#my heart didn’t stop racing after watching Pearl win and so i just. went ahead and watched through Gem’s vod

[ender1821]

this cactus ring is looking a lil bit different (compilation of some shiny duo moments from mcc p24)

[sarahreesbrennan]

Congratulations on your new book! I'm so excited to read it. :) Although, I also wanted to ask, will any of the extras for Turn of the Story, such as Adara's side story, be left up? I want to know so I make sure to save it ahead of time.

Thank you so much for the congratulations, my sweet! I so hope you will like IN OTHER LANDS.

Any side dishes I prepared are generally left at the table for my beloved guests of the mind to nibble at! Definitely the side story about Adara, one of Elliot’s classmates and a beautiful warrior lady born in lands fantastical, is still up. I have located it and put it right her for you!

LOVE FROM BOTH SIDES

“You’re so pretty,” her mother said to Adara when she was five, six, seven, and eight, learning how much she wanted and every way she could think of to get it all. “The world’s going to be handed to you on a silver platter, darling.”When the Border guard came recruiting Adara said she wanted to go, like her brothers had before her, to serve in warrior training. She’d always beaten every boy at games, at foot-racing. She thought it seemed a good idea. She didn’t expect them to laugh at her. “What, those golden curls make you think you’re one of those fighting Sunborn women?” asked her uncle, pulling her hair a fraction too hard to be playful.She went, just the same. She did not think, until later, about how quickly the world she was promised had boundaries set on it.On the first day of Border camp there were so many other kids, more than Adara had ever dreamed of in her little village. And she couldn’t help but notice there were more boys than girls, and most of the girls seemed destined for the council course. There was a girl who definitely had dwarf blood: Adara didn’t see how she could hold her own in a fight.Most of the girls that there were, were from the other side of the Border, and looking very uncertain about staying. Some short otherlands idiot had been running his mouth and putting everybody off.If Adara was one of the few girls from a Borderlands family, she was the best representative the Borderlands could possibly have. She approached a girl who was looking unsure but tempted, a girl almost as pretty as Adara was herself, her eyes sparkling even as she bit her lip and said: “Fighting? I don’t know.”“You’ll know once I teach you,” Adara told her, and they linked elbows and were best friends, easy as two cherries with a joined stem.“My name’s Natalie Ventura,” said Natalie, and Adara laughed, delighted: she’d never heard a name like that before.That evening, eating meat off the bone around a roaring fire, she saw all the boys forming little groups, and no girls allowed in any of them. She told her new friend Natalie that Natalie could ask that girl, and that girl, and that one, to sit and eat with them. She formed her own group.After her group were all sitting comfortably, laughing and feeling chosen, Adara noticed one boy sitting apart from all the others, talking to a tall girl with her dark hair ruffling gently in the night breeze to display the curve of elven ears. Her face did not show any emotion, but his did. He was leaning close to her, listening to what she had to say: his face was attentive, interested, intent. His hair was chased gold and his tanned skin darkened by the firelight, so he looked burnished and brilliant. “I know,” said one of the girls Adara had chosen, seeing where she was looking and sighing. “That’s Luke Sunborn.”Those fighting Sunborn women.Adara thought: of course it was.*Adara did very well at the Border camp. She was the best of the girls, everyone acknowledged that, and even though fewer people mentioned it she was better than most of the boys, too.Sometimes the elf Chaos-of-Battle edged her out, but that didn’t count. Everyone knew she was getting help from Luke Sunborn. Natalie invited her to come stay over the summer, if she could cross the Border. Adara climbed the stone steps into the clouds and then spread her arms wide and looked down at her first city, laid out before her like an open jewelry box, and felt that it was absolutely right that she should have the power to cross, that she should have two worlds ready for the taking.*

Luke Sunborn wasn’t perfect. He had the bad taste to pal around with Chaos-of-Battle and Schafer, that supercilious elf who thought she was better than everyone, who never even had to try, and the short guy from the council course who kept saying he disapproved of violence and then driving people to it. But he seemed made to be happy, so beloved that he could afford to always be kind, like a victory statue made flesh. His attention was a gift everybody craved: to have it permanently would be like having a piece of high steady ground to stand on, to be never questioned again.Adara tried to talk to him, in class, at practice, down by the lake when everyone was stripped down and casting each other shy glances. The leaves caught sunlight in a net overhead, and dappled light slid down the delicate brown curve of Natalie’s back, cast green-tinted shadows in Dale Wavechaser’s glorious eyes, and almost every girl around the brimming waters was looking at Luke Sunborn with his shirt off. No other boy his age had shoulders like that, muscled as if they were meant to bear any weight put on them.Look at me, Adara thought, but he never did. *Adara’s first kiss was with Dale Wavechaser, who was definitely the second-best-looking boy in their year—Adara’s group had discussed it many times and were absolutely sure—and was almost never a jerk.It happened down by the lake. They came down early, when the morning was still pale gray and the lake looked like a pearl. Dale’s hair was soft and his arms hard under her fingers, and it was nice.It was less nice when Dale’s friends surprised them kissing and one of them gave Dale a high five as if he’d won at Trigon. Adara felt better the next day, when she came top in history and Dale came dead last, and she made fun of him. Dale got his fun handed to him on silver platters, as it turned out: Adara had to make her own.But she could, so what did it matter?“You don’t have to be so mean,” said Dale, looking upset.“I know,” said Adara. “I enjoy it.”*Adara went home with Natalie every summer. She liked it there, everything so strange and different, with so many rules changed. Adara learned the rules of that place, too, so she could win over there.She stopped jumping when cars went by after a few days, and it only took her a day more to accept it when the boys in the cars hooted or honked their horns. It was just something boys did, when they could make you nothing but a pretty picture in their rear-view mirrors. Adara made sure it was never a picture of someone caught off guard, even for a moment.She learned to dress exactly right, dance exactly right, and use the internet so she never had to ask anyone what she wanted to learn.The rules were so different that what happened on one of their late nights, lying on the carpet for hours in a pool of orange light like no light in Adara’s world, seemed natural. “I mean, they say everyone’s a little bit capable of liking both,” Natalie said slowly. “Like, if you were on a desert island, obviously. Or… some people are just so hot that anyone would, right?”She was lying with one arm propping her up, chin against her palm, but then she drifted down to where Adara lay flat on the carpet. Her eyes were illuminated, turning the strange light soft.And it all made so much sense to Adara, as much sense as Natalie’s arm linked through hers on their very first day.But Natalie wouldn’t look at her that way in the daylight, any more than Luke Sunborn would.*Louise Sunborn was only a few years older than Adara, and she was leading a troop of soldiers into battle. She rode better and fought better than any man, laughed loudest and longest, talked and expected everybody to listen. All the men watched her, all the men wanted her, and all the men obeyed her.She was the most beautiful person Adara had ever seen.

