forget when you remind me every chance you get?”

Deeks takes a step towards her and places kiss to her lips. “Skills like this need to be flaunted, Fern.”

The older blonde finally makes her presences known and steps out of the office, shaking her head at her favorite couple’s antics. “Alright you two. Marty just tell her how you got him off, we’ve already had a day.”

“No luck then, huh?”

Kensi takes a deep breath as she relives the events of the past two hours. “Well there was the guy that asked if he could bring his pet monkey into work with him or there was the 68 year old woman that had to walk with a cane. Now tell me what happened with Kip.”

His tactic of changing the subject clearly not working. “Fine. He’s going to pay all of the guy’s medical bills, 500 hours of community service and he’s going to be moving into the apartment upstairs and going to be working in the kitchen to keep him out of trouble.”

“How is him living above the bar where drunk people are coming in and out going to help him?”

“That’s were you come in, Mama.”

A mischievous grin spreads to Roberta’s lips when she realizes where her son is going. “Oh, I love scaring that boy to death.”

Deeks nods in appreciation after all he knows first hand how his mama can be when a trouble maker is around. “And that’s exactly what you’ll be doing anytime he starts getting out of line.”

“What about when I’m not here?”

The door opens again the normal line of words begin to come out of Kensi’s mouth until she turns to see who it is. “Sorry, we’re-“

“There’s my favorite cousin and cousin-in-law.”

Kensi and Deeks share a look of confusion and then turn back to their unexpected customer. “Teresa, what are you doing here?”

The brunette walks up to the bar, her heels clacking against the hard wood floor as she goes. Her thick Italian accent so clearly recognizable. “I heard ya lookin for a managa.”

“But you live in Brooklyn.” Deeks shakes his head still confused at what’s happening.

“Yeah, I have so many frequent flya miles and so much time on my hands that I thought a 7 hour commute to work everyday is just what I needed.”

Deeks raises his hands in surrender. If anything he knows not to mess with a Blye woman, especially those that are brunette.

Teresa takes a deep breath, okay so she maybe a little on edge with the whole starting in a new city and all. “I need a fresh start, okay?”

Kensi turns to Mama B and shrugs. The two Deeks women walk over to a table and gesture for the brunette to join them.

As she sits down Kensi pulls out her phone at the sound of a text. After reading it, she turns to her husband with a smile. “Babe, can you go out and get the twins, Matt said he doesn’t want to get out because Sofia fell asleep.”

Deeks nods and begins walking towards the door.

“First off I need to ask, is drinking on the job allowed?”

“One a shift.”

The Italian nods in acceptance. “One bottle of whiskey, I can work with that.”

Kensi shakes her head, how did she know this was going to be a disaster. “Thank you for coming in but-“

“Relax KiKi, I’m just messing with ya.” Teresa playfully swats her her cousin’s arm showing her that she really was playing around.

Deeks shakes his head as he loosens his tie and steps out into the California sun. If his wife and mom do decide to hire Teresa it’ll be more of a comedy club than a bar that’s for sure.

XXXX

After a successful interview the ladies decide that the brunette would be a great asset to The Squid & Dagger and she had a lot of experience, more than any other candidate, that’s for sure. “Teresa I feel like I can trust you with this and you’re a hard ass so that will help too.”

“I’m listening.”

“My friend Kip-”

The new manager swat her hand in the air like the information isn’t new to her. “Oh, yeah, Kensi and ya mom already informed me of that little predicament and rest assured I will put that pretty boy in his place if he gets outta line.”

“He can be a real sweet talker when he wants to be.”

“I can be a real sweet talker too with my friends Donna and Nikki.” Teresa holds up each of her fists as she says the names. “We can take him out back and do a little talking if it comes to it.”

“Please don’t.”

“No promises.”

“Just don’t get arrested I don’t need anyone else I know going to court for assault.”

The brunette shakes her head disapprovingly at the fact that someone would get in a fight and not have anyone to back them up. “Please, I would never get caught.”

“Okay, that’s not reassuring at all.”

Kensi walks up to her husband, wrapping her arm around his waist she pulls herself into his side. “Relax, baby, I told her she can’t fight anyone unless they provoke her.”

“Who is Teresa fighting? Can I hold your hoops?” The little boy runs out of the office excitedly, his eyes lighting up with glee.

Both Kensi and Deeks’ mouths drop open as unsuspecting words flow out of their six year old’s mouth. “Tyler, has Grandma Bertie been letting you and your sister watch Real Housewives of New Jersey again?”

The shaggy red-haired six year old shakes his head. “Uh-uh. Jersey Shore.”

Mia walks in behind her brother and climbs up on a stool with a questioning look on her face as she stares at both of her parents. “Mommy, daddy, what’s a guido?”

“Mama, how many times have I told you that you can’t fall asleep while the tv’s on.” The shaggy blonde says looking across the room at his mother.

Roberta cringes when her secret is let out and sees the mirroring looks that she’s getting from her son and daughter-in-law. “I’m sorry, I guess I had a little too much wine with dinner and fell asleep on the couch after putting them to bed. I woke up with them sitting there watching it.”

“Mama B, maybe we need to put a lock on some channels.”

“Sweetie, I can barely turn on my tv and record something much less put a lock on a channel.“

Mia’s eyes light up as she spins around on the stool to look at her grandma. “We can show you, Grandma Bertie.”

The sudden foot step startle them seeing as though none of them are walking. Teresa turns and catches a glimpse of someone behind Kensi and Deeks making everyone else follow her line of sight.

The short white haired man takes off his sunglasses, wondering why everyone’s attention is suddenly on him. “Well, shit….what are ya’ll doin?”

[prettywordsyouleft]

Our Christmas - Family

Genre: fluff / Christmas au

Pairing: Mark Tuan x reader

A/N: Our Christmas is a five part series that starts from first meeting someone to the magic of Christmas through the eyes of children!

**I purposely chose to change the names of Mark’s siblings because I didn’t feel comfortable writing them into this story as they’re not famous/idols themselves. I used a random name generator to name them as well, so they might not match well to their personalities, but I feel much better sharing this without using their real names.**

Our Christmas: Meeting // Together // Family // Newlyweds // Children

As the plane descended towards the tarmac, you took a deep breath. Not because you anticipated the landing of your flight, but rather, your trip to California had gone faster than you expected.

You weren’t prepared for what was waiting for you.

Mark took your hand out of your lap then, giving it a gentle squeeze. You glanced at the man next to you and sighed softly. He knew you too well, and you couldn’t hide your anxiety from him.

“I’m excited too,” you told him weakly as the plane hit the runway and Mark smiled at you.

“You’re allowed to be anxious, even though you know my family don’t bite. This is a big thing for us as a couple, right?”

You nodded.

The last two and a half years of falling in love with Mark had been the best. You hadn’t realised what you were missing in your world until he walked in and filled those spots effortlessly, the whirlwind of your love soon meeting all the important milestones – the first intimate moments, the I love you’s, moving in together and now it was time to spend Christmas together for the first time. Your first two Christmases were spent apart as you celebrated with family, spending New Years together instead. And whilst that was working as you grew accustomed to living in each other’s worlds, it made sense with how far into your relationship you now were to want to be together on the most magical day of the year.

It wasn’t that you didn’t want to be here with Mark this year either. Of course, you had frequently imagined waking up in Mark’s arms on Christmas morning, lazily greeting each other with words and kisses, before getting up to open presents together. Every year so far you had just video chatted instead, enjoying the festivities together through a small screen. You were excited to experience everything in real time at his side this year.

But it was a big thing to be halfway around the world and not with your family too. You had already celebrated a pre-Christmas get together before hopping on the plane to LA, and you had to admit, having Mark at your side as you caught up with your relatives was really satisfying. You knew they all adored him and had high hopes for your future together. You saw how seamlessly he fitted in with your family, playing with your niece and conversing with your brother and cousin for hours on end about gaming. You had dreamed of this for so long that it made your heart full knowing how easily you could imagine this continuing.

But Mark already knew most of your family before the get together. You often went and had dinner with your parents, and sometimes babysat your niece together when your brother and his partner were busy. Your family was all close to where you lived, making it accessible to slowly introduce Mark into their world.

It was different with Mark’s family.

You had met his parents when they came to visit throughout the years, and you got along with them well. They treated you as if you were family already, and it encouraged you to open up more to them with each visit. But he had a bigger family than you. Thus, there were a lot more people to meet. From the video calls you had each Christmas so far, his house was always busy. Christmas was a grand affair for the Tuan’s, with extended family and friends all coming over for dinner, and enjoying the activities well into the night. You were worried about showing your best side to those who didn’t know you yet.

It didn’t help that Mark had casually let it slip that you were going to be the first girl he had ever brought home for any special holiday outside of his close friends. This was a big deal, even if he didn’t seem to think so.

It was all you could focus on during the entire flight, and you were still thinking about it as you took your carry on luggage from Mark’s grasp. Your heart was racing when you walked at his side towards the arrival gates, smiling weakly at him whenever he squeezed your hand.

“Keep breathing, it’s alright,” he instructed softly into your ear before you stepped out to find his waiting family. You expected just his Mum and Dad, maybe a sibling or two.

You weren’t prepared.

You didn’t need to look around far to find them, a gathering of people off to the side with signs held up and cheering leaving their lips at sight of you both. You glanced up at Mark with a surprised gaze before you headed over to where the Tuan family stood, instantly being engulfed in the arms of various people.

“Oh my goodness you’re even prettier in real life!” Libby, his older sister, oozed as she hugged you warmly.

