#sorry I didn’t really get anyone for hashtag so I added her taking a picture of megsy

[anastoundingmango]

some of the extended Malto family relations as inspired by season 1b

[emospritelet]

Manifesto Prompt : Anna insists it will look good if Sutherland is the one bringing Belle the folders back to wherever she is.

[AO3]

x

Sutherland had spent a restless night, and felt tired and irritable the next day. Press briefings and the planned visits to a local school and hospital were the last thing he felt like doing, but he drank several cups of coffee and ate a good breakfast, which made him feel a little more human. If no less irritable.

One of the chief reasons for his bad mood faced him on every news channel: Miss French, with her flashing blue eyes and perfect lips, puffed up with righteous indignation and berating him in the marketplace. He sounded calm when he spoke to her, his demeanour smooth and unruffled, but some of the newsroom guests on the early morning newspaper review segments still found something to criticise. Sutherland scowled from his place on the couch as they wondered aloud whether his lack of reaction suggested that he didn’t care about the suffering of ordinary people in deprived constituencies like Avonleigh. 

“Public service passion standing up to posh privilege,” announced a left-leaning columnist, a disdainful twist of his lips showing beneath one of those hipster beards as he shook out the paper. “Sutherland has to expect more of this as we get deeper into the election year. There’s a lot of dissatisfaction with the Government, and I’m sure the redoubtable Miss French is only the first of many to confront him over his record.”

“There’s a certain amount of glee all over Twitter at Miss French’s outburst,” added his female counterpart. “I won’t repeat the hashtag that seems to be trending, though.”

“Belle French is only saying what many in the country are thinking,” went on Hipster Beard. “Looks as though Sutherland might have his work cut out for him in appealing to ordinary working people.”

“It’s not as though I’ve had a lack of bloody critics up to now,” growled Sutherland, glancing at the coffee table, where Miss French’s folder of research still sat. He still hadn’t decided what to say to her.

“No press were allowed in when the two met for a discussion last night, but I suspect the Prime Minister might find it difficult to charm his way out of this one.”

“I’m not trying to charm my way anywhere,” said Sutherland loudly, as though the panel could hear him.

“What have I told you about yelling at the TV?” Anna swept into the room with an armful of newspapers and her free hand clutching his leather briefcase. “Turn that off, we have to be on the move soon.”

“Fucking gladly,” he muttered, flicking at the remote control and shutting off those having a laugh at his expense. “Any coverage of what we actually came here for?”

“Some,” she said. “Not as much as we’d like. Which is why today is important.”

Sutherland ran a hand over his face.

“Fine,” he said tiredly. “It’s the school first, yeah?”

“We’re scheduled to be at St Cuthbert’s in thirty minutes.”

“Any more coffee?”

Anna gave him a flat look.

“You already look as though your bloodstream’s pure caffeine.”

“Yes, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.”

She sighed heavily, dropping the newspapers on the table.

“Fine. Don’t complain to me when you get heart palpitations.”

“As if.”

She poured him another coffee, and one for herself.

“That’s it. It’s not very hot, either.”

“It’ll do.”

Anna sat down on the couch next to him, crossing her legs and giving him a thoughtful look.

“Didn’t you sleep last night?”

“Not much.”

“What’s the matter?”

Sutherland gave her a level look.

“Are you serious?”

“Oh, the Belle French thing’ll blow over,” she said impatiently, waving a hand. “Especially with what you plan to do with her. Assuming she agrees, of course.”

“I think you should ask her,” he said. “I’m willing to bet she’d respond better to you than to me.”

Anna shook her head.

“If you give the folder of research back and ask her yourself, it’ll look better,” she said. “She’s more likely to be persuaded that you’re taking her seriously that way.”

“I’m not making another press opportunity out of this,” he said impatiently. “Either she’s interested or she isn’t; I’m not having the whole thing play out on national media.”

“So go over there before we leave,” she said. “Wait until all the press are on the bus and pop to the library. That way you’ll be assured of some privacy.”

“So she can tell me to fuck off without anyone hearing, you mean?”

Anna looked irritated, slapping her hands down on her thighs.

“Why are you so convinced she’ll be hostile?”

“Experience?”

“From what you told me, your meeting last night was perfectly civil,” she countered. “And you’ve faced far more urgent crises and not batted an eyelid. What’s making you lose sleep over this?”

Sutherland hesitated, reaching for his coffee as he thought it over.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “It bothers me. Can’t explain it.”

She was watching him with a shrewd expression that usually meant she had worked something out, but wasn’t ready to tell him. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it anyway, so he drained the lukewarm coffee, pulling a face.

“Come on, we can think about Miss French later,” he said, pushing up off the couch. “St Cuthbert’s, right?”

x

Thirty minutes later Sutherland was walking down a school corridor with the Deputy Head of St Cuthbert’s, Mrs Nolan. She was a petite, dark-haired woman with a pixie cut and a kind smile. The press pack, kept in line by Anna, followed as they walked, and Mrs Nolan explained a little of the history of the school, and its more recent issues. 

“The school’s pretty much at capacity right now,” she said. “Class sizes have increased over the past couple of years, but we’re still just about on target.”

“Do you have trouble filling teaching vacancies?” asked Sutherland, and she shrugged.

“I think our turnover is less than the inner cities, but sick leave has increased with the class sizes. We’re forced to use more substitutes than I would like, and we’ve had to cut back on after-school programmes.” She glanced at him. “I don’t know what the kids would do if it wasn’t for the parents that run sports clubs. And Belle with her classes at the library, of course.”

Of course, he thought wryly.

“I thought you could meet with the Year Threes,” she said, drawing to a stop outside a classroom door. “They’re doing a project on Vikings.”

The classroom was bright and cheerful, pictures of Viking longboats and Norse gods pinned up on the walls and the children, all around seven or eight, seated around tables with paper and paints. They looked up, eyeing the visitors with curiosity.

“Good morning everyone!” called Mrs Nolan.

“Good morning Mrs Nolan,” chorused the class. Mrs Nolan put her hands together.

“I’m sure you all remember me saying that the Prime Minister would be visiting us today,” she said. “He’s come to take a look at your project work, and these nice people have come with him to take some pictures.”

One ear on the clacking of cameras around him, Sutherland crossed to squat down by the nearest table. A small girl with round glasses and two brown braids was carefully painting a large tree with spreading branches.

“Hey,” he said gently. “What’s your name?”

“Effie,” said the girl, not looking at him.

“Is that for your project?”

“It’s Yggdrasil,” she said placidly, brush swirling on the paper.

“It’s very good,” he said. “I was never much use at drawing when I was your age. Or any age, really.” 

Effie finally looked at him, her thick glasses giving her a somewhat owlish expression. Eventually she nodded, as though she had remembered something.

“You were on the telly,” she said decidedly. Sutherland smiled.

“That’s right.”

“Miss Belle shouted at you,” she added, and Sutherland felt his smile slip a little.

“Yes, she certainly did.”

“I like Miss Belle,” she said, dipping her brush in the paint again. “I’m sure if you say sorry, she’ll be nice to you again.”

Sutherland wanted to sigh. Flashes in the air made him very aware that the press were getting every moment of an eight year old giving him advice on how to handle Miss French.

“Do you go to the library?” he asked.

“Oh yes,” she said eagerly. “I go every weekend, and just read all day! Miss Belle makes me tea. And she has biscuits.”

“Chocolate biscuits?” he asked, and she beamed.

“One day we had chocolate fingers.”

Sutherland put a hand up to cup his mouth, as though they were sharing a secret.

“I like to dunk those in my tea,” he whispered, and she giggled, nodding.

“What would you do if the library wasn’t there?” he asked, and she wrinkled her nose

“Dunno.”

“Is there anywhere else you can go to read?” he asked. “What about home?”

Effie rolled her eyes.

“I have twin brothers,” she said, in a deadpan tone, and Sutherland nodded.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, Effie,” he said. “Good luck with your project.”

“Thank you.” She gave him another thoughtful look. “Be nice to Miss Belle.”

“Of course.”

Sutherland straightened up, mouth flattening as he moved on to the next table. Miss French certainly has her supporters. I suppose it’s hardly surprising if she’s teaching them all after school. Perhaps once we get to the hospital I’ll finally be free of her. Unless she has a part-time job as a bloody paramedic.

x

Two hours later, Sutherland was walking the hospital corridors with Miss Fay, the Matron. He was due to tour the wards before sitting down with the Board of Directors for a lunch meeting. The hospital smelt strongly of disinfectant, and ahead of him a janitor with a beard and a surly expression was mopping the floor.

“We had an outbreak of norovirus in December.” Miss Fay walked serenely along the hospital corridor beside Sutherland, brown hair brushed into a neat, shining bun. “It meant closing one of the wards during a flu outbreak, but I ordered a deep clean, so we managed to get it under control.”

“Did that result in any cancellation of procedures?” asked Sutherland, and she sniffed.

“Some, but we’ve rescheduled ninety percent of them. It was more a case of delay than cancellation. Difficult decisions needed to be made for the good of all.”

“Indeed.” 

They drew closer to the janitor, who had grounded his mop and was glaring at Sutherland from beneath heavy brows.

“Sorry we’re undoing all your hard work on this floor,” said Sutherland apologetically, and the man’s scowl grew.

“Not as sorry as this town’s gonna be when the library closes,” he said roughly.

“Leroy!” snapped Miss Fay, and his scowl twisted into something sullen as he drew back. Sutherland shook his head.

Miss French again. I can’t escape the woman. She’s bloody everywhere in this town.

“I keep hearing a lot about this library,” he said. “You make use of it yourself?”

Leroy raised his head, a suspicious look on his face.

“Yeah,” he said. “Belle helped me get this job. Let me use the computer, helped me with my application - she’s like an angel in this town. And book club once a week’s the only thing that gets me out of the house in the evenings. Take that away, you take the town’s heart, don’t you get that?”