*

War was different than Adara had thought, a chaos in which all the skills she had painfully learned seemed worse than useless more than half the time. War was worth it for two things: the few brief shining moments of triumph, and the quiet nights around the campfire when she could sit, hold Natalie’s hand and listen to Louise Sunborn reading out Schafer’s ridiculous and over-the-top love letters to Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle.Wartime meant they were all desperate to grow up, drink as deep as they could from the cup of life before it was snatched away. One day when Louise was reading the latest letter, Natalie bagged a Sunborn called Neal, and Chaos-of-Battle allowed herself to be kissed by Darius Winterchild. Serene always acted as if she was indulging the pretty things, as if she might laugh about them with her friends later rather than the other way around, and it annoyed Adara deeply.But it provided Adara with the perfect opportunity to drift over to where Luke Sunborn sat watching his sister.“You’re looking lonely,” she said, and it was true.“I’m trying to listen,” said Luke, an edge in his voice.Then Louise Sunborn was wounded and carried off the battlefield, in the same battle where Darius Winterchild was killed, and without her to look to Adara felt so impossibly lost, so terrified. There was only Luke left, now, and surely they were all too young to prevail.Unbelievably, Luke Sunborn carried the day. Adara had always been good with the sword, but never more than on the last day of her first war, when she moved like a dancer and brought all down before her, when the sound of her sword striking was the precursor to trumpets and bells and she knew that they had won, and winning meant they were going to live.When the battle was done and the cheering began she held Natalie’s hand, their fingers slippery with blood, and Adara was grateful enough to acknowledge that Serene had even helped Luke lead.Victory was so sweet. Adara wanted nothing more than to taste it again, and again, and again.*The month Natalie chose a Borderlands surname was the same month Adara became involved in the school plays. She always got chosen to be the leading lady, the love interest: who wouldn’t choose her? She loved being chosen, and she loved the sound of applause, every person who clapped another one choosing her.She got Natalie into it as well, but unlike Natalie she never went and sat at the table with all the council trainees who were involved in drama. Adara could like it: but she knew not to like it enough.*Sometimes when Adara visited Natalie’s house she used the computer to look up things she never wanted Natalie to know she was curious about. She learned a lot of new words she never told Natalie about.Even still, she was surprised to see a parade go down the street one day when they were eating doughnuts in a café. Adara thought doughnuts were marvelous, the jam inside, the sugar dusting them: it was all so clever. The tops of these were stale, stiff in her mouth, but she was still eating hers happily when the parade went by, the windows filling with rainbow colors, and Mrs Ventura’s mouth went flat behind her teacup.Adara wanted to ask what was going on, but she did not because she was not like Schafer, socially inappropriate and demanding words that nobody wanted to give and making sure nobody liked him.“These are so good,” she said. “Thank you for taking us out, Mrs Ventura.”And Mrs Ventura, who was afraid of losing Natalie altogether and with good reason, smiled a smile that softened her whole face and put her teacup down.“You can have mine, too,” said Natalie. “I don’t fancy it, somehow.”Adara took it.

*

The next year, she heard Chaos-of-Battle talking with Schafer about pamphlets from somebody called a guidance counselor, and Adara thought those words, strange when put together, sounded wonderful: someone to guide and advise, someone who knew the right words and could put them in your hands.“I’ll give them to you, but I honestly don’t know if they’ll be any help,” said Schafer. “I’m telling you, this guidance counselor was useless and rubbish.”Adara thought: at least he’d had the choice, to take or reject guidance. He and Serene were so utterly ungrateful about everything.Why they had been discussing the matter at all came clear later, when Luke Sunborn caused a sensation in class by announcing he liked boys.Adara was not unduly disturbed. She remembered Natalie saying: everyone likes both, and how it had made absolute, perfect, total sense, how it had seemed so shiningly obvious. That didn’t mean you messed up your whole life. It did mean that Luke was not mad about Serene, as everyone had assumed for years. So Dale could stop walking around looking as if he’d already won a beautiful shining trophy: he hadn’t won anything yet.It must have been a nasty shock for Chaos-of-Battle, since she then apparently lost all self-respect and began courting with Schafer. That didn’t last, of course, but it proved what Adara had always known: that Chaos-of-Battle was not so great after all, that Adara was better.*The next year a perfect opportunity was delivered to Adara, like a world on a silver platter.Luke Sunborn got involved in the school play, and Adara was the star: he was cast to be her love interest.That meant that Adara was given a great deal of time to spend with Luke, such as when Schafer was occupied dancing attendance on the dwarf girl Myra who did the scenery, in the same relentless way he’d pursued Chaos-of-Battle. He showered endearments, made jokes, threw himself into the school play like he’d attended every Trigon game to sit beside the elf. He did everything he could short of just serenading them with a song that went ‘Love me, love me, love me.’As soon as Adara thought that, Schafer actually began to sing a love song: something terrible from the otherlands, about making love wearing a cape. Possibly a song about superheroes: Adara knew about those.Schafer wasn’t terrible-looking, now that he’d grown up and filled out a bit, stopped giving the impression of a short stick with a huge pile of out-of-control hair on top, a sharp nose poking out of the mess, and an opinion everyone had to hear. Myra was not even fully human. He didn’t have to try so hard, and if you asked Adara trying so hard was what would mess everything up for him. It was pathetic.“Here we are, cast as the leads in a play,” said Adara, twinkling up at Luke. “Think the world’s trying to tell us something?”That they would be perfect together, that nobody would ever question them and only admire them.Just listen, Adara thought, but he wasn’t.“I have to… be over there,” said Luke. “Who knows what Elliot could be saying to poor Myra?”He smiled at Adara, the engaging smile that made it impossible for her to be really angry with him. She wished she could have that charm for her own, but it didn’t work for her: its appeal was based on Luke’s absolute sincerity, and she did not know how to reproduce that.She could only watch Luke’s back, departing in the direction of Schafer and Myra.“Hey, loser,” said Schafer, demeanor changing at Luke’s approach, calmer and happier and acting as if that was an appropriate way to talk to Luke. “Do you think you could use your severely limited musical ability to hum a tune so I can show Myra some dance moves?”“Nope, I am not going to do that, thanks for asking so politely,” said Luke, and smiled at Myra. “I’m afraid I’m not very musical.”

