#my maternal instincts I didn’t even know I had kicked in for this sad duck with a constant migraine

[fagbearentertainment]

Meet my new son 💖

[peach-the-owl]

Child of the Nein

When you first meet (Mighty Nein & Child!Reader) Part 1

This popped into my head one day and I don’t think I‘ve seen anyone else do something like this so I thought: Hey why not? You know because a child in a group of adventurers couldn’t possibly go wrong

Also they may not be 100% accurate to their back story but I kept them as close as I could

Jester

Jester weaved her way through the streets of Nicodranas until she had reached the edge of the port side city. Looking now at the necklace upon her, lost in thought, her bittersweet thoughts of home quickly interrupted however by rustling bushes nearby. Thinking one of the guards had found her she readied herself to run, only to freeze when a child looking no older then 8 comes tumbling out of it.

You pick yourself up off the ground and brush off some dirt, you then look up to see a pretty blue lady in front of you. She seemed nice, and it’d be rude not to say hello to her. "Hello, pretty blue lady." You give her a wave and a smile, which is happily returned by them.

"Hello! What's a cute little kid like you doing here all alone?" She kneels down and pokes your nose when asking, causing you to giggle.

"I’m exploring!" You state eagerly.

"Oh, I see. Where’s your momma and papa?" You look around before giving a shrug. "Do you have a momma and papa?" You shrug again, not knowing how to answer.

"Hey what’s that?" You ask pointing to the pendent on her waist. This caused her eyes to brighten more.

"This is my symbol of the Traveler, have you ever heard of him?" You shake your head and lean in closer to hear more. "Well he’s a really cool guy and can do really amazing things."

"Wow! That sounds awesome! Oh, I’m (y/n) by the way!" You say, realizing you forgot to introduce yourself.

"I’m Jester." Jester holds her hand out for you to shake, which you eagerly do.

"So Jester, what are you doing here all alone?" You ask, mimicking her earlier question. You see Jesters smile drop a little.

"I made a really powerful man reeallly angry, but he was also a big jerk so he had it coming, *sigh* but to stay safe I have leave home."

"Can I come! I love adventuring and exploring, it’ll be sooooo much fun with someone else too!" You bounce on your feet and look at her expectantly. Jester did like the sound of having someone to travel with and an opportunity to talk more about the Traveler, and by the looks of things you didn’t have anyone else with you (which is a little sad for someone still so young).

"Of course you can!" Jaester agreed, having you around seemed like fun not to mention you reminded Jester of herself when she was young and couldn’t wait to introduce you to the ways of the Traveler and all the mischief you two would make. What could possibly go wrong?

Nott

Being the young runt in a clan of goblins made things hard for you, being seen as weak and useless lead to them constantly bullying and pushing you around. One day while forced to help carry some of the heavy equipment for the torturer you had slipped up causing everything you carried to crash to the ground. You try to ignore the yelling and ridicule from the torturer but you could feel the tears pricking your eyes which lead to more yelling, you slowly pick yourself up and start going to grab the equipment. It’s then you notice the stares of the assistant on you, you duck your head down lower and continue about your prior job.

Nott watched from a safe distance as her "boss" yelled at the smaller goblin, she knew better then to intervene. Still she couldn’t help but feel some pity for the little one as she understood what it’s like to be bullied for being different, and she’d be lying if she didn’t admit to feeling her maternal instinct kick in for the child. When the torturer finally left Nott decided to make her move, carefully approaching them.

"It's no fun being bullied around is it." Her shrill voice causes you to stumble a bit. After a brief moment of pause you you slowly shake your head. "Do you even like it here?" You didn’t know what she was getting at, nonetheless you shake your head again. After a longer pause you figured the more one-sided conversation was done so you once again go back to heaving the equipment along.

"What if we could leave?" Now she had your full attention.

"H-how do we do that?" You voice came out quiet and scratchy, due to hardly using it.

"I’m not sure yet but I’ll figure something out."

"Ok… but why-why help me? I’m not very big or strong, I’d probably just hold you back." You look into her big yellow eyes in search of an answer, unsure if you could actually trust them.

"I used to feel the same, still do sometimes, but I think since we both don’t like it here we can help each other out." Being young the logic seemed sound enough for you.

"Alright, let's do it." You wanted to shout with excitement but kept you voice down not wanting to redraw the attention of the torturer.

"I’m…… Nott, that’s N-O-T-T." Nott gave you a faint smile, you stare at her with a confused expression which she catches onto. "Oh that’s right, you don’t know how to spell do you. That’s alright, can you tell me your name?"

"I don’t got one. They just call me runt because that’s what I am." You look down to the ground, suddenly finding it more interesting as you shuffle your feet about. Nott pondered on this for a moment before lighting up with an idea.

"How about I call you (y/n), has a good ring to it don’t you think?" The name sounded a little strange to you but in a good way, definatly not a traditional goblin name, still you liked it all the same. Giving Nott a nod and your first real toothy smile in awhile (hey that rhymed), you both decided to sneakily think of ways to free yourselves from the clan. What could possibly go wrong?

Caleb

The people here in Vergesson Sanatorium said you were psychotic. Being 5 you didn’t know what that meant, all you can remember is watching as the "pretty colours danced" and now you where here in this big boring building. They say it’s for your own good, that it’s the only place you’ll get the help and care you need. Again you didn’t quite understand what that was supposed to mean, you had asked if you could go home once but they said that this was your home now and it would have to be until you were older and fully recovered. Everything they said just left you confused and with more questions; why couldn’t you go home, what were you even recovering from, and many more all of which you never got the answer to. There were other people "like you" here but many of them didn’t seem much fun or up for a chat leaving you bored to wits end, but that all changed (when the fire nation attacked) when you bumped into someone while roaming around. You crane your neck up to see a man with messy reddish hair, next to him laying on the ground was a guard, you could recognize that uniform anywhere. The man then turns to look at you with a glare, you stare into his eyes for a moment before pointing to the guard.

"Is he sleeping?" It seemed like an odd question but you had always been a curious soul. The man looks between you and the guard, his glare having now turned into a deadpanned expression.

"Ja, he is." Is his responce to you before he starts walking away, you take this as a sign and follow him. Not without noticing a small red puddle by the guard as you pass them, however you just thought he must’ve had too much tomato juice before taking a nap. Continuing through the winding halls of the sanatorium you realize you’ve never been to this area yet.

"Where are we going?" You pipe up, causing the man to halt his movement in surprise so wrapped up in his objective he didn’t realize you had been following him.

"I am leaving." He put a big emphasis on the I hoping you take the hint, you didn’t.

"Can I come? Please it’s so boring here, everything’s the same, I wanna go outside and-"

"Stop!" You stop and look at him, his eyes calculating you, not that you would’ve caught onto that. After a moment of your little staring contest he mumbles something you can’t quite catch, other then the words "small" and "useful". "Very well," he says loud enough for you to hear now, "you may come along but you must listen and do exactly as I say, understand."

"Yeah, ok!" You couldn’t contain your enthusiasm, practically bouncing around, finally you could leave this boring place and go somewhere more exciting. You would’ve run to give this man a hug but he held up his hand, once again stopping you.

"First rule, none of this… over excitement. Second rule, stay as quiet as possible, we don’t want to attract any attention." You immediately stop and give a slight nod to show him you were listening, just like he’d asked. After what felt like hours of wandering to you, you finally find yourself back in the colourful outside world, it’s also at this time you realized you never gave this man your name.

"I just remembered that I forgot to tell you my name's (y/n). What’s yours?" You look to him expectantly, waiting for him to tell you his name. He turns to you, a slight annoyed expression on his face. Opening his mouth to say something he hesitates.

"My name… is… not important right now." He says, carefully picking his choice of words. "First we must focus on leaving the area undetected, and remember to stay quiet." You give a quiet "oh yeah" before following his lead and sneaking off. At last you were free from the sanatorium, with a strange and scruffy man… What could possibly go wrong?

Caduceus

You pushed through the thick vegetation that surrounded the area going as fast as your legs could carry you. You can hear your mothers words repeating in your head; "My child, you must hurry! Go! Seek help at the Blooming Grove!" You’d heard of the place before, from others in your clan, but never visited it yourself. None of that mattered at the moment as you continued to traverse through the sharp, thorny vines, giving little thought to the various cuts you were receiving. Finally after days of running and hiding you see a graveyard, and based upon what you were told it matched the description of the Blooming Grove. You only take a few steps forward before your knees buckle under you, the exhaustion of tireless travel and the various wounds having finally crept up on you to take their toll. You pass out soon after.

Another day of tending to the graves of the departed had become a pleasant routine for Caduceus, however he did have to admit it felt lonesome since the last of his family had left to seek a cure for the blight that plagued the area. The sound of a soft thud draws him away from his thoughts, he looks over his shoulder but doesn’t see anything at first. Slowly he makes his way over to the source of the sound and scans the area, surprised to find a rather young firbolg laying unconscious a few feet from the entrance of the temple. He scans the area again but finds no one else in the immediate vicinity, as he makes his way closer to the child he soon notices the many cuts and bruises that litter their body. It's as if some maternal instinct kicked in as Caduceus carefully gathers the child into his arms and brings them into the temple without a second thought. He gently lays them on one of his sisters beds and begins treating their wounds, patching up the smaller cuts with bandage and using his magic to heal the more concerning gashes that covered the youngling.

You slowly creak your eyes open and immediately notice your new surroundings, you also couldn’t help but notice the bandages that now coverered your arms and legs. "Good to see you’re finally awake." You shift you’re attention to the door where the pink haired firbolg stands with what looks to be a fresh kettle of tea. "I’m Caduceus." He says gently, seeing the slight confusion on your face.

"Ummm… hi. I’m (y/n)." Despite everything you find it hard to form words, settling on the awkward greeting. He laughs softly before setting down the kettle and pouring a cup of tea, the gentle aroma wafting around you. He silently offers you a cup which you happily accept, the awkwardness of earlier quickly melting away.

"So tell me (y/n), what are you doing here all alone?" He gives you a concerned look, you shuffle in place, trying to find the right words to use.

"My… my home got raided by a tribe of forest giants, my family tried to settle things calmly but they wouldn’t listen. My momma told me to look for help at the Blooming Grove, and from what I was told this seems to be the place." The was a long pause once you finished your story, the silence feeling suffocating the longer it went on.

"I’m sorry that happened to you, and while you did find your way here I… I’ve been the only one here for the last 5 maybe 6 years now." The information slowly sinks in and as it does your ears flatten and your tail wraps around your legs, curling yourself into a ball. Tears well up in your eyes at the thought of everything you did being for nothing, only when you felt Caduceus' hand gently place itself on your back did you snap back to reality and redirect your attention onto him. "It’s not all bad if you think about it."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"You’re still alive and you were able to make through the dangers of the forest and find your way here without ever having been here before. I don’t think that’s just some coincidence, I believe you were guided here for a reason, that somehow someday you and I will have a greater role to fulfill."

"You really think so?" You rub the tears from your eyes a bit and give him a rather adorable doe eyed stare. He gives you a kind smile and nods. His words defiantly helped you feel a little better, and the both of you now had each other for company until destiny decided to call you elsewhere. What could possibly go wrong?

Part 2 will be out soon-ish (hopefully) with the rest of the Mighty Nein I didn’t feature here (obviously)

[cakesunflower]

Reach For You [Dad!Calum AU] Ch. 19

Previous Chapters: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18

Chapter 19

ONCE THE EXCITEMENT of Christmas and New Years passed, it was back to their regular schedules. Luna was back at school, Aspen was working at the clinic, and Calum was in the city making sure his club was up to par and regularly meeting with the staff and vendors and the like. Aspen felt like she hadn’t been to work in so long, easily smiling at the regular patients she often saw, her maternal empathy kicking in every time a kid was trying hard to fight a fever, flu, or the like.