“The Prime Minister isn’t taking anything away,” said Miss Fay stiffly. “And I suggest you find another floor to mop. Go on, now.”

Leroy muttered something under his breath, pushing his cleaning cart with him as he stomped off.

“I apologise for Leroy,” said Miss Fay. “He rather idolises the librarian, it has to be said.”

“So I see,” said Sutherland. “Do you know Miss French?”

She sniffed again.

“I don’t use the library myself, but she runs a book reservation and collection service for our longer-term patients. Brings a trolley of books around twice a week.”

“That sounds like a useful service,” said Sutherland. “What do the patients think?”

“Oh, I’m told they appreciate it. She reads to a few of those with impaired vision.”

“Sounds as though she’s very dedicated to her profession,” he observed, and she shrugged.

“Perhaps.”

“What impact do you think the loss of that service would have on the patients?” he asked.

“Well, I daresay they’d get over it,” she said. “No one’s irreplaceable, are they? Their families would have to step up, instead of leaving it to others. Follow me, I’ll show you around Paediatrics.”

She marched on, and Sutherland shared a look with Anna before following.

“Miss French’s role seems to extend beyond that of a regular librarian,” he murmured, watching the back of Miss Fay’s head as they walked.

“All the more reason to have her on our team, wouldn’t you say?” whispered Anna, and Sutherland sighed.

“Alright, fine,” he said, his voice still low. “I’ll talk to her.”

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 18 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Hieeee babies! We are so excited to share this very dramatic chapter with you! Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Monday morning madness when Violet discovered that Courtney screwed up the Fashion Week confirmations.  

This Chapter: Courtney faces the music, we meet a very determined reporter, and Violet loses her shit.

***

“Hey gorgeous! To what do we owe the honor of this visit?” Alaska asked cheerfully.

Courtney stepped forward, into Alaska’s office. Even the charming decor, which usually filled Courtney with happiness, did nothing to alleviate the guilt that was pressing down on her lungs.

“I have to tell you something.”

“Shit, sounds serious,” Alaska said. “Okay, have a seat.”

Courtney sat, biting her trembling lip and taking in a shaky, shallow breath.

“They didn’t send you down here to fire me, did they?” Alaska giggled, then realized that Courtney wasn’t laughing along and grew slightly more somber, folding her hands. “What’s wrong, honey?”

She was just so nice, and it made Courtney hate herself even more.

“I...really messed up.”

“How so?” Alaska looked genuinely concerned, which only made Courtney feel worse.

“Um…” There was no way around it except biting the bullet. “I was handling the Fashion Week confirmations, but…” Courtney took a deep breath. “I missed some of the tabs on the spreadsheet, and so I didn’t reach out to people until this morning and some of them have taken other jobs.”

“You ‘missed tabs’?” Alaska repeated, her voice filled with disbelief.

“Yeah, I just...I didn’t see that there was more than one, so-”

Alaska sighed heavily, letting out a small, aggravated sound, before asking, “So then...okay, how bad is it?”

“Um…”

“How many people are unavailable, Courtney?”

Courtney handed over the pages in her hands, unable to look Alaska in the eye. She just couldn’t face the disappointment and anger that she knew would be on her face right now. She pressed her lips together, still trying to hold back the flood of tears, cheeks burning hot with shame, as Alaska looked over the lists.

“Jesus christ…” she muttered, then picked up the phone. “Kim? Hi, it’s me. Sooooo, there was a bit of a snafu with some of the Fashion Week staff and we need to pull names for alternates...Uh huh...Probably at least 15—...I know, I know. I’m sorry, this is...Yeah, you know what? Get me some recommendations from Yara Sofia, and I’ll see who’s working some of the shows 2 days before...Yeah, let’s make some calls and then reconvene in 30...Okay...Yeah, I get it, I’m sorry...Bye.”

“I’m so sorry, Alaska,” Courtney said. “I don’t know how I could have been so careless. But...please just tell me what I can do to help you guys-”

“I think you’ve done enough. You should go.”

Courtney nodded, swallowing down the lump in her throat and standing up. Telling herself that she just had to get to the bathroom before letting any tears fall.

Without another word, she turned and ran, racing blindly for the nearest restroom, where she locked herself into a stall and finally let herself fall apart, crying like the useless baby that she was. What was she doing in this job? Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to trust her with so many important tasks for such a huge company? How come, no matter how hard she tried, she was just never able to stay on top of it all?

A few minutes later, she heard the door open and heels click softly as they walked towards her.

She tried to get ahold of herself, especially once she saw the houndstooth pumps under the stall door, but it was no use.

“Courtney.”

“Y-yes?”

“This sucks. Okay? And it’s gonna be a huge headache to fix, and just something we really didn’t need today on top of everything else we’re dealing with—”

“I know,” Courtney said, breath hitching.

“—but...we’ll manage. Okay? So stop beating yourself up, and just do better in the future. I know you can.” Alaska paused before adding, “You’re better than this one mistake.”

Something about her kindness, even after all that, made Courtney lose it even more. A sob escaped her chest, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Enough of this, okay?” Alaska said. “Take a minute, then wash your face and come back to my office. I have a job for you.”

***

Courtney knocked tentatively on Alaska’s open door. She’d managed to pull herself together, and though everything in head was screaming to turn and run--from this company, from this job, from the silly dreams that kept her in this country--she’d forced herself to return and face the music.

“Sit.” Alaska pointed to a spot on the sofa, where a phone and a blank notepad were lined up on the coffee table. “Violet said that we could borrow you for the afternoon, so you can help us get out of this mess. I’ve emailed you the contact info for a bunch of makeup artists and hairstylists. You need to find out their availability, and if they have recommendations. If they’re free, tell them we’ll return with confirmation and a deal memo by the end of the day.”

Courtney nodded, sitting down and eagerly getting to work, relieved that she could have a small part of the solution.

“And Courtney…”

“Yes?” Courtney looked back up at her.

“Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Not Violet,” Courtney muttered, almost as a reflex, and Alaska burst out laughing.

“Are you kidding? Violet’s been here for over a year now, but when she first got the job, that office was a mess. Everyonemakes mistakes. Trust me. The real test is what you do afterwards.”

“Thanks, Alaska,” said Courtney, looking up at her with a smile for the first time all day.

“No problem. Now get to work!”

Courtney grinned, lifting the receiver and dialing the first number on her list. It took them almost 4 hours (and a bribe from Kim’s favorite sushi place to keep everyone working through lunch), but they eventually found people for all of the positions. When they finally finished, Courtney headed back upstairs to print out all the signed deal memos and update the spreadsheet with their new staff.

Violet was gone, having accompanied Fame to a meeting at Saks, but she’d left something wonderful behind on Courtney’s desk—not one, but two Fashion Week party invitations, with a yellow Post-It note with the word “sorry” written on it.

Courtney picked up her phone, sending a text to Violet with just the word ‘thanks.’

***

Willam hated his boss.

He hadn’t always. When he first got the job at OK!, Detox had been almost like a hero to him. But as the months wore on, and story after story got tossed or ripped to shreds or cut down to a two-line caption for some stupid photo collage, the resentment had built up to the point where he felt physical anger every time he saw Detox, or his stupid face, or his hideous yellow hair.

It just wasn’t fair. Willam knew that he was a more talented reporter, and a smarter person, than anyone else on staff. But in the meeting today, Rhea’s idiotic idea about a spread on celebrity foodstagrams had gotten praise, whereas he’d gotten chewed out, treated like garbage, all for pursuing a story that Detox failed to understand. Or worse, was actively trying to cover up.

“Hey bro. You alright?” Rhea asked, poking her head in the door.

“No. And fuck off,” Willam spat, turning to his computer.

“Ooh, someone’s maaad…” Rhea didn’t take the hint at all, slipping into the office and shutting the door behind her.

“I mean it, Rhea, get the fuck out of here.”

“Awww, it’s okay. I can handle your wittle tantrum, baby,” she said mockingly. “You need a snacky? Juice box? A wittle baby nappy?”

She reached forward to tousle his hair, and he pushed her away, eyes blazing with anger.

“This is bullshit and you know it!” he exclaimed.

“Bro, it’s not that big of a deal. Just drop it and find a different story to work on.” Rhea yawned, examining her nails.

“But I’m finally getting somewhere!”

“Are you? Because you said you’d hit a dead end with that sexy lesbian-”

“Sure. Pearl was a dead end. But-”

“Tragic,” Rhea clucked. “I could have made magic with her…” She punctuated her statement with an extremely lewd tongue gesture.

“Gross. And fine, yes, she didn’t give me anything, but-”

“And Detox literally told you 5 times that there’s no story there.”

“Exactly, Rhea! So what’s he trying to cover up? He obviously didn’t like that I was getting too close to something big. You know he’s friends with her.”

“Sure...but even if you’re right, then what?” Rhea said. “Say you find some crazy dirt, you really think he’ll publish it?”

“I think that if I find some crazy dirt, Detox fucking Sanderson won’t matter. I’ll be able to sell the story anywhere.”

Rhea chuckled, shaking her head.

“Alright, but you haven’t found anything yet. So what’s your next move, champ? Because so far you’ve got nothing.”

“I got a new mark…” He pulled up a folder of photos on his computer. “Look.”

Rhea looked, head tilted, a puzzled expression on her face.

“These are just pictures of Fame. What am I looking at? You have lost it, bro”

“Look closer. See the chick who’s behind her in every photo?” Willam zoomed in on a striking but clearly camera-shy brunette.

“Okay...her assistant? And?”

“Exactly. And assistants know all their boss’s dirt. But it’s not her I’m after.” Willam clicked through a few more photos, finally finding the one he was looking for. “Bingo.”

In this picture, the brunette was nowhere to be found, but an adorable, bewildered looking blonde was standing behind Fame in a pretty little mint green dress, bogged down with bags.

“A different assistant. Hashtag who cares?”