Adara saw how Myra’s dark eyes lit up, talking to Luke. So many people looked at Luke that way, as if his regard could touch them with gold.“What’s a piney collider?” Luke continued, which was a fair question.Schafer frowned at him as if he was stupid. “Pina coladas,” he said testily, but then grinned because he was a weirdo. “ ‘If you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain, if you’re not into yoga, if you have half a brain’—well, that lets you out, obviously…”He rattled on, alternately insulting and singing, making a very sad spectacle of himself as per usual. In spite of how hard he was trying, Adara noticed, Myra was not really paying the least bit of attention to Schafer. Myra was looking at Luke. Too bad for Schafer.*Too bad for Adara, as it turned out.It happened on the night of the school play, when she was feeling as if all triumphs were certain and anyone trying to bring her down might as well be shooting a crossbow at some distant star.She had been dancing, whirling with Schafer across a stage and to the sound of music and sighs and applause. She was the main character of the story, the lead of the whole play, and everybody watching wanted her, believed in her, wished for her victory.So when she grabbed Luke Sunborn for the big kiss scene, it seemed natural to kiss him: it seemed certain to her that this was the moment pretence would become real.Except that it wasn’t the moment she’d thought it would be: the fact he looked the part of the hero didn’t mean that he acted right. Luke’s big bronzed shoulders stayed stiff in her hands, his mouth unyielding under hers as if she’d kissed a beautiful statue.She’d been taught all her life the only way to get what she wanted was to push past all limits, but someone else’s boundaries were limits you were not meant to push against.Adara left the party and the congratulations as far behind her as she could, went out to the burning fires where she’d first seen Luke Sunborn, and sat on a log with her head in her hands, and had to face it all. She’d been chasing someone with no interest in her, pushing the way boys she wasn’t even slightly interested in pushed at her. She’d been so desperate she hadn’t seen it.Luke hadn’t wanted her, not ever, and nor had Natalie. Neither of them, and neither of them were going to change their minds, no matter how shiningly brilliant she made herself out to be.She was pathetic, as pathetic as Schafer.She was just thinking that when she spotted Schafer, and he apologized for kissing her, for ignoring her boundaries. She didn’t even know why that made her want to kiss him. It was against all reason.She told herself it was just about having a good time and blotting out all the bad feelings of the night, until Schafer told her he’d slept with men. (Adara was prepared to bet just one man, because even though she was currently doing it, she refused to accept a world in which all that many people would willingly go to bed with Schafer.)And it was like being told the most important secret in the world, like having someone draw you close and whisper it to you. Maybe not everyone, but you, and me too: you are not alone. Being as pathetic as Elliot did not seem, for a little while, like a death sentence.Besides, Schafer was shockingly competent in the sack.*

“Did I—when we kissed, when we were younger, was that all right?” Adara asked Dale Wavechaser, months later.Dale blinked. “Oh, sure,” he said. “I mean—no offence, Adara, but I was younger and still working things out. I was maybe a little confused, but I’m not confused any more.”“Confused, huh?” Adara asked, and felt that dart of pained guilt, the feeling that she should have boundaries worked out like Sunborn and Natalie and Dale and the most certain and self-assured person in the world, Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-goddamn-Battle. But she thought of Schafer: she clung to the thought of him some days, though she did not even like him. He hadn’t seemed confused.“Don’t be in love with me, okay?” Dale asked anxiously.“Don’t worry,” said Adara, rolling her eyes.It was the closest she could come to apologizing to Luke Sunborn, she supposed, since he clearly did not care what she did or how she felt about him. He hardly ever registered when she was there, but when he did notice her he frowned slightly, and she edged away, removing the presence that dimmed his light. She made him able to forget her.That was another apology, even if he never realized. *“I’m done, done with it all,” said Natalie on the very first day of their very last year in the Border camp. “I’m never going back.”And Adara lay out in front of her very own cabin, where she could have anyone she wanted spend the night and nobody would ever know unless she chose. She thought about the little village she’d grown up in, thought about the Border camp and the clean singing energy of winning, being so gifted at dancing or fighting that there was no need for words. She thought of the chaos of war with trolls roaring and the bright shapes of harpies overhead like stars in a daytime sky. She thought of cities laid out before her like open jewelry boxes, full of new words to be learned and opportunities to be taken.Two worlds for the taking, even if they did not come on silver platters.“Never’s a strong word,” Adara said. “Why limit yourself?”

[rememberstilinski]

stranded || dylan o'brien (part two)

word count: 4076

warnings: none

author’s note: here is the long awaited part two of my series stranded! i hope you guys enjoy and i apologize for it taking so long! thank you to @thelittlestkitsune for reading this when i first started it and being just an amazing person that i love dearly!

pairing: dylan o’brien / reader

masterlist

coming soon

A loud knocking sounded from outside the house. Sunlight straining through the handmade curtains. Dylan opened his eyes, but immediately regretted it, the bright sunlight blinding him. He shut his eyes and then opened them slowly, readjusting to the light. A smile graced his face as he thought of the day ahead of him.

One of his favorite days, doing his favorite thing.

