#the text said 'and he looked at me like a slow loris' and then a reply saying 'i didn't know what that was so i googled it'

[youremyonlyhope]

.

[leanxooo]

L O S T P U P P Y — rick grimes x black!fem reader x daryl dixon

✷ : It had been a couple weeks since y/n arrived at the atlanta camp, everyone started warming up to her, even Daryl and Rick, but what happens when Rick and Daryl go on a run a something happens to y/n

✷ : chapter two: "yall two just love my life huh?" [ see other chapters ]

cw: mentions of daddy issues, walkers, pet names ( pretty, darling, sweet girl, princess ) , rude!daryl at first, a little sexual content ( dry humping, dirty talk, kissing ), age gap ( reader is 19 - 20 and Rick and Daryl are 30 - 40 ), mentions of rape / sa, creepy!Shane, slight daddy kink.

xoxo note: I'm bad at writing summaries so just bare with me + imjustagirlwithdaddyissues.

It had been a few weeks since y/n arrived at the atlanta camp and Y/n sat in her tent, doing her hair. Last week while y/n was on a run with Daryl and Rick, a walker grabbed y/n's ponytail and messed her hair up, she ended up crying the whole way back to camp and complaining that 'she worked so hard on her hair', leaving the two men to comfort her.

Most of the men were hunting so the only men around were dale and Shane. Y/n hated Shane with everything in her, when she first arrived to camp and saw Lorie and Shane sneaking into the woods together, shes hated them both equally because who could hurt such a caring and handsome man like Rick?

Shane came up to y/n's tent, his voice rang out, "knock knock" he said out loud "what?" y/n said half opening the tent "whatcha doin pretty girl" he asked with a creepy smile on his face.

"My hair- what the fuck do you want?" she didn't want to convers with him, he gave her a weird feeling ever since she got to the camp.

"Can I come in?" he said about to put his foot in the tent, "for what?" she kept questioning him, he knew Daryl and Rick weren't around so what was he trying to pull? she couldnt text Carol and tell on him because there's nothing she could possibly do.

"I just wanna come in and watch ya do your hair" he smiled "nah I'm good" she rolled her eyes. She hated men like Shane, dirty disgusting men who think they can have anything or anyone they want.

Lorie stood next to the camper watching the interaction between the man and the young girl, jealousy would cross her face.

"Leave me alone, your lil girlfriend giving me dirty looks" after she said that Shane fully stepped in her tent closing the zipper behind him.

Y/n have him a 'nigga is you coo?' look and pulled her phone out about to text Rick but Shane snatched her phone from her.

"Dude what is your problem?" y/n yelled, "I just wanna talk to you pretty," he ran his hands up and down her shoulders, pushing the girls boobs together with her arms.

Y/n reached behind her a grabbed the knife Daryl gave her as a little gift for just being her, Shane had a tight grip on her, forcing her to lay down on her cot in the tent.

"What are you gonna do to me?" she was scared, no one was around, all the women were down at the lake washing clothes, Lorie sure wouldn't help her and she didn't even know where dale was.

"I just wanna take care of ya" he said as he looked in her eyes rubbing up and down her legs, she looked around for her phone and saw it was next to the opening of the tent. She could stab him real quick, grab her phone and make a run for it towards the woods and hope to run into the other men.

She was about to start screaming but Shane got on top of her, covering her mouth and un-did his pants. She quickly stabbed him in the stomach and while he was still in shock, she pushed him off her grabbing her phone.

It took her a minute to get the zipper open and while she was getting it open, Shane pulled the knife out of his stomach and y/n started to make a run for it.

She didn't make it far before Shane used her own knife to cut her ankle while she was running, she fell to her knees fast, gripping onto her phone as she did.

Shane was slowly getting out the tent with a grunt, as he moved slow, y/n made another run for it and made it to the woods. She got lost and checked her phone, seeing it was on # percent, she called Rick's phone hoping he would pick up while she had enough charge.

"Yes mama," his voice rang through the phone, "please Rick help- Shane tried to force himself on me and cut me and now I'm lost in the woo-" the phone went dead while she was talking.

The girl continued her journey in the woods, y/n had no weapons and her phone was dead, and on top of everything it was getting dark outside.

'im gonna die out here' she thought as she sat down on a Rick by a creek and ripped her grey tank top up to wrap her bleeding ankle and wrapped her small knotless braids up.

MEANWHILE BACK AT THE CAMP, the whole group was panicking, Shane and y/n were gone and there was no sight of where they could have gone.

Lorie stood in the background while everyone made a plan to look for y/n and Shane. Rick and Daryl were fuming, they shouldn't have left her alone here.

Glenn turned his attention to Lorie, "did you see anything?" Lorie shook her head and rolled her eyes, "I don't know why y'all are going through all of this for a girl you just met 5 weeks ago," Lorie laughed thinking someone would agree with her.

"Lorie what is your problem?" Andrea asked, over the last few weeks Andrea and y/n got really close. Y/n taught Andrea to do her own short acrylics and how many ways she could do her blonde hair.

"What? come on there's no way y'all are gonna go through all of this for some slu-" Lorie was cut off by a loud scream heard from the woods.

"Thats gotta be y/n" t-dog said and looked around "okay, t-dog and Glenn y'all stay here Incase y/n or Shane run back to camp and we miss them, Carol get the medical stuff ready and dale you stay on lookout." Rick stated and every nodded their heads.

Carl ran up, "what's going on?" he asked standing in front of his dad. "Nothing, you stay here with your mother, you hear me?" rick asked as he sternly looked at Lorie, Carl nodded his head.

"Daryl lets go," and with the two men ran into the woods, flashlights hand, another loud girlish scream was heard "get off me! get the fuck off me you sicko" they followed the voice and it led straight to y/n.

Daryl saw y/n fighting off a walker and quickly shot it with an arrow, y/n looked up and the shooter. "Daryl!" y/n was happy to see him "oh I'm invisible now?" Rick laughed as he walked over to her checking out her cut.

"Are you okay pretty girl?" Daryl asked as he rubbed her shoulders and the girl flinched, "I'm fine" she smiled.

Rick and Daryl shared glances, "cmon mama we finne get you back to camp" Rick picked the girl up and carried her on his hip as Daryl closely followed behind.

"Can you tell us what happened sweet girl?" Rick asked as they got closer to camp and y/n's lip started to quiver, "i- i- I was doing my hair and-" Daryl felt pity for the girl, she just turned 21 and everything is so over-sitmulating for her.

"Its okay baby, take your time" Daryl said as they got back to the camp and Rick sat y/n on one of the tables and Carol ran up to them.

"Y/n I'm so sorry I wasn't there," Carol almost wanted to cry, y/n was like another daughter to her.

"Its fine, its fine" y/n breathed out, a huge pout on her face.

"Can you tell me what happened now?" Rick as as he backed up enough for Carol to fix up y/n's ankle.

"I was in the tent doing my hair.." Lorie watched from afar as y/n told her story, "and I was almost done before Shane came to the tent he started being weird and I didn't wanna talk to him," y/n put her head down.

"He got into the tent as I went to call Rick.. I saw Lorie looking right at us," everyone turned their head to Lorie.

"You cunt" Andrea turned around and headed for Lorie but t-dog caught her, "what the fuck are you talking about? I wasn't even around! I was with Carol.." Lorie wanted pity from everyone.

"You weren't with me.." Carol rolled her eyes "y/n I'm so sorry"

"Lorie I expected better from you," glenn said "no way you believe her" Lorie laughed.

Rick and Daryl ignored everyone and kept focusing on y/n's story.

"Shane came in and tried to force himself on me," she sighed, Rick felt bad for the girl. The first few weeks y/n was at the camp, she opened up about her father and how he sa'd her, she said "it made me mature faster, I didn't have a childhood."

"What happened after that sweet girl?" Rick as he redid her bun, slowly caressing her face.

"I cut him and ran but he cut me before I got far.. after I ran into the woods I don't know where he went next," Daryl nodded "we gotta find this son of a bitch."

"Everyone stay on lookout, were gonna take y/n to the tent and get her settled." t-dog, dale and Glenn nodded their heads.

Daryl picked y/n up like a baby, tapping her butt twice, "come on doll, lets get you showered."

Rick headed to their tent while Daryl took y/n to the RV to take a shower. Rick needed time to think so he let Daryl and y/n have some alone time.

"How you feeling pretty?" y/n had a sad look on her face "I don't know."

Once Daryl finally got the girl some clothes and good he laid down in the back of the RV with her, rocking her, whispering sweet things into her ear.

'im gonna take care of ya' 'no one can hurt you anymore' 'daddys here sweet girl'

Rick walked in to the RV and watched the two as they bonded, it wasn't too long before y/n fell asleep.

Daryl got up and took her back too the tent but as they were walking back, Shane came back.

xoxo note: stay tuned for part 2 of "y'all love my life huh?" , lol

[tony-is-my-daddy]

Hi guys! So this is my 1000th post on this blog. I cannot express how thankful I am to all of you who have followed me and still read and see and like all of my stupid posts. I see all of your likes and reblogs and tags and comments, it fills my heart with such great happiness, you all are awesome! I'm so glad I get to be in this amazing fandom, it kinda feels like a second family at this point.

Anyway, tumblr freaked out when I wanted to post the whole thing in one, so I will separate it into two parts. Enjoy part one.

Dream a little dream of me

Peter loved his job more than anything. Being a kindergarten teacher was great, he loved being around kids and he knew the feeling was mutual, most of his kids said he was their favorite teacher. He had so many of their drawings and crafts, he kept them in a special folder in his desk at home. It warmed his heart and made a huge smile stretch over his face when he saw another drawing made for him. He loved all of his students equally. Okay, that's what he told everyone, because he wasn't supposed to say the truth. He couldn't tell people he had a favorite, that was rude and Peter wasn't gonna disappoint his kids. But truth be told, the little girl with the chestnut hair and the sparkly brown eyes and pretty smile was his favorite one of them all.

Morgan Stark, the daughter of a single mother, famous CEO's of Stark Industries and ex-lovers, Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. Morgan had only been Peter's student for a month and she already managed to get into Peter's heart with her charm and her smile. During those first four weeks of the school year, he hadn't had a chance to meet the girl's father. Obviously, he knew who it was. Everyone did. But Peter was so excited to see the man because honestly, Tony Stark had been his biggest celebrity crush for as long as he could remember. The thirty-five years old genius was not just smart and rich, he was also very handsome.

So it was understandable if he forgot how to breathe for a second when he was just reading something while the kids played around, waiting for their parents, and Morgan suddenly yelled out in that angeling voice of hers, "Daddy!"

Peter's head snapped up. He looked at the man at the door as he leaned down and picked up the small girl, kissing her forehead before he sat her on his hip. Peter's jaw dropped and he just stared. Tony was... wow. He was so hot, even more so up close than he did in all those pictures and interviews Peter had seen him in.

"Daddy, look, there's Mr. Parker. He's the nicest teacher ever!" Peter had no idea how to react. He moved to stand up, but then sat back down again, thinking it would be too much. But when the older man approaced him, he stood up anyway.

"So you're the teacher this little one has been telling me about lately. Hello, I'm Tony Stark," the man said with a smile - wow, so that's where Morgan got her smile from - and reached out a hand for Peter. It took a moment for him to process what was going on, but then he shook Tony's hand with an awkward laugh.

"I know, sir. I'm Peter. Parker."

Tony smiled and let the handshake last for a second or two longer than a normal handshake would, but Peter didn't mind.

"Go collect your stuff, babygirl," Tony said and set Morgan down to run back to her classmates and collect her backpack. Then, his attention turned back to Peter, he was now smirking. "Well, Mr. Parker, my daughter seems to love you very much."

"Oh yes, I love her too, you know. She's such a sweet little girl. She became my favorite student recently." He added that last thing quietly so that the rest of the class didn't hear it.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, of course! She's very nice and smart, she probably got that from her dad."

Peter only realized what slipped from his mouth when he saw Tony's lips stretch into a grin. "You think I'm smart, Mr. Parker?"

"Obviously, you're a literal genius, sir. The smartest person of our generation."

"That's very flattering, Mr. Parker. Thank you."

"Please, call me Peter, sir."

"Then you should call me Tony."

Was this flirting? No, there was no way. Right? Tony Stark could've got anyone, lingerie models would hang off his shoulders if he just asked them to do so, so many people wanted to get him and out of them all, why oh why would he choose Peter Parker?

"O-okay. Tony," Peter said, his voice a bit shaky, unsure. Just then, Morgan appeared next to her father, clutching the straps of her Iron Man backpack with her little hands.

"Can we go now," she asked.

"Of course munchkin. Give daddy that backpack, there you go. Say goodbye to Mr. Parker."

"Bye Mr. Parker," she waved as they walked towards the door hand in hand.

"Bye Morgan," he waved as well with a smile. That little girl was so adorable.

The next day, Peter was not expecting Tony again to come collect Morgan, but it looked like neither did Morgan.

They were outside on the playground when Tony walked through the gates and Morgan frowned at her from the sandbox. "Daddy? Why are you here? Where's mommy?"

"Mommy's busy, Morguna. But I'm here, aren't you happy?"

"I am!"

Tony laughed, oh, what a sound. "Alright then, little bug, go get your backpack."

"Yes daddy!"

She was up soon, running through the playground to go back in the building, both Tony and Peter yelling after her to slow down. They looked at each other and laughed.

"We meet again," Tony said, taking a few steps closer towards Peter.

"Looks like it," he said, still smiling.

"How was she today?"

"Oh amazing, just like always. There was a little misunderstanding when Lori over there tried to take one of her toys, but we worked that out eventually."

"Great to hear that," Tony said. He took another step forward. They were now a bit closer than Peter should've been with one of his students' father. "I've wanted to ask, by the way, how old are you, Peter?"

It caught him off-guard a little, usually his kids' parents didn't ask how old he was. They asked about how their children behaved, obviously, but never about Peter. Why would he care about Peter?

"Oh I'm twenty-five, sir. Tony, sorry. Um... why are you asking?"

"I was just curious." Another step forward. Peter's heart was now starting to beat a little faster. "Are you, by any chance, interested in men? Because... I'd like to grab a coffee with you sometime, of course, only if you'd like that."

Well, if the age question caught him off-guard then imagine Peter after that. His eyes widened and he crossed his arms so he could pinch the skin on his upper arm unnoticeably, just to see if he was really not dreaming. But no, Tony Stark still stood in front of him, expecting an answer from him.

Peter swallowed, suddenly noticing how dry his mouth was, before he cleared his throat to speak up. "Like- like on a date?"

"Yes, pretty much. I don't really know if there's a rule against that but... I'd like to take you out sometime. If you want to, that is."

"Well, yeah, yes, sure," he said after a little hesitation. What the hell was he hestitating for? This was Tony fucking Stark himself! "When?"

"Well, here's my number," the billionaire said as he fished his phone out from his pocket, and so did Peter. His hand was shaking a little from how excited he was, which he hoped Tony didn't see. They looked at each other, Tony smirking a little when he asked if he can say it. Peter nodded and the older man told him his number and Peter wrote it in his contact list, naming him Tony Stark with all caps because how crazy was that?!

"Daddy, look, I drew something for mommy!" Morgan's voice startled them again and Peter put his phone away quickly.

"Very beautiful baby, she'll love it."

"I didn't draw anything for you," she said with a little pout.

"That's okay, my love, you'll draw something tomorrow," Tony said with a fond smile as he took ahold of Morgan's little hand.

"But mommy said he'd come for me tomorrow."

"Oh honey, I think mommy will be busy tomorrow as well." Tony glanced at Peter and winked before they turned around and walked through the gates, getting into a black car right outside. As they drove off, Peter's finger started to itch for his phone right away.

He didn't see Tony for a few days after that, even though he said he'd come for Morgan the day he gave him his number. Peter started to worry, thinking it was his fault, that he scared him off. It's been four days, including the weekend, and the older man didn't even try to call him.

Fuck, he didn't even get Peter's number! What if he was waiting for a text? Oh God, Peter was so dumb!

He then and there stopped planning tomorrow's classes and he grabbed his phone, opening the chat with Tony. His thumb danced over the screen for a few minutes, trying to decide what to write, trying to think of something nice and sweet, maybe a bit cheeky to make Tony smile. He wrote and deleted. Wrote and then deleted. Until he decided to just stick with the essentials, and he wrote a //very original// text.

Peter: Hi, it's Peter.

Peter: Parker.

He waited for a few minutes, anxiously staring at his screen for a while before he put it down and decided to make himself a tea to distract himself. He walked into his kitchen, filling the kettle with hot water and putting it on the stove to boil. And while his hands were occupied, his mind could do nothing but wander back to that man. He thought back to that day when he asked him out, when he stepped closer and closer to Peter, close enough to touch but he never did. He was too scared he'd come off as weird or eager if he touched him. After all, what kind of teacher touches his students' parents a day after meeting for the first time?

