#something like that + a standing desk would change the game fr fr

[bloodsbane]

man sometimes i really wonder if it'd be significantly easier or more fun and if i'd be more willing to/enthused by doing clean lineart of i got an on-screen tablet. like i had and used an ipad with procreate for a while, but there were some things about the interface (size and handling of the screen, no physical hotkeys, unfamiliar program) that kept it from ever feeling very GOOD. and dealing with things like battery life for both the tablet and the pen. so i really wonder if it'd be worth it for me to finally consider investing in something like a cintiq considering ive been drawing pretty seriously for a decade...

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Same Trailer, Different Park

(Pilot Episode)

April 14, 2024

Notes - Last night, I went to my first-ever DND game with my oldest nephew, and it was incredible! It's supposed to be every other week, but we're doing it again this upcoming Saturday, and the storyline is giving me so many ideas that I could use for one-shots and stuff! Also, my sciatic pain is going away. It's moved from going all the way from my spine to my right knee to just my right hip, so that's an improvement! Anyway, this was just shy of 50 pages and would have been posted sooner if I had the moodboard and divider transferred to my computer, but I didn't, so here we are lmao! The divider I've used is just temporary until I can sit down and work on one I think suits the vibe, but until then, it is what it is. Also, I hope your finals go well! I believe in you!!

April 14th - the day RMS Titanic struck the iceberg.

Usually, on this day every year, I would be prepping for a Titanic watch party and making sure everyone was ready for it, but that’s just not how it’s going to go this time around. After I get out of school today, it’s officially spring break, and I couldn’t be more excited to finally get away from this endless rain despite the deviation from my annual Titanic anniversary get-together. Riven already offered to give me a ride to school this morning, but since Mom asked me to give Abby and Olly one, and Erica’s piece of shit truck can’t go over puddles without breaking down, he’s giving her and JJ a ride instead. I have to remember to pick up stuff for my battle bot before I leave school, so I’ll tell Abby to remind me - she’s good at that kind of thing. Maybe if I take my notebooks with me on my trip, Mickie and the guys can help me figure out some ideas for what I want to build. Then, I won’t have to come up with something when I get back! Yeah, maybe that’s what I’ll do!

Vivien snapped her journal shut and tugged her headphones off before turning them off and tossing them onto her desk alongside her journal. With a sigh, she found her gaze in the mirror that hung on the back of her closet door as she made her way toward it. Despite the hair sticking in every direction, the blanket marks lining the arm she had fallen asleep on, and the wrinkled pajamas she wasn’t quite ready to rid herself of, she looked ready to start her day. Although she highly doubted she would need a cup of coffee that morning as her excitement for the day was propelling her forward like a cup full of espresso shots, Vivien knew she needed to at least look like she was half as ready as she felt.

Her reflection smiled back as she pushed the door of her closet open, but as she pulled the clothes she had set aside the night before down from her hangers, she found herself wondering if she should have put more thought into the outfit she had chosen. Would her typical choice of jeans, a witty graphic tee, and a brightly colored long-sleeve be a good choice in the long run? She would stand out like a sore thumb in the sixties, but nobody at her school would, frankly, give a shit what she wore. Her dad’s signature triple knock on her bedroom door gave Vivien no chance to change her mind as she hollered back that she was almost ready to go. He left after letting her know that he had to leave for an early morning meeting, wishing her a good morning and telling her that he would see her at lunch before leaving to tell the twins the same.

Sighing as she stretched her tired limbs out, Vivien set her cell phone on her dresser, asking Siri to put on one of her playlists as she debated on what to do with her hair. Glancing at the clothes she had yet to pack for her vacation, Vivien cringed as she realized just how much work she’d forced on her after-school self. For once, she was tragically unprepared for a trip. There was a lot she would have to do in the small amount of time between her release from school and Mick’s family picking her up. Pulling her shirt over her head with a huff and freeing her hair from under the collar, Vivien found her phone screen illuminated as a text came in from the girl who had invited her on her family’s trip in the first place.

Mick’s text was simple - a picture of four plane tickets to the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California. Then, as Vivien smiled at her phone, another message came in, asking her if she was ready. A flutter of eager anticipation flew through Vivien’s text as she replied, telling the older brunette how excited she was to finally be able to spend time with the people they both cared about. Once the message had been sent, Vivien found an ABBA song on her playlist, turned the volume back up, and sang softly to herself as she finished getting ready for the day.

After brushing her teeth and taking the time to detangle the hair she had forgotten to ask someone to braid the night before, Vivien gathered her things for school, shoving her overstuffed folder full of homework and project notes into her backpack before grabbing her permission slip for the regional battle bot tournament and shoving it into the back of her bag where it would be kept relatively safe until the end of the school day. Tucking her school laptop into her bag, zipping it shut, and throwing a strap over her shoulder, Vivien scurried out of her room, just barely remembering to turn off the light as Oliver mumbled out a good morning on his way to the stairs. Chuckling as she wished her brother a good morning, Vivien stepped back to allow Abby to parade by with her backpack on one shoulder, a book in her free hand, and her hair pulled back in a migraine-inducing high pony that Vivien was sure she would hear the girl complaining about later in the day.

Following her siblings downstairs as Abby muttered her oral report to herself, Vivien took in a slow breath and hoped her mother had already left for her meeting with some city council board as the smell of slightly charred bacon wafted through the air. Their mother had a habit of making perfect bacon and sausage for herself and everyone else but would sometimes forget Vivien’s and her ex-husband’s in the pan while she took the time to ensure her twins had everything exactly how they liked it. Vivien never bothered to bring up the issue; instead, she gave the charred bacon strips or sausage patties to Riven as he was practically a walking garbage disposal and seemed to enjoy the blackened breakfast meats. Her siblings had tried to bring it up before, and Vivien knew her father had tried as well, but to no avail. The woman wouldn’t argue much with her younger children and always denied anything being wrong, pointing out the fact that Vivien never brought it up herself, but even when Oliver argued that the disgust on Vivien’s face was obvious, nothing changed.

Entering the kitchen, Vivien smirked as Oliver turned back toward Abby and began spouting random historical facts to throw his twin off her train of thought. Abby was quick to fight back, whacking her brother with her book as she told him to shut up and let her focus. Their mother was quick to jump in and tell her only son to leave his sister alone before handing them both their lunch boxes and telling them to get going before they were late. Abby sent Vivien an apologetic look as the eldest of the O’Brian kids took the only remaining lunch box from the counter, and their mother ushered them toward the coat closet. After giving the twins a quick kiss on the forehead and telling Vivien to drive safely, the woman grabbed her jacket and left, heading out to her car and taking off while the kids were still pulling on their spring coats. 

With a sigh, Vivien grabbed her keys from the hook by the door and held the door open for her siblings, but it wasn’t until they were in the pale blue Hyundai Vivien had received from their father after passing her license test that any of them chose to speak up. Oliver huffed as he slid into the back seat, buckling his seatbelt before stretching out across the bench seat and sighing, “I don’t get Mom’s issue.”

“Olly,” Vivien sighed, a soft reprimand that she hoped would keep her brother from ranting the whole way to their school.

“No, Viv,” Abby cut in before Oliver could speak, “we all see she treats you differently, and it isn’t right!”

“It isn’t,” Vivien agreed as she pushed the key into the ignition and started the car, turning the defroster on to keep the windows clear, “but it isn’t worth the effort of trying to change her. Besides, I’ve got you guys and Dad.”

“And Auntie Hayley and Aunt Charlie,” Oliver piped in.

“Exactly,” Vivien nodded, smiling at her younger brother as she backed out of the driveway.

Abby huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and slouching in her seat as she complained, “Still. I wish we knew what her problem was.”

“I have a few theories,” Oliver claimed.

Abby grinned, “We know. You’ve shown us your corkboard of conspiracy theories.”

“Yeah,” Vivien snorted, putting the car into drive and taking off down their street. “I swear, introducing you to MatPat and Shane Dawson at a young age was a bad idea.”

“Seriously,” Abby agreed teasingly. “If I have to be subjected to another three-hour rant about the government brainwashing us through Justin Beiber’s music, I just might pitch myself off of the water tower.”

“First of all, that’s not what my theory was about,” Oliver chuckled, “and second, I meant about Mom treating Viv differently.”

Shifting so that she could see both Oliver and Vivien, Abby said, “Well, you’re the conspiracy theorist here. What do you think is the issue?”

Excited to finally have the chance to blather about the ideas he had been bouncing around in his head for a while, Oliver beamed as he began his spiel, “My first thought was that she’s jealous that Vivien has a better relationship with Auntie Hayley and is upset that she’s not Viv’s birth mom, but that wasn’t an issue when we were little, so why would it be now?”

“Yeah, makes sense,” Abby nodded thoughtfully, sparing a glance at Vivien, who nodded as she slowed to a stop at an intersection. Turning back to her twin, Abby pressed, “So, what else you got?”

Oliver sighed, “Sadly, I think the most likely reason is that she’s just pissy because she thinks Viv forced me into the ‘Alphabet Soup Community’ and is scared she’ll do the same to you, Abs.”

Abby’s expression shifted, a disgusted wince tugging her eyebrows together in frustration as she took in her brother’s theory. It made sense, but she didn’t want to admit it. Though Vivien had come out as bisexual years ago, their mother never truly seemed to accept it until Vivien began dating Royce a few months ago. When Oliver came out as gay, the woman had taken the news out on her eldest child, pulling her aside and blaming her for “poisoning her baby brother” with her “disgusting beliefs.” Abby had unintentionally overheard the conversation, listening proudly to her older sister as the brunette fought for her brother to be treated better than she had been. When Abby later told Oliver what she’d heard, the pair found themselves in Vivien’s room, showering their sister with kind words of gratitude and love that the older girl seemed to relish in.

Ready to rant about their mother’s blatant homophobia, Abby scoffed; however, it was Vivien who spoke before her sister could rage for the rest of the drive, “Sadly, that could be right.” Vivien placed a hand on top of the one Abby had placed on the center console, gently squeezing her hand as she continued, “Even though I hope that’s not the case, it could very well be. She’s always been a little… uptight about that sort of thing.”

“A little?” Oliver chortled, finding Vivien’s gaze in the rear-view mirror. “That’s the understatement of the year.”

Abby laughed, “You couldn’t pull a needle out of her ass with a tractor!”

“Abby!” Vivien reprimanded despite her laughing at the girl’s choice of words.

“It’s the truth!” Abby argued. “I’m sure she would’ve sent you guys to conversion therapy or something if Dad hadn’t said something.”

Vivien sighed as she turned onto School Street, “Still. She’s our mom, and until we move out, we have no choice but to put up with her bullshit.”

Oliver shifted in his seat, ready to crack a joke in order to lighten the situation, but Abby huffed, “I just don’t get why your sexualities matter so much to her. It’s not like it has anything to do with her in the first place.”

“Maybe she-”

“And why should she care if I’m straight or not?” Abby continued, cutting off Vivien’s statement with a scoff. “Is she just going to drop all of us if I someday decide to come out of the closet?”

Once he was sure his twin was done ranting, Oliver shrugged, “Maybe. Like Auntie Hayley said, Mom can’t stand that we aren’t her little dolls who do whatever she says now. I wouldn’t put it past her if she chooses to up and leave if this becomes a three-for-three situation.”

Taking in the wounded expression on her baby sister’s face as she pulled into an empty parking spot, Vivien smiled reassuringly and said, “I doubt you have much of anything to worry about anyway. Even if you came out as bi like I did, you and Malachi have been dating for, what, almost a year now?” When Abby nodded wordlessly, Vivien continued, “Well, Mom only chilled out when she found out I was dating Royce. Since you’re dating a boy already, I doubt there would be a problem.”

“Besides,” Oliver began as he pushed open his door and picked up his bag from the floor, “you’re straight - you have nothing to worry about.”

Plastering a smile on her face as she tugged her bag up from the floor, Abby nodded, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Patting Abby’s hand with a grin, Vivien opened her door and stepped outside, grabbing her backpack from the backseat and locking the car once the doors were closed. Once her keys were safely tucked into the front pocket of her backpack, Vivien followed her siblings to the front door of the school. Before she could step inside, however, a honk from a nearby car made  Vivien jump, whirling around to see Riven’s red Miata pulling to a stop by the sidewalk. Telling her siblings she would see them later, Vivien headed over to the car as the passenger’s side door opened, and a head of emerald hair stepped out before pushing the seat forward.

“Hey, Viv,” Jade greeted with a smile as she tightened her ponytail.

As Erica tumbled out of the backseat, the seatbelt wrapped around the ankle of her Doc Martens, she peered up at the brunette and beamed, “Oh, good! I was hoping to catch you before first period.” 

“Mission accomplished,” Vivien chuckled as Erica hobbled her way away from the car. As the car door closed and the window rolled down, she leaned over and teased, “That’s the only car full of ladies you’ll ever have, isn’t it?”

Riven sent his best friend a grin and gestured to his fellow bandmates as he spoke, “Blues Clues over there can hardly be considered a lady, and considering JJ is the only cheerleader who has ever given me the time of day, probably.”

Chuckling, Vivien rolled her eyes and said, “You’re an idiot.”

“Love you too.”

Before Vivien could return the sentiment, Erica placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “Alright, dipshits, let’s go before the bell rings and we get told off.”

Jade chuckled as she tossed her Chapstick into her bag, “By who; Viv’s dad?”

Vivien snorted at the thought of her dad reprimanding them, but Erica beat her to the punch as she turned toward her girlfriend and said, “I was thinking Coach Boogeyman.”

Leaning over the passenger seat, Riven wondered, “I thought Bogman was forced to leave after the color guard claimed she was spying on them in the showers.”

“She was supposed to,” Jade huffed, “but until they find enough evidence to take her to court, she has to finish out the year.”

“Sadly,” a voice sighed from behind the group. Turning toward the voice, Vivien smiled as her father spoke, “Until we have her on camera, there’s nothing we can do. Besides, she’s been pushing off retirement for years. With this accusation, we should be able to finalize everything at the end of the year.”

“Good,” Erica snipped as Vivien stepped around her. “She’s always given me the creeps.”

“Understandably so,” Damien chuckled softly, smiling as his daughter slotted herself under his arm. “Hey, babygirl.”

“Hey, Dad,” Vivien beamed. “Did you come to walk us to class?”

Damien shook his head, squeezing his daughter’s shoulder as he replied, “Not quite. I saw you four chatting and figured I would try to get you inside before anyone else came out and started yelling.” Leaning forward enough to see Riven, he asked, “Are you joining us, Riven, or are you just going to do virtual lessons today?”

“No, I’ll be in,” Riven quickly replied, glancing toward the parking lot with his signature grin. “Just have to find a place to park.”

“Make it quick, bud,” the man stated as he glanced at his smartwatch. “The bell rings in ten minutes.”

Riven nodded, checking to make sure his path was clear before pulling away from the curb, his Miata drifting toward the parking lot as Damien began leading his daughter and her friends inside. After handing her lunchbox off to her dad so he could put it into the staff fridge until lunch, Vivien waited until Riven came running up to the front door before stepping inside behind him, taking his hand and allowing him to pull her toward the stairwell across from the main office, waving goodbye to their friends and her father as they propelled up the stairs. Riven dragged her up to the next floor, where their lockers resided, before letting her go as he began twisting in his locker combination. Meanwhile, Vivien pulled her keys from her backpack, slipped a purple-painted one into her lock, and freed it, popping open the metal door with a sigh and placing her bag on the hook inside.

“You know,” Riven began, “it’s days like today that I wish my birthday wasn’t after the school cutoff.”

“Rough morning?” Vivien asked with a grin.

Riven scoffed as he tugged his social studies workbook down from the shelf he had shoved it onto the day before, “I slept through my alarm, and Dad was already at work, so he couldn’t help. Then, I woke up to Erica screeching about needing a ride, only to have my phone die mid-call. And, to top it all off, I’m about eighty-three percent sure these sweatpants are yours from the weekend.”

Vivien’s eyebrow lifted, but as she glanced down at the navy blue sweatpants Riven donned,  her eyes widened. Sure enough, the stars and planets she had embroidered around the pockets and hemline of her sweatpants now stood as a glaring reminder of the clothes she had tossed into the wash at Riven’s house. They had been cooking stuffed shells, and she had dropped the jar of sauce, splattering chunky, red tomato sauce all over the floor and their legs. After putting the food in the oven, they got a majority of the stains out in the sink but threw their clothes into the laundry afterward to get rid of the smell. She had forgotten the pants in her rush to get out the door on Monday morning, having told Riven she would take them back when she went back to his house after spring break was over. Holding back her bark of laughter, Vivien grinned at the thought of Riven rushing around his room that morning, throwing on whatever he could find before leaving the house and somehow missing the colorful threads lining his legs.

“Yeah,” Riven breathed, rolling his eyes at Vivien’s not-so-discrete snort of laughter. “Erica thought it was hilarious.”

“It kind of is,” Vivien giggled softly. At Riven’s dismayed sigh, her grin faltered, and she glanced down at her pants as she offered, “Do you want to trade? I’m pretty sure I stole these from you over the summer.”

Riven spared a glance at the jeans Vivien had worn and grinned; the cuffs were rolled up toward her ankles to prevent them from being stepped on, and she had to wear a belt just to keep the waistband in place, something Riven had no issue with in the slightest. With a snort, he shook his head, “I think I’m good, Pip. You made these and, despite them being on the shorter side, I’m only here until lunch. I can run home and change before work after I’m done eating. Besides, they wouldn’t match your outfit.”

Vivien’s eyebrow lifted into her bangs as she asked, “Since when do you care if clothes match?”

“I don’t,” Riven shrugged as he closed his locker, “but I know you do. Now, come on, it’s almost time for the bell.”

Scrambling to grab her books for the next two classes so she wouldn’t have to run to her locker between bells, Vivien slammed her locker shut and walked alongside Riven until he reached his class. They wouldn’t see each other again until she was allowed to head to the cafeteria for lunch, but their mornings in the halls were something she had cherished for a while. Joining a few of her classmates on their way to their first period of the day, Vivien caught a glimpse of the oversized clock on the wall and sighed. She had four periods until lunch, and only two were on the same floor, but she had planned to use her study hall block to join her friend Emily in the drama wing of the main floor. 

Emily - or Emmy, as she was often called by her relatively small friend group - had been begging her for the last two weeks to join her for the auditions in some musical the school was putting on. Originally, Vivien had no desire to audition as she hated the thought of having so many eyes on her, but when Emily pointed out that the auditorium was in close proximity to the cafeteria, she relented. If it meant she didn’t have to run from her study hall on the top floor all the way down to the main floor to eat, she was in.

Her first block was spent listening to Mrs. Adams - the only social studies teacher who actually seemed to enjoy teaching - ask everyone what their plans were for spring break. She loved to make the class hard as most of her students were either on the honor roll or enrolled in advanced placement classes, but Fridays were the one day a week when everyone got some reprieve from her constant stream of tests, exams, and droning lessons. By the time the bell rang, everyone had broken off into groups, writing out their plans for the week as their teacher sat at her desk with a smile, grading the last few papers on her computer. Vivien had made up a story on the fly, writing out her plans for the trip to California she told everyone she was going on, but as the bell rang, she closed her notebook and shoved it into her desk before grabbing her book for the next class and following her friend, Carter, down the hall toward the French class she had signed up for at the start of the semester.

Although she struggled a lot with the language - finding her old Spanish and German classes easier than French - the teacher commended her many times for at least trying. She wanted nothing more than to learn the language her boyfriend’s family knew, intending to surprise them on her trip. However, she knew her attempts were fairly futile. French just wasn’t her strong suit. Grateful her grade for the class wasn’t going to affect her final grades for the year, Vivien slumped into her chair in the middle of the room and hoped the class would go by faster than it usually did so that she could escape to the auditorium.

Thankfully, it seemed as though the teachers were of the same mindset as the students - eager to escape the concrete and stucco walls and leave for vacation. After answering a one-sided paper of questions in French about how their week had been, the teacher let them wander the halls, allowing Vivien to dump her books in her locker before making her way down to the auditorium. The auditorium was hardly ever used unless they had a guest speaker or a show being rehearsed, but the doors were almost always left unlocked, making it easy for Vivien to slip inside and make her way to the front row of chairs.

The auditorium would be empty for a while before the audition time came, but as Vivien had all the time in the world until her friend showed up, she didn’t mind the silence. Opening the notes app on her phone, she began typing out all of the things she would need to pack when she got home. Her list was already relatively short as she had put her essentials into her suitcase after using them that morning before school - her toiletries taking up the small pouch in the front of her luggage to leave room for the clothes she was still up in the air about. Although she knew that clothes weren’t really necessary as Mick had told her many times that she would be able to borrow period-typical clothes from them upon her arrival, she still needed to shove some summery clothing into her suitcase to make it seem as though her time had truly been spent in the California sun. 

With a sigh, Vivien realized she also needed to leave room for the souvenirs she would be bringing back and any potential shopping she did in either world. By the time she had whittled down her list to just necessities, her journal, and some extra changes of, well, every article of clothing she owned, people had begun to fill the auditorium, ascending the stage and beginning vocal warm-ups that would have impressed Sharpay Evans. Vivien tucked her earbuds in as the noise in the room began to grow, only pulling them out when Emily appeared in the seat next to her, excitedly tugging Vivien out of her shell and onto the stage with her as she rambled about the show they were going to be performing for the end of the school year.

Checking her blood pressure on her watch, Vivien sighed as the drama teachers, Mrs. Kaisla and Mr. Doyle, began telling everyone where to stand before giving them the run-down of the show. “As you all know by the posters in the halls,” Mr. Doyle began, “this year’s final show will be Hairspray.”

“I really want to play Tracy or Penny,” Emily squealed in a whisper mere inches from Vivien’s ear. Grabbing Vivien’s shirt in a fist, she added, “Imagine if Colby gets picked for Link or Seaweed - it would be perfect!”

Chuckling at the girl’s obvious crush on the dark-skinned football player who had been in their friend circles since kindergarten, Vivien whispered back, “I admire your enthusiasm, but is he the only reason you’re auditioning? I mean, you hate being the center of attention as much as I do being on stage; why would you wish for the lead?”

Emily’s sparkling smile faltered as Vivien’s words sunk in but quickly reappeared as the teachers wrapped up their short spiel about the show, “That’s why you’re here.”

“To make sure you don’t look like the worst performer here?” Vivien questioned teasingly.

Emily scoffed, elbowing Vivien in the arm, “Shut up. You’re not that bad.”

“Says you,” Vivien replied as Mrs. Kaisla began ushering some students toward center stage. As soon as she was sure neither she nor Emily were part of the group selected, she added, “There’s a reason I only ever sing in the car or the shower.”

With a sigh, Emily nudged her friend closer to the front of the stage and said, “And there’s a reason I asked you to come with me instead of literally anybody else. You have a beautiful voice. Besides, I need someone here who makes it easier to be in the spotlight. Now, shush!”

Vivien rolled her eyes but smiled as Emily hushed her, urging her to watch the others as they were instructed on what to do. Minutes flew by as the group took turns singing popular songs played over a bluetooth speaker one of the boys had brought to the school. Before she knew it, Vivien felt her stomach clench anxiously as her name was called, and Emily practically dragged her to the center of the stage. Taking a deep breath as the others took turns singing, Vivien tried to think of a song - any song - she could sing at least fairly well, but any titles she knew seemed to flee her brain as her mouth dried up as she resorted to biting the inside of her cheek to keep herself from fidgeting under the blazing lights.

As Emily’s choice - an 80s hit that had made an appearance in the last season of Stranger Things - began to play, Vivien realized just how doomed she was, and her mind flickered to the cell phone in her back pocket. Surely, her Spotify would have something she could work with, right? However, to her chagrin, as soon as the device was free of its jean prison, Vivien found the music had stopped playing, and she was forced to choose a song without any assistance. Had she really taken that long to decide? Clearing her throat, Vivien smiled tersely as she gave up the only song that had found its way to the front of her brain in time - ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me. 

The teachers she hardly knew seemed to smile as they talked amongst themselves, and although a part of her was sure they were talking about how easy the song was to mess up, Emily’s encouraging smile from the side of the stage somewhat assured her that all was fine. Closing her eyes as the music began playing, Vivien attempted to force her fears down as she sucked in a deep breath. All she had to do was get through a section of the song, and she would be free to leave as everyone else was. Pretending she was just singing in the car with Riven, Vivien allowed her voice to carry over the music, her enjoyment of the song obvious as she began to sway to the beat, the lyrics flowing out of her like water.

Once the chorus had left her, the music began to fade, allowing the teachers to be heard as they scribbled something on their clipboards. Looking up at her, Mrs. Kaisla smiled and said, “Thank you, Vivien. You’re free to go.”

“Remember to check the cast list when we come back to school,” Mr. Doyle added before gesturing toward the side of the stage, where Emily received her with a hug and a squeal.

The two made their exit relatively quickly, Vivien practically pushing Emily through the double doors so that she could find a source of oxygen in the halls. Once the auditorium doors had closed with a click, Vivien sighed, checking her blood pressure as a wave of anxiety-fueled dizziness washed over her. After making up a quick excuse as to where she was going, Vivien told Emily she would see her after lunch before making her way to her locker, where she kept her water bottle. Sitting on the floor by her locker, Vivien sipped at her water until the bell rang, forcing herself to calm down as she scrolled through Pinterest.

Before long, Jade and Riven appeared, having left the same class Vivien would have to attend after lunch - World History. They hauled her off of the floor, and Riven tossed his books into his locker before draping an arm around Vivien's shoulders and guiding her toward the stairs while Jade rattled off about the teacher - Mr. Smith - being the most boring teacher in the school. After retrieving Vivien's lunch from her father, she joined her friends at their usual table by the windows on the far wall of the cafeteria, spending their lunch block playing a segment of their Dungeons and Dragons campaign on their phones while eating. 

After a while of playing and eating, the bell rang, and they cleaned up their table before tossing Vivien's now empty lunch box into Erica's locker near the gym before saying goodbye to Riven and splitting off to their respective classes. For Vivien, the rest of her classes went by without a hitch, time flying by the way she had hoped all morning that it would. Once her final class of the day ended, Vivien sent a quick text to the group chat she and her siblings had created, telling them that she had to drop off her form for the battle bot tournament and would meet them at the car. Making her way from the top floor to her locker, Vivien gathered her belongings, shoving her water bottle and a small bag of Cheetos her Trigonometry teacher had given her into her backpack before slinging her backpack onto her shoulders.

Once she was back on the main floor, Vivien scurried across the hall, rounded the entrance to the office, and took the stairwell across from the vending machines down to the school's basement. As she descended the stairs, dampness and mildew filled her nostrils, making her nose wrinkle in disgust as she pushed the door to the bottom floor open. Hardly anyone visited the basement unless they had to, as there was little to see, but there were a select few who found comfort in the almost eerie silence and smell the basement offered. While the basement wasn't overly dark or dreary, it never quite felt warm enough to give off the same welcoming feeling the upper parts of the school gave. 

Perhaps it was the piercing white light of the fluorescents or the steady beeping from the computer lab that sounded almost exactly like a hospital heart monitor that kept people away, but regardless, there were only a handful of students who enjoyed the ominous, cold, almost abandoned feeling the basement radiated. Vivien was one of those odd students. After years of exploring abandoned buildings with Riven for his photography blog and her Instagram, the smell and cold environment of the school's basement did little to drive her away. If anything, it was almost calming.

There weren't many reasons for most students to visit the basement, as there were only three labs and two committees that met there. The chemistry, robotics, and computer laboratories were in a triangle-like formation at the very end of the hall, while the photography and student politics groups met at the other end of the hall, their rooms across from each other and sharing a single wall that was thin enough to hear conversations happening in the other room. Vivien hummed to herself as she stepped around an old projector that had been wheeled into the hallway, grinning fondly at the memory of having to haul the old machine up the stairs to the top floor for one of the summer school teachers while helping her dad out in the office. Stepping into the Bermuda Triangle of classrooms at the end of the hall, Vivien scanned the names beside the doors before making her way toward the left-most room.

The door to the robotics lab had been kept open with a hunk of metal the teacher, Mr. Kevin Hill, had welded in his free time one summer. Mr. Hill was one of Vivien's favorite teachers of all time. Mr. Hill was a short Irishman with a fondness for taking things apart and rebuilding them, something Vivien could appreciate. There were a few other students in the room - Vivien's bandmate, Erica; Damon Perry, a vitiligo-skinned freshman who hardly spoke around upperclassmen unless he was spoken to first; and Preston Osborne, a senior who thought his shit didn't stink because he had more money than he knew what to do with. 

Unlike the rest of the handful of rich kids at their school, Vivien had known Preston by extension for years. He had been something of a nightmare for the school system, using his daddy's reputation as a hotshot lawyer in the city to be a dick to anyone who dared push back against whatever he wanted. According to Erica and Jade, Preston wasn't horrible until middle school, when the older kids began picking on him. One threat of a lawsuit later, Preston officially became known as someone nobody wanted to trifle with. Over the years, Vivien had heard her father complain about the boy and had heard horror stories from teachers who'd had him, but Vivien hadn't known him personally until she became the youngest person from their school ever to win the regional battle bot championship. 

In her first year fighting back in seventh grade, she had beaten Preston by a long shot, her little, ladybug-shaped robot tearing Preston's robot apart with its electrified saws. Preston, of course, seemed incapable of taking the news well, having argued with the competition's judges until he was forced to either accept defeat or be disqualified. Ever since that day, Vivien found herself with an upperclassman who thought of her as nothing more than his arch-nemesis. Though she found him obnoxious after a while, Vivien hardly played into his made-up game of tug-of-war unless provoked, something that seemed to piss Preston off more instead of making him see how ridiculous he was being.

Rolling her eyes at the imbecile's glare, Vivien signed her name on the clipboard on the teacher's desk, taking a glance at the competition as she allowed her backpack to slide down from her shoulders. The robotics teacher was supposed to supervise from his desk as Erica, Preston, and Damon scoured the materials the teacher had laid out for them to take, but Damon had somehow managed to ask a question that kept the old Irishman talking while Erica and Preston searched the scrap bins the teacher had left out for them to rifle through. The bins would be there until the day of the competition, giving Vivien plenty of time to come up with a model and a mock-up before she started digging through the bins of scrap metal that, hopefully, wouldn't be sending anyone to the hospital for a tetanus shot that year.

As Mr. Hill stepped away from his conversation with Damon, he found Vivien standing by his desk as she dug through her backpack for the paper she swore she had left in the front of the biggest pouch. "Ah," the teacher began, "Miss O'Brian. I was wondering when you would show." 

Vivien peered over at the teacher and smiled before resuming her search, "Well, better late than never, right, Mr. H?" 

The graying man smiled with a short nod as he sat in his chair once again, "So far, I have only received a couple of sign-ups, so your competition from our school is looking rather small. Do you have an idea for what your battle bot will look like this year?" 

"You know I can't tell you, even if I do," Vivien stated as she tugged her permission slip out and handed it to the teacher. As Mr. Hill glanced over the paper with mild interest, Vivien stepped away from his desk and looked over some of the objects the teacher had prepared. She picked up a few metal pieces she could use for either a weapon or a protective shield and placed them in a plastic Walmart bag that Mr. Hill had left out for the students to use. "Besides, I wouldn't dare divulge my secrets to my enemies," Vivien claimed theatrically as she glanced around at the other students in the room. 

Erica leaned forward just enough to stick her tongue out at Vivien, placing a couple of springs in a plastic bag the teacher had given her. Damon simply smiled but kept quiet as he signed out a workshop tool that he'd need to return in the next two weeks. Vivien returned his smile and chuckled; in the few years she had known him, Damon had always seemed to be a very quiet, reserved person, but he seemed to come a little bit out of his shell when it came time for battles such as this one. However, as opposed to his silent competitors, Preston Osborne scoffed at Vivien and rolled his eyes as he turned toward the brunette. 

He used the wrench he was holding to point at Vivien, watching her with scrutiny as he spoke, "After last year's height requirement debacle, I doubt anybody would take your advice." 

"What?" Vivien began sarcastically, her voice taking on an infantilizing tone. "Are you still upset that mine was bigger than yours?" Ignoring the snorted bark of shocked laughter from her blue-haired friend, the brunette, never one to back down from a fight with the arrogant male, moved so she could look Preston as straight in the eye as her shorter stature would allow. "At least you could see mine in the ring. Everyone needed a pair of binoculars to see yours; it was so small." 

Preston stared down his nose at Vivien before chuckling condescendingly, "At least mine didn't need a judge to do a height check last minute." 

"Yeah, and? Who won that battle again?" Vivien asked rhetorically. Gasping dramatically, she placed a hand over her chest and answered her own question, "Oh, right! Me." 

"You just don't know when to shut up, do you?" Preston retorted with an arrogant scoff. Then, his voice lowered as he hissed, "My dad could sue the shit out of your family. I'd run you and your whole family out of town."

"I don't know who told you that, dipshit," Vivien laughed, "but your daddy's got no power here and neither do you. In fact, I bet your 'big city lawyer' father would love to hear all about how often you try to threaten people in this school. Threatening bodily harm is a potentially jailable offense, you know. I can see the headlines now!"

Vivien pretended to gag as Preston leaned closer, his breath polluting her face as he snarled, "That big mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble if you don't shut it."

"If you think my mouth is big, I feel bad for your girlfriend." Vivien paused, gave a mock gasp, then added, "Oh, wait, you don't have one. Do you, shrimp dick?"

"Look, you little bitch, I-"

"Mister Osborne, Miss O'Brian," Mr. Hill interrupted, rising from his seat before the argument could get any worse. "I believe this argument will get you nowhere. Mr. Osborne, as you have already gathered your things, I suggest you sign out any tools you may need and leave before this ends up as another after-school detention for you. Miss O'Brian, please continue looking around for any particular parts you may need." 

Vivien nodded and waited for Preston to back down and storm off before she resumed her perusing, allowing the teacher to handle Preston as he approached the desk. Mr. Hill was one of the teachers who always formed his own opinions of the children who came into his class, regardless of their notoriety. The man didn't care about who the kids' parents were; he would treat him the same way he would treat any student. Vivien knew from Riven's occasional photography classes at the community college that Mr. Hill had taken opportunities to float around the different universities in the area, teaching robotics and photography when he wished; if he got fired from this school for not babying Preston or some other Karen's spawn, it probably wouldn't be a hard blow. Maybe that was why Vivien, Erica, and most of the other students who didn't like Preston liked Mr. Hill so much. 

Soon, but not soon enough, Preston left and took his bags with him, and Erica flipped him off as he disappeared down the hallway. Turning toward the grinning Vivien, she beamed, "Bitch, you handled him so much better than I would have." 

Vivien smiled as she tossed a handful of small springs into her wagon. "Thanks. I just- I can't stand him."

"Who can other than his parents?" Erica scoffed, "His head's so far up his own ass, I'm surprised he can walk straight."

"I have to agree with you," Mr. Hill piped in as he sat back in his seat. "Although Preston makes fair marks as far as I am aware, he rides on his father's reputation to keep himself above everyone else. Though, as a teacher, I must advise you change your approach, a couple of wounds to his pride will, hopefully, do him well over time." 

"I doubt he'll change," Vivien said, shaking her head, as she examined a small shell-shaped piece that could be used as a cover for her robot. 

The teacher returned to the book he had been reading, and Erica nodded in agreement before taking a battery holder and putting it inside her bag. She looked at Vivien's bag and shook her head at how much the younger girl had already stored away. "Well, I'm looking forward to being annihilated by you again this year, as always." 

Vivien knew the other girl was only joking, as Erica had told her before that she only entered the battles for fun and found it interesting to see how far she could get. With a smile, Vivien chirped, "And I look forward to annihilating you, as always." 

Erica laughed, giving Vivien a quick hug before leaving, claiming she and Jade were getting a ride to work from one of the girls on the cheer team who worked at the mall with them. Once her friend was gone, Vivien went back to picking out parts for her robot, picking out items she thought could be of use and tucking them into the bag that had begun to weigh her arm down. The brunette spent another handful of minutes in the classroom before deciding she had enough things. As she placed her heavy bag inside another, she tied the handles in a knot and said, "Well, Mr. Hill, I believe I'll be on my way." 

"Actually, Miss O'Brian, I have to go over the rules for the battles before you leave," the teacher claimed, tucking a bookmark into the novel he was reading before pulling a paper from his desk drawer. "Normally, I would wait until I have you in class, but since we won't be back in school until after spring break, now is as good a time as any." 

Vivien accepted the paper from the teacher, reading over the first couple of rules before nodding to herself. "Did they change them or something?" 

"Not exactly." Mr. Hill stood and made his way around the desk, sitting on the other side of the surface as he pointed out some of the notes at the bottom of the page. "The officials are new this year. They've agreed to keep the three-foot height acceptance, but they've eliminated the use of robotic arms that can be used to puncture another robot from the maximum height - as you can see here." 