“A new assistant, Rhea. And new means vulnerable. Trust me...that girl? Is my ticket to aaalllll the dirt.”

***

Pearl opened the door to Laganja’s office, her hands filled with boxes upon boxes of invitations to Fashion Week shows and parties.

Fashion Week was a beast, Fashion Month was a monster. Fame was traveling to London as soon as New York was over, Milan and then Paris following, the prep work to get all of that ready always a struggle. Her assistants bore the brunt of it, Fame’s expensive taste and particular likes and dislikes not changing just because she was on another continent.

Pearl however, had a job to do too. As boss in the social media department, it was Pearl’s job to decide which shows, parties and events would be worth covering for their social media, and what different employees of Galactica should show up to, to best feature and nourish their brand in all four cities.

“Ready to crunch down?”

“I was born ready, mama.”

***

“I have Fame for Raja,” Violet said into the phone, her finger was on the button, ready to patch the call through.

“Oh, sorry. Raja’s in the conference room!” Ivy was always so cheerful, and for the hundredth time Violet wondered how she did it. “She’s working on the model castings. Should I interrupt?”

Violet bit her lip. Fame hated when she was bogged down by unimportant details, but she hated it even more when decisions were made without her.

“Hang on.” Violet clicked back over to Fame. “Raja is working on model casting in the conference room. Should I interrupt?”

“Where is my fruit salad?”  

“On it’s way Miss.” Violet glanced at Courtney’s empty seat, checking her watch. She’d never understand how Courtney could be so slow at everything she did.

“Well hurry up.” Fame hung up, and the line went dead. Violet quickly pressed back to her call with Ivy, wondering to herself if she should text Courtney to speed it along with the food. Not that it would do any good. The last time she sent that message, she got a glib response along the lines of ‘I’ll tell them to chop faster.’

“No need to interru-”

“Violet.” The door to the office opened, and Fame sailed out, snapping her fingers. “Come.”

Violet hung up right away, knowing that Ivy would understand as she grabbed her notebook and phone. By the time she caught up, Miss Fame was already halfway to the conference room.

Shit. She really should have predicted this.

Fame wanted to be involved, no decision too small if it’s subject caught her attention.

Violet tried to text Courtney, a quick shoe emoji to Ivy telling her they were on their way, as she hurried along, making sure the clack of her heels matched Fame’s perfectly so her boss wouldn’t get annoyed at the dual sounds.

As they walked past the glass wall in the conference room, Violet glanced inside.

Raja was sitting at the table. She was wearing a purple silk shirt, heavy gold decorating her ears, fingers and neck, her hair collected in a high ponytail. Trixie was there too, his sweatshirt of the day a bubblegum pink number.

The table was filled with black portfolio folders, and Violet recognized about fifty model cards that were spread out amongst the polaroids of their finished looks.

Violet was just about to get in front of Fame, so she could hold the conference room door open, when she felt her stomach drop.

Right there, at the opposite end of the table, was Sutan.

He was stunning in burgundy, his entire attention focused on his sister as he was talking to her, Raja laughing at something he said.

Sutan hadn’t spotted her yet, but Violet wanted to cry. There was no way she could hide, nowhere to escape to, the other without a doubt recognizing her the minute she stepped inside, and then it’d all be over.

Violet could feel her throat close up, panic clawing at her chest.

“Miss-”

Fame turned to look at her, Violet not even recognizing that she was the one who had called for her boss’s attention.

“I-” Violet was blank. Completely blank.

“I don’t have all day, Violet.”

“I’m going to go get your food.”

“Fine.”

Violet had no idea where it had come from, but Fame turned away from her, clearly dismissing her and blessedly leaving her outside of the conference room.

“Tantan! Were you really going to come by without saying hi-”

The door to the conference room closed, cutting the sound of Fame’s voice off, and Violet did the only thing she could think of.

She ran.

Slamming the door to the office closed helped a little, but her heart was still in her throat. She checked her hair and makeup in her black computer screen, yanking off her ID card and smoothing down her dress over and over again as she walked in a small circle, her heart hammering in her chest.

“Violet?”

Courtney came in through the door, the blonde holding the promised fruit salad in her hand, and for the first time, Violet felt relief course through her body at the sight of her.

“Are you okay?” Courtney asked.

Violet was utterly screwed, but maybe, just maybe, she would be able to pull off the impossible.

All she needed was for Courtney to follow her instructions perfectly.

“Fame is in the conference room for a meeting.”

“So why aren’t you there? Is everything alright?” Courtney’s brow furrowed.

It was a fair question, but it was also a fair question Violet wasn’t going to answer.

“I need you to bring her the food, and take notes.”

“What? Are you sick?”

Violet had started to trust Courtney more and more, but she still hadn’t allowed her to even attempt to take down Fame’s rapid fire orders during meetings, forgetting something at one of those a fatal mistake.

“Go. Now. Please.”

Courtney looked at her like she was insane, but she quickly plated the fruit, grabbed a roll of silverware, her notebook and phone, and hurried to the conference room.

***

Courtney entered the conference room, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible as she set Fame’s bowl of fruit down in front of her, along with the wrapped silverware. She opened her notebook, trying to find a place to stand where she wouldn’t be in the way.

Should she sit? She’d never been present in this room for a meeting where she had nothing to do but listen. It seemed inappropriate somehow to sit down beside Fame at the table, but also weird to be standing behind her, especially since the table was mostly empty.

Courtney vaguely remembered seeing assistants stand along the wall, so she did just that.

Everyone around the table was talking animatedly, Raja and Fame so firm in their opinions it almost sounded like they were fighting, but Courtney couldn’t focus on them or what they were saying.

All she could think about was Violet.

Courtney had never seen her coworker so visibly flustered.

Eyes wild, cheeks red, voice cracking.

She had looked like she was in genuine distress, and something told her that she should just forget about this impromptu meeting and go back to check on Violet.

After all, Fame could easily call her back if she needed something, right?

On the other hand, Violet had ordered her in no uncertain terms to stay with Fame, and there was a chance that whatever was upsetting her would be worse if she had the added stress of being worried about her boss. So Courtney supposed that she should just stay and do what she was told. She tried to follow the conversation about models, taking what notes she could manage. The good news was, nobody seemed to notice or care that she was there, so she assumed that her position near the door, back pressed against the wall, had been the right move.

“You’re blind.”

“It’s an opinion.”

“Trixie, not now darling. Why are all of these- Sutan where is that model I like?”

“I’m going to need a bit more information to go on if you want my help.”

“Who was that model from that latest Vogue?” Fame asked, waving her hand in the air. “The one on my desk with the red?” When her boss tossed a questioning look over her shoulder, Courtney realized that this question must be directed at her.

““I-I’m not sure, Miss?” Was this the sort of thing Violet got asked and was expected to answer? “Would you like me to go get-”

“Ugh,” Fame let out an annoyed scoff, and seemed to only now realize that Courtney was the one who was there. “Where’s Violet?”

“She’s taking care of something in the office,” Courtney said quickly, not really lying through her teeth, though the thing Violet was taking care of most of all was that she looked like she had seen a ghost.

“Go tell her that if she enjoys her job,” Fame said slowly, “she’ll get back here immediately.”

Courtney hesitated for a split second before Fame snapped her fingers, adding, “Now!”

“Yes, Miss!” Courtney said, rushing from the room.

***

Violet was trying desperately to stay calm. She was pacing the office, her brain working in overdrive, her fingers tugging at her skirt.

Violet was no stranger to digging her own grave, but this was an especially deep one, and she wasn’t sure if she could get out.

Under normal circumstances, Violet would run away. She’d burn the bridge, never look back, and walk away from her mistake, but she didn’t want to walk away from Sutan.

She hadn’t lied to him, not exactly, but she still wanted to cry.

Sutan was everything she could ask for, not because he earned more money a month than Violet would in a year, even as a designer, not because of his connections and how he seemed to know everyone who was anything.

No. So far, Sutan had been perfect because of how he acted. He was attentive and kind, respecting Violet’s boundaries without any kind of fight. It felt like he was interested in what she was saying, his eyes lighting up in delight when she shared her opinion.

Violet had no idea why he seemed to like her so much, why he chose to spend time with her and he could have anyone he pointed at, pretty girl after pretty girl probably standing in line to hang on his arm, but somehow, he had chosen her.

There was no way, however, no way at all, that he’d want to continue that when he found out who she really was.

When he saw that she was nothing more than an assistant, who couldn’t even do her job right.

“Um…”

Violet turned around to see Courtney in the doorway.

“I’m really sorry, Violet, but Miss Fame asked for you.”

That was it then. Violet was dead. Her plan had failed, and she had to face the music. She gathered her things, nausea rumbling in her stomach.

“I can tell her you’re sick.”

Violet looked over her shoulder at Courtney who was still standing by the door, a lock of blonde hair twisted around her finger, her lip between her teeth.

“Whatever you want,” she added.

Courtney was a ridiculously good friend, and Violet snorted, the harsh sound betraying how utterly fucked she felt.

“She asked something about a model in the Vogue on her desk, so I can just go get-”

“Jourdan Dunn?” Violet had no idea why Courtney didn’t know that, Fame actually mentioning the model by name one day when Violet had brought her a coffee.

“Great!” Courtney scribbled the name down. “If you need to go, like to the doctor or something, you should go. I’ll message you if anything comes up, or leave you alone completely if that’s what you need, just tell me-”

Violet was pretty sure Courtney had no idea what she had just offered, the blonde in no way ready to run the office on her own.

“No.”

Violet could feel green eyes on her, Courtney watching her every move.

“I’ll go.”

Violet took a deep breath, grabbed her things from the desk and said a slight prayer before she made her way to the conference room, already mourning her lost relationship with Sutan as she closed the door behind her.

***

Sutan was drumming his fingers against the table, a half finished bottle of pellegrino in front of him. He had perked up immediately when Fame had said Violet’s name, the anonymous blonde disappearing to go get her.