The water boiled soon and Peter poured some in his huge, colorful mug, placing the tea filter in it, a teaspoon of sugar and then he was back in his living room, grabbing his phone from his desk before he sat down on the couch. He checked if he got any messages. And in that very minute, his phone buzzed, making Peter jump and his phone almost fell out of his hand.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!"

Tony: Well hello Peter, you almost made me think you changed your mind about that date

Peter: No, of course not! I'd still very much like to go out with you

Oh wow, that seemed eager as hell. It dawned on Peter that maybe he should've waited at least a couple minutes before texting back, he now probably seemed so pathetic, like he waited for ten minutes staring at his phone and waiting for Tony to write back. He didn't have too much time to worry about that, because another text from Tony came through.

Tony: That's very good to hear, darling. So when are you free?

It was just as quick as Peter's response. Maybe Tony didn't care about how fast Peter texted back to him, maybe he just wanted to talk...

Peter: I'm free this weekend, Saturday if that's ok with you

Tony: That would be good for me too. Around 9 maybe?

Peter: Sounds perfect

Perfect? Why did he say perfect? "That's good," "that'll be nice," "okay," something simpler like that didn't go through your mind, Parker?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!

Tony: Then I'll see you in four days, Peter x

Peter: See you x

They really did that. They really just sent each other x's. Peter squealed a little as he put his phone down, jumping on his seat in excitement. He took a sip of the hot tea that's been resting on his coffee table since he made it, and turned on the TV. A silly romcom was playing, The ugly truth. Peter had seen it before, he liked it, mostly because he found Gerard Butler hot. What? He had a thing for older men.

So he settled down on the comfy couch, a blanket over him and the hot tea warming his icy fingertips as he watched the movie. And while he did, he still thought about Tony, and mentally, he was choosing an outfit for the occasion.

Two days later, on a rainy Wednesday when all of the kids were in the room, playing by themselves during the afternoon, Morgan walked up to Peter as he was talking to another student. She pulled him away and then showed him a drawing of hers.

"Wow, Morgan, that's so pretty! Who are these people," he asked, pointing at the stick figures on the paper.

"That's mommy, that's me, and that's you and daddy."

Peter's eyes widened. "Why me and daddy?"

"Because," she started fiddling with her hands dancing from side to side, "I told daddy I like you very much and he said he likes you too and he said he will take you on a date but I can't tell anyone but I wanted to tell you so please don't tell daddy I told you but he wants to take you on a date."

Peter chuckled, ruffling her brown hair. She looked so much like Tony. "It's okay, little one, I'm sure daddy won't be mad you told me. But don't tell anyone else if he doesn't want you to, okay?"

"Otay!"

"Will you go back to playing now?"

"Yes but I want you to have the drawing."

"I'll keep the drawing," he said with a warm smile and Morgan giggled happily before skipping away, back to her friends. Peter looked at the drawing for quite a while as he walked back to his desk, sitting on top of it. It was like any drawing done by a small child, but this was... somehow different. His kids often drew him and then gave the drawing to him, but this wasn't like that. Morgan drew her father, her mother, herself and Peter. She drew her family... and Peter.

"Hey," he heard a voice next to him and he looked up from the drawing in his hand. It was Tony. "I came for Morgan."

He came in so quietly, not even Morgan was aware that her dad walked into the room. She was playing along with her friends, her back turned to Tony and Peter.

"Hi," Peter greeted when he looked back at Tony.

"What are you looking at?"

"It's a- uh... Morgan drew this for me today." He put the drawing down on the desk facing downwards so that Tony didn't see it. "So you're taking dad duty today?"

"Sort of. Can I see the drawing?"

"Sort of? So you're just picking her up and then dropping her at her mom's house?"

"No, I'm taking her for dinner as well, but full dad duty is when she sleeps at mine. So the drawing-"

"How often does she sleep at yours?"

"Every second week, except for when I have busieness trips."

"I didn't see you last month at all, though."

"No, we left out a month, I had lots of things to do. I've missed her so much."

"I bet you did. I'd miss her too if I didn't get to see her for a month."

"So... can I see the drawing," he asked again.

"Morgan, look who it is!"

"Daddyyy!"

Tony tried to look at Peter angrily, but a smile spread over his face. "Cheeky," he said before turning around and crouching down in front of his daughter. "What's up Morguna? Are you ready for a fun afternoon?"

"Yeees!"

"Grab your jacket and your backpack and we can go." As Morgan ran away, he straightened up again and looked at Peter. "And you... I'll pick you up at 8:30 on Saturday, send me your address."

"Gladly," Peter chuckled.

After the Starks left, Peter turned the drawing up again and stared at it for a couple more minutes until another parent arrived to pick up their kid. He had no idea how to feel about being a part of their family just yet... but he very much liked the idea of Tony Stark.

A few days later, Peter was up at 7am, trying to choose between three outfits for his date that morning. The night before, he went through two facemasks, a hairwash and shaving as well (no, he wasn't about to get to business on the first date, but better be safe than sorry), so for the morning, all he had to do was get dressed and do his hair.

He may or may not had a little breakdown while trying to decide which outfit he wanted to wear, but that's normal, and at the end, he chose a V-neck burgundi shirt with jeans and a jacket. He styled his hair perfectly (thank the hair gods for that, he had never managed to do that before), and panicked when his doorbell buzzed.

"Parker, who is this?"

"Tony."

"You said you'd text before you left and called when you got here!"

"Wanted to surprise you."

"Oh my God, be glad I'm ready anyways, otherwise you'd be in trouble."

Tony laughed. "Alright, Cinderella, come down and show me yourself."

Peter smiled and grabbed his keys and wallet from the kitchen counter before heading out.

"Wow," Tony mumbled when they finally met in front of the building. "Didn't think you could look better."

Peter blushed. "Thank you." The man in front of him was wearing a button up and black jeans, a jacket casually thrown over his shoulders. He looked so effortlessly good, the kind that would get up from bed and just look sexy as ever. "You look great, too."

"Why thank you, angel. Shall we go?"

"Oh yes, of course! Where are we going?"

"I wanted to take you somewhere further away but I saw a very cute café not far away, we could walk there," Tony said as he took ahold of Peter's hand and wrapped it around his arm to lead him. Wow, no one has ever done that to Peter before.

"That's my favorite place!"

"I assumed," Tony commented with a triumphant smirk.

"Since when do you teach kindergarteners?"

"I started about three years ago, I graduated early."

"And why this career?"

Peter chuckled. He often got that question. "I think it's one of the most important jobs, to raise the next generation well. If you don't do it right then humanity will just get more and more screwed up."

"Fair point."

Peter then turned the question around. "And why guns?"

Tony sighed. "It was my dad's legacy. He wanted me to carry on with it, so I did, and I didn't see anything wrong with it until..."

He knew Tony was talking about the time he got kidnapped by the Ten Rings and became Iron Man. That was when Peter really started looking up to the man, he thought it was a very heroic move and he wasn't sure if he'd have had the balls to give up his job to be a superhero and fight people.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"No, it's okay, I just don't talk about this on the first date," he dodged with a joke. Peter laughed and happily changed the subject before it got too much for Tony.

After the short walk, they entered the café and ordered two coffees and pastries for each of them. As they had their breakfasts (at least that's what it was for Peter), they talked about movies, and turns out they were both huge fans of retro sci-fis and action movies. Peter also mentioned that he liked romcoms and after a while, Tony admitted that he "kinda likes them" as well. It was sweet to see this man, a billionaire genius superhero, open up and show Peter his soft side.

But the softest side of Tony came through when Peter asked about Morgan.

"Me and my back then secretary, Pepper had this crazy night. We were both drunk and somehow she just got pregnant. At first we really panicked, but now, we wouldn't have in otherwise. This little sunshine is really the highlight of our lives, she's so chatty and so cute. And I hate watching Disney movies every single night when she's over, but that would be the smallest sacrifice if it meant I could have her over all the time." He showed Peter hundreds of images of her on his phone and Peter's heart melted more and more from every picture. The drawing that the little girl gave him on Wednesday popped into his mind again and now he saw it from a slightly different perspective...

They didn't even notice how quick the time went as they talked, it was like they'd only just met up in front of Peter's building, but when he caught a glimpse of Tony's Rolex, he saw that they've been there for over two hours. He mentioned it to Tony, who laughed and offered Peter a walk home, which he gladly accepted. The older man didn't let him pay the bill either, even though Peter said multiple times that he doesn't expect Tony to buy everything for him. He just insisted.

"I had a lot of fun today, Peter," Tony said as they were heading back to Peter's apartment, this time with not only their arms wrapped around the other's, but holding hands. It felt so natural to hold the man's hand, it made Peter feel somehow... safe.

"So did I. Maybe we could do it again sometime?"

"Oh yeah, I'd like that a lot. Maybe a proper dinner next time?"

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Will you let me pay for at least half of the bill?"

"You're going out with a billionaire and you seriously want to pay the bill?"

"Yes! I'm not going out with you for your money, Tony. I want you to know that. So next time, you'll let me pay."

"If that's what you really want then okay."

When they got back to Peter's apartment, Tony took the younger man's chin between his fingers and tilted it to the side so he could kiss his cheek. Peter blushed deeply and smiled awkwardly. "Thank you so much for today, Peter. I'll see you later."

"Thank you as well. See you."

He watched Tony get in his car before he opened the door, getting in as he heard the engine start. He waved through the window at Tony as he drove away before twirling around twice. Something so unlike life just happened to him and if he was dreaming, he'd give everything for it to never end.

@staticwhispersinthedark wanted to be tagged so here you go!

[rina-writes]

The Dress

A/N: The friend!reader consoling Ethan reminded me of this drabble I had in my drafts of Ethan comforting gf!reader when feeling insecure.  Kinda short, but I think it’s cute :D  

Warnings: Fluff, sexual references (at the end), insecure!reader

You chewed on your lower lip as you stood on line for the register.  You picked up the velvet, green dress that was draped over your right arm with your left hand to pull it into view.

“Are you sure it looked good?” You asked your best friend who was standing next to you, sending a quick text.

“Yes!” She said, with a laugh. “100 times yes.  I think it will look great for the red carpet.”

“It’s not really a red carpet.” You argued, your eyes still analyzing the dress.  “It’s more of like a gala.  Think the turn of the 20th century, where aristocrats would be invited to a new exhibit at the museum. Everyone would wear their best, strolling through the galleries with a glass of champagne in hand, occasionally nibbling on the hors d'oeuvres being passed around on delicate, silver trays.”

Your best friend paused and a little smirk formed on her lips.  “Your boyfriend hired you to do the PR his event again?”

You laughed. “Is it that obvious it’s my idea?” You smiled to yourself.

The Dolan Twins were huge fans of “putting people on,” so to speak.  If someone in their circle had a knack for something, they employed them to do it.  It wasn’t only that Ethan trusted your creative direction, but he AND Grayson thought your ideas were a great fit for their event.  Just like any other person who would organize an 100+ scale event, they paid you very well to do it. So, there was a lot of pressure to make this the best launch celebration ever.  

To be honest, you knew you nailed it.  You just couldn’t help, but feel like you didn’t fit your own event.  You weren’t a big YouTuber or a celebrity or anything remotely famous.  Your relationship with Ethan was on the DL, so you didn’t even feel pressure to keep up a certain image.  Unlike the boys, you definitely had a “whenever I feel like it” work out regimen and a “whatever taste good” kind of diet. You did try to eat relatively healthy and at least move during the day, but it wasn’t enough to maintain a Instagram-worth physique.

Which brings us back to the dress in your hand that you were now about to purchase...for quite a bit of money.  The dress fit the aesthetic of your event: an off the shoulder dress with a sweetheart neckline that dipped down the center of your chest, with long sleeves that started at the top of your arm and ended at your wrist.  The velvet material hugged your body, leaving nothing to the imagination, and stopped just about your knees.  The dress was classic, and one that you could wear again and again...if you had the confidence.  Your best friend hyped you up in the dressing room, but you hated the way your stomach looked in it. But, your best friend looked so disappointed that you didn’t like it.  Not because she particularly liked the dress, but because she knew your distaste for the dress was about your feelings towards you body.

“We’ll jack you up.” Your best friend said with a wink as you put the dress in the trunk.  She had been watching quite a bit of “Say Yes to The Dress Atlanta” lately and often quoted Monty and Lori.  “The party is tomorrow so, let’s continue our glam day where we just relax and pamper ourselves.  Then tomorrow, I’ll help you get dressed.”

“Thanks, Y/F/N,” You smiled softly, getting into the passenger seat of her car and buckling your seat belt. 

“Trust me, Ethan is going to love it.” Your best friend assured as she backed out of the parking spot.

But, what if I don’t.... You thought, but bit your tongue.  You didn’t want to make a big deal about it anymore.

The night of the event, you were buzzing around like a bee.  You loved the rush of making sure everything was going right, and the even bigger surge of energy when something was going wrong. 

The setting was perfect.  Each fragrance had it’s own gallery with a video clip on loop that showed the natural inspiration for the fragrance.  There were testimonies from the twins about the fragrances written on plaques placed beside the display of the fragrance bottles.  There were also several stations in the gallery to try the fragrance and pick up goodie bags.

You had successful ensured that all food was labeled for vegan, non-vegan, vegetarian, kosher, halal, and marked for allergies.  You also did your best to inform the wait staff of who had specific dietary restrictions to know to go to them with the options they could eat first before opening it to the rest of the floor.  

You had even ensured that the photographers got people when they came in through the door and let people know about the photo booth in the back.  

This was going to be your event to top.  Once people knew that you organized it, your office was going to be full with requests. But if there was anyone you wanted to impress, it was Ethan.  

And he was.  Ethan walked in, his hair styled neatly, his body clad in a black tailored suit with a white button down and a red tie.  Grayson, also wore a similar tailored suit and a white button down, but he opted for a green tie.  They intended to do the twin thing, and unintentionally did the Christmas color thing...but they could roll with it. When Ethan saw you, his jaw dropped.  He had never seen you like this before.  For one thing, everyone was running up to you with different issues. You kept a pleasant smile on your face as you calmed people down and told them what to do.  You made it look easy.  Then there was the dress...oof.  It was like he was seeing your curves for the first time.  He felt like he would need to holler at you all over again.

“Gray, quick, switch ties with me.” Ethan said, slapping his brother on the arm with the back of his hand.

“No, green is my favorite color.” Grayson said, narrowing his eyes. “I’m also not doing this in the middle of our event.”

“Green’s my favorite color now too.” Ethan said, gesturing to you talking to one of the wait staff.

The green velvet dress looked amazing on your complexion. You had taken the green elements into other parts of your outfit as well as part of your best friend’s “jacking up.” Your hair was decorated with faux emerald and cubic zirconia hair pieces (because this dress already cost you a fortune).  You were wearing black pumps, but they had green bottoms that your friend helped you dye yourself.  You were also wearing a mix of green and silver jewelry including dangling earrings and a bracelet.  Ethan made a mental note to get you a watch for your birthday, one that could go with this dress and any other dress you decided to grace him with in the future.

“Oh wow...” Grayson said, trying not to oogle his brother’s girlfriend.  “Okay, you win. Take my tie...”

Grayson removed his tie and Ethan did the same.  If you had turned around and seen them, it would have been comical.  It was like they were racing to see who could tie a tie the fastest and they were both losing.  Finally, they both looked decent enough to mingle.  Ethan walked straight towards you.

“Excuse me, miss?” Ethan said, licking his lips as he spoke to you. 

You looked up from the table you were re-arranging and smiled softly. This was one of your favorite bits. When Ethan pretended to not know you and ask you out again.  It was funny because Ethan was Mr. Slow and Steady when going into a relationship.  He never just hollered at a girl, he always became her friend, got to know her and then finally asked her out. It made this all the more fun to act out.

“I just wanted to say that I think you are the most beautiful woman in the room.”  Ethan rolled his hands and licked his lips flirtatiously. “And, if you don’t have a man, I’d be happy to apply for the position. If you do, I hope you don’t mind us doing this quietly.”

You laughed, and placed a hand on his chest. “Babe, stop.”

Your hand ran along his tie and you smiled.  You loved how you two always unintentionally matched...completely unaware of how much effort Ethan put in to do it.

“Alright, I’ll control myself.” He hugged you tightly, kissing your cheek. 

“Ethan...” You blushed. “People are staring.”

“They already were.” He leaned back and smiled at you. “Got to let them know you’re mine.”

Ethan gave your side a squeeze, resisting from giving your butt a little slap, before stepping back.  “This event looks amazing, Y/N.  I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m proud of you!” You exclaimed.  “Your product lent itself to this design.  I am even wearing one of your scents now.”

“I know...” He grinned. “...it’s one of my favorites because I made it with you in mind.”

