#one of my cousins was feeling less so yesterday apparently | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

flowered-mp3 · 9 months ago

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rant on friend drama lmfao pls ignore unless ur curious about my life ahhaha luv u all

my bf's friend group is a hot fucking mess - i hate it here.

i don't want to be like. that person but fuck, man. i've always been against have super super integrated friend groups where people date each other and get super close with their friends partners and something just happened yesterday that just adds to my distaste of it. i'm sorry, but i cannot be super close friends with cis-het men for a reason and this is why - it causes so much drama and confusion for both myself and the parties involved. i'm not saying that i, a cis-het woman shouldn't be friends with cis-het men but fuck, based on what i've experienced so far it's getting harder and harder to believe.

so summer 2023, someone in my bf's friend group (let's call her jess) arranged a cottage trip with some people (three couples, one dude)

myself

my bf

my bf's cousin (let's call him tyrone)

my bf's cousin's gf (let's call her steph)

jess

jess' bf (let's call him steve)

steph's friend (let's call him cam)

now, this friend group has been in existence before my bf and i started dating (so i'm the new person). additionally, there's another friend group that they're a part of that doesn't include me - let's call them the val group (because they're obsessed with valorant. idfk.) the val group is huge - people dating each other within it, they have a dedicated discord server, etc. my bf isn't super close with them but tyrone, steph, steve, jess, and cam are.

so jess organized a cottage trip with the seven of us and it was fun! i don't have a big social battery so it was a little tough for me because we were all staying in a small bnb with one bathroom lmfao but i did have a fun time with them all. i got to talk to them, get to know them better, and i liked to feel more integrated into my bf's friend group - it made me feel like less of an outsider.

before the trip, i heard from my bf that jess and steve were having some disagreements lately - jess frustrated that steve doesn't make enough time for their relationship, jess feeling that members of the val group are making her life more difficult (apparently, one of the girls that is dating jess' close friend within the val group is upset because jess plays val better than her, i cannot make this shit up lmfao) and steve isn't standing up for her, etc. etc.

flashforward to fall 2023 - my bf told me that jess and steve broke up. i talked to jess about it and it was an amicable break up - they both mutually agreed. she told me that there was alot of differences in how serious they took the relationship, apparently. steve didn't seem to be aligned with her seriousness. jess was making career moves, planning for her future and got frustrated when steve always seemed to be putting it off, never seeming to take their future seriously. they also lived kinda far from each other - i'm talking across the city type shit - solid 45 min drive to see each other. my bf and i are the same but it isn't a problem because we dedicate a single day during the week to see eachother, and we both drive. problem - steve doesn't drive. they've been dating 3 years and this man seriously never got his license, even after jess pushed him to do it. steve also had health issues (chronic knee injury) and never seemed to be concerned about his health, etc. jess expressed that he never took it as seriously as she did and if they consistently talked about it for 3 years with no result, that's it. the relationship is not pursuable anymore, imo. jess also expressed that the cottage trip just further showed her that steve wasn't doing boyfriend things - he would see the other boyfriends do things for their girlfriends and compared it to her own relationship, which did nothing but make the rift grow further between her and steve.

now here's where things get dicey. after the breakup, jess started to talk to cam more often. since we have discord, you're able to see what people are up to and it seems that they were doing things together, talking more, etc. i've also been to dinner with jess, cam, my bf, and myself without steph and tyrone. from the outside, this looks BAD. jess just broke up with steve and now the other friend (cam) that steve was already concerned about starts hanging out with his ex one-on-one? the optics are BAD on that one. and because the val group is filled with a bunch of assholes, they've been teasing steve about it. since steph is friends with steve, steve has been coming to her about how he feels about it. i feel so bad for steve here - it's not fair for him to get made fun of because his ex is moving on with someone within that friend group. but on the outside, jess looks BAD because it seems like she doesn't care about how steve feels and what's going on with him BUT LIKE. the val group sucks! they've been making jess' life hell to begin with. why that fuck would she have a regard for people that treated her poorly? additionally, she's also LYING to steph about where she is. steph asking her to hang and jess saying she's busy or tired, when in reality she's hanging with cam instead. what a mess. and what also sucks is that cam is straight up ok with it and instigating the conflict??? he's like "yeah it be like that dawg" but i'm like??? tf??? you're making it worse for jess? fucking idiot.

because steph knows that jess is lying to her, steph went to my bf to vent about it. do i feel good about it? no lmfao but it happened. essentially, steph expressed frustrations that jess was lying to her about hanging out with cam, and additionally, tyrone ALSO had a problem with the optics of the situation. but the hilarious thing is that tyrone and steph met when steph was dating another guy in the val group, and tyrone was straight up flirting with steph WHILE SHE WASN'T SINGLE. they were hanging out one-on-one while steph wasn't single. now for some reason, they find problems with what jess and cam are doing? steph and tyrone did the exact same shit to get together, and now suddenly when jess does it, they feel some type of way? RIDICULOUS. the second that steph broke up with the guy in the val group, she went on a group skiing trip with tyrone and shared a room with him within the week. and my bf was there to observe the whole fucking thing so my bf is upset because this is incredibly hypocritical (i agree like what the fuck). so because of all this, steph and jess' relationship is strained.

now flashforward to literally yesterday night. i went to an easter dinner at my bf's house and his whole family was there (so therefore, tyrone and steph were there as well). i was blissfully ignorant until after eating, i noticed that my bf and steph were like. nowhere to be found. tyrone was in the living room with his dad and i was busy playing with my bf's nephew so i was like huh idk maybe my bf's busy with his dad or something. he was gone for a WHILE. like a solid half hour. so i thought that i lost my glasses and remembered that i napped in my bf's room so i went upstairs to see if i left it there. then i overheard steph's voice and my brain was like uhhh wtf and i open the door to see my bf and her ALONE in his bedroom, door closed. she sounded like she was crying but i was so just. shook i guess that i just started to ask where my glasses were and left the room. i wasn't even visibly mad i was just. shook. so i just left and resumed what i was doing. eventually, my bf came out he knew that i felt some type of way because he put on his coat and asked to go on a walk away from the house. we sorted it out while talking outside but there's a reason why i'm mentioning this point lol. my bf said that steph was talking about a blow up that happened with jess but didn't mention specifics.

then literally 30 mins later, jess calls me. i missed her call so i texted her what was up and she said that she really needed to talk to me and that i cannot tell anyone that she contacted me. since her and my bf are close friends i asked if my bf knew and she said that she actually wanted to talk to both of us so on my drive home from his house we called and she explained everything.

apparently in jan/feb 2024 steve and jess had a couple of calls. steve reached out to jess wanting to "catch up" but apparently it was a call for steve to ask jess to get back together. jess explained that their relationship problems wouldn't be solved overnight (understandable), and that getting back together now wouldn't change anything. steve didn't like this, and now their break up that was amicable is now no longer amicable at all. now, rumors are being spread around that jess emotionally cheated on steve throughout the relationship, that jess has been trying to get closer to the guys only in the val group. and the fact that she became much closer to cam and my bf after the breakup just does nothing but fuel the rumors. because of that, my bf's name is also being dragged into the drama for ammo purposes and it fucking pisses me the fuck off.

apparently, steph did have a convo with jess about the whole situation, and how what jess is doing isn't "a good look". steph brings up a situation where my bf came over the jess' place to fix her pc and said that she shouldn't have had him alone in her bedroom. in reality, I was there in her bedroom along with cam and my bf, so she wasn't alone with my bf. but recall the situation that happened at easter dinner - she was LICHERALLY in a room alone with my bf. hypocritical? yes but to give benefit of the doubt, i think that this is a misunderstanding though because after, steph said that "if you're ok with hanging out with ___ (my bf's name) alone, you should be ok with hanging out with the guys from the val group alone." i think that steph is misconstruing things - perhaps questioning the favoritism for my bf? maybe steph is implying that jess is discriminating against the members of the val group? even when the val group treated her poorly? ugh. now my bf's name is being pulled up as an example of how jess is "purposefully" getting closer to the guys only, fueling the emotional cheating allegations. i know that it isn't true but it sucks regardless as his girlfriend.

so now, everything is a mess. my bf's friend group is in shambles and i know that this is weighing so much heavier on him than me. normally i wouldn't involve myself at all but this is my boyfriend we're talking about. anyone says shit about him and literally? it's on sight like mark your fucking days. now i also have my bf asking me why i don't deal with his kind of stuff in my friend group and literally i honestly believe that it's because i only have girlfriends and i don't strive to be bestie bestie with my friends bf's. we don't see it as proper so we normally avoid situations like this where people break up and all the complications that happen after the fact. like if i'm close with my friend's bf and they break up, it's bound to cause division within the group because people will take sides - it's unavoidable. i probably sound like such a cynic but it's how i feel based on what i've experienced.

and what sucks the most is that jess is genuinely my friend, as well as steph. it sucks that they aren't friends right now. it sucks alot. just.... ugh i hope that they can sort things out eventually but right now, everything is so tense and heated that it's impossible. my bf and i are kinda caught in the middle of it (my bf mostly though, steph hasn't talked to me about this at all). anyways. that's it for now.

#e.txt

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pumpkin-spiced-latte · 2 years ago

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Since quite a few people seemed to rather enjoy the six sentence post from yesterday I thought I'd post the entire scene

London, 1941

He spends his first day back in England in months on a train down to Devon, to visit the grave of Mama and Daisy, and the evening on his Aunt Fanny's old, faded sofa, listening to the news of his siblings and cousins, while Fanny promises solemnly to not tell his father about the visit. The journey back to London drags on and on, people on the tracks apparently, but once he reaches Kings Cross it’s a short walk to the Folly, where he trudges right up the steps to the lab they’ve given David for the duration of the war – however long that might be – crossing the room until he reaches one corner, where he can slide down to the ground between a metal cabinet and wooden workbench that had been pushed up against the wall, weighed down with copious amounts of notebooks and notes, some kept in boxes, some stacked precariously high, David’s thoughts spilled out over the paper. He hasn’t even taken the time to take off his coat and scarf, far too warm for the sweltering heat in the lab.

David himself only looks up from his experiment once he’s done, though Thomas has no way of telling what exactly he has finished.

“Are you quite alright, Thomas?” he asks and takes off his glasses to clean the round lenses with the sleeve of a dark blue jumper peeking out from under a lab coat that had once been white.

“Splendid,” Thomas grunts, and runs a hand through his hair, already messy from the wind outside.

David, who has had enough time to map out his responses over the years, slips out of his lab coat and approaches him, heaves a box from the end of the bench so he can sit next to Thomas, who rests his head against his leg. Almost immediately there are fingers combing through his hair, brushing a curl out of his face.

“Would you like to tell me?”

“Not particularly”

“I think you ought to"

“Later. Maybe"

“Your sister called,” David tells him instead, “she wants to see you. Stephen as well. They’re your siblings, you can’t avoid them forever”

“I know. I just – Just not right now. Can you tell Drina I'm still on the continent the next time she calls?”

“Somehow I don’t think she'll believe me. Especially considering Henry was on the continent with you and came yesterday. Victoria knows your on home leave”

“Curse the day your nephew decided to marry my niece"

“They’re children. Can you truly begrudge them some happiness"

Thomas sighs, rubs his cheek against the coarse wool of David’s trousers, closes his eyes. “No. That doesn’t mean I have to like it"

“I know. But still, please talk to her. I have a feeling every time we talk she likes me even less, and if she doesn’t hear from you soon she'll show up at Folly and castrate me for hiding you from her"

Thomas nearly laughs “We can’t have that, of course"

“Are you sure she doesn’t know?”

“Without a doubt. She’d be much worse if she knew about the sodomy. To both of us"

“Would you like to help me with some experiments?" David asks in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood, "I have some test tubes that need to be blown up"

“You know I'll gladly blow anything for you, Davey"

David laughs and pulls him upright, presses a quick kiss to his cheek. “I’m glad you're back home"

Thomas says nothing and lets David lead him towards the table he’d been working on when Thomas had arrived. The set up looks complicated, but most things David does in his lab are so far beyond Thomas’s comprehension that he no longer even bothers to ask.

Once more dressed in his lab coat David lines up two dozen tubes, “I think we’ll start with a simple werelight,” he says, “and go on from there”

He isn’t sure how much time they spent in the lab, Thomas performing various spells at David’s request, but when David sets down his pen, apparently satisfied with the results at last it’s already dark outside.

“You should go to bed, Tom,” David says and Thomas lets his werelight blink away, plunging the room into sudden darkness. Either there’s another power outage or David’s simply forgotten to turn on the lights again.

“I don’t even know where that is" He is a CO now and therefore, by Folly mechanisms, entitled to one of the rooms on the second floor, which he'll still share, but with only one other man. He'd rather crawl into bed with David, but, of course, that won’t be poss-

“In that case I have some good news for you. We're sharing until you leave again"

“Honestly?”

“Yes. Apparently most find me to be an insufferable roommate”

“Because you are, David”

“I beg to differ”

The room is bleak and unpersonal, except for an old photograph on the edge of the desk that also serves as David’s nightstand, now that another bed has been shoved inside and every unnecessary piece of furniture put up in the attic, of David and his brother, dead now for over two decades, killed in some trench in France, and a small stack of books he faintly recognises as some of David’s favourites. Waugh, Collins, Wells and the like.

None of it feels quite tangible and it might very well have been a dream, if it weren’t for the weight of David’s arm wrapped around him. No matter how lonely, how unhappy, he is, when he imagines David’s embrace it never feels real

“What are you thinking about, pumpkin?” David, already half asleep, asks.

If I die will you put up a picture of me as well? A neat little collection of the people you've lost, trod under England's heel?

“Nothing. Go to sleep"

David’s never been one who had trouble falling asleep, and after a few minutes he can hear him snoring, firm against his back, breath ghosting over Thomas’s neck. If he’d ever been such a sleeper he certainly is no longer, considering the things haunting his dreams, despite the sense of secruity and comfort David’s presence gives him.

He'll have to mess up the bed in the morning, he thinks, before the maid comes to clean the room, make it look as if he’s slept in it. He doesn’t know how long he stares into the soft shadows of the room, but it seems like he is lulled to sleep faster than he normally falls asleep these days

#rivers of london

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jodilin65 · 4 months ago

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I got a great photo of a rabbit in the backyard yesterday morning, as well as tons of snails on the fence to show Doc A. I also shared a picture of the tortoise with her.

She and someone else were out walking in Auburn when they spotted a mama bear with her cubs, which they took pictures of. I had no idea there were bears in that area! If I had stepped outside the trailer and seen that, I would have been absolutely terrified, no matter how cute they might be.

Indoors right here, there have been a few scattered ants and a silverfish. It's definitely time to bomb again, and we’ll be doing that within the next couple of weeks.

I’m feeling better tonight than I did last night, even if it feels like my life might still be over, lol. I keep forgetting to use my happy light. I have a small one on my desk in the bedroom, and I want to get a bigger one for the other desk.

I sat outside for about 10 minutes yesterday morning, but not in direct sunlight since the sun hadn’t risen high enough yet. It still seemed to be enough to perk me up.

Yesterday, I had symptoms that suggested I might be low on thyroid, but also some that suggested otherwise. I had horrible fatigue and felt a little cold at times, but then my heart was racing, and I felt a bit anxious for a few hours. I read that a racing heart caused by wine can be a symptom of heart trouble, as it can be if it races for no apparent reason. But my heart doesn’t always race when I have wine, and there’s no way I could have heart issues after being thoroughly tested less than a year ago. I really wish I could test my TSH whenever I wanted!

While I’ve got the energy, I’m going to take advantage of it and get some more miles on the road. I’m 10% through my ride, but I’m going to need to get to about 40% to get out of Russia.

I got a distressing message from Becky. The first known Valleyhead sister to die has passed away. Her name was Kyle, and she and Becky were cousins. I didn’t have any problems with Kyle, but we weren’t close either. She had MS. Becky said her mother had babies for 24 years and was burned to death at 9 months pregnant, which Kyle witnessed. Also, Becky’s uncle died, so I can see why she’s a mess, as she said.

What a horrible, horrible tragedy! Poor Kyle. I can’t imagine witnessing something so terrifying, gross, and horrible. Becky said that’s why she freaked out when the fire alarm went off. I don’t remember her freaking out, but I do remember another girl freaking out. Her name might have been June.

