#rover red listening party

[mxnkeydo]

wish you were sober ✧ aruden

✧ summary when aiden takes aru home after she gets drunk at a party, she doesn't expect her to say what she does..

✧ genre fluff, angst-ish

✧ word count 1.1k

✧ warnings mentions of alcohol

✧ link to main masterlist

✧ A/N i was bored. i was listening to conan gray. i wrote this fic. *dramatic flourish* (also, sorry for the shitty banner :D)

✧✧✧

kinda hope you’re followin’ me out

but this is definitely not my crowd

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This party’s shit, Aiden thought to himself. It was cheaper than the usual parties Poppy held at her place. The lighting was straight-up bad, the drinks tasted horrible, and, the worst part, the songs playing in the background were trash. What type of party was this, anyway? He wished he could be anywhere but here, but Poppy was keeping a careful eye on him, and it was pretty much impossible to escape. He would take his mind off 

Aru sauntered up to him, adjusting the hem of her just-above-knee-length dress. Aiden mentally noted how good the color red looked on her. “Hey,” she said in greeting, and then she did something wildly concerning—she giggled. Arundhati Shah was never one to giggle. Sure, she laughed, chuckled, guffawed, even. But giggling? Psht, that wasn’t a part of her dictionary.

—Which was why Aiden gave her a strange look. “Hey,” he said slowly. “Shah, are you high? I swear to god, please don’t drink more beer.”

She pouted. Yep, she was definitely high. “Why?”

“Because you’re drunk, that’s why. And Krithika’s gonna be pissed if I bring you home like this.”

Aru didn’t respond, and suddenly, she grabbed his hand and pulled him through the crowd. Halfway through she stumbled over her foot and Aiden lunged to catch her, but she caught her footing again and left him blushing like an idiot.

Finally she stopped at a dark corner of the house. Faintly, Aiden felt a draft of cold wind and he shivered. Wearing a flannel and jeans was not the best idea.

He heard two soft thuds and then the draft grew stronger. Aiden hissed through his teeth, firmly spinning Aru around until she was facing him. Vaguely, he realized he was basically pinning her against the wall, and immediately took two steps back. “Shah,” he gritted out. “What are you doing?”

“I’m crawling out the window,” she replied, slurring her words, like that was perfectly normal.

“What do you mean, ‘you’re crawling out the window’?”

“I don’t wanna be around so many people right now.”

“But—but the others—”

“—Can find a ride. Mini’s smart enough to do that.” She sighed, leaning against the wall for support. “I dunno about you, Ammamma, but I’m goin’ out the window to the car. Hope you follow me out. And bring my heels if you do.”

Aiden wasn’t about to let her leave without him. Obviously, she needed someone sober with her. That was the only reason why he agreed, he told himself over and over in his head, but his heart was an entirely different story. 

“Can I just ask why the window?”

“Because, dumbass, using the door is boring.”

Aiden shook his head, but he smiled to himself all the same. This version of Aru—drunk Aru—was different, but he kind of liked it. He waited until she was out the window before climbing out himself, her heels in his hands. He let himself drop out onto the dead grass on the lawn, and then followed Aru to the black car. The Rover was a gift from his mother on his eighteenth birthday, and it had taken up quite a bit of her savings for his college tuition. But no matter how much he protested, she refused to sell the car.

Aru wobbled with every step she took, like she was about to fall down any second. Aiden let her lean on him as they walked, his arm around her waist to steady her. Her head lolled against his shoulder as she babbled nonsense, but he paid her no mind as he helped her into the passenger seat.

“You had a lot to drink, huh?” He asked her, biting back a grin.

“No! What makes you think…think that?” Aru blinked sluggishly and beamed at him and—oh God, he could’ve kissed her then and there. His knees went weak.

Aiden shook his head to clear his mind and got into the driver’s seat. Mere seconds after he settled in, he heard Aru breathe in and whisper:

“Aiden….”

He glanced at her. “Yeah?” Her head was leaned back against the seat, her lips slightly parted.

“Aiden…I think I might be in love with you.”

She turned over on her side, still holding the cup she had recently downed. Fuck, she was stunning in that red dress, he thought for the thousandth time tonight. Suddenly he was aware of the ripped jeans he’d mistakenly chosen to wear.

Aiden shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re saying, Shah. I’m driving you home.” He reached for the wheel but Aru grabbed his hand.

“I’m serious. You know, I think…I think you look pretty cute when you’re serious.” She ran a finger down his face, clearly in a daze. “There’s a—a small furrow between your eyebrows and—and your eyes are all dreamy. Actually, they’re always dreamy.” She laughed slightly, twirling a piece of his hair between her fingers.

Aiden tried to open his mouth to say something. Hell, he should've shoved her away. Because Aru was his best friend, nothing more. Even if he wanted them to be more. She’d never see him like that. This was probably some stupid dare from Brynne or something. There was no way in hell that Aru was going to wake up tomorrow and still tell him she loved him. No way in hell.

Aru had leaned near. Her lips were agonizingly close to his. He could smell the alcohol on her breath, her flowery perfume. He could kiss her now, if he wanted to. And Gods, he wanted to. So badly. Even he bent closer, gently caressing her check. Aru closed her eyes.

So it came as a shock to both of them when he pushed her back, forcing her down onto her seat and putting her seatbelt on. Aru hmphed in protest, muttering nonsense under her breath. At one point, he swore he heard, “Kiss me in the seat of your Rover, Acharya. Don’t be a pussy.”

He laughed to himself nervously, knowing it was the beer getting to her head, and replied, “That’s real sweet, Shah.” But she was already asleep. Aiden sighed deeply. 

The truth was, he was far from afraid. Not even close. But taking advantage of her like that…that wasn’t right. That wasn’t fair to either of them.

He looked back onto the road, the familiar streets of Atlanta, and willed himself not to look her away. Because one more glance at her, and he wouldn’t be able to stop himself.

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but I wish you were sober...

[chil-aglia]

𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 |ROTTMNT| (Leo X Male OC)

𝐌𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐡𝐞𝐦

Before we get started, just letting you know that the pictures above are done by me, and their screenshots from the show/episode to fit the scene that Adriaen is in.

Feel free to draw Adriaen yourself based on the episode and I might even feature it in a future chapter!

People have voted and it appears you guys want to see this fic on Tumblr too, so I'll be posting the chapters every day or so until we're caught up with the fic on quotev since its more ahead in chapters at the moment.

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New York City, where the people never sleep, and crime rates are high. Although despite the New York reputation, there is one thing that not many people know about the city…

It was currently night, but who could tell when the tall buildings were blinding the streets with lights. The rooftops on the other hand, not many could see up there, making it the perfect place to keep to the shadows. 

Across from the Molina Tower was what appeared to be a party on a rooftop of an apartment complex. Upon the party were guests dressed in fancy clothing and in the middle of the roof was a short stubby man, guarded by two bodyguards who stood on either end of the long table. One of the guests, a young man with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail and dawned a red suit appears in front of the shorter male with a brief case in hand. The man tosses the briefcase onto the table where multiple bodyguards lined up behind the short man who smiled proudly.

The other guy pulls open the briefcase to reveals stacks of money that could make anyone rich, in fact it even made the stubby man laugh in utter delightfulness.

Unaware of what was above and behind them, atop of the roof spire, are four figures, keeping to the shadows. They began to leap off the tower and landed on the ledges of the Molina Tower. The figure on the far left swings what appeared to be a mechanical staff, as they aimed their staff and a grapple cable shoots ahead, clinging to a metal beam on a building on the other side of the rich man’s party. The other end of the staff is attached to the other end of the cable to the wall next to the figures.

“Yellow submarine, are we clear?” One of the mystery figures spoke into a communicator where a female voice replied shortly after his question.

“Affirmative, Red Rover.”

“Copy.” The voice belonging to “Red Rover” turns to the others with him with a nod, “Right, boys, it’s go time.” He stated, where in an instant they all attach clamps to the cable and begin sliding across. Below them, the rich man is still laughing. The leader in front of the sliding figures holds up his hand as a signal. 

To what was looking like the crew going to jump down and crash the party, they had instead zipped right by and headed towards another rooftop that had a pool visible. The leader pointed down, signally for them to detach from the cable. Listening to the unspoken instructions, the four all jump from the cable. Then from the shadows reveal four mutant turtles.

“Cow-“

Leonardo, who everyone calls him by Leo, is a lean mutant red-eared turtle with lime green skin, a golden mustard-yellow plastron, and a blue-green carapace with red markings over his eyes and the sides of his face, yellow marks on his upper arms and thighs, three fingers on each hand and two toes on each foot. He wears a long-tailed mask over his eyes, navy blue fingerless gloves (with blue trim) that extend nearly to his elbows and matching toeless socks that rise to mid-calf. He also wears a blue belt and strap over his right shoulder, with blue pouches on the belt and a Turtle emblem on the strap.

“Ah-“

Michelangelo, also known as Mikey, is a bright cheerful ornate box turtle with teal green skin, yellow-orange circles painted on his shoulders and thighs, a bright yellow plastron with neon pink and blue lightning bolt stickers on it, and a navy teal carapace with yellow-orange designs. A small gap on the right side of his upper jaw, with an orange mask over his eyes—with short mask tails— orange wristbands and colour-matching socks and orange knee pads with faces drawn on them—a dead face on the right and a smiley face on the left—. 

He also wears a light brown belt around his chest and strap over his right shoulder, as well as a Turtle emblem over his heart.

“Bun-“

Donatello, who everyone calls Donnie, is a spiny softshell turtle with jade green skin with purple pixel designs on his upper arms and thighs, a light brown plastron, and a dark brown and green carapace. The bumps of his spine can also be seen from underneath his carapace. His greatest appearance would be the pair of black eyebrows that are drawn from his purple mask that pulls over the top of his head with short square-cut mask tails, silver convertible goggles with a red and blue lens, and a purple battle shell that fits over his real shell. 

He also wears purple fingerless gloves with matching socks on his feet, a silver tech-gauntlet with a blue touchscreen, purple elbow and knee pads, and a purple belt with color-matching pouches and Turtle emblem.

“Ga!”

Raphael, A.K.A. Raph, is the largest of the four, a big and muscular alligator snapping turtle, with bright green skin, a yellow-orange plastron with a jagged top edge and a spiked dark green carapace. He also has small spikes protruding from his shoulders, a small sharp tooth hanging from his upper right jaw; He wore a red mask that covers the top of his head— with long jagged mask tails about the same length as Leo's—, red elbow pads with a large spike at the joint, off-white bandages around his wrists, hands and ankles, and small bandages on his right side of his plastron and left forearm. 

He also wears red boxer-briefs and a red belt with a turtle emblem.

With a giant splash they land in the pool safely, but the water flies up in a huge jet. A young dark skin girl with red glasses, who wore a green jacket and a yellow dress underneath, her name being April, yells triumphantly and holds out her phone only to be drenched in water.

“Woohoo!”

Once the water had cleared, the four mutant turtles began to dance and whoop in the now empty pool. “Ha! You must be this rad to ride that ride.” Mikey smirks in pride, pointing towards himself at their achievement.

Donnie walks over, using his electric wristband to collect some data as he types away on it. “Well, based on our velocity and entry angle…I concur. We rad.” He assured, holding two of his three fingers in a “cool” pose. 

April looks down at the group with a satisfied expression. “You guys crushed it. Gimme five! Or three.” She praised as everyone leaps out the empty pool.

“Couldn’t have done it without you, April. Our girl with the plan.” Raph praises their human friend who nods along in agreement, a sigh from the shadows was heard as well as a voice of what sounded a guy with an unimpressed tone speaks up.

”Or the keys to the roof.” 

Everyone turns to see another mutant turtle, holding up the keys in one hand as his other hand rested on his hip comfortably. 

This turtle is Adriaen, a lean mutant painted turtle with olive green skin, a light brown plastron, and black markings on his face near his cheeks. He also has black and yellow triangular shaped stripes on his upper arms, as well a pair of black splotches on his shoulders. Like the others he’s got three fingers on each hand and two toes on each foot. He wears a long black coloured tailed mask over his eyes. On wrists he’s dons navy blue wristbands.

On his plastron he has two golden coloured markings, one near the upper left side edge and the other near the lower right side of the edge. Among what else he wears, he’s got black coloured toeless socks with silver trimmings in the middle that spiral down, the socks rise to his mid-calf. 

He also wears a black strap over his right shoulder, with two other straps going in different directions across his chest. On the strap had the Turtle emblem.

Leo perked up at the sight of Adriaen and walks over with confidence as he slides right up next to Adriaen and leaned his arm on his shoulder.

”So, what do you think about my landing? 10/10? Amazing? Spectacular?!”

Leo began to list of the positives as Adriaen casually cut him off bluntly. “It was pointless to be honest. I don’t see why you guys wanted to do that.” He informs, Leo who was cut off pouted and leans off him.

”Because it’s fun! You should really try it next time.” Raph announced in excitement before out of the blue Mikey quips in an idea.

“Let’s go bungee dunk on the hoops at Rucker Park.”

“Game on! Just one thing first.” April agreed to doing more stunts but paused before running off and coming back with two warning signs. 

“Wet floor and Dry pool. Our work is done here. Donnie, can I hitch a ride.” April turns to Donnie who gave her a thumbs up and gestured to his armoured shell.

“No probbles.”

April jumps onto his shell, which immediately opens to provide a seat and handlebars. The rotors whirl as Donnie lifts off and starts flying away, followed by the turtles. Adriaen debated at first if he should just go home and sleep, but he knew that these guys would end up causing some kind of trouble, and someone had to be there to look out for them, so he also followed pursuit, jumping across the rooftop buildings. 

But they all stopped when they heard a loud thud on the wall of the building they were on. Adriaen turns back to see Raph had crashed but he didn’t look injured, instead he had everyone halt.

“Hey, hey guys, hold up. Poor thing looks lost.” He informs as he points down to the construction site, where a small shivering animal-like figure was sitting at.

As the little mutant tries to wonder where he is, Raph Jumps down, and others follow. The creature screeches startled and alarmed when Raph appeared in front of it. The others stood back, looking puzzled at the creature.

What…is that thing?

“Hey, little guy, what’chu doing here? Mm, mm, come to big Raphie.” Raph cooed in a babylike voice, which quickly had the others —aside from Adriaen— laugh.

“What? Pets love me all right? I am at one with the animals.”

The creature growls and leaps at Raph’s face, clawing him up, Raph yelped in obvious surprise as the creature then jumps off him. Coincidentally, Adriaen was close by and the animal had landed in his arms.

”H-huh?” Adriaen was a little startled, flinching briefly as he waited for it to claw his face, but to his confusion it just purred at him. ”Aw, how cute.” April gushes over, clearly wanting to hold it, Adriaen turns to her and held the creature under its arms and gently gave it to April. “Take it.” Adriaen replied, watching as the animal creature licks her face.

“Aww. I didn’t get this drenched from the cannonball.”

“It looks so weird. What is it?” Mikey spoke up, tilting his head as he eyed the thing. Donnie came over to April and checked the collar on the creature that had a green vile hanging in the middle. 

“Maybe it’s some kind of nuclear St. Bernard.”

Before anyone could say anything, an angry scoff draws their attention to two figures nearby.

“Oooh! Humans!” Raph squeaks in surprise, in an instant all five turtles duck behind April as Raph whispers to everyone.

”Initiate plan H.”

Ugh, I hate plan H…

Raph, Leo, Adriaen and Mikey come out of hiding from behind April. Leo being the first to speak with a calm expression but had a nerdy tone.

“Um, excuse me sirs. Can you direct us to the local science fiction convention that we are currently dressed for?”

Mikey who tried to sound a bit nerdy, also added into the conversation.

“Snazzy alien turtle outfits, huh?”

Donnie then steps in front of Mikey, looking stiff. “We are just typical, normal humans who got lost in the middle of our normal, everyday human lives. Nailed it.” He added but the more he spoke the more unbelievable it sounded but he seemed rather proud of himself.

Adriaen groans and face palms in embarrassment at the others as Leo eyed Donnie with an unimpressed look, “Dude, you gotta make it to rehearsal.” He whispers to his brother who sheepishly smiles in return.

“Give to me creature. How you say…pretty please...or I’ll destroy you.” One of the large men, who carried around a small dog in a baby carrier strapped to his chest, threatens April.

“Really? You think you’re gonna step to our friend? Rookie mistake, hoss.”

Raph narrowed his eyes as he steps closer to April for her protection and to seem intimidating to the strangers. “And if you step to my friends for stepping to you for st-stepping to me? You’re gonna have to step to me. Mm-kay?” April tried to also threaten back, but her words only sounded confusing.

”Way to be intimidating.” Adriaen sarcastically uttered, arms crossed as he stared ahead at the two weird men.

“You do not intimidate us, with or without your fake nerd voices.”

“That was actually my real voice.” Donnie blinks in bewilderment at what the guy said, but he was ignored by everyone.

“Well, you better get intimidated, ‘cause we’re like nothing you’ve ever seen.” Raph smirks at his own comment, but Donnie once again wanted answers. 

“What’s wrong with my voice?”

Both men suddenly start to glow and purple mist flow around their bodies, causing the group to stare in astonishment and disbelief.

“Whoa! No way!”

“Dude!”

“Jumping Jack Flash!”

Adriaen sweats slightly at the sudden mist, as he narrowed his eyes in focus and got into a defensive stance.

Everyone exclaimed in surprise as the men began to transform into huge monsters astride monstrous dogs.

What the…are they demons or something?!

It was silence between everyone, since they were all processing in what they witnessed, but it didn’t last long as Leo couldn’t help but make a joke.

“So…you guys from Jersey?”

Adriaen deadpans at the blue masked turtle, “Are you serious?” He scolds as Leo smiles a bit awkwardly, “What? I can’t make a joke in the middle of the craziest thing ever? That’s how I cope.” He tries to justify himself; Adriaen opens his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Raph.

“Whatever. This is our chance to finally use these babies. Weapons ahoy!”

Upon his comment, the turtles brought out their weapons. Raph with his two Sais, Mikey with the Nunchucks, Donnie and his mechanical bow staff, Leo with his twin katanas and Adriaen with his pair of Kama’s.

“We agreed to reserve “ahoy” for ship-based adventures, pal, please.” Donnie corrected his brother, “Here they come!” Adriaen announced, watching the two monster dogs charge toward them, snarling and barking. 

“Guys, I got this.” Donnie confidently assured, his staff expands with jets on either end. He throws it at the oncoming bad guys.

”Fibonacci!” He announces but suddenly the weapon starts whirling sporadically.

“Ah, no, n…oh, no, no. That’s so bad.”

Adriaen and the others watch the staff malfunction in the air, with Adriaen sighing to himself. “I told you that it would do that first if you didn’t test it out beforehand.” He side eyes Donnie who stares with a pout at his staff.

The creature that April held lets out a hiss and disappears.

“Dog thingy!”

The creature reappears in the air, clamps its mouth on to the runway staff, and blinks out while holding staff. Then it appears above Donnie and drops the staff into his hands.

Oh…so it can do that.

“Hey, it plays fetch.” Donnie smiles, watching the animal blink out again and returns to April’s arms.

”And teleports, which is…oh, my gosh, it teleports!” Donnie added before realisation kicked in for him. One of the monsters points their weapon at Donnie and it begins to glow, zapping sounds coming off it before a flashing beam of light hits Donnie who crashes into a pile of cinder blocks.

“Donnie!”

“Pro tip, the inexplicable glow-y wave – extraordinarily painful.”

Raph turns to Mikey, ready to fight off these monster guys. “All right, Mikey, you take the one that looks like a broken toaster. I’ll take the guy that looks like a fancy trash can.” He orders but it only confused Mikey.

“They look exactly the same, and they don’t look like either of those things!”

The dog beast and monster chases Raph and Mikey who quickly start to run.

Leo and Adriaen being the only ones left behind with the other monster guy. “Hey, where are you going?” Leo mumbles under his breath to his brothers. The low snarl makes him look back over his shoulder, Leo who was calm placed one katana over his shoulder.

“You had to ruin cannonball day.” 

Adriaen glanced at the blue masked turtle, knowing that he was going to charge in, “Leo, we should-“ He began to speak but Leo placed a finger over his lips, shushing Adriaen.

”Just leave it to me.” He grins before winking as he looks back at the dog monster. In swift speed, Leo pounced at the monster guy, swinging his swords. But when Leo’s weapons made impact, they broke and he stood their now defenceless.

“My swords!”

”Leo!” Adriaen calls out to him, the demon guy laughs which seemed to annoy Leo who had his sword's hilts at his head, connecting with the monsters helmet.

“I don’t need weapons to beat you! I got my rad skills!”

He jumps onto the side of a concrete truck and flips in the air beneath the monster's weapon, and then falls flat on his face. 

“Ack!”

Adriaen stares down at Leo who twitched, with a heavy sigh, Adriaen steps over Leo and stood in front of him, holding out his Kama’s.

”My turn.”

The monster runs at him, as he was quick to divert the fight away from Leo’s body. He leaps onto some construction wood before jumping off in time when the demon guy tried zapping him with its weapon, like how they did with Donnie.

Adriaen, runs along the ground and got close as he could, swinging his Kama’s at his opponent who blocked his attacks with easy. Adriaen was then shoved back, the force of the push making him drop his Kama’s and almost stumbling down on the ground, but he found his footing and balanced himself to stay standing.

”Huh…? My Kama’s!” He noticed in surprise as he witnessed his weapons being crushed under the demon hounds' paws.

Great…now what do I do?

Leo groans as he tries to stand up, Adriaen noticed his comrade and quickly ran over, dodging the swipe of the sword that the demon entity carried.

Adriaen skids to a halt and kneels beside Leo, helping him sit up. “You okay?” He asked as Leo wobbles in a daze as he gave a lazy thumbs up. “Never better. Say…are we about to be hit?” He mumbles, pointing out behind Adriaen who widens his eyes and turn around, only for him and Leo to be thrown to the side along with Donnie. Leo landed on the shell of his brother as Adriaen landed onto Leo. 

Not long after, the other monster throws Mikey and Raph into the pile.

“Hey, trash can and toaster boy!”

April yells out to them, throwing bricks at the monster’s chests. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave my friends alone. What the-?” She exclaims but stopped in puzzlement when one of the monsters lifted his hands and a purple orb formed around the doglike creature. The creature tries to teleport out of the orb but can’t. With a wave of the demon's hand, the monster pulls the orb through the air towards it, but April hangs on.

“No!”

The strangers grabs the orb from April and then blasts her backwards.

“I have the agent and the vial. Hyah!”

The one with the green eyes spins around and gestures. A giant “M” appears on the brick wall nearby and an opening appears.

“Whoa!” The turtles all awed out in amazement, they didn’t know where it came from until they moved aside when the Delivery guy moved past them.

“Sweet shortcut. Wait! This is not a shortcut!”

As he said this, he falls into the opening and falls far through a glowing tunnel, screaming.

“Ah! Good to know.” Mikey sweats, before flinching when the mutant dog whines and its monster owner rides into the opening.

“The dog thingy!”

April sprints ahead to save him, but Raph knew it meant that she would end up through the portal thing.

“Hey! April! No!”

Everyone ran up to April just as she entered the portal. The wall closed completely, and Raph slams face first into bricks.

“Oh! April!”

Leo blinks in shock and looked around, “I think she’s okay, ‘cause there’s no, like, April bits on the ground.” He somewhat assures, causing Donnie, Raph and Leo himself to check out the other side of the wall.

“Hey, April, are your bits on the other side of the wall? How do we get her out of there?”