You were about to say something cheesy when someone walked up to Ethan.  He introduced them as someone from their management team.  You waved, at them, and then paused, suddenly remembering what you were wearing.  Your hands danced between covering your stomach and your chest, and you constantly looked at your reflection in one of the dark windows behind them.  Your focus on your appearance made it hard to join the conversation.  You answered most questions curtly and in a quiet voice.  

When you interacted with the catering staff and your team, you weren’t nervous.  They had seen you come into the office in sweatpants and coffee stains on your shirt on multiple occasions.  You didn’t have to pretend for them. They knew you were good at your job and what you wore didn’t matter.

For Ethan’s colleagues, you felt more pressure.  Although the public didn’t know about your relationship, most people in the twins’ circle knew he was dating someone.  Eventually, someone would tell someone else that the girl in the green dress was Ethan’s girlfriend, and you couldn’t help, but worry about how that would reflect on Ethan. 

Ethan was surprised to see you clam up like this.  This wasn’t like you normally, and it definitely wasn’t like you a few moments earlier.  At first he thought it was just because you were caught off guard. It wasn’t until the third person he introduced you to did he notice that something was up.

“Baby,” Ethan whispered in your ear as the person excused themself. “Come with me for a second.”

Ethan laced his fingers in yours and pulled you to the back of the galleria where there was a back room used to house the extra supplies like toilet paper and tools.

“Is everything okay?” Ethan asked, once he was sure you were both alone and the door was closed.

“Yeah!” You smiled, thinking he was the one worried. “Everyone loves the launch, Ethan! It’s going well.”

“Not the event,” Ethan said, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you toward him.  “I mean you.  You’re not acting like yourself.”

“What do you mean?” You asked, putting your hands on his shoulders.  “I’m fine.”

“You’re acting all shy and awkward.” He rested his forehead on yours. “You only do that when something is bothering you.”

“No I don’t.” You argued in a monotone voice.

The silence was awkward and bone chilling.  Ethan just stared at you until you cracked. 

“It’s the dress...” You admitted with a sigh. “I look like a whale.”

“Wait what?” Ethan asked, almost yelling.” Are you nuts? Y/N, baby, you look amazing.  I’ve been planning to pull you in here and plow you in this dress. I am holding back everything inside of me right now...how could you say that?”

You blushed. “It’s my stomach.” You backed up so you could show him the outline of your stomach. Your hands then went to the neckline of the dress.  “And this is cut in such a weird spot.”

“Your stomach looks fine, I didn’t even notice it. And your tits look amazing in that weird spot.” Ethan used air quotes when he said weird spot.  His hands then immediately went to your lower back to pull you closer to him.

“I just don’t feel like this dress is right for me.” You sighed again.

“Why?” Ethan asked, running hands up your sides. “Because this dress looks so amazing on you, I almost don’t want to take it off. Almost...”

You smiled softly. “I dunno...it just doesn’t look right. Maybe I should work out or something....”

“I mean if you want.” Ethan kissed your forehead. “Or you can change what you see in your mind.  Everyone here is impressed with you.   They want to hear more about you and book you for their events. I’m sure they’d ask if you didn’t seem so...out of it.”

You seemed unsure so Ethan continued, “Hey, I’ve even heard compliments on your dress.  I can’t change what you think of yourself, but I want to help you to love yourself the way I love you.”

“I love you too, E.” You sighed, “You really think it looks good?”

“Yes.” Ethan nodded so quickly you thought his head would roll off.

“Thank you.” You said, looking down at yourself.  Suddenly, your stomach didn’t look that big and your boobs did look pretty nice.  You realized, it wasn’t the dress. It was the whole being Ethan’s girlfriend thing that threw you off.  

“I guess, I just felt like this was the kind of dress that someone like you would like to see your girlfriend in.” You said, still looking down.

Ethan narrowed his eyes. “Yes, hence why I like seeing you, my girlfriend, in this dress.”

“I know, it’s just sometimes I feel like there is Ethan Dolan’s girlfriend...this image i have in my head.” You paused. “And then there’s me.  Which sometimes is a different image.”

“Well guess what...” Ethan kissed your cheek. “That image in my head is always you.  So, whatever we have to do to match up the images in your head, I’m ready to do it together.”

“Aww, E...” You kissed him softly and he deepened the kiss.

His hands roamed from your shoulders to your backside, giving your body little squeezes. As the kiss got sloppier, you realized that Ethan wasn’t going to be satisfied by a little frenching.

“Quickie before we go back out?” You suggested, breaking the kiss.  

You walked over to one of the shelves and put your hands on top of it. You turned so your butt was up and facing Ethan, one of his favorite positions.

“Yes ma’am,” He smirked, unbuckling his belt as he walked over.

“But make sure you don’t ruin my dress.” You said, looking back at him with a wink.

“Yes, ma’am.”

[ladyxxdaydream]

47 (Texting the incorrect number but continuing the conversation)

Well, this was a fun way to spend my sunday morning (✿◠‿◠).

These are meant to be a little rough–spur of the moment writing with little editing–while I’m working on my longer fics. If I get enough requests, I may add a drabble section on my Ao3 page, and polish them up to post over there. Thanks for the request, tea! Hope you like it.

ʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔ You can submit your own from the list here. ♡

☆゜:。*。。*:゜☆

Kakashi couldn’t sleep. He grabbed his track pants he had discarded on the floor, removing a wrinkled piece of paper out of the pocket. Gai had finally entered this century, and gotten a cell phone. He had scrawled his number on top of a flyer for his personal training program—Green Beast—before Kakashi had left the gym earlier today.

He punched it into his phone and sent a text.

Yo, what are you doing?

Binge watching the newest season of Icha Icha instead of grading exams. God, it’s so terrible.

Wait, what? Kakashi knew for a fact that his best friend didn’t watch Icha Icha, much to his dismay. Gai was a crossfit trainer; he’d have no reason to be grading exams. And Kakashi imagined that his friend’s exuberance would translate through text. There wasn’t nearly enough yelling in the form of all caps and exclamation points. Did he have the wrong number? But then why would this person be answering like they knew him?

And what was that crap about Icha Icha being terrible?!

He couldn’t help himself.

Then why are you watching it if it’s so terrible? He typed out, annoyed.

It’s like being stuck in traffic over a car accident, and you’re cursing the people who keep slowing down to stare, while vehemently telling yourself you won’t act like everyone else, but then you get there, and you become that bitch. You can’t help but stare.

Kakashi couldn’t hold back his laugh. It rang out in his empty apartment.

Hm. Sounds like you secretly like it.

Of course I do. What, you think I have no self restraint? You know me better than that.

Shit. What was Kakashi doing? He should really tell this person he accidentally sent a text to the wrong number, but it would be weird now. He already continued the conversation.

Another text came through.

LMAO I can’t believe Lori went after Gavin. Good lord.

Kakashi’s face broke into a grin. He knew the exact moment this person was talking about. He’d already watched the season, twice, despite it being released on Netflix yesterday.

God. This puts my students drama to shame, which is rather impressive. Speaking of, Naruto ‘accidentally’ kissed Sasuke today, and Sakura ran out of the classroom crying.

Kakashi answered without thinking.

How do you accidentally kiss someone?

You don’t? That was his wording when I asked him what all the fuss was about. Guess he’s not ready to admit he kissed a boy on purpose. I’ll tell you about tomorrow. What time did you want to meet at Blackberry Cafe?

Oh god. Kakashi had a terrible idea.

10? He typed out.

Can we make it 11? I’ll probably be up all night watching this bullshit.

—-

Kakashi was sitting at a table in the corner of the patio, inspecting the customers. It was 11:15. So far he’d narrowed it down to three people. One was a woman, who had just answered her phone, which immediately eliminated her. The speech pattern didn’t match. That left two men who were sitting alone. If Kakashi was being honest with himself he was hoping it was the cute one with the ponytail—

—who had just glanced at his watch, sighed, and pulled a stack of papers out of his messenger bag, along with a red pen.

..watching Icha Icha instead of grading exams…

Bingo.

Kakashi got up and walked over, standing in front of the empty chair across from the teacher.

“Uh, hi.”

“Hi?” the man replied, giving him a small smile as he wrinkled his face in confusion.

Kakashi’s heart skipped. Fuck.

“Is this seat taken?”  

The smile grew a little bigger. A blush coloring his cheeks.

“Actually, it is. I’m waiting for someone.”

Kakashi thought he saw the slightest bit of disappointment flicker across the man’s face. It was enough to encourage him forward with his ridiculous plan.

“I think that someone is me.”

The man put down his pen, giving Kakashi his full attention.

“Clever, I’ll give you that. But I know that it’s not.”

“No, really. It’s me.”

The man scratched at the scar the cut across his nose and over his cheeks, his irritation apparent.

“I’m flattered by your effort, but pushy persistence isn’t attractive to me.”

Oh boy. Well. He’d already come this far…

“I’m not being pushy. It was me you were texting last night.”

The man narrowed his eyes. Kakashi tried not to wince under his glare. It was formidable.

“What?”

Kakashi pulled out the chair and sat down, as the man nearly squawked with disapproval.

“My friend wrote his number on a piece of paper. There was one number that could have been a 4 or a 9 and I guess I got it wrong.” Kakashi said, matter of fact.

He watched as the man face contorted through several reactions.

“Are you insane?” he hissed.

Well, maybe, but…

“Not clinically. I’m not a serial killer or anything, if that’s what you’re asking.”

The man widened his eyes.

“Ok, sorry, that was a stupid thing to say, considering.”

“Try idiotic.”  

Kakashi bristled.

“Well, what about you? My number can’t have been in your phone, yet you spoke like you knew me.”

“I just got a new phone yesterday! None of my contacts transferred. I thought you were Izu—my friend. The number looked vaguely familiar I—this is fucking absurd. Why the hell would you come to meet me?”

“You seemed interesting.” Kakashi shrugged.

“After a ten minute text conversation?” he asked, incredulous.

Kakashi rattled off other reasons in his head. How he’d had a terrible fucking night. How he couldn’t sleep because he was plagued by painful nightmares. How he was seconds away from taking enough anti-depressants to knock him the fuck out for a few hours, when their texts had distracted him enough to forget about it completely.

“I was having a bad night and you made me laugh,” he settled on saying.

The man scoffed, yet there was a softness in his eyes.

“How can I trust you? It’s not like someone can vouch for you—“

“IRUKA!”

Gai was mid-stride to their table, before he froze.

“K..kakashi!? You two know each other?!”

“You two know each other?!” Kakashi countered.

“Iruka’s my newest protégée! We just started training a few weeks ago,”—Gai’s eyes lit up—“Why have I not thought of this before?! This is absolutely perfect! What incredible genius set you two up?!”

“Uh, actually, you did, Gai. I misread the number you gave me and well,” Kakashi spanned his hands out in front of him to say here we are.

“What luck! How beautiful! It was meant to be. I’ll leave you two alone,” Gai said, quickly making himself scarce.

“You know Gai,” Iruka deadpanned, both eyebrows raised, as he leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest.

“He’s my best friend.” A smile crept across Kakashi’s face. “How’s that for vouching for me?”

[thenewnightforce]

The Night Force just shows up at Raven’s house while she lives with her Aunt Alice and don’t bother explaining how they know her

tbh... this ask inspired an idea, but i promptly slam-dunked that into the trash after i saw @dykecassandrawayne‘s texting posts and got an Even Better Idea from it.... so enjoy this little snippet y'all!!!

…

When her niece had told her family of the double life she lead, Alice knew that certain things about their lives would be forever changed. She knew it would mean normalcy would likely go out the window with that change. She had no idea just how strange things may get, but her first clue had been when she answered the door one afternoon to a trio of teenagers.

The first, an asian girl dressed in a man’s pilgrim’s clothing, gave an apologetic smile as she held out a hand to shake in greeting. The other was a smaller, younger teen boy holding a cat in his arms, nearly the strangest of the trio with bright blue skin and strange markings around his face. But that honor os strangest among them, went to the third, who nearly gave her a heart attack. After all, he looked like the Devil straight from Hell, all red skin and long horns protruding from his head.

She breathed a little easier, however, as he twirled a plastic pitchfork in his hands. A clear prop, obvious costumes, although very well-made ones. An odd trio nonetheless.

“Hi, sorry to bother you, Mrs. Williams,” one of the pilgrims smiled sweetly, “Is Raven home? She wasn’t at our meet-up spot and she isn’t answering her phone. We’re supposed to be at Salem Before Sundown.”

The name rang a bell, the event Raven had been excited about all week. The one that some new friends were taking her to. Alice smiled as she remembered the costume the teen had laid out on her bed that morning, ready to go as soon as she came home.

“She’s… still in school,” Alice started, stepping aside from the door and waving the group inside, “But you’re welcome to wait for her! I’ve been dying to meet you. Raven… is a little slow to open up about her new friends.”

“I’m Traci,” the first pilgrim said, all smiles as she waved a hand to introduce her companions as they filed in behind her. “This is Eddie-” She pointed to the Devil as he gave a good-natured smile and wave. “-And Klarion, and his familiar Teekl.” The other pilgrim at her side gives a polite nod, and silently continued to pet the cat in his arms. 

“We told the rest of our group to convene here, but if that’s-”

“Oh, that’s no trouble at all,” Alice smiled, “The more the merrier, as they say! Eddie, was it? Before I forget, that is an extremely impressive costume! You gave me quite the scare!”

“Oh, that isn’t-” Klarion began, but the taller teen had his arm wrapped around the smaller’s shoulders, covering his mouth to talk over him.

“Thanks, Mrs. W! My aunt was in showbiz, so I picked up a few things.”

“Would you kids like a snack? Maybe some drinks while we wai-” As another knock echoed at the door, and she gestured towards the living room with one last ‘make yourselves at home’ before excusing herself.

This time when she opened the door, she was prepared for pilgrims. And two more greeted her. Both of these girls more traditionally dressed with dress aprons and bonnets. 

“Looking for Raven?” she guessed before the girls had time to introduce themselves, and waving them inside. “Traci, Eddie and Klarion are already in the living room, if you lovely ladies want to join us?”

They broke into easy smiles, and introduced themselves as Skye and Amy. But before Alice could get another word in, most importantly to ask that curious question of how this motley crew new had met her niece in the first place, the doorbell buzzed for attention, and she was off another time.

This final pair weren’t dressed quite fully as pilgrims as the friends who came before them. The boy was certainly dressed for the occasion, although he was missing his hat, and instead seemed to be fussing over his hair now. The girl, evidently, had stolen said hat and now had it atop her own head. The rest of her outfit was more reminiscent of a traditional witch, however, than any pilgrim. 

The gears in Alice’s head started turning as she began theorizing just what this group was to her niece. Were they a young acting troupe, on their way to give a performance that Raven was too shy to share with the family? Was this event some kind of comic convention, like those Jack had taken Mary-Beth and her friends to every year? The curiosity was beginning to eat away at her. 

Once again, she invited these strangers in to wait for her niece, and they introduced themselves as Zach and Lori.

And so Alice Williams played hostess, asking easy questions to keep conversation light and lively. Offering food and drinks aplenty and making sure everyone had their fill. And yet through that entire time, she had yet to get a question in, edgewise, about just how these kids all met her niece.

Instead, during this time she had learned:

-Zachary was a Zatara. Yes, as in Zatanna Zatara. In fact they were cousins. No, he wasn’t sure when Zatanna would be returning to do shows in San Francisco. 

-Lori, who some of the kids also called Alice on occasion, may or may not be somewhat related to Traci. Their comments and jokes to one another were too inconclusive to tell.

-and Amy, while the youngest of the group, certainly had a lot to say about the real pilgrims and about how much she wished more of the group would watch some show she seemed very excited about.

And just as Alice opened her mouth, to finally take advantage of the natural dip in conversation to ask the question that had been eating away at her, she heard the front door open, and her niece called from it.

“Aunt Alice? Are you home? The front door was-” she paused, blinking in surprise at the group that was waiting for her in the living room, “-open.”

And once again, the floodgates opened, greetings and exchanges and gentle reminders of the time. Raven had rushed off upstairs to change and was back down ready to leave with her friends.

“Before you go!” Alice rushed, waving wildly for the teenagers attention, “How about a picture of you kids? It’d be a shame not to have one! You all worked so hard on those costumes!”

“Oh, Aunt Alice, a picture?” Raven winced for a moment, before Traci let another teasing comment loose and the rest of the group joined in on berating her.

“One picture,” Raven relented, “But then we have to go. Before we lose that sunlight.”

The woman let a short squeal of delight go as she ran to the other side of the living room with her phone in hand, snapping much more than just one picture before waving them off.

“Have fun at your… What was it again?” she asked with a light laugh.

“I told you Aunt Alice, we’ll be at Salem before sundown and back by nine.”

“Yes but what is-” And before she could finish her question, the crew had disappeared in a swirl of violet. “Salem Before Sundown.”

She sighed tiredly as she realized her questions would need answering after her niece had returned, and set to work gathering up a few forgotten napkins and gathering coasters from the coffee table.

