#was thinkin about this earlier and it's not as coherent as i wanted

[straightfacedstrangeness]

Bulma rambling

Not sure if any of this is coherent cus it's totally stream-of-consciousness, but let's go.

Disclaimer again that it's been a long time since I've watched anything but the earliest DB/DBZ episodes and movies, so my memory of the anime-only "filler" scenes is vague at best, but...

Thinkin' 'bout Bulma's relationships with the other cast members and why things didn't work out with Yamcha, and how their relationship pretty immediately went from hormonal teens obsessed with how cute the other is -> Bulma constantly being cranky and frustrated with Yamcha and accusing him of having a roving eye while he meekly sits there and takes it.

(Sidebar: Again I don't remember "filler" very well but I'm pretty sure the most Yamcha ever actually does before Cell Saga is blush at the sight of a cute girl, while Bulma has a TON of screentime drooling over or openly flirting with cute guys. And then there are scenes where it's clearly wild speculation on Bulma's part, like in Tree of Might she hears Yamcha say he bought a fancy new car and IMMEDIATELY accuses him of doing it to impress other girls, while I think his dialogue with Puar earlier actually indicated that he was trying to impress HER. So while Future Trunks says Yamcha was unfaithful and that's why they stopped dating, he would have heard that from Bulma, so I don't consider that necessarily "the truth." :'D Yamcha seems to be an honorable and honest guy, so I find it just as likely that he was completely faithful but Bulma was obsessively jealous and/or always looking for a fight, or that Yamcha dated other women during periods where he and Bulma were broken up and she considered THAT to be "cheating.")

ANYHOW. Watching Namek Saga has me enjoying her dynamic with Krillin and going "well why didn't THAT ever happen?" (The real answer being, Toriyama or his editor wanted a new Saiyan baby and Bulma/Vegeta was the only possible pairing that involved existing and young/unmarried characters...) And it made me realize that basically every person Bulma spends time with is a complete pushover who lets her do whatever she wants. Yamcha tries to apologize or explain himself, but he generally tends to stay quiet and not fight back. He, Krillin, and Gohan are generally too polite or scared to speak up or push back when she gets bossy or rude, and Goku tends to either obey or outright ignore her rather than get into a fight. Her parents are completely easygoing and let her do whatever she wants. The only one who ever gives her a hard time is Oolong, and even then she can easily bully him into doing whatever she wants, just with a lot more yelling and insults.

On top of that, thinking about how she put up with all the hardship of going on the initial Dragon Ball quest despite her constant griping about how she hates camping and being in danger, and how she's always willing to join in on an adventure and run towards the big battle to try and help. And how she's constantly drooling over or trying to flirt with guys who are trying to kill her XD AND how she cuts school during the Red Ribbon Saga because it's "boring," and how the Jaco manga retconned/clarified that she had already graduated college before that point, so either she was going to grad school or was in high school as a social activity (or to hang out with, or keep an eye on, Yamcha).

...Anyhow, putting all those things together, it feels like what Bulma wanted all along was someone who'd push back, maybe to push her life in different unexpected directions, or some kind of challenge to keep her from getting bored. Someone who wouldn't just roll over if she started bossing him around, even though she also clearly gets frustrated when other people don't do what she wants. (And that's totally realistic! People are made up of contradictions, and what you want doesn't always match how you feel when you actually get it!)

It's been forever since I've seen past Namek but I feel like she really mellowed out after she had Trunks? So maybe raising a child was enough of a challenge for her that she was satisfied focusing on that, instead of obsessively trying to make a relationship work with Vegeta like she obsessively kept trying with Yamcha. So maybe their romance evolved more naturally, as a sidebar to both of them focusing separately on raising their son (Bulma as a caretaker, Vegeta as a combat instructor).

So Vegeta ultimately ended up being kinda perfect for her as someone stubborn and cranky who'd fight back but still be tsundere enough to let her have her way or dom him some of the time, both of them slowly learning to compromise together instead of one person running the show all the time.

Though, I'd always considered Goku/Bulma a NOTP for me, but thinking about it in these terms, that might have wound up working too: Goku obeying her some of the time because his Grandpa taught him to be polite to girls, but also going off and doing his own thing sometimes because he's ultimately as self-centered as she is. I'm feeling like it would have made things VERY weird within their friend group, though :'D Particularly Yamcha feeling he was thrown over for a younger man and that Goku "betrayed" him by "taking his girl." But at least being with Bulma would've forced Goku to spend more time with his friends during the series XD instead of repeatedly abandoning them for years at a time

[althaiareads]

YAY NEW CHAPTER!! I SCREAMED WHEN I SAW IT!!

Let's get to it, I'm ready for my heart to be broken.

Extremely sorry because this might be just images and not ONE coherent thought.

You smile up at her with your mouth full of food and nod in agreement. Your uncle Tommy notices and shakes his head in disapproval, but he can’t help but smile faintly.

He snickers and you glance away, catching your dads gaze and slowly frowning as you catch that same hurt look you caught earlier. Your uncle Tommy notices a glimpse of your tension and sighs before breaking it. “How ‘bout a tour?”

Manners, my love. What is it about Joel Miller's daughters and bad table manners?

Edit: I Just realized this is the same thing Sarah does?!?!?

Man, that's gotta hurt. I know it's not like that, but I feel Joel feels replaced by Tommy. He kind of has the life that Joel once had for himself. It breaks my heart.

You meet his gaze with a smirk. “You were thinkin’ of me?” You tease.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” He quips lightheartedly.

Oh?

Real nice, real smooth, loving the playful flirting.

the first thing you notice that wasn’t on it last time is a bouquet of fresh flowers with a small note.

‘Welcome home - Atlas & Apollo’

They got her flowers?!?!?? My heart. They're so cute.

What would be of your lives now if she had lived? What would she say about your estrangement with your dad?

“I don’t want to see you tormenting yourself any longer because of that man Y/N—”

I am living for Maria being the mother Sunny never had. She's so worried and protective of her, and I love it.

Maria raises her chin and doesn’t retreat. “He left you, his own daughter, tell me if that makes him good?”

OUT OF POCKET! But I get where she's coming from, after all she picked up the pieces Joel broke.

“Apollo built this for you, did you know?”

Did he, now?

“My dad left rather than staying with me….and,” you continue through tears. “…the guy that I…loved killed himself rather than wanting to be with me. And I know it sounds selfish, h-he was just grief stricken, his little brother died….but we were partners…and,” you sniffle. “And he left me. So please be honest with me, tell me that I’m no good, that I’m a failure because that’s what I feel.”

Oh my God, baby, no. Nothing is wrong with you, shit.

“You cry as much as you want, grieve as long as you need to, but you move on, you keep living for them. You understand? Don’t lose yourself, that’s the worst thing we can do. You understand me?”

You know this hurts even more because he knows what it's like to lose someone to grief, so his fears are even more palpable.

You giggle and sit back down next to him. “You have nothing to be nervous about, you’re gonna be a good father,” you assure him. “You might not be mine, but you were—are like one, and you did good.”

Oh man, those daddy issues are really kicking in right now. They have the most beautiful relationship.

“Hi,” Apollo greets more properly, but stays sitting down. “It’s very nice meeting you Mr. Miller.”

Así es que me gusta papito, de una vez dando una buena impresión con el (futuro) suegro. Muy bien.

“I’m sorry,” he says again in a tearful voice. “I am. There will never not be a day where I don’t regret how I hurt you.” He shakes his head and steps towards you. “And you have every right to keep on hatin’ me, to move on and not deal with me. I don’t blame you, I wouldn't. I just needed you to hear what I owe you.”

Your dad lets out a shaky breath and nods as more tears escape past his eyes. “It’s true,” he admits. “You might be a bit boastful, you might see the beauty of the world and hold onto too much hope, your dreams might be too big, but,” he quivers and takes a step towards you. “That is why I love you. I love every bit of it. I have loved it since the moment I held you in my arms for the first time. You…you are everything to me, baby, you are the reason I keep livin’, you are my entire world, and the beauty that this world lost. You are what makes all this worth it, you are everything to me.”

This feels like a warm hug. Still sobbing violently, though.

“I’m not asking you to be my first love, nor do I want to be yours….we can be each other's last, whenever you’re ready, I’ll wait.”

EACH OTHER'S LAST LOVE?!!?!??! I-

Dude, I was already crying. This is beautiful.

“No way!” She exclaims and stands up to hook it around her hip. “A thigh holster!”

That's the best gift ever? She knows her so well. My heart.

However she then finds the tip hits against something inside so she pulls out the gun and digs her fingers inside, and pulls out a leather necklace with a small piece of wood carved into a neat circle with a butterfly burned onto it.

The butterfly. Oh my gosh. She got her a butterfly necklace. Idc they're officially sisters now.

Sarah would've been so happy, holy shit.

“She dressed up as me that day; she wore one of my shirts, put on this fake mustache, and sang this rap song as one of my birthday gifts. It was great, one of my favorite gifts by far.”

He still remembers 🥺🥺🥺. That was one of my favourite scenes. Happy it made a call-back.

Anyway don’t forget that gesture of reader laying her head on Joel’s chest, it’s gonna come back and bite everyone in the ass iykyk

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT AUTHOR NOTE, GIRL?!?!? WHAT IS THAT, LOVE?!?!??!

I am so scared. This was absolutely incredible. The scenes with Tommy warmed my heart, Maria is an absolute icon, I love her even when she says judgy stuff. Also, Ellie and her relationship with Sunny??!?!? God, I love them. REMEMBERING HENRY, SAM AND SARAH, TOO??? That hurt a lot. And then, that conversation with Joel, I have no words that don't involve me ranting about Daddy Issues, so I'll skip it, but know that it was so fucking beautiful.

Anyway, I'm scared and I love this and you.

Chapter 4 This charming man

Tragedy at the Miller’s Chapter 4

A/N- Not ready for what’s coming

Warning- ANGST, talks of death, swearing, long chapter, fluff :)

Pairing- Joel Miller x daughter!reader, Henry x Fem!reader

Episode- 1x06 (not all of it)

(If you want to be tagged let me know!)

————

Family reunions are supposed to be heartwarming, joyful!

Maybe it was for the first 10 minutes, but now it’s awkward, there’s tension, there’d be deafening silence but the area you’re at is filled with the sound of obnoxious chewing. It’s an annoying sound, a usual pet peeve of yours, but right now, fuck it, it’s the first real meal you’ve had in two years.

“There’s more if you need it,” Maria interjects through the urgency of all the chewing.

“Thank you, ma’am,” your dad says when he finishes chewing. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a proper meal.”

You smile up at her with your mouth full of food and nod in agreement. Your uncle Tommy notices and shakes his head in disapproval, but he can’t help but smile faintly.

“Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever had a proper meal,” Ellie cuts in, causing you to slowly swallow your food and look at her with a bit of pity—“this is fuckin’ amazing.”

Your dad shoots her a pointed glare before looking up at the couple in front of him. “Sorry,” he apologizes for her, while you stifle your laugh with the food you shove in your mouth. “Ellie, let’s mind our manners.”

You smirk down at your food, but feel your uncle pat your back. “Don’t worry,” he adds. “Someone tends to have a way with words too.”

You look over at him and respond back with your mouth full of food. “I’m just expressin’ my freedom of speech.” You shoot him a smile and then return to eating, bringing back a bit of silence.

Albeit seconds later the peace is broken by Ellie snapping at someone behind you. “What?!”

You slowly peek behind you and see a girl storming off; you actually recognize her, albeit she was younger then. She liked to help with your sets when you did plays, she’s cool. But yes you understand Ellie’s…caution towards her just staring, but! you don’t get the snappy attitude.

“What’s wrong with you?” You remark Ellie with a pointed look.

“What about her manners?” She counters.

You roll your eyes and catch your uncle's curious gaze at that moment, so you can’t help but smirk faintly now in response—he’ll get hell of a kick out of her, he just needs to get to know her.

“She was just curious,” Maria tries to explain. “Kids around here don’t usually look or talk like you.”

“Right.” Ellie nods. “Well, maybe I’ll teach them. And I want my gun back.”

Yeah that’s not happening.

“They also aren’t armed,” Maria says.

You set your silverware down and grab your cup of water, whilst your uncle interjects. “You know what? Uh, I think maybe y’all got a little off on the wrong foot.”

“She was gonna have her guys kill us,” Ellie snaps right away.

“Well, we gotta be real careful about who we let in this place,” your uncle explains. “But it’s all bark. We’re just tryna scare off those who might wanna try us is all.”

You sit back and sip your water, only choosing to hear the argument being had.

You wouldn't be as…uhm…bold as Ellie, but you also understand her uneasiness of this place and all those people. You were new once too; afraid of everyone and cautious of everything.

“Well, you got a couple of 90-year-olds shitting themselves out there. Not much of a superstition, is it y/n?” She argues with a pointed glare aimed at you.

What? What the hell did you do?

“Ellie,” your dad warns her.

“They say that you leave dead bodies around?” Ellie remarks to your uncle and Maria again.

Now your uncle glances at you and passes an amused look at you right as Maria answers Ellie just as quickly. “Those are the people that tried us.”

“A bad reputation doesn't mean you’re bad,” your uncle adds.

“Not always, at least,” Maria adds in, and you catch her pointed look aimed at your father; which only makes you begin to frown as things get awkward. At least for you since you know the context behind her judgment.

“Ma’am,” your dad cuts in thereafter. “We’re grateful for your hospitality and all,” he pauses and looks between you, your uncle and Ellie. “But it’d be nice to have a moment here, maybe just for family.”

Oh right, given your silent treatment, you never actually talked much about this place or about your life here to him—that makes things uncomfortable. So you slouch and put your cup down to stare at the water.

“Well, uh,” your uncle interjects as he straightens up on his chair. “Maria is family, actually.”

You glance over at them and offer them a soft smile, but when you glance over at your father and see his face of slight disbelief your smile falters.

Why does he look so shocked? It was going to happen.

“Oh, shit! Congrats.” Ellie adds, but you can’t tell if she’s being sarcastic or genuine—probably sarcastic giving she’s not really liking Maria.

“Joel, say congrats,” Ellie whispers to your dad like if he’s some kid that needs a reminder.

A moment of awkward silence passes before your dad says it back a bit dryly. “Congrats.”

Can’t say you’re surprised, he didn’t like Henry at first either.

“She’s the one that helped me get this one through her teenage phase,” your uncle says and pats your shoulder to give it a small squeeze.

You look up at the both of them and smirk before glancing at your dad.

“I can’t say she made it hard,” Maria adds. “She was good…up until she left.”

You scoff and look over at her with a smirk. “Mama,” you whisper. “Besides, I wasn't a teenager then, I was 22.”

“You acted like one,” she rebuttals.

You roll your eyes in a lighthearted manner and shake your head, while your uncle grabs your shoulder and interjects with a lighthearted tone. “How old are you now, Sunny? Old?”

You snap your eyes to him and get ready to spat back, but he continues. “You even have gray hair there.” He points to the side of your head.

Your eyes go wide and you pick up your spoon to see your reflection through it, but he begins to snicker.

“Oh wait, it's just dirt.” He laughs.

You scoff and push his arm off you. “At least I can wash mine off, unlike you,” you counter and use your eyes to point to the white hairs on his side.

He snickers and you glance away, catching your dads gaze and slowly frowning as you catch that same hurt look you caught earlier. Your uncle Tommy notices a glimpse of your tension and sighs before breaking it. “How ‘bout a tour?”

Maria nods. “Yeah.”

Once you’re all completely done with your food you step out again. And you're not obligated to tag along, you knew this place already, it was home, but you want to accompany Ellie until she and your dad get some place to go for however long they’re staying—or correction for however long she’s staying, who knows if your dad has changed his mind about letting your uncle take her.

If he doesn’t then….you’ll go with her and your uncle. Even if being surrounded by the tall walls of Jackson made you finally feel completely safe, and let you drop the habit of needing to look over your shoulder every few seconds. Here you also didn’t have to live on the edge hoping that some infected wouldn’t creep up on you, or some fucker wouldn’t jump you out of nowhere. But if it meant being her one piece of support after your fathers abandonment, then it would be worth it being gone for one more month. Just for her, not for your dad.

“We settled here about seven years ago, just a handful of us then,” Maria tells Ellie and your dad. “That section…”

Her words trail off as suddenly you’re startled by an arm thrown around you. And when you snap your head over to your side, Apollo is next to you with a smile on his face.

“What’s wrong with you?” You quip as you fall behind the others doing the tour.

Apollo snickers. “Just checking you’re not some sort of hallucination.”

You roll your eyes and look ahead again. “I’d be a pretty cool hallucination,” you mumble and catch Ellie glancing at you over her shoulder when she doesn’t see you near her.

“Yeah,” Apollo agrees. “Good thing you aren't though.” He moves his other hand toward you to offer you a piece of dry meat. “Jerky?”

“Please,” you scoff and meet his gaze from the corner of your eyes. “I’ve had enough of jerky for now.” You then begin to smirk and hold his gaze as you throw him a reminder. “Aren't you supposed to be working bum?”

Apollo shrugs. “I was, but again, just checking on you, and…” he trails off and holds the piece of jerky in his mouth to reach into his back pocket and pull something out. “…give this to you.”

He pushes his hand towards you to show the Mariah Carey Daydream casette in his hand. “For you,” he says as he pulls out the piece of jerky from his mouth.

Your grin immediately widens and your eyes twinkle as you stop to take it from him. “Oh my god,” you squeal. “Where did you find this?!”

Apollo steps back and folds his arms over his chest to shrug smugly. “I have my ways. But I thought of giving it to you for Christmas when I saw you, but then I thought, why not give it to her now as a welcome home present.”

You meet his gaze with a smirk. “You were thinkin’ of me?” You tease.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” He quips lightheartedly.

You shoot him a smirk, and he holds your gaze to mirror the gesture for a lingering moment before you look down at your gift and smile softly. Albeit, you then can’t help but step forward to throw your arms around him.

“Thank you,” you whisper and hold onto him tighter, feeling your heart flutter, and a warmth that wants to mend the bleeding gap that was on it.

“You’re welcome,” he whispers back and rubs your back softly. “I missed you, you know.”

You smile sweetly and try to fight the tears that threaten to rush out at the simple feeling of this embrace. “I missed you too,” you redirect softly, but suddenly begin to feel a twinge of guilt now stab at you as you feel comfort and yearning for him in his embrace.

“Mia is at home,” Apollo says and pulls back to face you. “I haven’t told her yet so it can be a surprise.”

You smirk. “I’ll make her shit her pants.” You snicker.