He had texted Violet as soon as he had gotten the email from Raja that she wanted him at Galactica, and that she wanted him there now, but as always, she hadn’t seen his message yet.

“I like your new bag, Trixie-” Sutan smiled as he looked at Trixie who had gotten up to stretch, the man looking out the window. Trixie had a fanny pack hanging off of his hip, the cut a lot like what Sutan had seen the European male models run around with over their shoulders, but while theirs was black, Trixie’s was a hot pink and completely covered in jewels.

“Very very stylish.”

“Katya made it for me.”

Sutan wondered if he was supposed to know who Katya was, but Trixie seemed to love it, and fashion was fun at it’s core, or so he had been told.

Sutan was just about to get up himself for a stretch when Violet opened the door and stepped inside, a notebook in hand, her back completely straight.

She was just as pretty as always, an art printed poplin dress in white and light blue paired with a set of elegant heels, her black hair falling down her shoulders, a golden hair clip holding it in place.

He knew that Violet was a designer, but he was pleasantly surprised, and even a little proud, that she was apparently high enough on the food chain to be needed for a meeting like this. It was impressive, only 23, and already invaluable to senior management.

“Hello-“

“Glad you could finally grace us with your presence, Miss Chachki,” Fame drawled, looking bored and kind of impatient. “I need the name of the girl from Vogue, the one with the red-”

“Jourdan Dunn, Miss?”

“Yes!” Fame snapped her fingers. “Jourdan Dunn.”

“You want Jourdan? Now?” Sutan snorted. The model had been booked for months, and while he was very good at his job, he couldn’t make magic happen just because one of his friends changed her mind. “And would you like unicorns at your show as well-”

He was cut off as Raja kicked him under the table, his twin shooting him a serious look that told him to watch his mouth.

“You want someone like Jourdan.” Sutan put it down on the piece of paper in front of him. “Noted.”

“It suits our more tropical, garden-y type of theme for the collection,” Raja picked up a few girls, moving them over and into the approved pile. “Green does look wonderful on darker skin tones.”

Trixie, Fame and Raja chatted back and forth for a bit, Sutan at first caught up in their conversation, but as they started to discuss hairstyles, he zoned out. What they actually did with the models once they were booked was not his business, and while hair could be uncomfortable to endure, it was rarely a violation.

His attention wandered, his gaze settling on something much more interesting than clip on bangs.

Violet was standing against the wall, the woman writing away, noting down everything that was being said.

Sutan tried to catch her eye, tried to get Violet’s attention, but it almost felt like she was avoiding him completely, her gaze glued to her notes.

“Violet?”

Sutan was pulled out of his thoughts as Fame called Violet’s name.

“We need a round of coffees.”

Sutan’s brow furrowed, confused. Why would Miss Fame be sending a lead designer for coffees?

He looked around the room, only now realizing that the apparently useless blonde from earlier wasn’t in attendance anymore.

“Yes, Miss,” Violet said, voice so soft it was almost a whisper, before speaking up a bit more clearly. “What can I get for you all?”

“Hmm, mint tea would be great,” Raja said.

“Can I get an iced mocha with extra whip?” Trixie asked. Violet nodded, writing it down. “Thanks, you’re an angel.”

Violet finally looked Sutan in the eye for the first time all day.

“Anything for you… Sir?”

Sir? Violet had never called him sir, her brown eyes looking at him for the first time, and that was when it clicked. Fame wasn’t sending a designer out for coffees.

“Umh…” Sutan sat up in his chair, the whole situation absolutely bizarre. “No thanks.”

Violet nodded, the tears clear in her eyes as she turned towards the door, walking slowly and precisely. To anyone who didn’t know her, she seemed perfectly calm, but Sutan knew better.

“Please, Violet, continue to move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me,” Fame said drily, before turning her attention back to the model cards, pointing. “I like her…”

Sutan sat in his chair, a little dumbfounded. Violet was Fame’s assistant? Why hadn’t she told him that before? And why was she so upset? Nothing made sense at the moment.

“Hello? Tan?” Fame snapped her fingers, trying to get his attention.

“Yes?”

“Good lord, what is wrong with everyone today?” Fame tapped on one of the cards. “I want her. Trixie, don’t you think she’d be perfect for the resort look?”

“Her chest is a little flat.”

“But look at that waist! Those eyes! Sew some chicken cutlets into the top and she’ll be fine.”

“I can do that.” Trixie made a note.

“Put her on hold, Sutan,” Fame said, handing him the modeling card.

“Are you okay?” Raja asked, her head tilted in concern as she surveyed her brother up and down.

“Yes.” [Actually. No.] Sutan swallowed, his throat feeling as dry as sandpaper. [I need a-] “I need a minute to...excuse me.”

He rose from his chair, and Fame threw up her hands in exasperation.

“Is Mercury in retrograde?”

***

Courtney jumped up from her desk when Violet re-entered. She’d busied herself with updating the schedule and ordering office supplies, but found it impossible to concentrate when she was this worried. Something was really wrong with Violet, and even though Courtney didn’t know what, she felt awful just sitting here doing nothing.

“Violet!” Courtney rushed towards her. “Please tell me what’s wrong, are you-”

“I’m fine.” Violet pushed her way past her, tears falling from her eyes as she grabbed her jacket and her sunglasses, covering herself up so quickly Courtney almost doubted that she had even seen tears fall from Violet’s eyes before she grabbed for her keycard as well.

Courtney had never seen Violet like this before, had never seen her express any emotion beyond calm professionalism or indignant anger, so Violet’s tears shook her to the very core. She also seemed to be having trouble breathing, her skin red and blotchy.

“Please Violet, tell me what’s going on,” Courtney begged.

“Everything is fucked, that’s what’s wrong,” Violet hissed, the tinge of panic back in her voice. “I couldn’t even look at him! Couldn't even-”

“Couldn’t look at who?” Courtney racked her brain. She highly doubted that Trixie could be responsible for this reaction. The jovial head of design was everyone’s best friend, and she’d seen with her own eyes how much he respected Violet. So she must be talking about that other man, the tall one. Courtney’s eyes narrowed.  

*

“Couldn’t look at who?”

“Fuck!” Violet swore as she couldn’t get her stupid jacket to close properly. Her fingers felt numb, clumsy, useless, useless just like her, her mind spiraling, her world zoomed in on the button she couldn’t even manage to close, her mother's voice ringing in her ears, the sharp tone one she hadn't heard in months.

“Violet?”

Her mother would never call her Violet, the word said with a gentle question she knew Courtney could never manage.

Violet turned around, and right there, right in front of her, was Sutan.

*

Courtney twirled to the man who was standing in the door, fury welling up in her chest.

How dare he show up here in the office? She didn’t know what he'd done to Violet, but she could very well use her imagination.

She stepped between them, arms crossed, asking coldly, “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” the man said, his voice annoyingly calm. “You can step away for a couple of minutes so that I can talk to Violet.”

“No, I’m sorry, that’s not going to be possible.” Courtney squared her shoulders, showing him she meant business.

The man let out a chuckle of disbelief before giving her a patient, charming smile.

“Listen, dear-”

“My name is not dear!” Courtney said. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

He took a deep breath before trying a different tactic.

“Well, dear, I don’t know your name, but if you kindly fuck off for 5 minutes, then I’ll happily name my first born child after you.”

Courtney’s mouth dropped open in disbelief. She didn’t care, at the moment, if she got fired. She was not going to let this man intimidate her, or mess with Violet any more than he already had.

“I think you’re the one who needs to fuck off, sir. So back away right now or I’ll have to call securi-”

“Courtney.”

Courtney felt a hand on her arm, Violet’s slender fingers on her.

“Can you go get the coffees?” Violet had pushed her sunglasses into her hair, her dark eyes liquid with tears she barely managed to hold back. “Please.”

“Are you sure?” Courtney asked softly. She really didn’t want to leave Violet alone with this horrible man, but she also didn’t want to say no to her, not in this vulnerable state.

“Yes.” Violet pressed a sheet of paper with the coffee order into her hand. “And Miss Fame’s usual.”

“Okay. But...text me if you need anything.” Courtney picked up her phone and notepad, casting an extra dirty look at that asshole as she left the office.

[brownskinsugarplum76]

Eye of the Storm, Ch 7

I want to start by saying that I'm excited and thankful to have almost completed 10 chapters of this story! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 I really wasn't sure if I had it in me to do a longer story and keep coming up with ideas. It's been a fun process to imagine and write the scenes and chapters. I have more ideas, but I'm curious to see where this goes as I write. Thank you for putting up with my fits and starts.

So... The smut is going down next chapter, but there are a couple of instances of making out in this chapter... I hope you enjoy it! ❤️❤️❤️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite Maggie's head start, Robert was victorious in making it to the house first, thanks to his long legs and the experience that soccer gave him with sprinting. 

"Way to go, Broadway Joe!" Maggie caressed Robert's back when she reached him. 

"Bloody Joe Namath? Really? I've rubbed elbows with him from time to time in New York… I think you'll find Englishmen are more sophisticated and entertaining…" he snarked. 

"Calm down, baby, there's only one confirmed bachelor I have my eyes on." She stood on her tiptoes to kiss Robert's cheek. 

"Mmmmm…" He smiled at the feel of Maggie's lips on his clean-shaven skin. "But I'm starting to think the single life can be overrated, love…" He kissed her on her forehead. 

Maggie was surprised to hear Robert muse about settling down. "You? Trading all this in for a house with a white picket fence?" 

"I'll never return to suburbia. I had my fill of it with my childhood… No, what I'm thinking of is more like a farm… A horse, a goat or two, chickens… Bonzo's living the gentleman farmer dream right now, with his family, and I'd love to have that one day… The farm and the family…"

"OK… I can't picture you doing either the suburbs or a farm. But now I'd love to see you try!" 