As she set the dinner table a couple hours later, something finally clicked into place.

“Salem, Massachusetts! They’re literally at Salem...” she laughed, shaking her head as she checked her watch. She did some mental math, recalling the time zone difference that had made keeping in touch with her parents when they still lived on the east coast, such an odd endeavour. “If they left at… then they really would be there… before sundown.” She laughed again, incredulously. 

‘At least she has some friends who… know,’ she thought with a smile, ‘At least she’s not alone.’

[dingoes8myrp]

Gilmore Girls: Being Dad Takes Practice

This is a one-shot Gilmore Girls fanfiction set sometime after A Year in the Life.

Stars Hollow never changed. Every time Jess visited it was like stepping into a time capsule. 2002: perfectly preserved.

The streets were vacant, which was typical after midnight in a small town. Creepy, maybe kind of cool. He couldn’t decide.

His Jeep Cherokee was the only car parked at the diner. Slightly eerie.

He was hauling his rucksack and laptop bag out of the back seat when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Of course,” he muttered.

He’d been driving for about three hours bored out of his mind, plenty of time for a phone call, but someone picked this moment to call. Probably Jason or Shawn trying to get him to come out to some bar, forgetting he was out of town.

By the time Jess unlocked the door to the diner his cell phone had stopped vibrating, and he promptly forgot about it.

He re-locked the door and headed up to the apartment, flipping on the overhead light. It was basically one room with a few strategically placed pieces of furniture. How Luke ever got Lorelai to go out with him after taking her back to this place was still a mystery.

Jess stopped at the bathroom to take care of some long-drive-related business. His next move was to dig his comfiest pair of sweatpants out of his bag. He emptied his jeans pockets onto the desk: keys, wallet, phone. He heard the damn phone vibrating as he changed into his sweatpants.

“Ugh. Really?”

He folded his jeans and set them on the edge of the bed. He noted the fresh comforter with a decidedly feminine but subtle floral pattern. He made a mental note to thank Lorelai. There was no way Luke would have picked that comforter out, or made the bed in a style he could only describe as aggressively hospitable. That bed had definitely been made by someone who’d spent the bulk of her adult life in the hospitality business.

Jess picked up his laptop bag and pulled out a rumpled manuscript he’d come across at work. They didn’t get a lot of hard copy submissions these days. Mostly digital. The typeface had caught his attention. There was a slight unevenness to the lettering that made him think of a typewriter. This thing was old school. Someone had bought paper just the right tooth and heaviness, typed and re-typed pages at a typewriter, roughly bound it themselves, and mailed it. Enough time had been put into this draft, it deserved to be read by somebody.

He was supposed to be writing. That was the whole point of this particular excursion.

Well, he didn’t need to write the second he got there. He could take a few minutes to flip through a piece he hadn’t gotten to before he left work. Sure. That was fair.

He sat in the rickety wooden chair that clearly wasn’t meant for comfortably sitting. He’d have to grab a chair with a cushion from downstairs or something.

He’d just flipped past the cover page when the phone vibrated again. A short burst this time. Probably a text. He ignored it and started reading “Firehouse” by Edward Ray.

I was eight years old the first time I saw a fire. A real fire that swallowed a house. It was my neighbor’s house. I’d seen it every day for as long as I could remember. Mrs. Ellis always smiled and said hi to me. She was the nicest lady in the neighborhood. I watched her house disappear in front of my eyes. The air smelled like burning wood for days and Mrs. Ellis never scrubbed the smoke smell out of her favorite robe.

The phone again. Jess’s eyes ticked over to its illuminated screen.

That was one too many phone buzzes too late at night.

He picked up the phone and swiped the screen to read the alerts.

2 missed calls.

1 new voicemail.

1 new text message.

He checked his missed call log and found a number he didn’t recognize.

He read the text message from the same unknown number.

Hey Jess. This is Logan. Sorry to bother you so late. I’m sure you’re asleep. If you get this please call me back. Not quite an emergency, but definitely important.

Jess frowned. He didn’t really talk to Logan Huntzberger much on a social level. They both came to the same family gatherings on occasion and they were mostly cordial, but he wasn’t somebody Jess exchanged texts and phone calls with. Jess called up his voicemail and listened. Logan’s familiar lighthearted tone came through, but there was a slight strain to it that was a little alarming.

“Hey, Jess. It’s Logan. I thought maybe I had the wrong number until I heard your voicemail message.”

A piercing scream in the background made Jess wince. Little Lori Gilmore was only really fussy when she didn’t feel good. But, she was hands-down the worst patient he’d ever encountered.

Logan’s voice had gone softer and sounded far away.

“Okay, sweetie. Shh, it’s alright. We’re gonna get through this, little lady. Promise.”

Jess could picture him cradling the red-faced toddler, trying not to drop his sleek cell phone. There was a fumbling noise on the other end.

“Hey, sorry. You probably heard that. Miss Lori is not a happy camper and, uh…”

Logan gave a nervous laugh into the phone.

“I gotta tell you, I’m struggling here. I know Rory’s got that D.C. thing so I’m trying not to bother her, and I don’t want to freak out Lorelai if I can avoid it.”

There was another tiny but definitely unhappy scream from Lori in the background.

“I, uh, I gotta hang up. Please call me back if you get this. I’m just… I don’t know, man. Help me out, here.”

By then Logan’s normal too-thick charm had worn off and he simply sounded tired and desperate.

Jess cut off the voicemail and sighed heavily. He couldn’t say he was terribly fond of Logan, but the guy was trying. He saw Lori every other weekend like clockwork. He came to every birthday and almost every holiday. The only time he’d ever canceled was that time he’d taken a client to a sushi bar in Denver, which had led to what Rory had referred to as “bathroom-destroying food poisoning.”

It wasn’t enough, in Jess’s opinion, but it was consistent. It was an effort, and that counted for something.

Regardless of how Jess felt about Logan, Lori was one of his favorite humans on the planet. She was definitely a Lorelai. She was bubbly and excitable, at times hyper as the Tasmanian Devil. She was stubborn, strong-willed, and smart. She was such a pleasant kid to be around, and it sucked that she was sick.

-

Logan could feel the heat coming off Lori as he held her. Fever. That was definitely a fever. Right?

Or was she just worked up from crying all night? That was a thing, wasn’t it?

Thermometer. He needed a thermometer.

Did he have a thermometer? He couldn’t remember.

He cringed as Lori screamed right into his ear and her little sobs shook her whole body.

“I know,” he cooed. “You poor kid.”

He bounced her gently as he paced his apartment. Well, it wasn’t really his apartment. It didn’t feel like his yet, anyway. He’d had it carpeted and furnished, but he hadn’t gotten to spend a lot of time there yet. It didn’t have a lived-in feel.

Logan was singing quietly under his breath. When had he started singing?

“What would you do if I sang outta tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song. I will try not to sing outta key.”

Her sobs softened a little, so he kept singing, kept rocking. He kissed her head and remembered something about kissing a kid’s head to see if they had a fever. Who had told him that? Surely it never would’ve occurred to his mother. Had he seen it on TV?

It didn’t matter. He’d try it.

Her head still felt hot. Fever. Definitely a fever, he decided. He didn’t know how bad a fever. Could you take a kid to the ER for a fever? Should you take a kid to the ER for a fever? Was that a panicked parent faux-pas?

Who the hell else could he call?

His cell phone rang and he looked around frantically.

“Where is it?” he gasped.

He checked his pockets, the counter, the coffee table. All the while it rang and rang.

“Alright, where’d your dumb dad leave his lifeline, Lor?” he muttered.

He found it on the kitchen table. He must’ve paced his way out there at some point. He felt a flood of relief when he saw Jess’s name come across the screen.

“Oh, thank God.”

He answered the call, cradling Lori carefully in one arm.

“Jess, hey.”

“Hey. What’s goin’ on?”

Jess sounded like he always did: kind of bored and slightly annoyed to be speaking. But Logan was happy to hear that voice.

“Oh, man. I’m unraveling over here,” he admitted. “I have Lori at my place. Well, my new place, and she seemed fine until about two hours ago. She just woke up screaming. I gave her some juice and some Cheerios to see if maybe she was hungry. Big mistake. She threw up everywhere, so I dealt with that. Then I changed her and that was another natural disaster that has yet to be named. But we dealt with that and she seems to be doing okay with the water I gave her. But she’s just miserable, and I think she has a fever. But I don’t have a thermometer – I don’t have anything here, man. I don’t know if I should maybe take her to the hospital or…”

Panic had been rising significantly in Logan’s voice as he talked, and Jess had listened carefully to pull out the facts.

“Okay, slow down,” he broke in. “How long ago did she throw up?”

“Uh… About an hour.”

“And the diaper situation?”

“Same.”

“Alright. What’d she eat today?”

“Uh… This stuff Rory packed. She didn’t seem to want to do a meal, so she was kind of snacking here and there. She had some yogurt, some cereal with milk, cereal without milk, applesauce. I tried to cut up a banana for her, but she didn’t go for that.”

“Oh, yeah. She doesn’t seem to like the texture,” Jess said. “Loves to mush it into the couch, though.”

Logan laughed.

“Yeah, I lost track of the banana pieces. That’ll be a fun surprise later.”

Jess sighed on the other end.

“She could just be sick. It happens. Do you have any liquid Tylenol or Motrin, anything like that?”

Logan tried to think.

“Uh, hang on.”

He set the phone down on the coffee table so he could hold Lori while he dug through the bag Rory had left him. He pulled out a storage bag with what looked like a medicine bottle in it.

“Flintstones vitamins,” he muttered.

He also found cream for diaper rash, band-aids, and a tiny tube of sunscreen. He rocked Lori as she let out another wail. He’d almost gotten used to it at this point. Logan walked quickly to his bathroom, knowing it was useless, but he had to check. After ransacking his medicine cabinet and bathroom cupboards, he finally got back to Jess on the coffee table.

“Jess?”

“Yeah.”

“Man, I got nothin’.”

There was a stretch of silence just long enough to make Logan’s heart pound just a little.

“Where’d you say you were again?” Jess asked.

-

Lorelai sat curled up on the couch in about four-thousand blankets.

Okay, it was more like four, but she’d literally grabbed every blanket she set her eyes on and wrapped them around herself like some crazy blanket hoarder. Crumpled tissues littered the coffee table. She’d given up on trying not to contaminate her surroundings as soon as Luke started sneezing.

The kettle whistled in the kitchen where he was making tea. They’d both given up on sleep hours ago, and they’d moved downstairs when trying to sit up in the bed failed to prevent the post-nasal drip or stave off the nausea.

“Alright,” Luke announced. “I double-brewed you a chamomile and put some ginger in there. It’s gonna taste disgusting, but there should be enough honey in there to make it tolerable.”

His gruff voice was hoarse and nasally. He set the red mug down in front of Lorelai and she rested her head back against the couch cushion.

“Ugh. What happened to the foamy chai?”

“That has caffeine.”

“So? I like caffeine. Caffeine and I are the oldest of friends. I could genuinely argue that caffeine was my first love.”

“And milk.”

“What did milk ever do to you?”

Luke grimaced as he sat down. His muscles were aching.

“Milk creates phlegm,” he explained, “which isn’t good when you’re already making your own.”

He gestured toward the tissue massacre on the table.

“It’s also bad for nausea,” he concluded.

He sipped his own plain mint tea. Lorelai sighed and picked up the mug.

“Fine. But this better make me feel better,” she muttered.

She sipped it. It was indeed disgusting and it did not make her feel better.

The doorbell made them both jump and look at each other.

“Are we expecting anybody?” Luke asked.

He genuinely wasn’t sure. Suki tended to drop by at odd hours. Sometimes Lane, but she normally called. Lorelai stared at the door.

“No. I don’t think so.”

Luke stood up, putting down his mug.

“What are you doing?” Lorelai hissed.

Luke paused mid-step around the coffee table.

“I’m answerin’ the door,” he said.

Lorelai looked horrified.

“Uh, no you’re not.”

“What do you mean?”

“Luke! Have you paid any attention at all to any horror movie ever made?”

Luke rolled his eyes as he headed for the door.

“No.”

Lorelai stood, shuffling past the coffee table trying not to drop any of the blankets and failing miserably. She trailed a train of blankets behind her as she tried to beat Luke to the door.

“Luke! Stop! We can’t answer the door if we don’t know who it is!”

“How the hell are we gonna know who it is if we don’t answer the door?” Luke demanded.

“Liv Tyler!” she cried.

Luke stopped and turned to her, a confused look on his face.

“Excuse me?”

Lorelai coughed and held up a finger to tell him to wait until she stopped. He did, but he glanced over his shoulder when the doorbell rang again.

“Lorelai.”

“Liv Tyler,” she repeated. “Liv Tyler got murdered horribly by those creepy mask people in The Strangers.”

“Oh my God,” he groaned. “What are you talking about?”

Lorelai smacked his arm.

“The Strangers! Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman go to this cabin and he’s in a tux, she’s in this beautiful dress, and he has everything all set up with candles and rose petals…”

Luke gave up and turned back toward the door. Lorelai got the rest out in a rush.

“And it’s super romantic and awkward because he asked her to marry him and she said no, but then somebody rings the doorbell and Scott Speedman answers and it’s this creepy girl and she’s all ‘Is Tamra home?’ but they don’t even know Tamra.”

“I’ve aged fifty years standing here. What is your point?” Luke barked.

“They got murdered, Luke! Like, really hardcore murdered. I am Liv Tyler in this scenario, and it’s worse for her because she didn’t even answer the door and she got murdered anyway.”

Luke paused to think about that.

“Wait a minute, if they both got horribly murdered, how is it worse for her than for him?”

Lorelai sighed, annoyed.

“Because she wasn’t the one who answered the door, inviting the murder into the house!”

With a huff, Luke opened the door.

Jess blinked back at him.

“Hey. Sorry, I thought you guys were up.”

“We are,” Luke said. “What’d you just get in? You get into the apartment okay?”

Jess frowned.

“You didn’t get my texts?”

“No,” Luke said. “What texts? What’s goin’ on?”

Lorelai came up behind Luke. Her nose was red and raw.

“Hey Jess,” she said. “Everything okay?”

“Here, come in,” Luke said.

He stepped aside. Jess took in the scene as he walked into the house.

“What happened to you?” he asked.

Luke shut the door.

“What? Oh. I dunno, some kind of bug.”

“The flu,” Lorelai insisted.

“It’s not the flu,” Luke argued.

“It feels like the flu!” she called.

She coughed as she headed back to the couch, flopping down with her mountain of blankets.

“We got flu shots. It’s not the flu,” Luke said.

“Actually, just because you get the shot that doesn’t mean you won’t get the flu,” Jess said.

Luke gave Jess a wide-eyed look.

“What are you doing to me?” he whispered.

Luke had been trying to convince Lorelai she didn’t have the flu, even though admittedly it did feel an awful lot like the flu.

“See? I told you!” Lorelai said.

“It’s not the flu!” Luke called.

He coughed and Jess backed up a step.

“Well, this explains Lori,” he muttered.

Luke frowned.

“Lori?”

“Yeah. Logan’s got her and she’s sick.”

“Oh no,” Lorelai said. “Oh, poor Lori.”

“Poor Logan,” Luke added.

“Oof. Yeah, that’s not gonna be pretty,” Lorelai agreed.

Jess shoved his hands in his jacket pockets.

“Yeah, he needs something for her fever. I guess he hasn’t completely moved into his place in Hartford yet. I figured I’d run him over some stuff.”

Luke and Lorelai looked at one another and Luke studied Jess.

“You’re gonna run a few things over to Logan,” he repeated.

Jess looked from him to Lorelai and shrugged.

“Yeah.”

Lorelai laughed.

“Oh, boy. If my granddaughter wasn’t sick and I wasn’t actively trying not to puke this would be a little funny.”

“Wait, why’d he call you?” Luke asked.

Jess sighed.

“He didn’t want to bother Rory ‘cause she’s working that thing in D.C., he didn’t want to freak you guys out, so he called me. Anymore questions? Can I loot your house for sick toddler supplies now?”

“Okay, but leave the liquor and the cash,” Lorelai said. “I got big plans for those.”

-

Logan’s right shoulder was killing him. Any time he put Lori down she started screaming. At least if he held her she seemed to stop now and then. Singing seemed to help, too, but he was running out of songs he knew all the words to.

“Alright, how ‘bout this one?” he said. “Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play? Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day. The sun is up, the sky is blue. It’s beautiful and so are you. Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play?”

He searched his brain for the words.

“Dear Prudence… Dear Prudence… Fuck, how’s the rest go?”

He cringed and looked down at his daughter, her face all red and puffy.

“Ooh. I probably shouldn’t say ‘fuck,’ huh? That’s probably a bad dad move.”

She scrunched up her little face, her lower lip trembling. Logan held her close to his chest and rocked her.

“Okay, no more Prudence.”