“I��ll see you at home later, yeah?” He queries in a way that makes it seem like he’s almost afraid you would leave again. “I have a bottle of tequila and a movie of your choice ready for you for later.”

“Can’t wait,” you assure him with a sweet smile playing on your lips.

Apollo begins to walk back and nods as he holds your gaze for a lingering moment before he turns and walks off to go back to work. You now put your gift away and catch back up with your group heading to the barn.

“Who’s that?” Ellie immediately asks once you’re by her side again.

You glance at her and scoff softly before you answer. “My…best friend, Apollo.”

Ellie scoffs and begins to smirk as she turns her head away. “Okay,” she mutters.

You squint your eyes in confusion and immediately press her hint of smugness. “What?” You giggle nervously.

Ellie shrugs before she glances at you and bats her eyelashes as she just simply repeats herself. “Okay.”

Before you can further question her she runs ahead of the group as they’re entering the sheep pen.

“Hey, Joel, check it,” Ellie now directs to your dad, and proceeds to mimic the sheep to tease him. You would’ve laughed but she was just teasing you so you keep quiet and follow them.

“So are you, like, in charge?” Ellie asks Maria.

“No one person’s in charge,” Maria says. “I’m on the council. Democratically elected, serving 300 people, including children. Everyone pitches in. We rotate patrols, food prep, repairs, hunting, harvesting.”

“Everything you see in our town,” your uncle adds. “Greenhouses, livestock, all shared. Collective ownership.”

“So, uh,” your dad interjects, making you glance at him. “Communism.”

Your uncle sniffles. “Nah. Nah, it ain’t like that.”

No it is that. Exactly that.

“It is that,” Maria corrects him. “Literally. This is a commune. We’re communists.”

You smirk, and end up sharing an amused look with your dad before you both glance back at your uncle stopped behind you looking a bit baffled.

“No way!” Ellie exclaims, making you drift your attention back to her and noticing her rushing toward a cute brown foal.

“That’s our newest one,” Maria shares. “Couple months old. You wanna pet her?”

You smile and rush towards the foal too.

“Yeah, what’s her name?” Ellie asks.

“Shimmer.”

“Shimmer,” Ellie repeats as she begins to caress the little baby horse. “You’re so beautiful.”

You lean against the gate and scratch the side of her jaw.

“Well, I’m sure they’d like a shower,” Maria adds on, correctly of course. “Some new clothes. We can put Joel and Ellie in the empty house across the street from us.”

You pull your hand away from the horse and peer over your shoulder.

“Yeah,” your uncle agrees. “It’s a decent place. Pretty much untouched since ‘03, but it’s got the heat goin’ in it.” He nods. “Could do worse.”

“Oh,” you add. “We have been.”

Ellie nods in agreement, but your dad quickly rebuttals you. “We’ve been doin’ fine.”

Yeah cause sleeping in caves and taking watches to make sure you won’t get killed is fine. Whatever man.

“Well,” Maria adds a bit awkwardly. “I’ll take Ellie over there if you two wanna catch up?” She suggests as she looks between your dad and uncle, making you look between both men with curiosity.

Only if you could go too just to snoop and know if your dad would go through with it. And to know how it’d actually go between them.

“Yeah,” your dad agrees and passes a look with your uncle. “Okay.”

“Joel,” Ellie whispers with concern.

“You’ll be fine,” he assures her and walks off with your uncle without another word, making her watch him as he did so.

“Come on,” you encourage her and grab her shoulder to gently nudge her ahead towards Maria

Ellie begins to follow, but spares one more glance at your dads retreating figure. Once he’s no longer in view she immediately questions you. “Where are you going?”

“Not far from where you’ll be,” you assure her. “Just down 2 streets, and then a right. I live in a yellow house with a white fence around it. I’ll be there.”

Ellie glances at the ground and frowns deeper, so you nudge her gently and continue to assure her. “You can come over after you’re done showering, if you want. If I don’t answer the door my friend Mia will, just tell her you came to visit me and she’ll show you to my room, yeah?”

Ellie lifts her gaze with unsureness but nods regardless to assure you she comprehends. “Yeah,” she whispers. “Okay.”

Once you see Ellie off you walk to your own house. A place you always hoped you’d return to, a place you longed for on cruel days. Yet when you’re there, past the white fences gate, at the doorstep of your house, it feels…fucking weird. Like some dream. A good dream you were scared to wake up from.

What if opening the front meant waking up? That’d be terrible.

But you can’t know if you stand there, so you let out a deep breath and slowly wrap your hand around the knob. You hesitate for a second and close your eyes to hope it isn’t some dream—fuck. You open your eyes as you turn the knob and slowly push the green creaking door open. And luckily nothing vanishes, nothing comes at you. You walk in and you don’t fall into some dark abyss; it’s warm, it smells like cinnamon and a Christmas morning. All the furniture you can see is the same, Christmas decorations greet you at the entrance bringing the holiday cheer to the house.

When you close the front door behind you and you take your shoes off at the entrance, happy tears fill your eyes, and a wobbly smile spreads on your lips. You’re home! Home!

You laugh softly with relief and feel tears actually rush out of your eyes.

“Who’s home?” You hear a familiar voice ask from the hall.

You wipe the tears off your cheeks and walk towards the hall in a giddy silence as you also hear footsteps approach. Once you make it under the hall's archway you stop at the same time your friend does only mere inches away from her.

You begin to grin brightly, while she stands there with her eyes widened with disbelief.

“Hi, Mia,” you greet her.

Said girl studies you, the dirty outfit you’ve worn for months, she studies your face and looks into your eyes in that stunned silence that paralyzes her. Meanwhile you give her time to grasp your presence and study her too; her hair is still short due to her fear of having it pulled by infected like when she was young, it’s still dyed like last time, and she’s remained ageless.

“Wh-how?” She stammers before she closes the gap left between you with an embrace that almost knocks you back.

“Hey,” you murmur happily.

“Apollo was just here,” she says by your ear. “He didn’t tell me anything.”

You laugh softly. “Yeah, he wanted me to surprise you.” You pull back and grab her shoulders. “I've missed you.”

Tears roll down her cheeks, and her smile wobbles. “I missed you too,” she redirects. “So much. I was so worried.” She hugs you again and lets out a relieved sigh as she holds you in her arms.

Along with Apollo and Atlas, Mia was one of your oldest friends too. She was a firefly like them and you, she was also your best friend. You all basically grew up together when you were with the firefly’s, you were all unbreakable.

“Did you just get here?” Mia asks and pulls back to turn you around and lead you away from the hall. “Have you eaten already?”

You nod. “Yes, I ate just a few minutes ago, and yes I just got here….with my dad actually.”

Mia stops, making you stop along with her. “What?” She queries and turns to face you. She looks into your eyes to try and read your emotions, but she instead questions you more. “How are you feeling about that?”

You let out a deep sigh that makes your smile falter, and simply shrug. “I don’t know…besides angry, I don’t know where I’m at, but I guess we’ll see won’t we?”

Mia hums and caresses your shoulder, and smiles a lot softer. “I’m so happy you’re back home. You must want to take a shower, and sleep, so I’ll leave you be.”

Yeah until maybe an hour later where she’ll be checking on you.

“Your room has been untouched so everything is in its place,” she adds, and now walks you around the kitchen to walk you to your room like if you’re new and need a tour. “You’ll just need a towel which are out in the closet, you’ll need blankets, I can get those for you, uh, a razor, new sanitary stuff, I can go…” she continues on but you tune her out as you open the door to your room. And as she walks forward you stop just in front of the doorway.

“….We can bake something later,” you tune Mia back in. “We can make your favorite for dinner, Apollo and Atlas should be home then”

She was right, your room was untouched, every piece of furniture was in its place, every decoration and accessory was left the same way you left it. There wasn’t even dust, and didn’t smell odd, which is probably thanks to Mia; your room actually smells like flowers, oddly enough.

“Yeah,” you agree mindlessly with a nod. “Sounds good.”

Your picture wall was still up and well kept, your posters aren’t ripped, it’s all clean.

“Okay,” Mia says as she turns to walk out of the room. “I’ll leave you now and go get that stuff. Need anything else?”

You follow her leaving figure with your eyes and shake your head. “Nah, but if you are leaving mind leaving the front door unlocked, a girl named Ellie might come over so if you aren’t here and I’m in the shower she can just walk in.”

Mia looks immediately curious over who you mention but she doesn’t probe now, she’ll do it later, you’re sure of it. “Okay, I’ll leave a note then.” She lets you know and grabs your door handle to begin closing it as she walks out. “I missed you.”

You shoot her a sweet smile and quickly counter. “I missed you too.”

She offers you one last smile before she closes the door behind her, letting you turn back to fully take in the fact that you’re now standing back in your room—it’s fucking unbelievble, it fills you with happiness and comfort. And as if it’s your first time you walk to your closet first and pull it open, you run your fingers along all the clothes that are hung up and smile.

If you could describe your room to someone, let’s say Ellie, in a few words it would be Old Hollywood meets vintage old money aesthetic—albeit a post apocalyptic version considering you can’t fully fill your room with all the things you want and need….

Sucks…

Anyhow, you then skip on forward to your brown and gold vintage round vanity mirror, and the first thing you notice that wasn’t on it last time is a bouquet of fresh flowers with a small note.

‘Welcome home - Atlas & Apollo’

You smile and tuck the note back to its place to then swipe your fingers across the counter, making sure not to touch the few perfumes and fragile trinkets you had collected. You then proceed to walk to the corner of the room to brush your fingers along the strings of your guitar as you walk to your shelf with music records, cassettes and movies; it’s all still there and now you can add another to your collection, thanks to Apollo.

After that you then walk to your picture wall to study every single picture with a faint smile. The one that makes you the happiest though is the picture strip of Sarah and you; it’s one you had taken in one of those photobooths. Alas it’s when you see the family picture of Sarah, you, and your dad that the happiness turns to sadness, and that smile falls to a wobbly frown.

What would be of your lives now if she had lived? What would she say about your estrangement with your dad?

Would she be mad at the both of you?

Probably.

You were a little family, you were too young to know if it was anything other than perfect, but it worked…you were happy then….

God you miss her….him too. He’s close, here now in Jackson, but it feels like you're strangers. Strangers forced to be together, forced to travel together. You miss him and your relationship. The man he was wouldn't return, but you’re okay with the man he is now, as flawed as he is you’re okay with him, as tainted as his past is you’re okay with him. But, what you are…are strangers.

——

A deep relaxed exhale leaves your lips as you find comfort on your mattress, in your clean clothes, and refreshed body after a long and deep shower.

Fuck that felt good, it’s like you took decades of dirt off you. It’s like you feel fucking lighter because of it now too. Maybe a week-long sleep would suit you well, maybe you can even hibernate like a bear, that’d be nice.

You smile to yourself and only sit up to put on your headphones, and turn your music on blast now that you don’t have to worry about what’s around you—You’ll go deaf your uncle Tommy and Mia would say, but who cares, it’s fun getting lost in the music.

That’s what you do listening to the cassette Apollo gave you. However, not for long because you then feel a nudge on your leg, and when you sit up there Maria is with a very deep purple jacket in hand.

“Hey,” you greet her as you pull your headphones down to your neck. You then look around for Ellie, but she’s not here. “Where’s Ellie?”

“I left her at the house,” Maria says. “I went to grab her this.” She lifts the jacket in her hand, and you scoff in amusement.

“It’s very purple,” you point out.

“Plum,” she corrects you and sits by you on your bed. “I just came to check on you, make sure you were settling in well.”

You sigh with relief and nod. “Yeah, it feels good being back home and showering, and changing clothes.” You let out a deep exhale and fall back on your bed. “I missed it, never let me leave for that long ever again.”

“I tried that the first time, you fought against logic,” she argues.

You shrug to brush her off. “Let’s call it an existential crisis, yeah?” You snicker.

Maria lets out a long sigh that means nothing good, so you sit up and narrow your gaze on her.

“What?” You immediately question.

Maria glances down and doesn’t hold back. She never did. “How did you end up with the cause of that existential crisis?”

Oh yes, you should've known she wasn’t going to leave it alone.

You blow out air and begin to fiddle with the string of your headphones. “We ran into each other at…KC. We were coming to the same place so we decided to travel together.”

Maria scoffs. “Months on the road and nothing seems mended,” she says. “Did he even try?”

You swallow thickly and shake your head softly. “No, but,” you add and pick at the fluff on your sheets. “It’s not like I tried either…if it wasn’t for that girl I don’t think I would’ve stayed with him.”

There’s a moment of silence before she picks on that. “Who is she?”

No one can know Ellie’s immune, as much as you trust Maria, it’s now up to your dad and Ellie to tell who they want, not you.

“A girl, some important firefly’s daughter he was ordered to deliver,” you lie and look up at her so she wouldn’t find you suspicious. “That’s all I know. He isn’t much for sharin’.”

Maria hums and doesn’t seem to find you suspicious so she moves on. Thankfully.

“Look, you’re an adult, you know what’s right from wrong, but you have too much of a good heart….”

You blink and avert your gaze to sigh.

“I don’t want to see you tormenting yourself any longer because of that man y/n—”

“He’s my dad, mama,” you cut her off with no anger or judgment, you cut her off quietly, sadly. “I can’t….” You pause and draw in a deep breath as you feel the need to cry slowly building up. “I can’t just,” you sigh, “forget him. No matter how much he’s hurt me. I can’t do that to him…or her…she’d be devastated.”

Maria carefully grabs ahold of your hand, making you lift your eyes to meet her soft yet hard gaze.

“I just don’t want to see you hurt,” Maria adds softly.

You offer her a comprehensive nod.

“Your uncle Tommy and I are always here, we’re here for you no matter what,” she continues and this time begins to caress your cheek. “You don’t need him. If those plants are dead there’s no need to waste water.”

You stiffen and draw in another shaky breath. You don’t add anything in his defense, you can’t come up with anything else to say but what you already put out.

“Whatever happens to that girl,” she adds on in your silence. “You protect her from him—”

Now you have something to say. “He’s not a bad guy,” you cut her off and meet her gaze with a pointed glare. “He’s just…tough because of what he’s lived through. But he’s not a bad guy.” You understand that now.

Maria raises her chin and doesn’t retreat. “He left you, his own daughter, tell me if that makes him good?”

You blink rapidly as you’re cut off guard by her comment.

“I’m just looking out for you,” she further explains herself. “You’re my family, I love you as if you were my own daughter which is why I just want to protect you.” She pulls her hand away and stands up. “And that girl doesn’t deserve to have her heartbroken by him.”

Maria then waits if you’d say something, but there was nothing you could add anymore, so you let her leave.

“I’m taking Ellie to the movies, enjoy the night with your friends, okay? And at night if it’s hard to sleep, the door will be open, you can sleep in your old room.” She offers.

You break your eyes from the bed to look at her in front of you and nod slowly. “Yeah, okay. Thank you.”

“If you don’t come tonight then come over for breakfast tomorrow, I can make pancakes.”

“Okay sounds good I’ll be there.” You assure her and offer her a very faint smile.

Maria walks to the door and lingers there for a moment before she walks out and closes the door behind you, letting you then throw yourself back to contemplate what was just discussed. She’s right about Ellie, but maybe he deserves time to explain himself to you, even after you said you’d be done with him. He deserves one more chance, if he doesn’t want to try and heal what’s broken then…you’ll stay true to your word and be done with him, for good…

You sigh and slide your headphones back on before flipping around on the bed to attempt and get lost in the music again.

However, now! Now…agony and grief slams back into you just as you were doing good today not thinking about Henry and Sam. All because of the stuffed giraffe on your bed that reminds you of them.

It happens all the time, one minute you think that you’ll get over it, that you’ll heal past that grief and let them be beautiful memories, but it hits you like a ferocious wave. And it’s hard to swim up when it does, you’re slowly drowning each time, sinking deeper and deeper. Not only that but looking at your dad everyday doesn’t make it any easier, there’s just more force that pushes you further down.

Funny and unexpected enough though, it’s been Ellie who has been such a….relief, a breath of fresh air, that ounce of hope that helps you get over the surface. Without her honestly it would’ve been hard getting back home.

Still…as of now it’s taking you again, that damned wave, so you take your headphones off and leave your music on the bed to instead grab the stuffed giraffe and walk outside to your backyard.

The precious meadow that you had grown is under a blanket of snow, much like everything else outside, so you can’t find a bit of bliss there. However, there is something new outside connected to the small white fence that surrounds the cement patio, a wooden bench swing with a canopy and all, hm.

It’s smooth, sturdy, and nice. Now you don’t have to get your ass wet on the snow. Maybe your uncle Tommy built it? Or maybe Mia’s boyfriend built it for her, he thinks himself a carpenter.

Whatever the case, you sit down and just ponder in the silence, watching the stuffed giraffe in your hands and thinking about them; about Henry most of all. You let time pass even as you begin to get cold, and don’t really come back to reality until you hear the backdoor close behind you.

When you sit up and look back you see your uncle Tommy walking to you.

You put the stuffed giraffe down and then beam at him. “Hey!” You greet him.

He offers you a sweet smile and pushes the gate open to walk over to you. “Hey, Sunny,” he greets back. “I’m sorry I let myself in, there was a note on the door.”

You shake your head and pat the open space by you. “Don’t worry about it,” you assure him and watch him study the bench with a smirk.

“Apollo built this for you, did you know?”

You blink in surprise and shake your head as your heart begins to flutter. “No, I didn’t.”

He hums and takes his seat, but rubs the armrests. “Yeah, he said that it’d be a good touch so you wouldn’t have to lay on the grass all the time. Or if you didn’t make it back home then it’d be hell of a memorial...it wasn’t really funny then,” he laughs softly. “But it is now.” He clasps his hands on his lap and glances at the stuffed giraffe before meeting your gaze. “He’s always had a sweet spot for you. He’s a good guy.”

You slowly grin and drop your head to nod. “I know.”

Is he implying something?

“Did you talk to my dad?” You probe and glance up at him. “You guys catch up?”

Your uncle lets out a deep sigh and nods stiffly. “Something like that. We…sorta got into an argument.”

You click your tongue and nod slowly in comprehension. “Sorta?” You probe.

“It wasn’t big but you know how he is.”

You nod. “Yeah,” you sigh.

Your uncle notices the frown and the sadness return in your eyes, so he presses you. “You, have you talked to him?”

You look on ahead at the snow covered meadow and shrug. “Sorta. We talked when we first reunited in KC, but after….after I just got mad at him all over again. I haven’t talked to him since.”

