#packlings oneshot

[f1uckinghell]

Carlos forever being a little grumpy at Flynn cause thats his baby girl, his little princess you corrupted Flynn, how dare you

And then Flynn hands him his first granddaughter, who’s all big brown eyes and fluffy dark hair, the mini me of Luna as a baby

And Carlos just 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Suddenly he’s fine with Flynn as long as he gets to see his new little princess every day

cut bc this is packlings territory lol

Once the grandkids come around, they whole thing has settled down, and the babies end every single problem basically 😅 The second Carlos gets handed that tiny little bundle of black hair, he’s forgotten every sorrow he ever had about the relationship.

(althought I do think he is VERY concerned about Luna while she‘s pregnant because he does still have all those horrible memories from when Lando was)

[f1uckinghell]

Flynn being super close with Carlos snr growing up. Carlos x2 and flynn going to football games together. Carlos snr viewing Flynn as his grandson and really bonds with him over football.

Also major drama when he finds out about Luna and Flynn. Would Carlos and Lando even tell them?

They actually are super close; you're correct in that Carlos Sr would really like Flynn and treat him like a grandson.

It's just another layer of complication added to the whole thing; however, that said: I think after the initial shock, the grandparents would be surprisingly accepting. In a strange "back in my time it was normal to marry your cousin" way 😭😂 but still surprisingly accepting.

[f1uckinghell]

I love how you wrote the adults in packlings! Its not the kids’ fault but also there’s alot of complex ties here

Max is calm bc he loves his son always

Daniel loves them but also is worried about how Carlos will react and whether this is a reflection of his inability to lead his Pack (in his mind)

Carlos is FURIOUS. Thats his baby girl, his precious baby girl, and his almost adopted son, the boy he is closest to, he feels betrayed.

Lando loves his daughter but also understands Carlos’ feelings

The siblings are stuck in the middle

Thank you!

Yes exactly; it's very complicated and everyone has their own complex feelings on the situation. Daniel for example is generally somewhat supportive, but his position as pack alpha complicates things. And like that, everybody involved has diffierent points of view, different internal issues and emotions and relationship dynamics.

[f1uckinghell]

With the Flynn-Luna situation from packlings, I think it would be one of the only times where Charles, Michael and Pierre would feel very different and probably upset over Lando and Carlos’ treatment of Flynn and Luna. I see Charles, Michael and Pierre seeing nothing wrong with it, seeing two children (two very good friends) falling for each other and being appalled about what happened with the situation. I think it would be very tense in the family household and there would be some icing our from Team Charles & Michael. Charles would use his fierce loving nature to really shown Carlos & Lando that they were wrong to treat Flynn the way they did

I fully agree!!

Charles would get very mad because he hates the way Carlos locks up and starts blaming Flynn as if Luna was some little pure innocent baby girl when she is very much not- and that is no judgement or bad, it’s just realistic.

Michael would be very hurt by everything being so tense that Flynn and Luna move out, because he was literally kicked out of his own home as a teen for not being how his parents wanted him to be.

They try their best to be there for Flynn and Luna, but also the other kids who are deeply hurt by this and have their own needs; Lucía who misses her sister, Isabel who feels responsible for keeping the family together and taking care of Leah and their baby, Evie and Jakob who are hurt by the whole reaction and torn betwenn sides, Riley who’s at college and trying to navigate this conflict from afar, and Jasper who is just confused by the bad mood in the pack and why Flynn and Luna had to leave. It’s a lot all at once.

[f1uckinghell]

Does Carlos ever forgive Flynn and be happy for him and Luna? Like yes Flynn is his alpha bro, his buddy, like a son almost, but also he knows he’s a good kid really and will always protect Luna?

I can imagine Lando missing Luna alot, thats his baby he nearly died for, as protective as he is of her he misses her more?

I just need to deep dive this sitch that isn’t even vvcanon

ok I’m gonna put a cut

eventually yes, they forgive and find a way to deal with it. It does take very long until things go back to normal, but at least they reach a point where they’re trying. Carlos is quite caught in his own conservative upbringing, and the lack of ability to deal with emotions like this in a rational way. At the same time, Carlos and Lando would always be overprotective about Luna because they went through hell for her when she was little and she was so fragile for such a long time (or at least, they believed her to be fragile). But of course they miss her so much when she moves out, they can’t take it forever.