Dylan stretched his arms and legs out, toes curling as he groaned in relief of his morning stretch. He sat up, the white sheet covering his exposed lower half. He pulled on a pair of shorts, one he'd made a few years ago out of some old cloth that was lying around, his chest still exposed.

As he climbed down the ladder leading from the upper level to the main level, he came to face a platter of fruit and some eggs that had been made for breakfast by the girl outside. He grabbed a sliced mango and bit into it as he walked out of the house and onto the porch.

She sat on the beach, some spare paper and paint in a bowl next to her. Dylan walked up behind her, looking at what she was painting. It was the view in front of them; the water, the sun peeking through a few clouds and birds flying through the air. “Looks good.” He mumbled, chewing the rest of the mango and throwing the remnants on the sandy ground.

She turned her head, looking up at Dylan and watching as he sat in the sand next to her. She smiled softly before looking back to her painting. “Thanks, Dyl.” Her pointed finger dipped in the blue and smeared it over the water she'd painted. She combined different shades of blues to make the different spots of water stand out on the paper as they did in real life.

“Are you almost done?” He asked excitedly.

Her eyebrows furrowed. “No, I just started. Why?”

“Because we have to start our contest soon. Running across the beach back and forth, remember?” He nudged her shoulder.

She groaned in annoyance. “I don't see why we have to do it. It seems childish.”

“Childish?!” He exclaimed. “Come on. It's fun and you know you like doing it, too.”

“Yeah, it's fun. But you call it a contest and there's never a prize!” She met his gaze.

“Fine, this time there will be a prize!” He smiled. “If I win, you get me a prize and if you win, I'll get you a prize.”

Pursing her lips, she thought over his proposition. “Deal.” She stuck out her hand and he placed his in hers and they shook on it.

They got ready for the contest. Standing by the big rock on the far end of the beach and making to race to the waterfall on the other side of their designated home. The two stood next to each other, preparing themselves for the race. “From here to the waterfall and back.” Dylan called out.

“Ready, get set, go!” The tan girl yelled and they both took off in a sprint. Dylan started out ahead of her. His bare feet hitting the sand, a smile on his face as he ran. It was one of his favorite things to do around here. He looked back at her and saw that she was running right on his tail. Coming to a clear pathway in the forest, she picked up her pace and ran alongside Dylan. She smirked at him as the waterfall came into sight. Dylan looked at her, knowing he could go much faster than what he was going now. He ran everyday and he was great at it. He knew that he would win, but he thought back to her face and how happy she looked to be running next to him. She was proud of herself and he didn't want to ruin that.

He slowed down a little bit, deciding to let her win the race. She smiled to herself when she realized she was in front of him and went faster, her heart pounding in her chest, breathing heavily. Dylan’s opponent got to their stopping point and won the race, Dylan coming in seconds after she did. She jumped up and down in joy when she saw that she'd beaten her opponent. “I won! Dyl, I won!” She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, standing on her tippy toes to get close to his height. He smiled to himself and wrapped his arms around her torso, nuzzling his face into her neck.

She went to pull away, but Dylan held onto her longer than he usually did. It was a little odd and she didn't know what to do. They hugged all the time, but something about this one was different. “Um, Dyl. You can let go now.” She mumbled into his ear. He snapped out of the trance he was seemingly under and pulled away. He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

“Sorry. I'm really proud of you!” He smiled brightly.

Her bright eyes sparkled as she smiled back, the little specks of various colors visible in the sunlight peeking through the trees and bouncing off the water. “What's my prize?”

An hour later, the two were in the boat, floating on the water above the reef. “What are we doing?” She asked. He grabbed a little pouch, tying it to his shorts and a knife so that he could get her gift.

“I'm getting your gift.” He shrugged, looking up at her.

“From under there?” She pointed to the tropical blue water. Fish and lots of coral visible beneath the surface. Dylan stood up, getting ready to dive under the water.

He smiled, looking back at her. “Yeah, I think you'll like it.” He winked and dove into the water. Kicking his feet, he swimmed down to the reef, grabbing hold of it to keep himself from floating back up. He looked around, hoping to find what he was looking for. An oyster. He'd seen them many times when he'd go swimming and saw them lying around. He also knew that the shellfish held pearls and he figured that she might like one. Once he spotted one, he grabbed the knife and started cutting into the opening. He cut the soft shell in half completely and grabbed the milky white pearl from its confinement.

She was still sitting in the boat, worrying about Dylan being down there for so long. She chewed on her lip nervously, not knowing how deep down he was. He'd been down there for a whole minute and she was wondering if he'd gotten hurt. As she was about to go in the water after him, his head poked through the surface. He climbed onto the boat, water following up with him as he sat down where he had been sitting before diving underwater. Upon seeing him, she closed her eyes in relief and opened them back up.

“Oh, thank god. You were down there so long, I thought something happened to you.” She exhaled a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. Droplets of water ran down his face and shoulders, some of the water falling from the soaked tips of his hair and the rest coming from him being underwater.

He rubbed the salty water out of his eyes and smiled at her, smirking. “Please, I'm the King of the Reef, nothing happens to me in my reef.”

She rolled her eyes playfully. “Whatever. You're okay, right?” She asked him, her tone genuine.

“I'm fine, don't worry about me.” Dylan nodded. “Do you want to see your prize?” He asked, looking across the boat and into the eyes of the only company he'd had for six years now. She nodded and grinned excitedly. He opened the palm of his hand and looked at the pearl, it was a little dirty so he put it in the water and cleaned it off a bit. Taking one last look at it and feeling satisfaction, he handed it to her. She took it in between her fingers, observing the foreign object.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at it. “What is it?”

“It's a pearl. You know like in clams? I see them all the time and I thought that you could make put it in your hair or something, I don't know. Do you like it?” He asked hopefully, biting his bottom lip as he watched her.

She smiled and looked into his eyes. “I love it! Thank you so much!” She leaned in and kissed his cheek, right on the edge of his mouth. His eyes widened as she did so. She automatically flushed with embarrassment, not realizing what she'd done until after she'd done it.