“Is that what has you all down?” He asks and hits you right where it hurts. He knows you too well.

Your eyes sting and your throat begins to feel all clumped up with all the emotions that rapidly build up, but you hold it back as best as you can and try to assure him. And yourself. “I..I don’t want to ruin today.” You offer him a strained smile. “We can talk about it some other day.”

Your uncle shifts in his seat to face you better and doesn’t brush it off. “I cleared up my whole day today for your dad, and for you. I have time to talk. Talk to me.”

He was never one to shy away from an emotional conversation, not with you anyway. Not like your dad. Your uncle Tommy was good that way, open and understanding. Not closed off and dismissive. You owe who you became through all the tragedy to him. It’s sad to admit but if you had been completely raised by your father you would have turned out like him perhaps.

Yet it’s quite hard saying what comes to mind. You part your lips to try and speak, but all you can muster is a shaky breath as you clutch onto the stuffed giraffe.

Your uncle doesn’t press you, he waits until you can finally mutter out.

“Can you tell me…” you pause briefly and glance down at your hands. “If somethings wrong….with me?” You ask in a quivering voice and slowly look up at him, catching his confusion and disbelief.

“My dad left rather than staying with me….and,” you continue through tears. “…the guy that I…loved killed himself rather than wanting to be with me. And I know it sounds selfish, h-he was just grief stricken, his little brother died….but we were partners…and,” you sniffle. “And he left me. So please be honest with me, tell me that I’m no good, that I’m a failure because that’s what I feel.”

Your uncle Tommy lets out a shaky sigh and immediately grabs your face to wipe away your tears and comfort you. “There is nothing wrong with you, baby, nothing. That guy…seems like he couldn’t handle what he felt, it happens, but you had nothing to do with it. And your dad,” he exhales and caresses your cheek. “Your dad did what he thought was best because he loves you. Losing your sister took a lot from him, but that doesn’t mean that somethings wrong with you, he loves you, and leaving was his way of showing it.” He says try and comfort you, and then pulls you in for an embrace, but you only sob more in the comfort of his arms.

You can hardly breathe, your chest feels heavy, your mind is racing, and your heart feels like it was going to jump out of you. Now you couldn’t hold anything back.

“I couldn't help him, he got bit and I couldn’t help. I couldn’t save Henry either, I should’ve just snatched the gun from him but I froze, and I couldn’t help him…just like I couldn’t help Sarah…” you spill out now through sobs.

Your uncle pulls back and grabs your shoulders to keep you close so you’d listen to what he had to redirect. “Sarah was not your fault, you understand that? There was nothing none of us could have done, especially not you, you were only 4. You understand?”

You keep your eyes averted and nod. But that isn’t enough for him.

“Look at me y/n,” he orders, causing you to slowly raise your eyes. “It wasn’t your fault. And I know I don’t know those people you knew, but one thing I am sure about is that it isn’t your fault what happened to them.” He wipes more tears off your cheeks and leans in closer so you’d listen intently. “You cry as much as you want, grieve as long as you need to, but you move on, you keep living for them. You understand? Don’t lose yourself, that’s the worst thing we can do. You understand me?”

You nod through heavy tears and get pulled into a tighter embrace that you sink into, that you bask in for a moment without saying anything. All until your heart slows down, and your head isn't filled with so much noise.

“Thank you uncle Tommy, thank you for listening,” you whisper and pull back to face him with a gentle smile. “I missed you.”

He offers you a sweet smile and wipes away more stray tears. “I missed you too, Sunny.”

You sit back and watch the delicate snowflakes begin to fall from the sky. You sit in silence next to your uncle with a much lighter feeling on your chest.

“I have to tell you something,” your uncle breaks the silence with an obvious nervous voice.

You blink and look at him with a teasing smile and a curious gaze. “What? Oh my, don't tell me…are you pregnant?”

Your uncle meets your gaze and doesn’t laugh even if you said it as a joke, he instead lets out a deep breath and just holds your gaze with the same nervous look that clues you in that you might have guessed right.

“Are you?” You ask seriously now and lean in.

He averts his gaze and nods, making you slowly begin to grin with utter fucking joy. “That’s amazing news, uncle Tommy!” You exclaim and jump off your seat out of excitement. “That’s like, the best news ever.”

Yet you couldn’t help but begin to feel just a bit envious. You were happy, excited, of course you were, but you couldn’t help but feel a smidge of envy. You never thought of that before, you never yearned for that, a family of your own; you were younger, hurt by your own issues with your dad, there was too much going on in your head to even think about that, you wouldn’t have made a good wife nor a good mother. But now after returning from your country wide trip, now after hearing that your uncle's family is growing, there’s this want growing in your own heart. There doesn’t even need to be a baby, but a partner would be nice.

“Why the long face?” You press as he doesn’t seem to match your excitement.

Your uncle sighs. “I'm just nervous, that's all. I’m very fuckin’ nervous, you know it’s going to be a whole human being. I just don’t know…” he trails off.

You giggle and sit back down next to him. “You have nothing to be nervous about, you’re gonna be a good father,” you assure him. “You might not be mine, but you were—are like one, and you did good.”

Your uncle meets your gaze with a soft look and a soft smile. “Thank you, Sunny,” he says.

You grin brighter at him and can’t help but get even more excited. “I’m finally gonna have a cousin, man. I mean I would have appreciated one like 20 years ago, 22 years ago, but I can teach them things now. I’m wiser now.”

He chuckles and then corrects you. “Sister,”

You snap your eyes to him and stiffen.

“You might not be mine, but you are like my daughter.” He says with a smile. “Mine and Maria’s.”

Your eyes water again, but you hold back your tears now and just laugh softly. “Can I hug you now, or do you want to celebrate with a shot?” You add.

“One wouldn’t hurt, but I’ll take that hug too,” he says and lets you throw your arms around him for a tight embrace.

“Thank you for telling me, I needed to hear some good news.”

He smiles and caresses your back. “I’m glad. I’m happy it made you smile.”

You giggle and pull back to shoot him another beaming smile.

He smiles now too and interjects. “Thank you, I needed that too. Made me feel better.”

You lay down on his lap and can’t stop smiling over the news. He sits back and lets his arm rest on you to enjoy each others presence and relish in the joy he brought.

“Don’t push me in the snow,” you warn him as he begins to make the swing sway back and forth. “I just took a shower.”

He scoffs. “Don’t give me ideas, ‘cause I’ll do it. Unless you’re gonna go snitch to your daddy now that he’s here.”

You giggle. “Don’t give me ideas.”

He slowly slides his hand to your back and applies a small amount of pressure, making you stiffen and hang onto the bottom of the seat. “Don’t,” you warn him.

“I ain’t doing nothin’.” He chuckles.

You turn and look at him with a pointed glare, but all he does is smirk mischievously. He then moves his arm back where it was so you turn back to face ahead.

Yet that’s when he gets you and pushes you off the seat, making you fall in the snow.

“Oops,” you hear him say.

You slap your hands on the cold ground, and slowly sit up on your knees to wipe the snow off your face roughly as you turn your head to glare at him.

“Go on,” he says with a stifled laugh. “Bring out your guitar so we can tune it up. Let’s make sure you haven’t forgotten that talent of yours.”

“Fine,” you grumble and stand up to brush the snow off your body. “I’ll get the bottle too.”

You’re only not getting him back because you just got back and because he shared that news with you. You’ll get him back though. Old fucker.

——

*LATER*

The tv played one of your favorite movies, but it played for no one since you and your friends gathered around the living room and got lost gossiping, drinking and playing some card game Atlas insisted on playing to make drinking “more fun”. That cinnamon scent that basked the room was pushed away by the smell of food Mia had made and the alcohol in your cups.

“That’s total bull,” you complain to Atlas about the number of infected he’s killed.

He scoffs. “You can’t say that, you weren’t here.”

You pull away from Mia’s arms wrapped around your neck to lean closer to Atlas. “That number is too high. I don’t believe you.”

Atlas shrugs. “Don’t believe me then, but I did kill that many.”

You roll your eyes and meet Apollo’s gaze to press him for the truth. He however shrugs and just shares a small smirk with you.

“I’ll let you off the hook and tell you how many I killed if you say the truth,” you suggest.

“No,” Atlas blurts and pushes you back to Mia with his foot, making you scrunch your nose in disgust. “You were out in the world, your number doesn’t count.”

“Sure,” you snicker. “You old vanity. You just don’t want me to beat you. You can’t take it. You’re too fragile.”

“Whatever,” he grumbles. “Can we just continue with the damn game before someone here talks about herself.”

You smirk. “I am a very interesting person. Just ask your dad.”

Atlas narrows his gaze and scoffs, whilst you and Mia high five.

“Okay, really did any of us get the number right?” Mia’s boyfriend asks to keep the game going.

You look between them all and shake your head. “Nope, you all drink.”

They all groan and Atlas is the one that mumbles of course. “That’s impossible.”

You watch them all take their shots with a playful smirk, but once you land on Apollo, your eyes linger and your smile softens. However, you then catch him shifting his gaze your way so you quickly look away and just feel his stare.

There’s something different about him now compared to before, the look in his eyes, his face maybe. He was never immature as his little brother is still til this day, but Apollo is far more mature than before. More handsome maybe—well he always was you just never gave it too much thought, you were far too troubled for that. And he was—is your best friend….

Damn….there’s that guilt stabbing at you again.

“Okay!” Atlas exclaims and sits up. “My turn, let’s change this game to the Apollo game.”

Mia groans. “Atlas that game is stupid. We know everything about each other—”

“Y/N’s been gone,” Atlas cuts her off. “So, let’s go on. Remember we make a statement about her and if it’s true she drinks, and you are then you drink, okay? Okay! Come on now SunnyD get up.”

You roll your eyes and sit up to drag yourself between Apollo and Mia.

“Okay,” he keeps yelling and does a drum roll on the ground. “You’ve been in love.”

Fuck.

You swallow thickly and get ready to answer, but a knock then raps on the door at that precise moment. Much to your excitement actually.

“Oh!” You jump up. “I’ll get it, you know how much I’ve missed actually answering a door without fearing for my life.” You run over to answer the door, and Achilles gets out of the couch to follow you to the door.

And much to your surprise once you open it you see your dad outside.

“Daddy,” you mutter in disbelief. “Hey.” You sligtly furrow your brows in confusion due to his very much vivid presence.

Your dad averts his gaze to stare at the ground and swallows thickly before stating his reason for this late visit. “Can we talk?” He asks.

Your heart skips a beat, and you grow speechless for a second. “Uh….sure, come in.”

He looks up at you and shakes his head. “No,” he says and glances past your shoulder to steal a glance at all your friends sitting in the living room listening in. “Can we take a walk?”

Must be important if he bothered to come all this way. “Okay,” you whisper and open the door wider. “Come in, I need to grab my jacket and my shoes.” You step aside and he shuffles inside awkwardly, causing the curious dog to sniff him before he runs back to Apollo.

“Uh,” you interject and walk to the end of the hall. “Now that you’re here, meet my friends from when my uncle Tommy and I were fireflies.” You point to Mia first. “That’s my friend Mia. And that next to her is Arthur, her boyfriend. Over there,” you point to the dark haired boy. “Is Atlas, and,” you shift your eyes to Apollo and smile softly. “That’s Apollo. Guys,” you breathe out. “This is my dad, Joel.”

Mia offers him a very faint half smile and simply waves, and her boyfriend does the same, whilst Atlas smirks and throws up a peace sign and a very quick greeting. “‘Sup.”

Gosh.

“Hi,” Apollo greets more properly, but stays sitting down. “It’s very nice meeting you Mr. Miller.”

You glance at your dad and see him just offer them a stiff wave and a dry greeting. “Hello there.”

Better nothing, and better than a gun to their heads.

“Okay,” you breathe out awkwardly. “I’m going to get my stuff.” You offer your friends a quick smile before you run off to your room to get what you need, whilst your mind races and spins with all the different outcomes to what could be said.

He doesn’t seem mad. Maybe it’s about his heart.

Or about choosing…no, it can’t be that. Positive thoughts only.

You let out a deep exhale before leaving your room to join your dad back at the entrance. “Okay,” you encourage him and throw a quick wave at your friends. “I’ll see you guys.” You open the door and walk out to the snowy night with your dad at your heels.

You expect to see Ellie waiting outside, but she’s not here, it’s only him.

“Where’s Ellie?” You ask as he now walks by your side when you exit your yard and now get on the street.

“Uh, she’s at the house,” he answers. “I just…wanted to talk to you. Alone.”

You shoot him a nervous glance and let out a small exhale. “Okay,” you whisper and grow even more nervous. “What’s wrong?”

You catch your dad scratching the back of his head and averting your gaze at all costs. “Just…just give me some time…I’m not that good at this.”

This doesn’t help whatsoever.

“Alright,” you whisper and glance at the falling snow as you take a turn to exit the street you lived on.

“I just,” he interjects and fists his hands. “I just need you to hear me, that's all I want, you don’t need to say anything, you don’t owe me nothin’. I just need you to hear what I have to tell you. Okay?”

You blink rapidly and nod. “Okay,” you whisper.

But he ends up taking another long moment to himself to think of the reason why he brought you out in the cold so late at night. You even pass your uncle's house, his own house that he was given to stay at. You pass lit streets, and only fill the silence with the crunches of your feet against the snow. You make it to the center of town where the large glowing Christmas tree brings cheer to the town.

“I,” he breaks his silence. “I’m sorry.”

You gasp softly and stop in your tracks as his words…words you never thought you’d hear, words he hasn’t spoken in a long time register in your mind.

“I’m supposed to be the one protecting you,” he continues and stops to turn around to face you. “I was the one who was supposed to teach you how to be the person you are now, I was the one who…needed to watch you grow up, but I…I let you down. I left,” his voice breaks. “I left you even if I knew your mother, even if I knew….Sarah would be mad. I left you, I hurt you…” his breath shudders and you can’t hold back your own tears now, no matter how much you wanted to fight them away.

“And I’m so ashamed of it,” he adds as…tears roll down his cheeks. “I am. But I don’t regret it,” he reveals and meets your watery gaze. “Because if I didn’t leave, you wouldn’t be who you are now, a strong, independent woman. You would only be angry like me, you’d be vain, and a monster.”

You shake your head against his words, but don’t say anything, you keep listening to him.

“I just wish I would have done things differently,” he mutters with more tears steaming down his face, tears that shock you to your core, leave you speechless and heartbroken.

“I’m sorry,” he says again in a tearful voice. “I am. There will never not be a day where I don’t regret how I hurt you.” He shakes his head and steps towards you. “And you have every right to keep on hatin’ me, to move on and not deal with me. I don’t blame you, I wouldn't. I just needed you to hear what I owe you.”

You let out a shaky breath and look up to watch the snowflakes dance down from the sky, littering the ground with their white icy texture, and making the ground twinkle against the street lights yellow hue, against the beautiful colors that wrap the grand green tree a few feet away from you. You watch the sky to take in all his words, to gather your own thoughts.

“I…” you murmur against the winter wind that blows past you. “I don’t understand,” you cry and look down at him, but his face blurs because of your tears, and the twinkling lights cloud him and your vision. “Why….why me? I….” you shake your head. “I love too easily…I don’t like to see the reality of things because it makes me sad, I dream too big and too much, I…I’m too boastful,” you sob.

“I’m not strong, I’ve never been. I’ve tried to change for you, I’ve tried to be a better daughter, one—one who you’d be proud of, but I can't, and you can’t ignore it…you can’t,” you shake your head with your quivering lip and step back away from him. “I’m not enough. I'm not perfect like Sarah was, I’m not…important like Ellie, I’m nothing,” you whisper. “You deserve better. You do.”

Your dad lets out a shaky breath and nods as more tears escape past his eyes. “It’s true,” he admits. “You might be a bit boastful, you might see the beauty of the world and hold onto too much hope, your dreams might be too big, but,” he quivers and takes a step towards you. “That is why I love you. I love every bit of it. I have loved it since the moment I held you in my arms for the first time. You…you are everything to me, baby, you are the reason I keep livin’, you are my entire world, and the beauty that this world lost. You are what makes all this worth it, you are everything to me.”

You scoff softly at his words and let out a shaky sob as you find them beautiful yet unbelievable.

“I’m sorry,” he says again and gets close enough so he can cup your cheeks. “I can’t do this without you. I can’t lose you too.”

You grab his hands, you hold onto them as you hold his teary gaze for a moment, before you throw your arms around him.

He’s caught off guard for a few seconds, but he then hugs you back and presses you against his chest and rests his head on yours.

You don’t have the luxury of time, neither of you, and you know you’d only hate yourself if something happened to him and you couldn’t say what you feel.

“I forgive you,” you assure him and hold onto him tighter. “I do. I forgive you.”

He lets out a relieved sigh and clutches onto you as his tears soak your head.

“Will you forgive me?” You ask, and he quickly pulls back to hold your face in his hands and look at you with confusion. “For not trying either. I should’ve tried too. And for that I’m sorry.”

Your dad quickly shakes his head and wipes away your tears. “You have nothin’ to apologize for, okay? Nothing.”

You sniffle and smile softly. “Still, I'm sorry, just take it, okay?”

He scoffs in protest, but nods regardless before he pulls you in for another tight and loving embrace, letting you find comfort in his warmth that wraps around you, and by the sound of his beating heart that eases as you hold him close to you.

“I love you,” he says by your ear. “So so much.”

You laugh softly and nod. “I love you too. I do.”

He gives you one last squeeze before you both pull away from each other and face the Christmas tree in a peaceful silence, hand in hand. You linger there until you remember what you have for him.

“Can I give you an early Christmas present?” You ask rhetorically.

But he still answers. “I don’t have anything for you, and well you shouldn’t.”

You scoff and turn to pull him back to your house.

“Look,” he interjects. “One more thing, about Henry….”

You blink and feel your smile falter.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”

You swallow thickly and shake your head. “There was nothing you could do. Nothing any of us could do…” it’s sad to admit now, it tears your heart apart, but it’s true.

“But,” your dad continues. “You’ll be okay?”

You glance over at him and hesitate a moment before you nod softly. “I will. With time. The best thing we can do…is move on.” You know that now after the talk with him, he lifted that weight off you, and helped you from drowning under the depths of the suffocating waters. “As hard as it is, as impossible as it may seem now, we have to live for them, because we don't have the luxury of time….so that’s the best thing we can do, right?”

Your dad lets his eyes linger on you for a moment before he smiles softly. “I would’ve never thought of that…it’s sweet.”

