#skeet started laughing and nodding his head

[loganlostitall]

The fact that these 3 and Neve even think that Billy and Stu were gay brings me so much joy you have no clue

something homosexual happened I fear

[baby-alien11]

Lover (Y/N Ulrich Universe)

Everyone say thank you to the million of videos of the Eras Tour that have appeared in my fyp on tik tok, because thanks to them this chapter was made

taglist: @volturi-girl-imagines @dessxoxsworld @aonungsgirlfriend @ethanlandryluver @wenvierismycomfort @aliciacat20 @gabbylovesreading @nikfigueiredo

To say you were surprised when you woke up one morning and saw Jack eating breakfast with your dad in the dinning room was nothing, especially because the day before he told you he was filming

Even more surprised when he revealed two tickets for "The Eras Tour" of Taylor Swift for that weekend in Philadelphia, making you scream in emotion and jump in his arms, not noticing Skeet was filming everything

So, thank godness that your passport was renewed, both of you with your cordinated outfits, flew to the city the day before to rest and made sure to be ready for the concert

When the day arrived, both of you put on your costumes inspired by Midnight Rain, that consisted in you wearing a dark blue puffy long sleeve top and straight jeans, and Jack wearing a yellow short sleeved button up with a withe tank top under and jeans, and went to the stadium, were after you gave your tickets, they led you both to the vip section on the floor area, thanks to both of you being famous

"I can't believe we are really here", you smiled in desbelief watching how the stadium started to full

"I can pinch you if you need it", Jack joked hugging you from behind

"Please do it", you joked in return which made Jack to start tickling your sides making you laugh, "I said pinch me, not tickle me!"

"You know I won't pinch you", Jack responded kissing you on the cheek, "While the concert start, why don't we get something to drink?"

"Yeah, sure", you nodded

Without leaving your area, both of you purchased two plastic cups of orange juice and also went to the merchandise spot to get some t-shirts and sweatshirts

"I love seeing all the inspired outfits", you commented watching the arena

"They are so creative", Jack agreed

Interrupting the apreciation of the outfits, both of you heard your names being called, which made you to turn your heads at that direction watching a group of five girls dressed as the eras aproaching the area as most as they could because of the security fences

"Y/N, Jack!", the girls continued to scream

"Hi!", you greeted with a smile, "How are you? I love your looks"

"We didn't expected to see you here", one of the girls said still with excitment

"I had to bring her", Jack shrudded his shoulders, "She loves Taylor"

"Your Midnight Rain outfits are so cool", another girl complimented

"Can we take a photo with you?", other girl asked

"Sure", you nodded

Mannaging to get the closer to them because of the security fence, a few photos were taken with different posses

"Thank you so much", another one of the girls thanked, "You are so Taylor Swift coded, both of you, and your relationship too"

"That is one of the best compliments we've ever had", Jack said smiling, "Actually the best"

"And we also wanted to give you some bracelets", the first girl who spoke

"Oh my God, you are so sweet", you said a little emotional, "But we don't have any to trade"

"Doesn't matter", one girl shrudded her shoulders, "It will be an honor if you accept them"

"Okay", both of you nodded

Recieving one bracalet form each one of the girls, Jack and you ended with five bracelets in your wrists

"This are so cool", Jack commented looking at the bacelets, "Did you make them yourselves?"

"Yeah, and we already trade some of them with other swifties", one girl answered

"I love this fandom", you smiled

After saying goodbye to the girls, both of you continued to enjoy the enviroment and pointing some of your favorite outfits, and having a fangirl moment when Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban entered the area, greeting the both of you like they knew you for forever

"What the hell is happening?", you asked still in shock

"Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban hug us", Jack responded the same way you were, "This is crazy"

"I guess they were right when they say that anything can happen in the Eras Tour"

In the time while the concert started, more fans aproached your area to keep giving bracelets to all four of you, talk and take photos

When the speakers anounced that the concert was about start, Jack and you were quick to put your phones in your purse to enjoy the concert without distractions

During the whole concert, Jack hugged you from behind with his head on top of yours and his arms circling your waist, while yours were in top of his with your hands intertwined with each other

In general, both of you enjoyed the three hours with fifteen minutes of the concert, but your favorite parts were during "Lover", "You Belong With Me", "Love Story", "Enchanted", "Style" and "Wildest Dreams", when Jack sang the lyrics to the songs in your ear almost leaving you in tears because of how beautiful the moment was

Also leaving both of your hearts and voices singing the rest of the songs (the drama during Taylor and the security man during Bad Blood was something else), and meeting more fans and recevieng bracelets and other gifts

In general, it was a perfect date

jackchampion, camimendes, isabelamerced and 97, 381 more

yn.ulrich he was sunshine, i was midnight rain

thanks to nicolekidman for telling us how to pose and keithurban for taking the picture

#TheErasTuour

tagged jackchampion

naiia EXCUSE MEEE, YOU SAY NICOLE KIDMAN AND KEITH URBAN??

› yn.ulrich yeah, we were in the same vip tent

› julrich21 WHY ARE YOU SAYING IT THIS NORMAL

› jackchampion dude, believe us, we freak out when we saw them

nicolekidman it was so nice to meet you both, you are such a sweathearts

› yn.ulrich i literally almost cried when you hug me, it was awesome to be in the same place as you

user928 I KNEW THEY WERE THEM

› user315 THANK GOD IT WASN'T MY IMAGINATION

› user22 WE ACTUALLY TRADE BRACELETS WITH THEM, THEY ARE SO NICE

yn.ulrich, misstrinitybliss, masonthegooding and 150, 948 more

jackchampion first concert together

we laugh, we cried, we sang, we left our hearts in there (and our voices)

#TheErasTour

tagged yn.ulrich

yn.ulrich first of many concerts together babe!!

› jackchampion we need to start planning the next one!!

user301 I SAW THEM FOR LIKE TEN MINUTES DURING THE CONCERT AND HE WAS SINGING LOVER IN HER EAR

› user593 MANIFESTING TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP LIKE THEM

baileybass how was seeing THAT moment during bad blood?

› jackchampion we were confused at first, but then some fans close to us tell us what was happening

[thunderbunny24]

Is Three Company or a Crowd?

This idea has been bouncing around my head since I read a short story about Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard doing the Eiffel Tower pose in a story by @storiesforallfandoms.

Summary - In your teens you had a huge crush on Skeet and Matt because of Scream. Now you have a chance to date them. The problem is they both like you and you like both of them. You all decide to try being a throuple but have to deal with all the ups and downs that come with that life.

Part 1

            You stood in the middle of the aisle at Lowes with your arms crossed over your chest trying to figure out how to reach the staple gun you needed that was higher up than you could reach.  If this was the grocery store, you would have no problem finding a tall person to help you out, but Lowes at 2pm on a Tuesday was practically dead and all the employees seemed to be on break together.  You looked down the aisle, towards the front of the store when you saw someone walk past.  You left your cart of items and jogged down the aisle, trying to catch up to the person you saw.  When you got to the end of the aisle, you loudly said, “Excuse me!”  The person stopped and turned around.  “Hi!  Can you please help me?”

            “I don’t work here,” the man replied.

            You smiled and flipped your long, blonde hair off your shoulder.  “That’s fine.  I just need someone taller than me.”

            The man chuckled and nodded.  “That I can do.”  He started walking towards you.  The closer he got, the more you felt like you recognized him.  Once he was close enough to practically touch you, he looked up at you and you both locked eyes.  “What can I help you reach?”  You felt like you had been hit with a ton of bricks.  You recognized this man because you had a huge crush on him almost 30 years ago.  Skeet Ulrich was standing in front of you and you were having to will yourself to not call him Billy Loomis.  “Miss?”

            You shook your head to wake yourself out of your haze.  “I’m sorry…umm, yeah, just follow me, please.”  You walked down the aisle to where you left your cart.  You pointed to a shelf that was above your head.  “I need that staple gun, please.”

            Skeet was basically eye level with it and easily grabbed it and handed it to you.  “Here you go.  Anything else you need me to grab?”

            You let out a small laugh.  “Yeah…everything else I need from every store EVER.”  You rolled your eyes at yourself.

            “You are a bit compact.”  Skeet teased.

            You looked Skeet up and down.  “We can’t all be over 6 feet tall.”  You winked at him.  “Us barely over 5 footers need help.”  Skeet chuckled.  You stuck out you hand for him to shake.  “Thank you for helping.  My name is Katy.”

            He shook your hand.  “Anytime.  I’m Skeet.”  You both stood there in an awkward silence for a bit.  “I can stay with you to get the rest of your stuff if you need me too.  I’m just here to get a couple 2x4’s and some nails.”

            You grabbed your cart and started walking with Skeet right beside you.  “Are you fixing something or building something?”

            “Building a coffee table for a friend actually and didn’t buy enough wood the other day.”  Skeet took his baseball cap off and ran his hands through his hair before putting it back on.  “What about you?  What do you have going on with all these items?”

            You glanced down at your cart and the list showing on your phone.  “Getting supplies to build a homecoming float.”

            Skeet nodded.  “Cool.  Do you work for a local school or something like that?”

            You bit your lip.  “Something like that.  I am the Head Spirit Coach at USC and my teams were asked to do a Make a Wish for a local kid who got voted Homecoming King.”

            “Wow!”  Skeet looked over at you.  “I now have like a hundred questions.”

            You let out a small laugh.  “Take me out to dinner and I’ll answer anything you want.”  You tried to look as cool and confident as you sounded but inside you were freaking out that you were actually trying to flirt with Skeet Ulrich.  You were sure every woman that meets him flirts with him and you weren’t really anything special.  Just because you ran into a celebrity in the real world while living in Los Angeles didn’t mean you had a chance with them.

            “I can’t do dinner tonight, but maybe we can grab a coffee or something after this.”  Skeet’s eyes kept darting between you and the floor.

            “I’m usually always down for coffee,” you smiled up at him, “but I have to be at the kid’s school with all the supplies in about an hour.”  Skeet’s shoulder’s fell.  “How about I give you my number and we can schedule something for another day?”  Skeet nodded and got his phone out of his pocket and handed it to you.  You added yourself to his contacts as Katy – USC Coach (blonde from Lowes), then texted yourself from his phone before handing it back to him.

            You both finished up your shopping together, with Skeet even loading your purchases into the back of your SUV for you, then gave each other a hug goodbye and went your separate ways.  You honestly didn’t expect to ever hear from Skeet again, but for a moment, teenage you got to live out her fantasy of hanging out with the celebrity you were sure you were going to marry when you grew up, and that at least was a good enough moment for you.

            To your surprise, the next day you received a text from Skeet and that afternoon you spoke on the phone with him for over an hour.  This went on for weeks with you both texting and calling and getting to know each other better, but he hadn’t even attempted to ask you out.  You wanted to ask him, but you didn’t want to be pushy and if he was holding off, there had to be a reason.  You had invited him to come to an USC football game to both enjoy the game and see you in action with your cheer and dance teams, but he had a con almost every weekend and hadn’t been able to come to a game yet.  You had come to the realization that whatever was going on between you both probably wasn’t going to go further than a phone friendship.  Although that wasn’t what you would hope for, you had become very accustom to sharing your day, hopes, dreams, nightmares and life in general with Skeet.

            You were surprised one morning when he texted asking if you would like to come over to his place for dinner that night and to meet some of the first Scream cast.  You accepted and offered to make some cookies for the event.  You thought maybe this is how he handles relationships.  Spends lots of time getting to know you then sees what his friends think.  If not, at least you would get to spend some in person time with Skeet and meet other actors that you were crazy about as a teen.  Skeet wasn’t the only guy from the cast you had a crush on back in the day.

            You did text and ask if this was a date, but he didn’t text or call you until a few hours later and when he did, he brought up a totally different subject.  You decided not to push it.

[lunarifie]

Hollow Fantasy AU Part 2:

Part 1 / Part 3

Adam folds the rest of his clothes and places them inside his pack. He plans on gathering the rations tomorrow, the day before the trip. His mind wanders back to the prophecy, reminding him how 4 years ago he’d showcased the prophecy to a close friend who ran away 2 days later. It made Adam wonder what Kai knows that he doesn’t. A small part of him hopes that on his journey, they’ll reunite. He shakes his head, not allowing himself to dwell on something that happened years ago. He’s 16 now and he needs to focus on finding the Ishibo and slaying the dragon. That is his priority, not finding Kai and making sure he’s okay. He exits his chambers, making his way to the stables to make sure everything was in order with his horse for the long ride ahead. He enters the stables and is immediately faced with Skeet, brushing his horse. He raises a brow and asks him what he’s doing here. Skeet reply’s that he was ordered by Mira to take care of the horse Adam had chosen to ride. Adam repeats Miras name as a question and she pops out of another stable, feeding a horse. A grin slips on her face and Adams skepticism grew. “Did you really think you’d be going off on an adventure alone?” Mira starts. “But the prophecy-” Mira interrupts him, “I spoke with my dads and your parents and they say its fine. I also don’t expect you and Reeve to be on an expedition alone and not rip each others throats out after like a week.” She laughs and Adam groans, remembering how his parents made it obligatory for the royal families mage, Reeve, to come with him on the trip. Mira glanced towards Skeet. “I’ve been hoping Skeet would come with, because of how much ground he can cover, but he’s reluctant.” She gives him a look as Skeet shrugs. “I’ll think about it.” Skeet says. Truthfully, Adam was grateful. The ride would be a bit more bearable with his friends by his side.

The day of the prophecy’s journey came. Adam and Mira bid their parents goodbye, Reeve leaving the tower at the palace his grandma had given to him after she died. They are escorted to the outskirts of the kingdom with their designated steeds until they hear the sound of hurried steps. In a second, Skeet came, stumbling to a super speeded stop in front of them. In a rapid rush of words he exclaims that he wants to come along and that he doesn’t need a horse. From what Adam remembers, Skeet had become sort of a rogue over the past year. Job hopping here and there. He doesn’t have much to his name so Adam isn’t surprised when Skeet claims that he wants to go too. Mira grins in excitement and waves him forward to walk beside her as they leave. They say their final goodbyes, and delve into the forest. They spend a few days covering ground and camping, talking of the adventures that awaitenthem. On the 3rd day of their journey, Mira starts to ask Skeet, and bird companions to go a bit forward and see if theres a town or a food/water source nearby. Reeve practices his spells and Adam contemplates on what to do from there. Mira looks up and watches a crow swoop down to speak with her from where she sits on her horse. Reeve, Skeet, and Adam also pause. Miras eyes widen. “She says that just a little bit from here theres someone in trouble…” She pauses again as the crow continues cawing. “And they’re being kidnapped!” She cries in distress. Skeet looks concerned, “we should go help them right?”Adams face furrows, “are you sure we should stop for this? It might cause trouble for us.” Reeve shrugs at him, “I don’t mind, Mira said its close by and this’ll be a good opportunity to practice my hand at magic in combat.” Adam nods, convinced, following Mira along with the rest as she follows the crow.

They hear the muffled cries and grow worried, picking up the pace. They reach a small clearing, only to see three minotaurs hovering over and strangling some sort of gigantic bird caught in a net. It takes a minute of the gigantic bird twisting and writhing for her face to finally show, the realization that this was a real life harpy hits the group hard, Skeet gasping at the sight. Mira immediately recognizes that the minotaurs are bounty hunters and hops off her horse, maneuvering the water out of the canteen tied to her waist and blasting them with it. They take several steps back, enough time for Skeet to take a knife out and slice the net. After the minotaurs get over their shock, one punches the ground in frustration, scaring the groups horses away. They advance, making Adam move forward and face off against them. One minotaur throws the first punch, only for Adam to dodge and twist his arm behind his back. He kicks the back of the Minotaurs knees and throws him against his other bounty hunter companions, falling like bowling pins. This gives Reeve enough time to levitate the net and untangle it from the harpy’s talons, shooting it towards the minotaurs and smartly tying them up. Mira helps the harpy stand, asking her is she's alright. The harpy chitters for a minute before coughing at their looks of confusion. She apologizes and speaks, slightly defiant, saying she could have taken care of herself. She thanks them anyway, stating that her name is Vanessa. The group introduces themselves, before asking her what happened. She explains that she’d been hunting a few weeks ago only to be caught by the minotaurs. She’d been taken around as the minotaurs tried to sell her but no one seemed to want to deal with her feisty attitude. She tried to escape at that exact moment, only to be caught by the net and rescued by the group. Mira asks her if Vanessa has anywhere to go and the Harpy sheepishly answers “no.” They invite her to travel with them, that after their quest they'll be returning to a creature-friendly kingdom where she can safely reside. She agrees, very suspicious but having no other option. Adams put off, mentioning they only have enough rations for the four of them, and even then, their horses ran off with half of it. Mira scoffs, stating that she'll share hers and that they can simply scavenge for berries and fish, like they had when they were kids for fun. Adam huff's but agrees.