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shelbeetaylor · 6 months ago

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Chapter Ten | Danse Macabre

-> story masterpost

-> previous chapter

Cassandra was stopped in the hall by a firm hand on her shoulder. A quick and agitated spin revealed the owner to be Theo who tried to hide his grimace at the sight of her.

“What do you want, Theo?” The irritation had crept so far into her voice that every word now was coated in it.

“Oh, sorry. Do you have somewhere urgent to be?”

The pity glazing over his eyes hadn’t left them since yesterday.

“Dance,” was Cassandra's concise reply.

“Oh… right…”

Cassandra turned to leave, but Theo cleared his throat instead of just saying he wanted to talk.

“Go ahead,” Cassandra added a nice, large gesture to show her annoyance. “Speak.”

“I- uh…”

She shook her head in silence, eyebrows raised as she waited for a coherent sentence.

“Ahem… Evie left in a hurry.”

“And?” It was the same impactful word from earlier, just much less smirk to accompany the displeasure.

Theo’s response was a drooping face of disappointment, a rare sight from him. Usually she’d be somewhat emotionally affected, but she too was in a rare mood. “You don’t think you were even a little harsh?”

Cassandra cursed under her breath before saying, “She interrupted an important discussion matter.”

“You mean she interrupted your dramatic takedown.”

“Didn’t we just have a massive argument? I’m getting deja vu.”

“You seriously don’t think anything you did was wrong?”

“No, sorry.” The apology was dispassionate, unlike the swirling in her stomach. “Maybe I’ve finally lost all sense of morality.”

“Cass, Evie seemed really upset. I mean, you physically put her down in the middle of council. I’m sure that hurt her feelings.”

“Yes, because her feelings are clearly the most important matter when in council.”

Theo stepped back slightly, his shoulders dropping a little. “Don’t you care?”

“No.”

Theo looked almost as if he was repressing a shudder.

“If all you came to do was talk to me about her feelings, just let me go to my lesson.”

“Are you okay?”

Cassandra was a little taken aback by the sudden question. “You think I’m not?”

“In all honesty, no.” Theo seemed a little nervous as he confronted her. “No one ever said you were the most sane person in the first place, but you’re just… I know this isn’t all because of the king and Henri.”

Cassandra was at a loss for words, and instead she just shrugged. Theo’s jaw slid open only ever so slightly.

“I know you’re not prideful, not enough to get angry with your cousin in front of a room full of government officials.”

“Glad I have you to tell me what I’m like as if I didn’t know myself.”

“Is this because you’re not sleeping? Is that what’s making you like this?”

Cassandra's jaw tightened.

“I can see it in your face, Cass. How long have you been awake?”

“You act like it’s irregular for me to not sleep. I never sleep. This is common knowledge.”

“No, that is a joke. This is reality.”

“And now we can apparently add ‘psychosis’ to the list of things you think is wrong with me.”

“Cass–”

“Speak to me again when you’re ready to not criticize me for the way I run my court.”

Theo was left standing alone in the hallway.

“Maestro, if you please.”

The pianist sitting not too far away began playing a simple melody, just one to warm up to. Cassandra's arms moved in time from prep to first, opening to second. There was almost no thought to her execution of the rond de jambe pattern her instructor laid out for her. Her movement did not reflect the lack of concentration, instead her feet and legs moved perfectly in time with a controlled power.

The men wondered how she was able to do half the things she could on the battlefield, and this was it. Years and years of training. This was the one ladylike thing she did, the one thing her mother could actually be proud of her for doing.

On the beat, Cassandra turned to execute the opposite side of the exercise.

Weekly lessons in ballet to appease her mother, but also because she grew to understand the power that was in dance. Every fiber of her being was constantly working, keeping her body in shape in a more beautiful way than the knights could ever care to try. That and this was her time to think, to drift away into the empty recesses of her mind and just be. Then, she’d take everything she had felt and throw herself into choreography. The lessons became one hour that she could never sacrifice.

The music slowed to a stop, and her arms finished in prep.

“Excellent.” Her instructor’s thick Valoran accent laced the words.

Mother wouldn’t have it any other way. The finest instructor only. Valoran was known to most as a kingdom with the highest quality in entertainment. Many young dancers aspired to move to the capital city of Bellesailles to audition for the world’s most critically acclaimed ballet company, and Cassandra's instructor just happened to be one of its former prima ballerinas.

“I was thinking we could take a break on the Giselle piece and instead try a new one.”

Cassandra had been previously working on the famous mad scene from the ballet, per her own request. She had seen it performed impeccably by a traveling ballet company when they passed through, and she felt a little inspired to try her hand at it.

Cassandra's instructor explained as she pulled out sheet music and handed it to the pianist, “Many years ago, I starred in an original ballet about a fiery missing princess traveling the world to find her way home. She was full of passion and fire, as well as pain and sadness. I shall teach you one of her final dances where the man who has been hunting her finally confronts her.”

It took an unusually long amount of time for Cassandra to learn the choreography. It wasn’t the individual moves themselves, it was the act of remembering the moves that troubled her. Her instructor had to take small steps– figuratively– with the choreography just so Cassandra could keep up, thick mental fog disabling any ability to recall dances.

She even found herself wandering as her instructor gave her the next moves in the combination, specifically her thinking about how much she aspired to be like her instructor. The instructor, though getting on in years, displayed the combinations as spritefully as she must have when she was first playing the role. The strength, the intensity, the emotion, all things Cassandra aspired to attain in her private dance career. The fluidity through each leap, kick, and turn powered by the toned muscles hidden beneath a feminine exterior, it was all she had in battle and all she wanted in dance.

The instructor took a brief moment after running the combination a couple of times before saying, “We may build on this combination more in the future, but for now I want to see what we have created. Maestro?”

The piano began on a steady beat, and Cassandra started off. The moves themselves were not difficult, especially since she had been doing them for several years but stringing them together proved more difficult than she anticipated. Between each insufficient leap and lost footing, Cassandra caught her instructor’s disapproving gleam. She soon signaled to the pianist to stop, and Cassandra followed suit.

“You are focusing too much on the moves,” the instructor said. “The point of this was to focus on your emotions. If you want to execute Giselle’s mad scene correctly, you must learn to harness emotions and let them out. I want you to take it again, but with feeling this time.”

Cassandra's jaw clenched as hard as possible, but she returned to her beginning mark. Her instructor watched carefully as Cassandra took up the beginning pose in b-plus.

“I want you to see the antagonist as you dance. Who is it?”

The rhetorical question invited tension into Cassandra's body. A myriad of people.

“Now, you are angry. This person has hurt you, and you want revenge… but you also want it to be over. How does that feel? What would you do? Show this to me through the movement.”

The instructor gave a nod to the pianist, signaling to start the piece.

Piano lilting softly underneath, Cassandra's mind lingered on the words her instructor had said. An antagonist? Oh, there were many. The names came to her each time she stepped, her arms gracefully arching over her head in an alternating pattern.

To begin, there was Theo. Yes, they argue like brother and sister constantly… but this one was new. Different. He had always been her right hand, a loyal knight and friend. Now, he challenged her authenticity, believed she was going insane or some sort of other logical explanation. He challenged her authority, taking the side of an outspoken child rather than standing by the future queen.

Then there was Enoch. The Starvale pretty boy. Vale Serine’s leading playboy. Nevernia’s charisma connoisseur. The titles were endless. Cassandra never shied away from playful flirting between her and the knights as well as other friendly male faces. Enoch was different. He meant it. Well, there was never a time in which he didn’t mean it, but he meant it. The looks he’d give her. The concern for her wellbeing. The way he caught her earlier. Cassandra was also all for keeping up appearances, but it was physically painful. It would be easier to just fall in love with the man throwing himself at her, and it pissed her off that she just couldn’t.

A grand battement nearly threw Cassandra off balance as the music picked up. She didn’t notice the look on her instructor’s face, a mix of both growing concern and glowing pride.

She couldn’t handle General Valseras either. The man was a genius but a complete idiot, a statement meant in the most derogatory way possible. His strategic thinking knew no bounds, but the man couldn’t execute an attack to literally save his life. Cassandra and Theo, two people who were decades younger with significantly less military experience, had led more successful attacks than this man. Most of them involved parties of five or less fighting hordes of twenty men or more. Valseras had virtually the entire Nevernian army at his disposal against significantly outnumbered rebels, and he still managed to lose the most important battles in this war. Like Wystwillow.

Speaking of Wystwillow and Valeseras, the thought of her cousin tensed her muscles. Cassandra faltered in the middle of a pirouette.

Evie. Cassandra hated that she shared a name with such an immature little girl. Being a legal adult meant nothing if one didn’t act like it. She couldn’t even sit through a council meeting without spouting her outlandish opinions– now, this specific incident wasn’t as outlandish as the earlier outbursts had been full of, but the point remained. Cassandra was embarrassed by her, angered by her, and she was barely able to restrain herself in council. The world had no clue the fire in her, and Evie about got burned. She probably would soon.

The pianist struck a chord as Cassandra missed a landing, the music ramping up into the finale of the dance.

But the person at the top of her shit list… her mother. Queen Ginevra. People said she carried the strength of the Ravenwell women. People were wrong. Cassandra had known the history of her family for years. It was her history as well as her kingdom’s history. Somehow people forget that her mother married into the Ravenwells and had no blood relation to those legendary women. Her mother had no right to claim the Ravenwell strength for many reasons.

She was the one who continued the persecution of magic wielders that was started by Cassandra's grandfather. She was the one who encouraged the former king to wrap himself up in these endless wars with other nations. She was the one who convinced Cassandra's father to walk into the battle against the southern rebellion that got him killed. She was the one who murdered innocent people like her own daughter for the people they loved. She was the one who valued her orphaned niece over her own daughter who had risked life and limb to fight for justice and freedom, the basic founding principles of Nevernia.

Her mother deserved nothing.

In the middle of a fouette, Cassandra's ankle sickled, and her leg began to collapse. The fear in her instructor’s eyes was very real as she watched her pupil fall, but Cassandra could barely see through her vision that was distorted by dizziness and exhaustion. Her depth perception was very clearly out of whack as the room’s length and width was changing consistently, and her coordination was also completely sabotaged. It was the fading pain in her ankle that brought her mostly out of it, though a slight throbbing remained.

As a servant, Gena should have knocked every time she went to enter a noble’s room. As a person, Gena only cared about the rules when she knew the noble on the other side of the door cared about them. Evie, as had been displayed the past few days, cared little if at all for the social constructs the castle lived by. It was probably a good thing too that Gena burst into the room.

She found the young princess crying on her bed, laying in a lazy fetal position and hugging a small pillow. Evie didn’t move as Gena approached the sobbing princess.

“Go away.”

“That is not happening, whether you like it or not.”

“I don’t care. Go away, please.”

Gena chuckled as softly as possible. “You know, you sound a lot like Cassandra when she’s upset. Except you’re much nicer. She never says please.”

Evie found no amusement in this. “I don’t wanna talk about her.”

Gena sighed, gazing at the princess, and sat down on the edge of the bed. She leaned back as she spoke, “You know I’ve found that it really does feel better to talk.”

“Does it?” Evie tried sounding skeptical, but curiousness creeped into her voice.

“Definitely. You don’t even have to put in effort to fix it. You just–” and she grandly gestured with her hands as she continued– “let it all out.”

Gena let the thought sit with Evie for a moment, waiting for her to speak.

“Council sucked,” Evie finally said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

There was another moment of silence, and Gena was really trying not to smile because this was not a funny matter at all. It was just… in an odd way, it was cute.

“It’s just that she didn’t have to treat me like that. She agreed with me too, but she still treated me like that. I just… I don’t know. It’s like my opinions don’t matter.” Evie hesitated for a moment. “Maybe I shouldn’t be here.”

“Why’s that?”

Evie hugged her pillow a little tighter. “I don’t belong. I’m just a burden.”

Gena sighed through her nose and placed her hand on Evie’s nearby leg, gently stroking with her thumb in an attempt to calm the princess. “Listen, Cassandra is not the nicest person at first, but she really does have a good heart.”

Evie shifted slightly as her only response.

“And I’ll bet that she’s probably jealous of you…”

“Really? Why would Cassandra be jealous of me?”

“Because you’re happy,” Gena smiled, trying to add an almost joking lilt to her voice. “And because you don’t conform to her standards.”

Evie tried to hide the smile growing on her face. “That doesn’t give her a reason to be mean.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Gena shrugged and stood up to face the princess. “You and Theo still have time to go to the gardens, if you wish.”

Evie perked up.

“I’d go fetch him now, though,” Gena advised.

“Where can I find him?”

To the untrained ear, the noise coming from the armory would sound like a pack of wild animals, or perhaps a poorly executed enemy invasion. In all actuality, it was just Theo and his knights being… well, Theo and his knights. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that these were the same men that headed the most honorable order that was envied by the world.

“That was funny!” Enoch said.

“No, it wasn’t,” Josiah replied without hesitation.

“Actually, it’s hilarious– I’m hilarious. You all just have no sense of humor.”

“Maybe it’s because you never stop talking,” Bastien interjected, eliciting laughter from the rest of the group.

Enoch sighed, shoulders slumping a little. It was at that moment that Ivor put his massive golden hands on Enoch’s shoulders as he stood behind him. Ivor, being taller than every one of the knights, rested his chin on Enoch’s head.

“I think you’re funny,” Ivor admitted, his defined jawline rippling as his face displayed a smile.

Enoch threw out his hands, trying to move his head a little as possible. “At least someone still has faith in me.”

“Barely,” Theo chuckled as he began removing his armor.

Bastien, who had stipped down to his underclothes faster than the rest of them, headed to his locker on the other side of the armory. Godfrey was about to join him after hanging up his armor and weapons, and everyone else was taking their sweet old time removing their armor. Theo observed them all from his seat upon the bench as he himself unwinded from the training session.

Josiah ran an umber hand over his velvet black hair whose curls were cut close to his scalp, his similarly colored eyes noted droplets of sweat that stuck to his fingers. Josiah was the runt of the pack, a wiry little thing of common blood. Despite his small frame, he was hardy and defined, but above all his hard work and proficiency with a battle ax earned the boy from the middle class Milmore family a spot in the knighthood. Josiah wiped the sweat off with a towel and asked in his usual somber husk, “Hey, Theo, you decided who’s going to the war council tomorrow?”

“Yes, I need to know if I actually have to wake up tomorrow,” Enoch chuckled as he threw his gauntlets onto the bench, Ivor still impeding his ability to undress. Theo could spot the glinting of his necklace underneath his halberk, the silver charm displaying the crest of the noble Starvale family.

“I have in fact decided that I will be taking Bastien and Godfrey with me,” Theo responded as he gently set his halberk on the bench.

“Fantastic,” Enoch replied.

“Great,” Josiah smiled, then trailed off as he saw Theo's raised eyebrows. “I mean… damn… sad I’ll be missing it…”

Enoch chucked a glove at Josiah which hit the knight in the face and caused an uproar of laughter. Through his own howling, Theo watched the Herculean Ivor rustle Enoch’s windswept hair out of its near-perfect condition. The simple gesture was gentle, something the burly knight cared about a lot. Theo had seen with his own eyes the violence Ivor inflicted not just with his sword but with his bare hands. Ivor seemed to be more a gentle giant with his breathy, quiet bass of a voice and his bright smile, but his eyes were as blue as bruises and his short hair blonde as ash. It was, at the same time, horrifying and heartwarming.

It was even more so when one knew where he came from. Ivor never discussed it much if at all, but Theo had made it his business to know when he was recruiting him. The knight was of the most humbling background, coming from next to nothing. Ivor still refrained from discussing exactly where he hailed from, but offered to Theo the knowledge that he fought tooth and nail to work his way into the grimy, bone-chilling underground fighting rings of Serine’s Hope, one of the outermost districts of Vale Serine. Theo, and the rest of the knights too, respected the boundaries set forth, but one couldn’t help wondering what made him change his surname to Fontiaq.

“Alright, alright!” Bastien called from his locker. “Who’s the fucker who thought this was funny?”

