#sorry to me it's not a stretch that a previous 'truth' gets proven wrong. yeah she becomes the first witcher 👍 what is it to you bro

[deadrlngers]

"noooo it can't be that ciri survived the trial, no woman has ever become a witcher" damn cirilla fiona elen riannon you keep proving yourself to be the legend

haters are so funny. it was supposed to be ciri all along. if you really thought tw4 would still have geralt as the protagonist instead of ciri idk what to tell you

[toomanyfandoms02]

Evidence // Spencer Reid x Reader

HEY guess who's back. I'm SO SO SO sorry for the delay. I've been having the most SERIOUS case of writers block and I'm finally pulling myself out of it YAYYYY. So here ya go.

Not a request, but I couldn't resist this prompt!

Summary - Spencer and Reader get locked in the evidence room.

Prompt - “What on earth happened in here?"

Word count - 2.9k

Spencer and I often stayed after together to finish up work. We didn't like to have to wake up so early to make touch ups. So here we were, sitting on the floor in the back of the evidence room. We were sat behind tall filing cabinets, a dim lamp lit beside us.

We were working a case in Arizona involving 3 girls. It was running relatively smooth, the problem was that the police station that we were placed at was in the middle of nowhere. And that was proven by the signal warning on my phone.

*unable to send message.*

Good thing it wasn't anything important.

There were multiple pages sprawled out in front of us, we looked between them all.

"I don't think we will have to stay too long after today." I commented. "It looks like we are working pretty fast this time around."

"I guess we're getting the hang of this " Spencer laughed, writing something down.

*click*

I craned my neck around the cabinets, wondering if someone was coming in the door. Seeing no one, I turned back to him, shrugging my shoulders.

We continued for another hour (and 28 minutes by Spencer's count). I stacked the papers together, shutting them in a folder and tucking it under my arm. I stood from my previous position, stretching my back.

"That's enough sitting on a concrete floor for me." I complained, hunching over and dragging myself to the door. This earned a laugh from Spencer. I reached for the knob, eager to get to the hotel and sleep.

But the knob only jiggled.

And jiggled.

And didn't budge.

"Uh. I think, I think the door is locked." I whispered, turning to Spencer slowly.

"No way." He stated, lightly pushing me out of the way. I listened as he jiggled it, desperately trying to turn the door knob. His head was placed against the glass, hands framing his eyes while he looked out the small doors window. "The lights are all off out there. I think they are on night patrol."

"Well this is thrilling." I laughed, slumping onto the floor. I pulled my phone from my pocket, holding it in the air and attempting to call Emily. The call started, my excitement being crushed by a warning on my phone.

*Your call cannot go through at the moment, we are unable to find a signal.*

Well fine then.

"Do you know how to pick a lock?" He asked.

"If there was anyone that knows how to pick a lock, I thought it would be you."

"Why?" His posture looked stiff and offended.

"You know everything." I deadpanned offering a dumb look. He rolled his eyes at this and sat down across from me. "Do you think we'll die in here?" I asked nonchalantly. Spencer squinted his eyes at me.

"Well statistically, no." And that's all he said.

"Is that all you got?"

"I'm too tired to ramble." He groaned. His head was leaned back on a cabinet. "But I will say that on average night patrols and at around 3:30 to 4 am. So we have quite a few hours to kill." The clock on the wall read 11:17. Yeah, we had some time to kill.

"Alright, we aren't just gonna sit here. We are gonna play games, I can't stand to sit in silence." Spencer sat up slightly, flashing me a confused look.

"Like what?"

"We are going to start with would you rather. I'll start." My head started sorting through all of the would you rather questions I had been asked that I loved and found the perfect one for this genius.

"Would you rather lose the ability to read or the ability to speak." I watched as he opened his mouth to answer then closed it, thinking again. I thought this would be a pretty obvious answer for him.

"I think I would lose the ability to speak. I could do nearly everything the same. I would just have to write my findings down." He sat in thought for a moment. "Would you rather have unlimited international first class tickets or never have to pay for food at restaurants?" I was thoroughly surprised by the question.

"That's a good one! I definitely want to travel, but I do eat a lot... First class tickets. I want to see ancient ruins, can't walk to them." I laughed. We played this game for around 10 more minutes before getting extremely bored of it.

"Alright enough of this." I groaned, coming up with a new idea. "We are gonna play two truths and a lie. Pretty straight forward, I'll start and you try to guess which one is a lie." Spencer nodded and waited. "I broke my leg while falling from a tree when I was 9, I've had a crush on someone on the team, and I once ate nerds candy for a whole week when I was 7 and had to get my stomache pumped." The last one had his eyebrows furrowing. I remained still and emotionless so he couldn't read me as well.

"I completely believe that you ate candy for a week and had to get medical attention as a result." He pointed out oh so graciously. "And you're a total klutz too, so it wouldn't surprise me if you broke your leg. Plus I think I'd know if you ever liked someone on the team. Final answer you've never had a crush on anyone on the team." He looked so smug in the moment, this just got me more pumped to wipe that smile from his face.

"Nope." As expected, his face immediately fell.

"Who did you like!" Spencer's arms were flailing in exasperation.

"I don't have to tell you that." I chuckled. "Now you go." My foot kicked his lightly, egging him on. He gave a glare and moved on reluctantly.

"I'm afraid of the dark, the only reason I drink coffee is because I had a crush on a girl who liked it, and I drank 11 cups of coffee one day and was up for 39 hours straight."

"You definitely drink coffee because you like it and not because of a girl, lie." There was no question about it, that would be a dumb reason to drink something.

"Actually that is why I drink coffee."

Huh?

"The lie is that I was up for 39 hours straight, I was only up for 35."

"Christ Spence!" I shook my head in disapproval. "Tell me about the girl." I could see his cheeks flush in the slightest. ~~Silently wishing that I could make him feel like that~~

"Her name was Josephine and she lived on my street. She and I would play chess together in the park whenever I wasn't studying, and she would bring a cup of coffee every day. Eventually, in my own way to impress her, I started bringing coffee too. And she liked that, but of course we drifted apart because of how fast my life was moving. It's unfortunate." He was staring down at his hands now. "You and her are very similar. I think that's why we've gotten so... close." That comment got me very curious.

"How were we alike? If you don't mind me asking."

"She was kind and funny, never let anyone down. And she was intelligent. Not only in personality either, you have the same color hair and eyes. I bet you guys would have gotten along really well." I could see him making his thinking face, I assume he was looking into past memories.

"That's so sweet." I kicked his foot with a smile, bringing him back to reality. "So, last round until we are playing the dreaded truth or dare ooooOooOooOooo." Spencer laughed and rolled his eyes. "I use to have a cat named Piglet because of how obsessed with Winnie the Pooh I was, my first boyfriends name was Spencer, and I play guitar."

"There is absolutely no way your first boyfriends name was Spencer, it's the 828th most popular name. That would be nearly impossible or a crazy coincidence." His hand gestured were out of this world at this point, completely flabbergasted that I would even try to tell him such a *lie*.

"Wrong again pretty boy, that's true. His name was Spencer Allen Sallow. The only reason I remember his middle name is because I remember his initials being 'SAS'. Are you ready for truth or dare?"

"I guess." He mocked annoyance and threw his head back.

"Ok, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"If you could make one wish, right this second, what would it be?" He stared at me intently for a moment, as if he was looking for the answer in me. He then lightly shook his head, it was so small, but hard to miss considering we were practically having a staring contest.

"I would wish for the door to be unlocked so I could sleep at the hotel." His head nodded.

"Boring, I choose dare." I was now sitting much closer to him, waiting for whatever that beautiful brain could come up with. Spencer looked to the papers on the floor and then back at me, an evil smirk forming on his lips.

"Do a snow angel in our paperwork." My shoulders slumped.

"What if I rip something!" I wouldn't usually whine like this but *geez* I did not want to redo all this.

"Just be careful then." I looked at him with a pleading look. "Oh so you're *boring*." That's what got me.

"**Fine!**" I slowly lowered myself onto the papers, flattening out and looking up to Spencer, he was hovering over me slightly in a criss-crossed position with that evil smirk. His hands gestured me on.

I laid my arms and legs and and moved them, hearing the paper scrape against the floor and giggling. I had to admit, it was fun. And if having fun with Spencer meant I had to redo a few papers.

Then so be it.

I sat up after Spencer told me I'm done through fits of laughter, holding his stomache and nearly toppled flat on the floor. I looked around happily to see most papers were only crinkled, not ripped. I'll just have to flatten them out tomorrow.

"Okay asshat, truth or dare." He tapped his chin, looking daring for once.

"Dare." Perfect.

"Serenade me." I crossed my arms over my chest as I watched his face fall.

"With just my voice?"

"Oh no no, I have an instrument, the bag I carry with us on cases is like a never ending bag." I reached into the giant bag and pulled out a ukelele case, but not an *ordinary* uke case, a *mini* uke case. "Can you play ukelele?" I pulled it from the case, handing it over to him.

"No, but I may be able to pick it up."

"So you will actually serenade me!?" I got my hands ready to clap.

"Sure, why not." I clapped infinitely fast, watching him pluck at the strings a bit and lean back into the cabinets. Then he started on a beat, one that I recognized.

"Put your head on my shoulder, hold me in your arms, baby. Squeeze me oh so tight. Show me that you love me too." I listened to him through the whole song, knowing full well that as soon as he was strumming that ukelele I was already done for.

"How did I do?" He strummed the last chord and look up at me with a smile.

Oh how I wanted to tell him that he serenaded me to the sun and back.

"That was amazing! You learned that om the spot?"

"Yeah, like piano. It's basically just math and note remembrance." He shrugged, setting it back in my case. "Truth or dare."

"Truth."

"What's the first thing on your bucket list and your biggest secret?"

"You can't ask two questions, that's cheating!" I laughed.

"You technically never specified that so, answer."

This little shit.

"Fine. The first thing on my bucket list has been the same since I was an 8th grader, which is to fall in love. And I know that's cliche but I'm sticking to it." I didn't want to tell him my biggest secret. Truth be told I had a pretty normal life, so my biggest secret was my attraction to him. After telling my mom about it she told me workplace romances were dangerous and wrong, so I tried so hard to get over it. But it's not going away, it's doing anything but that.

"Come on y/n, I'm not going to judge you for your secret."

Yeah uh huh, sure.

"It's embarrassing, and I would prefer not to tell you in a locked room so I can immediately escape after I tell you. So can I just tell you when the door gets unlocked?"

"It can't be that bad."

"It is."

"Please Y/n!"

"I like you!" His mouth shut quickly, tilting his head like a confused puppy. Now that I had given out my biggest secret, I felt a little... powerful. I crossed my arms firmly over my chest, maintaining eye contact, my heart pounding out of my chest. He wanted the truth and he got it, I hope he's happy to be stuck with me in this room for another hour and a half.

"Really?" Was all he could say.

"No. I just said that I could have awkward tension swirling around the room for the next hour, I love doing that." I replied in the most monotone voice I could muster. A very faint smile was appearing on Spencer's face, making me a little nervous. He quirked one eyebrow.

"Are you sure it's not sexual tension?"

What?

My eyebrows raised at the question. Was he... flirting with me? I didn't know he knew how to do that, let alone so *well*. He began speaking again.

"Truth or dare?"

"It's my turn to ask you."

"Truth. Or. Dare." Who knew Mr. Sweatervest could seem so intimidating.

"Dare."

"I dare you to act on your biggest secret." Is this some weird way to make me kiss him, because it's working. If we aren't on the same page, this is about to get Mega embarrassing, but I don't think this could get any weirder. I crawled forward, placing myself on his lap and staring into his eyes. I've never seen him smile so big.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Actually no, this is awful you should really stop." He deadpanned, lightly placing his hands on my hips.

"One, since when do you use sarcasm. And two, I hate you." I giggled, pulling his face to mine. One of his hands fled to my cheek, rubbing his thumb across it. He pressed further into the kiss, all while pulling me impossibly closer.