“It’s so nice to see you again, sweetie,” his Mum then greeted, not letting you even get one word out in response to his sister. It carried on in this fashion until you were certain you had been handed around to everyone who came to welcome your arrival. Finally, you were back in Mark’s care, his arm slung around you loosely as you walked with him to the exit in a stupor. There was too much noise and bustle for you to take in and you were overwhelmed.

In a good way.

You finally smiled, allowing yourself to enjoy the experience. It sure was different from back home, but you liked it.

You were immediately given an important task upon arriving at the Tuan household – to be their guest. You were asked by more than one member of the family if you needed anything, and then given a house tour by Mark’s Dad before being delivered to Mark’s bedroom, your boyfriend already in there with your luggage bags. He grinned at you before coming over to give his Dad another hug.

“Taking good care of my girl?” he asked and his Dad chuckled.

“Your? No son, it’s our now, our girl. Right, Y/N?”

You giggled as he shot you a wink and then told you to rest up for an hour before coming down for dinner.

And as much as you were getting used to being around a bunch of different people, you finally found yourself taking your first steady breath when he closed the door. Mark smirked at your reaction and pulled you into his arms. “Still overwhelmed?”

“A little,” you admitted and he chuckled. You smiled at how much he reminded you of his Dad then. You buried into his embrace further, inhaling his cologne which helped you relax further. It was like the scent represented being home. You loved nothing more than being in Mark’s arms.

“My family like you,” he mentioned, stroking at your hair. “A lot.”

“You already can tell?” you asked as you lifted your head up out of his chest and Mark took advantage of the action, leaning down to kiss you tenderly before he nodded. “Really? We haven’t been here long! I was so nervous trying to answer all of Jack’s questions in the car.”

“You did well to answer them all,” he assured, kissing the top of your head. “And Bella thinks you fit in the family well, which you do. Mum’s already lining up to get your help with baking Christmas cookies tomorrow.”

“Oh god, what if I accidentally poison you all?”

Mark shook his head as he laughed again. “Then I’ll die happy because you’re here with me this year.”

“Uh oh, sappy Mark has arrived,” you noted and Mark leaned in to nuzzle you with his nose affectionately.

“You love sappy Mark.”

“I love all of you,” you replied, feeling a sudden need to speak up how you felt. Mark’s smile faded as you stared up at him. “Even though this is all a lot, I’m happy I came with you. This is going to be our best Christmas yet, right?”

He nodded, kissing your lips briefly. “We’ll be welcoming in the new year in the best of moods, I’m sure of it.”

“Let’s get through Christmas first,” you suggested and then pulled away from him, finally looking around his bedroom. It was your first time seeing his personal things from his upbringing and you smiled as you shifted around the room. “So this is where you grew up.”

“I mean this wasn’t the only home I lived in, but it’s a pretty nostalgic room for me,” he replied, coming over to pick up one of his Math accomplishments. “Now you get to see how much of a nerd I was too.”

“Oh, I already knew that,” you answered with a smile, lightly brushing your hands over the books on his shelf. You then glanced at him. “I live with you, if I didn’t know what a dork you are-”

“Hey! A dork and nerd are two different things!”

You nodded in agreement, amused. “Is there anything I need to know about in this room? Any juvenile secrets to uncover?”

“How comfortable the bed is,” he quipped with a smirk and you rolled your eyes.

“I think we need to go down and help with dinner now, what do you think?”

“You won’t be helping, baby. You’re the guest of honour tonight; it’s going to be all about you.”

Great.

Just as you were starting to feel at ease in his home, Mark had to throw you another reminder of how overwhelming today was turning out to be.

You took a deep breath and pointed at the door. “Shall we?”

The two days leading up to Christmas were full of activity with the Tuan family. They had taken you to see snow up in the mountains just in case you were feeling out of place with their lack of a White Christmas. And there was the endless meal prep which you insisted on helping with, becoming quite the little unit with Mark’s Mum, Libby and Bella within the kitchen space. You were laughing more than you had ever done in your life, you were certain about it, and by the time you had rolled into bed on Christmas Eve, you felt as if you had lived here forever. Your anxiety had eased the longer you sat curled up on the sofa talking with Mark and his Dad, or learning all about your boyfriend and his childhood antics from the three main women in his world. As a family, you had all decorated the only bare tree in the house as per Christmas Eve tradition, and you had welled up when they handed you an ornament with your name on it. You knew that you would enjoy Christmas day now; you were truly a member of their family as soon as you hung it up on the tree near Mark’s. And much like Mark had been with your niece, you yourself were smitten with the children in his family, playing with the girls and Mark all over the house after decorating the tree.

You had earned your sleep that night.

And as Santa and his reindeer set out around the world to deliver presents and Christmas spirit to all, you dreamed of a life where trips like these would happen more frequently in the future, but with new additions to come. You woke up with a smile on your face as the lingering visions of little children that looked like you and Mark slowly left you. As your eyes adjusted to the morning light infiltrating the room, you gazed at the sleeping form of the man you loved. Mark had no idea just how much you wanted forever with him at that moment, and it was such a magical experience to stare at him knowing that you were imagining everything a future could hold with him.

These thoughts alone were enough for you this Christmas.

He soon stirred, perhaps he had felt your inner desires overwhelm the bedroom, Mark’s eyes slowly opening as a lazy grin grew upon his face.

“Merry Christmas, Mark,” you greeted and he nodded once, rubbing the sleep away from his warm brown eyes.

“Merry Christmas baby.”

“Are you ready for today?”

“Are you?” he shot back with a small smirk, brushing your bed hair away from your face. You turned to nuzzle into his hand, kissing his wrist lightly before nodding.

“I’m excited about everything today.”

“Me too. I’m so glad I get to do everything with you at my side this year.”

“What’s first on the schedule for the Tuan household?” you wondered, sitting up a bit. Mark did the same and helped you scoot in between his legs, his arms wrapping around you as he rested his head on your shoulder.

“Breakfast in pyjamas. It’s a family tradition.”

You nodded slowly. “And then?”

“Present time. Then we’ll get a couple of hours before it gets kind of hectic here.”

“Okay,” you said, feeling determined. “Let’s do this.”

Breakfast had been delicious and now everyone was seated around the family room opening presents. The kids had gone first and were now playing with their new toys merrily across the room as the adults all opened their own gifts, exclamations and thank you’s filling the room. You had opened a lot of presents already, some for you only, others for you and Mark as a couple. There was only one present missing from under the tree, and as you watched his parents open gifts from each other, or Bella and her wife doing the same, it had you peering at the now bare spot under the tree for where your present might have gotten misplaced. Mark had already opened his from you and put the watch on happily, marvelling at it every few moments and kissing you in gratitude on the side of your head.

You weren’t a petty person naturally but you were a little miffed when present time was over.

“Everything okay, Y/N?” Libby asked you as you glanced under the tree again, your gaze darting away immediately with her attention. She seemed to click on to your search and shot her brother an accusing look. “I haven’t seen a gift from you to Y/N!”

“Oh, it’s fine-”

“It’s not arrived yet,” Mark announced awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his neck. His eyes only connected with yours momentarily before he looked down at your hands in your lap instead. “I’m sure it’ll get here before the year is out.”

“I’ve been spoiled enough,” you stated, smiling at everyone and trying not to let your curiosity build.

Christmas had been eventful and had taken two full days to completely recover from. Life in the Tuan household seemed to settle down some with family returning to their respective homes, though they still visited most days. You had been so wrapped up in enjoying your final days in California with Mark’s family that you had almost forgotten about the elusive Christmas present that hadn’t arrived yet.

Almost.

As you woke up on New Year’s Eve in Mark’s arms, you stared at the wall in front of you. Everything had been so perfect; you couldn’t choose your favourite time out of any experience so far. But it was your last full day here in California and you had a small nagging feeling that it was the missing gift that had made Mark uncharacteristically anxious around you, and not the impending flight back home and away from his family.

You wanted to put him at ease, to let him know it was okay. Because it truly was. You had been gifted with so much this holiday, from him and his family. You felt a sense of belonging in your “second home” now, and you were already planning when you could come back for another visit.

You didn’t want Mark to feel distant with you on the last day of the year.

He evaded you for most of the day, helping his Dad and brother set up for the small gathering tonight to bring in the New Year together. And you had been equally busy assisting where you could as well before a surprise trip to a spa was sprung on you, going off to get your hair and makeup done for tonight. It was crazy how this family did things, but you were getting used to it. With the knowledge of being a part of their annual family photo this year, you forgot all about your worries, now focusing on looking good tonight instead.

The party was well underway before you got some alone time with Mark but it was short lived when a childhood friend of his dragged him away again. You felt cold, wondering why he would so easily shrug you off. It felt like a different Mark from the one who was glued to you regardless of who came up to you both on Christmas day, and his efforts to get you under the mistletoe all night long left you both in a playful mood that had extended well into the night within his bed too. Since that night though, he had been too distracted and it was beginning to hurt.

You wondered if you were reading into things too much and wandered out into the terrace by yourself for some fresh air, enjoying the brisk wind that caught at your dress and made it swirl around you.

“Oh Y/N, here you are,” Mark’s dad suddenly said and you turned to see the older man smiling brightly at you. “I’m glad to find you here. I wanted to make a toast with you. Hold on, stay right here and I’ll go get you a glass.”

You agreed to wait and stared around the area mindlessly, gasping when it suddenly lit up with thousands of fairy lights. You gasped at the beauty of it all, and then noticed someone was approaching you, but it wasn’t who you expected. Mark smiled at you warmly, rubbing a hand over your cheek before he licked at his lips.