It was a few moments before Bastien rounded the corner for the big reveal. In his hands he held up one of Cassandra’s dresses, sending the men back into a howling fit. Theo was on the verge of tears, rendering him unable to make any hilarious comments. The rugged knight’s stubble twisted into a scowl, his blue gray eyes looking upon the knights with disappointment.

Enoch, wiping tears from his face, managed to spit out, “Got yourself a fancy ball to get to, Bast?”

“You best be back before midnight,” Josiah cackled. “No prince wants to kiss a knight in armor!”

“Ha ha, hilarious,” Bastien’s voice remained calm with his usual gruffness mixed in. “Seriously, where’re my clothes, guys?”

The only response was continued laughter. Bastien, in turn, let out a heavy sigh as he ran his free hand through his long, almond brown curls. While the rest of the group was still incapacitated with laughter, Godfrey popped his head around the corner and said, “No worries, friend. I’ll help you look.”

Bastien nodded his head in silent thanks and said to the rest of them, “I want you all to know you suck and can fuck off.”

“Don’t be like that!” Enoch called after him. “It’s only a joke, mate.”

“I feel like since I’ve been banned from participating in pranks, I should not be the target of them anymore. It’s not fun.”

It was true, the knight had been removed from the running due to an absolutely masterminded plan that ended in disaster. It had simply been referred to as the Great Prank since the queen had not so subtly forbidden them from speaking about it. The mass destruction it caused was both epic and concerning, and ultimately proved that Bastien’s genius was too dangerous to be allowed to ever pull a prank again.

“Sorry, mate,” Enoch replied. “Everyone’s fair game, you know the rules.”

Bastien shook his head in defeat, and walked back to his locker. As soon as he was out of sight, the four remaining looked at each other to silently ask who pulled the prank. Josiah smiled sheepishly, his way of claiming responsibility. Ah, quiet but dangerous that one was.

Stifling his laughter, Theo grabbed the armor laying on the bench next to him and crossed over to the lockers so he could change. The lockers sat behind a few rows of weapons displays– the final display being a collection of hunting spears– and there one could find Bastien and Godfrey bustling about. Theo watched out of the corner of his eye as Bastien tried hanging up Cassandra’s dress on the spears without tearing it. Godfrey, the sensible one, simply muttered a “give it here” and took the dress into his hands.

Godfrey was different from the rest of the crew in many ways. It was not his looks per se, but the way he acted, the way he carried himself, even the way he fought. The heavy accent plaguing his speech hailed from his origins in the Mariposa Archipelago, one of the smallest kingdoms in Elysium as it was just a small collection of islands. Despite the slander, rumors, and all around negative talk of Mariposa, Godfrey never once shied away from the place he was born and raised. He was proud to come from the Archipelago, and he often claimed his talents were forged from the fires of his homeland.

Bastien frantically rifled through his locker, then the others as well, but to no avail. Godfrey took his time, handling the dress with gentle care. Of course, he knew if he did otherwise then tragedy would befall him. Even the slightest tear and Cass would make good on her promise to slowly and painfully dismember anyone who ruined her clothes, and the physician’s apprentice was practically threatened into helping in the coverup.

In the few times Theo had extensively interacted with Terran, he’d actually said some pretty comical things about the knights. As Terran said, Godfrey looked like he was ‘a mound of terra cotta finely sculpted by the gods into a glorious being of pure muscle.’ Theo may not have been attracted to men, but he couldn’t disagree with the statement either— what with Godfrey’s luscious midnight waves slicked cleanly back and his tender, smokey black eyes. Though Enoch was often labeled the most attractive due to his charming personality, he and Godfrey were constantly contending for the title as far as looks went. And it was especially fun when the knights had Terran debating the argument.

In any case, Theo watched how the knight tenderly handled his princess’s dress, calmly suggesting places that Bastien should search for his clothes. Whether it was his warm baritone voice or his serene disposition to the whole situation, Bastien��s franticness began to ramp down, his searching becoming less hurried and more efficient… until the three knights left behind began hysterically cackling like a band of hyenas. The three by the lockers all poked their heads around the displays only to find Bastien’s clothes being tossed around like children’s playthings. Bastien’s anxiety immediately spiked and he jumped in the middle trying to snag his clothes out of the air, despite the discouragement of Godfrey who could only stand there holding Cass’s dress. Theo couldn’t help but burst into a fit of laughter again at the sight of the knights playing monkey in the middle with Bastien’s clothes, the hilarity bringing the knight commander to tears.

As insane and chaotic as this group was, this hodgepodge collection of men was Theo's safe space. They trusted each other with their lives everyday. No secrets, no worries, no judgment. There were, of course, boundaries as with any relationship, but there was little that the knights didn’t share with each other. They were his best friends— his brothers— and a far better family than the one Theo left behind. So he laughed, he felt true joy, and he enjoyed every little moment with them. They lived as if each day was their last, and they knew better than anyone that it very well could be.

Through his tears, Theo saw a flash of pink and it drew all his attention away from the chaotic knights. The rest of the knights fell into silence as well when they heard Theo's laughter stop, curiously peeking over their shoulders to see what ceased the howling fit.

“Hey, Evie,” Theo said, quickly wiping away his tears. “Uh, what do you need?”

Evie stood there innocently, glancing between each of the knights before responding.

“I want to go to the gardens.”

-> next chapter

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colin-86sc2 · 2 years ago

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4/23/2023

i am tired breakfast was french toast (1 slice) lunch was chicken nuggets dinner was roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, and jell-o (product placement???(thanks grandma)) the day started with the cousins all wanting to play tennis so i got out the stuff and played some tennis that exercise induced asthma was kickin my butt again it was a lot of fun anyways, though they left around 3 to drive the 8 hours back to their place, and i feel sorry for them but i am now apparently their favorite cousin tomorrow i start work again, i am hoping dearly that i can handle it its the same amount of hours as my last one, but with one less day a week unfortunately another person working there will be someone i knew from my old job that tried to psychoanalyze me and not just that, he felt the need to tell me what he thought to my face without asking first so yeah other than that, im just waiting for a keychain, a new phone case, and a laptop then i get paid then i buy better work shoes than the ones my brother used when he was a pizza cook today i liked my willingness to go along with kids that can be difficult to do to that one person who liked yesterdays journal entry: my goodness your blog is dedicated i have to assume it was a mistake bc i am not evan peters

#journal #journal entry #journaling

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manwhacrossoverfamilybecauseyes · 2 years ago

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Romour has it

"Have you heard?"

Juvelian isn't one to eavesdrop, but she just can't help herself. Aylet is talking to Hari. Their voices are very hushed and barley hearable, but Juvelian will manage.

"What?" Hari sounds very interested.

Aylet chuckles. "Apparently, Felix Heylon and Irene Padalian are dating."

Hari gasps. "No way!"

The pinkette laughs. "Yes! They are seen together a lot, and they are really touchy." Aylet leans back. "It's confirmed that Lord Felix likes someone, or so I've heard from Miss Louise."

Hari gasps again. "He does? So that means it's true?" The younger girl shrugs. "Miss Louise told me that sir Yuri told her that sir Noah overheard Irene tell Melissa that she likes Felix." The silver haird girl nods.

"My sister, Yona, told me that Irene and Felix are very close." Hari looks up. "Perhaps it's true."

Juvelian can't believe it. It can't be right? Not when Felix seeks her out all the time and always treats her nicely. Not when he smiles at her so much. Not when he looks at her in that way.

Not when he told her that he liked her.

"Juvy!" Jeanette calls out. Right, Juvelian told her she'd be gone only for a little. The silver haired girl jumps up and rushes to her brunette friends side.

Jeanette brightens up when she meets Juvelians blue eyes. "There you are! I thought you ditched me." Cayena klicks her tongue. "Us. I thought you ditched us." Jeanette corrects herself.

Cayena grabs Juvelians wrist. "Let's go, the show is about to begin!" The two girls of obelian nobility drag Juvelian to the magic department battle grounds.

Just yesterday was Juvelian super excited. Felix had asked her to cheer for him, but now all she can think of is him and Irene.

She knows that it's probably just baseless romours. The children of two very powerful families are always great to pair up after all.

But why not her? Juvelian is a princess. Felix spends most of his free time with her. She'd be perfect for the job as his girlfriend.

"It's Jeremy!" Jeanette's exited voice pulls Juvelian out of her thoughts. Right, the agriche boy is Jeanette 'boyfriend'. "Hi! Do your best!"

Cayena rolls her eyes. She obviously couldn't care less. "Even if he does his best, the chance of him winning against the helion boy is small to non at all." Says the blond.

Juvelian nods. Felix is amazing. He had mastered shape shifting magic already in his first year at the academy. That's level four magic!

"Don't be like that, Yeny! I can still cheer for him." Defends Jeanette.

Cayena rolls her eyes. "Sure, just don't cry about it when he loses."

Maybe Juvy should say something. Tell them not to fight, but she's bored, and the idea of them fighting is cheering her up just a little bit.

He eyes wander through the grandstands. She recognizes Claudia almost immediately. Next to the white-haired girl stands one with brown hair and bright golden eyes. Both seem to be chatting about something very excitedly.

"Is something wrong?" Asks Jeanette concerned. "You seem kinda out of it."

Juvelian looks onto the ground. They're her friends, she can tell them. "I heard a romour." As soon as the words leave her mouth, she feels stupid. Trusting a stupid romour with no real evidence except for the fact that Irene might like Felix. How old is she? "No, forget it."

Cayena shakes her head. "I won't. It's bothering you, right?" Juvelian nods. "Good, then tell us."

Juvelian takes in a deep breath. "Do- Would you say that me and Felix are... Well, you know..."

Both of the other girls look at each other and then shrug. "Not sure what you mean."

The silver haired girl plays with the skirt of her uniform. "Dating. Would you say we could be considered to be dating?" The cousins once again look at each other, but this time they nod.

"Yeah, it sure sounds like you are. Why?" Cayena seems interested now. She always liked drama as long as she wasn't involved.

"Like I said earlier, I heard a romour." Juvelian leans closer to the railing. "Apparently, Felix and Irene Padalian are dating... But that can't be right?

Jeanette shakes her head. "Of course not!" She pats her friends shoulder.

"Unless he's two-timing," Cayena chimes in.

Jeanette gasps and hits Cayenas shoulder. "How could you say that!"

Cayena isn't wrong. It's just that Felix isn't the type of guy to do that. He isn't. Juvelian refuses to view that as a possibility.

When Juvelian looks up, her eyes meet those of Irene. The brunette smiles before looking back at Claudia.

A pang of jealousy bubbles up in Juvelian. She never talked to Claudia. It's kinda unfair. Why doesn't Felix introduce her?

Perhaps he is two-timing?

No, not Felix. Erudian would never be friends with a guy like that. There is no way. "Look, it's Felix!" Jeanette laughs.

The silvernette looks down to the ”battlefield“. He looks through the stands and smiles as soon as he meets Juvelians eyes. He winks at her.

Not at Irene.

It feels like she's winning. Juvelian smiles back at Felix. She then notices a weird expression on his face. Did something happen?

"It's unfair!" Jeanette is complaining again. "How come Felix keeps winning? Jeremy trained so hard!"

Cayena rolls her eyes. "I told you not to complain when he loses."

Juvelian laughs. "Felix is just talented."

Cayena hums. "Also, he was being cheered on by his two girlfriends."

Jeanette glares at her again. "Don't listen to her, Juvy! I'm sure the romours are based around a misunderstanding and have no actual ground!"

The girls leave the stadium. In front of it stands Felix... With Irene.

Juvelian feels a knot in her throat. Irene is blushing at Felix, who doesn't seem very bothered by it. Jeanette looks at her friend with concern.

Juvelian balls her hands to fists. She's not going to run away from it. Maybe she misunderstood, but if she didn't, this would mean that either he's cheating (which is unlikely) or that this girl is trying to steal her boyfriend.

So Juvelian walks over when something hits her. They aren't dating. So Felix wouldn't be cheating. He's not doing anything wrong. He never clarified in which way he likes her.

Maybe she's doing something wrong?

"Juvelian!" It's Felix's voice. He seems happy as he walks up to her. Irene is following close behind him with a confused expression.

Felix wraps his arms around the younger girl and whirles her around. "I won!" He looks so happy. Like he wants to be praised.

Juvelian laughs. "Yes, you did." She pats his head. "I knew you would, but it was still amazing."

She looks at Irene. The brunette just stands there, a little sad and jealous. Juvelian feels a little bad. "Lady Irene, correct?" She asks.

Irene looks surprised and nods. "Yes! You must be Juvelian, Erudian's little sister, right?"

Juvelian nods. "Yes, correct. My brother told me about you."

Irene blushes a little. Juvelian suddenly wonders if she is just a very blushful person. Perhaps she doesn't even like Felix?

"I hope he only told you good things." The golden eyed girl laughs akwardly. Juvelian nods with a bright smile. Erudian did talk nicely about her.

Felix coughs to get the attention back on him. "I apologize, lady Irene, but I want to talk to Juvy." The silvernette looks at him, surprised. He usually doesn't use her nickname in front of others.

Irene backs away. "Alright! I'll see you tomorrow, Felix!" Her voice is so forcefully joyous. It doesn't seem like Felix realizes it.

Felix waits until Irene is gone. Juvelian turns around to tell her friends to leave them too, but they are already gone. She wonders when they left.

Felix pulls her closer and leans his head on her shoulder. "You seemed angry earlier." Is all he says.

Juvelian is a little embarrassed as she shakes her head. Why did he have to notice? "I wasn't."

Felix hums. Juvelian hugs his shoulders. She's afraid he leaves. It's not reasonable, she knows.

"In a relationship, you need to communicate, remember that, alright?" Her mother's voice reminds her. A deep sigh escapes her.

"Felix... I- It's stupid. I know that." She starts, and Felix shakes his head. "If something bothers you, it's not stupid."

She smiles. He's always like that. "I heard a romour. Apparently, you and Lady Irene are dating." Felix laughs. It's loud and joyful.

It takes a while, but he stops eventually. He then looks up to meet Juvelians eyes. "Never. I like you, not her." Juvelian can feel herself blushing. Does this count as a confession.

"Me too. I like you too."

Felix nods. "I know that." He kisses her forehead, then her cheeks, and then her forehead again.

Juvelian wraps her hands around his neck and pulls his lips onto hers. "Kiss me here." Is what she says. She watches with satisfaction as he goes red like a tomato.

He clears his throat and does as he's told. "If you want me to."

Juvelian feels like she's floating. It's crazy that all it took for him to kiss her was asking. Now that she thinks about it, it was obvious.

Someone else clears their throat. "Felix." It's Erudian, and he doesn't sound happy. Within seconds there is a lot of space between Felix and Juvelian.

Felix smiles in a terrified way. "Hello, my best friend, the man who'd I trust with my first born, the man i would trust with my life."

Erudian sighs in a way that makes you think he lived for decades and has seen all the bad in the world. "Get your hands away from my sister and disappear."

The younger man nods wnd salutes. "Ay ay sir."

C h a r a c t e r s a r e f r o m:

Aylet(a transmigrators privilege)/Hari(Beware of the bothers)/Jeanette (Who made me a princess)/Cayena(The villainess is a marionette)/Juvelian (Father i don't want to get married)/Felix & Irene & Claudia(I have become the hero's rival)/Erudian(Seduce the villain's father)

⟨Manhwa Crossover Family Trees⟩

⟨Felix x Juvelian Family - Masterlist⟩

#manwha family crossover #manwha #felix x juvelian #gues who my favorites are #correct it's edwin x irene #anyways #unrequited feelings #not juvys or felixes though #gossip because ofc there's gossip #i love irene but i have to fo it #it's for thier future #winchester school au

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rowanaelinn · 3 years ago

Text

Slipped away - chapter one

prompt - single parent @rowaelinscourt

“It’s cold,” Fenrys complained, sitting on Rowan’s new couch.

“We are in the north, you dumbass.” Lorcan snapped. “Of course it’s colder than what you’re used to.”

“Doranelle is in the North too.”

Lorcan took a deep breath, apparently, he wasn’t feeling very patient today. “I don’t know, Fenrys, it might be because we are on a whole other continent, maybe?”

Rowan snorted at his friends, Fenrys was playing dumb just to annoy Lorcan and as always, it worked. They were enjoying their last day of rest before their first day of work tomorrow. It wasn't a new job, not really. The company they worked for had just moved from Doranelle to Orynth, and of course, Rowan and the other employees had to move too.

