#there are a lot of people confidently arguing about what is camp in the replies here

[teacupsandcyanide]

Camp is contextual and highly subjective, and it has slightly differing definitions in different fields. I agree that people often misuse the word, but it’s not like “narcissist” or “OCD” where its misuse contributes in a harmful way to making a vital word meaningless. You can just choose to disagree with whoever said the Mario movie was camp - I’d also disagree with them lol. (Unless they’re talking about a Situation. The Mario movie would probably feel much more camp when played at a funeral.)

But sometimes when people are learning how to use a new word they’ve picked up through cultural osmosis, they use it badly and will continue to do so until someone corrects them. There are ways to do this that feel more like cultural sharing than confiscating the word from them like a pair of scissors they don’t know how to use yet. Just show them how to use the scissors.

okay we NEED to put “camp” up on a shelf where people can’t reach it too because i just saw someone call the mario movie camp like girl what in the fresh hell are you talking about 😭

[brighter-by-the-daly]

Rachel Daly x Reader

Part Three: Dashed Hopes

You loved bunking with Mary, she was always so full of life - dragging you into TikToks one after the other, playing pranks and joking around; she didn’t realise she was giving you so much confidence the more you hung out with her. Laying on your beds she was busy editing your latest dance when Rachel knocked on the door. Rolling over to face the window so you didn’t have to look at her she showed Mary something on her phone “I thought we could do this?” she asked quietly “oh me and (y/n) just recorded this one soz” her voice a little blunt but Mary was often like that so you didn’t know if it was intentional or not. “Ah, okay” Rachel replied sounding disappointed as she left the room. The atmosphere was nothing like what was portrayed on their accounts last tournament but I suppose she only has herself to blame for that. Everyone on the team knew by now what she had done and they all sided with you, she wasn’t outkast but there was definitely an eerie atmosphere around camp whenever she was in the room. You tried really hard not to feel guilty, if you hadn’t of told people what really happened then you would be miserable and living a lie, watching her live her best life while pretending you broke up with her and that wouldn’t have been fair on you.

Sitting with the other newbies at dinner one evening you chatted about your experience so far. Ebony had been called up to replace an injury and had had your back since Rachel left, she was your best friend in Houston and knew every gorey detail of your break up. Having her on the team made you feel a whole lot more settled and knowing for sure that someone had your back 100%. Ebony scoffed as the defender come striker approached your table and asked if you can try and get on for the sake of the team. She had tried to talk to you in the past few days but you were still too angry to give her the time of day, Rachel nodded understandably and walked away to sit by herself to eat dinner. You couldn’t help the guilt rising and decided to approach her, rolling your eyes at your own conscience making you a push over. “Look, this is my first senior call up and I’m gonna do what I need to do to cement my place on this team. I’m not gonna let you ruin this for me so I’ll be civil but I’m not gonna pretend I like you.” Rachel nodded and put her hands up like she accepted the very tiny olive branch you were offering.

Another day of training you were paired together, someone clearly thought you needed to work with each other which you guess is a feasible assumption. Hitting each other with the pads was quite therapeutic until he sleeve rose up uncovering your matching tattoo still in full view on her arm. You’d had yours covered a week after she left with the Houston H hand sign. “Thought you would have covered that by now” you said pointing at the Roman numerals of your Dash shirt number. Rachel shook her head “my tattoos are my story and you’re part of it whether you like it or not” she shrugged. Bit of a weird reply but you didn’t argue. “I bet Becky loves that!” you said in jest. “She doesn’t know what it’s for” she shrugged again, clearly not enjoying this interaction. You didn’t know that she had booked to get it covered but couldn’t go through with it before camp, Jordan informed you of this later in the day when you mentioned it.

During all the training sessions before the tournament started you did what you were told to do and kept your head down, whatever you were doing was impressing the boss as you worked your way into the starting line up and into Rachel’s usual position. She was benched. It was like the ultimate karma and it felt amazing but it became routine at the 70 minute mark for her to replace you as a super sub. Game after game she was chasing after you for lead goal scorer, trying desperately to prove her worth to Sarina and the team. As soon as she caught up with you, the next game came around and you ploughed through the rankings again. Managing your first hattrick in the Group 16 game you proudly walked away with the match ball; Sarina had allowed you to play all 90 minutes and Rachel came on to replace Russo this time and assisted your last goal. She didn’t mean to, she went for goal but you got in the way and made it yours. Sneaky behaviour but it’s all team work until it came to her - she wasn’t about to take away your last chance of a hattrick! Walking around the field with the team to clap the travelling fans you borrowed a sharpie from one of them and made your way around the squad asking them to sign your ball. There was one signature left to get and you can guess who it was!

Slowing down your pace to catch Rachel at the back of the group with Millie who walked off as she watched you approach. “Can you sign this please?” throwing her the ball and sharpie. “I don’t think I should, you stole my goal” she said with a forced smile, “I think it’s a fair trade - you stole my wedding, I steal your goal” you shrugged with a cheeky smile. Rachel laughed and agreed with you, “in fact, I think you owe me a few more” you nudged her gently. “Don’t get cocky now!” she said with seriousness. “Far too late for that, I’m going for golden boot!” catching the ball she threw back at you with her scribble on. “Yeah? Well I’m gonna give you a run for your money!” she grabbed your shoulders from behind. “I’m not threatened by you old lady, enjoy your last World Cup yeah” turning around you winked before jogging off backwards, making the ‘I’m watching you’ sign as you went and revelling in the fact you have so many more tournaments to look forward to while her time is nearly up.

Part Four

[jackieshaunanat]

Some trans Max hcs because I have soiled my brain

Max has a severe phobia of needles, so obviously Laura, a literal to-be vet, does his t-shots for him and it’s so very... “Quit squirming, Max”  “I’m sorry can you just get it over with?” “I can’t get it over with if you don’t sit still” “Well I’m sorry b- OW! A little warning next time?”

If Laura isn’t available during their weeks at camp (i.e. she’s busy doing her job or something) Max gets Dylan to do them for him which is...just has nightmarish

Dylan repeatedly counts down but always does it at a random number so Max never knows when it’s coming, but Dylan isn’t as worried about precision as Laura so he doesn’t worry as much about Max squirming

Max got top surgery as a 18th birthday gift; his parents, Laura, and her parents all chipped in for the costs. He was very excited for the first summer with his scars as well, like insanely

One of the campers obviously asked about said scars but before he could reply, Dylan jumped in with some fake as hell story about Max fighting off a bear with his bare hands

Max didn’t even argue, just flatly agreed that’s what happened thinking the kids wouldn’t believe it until a few days later when he discovers a lot of the little kids believed it and started asking him about the fight and asking if he could beat Jacob in a fight too if he was strong enough to fight a bear

You can pry childhood friends/high school sweethearts Laura/Max from my cold dead hands so...Laura’s known him since long before his transition. She was a little confused and caught off guard when he came out, but they’ve always been there for each other so what else was she supposed to do? She goes super research mode and reads everything she can online from like medical and psychology articles to real life posts and blogs and books and stuff about trans people because she wants to be there for Max and understand what he’s dealing with and who he is as much as she can

She texts Max in the middle of the night asking about things he hasn’t even considered yet or about famous people he hasn’t heard of

She’s a little much when it comes to these things and her support and it throws Max off sometimes just how much she can be, but it means a lot to him that she cares this much and it gives him a really sturdy support system and someone to help him figure things out alongside him

It was definitely Laura’s idea to set up that first appointment for top surgery for his bday and even if she personally may not be loaded with cash, she wanted to chip in whatever she could into paying for it all

Laura probably also helped him pick a name, lotta baby name websites or pointing out names in movies or shows

Max was more or less a joke-y suggestion, but Max himself was also pretty confident Maximus from Gladiator was based on a real roman general and thought it was badass and cool

They had a whole discussion similar to the columbus one at the start of the game about Laura trying to explain that Maximus wasn’t a real person but Max swearing he was

Obviously Laura won, she googled it herself and showed the proof to him, but by then they’d spent so much time on the name and all and it just...stuck? He still liked it and now he had a nice real memory attached to it, it was the perfect name

[fabricated-misslieness]

pairing: bokuto, iwaizumi, kageyama, kuroo, miya twins, and ushijima x shorter manager male reader

req: yes | cw: suggestive | 16+

alex: MOST OF THE TALL THIGH GUYS IN HAIKYUU SIMP FOR THE SHORTER MALE MANAGER AFTER THEY FOUND OUT HE LIKES BIG THIGHS(and tits and all that) WHILE THEY TRY TO MAKE THEIRS LOOK BIG AND JUICY????

hcs of tall boys simping for a shorter manager because they like thicc body parts

a/n: i didn’t mention this because i did want to write it, but alex, reqs were closed. unless you suggested this for 1.5k, in which case, just why?

Introduction

A volleyball training camp consisting of some of Japan’s most prominent high schools. Chaotic, right?

Well, many schools came: Aoba Johsai, Fukurodani, Nekoma, Inarizaki, Itachiyama, and Shiratorizawa.

These training camps often led to the teams’ managers getting to know each other better and bonding. And as Itachiyama’s manager, even if most of them were girls, you were no exception.

Which meant, while all the managers collectively did their manager duties like refilling water bottles, you talked.

And, for some reason, the topic of boys came along and what ‘type’ of boy they liked.

You see, the girls were nice. They looked for personalities, rather than body parts - most of them anyway.

You on the other hand, well, you loved thick boys.

Prominent man boobs, thick thighs, fat asses.

“Is that… why you became a manager?”

“Is that why you don’t hand out towels?”

Unbeknownst to you, and the girls, a few people were eavesdropping on you.

 

Bokuto

“I’d say that fits your description, right Bokuto?” Konoha playfully elbowed him on the chest, but the ace wasn’t paying attention. “Eh, Bokutooo? You there?”

He was not, in fact, there.

He really had no plan to charm you at all. If he already had these traits, surely your eyes would drift off to him, right?

But obviously, he subconsciously starts showing off more when you’re watching his match.

He starts glancing at you every time he scores a point. Slowly, glances turn into looks that ask for praise, like a puppy; and then looks turn into verbal “Did you see that (y/n)?!”

You don’t know when or why he started fixating on you, but you certainly weren’t complaining.

Thanks to your praise, Bokuto slowly starts getting more comfortable around you. Then, one day after he scores the game winning point, he runs over to you.

Before you know it, he’s pulled you into a hug.

“WOO (Y/N), DID YOU SEE THAT?!”

But you don’t reply, because 1) you can’t with your face smushed against man boobies, and 2) this is heaven.

Bokuto’s confused, of course, until he realizes your hands on his thighs.

He only laughs it off, until Komori comes. Behind the libero is a possessive looking Sakusa and a scary Iizuna. Komori’s about to spew some protective comment like, “hands of our manager” but you stop him.

The will to stay in this bear hug is stronger than the boobies giving you an inability to speak. “Let me have this, Komori.”

“Ah, right, you like this kind of stuff.” The libero laughs, slowly nudging Sakusa and Iizuna away. 

“What’s this kind of stuff?”

“You, hot stuff.”

 

Iwaizumi

“Iwa-chan, you’re not gonna leave me for him, righ-?”

“Shut up, Oikawa.”

It starts off subtle, wiping off sweat from his face with the bottom of his shirt and making sure to expose his pecs. Though such a thing works when there’s no other thicc boy in the room.

Then he starts stretching more often, particularly his legs.

Sometimes, on particularly hot days, he rolls his shorts even higher up his thigh.

Slowly, as you start to talk more often, he does the same things while you’re hanging out relatively alone.

“Hajime.” 

“Hm?” He stops his stretching, looking at you curiously. You lick your lips, your gaze looking at his thighs.

“Keep stretching.”

He obeys. His thighs flex and stiffen, the stretching starts getting painful, but he doesn’t stop because he knows you like it. When you press a hand against his thigh, he lets out a low groan.

“Fuck, Hajime.”

Finally, he knows you’re absolutely enamoured with his body.

 

Kageyama

“None of us fit that description.”

“Shut up, boke.”

“I mean...you fit that description?”

Each time he knows his gaze is on you, as he’s in the back line ready to receive a serve, he sticks out his ass just that little bit more. Along with tensing his thighs.

Sometimes he drags Hinata to receive his serves somewhere within your vicinity. When Hinata receives it and sends it back to him, he doesn’t catch it. Instead, he lets it fall so that you can watch him bend over to grab it.

He might even shake his ass a little.

One time, when something accidentally falls out of his hands, you confront him.

“Tobio, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Doing what?” He looks at you through his lashes - up for once, booty out and still bending over. Then he has the audacity to shake his bubble butt.

He smiles when you let out a frustrated groan. “That.”

“I still don’t know what you’re referring to.”

 

Kuroo

“Ha, that sorta fits Kuroo. Wait, Kuroo, are you-?”

“Yes, absolutely, yes.”

You know that extremely flexible receive? Yeah? Expect to see that a lot.

It shows off his ass and thighs and just- umph im such a simp

Unlike most others, he’s much more forward about it than others. He won’t outright say it, granted, but he’ll be more touchy with you.

One second, his arm is wrapped around your shoulder. The next, he’s pulled the back of your head to one of his pecs. 

When your team spots this, they rush over to get him to stop. At the forefront of the group is Iizuna. “Hands off our manager.”

Before you can say anything, Kuroo speaks up, “Last time I checked, (y/n)’s his own person. Besides, he enjoy this, right?”

“Yeah.” You don’t defend yourself from Iizuna, because hell, the captain banter is entertainment.

The two captains glare at each other with their competitive yet polite looks. Eventually, Iizuna falters. He can’t argue with you saying you like it, nor does he have the comebacks in him to talk to the ‘provocative expert’.

 

Atsumu Miya

The twins stare at each other, glaring as they usually do. “Dibs.” Atsumu says, and Osamu can’t deny that. It seems he’s missed out on you.

Just like Kuroo, Atsumu is forward.

He is also impatient, so if you don’t catch on the first few times, he’s just going to blur it out.

And that is exactly what happens.

Each time he tries to get your attention, he fails. A subtle wink sent your way, a flex of his bicep, bending and holding on to his knees after a loss penalty, none of them seem to alert you. They don’t, because he’s dumb and doesn’t think to show off the qualities that you like as much as the qualities that he’s confident in.

Which is why he’s here, in front of you while you take a break on the bleachers.

“Miya-san? Don’t you have a game?” You glance down at the court, seeing the rest of Inarizaki playing. They certainly aren’t at their best without their genius setter.

“I like you.”

Your raised eyebrow only taunts him, “And what brought this upon-”

“I know you like me.” He sits next to you, slinging his thighs over your lap. “Don’t you like these thighs?”

“I guess I do, ‘Tsumu.”

 

Osamu Miya

The twins stare at each other, glaring as they usually do. “Dibs.” Osamu calls. Even if Atsumu grumbles and kicks at the ground because he’s missed the opportunity, he can’t deny the power of dibs.

He’s much better at this than Atsumu is. He’s more patient and has no problem with playing the long game.

However, he doesn’t; because unlike Atsumu, he accentuates his qualities that you like.

He pulls up the bottom of his shirt to wipe his face, rolls up his shorts quite high, and generally does things that always have your eyes on his thighs, pecs, or ass.

He’s taunting you, silently telling you to come to him, so that’s what you do.

The next time you find him panting from a run, ass out and bent over, you confront him. Conveniently enough, he’s away from other people.

You make your presence known by putting a hand half on his ass, half on his thigh.

“Oh, heeey, (y/n).” He gives you an all-knowing look, paired with lazy half lidded eyes.

“You know why I’m here, don’t you, ‘Samu?”

“Obviously.”

 

Ushijima Wakatoshi

“I like thick men, the ones with prominent pecs, thick thighs, and bubble butts.”

Sure, he heard it. Sure, he processed it. But did he think about it afterwards? No. Did he connect the dots? No.

In fact, you’re the one attracted to him.

Ushijima is that one oblivious yet extremely suggestive individual. He does squats after practice, thigh-accentuating stretches, bends over without a single thought, this man is blatantly sexy.

You have to keep yourself from doing anything indecent.

So, it’s quite obvious you like him. Anytime he’s in the room, you’re staring at him. As such, Sakusa takes notice, and boy is he disgusted.

“(y/n), please don’t like him.”

Why? He didn’t want to let you date him, it’d turn you into a reminder of one of his most formidable opponents.

“Sakusa, I can’t help it.”

Welp, he’s doomed.

“(y/n), hey.” You’d never really interacted before you approached him. He noticed that you always looked at him, but he didn’t really think about it, nor did he think about why you did it. There were more important things to focus on.

“I like you.”

“Huh?”

He’s so dense, so oblivious, gosh. Good luck with him.

[tashas-life]

Summer Shenanigans

Paxton and Devi spend the summer together and have a banging playlist

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“Nothing really.”

“I’m outside, let’s go to the beach.”

Devi threw her bag through the back window of Paxton’s jeep and jumped in the front seat.

“Did you bring my suit?” Devi asks as she pulled on her seatbelt. Devi’s mom would never let her wear a bikini so she had to save up her money from working at the summer camp to buy it. She usually hid it at the back of her underwear drawer but since she’d been going swimming with Paxton more days than not, she just kept it in his car.

“Yep, I threw it in the laundry.” Paxton pulled out onto the road and Devi started messing with the music.

Her and Paxton were both working at the same summer camp so they spent most days together. Paxton had spent the last two summers working at the camp and Devi wanted to make her own money so she had applied too. It was also convenient because she always had a ride to work instead of asking her mom or Kamala. Paxton had promised to teach her to drive this summer but she always chickened out whenever he offered.

Devi always insisted on picking the music when they went anywhere and Paxton didn’t mind. She settled on Ariana Grande’s album and turned up the volume as Motive filled the car. Paxton rolled down all the windows and stuck his arm out to feel the breeze. It was one of the hottest days of the summer so Paxton’s shirt was mostly open and Devi had her new sunglasses on. This was the first summer that Devi was making real money and she tended to spend most of it by the time the next pay day had rolled around.

Once they got to the beach Devi jumped in the backseat and Paxton got out to stand guard. Devi was a pro at the quick change at this point and quickly shimmied into her bikini without having to take off her dress completely.

Once Devi hopped out of the backseat, Paxton grabbed the drinks cooler and Devi grabbed their towels and a speaker. Usually the beaches were packed on hot days but Paxton had a special super power of finding an empty part of the beach to spend the day. They found a spot to settle and Devi started applying sunscreen.

“Did you hear Kenny is sick again. Mono.” Paxton said with an eye roll and Devi groaned.

“You think he’s going to be out all week again? Taylor should just fire him and hire someone else at this point.” Devi tossed Paxton the sunscreen and laid down on her towel.

“Yea right, Taylor probably gave him the mono. He’ll never fire him.” Devi laughed and closed her eyes.

“I don’t even understand how they find the time to mack. Those kids never stop.” Devi said.

“Yea well, next week they’re going to be our problem again.” Usually each camp leader had about 5-10 kids to watch but with Kenny constantly gone they always ended up with more kids.

“Honestly, fuck Kenny.” Devi grumbled and Paxton nodded. “Did you see Eleanor’s insta post? Her and Trent are like embarrassingly in love.” Devi asked as she pulled out her phone to show him a boomerang of them kissing on some hike.

“I think it’s cute.” Paxton grinned as Devi made a vomiting face. “I invited them to come today but apparently they would rather be aloneeee.”

“That’s so nasty.” Devi said and Paxton laughed.

“I’m going in, you coming?” Paxton asked but Devi shook her head.

“Nah man, I’m working on my tan.” Devi said but really she just preferred laying on the sand and watching the water than actually being in it.

“Your loss.” Paxton replied, shoving her as he got up to go swimming.

……

“Okay, the thing is that I just don’t think I’m coordinated enough for this.” Devi said as she stood on Paxton’s skateboard. She felt a little embarrassed at how wobbly she was and that she was wearing her bike helmet that she got when she was ten. Paxton had his car door open and Lizzo’s album was playing. Juice blasted into the street and Devi knew people would complain soon.

“I’m literally holding on to you. You can’t fall.” Paxton said as he led her down the road.

“I feel like I could still fall.” Devi said as she started tipping back and Paxton’s grip tightened as he pulled her forward.

“I won’t let you fall Devi. Would you just trust me for once?” He asked playfully annoyed.

“Shut up, I literally trust you all the time.”

“You shut up.” Paxton countered.

“Wow, real mature.” Devi replied sarcastically.

Devi was too busy arguing to notice them start to go faster. Of course that is until she did notice. Then she was falling again and she was falling fast. Paxton managed to grab her before she fell on her face and swung her off the skateboard. Devi held onto Paxton as the skateboard started rolling down the street without them. They looked at each other and immediately started laughing.

“I think you might be right about the coordination thing.” Paxton said and Devi shoved him away from her.

“Or maybe you’re a bad teacher.” She grinned at his shocked face as she ran to grab the skateboard.

“I’m never teaching you anything ever again” he retaliated.

“Come over here and help me loser.” Paxton crossed his arm in defiance.

“Tell me I’m a good teacher.”

“Stop being a baby.”

“Wooooow, even more insults. Bad teacher and a baby.”

“Fine, you’re a good teacher. Now let’s get on with this.” Devi said as she started to get on the skateboard again.

“Thank you.” Paxton replied satisfied. He grinned and went to help her again.

……..

Usually, they were separated during their days at camp since each group rotated through activities but on Fridays all of the kids got to go to the community pool. Those were obviously Paxton’s favourite days because he got to hang out with Devi but he also loved getting to teach some of the kids how to swim.

Usually, Paxton stayed in the shallow end with the younger kids and Devi sat at the deep end with the older kids. Vacation by Dirty Heads was playing over the pool speakers and Devi had her legs in the water as she chatted with some kids.

“Yea, high school kind of sucks. What you gotta do is find a popular kid and force them to be your friend.” Devi told some kids who were going to be freshmen in the fall.

“That’s terrible advice.” Paxton laughed as he came to stand next to her in the pool. He had switched with Kenny who was now watching the younger kids. They had given up on learning to swim and were mostly just playing and splashing water at Kenny.

“Really? You got anything better?” Devi asked crossing her arms.

“Yes. Find something that makes you excited to go to school, for me that was swimming, for D it was being my best friend. And also don’t give a shit about what other people think of you.” Paxton told the kids and Devi kicked his arm. “Oh shit, I mean just don’t care what other people think.”

“I meant the best friend thing.” Devi rolled her eyes.

“You were literally obsessed-“ before Paxton could finish Devi had jumped in and shoved Paxton’s head underwater.

Paxton managed to push Devi away from him and had his arm out separating them.

“Hey, you better stop or your top is going to fall off again.” Paxton laughed and Devi’s face started burning up. Yes, the bikini was cute but it wasn’t the most reliable bathing suit she had. Rough housing had led to a very embarrassing incident that Devi was trying to forget.

“I’m going to kill you.” Devi lunged at him and Paxton managed to grab her arms.

“Hey anger issues, chill out.” Paxton said with a grin. Devi managed to pull her arms away and splashed Paxton.

“Go do your job loser!” Devi yelled as she turned to go back to her post.

……

Devi swung the door open and was surprised to see Paxton. Usually he just texted her when he got to her house.

“Let’s go for a drive.” Paxton said as he held up his car keys.

“Okayyy.” Devi said as she grabbed her backpack from the door.

“Here ya go.” He said as he tossed the keys to her. She just about dropped them and didn’t move from her front door.

“Naaaa, I don’t think today’s the day.” Devi said nervously. She had failed her drivers test last month because she hadn’t practiced enough. It was the first time she hadn’t prepared and it was also the first time she had failed a test.

“Come on D, your test is in a few weeks and don’t you want to have your licence by the time school starts?” Paxton asked as he opened the drivers side door. He motioned for her to get in and she groaned before going to the car.

It wasn’t legal for Paxton to teach her how to drive but her only other option was her mother which hadn’t worked out. Devi was pretty sure she failed her test because driving with her mom had made her so anxious that getting behind the wheel made her want to throw up even when her mom wasn’t around. She had even done drivers ed but that apparently wasn’t enough because she still failed.

“Are you sure? What if I scratch your car or something?” Devi asked as they both got in the car.

“Then I’ll literally kill you, so don’t scratch my baby.” Paxton said as he gently caressed his dash.

“That’s not really helpful.” Devi muttered as she nervously changed the seat settings.

“We’ll go to the school parking lot. It’s just down the street and the lot will be empty.” Devi nodded as she turned the car on. She kept her foot on the brakes as she looked at Paxton desperately.

“Listen to Tai, you’re going to be A-O-K.” Paxton said as he turned up the music. “Also, don’t forget to signal, you lost so many points for that.”