"Stranger things have happened, dear…" He put an arm around Maggie's shoulders. "And who knows, you might be the one to see it all play out."

Maggie was too surprised by everything Robert was saying to respond. Her smile said it all, while she pondered going through life as Mrs. Plant. 

"I hope that wasn't too taxing, though? The running?" She needed to change the subject quickly, before she started naming children and picking out china patterns in her head. She knew that Robert's attention span and resolve could be as unpredictable as the timing of California's earthquakes. 

She searched his eyes and took in his facial expression, afraid to find traces of pain. "I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't have made you--"

"--I'm fine, Mags. In fact, I think that was just what the doctor ordered. Everyone has been babying me after the accident, myself included. But maybe that hasn't been the best idea… I've got to start getting back to life, you know? You just forced me to do it in a small way. And eye thank yew," he drawled. 

"One small run for Robert…" Maggie intoned. 

"...One giant step forward for ye olde Golden God!" Robert lifted Maggie in an embrace and swung her around as they kissed. "Thank you."

Maggie smiled shyly. 

"Oi, Strider!" Robert whistled loudly for his dog, who had started racing toward a seagull again. His pup bounded swiftly over the sand to return to his master's side. 

"Let's go in, Maggie love. I believe there's an unfinished matter to attend to?" 

"I think so. But maybe we should get some dinner first, and make sure we have enough energy."

"I like the way you think, woman. It is going to be a long night, innit?" 

"If I have my way…"

"And mine, too…" Robert backed Maggie up against the glass patio doors, pressing his body into hers. He teased his tongue between her lips and communicated all of his feelings--past, present, and future--to her with his steamy actions. Her sighs and her tight embrace acknowledged that she understood and agreed.

***

"You must really love fajitas," said Maggie, carrying both of their plates to the table at the same time. She'd never touched a microwave before, but with Robert's direction, she became a master of using it to heat the food. Robert's quick tour of the drawers and cabinets enabled her to find everything they needed to set the table. She smiled to herself at how easy it felt to blend their lives together. 

"Bloody hell, just like the first night! I forgot we still had some left until you found them." Robert couldn't help but smile when he thought of the meal she had served him back in San Diego. "I'm sorry that I don't have any tequila, though…"

"No worries, I think this wine will do nicely." She took one of the three bottles of California cabernet sauvignon out of its ice water bath and handed it to Robert. 

"I suppose we can have a tequila-soaked moment on the beach whenever we want now, yeah?" He picked up the corkscrew from the table and opened the bottle. 

"Mmmmm hmm…" Maggie nodded her head. 

"We'll have to take advantage of that soon." Robert poured the glasses and handed one to Maggie. 

"This is wonderful," Maggie gushed. She sipped the wine as Robert loaded a tortilla with steak strips and grilled vegetables.

"I'm friends with the owner of the winery. I'll have to take you there sometime."

"Is there anyone that you don't know?"

"Well, I never got to meet any of your presidents, or their kids, even though several of the presidential youth have dug our music." He bit into the fajita.

Maggie laughed. "Well, at least we know your influence didn't bring down the Nixon administration." She added some more grilled vegetables to her tortilla and took a bite.

"No, there's only two hotels at which we've caused newsworthy levels of scandal, and neither's in your nation's capital… Well, maybe three, if you're fool enough to believe Carmine Appice's fishwife's tale…"

Maggie sipped the wine while Robert paused to polish off his first fajita. 

"Your country, and your state, in particular, have been wonderful to me. And not just because of the concerts and, uh, the night life. It just feels like home, you know? Tons of sunshine, easy access to the beach, the woods, the desert, the mountains… Very little rain… I've met so many wonderful people here, made so many pleasant memories… The Los Angeles area has been our home base for the tours, but I could see myself making permanent roots here. And I would love to come home to you, most of all…" He held Maggie's gaze while he readied a second tortilla and then sipped some wine. 

"You know you don't have to say all these things to get me to sleep with you, Robert."

"I know! I mean every word. I'm almost 30, for Christ's sake. Freedom is nice, but living freely with someone dear…" He drained his glass and set to work on his food again. 

"I just need something more. Maggie, do you know how close I came to losing it all? Some of the doctors thought I'd never walk normally again. And it will happen someday, our band will become a thing of the past. The press never fully loved us, and now the winds are shifting a bit with the fans…"

"What do you mean?" Maggie finished her food while Robert gathered his words. 

"I've seen the teen magazines. Somehow they kept showing up here, when I didn't have anything better to do. It seems some of the younger kids are getting tired of the light shows and 30-minute improvisations. They'd rather see their stars in black and white face paint and vinyl or, I don't know, torn shirts and safety pins, rather than me in my ladies' kimonos, or Jagger in some blue eye shadow, or Townsend destroying another guitar that they can only dream to afford…"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "This isn't going to go on forever… I need to start thinking about a second act for myself. And that goes for my personal life as much as my professional one."

Maggie poured herself some more wine. "You know what I think, Robert?" She took a healthy sip from the glass.

“What’s that?”

She finished the glass. “I think you'll find that you have nothing to worry about. There's only one Led Zeppelin. No one else can do what you all can do. I think you've sealed your place in the history books many times over. And whenever it might end--and I don't think it'll be soon--I'm sure you'll get back on your feet quickly. I know you. You can't stop singing. It's too much a part of you."

Robert smiled softly.

"And I also think you have all the time in the world to think about the future of the band and your personal future. Nothing is going to be solved in one night… I think that maybe I need to help you forget about all that for now.” She grabbed his plate and finished the last bite of his third tortilla. Then, she took their plates and cutlery to the sink.

Robert, realizing the bottle of wine was almost empty, grabbed it and finished it in one swallow. He uncorked the next one.

“I'd like that a lot, Maggie dear. It will be much more fun to focus on the different ways I can make you come one time after another…" He chuckled devilishly. "Let's pick up where we left off.”

He stood and grabbed the fresh bottle, wrapping his fist around the neck, and turned toward the bedroom. But he relinquished control of the wine when Maggie caressed his hand and took the bottle, placing it back on the table.

“I’m going to need both of your hands right now.” She traced his jawline with one hand.

"I'm all yours… Every. Last. Inch…" He bent down, fisted her hair with one hand and pulled her closer by the waist with the other. All of the energy of his fear quickly transmuted to lust with a savage kiss. 

As Robert peeled off her shirt, fondled her breasts, and dove in for another hungry kiss, Maggie knew that he was back with her in the present and ready to fill each second of the next several hours with rapture rather than dread.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of my stories are here, or search for the hashtag #brownskinsugarplumlibrary

[sugartaffyta]

hi here is an intro. it’s sunny ( aka boo pearl n tink ) so take this as u will ! if u were around when i first picked her up last year its p much exactly the same i just added like 4 points so dfgjdjkghdkhj don’t come for me xoxox luv uuuu. reply to this post if u wish to plot.

didn’t get enough love as a child

loves strawberry candies. cherry is eh. don’t confuse the two.

she loves all her sugar racers but shes got a weird way of showing it. she would die for every single one tho. she thinks her harsh words are tough love

used to getting what she wants. her parents would buy her whatever as an apology for being absent so she’s just used to being spoiled

cares about her reputation a lil too much

doesn’t know how to handle her emotions properly. she tries her best not to show them at all (except happiness ofc! gotta know when the queen is thriving! )

hard to read sometimes. she’s perfected her poker face

invented being judgmental.

probably sees regina george as an aspirational figure ( altho there are some things she would change-- taffyta never plans to get hit by a bus )

really thinks she would die without katie ( candlehead ) and rancis ( the rest of the racers too, but mainly them )

hates vanellope ( sorry girl! )

couldnt really give you a good REASON as to why she hates vanellope. she just does! ( it has something to do with the fact that she gets free stuff out of being mean to her )

random but every time i picture her and the racers i imagine one of those corny ass teen movies where the popular crew walks by and its slow-mo and the wind is blowing their hair back????? yeah not important but it felt important

loves video games. she will challenge you ( if she thinks youre worthy )

she’s very into pop culture. loves kim kardashian, hates kanye west. up to date on all the celebrity gossip

probably watched the entirety of the royal wedding

loves all those typical teen movies from the 90s / early 00s. what about it!

has probably had an ex or two but they werent any lasting relationships. she doesn’t really set out to look for relationships, mainly because she doesn’t think anyone can keep up with her + her lifestyle ( and can’t find anyone suited to fit in with her group )

in tons of organizations at carthay u. her planner is always full because she hates being bored and lonely with nothing to do

definitely the type of person to say omg and hashtag out loud. JHGKJHGFKJHGFK

definitely keeps an eye on those her friends hang around. maybe she’ll bring it up! maybe not.

probably has never apologized in her life. maybe only a couple times when her words w the racers were kinda harsh.

this is already a lot! sooooooo yea! if u want more info just let a girl kno!

[thecharlesdilaurentis-blog]

Maya and her part!

**WARNING SUPER LONG IM SORRY**

Recently a fan tweeted Marlene asking if mayas storyline was over and she replied saying their may be a bit more to it. So I went back and tried to see what I could make out of the maya clues and how she fits into everything. 

I always love maya and emaya but her character always seemed a bit sketchy at times kinda like alison. (remember this)

when her and emily first meet she seems REALLY interested in getting to know emily, she was asking tons of personal questions about ali and herself, answering questions with a question, and she was being super friendly and almost choosy with her words, almost as if she had other intentions when she met her. What if she was told to get close to her? (Kind of like ezra & cece already knowing who all the girls were and jenna already knowing alison) 

In S1: “The jenna thing”, maya meets spencer and when her and emily go back to her house she says “I get your connection to spencer, you both like to win.” and emily replies “well winnings great but usually if I do my best im happy with the outcome.” and maya chooses to move the topic to spencer by asking how she feels about winning which always kind of stuck out to me. Emily tells her spencer HAS to win.