They continue on their journey until it grows dark, setting up camp in the woods and starting a fire. The memory of an old firey friend flits through Adams mind as he lit the flames, inhaling deeply before shaking the memory from his mind. Mira and Reeve watch him, aware of what was going through his mind and sharing a glance. They both know deep down Adam wishes to find their runaway friend again, maybe even more than completing the prophecy. Mira would be lying if she says she doesn’t wish that they’ll find Kai again. But she also knew it was a one in a million chance. Something Reeve and Adam were well aware of. As they sit by the fire Vanessa hears a rustle, she leaps into the shadows, startling Skeet, only to come back with a dead rabbit. Mira face twists, eating her own rations as everyone else cooks the rabbit. Finally, Vanessa speaks whats on her mind. “You guys said you’re on a quest. A quest for what?” Mira and Skeet open their mouths to answer immediately but Adam interrupts them. “We’re trying to find the ishibo for the kingdom we mentioned, we also plan on finding the dragon that terrorized it long ago. The royal family sent us on this quest.” The rest of the group give Adam strange looks. “But why all of you? What makes you all so special?” Vanessa asks. “Im a guard for the royal family, Reeve here is the mage, and Skeet and Mira have talents that’ll help us.” Vanessa nods, believing Adams story while everyone else is bewildered. Adam shoots them a look and they keep their mouths clamped shut. But of course Reeve has to pitch in, “yeah, thats why we’re here, but we all know ‘Mr knight’ isn’t only looking for the Ishibo.” Adam glares at Reeve, Vanessa perks up in interest. “What else is there?” Reeve opens his mouth to continue only for Adam to interrupt him, “enough, the quest is more important, we need to focus on that and only that.” Reeve gives him a deadpan look before rolling his eyes, biding them all a good night, everyone following suit, taking turns to keep watch.

[justelib]

Hi, hi, hi!! I thank @ahyesthesufferingoftvteens for this request! Also i’m really sorry but I think I kinda got off track and I also think they’re out of character 😭🙏

Okay, Skeet isn’t dead, I’ll forever be delulu, so he’s mentioned in this!

Warnings: none? I’m not sure.

(Reekai\Reeve x Kai.)

Also I wing it with punctuation, i do what feels right so correct me if I do something wrong!

Talks and donut dates

It’s been around three months since the group settled down in hollow life, it took two months for skeet to heal up from his injury, they were lucky it wasn’t fetal.

Anyways, Kai has be distancing himself from the group, it’s not like he wanted to but he couldn’t see a place he would fit. Sure he’d still hand out with them, mostly individually, like his Nature walks with Mira. his skateboarding lessons with Skeet. discovering new cheat codes with Vanessa, even though he’d never actually use them. Trying to start an lgbtq+ support club at their school With Adam. And lastly, his awkward hang outs with Reeve, nearly always at holy donuts, the park or in one of their rooms where they play games.

Kai has been avoiding them even more. He kept thinking of when He was in the castle ruins with Adam, where he found out that he was basically a replacement for reeve.

•

With Reeve, he was confronting Mira, knowing she was the most likely to keep a secret out of the best friends.

Reeve said a quick hello to Mira’s dads before heading out to the back yard, where Mira would most likely be, sitting against a tree with a book, probably dozing of as the heat tired her. And he was right, she sat with her back against the tree, her head laying back and her book sat open.

He made his way over to her, crouching down and poking her in the cheek, continuously doing so, knowing how much she hates it.

The girls eyes snapped open, glaring at the older (?) boy. “What do you need, Reeve?” She sighed, rubbing her eyes.

Reeve sat down, arms crossed. “Why’s Kai avoiding us?” He asked, not beating around the bush.

Mira sighed, closing her book. “There’s this thing that happened.”

•

An hour later, Kai stood outside of Holy Donuts, waiting for Reeve. He stuck his tongue out as he fiddled with a Rubik’s cube, looking up when a shadow fell over him.

“Hey.” Reeve nodded, a small smile on his face. Kai smiled, putting the cube in his bag. “Can we talk?” Reeve asked, pulling Kai to sit on a bench.

“Sure.” The short boy nodded.

“I know why you’ve been avoiding hanging out as a group.” Reeve stated, looking at Kai.

“What? No, I haven’t.” Kai laughed nervously, eyes darting around.

“You have.” Reeve stated, raising a brow as Kai went to refuse again.

“Alright.” Kai sighed, admitting defeat.

“You May have took my place as Mira and Adams teammate but they chose you because they knew you’d do great. You’re our friend, Kai, and an amazing person.” Reeve rambled.

Kai smiled, clearing his throat as he felt his face heat up. “Thanks…” he laughed nervously. “Now, we have a donut date to star.” He stated standing up, looking behind him at Reeve. “You coming?”

And finally, after their fourth holy donut date, the two made it official.

——

Sorry it’s so short, and it seems pretty cringey 😭🙏 I’m much better at writing fics that follow an episode\movie and this is my first time writing a oneshot =D

My cringey hollow Oc

|

[ificouldhelpyouforget]

[32] What Do We Do Now?—BONUS (Tim Riggins x OFC)

MASTERLIST | DWHI MASTERLIST

Warnings: dealing with loss, lack of self-care

Words: 2.5k

My days started late. I couldn't bring myself out of bed until dinner and even then it was questionable if I'd make it to the kitchen. Tim tried everything to motivate me to do something, anything, but I'd go right back to bed and hide from the world.

I wasn't blind to what it was doing to Tim. He was scared for my wellbeing. I wasn't eating right or sleeping well. I barely had enough strength to take a shower. I was at my absolute worse and Tim couldn't do anything. I couldn't believe he was still there.

Tim came into the room before he left for work – as always. He climbed onto the bed where I stared at my phone. I'd tap the screen to see the picture of the ultrasound when I first saw the baby. There wasn't much to see, but I couldn't stop looking at it.

Tim set my phone aside and ran his thumb along my cheek.

My eyes shifted toward his face. I almost winced at the sorrow in his eyes. I must have looked worse than I thought.

"Will you be okay tonight?"

I nodded a little. "Don't worry about me."

A sad half-smile appeared on his lips before he kissed my forehead. "Impossible, Cat."

"You'll be late."

His smile went away. "Can you do something while I'm gone? You don't need to go outside or anything. Just play with Skeet, take pictures... draw somethin'. Please get out of bed."

"I don't want to, Tim. I can't."

He sighed and got up, except he came back to squeeze my sides.

I jerked away with a yelp and glared. "Don't."

He didn't listen and squeezed again.

Once I was trapped between him and the wall, he straddled my waist to leave me a slave to his tickling. I screamed and laughed involuntarily, trying to get out of his hold. He didn't relent.

When his fingers finally stilled, Tim bent down to kiss my cheek. "I miss your laugh."

I didn't think I had anything left to cry, but hot tears streamed down my face when I turned away from Tim's observation. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

Tim sighed again and carefully wiped away my tears. His lips touched the side of my head before he climbed off me. "I love you, Catherine. That hasn't changed."

I couldn't look at him as he walked out of the room, my eyes shutting when the front door did. The hole in my chest grew.

Skeeter came into the room and jumped onto the bed, a ball in his mouth. He dropped it and licked my face.

I looked at the dog and the ball. I didn't have to leave the bed to play with Skeeter.

Sitting up, I took the toy and watched Skeeter's tail wag. I handed it to him and he dropped it next to me. He nudged it toward my hand with his nose.

I took it again and tossed it into the bathroom. Skeeter barked and scampered after it. The corner of my mouth turned up when he took a tumble on his way back.

After tossing the ball from the bed a few times, I trudged into the bathroom. I was too thin and my hair looked like a stringy mess. I turned away and started the shower. I left my dirty clothes beside the toilet and stepped under the warm water. It was so hard to stand.

I stayed under the water until it ran cold and then I stayed longer. It was my phone that forced me to get out.

"Hello?" I didn't recognize the number.

"Catherine? It's Tami Taylor."

"Oh. Hi."

"I wanted to touch base with you about dinner."

I rubbed my head and closed my eyes. My voice wavered. "Uh, I... Things are a little hard right now. We... I'm not doing well."

"Oh, no. Are you okay?"

Even though she couldn't see it, I shook my head and fought back tears. "N-No, I'm not."

"Do you need me to come over?"

A choked sound left my lips when I tried to reject the offer. Instead, a small "yes" come out and I sniffled.

"I'll be there soon, Catherine."

Nodding again, I hung up. I dug around for some underwear, shorts, and one of Tim's t-shirts. I crawled back into bed to cry it out.

*****

Tami stared at me from the couch. I sat with my knees up to my chin in our recliner. I played with the strings of the hoodie I put on.

"What happened, honey?"

I took a long breath and closed my eyes. "I-I lost it... I lost the baby."

Tami gasped softly. "Oh, God. Do you wanna talk about it? Can you talk about it?"

"I don't want to... but I think I need to." I sucked in a breath. "I'm hurting Tim a-and I don't want to do that anymore. I can't hurt him when he's going through the loss on his own. He's only hidin' it because I can't get my shit together.

"He's so strong. He goes to work every day while tryin' to help me. I don't know how he does it. And I've been having trouble getting out of bed to take a shower without breakin' down."

"Okay, okay." Tami leaned forward on her elbows. "So I wanna go back to what happened. How has this, uh, loss affected you? Not Tim, but you."

My face contorted in despair and I let my head fall into my heads. "I-I feel like I've failed as a wife, a mom... a-a woman." I took a breath and meet her gaze. "I've lost everything."

Tami opened her arms and urged me to come over to her. I did, curling into her side and hugging her. Her arms circled my shoulders and she rocked me from side to side as I cried again.

"You haven't lost everything, Catherine," she said as I quieted down. "You still have Tim who loves you and the ability to try again."

"But what if I lose the next baby? I can't... I can't go through this a second time. I'll die."

"Then you find another way. You can adopt, find a surrogate, or you can try any of the many options available to have a baby. It won't be the same as carrying one, but you'll love your children no matter where they come from. If you're not meant to carry one, your value doesn't depreciate."

"Tim was so happy knowin' we were gonna have a baby, Mrs. T. I just want to give him what he wants."

"Sweetheart, Tim loves you so much that he married you. Tim Riggins married you. He wants you and you to be happy. You give him what he wants every day you wake up next to him. I can guarantee that if a baby isn't in God's plan for you, Tim will love you the same. Don't beat yourself up over something you can't control."

I used my sleeve to wipe my eyes. "Will I ever feel happy again?"

"Yes. You'll have bad days, but they'll come less often and you'll have Tim to help you. Your friends, too. I can't tell you how to grieve or when you won't anymore. I can tell you that you have so much to be happy about and thinking about those things will help. You've got to push forward and ask for help when you need it. Don't go it alone."

Skeeter lapping up water from his bowl echoed from the kitchen.

"Thank you."

"I'm happy to help. Do you want me to stay until Tim gets home tonight? I can make you something to eat."

"I don't really feel like eating."

"Well, you're gonna. You're skin and bones. I'll go see what I can whip up." Tami stood up, rubbing my shoulder.

I watched her search the kitchen as if she'd been using it for years. Ever so slightly, the hole in my chest shrunk because of Tami Taylor.

*****

I stirred when Tim came home, but I didn't move from my place on the couch, Tami's lap my pillow.

"Uh, hey, Mrs. Taylor."

"Hey, Tim."

He cleared his throat. "What're you doin' here? Did Cat invite you over?"

"I called about havin' dinner soon and it sounded like she needed to talk." Tami carefully got up and laid my head on a cushion. "We talked, I made her some dinner, and she's been asleep ever since."

"Thank you."

I pulled my lips between my teeth at the sound of his voice. If he started crying, I would too.

"How are you, Tim? She told me what she could. She worries you won't want her if she can't have a baby. Are you actin' some way that would give her that idea?"

"No, ma'am. Nothing changes how I feel about her. I'm scared she's killin' herself over this and I don't know what to do anymore.

"I try bein' there and feedin' her, but she's like a zombie or something' and it's not Cat. I don't know how to get her back."

"She won't be the same woman before. The loss of a child takes a toll, one I'm sure you understand. Give her more time and keep doin' what you can for her. She'll come back to you."

It was quiet, so I assumed Tim was nodding.

"If either of you need anything, please call me or Eric. We'd be more than happy to help where we can. Even if y'all need to talk to someone, we'll listen."

"Thanks, Mrs. T."

"Take care of each other."

The front door shut softly.

I heard Tim take off his boots and make his way over to me. He touched my back, the muscles twitching. He whispered my name while brushing his fingers through my tangled hair.

Finally, I faked waking up and turned onto my back to stare up at Tim.

He smiled softly. "How are you feelin'?"

I shrugged.

Tim sat in front of the couch, laying his chin on the edge by my face. "Mrs. T. told me you ate a little."

"She insisted."

"I'm glad." He frowned. "Do you really think I won't want to be with you if you can't have a baby?"

I didn't want to, but I nodded.

"I wanted you back when you scared my teammates wavin' that bat around like a madwoman. I wanted you every time I was with another girl and you were havin' fun in Italy. I wanted you while I was in prison. I want you now. I'll want you when you graduate; when you're old and cranky. I don't plan on wantin' anyone or anything as much as I want you... as much as I love you. And I'll remind you every day if it'll help, Cat. It's the easiest job I have to do as your husband, ya know."

My lip trembled and I glared into space to stop the need to cry. I was sick of it.

Tim rubbed his thumb along my hairline a few times. "I hope that isn't for me."

"I'm tired of cryin'."

"I didn't mean to make you cry. You can if you need to."

"Everything makes me cry."

Tim kissed my forehead. "Do you feel up to talkin' about your night with Coach's wife?"

I studied his face. We did so little talking since the news. I needed to talk to him. So I did.

*****

With timid steps, I walked down the hall to the door I hadn't set foot in since losing the baby. I hesitated at the handle but coaxed my hand to twist it.

The room was empty minus the rocking chair we found at a thrift store. We never had the chance to buy anything else. It was like God kept us from getting more because He kept us too busy to shop. It hurt to experience the loss, but I was thankful to have so little attached to the baby's memory. He knew I would have fallen into a place I wouldn't come back from.

I sat in the chair, listening to the creaks. It was welcoming, familiar. Using my toes, I pushed it back and forth at a steady pace. My eyes shut and I let my imagination run.

The room filled with the crib, a changing station, a bookshelf with toys and baby books. All the things I would have had appeared there along with the little baby in my arms. 

I wanted the baby to be a girl because I wanted to watch Tim fall in love with her as a good father should.

She would have had a mop of brown, fuzzy hair on her tiny head. Her eyes would look just like Tim's, but her face would be shaped like mine. She would have been perfect in every way.

I opened my eyes and was sitting back in the empty room. Instead of crying, I stood and searched for my sketchbook. I found it and my sketching pencils. I almost wanted to skip back to the room, a renewed giddiness in my heart.

If I couldn't give Tim a physical baby, I'd give him the image of her.

*****

He found me still in the room once he got home. Half done sketches were scattered around me as I put the finishing touches on the one in my lap. Tim was taken aback when I smiled up at him.

"What brought you in here?"

"I needed to see it. I needed to see what it would have looked like having a baby." I stood up with my sketchbook. "I want to give you something." I held the book out to him, the sketch facedown.

He took it from my hands and turned it over. Tim paused, his eyes scanning the page in wonder. "Is this...?"

I nodded. "I know we didn't know if it was a boy or girl, but I'd like to imagine it would have been a girl. I saw her in my head and wanted to give her to you even if she's on paper."

Tim brushed my hair behind my ear before gathering me up in his arms and kissed me like he did back in Mexico. He left me breathless when he studied my face. "She's beautiful, Cat."

Tears gathered in our eyes as we gazed at each other.

We'd never be the same again after losing our baby. We had our good days and our bad days, me suffering more often than Tim. But we took each day as it came and we became stronger.

[moonlit-mizukage]

Chapter twenty: The Dance

Summary: Y/l/n Y/n, a third year at Sakura High School, is just a girl with a bad attitude towards anyone outside her small circle. When y/n’s younger sister starts first year, she gains a lot of attention. Unfortunately for everyone in school, the Y/l/n household has one rule, No dating till y/n does. Some people become just desperate enough to pay the leader of the “Monsters”, the trouble making group on campus, to date y/n. What will happen when she finds out? (All characters aged up to third year unless otherwise stated)

TW: Swearing, mentions of pregnancy, mentions of abandonment, Oikawa being a complete ass, physical violence, angst 

______________________________________________________________

Third Person Pov 9:30pm 

Oikawa pulled into the y/l/n’s house. He exited his car as he approached the door. He did a quick reflection check and pushed his hair around and fixed his suit. 