Paxton didn’t look nervous at all which made Devi feel a little bit better. If he could be confident in her driving skills than so could she. Devi signalled and did a very exaggerated shoulder check before she pulled onto the road. There were no cars around the whole way to the school so the only thing she had to deal with were some stop signs and one set of lights. She totally could do this.

Devi’s whole body relaxed once they pulled into the parking lot and she didn’t have to worry about hitting things or people anymore.

“That was pretty good actually. How did you fail?” Paxton asked.

“Probably because I suck at driving?” Devi told him as she put the car in park.

“Shut up, you had issues with the parallel park right?” Paxton asked as he got out of the car.

“What are you doing?” Devi asked as he closed the door.

“Im going to teach you how to parallel park.” Paxton grinned sticking his head through the window.

Devi waited as he grabbed stuff from out of his trunk. A bin full of blankets and an empty cooler he had forgotten about. He set them up as pretend cars and he went to the drivers side.

“Okay, line yourself up.” Paxton said as Devi slowly moved the car so the bin of blankets was lined up with the back of the jeep.

Paxton gave her instructions and ran around indicating for her how far to back up and how much to turn the wheel and eventually she got into the spot.

“I don’t think they’re going to let you guide me into a spot on the test.” Devi said annoyed that it took so long.

“You just gotta keep practicing, eventually it’ll just be second nature.” Paxton said as he got back in the car. “Pull out and this time I’m not going to help you.” Paxton said as she groaned.

“I hate this.” Devi said getting frustrated.

“You won’t hate this once you can drive yourself anywhere you want. Now start moving before I force you to practice highway driving.” Paxton said as he relaxed into his seat.

Devi wanted to hit him and get angry but she knew he was her only hope of passing her test in a month so she contained herself and kept practicing.

When the day of Devi’s test came around she felt pretty confident she was going to fail again. Paxton had given her a pep talk before he left her house the night before but it hadn’t helped with her nerves.

“You got this, okay? Just make sure you signal, and don’t forget the emergency brake when you do the hill park.” He told her as he held her shoulders. “By this time tomorrow, you’re going to be fully licensed because you’re a great driver.”

Devi was just as shocked as her mother when she pulled into the DMV and had almost no deductions on her test. Nalini didn’t know about Paxton teaching her to drive but she managed to convince her that is was because the tester was a lot nicer than the last one. She had smiled the entire time she got her new license and had raced back to the car. She knew Paxton would be waiting for her at her house and she was beyond excited to tell him that his methods had actually worked.

Paxton was leaning on his car checking his phone when they got home. She had to stop herself from running to Paxton to tell him the good news. She got out of the car and Nalini kissed her head before going into the house.

“How’d it go?” He asked as she crossed her arms and pretended to look disappointed.

“I passed babyyy!” She screamed as she whipped out her temporary license.

“I fucking knew it! You never trust me.” Paxton grabbed her and spun her around.

“Where do you wanna go? I’m driving.” Devi said and Paxton laughed as he got in the passenger seat.

…..

“Can you spot me ten bucks?” Devi asked as she searched through her backpack for some money.

“You have literally worked all summer, how are you always broke?” Paxton muttered as he pulled out some change from his console.

“I just don’t have any cash on me.”

Paxton gave her a handful of change and Devi looked at him annoyed.

“Quarters? Really?” Devi struggled to hold all the coins and Paxton shrugged.

“Take it or leave it, but if you want boba I suggest you take it.” Paxton grinned and Devi rolled her eyes as she realized she couldn’t open the door holding all the change.

Paxton laughed as he leaned over to open the door for her. “Get me a milk tea.” He said as she hopped out of the car.

“If I even make it there without any hands.” She grumbled.

By the time she got back with their drinks, Paxton had all the windows down blasting Young Dumb & Broke by Khalid.

“Really?!” She had to scream for him to hear her over the music. He lip synced to the lyrics as he pointed to her and dramatically danced to the music. “You’re so annoying!” She screamed as he took a big sip of his tea. He pointed at the drink as if to say that it tastes good and gave her the ok sign with his fingers. Devi just rolled her eyes and sipped on her mango slush. She guessed it was worth the embarrassing amount of quarters she gave to the cashier and having to listen to Paxton call her dumb and broke.

“Are you going to make it to Trent’s this weekend? Last party of the summer.” Paxton asked as he turned the music down.

“Have you met my mother? She’s not going to let me go to Trent’s house for a party.” Devi replied looking through Paxton’s Spotify.

“Since when do you tell your mom about going to parties?” Paxton asked snorting.

“I’m trying to turn over a new leaf this year. No more lying, especially to my mom.” She said as she put on Savage by Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé.

“What if she knew I was taking you?” Paxton knew the party would suck without Devi there.

“Yeaaaaa, my mom might like you now but not that much.”

“Come on D, it’s the last party of the summer. You have to go!” Paxton pouted as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“Fine, fine, I’ll figure out a way to go out but there’s no way she’ll let me stay out past 11.” Paxton smiled at her and agreed to be DD so he could get her home by 11.

By the time the weekend rolled around, Nalini didn’t even seem bothered by Devi leaving. Her and Kamala had been going crazy planning her wedding and Devi tended to be unhelpful in that area. She was only good for the grunt work, which she was sure there would be a lot of once it got closer to the day.

All she had to say was that she was going to Eleanor’s house for a back to school hangout and Nalini quickly agreed to get her out of the house. Technically she wasn’t lying because they had to pick up Eleanor at her house and they were having a back to school hangout. It was just a hangout with most of the school and alcohol.

Devi acted as casual as possible as she closed the front door but she sprinted as soon as the door closed. She didn’t want to risk her mom seeing her actually getting in Paxton’s car instead of Fabiola’s. Devi had been asking her mom for a car for weeks but still nothing. Her mom was convinced that she should have enough money saved since she had a summer job but summer camps didn’t exactly pay top dollar and Devi was pretty irresponsible with her money this summer. She figured she had two more summers to hustle before she went to Princeton.

“You look so pretty in that dress.” Paxton said as soon as she got in the car.

Devi blushed and couldn’t control her smile. “Shut up loser.”

Paxton smiled back at her as they went to pick up Eleanor and Fabiola.

Trent’s house was packed full of people but he was standing at the door waiting for Eleanor. He hugged her tightly and dragged her off to the back of the house.

Paxton went to grab them some drinks and handed Devi and Fabiola beers. “Bread soda.”

Devi rolled her eyes and shoved him away. Fabiola had learned a long time to ignore their inside jokes and she wandered off.

Paxton was always treated like a god at parties and everyone wanted their time with him. Paxton gave people his typical cool guy head nod and pulled Devi outside where it was less crowded.

“So, you excited for school to start?” Paxton asked and Devi looked confused.

“Sure, I guess.” Paxton looked nervous which made Devi more confused. “Why are you making weird small talk?”

“I just guess this is the last time we’re hanging out before school starts.” Devi’s confusion became anger very quickly.

“What is that supposed to mean? Like things are going to change when school starts?” Devi questioned starting to get upset.

“No, chill Devi. I mean I do want things to change but not the way you think.” Now Devi was back to confused.

Paxton looked frustrated and looked around them. No one was around or paying attention to them. Paxton turned back to Devi and got way closer to her than she was used to. Kiss Me More by Doja Cat and SZA was playing in the house but it sounded far away.

He touched her cheek and lifted her mouth to his. “Is this okay?” He asked nervously.

Instead of answering Devi pushed her lips against his. Paxton smiled against her and pulled her tight to him.

……

“You want me to pick you up tomorrow?” Paxton texted and Devi smiled when she saw the message.

“Sure, if you don’t mind.” She replied quickly.

“No worries, we’re both going to the same place. Better for the environment and all that”

“I’ll make a driving playlist.” He sent back a smiley face and an ok hand.

Devi couldn’t wait for tomorrow. This was going to be the best summer of her life.

[whatisthiswritingthing]

(Prequal) When in Houston - Alex Morgan x Reader

Prequal to When in Houston

It’s a little long, little angsty, lots of feels. #allll the feels 

Y/N was different when she came to Orlando. Alex had been friends with the woman for years, they had played together on the national. When Y/N came to Orlando had been she was quiet, withdrawn, nothing like her typical demeanour. Alex had started to notice something was different about Y/N at a couple of the previous national camps and when Pride played in Houston.

At camp she was constantly on her phone, whereas she used to hardly ever be on her phone when with other people. Y/N used to always like to be around the rest of the team and while she never initiated much physical contact, she never shied away; now she pulled away, flinching almost when people got too close. When Pride played in Orlando, Y/N was off the field and out of the stadium before anyone even knew she was gone.

Suddenly Y/N was being traded to Orlando. The season had ended, Dash being knocked out in the first round of play offs, two days later it was announced Y/N would be moving to Orlando next season. The deal happening fast, Orlando hardly paying anything for Y/N.

No one knew any details about it, Orlando more than happy to pick up the defender. The other national team players excited to see their friend more. Y/N was just looking forward to not being in Houston.

Alex did her best to draw the defender into the team, make her feel welcome, Y/N cautiously accepted invites when preseason started. Y/N was always on edge around the team, never fully relaxing or being her true self. She hid it well, deflecting easily, redirecting conversation and focus off her. Anyone who just met Y/N wouldn’t see the difference, but Alex knew better.

It had taken a month before Y/N accepted Alex’s invitation to come for supper at her house with Ali, Ashlyn, and Emily; only agreeing because it was friends she was familiar with from the national team.

Y/N had arrived early to Alex’s house, immediately apologizing for arriving too early, offering to leave and come back. Alex had quickly reassured Y/N it was alright, inviting her in. The other three women arrived before Y/N had a chance to overthink it too much.

The night had been great, the other women bringing out a relaxed side in Y/N they all hadn’t seen in a while. Dinner had been fun, Sonnett and Y/N bantering and joking around. They all worked together to clean the kitchen, Ashlyn had jokingly snapped a towel at Sonnett who squealed, shooting away into Ali, the two knocking into the counter, a few plates crashing into the sink.

Y/N stood frozen in the dinning room at the loud sound, the three in the kitchen were unaware of the reaction their action caused. Alex however was who was next to Y/N while she froze.

“You alright Y/N?” Alex asked gently, placed a gentle hand on Y/N’s arm.

Y/N flinched out of her stupor, pulling away from Alex.

“Yea, all good,” Y/N tried to force a smile, it coming out like more of a grimace.

“Y/N,” Alex started, trailing off when the defender sharply looked down as the three women in the kitchen let out loud yells of laughter. “Hey, it’s alright, it’s just the girls in the kitchen.”

Y/N nodded, keeping her eyes focused down, trying to force herself to relax.

The rest of the night, Y/N remained on edge, sitting as far away as she could during the movie.

Everyone noticed the shift in her mood, no one understanding why though.

As soon as the movie ended, Y/N made her exit, thanking Alex for hosting and dinner. The other three followed her to leave as well, each going to exchange hugs at the door. Y/N immediately shying away from the contact.

The four made their way out, Y/N hesitating so the other three could walk in front of her.

Alex called Y/N back before she could fully leave the house.

“Hey, could we talk for a second?” Alex started tentatively when Y/N turned back around.

Y/N looked nervous at the question.

“It’s alright Y/N, you don’t have to say anything, I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Yea, all good,” Y/N nodded definitively, eyes focused on the ground.

“What happened after Y/N?” Alex asked softly.

“It’s nothing, just startled me a little bit.”

“That wasn’t a little bit startled Y/N.”

“Yea, I guess you could say that. I’m sorry I reacted like that, I didn’t mean to ruin the night,” Y/N tried to apologize.

Alex reached forward place her hands on Y/N’s arms, the woman flinching and tensing.

“I’m sorry Y/N,” Alex held her hands up, palms open, not making a move to touch Y/N again.

“No Alex, I’m sorry,” Y/N shook her head, ashamed at her reaction.

“Y/N you don’t need to apologize, I shouldn’t have tried to touch you without asking,” Alex assured her. “I just want to make sure you’re alright, I’m here for anything you need.”

Y/N kept her head down, glancing up at Alex, opening her mouth to say something, only to close it and look down.

“Can I come closer to you?” Alex asked softly, at Y/N’s nod, she slowly stepped forward until she was less than an arms length away. “You can say whatever you want Y/N/N.”

Y/N stood fidgeting, shifting her weight back and forth on her feet.

“Could I,” Y/N started, glancing up, only to quickly look down, cutting herself off. “Could I have a hug?” she finished softly. “never mind, that was dumb to ask, I shouldn’t have asked. I am sorry.”

Y/N shook her head, taking half a step back from Alex.

Alex followed with a half step forward.

“You don’t have to apologize for asking for a hug, you don’t even need to ask for one,” Alex said softly, but confidently. “you can absolutely have a hug Y/N.”

Y/N let a deep sigh, dropping her shoulders away from her ears.

“I’m going to hug you now Y/N,” Alex told her assertively, taking a slow step towards Y/N, giving her the chance to stop if she wanted.

Alex closed the distance slowly, gently wrapping her arms around the younger woman. Y/N initially tensed in the grasp, Alex kept her arms around her, loosening slightly to allow Y/N the chance to pull away; Y/N pulled herself closer to Alex.

The two women remained attached for a second before Y/N gripped Alex tighter, burrowing her own nose into Alex’s neck. Alex could feel the large breath Y/N released against her neck, along with the shaky intake. Alex continued to hold Y/N in her arms, rubbing her palm up and down her back. Y/N tightened her grip more, grasping her shirt tightly in both hands.

Y/N began to pull away, keeping her hands in Alex’s shirt.

“I’m not done yet,” Alex whispered, pulling her back in. “You are amazing Y/N, you don’t need to be alone through whatever this is.”

Alex felt Y/N tense in her arms again, before she felt the quick intake of breath and the shuddering breath exhaled, followed by the heat of tears against her neck.

“It’s alright Y/N,” Alex soothed, “let it out.”

Y/N continued to quietly cry into Alex’s neck for a minute, before abruptly pulling fully out of her arms.

“I’m sorry Alex, that was uncalled for,” Y/N said, frantically wiping at her tears. “I am so sorry Alex; it won’t happen again.”

“Hey, no,” Alex took a step back into Y/N’s space, causing her to step back while she continued to shake her head. “You have nothing to apologize for Y/N, nothing,” She stated firmly.

“No, I shouldn’t have done that, I am incredibly sorry,” Y/N tried to argue.

“I’m going to touch your arms,” Alex told her assertively, reaching forward to grip both Y/N’s hands. “You do not need to apologize; I am here for you. Why don’t we go inside and talk?”

Y/N allowed Alex to hold her hands, when Y/N didn’t say anything, Alex began to gently tug her toward the living room.

“Do you want to sit down?” Alex asked when they made it to the living room.

Y/N nodded and let Alex pull her to the couch, the two sitting next to each other. Alex placed noticeable distance between the two, keeping their hands together, gently rubbing her thumb along the back of Y/N’s knuckles.

“I really am sorry about that Alex,” Y/N motioned vaguely to the door with her other hand.

“Y/N, you don’t have to apologize for anything,” Alex reminded her again.

“I didn’t have the best time in Houston, that’s why I demanded the trade, I needed to be out of there,” Y/N began softly, almost like she was talking to herself.

Alex sat quietly, letting Y/N gather her thoughts about what to say. Y/N took a deep breath, holding it for a second before slowly letting it out. Alex squeezed her hand, Y/N took a quick glance to Alex before glancing away.

“I was dating someone,” she took another deep breath, “It um, it wasn’t a good relationship, I guess. It just took a little while to figure it out. Like two years a while,” Y/N gave a self-deprecating laugh.

“Things kind of just slowly got worse, or they always were and I just didn’t notice,” Y/N shrugged.

“What made you leave Houston?” Alex asked softly when Y/N hesitated to continue.

“We lost in the play offs,” Y/N replied flippantly.

“You requested a trade because you lost?” Alex asked, confused at the change.

“Unofficially I guess,” Y/N kept looking at their connected hands, fidgeting with their connected fingers. “We lost because of me that night. Phelyica was mad that we played that night and that if we won, we would be gone the next weekend, so we fought the night before.”

“You lost because you fought?” Alex wasn’t quite following how a fight could cause the skill soccer player to lose.

“Um physically fought,” Y/N said shyly, embarrassed by the admission. “She, um, she, Phelycia got a little rough sometimes, lots of the time. So, I was a little sore the next day.”

“Sore?” Alex asked, not really wanting to know the clarification was.

Y/N nodded, refusing to look up at Alex.

“Couple cracked ribs were the worst, bruises through out at best,” Y/N tried to shrug it off.

“Y/N,” Alex said her name with such surprise, she opened her mouth, closing it right away, not knowing what to say.

“I demanded a trade the next day, refusing to stay in Houston. If I didn’t get a trade here, I was going to go to Europe, anywhere that would take me. I ended things the day I left.”

“You are safe here Y/N. No one will hurt you here, and if they try, they will have to go through me and several other people here,” Alex squeezed Y/N’s hand again

Y/N let out a small laugh.

“Can I hug you Y/N?”

Y/N nodded her head. Alex released their joined hands, sliding her hand across Y/N’s shoulders, pulling her into her side, Y/N shifted so she could turn her body in. Alex brought her other arm up to fully squeeze Y/N in, leaning them both back onto the couch. They both shifted together, Y/N resting her weight on Alex, Alex keeping her arms wrapped protectively around the young defender.

“Thank you for sharing this with me Y/N,” Alex whispered into Y/N’s hair.

“Thank you for making me feel safe,” Y/N whispered back.

Alex took a sharp intake of air, not quite knowing what to say to that. No one had ever called her ‘safe’.

Misinterpreting Alex’s reaction, Y/N began to pull away, apologizing.

“No, no, no Y/N,” Alex pulled her back down, “no one has ever called me safe before, I didn’t know what to say.”

Y/N kept herself propped, looking down at Alex, making sure she was really alright with everything she had said during the night.

Alex slowly reached her hand up to Y/N’s face, resting it on her palm, rubbing her thumb along Y/N’s cheek bone.

“I promise Y/N,” she said softly.

Y/N nodded, accepting the answer and lowering herself back down to Alex’s chest. The two women remained silent, just enjoying the new development between in their relationship. Both could feel the shift in their dynamic. Alex continued to slowly rub her hand up and down Y/N’s back, occasionally pushing her fingers into the tense muscles along her shoulder blades.

For the next couple weeks, Alex and Y/N gradually grew closer. Alex was cautious around the young defender, paying close attention to her reactions, aware of actions that seemed to cause her adverse reactions. Y/N did her best to control her reactions, knowing Alex wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. Alex learned Y/N was ok with physical contact but reacted best if she was given warning prior.

The two spent most evenings together, taking turns to cook dinner. After Y/N had admitted Alex made her feel safe, Alex did everything she could to live up to the expectation. She made sure to reassure Y/N for any insecurities she had, working to slowly repair previous damage done. Alex had accepted her feelings for the younger soccer player, but knew she needed to take her time and make sure the other woman would be ready.

Tonight the couple was laying on the couch, sometimes they would cuddle, but it generally took some time before Y/N would slowly make her way close to Alex and they would ease in laying on the couch together. Y/N kept a firm grasp on Alex’s shirt, Alex had her arms around the smaller woman.

“Thank you, Alex,” Y/N whispered out of nowhere.

“For what Y/N?”

Y/N leaned on her elbow over Alex.

“For being so good to me, and patient, and supportive,” Y/N began to ramble, her brows furrowing.

Alex brought her hand up to Y/N’s cheek, similarly to how she had the night Y/N opened up to her, caressing her thumb on her cheek.

“I would do anything for you Y/N,” Alex said softly, eyes flashing to Y/N’s lips, thumb following and rubbing along her top lip.

Y/N slowly leaned down slightly; Alex could feel how tense the other woman was. She shifted her hand to the back of Y/N’s neck.

“I would really like to kiss you Y/N, but only if you want to.”

“Yes,” Y/N’s cracked slightly, leaning forward a little more, still tentative.

Alex pushed herself up, gently bringing their lips together. The kiss only lasted a brief second. The forward slowly pulled away, laying her head back on the couch, giving Y/N space.

Y/N opened her eyes, looking down at Alex.

“Was that alright?” Y/N asked worried, unused to the consideration the other woman was showing towards her.

Alex placed her hand on Y/N’s tricep, “more than alright, Y/N.”

Y/N leaned down, initiating another kiss, which Alex quickly reciprocated. Alex tried to keep it simple, not wanting to push the younger woman. Y/N was pushing herself though, trailing kisses along Alex’s neck, nipping lightly, scraping her teeth on the flexed tendon of her throat. Alex let out a gasp at the motion, beginning to lose herself at the sensations.

Y/N slipped her hand Alex’s shirt, Alex missed the shaking of the hand as it trailed up or the shaking arm propped next to her head. Instinctively, Alex gripped the back Y/N’s pulling her back into a rough kiss. Her other hand harshly pulling Y/N’s hips into her. Y/N immediately froze, her entire body going rigid. Alex noticed as soon as it happened, quickly pulling both hands off, pulling her head away to look at Y/N.

Y/N shook her head, refusing to look at Alex, leaning down to try and kiss her again.

“Y/N,” Alex pulled away, placing an open palm to her chest, stopping her from leaning in again.

Y/N harshly pulled away.

“I’m sorry Alex, was it is bad? I’m sorry, tell me what you want, I’ll do it,” Y/N rambled, attempting to lean down again, only to be stopped by the firm pressure on her chest.

Alex used her other hand to extract Y/N’s from under her shirt; she could feel how much the other woman was shaking above her.

“Hey, you don’t have to apologize. What happened?” Alex asked softly, she scratched her fingers along Y/N’s collar bones.

“Nothing, its fine, let me make you feel good,” Y/N tried to lean down again, stopped again by Alex’s palm.

“Make me feel good? Y/N/N I don’t want to have sex with you,” Alex started softly.

“Oh, I read this all wrong. Fuck, Alex I am sorry.”

Y/N began to try and scramble off the brunette. Only for Alex to grip both her arms and keep her on top of her. She slid so she was sitting, fully facing Y/N.

“I meant, I’m not pushing you to have sex, we will when you are ready. Because that reaction clearly shows you aren’t ready,” Alex dipped her head to try and find Y/N’s eyes. “When we do, it’s going to be because we both want to and both of us feel good.”

“Oh,” Y/N didn’t know what else to say, she was so confused, that wasn’t how it was with Phelycia. Y/N was there to make her feel good.

Alex soothed her furrowed brows with the back of her knuckle.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Alex tapped the spaced between Y/N’s eyebrows.

“A kiss was never just a kiss,” Y/N tried to explain as simply as she could, really not wanting to expand.

Alex slowly nodded; she could connect the dots on her own.  

“I promise you Y/N a kiss can be just a kiss now. I will never do anything you don’t want to do,” Alex said with conviction.

Y/N just nodded, the tension slowly leaving her body. Alex lowered herself back to couch, opening her arms to invite Y/N to lean down again.

Y/N slowing rested her head back on Alex’s chest.

“I’m sorry I ruined tonight.”

“I got to kiss you for the first time, nothing could ruin that. Can I wrap my arms back around you?” Alex asked, making good on her earlier promise already.

Feeling Y/N nod against her, Alex brought her arms back around Y/N.

“Thank you, Alex,” Y/N whispered, turning her head so her kips brushed Alex’s neck as she spoke.

“You don’t need to thank me Y/N, I will do everything I can to show you what a relationship should feel like. I will never intentionally hurt you or do anything you don’t want to do, and you never have to do anything you aren’t comfortable with.”

“Thank you,” she whispered again, Alex could feel the hot water of tears hitting her neck.

“Thank you for trusting me Y/N.”

[johannstutt413]

(requested by mathmaticalknight)

A lot of people underestimated Ceobe’s intelligence. It wasn’t their fault, per se - after all, as far as books went, the Perro was sitting firmly in the “why read?” camp - but it gave her an advantage when it came to certain things. For example, when Gummy was telling their new kitchen helper Jaye the code for the kitchen door, they didn’t expect her to know the numbers, or to have studied the guard rotation long enough to know that when the clock said 2125 there’d be no one watching it until 445, meaning she had a whole...lot of time to open cans and eat the delicious secrets inside of them. She wasn’t sure how many cans she’d find, so a lot of time to eat them was good, and as long as she didn’t eat too many at a time, they probably wouldn’t figure it out.

So, one night, at 2200, Ceobe slinked through the dark cafeteria and over to the kitchen entrance...but something was off: the door was propped open by a knife. Ceobe liked knives, so she picked it up as she headed inside- and found another person. “Eh?” She gasped as the door closed behind her.

“Eh?” Cutter replied as the door closed behind the kitchen’s second intruder. “Kay?”

“Cutter? You snuck in, too?” The Perro’s eyes were locked on the Vulpo’s.

