#they had to replace the door when making it into a guest room for van… h-holy fuck

[kinokoshoujoart]

i’m going to cry… rock’s child inherits the most feral abnormal messed up dna of any child ever and still ends up being the most well-adjusted one (rock’s nurture overcoming his and his child’s nature)

(this is from this rrreddit post. if you’re wondering why molly and rock’s kids are low energy…. i have no idea why 規則正しい was translated “energy” either because it‘s more like “orderly”…? i’m not native in jp so idk)

[schrodingerspsycho]

I Just Want You To Be Happy - Chapter 1

Pairing - Taissa Turner x Van Palmer x Reader

Warnings - None

Word Count - 4.1k

Summary - With her life in shambles, Taissa seeks solace in the only place she knows, but everything changes when she finds out that Van isn't alone.

Author's Note - 2021 timeline. Also Van doesn't have cancer :)

Help Palestine by clicking this link!🇵🇸

Taissa smoothed out her hair and took a deep breath, summoning the courage to open the door. The bell chimed and she glanced around, and after a moment her eyes landed on the redheaded woman behind the counter. She was just as beautiful as Tai remembered, her scars fainter and her blue eyes brighter than the last time they saw each other. Their eyes met, and a look of recognition and disbelief dawned on the woman’s face.

“Tai?”

“Hey, Van.”

It was as if time had stood still, and she could tell that Van felt it too. And despite all the chaos in her life, Tai felt a sense of calm seeing Van again after all these years.

“Babe, did you want to put out this new shipment now, or wait until- oh.”

The moment shattered when you walked out through the beaded curtain. You, a gorgeous woman with shining eyes and graying hair, wearing a flannel shirt that Tai knew was Van’s. You immediately clocked the tension in the air and put a comforting hand on Van’s shoulder, leaning in to whisper something to her. She turned to you and smiled softly, a look that had once been reserved only for Tai. Her head began to spin, and when Van turned back to her, her voice sounded muffled and far away. She stumbled forward, and just as she tried to reach out for something to hold onto, her vision went black.

When she came to, Tai found herself in a new yet familiar bedroom. Van’s bedroom. Your bedroom. She walked out slowly, as if in a trance, and found you and Van standing in the living room, talking in hushed voices. Then you glanced up and saw her, and your face lit up with a friendly smile. “She’s awake.”

Van turned to her with an unreadable expression, her eyebrows pinched together in that adorable way that Tai both loved and hated. “Tai,” she said, sounding strained. Then she gestured to you. “This is my partner, Y/N. Y/N, this is Taissa.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” you said, giving her a small wave. Taissa could only nod.

“So, are you gonna tell me why you’re here, or are we just gonna pretend this isn’t super weird? I mean, it’s been a long time. A really fucking long time.”

Taissa looked away, unable to make the words leave her throat. Van’s gaze softened slightly.

“It’s happening again, isn’t it? The sleepwalking?”

Tai smiled, big and bright and fake, and made finger guns at Van. “I got you something,” she said, walking over to her purse. She pulled out the pen she’d bought from the trucker and clicked it nervously as she approached. She chuckled as she handed it to Van, who smiled as she reached for it.

“Holy shit,” she breathed as she inspected it. “I can’t believe they still make these.”

“Yeah, you remember when we swapped that fancy guest book pen for one of those at Shauna’s wedding?”

“Yeah. Mrs. Taylor almost had a stroke. I can see her bosoms!” She turned the pen over with a look of bewilderment, holding it out for you to watch as the ink drained away to reveal a naked woman. You and Van laughed at the same time, and Tai couldn’t tell whose voice was whose. “Oh my god,” Van said, locking eyes with you. Tai’s smile faded.

Then Van looked back at her, all levity replaced with concern. “So,” she asked, her voice low. “How bad is it?”

Tai didn’t answer.

“I’m gonna go back down to the store, and give you two some time to talk,” you chimed in, smiling reassuringly at Van. You placed a hand on the small of her back and she reached out to stroke your side, nodding.

“Okay,” she agreed, and you leaned in and kissed her. It was a comfortable, loving kiss, one you had clearly shared countless times. Tai’s stomach twisted into a knot.

“Alright, come on,” Van sighed once you left the room. She sat down on the couch and gestured to the spot next to her, her eyes never leaving Tai. “Sit down and tell me all about it.”

So Taissa did just that. It was difficult at first, but Van was patient and understanding like always, and eventually, she shared all the things that had been haunting her for the past few weeks. It felt good to finally open up, and Van was the only person who could make her do it. They fell right back into the rhythm they’d had as teenagers, and if she tried hard enough, Taissa could pretend that nothing had changed.

“Well, what now?”

“Well, um, first I was hoping I could take a shower.”

“I’m serious.”

“Well, so am I. I just hitchhiked across Pennsylvania. I do not smell great,” Tai laughed. She knew that Van would see through the deflection, but if she didn’t laugh, she knew she would cry.

“Alright,” Van agreed after a moment. “I’ll get you a towel and some clothes.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Van stood up from the couch and stretched, and Tai stayed there with her knees held to her chest for a few seconds longer. Then she got up and followed Van into her bedroom, leaning uncertainly in the doorway.

“So, you and Y/N. How did that happen?” Tai asked, with her best attempt at casual conversation.

“We met on a dating app,” Van said dismissively, not looking up from the dresser.

“I never took you for the online dating type,” Tai commented. “How long have you been together?”

“A little over five years.”

“Wow, five years. That’s a long time.” Tai tried to ignore the aching in her chest. “So, are you living together, or…?”

“Yeah, we are,” Van sighed. “They moved in three years ago, a few months after they started working at the store. And you should be grateful because they’ve got some clothes that are more your style.” She held out a stack of towels and clothes, with a black turtleneck on top that Van wouldn’t be caught dead in.

“A-are you sure? Shouldn’t you ask-?”

“They won’t mind,” Van snapped tiredly. Taissa took the clothes, feeling dejected, and followed Van into the bathroom. “You can use any of the soaps and shampoos we have in there. I’m gonna help Y/N close the store, and then we’ll be back up. We can talk more about what to do then.”

“Thank you, Van,” Taissa said, and Van nodded. She started to walk away, but Tai called out before she could reach the stairs. “Wait! How much does Y/N know about me? About… us?”

Van scoffed. “Enough,” she said darkly. “They know enough.”

And just like that, Taissa was left alone.

When Taissa left the bathroom, she heard Van’s laughter coming from the kitchen. It was loud and joyous, just like she remembered, and she couldn’t help but smile. But then the kitchen came into view, and her smile faltered when she remembered who was making Van laugh. You were standing at the stove with your arm around her waist, and she leaned into you as she reached for a tomato. You said something else to her and she laughed again, bumping you with her hip, and you pulled her in for a kiss. Tai knew she shouldn’t watch, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn away. Maybe she was punishing herself for all the decisions that had led her here, so many of them rash and wrong. Or maybe she was just trying to remind herself of reality. Van was taken now, and so was she. She had a wife. Taissa fiddled with her wedding ring and stared as you and Van grinned at each other, exchanging words Taissa didn’t need to hear to understand.

“Taissa, hey!” you called cheerily when you spotted her. Van’s face fell when she turned to Tai, giving her a brief glare before grabbing a knife and focusing on slicing the tomato. “Figured you’d be hungry, so we’re making dinner a little early. I hope you like veggie burgers!”

“Oh yeah, I love them,” Tai said with a weak smile.

“Great! They should be done in about ten minutes.”

“Do you guys need any help, or-”

“No, we’ve got it.” Van didn’t even look up from the cutting board.

“Just sit down and make yourself at home,” you smiled. If you picked up on Van’s unease, you didn’t show it. Taissa wanted to believe that you couldn’t.

She sat down at the small table and waited, trying not to watch the two of you as you cooked. Everything was so domestic, and if she weren’t seeing it unfold before her very eyes, she wouldn’t have been able to picture Van in such a settled and tranquil space. Of course, this was what Van had wanted all along, she remembered. She just hadn’t been there for it.

“Alright, dinner is served!” you exclaimed as you took the burgers out of the pan. Tai got up and you handed her a plate, nodding to the toppings Van had set up on the counter. Van dished out a generous helping of french fries for her as she dressed her burger.

“Thank you for dinner, both of you,” Taissa said sincerely as she went to sit down. “This food looks amazing.”

“Of course,” Van replied with a tight-lipped smile.

“What can I get you to drink?” you asked her. “We have Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, beer… babe, what else do we have?”

“I’ll just have some water, please,” Taissa answered before Van could respond. You nodded and filled a glass for her, and she thanked you again. Van grabbed a beer for herself and turned to you, and at the slightest shake of your head, she handed you a Dr. Pepper.

Once her hosts were seated, with you across from her and Van between you, Taissa finally dug into her food. And you were right, she was hungry. She wasn’t sure how many hours it had been since she’d eaten. But even if she had just finished a full-course meal, she wouldn’t be able to deny that this was the best veggie burger she’d ever tasted.

“Oh my god, this is delicious,” she said, speaking around the bite in her mouth.

“Thank you,” you smiled, and Van grinned at you proudly. “The secret is to use Havarti cheese.”

“And don’t forget about your special seasoning recipe,” Van said. “That’s the real key to these things.”

“Well, yes, but I can’t divulge all my secrets,” you replied playfully. “I would lose my air of mystery.”

“Well, whatever it is, it’s amazing,” Tai said genuinely. You and Van both smiled at her.

“So, Taissa, have you ever been to Pennsylvania before?” you asked. Tai shook her head.

“I’ve driven through it a few times, but I’ve never stayed anywhere.”

“In that case, we’ll have to give you a tour around town one of these days. Show you all the best spots.”

“I’d like that.”

“Oh yeah, Y/N’s a great tour guide,” Van said. “They know this town like the back of their hand.”

“Yep, born and raised,” you said proudly. “Van had lived here for years before we met, and she still didn’t know half of the best places.”

“It helped you keep date nights interesting,” Van shrugged, a mischievous smirk on her face.

“That’s ‘cause you weren’t that hard to impress,” you fired back. She laughed, and you gazed at her adoringly. Tai took another bite of her burger.

After that, the conversation became stunted and awkward, with you putting in more work than Tai and Van combined. Despite the tension, you were a perfect host, and Tai had to admire that. Once everyone had finished eating you stood up and gathered the dishes. Van tried to help you, but you snatched the plate from her hand and planted a quick kiss on her forehead. She shot you an annoyed glance but opted to take another sip of her beer instead of protesting.

“Let me help you with the dishes,” Taissa said as you turned on the sink.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. You’re our guest.”

“I showed up unannounced and you took me in. I insist.”

“Well, alright then,” you smiled, handing her the sponge.

Van sighed. “God dammit. I think I left my phone down in the office. I’m gonna go get it.”

“Okay,” you nodded, giving her a reassuring glance. The two of you shared a look, but Van had disappeared down the stairs before Taissa could decipher what it meant.

“Is she okay?” Tai asked.

“Just a little overwhelmed, I think.”

“I hope my being here isn’t upsetting either of you. I really don’t want to impose.”

“Oh no, don’t worry about it. We’re happy to help.”

“Are you sure? I can get a hotel room-”

“Nonsense.” The look on your face made Tai wish the floor would open up and swallow her. “I know the history you have with Van. Some of it, at least. And we are going to do everything we can to help you. You can stay as long as you need.”

You fell into silence after that, slowly falling into a rhythm as Tai handed you the freshly washed dishes for you to dry. She hated to admit it, but your presence was oddly comforting. She knew it had to be the sleep deprivation, but the calm was welcome nonetheless.

“Turns out I remembered to get my phone at just the right time,” Van said, coming up the stairs just as you were putting the final dish back in the cabinet. “Guess who got ahold of her mom’s phone.”

“Oh no, did April call you?” you chuckled, smiling at her. Van nodded.

“What did she want?”

“Oh, the usual. She told me about her hamster’s day and asked when she could come and stay with us again. And last week at a sleepover she discovered Mary Poppins and she asked if I had seen it.” Van grinned at you as you laughed, walking over to stand at her side. Tai couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Van this happy.

“What’d you tell her?”

“That I love that movie. Then she asked if we had it at the store and if we could watch it the next time she visits. I think she really wants to spend another weekend with us.”

“Oh, you think?” you joked, putting your arms around her shoulders. “What we need to do is give that kid a VCR. I’ve never seen someone so fascinated by VHS tapes, and I live with you.”

“Yeah, maybe when she’s old enough for me to know she won’t break it.”

“Oh, c’mon. She wouldn’t break it if Aunt Vanny told her not to. You know you’re her favorite.”

“Yeah, right,” Van chuckled as she pulled you in for a kiss. Then she sighed, and you furrowed your brow in concern at the same time Taissa did.

“What’s wrong?” you asked her softly.

“Nothing. It’s just, y’know… when your sister took her phone back-”

“Oh no, what did she say?”

“That I look really tired and stressed out, and I should try one of her meditation techniques. I love that woman, but the word ‘tact’ is not in her vocabulary.”

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” you scoffed, hugging Van tightly.

After a few moments, Taissa cleared her throat, and you pulled back and gave Van a cheeky grin.

“Tai,” Van sighed, as if she’d forgotten she was there. Or as if she wished she wasn’t.

“Who called?” Tai asked, acting as though she hadn’t heard your whole conversation.

“April, my niece,” you answered. “Apparently she got ahold of my sister’s phone.”

“She’s around Sammy’s age,” Van said, and a shiver ran down Tai’s back at the mention of her son. “And speaking of, we need to figure out what we’re doing here so you can get back to him. I mean, did you have any semblance of a plan when you showed up here?”

“No, I… I hadn’t really… thought that far ahead,” Taissa said weakly. “I-I have no idea what to do.”

Van sighed, and you rubbed her arm comfortingly. “Okay, well, then let’s brainstorm. ‘Cause I don’t think what we did last time is gonna work again.”

“I’m not asking you to do what we did last time.”

“Then what do you expect me to do, Tai?” Van cried exasperatedly, stepping toward her. “Look, I get that you need help. But I have a life, and I can’t just put everything on hold because you decided to come up here and drop your fucking anvil on me out of the blue!”

“Van,” you said, your voice steady. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. I just-”

“No, you’re right,” Taissa interrupted. “I shouldn’t have come here.”

“Oh, fuck you, dude. Don’t make me convince you to let me help you. You know I’m not letting you leave here like this, so at least you could have the decency to actually ask for my help.”

Tai turned to face Van, the meltdown brewing inside her evident in her eyes. “I killed my fucking dog, Van. My wife is in the hospital. I’m losing my fucking mind, and I’m terrified! Like all the way. Like I haven’t been since… I can’t ask you for your help, ‘cause I don’t want to hurt any more of the people I love! God, what have I done?” she sobbed, putting her head in her hands.

“Hey. Look, we’ll figure it out,” Van said softly, stepping closer and rubbing her back. “Come on. We’ll figure this out.” She opened her arms and Tai buried her head in her shoulder, clutching desperately at her sleeve. Van held her and stroked her hair as she cried. Then she looked up and met your gaze, a sad look in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Tai sniffed when she finally stopped crying. “I-I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Van breathed, still rubbing her back.

“Why don’t we all just take a breather?” you said calmly. “We can worry about coming up with a plan tomorrow, once we’re all rested and in a better headspace. We can watch a movie, I’ll make tea and popcorn. How does that sound?”

Van turned to Tai, who nodded feebly. She couldn’t muster a verbal response. She could barely look you in the eye. She hadn’t felt this drained in years.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Okay,” you smiled, and Van gave you a grateful look.

“Come on, you can choose the movie,” she said, leading Tai to the stack of tapes by the TV as you made your way to the kitchen. “You can look at the ones down in the store too, if you want.”

Tai welcomed the distraction and quickly found her favorite movie in Van’s collection. Well, what her favorite movie used to be.

Van woke up hours later to the sound of static coming from the TV. She turned it off and looked to see both you and Taissa asleep on either side of her. She pushed your head off of her shoulder gently and stumbled up from the couch, making her way into the kitchen for a glass of water. Then she felt a hand grab her shoulder and she spun around, and suddenly Taissa was kissing her. Through her sleepy daze, she recognized that this was wrong, but she couldn’t find it in herself to stop it.

“Whoa, Tai,” she gasped when she finally pushed away. Then she saw the dark look in Taissa’s eyes. “Oh, you’re the other one, aren’t you?” she murmured. Taissa nodded slowly, bobbing her head in a mesmerizing circular motion. “What do you want?”

“This isn’t where we’re supposed to be,” she rasped, beginning to walk away. Van stood there, baffled, trying to make sense of what just happened. Then she realized that Taissa was approaching you, and alarm bells began going off in her head.

“Hey, hey. No no no. No! Taissa!” Van leapt into action, dashing to the couch as fast as she could. But Taissa got to you first and slammed her hands onto your shoulders, startling you awake. She was gripping you hard, and Van saw your eyes fill with fear as she leaned in.

“You,” she growled. You whimpered.

“Don’t fucking touch them!” Van shouted, shoving Tai away and planting herself in front of you. She glared at Tai as she woke back up, her eyes darting between you in horror.

“Oh god, what did she do? What did I do?”

“Just don’t, Taissa.”

“Van, I’m so sorry. I-”

“Fucking. Don’t.”

You grasped Van’s hand from behind her and relief washed over her. But she couldn’t let her guard down just yet.

“We’re going to bed,” Van said, her voice gravelly. “We’ll discuss this in the morning. Get some sleep, Taissa.”

She turned and helped you to your feet, ignoring Taissa’s muffled sounds of protest. Once you were in your bedroom she locked the door and turned to you, worried tears in her eyes. “Are you okay?” she asked, placing a hand on your chest.

“I’m fine,” you reassured her, covering her hand with your own. “Are you okay?”

“Did she hurt you?” Van said, her voice pleading.

You shook your head. “No. No, she didn’t hurt me.”

“Oh, thank god,” Van gasped, pulling you into a tight hug. She always knew that her past would come back to haunt her, but she had hoped that she would be able to protect you. But now her worst fears were starting to come true, and she felt just as helpless as she had back then. “I’m so sorry, Y/N.”

“Hey, come on. You have nothing to apologize for. You know that.”

“No, I do,” she insisted. “I’m the reason she’s here. I knew how dangerous she could get, and I just let her-”

“Van-”

“-I shouldn’t have made you deal with her, this is my mess-”

“Van!” you exclaimed, finally getting her attention. “It’s okay,” you said softly as you tucked her hair behind her ear, your fingers brushing gently against her scars. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”

“I can’t bear the thought of you getting hurt by this,” Van croaked.

“Give me a little credit. I can handle myself just fine,” you chuckled. “You don’t need to worry about me. You told me everything I needed to know about Taissa’s sleepwalking, and I told you I was okay with her staying here. I’m not going to shun her for something she can’t control. And she’s your friend. We have to help her.”

“You know she was more than just my friend,” Van said with a pained expression.

“I do. I know that.” You wrapped your arms around her shoulders. “And that’s why she came to you for help. She wouldn’t have if she had anywhere else to go.”

“She tried to kiss me,” Van blurted. “Before she… woke you up.”

“Oh,” you said quietly. “Okay.”

“Okay? What do you mean, okay? It’s not okay!”

“You’re right, it’s not. But she didn’t know what she was doing. And I’m not angry or jealous if that’s what you’re worried about,” you smiled. “Look, we’re gonna get through this together. Just like we always do. I take care of you and you take care of me, right?”

“Okay,” Van sighed. “But if she so much as touches you again, she’s staying at a hotel.”

“Whatever you say, baby” you grinned, kissing her cheek and pulling her into another hug. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she murmured into your chest. “So much.”

“Let’s get some sleep, hmm?” you breathed, slowly rocking her from side to side. Van nodded.

Once you were both ready you crawled into bed, and Van wrapped her arms around you tightly. “You’re too good, you know that?” she mumbled as you nuzzled into her neck. “You’re too good for all my bullshit.”

“Maybe. But your bullshit gives me something to do,” you smirked. Van laughed.

“Well, you’ve sure got a busy schedule now.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. And you know how much I hate being bored.”

Van rolled her eyes and kissed you, passionate and gentle. She could feel your heart beating, and the sound grounded her like it always did. Taissa coming back into her life had thrown her mind into utter turmoil, but she knew that with you by her side, she could handle anything. You really were too good for her, but she’d be damned if she was ever letting you go.

[penguin-pebble]

Journal 20/24/09/29

I guess I should probably write down what happened. I honestly don’t remember much. Just stepping off the London underground on my way to Uni, then stepping into a lab. Most of my first few days here were spent in a plain beige observation room, waiting for tests to come back. Was I dangerous? Not imminently. Was I contagious? Not dangerously so. Was I truly from another world? Or simply pulled from somewhere else in this one? Their questions about history and current events, and my blank stares, confirmed it. Eventually, they deemed I was harmless and released me from my beige prison. 

After realizing I had nowhere to go, one of the scientists, Mood, who had originally questioned me, offered me the guest room at her house. I was surprised, even more so when I remembered Mood and her husband had a four-year-old kid at home. But Mood and her coworkers seemed even more aghast at the idea of spending possible months in a hotel so I accepted, at least for a few days. Looking back, it seems like this world is just a little more trusting.

Leaving that stark whiteness of the Lab, or at least the sterile portion of it revealed more differences in our worlds. They could be described as cubicles, but it was nothing like the sea of corporate I was used to. Each sectioned-off workspace (apparently they call them nests) had a few monitors and perhaps some gadgets that had scientific importance unknown to me. The rest was covered in trinkets. Mugs, potted plants, tchotchkes, novelty snowglobes, tiny figurines, and more. The cubical walls, which looked more like the sides of a woven basket scaled up to room size, had even more decoration. Keychains, ribbons, macrame, and bits of elaborate jewelry hung from the woven fibers, and pictures or larger hangings were pinned to larger vertical supports every few feet. It looked like a few people had sectioned off their desks further, with more woven dividers or lengths of tapestry strung from beams on the ceiling.

This theme continued outside into the dry late afternoon heat (yet another reminder I was somewhere entirely different). The parking lot was relatively familiar, but the cars were something else. Similar makes and forms, but the colors. Most manufacturers I know stick to greys, silvers, whites, and blacks. Maybe the occasional red. These shades of brights and pastels are only for classic cars or expensive bodywork. Not here. Each car had a unique combination of colors. It seemed purposefully contrasting paint was used on parts that had been replaced (Mood’s blue-silver van has an iridescent purple bumper and right mirror and evidence of a large dent in the back has been embellished with gold paint).  Not to mention the stickers. about a dozen “Honk if you science” bumper stickers on Mood’s car alone. Some cars had familiar stick-figure families on their rear windows (albeit each figure seemed similarly bedazzled in their own vinyl clothes and accessories). But every car was covered in a myriad of different bumper stickers featuring cheesy slogans, landmarks, and unfamiliar cartoons or mascots.

This maximalist theme only continued as we drove through town and into a small suburb. At first I thought it must be Christmas or some equivalent holiday. As we passed by rows of houses, each door had a wreath. Most had two or more, with many having additional wreaths on the lower half of the door. These weren’t your normal pine sprig and holly Christmas wreath or even the more niche wreaths for other holidays and seasons. They looked like rope, or sometimes a wire, or maybe willow base. Each one covered in more random trinkets. Necklaces and strings of beads were artfully draped across and pins, earrings, and keychains hung from the frames. A few even had small figurines or toys stuck within the tangle of chains and beads.

Harper and Mood’s house had modest wreathes by comparison. I could still see the wire structure underneath all the brica-brack. Later, I learned this was because they only moved here a few years ago, so they were closer to both Tyler’s school and Mood’s lab. Apparently moving is like a really big deal here. Harper said that most families live in the same house for generations, adding on when they need more room. Usually, one kid stays in the family home while the rest move out join other families or create their own. Haprped says that if I’m still here I’ll be able to tag along for some winter holiday hosted by Mood’s brother.

Even though the house is new construction, it seems like Mood and Harper have already added on. The guest room I was offered turned out to be a separate building entirely. A sort of mother-in-law unit connected to the main house by a small covered patio area. It’s actually making me a lot more comfortable staying here, I’ve got my own bathroom and shower (I am infinitely grateful that area of culture seems to be the same) and even a small kitchen. The bed is weird though. It’s about the size of a double back home, maybe a queen. But it’s sunk into its own alcove, like a fancy window bench pumped up to eleven. And there are so many pillows. I don’t think the bed even has a proper mattress, just a thin pad, like a giant chair cushion, then a sea of pillows. All different shapes, sizes, colors, and designs. Plush, firm, or just decorative. It took me ages to find a position I could fall asleep in, but it was the best sleep of my life.

Some of the walls here have that same woven texture as the cubical nests at Mood’s lab (apparently the beds are also “nests” along with the small writing desk nook next to it). Sometimes they use little folded dividers of the same material too. That and curtains. Every room is divided into countless nooks and cubbies. It’s still very strange, but I’m starting to see how it could be considered homely.

[alyss01]

|[It's a family business]|

Comfy cartel x F!reader

Part 1

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[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4]

Genre: Mafia AU/ action

Word count: 1.7K

Requested: no

To request: it is possible to request a comfy cartel fanfic, requests are open!

Synopsis: Corpse joins the cartel, and soon you accompany him, together with Rae, Lily, Sykunno and Toast to a new opening casino to deal with some unpaid debt.

Warnings: talk about murder, crimes, blood

A/n: I really wanted to make this and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! It started as a one shot and then quickly progressed to what will most likely be 4 parts. I could've posted them as one but this was easier with writing it and managing to space out things. It will update weekly most likely, and it's possible to request one shots for the comfy cartel!

Masterlist

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You sat across from Toast on the table, his dark glasses covering his eyes as he patiently waited, a map in front of him. He pulled an identical map from underneath the wooden table you sat at and replaced the one that had previously laid on the table.

