#thank you vic i hope you’re doing well and having a good day/afternoon/night!!

[rush-the-stars]

👀 !!!!!!!

vic hello hi for you, i have a snippet of ruin!getou

cw: mention of collaring?

[mywritingonlyfans]

I don’t want to post it on my site simply because I’ve never written before (especially in English) and I’m too shy 👉🏻👈🏻🥺 but i feel like i should show it to someone. thanks to tumblr for anonymity. I just said that I'm really worried if I'm bothering you with this

Well, in general, that's it. I hope you really don't mind

he remembers the first time he saw her.  and how his brain immediately stopped working properly.

he randomly craved coffee that day. he didn't really like this drink until that day.

in the next building from where he lived there was a coffee shop and that was where thomas headed.

a neon sign on the street, a garland of light bulbs, a couple of tables and chairs to relax and enjoy a drink. everything would be fine if not for the music from the speaker. "damn, this is led zeppelin" - he thought to himself : "I already like this place". but going inside thomas liked it even more. he liked it so much that he froze in the aisle, unable to take his eyes off the barista.

- good afternoon, what would u like to drink? - it seems Thomas did not even hear the question and continued to examine the girl opposite him, he was so fascinated by her - mister, are you okay?

- oh, yes ... yes, of course, I'm sorry - it seems he is already redder than a tomato

- what'll it be?

- um .. maybe ... I want - "you" thought the guitarist to himself, but of course he didn't voice it - I don't know what I want - sighed sadly

- well, in that case, let me help you with the choice - it seems her eyes sparkled even brighter. damn this girl really loves her job

- it would be nice - after a couple of questions, the girl began to flutter around the coffee machine.

all her movements were so easy and so ... beautiful. just like her. dark hair, almost black. loose clothes in which she looked even smaller than she was.  "she is tiny. she's up to my shoulder... OK, maybe a little bit higher... or not" . in any case, it doesn't matter, unlike the fact that from the moment he saw her, this girl did not leave Thomas's head for more than a minute. he thought about her all the time. when he fell asleep, when he woke up, when he ate and even when he was working on new music.

from day to day he came to the coffee shop  in the morning for a cappuccino with  a little bit of caramel syrup (I think he would like it) . the barista offered him this drink when he first went into a coffee shop and did not know what to take and now he is ready to drink only it until the end of his days. on the days when he had to go to the studio, he bought coffee for the whole band, simply because "if you don't want to introduce us to the thief of your heart, then at least bring us  coffee from her".  the point was that thomas didn't know her either. not even her name. nothing. all he knew was that she works in a coffee shop and she is about his age. and also that her handwriting is beautiful. when the guitarist took coffee for the whole group, she wrote on each cup what was inside.

they never talked about anything. after a couple of visits, the girl already knew Thomas's order by heart. so every time he quietly entered, greeted from the doorway and said the number of drinks and sat down at a table waiting for his order. he quietly watched every movement of the girl, paid, thanked and left as quietly as he came.

why didn't they talk? they both wondered this question. at first they boyh were too shy, and afterwards silence became a habit. and it became even more difficult to speak first.

almost two months have passed since their first meeting. Thomas stood near the coffee shop, smoked and talked to victoria on the phone.

- fuck! ..yes, apparently I fell in love! I have a crush! I'm smitten by a girl! yes, I'm!..maybe... I do not know! leave me alone vic, please! - thomas was fed up with it. he was angry with himself and his lack of confidence, and this conversation did not help, especially at half past seven in the morning

- did you ask her out? damn, thomas! do you even know her name? - the last long drag and he threw the cigarette  into the trash can

- she is fucking perfect, gorgeous, breathtaking and she's doing the best coffee in the world and she is not interested in me in this regard. end of the conversation! - he ran his hand over his face and ruffled his blond hair.

- how she can not being interested in you? have you even tried to talk to her?

- OK vic, I'm done, see you soon

thomas pushed  the red icon on his phone and entered the coffee shop, without even thinking that the girl  behind the counter heard what was happening on the street.

- good morning.  four please - he sat down at the table - she left her hair down  today, looks good ... nah, perfect on her. he thought about the way she smiles every time when she sees him. although he realizes that she is only smiling at him because he is her customer... damn, he seems to be in serious trouble.

- are you okay? you look a bit...

- t-tired? - did she just...spoke to me? -  yes, could not sleep all night

- coffee does not replace sleep, but I hope it will help you

- me too, dolcezza - she's so cute when she blushes. it seems he fell in love even more, if it possible

the guitarist paid, took his four cups of coffee and headed for the door

- thanks, bellezza - thomas raggi, where did you suddenly get so much courage to call her like that? TWICE!? but still not enough courage. he thought to himself

Thomas gave the stand with signed cups  to Damiano, who was sitting in the front seat

- OK,  that's yours - the singer handed the cup to victoria who was sitting in the back of the car with guitarist - ethan, your coffee, and ... O LORD, FOR GOD'S SAKE! THOMAS YOU FINALLY DID IT !

the blond guy looked up sharply from the phone

- What did I....?

- LOOK! - damiano interrupted thomas and handed him the cup. there was complete silence in the car. the guitarist couldn't take his eyes off the writing on the cup of his caramel cappuccino, and the band couldn't take their eyes off his shocked face. there was a phone number written in neat handwriting

- that's might be her phone number ... did she..?. SHE GAVE ME HER FUCKING PHONE NUMBER!!!

thomas would not be thomas if he called or texted  her. at the end of the working day he just came  to a coffee shop with a neon sign.

- good evening - without looking up from work the girl began - what would you... - she finally turned towards the guy standing awkwardly near the door - oh, hi - she looked down and blushed a little. it seems he should have contacted her  during the day

- I'm sorry I didn't text you, I ...

- no, it's okay, I just misunderstood you, I'm sorry, I - the girl wanted to continue, she was interrupted by  thomas's  nervous giggle

- no, don't apologize - he came closer to the counter - I really wanted to text to you .. and offer to take a walk after work .. and find out your name .. from the very first day when I came here -  the guitarist babble quickly, but at the same time with slight pauses between sentences.  his gaze  time traveled from the barista's face to some random item in a coffee shop all the, which could not but make the girl smile

- I'm y/n

By the way, I apologize for the mistakes, as you already understood, English is not my native language

THAT'S SO FUCKING ADORABLE I'M FUCKING IN LOVE WITH IT OMG pls nervous/anxious Thomas is a thing and I love it!!! Pls get your girl, siiiir!!!! Thanks for that, you're amazing!!

- and i don't mind at all, i love reading it!

[beyond-the-mirror]

The Blue Eyed King’s Gift

Finally! As promised Part 3 is now ready.

So as you have seen in the previous chapter, this fanfic was partly inspired by Thumbelina (or Thumbeline, depending on the country you’re from). In this part, however, there are a few hints for the main inspiration of this fanfic, can you guess which fairytale is it?

Be ready though, this chapter is a long one. More under the cut.

Special thanks to @cheesysquid​ for beta-reading and putting up with my amateur writing. Thank you so much for everything, o master of writing.

Pairings: Vergil x Fem Reader

Warnings: None. Pure fluff and wholesomeness in this one.

Tags: @v-vic​. If you want to be tagged let me know!

Part One - Part Two - Part Four

……………………..

Part Three

“Nooo! You pesky knights have defeated me!”

“Take that you evil dragon! You have been slain by the great knights Nero and V!”

Both twins giggled victoriously after tackling their uncle to the ground, causing the man in question to let out a hearty laugh at their adorable antics.

They were still in the middle of playing when the door opened. The boys beamed at the familiar, stoic figure that walked inside, clad in an elegant blue attire and a tired expression evident on his face.

“Papa!” The monarch welcomed the twins into his arms, their innocent smiles already soothing the stress out of his mind and body.

“My apologies for working until late little ones, there were some important matters Papa had to attend to.”

“But, you are still going to play with us tomorrow like you promised, right?” Nero gave his father a worried look, his lips forming a cute little pout that the king would never resist.

The last couple of weeks had been busier than usual for the Blue Eyed King, leaving him little to no time for his beloved children. However, all pending work had finally been solved just in time for the weekend, a perfect opportunity to take a well deserved break from his royal duties for a few days and instead spend them with his lovely sons.

“Don’t you worry, tomorrow I’ll have the entire day free so we can do whatever you two want.” The twins bounced at their father’s words, already excited for the next day to arrive. “But for now it is time for you both to go to bed.”

The twins wanted to protest in hopes of getting at least another few minutes of playtime, pouting and huffing in a displeased manner. But their attempts were thwarted by their uncle, who had a mischievous grin on his face.

“Your papa is right kiddos, it’s already late and all the good little boys must go to sleep. Unless you wish to fall victims to the monster that eats naughty children!” Letting out a playful roar, their uncle picked up Vitale, acting as if trying to munch on the boy’s little arm.

“Eww! Uncle Dante that is gross!” V giggled as he pushed his uncle’s face away from him, failing to make him stop his antics. Finally giving in, Dante lowered him on his respective bed before making his way to the door, letting his older brother tuck his nephews in.

“Now what do we say, my dears?” The monarch asked, giving his sons an expectant look while a warm smile blooms on his face.

“Good night uncle Dante!”

“G’night kiddos. See you tomorrow Verge.” The young prince smiled back at them, and with a salute, he retired to his own chambers for the night.

As Vergil tucked his sons under the soft covers however, his keen eye could notice Nero fidgeting a bit in his bed.

“Is something troubling you, Nero?”

The boy jumped at the abrupt question, hesitating for a few seconds before answering.

“Uhm, earlier you said that tomorrow we could do anything we wanted, so...” Looking down to avoid his father’s intense stare, the young boy took a deep breath before continuing. “Remember our friend (Y/N)?”

Vergil raised an eyebrow in confusion. These last weeks his children would mention her quite often, even though he knew about her existence before they even mentioned the name to him. He indeed recognized and appreciated all the good things this woman had done for the brothers, and it would be a blatant lie to say he wasn’t grateful for her kindness and hospitality. However, he couldn’t help but feel concerned after hearing Nero bringing up her name.

“I do recall her. Something you wish to tell me about it?”

The older brother glanced at Vitale at the bed next to his. He seemed unsure as to what to say, until a silent nod from V gave him the push he needed to speak out.

“Well, V and I were wondering if… we could invite her for dinner tomorrow?”

………………….

Another day, and yet the same routine.

Waking up, getting ready, cooking breakfast for your father and preparing all the goods to be sold at the market before departing.

That’s how it has been for some years now, and yet something felt different.

Lately you’ve been smiling more. Everytime you cooked, you would hum a cheery song to yourself. Your plants and crops would receive more kind words from you than usual, which resulted in better harvests, and therefore, better sales.

There was no doubt as to why there was more light in your life. Two reasons actually: two adorable little brothers that would often grace you abode with their beaming presence.

It was no surprise to receive a sudden visit from Nero and Vitale, always accompanied by their two animal friends Griffon and Shadow. Those afternoons became your favorites, when you welcomed the twins into your garden so they could play as much as their hearts wanted to. On days when you weren’t particularly busy tending to your father, you would join them in their adorable antics and games.

While your father’s attitude had sabotaged your childhood, one that you hoped could have been happier, there was no denying the bond you formed with the twins. Eventually you found yourself going through all your belongings from your childhood that you had locked away inside an aged trunk in your room. And much to your luck, you found some of your old toys still in pristine condition. An idea then hatched in your head, why not share them with Nero and Vitale next time they visited?

As you tended to your garden, you spotted a couple of familiar silhouettes approaching your family’s chateau, which brought a bright smile to your face. It seemed today they decided to drop by earlier than usual, nevertheless you still welcomed the brothers into your yard.

“(Y/N)!” They exclaimed simultaneously as they ran to you, wrapping you into a warm hug as soon as you kneeled down to their height.

“Is the bad man at home?” V whispered into your ear.

“The bad man is sleeping. Don’t worry about him.” You winked at both brothers before ushering them in and towards the garden, glancing around to make sure your father wasn’t around.

Every time you would always make sure to keep the brothers hidden from your father. It was for the best, as you figured it must not be healthy to expose such innocent children to a volatile and constantly inebriated man like him.

“So what do I owe this unexpected visit? You arrived quite earlier than usual today.”

“Actually, we came here to invite you to our house.” Nero announced in a cheerful tone.

V nodded before completing his brother’s words “We asked our father and he said he wanted to meet you. So he wishes for you to come and have dinner with us.”

“Oh…” Needless to say, the request took you by surprise. “Well I do appreciate the offer, but I’m not sure if I could really go. I don’t want to be a bother there, and I still have some chores to do here.”

A frown crossed the twin’s faces “Please (Y/N). We promise you will not be a bother, we really want you to go.” V pleaded, immediately followed by Nero.

“Yes, and we could play and have so much fun! Plus, we can show you our home and you can meet all our family and friends.”

“But…”

“Pretty pleeeease?”

‘Oh, be still my heart.’ you internally struggled as you witnessed the cutest and loveliest pair of puppy eyes you had ever seen in your life.

“Alright then” you sighed in defeat. There was no way you could resist the charm of those two. “Let me just change my clothes and we’ll be ready to go.”

“Yay! Thank you (Y/N)!” They jumped up and down in glee, a rather adorable sight for you.

And so you made your way towards your bedroom, leaving the twins in the safety of your garden for them to play while you got ready.

You rummaged through your wardrobe in search of a nice enough dress, if you were about to meet the twins’ family then it was best to dress appropriately and cause a good first impression. You opted for a light blue gown, not too elegant but not too casual, perfect for an afternoon meeting. Searching through your jewelry box, you opted for a pair of pearl earrings, a blue hair ribbon to tie up your hair, and last but not least, a beautiful choker necklace that used to belong to your mother.

The sight of it brought a nostalgic smile to your face. Your fingers lightly traced the small blue rose at the center, the single sapphire drop beneath it reflecting light ever so pretty.

Sitting on your vanity you began working on your hair, combing and styling your locks into a simple but classy updo. However, as you sat there getting ready, you couldn’t help but wonder what kind of family did the brothers have. By the clean outfits they would always wear you figured they must have a wealthy enough family. The thought made you feel nervous, would they approve of you? The daughter of a bankrupt, alcoholic noble with a terrible reputation? A once respected family name now tarnished by the actions of your father, you lamented how things came to be.

With a deep sigh, you tried to shake those feelings off. Your little guests were waiting for you, and you wouldn’t dare let those negative thoughts crush their earlier happiness. It was the least you could do for them, the little lights of your life.

………………….

“You are going to love our home (Y/N)! It’s so pretty and everyone is so nice and kind. Also, Papa has an enormous library! Right V?”

“Yes! It’s my favorite place ever. I can’t wait to show you all the pretty books!”

Nero and V bounced all the way as they pulled at your hands, guiding you to their house.

And yet you couldn’t help but wonder about where the boys lived. Your father’s chateau was quite remote, and not once did you spot another house during your trips to the village. But you shrugged the thoughts away, choosing to instead follow Nero and V while enjoying their company.

That was until you noticed they were leading you towards the dense woods.

“Shouldn’t we take the road instead? The woods could be dangerous and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

But the boys simply shook their heads. “They’re very safe, besides we always take this route.”

“Don’t be scared (Y/N). We promise you it’s going to be okay, you can trust us.” Both twins reassured you,  soothing your doubtful mind. Should it be true they have been crossing the woods to visit you, then danger was nowhere near.

“Alright then. Let’s keep going.”

………………….

A soothing peace lingered on the woodlands. Birds chirped away despite it already being past noon, flowers of all kinds painted the ground in all kinds of patterns and colors, warm rays of sunlight shone through the many tree branches and bathed the earth in a mystical aura.

Never once had you paid attention to the forest near your father’s chateau. Whether it was out of fear of the beasts that could possibly lurk there, or the scary thoughts of getting lost there and never finding your way back home; entering there barely crossed your mind.

And apparently you weren’t the only one who thought so. As vast as it seemed to be, the place appeared as unmarked in every map of the region. Just a big, nameless spot too unimportant to be considered as a landmark by locals and travelers.

So it made sense to ask yourself, as Nero and Vitale brought you along into the unknown, just what kind of family would take interest in living in a place like this?

Staring at Griffon’s figure flying just ahead, you wondered how far you were from home, and just how long you had been here in the heart of nature. It felt like an eternity, and at the same time it felt like only a couple minutes. Now that you thought about it, why did it look like the same scenery repeated over and over? The same trees, the same flowers, the same chirping birds.

What is this place?

“Here we are.” The sound of V’s voice pulled you out of your thoughts. It took a few moments to register where you were, and after blinking a couple times, you took in your surroundings.

Never had you seen something so otherworldly.

A small clearing, barely illuminated by a few rays of sunlight, laid right in front of you. The irregular terrain of the woods had now turned into a layer of soft green grass. But what truly caught your eye was what stood right in the center of the clearing: A lone stone arch was there, tall and covered in moss, looking as if it had witnessed many ancient eras that were now long forgotten.