“This is so pretty,” you breathed and he nodded. “I wonder who turned them on?”

“I did.”

You stared at Mark for a moment and then realised what he was up to. It was only more obvious when he dropped to one knee in front of you.

You wanted to say you heard all the words he was uttering to you. But your mind was shouting out the answer your heart was giving you endlessly, the positive affirmation near deafening you until you suddenly said it aloud, making Mark pause midway in his proposal. He stared at you for a moment before he grinned, getting up as he pulled a box out of his pocket.

“Always too hasty to let me finish,” he muttered, but he was too elated to truly be mad at you, sliding the ring onto your finger. You marvelled at how perfectly it fit and then up at your fiancé.

It was going to take some time to get used to that.

There were claps now erupting around you both and you glanced to see everyone watching on, a blush crossing Mark’s face as he scratched at the back of his head with all the attention. Just like the first time you arrived in California, you spent the next hour being passed around, enjoying the jovial mood of the last night of the year and your proposal. It was honestly the best way to end the year and your trip with Mark. The countdown towards midnight was five minutes out, and you knew you had to ask the man holding you in his arms a question that had been floating around in your head all night long.

“This is my Christmas present that went missing, isn’t it?”

“We had to trick you somehow,” he mentioned slyly and you gasped, now realising how many were in on it. You guessed Libby’s comment was only to plant the seed of doubt within you on Christmas day.

“You have no idea what I was saying to you, do you?” he asked of you a minute later and you blushed, nodding weakly. “Maybe you don’t deserve to know.”

“I figured since I know how well you like to prepare for things, you’ll be able to tell me all about those words at a later date?”

“I will, every day from here out,” he agreed, kissing your head as he pulled you closer. “I can’t wait until you’re my wife.”

“I can’t wait until we have kids too.”

“Christmas will be magic with them here and back home with your family too.”

“Christmas will always be magic,” you mentioned, turning around in his arms so you could stare up at him. “Because I’ll always be with you.”

_________________

All rights reserved © prettywordsyouleft

[Christmas 2018 Masterlist] | [Main Masterlist] | [Request Guidelines]

[oftcnas-blog]

kylie jenner . twenty one . she and her ━━ welcome tanja ‘tana’ brooks ! our sources say you’re a 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝒾𝒸 𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓈𝓉 and 𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓇𝑒𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓃𝑒𝓊𝓇 with a net worth of 26.7m. now that you’ve signed the contract to 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘦 , fans are thrilled to finally watch you on television and are hoping to see more of your 𝔦𝔪𝔭𝔲𝔩𝔰𝔦𝔳𝔢 yet 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔭𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔞𝔱𝔢 traits on the show . but please leave your glossy lips, singing loudly in the back of uber’s, and neck kisses at los angeles, california because now , you’re dead broke. vc: ariana grande

asdf basically theres me, and then theres trash and honestly??? the difference is not big at all.. in shorter terms? me and introductions literally do not clash well together at all .. so i do want to apologize for the potential sucky ness ?? and rambles that are bound to happen asdf. on that note, im gigi (or gi) and if you want to know a little more about my baby tana just keep on reading !! 

trigger warning !! gang mention ! drug mention !! 

                                          the synthesis …

◜ scribbles on empty pages that equal pain, anger, and struggle. words that had only been meant for one, carved themselves into the brunettes skin the moment air filled her lungs for the first time .. screams into the air, she formed into a fear that driven those around her. a fear that was so powerful, it made even a king cower. her king. the daughter of a man who ran an empire, was vowed to be protected along with her six other siblings who stood beside her. but the life of crime and danger always tugged at their skin, forced their claws into their flesh. it was an eat or being eaten lifestyle, and without choice tanja brooks was thrown in the middle of it. it was her bloodline. and while her mother wanted to protect and shelter, her father wanted to toughen her skin and wrap the chains of their gang around her feet. she was forced into situations by loyalty, by the love she had for of those around her, by the drive that was forced within her. but, this lifestyle was not always for her. the constant fear, the murder, the dirty hands, the loss, the pain, and the anger, it sat on her shoulders like boulders. the pain and anger that latched on to her and her siblings wrist troubled their mother, at first it was an itch, and then it was a rash, and then it ate at her flesh. she was barely skin and mostly bone when she decided to take her twin boys, tanja, and her four other children out of their fathers arms, lifestyle, and curse.

             the important extras …

her oldest twin brother, has started to get back into the lifestyle their mother has done everything in her power to keep them out of- yet despite the knowledge and knowing for a fact that its not something he should be in she has kept his secret out of loyalty and has lied countless of times to not only his mother for him, but her other siblings as well as his friends and others in his life.

she once filled out a police report on her father, exposing everything he has and everything he has done. of course, it came from a place of anger and hurt, and a way to get back at him for not being in her the way she wants him to be. she never actually filed this report considering it could have gotten her into a lot of trouble with her father and his gang, not just trouble but it could’ve put her on her death bed.

despite the anger and hatred she has for her father, he use to send her along with his other kids money each month; while one of the twins refuses to touch it and her mother forbids it… she and her other siblings have used it to benefit them educational wise, as in paying for college and for their own pleasure such as brand items, cars, spring break trips to bora bora, and whatever else they can get their hands on.

at five years old, tanja had actually witnessed a murder (the reason her mother removed them from her fathers live) and to this day it still lives on in her head. so bad, that she use to have night terrors (and occasionally still does ).

family extras ...

socialites had always been a title the brook family carried, with her father hiding his dirty money behind an luxurious company ? they had always been just that one family everyone tends to talk about here and there for no other reason but because of their wealth and business strategy. 

when tana’s mother took the kids and left, the media framed it as an affair and the family has kind of just ran with that? never denying nor confirming the statement. 

her mom got remarried a few years after to an actor? and he kind of brought more attention to the brooks and their name? 

the kids went from being mob boss babies to? basically accepting their new lifestyle in not just money but fame too.. 

when tana was around sixteen, her father had got arrested on too many charges to count bringing out his gang involvement and other dirty things he has been doing . which at the time was a nightmare, but it brought the brooks family more then they could imagine. 

people wanted to know more? to see more? to learn more? and so, her mom wrote a book and with that interest the brooks were offered an reality show. 

for the last sixish years, the family has been almost like the kardashians? actually just like the kardashians minus the too problematic part.. 

she has six full siblings, two half, and one step and she honestly adores them all with everything in her.

the brook children in their own are all successful? from lawyers, to doctors, to actors/actresses, music artists, designers, and even business men and women.. 

shes also super close with her step father? like she kind of looks to him as her dad and is so grateful for him and all the love he has given her and her mom and sisters and brothers.

career extras ...

she started her following super early on social media? and kind of had her own little fanbase from just being on the show.

shes been singing ever since she was a little girl, but took it serious around the age of seventeen. 

her music career took off pretty quickly? like kind of a big star overnight type situation.

her music company kicked off when she was nineteen, and shes been expanding it ever since.

shes truly passionate about both of her careers, and is just super grateful she has the opportunity to do the two things she loves the most ! 

more extras ( am i ever going to shut up?? )

her name is tanja, but considering the media always got it wrong?? and most assumed it was tana she dropped the j for more of a stage name? 

of course, a lot of her family still calls her by her actual name! but even her close friends call her tana! 

    the personality …

known as the lion hearted, tana is light and love combined with a sense of playfulness and ebullient that you can somehow never get out of your head . she is a big hearted beauty, who loves with her all and as her sibling would tell her loves too hard. good intentions flow throughout her body, and despite her claiming up and down that she doesn’t need anybody she is truly someone who attaches themselves to you. she is always teasing somebody, and has a sense of adventure that surely comes from her upbringing. she feels most at home surrounding by friends, and family. she is someone who will drag you out of bed in the middle of the night for a late night drive with good music, and the first person who’ll jump in front of a bullet for you. she feels deeply, but does not always know how to deal with those feelings. she can be jealous, stubborn, and trust issues are rooted so deeply into her she doesnt know where they begin and she ends. she loves laughing, and feeling alive? which she will do anything to achieve. its like her own little high and shes an addict. an adrenaline junkie her father would call her. she’s affectionate with those she loves, and of course when shes drunk. she craves meaningful connections with those around her, and falls into a darkness when she feels as if shes disconnected. her father left this sense of needing to be needed and wanted within her, but shes dealing.

the connections …

platonic soulmates ! that one person who kind of just completes tana? they understand and connect in a way that even for them its hard to understand. best friends is an understatement. 

best friends ! two other people shes close as can be with. they are truly her number ones, the ill take a bullet for you kind of friendship. 

a girl group ! just a group of girls, tana is always seen with! could also be her best friends ! i just want something cute, close friendship, trouble and good memories. plus all the three way, even four way threads we can do would be magic. 

cousins ! from either her mom side and/or dad side. this could even be a cousin from her step dad side, so step cousins? either way id love all type of relationships. almost like siblings, cant stand one another, you name it, 

family friends ! someone who has known her for as long as she can remember ! they knew all about her father and everything that came with it.. 

childhood friends ! this could be neighbors she grew up playing with or even that one friend she went to elementary/middle/high school with.

the ex lover ! im such an angst kind of person so this will definitely be juicy.. they’ll definitely be her biggest muse.

on and off relationship ! a toxic kind of relationship, someone she truly loves with everything in her but it just never works the way they want it to. 

 musical duo ! someone who just? when they are together its magic. they write together, sing together, collab together, encourage one another and just ! are those people you see and know its going to be a bop. 

friends with benefits ! mutual or one sided . they could be using her, she could be using them. 

one sided friendships and relationships ! 

publicity friendships and relationships !

you can find more wanted connections in this tag !!