Rowan knew that with the opening of the new Valg Industries headquarters the next few months would not be smooth sailing, but he believed in himself. Maeve was so confident that she even promoted him. It was a new beginning for Rowan and he was happy about it, his life in Doranelle was the perfect definition of dull. Not that he hated it, he was just glad to be away from his cousins. He didn’t hate them, they were just so… meddlesome.

Rowan walked into his kitchen and opened his fridge, empty. He cursed under his breath. The few bottles of beer he had last night ran out very quickly, they didn’t even have leftovers of the pizza they ordered yesterday. Which was a problem because Rowan was starving and there was no way he would order food for the second night in a row, it had already bothered him to do so yesterday.

He checked his watch, six in the afternoon. He was pretty sure the grocery store didn’t close before seven, he had little time if he wanted to go there. He needed to be quick. “Going shopping, be gone when I come back,” Rowan told his friends as he picked his car key. He needed some time alone but he knew they would probably still be there when he came back, his friends weren’t ones to listen.

He slammed the front door behind him and got into his car. It still smelled new, the leather still a little too stiff under Rowan's body. He had gotten the car yesterday, he had decided that if he was going to change his life, he would do it all the way. Nothing in his life in Doranelle set foot in Terrasen except his friends and his job.

Rowan lived in an upscale residence in downtown Orynth. Between his family's money and the money he was making even before he was promoted, he could afford it. He didn't want to live in the apartments that the company offered to its employees, he needed some peace and quiet.

So Rowan took a house that was too big for him, in a suburb full of family, as if he wasn't almost thirty and wasn't still alone. He had never felt so out of place, but he would get used to it.

He had chosen the opposite of the life he had until then, wanting space. He had left to forget.

When he pulled into the grocery store parking lot, Rowan could have sworn he saw a familiar face. He blinked and it was gone, he shook his head. How could he recognize anyone if he had never been to Terassen? He needed to sleep.

He got out of his car and shivered slightly. Maybe Fenrys was right, it wasn't cold but it was definitely colder than Doranelle at this time of year.

He walked into the store, it was large. Everything in Terassen looked big. The houses, the buildings, the stores... Rowan could get used to it.

He took a basket from the entrance and went straight to the vegetables. The store was almost empty considering the time of day, he could hear a couple of kids laughing in the background but otherwise, everything was quiet. It felt good to be away from the world.

He selected enough vegetables for three days, preferring to shop for short periods rather than a whole week. It made less mess and allowed him to control what he ate. That's one of the things he needed, control.

"Gotcha!" He heard a woman's voice laugh rather loudly.

"Noooo!" A little girl said and Rowan heard her laugh and ran. Gods, children were loud.

A few seconds later, something hit Rowan's legs. He looked down to find a little girl. She was a brunette with blue eyes. She laughed and stood up. "Sorry," she said before running off again to lose whoever was trying to catch her, but it was too late. A tall blonde lady came running up and threw herself on top of the little girl, grabbing her under the arms and throwing her over her shoulder. The little girl screamed with laughter and tried to struggle as the adult spun around. "Stop!" the child screamed but continued to laugh.

Rowan felt like he was intruding but he couldn't stop the tip of his lips from rising slightly. The adult stopped spinning but did not let go of the child, the little one wrapped her arms around the woman's neck and hid her head. "Hey, little monster, did you apologize?" She asked, her eyes still on the little one. Rowan couldn't see her face with the hair hiding it. "Huh?" She shook the little girl slightly but she refused to look at her.

"She did," Rowan said, not wanting the little girl to get into trouble. When the woman looked at him, his heart stopped beating and his whole body froze. It was impossible.

Did the gods hate him that much? What had he done to them for them to punish him like that?

Her eyes widened and he noticed her body going still, her hold around the girl tightening. Her mouth opened and then closed.

As he had been years before, he was struck by the intensity of Aelin Galathynius’s gaze. These blue and gold eyes were mesmerizing, had always been and always will.

His only thought was that she looked older, but since he had last seen her when she was nineteen it wasn’t surprising. She looked like a woman now, and womanhood suited her. She was wearing a white shirt and black skirt, a simple outfit for a working woman, and yet Rowan couldn’t help but stare longer than necessary at her body. If she had been beautiful seven years ago, she was magnificent now.

He wanted to punch himself in the face, so much work to forget about everything that happened, so much work to ignore the guilt and pain just to be ruined by a meeting in a grocery store.

“Rowan,” she breathed.

“Hi, Aelin.”

The little girl looked at him and he noticed everything she had in common with Aelin. Her eyes first, and the same nose and lips. They looked so similar.

Suddenly he was struck by the truth standing in front of him. While it had taken everything in him to try to forget about her, Aelin had moved on. And she had a daughter. Aelin had a life and if the laugh she let out a minute before was any indication, she was happy.

“What are you doing here?” He blurted.

A snort. “What am I doing in a grocery store?”

“In Orynth.”

“This is my hometown.” She said, her voice so tight he couldn’t guess what she might be feeling. It had always been so damn hard to read her. Orynth was her hometown? How come he never knew that? He knew she was from Terassen, her accent betraying her, but didn’t know exactly where. He knew so much about her but at the same time so little. That little truth hurt. “What are you doing here?”

“I moved. For work.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Fuck, that was awkward. “How old is your daughter?” He asked, nodding toward the small girl playing with Aelin’s hair. Aelin looked at her and her expression softened a little.

“Oh, no. She isn’t my…” She took a deep breath. “She’s Aedion and Lysandra’s daughter. I’m just babysitting for the night.” Right, Aedion. That’s why the small girl looks so much like Aelin. “Remember Aedion?”

Of course, he did, last time he saw the man Rowan got his nose broken and a black eye. He wouldn’t forget his old friend so soon. But Rowan didn’t care about that, right now he only cared that Aelin, in fact, didn’t have a daughter. It was easier to breathe suddenly. “Yeah.”

“But she’s four,” Aelin said and he knew it was only so she had something to say. Talking was awkward but the silence was worse.

Before he could say anything else, someone interrupted them by hitting Aelin’s legs, hugging them. This girl was blonde, Ashryver blonde. Gods, how many children did Lysandra and Aedion have?

The youngest paused on the ground and did not waste time before leaving from where she came. Aelin seemed to forget Rowan's entire existence as she knelt down to face the child, though she looked even tenser than a few minutes before.

"Hey, pumpkin, what's going on?" She asked softly, delicately taking the girl's grip to force her to look at her. "Tell me."

"Asper pulled my hair!" The girl cried and Aelin smiled.

"Did you try to tickle his neck?" She asked, making Rowan choke. Aelin didn’t spare him a glance. He wanted to ask her why she wasn’t punishing this Asper for pulling hair but he guessed Aelin would beat him up if he questioned how Aedion chose to raise his children. “You know how sensitive he is.” She smiled at the child. The girl sniffed heavily and Aelin used her sleeve to dry her tears. "Go back over there, I'll be there in two minutes." The child nodded briskly and before she left, she turned her head to Rowan.

His blood ran cold as green eyes fixed on him.

She looked like Aelin on the little one before, of course, but not only that. Did she... No. Lysandra had green eyes too. Rowan could have sworn that Lysandra's eyes were much lighter, but he hadn't seen her in seven years. He was wrong. He had to be wrong.

"Hi!" She said with a big smile. She was missing a tooth in the front, but that didn't take away from her charm.

Rowan swallowed, "Um, Hi." He managed to smile but he couldn't help that she looked too little like Lysandra.

“Are you a grandpa?” The girl asked and Rowan choked. “Only grandpa has grey hair.” She smiled and looked proud of herself. Silver, his damn hair is silver, not grey.

"Go ahead, Helia," Aelin said before Rowan could answer, her voice firm. She pushed the little one toward the alley away from Rowan. Aelin stood up when the little one was gone and his eyes shot to hers.

"It was nice to see you again," she said but he knew she was thinking the exact opposite. Rowan's heart was beating so loudly that Rowan could hear it pounding in his ears.

"Aelin," He called to her, stopping her in her tracks. " Just how... How old is she?"

"Bye, Rowan." Her voice left no room for questions, but he didn't care. He didn't care about what happened in college and now wasn't the time to start.

"Answer me." Not a question and she knew it. He could swear he saw the gold ring in her eyes flutter, a sign he had learned to recognize as anger. Well, let her be angry, he deserved answers.

"Ace, is everything okay?" A man with nearly black hair and sapphire blue eyes asked him. A boy a little taller than Helia was sitting on the man's shoulders and when Rowan saw his green eyes...

He had to be wrong.

"Aelin?" The man asked again as Aelin hadn't looked at him yet, her gaze still on Rowan.

"Yes." She replied with her voice cold. "My friend was just leaving, right?"

The way she said the word "friend" was anything but friendly. Fuck, he wanted to yell at her, he wanted to demand answers now, but he didn't. The two little girls were behind Aelin and the man, watching what was going on.

"Answer my question first."

"Get out." She gritted through her teeth.

"Why do you have your angry voice, Mommy?" The little boy asked and suddenly Aelin's eyes softened and she looked at the boy. She grabbed him by the underarms and took him in her arms.

Mommy.

Her son.

Clearly not the son of the man next to Aelin. He looked about six, maybe even seven.

No. That was impossible. It was only one night. One night he had spent the last seven years regretting...

“Mommy’s not angry.” She smiled as she caressed her son’s hair. Their… No, her son. For all Rowan knew, Aelin only had a thing for men with green eyes. It meant nothing. “But she’s busy right now, go back to the car with uncle Dorian, okay? Then we’ll eat pizza, that’s your favorite, right?” The three kids cheered and Aelin gave her son to the man, Dorian.

“You okay?” He asked, touching Aelin’s shoulder. Rowan didn’t know why but he wanted to slap the man.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in two minutes.” She reassured him and he nodded, letting Aelin’s son on his shoulder as he held the two girls by their hands and walked back to the parking lot. Rowan wanted to stop him, wanted to ask that boy and girl how old they were but they were just kids. He couldn’t scare them. This was between Rowan and Aelin.

“I deserve the truth.”

“You don’t deserve shit. Not after what you did.”

“It was between me and you, not between me and-” He was cut off by her.

“There is nothing between you and them. Do you understand me? Nothing.” Them. So the girl…

He couldn’t take it. She had made it clear already, deep inside he knew the answer to his question but he needed to hear her say it. “Are they mine?” He finally asked and if looks could kill, Rowan would be buried already.

“They are mine.”

Why did she have to be so fucking complicated? He clenched his fists, trying to keep his anger inside him but it was so damn hard. “Am I their father?”

Both of them were breathing heavily and Rowan was glad for the empty store now, not wanting to cause a scene. “No.” Her voice was lethal and Rowan’s mind froze. He didn’t know if it was a good thing or not. But they looked so much like him… “If your question is whether or not you knocked me up, the answer is yes. But you are not a father. Never been and never will be to them.”

They were his. Rowan’s entire world stopped and he wasn’t sure how he kept standing. He was a father, no matter what Aelin said.

“How could you hide this from me? How could you take them away from me?” He was screaming now. He didn’t care about causing a scene anymore, he didn’t care about anything but the two kids in a car outside. “They are my kids!”

“You don’t even know their fucking name!” She was screaming too, cheeks red. Fuck, why did she always had to be the most attractive when she was angry? He hated her so fucking much. “I am the one who’s been raising them alone for almost seven fucking years!” She didn’t look alone, not with that Dorian by her side.

Suddenly, he knew Aedion didn’t punch him for what he and Aelin shared the last night he saw her. He had punched him for getting his cousin pregnant. He knew Aelin hadn’t been honest about what happened between them after the sex or he would have been dead by now, so now he was sure it was because of the kids. He had deserved it, deserved more than the five punches Aedion managed to give Rowan before Fenrys and Lorcan separated them.

“I will die before I let you treat my children like you treated me. Get out of Terassen, nobody wants you here.”

She left storming out of the store without her groceries and Rowan was frozen. He knew he should go back after her and apologize, he should beg her for a chance to know his kids but he couldn’t move.

He had children, twins. And Aelin had been raising them alone because of him, because of what happened.

He was so fucking screwed.

He didn’t care about what Aelin told him, he wouldn’t go anywhere. It was too late to save what could have happened between him and Aelin, it had been too late since the night she left his apartment in tears. But it wasn’t too late for his children and he would fight for them.

————

@sheharahu // @morganofthewildfire // @thestoriesyoutell // @fromthelibraryofemilyj // @swankii-art-teacher // @itsforeverinnocent-blog // @becarefuloflove // @imnotsogoodatthis // @rowaelinismyotp // @a-court-of-milkandhoney // @feysand-loml // @surielandiareendgame // @live-the-fangirl-life // @story-scribbler // @loves-books // @fangirlprincess09 // @theysayitscrazy // @hellasblessed

#rowaelin #rowan whitethorn #rowan x aelin #rowaelin fanfiction #throne of glass fanfiction #rowaelin month #rowaelinmonth #slipped away

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luninosity · 3 years ago

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Luni, I was just actually re-watching x-men and re-reading your fics and it dawned on me I haven't checked your page in quite some time and I missed your presence and decided to check tumblr...then I read the awful news. My condoleances to you and your friend's family 😔 Be strong, my thoughts are with you.

Yeah, we're still sort of...in...processing mode? Like, it doesn't feel real even now. But thank you! Thoughts, care, all of that - thank you. I sort of did the post here because I was trying to process - thank you all for helping. For listening. I love you. If you don't know, this is about the pretty big thing that just happened here - (I used to know how to do cut text here but apparently I don't know how right now)

Friend C - we shall go with C from here on out -

Like, Awesome Husband would not have his career without C. C hired him. (If you all don't know, Awesome Husband works for a JPL subsidiary manufacturing lab - like, where they *manufacture* the sensors etc that get put onto the shiny space things; Awesome Husband actually works in the IT department, so he is, as he puts it, in charge of keeping the internet/everything online running so the actual engineers can do *their* jobs, which I think is underestimating what *he* does, but anyway) (he also says please don't ask him about what the projects actually are, he just makes sure the lab is all internally humming along)

Anyway. C was the person who hired Awesome Husband. Who gave him his first real job, not an internship, which he'd had before.

We've been to C's twins' birthday parties. We went to Disneyland with him and his family...in like, 2019, the most recent time, pre-pandemic. C and his boyfriend at the time - not the one he married! and then divorced! we were at his wedding, too, and there for the divorce issues! - were at our wedding. (Yeah, it was a ride. There is some...tea...there, but not the point here.)

We were...less in touch on an everyday basis...after C left to start his own company, but Awesome Husband did some consulting work for them (actually, I did too! as a proofreader!), so we still, y'know - like I said above, we did Disneyland with him and his kids in 2019.

It's just. It's one of those things that. We thought - hey, we haven't got together in a while, of course, pandemic and all, but of course we will, of course -

And then he was in the hospital, and then we thought he'd be coming home - he posted optimistic social media things about being home for Father's Day! - and then, literally the day after that post -

As Awesome Husband said yesterday, it doesn't feel real yet. We weren't in, like, daily contact, anymore - so it's just this surreal feeling, like, we won't....ever?....get to?...anymore? ever again? like, we can't go, oh, it's been ages, can we meet up at Downtown Disney? we can't? do that?

I don't know. Awesome Husband said the worst part was having to tell his work colleagues, who, y'know, remember C before he left to start his company. AH had to tell the people who had kinda lost contact but had known C for like ten years. And he just had to...keep telling people, all day.

(Side note: the twins are with C's cousin, who was basically his sister - he was an only child, but close with her)

I...I don't even know how to end this post, honestly. I'm still doing all my daily life and job things - summer classes, and I am teaching my Monsters class - start tomorrow, or today if it's the 21st where you are - I've got two overdue book reviews, scholarly speaking -

I'm trying to get on with things. And thank you, for kindness. Thank you. It does matter. It always does matter: kindness, in the universe. Yes. Thank you.

Please do something you love, if you're reading this. Do something that makes you happy.