A dead silence veiled the land, yet the mere presence of the arch weighed so heavy in the air. It almost felt as if it were alive, an ancient being filled with sorrow over being the only surviving structure of a lost kingdom. You found yourself staring at it for a bit too long, not expecting to see something so out of place in this forest.

“C’mon (Y/N)! Our home is right there!” Nero tugged at your hand, taking you towards the stone arch in a hurry.

You were about to ask what he meant, but the words never left your lips as the twins pulled you to the other side.

………………….

There was a fairytale you were fond of when you were a child, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland if you recalled correctly. There was a particular scene you remembered, one where Alice stumbled into a rabbit hole, falling deep down until she found herself in another world.

At this moment in your life, you felt like Alice. Except instead of following a white rabbit into a rabbit hole, you followed two brothers across a stone arch.

You gaped in awe at the scenery before you.

The thick forest you were once in had vanished completely, now replaced by a vibrant city full of life. Everything looked so much different from the little village you knew, from the buildings to the shops and even the clothes people were wearing. You were especially taken back by the strange carriages that ran along the streets, impressed by the fact they moved around by themselves without horses or any other animal pulling them.

Not only did it feel like a different place, but also like a different time.

“Griffon, Shadow, could you please go to our father and inform him of our return?” As V finished his request, what happened almost made you stumble back in shock.

Shadow’s body began transforming into what seemed to be ink, heavy and shapeless, before morphing into a majestic panther with crimson markings glowing all over its body. Meanwhile, Griffon enveloped itself in blue sparks, growing into a demonic avian with three beaks and three golden pupils.

Both creatures, however, meant no harm at all as they bowed before the boys before departing in order to carry V’s order.

You were still staring at their figures disappearing into the crowd when a sudden gruff voice broke you out of your trance.

“I see you have returned safely, Your Highnesses”.

“Hello again mister Morrison. This is our friend (Y/N)!” Vitale greeted back. The man, Morrison, was a dark-skinned gentleman who looked to be in his fifties, impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit.

You weren’t sure if he was a noble or a commoner, if anything the exquisite clothes he dorned seemed to indicate the former. Wanting to be on your best behavior, you curtsied appropriately and introduced yourself to the gentleman before you.

“The famous miss (Y/N) herself. A pleasure meeting the lady that his highnesses have been mentioning about lately.”

‘His highnesses?’

“Uhm, if it is not too inappropriate of me to ask mister Morrison... exactly where am I?”

The man chuckled warmly at your questions. “My apologies milady. We are not exactly used to visitors from outside, I should have been more considerate though.” Morrison took a pause before continuing.

“Welcome to the Great Kingdom of Fortuna, Lady (Y/N).”

………………….

‘Well, talk about unexpected news.’ Said the voice in your mind, still processing what you just learned so far.

You learned that you were in Fortuna, a kingdom that exists in its own dimension, hidden behind a magical barrier. Nero and Vitale were also nobles, the beloved sons of a powerful demon king that reigned over this uncharted land. How mystifying it was to be in a land whose name eluded even the most thorough history lessons you were given since birth.

And now here you were, in one of those horseless carriages you had seen on the streets just minutes ago, on the way to meet the Demon King himself. Both twins kept giving you apologetic looks, their poor souls not expecting your reaction to be so flabbergasted.

Still, you kept reassuring them that it was nothing to worry about. There was no way their innocent minds would have taken that into account.

But now you found your mind drifting to what could be waiting for you at the castle. Judging by the recent events you had gone through on the same day, there was no way this day could become any more unusual.

………………….

His fingers ran through his hair for what had to be the hundredth time that day, despite it already being as pristine as always. Vergil sighed in frustration as a few bangs fell out of place and over his forehead, his bad habit of slicking back his hair already making matters worse.

“Hey now, cut yourself some slack bro.” Dante tried to cheer his brother up, brushing back his bangs into their proper place.

“Shall I remind you how this was basically your idea, brother?” He gave a deadly glare towards Dante once he stepped back.

When his sons had suggested inviting that woman to the palace, he was taken completely by surprise. Ever since the day Vergil had decided to isolate Fortuna from the rest of the world, the idea of welcoming an outsider has been completely out of discussion.

As much as he trusted (Y/N) with his children, and as much as Nero and Vitale insisted and sobbed, his decision was absolute.

‘But papa, she lives with a bad man. Her father is evil and cruel to her.’

‘But father, we love playing with her. We want to protect her from the bad man.’

He could see it, the true meaning carried within the tears that cascaded down his sons’ faces. They only wished to make her happy, get her away from the sad reality that was dealing with a drunken parent all the time, even if just for a day.

Of course Vergil understood, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t moved by their sweet intentions. However, he just couldn’t risk not only his family’s safety, but also his kingdom’s.

And then his annoying little brother intervened.

How did he manage to convince him? Nobody would ever know, least not Vergil himself.

“I’m just trying to help here. Besides, this (Y/N) girl doesn’t seem that bad so what’s the problem of letting one outsider in?”

Vergil grunted, becoming more unamused by Dante’s words by the second. He was about to retort when his brother rudely interrupted him.

“Or maybe the reason you are nervous is because you always look at her image like a love-struck puppy.”

At his words the king became paler than a ghost. “I’m not sure what you are talking about.” He cleared his throat in an attempt to hide his own insecurity.

“Don’t think for a second I haven’t seen you watching over her and the little ones with your magic.” Dante winked in an amused manner.

Feelings for that woman? Ridiculous. Sure she may look identical to his late queen, and her mannerisms may be almost the same, but his beloved was long gone. And yet Vergil couldn’t help the way (Y/N)’s image tugged at his heart.

No. There must not be any feelings whatsoever. (Y/N) was just an outsider and that was it. Even if his brother kept bothering him about it.

………………….

As you stepped into the majestic palace, you were rendered speechless by its luxurious interior.

Immaculate walls decorated with elegant and almost endless columns, their architecture like no other you had ever imagined. Not a single stain or speck of dust could be seen on the white and dark blue marble floor, and all the furniture pieces looked to be designed and handmade by master craftsmen.

Your gaze fell on the grand staircase at the center of the entry hall when you heard a door opening, the sound making all the servants bow at the figure that had entered the room.

The Blue Eyed King himself had entered. A gentleman dressed in an elegant navy blue suit, perfectly tailored and made with the richest fabric money could afford. His chiseled face was strong and defined, like a greek marble statue come to life. His luscious white hair was slicked back, not a single hair out of place. To complete his outfit, a matching tailcoat dorned his frame, decorated in a regal silver brocade that resembled wild briars enveloping his figure in exquisite patterns.

Everything about the king’s appearance exuded perfection and beauty, but what really caught your attention were his eyes. They were an icy blue, sharp and piercing like a deadly sword. Those were not the eyes of a human but of a demon, one with the power to make entire legions kneel and submit with a single glare.

Needless to say, the king’s mere presence intimidated you. And when his eyes connected with yours for an instant, you swore your heart stopped. Whether it was out of fear or wonder, you weren’t sure.

That was until the children at your sides started giggling.

“Papa!” The brothers ran towards their father with their little arms open.

And just like that, the demon in his eyes vanished. Kneeling down, the monarch welcomed his sons into his arms, a gentle smile breaking the cold stoicism that once rested on his face. Gone was the sharp look he had just seconds ago, now replaced with a warm light at the sight of his beloved children.

You couldn’t help but smile at them. However, when the king stood back up with the twins in hand, you were quick to regain your posture.

“Lady (Y/N), I present you King Vergil Sparda, ruler of the Great Kingdom of Fortuna.” In the most refined and formal manner, Morrison introduced his lord, before gesturing at the brothers. “His sons, Prince Nero Sparda and Prince Vitale Sparda.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty.” You curtsied, now regretting your choice of attire. A more formal dress would have been more appropriate for the occasion, but then again, you definitely didn’t expect to meet a King on this particular day. A sigh almost escaped your lips, and you dared to hope no one took notice of the gesture.

“The pleasure is mine, Lady (Y/N). I am glad you have accepted our invitation, Nero and Vitale have told me a lot about you recently.”

The children nodded in agreement. “Father, can we go play with (Y/N) now? Please?” Vitale gave a timid pull at his father’s sleeve.

“We want to show (Y/N) the castle!” Nero added with an adorable bounce.

“No little ones. Dinner is almost served and we don’t want to be late.” Vergil responded in a most gentle manner, yet firm enough to get his point across.

Both twins looked like they were about to protest when their poor stomachs rumbled in hunger, prompting you to let out a soft laugh.

Kneeling down to their level, you patted their heads lovingly. “Now my children, we’ll have all the time to play whatever you want after eating. For now let’s get you something to eat, hm?”

“And then we get to play together?” Again, the boys try to sway you with those irresistible puppy eyes of them.

“As much as you two want.”

The children would have taken off on a race to the dining hall if it weren’t for Morrison who stopped them in their tracks. The twins’ antics coaxed a laugh out of you, and out of the corner of your eye, you caught the king himself letting out a low chuckle. But the moment he acknowledged your staring, he couldn’t help but blush a bit.

“Please excuse my sons’ behavior.” He cleared his throat. “Recently they have begun their training in etiquette protocols, but i’m afraid they continue to ignore them each time I’m present.”

You shook your head to reassure him “Do not apologize, Your Majesty. Such an attitude must mean they see you as a loving father rather than a ruler, a person far greater than any royal in the eyes of a child, don’t you think?”

“An interesting point indeed.” Vergil hummed, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. For a second he looked like his mind was in conflict despite the cordial smile on his face, but he was quick to shrug it off. “Please allow me to lead you to the dining hall. You must be feeling hungry after your trip from home.”

The King proceeded to offer you a gloved hand. His eyes remained fixated on you, looking as if they were piercing into your very soul.

A bit hesitant, you accepted his offer, your soft palm soon enveloped by his warm fingers. On your way to the dining hall, the pink tint decorating your cheeks never once left.

………………….

All kinds of delicacies lined the grand table in front of you, trays filled with the most delicious looking food you had ever seen.

It took you by surprise when the monarch gestured to the seat at the right of his.

“I thank you for the invitation, your Majesty. However, I do not consider myself worthy of sitting at your right side.”

“Quite the contrary, Lady (Y/N). Nero and Vitale have told me of what you have done for them, and they requested for me to invite you to our palace. This feast was prepared as a show of my gratitude for the kindness you have given my children.”

The twins smiled at you. Knowing this was their idea warmed your heart to no end.

“I.. I don’t know what to say, your Majesty, except... Thank you for your generosity.”

Vergil offered you a smile before taking his seat at the head of the table, while his beloved sons were seated at his left side.

You sat at the king’s right, feeling nervous to take such an important place at a royal’s table. However, you were even further surprised to see that the rest of the servitude, including mister Morrison, occupied the seats too. In the countless times your family was invited to a noble’s house, never were the servants allowed to sit at the same table as the patrons.

Nero took notice of your expression and immediately understood your confusion. “Years ago, we told Papa we didn’t like the table to be so empty every time we ate, so we requested him to let all our friends sit with us too.” He explained, whispering loud enough for you to hear him.

Vergil smiled with fondness at the memory before adding “It has become a tradition since then.”

It seems not only were they a light in your life, but to everyone that met them.

“By the way,” Vitale looked around as if searching for something “Where is uncle Dante?”

‘Uncle Dante?’

“Hello family! Sorry for being late!” A boisterous yell resounded across the dining hall.

Turning around, you noticed a man who looked identical to King Vergil, and yet the energy he radiated couldn’t be more opposite to that of the monarch. His hair looked tousled, a contrast to the king’s slicked back hair. He sported a bit of a stubble, and the suit he wore as well as his tailcoat were a striking red.

The man you assumed to be Dante was about to take his seat at the table when his eyes noticed you.

“Oh! you must be Lady (Y/N), sorry for my rude entry.” As Dante approached, you stood back up to offer a polite curtsy. “I am Dante Sparda. It is an honour to finally make your acquaintance, milady.”

The noble offered you a wide smile, taking your hand in a gentle hold before planting a chaste kiss on your knuckles.

“The honour is mine, Prince Dante.” Your response was a bit bashful to the mannerisms of the noble before you, so you opted for a polite smile before sitting back down.

“So what are we eating on this fine day?” Walking around the table, Dante sat himself beside the twins, who immediately jumped to his arms.

Turning to the monarch, however, his reaction was far from the joyous one the boys had. In any case, he looked more like the demon you had seen the moment you first saw him.

“Please excuse my younger brother, Lady (Y/N). Unlike my sons, Dante never had a problem with ignoring the proper etiquette.”

Trying your best to ignore the deadly look Vergil was giving his brother, you proceeded to eat the meal in front of you with a low giggle, just like Nero and V in front of you.

………………….

“Aww can’t you stay for a little longer (Y/N)?” Nero gave a sad frown.

As much as you would have loved to stay with them, the sun was already setting down in the horizon. You still needed to care for your father back home and prepare everything for tomorrow’s sale at the market.

“I’m afraid I can’t, little ones. But you are free to drop by my father’s chateau whenever you want.” You pulled the boys into a tight hug.

Footsteps reached your ears, and rising your head, you noticed that the Blue Eyed King was approaching you.

“Are you sure you wish to leave Lady (Y/N)? You are welcome to stay in Fortuna and at my palace as long as you need too.”

You offered the king a polite shake of your head. “You are very generous, your Majesty. However, I do not want to cause any more inconveniences to your family and your staff. Besides, it’s getting late and I have a few matters to attend at home.”

As you gave a warm smile, the monarch’s mind was once again transported to past memories long thought to be overcome.

‘There must not be any feelings whatsoever.’ He reminded himself, before banishing those memories from his mind.

“In that case, please follow me.”

As you were being led through the many halls of the castle, you eventually reached the royal garden. Flowers and exotic plants decorated the place, all of them aligned in impeccable designs and nurtured as best as possible. At the center of it all, was a structure that was already familiar to you. A stone arch, this one surrounded by a bed of breath-taking blue roses.

“This portal can take you back to your home.” Vergil began explaining. “Picture in your mind the place you wish to go to, and once you step inside you shall be taken there. Afterwards, the portal will close behind you, and you will notice that time will not have changed since your arrival at Fortuna. You are welcome to visit the castle as many times as you wish.”

You turned to the monarch a bit incredulous. Have you heard correctly? The King himself had just invited you to return anytime you wanted. You would be lying if you said the warm treatment you received that day wasn’t unwelcomed, after having to support yourself and your father on your own all your life this was a rather pleasant change.

“Your Majesty, I-I can’t describe how grateful I am for your hospitality. However, I’m still not sure how I’ll be able to find the way back to this place again.”

At your doubts, Vergil kindly answered “As long as your heart wishes to, the way shall always reveal itself to you. And as long as you have something from your own timeline with you,” he then gestured at the choker that decorated your neck. “You shall always find your way back home.”

You were about to say something when the King reached for your hand, holding it gently and raising it to his lips before placing a soft kiss on the knuckles. Each and every word died before leaving your lips, the feeling of Vergil’s pillowing lips on your hand taking your breath away.

His eyes fluttered open, his gorgeous eyes now fixated on yours as his lips parted from the back of your hand. All you could do was avert your eyes, a rosy blush tainting your cheeks. Never in your life had you felt so bashful, and as much as you wanted to hide your sudden shyness nothing seemed to work. So instead you turned to the children, getting down on one knee before them.

“I promise you we’ll get to play another time, alright?”

After one last hug from them, you stood back up and crossed the portal, departing back home.

………………….

Everything was exactly the way it was when you left, even your father who still remained inside his chambers in a deep slumber as usual.

WIthout any further ado, you continued with your daily activities. Tomorrow will be another day, and yet the same routine awaited you as any other day before.

Waking up, getting ready, cooking breakfast for your father and preparing all the goods to be sold at the market before departing.

That’s how it has been for some years now, but now something was definitely different.

Your thoughts drifted to Nero and Vitale, and then to King Vergil.

‘Maybe I should drop by again in a few days…’

[jiejie-eonni-onee-sama]

Miss Independent...

For the sweet @queenofgotham800​ and @onemoreparadise​

Hope you will enjoy the story!​

She got her own thing.

That's why I love her!

Miss independent,

Won't you come and spend a little time?

She got her own thing.

That's why I love her!

Miss independent.

Oh, the way she shines,

Miss independent!

Miss Independent - Ne Yo (2008)

Sitting in the bar, Victor silently drank his glass of whiskey while watching the other patrons getting drunk, flirting, puking on the floor, or dancing like dislocated puppets.

He growled: they were all pathetic! He did not know how his boss manages to tolerate those jackasses in his club.

Something caught his eye, and he looked at a young brown-haired woman, who leaned her elbows on the counter.

She has something in her attitude that interested him: she did not look like the other girls. This one might be more appealing than he thought.

Smirking, he got up and walked towards her. 

Victor cleared his throat and asked:

"Hey, pretty! You enjoy the party?"

The young woman turned her head and answered:

"Not really. I'd rather not be like those clowns!"

Zsasz chuckled: he already liked her!

"Well, we have this in common. But those idiots make my boss rich, so I had to put up with them!"

"I guess so... But at least, the drinks are good!" she smirked.