“You’re a hottie, you got this, tonight IS the night.” He said to his reflection. He then knocked on the door. At first there was no answer. So he knocked again. He pulled out his phone and tried to call Mei on it, but just to his luck, no response. The door opened but the sisters father was left standing in front of him. 

“Can I help you?” 

“Yes, we met once,” 

“I remember, that teen boy who smells like a teen sex magnet.” He cut Oikawa off. 

“Umm okay… Is Mei home?” He asked, trying to ignore his previous comment on his smell. 

“No and if she was I still would not let her out with you again.” 

“Sir I assure you I am a good guy who just wants to treat her right.” 

“I see your kind everyday in the hospital I work at. The type to get someone pregnant and then run while they are giving birth and never look back.” 

“That is oddly specific, but I must assure you I am not interested in that stuff right n-” Before Oikawa could finish his sentence the door was slammed in his face. 

“Okay wow that was rude.” He said to himself walking down the front steps back to his car. He checked his phone for more time before leaving. Atsumu had sent him an image. Oikawa opened it only to see Mei and Yamaguchi dancing together, holding onto one another even. He felt himself get angry. He tossed his phone aside and pulled out of the driveway heading to the dance. 

At the dance already- Third person pov 

Tendou walked up to the door with his arm entangled with Y/n’s. He seemed to be a little nervous. Nothing anyone could see upon first glance, but definitely something the other monsters were aware of. Tendou swallowed a lump in his throat as they entered inside, to look over the dance floor. 

“Do you wanna dance?” Y/n said louder then she normally would speak to him. 

“Yeah let’s do it babe.” She seemed to not even notice the nerves he was dealing with. 

They made their way down to the dance floor and Tendou did the best he could to Oikawa and his goons at this time. Not seeing Oikawa yet he assumed it was safe for now, but seeing Yamaguchi dancing with Y/n’s younger sister, he could only guess Oikawa would be angry with them and him. Tendou was not afraid of Oikawa in any way, but he was afraid he would tell y/n before he got a chance to tell you himself. 

Just as y/n was laughing and staring up at Tendou with the utmost love, a slow song started to play.  

“I hate slow songs at dances,” She began to say, “They make me feel like I’m the main character of some cheesy ass romance movie.” 

“Well you are.” He said back as she leaned down, resting her head on his shoulder.  

“What do you mean?” She said just loud enough for him to hear.

“You are the main character in my romance story.” Her body stiffened with this remark as he leaned down leaving a kiss on her forehead. “You don’t have to worry, you know me Y/n. You can trust me, I promise.” Just as he was finished saying that the song ended and he saw Oikawa as he rushed through the crowd heading right up to her younger sister. 

Tendou pulled you away, 

“Can we go get some air in the room over there? It’s just a bit hot in here that's all.” Y/n nodded her head in agreement as she followed close behind. She never let go of his hand the whole way there.  

Still on the dance floor, Mei and Yamaguchi were having a wonderful time. Oikawa grabbed Yamaguchi harshly as he ripped him apart from Mei. 

“What the fuck Mei!” He shouted. People around them moved back to either give more space or witness the drama unfold. 

“Oikawa go away! I am not interested in you anymore!” 

“Did your bitch sister tell you more lies about me?” He asked as she reached up and slapped him as hard as she could. 

“YOU BITCH!” He shouted as Yamaguchi pushed her behind him. Tsukishima and Shirabu showed up in perfect time to stand next to Yamaguchi, knowing how intimidated Oikawa would become. He looked Mei directly in the eyes and yelled, 

“That's fine. You were an expensive whore anyways. You weren't worth my time or money. Have fun being a nobody the rest of your life bitch.” Before anyone knew what was happening, Yamaguchi threw a fist and connected it directly to Oikawa’s face. “What th FUCK!” He said as he tossed a punch right back into Yamaguchi’s stomach, knocking him onto the cold floor. 

“You dick!” Mei said. She then punched Oikawa hard in the eye. “That’s for Yamaguchi,” She then punched him again. “That’s for y/n.” Next she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him in a hunched over position, kneeing him in the balls, “And that’s for me asshole!” On that note he fell to the floor. Atsumu and Iwaizuimi came and helped him up and after a minute he was fine. He got the two guys to follow him on the hunt for Tendou. 

In the other room of the dance, Y/n and Tendou were doing your own thing and having a great time. The two of you laughed as you rested on the railing that looked down on the floor below. 

Oikawa entered the room, his two goons as Tendou called them, following right on his trail. He noticed the two about to kiss as he then spoke up. 

“What the absolute fuck Tendou!” 

“Who the hell do you think you are talking to?” Tendou said back, already in front of you as to protect you.  

“I didn’t pay you to take out this psycho bitch for her whore sister to come with someone else.” Y/n’s head snapped into Oikawa’s direction. 

“Fuck off Oikawa.” He said, noticeably angry at that point. 

“What the fuck does he mean pay you?” Y/n asked Tendou. 

“Oh you didn’t think this was real did you Y/n? You really think anyone would willingly go out with you without being paid did you?” Oikawa asked with full intent to hurt coming through his words adding a conniving laugh to the end of his words. 

“He’s lying right Satori?” You asked, voice on the verge of being broken then. 

“I-” Tendou stuttered, he took a deep breath before he carried on.”I wanted to tell you sooner, I really did Y/n.” 

“So it’s true?” She no longer attempted to hide her tears in that moment. She turned to run away as Tendou grabbed her wrist. 

“Please, let me explain first?” He asked her. 

“Go to hell Satori!” She said as she ripped her arm from him and ran down the stairs. 

Tendou turned to the three guys who had just remained still in front of him. 

“You three have just made some powerful enemies.” Tendou stated as he pulled out his phone. The other three fled as they knew the Monsters were now on their way there. 

As for y/n, she called Shirabu who had grabbed the other and took her home in Tsukishima’s car. They all sat around y/n’s room after they had just changed from their fancy clothes. Y/n sat in the windowcell, with her head rested upon the glass. She looked out upon the moonlight wondering how such a thing could come to be. 

Y/n felt a buzz on her phone as she picked it up. She didn’t recognize the number but the message read;

I know I messed up but I just want to talk to you, please.

________________________________________________________________

Previous | Masterlist | Next

An: I have been honestly so excited to write this part and the ones after for some time now UwU 

Taglist: @belongtothewcrld​ @elianetsantana @its-the-aerieljeane @london-quynh @vhskenma @denkithunder @swagdaddycam @ems1des @tendouispretty @senpaisbadass @elephantloser @smolbbgorl @mikeys-thighs @kuroolilchibichan @softesyoongi​ @ouijaeater15​ @xxsilverwingxx @prettyinblack231 @kookie-doughs  @mikesdeath @bruh-kill-me @skeet-skeet-double-fckn-yeet @d0llpie @0-hysteria-0 @katsumi-sumi @rintarawr​ @sirachano0dles  @satan-ruler-of-hells @himboos @maer-333 @pastel-prynce @tanakasimpcorner​ @atria-avior

[victoria-daydreams]

Of Vices and Virtues

Chapter Fifteen: A Love Supreme

AN: Anyone stay up late to watch The Falcon and The Winter Soldier on Friday, because I did with pride.

Word Count: 4.9k

Trigger Warnings: none

Taglist: @azayamari

Chapter Sixteen: Tensions Run High

The room that surrounded me was incredibly unfamiliar, the walls were a dark shade of cherry wood and not the serene blue I have in my own bedroom. The sun seeped through the curtains, the light reflecting off the silver tray of empty plates that once had breakfast on it on the table by the window. This didn't look like a bedroom, it appeared more as a hotel room, a five star hotel at that. Large, royal blue satin curtains, a canopy bed with matching bronze and blue comforter to the curtain, and a bronze carpet.

I stretched out, feeling content as I remembered the events of the previous night.

"What happens now?" I asked, shifting my body in a comfortable position.

Charles wrapped his arm around my waist, something I tensed at first but relaxed into. It felt nice to have him holding me. I leaned back against his shoulder, wrapping my arms around his.

"What do you mean?" Charles asked backed, starting to play with my fingers.

"Where do we go from this?" I clarified, leaning my head back to look at him.

"I think that we're now a 'couple', as Raven would put it," Charles chuckled, tucking his chin into my shoulder. "I quite like the sound of that," he added, his lips curving into a smile.

"It's funny, I never thought I'd see myself with a white man," I commented, closing my eyes. "Not after James," I breathed out, reopening them.

"No one special in college?" Charles asked curiously, peering down at me.

"There was," I answered, nodding my head. "His name was Benjamin," I remembered. "He treated me well, he didn't run to the nearest exit sign when I revealed that I was a mutant. We dated for a few months, and I thought all was going well..." I trailed off.

"What happened?" Charles questioned.

"He just couldn't take it anymore," I answered, shaking my head.

It was a warm day for the spring, as I walked to the park looking around trying to find Ben. The park had a few people in it, mainly kids playing over by the baseball diamond or younger kids at the playground. There were a few teens but not many. Then I saw him and made my way to Ben for our outing. Ben Hughes was sitting on a bench off away from everyone by a tree in an olive green button down and brown slacks. I smiled at the sight of him, the green complimented his complexion quite nicely if I do say so myself. I walked up to the black-haired and brown-eyed man.

"Hello," I greeted smiling.

"Hey," Ben greeted back, but his smile was more nervous then happy and I got a bad feeling in fact I was unintentionally picking up on a few of his emotions and I didn't like what I was feeling.

I sat down next to him, "What's wrong?" I asked placing my hand near his.

Ben's face fell and took my hand gently. "It's...I...I'm sorry I can't keep doing this," he looked away and I suddenly got a very terrified feeling that he was talking about us dating.

That and I sensed that Ben didn't like this either.

"But why? I thought...I thought we were happy?"

"I was...for the most part...but Claudia...you're wonderful, but I'm not ready for this," Ben ran a hand through his conk styled hair looking over the park. "I'm just not ready to date someone like you...I mean we both know how people treat others that are different, we face it all the time...and...I don't want that to increase tenfold...at least not until I know I can handle it. I figured you would want to be with someone that could be open with you in public," Ben explained lamely.

I thought about it, and looking back on it Ben always did act like we were just friends or something in public while we only kissed or anything simple as holding hands, unless we were at each other's rooms or no one else was around.

"Are you ashamed of me being what I am? Cause there's nothing wrong with it," There was a hint of anger in my voice, but I didn't care.

"I...I don't know...that's one of the reasons I don't want us to get to serious and...there's another reason,"

"What?" I asked him, I was sensing something from him but I wasn't sure. "Come on, I know there's something that's really bothering you so what is it!"

"That's it!" Ben exclaimed. "I hate the fact you know what I'm feeling all the time...it's creepy! I mean I don't want my emotions known," he explained, throwing his hands up.

"I can't help it! I mean I'm still learning how to keep my barriers up, I don't mean to, this isn't easy for me either you know!" I snapped slightly raising my voice, and feeling my eyes water up.

Ben looked at me in sympathy, "I know, I know, you've told me and I wish you didn't have to go through all that and that you had control...but it feels like an invasion of privacy to me...I...I just can't handle it. You know how much of a private and shy person I am and this...this just makes me feel uncomfortable, I'm sorry I don't mean to make this sound horrible I'm trying not to I really am...but I can't," Ben repeated sadly.

I could feel the emotions running off of Ben and knew he was hurting just as much as I was and I tried to shut off the surge of emotions, but I was having trouble doing so.

"So...you don't ever want to see me again," I stated coldly.

"No, I didn't say that...I just can't date you...at the moment. I thought I was ready, but I'm not. I'm just not ready,"

Charles softly placed his hand on the side of my face and captured my lips with his own. A shudder went through me as I was snapped out of my memory, but I smiled into it, kissing him back. His hands traveled down my waist and flipped me over to fully face him, pulling me on top of him. The two of us continued kissing until he pulled away for a short moment. Charles stared at me, moving a lock of hair from my face simultaneously caressing my cheek.

"His loss, love," Charles declared, pressing a kiss to my head causing my smile to widen further.

"I'd better take the tray down," I sighed, wiggling my way out of Charles grip.

"Or you could just stay here if you'd like," Charles suggested tightening his grip around my waist.

"Easy, tiger," I laughed at his forwardness, softly pushing his hands off my waist.

"Maybe next time, then?" he questioned, releasing me so I could stand up.

"Oh, there's a next time?" I asked, making Charles flash me a grin. "Next time," I agreed, lifting the heavy, silver tray from the table and walked across the room.

I opened the door with a flick of my hand and walked out, a cold draft rushed through from the open window in the hallway, making my body shiver. As I closed the door behind me, I heard footsteps coming toward my direction. I saw Erik down the hall, his blue eyes completely fixated on me, standing outside the door of Charles' bedroom. Erik shut the door to his own room, my pulse began to pound furiously within me as Erik came toward my direction.

"Good morning Erik!" I greeted cheerily, attempting trying to break the awkward silence.

Erik responded by sending me a frosty glare and something akin to a scowl, as he walked past me without a word. I released a breath I had no idea I was holding in. Erik clearly knew something was going on, but chose not to say anything outright.

Today was going to be interesting.

~~~x~~~

From the distance I could see Erik and Charles talking amicably, but their body language told a different different story. While Charles body was relaxed, Erik's was tense and rigid.

"Ah, Claudia it is nice to see you have joined us!" Charles chirped as he came over to me.

His hand quickly found mine while his other hand rested on my lower back and led me closer to the table that he had set up with a pigeon thrower next to some clay disks.

I moved away from Charles and ran my hand along the table, "What do we have here?" I asked, studying the equipment on the table.

From the corner of my eye I saw Erik staring at me, maybe he was waiting for me to return his gaze. I don't think he was too pleased at how relaxed Charles was when he took ahold of me. It probably had something to do with the fact that yesterday Erik also held me similarly. If he only knew what his touch did to me. I tried very hard to not look at Erik and concentrated my attention on Charles.

"Well, I figured since your already adept at your telekinesis I'm not going to ask you to move a pen, or a book. It seems that you have grasped the notion of moving small and large items and have expanded on this. The shield you created, is an example of this," Charles explained, now beside him again I crossed my arms over the grey sweatshirt I had changed into. "So, I thought some target practice would do you some good. The energy you use for your telekinesis can be molded and projected into various forms," Charles continued.

"So what? Skeet shooting?" I guessed, looking around for the rifles. "Where are the rifles?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"Skeet shooting with a twist, Claudia," Charles corrected, moving in front of me. He grabbed both my hands and lifted them up to eye level. "You don't need a rifle love, your hands are more than enough," Charles reminded, letting go of my hands. "Erik, when you're ready," he called, looking over to him as Erik loaded up the trap thrower with a clay disk.

I shook my hands out before lifting them up in front of me as violet aura formed around my hands, "Pull!" I called, Erik fired off a clay skeet. I aimed my hand and fired, a purple bolt hitting the clay skeet, and shattering it.

"Nice shot, Claudia!" Charles smiled, as I dropped my arms.

"Did you ever doubt me?" I laughed, glancing over at him.

"Never, I'm just trying to keep your skills sharp," Charles answered, as I raised my arms up again.

"Pull!"

Erik fired off another clay skeet. I aimed my left hand this time and fired off a purple sphere. The sphere from my palm contacted the clay skeet, and it exploded into a little million piece.

"Excellent!" Charles exclaimed again. "Wasn't that fantastic Erik?" he asked excitedly.

"Yes, it was a fine shot," Erik replied, a tight smile on his face.

"Thank you, Erik," I said, flashing him a quick smile in an attempt to make things less awkward. It didn't, if anything it just made him shoot an icy glare at me. I darted my eyes away from him and went back to focusing in front of me. "Pull!" I directed, trying to now avoid the metal bender's stare.

The clay skeet sailed through the air, and I aimed my hand at the skeet, and fired.

The skeet then shattered.

~~~x~~~

I collapsed onto the grass off the side of the mansion, my chest heaving. It had been awhile since I had exerted this much physical energy. My lungs were screaming for oxygen and the muscles in my legs and feet were begging for mercy. Not too far behind me was the sound of three thuds falling next to me. I lazily turned my head to the right to see Hank, Sean, and Alex in a similar state of fatigue.

"The...Professor...needs...a...smaller...mansion..." Sean said in between breaths, his face the color of his hair.