Right when her break was finished, crumbling up the bag she’d brought her sandwich in and throwing it out, her phone began ringing. At the sight of Calum’s name and picture, she instantly picked it up. “What’s up?”

“Sweetheart, hey,” Calum’s breathless voice responded, sounding as though he was either running or panicked. “Listen, shit, is there any way you can pick up Luna? There’s an issue with one of the vendors and I need to sort it out—I don’t think I can make it back to Jersey in time for pick up.”

“Uh—” Aspen’s eyes widened, darting to the clock on the wall. Luna’s school ended in a little less than half an hour, and with her break almost over, she definitely didn’t have the time. Not to mention not a lot of the staff was scheduled for today, and the clinic needed all the help it could get. “No, crap, I can’t,” she stammered, pressing her hand to her hairline in worry.

“Fuck,” Calum cursed, sounding justifiably panicked. Aspen didn’t blame him; things like this happened, neither of them could control life.

She licked her lips. “Hold on, I don’t think Jodie works today. Let me ask if she can pick Luna up.” There was a reason why her best friend was one of her daughter’s emergency contacts.

Calum let out a breath, not entirely relieved until he knew there was something to be relieved about. “Alright, let me know, yeah? I’m sorry, love.”

A soft chuckle escaped Aspen. “It’s okay, Cal. Let me text Jodie.”

He offered a quick goodbye and Aspen immediately went to texting her best friend, chewing on her lower lip and hoping for a miracle. She tapped her foot against the floor impatiently, knowing she had to get back out there in a little bit, watching the three little bubbles appear as Jodie wrote her text.

Yeah, no problem! I gotchu, sis.

A sigh of relief escaped Aspen, hissing out a quiet and victorious, “yes!” before thanking her friend and letting Calum know all was taken care of. He responded asking what Jodie’s favorite wine was as a thank you.

Aspen laughed, pocketing her phone before heading back to the nurse’s station, grabbing the file for the next patient ready to be seen. The next few hours of her shift seemed to fly by, and soon enough she was bidding goodbye to coworkers that still had some hours left and was on her way home. The short drive ended with her pulling into the parking lot of her building, letting out an amused laugh when she glanced to her left and caught sight of Calum’s Range Rover pulling up next to her. He noticed her right away, grinning and throwing up a peace sign from where he sat.

“Hi, baby,” Aspen greeted as they both got out of their cars, her tone a melodic tune as she smiled when he jogged over, arm dropping around her shoulders. “Everything work out with the vendor?”

Calum quickly pecked her lips as they approached the building. “Yeah, ’s all good,” he reassured.

When he opened the door for Aspen, allowing her to walk into the complex, it was then when she saw the bag he was holding and let out a laugh. “You actually got Jodie’s wine?”

Calum scoffed as the elevator opened up immediately, shooting her a bemused look. “Can’t believe you thought I was kidding.”

Reaching the door, Aspen used her keys to unlock it and they stepped inside the apartment as Aspen called out, “We’re home!”

Jodie emerged from the kitchen, smiling at the two as she sipped from a glass of water. “Hey guys; how was work?” Before either of them could answer, her gaze happened to drop, raising her eyebrows as she instinctively asked, “Is that a bottle of red?”

Calum, whose lips were parted to respond to her first question, looked down at the bag before letting out a laugh. “Yeah, it is. For you,” he said, holding it out for a confused Jodie to take. “As a thank you for the last minute baby sitting.”

“Oh, please, anything for my godchild,” Jodie scoffed before holding the bag close to her chest, grinning. “I’ll still take it. Thanks, Calum.” Aspen chuckled as her boyfriend merely grinned, yet Jodie’s smile quickly faltered as she looked at the two parents worriedly. “But, you guys, something’s up with Luna. She’s been kind of down ever since I picked her up.”

Instantly, both Aspen and Calum went into concerned mode. “Did she say why?” Aspen asked as she put her bag down on the couch, eyebrows drawing together as she looked at her best friend.

Jodie gave a shake of her head and pursed her lips. “No; I tried to get it out of her but she wouldn’t budge. She ate some mac and cheese when we got back and did her homework and now she’s coloring in the dining room but, like, not a word.” Running her fingers through her hair, she added with a regretful sigh, “I would’ve texted you guys but I didn’t want you to worry while at work, and I didn’t expect her to keep it in this long.”

Aspen’s eyes dart to where the dining room was, the wall obstructing her view, as Calum sighed. “It’s okay, Jodie, thanks. We’ll see what’s up—you wanna stay for dinner?”

“Thanks, but I gotta get going,” Jodie denied with a smile, moving to grab her bag. “Lemme know how it goes.”

Aspen hugged her best friend. “Thanks, Jodie,” she said gratefully and once Jodie was gone, Aspen was on her way to the dining room, Calum right behind her.

They walked around to see Luna sitting on a chair, the overhead light bright as she colored away in one of her many books. Color pencils were strewn about on the table, and Aspen felt a worried thud in her chest when Luna didn’t even look up as Calum greeted gently, “Hey, bug.”

Instead, the five year old kept her head down, lazily—sadly—coloring as she responded in the smallest voice, “Hi.”

Aspen looked up at Calum, a silent worry present between them, before the two made their way over to their daughter. She settled to Luna’s right when Calum took the seat on her left, Aspen glancing down to see Duke sitting under the table, before looking at Luna again. Her dark curls sat thickly around her shoulders, not quite allowing Aspen to see the little girl’s face, and so she reached up and gently tucked some of Luna’s curls behind her ears. “Baby.” Her voice was soft, gentle, ducking her head to try and get a look at Luna. “Why are you sad?”

Luna gave a small shake of her head, eyes still on the coloring page. Aspen felt her chest tighten at Luna’s refusal to even look at them, her own eyebrows drawing together in distress. “I’m not sad,” Luna mumbled. Her tone contradicted her words.

Calum rested his left elbow on the table, facing the little girl as he tried gently, “It’s okay if you are. Maybe we can help.”

She was silent for a few moments, continuing her coloring, the worry in both Calum and Aspen increasing by the second. They looked at each other over Luna’s head, both of their gazes nothing but concerned, snapping back to Luna when they heard a sniffle emit from her. They shifted, ducking their heads, and when Aspen pushed some of Luna’s hair out of her face, she felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach when she noticed the pink on Luna’s cheeks and nose, and the wetness from the tears falling from her green eyes.

Aspen’s breath caught in her throat, a panic bubbling in her veins as she softly gasped, “Oh, baby,” before wrapping her arms around Luna. The five year old let go of the coloring pencil, allowing her mother to pull her in with her back pressed against Aspen’s front. She held Luna comfortingly, Calum’s own expression worry and panic stricken as he shuffled forward to sit in Luna’s now vacant chair, facing her as Aspen lowered her head to still take a look at her. “Tell us what’s wrong, bub. Please?”

Luna’s head still hung low and the ache in Aspen’s chest intensified the longer the silence dragged on, especially when it was broken by Luna’s sniffles, and Aspen looked at Calum. He looked just as alarmed, unsettled by the sight of an obviously distressed Luna, and Aspen gently bounced her knee in hopes of calming the little girl.

Luna sucked in a breath before she began speaking, her voice a quiet mumble, too upset to speak up. “B-Brooke gave all the kids cards to her birthday a-and I didn’t get o-one.”

Aspen inhaled sharply at her words, feeling an aggravated fire ignite in her bones, just barely replacing the worry over her daughter. Of fucking course Bailey Clarkson’s daughter would have something to do with Luna’s distressed mood, and despite the anger brimming her veins, Aspen’s heart went out to her daughter. Her jaw clenched, eyes meeting Calum’s, who looked just as indignant as she felt. Though the circumstances were vastly different, Aspen knew what it was like to feel unwanted, and she absolutely despised that her daughter was feeling this way, and that someone had gone out of their way to make her feel so. And while she couldn’t entirely set her anger towards another five year old, she sure as hell could call out her mother.

When it was Luna’s birthday a few months ago, Aspen had made sure to write out invitations to every classmate of Luna’s—including Brooke Clarkson. When Luna had asked her why, Aspen had told her daughter it would be mean to give every kid an invitation and not Brooke, and Luna had understood. She didn’t want the mean girl to feel bad, so she didn’t argue against Aspen. That only left Aspen wondering how she’d gotten such a good little kid. Of course, Brooke didn’t show up to Luna’s party, which was barely noticed given that Luna was surrounded by family and other friends. But at least an invitation had gotten to Brooke; at least she didn’t feel left out when Luna handed hers out to her classmates.

And for it to come around like this pissed Aspen off. She had a good feeling that Luna was probably the only one in their class that Brooke didn’t give an invitation to, and while the little girl probably didn’t know any better, her mother sure as hell did. To go out of their way to make Luna feel like this. . . The rage in Aspen’s veins was unstable.

But she was pulled out of it as Luna cried, and Aspen pushed her anger aside to hug her daughter, pulling Luna’s back into her chest and burying her face in the small crook of Luna’s neck. “Oh, bub, I’m so sorry,” she murmured, one hand coming up to push Luna’s hair out of the way.

Calum leaned forward, his hands grasping Luna’s smaller ones, but before he could offer his own reassurances, Luna hiccuped, “I invi-invited her to my birthday. I was the only one who didn’t get a card for hers.”

Aspen’s jaw clenched. She was about a second away from calling Bailey and cursing that woman out.

“That just means you care more about other people’s feelings, bug,” Calum told her, his voice soft and smooth. It wasn’t his objective, but his tone was calming Aspen down from her rage. She hoped it was helping Luna, too. His dark eyes were warm as he peered at his daughter, and Aspen could see him try to hide his own struggle of pushing aside how upset he was to see Luna so distraught. Bringing Luna’s hands up, he pressed a kiss on her knuckles and said, “Not everyone’s as nice as you are.”

He was good at sugar coating it. Aspen really just wanted to drop the B-word on both Bailey and her snot-nosed brat.

Luna wasn’t shaking as much, her cries dying down as she sniffled through a now stuffy nose, and the tightness in Aspen’s chest had yet to loosen up. The ball in her throat also made it difficult to breathe, her disbelief and indignance over this entire situation wildly unsettling. But appearing calm and comforting for her daughter was her priority.

So Aspen took another breath, head still next to Luna’s as she tried to get her mind off of this. “Come on, baby, do you want dinner? We can order pizza or McDonalds—whatever you want.”

Luna reached up to rub at her eyes to rid of the tears, and Calum reached up to cup her small face in his large hands to wipe away the wetness on her cheeks with his thumbs, offering a gentle smile. A moment later, Luna answered, “McDonalds.”

“Alright; you finish coloring and we’ll order the food, bug,” Calum said, taking Luna from Aspen’s lap as he stood up, placing the five year old back in her chair and kissing the top of her head.

Aspen got up as well, sucking in a sharp breath and walking into the kitchen as Duke hopped up on her chair. Calum was right behind her, and as soon as she knew they were out of Luna’s range of hearing, Aspen hissed out, “I’m gonna fucking break Bailey Clarkson’s fake nose.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Calum’s calm voice spoke up from behind her, hands on Aspen’s rigid shoulders as he came to appear in front of her. He looked down at his girlfriend, took in her tight features and fiery eyes, and added, “Let’s order dinner before Googling how to get rid of a body.”

Aspen grunted incoherently, pulling out her phone and going on the UberEats app as she muttered, “I went to nursing school; I can figure out how to get rid of a body.” She was halfway through putting in their order when she started waving around her phone, her thoughts raging. “I just—I can’t believe this bullshit,” Aspen ranted, a glare forming on her face as she stared at Calum indignantly. “Her daughter bullied Luna and now she’s just feeding into it!”