I just never quite understood why Maya only really asked questions about spencer, I know you could argue she was just trying to get to know emily but throughout the episodes maya’s in we don’t really see her interested in knowing about all the liars to me it seemed like she asked about spencer only because she reminded her the most of Ali.

& then maya moves the conversation to Alison again saying how she seemed like she was always the center of attention. Then tells emily she usually runs from those girls. Em says “you don’t look like the type of girl who runs from anyone” and Maya moves the convo to something else. (WHO U RUNNIN FROM MAYA)

Also later in the night when emily turns around maya immediately goes and cuddles with her almost like she KNOWS emily was in the closet. She said she had a boyfriend & i dont think it was something she just did in her sleep. + the A alerts afterwards were right on time, something was up. 

this also happens again when they kiss in the photo booth and A steals the strips right away. & maya tells emily not to worry about it that it there was probably just no more paper & drags her away. MAYA WAS IN ON IT THE WHOLE TIME. She was used to bring em out the closet and let A use it against her. 

Also in S2: “I must confess” Maya is scene wearing the exact same tory burch boots -A ordered online. (couldnt find a pic though)

But I think somewhere along the way maya started to really develop feelings and wanted out but A/AD or someone connected to them had stuff on maya forcing her to stay in it so she chooses to run away but A gets her first and kills her before she can get far.

Now lets go back to what I said earlier about her kind of acting like Alison

In the pilot maya asks emily if shes ever smoked and em replies No. Maya says this and the way she says it for some reason really just reminds me of something Ali would say. 

& then later in the episode Spencer sees who she thinks is Ali in Mayas room (ali’s old room) 

But what’s odd is that this person is wearing the same tank Maya was wearing the whole episode.

now this can be explained in a couple ways, either:

1. maya found a blonde wig while looking through the dilaurentis house and tried it on to pretend to be ali.

2. that was really or ali or maybe an ali twin and she was talking to maya & wearing a similiar top? (this one seems too much but wouldnt be surprised if the writers went this way.)

3.maya bought a blonde wig & was really trying to pretend to be someone maybe a trick she learned from a real blonde she knew who liked to wear wigs & be someone else.

       - i’m thinking its this last one! (or i hope it is)

In S2E12: “eye of the beholder” Jason tells em & spencer that maya found some of Ali’s old things in the attic, “Like they were hidden” he thought they threw everything away but maya kept some things, maybe b/c she knew what they were for.

Another thing I wanna point out is maya has mentioned on more than one occasion (1.02 & 1.12) that she has trouble sleeping. I mean I would have trouble sleeping too if I was worried my secrets may catch up to me.

Now I know there a lot of maya theories & some have even said they think she’s A. I don’t think I could really hop on board with maya being A but I do think when mona said “MAYA KNEW” she really meant maya fucking knew, like she knew the game & knew what was going on & just how dangerous A could really be. 

Okay so, we all know there seems to be a couple different teams when it comes to PLL and their alliances. Theres, 

AD & Cece (& maybe someone else? idk yet still looking into this)

Theres the Liars 

Then theres AD’s pawns (Jenna, Noel, Lucas, Shana, Alison (sometimes), Garrett, Mona etc.)

Well i think maya started off as one of these pawns but like all the people above at some point they wanted out and like I said above its likely so did she. 

It’s possible that maybe Ali and Maya knew eachother prior to her disapperance maybe they met on vacation… at cape may.

I saw this picture when I searched up maya clues on google and I almost screamed! I think this Analyzing A tumblr acct found it so i’ll put her link:

http://analyzinga.tumblr.com/post/44225287853/major-clue-possible-spoiler-alert

Could this mean this is Maya’s unnamed brother? Did she also hang out with Ali, Cece, & Melissa during that summer? Or was she scared of them like she mentioned to emily about attention seeking girls like Alison?

Now I heard from twitter it may be fake but still why would they make the mistake of putting it in the credits? Idk I just think it would be a nice twist for maya to have a deeper connection to Ali than just living in her house. 

UPDATE: MARLENE SAID WE’RE MEETING AN UNKNOWN RELATIVE OF MAYA’S! Some people meationed that reporter Aria went off on in 7.12 may be her brother but I couldn’t find a pic and I didn’t wanna sit through hulu commercials to find out so if someone finds the pic reblog it cause I wanna knowwww!

I mean we find out they had to have known each other either way or at least met before b/c they were both staying in the kahn cabin around the same time!

Also when Ali and Maya’s body are found the scene is so similar they even play the same song.

I think at first Alison gave Maya the idea to fake her death & Noel, Garrett, & Jenna helped her carry it out. 

Marlene also posted this pic on insta w/ 2 dolls that w/ the hashtag #emison but to me the 2 dolls look more like ali and maya then ali and em. Idk I just think there’s alot more to their relationship than we know right now. 

Now lets talk about the night mayas body was presumably found:

Maya trys to call emily but she cant get service so it never goes through, I don’t think this was maya b/c her phone was already stolen by this point. I think A just was trying to distract emily to mess with hanna.

Jumping ahead to when Mona falls off the cliff, we get a zoom in on her watch that says its 12am. The girls then go back to their houses and the cops have a body they think is Mayas.

BUT we later see this video of Maya at the kahn cabin at 1:14am

So are we just really gonna believe it took the liars OVER 1hr & 30m to get to thier houses?? B/c maya had to have got kidnapped and then dragged over to emilys back yard from the cabin and murdered. Which just in my head doesn’t add up with the timeline.

In addition to this I noticed when Maya gets pulled out of the cameras view it doesn’t necessarily mean she was captured by A, I think theres a good chance it was Ali who pulled on her to take her out of view and talk to her. We know Ali was staying there too so maybe she already knew where the cameras were and didnt wanna take any chances being seen seeing as this was before A supposedly knew Ali was alive. 

Now lets talk about after her “Death”:

We find out Maya went to the kahn parties often and met holden before, she was also friendly with Jenna, we see her get into a car with garrett the night she died (But we know he didnt kill her because he was arrested at 12am) & its when Nate (lyndon) is introduced and he is accused of being the one who killed Maya. 

Nate never openly says he killed Maya, in fact some of the things he says when he tries to kill paige kind of indicate he thinks emily has something to do with her death. 

He says “Im gonna do to you, what you did to me. Im gonna take someone from you & you are gonna watch me do it.” 

Its also been speculated that Maya was involved in the night em dug up Ali’s grave b/c they used her bottle of pills to drug her (which was also prescribed after she died) & flashbacks she remembers having + jenna lies to her saying she found her on the street drunk when spencer asks why she lied she says b/c she’s protecting a friend.

This was also one of the flashbacks she remembers having,

LIKE COME ON WHO ELSE WOULD WRITE THAT???

Most of me really does believe Maya did end up really dying sometime later before the end of season 3 or in the beginning of season 4 

The girls do find this carved into the dollhouse in S6 maybe AD found maya & took her to the doll house to be his Ali for a while before Mona got there.

But idk i’ve also read alot of theories w/ extra clues and reasons she could indeed still be alive helping out emily and hiding from AD or might even be bethany young herself. So theres that lol. I’m just excited to know that Maya still is relevant b/c her character had so much potential, hopefully mar doesn’t fuck it up!!

Reblog & tell me what you think, do you think maya’s still alive or dead? & if she wasn’t the person in the body bag in 2.25 then who was? 

[obsoletebooks]

Stay the Night

I saw this prompt the other day and was just really inspired to write my own version after reading @ofstagsanddoes version which you can find here.

It was stupid really. How it all went down. He'd never had any problems with interviews before. After all, he was James Potter, and James Potter had a way with words. Except for that one day, that one day he made a big mistake.

"James! What is your opinion on the new campaign with Molly Mitchell?" A reporter had asked.

Normally he would have made a joke, and the reporters would've smiled and everything would've been okay.

He didn't though, instead he spoke his mind. "Honestly Lou, it seems a little too excessive for my taste. We're a professional football team, last time I checked we didn't need the help of a model to sell tickets."

He realized his mistake the moment he finished; the room went quiet. Not for long though, soon another reporter asked Benjy Fenwick about his game winning goal, and James figured it was all over. Sadly, that was not the case.

It started the next day. Someone James had never heard of took to social media.

@ dorymeadowes - @ lilyev you're close with Molly, what do you think of @ jpofficial 's harsh words?

@ lilyev - @ dorymeadowes he insinuated that her craft was less important than his. I feel highly offended by his words.

@ emmyvance - @ lilyev that's not fair to @ jpofficial , all he meant was that his work should be able to speak for itself.

@ lilyev - @ emmyvance did he though? @ mollymitch didn't take the job to "help" them but rather to enhance their image.

@ emmyvance - @ lilyev "enhance their image?" Really Lily?

@ dorymeadowes - @ emmyvance @ lilyev but she's right, it's like two singers recording a duet.

@ siriusly - @ dorymeadowes did you just compare my football team to a singer?

@ thepeterpettigrew - I believe that is exactly what she did @ siriusly

@ lilyev - @ siriusly @ thepeterpettigrew lovely, do you two want to shun models too?

@ siriusly - @ lilyev I would never do such a thing. Models are beautiful specimen.

@ mmckinnon - @ siriusly that is so disgustingly downgrading.

@ siriusly - @ mmckinnon who might you be?

@ mmckinnon - @ siriusly Lily and Mary's mate...

@ siriusly - @ mmckinnon who in God's name is Mary?

@ mollymitch - @ siriusly that would be me.. good to know people do their research before judging me.

@ thepeterpettigrew - @ siriusly Wikipedia checks out @ mollymitch 's story, she was born "Mary Margaret Macdonald."

@ siriusly - @ thepeterpettigrew well where'd she pick up the Mitchell?

@ thepeterpettigrew - @ siriusly her dad's first name.

@ dorymeadowes - So this is nice, but what's it got to do with the original topic of @ jpofficial 's idiocy.