Adriaen stood next to Mikey; his arms crossed over his chest comfortably. “More so on where is even there…” He informs, humming to himself briefly to think. “Oh, hey! I’ve seen this before! In fact, we all have.” Mikey slightly shouts, the three walking over to him as Adriaen focused his attention onto the orange masked mutant who eyed the “M” symbol on the wall.

The turtles stare together at the brick wall, all trying to remember on where they saw this. “Wait a minute…” Adriaen uttered before realising where he has seen this symbol before. “In Splinter’s do-not-touch cabinet.” He states, causing the others to also perk up at this.

”Let’s go home and check it out!” Raph noted, quickly rushing off to the nearest manhole cover, everyone else following behind as they jump down into the sewers and make their way back home.

It didn’t take long before the five reached their lair that they all grew up in together. They quietly go to where Splinter was sitting. The large rat that Raph, Leo, Donnie and Mikey call as their father was busy watching the TV.

Adriaen never saw Splinter as a father figure, to him he was just a random mutated rat that took him in out of pity, considering Adriaen wasn’t actually with everyone at the start. Splinter had found Adriaen when the turtle was only 3 years old. Lost in the sewers and no place to call home. 

They all hide behind the chair where Splinter sits watching TV on a big screen. At the right is the cabinet where they see the familiar “M” symbol which appeared to be inside a compass.

“You’re right. It’s just like the symbol those creeps have.” Raph mumbles quietly to not disturb Splinter. “Should we just ask him for it?” Mikey questions, making Leo scoff at the idea.

“And what do we say if he asks why we want it? That we need it to go after our best friend, who disappeared into a wall after our priceless weapons were destroyed by mystical jogger guys?”

Raph slams his hand down on Leo’s head, “Shh! Okay, here’s the plan. We gotta get Splinter out of the room.” He stated the obvious, before the five all come out of hiding and stand in front of the TV screen, bowing respectfully at Splinter.

“Hey, Pop. Any chance we can have the living room tonight?”

Splinter slurps milk through the straw from the carton, and began laughing hysterically, “And I thought purple was the funny one!” He chuckles at them. “I told you guys I was the funniest.” Donnie briefly looked at the others, Adriaen elbowed his arm as Donnie clears his throat.

”Anyway, what if I hooked it up so that you could watch in bed, huh? Wouldn’t that be even lazier?”

“No! My butt is asleep, just how I like it. Now, leave me be! They’re about to break out the scorpions!”

Laughter was heard from the show, as the TV voice-over begins again. The five walk away and go back behind Splinter’s chair to think of a new plan of action.

“Plan one didn’t work. New plan. All right, listen up.” Raph declares as he slaps paper on table and grabs a crayon.

”We need ten chickens, a gallon of rubber cement, and…”

”What on earth are you even planning with all that?” Adriaen deadpans at the older brother of the others in slight concern for this “plan”.

Leo holds up the compass object from Splinter’s cabinet, dangling it to everyone.

”Leon’s got it.”

“How’d you get it?” Raph stared in amazement at him, but Leo just lightly snorted, “You know he always passes out after milk and cake.” He points out, causing everyone to peek over the top of the chair. 

Splinter lay there snoring away with cake crumbs all over him. “Huh, well that was easy.” Adriaen noted before looking to Leo, “Nicely done.” He praises, causing Leo to blush and smile confidently.

”Well, you know, it wasn’t anything special, but I guess I am pretty good at-“

Mikey interrupted him, grabbing the compass from Leo, “Let’s go and get April back!” He announces, running off out the sewers with everyone following after him.

Wasn’t long that they were back at the construction site brick wall. Mikey had given the compass to Raph who held up the compass in front of the wall.

“A few hours ago, I would’ve called this foolish and impossible. Now I just call it foolish.” Donnie commented, with Adriaen nodding along in agreement. “Tell me about it.” He states in support of Donnie’s comment. “Say what you want, you two. Raph’ll pull it off, ‘cause if he doesn’t, we’ll lose our best friend forever.” Mikey scolded the two, “Mikey, don’t say that. You know he chokes under pressure.” Leo then scolds Mikey, unaware of Raph’s growing panic internally.

“Leo, he’s even more self-conscious when you talk about it.” Adriaen announces at Leo, “And then you can smell his fear.” Mikey added onto the pile, which finally had Raph snap in nerves and turn to the four.

“Stop talking about my fear stink!”

The four blink at him, with Adriaen raising his eyes in question at Raph’s 'fear stink'.

Dramatically, the large red masked turtle points the compass at wall, expecting something to happen, but nothing did. He pushes it closer and shakes the compass, but nothing happens once again. Annoyed, he results to punching the bricks repeatedly while the four look on.

“Come on! Stupid wall!”

He throws the compass at it, but the compass was surprisingly springy and it bounces back to hit him and he falls back.

Mikey smirks and easily catches the compass with his hand. “How about we let the artist of the crew take a poke at it?” He suggests, and Leo hums in brief agreement with his younger brother.

“I say give him a shot. I mean, he can’t do any worse, respectfully.”

“Hey…” Raph pouted, offended from Leo’s words but he was quick to be quiet when Mikey approaches the wall and holds the compass close to it. The pointer starts spinning and a glow appears, creating a matrix. Mikey cries out triumphantly and quickly draws the M on the wall, causing the opening to appear and he gazes down through the glowing tunnel.

“You beautiful fools. It worked!” Donnie exclaims excitedly, and Raph stands behind Donnie and Adriaen. “All I had to do was believe in myself.” He concluded, as Adriaen slightly rolls his eyes at him.

”Yeah, sure.”

Leo leans in to see the portal, “Okay, uh, what do we do now?” He tilts his head, the group turns to Raph who grins at an idea.

“Cannonball!”

He flies in and falls through the portal. 

“Cannonball!” The others also yell, jumping in after him, Adriaen was hesitant, “Wait guys! Ugh…” He called out but it was too late as they vanished into the portal.

”Damn it…” He huffs, as he dived in after them. 

The others reach the other side, all landing on the ground on their stomachs or face, all apart from Leo who landed on one foot, wobbling but balanced himself.

“Land safely…aha! Oh, whoa!”

Everyone gasped in amazement at the place they ended up in, it looked almost like a city of sorts, and it was like they were in some other fantasy world, with strange creatures roaming ahead. 

“I can smell Raph’s amazement stink.”

“Whoa. This is crazy.”

“Exactly what I expected.”

“Are you kidding me?”

Mikey blinks and looks around when he noticed a certain turtle wasn’t with everyone, “Huh? Hey, where’s Adriaen?” He rubs his head in question, the others look around in search for their fellow mutant turtle. The portal above them makes strange noises as they see someone falling through, the figure being Adriaen who was slightly yelling at what he thought was going to be endless pit.

“Whoa! I got him!” Leo gasps before managing to catch him, holding him bridal style in his arms. Adriaen stopped his yelling and grunted when he felt himself land into someone’s arms, he blinks and looked at his catcher.

Leo grins at him, leaning his face slightly in. “I always knew you’d fall for me.” He flirts, but Adriaen just pushed Leo’s face away from him and narrowed his eyes. ”Let me go already.” He bluntly asked, causing Leo to place him on his feet as he rubs his face. “Ow, ow…” Leo mumbles, turning away to not be embarrassed.

Adriaen looks around and like the others was also a bit amazed at this new place.

”Where are we…?”

“Psst. Hey, guys, over here.”

The five turn to face April calling and waving them over, “April!” Mikey yells in relief, him and the others running over and hugging her.

“Missed you!” Raph sighs in relief as well, Adriaen glanced to the smart turtle of the group, “Donnie, where are we?” He inquired, watching Donnie who looks down at his mechanical wristband.

“According to my calculations, we are in a tertiary meta-verse.”

“Actually, I’ve been exploring, and we’re in a mystic hidden city deep under New York!” April corrected, gesturing up which of course had the others look up as well.

Huh.

“That was my second guess.”

“So where’s the dog thingy?” Leo tilted his head at their human friend who points to round structure high up on a hill.

“He’s in there.”

Naturally the group make their way to the strange building, when they arrived the metal door slides open and they walk in, at first they didn’t know where to go but the more they explored, the more they eventually found a passageway to another entrance.

When the door opens again, they were greeted with a mysterious looking lab.

“Look at the colour scheme. Whoa, I’d love to do my lab in this style.” Donnie gasps in amazement, instantly looking around with his eyes at the place. ”Please don’t.” Adriaen commented, before Raph points down at the lower level. “Hey, there’s the little guy. And the delivery guy, too!” He informs, the gang looking down to see them in separate cages. 

The little creature keeps trying to portal out, unsuccessfully.

“We gotta help them get out!”

Adriaen perked up when he heard someone approaching below, holding his arm out to stop Raph from jumping in.

”Someone’s coming.”

And just as he predicted, a large and intimidating looking stranger with horns appears, stopping in front of the cages. “If you’re the guy that keeps calling about the calamari, fine, it’s pig butts! But the crab cakes are real.” The delivery man admits but that wasn’t the case with this mystery man.

“I assure you; I have no interest in your petty cakes of crab.”

The small creature leaps from the demons shoulder onto the front of the cage.

“But we would love to hear more about those pig butts.”

The leader, that Adriaen assumed he was, reaches inside the mutant dog’s cage and yanks the necklace off the creature's neck.

“So nice of you to return my vial.”

He approaches the delivery guy again, “You are about to be part of an experiment that will change the very nature of humanity.” He informs making Adriaen lean a little closer to hear more.

“All right!”

How is that something to be excited for?

The horned demon uncorks the globe and pours green liquid contents into a giant tank full of mosquitoes. Liquid flows up to the cylinder and electricity begins to spark the tubes. “This dude looks like trouble.” April whispers, “Yeah, and if I’ve learned anything from “Jupiter Jim” movies, glowing green usually equals bad.” Raph stated, recalling what he remembers from the movies he’s seen.

Green liquid multiplies in size and the mosquitoes begin drinking it. The demon extracts one of the mosquitoes from the container and walks back to the caged delivery guy. He gestures and cage walls turn into vines which wrap around the delivery guy and lift him up.

“So…is this gonna hurt?”

“It will…if I’m doing it right.”

The demon guy placed the mosquito onto the human's head, before the bug pumps green liquid into him. Leaving a red dot on his forehead.

“Hey, that wasn’t so-“

Suddenly, the delivery man starts to mutate, “Oh, ow. Okay, this part hurts. This part – oh! This part hurts. Ah, that hurts! Oh!” He cries out in pain, making the group stare in slight horror at what they are seeing.

“What’s happening to him?”

Adriaen looked disgusted as he closed one eye, “That is messed up.” He muttered, the others react with groans and grimaces as they watch the delivery guy mutate into a fish man.

“Yeah, jury’s in. That was imitation crab.”

“I just got used to acne. Now this?” The delivery guy screamed and ran out the lab, where one of the tiny gargoyles laughs.

”Should we go after him, boss?”

“The mutation worked, just like it did all those years ago.” Their boss announces in pride at his work, “Mutation? You mean like us?” Adriaen responded to the comment quietly to the others, his eyes focused on the strange man.

Raph gasps and looks to his brothers, April and Adriaen. “Could we be-“ He began to say but Mikey cuts him off with equal panic.

“Part imitation crab?”

Donnie laughs and then sobers, when he realises that Mikey was serious. “You are not kidding, are you?” He questioned but no one could say anything when they hear the horned demon talk to the dog creature that the group was here to rescue.

“I’ll deal with you next.”

“We can’t let that sheep-horned weirdo do anything to that dog!” April announces, ready to fight if it weren’t for Leo to stating the obvious fact.

“But, except for Donnie, we’re out of weapons.”

“Note to you, next time, make your weapons out of high-grade titanium.”

Adriaen sighs as he admits to himself, he missed his two Kamas.

“Guys, who needs weapons? We’re ninjas! Leo’s got his mad skills, nobody flips better than Mikey, Donnie’s got that big old brain, Adriaen has his slyness and intuition, and I got, uh—“ Raph began to assure everyone as he notices they all looked a bit discouraged.

“A friend who knows where there’s a room full of weapons.” April grins, causing Leo to exhale in relief and whisper to the others.

“Ah, thank goodness. We were so dead.”

April walks over to a lever where she pulls it down and all fall through the floor. They land on the floor with Adriaen managing to stick the landing and not end up in Leo’s arms. As they recover, they look around and noted how they are in a huge room full of weapons and other equipment.

“It’s like if magic and science had a baby!” Donnie quips, gasping in amazement as everyone began to explore the possibilities of new weapons.

Leo finds a pair of swords, holding them up. “Ho, oh, oh, yeah!” He grins, thinking of taking them for himself, Mikey also finds a weapon, it being nunchucks as he spins them. 

“These’ll do.”

Adriaen held up a pair of Kama’s, he didn’t really think anything special about them. “Hey, yo, guys! How about we take the glow-y ones?" Raph shouts out, pointing out a shelf with obvious magical weapons.

Five glowing weapons float in the air. Leo and Mikey’s eyes widen, and they drop their weapons and run to the new ones. Adriaen gently puts down the Kama’s and also made his way over in curiosity.

“Oh, dibs on the sword.” Leo immediately said, jumping up and grabbing the weapon, giving it a testing swing. 

“Oh, boy!”

Mikey grabs the Kusari-fundo Nunchaku.

”Hot soup!”

Raph went for the glowing pair of Tonfa and smashes them together.

”Boom! Huh-ha!”

Adriaen eyed the pair of the kama’s, grabbing it and inspecting the craftsmanship of the weapon. He was impressed by the blades.

”Huh, I can work with this no problem.”

Last thing floating is a mystic staff with a chain and a spiked ball. April grabs it and holds it out to Donnie who didn’t look all that interested.

“What about you, Donnie? Don’t you want a glowy weapon?”

“No, I’m good.” He shakes his head and then hugs his staff.

”I’ll never let you go…this looks interesting though.”

Donnie touches a purple crystal that’s floating nearby, stuffing it safely away.

“Let’s go save that dog thingy!”

The group with their new weapons were ready to fight, April finds another lever and pulls it down, where in an instance they all fall through the ground again, this time somehow, they landed in a pipe. The group fall through and within minutes they end up on a platform where the horned demon guy watches them after being startled by the loud banging.

“All right, give us the little guy, and you’ll walk out of here with your horns still attached.” Raph was quick to threaten, “Shouldn’t we also stop him from creating crab-men?” Leo perks up, making Raph nod in agreement.

“Good note. Okay, give us the little guy, stop creating crab-men-“

“Imitation crab-men.”

April and Adriaen sigh in exasperation at where this was going to lead to. “Okay, good note. Stop creating imitation crab-men…” Raph began as the brothers and Adriaen all talk over each other, with Adriaen trying to grab their attention to focus on the enemy.

Unaware that the horned man, was looking at them with stars in his eyes.

“You’re…beautiful.”

“Raph, why don’t you take it from the top again?” Leo grins, after they all finally agreed on what Raph should say, even though Adriaen was just done with everyone already.

“Here goes. First, you apologize to the dog thingy-“

“Let’s do this!” April suddenly shouted before she leaps off balcony, swinging her club. “April O’Neil!” She announces herself, “Omigosh! She just ran in.” Mikey gasps as the others watch on in shock at her boldness.

April lands on the creature’s cage and begins chewing on the vines, straining and grunting as she tries to free him. The two little gargoyles grab her and fly around the room with her trying to beat them off.

”She’ll be fine.” Adriaen noted out, not too worried about her. Upon their distraction, the horned demon guy throws giant purple vines at the turtles, where they all managed to dodge the attack and slide down the vine. “I hate this! I hate this! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Gah!” Leo complains, Adriaen almost slipped off as he wasn’t expecting the vine to be a little slippery, but he got the hang of it quickly.

The demon guy suddenly throws down three pellets and a giant robot thing grows up from the floor, causing everyone to gasp and panic.

“Ohmigosh!”

“Whoa, whoa!”

“Dude, seriously?”

“Ah! It looked at me!”

Adriaen gulps when he saw the golem grab all vines together and shakes them, flinging the turtles off. “This one’s got a little spice.” Donnie called out after being flung.

“Capture those specimens!”

Adriaen widens his eyes at what he heard, “Capture?!” He repeated, as he and the others all charge in at the robotic golem. Leo swings his sword and slices through a leg, knocking it down to one knee. “Nice one Leo!” Adriaen grins slightly, running to the other leg where he used the Kama’s to slice the other leg off. He skids to a halt next to Leo as they witness it roar and grab a handful of boulders from the floor, throwing them at turtles. Mikey and Raph dodge each missile.

“Hot soup!” Raph shouted as he smashes face first into the robot, knocking it down.

Donnie’s battle shell opens and rotors deploy. It flies overhead and opens rockets on the staff, but they start spinning him.

“No, no, no. No, no, no, no.”

“Look out guys!”

The staff smashes into the robot's head and spins his whole body, then sends it crashing to the ground.

“Ha! Nailed it!” Donnie exclaims happily, catching his staff with pride.

“Accidentally impressive. With a little bit of training, you could be as formidable as I’d hoped.” The demon guy somewhat praised his enemies, Adriaen looks over with a questioning gaze.

“It’s okay! I got this!” April was heard above, still fighting off the little gargoyles.

“Okay, well, great, and since you’re surrendering.” Leo coughs, but this seems to strike a slight nerve in the enemy who gave a sarcastic laugh.

“Baron Draxum does not surrender.”

“Okay, well, when he gets here, we’ll deal him...oh, ho, ho, I see. You’re doing that whole 'sinister talking in the third person' thing.” Leo pointed out, with Adriaen deadpanning at him, “You don’t say.” He commented, slightly flinching when Raph jumped over him.

“Only Raph can use the third person! All right, guys, time to put our training to use.”

He and the others run off, Leo confused as ever follows pursuit.

“What training? You guys have been training?” He asked, as Adriaen shakes his head, “Not really no…well, at least not these guys.” He concluded, also tilting his head slightly at him.

”Wait have you been doing secret training without us?” 

“Not exactly secret training when I’m literally just in the dojo...but yeah.”

With all rushing in to attack Draxum, the said being used some pellets and his arms grow huge, blocking the strikes. With a slam, the fists hits the ground and the concussion throws the turtles back.

“And that’s why Baron Draxum–“

He cut off when one of his little minions that was flying away with April falls from above and hits Draxum on the head.

”I’m sorry, boss.”

April appeared on the ground, beating on the other minion with her bat as she grabs the other that fell first in her teeth, shaking them loose from her leg and stomps on him, she paused and gave the turtles a thumbs up, which all five return.

Draxum shoots brownish liquid at her, and it wraps her in a cocoon, causing the turtles to stand in front of her protectively. “You did not just do that to our friend!” Mikey hissed, upset that April is now tied up, he throws the end of the chain of his new weapon at Draxum, but it goes past him. But to everyone’s surprise the weapon hangs in the air, the round end spinning and even the weapon starts to laugh maniacally.

“Whoa. Magic weapon…Ah!”

It yanks him forward and then flies around, taking him on a wild ride. He hits a section of the ooze tank and breaks it. Mikey is yelling and screaming, as the end of his Kusari-fundo still laughs and turns into a flaming face. Draxum jumps aside just before it hits him, and Mikey collided hard on the floor.

“Mikey, that was awesome. How’d you do that?” Raph questions as everyone stared in amazement and disbelief, “I don’t know, man. I was just swinging my weapon, like this, and all of a sudden…” He paused when the ball on the end flames on again and laughter begins. ”Just like tha –a-a-a!” Mikey points out before going back on a wild ride. “Let me try. Magic weapon, magic weapon, magic weapon, magic weapon!” Raph slams his tonfas together in eagerness, before red magic starts to spark off it.

”Aw, yeah! Magic weapon!” With a final slam of them together, he was suddenly met with an explosive response from it and knocks him down.

“Mine works too….”

Leo smiled in eagerness, before running ahead at Draxum. 

“Can’t wait to find out what mine does!”

”Leo, wait!” Adriaen chased after him, having a bad feeling that he would end up in a disaster as well. Leo’s sword begins to spark and shift. Draxum lifts his arm to block him as Leo swings without connecting.

When he noticed the sword did nothing, he laughs uneasily while sweating. But then to his surprise, Leo’s sword lifted overhead and sparks some more, and a portal opens beneath Leo’s feet. He starts to fall, and another portal above opens, making Leo fall through, but he was stuck in an endless loop of going between the two portals.

“Get…me…off…this…ride! Whoa!”

Adriaen stopped before he could fall into the portal that Leo created as he got a little dizzy watching the blue masked mutant turtle go through his dilemma.

Adriaen shakes his head and stared at Draxum who gave a low growl at him, ready to attack. “Oh boy, please weapons, don’t be bad.” Adriaen mumbles as he leans back when Draxum’s arm extended at him.

Adriaen backflips away for distance as he grips the Kama’s in his grasps. He felt them give out sparks of magic as he glanced down at them, watching how they glowed briefly. He felt something in him shift as well, like he was somehow connected to the weapon. It was difficult for him to register or explain to himself what he was feeling, but there was no time to think.

He dodged another attack from Draxum, as he skids to the side and on instinct, he threw the Kama’s in the air at Draxum, “Uh oh.” He mumbles, he didn’t even know why he threw them, but to his surprise he watched as the weapons were avoiding being hit and actually cutting Draxum a few times.

”Huh?” Adriaen blinks as he noticed how the Kama’s were moving according to where he was pointing at and possibly being controlled somehow in his mind. “Whoa, I’ll admit that’s pretty cool.” He smirks, but then they started…malfunctioning and started flying at him, making Adriaen widen his orbs and duck down as the kama’s almost sliced his head off.

”I knew this was gonna happen. Whoa!”

He groans before ducking again, not having any other choice he starts running around in circles, being chased by these flying kama’s that he somehow was controlling earlier.

“And that’s why I like fighting the old-fashioned way, with impossibly futuristic high-tech weaponry.” Donnie muses, jumping in and attacking Draxum, who blocked his strikes. The end of Donnie’s staff forms a rocket and when Draxum swings at him, Donnie ducks so that Draxum hits his staff. It bounces up and smashes him in the face, knocking Draxum backwards.

“Just like I planned it!”

“Look out!” Mikey shouted before he slammed into Donnie and they were both flying around. “You fight like untrained buffoons, but under me, you could become true warriors!” Draxum commented with loudness for everyone to hear.

He throws pellets that form cocoons around the turtles, Donnie and Mikey are cocooned together. As well as Leo and Adriaen being in cocoons as well together.

“So, how’s your day?” Leo tries to make conversation with Adriaen who grunts and wriggles around in the cocoon. “Not now with the jokes Leo.” He scolded him, April turns her head to the others with panic.

“How are we gonna save the dog thingy now?”

“Donnie’s on it.”

Donnie lowers his goggles and peers around the lab. The tank sparking like it’s going critical. His goggle making alarm sounds.

“Wait a second…”

Draxum approaches which startles him, but he didn’t seem like he was going to attack the defenceless turtles, “Turtles, why are you trying to stop my plans? We are all in this together!” He tries to reason as Adriaen narrows his eyes and raised an invisible eyebrow.

”How are we in this together?!”

“Ah, hey, I don’t know if this is part of your plan, but the lab’s about to explode.” Donnie interrupted, and upon his statement everyone started hopping around in their cocoons panicking. 

The tank sparks some more and soon explosions began to happen, “Aw, nuts.” Draxum muttered, watching as a massive boulder lands on him. Crumbling rubble began to fall, releasing all the bugs. A nearby tube hits the cage, allowing the creature that the turtles and April were here to save, be free. He portals away and lands on Adriaen's head.