His face was neutral, he didn't fight the silence that hung in the air. He looked at you as you leant back in your chair, fingers impatiently tapping the table in front of you.

"You don't have to be here you know." He spoke up, his voice carrying practiced authority that could silence an entire meeting full of arguing. Yet as he spoke to you, it had a tone of kindness to it. After all the time you spent together and the situations you had been in with one another he saw you more as his younger sister than anything else. It was a position you had acquired for most of the cartel.

As the sister of Scarra you had a lot of authority in the cartel, although it wasn't as if you needed it. Everyone, no matter how recently the cartel had taken them under it's wing, viewed you as their little sister in the hierarchy of the family.

"Don't worry about it. I want to see the new blood." Toast nodded his head a few times as if to ponder.

Today the new person Toast had scouted out would be arriving at the cartel for his first job, he'd be monitored by Sykunno.

"Are you sure Sykunno would be the best fit?" You had seen his information, they seemed far from compatible.

Toast offered you a small smile, brushing his hair back as he repositioned his glasses. His voice was confident as he spoke, a small hint of his smile could be heard in his voice, "I'm sure."

The male in front of you had always had a scarily good intuition about people, which was how he had recruited most in the cartel.

You nodded in return, but before you had the chance to even consider getting bored again, a stern knock on the door pulled your attention to it.

Toast gave a signal for the person on the other side to come in. You locked eyes with him, he was largely build, carefully dressed in a white blouse with a black vest, tie and dress pants, with white gloves covering his hands. A purple mask covered most of his face, but black curly hair framed the small piece of exposed skin he showed.

His eyes were sharp as he locked them with yours. Your eyebrow raised curiously as he returned his attention back to the male in front of him, "Corpse."

"Disguised Toast." He spoke back, his voice deep and serious as you looked him over. If you hadn't known better you probably wouldn't have been aware of the true nature of the man, despite the intimidating aura that hung around him.

"It's a bad habit to be late." You spoke up as you calmly leant back in your chair, usually when you accompanied Toast to these kinds of things you stayed silent in the background as you observed.

Toast gave you a curious look for that, it was largely hidden by the glasses on his face but it was obvious for you after all the years.

Corpse stayed silent to your remark as you narrowed your eyes, "you'd do good to change the habit before doing something you'll regret." The message in your words was clear, don't pull this again if you want to keep your spot in the cartel.

He gave you a silent nod as Toast returned to the topic, "to start off, you'll be disposing of someone. Sykunno will accompany you as your guardian." He pushed the document to the end of the table where Corpse grabbed it and opened it briefly.

"You'll be reporting back to me, in three days. I want it done before then." Once more Corpse nodded his head as Toast dismissed him.

He walked out of the room, being met by a calm face with a gentle smile displayed. He offered his hand to Corpse, "I'm Sykunno, happy to meet you."

"That was unlike you." Toast remarked as he turned to you, you simple leant back in your chair as you met his eyes, "he needs to know his place."

Toast nodded as he grabbed the document from underneath the table that displayed Corpse's information. He stood up as he walked to the door, closing it behind him as he left you alone in the room.

•••••••••

Sykunno was crouching in front of the body, turning to his companion with a small smile on his face, "jesus, you actually killed him." His voice was calm as he grabbed the dead man's cheek with his gloved hand.

Corpse still held the gun in his hand, he had considered pointing it at the male in front of him but something about it made him unable to actually commit to the deed.

Sykunno tilted the corpse's head around, before releasing and sliding his gloves fingers through the blood that had formed a puddle on the ground and spreading it between his finger tips.

His clean hand grabbed his phone as Corpse stood silently against the wall watching the scene in front of him. Not a single drop of blood had reached him.

"Yvonne? Yes, I'll text you the address." He stayed silent as Corpse could hear a female voice on the other side of the call, "hmh, yes that should be fine. Take it to my garden, it'll make for fine fertilizer."

Corpse curiously listened along, he had known there was more to Sykunno than the sly, calm, gentle and happy mask he wore.

Sykunno stepped away, turning back to Corpse with a gentle smile on his face as he clicked the call away and returned his phone to the pocket it originated from.

"Let's go, Toast will be happy to hear the results."

They calmly walked out of the building as a small van stopped in front of it. Corpse's hand automatically moved to the gun in it's holster at his side.

The movement from Sykunno's hand made him stop as the back doors of the van opened, he started walking past it as a female with blonde hair and pink ends carried out a small trolley with cleaning supplies displayed.

Sykunno offered her a small nod of his head which she returned. Corpse could distantly hear her speak to the front door man, "I'm the cleaning service that was ordered for today."

"There was no such thing."

"I've been send here by Y/n, ask the front desk, they'll know." The man left his position for a second as he leant inside, his voice muffled, before turning back "please, come in."

He followed Sykunno as they fled the scene.

•••••••••••

Lily granted you a smile as you entered the room, beside her sat Toast and at the head of the table sat your brother, Don Scarra.

"Brother." You greeted him first as you moved to the table. A fond smile formed on his face, "sister, how have you been?"

You returned the genuine smile as you sat down, "The days have been interesting with our newest member." Scarra nodded his head thoughtfully.

It had been a few weeks since Corpse had accomplished his first task. Sykunno still watched over him but they were more akin to companions than a guardian. They had gone of a few other tasks, and for now Corpse had the trust of the cartel.

The other two greeted you as well as Toast slid a file over the table towards you. "What do you think?"

You had started in the cartel innocently enough, despite your older brothers desperate attempts to keep you out. Your contacts were simply unparalleled.

Besides that you were an important person, both in and out of the cartel, and eventually Scarra had decided it was safest for you to become part of the cartel, seeing as there was no safer place for you to be.

Your eyes scanned the pages, nodding your head as you read. A large celebration party for the opening of a new casino, the owner however refused to repay the cartel according to Ludwig who was in charge of the cartels money flow. He was divine in covering up the hardest of situations to the government and cheating the system.

The price had apparently build up to the amount where only his life would suffice, although as you looked at the mans information you doubted if even that was enough.

"I'll be able to get some people in, but for that I will have to attend myself as well." You shot a glance at Scarra, who had always been seriously opposed to you working in the field.

"Then we'll find another moment." Scarra spoke up as you had expected him to do, this wasn't the first time and you had a hunch it wouldn't be the last either.

Toast spoke up, "with all due respect, Don Scarra, but the target has been in hiding for months. This may be the only shot we have until he disappears again."

Lily repositioned her hat, the white flower on it changing position with the movement as she turned to the Don, "this would be a low risk mission, the guest list has been screened by Micheal, so the only obstacle will be the security. I've made him download the building plans and he'll be on comms to guide us through."

Scarra however still didn't seem convinced as Toast continued on Lily's reasoning, "beside that, we can send enough people to accompany her. We'll need her reputations to get into the VIP areas where he'll most likely stay hidden. Y/n will be kept out of danger at all costs."

Scarra seemed convinced as you turned to him, knowing you wouldn't have a say in the matter, "so who will accompany me?"

[misskatebishop]

For @winterironmonth day 6

Royal AU + Birthday

Tony was never the type of person who celebrates birthdays. He enjoys giving gifts to his friends on their birthdays, though. But he never actually celebrates his birthday himself. The fact is since he ascended the throne, the whole realm took the responsibility of celebrating the king’s birthday upon themselves.

King Stark found it adorable, in fact. Streets decorated just for his birthday, the news on the TV, and the dinner he will have later with many important guests. Queens and Kings from other countries, and presidents, ministers. Tony finds it all tiring. There’s only one person he would like to spend his birthday with.

Jarvis enters the room with another gift in his hand. Tony looks at the pile of gifts he had received. He doesn’t care about it. If he wasn’t the King, he would spend his birthday in his room, laid on bed with his lover.

“This one is from Senator Stern, sir,” Jarvis says.

Tony rolls his eyes, and Jarvis comes next to rearrange his tie.

“How’s everything down there?” Tony asks.

“Splendid, sir,” Jarvis replies, replacing the tie Tony was wearing for a bow tie. “It suits you better, sir.”

Tony turns to look at himself in the mirror. He looks good in that black suit. It would fit for the next three hours. Tony makes a silent pray for it to pass fast, so he could come back to the comfort of his room. Jarvis stands behind him, holding a crown.

“Has Lord Rogers arrived?” Tony asks while Jarvis makes sure that the crown is well arranged on his head.

“Yes, sir.”

“Is he alone or…?”

“He came with his wife, Lady Carter, and his knight, sir.”

Tony nods. His heart pounds inside his chest at the mention of James. God, he hadn’t seen James in quite a while as Rogers sent him on missions after the enemy, Hydra, an organization that has been boring Lord Rogers’ domains. However, they write often to each other, though he hadn’t received an answer for the last letter he had sent to Barnes. He hoped to get the chance to talk to him later.

Jarvis leads him outside. The guards bow as he passes through the decorated corridors. God, Pepper had really invested in the decoration. A guard announces his entry to the hall. The crowd turns their eyes to the King. Tony greets some people on his way to the center of the hall, but his eyes look for only one person. Tony feels a little disappointed when he finds Lady Carter talking to Lady Romanoff, and Lord Rogers talking to Doctor Banner on the other side of the hall.

Perhaps the knight Jarvis mentioned was Sam Wilson and not James. Tony prays that he’s wrong.

“Hey, happy birthday,” Rhodey says behind him.

Tony smiles.

“Thanks.”

“Big night, huh?”

“I hope so.”

As a matter of fact, Tony wasn’t interested in the party or what would happen after this annual dinner to celebrate the King’s life. He was only interested in James’ answer to him. In their last letter, Tony wrote that if his response was negative, then he’d leave him alone. He promised he would never go after Barnes ever again.

“Tony!” Pepper smiles, wearing a blue dress. She looks stunning. “Happy Birthday!”

“You already said that in the morning, Peps,” Tony says.

“I’m saying it again.”

“Okay. What about the dinnertime, Pepper?”

“Oh, you’ll have to wait a little longer. There are a lot of people wanting to talk to you.”

“Pepper--”

“No. Socialize. You’re good at it, then you can fake a headache and go back to your room,” she smiles sassily, her gaze going to the door where Barnes is hurrying to Rogers.

His heart skips a beat. James looks gorgeous as usual. His hair was perfectly combed. He shaved since Tony had seen him. That dark blue suit puts his blue eyes in evidence. James goes to Steve and whispers something to him, then the blond follows after him. James doesn’t even see him. Tony gulps, heartbroken. If his answer was ‘no’ Tony had to do as promised. He had to let James go.

Tony feels his heart breaks into little pieces, he tries his best to hide his disappointment during the party. Tony doesn’t know what he did wrong or why Barnes was refusing him, he only wishes he could go back in time and fix whatever mistake he had made. Lord Rogers returns alone to dinner.

-

Tony does exactly what Pepper told him to do. He has dinner, shows his guests a good time, talks about government accords and improvements, he even dances with Lady Van Dyne before he thanks all of them for coming and retiring to his room. Pepper, Rhodey, and Jarvis could handle the rest of the guests.

Tony went to his favorite room in the palace. It was filled with paintings of his ancestors along with historical facts about the Stark Kingdom. That wasn’t the only reason, of course. The balcony there gives him a clear view of the gardens his mother cared so much about. Tony watches the fireworks to celebrate his birthday, but that is the last thing he wants to care about now.

A tear slides down his left cheek, then the door opens, and steps approach.

“I said I wanna be alone, Jarvis,” Tony says, quickly wiping off the tears.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been wanting to talk to you the entire night,” James’s voice replies, making Tony turn around to see the man. “But if I’m bothering, then I’ll go,” James gives a step forward where Tony can clearly see him.

“No,” Tony hurries to say. “No, you are not. Of course not. I--I thought it was Jarvis.”

James comes to the balcony, standing by Tony’s side. He watches the view, and all Tony can watch is Sergeant James Barnes.

“I’m sorry for not staying at the party. Sir Barton had some urgent news about Hydra’s advance that required my attention,” James looks down, rubbing his metal hand on the other.

“It’s okay. I hope everything is fine, now,” Tony’s tone is uncertain. He heard about Hydra’s advance on the North.

“I hope it will be in a few weeks,” James says, though, by his tone, he knows that James is aware that Hydra will not stop. “Are you feeling okay? Miss Potts said--”

“I’m okay. I-I just wanted to sneak out of the party.”

James smiles, and that smile is capable of making Tony’s mood better.

“I’m sorry for not replying to your letter.”

“It’s fine, you’ve been busy,” Tony nods, startling when James takes his hand in his.

“I have a gift for you as well,” Tony smiles.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“It’s a very humble gift, actually,” James fixes Tony’s tie.

“What is it?” Tony asks, curious.

“It’s a yes,” James replies, grinning. Tony’s heart skips a beat because he knows what it means, and he can’t believe it. God, he was such a fool. “Yes, Tony. I’ll marry you.”

James cups his cheeks, pulling him to a kiss. Tony melts in his embrace. He can’t believe this is happening. How could he think that James didn’t love him when the soldier had told him a thousand times? Tony feels like an idiot, how could he be so blind? How could he believe that James would tell him ‘no’?

Tony can’t help the tears that stream down his face or the sob that eventually comes out when they pull apart.

“Don’t cry, doll,” James wipes off his tears, kissing his cheeks.

“They are happy tears,” Tony replies.

James wraps his arms around him, pulling him closer. Tony lays his head on his chest, listening to his heartbeats. He feels safe there. He feels love. And that’s all that matters.

"Best gift ever," Tony mumbles, and James laughs, placing a kiss on the top of his head.

[evening-starlight]

Warm Beer

Taglist is open! Dm or comment to be added.

I’ve decided to put this story on an schedule! Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

All Works Master List

Warm Beers Master List

2

Word Count: 1616

    The hot morning sun beats down on McKenzie's face, causing the sweat it forms to wake her up. She groans and rolls over, turning her back to the window, only to feel a body next to her. The groggy morning feeling is replaced by terror quickly as Kenzie opens her eyes to see who exactly is next to her.

    Her panic dissipates faster than it came when she sees the idiotic blonde boy she loves sleeping soundly on the other side of the bed in John B.'s spare room. Kenzie sits on her elbow and stares down at him, admiring his delicate features that are relaxed.

    It was quite peaceful seeing JJ resting. No other worldly worries settled on his features. He looked, for lack of a better word, beautiful. His eyebrows weren't knitted together in hidden anxiety, and his lips weren't constantly switching between a scowl and his usual playful smirk. The constant shaking of his hands was gone, and the JJ was still for the first time since Kenzie knew him.

    This wasn't the first time they've shared a bed. JJ would sneak into her house after a rough night at home but be gone before she woke up in fear that her father would lock him up for life.

    "You know," JJ says, voice low and gruff, making Kenzie jump slightly. "It's considered rude to stare in many cultures." Kenzie laughs off her embarrassment as JJ opens a single eye to look at her, accompanied with his signature smirk. "C'mere," He says again, pulling Kenzie down into his chest.

    "Well, good morning to you too, JJ." Kenzie laughs, snuggling closer to the bare-chested boy. The warm beers from last night return with a slight vengeance, causing Kenzie's stomach to feel icky and growl. JJ holds onto her tighter, nestling his nose into her messy bedhead. "I should get home soon," She sighs, but making no move to get away from the affectionate JJ.

    "Five more minutes," JJ mumbles, positioning himself, so McKenzie was practically trapped under his body weight. She giggles and allows him the five minutes. Which slowly turns into five more and into an hour. JJ nods back into sleep, snoring softly in Kenzie's ear while she lies awake, staring at the ceiling and wondering how long sour beer took to get out of your system.

    There's a soft knock on the door, John B. entering soon after with bleary eyes and no shirt. He smiles when seeing the predicament Kenzie is in, JJ laying three-quarters on top of her with his mouth agape next to her ear. "Shut up, John B.," She mumbles, motioning to her phone that's just out of reach on the nightstand. "And pass me my phone, please."

    John B. walks around the bed quietly and passes the girl her phone, smirking the entire time. "You look comfortable," He comments, standing next to her side of the bed.

    "You try being trapped under a teenage boy who hasn't showered in a week and reeks of booze and make it comfortable," Kenzie comments, turning her attention to her phone with multiple messages from her father, telling her she needs to at least be home by five for dinner that night and if he finds her in the jail cells, she'll be grounded for life. "Looks like you're stuck with me all day, Pouge. Dad's in office and wants me home by five."

    "Yeah," JJ cheers tiredly, shuffling slightly on top of his best friend.

     "Mornin' sleeping beauty," John B. Jokes, making his way out of the room. "Kie brought breakfast from the Wreck." At the mention of food, JJ jolts up and follows John B. out of the room. Kenzie shuffles along, adjusting her tank top that JJ messed with while sleeping on top of her.

    "Dude, I only drank half a beer last night, but my stomach won't stop hurting," Kenzie complains as she stacks a paper plate full of breakfast foods. "Probably because somebody didn't bring the ice like he was supposed to," She sends a pointed look towards JJ, who just huffs with a roll of his eyes from the couch as he shovels food into his mouth.

    "To be fair, my stomachs been buggin' since then too," JJ comments, shrugging his shoulders like everyone else was feeling the same thing. The group agrees it was only JJ and Kenzie who felt these things. McKenzie takes a seat next to JJ, bumping shoulders.

    Breakfast flies by, everyone is famished after a night of partying. They agree a day on HMS Pouge would be a perfect idea. "I just need to head home and get my suit," Kenzie informs, grabbing JJ's plate as she heads into the kitchen to clean up their mess.

    "Great. Can you pick up ice along the way? You can take the Twinkie," John B. asks, already tossing her the keys to the van. Kenzie agrees as she heads to the guest room, trying to find her shoes and phone.

    JJ follows her, wanting to change into board shorts and a tank from the drawer he has in the house. "Want me to come with you?" He asks, pulling on his pants and shirt while Kenzie has her back turned. "I know you get ever so lonely without your favorite Pouge," He jokes, leaning his head on Kenzie's shoulder, smirking widely when she gives him a side-eye.

    "More like I don't want you causing trouble without me," Kenzie says, pulling her Vans on. JJ laughs with her and follows her out of the house, going on about his plans on the boat. He continues to blab as they pull up to the deputy's house, talking with his hands.

    JJ jumps when he hears someone yelling 'hey' at the two, looking around like a Kook was coming to kick his ass. "Hi, Dad. Just coming to change. We're going to the marsh," Kenzie informs, looking at the doorbell with an attitude.

    "Your dad can see us?" JJ asks, looking over McKenzie's shoulder at the offending doorbell, which happened to have a camera attached.

    "Sure can, Maybank. So don't try anything; I'll be watching," Shoupe says through the cam. He had gotten the motion detection alert and, being bored at work, decided to spy on his neighbors.

    "Be nice, Dad. I'll be out of here quick," Kenzie rolls her eyes, flipping off the camera as she enters the house. JJ salutes the camera with a mischievous smirk before closing the door behind him. "Would you get some sodas from the garage, J? I don't feel like drinking too much after your mishap last night." JJ groans and throws his head back in anguish.

    "It was one time, Ken," He calls through the house as she runs upstairs to change. JJ does as he was asked, grabbing a six-pack of ginger ale for their stomachs and Kenzie's favorite Dr. Pepper.

    JJ glances up the stairs when he hears Kenzie skipping down them, pulling her shirt down her flawlessly tanned torso. The warm beers make an appearance again, making JJ's stomach churn. "Got the goods?" She asks, smiling brightly at her best friend. He holds them up with a faint smile and leads her out of the house. Kenzie grabs a backpack off the hooks hiding behind the front door and follows behind.

    The Pouge Bag, as Kenzie called it, holds everything she would ever need with the delinquents. Sunscreen, pain pills, tums, and a first aid kit, along with snacks and bottled waters for everyone. Kenzie had become the mom of the friend group, always looking out for them as if they were her family.

    McKenzie waits in the van as JJ runs inside the corner shop to get ice, scrolling through her phone absentmindedly as the van blows cool air on her. A movement to her left causes her to glance up, slowly lowering her sunglasses as she watches the young man pull two bags of ice out of the freezer.

    Has JJ always looked like that? Muscular and hot? His biceps bulge as he carries the ice towards the back of the Twinkie, smirking as he catches Kenzie practically drooling over him. JJ tosses the bags in the back carelessly, smiling up at McKenzie. "You got a little drool right there, Ken," JJ jokes, wiping the corner of his mouth.

    "I wasn't drooling, dumbass. I was making sure you got the ice to the van, unlike last time," JJ flips her off and hops in the passenger seat.

    On the boat, JJ can't tear his eyes from Kenzie, who stripped to her bikini top and shorts and was dancing with John B. to the songs on the radio. The way her teeth catch the sunlight and brighten her already perfect smile makes JJ's stomach lurch, and the way the sweat drips down her chest causes his to tighten.

    He stares down at the beer in his hand accusingly, like that was the cause for the fluttering feeling in his stomach. Maybe the beers were expired because the condensation on the side shows it's cold.

    "Everything okay over there, JJ?" Kie asks, eyeing her friend suspiciously. JJ nods, holding up the beer slightly.

    "Making me sick again," He explains shortly, which causes Kenzie to pull away from John B. and put her hand to JJ's forehead. He stares into her eyes, the icky feeling growing quickly.

    "You don't feel hot, hun. Drink some water," She insists, already passing him one from her backpack. JJ's eyes don't leave her, absolutely memorized by the way she so delicately takes care of him. He's so enchanted by her that he misses the knowing look between his friends.

Taglist: @gwenlovesharrystyles​

[minaslittleone]

Fission & Fusion (Part 4)

Part 1  Part 2 Part 3 Part 5

Summary: How did the refined and proper Wilhemina Venable end up working for two coked-up tech bros out of the back of a van?

An origin story of sorts, dedicated to the amazing @lucyintheskywithxanax  who has developed such a beautiful and nuanced depiction of Mina. This was inspired by her incredible story “And I failed to climb the mountain”.

Word count: ~3300

Wilhemina woke lazily the following morning to the warmth of sunlight on her face as it peaked through delicate lace curtains. It took her a few moments to remember where she was and to identify the source of the insistent scratching which had roused her. As she rolled onto her right side towards the bedroom door she caught sight of Miko's white dipped paw batting beneath it, scrabbling and scratching at the obstacle that dared to impede his free reign. An affectionate smile pulled at her lips as she watched his antics as she sleepily scrubbed at her eyes. His scratching stilled as she let out surprised gasp as her knuckles made contact with her bruised cheekbone, which was now undoubtedly swollen and probably a fetching mottle of red and purple. Now aware that she was awake, Miko's insistent scratching was replaced by a disgruntled meow. Wilhemina tried to ignore him, not really sure if he was allowed in the bedroom to begin with, but she was powerless to resist him once his meows were replaced by what could only be described as plaintiff cries. Who could resist that?

As she eased herself to her feet the full effects of the previous two days began to make themselves known. Her back was undoubtedly stiffer than usual but whether that was the result of two nights in unfamiliar beds or from crashing face first into concrete she couldn't be sure. Likely a combination of the two. The throbbing ache in her right wrist and hand as she supported herself on her cane was definitely a result of the concrete she rued, as she transferred the loathesome object to her uninjured left hand, her back complaining instantly. Today was looking like such a promising day.

Miko continued to make his displeasure known as she slowly made her way towards the door, his cries becoming increasingly insistent now that he could hear her moving. The moment she cracked the door the slightest distance ajar a flash of grey fur shot past her, heading directly for the patch of sunlit warmth at the centre of her recently vacated bed.

She tried valiantly to keep her features schooled as she scolded the cheeky feline who was currently in the process of kneading the covers into an acceptable state of comfort.

"Are you really meant to be up there, Miko?" The grey tabby cat shot her a questioning look as if to say "really human? You're the guest in my house and you're going to question if I'm allowed on the bed" before promptly turning his back on her and curling into a ball on his appropriately fluffed portion of the quilt.

She shook her head fondly, slowly making her way back towards the now occupied bed. Miko raised his head to study her as she gingerly lowered herself back onto the mattress, easing herself forwards to retrieve her book bag from beneath the bedside table. With practiced ease she flipped the lid on the amber pill bottle, dispensed two pills and threw them back dry. Normally she would muscle through the discomfort while the pills took effect but today, she reasoned, she had nothing to do and nowhere to be so for once she could actually listen to the pleading ache in her bones. It also helped that there was no one to witness her indulgence, other than Miko who had made his way across the bed to her and was currently standing about a foot away from her with his head cocked to the side, still not entirely sure what to make of her.

As she returned the pill bottle to her book bag she noticed the glass of water, which had evidently been left for her earlier that morning, and the handwritten note peaking from beneath the coaster on which it sat. She relished the way the cold glass dulled the ache in her hand as she raised it to her lips, pointedly ignoring the way her stomach churned at the tenderness behind it. Miko seemingly sensed her unease, trotting over to her and curling into a cosy ball against the side of her thigh. Her left hand rested against his tiny head, thumb stroking absentmindedly against the side of his chin, while her right hand returned the glass to the bedside table and retrieved the hand written note. She still could not place the feeling of unease it produced in her but she was emboldened to push past it by the comforting warmth of Miko pressed against her thigh, his rhythmic purring easing her nerves.

Good morning dear, I wanted to let you know I was leaving but I didn't have the heart to wake you, you looked so peaceful. I hope you slept well, I'm sure you needed it. I should be back around 6 baring any disasters but help yourself to anything in the meantime. And don't worry about Miko, he has been fed though I'm sure he will try to convince you otherwise. My office number is by the phone if you need anything. Try to take things easy today and be kind to yourself my dear. - Elizabeth

Wilhemina silently tested the shape of her adviser's given name, lips tentatively forming around the sounds. Of course she had seen the name Professor Elizabeth Thompson written for years but the explicit use of her christian name felt scandalously personal. A voice in the back of her head chided that thought - you spent last night in her guest bedroom and you're worried about using her given name? Ridiculous. Evidently in her preoccupation her left hand had stilled for Miko let out a sleepy chirup of annoyance, drawing her attention away from the complexity of her current relationship with her Professor. Elizabeth she reminded herself.

