#someone got let loose on facebook oh look its me

[ezustvarju]

//translation//

Sam: I'd shit myself if he woke up.

Dean: Me too because he was cremated.

//translation//

Dean: What would you like to be said at your funeral?

Sam: Hey, he's moving!

[chaosandmarigolds]

(Did the poll say happiness and rainbows? Yeah but I’m having fun with my angst so here’s more! :) )

“No I want to see him.”

The officer looked at the man, who looked like he had just rolled out of bed, and she narrows her eyes, “As I had told you, sir, Mister Taylor asked for no visitors unless family. And are you related to Missus Taylor or Oliver?” The question was a mock because she knew the answer.

So, with a bite of a tongue Price relented, “Who’s your supervisor?”

“He’s out of office.”

“Fuckin- course he is. Where’s Riley?”

“Mister Riley is currently in questioning.”

Price frowned, “But you already questioned him.”

The officer shrugged, “Our lead detective thought it best to do a second round.”

“Then I want to speak to your lead detective.”

“You and everyone else, take a ticket.”

-

To say your hands were shaking would be an understatement, you had been sitting in Johnny’s car for a close to an hour and so far you probably lost half your body weight in tears. It seemed unreal, there was no way it was actually reality, after all you had been through. It was just….

You jolt when someone knocks on the glass window, only to see Eliza by the door and you let out breath, quickly getting out of the car and into her arms.

“T-they still have Simon in questioning and-and he’s not answering my calls-“

“I know, John’s taking care of it. Oh honey,” her voice was a bit rasped and she looks you over, “You look like a mess.”

Your chest heaves for air as you ramble to her, telling her about how they took you all to the station at four in the morning and how everything was working against your favor. You both sat on the curb outside, as Johnny’s car was an incubator, her arm loosely wrapped around your shoulders and hands holding the coffee she had gotten you.

“Johnny went-Johnny went to be with Ollie, they…they wouldn’t let me see him.”

Eliza scoffs at that, “Bastards. Keeping a child from his mother.”

—

In hindsight it wasn’t best idea.

However, it did do its job. What job was that? Who knew.

“Uh oh,” Ollie whispered from the other side of the conference table, looking to his biological father (who was currently doubled over while clutching his nose), “You made uncle soap maaad.”

“You fucking bitch!” Caleb practically screamed, “I’ll have your job!”

Johnny stood perfectly still for a moment, as if he wasn’t sure if he had just imagined he punched him or if it was reality and he then snapped into the situation, “Ah please, as i’ you go’ a job tha’s all high n mighty.”

It took about a minute before an officer came back in to check on everything, and thanks to a somewhat threatening stare Caleb had just said he got a bloody nose and everything was alright.

“Oliver, come on. We’re leaving.”

“But I don wanna go.”

With a tug and hoist Oliver was being carried on Caleb’s side, “Didn’t ask we have a flight to catch.”

-

“For the fucking millionth time she had Oliver when I met her.”

“According to these files Oliver was with his father.”

“Bullshit!!!” Simon snipped back, his anger growing with each second. Every file, data bank, Facebook post made it seem like Oliver lived with Caleb until he went ‘missing’ two weeks ago. “Look at the bank statements why would she pay insurance for a child she doesn’t even have?”

The detective sighed, “We did, Mister Riley, she’s not paying for any child’s health insurance.”

This was insane.

“Mister Riley, I am going to ask one final time: did you help Missus Taylor take her son?”

With a glare Simon leaned forward on the table, “Didn’t fucking take him, because he’s ’een here wit us for ‘is entire life.”

-

“Caleb?” You slowly move to stand up as you watch your ex husband carry your son out of the station, and within a millisecond your blood was cold, “Oliver?”

“Mommy!” The boy practically screeched at the sight of you, trying to pry himself away from the man’s grasp, “Mommy I don’t wanna go!”

Before you had the chance to get to the car Caleb was currently putting Oliver into, you were held back.

“Lassie, lassie easy-“

“Johnny let-let me go.”

Johnny, with close to zero effort, turns you to face him, “Leave it. It’s gonna be okay, go’ a plan yeah? Ollie’s gonna be in his bed tonight, promise.”

(Teehee, that’s all for now)

[squishmelo]

That time (yesterday) that I got shit on.

STORY TIME!

Once I got my license I decided that I had to increase my will to live, and part of doing that was going to visit the shelter (masked) and just pet some cats. Wild that you can just like literally, be a body in a room with an animal and you’re helping it. Amazing.

The last time I went I met this old guy named Juno who has a giant fat head and a loud purr and I loved him, and I’m like great, I’ll go back and meet Juno. Well, someone else was paying attention to him (YES!!! GET THAT HOME BAYBEEE) - so I pet another cat, and while I’m there there’s just the most horrendous racket of barks - much worse than normal. It’s. So. Loud.

I go up to the front and say “hey, so..I hear a lot of dogs. How can I help?” I have seen on facebook, and she also tells me - they’ve got not one, but TWO batches of dogs taken from a hoarding situation just two days ago, and there’s so many animals that some are 2 or 3 to a cage. (They’re all small to medium dogs capping at about 20lbs each, so they fit fine dw) - and they have no idea how to interact with humans. They don’t have toys or know what a leash is let alone how to walk on one, some are horrified of humans and some are just unsure, etc etc. So she says, volunteer wise, if I could just like spend some time and maybe take a dog outside, it would be super helpful. BUT be aware that they can’t walk on a leash so I might have to pick them up and carry them out - and they’re very stinky. Okay cool, fine, I can do this. I fill a pocket up with treats small enough for little dogs and a denta stick they can chew, and head out with the instructions to find any small dog that’s black or brown.

I find two of them, and one is absolutely terrified of me. Poor thing is fear barking, lunging, etc, absolutely protecting itself+its space. The other is excitedly dancing on the cage to see me so I say ok, cool, let’s take you out. At this point I realize that there’s no collars on them, so I have to create a slip lead - only the dog isn’t excited about me approaching its head with an odd object and unfamiliar hands - so there’s a whole jumble and I end up picking up the (smelly) pup to take outside, and swinging the cage door shut behind me.

This is where I fucked up.

The cage door did not properly latch.

So as I’m walking out, the fear puppy follows me. Out into a hallway that connects to the cleaning room, the laundry room, and the outside. Meaning it is a flurry of activity and full of people for once, bc of the hoarding situation. The dog…poor baby. Ends up next to a laundry basket, sees the people, corners, and begins to urinate and deficate right there. ToT

I feel so bad, I manage the loop situation with my dog, a girl offers to hold it, and once the animal is, I assumed, done using the restroom, I offer it a treat (obviously denied) - and hoist it up to go back into its kennel where it feels safe. I leave it with a treat or two, apologize, make sure that the cage is locked, and begin to return to my dog.

At which point I hear a voice say “Oh, that is unfortunate…” I look down and my shoe - brand new, worn because of that good good arch support - has been shat on. I’m talking at least half a cup plus of primo shit, loose enough that there is no picking it off, but thick enough that luckily, it doesn’t escape over the shoelace area. Cool. Someone tells me there’s paper towels (What are they going to help???) so I grab them and then notice the hose. Perfect, I’ll just spray these off outside at the mouth of the doorway, onto the gravel parking lot. I take off my shoe, set down the paper towel roll, and begin spraying. There is very quickly a puddle forming of shit, mud, dirt, and soapy water - as a man next to me uses it to wash his hands. As he’s washing them - the paper towel roll makes its move. It falls over and then begins to bounce, popping and rolling out across the shit mud, before I can catch it. I try hopping after it on one foot, since my left is only in a sock - but I can’t make it fast enough, and it’s wasting precious paper towels by the millisecond. So I give up and hustle out, stepping in le shit water in my sock, to grab it.  *Facepalm*. Finally, my shoe is clean, the paper towel roll has been saved, I put my sock back into my soaking wet shoe and feel an inch of water squelch up around my foot. Amazing.

I don’t know where to throw out the paper towels I used to try to soak up some of the water in the shoe, and I’m awkward ass fuck so I ask someone “Do you have a rubbish bin?”

Which, we’re in AMERICA, so they look at me like I’m a fucking dumbass, before finally finding one for me, so I can throw them out. There’s another embarrassing moment with the hose when I thought soap guy had turned it off, but of course he hadn’t, so as I’m rolling it back up, its still gushing water into the hallway and I have to apologize profusely as someone gets out the squeegee mop and tells me they’ll deal with it. ToT

Finally- FINALLY - I manage to get my dog back from very nice girl who watched this all unfold, and try to get the dog out of the hallway, except OF COURSE it doesn’t know how to walk on a leash, which I’ve forgotten about, so there’s a lot of bribery and cooing and getting my fingers nibbled. We finally make it out about 20ft into the yard and the dog is pawing and clamoring around me, putting poo mud pawprints all over my ass and thighs - amazing - and trying to mouth me. At one point it gets so excited as I try to pet it that it actually jumps up and grabs my mask, yanking it down with their momentum and off of my face. We spend some time together and I get absolutely slobbered on by this stinky pup who definitely has never had dental care in its life and also has some sort of upper respiritory infection and is leaking discharge from its left nostril.

Eventually She seems like she wants to go back  so I carry her ass in, get her back in her kennel/cage/home with one very empty scared friend, and start to head out. Only of course I have to walk very slowly because the floors are concrete and my left foot is sliding widely with every step and I can be a fall risk, to put it mildly.

I get up to the front and go to tell them about our snot nosed pal, and have to stand and wait, covered in dirty paw prints, water squelching in my shoe, for the person at the front desk to finish a call so I can explain that they need medical attention.

And then I get in my car with my shit shoes and dirt legs and snot hands, and drive home to throw everything in the washer and scrub myself in the shower. And thats the story of how I felt like a jackass at an animal shelter !

(A couple pics of Juno, another shelter cat named Cardamom, and our possible pooper pup)

[writingsbychlo]

let me down slow (prologue)

word count; 3432

summary; you’re in love with stiles stilinski who will never love you back, and mitch stilinski is freshly heartbrokenand home to try and redeicover himself. after being ditched by stiles, mitch offers you some company.

notes; let me just make it clear that there is no wolves in this, also, she’s 18 and Mitch is 20. OH, and a big thanks to @stylesharrys​ for proof reading this for me. I love her.

warnings; smut, unprotected sex, underage drinking, that’s pretty much it.

Your toes caught on the slightly uneven paving stone on the front garden of the Stilinski household, noting the absence of the cruiser on the driveway, the space beside it clear of the usual powder blue jeep that was never clean, but a black jeep that was clean sat in its place, a precocious vehicle that and you roll your eyes in a heatless judgement.

In some ways, Mitch Stilinski was the opposite of his younger brother.

He excelled at lacrosse, earning himself a scholarship to a college on the other side of the country, and handing down his famous ‘24’ number to his brother, who had finally tried out for the team at the beginning of junior year after his brother left. He was clean, and he worked out and ate healthy foods, and he had a car from this century that he actually respected. There was something under one of the seats of Stiles’ jeep that was unrecognisable at this point, and you didn’t particularly want to question it.

Despite this, there was a lot they both had in common. Their sarcasm, and loyalty, and passion for the things they loved. Not to mention, the spooky similarity between them both.

Though, Mitch possessed the ability for growing facial hair, which had started coming in his sophomore year, and now in his senior year, Stiles still had a baby face that was smooth and soft, and entirely hairless. It was adorable, really.

So, no, the absence of the blue jeep didn’t immediately clue you in to something being off, because you assumed he may have pulled into the driveway to make space for his brother’s car. Instead, you remained positive and sunny, a collection of DVD’s clutched in your arms and a change of clothes in your bag for the sleepover you were intending to have with your best friend, pizza money tucked into your bra for the food you would undoubtedly order and your heart skipping a couple of beats as you waited patiently for your spastic best friend to swing the door open following your series of knocks.

A few beats passed, before the lock was clicking and the door was shifting, and you dragged your eyes up along his chest. It was not the skinny and plaid covered frame you’d anticipated, but that of the messily cut tank top of a broader and more muscled older brother, a piece of candy hanging from his lips as he chewed it slowly, staring at you expectantly with a blank look.

“Mitch. I see you’re home, then.”

“Well, well, well. Aren’t you the observant one?” His words were sneering, and you scowled at him, used to his moody attitudes from over a decade of knowing the Stilinski boys, but not missing the colder than usual undertone to his words. The banter between the three of you had always been playful, somewhat teasing but his lips would always flicker up at the sides and you’d always been able to see the amusement sparkling in his eyes - much like his brother’s - but this version of Mitch just seemed empty and angry. “What do you want?”

“You’re being awfully rude to someone who knows your real name. I’ll post it under your next status update on Facebook. I wonder if the lacrosse team at Syracuse knows how to properly pronounce Polish names.”

Your threats about revealing his name always got a laugh out of him, or at least a fond roll of the eyes, but this time he just grunted at you and pulled a sour face, sighing like he had somewhere else to be, despite the fact that he was standing with bare feet and a pair of sweatpants on, and clearly had no other plans.

“Fine, be moody. Is Stiles here?”

“Do you see his jeep on the driveway?” Your jaw dropped at the tone of his voice, your shoulders slumping as you glanced back for a second, and when you turned back to him, you didn’t let your eyes meet his. Heat was crawling at your cheeks, and you took a few steps back from the doorway, swallowing down the beginnings of the lump forming in embarrassment from your faith and optimism, and Mitch let out a groan, lifting a hand to run through his hair as he swallowed the last of the candy stick he’d been nibbling on. “Wait, wait. I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have been so rude to you.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve seen you in a bad mood, Mitch, it’s alright.”

“I’m still sorry, kiddo.” Once again, you were scowling, the nickname he knew annoyed you so much peeking through, and at your distaste for it, he was grinning at you cheekily, and just like that the tension between you both had been brushed away, no matter how many months passed between seeing on another. “Stiles isn’t in, though. He went out, like, a couple of minutes before you got here, I’m surprised you didn’t catch him before he went.”

“Well, did he say how long he’d be?”

The elder actually cringed, leaning on the doorpost and looking out at the surrounding of the street for a second, before fixing his attention back on you. “He told me not to wait up, so I'm assuming he’s going to be a while.” His eyes then dropped down to the bundle in your arms, and a pitiful look took over his features. “You had plans, didn’t you?”

You simply hummed, feeling your body deflating sadly as your plans fell through, and while you were disappointed, you couldn't exactly say you were surprised. Lately, your plans had been coming second in his eyes a lot, and he let out a sad sound himself. Something between attempting to comfort you, and annoyance at his younger sibling, and your cheeks twitched to show a barely present smile, one shoulder rising and falling as you tried to brush it off. “I bet he said something about Lydia needing him, huh?”

“He did, actually..”

You nodded, more to yourself than to him, before doing your best to perk back up, adjusting the belongings in your arms and trying to mask your disappointment. “Right, well, that’s all good. I can just catch up on some reading, anyway, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, it’s a shitty thing for him to do.” His voice was a little sharper than usual, and you let out a laugh, nodding at his words as he stood up a little further and opened the door for you. “Why don’t you come in, anyway? You can hang out with me?” You paused, eyes narrowing at him for a second as you studied him, and he raised his brows at you in his own silent analysis of your reaction. “You’re in love with Stiles, it’s been written all over your cute little face since you were freshman, and my girlfriend broke up with me, and you’re not the worst of his friends. So, why don’t you bring your broken heart inside, and we’ll order some takeout, and wallow in self-pity and misery together?”

Once again, a blush was covering your face, splotchy patches of warmth that made you uncomfortable. You wanted to get in your sweats, and order food and laugh with your best friend, but now Mitch was holding open the door for you and looking at you with a little grin, and you accepted, taking a few steps forwards and over the threshold and into the house as your emotions bubbled up and over.

Dropping your bag beside the front door and kicking off your shoes, the man plucked the armful of belongings from you and moved away for only a second, placing them down on the table and coming back to stand before you. It was an uncomfortable tension, but it was unusual. You had hung out with Mitch on multiple occasions, but never just the two of you. You sniffed lightly, and he let a rumbling sound out from deep within his chest, before placing an arm around your shoulders stiffly and pulling you into a loose hug. “I’m sorry about my brother, he’s an ass.”

You nodded into his shoulder, before bringing your arms up around him and squeezing him tightly, your hands bunching up in the back of the thin cotton shirt he was wearing. Only a second later, he was wrapping his other arm around your waist, and pressing his nose into your hair, letting out a shaky breath over your skin, and suddenly you were clinging to one another, your sniffling breaths muffled against his body.

You were trembling, you could feel it within yourself, the rush of emotions all making you feel weak, and yet no tears came out, because you weren’t entirely sad. You felt comfort in the arms of your friend, you felt safe, and you felt understood. His own pain made you feel less pathetic, and the way he was holding onto you just as tightly gave you the understanding that you weren’t suffering alone, and so when you were finally ready to pull back, his cheeks were a little damp and you gave him your best smile, bumping your forehead against his chin before stepping back.

“You promised me food, then?”

“That I did. What do you feel like?” He beamed, dragging a hand down his face and walking towards the kitchen letting you follow of your own accord and hop up onto one of the stools at the counter to watch him as he sorted through takeout menus. Passing them over to you, you glanced down at the pile of laminated and colourful leaflets, and you looked back up at him, shrugging.

“Stiles normally just orders us pizza, I brought a twenty because he likes the stuffed crust ones and to put his own toppings on and it adds one hell of a cost.”

He chuckled, rubbing his hands together and leaning his hands on the counter. “Yeah, that does sound like him, but what do you have?” He fixed you with a look when you gaped a little bit, before sighing and spreading out the collection before you. “Next time Stiles goes to just order a pizza, tell him what you want. These places are good if you want Chinese, but the Blue Dragon is my favourite because they do some pretty awesome spring rolls and dumplings. There’s also a Korean place, or an Indian place if you want something spicy but I don’t know if they deliver, we may have to go get it. If you really want pizza, there’s a place in there that’s better than Dominos, they just aren’t as popular so Stiles doesn’t bother with them.”

Upon finishing his spiel, your eyes were wide, and you thumbed through the other booklets, noting the way some of them had meals and dishes circled or highlighted, and the shiny blue of a fold-out menu for the Blue Dragon caught your attention, and you shifted it to the top.

“Do you really want Chinese food, or are you picking this because I said it was my favourite?”

His voice was stern but playful, and you opened it up, waving him off idly as he laughed at you and he circled around to stand beside you, the warmth of his body flushing over your side as he waited patiently. “I do actually want Chinese food, by the way. But since this is your preference, I figured we could order from here. You can tell me what’s good, and you get the stuff you like. Win-win.”

“Alright, I’ll take that deal.”

The two of you debated for a couple of minutes over the choices, before he was pulling out his phone and sitting up on the counter beside you, legs swinging as he orders all the food you both wanted, indulging you each time you poked at his leg and added onto the order when you came across something you liked, and you were sure you’d spent considerably more than you had on an unnecessary amount of food, but if you didn’t have the funds, you could always pay Mitch back.

He was holding up a bottle of whisky, offering you a glass with a few chunks of ice in the bottom, and you accepted it happily, following him through to the living room and collapsing on the couch. It was a little awkward, to begin with, the two of you chatting between yourselves and sipping on the drinks you had, before eventually settling on a movie. When it began, however, you were a few drinks in and suddenly the conversation was flowing smoothly, the dialogue and plot of the film falling away as the two of you inched closer to one another from opposite ends of the couch, more and more enthusiastic about the topics you ricocheted between.

Food had arrived, and you’d eaten, between laughs and jokes and his eyes lingering on you each time you tried new portions of the meal so that he could watch for your reactions. You loved them all, his recommendations panning out, and soon, half of the bottle was gone, and you were laying out across the couch with your legs across his lap and you head in the cloud, warmth filling you from head to toe.

He had a hand on your knee, full-bellied laughs coming from his mouth as he stroked up and down your leg gently, the movie had faded away into the background. He had listened as you poured out your heart to him over his younger brother in your tipsy stupor, and he in return had shared with you the truths of his break up.

You told him about the way you hated that Stiles seemed to never have time for you anymore, and that he continued to chase Lydia years later than his original crush, hopelessly falling at her feet when she’d only just become aware of him and was using him for her own gains. He told you about Katrina, the blonde bombshell whom you remembered. She was a cheerleader at Beacon Hills high and Mitch’s high school sweetheart, and she went to a college in New York like him, but after the first year the spark began to fade, and the distance may as well have been ocean’s wide, because they had drifted. What hurt him the most was change, the nagging feeling that he could have done something different, that she could have been the one if he’d made more visits to her on the weekends and more trips to see her on the holidays.

The confessions had only ever been shared with one another, and suddenly the two of you had a bond that nobody else could touch, because your deepest fears and secrets had been exposed to one another in a night of greasy takeout and almost a full bottle of whiskey, but the absence you’d felt when your best friend wasn’t by your side was filled in an entirely new way by Mitch.

It was playful and refreshing and relaxing, it was everything you didn’t know you were missing. Until it wasn’t.

Somewhere between the end of the movie and the end of the bottle, the atmosphere between you both had changed. Somewhere between the time his thumb has stopped rubbing at the skin below your knee to move up to his fingers digging into your lower thigh, and when you sat up to talk to him and found yourself almost seated in his lap. After you told him to stop calling you kiddo, and he called you kitten instead, the energy between you both was different.

His eyes were darker and he was licking at his lips and then his mouth was slotted against yours, tongues tangling and hands roaming and the temperature in the room shot up to boiling. You were in his lap, grinding and letting his hands wander, and then he was thumbing at your tits and mouthing at your neck. Somewhere between him moaning kitten into your mouth and sucking on your lower lip to the way he was bucking his hips up into you and suddenly, it was more.

He was dragging your panties to the side and you were tugging down his seats just far enough, and then you were riding him on the couch. Sloppy and messy and a combination of the need for connection and the wish for affection, you were all but sobbing into his mouth as your eyes rolled back and his fingers dug into your bare flesh, and then it was over.

You were sweaty and hot, and you felt boneless as you let him lift you off of his body, pressing one more long kiss to your lips before he was tucking himself into his sweats and laying back on the couch and chuckling at you with a dark smirk when you wobbled on weak legs as you went to clean yourself up. It wasn’t awkward when you returned, it was calming and relaxed and you grabbed yourself a second plate of takeaway food and settled back down onto the couch with your feet in his lap once again, and a new movie on the screen.

The night passed with the rest of your movie collection, and eating a surprising amount of candy, and you inevitably changed into your comfy clothes when the hour passed midnight. You had teased him about his long hair while running your fingers through it, and he had made you flustered in return by speaking through his food and telling you how you weren’t complaining while tugging at it and bouncing on his cock.

It wasn’t until you heard the rumbling of the jeep that you felt that same dread and loneliness slip back into your body, the squeaking of tires on the stones and the slamming of the door one side, and you rolled yourself off of the couch with a groan, a scowl taking over in place of your smile as you scooped up everything you had and tried to shove it haphazardly into your bag, booking a cab in the process and leaving you phone on the side.

He began to grab at the rubbish littering the surfaces with you, the two of you stumbling and scooping up empty food boxes as you crammed them all into the kitchen bin, and did your best to clean up after yourselves, when the door finally opened, the sound of Stiles kicking off his shoes and hanging up his cute, humming happily to himself as he walked through the house.

“Oh my God, it smells like food in here. Did you get takeout? Did you save me any an-” He paused as he saw you, your eyes avoiding his as you grabbed your phone, smiling at the boy you had spent your evening with as he slid it towards you. The easy and lightweight vibe you’d found so easily with Mitch was now thick and tense, and you wanted to leave as soon as possible. “Hey! What are you doing here so late?”

You purse your lips, a tight smile on your face as you pushed past him without a word, and Mitch simply fixed him with a disbelieving look, the hyperactive of the pair of brothers was watching you go curiously, and both followed you to the front door as you pulled on your shoes.

“Are you mad at me, or something?”

“Yes, Stiles, I’m mad at you.” You bit your tongue from saying any more, wanting to let him wallow in it a little longer, and his jaw dropped and brows furrowed as he watched you go. Leaning up to press a kiss to one stubbled cheek, you patted his shoulder as you opened the door and stepped out, pulling out your phone to check on the taxi, only to see it pulling up to the curb, and you flashed him a toothy grin. “Thanks for being such great company while your brother was a jerk.”

He leaned against the door, muffling the sound of protest from Stiles behind, his body filling the doorway as he winked at you cheekily. “No problem, kitten.”

With that, their front door slammed shut, and you were stepping into your cab, tired and buzzed and ready to get into your own bed, and try to forget that the boy you loved had once again forgotten about you to chase after a girl who would never see him as anything more than friends.

[codename-adler]

Kevin Day and his Oblivious Literature Lover, pt.IV

In times of college finals, aftg is my coping mechanism of predilection. hope it helps some :)

>> Table of Contents,TW and other parts here!

i’ll let you guess what Kevin and Juliet chose for their project

oh, yes

the letters of Hamilton, Eliza and John + Hamilton: The Musical

i will fight you on this

at first, when Juliet suggests it, Kevin stares at her so hard bc really?? a musical??

but then she lends him the 50$ leatherbound official book of the musical (you know the navy blue and beige one? you know what i’m talking about, right?) and reads it all in one evening and wow

lin-manuel miranda? genius. ron chernow? Genius. alexander hamilton? Dumb Genius.

oh yeah and Juliet? Absolutely mind-blowing genius.

as Andrew & Neil grow closer and the match agaisnt the Ravens rounds the corner, Kevin finds himself looking more and more forward to the time spent at the library with Juliet

she is just so focused on their project and so oblivious as who he really is and doesn’t really care if sometimes he is more anxious, if freaks over everything to be perfect, if he babbles on&on&on&on about any bit of history he discovered

she’s just there, smirking, stiffling her laughs and asking for more

they’ve exhanged phone numbers and she installed snapchat on his, and although he never sends her anything, she always has a short video and a funny caption that pop up from time to time; they’re that little reminder that the world goes on outside of exy and that he exists outside of exy

she introduces him to funny videos and he didn’t know absolute dumb shit could make him snort??

his favorite is the peanut butter baby

at first the Foxes give him this judgemental look when he ugly-snorts in the locker room or at Eden’s, but eventually they just get that glint in their eyes as if they were in on the jokes

sometimes, Juliet’s so focused on writing down bullet points in her notebook, peeling the skin off her lips, so unaware of Kevin’s personal hell of a life, that he just wants to spill out everything

although he’s not sure if it’s because he wants her to know him and stay, or because he wants her to reject him and therefore spare himself the trouble of getting attached...

she takes the decision for him

on a Thursday afternoon, on their planned study session, she doesn’t show up

she doesn’t answer her phone either

he even tries out a completely blacked out snap with “r u alive?” in caption

no answer

he gives her space, sending her occasional cat videos he thoroughly researches

if she watches them, she doesn’t say anything

on Monday afternoon, she doesn’t come to class

that’s when the panic Kevin’s been reigning in just... bursts

what if it’s Riko? 

what if it’s the Master?

what if it’s Ichirou?

what if, somehow, it’s the Butcher’s people?

that afternoon’s practice is hell for the Foxes, Kevin is ruthless and an asshole and very agressive

Dan waits for him outside the boys’ locker room as all the other Foxes leave (not even Andrew and Neil want to wait for him)

“Spit out your goddamn problem before I tell Coach to bench you next game”

oh, how Kevin wants to cuss her out

and then he looks  at her face, ready to vomit words, when he sees her worrying her lips

just like Juliet

it shouldn’t be enough to make him tear up, but it does

he still manages to keep as much of the truth to himself as he possibly can

“My EAL partner isn’t responding to my messages or my calls and she didn’t even come to class today and it stresses me the fuck out and what if it’s like with Neil, Dan?” he says in one breath, trying to tear out the net of his racket

Dan recomposes her face and gets that very serious look, the one she usually gets when someone touches her family

“It’s not, Kevin. That’s over. We got Neil back, we got you back, you got Jean back. The team didn’t even know who that person was. The most info we’ve gathered is what you just told me now. Yeah there are some bets but it’s mostly for funsies, nothing even remotely serious. You wanna look for her?” she soothes him.

“I don’t even know...”

“She lives on campus?” she asks.

“I don’t- I don’t know, Dan. I spent months with her and I can’t even vaguely say where she lives! How fucked up is that?” Kevin yells.

“It’s not even remotely fucked up, Kevin. You should know that. Does she have instagram? twitter? Or like, facebook?” she questions some more.

“God, I don’t know. She only sends me stupid fucking videos and I never even respond like the goddamn asshole I am...”

“Shut up. We’re all assholes at the end of the road, ‘kay? You ain’t better or worse than others. Now she sends them to you in text or somewhere else?”

“Sometimes texts... Sometimes the yellow app, the chat one. Why.”

“Oh great, that’s great. We can locate her, with snapchat, if she forgot to turn off the sharing. And if you’re comfortable with that, too. I know you’re not a creep like that. You’re creepy sometimes, don’t get me wrong. But, not a creep.”

“Gee, thanks, Dan.”

“Hey, shush. You down or what?” she says, arching an eyebrow.

“Okay,” he answers, unable to make the fear go away without knowing for sure.

And so it turns out Juliet’s location is, in fact, knowable. Dan grabs one of Kevin’s shoulders as he leaves the court, squeezing her affection into her grip; he nods emotionally in her direction, as far as emotions can translate unto his face.

he doesn’t even know what he’ll do once he finds her, his brain is solely focused on the animated map that brings him closer and closer to Juliet

the more he progresses, the more he realizes he is far from Fox Tower, on a campus area he has never even seen

he stops before a decrepit building, old and moldy-looking

Jackie Kennedy Hall

student dorms? this shabby? she can’t possibly live-

except that she can, because there isn’t another building close and the map has brought him here, and he doesn’t really know her...

so Kevin straightens his shoulders, inhales deeply, and goes inside

he could go on and on and on about everything that is just wrong with the place, from the smell to the decoration, but he makes a beeline for the front desk (he’s lucky there’s even one)

he asks for a way to contact someone, flashes his press smile at the women behind the desk, gives up his ID in exchange for the room number

Juliet Grier, 418

stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs

heavy door, right, 412, 414, 416...

418

what, now?

Kevin hesitantly knocks once, twice

no answer

he knocks again and decides to speak up, in case she didn’t hear

“Juliet? It’s Kevin. Day. From EAL? Can I speak with you?”

still nothing

maybe she isn’t home... no, the map says she’s here. maybe she’s sleeping...

he decides to try one last time

“We really should finish that project, you know? I think we could both use the free time...” he says without his heart into it.

without surprise, no response still

he decides to take a loose paper from his sachel and writes down some words

Greetings Hi,

My friend Dan helped me look for you, but you don’t have to worry about your privacy; it’s because of the yellow app. You should turn that off if you don’t want other people to be nosy. 

You weren’t in class today. I’ll share my notes if you want them. But, you should come to class, it’s better. For learning. 

I’ll wait a few in case you’re asleep. 

Text me or call me or whatever when you’re ready.

- Kevin D. (your partner from EAL)

quick, efficient, to the point

Kevin slips the paper under the door, and waits

he refreshes the map too many times, to see if her location changed or if somehow there was a glitch

it stays put

he ends up sitting on the hallway floor, his back sliding down the wall

he catches up on a book for another class, checks exy stats and watches many, many videos of Jeremy Knox on the court and in interview

some students pass him with a nasty look, eyeing the lack of earphones on his phone

some other students walk by him and will themselves to keep going, because holy shit it’s Kevin Day in Jackie Hall

it’s at least an hour and a half before the doorknob slowly and quietly starts to click

Kevin was absorbed deep into whatever move Knox was making before scoring

the 418 door opens

Kevin gets up in one move, all things Jeremy Knox and exy forgotten

she’s loosely holding Kevin’s paper in one hand, the other clutching a large scarf that covers up the majority of her body

from what he can see, though, she’s wearing sweats from head to toe; her hair’s tied on the top of her head, but most of the curls escaped and it looks unwashed and her curls, dry

her skin’s turned pale, dark circles under her eyes, a haggard look in them, her cheeks stained with dry tears

Juliet looks terrible

“Hi...” Kevin attempts

she finally looks up from the paper and gives him a bored look that could rival Andrew’s

with a rough voice strained from cries and many days without speaking, she asks, “My EAL partner?”

“Well, yes. In case.”

“In case of what.”

“I-”

“I know who you are, Kevin.”

and isn’t that both his most ardent wish and his worse fear?

with that, she turns around and goes back to her dark room, leaving the door open behind her

is that... an invitation?

Kevin’s never been to another person’s place, apart from the Columbia house, Abby’s and Wymack’s

he reminds himself why he came in the first place and decides it would be a waste to leave now, right?

the small studio is a mess, much like its occupant

there are clothes everywhere, on the floor, on a chair, on the bed, on the desk

all the curtains are drawn, no light is on, the only source coming from Juliet’s laptop somewhere amongst her bedsheets

it’s like she made herself a nest and hasn’t moved from there for a long time

maybe even since last Monday, the last time he saw her

Kevin doesn’t understand the scene he has before his eyes

he’s never seen such apathy in someone that is not Andrew

and at this point, apathy is pretty much Andrew’s default state of being

not Juliet’s

Juliet is a soft glow, toothy grins, wild curls, countless jumpers, dumb jokes and references, color-coded notes, an organized mind, unwavering focus and determination, flowing words and warm, kind eyes...

so what is this?

then Kevin realizes he spoke aloud

and Juliet can only chuckle sadly, almost mockingly

“This? This is why I don’t have friends. This is why I don’t mix with people. This is why I’ll never amount to anything in life. This is my dirty laundry, both metaphorically and literally. This is it. That’s... That’s it. This is what I get,” she answers flatly

Kevin’s mind is spinning

he doesn’t understand

he needs to understand, though

“Explain it to me,” he says

Juliet looks at him like a brick just hit him on the head and made him speak Swedish

“Why.”

“Because, surely there’s a way to work with it.”

she laughs

it doesn’t reach her eyes, nor her lips or her cheeks

it’s just a desperate sound

it makes him think of Andrew again

and that gives him an idea, a gut feeling, if you will

“Can I try something out?” he asks

“Kevin... I can’t- I’m tired... It’s not a good idea... I’m tired, Kevin,” Juliet responds, pain noticeable in her voice and her movements slow

“I know, I- I know. Someone I know... He plays this game. It’s really not a game, it’s more like a communication thing. He calls it “A Truth for a Truth”.  In exchange for something I tell you, you tell me something. And in exchange for something you tell me, I’ll tell you something else. It’s made me... work through some things... before,” Kevin explains calmly

Juliet keeps on observing him from her bed, silent

“Look, can I just stay here to do homework? I have nowhere to go right now,” Kevin asks, almost blurting out “Please” before Andrew’s ghost caught it in his throat

she lies back down, burries herself in her covers, a silent “yes”

Kevin ends up falling asleep sitting on the floor, books open, head resting at the end of Juliet’s bed

he wakes up around 2 AM

he’s got multiple texts from Aaron and Nicky, one from Andrew, and one from Dan

“told everybody you spent the night at Coach’s. take care.”

he silently vows to thank her later

now he either really goes to Wymack’s to finish his night there, or... he stays exactly where he is

Juliet is still sleeping soundly

in a haze, he palms for a pillow or cushion, pulls his hoodie on and lies back down on the carpeted floor

he’s only awaken in the late morning when he brutally gets stepped on

“What the shit?? Kevin! How...???” Juliet yells

“Um, ow? No, no, don’t apologize so quickly. You just, you know, crushed my lungs and a couple of ribs, no worries, Jules!” Kevin groans

“Ju- you know what? I’m not sorry. Right now I gotta pee, so you better have a damn good explanation when I get back,” she replies and leaves her room to go to the bathroom at the end of the hall

instead of dread, Kevin feels calm about the upcoming conversation

he doesn’t prepare lies, doesn’t run away, doesn’t resort to assholery

he just stays put where he is on the floor, snuggles deeper into his hoodie, and waits for relief, for the truth

he waits for Juliet

[robron1609]

Robron Week 2021 - Day 1

Meet-Ugly + "That's not an explanation."

New Beginnings

(ao3 link)

Aaron’s eyelids fluttered like a candle in the wind, the hustle and bustle of the city pecking away at his head with a sledgehammer. The bitter taste of ale, the fruity taste of wine and all the combined spices of every spirit known to man were stagnant on his tongue as he peeled his damp limbs off the leather sofa beneath him.

He let out a dry cough and it felt like someone had shot him in the brain during his sleep. But other than that, he was as right as rain.

It took him longer than he would care to admit to remember that he did, in fact, not own a single item of furniture that had even an inch of leather on it, and he lived in the in the middle of bloody nowhere where the only thing (apart from his mother) that made him shake a leg in the morning was the bellows of Moira’s cows when their troughs were being topped up.

So, there’s that.

His brain caught up and he bolted upright, his whole face moulding into a sculpture of what, where, when, how and why. He took in his brand-spanking-new surroundings; a lavish penthouse overlooking London’s skyline, decked out from head to toe in a fusion of ultra modern and industrial pieces. Not really his style, to put it nicely. It looked like something straight off the front page of one of those overpriced interior design magazines on the top shelf of David’s shop that no one ever bought.

Aaron could only hope that whoever lived here was some bloke he’d pulled in the haze of last night, if it wasn’t then… what the actual fuck was he doing here?

When the room had stopped spinning on all its axis and Aaron was eighty-nine percent sure that he would be able to hold his vomit in if necessary, he braved the hallways in search of other life. He detoured to stand in front of a back-lit mirror that had beckoned him over, and he was introduced to his reflection. It gawked right back at him, dressed in nothing but a pair of neon yellow boxers and a Scottish flag that he was wearing as a cape. The flag was fastened loosely around his neck with a frayed shoelace and there was a big tear down the centre of it.