"Glad to hear that!"

She slightly frowned when she noticed the scars on his face.

"I see... You must be Victor Zsasz, Roman Sionis's most trusted henchman!"

"Oh? You've heard about me?"

"Who doesn't hear about you in Gotham?" 

He shrugged.

"I don't know... Maybe those who think Roman is defenseless!"

He leaned closer to the young woman:

"And you, who are you?"

She grinned.

"Do you really want to know my name? Or it's just a formality before shagging me?"

Victor raised his eyebrows: she was quite frank about that!

"Even if it's not that obvious, I have some manners. I prefer asking the name of the person I want to have in my bed tonight!"

"Oh? Is that a proposition?"

"Only if you're interested!"

As she was about to answer, a drunken guy stumbled near to her and asked in a slurred voice:

"Hey, baby! Wanna have some fun tonight? I've got everything you want!"

"No, thank you! I've already found my fun!" she answered with a cold tone.

But the alcoholic did not take "no" as an answer, and he gripped her wrist.

"You will come with me, you little..."

He did not finish his sentence as a foot in his face sending him backward, with a broken nose.

Zsasz was impressed, to say the least: he thought he would peeling off this jerk's face, but it looked like the lady can defend herself.

"Mh, you know how to kick ass, right?"

"In a city like this, you better learn fast how to be a predator!"

A wide grin came across his face: he was lucky, tonight!

"So, about my proposition... You're still interested?"

"Well... I bet you know how to have fun!"

He gave her his best hungry smile.

"I have many tricks in my sleeve... Why don't you come with me?"

Her smile gave him butterflies in the stomach. She had some magnetic charisma that attracted him. Victor did not know why, but this girl would save his night!

"Okay, I follow. Are we going to your place, or you prefer a hotel room?"

"My place: it's not far from here!"

She got up from her seat and said:

"Shall we go, or do you plan to talk to me all night long?"

"You're a woman of few words, eh? I like that!"

The pair left the club and walked to Victor's place. After a few minutes, they arrived at the flat. No sooner had they entered the flat than they were already on the bed, feverishly kissing each other. They get undressed in a hurry, craving touch from each other.

His hands slowly wandered all over her body, making her sigh with pleasure. As for her, she slightly touched his scars, mentally counting each tally on his skin.

"Memories?" she asked.

"Kind of..." he muttered.

Victor inquired:

"But you did not tell me your name?"

Smirking, she leaned close to him and whispered:

"You know what? Just call me baby tonight."

Grinning, the killer pinned her down on the mattress:

"As you wish... Baby!"

And they resumed their lovemaking with unleashed desire, discovering each other's bodies and making the other scream their name. As he gets lost in her arms, Victor thought that his night was not wasted...

The next morning.

When Victor woke up, he felt that he was alone in the bed. As he stretched out, he realized that he was all alone in his flat. There was no sound of the shower or anything that could state her presence. 

Suddenly, he noticed a piece of paper on his nightstand. Unfolding it, he read its contents:

It was a likable night. Nice to meet you. Baby.

No phone number, no address: obviously, the lady did not want to extend the experience. A bitter grin appeared on Victor's face: usually, he was the one who ran away after dawn, leaving his one-night stand alone. But this time, he was the one left. 

Given the lady's character, he should not be surprised: it looked like Baby - as she called herself - loved to preserve her independence. 

However, there was something within this girl that fascinated him, but he cannot tell what. Her confidence, her appearance, her sarcastic comments... Or, maybe everything?

The scarred guy sighed: he would probably never know the answer. How will he find this girl in a city as big as Gotham?

As he got up, Victor sighed: definitively, she knew what she wanted and did not care what the others would say.

Really, she was an independent woman and never looked back. A tough girl, the kind he liked.

"You know how to break guys, uh? Miss Independent..."

A few months later.

"FUCK! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

Victor sighed as Roman kicked a man out of his room, fuming with anger. For some days, Mr. Sionis tried to hire new henchmen for his business... And it was not successful, to say the least.

While the candidate ran for his life, Roman yelled:

"Damn it! Is it too hard to find competent guys, or is it just me?" ranted Roman as he threw his cushion on the wall.

"You're right, Boss. They are useless!"

"Yeah, I have noticed! But they just wasted my time... AND I FUCKING HATE THAT!" 

Victor patted Roman's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"It's okay, Boss: we will find qualified guys."

"I hope so..." muttered Roman as he sipped his Martini glass.

Suddenly, Miss Lee, Roman's secretary, appeared and said:

"Sir, one last candidate is waiting outside..."

"Ah, really?"

"Indeed. Shall I let her in?"

"Her? You mean that a girl wants to work for me?"

"It is the case. Do you want to see this candidate?"

The mob boss shrugged.

"After all, why not? Tell her to come in!"

"Alright, sir." answered the secretary before walking out the room.

Sionis smirked:

"How funny. Can you believe it, Vic? A girl wants to cross swords with the toughest guys of Gotham! Either she is crazy, or she is a badass!"

"Wait and see, Roman," smirked Victor.

A few seconds later, Miss Lee arrived, escorting a young woman.

"Mr. Sionis, your last candidate..."

The moment he saw the young woman, Victor nearly screamed in surprise: it cannot be! 

As for Roman, he gave his most charming smile and welcomed the young woman:

"Good afternoon, dear. Sorry for the waiting: I was pretty busy."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sionis." answered the girl.

"The pleasure is mine. Yet, you know my name, but I don't know yours. May I know it?"

"Of course: my name is (Y/N)"

"(Y/N)..." mumbled Victor.

Oblivious of his right-hand man's turmoil, Roman gestured to (Y/N):

"Please, take a seat. Fancy a drink?"

"No, thanks. I want to stay clean..."

"Uh, interesting... Alright, let's get down to business: why do you want to work for me?"

"Honestly, you're the only mob boss who pays his employees well. Furthermore, you're the only one who accepts the idea of a woman working for him."

"Honestly, I was taken aback when my secretary told me about you. But, after all, I can give it a try."

He smirked.

"However, I must be honest: I am a demanding boss, and I only work with professionals."

Victor knew what Roman meant, and he was quite intrigued: will (Y/N) manage to succeed?

"What do you want from me?" asked the young woman.

"You know, as I try to find competent people for my security, I want to be sure that my employees know how to fight..."

"Who should I fight?"

She glanced at Victor with a smirk.

"Do you want me to fight your loyal Mister Zsasz?"

"No, no, no: Victor is too important... But I have to admit that you like the challenge."

"Life is no fun without challenges!"

Sionis laughed.

"You're far more interesting than I expected! Let's see if you're a good fighter! STAN!"

A tall blonde muscular man appeared in the room.

"Yeah, boss?"

"Fight that girl: if she kicks your ass, she is hired! Otherwise, I don't care!"

Stan had a dirty smile.

"Can she be my toy if I win?"

"You pig!" she growled, unpleased.

"If you want... Now, fight!" answered Roman.

Stan launched a punch at (Y/N). But she easily avoided it, much to Roman and his henchmen's surprise.

As for Stan, he was shocked: nobody escaped his punches. And he was not out of the woods...

"That's all? Too slow... My turn!" she replied before violently kicking his ribs, breaking one or two bones in the process.

"Ouch! That hurts, for sure!" grimaced Roman.

"Sure, it must be..." answered Victor... who secretly enjoyed seeing this idiot of Stan beaten by (Y/N).

Speaking of the latter, he was pissed! This little bitch would pay for that!

"Come here, you..."

"No thanks!" she said before catching his arm and pinning him down.

Once her opponent down, she twisted his arm, breaking it.

"Next time you dare speak to me, you better show me some respect, or I'll smash your skull! Am I clear?" 

Nodding with panic, Stan exited the room, holding his broken arm. 

Satisfied, (Y/N) turned to Roman and asked:

"Am I hired?"

"For sure, you are! You are a tough woman, and I like that! Can you start today?"

"Sure, Mister Sionis."

"Wonderful, my dear (Y/N). Welcome to my organization! Tonight, you will be with Victor and me at the club. Speaking of that, he will show you the main points of my territory."

He ordered Victor:

"Take the car and show her the main places. You have time until 9 p.m. Is that good for you?"

"Sure, boss." answered the scarred man with a nod.

He picked the keys and gestured:

"Follow me, (Y/N)."

"I arrive. See you later, boss."

Once the two are in the car, Victor asked:

"So, your real name was (Y/N)?"

"Yes, and so? What's the matter?"

He looked at her:

"Why you did not tell me your real name?"

"Honestly, you and I were just good for a one-night stand, and nothing more. So, I did not see the purpose to tell you my name?"

"You got the point... I have another question."

"Go ahead."

"Why you decided to work for Roman?"

"Because I knew you would be there..."

Victor raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yes. Because, as surprising as it sounds... I really enjoyed my night with you... And you are the most interesting man I ever met."

Zsasz chuckled.

"Well, that's flattering."

(Y/N) smirked.

"Now, that's my turn to ask you a question: when I arrived, I saw that you were surprised to see me, and also... happy. Why?"

Victor seemed embarrassed.

"You have noticed, uh? Well, you're right: I did not expect to see you again, after the note you left. And I was happy because... you're really my type of girl. Smart, tough, and badass. So, I was vexed when you left..."

"I thought that it was you want. And for once it was the girl who let first..."

Victor laughed.

"You're right: it changed, for once. But what bothered me was that for once I found an interesting girl, she vanished before dawn."

"Now, here I am!"

"Yes, here you are..."

He leaned close to her.

"After work, fancy a drink at my place?"

"With pleasure, dear. And this time, I won't disappear!" she smirked.

"Glad to hear that... Now, let's go: we have a long drive before us!"

During the drive, Victor and (Y/N) tried to catch up on time by trying to know each other.

Finally, he found his Miss Independent, and he won't let her go...

Thanks for the reading!

I hope you enjoyed the story that was slightly inspired by this wonderful crackship made by @onemoreparadise​ that I requested!

Don’t hesitate to send me requests!

See you later and stay safe! 😍😘🥰😷

[matrixaffiliate]

Endeavor

Chapter Update! FFN and AO3

Happy Saturday! Two chapters today, and then we have two chapters on October 31st, and this lovely little story comes to its end. See you next week!

Chapter 17

Teddy was finding that this whole planning a proposal thing was a good bit of fun. It probably had a lot to do with how he'd turned the whole thing into a game; that, and Vic choosing to play as well. He was thinking of feeding her a few other clues just to try and throw off her timeline. That idea seemed like a lot of fun too.

First, however, Ted needed to make sure that Kalil and Maira were on board with a proposal at their wedding.

He'd texted Kalil an afternoon three weeks before their wedding to make sure he could drop by that evening. When Kalil responded yes, Ted drove straight to their flat after work with excitement building in his chest.

"Hey mate," Kalil let him inside, "What did you need to talk about."

Maira came up behind Kalil and pulled Ted into a quick hug as he tried to kick off his shoes.

"You may not move in with us." She teased as she released him.

"Well, there goes that plan, I guess I'll just show myself out then," Ted smirked at the laugh he pulled out of two of his oldest friends.

"Come sit down," Maira led them to the couch, "Do you want something to drink?"

"I'm good, thanks," Ted claimed his favorite spot on the couch that Kalil had taken with him when the two moved out of their shared flat. "I wanted to ask a small favor on your wedding day?"

"I'm not naming our first child Edward," Kalil smirked at him.

"That's alright, I don't think that just anyone can handle a name like Edward."

"Will you get to the point, Ted?" Maira sighed as she rolled her eyes.

"I was, but your fiancé distracted me."

"Why do you think I always beat you at Mario Kart?" Kalil grinned.

"Darling, shush," Maira kicked at Kalil's foot. "Out with it, Ted."

"It's nothing huge, Maira, I just was hoping you two would be alright if I were to propose to Vic at your wedding.

"Seriously?" Kalil shouted before slapping Ted on the back. "Congrats mate!"

Maira moved to give him another hug as she squealed. "Of course, you can propose to her at our wedding! Oh, Ted, this is going to be so wonderful!"

Ted took a moment to compose himself. He hadn't counted on their reaction being so moving to him. It was all dreams and games up to this point, but with his two friends getting ready for their wedding in just a few weeks, and their overwhelming support to give a piece of the best day of their life thus far to him, Ted found his eyes were suddenly watering a small bit.

"So, er, can I get an idea of how things are going to move on your big day?" Ted cleared his throat and blinked the excess moisture from his eyes.

"Mai has all that info, right babe?"

"On it," Maira jumped up and moved down the corridor, returning with her tablet in hand.

"First is the ceremony, then we have dinner, and then the reception, I think that would probably be the best time to do it."

"What's your reception look like?" Ted leant closer to look at the document.

"Our first dance," Maira pointed to the screen, "then dancing for an hour while we mingle, and then cake cutting, more dancing, and then Kalil and I get to leave."

"My favorite part," Kalil smirked at Ted while Maira rolled her eyes.

Ted looked at the screen as he tried to think his way through this.

"How do you feel if I propose after your first dance? You could ask the DJ to give me a minute before he turns the music back on, and I could propose, and then we'd have the whole reception to celebrate with you."

"I think it's perfect!" Maira smiled so wide Ted wondered if her face hurt from the effort. "We could even have him play a song you and Vic really like first!"

Ted nodded, "Yeah, yeah, let's do that, I'll figure out what the right song would be and let you know."

Maira squealed happily and gripped Kalil's arm. "I'm so excited for this!"

"Sure, be excited about our friend proposing, forget that you'll be my wife, that's completely secondary." Kalil gave his arm a playful shake to free himself from her grip. But Maira just held on tighter and kissed him instead.

"I'll be your wife forever; I only get to see so many of our friends propose."

"She'll forget about me and Vic the moment you get her out of the reception," Ted consoled his best friend. "If you'd like, you can come and propose to Maira again at my wedding."

Kalil laughed, "Nah, proposing once was quite enough for me, thanks all the same."

"Spoilsport," Maira teased.

Ted smiled, they had it all figured out. Everything was ready, and in place, the only thing left to do was to wait.

Thankfully the days moved quickly, and before he knew it, Ted was driving to pick up Vic for the wedding.

Being in the wedding party, he had to be there before the ceremony to be a part of the pictures. He had needed to approach that problem carefully, as he really didn't want him and Vic to be in separate cars when they left the wedding reception. But Vic thought that being there early would be fine, and she readily agreed to have him pick her up in time for Ted to be in the wedding party photos. If he hadn't been so relieved, he would have been suspicious.

Ted pulled up to the Weasley's home and turned off his car. He looked at the glove box and smiled as he unlocked it and pulled out the ring.

"Well, my friend, tonight's the night." He opened the box and smiled. Tonight, it would be on her hand. Tonight, he wouldn't systematically check to make sure the glove box was shut and locked when he went up to his flat. Tonight, everything he'd been working towards would come together in what he hoped would be the greatest day of her life thus far. He slid the box in his pocket and moved to collect Vic.

Ted knocked on the Weasley's door and straightened his tie. But when Vic opened the door his hands fell from his neckline and he forgot how to breathe.

Ted had seen Vic get dressed up before. He'd taken her to different places that had required more than jeans and a t-shirt. But he'd never seen her in anything like this.

She looked like she should be walking out of a Hollywood red carpet event, not a small house on the seashore. Her hair was in curls and pulled back slightly, making her blue eyes the center focus. And her blue dress seemed to make the blue in her eyes pop like a photo app filter.

"Wow."

"Do you like it?" Vic bit her lip and moved one of her blonde curls back over her shoulder.

"You're beautiful."

Ted pulled her into him and felt the first bout of nerves that day over what he had planned. Vic was amazing, and she looked like a movie star, was everything he had planned tonight really enough?

"We should get going," Vic smiled up at him. "We don't want to keep Kalil and Maira waiting on you."

"Right," Ted sighed and reluctantly released his hold around her, opting to take her hand as they moved to his car.

Ted was glad that Vic was excited, she talked when she was excited, and he didn't know if he could manage to be the carrier of their conversations at that moment. He hadn't expected to be this nervous. She was going to say yes, logically he knew that. She wouldn't have played that she might ask him first if she wasn't going to say yes when he asked. But the irrational side of Ted's mind was apparently not listening. His palms were damp and they hadn't even made it to the pictures. Ted casually checked the time on his dashboard and had to suppress his groan. He still had three hours to go.

"You ok?" Vic put her hand on his thigh as Ted maneuvered the car into a parking spot.

Ted killed the engine and turned to look at her. She was smiling at him like the sun, her face full of excitement and love and just, everything.

He almost asked her right there, but somehow, he reeled himself in before he could ruin all his well-laid plans.

"Yeah, just, I can't believe that they're finally getting married. I've known them for most of university, and they've been something of an institution. This day more or less cements how far we've all come."

Vic leant forward and kissed him softly. "And it's going to be perfect."

She couldn't know how much her simple statement had given him a little bit of calm in the storm of nerves he was currently fighting. That was a big part of what he loved about her, she was always the calm in whatever storm he was in, even back when she had been with Sean, the moments with just her were what got him through it more than anything else he'd tried during those difficult months. Now, she was the calm that was getting him through the nerves he felt at asking her to be his forever.