"Let me guess, that rule was made because of my robot from last year?" Vivien pondered. 

"That would be my guess as well," the teacher agreed with a grin. "While that robot of yours was quite impressive, you have to keep it short if that's your plan this year." 

Vivien shook her head, knowing that wasn't her idea at all. She liked to change things up every year, never showcasing the same attack twice. Thinking for a moment, Vivien scanned over the jumbled nonsense on the page that she would probably hand off to Mick the moment she saw her and asked, "Are saws and shields still allowed?" 

"Yes, of course," Mr Hill said, nodding insistently. "It would be very hard to take that ruling out. Just remember that you need to have your robot done by the first of June. The following week, the judges will go through the ruling process. Any final adjustments will have to be made before the end of the school day on Friday, the ninth. The first day of battles will be Saturday, and Sunday will be finals and awards, as per usual." 

Vivien allowed herself a brief moment to process the information before nodding, a smile lighting her face as she spoke, "That sounds good to me." Picking up her backpack from the floor, Vivien folded and tucked the paper into the pocket of her jeans and headed out of the classroom. It wasn't until she was near the stairwell that she heard her name being called again. Turning toward the voice, she found Mr. Hill standing in the doorway of his classroom. "Yeah?" she called in return. 

"Just something I meant to tell you before you left." The teacher held his book up a little, a gesture that made Vivien believe he was going to quote something from it, yet, without looking down, he began speaking once more. "Those who are willing to work hard - day in and day out - to achieve their goals are the true winners, regardless of the scores or the judges' opinions. I don't doubt that you are one of those hard-working people, Vivien; you know what you're doing. Your skills never cease to amaze me, and I hope you prove me right again this year." 

With a raised brow, Vivien asked, "Prove you right, sir?"

"I've been an AP Robotics teacher here for twenty-three years," Mr Hill said. "It's not often that I have someone in my class throughout junior and senior high school. Other teachers said I  should have booted you down to the regular class with Miss Denis, but since the day you first walked into my class, I knew you had potential. Since then, you've proved them wrong every step of the way. I commend you for that."

Vivien stood in place for a moment, stunned at her teacher's kind words. "Thanks, Mr Hill. I won't let you down." 

"I know you won't, Miss O'Brian. You never do. Have a nice evening," he replied before turning back to his book and stepping back over to his desk, leaving Vivien standing alone in the hallway. 

Vivien stared at the spot Mr. Hill had previously occupied, letting out an airy laugh as a brilliant smile found its way onto her face. Taking in a deep breath, she straightened her posture and turned toward the stairs, propelling herself up them with newfound confidence. Her bag of assorted metal bits jangled, clanking together in a symphony of scrapes and tings as she ascended the stairs. Once she had reached the main floor, Vivien retrieved her lunch box from Erica's locker. The girl's four-digit code - 8104, Erica's birthdate and year combined - was one of the many Vivien kept in her notes app in case her friends ever forgot them, and even though she was sure Erica couldn't possibly forget her locker combination, Vivien enjoyed knowing that, if her friends needed her to, she could help them.

After tugging the lunch box out from the chaos that was Erica's locker, Vivien rushed to the office, saying a quick goodbye to her dad before heading to the main entrance, pushing open the first set of doors before lifting the hood of her jacket over her head and hoping her siblings had gotten the spare key to her car from their father as rain poured from above. Shoving open the door to the outside world, Vivien watched as rain slammed down in sheets, taking a deep breath before bolting into the freezing rain, letting out a shrill screech as she scurried across the parking lot to her car. She threw the door open and jumped inside, grateful her siblings had already started the car's heater, as she slammed the door shut behind her.

Abby smirked at her sister's reflection in the rear-view mirror as Vivien shivered in her seat, and with a snort, she asked, "Bit chilly, sissy?"

Turning back toward her little sister, Vivien nodded and sighed, "You could say that." Hauling her backpack and Walmart bag of metal parts over the gap between her seat and Oliver's, Vivien asked, "Can you hold onto these for me, Abs?"

Peering back as Abby placed Vivien's belongings on the seat next to her, Oliver asked, "You're doing the championship again this year?"

"When doesn't she, Olly?" Abby asked rhetorically as Vivien backed out of her parking spot. "She fights every year, and every year, she wins."

"I know that; I'm not stupid," Oliver retorted.

"Debatable," Abby shrugged.

Ignoring his twin, Oliver said, "I just thought that, since she was going on vacation, she wouldn't be participating this year."

"I'll have plenty of time," Vivien claimed, putting the car into drive and steering it toward the parking lot's exit. "Besides, I'll be with Mickie for a whole week. If my battle bot isn't at least halfway done by the time I get back, then one of us either got sick, somehow got pregnant, or died."

Oliver let out a snort, "I mean, fair enough, but aren't you going to do anything fun while you're in California?"

"Building things is fun," Vivien retorted, flicking on her turn signal and glancing both ways before pulling out of the parking lot, "but yeah, we're going to the beach, checking out some museums, and we might visit Disneyland if  we have the time."

Leaning forward between the front seats, Abby asked, "How is it possible that Oliver and I might have a more entertaining spring break than you?"

Sparing a glance at her siblings, Vivien asked, "What do you mean?"

With a smile bright enough to put the sun to shame, Oliver announced, "I'm going with Markus' family to New Jersey so we can check out that American Dream place with the indoor water park and ski slope."

"Really?" Vivien asked. Muttering more to herself than anything, she added, "I'm surprised Mom allowed that after you broke your ankle the last time you went on a trip with them."

Abby hummed in agreement before speaking, "And I'm going with Brynna's family to Great Wolf Lodge for her birthday."

"Those sound fun and all," Vivien admitted, "but how is that more fun than literally going across the country?"

"Because you're going to be doing nerd shit while on vacation while we're having actual fun," Oliver stated blandly.

As the car slowed to a stop at a red light, Vivien turned toward her brother with a knowing look, "You say that like you won't be spending hours upon hours researching some cryptid or something with Markus in the hotel room." Peering in the rear-view mirror, Vivien found Abby's gaze and said, "And, Abby, we all know that you and Brynna will spend your time playing with her little siblings instead of just hanging out."

Abby opened her mouth to argue but quickly shut it again as she let out a soft sigh, "Yeah, I guess you're right." 

"Just because it's spring break doesn't mean we somehow magically turn into party animals once we're on vacation," Vivien claimed with a shrug as the light turned green, and she continued onward. "We've been ingrained to be responsible regardless of where we are, but I'm sure we'll all still have fun being boring with our friends."

Although they constantly joked about going to big house parties at their friends' houses and getting absolutely trashed on whatever alcohol they could find, none of the O'Brian siblings had actually ever gone to a big house party or willingly gotten drunk. Most of the people at their school weren't interested in big parties either as it would be increasingly difficult to get all of their friends in one town. Since their school was regional, kids from towns almost an hour away would be shuttled in on the handful of school-choice buses, making it hard for big parties to really be a thing. Besides, many, if not all, of the friends the O'Brians had made at the school were relatively introverted kids who cared more about their studies than getting wasted, making their running joke of getting drunk with their friends even more preposterous.

Abby peered out the window at the rain as Oliver said, "You know, I kind of like that we're boring."

"Oh, yeah?" Vivien asked, glancing at her brother as she checked whether or not she could cross through the intersection.

"Mhm," Abby nodded in agreement.

"It means our parents let us hang out with pretty much anyone without really caring," Oliver claimed. "Even if our plans were to go out and do dumb stuff at a friend's house, they wouldn't think anything of us going over there."

Abby thought for a moment before saying, "That's true, but we also would feel pretty bad if we took their trust in us for granted."

This time, it was Vivien's turn to hum in agreement, "Yeah."

For the first time since her parents gave her permission to join their neighbors in their house in California, Vivien felt wary about her decision. Although she knew that they had no qualms about her going to California as they had known the Birch family longer than Vivien had been alive, they had no idea about the other universe they would be taking her to. She had no plans of telling them about it as she had promised to keep it a secret from literally everyone she knew, but the thought that she was, for the first time in her life, taking advantage of her parents' trust to go off galavanting in a world they had no idea about. Even though she had no plans of doing anything wrong or illegal while there, a knot began to form in her stomach at the idea of letting her parents down for keeping such a large secret from them.

Taking a deep breath as she pulled onto their street, Vivien pushed her thoughts aside, allowing her excitement to fill her once more. She could worry about it later when she had Mick to talk her through every insignificant problem her mind could sprout up. For now, she had to get ready for the trip, and with a limited amount of time to get all of her clothes folded, she needed to focus on that. As Vivien's blue Kona pulled into the driveway, their mother stepped outside with a few umbrellas, making her way to the end of the walkway and waiting for Viviebn's car to stop. As soon as the car was in park, Chelsea held her umbrella over the passenger's door and opened it, handing her son an umbrella as he stepped out with his backpack.

Wrapping her cardigan tightly around herself, Abby tapped Vivien's arm and said, "I'll take your metal stuff in so it doesn't get wet."

"Are you sure?" Vivien asked in return as Abby handed her the purple backpack she had kept an eye on during the trip home. "I can take it."

"That's okay," she replied. Once the front passenger's door closed, she quickly took hold of the Walmart bag's handles and added, "I don't think Mom bothered to bring out your umbrella, and I don't want them to get wet."

Hoping to save her sister from having to lug the heavy bag inside, Vivien tried to gently argue, "I'm parking in the garage, Abs, it's not a long walk to the door."

"That's okay," Abby shrugged. "I've already got it. I'll bring it up to your room for you."

Before Vivien could say anything to the contrary, Abby grinned, pushed open her door, and slid out, taking and opening the umbrella her mom handed her before slamming the door and rushing to the house with their mother not far behind. Left with her mouth still open, Vivien breathed, "Thanks," before shaking her head fondly and pressing the button to open the garage. Once her car was parked in the spot furthest from the door, Vivien slid out of her seat, pulling her backpack with her. Glancing out at the pouring rain, the brunette sighed, hauling her backpack onto one shoulder and gripping her keys in her free hand as she rushed into the downpour with a squeal, closing the overhead door with a single click as she raced toward the front door of the house.

Once inside, she closed the door, grateful for the warmth of the house, as she trudged her way to the coat closet and began taking off her now-soaked sneakers. Loki soon joined her on the floor, licking the water from her cheeks as she tossed her sneakers onto the drying rack alongside her siblings' shoes. Running her hands through the dog's fur, Vivien felt herself calm as she thanked the dog for his warm welcome. Pushing herself from the floor, Vivien ascended the stairs with her backpack and her Saint Bernard, grateful her bedroom was near the landing, as Loki shoved his way into her room and onto her bed. With a sigh, Vivien rolled her eyes at the oversized puppy and dropped her backpack onto the floor at the end of her bed, plopping herself onto her mattress as she debated how much time she had to pack.

Not even a minute into her procrastination party, Abby stepped into the room without so much as a knock, snickering at her older sister's dawdling as she passed by. "You know, lying there like a limp spaghetti noodle isn't going to help your bags get packed."

"Okay, Mom," Vivien huffed with a smirk, missing the way Abby visibly winced at being compared to their mother. Taking in a heavy breath, Vivien pushed herself from the bed and sighed, "Is it weird that I'm not ready for this now that I'm leaving?"

"Not really," Abby shrugged as her sister entered the closet and pulled her suitcase down from the top shelf. "You get this way before out-of-state competitions too."

"This is different from comps," Vivien said as she placed her suitcase on the end of her bed and opened the shell. "I don't usually go far without you guys."

Stepping up behind her sister, Abby placed a hand on the older girl's back and smiled once she had Vivien's attention, "You'll have tons of fun and you know it. I'm sure you'll forget all about us once you land."

"That's impossible, Abs," Vivien breathed, pulling the lighter-haired brunette into a hug. "I love you guys too much to not miss you."

Lifting her head enough to see her sister's face, Abby replied, "Trust me, you'll be sick of us by the end of the week. Dad will keep you updated with pictures of Loki every morning like he does when we go to camp, I'll send you pictures of the lodge and everything interesting I see, and I'm sure Olly will send you paragraphs of random facts he and Markus found online while they're away. By the end of vacation, you'll be so sick of us that you'll want to get away the minute you come home."

Vivien laughed, "Probably, yeah."

Stepping out of her sister's hold, Abby grinned and said, "Now, come on, we have packing to do."

Allowing her sister to take the reins, Vivien headed into her closet to figure out what clothes she wanted to bring, hauling her plastic bins of summer clothes down from the top shelf as Abby headed into her en-suite bathroom to pack up the essentials Vivien had typed out on her phone. Once Vivien had fished out a handful of clothes she wanted to bring, she brought them to her desk and dropped them in a heap in her chair. By the time Abby finished getting stuff out of the bathroom and into the suitcase, Vivien was halfway done folding her clothes, something Abby had helped finish in record time. After reassuring her sister that she would be borrowing swimwear from Mick's closet upon her arrival, Vivien threw a couple of pairs of shoes into the mesh pouch on the lid alongside her journal and the astronaut-shaped galaxy projector she kept on her bedside table as a nightlight.

With her packing done quicker than she had anticipated, Vivien sent a text to Mick that she was all set before grabbing a dry hoodie from her closet and hauling the suitcase to the main floor of the house, leaving it near the coat closet so that she could slip on some shoes and get out the door as quickly as possible. Once everything was in place, she and Loki joined her siblings in the living room, where Oliver had begun setting up Mario Kart on the Switch. Sitting in the space the twins had left for her, Vivien took the purple joy-con from the coffee table and slouched into the comfort of the couch cushions as Loki took his place on the floor by her feet.

As she chose her usual character, Yoshi, Vivien's phone dinged, and she pulled it out of her pocket, giving her siblings the chance to argue over who got Baby Bowser. Unlocking her phone, she opened her dad's text and smiled. Peering over Abby's head to where their mother was leaning against the kitchen counter, sipping at her freshly-made smoothie while she presumably scrolled through her Facebook, Vivien rolled her eyes and went back to her conversation, thanking their dad for his offer of dinner and asking if he could pick them up their usual McDonald's orders before tucking her phone between her thigh and the couch and picking up her joy-con once again. Breaking up her siblings' argument with ease, Vivien started the game. Once they figured out who got which character, the three of them quickly got immersed in their battle for the first place.

As Oliver overtook Vivien for second place in Coconut Mall, leading the oldest of the siblings to cuss him out and jab him with her elbow, the front door slammed shut, alerting the whole house to the new visitor. Loki let out a bark as he rose from the floor, abandoning his post as the protector in favor of following the smell of french fries and cheeseburgers to the front door. The kids called out greetings to their father as they entered the final lap of their race, getting a chuckled response as Damien made his way through the entryway to the kitchen. Damien set the flimsy drink tray and paper bags plastered with golden arches on the kitchen counters, ignoring the look his ex-wife sent him as he began pulling fries and boxes from the bags and setting them out according to which family member had ordered what.

By the time the kids had finished their race, Chelsea had begun arguing with Damien about the quality of the food he had brought home, but the man seemed unbothered by her attitude, pushing aside her frustrations as the children approached. Stepping aside to allow them access to their meals, Damien accepted quick hugs from each of his children and asked them how their school days had been before following them to the living room. As Abby began to explain how her usually strict English teacher had them watch a movie as he had a migraine, Vivien sat cross-legged in her usual space on the far end of the couch and put one of the throw pillows over her lap so that the plate she put her food onto wouldn't fall.

After her siblings had rambled about their days, Damien turned to Vivien and asked, "What about you, babygirl? Anything fun happen today?"

Vivien shrugged, swallowing her mouthful of french fries before replying, "Not really. I signed up for the battle bot tournament after class."

Before her father could say anything, Abby butted in, "Alix said they saw you at the first round of auditions for the musical. I told them there was no way 'cause you hate being on stage, but they said it was true."

"It was," Vivien admitted before taking a bite of her burger.

Oliver choked on his chicken nugget, coughing a few times before swallowing thickly and asking, "Wait, seriously?"

Nodding, Vivien dipped her sandwich in a pile of ketchup and said, "Yeah. Emily wanted to audition, but didn't want to go alone, so I stepped in. It's not that big of a deal."

"It's a huge deal!" Abby squawked, twisting so that she could see her sister better. "Alix said the drama teachers were thinking of cancelling the other auditions because of you."

"Bull," Vivien scoffed, carefully avoiding the rest of her accusatory cuss as she felt the growing heat of her mother's gaze. "It wasn't even a meaningful audition. I sang some ABBA and ran for the hills; there's nothing impressive about that."

"But Alix said-"

"Alix could have heard wrong," Vivien argued, cutting off her sister's statement before it could spiral out of control. "Besides, even if they do choose me - which they won't - I'll just step down and let the understudy take whatever role I get."

"That would be for the best," Chelsea stated as she stabbed her fork into the grilled chicken salad her ex-husband had bought for her. "We've all seen how you get on stage at your grandparent's camp; putting you in any leading role in front all those people would be so much worse."

Ignoring their mother's statement with a roll of his eyes, Oliver turned to Vivien and said, "You can't back down."

Vivien grinned, sending her brother a curious look as she asked, "Why not?"

"Because!"

"That's not a reason, Olly."

"But it is," Oliver claimed. "We've all heard you sing in the car and you love theatre. This is your chance to see what it's like on Boadway."

"Who says I want to be on Broadway?" Vivien asked with a laugh.

Oliver thought for a moment before saying, "Well, nobody, but-"

"But the school is petitioning to get the Titanic Musical for the April show next year," Damien piped up, eyeing his eldest daughter out of his peripheral vision as she froze, her handful of ketchup-soaked french fries hanging in midair as she processed his claim. Smirking, he added, "If you have at least one show under your belt, they might consider you for one of the primary roles when the time comes."

Excitedly watching the wheels turn in Vivien's head, Abby grabbed her sister's free wrist and wiggled it as she said, "See! If you back down now, you'll never get to be in Titanic next year."

Vivien sighed, green eyes shifting from mild annoyance to fondness as she turned to her younger sister and slipped her fingers between Abby's, "As much as I would love that, there's no chance of me getting the lead."

"Would you at least try out for Titanic next year?" Oliver asked. "That would be right up your alley."

With a snort, Chelsea chortled, "She would probably spend all her time critiquing the accuracy of everything."

"Actually," Vivien began, finding a sliver of courage to meet her mother's gaze, "the show is fairly accurate when it comes to representing the people aboard the ship that night. The historical details are only slightly manipulated to add more drama, and-"

"See," Chelsea began, glancing between her children and ex-husband, "she's already at it."

Abby opened her mouth to argue, but Vivien's grip on her hand tightened, telling her to back down before things could get worse. Abby's bluish-brown eyes found Vivien's emerald gaze, and with a shake of her head, Abby resigned, returning to her food with a barely audible sigh. Refusing to let their last family dinner before spring break be soured by the cutthroat words of his ex-wife, Damien took the remote from the coffee table and switched the input back to the Roku before letting the kids decide between two of the movies on their watchlist - The Outsiders and The Truman Show.

With the rather unanimous vote of The Truman Show, the family settled in once more and relaxed as they watched Jim Carrey's character come to life. Not long into the movie, Abby shifted between Vivien and their father, and it wasn't long before she was sprawled out over the two with her head on Vivien's lap and her legs on their dad's. Once Abby had settled into a comfortable position, Vivien began absentmindedly running her fingers through the girl's lighter hair, calming both of them at once as Truman watched his dad get shoved into a bus and taken away. However, further into the movie, as Truman began drawing a spacesuit around his reflection, Vivien's phone began to ring, and she quickly stood, shoving a somewhat disgruntled Abby off her lap and taking her trash with her to the kitchen before answering the phone. 

After checking the caller ID, she smiled, tossed her trash into the bin next to the refrigerator, and quietly said, "Please tell me you're on your way."

A snort came from the other end as Mick replied, "Hello to you, too. I mean, damn, child, are you that willing to run away from home?"

Vivien glanced at her family and chuckled, "Maybe a little."

"Well, good," Mick replied. "We're pulling into the driveway now, so come out when you're ready."

Snickering to herself, Vivien said, "I thought you already knew I was bi, Mickie."

"Look, rugrat," Mick snipped, though Vivien could clearly hear the humor in her tone. "We're parked by the garage, but bring a rain coat or something; it's pouring."

"Still?"

"Yup."

Vivien sighed, "Alright, I'll be out in a few." She sucked in a deep breath and smiled to herself as Mick hung up her end of the call. Vivien headed back to the living room and grinned as she noticed Oliver holding the remote, keeping the movie paused until her return. Ruffluing her brother's hair, she cooed, "Aww, Olly-bear! Did you pause the movie just for me?"

Shoving her hand away, Oliver ran his hand through his hair and scoffed, "No, I just didn't want to have to rewind it for you."

"Yeah, sure," Abby drawled sarcastically as she punched her twin's thigh.

Chuckling as the twins began arguing over Oliver's ability - or lack thereof - to show kindness, Damien twisted in his seat, found Vivien's gaze, and asked, "Was that Mick and her parents?"

"Yeah, they just pulled up," Vivien nodded, glancing toward the front door.

With a smile, he asked, "Are you ready to go, babygirl?"

Vivien excitedly nodded, but her excitement seemed to dim as Chelsea asked, "Go where, exactly?"

"To California," Vivien explained. "You know, for spring break?"

"I never said you could go," Chelsea stated, finally looking up from her phone with steely eyes. "A trip like that requires planning, and I highly doubt you, of all people, are prepared to fly three thousand miles across the country for a week in some random city you've never been to."

Before Vivien could argue, Damien turned to his ex and said, "She asked both of us months ago, and, actually, she's had everything planned out since I gave her permission. Vivien's a smart girl; she wouldn't jump into something without proper planning."

"She even helped Abs and I plan our trips with our friends," Oliver piped up.

Placing a hand on her dad's shoulder and glancing toward her brother, Vivien thanked him with a smile before turning toward their mom and saying, "And, since Dad gave me permission, I can go, right, Mom?"

Chelsea took in a deep breath, glancing between Damien and Vivien with a stare that would end wars, but finally, she picked up her phone and huffed, "Fine. Go."

Hoping to get out the door before her mother could change her mind again, Vivien began making her way to the door, only to hear footsteps rushing up behind her. Turning, Vivien smiled as Abby and Oliver jogged up to her, Abby wrapping her in a hug as Oliver stood to the side with a grin. Squeezing her older sister, Abby pleaded, "Take lots of pictures for me, sissy."

Letting out a breath of a laugh, Vivien waited until Abby stepped back before taking her keys from the hook by the door and pushing them into the palm of her sister's hand. At Abby's confused look, she said, "Can you put them in your lockbox for me? I don't want Mom to use my car while I'm gone just 'cause it has lower mileage than hers."

Nodding in understanding, Abby softly asked, "Do you want your diary in there too?"

Vivien shook her head, "I'm taking it with me, but thank you."

Oliver shuffled closer, hinting at his desire for a final hug before his oldest sister's departure as he asked, "What about your fancy rocks?"

Wrapping her arms around Oliver's shoulders, she replied, "I took a few with me, but I doubt Mom will do anything with them because most of the ones I left are big and would be obvious if they went missing."

"If you're sure," Oliver mumbled into Vivien's shoulder before patting her back and slipping out of her grasp.

Once she took a step back, Vivien reached into her pocket and pulled out two colorful crystals, holding one out to either of her siblings, "For Abby, some charoite. It's good for keeping away negativity and helping you see a new side of yourself. Hopefully, it'll help you relax while you're away."

Abby smiled at the purple rock, shifting it in the light to see the different hues before thanking her sister and pocketing the crystal. Then, with a roll of his eyes and a smirk, Oliver accepted the smooth green lump and said, "Let me guess, this is some hard-to-pronounce rock too."

"Actually, no," Vivien snickered. "It's green aventureine and it's good for creativity, luck, and opportunities. I figured, with all the activities you'll be doing, and the theories you'll be picking apart, it would be nice to take with you."

Rolling the crystal around in his palm, Oliver allowed his smirk to spread into a smile as he handed Vivien her raincoat and said, "Have fun in Cali, Vivi."

Vivien smiled but didn't have the chance to respond as her father entered the room and said, "She will. Brady and Mack reassured me that they had a fun week planned."

Finding her dad's tired eyes, Vivien slotted herself in his arms and asked, "Will you be alright here without us for a week?"

"I'll be fine," Damien claimed as he ran a soothing hand over Vivien's hair. "Your mother is going on one of her work trips on Monday, so I'll be alone most of the time you kids are away."

Peering up at her father, Vivien smiled, "A week of empty-nesting, huh? That'll be interesting for you."

Damien pressed a kiss to Vivien's forehead and smiled, "It'll be over before I know it. Now, do you have everything?" Vivien nodded. "Are you sure? You've got your toothbrush, hairbrush?"

"I'm sure, Dad," Vivien chuckled. "And, before you ask, yes, I have the taser pen Riven's dad gave me. I took the batteries out and everything, just like he taught me."

Nodding, Damien sighed, "Good. I know I'm overthinking this, but I don't want you to be in a strange city without protection."

"I know," Vivien said with a knowing smirk. "And I don't blame you. It would be stupid of me to go without anything."

Damien hummed before smiling at his oldest girl, "I had your sister sneak something into your bag from the three of us, but promise me you won't open it until you get where you're going and have the chance to settle in."

Glancing at her sister, wondering when she could have slipped something into her luggage, Vivien smiled and said, "I won't, I promise."

"Good," he said, more for himself than his daughter. Then, patting her arm, Damien told Vivien, "Alright, well, get going before I chicken out."

"Alright, alright," Vivien snickered as she rolled her eyes up at her dad. "I'm going."

Allowing his daughter to step away and pull the zipper of her raincoat up as far as it would go, Damien pulled up her suitcase handle and held it out for her to take as he breathed, "Have fun, sweetheart."

"I'll try."

Placing a hand over Vivien's, he smiled, "You will." Once Vivien nodded in agreement, he requested, "Let us know when you land, okay?"

"Of course," Vivien beamed, anticipation bubbling up in her chest as she nodded excitedly. "I'll let you know when we get to their house too."

As Oliver opened the door and Vivien stepped out, Abby said, "I'll let Mom know you said goodbye."

Vivien crossed the threshold of the house and dragged her luggage with her, waving to the Birches and saying, "Thanks. I'll see you guys in ten days."

"Have fun!" Abby called as Vivien rushed through the rain to the Birch family's minivan.

"Enjoy the sun!" Damien said as Brady helped Vivien haul her suitcase into the trunk before closing it.

"Don't get wasted on the beach!" Oliver added, earning him a middle finger from his oldest sister and a tap on the back of the head from their dad. "What?" he asked rhetorically as Vivien hopped into the van and rolled the window down. "I'm just saying."

As the vehicle began to roll down the driveway, Vivien leaned out as far as the seatbelt would allow and yelled, "Love you!"

As her family called back in kind, Vivien rolled up the window and relaxed in her seat, earning a chuckle from Mick as the older brunette greeted her, "You look like a wet dog."

Laughing breathlessly, Vivien pushed her stringy, wet bangs away from her forehead and sighed, "I probably smell like one too, to be honest with you."

Mick pretended to sniff the air before grinning, "Only a little bit."

Vivien smiled and tipped her head to the side, finding Mick's gaze as she sighed, "I hope I don't look like a drowned rat when Royce sees me."

Mack laughed from the passenger's seat, leaning over the center console to see Vivien as she reassured her, "You won't, sweetheart. We'll make sure of it."

"I mean," Brady drawled as he pulled out onto the main roads, seemingly weighing his options until Mack slapped his arm with the back of her hand.

"Brady!"

"Kidding!" the man chuckled, somewhat proud of his playful jibe as the girls in the backseat snickered.

Vivien sighed contentedly as she relaxed into the van's faded, somewhat worn fabric seats, "I've missed this."

"You won't be saying that for long," Mack claimed. "By the end of the first week, you'll be begging us to send you home."

"Doubtful," Vivien replied with a smile. The idea of spending any length of time in the world Mick had been talking her ear off about since the day she discovered it back in December had been like something of a fantasy for Vivien. Now that she actually had the chance to see the places in her friends' pictures, the thought of cutting her stay short for anything other than the most dire circumstances was bizarre. "I'm pretty sure you'll have to drag me away kicking and screaming."

"Well, we certainly won't be doing that," Brady laughed.

"Yeah," Mick agreed, taking Vivien's hand with a brilliant smile. "You can stay there with us for as long as you want."

"And time here won't change, right?" Vivien recounted.

"Right," Mack agreed. "That machine will allow you to stay as long as you like without anything changing."

Mick nodded, watching Vivien's thoughtful eyes flicker behind her circular frames as she explained, "We turn the time control mechanism off while we're in this world so that they can enjoy life normally there, but we freeze time here so that we can enjoy things without having to go back and forth to pay bills and stuff like that."

Vivien grinned, "Like taking random teenagers into different dimensions without their parents feeling the need to call everypolice department in the tate to see if they can send out search parties?"

"I guess you could say that," Brady snorted as he pulled onto the turnpike and pressed the gas pedal further toward the floor.

The conversation seemed to split from there as Mack pulled up the directions to the airport on her phone, telling Brady to slow down before they reached a particular spot the state troopers liked to park in order to catch people speeding on the turnpike. Watching trees and distant buildings fly by as the car sped up, Vivien pulled her phone out of her pocket and unlocked the Discord chat she had with her bandmates, sending them a selfie of herself and Mick before hastily typing a message about them finally being on the road.

Erica was the first to respond - her text of "bitch, you bettr not become a fuckign valley girl!" appearing just before Riven's "Have fun, Pip! Don't get eaten by a shark; I need you for comp" and followed soon after by Jade's ever-calm message of, "ignore their bs. we love you. stay safe. xoxo." Vivien snickered as the trio began blowing up her phone; Erica starting an argument with Riven about sharks being harmless while also telling Jade to fuck off for being the responsible one.

"You good over there?" Mick asked, her humor evident as Vivien glanced up from her phone.

Holding out the device and leaning over so that they could both watch the drama unfold, Vivien explained, "Erica's being a bitch, Riven is a sarcastic shit, and Jade's acting like a mother hen, so Erica picked a fight with both of them."

Mick watched as Erica sent a wall of text that only consisted of the middle finger emoji, snickering, "So, a normal day, then?"

"Pretty much," Vivien agreed. As they watched conversation bubbles appear and Erica's rant spiral into nonsense, her smile faltered. She would miss them while she was away. Even when her family went on vacations, Riven would go with them, and she could text the girls anytime she wanted. This time, her ability to message them and ask them for advice on things would be revoked the minute she entered the other world. With a heavy sigh, she admitted, "I'm going to miss them."

Taking in the girl's expression, Mick reached up and placed a hand on Vivien's back, rubbing circles into her plastic raincoat as she said, "It'll suck for a few days, but after a while, you sort of get used to it."

Peering up at the older girl, Vivien allowed herself to smile, "You're talking from experience, aren't you?"

"Sadly," Mick confirmed. "My instincts were to take pictures of everything to show my friends when I got back, but then I realized I couldn't. It took a while to adjust and my phone is still full of pictures nobody else has seen, but after a while, I got used to just saving the memories for myself."

Nodding in understanding, Vivien breathed, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I can send them some pictures when I get back, but until then, I can keep them to myself."

Pivoting in her seat, Mick turned toward Vivien and asked, "So, what are your plans for Royce? Are we doing a casual surprise where you just walk in and say hi or are we doing something grand in front of everyone?"

"I don't know," Vivien shrugged. "I haven't really given it a lot of thought. I was more concerned about my mom keeping me from going."

"Well, now we've got time to think it through!" Mick exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

“Not much time,” Mack explained. “We’ll be at the airport in about five, maybe ten minutes, and since we have a private flight, we’ll be in the air within the hour.”

“You guys never told me you have a private jet,” Vivien stated. “Like, I knew you guys had money, but damn.”

“It’s not ours,” Mick shrugged.

“One of my friends from school became a pilot,” Brady explained. “He’s offered us free trips whenever we need it since he knows how often we travel to the East coast and it gives him the opportunity to visit some family of his in Vermont.”

Vivien hummed, more to herself than to anyone in the vehicle, “That’s nice of him.”

After a moment of relative silence, Mick patted Vivien’s hand and told her, “Anyway, regardless of what you decide to do, Royce will be surprised.”

“You think?” Vivien asked. “I thought someone would have told him by now.”

Mick shook her head emphatically, beaming proudly as she explained, “Actually, I haven’t told anybody that you’re coming.”

Vivien’s eyes glittered with excitement as she asked, “Seriously?”

Mick nodded, her wavy hair bouncing with the movement, “I'm not the greatest at being sneaky, so the only person who might know is Butchy, and he’s not one to spill things like that.”

“That’s insane!” Vivien exclaimed, a laugh tumbling from her lips at the thought of surprising her friends with her sudden appearance in their world.

“I know, right!” Mick giggled. “But that means we have endless possibilities for surprising people. It all depends on where they are at the time.”

“When we land, it will be about one in the morning, Pacific Time,” Mack explained. “On a commercial flight, we usually stop a few times along the way to swap planes or pick up new passengers, but since this is private, we’re going to stop in New Jersey for a few minutes due to busy airways, and then get back in the air.”

“That will give us plenty of time to think about it,” Mick said cheerfully.

“And give both of you the chance to sleep,” Brady reminded his daughter, peering at her in the rearview mirror before he pulled onto the street that led them to the airport. “We don’t need both of you to be zombies when we touch down.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mick brushed off with a wave of her hand, her excitement over the whole situation outweighing the concept of sleep. “Anyway, I’ve got ideas for both options, and we can talk about them on the plane, if you want.”

Sending the older girl a smile and a nod, Vivien watched Mick smile and relax in her seat; pulling out her phone as Vivien took in a slow breath and glanced out the window. As they passed the Mall of New Hampshire, Vivien snapped a quick picture of the building and sent it to the group chart that had begun to quiet without her presence there to encourage the chaos, sending a cheeky message teasing the two girls who worked within the large, stucco and concrete building. Jade was the first to respond, her video message of her waving to the camera, arriving on Vivien’s phone as they pulled up to a gated parking lot. As Brady began speaking to the guard, listing the passengers and which flight they were on, Vivien sent a private message to Riven, telling him how nervous she was about being on a private plane.

‘You have nothing to worry about, Pip,’ was his reply. ‘The Birches know what they’re doing and wouldn’t put you in danger like that. Just breathe. You’ve got this.’

Sucking in a deep breath through gritted teeth, Vivien sent back a reply of gratitude and tried to relax as the car lurched forward and moved past the gate. Mack popped open the console between herself and Brady, pulling out a trio of passports before turning toward Vivien and asking, “Do you have your passport ready?”

Reaching under her rain coat and into the pocket of her hoodie, Vivien pulled the navy blue booklet out and handed it up to Mack, who added it to the stack in her hands. As they rolled down the tarmac, Vivien watched through the windows, trying to guess which aircraft they would be in. Narrowing it down the further they got, Vivien let out a noise of surprise as Brady turned to the side, lurching her toward the door as he pulled to a stop in a parking space. Looking around in confusion, Vivien followed the others out of the car, following Mack to the back of the vehicle, where they pulled their luggage from the trunk.

Mick grabbed Vivien’s free hand, pulling her toward a jet that had the door open and a set of stairs waiting. Pushing the handles of their suitcases down and picking them up by the straps on top, the girls boarded the plane, pushing their suitcases to the side to be scanned before finding seats to collapse into. Nudging Vivien into a window seat, Mick took the seat across from her and relaxed, waiting for her parents to board before instructing the younger girl to buckle up.

After the pilot came to greet them, telling them all the basics he needed to go over before the flight, he returned to the cockpit and announced that they would be leaving as soon as he had permission from the traffic control tower. With much reassurance from the others, Vivien began to relax, snapping pictures of the plane and the setting sun to send to her friends and family. After another announcement came over the speakers about taking off, they were in the air, and Vivien’s phone returned to her pocket as the seatbelt lights turned off. Peeling off her rain coat and shoving it into the seat next to her, Vivien huffed a sigh of relief as she realized the part she had worried about the most was now over.

Watching as the ground below grew smaller and harder to see, Vivien turned her attention to Mick, who had folded her arms on top of the table between them, leaning closer with a smile that told Vivien she didn’t want to know what the girl was going to get her into. “Do I want to know?” she asked the older brunette.

Vivien could hear the girl’s feet thumping against the base of her chair as she swung her legs back and forth, but Mick’s smile refused to dissipate as she explained, “I’ve been cooking up ideas for you.”

Nodding to herself, Vivien rolled her eyes, “Yup, didn’t want to know.”

Ignoring the girl’s statement, Mick said, “I was thinking-”

“That’s dangerous,” Brady chuckled from his seat on the opposite side of the plane.