-

Logan’s apartment was in Hartford. Expectedly, the building was nice. Modern. It didn’t have the charm of the New York City apartment building Jess lived in that dated back to the 1800s.

Logan buzzed him in as soon as he rang. Jess hopped into the elevator carrying a grocery bag of supplies in one hand and a big stuffed bunny in the other.

When Jess knocked he heard Logan’s quick footsteps and Lori’s inconsolable crying. Logan opened the door with Lori in his arms. They both looked worse for wear. Logan gave a strained smile.

“Please tell me you’re here to rescue me.”

“I’ll do my best,” Jess said.

He came into the apartment and shut the door.

“I just… I can’t get her to stop crying,” Logan said. “I mean, she has these, like, tiny moments where she stops for a second, but I think it’s just to get more air.”

“Yeah, when she’s sick she’s a totally different kid,” Jess said.

He set the bag and bunny down on the coffee table.

“Want me to take her for a minute?” Jess asked.

“Yeah, go for it,” Logan said.

Logan carefully handed Lori over and Jess held her against his chest.

“Hey, sweet baby girl,” he said. “What’s going on, pal?”

Lori buried her face in his neck and he touched her head and her back. She was sweating and warm. She sobbed and cried. Jess moved side to side to rock her a bit.

“Alright, you’re okay,” he said.

He turned to Logan.

“Go into that bag right there and get the thermometer please.”

Logan nodded and rifled through the bag. He came back with an ear thermometer. Jess took it.

“You turn this on, wait for it to start flashing, then you put this part in her ear, wait for it to beep.”

Logan nodded and watched as Jess took Lori’s temperature. When it beeped they both looked at the screen.

“Oof,” Logan said. “A hundred and two.”

Jess handed him the thermometer.

“Yup. Go back in the bag and get the Infant Tylenol and the little plastic syringe.”

Logan pulled out the box of Tylenol and read the back.

“So I just suck it into the syringe. Got it.”

Logan went into the kitchen to prepare the dose while Jess rocked Lori. She still fussed, but she’d stopped screaming. Logan came back with the syringe.

“You gotta show me how you got her to stop crying,” he said.

“I just rock her side to side like this. Almost like you’re swaying more than rocking. Puts her to sleep too.”

Logan handed Jess the syringe.

“I’m assuming there’s a technique to this.”

Jess smiled.

“Not really. Just hope she swallows it before she realizes it tastes like shit.”

Jess held up the syringe in demonstration and Logan watched as he repositioned Lori and put the plastic syringe between her lips. In a moment the liquid was gone.

“Look at that. What a trooper,” Jess said.

He shrugged, handing Logan back the syringe.

“That’s all there is to it.”

Logan nodded.

“That’s gonna take care of her fever?”

“It should,” Jess said. “Just wait and see. I also brought some other stuff and that bunny’s one of her favorite snuggle buddies.”

“Awesome. Thanks, man.”

Logan stretched his neck.

“Hey, do you mind if I hit the bathroom?” he asked.

“No. Do what you gotta do,” Jess said.

He sat down on the couch with Lori.

-

Rory took a break from typing to wipe her nose, which had been running pretty steadily for most of the day. She tried to focus on the piece she was writing. Her laptop screen seemed so bright. Her eyes stung.

Her phone dinged on the bed beside her and she picked it up to read the screen.

Mom: What does the flu feel like?

Rory frowned and typed out her reply.

Rory: Dare I ask?

Lorelai: Does it feel dizzy and sweaty and maybe slightly pukey?

Rory called her mother, who answered immediately.

“Hi. I might be dying.”

Luke yelled out in the background.

“You’re not dying! She’s not dying, Rory.”

Rory tried not to laugh.

“Well, now I’m all confused.”

Lorelai sighed.

“We’re sick, kid. Like, really sick. Room spinning, head throbbing, stomach churning. Luke’s bones are aching.”

“Ick.”

That didn’t bode well for Rory’s runny nose.

“Indeed. Huge ick,” Lorelai agreed. “And I need to apologize in advance for infecting Lori.”

“Lori? Oh, no!”

“You promised you wouldn’t say anything,” Luke called.

“I can’t not tell her, Luke!” Lorelai replied.

“Tell me what? What happened?” Rory asked.

“All I know is she’s sick. I’m expecting a full report soon.”

Rory stood from the bed, laptop forgotten.

“How sick?” she asked.

“I don’t know, honey.”

She broke away for a coughing fit and Rory had to hold the phone away from her ear.

“Mom?”

She heard Luke talking, but didn’t catch what he was saying.

“Hello? Mom? Luke? Axe murderer?”

“Hey, Rory,” Luke said. “Sorry. Your mom’s hacking up a lung because she dumped my tea in the sink.”

“What?”

“That tea was disgusting!” Lorelai called.

Another coughing fit commenced in the background.

“Is she okay?” Rory asked.

“Yeah. She’s getting a cough drop out of her purse.”

“Oh, God. That could take a while.”

“Oh, she dumped it all over the floor already.”

“Yikes.”

Rory looked out the window of her hotel room. There wasn’t much of a view. She was on one of the lower floors, so she could see a dumpster and a parking lot.

“So, what happened with Lori?” she asked.

“Well, Jess came by--”

“Jess?”

“Yeah, I guess Logan called him to ask for some help.”

Rory creased her brows, not sure she understood correctly.

“Logan called Jess?” she asked.

“I know, must’ve been desperate.”

“Why wouldn’t he call me?”

“I guess he didn’t want to worry anybody. Maybe he’s embarrassed. Kid’s used to being good at everything. But, being dad takes practice, you know?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“He’ll get it,” Luke said. “And Lori’s gonna be fine. It’s gonna be a rough night, but she will get better and she will be fine.”

Rory smiled.

“Thanks, Luke. I’m gonna call Logan.”

“Oh, you can’t call Logan because your mom promised not to tell you.”

Rory rolled her eyes.

-

When Logan came out of the bathroom Jess was sitting on the couch holding Lori, patting her back with the TV on low. Logan looked at the screen.

“What’s this, Law and Order?” he asked.

“Doesn’t matter what you put on. She likes the TV. I think if it’s too quiet it freaks her out.”

“Right,” Logan said.

He studied the other man, who looked so natural sitting there holding Lori, so calm. Logan was a mess. He felt a pang of envy, but he also felt humbled.

“How do you do it, man?” Logan asked.

Jess looked up at him.

“You’re good with her,” Logan said. “Look at her, she’s feeling like crap but she looks so relaxed, ready to sleep.”

Jess shrugged.

“I’ve just had more practice,” he said.

He looked at Logan for a moment.

“I just know her routine, what she likes, what she doesn’t like. You just need more time with her.”

“Yeah, well, if I could clone myself that’d be no problem.”

Logan flopped down on the couch beside him and looked down at his daughter.

“That’s the thing,” Jess said. “It will be a problem.”

Logan frowned at him.

“Right now she doesn’t get it,” Jess said. “She’s little. All she knows is who’s around a lot and who’s not around a lot. So you have time to figure out who you want to be. You wanna be the guy his daughter wants at all her soccer games and birthdays? Great. Then be that guy. Or you’re gonna be the guy who works a lot and sends her expensive gifts she doesn’t want because you don’t know what she likes.”

Then Jess looked up, and Logan was ready to be mad at him. But the look on Jess’s face was sincere and warm, if a little hard.

“Don’t be the guy she can’t count on,” Jess said. “You don’t have to know what medicine to give her, or what her favorite stuffed animal is. You just have to be there.”

Logan nodded. Jess shifted to hold Lori out to him.

“You wanna take her?”

Logan was nervous to disturb the tranquility that had descended since Jess came in the door.

“She might start screaming.”

“She might,” Jess agreed.

Logan considered it and sighed.

“Alright, Lori. Cut your dad some slack. He’s kind of a dipshit.”

Jess handed her over and Logan cradled her like Jess had. She stirred and fussed, so he put her back on his shoulder. Jess stood.

“Keep an eye on the fever,” Jess said. “If it doesn’t come down in a few hours, call Rory. You might have to take Lori to the hospital, and Rory will be pissed if you don’t tell her.”

Logan nodded.

“Let’s hope we don’t have to go that route.”

Jess watched him for a few seconds.

“I’m gonna get going,” Jess said. “You got this.”

Logan smiled.

“Thanks, Jess. Seriously.”

Jess gave a nod and headed out the door. As he shut it he heard Logan singing to his daughter.

[onpurposebreezy]

CHAPTER 19

LORI

 Cody stood next to the bed and began to undo his jeans and pushed them down along with his boxers. My eyes went wide in surprise. I took in the sight of Cody naked, the happy trail definitely led to a very happy place. If I had to guess he had to be 9 inches very thick and looked like he kept everything trimmed on his part as well.

Cody grabbed something from his side table and moved back between my legs on the bed. We kissed and he pushed his tongue into my mouth making me taste myself on him. I was surprised that I liked it and tasted kind of sweet.

"This is probably a stupid question by now, but are you sure you want to do this?" Cody asked me. I wanted to laugh at him because it was a stupid question when we were both naked together at this point. I thought he knew the answer by now.

"Yes. I'm sure," I answered and pulled him into a kiss.

Cody sat up on his knees and opened the item he got from his drawer. I wanted to smack my forehead because I never thought of condoms. Thankfully he did. He applied it and tossed the wrapper aside.

"I'll go slow," he assured me before positioning himself, "Try to relax."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly in hopes of relaxing, I was excited and nervous so I didn't relax as much as I probably should have.

Cody slowly pushed inside me and I took a sharp breath in. He pushed in a little more but then pulled back a bit.

"Lori, bae, you need to breathe," he told me, I hadn't realized I was holding it and let it go.

"Sorry," I whispered and wrapped my legs around him in attempt to control how far in he went at a time. I pulled him to me and felt him enter me more. He let me do what I needed and go at the pace I wanted until we hit a barrier. Cody held himself above me and gently pushed in more until he was all the way in. I moaned both in pain and pleasure it was clear that he was much bigger than Mark was.

Cody kissed my forehead, cheeks, and then lips while remaining still. I nodded when I was ready for him to move again and he slid out a bit and pushed back in. He kept it slow and steady until I no longer felt pain but pleasure. I lifted my legs to wrap around his waist now that my jeans were no longer restricting me. Cody picked up the pace a little at a time. I held onto him and moaned with every thrust. He buried his face into my neck to kiss and bite as he continued to work in and out of me. His pace picked up as when I asked him to go harder, I could feel my muscle tensing up and knew I was close now. He felt so good inside me. I felt full every time he was deep and wished he could stay there.

Cody sat up a bit and moved so he could get in deeper. I held onto the sheets to help me stay in place as I felt my body move upward with every thrust. I begged him not to stop and said that I was close. I could feel my all my muscles seeming to tighten up and my legs felt like they were going numb. Cody reached down and used his thumb to rub my clit. It was all I needed to feel like I lost control as my orgasm took control. Cody leaned down and kissed me hard to cover some of my loud moaning and began to pump in and out faster. I wrapped my arms around him to hold on when he came and moaned with the last few thrusts before nearly collapsing on me but moved some so he wouldn’t crush the baby.

Our hearts pounded through our chests as we laid with him on top of me. I was still reeling in from my orgasm and felt like I was tingly all over. For my first time was NOT this good, but this was amazing.

"Are you okay?" Cody asked, looking down at me with a mix of happiness and concern.

"I'm great!" I smiled. Cody laughed, leaned down to kiss me. Our kisses were now relaxed and loving instead of urgent and hard. His lips were so soft and I could still faintly taste myself on them.

Cody pulled out a minute later and I felt physically empty. I laid on my side while Cody removed the condom and tossed it in the trash. He came back to cuddle with me. I played with his hair while we relaxed together. I couldn't have been any happier at this point. I felt happy and relaxed no care in the world. Cody placed a kiss on my forehead and held me close.

I woke up the next morning, surprised I had fallen asleep, naked and curled up to Cody. He was softly snoring away in dreamland still. I carefully removed myself from his arm and checked the room for something to put on. I grabbed a soft t-shirt of Cody's that laid on his dresser and grabbed my clothes. I showered and changed into his shirt, it stopped above my knees.

I walked back to Cody's room. Cody looked like he had just woken up, rubbing his eyes his hair stood up at odd ends. His back was to me, still naked from the night before, I took a second to check out his butt. For a guy, he had a cute butt. He turned around and smiled upon seeing me.

"Good morning, beautiful. This is going to sound cliché but you look better in that shirt than I do," he told me with a kiss and wrapped his arms around me.

"That is cliché but also true," I laughed, rising on my tip toes to kiss him again.

"How are you feeling?" Cody asked, looking over me concerned.

"Honestly, a little different but nothing bad," I replied.

"No regrets? You're okay?" He double checked.

"None and I feel really good," I assured him.

"Good. I'm glad. I tried to make sure I was gentle. I wanted you to enjoy it. There is so much more we can do if you want, in time," he smiled, it seemed a little wicked. I grinned, excited for what more we could do. I couldn't wait to see what was in store for us.

My phone beeped indicating a text message. I checked it and saw a text from Kim. It stated, "Hey girl, I'm going to be spending the weekend with Judi. We're got a small hotel on the beach for tonight. I'll see you Sunday evening when I get home! Hope that's okay and my brother isn't bothering you. Study hard!"

"Looks like we have a weekend alone," I showed the message to Cody.

"Mmmm we do, what do you want to do first?" He winked at me and reached down to grab my butt.

"Oh... I don't know," I teased. This weekend was going to be fun!

[richonnejustdesserts]

Teacher’s Pet : A Richonne Round Robin Fanfic

A small town sheriff and preschool teacher find love thanks to the cutest little matchmaker around. [RATED: T]

Chapter 7  (written by @iminyjo)

“…The thing was busted the whole time! I’m standing there looking at him like, ‘Man, are you kidding me?’”

Shane kept going and luckily for Rick, he realized that he hadn’t been listening at all a moment before Shane could. He glanced at his watch meaningfully and stood up from his desk abruptly to avoid being caught.

“Well, I think I’m gonna go stretch my legs.” Rick said, thumbing toward the front doors of the station.

Shane looked caught off guard because he’d been in the middle of a sentence when his best friend bounded to his feet unexpectedly.

“Everything okay, Chief?” Shane ventured.

Rick looked back at him. There was no way for Rick to explain that he was anxious, excited and frustrated simultaneously without facing a serious ragging from his friend.

“Yup.” He answered simply, stretching to sell his boredom better.

The truth was he was restless. He’d seen Michonne Saturday night and then again on Sunday for a picnic at the local Reservoir. Dinner on a Sunday night, basically a school night, proved impractical but rather than cancel they agreed to meet in the early afternoon. The outing had started out charming and chaste enough but had devolved or escalated, depending on your point of view, into a heavy petting session. Without a doubt, as far as he was concerned, it had been wonderful. And if Michonne enjoyed herself even half as much as Rick had with her then he knew already they were both in serious trouble. He was a goner. He could tell already.

But now he wasn’t gonna see her until Tuesday.

Still, Monday nights with the guys was sacrosanct. He’d told Michonne that when they made plans to see each other next.  He explained himself and she’d listened carefully. It wasn’t because he didn’t already feel like he could see her and spend time with her and talk to her and touch her everyday. It was just that he didn’t want to be one of those guys that threw his friends over every time his love life had a pulse. And Mondays were his established “Guys’ Night” with Shane and Glenn. Michonne, the amazing person she was, completely understood that, but now Rick was the one feeling deprived.

He sighed.

“Today’s too nice a day to be stuck inside,” Rick announced. “I think I’ll go pick up the kids today. Take ‘em to the park before I take them home. Save Lori the trip.”

Shane just watched him, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “I’ll bet.”

“What?” Rick said feigning innocence. Shane had known him too long, it was occasionally annoying.

Shane reclined in his chair with his feet up on the desk and put his hands behind his head. “You never did tell me how the date with the school teacher went.”

Rick cursed himself for not having walked out as soon as he got to his feet. Shane wasn’t even supposed to know about their date but between him, Maggie and Glenn there had been too many witnesses and loose lips to keep anything quiet. Rick was convinced they were trading notes or exchanging texts or something about him. It was like they had a hotline. Everything one knew, the other two did as well in short order.

“It was nice,” Rick answered truthfully but succinctly. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, a hand resting on his gunbelt.

“I’ll bet.” Shane agreed with a smile that suggested he knew more than he technically should. He swiveled in his chair as if he was waiting for something.

“What?” Rick said again.

Shane suddenly looked like the cat that ate the canary, waving him off all smugly agreeable.

“I’m heading out,” Rick said turning to walk out.

“So you said.”

He took a step and turned back to Shane again, spinning on the heel of his boot. “What?”

Shane shrugged in answer; the smile hadn’t budged an inch. “Nuthin’”

Rick sighed again loudly. His shoulders drooped in defeat. So much for even a speck of privacy in this town. “You heard about the museum?”