She nodded. “The door was open, so I took my chance. Can I have my knife back?”

“Oh. Okay.” It was a nice knife, but it was Cutter’s, so she reluctantly returned it. “Are you cooking food?”

“I hope so. I found a recipe I wanted to make.” The Vulpo showed her a piece of paper; the words on it meant nothing to her, of course.

The picture of a honey cake, however, was plain as day. “Ooh. Honey cakes are my favorite...sometimes. We’ll see about yours.”

“You’ll try them for me?” The would-be chef felt a surge of confidence. “Alright, I’ll do my best. Thank you, Kay.”

“Sure! I’m gonna go open some cans.” With that, the Perro made her way to the pantry, giggling to herself. This was going to be a good night…

---------

About two and a half hours later, Ceobe emerged from the pantry mostly unchanged except for a few stains around her brightly-grinning mouth. “That was fun! I wonder if- Cutter?!”

“Mmmm...” The Vulpo was leaning against the counter, head in her hands. “Kay?...Sorry.”

“Sorry?” The Perro walked over to stand by her, and from her new vantage point she could easily see the problem: a pan of uncooked honey cakes broken on the counter.

The would-be chef sniffled, wiping her eyes. “I tried, but I broke it like last time, and I don’t have the money to pay for it right now...”

“Oh, Cutter...” Ceobe patted her on the back. “It’s okay.”

“But I only get to do this every few weeks, and I don’t get any better.”

The Perro looked at the door, then at the sad Vulpo, and knew what she could do. “I know the code for the door.”

“You do?” Cutter sniffled again before looking her in the eye. “You mean...”

“We’ll sneak in together; you can try cooking again, and I can open more delicious cans. It’s a win-win!”

Her friend smiled, but then she looked at her failed pan and sighed. “No, as much as I want to, I shouldn’t. I’ll keep breaking things, and I need money for food still.”

“You do?” That was the first Ceobe was hearing this. “I have a plastic rectangle for that.”

“They put your money on that card,” the Vulpo explained, feeling down again.

The can opener took out her food-card, looked at it carefully, and handed it to Cutter. “I can pay for what you break.”

“No, Kay, I can’t-” But she wasn’t given the choice, as the Perro grabbed her hand and put the card in it. “Kay, seriously-”

“If I can get cans from here, I don’t need to buy as much food. You use that money to learn to cook. Easy!” The smile on her face was hard to argue with.

But argue with it Cutter did as she put it on the counter. “No. I have to pay for what I break myself.”

“Hmm...Okay, then.” Ceobe took the tray, moved the uncooked biscuit dough back into the mixing bowl it’d come from, flipped it over so she could see the cracks, and nodded. “I’ll fix it.”

“You will? You can?”

The Perro pulled out one of her Really Hot Knives and slid it along the pan’s bottom; the cracked metal mended as the heat blended it back into one pan. When no cracks could be seen, the repair-woman blew on it to cool it down and nodded to herself. “All fixed.”

“Wow.” The Vulpo blinked. “How do I pay you back?”

“Make the honey cakes,” she replied, obviously.

Cutter nodded. “Okay, then. All I had to do was put the dough in the pan, and then put the pan in the oven. I can do this.”

“Mmhmm!” Ceobe hopped onto a stove behind her. “You can do it!”

“I can do it!” The would-be chef returned the dough to the pan, opened the oven door, and put the pan in. “Okay, now we wait.”

Her friend cocked her head. “We wait?”

“Mmhmm. The directions say we wait fifteen minutes while it cooks.” The Vulpo leaned against the stove Ceobe was sitting on...and accidentally turned on the burner beneath her.

“Ah!” The Perro hopped to the floor, swatting the dial to turn it back off. “Hot!”

Cutter cringed. “Sorry. That didn’t hurt too much, did it?”

“No, it was just hot. I’m fine.”

“Good.” She sighed. “You’re not mad?”

Ceobe shook her head. “I get burned watching Vulcan all the time. It’s fine!”

“Okay.” Now fully out of words to say, the chef settled against the stove - away from the dials this time - to wait for the fifteen minutes to pass.

“...Fifteen minutes, like, big one and little five?” Her friend nodded. “Oh. What are we gonna do now?”

The Vulpo shrugged. “Wait?”

“That’s kinda boring, though.” The Perro started looking around the room for something to keep her interest, eventually landing on the knives Cutter had with her.

“Hmm?” She followed Ceobe’s gaze. “You want to look at my knives?”

The weapon hoarder nodded. “They look cool. I wanna know their story.”

“Oh. I can tell you that.”

“Yes and no.” She pointed at the bandolier. “Not the same way.”

That didn’t make a lot of sense, but the chef wasn’t exactly straightforward herself. She handed her friend a knife. “Here you go.”

“Thank y-” Within seconds of touching it, Ceobe was no longer on the same plane of existence.

“Kay?” On the outside, it was like she’d just frozen in place. “You okay?”

The Perro shook herself back to reality a few seconds later. “Cutter?”

“Yeah?” The Vulpo was watching her closely, making sure she was okay.

“Um...” She set the knife on the counter and wrapped her arms around the mercenary. “It’s okay.”

Cutter blinked a few times. “Kay, I-”

“Shhh. It’s okay.” Ceobe started stroking her hair gently.

“...Okay.” Not that she was feeling bad about anything at the moment, but as it turned out, her friend was nice to hug.

About fifteen minutes later, the air sufficiently awkward from all that’d happened that evening, the biscuits were baked and cool enough to eat. The Vulpo handed the Perro a kitchen knife, since her own knives seemed to trigger something. “Here. You can cut them.”

“Sure.” She slashed the knife through, cutting the biscuit block into two equal triangles, then again the opposite way to make them easier to pick up. “Two for each of us.”

“Oh, I’m not hungry,” Cutter admitted.

The taster shook her head. “You should try one still.”

“Alright.” The chef picked one up and took a bite. “...Hmm.”

“Does it taste good?”

The Vulpo shrugged. “I don’t know; I don’t have taste buds.”

“Oh.” Ceobe hadn’t heard of someone not being able to taste. Well, it looked like she’d have to figure it out. “...These aren’t honey cakes, but they’re good.”

“They are?” Cutter sighed in relief.

The Perro nodded. “Yup, they’re good. Let’s take them home.”

“You can have them.” The chef put the other dishes in the sink. “I can’t taste them, after all.”

“Okay...” Her ears drooped as she picked up the tray and walked towards the door.

No, she couldn’t let her leave sad like that. “Kay? What’s wrong?”

“I want to go home with you.” The Perro pointed at the clock. “Vulcan won’t let me back in this late.”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s fine. Let’s go.” Cutter hit the ‘wash’ button on the sink and walked towards the door.

Ceobe smiled. “Yay. Thank you, Cuddler.”

“Cutter.” The Vulpo chuckled. “I’m not a good cuddler.”

“That’s okay. Vulcan says I am.”

...The now-chef wasn’t sure what to do with that information entirely, but she suspected her friend would help her figure it out once they were back at her room.

[sleepysunasimp]

6 - Drawing Lots

A/N: Hi, so sorry for the lack of updates so here's one earlier! I will be exploring a lot with other schools too so look forward to it ^^

Kiyoko had left you in charge of tomorrow’s itinerary since she was busy helping the other managers at the dining hall but there were enough hands, thus that was why you were alone in the managers’ room. You were having a little struggle with the work given since you had never done it before so Daichis’s text felt like a huge relief to you to step away from your current work.

Grabbing a jacket from your futon, you hurried out of the door. You struggled with your sneakers as you held onto the door that you didn’t notice someone passing by, causing you to lose your grip on the door knob.

“Woah!” Someone caught you right before you plummeted to the ground. You could feel your heart froze at that moment because you obviously, nearly fell on your face. “Are you okay?” The same voice spoke again, breaking you out of your daze.

You glanced up to find a concerned looking boy staring back at you. You quickly scrambled out of his arms in shock and fell onto the ground. “H-hi… Akaashi is it?” You tried to remember the name of the boy from the list of boys in the training camp.

“Woah there, I’m not going to bite,” he smiled slightly as he held his hand out, waiting for you to grab it so that he could pull you up. “I was actually heading towards hall one to draw lots and I thought I should come over to guide you to the room… since you are kind of unfamiliar of this place… am I right?”

“You might be right about that,” you replied with a small smile as you grabbed his hand, letting him pull you up as if you weighted nothing. “I had been busy with helping the managers that I didn’t have time to explore or familiarise myself with this place or even had time to train with the boys.”

“You… train with the boys?” Akaashi raised his eyebrows at your comments as the two of you started walking together.

“Yeah, long story short it is a way to get some exercise into my routine. I know no managers do that but I do,” you grinned. “Now since you’ve asked me a question, it’s my turn: how did you know I was supposed to go draw lots as well?”

You swear you could see Akaashi blush slightly but he turned his head too fast for you to verify it. Nonetheless, you averted your attention from him, focusing on the path in front of you as he took his time to answer.

“I… I might have overheard Daichi-san complaining… about a certain manager after looking up from his phone,” he explained. “And since your two other managers are helping at the dining hall, the only other available manager is you.”

“That’s very observant of you,” you grinned. “Thank you.”

He gave you a slight nod before pointing at one of the doors in front of you, with a signboard that said ‘Hall 1’. He pushed the door open and you stepped in, noticing a couple more people who had arrived before you.

You recognised most of the people there such as the tall Russian boy and the shorter third year libero from Nekoma arguing away to be Yaku and Lev. However, there were two other people who you had never seen before during practice… but they looked so familiar with their teal jerseys.

“Aren’t those guys from Aoba Johsai?” You halted, nudging Akaashi. “Wait, I recognise the both of them!” You started nudging harder at the Fukorodani setter. “It’s angry but kind boy and his feral overgrown child!”

“Excuse me, what did you just call us?” The Nekoma libero overheard you.

“Not you, Yaku!” Lev said. “You can’t be overgrown if you’re still short.”

“The overgrown child is you, Lev! We’re supposed to be practicing receives but you decided to come here instead” Yaku argued back.

“No, I’m not talking about you two!” You hushed them immediately and pointed at the two teal boys. “Them. I haven’t seen them at practice at all today”

“And which one am I supposed to be?” The light brown hair scoffed, turning his attention towards you as he crossed his arms. “If you need to know, I am neither as I am the most perfect setter and captain-“

“Shittykawa can you please shut up for a second and think about it? Obviously you’re the overgrown feral child,” his friend smacked him on the back to shut him up. “Even though it’s kind of hurtful to call me angry but I’ll take kind-“

“OBJECTION! When are you ever kind, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa jumped in.

“Shush it!” Iwaizumi said, giving Oikawa another punch on the back.

“To answer your question, Y/N,” Akaashi intercepted before things got even messier. “They could only come after their activities today thus why they just arrived. We took this opportunity to learn from Aoba Johsai as well.”

“Now that that’s done, can we draw lots now for the test of courage? Lev, this ungrateful giant, needs to practice his receives,” Yaku asked.

“How would we be doing it?” Akaashi asked.

“I know! What about rock, paper, scissors?” Lev offered.

“That’s a great idea! But I have a better one!” You joined in. “Why don’t I pick first and you guys argue it amongst yourself?”

“I didn’t know you were such a ruthless person, Y/N,” Lev pouted.

“Now you know,” you winked at him as you reached your hand into the box that was sitting in the middle of everyone and pulled out a piece of paper. Slowly, everyone else took their turns and opened their papers together.

You glanced at the paper in your hand and it made you freeze. The neat handwriting on the paper had the name of Aoba Johsai on it. And oh god… you knew how bad Karasuno’s relationship was with them and yet, they were the ones who you have gotten.

You glanced at Akaashi who was looking at your expression and gave him the widest grin you could ever offer, trying to cover the distraught look that was written a mere second ago. He opened his mouth to say something but you waved him off. “It’s nothing if you’re wondering. T-This is great! I can’t… I can’t… I can’t wait,” you tried to say those words out but it turned out to be harder than you could even say.

You turned away almost immediately and headed towards the doors to leave. You were panicking mentally but you had to pull a confident back since the boys were still staring at you.

Since Aoba Johsai was the school that Karasuno had gotten to scare, you were determined, let it be the best scare Aoba Johsai was going to get. However, how were you going to execute your plan when you had pissed them off even before knowing them? You gave a big sigh as you closed the door behind you and you decided to trust yourself. You were going to do it. You were going to terrorise Aoba Johsai in the best way possible. But before you could plan out how you were going to scare them, you sent a text to your team:

PREVIOUS | NEXT

[layce2015]

The Last of Us Part 2 (Joel x Reader)

Chapter 8: Happy Birthday, Kiddo

Chapter 7

3 Years Earlier

"That's starting to sound like something." Joel said to Ellie as we walk up to her while she was sitting on a tree trunk, playing her guitar. We had decided to go out camping and since it was Ellie's birthday, we had a big surprise for her.

I had this homemade baby carrier, that would hold one baby in the front and one in the back, so that Aiden and Ethan could come with us. Ethan was strapped to my back and Aiden was in the holder that was around my chest. 

Ellie looks up at us then scoffs. "I suck." She said, disappointed. "Nah...just need to build up your callouses, that's all." Joel told her and she looks down at her fingers. "Man." She grumbles then she looks up at us. "All right, c'mon." I said to her. "This it?" Ellie asked. "Yeah." Joel and I said. "Oh shit!" She exclaimed, excitedly, but then stops herself then looks up at me. 

"I mean shoot." She said and I chuckled at her. Ever since the boys were born, she had been trying so hard to stop herself from swearing around the boys until they were old enough to understand.

"It's alright, Ellie." I said and we gesture for her to follow us. "I'm gonna start guessing." She said as we walked along the trails. "You wanna spoil your surprise now?" Joel asked her, curiously. "I dunno." Ellie mutters and I shake my head.

"Is it a dinosaur?" She asked and Joel scoffs, softly, at this. "Stop trying to guess, we ain't telling you." I told her and she scoffs. "All right. Is it...an elephant?" She asked and Joel grumbles at this and I smile. "Is it a convertible?" asked Ellie. "You're not gonna guess." Joel said.

"Is it a puppy? Is it a lotta kittens?" She asked. "You mean a litter?" I asked her. "What's a litter?" She asked, confused. "A bunch of kittens." Joel replied. "Then why is it not just called a bunch of kittens?" She asked. "We don't know. It's called a litter." Joel said, slightly annoyed, and we come up to this ledge and Joel pushes a branch back for Ellie to shimmy her way through.

"Mind your step." I warned her as she walks up and pass us. "I got it." She said and she starts to walk pass us when Joel gets behind her and pushes her. "Oops." He said and Ellie let's out a surprised yell and falls into the water.

Joel and I started to laugh, so did the boys, as Ellie resurfaces. "What is wrong with you?" She exclaims, angrily. "You should see your face right now." Joel said. "What if I drowned?" Ellie asked, angrily. "You're not gonna drown." Joel said, dismissively. "You gotta work on that confidence, sweetie." I said as we laugh. 

"Yeah, keep laughing, you two." Ellie said and the boys began giggling a bit at this. "Yeah, same to you, you traitors!" She said then Joel points up ahead. "This way." He said. "You guys are the worst!" She shouts and she starts to swim.

"You're swimming's getting better. Remember now, just don't flail about, you gotta--" Joel started to explain but Ellie talks over him. "Push the water with your whole arm. Blah, blah, blah." She grumbles as she meets up with a ledge and gets out of the water while we walk ahead of her. "Glad to know we're getting through." I said as we come up to a ledge and see a deer off in the distance.

"Ellie, c'mere. Take a look at this. You see that deer over there?" Joel asked as she walks in between us. "Where?" She asked and I point it out across the lake. "See it?" I said. "Yeah, just through there, look." Joel said and Ellie bends down to look. "Yeah, I see it." She whispers. "Looks, like..." but before she finished her sentence, she shoves Joel down into the water.

I snorted out a laugh and cover my mouth as he resurfaces. "How's that feel?" Ellie asked him, her arms spread out, the boys also giggling at this. "Refreshing." Joel replied and I shake my head. "Yeah, it's not nice getting pushed in, is it?" Ellie asked him. "Would've pushed (y/n) but...she's got the boys." She said.

"Well...actually we need to swim through this part anyway." Joel tells her. "I got you back, you're angry and upset." Ellie said, obviously annoyed that she didn't get the right reaction from him. "I am very angry and upset. Now c'mon." Joel said, sarcastically, and Ellie scoffs before she jumps in the water.

"Hey, don't get too upset, Ellie. You at least get to swim for a bit, I have to walk around this." I said as I started walking along the woods. "Just be careful, honey." Joel said. "Hey, safety is my middle name!" I exclaimed, with sarcasm, and I make my around the lake.

After walking across some fallen tree branches and getting around parts of the wood, I catch up to Joel and Ellie as they get out of the water. "See? Made it." I said and we keep on walking. "Is it...my 6th grade history teacher wanting to apologize for being a massive dick?" Ellie asked. "I beg your pardon?" I asked her as Joel and I turn to her.

"My friend and I would argue whenever he called the Fireflies terriorts. We got a lot of detention." She explained. "You know you really need go stop letting people rile you up." Joel said to her. "It's hard when they're dicks." She grumbles. "Point still stands." Joel said, firmly, and we continued on.

"Is it...a new pair of sneakers?" She asked. "How many of those do you have?" Joel asked her. "Not enough." She remarks as we walk deeper into the woods. "Okay. Fuck it. I'm done guessing." She said after a while. "Oh good." Joel said, relieved. "But like...is it a massive comic book collection...now wait...a new DVD collection?" She asked and Joel and I sigh at this, exasperated.

"Yes." We said and she looks at us, confused. "Well, which one?" She asked. "Just...yes." Joel said. "How about laser disks? I heard that's a thing." said Ellie. "Why don't you find out for yourself?" I said and I point towards a trail next to us. She looks at us, confused, then starts to walk along it.

Joel and I share a smile before we follow her until we see the giant statue of the T-Rex. "Holy shit, guys!" She said, shocked. "We're here." Joel said. "Oh my God! It is a dinosaur!!" She exclaimed with excitement, her hands on her head.

"That it is." I said and she turns to us, her face lit up with happiness. "Guys!" She said, shocked and happy. "Surprise." Joel and I said to her, smiling, while Aiden and Ethan made some happy noises. "Holy shit! It's a motherfucking dinosaur!" Ellie shouts as she walks up to the statue then she turns to me and looks over at the boys 

"I mean, uh...holy crap!" She said and I chuckle. "Ellie, it's okay." I assured her and she smiles as she looks at the statue. "Here, let me get Ethan." Joel said as he goes and pulls Ethan out of the carrier on my back. "Thanks." I said, relieved as my back was starting to hurt.

I look over at Joel as he holds Ethan in his arm and Ethan starts to lay his head against Joel's shoulder, his little arms wrapped around Joel's neck. He smiles then pats Ethan on the back and kisses the top of his head.

I smiled then I look towards the T-Rex statue and see Ellie on top of it, and I started to panic. "Ellie! What are you doing?!" I called out to her, worried, and Joel looks up as well. "I'm climbing a dinosaur!" She exclaimed as she gets to the head. "Yeah, we can see that just don't die from falling off of it." Joel calls out to her as she gets to the head and stands up.

"Look at me! I'm on a motherfucking dinosaur!!!" She exclaims. "Ellie! Don't jump! Just climb down!" I call out to her and she let's out a roar and jumps off, my heart stopped at this moment. "Hey, hey, hey!!!" Joel and I screamed as she falls and splashes into the water. Then she resurfaces and starts to laugh.

"Did you guys see that?" She asked us, happily, while Aiden and Ethan giggled and clapped. "Yeah, we saw that." Joel said, exasperated, as I let out a breath I had held in, my heart returning back to normal. "Wasn't that awesome?" She asked as she gets out of the water. "Awesome that you didn't break anything." I said to her and we head towards the old museum building.

We walk up to the entrance and Joel opens the door and we walk in as Ellie goes up to the old book holder and pulls out a book. "What's this?" She asked as she picks up the little pamphlet. "Uh...a book." said Joel and she looks up at us. "It's a dinosaur book." She said, happily, and she walks over to a shelf and finds a hat.

"Oh man!" She exclaims and she takes the hat and turns to Joel. "Hey, Joel. You wanna try it on?" She asked. "I do not." Joel replied and she shrugs. "Your loss." She said and she puts on the hat.

"You think it's okay for the boys to walk around here?" I asked Joel. "I reckon, just need to keep an eye on them." He said and I take Aiden out of the carrier and set him down on his feet. He wobbles a bit but started walking just as Joel set Ethan down, who walks as well. I can't believe that these two are only a year old and they already can walk, they're growing up way too fast.

"Whoa! Look at those talons." Ellie said, in awe, as she stared at one dinosaur bones. "That is a velociraptor." Joel said, proudly, as we walk up next to her while she pulls out her book. "Actually, it's a dee...Dee-oh-nin-y-chus." She reads. "Pretty sure these are velociraptor. Yeah." Joel said as he looks at the dinosaur. "At least that's what they called them in this movie we saw." I remarked and Ellie just hums then heads to the office behind the main desk.

Aiden and Ethan start to walk faster after her before they fall on their butts. Joel and I walk over to them to help them up as I said. "Boys, be careful. Don't run." Then I hold Aiden's hand and Joel holds Ethan's and both of us guide them to the office.

"Oh, hello, the dinosaurs are busy right now." Ellie said and we walk over to the door to see her sitting in the desk, holding the phone to her ear. "What are you doing?" I asked her and she looks up at us. "Oh, wait...two of the dinosaurs are here." Ellie said into the phone then she pulls it away from her ear.

"Joel...(y/n)...it's for you." She said. "Very funny." Joel said and Ellie chuckles. "It's pretty funny." She laughs. "Do you guys get it? Cause you two are old." 

"Oh we get it." I said and Aiden and Ethan giggle as well. "See? They agree!" Ellie said and I shake my head. "Just laugh it up, girlie. It's gonna happen to you too." I said then I stopped walking and placed my hand over my face. "Oh God." I groaned. "What?" Joel asked me, concerned, and I just chuckle. "Nothing. It's just....I just sounded like my mom right there." I said, shaking my head.

He gives me a sympathetic look but I give a small smile towards him before we continued on. Ellie would look around at all of the dinosaurs until she started to put her hat on one of them. "Guys, look!" She exclaimed, happily. "That is a hat on a dinosaur." I said. "It's called a hatosaur." She said and I roll my eyes at her while she takes her hat back.

Then Ellie put her hat on another dinosaur. "Is this going to be a thing? Please don't let it be a thing." Joel said and Ellie chuckles as she takes her hat back then comes up to Joel.

"Hey, Joel." She said.

"Ellie." He said to her, warningly, but too late she put the hat on his head and he groans while Aiden and Ethan squealed. "Don't you dare take it off. My birthday, my rules." She said and I chuckle.

"Now we just need to find you a hat, (y/n)." She said. "Ah, no thank you." I said to her. "Oh now I'm definitely gonna find one." She said and she starts look around.

We follow her to another section of the museum, when Ellie points out a large thick skull of another dinosaur. "Look how thick that one's skull is!" She said. "Kinda looks like Tommy." Joel said and Ellie and I snorted at this. "I'm telling him you said that." Ellie said. "Please don't." Joel begs and I look at the skull.

"You might actually be on to something, Joel. Just catch that in the right light, boom, Tommy." I said and Ellie chuckles as she runs off to the side then gasps. "Yes!" She said and she comes back with a hat, similar to the one Joel's wearing only this one is blue. "Oh hell." I muttered and she goes to put it on my head.

"See? Now you guys match." Ellie said, laughing, and I rolled my eyes then we make our way to the stairs. Joel and I pick up the boys, carrying them, as Ellie begins running up the stairs. "Did you guys go to museums alot?" She asked. "Yeah. Yeah, Sarah loved them. I swear that girl dragged us to every damned museum in Texas." Joel said and I nod. "Yeah. But we always had fun." I said as we come up to the top of the brontosaurus, which its head was facing us.

"Looks like a giraffe." Ellie said to us. "Yeah it does, doesn't it?" I said and Joel takes off his hat then tosses it towards the skull of the brontosaurus, where it lands on it perfectly. Joel chuckles then turns to Ellie. "I see the appeal." He said and Ethan and Aiden clap and make funny noises as Ellie chuckles. "Told ya." She said as we set the boys down on their feet.

"Hey, let's go this way!" Ellie said to them and she takes the boys' hands and leads them towards another section of the museum. I smiled at this then take Joel's hand just as he takes off my hat, tosses it aside then he leans and kisses me. We pull back and smile at each other then we follow the kids to what is the space section.