They climbed out of the car and Kalil spotted them, calling them over in the middle of the photographer trying to take a picture, for which Maira gave his chest a light smack, making everyone laugh. Ted watched the photographer get the candid shot and was pretty sure that Maira would probably prefer that image to the majority of the lot they'd get today.

"We're so glad you're here!" Maira hugged them as she and Kalil met them halfway between the parking lot and where the rest of the wedding party was gathered. "You look amazing!" Maira adjusted one of Vic's golden curls.

"Thanks," Vic's smile was wide, "My sister helped me get ready. She's really good at this stuff."

"I'd say," Ted kissed her cheek.

The photographer suggested that they keep going with the pictures when Maira grabbed Vic's hand. "Come be in one with us!"

Vic blinked, "Are you sure, I don't want to impose, I only came early so Ted and I didn't need to bring two cars."

"Yes!" Maira gave her hand a firm tug, "I want a few pictures with the four of us. We've got plenty of time to do some with the four of us, and you look gorgeous, you have to get some pictures of you looking like this!"

Ted gave Vic's other hand a tug, "Come on, Vic, you know you want to."

"Oh, alright," Vic laughed as she gave in and they started to follow the bride and groom to where the photographer was wanting to position them.

"Ted!"

Ted turned around and smiled when he saw Nicki, her magenta bridesmaid dress causing the green streaks in her hair to pop like pieces of candy.

"Hey, Nicki!" He pulled Vic back and into his side as Nicki caught up.

"Vic, this is Nicki, she's a friend of Mai's and subsequently mine and Kalil's too. Nicki, this is my Victoire."

"I heard you'd started dating someone. It's nice to meet you, Victoire." Nicki held out her hand to Vic.

"It's so nice to finally meet you," Vic shook her hand and then bit her lip, "And thank you for being a good friend to Ted."

Ted was momentarily surprised. He'd told Vic about Nicki, about how things had worked out for the best between them, but he'd played this introduction so that she wouldn't need to visit that part of their past today. Another day, maybe he'd have done it differently, but today needed to be perfect. Apparently, Vic had come a lot further than he'd realized.

Nicki raised her eyebrows at Ted and then chuckled as she addressed Vic.

"I'm glad you two found your way back to each other."

Nicki's phone rang and she pulled it out to silence it but stopped.

"Sorry, this is my date," she apologized as she stepped away to take the call. Ted could have sworn he heard her say the name Kevin when she answered. He wondered if it was Kevin from marketing where she worked...

"That was really cool of you," Ted kissed Vic's cheek.

"Yeah, well it was really cool of her to let you go while I figured myself out." Vic kissed his lips, long and sweet.

"Ted!" Maira's voice intruded on their stolen moment. "Don't ruin her make-up before she's been in the pictures!"

The photos of the four of them and the wedding party photos didn't take very long and Ted found himself standing with his arms around Vic as they waited just a bit longer before separating for the ceremony.

"This is nice," she looked up at him and smiled. "I'm glad I came early with you instead of coming in my own car."

"Me too," Ted kissed her and again felt the overwhelming desire to ask her then and there.

It was a beautiful day and it was peaceful in this little secluded corner they'd found. It felt like them, this stolen solitude. It felt right. But he'd put so much effort into planning this out, and Kalil and Maira had too. He was pretty sure that they'd kill him if he simply couldn't contain himself and proposed after going through all the effort to plan an elaborate proposal with them.

He needed to distract himself. He needed to redirect his train of thought. And his answer came in the DJ turning on music while she finished setting up.

Ted turned Vic around and started to spin her around in their little corner in time to the music.

Vic laughed as he moved them through the song. "See, I knew you were pulling my leg. You can dance!"

Ted kissed her as he dipped her back into a small dip. "I'm full of surprises."

They only ended up having time to dance that one song before Kalil cut in to get Ted to his place and Vic moved to take her seat.

"You doing alright?" Ted asked his friend as he stood to his left and looked out over the guests. His eyes landed on Vic and he smiled as she gave him a little wave.

"Yeah, er, just, a bit nervous, you know?" Kalil shoved his hands in his pockets before pulling them back out and clasping his hands behind him.

"Don't think about the rest of us, mate. Just focus on her, you'll be fine."

"Right," Kalil gave him a grateful smile. "Are you all set for later?"

"Yep," Ted rubbed the back of his neck. "I won't lie, I've been tempted to throw the plan out and just ask her a few times today already."

"Hold strong, mate, you've planned something pretty big, don't waste it."

Ted laughed, "Don't worry, I've got enough self-control for this."

"I'd hope so, you managed to wait for her to make her way back to you. You've got the patience of a saint."

Ted went to respond, but the music began and Maira stepped out. Ted didn't waste his breath, Kalil wouldn't have heard him anyway.

The ceremony wasn't long and soon Ted was again back with Vic as they ate dinner. Dinner seemed to fly as Ted's nerves started to build up and gain momentum. This was it. He was within an hour of proposing. His chest felt like it was filled with electricity and his hands were sweating.

"Are you alright?" Vic looked at him concerned.

"Yeah," Ted tried to chuckle. "I'm great."

Vic gave him a shy smile and squeezed his hand. "Good."

They moved from dinner to the reception area and Ted kept Vic close to his side as they waited for Kalil and Maira to come in and dance their first dance.

"She's beautiful," Vic whispered as the happy couple took the dance floor.

"You're beautiful," Ted murmured close to her ear.

They watched quietly while Kalil and Maira spun around the floor and as the song started to come to an end Ted pulled Vic closer.

"Hey," he turned her to face him. "I…"

But before he could continue Ted heard a woman cry out on the other side of the dance room. He glanced over and resisted the urge to start swearing. Some other wedding guest was currently on one knee before the woman Ted assumed had cried out.

Shite.

There was a moment where the man spoke and then the woman gave him a teary nod. And that was that. Everything Ted had worked for months to prepare was gone.

And Ted wanted to pummel the stranger who had stolen it all out from under him.

[stardancerluv]

All Flowers Must Bloom Even in Winter

Part 4a

Summary: Dead body, suspisions and heartache

Warning: Bishop gets naughty with springing his need upon reader. Sex and fluff.

Hope enjoy this @theblackmaskclub

He was back in his room, finishing what was left in his flask to calm his heart after having just left you when, Michaels stormed into his room.

He turned. “Since when do we just fucking storm into my room.”

“I am sorry sir. But we found, Edwards. Someone has killed him sir.”

“Oh damn, what happened?”

He knew but they didn’t. Distantly, he really hoped Vic, didn’t fuck this up.

******

As he pulled on his overcoat and gloves, he was grateful he had gone back to his room when he had.

“Alright, Michaels show me.”

He pulled his collar up, brought his hat down, the storm was back and it slammed him right in the face.

“Right past here, boss.”

He followed close, making sure the harsh wind would not knock him down. Looking ahead, he spotted his brother.

Finally, looking down he nodded. He looked at Michaels and Vic, “Do we have any leads?”

“No boss, just glad we found him.”

John, shook his head. “Take his personal effects, maybe we can send them home or something. He shrugged. “Make sure they keep him cold. We’ll make sure in the spring he’s buried.”

John, stuffing his hands on his pockets. He walked back to the hotel. He took care of his needs before going back in. Relief, took that temporary weight off his shoulders. Vic, had not screw up.

Going, up the back steps, he saw Vic waiting outside his room. He kicked the snow off his boots.

When you, happened to walk by wearing a soft blue dress. He dipped his hat. “Y/N, good afternoon.” He gave Vic a hard look, who quickly, greeted you.

“Gentlemen,” Your eyes moved between the two of him and Vic. “This afternoon our cook is making a hearty stew and fresh bread. Bring your empty stomachs.”

“Why ma’am that sounds awfully good.” He smiled. “I’ll make sure my men are aware.”

Vic grinned. “We won’t go blind looking for the meat will we?” He choked and barked a laugh.

You gave a gentle smile. “I will make sure she puts a fair amount of meet in there.” Your eyes met his. “I know you have a lot of hungry men.”

“We’ll bring our appetites.”

“Good,” he watched as another smile curled your lips. “Now, I must leave your pleasant company and help her.”

He watched you walk away before going into his room. “Vic, get in here. I’m grab us a bottle alright?”

He caught half way down the stairs. Despite a small, round window where light poured into, the stairway was shadowy.

“Y/N, if you will indulge me?”

You turned and climbed back up so you were a step below him. “Yes?”

He pulled off his glove, and cupped your chin. “I’d like a bottle of whiskey and some glasses to share it with my brother.” He caressed, you lip with his thumb. “Care to bring that up?”

You kissed his thumb. “Certainly, sir.” With just that mere touch of your lips, he grew hard.

******

Sighing, you fluttered down the rest of the steps. Going over to the bar, you rolled your eyes. “Y/N,” your boss asked you. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing, but Mr. Bishop wanted me to run an errand.” You shrugged.

“What can I do to help?”

“A bottle of whiskey and two glasses, please.”

“Alright.” He grabbed them, wiping the glasses. “With how much he is spend, I’ll be set for three years.”

“Oh! That’s fantastic.”

“Well, continue with your sweet smile and wonderful songs and the remaining days he is here I am sure he will spend more.”

You flushed. “For an outlaw, he holds a good conversation.” You remarked.

“That’s good.”

“Well, I better not make him wait.”

With a smile, you went back up to his room. Their voices were muted as you knocked on the door. Vic, opened it.

“Where would you like it?” You asked sweetly.

“On the table.” You shivered. Looking, you noticed that John had opened the window since he was smoking one of his cigars.

“Is there anything else?”

John, exhaled. “We’re good, thank you.”

You politely nodded and walked out.

******

“For once, you did good little brother. Pour yourself a drink.” Vic, beamed.

He pulled on his cigar, watching him pour his drink.

“So you’re attracted to her.”

John, rose an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? Maybe you shouldn’t have that drink.” He chuckled.

“The way you look at her.”

“Care elaborate or I am supposed to be stuck in mystery.”

Vic, shrugged and took a sip from his glass. “I don’t know, you’re different.”

“Great. Well, she is a girl.”

“Ok, brother.”

******

You had enjoyed all the cutting and stirring and spicing of the food.

“Cooking in such large quantities, reminds me of Thanksgiving.” You remarked absently.

“So when were you going to tell me about you and the outlaw?”

You stopped stirring and looked at Anna.

“Look, I went out to use the outhouse, I heard a sound.” You pressed your lips together. “I was worried one of his men was doing something they shouldn’t, so I crept over. I was about to hit John with my rolling pin,” her lips curled in disgust. “When suddenly, you were giggling and I saw the two of you kissing in the snow.” The more she talked the more the heat rose in your cheeks.

You swallowed.

“I never took you for one to warm their bed with outlaws.” She leaned on the counter near you.

“I never have.” Her harsh words made you feel incredibly wicked and to be honest, you liked it.

She rose her eyebrows.

“He was defending me for an entire day. We continued talking well into the night.”

“A man like that defends young girls and talks?”

“Yes.” You flushed.

“Can I ask something?”

“Of course.”

“What’s he like?” You finally looked at her again, her eyes twinkled.

“Anna?”

“Yes?”

You smirked. “He’s a fantastic kisser.”

“I knew it, with a mouth like he has to.” A look came over her you never saw before.

You smirked.

“Anything else you want to share?”

“Anna, I am a virgin.”

“With your looks?”

You rolled your eyes. “Yes.”

“With the way you were kissing..” her voice trailed off.

You put the spoon down, and looked at her. “Were you watching?” Your voice getting a little louder.

Now she flushed. “Well, it was obvious he wasn’t raping you but playing in the snow with you.”

You closed your eyes and exhaled.

“I don’t know Anna. I only had a fiancee who left me when I got here, like you know. I don’t understand men.” All of this talk made you nervous. “But he defended me constantly when his men called me a whore, including his brother. I figured kissing was ok.”

She nodded, “It is.”

Once the stew was done, you were exhausted. “I am going to come back and eat. But I need to lay down.” You went and using some of the rose soap you washed your hands. You dried them on your dress.

“I’m sorry,” She gestured and was flushed, “He’s...well you’ve seen him.” A level of exasperation filled her voice.

“I have. Do me a favor though?”

“Keep this between two of us.”

She smiled. “Of course.”

Climbing, the stairs you put a hand on his door but then kept on walking.

At this point, you honestly had no idea how to feel the talk, everything. A part of you felt amazing another part slightly confused. Walking into your room, you stopped to pull off your boots.

A hand wrapped around your mouth, you whimpered against. Fear filling your heart. You instantly wondered where John was. You didn’t move. “I need you blossom.” A voice filled your ear, you relaxed yes still whimpered against his hand as you felt him reach around lifting your dress his hand was under it.

“Open for me.” He whispered. You widened your stance as that. His breath was hot as he exhaled against your bare shoulder. “Were you craving me like I was you?” You nodded against his hand. “Good. He pulled on the words. When you felt his fingers reach you. You whimpered and melt. “Be my good blossom. Go stand beside your bed and bend over it.”

You heard him clock the door behind the two of you. You did as he asked, because suddenly all that consumed you was needing him. You lifted your dress so it was above your hips as you waiting for him

You looked over towards him as he came over. His eyes had grown. “Blossom...what...good.” Was all he uttered as you saw him go to his slacks and open them. He leaned on your bed, close you his lips met yours and he kissed you. The whiskey he drank still taste like fire in his mouth. You moaned and wiggled, your eyes growing large as his fingers touched and probed at you. He broke the kiss. “Perfect. Remember, we have to be quiet.”

“I remember.”

You bit your knuckle when moments later he entered you. You arched, he felt so good. He began moving in and out of you, you almost lost yourself in the sensation. You distantly in the fog of your pleasure you felt your hand being taken away. His distinctly male hand, brushed your lips. Not thinking, you bit down but a strained giggled came from him.

It made your heart fill you will a strange sensation but then you just gave yourself up to what your were feeling at one point you sucked at his hand, along with biting his hand, your passion just over took you. Your pleasure ripped trough you. You shook hard, your legs felt like they turned to pudding.

Feeling him tighten with you, you knew he was close. He groaned then came to rest on top of your his breaths were hot on your shoulder which he placed a weak kiss on. Before he went back to laying on top of you.

A sharp knock filled your room. You both looked at each other. The knock came again.

“Y/N, its me Anna I came to talk. I am so sorry.”

You rolled your eyes, he got up and began tidying himself. “Hide behind my screen.” Dark look filled his eyes. You didn’t think. You kissed him. You lifted your dress up so it was your chemise. Grabbing your robe you wrapped and tied it around your middle.

“One moment.”

You unlocked the door, you only opened it a little. “Anna, my head hurts.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. That’s probably my fault.

“It’s ok. You were worried. Let’s forget it.”

“Ok. Get some rest before tonight. You are horribly flushed, do you need water?”

“No. I’m ok. Sleep is all I need.”

You closed and locked the door.

He came out from around her screen. The look in his eyes, for the first time worried you. Despite what just happened between you.

You backed up and sat down, never losing eye contact. “John?”

He rubbed his mouth. “What was that all about?”

His voice was deeper. Seeing, his hand you wanted to kiss but you didn’t act on it.

“She saw us.” “What?”

“She was using the outhouse, heard me and worried you were raping me.”

He chuckled and shook his head.

Seeing his mood change you relaxed. “It turns out, she umm has a thing for you.” “What?”

“She asked me all about you.” He rose an eyebrow. “I only talked about the kissing.”

“Ok.”

You grabbed his hand, you kissed where your teeth left marks. Still holding his hand, you met his eyes. There was warmth again.

“I’m sorry.”

He rolled his eyes. “It didn’t hurt.”

“Really?”

“Well, not horribly so. And I can cover those marks with gloves.”

“I wear gloves, too.”

“Not all the time.”

“Does anyone else know anything?”

You shook your head. “How about your brother?”

“No.”

When you let go of his hand, he pulled you up. “Look. Besides feeling rather greedy when it comes to you. I don’t want anyone or anything tarnish you because, I am impossibly drawn to you my little flower. That’s why I got so upset. Do you understand?”

You nodded, “I do.”

“Good.” He just looked at you then. “You are certainly interesting little flower.” He held you then, his scruff grazing your cheek as he hugged you close. This time, you felt his heart. It was still beating hard in his chest. Feeling that made your heart do that strange thing again. Maybe before he left you asked him what it meant.

Pulling back, he met your eyes. “I’ll be seeing you soon over some stew.”

“Yes.” He carefully left then. Laying back onto your bed, you placed a hand over your heart that remained achey in his absence.

@shantellorraine whatever could be happening?

[babygirlgalitzine]

for @mrdinglesugden, who has been asking for this for the best part of a year

friends just sleep in another bed, and friends don’t treat me like you do (x)

It had only been a few short weeks after Christmas, the new year barely off to a start and they were friends. Just friends, for the first time ever, trying to get back to being in a good and healthy place. They’d decided it together, both of them still hurt from their split, but neither of them wanting to rush in to anything and make it so much worse.