@ jpofficial - @ dorymeadowes IDIOCY?

@ siriusly - @ jpofficial there he is! The King of Thieves himself!

@ lupin - @ siriusly don't make Disney references.

@ lilyev - Please tell me you aren't a supporter of this @ lupin

@ siriusly - @ lilyev ah, that's right, you and @ lupin go WAY back. Hate to break it to you Ginger but he's a football player too.

@ lupin - @ lilyev mistakes were made, of course I support @ jpofficial but that's because I understand what he meant.

@ mmckinnon - @ lupin I think you better watch your words as well R.J., sounds an awful lot like you share @ jpofficial 's crazy ideology.

@ lupin - That's not what I meant @ mmckinnon and you know it.

@ jpofficial - @ mmckinnon let's get one thing straight. I meant no offence to @ mollymitch but I did mean what I said.

@ lilyev - @ jpofficial that's rather contradictory.

@ jpofficial - @ lilyev okay I honestly don't know any of you, so I don't see why I owe you an explanation.

@ lilyev - @ jpofficial you should've thought about all of this before you dragged @ mollymitch through the mud.

That was just the beginning. While the opinions of the others stayed noncommittal, a war broke out between the Evanders and the Potterheads. Eventually though, at about the six month mark, the fighting stopped being about Molly Mitchell. It just became a public fact that if you were a fan of the actress Lily Evans, you loathed the football player James Potter, and vice versa.

@ sev_394 - @ jpofficial how do you feel about @ lilyev winning an Oscar?

@ jpofficial - @ sev_394 it's good for her, if she keeps this pace (one award every 22 years) she'll have the same amount of trophies as me in... never.

@ lilyev - Awh @ jpofficial I'm sorry, but your childhood dance trophies don't count.

It was about two years after the original fight, a year after Lily's Academy Award, that James realized they'd have to meet.

"So James, anything new in the works?" He was asked one evening on a talk show.

"I'm actually headed to America next month to do a brief cameo on a TV show."

The host smiled. "I heard that, quite the exciting time in your life."

James nodded. "Definitely, although football will always be my true passion, it's nice to get a chance to branch out."

"Speaking of things you're passionate about," the host continued. "Let's talk Lily Evans. After all, you'll be filming on the same lot that her movie is finishing up on."

James was not prepared for that. In all honesty he hadn't even thought of Lily when he accepted the role. Keeping his cool, he shrugged. "There's not much to it.  I think the world has made it bigger than it really is."

"So you wouldn't say that you hate Lily Evans?"

James shrugged again. "I've never even met her."

That was the wrong thing to say. It was only two weeks later when he got an invite to an American talk show. The catch? They wanted a joint interview. James and Lily in one room.

He couldn't say no, he knew that. He'd just come out looking petty and childish. Instead he found himself flying out to Los Angeles nearly a week early.

James didn't see Lily before the show. They'd purposely kept the two apart. Too soon he heard their names being announced and he was directed onstage. She came from the right, he from the left, and they both failed to acknowledge the other until they were forced to.

"Well I believe some introductions are in order." The host said smirking slightly. "James Potter," he said gesturing to James, "meet Lily Evans. Lily Evans," he went on, "meet James Potter."

She smiled at him and he couldn't help smiling back. Lily Evans was gorgeous. Sure he'd seen pictures of her before, but nothing compared to the real thing.

"You two first started talking over Twitter, two years ago, is that correct?" The host asked moving the show along.

Lily answered. "Yes, we got into it over my dear friend Molly Mitchell."

"Is there still some bad blood between you two?" The host asked no doubt noting their hostility towards each other.

This time James spoke first. "Between our fans no doubt."

"We've moved past Molly though," Lily added.

"You two do however still appear to be quite harsh towards each other on social media."

James laughed. "I'm afraid that's just playful banter."

Lily nodded her head in agreement prompting the host to ask: "so there's nothing going on between you two?"

"Our relationship has been purely online," Lily said, her red hair glistening in the stage light. "I can't speak for James, but I honestly have no problem with him."

The internet blew up that night. The Evanders and Potterheads all questioned their existence. James and Lily did their best to put them at ease.

@ jpofficial - I don't see what the big deal is, I still have more trophies and fans than @ lilyev will ever have.

@ lilyev - Did you skip math class @ jpofficial ? Last time I checked 3 million was more than 2.9 million.

@ siriusly - @ jpofficial @ lilyev but the most important thing is that 3.2 million trumps both of you. #sorrynotsorry

@ lilyev - @ siriusly does anyone still use that hashtag though...?

@ siriusly - @ lilyev it's vintage Ginger

@ jpofficial - @ siriusly saying "it's vintage" doesn't make it any better mate.

@ siriusly - @ jpofficial #sorrynotsorry

Two weeks later James saw Lily for the second time. He’d just finished his last scene, and he spotted her sitting on the curb in the parking lot.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, confused at why she’d choose to spend her free time in a parking lot.

"James Potter," she said turning her attention to him. "Aren't you going to help a girl up?" She stuck out both her hands and he obliged.

They lingered for a moment longer than they should of and by the time they heard a camera click it was too late.

"That's going to be everywhere in the morning, isn't it?" She asked looking up at him.

He nodded. "They'll probably think we're getting married."

"It's ridiculous," she said looking down at their connected hands. "Can't two people just poke fun at each other without it becoming such a big deal?"

He smiled but she didn't notice. "You should've thought about all that before you picked a fight with me."

"Maybe, but it has done wonders for my career, really enhanced it."

"Arguing with me?"

Lily nodded. "You know I really ought to thank you."

"But you won't."

"But I won't." She agreed.

@ siriusly - @ jpofficial OH MY GOD MATE are you and Ginger together?

@ mmckinnon - @ siriusly @ lilyev AM I MISSING SOMETHING????????

@ siriusly - @ mmckinnon do you live under a rock ?

@ lupin - @ siriusly @ mmckinnon it doesn't mean anything.

@ mmckinnon - @ siriusly @ lupin WHAT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING???

@ siriusly - @ mmckinnon James and Lily holding hands you invalid

@ lupin - @ siriusly @ mmckinnon it doesn't mean anything.

@ thepeterpettigrew - @ lupin @ siriusly @ mmckinnon I just saw. Do you reckon they're getting married??

@ mollymitch - @ thepeterpettigrew @ lupin @ siriusly @ mmckinnon WHAT?!

@ lupin - @ mollymitch @ thepeterpettigrew @ siriusly @ mmckinnon IT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING.

@ lilyev - @ mollymitch @ thepeterpettigrew @ siriusly @ mmckinnon @ lupin guys.....

@ siriusly - @ lilyev WHAT??????????

@ lilyev - @ mollymitch @ thepeterpettigrew @ siriusly @ mmckinnon @ lupin I was sitting on the ground and he helped me up..

@ mollymitch - @ lilyev ooohh...........

@ lupin - @ mollymitch @ thepeterpettigrew @ siriusly @ mmckinnon do I even need to say it..?

James laughed as Lily relayed the conversation to him. His phone was plugged in across the room so he'd missed it all. He didn't much listen though. Instead his attention was directed entirely to gazing at the beautiful redhead who'd spent the night.

[artificialqueens]

Primary Care (a.k.a the Poundcake ficlet collection) 5/13 [Katya/Alaska] - Spoky

A/N: This interlude is pure genius. Why? It is so out of place and weird that it’s all right! It also leads the way very well to the next song no Poundcake and I hope this chapter does the same. So, it’s not exactly a filler chapter, but without this chapter the next one would make no sense.

Beta: apatheticskeleton. She’s so amazing she made it possible for me to post Ch4&5 close to each other as I they kinda link. Thank you. <3

Primary care   (a.k.a. the Poundcake ficlet collection)

Chapter 5/13 - ‘O, Brasil’

Instagram Theonlyalaska5000

A selfie of Justin. The photo has been taken on the backseat of a car. He is wearing a black Alaska T-shirt and smiling widely. He has red lipstick all over his lips and chin. The caption reads: ‘Nothing’s private.’

*

Snapchat Private chat between Justin and Brian.

Brian sends four different dickpics to Justin.

‘Which one is me?’ ‘None. They all taste like my phone.’

*

Twitter Alaska Thunderfuck @ Alaska5000

Are you coming to #DragCon ?! I’ll be appearing there. Get tickets here: #RupaulsDragCon @RuPaulsDragCon.

katya_zamo: You’ll be there?! I’m cancelling.

*

Twitter Katya @ katya_zamo

Just in! Happiness often comes in the form of a warm butt. #news #nothingsprivate

*

Private chat

Justin: Twitter, “Just in!” as in Justin? Brian: You’re smarter than you look! Justin: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/science/coldblooded-does-not-mean-stupid.html

*

Instagram Theonlyalaska5000

A photo of Alaska and Sharon on stage. They look beautiful. There is no caption.

*

Realistically speaking, Brian knows that Aaron is engaged to Chad, and that Justin has been flirting with him for the past week or so on social media. But it still makes him uncomfortable, and he doesn’t really know how serious Justin’s flirting is. Brian clicks the picture open and hashtags it ‘freakshow’. He doesn’t post it. Trixie is right. If he wants to get involved with Alaska, Needles will be present in the dynamic, if not literally and in person, then through media. It is actually one of the best reasons not to start anything with Alaska. Their every move would be under scrutiny by media, producers, employers, fans and worst of all, other queens. Brian can already hear Del Rio’s read on the topic: ‘Thunderfuck cannot get himself a real man, so she keeps sucking the souls out of her sisters until she’s the only one left standing.’

He really shouldn’t be starting anything with Alaska, because it’s just fucking crazy and it’ll hurt both of their careers, and lives, and hearts - if snakes even have hearts? Brian googles it.