Having already disturbed Miko she took the opportunity to reposition herself to lay back down. The grey tabby was initially unimpressed to have his pillow so rudely removed but forgave her in short order, gently clambering up onto her chest as soon as she was laid flat. Miko stretched himself languidly, face contorting in a gigantic yawn that Wilhemina couldn't help but chuckle at. His little face came to rest upon her sternum, head cocked to the side, eyes watching her intently. Gently he lifted one paw, tiny pink toes pads coming to rest against Wilhemina's unmarred cheek, tenderly inquiring "more scritches, please." She happily complied, arm draping loosely across the little ball of fur who had wormed his way into her heart and her bed. As she began to scratch affectionately under his chin Miko craned his necked back in contentment and began purring again in earnest. Wilhemina smiled to herself as she allowed her eyes to close, the warm weight of the purring feline ensconced upon her chest lulling her to sleep. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to rest, just for a little while. Besides it would be cruel to disturb Miko when he looked so comfortable.

It was several hours later when she awoke again, judging by the way the sun no longer shone directly through the bedroom but instead created a bright indirect glow from further overhead. Wilhemina's stomach let out an indignant growl at the late hour, rousing Miko in the process who glared at her from beneath half lidded eyes. She scratched behind his ears in an apology which was evidently accepted as Miko began to nuzzle into her hand in response.

As she tentatively began to lever herself from the mattress Miko jumped down onto the bed and began to stretch out the kinks from his nap. Wilhemina looked on jealously as his spine extended as she slowly convinced her own vertebrae to support her weight. As she brought herself upright for the second time that day she noted gratefully that the painkillers seemed to have worked their magic, leaving her only slight tender even after the events of the past few days.

Navigating her way down the stairs proved to be somewhat challenging not merely from coordinating her balance with her cane in her left hand but also because Miko refused to leave her side, wending his way between her legs as she focussed intently on not breaking her neck. Having successfully reached the landing she made her way into the kitchen in search of breakfast, or whatever meal this now constituted. She noted gratefully that an assortment of cereals had been left on the kitchen counter, alongside a bowl and the necessities for tea and coffee, saving her from rooting through her professor's cupboards. She set the kettle to boil before preparing herself a bowl of muesli. As she set her tea to steep she couldn't help but roll her eyes at the mug Elizabeth had selected for her which proudly displayed the figure of Little Miss Stubborn, she couldn't really argue with the assessment but for once felt like such a gesture was meant as an affectionate jibe rather than an outright condemnation.

Miko stayed pressed against her ankles throughout the entirety of breakfast and whilst she cleared her dishes afterwards. He trailed behind her as she made her way back up the stairs, intending on changing out of her loungewear and into some proper attire. And he stopped beside her as she caught sight of contents of the room beside hers peaking through the door which had been left slightly ajar. The walls were painted with the most tender depictions of rabbits, squirrels, owls and deer, each peaking from amongst a lush forestscape. She found herself magnetically drawn to the scene, fingers ghosting across the hand painted figures on the plaster. Unfazed by her exploration Miko made himself at home on one of the two child-sized beds clothed in crisp white linen. An old oak bookself sat in the far corner of the room, practically bursting. Wilhemina's eyes skipped over many of the brighter, more modern spines, instead drawn to a shelf higher up full of older, more battered volumes whose titles she recognised from her own childhood. Familiar names jumped out to her like old friends - Blyton, Potter, Milne, Dahl. Far too many hours had been spent alone save for their company, whether alone and immobilised in a hospital bed or hidden beneath her bed clothes by torch light trying to block out her parents arguing, these had been her constant companions. She tenderly retrieved Matilda from the shelf, thumbing through the well worn pages, allowing the little girl she kept so securely locked away a moment to breathe, smiling fondly at the words which had given her hope in those moments of darkness.

So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.

She remembered vividly the delicious taste of revenge the first time she had partaken in Matilda's retribution against all those adults who had tried to squash the precocious young girl. More than once she had allowed herself to imagine what it would have felt like to exact similar vengeance against her mother. How sweet it would have felt to bleach her perfectly coiffured hair, to place newts in the punch at one of her horrendous soirees or terrorize her parents with ghostly reminders of their failings. How she longed to make her mother feel an ounce of the pain to which she herself had been subjected.

Still clutching the much loved volume she curled up next to Miko and allowed herself to retreat to a world of childhood comfort in which the underdog could triumph, in which I'm big, you're little could be usurped, in which Miss Honey might reach tenderly from the pages and adopt her too.

That was where Professor Thompson found her several hours later, relishing in the climax of the novel as Matilda vanquished Ms Trunchbull. She smiled fondly at the young woman she had always known to be so controlled and regimented curled lazily against the wall on her granddaughter's bed, Miko lounging against her thigh and contented smile playing across her lips behind a curtain of firey red hair. The floorboards creaked beneath the older woman's feet alerting Wilhemina to her presence. Her cheeks flushed furiously as she sheepishly met the older woman's gaze but found only genuine affection in her grey-blue eyes.

"Don't even think about apologising, my dear. I told you to make yourself at home and I meant it."

In spite of Elizabeth's assurances Wilhemina still felt the need to explain herself. "I didn't mean to end up in here" she began, "I saw the paintings and I only meant to look at them but then I saw the books and -"

"Wilhemina," the older woman cut her off kindly, "stop apologising. You've done nothing wrong, you needn't justify your every action. Not to me at least" she added knowingly. "My daughter will be flattered that you liked her paintings, though I really should show you photos of the masterpiece she created in the children's room back east. She works as a children's illustrator, though I think she would much prefer to do larger pieces like these if there was the work in it."

"I don't think I've ever seen anything so beautiful" Wilhemina whispered reverently. "Their little faces are just so sweet."

"I'll be sure to tell her you think so. Now, I should leave you to finish with Matilda, dinner should take me twenty minutes or so which, knowing the speed you read at, should be ample time."

"Oh no, it's fine" Wilhemina interjected, "I know how it ends, I've lost count of how many times I read it as a child. I should come and help you."

The older woman sighed, of course Matilda would be a favourite of hers. "Nonsense dear, finish your book. I'll call you when it's ready." And with that she was gone.

Wilhemina was indeed finished with the book when the older woman called her for dinner twenty minutes later, her voice floating up the stairs as if Wilhemina's presence at her dinner table was the most natural thing in the world. The simple meal of pasta Alfredo was passed in companionable silence between the two women, with Miko dividing his time equally between them. He remained under their feet as they cleared the dishes, with Wilhemina bracing her weight against the kitchen counter through her left hip to grant herself two free hands with which to dry the clean dishes as the older woman handed them off to her. Elizabeth shook her head fondly at the young woman's stubborness, once she set her mind to something there really was no stopping her.

Wilhemina was drying and putting away the last of the cutlery when the older woman disappeared momentarily, only to return with a manila folder which she placed atop the freshly cleaned kitchen table. Wilhemina eyed it warily. The older woman placed two cups of tea beside it and gestured for Wilhemina to join her. She did so cautiously.

"No need to look so nervous my dear, it's nothing bad. I just brought home the list of available casual positions from the careers centre on campus, I thought you might like to take a look to see if anything interested you."

Wilhemina froze. Of course it was too good to be true. Of course the kind older woman had grown sick of her already. Why wouldn't she, when she was nothing but a useless burden? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. How could you think that anyone would actually put up with you?

Professor Thompson caught the way Wilhemina's shoulders stiffened and how her jaw tensed, as if preparing herself for an attack. She reached out and took the younger woman's hand in her own.

"There is no pressure dear. This is not about me getting rid of you. I simply thought you might be interested, I know you must be anxious about what comes next, you've never been one to be without a plan." Wilhemina suddenly felt very small and seen in a way she never had been before. It was simultaneously terrifying and yet so, so safe.

"It can wait as long as you like" the older woman continued, "but I'll leave it here for whenever you're ready."

"No, I mean, I'm ready now" Wilhemina blurted, "I just thought you meant-"

"I know my dear, I know" the older woman cut her off with a firm squeeze of her hand, earning her a shy smile from the younger woman. "Would you like me to stay or -"

"Stay" Wilhemina affirmed, "please?"

"Of course dear, now where do you want start?"

"Well, I suppose law or business makes the most sense" Wilhemina sighed, "at least I have some experience there."

"I didn't ask where you should start dear, I asked where you wanted to start - there's a difference. You said your parents chose law for you, what would you have chosen? If you could start over and choose for yourself what would you do?"

Wilhemina froze at that. She had accepted so long ago that she would simply follow the path her parents had set out for her that she had almost managed to convince herself that she wanted it too. It did no-one any good for her to pine after a future that could never be hers.

"I don't know" she stared at the older woman, eyes wide with the realisation.

"What do you miss from highschool then?" the older woman tried. "Is there a subject you enjoyed that you had to give up?"

She considered that for a moment. "Science, maybe?" she added shyly, "I liked that it was predictable, that I could know what to expect."

"Ok" the older woman prompted, fingers rifling through the folder, "any particular area?"

"Electronics or computers, maybe?" She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, as if waiting to be punished for daring to express her own desires.

"Ok, there are a couple here that could fit." The older woman traced her finger through the list of positions. "This one looks interesting. A couple of graduate students from the engineering faculty are looking for someone to help with data management and organisation for a start-up. They seem to be interested in bionic limb development" she added, sliding the paper towards Wilhemina, finger marking the appropriate notice.

Wilhemina scanned the brief description greedily, trying to temper her expectations. It sounded perfect but she daren't allow herself to even begin to hope that it might be possible.

"I think you would be perfect for it."

Wilhemina scoffed in response, "I don't know the first thing about robotics."

"But they aren't asking for that dear, they're asking for someone to help with organisation. They want someone who is meticulous and logical to help keep track of their data - that is you to a T. You would be brilliant at that. And it would allow you to see if it's an area that you like and maybe later you could transition into a more technical position, or go back and study more about it if you wanted."

"Look" the older woman reached out to tap the paper in front of Wilhemina, "it even says they have patents filed and a company formed. It seems to have all the makings of a long term prospect."

Wilhemina could feel her heart start to flutter at the possibility, that maybe, just maybe it wasn't too late for things to change. She scanned through the notice again, Elizabeth was right, it did sound perfect. And try as she might she couldn't help but look at the company name printed at the end of article with the hope that maybe it also inscribed her future.

Kineros Robotics

A/N: there is one more part to come after this, though I think I will likely dip back into this universe as one-shots from time to time to explore some of the key moments between here and apocalypse. If there are any particular things you would be interested to see feel free to hit me up

[sp00kworm]

A Fayre (Part 1)

Pairing: Rakuh (Male Orc) x Gender Neutral Reader

Warnings: None

A/N: The requested piece for you all. A few people have been excited so I had to split this into two parts! Enjoy! 

Part 2 

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The rolling hills leading to the main road were pretty, but not exactly the ideal place to break down when it was pouring with rain. The sheep had huddled underneath their shelter as rain poured down from the heavens and you frantically searched for the number for your breakdown company. Someone would be out within the hour, or so they had said. An hour and a half later, still looking on enviously at the sheep in their cluster, a tow truck and mechanic showed up. An Orc. You tried to hide your teary eyes from the elder looking Orc as he hopped out of his truck and smiled, tusks curling from his bottom jaw, poking out from his lips. He was a broad, greying Orc with his clothing covered in grease stains from working on other cars.

“Sorry!” He offered as he tucked his silver streaked ginger hair over his shoulder and tugged at his coveralls, “We’ve been busy at the garage with an exploded oil tank! Would ya believe it? Just after you called.” He offered his hand, “Gurlog’s the name.”

You tried to smile at the elder, “Thank you for coming.” You muttered, bottom lip trembling as you were ushered back along to the car, “I don’t know what’s wrong with it… It made a terrible snapping sound and then stopped working. I had to pull in here on momentum alone.”

Gurlog patted your shoulder as he opened the hood and propped it open, peering at the engine with a critical eye, his hands quickly getting to work to find the issues.

Gurlog whistled as he worked, moving his hands over the engine before he laughed and plucked the broken fan belt free of the runner. It was frayed and snapped, clearly no longer working.

“That’s your issue right there. No power if your alternator ain’t connected anymore.” Gurlog huffed a laugh, patting at his coveralls, smearing more oil over the heavy blue fabric, “Its an easy enough fix, sweetheart. I’ll tow ya back to the garage then we’ll get that belt replaced and you’ll be on your way.” He soothed as he snapped the hood back down and peered up at the sky, “You get yourself into the van. I’ll get your car up on the back.” Rough hands pushed you towards the passenger seat of the tow truck as Gurlog set to work finding the tow bar and humming, lowering the truck platforms before he snapped the hook and tow into place and got your car into place. The Orc cursed from outside the truck as the heavens opened once more, rain bouncing against the roof as more and more grey clouds rolled in. Gurlog opened the driver’s door and grumbled, tucking his ponytail back behind his shoulder before he laughed and turned on the heaters.

“Typical weather!” He huffed as he shifted the truck into gear and flicked on his headlights for navigating the torrential downpour on the hilly roads.

The garage was back in a small town, not too far from your own hometown. It was a quaint place. One main road ran through it with a main high street for shopping. The town was large but not large enough to have a large, departmental grocery shop. You looked at the old housing which melted into spotted cottages around at the edge of town, where Gurlog’s garage was. There was a large house alongside the garage, old but well lived in by numerous Orcs it seemed. Gurlog pulled into the garage and waved his hand outside of the window. The rain was still going, but a lot lighter, it was only drizzle, but it was enough to make everything, and everyone, damp and moody.

“Boys! Help me get this car into the garage!” Gurlog shouted through his window, chewing at a piece of gum as he waited for his sons to appear. One did but the other did not. The dark-haired Orc scoffed at his father, his hands placed in the window as he nodded to you and dragged a hand over his clean shaven chin, oil smudges covering his cheeks where his fingers grazed the skin. Brown eyes sized you up before he slicked back the hair of his mohawk and eyed your car curiously.

“Just a broken fan belt or two I think, Xurek.” Gurlog opened the car door and pushed it against his son with a laugh. Xurek scoffed again before grunting as the door winded him, “This is Xurek, my younger son.” Gurlog introduced you by name.

You’d managed to calm down enough to not have massively puffy eyes anymore. You took in the towering size of Gurlog’s youngest son and found yourself smiling at him. He was the bad boy looking sort, rings in his ears and snake bites in his lips, yet it was thrown off by the covering of freckles over his sage coloured skin. He was lighter in tone than his father but didn’t have the thick, ginger mane.

“Its nice to meet you, Xurek.” You offered your hand.

Xurek shook your hand with a smile, his small tusks exposed in the toothy grin, “Likewise.” He turned to Gurlog, “Rakuh said he’s busy and I’ve got to get back to servicing, but I’ll help you get it off the truck Pa.”

Gurlog huffed as he spun your car keys and tossed them to Xurek, “I’ll get him myself once we get this out of the rain.” He watched his son go up the ramp to help him spin the car back into the garage, “He’ll have his nose in something that doesn’t need doing on Mrs Owen’s car, again.” Gurlog sighed as Xurek back your car into the bay and rolled his eyes at his father.

Xurek hopped back out of the car, “How about you help me finish the service and you send Rakuh to do this? Stops him from chargin’ Mrs Owen double the price that way!” The younger son laughed as he shut the door and popped your keys up on the rack in the side of the garage.

Gurlog stroked his long beard, “You might just have a point.” He hummed before ushering you into the next bay along, “Come on. I’ll introduce you. He’s a bit frosty but I promise he doesn’t bite.”

Gurlog approached his son without any grace, thumping over to him loudly before standing behind him and waiting. Rakuh wasn’t paying attention. You heard Xurek snort with laughter behind you as Gurlog coughed into his fist. The elder son didn’t jump but turned his head towards his father with a glare.

“What?” He asked coldly as he reached for a rag to wipe away the oil from his hands. You looked up at the even larger orc with an open mouth. He was a stark contrast to his brother, his arms crossed over a bare barrel chest, covered in freckles, his skin a shade of sage, which was the only thing similar to his brother. Rakuh pulled his great ginger braid over his shoulder and made sure the ropes of braiding leading into the large one were intact before he looked down at you with judgemental brown eyes. His muddy gaze was quick to assess you, his upwards curling tusks making his huff whistle before he sniffed and fiddled with the gold septum ring in his nose. He also had earrings in his ears, gold flashing behind his braids as he looked between you and his father. You wondered if he didn’t poke his skin with the tusks that reached towards his nose.

“I need you to put a new fan belt in the car in the next room for this fine young ‘un.” Gurlog smiled and introduced you before cracking his open palm across his prickly son’s across the back, “I’ll sort Mrs Owen’s car out for you.” Rakuh flexed his arms to protest, tattoos around the top of his arm stretching. He turned and you noticed he had a band around his chest, beneath his pectorals as well, “She needs it properly fixing for once, then she might not be back ‘ere every fucking two months.”

“Rakuh! Language!” Gurlog shouted as the eldest son grumbled and scrubbed at his well-trimmed beard, “We have a guest so watch your fuckin’ language!” He quickly realised his mistake when Xurek burst into laughter against the wall. You shrunk back as Rakuh slipped past you into the other bay. He was quiet as he opened the engine up and got to work, not bothering to put on a shirt as he fiddled with the old belt, smearing grease and oil over his hands as he tried to find the right size among their new ones hung up on the back wall. It was then a woman burst into the garage.

“Gurlog! What have I told you about swearing at the lads?!” She howled from the door, her tusks larger than her partner’s and bared in a display of anger. Her fury amplified as she caught sight of you shrunk in the corner, “And with a guest!?” She screeched before thumping her way through her family, “Oh you sweet thing, I am so sorry! My name is Shul. These boys are just the worst with guests.” The female quickly ushered you into the warm waiting room of the office.

“Get your backside in this room, Rakuh!” Shul crossed her arms and made sure to glare at her son as he entered the waiting room.

“Ma is this really necessary?” He asked. Rakuh was quick to shut his mouth when his mother raised her thick brows and crossed her arms, “Pa literally just told me to sort the car!” He defended himself. It became obvious where he got his temper from as Shul growled, low and rumbling. Her son returned the noise.

“You’ve all scared ‘em deathly!” She howled at her son before pointing at the door, “Go and get a shirt on and make the poor thing a drink! You haven’t been dragged up, young man!” Shul smiled down at you, “Now don’t worry your head. Rakuh is a grumpy thing but he’s the best mechanic his Daddy’s got.” Their mother sighed before finding Rakuh’s shirt behind the desk in the cream painted room. She hollered after her son and made sure to push the t-shirt on his head as he returned with a scowl on his brow.

“Thank you.” You smiled at the greying, black haired woman.

She visibly brightened, her tusks exposed in a bright smile like Xurek’s as she tucked her hands back into her cleaning apron, “You’re welcome darling. I’ll be in the house but I’m sure Rakuh will behave now. Don’t be scared of him. He’s a darling inside all that ice.” She joked as she closed the door, letting the heater warm you back up from your escapade in the cold hills.

A fist thundered on the door of the converted, shipping crate waiting room. The handle dipped and you put on your best smile for the larger brother as he ducked back into the doorway. He held a tray in his hands, balancing a teacup and two teapots on top of it as he ducked inside and placed it on the small table.

“I made you some tea.” He offered both pots to you, dark eyes still guarded yet apologetic, “I made you peppermint and nettle. I didn’t know which you would prefer.”

“Peppermint is fine, thank you.” You watched him pour you a cup before he replaced the teapot on the table.

Rakuh sighed through his tusks, “I’m sorry for bein’ rude. Pa interrupted me working and he knows I hate it, but that doesn’t mean I should have taken that out on you.” He smiled and you watched the standoffish layers melt away a little as you nodded.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s been a hard day and I’m just frazzled. I thought I was going to be stuck up in the hills all night.” You chuckled as you took a sip of tea.

Rakuh offered you a sugar cube from the large bowl of sugar, “Not to worry. I’ll have that new belt in quick so you can get off home. I’ll get Ma to come and take your insurance details for the tow.” He waved once before he was off back out of the room, awkwardly ducking through the too small doorway. His braids swayed over his back as he shouted for Shul and flagged off his younger brother for making kissing faces.

“Fuck off, Xurek!” Rakuh hissed across the floor as Xurek made another suggestive look at him.

“RAKUH! LANGUAGE!” Shul hissed at her son as she fetched the paperwork for you to fill in for your insurance details.

It was closing time for the garage when Rakuh reappeared in the doorway of the waiting room. It had taken him a couple of hours to get the belts properly into the engine.

“I’ve finished up.” He announced before he grunted at his mother who was still sat with you. He groaned, out loud, with a sour look when he caught sight of his father, “Are you both in here slacking off by talking to the customer?” Rakuh threw his towel over his shoulder and stood in the doorway, looking at the three of your, sat in the old couches, laughing over a fresh pot of tea, “Ma, really? You brought the biscuits out?” The bulking mass of the orc male shadowed you as he thumped into the room. Little pieces of hair had frizzed from his braids, hanging over his forehead as he watched Shul take a healthy sip of tea and flash a biscuit at him.

Shul smacked at her husband’s hands, “That’s enough for you I think.” She smiled at her son with her short tusks, “I’m being kind, Rakuh! You could do with learning a thing or two.”

Rakuh rolled his eyes as he fished a biscuit from the packet in Shul’s hands, pushing it into his mouth before he turned back to the door.

“How about you come along to the BBQ we’re having next week? There’s some sunny weather on the horizon!” Gurlog smiled at you with a laugh, “I’m sure our boy could do with the company.”

Rakuh’s pointed, tapered ears went red as he growled, “I don’t need you to set me up on dates!” His nostrils flared as he purposely slammed the door behind him, rattling the old container with his anger.

“Let me take your number, sweetheart.” Shul chuckled, “I’ll talk him around.” She promised before wrapping an arm around your shoulders, “That boy doesn’t make tea for any old customer. The amount of times I’ve had to give girls and boys tissues!” She shook her head before shooing her husband out.

Shul was loud as she greeted you at the party, “Hello, sweetheart!” She cooed as her huge hands grabbed at your face, “Oh you do clean up well!” She joked before waving over Gurlog, “Come here, dear! Look! Its our little breakdown friend!”

Gurlog waved at a pair of Faun before he came over to his wife, laughing before he gave you a hug, “It’s good to see you!” He greeted before ushering you through the gate and taking the cake you had brought from your hands, “Oh look at this. You’re more than welcome here with such a delicious thing!” Gurlog cooed over the gooey chocolate cake with gusto before Shul snatched it from him and pointed to the next lot of guests. A woodland elf and young wizard laughed at the gate behind you as Shul ushered you to the table and tucked the cake away in the desserts.

“Rakuh and Xurek are around…” She hummed as she peered over the crowd with ease, huffing as she searched for her sons.

“Hey, don’t worry.” You soothed with a hand on her arm, “I’ll go and find someone to talk to. You better get back to the meeting and greeting.”

Shul placed a hand on your arm, “Be gentle with my cold-hearted idiot, hm? He’s not a very good talker.” She let you go with a smile and headed back to her husband, dark hair flopping as she went.

You took a deep breath as you looked around at the groups of various races, chatting and gossiping between one another. You felt a little out of place. Small among a family of orcs and various magical creatures from the surrounding hills.

“Woah!” A great, antlered Cervitaur smacked into your back, his tail flipping back and forth as he pranced lightly on his feet, “Sorry! A’ didn’t see you down there.” He dipped his antlers in a bow, his legs spread to let him peer closer at your face. His long silver hair draped around his horns, tinged with a green akin to moss around the bases, as his green eyes reflected the woodlands, and not your own face, “My name is Cernunnos. And yes, I know, my family were not tha’ kindest o’ people when it came t’ names.” Cernunnos’ hooves clicked on the patio as he put himself back upright.

You told the Cervitaur your name, “Its lovely to meet you.” You nodded before waving a finger around, “Would you happen to know where Rakuh is? Shul told me to give something to him.” You asked politely.

Cernunnos’ chest puffed slightly, the fur over his stomach bristling high as he stood tall and tucked his hair behind his ears again, “He was at the grill last time a’ saw him.” He flicked his dark coloured tail before pointing over to the far end of the garden, “Towards the shed.” Before you could go, he winked at you and gave a demure laugh as you rushed away.

Rakuh was stood by the large shed grilling, hidden from the crowds, a cold bottle of Orcish bitter in his hand as he flipped burgers and rotated a large pig which was slow roasting. The ginger seemed at home in his little bubble, cooking and drinking, ignoring the fluttering Pixies as they shifted shapes and tried to coo at him from the pool. Xeruk laughed from his place by the roasting spit, his mohawk flopping as the Pixies threw water at him, drenching his already wet-through t-shirt. Rakuh stood firmly out of their line of fire, dressed in a pale blue shirt and heavy shorts, as he turned burgers and ignored his brother’s flirting. You tried not to laugh as Rakuh flicked at a particularly small and handsy pixie, sending her soaring in a shower of wing dust.

“Hey there.” You smiled as the two brother’s span around. Xeruk’s face turned into an evil looking grin as Rakuh turned back to his grill gruffly.

“Nice to see you again!” Xeruk offered you a friendly, one-armed hug as before he let the pig sit over the fire. Rakuh ignored the two of you as he took a bunch of burgers off the barbeque and placed them into a buffet heater.

“Nice to see you both as well. How has it been up here in the hills?” You asked as Xeruk waved at a Water Nymph.

The younger brother shrugged his shoulders before winking at the ladies in the pool, “Its much more fun with some other people here for once.”