Jesus fucking shit. Absurd didn’t even begin to cover it.

Sweat dripped down his top lip when he heard a deep voice through the wall. He teetered around the corner until he was close enough to pick up most of the words.

“I won’t be in today.” There was a pause. “Does it fucking matter?” Nice manners, then. “Look, unless you want me hurling all over the new contact, I suggest you grow a pair and attend the meeting without me.”

Aaron gripped the glossed door frame, his clammy hands squeaking on the wood as he snuck a look at who the voice was coming from. The man was stunning. He was all sun-kissed skin, choppy blond hair, and a gorgeous mouth that dipped dramatically in the corner.

“Shit!” With a jolt, the blond dropped his phone and it landed on his face with a mocking smack.

“Sorry-”

“Why are you in my house?!”

“I’m Aaron.” No shit, Aaron.

“That’s not an explanation!”

“Sorry.”

Aaron cringed. All of a sudden he was big on apologies, apparently. Blondie was now sitting up, scratching the fluff on the nape of his neck as he shuffled out of bed and adjusted his duvet accordingly whenever it slipped below his waistline. He just glared at Aaron, waiting to hear something that made sense.

“I was kinda hoping you could tell me,” Aaron said, using all of his self-control to stop his eyes from drifting downwards. “My head’s mashed. I remember being on the train with Adam and Vic, and then-”

“Vic as in my sister Vic?”

Aaron just stood there, catching flies. “I- I dunno, I think so. Sugden?”

“Uh-huh.”

Ohhhh, Robert Sugden. Aaron finally put a name to the face and felt like giving himself a pat on the back.

…..

“Here you go. Extra strong.”

"Ta."

Aaron warmly accepted the cup of coffee, the steam flying off it and dissolving in his pores. He used the piping hot liquid to swamp down some paracetamol before tightening the strap on the dressing gown that Robert had lent him a little earlier with a side-eye and a grumbled, “Make sure you give it back.”

With the current cycle rumbling the machine into the ground, Aaron glanced at the digital timer displayed on the appliance. Just forty-eight minutes until he could grab his screwed up clothes, slap them on, and leg it to the underground with his tail between his legs. The longest forty-eight minutes of his life, no doubt.

Hoping to make a crack in the ice, Robert led Aaron to the scene of last night’s crime. Through the sliding doors, across the patio and up the spiral stairs, secluded in the corner and illuminated by the steady flicker of the firepit. Robert was surprised that it hadn’t burnt out in the early morning under the April showers.

The rooftop terrace was what sold this place for Robert. It was his haven, complete with everything that made his superficial heart weep. This morning, however, it looked how he felt.

He absorbed the aftershocks of his party (shards of glass littering the outdoor table, remains of finger foods welded to the deck, and a pair of nude stilettos abandoned on the bar) and sagged. Turning thirty was dismal enough without having to clean up after his colleagues. Or, as he liked to call them, a bunch of wound up, hoity-toity pen pushers who didn’t even know his middle name—just a sniff of free booze and they were squeezing into a Ralph Laurent polo that still had the label on, and patting him on back with a bout of boisterous laughter as if they were best mates.

Wow, he was in dire need of some proper friends.

Aaron propped himself up on the bar. “Bet you don’t get tired of this,” he said, looking out at the sparkling city.

“It’s a great hangover cure,” Robert said, nursing his Americano and watching the ripples dance over the surface as he lightly blew it. “It can be lonely, though,” he admitted, unsure as to why. This handsome and hungover stranger was just waiting for his ticket out of here, he didn’t want or need to become Robert’s agony uncle to fill the time, that was for sure.

“Why’s that?”

Oh. Perhaps Aaron, for one reason or another, cared. Or he’s got nowhere else he needs to be and Robert’s left him with no choice but to sit and listen because it's the polite thing to do. Aaron looked at Robert all doe-eyed and Robert wanted to stay here until he’d told Aaron every single intricate detail of his life up until this point. But that seemed a little crass.

“Don’t know, really. I just… don’t like to be alone with my thoughts, I suppose. And being up here, well, it’s a whole lot of that.”

“I know what you mean,” Aaron said. “How long have you lived here?”

"Nearly two years on the whole." Robert calculated, Aaron giving him an amicable nod in response. Robert licked the coffee froth off his lips, clearing his throat. "I've lived in London a while, though. Since I left the village, pretty much."

"And you never thought about going back?"

"I couldn't." That would mean looking back. And after the trail of destruction he'd left in his wake, that was never going to happen. They were better off without him. Or at least his Dad and Andy were. Vic and Dianne never stopped reaching out, however, offering their support through texts and unanswered voicemails.

Aaron changed the topic, sensing that Robert's internal trip down memory lane wasn't a smooth ride. "You heard anything from Vic and Adam?"

"They were both flat out in the spare room last time I checked," Robert answered. He'd been less than pleased to find them entwined together on top of the duvet, dead to the world as Adam slobbered away on the satin pillowcase like an excited dog, and Vic let out a mishmash of unconscious sounds from sniffles to whistles, her makeup crusty and her outfit dishevelled by a night's sleep in it.

"Vic had a whole itinerary planned. Some museum, Leicester Square, and then this ridiculous hipster coffee shop near the station," Aaron said with a dreary eye roll. "Even though our train leaves just after two."

"She's just excited. She doesn't come here often."

"'Suppose not."

"Anyway, I recommended that coffee shop so you better not miss it," Robert said. Aaron snorted because of course he did. "Come on."

Robert rose, perking up a bit as he stretched his arms until they clicked with satisfaction. Aaron followed in his footsteps, literally, but they stopped in their tracks, coming face to face with a rumbled Victoria.

She looked dead and alive all at the same time as she swung her phone about. "There they are, the newly engaged couple."

Robert choked on air and Aaron gave him a splash of side-eye before snatching Vic’s phone. "What are you on about?" And Aaron had to check that the digital date displayed in the top left corner of the screen wasn't April the 1st. Nope, it was indeed the 23rd. And under that was a Facebook post on his profile; a blurry, backlit photo of him and Robert flashing the camera with two rings that didn’t even match, accompanied by a slurred caption.

yayy ENGAAAAAGED! whoop whoop!! hears to many many many many many year <3

Aaron groaned, throwing his head back in sheer embarrassment when Vic grabbed a hold of his and Robert’s left hands. Sure enough, the rings were still there. “Oh my God,” she cackled, her voice like a siren in the middle of the night. “This is brilliant. A few more of those cocktails and you’d be halfway to vegas, ey?”

Robert massaged his temples, kneading roughly at his dry skin. “Whatever’s in them is lethal,” he grumbled, peering over Aaron’s shoulder as he watched him scroll through the comments and squeeze his eyes shut in disbelief at each one.

“It’s your bar, mate. You should know what it’s serving,” Aaron said. He had a point. “Let’s just pray we left it at cheap rings.”

(Aaron couldn’t even begin to fathom at what point during the party he and Robert had fled the penthouse and ended up at a jewellers of all places. Who’d thought a proposal was the perfect end to a not-so-perfect night? Who’d taken that photo? And who in their right mind was selling giant fabric flags in the early hours of the morning? It would be a miracle if he becomes sober enough to answer at least one of those questions.)

Robert pouted. “That’s a shame. I’ll cancel the tickets to Vegas, then,” he teased.

“I dunno, I could do with a holiday just to get over the shame.” Robert grinned at the younger man’s flirty tone.

“Cheers,” Robert scoffed. Aaron handed the phone back to Vic who watched the pair with a knowing glint in her eye, her head bouncing back and forth between them.

“Only joking,” Aaron said. “Could be worse.”

Vic pocketed her mobile with a yawn and tightened her ponytail. “Right, I’m gonna drag my lump of a boyfriend out of bed and start gathering our stuff. I’ll leave you two to plan the wedding of the century, shall I?”

Vic left the rooftop, her flats scuffing all the way down the metal staircase. Robert gulped down the remains of his coffee and turned to Aaron with a smirk.

“So, fiancé,”–Aaron shot Robert a fiery glare which, if Robert didn’t know any better, would leave a bruise on his ego–“I know a great place where we can get some brunch. Why don’t we ditch Vic and Adam and I’ll drop you off at King’s Cross after.”

Aaron pulled a face. “ Brunch? I’m not paying £8.99 for a plain scone.”

“My treat.” Robert offered, hoping that would seal the deal.

“Like a date?”

“If you want it to be.” Aaron paused for a beat, not that there was ever much to contemplate.

“Fine.” Robert didn’t miss the bashful smile taking over Aaron’s face. Robert bit the inside of his cheek when Aaron began to descend the stairs. He crammed his hands in his pockets, his heart going into overdrive as he kicked his feet into gear.

[lifebeginsbyleaving]

Everything but the kitchen table

The Hale house holds so much pain from the past for Derek, but it also holds so much potential for the future. Is he willing to let go of the charred remains in order to open the door and see it rebuilt? And what if all that pain and guilt is the only thing keeping him from the one thing he always gets lead back to. Is he really ashes in the ground or will Stiles be able to show him that he's a phoenix only in need of a spark?

This is part two to Totem poleing through the woods 101. This is also for sterek week 2019 the prompt movie night, but it kinda got away from me.

Derek heard something faintly coming down the driveway, so he turned his blaring music down. He was surprised to hear the old jeep rattling quite close to the house. Stiles was on bed rest for at least another week. The pack had been taking turns keeping him occupied during the days, and everyone found out quickly, operation 'keep Stiles off his sprained ankle' was no fun. Issac still will not speak of the day he ran out of adderall because he forgot to call the pharmacy. It was only two before the sheriff could run them his back up he kept at his office, but Isaac still gets a look of horror if you say 'I'm bored'.

It wasn't Derek's turn for a couple more days and Stiles wasn't supposed to be driving.

Derek quickly took off his dust mask, goggles, and dropped his sledgehammer while he heard squeaky breaks and gravel flying.

Derek took the steps two at a time, but by the time he opened the door Stiles was already out of his jeep and leaning against it.

"Oh haei erig. Ow es et oing?"

"What are you doing here? What have I said? Wait for help stupid!"

Stiles glared, and considering he was carrying a giant bag, filled with curly fries and burgers by stuffing it in his mouth, it lost some of its intended harshness. "Ood. I ough fouud."

Derek took the slightly slobbery bag of food out of Stiles' mouth.

"Ahh thanks man." Stiles, with one hand, kept stuffing things into a duffel bag that some how exploded mid drive, the other he used to keep his nonexistent balance.

"I'm not sure if whatever you just tried to pass off as words were words, but if they were, was it the answer to my question?"

Stiles stilled his shoving. "Derek it is too early in the morning for you to be confusing me like that. That was too many Ws for eight in the morning on a Saturday."

Derek rubbed his face in annoyance. "Stiles. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" He gestured wildly except for 'you' he pointed at Stiles and for 'here' he pointed at the ground.

"And like I said before, Rude! I brought food." Stiles resumed his one handed shoving.

"Okay so you came over here to bring food, for yourself, to eat in front of me?"

Stiles looked offended. "I, unlike you! Have manners. I brought your favorite."

Derek rolled his eyes. "That is from a burger place on the edge of town. We've never been there together, and the teens that work there get cranky when you order more than seven burgers, so we don't do it for pack night. You don't know my favorite."

"Double cheese burger, no pickles, no mustard, extra onions, and ranch to dip it in. You heathen. Large vanilla shake with a medium regular fry. Bitch."

Derek looked stunned. "How do you possibly know that? We've neve-"

"I'm magic."

Derek gave him the 'oh yeah and I'm the king of leather jackets' eyebrows.

Looking back he didn't know why he named them that, he is the king of leather jackets. Hot damn.

"Erica mentioned it once. The no pickles thing really makes her distrust you, me, I'm more concerned about the ranch thing." Stiles finally finished packing and put the bag over his shoulder. He tried reaching his crutch in the back, but it had shifted in the drive. He couldn't quite reach it. Derek opened the back door and as Stiles' fingertips barely grazed it Derek pulled it out and brought it up to him.

"I had it. But thank you."

He propped himself up with the crutch, then he started looking for his phone which disappeared.

"Alright. Okay, off track. Why did you come to eat here? Why did you leave? You aren't supposed to be driving. I told you if you needed anything to text! I would've brought you food. Wait who was with you today?!"

"Here's the thing, I know your order and you don't know mine. Because you're a selfish prick that doesn't care about me." Stiles stuck out his bottom lip.

"Oh shut up Mr. Two large curly fries, diet coke, and bacon cheese burger! And I don't need you here if you'r- wait... Uggh, Stiles! You did that on purpose. You're trying to distract me, or trick me. You tried to make me angry on purpose!"

Stiles looked back up at him from where he was bent over to look under the seat. "Making the other angry is a defining characteristic of our relationship." He turned back. "And I don't see wh-"

"I want to know who you conned to get here, and I want it to be the next thing out of your mouth."

Derek could smell that Stiles was uncomfortable before he sighed and began speaking. "It was supposed to be my dad, but his days off don't always go as planned. Since he could be called in, Scott was on standby. So my dad Facebook messaged him, don't even ask why he won't text, and Scott still has all of his passwords as Allison soooo..." Stiles had been searching for an obviously not under that seat phone, conveniently crouched in a place Derek couldn't see his face.

"You logged on, pretended to be him, and deleted the messages to play Bueller. That still doesn't explain why you're here, this isn't the sears tower."

"Actually the dad not texting story is pretty funn-"

"Stiles!"

He leaned up quickly. "Fine! Okay. I just couldn't handle being in that house anymore it was driving me crazy. And I know they were only trying to help, but the pack babysitting me got on my nerves. I have a sprain, I didn't loose the bottom half of my body. And you're the only one that doesn't make me feel like I'm broken. I mean, you worry more than my father does, but you still let me do what I can without letting me do what I can't. Or letting me convince you I can actually do it."

Stiles scratched the back of his head. "And I knew you would start here today, so I wanted to be here. For you. You shouldn't be alone for this. So I came to listen, or to talk. Whatever you need. Whatever you want. If you want. I mean you might not want me to, but too bad. I'm here now. And I brought movies."

Derek took a deep breath. "Okay. Fine."

Derek paused in a defeated silence.

"Is that why there's a blow up mattress strapped to your roof?"

"I figured you still wouldn't have power yet, and I didn't think you would let me use the generator for it." He would have.

"Right. Do I even want to know how you got that up there?"

"No, not really."

"Okay. Inside."

Three mission impossibles later, Derek knew why it took Stiles so long to repack it, and why it looked so full. His old living room, and the air mattress that occupied it, was covered with stuff. There was candy all over, half eaten bags of chips scattered, and cords running from a battery bank to his computer and phone. Not to mention the surplus of blankets, sleeping bags, and quilts he must've mugged an old lady for that wrapped him in multiple layers like a mummy.

It was starting to get late and he was sweaty and dirty from the dust and work of knocking down the ruined walls of the left side of the house.

This was only the beginning of a long process, but Derek did feel like it was starting to heal him. The first few days after they got back from the woods that night, Derek watched over him and took the pain Stiles insisted was nothing. Even though he knew Stiles was joking when he said it was Derek's fault, he still knew Stiles wouldn't have been out there if it wasn't for him. He went out there for him to make sure he was okay, so the least Derek could do was stay with him to do the same. To keep him occupied they talked a lot, and Stiles kept bringing up the old Hale house and before the fourth day Derek had a contractor scheduled to come look at it by the next Thursday. Stiles had said something that had stuck with him and he couldn't sleep without it nagging him so much he had eventually called. The next day Stiles handed him papers on where to rent equipment and an industrial sized dumpster without Derek even saying anything and his words rang in his head once again.

'It's only closure if you're really closing something off. I don't think you ever really had closure with that house, because that book hasn't ended yet. Maybe the chapter did, but I don't think you're ready for it to be the end of the Hales. Are you ready to close that book when Cora or your pack could help you carry it on? They could be your future. Hell even Peter could. Derek, do you really want that to be where your story ends, or are you just too scared that looking at the next page is going to hurt knowing what isn't going to be written there. Who won't be there. Maybe you have to let go of them to hold on to who you have, and even what you could have. If you want it."

Stiles was right. He had been holding onto burning corpses for so long he forgot how to hold anything else. His hands were either too sensitive from the healing that it hurt him to hold on, or he chased people away with the callouses of scarred, harsh skin.

Stiles understood him in a way only his family ever had. Derek forgot what it like to trust someone to have your back and be able to take care of themselves before Stiles kept getting thrown in his path.

There was a small nagging part of him that thought maybe that made Stiles his, that maybe he had been resisting all this time for nothing. If he was being honest he had thought Stiles had been his the moment he jumped in that pool, but he needed to be sure.

Stiles was right he wanted to rebuild his future, he'd yearned for it for a long time, but he had to make sure it was the right one and that he had the right people. He had thought he was building something with people that only ever tore him down, so he was cautious. Maybe slightly over cautious, but the pack, his pack was involved.

He wouldn't trust the wrong person twice. Stiles wouldn't hurt him, but his past was like an old wound pulling his shoulder tight as his arms tried to reach out. It felt like a warning, reminder, and punishment all at the same time. Even as he tried to push the paranoia down he had to be sure. He wouldn't let silence fall on his pack again, even if he'd never been more sure of anything.

"Are you seriously starting the fourth one? Turn that off. I'm going to drive you home."

Stiles' eyes blinked rapidly to adjust from the computer screen to the dark. "Derek. Whoa! When did it get so dark?"

"It's like eight thirty. Get ready."

Stiles took a moment to focus. "No. I told dad I was staying at Scott's overnight, because it's too much moving to do just for a day. Plus he knows our gaming nights are always overnighters and most likely the whole weekend."

"Alright fine. You can come to the loft." Derek started gathering the duffel bag back together.

"No. I want to stay here."

"Stiles I'm not letting you stay here. It's cold, unprotected, and you're hurt."

"Well too bad it's not up to you. A shame really." He smoothed the blankets out on top of himself to prove his point, the little shit.

"I'm not letting you stay in this house yet. It's a disaster, it's not fit to stay in."

Stiles looked up defiantly. "This house is wonderful. I'm not going to get cold. The minute I got settled you boarded off this entire room to keep the heat from the heater in. It's not cold. Besides I came prepared, you are looking at every blanket in the Stilinski house except my dad's comforter. It's not unprotected, you're here, and so fucking what if I'm hurt? And what do you mean not fit to stay in? You stayed here! I mean I know it was a part of your holy self flagellation crusade to punish yourself, but you're still kickin so it must be okay. I'm staying here, are you?"

Derek sighed deeply, that was his 'I'm not changing my mind and you'll have to listen to me' voice. It sounded a lot like his regular voice to him. "Fine, but I get the big blue fluffy sleeping bag if I'm sleeping on the cold floor." Derek moved to grab the end of it to pull it from Stiles like a magician would a table cloth.

"Ah uh." Stiles shook his head them lifted the top corner of the layers of blankets. "I said it wasn't cold, not that it was warm. Come on, super heat please."

Derek internally debated till he saw Stiles start to lower the covers. "Fine. Only because your scrawny ass would freeze, and your dad has multiple guns."

"Atta boy."

This wasn't a couch, but with Stiles falling asleep next to him he easily imagined this happening more just like he had imagined that night in the woods. No matter how much of Stiles he got he always wanted more.

They watched a few more movies before Stiles' battery bank ran out and they both were tired. They both had seen them before so they talked throughout them about how the contractor said the only part that has to be completely demolished and rebuilt was the left side of the house which he was currently working on, what the next steps were, and they argued about whether or not Stiles would be staying tomorrow to watch more movies and occasionally shout, 'Oh nice one. I felt the walls rattle over here.' and 'Derek this is a good part!' while eating snacks.

He would be.

As they settled to go to sleep in the darkness Derek spoke, "Thank you. For today. The burger, the company, and the movies. I needed it and I didn't even know it, but you did. So thanks."

Derek heard Stiles's pillow rustle and he knew Stiles was looking where his human eyes thought his face was. It was oddly sweet that even now he wanted to show he was being sincere. "I'll always be here Derek."

There was a silence, then his pillow rustled again. "I'm like gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe, I'll stick around till you scrape me off."

Derek smiled into the darkness. "Goodnight gum eternally stuck to the bottom of my shoe."

"Goodnight inconvenient shoe that stole me from my sidewalk."

There was another pause.

"Good night Derek."

Derek's smile turned from amused to loving even if no one saw. "Goodnight Stiles."

Derek fell asleep with the soothing rhythm of Stiles' heartbeat and the pattern of his breathing in his ears.

Derek awoke from his slumber sensing danger. He half shifted and looked out with red eyes about to spring up. He searched his side of the room before turning and looking over Stiles.

His eyes caught a raccoon across the room that must've been used to this place being abandoned. It was snacking on a half eaten granola bar Stiles left out. Stiles turned in his sleep and drew the attention of the raccoon. It's beady little eyes were looking right at Stiles' sleeping face. Derek didn't like it. He pulled Stiles to his chest while growling with once again red eyes. Derek couldn't tell if the territorial tone of his growl was restaking his claim on the Hale property, or telling the raccoon to keep his grubby little paws off his Stiles. Either way it got the message, scampering away with the granola bar and snagging a bag of chips on his run out.

"Derek!"

Derek had just finished clearing out the charred remains of one of his cousins rooms and the dust was clouding his eyes and blurring them, even through his goggles, when he heard the shout. He made his way back to the room Stiles was in.

Stiles had called him at least a dozen times and Derek had come in to take breaks and catch parts of the movies when he got too tired or overwhelmed. Each time he would get whatever the other needed, and then each time Stiles would say what he needed to hear.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where my sour cream and onion chips are?"

Derek fought a grin. "By now? Eaten probably."

"I knew it! You ate my chips, you know they're my favorite! You bastard!"

"Second favorite, and I don't like sour cream and onion chips."

"Well then who took them? I bet you've been lying this whole time, so the pack trusts you and then bam! You steal their snacks. You fiend!"

Derek deadpanned. "Drats I've been caught. I've been lying this whole time to steal chips I could just buy myself."

"Seriously Derek I can't find them."

"I'll get you more. I have to go get some stuff for dinner anyway."

The theft was forgotten. "Will you get chicken fajitas?"

Derek nodded from where he was putting his mask back on. "Yeah I'll get some extra too, so you can take some for your dad tomorrow."

Stiles was taken aback by just how much that meant to him. Derek had sent Melissa flowers after she patched him up once and he sent all the cats of the little old ladies that seemed drawn to him and wouldn't stop talking about how worried about mister snuffles they were, over to Deaton to get them to stop talking, but this was him going out of his way to take care of his father. That meant the world to Stiles. It also didn't go unnoticed that Derek didn't put up a fight about Stiles staying again. He felt overwhelmed by all the feelings and the hope building in his chest.

"I love you."

Derek froze in his path back to the room he was working on.

"Shit no I- I meant thank you! Thank you that was very sweet."

Stiles noticed his tense shoulders slump.

"Yeah no problem." Derek resumed his path back towards the steps.

Oh fuck Stiles didn't mean to do that either. He basically said I love you then took it back. Shit. He couldn't let Derek misunderstand him.

"I do though."

Derek's arm stilled on the banister.

"I do love you." Even with the annoying dust mask blocking his view he could tell Derek was slightly smiling while he nodded softly. "You are a great alpha, a great friend, an-" Stiles hesitated for a moment that gave away what they both wished he could say next. "And a great contractor so go up there and show those walls who's boss!"

Stiles stayed the night again and watched the entire Bourne series. Derek caught the last two and they argued about their differing opinions about Jeremy Renner's acting choices. They both tried to pretend this wasn't going to become a thing.

Derek woke up wrapped around Stiles again and he couldn't possibly imagine how he thought he'd be strong enough to resist this.

After packing up his stuff Derek drove him back with the leftovers. He tried carrying Stiles up the steps, but that was met with threats of shoving a crutch somewhere it should not be. They did laugh again after Stiles said he wasn't two. Derek swore he could listen to that laugh forever and he could happily spend the rest of his life trying to cause it.

They didn't speak again until it was Derek's day. Then it was like the floodgates of planning opened.

Stiles told Derek he was bored and had nothing to do so he researched rebuilding houses and everything they needed to know. Which was a lot. He did have Derek fill in some holes though. How long do you want this to take was met with, I want the house ready as soon as possible, but there is no deadline. His various questions about the type of contractors  he wanted were more in depth. Then, when Stiles asked what the budget was Derek said I wasn't an issue. Stiles insisted he needed at least a guess estimate. Derek blankly told him he had five point five million dollars worth of life and homeowners insurance policies to cash in and if that wasn't enough he could get more. The way he said it told Stiles he hadn't touched the money yet, but he wanted as much of it used for this as possible.

Stiles swiftly moved on to showing Derek other things he had planned, like maybe a game room/den. There was something scribbled out next to it and Derek tried really hard to pretend he didn't read playroom with question marks by it, but he did and he was sure the next time he dreamed about Stiles they would have a little three year old in a room surrounded by toys.

Stiles was thorough, he said he was already planning the movie schedule. He outlined what movies would go best with which tasks. He even color coded how enjoyable the tasks would be to determine how great the movies had to be each day.

Derek was overwhelmed with just how much thought he had put into it, and how close this was to perfect. How close this was to Stiles and him building a home and future, together, for their pack. How close, 'You should do this.' was to, 'We should do this.' How close 'It's your house man.' was to, 'It's my house too babe!' This was the 'Hey I want one of the rooms right next door to yours.' kind of close, and Derek wanted nothing more than to just close that distance.

He snapped back to reality when Stiles showed him something about the plans.

"Why do the movies drop down to only two after two weekends?"

"Well I figure we'll be too tired to stay up for more than that, and I, unlike you, am not okay with just listening to movies even if I have seen them before."

"Why wouldn't you be able to watch them?"

Stiles looked at him like he was stupid. "Because I'll be helping. By then my leg will be healed completely."

Derek hadn't thought about his leg being healed. He was more disoriented than when wolf's bane was blown into his face.

He thought he was just coming over to get away from everyone else, once his leg was fine he didn't expect him to come back. He thought Stiles was just bored like he said, but he actually wanted to be involved. Stiles wanted to build a house with him. Stiles was in this for the long haul, and that meant something entirely different. Stiles was going to help him build a house. A house for his pack. He was stunned into silence as Stiles rambled for the rest of the day about plans. He couldn't imagine anything he wanted more than to hear Stiles talk about their future.

Stiles was a sweaty panting mess. There was dust covering him head to toe. He could barely get out his words. "I'm- I'm gonna ta- take a break. Water. Go and find water." Stiles pointed over his shoulder as he spoke like Derek needed a clue as to where he was going to find a water bottle.

Even down stairs he could still here him panting. Knowing he wasn't going to get any work done without maiming himself he went to take a break too.

When he walked into the room Stiles instantly smirked.

"What?"

Stiles didn't reply he just put both of his hands high into the air pointed towards Derek and made a grabby motion. Derek looked confused as he came closer. His hands moved to keep aimed at his head and Derek leaned his head down towards Stiles. He was still surprised when he felt fingers thread into his hair, then ruffle his hair.

"You looked like an old man with how much dust was in your hair."

He leaned up to catch sight of Stiles smirk.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Stiles threw him a water bottle.

"We could make today a half day, go get some lunch. You sound pretty tired. How bout we call it a day? You're human and still healing."

Stiles nodded as he swallowed a big gulp. "Yeah, I was thinking about that, what if we had more nonhuman muscle? And shut up I'm healed just fine."

"You mean the pack?"

"No, I was thinking of harnessing the workforce of the legion of dwarfs hidden in the forest."

"Oh I heard they unionized. Dang huh."

Stiles threw his hands up in disbelief. "Well, there goes that plan. I guess we could see if the pack is busy... If that's okay with you. It's totally fine if not, but we could use the help and I think they should be a part of this." Stiles tried to seem nonchalant, but he knew what he looked like when he was analyzing someone.

Derek wasn't wrong before, because he could never have imagined how great Stiles wanting to build a future with him and his pack was. "You'll have to factor them into your plan."

"I made two."

Derek nodded. "Okay. I think they should be here too."

"Great! Let's get back to work." Stiles jumped up with a surprising vigor.

Derek only rose an eyebrow and smirked at Stiles as he heard vehicles approaching a half hour later.

"What?"

"You brought your dad's extra sledgehammer in case one broke, huh?"

"I believe I said, 'Just in case one breaks, or something.' Consider this or something."

"What if I would've said no?"

"I knew you wouldn't."

"No you didn't."

Stiles rolled his eyes, then met Derek with a look so intense, even through two pairs of ridiculous goggles, he believed him when he spoke. "Yes I did."

That weekend the pack knocked down the rest of the scorched walls and watched Indiana Jones. The pack found some extra rope lying around and dared Jackson to use it as a whip and swing from a tree like Indy. When the rope slipped from the tree Stiles laughed as hard as Isaac did when Scott took down a walk by bursting through it like the kool-aid man. Everyone was in awe as Erica effortlessly used it to land perfectly on a branch, after tying a small log to the end. Stiles shouted that's my catwoman before everyone was yelled at to get back to work.

The pattern Stiles set was Derek was to work through the week and then the pack would help Friday nights till Sunday and watching movies after each day.

The next week they spent the entire time planning while watching the Ocean's movies, and were stunned to find out Lydia had taken an online introductory college course into architecture and structural support in freshman year.

"Wait, how? You had a full course load already."

"Well, technically Natalie Martin has the credit, but I was bored and I like mathematically correct buildings."

The rest of the weekend was filled with pizza, movies, and Lydia Martin looking at them like aliens for suggesting moving windows. She proved her genius status though, because as they argued back and forth she put together a beautiful plan that made everyone happy.

The first floor changes started as soon as you walk in the door, the mudroom was requested by Derek so they didn't track in as much dirt, and knowing them, eventually blood. As you looked straight the big set of stairs were going to be there. To the right was a living room that led into a large open concept kitchen, with a pantry tucked under the tall stairs. To the right on the other side after you walked into the front door, led into a library/ pack meeting room, with a bathroom tucked by the corner of the room and the stairs. From the library through elegant French doors was the dining room, right where the original was. Something Derek insisted on going into the plan. Off the dining room was an office sharing a wall with the pantry, also under the stairs.

The stairs to the second floor would lead up to a broad picture window to let in light, which was Allison's idea. There was a hallway in the shape of a lower case n, which the stairs were in the top part. Down the left side of the hall there were to be two bedrooms that shared a Jack and Jill bathroom. Going around the banister of the stairs the master bedroom was in the empty middle part of the n, which had an en suite. The right side mirrored the left in all except in the corner just as you turn right coming up the stairs the spiral stairs from Derek's loft were going there.

Something Stiles had fought them all for and ultimately used a pack decision veto for. Lydia said they were stupid which made Stiles scoff and go off about how cool they were. Malia and Cora agreed, but Boyd brought up they could be dangerous if there ever were any little kids, which brought a pause when all the couples looked at each other. Isaac then said they could wrap them in bubble wrap, with that the awkward pause was quickly pushed past.

Up and around the stairs on the right side of the house led to the same as below them, but in the middle instead of space for a large grand stairway and a master bedroom there was a regular sized bedroom and closest to the stairs a den. The den didn't have doors, just two entryways that led right through it to the other side of bedrooms and their bathroom. Jackson, Isaac, Erica, and Scott all thought that was stupid that there was no other way to get to the other bedrooms besides through the den, but were eventually overruled. The fact that that's where the gaming consoles would go had nothing to do with their opinion, even if it was brought up right before they took issue.

The basement was accessible by a door in the side of the stairs on the first floor and had a laundry room, but there were no further plans for it just yet and no one commented.

All of the ten bedrooms were on the upper two levels. However, after fights broke out Derek made it very clear that no decisions about who got what room were to be made till the house was further along, even if by Sunday everyone would call unofficial dibs on a room. Since no rooms were for sure they decided to wait on figuring out decoration and paints, one thing at a time.

With the plans made Stiles went to the station on Monday and brought his father a horrendously greasy burger and side of fries which he snatched and pointed an accusing finger.

"What did you do? If there's a body I don't want to know where it is, just that you've taken care of it."

Stiles out his hands up placatingly. "Whoa, whoa! Pops I would never, ever, and I mean ever, tell you if I did kill someone."

He squinted his eyes and his mouth gaped a little. "That's a great comfort Stiles. I can feel my blood pressure lowering. Seriously though son... do I need to go get a loan to pay somebody off, because the bank clos-"

"Come on, can't a son just come to visit his old man? Who is looking pretty great today. Eh eh? Did you do something different with your hair? It looks great."

"A son can, and even you can. When you bring me something leafy and green and disgusting, but with that burger you're up to something. What is it?"

"Oh yee of little faith. I am merely appreciating my wonderful father. Who loves me very much and wo-"

"Miezyslaw!" He used his authoritative sheriff father tone. Which was scarier than his father tone and his sheriff tone.

Stiles shoulders deflated and he dropped the overly happy face. "I need a small favor, or rather the pack needs one. You know your old friend from school Normand? Lovely old fellow. Would invite you to dinner all the time and to play golf, and-"

"And wouldn't shut up about how many properties he owned and couldn't stop speaking for two seconds, and wouldn't take no for an answer, and wouldn't let me leave for hours?"

"And the one on the committees in charge of planning permission and building permits."

He sighed. "No. Whatever it is no. It took me a year to slowly phase him out of talking to me. A year! He doesn't get a hint. I'm not putting up with him again."

Stiles slumped into his chair and looked utterly dejected. "Okay fine. It's no problem, really. It wasn't even that big of a deal. It was just for the pack, that's why it was important to me."

John looked away from Stiles' big sad eyes quickly. He riffled through the bag and it had a large fry and a double bacon cheese burger in it. Looking back up to asking if Stiles really did kill someone was a mistake. Stiles was pointedly not looking at the sheriff with almost teary eyes and a lip pouting out. Damn it.

He knew this con, Stiles pulled it when he was eight. He sat looking sad on the floor until he came over and asked what happened. He had given Scott his bumblebee toy after his parents had a big fight to cheer him up, but now he had nothing to play with besides his hundreds of other toys. Stiles looked at him with little innocent eyes as he told him he was just happy Scott was happy, but he did wish he could've given him the new optimus prime toy instead because it was his favorite and Stiles' was the bumblebee he had given away. It was two weeks later before he realized what happened and it was too late to take the toy back because Stiles had already given it to Scott and lost his. He knew he was going to fall for it again. Damn it.

Lately, sometimes when he looked at his son he didn't even recognize him, but right now with his big brown eyes shining and his pouty lips he looked as much like his mother as he had when he looked at the world with nothing but hope and mischief.

He sighed. "What do you need him for?"

"You know the old Hale house? The one Derek's family tragically died in when he was young?"

He looked at him flatly. "I think I know the one Stiles."

"Okay well recently I convinced Derek to rebuild it, but we hit a road block. Since it was burned down, you know tragically, the committee has the right to seem it unsafe and not worth the time and money to rebuild and force us to tear it down. Buuut they wouldn't know that a bunch of werewolves are rebuilding it, sooooo..."

"It sounds like they might not even do that, and you are very convincing when you want to be. Believe me, I know."

"Buuut daaad once they deem it unsafe we can't overturn it! And Derek has been getting really excited about it. He hasn't said, but I can tell." Stiles' voice got softer. "And I think this is good for him. Finally moving on. I think it's good for all of us. We've had so much going on lately and I think the pack just needs a place that they can be themselves-"

"And a place that isn't mine where they eat all of my food, while blaring back to the future. Friggin werewolves."

"We watched it one time dad. They always appreciated you letting us have pack stuff there. But we do need a bigger place, one where everyone can be safe. It would do us and Derek good being able to be close."

His son's tone betrayed a too personal note when he talked about safety for his liking. "Do you not feel safe here? Do I not allow you to be yourself?"

Stiles looked ashamed. "It's not my safety I'm worried about." Stiles looked away from him. "I couldn't live with myself if- if someone came to the house looking for me an- and they-"

He circled the desk swiftly and folded Stiles into a hug. "Hey, hey. You stop that, I'm supposed to be the one looking out for you. Besides if someone comes looking for trouble I've got an entire clip dipped in wolf's bane waiting in my nightstand for them. Now that I know the truth that is." He said the last bit scolding even as he was scared to death of the world his son was wrapped up in. He wanted nothing more than to yank his son out of it and into safety, but he knew with the people he cared about still in it Stiles would run right back.

Stiles' voice came out muffled and stuffy from where he was pressed against his dad's shoulder. "You did before too. I took it when you were sleeping."

He pulled back and looked at those brown eyes once again, but now the tears were falling and his nose was running.

"You're always taking care of your old man. When and how did you grow up from that scrawny little kid into a strong man that takes care of everybody else?"

Stiles wiped his snot and shrugged. "I just watched you."

And there it was. He was getting worried he'd never see that look of youthful adoration in his eyes again. He pulled him into a bone crushing hug. "Even if I'll never stop, I don't think it's just my job to watch out for you anymore, maybe I should start watching you instead kid."

"Maybe you could start watching after we get the permits. We could use some help once it's time to start working on the basement. I don't- I don't think he should be there. We need the help, I mean I know you've got brittle old man bones bu-"

"Hey!" His hands shot down to Stiles' ribs and as he started tickling Stiles jumped away with a laugh.

They smiled at each other before he spoke. "You wouldn't mind it? Or would they? Having your dad around? Isn't this project a pack thing?"

"I would love to have you there, and so would they. Erica absolutely loves you. It is. You're pack to me so you're pack to them. That's how it works. And if Derek can invite Peter, I sure as hell can invite you."