Is this real?

I pulled one hand away from his face, putting it on the skin of my thigh and pinching myself.

"Ouch shit!"

And apperantly I don't know my own strength.

"Are you okay?" Spencer's face was a wave of concern, scanning over my face quickly to make sure he didn't do something wrong.

"Yeah I was just, pinching myself to make sure this was real." I lifted my hand to his shoulder, resting it there.

"Why? Is this like a lot of your dreams?" He winking obviously at me as I slapped his chest.

"Please stop." I whined, pulling myself off of his lap. "I'm very tired and we still have an hour left, are you up for a cat nap?" I pulled a blanket from my bag. "We can use this as a pillow, it's already pretty hot in here."

"Definitely." I made it into a pillow, giving him enough room. He slung his arm around me, burying his head in the crook of my neck. "Thank you for telling me. And for the record, I wouldn't want to be locked in a room with anyone else." And with many papers scattered messily around us, we fell asleep.

-

I shot up, hearing voices I knew all too well.

"What the hell is happening, since when it pretty boy a playboy."

"Finally! Now y/n can stop silently pining and telling me about it."

"I knew those two had chemistry."

I blinked slowly, trying to release the sleep from my eyes. Spencer's sleepy arm was still wrapped around my waist, unmoving. Once my eyes adjusted I was met with the staring eyes of Derek, Garcia and Emily. Then there was Hotch, just entering the room.

“What on earth happened in here?"

"We got locked in here and played some innocent party games." I explained gesturing to the messy papers. "Spencer dared me to make a snow angel in our files." I smiled sheepishly. Spencer was now stirring awake, sitting up and looking at our teammates. Derek held out his hand for a fist bump and Spencer highfived it weakly.

"Told you you would rope her in." He chuckled. I rolled my eyes at the comment and stood up.

"Let's finish up this case. We've only had 1 hour of sleep and I want this day to be over with already. Save the comments for when I'm asleep on the jet." And with that we were off.

But let's not ignore that Spencer and I's hands were clasped beneath every table we sat at that day, it's not to be ignored.

And I won't be forgetting that day any time soon.

[artificialqueens]

Tree House Kisses, Chapter 26 (Adorney) - Scorpio and Veronica

A/N: Click here for previous chapters. xoxo!

Chapter Summary: Summer!!!! Sleepovers, Pool Parties, Naughty Pictures, Amusement Parks, Truth or Dare, and more...

Chapter 26: Cool for the Summer

Courtney blew Roy a kiss as she shut the car door, skipping up the driveway. She was about to go inside when she saw Adore in her bedroom window, face illuminated by her computer screen. She pulled out her phone.

COURTNEY: Put away the porn and come over

ADORE: Dude how did you know

COURTNEY: It’s 1:30 am, lol

ADORE: lol see you in 2...or 5

-

“You know, I was only watching porn because I can’t work on my music when Bonnie’s trying to sleep.” Adore explained, pulling off her Ugg boots.

“Yeah, right,” Courtney grinned, slipping off her dress.

“It’s true! I was on a roll earlier tonight.”

“Really?” Courtney pulled on an oversized nightshirt and climbed onto the bed.

Adore nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been fooling around with the guitar again, ever since I had to teach Willam those chords for the play.”

Courtney punched her lightly on the shoulder, her face lit up with delight. “You didn’t tell me that!”

“Well, you didn’t ask, bitch!” Adore smiled shyly.

“That’s amazing! When do I get to hear?”

“Uhhhh…”

“Oh, come on! Please?” Courtney took a bottle of lotion from her bedside table and began to apply it liberally to her legs.

Adore did her best not to stare, looking instead into her eyes. “Maybe when they’re more finished. Anyway, what about your night? How’s my bestie Roy doing?”

Courtney grinned. “He’s alright. It’s so funny, even during the summer, he’s still all stressed about school. He couldn’t stop talking about these classes he’s taking at the city college and where he’s going to apply next year, and scholarships and test scores, and finally I just had to stuff his dick in my mouth to get him to calm down.”

Adore laughed. “You’re such a good girlfriend.”

“I know, right?” Courtney winked.

“Still using the Willam technique?”

“It’s proven quite popular,” she giggled, stretching. “And how’s your woman? Everything good there?”

“Uhhh...I don’t know. I mean, she’s cool and everything, but I think she might be getting bored with me.”

Courtney climbed under the covers, holding one side open for Adore to join her.

“Why would you say that?”

“It’s like...I don’t know, she’s working all the time, and so I barely see her. And then when finally do get a chance to hang out, she’s always talking about all this random shit I that’s totally over my head like Zen Buddhism and modernist cinema or new wave punk feminism and I’m like...what the fuck…?”

Courtney paused before carefully replying, “It sounds like you’re the one who’s bored.”

“I mean, maybe. But it’s not a total loss. She did teach me a lot of stuff.” Adore smirked.

Courtney raised her eyebrows, rolling over onto her side. “And here I thought you already knew everything, from your time with Miss Violet.”

Adore burst out laughing. “Uh, no. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Violet does a couple of things extremely well. But we were mostly just making shit up as we went along. I wouldn’t call her repertoire extensive.”

“Aww, I guess Violet and I have that in common, don’t we?” Courtney giggled.

“Guess so.” Adore didn’t fight it when Courtney snuggled up to her, slipping a leg in between hers, warm breath tickling her neck. She took a deep, shaky breath, trailing her fingers up and down Courtney’s back, feeling the blonde shift and let out a soft sigh.

“That feels so good,” she murmured, pressing her thighs together, fingers gripping Adore’s shirt.

Adore swallowed. “You know...my friends think our relationship is…kind of fucked up,” she said.

“Oh yeah?” Courtney lifted her head. “Why’s that?” her voice was airy, teasing. She looked at Adore with those big, glittering green eyes.

Fuck. There was, of course, no way for Adore to explain why without also admitting her feelings, and how the fuck was she supposed to do that? So she just shook her head. “They just...don’t get it.”

“Hmmm...well…” Courtney bit her lip, thinking for a moment, then she smiled and said, “Fuck ‘em.” She pressed a soft kiss against Adore’s cheek and laid her head back down on her shoulder, sighing deeply.

“Exactly,” Adore whispered back, running a hand through her hair, blinking back tears.

-

With not much else to do, everyone decided to meet up at Pearl’s to hang out for the day. They grabbed a few snacks, brought out the radio and settled poolside. Violet stretched out on a lounge chair, Fame and Adore on either side of her.

“Are you guys just gonna lay out tanning like some bougie white girls?” Trinity asked, raking her braids into a high bun.

“They are some bougie white girls,” Willam teased, causing three heads to snap in his direction as he added, “Valleygirls.”

“I’m Mexi-” “Actually-” Fame and Adore started at the same time, accompanied by an annoyed scoff from Violet, and Pearl chuckled in amusement at their defensive tones, feet dangling in the water.

“I know, I know. I was just joking. You're not white.” Willam dismissed the girls as he walked towards the pool edge. He raised an eyebrow, confusion etched into his features as he saw Trinity coming to join him. “I didn’t know you could get your hair wet?” Willam tilted his head as he watched Trinity tighten the band around her hair.

“Um, that’s fucking racist!” Trinity frowned at Willam.

“No, it’s not! Black girls don’t like to get their hair wet,” Willam said matter-of-factly, then swooping down, splashing Trinity in the face with water.

“Fuck off!” Trinity yelled, pushing Willam into the pool while he was still bent over and then jumping in after him.

“Trinity! Don’t drown him all by yourself, wait for me to help you,” Pearl laughed, sliding into the pool after them.

“Guys, don’t forget sunscreen,” Fame pulled a bottle out of her tote bag, squeezing an adamant amount in her palm.

“I’m too punk for sunscreen,” Adore pulled her t-shirt off, throwing it off to the side before reaching to turn on the radio.

Violet snorted, her and Fame rolling their eyes at Adore’s statement.

“You’re not too punk to get sunburned.” Fame said, applying the cold sunscreen to Violet’s back, earning a hiss from the girl.

“Sunburns are super punk. It means the sun loves me more,” Adore smirked.

Fame rolled her eyes again, continuing to massage the sunscreen across Violet’s skin.

“It means you’ll have a higher chance of looking like a raisin at 30.” Violet looked at Adore over her sunglasses.

Adore shrugged nonchalantly, saying, “I like raisins.” She closed her eyes and leaned back, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin, turning up the radio as Fame started rambling on about skincare, the sound of squeals and laughter from the pool becoming background noise. A small smile stretched across her lips.

“Adore! Did your boobs get bigger?” Violet’s voice cut through Adore’s tranquil state.

“What?” Adore nearly choked, turning to look at the doe-eyed girl.

“Never mind, it’s probably just the padding in your top. They look good though,” Violet smirked, pushing her sunglasses back up her nose.

-

“Pearl, are you sure your parents won’t notice?” Trinity whispered as the group snuck into Pearl’s kitchen to steal a bottle of liquor.

“I promise they won’t notice. My mom mostly drinks wine and my dad‘ll grab a beer before anything else,” Pearl tried to assure a hesitant Trinity.

“Why would they buy it if they don’t drink it,” Violet rolled her eyes.

“For when we have parties.”

They made Willam, Adore and Fame stay in Pearl’s room. Pearl’s mom had fallen asleep on the couch as Love Actually played on the T.V. and the last thing they needed was Adore tripping or Willam being a bit too loud and waking her.

Pearl slowly opened the cabinet, all three girls cringed when it squeaked, Violet watching Pearl’s mom from her spot in the doorway as lookout, making sure she didn’t move.

“What do you guys want?” Pearl whispered as she surveyed the different bottles in the cabinet.

“Just grab one and come on,” Violet hissed when Mrs. Lent shifted on the couch.

“Alright, alright,” Pearl grabbed a mostly full bottle of Captain Morgan’s rum. The three girls tried to make it quietly as possible past the couch to the hallway. Violet led the way, followed by Trinity and then Pearl, keeping one eye on her mother.

Suddenly, a loud bang (Pearl hitting her toe on the table beside the couch) made the girls freeze in place, their hearts racing in their chests. Her mother shot up, looking around frantically. Violet immediately hit the ground, pulling Trinity down with her.

“Pearl?” her mother asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, squinting at her daughter in the dimly lit room.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t mean to wake you,” Pearl quickly passed the bottle down to Trinity, her and Violet turning and crawling the rest of the way back to her room.

-

Later, they sat scattered around Pearl’s room. Pearl and Adore were sprawled across her bed, Trinity curled up asleep in her chair in the corner, Violet and Fame cuddled together on the floor with their backs against the dresser, and Willam stretched across the rug. Everyone was listening (or half-listening, or not listening at all) to Fame drunkenly ramble on about when she used to live on her abuela's farm.

Violet seemed to be the only one listening intently, a look of adoration on her face as she stuffed handfuls of skittles into her mouth. Fame gestured wildly while she described one occurrence of a couple of chickens that had gotten loose and they chased them for almost an hour.

“It was crazy! Miles… him...he is a handful, but an absolutely gorgeous bird. I think I want to enter him into a contest when I go to stay this summer. You guys have to come visit too,” Fame looked at her friends, their faces a mix of expressions, from Violet nodding excitedly to Pearl’s face scrunched up in distaste as she scratched her stomach.

“Y-you want us to, you want me to,” Willam’s words jumbled on his tongue, “to come to your grandma’s farm in the middle of nowhere and chase chickens with you?” Willam raised a quizzical eyebrow to Fame.

“Well, we won't just be chasing chickens unless we have to… or you want to,” Fame shrugged, popping a chip in her mouth.

“Uh, I, I don't know. I think… I'm with Will-” Pearl started.

“Now, hold up!” Willam interrupted squeezing his way in between Violet and Fame, ignoring Violet’s pinch on his arm “Will there… be hot cowboys?” he asked seriously, leaning in real close to Fame.

Adore shook her head, letting her hair fall in her face, “or cowboys but girls.”