You smile softly and hum, leaving the rest of your walk to your house silent. Once you do reach your house, your friends are still out, but calmer. “Excuse me,” your dad directs at them as you make him follow you to your room.

“Now I didn’t have time to wrap it, but it’s the thought that counts,” you tell him and turn the light on in your room. And luckily the gift is easy to find on your vanity.

“This room is…very you,” your dad comments as you hear him walk over to the corner of your room where your guitar is. “You play better now?”

You scoff and snatch the disc from your vanity to turn and face him. “Yes,” you admit. “I mean I'm not as good as you, but I’m better than I was before.” You grin and then close the gap between each other to hand him his favorite movie, Curtis and Viper 2.

“I never payed much mind to it before, but I watched it for the first time a couple years back, and it’s not bad,” you share. “That is the movie though, right? All I could remember were the funny men from the cover.”

Your dad looks down at the disc in his hands and immediately smiles. “You’re right,” he assures you, letting you let out a relieved sigh. All this time you thought you’ve been wrong—“It’s a great movie,” he adds. “Where you find it?”

You smirk. “I found it in the tunnels at KC. I just never got the chance to give it to you. You like it?”

He meets your gaze and nods. “I love it, baby. Thank you.”

You smile sweetly and clap softly out of joy. He notices your smile and his smile softens.

“It’s not that late yet,” you add, “even if it looks so. My tv works….I can pop it in. If you want.” You suggest.

Your dad doesn’t hesitate—he can’t turn you down, so he nods. “Go on, pop it in.”

You squeal softly and take the movie from him to now head to your small tv. “You can lay on the bed, just take your shoes off.”

He hums, and as you’re putting on the movie you hear your bed sink and shoes thump on the ground. And as overjoyed as you are, someone comes to mind and brings your mood down slightly. Yet you don’t bring her up until you’re laying down next to him watching the previews play with your head on his chest, finding comfort by the sound of his heartbeat and his arm around you.

“About Ellie,” you bring up without shame, hoping he’d be honest. “What are you goin’ to do?”

Your dad lets out a deep sigh and you feel him swallow thickly. “I’m not the man I used to be,” he admits quietly as he caresses the side of your head. “I’m old now. You know that, I’m…not strong enough no more, but…trust me when I say I'm going to do my best by her.”

He’s right about being old, but is he right about letting her leave?

You can’t let her leave with just your uncle Tommy. You know that heartbreak too well, and you know your dad has the best intentions, you wouldn't have seen that yourself before, but hopefully she’ll see it with time. If that’s what he wants. You can’t force him to do anything.

“Alright,” you trust him. “But whatever happens, I’m going with her, I’m seeing her off. For her and for what she can mean to the firefly’s and humanity,” you say softly. “I owe it to Sam, to everyone else that I’ve lost to that infection.”

Your dad lets out a deep breath. “That’s fine,” he says. “That’s good. Your Uncle Tommy plans to take her tomorrow morning. It’s a week's ride.”

You just got home, but fuck it. One more trip and that’s it.

“What about you?” You probe. “What will you do?”

He stays quiet for a moment and watches the movie finally start. “I don’t know.” He breaks his silence.

You sigh softly. “That’s fine,” you assure him. “Just…do what’s best by her, and you. Okay? Promise?”

“I do,” he whispers. “I promise.”

You smile softly. “Good,” you whisper.

——

*THE NEXT MORNING*

Flashlight?

Check.

Extra clothes?

Check.

Books to read?

Check.

Multiple pairs of fingerless gloves that keeps your hands warm but helps with other purposes?

Check.

New cassettes to listen to?

Check.

Every other little thing that goes in the backpack?

Uh….check!

Weapons?

Need to check those out, but it’s all here. Good. You get off the edge of your bed and once you’re at the door you make sure to be quiet since it’s still pretty early and neither person living here gets up just yet.

However, as you quietly step out of your room you almost run into Mia waiting outside of your door with her arms over her chest, and her dark eyes piercing your very soul—she’s pissed. She knows.

“Mornin’,” you greet her with a small smile.

Mia doesn't return it, or return that same energy. She remains pissed.

“Don’t,” she cuts you off. “Don’t smile at me like everything’s okay.”

She might be shy and gentle, but she’s no one to mess with when she’s upset. Like now.

“You’re leaving again.” She knows. How?

You lose your smile and let out a deep sigh. “Yes,” you admit. “I am but not for long. Maybe just a month this time, or even less. I just need to see someone off.”

Mia shakes her head and her brows furrow deeper. “Can’t someone else do that? You just got home from a 2 year trip. A trip you probably barely survived…”

“Mia,” you interject to try and comfort her concern, but she continues and drops her arms to her sides to take an angry step towards you.

“No. No! We waited, I waited for you for 2 years, everyday I prayed that you wouldn’t meet the same fate everyone else did; my mom, my brother. I waited and now you’re leaving again.”

You swallow thickly and quietly mention who you’re going with this time in hopes that would help. “I’m going with my uncle Tommy. I’ll be back, I came back this time. I promise.”

“No, that’s no excuse—”

“And you can’t make me stay,” you cut her off this time. “I appreciate your concern, I do, but I have to see this girl off, I have to make this worth something…I lost people Mia, a guy I loved, and his brother who I adored…he got bit….” You pause and swallow back thickly. “If taking her might be worth something I have to do it for them.”

Mia seems puzzled by what you said since she doesn’t see the bigger picture, but she doesn’t argue now.

“I’ll come back,” you assure and take another step toward her to take her hands in yours. “I promise. I won’t leave after that. I’ll stay home. Just one more trip.”

Mia drops her gaze and hesitates before she nods softly and whispers, “okay. One more.” She then pulls her hands away to wrap you in an embrace. “Come back, okay?”

You return her embrace and nod. “I will,” you assure her. “I swear.” You give her one gentle squeeze before you pull away to offer her one last smile before you continue your way outside.

Yet, of course, as you walk past your yard, there, against the fence is Apollo with a backpack, and Achilles waiting next to him. How the hell did they know you’re leaving?

Did they overhear?

“Apollo?” You question and come to another stop.

Achilles runs to you and rubs his body against you before sitting by your side now, while Apollo turns to face you as he drops his folded arms down to his sides.

“I can get the horses, you check out the weapons.” He peels away from his spot and steps off the sidewalk, whilst you just look at him in disbelief.

“Hold up, where are you going?” You interrupt him.

Apollo stops in his tracks and just peers back. “I’m going with you and Tommy.” He mentions it casually.

You blink in disbelief and let out a breathless laugh. “What?” You shake your head. “Why?”

Apollo turns around completely and looks almost surprised you’d ask such a question. “I accidentally overheard you and your dad talking on my way to bed last night—”

Sure. Accidental.

“I'm not sitting on my ass here while you’re off risking your life and having all the fun—“

You scoff softly.

“Besides,” he adds in a softer voice. “I don’t want to wait for you to come back home again. I’ll go with you this time.”

You breath traps in your throat out of disbelief over his words, and a soft smile begins to appear on your features. “That’s nice,” you tell him. “Very…but…I can’t be who you want…not yet at least. I lost someone, someone I loved, someone I fell in love with. It’s still a fresh wound, ” you scoff as your eyes begin to sting. “I can’t be who you want, or what you want.”

Rather than being hurt, or upset by your words Apollo smiles. “I loved someone too. I was in love with her too. It hurts too. But,” he adds in a soft voice as he takes a step towards you. “I’m not asking you to be my first love, nor do I want to be yours….we can be each other's last, whenever you’re ready, I’ll wait.”

Tears fall past your eyes and you can only whisper. “Okay.”

He grins, but you step back again. “But I can’t make you come with us. I don’t want you to. Your brother is here, your dad,” you insist. “They need you alive.”

“I can die here too,” he interjects. “It doesn’t matter, y/n, I would go to the edge of earth with you. I would’ve had you asked me before.”

Your heart skips a beat, and you can’t help your smile. But as nice as his words are to hear, the answer remains the same. “What if I want you to wait for me here?” You say and now get closer to him. “So you can greet me when I get home. So I can have something to look forward to. A light in the dark.”

“That,” he chuckles softly. “Is the cheesiest thing ever.”

You laugh and nod in agreement, stopping now as you’re only inches away. “Yeah, but will you?” You querie.

He holds your gaze and offers you a soft assuring smile. “I already did, what’s another month or so?”

Your grin widens and you immediately throws your arms around him. He immediately returns the embrace and nuzzles his head on your shoulder.

“Be careful, okay?” He adds.

“I will,” you assure him and linger in his embrace for a moment longer. “You take care too, promise?”

“I promise.”

You smile and pull away to cup his cheek, he offers you a soft smile before he raises his hands to unwrap his scarf around his neck to instead carefully wrap it around yours.

“There, nice and toasty.” He murmurs.

You giggle and hold his gaze for another moment before you pull away before you couldn’t bring yourself to leave, and turn to walk to your uncle Tommy’s house now. You want to look back, but you don’t, you can’t, it’d only make you feel bad for leaving, so you just feel his stare and walk away. You can’t even give it too much or else you’ll feel bad too, you just clear your mind and walk.

Once you make it to the street where your uncle lives you catch him walking out of his own house. He spots you right away, and is rightfully surprised by your presence.

“What are ya doin’?” He asks once you meet halfway in the middle of the street.

You shrug. “Makin’ Maria even more mad.” You glance at his house and nod slowly. “Goin’ with Ellie, and you. Leaving, one more time. And don’t you dare fight me, I’ll fight back.”

Your uncles lips pull into a soft smile and he scoffs as he nods. “Okay then,” he doesn’t question you further, he respects your choice without a fight.

You glance at his house again and sigh. “No pancakes in there, is there?” You ask with a bit of hope.

He shakes his head. “Nope.”

“Well It’s a good thing I ate beforehand then.” You turn and begin to walk to the house Ellie and your dad were staying at. “Wanna go fetch her?”

He nods. “Yep.”

As he goes inside you wait outside and think about your dad now. He said he was going to do right by her, you trust him, but is he really not going to see her off at the gate or even just outside the house? You said your goodbyes last night just in case, but what about her?

“Y/N?” You hear Ellie’s voice as the front door closes behind her.

You lift your head, and offer her a sweet smile and a small wave. “Hey.”

She stops by you and studies you for a moment in this soft shocked reaction before she probes. “Are you coming?”

You nod and begin to follow after your uncle as he leads the way. “Yep. I’ve been gone from home for two years, what’s another month or so?” You tell her. “Besides, I don’t want to miss another hell of an adventure.” You smirk at her, and she offers you a soft smile. “Is that okay?” You make sure regardless of the relief you read on her face.

“Yeah,” Ellie says without hesitation. “Yeah.”

You offer one more smile before you skip ahead to walk at your uncles side. “Stables and then can we get my rifle and pistol? I’ve felt like I’ve been missin’ something all day. It’s weird.”

He peers back and then glances at you to nod. “Of course. How did it go with your friends? Have fun?”

You nod and begin to get ahead a bit. “Yeah. We had fun, we ate some food, we drank, watched Pulp Fiction—which,” you say and look back at Ellie, “we need to watch by the way, when we get back. Sorry, have you watched it?”

Ellie shakes her head. “I never have, no.”

You smirk. “Great movie. You’ll like it, I’m sure of it.”

“Is it romantic? I prefer more action and scary movies.” She says.

You scoff and shake your head. “Nah, it’s not romantic. You’ll like it, trust me.”

“You make a play based off that too?” Ellie comments, making your uncle chuckle.

You shoot her smirking face a narrowed glare. “No,” you deadpan. “I didn't. I couldn’t bring myself to do that to that movie.”

“No but seriously,” your uncle interjects. “Once we come back you need to tell her to make a play, they’re all surprisingly good.”

“Of course they are,” you quip. “And! What is that supposed to mean?”

He smirks. “Just surprisin’ that’s all. Don’t know where you get that talent from.”

You hum and shoot him a pointed glare, and leave at that as you see the stables coming up ahead.

“I get my own horse right?” You ask and run up ahead.

“You’re sharin!” Your uncle exclaims.

“Beats walkin’!” You comment and slow down as you enter the pen. And rather than waiting for them to catch up you walk in the stables to start getting the horse ready.

Albeit, just as you walk in you stop right away as you catch your dad saddling a horse. You know what it means; he changed his mind about staying. So instead of diving into questions you just smile at him as you meet his gaze, and look back as your uncle and Ellie walk in.

“You come here to say goodbye or something?” Ellie asks in an upset tone.

“No,” your dad says. “I came here to steal one of these horses and go.”

He could’ve just asked.

“Well,” your uncle interjects. “I woulda gave you one.”

Your dad pats the horse's neck and looks at his brother. “I know,” he says. “Anyway.” He glances at Ellie. “That was 30 minutes ago, and I guess…” he pauses and walks to Ellie to continue. “You deserve a choice. I still think you’d be better off with Tommy—”

He gets cut off suddenly as Ellie shoves a blue bag of supplies so he can hold, and retorts. “Let’s go.”

Your dad glances at you before looking back at Ellie and adding, “okay.”

Silence follows so you move past them to saddle your own horse since three don’t fit on one. Your uncle helps so the progress moves on faster, but as he does you come to the realization that now he won’t be coming. The only reason he was going was because your dad wasn’t, but now that he changed his mind your uncle stays.

“I’ll make it back before the baby is born,” you break your silence.

Your uncle looks over at you and shoots you a smile. “You better.”

“I’ll make it back before my birthday too,” you add with a playful smirk. “So you better start plannin’, you’ve been let off the hook for 2 years now.”

“You come back and I’ll throw you the biggest party you’ve had,” he feeds to your demand.

You smile softly as you feel sadness in your heart knowing you have to leave him again. “I’ll hold you to it.”

“Wouldn’t expect it any other way.”

You giggle and finish up saddling up your horse to then meet up with Ellie and your dad outside the stable.

“General direction?” Your dad asks your uncle, but he looks to you instead.

“She knows it, she can lead the way.” Your uncle points out. “You remember the school, right Sunny?”

You nod as you caress your black horse's neck. “Yeah. I remember.”

Your dad nods in comprehension, and once he looks back at his brother in front of him they quickly move in and embrace each other. It’s short but sweet, and makes you smile with joy to see that they’re doing okay.

It’s not like it was before, but the love is there.

“There’s a place for you here,” your uncle tells your dad once they’re apart. “For Ellie and you.”

“Countin’ on it,” your dad says, letting your uncle now look at you again.

“You come back now, understand?”

You shoot him a smirk. “Have to. Can’t miss my own party.”

He smiles and lets his eyes linger on you to take in the sight of you one more time.

“Can I borrow that?” Your dad interjects.

Your uncle breaks his gaze away from you to glance at his rifle before meeting your dads gaze. “Yeah.” He accepts and then slides the gun off his shoulder.

“‘Cause Maria took mine, you know?” Your dad says.

“I already said yes, Joel,” he retorts as he hands your dad the gun. “Adios, big brother.”

Your dad offers him a nod before finally moving out. And once you collect your own rifle, pistol, and other supplies you may need, you climb on your horse and head on out. One more time.

But, this time with not such a heavy heart, or a tormented mind.

——

*LATER*

The sound of the gunshot rang against the secluded grass field, and the sound of the bullet breaking a tree trunk echoes out, making you snicker at Ellie’s failure to shoot the close target.

She chooses to ignore you though and shoots again, but once again misses and hits a small pile of snow near the target. And this time you smile at the ground as you shift your position.

She does it a third time, but no luck, so she lets out an annoyed sigh that lets your dad comment. “Wide right.”

Ellie shakes her head in denial.

“You’re flinchin’,” you comment, and unfold your arms off your chest.

“The targets too small,” she rebuttals you and your dad.

“I made it bigger than I should’ve,” your dad mentions and points to the gun. “Eject the cartridge.”

Ellie does so and the bullet falls to the ground first before she argues back. “And I’m not flinching.”

You and your dad share a teasing look before you hum. “Mm-hmm.”

“The rifle just sucks,” Ellie keeps mumbling.

You roll your eyes, and your dad steps forward. “Okay, give It.”

Ellie hands the rifle to your dad with a sigh and another comment. “It doesn’t aim right.”

You crouch down beside your dad as he switches spots with Ellie, and hum again with a little playful smirk on your lips. “Mm-hmm.”

“You’ll see.”

“A deep breath in,” your dad says as he gets the gun ready. “Slow breath out. Squeeze the trigger like you love it.”

“Mm,” Ellie hums as she looks through the binoculars.

“Gentle,” he continues and lowers his head, and closes one eye to look better through the scope. “Steady…nice and slow.”

“You’re gonna shoot this thing or get it pregnant?” Ellie retorts, making you snicker as your dad looks up at her with a disapproving look.

“It isn’t gonna work. It doesn’t aim right,” Ellie continues, so your dad then hits the trigger gently and the bullet hits the target straight on, causing him to lower the gun and look up at her all cocky.

“You dick,” Ellie quips with a grin.

Your dad shrugs smugly, causing you to snicker at Ellie.

“2 out 2?” You suggest smugly.

Your dad smirks and happily hands you the rifle, making Ellie shake her head in disapproval.

“Watch carefully, kid,” you comment as you scoot further in the middle.

“Don’t get the gun pregnant,” she quips.

“Haha, funny,” you mumble and eject the cartridge as you close one eye and aim at the target. “Now…” you trail as you hit the trigger, and the bullet whizzes out and hits the target inches away from where your dad hit it.

“See,” you taunt Ellie and lift your head. “Can I get a bump?” You offer her your fist.

Ellie scoffs lightheartedly and pushes your fist away. “No,” she grumbles, so your dad gently taps your fist with his.

“You guys suck,” Ellie scoffs and turns around to head back to the horses.

You snicker and push yourself to your given height, and hand the rifle back to your dad to quickly catch up to Ellie. “You just need patience,” you assure her and look around the fields. “You’ll get the hang of it.”

Ellie glances at you and then looks back at your dad following at your tail. “Did it take you time?”

You sigh deeply. “Not much, but it’s not because I had much of a choice, I was forced to adapt, forced to learn everything quickly to survive. It’s not super easy for you, but you have it easier, you’re used to all this shit since you were born in it, I wasn’t.”

“So you’re saying I can be better,” Ellie comments.

You glance at her and scoff as you nudge her to the side. “Sure, practice and then we’ll see.”

Ellie smirks and nods in comprehension. Once you reach your horses you continue on ahead down your path, filling the day with silence at times and conversations that come up at other times. Due to the horses it was faster to get around the land, it was also less stressful since they can pick up sounds neither you might hear.