”Hey, get off!” He grunts as April smiles at the animal. “Little guy! Can you do your thing and get us out of here?” She begged, which somehow the creature understood as it gave a grin and portals April and the turtles out of the lab. 

They wind up just outside of Draxum’s stronghold, all of them safely out the cocoons they were trapped in as Mikey quickly draws the “M” symbol on a wall and they jump through the portal when it opens. 

The turtles and April land safely topside, they ended back in the construction site that they have been in earlier. The compass on the other hand slides out of Mikey’s hand and breaks. “Oh, no! Splinter’s doohickey!” He panicked but no one really cared. “Man. Are you okay, boy? Or girl? You sure were good through all that mayhem.” April cooed the creature that can teleport, before she gained an idea.

”Hey, Mayhem! That’s a cute name.”

Adriaen turns to her, hand on hip, “You're seriously keeping it as a pet?” He quizzes which she shrugs her shoulders, “Well why not? He’s not so bad and just so darn cute!” She explains her reasonings, hugging the creature now called as Mayhem.

”Right…” 

Raph pants before laughing triumphantly, patting the back of Adriaen. “We just defeated a boss villain. We’re heroes. We deserve a name like Mad Dogs.” He concluded, looking up as he and the others pose dramatically. ”I am not calling myself a mad dog, Raph.” Adriaen was quick to decline the name before Leo leans his bodyweight onto Adriaen as he hums in thought about the group name.

“Mad dogs? You don’t think something like Mutant Ninja Turtle Teens or…I don’t know. Maybe – we’ll keep brainstorming.”

Adriaen was first to notice one of those mosquitoes that carried the mutation liquid flew past them. “What the?” He uttered, as he and now the other also look on in bewilderment. But then thousands of the bugs burst out of the open portal mouth behind them, the group watching in despair at the bugs flying freely in New York.

“Huh. That can’t be good.”

Leo taps Adriaen’s shoulder, gaining his attention “We should go. People’s blinds are starting to open.” He concluded, in which the turtles notice that it was daytime.

They bid their human friend goodbye before running to the manhole cover and jumping down into the sewers, making their way back home.

Adriaen slightly yawns, he didn’t realise he had been up all night until it was just now hitting him. “I can’t wait to get to bed.” He sighs in hope at the comfort of his bed.

”You know, my bed is pretty comfy, we can share it-“ Leo tried to once again flirt, and as always fails miserably when he tripped over his own foot and landed face first in the sewer water.

”Hm? You say something Leo?” Adriaen turns to him, as Leo looks up at him with slight disappointment in himself and slightly embarrassed.

”Uh, nope. Just…freshening up is all.”

”Okay…?”

They once again make their way back to the comfort of their lair, Leo internally beating himself up for his failed flirting attempts today.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: I APOLOGISE FOR ANY GRAMMAR MISTAKES THAT WERE MADE, I TYPE REALLY FAST AND OFTEN DON'T SEE THEM UNTIL I ACTUALLY PUBLISH THE CHAPTER. 

So, what do we all think so far? How are we liking Adriaen so far and his mystic weapon? 

There’s not much Leo X OC happening since it’s only the first chapter, but boy do, I have plans in the future! Especially when I write up the movie-

Part 2/episode 2 here

[ueberdemnebelmeer]

it's been a fruitful year of discoveries, rediscoveries and deeper dives into discographies i wasn't as familiar with so coming up with a trimmed-down selection was challenging but here's my own 2023 "wrapped"!

2023 RELEASES

💿 "genshin impact: millelith's watch" soundtrack disc 1 [and it has to be disc 1], hoyo-mix — i know nothing about it other than it being a video game, loove the music tho

💿 "ok. respira" + "red light (EP)", elodie — are they good? it's radio-friendly pop and EDM but do i like them? absolutely

🎵 i wanted to include paranoïa, angels, true love by christine and the queens but despite having listened to it in its entirety a bunch of times i definitely picked favourites and slightly ignored the rest? so: "tears can be so soft" + "angels crying in my bed" + "marvin descending" + "to be honest"

🎵 same hat for so!yoon!'s episode 1: love -> "in (void)" [one of thee most intros] + "smoke sprite" [give me a solo version i beg u] + "till the sun goes up" + "exit"

🎵 "de selby (part 1)", hozier

🎵 "nothing lasts forever", sevdaliza feat. grimes

🎵 "tik tak tok", silica gel feat. so!yoon!

🎵 "床 (lie)", no party for cao dong

🎵 "ghosts again", depeche mode

K-POP (and related) CORNER: "psycho", jun 🌸 "god of music" + "super" + "fire", seventeen 🌸 "the rizzness" + "guilty", taemin 🌸 "rover" + "sinner", kai 🌸 "coolAs", key 🌸 "o (circle)", onew 🌸 "10x", shinee 🌸 "nevertheless", billlie 🌸 "golden hour", mark lee 🌸 "screen time", epik high feat. hoshi 🌸 "attitude", fromis_9 🌸 "fighting", BSS feat. lee youngji 🌸 "better things" + "drama", aespa

(RE)DISCOVERED IN 2023

💿 listened to kino for the first time, fell in love! i've had the black album (кончится лето/konchitsya leto, муравейник/muraveynik & кукушка/kukushka 😘👌) on rotation lately but i have a bunch of faves you can send an ask about if you like <3

💿 delved deeper into cocteau twins' discography but i basically played "heaven or las vegas" [been waiting for a copy to drop at the local used cd stores to no avail] and this faye wong x cocteau twins playlist *a lot*

💿 also had a massive depeche mode phase in the spring; tended to stick to their 80s/90s releases and "violator" is probably their most popular album but for good reason!! do check "waiting for the night" from it + this is my tag for further track recs

💿 "bié records meets shika shika" — it's a project from two labels, one beijing-based the other argentinian, whose artists marry electronica with ambient and folk music; they matched their artists together to remix each other and this compilation is the result

💿 "raven", kelela

💿 "trececerotres (EP)", daniela lalita

🎵 "a pure person (單純的人)", lim giong — one of the best opening scenes in cinema ever! millennium mambo's soundtrack has been temporarily taken down from spotify so you have to look for it in chinese characters

🎵 "dancing elephants", rochelle jordan — specifically this performance

🎵 "yo-soul", lim kim

🎵 "spring breeze", hiperson — love love the production here

🎵 teresa teng's cover of "長崎は 今日も雨だった" (a rainy day in nagasaki)

[internetcompanynews]

‘Danger to the community’: Instagram Model Confesses She Took ‘Party Drug’ Before Killing 2 in Fiery Crash - Information Global Web - BLOGGER https://www.merchant-business.com/danger-to-the-community-instagram-model-confesses-she-took-party-drug-before-killing-2-in-fiery-crash/?feed_id=171593&_unique_id=66c429e748720 A New York Instagram model allegedly caused a crash in Miami that killed two people and injured two others while she drove on a suspended license.Local 10 News reports that Maecee Marie Lathers, 24, wasn’t supposed to be driving during Saturday’s crash, according to Miami police. Police said she told officers she was under the influence of a party drug known as “pink cocaine” during the crash.In Friday’s court appearance, JFlorida 11th Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer called Lathers “an absolute danger to the community,” while reading an arrest report.“She’s an absolute danger to the community based on killing or driving when she shouldn’t have been in a car, and she’s clearly impaired based on her statements,” the judge said. “And if it wasn’t for the citizens or witnesses nearby who stopped her, she would have completely fled.”Lather allegedly sped her Mercedes-Benz on North Miami Avenue a little after 6:45 a.m. on August 10, She then allegedly ran a red light at North Eighth Street and slammed into a black Range Rover. The crash caused a chain-reaction collision with the Range Rover and a sedan.[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N6mNld6u3c[/embed]The rear passenger in the sedan died at the scene. The driver, identified as Abraham Ismael, was pulled from the wreckage and later died at a hospital. His wife, Juanita Hernández, who was in the passenger seat, and the driver of the Range Rover were both hospitalized.Security footage captured Lathers walking away from the scene before witnesses pulled her back to the scene, according to the report.When police arrived, they noticed that Lathers appeared to be under the influence and questioned her, the Daily Beast reports.“She advised she was under the influence of ‘2C’ a known party drug and that she was from the future and had a crystal ball,” Glazer read from the report.Lathers is facing four counts of driving without a license and four counts of leaving the scene of a crash that caused death or serious injuries.Glazer ordered her to be held on a $140,000 bond.Meanwhile, a GoFumd Me set up for Hernandez said he left behind a teen son.“I am now unable to work due to my injuries, and the boy’s life has been turned upside down,” his wife wrote on GoFundMe. “His mother, who lives in Nicaragua, suffers from Parkinson’s disease and is now not only grieving but also left without the financial support her son provided.”For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast. Listen to the latest episode:Join Nancy Grace for her new online video series designed to help you protect what you love most — your children.[Featured image: Maecee Marie Lathers/Miami Gardens Police; Instagram]“A New York Instagram model allegedly caused a crash in Miami that killed two people and injured two others while she drove on a suspended license. Local 10 News reports…”Source Link: https://www.crimeonline.com/2024/08/19/danger-to-the-community-instagram-model-confesses-she-took-party-drug-before-killing-2-in-fiery-crash/ http://109.70.148.72/~merchant29/6network/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/we-know-our-lives-are-in-danger.jpg ‘Danger to the community’: Instagram Model Confesses She Took ‘Party Drug’ Before Killing 2 in Fiery Crash - Information Global Web - #GLOBAL BLOGGER - #GLOBAL

[markwatkinsconsumerguide]

Consumer Guide / No.126 / MONDO TRASHO - a 5 piece psych, garage band hailing from Liverpool - with Mark Watkins.

MW: When did the band form and why the name MONDO TRASHO?

Jay Muat: We love obscure films and counterculture and weird things. Russ Meyer and John Waters were big influences when starting off. We got the name from John Waters, his first film from 1969. We were inspired by the Mondo movement of the 1960's. We wanted the word Mondo in the name of the band and so ended up with Mondo Trasho. 

Chris 'Moz' Green: I like to to say, although this is not a true translation, that the world is full of rubbish. Me and Jay got the band together years ago. Its been an ongoing project. Losing a few drummers along the way. I feel now being 5 piece and the way the band sounds / feels is what I've always wanted it to be.

Dan Myers: I joined about 2 years ago. I knew the guys were looking for a guitarist through my old band mate Jack Birch, from The Heavy North. I got to listen to a lot of live recordings and demos. 'Strangers' really stood out to me; it made me want to join the band. 

MW: What are the band's influences and describe your sound...

Chris 'Moz' Green: Inspired by the grandiose of 60's Scott Walker, the growl of like, The Doors, and weirdness of Frank Zappa, and The B52's, and the obscurity of the Flamin' Groovies. We started out being inspired by The Flat Duo Jets, The Cramps, The Doors and the sound has grown from there. We've added more of a garage punk sound and it has grown and evolved from there.

Jay Muat: I'm really into Love, old film soundtracks, Giallo (lounge type music), The La's,  Pale Fountains, Ennio Morricone. 

Dan Myers: I got into a lot of blues stuff when I was younger like Peter Green, and also early Black Keys, Queens of the Stone Age and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club too. Over time that's broadened into more cinematic stuff.  

MW:  Who does what in the band, and who supports Liverpool, Everton, maybe even Tranmere Rovers?!

Chris 'Moz' Green: I’m Chris 'Moz' Green I play Hammond organ & electric piano backing vocals sometimes play the Theremin. Not a football fan, I was raised a Liverpool Fan. 

Then you’ve got Jay Muat - vocals & guitar, but he’s not really into football at all. 

There's Dan Myers - guitar & backing vocals. He’s a Red. I reckon he cried when the news about Klopp broke but wouldn’t admit it to us haha. 

Luke Hamilton plays bass and does backing vocals. He's not really a football fan, says he's a blue nose (he goes the game). 

Finally, Greg Mitchell on drums. He is just a normal Everton fan.  

MW: What do you like best about Liverpool? The least? What do you think are some common misconceptions about its citizens and the city itself?

Chris 'Moz' Green: It's a weird place because it's in a constant flux. There's always new buildings or things shutting down (mainly good live music venues). You get used to places being there and one day it's gone ("There are places I remember"...as the Beatles song goes).

It is a music city. There's loads of bands doing different music, getting signed, doing tours and that. Not everyone is a Beatles mop top fanatic. It's a boss place. Some of the people are boss. Liverpool has become a city break / Hen and staff party and University city. Worst thing is football match traffic - the whole of north Liverpool goes nuts on match day.

MW: Top 5. What are your favourite surf records of all time?

Chris 'Moz' Green: Of course we all love: Link Wray, Dick Dale,The Lively Ones, The Centurions, The Jokers, Freckles, The B52's and The Del Roswells. Top 5 are hard, but;

5. Anything by the Razorbills. More people should listen to this band. They are just a great band. Everything they do sounds amazing to me. Wish I could see them live. 

4. The Impacts - 'Wipe Out'. Always sounds great, my go to for decent surf.

3. 'Unleashed' by The Eliminators. When I first heard the album I was like woah! how did I miss these from the 60's. Amazing instrumental surf boss horns. 

2. Guantanamo Baywatch albums are boss. Modern surf bands who are solid. We were lucky to play with Night Beats last year and he was touring with Chris Scott the drummer from GB - my jaw was on the floor watching him.  

1. 'Lolita Ya Ya' - The Ventures. I never get bored of this track, the harpsichord is boss. Fits into any playlists.

MW: Top 5. What are your favourite psych records of all time? 

Jay Muat: Honourable mentions: The Animals, (some) Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead, The Kinks, (loads of) Frank Zappa, 'Abbey Road' and more modern stuff like Triptides or Levitation Room. 

5. The Seeds / 13th Floor Elevators debut albums. Just  really good albums I remember finding both of these when I was 16 and thinking I'd unearthed rare gems.

4. Nuggets compilation - it's just boss. Got loads of amazing tracks on it from bands who deserved to be massive. 'Don't Look Back' by The Remains is such a good tune; it introduced us to so many great bands. When writing songs it's always worth at looking for references. 

3. Love's 'Forever Changes' (1967) - just perfect. 

2. The Doors' first 3 albums taught us so much. When we first started we didn't have a bass player and 'Moz' just played bass on the Hammond. It's the blueprint for us. 

1. 'Freak Out' by The Mothers of Invention (1966). I know it is a parody by Frank Zappa of the bands of the time, but it's the best. It's an album that has everything. It stays with you after the first time you hear it. Goes from absolute scary freak outs to Blues Psych. 'Help I'm A Rock' is an go to always. Love putting that on when with unsuspecting company...

MW: What did you think of the recent Brit Awards?

Chris 'Moz' Green: I didn't really watch it. You knew that Raye was going to win loads which is boss for her. But award shows are just the big music labels just pushing shoehorning their artist in. It's just a big advert now. It's too big, too monoculture for me. It's not what it used to be: I mean seeing Jarvis with Michael Jackson. That would never happen again, everyone is too well behaved at the award shows. 

Dan Myers: I didn't even know it was on, in all honesty.

MW: Do any of you enjoy playing darts and, if so, to what degree / ability?!

Chris 'Moz' Green: Me and Luke are darts players. Luke is the better player, but I played a lot when I was a teenager, having a dart board in the house. Playing round the clock for years getting ready for the pub tournaments.  

We played a lot when we used to work with each other. We worked with a fella who made his own darts out of m10 bolts and nuts, because modern darts were too light for him. It was funny to watch until he wrecked every dart board he used, and we got kicked out of pubs.  

Luke's really good under pressure. I'm better after 4 pints. 

MW:  Who usually gets the beers in and what tend to be your tipples?

Dan Myers: We're pretty good at getting round in. Think it's Greg's next!

Chris 'Moz' Green: Dan's a Guinness drinker. Luke likes a heavy stout, Jays drinks cider, Greggs into Lager and 'Moz' is into red ale and Belgian bevys.

MW: What are MONDO TRASHO's plans for the rest of 2024?

Chris 'Moz' Green: We have a lot of tracks recorded that need mixing. We were very lucky to get sessions in the George Martin studio at LIPA with our mate Jamie Lindberg. It was a good experience but because life gets in the way its taken a long time to get each song ready. 

Jay Muat: Release more songs, reach more people.

Mondo Trasho | Twitter, Instagram | Linktree

(c) Mark Watkins / March 2024.

[pugs-cats-bb-8]

Music Recs

A list of songs that I liked from the last month or so. Not all are "new" and not all are K-Pop.

Rover-Kai

2. Social Path-Stray Kids Feat. LiSA (Korean Ver.)

Took a couple listens

3. Crush-Zerobaseone

It kinda sounds like they're banging on pans. Another couple listens.

4. Dreams Come True-WJSN (Chinese Ver.)

I love Chinese versions of songs.

5. Hweek-Teentop

I don't know who these guys are. I remember somebody recommended the video and that's how I found it.

6. Thrill-E'Last (Reg Ver and Japanese Ver.)

7. Plastic Candy-Haseul

Took me a couple listens to get what she was saying. Because my brain does one of two things with foreign music. A. Ignore the words and listen to the beat. B. Try to figure out the words. Which isn't possible when you don't speak the language.

8. Uni-Weeekly

I thought they were saying Dumptruck. 🤣

9. Bottom Of The Ocean-Golden Child

Sounds like early One Direction.

10. Effortless-A.C.E (Reg Ver and Korean Ver.)

11. Full Metal Jacket-Epex

12. Sweet Venom-Enhypen (English Ver and Reg Ver.)

13. Grand Prix-Kep1er

I like the way they say "grand prix"

14. Dead Man Runnin'-Seulgi

15. On My Youth-WayV (Reg ver. and English Ver.)

That change up.

16. Super Yuppers!-WJSN Chocome

Fun music

17. Shadow-Sieyon, Dami (Dreamcatcher), Sim Hyung Bo (Slow Ver. and Reg. Ver.)

I don't know where I found this.

18. Love-WeeklyXKim Eana Project

19. Don't Push Me-Wendy, Seulgi (Original Ver. and Ballad Ver.)

20. Don't Blink-Aespa

21. Alcohol Is-Jo Yuri

So short. But so good.

22. Good Day (Special Daileee)-Weekly

23. Nothing On Me-Kai

I like the beat.

24. Loca (Reg Ver. Japanese Ver.)-Favorite

25. Chill Kill-Red Velvet

26. Independent Woman-Eite

27. New Look-TripleS

Retro. Reminds me of Back To The City-Kep1er.

28. Howl-Chuu

I love how her name is kiss in Japanese.

29. Bulldozer-Red Velvet

30. Unnatural-WJSN

31. Get A Guitar(English Ver,)-Riize

I will forever call them Rizie (Ri-zee)

32. Stronger-WJSN (Dawon and Yeonjung)

33. Jingle Bell Rock-Aespa

The original is one of the two Christmas songs I love.

34. Girls' Capitalism-TripleS

I thought they were saying "Call me cutie".

35. Memories Of Summer Rain-Weeekly

36. C'mon-Jini Feat. Amine (Reg ver. and Korean Ver.)

37. Sweet Crazy Love-Odd Eye Circle (English Ver.)

38. Either Way-Ive

39. Kiss Your Lips-WJSN The Black

40. Invincible-TripleS

41. Will I Ever See You Again-Red Velvet

42. Here I Am-Wheein

43. 28 Reasons-Seulgi

"I kiss your brother". Okay... 🤨 I assume whoever wrote the song doesn't have a brother.

44. Aliens-Chuu

Retro

45. Ven Para-Weeekly

46. Not Over You-Taemin

47. Bye Bye-Punch

48. Done-WJSN

49. Moonlight-WayV

50. Catch Me-WJSN

51. Paradise-NiziU (Korean Ver.)

52. Ringo-Itzy

53. Another Day-Monday Kiz, Punch

54. Back To Me-The Rose

55. Chasing That Feeling (Reg Ver. and English Ver.)-Tomorrow By Together

Retro

56. Off The Record-Ive

57. Drama-Aespa

Took a couple listens.

58. Heejin-Algorithm

59. Bad Reputation-Jini

60. Love Me Or Leave Me-Day6

61. Party Time (Japanese Ver.)-Favorite

62. Knock Knock (Who's There)-Red Velvet

63. Hmph!-WJSN Chocome

Fun music.

64. I-Yah-WJSN

I thought they were saying Aria.

65. Better Things-Aespa

66. Baddie-Ive

67. Sneakers (Japanese Ver.)-Izty

68. New-Yves (Loona)

69. Done For Me-Punch

70. Cosmic-Ryeowook, Bada

71. Stanger-Sunmi

That change up.

72. Keep Me Busy-Punch

Bonus tracks (Tracks already on my playlist)-

Guilty-Han Seung Yeon (Kara)

Hush-Miss A

Wicked Love-Yena

Lip Gloss-The Boyz

I love the way they say Lip Gloss.

5. Deja Vu-Jonna Koike

Songs that aren't on my playlist, but I think should be recommended.

I Love My Body-Hwasa

I love the message.

[alsjeblieft-zeg]

445 of 2022

Created by joybucket

Do you regularly....

paint?

draw?

drink coffee?

drink tea?

curl your hair?

straighten your hair?

pray?

read the Bible?

worship?

play online games?

watch movies?

watch television?

read books?

daydream?

Would you ever....

dye your hair a wild color?

get a tattoo?

get a piercing?

bungee jump?

skydive?

dance in public?

sing a solo?

travel to Africa?

ride an elephant?

travel to Europe? (lol)

travel to Asia?

travel solo?

travel to New York City?

ask out your crush? (too shy for that, sadly)

Can you....

sing?

dance?

play an instrument?

touch your nose to your tongue?

lick the tip of your nose?

do the splits?

do a cartwheel?

draw?

write neatly?

write in cursive?

speak another language?

whistle?

pop your fingers out of joint?

read minds?

Are you....

lovely?

beautiful?

double jointed?

artistic?

bold?

boring?

encouraging?

loving?

nice?

positive?

passive?

passionate?

ambitious?

sensitive?

honest?

romantic?

intelligent?

unique?

creative?

generous?

miserable?

optimistic?

pessimistic?

mentally ill?

sane?

weird?

different?

special?

anointed?

Do you like....

math?

tea?

coffee?

English?

writing in cursive?

creative writing?

to dance?

to sing?

to pray?

chocolate?

smoothies?

sushi?

pie?

playing Truth or Dare?

Have you ever....

tried to redo your room to make it look like a room you saw on Pinterest?

tried to give yourself a hairstyle you found online?

set up a prayer corner in your room?

had an imaginary friend?

written on the side of a bathroom stall?

fallen asleep with your clothes on?

fallen in a pool fully clothed?

gotten sick from inhaling nail polish remover?

realized that life is amazing?

thought about ending your life?

cried in public?

sat on a rooftop with a friend?

written a letter to a celebrity? (when I was 10 or so)

wished on a shooting star?

Do you remember....

Gigapets?

Pikachu?

Pokemon cards?

Furby?

pogs?

the show Taina?

the show Caitlin's Way?

when the Spice Girls performed on All That?

when the very first episode of Spongebob aired?

what you were doing on Sept. 11, 2001?

Aaron Carter?

N Sync?

choker necklaces?

"LiveStrong" wristbands?

Did you ever....

play with Barbies?

own an American Girl doll?

watch Nickelodeon?

obsess over a celebrity?

crush on a celebrity?

have imaginary friends?

play tag?

take swimming lessons?

take ballet?

take piano lessons?

have the flu?

have to go to the hospital?

dream of running away as a teenager?

get picked first in gym class?