Violet frowned at the two.

“This s’not bout you, les-bee-an,” Willam slurred.

“Mhm, definitely,” Fame nodded.

“Well, I'm in. Not passing up the chance to fuck a cowboy.” Willam made a noise of finalization, before crawling over to Trinity and pulling on her feet, making her whine and lethargically slap him away.

“I don't know,” Pearl slurred, shaking her head.  “I was born with people. I'm a city girl. Chasing stinky animals is not fun.”

“But you’ve never been!” Fame threw her hands up.

“Sounds fuckin cool. I want to wrestle a pig, get real dirty, show ‘em what I'm made of,” Adore said, before letting out a dramatic moan as she reached for the bag of chips in Fame’s lap, that was just an inch out of her reach.

-

“Well? What do you think?” Courtney looked into Roy’s face, smiling coyly, biting her lip.

Roy’s heart hammered as he looked at the black and white photos nestled in the box. He covered it quickly, downing half of his water in one gulp.

Courtney pressed her thighs together under the table, pleased that the photos seemed to be having the desired effect. She picked up her champagne flute of ginger ale and sipped it daintily.

“Happy Birthday.”

Roy swallowed, then said hoarsely, “Court, I-I don’t think I can keep these.”

The corners of Courtney’s mouth turned down in a pout. “What do you mean?”

“This is...you can’t just...I mean…” Roy glanced around at the restaurant, a look of helpless despair on his face.

Courtney crossed her arms.

Roy lowered his voice. “You’re 16. Having these pictures is a liability.”

“A liability?” Courtney looked like she’d been struck.

“Yes. No! No, I mean…” Roy rubbed his eyes. “This is coming out all wrong.”

“It better be,” Courtney said, eyes dark.

Roy sighed. “You are so beautiful. You know that?”

“Mmhmmm…” Courtney tapped her nails against the table.

“And these are...like...it’s the sexiest thing anyone has ever done for me. Ever.”

“Uh huh.”

“But I just...it’s illegal. What if I run for office someday?”

Courtney looked at him, his face contorted in agony, and burst out laughing.

“It’s not funny!”

“Roy…”

“I’m serious, Court! I mean, who else knows about them? Who took them?”

“I took them! I used my mom’s camera, on her tripod.” Courtney shook her head, still laughing.

“And who developed them?”

“Oh my god, you’re crazy.” She got up from her seat and walked over to him, sitting down on his lap. “CVS, alright? At the kiosk.”

Roy buried his face in her hair. “What about the negatives?”

“It’s a memory card. Roy, listen. I was trying to do something nice for your birthday, not stress you out. So...you want me to take the pictures back? You wanna burn them?”

Roy shook his head slightly, ashamed, whispering, “I want them.”

Courtney giggled, cupping his face in her hands. “Well, okay then.”

“But can we destroy the memory card?”

“Of course, babe.” Courtney kissed his forehead. “You paranoid freak.”

-

Violet sat on one end of the porch swing, face bare of makeup, her hair down, beautiful ebony locks framing her doll-like face, a short white and lilac sundress on. She was picking the petals off of a bunch of wild roses that she’d pulled from the bushes.

Pearl sat on the other end of the swing, sketching the scene in front of her. Her pencil moved across the notepad, adding and erasing details. This was only the second time Violet sat for her, but it was 10 times better already.

Violet wasn't stiff and posed, but relaxed, in her element as she dropped petals at her feet. Pearl could draw her all day. In fact, she might have a folder with a few paintings, sketches and anything in between inspired by Violet.

Yeah, Shea was beautiful and fun, but Pearl’s brain insisted on drawing things that reminded her of the doe-eyed girl sitting across from her.

The vibrating of Pearl’s phone suddenly captured both girls’ attention.

“Who is it?” Violet asked, casually moving to pick up another flower. The smile that stretched across Pearl’s face as the blonde typed away on her phone caused Violet’s mind to turn in the worst way. “Your girlfriend? Does she know you're with me?” She arched a perfect eyebrow.

“Yes, actually, she does know.” Pearl sat her phone down, amused by Violet’s tone.

“Do I know her? Why hasn't she hung out with us? Thinks she’s too good for us?”

Pearl pressed her lips together, not wanting to laugh in Violet’s face. But a jealous Violet had to be the cutest thing Pearl had ever experienced.

Violet looked up from where she was now aggressively yanking the petals off the flower, into Pearl’s blue-grey eyes.

“No, you don't know her, and why would I bring her around...so you could torture her?”

Violet rolled her eyes, huffed, then threw the flower at Pearl, “Whatever, finish drawing me. I'm getting impatient.”

Pearl smirked then sent Shea a text saying that she'd come over later.

-

Courtney gripped Roy’s hand tightly in hers, stomach tight with excitement. Waves of adrenaline coursed through her body, all the way to her toes.

Roy looked over at her beautiful face, eyes wild with lust, hair whipping in her face, lips parted. He squeezed her hand back.

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she let out a delighted scream, as their car barreled down the track, hurtling through what seemed to be thin air, whipping around the curves, tossing them every which way.

After the ride ended, Courtney fell into Roy’s arms, dazed, chest heaving. “Omigod, that was amazing. Let’s do it again.”

Roy laughed, kissing her on the forehead. “We still have the whole park to get through, babe.”

“I know, but that one’s my faaaavorite.” She bit her lip, pressing against him. “I’ll make it worth your while…”

“Oh yeah?”

“I mean, after all, it is still your birthday week…” Courtney batted her eyes at him.

Roy cleared his throat. “So, I guess we’re riding Goliath again…”

Courtney grinned and took his hand, leading him back towards the beginning of the line.

-

“Pearl, I dare you to prank call Gia.”

“Ughh, that’s lame,” Violet threw her head back in a groan.

“Do you have a better dare?” Trinity looked at Violet expectantly.

“Of course I do. I… dare... you to crack an egg on Jamin’s windshield.” Violet smiled evilly.

The group tiptoed down the block and into a nearby cul-de-sac, where Jamin’s car was parked on the street. All of them were barefoot and giggly. Pearl’s fingers flexed around the egg in her hand, looking around for any witnesses.

She walked up to the old, beat-up car, hesitant because she knew by the time Jamin noticed the egg on his car, it'd be too late and the summer sun would have baked it into something truly disgusting.

“Don't be a pussy. Crack the egg,” Violet said, not believing Pearl would do it.

“Do it, new girl. Do it, this is your initiation. Are you cool enough to hang with the queer kids?” Willam crossed his arms, a dopey smile on his face.

“What? We've been friends for like, almost a year,” Pearl shook her head, before going back to mentally preparing herself to crack it.

Adore shifted nervously, arm intertwined with Trinity’s, looking around, hoping they wouldn't get caught.

“You think she gone do it?” Trinity asked. Adore shrugged.

“Just fucking do it!” Violet yelled, a bit too loud. Fame slapped her hand over Violet’s mouth, shushing the girl.

Pearl smashed the egg down where the roof met the windshield, yolk running down the window.

“Woo! New girl!” Willam yelled.

Suddenly a light turned on in the Ruhren house. In a panic, they all ran, pushing and pulling each other back into Adore's. Closing curtains and trying to slow their hammering hearts.

-

“Cuz…”

“Yeees?” Trinity drawled sweetly.

“Is it true that you have the answers to Monday’s quiz? Because if you do and didn’t give them to me, I will punch you. In the face. No questions asked.” Willam’s nails dug into Trinity’s thigh as he glared at her.

“That fucking sucks that your parents making you two take summer classes. They must hate you,” Adore commented, rolling over onto her stomach.

“I mean it, cuz,” Willam practically growled, ignoring Adore. “I need those answers.”

“I don’t have them!” Trinity laughed.

“Then why did you say that you’re guaranteed an A?”

“Because I’ve been studying. You should try it.”

“Booo, no way.”

“Guys, no one cares about your stupid class,” Violet said. “Trin, it’s your turn.”

“Adore…Is it true that you and Raja broke up?” Trinity asked.

“Yeah, we broke last night. It’s been weird since school ended, and we weren’t really seeing much of each other, so we called it quits.” Adore nodded.

“Told you! You owe me five dollars,” Willam held his hand out in front of Trinity.

“I don’t owe you shit,” she slapped his hand away.

“Uh huh, you made a bet and I want my five dollars.” Willam pretended to reach for her pockets and she slapped him some more, shrieking.

“Fame,” Adore said, anxious to avoid more bickering from those two.

“That’s my name,” she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder, flirtatiously batting her lashes at Adore.

“Is it really?” Pearl asked.

“Wha- No!” Violet looked at Pearl with an incredulous expression.

“Who, in their right mind, would name their child ‘Fame’?” Willam threw his hands up, completely thrown off by Pearl’s question.

“Well, I don't blame her. You guys have some not so regular names.” Trinity sided with Pearl.  

“Well, you never know. Plus all the teachers call her Fame,” Pearl defended.

“Can we ignore her because she obviously doesn't have a brain? And just get back to the game?” Violet rolled her eyes.

“Hey, that was mean.” Pearl poked Violet in the ribs, pouting. Violet ignored her, but Pearl scooted closer, poking her again. Violet looked back, staring at those pouted lips a second too long before murmuring something under her breath and swatting Pearl.

“Okay,” Adore decided the name discourse was over. “Is it true that you’re still a virgin?”

“Yeah,” Fame nodded.

“Seriously?”

The group looked at her with varying levels of disbelief.

“Well, yeah…”

“But you and Patrick been dating for over a year now,” Trinity pointed out.

Fame shrugged, “There's other ways to enjoy people besides sex. We're not in any hurry. We're young and when the time comes, the time comes.”

“Okay, whatever, Fame’s a virgin, big deal,” Violet rolled her eyes. “Let's keep the game moving.”

“Okay, Vies.” Fame turned to her with a smug little smile and said, “I dare you and Pearl to go in the closet for seven minutes and make out.”

“That’s a lame dare,” Pearl rolled her eyes.

“Is it?” Violet raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

“Yeah, I mean come on, making out in a closet… How many times has that been done?” Pearl leaned back on her hands, shrugging.

Violet rolled her eyes, before looking at Adore. “Wanna make out with me?”

Adore thought for a second. It wasn't like they hadn't done it before. But she did convince herself that they were toxic together in any other way but friends. Using each other to forget about their real crushes wasn’t exactly a healthy coping mechanism. On the other hand, she missed fingers digging into her skin, pulling her impossibly close, teeth biting into her bottom lip and leaving marks across her skin. Raja had been all soft words and teasing touches, treating her like a princess; Violet was the exact opposite.

Fuck it.

Adore nodded eagerly, moving to follow Violet to her closet. Adore’s closet wasn't big and an absolute mess, leaving the girls no choice but to get close.

“Seriously? No one else thinks this is a lame dare?” Pearl crossed her arms, watching the two girls get situated in the closet. “I mean they used to fuck, so it’s not much of a challenge.” Pearl continued as the others ignored her.

“Do you guys have enough room?” Trinity asked. Adore nodded and Violet shrugged.

“Okay, setting the timer and closing the door,” Fame waved her phone, but before she could, Violet grabbed the door, closing it.

“So, whatcha waiting for?” Violet asked, pulling Adore closer by the band of her shorts.

The others looked at each other in amusement as they heard a soft thump from inside the closet; except Pearl who frowned, taking the phone from Fame, checking the timer.

-

“I dare you to run from here to my house and back in your underwear!” Pearl smiled devilishly.

“New Girl,” Willam stood up casually, complimenting, “that's the best dare all night. You've been holding back on us.”

He took his shirt off and tossed it in Violet’s face. She immediately balled it up and threw it back at him, missing.

The girls watched on excitedly, Trinity even readying her phone to record, as Willam jogged down to Pearl’s house in nothing but a pair of briefs.

Violet scooted up beside Pearl as they waited for Willam to come running down the street in his underwear.

“You should have had him streak,” Violet lightly bumped Pearl’s shoulder.