“Sweetheart,” Calum spoke up, trying to be the more tranquil one in this situation. Aspen knew he was just as disgruntled, offended, outraged as her, but he was trying to be the voice of reason for their benefit. They couldn’t have two murderous parents in this moment. “Even if Luna got invited, would you have let her gone?”

Aspen scoffed with a roll of her eyes. “That’s not the point, Calum. We still invited that little troll to Luna’s party because, as a mother, I wouldn’t want a kid to feel bad. Apparently Bailey doesn’t have the same consideration for Luna.”

“I—wait,” Calum paused, holding up a finger as he blinked under furrowed eyebrows before a scoff that was all too amused escaped him. “Did you just call a five year old a-a troll?”

Not her finest moment, but Aspen stood by it. “She made Luna cry. She’s a troll,” she deadpanned before grunting in annoyance and completing the order. It’d arrive in half an hour. Putting her phone away, Aspen looked up at Calum once more, her shoulders sinking under his touch as she let out a breath. Her expression fell as well as she rolled her lips into her mouth. “A little girl should never feel so. . . Unwanted.” Aspen’s gaze dropped to her feet, and suddenly there was a burning in her eyes she wasn’t aware she had been holding back. More to herself than Calum, Aspen whispered, “I never wanted Luna to feel that way.”

It’s part of why she ran. She had felt unwanted, her own fear and insecurities playing into it, and she didn’t want her baby to feel that way. Ever. And yet, Aspen hadn’t been able to uphold that responsibility.

Calum was not lost as to what Aspen was alluding to, and now his heart ached not just for his daughter, but for his girlfriend, too. And while he wasn’t a mind reader, he knew Aspen all too well, could read her by her facial expressions, and knew exactly what was running through that brain of hers. “We can’t protect her from everything, doll,” Calum murmured, his hands sliding from her shoulders to cup her cheeks, prompting her to lift her head up. “She’ll get past this, yeah?” He smiled softly, thumbs rubbing at Aspen’s cheeks. “She’s tough, just like her mama.”

Aspen let out a breath, lips quirking at Calum’s words as her green eyes remained on his brown. She gave a subtle nod, telling him she acknowledged and was appreciative of what he said. Then, with all seriousness, she added, “Her mama’s gonna fight a bitch, too.”

Calum smirked. “That’s hot.”

*****

“You didn’t have to come too, ya know.”

“I dunno what you’re talking about; I just wanna see my daughter.”

Aspen rolled her eyes until they landed on Calum, standing next to her, waiting for the final bell of the day to ring to let out all the elementary schoolers. “You can see her at home,” she pointed out matter-of-factly.

Calum made it a point not to look at her, comically so, as he kept his gaze, hidden behind sunglasses, on the building ahead and hushed her. It only served to make Aspen scoff with a shake of her head. She knew he was here to make sure she didn’t completely lose it in the courtyard of the school at Bailey Clarkson. Calum’s concern was justified, Aspen knew, but still. She knew better than to—

“Oh! Aspen! There you are!”

She took a deep breath, long and bracing, feeling Calum tense up next to her as she turned her head, sunglasses protecting her from the rays above. The devil herself, Mrs. Bailey Clarkson, was approaching them in heels Aspen kind of hoped she would slip on against the ice. As if he could feel the blood in Aspen’s veins beginning to boil, Calum took a step closer towards her while murmuring quietly, “Please don’t throw any punches.”

Aspen puckered her lips briefly, indignantly. “No promises.” Calum merely sighed. She didn’t even bother plastering on a fake friendly smile as Bailey approached.

“Gosh, I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!” she reckoned as she came to a stop in front of them, her laugh couldn’t possibly be sounding more fake if she tried. Her own eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses, one arm crossed over her as the strap of her purse hung by the crook of her elbow. Bailey’s eyebrows raised as she continued, “I heard you were in a terrible accident—good to see you back on your feet.”

Next to her, Aspen felt Calum tense at the mention of one of the scariest moments in both of their lives. Aspen, on the other hand, fought to roll her eyes. Many of the other parents had at least called or texted Aspen, giving her their well wishes, some even so far as bringing over food for their little family. Still, Aspen kept a straight face towards Bailey as she responded, “Better than ever.” Taking a small breath, Aspen began, “Actually, Bailey, I wanted to talk to you about—”

Bailey cut her off with her gaze flickering to the sky as she sounded, “Oh,” with a wave of her hand. “I was going to talk to you about that.” Aspen watched as a sympathetic expression washed over her face, one that she knew to be utterly fake and dismissive. Lacing her fingers together, Bailey continued, “I hope you don’t mind about Brooke not inviting Luna to her birthday. With the girls having trouble with each other in class, I figured you’d appreciate me taking the measures of keeping them out of more of it.”

Oh, of course she thought she was doing everyone a favor by alienating Luna.

“It’s not a matter of attending the party, Mrs. Clarkson—it’s a matter of receiving an invitation at all,” Calum said, his own tone hard and void of much emotion. He lifted his chin, looking down at the woman. “Brooke had gotten an invitation to Luna’s birthday.” With his eyebrows drawing together, he asked, “You don’t think it was unfair that Luna was the only kid in their class to not get an invite?”

“Well, I—” Bailey scoffed out a laugh, gaze darting between Calum and Aspen behind her sunglasses. With a shake of her head and a shrug of one shoulder, she surmised, “I didn’t think it’d be such a big deal.”

Aspen’s jaw tightened, skin warming from the anger she could feel brimming. The rage was barely contained in her voice as she shot back, “You didn’t think it’d be a big deal to purposefully make Luna feel bad by leaving her out?”

Bailey’s lips parted, having the gall to appear incredulous as she eyed Aspen up and down before remarking, “No wonder Luna’s such a sensitive kid.”

Aspen felt Calum’s hand on her lower back, grounding her from the anger quickly rising, but she remained calm. She didn’t want to give Bailey Clarkson the satisfaction of getting under her skin. So she offered a smile, completely fake in its sweetness as she returned, “And it looks the rotten apple didn’t fall far from the tree in your family.” With a tilt of her head and a condescending smile, Aspen added, “God knows what kind of woman your daughter will become with you as a mother.”

That had Bailey’s expression falling from behind the shield of her sunglasses, a tightness in her features as she indignantly stammered out, “I-I beg your pardon?”

The woman was rendered speechless, completely bewildered and outraged by Aspen’s comment, which only granted her tremendous satisfaction just as the final bell rang at 11:45, signalling the end of the school day that was actually cut in half for teachers’ workshop. Next to Aspen, Calum piped up dismissively, “School’s out. Excuse us, Mrs. Clarkson.”

With one last smile at Bailey, Aspen followed Calum to take a few steps closer towards the building, feeling Bailey’s heated glare burning at the backs,  as the doors opened and kids began filing out. His arm found Aspen’s shoulders, pulling her into him as he said in a low rasp, “That was way hotter than any ass kicking.”

Aspen let out a short laugh, her right arm going around his waist as they waited for Luna to come out. “I think that was one of the most satisfying moments of my life,” she hummed thoughtfully just as they caught sight of Luna leaving the building, her ponytail bouncing behind her as she approached her parents.

“Hi, bug,” Calum grinned, letting go of Aspen to crouch down and pick up Luna, settling her on his hip. He kissed her cheek, eliciting a smile from the little girl, as he asked, “How was school?”

Luna nodded as Aspen took off her backpack. “Good. We have show and tell next week. Can I bring Duke?”

“Uh,” Calum paused, looking at Aspen for a moment as she raised her eyebrows, and Calum let out a nervous chuckle as he said, “We’ll see, bug. Duke can be a little unfriendly sometimes.”

Lune tilted her head, eyebrows furrowing together in childish confusion. “He’s not unfriendly with me?”

Aspen chuckled as they continued to where the car was parked, looking at Calum as he took this one. He merely grinned, poking Luna’s stomach as he told her truthfully, “That’s ’cause he loves you,” as Luna giggled happily.

They reached the car and Calum opened the backdoor, getting Luna inside and buckling her in before shutting the door. He looked at Aspen over the roof of the Range Rover, raising his eyebrows as he smiled at her. “Ready for today?”

She returned the grin, her excitement bright in her green eyes. “Hell yeah.”

*****

The bumper car collided with Aspen’s, a laughing oof escaping her as the sound of Luna’s giggles reached her ears. “We got you, Mama!” she cheered from where she sat in the yellow bumper car with Calum.

Next to Aspen, Mariam giggled as her aunt huffed, “Traitor!”

They enjoyed themselves, hitting bumper car after bumper car, and Aspen hadn’t really expected herself to have fun in this setting because of what happened. But bumper cars were vastly different than an actual car accident, and Luna’s giggles along with her nieces’, as well as Jodie and the boys’ laughter made for a much lighter experience. Colorful lights surrounded the bumper car arena, as well as the entirety of Bryant Park where Aspen and Calum had decided to bring Luna.

Seeing her so upset the other night had their hearts breaking, so the two of them decided to do something special for her, and since today she had a half day at school and it was the middle of the week, it worked out perfectly. So they called Jodie and the boys, as well as Rich to see if he’d bring the twins, and they all ended up at Bryant Park, which had been transformed into a winter village. Except Rich couldn’t make it, staying back with a pregnant Laila, so Aspen and Calum picked up Nadia and Mariam before taking them to the city.

They’d all stopped at one of the holiday shops and bought hot chocolate with marshmallows to top them with before the girls—and Michael—spotted the bumper cars. Aspen shouldn’t have been surprised when Calum pulled her aside and asked if she was okay to go in them; he’d always been one of the most considerate people she’d ever met, so the fact that his concern for Aspen and whatever trauma she may still have from the car accident tied into her getting into a bumper car had both taken her aback and also melted her heart.

Then she’d proceeded to say she was gonna kick his ass at bumper cars, and the challenge had been set.

“Mama, we beat you!” Luna cheered as they all got out of their cars, grinning up at her mother as she bounced on her feet.

“You beat me?” Aspen repeated in a shocked, disbelieving tone for her benefit. She scoffed, picking up Luna and resting her on her hip as they began walking. “No, no, I think I beat you.” Leaning towards her, Aspen’s eyes flickered to Calum, who was giving Mariam a few quarters so she could play with one of the claw machines to win herself a toy. Loud enough for her boyfriend to hear, Aspen added, “Your dad’s a terrible driver.”

Calum’s gaze met hers, jaw dropping in offense as Jodie and Luke snickered at his expense. Michael, Ashton and Nadia were too busy cheering Mariam on. “I’m a terrible driver?” Calum repeated, walking towards them with a challenging raise of his eyebrows. With a smirk, he added, “Sounds like you’re projecting, love.”

Aspen scoffed as Calum dropped his arm around her shoulders, chuckling when she playfully shoved him away. “Shut up.”

Luna’s lips formed an O, wide green eyes on her mother as she cutely chastised, “Shut up is a bad word, Mama.”

Aspen pressed her lips together, her own eyes widening in childish surprise as Calum met her exaggerated gaze with one of his own, and he gave a shake of his head and clicked his tongue. “Mama’s got a potty mouth,” Calum taunted.

Luna then shifted, and Aspen felt her heart swell when her daughter gave her a kiss to her lips, pulling back with a toothy grin as she declared, “All clean!”

She warmed her parents instantly as Calum’s expression softened at the adorable action, and Luna was oblivious to the effect she had on her mom and dad as she asked, “I wanna see Mariam play.”

Aspen let her down as Luna ran over to where everyone else was cheering on Mariam, and she gave a shake of her head as she looked at Calum, who had yet to look away from their daughter. Aspen let out a sigh as she leaned her head against Calum’s shoulder. “Sometimes it fucking hurts how much I love her.”