He cleared his throat and regained his composure. “You're welcome, I'm happy that you like it.” He grabbed the oars and started rowing them back to the shore where their home was. He helped the girl out of the boat, holding her bridal style before setting her on the ground, her bare feet in the water. She smiled one last time and walked up to the house. Dylan tied a rope that would keep the boat at shore around a rock in a secure knot and followed his companion.

Once he was inside the house, he looked around and saw no trace of her having gone inside. She wasn't downstairs, he walked over to the ladder that was sitting in the far left corner of the living room. He called up, waiting for a response. “You up there?”

Footsteps were heard from above his head and he saw her approach the ladder, where she started climbing down before she got to the fourth to last step. She turned to Dylan and he put his hands on her waist, hers on his shoulder as he picked her up and set her on the floor.

“What were you doing?” He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Well I got all wet, I didn't want to sit in my wet clothes, so I took the off and hung them up to dry.” She shrugged. He looked at her and realized that she was indeed wearing something new. There was a white cloth wrapped around her waist. The ends were tied at her hips, some of the extra fabric next to her leg, but the material only went to mid thigh. Her long hair covered her bare breasts, an abnormal look of her that Dylan didn't think much of.

“Okay, well I'm going to lay down in the hammock. I'm a little tired.” He smiled and turned to walk back outside. Her hand grabbed his wrist and stopped him from walking away entirely.

“Uh, thank you. For this.” She held up the pearl in her hand. “It really does mean a lot to me, you know. I've never been given a gift before. So, thank you, Dylan.”

He gave her a tender expression before looking down at the floor. “No problem. I'm glad you like it.” He looked back up at her and she pulled her hand from him, walking past him and out of the house. She went and laid on a weaved pad that was on the beach in front of their house, the hammock behind her. She looked at the pearl, observing her new possession as Dylan came out of the house and put himself in the hammock.

He watched her look at the pearl, interested in her and what she did. Her right leg was up, her foot on the sand while her left leg was stretched out, her feet having specks of sand on her skin. She had one arm behind her head and the other was in front of her face, her handing holding the pearl. A soft smile was on her lips. She sighed happily and looked up at the semi-cloudy sky as a warm breeze washed over her. Birds chirped when she closed her eyes. She enjoyed the feeling of the wind on her tan skin, her hair blowing slightly while it still laid over her chest and covered both of her breasts.

It was strange for him. He never looked at her like he did now. He never looked at her as more than just the girl who he happened to share this island with. She wasn't his sister, he knew that and he didn't think of her like that. He thought of her as his best friend, his only friend since they both only had each other. Her mother might be been the woman who raised him and she was the only mother he knew, but it wasn't really his mom. This wasn't really his family, it was just the one he grew up around. He always knew that he was different. That he didn't really belong there.

And now he was looking at this girl differently. His best friend. His roommate, you could say. He didn't know what it was and he didn't know why he felt like this. When he saw her this morning, he had butterflies. When she hugged him after their race, he held on tighter and longer than usual. They hugged all the time and it was simple, there was no feelings being read into the gesture. Then she kissed him on the boat, something she never did and he didn't know what to think about it. All he knew was that something was changing and he didn't know how to stop it.

Dylan turned his head away as she seemed to be falling asleep to the sound of the water crashing upon the shore. He closed his eyes and tried to get the strange thoughts out of his head. It wasn't long before he himself, started to drift into a small sleep. But he fell asleep to the thought of her.

Later that day, the two sat on the porch. Dylan was tying rope around a long, sturdy stick he'd found a few days ago while the girl sat against the wall, her long, wavy hair still covering her exposed chest. She smiled as she continued admiring her white bead. She'd found an old accessory that she was able to put the pearl on.

“I'm going to keep this forever, you know.” She announced, looking to Dylan. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, tongue peeking out of his lips as his long fingers tied strong knots. He turned his head after the words left her mouth.

“What was that?” His brown eyes travelled back down to the task he was working on before she started talking to him.

She smiled and scooted closer to him, their knees touching as they sat next to each other. “This pearl. I'll keep it forever.” She pursed her lips as she looked at it before moving some of her hair to the side and held up the pearl on its accessory, putting it in her hair behind her ear. “I think it looks nice in my hair. Do you?”

“I don't care what you do with it,”He looked back to her. “or how you wear it. You could hang it from your nose for all I care.”

Her smile faltered and she took the pearl out of her hair. She stood up and walked into the house to her designated room. Dylan looked between through a small space as she went inside, her bare back turned to him. She was at her vanity, looking in the mirror. She held up the pearl and put it next to her nose, thinking back to what Dylan had said. He saw her in the mirror as she looked at herself, chuckling quietly when she put the accessory to her face.

She set down her prize, looking back in the mirror. Her eyes trailed down the reflection of her torso. She bit her lip and looked behind her, leaning slightly to see if Dylan was able to see her from the porch. Once she thought it was safe, her eyes went back to mirror, she pushed her hair away from her bare chest and her breasts were fully exposed. Smiling, she ran her fingertips in the space between both of her full, perky breasts. She continued looking at herself, hands cupping the parts of her body.

Before dying, her mother told her that she would go breasts just like her. That they wouldn't look the same as hers, they'd be unique to her. Now that she had them, she thought they were beautiful. There was a couple beauty marks on her skin where they started to curve. Another one in the valley of her breasts. They weren't too big, not too small, they were a perfect size.

Dylan couldn't tear his eyes away as he watched her, he watched her fingers trace patterns on her skin. He'd never seen her as exposed as she was right now, but now that he did see her, he was even more curious than he was before. He wanted to know what all of her looked like. She looked a lot different than he did, that's for sure. She was… beautiful. He enjoyed looking at her. He let out a deep sigh and turned back around, hesitantly tearing his eyes away from her. His head fell back against the wall of the house.

The sound of her footsteps caused his head to turn towards the doorway on his right. “You're making dinner tonight, right?”

He nodded and grabbed his spear, standing up. “Yeah, I'll go get it now.” Dylan walked away and down the beach without giving her a second look.

“Stupid shark! You act like this whole reef is yours!” Dylan yelled at the dark grey fin that was tauntingly swimming in the crystal clear water. “I'm the King of the Reef! I could beat you.” The bright afternoon sun hit his skin as he paced in the shallow part of the beach water. “I'll prove it!” Throwing the spear he was holding on the ground, he dove into the water, twenty feet away from where the dangerous sea creature was.