A chuckle managed to seep through my gasps for breath, "Nonsense," I called, pushing myself up to rest on my arms. "You just have terrible stamina, Sean," I corrected smiling.

"What did we do to deserve four laps around the mansion?" Alex groaned, before sitting up.

"Hey, your lucky I didn't make you all run five like I originally planned to," I pointed out.

"She has a point," Hank agreed, copying Alex's movement.

"Shut up Bozo,"

"Now, now. Knock it off," I called in a motherly tone, pushing myself up from the ground, "Alright boys we're done for today," I stated, stretching my arms out over my head. "Last one back at the mansion has to do the others washing for a week!" I announced dashing off towards the mansion.

As I sprinted away from the boys I could hear their cries of displeasure because of my head start towards the mansion. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, already envisioning not having to do my washing for a week. But the sound shoes nosily slapping the gravel behind me told me that the boys were quickly catching up with me. Suddenly, a flash of red hair surged past me and I looked to my side to see a newly invigorated Sean in the lead of our little race. Sean looked back at me and gave me a wink knowing that he was mere meters away from the back door, but fate would prove otherwise.

Unfortunately for Sean he didn't notice one of the larger rocks that were strewn across the ground and tripped right before the backdoor. I easily sped past him and reached my hand out touching the door first panting heavily, but with a smile on my face. Hank and Alex followed shortly behind me just as I opened the backdoor, I looked back to see Sean dusting himself off and slowly heading to the door.

"So close, yet so far," I commented, slightly laughing as I held the door open for Sean.

"Very funny Claudia," Sean replied dryly, as he entered the mansion.

"Aren't I?" I quipped, closing the door. I walked beside Sean as we made our way down the hall and towards the kitchen. "Come on, you gotta admit it was a little funny," I suggested, pinching my finger close together.

Sean smirked at me, "Alright, it was a little funny," Sean agreed, nodding his head as we stepped into the kitchen.

"By the way I'm going to enjoy watching you do my washing this week!" I informed, mirth simply rolling off me.

I went straight for the cabinets where the cups were stored so I could quench my thirst, if I didn't get something to drink I was sure to die from a dry mouth. On my way to the cabinet I lightly hit Alex on his leg.

"Get off the counter, you're all sweaty and disgusting," I stated, walking past him and onto the cabinet.

"Yes, mom," Alex said mockingly, sliding off the counter.

"Be like Hank, he sitting in a chair at the table," I pointed out, a grin appearing on my face as I opened the cabinet door.

Reaching on my tiptoes I grabbed a cup and went to the sink to pour myself a glass of water. After I took a deep, long gulp out of water I hastily wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Just as I went to put my glass down onto the counter Erik and Raven had walked through the doorway of the kitchen, Raven was clinging onto his arm with a grin on her face which made me raise an eyebrow. Erik mirrored Raven's expression as if they were just laughing from a joke he told before coming in here, but as soon the two of them saw me their grins vanished.

It was as if a black hole had opened in the room, sucking in all the warmth, leaving cold and emptiness. What was once a friendly atmosphere turned tense and uncomfortable. I looked at Erik and I could feel an angry bitterness swirling beneath his calm demeanor.

"What were you two doing?" I asked, breaking the silence that had blanketed over the room.

"Erik and I were training," Raven answered simply, and I just gave a nod also noting that Erik still hasn't said a word to me. I lifted my glass back to my lips to take a sip of water and just as I went to swallow Raven spoke again. "He was teaching me the best way to use my body while in combat. He said that I was quite the challenge," Raven continued, with a challenging glint in her eyes.

I nearly choked on my water and subtly spit out my drink back into cup due to the innuendo that Raven made. I set down my water, my eyes flashing dangerously and resentment coiled like a small little snake in my chest, I was getting too worked up. And then a sudden realization hit me, oh dear God. I was jealous. I know that I needed to calm down, but I couldn't hold my tongue.

"How surprising," I began, staring right at Raven. "I've always known him to take a vested interest in things he considered nice and easy," I quipped, arching my brow in response to her challenging stare.

If looks could kill, Raven would have butchered me right then and there, as she visibly flushed before turning stony and a glint of hate appearing in her eyes.

"Let's go Erik," Raven ordered, storming out the kitchen and dragging Erik along.

The silence in the kitchen was deafening, you could hear a pen drop. I looked at the shocked faces of the boys that remained in the kitchen, all of their mouths forming an 'o' shape from witnessing what just transpired.