Ellie makes it around the corner and gasps once she sees it. "Did you guys know that this was here?!" She asked, shocked. "You don't like it. We can head back." Joel said, pretending to sound disappointed, and Ellie laughs. "Shut up!" She said and she walks over this device and used a crank to turn it, making the plants above us move.

"Hey, guys, can you name all the planets?" She asked as she spins the crank. Joel and I chuckle a bit before he clears his throat. "My very educated mother just served us nice pizzas." Joel said and Ellie looks up at him, confused.

"Uh...did you just have a stroke?" She asked and I laugh. "My: Mercury, very: Venus, mother: Mars..." I explained to her. "Ohh, okay. I get it. That's pretty cool." She said then she stops spinning the crank then goes to look at the spaceship replicas. 

"Hey, guys. Guess what was the first animal to go to space was?" She asked. "I don't have to guess, it was a monkey." Joel said and I think this for moment when an old memory came into my mind. "No, honey, I believe it was fruit flies. Something to do with radiation pressure or something." I said and Ellie looks at me, shocked and impressed.

"You're right! How'd you know that?" She asked me. "My cousin, Troy, and my brother were really into this kind've stuff when they were about your age." I replied. "I vaguely remember some facts but that one in particular, I remember because we argued about it as I also thought it was a monkey."

"Cool." Ellie said, smiling. "But did you know that astronauts said that the moon smells like gunpowder?" She asked and I shook my head. "No I didn't." I said and Joel chuckles, impressed. "Oh, wait--how would they--" he started to asked but Ellie talks over him. "Oh, they would take the moon samples back inside....and smelled them later, I guess." She said, shrugging.

Then she walks over to another area and picks up an astronaut helmet. "Oh cool!" She said and puts it on. "How does it smell in there?" Joel asked her. "Like space...and dust." She replied then she goes over to this shuttle and tries to open the door. Joel goes over and helps her open it then turns to her.

"After you." He said and she climbs in while I pick up Aiden and put him in the carrier on my front. "Careful." Joel said as he picks up Ethan and I get in to the shuttle at one end.

"Okay, Joel." I said and I hold out my hands and he hands Ethan to me and I pull him towards me as Joel gets into the seat in the middle of mine and Ellie's seat. "What the heck?" Ellie said in awe as I hand Ethan back to Joel while Ellie pushes buttons and makes noises.

"Wow!" She said as she looks around. "Would you look at all these buttons." Joel said as we just look around the set up of the shuttle, the boys reach out towards the buttons and push as many buttons as they could get their little fingers on. "It's so badass. Man. Could you imagine just..." she said then she laughs and starts to make noises of explosion, like the sound of a rocket taken off.

Joel and I share a look and I nod at him then he reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a cassette tape. Then he holds it out to her. "Happy birthday, kiddo." He said and she looks at it. "What is this?" She asked, gesturing at the tape. "That is something that took a might effort to find." I said to her and she smiles.

"Take it." Joel said and she takes the tape then pulls out her Walkman out of her backpack and inserts the tape. She pulls off her helmet and sticks her earbuds in her ear then puts the helmet back on and holds the Walkman up to her chest, before Joel places a hand over hers. 

"Close your eyes." He instructs her after she looks over at us. "It'll be worth it." I assured her as she was giving us a confused look. She turns her head forward and pushes the play button.

The tape was a recording of the Apollo 11 launch, and we knew that she would love it. 

She turns to us, her jaw hanging open, and she starts to giggle with excitement. We smiled at her as she moves her head forward and sits there for a few moments while I lean my head on Joel's shoulder.

Finally, she turns to us with the biggest smile I had ever seen on her face. "We do okay?" I asked her. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She asked, softly, and we begin to laugh. "You're welcome." Joel and I said, in unison, and we sit there, basking in the happy moment, before Joel looks around.

"Whaddya say we keep looking around, huh?" He asked. "Yeah, I guess." Ellie said and Joel hands Ethan to me and he climbs out as Ellie takes off her helmet then her earbuds and she starts to get up but then reaches out for Ethan. "Here, I'll hand him to Joel." She said and I hand him over and she gets out then leans in towards the doorway.

"Hand Aiden to me." She said and I pull him out of his carrier and hand him to her then I climb myself out of the shuttle. "Whew." I said then I dig into my pocket and pull out a space rocket pin. "Hey, Ellie." I said and she turns to me and I hold out the pin. "Welcome to Earth." I said and she smiles and takes the pin then hands Aiden to me. 

Then she puts the pin on her backpack and we begin to look around some more.

We head towards the back door and Joel opens it. We go through and see the other half of the museum, but there was a long drop and and a pond down below. "Look, there's more museum stuff over there." Ellie said as she points at the building. "Yeah, we never checked that building." I said to her. 

"Well, let's go." She said, excitedly. "And just how do you plan on getting yourself over there?" Joel asked her. Her response was to run and jump down into the water below. "Ellie!" Joel and I screamed, fearfully, as the boys screamed out as well. We go over to the edge and see that she had resurfaced and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Do you ever give anyone else this much grief?" Joel asked her. "Get down here!" Ellie calls out as she turns to us. "No!" We shouted at her. "Hey, who's birthday is it?" She asked us. "You can't keep doing that." Joel yelled.

"I want a good splash." Ellie said and Joel sighs then looks over at me. I look off to the right and go over there to see some platforms I could make my way down to. "I'll go down here. Put Ethan on my back." I said and Joel does just that. 

"Be careful." He said and I smiled.

"Always." I said then I lean up and kiss him on the lips. "Come on, guys! We got more exploring to do!" Ellie calls out and Joel sighs. "Well...Can't keep birthday girl waiting." I said and he sighs then goes over the other edge and I start to make my way down. 

"Geronimo!" He shouts as he jumps down and splashes into the water while I make my way down to the ground. "That was definitely a ten, sweetheart." I called out to Joel as he resurfaced and I come up to a pallet and I smiled.

"Hey, over here!" I shouted and both of them come over. "Use this to help get me and the boys across." I said and I push the pallet a bit into the water and Joel catches it. "Got it." He said and Ellie comes to the other side of the pallet and helps hold it.

I get on it and sit down while Joel and Ellie carries me and the boys to the other side. "Not so fun now that you have to help carry the pallet now, huh?" I said to Ellie. "Yeah, yeah." She grumbles as we make it over to the stairs and I get off and we start to walk towards the door.

Ellie goes to the door but it was jammed then she looks to the side. "Hey, boost me up there!" She said as she points at the open window. "Yeah, I don't know." Joel said, unsure, as I look up at the open window. "I'll open the door for you. Come on, we can't chicken out now." She said and Joel sighs and, reluctantly, stands under the window and boosts her up.

She climbs over and gets inside before we hear her call out to us. "Okay, bad news. There's shit blocking the door." She said. "Well, see if you can find another way in. We'll walk around the outside." Joel hollers at her. "Okay, be safe!" Ellie said. "You be safe!" Joel and I said. "There are dinosaurs around!" She shouts and I chuckle at this and we start to walk around the building.

"I'm glad she's enjoying herself." I said. "Yeah, me too. Just hope that there's nothing in there." said Joel. "Yeah, but she's a smart girl and we've seen her deal with worse." I said to him. "I know..." he mutters. I give a sympathetic smile to him and take his hand in mine when we hear a screeching sound coming from inside.

We jumped at this and Joel immediately takes out his gun. "Honey, stay here." He said to me and he walks ahead of me a bit. "Ellie!" I hear him call out as I slowly make my to him. Then I hear a door open and I come up behind him to see Ellie standing there.

"The hell was that?" I asked as we get inside. "It's just...some animal." She said and she looks at the wall next to her. Joel and I turn to it as well and my heart sinks when I see the familiar Firefly logo painted on the wall. Underneath it was the word Liars painted as well.

The three of us stare at it for a moment before Joel turns to Ellie. "Well, let's get a move on. I want to get a fire going before it gets too dark." He said to her as she continues to stare at the logo. "Come on." I said, softly, and we walk out of the building.

@fangirl-inthe-us

[mypoisonedvine]

Double-Edged Sword: Capt. Syverson x Reader (Chapter 2)

(read the first chapter here)

Word Count: 5.5k (oh lordt I need to be stopped)

Taglist: @fantasygirlsuniverse @agniavateira @fcgrizi @stillreadingfantasy @itsjusttaralove @radaofrivia @p3nny4urth0ught5 @mary-ann84 @snatchedbylele @cheyentjj @maan24 @littlefreya

(emetophobia tw for this chapter)

You had no idea how you were going to survive meeting with him alone after this.  Of course, you realized now that this was one of many reasons why what had happened was against the rules, but the realization came just a bit too late.

“Good morning, Captain,” you nodded.

“Call me Sy,” he requested.

“I’d rather not.”

“Alright, well, just know that every time you call me ‘Captain,’ it reminds me of the way you said it when you were bent over that desk,” he explained simply.

“Right,” you nodded. “So, Sy, tell me what you want to do with this mission.”

“You know what I want to do,” he shrugged, and for some reason your mind interpreted that very differently than he meant it. “Divide and conquer.”

“Of course,” you agreed. “I suppose that works.”

“I thought you hated that idea,” he recalled.

“But I really hate having to argue with you about it.  Normally I’d fight harder for what I think is the best way.  But I’m losing that motivation, suddenly.”

He gave you an over-dramatic pouty look, as if he was mocking you, and you frowned in return.  “Aw, you don’t want to argue with me?  Is the magic really gone so soon?”

You rolled your eyes.  “The idea of any romantic sentiment between us is so outrageously implausible that it doesn’t even work in a sarcastic context.”

“Do you always talk like you’re readin’ an essay?” he frowned.

“You’re making fun of the way I talk?” you responded with an incredulous laugh. “You can’t see it, because it’s clear, but you’re currently sitting in a glass house.  I would recommend against throwing stones.”

He laughed, and it sounded halfway between genuine amusement and mockery.  “Were you up all night studying your vocab words, so you could better insult me?”

You know what I was doing last night, you instantly thought.

“Insulting you is so painfully easy.  I don’t lose sleep over it, in fact, I bet I could do it in my sleep,” you said instead.

“I’m not sure you should be so proud of that.  It’s like you go out of your way to make my life miserable,” he groaned.

You sighed, rubbing your temples in frustration.  How had it only taken thirty seconds for the conversation to turn into mud-slinging once again?  It seemed like no matter how hard you tried, you fell into this dynamic with him.  Considering how it went last time, you wanted very much to end it here.

“I apologize.  That’s not my intention,” you clarified.  He seemed taken aback by that, clearly having prepared for another witty comeback (or at least, an attempt at one).

“Well,” he began, but then trailed off.

“Well?”

“Well, alright,” he finished.

“Well, alright, what?”

“Let’s discuss the mission,” he further explained, saying it as if it were obvious what he meant.  You ignored the condescending tone and sat across from him at the table.

“Sit closer,” he offered.

“Not necessary,” you rebuffed.

He unrolled a map of the area for review, and it was incredibly small, so small that you couldn’t see it at all from your seat.

“You’re sure you don’t wanna come closer?” 

You got up and moved, closer but still a seat apart from him.  Suddenly you felt very aware of his presence-- not to say you somehow weren’t before, just that it was overpowering, that you felt like you could feel heat radiating off of him even though he wasn’t actually that close to you.  You were also very aware of how large this room was, and how empty.  It was just the two of you and a table, one clearly intended for larger conferences.

You had a somewhat civil discussion of the mission, but you were struggling to focus more than you possibly ever had before.

“You listenin’?” he prompted, and you jumped out of a daydream.  The content of the daydream was irrelevant, of course, but it was thoroughly distracting.

“What?  Um, yeah, sorry,” you mumbled.

“I’ve never been lost in thought about a mission before,” he chuckled.

“Well, it’s a complex issue…” you trailed off.

“What’s a complex issue?” he pressed.

“From which side to enter the compound,” you remembered. 

“Almost had ya,” he frowned.

“I was paying attention,” you defended weakly.

His hand suddenly brushed against your waist and you jumped.  You turned and realized he had leaned towards you, though you had no idea why.

“Don’t-” you began, and instantly he moved away.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, and you were a little surprised at the complete lack of sarcasm, and the apparent presence of guilt rather than guilt-tripping.

“It’s alright,” you soothed.

“Is it?” he asked with a slightly confused expression.

“It is.  It shouldn’t be,” you smirked, “but it is.”

“That describes a lot of things these days.”

You decided not to investigate that topic.  

“Anyways, the method of entry…” you redirected the conversation, and even that triggered some gutter-brained aspect of your psyche.

“Right, of course,” he nodded, turning back to the map.

~

The open-air “gym” (more like a bunch of random benches and assorted free weights, not much of a gym by your standards) was usually housed by only a few soldiers at a time, but as you walked by that afternoon, it was pretty busy.  Getting closer you observed that nearly everyone was watching two guys- one Marine, one Army- do push-ups.  Each group was cheering on their own, and you realized it was a competition of sorts.  And nothing got you excited quite like a competition.

“I can’t, I’m out,” Private Jones, one of yours, weakly announced as he fell to the ground.  The Marines booed and groaned but the Army soldiers cheered.

“How many was he at?” you asked one of the Marines.

“Just over a hundred,” he told you.  You nodded in approval, even if he’d lost.

“Looks like Army takes the lead, again,” one of the soldiers announced to the crowd.  “Next up, sit-ups.”

“There’s so few of us compared to them,” the Marine told you, “we are going to have to start sending in people who already competed.”

“I’m too tired, I don’t think I can go again,” Private Cooper sighed in exhaustion.

“There’s no way I can beat them at sit-ups, that was my weakest category at boot camp,” Private Jones added to the discussion.

“I can compete,” you offered.  Everyone, including the Army guys, turned to you.  “Are officers allowed in?”

The soldier you were supposed to go up against-- Private Hess, you were pretty sure was his name-- seemed incredulous.

“Fine by me,” he encouraged, clearly seeing it as a perfect opportunity since he was confident he would beat you.

“I need someone to hold my feet down,” you requested.

“I’ll do it,” you heard a Southern-twanged voice behind you, and lo and behold, there he was.

“I’m shocked you’re willing to help me,” you admitted.

“You’re going to get your ass handed to you,” Captain Syverson grinned, “and I want to see that up close.”

You and Hess laid on the ground a few feet apart, and the Captain took his spot in front of your legs, a hand on each boot.  You hoped they were extra dirty just to spite him, but then again, he didn’t seem to mind getting dirty very much.

“Sy, you mind counting hers?” the apparent referee asked.

“Sure,” he grunted.

You saw Hess start so you did too, and the Captain counted them for you.  You tried not to worry that he would miscount to try to set you back- you liked to think a guy like that believed in the sacred nature of exercise, even if he was a bastard.

It was weird to feel his touch on you, even through boots.  It was much, much weirder that each time you sat up, your face was so close to his.  Perhaps weirdest was how it made you feel to lay on your back and look up at him basically between your legs. 

It was about 50 that you really started to feel it.  At 100, the jeers of the crowd fell to silence as they watched closely for any signs of faltering.  You heard Hess beside you, and he seemed to be staying pretty consistent, not even breathing that hard.  Meanwhile, you were starting to remember why the requirements for men and women were different in this category.  

150 was a turning point.  You had a pretty good poker face, so everyone else seemed sure that the two of you were still neck-in-neck, but you knew Sy could see the cracks.

It must have been 200 that you heard yourself start to whimper and groan, while Hess was only just beginning to breathe heavily.  You didn’t want to make noises of stress but at a certain point you had no choice.

You fell back to the ground at 237 and even though you were barely there a second, somehow the Captain figured out you were considering quitting.

“Keep going,” he whispered to you.  You wanted to ask him why he was encouraging you but you didn’t want to give him away, since you could tell he hadn’t wanted anyone else to hear.  You fought harder to keep pushing, though each time you came up was a little shakier, and accompanied with a louder noise of pain.

“Come on man, she’s about to quit,” you heard someone say to Hess.

“I don’t know, I’m starting to cramp up,” Hess told them in reply, and you almost laughed because you had been cramping up since 145.

You pushed through the pain and you were afraid your body would fail before your mind did, that you would reach the point of being physically unable to lift yourself.  Your core muscles were so tired that pain began to radiate to your thighs and back, and you forced your eyes shut so you wouldn’t have to see your vision go spotty.

You tuned out all the noise except his voice counting.  263, 264, 265…

“I can’t,” you heard Hess groan.

“Come on, she’ll give out any minute!”

“Dude, it hurts!” he complained.

“You can take him,” Sy whispered to you.

“I know,” you whispered back.

It was 300 that he finally gave up.

“What the hell?!  You were so close!” the Army boys protested.

“Fuck off,” he groaned as he stood up and pushed them away.  

The Marines clapped and you smiled, falling back onto the ground and letting your arms rest.

Sy stood up, extending a hand to help you get up as well.  You made a point of standing up without his assistance, even though your entire midsection was literally shaking.  Thankfully it didn’t show through the loose-fitting fatigues.  He looked like he had something to say, but apparently he didn’t, as you two just stood there in silence for a second.

“That was amazing, Major!” one of your Marines said, and you turned to him.

“Oh what?  That was nothing,” you pshawed, even though you were beginning to feel dizzy and a bit nauseous.

In fact, you were suddenly feeling a lot nauseous.  You made an excuse to get out of the conversation and slipped out of sight, finding a nearby building to duck behind.  Instantly you fell on your knees and retched: you’d heard of this happening to poor enlisted at boot camp, where the constant movement of the abdominal muscles disturbed the stomach to the point of vomiting.  Thankfully it wasn’t that severe, though you were very much looking forward to drinking some water and not moving for an hour or two.

Just as you wiped your mouth and stood up, there was Sy-- of course.

“Are you following me or something?” you asked him.

“I just came by to tell you you did a good job,” he explained, “but seems like it took a toll.”

“Sorry I’m not as strong as you expected,” you sighed.

“If you kept going long enough to lose your lunch on the ground… then you’re actually a lot stronger than I expected,” he disagreed.

You paused, not sure how to respond.  

“What you think of me isn’t something I prioritize.”

“I know,” he replied. “I didn’t say that it was.”

“And yet, I’d guess that your caveman brain can’t comprehend that what I do has nothing to do with you,” you frowned.

He laughed and you fucking hated that.  He never seemed to take you seriously, and he must have been able to tell how angry that made you.

“If you think that what you do has nothing to do with me,” he countered, “then you are much, much dumber than I expected.”

“You are so self-obsessed,” you groaned as you rolled your eyes.

“Maybe, but it doesn’t mean I’m wrong,” he shrugged, and walked away.

~

As you grabbed your tray of dinner and turned to face the mess hall, you suffered the same dilemma that you’d had basically every day since high school: is there anywhere I can sit?

You were never the sort of person who had a welcome seat at a table.

You saw room next to some of the women in your unit and figured it was the best you could do.

“Hey, I heard you out-crunched Hess today,” Private Feng greeted you, “congrats!”

“It was sit-ups, and he’s a pussy, but thanks,” you smirked.  She smiled back.

The two Marines across from you were whispering to each other and giggling.  “What are you two talking about?” you asked them as you sat down.

“Oh, nothing,” Private Gonzalez answered, but she couldn’t even keep a straight face and started blushing.

“The hell is this, summer camp?” you groaned.  “Seriously, you two are Marines, not Girl Scouts.”

“Fine, fine,” the other-- Private Matthews-- relented, “we were talking about the hottest guys on base.”

“Maybe you actually are Girl Scouts,” you scowled.

“Stop being a Major and just be a woman for five seconds,” Gonzalez requested.  Feng and Matthews seemed to react strongly to that, like they were afraid to get in trouble for speaking freely.  You sighed, and motioned for them to continue the conversation.

“What do you think of Captain Syverson?” Matthews asked Gonzalez, but somehow you found yourself butting in.

“Syverson?!”

“Yeah, he’s totally sexy, right?” Matthews prompted.

“He’s totally an asshole,” you frowned, putting on a slightly-condescending impression of Matthews’ voice.

“Okay, yeah,” Gonzalez admitted, “but aside from that.  I mean, look at him.”

“Aside from that?  I’m supposed to just ignore his personality?”

“Honestly,” Matthews began, looking over to where Sy was sitting and looking at him with eyes that were hungry for a lot more than what was on her plate, “with a body like that, he doesn’t need a personality at all, let alone a good one.”

The other girls giggled but you felt an unfamiliar sensation burn under your skin.  Jealousy?  No, never.

“Don’t you agree?” she prompted you, and the girls looked to you for a response as if it were something deeply important.

“You didn’t hear it from me,” you whispered, leaning in so as not to be heard by others, “but I’m pretty sure he’s gay.”

The girls all sighed and slumped down, going back to their food with a lot less joy than they’d had before.  You, meanwhile, enjoyed your food in silence.

~

Normally you were the sort of person who worked late into the night, but after such an exhausting day, you wanted to get back to your quarters and slip into bed as soon as humanly possible.  

The one thing you probably hated most about deployment was the showers.  Normally a hot shower sounds great, but when you keep in mind that the water for the showers was heated simply by the outside temperature, you realize that it’s not refreshing at all.  Very rarely did you feel truly clean out here.

Your strategy was to let yourself air dry, something that only worked when you had a private bedroom which, thank the heavens, you did at this base.  

Of course it’s when you’re naked and dripping all over the floor that there’s a loud knock at your door.

“Gimme a sec!” you shouted out, dashing to grab the nearest clothes-- a tank top and athletic shorts, more revealing than you would normally go for but significantly less revealing than nudity-- and throw them on.

You opened the door the second you were decent, and at this rate you weren’t even surprised to see him.

“Just can’t seem to shake you, can I?” you groaned. He looked at you with wide eyes.

“You look so different in civilian clothes,” he observed.

“It can’t be that different.” “I’m more flustered by this than seeing you naked,” he admitted.

“Is that an insult?” you asked.

“No,” he said quickly, and you nodded. “Can I come in?”

You honestly thought about saying no.  He still hadn’t said why he was here.  But the way he looked at you had apparently corroded your judgment.  You stepped aside and he entered; you let the door shut behind him.

“You’re not wearing a bra,” he observed.

“Yeah, well, neither are you.  And your tits are bigger than mine,” you smiled.

“Touche,” he chuckled.

“Can I… help you?” you prompted.

“You did a good job, earlier today,” he congratulated.

“You already mentioned that,” you pointed out.

“I shouldn’t have volunteered to hold your feet down,” he admitted. “The sounds you made were… distracting.”

“Shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise to you,” you smirked, “you’d already heard me sound like that.  Could’ve just searched your memory for it.” “Well, the memory is pretty distracting, too,” he smiled.

“Your poor attention span is not my problem, Capt- uh, Sy,” you mumbled nervously.

He stepped closer to you and you stepped back.

“Are you scared of me?” he asked.

“No,” you answered.

“Then why’re you runnin’ away?” he pressed.  You wondered if he was being literal or metaphorical.

“I’m not running away,” you explained, “I just don’t want to make the same mistake twice.”

“I’m not so convinced it was a mistake,” he explained. 

“You can’t- ugh, you are so…”  You started over.  “You can’t just keep being a shit to me 23 hours a day, and then suddenly decide you have some love-hate crush on me and expect me to spread my legs.”

He stepped forward again and you were forced to press against the wall.  He leaned into you until you were pressed into the corner; It must have been a minute that you two just stood there in silence, his eyes scanning you with fierce intensity, and you looking back with what you hoped wasn’t the deer-in-the-headlights expression that you almost certainly had.  His body against yours was such a strange and addictive feeling, and the short sleeves of his t-shirt made it hard to ignore the enormous arms that blocked you into the cramped space.

“You want me,” he said, and you couldn’t tell if it was a statement or just a deadpan question.

“Yes,” you agreed with a raspy voice, squirming against the wall.

“You need me to fuck you, right now,” he continued.  You nodded.  “Say it,” he demanded.

“Please fuck me,” you begged, swallowing nervously.

He weaved a hand into your hair, his thumb rubbing over your cheek.  He leaned down to kiss you and you closed your eyes, but just a second later you felt him step back and his hand pull away.

You opened your eyes in confusion to find him grinning at you with crossed arms.

“Looks like I can,” he announced.  Realization dawned, and quickly turned to fury.  As always, it was all a part of some fucking game for him.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“So, so much,” he smiled. 

“You get off on humiliating women, is that it?”

“Not women,” he corrected, “just you.”

“Well, congrats,” you frowned, “because you won!  Nothing could be more humiliating than being attracted to you.”

“You know, I really only just wanted to take you down a peg because Marines always act so high n’ mighty,” he explained, finally looking a little frustrated which was comforting for your own anger. “I wasn’t planning on taking it this far.  But it’s just too fun.”

You scoffed, but decided his backstory just didn’t add up.

“Hmm, I don’t think that’s it,” you announced, and he quirked an eyebrow in anticipation.  “I think you have some horrible achy feelings, and you’re just trying to prove I need you as bad as you need me.”