[dumblr-dor]

Coming out.

Coming out is always terrifying. Even in more “progressive” areas such as the Bay Area in California, my heart stutters every time I say the words “actually, I’m gay” to a stranger. 

The seemingly harmless girl in my English class could easily become my bully the second I utter the words “my girlfriend and I”  for reasons I truthfully don’t understand. 

My baby boomer P.E. teacher could instantly turn on me by just seeing my pride pin. 

My own brother, who I’m told fought for LGBT+ rights when he was in middle school, could fix me with a cold stare the second I open myself to him and say, “I guess you’re not my sister anymore, then.”

When I came out to my cousin for the first time, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, something I hadn’t given too much thought to previously. I’d caught her between classes and she was surrounded by all her friends. We chatted for a little bit, and then the second bell rang. She said goodbye to me and turned to walk away, when out of no where, I blurted out the words, “Nanny, I’m gay.” She turned and looked at me with a bewildered look on her face. “Or really, I’m bisexual,” I said awkwardly. She didn’t have the chance to say anything, as her friends dragged her away, concerned about making their next class on time. 

I remember being rooted there, stuck in the same spot staring at the space where the crowd swallowed her up. I lost notice of the people billowing around me, jostling me on their way to class. The smile I had pasted on my face had half slid off, and with my hair billowing around me in the October wind. I imagine I must have looked lost, with my gaze locked straight in front of me as I processed what I’d just done. There was no taking it back, no stuffing the words back into my mouth where they came from, no turning back time. 

I’d walked shakily to my next class, barely comprehending what occurred on the way there. As I sank into my seat, my hands were shaking and everything sounded like it was coming from far away. I remember a steady stream of shitshitshitshit what did I just do running through my head, and I imagined my cousin telling my mom and I’d get kicked out, or holding my little secret as blackmail and making me do things I couldn’t even imagine. 

A tear must have slipped onto my face, because my teacher kindly asked if I wanted to excuse myself, which I did. I sped to the nearest bathroom, tears escaping my eyes every few seconds. I was furiously wiping at my face, cursing myself for being so stupid and telling someone with a direct line to my family one of my deepest secrets.

Even as my tears slowed, panic and adrenaline continued to thunder through my veins, and I nearly began to hyperventilate until I felt my phone vibrate through my jeans. I dug it out of my pocket with trembling hands, one struggling to brush away the remaining tears and the other shaking with the anxiety of facing the situation to open my phone. When I’d finally unlocked it, I saw a text reading, “god, ur such a brat sometimes, but of course i accept you no matter what ❤❤”

I’d nearly collapsed against the wall in relief, tears streaming down my face anew. I was okay, I was safe, and I was accepted. That’s really all that mattered. 

[comebeonetwothree]

Blog #6: Coast to Coast

6/29/2021

The homeland of the rich, the famous, and the homeless junkies of Los Angeles, California will always have my heart.

With my first near death experience, I have come to see life in a new light… YOLO!

Remember that term? Yah, it was one of those fads that had meaning to it but no longer holds a place in fashion... thank god.

Everything on this coast is slow, even the way people talk is dragged out. No one J-walks here. They seriously wait for that little white man to pop up on the cross walks before walking, even if there is not a car in sight.

Yet everyone here has a serious addition to coffee.

Hangovers are even more dragged because everyone is so uber healthy here, they straight up do not have greasy food.

I made the mistake of ordering an egg and cheese, knowing it’ll only be a disappointment compared to a New York BEC. It was beyond disappointing, especially being hungover as fuck.

Everyone here is stoned all the time and have been for years. I truly believe the whole city moves so slow because everyone is high all the time.

No wonder they can survive with the shitty food- they are too high to realize.

They do have some fire weed here, so it makes sense, but damn… they are so slow and ditsy.

There is so much art here, from music, to painting, to theater, to creativity, everyone comes here with a dream. Some make their dreams come true, others end up addicted to crack, but everyone originally came here in hopes of making something of themselves.

That energy runs through the streets, it is so lively and so filled with hope. It is truly an inspiring place to live.

Who

Who have you become…

The people on the west coast are just genuinely nicer. We had a conversation that consisted of outrageous hand gestures with a random man in his car.

He had blocked an intersection accidently so I couldn’t make a left turn, where he then proceeded to see me raging about it and trying to mouth to us how sorry he was. We straight up had a conversation with this guy and were joking around while waiting for the light. We left mouthing, “We are from New Yorkk, move outta the way” as a joke, and he just understood and left us with a peace sign.

There is a surplus of homelessness here, and it is sad to see but also so interesting to watch them set up communities on the sides of highways and all along the beach.

There is never just one homeless dude posted up under a cardboard box. It’s always 15+ people posting up together in nice ass tents they probably stole or making cardboard houses with tarps for extra coverage.

They get super creative with their homelessness; it is fascinating to watch.

This one guy was zipping down the road in what looked like a decked-out bike, with high handlebars and a motor. He was moving with traffic and was looking cool while doing it.

As he got closer, we realized his get-up was made from an ironing board he bent into a seat, a plastic crate holding up the ironing board to a lime scooter he probably stole a month prior. Topping it off, he added tall handlebars for that 70s badass look. That man mastered one man’s trash, into another man’s treasure.

The saddest part is knowing majority of them came out here looking for their big break and got so hooked on drugs, they could never make it farther then that last $10 in their pocket for drugs.

On the other hand, some of these people have money to their names, but choose this lifestyle.

They really enjoy the life of nothing. This one woman was offered a job and a home, and she politely turned it down because this was her home. She loved the community around her and wouldn’t trade it for any material. What a way of life.

My family was so generous to let us three, stay with them here in Venice Beach. My Uncle Greg is my mom’s brother. He moved out here with his family to further his comedic career. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn’t see my cousins often.

My cousin Owen is a year younger than me and in the same grade as my brother. My other cousin Jojo is four years younger but grew up so fast. I always said the water in California was cracked out, because she always appeared older than my brother and I.

Since COVID I hadn’t been able to see them in two years, so I was so excited to hang out with them.

Jojo just graduated high school, so she is finally old enough to do drugs with!!

We also got to meet up with our friend Izzy from Oneonta. She is living out here for the summer with her sister. What a life.

Izzy is thriving here with her job at this night club and is living in her sister’s cute ass apartment in Echo Park. She has the total LA vibe and even knows all the local spots to hang. Shout out to you for sneaking us into a random hotel’s rooftop pool! Confidence never gets questioned.

We love meeting up with friends from school, it makes the trip feel more homie.

What

What’s hanging dude…

Joshua Tree National Park was something out of another planet. It seriously looked like Jurassic Park and a dinosaur should be appearing at any second.

It was very different from anything we had ever seen before, but it was still a desert and was hot as fuck.

We did some gorgeous hikes through all the massively large, rounded rocks that somehow were placed on top of each other ages ago.

The trees that are all around are Joshua Trees, also considered Trees of Life.

This means they produce a way of life for other creatures at all stages of its growing/dying process.

While in beginning stages of its life, Yucca moths use the trees pollen to lay their eggs in and produce pollen scatter, creating more trees. When the trees are gown, the caterpillars use the tree for habitats and provides food sourcing for a lot of other desert species. When the tree dies, the bark is used to create habitats for humans and used to wove baskets and other materials.

These trees look like a palm tree and a cactus went to TOWN together.

Los Angeles is the other city of dreams. It is not comparable to New York City besides the homelessness and the traffic.

The Ocean really makes the whole city’s surfer aesthetic. Everyone, even the rich and famous, dress like they are in last weeks outfit.

The style is so different from New York. People really don’t dress to impress but spend half their life savings on their wardrobe.

Visiting my family here has always been the ideal way to do this city, since they take us to all the local shops, and we do fun activities like surfing. It’s not just another tour bus showing us where Kurt Cobain shot up some heroin for the first time.

They also show us the best food joints. We got these sushi balls, and it was the greatest -post beach snack- imaginable. A little hit of the wax pen and a bite of this ball is comparable to an orgasm.

Where

Where are all the famous people…

Joshua Tree was so beautiful, it is a place I will be re-visiting, considering we were only there for one night.

Los Angeles is where I have always wanted to live, ever since a young girl. Whenever we would come out here to visit my uncle, he would take us to the coolest places, and we would meet the coolest people.

One year I was here on my birthday, and his buddy stopped over to say hi, when I came downstairs in was Zach Galifianakis chilling there with a $20 bill and my name on it as a birthday gift.

You could imagine my teenage self shitting a tiny bit in my pants as he handed me $20… However, in my head I was thinking, “I know you’re rich, give me more you cheap fuck.”

This year for graduation I only got a phone call from him… how rude.

My Uncle is a popular comedian, if you know him you know him, but if you don’t, he is very irrelevant to you.

When we arrived, he took us out to a show he was preforming at in West Hollywood, featuring other comedians you might know or might also be very irrelevant, including Bill Burr, Anthony Jeselnik, Pete Holmes and Beth Stelling.

It was a cool venue, and a fun time. My favorite part was being called out for attempted DUI’s in every state we have been in due to my funneling addiction, thanks Uncle Greg, that was supposed to be a secret.

After the show he dropped us off at this bar that his friends said was the “it” spot. When we walked in, the bar itself was perfect, expect it was populated by older rich men trying to find their next sugar baby.

We had some contenders, but they were asking for too much… No, I don’t want to go back to your house and sneak past your wife and kids as we dart to your hot tub.

When

When will we leave…

When we first got to LA we had full intensions of staying only four nights and getting out of my family’s hair, but then plans fell through.