“Did you really want to see that?” Pearl pulled a face of disgust, “That would have blinded us.”

Violet threw her head back in laughter.

“You're right, you're right. That would’ve scarred us for life,” Violet agreed.

-

“Okay, so...don’t judge it too much, because it’s really really rough, alright? I mean, I just got back into it and it probably sucks and I’m only even letting you hear it because you won’t stop badgering me-”

“Adore!” Courtney interrupted from the beanbag chair, where she sat with a can of soda.

“Yeah?”

Courtney smiled encouragingly. “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. But I would love to hear what you’re working on.”

Adore nodded. She turned a few pages in her journal, scrawled with nearly indecipherable lyrics, torn out pages, more crossed out than not. “I just don’t want to disappoint you.”

“Dory. You could never disappoint me.”

Adore stopped chewing her lip to glance up at Courtney’s sweet, expectant face. She cleared her throat and swallowed.

“Alright, well...I guess, here goes.” She began to strum the guitar lightly. “You really wanna freak me out, now don’t, don’t ‘cha turn out the lights. Something’s in the air, and I know we’re gonna, gonna hear a bump in the night.”

Courtney hugged her knees, resting her chin on them as she listened to Adore with a dreamy expression.

Trailing off, Adore shuffled some pages in the notebook. “So...yeah. That’s all I have on that one. I know it’s not much, but-”

“Are you kidding?! That was amazing!” Courtney exclaimed.

“Really?”

“Yeah! Do you have more?”

“I mean…” Adore flipped a few pages and began to play a little more. “Bright lights, bright stars, fame on every block. And I feel, the glitter in the air, why can’t we make it, why can’t we fake it right?”

She cleared her throat, suddenly self-conscious.

“I told you, I don’t have that much yet. I’m just fucking around with some melodies and-”

Courtney clapped her hands, flinging her arms around Adore in a tight, vice-like hug. “You are so talented, Dory. You’re gonna be a freaking rock star one day, I know it.”

“Thanks,” Adore giggled, accepting a sweet kiss on the cheek before sitting back into her own bean bag.

“You should bring your guitar to the beach this weekend, play those for everyone else too. I mean, if you want.”

Adore frowned. “The beach?”

“Yeah, remember, I texted you about it? Darienne is planning it, everyone’s coming.”

Sighing, Adore set her guitar aside. “I dunno, Court. I mean, you know I love you, but whenever I hang out with you and the neighborhood crew, it just turns out like…” She sighed again.

“Like what?”

“It’s just, I’m not really that close to any of them except you, and you’re just gonna be making out with Roy all day-”

“No I won’t! It’s not like that!”

“Please,” Adore scoffed. “The two of you at the beach?”

“Dory, I promise. Okay? Look, I get how you feel. The truth is...I mean, I love Roy. And I love Darienne, and I know I’ve been friends with those guys my whole life but...sometimes when I’m with them, I feel like…” Courtney looked away. “I mean, they all have these plans, you know? Like, they all know what they want to do and where they want to go to school, and it’s so…” she trailed off.

“You don’t have plans?” Adore asked, with a hint of surprise. She’d sort of pegged Courtney and Roy for the type to have their future all tied up in a neat bow. College, careers, 2.5 kids, white picket fence.

“I don’t...no, not really. I dunno, maybe I’m just being stupid and dramatic.” She shook her head. “But it’s just that sometimes when I’m with all of them, I feel really...alone.” She looked back at Adore, eyes slightly misty. “But when you’re there, I don’t feel that way.”

Adore reached forward and tucked a stray lock of blonde hair behind her ear, grazing her cheek. “Okay.”

“Okay, you’ll come?” Courtney asked hopefully, grabbing her hand.

“Okay, I’ll come. As long as you promise to keep the PDA to a respectable minimum.”

Courtney squealed happily, crawling into her lap and nuzzling her neck. “Wait, with him or with you?” she asked, fluttering her lashes flirtatiously.

Adore narrowed her eyes, shaking her head as Courtney giggled, hugging her tightly again.

“What, you’re the one who calls me a cuddleslut!” she simpered.

Adore kissed her forehead. “You’re hopeless.”

Courtney laughed, resting a head on her shoulder.

[julietandcinderellavocaloid]

Determined Alice Chapter 9

The only thing more astonishing than Rei's betrayal was the sudden appearance of the legion Meiko and the others witnessed being blown from the sky. Nobody had died after all. The loss of the hovercraft was a frustrating inconvenience, but the other legion had no plans to abandon the mission.

Taking advantage of the lower numbers in the prison security and their advantage of surprise, they were able to break into the prison without issue and overwhelm the guards before they could regain enough sense to fight back. Their mission was simple – get in, get everyone out, and run away. They did just that.

However, the run away part of the plan wasn't as simple as it should have been. Meiko sat with Hio and Rinto in their resting room, all staring at each other with nobody having anything to say. Thanks to Rei's betraying them and everyone else, there was no going back to their previous hideout. They had to fly low. Tonio's team had to change course moments before they were supposed to arrive, leaving them to wander about until their new destination for arrival was determined.

Message was already sent to every corner of the rebel group to evacuate immediately. They got out just before their bars and libraries and other secret quarters were attacked – why Rei didn't give away that information sooner so those back at home would be ambushed while the rest were away, Meiko didn't understand. Rinto blamed Rei's shortsighted vision. Hio wanted to believe that deep down, Rei still cared about everyone and at least wanted to give them a chance to escape.

Meiko didn't care which was true. The next time she met Rei, his neck would become well acquainted with one of her knives. For all the stabbing she did, Meiko never killed anyone; she would make an exception just for Rei as retribution for all the pain and heartache he caused her teammates.

For now, she would not dwell too much on what had happened. She was alive. The others were alive. This mission having gone horribly wrong had proven one thing: nothing was promised. They all might have survived, but that didn't mean the next mission wouldn't have any casualties.

"Hio, Rinto," Meiko cautiously began, eyes locked on her fingers as she squeezed them. She didn't want to look at the guys as she talked to them. "I'm . . . I owe you both an apology. More than an apology, really. From day one, I've been a real jerk. I know now that in your own ways, you both have been nothing but nice to me, and I repaid that kindness with coldness. I'm really sorry. I hope moving forward, we can put all that behind us and learn to become proper teammates. If . . . if that's all right with you two, of course."

Silence lingered for a moment too long. Biting her lip, Meiko pondered feigning thirst to leave the room under the excuse of getting a drink. The longer the quiet stretched on, the more awkward she felt under the guys' gaze she didn't see but could still feel.

It was just before she was about to stand that Hio began, "Meiko—"

"We're your teammates whether we like it or not," Rinto interrupted. "Hells, it doesn't matter whether you like it or not. We're stuck together until Mikuo decides otherwise."

Meiko's fingers curled into fists so tight it hurt. It wasn't just what Rinto said, but the cold way he said it. However, Meiko was done arguing, especially since this was a lashing she deserved.

That was why it surprised her when Rinto continued, "With that said, don't worry about it. Everyone has majorly screwed up at least once or twice. We're all used to forgiving and forgetting. It's part of being part of a team. Though it would be kind of nice for you to stop glaring at us all the time, I'll admit."

Putting on her best smile, Meiko looked up at the boys to show them her sincerity and how grateful she was they weren't going to hold any of her previous actions against her. Rinto nodded his head, and Hio returned the smile. Perhaps some things were going to get better amidst all this chaos and terror. No matter how bad things got, it would be more bearable to have these guys on her side. Meiko didn't deny that it would be nice to be a part of a family again.

The thought made her smile fall. Standing to her feet, she told the guys, "I'll be right back. I need to speak with Big Al."

"All right," Rinto replied. "If he's still not briefing with the others, he might be helping to welcome our new guest on board."

"I figured as much. Thanks."

As Meiko turned to leave, Hio called her. Without a word, Meiko turned around to listen what he had to say. Hio kept it short. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Meiko said before she walked out of the room, surprised to find that she told Hio the truth.

"I was just looking for you," Meiko told Big Al when she crossed paths with him in the hallway on her way to the briefing room. Big Al rose a brow but didn't say anything, choosing instead to let Meiko tell him whatever it was she wanted to say. Meiko took a deep breath and said, "I, er, I never really apologized. For stabbing you in the arm, I mean. Yeah, sorry about that. It won't happen again."

Big Al shrugged and motioned for Meiko to follow him as he walked. With her in step beside him, he replied, "Don't apologize. If anything, be grateful you did it. Nobody was going to respect you or take you seriously until you proved to them why we shouldn't turn you away."

"Wait," Meiko furrowed her brows, "you're glad I stabbed you?"

"Don't get me wrong, I would much prefer you never do that again," Big Al replied, grinning at her, "but at least you got the message across that you don't like to be touched without consent."

Although it was small, Meiko did smile back. She didn't go into detail what happened all those years ago, and Big Al didn't ask either. Instead, even without knowing everything, he looked at Meiko as if she was a soldier long before they met. Most people who knew treated Meiko as nothing more than a victim. Meiko wasn't a victim, but a survivor, and the way Big Al treated her indicated he knew as much.

"So," Meiko drawled, changing the subject, "when do I get to meet this super important operative we risked our lives for? I have to know if it was all worth it."

"He hasn't revealed everything yet, but he's already told us enough to confirm that yes, rescuing him was worth it. Come, he's in the back resting room right now. I'm sure he won't mind putting a pause to writing out his report to meet our newest recruit."

While they walked towards the room, Big Al kept his information to the point. "Believe it or not, but he's about your age. Came from the Hera District last year, from a village that isn't even on most Equinox Continent maps. He previously worked on a farm that filed for bankruptcy shortly after he left. It's through his sheer grit, intelligence, and determination he climbed the ranks faster than anyone would have ever expected. I'm sure you two will either get along as best friends or worse rivals."

"If it's the latter," Meiko said, smirking, "I won't be allowed to stab him, will I?"

"No," Big Al replied, only to lean in close and whisper, "unless he absolutely deserves it."

They came to the room, and Big Al knocked on the door. Instead of shouting who was it, the man inside called for the doors to automatically open. Seeing Big Al and Meiko walk into the room, he smiled and powered off his tablet.

"I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon," he told Big Al. Eyes shifting to Meiko, he added, "Or meet such a pretty girl so shortly after my rescue."

"My soldier is not up for debate," Big Al said, and Meiko interpreted this as "Flirting is not allowed."

This operative was, Meiko had to admit, really cute though. He had a rather round face for a guy, and skin so smooth it appeared silky. His baby blue eyes gave him an innocent look. His shaggy pink hair stuck out in multiple different directions. Honestly, Meiko wouldn't mind too much if he decided to flirt with her from time to time. He just needed to keep his hands off. Screw Big Al's permission. Meiko didn't want to have any reason to damage something so beautiful.

"My apologies," the operative said, a hand in the air in a "no worries" sort of gesture. "You're the new recruit, right? Welcome to the rebellion."

"Any excuse to raise hells is all I need," Meiko replied before showing the man a grin. He returned the gesture, and Meiko was sure Big Al was right to say the two of them would either be best friends or worst rivals. The question was which it would be. "I'm Sakine Meiko. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine," the other guy replied. "I'm Luki. It'll be an honor to work alongside you."

[psychosistr]

FOWL Facets- Chapter 10

Summary: Steelbeak tells the girls he’s alive, and Domino tells everyone what he has planned for the future.

Notes: Ah, a short, sweet chapter to close out this emotional rollercoaster of a story. Hope you guys enjoyed it ^^

-First Chapter-

When arriving back in the main entryway, Steelbeak is hardly surprised to find a pair of striped arms wrapping around him from his shoulders to his ankles like a pair of snakes and pulling him right up to an overly-excited spinel hanging from the ceiling by her legs.

“Steely, you did it!” Loony stretches her neck and turns her head so that she’s looking at Steelbeak right-side up. “You made Dommy’s bad feelings go down!”