As much as it was working, the pain was still there. Robert would pick up Aaron in the morning, and they’d drive out, sometimes only to Hotten, and other times just further afield. In the past, they would’ve happily said that these were dates, they’d be able to kiss or hold hands, share food (and Aaron would smack Robert’s hands away from his food) but now -  now they were just friends, and they’d never been exceptional at that.

“It’s difficult.” Aaron admitted, throwing a piece of scrap onto a pile. He tried hard to forget who he was talking to, his head going years back and seeing Vic as his friend, and not as Robert’s sister. “I miss him, I miss being with him, but we need this time to just attempt being friends. Our relationship – we missed out on that. We were together before we really knew each other.”

Vic nodded, listening to everything Aaron had to say whilst she just drank her tea. “You just need some sleep, Aaron. Everyone’s said it. It’s been hectic and you look like you’ve not slept a wink.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re exactly like Diane?” Aaron teased, knowing that it had been said before, many times.

But it was true. Truth be told, Aaron couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually slept a full night, because he was just so used to Robert being with him. Half of the time Aaron would have to push away from him in the night, his body producing so much heat that it was practically unbearable to sleep, but he preferred it over not being able to sleep at all. The bags under his eyes had gotten so bad, purple veins were starting to show like he was a zombie.

Robert had been sat in the café, coffee held up to his face as he pushed himself to stay awake in public. It was getting ridiculous now. When he was with Aaron, trying to be friends, he’d been so comfortable. But it was like they were falling into their old routine too quick, treating every adventure out as a date, getting too close for comfort when they’d been sat watching box sets eating Chinese takeaway.  

Aaron had walked in, Liv trailing behind him and already invested in a conversation.

“I’m just saying, if you keep walking about at night I’m not going to be able to sleep either.” She said, eyeing up the cupcakes on the counter. “And you don’t want to see me on no sleep.”

“Already have done, ta.” Aaron counteracted, rolling his eyes. “Listen, I’ll be quiet from now on, but go to school before I have earache as well as sleep deprivation.”

And then Liv left, blanking Robert entirely. Aaron followed moments later, having paid for their food and drinks, but he smiled at Robert, both of them thinking the same thing.

God, he looked terrible.

Robert waited for a few minutes, drinking the last of his coffee and praying that it was enough to keep him on his feet for a few hours at least. He picked up his phone and typed out a message to Aaron.

I haven’t been sleeping either.

It was simple. A short statement, and one that Robert hoped Aaron would understand.

They’d talked about it before, how the two of them were incapable to having a good nights sleep without the other one next to them. On nights where Aaron would be away from Robert on a scrap run, they would stay up for hours just talking on the phone about anything and everything, before they would inevitably fall asleep, phone dropping from their hands onto soft mattresses and having dreams of tomorrow when they’d see each other again.

There was a knock on the door that afternoon, Aaron sat in front of the TV, nothing on other than news broadcasts and that was enough to send anyone to sleep. He knew who was there, he’d texted him to tell him to come over, without even really thinking. Anything to help him sleep for even a few hours.

“What’s the plan?” Robert asked when he sat down on the sofa, hands on his thighs, like he was too awkward to do anything else.

Aaron just huffed out a laugh, couldn’t think how else to put it. “We both need sleep. We’re dead on our feet Robert, everyone’s noticed it. I know what we’re like, so how about we just sleep together?”

Robert’s eyes went wide, and if they had the energy, it probably would’ve resulted in the two of them having a laughing fit like they used to do.

“Not like that. Just, sleeping next to each other. No funny business, it just gives us a chance of having a kip.” Aaron explained, muting the TV and getting ready to go upstairs.

So that’s what they did. Literally just slept next to each other, and for the both of them, it was the best sleep they’d had for months. The second their heads hit the cold pillows, it was like old times, only with less heat passing from Robert’s body to Aaron because this time they didn’t cuddle. This time, they had distance between the two of them, but hearing another person breathing slowly, the weight of them next to the other person, it helped so much. The afternoon was lost with forgotten dreams and stinging eyes finally having a rest.

Aaron had rolled over, his arm stretched out to feel Robert’s body next to him but he was gone. Instead, a note was left over, Robert’s neat handwriting on it.

Thank you. It had read. Keep it between ourselves but it definitely helped x

Aaron smiled, held the paper close to his chest and smiled as he closed his eyes and fell back to sleep for another half an hour. He wouldn’t admit it, but in this short nap, his face was pressed closer to the space where Robert just was, with faint traces of his familiar aftershave swirling around in Aaron’s memory.

After that afternoon, it had happened over and over again. During the day, if they needed to sleep, they’d arrange to meet at the Mill, just because there was less chance of people catching them. Most nights Aaron would sneak out, like he was a teenager again, and go to Keepers Cottage, just to be able to sleep next to Robert. It was these nights where they began to get closer again. They talked in hushed tones, careful to not wake anyone up, discussing their days and what they were going to do the day after. Robert’s bed was barely a double, even smaller than the first bed they owned in Aaron’s bedroom above the pub, so it was a squeeze to fit the two of them in there. At first it was uncomfortable, but they needed to sleep so just got on with it, Aaron’s leg linked in with Roberts, his arm on Robert’s bare back as they snoozed.

Nobody was to know about this arrangement. They just couldn’t. It was Robert and Aaron’s, and theirs alone. The time that they spent allowed them to grow closer as friends, and people had started to notice it.

The bags under their eyes had started to vanish, smiles had grown back on their faces, and it hadn’t gone unnoticed that they seemed so much closer out in the open. They’d started drinking together, eating food together. Seemingly, it was as though their relationship had gotten back on track – yet nobody mentioned it.

“Are you coming around tonight?” Aaron asked down the phone, voice low. Privately, he hoped that Robert would, because they needed to talk.

“You want me around there?” Robert quizzed.

Aaron took a deep sigh through his nose and rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t, would I?”

Robert just smiled, and nodded, temporarily forgetting that Aaron couldn’t see. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

He didn’t disappoint. Robert texted Aaron, just after eleven at night, to let him know that he was outside. They did this every time, so that they didn’t have to knock and maybe wake people up.

“How come we’re here tonight?” Robert asked. “Not that I’m complaining.”

Aaron just shrugged, hands in his jogger pockets. “Thought we’ll probably sleep better in a bigger bed.” He explained.

They did. But unlike every other time before when they’d slept in Aaron’s bed, this time they were touching. Aaron’s hands were on Robert’s head, fingers stroking through his hair, massaging him. Robert’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, and Aaron grinned, and then grinned harder – if that was at all possible – when Robert subconsciously pulled them closer together.

“We’ve gotten better haven’t we?” Aaron whispered, his lips pressed to Robert’s temple. Here, they were relaxed, at ease.

Robert nodded, and wrapped his arms around Aaron again. It went unspoken, that their relationship just naturally progressed. Robert turned his head to the side, facing Aaron and within seconds their lips connected for the first time in months and it was perfect. Only an innocent kiss, like they were teenagers. All grinning smiles and teeth and emotions.

Then, the day after, they stepped out into the village, hands entwined and smiles never dropping.

This time, they weren’t just boyfriends, they were best friends too; and that changed everything.

[god--baby]

get in pt 13 (sfw)

Henry Bowers x ambiguously gendered reader Patrick Hockstetter x oc Vic Criss x oc

master post

previously on: sophia wants to move in together, you and henry get jobs, butch beats henry

summary: sophia finds a house that looks perfect, you all go see it. also, the sweetest van in existence 

word count: 2073

tag list: @heckstetter @itaddict @starchildmarggu @galaxy-moon @frostwolfie2936 @kylorans @violetdawn-k @cordysblog @itwasmathilda @passionfortrashin

The next few weeks was a whirlwind of work and getting ready for finals. Turned out Josh wasn’t just smart in his own way, he was a damn decent tutor, helping out Belch and Henry with their studying.

Sophia was alight, looking for rental listings in Portland, trying to find something perfect for all of you, even though Belch and Vic were still hesitant.

You knew they’d come around, though. Henry was talking about it every chance he got. You could see it in his eyes — he had hope. He was going to finally leave his fucked-up home and make a new one.

And you were going to be there with him, every step of the way.

“Dad doesn’t think I’ll actually do it,” he said one day on the phone. “Busted me a good one for bringing it up.”

“Jesus, Henry. Just wait, he’ll see. He’ll see.”

“Yeah, he will.”

You sat your parents down one Sunday after work.

“I’m gonna move out,” you said.

“When? Where are you going?” your mother asked.

“Portland. After graduation. I’m not gonna go to college, not for a while, at least, probably. But Sophia is, and I’m gonna move in with her and Patrick and Henry.”

“Are you sure you want to move in with him?” asked your father. “Things are different when you live with someone.”

“I’m sure. Listen, Henry’s… Henry’s got a really bad home life. His dad — his dad beats him. I just want to give him a better life than that. I want to be there for him.”

Your parents were quiet for a long moment.

“Oh, honey,” your mother said. “We didn’t know.”

“Why would you? He’s a police officer. It’s not like it’s something they could ever be open about.”

“That… explains a lot. About both of them,” said your father, obviously uncomfortable.

“Yeah,” you said.

You wondered what signs they’d seen that you’d missed. Not that it mattered now that you knew.

“I hope you’ll understand,” you said. “I love him, and I want to live with him.”

“Do you have any plans of where you’ll live? Are you getting an apartment or a house?” your mother asked.

“Sophia’s looking at houses. Hopefully she’ll find something that’ll fit all of us.”

“All of you?”

“The whole group. We want Vic and his boyfriend and Belch to live with us, too.”

Your father laughed.

“What a house that’ll be,” he said.

You smiled.

“It’ll be a mess, for sure. But… it’ll be our mess. I really want this.”

Your mother mimicked your smile.

“I’m sure it’ll be great,” she said.

“So… is that okay?”

“Honey, you’re eighteen. You can do what you want. Just, I guess, make sure this is what you really want.”

“Well, I have time to think about it. But I’m pretty sure.”

“Okay, then. We’ll help you as much as we can,” your father said.

You got up and hugged him. Your mother joined in.

“Thank you so, so much,” you said into your father’s shoulder.

“Of course, kiddo,” he said.

The next day as you got into Sophia’s car to go to school, there was a small stack of papers on your seat. You picked them up and got settled.

“What’s this?” you asked.

“Oh, that? That might be our house,” she said, smiling. “I got the landlady to fax over some more info and pictures of it. I think it’s perfect.”

You looked over your shoulder at Patrick. He was the only other one in the car — Vic and Henry rode with Belch, usually. He was smiling at you, sleepy, and far less sinister than he was most of the time.

“Oh yeah?” you asked.

You began flipping through the papers, looking at the add in a paper from Portland, advertising a four-bedroom, two baths near campus. Sure enough, there were pictures. It looked perfect, but you weren’t sold just yet.

“Looks good,” you said. “Can we go see it?”

“I was thinking we all take the day off one day this weekend and drive down,” she said. “Make a day out of it. Check out the town, hang out.”

“See if we can get jobs?”

“Sure.”

“Cool,” you said, sighing.

When you got to school, you caught up with the rest of the guys. Vic and Josh were holding hands and smoking, and Vic’s eyes lit up when he saw you and Sophia.

“We decided,” he said.

“Oh, yeah?” you said. “What?”

“We’ll move in with you.”

“You guys!” Sophia squealed, jumping up and down a few times. “I knew you would!”

“On one condition,” said Josh.

“Okay?”

“We don’t get a room next to you and Patrick. No offense, we just don’t want to hear you fucking all the time,” said Vic, his eyes sparkling.

Belch stopped chewing on his fingertip long enough to say, “I can soundproof their room.”

Josh beamed.

“Thanks, man.”

“No problem.”

“Well, then, look at this,” said Sophia, holding out the papers.

She handed them to Henry, talking about the house, the back yard. The neighborhood. Anything she could think of to sell everyone on it.

Henry looked over the pictures, then passed them around. He looked more excited than he ever had about the prospect of moving in together, and you understood why. This house, this very real house, made it more of a possibility than it had been before.

He grinned at you and you smiled back, leaning in to give him a short kiss.

“You like it, baby?” he asked.

“I do. Sophia, hey Sophia. You wanna tell them your plan for the weekend?”

“Yeah! I was thinking we could all take either Saturday or Sunday off and drive down to see the place. What do you guys say?”

“What, take both cars?” asked Josh.

“No, my uncle in Bangor has a van we can borrow. I can pick it up the night before with Patrick,” she said.

“Well, then. I guess we’re all taking a day off,” you said.

And you did. You all ended up at Sophia’s house on Saturday morning, looking at a frankly glorious van. There was a wizard and a unicorn painted on the side.

“You said this was your uncle’s?” you asked.

“Yep.”

You paused.

“Just how much does your uncle smoke?”

“None, not anymore. Besides, he told me a long time ago that smoking weed felt like having a really nice glass of wine. That was a lie.”

“Maybe things were different back when he was smoking?” said Belch.

“They probably were,” said Josh. “Things grow and develop really fast. You’d be amazed.”

Everyone let out a huh, and then piled into the van. Sophia was driving, and you were up front with her since the passenger seat still wasn’t far enough away for Patrick to stop being himself.

It took slightly more than two hours and a lot of wrong turns to get there, but Belch read the map carefully, sitting between the two of you and telling Sophia where to go.

You ended up in front of the house, with the landlady hanging out on the front porch.

You all got out of the van, stretching and grumbling just a little bit.

As it turned out, the house was as perfect as it looked. There was a fucking window seat in the living room, for fuck’s sake. There was an attic room that Belch took a shine to, two on the second floor, and one on the bottom floor. One on the second floor was just a little bit bigger than the others, and like children, everyone squabbled over who got it. Henry won in the end, everyone easily bowing to him.

It had a good front and back porch, a decent back yard with a big tree in the middle.

The landlady gave you the rundown on rent and utilities, trash, how she’d tell you before showing up. You were grateful for that — it wouldn’t be great if someone was fucking when they should be talking to her. You glanced at Sophia with that thought, and she was already looking at you, an eyebrow cocked. You had to hold back a laugh.

“The lease would start in June,” said the landlady. Her name was Jo.

“Holy shit — oh, sorry,” you said. “Sorry, that’s just so soon.”

School ended at the end of May, only a few weeks away.

“Honey, I swear like a sailor,” said Jo. “But yes, it is soon. I’m not very flexible on that, though. It’s the beginning of June or nothing.”

“Well, guys, what do you say? Is this the place?” asked Sophia.

“Yeah,” said Belch without a second thought. “Hank?”

Everyone looked at you and Henry. Henry looked so excited he could puke.

“Yeah,” he said. “This is our house.”

“Glad to hear it,” said Jo. “We got some paperwork to sign, and then you’ll be on your way. We’ll also set up a day for move in.”

After all was said and done and all of you were back in the van, none of you could stop talking. You swapped seats with Belch so he could navigate better, and you sat on the floor with Henry laying in between your legs. You played with his hair, listening to everyone go on about how perfect the house was, how brilliant Sophia was for finding it all by herself. She glowed in the compliments but didn’t let it distract her from driving.

You slowly drove around Portland, getting a feel for the town. It wasn’t that much unlike Derry, just bigger and a little more full of people roughly your age. The college campus was sprawling, covered in trees and people lounging around, in the middle of spring classes and workshops.

You drove past restaurants and shops, betting anything that you could get a job, use the fact that you were there in June and not going anywhere for a while to get the job.

Henry looked up at you, grinning.

It was all possible. The world lay at your feet, and you were going to explore it together.

You got back to Derry late in the afternoon, having stopped in some small town on the way back for lunch. You dropped off the van at Sophia’s place and drove out to the quarry to hang out and just talk, since none of you had anything else to do for the rest of the day.

“I can’t believe you found the perfect house,” you said to Sophia.

She was leaning up against the Trans Am, one of your cigarettes between her lips. She exhaled, smoke funneling out of her mouth in a short stream.

“It took a lot of looking, honestly. That on top of homework, and I thought I was gonna go crazy. But when I saw the ad for that one, I just. I got this feeling, like it had to be right.”

“You keep getting those feelings, listen to them,” said Henry.

“Oh, I will. How do you think I ended up saying yes to Patrick?” she asked.

“God, what did your gut tell you about him? Run or get the dicking of your life?” asked Vic.

“Something like that,” said Sophia. “Glad I didn’t run, though.”

“Mm hm,” said Patrick, putting his arm around her. “You love me.”

“Something like that,” she repeated.

He shrugged, like that was good enough for him.

“You really think you can soundproof their room, man?” Josh asked Belch.

“Should be easy. We just need a lot of foam. Easy.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

When you went home, you kissed Henry goodbye, going inside. Your parents were waiting on you.

“How’d it go?” your father asked.

“Oh, my god. It’s perfect. We signed. We move in at the beginning of June.”

“That’s so fast,” said your mother.

“I know,” you said. “But it was either that or find somewhere else.”

“Well, it’ll be good,” your father said. “You can get jobs that other kids have just left to go home.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” you said.