John looked touched. "I'll get in touch with Normand, don't even worry about it. Tell me the time. I'll be there son."

Stiles smiled at him.

"One last thing. When you say it would do us and Derek good to be close do you mean, like you and him us or you and the pack us?"

Stiles squinted not understanding. "Boooth? It would be good for all of us."

"No son. Look would you be getting your own room?"

"Of course I wou- Oh! Dad no! I won't be moving! I wouldn't leave you by yourself! I'm not go-"

"Gee thanks for making it seen like I'm a two year old that can't fend for myself. That's still not what I meant." He looked uncomfortable as he looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked back up. "Would you be getting a room to yourself... or would you be sharing... with Derek?"

Stiles blinked a few times before he flailed.

The permit took a long four weeks to get approved, so good thing gutting was a long process. They had to take all of the old unusable walls, flooring, wiring, plumbing, HVAC, and insulation out. It was a good thing the house was built with such quality materials otherwise the process would be a doze and build from the ground up. Most of the fire burned hot and fast on the left side, and the right side was only in rough shape because of the smoke and neglect. Still he wanted everything possible, that had ash and burned air in it gone, while keeping as much of the bones as they could.

Gutting was strenuous so they were too tired to watch more than one movie. They watched one movie out of the underworld series, each night they all worked, for three weeks. Except the night they watched the shorts they spent most of the night debating whether or not the movies were offensive or so horrendously inaccurate that it was funny. Either way Stiles spent a good amount of time talking about how hot Michael Sheen was, and is in good omens.

On the fourth weekend there was nothing they could do, so Stiles went home. He spent some quality time with his dad, he complained about the pack and his dad complained about having to talk to Normand.

True to his word after he helped grease the wheels he showed up for adding support to the basement. Although he did decline staying for a movie. That might've been because he saw Stiles grab mean girls, and everyone had been wearing varying shades of pink, even Derek. He saw socks that looked strikingly familiar as he leaned up to hold a beam in the air. He had watched that movie so many times it wasn't even fetch, no thank you.

It was good having his dad there even if he knew with work it wouldn't happen often.

It was just Stiles and Derek now cleaning up.

"So how was today?" He was worried about Derek even if the pack wouldn't let him anywhere near the basement the whole day. He just cut the beams and helped with other things.

"Other than the disturbing fact that my uncle can quote Gretchen Weiners, not bad."

Stiles hip checked him as he went by with handfuls of garbage. "Are you sure? I was worried about it. That wasn't the best way to start off the project."

"Is that why you kept asking the contractor if we could start supporting the building from the bottom up somewhere else other than the basement? It was fine Stiles. Good even. Like he said, 'Kid if you want anything you build to stay up you've got to start at the bottom and support up.' Pretty good advice."

"Okay. Do you want to stay up to watch a different movie?"

"Nah I better get to sleep for tomorrow. You should too, are you staying?"

"Boo you whore. Yeah I think I will. It's too late to drive back now."

The after one weekend of Lydia commandeering movie choice to watch Nicolas Sparks movies, they watched John Mulaney specials the next, while finishing rebuilding the left side of the house's support, foundation, and walls. Even Peter showed up, although Derek cringed when he understood millennial humor better than he did. John shocked everyone when he quoted, 'Eat ass, suck a dick, and sell drugs.' They stared at him till Stiles explained he really loved when he showed him the Bittenbinder method and then became obsessed.

When the pack finished all the rebuilding of the frame of the left side, they watched both Mary Poppins in celebration. Isaac was ecstatic, because of his giant man crush on Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Allison spoke up after the first one, "We have to have a Julie Andrews marathon. I loved the princess diaries so much I only ate pears for a week. My dad had to cut me off, because I got stomachaches."

"Aww babe that's so cute!"

The dimple fest was as sickening as eating only pears for a week.

"Yes you're both adorable. Shut up. I think we should have a Anne Hathaway marathon, eh batman?"

He smirked. "Of course. She is my favorite."

They watched both of the princess diaries the next Friday night, and Scott and Stiles slid down the blanket covered stairs on the air mattress. Then they stayed up late to watch all three Christian Bale batmans. On Sunday when they were finishing putting the framing for the new walls up and nailing the outer boards to close all the holes in the house with a layer to keep the rain and cold out temporarily, Stiles couldn't stop quoting the movies.

"Stiles I asked for a cola two hours ago." Cora stared in disbelief.

Stiles merely held the soda out and lifted his chin. "A queen is never late, everyone else is simply early."

"More like drama queen." Derek muttered under his breath.

Stiles gasped and then smirked. "But I'm a cute drama queen I make all the other drama queens go rawwwr."

Several quite witty quotes, if Stiles had to say so, later and he could tell he crossed the, 'haha that's funny.' line into, 'I'll kill you if you say anything about pears again.'

"Stiles hand me the nail gun."

"'He's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.'" Stiles quoted as he held up a hammer and some nails.

"Stiles this is heavy."

"Dude you're a werewolf. Suck it up. Besides, the air compressor is out of air. It needs a minute, so 'He's the hero Goth-'"

"Swear to god Stilinski if you quote Batman one more time-"

"Don't worry your pretty little head... the eagle has landed for the last time." Stiles dashed out of the house and Jackson after him.

"I swear to god Stilinski I'm gonna nail gun your mouth closed."

"It's a good thing the compres- oof!"

They heard him get tackled to the ground.

"Guys! Help!"

Malia yelled, "Don't break him, we still need him to work. But make sure he can't quote anything else."

"Scott!"

"Sorry bud. Even I get sick of batman."

"Traitor! Derek!" There was a pause. "Come on, you complete me!"

"You know I was considering it, but just for that one you're on your own."

Stiles started laughing hysterically. Through the breathless laughs he tried to speak. "Catwoman! Come help me!"

"Sorry darling, cats come when they feel like it. Not when they're told."

By the time he escaped they looked like they were almost done.

The roof needed to be replaced next to complete the rough dry in before they could start on internal things. Peter apparently drove over to help Derek prep the roof before the weekend, because when they showed up it was ready to be done and Peter was creeping close by. Well, Stiles imagined he showed up out of a ominous cloud of mist and whispered I'm here, but his car was there so it's anybody's guess.

Roofing went horrible. It was three stories up and as soon as Stiles convinced them to let him up he nearly fell off reenacting the scene from avengers went  Thor says, 'You want me to put the hammer down?!' He was then confined to the ground and drink duty. They watched Aristocats and Finding Nemo and Stiles with Erica's help made caramel puffcorn, rice crispies, and crème de la crème à la Edgar at the sheriff's house before bringing it over. Malia said it was just warm milk and Jackson scoffed.

"I'm the leader I'll decide what it is."

Stiles gaped at Jackson. "Seriously!" He flailed. "After all the shit you gave me! You asshole."

Jackson shrugged. "It was always one of my favorites." He looked like he was about to bolt and he wouldn't look anyone in the eyes.

Stiles nodded. "Good choice dude. It's a great movie."

Jackson nodded and he was biting his lip as he looked down.

Derek asked Cora to help him with installing the windows and doors the following week. Stiles was happy for their sibling bonding time, but then once the pack got there on Friday there wasn't much to do. They didn't end up watching any movies. Which disappointed him, but he did blare waving through a window and love is an open door on repeat till Malia threatened to smash his phone. Cora and Derek seemed happier with each other and closer, so Stiles was glad.

They picked a stone grey for siding and a beautiful day to put it up. It was sunny, but with a slight breeze to cool everyone off.

Stiles dad was able to make it. Argent even came, because he had to drop Allison off while her car was in the shop and he decided to stay and help. Stiles thought it was because he felt guilty that the whole reason it had to be rebuilt was his sister. Derek thought he was using it as an opportunity for an olive branch for the sake of his daughter. It was probably both, but Stiles still was impressed that Derek could let an Argent other than Allison back on his territory, even if he was tense every time he saw him. Peter was the same way except Stiles thought his eyes were watching his ass a little more than necessary and with too much appreciation for it to all be suspicion. They were so going to have angry hate sex, Stiles was calling it now.

Stiles made sandwiches, Lydia brought fancy blackberry lemonade that was delicious, Erica made a pasta salad, Derek made an old family calico bean recipe, John brought dessert, and Jackson brought chips and dip.

The day was filled with work, play, and so many laughs they could all get used to peace like this. Stiles was shocked nothing had happened yet.

They were all busy outside with putting up the siding and messing around. Stiles' father came up to him.

"Hey kiddo. Are there other drinks inside?"

"Oh yeah. I'll go grab you something." Stiles started putting what he was doing down.

"No, no. I'll go."

Stiles looked nervously at where Derek was alone in the kitchen. They were still on rocky ground, since he arrested him and Stiles wasn't sure if he blamed Derek for Stiles being involved in a lot of the danger he was. He started to protest again.

"Relax. I'm not going to arrest him... again."

The sheriff stalked into the house with purpose.

"Sir." Derek nodded.

"Derek."

"Soda?"

John raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay with Stiles seeing you handing me a soda?"

"He's busy, I'll take my chances."

"So has everything been quiet in town sir?"

"Let's cut the small talk. I'd rather not talk about my job or the weather."

Derek's nerves rose. "Is there something you want to talk about sir?"

"This pack bond thing. How does it work?"

"There's a lot to it, and I think you want to know something specific. Right sir?"

"You being the alpha they protect you right? With their lives?"

"In some packs, yes, but not normally, no. I'm their alpha it's my job to protect them, I care for them, provide."

"Hence the house." John used his hand holding his soda to gesture to the house around them.

"Yes."

"But they do don't they? They protect you with their lives."

"They do."

"Is it because of the pack bond are they forced to?"

"It's a little complicated-"

"It's a simple question Derek, are you using these kids as human shields or not?"

Derek looked startled. "I-I um." Derek let out a breath and nodded his head while looking apologetic. "Yeah I guess I was. In the beginning when I just wanted power to protect myself, but they changed me. When you're bitten the alpha that bit you can force you to obey him, but if you choose an alpha willingly it has to be because you feel they are worth protecting, worth dying for."

Derek looked out at everyone.

"I don't think I'm worth any of their lives, hell not even all of them put together. I just want to protect them, to me they are worth dying for. Every last one of them chose to be in my pack, I still don't know why, but I'll be damned if I let anything happen to them. I'm not living through that again." Derek spoke every word with conviction and emotion.

"And does that go for all of them? Do you have the bond with the humans? Can you force them to do what you say too?"

"The lore isn't clear how the pack bond translates to humans. Some people say yes, some say no. I don't think I could force Lydia, Allison, or Stiles to do whatever I said even if they were my betas."

"Is it different because Stiles is a witch?" He waggled his fingers.

"He's a spark. And no. He's more human than wolf so that doesn't effect it."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, what do you feel? Would you protect them like the rest of your pack? Would you protect Stiles?"

Derek looked John dead in the eyes. "I would protect him with everything in me sir. It's different with pack when you lose someone I wouldn't let it happen."

He nodded. "How so? How does it effect them if you die or get hurt?"

Derek thought for a moment. "My betas would be crushed. Some are even known to go mad with loss or kill themselves. It is an overwhelming feeling losing your alpha. It feels like you are lost and have no meaning, like you failed, and are utterly alone without guidance. But the humans, they would react like a regular person. They would feel the loss, but they would be okay."

"And you? If you lost one them?"

"I wouldn't live with myself. When you lose any pack it isn't like you lose someone close to you. It's like you lose a vital part of yourself. For an alpha it is tenfold. The worst pain I could think of."

"Okay that's all I needed to know. But I need to tell you some things."

Derek nodded. "Yes sir?"

"If someone hurts him, you'll feel it. I know that now, you'll take care of him. But if you hurt him-"

"You have wolf's bane bullets?"

"No. I have every faith you would pull the trigger before I ever could. If you hurt him, know that as his father, who has been a cop long enough to see too many horrible people do atrocious things, I could never make you hurt the way all the blame and guilt you put on yourself does. I know I can't stop him from getting into trouble as much as you can't. And now with all this crazy stuff he's in I can't be his big strong dad that can rescue him from anything. I haven't been for awhile, but I don't think he needs me anymore. I think he needs you, all of you. Even if he still will get into trouble. Just promise me you'll be there when he does."

"On my life and my mother's memory, nothing in this world could stop me from protecting him."

He seemed pleased with that. "Okay then I guess we're done."

They both started to walk away.

"Oh one last thing. If I ever, I mean ever, like twenty years from now you're married and have kids together ever, find out you had sex with my underage son under my roof, I will shoot you in the kneecaps with wolf's bane bullets."

Derek's eyes were wide and his mouth gaping. "What?! No! Sir I would never- me and him aren't ev- we're not! Never! I mean your son is a good man, but no!  Why-"

"Slow down there kid. I know. But I also see how you look at each other. I used to have a set of whiskey browns that looked at me the exact same way. And you're right, if he was any other son in the world I would correct you, but you're right. He is a fine man, he hasn't been a boy since he stepped up to deal with all of this shit. You can stop acting like he is one, he's almost eighteen and frankly he's been smarter than me for a long time And somehow wiser since birth. Even if he can be dumb as shit. So under my roof no sex. Clear?"

"Crystal, sir." Derek nodded like a toddler trying to convince an adult he didn't eat the missing cookie.

"But Derek, up until a point, what you do under your own roof is none of my business, once you get a whole house under it that is."

"Um sir?" Derek looked confused.

"One last word of advice son, everyday I wish I could've met her sooner so I could've loved her longer. You've met him, so what are you waiting for?"

Derek looked sure. "For him to be ready and for me to deserve him."

"I'm not saying you have to sodomize my son immediately, do not get me wrong. Just let him know how you feel at least, he's been ready for that a long time. Also you don't have to wait to deserve him, you're waiting until you feel you do. If Stiles chose you, you deserve him."

They shared a sincere silence, before John clapped him on the shoulder and continued, "God help your soul son."

They both walked out with wide grins, and John's hand was still on Derek's shoulder.

As soon as his dad went to help Scott and Boyd, Stiles flew over to Derek.

"What did he say to you!? What did you talk about?!" Stiles whisper shouted.

"You." Derek teased.

Stiles squinted. "I can't tell if you're being serious. I don't like it."

Derek rolled his eyes and pulled Stiles into a hug, before pulling him behind him by the hand back to work.

"Derek Hale did you give my father a soda!"

Once they had the bare bones of the house with exterior enclosing walls it was finally time to start actually building the inside of the house. Stiles couldn't wait to start the rest of the movies he had planned.

Derek did a walk through with the three contractors for the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems so everything went smoothly and no one got in the way of each other. Stiles insisted on being there so none of his research got forgotten and all of his questions got answered. Derek regretted letting him as soon as he saw the twenty something hot electrician and the in surprisingly amazing shape thirtyish year old plumber. Luckily the HVAC specialist was a portly old man who should've retired long ago to pass down the family business to his daughter long ago.

As soon as Stiles started to stutter out his questions Derek wanted them out immediately. When he caught Stiles ogling the perky bubble butt, that should've been an unattractive hairy plumber's crack, of the man bent over to take a measurement he squinted his eyes and almost growled at him. He put a hand on Stiles' lower back to guide them into the kitchen where Harrold the HVAC man was trying to keep their attention while smirking. Stiles was still staring back and Derek was resolutely staring right at Harrold, so they both missed the man also supervising the measurement taking he ran Stiles right into. The man turned bright red and stuttered apologies. Derek heard an almost inaudible chuckle from back in what would be the living room. Derek wanted nothing more than for them to be a couple, hell he'd be fine with one of them banging the other right on his floor in front of them if it stopped Stiles' drooling. Knowing him there'd end up being a lake though.

He was ecstatic when it was over. Well, that was until Harrold said he thought it was really beautiful that they were rebuilding the house together and that it was a really great project to take on together. In spite of their confused faces he continued and asked what they were going to do with such a big house and if they planned on adopting or fostering. Recognition struck their faces as they tried to back pedal, but he was already convinced that they made a lovely couple.

Most of the plumbing, electrical, and the HVAC systems would take a long time and had to be installed by 'Harrold and the hotties' as Stiles referred to them, so they decided to start a big movie series, the MCU.

Since they got out of the work they camped the weekend out at the loft to marathon as many movies as they could. When they watched the first Thor they teased him for nearly falling off the roof then, he made a joke about how the, 'Seriously jacked.' plumber should've been the electrician because he had the body of, 'A thunder God of super hotness and muscle.' to distract them. Derek made a point to exercise shirtless the next morning while Stiles was making breakfast in Derek's kitchen to show him, 'Seriously jacked.'

The swarm of contractors that invaded the house took roughly a month and a half to finish the rough in for the massive house. In the beginning they didn't  think they would finish all of the movies on time, but as their time off dragged on they flew through them. Derek couldn't even remember him many times everyone hit Stiles with their pillow because he kept saying Captain America's lines before he could. During Winter Soldier Scott put a hand over his mouth and didn't even flinch when Stiles licked him, but when he bit him Scott let out a yell.

"Damn it Stiles. Remember what your dad said!"

Good god were they actually five?

Cora suffocated him with a pillow, till he kicked her in the head and when that proved ineffective, shot sparks into her leg.

Stiles could tell Derek was getting a little stir-crazy having his pet project routine interrupted. He tried to come over as much as possible to keep him company. They were supposed to be finished on a Thursday, but due to a last minute plumbing problem it was pushed till Monday. They watched Flushed Away, then Ratatoullie Friday night and laughed so hard. Saturday and Sunday they watched The Pirates of the Caribbean series.

From that weekend on, anytime someone would hear someone coming in they would get in their way and screech like the slugs. Derek caught Stiles coming in with a bunch of tools and they got in a screaming match that lasted ten minutes.

Once they had the all clear the next job was insulation and drywall, since it had to be done in stages once the mud dried they came over weeknights after school to help for two weeks.

It was a lot of work because they decided to insulate the interior walls a little bit as well as the exterior walls for just a bit more soundproofing. Derek insisted on his bedroom being soundproofed completely, which made the pack tease him mercilessly, but in the end they wanted the rooms they had unofficially picks out soundproofed as well. Everyone agreed in a house filled with werewolves there are just some things you don't want to hear.

They only had time before they had to get home to watch movies on the weekend, so they watched Venom and another Nickolas Sparks movie one night, and then both Deadpools. Stiles thought ahead and made tater tot casserole, bought tissues, and there were unicorn pillows, blankets, and plushies he had gotten at the dollar store. Allison quoted every line about tater tots, which was pretty much the whole movie. Everyone grumbled loudly that Lydia got to choose another movie that nobody else liked, and they were about to switch it when Boyd spoke up and said he liked it. They were all too shocked they didn't realize they were watching it still till it was to late and they were reaching for tissues because Bobby died.

Boyd left the room halfway through with teary eyes, and when Erica and Derek both didn't follow him Stiles did.

The night air was warm on Stiles' face.

"You didn't have to come out here, I'm fine, Erica and Derek didn't because they know I'm fine."

Stiles put his hands in his pj pockets and nodded while rocking back an forth slightly on his feet. "Okay. Maybe they don't need to come out here because you're fine, or maybe because you've always been the strong one they believe you to be so strong you don't need help. But, Boyd sometimes when you're always the strong one you feel you aren't allowed to be weak. You are. You're allowed to be hurt, and break, and wake up tomorrow and be strong again. Everyone is weak sometimes. If you don't want to talk to me about it that's fine, just let them know when you aren't alright. They can help you."

"And do you?"

Stiles looked confused. "Do I what?"

"Let them help you. Sure when we're in a fight you are protected, but when you're hurt or worried do you let people help you? For the longest time you didn't tell you're dad anything, and even still you shield him from so much. You are constantly tired from researching to keep the pack safe, you could ask Lydia to pause her college prep to help you. When you have nightmares do you tell your best friend? When you have a problem do you go to your alpha before trying to solve it yourself? No you don't do any of that. Because out of all of us werewolf, kanima, banshee, hunter you, Stiles Stilinski are the strongest of us. You take more pain than all of us combined to keep us from hurting. So do you allow yourself to be weak?"

Stiles seemed to take it all in. He nodded. "Fine. Fair enough. I still can't watch Halloween movies because I used to watch them with my mother and now they just make me sob." Stiles shrugged his shoulders.

Boyd looked away. "Fine. My sister used to pretend to love Disney princess love story movies so I could watch them with her, and I used to pretend to love action movies so she could watch them with me."

"Fine." Stiles nodded again.

Boyd sniffed a bit and Stiles could tell he was trying not to cry. He pulled the massive man into a hug and held him tightly against himself. He felt tears against his neck and shoulder.

He whispered with a small stuffy voice against the smaller man. "Fine."

When they came back Derek gave him a quizzical look, Stiles just brushed his arm as he went by with his hand to tell him everything was fine.

The next week each day after school Boyd went over to help Derek rebuild the front porch. Stiles thought it was so they could talk one on one, and he was proud of Derek for doing it.

Then they had another weekend of discussions about design. Although this time it was less about rooms and more about what they wanted the rooms to look like. Lydia had swatches and samples spread across the entire room.

Derek wanted all of the bathrooms to look similar, but not identical. They took a vote and the rooms would all be varying shades of grey with black or silver fixtures.

Everyone got to decorate their own room however they wanted. Erica said she was going to make her room a sex dungeon then and Derek did not look impressed.

The den on the third floor was to be a light beige with an enormous sectional couch.

The dining room was going to be a classy white to compliment the chandelier that was originally there.

The office was to be a light pastel yellow to not be too distracting, while the pantry was to be a bright pink because Scott asked and Derek didn't care. The stairs the rooms were under were set to keep their original wood just sanded and restained. The loft stairs were to stay as is per Stiles' request.

The library's color scheme choice was dueled out between Lydia and Peter. Lydia wanted a luxurious aubergine purple with a delicate pearl. However Peter won out with a bright, deep, and dark cobalt blue paired with a rich leather brown color, because they all agreed they were better for the mood of a library. Peter also requested they have a rolling ladder attached to the wall so they could built the bookshelves all the way up to take advantage of the first floors high ceilings.

The kitchen and living room were open concept, so the two rooms had to match well. For the kitchen Derek wanted clean colors, so they chose whites, greys, and touches of black with all stainless steel appliances. Isaac said they should get a large island with butcher's block on the top and everyone agreed. The floor was going to be a light grey tile with darker grey marbled in and dark grey grout to make it pop. The back splash was a simple white subway tile, and the counter tops were going to be soapstone. Since the kitchen was so nuanced the living room could be a bit bolder.

Stiles fought tooth and nail for a dark emerald green and they eventually had to concede. He bombarded them with color psychology. He went on about how green is known for health, calm, peace, growth, and safety. He also mentioned it was the color of nature and the natural world, plus it would go with the view out huge window out into the woods. He told them some researchers even found it improves reading ability, which would be great for the bay window they planned on putting in.

Lydia looked back through her notes there was no mention of a window seat, but by the time she was done looking and was going to interject Derek had agreed to both.

They had varying types of counters for the bathrooms that matched each room's back splashes and fixtures. Each Jack and Jill had two sinks, a shower, and a toilet. All the sinks were going to be white with those fancy faucets that had part of the pipe gone so you could see the water coming, because Cora thought they were cool.

For flooring they decided to do the bathrooms a grey tile with black striped in, similar to the kitchen. The mudroom would also be tile. The library, den, office, and stairs were going to be all wood. The hallways and living room were quickly agreed to be carpet, but once they got to the bedrooms things got a little heated.

"I will slaughter your first born if you even think about putting tile in my bedroom!"

Lydia looked at Stiles half crazed. "You are a man of intellect Stiles, you can at least on some level agree that tile or wood has practical reasons fo-"

"I agree with him. It makes no sense."

Stiles gestured to Allison like, 'Ha, there!'

"It does look nicer."

Stiles squinted and pointed an accusing finger at Scott. "You are dead to me."

"What if you want to lay on your floor? Carpet is way more comfortable." Isaac usually stayed quiet during arguments, but lately he's become more comfortable speaking up.

"Lay a blanket down."

"Great reason for a stylish rug."

"Why would you lay on the floor next to your bed?"

Boyd, Lydia, and Jackson spoke up, respectively, at the same time.

"You wouldn't have to worry about it if you just got carpet!" Stoke practically yelled.

Lydia responded in kind. "Carpet is hard to clean, and it makes your room look like a van from the seventies!"

"Cold feet end of story, bitch!"

"Wear socks you bastard!"

Derek stared in horror at his pack, which was about to tear each others throats out over flooring. "Okay everyone just calm down! It's late and we got a lot figured out today. How bout we stop here, everyone go home, and we'll pick it up tomorrow."

They slowly all trickled out. Only Derek and Stiles were left. Stiles was finishing up folding the blankets when he realized he hadn't seen Derek in awhile.

"Derek?" He called out.

"Up here Sti." The nickname gave him pause. He had only ever called him that when he was bleeding out, or needing comfort.

He went up the stairs and found him staring deeply in one of the rooms.

"What's up Der?" Stiles took advantage of the moment to call him a soft nickname back.

Normally he would protest and say he's fine, but he didn't. Stiles didn't know if he should take it as he really needed to get it off his chest that bad, or if it was because he was trusting Stiles more.

"This was Lillian's room."

Stiles didn't need any clarification. He knew all of Derek's family, but Lillian was the only one he'd heard of just from the Hale fire files. Lillian was Peter's oldest, she was three. Stiles guessed that they were really close. Stiles put his hand on Derek's shoulder.

"We can leave this one empty."

Derek smiled. "No. This is Scott and Allison's room."

"They can pick a diff-"

Derek turned the eyes Stiles thought would be misty, to face him with not a tear in sight.

"Stiles do you want to know why I wouldn't let them pick rooms before?"

"Because they were fighting?"

Derek tipped his head back and forth. "Yes, and no. Because while they were fighting about who got the room with the best window, or the one with the tree, or the one closest to the stairs, I kept thinking, 'That isn't your room, it's Lillian's so uncle Peter and aunt Darcy can be close to her! That isn't your room it is Laura's, so she can use the tree to sneak out. That room isn't yours it's Nan and Pop's, so they can look at the back yard.'"

Stiles felt horrible, maybe this all was a mistake. Maybe Derek wasn't ready yet.

"Do you know what I see now?"

"No. Tell me?"

"I see Allison looking out this window while drinking her morning coffee. I still see me and Lily on the floor playing horseies, but I feel this isn't her room anymore. This isn't their house anymore, it's ours. With some of the other rooms it's hard, to remember the old good memories, and to picture the new ones. In this one though, I know it's what she would've wanted. Sh-she ah-" Derek's voice was filled with emotion and he had tears in his eyes. "She used to make me promise to play with her ponies when she wasn't home so they wouldn't be lonely." Derek had a wistful look till he nodded with a look of certainty. "She wouldn't want her room to be lonely." He smiled. "I see Allison and Scott here."

Stiles hugged him and let his cries be muffled by his shirt. Once he calmed Stiles pulled back and took his hand to lead him.

"Where are we going?"

Stiles stayed silent till they were at the doorway of a room on the other side of the stairs. "What is your favorite memory in this room?"

"What?" Derek looked confused.

"You said it's hard to picture the good memories in some of the rooms, well I think you should try."

Stiles gave him time to think.

"This was my older brother's room. He taught me how to make paper air planes. One day we kept testing them by flying them out the window. We were having so much fun trying to out fly each other, we weren't paying attention to how many we flew." Derek let out a short laugh. "When we heard mom yell both our full names we knew we were in trouble. There had to have been a hundred paper airplanes scattered in the yard being blown around by the wind. We were chasing after them to clean up for hours."

Stiles' fond look mirrored Derek's. "Did she scold you about littering?"

"For weeks. It was respect the land this or you boys are so messy that."

Stiles nodded. "That was a good memory. What about something you picture happening here?"

"I picture teaching Isaac how to fly the perfect paper airplane."

Stiles grinned. "I think he would like that."

They went around the entire house like that. Derek remembering the old while picturing the new. Sometimes Stiles would say what he thought would happen in a room and Derek would say he agreed, but mostly he just listened. His favorites were that he once hid under his grandparent's bed till it was time to go to sleep, because Laura and aunt Darcy had dressed him up in a princess dress and put make up on him, but then they got a camera out. His Nan screamed so loud when he came out that his mom burst into the room in her beta shift. His other favorite was when they got to what would be the den, he said playing with our kids. When he heard him he nearly died, but then he clarified the packs kids. Stiles' subconscious still stubbornly hung on the fact that Derek and his kids would be considered pack kids, even as he drove home.  

The next day they invaded multiple home improvement stores, cabinetry places, mattress stores, and furniture shops to order what they would need. They had to go to a special place to get the island Isaac wanted, but then they got to have it made uniquely for them. Derek told them they could pick out their rooms and what kind of flooring they wanted, when it was time to decide.

The next week Erica came over alone after school to help with the next project. Her dad was an electrician, so she knew how to install the outlets, light fixtures, and fans. They still had some left on the weekend, and Erica said they would just he in their way, so they only came over to watch a movie Sunday night. Lydia brought The Notebook- again.

The next Monday Derek was surprised by a phone call when he was about to take a break for lunch. He put his paint roller to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hi this is Beacon Hills high school. We are calling about one of the students here. They said th-"

Derek's stomach dropped out. He hurriedly grabbed his jacket.

"Are they okay?" Derek demanded.

"It's in regard of Jackson Whittmore. He apper-"

"Is he okay?!" Derek interrupted once again while starting his car.

"Yes, but-"

"I'm on my way."

"If you would let me get a word in sir, this young man struck another student. We can't release him till we talk to a parent or guardian. Both his parents are unavailable due to a work trip, but after many questions he finally told us he was left in your care. Is that true?" She spoke harshly.

"He is in my care."

"Well I can't see why he would do such a thing as to strike another student with such a polite man's example to follow." She sneered.

"I'll be there soon." He hung up on her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't have anyone else to call." Jackson was folded in on himself in the corner of the room. The receptionist was all smiles once he got there in person, but as soon as she realized he wasn't interested she went on lunch. The other student and his parents were in the principal's office with Lydia's mom. It was just them in the room.

Derek summoned his best alpha voice. "You hit another student?"

Jackson shrunk. "I listened to what you and Stiles said. I controlled my strength. I only hit him like a regular human."

Derek gave a withering glare. "That isn't better! Jackson you need to sto-"

Just then the door burst open and the pack and Danny came flooding in. Erica ran up to Jackson and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. Derek barely heard the whispered thank you.

He glanced at Stiles with a look of utter confusion. He motioned for him to come over to the side of the room. When he met him over there Stiles started to speak.

"That douchebag in there was showing the old video of Erica having a seizure. Derek's eyes widened in understanding. When looked back he saw Erica pulling back from Jackson a bright red lipstick mark on his cheek.

Everyone looked to where Lydia's mom was exiting her office. She asked Derek and Jackson to come in.

"It wasn't his fault!"

"He deserved it!"

"Mom just let us explain."

The pack all started talking at once the room descended into chaos. Natalie looked overwhelmed, Derek yelled over their voices.

"That's enough!"

They fell silent.

"If you would please follow me Mr. Hale and Jackson."

The pack started yelling again.

Stiles interjected. "I think you might find it better to just speak out here. Does anyone object to having this conversation where multiple eyewitnesses can correct the narrative?"

The parents looked smug. "I don't see why not."

Natalie looked like she knew how to pick her battles. "Very well, but if you are too disruptive I will send you all to the cafeteria."

Stiles nodded.

"We are here because Jackson struck another student, Preston. It was a violent action that this school will not endorse nor tolerate. He-"

Stiles interrupted once again. "How about a student showing a video showing another student having a medical reaction? Does this school tolerate that? Does it endorse it?"

Natalie looked shocked, Stiles assumed Preston left that little tidbit out. His parents looked at him appraisingly, as if to figure out if he did.

"How bout a student mocking another by following them down the halls pretending to have a seizure?"

Preston replied indignant. "That wasn't today!"

Stiles turned to him sharply. "So you admit you did it?"

He turned beet red and tried to deny it.

His parents started yelling at him. Natalie tried to calm them.

"Alright, alright. Even if Preston did do those things, which this school does not endorse or tolerate, Jackson still used violence. That canno-"

Stiles nodded. "Yes that is true, and he will be properly scolded. By us, and his parents when they get back. You did call them didn't you? Mrs. and Mr. Whittmore the two premier lawyers in the county?  I'm sure they would want to know the situation immediately! That their son hit a boy for only mocking and publicly humiliating a fellow student because of a disability." Stiles played it off like it was nothing. "I mean what is that? Just a prosecutable hate crime, nothing warranting violence for heavens sake!" Stiles looked scandalized. "Yes they would want to know right away."

Preston's parents blanched, before his dad started blundering. "I-I think we can settle this now? I mean lest we bother them."

Natalie smirked privately at Stiles.

Stiles continued. "Oh wonderful! Now he did use violence so I think one week suspension is a necessity, and since Preston was the primary aggressor two weeks and detention for the rest of the month after he gets back. You know, to give him a taste of what a life of crime will get you, and to discourage him from this path further."

Preston started to object, but his other leveled him with a glare. "Yes I think that is adequate."

Stiles turned to Natalie. "Does that fit school guidelines?"

She nodded.

"Well, then I think that is all we need from Preston, thank you for coming in to resolve this with us." He stared at them till they got the hint and scurried out.

"Mr. Whittmore I better stop seeing this type of thing from you, you were doing so well." She halfheartedly scolded him. "I thought this change was brought about by good influences, I hope you stick by their side. It's good to have people to defend you and to defend."

Jackson nodded.

"Miss Reyes you may be excused from classes if you like."

Erica shook her head. "I'm good."

"Very well. Mr. Hale you're all set to take him home. He will be due back for school next Tuesday, and make sure his parents get in touch as soon as possible. The rest of you are dismissed back to lunch."

They all started to file out. Natalie called out. "Oh and mister Stilinski..."

"Yes ma'am?"

"You negotiate just like your mother."

Stiles smirked. "Thank you."

Once they were in the hallway Jackson spoke, "Thanks Stilinski."

He saluted before going to lunch with the rest of them after Erica gave one more grateful look.  

"I am sorry Derek. Our maid is on vacation. I didn't know who else to call. I didn-"

"Listen to me Jackson, you call me. Always."

"Still I know I'm not your problem."

"You're my beta, that means your mine. My problem, my happiness, my duty, my friend, my responsibility, my everything. So if you need something, you call and I'm there. No matter what. I'll always be there."

Jackson's eyes were rimmed with tears. "Th-" He cleared his throat. "Thanks."

"Now how bout some ice cream?"

"Ice cream?" Jackson looked confused.

"Yeah. When I punched Gary Getzucci's smug little face off the swing he was sitting on after calling Laura a whore, my alpha took me for ice cream. Admittedly she didn't use me for free labor afterwards to prime the wall of her house, but you know."

Jackson spent the week priming the walls with Derek so they would be ready to paint on the weekend.

They entire time they were painting they were making fun of the noobs and saying things like, 'No like this.' They had the audacity to give each other long suffering looks when Stiles did something wrong.

Friday they watched 13 Going on 30 and Stiles shared his razzles with everyone except them. Then The Proposal.

The next day Stiles played music again, and when "Get Low" came on they belted out the lyrics from the various rooms they were painting and laughed so hard they had to take a break. Stiles blared T swift and Fergi and no one even complained.

They were painting the library when Derek realized Stiles wasn't singing along. Derek looked behind him where Stiles was supposed to be painting. He was beaming at his phone like the fucking sun. Derek frowned. Everyone the Stiles would text was in the house. His father was still anti-text.

"Something happen?"

Stiles didn't even slow his giddy texting.

"Stiles." He looked up after he finished his text.

"What?"

He was widely grinning at him, but knowing it wasn't meant for him it felt like he was frowning at him and had him responding in kind.

"Who are you texting?"

Stiles put his phone in his back pocket. "Nobody."

Derek furrowed his eyebrows. "Nobody must be pretty funny."

"What?"

"You were grinning like when Scott fell down the steps."

"Oh." Stiles seemed content to not give further information.

"Yeah." Derek turned to continue painting and to not have to look Stiles in the eyes. "New girlfriend?"

"No."

"Boyfriend?"

Stiles snorted. "After what he did for me, I'd marry him if he asked."

Derek's roller paused mid pass.

"I don't think it's likely though, so just friends."

"What did he do for you?" Derek asked while resuming painting.

"He found something for me."

Derek spun around. "Why didn't you ask me!?"

Stiles looked like a deer in headlights. "Uhhh, I don't think it's something you could've found." Stiles looked at him questioningly.

Derek seemed to process his outburst was unwarranted. He continued nonchalantly. "I just mean super senses. It would've been easier for me to find it, unless they also had them. Which they'd have to be a werewolf and-"

Stiles heartbeat sped up.

Derek's eyebrows rose. "-they're obviously not a werewolf, right?"

Stiles was quiet as he focused on his paint. "Why would I need a werewolf to find something?"

A question couldn't be a lie, he was hiding something.

"Right, right. And why would you ask a different on when you have a pack, an alpha? I mean it's not like you would go to a werewolf we knew for something I could do for you."

Stiles heartbeat ticked up. So we knew the man.

"And it's not like you would go to meet a werewolf not in your pack without telling your alpha."

Another uptick.

Stiles stopped painting with a groan. He yelled. "Scott, Derek is doing the heartbeat lie detector thing we said you guys can't do!"

"I was just as-"

"What dude?"

"Derek is being mean. He's reading my heartbeat!"

"Stiles is not telling the truth about his other werewolf friends."

"Dude! What other friends?! Not cool. You should tel-"

Stiles gave a meaningful look to him, and in order to be meaningful to Scott it was obvious to Derek.