“Dad,” Mick sighed dramatically. When the older man snickered and struck up a conversation with his wife, Mick turned her attention back to Vivien with a roll of her caramel eyes. “I figured that, once we land, we can-”

“Go to sleep?” Vivien interrupted.

“Ha!” Mick laughed. “No.”

“Yes,” Mack said, her motherly tone giving Mick little to no wiggle room as she deflated slightly.

“Okay, yeah, that too,” Mick relented. “But we can pick out some cute outfits from my closet and make sure you feel beautiful before we go.” Pointedly turning toward her mom, Micxk asked, “Right, Momma?”

“So long as you two aren’t up all night, yes,” Mack replied before taking a sip of the water bottle she had taken from the cabin’s mini fridge. “Now, Vivien, did you have anything to eat, sweetheart? They have sandwiches and things in the fridge, if you’d like.”

“That’s alright,” Vivien brushed off graciously. “Dad brought home some Mickey D’s on his way home from work.”

“I’m surprised he made it through the warden with that,” Brady said in a scoff.

Vivien smirked as the other two women gave their own forms of agreement, simply glad she wasn’t the only one who found her mother’s strict food control to be something of a nightmare. “Yeah, well, he didn’t exactly give her a choice. He came in, gave her a salad to shut her up, and let us get our meals without letting her anger break him down.”

“Good for him,” Mick grinned.

“Glad to know he’s finally growing bigger balls than hers,” Mack added. “I think we’ve all been placing bets to see how long that would take.”

With a hum of agreement, Vivien allowed the conversation to flow between topics, absentmindedly bringing up the subject of the battle bot project she wanted to work on when they got the chance, something that made Mick practically vibrate with excitement. Brady brought up the idea of using his tools if need be, which inspired Mick to go off on a spiel about possibly going to either Butchy’s or Miles’ place of work to utilize their welding kits and use some of the metal scraps they had tossed aside. By the time Mack had managed to pull them away from the topic at hand, they were starting to make their descent at an airport in Newark, New Jersey.

Before the plane took off again, Vivien sent a few relatively dark images and some quick messages to the people who knew she was leaving before stepping into the bathroom of the jet to call her aunts before they went to bed. They discussed the trip and spoke for a while about all of the activities Vivien was looking forward to before they wished each other a good night. Vivien promised to let them know when they landed before ending the call and scurrying back to her seat as the captain announced their approaching departure. Once they were back in the air and allowed to roam about, Mick showed Vivien how to recline her seat and find a comfortable position to sleep in before offering the girl a blanket and promptly passing out in her chair.

One by one, Vivien watched as the Birch family succumbed to the land of dreams, but despite her growing exhaustion and yawns tumbling from her mouth every other minute, she couldn’t find it in herself to actually sleep. She could have easily chalked up her inability to sleep to her nerves, but that wasn’t quite right. Somewhere deep inside her, she knew that there was nothing to worry about. Royce and Bentley would love to drag her around, Carrie had promised to take her to the lot they were filming on if she ever found herself in their world, and even Butchy and Miles had discussed dragging her to their respective jobs to show her knowledge of old vehicles off to their respective coworkers. There was nothing for her to be worked up over.

Forcing herself to take in a deep breath and push her unfounded fears aside, Vivien allowed another yawn to overtake her as she stretched. Reclining her seat and tugging her blanket around her shoulders, Vivien slouched into a more comfortable position, tucked her cell phone into her pocket, set her glasses on the table between herself and Mick’s slumbering form, and waited until the soft humming of the plane’s machinery lulled her to sleep. To her dismay, what felt like only a few minutes passed before Vivien found herself being gently shaken awake, grumbling at the interruption as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

A chuckle came from a blurry form as Vivien searched blearily for her glasses, listening to the person apologize in a soft voice before handing her the glasses she was searching for. Finally peering up at the person, Vivien found Brady smiling back at her, offering her a hand as he told her, “We just landed, kiddo. Time to go home.”

Chuckling exhaustedly as she stretched herself out like a cat rising from a comfortable position in the summer sun, Vivien muttered, “Am I too old to ask for someone to carry me?”

Brady let out another soft laugh, “Never, but I haven’t carried anybody in years, and I’d rather not drop you down the stairs of a plane.”

Vivien snorted and pushed herself from her seat, “Yeah, let’s not do that, then.”

“Smart girl,” Mack advised, patting the teenager on the back as she passed her on her way back from the bathroom.

As Brady worked on waking Mick from her slumber, Vivien folded up the blanket she had used, made sure she had everything she brought with her, and followed Mack to the front of the plane, where they received their belongings. Yawning as she followed Mack down the stairs, Vivien welcomed the warm California air with a tired grin. “It’s nice out,” she muttered as Mack led her toward a pale blue Jeep that had been brought onto the tarmac for them.

Accepting her car keys from the driver who brought the car over, Mack chuckled, “My phone says it’s fifty-something right now.”

More than content with the idea of the summer-like weather, Vivien sighed happily as she hauled her suitcase into the trunk of the car alongside Mack’s, “Like I said, I think you guys will have to drag me kicking and screaming from this place.”

Bringing an arm around Vivien’s shoulders, Mack smiled, “Just wait until you see how close we are to the beach.”

Vivien’s eyes glittered as the woman brought her to the side of the car, encouraging her to climb inside as Mack slid into the driver’s seat. However, before she climbed inside the vehicle, Vivien pulled out her phone and took a picture of the plane they landed in, sending it to the group chat with her bandmates before sending a message to her family members, letting everyone know they had landed safely in Santa Ana and were on their way to the Birch family’s home. Once she was sure the messages had been sent, Vivien slid into the backseat behind Mack and pulled the seatbelt across her body. Once the others had found their way to the car, Mack started the engine and pulled away from the plane, heading through a series of gates before making her way to the street and pulling away from the John Wayne Airport.

Unable to fall back asleep as they pulled onto the San Diego Freeway, Vivien watched with wide eyes as she took in the glow of the city. Throughout the half-hour drive, Vivien took a myriad of pictures. Glowing palm trees, buildings in the distance that appeared to touch the sky, and, as the freeway pulled them through San Juan Capistrano toward the beach, pictures of a seemingly endless night sky over the water. Smiling as he watched the girl take another picture, Brady encouraged his wife to take the long way home without saying a word, and Mack took the next exit, pulling onto Pacific Coast Highway and following it until the first set of lights she could turn at. At the next intersection, she turned onto Park Lantern and followed the street toward the water until it merged with Coast Highway.

The couple suppressed their laughter as Vivien gasped, leaning over their daughter to take pictures of the water that was still covered by a blanket of stars in the nighttime sky. Once houses began to block her view, Vivien relaxed, but her excitement was still very much palpable as the car glided down the highway. Turning toward the backseat, Brady kept his voice hushed as they slowed to a stop at a red light, “If you want a good shot, our street sign is right up here.”

“Really?” Vivien whispered.

Brady hummed in confirmation, “It’s on the light post up here on your side.”

Sure enough, as Vivien leaned closer to her window and squinted up at the post, she found a green sign with the words “Camino Capistrano” in thick, white writing. Although her cell phone refused to see the sign in the dark, Vivien smiled and kept her eyes on it until they had turned onto the aforementioned street and could no longer see the sign. Smiling more to herself than anything, Vivien watched with bated breath as Mack drove further up the street, past a traffic light, and through a curve. When they finally pulled to a stop in front of a fancy black gate with a Mediterranean-style roof and a few doors on either side, Vivien felt her jaw hit the floor.

Contrary to popular opinion, Vivien’s family had money. For a while in her childhood, her family had lived in an apartment that barely gave them enough room to live, but they had enough money to put food on the table and buy new things here and there. After her grandparents offered them the opportunity to move into their old house and take over the winery while they moved closer to their beloved summer camp, Vivien felt as though she was the luckiest person on the planet. While they weren’t exactly Elon Musk-level rich, the winery her parents operated and her grandparent’s summer camp made them more than financially secure. Knowing she had the chance to take on their jobs in the future, Vivien thought she would become richer than she had ever previously thought possible. However, as she got her first look at the Birch’s house, she realized she didn’t know shit about rich people.

Being well off on the East Coast meant having a home you owned, a car or two, and potentially a pet if you felt like it. Most people back home enjoyed taking up residence in old, colonial-style homes that would set them back a good hundred thousand dollars at least and were originally built for families with eleven or twelve children. East Coast wealth was classy, clean, and, well, antique. West Coast wealth, on the other hand, was a new kind of expensive. Stepping out of the car once they rolled to a stop in the four-car garage, Vivien couldn’t help but feel poor in every sense of the word.

Although Vivien had seen bits and pieces of the house over FaceTime with Mick, the sheer size of the house was astonishing. Following closely behind her friend, Vivien’s eyes scanned from the large, orange roof to the various balconies, to the swimming pool that seemed to wrap around the side of the house, and the various water guns and toys strewn about in the yard that were evidence that her friends from another world had visited before the Birches had come to collect her. Entering the house, Vivien waited for the lights to turn on before looking around at the pristine entryway. A large glass chandelier hung above the entrance, glimmering rays of light throughout the hall and part of the living room.

Although Vivien felt more than awake and ready to explore the luxurious home, Mack and Brady urged her to follow Mick upstairs once she had taken her shoes off by the door. Relenting despite her excitement, Vivien followed Mick up the hardwood stairs, grinning at the various childhood photographs of Mick and her friends along the wall as they climbed. Coming to the landing, Vivien found herself taken aback once more by the view. Across from the top of the stairs was a panoramic view of the beach across the street, a comfortable lounge area settled facing the floor-to-ceiling windows with a television mounted on the right wall - the only one without windows.

Before she could take a moment to process the kitchenette on one side of the staircase or the gaming area on the other, Vivien found herself taken by the wrist around the banister to a short hallway with three doors. They passed a room with Mick’s initial painted on the door, but Mick didn’t so much as glance toward her bedroom before opening the door to another room at the end of the hall and stepping aside for Vivien to enter.

With a yawn, the short brunette explained, “This used to be one of our guest rooms, but the boys usually take it when they stay with us, so a lot of Bentley art supplies and Royce’s books stay here.”

Looking up at the coffered, waffle-esque design on the ceiling and the various signs of life in the room, Vivien let out a disbelieving laugh, “This is insane.”

Mick took a look around and sighed at how poorly she had cleaned the room before leaving the week before, “Yeah, I know it’s not the cleanest right now, but we can pick everything up in the morning if you-”

“No, no, no!” Vivien said with a quick shake of her head, turning back toward her friend with a smile as she stood her suitcase by the end of the queen-sized bed. “Mick, you don’t understand.”

Confused in part by the conversation and part by her lack of sleep, Mick’s head tipped slightly to the side as she asked, “What do you mean?”

“I thought my house was big and that we were well off,” Vivien began, twirling around as she examined the room before finding Mick’s gaze again, “but I think yours just bitch-slapped my whole family onto the poverty line!”

Mick let out a snort, shaking her head fondly, “Well, don’t start comparing dick sizes just yet, gremlin. Save that for a time when I can actually think straight.”

“I hardly ever think straight,” Vivien smirked, taking a seat on the edge of the bed she had been given.

With a roll of her eyes and a fond smile, Mick teased, “Believe me, I know. Now, try to get some sleep. You don’t want jet lag to knock you out on your ass later.”

Raising her hand to her forehead in a mock salute, Vivien said, “Sir, yes, sir.”

Chuckling, Mick wished the younger girl a good night before disappearing into the hall, leaving the girl’s door open so that she could see the dimly lit lights in the hallway. Taking in a deep breath in the silence of her new room, Vivien hefted her suitcase onto the bed beside her and unzipped it, pulling out her astronaut lamp and setting it aside before tugging a pair of celestial pajama shorts and a matching tank top from one side of her suitcase. Picking up the luggage, she carried it over to a chair and left it open in the seat, changed into her pajamas, plugged in her lamp, and slipped under the covers with her headphones in one hand and phone in the other.

Putting on her headphones and listening to one of her favorite ASMR channels while watching the stars dance across the ceiling, Vivien finally found herself able to fall asleep relatively quickly. Dreams of surfing cerulean waves with her friends filled her night, and by the time the sun had begun poking through the curtains on either side of her bed, Vivien felt well-rested and ready to start her day. After hastily getting dressed in something appropriate for the eighty-three-degree weather her phone forecasted, Vivien took her time examining the house as she made her way down to the kitchen. Mick’s bedroom had already been vacated, and if the voices floating up the stairs were anything to go by, she was with her parents.

Making her way through the house to the kitchen, Vivien smiled as she listened to her friend’s family converse. The energy in the Birch’s house was always somewhat calming to Vivien, an environment where she could relax and feel at home regardless of what they were up to that day, but the feeling of belonging never wavered, no matter how far apart they truly were. Watching Mick dance around with her mother to the music on the radio, Vivien smiled as she leaned against the island counter. Brady nudged her arm as the song changed, beaming at the new addition to their household before offering her his hand. 

Without much hesitation, Vivien placed her hand in Brady’s and allowed him to lead her in a bouncy dance that twirled them around the kitchen as Vivien giggled. Mack and her daughter stopped after a while to watch the pair, listening to Vivien half-sing, half-shriek her way through the lyrics as Brady spun her around the kitchen with ease. As the song came to an end, he twirled Vivien away, grinning as she laughed over the voice of the radio host.

Once her vision had stopped spinning, Vivien giggled, “Good morning, America!”

Brady chuckled, “Good way to get the blood pumping early in the morning, right, kiddo?”

Vivien nodded, but it was Mack who spoke, “We find it’s nice to do something fun before you start your day.”

“Speaking of starting your day,” Mick began as Vivien climbed onto one of the stools on the side of the island, “are you feeling up to leaving yet?”

“Makana,” Mack scolded lightly, “let the poor girl wake up first.”

Vivien smiled as Mick sighed dramatically, but she shook her head as she turned to the older woman. “It’s alright, Mrs B. I think I’m too excited to be tired.”

Sighing as he opened the fridge, Brady said, “Well, that’s good because I think we’re going to have to have breakfast at Butchy and Lela’s house this morning.”

Mack appeared confused for a moment before realization dawned on her face, “We forgot to pick up food last night.”

Mick shrugged, “It was two in the morning.”

With a shake of his head, Brady turned to his daughter and asked, “Do you mind us using your kitchen?”

Before Mick could reply, Vivien asked, “Wouldn’t it be easier to go to Big Momma’s for breakfast since we have to go there anyway?”

“It would be,” Mick replied with a nod, “but by the time we pry Lela off of you, it’ll be time for lunch.” Turning back to her parents as Vivien nodded in understanding, she said, “Butchy and I can make up something while everyone gets settled in.”

Mack nodded and turned her attention back to Vivien before asking, “Would you like to go now, then? Do you have anything you would like to bring with you?”

Vivien thought for a moment before nodding, “I brought some stuff with me that I wanted to show everyone. Can I run up and grab it?”

“You don’t have to ask, Vivien,” Brady insisted. Nodding toward the stairs, he said, “Just go; we’ll still be here when you come back.”

As Vivien slid out of her seat, Mick patted her arm excitedly and said, “Just put your clothes on the bed and take your whole suitcase. I’m, like, ninety-three percent sure you’ll leave with more clothes than you came with.”

Her excitement surging at the idea, Vivien nodded and hurried for the stairs, bounding up them two at a time and pushing aside her desire to explore the large home as she headed for her room. Moving her suitcase from the chair she left it on to the end of her bed, Vivien began pulling out a majority of her daily clothes, leaving her essentials, headphones, charger cords, astronaut lamp, the envelope with her name on it that her siblings and father had given her before she left home, and a few items of clothing Carrie and Lela had let her “borrow” and never got back. Once she was certain she had everything she wanted to bring with her for however long she would be away, Vivien zipped up her bag and took in a deep breath. Glancing out the window at San Clemente, Vivien smiled at the knowledge that, within mere minutes, she would be transported into a world she had only ever heard in stories and seen in a movie.

Grabbing her suitcase by the handle, Vivien left her bedroom and headed for the stairs, lifting her bag before her descent and taking the handle once she’d reached the landing. Practically skipping to the kitchen, Vivien beamed at the Birches as she cheered, “Ready for liftoff!”

Happy to show off his work to a new person, Brady clapped his hands and gestured toward the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard, “After you, kiddo.”

Vivien took the lead, opening one side of the door and sucking in a sharp breath as she was hit full-force with the heat of Southern California. Mick snickered, wrapping an arm around Vivien and guiding her toward the shed at the back of their property as she chuckled, “Welcome to California.”

‘Ugh,” Vivien groaned, “is it always like this?”

“Not always, no,” Mick claimed, “but believe me, summers are much worse in Florida.”

Hoping the older girl was simply joking, Vivien remained quiet until Mick ushered her into the shed, and she was made to carefully toe her way around scrapped projects and stray tools until she reached the yellow, tube-shaped behemoth pressed securely against the back wall. A large flower Vivien recalled seeing on a surfboard hanging on the wall in the Birch’s home was engraved into metal at the very top of the machine, wires and metal bars sticking out behind it in a haphazard yet efficient way. Pulling the handle on the right side of the machine, Vivien stepped back as the rounded glass panel at the front slid back into the left side of the machine.

With a gentle nudge from Mack, Vivien stepped into the machine, followed soon after by the family who had brought her there. As the glass door slid closed again, Mick took her friend's free hand and told her to hang on to her belongings before instructing her to watch out the window to see things change around them. Somewhat cautious of the machine as it whirred to life, Vivien watched as a vibrant glow from above seemed to illuminate the otherwise dark mechanic's shed. A soft hum filled the air as colors began to swirl outside the machine, a kaleidoscope of hues coming to life in a vibrant array that faintly reminded Vivien of a show she had seen as a child. The colors grew brighter and more vibrant, rivaling the LED lights Vivien knew Oliver had lining his ceiling before slowly dimming and allowing Vivien to see her first glimpse of another world.

Although she didn't want to appear let down by the view she was given, Vivien couldn't help her quirked brow and immediate response of, "It's an old pickup in a dark garage. Cool."

Nudging her friend with her elbow, Mick stepped around her to open the door and snorted, "It's Butchy's. Now, come on."

Taken by the hand. Vivien was dragged into the house and pulled toward the kitchen, where running water could be heard just over the sound of Chubby Checker's song The Twist that played over the radio. As she came to a stop, Vivien felt a smile split her face as she took in the striped wallpaper and yellow cabinets, the vibrant colors of the room making it feel even more inviting than she thought it would. Tilting so she could see around Mick, Vivien held in a laugh with a hand over her mouth as Butchy turned off the faucet, and Lela's voice could be heard as she danced to the music beside him. It wasn't until the music came to an end and the radio host began speaking about the next song that the raven-haired girl noticed the new figures in her house.

Lela jumped and pressed a hand to her chest, her instinctive reaction to cuss out her sister-in-law cut short as she spotted the taller brunette standing behind Mick. Letting out a screech so shrill Butchy flinched behind her, Lela rocketed forward, all but shoving Mick out of the way in order to wrap her arms around her younger friend. Rocking Vivien from one side to the other, Lela excitedly asked, "What are you doing here?!"

"It's spring break back home," Vivien explained as Lela moved back just enough to squish her cheeks in her hands. With her lips resembling that of a goldfish, Vivien continued, "I wanted to surprise everyone."

Prying his sister's hands away from the sixteen-year-old's face, Butchy smiled, "If this is anything to go by, I think Royce might end up having a heart attack when he sees you."

"Let's hope not," Vivien chuckled somewhat nervously. "I don't particularly feel like killing him."

"Sure," Butchy chortled sarcastically. "You know, I've seen some of those crime shows you love so much, piccola. You'd be arrested in an instant if you tried to kill anyone."

Smirking, Vivien said, "First of all, I watch those enough to know how to not get caught at this point. And, second, one of these days, I'm going to figure out what you're calling me, big guy."

"I'm sure you will," Butchy grinned, allowing the girl to step forward and bring her arms around him as he ruffled her hair. "It's good to see you again, Viv."

Staring accusatorily at the man as she took a step back, Vivien asked, "Is the swear jar still in place here?"

Confused as to what that had to do with him being glad to see her, Butchy slowly nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"In that case," Vivien huffed, "I'd say it's nice to see you too, but maybe I shouldn't just yet."

"Oh yeah?" Butchy questioned. "Just because of the swear jar?"

"Mhm," Vivien nodded. "You keep that thing in place and I'll be broke by the end of my first week here."

Butchy chuckled, but before he could formulate a response to Vivien's jab, Lela spoke up, "You're staying for more than a week?"

Turning to the shorter girl, Vivien shrugged, "I was hoping to, if that's alright."

Mick chuckled as she began pulling things from the refrigerator, "She is. I don't think her staying is the problem."

"What do you mean?" Lela wondered.

Butchy stepped up to the counter to help Mick make breakfast before answering, "After letting the boys know she's here, it'll be nearly impossible for them to let her return home."

Lela breathed a noise of understanding before taking Vivien's hands and saying, "We need you to look as normal as possible before you go see the boys. How do you feel about borrowing something of mine?"

Smiling, Vivien nodded, "You're the boss."

As Lela let out a noise of excitement and began pulling her away, Butchy called out, "See you in three hours."

Vivien barely got the chance to look around on her way up to Lela's room, pulled up the stairs faster than she thought humanly possible as Lela began babbling about all the things she wanted to do with the younger girl. Although the girl's excitement was evident, Vivien couldn't help but feel astonished at how fast Lela could talk when she was happy. As Lela pulled her into her bedroom, Vivien couldn't help but look around in wonder at how different it was from the movie. Despite everything looking fairly similar, there were touches of modernity that stood out against the mid-century style of the room - pictures from modern times that had made it back in the girl's luggage, an old iPod Vivien was sure Mick had given her, and some items strewn about that Vivien recalled seeing the older girl buy in her world.

Before Vivien could ask her about anything she saw, Lela pulled her over to the closet, where she revealed a room that had Vivien convinced she had somehow ended up transported to Mia Thermopolis's closet from the second Princess Diaries movie. Two plush chairs sat against the far wall, racks of clothes illuminated by little dome lights lined the walls, and shelves of shoes and accessories filled the empty space. Lela scanned the racks of clothing as Vivien looked around in wonder, picking up a pair of oversized sunglasses with a smile before setting them down and moving on to the shoes.

Moving with practice ease through her color-coordinated clothing, Lela pulled clothes down by their hangers and began stacking them on her chair. Once she felt satisfied by the selection she had laid out, Lela turned to Vivien and smiled as the girl looked at herself in the mirror with a pair of elbow-length gloves, cat-eye sunglasses, and a large sunhat that flopped in front of her face. Stepping up behind the girl, Lela said, "Time to play dress-up."

Vivien giggled, pulling the sunhat off of her head and lowering the sunglasses as she said, "I think I already am."

"And you look fabulous," Lela claimed with a smile before stepping aside and gesturing to the clothes on one of her chairs. "However, I put aside some clothes for you to try on."

"Ooh," Vivien sang as she turned around, setting her accessories aside in favor of the large pile. As Lela began setting things in their rightful places, Vivien picked through the clothing and quickly found herself lost in the myriad of colors, fabrics, and styles. "You want me try on all of this?"

Lela glanced at the dainty watch on her wrist that her uncle had gifted her for her birthday before answering, "Well, I think we'll only have time for a few before they bring us something to eat, but yeah."

Shifting a pair of shorts onto the arm of the chair, Vivien mused, "I'm surprised you didn't want me in a dress today."

"Normally," Lela began as she made up the distance between herself and the brunette, "I would have, but where most of my dresses would be far too short on you, I figured we could make up for that at the shops later. For now, I figured pedal pushers, tees, and some shorts would be more comfortable for you."

"You're definitely not wrong," Vivien smiled. Turning to the older girl, she asked, "Where should I try these on?"

"Right here," Lela beamed, unhooking a curtain from the wall and letting it fall between herself and Vivien. "If you find anything you feel suits you for the day, let me know and I'll come help you look for accessories. In the meantime, I'll be doing my morning skincare."

Excitement flowed through her like an ice-cold drink on a hot summer day, and Vivien thanked Lela before turning toward her pile of clothing and sorting through everything. Setting aside bottoms she could put together with various tops, Vivien began picking out options and trying them on, examining her reflection before trying on something new. After trying on different outfits for a while, Vivien finally settled on one - a pair of striped, white and lavender shorts with a matching purple tank top that covered far more skin than that of the tank tops back home. Lela was quick to offer assistance with the rest of the outfit, deeming Vivien's classic, black and white, doodle-covered Converse acceptable before selecting a handful of necklaces and bracelets for the brunette to choose between.

Once they had taken a break to eat breakfast, Lela began working her magic on Vivien's hair. After making sure her bangs were separated from the rest of her hair by a curler, Lela brushed out Vivien's hip-length locks before pulling them up into a ponytail and securing them with not only an elastic but also a ribbon. Lela curled the very ends of Vivien's ponytail so that it all ended in a uniform ring before spraying it down with enough hairspray to poke a hole in the ozone layer and pulling the curler out from under Vivien's bangs. 

Grinning in disbelief at her reflection in Lela's vanity, Vivien thanked Lela for putting in more effort than she ever did back home, "I could never do anything like this."

"You could," Lela argued as she placed the cover back on her canister of hairspray and set it on the corner of her vanity. "It just takes practice, that's all."

"And far more patience than I could ever manage," Vivien chuckled, rising slowly from the bench Lela had practically shoved her onto. "Seriously, though, Lela, thank you."

"Anytime," Lela beamed. Checking her watch once again, she clapped her hands and said, "Now, I believe it's time we show you off to everyone at Big Momma's."

"What about Royce?" Vivien asked hesitantly as Lela began to leave the room. "Shouldn't we go see him first?"

Turning back to Vivien as she opened her bedroom door, Lela smirked knowingly, "His shift starts early on weekends."

"His shift?" 

But Lela was already on her way out of the room, a wink being the only response Vivien could pry from the girl as she followed Lela out of the room and down to the living room where everyone else was waiting. With everyone else decked out in their finest sixties regalia, Vivien didn't feel half as out of place as she assumed she would be as she followed them outside, where a blue Volkswagen bus waited. As Mick climbed into the driver's seat, Vivien was allowed the seat beside her, and once everyone was inside, they took off down the road. Taking in the sights of the beach town as they rolled down the street, Vivien found it impossible to wipe the smile from her face.

The look of everything in the area was so different than what she was used to back home - mid-century houses with slanted roofs and fun doorways lined one side of the street while small businesses with typically fifties and sixties fonts in their windows lined the other. Turning toward Mick, she said, "I think I'm already in love."

With a laugh, Mick's gaze flitted toward the brunette before settling on the road again as she turned into a small parking lot where a few cars and motorcycles had parked, the expansive beach and a large building with a thatched roof within walking distance of the lot. Confused, Vivien followed the others as they climbed out of the car, but as everyone headed around the building, Vivien found herself dragged by the wrist toward the back entrance. Mick held the door for her younger friend and guided her through the kitchen before depositing her by the refrigerator and telling her to stay low until she came to get her. 

Resigning to her fate of being stuck between the fridge and the trash can, Vivien crouched low to the floor, observing the people in the kitchen as they moved around, seemingly without noticing her presence. The smell of freshly cooked fish and baked potatoes filled the air, contrasting the stench of the food scraps piling up in the trash next to Vivien as she inched as close to the fridge as possible. However, as a blonde waitress entered the kitchen through the swinging door Mick had left through, Vivien found herself caught. With a hesitant smile and an awkward wave, the blonde neared the fridge with a tray and gathered colorful bottles of soda from it before placing it on a stainless steel counter and glancing over her shoulder at Vivien.

"Are you supposed to be back here?" the girl asked, a thick, southern twang accenting her voice.

Vivien swallowed thickly, offering a shrug as she explained, "My friend pushed me back here."

"Why?" the blonde questioned as she began popping off the lids of the sodas.

"I'm trying to surprise my boyfriend," Vivien explained. "I'm from New Hampshire and he doesn't know I'm here."

The blonde glanced around the kitchen, seemingly looking for someone, before settling her hazel eyes back on the girl crouched on the floor. Lowering her voice, she said, "Be grateful Big Momma isn't back here. This place is supposed to be staff-only after the soda geyser incident that happened a few weeks ago."

"Soda geyser?" Vivien repeated, mildly curious as to whether or not that had anything to do with the Mentos experiment she had shown the boys over Facetime not long ago.

"It was a huge mess," the blonde said before waving it off. Kneeling down to the brunette's height, the girl held out a hand and asked, "What's your name?"

Latching hands with the girl, Vivien smiled and said, "I'm-"

"Vivien, it's time!" Mick whisper-yelled as she pushed open the swinging door. Finding the girl on the floor and the blonde in front of her, Mick stalled, the gears in her brain turning for a moment as she processed the scene before a smile appeared on her face. "Oh, hey, Juliet."

"Hey, Mick," Juliet greeted. Turning back to the girl before her, she asked, "I presume that makes you Vivien?"

Vivien nodded, "And you Juliet?" 

"Guilty as charged," Juliet smiled, her teeth a blinding white in comparison to her peachy lip gloss. Pulling the younger girl to her feet, Juliet asked, "So, what's the plan? How're we surprising this lucky mystery boy?"

"Well, I was thinking Viv could go out and pretend to be a waitress to surprise him," Mick claimed.

Glancing through the serving window, Juliet asked, "What table are they?"

"It's Miles' little brother, Royce," Mick explained. "He should be on his lunch break with his brothers now, right?"

Juliet's wide-eyed gasp shocked Vivien as the blonde whirled around, "Wait, for real? You're with Royce?" When Vivien slowly nodded in confirmation, Juliet let out a soft chuckle, "Everyone thought he was pulling our legs when he said he had a girlfriend. Especially 'cause he said she lived in a different state."

"Well, he was telling the truth," Vivien smiled nervously. 

"I guess so," Juliet beamed. Turning to Mick, she said, "Anyway, I just got all their drinks together. If you want to head out now, I'll take Vivien here with me and say she's a new trainee."

Mick thought for a moment, but it didn't take her long to decide, "Honestly, that's a better plan than mine. I'll go back to my seat, and I'll see you out there in a few!"

As Mick hurried back through the door, Juliet turned to Vivien and asked, "So, newbie, are you ready for your first day at work?"

"I guess so," Vivien said, sucking in a deep breath. 

With a smile, Juliet took a spare waist apron from the hangers on the wall and tied it around the younger girl before picking up her tray of sodas and asking, "Think you can carry this to their booth?"

"I can certainly try," Vivien offered, eyeing the collection of colored liquids.

Once Juliet was sure Vivien had a good hold on the tray, she said, "Just stay behind me and don't say a word until I introduce you. The less chance he has of seeing you, the better chances you have of surprising him."

Vivien nodded, and without another word, Juliet began to lead the way out, holding the door open behind her for Vivien before leading her through the busy restaurant. Vivien didn't get the chance to look around much as they walked, more focused on not spilling any drinks than exploring. However, as Juliet stopped at a booth along the far wall, Vivien looked around, hoping to see some familiar faces among the crowds.

Clearing her throat, Juliet spoke, "Hope y'all don't mind, but we've got a new girl with us this noontime and I figured I'd show her the ropes while Royce here takes his break."

"That's fine, Jules," Vivien heard Miles say. "What's her name?"

"I figured I'd let her introduce herself when she's ready," Juliet said, glancing over her shoulder at Vivien before stepping aside.

Finally able to see the group in the booth, Vivien took in the look of surprise on Miles' face first. Miles quickly got Carrie's attention by squeezing her hand, getting her to look up from the menu in her hands. Cerulean eyes glittered like fireworks as Carrie saw the girl standing at the end of the table, and she hurriedly tapped Bentley's shin under the table with the toe of her shoe, making him lift his head from the crayon drawings he had begun on the back of one of the disposable, paper placemats. Somewhat annoyed at the interruption, Bentley lifted his gaze with a question on his lips, but as Carrie pointed to the end of the table, his question died, and his mouth dropped open, his eyes widening to the size of dinner plates.

Before anyone could signal Royce to lift his head from his arms as he yawned tiredly toward the table, Vivien smiled at his tangled curls and said, "Hey, handsome."

Without bothering to look up, Royce decided that, since nobody else cared to speak, he would, and mumbled, "Believe it or not, Miles has a girlfriend."

Vivien fought down a laugh and said, "Believe it or not, I wasn't talking to him."

The first to pull himself out of his shocked stupor, Miles grinned and said, "Royce has one too."

"I don't see her anywhere," Vivien said, placing the tray of drinks on the end of the table. "Maybe I need a mirror."

Royce rolled his eyes, lifting his head from his arms enough to take his soda from the tray as he said, "Not interested."

"Royce," Bentley began warningly but was quickly stopped by Miles as the oldest of the brothers placed a finger to his lips and gestured for the boy to stay silent.

"Damn," Vivien sighed as Royce's forehead rested against his arms once more. "And here I thought we would have lasted at least half a year before you decided to break up with me, Rolls."

Startled by the choice of nickname, Royce's eyes peeled open, and through the corner of his eyes, he found himself looking at a pair of Converse with faded doodles on the white of the toe, but it wasn't until he saw the tiny ship charm dangling from her laces that he began putting pieces together. As he slowly lifted his head, Royce found himself frozen with shock. Sure enough, standing before him was his girlfriend, but she looked as though she had stepped out of a magazine. Her typical jeans and T-shirt were replaced with clothing he was used to seeing on some of his friends at school, and her hair was pulled into a ponytail he knew she would normally complain about at the end of the day, but she didn't seem upset by it in the slightest. Her round glasses caught the light above their table perfectly, glinting magically as the light above another nearby table casted a golden halo around her from behind. For a while, Royce was convinced he was seeing things - Vivien couldn't be in his world; it was impossible! She would have told him she was coming! - but then she smiled down at him and said something he couldn't hear over the thoughts running rampant in his head.

Swallowing as he blinked up at her, Royce softly asked, "Vivien?"

The girl before him laughed, and while that beautiful symphony was all he needed to hear, her nod dispelled any further doubts he could have had. Rocketing up from his seat, Royce lunged forward, bringing his arms around her as far as they would reach, nearly lifting her from the floor as she giggled by his ear. They stood like that for what felt like an eternity before Royce backed away enough to take her face in his hands, examining her as though it was the first time.

"Hey," she breathed, as eloquent as ever.

"You-" Royce cut himself off with a laugh, "You're real. You're real and you're here. How are you here?"

Vivien shrugged, "Magic."

Scoffing a laugh, Royce shook his head and brought her back into an embrace that she quickly returned. Looking over her boyfriend's shoulder at the group, who had now pulled themselves out of the booth to greet her, Vivien smiled and gestured for Bentley to join them. Needing no further encouragement, Bentley was quick to attach himself to the pair, ducking under Royce's arm as it came around his shoulders and smiling as Vivien's snuck around his back. The trio refused to separate until Miles asked for his hug, making Vivien pry herself away from her boys for long enough to give Miles and Carrie a greeting as well. Then, just like magnets, the trio fell back together again. This time, however, they separated after a minute, and with Vivien's hands locked firmly in theirs, the boys began showing her around to anyone and everyone who would give them the time of day.

Vivien couldn't help but smile as she was dragged through the restaurant, her face burning like a neon firetruck. As much as she hated being the center of attention, she tried to swallow back her growing anxiety at being surrounded by strangers in favor of allowing the boys to introduce her to the people they cared about. She was sure her growing nerves and embarrassment at being shown off like a prize horse would wear off over time once the boys began to settle, and she wasn't about to complain to either of them until they were calmed down a bit. After all, they had waited long enough for this. Besides, what was the harm of a little embarrassment? If it meant the boys' gleaming smiles never left their faces, she would deal with it a thousand times over. Catching Royce watching her fondly as Bentley introduced her to some of their and their brother's friends, Vivien smiled. 

Maybe - just maybe - she could get used to this.

[daydreamgoddess14]

Salvation pt. 1

From the 200 Followers Celebration 🎉 *horn tooting noises!* This one is for the wonderful @ashtonirwinwh0re who requested "What did you say?" for the gorgeous Roy Kent.