I know a bunch of people hated how I wrote this but for me it’s just… even good parents have their own issues, their own bad sides, and sometimes kids do things that parents can’t deal with and so it drives a wedge between them for a while because the parents aren’t ready to work through their own issues.

[f1uckinghell]

Packlings - an unpublished VV- oneshot 🍃

ok here we go. After a lot of requests, I am posting this here. Please mind the trigger warnings!!!!! Also I know not everyone might like how the adults are written in this, but I just had to get it out. Feel free to ignore it please, and don’t like - don’t read! Don’t come at me because you chose to read smth that triggered you when it was clearly warned.

Tw: incest-adjacent themes within the context of the omegaverse, no incest between actual blood siblings! // fights with parents // difficult relationship with parents // physical injury // car crash // general angst // sexual themes

___________________________________

They’d always been great friends. Best friend, even. Neither of them could remember a time without the other. They were the closest anyone could be.

Because after all, they were pack.

-

It starts when they’re eighteen, and thinking back, they’re not sure if they could have stopped it even if they’d tried.

For Luna, it’s the urge to be close to Flynn all the time.

She doesn’t question it. He’s family, right? Pack. Her closest, oldest friend, her confidant, her protector.

Her pack brother.

It’s normal to want to be close to him; the familiarity, the safety, the friendship and affection between them just feels good, makes her happy.

They’ve cuddled before, lots of times. Curled up in someone’s nest, with a parent or a sibling or a pet between them, the TV on in the background, playing cartoons while they sip lemonade, talking about school.

Now, somehow, cuddling feels different.

Luna wraps her arms around Flynn’s shoulders, buries her face in his shoulder, inhales his warm scent that she’s known since she was a baby. Leans into his broad chest.

He’s oddly stiff under her, and she whines. “Hug me…,” she requests, and he does. Of course he does, wrapping his arms around her. They’ve gotten bigger ever since he left highschool to go to trade school. Welding is hard work.

“Lunie…” His voice is strained, and whatever he wants to say gets stuck in his throat.

It’s fine. Luna doesn’t want to hear it. She just wants to be here.

Later, when she undresses for bed, she has to peel her panties off her pussy carefully, because they’re drenched in slick. Peeling them off feels good. She rubs her fingertip over her clit until she comes afterwards, Flynn’s scent still in her nose.

-

Flynn can smell her. All the time.

Her heat is about to hit, and he wonders how he is supposed to survive. Because this is different. This affects him in a way that scares him. Because when Evie’s in heat, or Riley, it makes him feel a little more possessive, maybe, a little more aggressive, a little more like he wants to try and match Dad’s strength.

It never makes him want to jerk off. Never.

And Luna keeps coming to him. Keeps touching him, cuddling him, scenting him. She sits in his lap, and he’s so painfully hard that it hurts. He pinches his arm, trying to get his mind off of things. It only works somewhat; he knots in his own hand in the shower later, and then lies awake, feeling guilty and terrible about it all night.

He swears it won’t happen again.

It was a weird thing, maybe, a weird mood, some dumb hormones. Maybe his rut is coming or whatever. A one-time thing.

For sure.

-

It’s not a one-time thing.

“Flynn,” Luna whimpers in his arms, her hips undulating against his. She smells like pre-heat, like slick and her flowery perfume and stickiness and a little bit like sweat.

“Stop, please,” he begs, his voice coming out breathy, helpless.

“I can’t,” she whines.

She presses her lips to his collarbone.

Somehow, he manages to take a step back, to gently push her away. There are tears in her eyes when she watches him leave, and he feels worse about this than about his stupid boner.

-

Luna is lying outside, on a lounger by the pool, on her tummy in the shade. Her pre-heat makes her skin feel warm already, swimming helps somewhat. The rest of the family are all out somewhere, Danny’s somewhere in the fields.

She smells Flynn before she hears or sees him, and her pussy spasms, her brain starting to send hot, almost painful sensations down her spine, little electrical impulses.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you were down here-”

Luna hears herself whimper, and she can pinpoint the moment the logical part of her brain shuts off.

She pushes up, back, spreading her legs, wanting to present, because maybe, he’ll finally give her what she needs, what she wants-

There’s a growl behind her, helpless, low. “Lunie-” he says, his voice so deliciously deep. Alpha, her brain screams at her, and she whines again, her legs opening further. She looks back over her shoulder, and there he is behind her, frozen, his shoulders shaking, his eyes transfixed to where she’s spread wide, only covered by the fabric of her bikini.