“HA!” Shane smiled widely then, dropping his feet back to the floor and clapping his hands, rubbing them together greedily, ready to get to the nitty-gritty. “Boy, I had no idea you were such an art-connoisseur!”

Shane laid his country accent on especially thick for maximum effect. “But see son, in the future, I reckon I must advise you to appreciate the arts within the boundaries of the Law.”

Rick scowled. That damn security guard.

“This town is too damn small,” Rick complained aloud more to himself than his friend. He wondered how many rounds this story had already made in just under forty-eight hours.

“…I hear there may even be pictures.” Shane was continuing.

Rick skewered him with a look that if not stopping him entirely, at least turned Shane’s next words from outside statements to inside thoughts. He pursed his lips, making like he was zipping them up and tossing away the key.

Rick groaned. Paying Michonne a visit at school had gone from a wistful impulse to a necessity in a matter of seconds. If this thing had effectively ruined his chances with her, Rick knew in that moment he was going to be personally cracking heads and wringing necks of gossip-mongers all over town until he got all the way back to that security guard.

He looked at his watch in earnest now. “I gotta get over to the school before the bell rings. Cover for me?”

Shane smiled, still irritatingly amused. “Sure thing, Brother.”

“I’ll see you tonight,” Rick made for the door, far more apprehensive than he’d been an hour ago.

***

Michonne strolled down the hall with a large, juicy apple in her hands. This was one of her rare free periods. Her kids and the kids from the Pre-K -B class were having a visit from the local zookeeper. He’d brought in a marmoset, a parrot and a frog. And between them, the two aides and Tanya Wilson, the teacher from class B, the two Pre-K groups’ attentions were completely rapted. Next week when the flautist came, it would be her turn to class-sit while Tanya took the break. In the meantime, Michonne decided the best place to enjoy her minuscule thirty minutes in relative solitude would be in the teacher’s lounge. At that time of day, it was likely to be nearly empty– or at least she hoped, since she didn’t actually know.

Michonne turned the fruit over lovingly in her hands before taking a bite. Her kids kept her stocked in them: Fujis, Galas, Macintoshes, Pink Ladies, Granny Smiths, both Yellow and Red Delicious. She was lucky she genuinely liked them. Having, apparently, conflated the idea of ‘an apple a day keeping the doctor away’ with ‘having an apple for the teacher’. It delighted her that her kids wanted her to live forever…or be invincible, as Jeffie Hill explained it to her. They loved her as much as she loved them and her daily apples were the tangible, or rather edible, proof. She smiled as she thought of it, turning the corner up the hall to the lounge.

“…And third off, I don’t really see how it’s even any of your business.” Michonne heard Sasha saying as she approached the doorway.  She slowed down, this sounded ugly.

“Well, I just don’t think it’s appropriate. She just arrived. I heard–” It was the fifth grade English teacher, Ms. Martin speaking. Michonne had exchanged enough pleasantries with the woman to recognize her voice. She hesitated. Something inside suddenly telling her to fall back.

“Personally, I don’t understand why you’d be even getting your gossip from the lunch lady’s son anyway. I heard Eugene Porter taught seventh grade Bio, at this very school, for two years before anyone realized he didn’t even graduate from high school.” That was Paul interjecting.

“Mr. Rovia!” Sasha said scandalized…or at least faking it well.

“What? I’m merely illustrating how bankrupt idle chatter is. Really ladies, what Ms. Anthony–” Michonne stepped back out of the doorway at the mention of her name, her apple stuck in her mouth as if she were on a spit. Fittingly she discovered, since she was apparently being roasted– “chooses to do in her spare time and with whom she does it is no one’s business.”

Michonne didn’t know whether to stay or go. She wasn’t an eavesdropper but considering the conversation was apparently about her, she felt torn. How was it possible that her fledgling dating life in this town had already become fodder for lunchroom gossip? Her mother had warned her, but truly this was ridiculous. She hung back at the threshold of lounge

“The point is,” Sasha overemphasized her syllables. “unless at some point, Ms. Anthony or whomever asks you for your opinion personally, I think you’d be smart to keep their names out of your mouth.”

Michonne knew that like herself, Sasha was a transplant but with her mild, nerdy, affably witty personality, she’d never thought to wonder where exactlySasha hailed from…until that moment. But with the flint in that final pronouncement and a voice that brooked absolutely no rebuttal, Michonne wondered now if Sasha’s original home wasn’t a bit more rough and tumble than vanilla King County.

So with that as her cue, Michonne pushed through her nerves and walked into the lounge as if oblivious to what was happening around her.

“Good afternoon, Everybody.” Michonne announced casually after finally pulling the apple from between her lips.

Ms. Martin blanched as if caught, turning both pale and red in great big splotches that crossed her face and down in a scarlet trail across her neck and chest. “Um, M-Ms. Anthony. Hi!”

Her companion, one of the middle school’s PE teachers that Michonne had yet to formally meet, avoided eye contact. She gathered her things swiftly muttering about her break being over and scuttled out of the room.

Paul and Sasha turned simultaneously and shared a look. Even they looked startled by her sudden appearance behind them.

“Ms. Anthony, a-are you, ah, are you having a good day so far?” Sasha asked being the first to regain her composure.

Michonne almost laughed. Clearly, there wasn’t a bank robber or con-artist among them, they all looked so unnerved and caught in the act that she very nearly felt sorry for them. She stood there silently for a moment longer to allow them all to stew in their guilt. In that time, Ms. Martin too, grabbed her papers and with her lunch bag moved past Sasha and Paul toward the door.

Michonne considered crowding the threshold as the woman approached and she slowed as if she suspected, looking very much like a cornered rabbit.  But at the last moment, Michonne stepped out of the doorway graciously, “Have a good afternoon, Roxanne.”

“Michonne,” Was all she said before flying by her and down the hall.

Michonne turned her attention on her friends then, cocking her head slightly in query.

“Look, we didn’t want you to find out like this–” Paul was the first to speak this time.

“We didn’t want you to find out at all.” Sasha amended holding her hands up to stay Michonne even though she hadn’t moved or spoken at all.

“What?” She really hadn’t heard much of anything although clearly they didn’t know that.

Sasha and Paul exchanged another look. They were gonna get on her bad side quickly if they continued doing that. “What don’t you guys want me to know?”

She walked into the lounge and sat on the large  comfy couch that lined the wall by the window and staff mailboxes. Sasha joined her, while Paul pulled up a close-by chair.

“I’m an adult, I can handle it.”

Her friends exchanged another meaningful look that made her stomach drop.

“There’s a rumor going around that old Mrs. Porter’s son Eugene caught you and Rick Grimes rolling around in the children’s exhibit at the McPherson Museum,” Sasha rushed through it all as if she were ripping off a band-aid.

“And we wouldn’t have even dignified it with a comment except that…well, we know you went on a date with him on Saturday.” Paul added.

Michonne’s face burned. They’d joked that their little romp would become grist for the gossip mill but Michonne had assumed that it was just that…a joke.

“Now some of the teachers are concerned that dating Rick isn’t appropriate.” Sasha continued rolling her eyes. “But I honestly think we may have nipped that in the bud.”

It was Monday, in the early afternoon. How could that story have possibly gotten those kind of legs already?

“First of all, it’s not true…”

Entirely…maybe if they hadn’t gotten caught– Michonne self-censored as Paul and Sasha looked from each other back to her.

“Of course not, honey–”

“We didn’t believe it for a minute–”

“….And second of all, I thought you guys said it wouldn’t necessarily be a big deal if we saw each other?”

“It’s not, exactly,” Paul reached out and pat Michonne consolingly on the knee as he leaned forward into their little huddle. “I mean you’re not breaking any rules. It’s like anything else in this town that’s out of the ordinary– just something to talk about.”

Michonne loathed being the subject of idle gossip. The idea that after only a few months in town she’d already gotten tongues wagging distressed her.

“This will peter out in time, trust me,” Sasha attempted to reassure her. “As soon as someone gets a DUI or Mrs. Anderson brings in another store-bought cake for the Spring Cake-walk –she does it every year and every year they act like it’s a high crime–”

“She’s a hairdresser, I don’t understand why people expect her to be Betty Crocker.” Paul inserted looking at Sasha. “I suspect she couldn’t properly operate an Easy Bake oven, so I’m actually glad she lets the supermarket handle it.”

“Paul.”

“What? She can’t cut hair either.” He ran a hand through his hair once and shuddered.

“What I’m saying is, trust us, once there’s something else for people to talk about, people will.” Sasha concluded with a smile and another pat on her other knee.

Michonne frowned but nodded at them nevertheless. She certainly hoped so.

***

Michonne was sleepwalking through the rest of the day. She knew it. Even the kids knew it.

Just before the dismissal bell, Judith Grimes came up to her and tugged on the sleeve of her shirt as she stood at the sink washing out a couple dozen small paint brushes.

“Miss A, are you okay?”

Michonne turned to her and squatted so they were eye to eye. “Judith, you’re supposed to be over on the story rug listening to Miss Ashley.” With the exception of Judith, her teacher’s aide had the children’s undivided attention– no small feat ten minutes before the end of the day.

“She’s not as good as you and Daddy.” Judith reported softly, leaning in so it was just between Michonne and herself.

Michonne smiled in spite of herself. The thought of various teachers speculating on her nascent relationship with Rick had her beside herself and completely off her game. She fretted that even Judith, who while observant was still only a four-year-old, noticed. It made her feel worse. This thing had just begun, was it already time to end it?

“Has someone given you the Cold-Pricklies?” Judith asked seriously, her cherubic cheeks and big blue eyes taking on the approximation of a dour expression.

Michonne nearly laughed. They’d just been teaching the kids a lesson on how words could hurt or help, labeling them either the Cold-Pricklies or the Warm-Fuzzies. It was no surprise to Michonne that Judith was both an astute and swift learner.

“No, but thank you for asking.” Michonne said giving Judith’s shoulder a squeeze. She looked more like her mother than her father, Michonne had realized but those blue eyes were Rick’s without a doubt. The thought of breaking things off with him so soon saddened her. Surprisingly so.

She sighed softly to herself as she stood. “Storytime isn’t over yet. Go see if you can catch the end.”

Judith nodded, her blonde ringlets bobbing on her head. “Okay.”

Michonne turned and went back to her brushes before she felt another soft tug. “Yes, Judith?”

Now she actually did laugh. She guessed bedtime was always entertaining in the Grimes Household.

Judith looked up at her, scrunching her little nose and beckoning her down to eye-level with her index finger. Michonne bent at the waist and Judith whispered in her ear. “I wish you could come home with us. Daddy always knows what to say to make me and Carl feel better.”

Michonne smiled, genuinely and pulled the preschooler into her arms giving her a big hug. “Thank you. But you know, I think you’re probably as good as your dad.”

Judith beamed. She turned and ran for the rug just as the bell rang. She froze in her spot for a moment looking back at Michonne as all the children on the rug jumped up and scattered. Michonne laughed again and Judith smiled like the class clown.

“Have a good afternoon, Everyone!” Michonne announced then.

“BYE, MISS A!” They all screamed simultaneously as they did every afternoon.

Michonne waved goodbye to Judith as she scrambled to her cubby for her things. She couldn’t help keeping her eyes on the little girl even as other children tackled her thighs to give their own farewells.

Was it strange or somehow unfair to everyone else that Judith had already secured a little real estate in her heart?

About twenty minutes later as Michonne and Ashley moved through the room putting the last of the things away for the day, there was a knock on the door. They both looked up to see Rick standing hesitantly in the doorway in his full sheriff’s uniform. A squadron of butterflies suddenly did a loop de loop in Michonne’s stomach. She would have been lying if she said it wasn’t a very sexy sight.

“Ms. Anthony?”

“Deputy Grimes!”  

They both spoke at the same time, then smiled timidly at each other.

Ashley, who stood incidentally at a spot on the rug midway between them both cradling a stack of books in her hands, looked around awkwardly.

“I, um, need to go help Ms. Wilson in her room…now.” She said to Michonne quickly then hurriedly put the books down haphazardly in the Reading Corner and rushed out.

Rick barely cleared the doorway fast enough to avoid a collision. Michonne rolled her eyes. It was worse than she expected. The whole school knew –in two days! She sighed and Rick frowned in concern.

“Everything okay?”

Michonne shook her head fatigued. She put her arms across her chest and settled back against her desk at the front of the classroom.

How to tell him that the school rumor mill was already hard at work labelling them lovebirds?

Rick came in more fully, walking up until he was within striking distance, close enough to touch Michonne if that was what she wanted. Though from the look on her face it was tough for him to tell. She certainly looked like she could use a hug but with her arms crossed, she seemed guarded at the same time.

“I wanted to wait until everyone cleared out. Carl and Judy are waiting in the car.” As Rick spoke Michonne nodded, “And I know we said we’d see each other tomorrow. So I hope you don’t think I’m being eager.”

Michonne smiled. It was small but still a smile. “Eager’s okay.”

She didn’t know if she wanted to encourage or discourage him at that moment. Looking at Rick now she was truly torn.

“…But I wanted to talk to you for a minute.”

“That’s good. We need to talk.”

Just that quickly Rick was set back on his heels. A woman saying they needed to talk, whether or not you said it first, was not a good sign.

“Is everything okay?” He asked again plaintively.

Michonne put her hand to her mouth covering a giggle. Rick looked and sounded exactly like his daughter in that moment right down to the solemn expression and half-cocked head.

Did she really want to stop seeing this man based on idle chatter?

They were both consenting adults, that had broken no rules.

“It appears the halls are alive with the sound of gossip.” She said smiling.

Rick dragged his hand down his face and sighed deeply like an old man after a flight of stairs. “So you know?”

Michonne nodded. “Yep, I guess apparently Eugene Porter and his mother got on the ole bullhorn Saturday night and alerted the entire school?”

“Possibly town.” Rick broke it to her. Michonne groaned.

Her mother’s words came back to her yet again. She could not claim she hadn’t been warned.

“So what do you wanna do, if anything?” Rick asked, dreading the possible answer. He closed the distance between them and Michonne came back to her feet. He placed his hands on her arms and looked directly into her beautiful brown eyes trying to discern her answer before she spoke.

Looking into his eyes Michonne thought of the great time they’d had together on Saturday…and Sunday.

Rick wasn’t sure how to take her silence. “You want to call it off?”

He couldn’t hide his disappointment, Michonne was the first person since his divorce from Lori that had put the color back into his world. It was only after he’d met her that he realized he’d been blithely going through the motions in monochrome for so long he could barely remember the difference. Until now.

Michonne remained silent a moment longer. What did she want? She wanted to see where this thing between them could go. She realized she wanted to get to know Rick better. If she let herself be frightened off by a little bit of wayward gossip now she knew she might miss an opportunity for something great. So then she knew what she wanted.

She wanted to give them a chance.

She smiled, shaking her head and Rick felt the knot forming in his stomach ease.

“Nope,” She said easily and then they both were smiling.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3| Chapter 4| Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 |

[kellendriaaa]

Fate and choices

Chapter 1

Cast: Jack Kline; Rose Ceallaigh (Main OFC); Sam Winchester; Castiel; Dean Winchester; Gabriel; Lucifer; Tara Zendey (OFC); Clark Barker; Victoria Wellagan (OFC); Dolby Murray (OMC); Mitchell Inkle (OMC); Loris Lichens (OMC)

  Pairings: Jack Kline/Rose Ceallaigh; Castiel/ Dean Winchester; Gabriel/Sam Winchester; Lucifer/Sam Winchester; Clark Barker/Tara Zendey and others... 

  Summary: Rose Ceallaigh, a student and part time waitress found an innocent boy, not that innocent in front of her building. Knowing that he ran away from his family not to escape them but to protect, Rose try to help him discovering a world she did not know who was right in front of her eyes.

He know basically nothing about the world, so Jack will learn what is love, burn, passion, joy and being hurt. He will learn how to be human, how to feel every emotions.

While Dean, Sam and Castiel are still trying to find him and finding that girl who is immune to supernatural powers when dealing with their own preoccupation.

Okay I sucks at summary too. I'm sorry please give it a try 

Notes: I don't own Spn neither their amazing characters only mine so all the OFC and OMC. English is definitely not my first language (I'm french) so sorry for my many mistakes.

It's really slow, and basically nothing happens, I'm placing the characters and the context of their lives but I always put hints into my chapter. Sooo enjoy ! ^^

The music was ringing in the dinner. Heat of the moment by Asia was making her move her head while reading her document on the global warming; it is not that she did not like it. C’mon, she definitely love studying and learning about the environment and water and all of that but making a whole project about it seems heavy and way too much in her mind.

Except, that asshole naming Brennan, Mr. Brennan, do not even wait for her to come in the class to choose what she had to do.

Well, not exactly. Yes, global warming was the last subject but there was another one.

Fate and choices.