Full Masterlist

Roy Kent Masterlist

Roy Kent / Reader

Meet the woman who stole Roy Kent's watch...

~~~~~

No matter how hard you tried, you always felt like an imposter. It had gotten to the stage where that feeling would never disappear fully. You accepted it, embraced it, made peace with it. It was a friend you carried around with you, keeping you grounded, reminding you of your past. To some, the past was something to run from, to hide away in a cupboard and never speak of. And though your past was not good, you didn’t want to stash it in a box and not think about it or remember it. You wanted it to haunt you and remind you of how things could have turned out. You were an imposter, and you were determined not to be ashamed of that. There were some elements of your past that you never, ever anticipated revisiting though. Things that you’d done that you’d always be ashamed of, no matter how hard you’d worked to change your circumstances. Making your own peace with your actions was one thing, but actually seeking peace from the other parties involved was tricker. So tricky that you hadn’t thought it possible until now. Right now. Sitting in your car, twisting your hands in your lap, and trying to control your shaking breath. It was time to go in. You stepped out of your car, locked it, and followed the group of men through the double doors and into a room you’d only ever seen on screen before. 

The seat at the front was already occupied, which was your worst nightmare, you had to go up there to put your phone on the desk. He wouldn’t recognise you, it had been a long, long time, and you'd changed dramatically. Of course he wouldn’t recognise you. You made sure you went up with a larger group who were already setting up their recording devices and slid your phone into a gap amongst the others. You couldn’t help but look up despite every fibre of your body begging you not to. He must have been looking at you because you locked eyes immediately. Don’t recognise me, don’t recognise me, don’t recognise me… You heard his intake of breath, a gasp which he quickly turned into a cough.

“I don’t want to listen to you choking to death when I play this back later!” A voice behind you called out.

“Fuck off, New Trent.” You quickly slipped away and took a spare seat as far back as possible, your heart pounding so hard you thought it might be a heart attack, yeah… he’d definitely recognised you. You let the usual rumbling and discourse happen around you, not wanting to stand out as the new person. Everyone clearly had a routine and their own little cliques so you didn’t want to push in and rock the boat. You instead fiddled with the zip on your bag, trying to find a pen. Where the fuck was the fucking pen? You looked down at your blouse where you often attached it to yourself - not there, you reached up behind your ear - another no, finally you tried your half up/half down ponytail and came back successful. Finally, when you’d stopped fidgeting, you chanced a look back to the front of the room. He was actively not looking at you, his eyes were looking anywhere and everywhere except at you. You took a deep breath and composed yourself, but as soon as you did, you caught his eye again. You could see his frown of confusion, his mind whirling as he tried to make sense of why you’re here - in his domain, on his turf. “Right, let’s get started, you lot. Some of us have got shit to do.” He said gruffly. Hands went up, “you with the bald spot?”

“How are you feeling ahead of the second game?”

“Pretty good. The lads are all feeling alright, we had a good first game.”

“Still feeling the loss of Ted Lasso?”

“Fuck no,” he paused, “course we are. He’s a great friend and we miss him.” The questions came thick and fast and gave you plenty of opportunity to observe Roy Kent from afar. Older now than when you’d known him, the mullet was gone and the beard was under control. Of course you’d seen him over the years on TV, but in the same room, god he looked good. Really, really good. You sat back in your chair while the questions bounced around, there was no chance in hell of you putting your hand up. At last, you could tell things were starting to wrap up so you shoved your notepad and pen into your bag, getting ready to escape at the earliest opportunity.

“Oi, what about you? With the… smile.” You weren’t smiling. A smile hadn’t graced your lips since you’d set foot in the office that morning. Your heart broke a tiny bit at the knowledge that he remembered your smile.

“I didn’t say anything,” you mutter.

"What did you just say?" He demands. You clear your throat and speak louder.

“No questions from me.”

“Does your boss know you’re a quitter?”

“What? No, I’m not… I’m just here for today.” There was a weirdness in the room, an odd tension that the other journalists noticed immediately. The ones closest to you were peering at you like they were trying to remember where they might know you from, the faintest recognition in their eyes. You hadn’t said a word, there was no reason for Roy to have even spoken to you, but in doing so, he’d drawn attention to both of you. “I’m sorry,” you mumble, grabbing your bag and rushing to stand. The media room is busy behind you so you have to push through the crowd to get out, your chest feels tight and you can feel the panic rising. You knew this was the worst idea. You told Sammy that he should have asked someone else to cover for him. 

“Wait!” You hear him call out, but you can see the door and you’re nearly there - daylight and fresh air! As you pull the door open, it swings on its hinges more than you’d anticipated and whacks you in the shoulder. Tears spring to your eyes as you barge through the door and collide with tiny Keeley Jones on the other side.

“Fuck, shit - sorry!” You stop at last, your hand going to your shoulder to try and massage the pain away. “Shit, Keeley Jones!” You marvel. She came after you in more ways than one. She looks at you wide eyed, recognition dawning,

“It’s you!” You can hear the bustle behind you of the others leaving the room, which means Roy won’t be far behind so you carry on your original path out of the Richmond stadium by the easiest, quickest route possible. She’s hot on your heels but you manage to squeeze out through the main doors and to your car. While you fumble with the key in the ignition and your seatbelt, you look up to see Keeley watching you from the doorway. Your clutch control and gear finding abilities are a mess as you crunch the car into first gear and just as you tear out of the car park, you see Roy run out behind your car to try and stop you. When you finally come to a stop again at a set of traffic lights, you put your head in your hands and lean into your steering wheel. It’s only the sound of someone beeping behind you which brings you back to the now green light in front of you. 

At Nelson Road, Roy had turned from Keeley and gone back to his office. The door had stayed shut all day. When Keeley approached as she left for the day, she knocked softly and peered around the door.

“Alright?” He grunts in response. “That was a bit weird.”

“Yeah.” He breathed, not looking up from the desk.

“So, tell me if I’m wrong… but… wasn’t that the girl who stole your watch?”

"Yeah." He said again quietly. 

"She left her phone." Keeley puts it gently on his desk and closes the door behind her. 

[slowdiived]

just tell me i’m yours (kurt kunkle x fem reader)

WARNING FOR SEX FR! this one was cray to write! im excited for everything i have planned next, the story is gonna pick up fr! also just wanted to let you guys know that i pinned my masters list so you can read everything in order :) i also put a playlist for this series on there if you would like to listen, it’s definitely interesting 🤭

the screenshots of you naked circled everywhere. it wasn't a huge story to your delight, just big enough to piss you off. you felt so stupid, how could you be so stupid?

it boosted kurt's accounts, always answering questions about it and milking it for what it was worth. telling people that it was an accident and that you guys both feel weird about it. he wasn't trying to make you feel bad or make you look bad, he just knew if he was always addressing it, he could boost himself.

you tried to push through it, pretending to keep posting like nothing had happened. a few self deprecating tik toks and duets to people who showed their support for you. it was a fight, people saying that one shouldn't look if they respect you- or women for that matter, then another crowd saying it was on a public platform, so it should be public.

you just reported any account you could that had the pictures up.

you had also got fired from your job. it wasn't the worst thing to be away from that wretched store, just humiliating that you couldn't leave on your own terms. they didn't want you to tarnish the name and you just accepted your fate.

the good thing to come out of any of this: you got a brand deal from a sex toy company.

you told them that you wouldn't ever be naked on camera again but they wanted you to talk about the company and what they sell. you were slowly turning your situation into something where you could help women feel comfortable with their bodies and what they want. all while you are discovering that yourself.

the praise was getting bigger than the hate.

and the money you were raking in... you didn't need a part time job to get by.

it had strengthened parts of your relationship with kurt, you guys having a second honeymoon phase after the first was getting close to fizzing out. maybe it was your sense of false confidence, pretending that this was all going to be okay and you could turn it all into positives. maybe it was the fact that kurt was utterly enamored with you and everything you are.

conjoined at the hip, he never wanted to let go. this was the first time he had ever had an obsession with something that wasn't numbers or games. this was something that he hadn't fucked up yet and he didn't want to come close to fucking up.

if one's social media falls, they can pick up the pieces and do something bigger, bad or good. in a relationship, one can't do bad to make it come back. he had to be on his best behavior, he had to be as alert as he knew how to be. he needs to be in tune with your emotions the best he could, learning how to feel and how to cater. his level of comfort had to change and you made it easier, even if he was nervous.

he had already made his mom love you, excited her boy was changing. she embarrassed him the other night at a dinner when she explained how weird kurt was as a child, his accidents and faults. she told you about an accident he had as a kid where he was bed ridden for awhile, your heart breaking for him. you realized a lot about him and his family dynamics, why he would've been considered weird. why he was in such desperate need of someone or something to make him feel good.

after that night, your demeanor to him was so much more gentle than before.

"hey kurt?" you called to him from your bed.

he turned around from your desk where he was working on your laptop to edit this weeks vlog. it was a trip to joshua tree that you both had taken the previous week.

"yes?" he pulled his headphones down, his voice quiet.

"lay with me?" you asked with your arms stretched out.

he immediately put his headphones next to the laptop, standing up and falling onto the bed. he crawled over to you and placed his head on your abdomen, arms caging your lower half.

"don't have to ask me twice," he giggled into you.

you placed a hand in his slightly greasy hair, running your fingers into his scalp.

"i love you," he mumbled into your stomach.

"i love you."

he pulled up your shirt, kissing your skin gently. you giggled and tensed at the sensation, gripping his hair carefully. he left your skin crawling in such a good way, you could never get enough of his touch.

he then pulled up, crawling to your lips. he pressed his into you, kissing passionately. you wrapped your legs around his hovering torso.

he pulled away for air and pressed his forehead against yours, your lips a few centimeters away.

"how are y-you feeling?" he asked.

his breath fanned over your face, warm and minty from the gum he had spit out previously.

"better now that you're on top of me," you whispered, quickly pecking his lips. "why?"

he pressed his body weight into you, pulling his head up. he awkwardly shifted to straddle you and placed his hands on your ribs.

"i was just thinking a lot while editing," he looked down at his hands. "just wanted to make sure you are okay."

"i'm okay," you smiled. "are you feeling alright?"

he looked back up at you and his big dark doe eyes made you melt. you held onto both of his thighs, rubbing your hands along him.

"do you ever get sick of m-me?" he asked.

you frowned and immediately started sitting up against the wall behind you. that shifted him onto his knees while he continued to straddle you. your hands pressed against his warm cheeks.

"no," you shook your head. "not at all. why are you thinking that?"

he shrugged.

"i just don't want you to leave," he admitted. "i-i know you won't but like... i mess up a lot. like my mom said, i can be a lot. i mean i just d-don't want to mess this up also... do you get that?"

you pulled him in close, your lips threatening to spill against his.

"i need you," his eyes sunk into yours as you spoke. "i mess things up quickly and if i haven't managed to do that with you yet, i think we are meant to be something."

your lips collided with his, the both of you not being able to get enough of each other. twisting, turning, hands rubbing over anything you both could touch... this was leading to something you needed. his hands were pulling at your t-shirt, quickly pulling it off and reconnecting to him. he whined into you as your hands pressed against the tops of his thighs, grinding into him a bit. you started sitting up to lower him and he pulled away, his gaze full of pleas to you.

you pulled his shirt of his head, tossing it to god knows where. everything was fast but so sweet, his whimpers turning you into a disarray of lust. you bit his neck, your tongue gliding against his soft skin. he couldn't keep his mouth shut, gasping and moaning out. his hands were traveling your back, occasionally moving to squeeze your clothed ass. you moved down his chest, your lips pressing through chest hair down to his tummy, kisses placed ever so gently.

"i-i need you," he breathed out. "i need you s-so bad please."

you unhooked your bra and he pulled it off so aggressively, yanking you down to put a nipple in his mouth. you could feel yourself growing too wet, your thong probably letting everything escape into your leggings. your whimpers turned into full fledged moans, grinding down into your boy.

"you are doing so good for me," you praised him. "so good for your girl."

he pulled away with a pop, spit disconnecting. he tugged at your leggings and you turned over to pull them down. he had also yanked off his sweats and underwear, his member hitting his lower abdomen.

you straddled him again, this time sliding against his dick. you were so wet and he gasped at the feeling of your warmth.

"oh god," his head shot back as he grabbed your hips. "i want you to fuck the shit out of me. i want y-you to make your good b-boy come please."

his desperation was something else, he had such a fire in his eyes and veracity in his tone. you nodded, kissing his lips.

"i'll make you come five times over baby," you promised. "make sure you know that you are mine."

he cried out at the statement alone.

you grabbed him and lined him up to you, your breath shaky until you slowly descend onto him. he bucked his hips up by accident, the pleasure overtaking him. you cry out at the feeling of getting stretched so fast. he couldn't feel sorry, he was feeling so euphoric. you played along and slowly started bouncing yourself onto him. his fingers could've bruised your hips with his grip. his eyes were scrunched shut, lips parted to let out his slutty fucking moans.

"i can't wait for you to start crying baby," you hand your hands pressed to his chest for support. "make you moan my name over and over."

he groaned and you picked up the pace. the slapping sound was obscene, almost pornographic. he reached for your boobs and kneaded them harshly. you loved every inch of his scrunched up expression, he looked so handsome. you found yourself moaning louder and louder, grinding into him once your legs would get tired. he fell so deep into you, places that you weren’t so use to. you threw your head back and kept going, your clit brushing against the hair that sat atop of him.

“god, (y/n),” his hands traveled down to your waist, fingernails digging. “e-everything you do is so perfect, ugh… you are so beautiful. so fucking perfect.”

you could tell he forgot what he was going to say, your power bringing him to the mess you always liked to see. he started bucking up into you which signaled that he was close.

but you could feel a knot in your stomach that was getting tighter and butterflies raced to the top of your spine. your moans became so insane, surprised that you didn’t care about the neighbors hearing. your walls tightened around him.

“(y/n) i’m so close,” his head shot back again, arching his spine. “i can’t wait to come all in you, make you so p-proud!”

you lost it, your legs twitching and your body internally vibrating from your orgasm. you soon felt him groan loudly, his released shooting all in you. you slowed down the pace but was reluctant to pull yourself off. you both sat there for a minute, sweat being cooled to your skin. your hair was definitely stuck to your face and your vision was coming back to you as your eyes readjusted from being squeezed shut.

you pressed yourself onto his chest, your head resting next to his. he wrapped his arms around your frame.

“why do you think i would ever get sick of this?” you asked, chest still rising and falling at a rapid rate.

“i don’t know,” he whispered against your ear. “maybe you think i’m no good. i’ve changed your life a lot, m-maybe you don’t want to feel like you do anymore.”

you sat up, caging his head with both your arms. he moaned at the feeling of his cock being readjusted in you.

“it’s not your fault,” you sighed. “none of it is your fault. i messed up, blame it all on me.”

you kissed his forehead.

“besides, who else is gonna fuck you like i just did?” you laughed.

he shrugged and laughed as well. you took that as a chance to pull off of him, his release dripping out of you and onto his skin, hot and wet.

“fuck,” he moaned out, craning his neck to look at his spilled out mess.

you sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, your legs not ready to stand. as you tried, they shook which made you throw yourself back down.

“i need to clean up but i think my legs are dead,” you smirk.

he gets up and grabs a towel you had in your clean clothes basket that wasn’t put away. he wipes himself off first and heads over to you, forcing your legs open with his slender frame.

“i got you.”

he wiped the rest of the cum that lingered on you and your inner thighs. he dabbed ever so gently against your overstimulated core.

“you look so pretty with me all in you,” he giggled.

whenever he complimented you with something so simple yet so sweet, your cheeks heat up.

“maybe we should go take a shower,” you sat up and he grabbed your hands, pulling you to your feet. “think we need it.”

[bonny-kookoo]

Carrots and Whiskers (JJK x Reader) 💜🔞🐾

🥕 Pairing: Rabbit!Jungkook x Wolf!Reader

🥕 Genre: Hybrid AU, fluff, smut because why not amirite-

🥕 Warnings: stereotyping, mild mentions of past bullying, fluff, oh god they’re so cute, Dom!Jungkook despite being technically food for Sub!Reader, Dirty talk, it’s sweet though he ain’t calling his baby a hoe don’t worry, unprotected sex because in this hybrid universe they’re unable to conceive due to their different species, please keep that in mind thank you, sweet sweet lovemaking, aftercare, buff boi JK, Big dick JK but what’s new I guess, yeah I’m done now

🥕 Summary: He’s the prey and she’s the predator. So why does she feel like the roles are reversed?

This is a oneshot! If you have any ideas for future content in this universe, feel free to send in asks or requests!

A reputation could easily define your entire life it it was bad enough.

Both sides knew this; Jeon Jungkook, being depicted as the cowardly prey hybrid he was, and Y/N, the bad bad wolf with always malicious intentions. However, none of these depictions were actually true.

Jeon Jungkook was an actually pretty rough and brave young man, never really backing down from a challenge, uncaring on who was in front of him. He got into trouble often as a kid, as a teenager, and now as a young adult.

Y/N was soft spoken, a caring yet quiet hybrid who liked to stay hidden, the spotlight being more of a fear than a goal for her. She loved the simple things in life, liked to be by herself or surrounded by people she trusted and loved.

And she also got a major crush on the bunny in her art and music class.

It was quite cliche really, yet it also wasn't- it was as if she was stuck in a bad joke, never to make it to the punchline. She knew for a fact that he probably didn't even knew who she was, and the worst part about it was that she couldn't even blame him. She loved to not be seen, after all.

"Uhm, excuse me?" Said the voice, forcefully hitting her as she looked up, her own eyes meeting the big brown orbs of-

wait.

"I eh, we're supposed to choose partners for this project, and I know for a fact that you can draw so eh, wanna be partners?" He asked, and she simply stared. Was he- talking to her? "I mean, Its okay if you don't want to-" He started, the squirrel hybrid girl behind him already perking up at her chance, making her swallow a bit.

"N-no, I uhm.. I'd like that." She squeezed out, voice quiet, but he thankfully still heard her. He smiled, brightly and so awfully cliche as his bunny-like teeth showed, sitting down next to her as he pulled out his sketches. "So uh, what did you have in mind.?" She quietly asked, and he talked away, as if he'd always known her.

"Well since we weren't given much other than the theme and colors, I made some small sketches. You know, I get Ideas that are pretty neat sometimes but then I forget them easily, so I have to draw or write them down right away, otherwise I'll wanna bite my own ass later on." He rambled on, gently moving the rough sketches towards her, his eyes watching her as she looked at them, carefully studying his lines.

"This- this one would fit, I think.." She mumbled, tapping on one of his more detailed drawings. He grinned again, nodding, seemingly in agreement. He attempted to say something as the bell rang, students around them both scrambling up to get out as soon as possible, either to catch a bus or to drive home on their bikes.

"Hey do you-" He stumbled, his foot catching on a stray chair as he almost fell. "Do you wanna meet up on the weekend? That way we can finish faster, you know, time to sleep in class." He said, and she simply nodded, until he held his hand out. Her head tilted to the side, ears flopping a bit as he chuckled, mumbling. "cute. Your phone, so I can give you my number?" He explained, and she blushed, stepping back a bit as she placed her bag down on the table next to her, pulling out her phone, charms on the device dangling, making him smile. She really was adorable. "Alright." He said as he took it after she'd opened the phone app, his fingers typing away, before he gave it back to her. "Do you take the bus home?" He asked, and she nodded. "Oh really? I thought the pink bike outside was yours actually." He chatted away as she walked next to him, now a bit shy.

"I actually.. well, I can't, you know, ride a bike, so.." She mumbled, and he laughed for a moment, until he went quiet, sensing that she was serious.

"I eh, I could you know, teach you, if you want?" He asked as he unlocked his own bike. "I mean, not now but like, this weekend?" He asked, and she looked a bit hesitant. "I mean, you don't have to. But I promise I won't let you get hurt." It seemed odd maybe, for a prey hybrid to say that to a predator, but for her, it seemed like the most cheesy and romantic thing she'd ever heard. So she smiled, and nodded. "I uhm.. I think your bus left-" He pointed out, making her ears droop as she watched the vehicle drive off without her. "I can bring you home. It's kind of my fault you missed it, after all." He said, scratching the back of his neck as he suddenly rumbled in his backpack, pulling out a zip hoodie, before folding it, and placing it on the bag of his bike. "My'lady." He offered, and she giggled, making his ears flinch in excitement.

She'd been unaware of him for long enough, and after a talk with his fellow friend Taehyung, he'd decided to finally act on his interest in her. Even though he did get some odd looks from his classmate Jimin, he didn't care about what she was- he cared more about who. Her drawings were always so detailed in a way that would show exactly what she'd though while creating each line, something he always found remarkable. She also had a talent for photography, a hobby he had for himself as well.

"Hold on tight okay?" He said, and she nodded, her arms moving around his waist, redness creeping onto her cheeks as she felt his toned body underneath his thin shirt and loose jean jacket. She held a bit tighter as he finally pushed the bike forward, paddling at a decent pace that made her hair flow a bit with the wind. She couldn't help but enjoy the moment; the way his smell calmed her, the scenery around her, and the fact that it seemed like everything was finally working out for her.

"I'm gonna let go now and you'll just-" He started, but she suddenly grew anxious, her wide eyes immediately finding his.

"no no don't let go I'm gonna fall-" She scrambled out, scared as he simply laughed, one hand on her back as he kept the other on the bike for now.

"I promised, didnt I?" He hummed into her ear, and she blushed at the gentle tone of his voice. He was everything she never thought a prey hybrid would be; he was cunning, brave, and confident in himself. He wasn't after attention at all, simply trying to live his life yet he pulled everyones gaze on himself wherever he went simply by nature. His ears seemed too soft to be legal in her opinion, black and white tuft of fur that was his tail seemingly completely out of place; the rest of his body was toned. It showed that he knew how to take care of himself, it underlined the way he held himself wherever he went.

He was the complete opposite of her it seemed.

She liked to hide in oversized clothing, hybrid features the only thing really giving away that she wasn't just a mouse in disguise.

To him however, it was an entirely different story.

She was so sweet, always trying to help, and always trying to not be a burden. She had so much talent, a unique way of seeing the world, and a gentle way of always looking out for others. It also didn't ease his crush on her that she was absolutely beautiful in his eyes; shorter in statue than him, surprisingly, but he was pretty tall for a rabbit hybrid, he had to admit. His mother had once told him about the different subspecies of wolves when she'd noticed his crush on the girl; her best friend having been a wolf hybrid as well when she'd still been in school. Apparently there were different subtypes for them; alphas, betas and omegas. He guessed that the girl on his bike was an omega, maybe, as it would explain all her characteristics.

"You're doing so great!" He said, bunny smile making her feel more confident as she noticed he only held her by her back; she was actually riding a bike. "See? You can do it!" He happily exclaimed as he helped her off, seat a bit high for her to get down herself. "Lets sit down there and exchange some sketches, yeah?" He offered, and she nodded with a smile, walking next to him as they both sat down on the grass, after Jungkook had put down a small blanket he'd taken with him. "Okay, hit me." He playfully shot her way, as she pulled out her sketchbook, simply sliding it towards him as he opened it, looking through the pages she'd opened for him. "Uah, these are great! I'd use a bit more color on these ones, but the rest is awesome!" He mumbled in thought as he proceeded to change the page, his eyes widening at a familiar pair of eyes, when two delicate hands held his wrist in place.

"Pl-Please uh, that's not for the project eh-" She stuttered, panic evident in her voice as her red face and tilted ears gave away her embarrassment. He simply stared for a moment, before his other hand simply loosened her grip on his wrist, freeing himself without much force. He slowly turned the page, revealing multiple rough sketches of..

Him.

It was him, not very detailed, but clearly visible. Small scenarios were drawn on the page, him staring out the open window of the classroom as he talked to friends, him at the sidelines of his basketball game as he'd taken a break, or him asleep on his desk during class. He studied the drawings, noticing how she'd not cared much about his clothing, or the background; even the desk or the window weren't really drawn very realistically, simply a fast sketch. What did stand out was.. well, his face. The way the sun reflected in his eyes, how his ears had been slightly damp from the slight rain outside, or the tiny things he would've never thought she'd notice about him, like the tiny beauty mark under his lower lip, the slight scar just above his cheek, or how the sides of his eyes crinkled when he laughed, nose scrunched up.

As he looked up she was looking down, hair hiding her eyes as her ears were flat against her skull, tail in her hands, which nervously fiddled with the fur. "I-" He started, before he began to open his own bag, ruffling around in it as his own ears lowered themselves while he tried to find something. "Hah!" He exclaimed in victory, hands sliding off the rubber band of his own folder which kept his messily organized sketches and finished works. He rummaged through them, before he started to lay some of them out in front of her, one by one. Slowly, her ears turned, attention on what he'd put down in front of her.

He always had a different way of drawing things, not really putting a lot of effort into the outlines or sketches themselves; but he had a way of coloring things, a unique style that made things feel almost alive. In every picture, he'd dedicated most of his effort to color the fur of her hybrid features almost perfectly- he also payed special attention to her postures in every picture. He never drew her eyes however- which she noticed. "I uhm.. I've never got the chance to see them up close, so I had a bit of trouble with them.." He explained. "I've noticed you pretty early when we shared our first classes together.. But I never really got around to talk to you. You and Namjoon-Hyung always seemed so close, I thought.." He revealed, scratching behind his own ear as he suddenly felt a bit bashful.

"You.. I mean, Joonie is a good friend but we uh.." She started, voice a bit low as she laughed a bit.

"I know, I know, he told me-" Jungkook answered, now chuckling. "Thats why I immediately took my chance when they'd announced the group project." He said. "It gave me a chance to you know, get to know you better. Get closer, you know?" He explained, and she nodded. "So uh.." He mumbled, before he smiled at her hopefully. "Wanna uh- get cake together today? Like a date?" He asked, and she nodded, making him suddenly jump up as he fist bumped the air, making a passerby elderly couple laugh. "Yes!"

"Carrot cake?" She asked, an almost teasing smile on her lips as he looked at her.

"What? Don't judge puppy!" He said, making her scoff scandalized.

"Hey, I'm a wolf, not a dog!" She explained as she stirred her milkshake with her pink straw before grabbing the spoon from her small metal plate.

"And I'm a rabbit, not a bunny. So guess we're even." He said, before his smile faded a bit, eyes stuck to the spoonful of whipped cream which made its way inside her mouth, tongue darting out to lick her lips clean before she noticed his gaze. He snapped out of it, suddenly the one growing a bit shy. "You uh.. wait, lemme just-" He mumbled, hand moving to wipe the corner of her mouth as he licked his finger clean himself, making her eyes widen before she mumbled a 'thanks' under her breath. He grinned.

"So uh-" He asked, pushing down his small cake fork to pick up a piece of cake, holding it out towards her. "open up?" He asked, and she hesitated a bit, before leaning forward a bit, lips parting. He placed the piece into her mouth, watching as she closed her lips, accepting his offering of food before she nodded her head approvingly. "See? Don't judge before you try!" He exclaimed, and she giggled at that.

He was right.

"I'm absolutely beat." He suddenly exclaimed, falling down onto the mattress laying on the ground in the corner of the new, unfurnished bedroom. The wolf hybrid sat down next to his sprawled out form, gently moving his blonde tipped hair away from his eyes. He'd dyed it months ago, his roots more than visible at this point, yet he'd simply decided to let it grow. "Come here~!" He playfully demanded, hands reaching out for her as he pulled her down with him, happily humming when she was laying on his chest. "Can you believe we're actually gonna live together from now on?" He asked, and she shook her head, moving around a bit so she straddled him, sat on his thighs as he suddenly watches her with hooded eyes, hands on her hips as his thumbs move in circles over the skin underneath her sweater- his sweater. "Hm.. I mean.." He offered, suddenly moving to sit up, changing position as she's now underneath him, his hair tickling her face slightly when he begins to kiss against her pulse. "I was about to ask if we should at least put up the bedframe, but having a mattress on the floor.." He started, hands wandering underneath the clothing of his she wore as he continued in a low voice. "..means I can't break the bed this time." He said, and she giggled at that, remembering the time their time together had been roughly interrupted by the weak frame of his old bed breaking. "Oh, my puppy thinks that's funny?" He wonders, making her grin as he kissed her deeply.

Moments like these made her almost forget the stereotypes she'd grown up with during her live- since Jungkook was nothing like the typically depicted rabbit hybrids. Because right now the roles seemed completely reversed, as he mouthed at her neck, feeling her pulse race as he continued to map out her body with just his hands, no need to watch where they were, able to seemingly paint a picture of her by touch at this point. Clothes suddenly seemed to tight, itchy, as if bitten by a mosquito. She whined as he chuckled darkly, helping her out of his sweater as he immediately grabbed her breasts, kneading them before he continued to undress her, making quick work of her shorts as he pulled down her underwear as well- her already glistening center clinging to the damp fabric of her underwear as she squirmed, making him humm in appreciation. He pulled his own shirt over his head as well, revealing his body to her as the sun outside painted glowing stripes onto it, the blinds drawing patterns on her skin as well. He finally freed himself from the confines of his own underwear as well, standing proud and ready as she became restless.

"Hm, puppy wants to be filled up yeah?" He asked with a teasing undertone, proudly making use of the privilege to be able to call her that- since she hated it when others did it. It was the same the other way around however; typically, being called a 'bunny' was an absolute insult to him, but for some reason it seemed like a cute nickname coming from her. Maybe he was just whipped. Or maybe she was just privileged as well.

He entered her slowly as he sighed alongside her, not wasting any time as he fell into rhythm, hips thrusting forwards as her hands reached for his, intertwining their fingers as he felt his soul warm up at the gesture. He felt so loved, so cherished, it made him fear for his heart, as he swore it stopped every time he was close to her like this. He felt complete, like he'd found his soulmate, his other half- it didn't matter to him what she was. Sure, his parents were a bit dissapointed since they couldn't have kids naturally because of this, but they both could always adopt in the future. Thinking about it made his heart swell as he thought about her, caring for their kids, making this small apartment into a family home one day. Maybe it was instinct, but he'd already been driven nuts by the way she'd helped him choose furniture and wallpaper for the small living space they'd be sharing; the simple fact that she wanted to make their apartment into a home feeding his inner instincts to build a home to keep her safe in.

He felt her legs shake a bit as he shifted a bit, making her whine as he suddenly picked up his pace, sweat already slowly beginning to coat his skin as he didn't seem to notice how the sound of skin against skin still echoed in the almost empty room since it lacked furniture- but it didn't matter for now anyways. They'd both fill it with things and memories of the both of them, and he couldn't wait for it. He huffed a bit as he moved, leaning down a bit to rest his forehead against her neck as she bared it for him, a natural instinct of hers to submit to him even if he was of another species with no need of such gestures. He'd adapted to it however, gently biting the skin as he felt her shiver underneath him, a sign that she was getting close. "Hm my baby wanna cum?" He asked, gently beginning to tease her as she nodded, eyes closed in bliss. "You want a knot huh?" He asked, and she shook her head no, as he chuckled. He'd felt a bit insecure the first few times around as he knew how things worked for canine hybrids, worried that he maybe couldn't give her what she wanted or needed, yet she'd always reassured him. Now it was more like a teasing thing for him, and a way to tickle a praise out of her- a way of reminding himself that she loved him just as much as she did her. "No? You don't?" She shook her head again, her fingers holding his hands tighter. "What do you want then, huh?" He asked with a grin as she whined.

"You- you, only want ngh.. only need Kookie-!" She pressed out, and he hummed approvingly, his thrusts beginning to grow sloppy as he neared his end.

"That's right, only me, only mine, yeah?" He asked, and she nodded, suddenly opening mouth as her head buried itself into the mattress below her, clenching around him as he groaned out, burying himself deep inside her as he spilled. "Thats it, take it like a puppy- good girl!" He praised, making her whine as he leaned his body down, kissing her neck, her throat, and then her lips as they both calmed down from their highs, breathing slowly growing more and more even as he moved a bit to grab a box as he slid it towards him, rummaging through it before he took out a roll of kitchen towels, grabbing a few as he slipped out of her, carefully catching his release and her own juices as to not make a mess. He had a gentle smile on his face as he carefully cleaned her up before he stood, walking towards another box where he pulled out a large pillow and a few blankets, instincts taking over as he began to cover her now rapidly cooling body in soft fabrics before cuddling up next to her, pulling another blanket over his own form as he made sure his partner was comfortable. She slipped out of her makeshift blanket burrito to invite him in, making him grin his signature bunny smile as he held her close, skin on skin as he closed his eyes, the only light in the room the streetlamps outside.

This already felt like home.

[goofygomez]

Anniversary - Clouis Oneshot

Description: Clementine and Louis have been together for almost a year, and Clem begins to ponder on how to celebrate such a special occasion.

Wordcount: 5700

A/N: Hey there! I’m finally posting some new content. Shocking, right? I wanted to write this in honor of Clouis’s actual anniversary, which is today (September 25th). Aside from that, this fic is doubly special because it is dedicated to one of my best friends in the fandom, whose birthday was just a few days ago @missdaisymayrio. Happy Birthday, Layla, hope you enjoy your handmade gift!

As always, comments, reblogs and likes are greatly appreciated, since I deleted my previous account and I’m trying to be more active now. Enjoy!

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Clementine paced her room impatiently, muttering under her breath, the carpet muffling the thud of her crutches. Violet was sprawled at Clem’s bed, silently thinking of Clementine’s request. The two girls had been in her room for about an hour, trying to come up with something Clem could give Louis for their anniversary. They only had a week left, and so far, no ideas came to mind.

“What if you just… didn’t give him anything?” Violet suggested for what felt like the hundredth time.

Clem rolled her eyes and turned to her best friend. “I can’t do that,” she said. “He already gives me these little gifts every couple weeks that he finds on supply runs, I have to do something for our anniversary.”

“Can you believe you guys lasted a whole year?” Violet said, changing the subject. “I owe Aasim an energy bar.”

“You guys bet on us staying together?” Clem said indignant, sitting down on the bed opposite Violet.

“Not really,” Violet shrugged. “Mostly on who would freak out about this date first, and I lost.”

The early morning sun was streaming through the winder between them, bathing the carpeted floor with a golden hue, punctuated by the boards stuck to the window hinges. A few birds chirped happily to the rise of a new day, while the fluttering of their wings traveled softly to the room.      

“So you’re saying that Louis hasn’t freaked out…?” Clem asked, furrowing her brow.

“Knowing him, he’s had your present on the ready since the day we met you,” Violet said, making a gagging noise. Clem smiled.

She thought back to all the good times she and Louis had had over the past year. All those stolen kisses in supply raids seemed childish at the time, but Clem still kept them close to her heart. After all, how long had it been since she’d allowed herself to feel childish? She’d had to care for AJ for almost seven years now, and her formative years hadn’t exactly been a picnic either…

In truth, the escape those small tendrils of happiness gave her was the most wonderful gift Louis had ever given her. Though she hadn’t said so to him, it had very easily been the best year of her life. If only she could muster the courage to say those words instead of rehearsing them a thousand times in her head.

After a few minutes of lingering silence, a knock came from the door, and the usual sing-song voice of Louis sounded from the other side. Clem was pulled from her thoughts as they both turned to the door.

“Violet, Aasim wants you for something!” he was saying.

Rolling her eyes, Violet walked to the door and flung it open. Louis was standing at the threshold, one hand up mid-knock and the other in his pocket. His usual smile was plastered on his face, and his eyes sought Clementine at once.

“Hey there, morning,” he said.

“Morning,” Clem said with a smile, picking up her crutches and limping to Violet’s side.

The blonde wasn’t as pleased to see him, however. “You could have just said you wanted to see Clem, no need to make up excuses,” she said in a bored tone, pushing past him and waving a lazy hand back to Clementine. “See you later, Clem.”

“Yeah,” Clem said feebly, turning to Louis. “What’s up?”

Without a word, Louis let himself into the room offering his right hand to her, his left still tucked in his trench coat. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead, making her blush. She didn’t know why she still blushed after a year of being with the most affectionate person she’d ever met, but Louis wasn’t complaining. Even with the slight elevation the crutches offered, Louis still towered over her with ease, to the point where she often wondered if his father had been an NBA player.