She felt Calum let out a gentle, short agreeing chuckle, arm still hooked around her shoulders. Then, with a playful lilt, he stated, “You said a bad word again.” Aspen scoffed, lips quirking, as Calum’s free hand reached up and he gently grasped her chin with his fingers, pulling her face towards him. He closed the distance with his lips capturing hers in a slow, sweet kiss that Aspen instinctively melted into, humming approvingly against the softness of Calum’s lips and the warmth of his touch. He pulled away too soon with one last peck and he murmured through a smile, “All clean.”

Aspen laughed, heart fluttering as they pulled away, and with a teasing grin she said, “That’s kind of gross, when you think about it.”

Calum scoffed, rolling his dark eyes as he chastised jokingly, “Don’t ruin an adorable bit our daughter created.”

She giggled once again. “Sorry, sorry.” Her gaze swept over to the claw machine where everyone was gathered around, cheering as Mariam won herself a little purple hippo. Luke put in some quarters and then proceeded to help Nadia try to win a stuffed animal for herself, and Aspen knew it was only a matter of minutes until it was Luna’s turn. She took in the grin of her daughter as Ashton held her in his arms so she could watch the claw, and Aspen relaxed against Calum. Quietly, she said, “She looks happy.”

“Yeah; all thanks to you, love,�� Calum said, rubbing her arm soothingly. When he looked down at her, Aspen could see the delight swimming in his dark eyes, the warmth in his smile as he added proudly, “You’re quite the mama bear.” Then, with his lips just barely brushing the shell of her ear, he added in a low rasp, “She’s lucky to have you.”

Aspen’s grin widened, a warmth in her cheeks, the heat of Calum’s body far more comforting than the layers she had on. He kissed her temple, arm around her giving her a squeeze as he finished earnestly, “We both are.”

--

tags: @irwinkitten @sweetcherrymike @meetashthere @valentinelrh @softforcal @astroashtonio @hereforlukescruff @novacanecalum @captain-what-is-going-on @angelbbycal @singt0mecalum @hopelessxcynic @lfwallscouldtalk @bodhi-black @findingliam-o @softlrh @calntynes @calumsmermaid @erikamarie41 @quintodosuniversos @longlastingdaydream @babylon-corgis @lukehemmingsunflower @imfuckin10plybud @pastelpapermoons @conquerwhatliesahead92 @rotten-kandy @metangi @neigcthood @ohhmuke @old-zeppelin-shirt @5sos-and-hessa @trustmeimawhalebiologist @vxlentinecal @pettybassists @vaporshawn @lu-my-golden-boi @visualm3nte @isabella-mae13 @dontjinx-it @lifeakaharry @neonweeknds @antisocialbandmate @ixcantxdecidexwhosxmyxfave @calpalbby @grreatgooglymoogly @sunnysidesblog @gorgeouslygrace @cocktail-calum @miahelizaaabeth @madelynerin @dramallamawithsparkles​ @theagenderwhocriedwolf​ @kaytiebug14​ @hoodskillerqueen​ @bitchinbabylon​ @empathycth​ @xhaileyreneex​ @inlovehoodx​ @aestheticrelated​ @bloodlinecal​ @sublimehood​ @madbomb​ @raabiac​ @britnicole11​ @outofmylimitcal​ @fluffsshawn​ @bloodmoonashton​ @vxidhood​ @tea4sykes @lukeinblue​ @mysteriouslycali​ @hoodcentral​ @rosecoloredash​ @hearts-to-the-sky​

[hamlets-ghost-zaddy]

queen of peace

Part 7/10 Shifty Powers x Reader

Margaret’s father brings the Aigle fabrics that afternoon, Margaret herself following with a tin of ham in hand and a baguette swaddled in a dish towel under an arm. You’ve sat at the worktable in the sewing shop since returning home from the resale shop, ledger and every cent to you and your mother’s name arranged around you, the money squirreled out from the hiding places around the house. The majority of it had migrated to nooks and crannies in your bedroom, where you thought it’d be safe after the tea kettle purchase, but now that you have waved the bank bills and letters under Mother’s nose, you don’t see the point in hiding.

There’s no point in hiding anything anymore; when Margaret lingers in the sewing shop after you direct her father to place fabric on the great wooden racks designed to hold rolls of fabric bolts—only two of the fifteen holder pegs hold the last few yards of the same, tired fabric—rubbing the damask between her fingers, you don’t bother to gather up the money or slam closed the ledger. You can feel her curious eyes shifting over you, over your furious scribbles on the ledger lines, but can’t bring yourself to care anymore because, God, you’re tired. So tired.

“I gather you’re in a bit of trouble,” Margaret offers, nodding to the great black mess you’ve made from crossing out, rewriting, and crossing out again, trying to calculate how to parse out the savings, the bleeding ink a confusion of mismatched, half-formed numbers.

Leaning back, patting the open stool at your side in invitation, you reply, “A mild way of putting it. Mother bought the most expensive fabrics from Aigle with money we desperately need.” You had found the Aigle catalogue Mother ordered from, the postal order form at the back neatly snipped out, underneath a mouth of knitting you’d been meaning to tidy for weeks in the sitting room. If only I hadn’t procrastinated, you think.

Sliding into the seat next to you, Margaret asks, “Why…why would she do that?”

Biting out a hot sigh, you shake your head, allowing for precious time to process the question and construct a reply that didn’t smack of anger, bitterness, and all of your carefully guarded plans for the future—for you and your mother’s continued survival—wasted on a frivolous hunch and rumors traded innocuously, probably said only to fill a brief silence. Your eyes drift to the wedding photo Mother keeps on her sewing station’s workspace; she and your father look out at you, rosy cheeked from the tinter’s blush, but beaming as if they could see you, see how their daughter has turned out and aren’t repelled by who they see. As if you haven’t failed your father’s memory, failed to protect your mother.

Because is it truly your mother’s fault? You hadn’t shared the hardships of financial ruin with her; she’s suffered bouts of fatigue and withdrawal for months now, and rarely dresses for the day except on Saturdays. She still reels from the loose of your father, and you had tried to mitigate her grief by protecting her from the harsh realities you decided to shoulder alone; you minimalized her allowance of struggles as if she were an infant, not a fully-grown, competent woman—a seamstress, a businesswoman, and a mother. Nibbling your lip, your eyes flick to the ledger, to your fingernails stained black at the beds. How could she? you think, correcting it to: how could I?

“Well,” you begin carefully. “She was so used to ordering fabric to have on hand when orders came in, so a customer might be able to feel the fabric and be able to more properly visualize what the final product will look like.” You leave out that Margaret, herself, was supposed to be said customer. Though it’s a dearly kept secret, one Margaret and her father have only confided in you and your mother, Margaret Clayton’s mother had been the bastard daughter of a rather morally-weighted duke. Which duke of where, Margaret hasn’t dared tell you, but when Margaret’s maternal grandfather laid on his deathbed, a great oppressive guilt for never acknowledging or legitimizing his daughter bore down on him and he requested an inheritance be established for her. Margaret’s mother barely outlived her biological father leaving her, her father, and the inheritance. Yet, it is wartime, and no matter the fabulousness of hidden wealth, you doubt even Margaret would be fanciful enough to think a luxury like Aigle fabrics justifiable.

Who would think such a thing? Oh right, you internally correct, my mother.

Margaret’s frowning now. “Seems silly to me, not that I get a say in the matter, of course. Surely she would have puzzled out that spending that kind of money isn’t a smart investment considering your, uh, situation.”

From the mouth of babes, you think. “Well, I don’t think she was thinking straight, really. She’s been tired and sickly for such a long time that I, well, I didn’t tell her the full extent of our problems.” You wave your hand over the ledger. “I couldn’t put this on her; it didn’t feel right.”

Something in the way your voice dips, something in how you duck your head to hide the shame graying your cheeks, makes Margaret’s breath catch and she speaks with more heat than expected. “And you’re putting this on yourself, aren’t you? Shifting all the blame off of her and onto yourself.” She sticks up a finger when your eyes flash to her, your mouth popping open to cobble together a weak protest. “Don’t even try—I know what you’re going to say and, yes, I agree it’s not entirely fair to put everything on your mother, but really!” In her indignation, she seems to fluff, an offended owl. “How could she not see you’ve been wasting away? That all your coats have magically lost their liners overnight? It’s positively negligent of her, not to mention shameful and entirely unfair to you. You’ve put so much weight on your shoulders, and she never bothered to ask if you wanted help carrying it.”

You click your tongue, more out of a sense of duty to your mother than actual disagreement. It’s horrible of you, you inwardly scold, but you can’t help the smoldering flicker of embers Margaret’s words stir in your chest, kicking up the heat of the coals and warming your chest, your toes, your numb fingers. Though a betrayal to your mother, you allow yourself this fraction of validation: someone comprehends and legitimizes the fears you’ve locked so tightly in your chest. You never thought you’d be able to articulate them, so long have you forced yourself to remain mute. With how Margaret looks at you intently, every unspoken worry, shut-away concern comes unbound from you, and you talk through the afternoon and well into the evening. Margaret stays the night, sending for food to be sent over from her home and you don’t protest or worry over owing her. Instead, you talk, she listens, and you dare to believe her when she clasps your hands and whispers: “It’ll be okay.”

. . .

Shifty does something he never does: he sends a telegram to confirm you’re still meeting at the tea shop on Wednesday.

Truthfully, you hadn’t planned on going until you found a loose pence piece floating around a drawer of thread spools and figured it’d be the last tea you’d attend anyway. You had to tell Shifty the cost isn’t manageable. Yet, you reason, the found pence piece had never been factored into your accounts and would be used to do a courtesy to a friend. Shifty deserved to be told, face-to-face, you couldn’t meet anymore.

Yet, you think, staring down at the telegram, sectioned off in neat creases after inhabiting your pocket since yesterday morning, when you received it, I was going to lie to him. Admitting to Margaret, your oldest friend, the ugly truth had been an act of faith; confessing to Shifty seems an act of further self-sabotage. But the telegram acts as a physical reminder of Shifty’s goodness, how he has confided his worries in you over tea and sewing lessons, and you hadn’t placed that same trust in him. Before, you could at least cling to the consolation that you never lied to his face; he never asked why you only drank one cup of tea, always refused to order additional cups or food, but now you’d be blatantly spinning a web, fearing his reaction to the truth.

But do you fear seeing his kind, pitying look directed on you more?

Could you stand knowing you’re chiseling your place as his pitiable English friend—the sad, dour little friend he’ll mention off-handedly when he returns to the United States, that he’ll recall fleetingly when his friends reminisce over their months in Aldbourne? You can’t keep food on the table, can’t handle your own survival; what would a self-sufficient country boy like Shifty think of that? He provided meat for his family with his rifle in the depths of the Depression, he’s making a name for himself with his marksmanship; surely he would see your floundering failure as deplorable?  

Gnawing on your lip, allowing your feet to carry you along automatically, you cross the town square and push into Roseanna’s teashop before you can decide which route—truth or lying—would cut you up, splinter and facture your heart, more permanently in the end.

Shifty surges to his feet at your entrance, a hand swiping down his already-neat brown hair, while the other hand worries at his cap. The sight of him—so nervous and fidgety, unlike you’ve seen him since that first meeting in the post office—steals the air from your lungs, leaving you deflated, stunned, and somehow more grounded in the present. You’re startled from the depths of your roundabout thoughts, struck by how young Shifty looks as he tries on a small, earnest smile for size and waits for you to join him at the back table.

You try to return that smile as you weave through the sparsely populated tables of the teashop. Your instincts scream at you to check your appearance—to ensure you coat lays properly, your scarf isn’t lopsided—but you dare not take your eyes from him. His hands find yours, holding both between his and his cap, as if warming you, when you’re almost to him, his impatient step bridging the remaining distance between you. “Good, you’re here,” he breaths out, a heavy exhale betraying his relief, as if there was a possibility you might not come at all. Your brows bunch.