His long legs kicked through the water as his arms gave him more momentum and helped him steer through the water. The shark was still close to him, but Dylan had gained speed and gotten in front of it, swimming with all of his speed so he wouldn't get hurt. There was another part of the beach right in front of Dylan and he swam as fast as he could to eventually beat the shark. He came up from the water and walked the rest of the way to the sandy beach, winning the one sided race he had with the animal.

He threw his arms in the air, victory and adrenaline coursing through his veins. Droplets of salty water ran down his skin, coming off the strands of his hair as he smiled happily while he watched the shark swim away. “King of the Reef!” He yelled and cheered in favor of himself. He grabbed the spear on the other side of the beach and ran back up to the house to tell his roommate what had just happened.

When he arrived at the house, he saw her sitting on a swing mother had built before passing. She was weaving what looked to be a blanket of some sort. “You will never believe what just happened!” His voice cut into her concentration.

“What'd you do this time?” She gazed up at him before going back to her weaving. Her hair was pinned back and this time she wore a white cloth around her chest. It was a makeshift bra that wrapped around her breasts and gave them support while the two ends intersected at the center of her chest and tied around the back of her neck.

Dylan started pacing excitedly after setting the spear against the house. “I had a race with that shark that comes around sometimes. I've raced with him before and he almost got me, but this time I was too fast for him. He was waiting for me, so I dive in!” Dylan jumped off the steps of the house and landed on the sand next to her. “I can see down his mouth and there's like thousands of sharp teeth in there. There were some little fish around his gills. And he comes at me.” He made a whistling noise and smacked his hands together loudly, causing his counterpart to jump at the sound. “He misses me. Stupid shark.” He looked at her and laughed softly while her facial expression was the same.

“It seems silly to me, Dyl.”

“Silly?” He raised an eyebrow. “It's not silly. It's dangerous.” He put his hands on his hips and huffed his chest out triumphantly.

Stopping her movements, her eyes moved from the weaving to him. “Exactly. I don't see why you have to do it.”

He shrugged. “It makes me feel good. In here, it makes me feel alive. It lets me know that I'm the King of the Reef.”

“‘King of the Reef. King of the Reef,’” She mocked him. Dylan walked over to her, putting his hands on the strings that held up the swing and leaned in.

“Don't make fun of me.”

She stared at him as he looked into her eyes. “I'm sorry.” Her hands going back to their task from earlier.

He nodded and pulled away, sitting on the sand. “Besides, you're the silly one. Always looking at yourself and touching yourself.” He looked at her and she had once again stopped all movements.

“I don't touch myself.” She murmured, eyes staying off of him as she spoke.

“Yes, you do.” He chuckled. “You're always looking at those when you look in the mirror.” He pointed at her breasts.

“I'm just messing how much they've grown!” She defended. She started folding up the blanket she weaved and stood up. “Besides, you shouldn't look at me when I'm naked.”

“Why not? I used to see you naked all the time.”

She hurried and tried to get inside the house, but Dylan was blocking the pathway to the stairs. “It's different now, Dylan.”

“Why?”

“I don't know, I don't know why everything around here is so different, but it is!” She stepped to the side and walked around him, holding the blanket in one arm.

He called her name and she turned around slowly. “I just want things to be the way they used to be. Where we would run around all the time. We'd play games and have fun. When we were best friends.”

“We still are best friends. I mean, we’re the only ones here, but you're still my best friend.” She mumbled.

“Remember when we used to play ring around the rosy?” He smiled softly. She nodded and smiled back at him shyly. She looked down at his hand and grabbed it gently, setting the blanket on the ground and grabbing his other one.

“Ring around the rosy.” They both said quietly, then started to slowly spin in a circle as you did with ring around the rosy. “Pocketful of posies.” Their voices grew louder and they spun faster, more sure of what they were doing. “Ashes, ashes we all fall down!”

Dylan spun them around and she squealed as they fell to the ground, their laughs slowly dying down when they looked at each other. Her hand was on his shoulder as she laid on the ground, Dylan's arms underneath her. It was only then when they realized just how close they were. The smiles on their faces faded as they examined each other's faces. He looked down to her lips and they both began to lean in. His chapped lips brushed over her soft, pink ones and she pulled away, turning away from him.

She blinked quickly, trying to register what had just happened. She swallows thickly and leaned on her elbow to keep herself up. “Dylan?” He hummed in response. “You wouldn't mind if I moved my bed to another part of the house, would you?”

Dylan chewed on his lip and shook his head, but then realized she couldn't see him. “No. If you weren't going to do it, I was.”

Things around them were changing and they both knew it. Although, neither of them knew what to think.

[facetiousfanboy]

Roommate Romance 6

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 

Pearl and Garnet go to see Rose and talk about how she and Pearl broke up. Will the truth be too much for Garnet or will they be able to stay together?

Pearl gripped onto the edge of the sink as she looked into the mirror. She was trying to stay calm despite how her heart was pounding and her mind was racing. She shook her head and closed her eyes. Today was the day that she and Garnet were going to go talk to Rose and tell her that Pearl still loved her. But it was also the day when Garnet would learn about what had happened between Pearl and Rose, why their relationship had ended. Pearl was having a panic attack as she tried not to think about how badly this entire situation could go.

She studied her own face, trying to distract herself but all she could think of was how her relationship with Rose had ended, about the knife, about the blood. She jumped suddenly as there was a knock on the bathroom door.

“Pearl? Are you okay in there?” Garnet called from the other side of the door, worried the other had slipped and hit her head or something.

Pearl looked towards the door. “I'm fine!” She quickly splashed water on her face to try and cool herself down. “I'll be right out!” She rushed through doing her hair and her makeup before pulling on the clothes she was going to wear. She slipped on a pale blue blouse and green yoga pants.

She was so nervous and she didn’t want to do this, but she knew she had to. She stepped out and looked at Garnet who was dressed in her classic reflective shades along with a purple halter top and jeans. Garnet was waiting patiently for her and smiled when she saw Pearl. “Hey Pearl, are you ready to go?”