“Why don’t you go and flex somewhere else?” Rakuh grunted as he turned the chicken legs and pulled out a few lamb chops, “Like by the pool?” He grumbled.

Xeruk grinned, “You don’t have to tell me twice, brother.” He pulled off his t-shirt with another wave, “I know when you want someone to yourself!” The dark-haired male shouted before he sat himself near the Nymphs and Pixies in the pool.

Rakuh didn’t dignify the jab with a response but made sure to slam his beer heavily on the table before setting his dark eyes on you, “I’m sorry about him.” He offered quietly, his hair obscuring the blush on his cheeks and ears from your sight.

“Don’t be sorry. Everyone has that annoying relative.” You joked as Rakuh turned the hog over the fire again and returned to pulling meat from the large brick barbeque. He avoided your eyes as he worked.

“Still. He’s a rude fucker.” Rakuh grunted. His eyes widened as you began to laugh, “You alright?” He asked with concern painted on his features.

You quelled your laughter enough to shake your head, “I’m fine. You’re just not as cold as everyone makes you out to be.” You teased as you looked at his beer, “You think you could get me one of those?”

Rakuh looked at the beer on his table, “This?” He took hold of the bottle of ale and tapped the sticker on the front, “Orcish for a reason, love.” Rakuh placed the bottle back down on the table. You frowned at him before reaching for the bottle yourself and taking a sip.

“Holy shit!” You coughed after swallowing the mouthful, “Talk about alcohol content…” You stuck your tongue out at the bottle as Rakuh took it back from you.

Rakuh let out a great, deep laugh, his face curled into a smile, his jewellery jingling softly before he reached for a beer from the cooler, offering you a normal, human drink, “That will treat you better I think, but I commend you for tryin’.”

“You have a nice laugh.” You smiled as you Rakuh snapped open your beer with a flick of his wrist.

Rakuh paused, his face going red again as he went quiet, “Thank you…”

“You’re really a nice guy, aren’t you? You just like your work too much.��� You smiled at the Orc brightly.

Rakuh smiled, a small smile which just turned up the corner of his lips, “Something like that.” He flipped over the hog again before turning, “How about we have a chat once I’m done cooking? Ma never did give me your number.”

“So not only are you a soft-hearted Orc but you’re a smooth talker too?” You laughed, “Consider me impressed, Rakuh.”

Rakuh rolled his eyes, “How about you go and eat first, maybe then I’ll tell ya just how soft I actually am?”

“Deal.” You took a plate from the table and made your way over to the food.

Rakuh was much more relaxed after cooking, and, with a few beers in his belly. The ginger male laughed as you explained your very jittery ride home the previous week in your car, his dark eyes creased at the edges with his smile.

“Don’t laugh at me!” You smacked at his arm, “It was terrifying driving back through the hills in all that rain. I thought I was going to get stranded again with all those sheep!”

“The sheep are the least of your worries up there.” He snorted before fiddling with the ring in his nose, “I heard there’s a pack of werewolves and…” He jabbed a thumb in the direction of Cernunnos, who was prancing before a group of women, “The woods near the tops are his domain.”

You curled your nose, “Yeah I think I’d rather not get stuck up in his woods…If you know what I mean?”

Rakuh grinned, chuckling in his chest before he shook his head at the Cervitaur, “He just doesn’t know when to stop. One too many times people have walked into those woods and come out with some weird prophecy about carrying a God’s child.” He grunted, “He’s a fae folk through and through. Takes what he wants and thinks humans are his play thing.”

“It seems like you don’t really like him?” You asked curiously.

“I don’t like anyone that plays with people for fun.” Rakuh snorted, “Plus, look at ‘im.” He snapped his fingers together in a click, “Wouldn’t stand a chance in an Orcish arena. I could snap him like a twig.”

You looked away from Cernunnos’ and smiled slyly, “What kind of Orcish arenas still exist? I thought they did away with the practice?”

Rakuh opened his mouth, the golden rings on the base of his tusks exposed before he grunted, “Nothing that involves killing anymore.” He grumbled, “Just re-enactments.”

“Wait…You do re-enactment fayres?” You grinned as you shuffled closer to him on the bench.

He gave a withering sigh, “Yes.” Rakuh ground out before taking several gulps of bitter, “Don’t go blabbing it around, alright?”

With another laugh you inched closer, “What sorts? I know your family are from a clan right? Is it those ancient sorts of ones?”

“Yeah. Early clan days stuff, from back when Orcs used to be mercenaries.” Rakuh grumbled out, embarrassment painting his cheeks and ears once more as you plied him with questions.

“Do you guys fight? What about armour? Is there an animal show?” Rakuh placed a finger over your lips to quieten your questions.

“Can you keep it down?” He hissed next to your ear, “I don’t want everyone knowing about it…”

Xurek whistled from behind you both at the buffet table, “Damn! I did not expect ya to move so fast Rakuh! Ma look at ‘im! He’s already kissin’ ‘em!”

“What do you mean my boy is kissin’?!” Shul’s dark hair peeked over the crowd and you laughed brightly as she gave a delighted noise and a thumbs up.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ.” Rakuh cursed as he buried his face into his hands, “I’m so sorry about them.”

When your laughter stopped, you wiped a tear from your eye and leaned over, hands on his massive biceps before you placed a soft kiss on his cheek, “There. Now no one can make fun.” You joked as you rubbed at the ginger beard and reached for your empty beer bottles. You stood up and shook the bottles at him, “Would you like another beer?”

“Sure. Please.” He stuttered out as Shul wandered over with another turkey leg in hand for her son.

As you wandered off, Shul patted her son on the shoulder, “So, do we actually like this one?” She joked as Rakuh took the meat from her.

Rakuh watched you collect the beers with a small smile, “Something like that.”

“Are you going to get…” Shul grinned at Rakuh’s scowl, “Well, I’ll leave you to it!” She managed to disappear into the crowd again just as you returned.

“Was that your mum?” You asked as you handed Rakuh another large bitter, “What did she want?”

Rakuh held up the large turkey leg, “Just to give me another leg. Like I haven’t eaten enough already.” He scoffed before touching a hand to his cheek and taking the beer from you, “You didn’t have to kiss me you know.” He whispered quietly.

Confused, you frowned, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you don’t have to do all this stuff out of pity and…” Rakuh huffed, his anger quickly getting the better of him, “Don’t pretend to be interested in me if you ain’t.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that.” You touched his arm and smiled brightly, “I want to talk to you, and well, I came to say thank you for fixing my car. I did notice the oil change, and the windscreen wipers…and you fixed a dent over the wheel.”

“Well…Maybe I did fix those up for you.” He grumbled.

“At no extra cost as well.” You teased before patting him again, “Thank you. You did an amazing job.”

“No problem.” Rakuh grumbled before he looked at his beer and downed the rest of it, “Would you, uh, like to…”

“Give me your phone.” You snatched his large phone and typed in your number, “There. Now you don’t have to ask me for it.”

“Ah…Thank you.” Rakuh looked at your name in his phone and huffed a great laugh before he offered you the turkey leg off his plate, “’Ere. I don’t want it anyway.”

“Thank you but I’m alright too.” You held up your plate before pointing to the cake you made, “That’s the one I made. You should get some before your dad gets at it.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” You laughed as he rushed to beat Gurlog to the desserts.

“Rakuh! Give your ol’ man a piece of that chocolate cake!” Gurlog rumbled.

Shul appeared from the crowd again and grabbed her husband’s hand as Rakuh cut into the cake, “Diet, my darling.” She cooed annoyingly at Gurlog.

“Pa. You’ll eat the whole thing if ya start.” Rakuh sliced two pieces as his father continued to whittle on to his mother about how he could eat ‘just a little slice’.

“Had to near on fight ma Pa for a slice.” Rakuh joked as he returned, a small smile creasing his lips upwards as he passed you a slice of the cake. You took it from him and placed the cake next to you on the bench before you deposited your other food plate in the bin.

“I’m not surprised. He seemed very excited when I gave it to Shul.” You hummed as you picked up the chocolate cake and fetched two plastic forks. Rakuh took one from you and took a large piece of the cake into his mouth.

“This is delicious.” He said around the cake before taking another bite and humming.

You laughed around eating bites of your own cake as Rakuh finished one and got up for another, “Slow down! You’ll end up with cavities in your tusks!” You joked as he returned with another piece, “That or your dad will try and fistfight you for it.”

“Let him try.” Rakuh grunted, “This is great.” He pointed his fork to the cake before continuing to eat. You smiled up at the Orc before leaning against his shoulder and finishing your own slice of cake.

[haddonfieldproject]

<<PREVIOUS⏺<<CONTENTS>>

1.3.11 SATURDAY NOVEMBER 1st, ‪11:46 AM

‬Haddonfield, Illinois

The man walked into the foyer of the large house, squeezing passed the very large security guard who answered the door. A large grandiose staircase arose before him and split half-way up to the second floor, veering off right and left directing toward the two wings of the giant mansion. To his left was a luxiorious dining room with seating for up to twenty. Large renassiance style portraits hung on the walls: picturesque scenes of Italian countrysides and vineyards, the kind of paintings you'd see reproduced on the walls inside of an Olive Garden, only these were no doubt original. To the man's right was a large parlor, with more vibrant paintings, sculptures, antique sofas, and a grand piano in the far corner.

An elderly woman sat on one of these. She was cross-stitching silently. She looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowed, and then she looked back at what she was doing. The man sighed, ignoring her. In front of him, to the left of the stairs was a sliding door that opened into the actual living space of the home. From there he heard the voice call to him, “Come in son, come on in.”

The man entered the room and saw his boss sitting on a large leather sofa, a persian cat on his lap. He was watching the large flatscreen television mounted above the stone-hearthed fireplace before him. More aerial shots of the burning hospital. The man was frail, liver spots speckled his olive skin. His hair, once brown, was gray and thinning at the top, his eyes once black as night has turned to the color of charcoal smoke. He wore a plush royal blue robe and an old fashioned sleeping cap that reminded the visitor of Ebeneezer Scrooge.

The man bent to one knee before the old man. The cat hissed and jumped off the elderly man's lap and ran off toward the adjacent kitchen. The old man extended his hand, “Thank you for coming so soon.”

The man kissed the old man's hand, “Sure thing Mr. Vizzini.”

“I hope I did not trouble you too much last night Andre,” Mr. Vizzini said as Andre took a seat on the couch beside him.

Andre smiled, “Hey boss...a little romp through the woods never hurt no one.”

Mr. Vizzini laughed. “Good. I didn't get to apologize to you before when we spoke. We were...” he chose his words carefully, “too busy speaking of the grave matter at hand.”

Andre nodded.

“I trust you delivered my message to Mr. Tarasenko and our beloved mayor?” Mr. Vizzini asked, turning back toward the television.

Andre turned toward the screen as well, the national news had gotten a hold of Holly West's interview with Rosalita and were now playing it to the nation.

“Yes boss,” Andre sighed, “And I would have called you sooner but I was getting some much needed sleep.”

Mr. Vizzini nodded, “Your insomnia again?”

“Yes sir, it's been a really bitch, pardon my french.”

Mr. Vizzini smiled, “Well we all need our rest. When one is tired, one cannot think.”

“Yes sir.”

“And I need everyone at the top of their mental capacities.”

“I agree.” Andre remarked.

The old man held up a small square device that he had in his lap. It was a gray box with a single solitary red button on the top. He held it up now and pushed it. Somewhere in the far reaches of the house a chime was heard, soft and tonal. After a few seconds, there was a small crackle of static, and a woman's voice could be heard on an un-seen speaker.

“Yes Mr. Vizzini?”

The old man cleared his throat, “Caterina, would you be a dear and bring my guest and I a scotch on the rocks please?”

“Certainly Mr. Vizzini.”

There was a click indicating the speaker went dead.

“So what did our friends have to say for themselves?” Mr. Vizzini cocked his head to one side inquisitively.

“Tarasenko looks shaken up.” Andre said.

Vizzini grunted and nodded.

“And Dodge wants another front, just like you said he would,” Andre smiled.

“And you told him that that would not be possible?” The old man cocked an eyebrow.

“Yes sir,” Andre said, “he asked me to ask you to reconsider, again, just as you said.”

The old man sighed and nodded. He closed his eyes as if wrapped in meditation.

There were footsteps and into the kitchen appeared a young, tall, beautiful red headed woman that Andre had seen before. It was the waitress from Lou Martini's club.

Tina Tomcat, Andre remembered.

She looked tired in the face, but smiled at the two men cheerfully, holding a small glass in each hand of the brown scotch. Little crushed ice floated in each glass. Her corset had been replaced by a very cliché french maid outfit, which covered her private parts and some more of her body, but not much else.

Mr. Vizzini smiled as he took his glass, “Andre, I'd like you to meet Caterina. Caterina this is my dear friend Mr. Andre.”

Tina smiled at Andre and held out his glass. He took it with a smile of his own.

“We've met before,” Andre replied.

The old man waved a wrinkled hand, “Ah I suppose so, at the Rabbit-in-Red!” Mr. Vizzini took a sip of his drink and then said, “Caterina came in late this morning after no doubt a night of considerable carousing. Mr. Andre and I were just discussing how important sleep is to the body.”

Tina turned and waved a hand back at him, “I'll sleep when I'm dead,” she said with a wink, “besides, I make a hell of a lot more at the Rabbit than I do at this place.”

Andre's eyes went wide. He stared at Mr. Vizzini nervously and took a sip of his drink. He winced. It was very strong.

Mr. Vizzini broke into laughter, which then turned into racked coughing. When he was done coughing, he wiped his eyes and said, “That's what I love about her.” He choked another gulp of his drink down. “I appreciate honesty in a woman.” He raised his glass to Tina.

Tina gave a little curtsy, and disappeared around the corner.

The two men looked back at the television. A picture of the Chumway brothers now dominated the screen. The big bold tag line at the bottom read: MANHUNT ENDS IN MAYHEM.

After a moment, Andre cleared his throat, “Sir, may I offer an opinion.”

Mr. Vizzini sipped and nodded, “Certainly. My appreciation for frankness is not specific to the female gender.”

“I worry that this may not be a good time to send a message to Dodge.” Andre looked down at his glass. The old man had a reputation, he didn't want to discover the fine line only after crossing it.

“You think I should give Mayor Dodge the money.” Vizzini said, very frank himself.

“I think it would be wise to, I think we can both agree the situation has changed.” Andre said, gesturing toward the television.

“I think for the better perhaps.” Vizzini replied. “To my knowledge, the shipment has yet to be...spoiled shall we say. There may be time and an opportunity here to...salvage it, and for that I'll need friends in high places, and for that I'll need leverage.”

“I haven't considered that,” Andre admitted, “But there is always the flip side. This place is now crawling with law enforcement at all levels, and no matter how good we are, there is always a trail, and eventually that trail leads to Tarasenko, which in turns leads to Dodge, which in turns leads to you.”

“I have considered it,” Vizzini said. He sucked the rest of the scotch down in the glass with a loud slurp.

“What was done with the van, if I may ask?”

Vizzini waved, “Oh that was easy. The First Congregational Church of Holiness and Power was just bequeathed a brand new cargo van for their congregation. Complete with title in the envelope signed off to the church from a Mr. Juan Pagan of Winchester Indiana and cash to obtain a new tag.”

Andre smiled and nodded approvingly.

“Mr. Pagan even called me this morning and told me the Pastor of the church called him and thanked him personally.”

“Praise God,” Andre lifted his glass.

“Indeed.” Vizzini took some ice in his mouth and chewed it.

“However.” Andre frowned, “If the cops do get the shipment and nab Tarasenko, do you think he'll talk?”

“Doubtful,” Vizzini responded.

“What about Dodge?” Andre asked. “I see the honorable mayor putting a finger on you at the first hint of trouble.”

“Oh please,” Vizzini laughed, “I have the ability to be on flight to the United Arab Emirates like that,” he snapped his gnarled fingers, “Robert Dodge would love to fantasize but as yet he possessed no such ability. He will go down, he will go down hard and he will go down alone.”

“Is that what you want?” Andre asked.

“Of course not. I'm going to give him the money Andre. This is an opportunity with two heads.”

“How so?”

“On one hand, this is a great opportunity to get more out of our arrangement with Dodge. The spotlight is on him now,” Vizzini gestured at the TV which was now in a commercial. Ramon Aguilar of the newly crowned World Champion Chicago Cubs was singing the praises of a Liberty Burger extra-value meal.

“He'll be desperate. Like an ant under a magnifying glass directing the light of the sun, he will have no where to go and he will be like puddy in my hands.”

Vizzini's eyes went dark. I'm beginning to see the reputation, Andre thought.

“From the other angle,” Vizzini continued, “this is a good time to teach a lesson. The mayor has to learn that he is becoming a liability for me. A liability that I can no longer stomach.”

Andre drained the last of his scotch. “I just worry the cops are going to nab the shipment before we can inact damage control.”

Vizzini smiled and patted the large man next to him on the knee. “Worry solves nothing. We will just have to wait and see what happens.”

Andre sighed, “I just wish I knew.”

NEXT>>

[artificialqueens]

Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer), Chapter 9 (Branjie, Jankie) - Joley

ao3 link

Chapter Summary: We pick back up a few months after Jackie and Jan make their relationship official and Brooke Lynn and Vanessa set their sights on their future daughter. Everything finally falls into place.

Three Months Later

It was nearing the middle of January, in the midst of winter break. Katya, Jan, and Jackie were in Brooke Lynn and Vanessa’s apartment, busily decorating and making sure every little thing was in place according to the couple’s specific instructions. This was the day they had been anticipating for quite some time, after all.

The three of them were setting up for a welcome home party, as while they were doing so, Brooke and Vanessa were on their way home with their daughter. The papers were signed, the documents were made official, they were finally going to officially welcome Ana Sofia into their family.

Although it did feel like they already had her – the moms-to-be had talked about her at length, read them every detail of her biography until they could recite it from memory. She was three years old, half-White and half-Puerto Rican – when the two of them read that on her file, they thought it had to be fate. The story of the girl’s parents wasn’t uncommon, but it was a situation they could feel sympathy towards – a nineteen-year-old girl had been in a relationship with a man nearly twice her age, who left once he found out about her pregnancy, only for the young mother to find out the father was leaving the country. With his wife.

Brooke Lynn and Vanessa had been contacted by the woman while they were in the midst of the adoption process. She was kind and soft-spoken and it was clear she had only wanted the best for her biological child. They had agreed to visit the idea of allowing a relationship between her and Ana Sofia when she was old enough.

“God, she looked so young,” Brooke Lynn had said once they had left the meeting. “Like, shit, she was Jan’s age when she had her… that’s how old you were when we met.”

“Can you imagine if I was pregnant when we met?” Vanessa asked, shaking her head.

“With the number of men you’ve threatened to castrate? No, not really.”

But even though they had gone through all of the preparation, had meticulously completed every step, the day of their new daughter’s arrival felt unreal. After the bedroom had been painted and carpeted, after all sorts of toys and stuffed animals had been purchased, after every inch of the apartment was childproofed, wrapping their heads around finally bringing their little girl home felt hard to do.

It wasn’t the first time they had met her, of course. They’d been having supervised visits for nearly two months. They had bonded with Ana Sofia, they loved her. She’d met the people in their lives – Jan, Jackie, Katya, she even got to meet Brooke’s mother when she visited for Christmas and Vanessa’s when they went there for New Year’s Eve.

“You ready to go inside?” Brooke gently asked the little girl, though she was the most nervous out of the three of them.

Ana Sofia looked up with her big, brown eyes and nodded, one hand holding Brooke’s and the other carrying the bright pink teddy bear they had bought for her. “Yeah!”

Vanessa opened the door to a cheerful greeting of ‘welcome home!’ and looked at the way her new daughter’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm. She carried Ana Sofia’s suitcases into her bedroom, letting the young girl run around and greet everyone. “Go on and make yourself comfy, Sofie,” she encouraged.

It didn’t take long for Sofie to get acclimated to the apartment she had already started to get used to, winding up on the couch with their cat on her lap.

“How are you guys feeling?” Katya asked the new mothers. She was calm in a way that would otherwise be unnerving, but without the normal ulterior motives, it was a welcome change.

“I haven’t been this excited since our wedding day,” Brooke replied with a broad grin, her arm looping around Vanessa’s waist. “It feels like this is what everything was leading up to. Like we’re finally whole.”

Vanessa nodded in agreement. “You shoulda seen her when we picked her up and told her she was coming home for good. You’d think we live in Disneyland or something,” she chuckled.

Katya grinned. “I can’t begin to tell you two how proud I am. You’ve come such a long way from two kids struggling to confront how they felt about each other, I don’t think I’d have ever predicted this.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to without your flagrant disregard for our personal boundaries, so thank you for that,” Brooke teased. “Though I guess we did learn from the best as far as that goes,” she added, cocking her head towards Jan and Jackie.

“They were worse than us, you gotta admit,” Vanessa chimed in.

“Yes,” she conceded, “which isn’t an easy task with what a nightmare you guys were. But I think they’re in it for the long haul too.”

Jan and Jackie were sitting with Ana Sofia on the couch, talking animatedly about all of the fun things they would be able to do, how much they were looking forward to babysitting her.

“We have to take her to a show at some point,” Jan mused, “maybe f-r-o-z-e-n,” she spelled it out, knowing better than to say it in front of a child and set her off in excitement.

Jackie chuckled softly in amusement. “Yeah, maybe for her birthday,” she mused, then looked down, clearing her throat. “Baby… can I talk to you privately for a moment?”

Jan’s brows knitted in concern, but she nodded and got up, following her girlfriend into the guest room. “What’s up?”

“I was gonna wait until later, but I can’t wait any longer,” she replied, rocking back and forth on her feet. She was always so careful with her words, especially with Jan. But she’d also learned from Jan that sometimes it was best to be direct. “I want you to move in with me.”

There was a beat of silence, a surprised Jan needed a moment to process what’s been said. But then a broad grin spread across her lips and she nodded brightly. “Okay,” she threw her arms around Jackie, “I’d love to.”

Jackie’s entire body relaxed as a wave of relief washed over her. “Great. Amazing. Perfect. We can go back to your parents’ place to pack up your things whenever you’re ready. I mean, I don’t wanna rush you or anything, but I think it’d make sense before the semester–”

Jan cut her off by kissing her deeply. “Baby, I love you, but you talk way too fucking much when you’re overthinking,” she chuckled. “My parents will be thrilled to not have to pay for room and board, they’ll happily cover my share of the rent. We can go tomorrow or over the weekend, whatever,” she assured and kissed her again. “Just relax, we’re doing this. Everything is fine.”

“You’re right,” she exhaled, hugging her tightly. “I love you so much.”

Their tender moment was interrupted by a loud banging on the door. “Y’all better not be behaving inappropriately during my baby’s party!” Vanessa yelled.

Jan giggled and opened the door. “We’re not,” she promised, even though Jackie was blushing. “Actually… Jackie just asked me to move in with her.”

Vanessa’s scowl was instantly replaced by a bright grin. “For real? Congrats!” She turned to yell into the main room, “Brooke Lynn! Jan and Jackie are moving in together!” She then dragged the couple back out, holding each of them by the wrist, not that either of them were putting up any resistance. They both knew better than that.

Brooke looked up, chuckling warmly at the enthusiasm her wife had for the couple. “You guys are moving in together? Congrats. We’d offer to help but, you know, very busy with the new child.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll coerce Gigi and Crystal to help us. They can be bribed with weed and snacks,” Jan replied with a shrug and a light laugh.

“Oh, are we finally getting proof that Crystal exists?” Brooke asked with a light laugh. It had become something of an ongoing joke – Gigi talked about her all the time, often relentlessly, but none of them, other than Jan, had ever met Crystal. And even though Jan had, she liked to play along for the sole purpose of annoying her friend.

Jan laughed and nodded. “I promise we’ll FaceTime you when we have her here in the flesh.”

——

Jackie caught her breath as she came back upstairs after taking a pile of boxes to load up in the back of Jan’s father’s van. “I still can’t get over how nice your parents’ house is,” she remarked as the two of them sat on the floor of Jan’s bedroom, folding her clothes to pack into boxes. “I know you said your family was well off, but damn.”

Jan shrugged and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s not something I try to make a big deal about,” she explained, then looked up when the door opened and let out a soft laugh. “There you are. We were starting to worry you two got lost.”

“In our defense,” Gigi said as she and Crystal walked in, “we’ve never made this commute before. And we warned you neither of us have any sense of direction.”

“The Amtrak and I are enemies now. But at least we got Krispy Kreme while we waited,” Crystal added cheerily.

Jackie chuckled lightly. “And you didn’t bring any? Rude,” she clicked her tongue then looked to Jan. “Don’t forget, we promised Brooke and Vanjie we’d call to let Gigi prove Crystal isn’t a figment of her imagination.”

“Can you really prove I’m not?”

Jan and Jackie giggled while Gigi rolled her eyes and waited for Jan to get her phone out, calling up Brooke Lynn on FaceTime.

“Hey hun,” Brooke greeted. She was sitting with Vanessa and Ana Sofia, the sound of cartoons playing in the background. “How’s the big move going?”

Jan pushed herself to her feet. “Can’t complain, we’re not making ourselves crazy considering it’s not too bad of a commute. For us, anyway,” she pointedly looked at Crystal and Gigi at the last part.

“Show us the imaginary girlfriend!” Vanessa interrupted, leaning further into frame. “Katya thinks it’s gonna be Jackie with a wig on.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Gigi muttered under her breath, taking the phone from Jan and holding it up so she and Crystal were in the frame. “Vanjie, Brooke, tiny child, this is my girlfriend, Crystal. Who does exist.”

Crystal laughed softly. “Wow, this really bothered you,” she observed. “Why didn’t you just FaceTime me sooner?”