Do you/have you listened to...

Avril Lavigne?

Carrie Underwood?

Taylor Swift?

Paramore?

Black Eyed Peas?

A-Teens?

Play?

Aaron Carter?

The Backstreet Boys?

The Spice Girls?

S Club 7?

Hillsong?

Casting Crowns?

The Jonas Brothers?

Have you ever played...

Monopoly?

Truth or Dare?

Heads Up 7 Up?

Red Rover?

Tic Tac Toe?

Four Square?

Apples to Apples?

Chutes and Ladders?

Bingo?

Uno?

Go Fish?

Never Have I Ever?

Two Truths and a Lie?

If You Really Knew Me?

Roller Coaster Tycoon?

American Girls Premiere?

Operation?

Candy Crush Saga?

Mahjong Titans?

Yahtzee?

YoVille/YoWorld?

Mario Party?

Mario Kart?

Zelda?

The Sims?

Pac Man?

Ski ball?

poker?

beer pong?

Do you like these names (for a girl)?...

Skye

Skylar

Eliana

Claire

Sierra

Madison

Peyton

Aurora

Bianca

Joanna

Siona

Felicity

Ellery

Epiphany

Do you like these names (for a boy)?....

Deklan

Dylan

Denver

Dallas

David

Adam

John

Spencer

Ryan

Storm

Scott

Justin

Meverick

Brennan

Would you ever dye your hair...

dark brown?

light brown?

blonde?

gray?

white?

purple?

pink?

green?

teal/turquoise/aqua?

burgundy?

red (the natural hair color red)?

red (as in, bright red)?

magenta?

periwinkle?

Would you ever get a tattoo of...

a cross?

a peace sign?

a quote?

someone's name?

a heart?

something insignificant?

a skull?

a flower?

a Japanese symbol?

a continent?

an elephant?

an awareness ribbon?

a fish?

stars?

What are you allergic to?

dust

pollen

mold

pet dander

mosquitoes

bees (if so, how do you react to them?) // just swelling

peanuts

tree nuts

another food

a medication

latex

grass

a type of glue or paint?

something else (if so, what?)

Have you ever been...

bullied?

excluded?

persecuted?

harassed?

molested?

abused?

raped?

assaulted?

yelled at?

shoved?

hurt?

heartbroken?

sick?

shy?

embarrassed?

loved?

complimented?

insulted?

discriminated against? (yeah xenophobia)

hugged?

attacked?

fired?

homeless?

close to being homeless?

manipulated?

lonely?

isolated for a long and unhealthy period of time? (yeah 2020 lol)

neglected?

ignored?

Do you believe in...

the supernatural?

angels?

demons?

God?

Jesus?

The Holy Spirit?

Heaven?

Hell?

yourself?

aliens?

genies?

fairies?

mermaids?

werewolves?

Do you consider yourself...

beautiful?

spiritual?

religious?

gifted?

talented?

unique?

free-spirited?

gentle?

free?

alone?

carefree?

alive?

blessed?

spoiled?

[heir-to-the-diamond-throne]

Rover Red 00.2

I’m tagging all these “rover red listening party” if you want to blacklist :)

Here we go again!

I apparently really missed that intro music because it makes me all giddy when I hear it haha

Leah is so cute with her testing. So curious about everything... She’s going to get into so much trouble haha. God what I wouldn’t give to have more of Leah’s life in the compound. I bet she gave her teachers the run around - not on purpose (most of the time) but because she’s like a cat. I need like a billion fanfics about her messing around with her friends and baby brother.

Ok so she’s figured out the metal thing is an ear piece. (Wonder if Jonah helped out with that..)

...Billy. Omg she’s such a innocent omg she’s going to get ruined :( This is gonna hurt to listen to now..

HAHAHA Light Screen! 

Ok so they’re heading out on their little jail break and what WHAT who is deaf??? Is there a guard? They must know about the tunnel then, and it must still be useful otherwise they would have blocked it off. Either they need it as an escape route in case anything goes horribly wrong, or there are spies who sneak in and out of the compound. If that’s the case then Crane/Crain (sp?) must know about it soooo... the spies are either council agents deep undercover that need to check in, or Crane/Crain is running some sort of shady operation. 

Ooooh second thoughts - trust your second thoughts Leah! Shit she went down there anyway.. what’s with the static??

Oh shit Leah just saw the skyscraper for the first time.. Jonah is scared of it?? Oh no bby :(

Leah promising to stay away from it.. yeah that’s going to last long..

Sorry Leah, the TABLE is the thing that creeps you out?? Ok actually I get that. A table just sitting in the middle of nowhere is pretty creepy, especially if it looks brand new. Someone put it there. They may be watching you right now! (Though this makes me doubt whether Jonah knew about E.V.i.E.? Maybe he just found a cool recording thing and thought it would be a nice birthday present?) Oh shit and it’s covered in symbols and thE NECKLACE WHAT IS GOING ON

“It feels wrong. It feels like a trap.” TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS BBY

WHAT IS THE FUCK WAS THAT NOISE RUN RUN RUN

HOW FAR DID THEY TRAVEL?? FUCK FUCK WHAT’S HAPPENING JONAH

JOOOONNNNAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

[swiftgronmasterpost]

GRYLES!!!

Rebuilding the Gryles Timeline expertly crafted here because I’m always afraid of broken links and people going private and losing data.

Not only is there a ton of great evidence that these guys were dating such as Harry leaving Nick’s place in the morning wearing the same clothes as he’d worn the night before, I’ve also got a friend who works in the UK music industry and she did tell me these guys did date.  Nick is 100% out as gay so it really does all add up.

Gryles very obviously takes place during Haylor, debunking Harry as the 1989 muse, and if it’s not Harry you do have to wonder... who with green eyes and an obsession with Alice and Wonderland was heavily featured in Taylor’s life and then disappeared before 1989 - a breakup album about someone with green eyes who seems to relate to Alice in Wonderland drops?

You get it.

Anyway here’s Gryles:

This is a little game I like to call "let's talk about Nick/Harry dates and how they line up with Harry leaving and entering the country".

06. February 5th 2012 - Harry and Nick go to a Super Bowl party together.

One Direction in Sweden February 12th - 14th. (Came home by train on the 14th.)

07. February 14, 2012 - VALENTINE'S DAY!

08. February 18, 2012 - Stella McCartney Fashion show with Nick's mom.

09. February 21, 2012 - Brit Awards!

10. February 22, 2012 - They attend a party together. (Nick might have been DJing?)

11. February 23, 2012 - Harry spotted leaving Nick Grimshaw's flat in the same outfit he was wearing the night before.

The morning of February 23rd One Direction flies to the US for their tour and doesn't return to the UK until April 24th, 2012.

This trip is supposedly where Haylor 1.0 happens.  Harry supposedly meets Taylor at the KCA’s on March 31 and they fall for one another.  Taylor supposedly goes to NYC to be with Harry (even though she spends the whole time with Dianna) during the first week of April.  Then they supposedly enter into a long distance relationship that is broken up because Harry was seen out with another girl.

All the while the last thing Harry does before he leaves the UK is spend the night with Nick and then the first thing he does is goes back to him.

Yeah, I’m not buying Haylor 1.0 it seems pretty clear to me that Taylor wanted to pin I Knew You Were Trouble on Harry as a big pop anthem to support her transition to pop.  I think it’s even possible they faked Harry being spotted out with that girl or perhaps he and Nick had some kind of agreement.  I’m not saying Gryles was always exclusive (they may have been), but regardless I don’t see Red era Taylor being cool enough to share her boyfriend with a man.

12. April 25, 2012 - Nick and Harry out together the morning after he returned.

Harry also calls into Nick's radio show on the 25th and confirms that the first thing he did upon returning on the 24th was meet up with Nick and Matt Fincham for drinks so one can theorize he probably crashed w/ Nick that night.

Harry goes to LA by himself on May 1st and returns to the UK on the 5th.

May 5th, 2012 - Harry out with Annie Mac and Nick. (Thanks to my anon for clueing me into this little gem of information.)

13. May 7th, 2012 - Harry and Nick out with friends

One Direction goes to Sweden from May 10th to May 16th.

14. May 17, 2012 - The Sun reports Harry driving Nick to work.

Also out shopping together

15. May 19, 2012 - Nick posts a picture to his instragram from the Kanye West/Jay Z show at the O2.

Who cares right? So he went to see a show. But then.

Hey guess what happened the very next day? One Direction flew to Boston on May 20th, 2012 to start their summer tour in the U.S. They're gone from the 20th to July 3rd.

16. July 5, 2012 - Nick and Harry attend the launch of Tinie Tempah's shoes line.

There's some downtime and vacation time here where Harry disappears for a week while Louis is France w/ Eleanor, Niall goes to Spain, Liam and Danielle are on vacation, etc and then One Direction goes back to work July 11th recording and doing photo shoots.

17. July 19, 2012 - Harry goes out with Nick and Aimee and tweets this.

18. August 10, 2012 - Harry attends Nick's 28th birthday party at La Bodega Negra.

Pregaming before the party!

Outside La Bodega Negra

19. August 11, 2012 - Primrose Hill picnic

20. August 20, 2012 - One Direction visit Nick at BBCR1 to announce their headlining of the BBC Radio 1 Teen Choice Awards.

21. August 25, 2012 -

Nick and Harry go to lunch. (Would also like to point out that they are switching places and that Harry is going to the driver's side of Nick's car :333)

and then to Reading Festival

then Nick accompanies Harry to Liam's party at Funky Buddha

and then they leave together and go see Rita Ora at G.A.Y.

22. August 26, 2012 - The morning after, Nick tweets a shot of his hangover breakfast from Harry's Range Rover (Nick owns a Mercedes).

then a lunch date with several people

They spend this entire day together and this is the day the pics of them in the grocery store  are taken where Nick buys Harry a banana, etc

and then Harry drops Nick off for his nighttime show and picks him up again to take him to/stay with him while Nick DJs at Wonderland nightclub.

(Although, lbr. Given what we learn from Nick's final nighttime show about how often Harry hung around the studio, he probably never left.)

Wonderland! (the only time that fucking song has any bearing on Harry and he’s off being a MLM king)

23. August 28, 2012 - Leaving Nick's flat

spotted in the studio w/ Nick at BBCR1

24. August 30, 2012 - Harry films the Breakfast Show advert for Nick's #Team Grimmy commercial and then they go to Mahiki Club that night.

25. August 31, 2012 - Harry goes with Nick to his DJ gig at Paradise

and then to karaoke afterward

The lo and behold One Direction flies to Florida the very next day to film their Pepsi commercial. They're gone until September 11th.

on September 6, 2012 Taylor has Sushi with Ed and Harry in LA supposedly signaling the start of Haylor 2.0 as if Harry is not fully boyfriends with Nick.

26. September 12, 2012 - Nick's final nighttime show. (this was a gif of them being cute and playing around but I was too lazy to bring it over, you get it they’re touchy, flirty, and playful):

Nick and Aimee go on vacation together from the 14th to the 18th.

27. September 18, 2012 - This dude says he spotted Harry Styles waiting in arrivals at the airport while waiting for his sister's flight to arrive insinuating perhaps Harry was traveling with Nick and Aimee:

28. September 20, 2012 - iTunes Festival where One Direction was interviewed by Nick and Annie Mac

29. Harry calls into Nick's first Breakfast Show on September 25, 2012. Then they meet up after to see Perks of Being a Wallflower together. I can't find the tweets from the ladies who saw them there, but Nick and Emma Watson confirm later that Harry was indeed there.

30. September 29, 2012 - Spotted at Waitrose together and then the following morning Nick regales his listeners with the tale of a Spinach pie he made for a ~friend~.

31. October 5th (or 6th?), 2012 - Preparation for Ladz FM

But also on October 5th, Taylor is on Nick’s show:

32. October 6, 2012 - Ladz FM

Supposedly on this show Nick gives Harry hell for Taylor, the Haylor timeline I like puts it this way:

“One Direction and Harry make an appearance on Nick’s show the following day, and they talk about Taylor on-air for 4 minutes straight. Nick teases Harry by saying “Ol’ Swiftyyyy” over and over again when she is brought up in the conversation.” Yup that’s right, Nick was giving his own boyfriend shit about his fake girlfriend 😭😭😭 this is why I fuck w Nick’s energy.

then they went for lunch in notting hill (no Taylor? why not Harry aren’t you so happy to be back with her and in love w her?)

33. October 7, 2012 - BBC Teen Choice Awards

One Direction doing promotion for the new album.

Paris - October 11, 2012

Ireland - October 12, 2012

Manchester - October 16, 2012

Leeds - October 17, 2012

34. October 19, 2012 - Lunch in London

October 31 - One Direction in Spain

Early November One Direction goes to the US for Ellen, X Factor USA, and The Today Show. After The Today Show Harry flies to LA while the rest of One Direction goes back to London. Harry writes a song with the lead singer of Snow Patrol and rumors start flying about him hooking up with Taylor Swift.

Harry arrives back in London on November 16, 2012.

35. November 16, 2012 - Children in Need benefit concert

November 30th One Direction goes back to the U.S. for one off shows and MSG show. Haylor happens.

Harry returns to London on December 8th via Taylor's private jet and plays the Jingle Ball with the rest of One Direction. Harry and Taylor tour the UK together until December 15th when Taylor leaves for France.  Meanwhile Dianna heads out on a mystery 14 hour long flight on December 14th.

36. December 16, 2012 - Roast Dinner!

One Direction returns to the U.S. for the X Factor USA finale. Harry stays in the U.S. and goes on a ski vacation with Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez.

He returns to the UK on December 24th.

37. December 25, 2012 - Late night Christmas leftovers. (Yes they’re spending Christmas together, that’s boyfriend behavior!)

Harry and Nick both leave London on the 29th (Nick for Puerto Rico and Harry for NYC) Harry spends New Years with Taylor and Nick spends New Years with Pixie, Aimee, and the rest of the hipster crew. Harry and Taylor then fly to Gorda British Virgin Islands where they are supposed to vacation until the 7th. Taylor leaves on the 4th and Harry goes to Necker Island alone. Tabloids say Harry and Taylor have broken up.

And that’s it for Haylor!

Harry arrives back in the UK on January 8th

38. January 8, 2013 - Sushi lunch date! (tweet confirming nick was also there.)

and harry with the girl who tweeted it.

39. January 10, 2013 - Tinie Tempah's GQ dinner.

The party was for people on the British GQ best dressed list (Nick was on it. Harry was not.)

Jessie J puts a picture of the table cards from her table on instagram. Harry doesn't have one which, you know. I'll just be here imagining him as Nick's + 1.

One Direction fly to Ghana on the 12th or 13th and return on the 15th. On the 16th Harry calls into Grimmy’s show to talk about how Fincham DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A MEMBER OF ONE DIRECTION. Finchy asks Harry when he’s back and Harry says “in a couple of days”. (Small side note here that I don’t think Finchy and Harry are at the level of friends where they keep track of one another’s schedules so the only way Finchy could have known that Harry was heading back out of town to Japan that very day is if Nick told him.)

One Direction in Japan from January 16th to the 20th.

I'm not going to count this as a time they were together because I have no hard evidence, but the night of January 20th Harry was spotted in a grocery store buying wine and Annie Mac mentions on her show that Nick ditched coming over for dinner that evening to have a friend round to his house instead. We assume it was Harry, but w/o actual proof I don't want to say it concretely.

40. January 21, 2013 - Baking for Radio 1! (Tweet confirming the friend was Harry.)

Nick tells this story the morning of the 22nd about how he forgot he had to bake, so he got up from bed, went to the store for supplies, and forgot eggs. So, he texted his friend who was coming over to bring eggs and then Nick baked while his friend yelled at him to add more butter.

41. January 22, 2013 - Watching Great British Bake Off

Do what you will with this one. Obviously there is not definite way to tell if this is Harry or not, but given the evidence of the amount of time they spend together that has been laid forth thus far, I feel comfortable saying those are indeed Harry's legs.

42. January 31, 2013 - Out for Harry's birthday at La Bodega Negra (the same place they celebrated Nick's birthday.)

Nick also went to Groucho Club afterward with Harry and mentioned on his show this morning that he hadn't slept at all. (He was still wearing the same outfit.)

43. February 1, 2013 - Aimee tweets about being in the car with Nick en route to play Laser Quest. (Can't imagine who they might be playing with.)

Nick tweeted this :)

Never

Getting

Over

This

February 19, 2013 - PreBrit Awards Dinner Hosted by Nick!

THEIR SMILEY LITTLE FACES. :3

Legit SHARING A TAXI ON THE WAY HOME

2/20/13 - At the Brit Awards together!

Leaving an after party!

taking a cab to Nick's house so Nick can change for work

hands hands hands

At Nick's flat

 2/21/13 - On The Breakfast show the morning after the Brits!

Harry on The Breakfast Show!

2/23/2013 - Nick attends One Direction's first show at the O2 in London

THE DROUGHT IS OVER!!!

8/21/2013 - Nick interviews Harry, Zayn, and Liam for TBS

Then Nick and Harry hook up later for dinner.

September 12, 2013

Harry gets off the plane from LAX, gets on the tube and meets Nick at an Elton John concert

Harry and Nick's dad at the concert, posted to Nick's instagram.

September 13, 2013

This person says they saw nick and Harry at Apartment 58 (members only club) together

https://twitter.com/LightbownL/status/378610145271771136

But, Sadie Frost also posted a picture of her and Nick getting ready to go out for LFW with no mention of Harry, so the tweet could be false facts.

But then! September 14, 2013

Sadie posts this picture of Nick sleeping on her sofa

Followed by this picture of Harry posing with her daughter

And then Nick and Harry went to Henry Hollands show at LFW together

Then to a pub with Gemma, Kelly Osborn and others

Then to dinner with James Corden and his wife

September 15, 2013

September 17, 2013 - Fashion Show East in London

November 9, 2013 - Breakfast with Anne and Robin at the Wolseley.

So Anne tweeted this in the morning. You can see the Wolseley logo at the top of the plate.

Then this girl got a pic with Harry at the Wolseley during his breakfast with Anne and Robin.

and she confirmed that Nick was eating with them https://twitter.com/alexandra_imper/status/400204985222193152

Then off to Selfridges to shop!

At Alexa Chung's birthday party!

November 10, 2013 - Ladz instagram and Aimee Phillips birthday party!

LADZ VIDEO!

November 30, 2013

Harry playing with Puppy at Nick's house.

Poppy Delevingne's hen party!

Leaving Groucho club.

December 1, 2013

Primrose Hill lighting ceremony!

Nick with Daisy Lowe and his dad!

Then this girl met Nick

https://twitter.com/rpcheald/status/407224559687852032/photo/1

and saw Harry

https://twitter.com/rpcheald/status/407209332858552320

Class of '92 movie premiere

Nick and his dad on the red carpet

Harry meeting Beckham!

December 4, 2013 - London Fashion Awards

February 17, 2014 - Taking a random taxi ride?????

and leaving Nick's flat

March 29, 2014

Sleepover at Harry's house!

Nick posted this on instagram

http://instagram.com/p/mHpTBdPJyt/

At the time we weren't sure it was Harry's drive but...

https://twitter.com/cuppanarryx/status/481310537817399296/photo/1

Hiya, doggie.

Also Nick's tweet from the morning after just because.

https://twitter.com/grimmers/status/449814322399940609

May 24, 2014 - Radio 1's Big Weekend

May 28, 2014 - Barry's BC London

And link to post about the other tweets x

June 8, 2014

Nick attends One Directions show at Wembley Stadium.

June 12, 2014

Harry at Nick driving around London in a Ferrari.

and another tweet about the Ferarri sighting.

https://twitter.com/ItsJustMikey/status/477133631602065408

Then later that evening Harry went to Nick's for his World Cup barbecue and fans took pics with Harry outside Nick's house.

[renee-writer]

I grew up in California and Texas but never thought I was raised by lower income parents during a time when most everyone treated each other with respect. We didn't eat a lot of fast food because it was considered a treat, not a food group. We drank Kool-Aid made from water that came from our kitchen sink with real sugar. We ate bologna sandwiches, or even tuna (which was in a can not a pouch), PB&J & grilled cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, pot pies, but mostly homemade meals consisting of mainly dough, meat, potatoes, vegetable, bread & butter, and homemade dessert.

We grew up during a time when we mowed lawns, pulled weeds, babysat, helped neighbors with chores to be able to earn our own money. we went outside a lot to play games, ride bikes, red rover, dodge ball, run with siblings and friends & played hide and seek. We drank tap water from the hose outside... bottled water was unheard of. If we had a coke -it was in a glass bottle ... and we took the empties back to the store for a 5 cent deposit.

We watched TV shows like Bonanza, Leave It To Beaver, Gilligan's Island, Happy Days, Bewitched, The Brady Bunch, Little House On The Prairie, and I Love Lucy. After school, we came home and did homework and chores before going outside or having friends over. We would ride our bikes for hours. We had to tell our parents where we were going, who we were going with, and what time we'd be back.

You LEARNED from your parents instead of disrespecting them and treating them as if they knew absolutely nothing. What they said was LAW and you did not question it, and you had better know it!!!

When the sun was starting to set you had better be home. In school we said the Pledge of Allegiance, we stood for the National Anthem and listened to our teachers.

We watched what we said around our elders because we knew if we DISRESPECTED any grown-up we would get our behinds whipped, it wasn't called abuse, it was called discipline! We held doors, carried groceries and gave up our seat for an older person without being asked. You didn't hear curse words on the radio in songs or TV, and if you cursed and got caught you had a bar of soap stuck in your mouth and had to stand in the corner. “Please, Thank you, yes please no thank you were part of our daily vocabulary!

You grew up to respect the Nation, the flag, and the President, NO MATTER who it was or what party they were from.

Re-post if you're thankful for your childhood and will never forget where you came from & the time you came from! Wouldn't it be nice if it were possible to get back to this way of life? I really liked that life!!!!!!!!!

[moldisgoodforyou]

never gonna measure up (i)

wordcount: 2.1k - I’m splitting these up so they’re not crazy long 

warnings: cursing, insecurity (?) 

____

“Hey, you’re flying back with me, right?” Sophie murmured, trying not to disturb Rafe too much if he was asleep.

The two were cuddled up in his bed on their last full day of break before going back to school - both of them had agreed to get back before the annual back-to-school Delt senior party for the spring semester.

New Year’s Eve had came and went without incident, though Sophie tried to ignore the small twist in her stomach upon hearing after the fact that one of their high school classmates had rented out a bar for them and their friends on the mainland - drinks included and all. (Rafe had tried to play it off, saying he pitched in for their share so she wouldn’t stress, but an extra-drunk classmate let it spill halfway through the night.)

She felt most at ease when it was just the two of them together, usually Rafe lying on top of her with eyes shut as she combed her fingers through his hair. Since the Christmas party, they’d hung out almost every day. Sophie hadn’t stopped thinking about what she told Rafe on that night, but he had just chalked it up to a combination of her overthinking and being tipsy. Besides, he figured she hadn’t brought it up to him since then, so it was fine. Right?

“Uh...no, I just got the one-way flight to go with you. You can come back with me if you’d like.” Rafe shifted onto his side to look at her, a crooked elbow propping up his head.

She furrowed her brow. “But you left your car in Columbus. How are you getting back?”

He shrugged. “My dad’s plane?”

Sophie blinked. “Your dad has a plane?”  

“Yeah, the airstrip’s just twenty minutes up the island.”