Because I love it here so much, we decided to stay!!

Just kidding, I wish we could stay longer… One day I’ll move out here though.

COVID restrictions are back at it again, ruining our plans of going Yosemite. They are the only National Park that requires a whole ass separate pass just to enter the park, on top of the $30 day pass we already have.

The only reason our route was heading inland California was to see that park. So, we did a little digging and decided to just send it up all the way up the coast and do the legendary Pacific Coast Highway.

This is what we originally wanted to do before we found out about Yosemite. Guess we will have to come back to see the park, aw shucks!

Why

Why can’t I afford this…

California is fucking expensive; I can see why the population of homelessness is so high… Even gas is $1.00 more than it is back in New York.

And for Why? They are on a coast, it’s not like the desert where there is a gas station every 100 miles.

They know people here have the money, so they overprice literally everything. A fucking water bottle is $7.00. Sorry didn’t realize paying for survival would be this expensive.

The older man at the bar loved to throw the fact he had money around (as do most people with money around here). He kept saying he works on wall street, but wall street is literally a street in New York City.

He just wanted to flex he works in finances and has a hot tub, okay we get it you have a small dick.

How

How we almost died…

This is my favorite part of the last week, but also the most traumatizing.

So, have you ever heard of cowboy camping?

Well, neither had we until our friend that had just camped in Joshua Tree told us about it and how legendary it was in that specific spot.

Cowboy camping: you don’t pitch your tent, you just post up with your sleeping bags under the stars.

Since Joshua Tree is known for their stars, we thought fuck it, we are here for less than 12 hours, the weather is perfect let’s do it.

That night was a full moon, and it was a killer sunset (all pun intended). We cooked up a nice rice bowl for dinner and then laid in our sleeping bags watching the stars.

The moon was almost too bright, it was taking away from the illumination of the stars, but it was legendary because I’ve never seen such a big and bright moon before.

But you know what they say about the full moons, it brings out the crazies. And in our case, coyote crazies.

After drifting off to sleep under the peaceful star and moon lit sky, I was rudely woken up to really loud growling and whimpering.

It was not something that was off in the distance, it was right next to us… barebone in the wild.

I quickly and quietly turned over to grab my bear spray that I keep next to me when camping. I started thinking, “Alright this is the only thing keeping me from getting mauled by whatever the fuck is next to me.”

Not knowing what we were dealing with, I slowly popped my head up hoping the animal didn’t catch my movement… I saw about 5 feet in front of us was a pack of about 10 coyotes, running around chasing animals.

We happen to be the center of their circle and were surrounded by their pack. Thankfully their attention was diverted to our asshole neighbor’s whose food was left out. Thanks for that.

We just laid their paralyzed in fear of death. As we laid there, I saw two shooting stars and wished for life… Shoutout to those shooting stars.

We tried to stay as quiet as possible, so we didn’t become their next victim. Maya was not having it though and couldn’t stop shaking. There was a moment when her shaking was so loud, and I could see a coyote right next to us, so I had to hold her body so it would stop moving.

We laid there for about 20 minutes until the noises stopped… then we booked it for the car. We slept in the car until the sun rose.

As the sun was rising all the coyotes simultaneously howled for the rest of the pack to meet up and disappear before daylight. That was one of those, “holy shit that was the coolest most terrifying moments of my life”, moments.

We left the next morning as fast as possible, running on no sleep and fear… we headed for the city. I had never been more grateful to be in a city.

[juggiehasmyheart17-blog]

Ordinary Days 4

Hey guys! So happy my writers block is gone! Warning: mentions of smut ------- An old BMW rode up the dirt driveway, a cloud of dust kicking up around the vehicle. Jughead shook his head forgetting how much of a mess cars made on this old road. He normally was encased in his truck, safe from the filth, but when he stood outside he got the full effect. He swung his beanie out in front of him to fan away the dust. Betty stood on the porch with Dakota by her side, watching Jughead’s hair flop free from his beanie. She had never seen the dark locks without the protective layer of his hat. They fell so beautifully across his pale skin. But the sight was short lived as he situated his beanie on his head once again. As the beanie sat back on his head, Jughead fixed his gaze on Betty, who blushed and looked away, Anna running towards her. Anna hugged Betty tightly as if she hadn’t just seen her the night before. Betty giggled hugging her back and placing a kiss on her head. “Night that bad, Anna?” Anna sighed and looked up at Betty. “I had to beg my mom to leave Noah at home. He wouldn’t stop talking about milking uncle Jug’s cows.” This made Betty laugh out loud as she threw her arm around Anna’s shoulder. She liked these kids already and she prayed this family only got easier to be in. Jughead hopped up their two front porch steps and stood next to Betty with his hands on his hips. Betty wanted to laugh at his stance but refrained. “I heard my name.” He said matter-of-factly like they owed him an explanation. “Oh Jug! Stop being so worried.” Jellybean said with a smile as she walked up to the porch, shaking her head. Jughead hadn’t changed much since they were kids. He always wanted to know what people were saying behind his back. He had grown hard to it since then but he still wondered what the town’s gossip mill said behind his back. “Maybe she was telling us what a wonderful husband you are.” She added with a smirk. Jughead shook his head, “Whatever. I’m sure Anna wants you to go as much as I do.” He said with a cocky grin and a shrug. Jellybean stuck her tongue out at him like any good little sister would. “Bye Betty.” Jellybean said sweetly hugging Betty and her daughter goodbye. “I’ll be back for dinner.” Jughead said to Betty as he placed a kiss on her forehead. Betty stood frozen in her spot, a blushing creeping onto her face as Anna giggled underneath her arm. Jellybean smiled at Betty as if she knew a secret that Betty didn’t. Jellybean left back down the bumpy road and Jughead walked to the north field to start his work for the day. Betty and Anna sat in the kitchen, Betty sipped at a cup of coffee, her mind preoccupied. Anna sat and rambled on about her boring schoolwork that her mother made her do. The town was too small to have a school and with all the work that had to be done on the farm it was a wiser choice to keep them home and teach them a trade. The busline to school was long and Noah was still young. The kids didn’t mind being home balancing farm work and school but they missed the interaction of kids their age. They only saw their friends at town gatherings and sometimes in the summertime when the heat was too much for the children to work. Now with a baby cousin they would have someone nearby to play with even though there would be a big age difference. Betty was growing tired of Anna’s chatter of paternalistic historians who she admired as heroes, poor girl didn’t know any better. Betty placed a hand on her stomach, if she has a girl she would teach her the ways of history and how she should stand up for herself. “Are you hungry, Anna? Have you had breakfast?” Betty inquired, pouring another cup of the decaf coffee. Jughead had hidden his caffeinated coffee somewhere in the house and Betty was sure of it. He was far too awake in the early mornings on his work days to be drinking decaf coffee. Perhaps one day she’d find it or coerce Jughead to tell her. “Oh no, Momma made me eat before we came. She said you guys need to save money for diapers.” Betty eyes widened at Anna’s response. Jughead had said the kids didn’t know about the baby. “Momma told me said I was old enough to keep a secret.” Anna paused again, “Oh shoot! I ruined it! Momma said not to say anything to anyone.” Betty sat her mug down and covered her mouth, hoping that Jughead would come in and interrupt this awkward exchange. How could Jellybean have told Anna of her situation? She was embarrassed enough to be shipped away like a prisoner. She thought maybe she could start fresh, but now it seemed her life would mirror her life at home. “What’s wrong, Aunt Betty?” Anna asked with wide eyes staring up at her. “I think it’s wonderful you’re having a baby! You and Uncle Jug love each other and now I’m going to have a little cousin.” She exclaimed then quietly under her breath, “I hope it’s a girl.” Betty let out a dry laugh. “What is it Aunt Betty?” Betty shook her head, “Nothing Anna. Nothing at all.” She said kissing Anna’s head. Of course Jellybean hadn’t told Anna the actual situation. Jellybean was a level headed women who cared too much for her brother to hurt him. Betty could only assume he didn’t want the town to know of his promiscuous wife. “Why don’t we go upstairs? I need to unpack and I have lots of dresses that won’t fit me soon.” She suggested with a twinkle in her eye knowing Anna would love a chance at her dresses. Betty and Anna took the day to unpack Betty's things. She didn't have much but they had spent so much time talking. Betty answering Anna’s pestering questions about her life in California. Betty tried to answer them to the best of her ability without getting too reminiscent. They went downstairs to the kitchen around 4:30pm and started on dinner. Anna told Betty of all Jughead’s favorite foods, hamburgers, onion rings, mashed potatoes, and French fries. Betty left out a soft laugh realizing that she had married a big kid. They settled on meatloaf and mashed potatoes and went to work. About an hour later dinner was ready and Jughead came in the door. “Hmm it smells good in here.” Jughead grunted as he walked into the kitchen. He took a good look at Betty whose blue apron sat nicely against her growing belly. It wasn't very round just yet but it was small and just now started to show. Betty placed the casserole dish containing the meatloaf on the table, a sweet smile placed on her face. “I hope you like it. I haven't cooked in quite awhile.” Betty admitted. Generally, Polly did the cooking, until she was married then it was back to their mother cooking. Mrs. Cooper wouldn't let her help cook but Polly would. “I'm sure it's great, Betts.” He said as he washed his hands in the kitchen sink. Betty cut the meatloaf up into slices and dished it onto the plates along with the mashed potatoes. They all sat around the table, starved from the busy day. “Are we gonna say grace?” Anna asked, it was something her family always did and it didn't feel right not doing it. “Why don't you say it, Anna?” Betty suggested as she took Anna and Jughead's hands. She still felt suffocated holding his hand, his skin pressed against her, an electricity running through them. Anna began to pray about how happy she was being here with their aunt and uncle. Happy for a break from her own family and a nice home to visit. She prayed for her baby cousin to stay safe and to get here soon. She added quickly before she said ‘amen’, “and please God let it be a girl.” Betty held in a laugh opening her eyes to look at Jughead who was smiling back at her. They both said ‘amen’ in unison and dug into their food. After they finished their meals, Betty began to clean up. She sat the dishes in the sink, filling the sink with soapy water. Jughead stood behind her a loose hand sitting on Betty's back. “Dinner was amazing, Betts. Thank you.” Betty smiled up at him, “You're welcome, Jughead.” She said turning off the water, “Why don't you go take a shower? Then we’ll watch a movie?” Jughead smiled down at Betty. Their faces suddenly seemed very close. Jughead's eyes fell to Betty plump lips, ripe from her recent meal. Betty dipped her head down to face the dishes and Jughead cleared his throat. “Yeah, I'll go take a shower.” He mentioned as he walked towards the stairs. “Pick a movie Anna. But no chick flicks!” He yelled from the steps making Betty giggle. Jughead stood under the steaming water thinking of his beautiful wife who stood downstairs. Her own hands under hot water, her thoughts similar to his own. Jughead sighed, his hand punching hard into the tiled shower wall. He was frustrated, it had only been three days and yet he already wanted more from Betty. He wanted to touch her without the fear of being slapped. To kiss her and for her to kiss him back. In his quiet thoughts, he imagined her skin tugged close to his. Here he imagined her body wedged between the wet wall and his wet body. She would gasp from the humid air and from his hands. “Aunt Betty?” Betty jumped at Anna's voice. She had been lost in her own thought world. Her hands rubbing together under the faucet, exciting her nerve endings. Betty cleared his throat, “yeah Anna?” “I picked a movie.” “Great.” She said simply drying her hands on the nearby towel. “What did you decide on?” She asked untying her apron and setting it on the table before joining Anna in the living room. Sitting next to Anna was Jughead, his arm draped over the back of the couch. “Oh you're back.” Betty noted taking on the sight of his damp hair and his plaid pajama pants that drove her crazy. She sat on the other side of Anna so she was wedged in between them. “I picked Beauty and the Beast.” Anna informed, “the new one.” She corrected making Jughead laugh. “I'm pretty sure that's a chick flick Anna.” Jughead defended receiving a glare from Anna. “Okay fine we will watch it.” Betty laughed as she got comfortable on the couch leaning into the cushions, her arm resting on the top of the couch. The movie started and Jughead couldn't help but keep his eyes on Betty. She looked peaceful and for the most part tired. Her eyes were glued to the tv but he could tell her thoughts were elsewhere. Anna was already fast asleep snuggled into Betty, she was quite cuddly for a thirteen year old. He imagined she got it from her touchy feely mother, Jellybean. Jughead didn't bother to move to change the movie, but sat back and enjoyed the relaxing environment after a hard day of work. Jughead looked over to Betty whose eyes were zoned out, her hand rubbing Anna's arm. He didn't know what she was thinking about but he wanted to rescue her from it. Jughead inched his fingers towards hers. He laid his fingers on her delicate ones, gaining her attention. She looked up at him, a grin forming on her lips. He smiled at her, his fingers lightly playing with hers. Betty laid her head against the cushions paying attention back to the movie, her hand holding his gently. A few minutes later, Betty's hand had went limp, she had fallen asleep. Jughead smiled at her peaceful face then her round belly. You could see her growing stomach much better from this angle. He focused his attention back on the movie, watching it until the credits. Jughead yawned and looked over at the two sleeping girls on the couch. It looked like a perfect picture of a mother and daughter. The sight made Jughead wish for the next 6 months to go by quickly so he could spend everyday looking at the view he had in that moment. “Hey Betty,” Jughead said softly, shaking Betty's knee gently trying to wake her up. With the soft shake, Betty stirred, stretching her arms slightly. “Hey, movie over.” Betty nodded and stood up off the couch. She bent over to wake Anna, but Jughead stopped her. “I got it.” He said leaning down and picking Anna up gingerly so he wouldn't wake her. Once upstairs, Jughead set her gently onto Betty's bed and tucked her in. He backed up slowly and then turned to walk to the door. “Thanks Jug.” Betty quickly added before he left. He stopped like something went off in his head and turned to face her. “Hey about the forehead kiss thing earlier. I was just trying to show Anna were ‘in love’” Betty's heart dropped slightly as she swallowed air. “Oh yeah, I got it. No worries.” Betty sighed as he walked out the door. She closed the door behind her and slid her ponytail holder out of her hair. ‘No worries’. Betty was far from no worries. She laid down on the bed where Anna immediately curled up to her. She sighed and held her close needed to comfort of human touch. Every time she thinks they are becoming closer it just gets pushed further away. Outside the closed bedroom door, Dakota laid in the hallway. Her new spot to sleep was uncomfortable but it would have to do. The next day, after breakfast was made and Jughead was off to work on the farm, Jellybean arrived to pick up Anna. Betty quickly invited her in for coffee while Anna went upstairs to get her things. “Sorry decaf is all I have.” Betty said setting her mug in front of Jellybean. “Jughead has hidden the real coffee from me. He says it's bad for the baby.” Jellybean chuckled taking in the sight of the pregnancy books on the table. “That sounds like Jug, for sure.” Jellybean replied with a smile. Betty took her seat across from Jellybean, her hands toying with the rim of her mug. “Look Jellybean, I just wanted to thank you for not telling Anna the whole story. I don't want my niece to think badly of me.” Jellybean smiled at her, “Honestly, I don't think she could ever think badly of you but you're welcome. I'm your sister now, your friend, I am always on your side.” Betty smiled at her as she sipped her coffee. She imagined she was going to like it here. If it too forever for her and Jughead to figure out what they were, so be it. She was going to make the most of her time here.