Pearl nodded. “Yes, I think so.” She nervously fiddled with the edge of her blouse. “If you are?”

Garnet nodded and took hold of Pearl's hand. “Yeah.” She touched Pearl's cheek. “Pearl, you know that I'll love you no matter what don’t you?” She could tell the other was nervous about this meeting, it was obvious from how she kept looking down and how her hands were sweating.

Pearl looked at her reflection in Garnet's shades and nodded. “Yes, I know.” She wasn’t sure she believed it.

Garnet smiled and gave Pearl the briefest kiss. “Let's go.” They left together, heading to Rose's dorm.

-

Rose was hanging out in her room with Amethyst. Peridot had been unavailable to hang out this weekend because she had left to visit some family so Rose had invited Amethyst to hang out with her instead. They were playing a fighting game together and though Amethyst was winning Rose was enjoying herself.

Amethyst cheered as she defeated Rose again. “Aww yeah, the A-train wins again!” She pumped her fists into the air in celebration.

Rose giggled and clapped. “Well done Amethyst. You surprised me with that special move of yours.”

Amethyst smiled. “Well I am pretty good. I could show you how to do those special moves sometime if you want?” She liked playing with others and was always willing to teach them how to be better.

Rose nodded. “I'd like that, but you don’t have to.”

“I want to though, it makes it more fun if you can put up a fight, plus I think you’ll have more fun that way.“ She opened her mouth to continue but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Rose stood up and moved to answer the door. She was surprised to see Garnet and Pearl standing on the other side. “Oh, hello you two. What brings you here?”

Garnet looked at Pearl for a moment, waiting to see if she wanted to talk to Rose first. After a short pause she looked back at Rose. “We came to talk to you about something.”

Rose nodded. “I see.” She could tell that it was something serious. She stepped back. “Well come in.”

The two walked in, Amethyst smiled when she saw them. “Hey, it's the lovebirds!” She teased, but then she noticed their expressions. “Something up?”

Rose nodded. “Yes, they came over to talk.” She looked at them. “Is it okay if Amethyst stays?”

Pearl shook her head. “No, it's between us.” She didn’t mean to be rude but this talk was very personal, especially for her, and she wanted to keep it as private as possible.

Amethyst stood up. “Sounds real doom-and-gloom.” She got her game from the machine. “Why don’t I go visit my cousin Jay while you guys talk? You can call me back when you’re done Rose.” She walked past them and to the door. “Laters.”

Once the three were alone they all found a place to sit. Rose looked at the other two once she was comfortable. “So, what is this about?”

Pearl kept looking down, as if she was afraid to meet Rose's eyes, but she spoke. “It's about us, you and me, about how we broke up.”

Rose flinched and frowned at the memory. “What about it?”

Garnet waited for Pearl to continue but when she determined she wasn’t going to Garnet started talking. “Pearl is still in love with you.”

Pearl and Rose both blushed. Rose looked at Pearl. “Pearl, is this true?”

Pearl reluctantly nodded. “Yes, it is.” They both went silent, creating an awkward tension.

Garnet hated the tension so she broke the silence. “I and Pearl want to be together, but first we need to find closure over what happened. And I need to know that we can be together.”

Rose nodded. “I understand. Do you want me to tell it or would you like to?” She asked Pearl who just seemed to get smaller. Pearl was silent for too long before saying. “Go ahead.”

Rose took a breath. “Alright.” She began to tell the story.

“It was our junior year in high school, after that game we had with our school’s rivals. I and Pearl had been going out for a couple of years now and we were in an interesting place in our relationship. Well in any case we were out at a restaurant having dinner, it was just a normal night, but our server was… very attractive.” She blushed and seemed to consider before continuing.

“As he served us he started to flirt with us. Well I thought it was endearing, so I started to flirt back. But while I saw it as something harmless he and Pearl both thought I was serious. Long-story-short, he ended up leaving his number on our receipt. When I and Pearl got home there was a fight. Pearl accused me of not loving her anymore. She thought I wanted to leave her and go out with this waiter or someone else. I tried to explain that it was harmless, that I was just having a bit of fun with him. She didn’t see it that way, I don’t blame her for that. I left for a while to try and cool down so I could talk to her without my head being clouded with emotion. When I went back I found her with a knife, trying to cut herself, I grabbed it and tried to get it away from her. There was an accident.”

Rose pulled up her shirt to show a scar on her stomach. “The doctor said I was lucky, the blade hadn't hit any major arteries or organs. After that we broke up.” She looked at Pearl. “I forgave you for that Pearl, you know I did.”

Pearl looked away. “I thought you hated me, that you wanted me to die so you could be with someone else. I…” She covered her mouth and started to sob. “I’m sorry!” She pulled away from Garnet and hid her face in her hands, shaking as she sobbed.

Rose stood up and started to move towards her but she stopped and instead looked to Garnet. She knew her shoulder wasn’t the one for Pearl to cry on anymore. She smiled and hoped Garnet would understand.

Garnet put her arms around Pearl. “Hey, it's okay.”

Pearl looked up at her. “No!” She pushed Garnet away. “How can I love someone I almost killed? What if the same thing happens to you! I can't…” She froze and then wiped her eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Garnet hugged Pearl, pulling the smaller woman against her chest and rubbing her back tenderly. “I know you won't.”

Pearl kept sobbing for a bit but she eventually started to calm down. She pulled back a little and looked at Rose. “W-when I saw you and Greg together it just reminded me of then. I don’t mean to feel this way for you, but I do.” She sniffed. “God I'm a mess.” She nervously ran her fingers through her hair.

“No Pearl, I understand.” She smiled. She waited until Pearl was looking at her before continuing. “When you and Garnet started dating I went through something similar. I wanted to take you from Garnet and make you my girlfriend again. But I stopped and thought it through. I do still have feelings for you. But I know that we shouldn’t be together.”