You kept talking all through dinner, the happiest you’d been around them in a long time. It was nice, how they were getting used to the idea of you and Henry together, how they were willing to help you leave this town.

You went to bed and stared at the ceiling, a big, sloppy smile on your face.

It was happening. It was really happening.

[call-me-rei]

Chapter 28

“It’s all because I dreamt of you and woke up alone.”

---

Opening my eyes was the hardest thing I had to do. The lights were too bright; there were too many noises. This wasn’t like the white nothingness I was in before. I wanted to go back just to get some peace and quiet.

But something brought me back from there. And I wanted to see it in person.

I tried to lift my eyelids but ended up fluttering them. The little vision I had was unfocused. I couldn’t make out anything around me except for bright lights. I was really getting tired of them. I squeezed my eyes shut when it became too much and tried focusing on the sounds around me instead.

Those damn beeps were still going; there were still people talking but in hushed voices. I could hear some game show on TV.

One voice stood out though, and it was right next to me.

“Kellin!”

I tried once again to open my eyes. I slowly blinked and centered my gaze on the white ceiling tiles above me. Once I was able to focus and my vision wasn’t as blurry, I turned my head slightly to my right. I saw Vic there with tears in his eyes.

“Hey,” he whispered.

I opened my mouth to speak but my throat was so dry. I sputtered out a cough; Vic was quick to place a cup of water with a straw in from of my lips. I sipped the cool liquid and took a deep breath.

“How are you feeling?” he asked when I regained composure.

I sighed. “Like I got hit by a bus.” His demeanor changed from relieved to one of sadness.

“Do you know where you are?”

I looked around me. I saw various machines around the small bed I was in, one of them being a heart monitor. I looked down at my right hand that had an IV in it. I looked at my body that was covered in cheap, thin sheets. Underneath the sheets was the paper gown I was wearing.

“I’m in a hospital,” I answered. Vic nodded. “What happened?”

“What do you remember?”

I thought about it. “You and I were FaceTiming and then Rick broke in...then there was a lot of fighting...” I trailed off. My memory got spotty there.

Vic sat down in a chair next to my bed. He rubbed his hands over his face. I looked at him quizzically. Did I miss something?

He blew out a breath before he spoke. “I don’t know if I should tell you now. I mean, you just woke up.” He seemed to be talking to himself more so than to me.

“How long was I out for?” I asked, bringing him out of his inner turmoil.

“About sixty-two hours,” he replied. My mouth hung open in shock. I was out for that long? I looked at my body, trying to assess how I was feeling. My head hurt and so did my chest. I looked over to my left side, seeing that my arm was in bandages. Now I really needed to know what happened to me.

“Vic,” I started. He didn’t let me continue. He sighed and saw the look in my eyes, the look that told him he shouldn’t keep this secret from me. He licked his lips before he spoke.

“Okay, but please don’t freak out. You just woke up and you’re stable. I don’t want you ruining that.” I nodded. Another sigh and a long pause came before he started.

“I’m not sure what happened in your house, but we were FaceTiming and yeah, Rick came in. It sounded like he was breaking shit; he was mad. I’m not exactly sure what you did because you put your phone in your pocket, but I’m certain you went to fight him. Obviously he had the upper hand because well...” He gestured to me in the hospital bed.

He took a deep breath, looking at me for a signal that he should keep going. I nodded at him.

“Anyway, I heard your mom yelling and that’s when I told Mike to call the cops. He and I drove to your place while we were still on FaceTime. When we got to your place, I heard your mom telling you to stay with her then I heard her yell.” He paused, wiping unshed tears from his eyes. “I wanted to go in there so bad, but Mike held me back. We waited for the cops and they took Rick out in cuffs and you and your mom went out in stretchers.

“They wouldn’t let Mike or me ride in the ambulance with you since we weren’t family, so we followed behind. Shit, they wouldn’t tell us anything once we got here. It was all, ‘You’re not family or next of kin’ bullshit.”

I could tell he was getting frustrated at the memory. I put my hand on top of his in an attempt to calm him down. He smiled slightly.

“I did find out some things from a really nice nurse,” he continued. “You got messed up pretty bad. You had some internal bleeding and a couple bruised ribs. Rick broke your arm. Well, more like shattered it, but they haven’t operated on it yet.”

I looked at my left arm in the bandages. The memory of Rick stepping on it came back to me. I shivered.

“You also got hit in the head. A lot. I’m not sure if you have a concussion or not. They wouldn’t tell me that.”

I nodded slightly. “Is that all? How’s my mom?”

Vic sighed. “From what the nurse told me she’s okay. You’re actually worse off than she is. I’m not sure what that means but the nurse said that she came in awake and she’s stable.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness my mom was still alive. I’d never forgive myself if I failed at trying to protect her.

“Do you know anything about Rick?” I asked. I watched Vic’s muscles tense and his jaw clench.

“Fuck him,” Vic seethed, clenching his fists. “I don’t know what happened aside from the fact he’s locked up. I hope he rots in prison for what he did to you. He’s lucky I didn’t go in there.” I reached my hand out to him which he took. I rubbed my thumb across the back of his hand. He seemed to calm down from the gesture.

“Thanks for coming to my rescue,” I said softly.

Vic nodded, not saying anything about it. It was obvious he was more than upset about everything that happened. Funny, I didn’t think he’d be this invested in me.

I took a moment to take all of Vic in. In my limbo dream Vic looked exhausted and stressed; that hadn’t changed since I woke up. His eyes were red and he had bags under them. His hair hadn’t been combed but I could tell it was clean. Maybe he went to take a shower while I was out. That’s when I noticed a duffle bag behind him. “Did you sleep here?”

Vic rubbed his neck. “Yeah, kinda.” I blinked at him. “I just…I didn’t want you to wake up alone.”

I smiled. “Aww you like me,” I teased.

“Shut up, Quinn.” I giggled. “But yeah, I’ve been here since you got out of surgery Saturday afternoon. Mike was cool enough to bring me clothes and shit. I’m really glad you have a full bathroom in this room.”

I rolled my eyes and rested my head back against my pillow, a small smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. I couldn’t deny that waking up after thinking I was dead was a relief, even better was having Vic there with me. I’m not sure when it happened, but I felt like I was safest with him around.

Something brushed against my knuckles. I turned and looked at Vic who was looking down at our hands. We were still attached, Vic rubbing his thumb across my fingers. I made a move to intertwine our fingers, but he moved his hand away and sat up when the door opened.

“Mr. Quinn, glad to see you’re awake,” a doctor spoke. I nodded, not knowing if I needed to respond. “How are you feeling?”

How was I feeling? A little rejected since Vic took his hand away, but I replied with a “I’m okay,” and let the doctor tell me what was wrong with me.

Vic got up and left the room before my doctor started going over everything. I frowned. If I didn’t feel rejected before I sure did then.

I tried to focus on what was being told to me. I had already had surgery when I came into the hospital after the attack to fix the internal bleeding, but I needed another surgery for my shattered arm. That would happen tomorrow. Today they were going to monitor my brain and make sure I didn’t have a TBI or concussion.

“Let me or a nurse know if you need anything.” I nodded and thanked the doctor before he left.

I laid back and huffed, still thinking about what Vic did. He was being so sweet earlier then he pulled away and walked out. Why would he do that? He’d been in this room with me for two days! What changed? Was it easier to be around me when I was unconscious and not as clingy?

Maybe I was overthinking as I usually did. Maybe it was nothing and I was making it out to be something. It sure did feel like something though.

Vic came back in a few minutes later. “I went down and told a nurse you were awake. I think someone should be here in a bit with some food.”

“Thanks,” I muttered. He nodded back at me and started putting things in his duffle bag. “Are you leaving?”

“Yeah,” he answered, not looking up at me. “I’ve been here for two days; I need to go home. Besides, school’s started again and I need to go. My parents will be pissed if I don’t.”

I nodded, not knowing what to say. Not that he was looking at me to see my action. He was being so cold all of a sudden. What did I do to deserve this?

“Well will you come back tomorrow after school?”

“Not sure.”

“Oh.”

He zipped up his bag and slung the strap over his shoulder. “I’ll check in later. Get some rest.”

I nodded. “Okay.” He gave me the slightest smile and patted my shoulder. Without another word he walked out of the room.

I sighed and rested against the pillow. My mind was racing with doubts. Maybe seeing me in this state turned Vic off from me. I wouldn’t blame him. I was broken and bruised, I had an abusive stepdad, and I was feeling - and probably being - clingy as fuck. Maybe this weekend brought those things to light.

My thoughts were interrupted with a nurse bringing in my dinner. I ate it in silence once she left. I stayed in silence after someone came and took my empty tray. I stayed silent when someone came to ask what I’d want to have for breakfast the next morning. I stayed silent through everything, but my thoughts were anything but silent for the remainder of the night.

[jambo-tanzania]

The Tanzanites Down Under

March 12 - 28, 2019

Photo credits - Thanks to all those who contributed photos to this blog post - especially Christian Pantke and Al Prior.

Well it only took me 52 years, but I finally made it to Australia. I’ve wanted to go my whole adult life, and Oz did not disappoint!

Looking back on it now, I don’t know how we did so much in so little time. Every day was utterly packed, and for good reason. Two weeks just isn’t enough time to get it all done.

The thing that struck me most is how quickly the vistas change in the space of just a few miles. Rocky coastlines, lush rain forests, sandy beaches, sprawling vineyards ... all within a short drive of the urban centers of Melbourne or Sydney. It’s almost too much to take in.

Tuesday - Arrival Day

There is one down side about any trip to Australia, of course, and that’s the getting there part.

Oh. Holy. Hell.

Dallas to Sydney is seventeen hours. Seventeen very looooong hours that for me commenced at 10 pm Dallas time on Sunday. By the time I checked into my hotel in Melbourne around noon on Tuesday, I’d essentially been awake (I don’t sleep on airplanes) something like 36 hours. Nothing to do at that point but POWER THROUGH to a respectable bedtime!

Christian & Claudia arrived shortly before I did, so Al (our host) came and collected us for a preview of the city.

The first thing I noticed about Melbourne is the varied architecture ... magnificent Victorian structures right next to modern skyscrapers right next to 1930s art deco buildings. Much like the country itself, Melbourne crams a lot of diversity into a relatively small space.

Birgitte had arrived several days earlier and was off on a driving tour, but she joined us for an early dinner at Chin Chin - one of my favorite restaurants of the whole trip.

Wednesday - Melbourne Walking Tour & Queen Vic Market

Our first full day in Melbourne was a walking tour of the Shrine of Remembrance and the Royal Botanic Gardens, both of which were stunning.

The Shrine of Remembrance was built to honor Victorians who lost their lives in World War I. It’s one of the more thoughtful and impressive monuments I’ve seen anywhere.

The Royal Botanic Gardens cover 89 acres of public space in the middle of Melbourne and rival such privately-funded botanical gardens as the Dallas Arboretum.

Dinner that night was at Queen Victoria Market, where a multitude of vendors sell their crafts and international cuisine.

Al’s girlfriend Hope and his - now our - friend Kellie joined us for dinner, which was a little of this and a little of that.

I was introduced to a delicious Australian dessert called pavlova, which I highly recommend trying next time you’re down under.

Christian bought himself a Crocodile Dundee hat (as one does).

Thursday - 12 Apostles & Rain Forest #1

Our first road trip took us about three hours southwest of Melbourne to The Twelve Apostles, a spectacular section of eroded shoreline near Port Campbell that forms 12(ish) stacks that somehow came to be known as the apostles.

Birgitte decided to get up close & personal with the apostles in the front seat of a helicopter!

On the ride back to Melbourne, we drove along the Great Ocean Road, stopping in Lorne for a glass of wine, and a little further on, a stroll through the rain forest.

Friday - Wine Day

Friday was our first of several wine tastings, this one on the Mornington Peninsula. I was surprised at how many wineries there are, and I was particularly surprised at how GOOD Australian wine is, given that the only Australian labels we know of in the US are Barefoot and Yellow Tail (which incidentally can hardly be found in Australia)!

The drive back to Melbourne took us to Dromana for a stroll along Safety Beach.

This was also my first introduction to beach boxes - tiny little empty huts along the beach with no electricity or running water that people pay upwards of AUD $100k for. (And I totally get it, given the setting!)

Saturday Morning - Prahran Market

For our final morning in Melbourne, we started at Prahran Market, where I would be myself every Saturday morning if I lived in Melbourne. It’s basically Central Market on steroids. I’ve never seen anything like it. Fresh vegetables, meat, seafood, and prepared dishes as far as you can see.

We met up with the Melbourne crew for brunch at Gramercy Social before heading to the airport for a quick flight to Sydney.

Saturday Evening - First Night in Sydney

Like Melbourne, Sydney is very much a walking city. The evidence of this can be found on my iPhone, which registered in excess of 25,000 steps on just one day. I even lost a couple of pounds on this trip despite eating many meals that looked much like the one pictured above.

So as in Melbourne, day one was a walking day. Sydney is all about Queen Victoria, for whom the state is named. Victorian influences can be found everywhere - in the architecture, the street names, and the monuments.

Dinner that night was at Phillip’s Foote, a former Sailor’s bar, where one goes to cook one’s own steak on the barbie.

After dinner, we walked down to Sydney Harbor, where the postcard photos I’d seen since I was a child came to life. It was an especially poignant evening to be there, as the horrific shootings at Christchurch had happened just the day before, so the Opera House was illuminated with a silver fern, a national symbol of New Zealand.

As if on cue, the fireworks started the moment we arrived.

Sunday - A Good Day to Be Indoors!

Almost as an afterthought, I purchased a poncho just before I left Dallas. On Sunday, I was VERY glad to have done so! The skies opened up in the morning and it rained virtually the entire day.

So what better day to do museum and cathedral tours? We started at The Australian Museum, which is more or less a natural history museum, then walked through St. Mary’s Cathedral, and finally The Art Gallery of New South Wales.

I enjoyed the Australian Museum, but St. Mary’s and the Art Gallery of NSW were my favorites.

I especially enjoyed the aboriginal exhibit, created by artists from Australia’s indigenous community.

Another favorite was this painting called Holiday Sketch at Coogee (1888). Saro pointed it out because she knew we’d be standing in more or less the same spot a couple of days later.

And sure enough ...

The sun never really came out that day, but the rain let up enough to enjoy walking around and gawking at the incredible trees found all over Sydney, which look like they would be more at home in a sculpture museum than a city park.

Monday - Alarming Start to a Great Day

Nothing like waking up to a fire alarm! No need for panic, it turns out. One of our fellow hotel guests decided to do a little laundry and hang it from the fire sprinkler. (What could go wrong??) Turns out - the sprinkler system can flood the elevator shaft and cause the hotel staff to have to relocate EVERY SINGLE GUEST to a nearby hotel.

Evacuations and relocations notwithstanding, Monday was a good day. We did a nice walking tour, taking in more of the architecture and public spaces.

Monday night was opera night! A highlight of the trip, to be sure! The performance was Salome. It was - in a word - GRAPHIC. (And also a bit different than depicted in my childhood Sunday School lessons.) I thoroughly enjoyed it, though, if only for the venue.

Tuesday - Beach Walk & Bridge Climb

On Tuesday, I logged 24,962 steps (not including the 1,400+ steps it took me to walk up and down the Sydney Harbor Bridge).

The day started with a long and scenic coastal walk from Coogee Beach up to Bondi. In just a few miles, you come across one sandy beach after another ensconced in craggy, rocky shorelines.

Another HUGE highlight of the trip was climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Radka and I were supposed to do it together, but she had to cancel her trip at the last minute because her mum was ill and died just a few days before our trip. They were on my mind the whole time, though, and they climbed with me in spirit.

The bridge climb was FANTASTIC! Don’t go to Sydney without doing it! It’s not cheap, and it takes several hours of your time, but it’s well worth it. The views are incredible, and the tour guides tell great stories about the history of the bridge.

Wednesday - Wildlife Park & Blue Mountains

Wednesday was another road trip.

First we visited the Featherdale Wildlife Park.

From there we Headed up to Katoomba for a visit to the Blue Mountains.

I was again astounded by the panorama and the fact that you could go from mountaintop to rain forest in under two minutes.

Thursday - More Wine Tastings & Nelson Bay

Another road trip - this time up to Nelson Bay, with a stop at Tyrell’s Wines.

Friday - Last Night in Sydney

We got back from Port Nelson on Friday and enjoyed a final, casual night in Sydney. We started out at The Glemore Hotel for happy hour. This is a great place to see a bat show, notable because the bats are the size of ... I don’t know ... CONDORS ... as opposed to the bats we get in Texas, which are essentially the size of sparrows.

For dinner, Al took us to Myung Jan for Korean BBQ, which incidentally is NOTHING like Texas BBQ (just so you know).

Saturday - Farewell to Sydney

We started the day at Paddington Market, a great place to buy textiles and souvenirs.

We said goodbye to Birgitte, who had to get back to real life, and Christian and Claudia, who were moving on to Tasmania.

Then there were three.

Al, Hope, and I took a ferry to the iconic Manly Beach for a lazy last afternoon in Sydney.