[bipolar-momma]

The Birth Story

It was told to me that my uncle Joe accompanied my mother to the hospital when I was born. When they brought a wheelchair out he sat in it and said thank you. After I was born he told my mom I was the ugliest baby he ever seen and they both are laughing hysterically as they recall. I asked where was my Dad the both replied "Roller Scatting" For a second I thought this was obviously a code for something like a bar...idk. No he was literally in skates at a roller rink. To this Day he does not know my birthday. Between my parents there were only myself and my big brother. There are little to no evidence that I was an infant as I have not seen any pictures to say I existed. All the photos taken of me depict a toddler with stubby arms and legs obviously way over weight. Every one always said I was my brothers baby. I recall him always by my side. I was named after my Grandmother. I would never live up to the name and I am the only one in our family to carry it...sorry Grandma!

My earliest memories are composed of both love and trauma. I grew up in a small town in central California. Porterville. My mom seemed absent for the most part. My brother and I were unsupervised and we were awful. We spent our days being juvenile delinquents. When we got hungry my brother took me into grocery store and we ate what we wanted. I really didn't understand we were stealing. I just knew this is what you do if your hungry. Waking up I once took a drink of an open beer can and it had cigarettes in it. My brother taught me how to get myself a drink. He also taught me how to smoke and start fires. My mom was in an abusive relationship. She allowed this man to pull our pants down to spank us. We watched him beat her violently. I remember watching my mother cry and feeling helpless. We would hide and hold each other. My parents were separated when I was 2. When I was little I use to look out the window and wish my Dad would come save us. He never came. I felt a sense of abandonment from an early age.

I was 8 when we moved to Texas. We left after the Christmas of 1988. Growing up in a large family. My grandma was my hero. In her arms I felt so loved. It was devastating to lose my only source of affection. The move and the loss was very traumatic. We did not respond well to the move. Shortly after moving my mom threw our toys away. We stopped celebrating birthdays. My mother became more violent. In her fits of rage she would destroy and hope of raising functional adults. There was no love. No affection. We were called fucking idiots. Everything we did was wrong. My mother was cruel. I feel like my brother took the worst of it. I recall him throwing himself on top of me and would try to protect me from being beat. My mother had fits of rage brought on by the smallest things. It was like walking on egg shells. Her presence caused me severe anxiety. I remember feeling like I just wanted to die. I tried to escape by spending most of my time with friends. My mom would allow me to stay with my friends for weeks and sometimes months. She had no interest in being a mother. I never came understood why she treated us like garbage. I seen her love others like my cousin Shanna. She was my moms niece. My mother was so kind and loving to her. I will never understand. I forgive her though. She is still my Mom. I just know she is the reason my brother has the saddest eyes. The damage she caused to both of us will always remain.

#MeToo

I was only ten when it began. The unwanted touch of a teenage boy. Every night the lights went out he was the monster in my bed. Though he filled my head with the idea of love and showed me affection it always felt wrong. I was so confused. I was the perfect victim. You used me to please your sexual needs. You humiliated me. You forced me to do things I didn't want to do. You held a gun to my head when I tried to stop it. You stole my innocence. I was a child.

Reannie Belle

Irene Henderson= My Bestie

She was a spoiled brat. She was fantastically funny. She had a mean streak and could be mean. For the most part we had so much fun. We loved watching scary movies. We were both pretty gross kids. She ate her scabs and flicked her ear wax on me. We were inseparable. I loved her like a sister. She was loyal and honest. I was at her house when I went into labor with my first child. She was such a big part of my life. She was my maid of honor. Every day we spent together was like an event. Her mom and dad were like my parents. They were always present with us, watching our dance routines. Irene and I both favored her Daddy Wayne.He taught me how to drive a standard transmission. We drove his little truck all over the place. He was a good man and really was my only father figure. Getting married put distance between me and Irene. We lost touch and in 2008 she hung herself in the Bastrop jail leaving behind two sons. She was buried next to her Daddy. She will always be a part if me.