“Lunie, please, you… you can’t do this… I can’t… we can’t…”

“I need you,” she whimpers, and suddenly, there’s tears on her cheeks.

They don’t have sex. It’s okay. They don’t even touch, because Daniel is around somewhere. And they shouldn’t be doing this anyway.

They both sit there with their hands down their respective swimwear, getting off together, watching each other. Luna wants to tug open the strings of her bikini, want Flynn to get a proper look.

She doesn’t.

She shouldn’t.

They shouldn’t.

They can’t.

They come at the same time, and Luna watches Flynn’s come soak his trunks. Her pussy throbs in disappointment.

-

They pretend it’s not that bad, after this. They pretend it’s just cuddling. Just scenting.

Just cuddling, even when Luna is gasping against Flynn’s neck while she grinds her clothed pussy over his clothed dick until they both get off.

Just scenting, even when Luna pulls down the neckline of her pajama top so he can see her tits.

Just cuddling, even when they kiss. There’s barely any tongue.

One night, Flynn is wearing those gray sweatpants, and Luna can see the stain spread on them when he comes, knotting from where she’s dragging her palm over him again and again.

And she can’t stop herself, because she wants it so much- she pulls down the waistband, and licks it all off his stomach, runs her tongue over the tip of his dick, swallows the come that’s still leaking out of him. He moans, breathy, slightly unhinged, and runs his hand through her hair, holding it back while she swallows around him.

-

Flynn walks in on her in the shower, the showerhead between her legs, her head back against the tiles, her jaw slack, eyes closed.

The steam in the bathroom makes the scent of slick even stronger. He’s instantly hard.

She opens her eyes, and smiles when she sees him.

She sits on the edge of the bathtub with her legs spread, and he licks into her until she comes, stuffing her fist into her mouth so she doesn’t make a sound.

-

There’s a point of no return. A point when they have to stop pretending this is nothing. When they have to acknowledge that this is, in fact, something.

Something that shouldn’t be.

Something nobody can know.

They learn to lie.

“Darling, are you okay?”

Luna almost cries when Mum asks her that.

“Yes,” she lies.

“Are you sure?” His eyes are so concerned.

“...no,” Luna whispers, and Mum’s face falls.

“What is it?” he asks, running his hand through her hair, pushing a long, black strand of it behind her ear.

“I… I don’t want to talk about it,” Luna say, and then, “Don’t tell papá, please.”

-

“All good, son?” Dad asks.

“Yep.” Flynn keeps turning the screwdriver. In a few weeks, the car he bought for 500 bucks will be up and running just fine.

“We haven’t talked in a while,” Dad remarks, leaning against the workbench.

“Haven’t noticed,” Flynn comments, trying to sound casual. “Sorry… I’m busy with school and work.”

That, for once, is not a lie, and Flynn is glad, because… because he fucking hates lying to Dad. Because Dad’s a great Dad. A nice Dad, supportive, kind, funny. The kind of Dad you can talk to.

Not about this, though.

They chat, about school, about work, and the farm.

“Are you seeing anyone?” Dad asks.

“Not really,” Flynn shrugs, feeling terrible about it.

“Not really isn’t no.”

Flynn looks away, acting like he has to study the engine of the dingy truck.

“Not worth mentioning…it’s… it’s not gonna go anywhere serious.”

“Why not?” Dad asks with a half-grin, “Do you not like them? Not a match?”

Flynn feels a clump of pain in his throat. “...I like her,” he says, “...I like her a lot.”

“Then why is it not worth mentioning?” Dad asks gently.

Flynn swallows. “...can we talk about something else?”

Dad’s grin softens. “...yes. Yes, of course.”

-

Luna sits on that workbench, her legs spread around Flynn’s hips as he thrusts into her again and again.

They’re still clothed. She has to hold on to the skirt part of her dress so it won’t get dirty. His fly is down, his button popped open.

She holds on to him, and the soft little noises she makes burn themselves into his brain.

He pulls out, spilling all over her pussy. Not inside. She whines in protest, trying to pull him back in. When he stuffs his fingers into her, she stops complaining and moans into his mouth.

-

She sneaks into his bed at night.

They get off, hands down each other’s pants.