Steelbeak shrugs with one of his usual arrogant smirks. “Eh, what can I say? I’m just THAT friggin’ good.” After a minute, though, his face changes to a more strained smile. “Hey, Loons?”

“Yeah?” The stretchy spinel tilts her head curiously, still smiling brightly at him.

“Be a doll an’ put me down, would ya?” His eyes flick poignantly towards the floor a couple feet below.

Loony suddenly realizes that she is, in fact, still keeping the melanite suspended mid-air and gives him an apologetic smile. “Whoopsie-doodles! Sorry, Steely!” She sets him back down and unwraps her arms from around him.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, stretch- no harm done.” He tells her while fixing his suit.

“Surprisingly.” A voice from the lounging area beside him says.

Turning his head, to get a better look, Steelbeak is even less surprised to see Gandra reclined back on one of the benches while idly scrolling through something on a projected hologram-screen coming from the watch on her wrist. “And what’s that supposed t’ mean?”

“That you’re still alive.” The star-sapphire replies bluntly. “I’m surprised you made it through that in one piece.”

“Guess I’m just lucky.” Steelbeak’s eyes narrow at the other chicken, before he regains his earlier smirk. “Either that or SOMEONE’S lost her touch.” Oh, how he loves that challenging and frustrated glare he can always draw out when he pushes her buttons just right. “Somethin’ wrong, stardust?” He asks with the fakest sounding attempt at sympathy in the universe. “Hey, you ain’t lookin’ too happy there, toots. Shouldn’t we be celebratin’? I mean, it’s not like you really WANTED me gone, right?”

Gandra rolls her eyes at his taunting and makes her screen bigger to block out his smug face. “Think I’d celebrate more if you’d actually kicked the bucket..”

“So sorry t’ disappoint ya, Gee, but goin’ down that easy ain’t exactly my style.” The only thing Steelbeak enjoys more than teasing the star-sapphire for her height is calling her out on the extremely rare occasions where her predictions end up being off- it’s one of his favorite pastimes.

His laughter is interrupted by a voice too deep to be Gandra’s. “No, but being loud enough to shake the walls certainly is.” Turning to look at the hall he’d come in through earlier, Steelbeak sees Domino entering the main room as well.

“DOMMY!” Loony drops down from the ceiling next to the obsidian, arms ready to wrap him up in an excited hug. She stops just an inch shy, however, when a single black hand is raised in a silent request. “Oopsies!” Her arms instantly stop and retract before they even have a chance to grab the other gem. “Sorry, Dommy..”

Domino gives her a half-smile and shakes his head. “It’s fine, Loony..just..not right now, okay? Maybe later.” After receiving a happy and agreeable nod in return, Domino redirects his attention to the room as a whole, his demeanor shifting into something far more serious. “F.O.W.L. has been compromised by a Diamond loyalist.”

“If it’s true, then that’s a pretty big deal.” The screen in front of Gandra vanishes as she sits up properly. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Domino answers definitively. “I always thought it was odd that none of my requests for information were ever answered or even followed up- if anything, there should have at least been a negative reply- but we were always sent out on long-term missions immediately following a request, most likely to distract me from how much time had passed. If it had happened only once or twice, it could have been blamed on coincidence, or carelessness, or a report falling through the system’s cracks..but I’ve submitted more than eight hundred requests over the years and have never ONCE received an acknowledgement on it.” He shakes his head, the look on his face showing his frustration. “At that point, it’s impossible to call it an accident: Someone within F.O.W.L.- someone very high up in the chain of command- has been intercepting my requests because they KNOW the truth about what happened and are trying to keep people from finding out.”

“So,” His partner looks down at him with a raised brow. “Whattaya wanna do ‘bout it, Deedee?”

“I’m going to find out who that person is and remove him, and any of his co-conspirators, from F.O.W.L. personally.” Domino reigns in the deadly intent of his voice so that he can speak to his team calmly once again. “It won’t be easy…and, if I’m not careful, I could be branded as a traitor, or worse..but that’s a risk I’m willing to take. I’ll take one of the back-up pod-ships and try to keep in contact with you as much as possible with updates on my location and any information I find.” He looks at the assortment of dark gems in the room with him, at the gems who’d become his team, his family, over the past few thousand years, knowing that, this time, he couldn’t ask them to-

“Count me in!” A cheerful voice to his left says.

Domino looks beside himself to see Loony giving him a confident smile. “Loony, you can’t-”

“We’re a packaged deal, right?” The smile on Loony’s face is as bright as ever, but the softness of her voice and the look in her eyes are far more meaningful. “Where you go, I go- that’s the rule, remember?”

Domino tries to fight the smile forming on his own beak, but it’s practically impossible. He’s not surprised at all to have his own words thrown back at him in such a supportive way. After all, what else would he expect from the gem who was practically a sister to him?

“Guess I’m in, too.” To Domino’s surprise, he sees Gandra get up from her seat and look at him with an indifferent roll of her eyes- the effect greatly diminished by the small smile on her face. “If White Diamond messes things up with F.O.W.L., where else am I gonna go when I’m bored?”

He knows the star-sapphire is just putting up a front. While she’s still the newest member of the crew, she clearly enjoys her spot on the team and the freedom it offers her. Domino and Steelbeak may still be quietly keeping to their promise of seeing anyone else on the ship besides themselves and Loony as expendable, but they knew that Gandra was handy to have around and, given that they scouted her and invited her to join F.O.W.L. themselves, they knew she was more trustworthy than some of the agency’s more senior members.

“Three of you crammed int’ one teeny tiny pod? That’s gonna be a pain.” Domino looks to his other side to see Steelbeak grinning down at him. “Tell ya what, short fuse- why don’t ya just stay here and we ALL take the Black Iron Comet? It’d be roomier AND faster.”

Domino stares up at the melanite before, with a fondly exasperated sigh, he closes his eyes and shakes his head, unable to keep the equally fond smile off of his face. He should have seen that coming. Steelbeak’s been his partner for more than eight and a half thousand years now. Time after time the melanite has proven how far he’s willing to go for him and has more than earned his trust- the incident in his room just a few minutes ago serving as yet another prime example of his partner’s loyalty.

“I suppose you do have a point.” He looks to each gem in the room as he speaks, his voice serious but far less grave than it had been a minute ago. “From now on, we’ll need to be prepared for anything. We’ll have to be extremely careful with who we trust- any information we find stays with us until we know for sure whom we can trust within F.O.W.L. and who we cannot. We’ll also need to stick together to avoid being caught by the enemy- no going off on our own anymore.” He briefly side-eyes one gem in particular after that comment, the rooster rolling his eyes but nodding in agreement at the subtle jab regarding his recent capture. “Now,” He gives the gems around him a confident smirk. “Let’s show those traitors what happens when you double-cross F.O.W.L.”

The chorus of agreeing cheers around him makes Domino’s confidence in their future grow ten-fold. After all, with a team this good backing him up, not even the Diamonds will stand a chance.

<-Previous Chapter

End Notes: And there we have it- an end to one story, but the beginning of a new one. This group was SO much fun to write and I definitely have plans to do more with all of them in the future after I get the main universe more developed. I’m thinking of having the FOWL Facets story run as a sort of side-story to the Fearsome Facets universe that will occasionally cross over with the FOWL group tracking down the origins of the cluster before everyone comes together in the big series finale.

Wanted to give another HUGE thank you to both @eleanorose123 / @thefriendlyfour and @deldraws19 for allowing me to write this story using their awesome OC’s! They’re wonderful and I look forward to doing so much more with them later on ^^

[youaretoosmart]

Can yu write a strangers au where one of them sleep on each other's shoulders and they're too polite to do something about it so they just roll with it

birthday prompts 3/7

I… forgot the strangers AU part omg I’m so dumb. I went with post 3x06 instead!! Sorry!!

The bus bumps gently along the road, one turn at a time, in a way that is vaguely nauseating. Stiles can finally understand Jared a little better: the endless repetitive circles down the mountain are enough to make him want to puke, just for something to do.

Or maybe it’s not the bus—maybe it’s the fact that their lives are, once again, interwoven with the supernatural; dangerous, deadly supernatural. Because, yeah, Stiles may be a pessimist but he’s also often right, and someone is going to die if they don’t find a way out of this situation, this tug of war between two unstoppable powers. A few months ago, he would have wondered why that was always the case: can’t they be an active cause in whatever’s going down in Beacon Hills, for once, instead of the helpless rag doll tugged this way and that by the two enemies? The rag doll is always the one who pays the most in the end, in Stiles’ opinion: it’s simply physics.

Okay, so it’s definitely not the bus.

He tries looking out of the window, but the endless desert landscape doesn’t help: all he sees is that they’re heading back towards Beacon Hills, towards fighting and death and sacrifices. Towards war, if Lydia is right—and of course she’s right.

He tries to glance subtly above his shoulders, to check up on Scott, as he’s done about, oh, thirty thousands time since the previous evening, which, really, was just more proof that he may be a pessimist but at least he has reasons to be. For once, he hates being right.

Scott still smells of gasoline, even after changing his clothes and quickly washing up in the bathroom while Stiles gathered their bags. He used to like the smell: it reminded him of his crappy Jeep and the long afternoons spent fixing it up with his father, before they gave it up as a bad job and just brought it to the shop. Now he feels like he might suffocate if he doesn’t stop breathing it.

It’s worse for Scott himself, but he’s characteristically stoic in the seat behind Stiles. Although—it’s been a while since Stiles felt him move and accidentally knee the back of his seat.

He tries to turn around subtly when a hand on his arm stops him.

“They’re sleeping,” Lydia whispers, handing him a small compact. With the mirror open like that, it’s easy to spy on the seats behind them and to see Allison and Scott, soundly asleep. Their bodies are angled differently, away from each other, but even an outside eye can see the secret yearning in their poses, silently reaching for each other.

It’s infuriating.

“I swear to God,” Stiles mutters under his breath, barely aware that he’s spoken.

“I know.” Lydia rolls her eyes and smiles when he looks at her in surprise. “I want to shake them or lock them in a closet until they work things out.”

“That’s why Seven Minutes in Heaven was invented, I think.”

“Oh definitely—resolve sexual tension, not create it where it didn’t exist before.”

“Don’t forget the crushing humiliation two-thirds of the assembly will feel.”

“How could I?”

Stiles lets out a small laugh, almost a breath.

“I hate this game.” Then he remembers: “Uh, sorry.”

“Mmmm.” Lydia inspects her hair, brushing it between her fingers. It’s a mess, so unlike usual, but Stiles hasn’t been able to get the image out of his head all morning. “That’s how Jackson and I got together.”

“Yeah I know—That’s why—Forget it.”

“I hate this stupid game too.”

Stiles wants to smile, but the victory doesn’t feel as sweet when the casualties are Lydia Martin and her happiness.

Silence falls on them for a while.

“How long to Beacon Hills? I left my book in Allison’s car, I can’t believe it.”

“About six hours,” Stiles says, faux enthusiastic. “You’re going to have a very deep appreciation for bus seats and imitation leather.”

“I’m sweating through my dress,” Lydia deadpans. “And I already spent one night too many on them. That seems unlikely.”

“Good thing you’re not any teams.”

Lydia pretends to count on her fingers.

“I hate sports. The debate team is a bunch of entitled pricks who think their masculinity has to be sacrificed when they’re proven wrong and value their dicks too much for that.”

Stiles waits a beat.

“I thought you were gonna keep going,” he says. “Your tone was very confusing.”

“No, that’s it.”

“Colleges will fight to have you anyway,” he says.

It’s just a throwaway compliment: truth presented in a nice way to give to Lydia when she feels down, a skill Stiles has practiced and perfectioned since middle school. He doesn’t mean anything to come of it other than a small smile on Lydia’s face, the way she stands straighter for a second and lifts her head just so, accepting the praise without saying it. Lydia, Stiles noticed in his never-ending quest to understand her, has two ways of dealing with applause: blunt acceptance of the obvious, a flip of her hair and contempt for the worthless praise; or, when it matters, silent thankfulness that cuts Stiles deeper than blades.