Apparently there’s a VW bus club that meets at Manly, which only made the place even cooler.

Dinner Saturday night was cocktails and hamburgers at a crazy-loud joint in Newtown called Mary’s, which at various points in its history was a Greek sporting club, a women’s sanctuary, a Masonic hall and an STD clinic.

Sunday through Tuesday - Port Douglas

Sunday afternoon we flew to Cairns, then rented a car and drove down to Port Douglas, a quaint little beach-side community which is also a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.

The main reason for going to Port Douglas was to go SCUBA DIVING!! I spent many hours getting my PADI certification for this very reason, and the experience was everything I’d hoped it would be! What a perfect capstone to an unbelievable trip!

Wednesday and Thursday - Final Goodbyes

Wednesday we drove back to Cairns for lunch, then I flew back to Sydney for one night before my return flight to Dallas.

Thursday afternoon I got on my SIXTH Qantas plane in less than three weeks. I have no idea what happened to the previous sixteen days. I just know they went really fast.

This was one of the greatest adventures of my life - one that would never have happened if it weren’t for the IBM Corporate Service Corps. I remain astounded at all the ways that my CSC experience has changed my life, and I look forward to all the reunions yet to come.

As for this one - many thanks to those and shared it with me and those who made it happen - Saro Yeo and Alastair Prior.

[anne-louise-fortune]

A Creative life - year two, months two and three

... what, you’re surprised I’m late?

It’s been epic people - epic. Let’s start with a brief follow up from January’s post: 

Carmen and I didn’t get the opportunity we interviewed for at a local theatre. We are really pleased with how the interview went, even the nerve-wracking presentation with a very strict time limit. We will keep on applying for things!

I am still waiting to hear back from the Young Vic about their director’s network. On the advice of the woman who co-runs it, I have sent them a nudging reminder - I may have to hunt down a phone number to make a less gentle reminder soon...

So, what have I been up to?

There was some lawyering in Hull. On week 6 I cracked, and ate in the pub round the corner from the hotel. I did find a delightful Polish supermarket just down the road, which sold lots of lovely teas and odd foreign chocolate. If it’s got fruit in it, it’s at least partly healthy, right?

Then there was three days more lawyering in the heart of Oxfordshire. I stayed in a Youth Hostel in a very pretty village, and met some very interesting people. I also used it as an opportunity for fun things, and took myself out to Oxford one night for a mooch around. As I have been binge watching ‘Lewis’ lately, it was really fun to spot various filming locations.

There was then... some other stuff (more below)... and now I’m back doing some more lawyering in Bristol. I’m staying at my mate’s house in Trowbridge, which is helping me retain my sanity somewhat. Also, he has unending wifi. And wine. 

The lawyering now has a definitive purpose - some of the wages will go towards a show I hope to stage in September (more below).

TV - I had an interview for CBBC, for a possible three month contract on one of their shows (Show X). It was one of the roles I originally interviewed for late last year, but didn’t get. They called me back in to see them in early February, and gave me the job almost immediately.

Another part of the BBC continued to send me e-mails asking if I could do odd days for them, which meant I had to send replies saying ‘I’m currently sitting in the next building to you, working on {show X}, sorry’.

Ah, {Show X}. Show X is a good show, suffering from poor production management. On my third day working on it, a crew member almost died. I’m not joking - she’s had to have specialist knee surgery and will be off work for at least three months. From there it swung from tragedy to not-very-funny-comedy, and a series of mishaps and mistakes that just made the whole process miserable for most people involved. A week and a half in, I got an automated letter from HR, telling me that my contract was due to expire on March 17th - unless I knew any better... I went upstairs, told a slight porky to my contact in Talent, sat out the following two weeks, and then ran for the hills...

Which is fine, as, as you may have gathered, my focus has shifted to Theatre.

And what a two months it’s been! That three days I was in Oxfordshire I used as an opportunity to see Art at the Old Vic. I’ve never been there before, and was in the cheapest seat they do - a box on the edge of the highest gallery. Amazing view, if slightly uncomfortable. The play was really good - the script and the performances both amazing. 

I’ve been over to Derby three Saturdays running to take part in the RTYDS Introduction to Directing Short Course. It was great! Loads of useful tips, loads of things I’d sort of thought about but not known how to develop, some stuff I’d never considered before - and all with a great bunch of people. The facilitators were really knowledgeable as well - and had some really good insight to give with respect to their own career paths to date. The cohort were also really lovely - several of us are keeping in touch via various forms of social media. 

Studio Salford had the first of it’s twice yearly Development Weeks. Aforementioned {Show X} messed up my timetable so I only got to one night of it, but again, good pieces of work at the start of their lives, and good to catch up with some local actors who I haven’t seen for too long. 

A local theatre has opened a rehearsal space in conjunction with two other theatre companies. The facilities used to be a dance studio, but they have massively improved it - especially the toilet situation, which used to be positively medieval! I am hoping to be able to use them for rehearsals later this year. I went to the open evening, drank their prosecco and caught up with a theatre-maker I first met early last year. 

My friend Si, who was in my Hamlet last year, was in Wyrd Sisters at a theatre very near to me. He was very good - he had about 4 roles. 

I went to London, and met up with various other tumblr users who constitute a part of the European section of the Miss Fisher’s Phandom. We spent a fun three and a bit days loafing around the city and seeing shows. On Friday, four of us went to see ‘Threesome’ at the Union Theatre in Southwark. It was pretty much a British sex-romp comedy show but very well done. It started out as a one act show, and has been developed - you could sort of tell - the first act was much stronger than what came after the interval, but I am very optimistic that the second half can be made just as strong given time for development. 

The night after the whole group of us saw David Tennant in Don Juan in Soho, an update of the Moliere morality tale. It was... a bit bonkers... especially the end. But I enjoyed it, Tennant was excellent, as was his co-star, Adrian Scarborough, who excelled in his role as ‘DJ’s’ straight man. 

I was in Leeds for three days, Technical Directing on a scratch piece of theatre about ‘Unsung British Women’. In four days the actors created an amazing 30 minutes of theatre from absolutely nothing. I was parachuted in towards the end to do the lights and sound, and it went really well. We did two Sharings for the local theatre community, and about 50 people turned up altogether - this is very good for an unknown show in a railway arch in inner city Leeds on a Friday afternoon. Hopefully, if someone gives the producer some cash, or she can persuade the Arts Council to fund her, it will be developed. 

I went to the scratch night at the West Yorkshire Playhouse - five acts of 15 minutes each, all of them works in development. Some were better than others, and I know I will see the full show of one of them when it gets to the Greater Manchester Fringe in July.

As mentioned, I am planning on staging a show in September. The rights holders have been approached, and have sent me a holding response. It is both exciting and terrifying, in roughly equal measure. I’m not saying anything more until they come back to me with a definitive answer. More soon? Let me just say that this will hopefully be the first in a new strand of theatre work I’m developing with a distinct theme. Also more on that... later...

Thanks as ever for all your support, on here, on Instagram and on Facebook. It really means a lot when you like my posts or pictures. I absolutely suck at messaging people, but really appreciate your patience - those people who wait three days for a reply from me will know what I mean! The current lawyering role has no wifi, an internet policy that prevents me even accessing gmail, and a monbile phone policy that means I’m not even supposed to have the thing turned on. It’s not helpful to keeping in touch! Anyway, if this month goes well, I’ll try and update at the end of April. See you soon!

[matrixaffiliate]

Endeavor

Chapter Update! FFN and AO3

Two chapters today, because I know last week's ending was a cliffhanger and I do have a heart. :) Next week's update is on Saturday, September 5th, and we'll move to Vic's POV for a little bit.

Chapter 7

Ted read the text message from Sunday again.

Ron: Ted, come to my office at headquarters on Monday at 8. I hope you're having a good holiday.

Ted looked back at Bread & Butter headquarters from the car park and took a deep breath. At least he didn't have to see Vic first thing.

Talking everything through with Nicki had taken the rest of that Friday night and well into the early morning of Saturday, but it had felt amazing to tell someone everything, every stupid detail. And Nicki listened.

That was what probably made the last week less hellish. Just having had someone listen to what his life had been like for the last six months and how he'd laid it all on the line for a woman who ultimately didn't want him, it had lightened the load and made him feel more confident in his decision to walk away from Vic entirely. It still killed him, but he had to move forward, he had to move on.

But first, he had to find out what Ron had planned for him, and whether or not it would be working in the same building as Vic.

"I'm here to see Ron Weasley," Ted nodded to Ron's receptionist.

"Ted Lupin?" He looked down at his computer screen.

"That's me."

"Go right on it," he motioned towards the door to the left.

"Thanks," Ted hiked his backpack up a bit higher over his shoulder and walked into Ron's office.

"Ted!" Ron stood and shook his hand. "Enjoy your holiday then?"

"It was good, thank you." Ted sat in the seat opposite Ron at his desk.

"Glad to hear it," Ron picked up a sticky note from his desk and squinted at it before shaking his head and tossing it in the bin. "So, now, on to the important things." He leant forward and smiled. "You might be surprised to know that I have big plans for the kitchen equipment side of this business, Ted. I want to turn this little department into its own venture."

Ted grinned, "Vic, and I suspected that was your goal."

"Brilliant the two of you are," Ron laughed. "Well, no beating around the bush about it then. Ted, I want you to be my front man. I've asked Bread & Butter's Chief Marketing Officer, Branson Kilpatrick, to be your mentor but everything for Weasley Commercial Kitchens' marketing is in your hands."

Ted felt his eyes trying to pop out of his head. "You're kidding!"

"Absolutely, not," Ron laughed. "You've proven your worth ten times over in the six months you've worked for me, and I know you're driven. With Branson helping to guide you, I have full confidence in your ability to market this company to the top."

Ted laughed as the adrenaline and excitement coursed through his body. "Wow! Thank you! I'm, I won't let you down, Ron!"

"I'm sure you'll do a fine job. Now, I'll need you to run over to that little office space and collect your things. You'll be moving into an office here so you can call on Branson when you need him and so he can check in on you."

Ted felt the elation rush out of him, and it was immediately replaced with anxiety. "Is, er, do you know if Vic is in today?"

"Oh," Ron frowned, "She didn't tell you? Vic quit the same day you called me about wanting to move to the marketing department."

Ted felt like the wind had been kicked out of him.

"Oh, er, alright, so I'll just go grab my things then."

Ron nodded, "Let me show you your office here first. You're having lunch with Branson and me this afternoon, and then tomorrow you're jumping headfirst into getting Weasley Commercial Kitchens standing on its own two feet."

Ted followed Ron down the hall to what was probably a conference room but now housed several desks.

"You get the first pick of the desks. I'm going to be bringing in the rest of the team over the next few weeks." Ron gestured around the room.

Ted set his backpack down on one of the desks that faced out the window.

"I think I'll just take this one."

"Excellent," Ron looked at his watch. "I have a meeting to run to, but I'll be by with Branson at noon and we'll grab something to eat while we get you rolling on your new position."

"I'll be here," Ted nodded, "and thank you. I promise I won't let you down."

"You're the man for the job, Ted, I'll see you in a couple of hours." Ron headed back toward his office.

Teddy tested out the chairs before picking the one he liked best. It was a normal enough task to keep his brain from spiraling.

Vic quit.

Those two words echoed in his head as he climbed into his car and drove to the little office space. It seemed impossible. He knew that she wouldn't be there, but he honestly couldn't picture the office without her. She was so much a part of that space for him that even though he told himself she wasn't in there, his palms were sweating and his heart beat faster as he unlocked the door and flipped on the light.

Her desk was empty, barren of all the things that had been there before. Then he noticed that the office was also bare. The supply closet was open and empty. The card table and folding chairs were gone. The only reason anyone would know people worked in that space was that Ted's desk was still covered in his things.

Ted sighed; it was as though she'd never been in his life. He should be grateful for it, but he couldn't ignore the way that his chest ached at the thought of it. He couldn't wrap his head around it, but he had wanted her to be here. He had wanted to see her, even if it would have hurt more than he could bear, even if it would have been the worst thing for him, he had wanted to see her.

It didn't take long to pack everything into the printer paper boxes he'd snagged at Bread & Butter and loaded into his car. Doing one more check of the office before locking it up for the last time, Ted shook his head. The one place that he felt somehow belonged to him and Vic was gone.

He managed to get his boxes up to his desk in the new office, but as he sat down to unpack someone knocked on the door frame.

"Ted Lupin?"

Ted spun in his chair to see a man with a stack of papers in his hand.

"That's me."

"I'm Fritz, I'm here to go over the paperwork with you to transition into Weasley Commercial Kitchens."

"Sound like a plan," Ted grabbed his laptop from his bag and motioned to the empty desks, "Why don't we set up over there."

The transition paperwork took what felt like an eternity and by the time they were done, Ted no longer had anything to do with Bread & Butter. He went back to unpack his desk, feeling even further from Vic than he had at their old office.

He needed to have this distance. He needed to move on. Even Nicki agreed that since Vic had chosen Sean, the best thing he could do was put space between himself and her. He had to move forward. He had to move on.

But he didn't want to and it sucked. Because a part of him hadn't been able to stop thinking about the way Vic's lips felt against his. A part of him could still feel her hip under his hand, her fingers laced through his. A part of him was trapped in that memory, and a part of Ted wanted to stay trapped.

"Ted Lupin?"

Ted turned to see a woman at the door.

"How can I help you?" He nodded.

"I just need to get the asset tag numbers for your laptop and dock set up." She lit up her tablet.

"Sure thing," Ted pulled out his laptop and set it down on his desk before getting his dock set up out of the boxes he packed it all in.

She was out the door in just a few minutes and Ted returned to unpacking but was again interrupted. Someone came by to confirm his information for business cards. Then someone else walked in to get his shirt size for company shirts. Right behind them was another person who needed a quick photo of him for the website until they could schedule a photographer for a professional headshot. Before Ted knew it, Branson and Ron were at the door ready for the lunch meeting, and Ted still hadn't unpacked.

"Don't sweat it, you've got time." Ron smiled. "Grab your laptop and let's head down to the main conference room. We'll order some food to be brought in and get this ball rolling."

Ted looked over his things before grabbing his laptop and following Ron and Branson out of the conference room turned Weasley Commercial Kitchens headquarters.

It turned out that Ted was just a part of Ron's grand plan. He was going to have Bread & Butter be the mentor to Weasley Commercial Kitchens and bring in new people, young people, to be the chief executives.

"Do you have everyone already hired?" Ted asked as he popped a crisp in his mouth.

"Almost everyone, I need to find a COO, but I have the rest of the staff coming in over the next two weeks."

"I thought your niece was the COO?" Branson frowned.

Ron nodded, "She was, but she quit a couple of weeks ago, even after I offered her the position. I have some ideas though, and Athena is helping me narrow it down."

Ted nearly choked on his crisp and went into a coughing fit. Ron pounded on his back and Branson handed Ted his Diet Coke.

"Alright there, Ted? What got you to choke on your food?" Ron finally stopped pounding on Ted's back when Ted started to breathe again.

"I, er, I, I was just er, going to ask who Athena was." Ted lied.

"Oh," Ron sat down, "Athena Yazzie is my COO."

Ted nodded, but he had a hard time concentrating through the rest of the meeting. Had Ron told Vic what he was planning to hire Ted too? Did she know she walked away from the opportunity of a lifetime? Did she do it because of him? Or had Vic not wanted any of this in the first place? Had it all just been a joke for her when Ted had tried to teach her business? Had she been worried to make things awkward so she never told him she had no desire to learn what he was teaching her? Or was she running from him and his out of line behavior?

But whatever those answers were, it was obvious that Vic wouldn't be coming back to him. She had taken herself completely out of his life. She left what Ted would consider a dream career position to get away from him. She was going to move on, she was going to marry Sean. She would tell the story to her girlfriends in thirty years about the coworker that she had to run from because what kind of arse kisses an engaged woman? He would be a good laugh in the pages of her history.

Meanwhile, she would be the ache in his chest, the one who stole his heart but wouldn't ever be his. Vic would be the woman that kept a piece of his heart with her for the rest of his life. She was gone, and while he might move on one day, Ted knew that he'd never have the whole of his heart back. A portion of him was hers, and no one would ever be able to get that back for him.

The meeting took most of the rest of the day. It was nearly five when Ron and Branson decided they were finished for the day and gave Ted a stack of assignments. Ted was grateful for the distraction though. He felt like he might be able to bury himself in work and stop feeling the ache he felt over everything with Vic. Maybe if he worked hard enough, he'd forget about her and could try to live his life, move it forward, move on.

The events of the day had seemed to emphasize his need to move on. Everything was working to wipe Vic from his life, every memory surrounding her was slowly losing its place in reality. And while he knew it was probably a good thing in the grand scheme of his life, Ted felt that ache in his chest trying to collapse him, even with his brain knowing that he should be moving on.

Ted sat down at his new desk to finally finish getting his things settled. He pulled a folder from one of the boxes and opened it to decide where it ought to go, but stopped when he saw the top page.