#answers #favoritedarkness #replies #life

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creativeashproductions · 4 years ago

Text

If I Stay Part One // Luke Patterson

Summary: A beautiful day Luke visits a record store to relive the times he would buy an album, but he finds more than memories. He meets you and a connection blossoms between you two and then Reggie and Alex as well. All is well until Julie discovers something.

Warning: Swearing, talk of death and car accident!

Words: 2.6k

A/N: This is based off the movie If I Stay and the movie Charlie St. Cloud. Sorry for not posting sooner, my sister in law along with my three nieces were in a car accident. Thankfully the kids are okay but my sister-in-law in currently in hospital due to minor injuries thus far.

TO BE TAGGED SEND AN INBOX PLEASE!

Masterlist

So, Julie’s life changed dramatically in the lost year and few months, firstly her family lost their mother. Secondly, Julie’s love for music faded until the melody and lyrics were haunting memories. Thirdly, after losing her place in the music program, she had to question her sanity. For in her garage lived three teenage ghosts to her disbelief and horror quite frankly; the ghosts grew on her so much she was in a band with them.

In the hours that Julie was attending school, the boys tended to tour the entire city. They enjoyed seeing the changes that had happened for the two and a half decades. Reggie really enjoyed the western-themed stores, even scaring a little girl with a floating cowboy hat that disappeared once on his head. Alex adored learning about the drastic changes within in the LGBTQ+ community, he had plans for when 2021 LA Pride came in June. Luke, of course, would go anywhere that had music such as music stores, record stores, concert venues and even followed a rock legend once.

“Ooh.” A voice spoke in the record store, “This would be the perfect gift.”

Luke turned to see you gazing at the Rock N’ Roll records with a passion in your eyes and an adorable smile that melted his heart. He couldn’t help but walk closer even if he had no clue if you could see him or not.

“Def Leppard? Definitely one of my favourite bands.” Luke spoke anticipating the usual one-sided conversation. His speculation shattered when you turned to face him with big eyes, “You can see me.”

You nodded your head, pushing your hands into your faded blue jeans glancing around the store, hoping the owner didn’t notice. To your relief the man was oblivious, Luke glanced over before stepping closer.

“You’re alive?”

“Mhm.” You spoke, removing a single hand to play with your burgundy jacket that cinched at the waist to give form. It was open to reveal a plain black shirt that left an inch of your midsection free, “I always wondered if ghosts were real. I got my answer.”

“This is so cool! My friend is the only person that can see my friends and me.” The grin was breathtaking on the teenage ghost. There was a connection between the two that was immediate and intense.

“At least you’re not alone.” You supplied turning to pick up the record, turning it around to read the tracklist. In the end, you decided you didn’t feel like buying it, replacing it you started for the front door.

A college-aged person walked in glued to the screen of the phone not replying as you mentioned a thank you before the door closed. Luke rushed to follow your steady pace in black hiking boots.

“Where are you going?” Luke questioned coming to the same stride as the girl that had taken his attention quickly. His interest had grown when he found he could hold a conversation with her.

“It’s a nice day. I thought I would go for a walk.” You replied, stopping to look around the street with curious eyes. Luke yearned for those eyes to look in his again because he swore he saw a galaxy in them, “Would you like to join me?”

Luke’s head was nodding in response with a new pep in his step as you walked down the street filled with all different kind of stores. Luke recognized Family Living Grocery store as the one that the Molina got their groceries, he and the guys had joined Julie on a trip once. It was one of his worst memories as a ghost, surrounded by snacks and food he couldn’t indulge in.

“So, what’s your story, Caspar?” You questioned stopping to look as at a beautiful dollhouse, “My cousin had one. We actually renovated it a while back for her unborn niece.”

“Caspar?” Luke teased, watching the nostalgia faded from your expression as you continued on the walk. His hazel eyes, greener at the moment, glittered at the different banter he had with you than the guys or Julie.

“Well, I don’t know your name!” You exclaimed turning the corner at a parlour with gorgeous stencilled artwork on the glass.

“Luke. My name is Luke. Hey! I know this shop!” Luke beamed, stepping back to take in the storefront. In the twenty-five years since he last saw it, the blue faded into a teal, but the door was still the same as it always was.

“You have a tattoo?” You asked, scanning his arms bare in the cut off shirt he wore. You couldn’t see any ink on his skin. Luke couldn’t help the smirk on his face at the blatant heated gaze.

“No. It was 1994. We just played our biggest gig at the time, and Bobby decided we should get tattoos.” Luke’s mouth twisted at the mention of his former friend, “Of course we were sixteen and Alex just about fainted in the shop. The guy took one look at Reggie and laughed at our fake IDs. Told us to come back in a few years.”

One of the few memories that weren’t tainted by the betrayal that Trevor Wilson had gone on to do a year after the tattoo fiasco. It was more than not being credited or his songs being stolen, but it was also that someone he wholeheartedly trusted turned his back on them. Luke frankly didn’t care how Bobby coped after that fateful night. Still, he changed his name and refused any mention of his previous music experience. That hurt a lot.

“So, you’re a ’90s kid.” You raised an eyebrow coming to a stop on the edge of the street, pressing the button to cross.

“Technically a ’70s kid. We died in ’95 a few hours before a life-changing gig.” The mood turned sombre as Luke thought back on that one night that life decided to raise both middle fingers at his dreams, “Death by a hot dog.”

The snicker fell from your mouth before you do anything about it but sobered up quickly in the view of his painful admittance.

“So, you’re seventeen?” You asked crossing when the crosswalk light flickered on. Your attention focused on crossing while listening to the teenager.

“Forever seventeen but I would eighteen physically, but if I had survived I would be forty-three.” Luke mused shoving his hands into his staple black jeans with the chains and his constant accessory of a blue rabbit’s foot.

“Oh, damn. I’ve seventeen as well.” You replied dodging pedestrians before humming a to a song you had heard recently but where you did was unknown. You didn’t want to bump into anyone.

Luke glanced down at his watch, somehow even in death it worked, noticing that it was around the time rehearsal would commence. The thought barely ended before a flash of light preceded Alex’s presence. You slightly jumped in response.

“Luke! Julie’s wondering where you are. We have rehearsal.” Alex was surprised that Luke wasn’t already at the studio. He was always the first one holding his guitar for the rest of them.

One glance at the girl beside Luke cemented a reason for his tardiness. Alex could see that you were the reason and a pretty reason too. Alex wished he had your jacket with such a beautiful colour, but the music was more important.

“Oh, man!” Luke panicked fearing that being late would cause Julie to leave the band after the whole school dance fiasco.

“So, Luke. I like your name by the way. I’m Y/N.” You greeted holding back from offering you a hand, your theory would have been proven correct. Ghosts can’t touch other people, all the movies portrayed that.

“Nice to meet you! I’ll find you soon!” Luke shouted seconds before Alex poofed them both away with a single hand on his bandmate’s shoulder.

A content smile appeared before you continued on your way, unaware of the lack of acknowledgement from people on the street.

The next few days, Luke would find you either in the record store or just out front during his free time. He hadn’t realized how lonely he was touring the music entertainment spots until he had your company. Soon you were joined by Alex and Reggie every once in a while.

The three were planning outings with their new lifer friend as Julie grabbed her songbook from her room. She was amused when the three wouldn’t shut up.

“What are you planning?” Julie questioned scanning their animated expressions, even taking in the slight change in Alex’s appearance.

Alex had a braided bracelet of the rainbow on his left wrist that definitely hadn’t been there yesterday. He even seemed calmer and less anxious, as well.

“What happened to Alex?” Julie questioned with a small smirk, “Did you bump into Willie?”

Alex shook his head, “No, Luke met this girl at a record store and then Reggie and I met her. She’s cool! There’s this app she showed us, and it had videos of anything you could imagine!”

Julie’s teasing smile faltered at the mention of Luke meeting someone before it returned once more. She pushed the feeling away as this girl had brought peace to the drummer.

“What’s her name?” Julie asked, pushing the songbook away to listen intently to the new piece of the boys’ afterlife. The three burst into stories of the girl.

“She took me to this cool place nearby where people store their horses!” Reggie burst out, clapping his head, “I already have a country song started! This is so a hit single for our future country album!”

Alex only released an exasperated sigh at Reggie’s idea that he voiced every single day since the beginning of the band. Luke was just used to finding sheets of songs from Reggie around the studio and often his songbook too.

“She also brought me a bag of clothing she had in her house that she let me go through. Apparently, her house is the place where cousins take their old clothing.” Alex supplied striking a pose in his new white sweater with a rainbow logo on the front.

Julie grinned at the positivity radiating off the two boys.

“Is she a ghost?”

Luke shook his head, “No. She’s alive.”

A spark of happiness flits itself inside of Julie before it dissipated because Flynn had already gently let the girl down about Luke.

“What’s her name! I’m gonna find her Instagram!” Julie took out her phone waiting as Alex supplied her the name. Her thumbs froze before she could type staring down at the black screen.

The name was familiar.

Laying on a bed on San Pablo Street was a girl with her eyes closed and a serene expression. This bed wasn’t just any bed in a home. Instead, this bed was one no one wished to be in. A bed with machines surrounding and right in the middle of those machines was Y/N.

The very girl that had met Luke, Reggie and Alex were in fact in the ICU of a hospital recovering in a coma.

“Why do you look like that?” Luke demanded as the colour drained from the lead singer of their band.

“Are you sure it was Y/N Y/L/N?” Julie gulped dread filling her veins as each boy nodded their head and the girl slumped, “I go to school with her. The thing is she’s been in a coma for two weeks now.”

You were outside the record store once more as the three ghosts appeared in front of you each looking the worst you had ever seen them.

“Did you lie?” Luke questioned stepping closer to the teenage girl that furrowed her brows in confusion, “You said that you are alive. Why did you lie?”

“Lie?” You asked, taking a step back from the odd energy the boys had. A look of distraught on each face, “What are you talking about?”

“Why are you here every day at this exact time. Never late, never early.” Alex questioned sick to his stomach as your brows came together.

“I- walk…” You trailed off thinking of the last week in deep thought paling as you had no recollection of going home or getting to the store. It was like you blacked out each time.

Actually, the last time you remember not being with the guys or at the store was two weeks ago.

“I don’t re…member.” You whispered, “I haven’t seen my family since…oh my god.”

Luke stepped closer, terrified as he reached out, hoping with his entire being his hand would go through you. It didn’t. Luke’s hand rested on your arm, still wearing that burgundy jacket. Your eyes flickered between his solid hand and the same outfit you wore for weeks now. Why would you be wearing a jacket and hiking boots in Los Angeles?

“My cousin had been saving up for a trip for her eighteenth birthday. She wanted to go skiing, so we split the cost between our families.”

As if a wall broke, you realized with horror that the college boy that hadn’t held the for you like you first thought. He hadn’t seen or heard you because in his world you weren’t there. No one had acknowledged you because they couldn’t see you just like they couldn’t see Luke.

“What else do you remember?” Reggie spoke up next, noticing that Luke was getting more upset. His eyes going so light the green appeared to be blue and glittered with tears and his heart dropping.

“My parents, my cousin and I were driving up the mountain in the rented car. There-“

Two Weeks Ago

Your head leaned again Lou’s head sharing the headphones connected to your phone blasting the carefully curated playlist. Lou had been living with your parents and you the last six months as her parents were travelling for work. It was a dream because she was like a sister already and vice versa; Lou as a surprise baby with her older sister being ten years older.

“We haven’t been to the slopes since we first got married.” Dad said glancing over at your mother in the passenger seat, “Didn’t we conceive-“

“Dad! Gross!” You shouted, wrinkling your nose as he glanced in the rear-view mirror to smile at your antics. Your mother’s laugh was probably one of your most favourite sounds in the world, it was warm like hot chocolate on a cold day.

“Did you see that video of the hologram band?” Lou asked, not paying attention to your family’s antics, “It’s super cool.”

“We still have half of our playlist to go through. You should show me when we get to the cabin.” You replied, “We could put it on the projector with the others.”

The others being your extended family, including the surprise of Lou’s parents. Your mother pointed out the snow on the mountain gaining everyone’s attention. It was beautiful compared to sunny Los Angeles.

Lou’s thumb was just about to click the video of Julie and the Phantoms against your wishes. You felt the fear before the yell, snapping your head up you watched as a pickup truck hit ice swerving into your lane. The screech of tires preceded the crunch of the vehicles hitting each other. Throughout the surrounding area, the echoes of the crash bounced off the mountains scaring birds away. Miraculously Lou’s phone survived the crash and played the electric video of ‘Edge of Great’ by Julie and the Phantoms. A song you would hum under your breath during your walks meeting the guys.

The snow turned red under four of five bodies. You lay nonconscious a stark difference in the burgundy jacket and black shirt you had painstakingly chosen that morning.

If I Stay Part Two (Final)

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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years ago

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My prompt is just more trans au. Various people reacting to baobei. Just i love trans au so much thank u for this gift.

Baobai Pt 1 - on tumblr, on ao3

“Oh, hey, you have a kid,” Wei Wuxian said, out of lack of any other conversational topics that weren’t ‘so are you here to kill us all?’. Kids were usually a good, neural topic, especially when they were that small. “Look at her, she’s so tiny! Her parents know you brought her out here?”

“She’s da-ge’s,” Lan Xichen said with a smile and a nod towards Nie Mingjue, who as tall and terrifying as always. He was glowering at the half-grown radish fields as if he was personally offended by them.

“Congratulations, Chifeng-zun,” Wei Wuxian said to him, hoping to stave off any impending violence. The baby was young enough that the mom was probably still in isolation recovering, and maybe hadn’t consented to said baby being brought to the Burial Mounds of all places - certainly Wei Wuxian wouldn’t have agreed to cart a small infant all the way from Qinghe, and he’d thought mothers preferred to remain near their children in the few months after birth - but Wei Wuxian was not really in a position to object.

Certainly not after the quick work Nie Mingjue’s saber made of all of his defensive arrays. That man was scary.

“Thank you,” Nie Mingjue said, and it was awkward for a moment until he added, “Pain in the ass to acquire.”

That made everything better: Wei Wuxian knew how to deal with snark. “Oh yeah? Carried her yourself, did you?”

“Ten fucking months,” Nie Mingjue said, and Wei Wuxian laughed and shot Lan Xichen a wink, figuring that his stupid joke about having given birth to A-Yuan had made the rounds. Funny, he wouldn’t have pegged Lan Wangji to be the sort of person to pass on jokes…

At that point, Nie MIngjue twisted his head around to look at Wen Ning and Wen Qing, who were hovering nearby, trying to hide A-Yuan behind their legs, and said, “She’s your cousin three times removed, if I have my family tree down right, so stop being queasy and let the kid come see her.”

“Fuck,” Wen Qing said, and abruptly sat down. “I’m sorry.”

Wei Wuxian had the distinct feeling he was missing something, especially when Wen Ning’s expression shifted from equally puzzled to outright horrified.

“It’s not exactly your fault, you’re not soldiers,” Nie Mingjue said, and glared at the radish field again. “But in all seriousness: let the kid see her.”

Wen Qing waved a vague hand at A-Yuan, who correctly interpreted it as permission and zoomed over to the baby as fast as his little legs could carry him. He was in that another-kid-how-cool phase that all kids had, and babies were a particular fascination.

“You’re cousins?” Wei Wuxian asked Nie Mingjue, feeling a bit weird about. Three times removed wasn’t close, but still…of all people...“With the Wen sect? You?”

Nie Huaisang made a strangled noise that from anyone else Wei Wuxian would have said sounded a bit like he was going to imminently stab someone.

Nie Mingjue just gave Wei Wuxian a look like he was an idiot.

“No,” he said very slowly. “I’m not.”

Wei Wuxian continued not to get it, right up until he glanced at Wen Ning who mouthed a name at him and – wait, but no, that’s impossible – but he’d have to be – wait, he was from Qinghe –

Wei Wuxian suddenly noticed that he had sat down on the ground as well at some point.

“Pain in the ass,” he said blankly. “Right.”

Nie Huaisang was glaring at him like he really was going to pull out his never-used saber to start chopping Wei Wuxian into bits, and honestly that might be a preferable option to the sheer awkwardness of having just put two and two together like that in front of so many people. Maybe he could use demonic cultivation to open the ground up beneath him? It’d never been done before, but then again, that was most things he did…

“Why are people so weird about babies?” Nie Mingjue complained, picking up the baby in one arm and a giggling and blissfully ignorant A-Yuan in the other, swinging them both around a bit. “They’re like – lumps of little people. We were all babies once. It’s not that weird.”