He didn’t say anything, but his jaw clenched.  You smiled.

“Well, newsflash, I don’t.  You’re just some underclassman to me, a very out-of-character blip in my sexual history.”

He started to speak but you spoke over him.

“I mean, good for you!  You get to say you lived the fantasy, fucked a higher-ranking officer, had some wild desert sex.  And me?  Well,” you grinned, “I won’t say anything.  Because you are just… humiliating.”

You saw the anger in his eyes and had to fight back the desire to laugh.  The upper-hand was always shifting between you two, and even if you knew it was temporary, it felt really good to have it back.

He stormed up to you and grabbed you by the neckline of your top, pulling you into an intense, aggressive kiss.  Your hands instantly flew to his hips as you pulled him closer by his belt.

Goodbye, upper-hand, you thought to yourself, it was fun while it lasted.

His hands roamed your body as if he’d been waiting a thousand years to touch you again even when it had only been less than a day.  The two of you stumbled back until you sat on your bed, but he stayed standing and towered over you, having to bend down to keep from breaking the kiss.  

One hand slipped down between your legs and even though it stayed outside your shorts, he still managed to find your clit instantly and press his fingers against it.  You whimpered, the sound lost into the kiss, and the fingers just had to push the fabric of your shorts to slide over your clit.  You were embarrassed at how wet you were, but somehow the embarrassment just made you feel even more aroused so it was a vicious cycle.

He pressed two fingers into you and you moaned, breaking the kiss.

“Humiliating?” he remembered. “You wish it was someone else doin’ this to you?” 

“Not someone else,” you corrected, “anyone else.”

He growled and pressed his fingers deeper into you until you whimpered.  His touch was rough but not painful, aggressive but not forceful, and it made you feel something you’d never felt before (or if you had, you’d forgotten).  

“Get on your knees,” you commanded him.  He raised an eyebrow but didn’t move. “Did I stutter?”

“Or what?” he asked.

“Get on your knees, or leave.”

He dropped instantly, kneeling on the floor in front of you.  You sat back as he grabbed the waistband of your shorts and pulled them off.  You spread your legs and he instantly dove into you.

“Oh, fuck,” you moaned, your head falling back.  His tongue explored you and his hands gripped at your thighs to pull you closer.  He moaned and grunted against your skin and the vibrations shot straight through you.

Your hand grabbed his head just as your hips bucked against his face, pushing his tongue deeper inside you.  

“Yes,” you gasped.  You felt him smile against you and his teeth grazed your clit sending jolts and shivers up your spine.  “Oh, god, fuck,” you groaned.

A few guys had done this to you before, but none of them had done it with this much enthusiasm, certainly.  He looked like he was having the time of his life down there-- he looked back up at you and your eyes met, and you wondered if you looked like you were having the time of your life, because you were.

His mouth worked you with such precision, taking you apart piece by piece with mastery and expertise, to the point that you couldn’t believe how well he knew your body already.  

“I-I’m close,” you whimpered.

He glared at you as if to say ‘I know.’

You felt your legs start to shake but his hands gripped them to keep them still.  Every sensation became so intense, too intense in the best possible way, and Sy showed no sign of stopping.

You weren’t sure if you came more than once, or if you just came for a really, really long time. What you were sure of, sadly was that this was going to make staying away from him so much harder.

His lips moved away from your clit and kissed the inside of your thighs.  It was a disappointment and a relief simultaneously, somehow.

He slapped your leg suddenly-- not very hard, but hard enough that you yelped in surprise.  He came up from kneeling and started to work on his belt.  You just watched him as you tried to catch your breath, and involuntarily bit your lip as he freed his cock from his jeans.

“Want me to fuck you?” he asked in a low growl.

“Last time you asked that, it was a trick question,” you remembered, “so I’m a little hesitant to answer.”

“Alright,” he whispered as he leaned close, his breath warm against your ear, “I’m going to fuck you, Major.  Would you like that?”

“Take your shirt off,” you demanded suddenly.  He growled, leaning back and quickly pulling it over his head.  You smiled.  

“Are you done bossin’ me around?” he asked with a frown.

“Just fuck me,” you begged.

“Well, I can’t say no to that,” he grinned, roughly pulling your hips forward and kneeling on the bed between your legs.  He used one hand to hold your face up, forcing you to look at him, as the other slid his cock into your folds.  He pressed into you slowly, excruciatingly slowly, in fact, and you felt very self-conscious as he watched your face closely.  

Even as you tried to suppress your reaction, you were sure you could feel every detail of him as he entered you and the effort was futile.

“You look beautiful like this,” he murmured, and you felt yourself blush.

“Like what?” you managed to ask through heavy breaths.

“Desperate.”

When he was fully inside you, you were confident there was none of you left to take, literally and metaphorically.  The way your body accepted him with just enough ease that there was no pain, and yet he pushed you to your limits until your head began to spin… it felt like you were made for each other.

“Yeah,” he agreed, and you hadn’t realized you had said the last part aloud.

As he moved inside you, you started to process that it was all a little too slow, a little too… sensual for your tastes.  Not to say you didn’t love it, because you did-- it was that you loved it too much, it made your heart ache in a way you preferred not to deal with at the moment.

“Faster, please,” you whimpered.

“No,” he sternly replied.

“Please,” you begged again.  You tried to give him your best doe eyes and pouty lip, a face nobody could say no to.

“Say my name,” he demanded in reply.

You still had some shred of defiance left, apparently, because you were trying to make this less personal and here he was turning it into something it wasn’t.

“Make me,” you whispered.

His hand wrapped around your neck and you uselessly gasped for air, already feeling your face tingle from the lack of blood flow.  He didn’t stay long though, pushing you back onto the bed and, finally, fucking you hard.

“Yes!” you yelped.

“Say my name,” he demanded again, grabbing your hips.

“Fuck you,” you growled.  He probably realized that he was giving you what you wanted by punishing you for that, but he didn’t seem to mind, roughly rubbing his thumb against your clit.

“Oh god,” you groaned, arching your back.

"So fuckin' good," he groaned.

You felt your orgasm coming on way too quickly, even when you’d already gotten off when he ate you out.

“Say my name,” he asked one last time,

“Sy,” you moaned, “Sy, baby, don’t stop.”

You started to lean your head back but he grabbed your face and forced you to meet his gaze.

“You’d better look at me when I make you come,” he instructed.

You obeyed but it made it so much harder to keep from screaming which was rather inconvenient with enlisted sleeping not too far away.

“You’re so fuckin’ cute,” he announced, and the severity of his tone was mismatched with the sensitivity of his words, “and all mine.”

Your gut twisted in the most delicious way.  “Yours,” you agreed fervently, “I’m yours, Sy.”

He smiled as if he was actually surprised, when you thought it had been pretty obvious.

"Sy, I- I'm gonna-" you stuttered.

"Come for me," he said darkly and you weren't sure if it was a command or if he was just finishing your sentence.  Regardless, it was very effective. 

You unintentionally held your breath and your orgasm hit you so hard that you feared you would pass out or something.  Instead your entire body quivered and jerked and you made a noise you were confident that you had never made before in your whole life.  He fucked into you as hard as ever, but leaned down, wrapping his arms around you and holding you close.  Your nails dug into his shoulders but he didn’t seem to mind.

“Inside me,” you managed to beg through the haze of pleasure, “please come inside me.”

He growled and held you so tight that you couldn’t breathe very well but it was worth it as you felt him flex inside you and heard him moan-- not a grunt, not a sigh, but a true, proper moan, and it was the best thing you’d ever heard.

His movements slowed to a stop and you just listened to the sound of his breathing.  He rolled off of you after a moment and you laid side by side, staring at the ceiling.

“Is this the part where you kick me out?” he asked quietly after a moment.

“I mean, it’s not like you can stay,” you replied.  He sighed and sat up on the bed, and if you didn’t know better you’d say he looked dejected-- heartbroken, even.  “But, you don’t have to leave right now,” you offered.

“That’s my reward?  I don’t have to leave thirty seconds after we fuck?”

You swallowed.  “I… I didn’t realize you wanted to stay.”

“I can take a hint, Major,” he frowned, looking back at you. “I’ll go.”

“No, Sy-” you began, and he relaxed a bit.  “I just meant that you couldn’t stay the night.  It’s just too risky, you know, we could get caught-”

“Right,” he nodded.

“But I don’t want you to leave,” you admitted.

He smiled and leaned down over you, brushing a hand through your hair.

“Do you want me to stay?” he pressed.

“Just for a while, we can just… talk,” you shrugged.

“Then say it,” he requested.

It wasn’t until that moment that you finally understood why he was always asking you to say that you wanted him aloud.  You had just assumed it was a dominance thing, one more tool in his “ways to piss her off and make her feel like an idiot” kit.  But you saw now that he was insecure, that he wouldn’t believe you wanted him unless you made it abundantly clear.  Now, what would make a guy like him insecure, that was a mystery for another day. 

“I want you to stay, Sy,” you said firmly.  He kissed you, and it was oddly sweet, sort of domestic even.  You had to force yourself not to tense up when you processed that this was a boyfriend/girlfriend sort of kiss, rather than a fuck-buddy kiss or an enemies-with-benefits kiss.  You let your hand reach up and wrap around the back of his neck, pulling him in even more.  Of course, that was the exact moment he decided to pull back.

“Don’t get greedy,” he scolded with a grin.

“Don’t get snarky,” you returned.

And when he kissed you again you felt that part of your brain screaming at you.  This is a terrible idea, you can’t come back from this, all your relationships get fucked up.

But there was another part of you, perhaps your heart, that responded, at least this one can’t get fucked up, because it started fucked up.

[novemberwasgrey]

hello anne!!! so glad you came back, hope you're doing great this week ♡♡♡ sooo if you're not too busy, can i ask for some demeter cabin headcanons? with a little but of sheranda and tratie? sorry if i'm asking too much... but your headcanons are amazing and i'd love to see some of them about my cabin :))) here's a strawberry for you 🍓 have a wonderful day~~

Thank you a lot sweetheart! Sorry for taking such a long time to reply, I got sick and I wanted to get better before coming up with good content for you. I hope you had a good day and week as well ❤ I love strawberries btw.

They like making their own tea with plants but some others are just coffee people. Billie is a ruthless bitch if she doesn't drink her morning coffee.

All of them without exception have freckles

Ellis: hey is your girl the only one who doesn't have freckles?

Sherman *grins*: they're just really well hidden

Ellis: Ew. Gay guy, here, remember?

Most of them have either green or brown eyes.

Along with Cabin 10, Cabin 8 is the one with the most girls. Ironically, the girls are the bossy ones or tend to be the ones to take decisions and initiatives for the rest of them while the few sons of Demeter are usually more serene and chill. There had been more female cabin leaders over the years than male ones. They're the most compassionate people in camp though, they're not ones to judge for nothing.

Miranda, however, is probably the shyest girl of all camp and she suffers from anxiety. When Katie left for college and handed over to her, she was very concerned about disappointing all her siblings. Sherman replaced Clarisse the same year and he gave her so much support that she started to believe in herself and became more confident. It's also around that time that she started to get feelings for him.

The siblings were more wary about Katie dating Travis than Miranda dating Sherman. Travis is the guy who doesn't seem to care about anything than having a good laugh after a prank so they were afraid that he was actually showing interest in her for a joke.

Already posted about that before but i've got a OC headcanon of a daughter of Persephone coming to CHB. Her name was Violet and she stayed in Cabin 8 until Annabeth and the other Athena kids built a Persephone cabin . But she's a very shy girl and she hates being alone so even though she had her own cabin afterwards, she'd stay in Cabin 8 very often because she's like a little sister to them. She's also very close to Nico for obvious reasons.

About our favorite son of Hades, Nico's relationship with Demeter kids can vary because of their parents' history; it's either they're good friends or they hate each other. The boys being more chill, he tends to get along with them the most and he thinks Billie's sweet too. But Nico's nemesis is Katie 100% and Chiron would even add that they're just like Hades and Demeter while arguing. But one thing Nico's grateful to all of them for, is that they're not afraid of him. As taking care and paying attention to nature is always a tiny bit in their blood, they know more than anyone that death is part of the cycle of life

People would think it's the Aphrodite kids but Demeter's are the true gossip ones. They about everything in this rathole. Every day, at least one of them barges into their group of friends throughout the day "omgs you'll never guessed what happened"

They totally spied Katie coming back from her first dates with Travis behind a curtain from their cabin's windows

[palindromeadams]

Talking to The Moon

 Hello! Sorry about the almost year break... 

I’m working on the continuation of Zodiac’s Brew as well as another fic but this one is one that I’ve been working on the longest so I wanted to get it done! 

Feel free to send any constructive criticism!

I hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading!

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It began when Natsu was 4. Igneel and Grandine were headed to the office when they passed their son’s room and heard laughter. They looked at each other with smiles on their faces, after a long bout of giggles followed by a muffled conversation. They assumed that he was either talking to his stuffed dragon, or maybe he had made his first imaginary friend, but they were surprised when they peeked into his room. Standing atop his toy chest their pink-haired son seemed to be in a deep conversation with the moon. 

     “And then I grabbed that ice princess’ clay and I smushed it! He made the funniest face! I wish you coulda seen it!” Natsu laughed, “Metal breath tried to steal my clay, but before he could, I shoved Elsa’s clay into his face!”

 More laughter, before it cut off abruptly and his face screwed up into a pout.

     “But Luuussshhhhiii they started it! Gray drew all over my dragon picture and Gajeel kept snoring when I was trying to take my nap!” 

The boy continued to argue with the sky as his parents slowly closed the door, smiling.

      “Our boy has a really active imagination, eh Iggy?” Grandine asked as the parents returned to their trip to the office.

     Igneel let out a laugh, wrapping an arm around his wife and kissing the top of her head. “He gets that from you dear. I didn’t have any imaginary friends, but if I remember correctly, you had at least 20.”

 Light laughter followed the couple down the hallway as they went to go finish some work in their office. 

     Natsu looked at the moon with a goofy grin that split his face, “I’ll always be here for you Luce, I promise. All you have to do is call my name and I’ll be there.” He said, raising his pinky up to the sky, “I pinky promise!” The sound of tinkling laughter could be heard by those that were listening close enough. 

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 Six years passed, and Grandine and Igneel would still pass by their son’s room at night, hearing him talking away. Every time they peeked in, they would find him standing by his window, smiling up at the moon. One night, in the middle of his tenth year, he stopped. The couple was used to one, maybe two, nights a month that his son wouldn’t talk to his friend. This usually happened on the new moon. However, after a week of not hearing anything, they were confused as to why he had stopped. 

     During dinner, a little over a week after the nighttime chats had ended, Grandine decided to broach the subject with her son. “Hey Natsu, why don’t you talk to the moon anymore? Did something happen?” She asked. 

Natsu’s brows pinched together, his nose scrunched, an angry frown formed on his face. The two adults shared a look, something had happened.        

     “I was tellin’ Lisanna about Lucy at lunch. The stupid stripper overheard and started telling everyone.” He stabbed a piece of broccoli, angrily shoving it into his mouth. “Then iron mouth said that havin’ imaginary friends were for babies! But Lucy ain’t an imaginary friend! She's a moon sprite! It ain't my fault she can only come down when she gets older.” 

     He huffed and crossed his arms. “Then Levy said that there ain’t no such thing as a moon sprite. That the moon wasn’t livable cause it had no atmosphere or water, and somethin’ about vacuuming. I tried to tell her about Lucy and I described her and everything, but they wouldn't believe me!” Angry tears welled up in his eyes, “So I stopped talkin’ to Luce cause she ain’t real. There's no such thing as moon sprites or magic. I was a baby for thinkin’ otherwise.” 

Grandine and Igneel looked at each other. Grandine looking pointedly at Igneel to get him to say some fatherly, encouraging advice. 

     Igneel let out a sigh. “You know Natsu, it doesn’t make you a baby for having someone that you can confide in. Even if other people can’t see them the way you do.” He placed a reassuring hand on Natsu’s shoulder, before ruffling his hair. “If you want to keep talking to Lucy because she makes you happy, do it. Magic is real kiddo, even if your friends don’t believe it, you do. That is what is important.” 

     “Really?” Natsu asked hopefully.

      “Yup! Magic is all over the place! All you have to do is look for it. You are one of the lucky ones. You were able to befriend one of the beings that can control it.” Igneel gave a goofy grin. “I would have preferred you making friends with a dragon, but I guess a moon sprite will have to suffice.” 

Grandine smacked her husband’s shoulder before the family started laughing. 

Natsu gave his signature grin, moving to put his plate in the dishwasher. He made a quick glance out the window and up at the moon. 

     “I guess I should go and apologize to Luce for ignoring her.” He said with a sigh, “I hope she wasn’t cryin’... I hate it when she cries.”

     Natsu ran his fingers through his hair, mumbling, “ Course she was cryin’ dummy, this is Lucy. The biggest crybaby in the solar system. Cried cause she thought she forgot my birthday, but it was the middle of December. ” 

Grandine and Igneel looked at each other with a smile, glancing back at their son in time to see him sprinting up the stairs, slamming the door shut behind him. 

     They could hear the window slam open, and hear him shout, “LUCY! I’M SORRY FOR BEING A BUTT AND IGNORIN’ YOU FOR A WEEK! I, NATSU DRAGNEEL, AM THE BIGGEST JERK IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM!” He paused, as if reluctant to continue, “AN EVEN BIGGER JERK THAN THE POLAR PEST OR METAL MOUTH!” 

The couple looked at each other, before bursting into laughter at their son’s antics. They really hoped that he would continue to have this imaginary friend for a little longer. 

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Four years had passed since the night of the Dragneel’s talk, the now 14-year-old boy was still talking to his moon sprite friend every night he could. Igneel and Grandine were sitting in their office, finishing up some last-minute paperwork, when the sound of their son’s laughter reached them. 

     “Hey Grandine, don’t you think Natsu is getting a little old for imaginary friends?” Igneel asked, looking over at his wife. 

      “I don’t think there is such a thing as being ‘too old’ for something when it comes to the imagination.” She replied, typing away at her computer. “Besides, talking to her brings him joy. All I can hope for is that Natsu is happy and healthy, no matter what he does.” 

      Igneel sighed, “I know, but don’t you think that this could cause issues in the future? What if he doesn’t want to hang out with his friends anymore? Because he wants to talk to a figment of his imagination? He already refuses to do sleepovers or any overnight camp, don’t you think that having it could be detrimental to his future?” 

      “Natsu hangs out with his friends every single day that he can. He invites them over to hang out, he goes over to theirs for homework and video games. He is a perfectly normal teenage boy that just so happens to have a friend that no one else can see,” Grandine huffed. “I don’t know why you’re bringing this up all of a sudden, nothing has changed since you encouraged him a few years ago.” 

      “Natsu is going to be starting high school in a few months. Then in a few more years, he’ll be graduating. I don’t want him to be bullied in high school because someone finds out that he still has an imaginary friend. He’s already picked on enough as it is because of his hair, but talking to someone that doesn’t exist? Insisting that they do? Deeney, they’ll think he’s crazy!”

      “Natsu hasn’t had any issues with bullying or being picked on since elementary school. The kids that he goes to school with have known him for years! He’s no more at risk of being picked on as Gray or Gajeel are!” She argued closing the top of her laptop and glaring at her husband. 

      “He’s going to a new school! Magnolia high isn’t just these kids that we’ve known since diapers. There are going to be students from at least three more middle schools, and they’ll have no clue about Natsu! They’ll pick on him because he’s different, giving them more fuel for the fire will only make things worse,” Igneel argued.

      “You honestly think that Natsu will just stand there and let himself be picked on? You’re talking about the boy that decked a kid for making fun of Lisanna wearing cat ears! Even if he did, do you think that his friends would just let him be bullied? NO! If Natsu hadn’t already; Gray, Gajeel, and Erza would punch the poor kid that thought picking on Natsu was a smart idea!”

      Igneel sighed and ran his fingers down his face, “I don’t think that physically, Natsu would be in danger… Deeney, I’m just concerned about our boy.”  

 Grandine gave a small smile, before setting her laptop down. She walked over to her husband, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 

     “Our boy will be fine Iggy,” she soothed. “There isn’t anything wrong with having an active imagination or imaginary friends. He will grow up to be a smart, strong, and happy young man that will succeed in everything that matters.” 

She kissed her husband’s forehead, patting his back lovingly. The couple turned to look at the door when they heard a soft sound from that direction. They looked at each other questioningly, before shrugging and getting ready to go to bed. 

When the couple had finished, they walked quietly to their room, passing by the now silent room of their son. What they didn’t know was that Natsu had overheard most of their argument. 

 The boy was now lying in his bed staring at the ceiling. Thinking of ways that he could prevent his parents from worrying, while still getting to talk to his best friend. He decided that night that he would wait until his parents were asleep, before talking to Lucy. Natsu let out a long sigh, turning on his side, trying to get some sleep. 

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 Two years after Igneel and Grandine’s argument, Natsu and Gray pulled into the parking lot of the campground.

      “C’mon Frosty! Let’s grab our gear and set up camp before everyone else arrives! Then we can get straight into the activities!” Natsu said, hopping out of the driver’s seat happily, before running to the trunk to pull out the camping equipment.

      Gray let out a loud groan, slumping out of the passenger's seat. “How the heck can you be so freaking happy at 7 in the morning flame for brains? You didn’t even stop for coffee on the way here. I can barely function.” Gray said groggily, shuffling to the overexcited teen. 

      “Cheer up ya pervy popsicle! We get the whole weekend to ourselves! No parents, no responsibility, no work! Just relaxation and fun with our friends!” Natsu cheered, dragging out the tents and sleeping bags. He walked over to the fire pit, dumping the items next to it.

     “Hey squinty eyes, I bet I can set up the big tent before you can set up the two smaller ones!” Gray said, grabbing the 14 person tent and throwing Natsu the four and two-person tents. 

      “Oh, you’re so on droopy eyes!” 

The two boys pulled out everything from the bags, laying them out on the grass.

      “Ready.”

      “Set.”

      “GO!” 

 They both yelled, before throwing themselves into setting up the tents. 

 By the time their friends arrived, Natsu and Gray were arguing, covered in grass and dirt stains. 

      “Why am I not surprised that these idiots are fighting already?” Lisanna sighed, pulling out her duffle from the back of her sister’s car. 

      “Because they are MANLY!” Elfman said, coming up behind his sister and grabbing his own bag, along with the large food-filled cooler from the back. 

 Gray and Natsu were in charge of bringing the tents and sleeping supplies. This left the food and drinks to the Strauss siblings. This way, it would reduce the number of times the two would argue. 

      “It's because we’ve known those two since they were in diapers. Their relationship hasn’t changed over the years,” Mirajane replied, slipping in between her siblings. She grabbed her duffle, along with the smaller cooler. 

      “Those two could argue about practically anything for hours! Yet they still won’t get tired of it.” 

 The sibling trio laughed, heading towards the fighting pair. After locking their car, they went to see what started this disagreement. 

       “There’s no way you finished before me flame breath! You were still putting on a rain cover when I was done!” Gray argued, fists clenched by his sides, glaring at the pink-haired boy in front of him.

      “That's not true fruit of the gloom!” Natsu yelled getting into Gray’s face, “I finished, then turned around, and you were still securing one of the stakes!” 

The boys continued arguing when the siblings reached them. 

      “Hey, Natsu! where do we put our stuff?” Lisanna asked. 

     Natsu continued to glare at the dark-haired boy in front of him, “Bags with clothes and stuff go into the four-person tent. Coolers and other food things go in the two-person,” He said, before Gray launched himself onto him, the two boys beginning to roll around on the grass, fighting. 

      Lisanna's facepalmed, letting out a disappointed sigh. “Why do I still hang out with those two.” 

      Mirajane put a reassuring hand on her little sister’s shoulder. “Because those two boys will protect their loved ones with everything they’ve got.” 

      “That better not be fighting I hear,” A menacing voice called from a red car that had just pulled into the parking lot. 

The two boys froze mid-battle, fists still raised. Their faces paled, eyes wide. They quickly scrambled to their feet, pushing the other down. 

      “We weren’t fighting at all!” Gray said unconvincingly. His hair was sticking up more than usual, and there was mud on his cheeks, grass stains on his outfit, or what was left of his outfit anyway.

     “Aye!” Natsu agreed, his own appearance matching closely to Gray’s, but with more clothing. 

Erza strolled over to the group, Jellal trailing behind her, his arms filled with bags full of who knows what. 

      “Gray your clothes,” Lisanna said, returning from dropping off her bags. 

     “What? I was just wearing them!” Gray exclaimed, searching for his missing clothes.

 The small group laughed at their friend’s antics. 