“Not much,” he said, taking a seat on the spindly chair by the desk, helping Clem down to sit on the bed. “Just wanted to see you, is all.”

“That’s it?” Clem asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow at his left hand. “And what’s that you got there, huh?”

He looked down and feigned surprise, making Clem roll her eyes. He retrieved his hand from his pocket and produced a small parcel wrapped in what looked to be old newspapers. A bold headline on the front claimed that ‘Stock market plummets as the recession continues.’ Whatever that was, it sounded serious, Clem thought.

She examined the small package in his hands and cocked her head, confused. “Are we having a game of Pass the Parcel?” she asked innocently, looking up from the parcel and seeing her boyfriend’s face break into a smile.

“Nope, but that sounds like fun,” he said. “What’s that?”

Clem chuckled. “It’s this British game where you pass a wrapped object around and keep removing its layers,” she explained, “and whoever gets to remove the final layer gets the parcel.”

“And how do you know of this game?” Louis asked, intrigued. “Ever been to the UK?”

“Not really,” she said, shrugging. “But I did have a British classmate back in elementary school. His name was… Mark something? I don’t really remember.”

“Sounds like a grand ol’ chap!” Louis said in a lousy attempt at a British accent, tipping an invisible top hat and adjusting an imaginary monocle.

Clem could not help but laugh at her boyfriend’s antics, looking from him to the small package still clutched tightly in his hands. Curiosity was burning inside her, yet she decided not to push him for it. Instead, she chose to expand upon their subject of conversation.

“So,” she said, leaning forward. “Have you ever been outside the states?”

Thankful for the chance to just chat about meaningless things, Louis put the parcel on the desk and scratched his chin meaningfully. He hummed a song as he thought, which Clementine recognized as ‘Oh My Darling, Clementine.’

“Well, I went to Spain with my parents when I was seven,” he said. “Some place called Majorca or something fancy like that.”

“Sounds like a lot of fun,” Clem said, leaning on her elbow. “Did you learn any Spanish there?”

“Not really,” Louis admitted, shrugging. “We didn’t really go out much, except to restaurants and shit.”

“Fancy,” she said, chuckling.

As she heard him talk about the time his dad took him on a hiking trip up some mountain or other, her mind began to wander. She thought of all the times they themselves had taken a hike through the forest, Louis helping her up fallen logs as she struggled to lift her crutches over moist soil. She always loved how passionate he became about the most insignificant things, like the movements of the moon in the sky and the shifting bugs within the forest.

Without thinking, her eyes drifted over to the parcel on the desk and by the look of it, Louis took note of that. He grabbed the package and laid it on his lap. Looking up at her, he handed her the wrapped object and waited expectantly.

“What’s this?” she asked, curiously turning it in her hands. It was rectangular and thin, much like those old VCR movies her parents used to watch sometimes. She shook it softly, expecting it to rattle, yet it made no sound.

“Open it,” he urged, gesturing to a loose piece of home-made wrapping paper.

As she tore open the newspaper, her excitement never wavered. Louis looked on in silence, a smile etched on his face, expectant. The only sound between them was of ripping paper and the chirping birds outside. When she got to the final layer, she almost dropped it from shock.

“Oh my god,” Clem gasped.

She was holding a framed picture of her, AJ, and Louis standing in front of the school. Louis stood in the middle, his left hand around Clem’s waist and his right hand on AJ’s shoulder, clutching it affectionately. The three of them were smiling widely, their cheeks flushed from the heat. Clem remembered that day vividly. It had been around three months ago when Louis had found a Polaroid camera hidden in an abandoned classroom.

The frame itself was carved with small words along the edges, snaking across the entire surface of the wood. Her mouth agape, she raised her eyebrows at Louis, who beamed. It seemed the birds outside had sensed the awe in the room, for their singing had ceased to let room for the words that Clem was trying to form. Unfortunately, none would come.

“Look closely at the frame,” Louis said, almost in a whisper, too excited to contain his voice.

Instead of pursuing speech any longer, she did as she was told. Upon closer inspection, another gasp escaped her. Etched on the surprisingly smooth wood, spreading in a clockwise rotation, were the beginning lines of Clem’s favorite song.

“Oh my Darling, Oh my Darling,

Oh my Darling, Clementine.

9 – 25 – 2011”

Words seem to come back to her at once. “Louis, this is beautiful,” she managed to say, looking up at him again.

“Happy anniversary,” he said cheekily. Clem’s eyes went wide, fear that she’d forgotten the date creeping up her spine, and Louis chuckled, apparently reading her mind. “Don’t worry, you didn’t forget. I was just too excited to wait another week, so I figured I’d give it to you now.”

“That’s nice,” Clem said, smiling softly. “How did you do this? I didn’t think that camera would actually work after so many years.”

“Neither did I, but Tenn helped me find a book with instructions on how to develop pictures. It’s surprisingly more difficult than the movies made it out to be, to be honest,” he added, furrowing his brow.

“Well, tell Tenn thank you from me later,” Clem said, clutching the frame tightly to her chest. She closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh, her eyes filling with tears against her better judgment.

Louis stood and kneeled beside her, placing his hand over her right knee. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” she said, dabbing furiously at her eyes. “I love it.”

And indeed, she did love it. That evening, as she paced the room once more, the framed picture of their ninja family, as Louis called them, sat on the bedside table. The downside of the gift being so incredible, Clem thought ruefully, was that now she had to work twice as hard to come up with a great one herself. How could she ever hope to compare to a beautiful handmade gift such as that?

The answer to her question, thankfully, came to her in the form of Aasim a few days later. He walked up to her as she was doing her usual walk around the perimeter. For the last few months, Aasim had been trying to grow a beard, much to Ruby’s dismay. Despite his best efforts, it was patchy on spots and did not look nearly as cool as he’d hoped it would.

She chose not to comment on it when he beckoned her to a corner of the wall. She followed his gesture and leaned against the wall, thankful for a small relief from having to carry her whole weight on one leg.

“What’s up?” she asked, intrigued.

“I heard that you still haven’t found a present for Louis,” he said, cutting straight to the chase.

“Yeah,” she said, slightly ashamed of herself.

“I got something you could give him,” Aasim said, smirking.

Clem surveyed him, scanning him for any signs of a package. When she found none, she stared at him with a puzzled look. “If you do, you hid it very well,” she teased.

Rolling his eyes, Aasim shook his head. “It’s not exactly an object,” he explained. “I just want to help you out, since Louis can go a little overboard with gifts sometimes.”

Thinking of the frame on her bedside table, she nodded vigorously. “Why are you helping me?”

“He’s my best friend,” he said simply, shrugging. “And I know he’ll love this.”

And so, Aasim relayed the information to Clementine. The more he talked, the more Clementine liked the idea. Barely twenty minutes later, the plan was in motion as Clem and Aasim made their way back into the school for dinner.

It was a testament to how excited she was to give Louis his gift that she barely slept that night, thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Two nights later, she dreamed of Louis turning down her gift because it was too simple and did not compare to his. No matter how much she argued, he would not change his mind.

She woke with a start on the morning of September 25th, cold sweat running down her back and forehead. The clock on her nightstand told her it was nine-thirty, much later than she usually let herself sleep. The bed on the other side of the room was empty. AJ must have let her sleep in while he went on patrol with Tenn, she thought.

He would be seven years old soon, Clem realized with a start. Had it really been that long? With a yawn, she lifted herself from the bed and grabbed the crutches that leaned against the bedside table. She stretched her right leg, looking down at the stump on her left knee.

No matter how many times she looked at it, she was still not getting used to the feeling. Sometimes it even felt like she had it back, a tingly sensation where her toes were supposed to be. She would look down in excitement only to be disappointed time and time again.

“I guess this is how Reggie and Lee felt, huh,” she mused to herself, thinking of their amputations. Had Reggie had so much trouble adapting to his new reality? Clem surely was…

After donning her leather jacket and denim jeans – the latter was still tricky business with only one leg to support herself – she waddled over to the door and walked into the hallway to face the day ahead. Upon arriving at the courtyard, she looked around and found Aasim standing by the gate, speaking to Willy. She walked over to them just in time to hear the tail end of their conversation.

“-me know if anything’s moving around out there,” Aasim was saying. Willy nodded and turned back to his post, holding a hunting rifle they’d found in a nearby town.

When he turned, he spotted Clem standing beside one of the tables and walked up to her. “Morning,” he said. “Slept well?”

“Not at all,” Clem said truthfully, “Have you seen Louis?”

“I sent him on a supply run with Violet, as promised,” he assured her, nodding. “It’s on the other side of the forest, so you’ll have enough time to prepare for when he comes back, which should be around dusk.”

“Good, thanks.” She looked around and saw the rest of the group milling about their respective chores. The morning sun blazed above them, the last vestiges of summer lingering for a few more days yet. Despite the warm weather, the first leaves of fall had already begun to fall onto the courtyard, spraying the ground with a bright orange and yellow hue.

Ruby was using a large rake to clear a path between the admin building and the greenhouse, muttering a soft country song to herself. Tenn and Omar were discussing lunch and dinner plans for the day by the pot, apparently deep in conversation. She did a headcount in her head, coming up one person short.

She was about to ask Aasim about AJ when her question was answered. The boy had just walked out of the admin building’s doors, his trademark revolver in his hands. When he spotted Clem, as was his custom, his eyes lit up and he rushed to her, much like he’d done that fateful day almost a year ago.

“Clem, you’re up,” he said excitedly, stashing his gun in his back pocket.

“Had a fun patrol?” she asked him, ruffling his overly long hair. He’s overdue for a haircut, she thought to herself, making a mental note to ask Ruby for scissors.

“Yup,” AJ said, nodding. “I found a couple of rats in an abandoned classroom, but I couldn’t catch them.”

“Best not to try again, kiddo,” Clem warned him, frowning. “They could bite you or something.”

AJ furrowed his brow as well, thinking hard. “Can rats make you turn into walkers?”

Looking around to Aasim for assistance, Clem shrugged. The man did the same and placed a reassuring hand on AJ’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I don’t think they can,” he assured the boy. “I think Louis got bit once when we were like twelve. Had a nasty scar on his finger, but hasn’t turned since.”

“You never know,” AJ muttered, looking down in thought. Both Clem and Aasim laughed, confusing the young boy even further.

Excusing herself, Clem led AJ to one of the tables and asked him to sit down. AJ did as he was told, leaning on his elbows in the same fashion Louis did sometimes at dinner. It was uncanny how many mannerisms the boy had picked up from the young pianist.

“Anything interesting to report?” she asked conversationally, resting her chin on one of her hands, tiredness still tugging at her eyelids.

“Not really, other than those rats I told you about,” AJ replied, shrugging. “Sometimes I try to make up games to pass the time, but I’m not very good at it.”

Clem raised her eyebrows, a smile etched on her face at his innocence. “Games such as…?”

Looking down at the markings on the table, AJ said, “Um, well. Like counting how many windows there are in the entire school.”

“Sounds like fun,” Clem said, nodding. “And how many are there?”

“Couldn’t remember the numbers past seventy, but I think there’s probably a lot more.”

“Yeah, we’ll work on that a little more, how about that?”

AJ nodded vigorously, clearly eager for another session of homeschooling with the rest of the group, all of whom had added something to the table when it came to educating Clementine’s young charge.

So far, Ruby had taught him to tend to small plants, which he didn’t find particularly fun, but still pleasant nonetheless. Aasim and Louis had taught him to tie a number of knots for traps, most of which were still too complex for him to memorize them, but his spirit never wavered. Since Clem could not easily move around, Violet had taken over training him in a rudimentary form of hand-to-hand combat, which was definitely AJ’s favorite new subject.

“So,” she said, scratching the back of her head. “I’m going out of the school tonight.”

“Like, into the forest?” AJ asked, puzzled. “Why at night?”

“Just… something,” she said vaguely. “I won’t be sleeping in our room tonight either, but I’ll be back in the morning before you wake up.”

She’d been expecting some sort of interrogation, and maybe even sadness, but she hadn’t expected what came next.

“No,” AJ said simply, crossing his arms. “No, you’re not going out unless you tell me what you plan on doing.”

“What?” Clem asked, taken aback.

“I’m tired of you not telling me stuff to protect me or whatever,” he said, making air quotes with his fingers; another one of Louis’s teachings. Damn you, Louis. “Either tell me or I won’t let you go.”

Sighing, she looked back at the gate through which her boyfriend was gathering supplies for the group. She figured nothing would change the young boy’s mind, so there was no use in arguing back. She turned back to AJ and nodded, pursing her lips apprehensively.

“Alright, you deserve to know, I guess,” she said.

Taken aback by the quick change of heart, AJ’s eyes went wide and he fell silent, his mouth slightly open in anticipation.

“Today is mine and Louis’s anniversary,” she said, unsure of how to approach such a delicate subject.

“Anni – Anniversary?” AJ said slowly, his look of wonderment still present on his face. “What’s that?”

Thinking hard, Clem chose her words carefully. “It’s like… a birthday,” she explained awkwardly, tilting her head to her side. “Like a birthday for our relationship. It’s been exactly one year since he and I got together, you understand?”

“Yeah,” he replied, still looking puzzled. “But what does that have to do with going out at night?”

“You see, when you celebrate an anniversary, you give each other gifts,” she said, pointing to the window that led to their room on the inside. “Like that frame he gave me the other day. And my gift to him is hidden outside in the forest, and it’s better to give it to him at night.”

“I see,” AJ almost whispered, his eyes running the length of the table, scanning the markings that he himself had added onto. “Can you tell me what it is? Maybe I can help you.”

Clem chuckled and reached over the table, tapping his nose affectionately. “No, kiddo,” she said, shaking her head. “This is something for just us, I’m sorry.”

AJ nodded slowly, a little crestfallen. “I understand,” he told her, smiling back at her. “Thank you for telling me, though.”

She placed a soft hand over his and smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow.”

Sure enough, that night, Clem was waiting for Louis at the gate around dusk. The sun was beginning to set on the west, the orange tint of the sky the only evidence that it had even been there minutes before. She nervously tapped her right foot on the concrete, thinking about the route Aasim had told her to take.

“A right, left, then another left,” she was muttering to herself. Seemingly out of nowhere, another voice replied with a cheerful yet tired tone about it.

“What, did your GPS break down?”

Whirling around as fast as her crutches would allow, she now stood in front of a tired-looking Louis, whose forehead was matted with sweat. He carried a medium-sized box with a few cans of beans, tuna, and what looked like expired candy.

“You’re back,” she exclaimed, smiling. “I was getting worried.”

“Worry not, I have returned,” he said, extending her arms theatrically. “I’m starving, actually.”

“Um,” she said, stopping him from rushing to the admin building. The rest of the courtyard was already empty, as they had had an early dinner. “I was actually thinking we could go out for a walk, don’t you think?”

She gestured to the forest, where an owl hooted loudly and flapped its wings. Louis raised an eyebrow at her, puzzled.

“Is this some joke Aasim put you up for?” he said, chuckling.

Sure hope not, she thought to herself. “No, I just wanted to show you your gift,” she said in a convincingly innocent tone. “Happy anniversary, Louis.”

She reached over and planted a soft kiss on his cheek that seemed to reawaken his senses. His face parted into a grin and made sure to leave the box of stuff by the gate. When he was done, he clapped his hands together. “That’s awesome, scavenger hunt sounds like fun,” he quipped, leaning down and taking her hand in his.

The couple started walking forwards, Clementine mostly leading the way. Despite not being accustomed to seeing her stump every morning, she had become quite adept at moving around on crutches, mostly due to Louis’s and AJ’s assistance. She trudged through the muddy grounds, making sure not to sink the wood too deep into any loose dirt patches.

The dark forest loomed ahead, the full moon shining brilliantly above them like a beacon, beckoning them to go deeper. Their steps were punctuated by the crunching of dry leaves, the only sound other than their breaths and the scuttling of small animals. Louis followed Clem without a word, and Clem went through the path in her mind over and over again.

At one point, about an hour after they’d departed, Louis’s resolve was beginning to waver. She heard him clear his throat behind her.

“Hey, Clem? Where exactly are we going?” he asked, his right hand in Clem’s and his left holding Chairles loosely.

Clem took a moment to stop and look around, grinning at him. “It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I just told you now, would it?”

Louis sighed and nodded wearily. “I guess you’re right,” he said, smirking back at her. “Lead the way, Sunshine.”

Clementine chuckled as she turned and started back up the winding path. “Sunshine?” she asked, shaking her head.

“What? I think it’s cute,” he said, shrugging. “I was trying something, give me a break.”

“Alright, I’ll give it to you, it was kind of cute,” she admitted, rolling her eyes. “But don’t get too used to it.”

“Too late, Sunshine,” he quipped, picking up the pace to be on par with her and looking down at his girlfriend.

Sighing, Clem shook her head. “I guess I had that one coming,” she conceded, squinting as she looked for the signal Aasim told her would be around. When she spotted a small red handkerchief protruding from a spruce tree to their left, she knew where she was.

“We’re very close, only ten minutes left,” she told him, squeezing his hand affectionately.

“Can’t wait.”

For ten minutes they trudged through the thicket of trees that seemed to deepen the darkness around them, yet a single strand of silver light still illuminated their path for them. At long last, the small path opened up into a small pond the size of a large swimming pool. Around it, the roots of the trees shied away from the edge, yet small, white flowers blossomed on the reed-filled bank on one side.

Both Clem and Louis took in a deep breath as they took in the sight in front of them, their hands still intertwined. The lack of treetops above let enough moonlight shine through that visibility was enough to move around. They walked towards the edge of the water and around the pond to where a small clearing stood, almost expecting them to take the spot for themselves.

“Woah,” she heard Louis say as he looked around. “How come I’ve never found this?”

“Aasim said you probably haven’t wandered this far north,” she explained. Louis extended her hand to help her down and sat down beside her, setting the crutches on her side. “He claims to be the only one to know about this place.”

“Well, I’m sure Ruby knows about it too,” Louis said cheekily, smirking. Clem chuckled and silently agreed, making a mental note to ask Aasim if he’d brought Ruby here.

The couple sat in silence for a few minutes, basking in the beauty of their surroundings. The cold autumn breeze blew past them, making Clem shiver and wish she’d brought an extra layer of clothing. Louis seemed to have read her thoughts, for he took off his trench coat and draped it over her shoulders, much like she’d seen men do in those cheesy movies her mother used to love so much.

“Is this my anniversary gift?” Louis asked, looking up at the star-strewn sky.

“Uh, yeah,” Clem said lamely, scratching the back of her head. “I thought you’d like it.”

Backtracking, Louis nodded vigorously and smiled at her. “Oh, I love it! It’s very romantic,” he said, running a hand through his dreads and pulling them backward. His green shirt stuck to his body from sweat, making him seem slimmer than he was. Almost in unison, they both lay down on the bed of leaves, their hands intertwined at waist-height.

They talked about their days, Louis telling her about a couple of walkers he had to take out to get a hold of those expired candies. Unfortunately, once he’d tried one of them, his illusion to give them to AJ had been crushed. It hadn’t stopped him, however, from bringing them back just in case.

“You really went to all that effort for AJ?” she asked, tilting her head as much as she could, given her position on the ground.

“Of course,” he said, as it if was the most obvious thing in the world. “He’s your little dude. Our little dude.”

After saying the last words, Louis looked away quickly, his cheeks flushed. Clem’s eyes were wide, yet she did not flinch. As scared as she was of planning her life ahead, she knew her future, however short it may end up being, contained Louis in all scenarios.

“He really is,” she said reassuringly, placing a hand over his cheek and leaning in awkwardly. She planted a soft kiss on his lips, pulling him towards her. She heard his intake of breath as he deepened the kiss, running his thumb over her cheek.

After a few minutes, they broke apart, taking deep breaths as they regained their composure. Both their cheeks were flushed, and Louis’s chest was rising and falling rapidly.

“That was interesting,” he said croakily, barely above a whisper.

“Yeah,” she breathed, her eyes falling to his lips and back again to his brown eyes; the brown eyes that held so much joy in them and managed to reflect his smile every day, no matter how bleak the world may look now.

“Thank you, Louis,” she said finally, closing her eyes.

“What for?” he asked, puzzled.

Clem rose and leaned on her elbow, looking down at her boyfriend’s face. No matter how many times she had rehearsed this in her mind, the actual thing was much scarier than she’d ever imagined.

“Thank you for being there for me,” she explained, unable to meet his eyes. “For not giving up on me even when I seemed to give up on myself. In all honesty, I thought you’d leave me like a month into our relationship.”

“You know I’d never do that,” Louis exclaimed, almost defensively. Clem laughed softly despite herself.

“I know you wouldn’t,” she assured him, placing a finger over his lips to shut him up. “But that’s just how my mind works, don’t worry. And now, it’s been a whole year and we’re still together.”

Louis nodded with a smile, tilting his head as if to say, “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“So I guess what I’m trying to say is,” she whispered, finding the courage to look Louis in the eyes. “I love you.”

Louis’s eyes, those that were always so confident and full of joy, opened wide as plates. His mouth fell agape and his heart seemed to have skipped a beat from the movement he made. As a response, he leaned in and placed another kiss on Clem’s lips. When they broke apart once more, they were both smiling.

“I love you too, Clementine,” he whispered, much gentler than Clem had ever heard him speak.

Somehow, they both managed to chuckle heartily, seemingly unable to keep their eyes off each other. For a few minutes, the two of them was all that mattered in the world. They were everything that was real, and everything else was just outside intrusion. No owls hooted nor frogs croaked as if the forest were holding its breath to give the couple the silence they deserved.

For minutes that seemed to stretch into hours – hell, it could have been days, – none of them spoke. Their hands rested on each other’s waists, Louis’s hand drawing small circles on a bit of exposed skin on Clem’s side, which made her giggle softly.

At the sound of her laugh, Louis smiled and kissed her again, as if he could not get enough of it. Neither could she, however, so she didn’t stop him.

This time, a sound did break their seemingly impenetrable silence. A small cricket had rested upon a small rock, drawing their attention to it. Suddenly, Clementine remembered the second part of her present.

“Oh shit, I forgot,” she exclaimed, looking around the ground, searching.

“You hid something else in here?” Louis joked, following her gaze.

“No, silly,” she said, rolling her eyes yet smiling nonetheless. “Got it!”

She was holding a small rock the size of a golf ball. Louis looked at her with a puzzled expression and waited. Clem lifted herself up to a sitting position and threw the rock in the middle of the pond, disturbing its waters as ripples exploded from where the rock had hit it. For a few seconds, Clem thought she looked foolish and thought maybe this really was a prank by Aasim.

After a few moments of pure silence, however, her prayers were answered. A small lightning bug appeared from within the reeds, lighting up like a small light bulb in the night. It flew out into the air and towards the sky before more followed. More and more fireflies were emerging from the darkness and lighting up the surface of the waters in a bright yellow hue.

“Wow,” she heard Louis whisper as he himself scrambled to a sitting position beside Clem.

Together, they watched the dance the fireflies made, wavering in the cold breeze into the autumn sky, joining their brethren toward the stars, seamlessly fading into the darkness. The scene reminded her of those times in New Year’s, when her parents would light up a balloon and let it loose into the air, joining countless others from their neighbors. The breath seemed to have escaped Clementine as she marveled at the dancing lights, and she knew Louis was thinking along the same lines.

“That,” he said from beside her, placing a hand on her thigh, “was beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful,” she said, making her own lame attempt at being as cheesy as her boyfriend. To her relief, he found it rather amusing and laughed.

“I think I’m rubbing off on you,” he said cheerfully, kissing her cheek. As was usual, she blushed.

“Yeah, maybe,” she said, turning to look at him with fire in her eyes, heat rising to her cheeks once more. “Happy anniversary, Louis.”

Smiling once more, Louis said, “Happy Anniversary, Firefly.”

[isitgintimeyet]

The Ties That Bind

AO3

Previous

Thanks for reading so far. This is the penultimate chapter in the story.

Thanks for @mo-nighean-rouge for the beta and support.

Wee bit of angst... at first

Chapter 31: A Legal Precedent

Professor Callahan : Would you rather have a client who committed a crime malum in se or malum prohibitum?

Elle: Neither.

Professor Callahan: And why’s that?

Elle: I would rather have a client who’s innocent.

Legally Blonde

Jamie said nothing as Isobel drove them across the city to Geneva’s house. He sat still, his jaw clenched in tension, hands splayed on his knees. Isobel did not try to start any conversations. She wasn’t really sure what she could say anyway… nor what she should say to her mother and Geneva, especially if they expected her to ‘choose a side’.

Contemplating the situation, she felt that her best role would be to try to provide a calming and objective influence, much as she did with her students when dealing with hormone-fuelled teenage arguments.

Jamie was also contemplating the situation, but was not as clear as Isobel on his best role. His instinct was to go in all guns blazing, ready to shout and swear at Geneva and her mother, demanding that he be legally recognised as William’s father. He knew, however, that threats and demands would not help here, and could potentially harm his case, should it end up in court.

But there was also a sadness. He had believed that Geneva and her mother would stop the game-playing once William had arrived, that they would understand there were no winners or losers, just everyone wanting the best for the baby. And now, realising that his trust that they would  ‘do the right thing’ had been totally misplaced, he was hurt and, being honest, was annoyed with himself and his naïveté. He had assumed everybody possessed a vein of decency, no matter how deeply hidden. John had tried to counsel him, to get him to seek advice, but he had been sure it would all work out, that there was no need to involve lawyers. And now he was paying the price.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply as Isobel pulled up outside Geneva’s house. Unfolding himself from the confines of Isobel’s Fiat 500, he quickly strode up to the door and pressed the bell. A murmur of voices floated out from the other side of the door before it was opened by Louisa. Geneva was nowhere in sight.

“Jamie.” Louisa acknowledged his presence sternly.

“Louisa, can I come in? I dinna think we want tae be havin’ this conversation in the street.”

Reluctantly, she stepped aside to allow entry into the hallway, but no further.

“I think I made our… that is, Geneva’s position clear over the phone...” Louisa began, before noticing Isobel standing behind Jamie. “Isobel, what are you doing here?”

“I went round to see how Jamie was doing after your, er, news this morning. You can’t expect him not to be affected by it, so I wanted to check he was ok.”

“He was ok? Ok?” Louisa’s voice began to climb in pitch. “It’s not him you should be worried about. He had his chances, plenty of them. Both before and after William’s birth. A father should support his child and the mother. If he can’t, or won’t do that, then he’s no right to be called a father. It’s about honour and decency.”

Jamie had remained silent throughout Louisa’s diatribe, but could no longer hold his tongue.

“God, how can ye talk about decency tae me? I have been nothin’ but decent throughout these months. I’ve treated Geneva with respect, even wi’ the games she’s been playin’. She told me and ma friends that the bairn is mine. So now, what is she sayin’? I’m no’ the father? And that makes her, what? A liar and a fr...” Jamie quickly stopped himself from telling Louisa what he really thought of her daughter. This was not the time or the place.

“That’s right, Mummy. She said that to me too. She can’t just change her mind because it’s not gone the way she hoped!”

Louisa turned angrily to her daughter. “How dare you stick up for him? Where’s your support for your sister? Do you not want her to be happy?”

Isobel opened her mouth to respond as a baby’s cry cut through the air.  

Jamie reached his hands out to Louisa, tears filling his eyes. “Please, Louisa, that’s ma babe, let me see him. Ye canna keep me from him. Let me through.”

Louisa remained motionless, her face like stone.

“Geneva!” Jamie yelled. “Come out here. Let me talk tae ye. Let’s clear this up. Geneva… Geneva!”

Gradually, William’s cries died away. Geneva remained out of sight. Jamie slumped against the wall, not knowing what to say.

Louisa broke the silence. “I think you should go.”

Isobel took his arm. “Come on, Jamie, I’ll see you home.”

Jamie passively let Isobel lead him away. Just outside the house, he paused and turned back to Louisa, framed in the doorway.

He spoke quietly, his eyes blazing, his voice cold with fury. “William is ma son. We all ken that. Geneva has been tryin’ to play me fer months but tae resort tae this… blackmail is what it is. Well, I hope ye’re proud of yer daughter. Ye talk about honour and decency, but the two of ye dinna even ken what the words mean. If ye did ye wouldna even think about depriving that bairn of his father jes’ out of spite. And this isna the end of it, Louisa, I mean it. Get a lawyer. I’ll go tae court if I have tae. What lies will the pair of ye tell under oath, eh?”

*************

Once Isobel and Jamie had left, Claire drifted aimlessly from room to room unable to settle, her mind whirring with all the possible scenarios that could be playing out over at Geneva’s. She was thankful that Isobel was with Jamie, providing a calming influence and hopefully preventing him from doing, or saying, something he would regret.

She opened the door to the recently decorated nursery. It was all there, just waiting for an occupant. The pale wood cot, the matching changing station and wardrobe, and the rocking chair in the corner all stood barren and unused. The set of twinkling fairy lights she had bought that week were still unopened in their packaging. Who knew when that would change now? She sat down on the floor, leaning against the cot’s bars and wept.

The tears were not for herself, as she had not had the opportunity to meet William, to form any bond with him. No, the tears were for Jamie and for William. Jamie had had several months of anticipation, readying himself to be a father, only to have that snatched away from him. And William, unaware though he was, was losing a parent.

Drying her eyes, Claire switched into her practical mode. If they had to go to court, they would. John would give them details of a suitable lawyer and they would win. Surely no Sheriff court would decide in favour of that bitch and her mother.

But until Jamie returned, she needed something to occupy her mind. She suddenly remembered the half stripped bed, and then planned to clean the bathroom.

********

Finally, after thoroughly cleaning the bathroom followed by a much-needed shower, Claire heard Jamie’s key in the front door. She rushed downstairs to meet him. Jamie sat on the bottom step, his face tired and drawn.

“I couldna see him, Claire. I heard him greetin’ but Louisa wouldna let me near him. Geneva didna show herself either. I hope that's due tae shame, but I am no’ holdin’ ma breath on that.”

Claire sat on the step above him. He leant back between her legs and looked up into her eyes, searching for comfort. She stroked his face, her hands gently trying to sooth.

“I’m goin’ tae ring John. He’ll ken what tae do, won’t he, Claire? It’s goin’ tae be alright, isn’t it? It has tae be.”

She brought her face close to his, her curls, still damp from the shower, falling onto his cheeks.

“Of course,” she replied, forcing a bright smile. “It will all work out, you’ll see.”

************

The floor to ceiling windows of the ultra-modern city centre office block afforded magnificent views across the city. However, the spectacle usually went unnoticed by those waiting in the chrome and glass reception area - they tended to be more preoccupied with the legal issues that were about to be discussed (and also the bill that would no doubt swiftly follow).

Jamie and Claire were no exceptions to this, and John took no interest either, having looked upon that view many times before. The three sat together, Jamie in the middle. Claire’s hand rested reassuringly on Jamie’s constantly jiggling knee. Only the chewing of her lower lip gave an indication of her nervousness.

John broke the silence. “You know I’m here as your friend, Jamie. The only lawyer charging his usual hourly rate will be Ned. Don’t be misled by the way he looks, by the way. He’s one of the best in family law. He can be an absolute arse when he needs to be, scares the shit out of other lawyers too.”

“Mr. Fraser? Mr. Gowan will see you now.”

John led the way into a large office dominated by a wall of floor to ceiling windows. The furniture was a light wood throughout. One corner of the office housed a black leather sofa next to a bookshelf full of children’s games. The whole room was bright, airy, and modern.

John warmly greeted the human anachronism seated behind the desk. “Ned, good to see you again. How are you?”

“John, man, I’m champion.” Ned moved from behind his desk to shake Jamie and Claire’s hands.  

A small man, he was dressed in a three piece tweed suit in earthy greens and browns, with a green paisley bow tie. A pocket watch chain dangled across the waistcoat. He in no way resembled a serious lawyer commanding an eye-watering hourly fee, but appeared more of an Edwardian gentleman ready for a spot of shooting or deer stalking across the Scottish moors.

“Mr. Fraser, I’m Ned Gowan, and ye are…?” He addressed Claire.

“I’m Claire Beauchamp, Mr. Gowan”. Claire held out her hand to him.

“Claire is ma girlfriend,” Jamie interjected. “She’s here fer a wee bit o’ moral support, as is John.”

He thought for a moment, then hurriedly carried on talking. “But she wasna ma girlfriend when all this started. That was afore I met her, ye ken.”

Ned smiled politely. “Och, Mr. Fraser, I’m no’ here tae pass judgement on ye or yer choices. Jes’ to sort out any, er, inconveniences from the choices ye may have made.”

Ned returned to his chair and motioned for the others to sit. Ignoring the large computer screen perched on his desk, he rifled through a stack of folders before selecting one and opening it.

“Now, John here has given me, wi’ yer permission, the background tae this, er, situation, but I do have a few questions I need tae ask ye before we agree the next steps. It may become a wee bit personal. I dinna ken if Miss Beauchamp will wish tae hear the details.”

“Thank you for your concern, Mr. Gowan, but I am fully aware of the details. I’ll stay if that’s ok.”

Ned nodded his assent and, unscrewing the cap of his fountain pen, began to make notes.  “Right so, a few questions, Mr. Fraser. Were you in a relationship with Miss Dunsany at the time of the child’s conception?”

“No’ at that time. We had been in a relationship the year before, but I… we… had finished a few months before the, er, conception.” Jamie was unsure how to answer the lawyer’s questions, but decided on a formal response.

“Mm hmm. But you did have sexual relations with Miss Dunsany around the time of the child’s conception?”

“Aye, we went out for a drink and I… slept wi’ her. But I decided it wouldna work between us and told her so. Then I had nae contact wi’ her until she told me about the bairn two months later.”

“So, at that time, you only had sexual relations once?”

Jamie blushed and studied his hands.

“I shall rephrase that question, Mr. Fraser. You had sexual relations with Miss Dunsany on only one occasion?”

“Aye.”

“And did you use any form of contraception?”

“Geneva, that is Miss Dunsany, told me that she was on the pill. I had nae reason tae doubt her as she’d been on the pill previously.”

“When she informed ye that she was pregnant, did she explicitly state that ye were the father?”

“Aye, she did. She told me straight that the bairn was mine. And she told our friends and her sister that same thing. I can gi’e ye names. I visited the hospital wi’ her.”

Ned finished writing and leant back in his chair. “Why do ye think she has no’ included ye on the birth certificate?”

“Geneva made it clear that she expected us tae become a couple again. When I told her that wouldna happen, she spent the next few months trying tae get us together and fer me and Claire tae break up. As ye can see, we are still together, so I think Geneva has done this tae spite me. She couldna get her own way, and, like a child, she is lashin’ out. Trying tae hurt me.”

“And what do ye want, Mr. Fraser? What are we workin’ towards here? Full custody o’ the child? Shared custody?”

“I want tae be on the birth certificate, I want parental responsibility. I’m no’ looking for full custody, jes’ a fair access tae ma son, wi’ agreed times fer him tae stay wi’ me.”

“A fair ask, Mr. Fraser. I will write tae Miss Dunsany’s lawyer and ask fer a meeting tae agree to a settling o’ this wi’out goin’ tae Sheriff’s court. If that meeting does no’ resolve this issue, we will make it clear that we are prepared tae go tae court, and that there are people willin’ tae testify that she acknowledged ye as the father. And we can remind her that denying this in court could lead tae a separate case against her fer perjury. The court can also demand a DNA test be carried out. But we hope it willna get that far.”

Claire sensed Jamie relax in his seat. She felt a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. There was light at the end of this tunnel.

Ned carried on talking. “Now, if ye are looking tae share the child’s upbringing, her lawyer will no doubt be askin’ for assurance about yer personal life and stability. Which is where ye come in, Miss Beauchamp.” He turned and spoke to Claire directly. “They will be askin’ questions about ye and yer relationship wi’ Mr. Fraser. Are ye currently co-habiting wi’ Mr. Fraser?”

“No…” Claire started to answer.

E“Aye,” Jamie interrupted. “Ye are. I mean it’s not official and ye still have yer flat, but we’re together more than we’re apart. We’ve spent months tiptoeing around Geneva, trying no’ tae upset her, but nae more. I want it tae be official. I ken this is no’ the most romantic place, but ye canna get more reliable witnesses, so what do ye say? I love ye, Sassenach and I ken ye love me. I’ve not planned this like this, but it’s been on ma mind fer months now. I have nae ring...”

Jamie took Claire’s hands in his and knelt beside her chair. “Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp, I love ye, I ken I always will. Ye’ve been with me when it’s not always been easy for ye. Ye are the only one fer me and I want tae spend ma life wi’ ye. Truly, ye are more than I could have hoped for and I count ma blessings every day that ye are with me still. Sassenach… will ye marry me?”

Claire stared into Jamie’s deep blue eyes, so hopeful and focused only on her. She tried to speak, but somehow the words wouldn’t come.

“Come now, ma dear,” Ned said encouragingly. “Remember, ye’re still on ma time and I’m chargin’ by the hour.”

She felt the tears welling up in her eyes and spilling over onto her cheeks. “Oh, Jamie, yes. Yes I will.”

Jamie reached up and pulled her head down to him, laughing and kissed her tenderly, tasting the salty tears on her cheeks. She held him close, oblivious to Ned and John watching with some amusement, pleasure and perhaps just a hint of jealousy. Breathing in the scent of Jamie’s hair, a new sensation crept over her, a feeling of unbounded happiness and… home.

[formerprincess]