“You heard him,” Jin Guangyao said to Wei Wuxian with a smile that looked like it had daggers in it. “It’s not weird at all. Right?”

“Right!” Wei Wuxian said hastily.

Apparently scary people flocked together. Though, did that mean there something he was missing about Lan Xichen..?

Lan Xichen smiled at Jin Guangyao, who smiled back. That was really the only good thing about these discussion conferences, he thought – they were long and draining and he had to meet a lot of people he didn’t want to see (Sect Leader Yao ranked highly), but he got to spend a great deal of time with his sworn brothers, which he didn’t often manage. And, really, that made everything worth it.

“How are things going?” he asked in an undertone, scanning Jin Guangyao with his eyes. Madame Jin did not have the reputation for being a kind woman, especially not about her husband’s affairs, and he couldn’t help but worry.

“Manageable,” Jin Guangyao assured him, though it wasn’t really that comforting. “It helps that this conference isn’t at Jinlin Tower – less to arrange, less work to fall on my shoulders. It’s positively easy by comparison. When did you arrive? We’ve been here for a shichen already, setting up.”

“Just now. They’re still moving our things into our rooms –”

“Er-ge! San-ge!” Nie Huaisang’s voice rang out, sharp and clear and murderous; they both turned to look at him at once to try to determine if it was the sort of murderous that meant someone had bought out a painting he’d liked before he got there or if it someone had actually offended him. He had a fixed smile on his face, which boded no one any good. “I was just looking for you. I want to chat.”

“What happened?” Lan Xichen asked, looking around – they were more or less alone, and a quick hand-seal made it so that they wouldn’t be easily overheard. “Did someone do something to Baobei…?”

He couldn’t believe they still hadn’t named her, the poor thing.

(Jin Guangyao had briefly been lobbying for them to name her A-Shi, but then Nie Mingjue told him that if he wanted to have a girl named Nie Shi he ought to man up and sire her himself, and ever since then Jin Guangyao had been proposing different names entirely. Possibly he was concerned Nie Mingjue would take back the offer if he used up the name.)

“Surely not,” Jin Guangyao said. “In the middle of the Lotus Pier…?”

“Not Baobei,” Nie Huaisang said. “But your father just figured out who carried her, and he just – he put his hands – he said he had the right to check on account of da-ge having misled them –”

Lan Xichen observed, a little distantly, that he’d previously thought that the phrase ‘seeing red’ was an exaggeration, rather than a perfectly accurate description.

“Did da-ge rip him to pieces?” Jin Guangyao asked, sounding as if he was very much in favor of that result.

“He did not,” Nie Huaisang said. “You know how he is during these conferences; he’s far too reserved. Slapped his hands away but didn’t do anything else about it.”

“Surely that would put an end to it…?” Lan Xichen suggested, mildly hopeful, but the expression on Jin Guangyao and Nie Huaisang’s face did not fill him with much expectation.

“He’ll try something,” Jin Guangyao said flatly. His voice tremored briefly, full of rage even he couldn’t hide, and he gripped his hands together tightly. “He will try something.”

“Sect Leader Jiang will help us keep them separate for the conference,” Nie Huaisang said. “He still hasn’t figured out the details of Baobei’s parentage, I think he’s convinced himself that men just bear children – in some way that man is as dumb as a rock, same as when we were teenagers, I don’t know how anyone is that gullible – but he’s offended on da-ge’s behalf anyway. But when the conference is over for the evening…”

“It would be unfilial of me to plan my own father’s assassination,” Jin Guangyao said, and his eyes slide towards Lan Xichen, questioning. “But if you wanted to have a theoretical discussion regarding the security system at Jinlin Tower, and the weaknesses thereof…”

“Yes,” Lan Xichen said, putting aside all concerns regarding the morality of assassinations, and found that he didn’t regret the decision one bit. He’d barely tolerated that lecher when he had no choice, when he was Jin Guangyao’s father and a powerful sect leader. But putting his hands on da-ge – thinking of doing more – “Let’s have that...theoretical discussion.”

“I knew I could count on you two,” Nie Huaisang said with satisfaction. “So here’s what I was thinking –”

One of the worst days of Nie Huaisang’s life started quite normally – waking up when his brother lifted him bodily out of bed and slung him over his shoulder.

“Da-ge!” he yelped. “Da-ge, no – it’s too early –”

“If you stayed up late, that’s your own problem,” his brother said with the sort of purposeful cheerful sadism that only a person who actually enjoyed waking up with the sun to go train could employ. “I told you yesterday that we were going to be training this morning.”

“But da-ge –”

“You missed the last three days. You’re not missing today.”

But it’s so fucking early, Nie Huaisang thought despairingly, drooping into dead weight over his brother’s shoulder – not that that helped, of course. His brother was too damn strong.

“Are you sure you’re not taking out your feelings about getting fat on me?” he asked, poking at his brother’s somewhat-rounder-than-usual waist. “That peacetime bulge of yours hasn’t gotten any smaller, you know…”

In all honestly, Nie Huaisang was delighted by the small swell of his brother’s usually flat stomach. His brother wasn’t vain – his body was a tool shaped for purpose – and the idea that his brother had finally let go enough, whether by eating more or resting more, to actually gain some weight…

“Whatever you say, pork bun,” his brother said, and Nie Huaisang yelped and hit him because he was not a pork bun! No matter how pale or chubby he might become!

It was a hot day, which of course made going through the steps of training even more miserable than usual. His brother was patient as always, showing him the steps and then making him repeat them a few times before starting up his own morning training routine; after a while, they both got into a nice rhythm, swings and chops.

Training wasn’t that bad, especially when it meant he could spend more time with his always-busy brother. He still didn’t like it, and obviously he had a reputation to uphold, and yes, it was obnoxious to get up early...but it could be worst.

And then, just as Nie Huaisang was turning to tell his brother a joke he’d heard the day before, he saw his brother abruptly turn pale and fall over.

He even dropped Baxia.

“Da-ge!” Nie Huaisang screamed, a thousand ancient fears rearing their heads at once, and he rushed over at top speed. “Someone get a doctor! Quick!”

Not a qi deviation, not a qi deviation, don’t be a qi deviation, he prayed, dropping to his knees next to his brother, who was already waking up – eyes clear, not red, and looking more confused than anything else. He’s too young, I’m not ready, I can’t lose him, not him, not yet, please –

On Nie Huaisang’s instructions, some of the nearby retainers helped Nie Mingjue back inside, even though he was insisting that he was fine.

“You collapsed,” Nie Huaisang snapped at him. “In morning training. You are going to see a doctor, and that’s final.”

Nie Mingjue held up his hands in surrender, looking amused at Nie Huaisang’s uncharacteristic fierceness. His amusement faded into sympathy when he realized why Nie Huaisang was so tense – their father’s death had hit them both hard – and he pulled Nie Huaisang into his arms for a hug.

“It’s not that,” he said confidently. “Not yet. The doctor will tell you.”

The doctor’s face did something funny, though, when he listened to Nie Mingjue’s pulse. Not the oh-no-it-really-is-a-minor-qi-deviation sort of funny or even a nah-total-fluke-you’re-overreacting sort of funny, more of a what-the-fuck sort of funny.

“What is it?” Nie Huaisang demanded. He knew enough medicine – the entire Nie sect knew enough medicine – to understand most basic diagnoses, as well as what they might mean for future health. “What type of pulse?”

The doctor hesitated.

“Well?” Nie Mingjue said. “Spit it out.”

“…a joy pulse,” the doctor said. “About five months, I’d guess.”

For a moment Nie Huaisang didn’t understand. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what a joy pulse was – he did have female friends, some of whom were now mothers – nor that he didn’t know that his brother was capable of carrying, he’d known that forever.

It was just that his brother was an antisocial misanthrope. He didn’t have any lovers, as far as Nie Huaisang knew, which meant he shouldn’t have a joy pulse.

Besides, five months ago they were still at war! His brother took his duties far too seriously to waste time on a battlefield dallying with someone, anyone, and especially not if there was a major battle around that time. Five months ago there must have been one – which one was it?

Five months…the main force of the army had gone up from Xingtai to Shijiazhuang six months ago, and then there would have been – Yangquan.

Yangquan.

When his brother had been duped by false information into leading an attack on what should have been a mostly abandoned outpost, but which turned out to be in the middle of being reinforced by Wen Ruohan personally – when his brother had been captured – tortured – and even -

“Shit,” his brother said, presumably realizing at that exact moment that Nie Huaisang was capable of math and also dates and possibly even logic. “Doctor, you can go, thank you.”

Nie Huaisang didn’t even hear the doctor leave.

“Huaisang…didi…” His brother was trying to pull him into a hug, but Nie Huaisang didn’t want one, struggling unsuccessfully to get away. He didn’t want to be any closer to – to that – to the creature sitting his brother’s stomach, weighing him down; to what he’d thought was a sign of peace and good times and what was actually nothing more than yet another scar left by the war.

He’d actually been happy about it, and the thought twisted his stomach.

“Can you get rid of it?” he asked, voice strangled. “You can, right? It’s still early…”

“Five months is pretty close to quickening,” his brother said, wincing. “After quickening, the medicines don’t work as well. It might not be that easy.”

“Do you know how dangerous childbirth is?!” Nie Huaisang demanded. His mouth was moving on automatic; he wasn’t even thinking about what he was saying. He wasn’t thinking of anything, anything at all, because if he was thinking he’d have to think – he’d have to – his brother – “What if it kills you? You can’t let them kill you! Not after everything we did to avenge A-die!”

“I’m not going to die,” Nie Mingjue said, holding him tightly, his chin on Nie Huaisang’s head the way they always where when they hugged. “I’m a very good cultivator, Huaisang. My golden core will keep me healthy, even if I start bleeding…it won’t be like your mother. I promise.”

Nie Huaisang started shaking. “Da-ge,” he whimpered, pressing his face into his brother’s shoulder. “Da-ge, tell me…”

“Anything,” his brother promised, and he’d regret that promise in another moment, Nie Huaisang knew, the question would only cause him pain, but he needed to know. The second they were out of this situation his brother would clam up, pretend that nothing had happened and that it was all fine, so if he had questions – and he did – then he needed to answer them now.

“Was it – who was it? Was it him?”

His brother stilled.

“You said you’d tell me,” Nie Huaisang reminded him.

“…I don’t know,” his brother said. “I don’t – it could be. But it might be – someone else.”

There had been more than one, then. Nie Huaisang swallowed back bile, wanting to be sick. His father’s murderer had forced himself on his brother, and he’d let others do the same, and now they had to deal with the fallout.

“I want to kill them,” he whispered. “I want – I want them dead – all of them –”

“If it’s anything, I’ve made a pretty good head start on that already?” his brother offered, and of course his brother was trying to find some levity in a terrible situation. “We broke them, Huaisang. Even if some individuals remain, there’s no Wen sect left. If I do end up keeping it, the child won’t have a paternal family to lay a claim – they’ll be surnamed Nie. Another Nie, like you and me. You’ll be their uncle; you have to forgive them, it wasn’t their fault...you have to spoil them rotten.”

His brother’s thumb wiped away some of Nie Huaisang’s tears.

“You’ll be a good uncle, didi,” he murmured, pressing his lips to Nie Huaisang’s brow. “If the child is surnamed Nie, that’s all that matters.”

“People will know,” Nie Huaisang pointed out. “About you, about…I’m not the only one who can do math. We won’t…it can’t be kept quiet, can it? People will know. About you, about - what happened.”

“Let people know,” his brother, brave as ever, said with an indifferent shrug. “What do I care? In the end, it’s just another way to show that even when they threw everything they had against me, I still won.”

“What a charming child you have,” the young man from the mountain – Xiao Xingchen, he said his name was, and he was already famous despite having only been around for a few months – said, smiling down at her. “She’s beautiful.”

Nie Mingjue was not currently feeling especially kindly disposed towards human reproduction at the moment, being currently heavy with his second – the world needed more Nies, he wanted more Nies, children to keep Nie Huaisang company if that qi deviation he was promised ever actually turned up, and he had a very good list of cultivators with various pros and cons willing to help him introduce some more diversity into the Nie bloodline to try to minimize the chance of future qi deviations for his descendants, but at the same time he hated waddling around like a stuffed hippo with a bunch of people insisting that he not even think of physical exertion – but he nodded his thanks regardless.

At least for once someone wasn’t going to comment about the child’s parentage, he reflected wryly. There was only so much purposeful playing dumb a man could do, and the first year or so of his little baobei’s life – by the time they’d finally gotten around to trying to name her, the nickname had stick so firmly that they’d succumbed to reality and made her given name A-Bao, though of course, it being Qinghe, no one actually called her that – had really strained his tolerance in that specific regard.

It was the quickest way to avoid awkwardness, to pass along the information while avoiding conversations he didn’t want to have, but still…

Nobody brought up on a celestial mountain would know about Wen Ruohan, though. He was pretty sure of that.

“And I see you’re expecting another? Sometime soon..?”

“I am,” Nie Mingjue said. “Soon enough.”

Not soon enough. He wanted to go back to training – why did he keep getting high blood pressure no matter how much medicine he took?

“I see,” Xiao Xingchen said. “You’ll have to let me give you a gift of some sort. Do you have a favorite form of cloth?”

Nie MIngjue blinked at him. “Cloth?”

That was a strange gift. Did Xiao Xingchen think that his sect was so poor that he couldn’t cloth a child?

Xiao Xingchen – who was really quite young – blushed red, the color going all the way to his ears.

“I’m sorry for my presumption,” he said, then hesitated, before saying, very delicately, “Have you finished preparing the nest for the egg, then?”

#mdzs #nie mingjue #nie huaisang #wei wuxian #wen qing #wen ning #jin guangyao #lan xichen #xiao xingchen #my fic #my fics #baby dage #thevasthonk

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bunny-hoodlum · 3 years ago

Text

Asynchronous With You: Chapter 1

ship: naruhina

rating: teen (maybe mature later)

tags: Modern Day AU, Foster Siblings, Family, Angst, Unrequited Love, Poor Communication

summary: An awkward journey full of self-denial and missed moments between two foster siblings. Perhaps their love will find the right timing someday.

(The way overdue long-form version of the Foster Sib AU I wrote for @szajnie for Secret Santa 2020.)

music: Asynchronous With You by burokkurubeats & my playlist

He wasn't the first child.

Somehow he had expected to be.

A girl his age, age six, and her older cousin had already been living here for a year now.

They had family, they were just… deemed unfit.

Maybe they'll take them back, when they get their act together. He doesn't know. He only knows he doesn't have the luxury of hope that they do.

Nobody was coming back to get him.

And he had nowhere to go back to.

The foster lady with the ruby red eyes showed him his bedroom.

At first, Naruto thought Hinata and Neji were close, so much so that no one could ever be closer.

Then he thought it was their tactic to keep others out, self-preservation in blood.

Hinata was nice enough, but she never strayed far from Neji.

That was because he never let her.

She wasn't just fiercely loyal to him. She was scared of him.

He tried to get Neji in trouble. Kurenai-obachan needed to know. But Hinata stopped him. She told him not to split them apart. That she didn't mind Neji bossing her around. She would never be okay if she didn't know where her cousin was.

So he tried. But it was hard. He still picked fights with Neji.

That didn't make Hinata happier, either.

He still thinks it's Neji's fault when she finally breaks down, telling them both off before running to her room.

He runs after her, but she won't let him in.

He goes to his room and talks to her through his wall. He has to press himself flat against it, straining to hear any sound.

Could she hear him, too?

"I'll leave Neji alone, okay?" It's a bitter promise, because it makes him feel like he's surrendered when he did nothing wrong. But part of him also feels tired of this pattern day in and day out. He'd rather spend his time better.

The silence stretched passed the point of comfort, and he pictured tomorrow, a tomorrow where Hinata may hate him. Enough to shun him in his own home. And would he really do what he's always done to others to her? Would he really go that far for attention?

His unconscious concerns spilled out, running through his fingers before he could stuff the words back in and swallow them. "Hinata… can I bug you instead?" He flinches and freezes, and he waits.