“Of course, where else would I be?” you ask, trying to keep your voice mild; trying to act as if his relief doesn’t send a whistling pain plummeting through you, or how you know that pain will make your decision—lying or telling the truth—all the more impossible to make.

He shrugs, the gesture sheepish. “I don’t know; I was just worried.” He pauses, eyes staring at your hands in his, as if catching himself, and he hurriedly releases you to wave at the table, already set with flatware and water glasses. “Uh, um, why don’t you sit down? I already ordered your tea; you always get the same thing so I figured…” He loses momentum, falling into a befuddled silence as you slide into your chair and he sways his weight from one foot to the other, as if wanting to pull out the chair for you and temporary lost when you seat yourself.

Studying how he carefully deposits his cap on the white tablecloth, gathering his pant legs as he sits, you note the determination hardening his eyes, the slight crease darkening between his eyebrows, and when he sits fidgeting for a dragging moment, a squirming uncertainty begins to nibble at your insides. “What’s…what’s going on, Shifty?” you volunteer in a squeak. Perhaps, if you weren’t so aware of the slickness of your palms, buried and hidden in the holds of your skirt, of how a faint film of sweat builds along your hairline, you might be self-conscious of how wobbly and weak the question is.

“Well, um,” Shifty mumbles before pausing, clearing his throat. Taking a sip of water, he squares his shoulders, pulling himself to his full height, and begins again, “Well, I wanted to talk to you about something real important today, which is why I cabled you to make sure you were coming.” Cold seeps into your fingers and toes, clawing and inching up from the digits and along your limbs. Is…is it possible to call off a friendship? you think, dread drying your mouth and quelling your sweat into a frigid clamminess. “So, um, I’m a paratrooper, as you know. When I joined up, some of the perks that the recruiting officer pitched to us was that I’d be fighting with the best but also that, because I had gone through more training, I’d be getting paid more. And, well…”

You want to prompt him, he looks so lost you squirm to help, but you’re adrift in his conversational direction. His mouth works at words, his concentration on your face turning palpable, a pressure against you, but you’re powerless to help. The tea arrives, Roseanna glancing at Shifty’s face and withdrawing faster than usual, not lingering to cluck over you both. Taking a formative swig of tea, Shifty continues: “Well, I can only have my paid differed to someone who’s a member of my family. I’ve been sending some to my Ma and Pa back home, but I really don’t need the half of it I’ve been keeping; the Army pays for everything so…” He trails off, eyes searching yours, a light kindling there, hopeful you might fill in his meaning and spare him from articulating the rest. Yet, your brain refuses to follow the only optional thread of reason; it’s too improbable to even entertain.

Shifty sucks in a lungful of air and says in a rush on the exhale: “So, um, if I were to get married, I could offer a nice amount of money for my wife to live off of, and…and I like to think I’d make a good husband while I’m at it.”

“Oh,” you choke out, tearing your eyes from his face, pretending great interest in the lazy coils of steam rising from your tea, fingers reflexively clutching and releasing the heated porcelain, letting it sear the pads of your fingers and dancing them away when it becomes too scalding. “Well,” you manage, not really sure where your words are going. “I, um, congratulations, Shift; who’s the lucky girl? Do I know her?”

A choked noise startles you into looking back at him. His face is entirely pink, but he wears a crooked smile, trained solely on you, and you realize—“Oh. You—? You mean—?”

“Well, yeah,” he replies, gusting out a laugh. You wish you could bottle that laughter to keep forever. “I can’t believe that—I mean, y/n, you’re the only girl I—err, well, uh.” He ducks his head, bashful. “I know you’ve been facing down some money troubles, but I figured you being you would only ask for help if you needed it—that you knew you could ask for my help if you needed it. But then Maggie told me about what happened with that order…” He shrugs. “I had to do something.”

The bubble of elation in your chest pops. “Oh,” escapes on your breath, more disappointed than you intended. He’s offering marriage for financial support, as an act of kindness and of course he is, you think; Shifty is a good friend—a great friend—of course he’d go to any lengths to assist his friends. Even if means tying himself up in a marriage founded entirely on finances. Still, he’s looking at you so earnestly, so sweetly, and you can’t harbor any resentment toward him for your own disappointment. He’s only trying to help.  “Oh, Shifty,” you begin. “That’s awfully nice of you to offer, but I couldn’t possibly. It wouldn’t be right, marrying you just for your wages. I…I just couldn’t…” You shake your head. “I can’t do that to you; I appreciate it, but I’ll find my own way.” Leaning across the table, careful to avoid upsetting the teacups, you clasp his hands. “I promise.”

Negotiating his hands under yours, flipping them, to grasp your fingers in return, Shifty replies, “I can’t let you go through this alone; you’re…I feel like…I’ve never…” He hesitates and you remember how he swallowed down words last week, in the final moments before heading back to barracks. It had been a casual moment made earth-shattering, as you watched some revelation brimming in his throat, his mouth, just as you do now. Now, as you did then, you feel as though you teeter on the edge, suspended in anticipation for whatever he might say. Then, he settles on: “Um, you’re my friend. I can’t let you do this alone.”

Squeezing his hands, allowing the disappointment that he couldn’t bring himself to say whatever it is he intended slide off of you, you reason, “And you’re a wonderful friend for even suggesting it, but it’s me and mother’s problems. It’s all a mismanagement of money that was never accounted for when the atelier first opened. My parents…they took out so many loans, made investments, all in attempt to grow their business, thinking they’d pay it back by 1945. Back then, in ’37, we were one of the few families doing well; large orders, star-studded clientele, the whole works; we would have been a success if we had the foresight to know a bomb would fall through the atelier’s roof.”

“And now you’re paying for the mistakes of your parents,” Shifty concludes, the closet to bitterness you’ve ever heard in his voice. “It’s not fair, y/n; you shouldn’t have to go through this alone. I mean, look at you, you’re one girl and it’s a lot of pressure to put on your shoulders. I don’t know how you’ve done it so far—you’ve been so brave, and strong, but…but, maybe if you don’t want to marry me, we could work something else out—”

“But that’d still be taking your money; I don’t want handouts, even if they are well-intentioned and you don’t expect me to pay them back!” you interrupt, taking your hands back, because something in how he spoke—like he wants to protect you, fight for you, as if he has the right to do it—makes all your frustrations over your feelings for him, and the financial ruin, and your life whirling away and out of your carefully-maintained control, synthesize into heated and sharp words, forged and shaped into a cutting edge. “I don’t have much left, Shifty, but at least leave me my dignity.”

tag list: @gottapenny, @maiden-of-gondor, @wexhappyxfew, @medievalfangirl, @higgles123. @mayhem24-7forever

[rwbyremnants]

THIS CHAPTER [these warnings contain spoilers!!!!]

Enabler: tickling, snuggles, brief blowjob. July: dick-slap, cock worship, foot worship, dirty talk/domination, light ageplay, footjob. Xiaodipus (Raven/Yang): very slight hints

PSA: anal without a condom is maybe not a great idea. Do your own research before trying.

=Chapter 19

BLAKEYWAKEY: You’ve been super quiet latelyyyy how’s it goin with stepmommmmm

In all seriousness, Yang should have expected the message. She and Blake really hadn’t been texting much since right after she walked in on Summer sunbathing, so she had to have been stewing in her curiosity about how things went after that.

ME: Dude nooooo XD ME: But it’s going fine I promise

BLAKEYWAKEY: I smell lies BLAKEYWAKEY: LIESSSSSSS

ME: LISTEN BINCH

“Who ya talkin’ to?”

Glancing over her shoulder, she nudged Ruby with her shoulder to get her to go away. “Nobody, nosy.”

“I get to look at who my girlfriend’s talking to,” she protested with a slight sing-song to her voice as she sat on the arm of the loveseat. “Blake? Your teammate, right?”

“Yeah. Roomie, too.”

“Should I be jealous?” For that, Yang did reach up and flick Ruby’s ear. “OW!”

BLAKEYWAKEY: LISTEN TO WHAT U AINT TALKINNNN

ME: DROP IT BROOOO

Apparently, Ruby decided this was completely her business, because she reached over to scroll up in the chat. Yang didn’t even bother fighting her; there didn’t seem to be much point. When she saw what they were talking about, she sighed and wrapped her arms around Yang’s head.

“Wha- Ruby, what are you doing?”

“Sorry, I know this is still kinda weird. I shouldn't tease.”

Grumbling under her breath, she hugged back and kissed Ruby’s cheek. “It’s cool, really. I’m pretty much over it by now; like you said, if I can get over banging you then it’s kinda ridiculous to get all hung up about your mom like, sitting on my lap one time.”

“Yeah.” Then she relaxed her arms into a more casual hug. “But I’m surprised you told her about that. Must have really been messing with your head if you were telling someone else.”

“Well… I told her about Summer, not… y’know.” When Ruby raised her eyebrows, she barrelled ahead, “I just don’t know how to even start that conversation! What the hell do you say? ‘By the way, I’m totally in love with this cute chick who just happens to be half-related to me, but don’t worry about that part’?!”

“No, I get it,” she snorted as she kissed her forehead. All the little kisses and hugs were definitely having the desired effect, and she was feeling a lot less self-conscious and depressed. “Love you. And you’ll figure it out; maybe…”

A little gleam crept into Ruby’s eye. Yang knew that was dangerous, so she immediately asked, “What?”

“Nothing.”

“No, seriously, tell me. Or I’ll tickle you.”

“Tickle away,” she said airily. “I’m not telling.” So of course, she immediately fell to digging her hands into her half-sibling’s side, causing her to writhe and flail, screeching, “NOOOO!!! Never, never, hahahahaa!”

“TALK! Or I’ll go for your feet!”

“You’ll- ahahaha! -you’ll go for those, anyway!” But instead, Yang dug her lips into Ruby’s neck, which caused her laughter to spike upward by an octave.

“Enough, you two.”

They broke apart when they saw Summer sitting on the couch. How had neither of them noticed her enter? Apparently, they really were just that preoccupied with each other. Struggling for breath, Ruby sat up a little and said, “Hey, Mom!”

But “Mom” didn’t answer right away. Her eyes were narrowed at the two of them, enough to make Yang duck her head slightly even though she hadn’t said anything cruel or judgmental; only asked them to calm down. After the groom had gone so quiet they could hear the clock ticking in the dining room, she finally spoke.

“Ah.”

“Ah, what?” Summer only nodded knowingly, which made Ruby squeak, “Ah, what, Mom?!”

At the nodding, Yang slowly began to feel her cheeks heating up even before she quite realised why. Then it hit her conscious brain all at once. Into Ruby’s ears, she hissed, “I think she knows.”

“Knows what?” It took a couple more seconds before Ruby’s head sunk down into her shoulders. “Oh.”

“Pretty much written all over your faces, girls. So I guess… that suggestion I was going to make that even though you’re committed to doing this, you might not want to take it too far…”

“Little late, yeah,” Yang said in a small voice.

The woman pushed up from the couch and sat on the loveseat, the two girls scooting to either side to make room for her to squeeze in. Was she going to yell at them? No - she pulled them in for a hug. Yang felt slightly more awkward about it, but she was so grateful for the comfort when she had been expecting a reprimand that she couldn’t even care.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry for being so… well, it’s over and done with, and I hope it went alright for the both of you.”

“Went better than ‘alright’,” Ruby couldn’t help giggling. But when her mother groaned, she winced and whispered, “Sorry!”

“We were careful,” Yang told her before she could ask; she already knew it was coming.

“I’m glad for that,” she sighed. “Just… come to me if being careful turns out to be not careful enough. I know it’s probably not what you want to hear, but we can’t have any ‘accidents’. Not in this situation.”