There, written in Vic's loopy handwriting, was their antique time stamp machine sign.

A turquoise sticky note was at the bottom.

Congrats! You're going to be amazing! - Vic

Ted grabbed an empty folder and carefully placed the sign in it before putting the folder in his backpack. He'd finish unpacking tomorrow. He wanted to finish today knowing that Vic hadn't been completely removed from his life. No matter how much he probably needed to leave her memory behind, he didn't want to.

He didn't need to move on today. He'd start trying tomorrow.

[god--baby]

nice to meet you ch 4 (SFW)

belch huggins x ambiguously gendered reader

masterpost

previously on: things go badly at a party, and belch saves the day. you kiss him on the cheek. 

summary: after having pancakes with him, belch invites you to hang out with him and the guys. 

word count: 3194

tag list: @cordysblog @heckstetter @sabertooth-potato @purplezebra68 @agespenst @tonguepopperr @daddywise-issues

The next afternoon, you woke with a headache to your phone ringing.

It was Belch.

“Hello?” you croaked.

“Hey, you,” he said. You could hear him smiling.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“Your car’s ready.”

You sighed and rolled over onto your back, staring at the ceiling.

“Awesome,” you said.

“Yeah. Took some doing, but it’s fine.”

“Cool.”

Suddenly, you remembered the kiss. Your face flushed, and you hoped he wouldn’t bring it up. You weren’t sure if your heart could take it.

“You okay?” he asked. “No offense, but you sound like shit.”

“Hungover,” you groaned. “I was stupid and didn’t drink any water last night.”

Your mom called up the stairs to you. You couldn’t catch what she was saying, so you pulled the phone away from your ear.

“What?” you yelled.

“Pancakes,” she said. Now, she was standing at your bedroom door, peeking in. “Who you talking to?”

You put your hand over the mouthpiece of the phone.

“Cute boy,” you said.

“Ooh. Invite him over. We want to say thank you. Pancakes work for that, don’t they?”

You smiled.

“Sure,” you said. Then, you shooed her away.

“What was that?” Belch asked when you put the phone back to your ear.

“What was what?” you asked.

“You called me cute?”

You covered your eyes with one hand. Fuck.

“You weren’t supposed to hear that,” you groaned.

“You think I’m cute?”

You blushed.

“Yeah…”

“Cool. I think you’re cute, too.”

You grinned. “Okay.” Then you paused. “You doing anything right now?”

“No. I just got off work, since I finished your car.”

“Cool. You wanna come over? My parents are making pancakes. And they want to say thanks for fixing my car.”

“They really don’t have to,” he said.

“No, I know. But you know.”

“Well, I guess I can stop by. The guys and I are meeting up in an hour, so I can’t stay long.”

“That’s fine. Just come and eat, it doesn’t matter how long you stay.”

“’Kay. I’ll be there soon.”

You hung up and flung yourself out of bed, looking in the mirror. You were a fucking mess. You had the vestiges of last night’s makeup still on, and your hair was still pinned up. You decided to leave your hair, fix it a little bit, but god knew that if you tried to take it down, it would be a mess.

You got dressed and took your makeup off. You figured that you’d just leave it bare like that, at least for right now. Besides, your lipstick would just come right off while you were eating, so what was the point?

The doorbell rang, and you ran down the stairs, barefoot. You were just wearing a big tee shirt and pants, and you met your mom at the door. You gestured to yourself, silently asking her how you looked. She gave you a thumbs-up.

You opened the door with a smile. Belch was standing there with his back turned, and he turned around to see you. When he did, he grinned.

“Hey,” he said.

“Reggie,” your mom said. “It’s so nice to see you again.”

You had to check yourself and remember that to your parents, he was just Reggie.

“Same to you, ma’am.”

“Well, come in,” you said.

You led him into the house, into the breakfast nook. You pushed him down into the corner of the nook, your mom putting a plate in front of him. Your dad came over with a frying pan and spatula in hand, putting a pancake on Belch’s plate.

“I’ll be back with another in just a second,” he said.

You sat next to Belch, starting in on your own pancakes, trying not to loo at him too much. Not as much as you wanted to, at least.

He had a small cut over one of his eyes. You looked at his hands, and the knuckles were red and sore, one of them bearing a cut, the others scraped.

Your mom got up to help your dad and you leaned into him.

“What happened?” you asked.

“Huh?”

“You look a little rough. What happened?”

“Oh, that. Don’t worry about it.”

“I decide what I worry about,” you said. “What happened?”

“I told you, it’s nothing.”

“Belch,” you said. He seemed unshaken, holding your eye. “Reggie.”

He blushed and looked at his plate.

“Just took care of those guys who were bothering you,” he said.

“Oh,” you said. “Oh. Fuck.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “The guys helped me out, wasn’t like it was me against three.”

“They did?”

You couldn’t imagine any of the other guys helping out with something like that. They were bullies, too.

That was something you didn’t like to think about when it came to Belch. He was part of a gang of bullies that had the school on its knees.

“Yeah. We may not be good guys, but we can’t stand guys like that.”

“Guys like what?” asked your dad, walking back in with another pancake for Belch.

“Uh,” you said.

You looked at Belch, wondering how much of the truth you should go with.

He answered for you.

“Guys who don’t take no for an answer,” he said. “Three guys cornered someone at the party last night. Me and my guys took care of it.”

“Hm,” said your mom. She sat down. “So that’s why you look a little roughed up today.”

“Mom.”

“I’m allowed to make observations,” she said, cutting into her own pancakes with the side of her fork.

“Mom.”

“If we don’t want to talk about it, we don’t have to,” said your dad, always afraid of confrontation.

“I’d like it if we didn’t, sir,” said Belch.

“Well, okay,” your dad said, putting another pancake on Belch’s plate.

“So, what are you doing today, Reggie? Work?” your mom asked.

“No, ma’am. I’m hanging out with my boys today. Actually,” he said, turning to you, “I was wondering if you wanted to come along.”

You blushed.

“What would we be doing?” you asked, playing with your food and pretending to not be that interested.

“Mostly just messing around. Might go back to Henry’s house if his dad’s not around.”

“Henry?” your mom asked. “Which one is he? The bottle blonde I met the other day?”

“No, ma’am. That’s Vic. Henry is Officer Bowers’ son.”

“Ah,” said your dad. He shot you a look that told you exactly what he thought of Officer Bowers.

They’d had a brief run-in over a rolled stop sign. Your dad was a lover, not a fighter, so he would never be a fan of the police.

“Who else will be there?” your mom asked. “Henry, Vic, you?”

“And Patrick. Hockstetter.”

“Hm.”

Neither of your parents had heard of him, and you were glad. It wasn’t like they’d stop you if they had — they always let you make your own decisions — but still. To go anywhere with a boy like that was asking for trouble.

Today, you felt like a little trouble would be okay.

“When can we go?” you asked.

“Just as soon as you’re ready,” he said.

“Okay.”

You both finished your pancakes and you led him upstairs to your room. You wished it wasn’t so messy, but he didn’t seem to mind. You were glad — having someone else in your room was intimate, vulnerable.

You sat in front of your mirror and started putting your makeup on.

“You wear makeup every day?” he asked.

“Yeah. Unless I’m staying at home,” you said.

“Huh. I like — I like your face without it,” he said. “Not that you look bad with it, but. You know.”

You smiled, watching him in the mirror.

“Thanks,” you said softly.

He smiled, then went to looking at your music collection.

You finished your face quickly, then grabbed a jacket and shoved your cigarettes and the second joint from last night into the pockets.

“Ready?” you asked.

“If you are.”

“Let’s go, then.”

You went out to your car, saying goodbye to your parents as you went. Then, you climbed in the passenger seat. Belch pulled away from the curb, nodding his head to the hard rock coming out of the stereo.

“Metallica,” you said.

“Mm. You like them?”

“Enough. They’re not my favorite, but they’re okay.”

You were quiet for the next part of the ride, until you stopped to pick up Vic.

“Hey there, stranger,” he said.

You went to give him your seat, and Belch made a noise telling you to stay where you were. Vic lifted himself through the window into the back seat.

Then, you were off again, heading to someone else’s house. You drove through a nice residential street, pulling up to a beautiful house. Henry and Patrick were waiting outside.

“Hey, you,” said Patrick, grinning at you like he wanted to take a bite out of you.

He lifted himself into the back, too.

“Move,” said Henry.

You looked at him, then at Belch.

“Guest gets the front seat, Henry,” he said.

“Since when?”

“Since it’s my car. Get in the back.”

“Bullshit. I always sit in the front.”

“Not today. Now do it.”

Letting out a short growl, Henry climbed into the back seat, forcing Vic to sit in the middle.

“We have an interloper in our midst, boys,” said Patrick. You looked back at him. That same terrifying smile was on his face. “What should we do about it?”

“Nothing, not if you want me to share my weed,” you shot back before Belch could say anything.

Belch clapped his hand on your knee, letting it rest there for just a second before he pulled it back, putting it on the steering wheel.

You forced yourself not to react. It was probably nothing.

It didn’t feel like nothing, but you could make yourself think that.

“You drive a hard bargain, pretty little thing,” Patrick cooed. “I like your style.”

“You call me that again, and you don’t get any,” you said coolly.

He snorted.

“I mean it.”

“Oh, I know.”

“Henry, your dad still on duty?” asked Belch.

“Yeah. Fuckin’ asshole’s out until eleven.”

“Should we go to your place?”

“Sure.”

You drove out to the outskirts of town, over hills and around bends that you hadn’t yet taken time to explore. You ended up at an old farmhouse with a mailbox reading BOWERS.

So, this was his place. Huh.

You all got out of the car, Henry bitching about having to sit in the back. Then, you went inside. Henry walked into what you assumed was his bedroom and came back with a bottle of whiskey, three quarters full.

“C’mon,” he said, beckoning for your benefit.

You followed the gang out to a barn that looked like it hadn’t been used in years. There was a ladder leading up to a hay loft, and Patrick gave a theatrical bow, his hand out to it.

“After you, sweet cheeks.”

“Patrick,” said Belch sharply.

You climbed the ladder, pretending you couldn’t hear them whispering to each other.

“You either make your move or I will,” Patrick hissed.

“Maybe I want to take my fuckin’ time, asshole.”

“Don’t take too long.”

You got to the hay loft and settled yourself up against the wall. The guys followed you, settling around you. Belch sat right next to you, his shoulder brushing yours. You took out your joint and started digging around for a lighter. You’d forgotten to bring yours, it seemed.

“Got a light?” you asked Patrick. You remembered his lighter vividly from just the other day.

“For you, baby? Anything,” he said, holding out his lighter, the flame flicked on.

“Call me that again,” you said. “See where it gets you.”

“Oh, trust me, I’m dying to see.”

You lit up the end of the joint. Then, you exhaled.

“You know where it’d get you?”

“Please tell me.”

“A fuckload of nowhere.”

He laughed, delighted. He thought you were playing coy with him, but you couldn’t be less interested in someone.

Not with Belch sitting right next to you, your lips on his cheek the only thing your body could seem to remember.

“I’m not joking, Patrick,” you said, passing the joint to Belch.

Patrick took the bottle of whiskey from Henry, taking a swig and handing it back.

“Who cares if you are or aren’t?” he asked, shaking his head.

You just looked at him. Then you shrugged. Indifference might do you better than protesting too much.

The joint got passed around, and the whiskey, and in fifteen minutes, everyone was gently fucked up.

You sighed and laid your head up against Belch’s upper arm. He huffed and looked down at you.

“Feel good?” he asked.

“Much better. ‘Specially now I know those guys got what was coming to them,” you said.

You were still a little bit scared of how wrong your night could have gone. How bad of a turn it could have taken.

“Oh, those pussies,” snorted Henry. “Useless. Begged us to stop.”

“Still can’t believe how much that blonde one bled,” said Vic, gloating. He was probably the one to make him bleed, then.

“Thanks, guys,” you said.

You looked at your hands, picked at your nail polish, a deep purple.

“I told you, it was nothing,” said Belch.

“It wasn’t nothing.”

He shrugged, your head moving with his shoulder.

You shrugged, too, bumping his arm with yours. He smiled down at you.

You held your hand out for the whiskey and took a swig. Then, you laid down, putting your legs in Belch’s lap. He let out a quiet laugh.

“Tired?” he asked.

“Fuck yeah. Slept like a fucking baby, but not long enough.”

“Didn’t I wake you up when I called?”

Vic shot Henry a look. Henry returned it.

“Yeah. But still. I need like, thirteen hours of sleep after I drink.”

He laughed. Then, he lightly touched one of your shoes.

“What do you call these?” he asked.

You actually had to look down at your shoes to remember what you were wearing.

“Uh, winklepickers,” you said.

Henry laughed, long and hard.

“That’s so stupid,” he gasped. “Fuck.”

You chuckled. “I know. But whatever. I like them anyway.”

“I gotta question,” said Patrick.

You groaned, rolling your eyes until they fell on him.

“What is it this time?” you asked.

He grabbed the middle section of his nose and pulled on it.

“Anyone ever put a chain on that and lead you around?” he asked.

You reached up and touched your septum ring.

“I’d kill anyone before it ever got to that,” you said. “It’d hurt like hell.”

“Still healing?”

“Septums are always still healing.”

“Huh.”

“I’m serious. I’ve had this for… a year? I took it out last week to give it a good cleaning and I almost couldn’t get it back in.”

He gave you a lascivious grin.

You groaned. “Whatever you’re gonna say, shut it.”

“Sure thing, baby.”

“Patrick,” said Belch again, sharply.

“Yeah, Patrick,” you said. “Cut that shit out. I’m not your fucking baby.”

As soon as you said it, you remembered those guys from last night. You’d said the same thing to them.

“Fuck,” you groaned.

“What?” asked Belch.

You looked at him, and his eyebrows were drawn together.  

“I just have to keep telling guys I’m not their baby,” you explained. You sounded miserable, because you kinda were.

“Fuck,” said Vic. “Those guys called you that, didn’t they?”

“Yeah.”

He hit Patrick. Patrick hit him back.

“Fuck you, Vic. It’s not my fault. Not like I knew.”

“Not like you’ll stop, either,” said Vic.

“Got that right.”

But he didn’t do it again, at least not where you could hear it.

With the joint smoked down and the sun slowly setting, you stretched and sat up.

“I should probably get back,” you said. “Got laundry to do.”

Vic laughed.

“How many loads of black does it take?”

“Oh god,” you said. “Just imagine me trying to find one specific thing in a heap of everything. It’s a fucking nightmare.”

“Well, c’mon,” said Belch. He got to his feet and pulled you up with him, easily lifting you by one arm. “I’ll take you to your car.”

“Oh, nice, I forgot it’s ready.”

As you were climbing down the ladder, you saw Vic lean in and whisper something in Patrick’s ear. You didn’t catch what it was, but you would bet your right arm it was about you.

You walked back to Belch’s car, a little bit fucked and very sleepy.

When you got in, you put a cigarette in your mouth.

“You mind?” you asked around it.

“Nah, go for it.”

You used the cigarette lighter the car had and lit up. You took a drag, slow and even.

“Sorry about Patrick,” he said.

“Me too,” you said.

“What are you sorry about? He’s an asshole, it’s not your fault.”

“It’s not yours, either.”

He grunted, but didn’t verbally disagree.

You rode in silence. When you got to the shop, your car was waiting on you. It looked cleaner than it had been before.

You narrowed your eyes at him.

“Did you — did you wash my car?”

He blushed.

“I took it through a car wash for you,” he said. “It was all covered in pollen.”

You laughed. It was true enough — your car had been covered in green dust for weeks.

“Well, thank you.”

“No problem.”

You got out of his car, running a hand over the trunk of your own. She looked so much better than you remembered her.

God, but you loved your car.

“Hey,” you said. “I was wondering. I’m going to this show tomorrow. This band’s kinda local, and ever since we moved here I’ve wanted to see them. You wanna go with me?”

Truth was, you hadn’t moved far. Just from Portland. But the band was from Etna, and you were dying to finally see them.

“Don’t wanna go alone?”

You flushed, thinking again about last night.

“I just wanna go with you,” you said. You avoided his eye.

“Well, sure. I can go with you. When should I pick you up?”

You smiled. “Nine?”

“Sure.” Then, he paused. “Is it a date?”

You finally looked at him. He was purely curious.

“Do you want it to be?” you asked.

“Kinda. But if you want it to just be friendly, I understand.”

Your smile grew wider.

“It can be a date.”

“Cool.”

Then, you got on your toes again and kissed him on the cheek. It left a little black mark, and you wiped it away with your thumb, chuckling. He smiled.

“Thanks for inviting me today,” you said, one hand on his chest.

“Well. I wanted you to officially meet the guys.”

“They mean a lot to you.”

“Yeah, I guess. They’re assholes, but I like ‘em.”

“They are. But I can see the appeal.” You paused. “Well. ‘Bye.”

“’Bye.”

He watched you get in the car and drive away. A gentle smile played on your lips as you did.

You had a date. A date with a super cute boy. And you were excited. Not scared.

Not scared at all, not about him.