Luckily though they didn’t catch anything bad, no infected or people, the path was clear and the day was easy, making for a calm night in the spot you settled down at.

“Now that we have time,” you interject and grab your backpack from behind you to plop it down in front of you. “I have a Christmas gift for you Ellie.”

“What? Really?” Ellie queries curiously.

You hum and open your backpack. Since what you have for her is placed on top you look over at her sitting to the side of the campfire and add on. “I gave my dad his Christmas gift early, so might as well give yours early too.” You shoot her a smile, and she glances at your dad with slight shock before getting up from her seat to sit next to you.

“Now keep in mind,” you continue and now begin to pull out her gift. “I didn’t have time to go into town to actually shop well, but I do hope you like it.” You fully pull out her gift and hand it to her. “And it’s not wrapped either so sorry.”

Ellie’s smile turns timid as she takes the brown leather holster from you, but she soon grins once she figures out what it is exactly. “No way!” She exclaims and stands up to hook it around her hip. “A thigh holster!”

“Now you don’t have to be scared about shooting off your ass,” your dad comments.

You giggle and nod in agreement as you watch Ellie now tie the last strap above her knee. “Cool,” she mumbles and tucks her pistol in the holster before quickly sliding it out and pointing at the empty space between your dad and you—“Fast move,” she mutters to herself, and then spins the gun around her finger to try and insert it back in the holster all swiftly, but the gun hits the ground instead.

“Jesus, Ellie,” your dad snaps.

Ellie stifles her laugh so as to not piss your dad off and picks up her gun to put it back. However she then finds the tip hits against something inside so she pulls out the gun and digs her fingers inside, and pulls out a leather necklace with a small piece of wood carved into a neat circle with a butterfly burned onto it. On each side of the necklace, over the wood are small wooden beads.

“Is this…” she pauses and her smile softens as well as her eyes. “Is it for me too?”

You nod. “Yeah. The necklace is adjustable so you can have it where it feels comfortable.”

Ellie grins softly and turns the small wooden pendant and smiles wider.

“It has my name on it—did you do this?” She asks.

You scoff and shake your head. “Nah, my friend did. I can’t do that.”

Ellie looks back at the necklace and shifts her eyes to the other thing around it, something small, thin, plastic and shaped like a dull triangle. “What is this?”

You glance over at your dad and let him answer. “A…guitar pick. Uh…I figure that once we go back to Jackson you’ll need a hobby so you won’t get bored, so I thought maybe you’d like to learn how to play a guitar.”

You smile wider and look back to Ellie, seeing her eyes only twinkle brighter. “You play?” She probes.

He nods. “Haven’t played in some time, but yeah, I do. I taught y/n a bit. I can teach you if you’d like.”

Ellie nods quickly. “Yeah, that’d be cool. I’d like that. Thank you, the both of you. I’m sorry I don’t have a gift for you, y/n.”

You shake your head and assure her. “Don’t worry about it. You can make it up for my birthday. My uncle Tommy is throwing me a party.” You share with a sweet smile.

“Oh is he now?” Your dad probes.

You glance at him and nod. “Yep. You guys are invited by the way.”

“I’ll think about it,” your dad teases you, making you scoff and roll your eyes.

“By the way,” Ellie interjects as she ties the necklace around her neck. “Why does Tommy call you Sunny? Is it like a middle name or something?”

“A nickname,” you tell her. “But I don’t know why exactly he does, he just does. I’ve never asked.” You shrug.

“He says it because,” your dad cuts in, causing Ellie and you to look over at him. “Back when y/n was a little girl she always had a Sunny disposition, she was always smilin’. As a little baby she was easy to make laugh too, so one time this song by some 70s band with the same name began to play, and he got it from there.”

Ellie smiles. “Sweet,” she comments, whilst you grin and miss your uncle all over again.

At least this time it’s not as bad as before though, because at least now you do have your father, and are closer to Ellie, so they make it all easier now. They make the long days of riding that follow a lot easier, and even make those days seem quicker. Especially because Ellie has a lot of questions regarding the time before.

Like now for example, as you’re riding on horseback through the woods she breaks the peaceful silence with a question. “So the way they ran stuff in Jackson, was how things used to be?”

“No,” your dad answers this question. “The country was too big for that. Back then there were basically two main ways of lookin’ at things. Some people wanted to own everything.”

“Mm-hmm,” Ellie hums in comprehension, and your dad continues.

“And some people didn’t want anyone to own anything at all.”

“Which one were you?” Ellie asks.

“Neither,” he says. “I just did my job.”

“Which was…” Ellie trails off as she thinks, and glances at you since you had told her once before. “Building?” She asks.

“That’s right,” he answers. “Houses, stores, that kinda thing. We were called “contractors”.”

“The contractor,” Ellie says in a deep voice, making you grin down at your handle—“that’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah,” your dad adds on. “We were cool. Everybody loved contractors.”

Really? Hm.

“Nice,” Ellie says and proceeds to rest her head on his back.

You try to think if he’s right, but you were too young before to know otherwise, and your uncle Tommy never said anything against it so your dad must be right.

“This has been ‘Construction corner with Joel Miller’,” you quote in a deep voice.

Ellie and your dad look over at you, and you laugh.

“It’s what Tess used to say.” You let Ellie know, and remind your dad.

Ellie smiles and then adds her own bit. “The Contractor!” She mocks in a deep voice.

You smirk. “The Contractor!” You mock as well. “Joel the Contractor.”

Ellie laughs and repeats what you said. “Joel the Contractor.”

Where is Tess? You may have not known her long, she might’ve scared you a bit before, but she was nice and cool. You’d ask, but you didn’t want to sour the mood, so you went on going without knowing.

Eventually the day turns to night and so as to not exhaust yourselves you camp for the night; this time in a place deeper in the woods.

“Okay,” you add as you stare up at the starry sky. “So if you could name 3 songs to describe yourself, what would it be?”

Ellie hums, and you glance over at your dad that has his back turned to Ellie and you.

“I wouldn’t know,” she mutters.

“Okay,” you nod. “Then to describe each other.”

You have three perfect songs for Ellie.

Ellie goes silent for a second before interjecting loudly in defeat. “Fuck, I don’t know!”

You giggle, and unexpectedly your dad interjects when he’s supposed to be sleeping.

“Three? For you, y/n, Uptown Girl by Billy Joel, Sunny, and,” he pauses and begins to laugh.

“What?” You probe and flip around to face his back. “What other song?”

“That song you sang for my birthday 20 years ago, by that one rapper named after two quarters.”

“Oh god,” you grumble and flip back around to face the sky. “I thought you forgot that! That’s so embarrassing!”

“Wait?! What?!” Ellie exclaims and flips around to face you and your dad. “What song is it?”

“I don’t know,” your dad says. “Tell y/n to sing it for you.”

“Daddy,” you warn. “Don’t.”

“What?” He chuckles. “It was cute, I told ya it was. She,” he continues and looks over his shoulder. “She dressed up as me that day; she wore one of my shirts, put on this fake mustache, and sang this rap song as one of my birthday gifts. It was great, one of my favorite gifts by far.”

You slap your hands on your face to hide your embarrassment.

“Really?” Ellie probes with a snicker. “That’s nice. Do you remember the words, y/n? I’d love to hear them since you know, I’m not that well up to date about the world before.”

Guilt tripping you? Not nice.

You don’t fall for it, you shake your head. “No!” You deny her, and pull your hands off your face to pull your sheet over your face as you drag yourself further in your sleeping bag. “This is over goodnight!”

“Come on!” Ellie presses you, and you can practically feel her grin. “Just one verse!”

You ignore them and pretend to be asleep. They both then try to press you, but you stay defiant and don’t give in. They eventually drop it after relentless teasing, so the night passes, a day does too and so on until finally that day comes when you’re finally close to your destination.

“Here we were,” you say as you bring your horse, and the other two to a stop in front of the intersection. “We’re here.”

“Well,” your dad interjects. “How ‘bout that? Made it in five days.”

“Easy days,” Ellie says, and you keep on moving now towards the city. “I don’t know what Tommy was so afraid of.”

“Still time to find out.”

“Still time to find out,” Ellie mocks your dad using a deep voice.

You glance over at her and scoff in amusement, while your dad shoots her a hard pointed stare.

“The contractorrrr,” Ellie whispers creepily.

You laugh and play along too. “Joel the Contractor.”

Ellie lets out a chuckle and repeats what you said. “Joel the contractorrr.”

You both share a laugh that’s quickly cut off by your dad.

“Quiet, the both of you, we’re going to enter the city now we don't know what lies ahead.”

You stifle your teasing smile and assure them. “Nothin’, the city isn’t wiped out from infected, but it’s not bad considering it’s where the firefly’s come to. Same goes for stragglers and groups. We’ll be on the clear if we head directly to campus.”

“And that’s where they’ll be?” Ellie asks with no laugh or smile now.

When you steal her a glance you see slight fear and worry, so you do your best to come off confident. “It's where they stay,” you assure her. “They’ll be there.”

Hopefully….

.

.

.

A/N- Why can’t the Miller’s just eat pancakes and be happy? Anyway don’t forget that gesture of reader laying her head on Joel’s chest, it’s gonna come back and bite everyone in the ass iykyk

Tagged- @slut-f0r-u @star-wars-lover @traceylader @givemylovetoall @itzagothamcitysiren @sammy-13 @beloved-reblogger @emiriia @rues-daya @sunfairyy @littleshadow17 @mcu-starwars @bigtuffswordboy @riaqiax @dheet @queenofthekill @joliettes @d4rno @dgraysonss @rana030 @punisherinthealps @pedropascalluvr41 @ahoyyharrington @beaniebeensbaby201 @maeneedsabreak @maelartasch @adristyles @daughterofthequeen @alastorhazbin @ririvilliams @khaylin27 @hypatia93 @hummusxx @v4mpyk1tten @1donoow @your-shifting-gurl

[kingsragesqueal]

ok so we know the general population in one piece isn’t very bright tbh like most of the normal, everyday villagers are Sheep (which isn’t necessarily their fault) but when the World Government declared that an 8 year old sunk six (6) navy battleships why. why did Anyone believe them. like idc how much of a sheep u are if u hear someone say “yea this little kid sunk a bunch of navy battleships” ur gonna say to urself “hMMM SOUNDS A LITTLE SUS FAM” like yeah she has devil fruit powers but what?? logical person?? would believe that an 8 year old would or could do that??? i would say the World Government is fucking stupid for blaming that shit on a little kid but they obviously know the ppl they rule are even dumber jfc 

like if u wanna cover up the fact that one of ur own men did it then go ahead, i’d expect that, can’t admit ur own failures, god forbid. but like ,, taking the only survivor of what is basically a senseless, indiscriminate massacre, who is not even in the double digits yet, and saying “yeah look at what this evil kid did she’s a menace to society :/” that is?? so scummy?? i can’t even??? i know it’s bc she got away and they wanted her dead at any cost (except for aoikiji/kuzan ofc) so they needed a reason to put a bounty on her head but. again. what the fuck is in the water in the one piece universe that ppl honestly believe a little human girl did what it took an adult giant to do. what

[lvyu]

candy hearts and paper flowers; dreamwastaken x reader, georgenotfound x reader, wilbur soot x reader

— synopsis: he’s decided you’re it, you’re the one he wants to spend forever with.

with dream, he knows you’re the one the morning after he’s sick and he’s recovering. he’s a big baby when he’s got a fever, acting like he’s on the verge of dying.

you’re nothing if not kind, even teasing him for his dramatics. maybe it’s because he’s sick and a little delirious, but the way you dote on him makes him melt. you’ve dropped everything for the day to make sure he’s okay and he couldn’t feel more cared for and loved.

and dream’s nothing if not a hopeless romantic.

he wants to know your ideal proposal and recreate it, nothing more, nothing less. he wants it to feel magical, straight out of a dream (in his mind he wants it be equivalent to how he feels about you— how he feels he wished you into existence, how wonderful you are).

you can probably tell when he’s about to propose, he’s a little obvious, but he can’t contain himself. he’s planned everything out and the night before he stays awake all night— he couldn’t sleep, he was too anxious. realistically, he knows you won’t say no. you love him and given your previous talks, it’s not like you’re not ready for marriage. still though, he can’t help but be nervous to ask.

he shifts to face you, and he smiles, incredibly happy. he moves closer, gently placing his hand on your cheek, careful as to not wake you, and kisses your forehead.

i love you, he thinks, and his mind wanders to the ring in his bedside drawer.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

george was never sure of marriage.

it’s not like he’s had nasty experiences with marriage in the past, but he was also never bouncing up and a down, planning out the day he’d stand at the altar with his partner.

the realization comes in tiny bursts, found in moments that are meaningless, except to him. the first time it was after seeing you with a mess on your face from the pancakes you were eating. it was still early in your relationship, that stage where you’re still a little nervous to be imperfect. you made a stupid joke, clearly embarrassed, and he remembers your laugh. a sort of laugh he’s never heard before from you, just completely unfiltered and he likes it, very much.

he remembers thinking he was an idiot after that.

“what do you think about marriage?” he asks one day. it’s late, nearly two in the morning and you’re lying in bed, on the verge of sleep.

he knows he shouldn’t ask now, and he meant to ask hours earlier, but he couldn’t muster up the courage. you groaned, pulling the sheet up to your nose.

“i dunno, it’s something, i guess— this is kind of a big topic, huh, georgie?” you slurred, scooting closer to him. “why? thinkin’ of marrying me?”

“dunno, would you say yes?” he smiled at the thought, hesitantly asking. it wouldn’t be a very coherent answer, he knew, you were too tired to give a proper answer.

“if you let me pick the venue,” you mumbled.

the joke made him laugh, and he wrapped an arm around you, allowing sleep to take him.

⋆·˚ ༘ *

the type of guy to google “cute proposal ideas” because he’s completely lost at first.

you’d be together a fair time before wilbur decided to propose to you— he’s not one to rush into things, at least not something as important as marriage.

he had to stop himself from focusing too much on the future where you say yes (to be fair, you wouldn’t say no), and force himself to focus on the present and actually asking you first.

he knows he wants to marry you, he just doesn’t really know how, hence the googling. he’s so anxious coming up with ideas— because holy shit, he’s really doing this— eventually he does decide to keep the proposal a bit more intimate and small.

(it took him so long to figure it all out though, lord.)

the morning starts out as usual, though later he says he is wants to take you out for lunch at that diner near the park you always used to walk through. so you do, and it’s nice, it brings a sense a nostalgia and fills you with warmth.

when you get home, he starts preparing dinner too, saying he wanted to try something new today. it would be suspicious, but this is wilbur, it’s something completely within his nature, if you’re being honest.

you don’t know it, but he’s been practicing the dish at his friend’s house for a while— it’s your favorite. another thing you don’t know: he has the ring in his pocket, fully prepared to get down on his knee after dinner.

he has an entire speech written out, filled with sweet memories and probably a billion reasons as to why he loves you. the man has a talent with words, you’re crying by the end of it.

the second he sees you crying, tears start forming in his eyes as well. he falls back, losing balance as you nearly fall yourself to hug him. in his right hand he’s still gripping onto the ring, his arms holding you tight. never before has he been so happy to hear the word ‘yes’ and having you in his arms is only confirmation that yes, you are his and he’s yours, and it’ll remain that way, forever he hopes.

[avengerscompound]

It’s You and Me - Chapter 10

It’s You and Me: A Hawkeye Fanfic

Series Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Clint Barton x  F!Reader

Word Count:  1758

Rating:  E

Warnings:  Mentions of past abuse, some kinda sexual stuff (though it’s light and probably pg movie worthy), some of this is canon comic stuff - so you may have already read it.

Synopsis: You and Clint Barton go way back.  Since you joined the circus as a child, he took it upon himself to keep you away from the people who really wanted to hurt you.  For years the two of you danced a line between dark and light.

When he chooses light the two of you go your separate ways.

Fifteen years later he tracks you down.  Those feelings the two of you shared never went away, but now he is not only an Avengers but a single father.  Can the two of you make it work after all this time when your lives have gone in such different directions?

A series told in flashbacks and current day.

Chapter 10: Then

Clint ran through the circus looking for Eden.  He’d been in town getting some things when he’d spotted the paper.  The words ‘Art Dealer Murdered’ were splashed over the front page, with a photograph of the man Clint recognized from when he’d had the meeting with Tiboldt and a picture of some of the missing art.  He knew it had to do with the circus.  That someone from here had killed him when they’d tried to steal the art.  After what you had said about Eden potentially being involved, he was terrified that someone was her.

“Anyone seen Eden?”  He called as he ran through the carnies setting up the tents for the show tonight.

He spotted Bruto the Strong Man hammering in some of the larger poles and rushed over to him.  “Bruto,” he said, slightly breathless.  “You seen Eden around?”

Bruto thrust his thumb over his shoulder.  “Check Tiboldt’s trailer.”

Clint nodded and ran towards the orange trailer that had the large banner advertising the circus on the side.  “Eden,” he called.  “Tiboldt - you guys in there?”

The door opened a crack and the thin weasley face peered around the corner.  “What do you want, Barton?”

“Where’s Eden?”  Clint asked.

Tiboldt narrowed his eyes.  “What… do … you… want?”

Clint thrust the paper forward, right into the Ringmaster’s face so he could see the headline.  “This is the guy you were talking to a few days ago!”

“Really?”  Tiboldt said, playing coy.  “I talk to so many people when we do our shows…”

“He was the museum guy - we were gonna do some children’s charity gig for him?”  Clint questioned.

Tiboldt chuckled drily and handed the paper back to Clint.  “Apparently, we won’t be now.”

Clint scowled, taking it.  “Where’s Eden?”

Tiboldt pushed the door open so that Clint could see inside.  Eden was sitting at the dressing table, naked except for a small towel wrapped around her waist.  She turned, obviously startled that the Ringmaster would give her away.  “Clint!”  She yelped.  “I…”

Clint fumed.  He wanted to yell.  To fight Tiboldt.  To do something to express how angry and hurt he was right now.  Tiboldt was the boss though and he was stuck.  He’d been sleeping with Eden and they’d gone and murdered someone together and Clint was just some dumb sucker.

He spun on his heel and stormed off.

He’d made it halfway down the big top before Eden came chasing after him, the towel only barely wrapped around her.  “Clint!  Wait!” She called.  “It’s not what you think!”

“Yeah?”  He snapped, tossing the paper into the air.  “‘Cause I’m thinkin’ you’re with him when you said you were my girl -” he loosed an arrow at it and shot past Eden’s head, pinning the paper to the wall of the trailer she was standing next to, the arrowhead piercing the picture of the murder victim through the head.  “- and you helped him commit murder!”