Jeromy Scott Graves

My first Love.

We both shared a secret. Our bruises made from the violent hands that were supposed to protect us. You would be the one to understand my pain. I would find peace in your presence. I kept the door open and let you in every time. We would light a fire and watch our worlds burn with no regrets.

We found a freedom in each other. No expectations. No judgement. Just an Unconditional love. It was like a hurricane. It would be over faster then it began. The time we shared was precious. It would be the happiest times in my life. I would never love another so recklessly. The ground shook the day God took you. The impact nearly killed me. I told you that when I died your name would be the only one written on my heart. No one could ever take your place. They try to rewrite our story but the truth will always be ours and hers.

[fawneverwould]

PHYSICAL !!

1. Describe the character’s height and build. Is she heavyset, thin, short, rangy? I’d say average. She’s 5′5. 2. How old is she? Sixteen. 3. Describe her posture. Does she carry herself well or does she slouch? She carries herself pretty well. 4. How is her health? Is she fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities? She’s in decent shape, no disabilities.   5. How does she move? Is she clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid? Pretty graceful and softly. 6. How attractive is this character physically? How does she perceive herself in the mirror? She’s very pretty, I think. She thinks of herself as average. 7. Describe her complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred? Light and clear.   8. Describe her hair: color, texture, style. Wavy. It falls a little past her waist, an orange-brown color. She considers herself a redhead even though her hair is more naturally brown. (Shh, don’t tell anyone.) It looks like this or this but a bit longer. 9. What color are her eyes? Amber. 10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features? A light dusting of freckles. 11. What are her chief tension centers? Her neck. 12. What is the character’s wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does she have six of the same suit? She dresses in a lot of warm colors. Pretty casual. She likes sweaters, boots, leggings, jeans best -- but in California she obviously doesn’t get to rock those much.***** 13. Do her clothes fit well? Does she seem comfortable in them? She likes slightly oversized shirts sometimes. But for the most part, yes. 14. Does she dress the same on the job as she does in her free time? If not, what are the differences? She has to wear her high school uniform but she wears what she wants to volunteer in or on a usual basis. 15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando? Briefs. Sometimes boxers.

SPEECH !!

1. What does this character’s voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse? A tiny bit raspy. Sweet but mature. Soft. I mostly hear Debby Ryan* with a bit of Fawn* in my mind. 2. How does she normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does she talk easily, or does she hesitate? Soft, evenly, easy. She gets to rambling excitedly sometimes and talks faster or louder. 3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics? None that I can think of. 4. What languages does she speak, and with how much fluency? English fluently.   5. Does she switch languages or dialects in certain situations? Nah.   6. Is she a good impromptu speaker, or does she have to think about her words? She is okay at impromptu.   7. Is she eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change? I’d say closer to eloquent. Less so when she’s feeling hyper/eager.

MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL !!

1. How intelligent is this character? Is she book-smart or street-smart? Fairly intelligent. A mixture of both. 2. Does she think on her feet, or does she need time to deliberate? She thinks on her feet. It gets her in trouble. 3. Describe the character’s thought process. Is she more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical? Intuitive but she can come up with some good ideas. It depends on the situation. 4. What kind of education has the character had? She’s a junior so that’s it as of now. 5. What are her areas of expertise? What, if anything, is she interested in learning more about? Anything that comes to animals. Especially pets or woodland creatures. She’s thinking about looking into veterinary practice. 6. Is she an introvert or an extrovert? Extrovert. 7. Describe the character’s temperament. Is she even-tempered or does she have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven? She is fairly even-tempered and usually happy. If she learns of an injustice, that’s a different story. Cheerful and driven. But also laid-back at the same time...? 8. How does she respond to new people or situations? Is she suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic? Enthusiastic. 10. Which is her default: fight or flight? She doesn’t back down. 11. Describe the character’s sense of humor. Does she appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks? Pranks, for sure, but she isn’t picky about what makes her laugh. She loves jokes. 12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does she deal with them? She doesn’t have any. 13. What moments in this character’s life have defined her as a person? I’m not sure that any specific moments have changed who she is. She’s always been a passionate, nurturing, rebellious person. 14. What does she fear? Not being able to make a difference. 15. What are her hopes or aspirations? To make a difference, and own as many pets as possible. 16. What is something she doesn’t want anyone to find out about her? Fawn is a pretty open book. She isn’t keeping any secrets.

RELATIONSHIPS !!

1. Describe this character’s relationship with her parents. Fawn has always had a good relationship with her parents. She’s been daddy’s little girl from day one, as a child she was almost always in his arms. She is a lot like her mother. Both of them love, support and accept her the way that parents should and they are proud of her for being someone that takes a stand. They are what she misses the most about home, other than her fur babies. She doesn’t blame them for sending her away, their hands were tied, she just hopes they know she loves them the same. 2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like? No, and she’s happy with her life how it is -- she’s the center of her parents’ worlds this way. But it might’ve been cool to have a brother or sister to torment with pranks and braid her hair for her. 3. Are there other blood relatives to whom she is close? Are there ones she can’t stand? She doesn’t see her mom’s family much. She has a lot of uncles, aunts and cousins on her dad’s side. They come around for holidays so just a few times throughout the year, but she loves all of them. 4. Are there other, unrelated people whom she considers part of her family? What are her relationships with them? The Pixie Hollow girls are her sisters. 5. Who is the character’s best friend? How did they meet? Tink, Vidia, Iridessa, (probably Rosetta) and Silvermist, obviously. Also Oliver is a pure bean that she adores. She met them all at Walt. 6. Does she have other close friends? Does ��every animal she meets’ count? 7. Does she make friends easily, or does she have trouble getting along with people? She makes friends easily. 8. Which does she consider more important: family or friends? Both. 9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has she been married more than once? She is single. The only boyfriend/husband she had was in elementary school when the kids paired off. 10. Is she currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse? She is not. 11. Who was her first crush? Who is her latest? She’s not crushing on anyone as of late, and I don’t think she��s had very many lasting crushes in her life. She might see a boy holding a puppy and think “wow he’s cute” but then she gets distracted by the puppy and forgets he’s there. 12. What does she look for in a romantic partner? An animal lover. It is very important that the person she’s with cares about having pets and lots of them. If not, it is not going to work. Sorry. Other than that she only wants to have feelings for the person and for them to be reciprocated. 13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does she relate to them? If no, does she want any? She doesn’t, but she’d love to be a mom one day! 14. Does she have any rivals or enemies? Not anyone right now. 15. What is the character’s sexual orientation? Where does she fall on the Kinsey scale? She is most likely heterosexual. A zero or a one. She would never be against being with someone solely because of gender but she’s only ever been attracted to/crushed on males. 16. How does she feel about sex? How important is it to her? She isn’t ready for sex right now. She’s only sixteen and she has no love interest. It isn’t something she thinks about all that much. She will worry about it when she’s in a relationship -- a long term relationship -- and she feels safe and comfortable with someone and wants to take that next step. 17. What are her turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits? Heck if she knows.

BELIEFS !!

1. Do you know your character’s astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does she fit type? She’s an October baby, born on the third, so she’s a Libra. I think there are other signs that would fit her better. 2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in her life? She’s Christian. She used to go to church on Sundays and the occasional Wednesday back at home, but she was shushed a lot for talking during service and for awhile known as the girl that chased a rat throughout the pews. It’s important to her to believe there is a God and an afterlife but if she’s being honest, she’s never read the bible and she has no immediate plans to. 3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it? Help those that cannot help themself. Be kind. Live your own life. I don’t think anything could change those. 4. How does she regard beliefs that differ from hers? Is she tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent? As long as those beliefs aren’t hurting people, she’s tolerant and curious. 5. What prejudices does she hold? Are they irrational or does she have a good reason for them? She’s prejudice against people that do not like any kind of animal. How can someone not like animals?

DAILY LIFE !!

1. What is the character’s financial situation? Is she rich, poor, comfortable, in debt? Average. Her family gets by. 2. What is her social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected her? She’s not necessarily popular but she is friendly and outgoing. She has never had to worry about where to eat lunch or who to walk with in the halls, here or at her old school. 3. Where does she live? House, apartment, trailer? Is her home her castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does she share it with others? Her dorm, and she has decorated it in warm colors with photos of pets and family and she has those little lights strung around her bed and it’s all organized and cozy and cute. She loves it. I love it. The dorm of my dreams. 4. Besides the basic necessities, what does she spend her money on? Helping animals in need. 5. What does she do for a living? Is she good at it? Does she enjoy it, or would she rather be doing something else? She’s a student right now. She’s good at some classes, others not so much, but she does more than enough to get by. When she isn’t doodling cat faces all over her test pages. 6. What are her interests or hobbies? How does she spend her free time? She likes to volunteer at animal shelters. She enjoys reading and decorating, doodling. But for the most part if she’s got free time on her hands, she’s going to be outside climbing trees and talking to birds. 7. What are her eating habits? Does she skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods? I think she has average eating habits. She probably eats healthier than most teenagers, opting for fruit over candy bars on a normal basis and snacking on veggie straws over chips. She doesn’t drink alcohol. Most of her meals she either makes herself because they are simple or orders from town.

ASSOCIATIONS !!