"We're going to pretend the last five minutes never happened," I stated, before taking a sip of water.

~~~x~~~

I sighed and fell on my queen-sized bed after changing into a fresh t-shirt and sweatpants. I snuggled against the coolness of the pillows, my body relaxing against the softness of the bed. I cherished the silence in my room letting my eyes drift close as I prepared to meditate. All was well, I was at peace as my chest rose and fell with each breath I took. That was until my thoughts felt clouded and muddled, my heart flooded with a myriad of emotions, spinning in a thousand different directions. A sudden spike of self-loathing and reproach plowed through me, and returned me back into reality, trying to sort out my emotions.

I had to lower my barriers to pick apart my own feelings. A wave of uncertainty, affection, and fear sent my mind spinning. Sweat beaded my brow. I felt even normal emotions with an unnatural strength, but these threatened to render me unconscious. From somewhere below me, I stumbled out the bed wearily stood and headed toward the strangling emotions.

Being the empath that I was, I responded to those emotions even as they tried to block them out. I ventured outside my room. It was quiet in the hallway, however as I came closer to the staircase I heard a faint sound of piano keys. The melody was quiet at first but then it began to escalate further up. A crescendo and then it began to descend as I came down the stairs.

Claire de Lune.

The music did not stop as I almost stumbled down the last stair to see where the music was coming from. I finally reached the sound and slightly pushed open the door to see Erik completely engrossed in the music. I could not quite see his face as he was looking down at the keys. My heart began to race within my chest as he continued to play oblivious to me watching him. Without warning, the melody was gone and instead all I heard was a slam of keys. My head snapped up to see Erik staring right at me.

He didn't look too happy.

"I'm sorry," I whispered as I turned around to head out, but before I could reach for the door knob the door slammed shut right before me.

"Why are you here?" His voice was menacing as he stood from the bench.

My stomach flipped as he came closer to me, "I...I heard the music," I stammered, before I cleared my throat. "And I felt a spike of emotion from my room. You could kill an empath without ever coming closer than six feet, you know that, Erik?" I quipped, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere.

"Shouldn't you be with him? Shouldn't you be with Charles?" Erik asked, spitting out Charles' name like it was venom.

I lowered my head slightly and raised an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?" I questioned, placing my hands on my hip.

"You know exactly what that means! I saw the two of you last night! “ Cautiously, I moved back to the wall as he inched closer and closer. He prowled toward me as if I was his prey. "The two of you dancing, kissing?" Erik hissed, he had me cornered.

A chuckle of disbelief bubbled me and that only made Erik angrier, "If all you wanted was a dance with me, then you should've just asked," I pointed out simply, my playful expression vanished when Erik slammed both his hands down on the wall behind me, literally trapping me.

"Is everything a game to you?" he hissed.

"Depending on the situation. Sometimes, I just spin the wheel and see how many spaces I’m supposed to move," I answered, cocking an eyebrow and Erik's anger rose even more, which almost suffocated me. "You're angry at me, that much is clear. As to why, I'm not sure," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"What more do you want from me to do? Get down on my knees and confess it! Erik stared at me, emotion churning inside him.

"So, you admit it?" I could no longer keep my facial expression neutral and a small triumphant smile appeared on my lips. I ducked from underneath from Erik's arms and laughed. "Finally!" I laughed, closing my eyes and spinning around. "Oooh, Mr. Lehnsherr, is that resentment I feel burning in your chest?" I giggled, twirling once more.

The shock that radiated from Erik caused me to open my eyes again to look at the German. Erik was staring at me in astonishment, before he lurched forward and two strong calloused hands closed over my arm and my mind was flooded with emotion one particular emotion, anger.

"You've been purposefully toying with my emotions this whole time!" Erik growled, his expression livid and his blue eyes ablaze.

I scoffed giving him a once-over, "I didn't toy with your emotions. We've been flirtatious with each other since we got to the mansion," I reminded, attempting to free myself.

"So what, your affectionate embrace with Charles last night doesn't qualify as toying with me?" Erik questioned incredulously.

I leaned my face closer to Erik's, "No," I answered, pulling my face back smirking and he narrowed his eyes at me. "If you wanted to kiss me you had your opportunity yesterday in the woods," I pointed out. "If you wanted to kiss me then you should've of been a man about it and pulled me back when I went to walk away," I continued, lifting a finger to his chest. "Because you wanted to kiss me...just as badly as I wanted to kiss you," I admitted, watching the anger in his eyes briefly eclipsed as he processed what I had told him and his grip slackened.

I held his gaze a little longer, my brown eyes meeting his blue, "But you chose to pursue Charles' affection over mine. Why?" Erik asked.

"Because Charles didn't shy away from me," I answered, staring at him.

"That can be corrected," Erik remarked.

"Oh really," I retorted, cocking my head to the side, before I freed my self from his grasp and pulled away. "Erik, do you want to know another reason why I pursued Charles?" I asked, walking backwards slowly.

"I am all ears Claudia," he responded sarcastically.

"Charles has never been insincere with me, he's never tried to manipulate me," I explained, continuing to move away from Erik and ending up on the other side of the room. "I never had to second guess what his motives were," I added.

"Oh, this again?" Erik asked annoyed, frustration joining the list of emotions that emanated from him.

"Yes, this again!" I repeated. "That stunt Raven pulled in the kitchen earlier," I recalled. “The way you let her cling onto your arm with that hopeful gaze in her eyes. You’re using her massive school girl's crush on you against her," I explained, folding my arms together.

"Claudia, you would think so low of me?" Erik questioned, sliding his hands into his pockets.

"No, I just know the wicked games men can play," I answered simply, staring into his eyes searching for signs of deceit.

"Claudia, you are an assertive and observant woman, but I'm afraid you'll find no mastermind schemes here," Erik assured with a smirk that said he wasn't going to give away a thing. "You can take my word," he added.

I turned on my heel, my back facing Erik, "I am going to need a lot more than just your word, Erik," I replied with the same light tone and slight smirk.

"And what do you suggest, Miss Walker?" Erik asked right into my ear, his chest pressed up against my back.

I bit down seductively on my bottom lip, "How about you do what you were to afraid to do yesterday, Mr. Lehnsherr," I suggested, pushing off his chest and spinning around to face him. "I'll have you know second chances like this don't come by often," I breathed, staring up at him.

The two of us were so close to each other, Erik gently grabbed my face and tilted it up and as he leaned closer my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. My eyes slid shut and I waited to finally feel his lips, all our flirting and dancing around each other finally leading to this. I felt breathing against my lips and then a slight pressure...but then there was a loud slam.

"Erik, Charles is looking for...you..." Raven trailed off.

I turned my head away feebly in an attempt to not show that Erik were about to kiss. I lifted my hands swiftly, palms facing outwards, softly pushing him away from me.

Erik, continued to stare at me, "Fine," he growled and moved away from me. I watched him as he ran his hand through his fine brown hair.

I nodded as I dared not look back at the man who had my heart pounding against my chest furiously.

Chapter Seventeen: Everything Falls in Place

[teacup-crow]

The Christmas Runner

On the 12th Christmas Eve after the world ended, Molly and Carena told someone the story of the Christmas Runner. Major end of S3 spoilers, very minor spoilers for early S5. 

I spent all day in bed and this happened? Will probably go on AO3 once I polish it (and when it’s actually close to Christmas). Promise it’s wholesome!

(In my headcanon here Carena is 15, Molly is 13 and Sara is 7)

“Sam’s givin’ you how much to watch her?” Carena Skeet spluttered, towering over the younger girl, leaning her hands over her head on the brick wall of the housing block. The moon was a sharpened, thin crescent, and lights winked in the guard towers. Over in the main barn, they could faintly hear the twanging of a slightly out-of-tune guitar and some tipsy singing, suggesting the grown-ups’ Christmas Eve party was already in full swing.

Everyone said that Molly Harrison was the prettiest girl in Abel, with blonde curly hair and eyes blue enough to knock out zoms, but right now she was shifting foot-to-foot, looking more irritated than anything else.

“A loaf of crusty bread and a pot of blackcurrant jam, and… you’re not having any of it, Caz.”

“Dr Cohen only promised me a bloody book!” Carena pouted, but avoided stomping her foot. She’d about grown out of that. Nobody would dare call her pretty, but she was too, in a fiercely intimidating way. It was two months until she turned sixteen and could finally start Runner training, and she’d already begun practicing first thing every morning, tearing around the training shed when the sun had barely risen. Where Molly was soft and homely, she was angled and muscular. “You can read it if you let me have a spoonful.”

“That’s a rubbish trade and you know it! I won’t always go along with everything you tell me to do, you know, it’s not fair-“

“Oh blah blah blah, quit whinin’, let’s just get the job done before they realise they double-booked.” She dropped her hands and stalked away. Her foster dad’s old fireman jacket was too big on her, but wearing the king’s clothing added to her swagger.

“You don’t like kids,” Molly pointed out, stumbling a little behind her as she strode off to the front door.

“Kids is fine. Kids is kids. I have, like, fifteen siblings. I know what I’m doing.”

“Yes, and you don’t like any of them. And they’re all the same age as you!”

“What can I say, I’m not good at sharing.” She turned and gazed pointedly at Molly, who shrugged it off. “It doesn’t take two people to babysit a seven year old.”

“Yeah, so go away, Caz. You don’t even want a book.”

“Gotta get on Dr Myers’ and Sam’s good side if I want to be recommended for Runner, don’t I? Janine respects their opinion more than anyone else except Runner Five.”

“So go and sit on guard duty with Runner Five and earn their approval.”

“You jokin’? Five’s batshit.”

“They’re also the only reason we’re not dead, so maybe you should be a bit more respectful.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t try to tell me what to do, Molly Harrison...” Carena’s tone was affronted, teetering on nasty. Then she stopped herself. “But yeah, you’re right. Five’s batshit bonkers, but they’re awesome.”

“And scary?” Molly added.

“Yeah, if you’re a wuss.”

They’d reached the green wooden door of Maxine and Paula’s apartment, a wreath on the outside, a menorah in the window. Sara had hung paper chains all down their part of the corridor. It made both the teenagers smile for a second or two.

Carena knocked, to no reply. She tried again. 

“That’s weird,” she muttered.

“Sara, you in there?” Molly tried, peeking through the window. 

“Sara, we brought chocolate!”

This caused a patter of feet to charge towards the door. Carena grinned. “First rule of kids is lie through your teeth.”

“MOLLY!” Sara sprang through the door in a bright blur of red sweater and green trousers, and jumped into Molly’s outstretched arms. “Did you bring Galileo too?”

Years before, when Archie Jensen had lost Mildred van der Graff to an explosion, Five had managed to get their own chicken back to Abel relatively unscathed. Molly, already interested in animals even as a small child, had adopted Galileo Figaro, a now-geriatric menace with a beak that had lasted longer than anyone expected. The hen had strong memories of her dinosaur roots, and, apart from Molly, Five and Sara, would attack almost anyone who dared enter the coop.

“Galileo’s an old hen, she’s resting.”

“She went cluck-cluck-cluck over the rainbow bridge to Ed Harrison’s stomach, you mean.”

“Caz! Dad would never!” Molly looked scandalised as Carena burst out laughing at her own joke. Thankfully, it went over Sara’s head as she dropped down from Molly’s arms and stared up at Carena’s jacket in awe. Caz ruffled her mop of springy hair affectionately. She liked this kid, at least. It was very difficult not to.

“Hello, baby Sara, how’s it goin’?”

“Good, Princess Caz! I’m making a jigsaw puzzle. It’s got a million trillion pieces!”

“Sounds like an absolute riot. Tell you what, Molly can finish it with you and I’ll heat up the rations.”

Molly nodded despite herself, taking the pudgy little hand in hers and stepping into the cosy apartment. “Okay, let’s go, hopefully we have all the pieces...”

“Daddy had to remake some of the missing ones but he said you can barely tell the difference, sort of! Anyway, you said you had chocolate?”

This was still one of the oldest housing blocks in Abel, but instead of enough bunks for eight people the two rooms comfortably housed the little family of three, bathroom splitting a bedroom on one side and a family room on the other with a table and a bookshelf and warm candle-lit lamps too high for Sara to knock over on the mantelpiece. Woollen throws covered the kind of battered armchairs you sank into and artwork lined the walls. There was even a tidy kitchen corner with a kettle and a camp stove and a stack of chipped plates and mugs. It was one of Carena’s favourite places: better even than sharing a room with some of the roller girls on a rare trip to see her foster dad in London; much better than her own springy bunk in the children’s dorms, the wall behind her chequered curtain plastered in pictures and photos and plans but still not private enough to block out the whining and crying of the little ones all night. It was nice to see a place where a real family lived. When she stood in the centre of the room, she could squeeze her eyes shut and almost picture the faces of her real parents, her actual bedroom, the kitchen they’d had with a white-tiled floor. Or was it sand-coloured tiles? She wasn’t quite sure, not that she’d admit it. Whenever anyone asked, she always said she remembered the pre-zombie world perfectly.

“Caz? Are you heating up the food or...?”

“I’m getting to it!” She stomped towards the stove, where Sara’s parents had already left a few crumbling Tupperware containers of pea soup from the kitchens, and Molly had brought a bowl of eggs to hard boil if they felt snacky. Not particularly inspiring, but then food had been limited for the last week as the kitchens saved all their supplies up for Christmas Day. And none of them knew how to be fussy: Sara and Molly did not remember a time when food was plentiful, and Carena’s last remnants of pickiness had been starved out of her when the Ministry occupied Abel. She’d been nine, and her stomach hadn’t stopped rumbling for that whole terrible ten months. It ached again a little just thinking about it. She wondered if that had left her weaker, permanently damaged her chance to become a Runner or a roller-girl. As if her asthma wasn’t enough of a handicap. Well, she’d do it anyway. Nothing was going to get in her way, least of all the legacy of those who had hurt her foster father. 

“Three bowls of green soup, coming up!” She added a lick of salt, and stirred the metal pot. The ruckus from the square was louder now, almost matched by the younger girls playing with the puzzle behind her.

“I can’t tell if this is supposed to be a man’s face or a rat.”

“Daddy’s not a very good draw-er.”

“I mean… he could use some practice, to be honest. Any clue on where this piece should fit, Caz?”

Carena doled out the bowls and spoons. “Looks like a squiggle with earmuffs to me. Sam’s crap at art.”

“Don’t swear in front of Sara!”

“She’ll be fiiiine,” Carena rolled her eyes. “Lighten up, Molly.”

“Yeah, lighten up, Molly!” Sara echoed jubilantly. “Crap, crap, crap.”

“Okay, you can cut it out now. Eat your dinner.”

Molly changed the subject, sensing another mischievous outburst of swearing on the horizon. “Are you excited for Christmas, Sara?”

“Yeah! Did you hear that we’re going to have a hog roast and potatoes?! And games! And, and, Ms Marsh knitted me a hat and mittens!”

“How do you know about that?” Molly admonished. Sara immediately looked caught in the act.

“I… maybe heard her and Mama talking about it.”

“Did you ‘maybe hear’ or were you spying on your Mama?”

“I wasn’t spying! People just think kids can’t hear stuff!”

“Hey, spyin’ is a great skill, don’t knock it, Mol. Don’t worry, we won’t tell.”

“I wasn’t spying!” Sara drank down the last of her soup, licked the bowl, and pouted adorably. It was hard for the babysitters not to laugh.

“You know, I think that piece might actually be a clockwork mouse. I think it goes down at the bottom…”

They finished the jigsaw with only four missing pieces. “It’s… a big man in a red coat with a white beard! With lots of toys. I’m going to call him Mr Bob.”

“Sara, that’s Santa. Do you not know about Santa?”

“Father Christmas?” Molly tried, although she wasn’t completely confident either. Sara looked blank.

“You know my father is called Sam Yao?”

“No, baby, Santa Claus is different. He brings things to good children at Christmas.” In the back of her mind was an image of Ed in a terribly cobbled together Santa suit, a tiny Molly on his shoulders. A good memory in a flock of bad ones. It twinged in her chest.

“He’s a Runner?”

Carena sighed. “Basically. Yeah. Santa Claus is just another name for the Christmas Runner. Every Christmas Eve, he goes from township to township, leaving gifts for all of the children.”

“How does he get through the gates?”

“Well, duh, he lets the township leaders know what time he’s going to come on Rofflenet first. And he’s really fast, so he doesn’t need to worry about Raiders or zoms. He’s got a big sled drawn by nine dogs for all the presents!”

Sara’s eyes sparkled. “What are the dogs called?”

“Well, the main one is Rudolf, and he’s an, an Irish red setter. Or he wears a red jumper, like you. Something to do with red. The other ones…” she looked to Molly for assistance, and realised the blonde girl was just as enraptured. “The other ones aren’t important.”

“Caz!”

“Fine! Dasher, Dancer, Prancer… Victor?” 

Her mind drew a complete blank. Somewhere in her subconscious, a woman’s voice read the words of Twas the Night Before Christmas, but she couldn’t quite make them out. “Um… Gold, Frankincense, Myrrh and Spam?”

Molly snorted in surprise, her face contorting and shoulders shaking as she tried to hold back a peal of laughter. At least Sara seemed satisfied. “Okay, so how come I don’t hear them all?”

“He sneaks in with magic and only when you’re extremely tired so it’s, like, impossible to stay up to hear. But if you leave a sock on the end of your bed he’s guaranteed to put sommat cool in it.”

“How will he know what I like?”

Molly looked thoughtful. “Maybe you should leave him a list? But you like a lot of things.”

“And my socks are quite small.” Sara looked pensive, kicking her feet in the air to check the size of them. “You two should write lists as well!”

“I’m too old to write one-“ Carena tried, but Sara was already insistently jabbing a pencil and an old receipt at her from a scrap paper drawer in the cabinet.

“These big long lists from the olden days are perfect, we can use the back.”

Carena’s eyes flitted over the receipt. Morrisons. Mango, papaya, hummus, avocadoes. All words she didn’t recognise, foods she would never get to try, and, suddenly intimidated, she laid it down on the table. She wasn’t the strongest reader or writer at the best of times - she’d learned too late, and it was difficult with so many new things in a row. Sara sounded out the letters on her own list as she wrote, her reading already confident.

“Dear Christmas Runner. Thank you for all your hard work, and for taking so many risks to deliver presents…”

Molly glanced over at Carena with a dash of awkward concern. They’d shared a schoolroom as children, and again for the last few years, and had some of the same frustrations, although Molly struggled more with maths and numbers and the purpose and point of algebra and geometry than writing and words. “Can I write both of ours, and you do the pictures? Your drawings are really good.”

Carena nodded, and got up abruptly to wash out the pot and make some tea. Outside, the town choir had drummed up enough numbers to give a few carols a go. She cracked open the window a little to let the sound filter up. 

“I would really like some bubblegum but I know it is hard to find and my mothers don’t like it so don’t worry if you can’t find any. I also like marbles and you can fit lots of them in a sock!”

“You’re already running out of space!”

“Okay. Lots of love from Sara Myers-Cohen-Yao, kiss kiss kiss! What are you going to ask for?”

“Nicer soap,” Molly said, quite serious. “And I need a new metal bucket for chicken feed and milking. Mine is close to holes.”

“A bucket won’t fit in a sock!” Sara scoffed with childish mirth. “That’s ridiculous!”

“I don’t know, she has really big feet.” This made Sara giggle even more, and slide off the chair to look at Molly’s feet more closely.

“Ha, ha, ha,” Molly gave Carena a mock-withering stare. “What do you want, Caz? I’m doing yours now.”

Carena thought as the water began to bubble. All she really wanted was to be a Runner. To explore. To get buckets and soap and marbles and gum and make faces back in the township light up. All she wanted was her lungs and airways to do as she commanded, her muscles and heart to work with her, to let her push past exhaustion. 

“Eh. Shoelaces would be nice.” She smirked at Molly. “Or some chicken fat.”

“Make one more threat to my chicken’s life, Carena Skeet and you won’t be getting anything from the Christmas Runner!” 

“I surrender, I surrender!” Carena laughed, and poured the tea. “Anyway, shouldn’t you be in bed by now, Sara? If we’re going to get this Runner to come at all.”