It's faint, but he heard her.

"Sure," she said.

His shoulders lowered as he slouched down the wall, the tension leaking from his body and he smiled.

Their early years would be shaped by a secret language shared between the two of them from that moment on, where a pinch on the arm and a retaliatory swat was a polite exchange in the morning. Where a "missing" item from their bedrooms was an excuse to search the house together, and where a stolen item was an invitation to enter each other's bedrooms. Hinata really liked to show him her new collection of pressed flowers, and he really liked to show her his latest Gachapon figurine. Whenever that happened, it was usually one of those new things that went "missing" shortly after.

It wasn't that Kurenai-obasan didn't spoil him as much as them, he could have new things all the time, too. But she hadn't been planning on taking him, she hadn't been prepared for him. If he wanted more things, Hinata would have to have less.

And the time he could spend with her was more than enough for him.

____________________________

Halfway through their grade school years their secret games waned. Being in the same grade helped to keep them in touch throughout the day, but at lunch time she was Neji's, and after school she was Neji's. That's just how it was.

But they were maturing. Their experiences were expanding. They had so much to talk about.

But how could they? It had to be at bedtime. And because it had to be bedtime, they had to be quiet.

He got the idea to drill a hole into their bedroom wall so that way they could easily whisper and not get caught.

That was one of his first thrills: vandalism.

"I think you mean 'home improvement'," Hinata giggled.

He had to process that.

He never realized until then that he still hadn't considered this his home.

Thanks to Kurenai-obasan, he had food in his belly and a roof over his head. He had a bed, some video games, and a safe route to school.

Thanks to Neji, he had a model of masculinity. Not a role model, mind you, but a model nonetheless. Some things about Neji were cool, even admirable. And other things he would never do in his life. They were both abandoned, confused and alone, sure. But it was always annoying how Neji couldn't help but look back. Naruto always had to look forward.

Maybe the way they both did things was equally imperfect.

He smiled to himself, as this is where he had to thank Hinata, for she kept them both grounded and present. Because that's how she lives her life, like each day is a gift not to be squandered.

Who cares about being hurt yesterday? Who cares about what hasn't happened yet?

Right now, at this moment, he was home.

This was his home.

____________________________

Girls at school always cupped their ears when they were eavesdropping. They cup their mouths when they're telling secrets or bad-mouthing others.

Hinata cups her ear around the hole in their wall when he's telling her stories. And she cups her mouth when she's telling him hers.

Her ears are sensitive, so he tries to watch his volume. He forgets himself when he gets excitable.

Her breath tickles and teases a memory from his brain, one that fills him with both sadness and relief.

When he tries to sleep, he searches for the root of this feeling.

The next day on television, there's a mother murmuring her baby to sleep.

He adopts that image as his own forgotten memory.

And the following night, Hinata's soothing whispers confirm that he had a mother once, and she used to sing him to sleep.

____________________________

Hinata's a wimp.

He loves the girl, but at school she is a gosh damn trouble magnet.

He jumps in front of her bullies, fists blazing, and he loses.

A lot.

But he gets to pick fights again. He gets to be cool from time to time. And when he gets better, he becomes the best. He gets a reputation!

By the time they reach fifth grade, he doesn't even have to raise a fist.

A well-aimed death glare is enough.

When Neji's graduation forces the two cousins apart for the first time in their lives, the older Hyuuga undergoes a personality shift.

He expresses legitimate concern for Hinata.

Maybe it's been there all along.

They're both standing on the empty landing just outside of their elementary's gymnasium where the remainder of the proceedings were taking place. Neji's stare, heavy with expectations and ultimatum, bore down on his little shoulders.

"You're the only one I can ask."

"Yeah, don't worry. I got this!" Naruto flashed his patent overconfident grin, and this time not a hint of condescension passed across Neji's face.

His heart thumped wildly when he and Neji returned to the gymnasium, with Neji returning to his position amongst the other students in the center of the room. Family members lined up against the walls in foldable metal chairs, a spattering of pride and loss playing out across their faces; Their children were growing up.

When Naruto took his seat, he stole a glance at Hinata on the other side of Kurenai-obasan. Her gentle profile seemed to unlock something inside of him. Waves upon waves of warmth filled his body, pulling him in deeper into a languid pool of contentment.

He would be her protector from now on.

He would be her brother.

____________________________

He never noticed how their paths lead each other further and further apart.

Their daily routines had remained the same.

Aside from a few exciting developments.

Like Kurenai reconnecting with a childhood friend. The man was a Marine and a chainsmoker, but he seemed cool.

Or how Naruto happened to find a collection of discarded skin mags behind the pool storage room at school. They now safely occupied the space beneath his bed.

There was also the neighborhood shrimp squad of grade-schoolers who loved to call him 'Boss' whenever he came over to play.

Or that time he was hanging out with Sasuke, and unusually the stoic lad had insulted a group of delinquents before he did at the local arcade.

Sasuke may have taken out four guys by the time Naruto took out one, but he still got the win.

But way, way before all of that something had really surprised him: Hinata becoming Deputy Class Rep to their own Haruno Sakura.

She was volunteered for the position based on her equally outstanding grades. Or, at least that's what they had believed.

Over time, it became apparent that they had volunteered Hinata to be Sakura's foil. Hinata was considerate and much more approachable. If the students wanted something, they went straight to Hinata first.

But then her unchanged nature became more detectable.

Like he's said before, Hinata's a wimp.

She crumbles at the slightest disapproval.

She implodes when she's convinced she could do better. When she thinks she's failing.

So halfway through their first year, she started to get abused. Girls and boys alike tried to strongarm her into making their lives 'better'. Making her fetch their lunches and dumping cleaning duty on her every day, then throwing her words back at her when she tried to complain. They'd say, 'But it's what you signed up for', and 'Isn't this your job? Don't you care about your classmates?'.

Somehow Sakura never noticed. He tried to tell her, but she didn't take him seriously. He tried to tell the teachers, but they acted like he had no evidence.

Liars! They just didn't want to get involved! What good are teachers if they don't help their students?!

Some weeks later, the following exams were posted outside the classroom.

Sakura was number two, just below Ino. They were always competing for the top, always unevenly dethroning the other.

Hinata was number three. Always suspiciously number three. And he was dead last.

Hinata could rise to the top, but she never tries.

He always tries, but he can never seem to rise.

He realized then that he hasn't been doing enough as her brother.

Compared to her, he has no future, no potential. It wouldn't be a waste if he took on her burdens.

He can take abuse, because during those first six years at a state-run orphanage, abuse was all he knew.

He realized what he had to do. Resiliency was one of his best traits, after all.

The following day, he took Hinata's place as the class slave. He fetched their lunches, got them drinks whenever they asked. The only thing they never asked him to do was their homework. Because… yeah.

Nobody knew they lived together.

If they did, well, he might've been forced to copy Hinata's assignments all the same.

He never noticed how their paths lead them apart, how their daily routines boxed them into two different social spheres never to overlap.

He was still her brother. Her protector.

But by high school, he'd also become the embodiment of trouble itself.

And he couldn't let that stuff disrupt her life.

____________________________

Naruto’s sprawled belly-down on the sofa playing on his Vita handheld when Kurenai-obasan calls out to him as she’s emerging from the laundry room.

“Naruto, I’ve stared at this hamper for three weeks,” She drops the hamper at her feet with a weighty thump for emphasis. “Are you going to do it or not?”

“I just forgot.” He surreptitiously powers off his game and abandons his handheld on the sofa as he ambles off the couch.

He’s dramatic when he slouches his shoulders and drags his feet, head lolling backwards in anguish. He hauls the hamper back inside the laundry room. He doesn’t look when he opens the washing machine and dumps his clothes into the drum. But the pile is sticking up. He tries to smash it all down, but he can’t. It’s already full.

“Crap.” He scoops out his month-old laundry in four armfuls and disposes them at his feet. He reaches in to grab the damp garments sticking to the sides of the drum, then begins to throw them into the dryer. At least that’s empty.

He doesn’t notice the butter yellow hoodie with white polka dots on the kangaroo pocket. Or the frilly linen top that needs to be dried on the line. Or the no-show socks with rabbits on them.

Once the drum was cleared out, he hurled his fermented clothes into the washer and started up both machines.

He went back to his game for several hours. Kurenai had to remind him to dry his clothes as she delivered the dryer’s contents to Hinata’s room. This was because Hinata was at cram school.

As he moved his items to the dryer, he recalled how Neji had done cram school too before moving onto a prestigious high school deep in the city center.

Naruto never knew whether to be jealous or not. School work was utterly useless and he didn’t envy the workload of overachievers, but maybe that was only because he couldn’t handle it. Maybe if he were smarter, he’d appreciate it better. Or maybe he’d figure out more ingenious ways to skip it all.

He played his game in the laundry room, waiting for the final ding to go off. He used the same dirty hamper to gather up his clean clothes and dragged it inside his room, where he promptly dumped it all out on his bed. Fresh laundry was intoxicating and he didn’t fight the urge to belly flop into the softener-drenched warmth.

He deeply inhaled as he sank into the heat. His cheek felt particularly nice against this satin material.

His left eye opened a peek. Vanilla and lavender stripes met his eye, with a rose lace and ribbon trim along the waistband.

He shot upright, his face no longer hot from the laundry, but hot with horrified embarrassment. He stared at the garment like it might come to life, jump on him and eat his face. It hadn’t so far.

‘It should be fine to pick them up, right?’ He thought with his frozen hand stretched out.

Why was he acting weird about this? They used to mix their laundry up all the time when they were younger. It’s actually how Hinata acquired a love of hoodies in the first place, because she loved to wear the beige one Obasan got him. She can pull off softer colors, but he can’t, so it was easily hers from that moment on.

He plucked up her panties by their corners and held it away, like it were an envelope full of Ricin, and he gazed at it mindlessly. Somehow they were exactly what he expected Hinata to wear, they were girly and cute.

Pale skin flashed before his eyes, a taboo image of Hinata in these panties, lifting her pleated uniform skirt up had startled him and he dropped the undergarments with a yelp.

Did he really just imagine her that way?

Naruto tried to smack the stupid from his mind until his cheeks burned with physical pain, then with everything he could muster, he snatched up the pair and ran for her bedroom, adding it unceremoniously to her hamper of clean clothes.

He pretended to be asleep by the time she got home.

He ignored the sweet voice that slid through the hole in the wall until she gave up and stopped calling him.

There was simply no way he could hold a conversation with her after that experience.

And to think he had to rely on his skin mags to purge him of his sin.

____________________________

Weightlifting was doing wonders for him.

For starters, it was taking his mind off of his libido.

For another, his physique was changing. He was starting to sprout up, too. Hinata’s former bullies were starting to learn some new feelings, like reluctance and fear. They eventually moved onto the freshman to enslave, leaving him alone to finally live his final year of middle school the way he always wanted.

The more he did weights, the more girls started to look his way, not just at Sasuke-teme.

Life was looking good!

Is what he thought when he was hanging out on the roof with Sasuke and two Ojou-gyaru types. One girl was straddling Sasuke while Naruto spooned the other girl from behind.

A dire thought hit him when he realized only six months remained until graduation. A choice he had been overlooking was rapping its knuckles against his temple, and he could hardly shoo it away.

“Hey.” Naruto turned his head towards Sasuke.

“Hn?”

“Where are you going for High School?”

Sasuke turned his head up towards the sky. He was pensively silent. Then he shrugged. “I’m going to stay here.”

“So you’re going to Konoha Normal High?”

“Just like everyone else.” Sasuke said.

‘Everyone else’ didn’t include Hinata, and he was supposed to stick close to her.

How suspicious would it be if he chose to follow her to her high school?

What if he couldn’t? What if she was following the same path as Neji?

Neji would be there until her senior year. Was his responsibility to the both of them over already?

Naruto would later get a text from Obasan that she would be spending the night with Asuma.

K-Obasan: There’s curry udon in the fridge.

He narrowed his eyes at the text.

Just because you add noodles to leftover curry doesn’t make it a Naruto-approved dinner!

“Udon’s not even the same thing!”

His steps slowed in the school corridor. It was enough for his rooftop date to catch up with him.

“Your face looks weird when you’re glum.” She giggled as she poked his cheeks.

“Yeah, well, I just realized I’m about to go home and no one’s going to be waiting for me.”

“Oh?” She circled her arms around his own and leaned in close. “Good for us, huh?”

His eyes widened with realization. A goofy grin stretched across his face, the corners curling lasciviously.

‘Yeah,’ he thought, ‘I’m owed this.’

____________________________

Author Note: I'm forgoing the one-shot because I still don't have that kind of discipline. ;D I'll definitely try to finish this short story to the end. I had received some good title suggestions for this story, but I ended up going with another song name because I can't seem to do anything else. ¯\_༼ ಥ ‿ ಥ ༽_/¯

I'm still going to try to adhere to the canon of the original fic to the best of my ability. I would totally declare this new canon, honestly, but then it'd be a Secret Dating fic with smut and it would never line up with what I already wrote. 😓

Anyways, I hope you liked this so far!

#naruhina #naruhina fanfiction #naruto x hinata #asynchronous with you fanfiction #foster sibling au #chapter one #chapter 1 #ch 1

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headinthestaticsky · 3 years ago

Text

Sanctuary with the Enthralling Moon: Jasper Hale x Fleur Swan, Chapter 4

Authors notes: I think this is my least favorite chapter I have wrote... but, I hope you guys like it anyway.

All rights go to Stephanie Meyer, none of the characters in Twilight are mine.

“Stay afloat When it feels like it's all going nowhere And you wanna know But the tide keeps trying to pull you under Let it go You can't fight the waves, boy, it's no wonder If you wanna grow Don't fight what's natural.”

Rush by, Kali Uchis

POV: Back to Fleurs.

Today I had woken up on my own and according to my alarm clock, it was already the afternoon. I stumbled down the stairs, almost running into a wall before making my way to the kitchen. I put my head on the table, trying wake myself up. It was crazy how fast the months had gone by. November and December came by in a flash and Leah and I had been hanging out more. I had almost dosed off in the kitchen when I heard my dad speak.

“Hey Petal, Sam called... he wanted to see you today.”

“Sam? I didn’t except him to want to see me.”

“He was asking for you.”

“Okay, I’ll head down there now.”

I felt nervous on my way down there, I wondered why Sam was wanting to see me, why Bella was all of the sudden going down there. I stopped the car and sat there for a moment, collecting my nerves and unanswered questions and putting them in the back of my mind. When I got out I saw Sam, he looked pretty different from last year. His hair was cut short, he was way more buff, and he had a tattoo.

“Hey Fleur.”

“Sam.”

I sighed and then started walking toward the beach, Sam was trailing behind me.

“So... Jacob and Bella huh?” Sam started.

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t heard anything about it?”

“No, Bella hasn’t had a civil conversation with me for a solid 5 months.”

“Oh... they’re apparently building dirt bikes down at Billy’s.”

“... She’s trying to kill herself... she won’t make it 5 inches without getting into some kind of accident.”

“Yeah...”

“Look... why did you call me? We haven’t talked for an entire year.”

“ I know you saw Leah yesterday, what did she say to you?.”

“We caught up, and then she told me what happened between you two. Why would you do that to her?”

“Do what?”

“Uh, break up with her after 3 years to then date and get engaged to her cousin? Someone who she was extremely close to mind you.”

“I wish I could tell you Fleur, but it’s complicated.”

“It seems to be all you do lately... You never explained to me why you didn’t want me to date Jasper so bad.”

“Because he’s a...”

“A what? Besides, I’m still dating him... I lived.”

“Of course you’re still with him. Your brain must’ve gotten fried back in Arizona.”

“Hey, don’t you dare insult my intelligence! What is with you? Why are you such a DICK all the time! Besides this isn’t about my relationship, this is about yours!”

“Don’t call me that Fleur.”

“Don’t insult me.”

“Hey, what’s going on down here?”

“Paul, stay out of this!”

“I’ll tell you whats going on, your friend here is being a complete dick!”

“Aww, did he hurt your feelings?” Paul said mockingly.

“Calling someone stupid tends to piss them off.”

“Well you don’t exactly look the intelligent type.”

I whipped my hand back and smacked him, He turned his head back around and started panting heavily. His face was red with anger and rage.