1. Color? Orange. 2. Smell? Puppy breath. 3. Time of day? She’s a morning girl. 4. Season? Spring. But she’s partial to Fall too.   5. Book? Because Of Winn-Dixie. 6. Music? Alternative rock, indie pop, she isn’t picky. 7. Place? She’s a Georgia girl at heart. 8. Substance? Lemonade.   9. Plant? Sunflowers. 10. Animal? All of them.

EVERY * LEADS TO A PICTURE !!

[velmaemyers88]

In Conversation with Danny Trejo: From Character Actor to Taco Mogul

The actor talked to Fortune about his adventures in Hollywood and with Trejo’s Tacos.

Nothing about Danny Trejo is what you might expect, including his secret to success.

“Everything good that’s happened to me is a direct result of me helping other people,” says Trejo, 75, whose surprisingly compact 5-foot-6 frame—clad in all black, his long dark hair hanging loose alongside a silver cross necklace—is tucked inside a booth at the Hollywood hub of his booming taco business, Trejo’s Cantina.

His soft-spoken reflectiveness and fondness for high-fives belie a life that could have gone very differently: Born to Mexican-American parents in Los Angeles, Trejo spent most of his young-adult life in and out of California prisons for drugs and robberies. It was during that time and since then that he honed his boxing talents (a helpful skill in venues like San Quentin), got sober at 25, became a prolific character actor, and, from working as a youth drug counselor and motivational speaker, discovered how much he loves giving back.

Danny Trejo inside the kitchen at Trejo’s Tacos on July 11, 2019. Photograph by Joe Toreno for Fortune

Today, Trejo’s iconic craggy visage fronts eight Trejo’s Tacos locations across Los Angeles, and the eats are a hit: The Los Angeles Times named the rainbow cauliflower tacos on its 2017 list of 10 favorite recipes; the Cantina location serves around 500 diners a day on weekends; and there’s talk of expanding the business, which now includes a doughnut shop, outside California. (He’s also recently launched Trejo’s Cerveza, currently for sale at L.A.-area Whole Foods and Total Wine.) Somehow Trejo also still has time for acting: He’ll soon add 20-plus roles to his nearly 300-credit film and TV résumé, including a second Machete sequel and August’s Dora and the Lost City of Gold, in which he voices a monkey named Boots, a role Trejo says proudly “will give me a whole new audience.”

Fortune chatted with Trejo in early July about his food-mogul renaissance, his adventures in Hollywood, and how he learned to channel a misspent youth into a force for good.

Fortune: Trejo’s Tacos feels like an L.A. institution, yet it’s only three years old. What inspired you to get into the restaurant business?

Trejo: My mom was a gourmet cook. When I around 12, I’d say, “We should start a restaurant,” but my dad was like a Mexican Archie Bunker. “Hey, we’ve got a kitchen right there!” [Laughs] Seven years ago I did a low-budget movie called Bad Ass, and one of the producers, Ash Shah, noticed that I didn’t like junk food. I am pretty picky! A few movies later, Ash says, “Danny, you should start a restaurant.” He created a business plan for Trejo’s Tacos. My team said, “If nobody’s asking you to front 50 grand, seems like a good idea!” We opened, and it totally blew up. Two years ago we opened the doughnut shop, and we sell out by 2 p.m. every day.

Anthony Bourdain raved about your tacos when he filmed Parts Unknown here in 2017. What was that day like for you?

Amazing. He joked, “You’re Mexican and you have a cauliflower taco?” He loved it. At around five or six o’clock at night, you’ll see a lot families coming in here. One woman told me, “Thank God for this place.” The kids can be gluten-free, mom can be vegetarian, and Dad can have cow!

Trejo’s Tacos offers gluten free and vegetarian taco options. Photograph by Joe Toreno for Fortune

What’s your favorite thing on the menu?

I love the nachos with steak and two eggs on top for breakfast.

Your latest incarnation as a restaurateur is another twist in an already surreal career. To what do you attribute your staying power?

I have good people around me. The same agent for 25 years. I met my assistant Mario at San Quentin when I made a movie there, and he was a prisoner. He’s been with me for 15 years.

You were discovered while working as a boxing coach on the set of the 1985 Jon Voight movie Runaway Train. But it wasn’t until you were cast as the knife-throwing Navajas in your cousin Robert Rodriguez’s 1995 film Desperado that you started to play substantial roles. Is it true you didn’t know you were related until shooting began?

We first met when I auditioned in L.A. He said, “You remind me of the bad guys in my high school.” I said, “I am the bad guys from your high school!” Then we filmed in Acuña, Mexico. My family from San Antonio visited the set. My Uncle Rudy says, “Who’s that?” I say, “Robert Rodriguez, the director.” He whistles at Robert, “Hey! Say hello to your second cousin Danny!” I was like, “What’s up, cousin? Make my role bigger!” But he didn’t. He said, “Danny, you can do more with your face than most actors can with dialogue.” I’m walking around with no shirt, all these tattoos, people asking for my autograph. Robert says, “They think you’re the star.” I said, “You mean I’m not?” Nobody really knew [lead actor] Antonio Banderas at the time. He was quiet—unlike me. [Laughs]

Trejo’s Tacos and Trejo’s Coffee merchandise on display for purchase. Two years ago, Trejo opened a doughnut shop that sells out by 2 p.m. every day. Photograph by Joe Toreno for Fortune

Robert went on to create the vigilante-hero character Machete for you. How did he evolve from a minor character in the Spy Kids franchise to fronting two, soon-to-be three features?

After he put Uncle Machete in Spy Kids, Robert did the Grindhouse movies [with director Quentin Tarantino], and they needed fake movie trailers. One was for a Machete movie. At the premiere, everybody was like, “You have to do that movie.” Machete was the first Mexican superhero. I was almost in tears when I saw 8-year-old kids dressed like him on Halloween.

Of all the people you’ve worked with, when have you felt the most starstruck?

With Robert De Niro, when we did Heat. Then Robert [Rodriguez] somehow got him to do Machete! I see him on the set and he says, “Well, well, well, number one on the call sheet now, eh?” I was like, “Can I get you some coffee, Mr. De Niro?” [Laughs]

For what roles are you most often recognized when you’re out in the world? Seeing your severed head on a turtle in season two of Breaking Bad left quite an impression with fans.

Spy Kids. Machete. Anchorman. Bubble Boy. And every Mexican I know loves Blood In, Blood Out. For Breaking Bad, I remember my agent saying, “Danny, you’re going to have a Hollywood first: You’re going to go across the desert on a turtle.” I’m thinking it’s a cartoon, or a really big turtle? “Actually, no. It’s just your head.” [Laughs]

A lot of your roles lean campy, but you’ve also acted in serious films like Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Sherrybaby about a mother who’s a drug-addicted ex-con. When did you think to yourself, “Wait, I can actually act?”

I’m a drug counselor at a place called Western Pacific Rehab. A few years ago, my son Gilbert cast me in a drug-themed movie he wrote called From a Son. There’s a scene where I break down and cry. I’d never had to do that in a movie. I was thinking I’d do a John Wayne, tough-guy thing, but my son…shit, he’s so brilliant. He reminded me of stuff from when he was young. He showed me a picture of us from 1985, when he was a little baby. Then, I couldn’t stop crying. I didn’t even cry at my parents’ funerals.

Trejo’s silver cross necklace and watch. Photograph by Joe Toreno for Fortune

Did you surprise yourself in that moment?

Completely. I thought, “Wow, okay, this must be acting.”

Your son is named after your Uncle Gilbert, who you’ve said led you down a path of crime when you were a teenager. What do you remember about that time?

My dad came from a family of 11, and Gilbert was the youngest. He was only six years older than me. I had no siblings, so he was like my older brother. Unfortunately, he was also an armed robber and a drug addict. He showed me how to rob when I was 14. He gave me a sawed-off shotgun and put me in front of a mirror to practice. “Give me your money, bitch. I’ll slap you!”

Your first acting job.

[Laughs] Yes. We robbed an Asian grocery store together called Far East Market in Burbank. We had a revolver, but you had to hold it just so or it would fall apart. I go, “Give me the money! Give me the money!” The woman gives me $8 from the cash register. I grabbed it, and we ran down Lankershim as this guy comes out of the back, screaming, with a hatchet!

How do you feel now about the crimes you committed?

I feel regret. I’ve never been mean, but I’ve also never let anybody take advantage of me. In prison you’re predator or prey. My friend Cookie and I had a protection ring for young kids coming in, including for gay couples who’d been married on the streets. When I got out of the pen, I’d get cards from kids we protected. Their parents also said thank you.

Did your own parents live to see your success?

My mom did. My dad saw me get sober but never saw me get into acting. He would have laughed. Even my mom was like, “Get a job, mijo,” even after I’d worked with Robert De Niro in Heat! She did get excited when I was on The Young and the Restless in 2008. She had four of her friends over to watch, and they were like, “Oh, my God.” That was it. I’d made it.

Over the years you’ve appeared in dozens of commercials and ads—selling products from Snickers to AARP—and you’re now a spokesman for the erectile dysfunction product Giddy. What appealed to you about tackling that taboo subject?

We don’t talk anything in our society—condoms in high school, birth control. We definitely don’t talk about erectile dysfunction, especially in the Hispanic community. I don’t know a man who hasn’t experienced it. I think it’s like everything I do—teaching people to neuter their dogs, warning kids about drugs, you need to show them you’re cool. You need a face like this to get through to them. Not so much as “Danny Trejo” but the guy from Spy Kids, the guy from Heat, the guy from Desperado. People think, “Okay, I want to hear what this guy has to say.”

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