“But I’m not even tired,” the small girl yawned, still on the floor with her head on the chair and cuddling one of the throws her mothers had stacked on the sideboard. 

Molly grabbed the rest of them. “Come on, we’ll build a blanket den, have our tea in there, and Caz can tell you more about the Christmas Runner.”

“Startin’ to feel like Caz does all the work around here,” Carena added, stirring in milk and honey and using the puzzle box as a makeshift tea-tray. “Go on then, lead the way.”

Five minutes later, they’d constructed a large blanket fort and, huddled together inside it, Carena began to tell them everything she remembered from the world before, embellishing the odd detail or ten.

“You’re lying, there were no flying snowmen.”

“Well, I saw a film about them!”

Eventually, Sara curled up and fell asleep, thumb in her mouth, dreaming up a jumble of tinsel and angels and dancing snowmen and turkeys.

Molly smiled, sleepy herself. “You know, you’re actually really good with kids.”

“You’re actually good at lightenin’ up.”

“Yeah! This was fun. I had a really nice evening.”

“Molly…” Carena began, and stopped. She tucked Sara’s blankets around her a little tighter. She didn’t know how to say how safe she felt, maybe for the first time since she lost her brother, warm and wanted and hopeful, surrounded by the peace she wanted so badly to fight for. “I think tomorrow is gonna be a really good day.”

The bell in the square jangled once, twice, twelve times and for once they didn’t panic. It had been years since a horde went anywhere near the gates. This was midnight.

“Merry Christmas, Caz.”

“Merry Christmas.”

***

Carena awoke under a pile of blankets, her head on the end of Sara’s bed, the sound of Dr Cohen humming in the kitchen as she fried the eggs for breakfast, and caught three bulging stockings out of the corner of her eye. A lump came to her throat as she saw the book, as promised, bound in ribbon, that she recognised even without reading the words.

The Abel Runner’s Handbook, fourth ed.

She nearly knocked the wind out of the doctors in her rush to hug them.

[willow-salix]

Fluffember Prompt: Time

Day 22 of Isolation on Tracy Island 2.0. 

There is weirdness going on in this villa, weirdness I tell you. They all seem to be getting on really well and I knew they were planning something, I just didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing. 

"OK, what's going on?" I asked Alan, picking on the smallest of the bunch. He was often the weak link in the group, he couldn't stand to be accused of things he hadn't done. 

"Nothing!" he squawked but he had that shifty look in his eyes that I recognised far too well. 

"Nope, not buying it," I coughed, folding my arms. I was starting to feel better but I was still feeling delicate and needing to rest a lot or I was getting light headed and grumpy (although Gordon said I was always grumpy). 

"OK," he sighed, knowing he was beaten. 

I waved a hand in a 'continue' gesture. 

"It's thanksgiving tomorrow."

I gave him a blank look, because I'm English and even though I'd heard of thanksgiving it wasn't something that I knew anything about and I definitely didn't celebrate it. 

"We've never celebrated before," I said. 

"We'll we've never had the time before," he shrugged, not taking his eyes off his game. 

Scott came in to sit down beside me with a cup of Gordon's tea which he handed me. I swear if I drink much more of this tea I'd start to slosh and look like a lemon. 

"What he means is that International Rescue has taken up so much of our time for so long that we've never wanted to do a big celebration because it would always get interrupted. We tried the first few years but every time a rescue call would come in and we'd end up leaving, it stopped being worth the effort."

"We still try to do Christmas," John added, nudging me until I sipped my tea. Honestly, I hate tea, I only drink it when I'm not well because coffee tastes weird when I have a cold, but it was making me feel a bit better so I was sucking it up. 

"But thanksgiving ended up being forgotten," Alan finished. "So Dad said we should make the most of this year and the fact that it's unlikely we'll get a call."

"We know the world is in a bad place right now but people need to be grateful for the fact that, while they can't see their family and friends as much as they would like to, they are doing their bit to keep their loved ones safe. And that's what thanksgiving is about, spending time with family and being thankful for everything you have," Scott said. 

"I can understand that part," I nodded. "I just don't get the whole thanksgiving thing, it's not something we do where I'm from, so I know nothing about it. What's the story?" 

All three of them looked at each other, exchanging one of those silent looks that family does where they are communicating nonverbally.

" I too would like to understand more about this human custom," EOS said, her holographic symbol floating peacefully above the table. "It sounds most interesting."

"We could tell you, but Grandma would be better, she used to tell us the story when we were kids," Scott said. 

"Does this mean you guys have forgotten most of the story?" I guessed. 

"No, of course not!" Alan protested. 

I can't say I believed them. 

Grandma was duly summoned to the lounge and we all settled in various chairs and couches like kids in anticipation of storytime. 

"It all began around five hundred years ago," Grandma began, holding court like the Queen she is. "And a great many people in England were unhappy because their King wouldn't allow them to worship as they liked."

"Always the way," I muttered under my breath. "Always some king or other telling people how to pray. Couldn't even be a witch without being killed for it, but I know the Protestants had the same kind of trouble."

"The king told them they must worship his way or risk imprisonment or even death," Grandma said. "They were of course unhappy with this and a great many took it upon themselves to flee the country to settle elsewhere."

"So basically they yeet skeeted out of there?" I said. 

"That's one way of putting it," Scott laughed. 

"First they tried Holland, and called themselves Pilgrims, a word meaning someone who is always travelling to find something they love or a land where they could be happier. They said 'from place to place, toward heaven, their dearest country'."

I sipped my tea and listened, it was easy enough to follow so far, I knew about religious persecution, although I'd never left my home for it. 

"The pilgrims were happy there for a while, they were quiet, peaceful people, but they were very poor. And, when their children began to grow up, they didn't have the same upbringing as their parents had, they weren't like English children, they spoke Dutch, like the children of Holland and some grew very disobedient and refused to go to church anymore."

"Sounds legit."

"The parents weren't impressed with this and, after much deliberation they decided to move again, wishing to go somewhere they could live their own way and make their own rules. They hired two ships, the Mayflower-" 

"Oh, I've heard of that one! That's one thing I do know," I said, quite proud of my rather limited knowledge but you know, you gotta take what you can get. 

"They hired the Mayflower and the Speedwell to take them across the sea to another land where they could make their home."

"So the pilgrim Mamas and Papas were like forget this, we're gonna ship off somewhere we get to make the rules?" I asked. 

"Essentially, yes," John admitted. 

"Honestly, I'm not too sure what to think of this right now, but I'm reserving judgment."

Grandma gave me a squinty eyed look of warning and I mimed zipping my lips. 

"Unfortunately," she who must be obeyed continued, "the Speedwell was not a strong ship, and the captain had to take her home again before she had gone very far. The mayflower returned too to take some of the Speedwell's passengers. They travelled for more than two months-" 

"Two months!" Alan yelped, "we can go from here to England in less than an hour in Thunderbird One."

"Yeah, that's crazy," Virgil agreed, shaking his head like he couldn’t quite believe it. 

"They landed and started building the first homes on Christmas day, but the journey hadn't been kind to them, many were sick and still suffered months later so were little help in the house raisings. They had barely any food, they had landed in winter when the land was barren and frozen, with great snow falls the likes of which they had never seen before."

"That sucks," Gordon said. "They should have been better prepared."

"By the time spring arrived their number had reduced by half from illness, starvation and cold," Grandma said, continuing with her far from pleasant tale. "The indigenous tribes of the area came to help, being friendly people and offered grain, seeds and tools with which to farm as well as the knowledge of when and how to plant to make the most of the land."

"That was nice of them," EOS said. "I have observed that it is uncommon for  humans to help each other without payment or gain, but it seems that it was not always the case."

"No, it wasn't," John agreed. "No matter what you read of humans, EOS, remember that where there is bad there is also good. Unfortunately it's often the bad we hear about while the good remain unnoticed, but that doesn't lessen their value or importance."

I squeezed his knee affectionately, just because I could and it's funny to watch him jump sometimes. His hand landed on top of mine to prevent me doing it again but I knew he didn't mind really. 

"The pilgrims farmed well all summer and when the autumn cape and they had harvested their crops they decided that a feast was in order to celebrate their first year, their first harvest and their new life. They invited all their native friends to attend and they happily agreed, bringing with them deer and other foods to share. They must have enjoyed themselves because the party lasted for three days. And now we celebrate being thankful for what we have every year at thanksgiving," Grandma finished, looking pleased with herself. She obviously loved the story and had told it with a kind of familiar comfort which told me that it was once she'd heard many times before, probably from her own grandparents.

 I loved those kinds of stories, the ones that bring back memories or a time past, one's that make you smile when you think of them. 

"Wow, they really knew how to throw down and have a good time," Alan grinned. " Do we get a three day party?" 

"I wish we did, but no, " Scott chuckled, "nice try though, squirt."

"Right, now that you've all kept me busy telling you stories, I'm going to go and see if you're father is ready to go, he's taking me to the mainland for supplies for tomorrows meal." Grandma jumped up from couch with a lot more energy than I had (she was obviously invigorated by the thought of shopping) and toddled off to hunt down Jeff. 

"John?" EOS asked quietly. 

"Yes, EOS?" 

"I don't understand Grandma's story."

"What didn't you understand, baby girl?" I asked her, butting in because I was bored quite honestly. 

"I have checked the facts of the story and found that it is not historically accurate." 

"What isn't?" Alan asked. 

"It appears that, while the meal did indeed happen, it was not called the first thanksgiving until later and that it was actually an American president, Abraham Lincoln, who heard about the meal from a diary of the time and used it as a moral booster during the Civil War."

"Oh, well that's not as nice," Gordon admitted. 

"My research also tells me that the pilgrims and the native Americans did not stay friends for long, indeed there were many nasty things done to them culminating in the decimation of their culture. Therefore I do not understand why such a thing is celebrated."

"Unfortunately, that's the English for you," I sighed. "For a small country we've done a lot of harm, we've invaded a lot of countries and taken over thinking that our ways were better, when really the best way was that of the native people. It's one of the things about being English I'm not proud of."

"It's not always that simple," John started, adopting that patiently explaining tone of his. It wasn't that 'I'm talking to an idiot' one that some men end up doing, but one that showed he was willing to listen and engage in an actual conversation. And people wonder why I love him so much. 

"Why not? History cannot be ignored," EOS insisted. 

"In this instance, it's not about history being ignored, but the spirit of the holiday changing over time. In the case of Thanksgiving its more about taking time out of your lives to stop and think about why you are thankful, to think about what you have and what your are grateful to have. You spend time with your family and friends and share stories and time. As with many things in life its a nasty part of history that something positive has come out of."

"Like how a lot of people don't celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus, because they aren't religious in that way, but treat it more as a time of family and a time to enjoy company, food and thoughtful gifts. So many traditions have developed over the years that can't be explained by history but are important just the same," Virgil told her. If John was the closest thing to a father to her, Virgil was definitely her ever patient uncle, he was always happy to talk to her. 

"So it is not a celebration of the harvest, the meal or the actions after?" 

"No, its about the spirit of the meal, the sharing of food with those for might not have any, of reflecting on the things you are thankful for and enjoying time with your loved ones," John explained. 

"I do not understand the spirit, I do not recall any ghosts in the story, but I find humans to be confusing, so I shall simply observe the remainder of your rituals and see for myself," she decided, her hologram blinking out. 

"Well," I sighed. "I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be interesting."

[baby-alien11]

Being an horror icon child with Y/N Ulrich (Dead Meat Podcast Ep. 188)

taglist: @volturi-girl-imagines @dessxoxsworld @aonungsgirlfriend @ethanlandryluver

A/N: Dead Meat is one of my favorite channels on YouTube, I'm proud of everything that James, Chelsea and their crew has achieved during the last years, they even had a cameo in Scream 2022 and they are friends with Radio Silence (they attended their wedding), so I had to include them in this series, you can check their channel, they have kill counts, podcasts, the horror awards, etc, so go take a look

"Welcome back to another episode of the Dead Meat Podcast", Chelsea greeted in the direction of the camera, "I'm Chelsea Rebeca"

"And I'm James A. Janisse", James continued, "In this episode we have a very special guest, she is the youngest child of Skeet Ulrich, best known as Billy Loomis in the Scream franchise, and in recent years as F.P. Jones in Riverdale, please welcome Y/N Ulrich, also known in the horror community as the 'Ghostface Princess'"

"Hi, guys", you greeted with happines, "I'm so happy to be here, thanks for inviting me"

"Thanks to you for acepting the invitation", Chelsea responded, "How are you?"

"I'm good, very excited to talking to both of you", you answered, "Wait, is that a cat what you have there?"

"It is", James nodded lifting the cat, "This is Lucy"

"She is so cute! I also had animal company", disappearing from a moment of camera, you returned a few seconds later hugging Butters in a way that he was seen, "This is Butters, is actually Jacks cat, but I love him like my own"

"He seems as good as we've seen on the internet", James commented

"Totally", you said pressing a kiss in the cat's head

"So, starting with the interview, what was like growing with Skeet Ulrich as a dad?"

"First of all, he's the best dad I've could ever had, I am the youngest of three siblings, so I was and still am the baby of the family", you laughed along with them, "I was literally a doll to my siblings, they dressed me with every costume they could think"

"Including the ghostface mask", Chelsea joked refering to the photo that Jack posted, "I'm going to say that you looked adorable in the costume"

"Thank you, and yes that was when I was five years old, my siblings were looking for a costume we haven't tried, and then my brother left and came back with the ghostface mask, they put the robe and mask and send me to the living room where my dad was reading a script, he saw me and laughed, that was my first contact with Scream"

"Oh my God, I remember watching the first Scream when I was a child, I was so scared after the opening that I hide during the rest of the movie", James commented with fun, "But that was the movie that made me interest in the horror genre, what old were you when you watch it?"

"It was a year after the fourth was released, I was eight at the time, after finishing the first one my first thought was 'why my dad and uncle Matthew want to kill auntie Neve, auntie Courtney and uncle David?'"

After that sentence, there was laughing between the three of you, enough to Lucy to get down from their owners lap to go to the cat tower of the studio, but Butters kept sleeping in your arms

"Y/N you had more guts at that age than I had", Chelsea joked, "Did you tell him that thought?"

"No, but for the next few days I walked around the house with a helmet and disconnecting all the phones and hiding the cellphones so ghostface didn't threat to kill us", you remembered, "Dad found out after founding the cellphones in my toy box, and asked me what was happening, I told him everything, we had a fun talk about the movies"

"This might be a difficult cuestion, but, who is your favorite ghostface?", James asked surprising you

"You cannot ask me that!", you joked while laughing, "Wait including the sixth movie?"

"Yes", James nodded

"Okay", you sight while thinking, "First, they all are great ghostfaces, with different motives and that, and my dad will probably disinherit me, but Im going to say Roman and Jill, I mean, Roman was the mastermind behind everything, he gave Billy the motivation, and Jill had a perfect plan that almost worked but she kinda messed up"

"They definetely are in every top five of ghostfaces", Chelsea agreed, "Now, talking about more recent years, we've seen that you often spend time in the filming sets of your dad's projects, what was like seeing everything from the other side of the screen?"

"Well, as I already told, I knew dad was an actor since I was young, but the first time that I was in one, was during the first season of Riverdale when I was twelve, I had vacations so I stayed there for three weeks, and it was like that every summer until he left the series", you answered while scraching Butters between the ears, "It felt like a summer camp, like the guys threated me like a little sister and the adult cast were like uncles, they still are; it was very fun because if you look closely, you can see me in the back of some scenes, like in Pops and things like that, and since my birthday was during that dates I celebrated there"

"That sounds like a lot of fun"

"It was", you nodded agreeing with James's comment, "I think that I spend more time in the girls trailers than in my dad's"

"Talking about cameos and visits to sets, how did you ended making a cameo in Scream VI?", Chelsea asked

"It all started when during the pandemic, my siblings and I were having online classes and we were just having our onlinse classes, he got the call from Radio Silence, which he attended on speaker making the three of us listen to everything from our rooms, of course I openned my door, so when I heard the call ending, I practically run to the living room and asked him if I could go with him, he was confused at first but he realised that the call was heard on the entire house, but because of the COVID bursting out, he only was there for a day"

"The shortest time of you in a set", Chelsea joked

"Actually yes", you nodded with a smile, "And due to that small amount of time he had to learn his lines in the hair and make up trailer, so during that little time, I played Sam Carpenter, played by the awesome and magnificent Melissa Barrera"

"How was meeting her knowing that she was playing Billy Loomis's daughter?"

"I love her!", you exclaimed with happines, "When we arrived to the set I inmediatly sat on my father's chair and she aproached to me to say 'hi' and talk like we knew each other from years, she is my half fictional sister"

"She is one of the best additions to the franchise, the way she plays the part, like 'I don't wanna see you but still listen what you have to say because somehow I trust you' is perfect", James agreed making you nod, "Now, we are a year later to film Scream VI, you are more visible in the screen, how was filmimg?"

Noticing a little movement behind you, James and Chelsea didn't say anything about the curly haired boy that was aproaching you

"Well, we were lucky that we had our vaccines and more liberty to film, so after my mum and dad gave their permition to me to be in the movie we flew and have a little reunion with the cast to know each other"

"And then I enter the story", Jack exclaimed from behind scaring you and making Butters jump off your arms, before looking at the camera on your laptop, "Hi guys, nice to meet you"

"Hi Jack", they greeted before James speaked, "Good to see you"

"When did you got here?", you asked turning to look at him while James and Chelsea smiled

"Like five minutes ago", he answered while openning a brown paper bag, "I went to get breakfast for us after the gym, here's your iced caramel latte and a breakfast beagel"

"Thanks babe", you smiled closing your eyes as he left a kiss in your head

"I'm going to be in the kitchen if you need anything", Jack said taking the bag

"Okay", you nodded returning your attention to the screen where James and Chelsea were smiling, "Where were we?"

"How was filming your cameo for Scream VI", Chelsea reminded

"Right, so I didn't know at what moment my cameo will be until two or three days before filming when Matt, Tyler and Guy told me that there was a scene in a Halloween party at the beggining and my cameo will be at that moment, and my costume will be a female version of F.P. Jones, which is one of my dad's recent roles, I thought it was cool, but the problem is that I didn't took my serpents jacket that the Riverdale crew gave me in my sixteen birthday"

"They had to make a new one?", James asked

"No, I don't know how or at what moment, but my dad had it in his luggage, so they made me a mini version of him, I filmed my little part and never stepped on the set again for the rest of the filming"

"Wait what?", Chelsea exclaimed, "Why?"

"Because I'm a fan of the movies and didn't want to get spoiled on anything, so my reactions during the movie were totally real"