Stiles has long been the butt of the former; he’s recently started to get glimpses of the latter, and he thinks he can never stop wanting more.

Lydia bites her lips instead, and looks down.

“I’ve already received word from Stanford,” she says.

“Lydia, that’s amaz—” Stiles begins automatically. “Wait, what?”

“I followed a two-week course over the summer, yes?” Stiles nods. He remembers the long interruption into what had become their routine, meeting and discussing things they didn’t—still don’t—grasp fully, looking for answers that weren’t there. “I’ll have enough credits to graduate at the end of the year,” she says. “They said they were interested in having me after that.”

Stiles remembers to close his mouth after a while.

“That’s incredible,” he says. “Are you—are you going to take it?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I haven’t said anything. It’s still early, and who knows how I’ll feel at the end of the year?”

“You might get better offers then,” Stiles says. “Not that I’m telling you not to do it! But, uh, that’s not an easy decision.”

Lydia hums. “I want out of this town,” she says.

“I know.”

“That’s the way to do it.”

Stiles does know; he knows it desperately, distantly: he can run to the other side of the country, but as long as his father and the McCalls live here, he won’t be getting out, not really. Lydia, however—if anyone can leave this town behind and spread her wings over the world, it’s her.

Selfishly, he wishes she won’t take the offer. Is it wrong to deprive the world of Lydia Martin to keep her closer to him, where he matters?

“What did your mother say?” he asks instead.

“Nothing. She doesn’t know.” Surprise is fleeting, then Lydia leans closer to him and says: “No one knows and I intend to keep it that way.”

“Are you going to kill me now that you’ve told me?” Stiles jokes weakly, to hide the overwhelming feeling of being Lydia’s confidant.

“There’s enough people dead in this town as it is,” Lydia mutters. She digs her palms in her eyes and rubs, leaving intact the dark circles under her eyes. “Just—please don’t tell anyone.”

“I can keep a secret,” Stiles offers.

“I know.”

She smiles then, and Stiles likes her so helplessly that he returns the gesture, absurd as it is.

“You should sleep,” he says when she doesn’t manage to hide a yawn. “We’ve efficiently ruined the weekend.”

Lydia nods and doesn’t say anything for a long time. Stiles turns back the window, watching her fall asleep through the washed-out reflection on the glass. It feels like spying, or maybe protection. He can’t discern the two, but he knows that after yesterday, the least he can do is watch his friends when they sleep. He’s done it last night too, when they were all spread out on the crackly seats and he couldn’t calm his heart or his nerves. He thinks he might never fully stop doing it.

He doesn’t realize he’s spaced out until he feels a weight on his shoulder. He almost jumps out of his skin when hair tickles his neck; for once, though, his body doesn’t betray him, and he can blink at the curve of Lydia’s cheek with outward calm. She’s slumped all over him, her head fitting right on top of his shoulder, her hair fanning out on his chest. The little breaths she lets out are hot against his neck.

Stiles actually has to bite his fist not to shout or move. He feels a grin stretching around it, but he hides it with his hand, throwing as many glances at Lydia’s sleeping form as at the scenery unfolding by his window.

It’s not perfect: Lydia slumps a bit more on his arm after almost thirty minutes—that’s when his limbs go numb, and his brain kicks in overdrive. Not moving is torture, his arm is cramping, and he’s so thirsty that his head is pounding; unfortunately, the bottle is in his bag at his feet, and he can’t bend down enough to retrieve it.

In the end, he dozes out against the window, the rattling from the road turning his brain to mush. The next pit stop awakens Lydia, and Stiles can feel her sitting up quickly when she realizes how she’s fallen asleep. He wants to turn and tell her he doesn’t mind, that she’s welcome to sleep on his shoulder anytime—really—, wants to ask her if she slept well and enough, wants to turn around and crow with Scott about this one step forward in their friendship.

He pretends to wake up when Scott calls his name, instead, and ignore the knowing look he sends his way.

Now is not the time, he tells himself sternly as he stretches out his legs with relief. Lydia is right: there are too many deaths in Beacon Hills; next to a vengeful Darach and a pack of ruthless alphas, what does Lydia’s head on Stiles’ shoulder mean? It won’t happen again, anyway, and Stiles should just cherish it; so he does, and he pretends he’s not disappointed when Scott drags him to sit next to him when they board again.

Four hours later, they’re back in the familiar parking lot of Beacon Hills high school.

[blueboxesandtrafficcones]

Written on Your Heart - Chapter 7

When you’ve hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up.  Rose begins that climb.

Warnings for hospital scenes, IVs, etc.

Fic masterlist

Tagging @doctorroseprompts and @timepetalsprompts as it’s a soulmate AU.

Now being beta’d by the wonderful @starry-nightflyer!  Thanks!

Rose woke slowly, feeling like she was rising through a fog.  Her first thought was that her head was pounding.  Her second thought was “James!”  Gasping his name, she tried to sit up before pain exploded in her temple and she was forced to sit back and take deep breaths.  After a few moments, she dared to reopen her eyes, before carefully leaning over to the table at her bedside, scrambling for a pen.  She only realized she had an IV when it tugged painfully.

“Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?”  An unknown, male voice asked in alarm.

“Need pen.”  She grunted, trying to stretch to reach.

The boy plucked it from the table top, but didn’t hand it over.  “Why, need to write the next great Oliver Twist?”  He asked in amusement, twirling the pen.

“No, I-” She looked at him for the first time and froze, eyes widening.

He was gorgeous.

Chocolate eyes, dark brown hair she instantly wanted to run her fingers through, a kind, cheeky smile.

He looked older, too, like he was in his late teens.  That snapped Rose back to why she wanted the pen in the first place.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but that’s how I communicate with my soulmate.  I need to talk to him.”  She informed him as seriously and maturely as she could.

The strange boy considered her words for a moment before handing her the pen.

“Fine, if that’s what you want.  But considering the IV in your wrist, don’t you think it might be easier to just talk to him?”  He leaned back in his seat, stretching out his impossibly long legs with a slight, though not unkind, smirk on his face.

“And how do you propose I do that?”  Rose snapped, pen poised above her arm, wondering where to start.  She was sure she’d written to him the previous night, but she couldn’t remember what she’d said and someone had washed her arm off.

“With your mouth?  Like we are now?”  He suggested cheekily.  Rose rolled her eyes, a witty retort on the tip of her tongue, when what he was saying sunk in.

“James?”  She whispered, stunned.

“Hello, love.”  Eyes sparkling, he grinned back at her.

They spent the next several minutes just goofily staring at each other, each drinking the other in.  Though James had spent most of the night watching her sleep, he was amazed at how different she looked awake.  He still couldn’t believe they were sitting together in the same room.  Even though he knew they would have to talk about what led her to drink at the party, for now he just wanted to look at her.

Just as Rose had decided to actually ask him a few questions, the curtain secluding her bed moved aside and her mother appeared, followed by another woman.

“Mum!”  She cried, feeling embarrassing tears well up.

“Good, you’re awake.  Not that himself let anyone know.”  Jackie shot the older teen a look.

“Uh…”  James ran his fingers through his hair sheepishly.  The other woman laughed.

“Oh, come now Jackie.  You can’t blame them for wanting a few minutes to themselves.  If she had needed anything, he would have moved mountains to get it for her.”

“Aunt Sarah!”  James complained, and Rose realized who the other woman was.

Rose tried to push herself up, but the movement pulled at her IV and she sat back, grimacing in pain.

“Here.”  James was instantly at her side, helping her raise the bed and sit up, before fluffing her pillows.  Instead of going back to the chair he’d been in, he perched himself on the side of the bed, within reach.

She stared at him, awed to think that after eighteen months he was so close, but he must have misunderstood because he flushed and moved away, muttering apologies.  She quickly reached out, touching his arm for the first time.

“No!”  She was momentarily distracted by the sparks that made her whole arm tingle where they touched.  “Please don’t leave me.”  She whispered, and he bit his lip in indecision before saying, “All right.  Budge up.”

It took some maneuvering, but eventually they were seated side by side on the bed, with James carefully on the other side from her IV.  Rose nestled closer, feeling safer than she could ever remember, and he only hesitated a moment before carefully wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“So, Rose, how are you feeling?”  Sarah Jane asked kindly.

“Um…”  In all the excitement of meeting James, her pain was the last thing on her mind, but as she concentrated the ache in her arm and the pain in her head came rushing back full force.

It must have shown on her face, as both women clucked sympathetically and James’ arm around her tightened.

Jackie nodded slowly before saying, “All right, we’ll get you some pain meds soon sweetheart, but first we need to know – what happened?”

At her question, memories began to come back about the awful two weeks previous, and Rose stiffened.

Before she could come up with a satisfactory way to delay answering, James stepped in.

“Uh, Jackie – I mean Mrs. Tyler – can Rose and I have a few minutes?  I think we need to talk before she starts explaining.”

It wasn’t quite the reprieve she was hoping for, but given that he was here and she could look him in the eye for likely the only time before she turned eighteen, she decided to seize the opportunity.

Once they were alone, however, her courage fled and she was unable to meet his eyes, watching her own hand pick at a loose thread on the blanket instead.

Eventually, unable to take the silence any longer, she looked up to find him watching her, waiting patiently.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”  She giggled a little at the exchange, amused that after a year and a half of daily communication, they were actually meeting in person.

“How about we start over, yeah?”  He suddenly suggested, sticking his hand out.  “I’m James.”

“Rose.”  She said pseudo-seriously, giving him a firm handshake.

“Nice to meet you, Rose.”

There stared at each other stupidly again, grinning like fools until James’ smile fell and he glanced away, before looking back at her.

“So, Rose,” he began hesitantly, trying to start off on the right foot.  “Can I tell you a story?”

Her nose crinkled adorably, but she nodded, curious.

“So, I first contacted my soulmate a year and a half ago.  We got on like a house on fire, no problems at all.  Then out of the blue, two weeks ago, she goes to her first dance.  She’s nervous, and not having a good time.  I encourage her to have fun, and enjoy those experiences as they only come around so often.  Everything’s fine.  Starting the next day, she completely ices me out, until she tells me she wants to take a break from each other.  Now, I have absolutely no idea how being supportive of my soulmate caused me to lose her – do you have any ideas?”

She flushed, and instinctively pulled her knees up, trying to hide behind them.

He gave her a few moments to respond, but when she didn’t say anything, he sighed.  “Rose, love, please tell me what I did wrong, because I haven’t got a clue.  I can’t lose you.”  He confessed, reaching out to touch her but pulling back at the last second, leaving his hand on the bed six inches from her foot.

“James…”  She whispered.

“Rose, please.”  He pleaded softly.

“I – I don’t - ”  She sniffled, before deciding to go for broke.  “I’m thirteen.”

“I know.” The upward pitch his voice took on made it sound like a question, prompting her to keep speaking. She sighed heavily.

“You’re seventeen.”

“Yep.”

She shot him a look.  “This is hard enough, do you mind?”

“Sorry.”  He mimed zipping his lips closed and throwing away the key.  Any other day that would have made her laugh, but not now.

“Look, I live on an estate.  I’m not an idiot, I know about the ‘birds and the bees’, and how it is for older teenagers, especially blokes.  I guess I just thought-” She bit her tongue, trying to keep from crying.  “I realize now it probably so naïve to think-” She sniffled, not sure she could get the words out without tears.

James raised his hand, like he was a student in class.

“Yes?”

“Rose, I’ve been waiting my whole life for you.”  He told her seriously, frowning when she snorted.

“I have.  And I’m not particularly – I’ve never been girl crazy, so to speak, even less so after I found you.  I believe in soulmates, in all the wonder and joy, and this past year and half has proven me right in spades.  There are no girls.  I’ve never kissed a girl, romantically I mean, and I don’t plan to start until your eighteenth birthday.  I am yours, Rose, absolutely, unashamedly, unreservedly.  And it kills me to think that you doubt that.”