      “Looks like we’re still waiting on Gajeel, Levy, Cana, Juvia, and Wendy.” Jellal said as he returned from dropping off Erza’s things in the tent, “Have you heard anything from them yet?” 

      Gray returned with all of his clothes on, “Juvia, Wendy, and Cana are headed up here together. I got a text from Juvs a few minutes ago saying that they were close.” 

      “Iron breath picked up Levy, so they should be here soon,” Natsu said, lacing his hands behind his head. “What should we do while we wait?” 

      “You guys could play capture the flag while I finish setting things up,” Mirajane offered. “I’ll lay out the sleeping bags, then start getting lunch ready.” 

      “Thank you, Mira!” The rest of the group yelled, splitting into their normal teams and running off into the forest. 

 The sun had set and the group of teens sat around a roaring fire laughing and telling stories. They had all eaten their fill of Mirajane’s cooking and a few were still roasting marshmallows.

      “Okay, what is one thing about another person here that you’ve always wanted to know?” Lisanna asked, taking a bite of her s’more. 

      “I’ve always wondered why Elfman always says ‘MAN’ or ‘MANLY’ after everything,” Wendy said looking over at the said man. 

 The group looked confused for a second, realizing that they hadn’t really given it much thought, it was just something that Elfman had always done. They all looked over at the man who sheepishly smiled rubbing the back of his neck. 

      “Well when I was a kid I met this teenager that helped an old lady cross the street and he looked down at me and said ‘The manly man is one that always helps out others.’ so I guess that it just stuck…” he chuckled.

      “Well, I sure wasn’t expecting that,” Gajeel grumbled before looking over at Natsu. “Whatever happened to that moon bunny that you went on about for years. It seems like one day you just stopped.” 

      “Oh yeah, I remember that! What was her name again? Laney? Lacey?” Erza asked looking up at the sky, where a full moon looked back. 

      Natsu looked up with her with a soft smile on his face, “Her name is Lucy, and she’s a moon sprite, not a bunny” he let out a sigh before looking at his hands, conflicting feelings flashed on his face. Should he tell them the truth, or should he lie to make them get off his back? 

      He took a deep breath, they were his friends no reason to lie to them, “She told me that on the first full moon after she turned 18 she would be given the choice to either stay on the moon and keep her magic or come down to earth and become a human. “he looked back up at the moon, “She said that she was going to choose to come down to earth, she doesn’t have anyone there that really cares about her. Her mom died about 6 years ago and her dad is a dick, she’s always wanted to meet you guys ‘cause of all of the stories I’ve told her.” 

      He chuckled, “I stopped talking about her because my dad was afraid that I would be bullied because of it, so I figured I would just wait it out and keep her to myself until she came down.” His voice took on a tone that the group had never heard from him, it was soft and full of love, “I can’t wait until you guys can finally meet her. She’s amazing and you all would love her.”

 The group looked at him in awe, they didn’t think that Natsu still believed in this Lucy girl and he talked about her with so much love. 

     Gajeel snorted “So you still believe in this bunny girl ey, fire hazard.” he let out his signature laugh, “I’m surprised you still believe in those baby things.” 

 The air around the group went tense as the soft smile that was on Natsu’s smile morphed into a scowl then his face went blank.

     He stood up, glared at Gajeel “This is the other reason why I never brought it up because you would be a dick and I really didn’t want to have to get pissed off again. I thought you had grown up in the years since you’ve made fun of me before Gajeel, but I guess not.” Natsu said his voice sounded cold and hollow, the opposite of how it was a few minutes before. He turned his back on the group and walked into the forest. 

 The group was in shocked silence, Natsu hadn’t even taken a swing at Gajeel like he usually would. In his place though the normally timid Juvia punched his arm. 

      “The hell waterwoman!” He growled rubbing his shoulder. 

      “That was a real jerk move Gajeel! He trusted us enough to tell us that and you made fun of him!” She scolded.

      “What you think he’s tellin’ the truth about some bunny girl living on the moon with magic that will just appear one day?”

      Juvia glared and punched him again, “It doesn’t matter if Juvia believes it or not! Natsu does and he’s our friend so we should be nice and supportive of him! Either he’ll realize one day that she isn’t real, or she’ll show up one day and we’ll get to meet her! Natsu has always been supportive of Juvia’s thoughts and beliefs and has never once made fun of something that you guys cared a lot about. Natsu has always been able to tell what was really important to us and respected that.”

      Juvia let out a frustrated noise, “Ugh! Juvia is very upset with Gajeel, but she is going to find Natsu and apologize.” She stood up and stomped off in the direction that Natsu had disappeared to.

 When Juvia caught up to Natsu he was sitting atop a boulder in the middle of a clearing staring up at the moon. He let out a sigh before burying his hands in his hair. 

      “I should have known they wouldn’t believe me Luce, but a part of me hoped that they would. They would love to get to know you and become friends with you especially Levy, she loves books as much as you do. And you and Erza would bond over shopping and all that girly crap and even though Juvia is shy at first as long as you don’t fall in love with Gray you too will get along.” He said ending with a small laugh. “I wish they could talk to you now. You can’t use any of your magic to like visit them in their dreams and threaten to curse them if they’re still dicks?”

      Natsu paused as if he were listening to someone and let out a laugh making Juvia jump. “Only, you would say something like that Luce. Thank you though, I really appreciate you sayin’ that.” He gave the moon a dopey grin that had Juvia smiling along. She looked up at the moon and gave it, sorry her, a smile. 

      “What? Someone’s here?” Natsu murmured before turning around and locking eyes with Juvia. Walls seemed to go up around his expression and it turned blank. 

      “What do you need Juvia, I’ll be back at the camp in a few no need to worry about me.”

     Juvia took a deep breath and walked into the clearing, “Will you tell Juvia a bit about Lucy? She must be pretty great if she’s got you smiling like that.” She smiled at Natsu then looked at the moon, “Juvia is sorry to be interrupting your conversation with Natsu, Lucy but our friend was being a bit of a jerk about you, but Juvia wants to get to know you better before Juvia gets to meet you in person in a few years.” 

     Natsu’s mouth was agape and his eyes were wide in shock, “You believe me?” he whispered in disbelief.

      “Of course Juvia does Natsu. Natsu has no reason to lie to Juvia and Natsu believes Juvia too.” she placed a hand on his shoulder, “Can Juvia sit down while you tell her about Lucy?”

Natsu, still in a state of disbelief, shifted over to give her space to sit. He shook out of his shock and gave Juvia a face splitting grin before he started to rant about Lucy, how they first met, and almost everything that he learned about her, occasionally being interrupted by the moon sprite either correcting him or having him translate what she was saying to the earth girl. 

     The trio talked until the sun was close to rising, “Lucy has to go now Juvia, she thanks you though and is glad that you two can be friends. She said that you can talk to her anytime and she’ll be listening even if you can’t hear her back. All you have to do is say her name while looking at the moon and she’ll be there.” Natsu smiled at the blue-haired girl, “Thank you for believing me Juvia, you’re a really great friend. When Gray gets his head out of his ass he’ll realize how great of a girl you are and you guys will start dating. You’ll be a great influence on him.”

      He gave Juvia his signature grin before giving her a hug, “If you ever need me to do anything Juvia,” He said then pushed her back lightly gripping her shoulders looking at her seriously, “ And I mean anything Juvia like if you want me to beat up Gray because he doesn’t compliment your hair one day, I’ll do it.” 

      Juvia let out a string of laughter, “Okay Natsu, Juvia will do that, but Juvia will probably not have you beat up her beloved Gray-sama anytime soon.” 

      Natsu laughed and nodded, “Got it Juvi. Let’s head back to camp so they don’t think we got attacked by wild animals or abducted by aliens.” He slung his arm over Juvia’s shoulder and the pair began their walk back to the camp.

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 Two years and a couple of months had passed since the camping trip and Natsu had moved out of his parent's house and into an apartment. He had been saving up for this apartment for over two years. It was a cozy little two-bedroom apartment, and it almost felt like home to Natsu. It had some hand me down furniture in the kitchen and living room from his parents, but he had made sure to buy nice beds for the two bedrooms and decorated the walls of one with pictures of him and his friends while the other was simpler with glow in the dark stars on the ceiling laid out to match the night sky in summer. 

Natsu took a deep breath as the sun began to set. Tonight was finally the first full moon after Lucy’s 18th birthday, meaning that in the next hour he would finally get to meet his best friend and crush of over 14 years. He had already started pacing and feeling nervous. He had triple checked everything to make sure that Lucy would feel comfortable at his place, he had cleaned and made sure the fridge was stocked but he still felt like he was forgetting something important. 

He picked up his phone and dialed the phone number of the girl that had become his closest friend. 

      “Juvia! She’s going to be here soon and I think I’m forgetting something and I don’t know what it is! I cleaned the house and the fridge is full. Her room is set up! I don’t know what it could be! I just want everything to be perfect for her first day here!” Natsu rambled.

     “Natsu. Take a deep breath. Are you dressed?” Juvia’s voice was calm on the other side. She was used to him freaking out about this by now, he had been in a panic these past few days not knowing what he should do to make Lucy comfortable on Earth. 

      Natsu looked down and saw that he was still in his boxers with chibi dragons. “Shit. I thought I had put on pants.” He scrambled to his room, his phone echoing with Juvia’s laughter. 

      “Everything will be okay Natsu. You’ve known Lucy for 14 years. Juvia is sure she would be happy if you still lived at your parent’s place. She’s Lucy, you know her.” She reassured him, “And when she's all settled and she feels up to it Juvia would love to get to meet her too.” 

      “You could come over now Juvi, Luce would love to get to see you, she talks about you a lot,” Natsu said as he buttoned up his slacks. He had decided to dress up a bit to try to impress Lucy a bit. 

      “Juvia is fine Natsu. This first meeting is something that you two deserve alone time for. Have been waiting for this for over 14 years. Juvia can wait a few days, but don’t hog her for too long. Juvia needs to shove Lucy’s existence into Gray and Gajeel’s face for being pricks about her growing up.” 

      Natsu laughed, “Thank you Juvia. I’m so excited to see her but I’m also fucking terrified. What if she decides not to come down and stays on the moon, or what if she regrets coming down and she wants to go back but she's stuck here forever…” his thoughts began spiraling into a negative space that it really only went to during the night after his talks with Lucy. 

     “Natsu! Shut up and get out of your head!” Juvia scolded. 

      “Wow never thought I would hear that.” a deep voice echoed from Juvia’s side of the phone. 

      “Shut up Gray.” She snapped. The sound of a door was heard closing behind her before Juvia’s voice softened, “Natsu, you know that Lucy doesn’t break her promises and she promised that she would come down to Earth, and you know how much she’s rambled on about coming down here and getting to meet us, but mostly you.” 

      Natsu could feel his cheeks warm as she continued, “Especially you Natsu, you’re her oldest friend and probably first and only love. Mavis knows how much you love her.” 

      Natsu sputtered at her bluntness, “Juvia! You can’t just say that!” 

       “Why not? It's the truth, you talk about her with the same fondness that Gajeel does about Levy, Jellal does about Erza, and that Juvia does about Gray.” 

      Natsu’s face was probably the color of Erza’s hair, “I know that, but you don’t need to say it out loud. It’s embarrassing.” 

      The moon’s light began to shine brighter into Natsu’s living room from the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony. “Shit Juvia she’s coming. Oh, Mavis what if I screw things up. No no no this is Luce everything will be okay.” He said teetering off into a mumble before he took a deep breath. “I’ll message you later Juvia.” 

      “Have fun Natsu!” Juvia said before she hung up. 

 Natsu slipped his phone into his back pocket and watched as the moon’s glow began to get brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding. He turned his head away to protect his eyes then looked back to the silhouette of a girl standing on his balcony. He scrambled to the door and locked eyes with probably the most beautiful girl he had seen. She had hair that was as golden as the stars, her skin was as pale as the moon itself, and her eyes, Mavis her eyes, were a warm chocolate brown that seemed to hold galaxies in their depth. The girl smiled and Natsu felt his heart stop before he could get his body to work and give the girl a smile in return. 

      Natsu slid the door open and immediately embraced the girl. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to give you a hug Luce.” He could feel tears prick the edge of his eyes. He felt his anxieties disappear, he was finally holding Lucy in his arms. She was real. She wasn’t a figment of his imagination or an imaginary friend, she was a moon sprite that gave up her powers to live with him. 

     He heard sniffles and could feel her shoulders shake. “I would guess as long as I’ve wanted this too Natsu,” Lucy said as she hugged him tighter. 

 Natsu let the tears that he had been holding back go as he nuzzled into the top of her head.

      “You’re finally here. You’re really here. I’m never fucking letting you go.” He said in disbelief and she let out a watery laugh. 

      “I would hope not Natsu because I’m not letting you go either.” 

 The pair stood outside in a hug until the sound of Nastu’s stomach interrupted them. 

      “Shit. Stupid stomach I just fed you. Shut up so I can keep hugging Luce.” He pouted and gave the girl another squeeze. 

      Lucy giggled, “We should probably head inside so we can talk about stuff and get some food.” 

      Natsu sighed before he lifted up the girl and walked them into the house. Lucy let out a surprised squeak before she laughed at his antics, “You can let me go Natsu I do have two working legs you know.” 

      “Nope, I said I was never letting you go and I’m not. You’re stuck with me forever now. No takesies backsies.” He said plopping the two of them down on the sofa readjusting so Lucy could be more comfortable.

      “You do know that I’m not going anywhere right? We’re together forever now, even if we aren’t attached at the hip. I promise I won’t leave you, and you know that I never break my promises.” Lucy said with a sigh pushing back on the boy’s chest to get a better look at him. 

He was just as, if not more, handsome than Lucy thought he would be. His tanned skin and vibrant pink hair were a strange combination but it suited him so well. His sharp green eyes seemed to go on forever and his smile was something that Lucy wanted to see forever. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes again and watched as panic washed over his face. 

      “Shit whats wrong Luce? Did I do something to upset ya? I’ll let you go if you’re starting to get uncomfortable!” he rambled not wanting to make the former sprite feel pressured into doing something that she didn’t want to do. 

      Lucy let out a watery laugh, “It’s nothing like that Natsu. It’s just that I’m so happy to finally be with you.” She sniffled, “I never thought that I would be able to do thing but with your help I really did it! I love you so much Natsu.” 

     Natsu’s eyes widened before they softened into what can only be described as a look of pure adoration. His hand slid up the side of Lucy’s cheeks wiping away the tears that fell. “I love you too Luce. I love you to the moon and beyond.” 

      Lucy leaned down and Natsu leaned up and the two met in a soft kiss. They parted and gave the other a soft smile. Natsu pulled Lucy gently back until their foreheads touched, “Thank you for existing and for giving up your powers to be here with me.” 

      Lucy smiled, “You’re a lot better than the ability to make lights turn on at will, I can tell you that much.” She joked before pecking his lips lightly, “I will miss being able to fly but I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it up to me.”

      Natsu laughed, “I’m sure I’ll think of something, if not I’ll get Juvia to help me. Oh! Before I forget can we take a picture to send to Juvia? She’s been wanting to see you.” he said scrambling for his phone while trying to not let go of the girl.

      “Of course! You’ll have to take me to actually meet with her in person soon! I wanna see her! And all your other friends too, but Juvia first because she believed you about me.” She pouted, “The other ones were dicks and I can’t wait to shove my existence in their faces!” 

 He laughed again before opening his phone up and going to the camera app to take a selfie. When the pair felt the picture was good enough (i.e. when Lucy thought the picture was good enough) they sent it to Juvia. Natsu then threw his phone to the other side of the couch and the pair snuggled up together and began talking about their plans for the next week. 

 A few blocks away Juvia’s phone lit up with a notification from Natsu. She looked away from the movie that she and Gray were watching to look at the message and let out a squeal before shoving her phone in Gray’s face. 

      “Juvia told you, Gray! Juvia told you for years but you never believed her and Natsu!” She cheered as Gray pulled the phone away from his face and his jaw dropped.

 In the picture, Natsu was sitting next to a pretty blonde girl that he had never seen before, the text below read ‘Luce says hi!’

[ultraglittercat]

Drabble 114

Camping

Varian was frustrated. He'd been working on translating the Demanitus Scroll for a week now, and even though he barely took breaks to rest or eat (despite Ruddiger's chitterings) progress was slow. He was almost certain he'd identified another vowel when he was hit in the back of the neck by a pillow.

“Get your stuff. We're going camping.” Lance the pillow thrower informed him.

“What? You can't just throw things at someone and except them to drop everything and join you on a camping trip.” Varian protested. But it was difficult to make his point when he was next smacked by a blanket, this one thrown by Eugene.

“Not negotiable. This is guys' time, the ultimate in bonding activities. You're gonna love it.” Eugene promised.

“I would love getting work done.” Varian argued.

“Aw, c'mon little man. You are missing out on life by spending your days in this stuffy old lab.” Lance insisted.

“It's not stuffy at all. The humidifier does a great job adding moisture to the air.” Varian maintained, pointing at it.

“Really? That's kind of neat.” Lance said, as he began poking at the device.

“Hey, don't jostle it! It's really delicate and--” Varian was interrupted by the sound of the humidifier falling apart in Lance's hands. “--you might break it.” Varian concluded sadly.

“Oops. All the more reason to go outside, then.” Lance smiled disarmingly but Varian merely stared at him, arms folded, and face scowling. “Time to turn that frown upside down! Biiig hug!” Lance declared, scooping the smaller boy up in a big bear hug. Varian tried to resist at first, but Lance's embrace was tight and welcoming and his anger at having a machine break slowly dissipated as he was held in Lance's arms.

“There, now you're feeling better. And hugs are just one of the benefits of guy's time. You'll learn strength, and focus, and self-preservation as you sit by a roaring campfire.” Lance said.

“I do know how to start fires easily.” Varian mused.

“...should we be worried about that?” Eugene whispered to Lance.

“Nah, it's cool.” Lance whispered back.

“Alright then. Good to have you on board, Goggles. Get whatever you need from the lab and then we're heading to Mount Saison.” Eugene instructed.

Varian moved to grab the scroll. “Not that.” Lance clarified. Varian sighed, and instead gathered up some of his goo balls, a few books, and some vials of alchemical solutions. Ruddiger chittered as he climbed onto Varian's shoulder.

“Don't worry, buddy. I haven't forgotten about you. I've got apples in my apron pocket.” Varian told him. The little raccoon smiled. “Just need to grab some ham sandwiches from the kitchen.”

“Can you get some with the crusts cut off?” Lance asked. Eugene stared at him. “Ooh, and extra mustard!” Lance added.

“Mustard, no crusts, got it.” Varian said.

“Do you have a horse you can use? Max won't hold three people.” Eugene pointed out.

“We can take some of the farm donkeys. They know how to carry people, especially Prometheus, he's really gentle.” Varian replied.

“Good. Grab the sandwiches and then meet us outside.” Eugene said.

Varian ran to the kitchen, stopping to say hello to Quirin and tell him he was off on a camping trip with Lance and Eugene. Quirin approved, glad that Varian finally had some male friends to act as role models/older brother figures.

Varian came back out, went to the barn and settled up two donkeys: Prometheus and Hyperion, who he explained to the boys would be used by Lance.

“What kind of name is Hyperion?” Lance wondered.

“One my Mom chose.” Varian replied.

“Oh.” Lance realized his gaffe. “Sounds terrific.” he lied.

The boys rode to Mount Saison, Eugene and Lance taking turns telling Varian about some of their adventures traveling outside of Corona.

“So Rapunzel found this magical idol that makes people having hallucinations of whatever brings them happiness. Rapunzel saw visions of her father while she was homesick and so she coveted the idol even more than the rest of us, which was a lot. Then Lorbs almost convinced her to get rid of it when...” Eugene suddenly trailed off.

“Hey, I was interested! What happens next?” Varian asked eagerly.

“...uh she listened to them and destroyed it?” Eugene said uncertainly.

“...why do I have the feeling it's best if I don't question that?” Varian wondered.

“It's best if you don't question that.” Lance assured him. Varian shrugged, and the rest of their trip was uneventful. Varian built a fire quickly using a tube coated with phosphorus and a sulfur tipped match. Eugene and Lance were impressed, if a little unnerved that Varian had access to small, readily flammable materials. Besides ham sandwiches, they toasted some of the marshmallows Eugene had brought.

“This is nice.” Lance said, leaning back and relaxing. “We'll sleep well, in the Queen's tent, which I borrowed just for today.”

“He's borrowed it several times before.” Eugene confided to Varian, who nodded. He was just happy to be a part of the group. It was really nice having friends, and not having to sleep shackled in a cold, damp dungeon. Varian shivered at the memory.

“Here, have a blanket.” Eugene offered. Varian took it, feeling grateful.

“It's almost dark enough to see the stars. The view from up here is spectacular, when you're not distracted by hordes of umlauts.” Eugene laughed.

“I've heard that it's really nice, and I'm glad I finally get to see for myself. I've been charting stars since I was little, and the sky is Old Corona is beautiful, but it was kind of lonely just doing it by myself. I mean, sometimes Dad came out, but it was mostly to tell me to go to bed...” Varian sighed.

“Quirin's just worried because you don't have a good sleep schedule. Rapunzel feels the same way.” Eugene told him.

Varian blushed. Were his sleeping habits really bad enough to have everyone concerned about him? Part of him was flattered that they did care about him, but another part was frustrated that they didn't trust his judgment. He was preparing to tell Eugene that he was a teenager, and nearly old enough to decide for himself how much sleep he needed, when he was elbowed by Lance.

“Here come the stars!” Lance exclaimed.

“Wow.” Varian was impressed. “You can see the Summer Triangle so clearly from here! There's Altair, Deneb, and Vega.” he pointed up at the sky.

“And there's a bunch of stars that look like a bird!” Lance added.

“That's Aquila, Latin for eagle.” Varian explained. “I think the Demanitus Scroll may be written in a language partly inspired by Latin. I mean, I'm not 100% sure but--”

“But today you're taking a break from work. Just keep looking at the stars Varian.” Eugene yawned. “Maybe count how many you can see before you fall asleep.”

Lance yawned too, and so did Varian. Eugene had made a good point about taking time off and just enjoying what was around him. Varian petted Ruddiger absently, thinking about how fortunate he was to be out there tonight with friends.

The End

Lance's bear hugs are the best. We should all be lucky enough to have a Lance in our lives.

[the-awkward-outlaw]

Hello! I'm not sure if you know, but Sadies does in fact call herself as Mrs. Kilgore if you follow her to the store during the mission Further Questions of Female Suffrage. Reader discovers jealousy here and misunderstood everything, that she abandons the mission by running back to camp and avoids Arthur and Sadie when they come back. It's against the rules to abandon gang members but she doesn't care. Writer's choice on how to end this.

Yo, so I had to replay this mission just to see, cuz I had no idea! And you’re right! She totally does call herself Mrs. Kilgore! Anyways, here you go, my friend! Hope you enjoy! 

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Read on AO3

The wagon bumps down the road, away from Clemens Point. You sit in the back of it, watching the trees go by. In front sits Sadie, the widow from Colter. Recently she’s really come into her own. Before she was a mourning, sobbing mess who could barely lift a cup due to the funk she was in. You won’t soon forget the day Karen stopped her from trying to shoot herself. Now Sadie’s starting to grow confident and sure of herself. This morning, you were sure she’d kill Mr. Pearson. 

Next to her sits Arthur, your good friend and the man you’ve been crushing on for ages. Out of everyone in camp, you trust him the most. He’s the one you’ve always been able to count on, to confide in. For the first few years in the gang, the two of you were just friends, hunting partners. Then just before Blackwater, something changed. Even you’re not sure what it was, but you started to see him differently. He was more attractive, more alluring. Surely he hadn’t meant to make you develop feelings for him as his behavior hadn’t changed. 

When you first started to know you felt things for Arthur, you tried to suppress them. It wouldn’t be good for anyone right now for you two to get together, especially Arthur. He deserves a lot better than you, you know that. But lately, it’s been getting harder to hide how you feel. More than ever, he’s been inviting you to go hunting which has resulted in spending a lot of time alone with him. 

Then Arthur got that letter from his ex-lover Mary Linton. That really reminded you of how much Arthur is out of your reach. Watching him speed out of camp to go meet with her and then all the gossip that arose from that with the others made it perfectly clear that he still loves her. He could never love you. Still you felt a pang of jealousy for this woman, but you did your best to stuff it down. 

You pull yourself from your thoughts as Sadie tells Arthur to hand her Pearson’s letter. He tries to argue with her about it, but eventually gives in. You laugh with him as Sadie reads it aloud, adopting a poor rendition of Pearson’s rough voice. Just as she finishes, Arthur pulls the wagon into the dusty town of Rhodes. 