“Because we woulda called you a hologram,” Vanessa retorted before Gigi could answer, eliciting laughter from Brooke as well as Jan and Jackie.

Gigi pouted and crossed her arms. “I hate all of you,” she muttered, then added, “except for the kid, she’s cool.” And with that, she hung up and handed the phone back to Jan.

Jan chuckled and put her phone away. “You’re so cranky,” she cooed, getting up and grabbing her purse. “Here, let me smoke you out now. It’s the least I could do,” she offered, placing a joint between Gigi’s pouting lips and lighting it, watching her friend relax and smoke in spite of herself.

Jackie watched in mild amusement before glancing down as her phone went off. “Aw, Jaida just got back from Milwaukee and Nicky was waiting for her at the airport,” she read off her phone, then held it up to show the selfie Jaida had taken of the two of them.

“Wonder whatever happened to Nicky’s ‘no dating until graduation’ rule,” Jan mused with a laugh as she went back to folding shirts and packing them away. “Or are they still ‘not putting a label on it’?”

“The latter,” she confirmed. “But I know Jaida, she’s not gonna put up with that forever. She called me out on my bullshit plenty and she’s not the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ type.”

“I just love that Nicky’s role in your life is essentially the girl that fucks the women closest to you. It feels like a metaphor or something. Frankly, I think you need to have sex with her just to bring it all full circle,” Gigi mused, to which Jackie responded by throwing a pair of jeans at her.

“Fuck off,” Jackie laughed. “I’d much rather her fuck my best friend than my girlfriend any day.”

Jan offered her a reassuring smile and nod. “There’s no plans on that happening again, don’t you worry… unless you want a threesome,” she joked.

“Hey Jan,” Crystal interrupted, “when do you hear back from that thing you auditioned for? What was it again?”

The calm smile on Jan’s lips shifted into a nervous one. She stopped folding, instead fiddling with the fabric in her hands. “It’s an official shadow cast production for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a solid five week stint. The website is posting callbacks on Thursday morning, then they post who made the final cut I think… four days after that.”

Jackie scoffed playfully. “Right, ‘if’. Baby, you know you have that on lock, just like you got Veronica without breaking a sweat.”

“I broke many sweats, but I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

——

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jan did receive a callback and, four days later, was incessantly refreshing the company’s website waiting for the cast list to be posted. The list was set to go up at nine in the morning, but she had been checking since a quarter to, just in case. “God, what’s taking so fucking long?”

Jackie watched, trying her hardest not to laugh. “Honey, it’s five after. Take a breath before you pop a blood vess–”

“It’s up!”

She rushed to her girlfriend’s side, hand gripping onto the back of the desk chair tight enough to turn her knuckles white. “Well?”

“I got Janet!”

The two of them jumped up in tandem, hugging and squealing in pure elation. “Oh my god!” Jan beamed, “this is so exciting!”

Jackie pressed kisses over Jan’s face, culminating with a tender kiss to the lips. “I knew you would get it. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank god I’m living with you now,” she mused out loud, “juggling this with classes, as excited as I am, I just know I’d let myself get way too overwhelmed and no one keeps me grounded like you do.” They had learned about this in the last few weeks before Heathers. Jan had been on the brink of a nervous breakdown and only Jackie had been able to talk her down.

“I’m happy to be that anchor for you,” Jackie smiled. “And if this ends up being like Heathers and you need help rehearsing the ‘sexy’ song…”

Jan giggled, hiding her face against the crook of Jackie’s neck. “Yeah? You’re gonna be my Rocky while I work on ‘Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me’? It’s a very different sexual energy than ‘Dead Girl Walking’.”

She tilted her head. “I don’t think they’re that different, but the end goal of using it as foreplay remains the same.”

“I can’t argue with that,” she conceded, sitting down on the bed. “Did you ever think this would be where we would end up after that night? When we thought we’d broken down a big wall by giving in to our unavoidable lust?”

“Not for a second,” Jackie admitted with a laugh, sitting beside her. “I hoped it was the start of something, but falling in love with you was never in the cards.”

Jan smiled and rested her head on Jackie’s shoulder. “Me neither. But I wouldn’t change a thing. The rollercoaster we were on brought us right to where we needed to be.”

“It did,” Jackie took Jan’s hand in her own and squeezed it. “It really did.” She looked up and out the window. “Do you think history will repeat itself again? That a few years down the line we’ll find our own pair of useless lesbians to play dysfunctional cupid with?”

She chuckled softly and shrugged. “I dunno. I remember Vanjie told me how once you’re in love, it’s easier to see it happen to other people. I guess anything is possible.”

[flutter2deceive]

Inspired by @everybodyknows-everybodydies recent ER dream posts, I figured I'd share some of my ER dreams from the past year. I text myself whatever i remember after waking up from interesting dreams so that's the grammatically incorrect format they're in lol

buffy out on the streets moving vans with her strength, timothy olyphant is a vampire and he and his vamp buddies need romano to inject blood back into his circulatory system so he can go out in daylight again, they're taunting him like "come on didn't buffy train with you for a week to be a surgeon before giving up?", idk

The coolest stop motion video ever of this ER drawing turned into a storyline, mark leaves i guess jennifer and is running down the hallway to someone and i'm curious to see if it will be susan or elizabeth, it's elizabeth but then the pov switches to susan and she continues running down the hall to the trauma coming in and she high-fives abby and it's like the main point of contact for all the friendly characters when they do something cool is to high-five, watching this whole thing run thru and have the absolute biggest look of gleeful wonder on my face, i say some very nice words and hope they make it to whoever the author/vid marker are

In a steam engine room like that titanic ep of newsradio, there were also demons, so hell??, then there was a thing about carter being gay and in love with his best friend but then he called me lisa (which is my name) but i took that to mean that it was actually dave and it was a whole thing about maura tierney's fake ex-boyfriends?, and carter was out in my parents' front yard confessing his love but he accidentally stepped in the path of a chainsaw and the top of his toe got chopped off so then he was in a wheelchair

Kerry and elizabeth talking about sandy and mark and how they dread talking to henry and ella about them without breaking down, but it's also like they're still there, and then it's kerry and mark having the same convo but it's mark talking about his dad, they're in the hospital bathroom, a scene where sandy is temping in a library at the hospital and arizona robbins also working there and the implication is that they used to date, arizona comes up to sandy's table and notices that she seems to be doing wedding planning meanwhile kerry is sitting by herself at another table, arizona is judgy about what appears to be sandy chasing a girl who's in the closet and ashamed, sandy explains that kerry doesn't know and it's a surprise which is why she has the flashmob people standing 2 deep around kerry's table so she doesn't see the minister bringing the shrubbery in (this never happens in the dream but also what?? lol), then kerry has a successful hip replacement surgery that luka performed and mark is telling everyone about it, susan and abby were just starting to feel out a relationship and were making out in the bathroom

The er hospital but housed in an amalgam of my workplace and childhood church, i guess i'm like an orderly?, corday is pregnant and examining a patient and she's like ready-to-pop pregnant but she's still insistent that she's good to work until she's 8cm dilated and she's only 6 right now, we're all like dude go up to ob now, she's doing like yoga stretches on the floor to alleviate pain but still insists she's fine, meanwhile her patient is like ???, her water breaks and romano is gonna take her up to surgery, there's a space issue at the elevators and only he can fit, me and the other orderly say we'll take her up on the gurney in the other bank of elevators, we go flying down the hall and yelling for people to move cuz mrs corday's-- "sorry, dr. corday's"-- water broke, we get stopped by a security guard who won't let us through and then stopped again cuz there's construction in the warehouse, somehow romano manages to get lizzie but me and the other orderly are locked out, go to a bar downstairs to wait and nick kroll is there and he alerts everyone at the bar to the fact that he found several fan art/fic hits for "nick kroll/luka kovac" on the company's subreddit, he seems oddly intrigued, how weird of a pairing

In the future, there are no doctors because they're all burnt out from covid so healthcare in the future is just holograms of scenes from er but they're not the medical scenes they're the relationship drama stuff, alex kingston is named ceo of brain things due to her time on both er and doctor who, an interviewer asks what her favorite katy perry song is and romano answers for her, then maura tierney kicks everyone's ass at a banquet

The specifics elude me but somehow abby made it so that neela's memories of gallant's death are erased, and he's not exactly alive but also not dead, maybe she went back in time and changed something or had magic?, but neela is now texting with michael who is actually abby with his phone pretending to be him, abby is feeling really guilty for playing around with life and death and neela's feelings when she didn't have a gameplan, she ends up telling weaver she did something extremely morally questionable, now the two of them have to think thru how to handle the situation, neela is concerned now cuz michael texted that he'd talk with her at 23:00 but he hasn't called yet, then there's this really annoying intern that's pissing all the docs off, weaver starts to say something and ppl think she's gonna tell this woman off but she's like "this is an intern that's working here? She should be the hospital's lawyer", and then abby and susan smirk at each other and put on a tie? Idk but i think it's a different reality than the gallant-still-alive one

On a road trip or something and get back to abby's apartment, i may be susan but also possibly just me, we get the luggage from the car and while abby is trying to find her keys to unlock the door, we hear a noise from down the alley, the blonde woman that luka had been flirting with is near the luggage and is drunk or high, we wrestle with our conscience on whether to help her, she ends up asking to crash on the couch, abby and i get her inside and on the couch, we then end up sharing the bed and giggling

Caring for romano while he was in the hospital, mei lin from top chef is a med student and robert keeps insulting her, i think i might be corday, order a butterfinger and bottle of water from the hospital convenience store, go back to robert's room, he's muttering about the salad they brought him, i ask if he wants me to tell the nurse that he wants them to leave the salad for when he wakes from his nap, he squints up at me and smiles, says that his coping mechanism for stress is egg salad, idk

Living an ep of ER, i am susan, walking to my car alongside elizabeth, we're kinda tensely discussing when the kids will be at each of our houses for the holidays, i say let's just fuck it and join our celebrations, it's like a thing as if mark actually used to be married to susan and had a kid, don't know if it was supposed to be little suzie or rachel, elizabeth smiles unexpectedly and my heart kicks up, get in our cars and drive off, i am fumbling with a cigarette and the lighter from the car, drop them both as i'm driving down the hill out of the hospital parking lot, but now i am abby and have the season 9 hair, keep talking about this guy coworker i'm secretly seeing but it's actually susan and i'm trying to throw people off the scent, and there's something also about trixie and katya in this part of the dream but i don't remember specifically what, maybe guest star patients?

[missjanjie]

Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer) | (9/9)

Title: Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer) Summary: A sequel to Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer. Brooke Lynn and Vanessa are back at NYU, but with new and improved positions. Brooke’s ready to start her career as a professor when, as fate would have it, she realizes her TA, Jackie, might have the hots for a student named Jan. The couple just might see it as a sign to give two new girls the love story they found in the same place. Word Count: ~2.7k (this chapter) / 26,700 (total) Relationship(s): Branjie (Brooke Lynn Hytes/Vanessa Vanjie Mateo), Jankie (Jan Sport/Jackie Cox) Rating: E

read on ao3 | ko-fi

Chapter Summary: We pick back up a few months after Jackie and Jan make their relationship official and Brooke Lynn and Vanessa set their sights on their future daughter. Everything finally falls into place.

-

Three Months Later

It was nearing the middle of January, in the midst of winter break. Katya, Jan, and Jackie were in Brooke Lynn and Vanessa’s apartment, busily decorating and making sure every little thing was in place according to the couple’s specific instructions. This was the day they had been anticipating for quite some time, after all.

The three of them were setting up for a welcome home party, as while they were doing so, Brooke and Vanessa were on their way home with their daughter. The papers were signed, the documents were made official, they were finally going to officially welcome Ana Sofia into their family.

Although it did feel like they already had her – the moms-to-be had talked about her at length, read them every detail of her biography until they could recite it from memory. She was three years old, half-White and half-Puerto Rican – when the two of them read that on her file, they thought it had to be fate. The story of the girl’s parents wasn’t uncommon, but it was a situation they could feel sympathy towards – a nineteen-year-old girl had been in a relationship with a man nearly twice her age, who left once he found out about her pregnancy, only for the young mother to find out the father was leaving the country. With his wife.

Brooke Lynn and Vanessa had been contacted by the woman while they were in the midst of the adoption process. She was kind and soft-spoken and it was clear she had only wanted the best for her biological child. They had agreed to visit the idea of allowing a relationship between her and Ana Sofia when she was old enough.

“God, she looked so young,” Brooke Lynn had said once they had left the meeting. “Like, shit, she was Jan’s age when she had her… that’s how old you were when we met.”

“Can you imagine if I was pregnant when we met?” Vanessa asked, shaking her head.

“With the number of men you’ve threatened to castrate? No, not really.”

But even though they had gone through all of the preparation, had meticulously completed every step, the day of their new daughter’s arrival felt unreal. After the bedroom had been painted and carpeted, after all sorts of toys and stuffed animals had been purchased, after every inch of the apartment was childproofed, wrapping their heads around finally bringing their little girl home felt hard to do.

It wasn’t the first time they had met her, of course. They’d been having supervised visits for nearly two months. They had bonded with Ana Sofia, they loved her. She’d met the people in their lives – Jan, Jackie, Katya, she even got to meet Brooke’s mother when she visited for Christmas and Vanessa’s when they went there for New Year’s Eve.

“You ready to go inside?” Brooke gently asked the little girl, though she was the most nervous out of the three of them.

Ana Sofia looked up with her big, brown eyes and nodded, one hand holding Brooke’s and the other carrying the bright pink teddy bear they had bought for her. “Yeah!”

Vanessa opened the door to a cheerful greeting of ‘welcome home!’ and looked at the way her new daughter’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm. She carried Ana Sofia’s suitcases into her bedroom, letting the young girl run around and greet everyone. “Go on and make yourself comfy, Sofie,” she encouraged.

It didn’t take long for Sofie to get acclimated to the apartment she had already started to get used to, winding up on the couch with their cat on her lap.

“How are you guys feeling?” Katya asked the new mothers. She was calm in a way that would otherwise be unnerving, but without the normal ulterior motives, it was a welcome change.

“I haven’t been this excited since our wedding day,” Brooke replied with a broad grin, her arm looping around Vanessa’s waist. “It feels like this is what everything was leading up to. Like we’re finally whole.”

Vanessa nodded in agreement. “You shoulda seen her when we picked her up and told her she was coming home for good. You’d think we live in Disneyland or something,” she chuckled.

Katya grinned. “I can’t begin to tell you two how proud I am. You’ve come such a long way from two kids struggling to confront how they felt about each other, I don’t think I’d have ever predicted this.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to without your flagrant disregard for our personal boundaries, so thank you for that,” Brooke teased. “Though I guess we did learn from the best as far as that goes,” she added, cocking her head towards Jan and Jackie.

“They were worse than us, you gotta admit,” Vanessa chimed in.

“Yes,” she conceded, “which isn’t an easy task with what a nightmare you guys were. But I think they’re in it for the long haul too.”

Jan and Jackie were sitting with Ana Sofia on the couch, talking animatedly about all of the fun things they would be able to do, how much they were looking forward to babysitting her.

“We have to take her to a show at some point,” Jan mused, “maybe f-r-o-z-e-n,” she spelled it out, knowing better than to say it in front of a child and set her off in excitement.

Jackie chuckled softly in amusement. “Yeah, maybe for her birthday,” she mused, then looked down, clearing her throat. “Baby… can I talk to you privately for a moment?”

Jan’s brows knitted in concern, but she nodded and got up, following her girlfriend into the guest room. “What’s up?”

“I was gonna wait until later, but I can’t wait any longer,” she replied, rocking back and forth on her feet. She was always so careful with her words, especially with Jan. But she’d also learned from Jan that sometimes it was best to be direct. “I want you to move in with me.”

There was a beat of silence, a surprised Jan needed a moment to process what's been said. But then a broad grin spread across her lips and she nodded brightly. “Okay,” she threw her arms around Jackie, “I’d love to.”

Jackie’s entire body relaxed as a wave of relief washed over her. “Great. Amazing. Perfect. We can go back to your parents’ place to pack up your things whenever you’re ready. I mean, I don’t wanna rush you or anything, but I think it’d make sense before the semester–”

Jan cut her off by kissing her deeply. “Baby, I love you, but you talk way too fucking much when you’re overthinking,” she chuckled. “My parents will be thrilled to not have to pay for room and board, they’ll happily cover my share of the rent. We can go tomorrow or over the weekend, whatever,” she assured and kissed her again. “Just relax, we’re doing this. Everything is fine.”

“You’re right,” she exhaled, hugging her tightly. “I love you so much.”

Their tender moment was interrupted by a loud banging on the door. “Y’all better not be behaving inappropriately during my baby’s party!” Vanessa yelled.

Jan giggled and opened the door. “We’re not,” she promised, even though Jackie was blushing. “Actually… Jackie just asked me to move in with her.”

Vanessa’s scowl was instantly replaced by a bright grin. “For real? Congrats!” She turned to yell into the main room, “Brooke Lynn! Jan and Jackie are moving in together!” She then dragged the couple back out, holding each of them by the wrist, not that either of them were putting up any resistance. They both knew better than that.

Brooke looked up, chuckling warmly at the enthusiasm her wife had for the couple. “You guys are moving in together? Congrats. We’d offer to help but, you know, very busy with the new child.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll coerce Gigi and Crystal to help us. They can be bribed with weed and snacks,” Jan replied with a shrug and a light laugh.

“Oh, are we finally getting proof that Crystal exists?” Brooke asked with a light laugh. It had become something of an ongoing joke – Gigi talked about her all the time, often relentlessly, but none of them, other than Jan, had ever met Crystal. And even though Jan had, she liked to play along for the sole purpose of annoying her friend.

Jan laughed and nodded. “I promise we’ll FaceTime you when we have her here in the flesh.”

------

Jackie caught her breath as she came back upstairs after taking a pile of boxes to load up in the back of Jan’s father’s van. “I still can’t get over how nice your parents’ house is,” she remarked as the two of them sat on the floor of Jan’s bedroom, folding her clothes to pack into boxes. “I know you said your family was well off, but damn.”

Jan shrugged and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s not something I try to make a big deal about,” she explained, then looked up when the door opened and let out a soft laugh. “There you are. We were starting to worry you two got lost.”

“In our defense,” Gigi said as she and Crystal walked in, “we’ve never made this commute before. And we warned you neither of us have any sense of direction.”

“The Amtrak and I are enemies now. But at least we got Krispy Kreme while we waited,” Crystal added cheerily.

Jackie chuckled lightly. “And you didn’t bring any? Rude,” she clicked her tongue then looked to Jan. “Don’t forget, we promised Brooke and Vanjie we’d call to let Gigi prove Crystal isn’t a figment of her imagination.”

“Can you really prove I’m not?”

Jan and Jackie giggled while Gigi rolled her eyes and waited for Jan to get her phone out, calling up Brooke Lynn on FaceTime.

“Hey hun,” Brooke greeted. She was sitting with Vanessa and Ana Sofia, the sound of cartoons playing in the background. “How’s the big move going?”

Jan pushed herself to her feet. “Can’t complain, we’re not making ourselves crazy considering it’s not too bad of a commute. For us, anyway,” she pointedly looked at Crystal and Gigi at the last part.

“Show us the imaginary girlfriend!” Vanessa interrupted, leaning further into frame. “Katya thinks it’s gonna be Jackie with a wig on.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Gigi muttered under her breath, taking the phone from Jan and holding it up so she and Crystal were in the frame. “Vanjie, Brooke, tiny child, this is my girlfriend, Crystal. Who does exist.”

Crystal laughed softly. “Wow, this really bothered you,” she observed. “Why didn’t you just FaceTime me sooner?”

“Because we woulda called you a hologram,” Vanessa retorted before Gigi could answer, eliciting laughter from Brooke as well as Jan and Jackie.

Gigi pouted and crossed her arms. “I hate all of you,” she muttered, then added, “except for the kid, she’s cool.” And with that, she hung up and handed the phone back to Jan.

Jan chuckled and put her phone away. “You’re so cranky,” she cooed, getting up and grabbing her purse. “Here, let me smoke you out now. It’s the least I could do,” she offered, placing a joint between Gigi’s pouting lips and lighting it, watching her friend relax and smoke in spite of herself.

Jackie watched in mild amusement before glancing down as her phone went off. “Aw, Jaida just got back from Milwaukee and Nicky was waiting for her at the airport,” she read off her phone, then held it up to show the selfie Jaida had taken of the two of them.

“Wonder whatever happened to Nicky’s ‘no dating until graduation’ rule,” Jan mused with a laugh as she went back to folding shirts and packing them away. “Or are they still ‘not putting a label on it’?”

“The latter,” she confirmed. “But I know Jaida, she’s not gonna put up with that forever. She called me out on my bullshit plenty and she’s not the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ type.”

“I just love that Nicky’s role in your life is essentially the girl that fucks the women closest to you. It feels like a metaphor or something. Frankly, I think you need to have sex with her just to bring it all full circle,” Gigi mused, to which Jackie responded by throwing a pair of jeans at her.

“Fuck off,” Jackie laughed. “I’d much rather her fuck my best friend than my girlfriend any day.”

Jan offered her a reassuring smile and nod. “There’s no plans on that happening again, don’t you worry… unless you want a threesome,” she joked.

“Hey Jan,” Crystal interrupted, “when do you hear back from that thing you auditioned for? What was it again?”

The calm smile on Jan’s lips shifted into a nervous one. She stopped folding, instead fiddling with the fabric in her hands. “It’s an official shadow cast production for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a solid five week stint. The website is posting callbacks on Thursday morning, then they post who made the final cut I think… four days after that.”

Jackie scoffed playfully. “Right, ‘if’. Baby, you know you have that on lock, just like you got Veronica without breaking a sweat.”

“I broke many sweats, but I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

------

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jan did receive a callback and, four days later, was incessantly refreshing the company’s website waiting for the cast list to be posted. The list was set to go up at nine in the morning, but she had been checking since a quarter to, just in case. “God, what’s taking so fucking long?”

Jackie watched, trying her hardest not to laugh. “Honey, it’s five after. Take a breath before you pop a blood vess–”

“It’s up!”

She rushed to her girlfriend’s side, hand gripping onto the back of the desk chair tight enough to turn her knuckles white. “Well?”

“I got Janet!”

The two of them jumped up in tandem, hugging and squealing in pure elation. “Oh my god!” Jan beamed, “this is so exciting!”

Jackie pressed kisses over Jan’s face, culminating with a tender kiss to the lips. “I knew you would get it. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank god I’m living with you now,” she mused out loud, “juggling this with classes, as excited as I am, I just know I’d let myself get way too overwhelmed and no one keeps me grounded like you do.” They had learned about this in the last few weeks before Heathers. Jan had been on the brink of a nervous breakdown and only Jackie had been able to talk her down.

“I’m happy to be that anchor for you,” Jackie smiled. “And if this ends up being like Heathers and you need help rehearsing the ‘sexy’ song…”

Jan giggled, hiding her face against the crook of Jackie’s neck. “Yeah? You’re gonna be my Rocky while I work on ‘Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me’? It’s a very different sexual energy than ‘Dead Girl Walking’.”

She tilted her head. “I don’t think they’re that different, but the end goal of using it as foreplay remains the same.”

“I can’t argue with that,” she conceded, sitting down on the bed. “Did you ever think this would be where we would end up after that night? When we thought we’d broken down a big wall by giving in to our unavoidable lust?”

“Not for a second,” Jackie admitted with a laugh, sitting beside her. “I hoped it was the start of something, but falling in love with you was never in the cards.”

Jan smiled and rested her head on Jackie’s shoulder. “Me neither. But I wouldn’t change a thing. The rollercoaster we were on brought us right to where we needed to be.”

“It did,” Jackie took Jan’s hand in her own and squeezed it. “It really did.” She looked up and out the window. “Do you think history will repeat itself again? That a few years down the line we’ll find our own pair of useless lesbians to play dysfunctional cupid with?”

She chuckled softly and shrugged. “I dunno. I remember Vanjie told me how once you’re in love, it’s easier to see it happen to other people. I guess anything is possible.”

[leverage-ot3]

notable moments from The Two Live Crew Job

leverage 2.07

Sophie: I love the symbolists.

- - - - -

🥰 I love when the ot3 are together in one frame 🥰

- - - - -

the dogs playing poker painting tho

- - - - -

Eliot: Any sudden movement's gonna cause displacement of the water. It'll set it off.

Parker: Is that C-4?

Sophie: Oh!

(Nate grabs Parker’s hand before she can touch the vase)

Sophie: Parker... please don't poke at the motion-sensitive bomb.

Nate: So, uh... secret admirer?

Sophie: Well, it's no secret they want me dead.

Hardison: What do you think, man?

Eliot: I'd have to reach into the vase to disarm it. It'd go off.

eliot’s lips quivered when he said that bc he’s so nervous for her im-

- - - - -

Parker: Do you have any instant pudding?

(everyone looks at Parker in surprise. Cut to Parker pouring pudding into the vase)

Parker: The powder hardens the liquid, tricks the bomb into thinking it's not moving.

Eliot: Should give you a little wiggle room. Very little

MASTERMIND PARKER

- - - - -

(mourners are gathered around a casket with a line of black cars parked nearby. An open casket shows Sophie lying inside. Eliot is standing at a podium)

Eliot: She had a way of taking care of people, you know? She was a sister... she was best friend, all rolled into one. I'm gonna miss you, Soph-- So-O-O-O-O much, Katherine.

(Eliot leaves the podium. Hardison stands to let Parker walk by and she approaches the podium. Nate stands at the back of the crowd, Eliot joins him)

Parker: Katherine and I have known each other forever. Almost two years. Yeah, I know that probably doesn't sound like a lot to you, but it is to me. I never really had many friends. Which is why losing her is so hard. (sighs) It's so creepy. I mean, she's really dead. I was just talking to her and now she's just laying there. She was just laying there.