Scott's face flashed recognition. "Oh. Oh! Yeah dude, not cool. Don't read heartbeats. We said that wasn't okay."

Wow, the best friend knew. Derek racked his brain trying to find the signs that Stiles had a boyfriend for long enough for it to be this serious. Scott never knew anything, but he knew this before Derek. Stiles must not trust him.

Derek turned to resume painting once again. "Okay, I won't pry."

Stiles' jokes and jabs went unanswered the rest of the day, as Derek was glumly pouting. Stiles had a boyfriend, and he didn't even tell him.

Afterwards they couldn't stay because of the paint fumes, so Stiles suggested they just go home.

Probably to text his boyfriend, Derek thought.

The next week after the paint had aired out enough he asked Malia to help him with putting the carpet in. When Malia mentioned the text at lunch it puzzled Stiles. Why Malia?

"Did he say why?"

Malia shrugged. "He mentioned it's easier with two people. Oh, and he had said that he could help me with social studies for the big test."

Stiles nodded. Derek was probably trying to bond with his cousin. It was nice of him, but Malia didn't get along with many people.

Stiles was shocked on Friday when the carpet Isaac picked out was beautifully installed and Malia was resting against a laughing Derek in the living room.

They helped them finish a few of the bedrooms before watching both Now You See Mes. On Sunday they had a studying day, and Malia was practically teaching Isaac.

Stiles had thought it was a little strange when he asked Malia to do a project with just him, but when he asked Scott to lay the wood and finish the stairs during the week he thought it was straight up weird.

Saturday while they painted the banister of the steps, Stiles drug Scott upstairs to a room.

He shut the door behind them. "What did you guys do?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's been doing a project with every pack member! I thought Peter, just showed up for the roof, but now I think he invited him. Boyd and him built the porch, Erica did the lights, Jackson primed the walls with him. Which I thought was just a coincidence because of the suspension, but I asked Erica and apparently Derek dropped him off, and planned on picking him up already. Now you with the floors. You didn't even know how to install wood flooring!"

Stiles had a crazed look in his eyes. "Oookay I'm going to need you to dial the conspiracy theorist down a few notches. Dude you're being crazy."

"Am I Scott? I overheard Derek and Allison talking- there's talk about Argent and my dad helping tile. My dad, Scott! And Argent! And Derek! And nobody else! Tiling!"

"By overheard you mean eavesdropping. Bro listen to yourself. There's talk? Who cares who helps him tile? He's probably just sick of having to work by himself during the week."

"Who cares?" Stiles flailed. "I care Scott! Guess who hasn't gotten in on the little paired project cult? Me!"

"Your dad and Argent won't be alone."

Stiles bawlked. "Of course not! My dad arrested him Scott! And Argent's sister is friggin Kate! Of course he's got a buffer!"

"Stiles you're being crazy and I'm going to leave now."

"You're in on Derek's freaky one on one project cult and it's not fair you won't tell me."

"Goodbye."

Later when Derek went to the kitchen to get more paint he felt Stiles creeping behind him.

"Yes Stiles?"

"It never stops sucking that I can't sneak up on you."

"Did you sneak up on me just to lament you can't sneak up on me orrr.."

"What did you and Scott talk about?"

Derek squinted at him. "Why do you want to know?"

"Why don't you want to tell me?"

"Why do you want me to tell you?"

Stiles groaned. "Because I want to know what you talked about."

"Why do you-" Oh Stiles wanted to know if Scott spilled the beans about Stiles' boytoy. "If you're worried about if Scott told me about your secret, don't worry he didn't." Derek brushed past him, leaving him to his thoughts.

What secret? Did he currently have a secret? He wasn't worried Scott told him a secret until now, now he was very worried.  Scott knew too many secrets about him for him to not know which one he told Derek. It better not have been the one about Kansas. He would kill him if it was. What other secret could it be?

"SCOTT!!"

After multiple assurances Scott told him nothing, not even that thing with the turtle and Mrs. Mia, Stiles still didn't believe him. Stiles stuck his tongue out across the room while cuddling Allison. Scott gave defeated puppy eyes at having lost both of his cuddle buddies for romcoms. They watched 21 Dresses and The Fault in Our Stars. Scott was making the best of cuddling Isaac though, he carded his fingers through his hair till he fell asleep.

Sunday they painted the porch, put in all the bathtubs, and went out to see Joker.

The next week tiling with Derek, John, Argent, and no body else was started.

Wednesday the sheriff came home to spaghetti dinner, with meatballs, and no zucchini noodles, he let out a sigh. "Kid, I'm tired. I just got done tiling Derek's house. I have to work in the morning. If this is a bribe it can wait till morning. If this is an apology I forgive you. If this is anything else I'll ask you who you are and what you've done with my son."

"It's neither of those, I just want to talk about my lovely father's day." Stiles had been worrying all day.

John appraised him. "Well then, I actually had a more eventful day at the office. Janice brought in-"

"Long john donuts. Yes I know. She does every Wednesday. I know what happens at the station. Were there any other eventful parts of your day?"

"If you count Argent cutting off Derek's hand with a power saw eventful, but Janice br-"

"What!?"

"Oh relax. It wasn't on purpose and he healed."

Stiles fumbled for his phone. "Just like the jackass to not call."

"I don't know why he didn't. His hand grew back like a dammed hydra, he has three hands he coulda picked up the phone with now."

Stiles narrowed his eyes. "Apparently someone isn't too tired for jokes, wiseass."

"Relax Stiles. It's been going well. Jesus I don't think your mother stressed this much about me spending time with your dziadek, and we were dating already."

"Dad!"

There were jokes on the first Saturday about how quickly grout dries that made all three men laugh, and nobody else got.

Stiles tried to commiserate with Allison about how weird it was, but she thought it was cute.

It was a torturous three weeks.

The first week they watched The Matrix series. The second they watched The Avengers and Age of Ultron, then Infinity War and Endgame, because Chris had never seen them. That was another thing, sometime during the weeks Argent had become Chris.  

They still had to do a couple more bathrooms before they were done, but there could only be a couple people working at a time so the rest played cards. Once they were done they all joined cards, then they watched The Lone Ranger. Peter hadn't stayed for any of the movies since Mean Girls and had been busy a lot of the times they asked for his help, so Stiles was pretty sure he came and stayed because Derek said Argent was going to be there.

Sunday they put in all the toilets and shower fixtures. With all the flooring done Derek thought it looked like an actual house, almost like the original, but different. Not better or worse, just different, new was almost the right word.

The next week Derek asked Allison to help him with the trim and library, and Stiles tried really hard to not be offended he still hadn't been asked yet. Saturday they pulled up  the driveway to Allison excitedly teaching Derek how to throw knives, he failed at not being offended that he hadn't had his bonding moment yet.

The weekend they finished the third floor and watched The Expendables.

Stiles made a plan for the next week. It was Isaac's exclude Stiles week and they were getting and  putting up blinds. It wouldn't take them all week, and Issac had evening classes on Wednesdays and Thursdays so it was perfect. Stiles would show up Wednesday to drop off food for them, forgetting about Isaac's classes and boom! They would plan their project. It was perfect.

Well it was until he walked in on Lydia and Derek in the middle of a hard core design and decor planning session. They already met constantly to shop and talk, but apparently they needed even more time. They said it was perfect timing because they needed his opinion on some things. He answered quickly, dropped the carbonara off, and made his excuses to leave.

Well that was it. Everyone in the pack had officially had a week or project, except him. A tiny part of him whispered that maybe Derek was saving the best project for him, or maybe Derek viewed the planning and research as his. That was quickly squashed by the bigger part that was angry.

Derek had asked if they could push them meeting there Friday till Saturday since there was nothing much to do till the furniture was delivered on Saturday and Sunday, the pack agreed. Stiles had cooled down a lot, someone had to be last why not him. Also maybe there was some big super important task left, one that Stiles was completely forgetting even after racking his brain all night. That was entirely possible. Likely even. There was no reason to be mad. He decided to go early with a peace offering of cake to make up for leaving Wednesday so early.

When he walked in Friday night to see Danny installing TVs and a surround sound system with Derek, he walked right back out. He went home and ate the entire cake, so he didn't feel as bad about lying to the pack about being sick because he really did feel sick then.

With all of the texts he got from the pack in the morning he wasn't getting out of the day.

"Dude are you okay? You look like shit."

Scott's words were comforting, especially since he wasn't even fucking sick. "Gesh Scottie you really know how to make a gal feel special." Sure he hadn't slept much, and he had cried as much as something that makes you eat an entire cake warrants, but other than that peachy.

"You sound nasally."

Thank you Cora. Maybe he was a little stuffy and had a cough, but there was so much dust it's to be expected.

Derek came up to him and felt his forehead. "You feel hot."

"Whoa is batman sick?"

"Stop it. I am not sick."

"You were sick yesterday."

"That was different."

"I'm sorry mister mucus monster if you could repeat that?"

"Haha." Stiles deadpanned. "I-I'm not s-si-Aa...CHEW! ick."

He was sick.

Derek tossed Boyd his keys and wallet. "Get some duchess soup from Mamma Tammi's, and pick up some flu medicine too." Jackson walked out the door with him.

"I don't have the flu!"

Derek looked him up and down. "Okay, try convincing me when you aren't about to eat your own snot."

Stiles wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"And some tissues!" Allison shouted.

"That is disgusting." Cora sneered.

"I remember a time you ate your boogers."

Isaac laughed and Cora turned red. "You jerk!"

"It's perfect that you're here though batman, so we can take care of you. While we watch movies of course."

Stiles squinted. "What if I don't want to watch movies?"

Erica pouted. "You always want to watch movies."

Stiles raised an eyebrow.

"Uggh fine. We want to try out the new surround sound. Derek wouldn't let us try it without you."

"He needs rest."

"Do not, sourwolf."

Derek rose an eyebrow at him. "Sure."

"Besides this is the perfect opportunity to get Scott to watch Star Wars."

After a few more protests they settled in with the original trio. All of the pack was snuggled into him somehow, damn werewolves not being able to get sick, except Allison on a chair and Lydia across the room. When he walked past to get to the bathroom she covered her mouth with her shirt and sprayed him with Lysol. With how cozy he felt he drifted off. He woke briefly when the mattress people got there and Derek had to get up, he remembered being happy hearing they would set them up so nobody had to move before drifting back off as he heard Yoda say something about no trying and doing. If he wasn't so tired he could think of it. He woke back up again when they moved the air mattress to get the couch in. With all of them moving the two giant sectionals, various chairs, and end tables Stiles started to shiver. Even under layers and layers of blankets. The werewolves made quick work of the heavy furniture, but they still weren't back soon enough for Stiles' liking. As all the pack passed the slightly deflated mattress in favor of the new comfy couch he made grabby hands towards Derek.

"Come. Heat. Cold."

"I'm glad in those eloquent words there was a please."

Stiles frowned cutely at him. "Please."

Derek crawled under the covers and gathered Stiles against his chest. Stiles drifted back to sleep with his second favorite badass Padme scene playing in the background. Sunday passed similarly, with Stiles dozing and the pack fussing over him while watching space battles. The desk for the office and the table and desk for the library arrived along with lamps for around the house. Later the nightstands for their bedrooms came with Derek's personal bookshelf, despite having an entire library. The man making the island called to say it wasn't ready yet, which disappointed Isaac.

Stiles' dad didn't want him to come home and get him sick so he stayed with Derek while everyone else left. Monday he was feeling better. They were eating breakfast Derek went out to get when someone knocked at the door. Derek opened the door to see Deaton loaded down with boxes of books.

"This should be enough to get you started. I have the truck loaded down."

Stiles got up urgently. "Is there something that needs to be researched? Did something happen?"

Deaton peaked around the boxes. "Ah Stiles. I wasn't aware you would be joining us."

"For what?"

"Derek didn't tell you? We're stocking his library with some of my old lore books. He asked me to help arrange them."

"Sorry I forgot that was today."

Un-fuckin- believable! Deaton even got something before he did!

"Did he now! Well that's great! Well I should probably get going."

Derek moved closer. "Are you sure? This will only take a bit. Are you up to driving yet?"

"I'm sure." Stiles walked out without a single sign there was anything wrong.

"Okay, What was wrong with you?" Derek spoke while climbing through his window effortlessly.

Stiles kept his face neutral. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"That." Derek pointed to his face. "And definitely all of this." Derek made a circular wide sweeping motion that gestured to his entire body.

Stiles looked down at himself. He was laid on his bed with his back against the head board. His legs were neatly crossed running down the center of the bed, and his hands were delicately intertwined and sat on his lap. "To what are you referring? Did you perhaps missmell a chemo signal? Even sniffer dogs are only right half the time."

Whoa mean dog jokes, he was pissed.

"What did I do?"

"You  didn't  do anything." No heartbeat jump. The truth.

"Are you mad at someone else?"

"I'm not mad at anyone." Heart jump, okay so he was mad at Derek. Otherwise he would've said no.

"Was it something I said?"

"You  didn't  say anything." There was that weird way he was saying things again, but apparently it wasn't something he said.

"Was it something you did?"

Stiles shot him a nasty look, and he immediately put his hands up.

"Okay so it's definitely me." Stiles wasn't saying anything about him reading his heartbeat, so he must've wanted him to figure it out. "Was it something I didn't mean to do, but did on accident?"

"You  didn't  do anything Derek ."

Why was he saying it li- Oh. "Was it something I didn't do?"

Just like that Stiles' arms and legs came uncrossed, and he was sprawled on the bed. "I don't know Derek what didn't you do?" Stiles was hoping he would be all like, 'Oh yeah I forgot to invite you for our super awesome bonding week, where we get closer like the rest of the pack. Were going to bedazzle the house walls.'

"I forgot to brush my teeth this morning?"

Not the time for jokes, I repeat not the time for jokes. Stiles flailed flail number 47, 'You done fucked up and I'm done.' he knew this one, he hated this one. It was a barely there flail, blink and you miss it. It reminded Derek of a dead fish's last flop. "You're right. I'm mad because of halitosis." Stiles turned away from him and pulled the covers up. "Turn my light off when you leave."

Stiles wasn't just mad, he was also hurt. What in the hell had he done?!

Derek moved closer to the bed and slid in behind Stiles. "I don't know what I didn't do yet. Can you tell me so I can apologize?"

"It's fine. I'm upset over nothing." The blankets rustled and Derek could tell that Stiles wiped tears away with his blanket.

"It's not nothing if you're upset." Derek burrowed into Stiles to try and stop his crying, but it only made it worse. "Tell me." Derek placed a kiss to the side of his neck. "Please?"

"Why didn't you want to do a project with just me? I mean I know it's silly, but you did one with literally everyone else."

Derek felt relieved. This was perfect, he could invite Stiles right now without it being weird. "Is that all this is about? Well then how about tomorrow? I've been meaning to swing by Ikea. It won't take long we can just pop in and out."

Stiles' tears were gone instantly.

To be replaced with rage. Pop in and out? What, were they getting throw pillows?! Oh wait no, Lydia gets those with her project. One that's taken almost a much time as the reno itself, and resulted in them saying things like, 'That back splash with that paint? Oh hunny no.' Maybe TV brack- oh no. Danny already installed those. Danny! HE ISN'T EVEN IN THE PACK! Argent tiled the god damn house his sister burned down, and Stiles gets a quick pop in Ikea?!

Stiles got up. "Actually, I think I'm going to lay on the couch. Lock the window on your way out."

That was something he said when he was done. Like I don't want to even see your face done. They both knew he couldn't lock the window from the outside, it was something Stiles said when he wanted him to know he wasn't welcome.

Stiles didn't even look back before slamming his door.

Derek was just back from his morning run and pouring himself a cup of coffee when he heard the doorbell. That's odd. Even if someone did try it out he was expecting them to just walk right in.

He opened it to see Stiles. An overly cheerful Stiles. "Mornin, mornin Derek! Can I come in?"

Derek's stomach rolled. "Of course, you can always come in. You know th-"

"Great. Cute bell. Last night?"

"Yeah." Derek eyed him warily.

"Cool, cool. Did Natalie help you install it? I mean you're trying to involve everyone right?" Stiles scrunched his nose and any other time it would've been cute, but not with the way his face was plastered with a fake smile.

"Nooo? I did it myself. Stiles, not that you aren't welcome, but why are you here? The counters aren't du-"

Stiles flailed number 78, 'I'm about to pretend to be fine, when I actually want to rip your face off.' "I'm here for Ikea silly."

Derek didn't think this was the best idea. "Are you sure you stil-"

"Great. Go get dressed."

Derek could tell there was no room for argument. So an hour later there they stood in Ikea.

"So Derek, what are we picking up? I mean you and Lydia already picked out the dishes and the silverware an-"

"The dining room table."

Stiles looked confused. "What happened to the one you ordered?"

Derek looked straight ahead. "I didn't order it."

"What!? Why not? It was perfect. Everyone loved it, it had enough space, it came wit-"

"You didn't like it."

"Yeah, but everyb-"

"You didn't like it."

Stiles stopped his protests. "Okay." Derek was pleased that Stiles seemed satiated with that.

"Good thing we didn't get it too, the dining room floor Scott picked wouldn't look as good with it."

He was back to grumpy. Derek just couldn't win.

Every time he would suggest something Stiles would grumble something practical, but harsh. All of his attempts at peace were misconstrued, and even his jokes and attempts at pronouncing the furniture were ignored.

Derek sighed. "Look we aren't finding anything. How about we eat quick and head home?"

"I'm starving and want to leave, perfect." Stiles pushed past him to where the cafeteria was.

Derek hung his head and let out a breath before following him.

"This food is good isn't it?" Derek tried to make small talk about a safe subject.

"I guess." Stiles pushed around his meatballs and gravy.

Derek tried to get him to meet his eyes. "What are you talking about, you love this kind of thing. Weren't you hungry?"

"I guess not."

Derek couldn't take this any longer. "Alright I'm done. I'm done coddling you! What did I do?"

"You di-"

Derek interrupted. "Oh don't start that 'You  didn't  do anything.' bullshit! What happened?! Tell me or stop acting like it's a big deal! I think you're making something out of nothing!" Derek whisper shouted, clearly not wanting to make a scene.

Well too bad. He started this, but Stiles would be damned if he wasn't going to finish it.

"You don't think it's a big deal?! Something out of nothing?!" Stiles shouted, drawing the attention of near by people. Derek blanched realizing his mistake. "I'm sorry if I'm a little upset that you're inviting everyone to do little fucking bonding projects when I'm the one you started this with! And then when I tell you this you just," Stiles lowered his voice to mock Derek. "'Oh, we could quick pop down to Ikea for a table.' Like I'm just some cheap whore you could take to olive garden to impress!"

Everyone that was staring quickly looked away and went on with their business, except one lady on the opposite side turned her chair around and held her tray in the air to eat while watching.

"Stiles can we do this at home?" Derek ducked down to whisper.

"Oh will that be my project?! Yelling at each other at home?! Or is it even my home?"

Derek saw red, Stiles knew that wasn't something to joke about. "Of course it is! You're the whole reason I'm building the damn house!" Derek was shouting back.

"Oh so now I forced you to build it, and you don't even want to have me involved anymore!"

"Stiles you're being ridiculous! You helped with the walk though with me! Of course I want you involved!"

"Oh really?! Then why does it feel like exclude Stiles from having a bonding week with Derek is your guy's inside joke?! And I was only there because I made you! That doesn't count! Danny even did the TVs! Danny! Deaton spent yesterday organizing the library! You don't even like Deaton!"

Derek scoffed. "I like Deaton just fine."

"Still! Deaton gets the library and I get a quick pop down to Ikea! You've already been here with Lydia! How come you didn't ask me to help with something bigger?! Am I not important enough?!"

The lady oooed and slurped a noodle.

"Oh yeah well how come you didn't ask me to help you find whatever you needed?! You still haven't told me what it was! You asked some other man to help you! Your little secret boyfriend!" Derek pointed an accusing finger.

Stiles looked confused, and the lady's mouth dropped open.

"My what?"

"Oh don't play dumb, I saw you smiling at your phone. It's another..." Derek was pulled out of the moment enough to catch his almost slip. "man like me! And Scott knows, but you didn't tell me!"

"I'm not dating anyone, and if you could pull your head out of your ass for two seconds, you'd see that."

Derek could hear his heartbeat so he knew it wasn't true, but he said it anyway.He knew it would get to him. "Whatever, Lydia thinks you are to get back at me. I believe her, because you're a liar."

Stiles face went wide with rage. He stood still till he used his spoon to flick a meatball at Derek in spite.

It hit him in the cheek and it left a gravy trail where it rolled down.

The rest of the cafeteria scattered like roaches once they started slinging food, but the lady just laughed and dodged a frisbee thrown cookie.

Turns out globby mashed potato hair and gravy face goes perfectly with a lifetime ban from Ikea. No really, the staff insists. Strongly. All the way to your car.

They didn't speak for several moments while they leaned against the car. Finally Stiles whirled on Derek and pointed a finger, before he could speak though a glob of mashed potatoes fell from his hair and landed on the floor with a splat. The both looked down at the poor pile of mashed potatoes and when they looked back up their eyes met.

They both burst out laughing. In between laughs they could barely get out scraps of sentences.

"Gravy-"

"Rolling meatball-"

"Banned from Ikea." After that one they laughed so hard they had to support themselves against the car.

They slowly stopped laughing. Their eyes again. They stood there staring and smiling at each other.

"We look ridiculous."

"And we definitely are not getting in my car like this." Stiles nodded. Derek unlocked his car and went around to the passenger side. He came back with a stack of napkins. He laid the rest on top of the car before starting to clean off Stiles' face. He gently grabbed Stiles' chin to keep him in place.

Stiles stared into his eyes as he wiped the gravy from his face.

He spoke in a soft voice. "I was mad because I felt excluded. The whole time it felt like this amazing pack thing, like we were all getting closer. And when you started doing individual projects I was happy that you were getting solo time with them, but then I didn't. The house was almost done and it felt like everyone had put finishing touches on the house, that made the house theirs, except me. I saw how close them doing things with you made you guys and I wanted that."

Derek's wiping stopped. "Sti, you are the only reason I even had the courage to start this. This whole thing is because of you. Yes, I did want everybody to have something they did to include them, but I never meant to exclude you. I was saving you for last. I wanted to get the table with you bec-"

"You just last minute threw that idea out there." Stiles rolled his eyes, and tried to look away.

Derek held his chin in place. "I didn't get that other table because you didn't like it. I decided when all was said and done I would ask you to pick out a table with me. The rest of the jobs were either they knew how to do it or it was just convenient, but with you I wanted to pick out the table. Because no matter what, no matter who was fighting, who was busy, who was tired when I was growing up we sat around the table for dinner. We were always brought together for dinner. We sat around that table and ate as a pack, even when we didn't want to be family. We sat around that table while we were at war with a rival pack. We did homework at that table, we made things, we helped my Pops with special dinners. We did everything at that table, and I wanted you to pick out this one because that's what you do. You bring us together. You brought me together, when I didn't even know this was something breaking me. No matter what is happening, you do every time. You help the pack with their homework, you teach Jackson how to make grilled cheese sandwiches, you, Stiles bring us together. So I wanted you to pick it out. That was your project. And you did it. I've never felt closer to the pack. I'm just sorry you felt excluded from that."

Derek let go of his chin and Stiles looked down. Derek could smell the tears salting the mashed potatoes on the ground.

"So- so what you're saying is, you got everything in the house but the kitchen table... because I'm the table?"

Stiles looked back up at him with tears in his eyes and an amused smirk, he still had mashed potatoes in his hair.

Derek didn't know how someone could be so beautiful.

"Yes. You're my kitchen table, Stiles."

"I have never wanted to kiss someone covered in gravy as much as I do now."

Derek froze.

Stiles kissed his cheek and got frosting on his lips. "But you still aren't ready, and that's okay."

Derek looked down at the pink frosting on his lips, and Stiles licked it away.

"Someone told me that even if I'm not ready for some things I should still tell you how I feel. I feel like I really want to kiss you right now, even if I don't feel ready for it." Derek still needed to know without a doubt. He knew Stiles wasn't Kate or Jennifer, he just needed to know that he wasn't Paige. Her loss changed him forever, but Stiles' would kill him. He needed to know that he was actually being led to Stiles and that this wasn't just another wonderful thing he would loose. He had lost too many things to not be sure.

"Alright. Let me know when you're ready."

The entire next week everyone was constantly in and out of the Hale house. Everyone showed up to help finalize. Everyone was moving their things into their rooms, and putting the finishing touches on the house. Cabinetry and counter tops arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday, then Thursday all the kitchen appliances arrived, even Scott's specially ordered toaster. Stiles tried to not let his dad lift any of the counter tops, but when Argent and Peter started snickering he stared into Stiles' eyes as he helped lift it.

Friday they decorated. When Derek found out that Stiles' 'secret boyfriend' was actually an alpha that knew his mother that Stiles got a picture from, he nearly cried. When he walked up to where the picture was hung in the mudroom he did cry. He hadn't seen a photo of all of them together since before all their photo albums burned up in the fire.

"I know I said you had to let go but I didn't mean forget. I thought that even if you can't hold them it might be nice to wave at them. Just to let them know you still think about them as you walk through the house."

Derek spoke with a voice filled with emotion. "Ho-how did you?"

"I used a spell to locate it. When I sensed the location housed the supernatural, I asked Deaton and he put me in touch with the alpha there. This was taken wh-"

"When we brokered a treaty with them." Derek's fingertips ghosted over the photo with reverence. "Lillian was so little." He smiled looking at her. "Thank you Stiles. I could never repay this."

He shrugged. "It was nothing."

Derek looked at him with teary eyes. "It means everything to me. Not a single thing you do means nothing, to me. This is everything."

After Derek turned back to the photo he could tell he should leave.

He went to go through to the living room, but Peter caught him by the arm.

"Peter wh-" He hauled him into a hug.

"Thank you for letting me see them again."

Stiles would think he was never there if he didn't have a lingering wet spot on his shirt and clear sight of Peter walking over to hug his nephew. After Derek called Cora over he took one last look at them all leaning on each other remembering their family before he got back to work.

After a hectic Saturday morning, the pack thought they would be all set for their first night in the house. They had a peaceful quiet lunch. Afterwards they filled all of the cabinets with the dishware, silverware, pots and pans, cooking utensils,and other miscellaneous things they had gotten. Allison and Lydia were putting throw blankets and pillows in the living room while DJing. Issac and Cora installed the fridge yelling lyrics of duets and songs they made into duets to Boyd and Scott who were making all of the beds upstairs.

Stiles was grinning down at an equally happy Derek while he was handing him fancy plates to put on the top shelf.

"They're crazy. How is our pack so crazy?"

Stiles looked down from where he was stood on a chair with a fond look before speaking. "You wouldn't have it any other way, sourwolf."

Derek paused handing him the next plate, before setting it down. "No I wouldn't." Derek lit up like a Christmas tree, before getting a devilish glint in his eyes.

"Der- WHOA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Derek picked him up by the back of his legs. "Put me down!"

"No we're in the pack too. We have to be crazy too!" Derek started waltzing around in circles while holding Stiles up high.  Cora and Issac started laughing.

"Come on Stiles they finally played Christmas music for you, sing!"

Stiles shook his head. "You're so weird!"

"AND ALL THE LIGHTS ARE SHINING, SO BRIGHTLY EVERYWHERE!" They both laughed as Derek sang loudly and twirled them into the living room. "AND THE SOUND OF CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER FILLS THE AIR!" Lydia and Allison laughed like witches as they danced around with them.

Stiles belted out the next lyric. "AND EVERYONE IS SINGING, I CAN HEAR THOSE SLEIGH BELLS RINGING!" Erica and his dad came to watch them with grins and cameras.

They nearly ran into Jackson and Malia on their way to the steps.

They sang the next lyric together. "SANTA WON'T YOU BRING ME THE ONE I REALLY LOVE, WON'T YOU PLEASE BRING MY BABY TO MEEEE!"

Stiles sang the next lyric to Peter and Argent where they were working on a bathroom.  "I DON'T WANT A LOT FOR CHRISTMAS, THIS IS ALL I'M ASKING FOR! NO I- Whoa!" Stiles grabbed the back of Derek's neck for balance.

Derek ran them over to the doorway of the room Scott and Boyd were working in and continued the song. "STANDING RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR!"

Stiles joined back in.

"I JUST WANT YOU FOR MY OWN." Stiles gestured to Boyd and then Derek motioned to Scott. "MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER KNOW! MAKE MY WISH COME TRUUUE!" They went even louder for the finale.  "YOU KNOW THAT ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS," Scott and Boyd reached out for them. They sang the next lyric even louder. "IS YOUUUUU!!!" Right as they did Scott and Boyd turned and reached for each other.

Stiles went to look down at Derek in disbelief, but when he did Derek looked up and sang the next lyric to him softly. "Is youuu." Stiles smiled back at him.

Promiscuous started playing.

"Derek get your ass down here! Batman had his turn, put him down! This is our song! You better not miss your next part!" She went immediately into singing. "You lookin' for a girl that'll treat you right, you lookin' for her in the daytime with the light."

Derek's singing was terrible while holding Stiles and running. "You might be the type if I play my cards right, I'll find out by the end of the night."

"You expect me to just let you hit it, but will you still respect me if you get it?"

"All I can do is try, give me-"

"DEREK! THE CEILI-"  

"One chance."

"THUNK THUNK THUNK!"

"OW!"

There was no more dancing while holding people in the air near ceiling fans.

Once Stiles was back on the ground they laughed as he held his head.

"Oh my gold that is gold Stilinski!"

"I'm sorry." Derek could barely get it out in between laughter.

"Laugh it up jackasses." Even Stiles was smiling.

They were all doubled over in laughter so long they had to restart it for Erica and Derek.

Later Scott and Stiles sang islands in the stream, while everyone rolled their eyes.

They just had finishing touches to do before they could start the movie. Derek was listening to his pack belt out the lyrics to happy, when he realized he was. He was truly happy in a way he hadn't been since the fire. He felt complete and at peace, like he had finally healed. Looking over to where Stiles was singing into a bottle scrubber, Derek felt it. All of this was because of him, he healed him. He made him want to be better. He made him want to deserve to be happy, to deserve him. He had never felt something as sure as he did that Stiles was meant for him. He was meant to be his, he knew it now.

He got up to make his way to the kitchen determined.

"I'm so happy happyyy!" They were surprisingly in tune as they all sang.

"Hey Alli your phone is ringing."

"I'm happy happy!"

The gleeful mood was cut through like a knife as Allison's chemo signals became discordant with theirs by flooding anxiety and discomfort.

The wolves noticed immediately.

Derek paused his walk to the kitchen.

Boyd turned down the music.

"Babe what's wrong?" Scott looked concerned.

"It's some old friends of my dad."

The room instantly was silent.

Isaac spoke. "Don't answer it!"

Peter came storming down, pissed. Derek guessed his own moment was interrupted. "I agree with the cub, don't answer it."

Her dad came trailing after. "What am I missing?"

"Dave and Maria."

Argent looked down at her phone with understanding.

"Hang up!" Jackson urged.

"Well maybe not. What if they want to see if she's in for a hunt, say for us? We could use the heads up!" Lydia spoke logically.

"They aren't like that! They're some of the good ones."

Peter spoke while edging away from Argent. "You want to answer it!"

Allison looked shocked. "NO!"

Scott came to her side. "She's not like that, you know that Peter. Back off."

Derek was overwhelmed with how fast the peace had turned to chaos. He didn't know what to say.

"Well then why hasn't she hung up!"

"They keep calling, it could be important."

"Not your problem. You picked your side princess, or did you ?" Peter snarled.

Argent pushed Peter back. "Cool it. If I remember correctly you also didn't have a side once."

The sheriff moved his hands up and down to calm them. "Settle down everyone."

"How can we?"

It was all too much. He felt like everything was crashing down. He felt the building crumble beneath him. He felt a warm hand slide into his. He looked and he saw Stiles. He held his eyes as he nodded up and down reassuringly.

Derek turned back to the argument. "Answer it."

All eyes turned to him.

"Derek are you sure? I won't if you don-"

"Answer it. I trust you." He nodded.

It was tense as she answered the call and spoke for several moments. When she hung up there was silence till Derek spoke again.

"Go."

Stiles pulled his hand from Derek's and stood in front of him. "What?! No! She didn't say anything. You told her to answer it! Alli what was it about?"

"Maria was in a hunting accident taking down a rogue omega a couple towns over. Dave needs to be with her, but they don't have anyone to watch the kids."

"Sure a rouge omega. Next thing you know we're classified as a rogue pack!"

"They aren't like that! They investigate. See both sides. They are good!" Allison defended herself from Peter again. "They wouldn't just kill someone." The last part she pleaded to Derek.

"Okay. I believe you. Go."

"Nephew! I-"

Derek roared. "Enough Peter! Even if they were those kinds of hunters, they are just children. Wondering where their mother is. Scared and alone. Are you willing to burn the innocent to punish the ones you think guilty?" They all listened the words, but what they heard was, 'Are you like the one that took everything from you?'

Peter settled and seemed ashamed.

Derek turned back to Allison. "Nous protègons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protèger eux-měmes. Go. Protect them."

"Thank you. You can tell me about the movie tomorrow." She hurriedly grabbed her things.

Stiles spoke up. "You're pack. We can't have pack movie night or the first night in the pack house without you. We'll do it tomorrow."

Argent and Allison left in a hurry, soon followed by Peter. Lydia and Jackson left with a mutter about extra time for college prep. Boyd and Erica offered to drop Issac and Cora off at the loft so Derek could stay behind and check a few things. The sheriff left after stealing another soda. It was just Scott, Stiles, and Derek. Once Scott left Derek could finally talk to Stiles.

"Oh shoot. Alli was my ride."

"Don't worry bro, I can drop you off."

"Thanks man."

Derek would talk to him tomorrow apparently.

The night stretched on, and tomorrow took forever to come. He laid awake wanting nothing more than to just talk to Stiles, but if it was right he could wait. It was right, he knew it.

Stiles took forever to get there, so by the time he did there was talk about going shopping to fill the empty pantry and cabinets. After they talked with Allison, they were off to the store.

"I swear to god if you guys don't decide on what cereal you want, nobody is getting any!"

"Why do we have to pick one, Stiles?" She whined.

"Because otherwise you eat all except half and open another one!"

"You're no even the one that's paying." Isaac brought out.

They all looked at Derek. He looked in between the pack and Stiles. "You can pick four cereals."

Stiles threw his hands up in the air.

"Does oatmeal count?" Scott asked.

Derek looked at Stiles as he crossed his arms. "Oatmeal counts." He looked slightly appeased.

By the time they finally got home it was early afternoon. Then they had to put everything away, so they were exhausted. They took a nap to test out the new couch. If Derek hadn't been awake almost all night he would've stayed awake, but slowly his eyelids drooped.

Derek awoke a couple hours later to see Stiles drooling on Malia. He sleepily smiled. Seeing him like that made him ache to talk to him, but it was right so he could wait.

They slowly woke up they wanted to start the new movies they got, once Stiles did he demanded the new Aladdin.

It was right. He could wait till the everyone fell asleep to talk to him.

"Hey  guys what if we did an all nighter? You now for the first night in the new house. Like a sleepover."

Derek was about kill Scott and shoot down the idea when-

"I've never had a sleepover." Curse Isaac and his adorable puppy eyes.

"Well me and Scott are pros so we'll teach you."

It was past midnight and Derek was crawling out of his skin. It didn't help that they were watching the notebook. Again! The sheriff, Argent, and Peter were long asleep, which he wished everyone but Stiles would follow. He went to the kitchen to get a drink.

"What do you really not like romantic movies? How could you not, we've only watched this one three times." Stiles started to pop another bag of popcorn.

Derek turned to give a tight smile. Oh god now that he was here this was so difficult. What if he said it wrong? What if Stiles didn't feel the same way anymore?

"What's wrong?"

Derek sighed and turned to lean back against the counter as he crossed his arms, which Stiles thought should be illegal for him when he's in joggers and a black tank top. His head hit the cabinets, but not before Stiles saw his face that means, 'I want to have an important conversation, but I'm emotionally constipated.'

With the quiet hum of the microwave Stiles settled against the counter opposite of Derek. "Are we going to talk about why you have constipated face? Orrr..."

"What would you say if I wanted to go for a run?" Derek's head was still tilted to the ceiling.

"I'd say that's something you normally would do even if I didn't know you, just because of what shape your body is in."

"No, not like a normal run."

"What? Do you mean now?" Stiles scoffed, but Derek didn't move.

"You mean now. Derek it is like two and pitch black out."

"The moon is out. And tonight is the best night for it. The only night."

"Why?"

"Well... I mean- uhh because I can feel my wolf pacing and it feels like it's clawing at my brain. I just- I have something on my mind and-and I need to know something. I need to do something, to prove something I've believed for a long time."

Stiles looked like he was trying his best to understand. "Okay. Then go. I'll make sure the pack is okay, and I'll clean up. I'll wait up to make sure you get ba-"

"No. No I don't want to go alone."

"Wait I don't understand? Do you want- Oh oh okay. You want the pack to come. This is like a wolf thing. Gotcha. Cuz for a second I thought-"

"No this-" Derek seemed reluctant to slowly interrupt.

"you meant me."

Derek stopped talking, so he continued.

"Which of course is crazy. I mean why would just you and I-"

Derek collected himself. "Stiles of course I meant the pack don't be stupid. And you're right it's a wolf thing."

"Okay. Yeah. Right. Alright let's get them then."

Derek looked like he was crazy. "Stiles it's the middle of the night they aren't going to want to just go out. It's cold out and they're in the middle of a movie."