“Right.” She rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. He frowned and moved to hover over her, forearms on either side of her head. “Hey. It’s not a big deal, but I wanted to offer it up.”

She laughed at his proximity and lifted her head slightly to bump her nose against his. “It’s okay, I already have the return flight. Think it’s too late to cancel.”  

“Your funeral.” He grinned and kissed along her jaw and down her neck lazily, pushing up the hem of her sweatshirt with his hands. She squirmed a little but didn’t let out even a tiny moan, far too distracted by the fact that Rafe had a fucking private plane to concentrate on where his lips and hands were going. He teased his thumb across her hip, pleased when she pressed into him a little in response, but frowned when he noticed her staring off into space.

“Soph.”

“Huh?” She glanced down at him, cheeks going red.

He laughed and nipped gently at her collarbone. “What’s on your mind, space cadet?”

She made a show of glancing at her watch and frowned. “I have to go. Mom’s going to kill me if I’m not home for the last family dinner before going back.” He  pulled away with a small frown to match and gave her a sweet kiss. “Alright. Can I take you to the airport tomorrow?”

Sophie shook her head. “My dad’s going to, but I have an early flight and I’ll see you tomorrow night for the party. Deal?” She moved to get up, but Rafe slipped his arm around her waist, pinning her in place. She laughed, pushing at him. “Rafe, seriously.”

“I was kind of hoping we could spend our last night here together...you know, before we have to go back to separate beds and roommates...” He trailed off, smirking at the insinuation. She rolled her eyes but grinned. “If I can sneak out tonight, I’ll climb the tree to get in your room. But you have to get me back to my house by five am, I leave for my flight at six thirty.”  

“I hate when you do that, you’re gonna fall and hurt yourself. Just come to the door like a normal person.” He slipped his fingers up her sweatshirt again, trailing them up her spine.

She scowled, slightly ticklish but not wanting to show it. “And park my brother’s shitty old car next to your dad’s Range Rover? No thanks.”

“Who cares? No one’s gonna see it.”

Sophie was grateful for her phone ringing again with her annoyed mother on the other line to interrupt their conversation. “Can you drive me home?”

“Yeah, of course.” He hopped up and stuffed his feet into sneakers as she hurriedly answered and explained to her mom that actually, Rafe was driving her home right now and she’d be back soon. He shot her a knowing grin and she put her a finger to her lips as she listened to her mom’s annoyed huff, heading downstairs with him.

Once she walked up the drive to her house, waving goodbye to Rafe over her shoulder, she couldn’t stop thinking about what he said. No one’s gonna see it. Like he would be embarrassed if someone did see the car in broad daylight, knowing it was hers. Or was she just overthinking it?

__

Later that night, she called him, murmuring into the phone. “Hi. I can’t come over.”

“Huh? Why not, your mom’s trapping you in? Wait, why are you whispering?” He matched her tone with his last sentence.

She laughed softly. “No, but it’s eleven thirty and I’m still not finished packing. My parents are asleep. But I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Hmmm...what are the odds you can stay quiet?” He smirked and she could practically hear it through the phone.

“Huh? I’m whispering right now.”

“No, if I came over?”

“I don’t understand.”

He laughed. “If I came over, and we happened to just have sex...”

She cringed, the flirting not nearly as sexy once he had to explain it. “My mom would kill me, Rafe, she thinks I’m still a virgin. I still remember when I was fourteen and had my first boyfriend, she told me I couldn’t have sex until I was responsible enough for a child.”

“Jesus.” He laughed. “I don’t think my dad ever gave me the sex talk. Just put a box of condoms on my bed one day and called it good.”

“Lovely. That sounds more enjoyable than my experience.”

“Hm. Yes and no. So you’re serious, I can’t come over?”

She hummed into the phone. “Not unless you’re an expert at packing. I swear I didn’t bring this much stuff home, I don’t know what to do with all of it.”

“Dunno. I’ll see you tomorrow night, will you pack that black dress? It has all the strappy things and it’s kinda drapey in the back.” There was rustling and the jingling of his keys in the background.

“You got it. Hey, Rafe?”  

“Yeah?”

“I, um.” She paused. “I’m sorry you can’t stay over for the night. I did want to spend more time with just us, you know?”

“Hey, I know, don’t stress about it. I’ll see you soon enough.” With that he hung up, leaving Sophie just a little more reassured. What she didn’t know was that he was already in his car, making his way over to her house anyways. It only took ten or so minutes for him to park his car at the end of her street and walk up, trying his best to be subtle about it. He cursed quietly when her back door creaked open, that Sophie had briefly mentioned was always unlocked -  then stopped right in his tracks.

Her dad was in the kitchen in sweats and a t-shirt, retrieving a bottle of water from the fridge. “Rafe?”

“Mr. Flint! Uh...hey!” He kept his voice quiet, unsure if he’d wake the rest of the house.

“It’s Jeff, kiddo. What are you doing here?” He glanced over Rafe’s attire, with his hood up and feet shoved into untied Nikes.

“Right, Jeff, sorry about that. I...uh...Sophie, y’know...” He fumbled for an excuse but couldn’t come up with a single one, trailing off into embarrassed silence.

“Sophie’s sleeping, upstairs. Alone.” He added pointedly, but kept a good-natured smile with Rafe. “Unless there’s something I don’t know?”

Rafe shook his head quickly. “No sir, nothing at all. I’m just gonna head out, actually, forgot why I came over. My bad.”

“Right.” Her dad regarded Rafe with a mixed look of confusion and also slight recognition, but seemed as if he didn’t want to think about why Rafe was sneaking over so late. “Have a good night, Rafe.”

“Yes sir, you too!” He couldn’t get out of there fast enough, cursing under his breath as he made the walk of shame back to his car. Once he quietly closed the driver’s door, he paused, contemplating texting Sophie and trying again to see if she’d help him sneak in - then reconsidered. Her dad seemed to like him just enough, and actually seemed interested when Rafe told him about his film minor - something his dad had just dismissed as a waste of time. He didn’t want to trade one extra night with Sophie for losing her dad’s trust.

_

Still embarrassed about being caught, Rafe didn’t reach out to Sophie all next day except to text her and confirm that she had landed safely, then to let her know that he was on his way. The Snapchat she received from him, with the view out the window and then a glimpse of the inside of the plane, made her want to die just a little. She got it when she was getting lunch with her roommates Julia and Allie later that day, and made a clear face of disdain upon opening it. She hadn’t mentioned Rafe once in the three hours they’d been back together, and the girls knew something was up.

Julia raised her eyebrows. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Huh?” Sophie asked, eyes still trained on her phone. Allie leaned over to look at the screen and did a double take. “Wait, is that a private plane?”

“Yeah.” Sophie paused and set the phone on the table to show Julia. “Unfortunately.”

“I thought you knew he was rich, why is this a bad thing? Think of all the vacations he could take you on.” Julia questioned.

“Think of all the vacations I can’t take him on.” Sophie replied, slumping back in her seat. “Hey Rafe, I know you took me to, I don’t know, the Bahamas, but I can take you on a five and a half hour road trip to Chicago to stay in a basic hotel instead of the Ritz Carlton you’re used to.” She dropped the facetious tone, wrinkling her nose. “I’m never gonna measure up.”

Allie frowned. “Sophie, I’m sure that doesn’t matter to him.”

“I don’t know.” She crossed her arms, thinking again about his off-handed comment about the car. No one’s gonna see it.

“Did he bring it up or something?” Julia asked, cocking her head.

“No, but. I met his dad and he mentioned some girl, Lexie something? They were in some group project together this semester and his dad tried to set them up. He thought I was her when I went to their Christmas party.”

“It’s not Lexie Rhodes, is it?” Allie was a marketing major too, and often had classes overlapping with Rafe.

“Wait, you know her? Oh god, how bad is it? Not that I think he’s cheating, he’d never -”

“Sophie, stop.” Allie grabbed her arm to cut her off. “She’s had a steady boyfriend since freshman year. And you know he wouldn’t do that to you.”

She sighed, a little in relief and more in frustration. “I know. That’s the problem.”

“...The problem is that he won’t cheat on you? Do you hear yourself?” Julia cocked her head and kicked Sophie’s shin under the table.

“Ow, hey!” Sophie scowled. “I know, I sound ridiculous. I can’t explain it. It’s all moving so fast and he got me the nicest present ever for Christmas, I almost cried in front of him and then I went home and cried more.”

“Crying in front of a boy? Actually showing your feelings? Who are you and what have you done with our Sophie?” Allie teased, poking Sophie’s arm.

“Look, you don’t want to break up with him, right?” Julia asked.

“No, no, of course not.” Sophie shook her head quickly.  

“Okay. So you just need to tell him how you’re feeling, be upfront. He doesn’t care if you have money or not, that boy practically worships the ground you walk on.” Julia told her, and Allie nodded in agreement. “He does.”

“Hardly.” Sophie stirred her straw in her drink, trying to distract herself. “I’m just going to give myself time, I didn’t stress about this when we were both at school. I’ll chill out, promise.”

“Are you promising us or yourself?” Allie raised her eyebrows.

“Good question.”

[cakesunflower]

Just My Kind [Teacher!Calum AU] Part 3

Previous Parts: Part 1 | Part 2

           The cool, salty rim of the glass remained pressed against Odessa’s lips as she watched the boys. Ashton’s drums were set a few feet in front of the stool, with Michael, Luke, and Calum all standing in front with their own instruments, playing beautiful songs that they had written on their own. She was kind of blown away, sitting on the backyard couch as she listened to them perform under the blanket of the night sky, the stars glittering above them and the blue hue of the pool lights only adding on to the blissful atmosphere Odessa had easily gotten lost in.

           They were good—like, really good, beyond Odessa’s expectations. And as she sipped the margarita Crystal had made her, Odessa couldn’t help the way her gaze seemed to flicker over just a couple of centimeters to solely watch Calum. She’d let her eyes linger on the way he’d sing into the microphone, the movement of his fingers on the strings of his gorgeous red bass. But it was his voice that captivated Odessa completely, had her forgetting to take sips of the delicious drink Crystal had made her. When Calum sang, his voice was simultaneously smooth and held a rasp that threatened to send shivers down her spine, utterly mesmerizing her where she sat and entranced as she listened attentively.

           From the slow ballads that tugged at her heartstrings too closely to the more upbeat songs that made her want to get on her feet, Odessa genuinely enjoyed listening to them, head bopping or swaying, feeling the need to mouth along to the lyrics she had never heard before. And there were definitely moments, ones she hadn’t expected, when her eyes would meet Calum’s from where she sat and his lips would curl up even more. Odessa wanted to assume it was only because he was singing, but she couldn’t ignore the way his smile reached his eyes.

           “So what’d you think?” Luke asked Odessa after, the band receiving a round of applause  when they had finished, as he reached for the bottle of beer Sierra was offering him. “Are we your new favorite band?”

           Odessa scoffed in amusement, raising her eyebrows as she pointed out, “No one will ever top Cigarettes After Sex, but you’re adorable for assuming.” He stuck his tongue out as the rest of them erupted into laughter, and Odessa grinned before continuing honestly, “Seriously, though—you guys are incredible. I’m impressed.”

           “I think if you see us play enough, we’ll become your favorite,” Ashton quipped, nodding with his lips puckered in assurance that only had Odessa laugh once more.

           “The man’s got a point,” Calum spoke up, raising a pointed eyebrow at Odessa as he stood across from her in their little group. His lips quirked in a sly smirk as he continued, “If your favorite band isn’t your work-husband’s, then we’ve got a problem on our hands, Essa.”

           She couldn’t help but roll her smiling lips into her mouth, shaking her head at him in amusement. Odessa was all too aware of the little jump her heart did when the nickname slipped past Calum’s lips—it was the first time he’d used it, likely hearing Luke use it before, and Odessa found herself liking the way it rolled off his tongue. But she ignored it. As always.

           “I’m sorry—work-what?” Paige cut in with a bewildered laugh, looking between the two of them with raised eyebrows. The smile on her face though, Odessa could tell, was strained, and she wouldn’t be surprised if Paige’s eye started twitching. Apparently she couldn’t even take a joke when it came to Calum’s fake relationship.

           Odessa pressed her lips together, glancing up at Luke who shot her a blank look, apparently being the only other person who caught the true intent of Paige’s question. At least Odessa wasn’t alone in that. Calum, though, chuckled and easily answered, “Yeah, we established today in the cereal aisle of Ralph’s that we’re married at work.” At the looks he received from the rest of the group and snort of amusement from Odessa, Calum shrugged and waved them off. “You had to be there.”

           One look at the subtle narrowing of Paige’s eyes and Odessa knew she wasn’t satisfied with his words, was yearning to dig for more, but the conversation had quickly shifted and the moment was lost. Thank God.

           The party continued on with Michael returning to his makeshift DJ stand, and Odessa enjoyed the company of her friends and new people she met just tonight in the open backyard of Michael and Crystal’s house. Their dogs were also running around, adorable little pups excited by the people that were around. She felt relaxed, sipping her drinks and getting to know everyone, never one to miss an opportunity of petting Moose or South as they scurried by.

           At one point, as she sat at the edge of the pool, bare feet dangling in the water as she sat in between KayKay and some other girls she’d met tonight, Odessa’s gaze wandered around the area. As she sipped at her White Claw, she caught sight of Calum through the people lingering around, and Odessa watched as he remained completely enthralled by Moose’s company. She continuing sipping her drink in attempt to hide her smile and laugh, gaze locked on the way Moose licked at Calum’s face and his wide grin as his hands rubbed through her curly fur.

           Odessa dropped her gaze to her feet, pale pink painted toes warped under the water as she attempted to push admiring thoughts of him out of her head and focus on whatever conversation the women she was sitting with were having. Even in her own head, Odessa felt like a hypocrite, telling herself she couldn’t, shouldn’t, have any kinds of feelings towards Calum, even if they were that of a mere budding crush, and yet she proceeded to keep looking for him, admiring him, feeling her skin flush because of him. It was a dangerous game she was playing with herself—one she could feel she was losing.

           It was just a little after one in the morning when Odessa exited one of the downstairs bathrooms, the others occupied, and ended up bumping into Calum. She let out a soft exclaim, feeling a bit wobbly on her feet, letting out a breath when Calum grasped her upper arms to keep her on her feet. “You good?” Calum chuckled gently, raising his eyebrows as he looked down at her.

           Odessa nodded, blue eyes meeting his brown, thankful for some of the alcohol that rushed through her veins that nearly numbed her to the burn of his touch. He was so tall—not as tall as Luke, though Odessa hadn’t meant anyone who was, save for Grandpa—but tall enough that his figure loomed over hers and she liked it. “Yeah,” she let out a short breathless laugh. Running her fingers through her straight hair, she added, “I think, uh, I’m gonna head out, though.”

           Calum’s eyebrows furrowed as his hands dropped from her, and Odessa focused on his words rather than the loss of his touch as he asked, “You’re not drivin’, are you?”

           “No,” Odessa scoffed, shooting him a look. She hadn’t driven there in the first place, getting a ride from Crystal since she’d been by Odessa’s house around the time and had picked her up on the way back home. “I’m gonna call an Uber.”

           Clicking his tongue, obviously displeased with the idea, Calum suggested, “Let me give you a ride, yeah?”

           Odessa felt her lips curl upwards, raising an eyebrow at him as she giggled lightly. Music was still playing outside where most everyone was, but it was muffled inside the house. “You take this work-husband thing seriously, huh?”

           The words had slipped and even though she wasn’t entirely sober, Odessa still felt the need to cringe at her words, a voice in her head telling her to shut up. But it was far, nearly unheard, so she ignored it as Calum grinned. “That—and being a good friend in general. Come on, I haven’t drank in hours. I don’t mind.”

           He added the last bit upon seeing Odessa part her lips to protest, and she merely closed her mouth before letting out a small laugh in acceptance. She knew he hadn’t drank in hours, had only stuck to beer when he had drank earlier. And that had been hours ago, plenty of time to sober up. She would be lying if she said she was more comfortable taking an Uber home at one in the morning in Los Angeles than getting a ride from Calum. But before she could accept the offer, something was itching at the back of Odessa’s mind, a thought her head was begging for her to remember, until it clicked just as quickly.

           Hadn’t Paige made some sort of comment about going home with Calum? Odessa chewed on the inside of her cheek. She didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, especially Paige’s because she’d get blamed for a broken foot, but surely if Calum was offering Odessa a ride home, then he hadn’t arrived with the expectation of going home with Paige. And if he had, he certainly didn’t still feel that way. But was a ride home worth the potential jabs from, or maybe even wrath of, Paige?

           Odessa determined that she was going to accept Calum’s offer for her own safety. She didn’t particularly trust Uber drivers in big cities—especially since she wasn’t entirely sober. Paige would just have to deal with it.

           “Yeah, I’d appreciate it. Thanks, Calum,” Odessa finally accepted, her words being responded with a grin.

           They quickly made their rounds after, saying goodnight to everyone, thanking Michael and Crystal for having them over as Calum grabbed the case his bass was in in his hand. As they did so, Odessa couldn’t help but notice that Paige wasn’t around, maybe in the bathroom, but neither she nor Calum waited around for her before leaving the house and getting in his black Range Rover. It smelled nice, his car. A mix of Calum’s cologne and leather and some kind of air freshener that all came together in a pleasant combination that had her closing her her eyes briefly and resting her head back after telling Calum her address.

           There was a comfortable silence that had settled in the car, save for the music softly playing through the speakers as Calum drove. Odessa found herself breaking it as she said, “You guys were really good. I had no idea you could sing like that.”

           Calum glanced at her, features shadowed under the occasionally gleaming light of the street lamps and buildings they passed, but the smile on his face was a soft image with the help of the glow of the dashboard. “Just one of my many talents,” he joked gently, his voice as quiet as hers, neither wanting to disrupt the comfort of the overall silence.

           He was kidding, but Odessa agreed with him.

           There had been something nostalgic about listening to the boys play tonight, especially during their slower ballads, and as Odessa’s gaze wandered back out the windshield, the unfiltered thoughts spilled past her mouth without much consideration. “My dad used to play songs for us. My mom and I.”

           She could feel Calum glance at her, one hand on the steering wheel, elbow resting on the console separating them. “Oh yeah?” he asked, the upward tilt in his voice showing his curiosity.

           “Yeah,” Odessa answered, her throat dry as her lips twisted to the side. Her eyebrows knitted together, fighting the words from escaping her, knowing they’d make things awkward and tense unnecessarily.

           “Why’d he stop?”

           Odessa’s lips puckered thoughtfully, head still tilted back, the lights passing by in blurs as she scoffed lightly. “He decided he wanted to play for a new family.”

           Her jaw tightened as soon as she uttered those words, inhaling sharply, quietly, as she chastised herself for dropping something so personal out of nowhere. She could blame it on the alcohol, but both Odessa and Calum knew she hadn’t drank enough to not be in total control of her words, and her face felt hot with an embarrassed flush as she looked out the window in hopes of completely obstructing her view of Calum. What was wrong with her? Talking about her father, the man who left and her mother when she was fifteen to be with a woman he’d been having an affair with, who lived just outside of their small town, with a little girl who was Odessa’s half-sister.

           For too long Odessa had resented them—all of them. Until she couldn’t be bothered with the amount of energy it took to keep up with it. So she just stopped. She stopped caring. Became hollow in that situation. Which was why she never allowed herself to think about it for too long, afraid of the anger and bitterness that would come rushing back.

           “I’m sorry,” she whispered through a small, embarrassed laugh. She gave a shake of her head, too humiliated to look at Calum. If only she could keep her mouth shut. “That was—unnecessary. Sorry.”

           Calum had already began protesting halfway through her apology, giving a shake of his head as he assured, “No, no—don’t apologize, alright?” His gentle tone had Odessa glancing at him, saw him shoot her a small, reassuring smile that had her chest tightening. “If you don’t wanna talk about it, that’s fine. But, like—I’m here if you do, yeah? Just want you to know that, uh—” Calum let out a soft, almost sheepish chuckle that had her gazing at him gently, curiously. “If I can be someone you can talk to about these things, then I’m there.”

           The air was trapped in her lungs and Calum wasn’t making it any easier to not like him. He wanted to be someone she could talk to? She looked at him as he looked towards the road, but Odessa didn’t miss the subtle way he chewed on his lower lip and she wondered if he felt nervous telling her that, the way she felt in awe he would even think to offer. The gesture was beyond sweet, undeniably kind, one that threatened to melt Odessa on the spot.

           He was kind, more so than any man she’d ever met. So Odessa smiled, effortlessly, and responded, “Thank you. I—The feeling’s mutual.”

           Calum glanced at her then, lips curling upwards in a soft smile, which Odessa returned because she was being honest. If he wanted to be there for her, she wanted to be there for him. And maybe that only teased the dangerous game she was playing with herself, but how could Odessa turn away from him? Especially when he smiled at her like that? A smile that was soft on his lips and his eyes that was enough to leave everyone breathless, she felt.

           Her phone buzzed in her lap then, and Odessa unlocked it to see a message from Luke, biting the inside of her lower lip to keep a scoff from escaping.

I can totally tell Paige is pissed that Cal left with you without even saying anything to her. Help. I’m not sober enough to not laugh in her face.

           Odessa raised a hand to rub at her forehead with her fingers, biting back the smile that strained to upturn her lips. Paige’s reaction wasn’t funny, per se, as more expectant. She wanted to roll her eyes, to tell Luke to tell Paige to shut up because clearly Calum wasn’t as bothered as she was. But Odessa knew better. Knew it was none of her business even though she was, without really trying to, being inserted in whatever narrative existed between Calum and Paige. If there even was one. Odessa wasn’t sure.

           At this point, she didn’t really have a good grasp on anything.

*****

           “Have a good weekend, everyone. I’ll see you Monday,” Odessa smiled, getting multiple responses in return as her students shuffled out of the classroom right when the last bell of the day rang. She was going to stick around to get a head start on some grading, and as she shut the Smart Board off, one of her students approached her.

           “Hey, Ms. K.,” Donny Crane said as he walked towards her desk, hands grasping the straps of his black backpack. “Are you coming to our game after school? Coach said you were.”

           Odessa raised an eyebrow at the sophomore, feeling an amused smile tug at her lips as she took in his words. Donny was on the boys varsity soccer team, and Odessa was well aware there was a game an hour after school got out. Odessa had promised Calum a while back that she’d check out a game, and it had been nearly two months since she started and she had yet to attend. And with Donny, a boy quite taller than her, asked, a hopeful grin on his face, Odessa easily gave in. Not just because Calum was telling them that she was attending.

           “Yeah, of course,” Odessa told him, smiling knowingly. “Coach says the team looks great this year—I gotta check that out myself.”

           “Awesome,” Donny grinned, walking backwards to the door. “See you there, Ms. K!”

           She laughed after him as she settled in her chair, looking at the pile of papers she had to grade. She would be able to get through a handful, maybe more, until she had to go to the game, so she didn’t waste time in getting started. Odessa was an expert in not allowing herself to get distracted when grading work, especially papers her students took time in writing, and so the next hour flew by far quicker than she’d anticipated. Putting the papers in a folder before gathering her things, Odessa left her classroom and headed towards the main office, signing out for the day and bidding goodbye to the secretaries still inside before heading out.

           The parking lot was by the soccer field, so Odessa put the bag full of work in her car before heading over to the field, where she saw many people already gathered. A school bus was parked nearby, its label that of a different school, and Odessa saw their school’s team and the visitors’ doing practice drills on the field while everyone else waited for the game to start. A gentle breeze danced through her dark hair, the sun bright above them as Odessa folded the sleeves of her cropped denim jacket as she got to the bleachers and sat towards the front.