(Nate coughs and Hardison gets up to go to Parker)

Parker: Can you hear me?

Hardison: Parker. I'm -- I'm sorry. I'm sorry, y'all. What – What she really means is just, um, Katherine was like family. And sometimes, friends are all the family that you have. So... you -- you good? Come on. Just – let -- just keep going. You got all hysterical and emotional

- - - - -

btw there is at least one door from behind the briefing monitors which means they have at least one extra room (most likely more) from the adjacent apartment eliot knocked the wall down from

they have guest rooms or something back there for if anyone needs a place to crash

- - - - -

Sophie: We used to work together. We did the Copenhagen job in '97, the Berlin Polytech job in '98, and, Nate, remember – Remember that great run in Moscow?

Nate: "That great run"? I chased you for three months.

Sophie: Well, uh, technically, y-you chased us. Sorry.

Hardison: Are you saying that you saw other teams before us?

Parker: Really just another Nate before Nate.

Eliot: Let me ask you a question -- what bugs you more, is it the fact that he was with Sophie first or that he outsmarted you?

Nate: Moving on

eliot puts his arms over the couch and behind parker and I’ll take it + them grinning at each other seeing nate’s discomfort

- - - - -

mikel is wearing flannel in this one and you can now take bisexual mikel from my cold, dead hands

- - - - -

Sophie: Wrong place, wrong time. Starke must have seen me, and now that I’m one of the good guys, decided to get rid of me, because...why? Because... Because I know his scams. Because... I know his favorite scam.

[Warehouse]

(Stark’s team is sitting on crates looking at monitors as he goes over the job)

Starke: Cafe and a moonlit terrace.

Sophie (voice over): The Mona Lisa variant.

[Briefing Area]

Parker: Oo! (claps) That was the first one I learned!

- - - - -

(Hardison is drinking orange soda and working on a computer as Sophie watches)

Sophie: I'm not dead. I'm right here, Parker. So, this is, um, it's what you do, right? You take footage of us on cons and you -- you -- you -- download it into that?

Hardison: Yeah, I analyze it, I monitor comms, I scan for a police frequencies, I -- You had no idea I do all this, did you? Well – d-does nobody respect the van? The van is important. What -- What is that?

Sophie: It's lemon-Zest tea. I got to tell you, it's -- It's a little bit -- It's a little bit whiffy in here.

Hardison: It smells like hard work. That's what it smells like. D-- Whiffy

sophie has no idea what hardison does and does not like the van smell. hardison is ready to go off

- - - - -

Sophie: That was some nice things you said at my funeral.

Hardison: Wait. We -- We trust Nate to make sure the plan works. We trust you to make sure we’re all okay.

- - - - -

Starke: Word is on the street that you run the nastiest crew this side of the Atlantic.

Nate: Well… what?

Starke: Come on. Everybody knows. You robbed a bank and you -- you framed a judge. You rigged a jury to steal a million-Dollar settlement. I hear that you even conned the Irish mob out of a couple of million dollars just this year. Now, that's style.

Nate: That's one way of looking at it.

Sophie: Listen, Nate, if you tell him the truth about us, we're blown

- - - - -

Hardison: I know this style. This is Chaos.

(computer screen flashes signal found. Hardison grabs his keyboard and heads for the back door of the van)

[Parking Lot]

(Hardison exits his van and a little ways down the parking lot, Chaos exits his van with a laptop in his hands. They square off like an old west gun fight)

Hardison: Chaos. I heard you were in jail. Guess I was wrong.

Chaos: Hardison. I heard you sucked. Guess I was right.

(they eye each other across the lot, their fingers twitching. Abruptly they raise their keyboard and laptop and begin typing while car alarms start going off)

this wild wild west showdown tho

- - - - -

Nate: Okay, now, we know Starke. This guy goes by the name Apollo. I've chased him a couple of times -- infiltration, physical security.

Parker: People in that line of high-risk work tend to be very unstable. We could use that. Write that down.

(the rest of the team exchange glances)

🥰 she’s sitting next to eliot with popcorn between them 🥰

- - - - -

Hardison: Now, this person here's ex-Mossad, sealed records. Mikel Dayan used to work both sides as a mercenary.

Eliot: Mikel Dayan. I know that name.

Hardison: You were scared to fight a girl.

Eliot: She'd mop the floor with you, Hardison.

Hardison: I don't care.

Eliot: Seriously. She actually killed a guy once with a mop. It's a funny story, actually. (starts gesturing time parker) She broke the mop and took --

Hardison: Eliot. Eliot. (turns back to monitors) Now, this here's Colin Mason, otherwise known by his hacker handle as "Chaos." As... whatever. Hacked the pentagon, the NSA. The CIA computer guys call him the Kobayashi Maru.

Eliot: What the hell is that?

Hardison: None of y'all got that? Seriously?

Parker: Star Trek.

Hardison: Thank you

parker’s reluctant fistbumb I love them + it’s officially canon that she’s seen at least some of the movies

- - - - -

Nate: I tried to say to her I’m sorry, you know, and I don't –

Security: Because, as men, we're taught to hide our emotions. You share or you pay the price.

Nate: Yeah

- - - - -

Mikel: You wouldn't hit a girl, would you?

(Eliot walks forward, taking off his jacket and hanging it on some pipe)

Eliot (in Hebrew): Not unless she hits me first.

(they approach each other and begin to fight, blocking each other until Mikel hits Eliot in the chest, knocking him back. He touches where her blow hit.)

Eliot (in Hebrew): That counts

let me just say I LOVE that they had a woman hitter

- - - - -

Starke: What is going on, guys?

Guard: Motion sensors went off, sir.

Starke: I already checked that out. Everything's secure. And who's this?

Guard: Uh... he just got lost. No problem.

Starke: Sir, you okay?

Nate: Yeah, I’m fine.

Starke: I'm Nathan Ford. I'm with the insurance company.

(Nate gives Starke an irritated look)

- - - - -

Parker: What kind of bird did you use?

Apollo: North American Kestrel. It's small-Bodied, but its wingspan is expansive enough that it sets off the motion detectors.

Parker: I would've gone with the Scarlet Tanager. Similar wingspan, but the brighter colors are more distracting.

Apollo: Yeah. That was my second choice.

(Apollo scrambles forward in the ductwork. Parker also scrambles forward, headed another way)

- - - - -

eliot taking off his shirt too? equal rights

- - - - -

Starke: Now, why would you want to kill Sophie?

Chaos: Come on, Starke. (gathering equipment) I had set up the perfect double-cross, and then you want to go and bring in a new player at the last minute? "Oh, and by the way, guys, that new player is gonna be Sophie Devereaux." There's no way I’m gonna try to out-con Sophie Devereaux! And I hate to break it to you, Starke, but she was the one that everybody was always scared of. It was never you.

- - - - -

[McRory’s Bar]

(Parker and Apollo sit at a table with locks)

Parker: Go.

(they begin picking locks to see who is fastest. Across the room, Eliot and Mikel sit at a table)

Mikel: I can top that. (pulls her shirt aside to show a scar on her shoulder) Frag grenade, Somalia.

Eliot (pulls up his sleeve to show scar on his arm): Myanmar. Sniper.

Mikel: I was a sniper in Myanmar for a while.

Eliot: When?

Mikel: 2003.

(Eliot looks surprised. Mikel holds up the handcuffs and Eliot quickly pulls her hand down)

Eliot: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We can't have that.

Hardison (walking by): Handcuffs. Y'all nasty

(eliot has a handcuff kink and was probably pegged within an inch of his life that night. I said what I said.)

- - - - -

(Sophie stands looking down at her grave. The headstone for Katherine has been replaced with one for Sophie Devereaux. Nate approaches and stands next to the grave)

Sophie: Starke was right. I'm not Sophie Devereaux anymore. I haven't been for ages. I... you killed her, you and your silly crusade.

Nate: It's just a name.

Sophie: No, they're not just names, not to me. All my aliases, every one of them, I -- I know when their parents died. I know when they had their first kiss.

[miracleonice87]

Marry Me by Thomas Rhett - with Tyler Seguin (song fic)

summary: a Tyler Seguin imagine inspired by the song “Marry Me” by Thomas Rhett

a/n: So I’m still working on a Tyler Seguin series that I plan to release soon, but before that, I wanted to give anyone who might be interested a little taste of my writing style! I don’t plan to do these song imagines often, but this song obviously tells a great story, and this idea has been in my head for a while. Not much dialogue between Tyler and Kendall, but I’d definitely consider a part two later on. I hope you enjoy!

warnings: none — total and complete fluff

She wants to get married, she wants it perfect

She wants her granddaddy preaching the service

Yeah, she wants magnolias out in the country

Not too many people, save her daddy some money

Ooh, she got it all planned out

Yeah, I can see it all right now...

When I pictured growing up, settling down, getting married and raising a family, Kendall Chambers was the one I always envisioned by my side.

Kendall had been in my group of friends in Brampton since before I can even remember — sometime in grade school. She was one of the few who stuck around through the full evolution of the group, the transition from high school to the years some of us were in college and some of us were starting careers, mine being minor league and then professional hockey.

Kendall was the quintessential “mom” of the group. She fit the stereotype perfectly — she was always the one organizing birthday trips, planning weekend getaways. Hell, she even served as the grocery shopper, cook, and schedule coordinator when she and our other friends came to visit my place, whether in Dallas or Toronto. She was a caretaker, a nurturer. It came naturally to her.

She was a true beauty, which had never helped things for me. Her skin was a lovely olive tone which deepened quickly and easily when summer came around. Freckles dotted her cheeks and the bridge of her button nose. She had ocean blue eyes which often lingered on mine just a touch longer than necessary when we made conversation, making my blood run hot. Her long, honey blonde highlighted hair waved down her back perfectly, whether she had just coiffed it or whether she had been dancing in a hot club with our friends all night. Her nature was easy — comforting. She was the typical girl next door persona, so beautiful, down to earth, yet somehow unreachable. She was a family girl — her life revolved around extended family events and family dinners with her parents and siblings, and visits to her beloved grandparents’ houses. Kendall was, in a word, perfect.

I remember the night when I almost kissed her

Yeah, I kinda freaked out, we'd been friends for forever

And I always wondered if she felt the same way

When I got the invite, I knew it was too late

And I know her daddy's been dreading this day

Oh, but he don't know he ain't the only one giving her away

So I shouldn’t have been surprised when, one night, it was just the two of us in the hot tub in my backyard in Dallas, talking and laughing together long after all the others had gone to the guest rooms and drifted off to sleep, when I got the sudden, overwhelming urge to kiss her. We had been creeping toward each other in the water for hours now. Kendall knew what I was thinking — the way she quickly sucked her bottom lip in between her teeth told me that. I prepared myself to lean in, then I felt her hand firm on my chest.

“Ty...” Kendall whispered as I stopped short, the steam rolling off the top of the water clouding my vision of her. “I can’t. I’m kind of...seeing someone. He’s from Ottawa. It’s... new,” she explained, though she sounded neither excited nor convinced that she didn’t want to kiss me.

I nodded. “Yeah. Okay. I-I’m sorry, Ken,” I told her, backing into the opposite corner of the hot tub, though my instincts were screaming at me to just kiss her already, new boyfriend be damned. I respected her too much, though, to listen to my heart. Soon after, she excused herself politely and went up to bed in one of the guest rooms. Neither of us ever spoke of it again.

Which is why I am where I am.

I'll wear my black suit, black tie, hide out in the back

I'll do a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask

I'll try to make it through without crying so nobody sees

Yeah, she wanna get married

But she don't wanna marry me

Dressed in one of my go-to suits, one that I felt confident in, with my hair slicked back according to my sister Candace’s suggestion, I pushed my sunglasses further up on my nose in hopes of hiding my eyes, which were sure to be bloodshot and swollen at this point. Not only had I been drinking for the last three nights with our friends who were in town for the wedding, trying to ease the pain of preparing to watch the girl of my dreams marry some loser real estate broker, but all day I had been tearing up involuntarily, which was completely unlike me. I hoped the thick, black Ray-Bans I wore disguised both problems.

I reluctantly accepted the wedding program handed to me by a young girl on the way to the seating area of the country club lawn. I glanced down and saw the words “Kendall Nicole and Taylor Van” and wanted to punch a wall. I felt my Adam’s apple quiver, and sniffled quietly behind my hand.

I made my way to one of the dozen or so high-top tables dotting the lawn behind the rows of chairs, where I could stand alone without being noticed — or at least, I hoped. Unable to exhibit any further self control in this moment, I let my fingers find the steel flask in my inside jacket pocket, pulling it out quickly, taking a long pull from the container as fast as I could, then screwing the cap back on and replacing the flask as I exhaled sharply, feeling the smooth burn. Not a moment later, I heard a throat clear behind me.

I turned to see Mr. Chambers, Kendall’s dad, approaching. He was a commanding presence — as tall as me, and almost just as in shape despite being in his late fifties. He stuck out a hand to greet me.

“Tyler,” he said warmly, with maybe the slightest hint of pity in his voice. Reluctantly, I lifted my sunglasses from my face and tucked them into my jacket pocket to give the man the polite greeting he deserved. “Mr. Chambers,” I said. “It’s nice to see you.”

“It’s nice to see you, too, Ty. Although, I must admit, I’m a bit surprised that you came. You’re a stronger man than I — this must be tough,” he said. I felt my brow furrow involuntarily. “Sir?” was the only thing I could manage to push from my throat.

“I just know that Kenny carried a torch for you for quite some time, and her mom and I always thought the feeling was mutual,” Mr. Chambers said. “To be honest, I always wondered if this would be you two on a day like this.”

My mouth went dry. I immediately straightened my posture, opening and closing my mouth a few times as I contemplated how to respond. Nothing appropriate came to mind. Mr. Chambers started again, and I feared what he might say next.

“Listen, Tyler... you and Kenny have been friends for so long. Now, maybe I should have said something earlier, or maybe I shouldn’t have said anything at all. But, here we are. Now, Kenny’s in the guest house with her mother putting on the finishing touches. I just... wouldn’t want you to walk away from today not having told Kendall how you really feel, if, in fact, you do have feelings for her. You owe that to her, and to yourself,” he told me firmly.

I began to protest. “Sir — but — I-“ I bumbled. Mr. Chambers put his hand on my shoulder and leaned in to offer one final sentence in my ear, one that I promised in the moments after I would never reveal.

With that, I thanked Mr. Chambers, turned away, and rushed through the crowds of wedding guests to the large brick house on the property, where Kendall was scheduled to begin her walk down the aisle in just a handful of minutes.

Bet she got on her dress now, welcoming the guests now

I could try to find her, get it off of my chest now...

I took a deep breath, trying my best to steady my racing pulse. I kept my head on a swivel, trying to monitor who might be watching, wanting to keep this as nonchalant and private as possible.

Finally, I reached the front door of the guest house and knocked firmly. Nothing. I waited a moment, then knocked again.

“Kendall?” I called out, trying to keep my voice low and calm. “Ken?”

I pushed down on the handle and found that the door was actually open, just slightly. My breath hitched. Should I really be doing this?

I couldn’t help myself. I pushed open the door, and after taking a few slow, silent steps across the black and white tiled floor, I saw an ethereal figure on the balcony above me, dressed in white.

“Kendall...”

“Tyler?”

Now or never...

[cruecifymesixx]

Love and Leather /Part Seventy/

Word Count: 9.6k

A/N: sorry it took so long, I’ve been sick plus I also have a part time job on top of my full time job now cause I like money and have a lot of trips this year. Anyways, holy shit! 70 chapters! It’s gone by super fast! Enjoy! Let me know what you think!

Warnings: Language

Taglist: @brideofdraculana , @xstarryeyesx , @aryssav , @miserablecunt  @dangerous-like-a-loaded-pistol , @fandomshit6000, @anntheboneless @venus-calum, @justjodeye, @supernaturalvikingwhore, @hi-my-name-is-riley, @extremesadnerding, @thatbandchick39, @awkwrdcait, @countrygirlswonderland, @awesomealmostdopestudent, @romanticvengeance , @tashy-bear, @krazykatkay456, @terror-triplet, @shouttatthedevill @beachystars, @rodriguez025, @kickstart-myheart-sixx, @s-outhie, @anxious-diabetic, @awkwardblackgirls, @rockersbox, @brooklyn-antiques, @shamelessobsessions, @jerseytaint, @lilytalebi, @criminalyetminimal, @motley-queen, @trapt-in-a-dream, @lunamadhatter99, @broke-n-bitchy, @thanks2pete, @slowandangry, @lovesick-heart0, @keepcalm-and-beyou, @miriampraez, @teenwolflover28, @lilyhw1, @motherloovebone, @random-internet-user-4471, @falcon-arrows, @talranocchia2001, @wheresmyvodkabitch, @waywardprincess666,  @iluvmesomemarvelndc, @zoenicoles,@vamprlestat, @supersoldierballerina, @primal-screamer @electradestiny, @marshbev, @n0-sh0rtage-0f-faults, @cruebaby, @ggorehorror, @valentines-in-london, @miss2001babe, @nassauartist  @cmft-jr-winchester, @bokkie92, @notworthyofyou1120 @xrosegoldwolfx @lauravic, @mgkobsessed, @chaoticvybe,  @kellysimagines @thoughtsoftheantagonist @marvelismylifffe, @sleepyjunhong  @meetthesixxter @sparxx27 @gingerspicetalks @kaitieskidmore1 @unknownoblivion @nevergoodenuffbutokaaayyy @kylieinwonderland @haileynicoleseavey17 @lavendersoundbarrier @ijustwanttokiss70srogertaylor @duffshairdye, @xxisxxisxxis, @findingmyth, @xpoisonousrosesx, @m0rnlngstar, @cranberrirolls, @oskea93, @love-struck-aries, @idumpyourgrass, @minxtruck, @i-want-to-shoot-myself, @cruesixxlover1991, @arianareirg, @fentitrbl, @dogmom2014, @sinningsixx​, @motleycrueprincess

-October 1995-

“Are we there yet?”

I closed my eyes, bringing sunglasses over my face as i ignored Arianna’s persistency. I looked out the window, seeing all the mansions and perfectly green grass that was all too familiar. Arianna and I arrived in Los Angeles about an hour ago, with a trunkful of luggage as most of our stuff had already been shipped to the house.

“Mom, are we there yet?”

I looked over at her, noticing she was staring out the window, “Yeah, just a couple more minutes.” I assured her. Nikki had a driver pick us up from the airport as he was busy running around getting stuff and making sure the house was ready for when we arrived. He had left New York two weeks prior once I told him I wanted to come back home. Nikki was over the moon.

Arianna seemed to take us telling her we were moving okay? She was upset the first few days as she didn’t want to leave her little friends but then Nikki started telling her all the cool things in California and she was no longer upset.

My heart began to race as we parked in front of black gates before the chauffeur punched in the code and they opened up, “Mom! There’s daddy!” I smiled as Arianna pointed to Nikki who was sitting on the front steps with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. The car came to a stop as I helped Arianna get unbuckled before she opened up the car door herself and ran into Nikki’s arms.

I got out of the car, examining the house before Arianna’s fit of laughter and excited screams pierced through the air as Nikki scooped her up and covered her face in kisses, “I’ve missed you so much pumpkin! Did you have fun on the plane?”

“Yes! Mommy let me sit by the window! It was the coolest thing ever!” I forced a smile when she looked at me. I noticed there was now a water fountain in the middle of the driveway, I wonder if that was Brandi’s doing? Concrete planters by the steps were a new addition as dark red roses were planted, beginning to wilt in the autumn air

I heard a jingle plus the patter of paws run out the front door, “Anarchy!” I yelled her name before getting low and sticking my hand out. She approached me, tail between her legs as she growled a bit before sniffing my hand. She soon pounced on me, smothering me in slobbery kisses, “Oh baby, I’ve missed you so much! Look at you! You’re so big now!” My smile was wide as I scratched between her ears.

Arianna walked up behind me, “Be gentle with her, okay?” I muttered, showing Ari how to pet her softly. I stood up, dusting off my jeans as Nikki caught me off guard by picking me up.

“I’m so happy you’re home.” He sighed as I rubbed the back of his shoulders and kissed his cheek, “These are for you.” His grin was contagious as he handed over a bouquet of yellow sunflowers.

“Did you get her bedroom set up?”

He rolled his eyes, “Of course I did. Did you think I would slack off and not do anything until last minute?” I nodded, smiling at his words, “Well I didn’t! I’ve been busy getting the house ready for yours and hers arrival. Still cleaning out the downstairs guest room for your friend however she’s not important to me so I’m not rushing it” I smacked his sternum lightly, giving him a warning glare as he smirked and kissed my hand.

“Don’t start. Is my bedroom ready?” I asked, turning my cheek to see Arianna running around with Anarchy.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s the old guest room upstairs and her room is next to it.” He grumbled, “and I had the closet extended so you can have more room for all your clothes.”

My eyebrows raised in surprise, “Oh, well thank you. You didn’t have to do that. We have some luggage in the trunk. The rest of our stuff will be shipped out later this week and mom already has a buyer interested in the apartment.”

“Good. No more New York. Guy, you mind bringing their stuff in?” Nikki ordered the chauffeur as he nodded and began doing so, “Angel, you wanna go see your room? Check out the house?” Nikki spoke to Arianna as both her and the dog ran up to him.

“Mommy says you have a pool.” She cheered as Nikki grabbed her hand and they walked inside.

Anarchy stayed by my side as I patted her head, “I can do this.” I mumbled as I walked through the front door after them. My eyes immediately went to a crystal chandelier that was resting against the wall, looking up at the high ceiling and seeing a gigantic hole with wires sticking out. Patches of white paint were on the wall, that was no longer the off grey shade I remember it being. The floors were marble, shiny, sparkly marble but I noticed boxes of laminate wood off to the side. The couches I loved so much were replaced with sleek black leather ones, the coffee tables and rug were still the ones I had picked out years ago. He had let Brandi change everything in my house.

I stopped at the entry way table, putting the flowers down and looking into the mirror. I sighed heavily, feeling my gut wrench into a tight knot.

“We are over.” I said quietly, eyes full of tears as I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I tugged my face away from his hands as I stared down at the engagement ring around my finger before sliding it off and leaving it on the entry way table.

“Here.” Nikki pulled me from the deep corners of my brain as he walked over and placed a glass vase full of water down. He gently took the flowers, unwrapping the from the sheer pink cling wrap and placed them in the vase.

“They’re pretty.” I mumbled, feeling the soft petals as he chuckled, “Not as pretty as you.” I looked at him as his smile went away, “What?” I shook my head as I looked over at the boxes of wood and chandelier, motioning to them as he sighed.

“Having some remodeling done to get it back to how it was. Brandi changed a lot of things...as I’m sure you can tell.” Nikki explained as he looked around the living room, “I’m trying to figure out what shade the walls were but I can’t really remember. Thought maybe you would. Or we can pick a different color if you wanted.”

“The walls were a pearl white. There’s cans of them in the garage...or there was.” I shrugged, as I continued looking around the house. I felt Nikki following after me slowly, taking hesitant steps.

I stopped at the stairs, looking up them and then down the wall as basses we’re hanging, at least he finally found a place for them.

“Vanity! Stop! You aren’t leaving!” Nikki roughly grabbed my hand as he pulled me to him, “Please, Van. I didn’t mean it. I love you, you know I love you.”

“Do you love me?” I asked softly, turning around to look at him as he became confused.

“What?” He laughed, “Of course I love you. You know I love you.” He reached for my hand and pulled me to him before wrapping his arms around my waist, “Why’d you ask that?” He peppered kisses on my cheek and across my jaw.

“Just making sure...” I mumbled as he pulled away from me, but kept his hands on my hips.

As if he knew what I was thinking, “Look, I understand this is going to be difficult for you to adjust to but you have no idea how happy I am for you to be here with me, Arianna too. We’ll take it one day at a time, okay?”

I nodded as I stepped on my tip toes and kissed his lips, “Okay.”

“Ew! Cooties!” Arianna stepped between us and pushed us away from one another, “Where’s Auntie Clem?” She peered up at us as Nikki quickly picked her up and held her close to him.

“You moved here to be with daddy. I’m sure uncle Tommy is keeping her company. Go upstairs and check out your room sweet pea.” Nikki retorted as I brushed my knuckle over her cheek.

“She’ll be here in a few days. Tommy’s helping Clem finish packing up her things and then she’ll be here.” I assured Arianna as she nodded before Nikki put her down, “Come on archery.” She giggles as Anarchy followed her up the stairs.

“She’ll learn her name.” Nikki laughed, “So I was thinking, maybe this weekend we can have the guys come over? They wanted to come today but I told them you’d probably want to relax and unpack a few things before seeing everyone.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, “Yeah I’m kinda tired. I just want to shower and go to bed...” I looked around at some of the pictures on the wall , “Is all of Brandi’s stuff out of the house?”

Nikki nodded, “Yeah, yeah. She just has a few things to come get but they’re out in the garage. She keeps saying she’ll get around to coming over and getting it, but I’ll make sure you two aren’t home when she does in case she starts her shit.”

I smirked, “I don’t mind. Would love to see her actually.” I plopped down on the couch, they were uncomfortable and I hated the fabric. The leather felt fake.

Nikki chuckles as he came over and sat next to me, “No, no. The last thing I want is Arianna seeing your explosiveness.” He stretched out and rested his head on my thighs, “We also have a meeting on Monday to go see Arianna’s new school. I think you’ll like it. I looked and asked around to see which private school was the best.”

I nodded, running my nails through his hair as he closed his eyes and let out a soft breath of relaxation, “Home sweet home.”

After dinner I had gotten Arianna showered and to bed after her demands of digging through boxes so I can find a book to read to her. I dragged the remaining suitcases up to my bedroom. Anarchy ran in front of me as she jumped up on the bed and laid down.