Stiles rolled his eyes and scoffed with an air of superiority. "It's about tactics sourwolf. Also no one likes that movie except Lydia and Boyd. Watch and learn."

Stiles sauntered out of the room and Derek helplessly followed.

Stiles got the remote and clicked pause to be met with two disapprovals and a chorus of oh thank God.

"Alright pups I have an alternative to movie night. Who wants to-"

"Shut up Sti. It was finally my turn to pick a movie and I will not-"

"Who here wants to sign up for the mutiny against Lydia Martin's dictatorship over always doing The Notebook for her movie choice? Show of hands."

Lydia shot a glare at Jackson as everyone in the room except Boyd raised their hand.

"Okay. I propose a more exciting activity."

"Strip poker?"

"No, not exactly. Who wants to go for a run?"

Everyone looked at him like he had two fluffy ears and glowing eyes suddenly.

"What?"

"Oh come on it'll be fun!"

"Yeah sure whatever, but you Stilinski? You hate when coach makes us run more than literally everyone else in the school. And, oh I don't know, it's night."

"Well you know what they say, a good pitch black night is the best for a run."

"Sorry Stiles honey, but no. Now play my movie before I make you."

"Okay I didn't want to do this, but fine. Scott you're going. I could do this the long way and convince you, but we both know I will so just do it on good faith and awareness of the past. Allison you'll go because Scott is and because you love the woods at night. Derek's going so Isaac will. Erica you will go because you love me and because I agree to that favor you asked me, but I said no last Tuesday. Boyd you'll follow Erica. Malia you're always down for a run. And that leaves Lydia, you'll do this because of the business manager that I drove you to that night, neither of us will ever, and I mean ever, be able to forget that image, but I could've rejected your call but I didn't. So imagine this as pay back because you needed my car and for some reason to emotionally scar me. So Jackson will come because you do. Now are we all in agreement? Or do I need to repeat myself?"

Everyone sat in shock.

"And come on who hasn't wanted to go for a run as a pack in the middle of the night? It'll be fun. Like a secret party. Just us running with a thrill coursing through us. Now I'm going to run upstairs and grab my hoodie, last one ready to go and outside that door has to stay behind for five minutes and then catch up." Stiles dashed off.

They sat in silence.

"I don't know if that was scary or impressive." Isaac whispered slightly like maybe he could hear him through the floor.

"Both darling, but that's Batman for you."

Everyone still sat in quiet till Allison spoke, "Do you think he's joking? Or are we all going? Is he serious? He can't be serious."

Jackson spoke next, "This is so ridiculous. Why would we all just go running off into the woods in the middle of the night? It makes no sense. It would be stupid."

There was a shout. "I don't hear movement. Shall I make it ten? I've made it ten."

Derek could tell they needed a push. "You're right. You all wouldn't do such a thing. Especially with school tomorrow. What kind of childish, foolish group of kids would run in the woods this late?" Derek added one last thing. "It would be totally irresponsible."

Everyone scrambled up at once. There were shouts, shoves, and people slinging coats and scarves every which way. The door flung open as they all raced outside.

Lydia was the only one besides Stiles left. She walked up to him.

"Oh Derek? I totally know what you did there, but I am choosing to ignore it. M'kay?" She patted his cheek twice before turning and stalking out of the house.

Stiles was zipping up a coat from Derek's closet as he walked down the steps.

"Well that went well. I thought I would have more persuading to do once I got down here, but the elephant circus I heard down here was surprising and welcome. Thanks."

"Thank you, you're the one that did most of the convincing for me."

"No problem, but I do need forty bucks for the thing Erica asked me to do. Oh, and I hope you don't mind, I borrowed a jacket. Although I do hope this one isn't also the last thing you have left from a dead relative."

"Peter gave it to me so you're safe there. The bastard just won't die."

Stiles chuckled. "Alright well let's go. Don't want to be late."

"You already are. You're gonna be the last one out."

"Who says?"

Derek mock looked around. "They're all out there."

"You aren't."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure I can get out the door faster."

Stiles brazenly gave a wide knowing grin. "Really? Want to bet on that?"

"No magic?"

"No magic."

"Well then, I don't have to."

"Good man. Not betting on a losing horse."

"I fail to see my disadvantage." Derek smirked and crossed his arms.

"Really do you? Well, would you like to? You see, your disadvantage comes from the same place as my knowledge that I could get my hoodie on, search for the right coat, find my hat and gloves, tie my laces, and still get out that door before the last person."

"And where is that place, oh wise one?"

Stiles smirked and tapped his head. "I know you Derek. And I know one other thing."

"Really? Should we put that knowledge to the test?"

"Ready on three big guy?" They both were starting intently into each others eyes, both challenging the other. "One. Two. Three."

Derek was gone in a flash as Stiles fake flinched his own dash to the door.

Derek was leaning on the door frame with his forearms, having yet to cross the threshold. He could hear the pack a little ways off talking intently.

Derek finally heard a squeak in the floorboards that he didn't cause. "You see Derek, I know you..." Stiles ducked under his arm, and stayed close to him once he'd reached the other side. He gave him a fake coy smile. "And I knew you'd wait for me." Stiles patted his chest twice before turning away from him with a flirty wink. Stiles called without turning back, "Besides, my alpha has speed. You'll catch up, won't you?"

Derek closed his red eyes and took a few calming breaths before heading to his car.

When he finally got to the group Jackson asked, "So what? Are we just all going to run? What about the humans? I like winning, but up against Stilinski it's not even a game."

Stiles shot back. "It's not a game. It's pack bonding."

Derek spoke up. "Well actually it is a sort of game." At that the pack perked up and looked interested. "There will be two groups, and each team is made of pairs. One group will be seekers and one group will be hiders. And-"

"Okay it sounds really great so far and sorry for interrupting, but like what are those?" Stiles pointed to what Derek was holding.

"I was getting there. These are occaeco. They ar-"

"I might not speak archaic Latin, but I speak regular Latin and know what those plants and herbs are for. Occaeco. It means I make blind." Stiles looked puzzled even if he had figured out his question.

"Right. They are occaeco, mystical necklaces used in many rituals and practices."

Scott looked wary. "Um Derek, if you were looking for a way to make this totally tense and awkward, you found it dude."

"I am not putting something super witchy, that literally means to make blind around my neck."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Jackson my family and I used these all the time. My four year old cousin wore one for godsake. It's a family tradition, and no one has ever gone blind from it..." Derek suddenly looked contemplative. "Well I guess there was my great great uncle, what was his name? Jacob? No, Jack? Jackson that was it."

Everyone felt the shift in the air at his cousin being mentioned, and even jokingly.

"Okay fine."

"I promise they are harmless. They just make you undetectable to werewolves. They mask your scent, and muffle your heartbeat."

"What? Derek! Don't you think we could've used one of these when, oh I don't know, the alpha pack was attacking us!"

"Oh gee Stiles I never thought of that." He deadpanned. "They take a lot of time and energy to make. You need certain ingredients, and they have to be made with intent for a certain purpose. They're meant more just for fun though."

"What is this game called?" Erica asked with a competitive glint in her eyes. She always knew the right thing to ask.

"I-it's a complicated Latin name."

"Sourwolf I don't even need to know your heartbeat to know that was a lie."

Derek sighed. "It's called alphas and betas."

Snickers could be heard in the darkness.

"Like a werewolf cops and robbers? Oh my god this is the best!" Erica squealed.

"Shut up, and pair up. There should be at least one wolf per team. It should be with someone you are deeply connected with. Someone you think you could find even if you lost all of your senses."

Talking and arguing ensued.

"Hey bud do you want to be on my team?"

"Scott, I appreciate what you are doing here trying to be a considerate best friend by making sure I'm not the last kid picked for dodge ball, but if you and Allison were any more perfect for each other I'd throw up."

"Are you sure?"

"Go Scott."

"Me and Alli are a team."

"So are Jackson and I."

Derek handed them out as teams were called.

"Team sluts is a go. Sorry batman. Boyd also would like everyone to know he was not consulted on the name just subjected to it."

Cora spoke up. "We have odd numbers and I've played before, so I'll be the omega. If there's odd numbers the omega goes around trying to find the hiders before the seekers can."

Isaac started to speak. "I'm with-"

"Stiles is with me." Everyone looked with shocked faces to where they heard Derek's voice. Derek always paired with Isaac, so he didn't feel left out.

"But-" Derek brushed a reassuring arm up his.

"Isaac you're with Malia. You've been studying a lot together lately, right?"

They didn't need to see in the dark to know what red cheeks Isaac had, or how upset Cora was.

"Hey sourwolf, if you were looking for subtle you found it. And kept on driving right past it for several miles."

"Ugh whatever. As long as he wears the necklace."

"Did you make one for hi-" Stiles started.

"I knew she wouldn't wear it." Derek answered.

"Okay the game is won when the first team to find their teammate roars, but it continues till all pairs are found. Once you find your pair or are found you and your partner will head back to the house. If anyone gets lost take off your occaeco so we can find you."

Allison was messing with a necklace. "How do we figure out who's going to the alphas to find the betas in each pair? Does the alpha have to be a wolf?"

"That's not how the game works. You get your title at the end. The alphas are the first person to find someone and the last person found. The rest are betas. The seeker doesn't have to be a wolf."

More arguing ensued for several minutes.

"Okay is everyone final in their decisions? Okay great. Allison, Malia, Jackson, Erica, and Derek are the seekers, and me, Scott, Lydia, Boyd, and Isaac are the hiders. Hiders get a staggering twenty minute head start, thirty in my case."

"What?"

"No fair!"

"We never agreed to that rule."

"No ifs, ands, or buts. Derek was the last one out of the house. I didn't even know the game when I said it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pleased. Alright go!" With no further warning Stiles was off, quickly followed by the rest.

Stiles could feel his breath hammering out in harsh big breaths, the cold felt like knives with every lung full of air.

He kept moving swiftly through the woods, even though his legs felt on fire. He had heard Malia and Jackson's roars and Allison's yell as they started their hunts earlier. In what felt like seconds later Derek let out a booming roar that caused Stiles' feet to carry him even faster with a thrill. He should've been panicked, but he was darting and twisting through the woods with a focused purpose.

He heard a, "Erica, Boyd is over here!" before snickering.

"Malia you ass! That's not how the game works!" Boyd's slowed steps turned to a dead run as Lydia yelled.

"What? I thought it was predators vs prey?"

There was a rapidly departing stoic voice, "No, that's not how it works."

Stiles held in his laughter as he continued running and leaving fake paths.

Everything was quiet for awhile. It had been awhile since Stiles had heard any hoots or hollers from the pack. Earlier he had heard a startled yell from Scott and then Allison's yell once again. He thought she would be the first one to find her pair, she'd been tracking since she could walk. He was surprised when Erica's victorious roar cut through the air. Malia had survived on her own so her roar, awhile later, came as no surprise. He had seen Cora go by from where he was hiding behind a tree and he had held his breath. She followed one of the fake paths, and he let it out. Stiles smiled thinking he might even have a shot at being the last found, and how mad Jackson would be.  He wondered how Derek was doing.

Derek could feel the frustration in the form of fangs biting into his lip. He couldn't find Stiles. He couldn't help losing control. He heard Allison, then Erica, and even Malia. Malia and Isaac weren't even close! Isaac was only studying with her because they both needed the help and Cora seemed to pay more attention to him then! Derek had asked Stiles to do this to find answers, but now he was wishing he just stayed home. The game was a great cover for what he actually was trying to find out, but he wasn't ready to lose this badly. It hurt. He was so confused. He had been so sure before, so this was like a slap to the face. Maybe he was wrong.

Jackson's roar sounded. Derek lashed out and punched a nearby tree. He felt tears of frustration prick his eyes. His anger settled back to confusion and anguish.

Derek looked back up to the sky for what felt like the hundredth time. "Please. Just if you aren't leading me to him, stop. Please just stop making me think he's mine. I thought he was mine? Either show me to him or show me the truth. I want you to lead me to him. I might not deserve him, but I want him. He knows me. He knows my truth. Let him be my path or let me leave this one that keeps leading me to him."

"Mom?"

"Yes my darling?"

"Are moonmatches actually real?"

"I think so. Your dad is mine. Why sweetheart?"

"Do you think I will ever find my moonmatch?"

"Yes. I think you will. Why?"

"Because I've tried and I don't think I'll ever be able to find them. How do you know how to follow the moon when you find dad?" Derek's already quiet, sleepy voice turned to a whisper. "Does dad ever take off his occaeco so you can find him faster?"

"No he doesn't. It's not about knowing how, it's about knowing you will. And I'll let you know one other secret. You don't follow just the moon."

Derek's little eyebrows scrunched up.

"What do I tell you to say if you're scared, unsure, or alone?"

"The sun, the moon, and the truth."

"That's right little cub. The sun that lights the way, the moon that reflects the path, and the truth which carries the weight of the distance. One very important truth."

"What?" Derek covered a yawn with a tiny hand.

"I can't tell you that. Your truth is different than my truth. Just as your moon is different. I can tell you that you will find them though. I know you will. And my cub I promise you when you find them, you will know too. My little beacon of the sun. Your eyes shine too bright to not guide them home to you. You will find them and they will know your truth unlike any other ever could." Talia smoothed his blankets. "You will know when the time is right. Now sleep my little cub."

Derek was still looking at the sky as he remembered his mother all those moons ago.

What was his truth? What else would he follow if not the moon?

Derek was so frustrated. He pulled on his hair and squeezed his head. Why couldn't he think! Why didn't he know by now?! He self-deprecatingly thought that in his position Stiles would know.

Wait.

Stiles would know.

His mother said he would know who his mate was, but his mate was the one that would know the truth not him.

But then how was he supposed to find Stiles if Stiles is the one that knows his truth?

How was he supposed to find someone that is the person that knows where they are? It was all so complicated and he just wanted to find Stiles. But he couldn't find Stiles because he didn't know his truth. Even if according to his mother he didn't need to know his truth because Stiles knew it. By that logic he wouldn't need to find Stiles either because he-

Because he would find himself. Stiles would find himself.

This whole time he shouldn't have been looking for the moon to guide him, or the truth. He should've been following Stiles, and like he said at the doorway, 'I know you Derek.' Stiles knew him. He didn't need to find the moon, the truth, or even Stiles. This wasn't about finding out where Stiles would go, this was about where Derek would find him. Stiles would go somewhere Derek would.

Derek sprinted off in a dead run.

Trees were blurring by and branches were trying to slow his path. His chest was heaving. Finally his feet slowed once he saw a familiar place.

He heard a familiar voice too. One so familiar he would swear it was his.

"If that is anything other than Derek, you might as well eat me now because I'm not running. If it is, what took you so long?" Stiles spun around with a grin. Derek had never in his life been so happy to find such a smug bastard. Stiles grin fell. "You're hurt."

"You're here."

"I asked you first." Stiles had a fond smile.

Derek smirked. "Neither of us asked a question."

"Okay smart ass. Why are you hurt?"

"Because I couldn't wait any longer to do this." Like the glue keeping his feet in place had magically disappeared, Derek ran to Stiles.

Stiles held his breath waiting for the moment his lips would finally meet Derek's.

Derek wrapped him in a hug.

Stiles felt himself deflate. "Not that this isn't nice because this is really nice, but I thought you were going to kiss me. You know how badly I want you, so if we could not play with my feelings like that it'd b-"

"Stiles."

"Yes?"

"I want you too. But not like that. Not right now, not for this moment. I don't want you in the big grand moments, I want you in the small ones. The ones where you're quoting Captain America like breathing. The ones where you settle my pack by knowing the right words, the ones you settle me with the right words. The ones you drool on Malia, or bribe Erica. I don't want you in one grand ephemeral beginning, I want you in one long amazing middle, and when the end comes I'll want you in that too. I don't want you in one big finally there kiss. I want you in a hug that means I'm finally home. I don't want the momentary bliss of feeling your lips against mine. I want to hold you so tight we forget we aren't one, that we are actually just two people wound so closely together we forget that we are meant to be anything other than together. I want you. Forever. Not just now. But if you don't I und-"

Stiles gripped him impossibly closer. "I built a house with you. How much more forever could you get, stupid."

Derek let out a chuckle.

"I will love you Derek. For one long amazing middle. I can wait to kiss you until you're rea-"

Derek sweetly kissed his lips. "I'm ready."

Stiles understood now. He thought he did before, but he does now. That one small moment was worth ten thousand big dramatic kisses in the rain. That kiss told him Derek would be there always. It said Derek would take care of him. It was a kiss that said I want to spend everyday of my life rebuilding myself so you have a home for your heart. It told him Derek would lazily kiss his neck when he was mad he didn't put the milk away on sleepy Saturday mornings. It said I love you in a way that takes years to feel the magnitude of its intensity. It said to him, I will love you in little bits for the rest of our lives to show you that even broken down so small our love is still the greatest thing either of us will ever experience.  

Stiles never believed that there was such a thing as too much of a good thing. He hauled him in for another kiss. A kiss that said I will love you every day of my life. I will start loving you today, and I will never stop. It told him I love you when you laugh. I will love you in the small moments to such an extent that you think they are the big moments. It said I will spend my life being loud so you will never know the pain of silence again. It said there are not enough stars in the sky to thank for the privilege of being able to love you. It said I will never stop loving you in big grand ways because you deserve it, and I want to show you you do. It said I will never stop loving you in big ways in small moments. It said I will never stop loving you this intensely and I want every time you are quietly reading a book while rubbing my feet to know.

When they got back all of the pack was asleep in the living room.

Stiles smiled at them. Derek smiled at him.

"Should we wake them to tell them to go upstairs?"

"No, let them sleep."

"Yeah that's a good idea. They're already goi- Why are you staring at me like that?"

Derek smiled. "Nothing, just our pack, our house. I feel like I've waited all my life to finally have you." Derek kissed Stiles' hand. "Ours. Finally ours."

Stiles smiled back. "I feel like I've always been yours. I was just waiting for you."

"Now you have me."

"No. Forever I have you."

"Alright yoda."

"Love you I do."

Derek laughed quietly so he didn't wake the pack. He pulled him towards the couch and the sleeping pack that occupied it. Derek pulled Erica away from the side of the couch and slid into the spot, then he pulled her back to his side. He motioned Stiles closer. Stiles brought a blanket and covered them all after laying on top of Derek.

"Goodnight yoda I could spend the rest of my life loving."

"A goodnight my darling, you will have."

"Goodnight Stiles. I love you." Derek kissed him on his forehead.

"Goodnight Derek. I love you."

This was a hefty bitch. Sorry it is late but this beast had a mind of its own just ask @halevetica​ whom without I would’ve gone absolutely batshit. Thank you as always my darling. I hope you liked it!!!

[monsterlovinghours]

More Than I Deserve

So here is the long coming second chapter of my self insert fic. @beetlejuicebeadoll this is for you, sorry about the number of times I said I'd post and didn't.

Tw: mentions of death, suicide attempt, depression. Chapter 1 is here.

The first few weeks in his new digs had been...frustrating. She just didn't seem scared of anything. Bugs crawling on her? She laughed and swatted them off, replying that she had lived in roach infested apartments and this was nothing new. Severed head in the cupboard? Nothing more than a gasp, a press of her hand to her chest, and a "very funny!" Shadowy figure standing in her closet, doors opening and closing on their own, disembodied voices and reaching hands clawing out from the walls? Acknowledged and dismissed, as if she were observing the weather. Not a single scream. Beetlejuice tugged at his hair, growling to himself. What the fuck was this weirdo afraid of?

Finally, when she had had the audacity to laugh at a dark figure skittering across her ceiling, he appeared in her room, hands thrown above his head and scowling. "Alright, I give up. What the fuck makes you tick? What are you afraid of?"

Molly had stared at him for a moment, then shrugged, lips pressed together as if to suppress a smile. "When you know the house is haunted, it isn't scary anymore."

He opened his mouth to argue, then sighed, dropping his head in defeat. "You make a good point."

"In any case, why do you have to try and scare me? Do you want me to leave?" Her voice held notes of earnestness, genuine curiosity. "Is it the house you want?"

"No! No, I don't want your house, goddammit." He folded his arms grumpily across his chest; this wasn't how a haunting worked. "This is just how these things go. This is what I'm supposed to do."

"Why?"

Beetlejuice paused, absently tugging some loose threads from the sleeve of his blazer. It was a while before he answered, his voice still carrying that signature rasp, and yet softer somehow. Pensive. "Y'know...I don't really know anymore."

Molly stood from the chair she had been reclining on, and reached for him. Out of instinct, he drew back, looking untrustingly down at her hand, and her heart gave an odd lurch in her chest. Still, she let her fingertips graze over the back of his hand, his skin as cold and smooth as marble. "Maybe you can just, you know, live here. Well, not live." To her relief, a hint of a smile tugged at his lips. "Its okay for you to just be here. Honestly, I kind of like having you around."

He snickered. "Babes, you're so full of shit, your eyes are turning brown." His posture relaxed a bit as she laughed, and she took his hand between hers, warm palms pressing around his fingers. God, that felt nice. 

"No, really. The house doesn't feel so empty now. It's a welcome change."

Once again, he chuckled, grasping her wrist and tugging her against his side, slinging his arm over her shoulder. "You're fucking weird, kid."

It did take some adjusting; after all, there was a bit of a learning curve when it came to dead/living cohabitation. But once he stopped pushing her out of bed because he was bored and she got used to the smell of damp earth on everything, it was remarkably pleasant. He was an oddly good conversationalist, having been around for longer than she could really comprehend, and would sit cross legged in midair, gesticulating wildly, his expression animated as he told her story after story. She didn't shy away from the fact that he had killed people; but then, by now, he didn't expect her to. "You're not trying to kill me," she explained, "so what does it matter? You're a demon, I expect human lives aren't as sacred to you."

"You know, you probably shouldn't be as chill with this as you are," he joked.

"Mm. Maybe. Death doesn't really faze me anymore."

The smile on his face faded slightly. "Lose someone?"

A pause. "Everyone." She looked up at him, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "Why do you think no one ever comes by?"

All was quiet for a long, long moment. “Look, babes, I’m not that great with...y’know, human shit. Emotions.” With a sigh, he settled down beside her, legs kicked up on her coffee table. “But if you wanna talk about it, I’m listening.”

She lifted her head, a soft smile on her face that didn’t touch her eyes. “Careful, or I might think you have a heart in there somewhere.” Her gaze faraway, she spoke, her tone carefully measured and emotionless. “Where I grew up wasn’t exactly a great place. It was a small town, most people were dirt poor. We weren’t well-off, but we were comfortable enough. Grew up just fine. The neighbor kids weren’t as lucky. Their parents made meth and child abuse into an art form.” Absently, she picked at the chipping dark green nail polish on her right thumb, still gazing into the far distance. “When I was fifteen, my older sister had her high school graduation party at the house, and my whole family came. Like, the whole family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins. The whole gang. I was a little shit and didn’t want to socialize, so I snuck out and went for a walk. Didn’t feel like they’d miss me anyway. Turns out the neighbors were cooking up a big batch of fresh methamphetamine that day, and something went wrong. The explosion was so big it took out half the block. My house and everyone inside included.” She snapped her fingers. “Just like that. My whole family, vaporized.”

“Jesus, kid,” he said softly. 

“It took me five years to really process everything, you know? At first it was pandemonium. The state got involved, since I was a minor, and no one could figure out what to do with me. Too old for foster care, not old enough to live on my own. I was checked out, barely spoke to anyone, and frankly didn’t care if I lived or died, so I literally didn’t give a shit where I ended up. I floated around for a while, until I was sixteen and could legally live on my own. Turns out Mom, Dad, and both sets of grandparents named me in their wills, so I ended up inheriting quite a bit of money. I bought a shitty apartment in a shitty little town and did nothing but marinate in a delicious stew of survivor’s guilt and PTSD for four more years.” There was bitterness in her tone; he could almost taste it in his mouth. She returned to picking at her nail polish, not even attempting to look up at him. “Then I started getting my shit together. Got my GED, took online university courses and got a bachelor’s in library science. Started going to therapy, started talking to people. Got a job. I relearned how to be a person all over again. I even got a girlfriend.” At last, she looked up at him, as if challenging him to say something, or perhaps gauging his reaction to her sexuality. When his expression didn’t change, Molly lowered her head and continued.

“She lived upstate, about a two hour drive away. We met online through a literature forum.”

“Pff. Nerd.”

Molly gave a soft huff of something close to laughter. “We hit it off, I took a leap and asked her out, and we dated long distance for two years. She was the first person I was ever in love with, the only person I’d gotten close to since my family died. Then around Christmas on the third year of our relationship, she was driving down to see me...and she hit black ice and went off the road. Killed instantly. I found out about it two days later because her brother found me on Facebook. Her parents...they didn’t know she was a lesbian. They would have made her life hell if they knew. I couldn’t even attend her funeral.” Once she stopped talking, the house seemed unnaturally silent, as if even small sounds were muffled under the weight of her suffering. “After that, I just kind of...shut off again. I figured I was cursed or something, that I wasn’t meant to be around people. I bought this house, found a job editing online articles, and that is the story of how I ended up being the town recluse at the ripe old age of twenty-eight.”

He was quiet; what could he possibly say? Throughout his long, long existence, he had seen worse things than the life she had described to him...but not many, and not by much. There hadn’t been a single human interaction in the time he’d been here, he hadn’t seen her leave the house except to take the trash to the curb once a week. Yet, she seemed...stable. At peace with it all somehow. There was a current of strength running through her, of fire-tested resilience that he begrudgingly admired. Beetlejuice glanced down at her and saw that she was staring expectantly up at him, as if waiting to see what he was going to say. With an easy smirk, he knocked her shoulder with his. “So...you’re into the ladies, huh?”

Molly was silent for a moment, then burst out laughing, awkwardly swinging her fist to land a glancing blow on his chest. “Really, you dick? I bare my soul, my whole tragic life story, and the only thing you take away is that I’m into girls?!”

Chortling, he dodged her second swing easily, darting forward to perch on the edge of the coffee table. “Can’t help having a one-track mind, babes. That explains why you haven’t fallen for my roguish charms yet.”

Scoffing good-naturedly, she relaxed back into the couch; he was relieved to see her posture ease, her body more relaxed after a break in the tension. “Oh, is that what you call it? Besides, what makes you think I’m only into girls, slick?”

He raised an eyebrow, all but leering at her. “Swinging for both teams, doll? I won’t lie...that’s pretty fucking hot.” He could practically hear her eyes rolling, but she laughed softly. It was quiet for a moment, then he reached for her hand. Ever since she had taken his in her own, he had slowly been testing the boundaries of how much touch she allowed. Hand-holding was fine, a casual arm slung over her shoulder was tolerated, but anything beyond that and she would flinch and ease away. Though, knowing what he knew now of her past, touch must be something she was unused to. Now, as easy as anything, his fingers meshed between hers, squeezing softly and holding back a sigh at the hot press of her living skin against his. “Hey, uh...thanks for telling me. Family shit isn’t easy to deal with.”

A beat, and then she squeezed back. "Thanks for listening." She smiled. "You know, for being a demon...you're pretty nice to me."

"Yeah? Well, don't read into it, babes, I'm just trying to get in your pants."

His eyes followed her as she laughed and stood, lingering with her hand in his for a moment before letting go and padding barefoot into the kitchen, a strange expression creasing his brow when her back was turned. Slowly, at the very roots, the tiniest flush of pink tinged his hair. This wasn't how hauntings were supposed to go. The dead were not supposed to feel, especially for the living. This was unnatural, topsy-turvy, wrong in every way, but even so, he was grateful that she had decided to try that summoning spell; after observing her in his time here and learning about her usual practice (what she called "green magic"), he knew now how outside the norm such a dark spell was. Yet she had called him, said his name with no hesitation. Hell, she had all but put out a welcome mat. For him. The pink in his hair slowly began to spread upwards as the barest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth; not a smirk, a grin, or a disingenuous lopsided curl of the lip, but a genuine smile. Perhaps just being here wouldn’t be so bad after all.

[wtfzodiacsigns]

My Experience With the Signs (Reprise)

Aquarius: They have a commanding presence to them that to some is intimidating but not to me. You stick to your “one way of doing things” far too much. they act emotionally detached even when everyone knows they’re the most sentimental person in the room. some of them get on my nerves with their one track mind, but for the most part we get along. they’re the type to say eww guiltlessly when you say you like something really lame (if they dont then they’re the lame one). don’t really get irony for some reason either. they dont understand how you can be ironically into something really stupid, like saying you ironically listen to journey or hall and oats sometimes.

Pisces: its a 50/50. Either I love you or I can’t stand you theres no in between. they all have high morals and will really push them on people. this isnt a big problem unless their logic makes absolutely no sense which happens. they can be very intelligent but this can lead some to become overzealous. they’re smart, empathic and very compassionate. they are equal parts capable of being my favorite person or me just wanting to kill them due to some of their know-it-all natures and ridiculous logic. they’re the type where you can chain smoke talking about every topic under the sun with for 7 hours. so long as you don’t offend them which can happen pretty easily. make one innocuous joke or comment and all hell will break loose.

Aries: we would be cool except you make every issue about you. I admire your ability to stay positive, almost to a level where i fear you’re actually just ignorant of the problem completely. they’re good at making light of other peoples situations, but if something happens to them that they don’t like, its as if the whole world has to go on hold for them to figure it out. they can be really exhausting this way and come off as being super self absorbed. these are the type to call you at 4am saying “guess what just happened to me.”

Taurus: honestly not much has changed. you are still lazy and still prefer netflix and your bag of cheetos to hanging out. but regardless, they’re level headed and easy to talk to. they love to use the blame game to explain away their problems so they dont have to put work into adjusting their behavior. they have sound logic and ideas and can be that friend that you make a meaningful glance to across the room when the person you’re talking to is full of shit. nothing phases these people. until something does. then all hell breaks loose and they are insane.

Gemini: (i dont know many so im sorry if this is an unfair bias) out of all the ones I’ve known, they’ve all sucked. they manipulate and lie to get what they want from people. usually control. every picture on their facebook page is of themselves. they think they’re really talented and special when really they’re just a methhead trying to pick up underage girls with their guitar at a party they weren’t invited to.

Cancer: they’re all super sweet honestly. prone to being down on themselves and making their poor self esteem painfully obvious. they can get defensive and close themselves off even though you really just wanna hug them. tend to make poor relationship choices though they usually dont figure that out til later. really just fun to be around and drink half a bottle of tequila with. you can really tell them anything and they won’t judge you. a wholesome bean.

Leo: the person who cuts into a conversation because you haven’t said their name in five minutes. these are a bit of a mixed bag. the ones who dont have any control of their ego are unbearable: naiive, arrogant, selfish, self centered, etc. but the ones who are aware of their own egos are typically nihilists who like really weird anime and rip on themselves to make them laugh. the self aware ones have this “dead inside” air to them but not in a depressing gloomy way just in a confident “life is meaningless so fuck it” way. also I’ve never met a female leo who wasn’t gay so theres that masculine sign bringin the gay.

Virgo: they overanalyze too much and it makes them anxiety ridden but they dont do anything about it. they can be critical, but trust me they criticize themselves the most. they can be pretty blunt, and its a good trait only about half the time. they are secretly very emotional though most will never know that. they are dying inside but are super good at faking it and turning it into a joke. range from being overbearing to overly detached in about half a second. people don’t really perceive them the way they should in both directions good and bad. they stick to their ways but not in an aquarius or taurus way, but more of a “I am at a loss I dont know what else to do” way. typically very understanding and kind but not at first. it takes time to get through that prickly cynical exterior. they’re moody and typically get way too caught up and drown in tragedies. if something bad happens they never forget and they let it follow them to their grave. they’re the kind of person where you can lay on the hood of their car at night listening to beach house talking about how cool space is. (true story)

Libra: another 50/50. they both make me the angriest most miserable person on earth and also happy to the max. they love passionately when they’re actually in love but are prone to cheaty behavior which they never address. They get caught up in what people think of them without realizing it and it makes them act irrationally. they have a habit of trying to get someones attention or respect by covering up their true selves and adopting all the interests and hobbies of the person they admire, basically a chameleon. this makes them seem fake. i wish they would just embrace who they are and be themselves because literally everyone on earth would prefer that. some, usually the men, can be extremely arrogant and think they’re the greatest thing ever at everything with no evidence. they can be incredibly insecure and have all sorts of weird ways of covering it up. can be manipulative. very flirtatious which is great if you’re interested in one and really not great while you’re dating them. don’t really understand the concept of emotional cheating, probably because they do it so much and dont want to look at themselves as cheaters but they are.  if you find a loyal self aware libra with integrity and self respect though, my god they could rule the world through their ability for kindness and love.

Scorpio: I can be good friends with them but dating them is always a poor choice. they can be pretty oblivious and a lot of them get caught up in trying to look cool. its not because they care what people think its for some weird unknown self serving reason. these people can surprise you in all kinds of ways. because they keep themselves pretty low profile you never really know what they’re capable of. they’re unpredictable that way. they are pretty slutty in frivolous relationships, but once they commit they’re pretty attached. almost to an unhealthy degree. like they could get beat up, cheated on and abandoned by their partner and still love them (true story. like 3 of them). honestly though, usually just dorky memelords who wanna argue with you about politics and music using alien conspiracies as supporting evidence.

Sagittarius: oh you fiery eyed beauties. the independent ones are the best ones. they can talk all kinds of shit and not give a fuck better than anyone and its amazing so long as you’re not on the receiving end of it. the lazier ones are usually more clingy and unsure of themselves and usually use that fiery energy on their loved ones and themselves which isnt as fun. they are the greatest best friends. they know exactly what to say and when and they are the type of person where if you tell them you got cheated on they’ll go find the bastard and light their car on fire. essentially, a punk rock sagittarius can’t be topped by anyone. just stay away from the alcohol because you are so prone to being an alcoholic like please stop we love you.

Capricorn: usually very sweet. like to the point where you wonder if they’re “okay.” they will put up with some ridiculous shit from people. if you need emotional support though ask a capricorn because they will be there. usually like to keep in charge of themselves and accomplish their goals in their own kind of strange ways. usually neat and clean and smell good. they’ll buy you pizza and not ask to pay it back. if you upset one enough to leave your life then you’ve fucked up big time because they will put up with just about anything.they are precious keep them close and protected. I only met one i didnt like and they literally ended up the person i dislike most out of the whole human race that I’ve met. so i guess this means they’re just as capable of being complete asswipes as they are being squishy marshmallows.

Source: nanothestrange

[jungshookz]

can you do a college ta!jimin where y/n is failing her class but she’s too scared to go to jimin for help even though he’s her ta bc every time she sees him in lecture she makes a fool of herself and is embarrassed bc jimin is also v hot

→ pairing: park jimin x reader

→ genre: university!au, ta!jimin, neRVOUS!y/n, tae and kook are the dream team from hell, joon is a try-hard but we still luv him 

→ wordcount: 2.5k

→ note: ok i was going to write this tomorrow but i couldn’t wait because i need ta!jimin in my life right now immediately so i’m soRRY if it’s short but IT WAS SUCH A CUTE IDEA and i needed to get it ouT into the world also fun fact: a girl that i met during my first month at uni told me all about how she fucked her friend’s psychology TA to help her friend get an A in the class and i need me a friend like that

(gif isn’t mine!) 

um

hi

quick question

why the FUCK did you think this astronomy course was going to be easy peasy

it was supposed to be your grade booster!!!!!

all you learn about are the STARS in the sky

they’re just flaming balls of gaS and you somehow are unable to grasp that concept for some reason

“how’d you do???” namjoon plops down in the seat next to you before looking at his own test and flicking through the sheets

you blink down at the test in your hands

49% written in an angry shade of red

you technically failed even though you were 1% away from getting a passing mark

this was the last chance to boost your mark before the final exam and you totally just bombed it

there are three midterms that you have to take in this course

which meant you had three chances to study hard and do well

you got 59% on the first one

63% on the second one

and this one?

49%

you droPPED not 1% not 2% but a FAT 14%

o boy

you have a feeling you’re not going to do too well on the final exam considering the journey so far

“i, uh, i did okay.” you shrug and stuff your test into your backpack quickly “how’d you do?”