C’mon, how the hell were we supposed to do something with that. She was not really a fatalist (sometimes she was, after watching sappy movies. And knowing she will passed another valentine’s day watching other sappy movies) but apart from that she was believer and did not think everybody deserves hell.

  …

  Okay reading fanfiction on the net was enough for everybody to go straight to hell but at least she knew and was ready to run to hell with her fanfiction friends. However, all these peoples with a rough life do not necessarily deserves this. After her class discuss the subject of “Fate and choices” she was pretty sure, her classmates were demons or at least some dark creatures even if she do not believe in that.

  So is she really a believer? That is a good subject! Better than all of them actually.

  “Rose!” her boss shout, “less brooding and more working lil’ girl.”

“’m coming” she answer tying the knot of her apron correctly.

  She was working as a waitress in the diner when school was over or before. For now 2 years and she freaking like it, everything was cool and people were kind (not always but most of them!) so was her boss. Mitch Inkle, soon to be, 60 years (they were preparing a little something for the event) and four marriage in the counter, well four-failed marriage so four divorce. He was immune to marriage now.

  “Why don’t you shout Vic name when she’s obviously sleeping in some corner of the house huh?” she complained while dressing the table, “’m pretty sure she’s your fave here.”

“Yeah maybe, she gives me chocolate cake every day not like you and the rest of this damn house.” He shout the rest of the sentence so everybody hear him, then everybody laughed.

“We, on the contrary, care about your health old man so don’t complain,” says Loris, another waiter.

“Yo Loris,” start Vic finally out of her beauty sleep, “can we talk about all the cigs you smoking? We should have another big conversation about how your ass will burn with these things.”

“My ass will be cooked perfectly just waiting to be eat hon’,” he says laughing.

  This was her day, joking around before the opening. Her coworkers became her family.

  Today was a chill day, clients were calm and all, no problem happen.

Yet.

Nothing happen before these guys came into the diner. ‘They look freaking weird’ she said to herself. They were four, a guy with a trench coat (like who still wear that?) giving his soul with his eyes to the guy who look a squirrel. Actually, they were giving each other heart eyes but seems deep in Narnia. Then there was the giant one and goddamn it he was tall as hell. Probably Eiffel tower height.

How did he even walk correctly and the hair! Is he doing an ad for L’Oréal or what? Well, the giant one was in front of a young guy, looking like the trench coat guy. Seems lost, like a kid.

  Did they kidnap him?

  “Rose! I’m tired of screaming your name all the time,” Mitch, who was right next to her scream laughing, “go ask these guys what they want lil’ girl.”

“I’LL GO!” she screamed in his ears going to the weird team. “Hey guys! What can I get you?”

“What is the most delicious and greasy thing you have?” The squirrel asked. She laughed while the giant one just rolls his eyes.

“The Mr. and Mrs. Is the biggest and greasy thing I eat here and it makes regret it the day after. But hell it was all worth it.”

“Yep,” said Vic staying next to me, the smile on her face becoming bigger showing all her teeth and she got so many teeth. “Big, delicious and mouth orgasming. You’ll feel it all over your body, trust me I know.”

  Was she flirting with the squirrel? He is way too in love wi-

  “Well, I’ll take it then,” he says winking at her with a smirk.

  Not so in love I think. Or just too much in the closet. That done, she wrote down his command and went for the others while Vic went to tell Dolby, the cook, what she needed.

  “Soooo, what about the others?”

“Egg and bacon,” said the giant one, “with water.”

“Nothing for me.” The trench coat.

  The last one seems to search very deeply, what he wanted to choose. Rose feet were hurting her in these damn shoes. Too small for her feet but what can she say when it was calling for her, screaming her name for her to come and buy them.

But right now, she regretted it more than anything, how something so pure and beautiful could be so evil. The fact that the young one seems to be searching excessively long did not help at all, even if he was cute when he was concentrating.

  “Ooooookay, he’ll take egg and bacon,” the savor, who was the giant one, say.

  She nodded then go to Dolby while she saw Vic adjusting her clothes, opening the button of her shirt then going to serve the squirrel. Rose thought that she should probably tell her that he was not that type of guy but then she thought about how he reacted to her poor attempt of flirting then let it go. She sit at the bar checking her text.

  Tara

Hey booboo, your still in work or?

11.17AM

  She loved that woman but she hates her grammatical errors. She answered rapidly.

  Rosie

You’re* and yup still. What about you?

11.26AM

  Tara

Shut up, just finished some stuff, about to go to you. Need some burger with a lot of bacon asap

11.28AM

  Rosie

It’ll be waiting for you. Love ya xx

11.28AM

  Tara

Same here xx

11.29AM

  She put her phone into her apron and take the plates, sighing when she knew rush hour is about to come. She walk toward the team giving them their plates.

  “So 2 eggs and bacons for the two of you and hot sauce for the guy here,” she gives the hot sauce to the squirrel, “’m sorry she forgot it.”

  They nodded and started to eat. They really really freaking really seems weird and she was pretty sure she saw a blade in the giant one coat but maybe eyes were becoming tired. Anyways, she waited for Tara and not long after she saw the old red mustang parking and her best friend coming into the diner hugging her closely.

  “I don’t know how that old car is still rolling.”

“My baby is tough, she’s the strongest person I’ve ever see in my life,” Tara answered, her car was her life literally, she was taking care of that car more than herself sometimes. “You done? ‘m taking the food home.”

“Just wait until this table is done then ‘m all yours.”

  She was about to tell Mitch that she was done then something inside her twist. Maybe her instinct but she take Tara and throw her down, using her body as a shield against whatever that happen. Probably an explosion, her head was tripping, she hears gunshot, then a big light in the dinner but her head was too dizzy to focus, she tried to see if Tara was good but her face was full of blood, same for her arm then nothing.

TV was on, probably SpongeBob because she knew every episodes of this show. The smell were horrendous, it was a hospital. She was in a hospital. What the hell was she doing in a hospital, she tried to move but every part of her body hurt even part she didn’t knew exist were hurting her.

The first things she saw was white, too bright, too white and too clean. There was a face smiling at her, face she recognize as Tara. She try to smile back but her lips was drier than the Brennan bald ass so she tried to move but Tara stopped her.

  “Hey easy booboo, you take some good shot here.”

  Rose wet her lips, her mouth feels weird, disgusting just like hospital. Like death.

  “Stop being overdramatic about the hospital, it’s not death,” Tara say laughing slightly.

“Ho… How?”

“I know you, how do you feel?”

She adjusted herself in the bed.

  “Like a 2 trucks went over me then a train came and end the job.” She respond scanning the room, there was SpongeBob at the TV and men in front of her, men in suit. Black suit and sexy suit. Weren’t the guys from the dinner? Tara saw Rose confusion about the two men standing and watching her like a mouse in a laboratory.

  “Booboo, these guys are the FBI and they want to ask you some questions if you want.”

  She nods quietly. She knew something were weird with these guys but FBI, she did not except this.

  “Hi Rose I assume,” say the giant one, Rose nod, “I’m agent Smith and this is agent Wesson,” he continue pointing the squirrel. “We want to ask you some questions about the attack at the diner.”

  She nodded again.

  “What do you remember?” asked agent Wesson.

“Not much, I was about to tell my boss that I was going with Tara then… then… I don’t know I felt something coming so I pull Tara away, then nothing much after that.” Rose answered. “By the way, Tara your face was full of blood and… and… how?”

“How what?” She answered not sure.

“How did all the blah on your face is gone, it looks like nothing happened.”

  Tara looked at the agents then at Rose.

  “You protected me, which is by the way the last time you do such a stupid thing, you were the one who was damaged booboo.”

  Rose was sure and certain that Tara’s face was disfigure but she did not remembered a lot so she let that go. Maybe it was just her mind playing tricks. Still, she was curious about what could have happened.

  “Do you know what happened?” Rose asked.

“An attack, we’re working on these missing people, did you hear about it Rose?” Asked agent Smith.

“Yeah, they’re talking about it at school apparently these guys were going in and out the old house, at the end of the street. A haunted house or something.”

  They seems interested, the three looked at each other then at Rose.

  “Which one?” Asked Wesson.

“Pink with an angel on the porch, you cannot miss it, it’s the only old house around.”

“Thank you, we’ll let you rest now,” said agent Smith.

  She didn’t hear about them after that. C’mon agent Smith and Wesson, were they that obvious? Why not agent Beyoncé and Jay-z?

Months after that, life was still the same nothing more or nothing less. Tara was in one of her many traveling, so Rose was mostly alone at home but she likes it. She loved chilling on her big comfy couch while watching TV, with some shows or Marvel movies. She loooooooved Marvel since the day Tara bought her, her first comic book as a birthday gift, it was almost 5 years ago. She was 18 years old and it was her first gift. She still have it, cherished it since this day. Since her 17 she lived alone, ran away from abusive parents and found that beautiful woman who helped her and raise her up when everything was down. She owed Tara her actual life even if she was working in a little diner, struggling with school, she has never been happier than right now.

  Today was Mitch’s birthday surprise. The regular customer knew about it, so they were acting differently on purpose. The old lady, Mrs. Marks, was upset about everything, complaining all the time so Mitch would take care of her, living the employees to plan the surprise. Dolby did an amazing cake who was in the fridge, Vic took care of ours and Mitch’s clothes, Loris make sure that Mitch was away during the preparation.

  “Goddamn! Where is Rose? Or Vic?”

“Calm down Mitchie, Loris is in the place why don’t you go and see what Mrs. Marks needs huh?”

  He shook his head, refusing to go again and hear about how stupid those teenagers, being taller and provocative than ever are.

  “No, hell to the no, I love her but not today,” he begin then whispering the last part, “I just want slit her throat and burn her at the moment, go with her and I’ll see the new one.”

  Loris laugh, it was amusing to see how the charming and loveable Mitch could be when things get out of his control. Loris went to Mrs. Marks thanking her then went to see how things were going in the kitchen with the girls and Dolby.

  “Yo! Is everything ready ‘cause Mitchie is about to freak out and kill everybody.”

“Yup, almost done,” said Rose, “go and change ‘m gonna shut down the power.”

  They all nodded, so she did it and called for Mitch to see what was happening, he was almost relieved to get away from the constant stress and check everything making sure it was alright but he and Rose came back, there was no light in the dinner just a little bit the cake’s candle then everybody screamed.

  “HAPPY BIRTHDAY MITCHELL!!”

  Rose has barely seen Mitch crying and it was one these moments she will forever keep.

The party was good, they were so many gift it took him 1 hour to open them all, from the customers, the employees, his kids and even ex-wives, same for his family. Mitch is someone you cannot not love. He was like that and Rose like it this way.

After the cleaning, Loris dropped her at the nearest bus station so she could take a bus go straight home. It was late and very dark and that part of the city was not full of light. So she took her phone from her backpack and use the lamp torch to see through her way home.

Everything was fine when she saw a body sitting on the ground, her first reflex is to run to him and see what is happening because he seemed hurt. The truth, he was full of blood and there was a cut on his lips. She tried to wake the guy up but he was totally down.

So she shake him a little bit, trying to have a reaction from him, he open his eyes, looking at Rose. She try to make him stand up but it was hard since he was about to collapse.

  “Damn!” She curse and put him on his feet nevertheless. “Yeah, that’s it hold onto me big guy. ‘m taking you to my house. Do you understand?”

  He nod so at least he was still conscious. She hold him through the way his arms around her shoulders while she was holding him from behind, going upstairs slowly until they make it to her door so she try her best and open it taking him directly to her room so he can sleep on the bed. She close the door and lock it twice to be sure. Then run to her bathroom taking all the medical care she got. She put some alcohol on a compress, cleaning his head and his lips.

The guy was beautiful, soft pink lips, beautiful features. Looking like an angel.

But she didn’t stop, she keep searching for other marks or cut but his clothes full of blood did not help at all so she try to find something that could fit him. And there was her ex-boyfriend’s clothes who can fit him so trying her best to not look, Rose undressed him, cleaning the bruises every time she finds some, and put the fresh cleaned clothes on him.

After putting the bloody clothes in the washing machine, she put the covers on him and turn on the heater so that he will not be cold then clothes the door letting him sleep.

  She start questioning herself. First of all, what the actual fuck? What will happen if the boy was a killer or something like that? However, a killer would not be in that state huh? He would’ve been the one putting someone in that way so no, well she hope no.

Trying to keep her mind out of this, she started working on her school project. Doing research and writing down everything that seemed important in no order, after she will put all the ideas and information in order.

When she looked at the watch, it says 02:54 AM.

  She scratched her eyes not being sure of what she was watching.

  And indeed it was not 02:54 AM but 06:24 AM, it was worse so she stopped everything and let her body fall on the couch and sleep.

Chapter 2 ; Chapter 3 ; Chapter 4

[bubbleprincecaesar]

You'll be the ears to my heart//Regan AU//May I help you?

Summary: Negan has an accident that will change his life completely.

Rating: PG-13, probably will end up being R or NC-17

Warnings: Language (I mean we’re talking about Negan, c'mon!)

Author’s note: Well after a long long time I finally got the inspiration to continue writing this. I’m not that happy with the result, but well we shall see if you guys like it. You can also read this fic on ao3 and here you can find the chaptee index :)

Tags: If anybody who isn’t here wants to be tagged on the next chapter, just let me know @weinsanedreamer55 @psychosexualnegan @reganapologists @losercowboy @lavergadebill @laundy @flocculentghee @hostilecrocodile @lillamb90 @snowsse @sinners0prayer @mvbsva @neganstonguething @metalbutter @hatterized @thefelinemedia78 @fictionkin @aokamitahafu @sumiandmiga

•••

Rick had his eyes focused on the screen of his laptop when someone coughed. He looked up and saw a man standing near the door. The man was wearing a black leather jacket, a white t-shirt and a pair of brown trousers. He was well-built and he seemed tough, but Rick knew that the physical appearance didn’t always match the personality. Rick stared at him for a bit, confused because he thought that Maggie was the last client of the day, and eventually he asked:

“May I help you, sir?”

“I don’t know why I fucking came here” the man muttered under his breath, but Rick heard him. Despise his words, he closed the door and took a sit on the chair, just in front of Rick’s desktop.

“Look, I’m just here to please my friend but I know that all of this will be useless so I’m not planning on coming any other day. I should’ve been here earlier but I lost the fucking bus so I had to wait until everybody was gone”

Rick checked his computer.

“Oh so you must be Negan, right?” While he spoke, Rick noticed that Negan stared at his lips. He couldn’t help staring at Negan’s.

“Yep. And you’re Rick Grimes, am I right?” Rick nodded and waited for Negan to tell him why did he come to visit him.

“What?” Negan said after a moment of silence.

“You’re supposed to tell me the reason why you came here so I can help you”

“Oh right. Well to sum it up my wife fucking died and it was my fault, I’m fucking deaf and my life is big bag full of shit”

“Wait. Let’s slow it down a bit. First of all, I’m really impressed because I hadn’t notice you were deaf. Were you born like that or..?”

“No” Negan answered “It all happened because of the car accident: my deafness, the death of my wife…”

“Tell me more about the accident. Why did you say that her death was your fault?” Usually Rick was intrigued about his clients stories, but he was even more interested in Negan’s because of what happened to Lori.

“Because it fucking was. If I hadn’t made her come with me to that baseball game she wouldn’t have been in the car the moment the accident ocurred, and she’d still be alive”

“Why did you make her come with you?”

Rick saw how Negan’s expression changed for a bit into one of guilt before returning to his usual neutral face. Negan looked at him, and Rick could tell he was having an internal debate trying to decide about telling him or not. Rick looked straight into Negan’s eyes and smiled at him, making him know that he wasn’t goint to judge him no matter what he said next. Negan seemed to be surprised about Rick’s smile and he looked down and with a guilty tone he said:

“I made her come with me because I wanted to spend some time with her. And the reason why I wanted to do that was because I was fucking cheating on her. So yes, she died because of my fault and I deserved it because I’m a fucking asshole”. Rick knew what being cheated on felt like. He tried to push away that memory out of his mind. Before he could say anything, Negan spoke:

“You’re the only person I’ve told that. You’re good at this, Ricky. Must be that "you can trust me even tho I’m your psychologist and that means that you’re fucking nuts” smile".

“First of all, going to a psychology doesn’t mean that you’re crazy or insane, in fact I would say is healthy and sharing thoughts and problems with an specialist can help everybody. Second, I thought you were here just to please your friend. When did I become YOUR psychologist?” Rick couldn’t help but smirk while he said that, and he’d swear he saw  Negan’s lips curling up a bit too.

“Oh well I guess that makes this official” Negan wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t have a straight face either. Rick wished he could see Negan smile because he thought that his smile was probably very beautiful, you know, in a heterosexual way.

“I’m sorry I have to say this, but our session has to end for today. I really gotta go home, I was supposed to be arriving there right now and my son would probably freak out if I’m late” Rick saw of Negan’s glimpse of a smile dissapeared at the mention of his son.