After, she snuggles against him, kisses his cheek. “I miss you at school,” she whispers into the dark.

“I miss you, too,” he whispers back.

-

They go to a bar with Evie and Jakob and some of their friends, and Luna gets drunk. Really drunk. Evie keeps handing her shots, and when she throws up in the club bathroom, Flynn takes her home.

He carries her down the driveway to the houses, and she holds on to his shoulders.

Her long black hair falls over her face like a curtain. Flynn watches her face, the moonlight reflecting in her eyes.

“You know,” she says, her words a little slurred, “...that this isn’t… this isn’t just sex.”

He says nothing, keeps carrying her, feels like there’s a rock in his stomach.

The light on the porch is on. Lando sits outside, waiting for them. When he sees them, he smiles. “Ah, sweetie…”

Flynn hands her to him. Luna leans into her mother, her eyelids heavy.

“Thank you for bringing her home,” Lando tells Flynn with a smile, “Thank you for taking good care of her.”

“Always,” Flynn smiles, feeling like trash.

Later, he texts her

i know

-

It’s a wonder it doesn’t happen sooner, because this is cursed from the start.

It’s Mom.

Mom walks in on them, and Flynn wants to die. Wants to dissolve into a thousand pieces and cease to exist.

Luna cries immediately.

He can’t look at Mom. Ducks his head, averts his eyes. Coward.

“Was it consensual?” Max asks.

“Yes! Mom… yes, always,” Flynn exclaims, shocked by the idea of it not being.

Mom takes a step closer to him eventually, and Flynn wants to slink away. When Mom lifts his hand, he, absurdly, expects a slap, even though he’s never been hit by a parent in his life.

Instead, Mom hugs him.

Flynn immediately starts crying.

“You have to make a plan how to tell Dad.”

-

Luna is a mess, and Flynn doesn’t want her there when he tells Daniel, because Daniel’s not just his Dad. Daniel is also their pack Alpha. And Flynn doesn’t want her caught in the crossfire.

He can barely get it out.

“I have to tell you something,” he says, and then nothing else.

He sees the surprise on Dad’s face, then concern. When Flynn doesn’t say anything else, Daniel supplies: “Did you… get anyone pregnant?”

Flynn barks out a laugh. “No. No.”

“...are you gay?”

“No… why would I even have to tell you this all serious?!”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Flynn can feel the residual smile on his face die immediately. “I,” he starts, but once again, can’t finish.

“What is it?” Dad asks gently.

“I’ve… I’ve done something bad, Dad,” Flynn confesses, and the rock in his stomach becomes a full boulder.

“...are you in trouble?” Dad asks, all serious.

Flynn opens his mouth, closes it.

“...have you committed a crime?” Dad asks, voice urgent.

“No- I… no.” Flynn closes his eyes, takes a deep breath. Thinks of Luna, her big blue eyes filled with tears of fear. “...I. We. …Luna and I. We. We’ve.”

He pauses.

“...we’ve slept together.”

He can see it process in Dad’s brain, the way his face goes slack, his eyes widen.

“...more than once. Many times, actually. For. For over a year now.” Now that the flood gates are open, it all comes out. “And it’s not just sex. It’s more. It’s more, Dad.”

At some point, he started crying.

Dad is quiet for a long time. Then, he says, “Are you shitting me?”

“No, sir,” Flynn answers, biting the inside of his cheek.

Daniel takes a deep breath. “When did it start?” he asks, and “Does anyone know?” and “Was it always consensual?”

Flynn answers them all, Yes, Sir, No, Sir.

By the end of it, Dad wipes his hand over his face. “I need a little while to… process this, Flynn.”

“Of course,” Flynn whispers.

-

They tell Carlos and Lando with Daniel and Max there. Luna cries so hard she can’t breathe anymore, and it kills Flynn that he can’t take her hand.

They don’t take it well. They don’t take it well at all.

Carlos yells. Lando cries.

Flynn feels like scum after.

“You need to stop,” Carlos growls, his eyes more threatening than Flynn has ever seen them.

Flynn wants to agree. He can’t though.

Dad looks at them.

Flynn looks back. For a second, there is no noise in the room apart from Luna’s sobs.

“Dad,” Flynn says eventually, “...don’t ask us to stop. Please. We can’t. We won’t.”

“...we won’t,” Luna repeats between sobs.