A tale written with fangs and claws || Chapter 51

Chapters: 51/? Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt Characters: Liam Dunbar, Theo Raeken, Mason Hewitt, Corey Bryant, Nolan (Teen Wolf) Additional Tags: Alpha Liam Dunbar, Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, Dunbar Pack, Bisexual Liam Dunbar, Werewolf Theo Raeken, Alpha Theo Raeken, Canon-Typical Violence, Smut, Mates, Liam and Theo are mates, Top Theo Raeken, Bottom Theo Raeken, Top Liam, Bottom Liam Dunbar Series: Part 1 of Morning Dew Pack

The pack follows the invitation of Brett's and Liam's long lost aunt but not everything is as it appears to be. And then something happens that makes the pack lose the ground under their feet...

Liam arrived at the house and he was extremely happy all seemed quiet. That meant his pack was not currently fighting the hyenas. In his current state of mind, Liam probably would have ripped a hyena or two apart. 

He parked his car in the driveway and walked over to the front door which opened and revealed Theo leaning in the doorframe. The Beta just smiled sadly at his mate and then opened his arms. Liam didn’t need another invitation and just stepped into the embrace. That’s what he needed right now. He was still sad he had to leave Landon behind and he already missed his little one, even though he just had left him behind some hours ago.  “This sucks, hm?” Theo mumbled and stroked over Liam’s back.  Liam hummed affirmatively. “If I see the hyenas I will punch them!” “We will gladly let you punch them. Now come on, you need to eat something after two long drives.” “I’m not hungry,” Liam mumbled stubbornly. He tightened his hold on Theo. That was currently the only thing grounding him.  “Okay, no food then but come inside, maybe drink something or just chat with your pack,” Theo coaxed him gently. He didn’t wait for Liam to answer and just gently pulled Liam inside and into the kitchen. 

Mason waited there, Nolan was currently eating an apple. “Welcome back. Is Landon okay?” Mason questioned.  Liam nodded. “He immediately made friends with the other kids so I know he will be fine.” “Are you okay?” Mason continued.  Liam sighed and dropped down in a chair at the table. “I have to, right? There are hyenas we have to take care of.” “It’s still okay to take a little break and allow yourself to breathe,” Nolan chimed in.  Liam just groaned and ran his hand through his hair. “I know.”  Brett stepped into the kitchen. “Hey, you’re back. You okay?” Liam just grumbled. He knew his friends were just worried about him but he wasn’t in the mood to answer the okay question every single time. Brett seemed to understand it because he didn’t pressure and just grabbed himself a banana from the fruit bowl. Liam watched him and Nolan exchange shy smiles but then act like everything was totally normal between them and something inside him snapped.  “That is ridiculous! Nolan, Brett likes you more than just as a friend. Brett, Nolan likes you more than just as a friend. Here are 20 dollars, go and have a coffee date and talk about the feelings you have for each other because we have other problems at hand than your romantic tension.” He pulled the money from his wallet and held it out for Nolan to take. Both men stared at him and the Alpha flashed his eyes. “Go!” “At this point, I would take the money and go,” Theo advised them and Nolan gave Brett a helpless look before he snatched the money from Liam’s hand and both bailed out of the kitchen and into the garage.  Mason raised both eyebrows. “That was matchmaking the Liam way.” “Anybody else needs some life advice? I’m currently in a good mood!” Liam exclaimed grimly. Theo and Mason stared at him, then they shook their heads.  “Good.”

He left the kitchen and stomped back to his and Theo’s room. Theo followed him. “Want to talk about it?” Liam interlaced his fingers in the back of his neck. He stood still for a moment before he sighed deeply. “That was rude of me, I know.” “Nah, maybe it helped these two to get their heads out of their asses. I don’t think they’ll mind, especially not when they actually start dating.”  “It was still uncalled for. I’m usually better than that.” “Liam, you are still human and you had to make a heartbreaking decision. Nobody in this house will hold it against you when you get stressed and grumpy. Don’t be so hard on yourself. We talked about this once, you are allowed to show negative emotions. It makes you much more relatable to us Betas, okay? Because we see that even our strong Alpha has his moments and it’s okay to have them.” He stared at his mate. “Really?” Theo nodded. “Yeah.” Liam fell down on the bed. “I hate the hyenas for making me feel like shit,” he complained and stared at the ceiling.  The bed dipped and Theo joined him. “I get you. But we will overcome this as well, we always do.” 

The couple laid next to each other and stared at their ceiling without saying something for a while.  “Do you think we have yet another bloody fight in front of us?” Liam questioned after a while.  “I don’t know. Those hyenas are obscure and when they’re really as cowardly as Peter described them, I don’t know how they will act. I’d go with the initial plan, to continue with our lives and ignore them and if they show their ugly mugs, we will take action.” “A part of me still hopes we can sit that one out and they are all talk and no action,” Liam confessed.  “Maybe,” Theo murmured. 

Liam rolled on his side and draped one arm over Theo’s stomach. “I’m happy to have you by my side.” Theo raised a hand and gently stroked over Liam’s neck. “You’ll always have me, I’m not leaving your side.” They smiled and Liam moved closer to Theo. “I miss Landon,” he whispered when he put his head on his boyfriend’s chest. “I know, I miss him too. But he will come home soon.” “Mm, I hope so.” 

****** After he and Theo chilled on the bed for a while, Liam had taken the dogs to the garden where he groomed them. Not only did they grow a lot but they also needed some caring so their fur stayed shiny and healthy. Koda wasn’t really a fan of standing still for a while but Liam’s only needed to flash his eyes and he obeyed. Even the dogs had accepted him as the Alpha. Aka, on the other hand, loved to get groomed and wagged his tail happily.  “You are really pretty dogs, you know that. Two pretty good boys,” Liam praised them and fed them both a goodie when he was done. He freed the brush from any dog hair. Doing it outside helped not to have too many dog hair into the house and all over the place. Now he just needed to wash his hands, these dog goodies just smelled awful. The dogs seemed to like them so Liam guessed they were tasty but their smell made him nauseous and he hated it when his hands smelled like it. 

He entered the kitchen when Nolan and Brett came home. “Oh, hey,” he greeted his two Betas while he turned on the faucet at the kitchen sink and scrubbed his hands with smell-dispelling kitchen soap.  “Hey.” Nolan actually blushed.  “Hey, guys, uhm, guess I have to say sorry for being so harsh earlier on. I was just annoyed and you two got the brunt of it. I’m sorry.” “No, it’s actually fine, we needed a push,” Brett actually confessed.  “Oh?” Liam made a curious sound while he grabbed a towel and dried his hands. “So your date had been a success?” “Well, we talked a lot and we decided to go on a second date. We’re not together yet but we came to the conclusion to try dating and see if this works out,” Brett explained.  Nolan took over from him and added: “Right, to see if this works out or if we’re better off as friends. It was a nice evening and we probably would have never talked about it if you had not blurted it out.” “I admit, a part of me was pissed at you for telling my secret at first but then I heard Nolan also had feelings for me and you actually became my best friend.” Brett grinned.  “I’m his best friend.” Mason walked into the kitchen and defended his position in Liam’s life. “You can have my sloppy seconds.” “How generous,” Brett joked and Liam laughed. After he had been so mad when he came home, being surrounded by his pack and the talk with Theo helped him calm down again. There was nothing about the current situation he could change and he knew Landon was safe, so it probably was the best he could make out of this for the time being. 

****** The thing with the hyenas was, they dropped off the radar. The next following days there were no sightings from them, you didn’t hear or smell them, and no pack member felt watched. Liam didn’t know if he should cry or laugh at that. Had they really just left town again after one meeting with Liam and Theo? Had Liam be right and they were all just talk and no action? He didn’t know and he complained loudly about it when Scott called and asked if they were okay. 

“And now they’re gone and we have no idea what to make out of this. What the hell? I mean, really? I don’t want to fight again but this is underwhelming.”  Liam paced back and forth in front of the table in the library. Theo sat in the desk chair, feet propped up on the table and watched him, Corey, Ever, and Mason sat on the couch and listened to what came over the speaker of Liam’s phone on the table.  “I told you they are sneaky. They played mind games with you and you fell for it,” Peter exclaimed and Liam shrieked. “Peter’s here again,” Scott announced and the young Alpha rolled his eyes.  “Yeah, thanks for telling me this before he spoke!” Peter didn’t even listen to Liam’s complaint. “Did you hear me? The hyenas tricked you. You’re not really good at mind games, are you?” Liam glared at the phone and then stuck his tongue out. It coaxed a chuckle from his Second Alpha, his emissary, his consultant, and his shaman.  “So they’re gone, we should assume?” Ever summed up what Peter had said.  “Well, are they still terrorizing you?” Peter retorted.  “No, they’re literally gone, vanquished from the face of the earth,” Corey replied.  “See? I don’t see any use in discussing this any further. Don’t you have other stuff to worry about? Aren’t you in college? Go to the library, read for once, learn something.” “What is this? Daddy Peter’s advice column?” Theo questioned.  “They’re ungrateful. I have better things to do,” Peter informed Scott and they could hear his steps moving away.   “I actually have to go too, Liam, he is my ride. Talk to you soon. Peter, wait!” Scott ended the call while he hurried after his future father-in-law. 

Liam ran both hands through his hair in frustration and paced faster back and forth until Theo grabbed him by the hips and pulled him in his lap.  “Your opinion? Is Peter right, the hyenas just tricked us?” Theo seemingly decided to moderate the discussion.  “It is so lame,” Liam whined. “They follow us for a while and then they act like total assholes but then they leave without a word. Why?” “There is the possibility they did some research and figured out how large your pack really is. You know, an Alpha gets stronger the larger the pack is, so there is a high chance they realized they had bitten off more than they could chew with the Morning Dew Pack and left town with their tails between their legs,” Mason surmised.  “Do you really feel that’s the case from your deepest gut feeling?” Liam asked the Betas.  “Peter said hyenas are not big fighters unless they have to do it. From what we know we had the three guys in the club and the two girls, the guy at the gym and then the two other girls and three guys at the coffee shop. From the appearances of every hyena, they were all different people so the group contained eleven weres,” Theo counted. “Eleven hyenas against the Morning Dew Pack? Please, I bet they bailed the fuck out of town.” “Cowardly little ankle biters.” Corey also agreed with the theory of the hyenas getting scared.  “You said they might be all talk and no action yourself. It seems like you had been right,” Theo told Liam and let his fingertips dance over Liam’s back.  Liam shivered at the nice feeling but shrugged. “I don’t know. I was attuned to a fight and now nothing? This is hard to believe.” “Sometimes even this pack gets lucky. None of us wants to pick a fight when they don’t have to. Those hyenas got scared and left without so much of a fuss. We got lucky,” Ever assured Liam and smiled softly.  He sighed. “Hopefully you’re right. All things point to this, hm?” “Yeah. Stop worrying, Alpha.” Mason smiled at Liam as well and he returned the smile.  “Okay.” “Does that mean you’re bringing Landon back now, Liam?” Corey questioned.  Liam hesitated. Could he bring Landon home now? Was this a smart move? “I don’t think so. Not until I know for sure the hyenas are gone. There is something easier about attending college, sitting in my classes, and knowing Landon is safe. There were so many moments back in Beacon Hills when I wanted to send my parents out of town to keep them safe. That’s how it is when you fight bad supernatural creatures. Until I know for sure, 100% sure, I won’t bring Landon back, he finally decided.  “I understand that.” Mason nodded. “Though it’s still a little bit sad. I miss the little guy.” “Oh boy,” Liam sighed, “I miss him too.”

****** “Here, you can put these in the freezer and these in the pantry.” Liam handed Tim some bags with frozen food and some cans. He just had come home from a shopping trip and enlisted his friends to help him. Brett was also one of the helpers and was currently returning from where he had carried a big sack of potatoes and a smaller sack of onions into the kitchen.  Liam now grabbed the remaining bags and carried them into the kitchen.  “In this bag over there are just things you don’t need to cool, you can sort them into the shelves and the pantry. I will sort the things into the fridge.” With how much he had brought to feed his pack he surely needed help if he didn’t want to spend a good amount of time on it by himself. 

While they put the groceries away, Lori wandered into the kitchen with her laptop in her hands. “Brett, I found aunt Pam over social media. She doesn’t live far from us.” “Really? That’s awesome. Was she happy to hear from us or didn’t you contact her yet?” “No, I sent her a message and she responded. She is very happy we found her again and would like to stay in contact.” Lori clicked away on her computer.  “Who is Pam?” Liam asked curiously.  “Our aunt, our mother’s sister,” Brett explained.  It amazed Liam. “I thought all your family died?” “Our parents did and we couldn’t live with aunt Pam.”Lori sounded sad about this. Liam figured there was a story behind that. “May I ask why you couldn’t live with her?” “Pam was the kind of person who always needed someone else to tell her what to do. First, it was her sister, later on, her boyfriends. She couldn’t live alone and constantly followed what somebody else told her. It drove our mother nuts and when mom and dad died Pam simply wasn’t able to take care of us,” Lori laid out the family history. “But now we live here and Brett and I thought it would be nice to reach out to her. We haven’t met in years. I told her about our new pack.” A little ping sound came from her computer and she oohed. “She replied.” Lori scrolled down to the message and read it. “She also lives with a pack and talked to her Alpha. Her Alpha’s name is Kirsty and they invite our pack to visit them. Can we visit them, Liam?” She typed on her computer. “It’s only a four-hour drive. Please, Liam.” “Meeting aunt Pam again would be cool. Please say yes, Liam,” Brett pleaded alongside his sister.  It wasn’t really a lot to think about. The hyenas still had not shown their faces in town again and the pack had completely resumed their daily tasks and lives so why not? “I can’t think about anything speaking against it. A little time out of town might be good for us.” He nodded. “Tell your aunt we’re gladly following the invite.”

And so the pack found themselves on the road to meet the other pack once the weekend rolled around. Lori and her aunt had messaged a bit back and forth and Pam had told her niece her pack lived after quite a few rules. They were mostly farmers and craftsman and lived all together on one big farmlike area. Therefore the rules made sense, they had to till the fields and take care of the animals to have enough gain to sell and live off it at the same time. Liam imagined it quite rural but nice nonetheless.  When they arrived at the farm, he realized how right he had been. Leading to the houses were large pasturages for horses and cows; when they got out of the car he heard chickens and goats and he saw several fields full of corn and plantations. 

A tiny woman with her brown hair in a long braided ponytail waited for them in front of one of the houses and Liam guessed this had to be Pam. She smiled but the long white dress she wore made her tiny frame look even smaller than she probably was.  “Brett, Lori, so good to see you.” She hugged her nephew and her niece and the family celebrated meeting again after years.  “We missed you, aunt Pam, there is so much we have to catch up on with,” Lori told her and wiped her happy tears away when they broke the embrace.  A boy with brown hair and around the age of Landon opened the door and stepped outside. “Are those Lori and Brett and their pack?” He asked.  Pam turned around. “They are. Come here, Zack, let me introduce you.”  He followed and came closer. “This is my son Zack,” Pam introduced him to his cousins.  “Oh, hi little man, nice to meet you.” Brett smiled at his little cousin.  "He is ten. His father is not with us but that is okay, Kirsty takes great care of us and accepted us in her pack years ago. I am very happy here,” Pam told the pack and went to shake everyone’s hand. The core pack introduced themselves and Theo used it to lean closer to Liam.  “How happy can you really be when you have to underline you are happy?” He whispered. Frankly, Liam had to agree, but he still gave Theo a semi-serious warning look. “Be nice!” “I’m always nice, puppy,” Theo smirked and Liam gave him a quick kiss. 

A lean woman around the age of forty stepped out of the biggest of the houses and marched over. She may be lean but her steps were full of determination. Her posture made sure she was a woman knowing what she wanted and she probably rarely took No for an answer. Her skin was tanned from working outside and her arms were toned. She wore a green-plaid shirt with short sleeves and simple jeans and her brunette hair was put up in a strict ponytail.  “Pam, you should introduce us,” she said and while her tone was calm it was clear she was giving an order. Pam looked guilty.  “I am sorry, of course, I should. This is our Alpha Kirsty. She was the one who allowed me to invite you.” “Because I like to meet new packs.” Kirsty smiled and took the core pack in. “Where is your Alpha?” Liam raised his hand. “I’m the Alpha.”  Her eyebrow twitched and she got an amused look on her face. “You are very young.” “I get that a lot.” Liam played it off. “I am Liam, by the way. Thank you for the invite.” “Nice to meet you, Alpha Liam.” She grasped his hand in a tight grip and shook it.  “Likewise. This is my pack.” Liam introduced the members of his pack but really Kirsty just smiled neutrally and didn’t show any pleasure in meeting them. 

Kirsty pointed to the main house. “You can eat with us, the food is ready.” Again, it was more an order than an invitation but they were all hungry from the long drive and so they eagerly followed her to the house.  Right in front of the door, Pam stopped so suddenly Brett almost crashed into her. Kirsty nodded approvingly and then she stepped into the house as the first one.  “What the hell?” Brett muttered and Pam looked at him.  “The Alpha always steps into a room first. Don’t you know that?” Liam felt every single one of his Betas stare at him and he really could not blame them. That was odd. But other packs, other customs, right? He didn’t know how to deal with it but he also didn’t want to insult the other pack so he followed after Kirsty before the Betas stepped in.  The room was a large dining room with a long table. Kirsty sat at the head of the table and pointed at the seat to her right. “Liam, please sit down.”  He noticed several men and women in the open kitchen. It gave him some cafeteria feeling the way they stood at the stoves and had big pots and pans. “Smells delicious in here,” he complimented.  Kirsty nodded graciously. “My betas know how to cook.” “I love to cook as well. It’s fun to do it for a pack.” Liam laughed softly. “And my Betas enjoy what I dish out.” His friends affirmed but Kirsty stared at him and so did the people of her pack who were not in the kitchen and had also taken a seat at the table.  “You cook for the pack?” Kirsty sounded absolutely taken aback by that. “Yeah.” Liam made it clear he saw no problem with that but he had a suspicion where this was going.  “The Betas should cook for the Alpha, not the other way around. That’s how it should be.” Whoop, there it was. Liam forced a polite smile. “My Betas are my family, not my servants. But I think this is up to every Alpha to decide that for themselves.” Kirsty didn’t reply but snapped her fingers. “It’s time for the food.” And her Betas complied and brought the food to the table before they sat down. It came to no surprise Kirsty was the first one to fill her plate and Liam felt how tense his pack was. They all were on some unknown ground here, their dinners and lunches were far more relaxed since Liam didn’t care who got food first, but now they were guests and had to follow the rules. It didn’t feel good to be the second one to eat after Kirsty prompted him to do so and only then see the Betas dig into their food. 

“Tell me about your pack,” Kirsty requested after a while.  Liam checked the bite he had taken. “Well, I’m the Alpha. Theo here is my mate and also the Headbeta in charge when I’m not there. Then we have Mason, our emissary...” “Your Headbeta in charge?” Kirsty chortled.  “I’m his Headbeta. When he’s not around, I take over as the Alpha,” Theo affirmed.  Kirsty shook her head with a laugh. “There is no such thing as a Heabeta in charge. If an Alpha cannot rule their pack on their own then they are not the right one for the job. Betas are just Betas.” She gave Liam and Theo a patronizing smile. “But you are still so young, you will learn that over time.” “Uh, uh,” Theo said dryly. Liam looked at his boyfriend. Theo’s green eyes watched her in a mixture of anger, resentment, but also the cold assessment he had shown for years. He didn’t like the lady one bit and was currently looking for anything to crack her code, find something he could find to bring her to her knees. Figuratively and if things were going south even literally.  Brett cleared his throat. “So, aunt Pam, tell us about your life.” She shushed him. “The Alphas are talking!” Brett stared at his aunt as if she had personally offended him then he stared into thin air. He hated this as much as Liam did. 

The mood was tense afterward and while Kirsty later allowed her Betas to talk with Liam’s pack, he realized his friends were timid to exchange any information. They likely would all be happy when they were on their way back home. 

When lunch was over Kirsty invited them for a walk around the farm to show what her pack was doing for a living. Liam accepted because he didn’t want to be impolite. Maybe then Brett and Lori could talk to their aunt and get to know their cousin better. That’s why they were here for, after all. Kirsty showed them the stables and where they stored what they needed to feed the animals, showed them that they turned some of the fruits they harvested into jelly, the whole nine yards before she allowed the group to disperse a bit. “Liam, I’d love to have a talk with you from Alpha to Alpha. It is always interesting to interchange things.”  She was right about that one, the first time Liam could whole-heartedly agree with her, so he nodded. “I’d love to.” Great. Come into my office, we can have some homemade tea.” 

She led Liam into the smallest building on the area and Liam realized it was just a shed Kirsty had turned into her office with large shelves full of books and documents, a large desk and two armchairs. Kirsty closed the door after Liam stepped in and smiled politely.  “The tea should be here any minute.” “It’s fine.” Liam didn’t mind the wait. It was still strange how her Betas served her. “You have a very nice office. Didn’t expect it to be that big from the outside.” “Many things can be deceiving,” Kirsty just answered without really answering Liam.  He stepped to one of the big windows. You could see the orchards from here.  “You have an admirable pack,” Kirsty praised.  “Thank you. I am very proud of every single one of my Betas.” Liam smiled. “You have a beautiful view from here.” “I am sure you are proud of your Betas. They will be a good addition to my pack.” If this was a movie scene you probably would have heard a record scratch. Liam felt the hairs in the back of his neck raise up and he slowly turned to face Kirsty. “What do you mean? My Betas are no addition to your pack. We will get into our cars later on and leave again.” She shook her head and raised her chin. “I am not permitting other packs on my territory.” “You invited us!” Liam felt his IED spike up.  “I surely did.” Kirsty’es eyes flashed. “But I never said you could leave again.” He growled and shook his head. “I am not leaving my Betas with you! If you really think that, you’re absolutely delusional!” “I’m not asking you to do it. You will do it. How do you think I gathered that many Betas around me? Surely not because I asked nicely.” “And what did you do to the Alphas?” The moment he asked, Liam already knew the answer.  “I’m sure you already know what happened to them.” She laughed grimly and showed off her fangs.  Liam flashed his own eyes and his claws grew. “You killed every other Alpha. That is disgusting. I just don’t get why you invited us here. Is this your perverted game or what?” “When Pam told me her nephew and her niece were part of a pack with such a young Alpha, I laughed. You are twenty, you are a child! You don’t deserve to be an Alpha! That is ridiculous.” “I am so sick and tired of people constantly attacking me because of my age! You people need to learn not to be so superficial. Anyway, this Alpha here won’t attack you since this is clearly what you want. My mom taught me not to hit women. So I will gather my Betas and we will leave now!! 

Liam brushed past her on his way to the door when she grabbed him and threw him on the floor. With a sullen smile, she towered over him.  “I don’t think you understand. This place here, you will never leave. You don’t have a say in this!” Liam glared at her from his position on the floor. “And you don’t seem to understand how much of a shitty Alpha you are. Your Betas don’t respect or support you, they probably don’t even like you, they just fear you.” He pulled himself together and got up. “And like I said, I am fed up with people thinking they can take advantage of me. You messed with the wrong one, lady.”

The punch came out of nowhere and Liam was kind of mad at himself for neglecting his guard. It sent him stumbling and when he wiped his nose it was bleeding. “Okay, I changed my mind about fighting. My mom said not to hit women but she didn’t say something about psychotic assholes like you. Funny, lately every psychotic asshole I meet is female. I don’t know what that says about you but here we go.” He dodged the next punch and grabbed her arm to twist it. Kirsty snarled and snapped at him. Like Liam himself, he had shifted partially and sported fangs, claws, and fur on her face. When Liam tried to avoid her biting him she used her chance to tackle him to the ground and the Alphas started punching and scratching each other. 

Things crashed from the desk to the floor when they knocked against it while they rolled around on the floor. Kirsty wrapped one hand around Liam’s throat and the tip of her claws dug into the skin while she applied pressure. Liam struggled and tried to reach anything to help him. His fingers brushed a large book and he slowly inched it slower to himself before he could grab it. Hitting Kirsty over the head didn’t help on the first try but the second one did the charm and Liam could kick her off himself and sent her to the ground.  Rubbing his throat Liam came to his feet again and roared. She was strong, given her age and how many Alphas she killed, she was an Alpha herself for so many years, but he still knew he could beat her. Dying today was not an option! 

Before Kirsty even fully came back from getting hit, Liam jumped her and roared into her face. She struggled against his hold and the two crashed against the shelves. Books rained down on them but the fighting werewolves didn’t care. The punches got harder, intended to hurt more and more. Claws ripped clothing apart and at one point Kirsty’s claws sunk into Liam’s side. He gasped out and the bitch used it to headbutt him and get out of his hold. 

It created separation for the two of them and she held her bleeding shoulder. Liam had not realized he had injured her there but he didn’t feel sorry in the slightest. She roared at him and lunged out but Liam stepped aside. His grey t-shirt was soaked with his blood at the point she had inserted her claws into his flesh and his head pounded. He ignored it for now and rather jumped over the table to continue the fight with Kirsty. 

Throwing her over his hip in a judo throw he heard her gasp out in pain and used her momentarily weakness to grab both arms and pull them back. Her muscles strained and joints popped but it restrained her for now. “I give you one last chance to let me and my pack leave! You’re not the first Alpha I fight. It is your decision.” “You are no match for me. Stupid little boy! I will kill you and throw your mortal remains into the pit, just like I did with all the other Alphas before!” Kirsty struggled in his hold.  Liam felt a strange sense of connection to the dead Alphas. He had not known them, he didn’t know how many she had killed, but he mourned them. They had not known what they had gotten themselves into, just like Liam had not known it. He just hoped they had been able to find peace after they had found their demise at her hands.  Kirsty had managed to get one arm free and slammed her elbow between his rips. Liam groaned and let go of her. She twisted around and pressed his face to the floor.  “Told you, I’m stronger,” she crooned. In her mind, she already was the victor.  “Go fuck yourself, devil’s child,” Liam spat out. Then he hissed when she grabbed him by his neck and used all of her strength. If she put more pressure on, she would be able to break Liam’s neck.  “My pack contains your pack until I show up and tell them they’re my Betas now. They have no choice and if anybody riots, I will kill them too.” “My Betas will never accept you as their Alpha.” He saw their faces in front of his eyes. Every single one of them was a source of power for Liam. They were the reason he was the Alpha he was today, they and the people at the lake. They all had been partial in Liam’s development, with their personalities and the love they had to give. They shared this bond with Liam and with each other and this made his pack so strong.  His claws scraped over the wooden floor and then Liam used all of his strength to raise up and shake her off. She stumbled against one of her armchairs. Liam sat up and rubbed his neck. It hurt like a bitch. Any injury from an Alpha would take longer to heal so he already knew this would be painful in the next few days. 

Before Kirsty even managed to get to her feet on her own, Liam dragged her up and slammed her against the wall. Now his claws dug into the skin on her throat and his eyes were blazing. “You think I’m not a real Alpha? You are not a real Alpha because you’re nothing else than a killer! And killers are not accepted by me or my pack!”  He dragged her away from the wall and grabbed her arm. His grip was tight and he felt the bones breaking. Kirsty howled in pain but still struggled and fought against the younger Alpha.  She grabbed a table lamp and Liam barely dodged getting hit over the head. Luckily he managed to grab the lamp and wrench it out of her grip. “You now need tools to fight me? Guess you’re not  as strong as you think.” He shoved her away and she hit the corner of her desk painfully before dropping to the floor. She looked daggers at him. “If you think you’re stronger, then kill me, little boy.” Liam dropped the lamp. “I’m not you,” he corrected her. “You must know that.” She barked out a laugh and wiped away the blood running down her temple. “You are as weak as I thought you are.”  “Call me whatever you want, I can still look at myself in the mirror.” “You won’t have a chance to do that again!”

Her next attack Liam had almost expected. She jumped up and went for another tackle. Only this time Liam was faster and sidestepped her but kicked up. His knee collided with her stomach and she huffed loudly. Her claws scratched his tight and the Alphas were back at it again at another brawl. “Bad idea!” Liam growled into her face, voice deeper with the Alpha tone in there. She snapped at him and he snapped back. The longer they fought, the more desperate it became. She wanted to kill Liam and Liam knew he had to put an end to this when he wanted to survive. It meant collecting the remaining power he had left in him, ignore the exhaustion and the pain from his injuries. 

It took one wrong step from Kirsty and then everything happened fastly. Liam pushed her off and threw her against the door. The wood shattered and Kirsty crashed through it outside.  She landed on the ground in the remains of the door and didn’t move for several seconds. When Liam finally stepped over the threshold she twitched but didn’t get up to full height again. His pack came running around the corner, followed by Kirsty’s Betas. Liam looked down at the wounded Alpha on the ground.  “Look at that, you’re on the ground and I’m standing tall. According to your rules, I am supposed to kill you now, right? Because I’m the stronger Alpha.” He snarled. “But I’m not like you. You are nothing more than a killer. I am better than you and I will spare you. I don’t care what happens to you, just know that: My pack will leave and if anyone of your Betas wants to leave as well, you will let them. If I ever hear you’re returning to your terror regime again, I will slash your throat.”  Kirsty stared up at him and slowly nodded. A few members of her pack stepped up.  “We will take care of her,” one man said.  “Don’t kill her. Be better than her,” Liam pleaded and they nodded before they helped Kirsty up and led her away. 

Only when she was gone, Liam allowed himself to lean against the wall and slid down on it to sit on the ground.  “Liam!” Theo was next to him in a flash, Mason not far behind. “You’re bleeding.” Liam grimaced and looked down at the wet patch of his shirt. “Yeah, she sunk her claws in.” Theo gently grasped his face and turned it so Liam looked at him. “This will become a shiner.” He tenderly traced around Liam’s left ear. A tissue came into Liam’s field of vision, courtesy of Sadie, and Theo gently wiped away the blood from Liam’s nose and from a cut over his eye.  “You fought an Alpha!” “She wanted to kill me and add you to her pack. Didn’t take no for an answer. What was I supposed to do?” His Betas nodded. “We were told the same thing. Her Betas said they couldn’t let us interfere and kept us from helping you,” Maya explained.  Tim sniffled. “Liam, can I hug you?” “If you don’t mind getting blood on your shirt,” Liam joked meekly. Tim shook his head, knelt down, and wrapped his arms around Liam.  “I never knew how bad other Alphas can be but I am so happy I have you as an Alpha.” “Yeah,” the other pack members of the core pack agreed.  Lori blinked against her own tears. “I am so sorry. We had no idea this would happen.” “This isn’t your fault. Nobody could know this would happen,” Liam calmed her. Pam suddenly let out a loud sob. “I did. It was her plan all along and she said to invite you. That’s what she always did, lure packs here and then kill the Alpha.” Brett glared at his aunt. “Are you insane? Why did you help her?” “I am sorry. She forced me!” Pam wailed.  “One of my best friends almost died today because you cannot stand your ground! Get a grip, woman!” “Brett!” Liam cut in and slowly got to his feet. Theo didn’t let go of him and wrapped his arm around Liam’s waist. “I’m not dead.” Brett looked at him, eyes full of emotions.” “But you came close to dying today,” he said brokenly. Nolan silently reached out and squeezed Brett’s hand.  Pam whimpered. “I know what I did was wrong but I was so scared of her. Nobody ever managed to defeat her before.” “The question is, do you want to stay here?” Lori asked her aunt.  Pam shrugged. “I don’t know. Where else should I go? I have nothing else than this.” “You have a son and he doesn’t deserve to grow up in such a repressive environment,” Liam reminded her. “But if you want, we have a place we can bring you. The rest of our pack can help you get your own place and maybe a job. But only if you want to come with us.” “You should leave, Pam,” a woman from Pam’s pack said. “We are also leaving, it is better for the children. We have relatives in Florida and we will leave as soon as we can. Think about Zack.” Pam sobbed and Sadie handed her a tissue too. “Zack deserves better. For him, I will try to start a new life somewhere else. I don’t want to live in fear anymore. Can you forgive me, Brett, Lori?” “We are family and family forgives.” Brett shrugged. “And can you forgive me as well?” Pam asked Liam.  “If I didn’t forgive you, I would have not invited you to live with my pack. But if you want to leave with us, you better pack fast. I want to leave this place as soon as possible.”

She nodded and then hurried to gather her things and her son. Quite some Betas packed their things and got ready to leave. Liam could understand that. Kirsty had terrorized them all and with her being defeated, they finally could be free. “You have a car?” Brett questioned when his aunt finally loaded her stuff into a little car.  “It’s mine; old but good. I will follow your cars. Zack, get in.” Her son climbed into his seat and then turned to stare at Liam.  “Thank you for defeating the evil Alpha. She was scary.” Liam chuckled. “You’re welcome.”

****** The initial plan had been to drive straight back to Seattle but now they’d make a detour to the lake. While on the road, Liam phoned Byron and explained what had happened.  “I know I’m continuously bringing new people for you to take care of but that way her son gets a semi-normal life at least. As normal as a werewolf boy can be.”  Byron laughed. “That’s what an Alpha is supposed to do. I’m proud of you. We will happily await your arrival. I know somebody who is very eager to see you.” “Tell Landon Hi and I see him soon.” Liam ended the call and rubbed his temples. “My head hurts.” “You probably have a concussion,” Theo speculated.  “A concussion would heal shortly after it happened.” “You said Kirsty headbutted you. A headbutt from an Alpha surely leaves some damage for a while. You should try to sleep.” “I will be fine.” Liam leaned against the window at the passenger side and watched the road flew by. 

He didn’t mean to but a few minutes later he fell asleep and only woke up shortly before they reached the lake. He rubbed his eyes. “Feeling better?” Theo inquired.  “My headache’s duller,” Liam replied.  Theo kept his eyes on the road but reached over and took Liam’s hand in his. “I felt your emotions spike and your anger but also your fear. I got so scared and then the other wolves said they wouldn’t let us to you and I felt like losing it. I almost punched a guy. I felt your pain.” “I will be fine. In a few days. The wounds will take a while to heal but I will be okay. Don’t worry, okay? I am sorry I scared you.” Theo just kissed the back of Liam’s hand. He didn’t need words to convey his emotions. “There’s the lake!” Mike called out and they all watched their second home appear in front of their eyes.  “This is so beautiful,” Lori mumbled and took some pictures with her phone.  “It is.” Liam was excited to be back and to see Landon. Now that they were here, they could also take him home. The hyenas seemed gone so he saw no problem with finally reuniting. 

They parked in front of Lana’s and Byron’s cabin where Lana, Byron, and Shana already awaited them. “Figured you would look like that after fighting another Alpha,” Shana greeted Liam and hugged him before handing him a tube. “Put these on your injuries and they will heal faster. It’s just some herbals, nothing chemical.” “Thanks.” Liam smiled at her and then hugged Lana and Byron. “I let her live. Was this a smart move?” Liam asked Byron.  Byron hummed. “This is difficult to decide. No matter her motivations, she’s still a living person, and you are not the type of person to randomly kill. She would have deserved it in the grand scheme of things, but from a character-wise point of view I think you did the right thing.” “Thank you.” Liam smiled at the man he came to love like his own grandfather. “Those are Pam and Zack, they belonged to Kirsty’s pack but I’d love to have them here.” Pam shook Byron’s, Lana’s, and Shana’s hands. “It is very nice to meet you. This is my son Zack. Thank you for offering us a place to stay.” “I’m sure you will be a nice addition to our pack. Welcome to the lake and in the Morning Dew Pack.” Shana smiled at her. 

“Liam!” The excited scream came from the lake and Landon was running towards the group. “Liam! Liam! Liam!” He practically catapulted himself at his brother and hugged him tightly. Liam laughed and hugged Landon back.  “Hey, buddy, missed me as much as I missed you?” “I missed you so much! Living here is nice but I missed you!”  Liam smiled and kissed his brother on top of his head. When Landon looked up, he realized his big brother was injured.  “You’re hurt!” “Yeah, I was fighting a bad person.” He didn’t want to worry Landon but his little brother held up his finger, indicating for Liam to wait, and ran into his house. When he returned, he held a pack of bandaids.  “I only found the ones with comic cats on it, I’m sorry.” “It will be fine.” Liam leaned down and let Landon put one bandaid over the cut on his face. When he straightened to his full height, he saw Theo’s amused face and grinned at his mate.  “You are bleeding! Why are you bleeding? How badly are you hurt?” “Landon, I am sure Liam is fine. Alphas can survive that. He is fine,” Lana told the child and Liam nodded.  “Don’t worry, okay?” He knelt down. “But can you do me a favor?” Landon nodded. Liam pointed at Zack. “This is Zack, he and his mother moved here. Can you show him around a little bit?” Landon looked at Zack and Zack pointed at the red shirt Landon wore. “I have the same one in blue.” “That is cool. Want to play with me?” Landon invited him and the two boys ran off. Pam huffed.  “I still can’t comprehend what happened.” “Me neither,” Liam muttered.  She pressed her hands together at the palms. “I still cannot thank you enough. For ending our suffering and for letting me stay with your pack.” “You are Brett’s and Lori’s family and they are my friends. Don’t mention it.” 