           As people around her chattered with each other, Odessa narrowed her eyes slightly behind her sunglasses, catching sight of Calum on the other side of the field. Black track pants replaced the jeans he had been wearing earlier, and she watched as he did some foot work with a soccer ball while animatedly talking to two of the players standing by him, watching him.

           And when the game began, of course Odessa would watch the team, track their movements with her eyes. But she would also allow her gaze to innocently, occasionally, glance back to her friend the coach, because just like with a bass or in front of a Smart Board, Calum was in his element on the other side of the field, too. Even from a distance, Odessa could see the utter concentration furrowing his eyebrows as he watched the boys play, making gestures and shouting things Odessa couldn’t hope to understand—or hear, really, not with the cheers of everyone she was surrounded by as the boys scored a goal or defended their own.

           When Calum had mentioned a while back that the team was looking great this year, he hadn’t been kidding. Soccer was one of the very few sports Odessa kind of understood, but just by watching them for the first time, she was impressed. It sort of swelled her teacher’s pride, given that a few of the boys were in her classes, knowing she was teaching many intelligent, talented students. It only added onto her comfort of teaching in Los Angeles, another win for her for accepting the job and moving out of bumfuck, Nevada despite her big city hesitation.

           The game had been exciting, with Odessa letting out cheers of her own and clapping along in support of their team, a grin on her face when it was over and they had won. After the teams had shaken hands and dispersed after Calum gave them a quick talk, breaking off with a clap, Odessa got off the bleachers and wandered across the field. She wasn’t the only one, a bunch of others heading over to talk to the players, and Odessa offered Calum a smile when he glanced her way while in the middle of conversing with a couple of parents.

           She waited patiently, passing the few moments talking to Donny and another boy on the team she taught, Jude. Calum wandered over shortly after, grinning triumphantly as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair, “You made it to a game—and a good one, too.”

           “Yeah, finally,” Odessa laughed in agreement. “I was just telling the boys I was impressed with what I saw.”

           “As I said you would be,” Calum shrugged, not at all modest with the half smirk that played on his lips. Then, with a jut of his chin, Calum added, “The team and I are heading out for some celebratory pizza—you’re more than welcome to join.”

           Odessa’s eyebrows raised, the invitation unexpected as her lips parted. “Oh, uh,” she stammered, a short nervous chuckle escaping her as she played with the bracelet on her wrist. With a shake of her head, she said, “I don’t want to impose—it should just be you and the team, right?”

           Before Calum could respond, Jude spoke up with a grin, “Nah, Ms. Kline—you should definitely come with.”

           With a laugh, Donny added, “Yeah, Coach could definitely use the company of a grown up when he’s with all of us.”

           Despite the grin fighting its way to Odessa’s lips, and the roll of Calum’s eyes, Odessa pointed out to the two younger boys, “We’re barely ten years older than you.” She took a breath then, blue eyes meeting Calum’s brown as she raised her eyebrows and asked, “You sure it’s fine?” Honestly, she could really go for some pizza right now. She was starving.

           Calum’s smirk returned, looking as boyish as the two students, yet in a complete league of his own as he told Odessa, “I’m buyin’.”

           Around twenty minutes later, thanks to Los Angeles traffic, Odessa was sitting at a small table with Calum at a pizza place near the school, the boys from the team scattered around at different tables around them, loud and talkative like the heart of the place. Odessa didn’t think much of Calum sitting across from her as he enjoyed his slices of vegetarian pizza while she ate her extra cheese and jalapeño peppers ones, reminding herself of the innocence of this invitation.

           At least, that’s what she was hoping. It was difficult enough to battle whatever feelings for Calum were swimming in the depths of her heart, telling herself time and time again that she needed to keep her mouth shut, heart calm, and thoughts pushed back. And, God, there were so many moments where Odessa tried to talk herself out of it, questioned if she was really that afraid of Paige that she would keep whatever feelings she may have to herself. But every thought was countered with the reminder that Calum wasn’t just someone Paige had a territorial and—in Odessa’s quiet opinion—unjustified claim on, but was also her coworker, someone who had so effortlessly become such a good friend. It was just like when she had met Luke, instantly clicking with her blonde across-the-hall neighbor during the first day of her junior year in college. That’s how she reminded herself of it.

           Except Odessa was painfully aware that Luke had always just been a platonic friend of hers. Calum didn’t feel as such in her disillusioned head. She tried—and failed—not to think about it.

           Right now, though, Odessa was hoping was just innocent. Was hoping that Calum only invited her to get pizza with him and the team because they were good friends outside of work. She hoped he’d invited other teachers out like this before her so rumors didn’t circulate about her joining them. Odessa knew the functions of high school, knew even teachers weren’t safe from high school gossip. She didn’t want this to be made into a big deal when her running mind was already trying to dissect every inch of it.

           “So have you thought of a Halloween costume yet?”

           Calum’s voice pulled Odessa out of her thoughts effortlessly, watching as he raised a dark eyebrow to go along with his question. He sipped the soda through a straw but his brown eyes never left Odessa, waiting for an answer. “Uh, no, not yet, actually. I haven’t decided what iconic character I want to do yet,” she answered with a light laugh.

           Halloween was approaching and Odessa had been pleased to know that all students and teachers were encouraged to dress up. It fell on a Friday this year, and Odessa figured she’d just wear her costume for school to the party Luke and Sierra were throwing.

           “Yeah, I haven’t either,” Calum clicked his tongue with a shake of his head. As he picked up a pepper that had fallen onto the plate from the slice, gaze on it thoughtfully as the chain bracelet he wore on his tattooed wrist glinted against the lights above. Odessa caught the moment Calum’s eyes widened, a grin on his lips that clearly read of an expression that he’d just gotten an idea. “How would you feel about, like, pairing up for the costumes? We could be a notable couple from any piece of literature.” Smile turning into a smirk, too charming for his own good, he added, “We’d really step up as work-husband-and-wife.”

           Odessa laughed at that, but his idea circled her brain for a minute. She shouldn’t really consider the idea, knew it would only serve to dig her into a deeper hole, but Odessa couldn’t lie—it sounded like a fun thing to do. A bunch of other teachers, Odessa knew, were pairing up for costumes—the gym teachers all had a group one—so it wouldn’t be too out of the blue if two English teachers dressed up as a fictional couple. Odessa could do this—it would be totally professional and platonic.

           “That’s not a bad idea,” she finally conceded, chuckling when Calum’s grin widened, showing off the soft lines of the crinkles by his eyes, willing herself not to lose her breath at the sight of it. “As for the costumes. . .” She trailed off, letting her brain turn as she thought of potential ideas. There was one that immediately sprouted in her mind, and Odessa willed her racing heart as she finally looked back at him and slowly suggested, “How would you feel about Pride and Prejudice?”

           A classic novel, one for the ages, Odessa felt. She wondered if Calum did, too.

           His grin remained, nodding his head as he folded his arms on the table, ever so slightly leaning forward with his gaze locked on Odessa’s. With a tilt of his head and a low rasp in his voice, Calum concluded, “Think you just found the Mr. Darcy to your Elizabeth Bennett.”

           The hole was definitely getting a little bit deeper.

--

tags: @irwinkitten @sweetcherrymike @meetashthere @loveroflrh @astroashtonio @loverofhood @captain-what-is-going-on @angelbbycal @singt0mecalum @hopelessxcynic @lfwallscouldtalk @bodhi-black @findingliam-o @softlrh @highfivecalum @calumsmermaid @erikamarie41 @quintodosuniversos @longlastingdaydream @babylon-corgis @lukehemmingsunflower @miss-saltwatercowgirl @pastelpapermoons @conquerwhatliesahead92 @rotten-kandy @metangi @neigcthood @ohhmuke @mindkaleidoscope @5sos-and-hessa @trustmeimawhalebiologist​ @vxlentinecal​ @pettybassists​ @vaporshawn​ @lu-my-golden-boi​ @visualm3nte​ @dontjinx-it​ @lifeakaharry​ @neonweeknds​ @antisocialbandmate​ @ixcantxdecidexwhosxmyxfave​ @calpalbby​ @grreatgooglymoogly​ @sunnysidesblog​ @miahelizaaabeth​ @madelynerin @dramallamawithsparkles​ @kaytiebug14​ @hoodskillerqueen​ @bitchinbabylon​ @empathycth​ @xhaileyreneex​ @inlovehoodx​ @bloodlinecal​ @sublimehood​ @madbomb​ @raabiac​ @britnicole11​ @outofmylimitcal​ @wildflower-cth​ @bloodmoonashton​ @vxidhood​ @gosh-im-short​ @thesubtweeter​ @mycollectionofnuts​ @cthwldflwr​ @everyscarisahealingplace​ @socorroann​ @talkfastromance4​ @calumftduke​ @musichoney​ @treatallwithkindness​ @partlysunnycal​ 

[winterrose527]

but I've never felt this way for no one

for @simple-aphorisms who gave me this delicious prompt. apologies, I went full feral.

I got my driver’s license last week, just like we always talked about…

If he had to guess, he had heard the opening lines to that song roughly 40 bajillion times. Ever since it had come out over the winter, every party he went to devolved into a raucous, off-key chorus no less than three times as everyone stopped what they were doing to sing that song.

He wasn’t going to lie. It was, for lack of a better, less cringey word, a bop. The first weekend it had come out, he’d listened to it a fair bit. The first time he’d ever heard it at a party, was because he had been the one to put it on.

So he got it. Olivia Rodrigo was a talent. Possibly the next Taylor Swift, though that was a debate he never wanted to get into or hear again after the Great War between Sansa and Theon that had lasted for seven days and eight long nights.

That being said, nothing, and he meant nothing – not even the day her full album had come out and he’d come out into the living room to see Jon and Theon crying to Enough for You – had prepared him for this car ride.

He was sitting in the back seat of Myrcella Baratheon’s Range Rover, Grey Wind sprawled out on top of him. His sister Sansa and her best friend Myrcella were in the front seat, where they had been for the last three hours as Myrcella drove them all back to school from Winterfell, where they’d gone for the long weekend.

Of those last three hours… no less than 2 hours and 45 minutes of it had been dedicated to Olivia Rodrigo. The lion’s share of it to this song.

Now he considered himself a patient man. He was possibly alone in this opinion, but nevertheless he did. But on the thousandth rendition of red lights! Stop signs! He’d lost it.

Not his temper, his mind.

Because the thing was. Myrcella Baratheon was singing at the top of her lungs. Putting her little heart into it.

It wasn’t like she had a bad voice or anything. In fact, she had a beautiful voice. The first time he’d ever heard it he’d gotten actual chills.

The trouble was, this was a song about a break up. And he was fairly certain they were still very much together.

He had, after all, woken up in her bed that morning. And what they’d done after that had given him every indication that they were together.

The thing was though, that’s all he had.

An indication. A feeling.

Okay, a lot of feelings. A mess of them.

These were the facts as far as he understood them.

Early on this semester, around the same time this blasted song had come out, he and Myrcella had been at a party. She’d come with some girls from the Art History program, he’d been there with a few guys from his rugby team. Sansa was nowhere to be found, and neither was Jon or Theon.

He’d seen her from across the room, standing with a couple of girls, and crossed over to her.

Myrcella Baratheon was just the sort of girl you had to cross a party for.

“You’re here!” she exclaimed, as though she’d been waiting for him all night.

“Where else would I be?” he asked.

“On the dance floor maybe,” she grinned.

“Doesn’t sound like me,” he grinned back.

And then her hand was in his, pulling it gently, her eyebrow raised, “Not even if I asked reeeeally nicely?”

So they’d danced. Things had gotten pretty messy. There was a sloppy dance floor make out, followed by a rather aggressive one up against the side of whatever house they were at. A cold walk back to his. His bedroom. Clothes removed. And then just her.

And ever since then it had sort of just continued on like that. They were always together, since her friends were his, and there were always more dance floors to make out on.

He and Myrcella had been having sex with regularity for the past two months, and as far as he knew, Myrcella didn’t do casual sex. But she was also the only girl in the known universe who didn’t press the what are we? talk.

Not only did she not press it, she seemed unconcerned with it entirely.

It was unnerving.

And now, here she was, singing her pretty little heart out to one of the best break up songs of all time with conviction.

“Sing it, Robby!” Sansa turned around.

“No,” he grunted.

Myrcella’s eye flicked to his briefly in the rearview as she banged on the steering wheel.

Sansa turned back around and pointed to a sign for a rest stop, “Oh can we go in there? I want a coffee.”

The last bars of the song played as Myrcella pulled in, dropping Sansa off in front of the complex.

“I’m going to fill up with gas,” she told Sansa who promptly ran inside and then glanced at him, “Are you going in?”

“So you can leave me here?” he asked.

She bursted out laughing as she drove to the gas pumps, “Well you have been rather grumpy but not enough to justify abandoning you on the side of the road just yet.”

Myrcella parked and turned off the car and he got out and slammed his door shut, undoing the gas cap.

“What are you doing?” she asked him. Suddenly she was next to him.

“You hate pumping gas,” he reminded her.

She was such a priss about things like that. It was so annoying and hot.

“You have a unique ability to be a complete ass and a total gentleman all at the same time,” Myrcella informed him, “Anyone ever tell you that?”

“Not lately,” he growled. Watching the numbers go up. Ignoring her fresh face and her golden curls pooling out of the neck of her cream fleece. “Because I am not dating anyone else. Are you?”

“How would I be dating anyone else?” she asked him, “I mean just logistically in your brain how would that work? Do I have a time machine? Oh because if I did have a time machine I would definitely use it for sex reasons. Because I’m Theon. You incredible asshat.”

“What did you just call me?” he asked, angrily closing the gas cap.

“An asshat,” she repeated, “Meaning your head is so far up your ass you are literally wearing it as a hat!”

“Why are you singing the song like that?!” he growled at her.

She bit her lip, “Well, because it’s an incredible song.”

“Are you singing it about someone?” he asked. “You were near to tears on the last one!”

“Well maybe,” she brushed her fingers up his chest, “I was thinking how I’d feel if you ever decided you didn’t want to be with me. Though that was before this conversation.”

His hands went to her waist, pulling her towards him, slipping underneath her fleece and t shirt to her bare, warm skin.

“You called me an asshat,” he told her.

She grinned, her arms looping around his neck, “Well you’re acting like one.” She laughed, “And I must be one too, because even when you’re a total asshat, I’m pretty sure I love you anyway.”

“Baby,” he lifted her up, nuzzling his nose against hers, “I know I’m not perfect, but I’ve never felt this way for no one.”

She laughed. Cackled. Her head thrown back, exposing her creamy neck that he couldn’t help but kiss even at a gas station.

“You do realize you just quoted Olivia Rodrigo, don’t you?” she asked.

He hadn’t realized that. Apparently after 40 bajillion listens it had somehow just come out.

“Well,” he teased, “She is the next Taylor Swift.”

“Oh no!” she wrestled out of his arms.

“What’s wrong?” Sansa asked as she came to them holding a tray with three coffees in it.

“We’re leaving Robb here,” Myrcella told her, “Say your goodbyes.”

“Myrcella!” he laughed.

“Why don’t you call Theon for a ride you reductive asshat!” Myrcella argued.

With that she started walking around the car and he chased after her, picking her back up and carrying her to the passenger seat.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m driving,” he told her, “You’re too worked up. You’re being a little crazy.” And then he kissed her cheek, “But uh I love you anyway.”

He felt her grin even though she rolled her eyes as she buckled her seat. Sansa got in the back and he went around to the driver’s seat and got in. It took him a few minutes to adjust the seat because his girlfriend was teeny, and he used the time to plug his phone into the USB.

“Do you know what the best thing about being the driver is?” he asked them.

“What’s that?” Sansa asked from the back.

“You get to control the music,” he informed her.

And as he pulled away from the gas station, and the opening bars of Driver’s License came on through his phone, Myrcella Baratheon leaned over and kissed his cheek.

He’d forgotten how much he truly loved this song.

[harryskalechips]

Too bad I’m attracted to you Part 2

A/n Hello I am back with this fat update. You know reading part 1 made me feel a bit bummy, I thougt it was poorly written. I hope this one isn’t as shitty. Anyways, enjoy today’s post has smut, fluff and a lot of angst hahaha

Part 1

Word count: 7336

2 years later.

Winter

“Large Iced Caramel coffee for Adeline!” The barista yells out in the busy coffee shop. I make my way through the busy crowd to pick up my order.

“Thank you.” I smile sweetly as I head straight out the door. Today was a busy day, I had just finished my 2nd lecture and I knew I had to make my way home now to study or else I’m going to fall back down in a rabbit hole of binge-watching my favourite show on Netflix.

I gather my phone and coffee in one hand as I rummage through my purse to find my keys to the apartment I lived in. I wouldn’t say I came from a rich family but my parents were hard workers who had very comfortable positions in their careers that they were able to get me an apartment near campus. The only con about this place? It was a constant reminder of the man who changed me.

He wasn’t able to help me move in here but he sure was with me when I first visited this empty place. He inspired me and helped me picture how this place would come alive. He left small details of himself everywhere in my life that it was hard to not notice them.

“Do you need a hand?” The soft brunette smiled at me as she watched me try to open the main door. I was guessing she was a visitor since she didn’t have a set of her own keys. I nod my head silently as she lets out a small laugh. She takes her hand out as I pass her my coffee and try to slip my phone in the backside of my jeans. I swiftly find my keys and open the door for us.

“Thank you!” I give her an embarrassed expression as she hands me back my coffee. “I’m sorry, I’ve opened the door many times this way I guess today was just not my luck.” She laughs and takes her purple beanie off and shoves it in her trench coat.

“It’s alright, my financé thinks he can multitask all the time too yet he’s only lucky once in a while.” I laugh at her comment out of politeness. Just as she mentioned her engagement, I noticed the simple diamond resting on her finger.

“So do you live here?” I ask to kill the awkward silence as we walk into the elevators.

“No, I’m actually just here to visit my friend.” I nod my head silently, waiting for the digits on the wall to reach 11.

“This is my floor, I got to go. It was nice meeting you though!” I wave at her as I walk out. She probably thought I was a teenager living with my parents considering how I was dressed. I had my own beanie on, with the maple leafs logo on the front. I had my dyed blonde hair in braids as I carried my thick tote with my laptop inside. I also forgot to mention how I was wearing my doc martens and my teddy coat. Yes, I definitely still dressed like a basic white girl.

~

Some days I feel lonely in the apartment when it’s late at night and I’m studying or if I want to watch a movie before bed. I try to talk to my friends as much as I can. My best friend from high school Mya was still my best friend but it’s hard to keep in contact with her when she’s at another university living her best life. I talk to Rachel and Sam but they’re both in and out of their houses and I only really get to catch up with them if we were in class or if we were studying together. It’s not like I’ve always been the type to be a social butterfly, I always preferred a tiny circle of company than a big one. Things did start to change however after I decided to cut the attachment I had with the man I once knew. I tried to numb the pain and isolation by going to parties. I tried hooking up with guys and I did but I know full well now that I regret it…. I regret everything.

Sometimes I wished I never asked the man for help, to be mentored. Maybe, I wouldn’t feel so fucked up as I am today.

After my relationship with him ended, I felt undesired as if I was unlovable. My parents didn’t notice a thing but my sister, Marla did. Coming home from his place that night made me scrub my skin in the shower until it was fiery red, until my body and my mind screamed at my heart to stop. I began to wonder about my last moments as a senior in high school.

Did I feel violated? No.

Did I feel regretful? Yes… no… I don’t know

Did I feel used? Yes. Definitely yes.

I know you can’t force one to love you the way you love them but that night when he told me he didn’t expect us to be together as I entered University, I knew I had to leave. Why? As a young naive teenager, I believed he was the one man in my life who would ever make me feel this way. Yet, all he did was fail me and show me that our relationship wasn’t worth jack shit. Funny thing was I had no clue that the girl I met in the foyer was going to link me back to him.

~

“Hi! Excuse me, I don’t know if you remember me?” The voice of a familiar girl calls out my attention as I enter the building. I stomp the snow off my boots to look at the girl. She was standing in front of the couches with the pretty abstract paintings on the wall. I walk over to her and smile as I take my left airpod out and put it back in its case.

“Yeah, I do what’s up?” She had an anxious look on her face. Should I keep talking to this girl or was it kind of suspicious how very approaching she was to others? She seems really nice though.

“I’m sorry to bother you but is there any way you can sit with me until my fiancé arrives to come and pick me up?” I give her a confused face. “Here sit down I’ll explain.” I take my tote off my shoulder and sit beside her.

The unnamed girl today was wearing a sleek leather jacket while I sat next to her in just my tights and my parka. “My name is Valerie by the way.”

“Adeline,” I reply back shortly.

“My fiancé has been calling me for hours and I thought I left my phone at my house so I never bothered to check my bag to see it in there. I stayed here at my friend’s place and my fiancé found out. Let’s just say he’s angry because he knows my friend here isn’t a good friend at most times to me.” As she continued to ramble on, I was so confused as to why this girl was in such a messy position. “Is there any way you can pretend to be my friend? I promise I have good intentions, I just don’t want my fiancé to know I was here with Kacey. That’s the friend I’m talking about.”

“Um, sure?” Her fiancé was mad about her hanging out with her friend? Seems like a bad fish that needs to be let back into the sea, in my opinion.

~

A familiar range rover pops in front of the glass doors at the same time I look up. I notice the unfamiliar guy barely parking his car as he tries to catch the door of the person who unlocked it to get in. He had a beanie on and the hood of his jacket was on, I couldn’t see what he looked like.

“Valerie.” The familiar voice called out, my ears perking up to the sound, knowing how I once was so in love with him.  I used to remember the way he spoke and the way he sounded. I listened to it all year long.

He seemed angry as he marched his way in determination towards us. What the fuck did I get myself into? I keep my gaze on the floor as I watch Valerie in my peripheral view stand up to go hug him.

“I’m sorry honey, My friend Adeline and I went on a walk around the area, I left my phone in her apartment.” With that, I look up to see him as I catch him already looking at me.

It’s been two years and he looks so different. He seemed more broader now and he was growing a little scruff. He looked older yet he seemed to carry that aura that I once found security in. His arm was wrapped around Valerie as his other one just laid against the side of his body. I try to mask my face as I stand up to walk towards him. I give a fake smile and glance at Valerie… his fiancée

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Adeline.” He gulps and nods at me.

“I’m Harry.” He pauses and glances at Valerie. “How did you two meet?” I stand there, dumbfounded. Little did he know I was covering for his finacée.

“Adeline and I met down at the coffee shop a block from here!” Valerie interjects and moves her weight onto Harry. “Anyways, Adeline it was nice spending time with you and getting to know more about your brother in the military. I think Harry and I should get going though.” The humour in all of this was both Harry and I knew I didn’t have a brother. Just a sister.

Yeah Valerie, good luck digging yourself out of this one.

I nod my head silently and watch as they both walk out. He opened the door for her, the same like he used to do for me. I noticed how fidgety he became as if the anger he felt for Valerie was no longer important. I’m pretty sure he’ll deal with her lying another time. As he makes his way around the car, he glances once more time at me to see if I was still there. I was. He started the car and drove off in a flash leaving me alone with my heart beating so fast

~

In my apartment now rushing in without a care in the world, I toss my bag onto the floor and rummage through the drawer of my nightstand looking for my inhaler. Fuck, where was it! Freshman year of university was tough for me. I was going through a heartbreak, the anxiety of exams were weighing on me, and I couldn’t get myself to trust people after a long time. This time, I saw him again. What did I expect? I mean I live near him too. I’m just surprised that I never caught him in the local grocery store or something. Now? He’s engaged. My first love is engaged. He found someone to love and it wasn’t me!