“Fleur... get back. Paul calm down.” Sam said

I slowly took a few steps back. All of the sudden Paul morphed into a wolf, I was frozen in my spot. Paul then took off, away from the beach.

“Sam... saying you turn into a wolf is not complicated... it’s pretty freaking clear. “hey Fleur... I turn into a giant ass werewolf.

“Come on, let’s head back to the house.”

“I would go with you... but I can’t move.”

Sam sighed before picking me up, he started running back down to the house.

“So... I’m going to assume being a werewolf has something to do with what happened Leah huh?”

“Yeah, it does...you see us werewolves have the ability to imprint on someone. This person could be a lover or just have a brother/sister relationship. We’re a protector to that person we imprint on.”

“So you imprinted on Emily...”

“Yeah, the second I locked eyes with her... I couldn’t stop myself from imprinting, it was as if someone else had over taken my body.”

“I get it now, you don’t really have a choice as to who it is, it chooses you.”

“Exactly.”

“Now that I got that part of the context clues it makes you seem way less of a dick...I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“So... if your tribes legend is right, you know that the Cullens are vampires.”

“Yeah we do.”

“Listen, the Cullens are not bad people, they don’t even go after humans.”

“They’re still a bunch of leeches.”

“You need to have some faith in me here Sam. Jasper’s amazing, he would do anything for me. I would do anything for him... we protect each other. Even though, he does a lot more of the protecting than me.”

He sighed

“Okay, okay... I’ll trust him... but that’s about as far as I will go on that.”

“It’s progress...”

Timeskip: A week later

It seems I was always going down to the reservation anymore after meeting Emily and having the whole imprinting thing cleaned up I was hanging around Sam a lot more. Today I was going to visit Billy and Jacob. I wanted to see if those rumors on the dirt bikes were true. Bella still wasn’t talking to me so... I would have to figure it out myself. When I got there I started walking toward an old red shed, I knocked on it, waiting for someone to answer.

“Come in!”

“Hey Jake, it’s been a while!”

“Fleur!” He ran toward me and spun me around in a hug.

“So are the rumors true? Where are the dirt bikes?”

“Yeah...what are you doing here Fleur.” Bellas voice had jumped in, venom leaked out of it.

“You haven’t talked to me in 3 months Bella. When I hear that you’re somewhere I have to investigate it... Me seeing you is a rare phenomena, it’s like it happens every 100 years.”

“Well you saw me, you can leave now.”

“Make me leave.”

“Okay you two, cool it. You can come with us if you want We plan on riding the bikes down by the beach.”

“Oh...”

“No... she will not come with us.” Bella interrupted

“No don’t worry about it... I was going down to Sam’s I thought I would stop by on the way.”

Bella scoffed.

“Of course you’d hang out with Sam, Jake has told me about him, I heard he tries to influence people too.”

“Are you trying to insinuate that I made the Cullens leave, again?”

“Glad to know your brain still works.”

“I’m not starting this with you Bella, you’re not worth it I need to go, Emily is excepting me soon. It was nice to see you again Jake.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you around.” Jake looked between us... he looked trapped, caught in the middle of our childish fight.

POV Change: Bella’s

“Can you believe her Jake? I know she’s just trying to get me in trouble with those bikes... she’s probably on her way home telling Dad right now.”

“What’s up with you and Fleur? I really don’t think she came here to find proof of you doing this just to tell your dad.”

“You don’t know her like I do, she’s a manipulator...”

“I’ve just never known Fleur to be like that...”

“You haven’t been around her long enough to know her like I do... Can we talk about something else please?”

“Sure... we need to go anyway.”

Timeskip: To Sam and Emily’s AND a POV Change: Back to Fleur

Emily was making food in the kitchen, she was excepting the rest of the pack to come over today so she had her hands full. I was peeling potatoes and carrots while talking to Emily. It was nice, it was like talking to an older sister.

“So you Bella aren’t doing so well?”

“No... it was so weird, we had been getting along a lot last year... Then all of sudden we got into a fight in Arizona and we haven’t been the same ever since...”

“I understand how you feel, It’s the same way with Leah and I. Ever since Sam and I got together... it just hasn’t been the same.”

“I might be able to help you out with this one... Let’s say that the situation with Sam was flipped. He was with you, vanished for a week, and then imprinted on Leah when he came back. It would be a lot to take in for someone... I don’t mean to make you sound like the bad guy but... if you put yourself in her shoes, you might understand her a bit better.”

“Yeah, you’re right... I couldn’t imagine how that must feel. But, what do I do?”

“Just give her sometime. I’m positive she’ll come around, the way she talks about you to me seems full of love. She just needs some time apart right now.”

‘Okay, that’s fair... I’ll give her some space... thanks Fleur.”

“No probl...”

“Fleur come quick! Bella hit her head she’s bleeding.” Jacob said, he was panting as he if he ran down here. His shirt was missing too.

“Damn it... I knew she shouldn’t of gotten on those bikes... She trips walking on a flat service with nothing in front of her.”

I ran out of the house, Jake was running quickly behind me, I could see Bella leaning against her truck, holding Jake’s shirt on her head.

“Do you need me to drive you to the hospital?” I asked.

Bella didn’t even look at me, her head was turned to the side.

“Look, you can still hold a grudge against me... we don’t have to talk the entire way. But you literally bleeding out of your head... you need patched up.”

Bella groaned in annoyance, before throwing me her keys. She opened the truck door and then slammed it shut.

“Thanks for tell me Jake, I better go,”

“No problem.”

We didn’t say one word to each other the entire trip to the hospital, nor did we talk the entire ride home. I of course, had to explain to dad why she had a patch on her head.

“She and Jake were walking on the beach, the sand was a bit too slippery and she fell and hit her head on a rock.”

A week had gone by, Bella was even more tense than usual. Jacob had stopped talking to her after an incident at the movie theater with her and Mike. At least, that’s what dad had told me. My dreams with Jasper were getting more real and intense. The last phone call I had with him seemed like the dreams were starting to get to them.

Flashback to phone call.

“I saw you again, you were following me where ever I went, but you disappear before I can talk to you.”

“That’s so strange...”

“One day I’m going to call out for you, and you’re actually going to be there.”

“I hope so, I miss you so much.”

“I miss you too.”

Flashback over

“Petal, Harry and I are going on a fishing trip. Watch out for Bella, if she goes anywhere, follow her. I don’t know how she’s doing right now since Jake is talking to her... We don’t need another woods incident.”

“Sure, no problem.”

It seemed as soon as dad had left, Bella planned on leaving, I caught her before she could reach the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Does it matter?”

“No, I was just planning on going for a walk...I thought I would invite you to go with me.”

“Really? Where did you plan on walking then?”

“To the woods.” I lied on the spot

“Fine... I’ll go with you.”

We walked in the woods for a bit, the only sound I could hear was crunching underneath my feet.

“Do you know why Jake hasn’t talked to me?”

“No.” I half lied, I thought I knew what was happening...Billy had said Jacob had mono and he couldn’t even go outside. But, I thought he was changing, that he would become a werewolf soon.

“Oh come on Fleur, I saw you two talking outside before you went to drive me to the hospital... You want me to be completely isolated from everyone.”

“Are... are you insane? Did that hit you took from the bike accident damage your brain somehow? All I did was thank him for bringing you back.”

“Whatever... this is all your fault!” Bella said, she then sprinted out in the woods, trying to lose me.”

“BELLA!” I yelled and began to chase after her. I found her quickly though, and I saw her hunched on the ground, picking at dead bits of grass. I heard rustling on the other side of the field. Bella heard it too and looked up, she then gasped.

“Laurent?”

#jasper hale x oc #jasper hale #rosalie hale #jasper hale x reader #edward cullen #alice cullen #esme cullen #emmett cullen #carlisle cullen

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samirant · 4 years ago

Text

Getting this juuuuust under the wire. HAPPY BIRTHDAY @naomignome!!!

Day 621

At the newest round of giggles down the hall, Brienne took a deep breath and reminded herself that she was the Thorn President-Elect, not their den mother. Their quiet study area on the second floor of the house, once filled end to end with studious sisters, had dwindled down to only her and a few others. Truth be told, Brienne was done with her exams, but was sticking around until their last member was finished, just in case of last minute nerves.

Most everyone else was packing up and blowing off steam. And giggling. A lot.

“Brienne,” someone hissed from down the hall. “Come look!”

She reluctantly got up, cast a glance around the room and decided that if they needed her, she wouldn’t be far. And if she was able to clear out the noisemakers? Bonus.

Elinor grabbed her hand once she came into view and pulled her to the front window. “Some Sigma got strapped in!” she gleefully reported.

“Really?” Brienne drew up to the glass and craned to see down the block, where a herd of guys in red shirts was lugging an item - well, a person - between them. She’d seen it a few times over the last couple of years, but while it was a… celebration of sorts, it wasn’t a dignified one.

Jaime and his cohorts had insisted it was a cherished tradition, but Brienne always thought it was a little mean to duct tape a newly engaged man to a slab of lumber and then cart him around campus before delivering him to his intended.

Okay, so it was a little funny.

Still mean, though.

Curious, Brienne squinted at the crowd of men and asked, “Who is it?”

“Can’t tell yet,” Meera replied. “Did you hear of anyone planning to pop the question?”

There was a chorus of no idea and I don’t think so’s and Myranda sniggered something about someone managing to get their MRS degree right under the wire. It was perhaps unkind to agree with her, but Brienne had seen a rash of quick engagements from other houses at the end of each semester and couldn’t necessarily say Myanda was wrong and then suddenly someone gave a muffled scream and another girl loudly shrieked and then, as one, every single sister on the landing turned in one direction.

Hers.

Brienne took a small step back, from them and from the procession that had made it to the Theta front lawn and stopped there. Her voice quavered to match how her knees had gone watery. “What?”

Wide eyes met hers for a solid two seconds, all of them frozen in place, and then Elinor trilled, “You and Jaime are ENGAGED?”

It broke the standstill and they descended on her from every angle, with demands for an explanation, calls of congratulations, some happy cries of I KNEW IT and more hugs than she’d received in the last six months combined, not counting from Jaime.

Jaime.

What.

The.

Fu-

“Jaime,” Brienne nearly shouted, and broke away from her ecstatic sisters and their pleas to see the ring. What ring?! she wanted to shout, but “I need to go check on Jaime” came out instead.

They stampeded down the stairs after her, but she legged it with a determination that had her first out the door, where she nearly slammed into Addam where he was about to knock and Brienne demanded, “What did you do?”

“Well, may I be the first to offer my congra-” Addam fell sideways into some shrubbery when Brienne elbowed him out of the way. Served him right.

“HEY!” came the loud cheer from her brother frat, with fists pumping in the air and a fair few jumping up and down, all of them surrounding Jaime, who hovered roughly a foot above everyone else due to the position they’d put him in. Duct taped him in. Same difference.

Jaime caught sight of her and wiggled in what would have been a frantic motion if he hadn’t been duct taped so securely. She couldn’t guess how many rolls they’d used, except that it was nearly from neck to toes, with tiny strips of his clothes peeking through where the tape didn’t completely overlap. His eyes were big and pleading and he would definitely have been giving her some sort of explanation if one large piece of silvery tape wasn’t keeping his mouth steadfastly shut.

Pod, not reading Brienne’s horror at all, dropped to one knee and held out a pair of scissors to her as the other boys yelled out Sigma! Theta! Sigma! Theta!, the cries taking on a higher pitch as the Thetas joined in and Brienne had to take yet another deep breath to skirt around all of them to get to Jaime and to slooooowly peel away the tape from his face.

“Jaime,” Brienne said as she did it, with a calm that unnerved even her. “What is this about?”

“Hell if I know, they jumped me out of nowhere,” Jaime rasped out and glared at everyone else. Raising his voice to be heard over the clamor, he asked, “Does anyone else want to explain?”

“You can’t be that pissed,” Addam said as he approached, brushing away leaves and twigs from his clothes. “You were the first one to break out the tape when it was Bronn’s turn.”

“That’s because he was actually engaged,” Jaime said in vicious, seething tones, enough to make everyone around him finally go silent.

Addam faltered and then waved his finger between the two of them. “You mean, you two aren’t…”

“No!” Jaime and Brienne retorted in exasperated tandem.

Whirling on Lancel, Addam said, “You told me they were!”

“You took his word for it?” If outright indignation were enough to break Jaime’s bindings, Lancel would have been in real trouble, but Jaime could only wiggle in place some more. “Lancel?”

“But you said so!” His cousin looked startled and skittered backwards when Brienne took a step towards him. “He did! Yesterday!”

“Well, that’s news to me!” Jaime thrashed around with little effect and Brienne returned to his side, carefully taking the scissors from Pod’s slack grip as she did.

“And me,” Brienne said as she started carefully snipping away. She had to set a hand on Jaime’s chest to make him stay still, continuing on when he did. It took more effort to ignore the assembly of friends encircling them, listening with rapt attention.

“Start running, Lancel,” Jaime ordered but Brienne fixed a glare on the Lannister cousin, freezing him in place.

“He did, though,” Lancel whined plaintively, apparently deciding Brienne was his last chance for refuge from Jaime’s anger. “Last night, we were all shooting the shit and I told him what my dad said and Jaime said it was true.”

“I said what?”

Brienne patted his chest and took another long breath. “Lancel?” she said as evenly as possible. “Explain.”

“Our dads were talking about all of us,” Lancel nervously began. “Uncle Tywin was telling my dad how much he likes you for Jaime, how you suit each other” - Jaime’s chest went still under her hand and then he moaned an almost indecipherable oh good gods - “and I told Jaime about that and he said-”

“I know what I said!” Jaime tried to interject, to no avail.

“-he said, ‘yeah, I’m going to marry that girl’,” Lancel finished triumphantly.

“Oh,” Brienne said. It came out far more softly than the blaring cacophony in her head. It came out again, without her say so. “Oh.”

Then she turned and focused on freeing Jaime, not looking him in the eye as he called Lancel an idiot with renewed passion.

“So you… didn’t propose?” Lancel backed away slowly.

“I think you just did it for me, thanks,” Jaime said sarcastically. He sounded like his first point of order would be to wrap his hands around his cousin’s neck but when Brienne finally let his hands loose, they fell to his sides and she could feel his eyes on her. “Brienne?”

“It was a misunderstanding, it’s fine,” she said quietly and started sawing away at another chunk of tape. Jaime reached out, his hands going over hers and he asked, somewhere past her, “Can we get some privacy, maybe?”

There were several awkward moments as most everyone found something better to do - and likely far away from Jaime’s retribution - but when it was discovered that the post Jaime was attached to still needed support to stay upright, Addam braved coming close and said, “I’ll hold it up, but I’m not even here, I swear.”

“Uh-huh,” Jaime muttered as Addam held his hands against the back of the post and then turned his head to stare in the opposite direction. When most everyone else scattered, Jaime looked back at her and said, “Sorry about all this.”

“Don’t apologize.” Brienne gave undue attention to where his shoulder was still strapped down. “There’s nothing to apologize for. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Jaime sighed. “Then why does it feel like I did?”

“Because it’s your family members that tend to do some real questionable shit?” Addam suggested.

“I’m sorry, I thought you weren’t here,” Jaime snarled over his shoulder.

“Sorry, sorry. Not here starting… now.”

Brienne laughed under her breath and put her forehead against the shoulder she freed and Jaime tilted his head down to rest on hers.

“This isn’t how I thought I’d ask,” Jaime murmured against her hair and Brienne was too overwhelmed to feel surprised anymore. She’d be a liar if she claimed she never thought of their future; surely Jaime had, too. “Thought it’d be a while from now. Less public, less telephone style through my dad and cousin and maybe less duct tape, too.”

“Well, good news,” Brienne said against his shirt, “you haven’t asked.”

“That’s true. I haven’t asked,” Jaime said and she felt him nudge his nose against her head and Brienne smiled as she tilted her face up. He kissed her, sweetly and with promise. “And you haven’t said no.”

“No,” Brienne replied. “It seems I haven’t.”

#rush me all night long #day 621 #jaime x brienne #my fic #ficlet #i know nothing about frats and sororities #but i DO know about some absurd traditions #and one i knew came rarin' around for this special edition #for our dearly beloved naomignome on her birthday #naomignome

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