Pearl blinked in surprised and tried to speak but the words wouldn't come to her. She just sort of stared at Rose before nodding and managing to choke out, “You're right.” She knew that she would never stop having feelings for Rose, but she knew they shouldn't be together, it wasn't healthy to have something like what they had before.

Garnet watched these two, not ready to add anything yet. This was their issue and they had to work it out.

Rose sighed. “Pearl, I know you can move on, but you have to figure out how to do that.” She looked at Garnet. “Luckily you'll have some help.”

Garnet nodded. “I'm here to help you through this Pearl.” She took the other’s hand in hers.

Pearl looked at Garnet and smiled, suddenly kissing her girlfriend lovingly and hugging her.

Garnet blushed and glanced at Rose who was smiling and giving her a thumbs up. Garnet decided to just enjoy the moment and so she kissed Pearl in return and held her close. When the other pulled away she smiled at her.

Pearl smiled back but she suddenly remembered where they were and her entire face turned red before she hid her face in her hands and whimpered. She couldn’t believe she had just done that in front of her former girlfriend.

Garnet chuckled and patted Pearl’s back, looking at Rose now. “Thank you Rose, for helping us with this. Now I better get Pearl home before she dies of embarrassment.” Pearl weakly punched Garnet’s arm before going back to hiding her face. Garnet rubbed her arm and then put it around Pearl as they stood up.

Rose stood and walked to them, pulling both women into a friendly hug. “Thank you both for coming to speak to me about this.” She pulled back, keeping her hands on their shoulders. “I know that you can get through this together.” She smiled. “You’re both so wonderful.”

Garnet nodded and smiled at her. “Thank you Rose,” she said.

“We should leave. We’re sorry for interrupting your gaming with Amethyst,” Pearl stated, feeling relieved at how well this had all gone. But she was dreading the conversation she would have with Garnet when they got back to their dorm.

“It’s alright, Amethyst understands, and besides, you two needed to talk.” She pressed her hands together. “If you ever need anything else you know you can always come and talk to me.”

Garnet nodded. “We know.” She rubbed Pearl’s arm. “Come on, let’s go back.” She wanted to get back and talk a little more with Pearl.

Together they walked to the door and opened it. They said their goodbyes and left, walking out of the dorm and heading back to their own. They were quiet on the way, but they did glance at each other. Each was absorbed in their own thoughts, trying to decide what they wanted to talk about when they got back to their room.

Soon enough they had reached their dorm. They went inside and to their room and closed the door. From here they parted and turned towards each other.

“Garnet I,” Pearl spoke.

“We should probably,” Garnet said at the same time. They both paused and looked at each other, smiling. “You go first,” Garnet suggested, gesturing for Pearl to begin.

Pearl nodded. “Yes, well, I wanted to discuss what we spoke about with Rose.”

Garnet nodded and sat on her bed so she wouldn’t be looming over Pearl while they talked. “Go on.”

“Well that um, what happened, it was…” She froze up and seemed to shrink, putting her hand over her mouth. Garnet was about to stand and move over to her when she continued to speak. “I never meant for that to happen to her. And what I was going to do to myself, it… I was a different person then, too caught up in emotion and my own stupid…” A few tears fell from her eyes and she sniffed as she wiped her face. “The point is, that I’m not like that anymore, I would never hurt myself.” She practically launched onto Garnet, kneeling and hugging her stomach. “Please don’t leave me! I promise I’ll never hurt you! Please!”

Garnet smiled and began running her fingers through Pearl’s hair, soon lifting her face so the other would look at her. She leaned down and kissed her briefly. “Pearl, I love you. I love you more than you could possibly imagine.” She helped the other onto her lap and pulled her close, rubbing her back and still running her fingers through her hair. “I know you’re not the same as you were then. I know that things ended badly between you and Rose, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that you would never hurt me.”

Pearl began to relax as she cuddled up against Garnet. She still sobbed as the other tried to reassure her. Pearl looked up at her. “I love you too, but what if I do hurt you? What if…”

Garnet pulled Pearl closer, looking down at her. “What if? What if the world ends tomorrow? What if all the time we have left is tonight? What if we’re wasting it by talking about all these things that may never happen?” She smiled and kissed Pearl’s cheek. “We shouldn’t be wasting our time thinking about what could happen. Especially if it’s a future where we aren’t together. I love you Pearl, I trust you, and I know everything will be alright. I want you to feel the same way.”

Pearl looked at Garnet for a moment with a puzzled expression. Soon it turned to a smile and she kissed Garnet, causing the woman to fall back onto the bed, pulling Pearl with her until they were laying together on the bed. When they pulled from the kiss they were both smiling and laughing. Pearl laid her head on Garnet’s chest. “I feel safe with you, I feel like everything is going to be okay. My mind is just plagued with doubts about the future. I need time, time to just let these thoughts pass so that I may feel at ease.” She sighed. “I’m sorry about all of this.”

Garnet shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I want to help you out, that’s what you do in a relationship, you work together to help each other.”

Pearl smiled. “I don’t deserve you.”

Garnet sat up and stroked Pearl’s cheek tenderly. “Yes, you do.” She kissed her again. “If nothing else believe that you deserve me, just as I deserve you.”

Pearl felt a few tears roll down her cheeks as she smiled. She didn’t say anything, she simply cuddled against Garnet and closed her eyes, enjoying the other’s warmth and the soft thump of her heartbeat. She didn’t want to think right now, she just wanted to relax, forget about the awful past and the pain she had caused. She needed only this, only Garnet, only herself, only to rest and let her worries float away.

Garnet laid back down with Pearl. She had things to do, but they could wait, Pearl needed her now, and as long as Pearl needed her Garnet would be there to help. She idly ran her fingers through her love’s hair and rested, soon falling to sleep. Pearl joined her, dreaming of happy days with Garnet. Things were going to work out, one way or another, they would make it.

And that is the final chapter of this story, for the foreseeable future. Please tell me what you thought of this story, I love to hear feedback from your guys.

I'm curious about which of my other stories you guys want to see more of, or if there are any stories you would like me to write which I currently am not. I'm a bit unsure of what to be working on right now so please comment with thoughts and/or requests. Don’t forget to like and reblog as always have a nice day!