“You know, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” I spoke to her as she wagged her tail and I crawled in beside her. I closed my eyes and ran my hand down her back, “I hope you bit her a few times.” I chuckled to myself, “...or at least growled at her.”

“Van come here!” I sighed as Nikki yelled for me, “Vanity!” I rolled my eyes as I pushed myself off the bed.

“Yeah?” I called out for him, rubbing my face as I walked out my bedroom door, “I’m in the bedroom!”

“Baby, just please let me explain.” I watched as Nikki grabbed a towel, almost slipping on the linoleum floor as he walked out of the bathroom and towards me, but I turned away from him, “Van, babe, I...I’m so sorry.” Nikki spoke softly as he wrapped a warm hand around my arm.

“What’s up?” I asked him as I stood at the bedroom door, seeing his back turned towards me as he was looking through his dresser for something. I cleared my throat and crossed the threshold. Black curtains hanged still but the walls were now a red shade.

“Sorry? You’re sorry!?” I rolled my eyes at him as I went opened the closet it door, causing it to slam against the wall. I grabbed a suitcase, throwing it on the bed before I started grabbing handfuls of clothing.

“I’m...I’m trying to find it. Where the fuck did it go?” Nikki mumbled to himself as he threw black shirts and black jeans on the floor.

“Find what?” I questioned as I looked at the disheveled bed sheets and the white bass that was laying on top of it.

“Babe, baby no. No, come on.” Nikki begged, “Fuck! Vanity!” I heard his voice crack, as it took everything in my being not to stop packing my stuff, “Van, please. Do-don’t leave.”

“Ah! Found it!” Nikki said as he pulled out a small satin red satchel. I crossed my arm over my sternum, holding onto my other arm as I took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly.

“Here. Um...here. It’s...just take it.” He smiled at me as he held the satchel by the string on the tip of his finger.

I reached out for it and held it in my hands, “Thanks..” I mumbled, “I’m gonna go to bed.”

He chuckled, “Aren’t you gonna open it?” Nikki’s hand reached for mine as he pulled me over to his bed, forcing me to sit down with him, “Here. I’ll just-“ he took it out of my hand before untying the knot and outcome that charm bracelet in the palm of his hand.

“Don’t leave?!? What am I suppose to do!!” I screamed at him, tears finally hitting me as I saw him jump at the loudness of my voice.

I watched as he clasped it around my wrist, “There.” His grin was huge as I looked down at it, before taking it off again and holding it.

I could tell that hurt his feelings by the way he shifted on the bed, “I’ll uh...I’ll wear it tomorrow or something. You know I don’t wear jewelry to bed.”

“Yeah, no, of course.” He spoke fast as he scratched the back of his head, “Just thought you’d want it back. Look...I added uh another charm.” His hand engulfed mine as I saw a emerald gem, “Arianna’s birthstone, i thought it would be a nice addition...”

I nodded as I got off his bed, feeling his eyes watch my every move, “Thank you. But uh I’m tired and I’ll see you in the morning.” He reached for my arm and pulled me back to him, “Nik-“ he cut me off by forcing his lips on mine.

“Just sleep in my bed tonight.” He spoke through the kiss, placing his hands on my ass as he pulled me on top of him and he lowered himself on the bed.

“It-it was an accident, okay? She was flirting with me and I just-“ I quickly picked up my studded belt and threw it at his head, watching him duck it as I then threw a single combat boot, seeing him wince as it hit his side. Stuffing your cock into someone’s mouth isn’t a fucking accident.

I put my hands on his shoulders and pushed myself away from him, but he wrapped long fingers around the base of my neck and pulled me back into a heated kiss, feeling his tongue find it’s way to mine. He rolled us over as I was underneath him in an instant, “Please baby?”

Nikki stared at me as I shook my head, trying to blink away tears as I was choking on a breath of air. His face softened as he got off of me, “Van...”

I brushed him off as I climbed out of his bed and started walking to my bedroom, but he was following me, “Vanity, I’m sorry.” He pleaded as I wiped my face. I couldn’t close my door fast enough as he blocked me from doing so.

I held the bracelet tightly, feeling the charms poke my skin as my back was turned towards him. I couldn’t control the loud sob that pushed past my lips, “I want...I want to go to bed.” I told him, not bothering to look at him or get undressed for that matter as I pulled the blankets back and got underneath them.

“I know it’s hard being here again.” He spoke softly, “I mean..I don’t know, but I’m assuming it isn’t easy being back here...with everything that’s happened. I’m sure it’s overwhelming for you, but doll, you don’t have a clue how happy I am. I know I’m just repeating myself but I truly am so fucking ecstatic you’re here again.”

I didn’t say anything in return as I buried my face in the pillow. I heard him sigh heavily, “I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.” I knew he was waiting for me to say it back but I just couldn’t right now. I was feeling way to many god damn emotions. Nikki leaned over the bed and kissed the back of my head before the lights turned out and my bedroom door was closed shut.

*A few days later*

Arianna screamed as she ran to the front door, “How fo you even know it’s Auntie?!” I yelled after her as she tried reaching for the door handle but couldn’t. I opened up the door for her and she immediately collided with Clementines legs, almost making her fall backwards, “Auntie! You’re here!!”

Clem stumbled back a bit before smiling, “What are you doing up? You should be sleeping cupcake!” Clem dropped her bags and picked her up, “I have missed you! Have you been having fun without me?” I rested against the door frame, seeing Tommy get out of the car and start getting luggage out.

“Mommy let me stay up! And I went to the zoo today and saw monkeys and the hippos!” Clementine smiled at Arianna as she yawned a bit, it was an hour or so past her bedtime.

“Oh the zoo? I am jealous. You’ll have to tell me more tomorrow after you wake up.” She put her down and walked over to me.

“Go tell daddy you’re ready for bed. He’s upstairs.” I nudged her inside as she went up them, waving bye to us from the top of the stairs. I turned to look at Clementine as she sighed deeply, “I have missed you.” I hugged her tightly as she squeezed me even tighter, “How was the flight?”

She rolled her eyes with an added groan, “Made me realize how much I actually hate flying. First class snobs are the worse, I should’ve just flew coach. But it was fine, tolerable.” I chuckled as Tommy came over with both hands full of suitcases and a duffle bag hanging off his shoulder.

“Uh her room is down the hall and past the living room and kitchen then the third door on the right.” I told Tommy as he nodded, not saying a single word or giving me a smile as he quickly brought them inside.

“What’s that about?” I asked Clementine as she smirked, “A very short leash.” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I guess the whole ‘you’re still married’ conversation didn’t go too well.

“I got a bottle of your favorite wine.” I told Clem as she followed me in the house, “Are you hungry? We went out to dinner but I brought home leftovers.”

Clem shook her head, “No, I’m okay. We grabbed a bite to eat at the airport. Has he been good?”

“Nikki?” I chuckled as I grabbed the bottle of wine and glasses, seeing her smile and nod, “Yeah, he’s been good. Still trying to get use to everything and him again.” I pulled out the cork, making it pop, “He’s been nice, sweet. Too nice actually.” I poured the white wine into our glasses before handing one over to her.

“No shit talking? Wow, surprising.” Clementine retorted as I brought the glass to my lips.

“He hasn’t talked shit.” I mumbled, “That much.” I shook my head as Clementine rolled her eyes at me and sat down at the island bar in the middle of the kitchen.

“I won’t start. But Nikki talks shit more than he plays that bass.” Clementine spat out as I chuckled.

“That bass also paid for you to fly out here, for this house, oh and that bottle of wine.” My eyes went wide as Nikki walked into the kitchen at the wrong time, glaring solely at Clem. I glanced between the two before taking another drink.

“Should I throw money at you in thanks?” Clementine quickly fired back as Nikki rolled his eyes and took my glass from my hand and took a sip, “Thank you very much Nikki for allowing me to stay here. It’s very nice of you.”

I nudged Nikki’s side, motioning to Clem as he sighed, “You’re welcome.” Nikki murmured as he turned to face her and forced a smile.

“Nikki, I think Clementine has a lot of luggage. You should help Tommy bring it in.” I spoke as he looked over at me, closing his eyes before taking a deep breath in before opening them.

“Of course, princess.” He spoke through gritted teeth, griping as he stormed out the door.

“Short leash.”

After a while, Clementine and I were sitting outside around the fire pit Nikki had turned on for us as we finished off the bottle of wine, “Whoops.” Clementine chuckled as she accidentally kicked the glass bottle over.

“So, did you talk to Tommy about the whole Heather situation?” I asked as I leaned back into the chair and kicked my feet up on the ring concrete block ring around the fire pit.

Clementine looked over at me, “Yeah, he tried denying it at first but then eventually did tell me they were still legally married and said it’s just the lawyers bickering over who gets what or who deserves this. So now he’s been a total kiss ass ever since then.”

I smiled a bit, bringing the glass up to my lips when the boys came out, laughing as they walked over to us, “I’m sure it will smooth over.” I told Clementine as she nodded. I scooted over when Nikki came and sat by me, taking the glass of wine out of my hands and taking a sip before giving it back.

“Everything’s in your room and the rest of your stuff will be out here in the next few days, at least that’s what the moving company said.” Tommy explained as Clementine smiled at him.

“Thank you babe.” Clem smiled as she gave him a quick peck on the lips.

I smacked the back of Nikki’s head lightly when he pretended to gag, “Quit it.” He grinned at me before kissing the side of my arm.

“So, Nikki was telling me about having a party to celebrate you being back?” Tommy spoke as I chuckled, but nodded anyways.

“That’s what he wants. I don’t mind. Nothing too big just a few people. I wouldn’t want it to overwhelm Arianna.” I explained to him but looked at Nikki.

“I think a party would be nice. Gives you a chance to see all your old friends.” Clementine added as I smiled.

“Yeah, you could finally meet Lucia and Tonya.” I responded, seeing Nikki and Tommy exchange looks with one another but I brushed it off.

“I could pick up some burgers and hot dogs, if you wanted Nikki?” Clementine suggested as he looked at her.

“Uh okay? Yeah, sure that would be great...” Nikki muttered as made myself comfortable and rested my body against his chest and draped his arm over my torso.

“Thank you Clemmy. That’s very nice of you.” I added with a smirk as Clementine returned it back to me.

“Of course, but I’m beat. I’ll see you guys in the morning. Tommy? You staying the night?” I saw his eyes light up as he nodded his head feverishly.

“I mean...uh if it’s okay with you two.” Tommy looked at me and Nikki as I nodded.

“We don’t mind.” I smiled, “I’m not washing the sheets though.” Clem’s face turned red under the light from the fire as she grabbed Tommy’s hand and dragged him inside.

I closed my eyes and relaxed as Nikki’s knuckles ran over my thigh, “I haven’t seen or talked to Lucia and Tonya in forever. Are they still at the diner?”

I felt Nikki’s body become tense as I sat up and looked at him, “What’s wrong?” I questioned, poking his cheek to make him smile.

“Van, when was the last time you talked to Tonya?” Nikki asked but I shrugged.

“I-I don’t know? Maybe before I left? I uh I can’t remember? Does that make me a bad friend?” I frowned a bit as he sighed, “Nikki, what’s wrong?” I scooted away from him a bit as I tried to figure out what he was thinking but he was difficult to read. Nikki looked at me, his hazel eyes filled with sorrow.

“Babe, Tonya died.”

I tilted my head to the side, chewing on my bottom lip as I looked at him, “Nikki, that’s not funny…”

He exhaled deeply as he ran his hand over his face, “Vanity, Tonya died in ‘91, September to be exact. She got sucked into the junkie life and ended up overdosing on smack.”

I looked at him through teary vision as he reached over and held my hand, “She wouldn’t do that..she…she barely did coke with me. Nikki this isn’t fucking funny.”

“Baby, I wish I was joking, but I’m not. She started dating this guy. I met him once at the diner, I went there time to time after you left and one day I went and she was so fucked up. I offered to help her get clean but she didn’t want it. I’m sorry Vanity.” Nikki murmured as he brought my hand to his lips.

I sucked in a deep breath of air as I grabbed my glass of wine and chugged the rest of it, “And Lucia?”

Nikki smiled, “She got married in ‘93 I want to say? Popped out a kid in ‘92 then again last year. She just moved up to Washington right before I came to New York. Leo is a cool dude. Some car mechanic or whatever. Met him a few times.”

I stared into the fire, wiping my eyes as I shook my head, “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Nikki looked at me like I had grown three heads, “Van? Really? You left. No one knew where you were. Thank god Tommy was stubborn enough to annoy Greyson enough into telling him where you were.”

I leaned back onto the loveseat, looking up at the stars, ”Tonya’s dead.” I muttered to myself as Nikki kissed my forehead.

“I’m so sorry Van. She has a nice little headstone, I Uh…her family couldn’t afford a funeral so I paid for it, anonymously though. She was a bit mad at me, she dumped a milkshake in my lap after me cheating got out into the tabloids.” Nikki explained to me as I laughed.

“Well, wherever she might be…” I looked up to the stars again, “I hope she’s alright….and I’m happy she dumped a milkshake on you.”

Nikki rested his head against the seat, looking up at the stars too, “I deserved it. Shit, Lucia came to a show and threw a cup of beer that was aimed for me and ended up hitting Brandi.”

I chuckled a bit, “That’s Orion’s Belt.” I said, pointing to the three stars in a line, “It consists of Zeta, Epsilon and Delta. And then you have the Canis Major and Minor which represents his dogs.” I explained, glancing over to see Nikki squinting up at the stars.

“And all the way at the bottom is a constellation called Scorpius which is for the scorpion that killed Orion and the Little Dipper is his arrow while the Big Dipper is his bow.” I looked over at Nikki as his smile was huge.

“God, I love you. You always surprise me.” Nikki muttered as he kissed me sweetly.

“Daddy taught me that when he’d make Greyson and I go camping. Every time he’d ask me what stars they were until it was drilled into my brain.” I smiled weakly, feeling a twinge of pain as Nikki played with my hair.

“I found my dad.”

I smiled, turning to look at him, “Nikki! That’s-that’s wonderful! What is he like? Where does he live? Do you talk him a lot?”

Niki chuckled, shaking his head a bit “He died back in the late seventies. A heart attack on Christmas Day, so my half brother says.”

My heart broke for him. Knowing that he spent his whole life chasing the ghosts of parents that were never there for him, to only find out one of them was already passed.

“Oh….I’m sorry Nik.” I mumbled quietly as he continued running his fingers through my hair, “At least you found out you have a brother. I thought it was just sisters. Have you seen Deanna again?”

He brushed it off, “Ah don’t worry about it. He was already pretty much dead to me.” He laughed, but I knew better than that. I curled up against his chest and wrapped my arm around his waist snuggly, “As for my half brother…he was more thrilled to find out his sibling was Nikki Sixx. Dude told me he lost his virginity to ‘Home Sweet Home’ as we were standing on our fathers grave.”

I laughed a bit but reached up and kissed his stubbly chin, “As for Deanna, no. Haven’t seen her since you threw that birthday party for me. No call, no letter, nothing.”

My head rises with the deep in take of breath he took before he exhaled, “You’re a good parent Sixx. I’d choose you in every life time to be my baby daddy.”

A rumble of a laughter vibrates through his chest as he smooths his hand over my hair, “Well, I’d choose you in every lifetime regardless if we were able to have children or not.”

“You’re just kissing my ass now.” I giggled, pressing my lips to the tattoo on his sternum.

“Well, I can really kiss it if you want me too.”

*Saturday afternoon*

“You know, I think this party is a good thing. Two birds one stone. You can see everyone all at once and won’t have to repeat yourself over and over.” Clementine muttered as she stood behind me, zipping up the dress I had put on, “And maybe you should’ve worn something more comfortable. You’re at home, not an award show.”

I rolled my eyes, staring at her through the mirror, “This is comfortable and I can’t have anyone thinking just because I’m a mom now I can’t look hot, I mean, not like it’s hard or whatever.”

Clementine laughed, “Yes my majesty, you will outshine everyone as usual.” I nodded at words and grabbed onto her shoulder as I put my heels on.

“Do you think they’ll be nosy? Or judgmental? I know the band will be okay, or I hope. Vince can be mean sometimes and I don’t want to deal with it but I’m sure Nikki will tell him to fuck off if he does or if anyone does, or I hope he does. You think he will? Right? Nikki wouldn’t let anyone give me a hard time especially in our home? Right?”

Clementine looked at me with raised eyebrows as I sucked in a deep breath of air, “I’m going to throw up.” I mumbled, resting my hand on my stomach as I sat on my bed.

“Van, just relax okay? I think some might be a bit nosy but who are they to judge? They’re a bunch of LA snobs at least from what I could tell. I’m sure Nikki would tell someone off if they become a hassle and Vince, well, who gives a shit about him….just breathe, you’re getting worked up for nothing. You’ll have fun.”

I nodded as I combed my fingers through my hair, “But, I was sent up here to get you so…let’s go.”

We walked down the stairs as I heard the chatter of our guests as well as some rock music, “Where’s Arianna?”

Clem glanced back at me, “Shes running around with Skylar and some other kids, she wasn’t even shy like she usually is.”

“That’s great.” I mumbled, stopping by the kitchen as a platinum blonde who I’ve never met ran up to me.

“Oh my gosh! Vanity it is so good to see you!!” She was over zealous as she pulled me into a tight squeeze. I stiffened like a board as she gripped my shoulders and gently shook me around, “Gosh! Look at you! As stunning as ever!”

I stared at her, “Uh…yeah…thanks for um coming.” I cleared my throat as I tried remembering who she was.

“Well! I got to go! We will definitely have to get together for lunch some time! Talk to you later!” The blonde left as quick as she came, grabbing hands with a brunette and walking out my front door.

“I have no idea who she was. Who did Tommy invite?” I expressed as Clementine shrug it off.

“Maybe all your coke use as seeped into the memory area of your brain.” I glared at her as she chuckled in return.

“It’s called the hippocampus actually.”

She rolled her eyes at me, “I like you better when you’re not being a smart ass.”

I stepped outside, squinting as the sun was blinding me, “There you are!” Nikki came over, pulling me into his side as we started walking in the direction of the band, “The guys have been waiting for you. Worry about everyone else later, they don’t matter.”

Our backyard was half of people I couldn’t recognize and half being me thinking I knew who they were, I knew them but couldn’t put a name with it…so really, who was this party even for?

Nikki’s hand stayed on my lower back as he guided me over to the guys, who in return stopped laughing and ogled.

“Well, don’t be shy now princess!” Vince said, nudging Sharise off his lap as he got up and walked over to me. Vince shoved Nikki away playfully as he wrapped me up in a big hug and kissed my cheek.

“Nice to see you too Vinny…” I patted his shoulder as he pulled away from me and examined me in typical Vince fashion, “Still hot as ever.” He whispered before Sharise came over and gave me a hug.

“It’s been such a drag since Heather divorced Tommy and Brandi was such a bitch.” I smiled at her embrace as her doused in hairspray locks tickled my nose.

“So I’ve heard.” I chuckled as she smiled at me before going to sit with Vince again.

Mick looked at me, pushing his sunglasses up as I tried forcing a smile, “Hey…” I spoke softly as his tough exterior diminished as he pulled himself up slowly from the chair. I noticed he was slouched over a bit more then what I remember.

“What’s so special about Tommy? You let him know where you are but not me?” My smile faded away as I stared at him, “You just run across the country? Give birth to a beautiful little girl and you don’t even call me?”

Nikki stepped over to me, draping his arm over my shoulder, “Mick..” Nikki attempted to warn him, but even he knew better then to do so.

“Shut it.” Mick said roughly, “I’m talking to her, not you.”

I frowned a bit, “Mick, it was just-“

“Complicated?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing my head to nod at his words, “I missed you?” I said unsure of myself as he shook his head.

“Do you know how much of his bullshit I had to deal with the last few years?” Mick finally broke into a smile, “Had to keep his ass from doing anything stupid, all three of them actually.”

Nikki scoffed, “Hey! I was fine!”

I chuckled, moving away from Nikki and to Mick as I put my arm over his shoulder, “I would’ve called eventually. I still stayed in the loop of everything because of Tommy but thank you for making sure Nikki was alright, even if he was being an idiot.” Mick grinned, looking past me and at Nikki.

“Well, he’s always going to be a dumbass regardless. I’m happy you’re back Vanity. Hasn’t been the same without you.” Mick engulfed me in a hug as I rubbed his back gently.

“Have you met her yet? Arianna?” I asked Mick as he shook his head.

“No, but she’s busy being a kid so it’s fine. Sit, tell me all about New York.”

I chuckled as Nikki handed me a beer and sat down next to me, “Uh…it was okay. I lived at the top of an apartment building in Brooklyn and worked at a strip club as a bartender. Met Tommy’s girl, Clementine a few months after I moved to the city, had Arianna, raised her and now I’m here.”

“And tell Mick what else you did.” Nikki butted in, smirking as I flipped him off, he reached over and kissed my finger.

“Nikki’s just jealous because I also had a boyfriend.” I stared in a matter of fact type tone as he chuckled.

“A boyfriend? And then I’m guessing Nikki scared him away when he found you?” Vince questioned as I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, something like that. But anyways, what’s new with the band? Anything going on? Any tour? Album?” I questioned, looking at all of them as they looked at each other.

“Yeah, Sixx. What’s going on?” Vince quirked an eyebrow as Nikki chuckled bitterly.

“Well, can’t make any new songs if our singer doesn’t show up to rehearsals, now can we?” Nikki barked back as I watched the two bicker. Clearly nothing had change.

“Well, can’t sing any songs if our primary songwriter has been preoccupied the last little while.” Vince retorted, cocking his head to the side and smirking as Nikki stared at him.

“Whatever. I’m not doing this with you right now. We’ll save it for tomorrow.”

I sipped on my beer, eyes flickering between the two as they glared at one another, “Uh…Skylar has gotten big. I don’t even think she was walking yet.” I cut the tension as Vince’s eyes locked on mine.

Vince snorted in laughter, “What? Did you expect the world to stop spinning just because miss Blackwood got off the ride? Miss Blackwood since you two didn’t…well never mind.”

My eyebrows furrowed as I watched Sharise attempt to simmer him down. I grabbed Nikki’s hand, shaking my head as a way to tell him not to buy into his bullshit. Nikki instead let go of my hand and went over to a table full of snacks.

“Don’t be a dickhead, Vince. You’re in my house and if you can’t act right you can go.” I stated, pointing to the door as he smirked.

“Oh relax, Vanity. I meant no harm by it, just trying to ruffle Nikki’s feathers. It was just a joke.” Vince explained himself as Sharise looked pissed off for me.

I simmered down when Arianna walked over to me, hands behind her back as she rocked on the ball of her heel, “Well, hello pumpkin.” I smiled at her, wiping vanilla frosting off her cheeks, “Was the cake good?”

She giggled, “Yes! Uncle Tommy let me have two-“ she held up her fingers, “Pieces of cake!”

“Isn’t Tommy the nicest? Baby, I have some people that want to meet you too.” I patted my lap as she climbed up, her back facing me as she looked at the guys.

“That’s Mick and that’s Vince. Those are daddy’s other brothers and that’s Vince’s wife, Sharise. They are Skylars mom and dad.”

Arianna became shy as she laid back against my chest and started covering her face with my hair, “Oh, don’t even start right now.” I tickled her sides as she yelled and squirmed off my lap as she ran straight to Nikki who picked her up.

“Well, looks to me you’ve done a mighty fine job raising her, kid.” Mick spoke as I looked over at him, a wide smile on my face due to his words.

“I’ve tried my best. I think she’s adjusting to the move and being around Nikki all the time pretty well. I really hope she’s happy here.” I expressed as Mick nodded.

“I’m sure she’s happy having both of you and I’m sure it’s a good thing for her to see you two be together as well.”

I cocked my head to the side, “Together? Nikki and I aren’t together.” I laughed at his statement, “Did he-he told you that?”

Mick shrugged but Vince spoke up, “Hasn’t shut up about it.”

I looked over at Nikki who was running around the yard with Arianna and Skylar, “Yeah, no. Me and Sixx aren’t together. We aren’t even sharing the same bedroom.”

Vince and Mick both started laughing as Sharise rolled her eyes, “Well, I think it’s a good thing that you two are taking it slow due to the history and what not. I’m sure things will work out.” She looked on the bright side of things as I shrugged.

“Yeah I guess. I’m in no rush to be with him, and I’ve told him that. We’re just co-parenting, I haven’t slept with him since New York.” I finished off my beer as I nodded my head to the music that was playing.

“Short leash.” Sharise giggled as I glanced over at her, smirking.

*a few hours later*

“…Just make Clementine clean it all.”

I looked at Nikki who held a beer bottle in his hand as he watched me pick up trash from the party, “She’s not our maid Nikki. It was your idea to have the party you should be cleaning up too.” I stated, taking the bottle out of his hand and trading it with the trash bag I was holding.

I hopped up on the counter taking a sip of his drink, “So uh…what was that about between you and Vince earlier?”

Nikki ignored my question as he stuffed paper plates and empty soda cans into the trash bag, “Okay then…” I whispered to myself.

“Is it because of what he said? Because I wasn’t even really that upset about it so you shouldn’t be either.” I tried guessing as he shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it, okay?” Nikki gave me a stern look as I rolled my eyes.

“Is it the music? Did you guys have a fight before I came?” Nikki threw the garbage bag down after tying it closed, “Well that was dramatic…”

He leaned against the counter, taking the bottle away from me as he looked deep in thought, “Vince is acting like a little bitch and it’s pissing me off. He hates everything we’re trying to do. Blows off rehearsals and then complains he doesn’t like the material but how is he suppose to like the material if he ain’t helping us make it? He’s acting like he’s fucking better than us.” Nikki’s voice was riddled with disdain as I looked at him.