“But you said-” Rose argued, and he cut her off.

“I said that you need to live your life for you, however you see fit.  I said you don’t owe me anything just because we’re soulmated.  How and with whom you choose to spend your time is up to you.  If you want to date some idiot, that’s your right.  I believe we belong to each other, but that doesn’t mean that you’re my property.  I choose you, Rose.  I choose to wait, to have all of those ‘firsts’ with you.  But if you don’t choose me, or you don’t choose me right now, then that’s fine.  That’s your call.”  He told her firmly.

She stared at him.  “Do you honestly believe that?”

He nodded firmly.

“I thought…”  She trailed off, now feeling even more embarrassed after his passionate speech.

“You thought I was a typical estate bloke, who only cared about himself and doing what he wanted.”

“Yeah.”  She admitted softly, staring down at her knee.

He was quiet for a good minute.

“I can’t deny that doesn’t hurt, a bit.  I’d like to think you know me better, but the truth is if you’ve never seen that, it’s hard to believe.  My parents, they were the perfect couple, completely devoted to each other.  For me, that kind of adoration is as instinctual as breathing.”

“I want that.”  She whispered.

He didn’t say anything, and eventually she looked up to see him watching her.

When their gazes met, he smiled, though she noticed it started with his eyes before moving to his mouth.

“Oh, love.  You’ve already got it.”

[harrysmeadow]

HELD - CHAPTER 2

STORY PAGE // PLAYLIST

“Erin please” Izzy begged, her eyes no longer filled with tears but with concern, maybe for Harry as my simmering anger towards him was just about to boil over the edge. I released my grip on her hand which I realised had suddenly become a lot tighter. She raked her finger tips through her beautifully messy hair, slightly pulling it over to one side where it cast a shadow over her features. “We’ve talked about it, and figured it out please don’t bring it up again”.

CATCH UP HERE

The next morning I was rudely awakened by the sound of my phone vibrating on my bedside table. I let out a half groan, half whining cry as I flung my arm over my side trying to feel for it without actually having to open my eyes. I’d been looking forward to staying at my grandparents again. I liked being woken up slowly and peacefully by the natural light that seeped through the grotty old curtains. It was much better than the obnoxious iPhone alarm that drove me insane when I was at uni. I was definitely not a 9am girl.

After knocking over pretty much everything on the table I finally grasped my phone, pulled out the charging cord and brought it to my ear. “What!?” I spat. I hadn’t bothered to look at the caller id. Whoever thought it was a good idea to wake me up at this time was going have to deal with the wrath of early morning Erin. They deserved it for being so rude.

“Morning sunshine.” Izzy cackled down the line. I should have known. I slowly sat myself up and began to peel open my eyes, adjusting to the morning light.

“And what can I do for you at this fine hour?” I droned sarcastically.

“Well if you must know, my Mum, your Mum and Evie are going to finish their Christmas shopping in Manchester, and I know how much you don’t want to do that. So this is your formal invitation to Sam’s charity 5-a-side tournament at the playing field later. Basically your excuse not to go when your Mum asks you to go with them, which you know she will, mine’s already asked me, so consider this a warning, and your ticket out of it. I’ll text you the details, love you, bye!” She hung up.

I fell back onto the sheets dramatically with a huff, my head reeling from being thrown so much information in the space of about 30 seconds. I wasn’t even fully awake, but Izzy was right, there was no way I was being dragged around Manchester in the Christmas crowds, especially not with Mum and Evie in tow.

Placing my phone back on the night stand I stood up wearily, stretching out my limbs and wincing at the crack of my shoulders. I really need to stop sleeping in weird positions.

Grabbing my hair brush from my dressing table by the window I began to rake through my knotted hair. Gazing out into the garden, as the sun was coming up, a deep orange haze was beaming out over the fields and into the distance. The dim light from the rising sun appeared to touch every plant as the lingering raindrops on the leaves from the night before reflected the light. Suddenly I thought about Harry. How when he turned and told me he was sorry when he left last night, it was his smile that was bright enough to shine through the rain.

I trudged downstairs, my feet shuffling along the carpet as I was still half asleep and didn’t have enough energy to do anything properly, even walk. I winced when I stepped onto the cold tile floor of the kitchen and made a mental note to invest in some slippers while I was here.

“Morning Granny, morning Grandad.” I said while stifling a yawn.

They both looked up from their breakfasts with a smile on their faces. I loved my Grandparents more than anything in the world. I’d always had a great relationship with them, even if I only saw them once every two months. They never made me feel any less their Grandchild even though they saw Izzy and Sam every week. They loved unconditionally, and I loved them for it in return.

“Morning sweetheart. You’re up early, and we missed you come in last night. Are you ok?” Granny asked with concern as I padded over to the cupboard to grab a bowl and some cereal.

“You can blame Iz for both of those things” I laughed, sitting down opposite them at the table. Grandad passed me the milk jug as I began to explain the events of the previous night to them. I laughed along with them as I recounted my near death experience, but ended up having to constantly reassure them that I was fine and didn’t actually injure myself.

“Well, I’m just glad Isabelle got to see Harry for a bit, I think that must be the first time they’ve seen each other since they both left for university.” Grandad mused over his cup of tea.

Izzy and Harry were both freshers at uni this year. I knew Izzy had been finding the first term hard, she often randomly rang or texted me with questions or observations about university life. Although we fought sometimes, we also trusted each other 100%. I was in my second year of uni, so I was more than willing to help her try and settle in and give any advice I could. I hadn’t picked up on it at the time, but now that Grandad mentioned it, I realised that in all the times we talked she hadn’t brought up Harry once. Maybe they were having issues I didn’t know about, or maybe they were fine, and he just wasn’t relevant to the conversation we were having. Whatever it was, it seemed odd now.

“Yeah, I think it might be, Grandad.” I added, trying to think of a way to bring it up to Izzy later without making it seem completely obvious and really nosy.

****

I didn’t know how many matches I’d have to sit through in the cold December air, so when getting ready for the day I’d prepared for the worst. I pulled on my thick khaki winter jacket over my black jeans and oversized burgundy jumper. I’d made sure Izzy returned my brown leather boots before she went home last night. She’d handed them over reluctantly, but I promised her she could borrow them again if she swore not to ruin them. My tresses of mid length golden blonde hair were pulled into two loose french braids which peeked out from under a wooly beanie. A knitted grey scarf which was long enough to be wrapped around me twice hung over my shoulders and my gloves were shoved in my pockets, ready for the cold.

After an annoyingly long and drawn out conversation with my Mum, where she’d tried repeatedly to get me to go shopping with her, I finally managed to get away when I saw Izzy’s car pull up outside the living room window. I gave my mum a kiss on the cheek goodbye, wishing her a good time with Auntie Josie and Evie.

I heard both Izzy and Sam snicker to themselves as I jumped in the back seat. I rolled my eyes, not even bothering to entertain them with a comment because I knew exactly what they were going to say.

“They’re not playing the tournament in Iceland you know, Erin.” Izzy laughed. Here we go.

“Well don’t come running to me asking to borrow my scarf when you’re sat on the sidelines freezing your tits off.” I replied smugly. Izzy had always been one of those people to sacrifice her health for a good outfit. Unfortunately, that meant that during the winter months she was very prone to catching a cold because she refused to wear a suitable coat.

“I won’t,” she retorted. Izzy was also known for being extremely stubborn. So I knew now that later in the day even if her fingers were turning blue she wouldn’t come and ask for help. She rather be taken to hospital for hypothermia than get proven wrong and ask for a pair of gloves.

When we pulled up to the car park there were already many families there. A group of middle aged men, who I presumed were the organisers and referees, stood in a huddle in the middle of the field, all armed with clipboards and whistles. Some of the players who I recognised as some of Izzy and Sam’s friends from school were already warming up on the marked out pitches. The Mums and Grandmas had made their way to the kiosk and were making endless amounts of tea and coffee for the visitors.

I hopped out the car and pulled my scarf tighter around myself as the crisp December breeze whipped through the air. Izzy and I waved goodbye to Sam and wished him good luck for the day before heading off to get a drink before the tournament began. She linked her arm through mine and gave me a warm smile. “I’ve missed you.” she said softly, gently placing her head on my shoulder as we joined the back of the queue at the kiosk.

“I’ve missed you to.” I replied. It was the truth. No matter how many petty arguments we had, Izzy was always my best friend. She knew me better than anyone, even my friends back home in Leeds who I’d spent all my school years with. We just shared a special bond. No matter how long we spent apart we never stopped loving each other.

I looked down at where our arms intertwined and watched our matching dainty silver charm bracelets glint in the sunshine. I couldn’t help but smile as the ‘I’ charm on my bracelet and the ‘E’ charm on hers clinked together in the light breeze.

We’d been gifted the bracelets when we were only small children. One Christmas when we were maybe 5 or 6 Granny and Grandad had given them to us and we loved the idea that we matched. Every year we got a new charm and it was a tradition I knew I would never grow tired of. Granted, we’d had to have a few new links put in to accommodate our growing bones over the years, but I couldn’t remember that last time I hadn’t worn it.

After reaching the front of the line and paying for two cups of tea, we went to check the team boards to see which matches Sam would be playing in. The boards showed many names that I seemed to recognise from my visits to Holmes Chapel over the years and Izzy was quick to point out people she knew and promised to tell me embarrassing stories about them all later. I laughed at her bluntness as we trudged over to pitch number three where Sam was playing his first game.

We found a good place to watch from the sidelines just as the referee blew the starting whistle and the first touch was made. I spotted Sam straightaway, as he wasn’t hard to miss. In the past year he’d grown to be just shy of six foot tall, easily towering over Izzy and I; and he was nearly the same height as his Dad. His dark chocolate brown hair, the exact same shade as Izzy’s, was an annoyingly perfect mess on top of his head, hardly moving an inch as he ran across the field.

The ball landed at his feet and he began to sprint with it towards the goal. The other team’s defenders sprang into action ready to initiate a tackle. Sam, however, was quick on his feet and began to showboat around the opposition plays like it was nothing. Izzy and I cheered with the rest of the crowd as he broke free from the defenders and passed the ball into the box. The striker took aim and shot for the goal. Everyone around the pitch leaned in as the ball travelled towards the target. When the ball hit the back of the net after brushing past the fingertips of the goalkeeper, screams, shouts, laughter and applause erupted from the spectators.

Izzy and I screamed and hugged each other with glee while the goal celebrations continued. Sam’s team had come together in a group hug, but when they pulled back from one another I was shocked when I spotted Harry. How had I not seen him? Maybe I had been too engrossed with Sam’s showboating earlier, but nothing was taking my eyes off Harry now. His signature curly locks had been pulled back away from his face into a small bun, and a thin black headband was taking care of flyaways and baby hairs around his face. His chiseled features suddenly softened when he grinned back at his teammates, a small dimple appeared on his cheek and I wanted nothing more in than moment to run over to him and just prod it.

His toned arms which I’d had such a hard time taking my eyes off yesterday were on full display thanks to the short sleeved football shirt he was wearing. My eyes followed him as he jogged back lightly to his position, ready for the referees whistle. I think I was in shock from how broad he was; his back muscles looked like they wanted to rip through the thin material of the jersey hulk style.

I blinked rapidly as the sound of the whistle pulled me from my Harry induced trance. Dropping my head I sipped on my tea quietly before deciding this was a good a time as any to talk to Izzy about what Grandad had mentioned this morning.

“So, how was first term?” I asked tugging lightly on her jacket to gain her attention.

“Fine, it took me awhile to get settled in, I think” She shrugged in response, which was unlike Izzy in the first place, so I knew there was something else.

“You get on with your flatmates, yeah? You’re not having a hard time, are you?” My underlying need to protect her suddenly made an appearance.

She shook her head frantically. “Erin, honestly it’s fine; my flatmates are great. I dunno. I just; it doesn’t feel like home yet.” she replied. She wasn’t going to tell me anymore herself, I was just going to have to come right out and say it.