****** The pack had helped Pam settle in and when it was done, Liam found himself leaning in the doorframe to Landon’s room and watched him and Zack play. “Zack, your mother wants to see you,” he finally said and the kids looked at him. Zack nodded and then ran out of the room and Liam looked around the room. It didn’t look like a guest room anymore but like a real room a child lived in, with toys and posters and books.  “Look, we made those in school.” Landon showed Liam some drawings made with leaves and flowers.  “Those are really pretty,” Liam praised when he watched the drawings and sat on his brother’s bed.  “And next week we are going to the museum and then we will create other things for the summer fair. And Brandon’s birthday is soon, he invited me.” The young Alpha listened to his brother talk and he smiled. “To be honest, I wanted to take you back with me today but, Landon, do you want to stay here?” He sounded so happy and carefree, Liam had to ask.  Landon stared t him with big eyes. “I like it here. But I also want to stay with you. Can’t you just move here?” Liam chuckled. “No, I also have school and I cannot attend school here.” He ruffled his brother’s hair. “But what do you say to a compromise? You stay here, with your friends and all, and you visit me in Seattle or I come here every weekend...Or is this too hectic? Maybe every two weeks? We visit each other every two weeks at the weekend. What do you say? And when the breaks are happening, we will spend all the time together. Maybe we can even go on vacation together. Does this sound good?” Landon really thought hard about this. “Can I still call you every day?” “I would be sad if you didn’t.” Liam laughed. “Just because you live here and I live in Seattle doesn’t mean we are not in each other’s lives. If something happens, I can be here in a matter of hours. Is this okay with you?” “If we still talk every night then yes.” Landon smiled shyly and Liam pulled him into a hug. “Love you, Laddie.” “Love you too, Liam.”

The brothers continued to talk for a while before it was time for Liam to leave and the brothers said goodbye before Liam left the room. On his way downstairs he met Byron who undoubtedly had heard what the brothers talked about.  “He can stay as long as he wants.” “Thank you.” Liam meant it. He hugged Byron goodbye and then stepped outside the cabin where Theo waited for him.  “Is Landon packing?” The First Beta inquired. Liam shook his head.  “He’s staying here,” he explained, torn between happy and sad.  “What?” Theo was surprised.  “For the first time in his life, Landon has a real father- and mother-figure. He is happy here, has friends, likes what they do in school. He is safe. I can’t take that away from him again. All of us in the core pack, we are young adults, we are not supposed to look after a child. We are college students, none of us has a full-time job that gets paid. How can we be the best decision for raising Landon? He needs structures. Here at the lake, he has them. We will see each other every two weeks on the weekends and during our breaks. That’s what we decided on.” He felt himself getting sadder at the end. It was the right thing but it was still hard. Theo tugged him into a tight embrace. “Just because it is a right decision doesn’t mean it has to be an easy decision. It’s okay to be sad about it.” Liam hiccuped and hugged Theo tightly. “We have to buy a cabin here in the future.” Theo laughed softly. “I’m so on board with that.”

****** Going back to his classes on Monday surely was an experience. Theo had ended up being right, Liam sported a black eye and his cheekbone was swollen. The wound on his side where Kirsty had hurt him looked even nastier and he needed to carry a large bandage above it to let it heal. His throat had been healed the best and was not sporting claw marks anymore but the rest was absolutely visible. Sadie had offered to cover it with makeup but Liam had categorical refused. 

His fellow students stared at him when he entered his classes or walked the hallway and he heard them whispering. At lunch, Theo joined Liam on one of the picnic tables outside and grinned.  “Boy, your appearance makes the rumor mill run wild.” “Really? What are they saying?” Liam had tried to overhear anything. Theo smirked. “Apparently I’m dating someone involved in a bar fight. I have to admit that is quite hot.” “You’re an idiot.” Liam rumpled a napkin and threw it at Theo’s forehead. His boyfriend laughed and then moved to sit next to Liam.  “You look rough and handsome what can I say?” He kissed Liam and every protest the Alpha might have had disappeared.  “I’m sure in a  few days nobody talks about it anymore, Lee.” “Hm, I hope so. They all stare at me, I hate it.” Liam grumbled and leaned against Theo. 

****** “Remind me again, do we have any plans tonight?” Theo questioned while he stopped at a red light. Liam’s car, driven by Mike, stopped behind them. It was one of the rare occasions where the whole pack had no other things to do after class and they all got home together.  “Isaac’s back in town again and coming over but that’s about it,” Liam answered Theo’s question.  “Hm, nice.”  “It’s nice you don’t have to work.” Liam smiled at his boyfriend and Theo smiled back. The stoplight turned to green and he drove again. It took them only a few more minutes and they were home. 

Isaac waited outside the house and he had a very serious look on his face. Liam wondered what this was about.  “I didn’t walk in, I just arrived and it had been like that,” Isaac told the pack after they all got out of the cars and pointed at the front door.  “Why is our front door open?” Ever asked and really, Liam asked himself the same thing.  “Did one of you forget to close it this morning?” But his Betas shook their heads and Liam felt his heart sink into his stomach. He walked to the house and gave the ajar door a push so it opened completely. And then his heart dropped even further. 

The whole interior was trashed. Pictures were ripped off the wall and the frames were broken, glass cracked and everywhere, claw marks littered the walls, parts of the banister were broken out. The core pack gasped when the saw the damage and it got worse the further they walked into the house. Pillows were ripped open and tossed around, the fridge had been opened and everything had been pulled out and thrown everywhere, ketchup dripped from the counters, the doors of the shelves were unhinged. The furniture was either ripped open or broken or both, the mattresses had been pulled from the beds and sliced open, most of their clothing was ripped apart and or drenched in some sort of liquid, mirrors were shattered, wallpapers were torn. Nothing in this house was still in one piece.  “Where are the dogs?” Nolan’s question made them all run outside. They heard howling and whimpering from the garden shed and when Brett opened the locked door, Aka and Koda ran out and barked wildly.  “Thank god they’re okay,” Theo sighed and knelt down to pet the agitated animals. 

Liam looked around. Even the garden had been destroyed, flowers displanted, the hammock ripped apart.  “What the hell happened here?” Tim was close to tears. They all were at this point.  “Who did this?” Mason was shocked.  “We all know who. That’s the hyena’s work,” Theo stated bitterly. “The whole house smells like them. So much for them leaving town.” “But why now? Why did they lay low for such a long time and do this now?” Caden shook his head.  “Because your Alpha is hurt,” Isaac realized quietly, “They knew he is not up to 100% and they used their chance.” “What?” Liam could not believe his ears. “I can still fight.” “But you still have this shiner and the injury,” Isaac argued back.  Liam scoffed. “So it’s because of me again! Wonderful!” No.” Isaac shook his head. “None of this is your fault. You didn’t trash the house, you didn’t tell them to trash the house. You didn’t want another Alpha to kill you. All of this happened without your consent, so this is absolutely not your fault.” Liam balled is hands to fists. His IED was raging and he wanted to destroy something. He was so angry and it made his blood boil. Oh how much he wished a hyena would come his way now.  “So, we’re sweeping up everything and see which things we might can safe. And tomorrow we need to go shopping.” Mason tried to be logical and lay out their next steps.  “Yeah, good idea.” Nolan was on Mason’s side.  It was Corey who first declined. “You don’t understand. Even I can smell it. The whole house reeks of the hyenas. It’s impossible to sleep there.” “Then we have to air the whole house, maybe that helps?” Nolan suggested.  Brett growled and his eyes flashed. “No! Those bastards came to our house and destroyed everything. A pack house is more or less the pack’s den and they violated it. This is a declaration of war!” 

Liam listened to his pack start arguing about it, even though all wolves agreed with each other. Their inner animals really didn’t like it and were raging. “I don’t want to live here anymore,” he suddenly said weakly. Everybody turned to look at him and he raised his head from where he had looked down. Both arms wrapped around himself, he shook his head. “I already made experiences with sleeping in a complete trashed apartment because somebody went beserk in it. You won’t get sleep, none of us, and I don’t want to live in a house anymore knowing strangers came in, walked around, touched everything, and in the end destroyed it. But I don’t want to decide on my own. Hands up if you say you can’t live here anymore.” He raised his hand first. Soon enough all weres of the pack raised their hand and then the humans joined too.  “You can all come with me. My apartment might get a bit crowded but it will do for a while. Long enough so you can figure out where to go from here, what to do,” Isaac immediately offered and Liam gave him a grateful look.  “Gather the few things you want to take with you and maybe - hopefully - are not that trashed. They seemed to have just broken the picture frames but didn’t touch the pictures,” Liam tasked his pack. 

Ignoring the smell and the anger long enough to see through their broken things, Liam was not sure how he managed. Looking everywhere made anger inside him again and he wanted to cry at the same time.  “I never thought it would come to this,” he muttered when he and Theo were done packing their belongings.  “Me neither. This is just plain disgusting and they will pay for it.” “I will hunt them down, I swear,” Liam promised with a dark look on his face.  Theo grabbed his elbow. “I don’t want to stay here any longer. Let’s go.”

They left their room and brought their bags down and into the car just like the rest of their pack. Returning to the house once more to see if they had grabbed any picture or piece of memory they might be able to save, Liam realized the door to the basement was open and slowly walked down the stairs. 

The hyenas had been down here as well and trashed the few things the pack had stored like Christmas decoration. Liam sighed when he looked at the cracked Christmas balls and ornaments. They even trashed the lamp hanging from the naked ceiling, only the broken lightbulb hanging up there still. And there was a smell in here, under the hyena’s smell, Liam couldn’t place. 

“Lee? Everything okay?” Mason has followed Liam.  “Mase, do you smell that?” Liam asked.  “That strange smell? Yeah, even I get that. Is that...” He sniffed and flipped on the light switch. “Maybe if we have light we see what this is.” There came a crackling sound when the broken lightbulb tried to do what it was supposed to do. Liam raised his head and to him, it seemed like the air around the bulb flickered. It dawned to him.  “Mason, that smell is....”  “Gas, I realized it too!”  The best friends turned around and ran up the stairs as fast as they could again. Another crackle behind them and then Liam heard a fire being ignited. The gas had caught the sparks from the broken lamp. The heat became unbearable and then the explosion came. Starting from the center of the basement, it spread out immediately. They rarely made it out of the house when it broke through the ceiling and into the ground floor and then the whole house exploded.  “There is a gas leak!” Mason yelled. Thankfully he and Liam had been the last ones in the house.  And thank god for Ever as well because the minute the windows burst and the whole house fell victim to the explosion, she raised both hands and concentrated all her magic on the house. She could not control the raging fire but she could create a protective shield so the explosion didn’t cause harm to the pack or other houses.  The Betas stood there and watch their home go up in one immense fireball, watched the ceilings burst when the explosion crashed through, watched everything still inside burn to ashes.  Sadie screamed and clasped both hands in front of her mouth, Maya had silent tears streams down her face, and the others didn’t fare any better.  “So much for going back. We can’t,” Mike whispered.  Liam cried as he watched the flames dance in front of their eyes. "We’re essentially homeless now.”

If this was a tv series, it probably would have been the season finale, I realized while writing it. It is longer than any other chapter I have written for this story so far. But I didn't want to put the end at the beginning of another chapter, that didn't feel right. I thought about this for a while but nope. It is good the way it is, storytelling wise.

We finally reached the part I was working towards to for such a long time. Sure, there are still things to come I'm also excited about but this is huge. I feel like it's a turning point in the story. This part is crucial and while I still have things planned for the next chapters and I already know what will happen in most parts (this story always surprises me as I write it and things get added so I never know 100%) I am proud we reached this point. I am basically burning with excitement to show you what's coming next but the next chapters will be a bit slower now due to work. I try not to keep you waiting for too long.

I really hope you don't kill me. If you want will I make it better if I promise you there will be a few more surprises down the line? No deaths!! Nope, no one of the Morning Dew Pack dies!!! That is a promise and I know this is probably something you might be worried about.  If anybody needs one or several tissues, I will provide them. I can't lie I am curious to see what you have to say about this. And if you want to yell at me, might as well do this, I will take it. Share your thoughts with me, guys. ♥

[ambitionsource]

AMBITION Season 1 ♫ “Black, The Color of Techies Scorned...” [ 1.07 ]

CREATED BY Esther (rapunzles) & Maggie (quincywillows)

YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION – Fed up with their treatment, the techies fight back… by doing absolutely nothing. Attempts to mediate go sour when Farkle and Isadora can’t relinquish control. Riley makes an effort to break the strike, but it may be her who gets broken instead.

50 Minutes (10K words) || No warnings apply.

[ ← Stripped ] [ S1 Synopsis ] [ These Boots Aren’t Made For Dancing → ]

( Follow along with the music on Spotify here! )

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

With acoustic week concluded and the performers back in full intensity mode, the techies find themselves hard-pressed to keep up with their demands. Over a buzzy, intense acapella, the sophomore performers throw every task imaginable at them with limited patience and even more limited gratitude.

DAVE WILLIAMS is running back and forth backstage with NATE MARTINEZ and DYLAN ORLANDO, attempting to play runner and keep up with everyone’s needs. Dave makes a pointed effort to avoid going near the curtains. JADE BEAMON is in another heated discussion with MAYA HART, CHAI FRESCO, and DARBY WINTERS – that is to say, they’re heated and full of opinions and she’s just trying not to get overwhelmed and start crying.

ISADORA DE LA CRUZ is marching around the stage, trying to get ZAY BABINEAUX or CHARLIE GARDNER to pay attention to her and get the performers to cool it, but they’ve got their own projects to focus on and aren’t very receptive. JEFF MONROE is jogging along to keep up with her, nearly getting clocked in the face by her clipboard when she tosses her arms out in frustration.

FARKLE MINKUS doesn’t help matters.

Isadora: Does anyone around here have a damn shred of decorum?

Farkle: Wow, poor little director. Is this really too overwhelming? Doing the basic expectations of your job?

Isadora: Don’t patronize me, Minkus, you don’t want to see what this “little” director is capable of.

It’s not a very threatening statement in theory, but the way Isadora delivers it gets the point across. Farkle isn’t deterred, but he’s smart enough to back off for now while he’s still ahead.

While they’re running themselves thin, RILEY MATTHEWS watches from the sidelines. She discusses stepping in to help with NIGEL CHEY and YINDRA AMINO, considering they are the three performers with the most technical experience. Riley points out that Lucas was supposed to be back by now. It’s Tuesday, and he was supposed to be back on Monday, but for whatever reason he’s still nowhere to be found.

Yindra claims he’s probably just blowing it off, and WYATT LIVINGSTON, back from his own suspension and clearly not over the bad blood, asks why they should give a shit anyway. He can stay gone for all he cares. Riley holds her tongue as he stalks back into the shadows of backstage, before jogging out to join Isadora.

When she asks if she’s okay Isadora doesn’t even have the bandwidth for a response, and when she asks where exactly Lucas is she’s like “you tell me!” The whole sequence is chaos, and it serves to prove just how hard the techies work on a day-to-day basis and how quickly expectations can pile up on them. The tension doesn’t come to an end until SHAWN HUNTER and ANGELA MOORE call time and dismiss them for lunch, all of the air immediately coming out of the balloon. As the performers disperse, the techies are left dazed and exhausted center stage, sort of at a loss for what to do.

The moment they stop, the whole machine stops running…

INT. AAA - HALLWAY - DAY

Riley steps out with Charlie and Zay, the three of them commentating on how intense it’s gotten in there. Not just content wise, but between everyone. Kind of almost feels like there’s no room to breathe. Riley says it’s funny they say that as if it’s not always like that.

Zay: [ with a blithe shrug ] Welcome to Adams.

EXT. AAA - DAY

Suffice to say, we can tell there’s a big storm coming. The winds of change are imminent, and from the way a familiar pair of big black boots are stomping up the steps towards the school, it may very well be en route in the form of a very grumpy and very sarcastic hurricane.

INT. AAA - ATRIUM - DAY

The boots continue to make their trek through the halls, squeaking against the pristine floors of AAA and leaving dust in their wake. Over the visuals, the techies discuss how exhausted they are and how they don’t know how they’re going to keep up the rest of the year like this. There’s just no way. Especially not without their most aggressive teammate.

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

Thus, when LUCAS FRIAR walks through the house doors of the auditorium at the late lunch hour and finds his usual crew crashed in the back seats, he is immediately accosted by Dave who tackles him with a bear hug.

Dave: Thank God you’re back, we’re dying!

Lucas takes the hit, allowing Dave to hold onto him like a life preserver. His expression conveys how weird this display of affection is for him, and when he locks eyes with the rest of them over Dave’s shoulder the message is clear – what the fuck?

Baby, let the games begin.

Cue title sequence.

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

The techies have resettled on the stage, standing and sitting around in a semi-circle as they relay how hellish the last week and a half have been. They don’t think it’s just because he was gone either – the performers treatment towards them is just rotting more and more with time because they’re not learning any differently.

Lucas paces as ASHER GARCIA explains the last day and a half in particular, shaking his head at how bad things have gotten in his absence. Asher lays it out point blank – no one respects them, no one listens to them, and no one really cares about what they do. And that’s frustrating, because as Isadora points out, if they weren’t there the entire production would fall apart.

It’s that statement that seems to strike something in Lucas. He hesitates, thinking for a moment. Yes, things would fall apart if they were to stop showing up the way they always do… the wheels in his head are turning…

Song Cue ♫ ♪ “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs” as performed by Fall Out Boy || Performed by AAA Sophomore Techies

Asher syncs with his brain wave first, gleaning some of that inherent rebellious energy and launching into the opening verse of the classic angry rock anthem. Dylan joins in at the end of the phrase, leaning over Asher’s shoulder and bumping him playfully.

Lucas doesn’t sing – because, come on now – but he doesn’t discourage them either, raising an eyebrow and smirking as he continues to pace. Still clearly brewing with ideas. As the other techies start to get on board and get the vibe of what might be going on, the tension in the music builds. Oh, yes, Lucas is back, and the world is never going to be the same…

INT. AAA - HALLWAY - DAY

Thus, the techies burst through the stage doors and into the school, belting out the chorus with a true power that only comes from not giving a fuck anymore. They’re done, they’ve had it, and they’re not taking anymore bullshit. It’s a rare sight to see the techies doing any sort of group effort that remotely resembles performing, even in such a loose arrangement, but gee is it fun.

Lucas and Isadora lead the charge through the halls. The group of them are a tornado, leaving chaos and shock in their wake. The choreography is simple but energetic, exactly the kind of thing you’d expect from a march of protest thrown together in a bout of restless, rebellious energy. Dave knocks a binder out of Wyatt’s hands. You get the idea.

Reaction shots of the performers watching them as they parade through the halls makes it very clear how unprecedented this is. Isadora takes the solo on the slightly slower bridge, before we bring it on home with a flourish.

So it’s settled. The techies are officially revolting.

INT. AAA - JACK’S OFFICE - DAY

This, as expected, does not go over well from first glance. Lucas is back in Jack’s office once again, which the latter is clearly none too happy about.

Lucas, on the other hand, looks pretty pleased with himself. He looks a little too comfortable sitting in that chair opposite the principal’s desk, as if its his to own. He’s relaxed, slouched and outwardly agreeable and not the least bit worried.

Jack: It’s been an hour. You’ve been back for an hour, and yet you’re here across from me yet again. [ off Lucas’s shrug ] You realize you were supposed to come back… yesterday, right?

Lucas: Oh, yeah. But I was having such a good time having Dora nag me over missed homework and being ignored by my parents that I thought, you know, how about another day.

The sarcasm aside, Jack jumps to the subject at hand and questions what exactly Lucas thinks he’s doing getting all of his classmates riled up like this. Getting himself into trouble is one thing, but pulling everyone into such a scene?

Lucas: [ with a scoff ] As if the performers don’t make a scene out of everything every single day?

Jack tries to argue the point, but Lucas is on a roll. He states that this has been a long time coming, and they all know it. He’s no leader – he would never claim that – he’s simply the spark. It’s his friends’ anger running this engine, not him.

True as this may be, Jack is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Although he gets where Lucas is coming from, he can’t just openly condone a full on rebellion.

Lucas: So suspend me. You’ve done it once, you could do it again. But you know, I don’t think you will.

Jack: And why’s that?

Lucas: Because you and I both know that we’re in the right here. No one cares about the technical students working their asses off, and we’re sick of it. It’s just like academics, constantly taking the back seat. Only now, we’re saying not anymore.

Jack really is running out of arguments. And it’s clear from how impassioned Lucas is that he’s certainly not putting down the sword any time soon. The only thing worse than a rebel without a cause is a rebel with one.

Lucas: This is how all great rebellions begin, Principal Hunter, sir. I think you’ll want to be on the right side of triple A history. [ Rising to stand. ] It’s like they say, you know. “If we burn, you burn with us.” That’s classic literature, right?

Jack, deadpan: The Hunger Games.

Lucas: Same difference.

Lucas turns to go. Jack gives him a look, scoffing.

Jack: I didn’t dismiss you!

Lucas, already out the door: [ with an offhand wave ] We’ll see each other soon enough, I’m sure.

Jack sighs, rubbing his temples. He glances towards the door where Lucas left, wondering how much trouble this week is going to cause. But also wondering, a little bit, if maybe his most difficult student is on to something. As the orchestration of “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)” floats in…

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

Song Cue ♫ ♪ “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)” as performed by Hamilton Original Broadway Cast || Instrumental

Meanwhile, rehearsal without the techies is, of course, much harder than the performers ever realized. They’re attempting to practice the choreography for “Yorktown,” which Zay has been fighting for them to do for weeks and finally succeeded in getting into the syllabus. But there’s no good lighting, and they’re all just in their usual workout clothes because no one has presented costume ideas. They’re playing the music off of someone’s phone because they don’t know how to work the overhead speakers and no one has been in communication with the orchestra students.

Naturally, the performers are very frustrated with this state of affairs. After unsuccessfully running through the number and ending with Farkle running into Maya and nearly knocking half of them over, Zay snaps at them to get it right. Farkle claims he couldn’t hear the beat because their current sound system is garbage. Impatiently, all of them turn their attention to the audience.

The techies are sprawled out leisurely in the front and center section of seats, well within plain view but making no efforts to do… anything. Isadora is sketching storyboards for a short film. Lucas has his feet up on the back of the row in front of him, arms stretched behind his head.

Zay: Hey, techies, pardonne-moi. [ off their amused expressions ] Yeah, hi. Could you all get up here and maybe, I don’t know… do your jobs?

Lucas: I don’t know… I don’t really feel like it.

Maya: Who the hell let you back in here? Honestly.

This sparks a group-wide argument, both sides of the feud stepping up and launching into complaints about the other half. Choice words are thrown in either direction, but it’s also a little bit funny.

Dylan: You don’t even know our names!

Farkle: Sure I do. [ pointing to Asher ] Thing 1. [ pointing to Dylan ] Thing 2. [ pointing to Lucas, with vitriol ] Jackass –

The snaps continue until Shawn and Angela come to break them up, sending them to separate work spaces until the end of the day. The techies don’t seem miffed at all by this change of pace, but the performers are ticked. Riley watches all of them disperse, eyeing the new tension and bristling with the urge to make it right…

INT. AAA - ERIC’S OFFICE - DAY

Which she states the minute she’s in ERIC MATTHEWS’ office after school. She tries to get the read on what’s going on from him while expressing her own perspective, all while trying not to be too openly clear on what may be motivating her. Sure, she wants the angst at school to cease for once, but she’s also still reeling with the news of her parents and desperately needs to fix something. To put something back in the order the way it’s supposed to be.

Eric states that according to Jack, this problem isn’t going to just go away. It’s going to take both sides coming to the table to make this nonsense come to an end, a proposition that feels downright impossible. Riley though is like, okay, workable. Off Eric’s surprised reaction, she hastily begins throwing out her reasoning. Speaking it into existence, as if that will guarantee it to be true.

Riley: Really, I think I can make it happen. At least getting everyone to the table. I’m good friends with Isa now, and Lucas and I…

[ She’s not sure how exactly to describe the two of them. She hesitates, searching for the words. ]

Riley: We dabble. In one another. Now and then.

Eric: [ confused and a little bit wary ] And that means…?

[ A beat. Riley realizes the odd ways her phrasing could be construed. ]

Riley: Never mind! Never mind, I don’t know what I’m saying. But the point is, I can fix it. Let me fix it.

Still seems like a long shot, but Eric isn’t going to turn down assistance. He grants her the best of luck, willing her to do whatever she thinks needs to be done. Riley exhales, brimming with confidence that only a new found purpose can bring.

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

Only this task is going to be much easier said than done. As Riley tries to go and have a neutral chat with the techies the next morning, she finds herself completely barred from their usual hangout in the back of the auditorium. They’re hidden away in the booth, and Dylan and Dave are blocking the stairs like the royal guard.

The two of them explain that there has been an embargo placed on all techie and performer relations. No communication allowed. Riley points out that that seems somewhat counterintuitive to negotiations, but Dave and Dylan are adamant.

Riley: But I’m your friend?

Dave: NO EXCEPTIONS!

Perhaps this operation will be a little more complicated than anticipated.

INT. AAA - BLACK BOX THEATER - DAY

Farkle is back in his worst form, demonstrating his obsessive and diva-like tendencies in an argument with Angela. He laments how the techies clearly aren’t doing their one job, and it’s totally screwing up his world order. Can’t they do something about this? There has to be something. Like threat of expulsion. Or corporal punishment.

It’s evident that Farkle is certainly going to be the most difficult performer to convince that techies like… deserve rights. Angela claims that she understands his frustration, especially given current circumstances. But she is not the person he should be negotiating with, and has no power over what the technical students do or don’t do.

Farkle makes a snide comment about how she likely has some pull with Shawn considering how that has developed over the last few months, but he makes a quick escape before Angela can berate him on it. Despite the rude nature of the statement, he does have a point. Perhaps there is more Angela could be doing…

INT. AAA - CORY’S CLASSROOM - DAY

Riley visits Cory during lunch, as the cafeteria is way too tense to enjoy a meal in right now. As she pulls up a chair and settles in across from him at his desk, she can’t help but notice what he’s reading through as he eats. Divorce papers.

It’s chilling to see them in actuality, right in front of her. She probes the question of whether or not this is really happening, to which Cory is like “I’m afraid so.” He kind of talks to her about how sometimes things just don’t work out no matter how badly you want them to – also attempting to give a pep talk to himself – but Riles doesn’t get the intended message.

No, she’s in repair mode at the moment, so all she can glean from the conversation is that she needs to work even harder to make things run right. She needs to dig her heels in and fight until everything is back in order and back in control, and all of that is on her shoulders. Riles… take a nap, honey.

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

AAA Confessions is back for more, featuring a post about Lucas for the first time. It essentially gripes over how bullshit it is that Lucas can get away with so much and still continue to come back and do absolutely nothing, before going on a very unkind tangent about how pathetic he is. It’s clearly submitted by Wyatt who has his axe to grind, but it’s harsher than anything the AAAC has ever posted before so it’s not aiding the tension at all.

The techies are examining the post over lunch in the auditorium, nervous about how Lucas is going to react to it. But when he descends from the booth and they show it to him, he doesn’t even blink. Outwardly, he’s cool as a cucumber. He claims he doesn’t care.

Dylan: Are you sure, man? I mean, this is like… brutal.

Lucas: Believe me, when I care about something, you’ll know.

Not sure what the hell that is supposed to mean, but Dave pushes past it anyway. He comments that their revolt is clearly going well, because the performers are miffed. The others agree, but Lucas doesn’t seem satisfied. He argues that they’re going to need to kick it up a notch if they actually want this movement to get any traction.

Isadora, smart as she is, suggests that they give the performers a taste of their own medicine. When Lucas prompts her to elaborate, she simply states that part of the reason it’s so easy for them to ignore their hard work is because they’ve never had a pinch of what it’s like to be on the other side of the apathy. Now this, this sounds interesting…

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

And thus, the techies do exactly that. At the next rehearsal for “Yorktown,” the performers struggle to work their way through another fumbling rendition. In the midst of the number, while they’re all crashed in the seats, Lucas and Isadora exchange a nod before getting up and gesturing for the others to do so as well. It’s a technician walk-out.

Farkle is the first to notice, immediately being torn from the rehearsal and focusing on them instead. He marches to the front of the stage, demanding where the hell they think they’re going.

The techies stop in the middle of the aisle, turning around and feigning surprise.

Lucas: Who, us?

Maya: Yes, you. What the hell are you doing?

Isadora: Oh, well, we were just leaving. Actually.

Charlie: [ stunned ] Leaving? You can’t do that. They can’t do that, right?

Lucas: Oh, it’s so funny, because I think we are. I mean, my legs are working, at least.

Isadora: Yeah, you all clearly don’t need us. So I think we have better things we could be doing with our time.

They continue to head towards the exit. Angela watches them go, getting the sense that this problem is only going to get worse. Farkle snaps, obviously stressed at this turn of events.

Farkle: You can’t ditch us! Who is going to put all this shit together?

Isadora: Think you can handle it. It is just one job, after all.

Zay: But we don’t know how –

Dave: Sucks for you, huh?

The techies laugh, parading out of the auditorium with Lucas leading the march. The performers are clearly pissed. Riley watches them exit, shell-shocked and already grappling with how she’s going to fix this new development.

INT. AAA - SHAWN’S OFFICE - DAY

Angela enters Shawn’s office in a flurry, immediately launching into an impassioned explanation as to how this current state of affairs is not good for any of them and they must work together to find a solution on how to fix it. Shawn, to her relief, is completely on board, gesturing for her to take the chair across from him. She sighs, relaxing and settling in. This may be easier than she thought.

Only not quite so. Because while Angela was expecting him to just go along with her and get things to go back to the way they were, Shawn believed that Angela came to brainstorm how to improve the situation and meet in the middle. Shawn is on the side of his students, here, and isn’t just going throw them back under the bus.

The discussion quickly spirals into an argument, both of them clearly operating on behalf of their own students. It brews up some old resentment between the two of them that remains untreated based on how they view one another’s students – and in theory, one another – making them question if rekindling their relationship is actually the best idea. What are they even doing? Are they destined to fall right back into the same traps all over again?

The conversation deflates from the anger, but ends on uncertain terms. And no progress is made in the negotiations for either side. The two of them agree that in this instance, they might need a neutral outside party to step in and help mediate.

INT. AAA - ERIC’S OFFICE - DAY

So Shawn and Angela go straight to Eric. They lay out the situation, which of course he already knows, and ask for him to step in and do some peer counseling. Eric heartily agrees, but considering the scale of this issue, it’s going to take more than just the sit-down-and-chat approach. No, they’re going to need to get creative to solve this problem.

Luckily, he has just the technique.

EXT. AAA - REAR PARKING LOT - DAY

Eric hands a loaded water balloon to Zay, who stares down at it and then gives him a look.

Zay: Paintball?

Eric: Not paintball. Paint balloon.

As we ease out, the scale of the event becomes clear – all of the students have changed into plain clothes, and are wearing pseudo tactical vests as if they’re playing paintball. Only they’re using balloons filled with paint instead of guns, because this is America and even the thought of gun paraphernalia on school property… bad. But balloons! Very fun.

The students are standing on opposite sides of the stretch of parking lot, old set pieces and cardboard having been set up as obstacles and coverage. To start, they’ve been mixed into groups at random rather than along techie / performer lines. As Eric explains it, the goal is for them to engage in a competitive activity that will encourage them to work together towards a common goal with people they don’t normally work with, and get out their aggression in a safe and controlled fashion.

The rules are simple – the team to survive with the least paint-covered member once everyone else has been hit is the victor.

Song Cue ♫ ♪ “Come Out and Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)” as performed by The Offspring || Performed by Zay Babineaux & Charlie Gardner

Zay and Charlie perform this grungy track while working together to survive the war, serving to underscore the duration of the sequence. They fist bump to kick off the song, before the paint balloon battle begins.

Although the intent behind the mission is good, the concept doesn’t execute well if the players aren’t fully on board. Despite being given distinct teams, the war quickly falls back into party lines, the performers ganging up on the techies while the techies fight to hold their own. They’re heavily outnumbered, but they’re angry and ready to fight back. Let the real games begin!

Students on both sides get lobbed with paint, making for some fun and colorful slow-motion shots. Maya tries to protect her hair as she avoids blows, but one splatters her right across the face anyway. Farkle gets cornered by techies and gets hit with a barrage of paint, totally smothering him in neon pinks, yellows, and blues. Poor, poor little rich boy.

Zay and Charlie actually work impressively well together as a tactical team. They move back-to-back, cover one another, and make calls just through nods or vague gestures. They’re the key offensive force on the performer side, basically getting a hit in on every single techie throughout and making their win seem inevitable.

Considering the numbers game, the techies are getting throttled. Isadora, already covered in paint but not out of the war, takes out her rage by throwing paint at as many passing performers as she can possibly manage with a war cry that would make Athena herself proud.

The one factor they have going for them is Lucas. Dave and Asher basically act as human shields for him, allowing him to navigate the field and get hits in on anyone who Isadora didn’t already pummel with paint. There’s some wonderfully dramatic slow-motion shots of Dylan leaping into the air in front of Lucas to take a paint balloon straight to the chest… oh, the war-torn drama…

So while the performers have the sheer numbers, it’s clear that the technicians have a greater understanding of how they operate as a team. So they may just take this victory in an upset yet.

The factor keeping the performers going is Riley. She’s not particularly good at the paint throwing, but she’s an expert at dodging and just trying to stay out of trouble, mostly because she’s scared of getting hit. So it essentially whittles down to her and Lucas being the only two left dry and paint-free, meaning any one hit could toss the victory in one team’s favor.

As the battle reaches its climax, it comes down to one moment between Riley and Lucas. They run into one another at the center of the lot, the paint carnage all around them in a wonderful, grisly display of color. Lucas is loaded with two balloons, and Riley has none to defend herself with. They lock eyes, Riley’s wide and uncertain.

For all intents and purposes, this seems like the endgame. In a normal situation, in the old way of the world, Lucas wouldn’t hesitate. But it’s Riley, and she’s been changing the world since she showed up at AAA. So, for whatever reason, he does.

All it takes is that fleeting second of hesitation to flip the stakes. The tension between Riley and Lucas is shattered as he gets hit on both sides, one balloon landing on his torso and the other getting him in the face and splattering blue paint all over him. A final kill maneuver, executed expertly by Zay and Charlie from both sides.

And so the techies lose the battle. The performers erupt into cheers, patting one another on the back and touting their victory. The techies, frustrated and upset, glower. Dylan pulls Asher to his side, trying to get the paint out of his hair. Zay yanks Charlie into a victory hug, and Charlie just about has an aneurysm.

Lucas blinks, reaching up to wipe the paint from his eyes. Riley is mortified, starting to stammer out breathless apologies in utter horror. She reaches forward in an effort to wipe paint from his face… only Maya pulls her back and into celebrating with the other performers.

In an unexpected outburst, Jade is the first to snap on behalf of the techies. Considering her usually mousy and shy demeanor, this is relatively shocking.

Jade: This isn’t fair! We weren’t even supposed to be playing along these teams, but they just did whatever they wanted like they always do and won yet again.

Dave: This is bullshit!

Maya: Oh, come on, guys. You don’t have to be a sore loser.

Isadora: Oh, you wanna be sore? I’ll give you sore –

Dylan and Asher dart forward to hold Isadora back and keep this from escalating into a full-on brawl. Angela and Shawn sense the impending eruption and basically send each team somewhere different to clean up, the techies staying outside while the performers retreat to the dressing rooms.

They turn to Eric, who is clearly bummed his technique didn’t work. But hey, he tried his best. He offers them a plaintive shrug. Back to square one…

INT. AAA - GIRLS DRESSING ROOM - DAY

The girls revel in their victory as they clean paint off of themselves, laughing about how badly they creamed the techies and how nice it felt to finally just let loose on them. Riley doesn’t find the conversation amusing, and actually speaks up against the rhetoric. She claims that they just made everything worse, so congratulations. She hopes they’re really pleased with themselves.

But now, she has to clean up their mess. She storms out, still covered in paint. The others watch her go, sort of laughing awkwardly at the tirade but with the lingering sense of doubt that maybe she isn’t wrong.

INT. AAA - BACK ENTRANCE - DAY

Riley heads towards the back parking lot to find Lucas and Isadora, hoping for another chance to talk things through with them without all the colorful warfare. She spots the techies just outside the building cleaning up, starting to head towards the doors to join them but hesitating when she gets a better look.

Dylan is using the heavy duty hose to clean off Dave and Asher, but Riley is focused on Lucas and Isadora. They’re seated on the benches closer to the doors, and Isadora is painstakingly working to wipe the paint off of Lucas’s face.

It could be nothing, just pals being pals, but after everything Riley has observed between the two of them and how Isadora is willingly touching his face to help him clean up she’s like… okay. I’m clearly inserting myself in something I shouldn’t be. I don’t belong out there. What am I even doing? It’s nothing, all this is nothing…