“I’m sure it’s not like that Nikki.” I said, pushing strands of onyx hair out of his eyes as he moved his head away from me.

“How would you know? You haven’t even been here Vanity.” Nikki snapped quickly as I quirked an eyebrow in surprise. He exhaled deeply as he put the bottle down and placed both hands on either side of me, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.” Nikki placed a soft kiss on the side of my neck before looking at me.

“It’s okay. You’re right, I haven’t been here. But I’m sure if you’re forcing the music to happen it’s not going to be good….” I trailed off as he rests his hand on the side of my thighs.

“The music is good. The lyrics are great, it’s just him that’s holding everything up. Anyways, I’m tired of talking about Vince. Do you wanna watch a movie upstairs in my room?”

Code word for ‘let’s see how long it takes for you to get bored of the movie and let me stick my hand down your pants’

I shook my head and patted his cheek “No, Maybe tomorrow we can wa-“ Nikki cupped my face and planted his lips on mine, “Sixx..”

He stepped away from me, resting his forehead against my shoulder, “You’re torturing me.” Nikki murmured as he wrapped his arms around my body and pulled me closer to his.

“Torturing?” I laughed, “How am I torturing you? I’m not doing anything.”

He groaned, “That’s exactly how you’re torturing me. You aren’t doing anything or giving me anything.”

I scoffed at his words and shoved on his shoulders, “You sound like a real jackass right now, Nikki.”

His laugh vibrated through me. Nikki stepped away from me but still kept his arms raveled around my waist, “No, no I don’t mean it like that. I mean here I am being all nice and loving and affectionate and you aren’t doing the same.”

I rolled my eyes, “Nikki, you’re being dramatic.” I hopped off the counter, caught between it and him, “You and I aren’t together. I don’t have to be affectionate towards you anyways.” He tilted his head up, standing straight as he took his arms away from me.

“Yeah. You’re right.” Nikki looked away from me as he bent down to pick up the trash bag. He said nothing else as he walked out back, slamming the glass door as I rolled my eyes at his outburst.

Hope he didn’t wake up Arianna.

*Monday morning*

I wish Nikki and I were a normal duo, that way we wouldn’t get looked at in a strange way every time we stepped out into public. We had arrived at Arianna’s school, the Hidden Hills academy. A teacher had already stopped walking and waited by the wall as we passed them and I highly doubt she was star struck from seeing Nikki Sixx. Other parents that were dropping off their kids judged with silenced looks too.

It didn’t help that Nikki was wearing a half buttoned leopard print shirt with all of his tattoos out on display with tight dark denim jeans and a bulky chain hanging out of his back pocket. I sighed quietly and pulled up the low cut shirt I was wearing as we walked into the main office.

“Hi, we have an appointment with the dean for Arianna Blackwood?” I spoke softly as Arianna tried peering over the counter to reach her hand into the candy bowl.

The older woman with square glasses hugging her face and fake pearls wrapped around her neck. I knew they were all fake by the same shade of white they were, real pearls aren’t. I saw as her eyes flickered to Arianna and Nikki who already made himself comfortable in the chairs, “Very so, the dean will be with you shortly.”

Arianna followed me over to Nikki as I sat down next to him and she crawled up on his lap, “I don’t like this school already.” I mumbled to Nikki as I tried taming Arianna’s hair and then his.

Nikki chuckled before scrunching up his nose when Arianna grabbed his hand and spit the candy into it, “I don’t like their candy.” He shook his head before grabbing a tissue and wiping off his hand before throwing it away next to him.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be so fancy…I heard good things about the school. Maybe I should have worn a tie or something.” I watched as Nikki buttoned his shirt up a bit and ran his ringed fingers through his hair, “Maybe put the tits away too..” He whispered to me as I lightly swatted his arm, but pulled my shirt up again.

“You look fine. We look fine. You’re just a rockstar and I’m a heiress and you’re my ex fiancé who knocked me up and I hid our child for five years only to move back into your gothic castle. Yeah, it’s fine. We’re gonna be fine.” I breathed out as Nikki rubbed the back of my neck softly.

“Why are you freaking out? You fit in here.” He laughed a bit as he kissed the back of Arianna’s head.

“I do not fit in here. Los Angeles snobs are completely different than Texas snobs.” I retorted as he nodded.

“I mean, we could leave if you want? Look for another school? I’m sure there is others in the area. I just want her to have the best education she can. If I gotta bake cookies and go to car washing fundraisers I will. I’m not coaching little league though, that’s where I draw the line.”

I chuckled a bit, “I’m not being friends with the other moms. They were annoying in New York and they’re probably annoying here too. Especially if they’re a ditzy housewife married to a retired basketball or football star.”

Nikki grinned, “What about you? When you’re married to a retired rockstar?” I looked over at him, eyes rolling as I shook my head.

“I think I want a normal husband. Marry a doctor or a teacher, someone boring.” I smiled as he tugged my hair a bit.

Nikki took his hand away from me when a older gentleman wearing shiny black dress shoes, a khaki suit and a red tie walked up to us, “Hello, are you two Mr and Mrs. Blackwood?”

It took everything in my body not to start laughing, especially as Nikki glared at me, “No, I’m Blackwood and he’s Sixx. I’m Vanity.” I said kindly, seeing his unamused expression but he stuck out his hand anyway for me to shake.

“Gregory Davis. I’m the dean of students here.” He extended his arm out to him, “Nikki.”

“Poison?” Gregory motioned to Nikki’s hair as he glared at him.

“No, Motley Crue.”

Gregory nodded, “Hello Arianna. How are you doing today?” He spoke to her as Ari became shy and hid her face in Nikki’s neck. “Please come into my office.”

“Maybe marry him. He’s boring and he has money.” I whispered to Nikki as he elbowed my side.

A dark wooden desk with fancy burgundy leather chairs sat on either side, his name was engraved in a gold plate followed by black pens and papers sprawled over his desk. We sat down in the chairs as Nikki put Arianna on his lap as she played with one of his bracelets he was wearing.

“Thank you for letting us come in and see the school on such a short notice.” Nikki explained as I noticed the dead plants hanging around the window.

“You’re very welcome, the pleasure is all mine. We are a very relaxed school but we also make sure the curriculum comes first before anything else. We offer many different programs for our students to exceed in. In kindergarten, we focus on building the structure for the years to come while your child will be here. We tend to lean to more books, shapes and math rather than irrelevant puzzles and play time or story time.” Gregory explained as he started flipping through paper work.

I cleared my throat, “She was at a private school in New York. She went through pre-K and her reading levels are immaculate, she also has a interest in music and art.”

He nodded, “Yeah, Nikki had brought in paperwork from her old school to give to us. She’s very smart for being so young. We have a lovely music program but we don’t offer that until first grade due to the lack of patience and attention span a kindergartener could have, but we will pay close attention to see how she does in her class.”

“Auntie won’t be here?” Arianna asked as she looked up at Nikki.

“No angel, Clementine won’t be with you at school, you’ll be okay.” He spoke softly as he brushed his hand over her hair.

“Her aunt was an assistant in her class back home, I mean back in New York. She’s been a tremendous help. I mean, so has nik- I mean her dad has helped too.” I explained, adding a nervous chuckle as Gregory stared at me.

“But Auntie knows art and my favorite stories…” Arianna began pouting, “It’s okay princess. I’m sure your new teacher will know the same things.”

Gregory looked at her, “Arianna, we don’t pout when we don’t get our way.” He scolded her as I stared at him and then glanced at Nikki who was already clenching his jaw.

“Now, it may not be finger paint and noodle art but we will be sure she can express herself. I see that you made sure she got the best education despite being away from her father. It’s good to see you two taking responsibility and working together.”

Nikki shifted Arianna on his lap as I stared at this fucking asshole, “I’m sorry? I don’t think our personal business concerns you.” I snapped as Nikki quickly reached for my hand and held it tight.

“Doll, I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that.” Nikki attempted to calm me down as his thumb brushed over my hand, I interlaced our fingers together and held his hand in my lap.

“I’m not trying to ruffle your feathers, Vanity. It’s just a proven fact that young children need both parents, even more so in the first few years of their life.” Gregory explained to me as I continued to glare at him, “And I’m sure with Nikki being a rockstar, him leaving all the time wouldn’t be much help.”

Nikki’s eyes narrowed to Gregory, “Arianna has plenty of people in her life to help her grow and me being a rockstar has nothing to do with how she’s going to be here.”

Gregory loosened his tie as he sat back in his chair, “I’ve been the dean of students for over twenty years. We have had plenty of rockstars children come through here and we, the school, end up having to teach them manners and practically raise them.”

“And my kid isn’t every rockstars typical child.” Nikki snapped hastily, “The only people raising my daughter is her mother and I. She has manners of a saint already so thank you for your concern but we don’t need it.”

“Nik, lets just go.” I mumbled to him as he nodded, “Thank you for your time.”

Nikki put Arianna on the ground as he stood up, “Yeah, thanks for nothing.” I sighed as he reached for Arianna’s hand and we walked out of of the office.

“People like him are the reason what’s wrong with the education system.” Nikki complained as we walked down the hallways and out of the school.

“Maybe we can look at public school?” I suggested as he scoffed and dug our the keys to the car.

“I mean, would public school even be that bad? I know you went, but you also didn’t finish…” I mumbled as I watched him help Arianna into the car and buckle her up.

He glared at me before walking to the drivers side and getting in, “You wanted her to have a good education. I spent weeks looking for a good school. I gotta try again for a good public one then.” He explained as he started the car and we began driving, Arianna mumbling incoherently to the radio station.

“Well how hard could that be? It’s just public school.” I shrugged it off as he chuckled.

“Because I don’t want her being in a shit one or in a rough area of Los Angeles. I’ll just look again, it’s not a big deal.” Nikki breathed out as he took a sip out of his water bottle.

“Nikki, I want to give her the most normal life we possibly can. I don’t care if it’s public or private school. I just want her to be happy.” I explained as he squeezed my thigh, “I know normal isn’t in our vocabulary, but still, I want her to have a good childhood.”

“She will, Vanity. I promise. I’ll give her whatever she needs, alright? Don’t worry, just let me take care of it.” Nikki said as he grasped my chin between his fingers for a moment.

“So now that Clementine is here…” I rolled my eyes under my sunglasses and leaned my head against the seat, “Is she gonna be getting a job?” Nikki asked as I leaned my head and looked over at him.

Shrugging, “I don’t know? I’m not Clem. Art is her job, just like music is your job.”

Nikki chuckled a bit, “Well she’s also staying at the house my job paid for her with all of her art stuff.”

With an exasperated sigh, “Okay, so what? You want her to pay rent? Do I have to pay rent too?” I argued back as I saw him roll his eyes.

“I just don’t want a mess, Van. That’s all.”

I brushed aside his comment, “You have a five year old daughter who is always messy and sticky and playing with glitter. You’re going to have a mess regardless.”

Nikki eyeballed me, “Well, Clementines an adult. I don’t want to be picking up after her too.”

I rolled my eyes again, “Yes sir, I’ll make sure the house is pristine. Do you want me to get on my hands and knees and scrub the floors with a tooth brush as well?”

 “Only if you’re naked and wearing the highest heels you have.”

[phantoms-lair]

MSA Secret Santa

@accidental-child

Arthur sighed, leaning against the steering wheel of the van. The bus was a little late, but that wasn’t unexpected. Not out here at any rate.

There was a small selfish part of himself that wished he hadn’t picked up the phone that day. It was selfish - and ridiculous. The call had been at the garage, he needed to answer those calls!

It had been some great Aunt, or far removed cousin. He wasn’t quite sure how they were related. Apparently her son was originally going to spend summer break with one of his friends, but their trip had been cut short. The problem was said parents and their daughter had already made other arrangements and wanted to know if the aforementioned son could stay with Lance.

The problem was, Lance wasn’t there and wouldn’t be for a while. He was off on a road trip with some of his old buddies from his days when he absolutely positively was not a wrestler. It was a well overdue vacation and Arthur wasn’t going to call him back from it.

But something stopped him from just turning her down. It wasn’t her, but… it was the idea that their current plans ‘couldn’t be altered’. Lance had planned his trip to originally be last year, but he’d dropped everything after Arthur had turned up in a hospital without an arm. Also that they were reaching out to family that wasn’t that close at all made Arthur wonder if the closer relatives had also had plans that couldn’t be altered. It stank too much of no one wanting this kid, and damned if he was going to add to that

So here he was, waiting for a cousin he’d never met who’d be spending a month with him. He didn’t think it would matter so much if he wasn’t the age he was - 18. Younger would have been easier to slip into a child-guardian relationship and older meant this wouldn’t have been an issue in the first place. But 18 was an age of feeling you were coming into your own authority, and much more likely to take onus with someone a mere five years older than you being in charge.

The bus pulled up and Arthur braced himself. Two figures got off the bus, his cousin and...a dog? A rather large dog at that. Something else Aunt Wendy had forgot to mention. Hopefully it was good with other dogs and hamsters.

Pushing his misgivings aside, Arthur left the van with a big welcoming smile. No need to borrow trouble till it was here. “Hi, you must be Norville, right?”

The teen winced. “Like, call me Shaggy please. I hate Norville.” 

“Done and done.” Arthur agreed readily. “The name Norville is thus dead and shall never be spoken from mine lips again.”

“Ri’m Scooby Doo.”

Another talking dog, huh. “Just to make certain, you’re not actually an ancient kitsune with an evil Japanese tree after you?”

“Like, not that we know of?” Shaggy looked confused. So did Scooby so Arthur let it slide. 

“Okay, let’s get some food, and we can figure out stuff out.” Apparently he said the right word, because his cousin and dog perked up a lot. “Let me help you with your bags.” “Is your arm metal?” Shaggy asked, surprised.

“Sure is, made it myself.” Arthur wiggled his fingers at him, inwardly bracing himself. “That’s cool.” Shaggy said earnestly, picking up his other suitcase.

No ‘How did that happen?’ or ‘That must be so terrible’? Okay, thus far Arthur was counting this as a win.

~

“So,” Arthur started as they slid into a booth at Pepper Paradiso, “Let’s go over your options.”

“Options?” Shaggy asked, surprised.

“Yeah, you have two main options, and we can tweak them as need be. The first is what I told your Mom. You come to stay with me and my boyfriend and girlfriend. We’ve set up a spare room for you, and Scooby I guess, sorry no one told us he was coming.” “If you’d prefer not to deal with three people being kinda mushy, or just want more privacy  I’d give you a key to Lance’s place. You could stay in my old room and basically have the house to yourself. I’d still be checking in everyday and making sure you had food and stuff, but other than that, you’d be on your own.” 

Shaggy seemed to think a moment. “You have a boyfriend and a girlfriend? You can do that?” “Yes.” Arthur answered simply.

“Okay, like if it’s all the same, man, I’d rather stay with you. I don’t think me or Scoob want to be alone.”

Arthur tried not to take it as a warning sign. True, most teens would jump at the first chance to be on their own, but that was hardly universal. There was a small feeling that something was wrong, not just parental negligence. What, he didn’t know. And truthfully it could be nothing. Arthur had a tendency to jump to worst case scenarios (catastrophizing, his therapist had called it), so for now he’d wait and see.

“So is this the mysterious cousin?” Mrs Chef Pepper came over, winking .

“Yeah, this is Shaggy. Shaggy, this is one half of the best cooking team in Tempo, and honestly Texas.”

“Flatterer. My name’s Carmella Pepper. My husband’s running the kitchen, so I have the front end today. I assume the usual, Arthur?” “With no Cayenne additions, please.”

“She’s banned from the kitchen after the last hot sauce-strawberry shake.” Carmella assured him. “What about you, Shaggy?”

Shaggy looked at the menu. “Like, could Scoob and I each get a ‘Vivi Special’ “ he pointed to the menu.

She raised an eyebrow. With the exception of its namesake, the Vivi Special was usually ordered to be shared by a family. She’d never seen an order of two of them. “Do you want the plate of spicy chorizo or pancake poppers?” Scooby and Shaggy looked at each other. “One of each please. And, like separate checks? Mom set up an account for me for food and stuff.” Arthur tried to hide his relief. One extra mouth he could feed. Two more Vivi appetites would have strained his budget beyond feasibility.

~ “Lewis, Vivi— we’re home!” Arthur called, letting himself and his two guests in.

“Welcome home, Arty.” Lewis greeted, pulling his boyfriend in for a kiss. “So this must be Nor-”

“The name is not to be spoken. It has been cast into the abyss and replaced with Shaggy.” Arthur said with a completely straight face. “It has become one with the void.” Lewis rolled his eyes. “Sorry for the melodramatic one, I’m Lewis. Lewis Pepper.”

Shaggy shook his hand while Arthur sputtered over Lewis calling him melodramatic. “Pepper, like the people who run the restaurant?” “My parents.” Lewis explained.

“Wow, like they’re great cooks, man. It’s the first place me and Scooby found that we could be full off one thing on the menu.” “If you can call the ‘Vivi Special’ one thing.” Arthur quipped.

“Someone call me?” Vivi slid into the front room, literally, her socks holding no traction on the hardwood floor, causing her to crash into Lewis. “Arthur’s cousin Shaggy is a fan of your addition to my parents menu.” Lewis said.

“Ooooo Did you get the version with the spicy chorizo or pancake poppers?”

“Like, Scoob and I got one of each. I really liked Aztec Chocolate sauce on the sweet chili!”

“I know! And the smoked gouda filled jalapeño poppers!” 

“Arthur, I think our girlfriend just adopted your cousin.” Lewis commented.

~

Vivi stretched as she got home from her morning shift at the Tome Tomb. Arthur was having a full day at Kingsmen’s, so she figured she’d check in on Shaggy and Scooby before getting in some serious cuddle time with Lewis.

She found them in the living room, Shaggy was looking at a book. Not reading it, but staring at the cover, while Scooby leaned against him comfortingly. “Everything okay boys?” She asked softly.

Shaggy took a moment to answer. “Do you believe in this stuff? Magic and monsters?” “As a matter of fact I do.” She tried to keep the humor out of her voice. Shaggy had no idea he was spending the remainder of his summer with a ghost and a kitsune. “Do you?”

Shaggy didn’t answer. “Doesn’t it scare you?” he asked.

“The supernatural? Not really. Or at least, not more than anything else.” She sat down next to him. “There’s good and bad magic, just like there’s good and bad technology. Some beings are friendly, some just want to be left alone, and some are truly evil, just like people. You always, always, have to be careful. But I’d rather know, you know?” Shaggy shook his head. “Like, I think I’d rather not.” He looked at the book again. “Like, have you ever heard of something called the Chest of Demons?”

“Not off the top of my head, why?”

Shaggy shook his head. “Nothing, like what’s for lunch?” Vivi accepted the topic change, but didn’t forget what she’d heard. This merited some digging into.

~

Arthur felt dead on his feet (though not quite as much as Lewis, ha!) as he got home that evening.  Working in the garage was one thing, but running it was quite another. He couldn’t wait for Lance to get back.

It was Vivi who greeted him at the door, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him. Arthur melted into the embrace, the warmth he felt in his heart giving him back the strength spent on budget balancing and unruly customers.

But as he felt himself relax, he realized she wasn’t easing up. Something was wrong. “What is it, Vi?”

“Your cousin.” She answered, her head still buried in the crook of Arthur’s neck. “He was looking at my books and mentioned something called the Chest of Demons. I hadn’t heard of it, so I sent out some feelers.”

“Bad?” Arthur guessed, as if the name didn’t give that away.

“Not just the chest itself. I still don’t know what it is, because one of the few things I did manage to learn is it’s protected by near total secrecy. It’s not something he could have just randomly heard of.”

Arthur’s mouth set into a grim frown. He could think of a few reasons, but none of them were good.

“And this isn’t some random client messing with something he shouldn’t, he’s your cousin and I like him, but this is serious.”

“I’ll talk to him.” Arthur promised. 

“No!” Vivi squeezed him tighter. “I don’t want to think he’s up to anything bad, but-” Honestly with how Shaggy had reacted to ‘Magic and Monsters’ she doubted it, but she couldn’t be sure and she wasn’t willing to put any of her boys in the path of danger.

Arthur laid a gentle kiss on her forehead. “You can have one of the Beats watching over us if it makes you feel better, but we can’t leave this alone and he’s nervous enough I don’t want him to feel like we’re ganging up on him.”

“That still puts you at risk,” Vivi argued.

“There’s always a risk, love. And you can’t take all of them for me. And I think this is a small one. Have you talked to Lewis yet?”

“Talked to be about what?” Lewis popped his head in. “You guys were taking a while. Is everything okay?”

“Shaggy may or may not have gotten mixed up in something supernatural and I want to talk to him about it. I want to do it alone so I don’t overwhelm him, but Vivi doesn’t want me to go talk about an evil artifact with the person who brought it up by myself. I volunteered to take a Beat with me.” “Take Mystery too.” Lewis suggested. “Shaggy likes him, so he wouldn’t feel ganged up on.”

Vivi let out a sigh of relief. “I love your Deadbeats, Lew, but I feel a lot better about that plan.”

~

“Hey Shaggy,” Arthur sat down. Mystery curled up by his feet, looking innocuous, but keeping a careful eye on Shaggy and Scooby.

“Hey,” Shaggy didn’t look up from the video game he was playing. “Like, how was work?”

“Not too bad. Can we talk about something?”

“Sure, man.” Shaggy paused the game. “What’s up?”

So many questions ran through Arthur’s head. Why do you know about the Chest of Demon? How did you find out about it? How much do you know? But there was one question he felt the need to ask above all the others.

“Are you in any danger?”

Shaggy blinked, caught completely off guard. “Huh?”

“You brought up something called the Chest of Demons to Vivi today. She did some digging. It was bad.” Arthur kept it vague to hide how much he didn’t know. “It’s also not a name you’d just stumble on. So, are you in any danger?” Shaggy deflated. “Like, not right now. Probably later. Thirteen seems to be keeping a low profile, but given the other twelve? At least Boggle and Weird are sealed up.”

Okay, Arthur didn’t understand any of that after ‘Probably later’. “Can you start at the beginning?”

“Okay, so like originally the five us were supposed to spend the summer on a global road trip, but Fred and Velma ended up going to camp, so like it was just me, Scooby, and Daphne. And we kinda sorta got lost. We ended up in the place where the chest was hidden. There were these two ghosts, Boggle and Weird. They wanted the thirteen evil spirits in the chest free, but it can only be opened by the living. So they tricked me and Scoob into opening it.and setting their masters free.”

Shaggy then rolled his eyes. “And of course only the ones who open the chest can return them, so like, suddenly we’re chasing down the nastiest ghoulies this side of the River Styx. We got the first twelve and got Boggle and Weird sucked in for good measure but with no sign of number thirteen Vincent cut us loose till he finds him.”

“Vincent?” Arthur inquired.

“A mystic who knows a lot about the Chest of Demon and it’s prisoners. He’s been helping us.” Shaggy shrugged. “Daphne suggested continuing our vacation while we’re on break, but I just kinda wanted to go home.” “Did you tell your family any of this?” Arthur wondered.

His cousin snorted. “Besides you? Like no one would believe me! And Daphne….” Shaggy trailed off.

“And Daphne?” Arthur prompted.

“It sounds weird to say, but this seemed to be, like, good for her? Before she kinda followed whatever Fred said. This summer though, she was taking charge and becoming more confident in herself. And like, I’m happy for her, but it means-” Shaggy seemed to struggle for his words, Scooby putting a reassuring head on his knee. “I’m a coward. I’d rather run from scary things than fight them. And I know I have to get them back in the box, cause it’s my fault they’re out-”

“Rour fault,” Scooby corrected.

“-but I’m scared all the time and I don’t want to be and no one but Scoob seems to get that.”

“Of course you’re scared,” Arthur scoffed. “You’ve had thirteen evil spirits after you. That’s objectively terrifying. You’d be crazy not to be scared.”

Boy and dog seemed taken aback.

While he couldn’t say he had been expecting those details, at least this lined up with what Arthur suspected, that Shaggy had stumbled into trouble, not sought it out.

“Okay, so first things first, what do you know about Spirit #13? What kind of spirit is it?” Arthur’s voice was all business.

“Not yet, Vincent usually tells us about them as he finds them.” Shaggy explained.

“If you can contact him, see if you can find out what we’re dealing with. It’ll be more effective if we can narrow that down.”

“What will be?” Shaggy asked, confused.

“Protective wards. That reminds me. Lewis, Vivi, Shaggy has a potential evil spirit after him. Brainstorming time.” “Huh?”

Lewis and Vivi showed up a bit too quickly to not have been listening in, but Arthur hoped Shaggy wouldn’t notice.

“There’s already some basic wards against hostile entities on the house, Pepper Paradiso, Lance’s, Kingsmen’s, and the Tome Tomb.” Vivi listed.

“I’ve got a few things around town warning me of anything of any level of power entering.” Mystery put forth. “It’s only weak spot is the lake.”

“Which has a protector of its own.” Arthur had a wry grin. “Nothing coming in from that side.”

Shaggy and Scooby shared a confused look. “You guys had this already set up?”

“You get surprised by a Jubokko once, you take precautions.” Vivi said dryly. “But this is all general stuff. The more specifics we know, the better defenses we can make. We can also figure out what places near your home we need to ward, or come up with something portable.”

Shaggy just looked between the four of them, confused. “Why?”

Lewis took a deep breath ( or at least mimed doing so). “Shaggy, you’re Arthur’s cousin, do you know what that means?”

Shaggy shook his head.

“It means you’re family,  you’re our family. And we protect family however we can.” Lewis stated. “And we know monsters exist. We’ll be ready.”

Shaggy seemed at a loss for words. His mouth opened and closed a few times. “Thank you,” he finally whispered, his voice raw with emotion.

Arthur pulled him into a hug. “That’s what family does.”