* * *

It was 3am and Justin had just arrived to the hotel. He was absolutely exhausted. His phone made the  sound of a received SMS, which surprised him. Had it been a WhatsApp, a Snapchat or any other type of application message he would’ve ignored it, but he rarely got text messages from anyone anymore, except his mom, and so he made the effort to read it before going to sleep. The sender was his favourite Russian Hooker: ‘Did you know that snakes have hearts?’

Justin was confused. He wasn’t entirely sure whether he had accidentally done something sweet and Brian had figured it out - or if the weirdo was actually talking about actual snake anatomy. He took a seat at the sofa and started to type a reply. After two attempts of typing, when the autocorrects were not even funny, he got annoyed and pushed the call button instead - it was just easier.

Brian’s phone rang while he was reading about snake hearts and so he picked up without looking at the caller ID.

‘Yup?’

‘Who answers their phone with a ‘yup’?’

Brian froze for a second, but chuckled then. ‘Oh hi!’

‘Of course I know, I can feel it beating.’ Justin drawled in a voice that tried to reach Alaska, but didn’t quite make it. He really was beat.

Brian frowned. ‘What?’

‘… And I thought I was tired. Snakes. Hearts. Ring a bell?’

A lamp lit in Brian’s head. ‘Ah! You got my message?’

‘No, I just randomly called to discuss snake hearts.’

Brian smiled.

‘Well, you’re in luck! Because I have just learned that snakes have both renal and hepatic portal circulations and that the position of snake’s heart varies among species and, as there is no diaphragm, it is mobile within the ribcage. Snake’s heart’s position varies slightly with its ecological niche and phylogenetic position, and its mobility may facilitate the passage of relatively large prey. Snake hearts have three chambers: right and left atria and one ventricle. The right atrium receives deoxygenated blood from the systemic circulation and the left receives oxy-’

‘Are you actually reading some snake encyclopedia out loud for me?’

Brian was quiet for a moment. ‘I guess that depends on your position whether Wikipedia counts as a snake encyclopedia?’

Justin couldn’t believe it. He had to really make an effort to not to laugh out loud.

‘So you’re telling me I’m paying sky high phone minutes to hear a wikipedia entry I could’ve looked up free online?’

‘It’s not my fault you’re not smart enough to call me on WhatsApp.’

Justin had to admit Brian had a point. He promptly hanged up, opened the app and called back.

‘Yup!’

‘Now you’re doing that just to annoy me.’

‘Possibly.’  

They shared a short comfortable silence.

‘I’m in Rio,’ Justin said then and took a more comfortable position on the sofa.

‘Oh yeah? I’ve never been in Rio, but if I ever had the chance I would be certain to use a condom and enjoy the ride.’

Justin got the double meaning and rolled his eyes. He then realised Brian couldn’t see him.

‘Do you ever take anything seriously?’

‘Yes, absolutely. But it worsens my anxiety, so I try not make a habit out of it.’

Justin shook his head in amusement. He liked talking to Brian. It made him feel somehow comfortable - safe and secure. The memories and feelings from the dressing room when he had fallen apart and Katya had put him back together popped to his mind, as did the kiss they had shared the last time they had actually seen each other. The memories left an empty feeling inside him, which was amplified by Brian’s voice at the other end of the call.

He should’ve texted, Justin realised too late.

‘Hello? Did I lose you?’

‘No no, I’m here,’ Justin said quietly.

‘You alright?’ Brian asked and Justin could hear worry in his voice.

Justin squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. There were so many feelings that it was hard to make sense of them. He was so tired and he really should’ve texted. Nothing made any sense. He couldn’t even remember when was the last time he had felt like this; like a complete mess; like nothing made sense and something was missing.

‘Justin?’

‘I’m sorry,’ Justin whispered. He could feel the tears coming and cursed. ‘Shit. Look, I need to go.’

‘Oh. Ok.’

‘Night.’ Justin waited no reply before hanging up.

It hurt. It fucking hurt. He just couldn’t do it, couldn’t give in. It would be the exact same story. He would build dream castles and talk about soulmates, love, and it would all come crumbling down. There was a tight feeling in Justin’s chest and tears rose to his eyes. It was hard to breathe.

He’d never been as afraid as with Aaron. Their relationship had been wonderful and beautiful, but he had also been so petrified with fear that he couldn’t breathe. He had started to suffocate and treated it with alcohol, drugs and then with sex - with a stranger. The handsome guy from Florida popped to his thoughts and Justin screamed inside. How could he have done that? To the person he had loved most in the world. Through his own actions his greatest fears had become a reality. The dream castles had shattered to pieces. It was hard to breathe.

He had once told Rupaul that he feared death, which was bullshit. He had been terrified of living, because he knew he would fuck it up, and he had, and he would again. He wouldn’t do it again. No, it would be easier to live alone than fear the time it would be over. He needed to consciously to think about breathing to do it, it hurt.

Justin didn’t know how long he had been crying when he heard the voice and the banging of the door.

‘I know you’re in there and if you don’t open this door, I’m going to wake up the entire hallway or the entire hotel if I have to!’

Aaron. Exactly the person he wanted to, and equally as much did not want to see.

‘I’m serious!’

Justin tiptoed to the door and opened it to see Aaron standing there, barefooted.

Aaron took one look at him and sighed. ‘Oh honey.’ He pushed the door open and collected the fragile boy into his arms. Justin was bigger than Aaron remembered, or maybe he remembered wrong? Whichever the case, he didn’t seem to fit into Aaron’s embrace as well as he used to.

‘Chad, close the door,’ Aaron said quietly. The name shook Justin’s foundation. It caused him to lose sight of every single string he had held onto to keep himself together and so he crumbled to the floor, sobbing. He was so tired.

‘Come on honey, get up, the bed’s right there,’ Aaron whispered and massaged small circles onto Justin’s back. ‘Come on, up you go.’

Aaron got the sobbing man onto the bed and started stroking his hair gently. ‘You’re just tired. You just need to sleep and everything will come together.’

It took only minutes for Justin to calm down in Aaron’s embrace and fall asleep.

Chad was sitting on the sofa, watching the two men on the bed.

‘Love?’ Aaron whispered gently. ‘Could you give me my phone?’

Chad nodded and handed the phone he had been fiddling with to it’s rightful owner.

Aaron re-opened the message he had received 22 minutes ago from an unknown number: ‘Hi Aaron, got your number from Detox. You’re in Rio with Justin, no? I think he needs help, he sounded exhausted. I think you know what I mean. Brian (Katya)’

‘All well,’ Aaron typed and thought for a moment. ‘Thank you.’ He thought again, erased the thank you and added ‘How did you know?’ before pressing send.

‘I’ve seen it before. It just sounded like that on the phone,’ came Brian’s immediate reply.  

Aaron raised his eyebrows in surprise. Someone really cared. He sighed and typed a ‘Thank you.’ before walking to Chad, who had returned to the sofa.

‘Come on, he’s fine now,’ Aaron whispered and offered a hand to his handsome fiancé.  

Chad glanced to the sleeping man on the bed, nodded and accepted Aaron’s hand.

They walked to their room and Chad closed the door in silence.

‘You ok?’ he then asked Aaron.

‘Yeah, why?’

‘You’re awfully quiet.’

‘Mm,’ Aaron nodded. He didn’t know why but it bothered him.

‘How long do you think Justin has known Brian?’

Chad shrugged. ‘I don’t know, little over a year?’

‘Yeah, that’s what I thought,’ Aaron said and walked to their bed. The couple snuggled up together and Chad kissed Aaron’s shoulder.

‘It took me over two years to see it coming, to recognise the signs. I didn’t even know you could hear it from his voice… And we were dating, we lived together,’ Aaron explained.

‘See what coming?’

‘Those exhaustion and stress induced panic attacks Justin works himself into.’

‘Mm,’ Chad nodded. He was silent for a moment and then asked uncertainly: ‘You’re jealous?’

‘No!’ Aaron exclaimed, but could see that Chad wasn’t convinced. ‘I guess a little. He’s thousands of miles away and could hear from Justin’s bare voice that he needed help. I spent seven hours today with him, on- and off-stage, and I didn’t notice a thing.’

Chad smiled gently, happily. ‘Yeah, because you’re not in love with him.’

Aaron nodded, surprised that Chad’s comment didn’t hurt. He really was not in love with Justin. Hadn’t been for a long time. He loved him, dearly, but was not in love with him. Did that mean that Brian was?

‘You know what I think?’

‘What?’

‘I think we should sleep.’

Aaron nodded and turned off the lights. He listened to Chad’s breathing, but couldn’t fall asleep. His thoughts kept going in circles and coming back to Justin. He knew had to do something or the feeling wouldn’t leave him alone. He checked that Chad was asleep and sneaked into the toilet. He was fiddling with his phone while trying to decide whether or not to make the call. Truthfully, it wasn’t fair on either of them - not on Justin, not on Brian. But he had to do something and at 4.30 am this was the only thing he could think of.

* * *

6295.08 miles away Brian McCook was just getting into a shower when his phone rang in the living room. He turned on his heels and took three long stride to reach his phone. He had just  swiped the screen to answer when he hit his big toe to a coffee table corner.

‘Дерьмо́! Fuckingshitmotherfucker!’

‘I’ll just assume you don’t answer all of you calls like that?’ came a rather surprised voice of Aaron Coady and Brian swore again under his breath.

‘No, I… Sorry. I hit my toe. Jesus. I think I’m bleeding. It hurts like shit!’

‘Yes, shit can be very painful,’ Sharon noted, amused.

‘Sorry,’ Brian said again. ‘You called?’

‘Yes. I have a favour to ask, and I’m sure you have work, or are busy, or something. But like… Look, I know about Texas.’

Brian rolled his eyes. Who didn’t know about Texas? Fucking gossipy Drag Cunts - there was nothing majestic about that bunch.

‘We’ve been in Rio for a week and we have another one to go and, let’s just cut to the chase - how would you feel about coming to Brazil?’

  —–

A/N2: Who can guess what Poundcake song chapter 6 is based on? ^O^