“It’s all on me, I’m sorry I came late. Wouldn’t want to make the Grimes lady wait for you too much”.

Rick smiled sadly at the memory of Lori and decided to change the subject of the converstion.

“Anyway, I usually give my clients the number of the office so they can call to book our next session, but due to the circumstances I’ll give you my personal number so you can text me to see when we will be seeing each other again” Negan wrote down Rick’s number on his phone and then proceded to walk towards the door.

“Well it was a pleasure to meet you, Ricky”

“Me too, Negan”

The man came out of the room and closed the door and Rick started packing his stuff and things when his phone vibrated on his pocket. It was Negan. Rick read the 2 messages he had sent him:

“So I just went to that psychologist and the dude was a such a fucking prick. A little prick named Rick.”

“Oops sorry wrong number xx”

Rick giggled while he stared at the screen of his phone.

Previous

[redditnosleep]

Nanny Cam

by Pippinacious

"Open it, open it!" My nephew was bouncing in my brother's lap, his pudgy hands balled into fists of flailing excitement.

I'd never seen a kid who liked to give presents more than receive them until Noah came along. He'd barely paid much attention to his own gifts, which he'd left scattered about the floor around the tree, and instead insisted on handing everyone else's out. He was watching me closely with a wide, delighted grin, eager for me to dive into the wrapping paper.

I took to a corner with exaggerated care, slowly peeling up one corner of the paper without tearing it.

"Not like that, Aunt Janey!" Noah cried and I looked up with feigned surprise.

"What? I'm opening it!"

"Too slow!"

"You want to show me how?"

I held the present out and he launched himself from his seat. He set the gift on my lap and took my hands, placing them in the center of the present and then dragging them across its surface in a tearing motion.

"Like this." He said with all the seriousness of a seasoned veteran of four prior Christmases.

I repeated the action, pulling the green and red wrapping apart, and Noah squealed with approval. Inside, a plush owl stared up at me from behind the plastic window of a box.

"It's for the new house." Pete explained over his son's shoulder.

"To keep the birds out of my garden?" I teased.

"No, it's a camera! You set it up somewhere and sync it to your phone so you can check out your house when you're not there."

"Nanny cam for the dogs, awesome!"

"Exactly."

"You like it, Aunt Janey?"

"Love it!"

Noah ran to his Dad and gave him a high five before circling the room to deliver the same to everyone else. Once everyone had properly celebrated the successful gift giving, he grabbed the next present out from under the tree and brought it over to Mom so she could tell him who it was for.

I left the owl cam, which I named Barnabas, in his box for the next week. Between unpacking and setting myself up in my new place, he just wasn't a high priority. It wasn't until Pete, Lori, and Noah came over that I even remembered I had him.

"So, caught the dogs doing anything naughty?" Pete asked from the kitchen while getting a beer.

"No?" I said. "Why would I?"

"Just thought the camera might have shown you a seedier side to your mutts."

I glanced at Gremlin and Baba, who were stretched out, belly-up, on either side of Noah on the floor. A real pair of trouble makers.

"Oh! The camera!" I was immediately a bit embarrassed that I'd neglected it. "It's in the spare room; haven't had a chance to get it up yet."

"You want me to set it up?" Pete asked.

"Yeah, sure. I don't know how that stuff works anyway."

While Pete set off to get Barnabas up and running, Lori and I sat on the couch to chat.

"He got one for us, too." She said. "He loves it; checks in on the cats all the time."

"Ever see anything interesting?"

"He claims Sampson was opening cupboards and looking for treats, but I'm not sure I believe him."

"Thrilling."

"Never a dull moment." She agreed.

It didn't take long for Pete to have Barnabas working from a shelf over my computer. He showed me what app to download and I logged in to see the entirety of my living room in kitchen displayed in real time on my phone screen. The quality of the picture was actually pretty good and I found I had options to turn on and off sound and even talk through a small speaker in the owl's chest.

"Hey, Noah." I motioned my nephew over. "Who's that?"

His mind was blown by seeing himself on my phone. With Gremlin and Baba close on his heels, he started waving and jumping and running through the rooms, asking us if we could still see him. The kid was a little ham and the camera was now his stage. By the time they left, Noah had wiped himself out and had to be carried to the car over Pete's shoulder.

"Ok, guys," I said to my dogs the next morning, "this is your first full day on your own in the new house. Try not to destroy anything, ok?"

Gremlin wagged his tail while Baba tilted her head to one side. Good enough for me.

Being back at work after a week off meant I was busy. Very busy. I hadn't realized just how much paperwork I'd have to catch up on or how little would get done in my absence. Orders had gone unprocessed, phone calls left unreturned, and, in one case, the staff had neglected to address an upset bride whose cake had been delivered incorrectly on the big day. Nothing said "Welcome back, boss!" like drowning in complaints and irate customers.

After several hours of painstaking sweet talk and cajoling, I managed to get the mountain down to a molehill and the bakery back on track. My employees at least had the decency to look ashamed, having realized they took their laziness too far, and they were working double-time to try and make it up. I was still irritated though, and I took a long lunch to give myself time to breathe.

While I ate, I absently brought up the nanny cam app and logged in to see what the dogs were up to.

I spotted Gremlin first, sitting upright on the couch and staring at the back door. Baba was standing next to him on the floor, her head lowered and ears pinned back. Both were completely still. I followed their gaze across the room, curious as to what had their attention, and groaned.

"You little shits!" I said.

The potted plant by the slider had been knocked over, spilling soil and water all over the tile floor. One of their squeaky balls was sitting in the middle of the mess.

I was not a happy camper when I got home. After a day of putting out proverbial fires, I wasn't exactly looking forward to cleaning up after the dogs too. They greeted me enthusiastically when I came in, bouncing and barking around my feet, and I gave them a stern lecture about behaving. It was hard to stay mad at them even as I was scooping up piles of dirt, though; they were usually so well behaved and just too cute.

I ruffled Gremlin's pug-like face and sighed. "You're gonna be better tomorrow, huh? No more messes!"

He harrumphed at me and Baba nosed her way under my arm, forcing Gremlin out of the way to steal my attention. We snuggled on the couch, Gremlin flopped across my lap and Baba beside me, and I let the stress of the day slip away with a glass of wine and the snores of my contented pups.

I wasn't overly worried about a repeat event, the dogs had always been laid back, but I still decided to check in on them the next day while on break. It was kind of fun to be able to see what they got up to when I wasn't around.

When I pulled up the camera, I found both dogs in front of the bedroom door, which I'd left half closed, their fur raised, barking wildly. Concerned, I turned on the sound and my small office became crowded with their deep, rumbling cries. I hurriedly turned the volume down and listened in, trying to figure out what had them so upset. At first, it seemed like all I'd be able to hear was the two of them carrying on, but a brief break in their barking revealed something else.

The very faint, but distinct sound of children's laughter.

The neighbor kids were playing outside in their yard, which happened to be outside my bedroom window.

With a snort, I turned on the speaker and said, "Easy, pups, go lie down!"

They turned sharply, tails thumping and expectant, and I felt a bit bad to have excited them into thinking I was home.

"Go lie down." I said again and smiled as their ears perked up. "I'll be home in a few hours."

When I did get in that evening, they were as happy to see me as they'd ever been, but I couldn't help noticing that Baba especially seemed distracted. She kept going to the bedroom, sniffing around, and then coming back to me, only to repeat the process a few minutes later. Gremlin stayed glued to my feet for the entire night, even when I went to the bathroom.

"You guys are having a hard time getting used to it here, aren't you?" I asked as we climbed into bed that night. "I know it's not easy, all the new smells and sounds, but it'll feel like home soon."

Baba stayed perched at the foot of my bed all night. Every time I woke up, I'd find her sitting upright, gazing steadily at the door.

At one point, I thought I heard rustling coming from the kitchen and both dogs started to growl. I grabbed the mag light I kept in my bedside drawer and crept to the doorway. More rustling. With my breath hitched in my chest, I swung out of my bedroom, light raised like a bat, and flipped the kitchen switch.

A receipt was stuck under my purse and half hanging off the counter, where it was fluttering gently beneath the overhead fan that I must have left on when I went to bed.

Grumpily, I grabbed it, crumpled it up, and tossed it away before returning to my room. I kicked the door shut as I passed and fell back into bed.

"Hey, Mom." After seeing how distressed the dogs had been, I decided it was best to try and get them out of the house for a bit the next morning. "Can you watch the babies while I'm at work today?"

"Of course!" She didn't even ask why. "I made them some new peanut butter treats yesterday."

"Great, thanks. I'll drop them off on my way to work." I hung up and turned to the pair. "Who wants to go to Grammy's?"

I leashed them up and brought them out to the car, where they hopped in eagerly. Whatever had been bothering them was quickly forgotten as we backed out of the driveway and turned towards my parents'. I glanced back at the house to make sure the garage door had closed completely and, for a split second, I could have sworn I saw the blinds in the front window shift just slightly.

I sat in the middle of the road for a moment, studying my house through narrowed eyes.

And then the wind blew again and the bushes rustled. Their shadows danced across the bottom of the sill in the weak morning light, making it look like there was movement in the window.

"You guys are making me paranoid." I said and then we were off; the dogs to my mom's and me to work.

I got a text from Pete that afternoon.

Hey, is your nanny camera working?

It was yesterday.

Mine too, but it seems to have crapped out. Piece of junk.

I'll check.

I switched over to the app, but while it was loading, my office phone rang. I set my cell down and answered. Two dozen gender reveal cupcakes and a quote later, I plugged in the order and picked up my cell again.

The screen was entirely black.

I still had the mute and speaker option buttons, but the camera itself seemed to have died.

I shot Pete a text back with the disappointing news.

I'll pick it up later to replace. He said.

I went back to the app and tried unsuccessfully to fiddle with settings. It wasn't like I had any idea what I was doing anyway, but I figured I'd at least try. I returned to the camera's main screen, which was still just a blank black, and hit the unmute button. Despite the lack of picture, there was sound.

Breathing, deep and raspy, drifted from my phone.

I almost dropped it in my shock. I could feel my heart beating in the back of my dried throat; hear the blood rushing through my ears. Someone's in my house, a distant voice was screaming in my head, there is someone in my house!

"I know you're watching."

I froze. The voice had been so quiet I almost missed it.

"I know you're watching. I know you're watching. I know you're watching."

He kept saying it over and over, no inflection, completely monotone.

The camera shifted slightly and a pair of eyes, wide and dark, filled my phone screen.

"I know you're watching."

I shrieked and, without thinking, threw my phone across the office.

By the time the cops got there twenty minutes later, the house was empty.

Barnabas the owl nanny cam had been left in the center of the kitchen table. His little head had been hacked off and left beside his torn open body. The camera was gone.

Beneath him, a message had been carved into the wooden tabletop with a knife.

Now I'm watching you.

[ossyuche]

Why Would My Boyfriend Suddenly Break Up with Me?

I’d been in what seemed like the perfect dating relationship with a man for a couple months until just last week, when he broke up with me out of nowhere. I know a lot of articles tell people who were blindsided by breakups that just because the relationship seemed great to them, it doesn’t mean their partner had been feeling that way, too. In all honesty though, it had appeared to be great on his end, too…

The day he broke up with me, he’d left my place to go to work, kissed me goodbye, and said he couldn’t wait to see me that weekend. The day before, he’d texted me at work just to say how much he missed me, and told me just two days before that I was meeting all of his relationship needs and he was so lucky to have such a sweet girlfriend like me.

Every aspect of our relationship seemed great… The communication seemed strong, we had so much fun together, our goals for the future matched up, the sex was great, and we both showed our appreciation for each other through gestures (he’d surprise me with flowers and gifts, and I’d surprise him by cooking his favorite meal and remembering to check in with how he was doing on the anniversary of his mom’s death).

The night he broke up with me he’d called, and just sounded like he was in such a bad mood. Things just sounded so off compared to the night before, when he’d been at my place getting tickets for a show we were planning to go to that weekend. We got off the phone and I decided to call him back later, saying something had just seemed off and I was worried about him, and did he have anything on his mind he wanted to talk about? He then proceeded to say I liked him more than he liked me, he didn’t see a future for us (in spite of what he’d been consistently saying, even that week) and then blocked me on every social media platform, possible.

When he got his stuff from my place two days later, I asked if we could sit down and talk now that we’d calmed down and some time had passed, because it just didn’t make sense… He looked at me like I disgusted him, grabbed his things, and left without giving me a backwards glance. He even made sure to “unfriend” me on seemingly insignificant apps, like “MyFitnessPal.” I just don’t understand… There was no fight, no distancing, and plenty of letting me know he was crazy about me and loved where our relationship was going.

What causes a man to just break things off abruptly like that? And why did he go to such extremes as to erase me completely from his life, immediately, when I didn’t so much as raise my voice, call him names, or give him reason to think I needed to be blocked from even a food log app? I haven’t tried to contact him at all since he got his stuff, and I just don’t understand… I’m so confused, and it’s really making it difficult to move on. My brain just doesn’t seem to grasp that it’s over because it doesn’t make sense, and I have to actively tell myself each day that it is over and not to contact him because it won’t bring him back and I deserve better. Still…

How do I heal from this? How do I prevent this from happening again? What takes a guy from “I’m so lucky to be dating a sweet girl like you,” to looking like he hates me while saying, “I will never love you,”?  

Thank you so much, Evan. I’ve been listening to your podcast for years, and I greatly appreciate any advice you may have to give!

Katie

Aw, Katie… I’m really sorry to hear about your heartbreak. There’s never a good story about a relationship ending, but yours does seem like a particularly bad one.

As you know, it’ll get better. As you know, you may never get answers to everything. As you know, you came to the right guy for counsel.

Your situation brings mind two past relationships — both when I was the dump-er and when I was the dump-ee — in the same year. Here’s what I can glean from each experience:

This was a perfect example of “it’s not you; it’s me.” In January, 2004, I started dating Shari, a sweet, silly, cute, adoring therapist who I met online and lived only a few blocks away from me. We hit the ground running and were exclusive in a few weeks. Less than a month later, I broke up with her. I remember her tears like they were yesterday, wondering why? Wasn’t everything so good? What happened to all that sweet stuff I’d just said? What could she do different to change the outcome?

I had recently been to New York and felt a stronger connection with another woman I met there than I did with my own girlfriend. That cognitive dissonance was steadily pulling at me over the next four weeks, even though there was absolutely nothing “wrong” with Shari and I. As a man of integrity, I never dated anyone I had no intention of marrying, and while I could have kept it going, it felt more ethical to let Shari go find a man who WOULD be all in on her, since I wasn’t able to.

(Needless to say, the woman I fell for in New York didn’t feel the requisite chemistry with ME to embark on a long-distance relationship, so there you have it.)

Looking back, the one thing I wish I could have explained to Shari and will explain to you is that a good person may have second thoughts for a few weeks or months, but does not let it impact his interaction with you. Think about it. You have a sweet guy who doubts whether you’re on the same page long-term. What is he supposed to do? Be a dick? Start berating you? Do the slow fade to send a non-confrontational message?

A good guy will treat you well right up to the very last moment because that’s what good guys do.

No. A good guy will treat you well right up to the very last moment because that’s what good guys do. So while you’ll feel blindsided, he will have been thinking about breaking up with you for a while, as his is right.

I wish I understood this later in 2004, when I went out with Lori for three months and fell madly in love with her. Best relationship I’d ever had by far and I was convinced we were going to get married fast (I was 32 and she was 38). Suddenly, before I was to take her to Las Vegas for a weekend, she told me she needed a “break.” The official breakup came a week later. This time I was in tears, asking all the same questions that Shari did. I even asked Lori why I didn’t see it coming. She told me that since I’d mentioned that I’d had critical girlfriends in my past, she didn’t see fit to criticize me. She just had some doubts about whether I was the right long-term fit for her and it took her about a month of our three-month relationship to figure it out for sure. Completely knocked me sideways, but I don’t know how I could criticize her for how she handled it.

Perhaps the only thing one can criticize, Katie, is how your ex cut you off entirely without as much as a consoling conversation that might give you some measure of closure.

That kind of seems like a dick move. Mean at worst. Insensitive at best.

At the same time, if I were your dating coach, I’d recommend that YOU block HIM everywhere to better move on with your life, so while it may hurt, he’s actually put you on a faster path to healing. Perhaps you’ll realize that this guy wasn’t as great as he seemed — especially in terms of how he communicated with you through this break-up, and that will free you up to find a man who gets how special you are.

Hang in there, my friend. It gets better.

P.S. Shari got married after I dumped her. Lori never got married after dumping me. Just sayin’.

The post Why Would My Boyfriend Suddenly Break Up with Me? appeared first on Dating Coach – Evan Marc Katz | Understand Men. Find Love..

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Original source: https://www.evanmarckatz.com/blog/letting-go/why-would-my-boyfriend-suddenly-break-up-with-me

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