“So what’s the plan here?” Sadie says and she pulls out her pistol. “Shoot the store owner and rob him?” 

“What? No, are you insane?” Arthur growls, putting his hand on her gun to lower it, looking around to make sure no one saw. “We ain’t shootin’ anyone!”

“I thought we was outlaws!” Sadie retorts. 

“Outlaws, not idiots! We rob those who rob others. These people are just tryin’ to get by!” When Arthur’s sure Sadie won’t shoot anyone, he starts heading off for the train station to deliver Pearson’s letter. You follow Sadie inside, chuckling to yourself. She’s certainly turning into a fearless woman, though she still has a lot to learn about being an outlaw. 

You walk up to the store clerk and hand him Pearson’s list, Sadie looks around for a minute and then she walks up to him. “I wanna see what clothes ya got,” she says to him. 

“Okay. We have a decent amount of dresses and skirts, just got a shipment last week.” 

“Nah. Lemme see what pants and shirts ya got,” she replies. 

The clerk fumbles for a minute, but then he shrugs. “We got some of those. Not as many, mind, but some.” As he reaches for the catalog and hands it to Sadie, he continues on. “So, your feller don’t mind your attire, huh?” 

“Excuse me?” Sadie says, as she hadn’t really been listening to him. He repeats the question and then gestures to her left hand, which still has her wedding ring on it. “Oh, uh, no he don’t mind.” 

“I see,” the clerk says. “And where should my boys put your items, miss…” 

Sadie looks around quickly and then says, “Er, Kilgore. Mrs. Kilgore, and I have a wagon out front.” 

You’d been looking around the shelves, thinking about maybe buying some chocolate, when you heard Sadie say that name. It stops you cold. Kilgore. That’s the name Arthur often adopts when he wants to hide his identity. Why is Sadie using it now? Anger flushes through your chest at the thought that maybe she’s developing a crush on Arthur. How could she not? After all, Arthur was one of the first to help her after her husband was killed, he’s always made sure to check on her to make sure she’s okay. 

Not that you blame Sadie on having feelings for Arthur, you’re no better. However you thought things were bad enough when you were competing with Mary, a woman you’ve never met. But now you’re competing with Sadie? A woman who must be infinitely more desirable to a man like Arthur than you could ever hope to be? Sadie’s strong, confident, doesn’t take anything from anybody, and she’s a beautiful woman. 

Thinking of Sadie and Arthur together makes you feel like you’re sinking. The image of them being together seems more real to you than the thought of you being with him. Arthur doesn’t know what kind of lure he has on women. You can’t even begin to count how many women you’ve seen checking him out in towns, how obvious it is that they’re interested. Arthur could have just about any woman he wanted. There’s no way in hell he’d ever want to be in a relationship with you. His behavior has made it clear that friends is as far as he ever wants to go. 

This, though, is one strike too many. If Sadie starts making moves on Arthur, then there’s absolutely no chance for you. Not that you have much of one now. 

As Sadie continues to talk with the clerk, you hear something roaring in your ears and the walls feel like they’re closing in. Your chest starts to tighten, so you quickly go outside. But even here, out on the dusty road, it doesn’t feel right. You have to get out of here. 

Then you look down the road and see Arthur approaching. Once again, the image of him and Sadie together pops into your brain and you just can’t take it. Before he gets close, you suddenly dash off towards the saloon. You can hear him calling your name, but you ignore him. 

Once at the saloon and out of Arthur’s eyesight, you head down the dirt road, not caring that your horse is too far for you to call for, not caring that people are passing you by without a word. All you know is that, for your own mental health, you have to sever ties with Arthur. Clearly you can’t be friends with him as your feelings will always be there to complicate things, and you can’t stop yourself from loving him, as much as you want to. The thought of having no interactions with Arthur crushes you, but it’s something you have to do. 

A few hours go by, and you’re a little hurt about the fact that Arthur didn’t come after you. However this only solidifies that he doesn’t really care about you. Hell, has he ever seen the two of you even being friends? Maybe you were nothing but a hunting buddy for him. Perhaps you’re a bigger fool than you even thought. This makes you even more sure that you have to cut ties with him. With that thought, you head on back to camp. 

It takes another hour to get back since you’re walking on foot, but when you get there, you straighten yourself up and do your best to hide the dried tears. When you walk in, you greet the others like normal. Sadie then walks up to you, a repeater in her hands. 

“Well, ‘bout time you came on back! Where the hell you run off to?” 

“No where. Just… felt like going for a walk,” you say stiffly. 

“Must’ve been some walk. Well, here.” She hands you the repeater. “Hosea says you’re on watch duty next.” 

Without complaint, you take the rifle and head to the outskirts of camp, relieved to have a reason to be alone a while longer. You’re still not really sure what you plan on saying to Arthur next time he tries to have interactions with you. As you stand and wait for something to happen (which you know won’t), you think about what you will say to him. 

Should you come off as aggressive? Rip off the bandaid to make sure he leaves you alone? No, that won’t do. You’ve never been able to be angry for long periods of time with Arthur. However, you won’t be pouty with him. He’s never taken kindly to people who act that way. 

Before you really have a chance to decide on how to act, you hear his voice from behind you. 

“Hey, you okay?” 

“Oh. Hello, Mr. Morgan. I’m fine, thank you.” 

Arthur instantly knows you’re upset with him for something. You haven’t called him Mr. Morgan since you were still new to the gang and were breaking into the ranks. You’ve also never been so formal with him. He racks his brain for a second, trying to pinpoint why you’re upset. 

“You sure about that? You left the store in a big hurry.” 

“Yes. I just wanted to go for a walk. It’s such a beautiful day, I felt it would be a wasted opportunity.” 

Yep, you’re mad and he knows it. Arthur’s been around you long enough to know that you really don’t like being down here. You don’t like this humid heat, and you hate how the dust clings to everything, glued to any surface by the moist air. Besides, you only take long walks like that when you’re angry about something. 

“You wanna talk?” he says, noticing how you’ve refused to look at him, staring pointedly into the trees instead. 

“About what?” 

“I don’t know. Maybe about what’s bothering you?” He’s standing right next to you and you can feel his eyes on your face. 

“Nothing’s bothering me, Mr. Morgan. Now, I’m sure you’ve plenty of things to be doing rather than wasting your time on me. Perhaps Sadie needs help with something.” 

Arthur isn’t sure, but he thinks you sound a bit choked up when you say Sadie’s name. He also doesn’t like the way you brushed him off, the words you chose. 

“Well, I’m sure Sadie’s doin’ just fine. You know, on the way back to camp, a bunch of them Lemoyne Raiders showed up, tried robbin’ us. Sadie showed she’s more than capable with a gun. Frightened the hell out of me.” 

You blink and turn your face even further away from him, your chest tightening again. Great, now Sadie’s shown her fiery side. Arthur will definitely be interested, you just know it. 

“That don’t surprise me,” you say stiffly, trying to hide how close you are to crying again. “Well, why don’t you go and give her some pointers when it comes to guns? That is if you think she needs them.” 

Arthur puts his hands on his gunbelt. “Hey, what’s goin’ on with you and Sadie? She say somethin’ bad to you?” 

You sigh and shake your head. “It’s nothing, Arthur. Don’t worry about me.” 

Arthur’s starting to get frustrated with you, but then he realizes that he knows you better than anyone in this camp, and he knows that you’re not one to actively seek help when you need it. Your way of seeking help is to brush off even the tiniest offers of it. That’s when he knows that you’ve got something going on and in order to break through your walls, he needs to keep pushing. 

“But I do worry about ya. More than you’re probably aware.” Arthur scratches his chin. “And for the record, I don’t think time with you is time wasted.” 

This catches you off guard and for the first time, you look over at him. Encouraged, he gets a little closer to you. 

“Now come on, tell me wha’s botherin’ you,” he says in that gentle tone of his that makes you melt. 

You sigh and decide to relent. You leave out your feelings about him, but feel incredibly stupid by the end. To his credit, he doesn’t laugh about it. 

“That’s what made ya upset?” he says softly. 

You look away, but nod. “I just… I can see you and Sadie getting along really well together.” 

“As outlaws, sure. Sadie’s a pistol, anyone who wants to keep their skin would be wise to not make her mad. But she ain’t really my type, Y/N. ‘Sides, with how recently she lost her husband, I certainly hope she don’t go cruisin’ for another one any time soon. Ain’t healthy.” He rubs his chin and takes a step closer. “Point is, there ain’t nothin’ between me and Sadie. But, perhaps I’m a fool for hopin’ that maybe there is somethin’ between me and another woman.” 

He catches your eye for a brief second, blushes, and then hides his beneath his hat. Something tells you that you need to play coy. 

“Oh? And who may this other woman be? It’s not… Mary, is it?” you say, feeling like you really missed your mark. 

“Mary?” he looks up, his eyes hard. “No. That woman’s stayin’ in my past where she belongs. Last time I saw her, I realized she ain’t ever really been worth my time. No, I was thinkin’ of a different woman.” 

“Do I know her?” you say softly. 

“Yes, or at least partially. You know her as bein’ someone who ain’t worth much, I know that. Probably think she’d be better off away from anyone else where she can’t interfere with their lives. I don’t see her that way, though. I see her as a strong, confident woman, and I’d be a lucky man to have her by my side. Course, I ain’t known for my luck.” 

Arthur’s so close you can feel his breath on your face, he’s only inches from you at this point. Something tells you not to move a muscle, to not ruin this moment. Arthur’s hand comes up and cups your cheek. His palm is warm and rough, his fingers calloused, but his skin sets yours on fire. 

“What are you thinkin’?” he whispers. 

You swallow, your eyes darting down to his lips. “I’d say I’d go running with you anytime.” 

With that, you lean forward and close the small distance, placing your lips on his. He responds automatically as though he’d been thinking of the same thing. As you press your body against his, clutching his shirt on his shoulders, his strong arms wind behind yours, pressing you even harder against him. He tastes good, like coffee, and his body is much warmer than you could ever have imagined. His slightly chapped lips move steadily against your own and then his hands wind up into your hair. 

After a moment, he leans away, a small smile on his face. “Ya can’t imagine how long I been wantin’ to do that, darlin’.” 

“Seriously? I never even had the slightest idea you liked me.” 

He chuckles, his hand entwining with yours. “Well, I tried real hard to keep it a secret. Thought there was no way in hell you liked me back.” 

You smile and reach up to give him a tiny kiss, to which he accepts. “Arthur, I’ve liked you much longer than I think you know. You’re the best man I ever known.” 

“Darlin’, that ain’t exactly a compliment. I know the kinda men you run with most your life.” 

“Even so. It doesn’t change the fact that I think you’re a good man.” 

Suddenly you hear a loud raucous coming from camp. Looking over to the fire, you see Uncle, Sean and Lenny getting into what looks like a pretty rowdy party. Not wanting to have the spell between you and Arthur broken just yet, you grab his hand and lead him further into the trees where you can’t be seen. 

There, the two of you enjoy just sitting in one another’s embrace, talking about all manner of things. You both admit how long you’ve been attracted to the other and afraid to admit it. You also explain why Sadie referring to herself as Mrs. Kilgore set you off and made you jealous. 

“Darlin’, you realize it’s because she ain’t taken away her wedding ring yet, right? Hell, I’m sure she only said it because it was the first name that came to her mind when the feller asked.” 

“I know, I realized that after I got upset,” you blush and bury your face into his chest. He chuckles and brushes your hair. 

“Well, maybe you and I can go into town soon. You can call yourself Mrs. Morgan if it makes you feel better.” 

You look up at him with wide eyes. “Woah, there Arthur. We literally just got together. Ain’t it a little soon to pull that trigger?” 

He laughs and rubs your back. “I only jokin’, darlin’.” 

You smile and lay your head back on his chest. A thought comes to mind that maybe one day, you’ll have the honor of calling yourself Mrs. Morgan.

[dabblescrawl]

Once Bitten, Twice Shy - Part One

Request by @ratatata-ah While Oscar is incarcerated, the reader took care of Cesar and when Oscar gets out he and the reader (Monse’s cousin) meet for the first time.  Oscar quickly becomes infatuated with the reader and invites her to his “welcome home” party to get to know her more.  The reader is shy and Oscar is very flirtatious trying to get her to open up more.  Long story short, the series could be about Oscar falling in love with the reader 

Monse and her crew had been friends since birth it seemed.  In truth, I suppose it was grade school when they were all kinders and the rag-tag group had formed.  Monse, always her style, had been the outspoken one who took quickly to learning.  Cesar had kept up with her academically and they had often found themselves in the same groups assigned by their teachers.  The pair’s quick wit and blunt personalities had matched right away.  Cesar was also a protector.  Even as small children Ruby and Jamal had been in need of that.  And so the small group of wildly different perspectives had formed.  

Sitting in the Diaz house now watching them argue about the rules for Clue, I rolled my eyes.  Their little group seemed to conflict more than they agreed, and yet the soon to be high schoolers seemed tight as ever.  Often when you were watching them spend time together like this you were slightly jealous of their tight bond.  Despite any bickering or arguments, the group always had each other’s backs.  They protected and supported one another.  The world be damned and destroyed if it tried to hold down any one of the four.

Many times I’d wished my friendships were like that.  Of course they weren’t.  Sure I had friends but I am a continuous giver without much reciprocation.  I am a part of several friend groups due to my kind spirit and personality, but none of those groups ever felt like my own, not the way the Core 4 belonged to each other.  It probably was related to my hesitant and unsure nature when it came to sharing myself with others.  It was easier to be a yes woman and do what was asked of me than build any personal connections.

Shaking away the thoughts of self pity and jealousy, because those never resulted in anything good, I elected to see what was still in the fridge from my last shopping trip.  Opening the door I saw a few things but nothing of substance left.  I nodded to myself, grabbing the keys off the countertop and heading towards the door.

“I’m going to the store,” I announced, my words unheard over the game, “Ay!” I shouted over their voices to try again.  Four sets of eyes trained on me.  “Cesar and Monse, any requests from the store for food this week?” Both preteens shook their heads negative.  “Ok, well I’m going now then, and then when I get back…”

“Everybody better get their asses outside to help carry it in.” They answered.

I nodded, “And then everybody is going home,”  which was answered by 4 sets of eye rolls.  “Eh, eh, it’s a school night,” four more nods.  “Last call on requests because…”

“I’m only going once” they echoed again, cutting me off.

“Awww,” I replied sweetly tugging at Monse’s check who was closest to me, “I have trained you so well.” I giggled and headed out the door as the bickering started again.

The mothering thing had come naturally to me, but I guess that was to be expected, I had raised myself from a young age.  When Uncle Monty first started long hauls he was only gone overnight and I’d gone to stay with Monse.  But the money was better and I was free anyways so nights turned to weekends, and weekends, turned to weeks, and those weeks were sometimes continuous.  I’d lived there through most of high school and simply stayed after I graduated three years ago.  I’d always been able to go out on a limb for either Monse or Cesar and be more assertive, but when it came to myself that was a skill I lacked.

After Cesar’s brother had gotten locked up, he’d been a mess.  How was a 10 year old kid supposed to take care of himself?  And the truth was, he wasn’t.  In fact, it was by some miracle at all that he’d been overlooked and allowed to continue to live outside of the foster system himself.  And I intended to keep him that way.  Sure, he was alone a lot, but the Core 4 and myself also tried to have him around as much as possible.  So really, he wasn’t alone all that much more than you or Monse.  The thought of foster care just did too much to disrupt his life so you’d made it your mission to make sure it didn’t happen to either of them.

Pulling the coffee off the pot and pouring it into the cup I slid my phone out of my pocket and speed dialed 2.  “Hello” came the groggy voice on the other end.  

“Morning, sleepy head” he smiled into the phone, “Have you taken a shower yet?”  The voice mumbled an affirmative.  “What’d you have for breakfast?” The voice slurped into the phone as if to answer the question.

Mouth clearly full, the answer was garbled, “Cereal”.

I nodded to myself, “Brushed your teeth?”

“YES MOM” was answered from the frustrated half yell.

“Listen here friend,” I started, “it’s a call or a visit, you want your mornings to yourself you just answer.” 

“I know” Cesar conceded, “I have to get dressed so I’ll be ready when everybody gets here.  

“Have a great day, learn something new, and…be good” we finished in unison.  “Bye, companero”

“Bye”

I hung up and took the first deep gulp of piping hot coffee.  Ok, one down, one to go.  I marched off towards Monse’s room where I completed almost the same routine with much more resistance from Monse than Cesar had given me.  The teen years were going to be fun.

With everyone off to school you hurried around to tidy up the house, finish getting ready for work, and barely made it out the door on time.

Monse had just left for writing camp for the summer.  For the first time in a long time, there wasn’t a kid in the house for you to take care of.  You’d picked up extra shifts, carefully scheduling them when Cesar should be asleep or with friends so that he wouldn’t be alone all the time.  

As seemed to be my norm, I had done some favors for my friends this morning and was completely behind when I had wanted to leave.  I texted Cesar apologizing and letting him know I would make a late lunch, instead of noon as we had planned.  No response yet, I hoped he hadn’t decided to eat without me. 

I hurried to finish getting ready and chose to leave the house with soaking wet hair.  I mean Cesar has seen me before, no need to waste anymore time getting prepped, we were just having lunch.

I pulled into the drive and noticed quite a few more cholos in the yard.  I frowned, that’s weird, sometimes different homies come around to check on Cesar, but never this many.  Something had to be going on.

I stepped out of the car and headed for the house.  Opening the door I yelled for Cesar, “Hey, Cesar, just me.  I’ll get lunch started!” I made my way into the kitchen without really taking a look around, “Also, what’s going on, there’s like a bunch of people outside.”  I pulled the ingredients for lunch from the cabinets and the fridge with ease, after all it’s not my first time cooking here.

“Uh, Y/N” Cesar said, seemingly hesitant near the fridge.

“What’s up dude” I smiled and continued about my business.

“And who do you think you are?” a deep, booming, voice came from behind where Cesar stood. 

I turned and my jaw dropped to see Cesar’s older brother Spooky behind him.  Blinking a few times, I gathered myself.

“Uh, hi, Spooky” I started, then gained a little more confident and raised my voice above a whisper, “You probably don’t know me, I am Monse’s cousin, Y/N.” You paused as the information didn’t seem to answer his question, his face hard and betrayed no emotion.  “Um, I have been watching out for Cesar since you’ve been gone.” I finished.  

“Yeah, Oscar, she’s been awesome.  She checks on me every day, and does the grocery shopping, and well most of the cooking too.” Cesar started his words tumbling out in a rush.

“Monse’s cousin?” he asks.

I nod, “Yeah, my mom is Uncle Monty’s, that’s Monse’s dad, sister.  I didn’t move to Freeridge full time until she died” I shrugged, it was old news. 

He nodded as if taking in this new information.  “Well thanks for taking care of my mano'' he said, placing his hand on Cesar’s shoulder.

“Now I get why everyone is outside” I answered, turning back to the food, “well” I said clicking my teeth and surveying the contents of the fridge.  “I don’t think I have what we need to serve everybody. But I can do lunch for the three of us.”  I said turning back to the Diaz brothers and waving my pointer finger in a circle at each of us and each nodded in turn.

“Give me like” I made a calculating face waving my hands in that little up down motion for about “20 minutes and it’ll be on the table.  Give or take.” I amended my previous statement.  

When I finished lunch, I laid it out on the table and mostly listened to Cesar detail to Spooky everything that had gone on since he’d been locked up.  There was a lot to catch up on in Cesar’s life, and that of the block.  Mostly I was quiet but every now and then Cesar would turn to me for a detail or I’d prod him about a subject that he’d forgotten to include.  Spooky would look at me intently each time I did speak and I couldn’t figure out the look he was wearing when he did.  

After lunch I cleaned up and was headed for home.  “Ay, Y/N” Spooky stopped me before I left for the afternoon.  “We’re having a party tomorrow night.  Beers on me, thanks for taking such good care of Cesar.”

Standing in your room you weren’t quite sure what you should wear.  Parties weren’t really your thing after all.  The concept was always appealing but the practice was always less than desirable.  At the time that you had accepted it had sounded like a fine idea and now you weren’t really looking forward to it at all.  You weren’t even sure you’d know anyone there at all except Spooky.  Well and possibly Cesar, but, the idea of drinking with a nearly 14 year old made your motherly, legal, brain uncomfortable.  You laughed at yourself, because a Santos party was the place to be concerned about legality. 

Sighing and looking back at your bed you decided to play eeny meeny miney mo with yourself.  If you didn’t choose soon you’d chicken out entirely.  I wanted to try to be a little more adventurous and also I had told Spooky I would be there, if I don’t go it’s like backing out on a promise.  In the end you ended up with a pair of black ripped skinny jeans and a strappy but flowy tank.  My hair isn’t usually as unruly as Monse’s, but today I had no such luck.  I threw it in a couple of tight braids and hurried to put on some make up.  I looked at myself in the mirror on my door as I tied my converse.  Close enough, I thought.

When I got to the Diaz house I was grateful for 3 things, my outfit allowed me to stay relatively cool and comfortable even in the California summer evening, I had chosen to walk because the curb was packed with cars, and Cesar was right out front.  If it hadn’t been for his catching my eye, I probably would have turned around before ever stepping foot into the party.  There were a lot of people here, like A LOT of people.

Cesar had taken me to the backyard as he’s been instructed by Spooky and cracked open my choice of beers.  I was both afraid to drink too much and too socially awkward not to get a little liquor courage in my veins.  “Next, stop, Spooky” Cesar announced.

“What?” I asked eyebrows furrowed.

“He said he wanted to know when you got here, he was by the DJ last time I saw him” Cesar turned and began snaking through the people in the yard and a beat or two later I was following him.

Read Part Two Here

[commander-rahrah]

RESIDENCY: SECOND CHANCES (AN OPEN HEART FIC): PART THREE

Pairing: MC (Jordynne Holland) X Ethan Ramsey X Bryce Lahela; MC X Bryce; MC X Ethan. Please note that both pairings are present in this fan fiction — off & on, at the same times, and the relationships do ebb & flow. Please keep this in mind. Thank you.

Masterlist: Click Here

Chapter Rating: T

Word Count: 5400+

Description: Ethan returns home from the Amazon thinking he is ready to face reality. Jordynne, Ethan and Bryce are all present in this chapter.

Disclaimer: Characters, storyline, and parts of the dialogue are taken from Pixelberry’s Choices. They fully own the characters, dialogue, backgrounds, etc. MC Jordynne’s background is my own creation, based loosely off of MC in-game’s personality and provided with more details.

Author’s Note: Well this took much longer than anticipated! Thank you to everyone for being patient, and reaching out about Residency! It means a lot to know people are still reading it, and are waiting for updates! I am nervous + excited for Chapter 10 to finally come out next Saturday! How are you feeling about it? 

As always any likes, reblogs and comments are very appreciated. If you would like to be added/removed from the tag list please just let me know!

Taglist: @drakewalkerfantasy @owleyes374 @lahelable @mayar-mahdy @paisleylovergirl @nicquix @emilymay100 @octobereighth @llamasgrl @timmagicktoad @lilyofchoices @msjpuddleduck @mfackenthal @paulfwesley @ccolz88-blog @mindlessdreaminxo @jooous @lapisreviewsstuff @choicesarehard @themingdynasty @omgjasminesimone @hopelessly-shipper  @binny1985  @perriewinklenerdie  @jens-diamondchoices  @indiacater  @chasingrobbie  @writingsbymissy  @dimitriwife  @tacohead13  @amy-choices @mrsmatsuo @checkurwindow​ @imrookieramsey​ @mrsmatsuo​ @bitchloveskcbaseball​

Previous Updates: Residency — Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten Part Eleven Part Twelve Part Thirteen Part Fourteen Part Fifteen Part Sixteen Part Seventeen Part Eighteen Part Nineteen

Residency: Second Chances -- Part One Part Two

PART THREE

And just like that he was back on a plane.

Ethan had spent the remaining month of his project with the WHO in a daze. He threw himself into his work — even more than before. He didn’t give himself a moment to stop, to idle. If he did the thoughts would creep in like they had on that beach. Or like when he had foolishly opened up to that nosy Doctor in camp.

So he just kept going and going and going.

And now he sat on the plane home, staring blankly at the TV screen in the back of the chair in front of him. A book was in his hands — the front cover curled in underneath the back as he held onto it tightly. Probably too tightly. He watched the tiny animation of the plane slowly tick forward — representing them soaring through the sky. Tiny white letters flashed along the bottom of the screen.

6 hours and 14 minutes remaining.

6 hours and 14 minutes until he would have to face his reality.

He let out a loud sigh — his head falling back onto the headrest.

“Not a good book?”