As I continue to toss things out onto my bed, I find my inhaler in the depths of the drawer, I pull it out and without another second, I press the button letting the air blow into me. I sit on my bum and rests my back on the side of the bed, taking in deep breaths as I unzip my jacket. Why am I broken?

…

My buzzer wakes me up as I try to snuggle more into my white sheets. I wasn’t expecting anyone who could it be? Still dressed in my tights and a loose tee, I get up and press on the mic of the electronic pad.

“Hello?” I can’t help but yawn.

“It’s um Harry.” I pause for a moment to think. What is he doing here? We haven’t talked in 2 years but how does he remember which apartment I was in? Why is he here tonight?

“Yeah, What can I do for you?” my voice turned more cold.

“Can I come up and uh talk to you?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I rest my forehead on my wall.

“I have to talk to you.”

“You had 2 years to do that.” One part of me knew he wasn’t going to come up here but another part of me was begging to see him, that maybe I can get closure and move on with my life. He is engaged after all, it’s not like he’s here to seduce me.

“Adeline, please.” The softness in his voice made my mind go crazy. I remember the days when he used to use that tone with me all the time.  How special I felt knowing none of my classmates knew that behind the teacher who gave us endless papers to write, there was a real softie, a real hopeless romantic.

“Alright, come up.” Without another moment, I cleaned up my tiny place as fast as I could. It was easy since I was pretty neat but tonight will be his first impression of me after 2 years. After fluffing my living room pillows, I sprint into my room to toss on a UFT sweater and brush my hair as I let it down from the messy bun it’s been in all day.  The expected knocks scare me as I set my brush down and make my way to the front door. Glancing at the clock, I noticed it was just about 9 pm.

“Hey.” I smile softly as I open the door wider to let him in. Don’t show him how fucked up you are. My brain screams at me as I get a whiff of his cologne. It’s been two years and you don’t care about what happened! I try to chant to myself as I observe him looking around my apartment.

“Wow, your place is just what I’d expect it to be.” He unzips his jacket and rests on the futon beside my door.

“Yeah, would you like some tea? You can just sit on the couches.”

“Alright, thank you.” I move quickly into the kitchen making his tea, trying to ignore the feelings I have after making eye contact with him once again.

As I walked back into the living room, I noticed he was sitting while holding a frame of me with Rachel and Sam during orientation day. I place the tea on the coffee table in front of him and sit beside him, making sure to keep my distance.

“So orientation camp huh?” He smiles still looking at the picture.

“Yeah.” I smile as I look at it too. That smile was real, it was one of the first moments in my life where I didn’t care about what happened at the end of high school graduation. He sets the picture and mumbles a thank you while taking the blue clay mug and taking a sip of it.

“Still remember how I like it.” He compliments and sets the mug back down. “Did someone make this for you?” I glanced at the detail he was looking closely at. It had a handwritten sentence on it. The days have always been dark in our favour but I would change that for you.

“Yeah, my friend Chase did.” It was a gift he made me after I decided to cool down our friends with benefits status. He was willing to give me more but I wasn’t ready. I’m still not.

“He seems like a poet.'' The man bites his inner cheek and clenches his jaw, not too noticeable but I caught on.

��He has a way with words.” Not like you though, my mind had thought as I went through a mini flashback of listening to his love letter for me the first time.

*

It was summer and just as the days grew longer so did my time with Harry. Lying to my parents I was going to sleep over at Mya’s but instead I was at my teacher’s house. He seemed to be too focused on a letter he was writing while I laid on his couch playing a stupid game on my phone. His soft voice called me to get my attention.

“Baby,” He looks up to see me sprawled in my short shorts and a tank top. “I wrote a letter and I was wondering if you can tell me if it sounds good.”

“Who’s it for?” I sit up and toss my phone onto the couch as I make my way to sit in his lap.

“For you.” He holds onto me lovingly as he starts to read the letter. I close my eyes and rest my head on top of his, trying to remember this night.

*

“I’m sure you do too.” The man interrupts my thought as he looks at me. “How’s the university life, you’re in the second year right?”

“Yeah, two more and I’m out of school.” I shrug my shoulders and play with the split ends of my hair. “Still teaching at Clement’s?”

“Yeah. I'm not teaching English anymore though, I’m teaching history.”

“Oh, that’s something new. At least you get to use your history minor.” He laughs and shakes his head. I just began to observe what he was wearing. He was wearing a grey long sleeve and blue jeans. Guess some things stay the same.

“Valerie lied to me today. I came here because I wanted to know the truth before confronting her.”

“Ha-” I pause, he looks uncomfortable as I continue on. “Never knew you were the type to be possessive. You shouldn’t be like that, especially to your finacée.”

“You don’t understand, whatever she told you, I have a reason to act this way.”

“Why then?”

“First tell me why she was here.” Harry pleads. We both sit up more as I let him know.

“We met in the coffee shop and we became Fri-”

“Adeline, please tell me. Have you seen her in this building multiple times?” He asks as I can feel his frustration seeping through.

“Yes, why?”

“Fuck!” He mutters as he stands up abruptly. “Fuck!”

“Ha-... What’s wrong?!” He looks at me immediately as he sits back down beside me.

“You can’t say my name.” He calls me out. “Adeline, say my name!” I give him nothing but a blank look. He rubs his face in desperation.

“It doesn’t matter, I’m just petty. I don’t feel-”

“Why do women always lie to me!” Harry interrupts me. “Did I fuck you up so bad, you can’t even say my name?” He looks at me with tears in his eyes. “Please tell me.” I nod silently as he closes his eyes. “Feels like karma you know? After letting you go, I thought I would never be happy again until I met Valerie last year at a club.” He glances at me as I sit there quietly, letting him continue. “Want to know a funny thing? I caught her in this apartment two months ago sleeping with her ex-boyfriend. She had her locations on and when she called me, I was so confused so I searched for his name on the list downstairs. Stood outside for hours until she came out of his apartment with hickeys all over her.”

“I still don’t know why I asked her to marry me last month. She begged me to stay with her and I just thought that maybe we deserved each other because we both like to sabotage our own relationships.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper to him as I move forward to rub my palm on his back.

“She’s still cheating on me.”

“I know.” And without another moment, he turns towards me and hugs me into his arms. All the anger in me dissolving because of his story, because of this moment. “I’m sorry.”

Spring

The club was very busy tonight and after waiting in line to get in, all I wanted to do was go back out and probably sleep in my bed.

“So you couldn’t hang out with us yesterday because you and Harry had dinner?” Rachel asked me earlier while we were in line going in. All Rachel and Sam knew were that Harry was my ex-boyfriend and we dated for 6 months.

“Yeah.” They didn’t know that Harry and I have been spending a lot of time together after he ended his relationship with Valerie. Valerie didn’t know anything about us, which was nice. I didn’t want her to get angry at me but I also knew she deserved it. My newly formed friendship with Harry, however, as beneficial as it was strictly platonic. It’s been two months and I feel like my mental health has improved. Maybe if Harry decides to leave my life again, I’ll be okay. I also learned how to say his name again without feeling my heart hurt. The times now have been good, I’ve been good

“Still can’t understand how you felt so in love with him, only after dating for 6 months,” Sam called out as we entered the club. She didn’t know what Mya knew. I ended up telling her at the end of summer when the break up happened. Mya told me I was 100 percent reasonable because I was involved in a serious relationship for the first time in my life.

~

“Hey, that guy has been eyeing you for a while,” Rachel smirks at me as she points discreetly at the cute blonde guy glancing at me while talking to his friends. I make eye contact with him and smile. As the night was still young, he made his way over to me. After a few more drinks, I knew my mission was to bring him over to mine

...

As I wake up in my sheets alone, my head pounds making me groan. Sitting up, I noticed I was in the unnamed boy’s polo. After brushing my teeth and using the toilet in my ensuite, I headed out to realize the ruckus was coming from my living room.

“Good morning beautiful.” The blond boy smiles as he sits at the dining table eating breakfast take out. “Your friend is here by the way.” He nods his head to the kitchen. As I walk into the room, the tiles sting the bottom of my feet. There, I see a pissed Harry making tea.

“Hey.” I tuck my hair behind my ear as I’m surprised he’s here. He looks at me and passes the mug into my hand without another word. “Thanks. How did you get here?”He looks behind him to see the boy eating while watching something on his phone. The unnamed boy seemed to be around my age.

“Thought I would get us some breakfast since I hadn’t heard from you yesterday but Jamie here buzzed me in without a word. Came here then he took your breakfast so he could eat. You can have min-”

“Thanks.” I smile and take a sip of the tea. “I think he should go though I didn’t even know his name until you mentioned it.” Together, we walk out and I notice Jamie finishing his container or mine.

“Thanks, Henry! Breakfast was delicious.” Harry widens his eyes then nods quietly.

“Jamie, is it alright you leave now? Harry and I have somewhere to be.” I ask nicely as he stands up and cleans up after himself.

“Yeah angel, just let me get my shirt back then I’ll be out doing my walk of shame.” He smirks as he watches me. I glance at Harry who seems to be angry again.

After Jamie leaves and Harry and I sit together on my couch using two forks sharing his bacon and eggs, he speaks up. “So that’s what you were doing yesterday huh?”

“Yeah.” My cheeks flush as I purposely only eat the yolk of the eggs, knowing Harry hates that part.

“I know it’s not my business but do you have one night stands a lot?”

“Um. last year I only had three then Chase and I had benefits until this year, after that Jace… I mean Jamie has been the last one.”

“Oh.” He says silently. “That’s cool.”

“Don’t you have one night stands a lot?” I tease as I take a sip of his coffee since my mug is empty.

“You know I'm not really keen on those. Before you, I wasn’t really into it. After you, I fell into some deep hole so yeah I did. Valerie’s my last.” I nod and glance at the quiet TV. “You know the year when you left, I was a really mean teacher. Mrs. Raisell had to speak to me and ask me to pass all my students because ⅔ were failing.”

“Maybe they deserved to fail?” I shrug my shoulders and laugh.

“No, I was purposely marking hard.”

“Are you still hurt about Valerie?”

“If I’m being honest with you, I was waiting for something to break us up. I couldn’t imagine marrying her.”

“Why not?”

“Always pictured it would be you.”

Summer

Today was going to be my first day entering Harry’s house again. I was nervous but the thing that kept my spirits up was that I was going in with Harry and the broken part of me was fixed once again. To me, it didn’t matter that Harry broke me because he fixed it, at least I have his presence here again and I don’t feel lonely anymore.

“We’re here.” Harry smiles as he steps out to open my door. I glanced at his house that seemed to bring comfort to my heart as I saw Harry nod his head for me to follow him. After locking his car, we enter his house. It smelled the same and looked just a bit different. I noticed how there were fixed holes in the wall, some of his books were missing from the shelf, and he had new windows and a new TV.

“Did Valerie change some things around here while you guys were together?” I ask as I take off my shoes and sit with him in the living room. I used to remember staying in here and cuddling him. Sometimes, I would ask him to edit my essays. He would tell me all these tips but I would drown him out, pretending to listen yet my attention was on the TV show he was watching.

“Actually, No. Valerie and I were only together for 4 months plus we were never really here. We spent most of our time at hers.” He sits down and turns the TV on.

“What’s up with the holes and missing books in here.” He looks at the holes I was staring at. He lowers the volume and speaks to me.

“Mind if I get something upstairs.” And with that he sprinted upstairs, leaving me on the couch.

As he made his way back, he handed me a mini leather journal. It was a bit torn up but it seemed to be in good condition.

“Um,” he pauses as he sits down. He turns towards me and keeps his eye contact on the closed journal. “You can read that when you get home but I can tell you what happened here.” I nod my head and take the journal and hug it into my arms. “When you left, I uh... felt like that was a bad moment for me. I just- you know why we broke up. I just didn't expect you to love me.” he looks at me while I stare at him breathe a bit heavier. This was the closure I was asking for.

“Addy, I was so excited that night and when you told me you loved me, the insecurity I had for the past 9 months just buried me. I don’t know how to explain it. I just- I was scared you would take that back later when you realized how much potential you have and how you can have a better relationship with a boy that was going through the same stuff you were. I’m sorry.” He looks at me and bends down to wipe a tear down my face.

“I always thought about your parents’ reaction if they found out about us, I thought about your friends, I thought about my parents. It was so messy in my brain. Then when you left, I realized that I loved you too but you were gone in an instant. I got so angry at myself for letting fear take over me. So um I decided to punch the walls and throw my TV through a window. Decided to take each romance book out of my shelves and pour alcohol on them.” He laughs to himself. “I even remember crying so hard, trying to tear out the pages of my favourite book, you know a copy I gave you for Christmas. Anyways, I was really mad at myself that I didn’t try to get you back. I mean I took your senior year away from you. You should experience Uni and I guess that’s what made me decide to let you go.” I cry harder and look at the almost bookless shelves

“You fucking ruined me, Harry. I tried to have fun but all I was fucking looking for was something to numb the pain you left me!”

“I know baby and I’m sorry okay! I’m sorry for not being strong enough! I’m sorry for fucking doing that! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m fucking sorry!” He yelled as we both cried on his couch.

“I fucking loved you and you threw that back in my face. I rubbed my skin so hard that night when I left this fucking place. Do you understand that? I had- my skin peeling for days after trying to get you out of my skin, trying- to … rinse your.. Scent off m-”

“Baby, are you okay?” Harry’s eyes alarmed as he watched me hyperventilate. “Fuck, Addy, you don’t have asthma!” I grasp onto his shoulders as he quickly lets go of me and runs to his kitchen, as he walks back he has his own inhaler in his hands. “Here, it’s alright, baby. I’m here now, it’s okay.” As I take in a breath, I fall into his arms and hug him.

“I love you, Adeline. I love you. Two years or not, I don’t give a fuck. I love you.”

…

The night was quiet as we cuddled together on his couch. We were both speechless about what happened earlier and now we have been watching infomercials for the past hour. Harry was petting my hair as I laid on his chest playing with the journal he gave me. “Want me to read that for you. It’s just little lines I wrote about you.” I nod my head and he takes the journal into his hands. He soon began to read each page out loud. I closed my eyes on his chest, trying to remember this night. The same way I did when I first listened to him read out his love letter.

I know you were way too bright for me

I’m hopeless, broken, so you wait for me in the sky

All the lights couldn’t put out the dark

Runnin’ through my heart

Don’t you call him “baby”

We’re not talking lately

Don’t you call him what you used to call me

Forget what I said

It’s not what I meant

And I can’t take it back, I can’t unpack the baggage you left

Sunflower, my eyes want you more than a melody

Fall

“Ahh, Harry let me down!” I scream as I feel his arms engulf me as he lifts me off my feet. “If I don’t unpack my things then I’m going back to mine!” I tease as he laughs putting me back down but not without stuffing his mouth in between my neck so he can leave kisses there.

“You can’t, you sold it already. You’re living here with me forever!” He murmurs against my jaw as he turns me around and leans me against his counter. “You’re here with me now.” He smiles as I kiss him on the nose.

After rekindling our relationship, I decided to sell the apartment and live with him since I’ve spent more time at his place than mine. When I told my parents about Harry, they were happy and they agreed with me moving out. Little did they know that I was dating Harry back when I was still his student but I think that’s a story for another time.

“Oh no, what did I sign up for! I’m living here with you… forever!” I pretend to sigh but he pinches my hips and lifts me onto his dark blue counter.

“Promise baby it won’t be too bad. We’ll redecorate the place just how you want it. We can spend so much more time together and… we can have sex anywhere you want.”

“Hm, I like that.” I kiss him on the lips as I wrap my arms around his neck.

“I know you do baby.” He laughs. He kisses me harder then pulls away. “Are you done unpacking your mugs or should I organize the bookshelves myself?” He smirks as he watches me pout. I tug on my pigtail and hop down the counter.

“I want to help you, of course!”

That night we spent hours reorganizing his book collection. I even added some of my own since I’m an English major too. The shelves that were once empty were now filled with many genres of books but I made sure that the majority of them were romance.

~

“Baby, are you almost finished?” I knock on Harry’s office as I see him marking his last stack of history papers.

“Mmm, I don’t think so.” He looks up at me and sighs as he glances back at the hill of papers that don’t seem to shrink.

“I was hoping you and I could spend some time tonight since I just finished my homework.” I walk inside the room and close the door. I make my way onto the couch that I’ve grown used to and sit down. Harry was wearing his glasses with his grey sweatpants and a plain white tee. I was wearing his polo and just my panties. Tonight though, no funny business. I’m here to keep him company yet let him focus on marking. “You know I took AP history, maybe I can help you with the marking like old times.” I lick my lips as he glances at me from the paper he was reading, he took a bit too long to respond since he was too focused.

“Yeah, alright, go grab a paper. The research question should revolve around world war 1 and Canada’s involvement.” With that, I took the paper from his stack and picked out a pen from his mug. I got him that for Teacher Appreciation Day when I was still his student.  

A couple of hours after, I didn’t realize I fell asleep on his couch as I watched him finish the last few. All I remember is him carrying me to our bedroom.

“Oh, I’m sorry I fell asleep?” I yawn as I watch him beside me getting settled into bed. The fairy lights around our room set the vibe since I decided to hang them up because Christmas was just around the corner again. “You should’ve woke me up instead of carrying me to bed.” He looks at me and laughs, bending down to kiss my forehead.

“It’s okay baby, plus you could be awake and I’d still carry you to bed. Thank you for helping me mark tonight. It reminds me of the old times.” He hovers over me and intertwines both of our hands on either side of my face.

“It’s alright.” I smile as I watch his eyes look at me. “ You know I was thinking, if we don’t count the two-year break, we’ve been together for about 15 months.” He licks his lips and kisses me on the lips.

“Feels weird huh? Feel like I’ve known you forever.”

“Yeah, I think so too.” He kisses down my neck even though we both know we’re both very tired. “I love you,” I whisper.

“I love you so much more,” Harry whispers back as we finish the night with sloppy, slow sex.

Winter

“Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Harry, Happy birthday to you.” I sing softly as I carry a stack of pancakes with a lit candle on top. Harry was just waking up, surprised at the view of me in just his shirt. I carefully crawl on the bed so he can blow the candle out. He reaches out and closes his eyes for a moment before blowing the flame out.

“Thank you.” Harry murmurs as he comes closer to kiss me. “I love you, Addy.”

“I love you too.” I kiss him back. “Here’s your fork, let me just get your coffee downstairs!” I was just about to get out of bed but he holds onto my hand.

“Stay, I can get some coffee later.”Since it was a Saturday, we were very lucky to stay in bed and watch TV all morning. Harry was feeding me a couple of bites while I would let my fingers massage his scalp for hours.

“You know I don’t know how I got so whipped for you, Ms. Chastain.” He murmurs against my jaw after he sets the plate down on his nightstand. “Saw you standing there, the first day in class and I knew I just had to get to know you.” I laugh and sink myself more into the sheets so he can hover over me.

“You know I didn’t know we would get back together. Thought I would never see you again.” He rubs himself on me as I let my fingers graze over his newly shaved chin.

“Are you happy to be with me?” He asks seriously as he kisses my jaw.

“Mhm.” I moan.

“You love me yeah?”

“I do.” He looks up and smiles at me. He kisses my forehead then lifts up my (his) shirt off my stomach. “Harry.”

“I love you, Addy. So fucking much I do.” The wetness of his tongue teases my stomach as he makes his way back to the top of my chest so he can suck on my nipples. “So fucking beautiful you are.”

“Harry.” I pant as I watch him take a nipple into his warm mouth. His other hand playing with my panties and teasing my core.

“Can’t believe I let other guys touch you. You should’ve been mine only. To touch, to love on, to moan for.” He inserts his fingers in me as I scratch his back. “Moan for me baby, scream my name.”

“Daddy, fuck, oh my god. Faster please!” he gropes my boobs and slaps my wet pussy.

“Too bad I’m attracted to you yeah? Don’t give a fuck what you do, who you sleep with. I just want to love you all day long.” He whispers in my ear as I touch his hard dick and try to jerk him off too.

“Love you, you’re so big, daddy!” Without another moment, I come undone as he moans too at the sight of me. He takes my hands off his dick and teases my entrance a bit before putting it in.

“Remember that time I gagged you with your panties and blindfolded you with my tie.” I nodded. “Fucked you so hard and bent you over my desk that day. So difficult after you left me to mark homework on that desk. I couldn’t stop hearing your moans in my mind baby. You fucked me up so hard.” And with that, he thrust into me so fast as he reached forward to choke my neck.

“Daddy!” I open my eyes to see him, biting his lip watching himself fuck me hard.

“Open your eyes love, want you to see me tear you apart.” He helps me sit up and rests my back on the headboard as I watch him fuck me over and over again. “Fuck, don’t look at me like that, I might just have to turn you over right now and spank you.” He takes his thumb and puts it into my mouth so I can suck on it.

“Then turn me over daddy, spank me while I feel you in my stomach.” He bends down to kiss my lips and just as I was about to kiss him back he turns me over on all fours. Slapping my ass twice before putting himself back in me.

“So wet, baby.” He pulls my hair out of my face as he thrusts faster. I clench my fingers around our pillows, trying to also hold onto the headboard. “You fucking like that when I fuck you hard? Such a slut for my cock baby. So wet, you’re fucking leaking for me.” He teases his finger around my other whole. “Look at this one, I might have to try and give this one attention next time what do you think?” As I moan, attempting to reply he cuts me off, “Maybe now is a good time.” He spits onto the hole, teasing his finger around it. “Are you okay with this Addy, do you like how it feels?”

“Mhm.” Harry pulls onto my hair a bit harsher.

“Answer me correctly, say it properly. Let daddy know.”

“Yes!” He slips his thumb into my now wet hole as he fucks me faster.

“Fuck, I wanna put a baby in you so bad baby.”

“Put one in then.” I moan and reach down to rub my clit.

“Get off birth control and I won’t doubt for a second to put one in.” He grits his teeth and flips us over so I’m riding him. “Be a good girl, show me how good you are.” He whispers and slaps my butt. I watch his face turn into pleasure as I roll my hips onto his, trying my best to fuck him well. My moans were seemingly uncontrollable as I feel him deep in my stomach.

“Come for me daddy please fill me up!” I whine and without another second, we come together. Harry reaches quickly for my neck, choking me as he thrusts his hips upwards. His seed fills me up as I un slide myself off him and reach down to taste us. He watches me with a smirk as I lay back down beside him. I feel him move his arm underneath me, as he searches for something. As I lay beside him looking at the ceiling, I watch his hand open a black velvet box in front of me.

“Harry,” I whisper, turning to look at him.

“I know it’s my birthday but the only wish I had in mind was if you said yes to the question I’m about to ask you.”  He sits up a bit as I mimic his position.

“Adeline Chastain, I knew you ever since you were 18 and I’ve loved you ever since then. You would make me the happiest man in the world if you would marry me?” I watch him as we both cry so happily together.

“Yes, Harry, I will!” He takes the pear-shaped diamond engagement ring and slides it onto my finger. He kisses me softly as his fingers touch the necklace he bought me for graduation.

“I’m very much in love with you and I promise to take care of your heart, to protect you, and make you the happiest woman in my life.” and with that we kissed again, leading us to the never-ending hours of activities in the bed.