Ruby looked a little sad about that, and didn’t answer. Therefore, Yang took it upon herself to reach behind Summer to pat her girlfriend’s back as she said, “Yeah. No webbed-footed babies.”

“That’s a total misconception!” Ruby couldn’t seem to keep from saying. “There’s only a tiny chance that inbred children will have any deformities at all, and webbed feet aren’t usually part of that!”

Both of them just stared at her until she began to look embarrassed at speaking up. Then Summer kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry. Just want to make sure you’re careful. Besides that chance of deformity, it’s also… social ramifications.”

“Dad,” Yang guessed.

“Yes. And me, in a lesser sense. And the rest of everyone you know. The relationship will be difficult enough but when you bring children into the mix…”

In a would-be grumpy voice, Ruby accused, “Thanks for depressing us, Mom.” But it was pretty clear by her sigh afterwards that she knew that wasn’t her intention.

“Sorry. But in the middle of your happiness, I think you need that dose of realism. Before you do something you can never explain away, or say the wrong thing to the wrong person.”

“We know,” Yang assured her, though privately she did worry that Ruby maybe cared a lot less than she did. “And we’re going to keep this on the down-low, don’t worry.”

“I’ll trust that means keeping it a secret,” the older woman laughed, rubbing up and down their upper arms. “And… it’s really weird to me still, but please know that I am happy that you’re happy right now. Hard for me to suppress my maternal instinct to knock your heads together, but I’m happy.”

“We get it, Mom. And it’s hard because you want Yang’s D so much.”

“Enough,” she grunted as she stood up.

“You could still have my D, you know,” Yang offered in a conversational tone. “Just ask your daughter if she’ll loan me out.”

Ruby clapped her hands excitedly. “It’ll be like a library system!”

“I SAID ‘ENOUGH’, YOU LITTLE WEIRDOS! GOD!”

But they kept up the teasing all morning. At one point, Yang went a little too far and Summer threatened to kick her in the junk, but when Yang swallowed in fear she rolled her eyes and admitted that she was only joking. It was going to take a while for them to figure out how to poke fun at each other about this without taking it seriously and nearly hurting one another.

The silliness was interrupted by a trip to the mall, where the two girls picked up a few more fun things - including a strap-on from that ubiquitous joke store, which Yang kept trying to insist she did not need Ruby to buy but she wouldn’t listen. She just kept insisting that she wanted to be “fair” to her girlfriend, and the crimson-faced blonde just tried not to die while they were checking out.

Summer was horrified when Ruby decided it was necessary to show her their purchase. Then she glanced at Yang and looked even more horrified, though Yang certainly wasn’t in any mood or position to tease her about it then. Lucky Ruby got to laugh about it and skip off to stash it in her room and leave the other two to look both slightly ill and thoroughly ashamed.

“That didn’t take you long.”

“Wh-what?” Yang said, clearing her throat.

“Kicking things up a notch,” she went on with a sigh, collecting her limeade and her silk robe to head out onto the deck for her afternoon ritual. “Didn’t you literally take my daughter’s virginity last night?”

Sighing at that choice phrasing, Yang insisted, “I didn’t ‘take’ anything; we gave our virginity to each other. And it’d be great if you’d stop acting like I’m some man who doesn’t care where he sticks his dick.”

At that, the elder Rose looked up sharply. “Did I say that? Of course not. Please don’t put words in my mouth, Yang.” But at Yang’s pointed stare, she sighed and set down the limeade. “Alright. It is a little difficult because she’s my daughter, but it’s a lot less to do with your birth gender than my being protective of my baby.”

“I’m taking care of her. Like, really taking care, not the ‘wink wink’ taking care. I… there’s no way for me to say this that’ll sound like I mean it to you, is there?”

“No. But I can tell you do, even if it’s not the words. I can see in you the same things that made me realise how great Tai is…” Then she cleared her throat and picked up the glass. “Probably part of the reason why I can’t seem to stop teasing you, if I’m being honest.”

“Right. Um…” Scratching the back of her head, she cleared her throat. “There’s just a lot of feelings with that. I mean, being compared to my dad is weird now that I’m out, but like, he’s also a great person, so… I, um…”

“Don’t have to explain to me.” They both more or less understood what she was trying to say. “Now, I’m going out to sunbathe. You can join me if you want, or if Ruby never comes back and you’re bored.”

“But you sunbathe nude.”

“So? Nothing you haven’t seen before.”

Again, that half-teasing, half-indifferent tone. Yang watched as Summer went out to set her limeade on the table next to the chaise lounge. Kept watching through the sliding glass door as she stripped her clothing off from the trip to the mall. When she went for the underwear, she turned away and busied herself getting a Coke from the fridge.

“Check out this Ryuko figurine I found in the back of my sock drawer!” Ruby announced when she made it to the kitchen. “Doesn’t the hair remind you of me? I was kind of thinking about her when I got the red put in, but I forgot that was… why I… Yang, are you okay?”

“F-fine,” she said, clearing her throat and smiling as she took another sip of soda. “Who’s Ryuko?”

But Ruby had spotted her mother’s body through the door. Her lip curled and she went, “Ewww, are you perving on my mom again?!”

“NO! God, stop it! She’s the one who won’t completely quit teasing me!”

The way she put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips was more like a ‘Stop playing those video games and help me make dinner’ expression a girlfriend might give her significant other, rather than anything about finding multiple family members attractive. “She doesn’t tease you that much. Can’t you just ignore it if it’s really bugging you?”

“Can I? I mean…” Clearing her throat, she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the sliding glass door. “She invited me to catch some rays with her. Naked! Like, maybe it wouldn’t have been weird before all this stuff happened, but it is now, right?”

Ruby thought about that for a second. Then she shrugged. “Do you wanna do that?”

“I… not really, it’s too weird.”

“Are you sure? Because I think you kinda do wanna, but feel like me or Mom are gonna yell at you, or judge you. Like, don’t you wanna go back to the East Coast with a tan?”

“I don’t wanna go back to the East Coast with a story about how I popped a boner in front of your mom while we were both naked.”

Again, she took a moment to think that over. “Well… okay, we did just bang last night. And you came pretty hard! If you’re ever gonna make it through tanning nude with Mom, it’ll be today. Just, like… I’ll come with you! I don’t care about seeing my mom naked, and you might feel less weird if you’re not alone with her.”

That did actually make a certain sense to her. Sighing, she set down her coke and began to shuck her shorts. “Fine… let’s get this over with.”

So they all sunbathed nude together on the deck, and Yang simply kept her eyes off Summer’s lounge chair. And to her surprise… it worked. She had been so satisfied by Ruby the night before that she didn’t even feel more than a slight stirring. It did a lot to ease the lingering tensions between the three of them, because Summer barely even moved when Yang settled in next to her, and then went right back to lying on her stomach and soaking in the rays. Welcome progress.

The only hiccup was when Yang was sunning on her back and Summer got up to refill her limeade. Seeing Yang on full display was an experience she hadn’t had yet - the only one of them who hadn’t seen the other naked before. Even through her sunglasses, Yang noticed her bite her lip for a moment before shaking her head and stubbornly sending herself inside. That did make her twitch briefly but it was easier to ignore than it would have been any day before that one.

“This is going pretty well,” Ruby whispered from Yang’s other side.

“Your mom wants the D,” she hissed back, and they both giggled. “But yeah, you’re right; I just… get too into my own head about this stuff, I guess.”

Swinging her legs over the side, she moved from her own chair to Yang’s, sitting next to her hip. “I like it when you get into my head.”

“Ruby…” She wasn’t going to be able to keep holding herself at bay if she teased her any more than that. Especially with them both being nude, and outside!

“Okay, okay,” she chuckled. “Actually… I just wanted to steal a little kiss before she comes back.” So she leaned down to catch Yang’s lips before either of them could think too much. It was a sweet kiss, but with just a tinge of heat. Only a minute or so went by before Ruby pulled back, wiping at her lip with a little impish gleam in her silvery eyes before she went back to her own chair.

“Brat,” Yang shot at her as they laughed. And it was just as well, because Summer returned at that moment. “Topped yourself off?”

“I… did. And it looks like I missed something.” She first thought the elder woman meant their laughing, but then she noticed where her eyes were pointed.

“O-oh…” She tried to twitch her legs together to hide the erection, but it didn’t work in the slightest, so she moved to drape a hand over it. “I…”

“No need to explain. Please.” Clearing her throat, she retook her place on her chaise lounge, cheeks a little red beneath the frames of her sunglasses. “And I trust I don’t have to ask you to take that inside if you can’t help yourselves?”

“Of course! Yeah, don’t worry!”

[WARNING: The rest of this chapter is both July-heavy and foot-heavy, and can be canon or non-canon to you without affecting the rest of the story much, take it or leave it! PenpalPenny I hope you’re happy lmao]

But Ruby was strangely silent. A few minutes passed as they all went back to reclining and sunning their fronts. Yang was just thinking about rolling over onto her stomach, at least to hide the erection that wouldn’t seem to diminish, when Ruby sat up.

“Bathroom. You guys enjoy, I’ll be back!” She tipped her sunglasses a little lower so Yang would see her winking at her as she grabbed up her phone and headed for the door inside. All the while, that clever, self-satisfied look remained on her face.

A few seconds passed in silence. Summer was stubbornly quiet, so Yang decided she needed to speak up. “Um…”

“I said it’s fine.”

“Okay. Just didn’t want… n-nevermind.” Then they both received a text. Yang grabbed for her phone, noticing that Summer wasn’t doing the same as she read the message.

RUBES: Hey so I think I ate something weird at the food court idk… but I’ll be in here for at least another 15. If you guys need more time just text me back C:

“Oh my GOD,” Yang couldn’t help bursting out as she facepalmed. Unless she was mistaken, this wasn’t just a notice about her bowel issues. It was permission. Was Ruby serious?! She read the text over and over again, and could come up with no response. That was crazy. The whole situation was already crazy, and there Ruby wanted to make it crazier.

When Yang never continued further, Summer sighed. “Did she sent you nudes or something? That girl…”

“No, not… exactly.”

Only then did Summer go for her own phone. Yang braced for impact, and was surprised when Summer only nodded and sat the phone down on the table next to her beverage.

“You… okay?”

“Sure. So, which of us is going to be on top?”

Yang was still sputtering when she caught Summer’s deadpan look and realised she was joking. “Oh… u-umm, sorry, I really…. Yeah, that’s dumb of me.”

“I really don’t know what goes on in her head,” she sighed as she took a sip, trying to settle back but clearly looking a little restless now. “And I normally don’t, but this is… does she really think I’m going to throw away my marriage over this? A weird, awkward, incestuous situation like we’re in? It’s ludicrous.”

“Well, I don’t think Ruby sees the complications. She just looks at it really simply; you turned me on, I turned you on, so we should probably do something about it. Even if that’s weird and not something we’re interested in trying…”

“Interest is not the same thing as intent. I mean… you’re a very attractive young woman, Yang. I’ve never been into women before other than simply admiring their looks objectively, but then again, you’re the first one whose dick I’ve seen. I’ll admit, it’s… a little confusing for my brain, since my generation was different from yours.”

At that, Yang tried not to be too offended; she knew Summer was simply being truthful. “You mean I’d have been a ‘drag queen’ and that’s it? Yeah, I know. Dad kinda says the same stuff. You’re a little younger than him, though… maybe it’s not too late.”

A little laugh escaped Summer’s throat as she smiled over at Yang. “Good. I’m doing my best, and don’t want to imagine that it’s ‘too late’ for me to evolve. But it’s not too late for him, either, you know.”

“I know.” A little smile pulled at her lips thinking of the conversation they had while playing pool. Which made her decide even faster. “We don’t have to do anything besides just talk. Just because Ruby’s giving us a ‘pass’...”