“You…” Eden stammered.  “You really think I would murder someone?”

Clint faltered.  He didn’t know what he believed.  He loved Eden and had loved her for a while now.  But seeing her naked in that trailer only days after you had warned him about what was going on, he wasn’t sure if he could trust her.  “I - no… no, I don’t…”

She approached him running her hand up into the back of his head and leaning into him.  “As for Tiboldt and me - please - I was posing for a new trailer poster.”  She looked into his eyes and tilted her head.  “No one touches me - you know that.  No one but you.”

She opened her towel, and wrapped it around him, bringing her naked body to his right out in the open in front of everyone.  Heat flushed Clint’s skin and every coherent thought left his head.  He kissed Eden deeply and hungrily the only thing even remotely resembling a coherent thought was the deep animalistic hunger he felt for her.

That night as you and Clint got ready for the show, he’d all but forgotten the incident from earlier and the murder of the art dealer.  You were fussing with the horses as he checked his equipment.

“Five minutes ‘til showtime!”  Tiboldt called.  Clint flexed his bowstring and the bow snapped.  “Ah, nuts!”  He cursed and looked around, while Tidbolt called out the run list.  “Anyone got a soldering iron?”

You shook your head while the other performers ignored him.  “Hurry, Clint,” you said.  “We’re first.”

“I’ll be quick,” he agreed and ran out the back of the tent.  Eden was coming in from outside.  She was wearing a bikini that would match her flesh if it wasn’t covered from neck to toe in intricate tattoos.  “Eden, baby, I need a soldering iron,” he said.

“Oh, I got one, Clint,” she teased.

“You do?” He said, completely missing the teasing in his desperation to fix the bow before curtains up.

“You wanna know where I’m keeping it?”  She smirked

Realization dawned on him.  Of course, the woman who was basically naked didn’t have a soldering iron on her.  “Oh,” he said.

“Try one of the storage chests, you big dope - the purple one, I think,” she said.

He rushed down to where the storage chests were but instead of one, there were three purple chests, each identical to the other.  “Aw, man…” he whined.  “Eden… three of them are purple!”

“Two minutes!”  Tiboldt called.

“C’mon…” Clint muttered, opening one of the trunks.  Sitting on top of the chest was the painting from the paper.  It had been Tiboldt, just like he’d thought.  Which meant it was probably Eden too.

His heart sunk.  He didn’t know what to do.  It was one thing when it was just stealing - but murder?  How could he stay with the Circus knowing they were doing that?

“Ladies and Gentleman -”  Tiboldt called, his voice amplified over the big top.  Clint cursed again and began digging for the soldering iron in the other trunks.

He’d well and truly missed his queue when he reached you.  Eden was out on the floor working her contortionist routine.  “Where have you been?”  You asked.  “You missed your queue.”

“I’m sorry!”  He said and came over close to you.  “I was fixing my bow and I found a painting… one of the missing ones.  They killed that art guy.”

You frowned.  “Shit.”

“Did you have anything to do with it?”  He asked.

You held up your hands.  “I swear I didn’t, Clint.  I thought about it, but I knew if they had that over me, then they’d have control of me.”

“You think Eden did?”  Clint muttered.

You looked around and pulled Clint behind the horses more.  He tried to see what had got you spooked and noticed Tiboldt watching you both.  “I don’t know.  Maybe,” you whispered.  “You should ask her that.”

Clint’s shoulders sagged.  “I might get us a motel room.  Maybe if she’s away from the circus she’ll tell me.”

You shrugged.  “Maybe.”

“Hawkeye, Sugar.  You already missed on queue, you better get this one,” Tiboldt snapped, appearing around the front of the horses.

“Yes, sir!” You said, getting on your horse.

Clint did the same and waited for his queue.  You leaned over to him.  “Clint, what are you gonna do if she did do it?”

Clint shrugged.  “I dunno.  I dunno if I can stay here.  Would you come with me?”

“Where would we go?”  You asked.   “We ran away to the circus, what’s after that?”

“Welcome to the ring, the man who can’t miss, Hawkeye!”  Tiboldt announced, interrupting Clint’s train of thought.  He spurred his horse on through the curtains.  Not that he was sure what he was going to do, but if he turned everyone in, there was no way that the answer could be this anymore.

You sat next to Clint by the payphone in the street.  He’d done what he’d said.  He’d taken Eden to a motel.  They’d gotten dirty and then clean again, and while they showered he’d asked her about the murder.  She denied the murder but not the theft and then got mad at him for not trusting her.  Clint had gone to bed feeling sick to his stomach and the next morning he woke well before Eden, come back to the circus, and got you.

“You really gonna do this, Clint?”  You asked.

He shrugged.  “I dunno.  They killed someone.  That guy has a family.  Friends.  They deserve some kind of closure.”

You nodded.  “The circus will be done.  What will we do?”

“Go on the road together,” Clint suggested.  “The act won’t be quite as good without the horses and the clowns, but we could do a pretty good routine.  Maybe some solo work too.”

“Maybe if you do it anonymously they won’t know it was you,” you suggested.

“Eden will know,” he said.  “So will Tiboldt. This is gonna burn us.  I already got my leg busted because I threatened to turn them in once.”

“I guess… make the call, and we go back and … pack our things?”  You said.  “If we can get as much of our stuff as we can, we won’t need to start from scratch.”

“You’re really going to come with me?”  Clint asked.

“Clint,” you said softly, lowering your eyes.  “I know you don’t know exactly what happened to me before I joined the circus, but when I joined, and Jacques said I needed to take those pictures - he said that he wouldn’t touch me.  That it’d just be some naked pictures and that’d pay for my upkeep.  I didn’t like it, but … it was like levels, you know?  When someone keeps breaking your bones, and then a different person says, come here I’ll bruise you, but I won’t break your bones, you go because compared to the broken bones, the bruising feels like heaven.  And you… you said you’d protect me from anyone hurting me at all.  And you did.  You kept Jacques away from me and you gave me a way to protect myself.  And you’ve never expected anything from me.  I kept expecting that one day you’d be like ‘well look what I did, now you owe me so open up those pretty legs of yours’ but you didn’t.  So yeah, Clint.  I’ll go with you because it’s you and me.  You’ve always got my back, it’s only fair I have yours too.”

Clint looked at you and smiled sadly.  “You and me,” he said and patted your thigh.  “Okay.  I’m gonna do this.”

// NEXT

[mirakumiruku]

Attention Hound

Shigaraki Tomura x Female Reader Word Count: 1.3k Rating: Explicit Warnings: Cheating, mentions of breeding/pregnancy

The premise for this literally came to me in a dream, so I think I legally had to write it. Anyway, first time publishin’ smut, so go easy on me ;^;

Dabi was ignoring you. Of course he was, on the one day you tried to go the extra mile.

You had gone out earlier that week and bought brand new lingerie, bringing it out today knowing that he would be free all weekend.

Well, you thought he’d be free all weekend.

But “duty” called. Or rather, chatting up girls at a club called. Thus you were left alone, waiting on his bed, shifting under the baggy clothes you had donned to hide the lace and ribbons you were dolled up in. You were on your way back to your room to change into your regular pajamas, planning to put the lingerie away until you weren’t mad at him anymore. 

But on the way back to your own space, you passed by the kitchen, where you realized that you weren’t actually alone. Sure, there were some others here… Toga and Spinner, for instance, were probably in their respective rooms, Kurogiri probably cleaning up the bar… but you hadn’t particularly expected to see Shigaraki tonight.

At least, not so casually. Most of the time when you saw him he was dressed up for a meeting, his irritated-at-best expression concealed by his father’s hand. But tonight he sat in a t-shirt and boxers, nothing hiding his face, absently staring at his burner phone while he waited for some kind of midnight snack to heat up in the microwave. He looked uncharacteristically peaceful, likely because no one was around to bother him. You were planning on leaving him be and continuing on to your room, when his eyes finally flicked up to meet yours.

“Are you gonna stand there all night?” He grumbled, neutral expression turning into a glower. 

“No, I… I was just about to head to bed.” 

“I thought Dabi was going out. You didn’t go with him?”

“N-no, I thought he was staying in.”

Shigaraki let out an affirmative grunt, his eyes drifting back to his phone. 

“What about you? You don’t have any plans?”

“No, why would I?”

“Do you… do you wanna hang out together then?”

“Hang out?”

“Yeah, I mean… I don’t wanna be alone tonight. Get’s a little too boring.”

Shigaraki stared at you, before huffing a little. “Fine, but if you get annoying I’m kicking you out.”

You grinned, resisting the urge to go and give him a thankful hug. “Great!”

Once Shigaraki’s food had finished heating up, he begrudgingly led you into his room. You’d never been inside before, it was a lot messier than you had imagined, with only the bed and the chair in front of his computer available to sit. Since Shigaraki took his seat in the chair, you invited yourself to sit on the bed and watch him play his game from a distance.

It wasn’t long before you got bored again. 

You laid back against Shigaraki’s pillows, happy to be surrounded by the scent of someone that wasn’t your sometimes-boyfriend. God, Dabi was being such an asshole, you’d have to think of ways to get back at him…

Your eyes drifted to Shigaraki, and a devilish grin graced your lips.

“Wouldn’t you rather do something else?” You asked, sitting up and slowly unzipping the zipper on your hoodie.

“No.”

“Are you sure?” You pouted, standing up and making your way over to Shigaraki, shedding your hoodie completely, leaving your torso clad only in the lacy lingerie you had planned to wear for Dabi. 

“Yes.”

“Positive?” You draped yourself over Shigaraki, arms falling over his shoulders and onto his chest, and your breasts pressing against the back of his head.

Shigaraki froze, a hot blush dusting over his usually pallid face. As much as he wanted to keep himself turned away, he couldn’t resist pushing you off and turning around in his chair. “A-as little respect I have for Dabi, I’m not gonna fuck his girlfriend.” He said, crossing his arms and glaring at you, trying to keep his eyes on your face and off of your breasts.

You took this opportunity to straddle his lap, much to his apparent annoyance. “Well, he’s probably off fucking another girl, so… I don’t see why I can’t have a little fun too~” 

Shigaraki refused to look at you, though it was becoming increasingly harder to ignore when you had made sure his face was in your cleavage.

“Please?~” You pouted, hand trailing to run through his hair. 

“...fine, but we’re doing it how I want.” Before you could respond, Shigaraki locked his arms around your waist and stood up, easily carrying you over to his bed, and letting you drop onto it. You let out a symphony of gasps and giggles as Shigaraki groped anywhere he could reach, your hips, thighs, breasts, ass, always making sure to keep his pinkies raised. Meanwhile he busied his mouth on your neck, peppering you with kisses and dark hickies where you both knew Dabi would see them.

He sat back, disintegrating the ratty sweatpants you had worn, revealing the lacy panties that matched your bra. “Mm, someone was looking to get fucked tonight.” He mused, grabbing the backs of your knees and pushing them up to your shoulders. You obediently held them in place, while Shigaraki moved your panties to the side, and he pressed eager, sloppy kisses to your cunt. You whined and moaned as he alternated between sucking hard on your clit, and shoving his tongue deep within your velvety walls.

“Sh-Shiiii–” You whined, bucking your hips against his mouth while he gave one final slurp before pulling away, moving to strip himself of his shirt, and pushing his boxers down just enough to allow his girthy cock to pop out.

“Tomura.” He grumbled, taking his place above you, and slotting himself in between your hiked-up legs. “Or… I’d prefer master.” 

“Y-yes masterrr~” You slurred, eagerly returning the passionate kisses Tomura was pressing to your lips. He moved his hips back, tapping the head of his cock against your clit.

“Beg for it.”

“Pleeease master! N-need your cock! Please fuck meee!~” You whined, jerking your hips up against his strong hold.

“I suppose that works, we’ll have to work on it.” Tomura smirked, positioning the head at your dripping entrance. In one hard thrust he completely buried himself within you, wrenching a scream from your throat. He wasn’t as thick as Dabi, nor did he have Dabi’s piercings, but he was definitely longer. You could feel his tip snug against your cervix, like it would poke through with a particularly hard thrust. He waited a few moments to allow you to catch your breath, before he started fucking into you at a brutal pace. He had started in a kneeling position, which had quickly morphed into a mating press as he growled in your ear.

“You fuckin’ like that? Shit, I might not give ya’ back… Dabi doesn’t deserve pussy this good.” Tomura smirked, licking the shell of your ear and leaving more bruising bites down your neck and shoulders. “Especially if he’s leavin’ such a good bitch all alone where she’s liable to get stolen away~”

You couldn’t find the capacity in your brain to form coherent sentences, subconscious exclamations of “yes”, “please”, and “more” leaving your throat of their own volition. 

Tomura’s thrusts were starting to grow erratic too, and his dirty whispers became growls about how good your pussy was, how nicely you were taking his cock, how Dabi didn’t deserve a girl like you. When you finally came, your walls tightened harshly around Tomura’s cock, and you tossed your head back as stars flashed in front of your eyes. Tomura grunted, the sudden tightness milking his throbbing cock, and he let out one more guttural moan as he came inside you, thick ropes of hot cum pouring into your womb. He collapsed on top of you, panting to regain his breath.

“D-did you… did you cum inside?”

He nodded against your chest.

“That’s fine… I-I’m on the pill.”

“Damn it… would’ve been fun to see Dabi thinkin’ you’re having his kid, only for a Shigaraki to pop out…” He grinned, nipping at the soft flesh on your shoulder. “Mm, let’s get you off that pill, and try again?~”

[second-chance-stray]

RP Log: Cravs and Rising go on a disastrous hike.

Cravendy Hound has invited Rising to “relaxing hike through Sorrel Haven,” despite the area being infested by countless malboros and ziz. She leaves off that part - it’s not lying if you just don’t mention it. For now, she waits by the exit of the White Wolf gate for her companion.

Rising Lotus wasn't too far behind Cravendy, strolling through the gate a few minutes later and catching up to her. "Hey there!" as she was hurrying over her eyes gazed upwards toward the giant fallen tree. "Gods, it's crazy how huge they get out here, I guess by the company home too, but like," she outstretched her hands around her.

Rising Lotus: "Out in the forest forest the trees get so big here! "

Cravendy Hound: “Ye know, I’ve ‘eard that they’re just as tall below ground. What poor sod ‘ad to be the one to dig one up and find that out though, eh?” Cravs shrugs.

Rising Lotus rubbed her chin. "Maybe they dug out a littler one and jus' figured it was the same? Or not the same, but figured, bigger the tree bigger the roots." she returned the shrug, she was no botanist after all.

Cravendy Hound rubs her chin. “Mmh, that makes sense. But ‘ell if I know ‘ow trees work, specially out ‘ere in the Shroud.” She then absentmindedly fiddles with her gun as she turns to face the forest. “Anyway, let’s ‘ead out and ‘ope nothin’ interrupts our walk...though with my luck, we should expect the worst.”

Rising Lotus nodded, putting her hands behind her head afterwards. "I'm sure there ain't nothin' we can't handle. I /am/ back to full strength after all." she flashed a cocky grin. "Lead on!"

Cravendy Hound leads on, past stalking brood ziz and to the oddly named ‘Hopeseed Pond.’ She wrinkles her nose upon seeing the weird, planty...meaty? Plant-meat creatures wading around. “Ye know what, I don’t know what I was thinkin’ bringin’ us ‘ere. If one of those boros breath on ye, ye’ll be sick once again.”

Rising Lotus is calm despite the wildlife all around them. "Ugh..can smell their maws from here.." her eyes dropped to the bridge, then back to the pond full of ravenous giant plants. "Gonna go out on a limb an' say not many folk use this bridge no more." she pauses for a moment. "Hey! Why you so sure it's gonna get me sick!" she huffed a bit.

Rising Lotus: "I mean one ain't breathed on me yet and I wanna keep it that way, but it could jus' as easily hit you. Plus! Me being sick last week was jus'...a fluke."

Cravendy Hound playfully bumps Rising’s shoulder with her fist. “Aye, right right, a fluke. As for me, I never get sick. So if one of these boros come our way, ye can just stand behind me, heh.” She then takes a step on the rickety bridges and observes how...well. Gross it is? The whole area is pretty gross? Rotten wood and stagnant waters and looming monsters - but a little danger never hurt anyone.

Rising Lotus cracked a smirk. "Well to be honest I'm more worried about the smell then gettin' sick, but if you wanna take the brunt of it for me.." she was sure to follow behind Cravs as she started across the bridge, testing each plank with her foot before putting her weight on it.

Cravendy Hound is not nearly as careful as Rising, and strides forward with all the confidence in the world. She inadvertently steps onto a weakened plank of wood, which snaps under her weight. She falls, one leg stuck in the gap. “Goddamned shite piece of wood!”

Cravendy Hound: “I think ye were right about people not comin’ ‘ere often...” She grumbles under her breath.

Rising Lotus was caught off guard by Crav sinking down, more by her reaction than the actual board breaking. She carefully hurried behind her. "You didn't get cut up at all did ya?" She was right behind Cravs, looking over her shoulder and trying to peer down the hole. "Here lets get ya out of there.." kneeling down, she hooked her hands under Crav's shoulders.

Rising Lotus: "I'll pull ya slowly, you jus' make sure you don't get torn up or a nasty splinter on the way up."

Cravendy Hound: “I don’t need ye fussin’ over me like some freshfaced whelp, I got it,” Cravs stammers as she wiggles left and right in attempt to wiggle herself free from Rising’s help. “Don’t ye worry yer pretty lil’ face, it’ll take more than a splinter to down ol’ Cravs.”

Cravendy Hound - However, as she tries to pull herself up, she feels something keeping her ankle held down. That’s odd. And, more embarrassingly, she’s still stuck after being so confident earlier. The more she struggles, the deeper her leg sinks. By now, Cravs is sweating bullets.

Rising Lotus was still concerned, but she did get it, being incredibly stubborn herself at times. She released Cravs and stood back up. "Alright alright, I shouldn't of doubted ya." snickering a bit, she took a step back, giving her friend the space she might need to escape. "I'll make sure nothin' comes by to maybe take a bite of a delicious leg wigglin' under the bridge..an' I'll give ya a heads up if any travelers are comin' too."

Cravendy Hound - To this, Cravs only grunts in response. Coherent thoughts escape her under the immense embarrassment she’s currently dealing with. If Rising were to look under the bridge, she’d find a juvenile stroper idly tugging on Crav’s leg. Every time the Sea wolf tries to lunge out, it pulls her back down by the foot with greater force.