“eh, i did okay too. 86% is fine, i guess.” namjoon murmurs and circles one of the questions on the test “i didn’t study as much for this one so that explains why i did more poorly compared to the first and second one.”

you peek over at namjoon’s test and let out a sigh when you notice his has a significantly less number of red cross marks

you love namjoon but you’re ready to smack the back of his head because you would be ecsTATIC if you got 86% on a midterm you barely studied for

“i’m probably going to go talk to jimin during office hours and ask for some help with the questions i got wrong. you wanna come with-“

“nO” you immediately curl into yourself and wince when namjoon mentions jimin

jimin

park jimin, if we’re being more specific here

he’s the TA for this class and let’s just say,..,,..,,. there’s a reason why the class filled up so quickly at the beginning of the year

he is drop-dead gorgeous

like unbelievably gorgeous

like sculpted from the gods themseLVEs gorgeous

soft, perfectly tousled raven locks

pretty brown eyes

the cutest button nose

and his lips

his pillowy lips that curl around certain words so perfectly and you’re always mesmerised when he takes over a lecture because he does this thing where his tongue will poke out and swipe over his bottom lip in the middle of his rant and you will never admit to anYone that you’ve fantasised about what it’d be like giving him plump bottom lip a lil kith once or twice or thrice

he has a couple ear piercings and you never thought you’d be attracted to that but oH boy you definitely are

not to mention he’s like???? so fashionable???????

most of the time he wears like a button-up tucked into a pair of slacks just to keep things professional or whatever but SOMETIMES he walks in in like a pair of ripped skinny jeans and a loose white tee and a denim jacket or something and that just gets your gears gOING

one time you caught a glimpse of his bicep flexing as he ran his hand through his hair and you literally couldn’t focus on anything for the rest of the class

(today he’s wearing a white button up tucked into a pair of ripped blue jeans and he has his thick black glasses sitting perfectly on his nose)

and!!!!! on top of that he’s the sweetest human being in the entire world

everything about him is just so utterly, frustratingly perfect

he gigGles very often and overtime he does that you’re pretty sure an angel is born in the heavens above

and he’s always super helpful with everyone

even though it’s pretty obvious some of the people in here approach him with the dumbest questions because they just want an excuse to talk to him he will anSwer those dumb questions and help them to the best of his abilities

you haven’t really had a conversation with him before just because this is a class with 200 people and you obviously aren’t going to elbow your way through the crowd just to stand there with nothing to ask him

the only question you can imagine yourself asking is “…..wat is a star” and u don’t want him thinking you’re a big ol dummy

however

the times that you havE interacted with him or the times that prove to you that he does indeed know that you exist have been awful to say the least

absolute humiliating

you don’t know why but every time you make a fool of yourself it’s in this class and it’s riGHt in front of jimin

when you were doing your presentation with a couple other classmates you kept stuttering over your words because jimin was in the front row just staring at you and you could feel your face growing redder than a tomato

you kept stumbling and missing important parts in the presentation so your teammates had to step up and help you a little and afterwards you apologised proFuSely and treated them all to a drink from starbucks

another time namjoon asked if you could go down to the front and grab his paper for him and as you were walking down the steps of the lecture theatre you missed a step and fell riGHT in front of jimin

so, in conclusion: jimin probably thinks you have a speech impediment aND you’re clumsy as hell

you’re just glad that there are only like 2 weeks of class left because that means you’ll finally be able to get away from jimin

it’s not like you want to get away from him

it’s just that

you can.,,.,. u can feel yourself starting to develop a tiny crush on him (spoiler alert you already have a fat ass crush on him you stubborn walnut) and that ain’t good because then you’ll be all sad and mopey because you know for a faCt park jimin is way WAY out of your league and there’s nothing you can do about it

“y/n.”

but you know what you should at least try and say something to him before the year ends because if you don’t you’ll probably regret it

“y/n.”

oR you could make an anonymous page on that ‘university crushes’ page (there are already severAL park jimin posts on that Facebook page so you’re sure your contribution won’t make a difference)

“y/n!!!!!!!” you jump when you feel someone grab your shoulder and you snap out of it immediately “what’s gotten into you?? i said your name like a trillion times!” jungkook furrows his brows

“what? what?” you look around frantically and-

what the heck

when did you get to the dining hall

“i said her name a trillion times on the way here and she didn’t reply to me either.” namjoon snorts as he picks up an apple from the fruit basket “she’s probably daydreaming about jimin again” he teases and you resist the urge to roll your eyes when you see slow smirks begin to appear on everyone’s faces

oh god

here it comes

“ooOooooOOOHH-“ jungook and taehyung begin teasing you and you whack their hands away when they reach up to pinch at your cheeks “our y/n has a little crush on park jimin!!!!!!!”

“i don’T have a crush on anyone!” you scowl and grab a carton of apple juice for yourself “cut it out, you freaks”

“aw, don’t be like that! it’s okay! he’s a very pretty person.” taehyung nods and grabs the juice box from your hand

“get your own juice box.” you snatch it back from tae’s hands before whipping around and heading towards the table where they put all the muffins and donuts (you’ve been craving something sweeT)

as you walk towards the table you turn your head so that you’re able to send a glaRE at your friends “i’m terminating this conversation because i do not want to talk about my crush on park jim- oH-!” suddenly you’re stumbling riGHt into someone and you feel hands grip at your waist to keep you steady while your own hands instinctively reach out to balance yourself

you turn your head back quickly ready to profusely apologise to this person for your clumsiness and that’s when you realise you just stumbled riGHT into-

p a r k   j i m i n

/…..FUCK

christ

jesus CHRIST

see

it happened again!!!!!!!!

whenever you do something humiliating jimin is riGHT there

“careful there!” he laughs lightly and you retract your hands from his pecs (ᵒʰ ᵐʸ ᵍᵒᵈ) immediately “you good?”

“great. i’m good!” you squeak out and feel your cheeks starting to warm “i- uh, are you okay? i’m so sorry, i wasn’t watching where i was going-“

“don’t worry about me, i’ll survive.” he jokes and your eyes immediately dart away because of your inability to hold eye contact for more than like fiVE seCONDS

“okay, cool, um, that’s good. ……anyways i’m just gonna pay for my juice box-“

“y/n, right?”

you immediately look back up at him

o god

he knows your name

okay okAY okay calm down just act cool you’re super cool you’re a cool gal!!!!!!!

[high pitchy voice] ʸᵒᵘ’ʳᵉ ᶠᶦⁿᵉᵎ

“yes. that’s me. i am her. i am y/n.” okay there we go we finally got there “you’re… jimin.” oOFhkj

u know what just shut up don’t say anything

“you’re the one who wrote about astronomy and its relationship with astrology, right?”

huh

oH righhhhhht that paper you had to write for astronomy

while you’re not good at exam-type things you’re pretty good when it comes to papers because it’s just you ranting about something but make it ~professional~ aNd also cite ur sources

“yes! that was me!!” you perk up because that paper was the onLy thing you were confident handing in in the class lol “i actually changed my topic last minute but i’m glad i did because i had a loT to say about the subject - b-but you probably already know that because you’re the one who graded it, hah-“ you reach up and scratch the back of your neck awkwardly

you catch a glimpse of the boys over jimin’s shoulder

they already paid for their food and they’re sitting at your guys’ usual table and while namjoon is shooting you a thumbs up and a dimpley smile both tae and kook are being iDIOTS

kook has his fingers curled like an ‘o’ while tae is sticking his finger through the hole and they’re botH wiggling their brows at you and you feel your cheeks warm even moRE

that’s so embarrassing

why are boys like that

whY are you friends with boys like that

namjoon scowls and whacks their hands down before pointing to their food and you can practically hear namjoon telling them to cut it out and just eAT you dumbasses

“i thought it was really well-written and very well executed. i enjoyed reading it, actually. i enjoyed it so much i read it twice!” jimin laughs and you feel your heart skip a beat when you hear his cute giggle “how did you do on the latest midterm?”

you’re not… particularly sure why jimin is stiLL talking to you

it’s not like you’re complaning or anything

you’re just confused 

..,.,.,is he just being friendly because TA evaluations come out soon

hM

“i did, um… let’s just say i could’ve done a loT better.” you clear your throat

you’re not about to remind him of your grades because u really reaLLy don’t want him to think you’re a moron  

“oh! i’m sorry to hear that…” he frowns and his shoulders droop slightly before he perks up again “i’d be happy to talk to you and help you out! i’m free at 5:30 this afternoon.”

“5:30 works for me! but don’t office hours end at 4?” you furrow your brows in confusion and your bottom lip pokes out a little in the tiniest of pouts and jimin uwus internally

“yeah, and?” he still has his bright smile on his face and you are just conFUSEd “i’ll help you out and maybe we can grab a bite to eat afterwards.”

wait what

wait hWAT

“are- are you sure? i don’t want to inconvenience you or anything-“

“don’t be silly, you could never. here, i’ll give you my number.” jimin plucks the pen out from behind his ear and grabs your hand and you feel your heart rate SPIKE almost immediately

you instinctively giggle when the pen starts gliding against your skin and jimin peeks up at you with a smirk “ticklish?”

you take your bottom lip in between your teeth and keep your eyes on your hand “a lil”

jimin clicks the pen and tucks it back behind his ear and you look at the digits that have been scrawled on your hand “alright, i have some more midterms to grade so i’m going to disappear but i’ll see you later?”

“yes, that sounds good” you swallow thickly because you’re still registering the fact that park jimin just,,, gave you his number

“see ya!” jimin waves at you as he starts to walk away and u literally almost scream when his right eye drops in a wink

you wave back at him shyly and press your lips together

what is going on

is this a fever dream

are you in a simulation maybe

and then you’re standing there just wondering.,..,,. what was THAT and also are u going on a….. date later

nO no no

don’t over think it

he’s just being nice

he’s a nice guy

jimin lets out a breath once he leaves the dining hall and he has to stop to let his heart calm down a little

god damN

that number thing was a bold move but he’s so glad you didn’t reject him or anything

hopefully you show up this afternoon otherwise that’d kinda suCK

he can’t believe it took him nearly two whole semesters to finally grow some balls and say something to u lol

better late than never!!

help me help you make your wishes come tru (aka send me a request)

masterlist

[afictionaladventure16]

Side Effects May Include (Tony Stark x Daughter)

Side Effects May Include (Masterlist) 

Part 13

Warnings: mentions of rape with descriptions, descriptions of a suicide attempt, mentions of depression, detailed suicide attempt. 

Word Count: 2,012

“Dad?” No response, “Dad?” After last weeks scenario, she had apologized but things were still rocky for the both of them. Tony still didn’t understand as to why she was behaving the way she was but he decided to just give her some time and space.

“What?” He responded in a bit of a harsh tone.

“Can I talk to you about something? It’s kind of important,” She gave him the hint that she wanted his full attention.

“So is this, Liv, kind of working on saving the world here, hon.” When wasn’t he? “Give me like an hour okay?” But did she have an hour to spare? Her mind felt like it was tearing itself apart, fighting against each other by the minute, Olivia couldn’t stand it anymore. She needed an escape, she needed to talk to someone about what was going on inside. Tony continued to work on his machine, Olivia heard the sound of tools falling within, “Ah, crap!” Tony exclaimed, Olivia began to walk away, “Make that about three hours, hon,” He said as Olivia heard him slam something against the table. “this piece of shit, just keeps breaking on me.”

Olivia just caught him on a bad time, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t important. She tried her best to keep the negative thoughts out, but as she kept walking down the long hallway the thoughts kept coming back to haunt her. He could’ve just put it on hold, but she had to keep in mind that he does save the world for a living, whatever he was working on must have been very important.

“Pepper?” I asked as I walked into Peppers office, once again, she was focused on the computer in front of her.

“What is it, hon?” She gave me a side glance.

Olivia could tell she was extremely busy, “Do you think you have a moment to spare?”

She sighed, “I’m actually kind of busy with something, why don’t you go ask your father on whatever it is, I’m sure he’d be glad to help,” she said without even looking up from the computer.

Olivia stood there staring at her, maybe Olivia wasn’t as important as she thought, “alright,” Olivia whispered as she walked out of the office. She heard a distance yelling coming from the living room, she decided it’d be worth a shot. She walked down the hall and into the living room, noticing Sam sitting on the couch probably playing some shooter game.

“Sam? Can I talk to you?” Olivia asked as she walked over to the couch. She and Sam weren’t that close but he did give good advice at times, he’d be worth the shot and right now she was just desperate to get things off her chest.

“Not right now, Liv, kind of in the middle of something,” he said as he focused his attention on the screen.

“But it’s kind of important,” she said.

The music played within the game, that meant that Sam had just died in the game, “great, now you made me loose,” he said out of frustration.

she rolled her eyes, “never mind,” she whispered as she walked out of the room. Sam let out a frustrated sigh as he paid his attention back on the game.

Olivia walked past the training room, noticing Nat and Steve in there training, but she knew it was no hope. Olivia felt as if she wasn’t important, so why should she even try? she walked straight over to her room. She sat down on her desk. Pulling out her laptop she typed into the Google search engine, Side Effects of Rape?

Many articles, along with websites popped up.

The top website was Effects of Sexual Violence.

Sexual Violence.

Was that even the same thing as rape?

It felt like it. From all the trauma that Olivia had received due to the events that happened that night, it sure as hell felt like it.

Olivia scrolled down, Flashbacks, was one of the categories, “During a flashback, memories of past traumas feel as if they are taking place in the current moment,” the article read.

Olivia thought back to when Peter had touched her shoulder the other day, the way she caught a fragment of memory from the night she was rape. Remembering the way Bren gripped her shoulder as he penetrated her, she freaked out on Peter, but Peter just thought he had scared her, caught Olivia off guard. Peter apologized for it and Olivia shrugged it off.

Now that Olivia thought back to it, she knew she was having a flashback.

Olivia’s laptop notified her that she had a message from Facebook, she quickly clicked on the notification which directed her to the Facebook website. She saw the message icon from a fellow student from school, Olivia knew the kid but has never spoken to him, she thought it was weird that he was messaging her. She shrugged it off and opened the message, revealing what looked like a video.

She stared at the video for a few seconds before hitting play.

Olivia gasped as she saw herself in the video, Bren smiling as he kissed her neck, it was obvious that Olivia was heavily sedated in the video, but people didn’t see that what they saw was two people “making love.” Not some Jock raping a girl after he drugged her. Because rape didn’t happen. It never happened. Because girls always ask for it right? Wrong.

Olivia felt herself getting more upset, she decided to just close the laptop, she couldn’t handle the hollowness that she was feeling inside her chest. She let out a small sob, how did this guy get a hold of the video? How many people have seen it?

Olivia couldn’t live a life where people saw her get raped and still told her, to her face, that she wanted it. She just couldn’t. She didn’t want to live in this cruel world anymore.

Grabbing a Pen and Paper and laying it down on the desk in front of her, she grabbed the pen and began writing, spilling tears onto the paper causing the ink to slowly spread but she didn’t care. She didn’t care that her last words would be mixed with her own tears.

After a few minutes, she placed the pen down, glancing over to the bottle of antidepressants that had been prescribed to her, that was laid on the nightstand. She walked over and grabbed the bottle, removing the cap she placed a handful of pills in her hand, “Don’t be a fucking coward,” she whispered to herself, she then placed the pills in her mouth, grabbing the water bottle on her nightstand she drank some water to help the pills go down.

Olivia did it a couple of times until there were no more pills in the bottle, she paced around the room as it began to get hot, “hey, Liv, you think you can help me with this?” She heard Bucky say as he entered her room. “Whoa, you don’t look good at all,” he stated as he placed his laptop on her bed. Bucky began to panic a bit. What was he doing there? Olivia didn’t want him to be a witness to her death. This wasn’t how she planned it.

Olivia began to hypervalent, she felt my body go limp but before she could even fall to the ground Bucky caught her, “Crap, Liv.” The pills were taking its effect. Bucky instantly began to panic, Liv wasn’t saying anything, he looked around the room and spotted the empty pill bottle on the floor, he picked up the bottle and then looked back at the girl in his arms. “Liv, what did you do?!” He instantly began to help the girl regurgitate the pills that she had took, “No, no, no, no, come on, liv, help me out here! TONY!” Bucky yelled out in a panic tone, “F.R.I.D.A.Y., Get Tony! Get anyone! Ambulance, something! Oh, fuck!” Liv began to throw up some of the pills, but Bucky continued with his technique.

He noticed her eyes slowly shutting, “stay with me, doll!”

“What’s going on?” Tony asked as he entered the room, he spotted the scene in front of him.

“Holy shit!” Tony quickly went over to his daughter.

“She took the whole bottle of pills,” Bucky said in a panicked voice.

“liv, baby, oh god. Why would you do this?” Tony took over, helping his daughter regurgitate the pills. Tony looked over at Bucky, who sat on the floor, in shock, “get Bruce! NOW!”

Bucky didn’t hesitate and ran out of the room, Tony continued to shove his fingers down his daughters’ throat in an attempt to save her life, “why would you do this, baby, why?” Tony kept asking the question over and over, “you got to stay with me, you hear?! I can’t lose you!” Bruce then came running in with some medical supplies, “you have to save her, Bruce,” Tony said as he looked over at his friend.

Bruce never saw Tony this way, this torn up, “how much has she thrown up?” Bruce asked as he looked over at Bucky and then Tony.

“Not enough,” Bucky whispered, “I-I told F.R.I.D.A.Y. to alert the ambulance,” Bucky looked up, he was never sure where to look when speaking about F.R.I.D.A.Y.

“An ambulance has been notified,” and it was always as if F.R.I.D.A.Y. knew they were looking for it, “they’re down the block.”

“We’ll meet them outside!” Bruce said as he picked up Olivia and ran down the hallway to the elevator.

“My baby,” Tony sobbed as he picked up the empty bottle on the floor. By this time, everyone had arrived at the room, “why would she do this?”

Pepper knelt down next to Tony, pulling him into an embrace, “come on,” she whispered softly as she helped Tony off the ground. Everyone, except Steve and Bucky, had followed them out, they were all shocked at the scene they had just seen.

Steve walked up to his friend who was staring at the floor where Olivia once was, “are you okay?” Bucky got up and walked over to the restroom, not saying a word to his best friend. He grabbed some paper towels and walked back over where he held Olivia in his arms. 

Steve watched as his best friend began to clean up the mess, “Bucky,” he whispered. Steve knew how much Olivia reminded Bucky of his younger sister and he couldn’t imagine what pain he was going through. “Bucky,” he said again, grabbing Bucky’s arm in order for him to stop.

“She- I- I was just- Why would she- I don’t understand,” Bucky was distraught as he looked over at his friend who gently placed a hand on his shoulder, “why would she want to do that to herself?” Bucky felt like a failure, he thought Olivia would go to him if she ever felt upset, so why would she do this?

Steve had tears beginning to well up in his eyes, he began to look around the young girls’ room maybe looking for some clues, “What are you doing?” Bucky questioned.

“She had to leave a suicide note,” Steve couldn’t believe the words that came out of his mouth as he looked around the nightstands. Steve felt slightly angry with himself, how could he have ignored the signs that she wasn’t okay, did she give a distress signal? He was always looking after her and he couldn’t do this one damn thing.

Bucky stopped cleaning and began to help Steve look. Bucky walked over to the young girl’s desk, noticing the paper that was set perfectly on it, “Steve,” he said softly as he picked up the paper. It was noticeably damaged by water, what looked like tears. Steve quickly walked over to Bucky, “What does it say?” He asked as Bucky read the note. Bucky had this unfiltered anger within him as he finished the note, he aggressively handed it to Steve, “Tony needs to see this.”

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[cristinablackthornkingson]

Shadowhunters Short Story #55. Toddler Mina Carstairs feat. Big Sister Mina.

It is a cool September afternoon in Devon 2015, a year and a half after Mina Carstairs was born, when Tessa Carstairs receives one of the biggest shocks of her life.

Over the past couple of weeks Tessa has been feeling odd, her main symptoms are getting light-headed and having dizzy spells, and while at first she wasn’t worried, after the symptoms did not ease after a few weeks, she decided to have Catarina book her in at the local hospital, where she now works part time, while teaching at The Scholomonce the other half of the time. Jem had wanted to come with her today but Tessa insisted there was no need and that he should stay at home with Kit and Mina so they wouldn’t have to ask Emma to come to Devon to watch Mina and keep an eye on Kit. Though Kit is almost 16, Tessa and Jem are extremely protective of him and are reluctant to leave him home alone, especially with Mina, not because they don’t trust him but because he is still vulnerable and probably still being hunted by someone from Faerie, even if The Riders are gone, there are others who want to get their hands on the lost heir.

So just half an hour ago Tessa had left Jem tutoring Kit on Shadowhunter history while Mina played with her toys, at their feet.

When she had told Catarina about her symptoms, the first thing Catarina wanted to do was a blood test, suspecting that her friend was simply low on iron, which can easily happen after having a baby. Thankfully it would only take a few hours or less for Tessa to get the blood test results back, and since she was Catarina’s last client for the day, she stayed in the hospital with her friend, helping her to clean up the exam room and set up for tomorrow.

“Is Mina walking yet? She was very close to it last time I visited.” Catarina asks her friend, as they change the paper on the exam bed.

“Not entirely, she’ll take a few steps on her own but then she seems to get scared and just plop back down, she’ll walk a good bit holding Jem, Kit or I’s hand and she loves to cruise along the couch but she’s not so keen on doing it on her own.” Tessa says in an amused tone, picturing her little Mina clutching tightly to her big brother’s fingers as he helps her walk across the room or down the driveway to collect the post.

“My Ephraim was the same, he didn’t walk on his own until he was 18 months, anytime I let go while he was walking while holding my hand, he would just fall down and start crawling again, they certainly know how to get what they want.” Catarina lightly says, still able to picture her son’s tiny little hand in hers, wobbling alongside her as they walked through the town.

“That they certainly do, Mina has Jem and Kit wrapped around her little finger, if she so much as coughs during the night, both of them are at her side in a minute flat.” Tessa laughs, knowing that Mina knows full well if she makes even the smallest noise, her daddy and brother will come rushing to her and give her whatever she wants.

An hour after Catarina sent Tessa’s blood sample to the lab, she goes to pick up her results and comes back with a look on her face that says she knows something.

“What? What’s that look for?” Tessa suspiciously asks, hoping that all is normal with her results.

“Has your cycle gone back to normal since having Mina?” Catarina asks, shutting the door behind her and sitting beside her friend.

“Not entirely, why?” Tessa asks in a confused tone.

“Oh it just explains why you didn’t figure this out sooner.” Catarina nonchalantly says, lightly shrugging her shoulders as she scans the clipboard with Tessa’s results on them.

“Figure what out? What are you talking about Cat?” Tessa asks, close to frustration. 

“You’re pregnant.” A wave of shock washes over Tessa, she can hardly believe her ears. Like they had before Tessa got pregnant with Mina, she and Jem agreed that they weren’t going to try and prevent a pregnancy, but they weren’t going to actively try for a baby either, but they so rarely had the chance to be intimate anymore, with Mina between them most nights and both of them being extremely busy during the day, it had been at least 2 months since they had slept together, and Tessa had felt non of the symptoms she had with Mina.

“But it’s been months I... I didn’t think it would happen so soon.” Tessa quietly says, still in shock.

“2 months I’m guessing, since that’s how far along you are, and there is one more thing you ought to know.” Catarina says, looking at the results on her chart.

“W-what is it?” Tessa weakly asks.

“Your HCG levels are very high, which gives me reason to believe you’re having twins.” Catarina softly says. Tessa feels as if she may pass out from shock. Finding out she is pregnant was one thing, but finding out it’s twins is something else entirely.

“A-Are you sure?” She breathlessly asks.

“Well I’ll need to do an ultrasound to be sure but I don’t see why else your HCG levels would be so high.” Catarina explains.

“Can... can we do the ultrasound now?” Tessa weakly asks, needing to know for a fact if she is having twins or not.

Twenty minutes later, Tessa is trying to see as much of the screen of the ultrasound machine as she can, from her position on the exam bed, but she can’t make out much.

“There you have it, that’s Baby A, and that’s Baby B, everything looks perfect with all three of you.” Catarina gently says, pointing out the two little blobs on the screen. Tessa starts to tear up when she sees her babies, the shock wearing off, her heart swelling with love for these two new babies that she will soon be able to hold and kiss and snuggle, she can hardly wait.

When she arrives home, she finds Kit sitting on the sofa with Mina in his lap, her attention fixed on the T.V. where The Book Thief movie is playing.

“Read that book.” Tessa lightly says, standing behind the sofa Kit is sat on, leaning down to kiss Mina and ruffle Kit’s hair. Kit grins up at her in delight and instantly shoots back

“Saw that movie.”

“I have no idea what either of you are talking about.” Jem chimes in as he walks into the living room, grinning at his wife and children.

“Lies, I saw you reading the book last week!” Kit replies, as Mina reaches up for Jem to lift her.

“You caught me out, thanks to you, your old man is becoming quiet well versed in pop culture.” Jem lightly says, lifting Mina and settling her on his hip.

“Jem you still call every social media site ‘The Facebook’”. Kit laughs. Copying her brother as usual, Mina smiles widely, clumsily claps her hands in delight and giggles loudly, showing off the few teeth she has.

“Oh you think daddy’s ignorance is funny now too, do you? I don’t see you knowing how to work an iPhone either Mina mine.” Jem teases his daughter, lightly tickling her chest, causing her to shriek with laughter and wriggle away from him.

“Jem can I talk to you for a minute?” Tessa quietly asks her husband, laying a hand on his arm and smiling at he and Mina.

“Of course, you go back to your big brother Mina, Kit maybe you could put something a little more child friendly on?” Jem lightly asks, passing Mina back to Kit.

“If I have to watch one more episode of Peppa Pig I’m going to loose it, how about we facetime Clary and Jace instead Min-Min?” Kit says, holding his sister with one arm and fishing his phone from his pocket with the other.

“Ace!” Mina exclaims in delight. Being only one and a half, Mina hasn’t mastered talking yet and can’t pronounce ‘J’ or a lot of other letters, which has led to some rather adorable nicknames. She calls Jace ‘Ace’, Simon ‘Imon’ Emma ‘Memma’ and Julian ‘Ules’.

As Kit and Mina wait for Clary and Jace to pick up, Tessa and Jem head into the kitchen, which is just opposite the living room.

“How did everything go at the hospital?” Jem asks, leaning back against the kitchen table. Tessa slips one of the ultrasound pictures from her pocket, that Catarina had printed out for her, and passes it to Jem.

“Do you know what this is?” She asks, watching Jem screw up his face in confusion.

“Something Mina painted with Julian?” He guesses, not able to decipher any particular shapes or images, just seeing a mass of blurry black and white.  Tessa laughs and shakes her head.

“No James, you’re going to find that hilarious when I tell you what it actually is.”

“Then what is it?”  Tessa beams up at Jem, takes his free hand and presses it to her stomach.

“Its an ultrasound, I’m pregnant.” Jem’s face immediately lights up with delight, before he pulls his wife closer to him, hugging her tightly and laughing with joy.

“Really? So this is a picture of our baby?” He eagerly asks, pulling back and looking at the image in his hand, now trying to make out their baby.

“Actually, it’s a picture of our babies.” Tessa softly says. It takes Jem a moment to register what Tessa has said, but when he does, his eyes widen in disbelief.

“Babies? Twins?” He asks in a breathy tone. Tessa laughs lightly as she laces her arms around the back of his neck and nods.

“That’s right, twins.” Jem shakes his head in disbelief, though unable to wipe the smile from his face.

“Oh my god, oh my god we’re going to have four kids, three of them under three, I’m going to be a dad of four!” Jem says in a tone of shock and disbelief. Tessa laughs and leans in to kiss his cheek.

“Yes you are, lets go tell the other two shall we?” Jem grins broadly and nods, taking Tessa’s hand in his as they walk back out into the living room, where Mina is sitting in Kit’s lap, facing him, smiling and giggling as she listens to him tell her stories about when she was a baby, like the time he tripped over her blanket and almost dropped her and then cursed in front of her.

“Reminds me of when Lucie would crawl into James’ bed in the middle of the night when they were little, and tell him stories to help him fall asleep.” Tessa softly and quietly says to Jem, remembering the mornings when she would go to wake her daughter only to find her bed empty, and Lucie snuggled up next to her big brother in his bed.

“Kit and Mina have just as special of bond as James and Lucie did, I remember coming to give Lucie her three week check up and James was lying on a blanket on the floor by her bassinet, when I asked him what he was doing, he told me he was protecting his sister.” Jem replies, his heart aching for James and Lucie, the first two children he ever loved and who will always hold a special place in his heart. They are as much his children as they are Will and Tessa’s and Mina and Kit are as much Will’s children as they are Tessa and Jem’s.

“Ugh they’re so soppy aren’t they Mina?” Kit teases, grinning at his parents as he holds Mina up and blows a raspberry on her cheek, which makes her scream with laughter.

“Mina you are going to burst somebody’s eardrum with your squeals, is this an indication that we have a little soprano on our hands hm? Are you going to be a musician like daddy?” Tessa coos, taking a seat next to Kit and kissing her daughter’s cheek.

“Of course she is, and a bookworm like her mummy and big brother James, and a writer like her sister, and probably a painter too if Julian and Clary have anything to do with it, and how could I forget that this one here will probably have her picking locks before her second birthday.”Jem jokingly says, ruffling Kit’s hair as he takes a seat next to his wife and children.

“She can already climb out of her crib. I wonder who taught her that?” Tessa teasingly says, taking Mina from Kit when she reaches for her.

“Actually I think that was Anna.” Kit says, settling back against the couch cushions, referring to Magnus and Alec’s two year old daughter who they adopted at a few months old, just after Mina was born. 

“And I’m sure you’re teaching her how to be a good big sibling.” Tessa softly says. Just a few weeks ago Magnus and Alec had adopted a little Shadowhunter boy they named Henry, and his siblings are infatuated with him, especially his sister.

“What would you think about having another sibling Kit?” Jem carefully asks, stopping Mina from climbing up on to the back of the sofa.

“I wouldn’t mind, I think Mina would be a great big sister, but I don’t think she’d like having to share our attention, especially not mine.” Kit grins, loving how attached Mina is to him and how close they are.

“What about having two new siblings?” Tessa asks. She is not sure how she and Jem should go about telling their teenager that she’s pregnant, Jamie wasn’t even a year old when Tessa had gotten pregnant with Lucie, and when Tessa was pregnant with Mina she and Jem assumed Emma had told Kit about her, so didn’t make a point of specifically telling him, when they offered for him to move in with them.

Kit laughs and says

“You guys are getting ahead of yourselves aren’t you? What, are we going to be like The Von Trapp family?” Tessa smiles weakly and says

“Haven’t read that book because there is no book version, but I have read the movie script.” Kit smiles and shakes his head.

“Of course you did, you would read the back of food cartons for fun.” He teases.

“Your mother could write a book about her life and with all the books she’s read she’d be able to do it in her sleep.” Jem says, putting an arm around his wife.

“You could, and should, it would be a hit! You could write the first book about your life in London and about how you met Jem and Will and stuff and then you and Magnus and Catarina and Ragnor could write a sequel about your life after all that, then you could write a third book in a few years when Mina and I are older and have given you a few more gray hairs.” Tessa smiles at her son, her heart warming at his enthusiasm for her to write a book, and his belief in her.

“I could but it’s going to have to wait a while if I want to start this year, I don’t fancy trying to write and edit a book while pregnant with twins.” Tessa tells him, her hand coming to rest on her stomach. Kit’s eyes widen and he sits up straight, looking from Tessa to Jem in disbelief.

“Woah woah woah back up, is this why you were asking me all those questions about having another sibling? You’re really pregnant? With twins?” He asks in a shocked tone. Tessa nods and says

“Yes I am, that’s why I’ve been feeling off lately, dizzy spells are a symptom I always get when pregnant, but I never get it this early so that’s why I didn’t realize until I got the blood test results back this afternoon.”

“Damn, you guys really don’t mess about, Mina’s not even two yet and you’re going to have two more, and James was one when Lucie was born, you must love having kids with a small age gap.” Kit says, his heart fluttering with excitement at the idea of being a big brother again.

“Well actually this last year and a half we’ve both come to realize we really enjoy having a bigger age gap between our kids, we were thinking of waiting until Mina is at least three if not four, before we had another, but that just wasn’t meant to be it seems, and now we’re going to have three under three, which is quiet daunting.” Jem says in a nervous tone. He and Tessa will have to speak to Magnus and Alec, last year they adopted Anna and then just a few weeks ago they adopted Henry, they have 4 kids under 7, they’ll be able to give them some good advice on how to cope with all the little ones they’re about to have in their house.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be here to help out all the time, and I’m sure Emma is going to practically move in when the babies are born, like she did when Mina was born, and Min-Min is going to be a great big sister, she’ll love the babies so much, you guys aren’t going to be on your own, I’m always going to be around to help out with my siblings, weather the twins are the last or you have 10 more, being a big brother is the best thing I’ve ever done and I’ll never stop loving it.” Tears well in Tessa’s eyes at Kit’s heartfelt promise and they soon start to trickle down her face. Jem, knowing how emotional his wife gets in early pregnancy, pulls her closer, kisses her cheek and rubs her back.

“It’s alright love, don’t worry about getting upset in front of Mina, she needs to know it’s okay to be upset and cry sometimes, right?” Jem softly and quietly says.

“Tessa are you okay? Did I say something to upset you?” Kit asks in an anxious tone.

“Oh no, no baby you didn’t upset me, I’m not upset at all, these are happy tears, I’m so happy to have you and I feel so honored to get to raise you and love you, you’re such an amazing young man and I just could not be more proud of you.” Tessa quietly says, wiping at her tears.

“Stop it you’re going to make me feel things too, I hate feeling things.” Kit jokes, holding back his own tears of joy, taking Mina from Jem and holding her in front of him so no one can see if he does start to cry.

“What do you think Mina mine, are you excited to be a big sister?” Jem asks, running his hand over Mina’s dark curls. Mina nods enthusiastically, gripping onto Kit’s shirt tightly. Kit kisses Mina’s cheek and jokingly says

“Two more of you huh? How am I going to cope?” Mina giggles loudly and pats Kit’s face with one hand, reaching up to grab a handful of hair with the other, causing her brother to hiss in pain and try to untangle her hand. “Ah Mina let go, you’re going to rip my hair out, if I have to show up to my date with Ty bald, I’m going to blame you, you’ll have to explain to him why his boyfriend is balding at sixteen.” Kit teases, tickling Mina’s stomach, making her release his hair and squirm away.

“You won’t tell Ty or anyone else about the twins just yet will you? It’s still early and we want to be sure everything is okay.” Tessa quietly asks.

“No of course not, believe me, I love you guys but the last thing I’m going to discuss on my date, is your pregnancy.” Tessa smiles and leans over to kiss her son on the cheek. 

“You’re such a sweet boy.” She softly says, causing Kit to blush furiously. 

“I am not, I am a tough, moody, sarcastic, angsty man.” Kit firmly says. 

“It’s like living with a blonde, American Will.” Jem says to Tessa. 

“Will says he always thought he’d look good as a blonde but Tess told him if he dared to dye his hair blonde she’d leave him.” Kit says, passing on the message Will’s ghost (who often hangs around to see Mina, who can see him) had given him. 

“I most certainly did, and James and Lucie said they would disown him, as did Cecily. James was ready to ask Henry to adopt him, as was Lucie.” Tessa says with a smile. “I better go call Magnus and tell him he’s going to be an Uncle again.” Tessa then adds, getting to her feet and heading upstairs, leaving her boys and baby girl to have some quality time together. 

The next few months are hectic for The Carstairs’, Tessa’s pregnancy is not as smooth and easy as it had been when she was pregnant with Mina. This time she has many more aches and pains and is much more uncomfortable, when she was pregnant with Mina she nursed Shadowhunters and Downworlders who had fought against The Cohort and their allies in the Unseelie Court, this time around she can hardly get up the stairs and dress Mina. Kit is an amazing help, always willing to feed and dress Mina and play with her, while Jem tends to Tessa. 

On top of that, this last week, Mina has been sick with a cold and is being extremely clingy toward Jem and extra fussy, she’s off her food and finding it very difficult to sleep at night, Jem is usually up walking the floor with her at all hours, while Tessa lies awake with hip pain, wishing she could do more to help her daughter feel better.

Right now, Jem is lying on his and Tessa’s bed, with Mina curled up on his chest, sucking her thumb and dozing in and out of sleep. Jem’s heart is breaking into pieces, seeing his daughter so unwell and miserable, he would do anything to make her feel better, which is why he’s more than willing to get up with her at all hours of the night, he never thought he’d get to be a father, his Mina is his little miracle and he will forever be grateful for her and do anything he can for her.

“Daddy.” Mina quietly whines, snuggling further into Jem, wiping her nose on his shirt. 

“Daddy’s here Mina mine, it’s alright.” Jem softly says, rubbing her back gently. 

“Story?” Mina hopefully asks, looking up at Jem and batting her long dark lashes at him. Mina loves to listen to her mummy and daddy tell her stories about her brother and sister, about her aunties and uncles and about her cousins, she specifically loves hearing stories about her daddy and Uncle Will and how her Uncle Will would always do silly things to summon her daddy when he was a Silent Brother. 

“What story would you like to hear?” Jem asks. Mina contemplates this for a moment, before saying

“Ucie.” Jem smiles at Mina’s adorable mispronunciation of her sister’s name and starts into a story about some of the mischief Lucie had gotten into when she was young.

A few days later Mina is feeling much better and is back to her normal self, much to everyone’s relief. Tessa, however, is still feeling pretty awful and has started getting some bad headaches as well as all her other aches and pains. She is 36 weeks this week and has an appointment with Catarina today. Normally Tessa drives herself to her appointments while Jem stays home with the kids, however these last few weeks, Tessa has not been able to fit her bump behind the wheel, so Jem is going to drive her, then do some shopping with Mina and Kit, go home for a while and pick Tessa up when she’s finished at the hospital. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to wait in the car for you?” Jem asks Tessa, as they walk out to the car where Kit is already strapping Mina into her car seat. 

“I’m sure, you know how much Mina hates being in the car, I could be hours here and she won’t tolerate being in the car longer than 20 minutes, I’ll be with Catarina, I’ll be just fine.” Tessa assures her husband in a soft tone, as he helps her into the car. 

“How come you have an appointment every week now Tess? You didn’t have this many with Mina.” Kit curiously asks, as Tessa tries to fit the seat belt around her swollen stomach.

“Well because things can be more complicated with twins, this pregnancy is high-risk because of the complications I had early on and because it’s twins, with multiples the chances of premature birth and complication are much higher, so now that it’s drawing closer to my due date, it’s essential to keep a closer eye on them.” Tessa explains, as Jem pulls out of the drive. 

“Oh, oh you know Helen had the baby? Dru text me this morning.” Kit says, having just read the text from Dru telling him that Helen and Aline’s baby had been born last night, healthy and full term. 

“Boy or girl?” Jem asks, looking at his son in the rear view mirror.