“What, you don’t want me to go down on you?” Summer chuckled. But when Yang made a choking noise, she laughed louder. “I’m sorry! You really are sweet; I’m only kidding, Yang.”

“W-well… I mean, that’d probably feel great, but let’s not.”

“I wouldn’t give you that kind of hold over me, anyway. Not that you would, but if you ever told Tai anything went on between us…”

“Of course I wouldn’t,” she assured her immediately. “You think I want to have that horrible conversation with him, even just to get back at you for… for whatever? Watch him be disappointed in me? Hell no. Trust me, I’m not telling him a thing, and I’m not really into blackmailing people if I can help it, anyway.”

The small smile that pulled at Summer’s sweet lips was a gentle one. “Like I said, sweet.” Then she bit her lip again. It really did seem to be an involuntary reaction, but that was twice it had happened so close together.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit.” Taking a guess, she whispered, “You wanna touch it.”

“No.” Another heartbeat later, she cleared her throat and shrugged her tanned shoulders. “Alright, so I do, but that doesn’t make it right.”

“Knew it.” The slight softening was basically gone, and Yang tried not to draw attention to it. “Um… I don’t know, maybe I should go inside.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’re adults in control of our actions, Yang. If you want an all-over tan, me wanting you to hit me in the face with that shouldn’t stop you.”

That was the most direct she had ever been, even including sitting on her lap and grinding. Yang stared at her for a moment, and Summer had the decency to flush a little deeper, even if she otherwise remained absolutely still and inscrutable behind her sunglasses. Yang had to wonder if her nipples were a little stiffer than they had been before…

“Well… hitting you in the face with it isn’t really that big a deal, is it? I could do that if you want me to.”

“But you won’t…” A second later, when Yang hadn’t answered, she turned to look at her more directly. “Yang, that is not a good idea.”

“Why not?” She was already turning and sitting on the edge of the chaise lounge. “Literally one half-second of contact?”

“Because it might turn into more than that half-second. And even so, a really fast moment of cheating is still cheating.” But Yang was already straddling her, knees on either side of Summer’s hips. “Yang!”

“Look at it and tell me you don’t want to be hit in the face with it. That you were lying before.” Summer’s tongue wetted her lips as she stared at the thick length hovering a few inches from her face. “Okay, good. Now if you tell me to go sit down again, I’m gonna. Promise. Like, I’m not going to slap you with my dick against your will; it’s a weird thing to do in the first place, right? I’ve never heard of-”

“Make it quick,” Summer hissed, glancing at the sliding door and then taking off her sunglasses. Her eyes looked concerned and ashamed, but she had already resigned herself to doing this.

“Okay. Um, which way? Across the cheek?” A quick nod. “Alright. Um… one, two… three!”

The slap was one of the oddest sensations Yang had ever experienced. A thrill of erotic energy shot through her length and into her stomach as she made contact, partly just from shifting it from one side to another with her hand, and partly from feeling the cheek push back against it for the brief second. Summer’s head only twitched to one side by an inch or so, and she let out a quiet gasp, but otherwise seemed to handle herself fine.

“A-ah…” Her eyes remained cast off to one side. “Well. Now you’ve done it.”

“Oh no, I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“No, I meant that literally; you did it. Now we… we can cross it off the list. That is all.” Clearing her throat, she nodded toward the other chaise lounge. “Maybe you should go back to sunning yourself.”

But Yang was watching her carefully. After a second, she asked, “Was it… good? Bad? I dunno.”

“Too good.” Her cheeks were redder than Yang had ever seen them, and she pressed her lips together for a moment as ragged breaths went in and out through her nostrils. “And… to answer the question… it is a weird thing to do. I don’t know why I like that; I shouldn’t. But I always have.”

Experimentally, Yang gave her another, softer slap; she barely flinched at the second one. “Don’t worry about it. Um… you’re right, we should stop. I think Ruby just wanted us to try this and get it out of our systems.”

“She can see how we keep getting turned on by each other on accident,” Summer remarked, face twitching toward the length but not quite close enough to touch. Yang responded by bringing it downward instead of from the side, laying it across her eye and the side of her nose, the corner of her mouth. And leaving it there. “Mmm… warm. Hard yet soft.”

“Your face is pretty warm, too.” She shook the base again, and slapped it down onto Summer twice more, earning a slight fluttering of eyelashes each time. “This doesn’t make you feel… I dunno, gross? Like I’m treating you like a ‘thing’ or something?”

She admitted more than Yang ever needed to know. “It does. That’s why I like it. I… can put myself more easily into the state of mind that I’m about to be… used if I’m treated like this from the start.”

“But I’m not going to use you!” she hissed in alarm, and Summer smiled a little. “What?”

“I know. You’re too sweet for that. But… before I married… there were plenty of guys who passed me around. Did what they wanted. I started liking it too much, finding it too easy to let them get away with anything. I was at a pretty low point because of that when I met Tai, and he changed everything. Made me feel confident again, like my own person. Not that it was all him; I had it inside myself. The annoyance with what I became, and the willingness to change. I just needed that one little push.”

Somehow, this time Yang wasn’t finding herself repulsed by talking about Summer being with her dad, even while her cock was rubbing around her face. Maybe it was because the story was more about Summer than anything. “Then… I should quit. I don’t want to make you feel bad about yourself again.”

“But I already told you - it feels good. And because it’s someone I trust, I can handle it; I can know that afterward, I will still be treated like a person.” At that, a wicked smile flashed over her lips. Yang knew she was about to get ‘revenge’ somehow, and she was right. “Tai knows my limits and is willing to explore them with me, too. He’s done exactly what you’re doing right now.”

Definitely revenge. Yang’s stomach gave a sick lurch, and she felt like spinning to one side and throwing up. But it wasn’t a strong enough negative reaction. Also, Summer gave her length a little kiss at that exact second, and she sighed, staying put.

“But I’m not going to do for you what I do for him, Yang. Don’t worry. I… can admit that you’re gorgeous, and that I really want this big, beautiful sausage down my throat… or elsewhere… but we won’t. Because we’re stronger.” Purely to remind herself, she whispered, “I’m stronger.”

“You guys are right; I’m just hot for Rose women.” They both smiled. “Um… so if I’m not going back to my chair, but you’re not going to do anything with it… I just… like I’m really not trying to be a jerk, but what else are we even doing?”

While she had been speaking, Summer was taking a deep inhale of Yang’s head, basking in the natural musk. Then she opened her eyes and whispered, “You could give me a facial or something. I won’t help, but I’ll let you finish on me. And you could slap me with it a few more times during; I don’t mind.”

“I’m curious…” She did give Summer a slap from the opposite direction, and it earned a very soft sigh of satisfaction. “Um… what was I going to ask? Right - uh, if I weren’t so nice and ordered you around after doing this, would it work? Like… if I told you to get on your hands and knees and just take it…”

“No,” Summer told her, but she didn’t look offended or angry at the question. “I’m put in the mood for it, but I’m not hypnotised; if Tai did it, I would obey him instantly because we’re in a permanent partnership. He’s the one I will do that for unless I’m not in the mood to play at all. And I would picture submitting to you, letting you have your way with me… but ultimately, no, I would simply tell you that I won’t be doing that.”

The mental images were making her throb, and Summer noticed, nuzzling it very slightly. “G-good. I, um… I know this will sound dumb, but I was kind of worried… that I might…”

“You aren’t making me do anything against my will,” she headed her off. “I’m doing things against my better judgment, of course, but I’m doing them. My actions, my dubious choices.”

“That’s a relief.” Summer did raise a hand, but only to gently pat Yang’s hip in reassurance; she appreciated it, despite the strange situation. “Um… I don’t know if I can come on your face. That seems like… I can’t…” Taking another breath, she whispered, “I respect you too much, which I know is stupid to say with my balls on your chin, but…”

“Stop being so sweet or I’ll bake you into a pie,” she chuckled, petting up and down her hip. Then she had a thought. “Hmm… I think I know something that will work out for us. A little strange, and a new one for me, but in a way this will be a lot less intolerable for our situation.”

“Oh?” Her lips drifted up to the head, tongue sliding out to run along the underside. “A-ah! I thought you-”

“One for the road. Alright, back up a little; further down the deck chair.” When Yang obeyed, scooting down until she was straddling Summer’s knees instead, the woman rolled over onto her stomach. Yang tried not to let out a sigh at seeing her pert little ass, but it was audible enough that Summer smirked over her shoulder.

“Okay… I… so what’s going on, you want me to grind on your butt or something?”

“Not exactly.” Then her legs flexed, and she felt an ankle brush past her sack as two feet raised upward between her own legs, poking very lightly at her hips.

“Oh… no.”

Summer’s voice was full of rich sensuality, though it was a little over the top. “Oh yes. This has been something you’ve been trying to avoid for a while, I think.”

“You want me to jerk off onto your feet?!”

“No, no; I want to jerk you off with my feet.” When Yang only blinked down at her, she whispered, “And I will. Or you can just nibble them while you do it, or if you lay on the deck I’ll step on you. However you want to handle it, that’s what we’ll do; like I said, I haven’t done much of this before.”

“You and Ruby, I wear to god…”

But she wasn’t fighting against this. Why? It was a weird idea, and she wanted to be annoyed, but at the same time it wasn’t nearly as straight-up ‘cheating’ as if Summer were to give her a blowjob… or if they actually had sex. Maybe it was a technicality, but it was one that they could both live with. As she stared down at the toes, still painted with the polish she had put on herself, she remembered them pushing into her face once before and had to admit, she really did dig them. Both sets of Rose toes.

“You probably think I’m a freak,” she whispered as she traced a fingertip along one of the soles. Her toes curled, causing the thicker skin to wrinkle slightly.

“Hmmhmm,” she laughed very slightly from being tickled. “A little. But most people are freaks in one way or another; it’s just a matter of whether or not their oddities are known to others. Or did you already forget how much I liked having my face smacked with your dick?”

“Do you really want me to…”

But Yang didn’t even finish her thought. Instead, she did as she had been ‘taught’ by the woman’s daughter and sank down lower to begin showering one foot with kisses, letting out noises of pleasure as she did so. Summer was doing the same, though hers sounded more calm, sure of herself; she knew that this was mostly for Yang’s benefit and didn’t seem to mind reminding her, even if only with wordless hums.

“Say something,” Yang finally whispered as she moved to the other foot.

“Like what?” In an intentionally poor acting voice, she said, “Oh, yeah. That’s it. Kiss those feet.”

Sighing, she pulled back for a second. “Um, I dunno. What would you normally say if… you know what? I don’t know what I’m asking, either.”

For a few seconds, there was silence as Yang kissed, and began to let her tongue flick out against the skin. Then Summer tried something that surprised her.

“Filthy little slut loves my feet, doesn’t she?”

“What?!”

“That’s right, you heard me.” The toes curled up to push into Yang’s lips. “Worship them. I want to feel that tongue clean my dirty feet some more.”

Shame flooded through Yang’s face and stomach, but at the same time… she felt her arousal twitch. Hard. When she kissed again, the entire foot pressed into her face, and she caught the ankle with one hand as she began to worship it more.

“What did I say?!” Realising her mistake, she began to lick more than kiss, all over the sole. “That’s right… everywhere. You love this, don’t you? You want more, you want my feet all to yourself.” As she slid her tongue between two of the toes, she snapped, “Answer me!”

“Uh-huh!” Yang managed to moan out, hips unintentionally grinding up and down on the deck chair as she sucked harder on the slightly salty toes. Utter disbelief was her main thought; she was really doing this. And she wasn’t hating it. Even though she had enjoyed trying this first with Ruby, and preferred the gentler teasing and encouragement, something about being ordered around was too hot to be denied.