Rising Lotus was still waiting for her friend to free herself, keeping an eye on the bigger stroper's minding their own business thankfully. "Alright no need to make a big show out of it all, stop stallin' before you fall all the way through." she was biting her lower lip gently to stifle a bit of laughter. "You stuck on somethin'? Want me to peek under the bridge?" she started toward the edge, more so to try and catch a glimpse of Crav's leg comically wiggling under it.

Cravendy Hound: “‘Suppose the Navigator saw fit to destroy what little remains of me pride, right ‘ere and now.” Cravs crumples against the bridge and sighs against the wood. “Aye, yeah, it feels like somethin’s got my foot. Can ye see what it is?”

Rising Lotus quickly got to her knees and stuck her head over the side of the bridge, eager to see what manner of thing had snagged the Seawolf. "Oh! It's a baby one of these things!" she waved an arm out to the pond. "Luckily his teeths don't look too sharp yet, still has a good grip on ya though." Cravs would hear a bit of snorting and giggling coming from under the bridge. Rising grabbed her spear off her back, not bothering to start up aetherial blade, and started jabbing at the small stroper, not aiming to hurt it really, but just shoo it off. "Go on get ya lil bastard!"

(Cravendy Hound) you know what I'm feeling spicy )) (Cravendy Hound) Random! 19 (Cravendy Hound) aaahahha )) (Rising Lotus) Well then, bye leg!))

Cravendy Hound - The young Stroper turns to Rising and squirms in an attempt to dodge the jabs. It succeeds...that is, it succeeds in annoying it. It puffs up a bit and then charges at Rising in an attempt to knock her down. But as it does so, it fails to loosen its grip on Cravs, and the sudden motion tugs the Seawolf completely through the half-rotten boardwalk.

Cravendy Hound: “WHAT THE FU-” Cravs gets out before she falls face first into the slimy malboro.

(Cravendy Hound) I love a good bad roll )) (Rising Lotus) How big is it, like minion malboro sized or bigger?)) (Cravendy Hound) hmm I'm taking that Stroper nearby as adult, and the giant one as grandpa )) (Cravendy Hound) so teen = half of the adult size? )) (Rising Lotus) Okays! Also grandpa malboro x3))

Rising Lotus's eyes went wide as she saw Cravs fall through the bridge, all upside down from her perspective. "Ah shit!" pulling herself back up, she swung her legs over the side of the walkway and hopped down, shuddering as the mud she landed in seeped into her sandal boots. With Cravs so close to the beast, she didn't dare turn the blade to her lance on. Instead she reeled back then attempted to give it a good thwap across to the side of it's toothy mug

Random! Rising Lotus rolls a 224.

Cravendy Hound - Thwap! The beast is taken aback by Rising’s attack and, being young and inexperienced, decides to hightail it outta there. Cravs is taken along for the ride.

Cravendy Hound: “Overgrown, squid-looking plant bastard - argh!” As she’s dragged along the ground, she fumbles for her pistol and attempts to send a couple of rounds towards her captor.

Random! You roll a 55.

Cravendy Hound misses. Even worse, she drops her gun. Cravs goes limp, just...unable to take much more embarrassment.

(Cravendy Hound) lmao the RNG gods have something against me today xD ))

Rising Lotus grinned at the direct hit, quickly grimacing after it took off with Cravs in tow. "Oh gods damnit!" with a huff and a twist of her wrist the aetherial blade sparked alive. "Alright, uh, Cravs! Try to keep yourself high!" she was able to easily keep up with the stropper's wiggling legs, and when she got in range she aimed a mighty swipe across it's lower half, hoping to separate its top half from its bottom half.

(Rising Lotus) Random! 957 (Rising Lotus) That's causee the all the luck is mine \o/ )) (Cravendy Hound) all the luck!!! ))

Cravendy Hound - The swing separates the stroper into two. On both ends, its limbs continue to wiggle around like landlocked eels, but despite its continued movement, the monster is clearly dead. Or at least downed - who knows how malboros work.

Cravendy Hound gets up, completely covered in mud and malboro slime. She wipes her face clean with the side of her arm, revealing a very pissed off expression. For a moment, she simply stands there, dazed. She had said so herself earlier, that something bad was going to happen...but there was no preparing for something like this. Eventually, she glances over at Rising.

Cravendy Hound: “.............That happened.”

Rising Lotus quite pleased with her slice, she started to the the lifeless maw to help Cravs up, though didn't make much distance before she got up on her own. As she stowed her spear, she was doing her absolute best to not laugh as she saw the woman wearing a nice coat of ooze. It was when Cravs cleaned her face she lost her composure, snickering softly at first but quickly bursting into full out bellowing laughter.

Rising Lotus: " I-I-I'm sorry! I-I Am!" she started to snort a bit as she laughed, quickly cupping a hand to her mouth as her cheeks blushed a bit. "R-Really...aha... I'm glad you're alright!" she snorted once more before her laughter started to ease down.

Cravendy Hound is as still as a statue, save for the mud that slorgs down her body at a painfully slow speed. Cravs then lets her head go limp as a sort of mischievous intent grows within her. Once Rising is done laughing, she lifts her head back up with an evil grin on her face. “OH, oho...no need to apologize! After all, ye saved my ‘ide. Now let me give ye a proper thank ye.”

Cravendy Hound spreads her slime and mud covered arms, and then tries to hug (though it’s more of a tackle) Rising to the ground.

Rising Lotus "N-Now wai-" she had just put up her hands to try and halt Cravendy's assault when her muddy form smacked against Rising, both of them falling onto the ground with a splat. Rising laid there motionless for a few moments as Cravs pinned her down before. "You ass!" she finally blurted out, scrambling to push the sea wolf off of her now mud covered self.

Cravendy Hound is already one with the mud - she cannot be muddied any further. She cackles gleefully as she’s pushed over. “Thank ye kindly, oh noble adventurer!” It takes a good while for her to calm down enough to do anything but laugh from the ground. When she’s finally able to get up, she plods over to pick up her gun and flicks the mud off of it. “Ahh...haha. Hah.”

Rising Lotus quickly sat up after Cravs was pushed off, the entire back of her form coated in the sludge. The front was covered quite a bit too, front the tackle hug and the stuff the the ground that seeped over. As she tried to get up she shuddered, the openness of her outfit probably to blame. "Ugh...it's.. it's.." she shuddered once more. Needless to say she'd need a deep cleaning.

Cravendy Hound: “If we ‘ike to the end of the trail, all of this shits gonna ‘arden on us like a second skin. I’m ‘eadin’ back afore that ‘appens,” Cravs states as she gives her gun a good lookover. Poor thing had mud clogging up its every opening, and water was never good for metal. Better hurry. She turns to Rising. “A dip in the pools round the Lavender Beds should be enough.”

Rising Lotus nodded. "Aye.. probably don't want us trackin' this through the house either..." she started scraping off as much as she could. "Gods, it was bad enough the first time this happened.." she stomped through the muck to the shore, boots full of mud by now. "Though last time this happened it wasn't friendly fire." she shot a sneer toward Cravs, chuckling softly soon after.

Cravendy Hound - With every step, the two became less Roegadyn and more akin to mudmen. And on their way back to the FC, many civilians, just going on their day to day lives, would stop to stare. Thankfully, the walk wasn’t especially long, and the lake surrounding the Lavender Beds would do a fine job of washing them clean, though the stench lingered. A proper bath was certainly necessary after the fact.

[misedejem]

Florem Gardens

Six years after leaving the Glanz Empire to start their lives together, Aimee and Angelo return to the place they once called home - the place that had always shaped the course of their lives. Little did they know was that leaving it behind could not stop it from doing so.

Word Count: 6,070

(Spoilers for up to Chapter 6 of Bravely Second. Written for Day 7 of ship week using the free prompt)

“Everythin’ alright, darlin’?”

Angelo had been staring off into the distance, his beautiful face marred with a discomforted expression. Apparently, he had been deep in some unsettling thought, because the moment Aimee began talking, he looked startled and almost dropped his spoon.

“Hm? Oh, uh… I’m fine.” He shook his head. “I just have a headache, is all…”

“Really? But y’ didn’t drink that much last night, did’ya?”

Angelo was something of a lightweight compared to Aimee, but she didn’t recall him acting even a little bit tipsy during the evening, and she knew there was no way alcohol could be messing with her memories. She had spent the whole night avoiding the stuff for once.  

“Oh, no, it’s not because of that… I’m just tired. Yesterday was a bit much, is all.”

Aimee pouted and rubbed his arm in an attempt at comforting him, completely overlooking the fact that her hands were coated in flour until it was too late. She swore loudly the second she noticed, and began frantically brushing away the white powder that stood out starkly against the red fabric of Angelo’s jumper. Despite her best efforts, part of it still clung to the fibre.

“You’re too honest,” Angelo said, tugging the dirtied material into his line of sight. “It didn’t even cross my mind that you had that on your hands. Now I have to get payback.”

He proceeded to dig his own hands into the bag of flour on the counter and then pull Aimee into a tight hug before she could react, making sure to pin her arms to her side so she could not exact a further layer of revenge. She muttered vulgarities into his chest between bouts of laughter.

“At least it made ya smile,” she mused, lifting her head up. “I’d say that’s worth the sacrifice of this shirt.”

“It’s my shirt anyway,” Angelo said in a mock sour voice, letting her go and pulling gently at the loose, black fabric of the t-shirt that hung from her shoulders.

“Mine now. You never wear it.”

“Because you stole it! Anyway, I apologise if I worried you, sugarcake. I really am just exhausted… The Flower Festival takes a lot out of me. I really can’t stand being in the city that long.”

“Well, I ain’t gonna make the mistake of hugging the guy stupid enough to wear red while baking with me again, but just know that I get why you feel that way, an’ if you ever think talkin’ it out’ll make you feel better, I got all the time in the world.”

“Thank you, Aimee. I think I’ll be okay though.” He bent down to kiss her cheek and then flashed a smile at her. “Anyway, I’m done with the apple-based filling. What other flavours do you think we should make?”

“Hmm… Cherry?”

“Mmm, good choice. I think I have some left over.”

As Angelo went in search of the cherries, Aimee began digging at a groove in the wooden counter nonchalantly with her finger. She recalled a day, about six years ago, when Angelo had returned from Gathelatio after signing a lease on their new property with the grim news that Denys Geneolgia had died. She had made the groove in the counter with a meat cleaver in a fit of frustration directed entirely at Janne Angard – who was allegedly going by Janne Balestra now – after hearing that he had not invited them to the man’s funeral out of spite. She’d seen him perusing the market in Gathelatio one day two years ago and had punched him in the jaw then and there. They’d spent the night in a cell in the Sanctum for it, but she felt it was worth the punishment.

The two of them had moved to Gathelatio a few weeks later, only returning to their home country to visit Angelo’s mother, or for events he’d been hired for. As a result, that had been the last time in years that she had cooked in the tiny kitchen they had in their little pancake house in Florem Gardens. She had never been all that great at cooking, even with the best baker in the world as her teacher, so usually both she and Angelo thought it best if they left all food preparation that involved an oven to him. But occasionally, if it was just the two of them eating, or if Angelo was feeling unwell or tired, she would step in to lend him a hand. She would never be as good as he was, but he had some twenty years of experience, a professional teacher, and an asterisk that specifically enhanced his talents in the kitchen. She vaguely knew how to work with shortcrust pastry now, and that was enough. After all, ten years ago, when they had first met, she didn’t even know such a thing existed.

When the two of them were fourteen years old, a division of the old Eternian army known as the Bloodrose Legion had been ordered to ransack Florem Gardens to procure, en-masse, the tiny spirits that lived there known as a Flories. When the locals who lived alongside the Flories fought back, the army set the forest ablaze and let them die. Florem had no army of its own, instead protected by the largest guild of mercenaries and hitmen on Luxendarc, capable of bringing down the mightiest of foes. When they came to the rescue of the Gardens, they, too were slaughtered.

Aimee’s entire family perished in the attack, and she very nearly joined them, had she not been rescued and brought straight back to a medic in Florem by one of the mercenaries who had managed to survive. She had been told that she’d almost drowned, having fallen into the river that ran through the forest, but she hadn’t been able to recall that experience then, nor could she now. All she had retained from the day were an ugly scar on her leg, and two distinct memories. She knew she had been spared by a woman who would later be identified as Einheria Venus, a commander of the Bloodrose Legion and now a good friend of hers, and she knew that she had eaten the most incredible thing she had ever tasted. She’d been fished from the river by a boy about her age, and he’d quickly tried to bring her back to her senses with some pancakes - the quickest thing he knew how to make - at least according to him. All she remembered was the indescribable taste and the fluffiness of the elixir that had helped to save her life. That, and the beautiful face of the boy who had made them.

A face that, in the present day, was twisted into a pained grimace.

“If it’s that bad, go lie down.”

Angelo cast a glance at Aimee, holding the box of cherries in one hand and kneading his forehead with the other.

“No… It’s fine.”

“It clearly ain’t fine,” she snapped, a little more forcefully than she had meant to. “…Sorry. I’m just a little concerned. You look dreadful, darlin’.”

His face dropped, but then after a moment it softened, and he smiled.

“…I’ll lie down for ten minutes.”

“Want me to join you?”

“Mmhm… That’d be nice.”

The downstairs of the pancake house was all one room, most of it understandably dedicated to kitchen, so they could only squeeze one sofa into the space they had, and not a hugely sizeable one at that. It was big enough for Aimee to comfortably lie down, but Angelo was much, much taller, and had to curl up tightly to make himself fit. He had placed his head on her lap and brought his knees up to his chest. She began to run her fingers through his hair.

“If I fall asleep, I give you permission to poke me,” he murmured after a few minutes of silence.

“Nah. I’m lettin’ ya sleep.”

“But the pastries…”

“They can wait. It’s prob’ly better if ya don’t stuff yerself with dessert right now, anyway. Not if yer feelin’ sick.”

“I’m not sick… I have a headache because I haven’t slept since yesterday.”

“Angelo!”

“I know…”

“Couldn’t sleep? Or didn’t want to?”

“Couldn’t…” He paused for a moment, then murmured: “too much on my mind…”

Aimee bit her lip. “It wasn’t those dreams again, was it?” She didn’t elaborate, but no doubt Angelo knew what she meant. Both of them knew, all too well, of the dreadful nightmares that had started haunting them during their days in the Glanz Empire, and that had lingered even after they left.

“No, I…” He lifted his head slightly to look at her. “You know, I don’t think I remember the last time I had them.”

She sighed in relief. “Me either. Reckon I must’a been desensitised to them a while ago, if they’re even happenin’ at all. Thought of them comin’ back is pretty fuckin’ scary though…”

“Mmm…” Angelo lay his head back down. “But no… I was just thinking too much.”

“What kinda stuff were ya thinkin’ about for it to keep you up of all people? I think the cat sleeps less than you.”

She began regretting her attempt at a joke when Angelo did not reply, or even react at all.

“It’s nothing.” He murmured eventually, and then promptly sat up. “I doubt any of it would be coherent if I tried to explain it… but anyway. I’ve had ten minutes. I want to finish the pastries. Helping?”

Aimee knew it would be pointless to press him any further. He was impossibly stubborn when it came to personal matters, and he absolutely would not share his feelings if he didn’t want to. Instead, she just nodded and returned to the kitchen area with him, hoping that this wouldn’t be one of those things he’d keep inside him forever.

When Angelo had asked her earlier that day if she wanted to make some pastry for him, Aimee had been left feeling a mixture of both flattered and confused. Flattered that he actually thought her pastry tasted good enough for his finely tuned palate, and confused that he, a man whose enormous sense of self pride when it came to his talents prevented him from even entering another bakery, would willingly pass up the reigns to someone else when he had the opportunity to shine.

But then again, it was just the two of them. That kind of stuff no longer seemed to cross his mind when they were alone, especially not when he wasn’t feeling himself. She recalled the time the previous winter, when he’d caught a bad cold and had spent the whole day curled up on their sofa in Gathelatio, letting Aimee look after him (as best as she could), instead of covering his face and hiding in his room as he often had when they had been teenagers and he had come down with a bug. He’d always let his narcissism get the better of him in the past, but now it seemed like Aimee was its exception.

“So, I’m right in sayin’ that I’m only makin’ the pastry because yer too tired to do it yerself?”

“…In essence, yes.”

“Isn’t that the reason ya still use yer asterisk though? I thought it sped up all the stuff that takes effort in cookin’ so it’s not as tedious?”

“Cooking is never tedious, it’s just a bit strenuous is all. And yes, that is why I still use my asterisk.” Angelo patted his chest where the little hunk of orange crystal hung from a necklace beneath his shirt. “But… Well, you know how it works. You can still overwork yourself even with these things enhancing your abilities.”

“And pastry is now overworkin’ yourself?”

“It is when you’ve already thoroughly burned yourself out dealing with hundreds of screaming fans. Plus, I spent all day before the festival baking for them.��� He shrugged, though maintained a keen watch on the cherries he had begun preparing. “It’s easy to get tired when you have so many people you have to please.”

“Yer not exactly a social person either, so no wonder.” She paused briefly to check Angelo’s handwritten recipe book to make sure she knew what she was doing. “Honestly, if ya weren’t so incredible at bakin’, I’d say ya had the wrong career.”

“One of the misfortunes of being both attractive and talented, no doubt. Aah, sugarcake, how do we cope sometimes?”

“I don’t kn- wait, we?” She felt her face heat up. “Well, ain’t you a smooth motherfucker?”

Angelo began to laugh, only making her blush more furiously. “You’re adorable when you’re flustered.” He flourished his arms dramatically. “Why, I think you’re radiating such a pure positive energy that all my maladies have been cured!”

“Aaagh, stop it! Yer gonna make me drop dead on the dough. Then you don’t get pastries.”

The two of them continued to make jokes as they prepared their portions of the snacks. By the time they had spooned as much of the filling as they could into the little pouches, Aimee’s jaw hurt from smiling so much.

Angelo scooped up all the remaining scraps of pastry in his hands once Aimee thought they were done, and she presumed he meant to throw them away until he placed them back down on the counter and began to roll them flat again.

“We’re not done?”

“You’ll see.”

He took up a knife once it was rolled flat, and then began carving tiny, perfect shapes out with such fluid motions that the knife seemed a part of his body. He then began moulding the shapes into a tiny pastry flower, as dainty as the hands that made it. Aimee just watched in awe as Angelo placed it on the baking tray next to the little pies.