Ethan’s dark brows furrowed at the voice — annoyed at whoever was speaking so loudly. Adjusting himself in his seat, he moved his head forward again before he realized that the question was being directed to him.

The woman across from him had angled her body towards him, leaning out in the tiny hallway of the plane with a soft smile on her face as she waited for him to reply.

The furrow in his brow deepened. “What?” He barked back.

“Is your book not good? I was eyeing it in the airport store before we boarded.”

“Actually no. It’s not good. You saved yourself $5.” His words were short and clipped. Final. This stranger needed to learn some social grace and leave him alone.

“Oh. Right.” She seemed to have gotten the hint, and he watched from the corner of his eye as she turned back to sit in her seat properly. He looked at the small screen again.

6 hours and 13 minutes remaining.

“I’m sorry... but why isn’t it good?” Her voice rang out again, but it sounded anything but apologetic.

Ethan let out a long breath through his nose, flashing the woman a look before replying, “It’s fiction.”

“So?”

“Fiction, fantasy — that’s what people want. But reality is what people need.”

“Oh. You’re one of those.” She turned away from him again, grabbing onto the magazine in her lap and starting to flick through the pages with feigned interest. 

His jaw set in a hard line, “One of those what’s?”

“A Mr. Serious-Type. You can’t read for pleasure, you only read for knowledge. You probably read textbooks for fun.” She rolled her eyes.

Ethan almost felt his look twitch into a smile. She had almost read him right, “I write textbooks for fun.”

She looked at him quizzically, “What are you a professor?”

“Doctor.”

“Oh wow.” Her eyebrows shot up, “And I guess a pretty good one too if you write textbooks?”

Images of the patients he had failed flashed in his mind. Dolores being wheeled into emergency surgery to never return. Choking his failure out to Naveen and begging him to stay in the hospital anyways. “Most of the time.”

“I’m just a photographer.”

Apparently this stranger was insistent on keeping up this absurd conversation. “That has its own value in the world. Don’t discredit what you do.”

She let out a chuckle, “I think doctor is higher up than photographer.”

His eyebrows furrowed, “You couldn’t be more wrong.”

The woman blinked at him in surprise, “Do you usually argue with strangers on airplanes?”

“Do you usually force conversations with strangers on airplanes?” He countered.

A smirk spread across her face as she settled into her seat a little more. “No. But you haven’t checked the flight tracker in over 3 minutes.”

“I—,” Ethan’s blue eyes flashed to the tiny screen again.

6 hours and 10 minutes remaining.

He gave her a bewildered stare. “You did that on purpose?!”

“I was watching you watching that thing. It was driving me crazy.”

He set his jaw in a hard line, feeling annoyed. “I — “

She flashed him a wide grin, “You’re welcome Dr. Serious.”

Ethan sat in stunned silence for a moment. This woman’s antics ... they reminded him of her. Of Jordynne. Isn’t this exactly what she would do? Poke the bear. Distract him enough to get himself out of his own head. Bring him back down to earth.

“So are you counting down the minutes because you’re so excited to get home? Or because you’re dreading getting back?” She asked sincerely, a half smile on her face as she waited for his answer.

He pursed his lips for a moment as he thought. This whole trip has been about running away. Escaping to get a break and restart. But he had missed home. He had missed his work. He thought of Jenner living with his father for the past two months. All the great coffee he could have once he was back at home.

Ethan let out a conflicted sigh, “Is both a valid answer?”

“Completely.”

“Then both.”

That was two strangers now that he had confided in. Who was he? He felt like he could barely recognize the man speaking right now.

But he realized he didn’t have anyone else to speak to about it. The two people he would open up to were the two people he couldn’t. He didn’t want to disappoint Naveen even more than he already had. And Jordynne... well, that was the whole point of this. To not talk to her. To not open up.

He was supposed to go back to how things were before. Restart, refresh.

Back to the cynic. The man of convictions. Dr. Serious. Dr. Terminator.

So why couldn’t he?

______________________________________________________________________

A content sigh left Ethan as he settled onto the familiar stool in Donahue’s.

Now this was the old Ethan Ramsey. Sitting at the corner of the bar, drink in hand away from the crowd of people.

This is what he needed. To get back into his normal routine, to fall back into his own rhythm. A night at the tacky bar was exactly what he would be doing the night before his first day at work.

Reggie approached his corner of the bar, tossing a rag over his shoulder before leaning up against the counter casually. “So you’re back.”

Ethan nodded, taking another swig of his beer.  

“And you were...?” His question trailed off as he waited for him to jump in.

“In the Amazon.”

“For vacation?”

“For work.” He said simply, placing the pint glass down carefully.

“You’re a weird man,” Reggie said with furrowed brows. “You should check out the beer garden — while it’s still nice out.” He said simply before turning to go help a couple of people standing at the bar.

A half-smirk spread across his face. Short conversations like that was exactly why Ethan liked Reggie. They made remarks, he gave him his drinks and he let him be.

Just like how things used to be.

Good — it was already working. The reset was working.

Stretching off of his stool, Ethan grabbed a hold of his drink before weaving around the crowd of people and tables. He decided to take Reggie’s suggestion — the view of downtown Boston was nice out there too and maybe it would be a little less crowded.

As he went to step outside his feet suddenly planted to the ground unmoving.

He was frozen in the door frame leading to the beer garden — condensation dripping from his beer, pouring over his warm hand.

There she was.

He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t prepared himself for her to be here. It was one of her haunts now too.

Everything he had forced back in South America — all the memories and thoughts — all of that work evaporated. Like that — they were gone.

He had forgotten the effect Jordynne had on him. Miles away in the rainforest had made him forget the real, visceral effect she had on him. His palms had turned warm and sweaty, his heartbeat was picking up and had started to climb up his throat.

How was it that she was the first person he noticed in the crowded venue?

She was dressed for the warm weather — her tan shoulders and collarbone revealed in a yellow tube top. Her blonde hair was pulled half up, framing her face that had gotten even more freckled the last couple of months. She was clinking her pint of beer with her friends, a wide smile stretching over her pink lips. But confusion replaced it as her eyebrows furrowed, then her eyed searched around the beer garden until they landed on his frozen figure.

Her expression softened — the furrow in her brows disappearing and her mouth opening in surprise.

Ethan’s body unconsciously carried him over to the table, his grip tightening on his glass as he got closer. He hesitated in front of her table moment, before

finally meeting her green eyes, “Rookie.” He said with a nod, waiting for her reaction.

She hesitated for a moment, licking her lips before speaking, “It’s good to have you back, Doctor Ramsey.”

“Yeah...,” Doctor Ramsey. Not Ramsey. Not Ethan. Professional, formal, distant. “Good to be back.” He gathered himself up, before casually flicking his eyes towards the rest of the table. He didn’t fail to notice Lahela and his proximity to her — his shoulder almost pressed up to hers. He had a hard to read expression on his face — which Ethan assumed could only mean that they had started things back up again. “Doctors. Enjoy your evening.”

He marched back into the main bar quickly — his heart pounding. He found his familiar stool and slid back into it — holding himself steady with the edge of it for just a moment.

Reggie eyed him, before turning his back to him. There was the sound of a glass clinking before he silently slid a filled tumbler towards him. “You look like you need something a little harder than your beer.”

Ethan gave him a warning glance, before pushing his beer to the side and taking a large gulp of the scotch.

“So it’s still her, hey?” The bartender asked, watching him as he put glasses into the dishwasher — steam swirling around his forearms.

His thick brows furrowed, and nose scrunched up, “What?”

“Blondie. I don’t know her name. I know she’s out in the beer gardens right now— that why you came running back in here?” Reggie’s eyebrows were raised high on his forehead.

Ethan set his jaw into a hardline. “I’m not sure I know who you’re talking about.” 

“Uh-huh, sure... Blonde, legs for days, works at that life and death factory of yours.” He put a glass down for a moment so he could fix Ramsey with a good state, “Actually, I think the last time I saw you in my bar all those months ago you were leaving with her.”

That was the last time Ethan was here. The celebration after her hearing. They had barely lasted 5 minutes in the bar before they had left together in that yellow cab.

“Touché.” He raised the scotch tumbler up in a mock salute before taking another gulp.

“Don’t try to pull one over Reggie. I see all.”

“She still in here a lot?” His finger ran over the rim of the glass as he waited for the bartender to answer.

“Not every day like the usual riff-raff from the hospital. But enough that I recognize her.”

“Have you...,” He hesitated for a moment. Should he really ask it? But his curiosity got the best of him, “Have you noticed her with anyone?”

“She doesn’t come here alone if that’s what you mean. And she’s also not dancing on tabletops and sneaking away with anyone either.”

“Right.” He wasn’t sure what to do with that information.

Ethan went on high alert as he noticed Jordynne slip inside from the beer garden — waiting at the corner of the bar to place an order.

Reggie noticed her just after him and he gave Ethan a knowing look before taking her order.

He had to keep forcing his blue eyes away from her — staring down at the amber liquid in his drink, the neon lights behind the bar, the never-ending commercials on the television.

But the sound of shattering glass caused his ears to perk up, and he turned to look at Jordynne immediately. She was standing in shock — her mouth opened in surprise.

He watched as the aftermath of a scene unfurled. He instantly recognized Thorne from the hospital — clutching his mangled hand to his chest, his jaw was set in a hardline. A young woman was next to him — her face was blank but he could see her grasping her bloody leg — pieces of glasses were sticking out of it.

Ethan pushed off of his stool, abandoning his drink and marching over to the trio quickly.

But before he could react Jordynne had rushed forward, grabbing the back of the Thorne’s jacket and pulling him back away from the young woman with a strength Ethan didn’t know she had, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She snarled — her face was filled with fury as her voice rang out.

“This bitch broke my hand! I’m a plastic surgeon! Do you have any idea how valuable my hands are? I’m pressing charges! And by the time my lawyers are through with her—“

Her white teeth bared at him as she went to speak again, stepping closer to him. But Ethan got there before she could do anything else.

“Garret. That’s enough.” He growled, putting his body in front of Jordynne, one hand behind him softly pushing on her torso — stopping her from coming forward. The other hand was raised up at Throne, ready to push him back a lot harder if he needed to. “You still got one good hand, don’t you? Put it to use and call yourself a cab.” He glared down at the man, his nostrils flared.

He felt Jordynne’s body disappear from against his hand and heard footsteps retreating. He didn’t break his eye contact with Thorne — trusting Jordynne could handle helping the other woman.

“Get out of my way Ramsey, that bitch owes me.” He spat, trying to look over his shoulder to see where the woman had went.

“Did you hear me? I said call yourself a cab.” He repeated, enunciating each word.

Thorne pushed his face closer to Ethan’s, flaring his nostrils at him, “You might have people in your pocket in the hospital, Ramsey. But out here, this is the real world. And you don’t get to dictate me.”

“Is that so?” Before he could react, Ethan angrily grabbed onto his collar and pulling him for Reggie to see. “Shall I?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Get that idiot out of here!” He yelled as he crossed over the bar with a broom in hand.

“Gladly,” Ethan snarled, dragging Garrett towards the exit.

“That blonde chick — she your pet or something, Ramsey? You got real heated as soon as she was involved.” His voice was a bit strained as Ethan dragged him out of the bar. Luckily there was a yellow cab idling nearby and he was able to wave it over.

“Shut up and get in the cab.” He said through gritted teeth, doing his best to ignore the comment.

“‘Cause I swear I recognize her from somewhere...” He hinted, catching onto the door of the cab with his good hand to stop Ethan from pushing him into it.

“You know what I seem to remember? How you got your sexual harassment case at the hospital buried. I wonder what would happen if you were charged with it outside of the hospital too? Might not be very good for practicing.” Ethan pulled out his phone, his thumb hovering over the emergency services button.

“Fine.” He spat, “But I won’t forget this.”

“Neither will I.” Ethan pushed the man into the car with a hit more force than was necessary. A growl escaped him as he watched Thorne’s smirk through the window as the cab pulled away.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips. That was the exact opposite of what he had expected for his first night back home. With heavy steps, he walked back into the bar — feeling a couple of stares on him as soon as he entered.

Jordynne’s green eyes found his as he walked back to his stool. They were crinkled with worry for a moment before the look suddenly vanished at the sounds of her friends coming in from the beer garden.

“Whoa, Jordynne what went down in here?” Elijah asked, rolling around the broken glass by the bar carefully.

“You know Dr. Thorne, the plastic surgeon? He wouldn’t leave this girl alone. It got intense.” She crossed her arms over her torso, a look of disgust on her face as she looked over the aftermath of the scene.

Reggie tutted and shook his head as he swept up the broken glass as she told them what happened.

“I always knew that guy was gross.” Jackie matched Jordynne’s expression.

“Alright, people, last call. You ain’t gotta go home, but you can’t stay here.” Reggie stopped sweeping for a moment, waving his hand to get everyone’s attention.

“Already? I’m not even close to ready for tomorrow to start.” Ethan watched from his stool as Jordynne wrapped her arms around her torso — suddenly looking nervous.

“Like Reggie said, last call doesn’t have to mean ‘go home’. We can stay out and explore.” Bryce grabbed onto her elbow easily, flashing her his signature smile.

Ethan did his best to keep his face neutral.

“Screw that, I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat.”

“You guys are nuts. I’m twenty minutes away from falling asleep on my wheels!” 

“Good thing we can get you home in fifteen then.” Sienna smiled down at Elijah as she grabbed onto the handles of his chair. “You coming, Jordynne?”

Jordynne’s eyes darted over the other patrons leaving the bar, before looking back to Ethan on his usual stool on the corner of the bar.  

“What? Last call doesn’t apply to you?” She raised a dark brow at him.

“Reggie and I have an arrangement.” He held onto his glass a bit tighter.

“An arrangement? Is that what you call friendship?” A smile almost spread across her pink lips.

“I guess you forgot. I don’t have friends. But… I wouldn’t mind you joining me if you were so inclined.” He offered, doing his best to sound casual.

This could be a good way to start their professional relationship. Her fellowship would be starting tomorrow since it marked his return to work. They needed to start things right. Like they should have all those months ago.

“You coming Jordy?” Bryce asked again. Ethan could swear he saw his smile flickering a bit. The usually confident surgeon looked unsure.

“Umm…,” She hesitated for a moment, tucking a lock of her golden blonde hair behind her ear, “You guys go on ahead. I just want to quickly check in about tomorrow with Dr. Ramsey.”

“Okay. Just don’t stay out too late… Aurora’s dropping off the rest of her stuff before work tomorrow, remember?” Sienna jerked her head towards a slightly frowning Bryce. It definitely sounded like a warning.

She blinked at her friend for a moment, before nodding, “I know. It's just about the fellowship.”

Ethan turned back around in his stool as she said goodbye to her friends.

He was suddenly reminded of the night after her first day as an intern as he heard the scrape of the stool next to him. She had sidled up to him so easily then, but today she seemed more hesitant.

He looked over his shoulder at her, keeping his face composed. “Rook— er, Jordynne. Sorry,” He grimaced slightly, “Force of habit.”

She shrugged before she settled into the spot next to him. Usually, he was acutely aware of how little space she left between them when she was nearby. Now he was aware of how much more space she left. He watched her swallow before nodding at his leather jacket, “We’ve got ourselves a brand new Ethan Ramsey.”

He tugged at the hem of it self-consciously, “This jacket’s been through a lot with me.” After wearing it almost every day the last month of his trip it had started to mold to him.

“It suits you,” A half-smirk spread across her pink lips.

“Duly noted.” He put his tumbler glass down carefully, before scratching at his red-brown facial hair, “And the beard?”

Her green eyes flickered down to his new beard. He swore she lingered on his lips for a moment, but she looked back up with pursed lips, “It looks good on you.”

Ethan had to force his lips from upturning, instead, he continued to rub his jawline. “I’ve gotten used to it.”

Looking around his shoulders, he noted that the other patrons had left. It was only him, her and Reggie now — who was giving Ethan a pointed look. “Why don’t we move outside? It’ll be winter before we know it. Might as well enjoy the weather while we can. You want something to drink?”

She nodded in agreement, pushing herself up out of her stool, “Whatever you’re having.”

Reaching across the bar, Ethan snagged one of the bottles of good scotch still sitting in the bar well. “Hey, Reggie, we’re borrowing this.” The bartender handed him two clean glasses, before waving them off.

The pair headed back out to the beer garden — that was much more peaceful now that the crowd of people had left. He headed to the center fire pit, falling into the padded outdoor couch next to it. Jordynne slotted in beside him.

They sat in silence for a moment, looking up at the glowing lights strung up above them. The sun was just starting to set — turning the sky and pinky-orange.

“I can see why you like it here,” She finally spoke up. She sounded a little breathless.

“Because nobody’s annoying me?” He leaned back in his seat with a smirk.

“More or less. It’s peaceful.” She stared into the flames of the small fire pit, going quiet again.

Ethan wasn’t sure how to fill the quiet. It wasn’t a comfortable silence. He felt awkward — he didn’t really know how to do this anymore with her. Did he?

“So,” She broke the silence for him, “This Dr. Thorne guy. Should I be worried about him?” Her eyes moved from the fire to her drink.

“He has some influence.” He admitted, “Just stay out of his way for a couple weeks, and he’ll entirely forget who you are.”

“But not who you are. Should you be worried?” Her eyebrows were knitted together, concern on her face.

That was so Jordynne. Of course, she was worried about him, not herself.

“I’ve worked too hard to get to where I am to give a damn what someone like him thinks.” He shook his head, letting out a huff, “Don’t think twice about that asshole. What you did back there, helping that girl? You did the right thing. That’s all that matters.”

She shook her head back at him, but her eyes remained low, “We both know that’s not always true.”

“Hmm,” He felt heart pang, his stomach filling with guilt, “Well it should be. You’re too young to be a cynic like me.”

“I’m not being cynical. I just learned my lesson. You saw what happened last year. I almost lost my license for breaking the rules to help Mrs. Martinez. And I would do it again. Just like I would step in to help someone being harassed again. But people got hurt because of me — Mrs. Martinez’s family suffered. That’s not right.” She was chewing her lip as she spoke, visibly bothered.

“The lesson there is that if you put your patients first, you will always be vindicated in the end. That’s the lesson.” His blue eyes studied her, his thick brows meeting in the middle. “What you did just now was brave. You’ve always been brave in the face of disaster and death, of course... But it’s different to do it to a superior. To stand up to them for what’s right.”

A small smile spread across her face. It looked half-hearted, but it was still a smile. “It’s not as brave as venturing into the depths of the Amazon to fight an epidemic, that’s for sure.”

His heart fell. He stared into his drink for a moment before speaking, “That wasn’t bravery.”

His mouth went dry as he thought of what to say. He could hear the music from inside the bar trailing outside softly. Country music — he frowned.

Jordynne broke the silence before he could. “Ethan, why did you leave?”

He had avoided the question when she had asked before — when she had looked up at him with those big Bambi eyes in the parkade as he went to leave. Pleading with for a bit of honesty.

“I —,” His voice broke slightly, “I needed space.” He finally admitted, “I needed to reset before...”

“Before we worked together again?” She finished his sentence for him.

He nodded, “Exactly. So consider us reset. I won’t cross boundaries with you again. Your professional development is too important.”

He had said it once again. And he would stick to it. He had to.

“I see.” Her face suddenly became impossible to read. They had had this conversation so many times before — it was so well-rehearsed in his head by now. His heart still broke with guilt and grief remembering the looks she had given every time he told her this. But this time it was different.

Before he could even react, Jordynne had pushed her lips onto his. Ethan immediately tensed, his shoulders coming up to his ears. It took all of him to not give in. To not deepen it, to wrap his arms around her and pull her into him. Her lips were softer then he remembered.

He was cruel and didn’t pull away. His own selfishness winning out over logic. Just this one last time. To savor it. To remember what she tasted like.

When she pulled away, he watched as pain and wanting and confusion and hurt washed over her. Her green eyes staring deeply into his own blue ones, studying them.

“Dammit, Jordynne...”, Ethan finally breathed out, furrowing his eyebrows and scrunching up his forehead.

Her voice was barely a whisper. Her face still close enough to him that he could feel her breath, “If you don’t want to kiss me again, then just tell me...” He could smell the scotch on her breath, her perfume swirling around her.

But he interrupted her, “It has nothing to do with ‘want’. I can’t. And if I give a damn about you, I won’t.” He shook his head, biting down on the inside of his cheek hard for a moment. He took a hard swallow, “How am I supposed to push you to be everything you can be if I...”

He couldn’t finish that sentence.

“If you what?”

Ethan bit down on his lip this time, hard. Forcing himself to keep his emotions at bay. Forcing down that lump that was crawling up his throat. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Finally, he managed to — before downing his tumbler of scotch in one giant gulp.

“Okay.” Her voice was so quiet. He had never heard her so quiet, so defeated. “I get it.” She got up off of her seat, awkwardly wrapping her arms around her torso.

She stood in front of him, avoiding his stare again. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Ramsey.” She barely got the words out before marching back towards the bar.

He tightened his jaw as he watched her go. Pushing down every thought and wish and hope. That he should go after her. He could drive her home. That maybe she’d come back.

But that couldn’t be.

Fantasy is what people want. But reality is what they need.

This was Ethan Ramsey’s new reality.

“Good night, Dr. Holland.” He croaked out as she slipped inside and away from him.

______________________________________________________________________

Jordynne’s feet were killing her. She had marched out of that bar so fast, her feet slapping the ground as she raced away — hiding her red face from people passing by.

She took the steps down to the subway two at a time — so desperate to just be home under her covers already. She would have started running if she hadn’t have dressed up for the evening.

Finding a quiet corner of the subway, she slumped down into a seat and buried her face into her hands.

She had thought...

Well — she wasn’t sure what she thought would happen. Was she really surprised Ethan rejected her? How many times had they had that conversation before?

She guessed she thought that if she gave it one last chance she would finally have her answer.

And now she did.

She felt tears well up in her eyes — threatening to rush over onto her cheeks. But she squeezed her eyes shut so hard it hurt.

Jordynne was not going to let herself cry over this. Over him.

She wanted an answer and she got it.

She was better than crying on the subway. Better than pining over someone she would clearly never have. She was an intelligent woman. She was the junior fellow of the Diagnostics team. Of his diagnostics team.

So she would ignore it. They both will. They’ll pretend whatever it is between them doesn’t exist. That will just be her new reality.

Jordynne’s thoughts were interrupted as a shadow passed over her — a figure grabbing onto the railing above her and looking down. She craned her neck to catch a glimpse at the person.

Lahela.

He always had a way of showing up at just the right time. His long hair was hanging over his face as he looked down at her.

“Bryce, what are you doing? I thought you went out to explore.” She asked, confusion sweeping across her face.

“Ah,” He shrugged a little with a half-smile, “I walked along the river for a bit but figured I should be at least a little well-rested before becoming an all-mighty resident.”

She let out a soft chuckle, “Who knew this could make you have an even bigger ego?”

He joined her laughing — the sound melting the icy cold that had started to creep up in her moments before. She moved to the side as he sat down next to her in the red plastic seats of the subway.

He leaned back into the chair, looking as casual as one could on public transportation, “How was Ramsey? Everything all set for tomorrow?”

“Yup,” Her mouth got dry at his mention, “Fellowship officially starts tomorrow.” 

“Did he...?” But his voice trailed off — he sounded uncertain.

She raised an eyebrow at him, prompting him to continue— unable to guess what it was he was wondering.

“Did he — did you talk about you two?” His brown puppy dog eyes were crinkled with worry.  

Jordynne let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head, “There is no us two.”

“I’m not — I’m not asking this because of you and me. About our deal.” He met her eyes, looking at her intently, “I’m asking — because you’re my friend. And I care about you.”

“I know.” She nodded, believing him. “He is the head of the diagnostics team. And I am the junior fellow.” Another heavy breath escaped her, “And that’s where it will end.”

“Jordy...” His voice was soft and sad as he watched her, but she didn’t give him anything more to go on. He chewed his lip for a moment before speaking again, “So what happens now?”

“I think...,” Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought of what she wanted. Of what to do next. “I think I just want to be a doctor. Just put my head down and do what I came here to do.”

Bryce gave her a smile, nodding in agreement. “Just change one thing about that plan.”

She raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

“You’re not just a doctor. You’re a damn good doctor. And no history with your boss, or devilishly distracting surgeon,” He flashed her a wink, “Will get in the way of that, ok?”

“Thanks, Bryce.” The vote of confidence boosted her mood a bit.

“You just do you, Jordy. Everything else will fall into place,” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his warm side. She stiffened for a moment — worried about the gesture. But he didn’t move any closer, and his face didn’t move to meet hers closely. She settled into him a little bit, thankful to have a friend with her.

And the pair continued to sit like that as the subway brought them home.