“Girl, Delilah Eloise Pennhallow-Blackthorn.” Kit tells them, while quickly typing out a reply to Dru. 

“Her that Mina? You’ve got a new cousin.” Tessa says in an excited tone, turning around to smile at Mina, who claps her hands clumsily and smiles widely. 

Half an hour later, Tessa is sitting in the exam room with Catarina, listing off the symptoms she’s been having since she last saw her.

“I have to say I’ve been feeling quiet awful these last few weeks, this week specifically I’ve been dizzy and getting awful headaches, and my ankles are so swollen I can hardly fit into my shoes anymore.” Tessa tells Catarina, running a hand down her stomach. Catarina looks at Tessa with eyes full of concern and says 

“That’s not good Tess, surely you know that?” 

“It’s not great but it’s not awful.” Tessa nonchalantly says. 

“Tessa you worked as a midwife for years, surely you know that all these symptoms your having are all warning signs of preeclampsia?” Catarina softly asks, not wanting to frighten her friend but needing her to realize how serious this is. Tessa’s eyes widen and fill with fear and dread. 

“Oh my god, I-I forgot, it’s been so long and I’ve constantly been comparing these symptoms to the symptoms I had the last three times, I had headaches with Mina and dizzy spells with Lucie and my ankles were swollen with all three.” She quietly says. 

“Lets check your blood pressure and do a urine test, those two things will tell us for sure.” Catarina gently says, squeezing her friend’s hand encouragingly. 

Twenty minutes later, Jem and Kit are walking through Aldi with Mina sitting in the trolley, taking in her surroundings. They’ve only been here about 20 minutes  and already they’ve been stopped multiple times by people admiring Mina. 

“Do you need anything in particular Kit?” Jem asks, as they walk through the aisles of the shop. 

“A good night’s sleep would be great.” Kit says in a flat tone. Jem chuckles and says 

“I’m afraid they don’t sell those, anything that you can buy that you need?” Kit shakes his head.

“Nope, is it okay if I go to LA later to see Ty and meet the new baby? Magnus said he’ll open a portal for me, so Tessa won’t have to ware herself out doing it.” Kit asks. 

“Of course. Do you think your mother already has this book or should we get it for her?” Jem asks, picking up a mystery novel that’s on sale for £5. 

“Even if she already has it she’ll be more than happy to have a second copy, I can’t count how many copies of A Tale Of Two Cities she has.” Kit says, picking Mina’s dummy up from where she dropped it on the floor.

“Good point.” Jem says, adding the book to the trolley. Just then he feels a vibrating in his pocket, his phone going off. He fishes his phone out and quickly answers it, not looking at the caller ID. 

“Hello?” He answers, as Kit takes over the trolley for him. 

“Jem, its me.” Tessa’s voice comes through the line. 

“Oh are you finished? Kit, Mina and I are almost done shopping, we keep getting stopped by people admiring Mina, our daughter just gets more and more popular, we should be there in about 20 minutes.” Jem calmly says, having not noticed the wobble in Tessa’s tone when she answered.

“No, James listen to me. You know how I’ve been having headaches and dizzy spells and my ankles have been swollen?” Tessa asks, trying to keep her voice steady. 

“Yes.” Jem says, not sure where she’s going with this. Tessa sniffles and says

“Well um.. turns out those were symptoms of preeclampsia, which I have. Catarina contacted the London Institute had them send for a Silent Brother, and in Brother Enoch and Catarina’s opinion the best thing to do is induce me, and that’s not all. Baby A is breech, they might have to do a C-section.” Jem almost drops the phone in shock, he feels as if his world is about to come crashing down at any minute. His wife is seriously ill, she may have to have major surgery and they’re going to have two premature babies. 

“I’ll be right there.” Jem firmly says, before hanging up and turning back to Kit, who is looking at him with eyes full of worry. 

“Is everything okay?” He quietly asks. Jem shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair.

“Tessa has preeclampsia, it’s extremely dangerous and could kill her and the babies, Brother Enoch and Catarina are going to induce her, but one of the babies is breech so she might need to have a C-section.” Jem explains as calmly as he possibly can. “I need to get to her, on the way to the hospital can you text or call Emma and ask her to come to Devon to stay with you and Mina at home? I don’t know how long your mother and I will be staying in the hospital, especially since the twins are a month premature.” Kit nods and quickly unbuckles Mina from the trolley, lifts her into his arms and follows Jem out to the car.

40 minutes after arriving at the hospital, after changing into a hospital gown and being assigned a room, Tessa begins to feel contractions, as if her body knows how essential it is to get these babies out soon. The contractions are slow and far apart, but very painful. 

As Tessa lies on her side in the hospital bed, gripping the handle that stretches from the side to the head of the bed as a contraction tears through her, she hears fast approaching footsteps, followed by Jem’s voice. 

“Tess! By The Angel, are you okay?”He asks, dropping to his knees beside her and clasping her hand in his. 

“As okay as I can be.” Tessa says in a taut tone, scrunching her face up in pain. “Where are Kit and Mina?” She asks, once the pain has passed. 

“In the waiting room, but Magnus is opening a portal for Emma, she’s just packing a bag, she’s agreed to stay and watch Mina and Kit for as long as we need, she’s going to portal here and drive the kids home in our car.” Jem calmly explains, smoothing Tessa’s hair back. “What’s going to happen?” He adds. 

“C-Catarina and Brother Enoch think it’s best that they’re the ones who handle this the rest of the way, t-they’re willing to let me try and have a natural birth b-but they think it’s best we go to the OR anyway, that way if I do need an e-emergency C-section, they can do it faster and get the babies out as soon as possible.” Jem nods his understanding and agreement and asks 

“Have they induced you yet?” Tessa shakes her head. 

“I-I went into labor on my own, my waters haven’t broken but I’ve been having steady contractions for a while now.” Jem bends to kiss his wife’s forehead and softly says 

“It’ll be alright, I won’t let anything happen to the three of you.” 

Over the next few hours, both Tessa and the babies are constantly monitored and checked on frequently by Catarina and Brother Enoch. Catarina has arranged for a few people from NICU and pediatrics to be at the birth too, just in case the babies need to be taken straight to NICU or anything like that.

After 6 hours of grueling labor, Tessa is ready to give birth. Her bed is wheeled into the OR, and while Jem scrubs up, Catarina helps her onto the table and to get comfortable. When Jem comes in wearing green scrubs, a surgical mask and a surgical cap, Tessa can’t help but laugh and pull him in for a kiss. 

“You look adorable.” She giggles. Jem smiles and pecks her cheek. “So do you, and so will our babies.” He slips his hand into hers and squeezes it lightly. 

A few minutes later, Tessa begins to push. She only pushes for about 20 minutes, before Baby A makes their way into the world, feet first. The baby immediately starts to cry, and is whisked away by an assisting nurse, to be weighed and checked over. 

“Oh are they okay?”  Tessa asks, straining to get a glimpse of her baby. 

“It seems so, you have a girl Tessa.” Catarina softly says.

“Mina’s going to be thrilled.” Jem quietly says, stroking Tessa’s hair back from her face. The odd time Mina has shown an interest in having new siblings, she has made it very clear she wants at least one of them to be a girl. 

10 minutes later, after another round of pushing, Baby B enters the world, kicking and screaming. 

“Well this little one certainly has a good pair of lungs!” Catarina laughs, handing the baby over to the assisting nurse, to check them over. 

“Boy or girl?” Jem excitedly asks. Catarina grins and says 

“A girl, two beautiful, healthy little girls.” Tessa laughs lightly and quietly says

“Kit is going to be so thrilled that he’s still the only boy.” 

“And Mina is going to be so happy that both babies are girls. I can’t believe we have three daughters, you did amazingly today Tess, you’re like a superhero from those movies Kit likes.” Jem softly says, focusing all his attention on his amazing wife, who just a few hours ago was diagnosed with one of the most terrifying aliments, and then went on to deliver twins, one of which was breach. 

“Are the babies okay? Do they need to go to the NICU?” Tessa asks in a tired voice, hardly able to keep her eyes open but desperate to see and meet her babies. 

“Both girls are very healthy, Baby A is 5 pounds 10 ounces and Baby B is 5 pounds 8 ounces, we’ll need to take them for some tests later but for now you should have some quality time with them, they don’t need to go to NICU so they can go back to your room with you.” Catarina informs Tessa, causing a wave of relief to wash over her, and all the stress she had been feeling since she was diagnosed that morning, lifts from her. 

Just half an hour later, Tessa and the babies are back in the hospital room where Tessa had labored, both babies are snuggled up inside Tessa’s gown, happy and content as can be. 

“You’re one happy mama aren’t you?” Jem quietly asks his wife, gazing at her and their babies in awe. Tessa smiles softly and nods. 

“Of course I am, I have my babies at last.” 

“Do you still like the two girls names we chose before they were born?” Jem softly asks, stroking Baby A’s dark tufts of hair. Tessa nods and quietly says 

“Jade Ai Ke Carstairs for Baby A, and Charlotte An Ke Carstairs for Baby B.” Jem grins and leans down to softly kiss each of his daughters on the forehead. “I should let Emma know these two are here safe and sound, she and Kit are probably worrying themselves silly.” Jem says, picking up his phone from the tray beside Tessa’s bed. 

At The Carstairs’ home in Devon, Emma is sitting on the floor with Mina in her lap, trying to distract herself from worrying about Tessa and the babies by face timing Cristina and Mark (Kieran is in Faerie) who Mina adores. Meanwhile Kit is on the sofa on his phone, probably texting Dru and Ty.

“Any news about Tessa and the babies, Em?” Cristina asks, having heard all about Tessa’s preeclampsia diagnoses from Emma, before she rushed off to Devon this morning.  

“Not yet, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing or if Jem just forgot he has a phone, again and can contact me or Kit in a few seconds.” Emma replies in a weary tone. She adores Jem, but sometimes she despairs of his technological ignorance, she and Kit have tried everything to get him to use his phone but he keeps forgetting, he started writing out a birth announcement two years ago when Mina was born, before Tessa and Kit reminded him that they could just text everyone. 

“My mother had preeclampsia with Dru, she was born a couple weeks early too but everything was perfectly fine with both of them, I’m sure Tessa and her babies will be just fine too.” Mark gently reassures Emma. Just then Emma receives a text notification from Jem and her heart skips a beat. 

“I just got a text from Jem, I’ll call you guys back in a bit okay?” Emma quickly says, hanging up before either of her friends can answer her. When she opens the message the first thing she sees is a picture of Tessa lying in a hospital bed dressed in a hospital gown, which is open at the top. Inside the gown are two little bundles of pink and white, and Jem has captioned the image ‘Jade Ai Ke Carstairs and Charlotte An Ke Carstairs were born at 4:23 p.m and 4:30 p.m. this evening, Tessa did an amazing job and was able to deliver them naturally like she wanted, both babies and Tessa are doing perfect, I’ll call you tomorrow to arrange for Mina and Kit to come meet the girls, and you of course.’

 Emma immediately sets Mina down and quickly makes her way over to the sofa and hands her phone to Kit. Kit furrows his brow in confusion but then he quickly scans the message and a smile breaks out over his face.

“Oh thank god.” He quietly says, pulling the earphones from his ears. “Two more sisters, I’m gonna go broke spoiling these three.” Emma smiles and lightly shoves his shoulder. 

“How do you think my bank account is going to cope? I have Mina and the twins to buy for, and Delilah, and I can hardly forget The Lightwood-Bane kids and Stephen and Lucie.” She says, thinking of Clary and Jace’s 2 year old daughter Lucie and their 5 month old son Stephen. 

“And me, don’t forget me.” Kit teases, lifting Mina into his lap when she comes toddling up. 

“My gift to you is stopping Julian lecturing you about treating Ty right.” Emma smiles, knowing how worried and protective Julian is of his siblings. 

“Fair enough, hey Min-Min, you want to see a picture of your sisters?” Kit asks in an excited tone, lightly bouncing Mina in his lap. Mina’s eyes widen and she nods enthusiastically. Emma pulls the picture back up on her phone and holds it out for Mina to see. 

“Mama!” Mina exclaims in delight, pointing to Tessa in the picture, hardly noticing the babies. 

“Yeah that’s mama,and your sisters.”Emma softly says, running a hand over Mina’s silky dark hair. 

“Ove mama, Ove babies.” Mina says in a wistful tone, clearly missing her mama very much. This is the longest Tessa has been away from Mina since she was born, when Mina was smaller, Tessa would often tuck her into a sling or baby carrier and take her to The Spiral Labyrinth with her, where she was always met with love and adoration. Though now she’s older and walking and getting into everything, Tessa has opted not to take her to The Spiral Labyrinth when she has work, because if she takes an eye off her daughter for one second, Mina will have the place in chaos. 

“They love you too Min-Min.” Emma softly says. 

Later that evening, just as Emma has put Mina to bed and Kit is reading her a story, she gets a call from Jem. He gives her updates on Tessa and the babies and they arrange a time for she, Mina and Kit to come meet the babies tomorrow. Jem also tells her that he’ll be staying at the hospital with Tessa and the babies tonight, mundanes don’t usually allow it but Catarina has managed to persuade the Matron to allow Jem to stay just for tonight. 

Early the next morning, Emma wakens first, she has a shower then wakes Mina and goes downstairs to get breakfast for them both. An hour later Kit is just coming down, when Emma is strapping Mina into her stroller, ready to take her with her for a walk. 

“I’m going to take Mina with me on my walk, there’s pancakes on the stove and porridge in the microwave, I’ll have my phone so call me if you need me, we’re going to the hospital at 11 to see Tessa and meet the babies.” Emma informs Kit, checking that Mina is happy and secure in her stroller. Kit simply nods, still half asleep, not understanding how anyone can be this awake and chipper so early. 

While out on her walk, Emma decides to go the bakery Jem has taken Mina to all the time since she was born, and pick up some breakfast for he and Tessa, she can’t imagine hospital food is very nice, if it’s anything like the food served in The  Basilias, (Which is now located in New York, since The Shadowhunters no longer have access to Idris.)

When Emma steps into the bakery with Mina on her hip (The buggy was too bulky to fit inside the small shop so she left it outside) the two ladies working there, smile brightly at her. 

“Hello again little Mina! And Emma right? Jem’s sister?” The lady with the name tag that reads ‘Catherine’ asks. Emma smiles and nods as Mina claps her hands in delight. 

“Yeah that’s right, I see my niece is still a very popular little girl.” Emma lightly says, smiling at Mina. 

“So Jem tells us, he tells us he and his wife are constantly stopped by people fussing over Mina. Where is Jem today?” Catherine asks. 

“He’s at the hospital with Tessa- his wife- she just had twins last night, a month early so I’m watching Mina and Kit and I thought I’d come in here before we head to the hospital to see the babies, and pick up some breakfast for Jem and Tessa.” Emma explains. 

“Oh I knew it wouldn’t be long, the last time Tessa was in here she looked completely ready to have those babies, poor girl was in so much pain.” Catherine says in a sympathetic tone. 

“She was actually diagnosed with preeclampsia yesterday, that’s why the babies are early.” Emma says, shifting Mina in her arms as she starts to get cranky and fussy. 

“Oh that’s awful, are she and the babies alright?” The other lady asks. 

“Yeah thankfully all three are fine.” Emma says. 

“Would you like Jem’s usual order?” Catherine asks. Emma isn’t exactly sure what Jem’s usual is, and she hadn’t really though of what she was going to get for her and Tessa, she just knew Tessa wouldn’t want anything with chocolate, and Jem would probably be happy with anything, you could hand Jem a pile of dirt and he’d thank you.

“Sounds good.” Emma says. 

“So two girls, two boys or a boy and a girl?” Catherine asks in an excited tone, as the other lady bags up Emma’s order. 

“Two girls, Jade and Charlotte.” Emma replies.

“Oh how lovely! Are you excited to be a big sister Mina?” Catherine softly asks Mina, who has looped her arms around the back of Emma’s neck now. Mina smiles broadly and nods. 

“Here you are, and I put in another apple turnover for Tessa, she deserves it after giving birth to twins.” The other woman says, passing a brown paper bag to Emma, over the counter. 

“Thanks, she’ll appreciate that, I’ll just have to make sure Kit doesn’t get his hands on it first.” Emma jokes, holding out a 10 pound note. 

“Oh no, it’s on us, your brother and sister-in-law are so kind to us and such loyal customers.” The woman says in a kind tone. 

“Really?” Emma asks in surprise. 

“Absolutely, they’ve done so much for us, we’d like to do something for them.” The woman says. 

“That’s so kind of you, thank you. Can you say bye-bye Mina?” Emma coos, clutching the bag of pastries in one hand and holding Mina with the other.

“Here, something for our most adorable customer.” Catherine says, handing Mina a chocolate bun. Mina’s eyes light up and she immediately starts wolfing the bun down, and Emma has to hold back a sigh knowing how much of a mess Mina is going to make with that bun and how hyper the sugar will make her.

An hour later, Emma is walking through the halls of the local hospital with Kit at her side and Mina on her hip. 

“I hate the smell of hospitals.” Kit grumbles, as they walk toward the maternity ward. 

“It does smell awful in here, shouldn’t a hospital smell clean?” Emma asks. 

“It’s the food, whatever you do don’t eat the food here, I had my appendix out when I was 12 and was kept in for a few days, the food they gave me was the worst thing I have ever tasted and I swear it made me feel worse.” Kit says. shuddering at the memory. 

“The food they serve at the Basilias isn’t great either, I was there yesterday morning actually, before I came here, visiting Helen, Aline and Delilah, they need to work on their menu.” Emma says, as they turn the corner to the room Tessa is in. When they step into the room, they see there are two giant pink balloons in the corner by the window, as well as various pastel colored baskets scattered around the room, overflowing with baby stuff.

“Did you panic and buy the entire gift shop dad?” Kit teases, setting his backpack down and walking over to embrace Jem, who laughs lightly and pulls his son into a tight embrace.

“No this is Magnus’ doing, he arrived here first thing this morning with more gifts than we know what to do with.” Jem replies, taking Mina into his arms and holding her close, pulling Kit close with the other. “Oh my babies, I missed you two so much.” He softly says, kissing Mina’s cheek and ruffling Kit’s hair. 

“Jem you are so embarrassing!” Kit exclaims wriggling out of the embrace.

“That’s my job Christopher, you know that.” Jem jokingly says, embracing Emma tightly. “Thank you so much Emma, for looking after Mina and keeping an eye on Kit, it really put Tessa and I at ease, knowing that Mina and Kit were with family.” Emma smiles up at him and tells him 

“It was no problem, that’s what sisters are for. Where are Tessa and the babies?” The two plastic cribs by the side of the bed are empty and Tessa is nowhere to be seen. 

“The babies are having some tests done and Tessa’s in the shower, she should be done soon and the babies should be back soon.” Jem replies, holding Mina closely as Kit settles into a chair by the bed.  “Did the nice ladies at the bakery give you another treat Mina mine? We’ll have to clean that chocolate off your face before you can meet your sisters.” Jem says in amused tone, lightly tapping Mina on the nose causing her to giggle loudly and grab at his hand. 

“I tried to get it all off but she wouldn’t stay still long enough.” Emma says, while rooting through her bag for the pastries she got for Jem and Tessa. “I got these for you and Tess too, the ladies at the bakery gave them to me for free.” Emma holds the brown paper bag out to Jem.

“That was so thoughtful of you Em, thank you, is it thanks to Mina you got them for free? I swear every shop we go into, someone always gives us something for free because of how adorable Mina is.” Jem smiles, taking the bag from Emma. 

“They said it was because you and Tessa are so good to them, they wanted to do something nice for you in return, though I don’t think Mina’s cuteness hurt the situation.” Emma tells him. 

“I’ll have to make sure to go in and thank them when Tessa and the babies get home. How was Mina for you? Did she give you any trouble?” Jem asks, a tinge of worry seeping into his tone. Mina can be quiet the handful sometimes, she has a hell of a temper, like Will. Jem and Tessa like to imagine she got her temper from Will, even though he has no biological relation to her, it brings them joy and makes them feel closer to him.

“No she was good as gold, I took her on a walk this morning and she loved it, she pointed out every dog along the way, I think you’ve got an animal lover on your hands.” Emma says, gently tickling Mina’s cheek.

“Or it’s because a certain someone is always showing her what he calls ‘Dog memes’.” Jem says, making air quotes with the one hand that isn’t keep Mina secure on his hip. Kit grins proudly and says 

“It keeps her happy doesn’t it? I could be worse, I could be teaching her about demon pox like Will.” Jem sighs and shakes his head. 

“Just what are we going to do with your Uncle Will, Mina? Teaching my baby about STDs, I’m sorely tempted to bring him back just so I can kill him again for that.” He jokingly says. “And don’t you dare say you can help with that, Kit.” He adds. Kit grins and laughs. 

“You know me so well.” He says. Just then the door to the bathroom swings open, and Tessa steps out, dressed in a blue hospital gown and a dusty pink robe, her hair tied into a bun at the back of her head. 

“Mama!” Mina squeals, the minute she sees Tessa. Tessa’s eyes light up and she crosses the room and takes Mina from Jem, peppering her face in kisses. 

 “Oh hi baby, I missed you so much.” She softly says, holding Mina close and breathing in her scent, so glad to have her daughter back in her arms again. 

“Did you miss me too?” Kit asks with a hint of anxiety in his tone, anxiety that Tessa will push him away and only want to be with Mina and the twins right now. But instead she smiles widely at him and pulls him into the embrace with one arm and plants a kiss on the top of his head. 

“Of course I did my sweet boy, so much, it killed me being away from you two.” Tessa softly says, as Kit lays his head on her shoulder, enjoying the feeling of being embraced and loved and cared about. 

10 minutes later the babies are back in their bassinets by Tessa’s bed, having finished all their tests and being declared perfectly healthy, which Tessa and Jem are so relieved about, seeing as the twins were a month early, they could have had all sorts of complications. 

“They’re so tiny.” Kit says in a tone of awe, looking between the two bassinets that contain his youngest sisters. He thought Mina had been small, but compared to the twins, she was a giant baby. 

“Well they were premature, and Mina was full term, I almost went over with her.” Tessa says from her position on the bed, with Mina in her lap, Jem at her side and Emma at Kit’s side. 

“Ty and Livvy were early too, not by this much though, but they were still tiny.” Emma says in a nostalgic tone, her heart aching at the thought of Livvy. 

“Do you guys have any baby pictures of Ty?” Kit asks in a curious tone, turning to look at Emma. 

“I think so, I think Julian has an album that was his mom’s, why?” Emma replies. Kit grins mischievously and says 

“I want to see all my boyfriend’s baby pictures, especially the embarrassing ones.” 

“Speaking of babies, do you want to hold your sisters Kit?” Tessa asks, setting her apple turnover slice down on the tray in front of her. Kit’s eyes widen and he stammers 

“A-are you sure? I might break them.” Tessa laughs as she reaches into the bassinet nearest her and lifts the baby out. 

“You never broke Mina, you can hold them one at a time if that makes you feel better.” Kit thinks about it for a minute before nodding, plonking into a seat beside Tessa and holding his arms out. 

“This is Baby A, Jade Ai Ke Carstairs.” Tessa softly says, lowering Jade into Kit’s arms. 

“Emma would you like to hold Charlotte?” Jem asks, as Kit gazes at Jade in awe and fascination. 

“Oh I’d love to!” Emma says in an excited tone, holding her arms out for Jem to pass little Charlotte to her. Emma cradles the baby close and smiles softly down at her. From underneath her little white cap, there are a few curls of brown hair poking out, her skin is tanned like Jem’s and she has his eye shape and bone structure, while she has Tessa’s mouth and nose. 

“Wow, Min-Min, Jade looks just like you.” Kit says, smiling up at Mina. 

“She certainly does, she’s like Mina 2.0 with grey eyes, Lottie has Jem’s eyes but I’m just happy that finally after 5 biological children one of my babies got my eyes.” Tessa says in a proud tone. 

“You wanna say hi to your sisters Mina?” Jem gently asks, noticing Mina starting at Emma and Kit. Mina nods wordlessly. Jem scoops her off the bed and takes her over to Emma and Charlotte first.

“This is Charlotte, she looks like mama, doesn’t she?” Jem softly says, stroking the baby’s soft little cheek. Mina stares at her sister in awe, her mouth hanging half open. She nods her little head, her dark curls falling into her face. “You want to give her a kiss? Tell her you love her?” Jem encourages, while clipping Mina’s hair back from her eyes. Mina stands on her tiptoes and leans over to carefully kiss Charlotte’s head, though she more so gets her eye. 

“Love oo Lottie.” Mina quietly says. Her eyes light up then and she smiles widely and points at her sister. “Daddy, Lottie, like Aunty Lottie!” She exclaims.

“That’s right my clever girl, she’s named after your Aunty Lottie like you’re named after your Uncle Will and your cousin Rosemary.” Jem tells her. He and Tessa want Mina to know about the woman she was named for, but she’s too little to understand that Rosemary is both Kit’s birth mother and related to Mina in some way, making Kit biologically her cousin, not her brother, so they simply tell her that Rosemary was her cousin. 

“You wanna come over here and say hi to to Jade, Mina?” Kit asks, wanting to steer the conversation away from the topic of his birth mother. Mina nods and bounds across the room to his side. She stares at Jade the same way she did Charlotte, full of curiosity and fascination. 

“Ade.” Mina says. “Lottie, Ade, sistas.” she adds, pointing from Emma and Charlotte to Kit and Jade. 

“That’s right Mina mine, they’re your sisters.” Jem softly says, placing a hand on her lower back. Mina leans forward and places a sloppy kiss on Jade’s forehead (again more so getting her eye than her forehead) and says 

“Love oo Ade.” While Mina, Kit and Emma fuss over the babies, Jem takes a seat next to Tessa again and slips his hand into hers. 

“We have a beautiful family.” He quietly says.

“Yes we most certainly do, we’ve really been blessed.” Tessa replies, laying her head on her husband’s shoulder. 

“I only wish...” Jem trails off, his throat closing up and tears welling in his eyes. He knows Tessa knows what he is trying to say, so he focuses on calming down and not crying and getting upset in front of his children and sister. 

“I know, I do too, I wish all our family could be here right now. I wish Sophie was here to knit blankets for the babies, I wish Charlotte was here to fuss over them with Cecily while Henry builds them cribs and toys, Gabriel would teach them to spar and Gideon would be the most wonderful tutor, Lucie would write so many stories about her sisters and James would read to them everyday, Christopher would be fascinated by them and the fact they’re twins, Anna would buy them the most amazing little outfits, Thomas and Cordelia would insist on helping out with them while Matthew would argue with Charles over whose turn it is to hold them. I wish all our family could be here but the family that are here and that we have now are just as amazing, Magnus is the fun uncle who lets them break the rules, like he always wanted to be to Jamie and Lucie, they have a perfect family around them right now.” Jem laughs lightly and wipes at his tears as he imagines Henry presenting he and Tessa with two beautifully carved cradles that do all sorts of ridiculous things, like the self-rocking cradle he had built (and broken) for Charles before he was born.

“You’re right, of course you are my beautiful Tessa, you are always right, I’d be lost without you.” Jem quietly says. putting his arms around her shoulders. 

“And I you.”

The next day the babies and Tessa are discharged from the hospital. Emma happily agrees to stay for another few weeks to help out with the twins and Mina and help with training Kit.

When Tessa, Jem and the babies arrive home from the hospital, the babies are fast asleep and Tessa and Jem can hardly keep their eyes open. So with Kit happy and safe on a date with Ty in LA and Mina happy with Emma, they put the twins in their bassinets and fall into bed, fast asleep before their heads hit the pillows. 

While they sleep, Tessa and Jem are oblivious to the crowd of ghosts coming in and out of their room to see the babies. The last to come to see the twins, is of course William. He takes a minute to just stand and look at the two beautiful little girls who are a mixture of two of the people he loves most in the world. 

As he stands looking at the babies, Jade blinks her eyes open and stares up at Will, her eyes wide and bright. Will smiles softly and reaches down to stroke her cheek. 

“Hello little Cariad, what are you doing awake hm? You’re meant to be asleep.” He whispers. Jade blinks up at him, totally unfazed by him, just like Mina had been. “Sweet girl, go back to sleep Jade, let your mummy and daddy sleep some more, and don’t wake your sister. If you’re lonely I’ll stay with you, I always stayed with Mina, you close your eyes and go back to sleep and Uncle Will is going to stay right here.” As though soothed by these words, Jade closes her eyes and soon falls asleep in no time, clutching Will’s hand. 

Tessa and Jem always speak of how they wished their family from London could be a part of their children’s lives, but they’re totally unaware of the fact that their wish has already come true. Everyone from Charlotte to Cordelia to Gideon to Jesse watches over the little family, and loves them.

[rellayella20]

Story time! This about the first time I made out with someone☺️(I was 18 btw). So I’m a part of this singing group right and we get ask to sing everywhere. Especially our hometown. Well anyways, we got booked for a gig and business was as usual EXCEPT. There was this guy who was also in a singing group but he was only the drummer. He was not that good but who am I to judge right? Well my group was the special guest so his group went before mine. Later on in the show I found out that the lead singer was his girlfriend soooo... I lost interest. Well I mean I didn’t know for sure it was but I had a hunch. Any ways the day ended and I went on with my life because that’s what I do best. I want to say maybe a week or, no, two weeks went by and worked at Tacobell (lol I’m saying it because its important). I’m working the graveyard shift and I hate it but it’s paying better than I’d like to admit. Well anyways I’m in the drive thru and I do the usual procedure and depending on the night I might get some Pervy guy who flirts with me over the speaker and if they sound cute I might flirt back😂. Well this guy in particular sounded so fine😍. I could not wait to see what he looked like (before he drove up I put my shiniest lip gloss on just so I’d draw attention to my lips) ,and Low and behold when he rolled up it’s the gosh darn drummer. He rolls down his window and says “What you doing with all that lip gloss on them lips?” “Who you got that on for?” And my dumb self tryna be cute says “My husband” lol and I thought he understood that it was code for, well, him. He then continues to say “oh yeah well he won’t mind me getting your number?” I don’t EVER give my number out on the first day just Incase. Well that’s exactly what I told... but I then gave him my Facebook instead HA. I knew here soon he would be messaging me. When he did he says “are you really married?” Hold up. Pause, before I gave him my Facebook I asked “Don’t you have a gf?” I SWORE he said NO. But he says he told me “something like that” but I don’t remember that cuz I’m not a home wrecker and I wouldn’t have let him touch my- anyways resume. Okay so I messaged him back and said “I wouldn’t be txting you if I did. I’m loyal.” So after that the conversation was very normal we got to know each other. Well maybe a week later he asked to see me. And I was a very sheltered kids so I’m very picky on who I meet up with like... no. Anyways I finally met up with him and it was my mother’s birthday, her and my father were away on vacation. Well I decide what the heck huh? Why not? Well I drive up to his house and tell me why the whole time he across the street from my grandmas house. Which I didn’t know my grandma had moved to that house at the time.. anyways I pull up to his spot and txt him “I’m here come out before I leave” lol just being petty. So he comes out and my heart is racing. But something is SOAKING in my pants LOL. Well he comes to my car and stands at my window. And says “wow this is random. But hey I’m glad you’re here, do you want to come inside?” My scary self legs shaking heart racing Lol I studder and say “nooo lol I’m not going in there we can sit right here and talk cuz I’m about to leave” I laugh because he looks at me to say “you just got here hoe” then he says “well it’s starting to sprinkle at least let me get in the car. I had just cleaned my car out KNOWING this moment would come. I unlock the doors and my heart beats even faster. He gets in and says “this is nice, you look nice” I was wearing a hoodie and skinny khakis but guys say anything to get you loose. As we talk he begins to notice how uncomfortable I am lol very stiff, awkward, and I’m shaking my leg. Finally he grabs my thigh and says “relax” I immediately calm down but the OCEAN in my pants does not (I would say underwear but I decided to freeball this day) so we’re in th car looking each other up and down talking about our common interest. Our bands. He starts telling me an issue he has with his manager about how he makes the group operate and how the manager won’t listen to none of

[riotatthemovies]

Baywatch Nights SEASON 2 (because Season one did not count)

SO every so many years I am reminded of this bat shit crazy phenomenon of a shows existence. And now with the world in stay home crisis I guess I have some time on my hands and challenged my weak mind to a marathon.

So the infamous David Hasselhoff made Baywatch the semi action semi drama wildly popular show about good looking people running in slow motion on the California beach. Hasselhoff got a little bored that the show was not enough about him so he doubled up in a self produced spin off show Baywatch Nights were his character Mitch Buchanan got a side hussle as an investigator on the side of his lifeguard and coastguard work. The first season was a cop action romp but did badly in the ratings so in season 2 it completely rebooted its self. So you dont need to see season 1 as Season 2 exists in its own reality full of Ghosts, Demons, Aliens, Vampires, Parallel Dimensions. Yep X files was huge so Hasselhoff figured he could do it to. This 22 episode arch is so ridiculous when you keep in mind its his character from Baywatch doing this and in a Scully and Mulder way he will literally see aliens and the devil and the next episode say shit like “oh come on I don’t believe in the tooth fairy”. Everything about it watched like a passion / ego project to the level of it being brilliantly innocent and awful all at once. The rest of the cast of season one have disappeared except scientist Ryan Mcbride played by the beautiful Angie Harmon, an actress beautiful in a different way from the usual Baywatch girl so they figured you would believe this as a smarter show but she dumbs down her acting skills seen in Law and Order so she can read the cheesiest lines every typed on paper.  

I have been posting comments as I marathon through this on my Facebook but let me give you a run down of most of the impactful episodes I've been watching so far tonight.

Episode 1 (again remember only important is season 2 so this is season 2 ep 1)

Terror of the Deep : Sounding like a classic Corman movie, Mitch Buchanan's first up close encounter with a paranormal creature.  A ship has sank off the coast and archaeologists and secret agent enlists Mitchs scuba diving skills to check if someone is still alive on the ship and warns him there may be a mystical creature loose on it as it was being smuggled . Mitch meets basically the creature from the black lagoon on the ship but shrugs it off till the end the secret agrent questons Mitch on what he saw and he saw and makes Mitch very nervous saying “I saw it ok, I just dont know what I saw”. Dun dun dunnn.

Jump to Episode 3 THE RIG: Basically Baywatch goes fully HP lovecraft as scientists disappear on a oil freighter and Mitch goes to see if anyone is still there. But the scientists has awoken a growing ameba like crreature that is growing giant and swallows the frieghter with Mitch and Ryan in it. Oozing glowing green all over the walls and growing around it the the blob but with images of a worm like body moving all around them. But Mitch goes all Die Hard on the massive monster with no shape in the sea and blows the shit out of everything.

Jump to Episode 5 Circle of Fear:Where Ryan read a book of black magic and becomes curses by the devil himself. When the devil is defeated because of course a life guard and a CSI rep could beat the devil. The msyterious secret agent friend says You know it was the devil and it will be back. Mitch responds literally with “I kicked its butt and if it shows up Ill kick its butt again”

Jump to Episode 6 THE CABIN : Ryan and Mitch go to a haunted cabin that has them stuck in a time loop as they enter different rooms, they can hear each other but they seem different time lines from when the ghost was alive. The ghost is an old 49er miner who tries to kill em with a pick axe. In the end it was all a dream but Mitch sees his wound and knows he just jumped back in time to the begining where its safe.

Jump to Episode 9 Night Whispers: A female vampire is killing people in an old police precinct and wants to make Mitch her slave as she thinks he is really sexy , Mitch pretends he is under her spell but he tricks her because he knows he could have any woman anytime so her glam magic wont work on him and he kills the vampire. Seriously.. I wish I was making that up.

Jump to episode Space Spores: Mitch saves the whole world with his use of diving knowledge when the world is infected by the Andromeda Syndrome. Oh yeah thats episode 10.

Episode 11 Mitch is possessed by a demon giving him red eyes and making him mean after saving a possessed girl who was drowning.

Jump to episode 13  Vincent Schiavelli is a magical Dungeon and Dragons Dungeon Master who sucks his victims into a game world where he challenges them to Dungeons and DEAAAATHHHHH  .. Yeah really.  Vincent Schiavelli was the weirdest bit part actor of 80s television, I would love to know more of his history.

This will anger Geeks everywhere as they say some hilariously odd things about D and D and have a huge 12 sided dice to play with. 

Jump to episode 15 THE MOBIUS   Mitch and his paranormal team are grabbed into a time warp by a time demon that puts them in a ghost world after a scientist friend accidentally makes a portal to the ghost world of time...yeah seriously this is happening. But wait maybe it a parallel future where the Ozone layer has caused ghoul monsters to hatch from eggs and Ryan and Mitch has an awkward close moment which is ruined by them misquoting Star Wars lines. Confused.. I guess you will have to watch it.  Mitch says at one point I dont believe that science mumbo jumbo.. so what now after 15 episodes he only believes in magic?  As Hasselhoff says at the end of every opening credits in season 2, the only season that matter.. he says.. Nights will never be the same!

More Episodes to go Im just over half way there wish me luck folks. I wont put you through it all as I do this so you dont have to.. but hey fuck it why not its all on youtube. If you never hear from be again its because I am stuck in the mobius and David Hasselhoff chose not to save me.

Oh man these credits are so 90s a time that brought you Pamela Anderson and Mortal Kombat. Wow

[cinnaminsvga]

forever fools | tddup!spinoff

→ summary: jieun learns that saying goodbye is a two-way street, and sometimes it's easy to forget to look both ways before crossing.