-

They move out. Get a dingy flat near Luna’s uni. Flynn picks up extra shifts, as many as he can, while Luna tries to manage her classes and homework and their household. It’s hard. She doesn’t complain, because every night, Flynn comes home to her with dirty hands full of blisters. Once a week, he brings her flowers, and they stand on their shitty little kitchen table, pink and yellow and white in the light of their dim kitchen lamp.

He never comes home before seven. Most of the time, it’s nine, or ten, or midnight, because he moonlights after his regular shifts, fixing up cars, helping out friends and acquaintances around their houses, and they pay him cash. Sometimes, she’s still up, studying, when he comes home and the smile that spreads on his face when he sees her almost makes up for the fact that they’ve been ripped out of their family, that they barely talk to their parents anymore. That Lucía cries every time they talk on the phone. That her parents refuse to see her when he’s there.

Sometimes, she’s asleep when he comes home, and he kisses her cheek, pulls up her blanket, and climbs into bed with her, trying not to wake her.

He works hard, and so much, and the least Luna can do, she thinks, is to make sure he has food when he comes home. She cooks dinner for him, puts it in the fridge. Sometimes, when money is tight, she skips her own dinner so he can have a proper portion, tells him “Oh, I’ve eaten with friends at uni”. Drinks her tea with no milk. Eats only half an apple so he can have the other half with peanut butter, because she knows that’s his favorite snack.

„You’ve gotten so skinny,“ Mum says.

„Uni stress,“ Luna claims.

Sometimes, the parents bring them food. Cake, produce from the farm, bread. Isabel regularly drops off eggs, the cartons always say “We miss you” on them.

Sometimes, Max wires them some money. They use it to buy groceries, toilet paper, medicine, Luna’s textbooks. She could ask her parents to buy them for her. She doesn’t.

“The car’s fine,” Flynn says when she suggests he gets it properly looked at because it’s been making weird noises. “...put the money aside to save for your new laptop.” She cried for three days after spilling coffee on her old one, after all.

-

The car’s fine, but Flynn isn’t.

He’s driving home from a double shift, and he’s so, so tired.

Closing his eyes for a second feels… okay. Like a good idea. So he does.

-

“Flynn?”

A hand on his cheek. He reaches for it sluggishly, wraps his hand around it. Teardrops land on his arm.

He forces his eyes open.

There she is, her eyes red and watery and so beautiful.

“Hi,” he says, his voice raspy. “You’re beautiful.”

“Hi,” she whispers, and her bottom lip wobbles.

“Are you okay?” he asks. She wasn’t in the car with him, was she?

“Am I okay?” she repeats with a ridiculous little laugh, “Yes! Are you?”

“Yeah…,” he whispers. Smiling hurts a bit. “...I think I have a concussion.”

“Not just a concussion, you idiot,” she whispers fondly, and hugs him.

Behind her, he can see them: his parents. Carlos and Lando. Their faces pained. Mom’s eyes red. Dad’s jaw set and hard, the way he used to get back when Riley was in so much pain all the time.

Flynn sleeps some more.

Later, the doctor asks him if he knows that one of his ribs is broken. It can’t have happened during the accident (which he, miraculously, got out of with only a few minor injuries), it must have happened earlier.

“I… I fell off a shed I was roofing,” he confesses quietly, but of course everyone hears.

“What?” Luna asks, shocked.

“I… I couldn’t miss work. You still need that new laptop.” He looks up at her.

Someone whimpers in deep, emotional agony, and a second later, the door of the room falls shut behind Lando.

-

As awful as the accident is, it is the catalyst for things to get better. Finally.

They don’t move back in.

But their parents give them money, enough so Flynn can stop doing work on the side.

They spend more time with family again.

Lucía stops crying on the phone.

Daniel and Max come by more often.

Carlos and Lando start coming by when Flynn is there.

Luna and Flynn visit the farm on weekends again.

And of course everyone still has to get used to it, and of course it still isn’t all easy and smooth sailing. But it’s heaps better than it used to be.

Flynn still brings her flowers once a week. They stand next to a cake Max baked for them, and they look so much nicer in the light of a good kitchen lamp that Carlos and Lando bought, and Daniel installed.

[f1uckinghell]

Do Luna and Flynn make it forever 🥺 they Mate right? They bond? Pls 🥺🥰❤️

Of course they do! <3

It’s not easy because of the stigma, but they do make it as endgame, and they end up with 3 adorable daughters.