But it doesn’t feel like nothing. And emotions are high because tensions are high, so the revelation sort of feels like the end of the world.

Song Cue ♫ ♪ “Cry And You Cry Alone” as performed by Lesley Gore || Performed by Riley Matthews

As Riley saunters away from them and back down the hall, she dejectedly sings the 50s crooner while trying to keep her emotions in check and not overreact. But she’s a theater kid, and being melodramatic is in her bones.

INT. AAA - HALLWAY - DAY

She makes her way through the halls, lamenting how foolish she was to let herself get close to the techies, especially Lucas, when he’s evidently so much trouble – for everyone else and for her heart. The whole thing is even more endearing and ridiculous considering she’s still paint-splattered.

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

As the song progresses and the other sophomore performers take over the chorus, it’s a brand new day. Everyone is clean but not in much better spirits. Riley sits on the edge of the stage and watches forlornly as Isadora and Lucas work together to scheme with the techies. So close, and yet so far away.

Rounding out the final chorus, Riley falls back onto the stage and stares up at the catwalk and lights above her, inviting the world to laugh with her rather than cry alone as the song states. Oh, Riles, you wonderful little dramatic hooligan.

Although Shawn has managed to wrangle the tech students back into the theater for class, it’s not much of a better scenario than before. Now they’ve taken to heckling, making the divide between them far more pronounced than before. Given how cynical and grumpy they are on the daily, they make excellent hecklers.

Lucas: Boo, get off the stage!

Riley: [ whipping around, giving him a glare ]

Lucas: (:

Isadora makes a snide comment and Farkle is about ready to pop off, launching into a fit and starting to rattle off some not-so-nice things. Maya pulls him away and gets him to back off, redirecting his focus and trying to keep the whole situation from imploding. It’s a vivid indication of how Farkle reacts when he feels like he’s being unfairly persecuted and put under pressure… noted. Maya declares they’re taking five.

INT. AAA - BOYS DRESSING ROOM - DAY

All the performers are assembled in the space, sans Nigel, Yindra, and Riley. While they embark on a potential quest of their own, the rest of them vent freely about how unfair this whole situation is and how overdramatic the techies are being. And they think they’re melodramatic, well, they’re certainly proving their own ability to be so.

Zay is done with the theatrics, weirdly irritated at the whole group of them. He snaps at all of them, stating everyone is being dramatic and it’s so stupid, because all they’re doing is wasting rehearsal time. And of course, it’s the one week where they’re doing a number he actually cares about. He storms out, leaving the room a little bit stunned.

Maya rouses them from the off beat, claiming that this is all part of the journey and they’re going to have to stick together if this drama is going to endure. They’re on the same team, and for once they need to band together and really act like it.

Song Cue ♫ ♪ “Team” as performed by Lorde || Performed by Maya Hart (feat. AAA Sophomore Performers)

Maya leads the group in a groovy and sharp rendition of the Lorde hit, making for a fun and low-intensity break from the tension of the episode as they dance around in the dressing room together. So, there!

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

Dylan and Dave are still gatekeeping as Nigel and Yindra approach – the two performers outside of Riley who dabble in technical arts and thus have a good showing and rapport with them. They claim they have a “meeting,” to which the bodyguards exchange subtle eyebrow raises before backing up to let them through.

Nigel and Yindra exchange a look. Boy, the theatrics. Then, they make their way up the stairs towards the technician’s booth.

INT. AAA - TECHNICIAN’S BOOTH - DAY

Lucas and Isadora have set up camp in the booth, using it as their base of operations. Isadora is pacing, Lucas seated in his usual rolling chair by the soundboard. Asher is operating as their secretary, taking notes as they throw out ideas. The others are seated further back into the space.

They cease their discussion as Yindra and Nigel enter, Lucas turning to greet them. They explain that, as medians between the two worlds, they have come to hear what exactly it would take for the techies to come to the table and start figuring out negotiations on how to fix this. It’s chaos, and it’s not doing good for any of them. Lucas starts off playing hard to get.

Lucas: Who said we were interested in ceasefire? I’m kind of enjoying a little bit of chaos. Spices things up. Don’t you think so?

Yindra: You are enjoying this way too much.

Nigel: Yeah, don’t let anybody ever tell you you’re not capable of being theatrical, Friar.

Lucas: (:

Isadora gets the conversation back on track, agreeing to meet with the performers and have a non-confrontational open dialogue – but only if they can get the most important (and demanding) performers to be present. Nigel and Yindra state this is a hefty challenge, but they’ll see what they can do. If it works out, Isadora states, they’ll send details on where and when.

INT. AAA - CAFETERIA - DAY

Yindra and Nigel share this new development with said most demanding performers at lunch. Charlie is all for it, but the actual two in questions – Maya and Farkle – aren’t sold. In fact, Farkle vehemently vetoes the idea. He claims they’re just toying around with them like business deals he’s seen his father have to negotiate, and he’s not taking orders from them.

Maya isn’t convinced either, but she’s also aware of how tired everyone is getting of the tension, herself included. She barters with Farkle that the two of them should just go to at least have the conversation, and they have the right to back out at any time. Farkle considers, but doesn’t give a definitive answer.

Nigel: Remind me when it was that I dropped out of high school and entered a courtroom drama? Because I don’t recall making that decision.

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

Riley has forfeited her lunch hour to take one last crack at getting her own negotiation in, finally able to catch Lucas alone. She follows him through the stage doors and onto the stage, pleading her own case and attempting to appeal to his softer side in an effort to call off the strike. She knows it exists, she’s seen it before, she just has to figure out how to elicit it from underneath all that anger.

He humors her as he makes his way down the stage and towards the back of the auditorium, tidying up small details as he goes. It’s clear that even with the current strike in progress, he’s is still instinctively protective of the place.

Riley opens by checking in with how he’s doing after the nasty confessions post about him. When he shrugs it off, she takes the topic opportunity to broach a slightly different subject.

Riley: Just out of curiosity… how, um… how often do you check the page?

Lucas: Never.

Riley: Oh! Oh, that’s great. You know, good for you. That’s good. I just, um, you know it’s said some… interesting things about me lately.

Lucas: Right.

Riley: And I just wanted to clarify that they aren’t, you know, true. The things said. About me. And what I may or may not be doing. Or who I may be – it’s false. It’s not true. All of it. False.

Lucas: … okay.

That awkward exchange aside, Riley plows onward in her mission to end the revolt. She tries to get Lucas to call it off, pointing out he is the one who definitely has the power to make it happen.

Riley: You’re their leader.

Lucas: You’re wrong. That’s Dora.

Riley, diplomatically: I am not one to ever dispute the notion that Isa is amazing, in many aspects. And she may be the face of the operation, but you, you’re the engine. You’re what motivates them.

Lucas hesitates, actually listening to what she has to say. Riley seizes this opportunity, trying to convey as genuinely and passionately as possible just exactly how important he is.

Riley: They look up to you, I mean, you’re the one they march for. They take comfort in you, you inspire them. And that’s certainly not nothing.

Lucas is moved by the speech, despite how good he is at concealing it. And although he acted as though he didn’t care, it does help to combat some of the negative feelings the confessions post instilled in him. Not to mention, Riley is so sincere, and gosh if she isn’t so damn cute… for a moment, it seems like he may be weakening…

But no. He’s not calling off the rebellion.

Lucas: I appreciate the sentiments. But I’m not ending the revolt.

Riley: But –

Lucas: This is our one chance to change things. For us and for all the techies that are going to come through these halls after us. I can’t just give that up. No great moment in history ever happened because the fighting party put up their hands and surrendered.

He steps up to walk past her towards the booth, hesitating on the step below her. Mirroring their stand-off in 1.02, only far softer this time around.

Lucas: I’m sorry, Riley. But I’m not throwing away our shot.

He leaves her there to stew in it, frustrated that she can’t seem fix yet another broken entity in her life. She waits until he’s gone behind the booth, huffing and jogging back down the stairs.

Song Cue ♫ ♪ “Another One Bites the Dust” as performed by Queen || Instrumental

EXT. AAA - BACK PARKING LOT - NIGHT

The same scene of the battle, the asphalt still splattered with paint residue and eerie in the glow of the street lamps. Maya and Farkle are there, dressed in their best “shady showdown” attire and anxiously peering out into the night. Riley and Charlie are also present. Farkle snaps that they’re late, to which Riley assures him that they’ll be there. She knows they’re not just going to blow this off.

And they do not. A few moments later Lucas and Isadora roll up with Dylan and Asher in tow, hopping out of Dylan’s jeep and making their way towards them. They are also dressed in their black leather best, but the whole situation is like… a little bit ridiculous. Like, it should be really intense and shady, but it’s just them all standing around in the empty school parking lot at 9PM.

Lucas and Isadora step to Farkle and Maya, sizing each other up and trying to figure out how this conversation is supposed to go down. Dylan and Asher mirror Charlie and Riley, hanging back as reinforcements only if needed.

Lucas: What, no Zay?

Charlie: I texted him. He just said… [ reading from his phone ] ‘white nonsense.’

Isadora: Tell him I said offended… but true.

The four of them discuss the problem and their terms, the techies explaining their desire for like… basic decency and a little respect, while the performers have arguments of their own to make. It’s clear from about the first minute in that this meeting of the minds likely isn’t going to go anywhere productive. They’re just too polarized.

While everyone expects Lucas to be the one to blow everything up, it’s actually Isadora who loses her cool and derails the negotiations. She provokes Farkle with snide remarks until he lashes back at her, totally disrupting the limited productivity of the meeting and threatening a full-on scrap if things go any further.

It’s a stalemate, and no negotiations will be made today. The revolution wages on. Riley decides she definitely needs to chat with Isadora, maybe even more so than Lucas.

INT. MINKUS HOME - DAY

Farkle is up late doing homework, still awake when STUART MINKUS comes home after a long day of work. From the way Farkle perks up when he enters and enthusiastically greets him, it’s clear how much he cares about the attention and approval of his father. In fact, there’s the distinct sense that part of the reason Farkle is so extra at all is because he’s desperate to get the focus of his very busy and very distracted corporate leader of a dad.

Stuart is happy to see him and settles down to chat with him for a moment, but he asks why on Earth he’s still awake. Farkle offhandedly claims that an unexpected meeting pushed back his homework time, and it was somewhat of a waste anyway. After a few brief words, Stuart starts to go but Farkle grasps at a way to keep his attention, asking him for advice.

His dad claims he won’t be much help with the performing stuff, but Farkle lies and claims it’s a… business issue. He then lays out the situation going on at school but in theoretical marketing terms, explaining it like a business negotiation gone awry rather than two sides of the performing arts world going to war. He asks his father how he would handle the situation.

When Stuart expresses that he would take the diplomatic approach and attempt to go to the table to get the best deal for all parties involved, Farkle seems apprehensive. Doesn’t that not end up with the best deal for him? Stuart goes on to explain his business philosophy about how you have placate all parties to get an effective machine running, but it just seems difficult for Farkle to grasp.

Stuart kisses the top of his head in a goodnight gesture, telling him he’s proud of him even though Farkle is sure he couldn’t say what for.

Song Cue ♫ ♪ “Control” as performed by Halsey || Performed by Farkle Minkus

Not satisfied with how that conversation turned out and not sure why he can’t seem to let go of his perception of the situation anyway, Farkle launches into a haunting and emotional rendition of “Control.” It’s one of the first clear expressions of his… questionable mental health, and displays part of what he’s constantly inadvertently taking out on the techies.

Interesting…

INT. AAA - JACK’S OFFICE - DAY

Jack has called in Shawn and Angela to discuss how the techie and performer feud is progressing. It’s the end of the week, and he’d like to know what they think is the next necessary step. They claim that both of them are on board to make changes, but they’re worried about the mental ecosystem of some of their… touchier students. That’s what is causing the blockade, and they’re not sure how to navigate it.

As Jack reiterates, they need all parties to be willing to come together for this treatment to be at all effective. He states that they better do it fast, and whenever they’re ready he’ll be here and ready to mediate.

INT. AAA - BOYS DRESSING ROOM - DAY

The drama continues, the male performers discussing how this whole drama has really lasted an entire week. NICK YOGI wonders if it’s ever going to stop, and Wyatt makes more bitchy commentary about how if they had just expelled Lucas like they should have ages ago, this never would’ve happened.

Zay continues to roll his eyes, fed up with all of the pettiness. He wishes they could just focus back on rehearsal. He excuses himself pointedly, Farkle hesitating before deciding to investigate and following him out.

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

Farkle traces Zay’s footsteps to the behind the curtain area of the back of the stage. Zay is practicing the routine by himself, clearly passionate about it even though it got totally derailed by the week’s events.

Understanding at least the notion of using rehearsal as an emotional escape, Farkle approaches Zay and tries to get him to talk about what his attitude is all about. He questions why he blew up at the rest of the performers the other day, to which Zay is like, you? Asking me about diva meltdowns? Please. Farkle admits his own proclivity for theatrics, but points out that Zay isn’t like that. In fact, he is usually looking at down at them from a high horse because of it.

Zay avoids the topic at first, before breaking somewhat and admitting that part of the reason he gets so irritated with Farkle and Maya’s behavior is because he feels like he can’t use the same sort of tactics. He’s trying to navigate these waters as best he can being a queer man of color, he’s got enough things that draw attention to him and make him different. He doesn’t need to put any more targets on his back by being demanding or overdramatic. The two of them, they can get away with that. He can’t when he’s just fighting for a shred of hard-earned respect in the first place. So even if he wants to throw a tantrum about how they’re finally doing a number he really cares about and no one is paying attention, he can’t. Not really.

Farkle had never considered this angle before. It gives him a totally new perspective on Zay, and in some ways, the techie revolution as well.

INT. SVORSKI’S COFFEE - DAY

Riley and Isadora are seated in the window table at the local coffee shop, having found neutral ground to tread to be able to talk freely with one another. Riley is grateful that Isadora showed up at all, but it takes a bit of needling to get her conversing.

When Riley questions why Isadora got so heated at negotiations last night, Isadora is defensive at first. Who wouldn’t be, she claims. But when it’s clear that Riley’s intentions in the conversation are completely genuine, Isadora lets down her guard and opens up a bit.

She explains that she’s been fed up with the behavior of the performers for so long, and they’re always like this. Performers, that is. Look at her mother. The diva behavior, the carelessness, the neglect – all of them are like that.

Riley, softly: All of them?

Isadora: [ gazing at her, sheepish ] Maybe that’s a bit of a generalization…

Riley prods further, and Isadora gets to talking about her behavior the last couple of episodes. She admits that part of the reason she’s so sensitive to everything right now is because she’s still adjusting to having Lucas back at school. Last week was way harder than she let anyone know, and she’s still trying to get her world back in working order. The performer attitudes and demands didn’t help with that, certainly.

Considering her own world being in disarray, Riley can empathize. Isadora is word vomiting at this point, stumbling into a hasty explanation of why Lucas is so important to her.

Isadora: He’s not just my friend, he’s like… he’s my rock. Joining Adams last year was crazy and overwhelming, and he was there to help. To ground me. He makes sure I stay out of my head, that I don’t get too wrapped up in my thoughts. When he’s not here… I don’t even know how to explain it. He’s the most important person in my life, he’s pretty much my brother. I don’t think I’d survive at school if he left permanently.

It’s a lovely statement, and definitely illuminates many things about the relationship that Lucas and Isadora share. Their importance, but also, the nature of their relationship. Yes, Riley definitely catches the “he’s pretty much my brother” bit. Ah, if that doesn’t clear things up…

Isadora goes on to state that if anything, she’s ready for this embargo to end so that she can hang out with Riley at school again without having to go into hiding. Riley, touched, returns the sentiment with full fondness.

INT. AAA - SHAWN’S OFFICE - DAY

And perhaps, maybe that end is within sight. Isadora goes to Shawn and claims that she’s willing to come to the table if the other side is. That’s one difficult domino down…

Song Cue ♫ ♪ “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)” as performed by Hamilton Original Broadway Cast || Performed by AAA Sophomores

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM

Isadora takes this initiative and walks it straight into “Yorktown,” launching one of the most elaborate concept numbers in the series to date. While half of the performance is the performers doing their routine (in plain leotards, no lighting, etc.), the other half is the techies “prepping for the final battle” in a sense. Isadora, thusly, takes most of the Hamilton bits.

[ Lyrics specific to characters – follow along here! ]

The number opens with Yindra coming to meet with Isadora and Lucas, operating as the Lafayette of the trio. She and Isadora declare the phrase “techies, we get the job done,” before she salutes them as the final battle unfolds. As the chorus begins, the performers take the stage and kick off their routine.

Farkle takes one section of the verse, harping on the sentiments of imagining death so much it feels more like a memory and at least having friends now if he’s going down in war. Then Isadora takes back over, instructing the other techies as to how they should move in this dance going forward (“Rochambeau! You’ve got your orders now go man, go!”)

When we get to the Hercules Mulligan bit, our “spy on the inside” is Nigel! He takes the verse and rails it impressively. When he “gets knocked down and gets the fuck back up again,” Dylan and Dave jokingly knock him over before he break-dance jumps back upright. Iconic!

As the dance break ensues, each techie is choreographed into facing off with a major performer, their interaction sort of emulating what the nature of their dynamic is like. While Dylan and Asher each take either Maya or Zay, Jade takes Charlie which mostly means her dodging him while he does expertly choreographed high kicks.

Considering they’re not even exactly at odds, Lucas and Riley’s choreography mostly consists of them sort of dancing around each other – especially given that he doesn’t dance. No, the big maneuver for them comes at the end of the sequence, when Lucas finishes the “fight” by scooping her up and tossing her over his shoulder. She’s totally taken by surprise, and if she wasn’t sure whether or not he had feelings for Isadora, well, now…

Speaking of Isadora, she and Farkle are perhaps the most aggressive of dance duets. They’re the ones with true beef to parse out, and that’s clear in the way they execute the choreography. As the sequence ends and everyone else is shuffled (or carried) off, the stage is left with just the two of them staring one another down. Sizing each other up, trying to determine if one or both of them are going to break this stalemate.

Farkle backs off first, not breaking eye contact but sauntering away towards the wings. Isadora watches him go, holding her ground as best she can.

INT. AAA - BLACK BOX THEATER - DAY

Farkle enters the classroom, locking eyes with Angela and clearly there on business. She rises from her desk, nodding him in. He steps inside, closing the door behind him.

INT. AAA - ATRIUM - DAY

While the techies await, “wondering if this really means freedom,” their queries are answered as Shawn and Angela emerge from Jack’s office. The entire sophomore class is waiting outside, eager to see how the negotiations have panned out. As they “see George Washington smile,” Shawn gives Isadora and the techies a subtle wink.

The techies watch as the performers begin to stagger away, the war truly having reached its conclusion. It almost feels unreal…

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

As the marching drum comes in and “the world turned upside down,” each of the main performers steps forward onto the stage to finish the routine. Slowly, as the music rises again and we near the climax of the song, pieces of the tech start to come back into play – the lights come back up, Jeff happily operating them from the booth. Dave and Nate push set pieces into place, high-fiving one another as they pass behind the dancers.

From different corners of the stage, the techies revel in their victory. Jade, Isadora, Dylan & Asher, Lucas – all declaring with ecstatic joy that they won.

The world did, indeed, turn upside down!

INT. AAA - SHAWN’S OFFICE - DAY

With their sides of the school back in order and a whole new world order at play to explore, Shawn and Angela reconvene. They decide that yes, in spite of all the differences and challenges that are bound to await them, this relationship feels worth giving another shot.

They kiss, rounding out their journey back to one another. Can’t wait to see what happens next…

INT. AAA - BOYS DRESSING ROOM - DAY

Farkle is alone in the dressing room, still attempting to get all the paint out of his hair from like two days ago. Maya and Zay enter and find him there, laughing at his lackluster attempts to rid himself of the battle scars before shifting into more serious conversation. They ask him if he was the one who pulled Angela into negotiations.

Farkle: Although it took every ounce of kinetic energy in me to force myself to do such a thing, yes. I put down my metaphorical sword and opted for the truce. Hope everyone is damn well pleased about it.

Zay, sarcastically: Oh, you’re so brave.

Quips aside, Zay genuinely compliments him for putting his ego aside rather than letting the urge to be melodramatic win once again. Maya seconds the notion, pointing out that they have no idea what this new world is going to bring. They’re going to really have to stick together as a diva front united if they’re going to survive the change.

Farkle, starting to warm up to the idea, agrees. Oh, these divas… their friendship…

INT. AAA - AUDITORIUM - DAY

Lucas is alone in the auditorium, re-familiarizing himself with the terrain now that the dust has settled. He finishes striking the set from the Yorktown performance, hanging in the quiet for a moment and taking in the peace. It’s clear that he genuinely holds love for that musty auditorium, even if he hates everything else.

Riley enters through the dressing room stage doors, watching him fondly for a moment before stepping into the lights and interrupting his quiet. She commends him for a successfully led revolution. He brushes off the compliment, pointing out that she may have had more of a hand in its victory than she’s admitting.

Riley: Suppose it’s a good thing you didn’t listen to me when I begged for a ceasefire.

Lucas: Well, I don’t think you completely lacked the war-mongering spirit. From what I hear, you did a lot of negotiating on your end for the cause as well.

Riley: [ with a shrug ] No great moments in history happen because the fighting party put up their hands and surrendered… nor without help. Just goes to show that maybe you don’t have to do everything alone.

Lucas: … no, maybe not.

The sentiment hangs in the air between them. Lucas breaks the tension, clearing his throat and claiming that if she means to keep good on that offer, she can start by helping him clean up. She laughs, playing along and happily stepping up to finish the tidying.

Song Cue ♫ ♪ “Rumour Has It (Instrumental)” as performed by Adele || Instrumental

As if it’s the theme of the AAAC, the abrasive drums and ominous tones of “Rumour Has It” preclude our final scene.

INT. WYATT’S ROOM - NIGHT

We’re with Wyatt, holed up in his bedroom alone. He’s still looking pretty rough from his beatdown in 1.05, and while we’ve been able to ignore it while he’s in the background most of the episode, it’s hard to ignore the remnants of it up close. The emotional scars are still present too, as he’s clearly brooding with unaddressed anger.

He starts a direct message with the AAAC, essentially asking to be a part of their operations. He doesn’t want to change it or shake things up, he just wants a piece of the chaotic pie. So he’s clearly not the moderator of the thing, but he definitely wants to be a foot soldier.

The AAAC responds affirmatively, but first requires that he read their three rules of conduct. The last rule is, as it claims, the most important:

All submissions are to be posted unless otherwise expressed by the moderator. No edits or changes allowed. The page is equal opportunity, so that all voices can be heard.

No submissions are to be deleted after posting. If the sender is bold enough to say it in the first place, then they better be bold enough to handle the repercussions. Especially given that the posting is anonymous.

We don’t start things – we only state them. Our classmates say what they want to say, we are merely the messenger.

Once Wyatt agrees, he ventures the question we’re all wondering. “Who are you?” A text bubble pops up, indicating that the other side is typing a response.

In a quick series of cuts, shots of all of our main cast of suspects – Isadora, Farkle, Maya, Zay, Lucas, Charlie, Dylan, Asher, Yogi, Dave, Chai, Yindra, Jade, Sarah, Darby, etc. – show them on their phones at home or wherever they are. It could be any one of them typing the response in that moment.

Finally, the account responds.

“Welcome to AAA Confessions, Wyatt. Get to work.”

END OF EPISODE.

[raging-violets]

Never A Dull Moment // KillerFlareFlashVibe

Characters: Barry Allen, Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, Cadence Nash (aka KillerFlareFlashVibe)

Summary – On a slow day at STAR Labs, Team Flash blow off some steam by playing an old kid’s game.

Words: 2998

Also found here on FFN (x)

-

“I’m so bored,” Cisco murmured, resting his chin in his hands. His face, illuminated by the computer screen in front of him stayed frozen for a second. Exactly a second. Then he sat back and looked around. “Did I say that?”

“Yes, Cisco, you did.” Caitlin’s voice was tight, shoulders tense, fingers tightly gripping the pen in between her fingers. “Just like you have every minute for the last twenty minutes. We get it, you’re bored!”

Barry lifted his chin, pushing back the hood of his hoodie with a push under the brim of his forward-facing baseball cap. “Yeah, and you’re not making it any easier for the rest of us, man,” Barry added. His legs were fully extended, feet resting on the edge of the desk, legs crossed at the ankle.

“We all get that nothing’s happening,” Cadence added. She sat on Caitlin’s other side, mimicking Cisco’s stance, chin resting in her hands, elbows sitting atop the desk. “We all have eyes. We don’t need powers for you to realize that we can’t see anything happening.”

“Well excuse me,” Cisco said. He crossed his arms, sticking his hands into his armpits. “It’s just that there’s always something that’s going on. And the one day Harry puts us on meta watch and we all don’t have anything else to do, there’s nothing going on. Now, I don’t know about you, but this meta stuff actually keeps my day going. If I had a rea office job, I don’t know what I’d do with myself.”

Cadence gave him a look. “I have an office job and you don’t hear me complaining.”

“You get to mess with dead people all day, that’s cool.”

“Ha! And have Captain Singh breathe down my neck all day? Have the threat of going to court to testify every day? Constantly wondering if the body is really dead and isn’t going to pop up like a Jack-in-the-Box to scare me half to death?”

Barry pointed at her. “She’s got a point.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Cisco pushed himself backwards and started to spin himself around. He made it only a few times around before having to stop, pressing his hands to the sides of his face to steady himself. “Ugh, now I feel sick.”

“Cisco, would you please stay still?” Caitlin snapped. “I can hardly think with you doing that.”

“I’m not doing anything,” Cisco defended himself.

“You’re annoying me.”

“That’s your fault, you get annoyed at every little thing.” Cisco reached up and started to flick at the ends of her hair. Barry smiled to himself, trying not to burst out laughing. Cadence was already there, giggling quietly to herself. Caitlin’s fingers tightened around her pen, fingertips all the way to her knuckles turning white. “You can’t get mad. I’m not touching you. Not touching you, can’t get mad. Not touching you, can’t get mad!”

“Cisco!” Caitlin lifted her hand and smacked Cisco’s hand away. She glared so fiercely he froze. “Do you have to act like such a baby?”

That animated him again. “I’m not a baby,” he replied. That set the two off into a little bicker-fest. Barry reached up and lowered the brim of his hat lower over his eyes, pressing his lips together. Cadence leaned back out of the way when they started to slap each other with their hands.

Finally, she placed her hands on the desk and propelled herself backwards. “Okay, Bickersons! Cool it!” She walked between Cisco and Caitlin, grabbing their shoulders to force them apart. “I already have to deal with a ten-year-old kid, I don’t need to deal with two more babies. So, we’re all bored, we need something to do.”

Barry lifted the brim of his hat once more and looked at her with an amused smile. “And you’re the one that’s going to decide for us.”

Cadence shrugged. “Of course, I’m the fun one.”

At that, Cisco whipped his head around. “I beg your pardon.”

“Compared to you three, your lives would be very dull if I weren’t around.”

“It’d be a lot quieter, that’s for sure,” Cisco mumbled. He cried out in pain when Caitlin and Cadence both whacked him on the back of the head. He brought up his hands and rubbed the lump that formed as Barry tilted his head back and laughed.

“What’d you have in mind, Cade?” Barry finally asked.

“Figures you’d take her side,” Cisco mumbled.

“I’m just trying to figure out what we can do to pass the time! I’m tired of listening to you two fight. And we all know it’d only take a minute tops for me to check the city for anything going on,” Barry pointed out. He sat up, draping his hands between his knees. “So, if there’s anything else to do anything I’m all ears.”

“Thank you, Tholly.” Cadence smiled smugly at Cisco. Then she tapped her finger against her chin, starting to pace back and forth. “Let’s see, Monopoly is only reserved for West Family Game Night. We can’t play Poker anymore after Cisco lost his rent money.”

“You cheated,” Cisco declared.

“I merely watched your face to figure out what move to make, it’s not my fault you wear your heart on your sleeve,” Cadence defended herself, not breaking stride. She continued to pace, making large circles as she went. “We can’t play Hide and Seek since Brady managed to scare nearly everyone half to death when we couldn’t find him.”

“You have to admit, he’s gotten much better with his blending powers,” Barry reminded her.

“Yes, it’s so much fun trying to find him when he’s standing directly in front of your face,” Caitlin muttered.

“You’re just mad that he scared you so badly your hair nearly turned white,” Cisco said. He shook his head. “Loudest I’ve ever heard you scream, too.” This time Cisco received a pinch on his arm. He squealed, leaning away.

Cadence snapped her fingers. “I got it, we can play the lava game.”

“The what?” Caitlin asked.

“You never played the lava game when you were a kid?” Cisco asked.

“I don’t have any brothers and sisters and I was usually with my mom visiting my dad in the hospital,” Caitlin explained. Oh yeah, right. Out of all of them, with Barry right behind, she was the one with the least of a childhood. But how could anyone not know the lava game? It was a childhood staple.

“You pretend that the floor is lava and you have to traverse from one side of a room to another without touching the ground,” Barry explained. “Iris and I used to play it all the time. Until we broke the coffee table and Joe yelled at us.”

“Joe had to deal with you two long enough, I would’ve yelled if you broke the tine of a fork,” Cisco said. He reached out and gently smacked Barry on the arm, making him laugh.

“Yeah, but the rules have changed a little,” Cadence said. She started to speak with her hands, rapidly and wildly gesticulating as she did so. “Now you have to surprise the other person with it. If you say ‘the floor is lava’ the other person only has five seconds to get onto something that’d keep you off the ground.”

“What happens if they don’t do it?” Caitlin asked.

“Then they lose,” Cadence said simply.

“Or, we could make it interesting.” Cisco stood up, rubbing his hands together gleefully. “I can see the competition in you, Miss. Nash and I’m going to make sure it’s a competition you’ll get. And the only way we can do that, of course, is with monetary gain.”

“How much were you thinking?” Barry asked.

“Not so much, I still need to pay my rent. But how about fifty bucks each?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“But you can’t use your powers.”

At that, Barry and Cadence both paused while Cisco and Caitlin smiled impishly. It would certainly be much harder for them. They went through their entire day using their powers at the slightest inconvenience. It’d be such a shame if they couldn’t use it to make sure they won the game. A shame for them anyway. He and Caitlin would have a lot fun watching them figure out how to play.

“Fine,” Cadence said. She pulled her wallet out of the pocket of her jean shorts and flipped through it. Retrieving a $50 bill, she dropped it to the counter. Barry pulled out his own wallet and did the same. Cisco was the next one and Caitlin waited a few moments, crossing her arms, thinking about it. At least, until all eyes turned her way.

“We’re supposed to be watching for any metahumans,” Caitlin said.

“Knowing our luck, nothing’s going to happen,” Cisco said. “Besides, we have all day. Just as long as our asses are back here before Harry gets back.”

“Yeah, cone on, Caitlin,” Barry agreed. “It’ll be fine.”

Caitlin sucked in a deep breath through her nose. Finally, she went to retrieve her purse, making Barry, Cadence, and Cisco all high-five.

-

The game started out before any of them realized it. They went right back to watching for any metahumans to come up. They’d waited for a half hour, all doing their own things. Caitlin was engrossed in a book she hadn’t had much time to finish, Cisco was twiddling with a prototype for a new invention he was working on, their Earth’s version of a metahuman detection watch, Cadence looked up sports scores on her phone, and Barry watched the news on the large TV screen across the Cortex.

Cadence was the first to get up, stretching her arms over her head. “I’m going to get something to eat. Does anyone want anything while I’m up?”

“Pizza Pockets,” came the unanimous replies.

“You guys are going to get fat off eating those things all the time,” Cadence remarked. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Am I going to have an avalanche of them fall out on me again?”

“Probably not,” Barry said. “I ate some more of them yesterday.”

“Barry, you only bought one box! The others were mine and Cisco’s!” Barry protested.

Barry smiled smugly at her. “Yeah, until I went and bought some more.”

“That explains why no store had them!” Cisco slapped his hands onto the side of his desk. “I thought it was a conspiracy trying to get me to stop eating them.” He glared at Caitlin when she said ‘you didn’t need cosmic intervention for that’ and said, “But to know all along it was my best friend who was cleaning me out.”

“And the refrigerator,” Caitlin added.

“Okay,” Cadence said. “I’ll get you all pizza pockets.”

“And, Cade, by the way,” Barry called towards her. The smile that came to his face mimicked that of a Cheshire Cat. “The floor is lava.”

For a moment, Cadence stared at him in confusion. Then her eyes widened and her gaze darted around the Cortex. There wasn’t much that wasn’t the floor for her to jump on. She eyed her office chair but stopped when Cisco reached out and pulled the chair away from her. All the while, Barry continued to count. “5…4…3…”

“Chairs don’t count?” She asked, voice lighting into a high-pitched shriek.

“Nope.” Cisco popped the ‘p’ on his word, smiling smugly.

“2…” Barry said.

With a low curse, Cadence sprinted across the floor of the Cortex and into the medical bay, flinging herself atop the bed with a wild leap from the doorframe. She landed haphazardly on the bed, scrambling back up to see if she got there in time.

“Almost didn’t make it,” Barry called in a sing-song voice.

“But I made it,” Cadence sang back, punching the air and wiggling in a little dance.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you,” Caitlin called.

“Can you get our pizza pockets now?” Cisco asked.

Caitlin was the next one who nearly fell for it. It was about an hour later and he was still trying to figure out how the meta-human watch worked. How were any of them supposed to know that the parts of the watch were different from theirs? As it was, he needed to get it back to Harry before he figured out he’d ‘borrowed’ the watch. And that he might’ve, accidentally destroyed it while trying to make one of his own. So that’s why they were in Harry’s office, which was really Cisco’s before the Earth-2 newcomer had taken it over, looking for any sort of blueprint to figure things out.

“We really shouldn’t be in here,” Caitlin said from the doorway.

“Oh please, your boyfriend isn’t going to find out,” Cisco shot back.

Caitlin scoffed. “That’s totally uncalled for. Just because Dr. Wells was my mentor— “

“Cait, we all know you had a thing for Dr. Wells,” Barry broke in. “It’s fine if you can’t admit it.” He leaned over Cisco’s desk, looking through a bunch of papers. Cisco and Cadence stood behind him, the two searching through some others random odds and ends strewn about. Caitlin continued to stand in the doorway.

“By the way, the floor is lava,” Cisco called. “5…”

“Cisco!”

“4…”

“This isn’t funny.”

“3…you agreed to it. 2…”

Caitlin stomped her foot on the ground like a little child, searching around the room. Finally, she pushed aside a space on the desk and quickly perched herself atop it, her feet dangling towards the ground. The tips of her toes—having had kicked off her heels—barely missed brushing against the floor. “I hate you,” she finally said.

“Join the club,” Cadence remarked. “Because that’s where we’re all going to be once Harry finds out we were in here.”

“I can’t find anything anyway,” Barry agreed.

“Bet you hate that you can’t use your powers now, huh, buddy?” Cisco teased.

“For real?”

“For real, for real,” Cadence replied, making Caitlin laugh.

Cisco slapped his hands to his sides. “But he’s right, I’m not seeing anything.” He looked over the mess they all created. Then he turned to Caitlin and rubbed his chin. “Do you think he’d be much more forgiving if we said that Caitlin was a gift for him?” He ducked out of the way before a screwdriver that Caitlin threw could impale him in the forehead.

Barry and Cisco were harder to get. They were always very close to something that would keep them up off the ground. Barry even showing his arm strength by grasping a low hanging pole that ran across the ceiling of the storage room. And Cisco had even made use of the Flash mannequin to leap atop of it like a spider when he was almost called out. But Caitlin and Cadence continued to try, coming up short each time. At one point, Cisco flung himself across the girls’ laps as they sat in their chairs and Barry had climbed atop of Cisco to stay up.

The girls started to become more difficult as well. Due to their smaller size, they could squeeze into tighter spaces, like a shelf that held medical textbooks and the tiniest space in the storage closet. Nothing within STAR Labs had been off-limits for their careening into it, knocking things over in their haste to climb up or over it. At one point, Cadence had even found herself wedged into the washing machine, nearly having to melt it to get back out.

And yet, none of them managed to get caught.

By the time the game ended, there were bruises all over their arms and legs—Barry’s healing up very quickly—badges of honor from their efforts to get away. In the end, they ultimately decided on a tie to keep from having to go through much more of it.

“Ow,” Cisco rubbed his shin, which had a nasty rug burn from landing on the Cosmic Treadmill, turning it on. “I can’t believe we decided to play this game.”

“You went along with it,” Barry pointed out.

“I was forced into it.” Caitlin glanced towards the computer screen that was flashing. “And look, we’re missing something.” Her body tensed, immediately falling back into the seriousness of the situation they had grown so accustomed to over the years.

“Let’s go,” Barry said to Cadence, jostling her arm as he did so.

Cadence winced, grabbing her arm. “Ow,” she murmured. “Well, the good news about this one is, with my powers, we can still play The Floor is Lava with them.”

“Yeah, and the loser goes to the Iron Heights,” Barry agreed before the two raced out of the Cortex.