{or alternatively: here's some sad lesbian angst ft. sana from twice}

→ genre: angst, slight fluff/humor, tddup!au → word count: 5.8K → a/n: this was commissioned by my lovely patron haley, to whom i am forever grateful for. i don't know if this is what you were expecting, but hopefully you enjoy it!! thank you again for being such a great star in my life!! if anyone else is interested in commissioning me for works like this, head over to my patreon (link in description) for more details. without further ado, here’s some lesbian greek goddess angst lmao!!

There’s something strange about looking at an empty bedroom, Jieun thinks as she snaps her last suitcase closed with a note of finality reverberating in the still air. The normally cluttered closet stands forlornly against the wall like a shell, the floor looks pristinely white for the first time in a century, and the window sill is devoid of all the little succulents that Demeter had given her from the first day she had arrived at Olympus. Above all, what unsettles her the most is the fact that the room did not look like it has ever been lived in at all. Jieun shakes her head, a small smile of amusement gracing her face. The cleaning naiads truly do not hold any prisoners when it comes to dust and dirt.

As she looks around her room, it is hard for her to keep the nostalgia at bay. After all, for the longest time, Jieun has called this place home––an oasis away from the terrible migraines and playful chaos that happens on a regular basis while working as an Olympian. It is the one place where she can escape when Zeus’ antics would get a little bit too much. While she did sleep in the same bed as him on most nights (not quite out of her own desire, but rather, because of a sense of duty that compels her to stay faithful to Zeus), she always did like slinking away to her little haven whenever she had the time.

She does not know what this room will be used for, since Y/N has expressed her desire to stay by Zeus’ side. Jieun chuckles at the memory of a red-faced Y/N when she had explained her reasons, saying something along the lines of “I need to keep both eyes on that man-sized toddler” even though her rapidly beating heart and flushed cheeks said otherwise. Oh, the beauty of young love.

In the midst of her contemplations, she hears a knock outside her window pane despite her room being high up in the heavens. Normally, most mortals would be confused as to who would have the ability to climb thousands of meters up into the air, but since Jieun is a goddess (or soon to be an ex-goddess, to be exact), things like this are hardly ever out of the ordinary. Even more so, Jieun knows exactly who the intruder is, because no one else would be crazy enough to disturb her privacy and wear those gaudy winged Gucci slippers with a stupid grin on their handsome face.

“Someone called for the bellboy?” Hermes says in lieu of a greeting as Jieun opens the window for him to enter through. Hermes flops down from the window sill, his Gucci slides thumping loudly against the carpeted floor. He takes the suitcase away from Jieun’s hand, who almost seems reluctant to let go. Noticing her mournful face, Hermes steps closer to her, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly.

“Hey, you doing okay, Hera? I know it must be weird. Hell, I think it’s gonna be weird not hearing you nag me all the time,” Hermes jokes, but his voice drips with sadness. In truth, Jieun always did appreciate Hermes’ presence, especially since the two of them had become gods at around the same time period. Jieun has promised herself that she wouldn’t cry in front of the others, but somehow seeing the usually upbeat god looking so forlorn was making her tear ducts moisten against her will.

“Nah, I’m fine. We all knew this was coming, sooner or later. Besides,” Jieun huffs, pinching the younger’s cheek with a smirk. He whines, but doesn’t do anything to push her hand away. “Even when I die, something tells me that you’re going to be visiting me in the Underworld more often than you did when I was here on Olympus.”

At that, the trickster god laughs, his ears reddening at the accusation that the two of them knew was true. He shrugs his shoulders, the sadness abated for now. There is more than enough time to be sad in the future. “Perhaps. Don’t tell Yoongi though, because I’m going to be using the excuse that I miss you for the next millennia until he starts to get suspicious of my frequent visits.”

“Something tells me he wouldn’t mind either way,” Jieun smirks, ruffling the boy’s hair in endearment. Hermes gives her a wicked grin, neither agreeing nor denying the claim.

“This is the last of your belongings, right? No need to call the Anemoi to help bring your stuff down to your new home?” Hermes says, lifting the suitcase to check its weight. He whistles when he feels how light it is. “Damn. You really don’t have a lot of stuff on you, huh? You’ve been living here for the past 1000 years so I had expected at least a few more bags, if I’m being honest.”

Jieun shrugs, gesturing around her room. “This bedroom was honestly just as much as a storage space as it was a hiding spot, and there wasn’t a lot of room to keep things over the centuries. Plus, I was never into material things, so the things I have are mostly necessities rather than memorabilia.”

Hermes shakes his head, a fond smile on his lips. “Ah, the frugal Asian in you really hasn’t disappeared even after all these years, huh?”

“You can take the girl out of Asia, but you can’t take the Asian out of the girl,” Jieun laughs, pushing Hermes out of her room. “Now get out of my room––I have to start doing last minute preparations for the wedding and I can’t do that with an annoying twink in my room.”

“Who are you calling annoying? That’s no way to treat your bellboys! A tip would be very appreciated, by the way,” Hermes whines, but he slips out of the window regardless.

“I’ll give you the tip of my strap if you keep delaying! Now shoo!”

Hermes snorts, winking salaciously at her. “Oh, you know what this baby boy likes, huh?” he says, guffawing loudly when Jieun goes to grab his ankles from her window sill. Floating outside with her suitcase in tow, Hermes gives her one final goofy salute before he is off to deposit the last of her belongings in her new mortal abode.

Left to her own devices once more, Jieun walks over to her closet, where a single white dress hangs loosely like a ghost. She thumbs the fabric, an odd feeling rising up her chest at the sight of it. This is the dress that she would be wearing to the wedding, an heirloom that has been passed down for generations after each Hera has passed the torch to the next. She remembers the previous Hera wearing this exact dress during her union with the previous Zeus, remembers the way the dress had made her previous mentor look spectral in a way––as if she was already gone before she had even left.

The thought jars her, and she rips her hand away. She wipes her palms against her jeans, feeling sweat start to build for whatever reason.

Unwilling to stay in this empty room for much longer, Jieun is thinking of having some last minute checks with Y/N to see how she is holding up when two small bodies crash through the door in a flurry of limbs. Jieun hardly flinches when the two girls stand up in noisily, their giggles giving her the impression that they may not be as a sober as she hopes they would be. Demeter is the first one to straighten up long enough to shoot her a wide smile.

“Hera! What are you doing here being all mopey and sentimental? You’ve got a party to catch!” Demeter laughs, her potent intoxication causing sprouts to grow out of her head. Hestia smiles, more reserved than the younger (or was it elder? Demeter is certainly older when it came to human years) but clearly just as out of it, as she plucks the small plant and tucks it into her own ear.

“I’m not being mopey,” Jieun frowns, mopey. She gives the two other goddesses an appraising look. “And what party are you talking about? I’m assuming it’s my surprise farewell party from the Facebook event that our lovely Eos accidentally invited me to.”

Hestia gasps, slapping her head comically as she looks at Demeter in disbelief. “That stupid bitch! I told you that we should’ve used Eventbrite instead!”

“Either way,” Jieun interrupts, watching as the two continually sway on their feet. “That doesn’t explain why the two of you are already drunk out of your minds when the supposed party hasn’t even started.” She suspects they must have also gotten a hold of Dionysus’ secret stash of godly pot, because she knows the two girls aren’t exactly the lightest drinkers. Either that or the excessive amount of binge watching shitty Netflix shows has finally caused their limited brain cells to deplete.

“Who says the party hasn’t started?” Demeter grins, tugging Jieun by the wrist and out of her room. Before Jieun can turn to take one last look at her old bedroom, Hestia closes the door with a bang, and somehow Jieun knows that this might be one of the last times she’ll ever get to see it.

Hestia has the decency to shoot her a guilty look. “We weren’t purposefully gonna start the party before we brought you there, of course. But Wendy-unnie over here––” Demeter squawks at the use of her human name, slapping her shoulder playfully, but not appearing entirely as offended as Jieun had expected, “––saw that they were serving spiked nectar that Iris stole from Dionysus so really… Can you blame us?”

Jieun rolls her eyes playfully, a smirk gracing her lips. “Of course, that explains everything. How could I be so selfish?”

Demeter manhandles her until they reach the Chariot Room (which is basically just a garage with a mismatch of vehicles from every time period imaginable; they bypass the Hatsune Miku chariot with averted eyes.) They approach one of the more modern vehicles, parked near the exit of the garage. Jieun looks at the license plate and notices that its Artemis’ silver car that she uses when she does her nightly moon journey.

“Please tell me Artemis actually let you take her car and we’re definitely not going to hotwire it––aaaand of course you’re hotwiring it,” Jieun groans, watching helplessly as the two younger girls start doing who knows what to the poor car. If the car had been sentient, she is sure it would be filing a sexual harassment case with how much tinkering they were doing.

“It was her idea to host the party anyway, so sucks to be her!” Hestia says defensively, her brows furrowed in concentration as she conjures magical fire out of her hands to help… whatever it is that Demeter was doing. Jieun does not want to know where Demeter pulled out the tube of toothpaste from, and why it was needed to hotwire a car.

“I really don’t understand why we need to celebrate my departure anyway. It’s not like I’m leaving forever; in fact, I’m probably going to have to deadbolt my apartment to keep you vermin from breaching my privacy,” Jieun jokes, snickering when she sees the affronted look that Hestia shoots her. “What? You look at me as if I were lying.”

“Well, you look at me as if I haven’t been pestering you ever since I turned from drab ol’ human Yeri and into the banging goddess that I am today!” Hestia says, her eyes lighting up gleefully.

Jieun snorts. “You’re right. You’ve been a pain in my ass ever since you existed. How foolish of me to think otherwise.”

Seconds later, Hestia and Demeter make a noise of contentment when the car whirs to life, signalling that whatever they had done had miraculously worked. (Again, Jieun doesn’t want to know, and the less she knows, the easier it is for her to escape Artemis’ wrath later on.)

“But seriously,” Demeter begins, standing up and hopping into the driver’s seat. Before Jieun can even argue, Hestia takes the passenger seat, sticking her tongue out petulantly like the supposedly “banging” goddess that she was. “Artemis and Persephone planned this party mostly to get back on your good side after they got mad at you for making Y/N marry the thunder twerp. Which, I mean… Can you blame them? He’s a fucking loser and Y/N is… Well. Have you seen her ass?”

Jieun jumps into the backseat, a huff of air punched out of her lungs when she realizes she just sat on one of Artemis’ stray buttplugs, poking itself into the small of her back. Jieun gingerly picks it up, throwing it against the back of Hestia’s head. “Yes, I can blame them. At the end of the day, it’s my decision who succeeds me as Hera and I needed to choose quickly because my time was almost up. Y/N just so happened to make the perfect candidate, so they had no right to be angry at my decision.”

Demeter grumbles. “Yeah, I know you’re right. It’s just that we really thought you were on the lesbians’ sides... No wonder you never showed up to the blood compact, traitor,” Demeter says, no bite to her tone. The smirk on her face tells Jieun that she’s far from mad. “Still, I would’ve loved to have Y/N join our little dyke trysts. Do you think maybe she’s bi?”

“Who knows?” Jieun muses, staring out the window as Demeter clicks for the garage doors to open. The sunny open sky greets them as the three women start driving out of Olympus and to wherever it is that the party was located. If Jieun squints hard enough, she thinks she can see the mortals milling about on earth, where she’ll be in just a few more hours. A mortal, once more.

“And besides, there are other mortal girls that Artemis and Persephone can find,” Jieun says, looking away from the view to glance at Demeter’s reflection from the rear-view mirror. When the agricultural goddess notices, she gives her a knowing look.

Despite her inebriation, Demeter manages to safely drive them to the party, which happens to be the mansion where the nine Muses are known to live in.  Demeter parks the car haphazardly, uncaring for the rules of parallel parking and all codes of ethics as she takes up the entire driveway before turning off the ignition. Hestia is the first to jump out, stretching her legs and ready to race back towards the party.

“C’mon, slowpokes! The nectar is getting warm,” she calls out, rushing towards the door where the sounds of laughter and singing can be heard even from the garden.

“Remind me to keep her away from the alcohol during the wedding,” Jieun murmurs to Demeter. The other girl only grins wildly, and Jieun knows that there really isn’t any use depending on her when it comes to the topic of sobriety.

Jieun and Demeter follow after Hestia to find the party already in full swing. Demeter loudly announces over the din to tell everyone that the celebrant has arrived, and a chorus of welcome’s come from all around. Jieun flushes under the attention, never one to go to full out raging parties in the first place, least of all the ones dedicated to her. Regardless, she walks around to greet everyone, thanking them for coming despite their inebriation rendering most of them useless to anything other than them replying with raucous giggling and hugging.

Artemis and Persephone somehow find their way towards her, stumbling through the crowd and piling their drunken bodies onto her to capture her in the tightest bear hug imaginable. Jieun laughs under their assault, using up all her strength to pull away long enough to see that their faces are already decorated with lipstick smudges and other stains that Jieun has no desire to learn about.

“Jieeeeeeun, you came!” Artemis cries, rubbing her cheeks against Jieun’s. She already feels the lipstick rubbing itself uncomfortably against her skin, but she does not pull away out of politeness. “I thought you wouldn’t come!”

“And why is that?” Jieun asks, awkwardly patting the babbling younger as she starts to hiccup from both intoxication and excessive emotions. “Also, who told you that you’re allowed to call me by my human name, young lady? I’m still Hera to you until tomorrow evening.”

“Sorry, she’s a little tipsy,” Persephone giggles, prying herself and Artemis away from Jieun to let her take her first breath in over a minute. “But seriously Hera, we’re really sorry about how we acted with the whole Y/N thing. We shouldn’t have gone ballistic on you and called you a hetero on Twitter. That was definitely uncalled for and totally barbaric of us.”

“Don’t worry, kids. I was hardly phased by your insults,” Jieun smirks, giggling at the absolute sorrow and guilt contorting the archer goddess’ face. “Really.”

“But it’s so out of line! No one deserves to be called a het, not when you’re so fucking gorgeous and sexy and hey are you free tomorrow evening––” Artemis starts hiccuping incoherently, and Persephone has to wheel her away before she can embarrass herself further.

“We’ll talk later when I sober her up! Have fun tonight, okay? We’re willing to take our ‘punishment’ later for our terrible crimes, if you know what I mean.” Persephone winks, pushing her friend away to the kitchen, probably to get more drunk and grind against each other. Jieun stores away this scene away into her memory for blackmail later on.

After her encounter with the two hosts, Jieun decides to circle the rest of the room. She greets a few familiar faces, including the actual people who live in this mansion. The Muses that she greets are at various stages of drunk, but most of them welcome her warmly despite their incoherency. When Jieun enters the main dining hall, she can only watch worriedly as the Muse of comedy hangs precariously from the chandelier while wearing nothing but a silk black robe.

“Thalia, don’t make me fucking burn your clit off again! The chandelier is going break under your fat ass. Get down from there or else––SOMI!” Polymnia cries, almost missing a stray foot to the face. The crowd hoots at the display, egging the comedian on. “This is your last warning!”

Jieun chuckles at their antics, but she can’t help but notice that she has only seen eight of the sisters so far. Her palms begin to sweat, knowing full well who the missing Muse is and wonders if she might have chosen not to attend due to the argument that still lies fresh on both their minds. She feels the disappointment start to build up in her stomach, thinking that the Muse of tragedy truly wants to avoid her like she had feared.

After Jieun circles the whole living room to give her regards to all the other party-goers, she decides to head upstairs to one of the balconies to get some fresh air. She sees a few more straggling guests, most of them too preoccupied to properly respond to Jieun’s soft greetings since their faces are currently entrenched in other endeavors at the moment. Still, Jieun doesn’t mind as she passes by the bedrooms to the slide open the balcony door and allow the soft afternoon breeze to caress her face.

Since her eyes are closed when she welcomes the gentle wind to blow around her, she does not immediately notice two things.

One, there is a giant ice sculpture in Jieun’s perfect likeness, with all her curves and imperfections open to the world to see. The summer heat does not melt the sculpture, but this is not a surprise when it comes to the power of gods (plus, someone placed a small ice bath around it, though Jieun does not know why that would be of any help whatsoever.)

Two, she is not alone.

Melpomene stands idly by the edge of the balcony, her gaze trained away from Jieun. She knows that the Muse has noticed her presence, because her shoulders are hunched up in a way that only means that she is on guard and ready to flee at a moment’s notice. The Muse of tragedy stares up at the sky, neither of them saying a word as the two of them quietly listen to the muted music from the party downstairs and the sound of drunken naiads prancing wildly in the gardens.

The sun has begun to descend, but Jieun notices the way it slinks across the sky irregularly, almost as if a toddler were just slapping it across the sky like a tennis ball. Instead of the usual twilight transition that is familiar to most people, the sun appears to transform immediately into the moon, as if a light switch had been turned on and suddenly it was night time. The sky darkens immediately, and the world around them is bathed in stars.

Melpomene must have been sensed Jieun’s confusion because she offers up an explanation, voice scratchy from misuse. She sounds sober, unlike the rest of her sisters. “It’s Apollo. Artemis got him to take her shift as the moon for today,” she says, never once looking back at Jieun. She continues to stare at the random spirals that Jieun now knows is the work of Apollo’s disastrous driving skills. Poor kid.

“Well, he only did become the newest Apollo a few months ago. Although, I wouldn’t say that Artemis should have trusted him to do the night shift when he can hardly do his own day shift,” Jieun comments, pursing her lips as Apollo does a steep nosedive before thankfully going back on course.

Melpomene does not reply. The two of them stand in awkward silence, and Jieun has no idea how to break it. She wants desperately to speak to her, knowing that it wouldn’t sit well if she left Olympus knowing that one of her dearest friends stayed mad at her. She fidgets beside her, mouth opening and closing shut as she thinks of something to talk about.

“Hah, speaking of Apollo… Do you remember who came before him? I never even knew his human name,” Jieun starts, already beginning to spew out whatever nonsense comes to mind.

“Never really liked the sixth generation Apollo. He always gave off a lecherous vibe, and we were all so excited to see him leave. I remember how Hermes had gifted him a stink bomb disguised as a bath bomb for a goodbye gift… I could smell the stench all the way from Olympus. I’m lowkey worried that all of you are itching to kick me off as well and pull a stink bomb on me,” Jieun jokes, but her voice cracks imperceptibly, giving herself away.

Even though she tries to keep her voice lighthearted, deep down, she doesn’t even know if anyone will actually be sorry to see her gone. Sure, this party is dedicated to her, but that’s hardly a reason for her to believe that any of these people like her. Olympians are notorious for latching on to any reason to throw a party; hell, she solemnly remembers when Poseidon’s goldfish laid its first egg and they had partied for a whole week.

At the end of the day, she is just another mortal. Who is she to expect that anyone would remember her in a few thousand centuries?

There is something about her words and her tone that makes Melpomene snap out of her silence, eyes blazing with a fury so intense that it surprises Jieun. She gapes at the angry brunette, who corners her to the edge of the balcony until her butt bumps against the cool surface. When Jieun looks over her shoulder, she sees that the naiads from the garden have gone elsewhere, leaving the two of them alone.

Melpomene jabs her finger right into Jieun’s sternum, her hand shaking with emotion. “How fucking dare you insinuate that no one will miss you. How fucking dare you think that anyone would ever forget you!”

For a moment, Jieun is at a loss for words. Jieun splutters indignantly, wondering where Melpomene’s misplaced anger was coming from. She stares wide-eyed at the younger and wonders if her irritation stems from something more. “It was just a joke,” she says, lamely.

“A joke? Is that what you think everything is?” Melpomene laughs, and Jieun thinks the flower inside her heart wilts at the sound. It’s harsh, a sound wave that grates against her eardrums. The younger is never one to laugh without mirth, despite the nature of her role as the Muse of tragedy, but Jieun knows that the tormented tone in her voice is no longer because of the tragic tales she weaves in her stories––

It’s because of her.

“You betrayed us, didn’t you know? We all thought that we had more years to spend with you, and you just suddenly drop the bomb on us that your death day was coming,” she cries out, tears welling up in her eyes. Jieun’s hands itch to wipe them away. “Do you have any idea how terrible it is to find out that the person you love more than anyone in the world is going to leave you forever?”

Love. She loves her.

Somehow, the words don’t make sense to her.

“I’m not going to leave forever,” Jieun says instead, irises flitting about and unable to stay still. Her legs burn where they touch Melpomene’s own, and she wants to pull her closer and never let go. “I already told you last week that you’ll be able to visit me as a human until the Fates cut my string. I didn’t betray anyone.”

The tragedian’s nostrils flare, and she clutches Jieun’s shoulders tightly, as if she was afraid she would disappear if she didn’t hold on quick enough. When Jieun observes her closely, she notices the way her lips quiver with the effort of keeping it together. I did this to her, Jieun thinks sadly. Is this what love does?

“Did I mean nothing to you, then?” Melpomene murmurs, voice shaky as a leaf. She digs her nails into the back of Jieun’s shoulders, but she doesn’t mind the pain if it lets the younger steady herself. Anything. Take anything from me.

“If I truly meant something to you, you would’ve known that things like this matter to me. You should’ve cared, but you didn’t.”

Jieun exhales, tongue thick in her mouth. “Sana––”

“Don’t call me that!” She shouts, wrenching her hands away from her body as if she had been burned. Her absence hurt Jieun more than any of the scars from the wars she has fought––not even the agony of Zeus’ lightning bolt can compare to this pain. Melpomene stalks away from her, and it is only when she separates herself from Jieun that she allows the tears to fall.

Even when she was crying, Jieun can’t help but think that she is the most beautiful person that she has ever seen.

“Mel,” Jieun tries again. It hurts knowing that she has probably lost the precious gift of being able to call her by her true name, and it twists her heart painfully to realize that she will never get to experience the sweet taste of her name on her tongue ever again. “None of us are immortal, Mel. We’re all bound to pass, just like our predecessors. You should have known my time was limited. And besides, we’ll meet again in the Underworld––”

“Don’t you get it?” she seethes. She turns away from Jieun then, not allowing her the opportunity to watch helplessly as the only girl she’s ever cared for starts to openly weep for her, a living corpse. The weight of time has never felt so suffocating until then. “The Underworld is different. By then, it would have been centuries of us having to stay apart, and who is to say we’ll find each other again? Hades told me how difficult it is for lovers to reunite and how they often forget about each other by the time they do meet again. How can you be so nonchalant about this––?”

“Melpomene, my love,” Jieun whispers, and she takes a tentative step towards her. When she gingerly places a palm against her back, she feels the younger tense, but she does not move away. Jieun carefully slides her arms around her waist, embracing her loosely as she nuzzles her face into her back. She takes a shaky breath. “I’m still here, aren’t I? We lasted centuries before ever meeting, and I’m sure I’ll keep waiting for you for another more. Why worry so soon when we have time?”

At her words, Melpomene starts to shake violently, the sound of her sobs echoing into the night. Jieun refuses to let go, trying so hard to make the other girl understand she hasn’t died––not yet. She’s only ever felt alive whenever she’s around the tragedian, and that hasn’t changed even after centuries of stolen kisses in the meadows and whispered promises in the shadows.

Even in the light, those promises will hold true. Jieun will make sure of it.

“I’m scared,” Melpomene eventually says after a few minutes of sobbing, still faced away from her lover in fear of breaking more. But when Jieun gently cups her cheeks to face her, she can’t help but follow her touch like a moth to a flame. Jieun’s heart breaks at the sight of her swollen eyes, the look of pure devastation spilling the contents of her soul to anyone who can see. Melpomene continues, “I’m scared that we’ll forget.”

“I know,” Jieun whispers, and she suddenly notices the wetness on her own face––she’s been crying, too. Melpomene begins to brush them away, just as Jieun goes to brush them off as well. Melpomene lets out a watery giggle when their hands clumsily bump against each other.

Jieun grabs her hand before she can pull away. She squeezes tight. “It’s fine to be scared, you know? And I know it’s hard to see me go, but is it really harder to believe that I won’t leave you alone?”

“It’s not, but I can’t help but worry––”

“Mel, I have to tell you something,” Jieun interrupts, and she tries to sound firm to fully make her understand. She wants––no, needs her to understand that there is nothing to fear. “My time with you has meant so much to me, even more so than the time I spent with my own husband. You know this, don’t you?”

At the mention of the god of thunder, Melpomene lets out another bitter laugh like before, and a single fat tear rolls down her face. “Ah, Zeus. How could I forget? At the end of the day, how am I even sure that you felt the same way I did? I was only a mistress––a secret kept away from everyone because you had to keep your queenly status. Whereas for me? I was just someone you fancied when there was no one to hold, someone to keep your bed warm––”

“That’s not true,” Jieun says, staring wide-eyed at the girl’s accusation. “You know that’s not true. I cared for you more than I can even bare to handle.”

“Don’t lie. I’ve seen the way you look at Zeus,” Melpomene counters, head shaking in exhaustion. She’s no longer angry, only tired from all the worries and anxieties that have haunted her for years, perhaps even for centuries. “You might not know it, but you always did look sad when you looked at him, because you knew that he would never love you the way you loved him.”

“It’s true that I love him,” Jieun begins, taking a shuddering breath. She lets out a laugh of her own, as mirthless and weary as she felt. “But it’s not the same way I feel for you.”

At those words, Melpomene scoffs, pulling away from Jieun. She begins to walk away, gaze downcast as she goes to slide open the balcony door and rejoin the party. “Even now, you can’t say those three words back to me,” she murmurs, putting on the strongest smile she can muster. It disappears just as quickly as the wind.

Before Melpomene can walk away far enough, Jieun rushes towards her and grasps her hand in her own. It isn’t even strong enough to really stop her, and Jieun’s loose grip tells Melpomene that she can leave if she really wants to.

But she doesn’t. Of course she doesn’t.

She doesn’t because she can’t, and wouldn’t want to. Despite all the worries bubbling within her, all of them threatening to erupt and destroy everything that she has come to know and love, there is one thing that keeps Melpomene sane. It is just so unfortunate that the same person who used to make her heart flutter and her soul sing symphonies is the very same person who has the power to cause everything to fall apart.

At the end of the day, she is only mortal. She can pretend to be the Muse of tragedy, who is able to weave sorrow into words just as quickly as a seasoned archer is able to draw their bow. All the talent in the world can never erase the fact that she is just a girl, and she fears just as much as she loves.

When Jieun leans forward, her breath mingling with hers in a slow waltz, the stars reflect themselves off of her eyes. They were made for you, is the last thing thinks Melpomene before her lips are millimeters away from her lover’s, until the space between them is nothing more than something that happened once in a dream. Jieun’s gravity pulls her closer still, until there is nothing more to give.

I’m yours, I’m yours, I’m yours, her heart beat thunders against her eardrums, urging Jieun to hear. She wonders if she has doomed herself, like the protagonists in her tragedies.

Melpomene pulls away for a split second, enough to gather air into her lungs which she will inevitably waste as she presses against Jieun and she is left breathless and lightheaded. This. This is what I will remember during the nights we will spend away from another. I hope you don’t forget them, too.

The party downstairs continues to rage on. The two lovers kiss by the balcony, with an audience of stars to keep them company. Melpomene fools herself into thinking that time will wait for them, if she just prays hard enough.

But she knows how tragedies end, and so she weeps.

[theoddcatlady]

My sister dropped off my niece last night. I don’t think she’s coming back.

To clarify, I haven’t seen my younger sister Mara in a little over five years. She was a little over eighteen years old, a few months pregnant, and was determined to keep her baby. I told her exactly what I thought- I thought she was a goddamn idiot and that she either needed to give it up for adoption or I’d drive her to the abortion clinic myself.

We had a screaming fight before she stormed out, saying she was going to stay with her baby’s daddy and that they’d be a happy family together.

Like I said, it’s been five years. Five years and a lot changed. I tried contacting her probably a dozen times, but when she sent me a picture flipping up her middle finger, I got the message. I gave up. If she wanted to live like that, fine by me. She ended up blocking me on Facebook, she cut off both our parents, and I figured I’d never see her again.

When I heard the doorbell I thought that one of my friends stopped by to return a book they’d borrowed a few weeks back, they’d told me they were almost done and that they couldn’t put it down so I expected them to give it back any day now.

I opened the door and there she was. I didn’t even recognize her at first. She’d gotten a lot thinner and had dyed her hair black, but I recognized that cheap tattoo on her hand and the dimple in her right cheek. It was my baby sister.

And clutching her hand was a little girl with rosy cheeks, blonde curls, and my sister’s green eyes.

“Thomas,” Her face broke into a tired smile and she pulled me into a hug. I couldn’t respond. I just froze. She stepped back and smiled even brighter. “Ariel, this is your Uncle Thomas.”

The little girl waved and smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Uncle Thomas,” She said in a chipper tone.

Ariel. Mara’s favorite Disney Princess.

I cleared my throat. “H… hi, Ariel.” I looked up at Mara. “Do… do you want to come inside?”

“I’d really love that, actually.” Mara walked inside. “I can’t stay long, but… oh man, when did you get ripped?” Even her laughter sounded tired.

“Uh, three years ago, I wanted to get in shape, do you want something?” I didn’t even know what to say at this point, in the light it was clear she’d been through some serious shit.

Saying she’d gotten a ‘lot thinner’ is understating it. She looked skeletal, her once vivid eyes were now dull and too large, like they were ready to roll out of her skull. Her fists were all bruised up and she had a black eye that wasn’t quite hidden under thickly applied foundation.

“I’m fine. Really. It’s just been a bad week.” Mara gently pushed Ariel to the couch. “Sit right there, honey, okay?”

I’d never seen such a well behaved five year old in my life. Like a prim little angel, Ariel walked over to the couch and sat, her bare feet dangling a few inches above the floor. I turned back to Mara. “What happened? Where’s Bradley?” Just saying the scumbag’s name made me feel nauseated.

Mara’s gaze dropped to the floor. “He didn’t even see Ariel get born,” She grumbled.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” I rested a hand on her shoulder.

Mara jerked away. “It’s fine!” She yelped before coughing a few times. She wrapped her bony arms around herself. “… It’s fine. I… found someone else to stay with… but I can’t… I can’t stay there… right now. Not right now.”

Oh god, what have you gotten yourself into, sis? “Well, you’re welcome here, Mom and Dad really miss you,” I said.

“Um...” Mara chewed her bottom lip. “… Can you do me a solid? Don’t tell Mom and Dad I was here. Really, it’d be great if you didn’t tell anyone. You work from home, right?”

“Most of the time,” I frowned, “Why?”

“… Can you please watch Ariel for a day?”

I looked at the tiny girl on my couch. My niece. “What will you be doing?”

“Don’t ask me that.” Mara shook her head. “Just… don’t leave the house. Don’t let Ariel near the windows.”

“Are you in danger?”

“Just- promise me. Please.”

At this point, I had two theories about why my sister was wigging out- either she had gotten in an abusive relationship and was on the run… or she had completely lost her mind on drugs and was a nutcase.

Either way, I knew I had to help.

“Sure. She can sleep on the couch, right?” I don’t have kids, I know literally nothing about caring for a kid.

Mara wrapped me in another tight bear hug. “Thank you so much,” She sobbed, nearly crushing my ribs before stepping back. “… I’ll be back tomorrow night, I hope. I love you, Thomas… and I’m sorry. You were right.”

With that, Mara slunk out the door and into the night, like she’d never been there.

This whole time, Ariel sat on the couch, her hands neatly folded on her lap as she kicked her feet back and forth. I coughed a few times before sitting next to her. “Sooo… when’s bed time?” I asked.

Again- I don’t know how to deal with kids.

Ariel giggled, and I saw more bits of my sister in her- the smile, the way her nose wrinkled when she was amused. “You’re funny, Uncle Thomas. Can I color?” She asked.

“I might have some colored pencils and paper somewhere…” Listen, I love that they make coloring books for adults nowadays, and I am completely in on the fad. So in about ten minutes, I had Ariel sitting at my dining room table with some paper and watched as her tiny fist clutched onto a bright pink pencil as she drew a shape that could’ve been a horse or an airplane.

I tried to fill the silence with conversation. That went as well as you’d expect.

“So, what’s your favorite color?”

“Pink.”

“Do you go to kindergarten yet?”

“I stay with Mommy. She’s taught me my ABC’s.”

“Do you have a pet?”

“We’re not allowed to.”

“Um, do you like snakes? I have a snake.”

That had her pause. She stopped her scribbles and looked up, her eyes wide. “Wow! You have a pet snake?!” She said with a gasp, her face lit up with delight.

“Yeah, his name’s Popcorn,” Finally, something I could distract her with, “Come on, let’s go see him. He’s in my room.”

Popcorn is a Corn Snake I adopted about a year back, a friend had to move and couldn’t take him with. Since then, he’s been my little buddy. Ariel squealed as I flicked on the light and ran to the other cage in my room. “Mice!” She pointed at the cage of small white mice wriggling around.

“Yeah, those are my other buddies,” I laughed as I walked up to the cage. “Come here, Popcorn...” I carefully lifted him out.

“Are we gonna feed him?”

I turned around to see that Ariel had one of my mice curled up in her hands. “Oh, honey, no,” I laughed, the mouse in question seemed content and it wasn’t like she was dangling it by its tail, “Popcorn already ate recently and uh, those aren’t the mice he eats. Can you put him back in his cage now?”

Ariel shrugged and gently placed the mouse back inside the cage. “Can I see Popcorn now?” She extended her arm expectantly.

“He probably won’t want to crawl on your arm, sweetie.” I knelt down and carefully lifted Popcorn forward. “He’s a bit shy, and-”

Popcorn naturally slid from my hand onto Ariel, twisting around her arm and I swear he never looked more content. My jaw dropped. “Are you a freaking Parseltongue or something?” I said.

“I don’t know what that means. But snakes like me.” Ariel leaned her face forward, slitting her eyes and staring at Popcorn, who flicked his tongue out a few times before slithering forward, crawling around her neck and hanging loosely there. “Father says it’s because they know I’m their friend.”

“Father? I thought your mom said your dad…  wasn’t around.”

Ariel looked puzzled before she bust out laughing. “Oh, no no no! Father isn’t my daddy, I don’t have a daddy. Father is all of our father.”

I felt an unpleasant chill go down my spine. “… What… is this Father like?” I asked carefully.

“He’s very kind!” Ariel grinned and nodded her head. “He reads from the Book every morning and makes sure that we all know right from wrong. One of my friends, her daddy is the Father but he’s not my daddy. He wants us all to stick together. Last week, he chose me for something really important!”

“What was that?” I had to know. What the hell had Mara gotten into?

Ariel glanced out the window. “… Well, I’m not supposed to say, but…” Ariel giggled and clapped her hands. “I’m going to be the Daughter!”

What. I had no idea what to say to that. “Really,” I found myself looking out the window as well, almost expecting someone to be there, “And what does that mean?”

“I have no idea!” Ariel removed Popcorn from her neck and handed him back to me. “I’m hungry, I’m gonna get something to eat,” She said before running out of the room.

I settled Popcorn back into his cage and gently ran my finger down his back. “I’m gonna kick Mara’s ass when she gets back,” I grumbled before heading back into the kitchen.

I saw Ariel peering into the freezer. “Do you want pizza rolls, Ariel?” It might’ve been close to midnight but I had no idea when she’d eaten last. “Or chicken strips?”

I heard a crunch and the sound of chewing. “No thank you!” Swallow. “I found something yummy!” Another crunch.

Frowning, I walked up to Ariel. “Honey, you can’t just eat something frozen...” I turned her around and the words died in my mouth.

Ariel was clutching my bag of frozen feeder mice in her hands, her mouth smeared with blood. A small frozen tail was sticking out between her lips. She swallowed and it vanished. “They’re a little cold, could you warm them up?” She handed the bag to me.

What the fuck? “Ariel!” I grabbed a paper towel and wiped off her face. “Jesus Christ, kid, you don’t eat mice!”

“Why not?” Ariel cocked her head to the side. “Popcorn eats mice.”

“Well, you’re not Popcorn, oh fuck, Mara’s gonna kill me…” I groaned and put the feeder mice back on the top shelf, she’d have to dig past the frozen bread to get it. “How about we have some pizza rolls instead?”

Ariel pouted and crossed her arms. “I don’t want pizza rolls,” She grumbled. “Can I go to bed now?”

I ended up just putting Ariel to sleep on the couch. I was done. That was my limit. Children eating fucking frozen mice.

I woke up about midnight to see her standing over the mice cage. The lid had been taken off and her head was cocked to the side. I almost sat up and asked what the hell was she doing when she opened her mouth and something long and thin fell out of her mouth, plopping into the floor of the cage. For a second, I thought she had Popcorn in her mouth, but a glance confirmed that Popcorn was chilling in his cage under his lamp.

Ariel’s tongue slowly felt its way around the cage, slithering about until it touched one of the sleeping mice. I don’t know why they were asleep, they were usually jumping around this time of night. Her tongue slowly wrapped around the mouse and lifted it to her mouth. It hung limply in its grasp until she brought it into her mouth. Then it jerked about and I heard it squeal before she brought her jaws down on it.

That crunch was one of the most horrifying things I’d ever heard.

Humming pleasantly, Ariel skipped out of the room and back to the couch. In just a few minutes I heard her softly snoring.

I didn’t get a wink of sleep the rest of the night.

Ariel’s been a normal kid all day but I can’t shake that image out of my head of her tongue just dragging that mouse to its doom. I counted them to make sure and one was absolutely gone.

But what’s worse is that Mara’s not come back. I’ve tried texting her but apparently her phone number belongs to someone else now. And I swear I’ve seen the same car drive past my house five times today.

I don’t know what to do.

And I’m scared of what I’ll see if I wake up tonight and see Ariel again.