[f1uckinghell]

Why did I just reread Packlings and cry over fictional children falling in love idk

it is always the biggest compliment when ppl tell me they cried about my fic lol <3

(they are so in love they love each other so much)

[f1uckinghell]

Does the situation drive a wedge between Max/Daniel and Lando/Carlos?

Yeah, at first it does for a while but they figure it out eventually. It’s just an overall difficult situation with all the emotions running high.

[f1uckinghell]

Flynn / Luna is scandelous but also v v sweet lil baby Alpha really cares about his girlie!

They do care about each other very much and love each other very much ♥️ he would do anything for her

[f1uckinghell]

why can I not find the packlings one shot I wanna hear the Flynn / luna drama

Here u go

[f1uckinghell]

could you share some more hc’s about carlos and flynn 🥹🥹?

gladlyyyyy

(cut added bc this has references to the "packlings" oneshot)

they get along really well; Carlos does love his daughters very much but he also enjoys having a "son" in Flynn

Flynn does have an overall good relationship with Daniel, but they are SO similar that sometimes they butt heads too much, Flynn naturally lets out some more of his baby alpha steam with Daniel etc., so Carlos is a good second Alpha presence in his life that provides him with a role model, support and a positive relationship

they both enjoy playing football (soccer for you heathen americans) and play together a lot; they end up joining a silly little intramural for-fun footie team and go weekly.

Carlos manages to have more compassion and patience for Flynn in certain situations, just because his position as a slightly more removed adult in Flynn's life, and Flynn will listen to him more than he might to Daniel simply because of this more removed position.

it does take a village, after all.

during the events of the packlings oneshot, everything hits Carlos extra hard, because he feels like he now has to decide which side to stand on

and he feels betrayed by Flynn

but his feelings on the whole matter are extremely complicated of course, because Flynn is basically like his own son as well and he loves him.

So yeah maybe this also explains some of the reactions in "packlings" a little better! <3

[f1uckinghell]

Flynn fighting dan for luna

anon you were reading my mind

actually that type of feral dynamic is what inspired a lot of the packlings oneshot.

Dan would be so torn because he gets it, but he also can't show weakness in front of his pack/Carlos... because if he does, Carlos might fight him for pack alpha position 😳

Flynn coming back after a while of being free-roaming, having gained scars and muscles, young healthy Alpha... thankfully Dan has got the experience.

[f1uckinghell]

lunaflynn is gonna be awkward in an oops all the babies au

so I've had people ask why luna/flynn would be such a scandal since they aren't blood siblings, and this is why. Does it make more sense now when you look at it via this AU? (not directed at you anon you raise a great point <3).

Them going from packlings to "we share a blood sibling" is just one out-of-mating bond-baby away.

[f1uckinghell]

.

[f1uckinghell]

Mini Summer VV Event: Part 4

This is the final oneshot I managed for the VV summer event, and was inspired by many a conversations with @33max 🩵

fluff with light angst//pack/family feels//tw: mentions of drug use, mentions of fights with parents

— 🌳 —

Daniel meant to cut the tree down. It was old and knobbly and the placement wasn’t ideal, right on the edge of the cow pasture.

He didn’t get that far, because Isabel begged him, with tears in her eyes, to leave it be because it was her “favorite tree”.

“You never said that it was your favorite!”

“You never asked!” she sniffled dramatically, sounding a lot like Charles.

“What else am I supposed to do with it? It doesn’t even carry apples anymore.”

“We could build a treehouse in it?” Riley suggested quietly from the side. “Like the kind the kids in my book have. A magic one.” Of course, Isabel immediately agreed.

And so, Daniel, with the help of Michael and two very eager six year olds, spent the next few weeks gathering wood and supplies, and constructing a treehouse out of it.

It didn’t take long for the adults to become just as invested in the project. It was fun teaching the kids how to hammer in nails, how to sand, how to put in the little windows they had ordered online and how to roof it with tarp.

To make sure the treehouse really was magic, Lando helped Riley paint it, purple with little stars on it. Sophie got the pups small furniture, a little sofa to sit on, an old, colorful rug, a kid-sized table, some blankets.

When it was done, they all felt very accomplished.

“Daddy, I love it!” Isabel wrapped her arms around Daniel’s leg, looking up at him with a big, big smile and shining brown eyes. “It’s so cool!”