“Mmm,” Summer was moaning, beginning to flex them inside Yang’s mouth, which only added to the experience. “Little slut needs my dirty toes in her mouth. Thinks they’re so beautiful that she can’t help herself. Gets hard as a rock thinking about doing this, about cleaning my feet with her eager lips and tongue…”

“Y-yes, ma’am!” she managed to groan as she moved along, taking the big toe all the way in and polishing it all over with her tongue. “Mmhhh!”

“I think you wanted this the moment you got here,” she continued to tease. “With both of us. All you see are feet, everywhere you look… having both of us on your face at once? That was a dream come true.”

“N-no, I-”

“Shut up. Just lick the heels now.” Yang didn’t even protest, only moved up to the heel and trailed her tongue up along the sole as she went, then began to suck and lick all over the circular region. “Mmm… yes, you like this. Want to do it even more now that you’ve had a taste.”

Maybe she was right about some of this. Though before, she would have said she had no interest in this particular kink, at all, clearly she had started paying attention to Ruby’s little tootsies the minute she got to the house. Just how far back did the interest go, if it had been lurking beneath the surface before this trip?

“Massage while you do it. I want to enjoy this as much as you are.” Yang raised her hands and began to knead the sole, moving her mouth back to the toes because it was easier to do at that angle. “Mmmm, good. Oh, that tongue is very thorough…”

By the time Yang switched to the other foot, she had more or less covered the one in her own saliva, even if it was drying on some parts by then. She wanted to hate it, and to think it tasted gross, and smelled awful, and everything else she would have expected. Instead, she loved all of those aspects. The scent was somehow reassuring, the salty tang no better or worse than nibbling skin elsewhere on the body… and the taboo of it was keeping her as hard as she had ever been, even without anything other than Summer’s knee to grind it against.

“Harder,” she ordered, in reference to her massaging fingers. “They need tender loving care.”

Something slipped out. It was a call-and-response. Unbeknownst to Summer, she had said the last bit in just the right tone, and with Yang’s thoughts so distracted by the sheer insanity of what they were doing together, she wasn’t thinking when she pulled off the toes to speak as she kneaded the sole harder with her fingers.

“Yes, Mommy.”

They both froze for a moment. Yang’s face drained of all colour when it hit her what she had called Summer. That was not only bad, but very, very wrong considering what kind of activity they were engaged in. Why had she said that?!

It was Summer who recovered first, of course. She was gazing over her shoulder at Yang, but as she watched her carefully, she finally whispered, “Don’t stop now. Mommy’s feet need their massage.”

“I…” Yang wanted to panic and run away, but being commanded almost gave her no choice but to obey when her brain had clocked out. She began to knead the sole harder, earning a moan from Summer that made her face and neck feel hot. Why was it even worse now? Because of one little slip of the tongue?

“Say it again,” she urged her, flexing her ankles so that she pressed her toes into Yang’s mouth. This time, she didn’t open up. “You want to. Say it and kiss them.”

Swallowing hard, she did kiss the big toe, and let out a quieter, experimental, “Y-yes, Mommy?” Fresh shame blossomed within her, but she tried to shrug it off as she kissed again.

“That’s better. Now… clean this foot like you did the other one. It’s so filthy. Only your tongue can make Mommy clean again.”

“Ugh!” she burst out, unable to stop the noise. But she also didn’t stop to think, only started licking and leaving brief suction on the rest of the foot, moaning into the skin and tissue beneath. Summer’s noises were similar but with less heat within them, purely for effect. Once she had done her job, she went back to massaging as she threaded her tongue between toes, moving her lips from side to side.

“That’s my girl. She loves toes so very much. Sweet Yang…”

Tears were in her eyes, though she still couldn’t fully understand why. Especially not while she was hard as a rock, and desperate to get off even as she was still enjoying the moment. What the hell was she turning into?!

It wasn’t until she dug in with more gusto and heard one particularly long, relieved sigh from her stepmother that she became consciously aware of the true problem: Summer and Ruby were not the first ones whose feet she had kissed. Her own mother’s were her first. When she was very little, learning to give massages and still naive enough to think that kissing feet wasn’t disgusting, she had done it on quite a few occasions. Of course, Raven had told her that kissing feet was “not something we do”, but she never explained why, so it took a few gentle corrections before it took hold. The hazy memory from the past told her that it hadn’t felt bad at all.

“Do Mommy’s feet taste good?” Summer was asking, and Yang felt her stomach roil even worse now that she understood why she was having such a hard time with that. But she couldn’t turn back; she felt obligated to finish the job, and she was so hard that any form of pleasure was welcome. Memories of doing this for Ruby recently mixed with the past memories of her mother’s feet, and she wanted to cry, or throw herself into the Pacific. But instead, she kept going.

“They do. You love Mommy’s feet; you want her toes in your mouth all the time, to play with your tongue.” She didn’t know how much worse she was making it! “Or do you want them to play with your dick for a while?”

“Huh?” she finally managed to breathe, cheeks wet as her lips.

“I think you need to finish.” Summer was looking at her very intently. “And I think maybe I’ve teased you enough for one afternoon; you look…”

For some reason, seeing that concern prompted her to smile and shrug everything off. Even knowing how messed up her own brain was. “I’m f-fine.”

“Fine, what?” The toes slid up and down Yang’s nude stomach.

“I’m fine, Mommy,” she whispered. This time, Summer could see the self-loathing in her eyes when she went on, “Thank you for letting m-me play with your feet.”

“Of course.” She started to roll over, to ask if she was okay again, but then resettled. “Kneel up and get ready to use Mommy’s feet to finish. I think you’ve earned that much.”

Again, Yang did as she was told. It didn’t take much manoeuvring to get her cock settled between the still-wet forms, both big toes gently pressing into her sack. It felt great, but at that point anything would have. Even the crook of an elbow would have been enough to get her off. After a second or two, Yang began to rock forward into them.

“Mmm, that’s it. Just do whatever you want; Mommy will hold her feet here for you.” Yang did start thrusting into the soft soles, staring down and seeing how it looked and thinking she’d never seen anything so bizarre. Once she set a pace, Summer started shifting to match, stroking her as much as she could. “There… yes, good girl…”

All at once, even as her orgasm built much faster than was normal, Yang knew she didn’t want to do this. That they were making a big mistake that they could never take back. But at the same time, she still knew it could be much worse, so she tried not to beat herself up too much. A snarky little voice inside whispered, ‘At least you aren’t fucking your sister.’

“Very good! More, Yang, harder! Show me how you finish!”

One last time, she called out, “Yes, Mommy!” before she thrust a few more times into the teasing feet and came hard. It spurted down onto Summer’s ass and thighs, which clenched shut immediately as she finished. A few more times, she slammed her hips forward to get the full pleasure from the action, and then she held still, weathering aftershocks.

When Yang was breathing a little easier, Summer glanced over her shoulder. “Um… I hate to interrupt your afterglow, but if you could just wipe that one drip before it goes any further down….?”

“Drip?” Yang saw it a moment later, heading for the union of her stepmother’s thighs. “Oh - y-yeah, I can um… hang on.” Her finger made quick work of it, even though she let out another moan at having to shift around to do so.

“Mmm,” Summer sighed when she heard it. “You really got off hard. I’m a little surprised.”

“Why?”

“Because you went through with it. You were acting so nervous that I didn’t think you would, to be honest.” Her toes flexed and Yang shivered. “Did I do the wrong thing? Well, trick question; I know I did in general. But I’m worried that you didn’t enjoy that in the way you wanted to.”

Clearing her throat, Yang made herself talk. She didn’t want to, but she knew that Summer was now the only person she could talk to about this, so it was her or no one. “Um… I… I think that… the ‘Mommy’ thing wasn’t… I, u-um…”

“Too far. I figured, when I saw you crying.”

“Yeah.” Wiping at her face, reminded the tears were there, she went on, “I think you kinda made me realise that the reason I have a thing for feet is because I used to massage my mom’s. Which is… fucked up.”

Scoffing, Summer stroked her half-hard dick a few more times, earning a soft moan. “Mmm, it is. We’re all fucked up. But I very highly doubt it means you would want to do this with her. Most girls who have ‘daddy issues’ wouldn’t want to do that with their actual father, either. It’s just… a displaced emotional response. Please don’t feel like you’re just hopelessly ‘bad’ because of this one thing.”

That simply, Yang did feel a little less distraught. Not great, but better. “Thanks. Um… and you probably don’t care if I say this or not, but I don’t think you’re ‘cheating’. Like… or you are, but it’s just a weird thing and not a whole thing. Right? I’m… not making any sense.”

“The meaning is coming through,” she laughed. Then she happened to glance over toward the door. “Oh…”

“Oh?” Yang followed her gaze, and saw Ruby with her hands on her hips on the other side, brow furrowed in disapproval. “OH!”

Only then did she open the door and growl, “I told you guys to text me if you needed more time!” Her cheeks were a little red, but mostly she didn’t look too affected.

“You did,” Summer said carefully, holding very still. Yang began to look around to find something to clean up with, but they didn’t really have anything other than the robe. “And… we didn’t. Are you alright?”

After a brief second, she rolled her eyes and went back into the kitchen. When she came back, she was holding a dishtowel and offered it to Yang, who started wiping down Summer’s ass first. “Um… thanks, Rubes, but… well, we didn’t… you kind of set us up for this, but maybe we-”

“Just shut up already, god.” But Ruby was smiling. Somehow, even with this happening, she was smiling. “So maybe I didn’t wanna walk out here and see it, but I’m glad you guys are getting along.”

“Is that what you call this?!”

Laughing once she had been mostly cleaned off, Summer rolled over onto her back again. “Well, I didn’t want to take too much away from you, Ruby. Besides… I think this might have been… therapeutic for Yang, in a way.”

“In what way?” Ruby asked. But when prompted, Summer didn’t answer; she only looked at Yang. Letting it be her decision.

“Nothing,” she sighed. Not ready to dig into that, she instead picked up one of Summer’s ankles and licked a remaining droplet of her own juices from it. “There, all done.”

“Didn’t I just say I didn’t wanna watch?!”

“Don’t come down on her so much,” Summer admonished with a slight sigh. “This whole situation is unfortunate; I think we should be a lot more- RUBY ROSE!”

Her mother’s eyes were wide and her mouth hanging open as she looked on helplessly at Ruby’s mouth wrapping around Yang’s cock, milking the last few droplets. Yang froze, looking between the two of them and having no idea what to do.

“There,” she panted once she pulled off Yang with a pop and licked her lips. “Now we’re even; you probably won’t forget to text me back next time.”

“That was… highly inappropriate! I thought I raised you better than that!”

“You probably raised me better than to jerk off my daughter’s girlfriend with my feet, too, but hey!”

Burying her face in her hands, Yang murmured into them, “Can we please stop using my dick as some weird battleground for you two?”

“No, I’m fine, I’m fine,” Ruby said airily as she rounded the two deck chairs and took her own again, sitting primly and leaning back. “That was all I wanted. You two are forgiven.”

“Little brat,” Summer sighed, though it was clear that she was holding no grudge. As Yang sat down herself, embarrassed and with a whole new subset of weird mental hangups to sort through, she shot over, “So how does it feel knowing that by blowing Yang just now, you also secondhand licked your own mother’s feet?”

All was quiet for a few seconds. Then Ruby cleared her throat.

“Would someone please pass the limeade? I, um, need a palate cleanser.”

NOTE: SOOOOOO. This was the big July chapter; any of you who were waiting for a little more to happen between Summer and Yang, this was it. And the fic is almost over! One chapter and an epilogue and it's done! There are a lot more fanfics on the way, trust me, but it's time to put this tale of incest to bed. Hope you're still enjoying it, everybody!