“It’s for you,” he said, smiling warmly at her face, which she was sure would be permanently set agape after seeing what she had seen. She knew the incredible, delicate things he could make, but she’d never seen him do it. “It’s a little sloppy, I’m afraid. I’m not as precise when I’m tired.”

“Sloppy? You need to get yer eyes tested, mister. It’s amazin’. Everythin’ ya do is amazin’.” She sighed wistfully. “I can’t get my head around the crazy stuff you can do with food. Shit, I barely know how to cook.”

Angelo folded his arms. “Well, cooking is my specialty. You thoroughly take the cake when it comes to, say, engineering or hunting.”

“Well, I guess…”

“And your aim is second to none. I can’t even throw a dart straight. You could shoot a target from miles away.”

Aimee felt her face heating up, and she pressed her hands to her cheeks to try and hide the redness. She turned her head away as well, instead pretending to be deeply engrossed in the recipe pictured in Angelo’s open book.

“You have many talents, Aimee. There are so many things you can do better than I can. It’s simply a matter of different experiences.”

“…Yeah, yer right there. They ain’t exactly skills you’d need, but y’are shit at ‘em, I’ll give ya that.”

“There are other things you’re superior at as well. Likewise, there are things I excel at above all others.”

“I’m better at namin’ things…” Aimee muttered, noticing the abysmal title at the top of the page she’d been distracting herself with. Angelo always came across as so elegant and serious that his taste in names – for recipes, for his weapons, and even the pet names he gave her – were shocking to see. Nobody would associate such a weird sense of humour with a guy like him.  

“Huh? I… Says the woman who came up with ‘Guncleaver’…!”

“Yer puns are actually the worst thing you have ever done. And you have killed people.”

“They’re witty!”

“They’re cheesy as hell.”

“Hmph…” Angelo cracked a grin. “If the intention was to make something cheesy, then I think I did quite well.”

Aimee sighed loudly, struggling to supress a grin as well. “Still, I’ll tell ya now, yer not naming our kids.”

“I… Uh, well, nor are you,” he replied quickly. Perhaps it was just that he was tired, but Aimee could swear she heard his voice break slightly.

“Hey, go get some sleep. I’ll sort these out,” she nudged the tray of pastries.

“If you don’t mind, I think that would be best.” He nodded, then bent down and kissed her. She still had to stand on tiptoes slightly to reach his face. “Goodnight sugarcake… Uh, afternoon, even.” He cast a glance at the clock and laughed at himself. “I love you.”

He looked like he was stumbling as he turned to leave the room, and Aimee regretted leading him on such a tangent in their conversation when clearly all he needed was rest. She supposed it would be best if she left the house for a bit, as to not make any accidental loud noises and wake him.

“I love you too… ya big softie.”

---

“Not a lot of monsters about this afternoon,” Aimee mused, stepping around a puddle that had stagnated in the rock formations that marked the very edge of Florem Gardens. “Just cats… Minette’d have a field day here, that’s for sure…” She made a mental note to tell Minette about it once she returned home. She was actually at the bakery in Gathelatio for the duration of the Flower Festival, looking after Cinnamon Roll – their cat (named by Angelo) – so contacting the girl would not prove too difficult.  

Aimee reached a patch of grass that was neither damp nor occupied by feline, and placed a tarp down, alongside a selection of tools, weapon parts, and a blueprint. The Crystalguard wanted to upgrade their firearms, so she had brought along one of the prototypes she had been working on in the hopes that she would be able to finish it before she returned home.

She still wasn’t quite sure how she had ended up being a weapon engineer for Gathelatio’s army in her free time. She’d been doing odd tinkering jobs about Florem since she’d arrived in the city as a young teen, and still did the same thing in Gathelatio ten years later, in their local mechanics, but that was a career she’d actively perused. All she could really explain about her side-job was that one day, she’d mentioned designing Vucub Caquix, the Empire’s transforming mech, around Yew Geneolgia, and the next day a soldier had shown up on her doorstep with a job offer.

She stared out into the distance, past the spiral of rocks that twisted the horizon, and towards the forest that lay beyond them, at the foot of the cliff. Had it not burned all that time ago, she would likely have taken up a career in the village, doing gods know what. She’d certainly have never been an engineer though. Nor a mercenary, for that matter. She wondered what her parents or siblings would think of what she was doing now. They’d probably be happy for her – she was, after all, doing what she loved.

“This place feels different now,” the ethereal voice of Mephilia Venus mused. She stood at the edge of the cliff overlooking the forest, the Flories that were flourishing there once more dancing at her feet.

“Different?” Einheria, her older sister, asked, folding her arms across her armoured chest. The youngest Venus sister, Artemia, cocked her head.

“Yes. It’s quieter now. More peaceful.” She gazed up at the sky, watching the pink blossom drift by on the gentle breeze. “During the war, I remember hearing... voices. Angry voices, coming from the forests we destroyed. So much of that time is lost to me now, but that, I remember clearly.”

“The Bloodrose Legion killed everyone in those forests,” Einheria said, her voice taking on a sour tone.

“Yes… Maybe so… But sometimes a soul can remain on Luxendarc even after their body had died. I believe the people of the forests lived on in spirit… But now they lay silent.”

“Maybe because we kill DeRosa? Maybe because they know what he did?” Artemia suggested. Mephilia made an affirming noise.

“Perhaps… Maybe his death means that his victims can… move on. They can rest in peace. What do you think, Aimee? Has your village finally forgiven us our crimes?”

Aimee hadn’t realised until Mephilia had turned to address her that her eyes were welling up with tears.

“That’s a nice thought… I’d like to think they’d forgive ya… I mean, it’s not like the Bloodrose Legion had any choice…”

All three of the sisters bowed their heads.

“I mean, the people of Florem have been worshippin’ the Flories and the Orochi for centuries. We know how they work, so everyone in that village… If they knew that scumbag was poisonin’ y’all with their essences, of course they’d forgive ya. They’d know what that stuff would do to yer heads.” She pounded her fist into her hand and forced a smile through her tears. “And now they can finally be happy…”

Einheria placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Thank you for helping us find him. This country still has a long way to go, but I’d like to hope that it’s people, both living and dead, can find solitude in the fact that the people who have ruined it will never wreak havoc again. It’s the least we can do to make up for our role in the suffering Florem was caused.”

“Nah… I should be the one thankin’ you.” Aimee shook her head. “I always planned to kill him. Ya didn’t have to help me – just knowin’ he was brainwashing yer soldiers along with everyone else was enough to know you weren’t the awful people I thought you were.”

“But I just went along with it. I’m afraid I’m the only one underserving of your thanks.”

“Nah, you were just followin’ orders. DeRosa killed hundreds of innocent people because they got in his way. I reckon he’d have killed you if you objected. And given that my darlin’ and I left the Empire because we didn’t want to die, I can’t blame anybody for doin’ a shitty thing just to save their own life. Besides, the three of ya have done so much for this country over the past year anyway, and that’s more than we could ever ask. So seriously, thanks! I’m sure all of Florem feels the same way.”

When the Venus sisters had departed, Aimee remembered falling to her knees and sobbing into the earth. She cried for her family, for her friends, for all the faces she had seen every day for fourteen years that had all turned to ash that day. It was the first time, in fact, that she’d really had the chance to. At some point, someone had tucked a blanket around her and had wrapped their arms across her body. It could be nobody but Angelo – the Gardens were by that point deserted aside from the two of them – but it took a long time for the numbness to fade and for her to recognise his presence. She didn’t know how long he had sat there with her, holding her tight, only that it was dark by the time either of them spoke.

“You must be exhausted…” Angelo said softly. “You’ve been working so hard for this, for so long…”

“Yeah…” Aimee murmured, her voice hoarse.

“You can rest now, though. You don’t have to push yourself anymore.”

“I don’t think I wanna… Hey, Angelo… Is it selfish if we just ditch it all now? Just fuck off back home and forget the Empire, and the war, and the plague, and everythin’ that we somehow got ourselves caught right in the middle of?”

“Hmm… If people want to call us that, I say let them. The only stakes we had in this situation were the fact that the duchy destroyed our country, and that’s been resolved now. We’re too young to really know the impact of the plague, and as far as the Empire goes…” he smirked. “We’re just mercenaries, after all. We never had any reasons to fight for them beyond money.”

“But, we weren’t paid in cash. We said we’d help the Kaiser if he could ensure DeRosa would pay.”

“I don’t think the specifics matter… We got what we wanted, and we’re not really responsible for anything else that happened now that DeRosa is gone. I think you’ve done everything you needed to do to help right the wrongs in the world, sugarcake. A terrible man murdered the people you care about, and you avenged them.”

“Hmm, good… Because I’m tired, and I ain’t good at this heroic stuff… If it’s alright then I just wanna go back to the way things were before. Livin’ in simple peace with my family. That’s you, by the way.”

 It was dark, but she could still tell that he had gone red. For the first time in a while, she felt like laughing.

“Well, I mean… peace, with my fans, might not be so easy but everything else… I wouldn’t have it any other way.”  

“Can’t believe that happened six years ago…” she muttered to herself as she set to work on her prototype. It was based off the concept she used for Guncleaver, only not taking on the image of one of Florem’s guardian deities as her own weapon did. She hadn’t fired the thing in years, but it was still her most prized possession, and she wasn’t about to replicate it for anyone. “Right in this spot, actually. Were you there then?” she turned to look at the large, tabby cat that had prowled over to sniff at what she was doing. It didn’t seem to react to her words, but rather got distracted by a blossom that had fallen nearby and tore after that instead.

At this point, this part of Florem was practically theirs, every time they returned. The Flower Festival brought them back every year, sometimes right up until the new year, and they would spend every evening there without fail, talking about nothing and watching the clouds move across the sky. It was a special place for them, filled with memories. It was there, two years ago, that Aimee had opened the box of one of Angelo’s cakes, on her twenty-first birthday, to find the words, inscribed in icing, ‘will you marry me?’

That time, it had been him crying in their spot, but those were tears of joy. Looking back, that was the first time he’d ever let someone see him do it.

***

“Oh, there you are!”

Aimee jumped at the sound of her husband’s voice, having become so engrossed in her work that she hadn’t sensed his presence. She hadn’t even realised the sun was beginning to set.

Angelo began to make his way to where she was sat to join her, balancing the plate of pastries they had made on his forearm so that he could carry two steaming mugs in his hands. One of his large, fluffy blankets was draped over his shoulder. “I expected that I’d find you here.”

“Feelin’ better?”

He nodded, and placed the food and drink on the ground, before pulling the blanket over the both of them, careful not to let it brush against anything Aimee was working on.

“I am now, yes. Do I look better?”

“Perfect.” She grinned and tapped him softly on the nose. In truth, he was still stunning even when he looked like death. She was sure that even he knew that.

“Fancy taking a snack break?” He asked, taking a pastry and offering it to her. They looked a little more well done than they would have done if Angelo had made them entirely on his own, but given that a couple of them were already missing, it was obvious that they were still edible.

“You bet. I’m actually real hungry.”

“I imagine you must be, you’ve been out here for hours. Do you ever forget to eat when you’re working?”

“Oh yeah,” she replied, through a mouthful of the little fruit-filled tart. “I don’t even realise until after that I’m starvin’, and that I’m achin’ all over. Used to be like that when we were fightin’ as well.”

“Mm. I know what you mean. It’s especially insufferable when you’re in my business and you can’t actually eat the food right in front of you, even after you realise you’ve not had anything all day. But I suppose in a fight, it’s adrenalin, right?”

“Yeah, I reckon so. When me and the Venuses fought that red bastard, he actually broke a few of my ribs, but it took me forever to actually realise he had done. Then when we got back to the nearest town, the pain came on all at once.”

Angelo winced.

“I’m glad we’re out of the mercenary business. Even if you’re still working with the military, at least you aren’t out there getting hurt anymore.” He slipped his arm around her. “What’re you making right now, anyway?”

“Oh, this? The Crystalguard wanted somethin’ effective for keepin’ monsters at bay, and there ain’t any firearm more effective than Guncleaver for that, so it’s sorta based on that.”

“Aah, I see. The halberd is shaped like a lion, right?”

“The symbol of the Crystalguard is a white lion.” She shrugged. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s excellent. You’re really good at adding a little flair to the things you make. Have I ever told you that?”

“I don’t think so…” She blushed and pulled the blanket over her face. “But it means a lot to hear someone like you say that.”

“Well, I mean it. I do think you’re amazing, Aimee. You need to give yourself more credit.”

She always got flustered when he would start hurling compliments at her, but that didn’t change the fact that it was one of the sweetest things he would do for her. Her self-confidence hadn’t hit a low point in years now, not since she’d left the Empire, but he’d still make sure that she always knew he was proud of her. She wondered if he knew just how much those tiny gestures meant.

“Thanks, darlin’. I think I’m gonna crush it when I present this baby to the guys in Gathelatio who requested it.” She rested her head on his shoulder.

“Oh, I’m sure you will, sugarcake. I’ll be rooting for you.” He turned and pressed his lips to the top of her head. She smiled.

“I do miss havin’ a big desk to work on when I come back out here though. Sittin’ all hunched over like this ain’t doin’ much good for my neck. I hope that ain’t affected my work too much.”

“I know how you feel.” Angelo sighed. “My kitchen in Gathelatio is heaven compared to this dingy little thing. It’s cute, but it’s just so small now…”

“I guess yer used to that massive space you’ve got back home?”

Their new home had always been a bakery – one owned by a big family that had been around for generations. With so many people running it, it had been built on a much bigger scale than the made-for-two pancake house Angelo and Aimee owned in Florem, so Angelo had far more space to work. He’d even been able to take on more staff and still had room to spare.

“Yes, I suppose…” He was quiet for a moment, and then sat up straight. “I actually think that’s what’s been bothering me…”

“Really? I thought… Not the city this time?”

Angelo had always hated the city of Florem, and for good reason. He’d grown up living in fear of living on the streets and dying, like hundreds of orphaned boys did every year. It was where his biological family had died, and where his first adoptive mother had been murdered. He’d seen, first hand, the slow transition into the hell it had become when DeRosa’s influence had begun to spread. He would never admit it to anyone – not to Aimee, not even to himself – but it was obvious that it made him uncomfortable to go back there. It scared him. Aimee had assumed it was those awful memories that had been causing him so much unrest that afternoon.

“I don’t think so. I don’t usually feel so weird once I’ve been away from the city for a few hours, but this has just stuck with me all throughout today. It can’t be just that.”

“Oh, darlin’…”

“I do love this place… I really do. I have so many fond memories of us here. And I know that for you, it’s so much more. It’s just the house…” He grimaced.”We’ve always made do with its size, but it’s really starting to get to me.”

“…I think I understand what’cha mean actually.”

“You do?” Relief spread across his face.

“Well, yeah. The place is tiny. Y’ve gotta leave the building if ya want space. There’s only one seat, and one bed, and one bathroom. We don’t have a dinin’ table.”

“Right. And it’s not even just the lack of space if you want to be alone… It may sound absurd, but… I kept finding myself noticing how we could never have a third person there with us.”

Aimee felt a tightness in her chest. “I noticed that too, yeah.”

He sighed deeply, and gazed up at the sky. “…We could never start a family in a place like this, could we, Aimee?”

“…No. I don’t think we could…” she paused to think. “Y’know, maybe that’s why you feel this way?”

“I… What do you mean?”

Aimee grinned at him. “I reckon this place is tryin’ to tell ya somethin’. You’ve realised there’s no way our place here would be big enough if we wanted kids, and it’s seriously bothering you. Think about it.”

Angelo’s eyes widened as the realisation hit him, but his face softened quickly afterwards.

“Yes, I… I think you’re right.”

“Y’know, I’ve always thought it was weird that a guy like you was so keen on havin’ a family. You ain’t gonna have much alone time if we do this. You sure yer okay with it?”

“I’ll manage with what I get. But you know, I don’t get much alone time nowadays anyway. Not with my customers, and my staff, and the fact that we live together. And I realised I don’t mind that. It’s a lot less overwhelming when you care about the people you’re with.”

“That’s real cute of ya to say. If yer that confident, why put it off any longer?”

“So you’re saying you feel the same? I mean, we’ve talked about this a lot over the years, so I know we both want the same thing, but does now feel like the right time for you as well?”

“Heck yeah, it does. I think we’re gonna be awesome parents… And I do miss havin’ a big family.” She tried to keep her voice consistent, but could not stop it from breaking slightly as she spoke. “I was the oldest o’ three siblings, and I loved it. I’d kinda like to have that kinda feelin’ again.”

Angelo gave her a sympathetic smile and then wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. “Then let’s do it. After all, I’ve always said that we’re a match made in heaven. I have full confidence in us both.”

Aimee slipped her own arms around Angelo’s neck and buried her head into his shoulder, and for a second considered saying nothing more. Part of her wanted to leave this moment as it was – another perfect memory in a perfect place. They may have outgrown the house, but the Gardens themselves would always be special to them. As far as they were concerned, there was no place more precious.

But then, she knew she had the chance to make it better.

“Hey, Angelo,” she began, pulling away slightly so she could look at him in the eyes. “It’s kinda funny how impeccable yer timing has been tonight.”

“Hm? How so?”

“Well… If startin’ a family’s what ya want then I’ve actually got some good news for ya. Because there’s somethin’ I’ve been meanin’ to tell ya.”

[onepiecesmosthated]

Just look at Covington and you can see how people can be duped into hating a kid because the media has no facts on stuff.

ok so we know the general population in one piece isn’t very bright tbh like most of the normal, everyday villagers are Sheep (which isn’t necessarily their fault) but when the World Government declared that an 8 year old sunk six (6) navy battleships why. why did Anyone believe them. like idc how much of a sheep u are if u hear someone say “yea this little kid sunk a bunch of navy battleships” ur gonna say to urself “hMMM SOUNDS A LITTLE SUS FAM” like yeah she has devil fruit powers but what?? logical person?? would believe that an 8 year old would or could do that??? i would say the World Government is fucking stupid for blaming that shit on a little kid but they obviously know the ppl they rule are even dumber jfc 

like if u wanna cover up the fact that one of ur own men did it then go ahead, i’d expect that, can’t admit ur own failures, god forbid. but like ,, taking the only survivor of what is basically a senseless, indiscriminate massacre, who is not even in the double digits yet, and saying “yeah look at what this evil kid did she’s a menace to society :/” that is?? so scummy?? i can’t even??? i know it’s bc she got away and they wanted her dead at any cost (except for aoikiji/kuzan ofc) so they needed a reason to put a bounty on her head but. again. what the fuck is in the water in the one piece universe that ppl honestly believe a little human girl did what it took an adult giant to do. what