“It really is,” Daniel agreed, giving her a grin, rubbing her back. “And the paint job is what really pulls it together.”

On Michael’s arm, Riley beamed. There was still some purple paint on his cheek.

That night, the twins celebrated by inviting Leah and having juice and cookies in their new treehouse.

-

For a while, Riley and Isabel got to enjoy the treehouse for themselves.

The triplets and Luna were too small to climb up the ladder on their own for a while, but that only made them want to get up there even more. When the triplets got too much for them, it was easy for the twins to escape into their sacred little space, rolling up the ladder and ignoring the wailing downstairs.

However, this was the best motivator for the younger kids to learn how to climb, and soon, the treehouse war was on.

Eventually, via the means of a packling tribunal, they decided on fair rules for everyone to use the tree house.

“No pushing people off” was priority number one, thankfully.

-

The years passed, and the treehouse saw many additions: a rope swing, new curtains, a radio, flower pots, and a new paint job, courtesy of Luna and Lucía.

Jasper was born, and being the baby of the family, he got the privilege of being lifted up there before he could ever climb by himself, always just wanting to be included.

Eventually, the twins grew out of wanting to play-pretend with their siblings.

“Isa, will you play superheroes with us in the treehouse?” Evie tugged on her older sister’s sleeve. “Pleeeease?” She put all of her force into that please to convince Isabel. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, because Isabel’s eyes were stuck on her phone screen.

“No, I’m calling Leah in a minute.”

“Ughhhh,” Evie exclaimed, slinking off, not even in a mood to make kissy noises at her sister for mentioning Leah. “Riley?” she asked hopefully, even though she knew it was no use. Riley sometimes still played dolls with them, but not superheroes.

“No, Evie,” Riley told her, looking at least somewhat sorry, “I need to finish my homework.”

“You’re always spending way too much time on your homework,” Evie grumbled, leaving her two boring older siblings alone in the living room, but not without a “You’re both stupid!”

She found Michael in the kitchen, reading a recipe off his iPad, cracking open eggs.

“Papa,” she whined, climbing one of the stools, “Isa and Riley never wanna play with us anymore!”

He looked up from his cooking, giving her a half-smile that usually meant he was about to say something wise. “That’s just how it is when you get older, bug. They’re proper teenagers now, they’re interested in other things.”

“Ugh,” Evie grumbled again, laying her arms flat on the countertop and her head on top of them. “Being a teenager must suck then, if they don’t want to play cool games in the cool treehouse with us anymore.”

Michael chuckled, reaching out to ruffle her hair. “You have no idea.”

Later that night, Evie snuck her way in between Riley and Isabel in the pup nest.

“Sorry I said you were stupid.”

She watched her older siblings exchange an amused glance over her head, which kind of made her want to pinch them both, but she controlled herself. “I talked to Papa and he said being a teenager sucks ass.” She paused, then added, “Well, he didn’t say it like that but it’s what he meant. So I forgive you.”

“Wow, thank you for your apology,” Riley said, clearly trying not to laugh.

“It does suck ass sometimes,” Isa shrugged, wrapping her arms around Evie to tickle her, but Evie quickly kicked her (lightly). She had one more thing to say. “Wait! Will you- …will you still do the sleepover with us?”

The treehouse sleepover was a tradition. Once a year, on the last day of school before summer break, all of them slept outside in the treehouse. It was a tight fit, but Evie desperately wanted her big brother and sister there, even if they were stinky boring teenagers now.

“Of course!” Isa gasped, shocked by the assumption, “Why not?!”

“It’s the law,” Riley said, matter-of-factly, “Treehouse sleepover on the last day of school is required.”

“Okay.” Evie let out a breath. “...you can tickle me now.”

-

The treehouse changed over time, got bigger, a little more crooked, saw different paint jobs and ladders and furniture.

It always stayed a place for the kids to have their own space, away from the parents and sometimes, the world. Even as they got older, it still saw use, albeit not as much as it used to.

It was good for hiding after a bad day, for reading undisturbed, for sleepovers with friends, for games that were otherwise deemed “too childish”, for secret phone calls nobody else was supposed to hear, and for many other things.

“I can’t believe we used to be able to stand up in here,” Leah laughed, reaching over her head to touch the ceiling with her palms.