"Well, now that you mention the movie we want to play a little game of reactions, the dinamic is that we would say a moment in the new movie and you'll say what was your reaction during that, is that okay?", James said which you nodded, "Okay, first one: the openning kills"

"Crazy, I mean Samara Weaving was wonderful as always and then the reveal after the dead was insane and then the real ghostface kills Jason and Greg was something new"

"The return of Kirby Reed"

"That's final girl material, she made her comeback ready to kick ghostface ass"

"The apartment attack"

"I swear that I was so nervous during that scene that Jack's arm was red the next day of how hard I was holding it, the way it started with Quinn's "body" get thrown at the group, the chase and then the ladder was so hardcore"

"The shrine"

"It was sick and fascinating to see everything from previous movies and from Stab, and then the stage with all the masks and robes, I wish I was there when they filmed in there"

"Gale vs Ghostface"

"I was so emotional during the stabbing scene, that after the movie I hugged aunt Courtney for like ten minutes, but Gale Weathers is a final girl"

"The train scene"

"Again it was so tense, especially because the group was divided in two and all the ghostfaces costumes, I breathe when the first part of the group was safe, and then I stopped when Mindy was attacked"

"The ghostface reveal"

"Don't get my started on that, for the whole movie I was suspicious of everyone and at the same time no because they had good alibis, when Detective Bailey was revealed I was like "what the hell", when Ethan revealed himself I almost fell off my seat, and when Quinn revealed alive and one of them, I almost lost my mind"

"Hi again", Jack intervined apearing beside you, "Sorry for interrupting again, but I had a video of Y/N reacting to the reveals"

"Oh my God", you laughed taking a sip of your coffee

"Can you show the video for us and the audience?", James asked

"Only if Y/N is okay with it", Jack said while looking at you, in what you nodded in response, "Fine, here's the video, it might be a bit dark cause it was film during the movie"

Positioning the phone in a way that was in front of the camera and was seen good, Jack played it showing your exact reaction to that scene, which was how you explained it

"I think you represented the entire audience with your reaction", Chelsea commented after the video ended, "Especially because at first we were like 'why, why them, what's their motive' and then we know that their are Richie's family trying to avenge him, they had a good motive, and if you think about it, it has similarities with the motive of Nancy Loomis"

"Yeah, at the end, the whole franchise is based on family relations, like Roman was the one who started everything because he wanted a bond with Maureen but she didn't, so he gave Billy a motive to start the killings and the events after were like a chain", you said noticing how Jack sit in the chair next to you with Butters in his arms

"We should do a video with the whole franchise in chronological order", James joked, "Now, before we finish the interview, what do you see in your future? Do you see yourself in the industry or not?"

"I really like this question", you answered while thinking, "I definitely want to stay in the industry but not as an actress, I mean, I did theatre when I was in high school and it was awesome, but I would love to focus on be a make up artist of the horror genre, like the ones who focus on prosthetics and that"

"That sounds so interesting, what was the moment that made you realise that?", Chelse asked

"It was during big part of my life watching movies and series, so it was building along the years"

"Well we hope to see your name in credits and featured in our Kill Counts in future years", James said making you smiled, "Same to you Jack"

"Thanks guys", Jack said in response next to you, "You are awesome"

"Well, Y/N, thanks for be this week guest on the podcast, it was great talking to you", Chelsea smiled, "We can't wait to see what you do in the next few years"

"Thanks for inviting me, I'm so happy that you are my first formal interview because I love the entire channel and content", you smiled, "It has been a pleasure to talk to you and I hope we can do it soon"

[bclourdcd]

Lunch Talk||Skillie

Where: A cafe in LA. 

When: Thursday, February 25, 2021

Who: Billie Lourd & Skeet Ulrich @ulrichcd

Description: A talk about feelings.

Billie: After all of this time, Billie was now unable to hold this in. Especially after seeing, what hopefully was a PR stunt, with Skeet and Lucy having lunch. The idea of him being with someone else was driving her insane. Sure, she felt bad because she was still with Alex but she had a feeling that something was going on there. Nevertheless, she couldn't hold her feelings any longer. After dropping Kingston off at her Aunt's house, she drove over to the cafe to have lunch with the man. Hopefully, he still felt the same for her, otherwise, this might get awkward. The brunette parked then made her way inside and grabbed a table.

Skeet: He wasn't sure what had changed so much that they needed to have this serious conversation. His hopes were that she had finally decided to let go of the man who clearly had other priorities besides his girlfriend and child. But she had ditched him once before to 'keep the family' together so he didn't know if that would ever change. He got the cafe and walked inside to see her sitting there, walking over he pressed a small kiss to her cheek before sitting across from her. "Hey, how's it going?" he asked.

Billie: A smile instantly spread across her face seeing Skeet walk in. Billie leaned in to his kiss on her cheek. "Hey.." She said as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Oh, it's going." Laughing softly. "How's it going with you?" Asking before someone came over to take a drink order, then she informed the person that they were going to need some time. Her eyes moved over the man's face. Every time she was around him, her stomach filled with butterflies.

Skeet: He shrugged slightly and smiled back at her. "It's alright. Little less exciting now that we're not shacked up together in Cape Cod anymore. But at least it's warmer," he replied with a chuckle. His eyes moved back to the menu in front of him briefly to look at the options before looking up to her again. "So... Did you wanna get the serious talk out right away or drag it out?" he asked, only partly joking.

Billie: A soft laugh escaped her lips. The time that they had spent together in Cape Cod had been amazing. Luckily, Alex had left so they were able to be together. She drew in a breath as he ask if she wanted to talk right away. No use in drawing things out. "Okay, I don't know what's going on with that other chick, or any other chicks for that matter.." She started, "But.. I.." She bit down on her bottom lip. "I think I'm in love with you.." Her stomach flipped inside of her. "I don't want to see you with someone else.. I want to be with you.."

Skeet: His eyebrows furrowed. "What other chick?" he asked, not able to think of who she was talking about. "I don't have 'other chicks'..." Not that he should really need to explain if he did. She was with someone else... But he was hung up on her and wasn't interested in seeing other people. But he wasn't expecting her next words and his eyebrows raised in surprise. "You love me? I... But you're with Alex?" he stammered out."Don't get me wrong, I want to be with you too... That's why I stayed with you so long."

Billie: She shook her head. "I don't know.. I saw some pictures.. It's whatever, I guess.." she reached out so that she could take his hand. "I have to figure out how to end things..." It might not actually be as difficult as she was thinking it would be, but they still had Kingston to think of. "I've kind of been miserable since we got back.. Now I know why.."

Skeet: "Oh god, Lucy? Yeah, no... We know each other through work and got lunch. Apparently a bad idea with how everyone is going on about it now," he sighed, rubbing at his forehead. He smiled softly though, gladly taking her hand. "I'm sorry you've been miserable. Hopefully I can put a smile back on that face."

Billie: "Oh, okay.." The brunette nodded. "They usually do blow things out of proportion.. You know this." She entangled her fingers with his and gave his hand a squeeze. "It wasn't really about that, I guess, my feelings just boiled over." Obviously, she'd been trying to play it cool, but it would be a lie to say that Skeet hadn't been on her mind the whole time. "It's my fault.. I should have never left you to begin with." Ain't that the truth though? "I think you definitely can."

Skeet: "Yeah, I barely know her to be honest... Just vague acquaintances," he replied with a shrug. Although, he could potentially thank the other woman for being part of the reason that Billie decided she wanted to be with him. "Well, I could have told you that," he joked, although it was partly the truth. He knew, even back then, that her baby daddy wasn't going to cut it. "So... you wanna get out of here so I can put that smile on your face now? Or should we eat first?" he asked with a small laugh.

Billie: The woman could already feel herself start to relax. She was glad that he she hadn't been too late and that he had moved on. Of course, she would be happy for him if he was happy, but she would seriously be kicking herself. Pressing her lips together, she shook her head. "I think you did tell me that." She laughed softly, as she leaned in a bit more. "I think we should order something to go." A small smirk formed over her lips.

[venactricisfics]

Malibu Desert

It was just supposed to be a workout.

A Mayans based Story Adult Content

Master List

Chapter Nine 

 “Are you going out like that?” Bishop asks as I bend down to tie my sneakers. I look down at myself wearing yoga pants and a crop top and hop up on the stool. 

“Yeah, just going to the yard to work out with Gilly,” I give him a confused look. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing? Do I need to change?”

“Are you comfortable, querida?” he sets a cup of coffee in front of me as he goes back to the stove to fry bacon. I nod. “Don’t change. You wearing that is just gonna make it hard for anyone to get any work done.” 

“Stop,” I chuckle as I take a sip from my cup, “No one but you looks at me like that.”

“Everyone looks at you like that,” he responds. “They don’t act on it because you’re my queen.” 

“Your queen?” I quirk a brow, slipping from the stool to make toast. I could successfully make toast without burning it.  That’s still cooking, right?  

“I’d never call you my ol’ lady,” he places the cooked bacon on plates and we sit together at his kitchen bar, “at least not to your face.” 

“That makes you a very smart man,” I peck his cheek, “Another reason I love you.” 

“No, it’s cause without me you’d starve,” he says back, giving my thigh a gentle squeeze. 

“That too,” I slide my arms around his neck from behind and give him another kiss before taking a piece of bacon from his plate. “I gotta meet Gilly in fifteen, see you at the yard?” 

“I don’t like the idea of you going out alone,” Bishop’s word’s stern. 

“It’s fifteen minutes.  Straight there, no detours, I promise,” I say. “You’ve still got to get showered and dressed.”

“I still don’t fucking like it,” he stated. “That shithead is still out there.”

“I know that more than anyone,” I grab my keys from the table by the door, “I can’t be watched twenty-four/seven. Yesterday I had to stop Coco from coming in the ladies’ room with me at work.”

“Alright,” he agrees reluctantly, “text me when you get there.”

As promised in fifteen minutes I shift my SUV into park and type out a text: 

"Now I'm thinking about you naked in the shower alone," I smirk and hit send. 

"That's not what I meant when I said text me. I've already got your ass in those pants on my mind. Be good. See you soon," he sent back. 

I send him a wink and a heart emoji then step out of my SUV. I give Chucky a wave as I cross the yard to the cage. 

"You ready, hermana?" Coco greats me.  He takes in my confused look. "Gilly is late. Asked me to get you started." 

“OK,” I drop my duffle by the gate mentally preparing myself for my lesson. 

“I was thinking,” he said, “you’re little, right? There’s no fucking way you can take down a huge guy by yourself.”

“You and Bishop aren’t exactly huge and you hold your own,” I state.

“Si, but we’ve been training for fucking ever.  Our fucking life made it where we had to from the fucking womb,” he said. “And we don’t have that kind of time. Imma teach you something that will fucking keep you breathing. And put the other asshole in the fucking ground.” 

I nod listening to him. I knew at my core he was right. There was no way a few days of learning how to kick or punch would stop Warren or any one of his men from doing whatever they wanted to me.  I could slow them down but just enough to piss them off. And then I’d still be running and hiding. Coco’s way was a permanent solution. 

“Take this,” he pulls his piece from the pocket of his kutte. “You ever shoot before?”

“I used go skeet shooting with my dad,” I hold the 9mm pistol in my hand studying its weight, “Nothing like this.” 

“The fuck is a skeet?” Coco asks.

“Clay target flung in the air. I was pretty good,” I curl my fingers around the butt of the gun letting testing how it feels.

“Rich white people making up shit to shoot at,”  he snorts a laugh, “that,” he motions to the piece in my hand, “you use that to put down a guy. Nothing fake about killing a man. You do what you gotta hermana. The rest of the bullshit fades away.”

I nod, “I get it. We’re not that much different. Life may have fucked us in different ways but we both got fucked. And now we’re here. You’re teaching me how to keep from getting fucked again. That’s something.”

For the next couple of hours, Coco taught me to hold the gun, aim, and shoot. Gilly arrived and showed me the best ways to take a guy down unexpected. Side and groin being the best targets.  Kicks would be far more impactful than a fist.  My legs are stronger than my arms. 

I move into the shade and take a drink from my water bottle and reapply sunscreen. Getting a sideways look from the guys. “Not all of us are blessed with caramel skin. Y’all should wear it too, melanoma is a bitch.” 

“Take your fair skin inside,” Gilly laughed tossing a sweaty towel at me. I wrinkle my nose and toss it back at him. 

I close my eyes, feeling the cool air hit my skin when I walk in the clubhouse. I didn't realize how hot it was outside until I savored the air-conditioned room. I reach my arms up in the air to stretch and then bend down and lift my foot to stretch the backs of my legs. I was a little sore. But nothing a few stretches couldn’t fix. 

"Fuck," I hear Bishop mutter behind me, "you are making it really fucking hard to concentrate." 

I glance back at him over my shoulder seeing that he’s clearly checking out my ass from his table with Taza and Hank, “I am not doing anything.” My lips tug into a slight smirk as I stand. I rather enjoyed the way he was looking at me. 

“You are doing plenty, querida,” he says back. “Come sit.” I give a gentle kiss to his lips before taking the seat beside his. 

“I didn’t mean to distract you,” I move my gaze between the men. 

“It is a welcome one, sweetheart,” Taza says. “Beer?” I shake my head, “Too early for me. I’ll take a Diet Coke if you’ve got one.” 

“Just regular,” he responds grabbing a can from the fridge. “I’ll put it on the list for the Prospect.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I open the can and take a sip.

“You’re here almost as much as we are,” he states, “It’s not a big deal.” 

I nod realizing just how much I was here. If I wasn’t hanging out with Bishop after a table meeting I was helping Chuckie with the yard books. Or EZ clean. I wasn’t privy to all the details that happened on the other side of the stained glass door. But I knew enough. 

“It doesn’t bother you that I’m here so much?”  

“Na, you class up the joint,” Hank responds. I shake my help with a smile. I knew he was flattering me. It was nice to have people.  For so long Warren kept me from people. I was isolated. And now I had freedom. I could be fully myself. And I couldn’t thank Bishop enough for that. 

My thoughts are interrupted by a bang and a loud crash from outside. Without another thought, the four of us push out of the clubhouse door. The noise was coming from the garage.  

“Mother fucker,” Angel lies on the garage floor as Coco and Gilly lift the bike off of him. I rush back to my SUV and grab my medical bag. I couldn’t stand idly by since there was something I can do to help. I drop to my knees beside him. My eyes quickly scanning over him and I shine a light in his eyes. Watching his eyes dilate.

“Doesn’t appear to be any brain damage,” I give him a slight smile, “well not much.” His pulse was racing, his breathing was labored. “Look at me, Angel. You’ve got to stay calm.” My hand moves along his side and find a screwdriver lodged in his side. 

“Fuck calm,” he grunts as he starts to get up. I shove him back, “Be still you moron.” I hold the screwdriver steady keeping the blood from gushing more. “You have a dislocated shoulder on top of a puncture in your side. It’s in there pretty deep. We really need to get you to the hospital.” 

“Just yank it out, Malibu. Give me a bandaid and a beer,” he groans. 

“And have you bleed all over my shoes, no fucking way,” I responded. “You don’t have to act all macho.  I know it hurts like hell.” I glance back as the guys surround me in a semicircle, waiting for instructions.  I lock my gaze with Bishop’s, “Bring my SUV over and put the back seats down. I can’t fix this here.  And I don’t want you dragging him through a dark, dirty tunnel.”

We hadn’t talked about what happens on the other side of the border, but I knew.  Not everything but enough. Some of the shit that happened they couldn’t explain in a traditional hospital. But Angel is legal and he fell in the garage. 

“Get him in the back,” I keep pressure on his side as Gilly and Riz hoist him up. I climb in as they load him through the hatch. I look down with a half-smile, trying to keep calm. But he was weak and the color was fading from his face. I meet Bishop’s eyes in the rearview and give a nod. “Hurry.”  

It felt like an eternity as we drove the few miles from the scrap yard to Santo Padre Memorial Hospital.  I had the ER on the phone and they were ready as my SUV pulled into the ambulance bay. The hatch opens and the ER doctors help unload him onto a gurney.  I was so focused on keeping my hand pressed to Angel’s side I barely heard the doctors and nurses telling me they got it.  

“You can’t come back here, Nova. Now let us work,” Dr. Ramos says as she takes over keeping the pressure on the wound. The warmth of his blood flowed through my fingers as I let go. They wheel him through the double doors.  I stop and stare after them relaxing only after I feel Bishop’s hands on my shoulders.

“Did someone call EZ or their father?” I wipe my hand across my face as I’m lead to the waiting room. 

“They’re on the way,” Hank says and hands me a rag to wipe the blood from my hands and face. 

“Thanks,” I slide my arms into the dark hoodie that Bishop offered then take a seat beside him.  I didn’t realize how much blood and grease was on my body until I slide the zipper up. I didn’t care how shitty I looked at the moment.  My eyes bounce from the nurses' station to the door watching as Felipe Reyes walks through the automatic doors. He’s met instantly by Taza and Riz. They explain how the bike fell from the lift and fell on top of him.  

I stand up when Ramos comes from the back.  I relax reading her expression.  I knew Angel would be OK before she spoke. He needed fluid antibiotics overnight and he would get to leave in the morning.  Take it easy for a few weeks.  EZ and Felipe are lead to the back to see Angel. 

“Take me home?” I slip my arms around Bishop’s waist. 

“Of course, querida,” his arms around my shoulders as he leads me out of the hospital and to my SUV.  I walked straight from the car through the house and into the bathroom. Bishop helps me strip my clothes from my body.  It wasn’t seductive, it was comforting.  I let him take care of me. He followed me into the shower.  The blood and grime rinse from my body and swirl down the drain. He scrubs my hair and body clean.

I settle with my head resting on his chest in my bed. We lay there quietly as he rubs my shoulder lightly with his thumb. The day had everything. Joy and Fear. I know above anything, that here is where I belong. I just say simply, “I love you.” Before closing my eyes. 

[ificouldhelpyouforget]

[31] There and Gone—BONUS (Tim Riggins x OFC)

MASTERLIST | DWHI MASTERLIST

Warnings: pregnancy, miscarriage, loss

Words: 2.6k

My hands shook as I paced the living room. Skeeter thought I was playing and tried to give me one of his toys, but I shook my head and ran my hand through my hair. Playing was the last thing on my mind.

I had no reason to be nervous because it was exactly what Tim and I wanted. It happened a little sooner than I expected, but I wasn't scared. Talking to Tim about it wouldn't be hard to do. Yet I was in a panic over it.

I looked at my phone for the millionth time wondering if I should call him and get it over with. Tim would leave work the minute I said we needed to talk. I couldn't pull him away from work, not with my schooling and our bills. Calling him was out of the question.

"What do I do, Skeet?"

He yipped. His tail wagged and he held out his toy.

"I'm sorry, bud, but I'm kinda freakin' out." I checked the time. "What am I supposed to do for three hours?"

Skeeter barked again and curled up on his bed in defeat.

A nap sounded like a great idea.

*****

Tim came home while I was sketching Skeeter. I was chewing on my thumbnail and staring at the bare bones of the sketch. I barely moved when the front door shut.

He bent over to kiss my cheek. "Good day?"

I stood up and followed Tim into the kitchen. "Yes?"

"Why the question?" He grabbed a beer and opened it. He offered me a sip, but I declined.

"Uh, I've been feelin' pretty off lately, so I ran to the clinic to see if I was getting sick."

Tim sat his beer on the counter. Something stirred in his eyes as he studied my face. The corner of his mouth twitched upward.

"Nothin's wrong. But I'll be feelin' pretty sick for a while longer."

A full-blown grin was on his face as he caressed my cheek. "Just say it, Cat."

"Um... We're gonna have a kid."

He crashed his lips into mine. I latched onto his arms to keep from falling as dizziness swept over me. He left a couple of short kisses before hugging me close. "Anything you need, you tell me and I'll take care of it for you."