“Grandad said that you and Harry haven’t seen each other in a while.” I pressed cautiously. Her usual bright features shifted suddenly becoming sullen, I grimaced as her shoulders slumped, and she sighed.

“We got into a fight.” she admitted. “We’re fine now, but it was the first time we’d ever fallen out” she sipped at her tea, avoiding my gaze. All my life Izzy and Harry had been inseparable. I felt angry at myself.  How did I not notice when she stopped talking about him? Why did she feel she couldn’t tell me about it? We told each other everything.

I took a deep breath, attempting to calm myself. “Why didn’t you say anything? What happened? You know you can talk to me about it, yeah?” I tried to repress my protective nature, which immediately made me want to blame Harry for whatever had happened. But I didn’t know what had happened. It wasn’t fair to assume. She’d just opened up to me, I didn’t want to smother her.

Another rowdy cheer jolted us both from the bubble we’d surrounded ourselves in when another goal was scored. Izzy took the chance to wiggle out of the conversation, whipping her head around back to the match and joining in the celebrations. But I needed her to tell me.

“Izzy, please.” I begged. Reaching down my fingertips brushed against hers as I moved to take her hand in mine. Her eyes dropped to where our hands met, both our bracelets twinkling in the sunlight. She sighed again before meeting my gaze.

“Fine.” she huffed. “But we’re ok now. We sorted it out, so there’s no need for you to go ape shit at him or me for that matter…”. I tried to laugh, but I wasn’t making any promises. If I found out he hurt her, I’d be drop kicking him into next week.

She turned to face me fully and took a deep breath before starting. “Basically it was fine at the start. We spoke pretty much every day, but I missed him. A lot. He’d been around me for as long as I can remember; I was just finding it hard not having him right there. I felt lonely. We ended up speaking less as the weeks went on, but he had a reading week at the end of October I think it was, and we’d planned that he’d come to see me for a bit before he went home for a few days. Then the day before he was due to come to Leeds to see me he said he changed his mind, that he wanted to go straight home. I was furious. He’d built my hopes up for him to just completely dismiss me as if I didn’t matter to him at all.” Her bottom lip began to tremble as she recounted the memories. I squeezed her hand reassuringly, letting her know it was ok to let it out if she needed to.

“I played it off to him like I was fine. But I wasn’t. I was so hurt that I was missing him so much when he evidently didn’t miss me at all.” A single tear made a path down her left cheek and it was taking everything in me not to storm onto the pitch right then and there and rip into him like he obviously deserved.

“It was the longest we’d gone without seeing each other and he chose to make it longer still.” She took another shaky breath before continuing. “Then I got a text from Sam saying he’d thought he’d seen Harry at the pub with his ex Aimee and was confused because he thought he was meant to be with me in Leeds.”

I was seething now. I didn’t claim to know Harry that well, but I didn’t think he could be so insensitive. They’d managed to go nearly 18 years of their lives as best friends without more than a few little hiccups, so whatever his reasoning was as to why he left Izzy, was completely beyond me.

“Erin, please.” Izzy begged, her eyes no longer filled with tears but with concern, maybe for Harry as my simmering anger towards him was just about to boil over the edge. I released my grip on her hand which I realised had suddenly become a lot tighter. She raked her fingertips through her beautifully messy hair, slightly pulling it over to one side where it cast a shadow over her features. “We’ve talked about it, and figured it out. Please don’t bring it up again”.

“Ok.” I breathed, and I clamped my mouth shut before any more words could escape. She was obviously hurt, and I didn’t want to add to that feeling. It was so unlike her to not want to talk, but I also didn’t want her to think she couldn’t trust me. I wasn’t being nosy; I just wanted to help.

****

It was edging on early evening by the time the tournament finished. Izzy and I stood huddled together at the side of the field with the rest of the day’s spectators as the final standings were about to be announced. The players sat in their teams on the field laughing and talking amongst themselves as the referees from each pitch checked over the results. I flinched suddenly as I felt an arm snake around my back and a hand being placed in my coat pocket. I looked over my shoulder where Izzy was snuggled into my right hand side, a slightly sheepish smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Obviously refusing to look at me, knowing she’d be faced with an ‘I told you so’ for not caring about the chilly weather earlier. She continued staring at the players in front of us while warming her fingers inside my coat. I shook my head and began to scan the crowd for Sam in the hopes we could make a quick exit once the standings were revealed.

I jumped slightly again when a presence on my left seemed suspiciously close. I began to turn my head slowly to see who it was, my shoulders slightly lifting in defense as I glanced at the person beside me. My eyes widened and I pulled back causing Izzy to stir.

“Dad, what the hell?” I exclaimed, confusion gracing my features.

“Hiya girls.” he chirped back. “Fancy the pub after this?”

“What?” I barked back, shaking my head again trying to understand how and why this conversation had come about.

“Do yo- “

I cut him off. “Have you been here the whole time?”

“Yeah, I came this morning. You’d already left by the time I had, and I forgot to mention that I was coming last night before you left with Izzy for the airport.” He said nonchalantly.

“Right.” I said with a slight nod. “Yeah, whatever. We’ll come.” I agreed as the head coach blew a whistle to get everyone’s attention. We all turned back to face the group of men holding clipboards as the chatter around us quickly faded out.

“Thank you everyone for coming today.” His voice bellowed out over the crowd. “We hope you’ve had a fun day. Thank you for all your donations; they are greatly appreciated and from your help our teams will only get better. As you can tell we’ve got some very talented players in this area who I’m sure will go on to do great things.”

A round of applause broke out amongst the spectators and the players began patting each other on the back for their hard work. Sam and Harry’s team had played brilliantly all day, winning every game except one, and even then they drew one all. Izzy and I had followed them pretty much all day as they moved to different pitches to play the other teams.

My unanswered questions about Izzy and Harry were nagging away in my brain just waiting to slip off the end of my tongue. Try as I might to concentrate on something, anything else, it was hard when they were both in my eyeline all day. After we dropped the topic the first time around Izzy’s mood had picked up significantly, jumping for joy any time her best friend and brother made a good tackle or scored a goal. I couldn’t bring myself to tear her down again.

“All the lads played brilliantly today, but one team racked up a fantastic 25 points, with 8 wins and 1 draw. Team C are the champions!” Everyone erupted with celebration. Sam, Harry and the rest of their team sprung up from where they were perched on the grass and collided with each other in a group hug. Izzy and I jumped up and down in delight, whistling and cheering as they collected their medals from the head coach.

“They played great today, didn’t they?” I heard my Dad say from beside me.

“Yeah, they did.” I replied. “I still can’t believe you’ve been here all day, and we’ve not seen you until now.”

Izzy chuckled, “Yeah, Uncle Michael, have you been avoiding us?”

“No, but I’m starting to think I’ve discovered a new talent here. I think I should get MI5 on the phone; maybe they’re looking for a new spy?”

“Oh my God.” I said with a huff while Izzy stood cackling next to me.

Soon enough Sam jogged over to us and the day’s crowd began to disperse. “Right,” Sam said, clapping his hands and rubbing the palms together before bringing them to his lips to warm them with his breath. “Where we off to?”

****

The Cross Keys was located on a quiet country road just on the outskirts of Holmes Chapel, about a 15 minute walk from my Grandparent’s farmhouse. I’d spent many evenings here when visiting my Grandparents over the years. The landlord, Brian, had served my Mum, Dad, Auntie Josie’s and Izzy’s first ‘legal’ pints, and I’m sure when Sam turned 18 he would be more than willing to keep up that tradition.

Stepping out of Izzy’s car, the gravel driveway crunched underneath my feet as I walked up to the familiar building. Pulling on the old wooden door, I stepped inside sighing with relief as the warm air hit me. Black painted wooden beams hung low from the ceiling, the bar on my left ran along a wall to the back of the room and a small fireplace was built into the wall on the right.

I could feel the heat calling out to me when my finger tips tingled with the sensation of the quick temperature change. I made my way over to an empty table near the fireplace, ready for the warmth of the fire to seep into my skin. Izzy, Sam and Harry trailed behind me choosing their seats around the table.

Sam had invited Harry and his family to join us for tea at the pub as a kind of really mundane celebration for winning the tournament. The parents trudged in a few minutes later as my Dad had to make a round trip to pick up everyone from their houses.

Once everyone had said their hellos and caught up, people gradually started making their way up to the bar to order. I stood leant forward slightly into the countertop, drumming my fingernails on the wood, hoping to be the next person to catch the barmaid’s attention.

Someone cleared his throat beside me, and I knew who it was without even looking. I’d tried my best to avoid conversation with Harry as my new found information  was still threatening to make an appearance. I turned and offered him a polite smile, not trusting myself to open my mouth without something spilling out that I wasn’t prepared for. So I turned my gaze back towards the waitress behind the bar.

“Are you ok?” He asked timidly.

“Yes.” I replied plainly, not turning to look at him again, praying the bartender would come over and save me from the inevitable interaction.

From the corner of my eye I saw him take breath as his shoulders dropped. It seemed to me almost a sigh of defeat, I didn’t think he was the type to give up so easily though, not after how driven and competitive I’d seen him be earlier today at the tournament.

“If this is about yesterday, I told you I was sorry. It was an accident. There’s no need to be in an arse about it,” he spat.

My eyes widened in shock, though I didn’t allow him the satisfaction of seeing my startled look, and I held myself as I was before. It was now my turn to calm myself with a deep breath. I found myself thinking back to my few memories of Harry as a child. I thought about how he seemed to be somewhat of shy little boy who followed Izzy round like a pet. Since then he’d obviously grown in confidence, seemingly enough to make him overtly rude and confrontational.

“It’s not about yesterday, and I’m not in an arse, Harry. I’m fine.” I replied as monotonously as I could manage.

“Well there’s clearly something wrong.” he persisted.

I was starting to lose my resolve, but I remained stood as I was, focusing on a random bottle of whiskey placed on the back of the bar. “No, there isn’t, Harry. I promised Izzy I wouldn’t mention it.”

“So there is something wrong.” I could hear the smirk. That was it. I turned round so harshly I pretty sure I nearly gave myself whiplash.

“Look Harry, I promised Izzy I wouldn’t bring it up, but you’ve brought it on yourself.”

Well….here comes the word vomit.

“You really upset her, do you know that? You know how much you mean to her and you just brushed her off like she was nothing.”

I really needed to learn some self control. Maybe I should try yoga?

“You didn’t even attempt to explain yourself, no measly excuse, you just left her alone thinking whatever it was you decided to do was better than just the idea of seeing her.”

I watched his face turn from shock, to confusion, to anger and then kind of an odd mix of all three. I tried to stop, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.

“You knew how alone she was feeling. You’re supposed to be her best friend when I’m not there, and you left her! She would never do anything like that to you, and you know it. If you’d told her in confidence how alone and vulnerable you felt, she would have been by your side in an instant. She would’ve dropped anything to make sure you were ok. You know she would. So why the fuck when she told you she needed you did you leave her on her own?!”

I’d always been the one to protect her, help her, comfort her, just be the person she needed me to be. But I couldn’t always be there physically when she did. Over the years I think I’d found comfort in knowing Izzy had Harry when she didn’t have me. But knowing he’d been the one to hurt her made me feel like I’d failed, like I somehow should have known that I shouldn’t have let him become this insensitive prat.

I hadn’t realised I’d started crying until I gasped because I was short of air and I felt the cold, salty water drip down my cheeks. I also hadn’t realised that during my outburst my voice had risen significantly, gaining the attention of all the local pub goers that afternoon. I glanced over my shoulder to the table where I’d left the group, seeing them all on their feet shifting uncomfortably. My eyes stopped searching when they found Izzy, whose gaze was locked on the boy beside me.

Well, well, well.... What do we think?? Please like and reblog if you’re enjoying the story I’d reality appreciate it! Also, come chat to me about it, I’d love to hear what you’re thinking!!! Much love 💕💕