Isabel tried to look anywhere but at her. “Yeah, crazy, right?”

“Do you remember when we played princess and knight?” Leah smiled. Her teeth were so white, and Isabel couldn’t believe how long it had taken her to notice that. She was noticing a lot of new things about Leah lately.

“Yeah, I remember. You stole one of your mom’s dresses for it.” Isa had to duck her head to even sit up in here; she was leaning forward at an awkward angle.

“I did!” Leah giggled, “He was sooooo mad at me for it.” She paused, and Isabel watched her run her fingers over the edge of the ratty little carpet Lucía had weaved for the treehouse a few years ago.

“Do you remember when I said the princess should give the knight a kiss?”

Isabel snorted, “You mean when I said that princesses kiss princes, not knights?”

“Yeah,” Leah giggled.

Silence fell over them for a moment. It was a new, heavy, exhilarating kind of silence as the enclosed space of the treehouse filled with a warm, sweet scent.

“...do you want to kiss the princess now?” Leah asked into the silence, her voice soft and pretty. Her fingertips were inching towards Isabel’s on the wood floor.

“...I… would like that, yeah,” Isa said, barely managing a whisper.

-

“Lunie?”

Lucía peeked over the edge of the treehouse, her eyes wide and still a little wet.

Luna wanted her to leave, but she couldn’t get herself to actually say it.

“Are you gonna come down for dinner?” Lucía asked hopefully.

Luna sat up, wiping her eyes dry. Her throat hurt from crying. “Is Papá still angry at me?”

Lucía scrunched up her nose as she pulled herself all the way up onto the platform with Luna. “A little bit I think. But he’s not yelling anymore. He’s just looking around all grumpy, you know how.” Her imitation of their Dad made Luna laugh.

Lucía leaned into Luna, putting her head on her sister’s shoulder. “...they’re just worried about you, I think.”

Luna hummed quietly, her throat filling up again. “They can’t get mad at me everytime I have a boyfriend!” she mumbled, “That’s not fair!”

Lucía said nothing for a second, and then carefully looked up at her. “...no offense, Lunie, but I think it’s the kind of boys you date.” Luna couldn’t really argue with that, to be honest. “You knew he does drugs. Everyone knew he does drugs.” Sometimes, Lucía sounded more mature than Luna even felt, even though she was the older sister.

“Maybe you’ll get it when you’re older, love makes you blind,” Luna shrugged, feeling silly and defensive.

“...I don’t think I will,” Lucía said, putting her head back on Luna’s shoulder.

“...it’s over with him now, anyway.”

“Sorry.”

They sat in silence for a minute or two before Lucía said, “...come down for dinner, Lunie, please. I think maybe we’ll have ice cream for dessert.”

Luna sighed deeply.

“...yeah, okay.”

-

On the last night of school, thirteen years after the treehouse was built, they had their last summer sleepover.

All of them felt the finality.

Riley was going away for college, and Isabel was having a baby with Leah, and nothing would ever be the same after tonight.

Together, they had spent the last few days expanding the treehouse, adding more flooring to the platform. Flynn built stilts to hold it up until the treehouse had a massive front porch.

It was a total overkill for this one night, but nobody questioned it.

They squeezed up there together, a mess of sleeping bags and blankets and cookie crumbs. Jasper insisted on sleeping right next to Riley, holding on to him all night as if he could keep him from leaving if he just tried hard enough.

Wrapped in his sleeping bag and his little brother’s arms, Riley couldn’t fall asleep, staring at the stars above them instead. He could tell through their bond that Isa wasn’t asleep either. When he turned his head to look at her, he saw a slow tear run down from the corner of her eye into her blond hair.

In silence, he reached over, grabbing her hand, squeezing it three times. I love you. She squeezed back thankfully, looking at him with a wobbly smile.

A lot was about to change now, and both of them were scared.

“I’m so glad you convinced Dad that this was your favorite tree,” Riley whispered.

“Me too,” Isa whispered back. Next to her, Evie stirred, snuggling into her side.

For a moment, the twins just smiled at each other. Riley felt tears well up as well; just seeing her cry was enough.

“Being a teenager sucks ass,” Isa whispered, and then they both had to clutch their hands over their mouths to stop themselves from waking up their packlings with their laughter, making their tears less salty.

Eventually, they calmed down and Riley reached for Isa’s hand again.

“...let’s see if being an adult does, too.”