I nodded against his chest and sniffled. My emotions bubbled over after a whole day worrying over nothing.

"Are you okay with this?" He used his thumb to wipe away my tears.

"Of course I am." My laugh was watery. "I was so nervous to tell you for no reason. And now you know and you're so happy and I just can't keep it together anymore. I'm sorry."

"You can cry. It's okay." He kissed my forehead. "Don't be sorry."

I wanted to apologize again, so I kissed Tim instead.

He stepped away to take in my form. He lovingly pressed the palm of his hand against my abdomen and grinned at me. My heart lept into my throat.

"I guess we need to update one of the extra rooms," I said, placing my hand over his.

*****

A week went by and I was sicker than I'd ever been in my whole life. Mornings weren't bad but as soon as the clock said 3 p.m., I started my night of nausea, vomiting, and needing to cuddle with Tim and Skeeter. Tim looked guilty every time I came back to him after a session with the toilet.

"Stop feeling' bad for me," I said as I brushed my teeth. I barely had a bite of an apple slice before I rushed to the bathroom. "I wanted this baby the same as you."

"This can't be good for either of you, Cat."

"I'll go to the doctor if it'll make you feel better. We've got at least another month and a half of this until I might be okay again, so I don't expect the doctor to say much more than keep fluids in me and try to eat. I'm doin' what I can, Tim." I spat out the toothpaste and rinsed. "I'll tell ya when somethin' is really wrong, okay?"

"Please see the doctor."

"I will. Now please let me try to eat and cuddle with you again."

Tim kissed my forehead. "I'll wait for you on the couch."

I squeezed his hands once and meandered over to the kitchen. I managed to get some fruit and cheese down for the evening with only a vomit scare when we finally got up to go to bed.

*****

As I predicted, the doctor reassured me that I was perfectly healthy and our baby was doing okay, too. He suggested some vitamins and reminded me to keep drinking plenty of fluids. Everything I was told I was already doing. Tim worried too much.

I stopped by a coffee shop to grab a cup of tea and found Tami Taylor there.

"Hey, Mrs. T."

She looked up from her phone and smiled. "Hey, Catherine Barton! Oh, right, you're Catherine Riggins now. Congratulations on the marriage again."

"Thanks. How's Gracie? I feel like I'm so out of touch with everyone out on our little bit of land."

"She's doin' great. And that house is gorgeous. Tim really built that?"

"Billy and I helped. Jason Street came down from New England to help, too. Maybe you, Coach, and Gracie Bell can come over for dinner soon?"

"Yeah! That would be great. I'll talk with Eric and get back to you."

"Awesome." I put a lock of hair behind my ear. "I'll warn you now that dinner hasn't been sitting well with me lately. That doesn't mean I don't want y'all to come over. I just might need a few minutes in the bathroom."

Tami immediately glanced at my stomach and back up to my face. "Are you pregnant?"

I nodded. "Found out a few weeks ago. Nearin' two months."

"That is great! If you need anything, please call me. The first baby is always the hardest." She grabbed her drink as the barista set it on the pick-up counter. "I have a few tricks to help with the first few months if you're interested. They may help with the sickness."

"I appreciate that, Mrs. Taylor. I could use all the help I can get because I'm tired of strugglin' through my dinner. I want to enjoy food again."

"I'll bring what I have by later tonight."

"See ya then."

*****

Tim answered the door while I recovered from my recent bout of puking. I nearly got sick all over my homework.

"Mrs. T. is here," Tim said as he came to my side. "Want her to come in?"

"No. Tell her I'll be out in a second." I spat in the toilet.

He kissed my head and let me clean myself up.

Tami was on the couch when I came out of our bedroom with a small smile. "Sorry. This kid really hates evenings."

"Let me give you something to help."

Tim stood next to me in the kitchen while Tami explained what helped her when she was pregnant with Julie. She was stirring up a drink for me that she claimed would help settle my stomach.

I almost cried from her kindness and the possible relief. I did cry after she left, wailing over how beautiful she was inside and out. Tim hugged me sweetly and brought me to bed.

*****

"Can you grab me a glass of water?" I asked from the front porch.

The front door was wide open to let the mild air sweep into the house. Skeeter loved it because he could go in and out as he pleased. Tim had walked in to get himself a soda while I buried my nose in my book.

He came back out with my water and kissed my lips.

"If only that could replace water," I sighed, sipping from the glass. "I'd never be thirsty again."

Tim chuckled and sat on the porch next to me, leaning back against the house. "It just makes you thirsty for me."

"I hate to admit that you're right." I dogeared the page I was on. "I haven't felt sick today, so that's a good sign. I don't know if it's just a good day or because I'm gettin' closer to the end of the first trimester, but I'm feeling great."

"Good. When do you need to go back to the doctor?"

"I think after the three-month mark, but I need to check the calendar."

He nodded and gazed out to the horizon.

My bowels churned a little, so I carefully stood. Tim eyed me and I patted his head. "I'm okay. Just need to poop if you really want to know. Chill out."

"All right, all right. Call me if you need anything."

I smiled and went inside. 

My stomach cramped a little once I got into our bedroom. Rubbing my stomach, I scurried into the bathroom afraid I was going to have a mess on my hands. The pain only worsened once I sat down.

My body was lying to me as I sat there. I felt like I was dying, but nothing was happening. I was told that I could get some cramps here and there. The sudden sharp pain wasn't fun, but I breathed steadily. I wondered if a little tea would help get things moving.

Everything stopped when I saw blood.

With calm actions, I cleaned up, grabbed a liner for my underwear, and washed my hands. I went to Tim as quick as I could without the stabbing pain getting worse.

"We need to go to the hospital. Now."

"What happened?" Tim put his soda down and stood. "Are you okay?"

Tears welled up in my eyes. "I don't know. I feel like there's a knife in my stomach a-and there was blood. I-I don't know w-w-what this means." I ended with a sob, the worst came to mind.

Tim ran inside to grab his keys and called Skeeter in. Once the door was locked, he wrapped an arm around my waist and led me to his truck. He helped me climb in, wiping away my tears after kissing my lips.

I felt panic settle in my heart.

*****

I hated the blue hospital gown I was forced to wear. I hated the thickness in the air around us. I hated that everything suddenly felt wrong. I hated that we still had no word from the doctor.

Tim's hand tightened around mine when he saw the doctor coming down the hall. I couldn't look up from my lap.

My hands covered my face when I heard the two words I was dreading the moment Tim pulled into the parking lot: "I'm sorry."

All the air in my lungs disappeared as I tried to grasp what the doctor was saying. Gone? Just like that? Nothing? Tim's arm around my shoulder couldn't ground me as my world spun. The blackest pit grew right where our baby should have been. All I felt was a void, nothingness. I didn't even realize I was having a panic attack right there in that hospital bed in front of the doctor. Everything was gone.

The drive home was lost on me. I heard my ragged breathing and the choked sounds coming from me, but not even Tim's grasp on my hand registered. Why did it have to be me?

Tim parked the truck and turned it off. It was the first moment I realized where I was. I didn't want to move.

"Do... Do you want to... to talk about it?"

I clenched my eyes shut when I heard the thickness in his voice, the struggle to keep himself steady. I shook my head and released a shaky sob. I sniffled.

"C-Can I take you inside?"

A slow nod.

Tim got out and went over to me. He put one arm under my knees; the other around my shoulders. He lifted me out of the seat and pulled me close to his chest. I cried against his neck.

Was there something wrong with me? Why couldn't I carry our baby? Would I lose another? Could I even have children? So many questions swirled in my head around the scariest one: did Tim still love me?

Tim placed me on my feet to unlock the front door. He led me inside, his hand warm in mine, and picked me up once more to carry me into our room.

"You should take a bath," he suggested. "It'll help you sleep."

I stared at the collar of his shirt sniffling.

"I can sit next to you or I can get in. Anything... Anything you need."

"I just want to sleep, Tim... Please." I sounded so broken.

He silently placed me on our bed, lying down behind me after I faced the wall.

I didn't want to see the disappointment on his face. How could I ever be a mother if I couldn't keep a baby safe in my body? Tim had to be thinking the same thing.

His arms circled my waist, making fresh tears spill from my eyes. I curled in on myself and clenched his arms in my grasp like I was falling. How could he ever look at me the same way?

Tim's face pressed into my shoulder and he held me tighter. I stilled at the sound of his sniffle.

He was trembling with every slow breath he took, trying to hide it as I wept. His arms never loosened. The shoulder of my shirt was no longer dry and it broke my heart all over again. 

It felt like hours before we had some control over our grief. Our breathing settled and the tears were temporarily stopped.

"What... What if I can't have a... a baby?" My voice was hardly a whisper.

"We'll figure it out..." Tim squeezed me again and kissed my shoulder. "W-We'll be okay."

"W-Will you s-s-still love me if-f I can't?"

"I'll never stop."

It was enough to send me over the edge again.

I turned in his arms and sobbed into his chest. It rose and fell shakily as he fought against the emotion building in him again. I latched onto him as if he was my last lifeline. He was my light on the shore as I fought through the waters in my sea of despair.

I didn't recall falling asleep that night. The only thing I knew when I woke up the next morning to a quietly mourning Tim was we were childless, Tim still loved me, and he was hurting just as bad.

[moonlit-mizukage]

Chapter Nineteen: Pre lit 

Summary: Y/l/n Y/n, a third year at Sakura High School, is just a girl with a bad attitude towards anyone outside her small circle. When y/n’s younger sister starts first year, she gains a lot of attention. Unfortunately for everyone in school, the Y/l/n household has one rule, No dating till y/n does. Some people become just desperate enough to pay the leader of the “Monsters”, the trouble making group on campus, to date y/n. What will happen when she finds out? (All characters aged up to third year unless otherwise stated)

Tw: swearing, mentions of sex, mentions of alcohol, underage drinking, mentions of neglect

Word count: 1.2 K 

________________________________________________________________

Time Skip to Friday, Lunch time before the dance, Y/n POV 

“Don’t forget your writing assignment is due Monday and it will be presented to the class.” Mr Yagami said as the class left for lunch. I turned to Tendou as we walked out together.

“So did you finally tell them you and I are going together tonight babe?” He asked me.

“I will right now Satori. They both have been a little more on edge since shit with Mei last weekend honestly. I didn’t want to salt Tsuki’s wound. Shirabu also already knows anyway and he supports it.” 

“Oh there is Tsukishima.” He said as he dipped down a side hall heading outside. “See you at 9 babe.” 

At my locker my friends were already waiting for me to head to lunch. We headed to the court yard and sat at our usual table as I looked at Shirabu. 

“I think it’s time to include you guys in the loop before tonight happens.” I said. 

“What loop?” Tsukishima said with a hint of annoyance. 

“Tendou is taking me to the dance because I like him and you cannot change my mind. So either you support me or I can just leave the table and go hang out with him.” I said as fast as I could. Tsukishima let out a loud sigh. 

“Oh I am happy for you  y/n! I don’t mean to rush off but I have to go grab something from my teacher. I am happy for you!” Yamaguchi said as he stood up. 

“I can tell you are genuine Yams, don’t worry. I will see you later in class!” I looked over to Tsukishima. 

“I guess it’s fine. I don’t want to lose our friendship for some shitty guy. If he hurts you I will say I told you so.” 

“I will take it.” I said happy as my friends had accepted Tendou as my date.

Mei POV

I texted my sisters group and no one responded. I even tried to message my best friend who ignored me too. I checked my messages with Oikawa to see if he had responded yet. Just a short while ago I overheard Oikawa say I was nothing but an expensive fuck. I could feel my heart shatter when I heard him say that. I ran and immediately texted him I was unable to go to the dance tonight cause my father said I am too young. I now sat under a tree as I let my tears free fall from my eyes.  

“Mei… is that you?” I turned my head to see Yamaguchi. 

“Hi…” I said just above a whisper. 

“What happened? Why are you here all alone crying outside?” 

“I just.. I am sorry Yamaguchi. Y/n was right, I suck.” He then sat down beside me as he placed a pile of papers beside him . 

“Hey… I know I said some very harsh things to you a few days ago and I definitely could have worded them better but that doesn’t mean you suck, okay?” 

“I do. Y/n finally opened up to me and I blew her off and called Oikawa behind her back.” I saw Yamaguchi shift uncomfortably beside me. “I knew it was wrong but I thought he really liked me, till a little while ago… I heard him tell Iwaizumi I was just an expensive fuck who was showing to be not worth it anymore.” 

“Mei… I am so sorry.” 

“Please Yams, don’t be. If only I listened to Y/n. She tried to warn me so many times and I just wanted to be popular. I just, really wanted to be someone’s someone. I don’t know how y/n does it. Dad didn't care about us after mom left and I took such a great advantage of her to the point I don’t think she will forgive me. I even used the money she was saving for mine and her dresses and now it was just a waste. I really messed up Yams.” I said as I buried my face in my hands. He placed his hand on my back. 

“Hey, y/n has the biggest soft spot for you, I have seen it first hand okay? She will forgive you. And about the dresses, Mei will you go to the dance with me?” I looked into Yamaguchi’s eyes. 

“Are you serious…?” I asked him. 

“Yes Mei. Come with me and we will talk to Shirabu, Tsukishima and y/n together before we go, Okay?” I nodded my head in agreement as he gave me a hug then helped me up.

 Time Skip after school-Y/n POV

“If I had to give Tsuki a title its teen angst cause LOOK AT HIMMMM!” I shouted as I laughed at him. 

“I mean, can he deny it? No.”Shirabu replied. Even Tsukishima was laughing at that moment. We were interpreted by Mei as she entered the room. She sat down and began to tell us about what had happened with Oikawa. 

“I told you he was a piece of shit Mei.” I interrupted. She made no attempt to dig back at me as she carried on her speech. She told us what her and Yamaguchi had spoken about at lunch according to them. 

“You are my younger sister and no matter what I love you, I don’t trust you though so that's something you will have to earn back.” She jumped from her seat as she engulfed me into a hug saying how much she loved me with her whole heart over and over again. 

“I love you too but I got to get ready. Satori will be here in 30 minutes with the limo. You guys sure you don’t want to carpool with us?” 

“All the monsters in a small space… I will take a hard pass y/n.” Yamaguchi said. 

“I will get ready with you if that’s okay though?” Mei said as I reached my hand out for her to take. 

After Mei and I got ready Tendou had just messaged he would be here soon. My father took many pictures of the five of us as we headed out the door. I jumped in Tsukiishima’s car till we got around the corner and I hopped out seeing Tendou leaned up against the limo. 

“Hey babe.” He said as he pulled me into a kiss. We got inside the limo as Terushima was the first to speak to me. 

“Milkshake girl! What’s up?” He was noticeably already intoxicated at this time. “You wanna beer? We are getting pre lit before this fancy shit fest!” 

“I am okay, maybe after the dance.” I said. 

The ride was quite enjoyable as I feel I saw a new side of the rowdy bunch I once hated. We arrived at the school in no time as Tendou helped me out of the limo. 

“Looks pretty fancy already.” Hanamaki said as he walked up to the door with the rest as they followed close behind him. 

“You ready for the dance, Satori?” I asked him. 

“As ready as I will ever be y/n.” He said taking my arm in his as we walked up the few steps to get to the door. 

_______________________________________________________________

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[jaxteller87]

showoff part 1

We were at another Samcrow throw down, it was the first one in about a month or so. Everyone had been busy but now we finally had time to relax a little. The boys were all hanging out outside while the girls were inside. This throw down was a little out of the ordinary, Clay had invited SONS members from all over the state down to party with us, I think they were celebrating something but I didn’t ask what.

“So has that one left you and Jax alone finally?” Donna asked nodding towards Ima who was standing in a corner. She had a drink in her hand and was occasionally eyeing me.

“Yes,” I said and couldn’t help but blush a little when I remembered that night.

“What? Spill it,” Donna said and nudged me with her elbow before taking a sip of her beer.

As I was telling Donna about how Ima caught Jax and me in the bathroom a few weeks ago, the boys came inside to get some drinks.

Jax came over and kissed me on the forehead. “If I were you, I’d be careful. I’m the VP’s old lady,” I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him closer.

“Oh, don’t worry. Me and the VP are tight, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind at all,” Jax smirked with a wink.

Donna and I went back to talking. We had been sitting there for a while when we heard raised voices form the other side of the room.

“Do you want to say that to my face, huh Skeet?” I heard Jax say. I turned around and saw him standing there with his arms crossed and his head held high. In front of him was a broad shouldered guy with neck tattoos and an almost grey beard.  

“Face it Teller,” Skeet looked like he could care less, “you’re only VP because of your old man and Clay, you don’t deserve that tag.”

“Oh no,” I whispered knowing what was coming. I saw Opie and Tig try to grab Jax but it was too late, he had already thrown the first punch and hit Skeet right in the chest.

Tig and Opie were smart enough to take a step back, and I understand because they were throwing punches left and right.

“Is anybody going to stop them?” one of the croweaters from out of town asked as we all watched.

“Nah, just let them go for a few minutes, then we’ll break it up if we have to,” Tig smiled as he looked back at us.

Jax punched Skeet right in his mouth making him bleed slightly. Skeet dried of the blood with his hand and smiled. “Come on Teller, that’s the best you’ve got, boy?”

“He’s just showing off,” Tig smiled and put his hand on my shoulder.

“I know,” I answered. I knew he was mostly showing off for me, but only the world knows why.

“Okay enough, break it up guys,” Bobby yelled as he walked in between the two men. Both Jax and Skeet smiled, agreeing that it was enough.

“Come on Teller,” I was quickly by Jax’ side and took his hand, “let’s get you cleaned up, shall we?” we went down the hall to his dorm room.

“Teller, what in the world was that?” I hissed playfully as he closed the door behind us.

“That prick has no idea what he’s talking about,” Jax growled following me into the bathroom.

“That bit at the end, you were showing off for me, weren’t you?” I smirked as Jax picked me up and sat me down on the counter with the sink so I could help him clean himself up. His lip was busted and blood was also dripping from his eyebrow.

“Maybe,” he smiled as he wedged himself between my legs.

“You’re a mess, Teller,” I laughed and took a clean washcloth. I soaked it with cold water and put it up to his eyebrow. “I’m all yours, baby, no need to show off,” I smiled.

“Yes I do, babe. I have to let them know that this is my district and that you’re mine. They can’t come in here and fuck with it,” he leaned forward and gently started to nip at my neck.

“Twice in one day?” I asked with a giggle as he was already removing his shirt. He just smiled at me and kept kissing my neck.

 The next morning I woke up to soft kisses all over my face.

“Morning Mrs. Teller,” Jax whispered.

“Morning Mr. Teller,” I giggled feeling his beard tickle my skin.

“Come here, baby,” he smiled and pulled me in to his strong arms.

 Jax’ point of view

I was in the office talking to my mom about something, when Juice called from the hospital. Amber had burned herself while cooking something on the stove. I went to the hospital immediately and ran to the front desk.

“Boss,” I heard Juice yell poking his head out of a room.

“What in the world did you do, babe?” I asked worried as I walked over to the bed where Amber was sitting.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Amber smiled looking at her hand which was all bandaged up.

“It’s a mild 2nd degree burn, it will take some time to heal but it will heal by itself.”

I looked at her for a while, to see if she really was okay and then I kissed her on the forehead. “I’m just glad you’re safe babe.”

“Me too. I was turning on the oven and wasn’t paying attention.”

Once Amber was able to leave, the nurse gave us some extra bandage and cream for her hand to take home.

 At night I was helping Amber change her bandages. “Oh sweetheart,” I said as I saw her burned hand.

“That one’s the worst,” she pointed to a small burn on her finger.

“You know, I’ve been thinking,” I said as I gently put cream on her hand, “I know we didn’t get married the traditional way, but how about we go on a honeymoon? Take a few days off, maybe even a week.”

“Go to New York, maybe even see Mary?” Amber smiled.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” I smiled.

“Oh, and have hotel sex of course,” Amber giggled and I nodded.

“That too, obviously.”