When I was 18, I was naive. I thought Harry would be the only man in my life who would ever make me feel this way.

And I was right.

[tagsecretsanta]

From @Thundergeek59

to @little-old-rachel

Secret Santa does not own this work, full credit to the author mentioned above!

AN: This is only my second fic and I thought it was only going to be a couple of paragraphs, however, Jeff decided to take this over totally and ran away with it. I now know what you writers mean when you say your characters take over!  I hope you like it, I had fun writing it

Rating: Gen/Family fun

Wordcount: 2900 ish

Jeff sat up and swing his legs over the side of the bed, toeing on his slippers.  It was still dark as he reached for his cane and shrugged his dressing gown round his shoulders. “May as well get up as toss and turn in bed”.  Stuffing his communicator cuff in his pocket, he padded out his door and headed to the kitchen.  

Grabbing a small bottle of juice and a couple of biscuits he headed out towards the pool deck and sat on one of the loungers.  Idly munching the biscuit he gazed at the pool, lit up by the underwater lights, and his mind wandering back to Gordon’s pre-Olympic training when he used to time him with his stopwatch, then chuckling as he remembered having to dive-bomb his little fishie in a vain effort to get him out of the pool, several hours later. 

“Oh Lucy, our little fish is all grown and you’d be so proud of him – of all of them”

With a sigh, he pulled himself up on his cane and continued walking down the path to the beach where Virgil had thoughtfully built a bench for him so he didn’t have to sit on the sand, which only thinly covered the sharp volcanic rock.  From here he could look out to the bird colony on Mateo.  He remembered his first few weeks back home,  when easily overwhelmed by boys and noise, he had sought the solitude by the beach.  Just listening to the waves ebb and flow calmed his mind.  

He looked to the red glint just gracing the edges of the horizon and realised Gordon would be up soon to power though his pool routine while Scott would be just behind, setting off round the island on his daily run.  Eight years and some things never changed while others were irredeemably different.

It was Virgil who caught him by surprise with a hand gently placed on his shoulder. “Hey dad, we’re going to get the tree now, do you want to come along?”  “Thanks for the offer but I think I better stay and help your Grandma with dinner preparations.” He declined. “You sure?  We’d love you to join us and anyway, Max is there to help in the kitchen and Ridley and Kayo will be available to fix any potential culinary catastrophes”.

“I’d only be a hindrance with this”  he replied, waving his stick.  “Actually dad, I have an idea I think you might like”.  Intrigued, Jeff let himself be persuaded, hoping he wouldn’t regret it.

As soon as Virgil had set down Two at the edge of the forest, Scott and John set about configuring a suitable pod.  With Gordon awaiting the arrival of Lady Penelope and Alan still in bed, the party consisted of Jeff and his three eldest and he was looking forward to just doing something social with his boys, a nice change from being ferried to hospital appointments.  He was, however, starting to wonder what form Virgil’s surprise idea would take when he heard a soft cough behind him, announcing said son’s arrival.

The sight that greeted him as he turned around was not what he was expecting.  In front of Virgil was a fully functioning hoversleigh, complete with T2’s green livery with the addition of red flames down the side, a red padded seat with a matching throw.  Words failed him, causing a worried frown to appear between Virgil’s brows, until a deep chuckle rose from Jeff, and a smile twitched at the corner of Virgil’s mouth, pleased that his dad had felt comfortable enough to let his lighter side out.  “Certainly is different” laughed Jeff as Virgil helped him into the sleigh.

Scott and John’s faces were a picture as the hatch descended with Virgil and their father.   “Oh my word, you really did it!” John exclaimed as both brothers tried to stifle their guffaws when they saw their father with a green bobble hat and gloves, looking like one of Santa’s helpers sitting in the sleigh.

“Well, I’d been tinkering with the old hover bikes back at the ranch and decided to see how far I could take the modifications and, well, here she is...”

“Well, let’s see what this baby can do” said Jeff as he pushed the controller forward and... nothing.  A quizzical look at Virgil “Safety feature.  You gotta push the red button first but be careful, I haven’t fully tested.....” He couldn’t finish the sentence due to the cloud of snow covering him. 

“WooHooooo” Jeff whooped as he surged forward down the track, leaving them all brushing snow off themselves.

“You do remember that he likes to go very, very fast” Scott said

“Yep, better jump in the pod and catch him before he heads out of sight” added John. ‘C’mon Virg, hop on”.

Scott steered the pod at speed, following the trail of snow kicked up by the sleigh. After several hair-raising twists and turns Jeff had managed to turn the sleigh into a clearing and was doing doughnut spins, thoroughly enjoying himself.  Finally he came screeching to a halt mere inches from his sons, who were once more coated with a dusting of snow.  “Gee Virgil, that’s gotta be the best fun I’ve had in years!  Reminds me of that time Lee and I tested out the moon rover on Alfie.”

“I’m pleased you had fun, but I hadn’t got around to telling giving you the low-down on all it’s features”.  

“Well, as an Airforce pilot you kinda just learn on the job, part of the fun really, isn’t that right Scott”.   “Sure dad, but you just about gave me a heart attack back there.”  “Ah sorry, Scotty, but you gotta admit, if it had been you trying her out, you’d have done the exact same thing”.  “I guess so” Scott conceded.

While Jeff and Scott had been talking, John had been surveying area, seeking out the perfect tree.  “That one, over there, what do you think Vigil”.  “Looks good to me, lemme bring the pod into position” Virgil replied as he hopped up onto the pod and drove it over to the tree, Scott and Jeff following in it’s wake.  

“Ok guys let’s do this.  John, you take that side.  Virgil, get into position with the saw and dad and I will be over here to tell you when to stop cutting and get the pod grapples ready”  Pure IR commander front and centre. “Yes, and I’ll be shouting encouragement from the sidelines” chuckled Jeff.  He’d had time to see his boys work together over the past few months and marvelled at how seamlessly they all fitted together, deferring to each other’s greater expertise.  He’d learnt from bitter experience that his opinions on the best way for them to do something, more often than not screwed with their well oil system and got them second-guessing themselves, which was not what was needed in the field.

 He was fortunate, so fortunate that his boys had developed the way they had, working in the way they did and in the process, turning IR into something more than what he had originally envisaged.  He’d been away from it all for too long to be able to step back in and run it the way he had and he was coming to terms with that, despite how much his pride and sense of usefulness had been hurt.

“You’d have loved this Lucy – just look at our boys working so well together, just like they did when they were little”. 

“You ok dad?” John was first to notice the faraway look in his fathers’ eyes.  “Yes, I’m fine, just  telling your mother about you all”.  John gave Scott a look, who in turn quirked an eyebrow at Virgil. Virgil imperceptibly shook is head.  Jeff, watching the exchange and remembering how they had been doing this since they were children – saying so much without uttering a word.  “I know those looks, and no, I’m not crazy, you gotta remember that for 8 years I only had your mother to talk to, so it’s got to be a bit of a habit.”  

The boys looked anywhere but at their father, feeling caught out with muffled apologies.  “C’mon lets get this tree strapped onto the pod and back home” Virgil successfully diverted the conversation to the matter in hand.

It didn’t take too long to get back to Thunderbird 2, Jeff taking a slightly more sedate pace on the return journey.  What the boys didn’t know was that the reason for the slower pace would make itself apparent as soon as they exited the pod.

Whooooosh...... splat!  A perfect hit and a whoop of joy from the elf in the sleigh.  Scott looked down at the remains of the snowball that was gracing his uniform.  “You did not just snowball me, did you? Scott scooped up a handful himself “You know what that means.....”   “You wouldn’t hit an old man in a sleigh?” Words were barely out of his mouth when Whumph... direct shot to the sleigh, there followed a rapid volley from the sleigh to the other two sons. Virgil and John only had time to cast a quick glance at each other when they realised what was going on before  Boooooffffff..... fluuuuufffff.......Thwaaaak!  

In the meantime, Scott was building a small cache of snowballs, ever prepared, ready to dive into the fray.  He decided that his chances were better if he and Jeff teamed up against Virgil and John.  Whilst  Jeff could quickly manoeuvre the sleigh out of some of the shots, not all could be avoided.  Virgil had the strength and John had the trajectory calculations going on in his head, weighing up the best type of snowball for the distances involved – enough to make a good splatter but not hard enough to cause damage to sleigh or person. The were quite a formidable team against age and experience.

“Okay, okay, I concede defeat” Jeff laughed as one final snowball splattered against his gloved hands raised in mock surrender.  It had been a long time since he’d seen them rosy cheeked in the cold air, just enjoying themselves, “Well, I think it’s definitely time to head back to the Island” John shivered as they loaded pod, Christmas tree and sleigh onto Two’s elevator.   “But we need to make a quick stop off en-route” added Virgil.  “What could we possibly need on Christmas eve that we haven’t already got” Jeff queried.  “Wait and see” was his reply.

Thunderbird Two took off as soon as everyone was strapped in.  Virgil and Scott in the pilot and co-pilot seats with Jeff and John behind in the passenger seats.  Jeff regarded his middle son who was staring out of the window “Penny for your thoughts” he said.  “Hmm? Oh it’s nothing, just daydreaming really”.  “Uh huh, and would that daydream have anything to do with a lovely young astronaut that’s waiting for you back home?” asked Jeff. 

 John could feel the heat creeping up to his cheeks  “Maybe, just idly looking forward to having a few days downtime together.  Our schedules rarely coincide, so it’ll be nice to spend a few days dirtside with her”.  “You thinking of bringing her into the family business?” Jeff asked.   John had not seen that one coming and, clearly agitated, tried to steer the conversation away. Truth be told, he had thought about it but that would imply a whole load of commitment he wasn’t sure either of them could give right now.  

“Not really thought about it to be honest” was all he offered.  “You sure could do with some additional help up there on Five and she is a fully trained astronaut ....and... well, I like her”  You could have knocked John down with a feather.  What the heck had happened to his father and who was this amiable alien who had taken over his body!

Vigil raised and eyebrow at Scott while all this conversation was going on, realising it was touching on a subject neither of them had even dared ask John about.  Scott quirked an eyebrow back, a small smile dancing at the corner of his mouth.  He’d love to stay and listen in but felt it was getting into personal territory that neither of them had a right to enter without invitation.

“Just stopping off here for a few minutes guys.  Scott, wanna come with?” Virgil asked, the please remained unsaid but was clear from his expression.  “Sure, we’ll be back in no time, no need to get up you two.” Scott replied as they both exited the cockpit.

“Ok, I know, it’s not my place to interfere” Jeff continued “but take it from someone who’s been there, when you find someone you just feel totally comfortable with, you don’t just let it slip away.  I’ve seen you two together John, the way you interact, believe me, I’ve never seen you look so comfortable with anybody outside this family, with the exception perhaps of  Penny.” 

Clearly blindsided, John being John, wanted a bit more clarification “Dad, when you said family business, you didn’t just mean International Rescue, did you?”  “Well son, that would be up to you” Jeff left the ball in John’s court. 

 “This thing we have, it’s quite new and we’re having to work round rotas, so we haven’t actually had a great deal of time together. Certainly not enough to make as big a decision as I think you’re suggesting”.    “Son, sometimes you just gotta trust your gut and leave your head and logic to one side. That’s all I’m saying”. 

Their conversation was interrupted by Scott and Virgil entering the cockpit with several boxes carrying the logo of a well known Swiss chocolatier and four steaming takeaway cups.  “Thought we could all use some hot chocolate” Virgil passed out the cups to welcoming hands. “Just what we needed. Got anything in these boxes to go with the cocoa?” Jeff asked. “Sadly, these are for home. I promised Kayo we’d pick up some goodies for everyone to enjoy with our Christmas mimosas and I’d hate to be the one to tell her they didn’t make it home.” Replied Virgil.  “Well it’s a good job I popped into the patisserie down the road while you were busy getting the drinks and got these”  Scott beamed, clearly collecting extra brownie points as he carefully opened the smaller box, revealing the most wonderful choux pastry creations liberally topped with dark and white chocolate ganache, lightly dusted with edible glitter and gold leaf.  “Wondered where you’d wandered off to” mumbled Virgil mid-chew, trying not to spray glitter everywhere.  “You’re not the only one who knows the little out of the way places” 

“Neither of you would know about either of those places if Eos and I hadn’t scoped them out first” John huffed.  He was pleased the conversation had moved on from the rather uncomfortable personal probing of earlier and was quite happy to keep it that way.

 “Call it teamwork” Virgil added as he slipped into the pilot’s chair.  “Well, from what I see, teamwork is certainly something you boys excel at and I couldn’t be prouder” Jeff added as he raised his hot chocolate in salute to his eldest three.

Waiting to meet them in the hangar were the two youngest, Alan bouncing on the balls of his feet, Gordon trying unsuccessfully to hide his delight at the size of the tree that was appearing from Two.  What they hadn’t expected to see was hidden behind the tree. “Oh my God!” Gordon exclaimed as he caught a glimpse of green and red.  He and Alan ran over to check out what had caught his eye and of course, check out the tree.  

Wow, it’s a beaut” enthused Gordon, gently stroking the machine.  “I thought you were all talk when you were going on about fixing up one of the old hover bikes”.  Virgil just shrugged, enjoying the youngster’s reaction to his handiwork. “You even painted on the flames!” Alan shrieked in delight.

“Well, hello to you too” said Jeff, slightly miffed but totally understanding of their enthusiasm for the new piece of kit rather than welcoming him back.

“Oh, hi dad” Alan finally waved, not taking his eyes off the machine. “You know, I was the one your brother allowed to test drive that thing” Jeff added.  That got their attention.  “Aw Virgil, I thought I was your favourite brother” whined Gordon “You know it’s always been me” replied Alan as they both turned towards there father, their interest piqued.  Virgil just rolled his eyes.  “So, how was she? Was she fast? Did you fall out? Did you test it to it’s limits?” so many questions tumbled from Alan who was now more interested in what his father had to say. “Walk me to the elevator and I’ll tell you all about it” said Jeff putting an arm around Alan’s shoulder.  “C’mon Gordon” Alan gestured for his brother to join him.  Gordon ran over, slipping quietly under Jeff’s other arm.  Jeff positively beamed as he finally had their full attention and a new tale to enthral them.  

The three older brothers looked at each other and smiled.  It’d been a long time since they’d seen their dad so relaxed and happy. 

Definitely the best day he’d had since returning from the Oort cloud and perhaps a new Christmas precedent had been set with the hoversleigh for future tree collecting.

End

[ahoodgirl]

♡ marry me / surprise ♡ {victor tan (swat)}

> its gonna be a long one, folks! <

> warnings: sex – 18+ only! <

> words: 1,978 <

> listen to: marry me by train <

> author's note: to all my Victor Tan / SWAT fans! you're gonna love this! I love each and every members of swat, but Victor, oohf, i have a *very* soft spot for him, deeeep in my heart. So of course, I had to write something marriage wise, along with their first time and the flight to the winter cabin, etc., etc,. Theres gonna be three parts to this.. I like to change it up with the names in each story/fic I write so in this one, the girls name is Miya Ashleigh Daniels/Tan. Tell me what you think, if i should make this a series or not. So please, enjoy this long read of 'Marry Me / Surprise' fic imagine for Victor Tan. <

> P A R T O N E — the wedding <

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

It was the day everyone was looking forward to, the day that both Victor and I were patiently waiting for, and now its finally here... our wedding day.

We decided that, instead of a church wedding, we'd get married in our best friends barn in his back yard then have the reception at a close–by venue.

We got engaged exactly a year and a half ago, knowing we'd want a winter wedding, exactly a week before christmas. We found a little snowy cottage in the mountains that we wanted to stay at / go to for our honeymoon.

My dress came in last month, and it fits me perfectly. Vic had his since last year, knowing he'd have to keep in shape in order for him to still be able to wear it, when everything finally comes into fruition.

We only invited our friends and family, total wedding and reception maxing out 50, we invited 40. Plenty of room to have a good time.

My maid of honor ‐ Deacon's wife Annie - helped me get into my dress while my two other bridesmaids ‐ Chris and Molly ‐ did my hair and makeup. I was okay with Chris not wearing a dress, as she opted for a dark purple and black pantsuit instead.

Once I got dressed and Vic's best man came for me ‐ Deacon himself ‐ I do my best to keep myself together as we walk to the front doors of the barn.

Since my dad nor my mom is here to walk me down the aisle, Deacon took it upon himself to take on that duty, not taking no for an answer. So here we are at the doors waiting for the famous song to be played, and Deac turns to me and says, "your beautiful. Victor's gonna be a crying mess when he sees you." I laugh as I hold back tears. "Don't cry, your gonna mess up your makeup." I chuckle and reply "who needs makeup when you're in love with someone who loves you no matter what you look like, makeup or no makeup. But thank you, Deacon, for being my shoulder to walk me down the aisle. It means, a lot since my dad's not here to do it."

Before he could respond, we hear our signal and fix ourselves. I hang onto Deacons arm with my left hand while my right holds onto my bouquet and the bottom of my dress as the barn doors are opened. I see everyone standing, the only person standing out to me tremendously, my soon–to–be husband, Victor Tan. And just like Deacon said, once he saw me he couldn't stop the flow of tears from his eyes. I did my best to keep my composure so my makeup wouldn't look like a wreck if front of our guests. As Deacon hands me off to Victor and gets back to his spot behind the groom, I hand my bouquet to Annie and step in–front of Vic and grab both his hands as the officiant starts the ceremony.

♡

"I now pronounce you, husband and wife, you may now kiss your bride." Victor smiles and leans in to give me one of the best kisses yet. We turn to our guests and the officiant says, "I pronounce to you, Mr. & Mrs. Victor Tan!" We kiss one more time and walk out of the barn holding hands, smiling.

We get into the rented range rover and drive to a nearby abandoned building and park.

We both agreed to wait to have sex once we're married, but to also not wait once we're somewhere private, either. So we opted for car sex. Passionate, sexy and meaningful.

Once he parks, we hurry to the back seat, put both seats down and strip ourselves naked, making sure not to waste anymore time than we've already lost by driving to our 'abandoned–building–sex' location.

He wastes no time in getting behind me, pushing himself inside and roughly thrusting in and out, his fingers leaving bruises behind from the amount of pressure he's putting on my hips.

As he fucks me harder from behind, I hold onto the pushed–up seat in-front of me and groan out loudly, my mouth open wide giving him the opportunity to grab my face and pull it towards him, kissing my lips as his fingers dig deep into my hips, searching for his high.

"Vic, aagh!" hearing me moan out his name gives him the drive to push forward and hit my gspot rapidly, his orgasm hitting him like a train, his cum spewing inside my vagina.

Once we've finished our spontaneous adventure, we quickly clean ourselves up and drive to our reception.

Victor parks in the 'just–married' parking spot and shuts the engine off. We make sure that we're put together right and get out, then hand–in–hand walk to the doors just in time as our announcer announces us and we walk through the doors holding our hands above our heads.

We walk to our table and find our seats ‐ Mr. & Mrs. ‐ and sit down.

We eat our meal, and dessert ‐ you know I had to smash cake in his face; he did too ‐ before it's time for our first dance.

After everything's done, and the reception is finished, it was time for pictures.

Our photographer snapped many photos ‐ some we loved and some we didn't ‐ and everything was good. You could just *tell* how happy Victor looked. You could tell. That look he gave me, was the same one he gave me while we were fucking in the rental car, just hours before our reception ‐ pure lust ‐ my favorite 'private moment' between us so far.

After pictures, we thank eveyone for coming, then leave in the rental range rover and head to our hotel, where we'll stay the night, then early that next morning ‐ 3:40 am ‐ we'll get up, pack and fly to our honeymoon.

> P A R T T W O — the honeymoon <

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

After Victor unlocks the front door, we finally walk in the cabin we're staying at for our honeymoon, and drag our luggage to our room. We spend a few hours in our room to ourselves, not coming out until it was 3am ‐ we were both hungry so I had to make something ‐ then going back for the rest of the night.

We finally came out of the room at 2, deciding to go outside and adventure, along with a few snowball fights as well.

A snow war, two snow forts and a shit ton of snowballs later, we go inside for some hot chocolate.

Victor takes off all his coats and his boots then goes to the cabinet and grabs two packets of hot chocolate. I take off my coats and my boots as well then sit on the couch in front of the fireplace and wait.

"I can't believe you ambushed me! Your own husband!" I laugh as he hands me my mug of hot chocolate full of marshmallows. "Yeah, thats something you should get used to." he laughs and sits down beside me.

"do you think anyone knew what we did after they announced us?" I laugh so hard, I sneeze chocolate out of my nose. "I don't think they had a clue, but you did fuck me good though, I'll give you that." he smiles. "thank you. I'll except that compliment, and raise you higher on that tonight."

We finish our hot chocolates and go back outside to the snow.

♡

It was two days before Christmas and we had already planned to stay at his moms until after New Years.

We pack that night and get everything ready for when we wake up early tomorrow morning to leave for the airport headed back home.

> P A R T T H R E E — home <

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

After an hour flight we finally land and grab our luggage and get off the plane. We go through baggage then head to security check. We walk outside to find his mom waiting for us. We stuff our bags in her car and she drives off.

An hour after we've gotten to his moms home, we settle in and get everything set and ready for Christmas ‐ and a surprise I've been waiting so long to give/tell him - as we both fall asleep peacefully next to each other.

♡

On Christmas morning, Victor surprised me with breakfast in bed ‐ grits {w. cheese}, waffles, bacon, milk and orange juice ‐ then we go open presents with his mom in the living room.

His mom got me some stuff for our new house, I got her a new pot and pan, she got Victor some underwear and socks ‐ to which he was embarrassed that she knew his size ‐ and he got his mom a photobook full of his childhood and adulthood memories.

Victor grabbed my present from behind the couch and handed it to me. I opened it and was shocked ‐ an ornament with a picture of us at our wedding, saying 'Victor & Miya, our first Christmas 2019.' "aww, Victor. You didn't have to do this," I smile then stand up to give him a hug and kiss. "but my present is better," he looks at me in confusion as I grab the final box under the tree ‐ a small box ‐ and smile, handing the box to Victor.

He looks at me with a weird face, but unwraps the red ribbon and pulls the top off the box, then he looks at me. "w–what?" I nod my head as I take a sip of my hot chocolate. "you're, pregnant?" I set my mug down on the coffee table in front of me and turn to Victor. "I found out last week. I wanted so badly to tell you, but I figured since Christmas was coming up I might as well wait. So I put all three tests in this box and wrapped it up, then made sure it was hidden so you wouldn't grab it first." Vic's mom was so happy, she started crying tears of joy. We all hugged each other then threw away all the trash from the presents.

Victor's mom makes up food while I get all the drinks ready and set them on the table. He helps her plate the food and hands them to me to take to the table.

♡

After we eat and Vic and I help wash dishes, we sit down on the couch and put on a movie.

After the ending credits rolled through, Victor realized I was asleep and carried me to the room, then got in beside me and also fell asleep with him cuddling me.

New Years Eve came around, and we had a party at our house. Everyone from SWAT was invited and we had drinks and plenty of snacks for everyone.

We all kept an eye on the time ‐ 10am became 2pm which then became 5pm ‐ until finally 11:18pm rolled around. Only 42 minutes left until New Years.

11:25, 11:35, 11:45, 11:55, then came 11:58, only two minutes until New Years.

Once it hit 11:59, everyone started counting down from 60 ‐ 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, ‐ "5! 4! 3! 2! 1! Happy New Year!" everyone yelled out as Victor's lips found mine and captured them in a kiss, ready for whatever the new year brings us.