#will i ever finish setting addy up... maybe

[canirove]

Friends, lovers… and an orange | Chapter 22

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“Mase… Mason, can you… you… urgh.”

“What the fuck, Adele? You just pushed me out of the bed!” he complained, trying to untangle the sheets from his legs.

“It's what you deserve after almost making me fall like a hundred times in the past two hours with all your fidgeting” she shrugged. 

“What?”

“You haven't stopped moving since we got in bed. What is going on with you?”

“Nothing” he said, laying down again next to her.

“Oh, c'mon, Mase. Is it because of the shoot? Are you nervous about working together?”

“I love working with you, Addie. No one makes me feel more relaxed in front of a camera than you do.” 

“Then?” she asked.

“It's… everything else about your crazy plan. What if something goes wrong? What if I can't keep avoiding meeting with my agency to talk about my contract? What if they find out about…”

“Mason” Adele said, cupping his face and forcing him to look at her. “Everything is gonna be ok. Our plan will work out, your agency won't find out, and you will be free.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I came up with the plan, didn't I? It is perfect” she smiled. “Jokes aside, if we don't believe it will work out, it won't. We have to stay positive.”

“Easier said than done” he sighed.

“Lucky you, you have me to kick you out of bed every time you start doubting.”

“Yeah, nice way to treat your boyfriend” he said, trying really hard to not smile but once again being betrayed by his dimple. “What if I injure myself, uh? Then what?” he said, tickling her.

“Then we'll call your mum so she can take care of you. You are like the worst patient ever.”

“I beg your pardon?” 

“Mason!” Adele laughed when he tickled her again, making her move on the bed. “You know you are, everyone says it.”

“Poppycock” he said.

“The truth!” she laughed again when he tickled her, moving to escape from his reach. What Adele hadn't realized, though, is that she was closer to the end of the bed than she thought. “Oh, shit!”

“Adele!” Mason said, trying to catch her before she fell. “Addie, are you alright? Addie… Why are you laughing?”

“I just…” she said, cutting herself mid sentence and starting to laugh again.

“Addie, are you sure you didn't hit your head when you fell?” he chuckled.

“Oh, shut up!” 

“Do you need help getting up?”

“I actually do” she said, taking the hand Mason was offering her.

“Adele!” he said when she pulled him towards her and made him fall again, this time landing on top of her. “Are you mad?”

“Madly in love with you, yes” she smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Going cheesy won't make me forget that you've pushed me out of the bed. Twice.”

“I see… and if I do this?” she asked before kissing him.

“Nope. Nothing.”

“Umm…” 

“Biting your lip won't help either.”

“What?” she chuckled.

“You do it sometimes when you think. You bite your lip, and it drives me crazy.”

“And it isn't working now?”

“No.”

“Really?” Adele smirked while biting it again.

“Ok, maybe a tiny bit.”

“And if I do this?” she said, moving them on the floor until she was the one on top and straddling him. “You usually like this position, especially when I look like this” she said, slowly taking off her t-shirt while Mason's eyes followed her every move. 

“Have I told you yet that I love how you've turned my t-shirts into your pyjamas since we got together?”

“Don't change the topic of conversation, Mason.”

“But it's true. They look better on you that they do on me.”

“Should I put it back again, then?” 

“Hell no” he said as he sat up, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him, his chest against her naked one. 

“Then what?” Adele asked, biting her lip once again. “Have you forgiven me for pushing you out of the bed? Twice?”

“I'll let you know later. Right now all I want is you, Addie. All of you. You and only you. I love you.”

“And I…” but she wasn't allowed to finish her reply, Mason's lips finding hers. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“I think this is my favourite photo from this set.”

“And you are my favourite.”

“Mason!” Adele giggled after he kissed her cheek. “There are people watching.”

“And?” he said while hugging her from behind. “We agreed to do this, didn't we? To be all lovey-dovey so they could have a cute behind the scenes video of the shoot for the fans.”

“We did, yes. But maybe you could tone it down a bit.”

“Umm… no” he said, now kissing her neck. “And you started it all, it's your fault.”

“What?” Adele laughed.

“Have you forgotten about last night? About this morning? Because I haven't” he said, kissing that spot on her neck that he knew made her knees feel like jelly.

“Mase” she gasped. 

“Yes?” he whispered in her ear, the feeling making her shudder. 

“We still have work to do.”

“But we could take a break. Maybe go somewhere private just you and I and…”

“Mason, can you… Oh, sorry” the stylist that was working on the photoshoot said behind them. “Am I interrupting something?”

“No, no, it's fine” Adele said, clearing her throat and taking a step away from Mason. “We were checking the photos I just took, seeing if they were good and we could move into the next look.”

“And can we? Because I need him to try this shirt on. I think it'll need some alterations, and if we don't do it now we may not have time to shoot it.”

“Yes, yes. He's all yours” Adele smiled.

“Great. Mason, can you please come with me?” the stylist asked him.

“Of course. Though Adele lied to you.”

“Lied to me about what?” she asked with a confused look.

“I can't be all yours, because all of me is already hers” he said with a big smile, one that was all dimples.

“Jesus Christ, Mason” Adele said, feeling her cheeks on fire. “Go get changed before we all die of a sugar rush.”

“It's the truth” he shrugged. “And as if you didn't like it” he whispered to her before following the stylist.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“And that's wrap! Thank you very much, everyone” Adele smiled.

“Urgh, finally! Can't wait to get rid of you. And with you I mean you lot” Mason said with a teasing smile, pointing at the crew. “I could never get tired of my Addie.”

“Please someone stop him before he gets even more cheesy!” she said, making everyone on set laugh.

“It's been a pleasure to work with you during these couple of days, guys” the stylist said. “This issue is gonna be iconic.”

“I hope so” Mason smiled. “Anyway, are you up for a beer? I know I just said I can't wait to get rid of you all, but… please?” he pouted.

“We can't say no to that face, can we?” the stylist chuckled. “Let's meet in the pub at the end of the road in half an hour. Is that ok?”

“Yeah, perfect. Addie?”

“Sure” she smiled. 

“Addie, are you ok?” Mason asked her while she finished packing her camera.

“Uhm.”

“Uhm isn't an answer.”

“I'm ok, Mason. Is that better?”

“If you were telling me the truth, it would. Addie, what happened? Aren't you happy with the photos?”

“What? No, no. The photos are amazing. I'm surprised they look that good keeping in mind that the model sucks.”

“Hey!” 

“Sorry” she shrugged. 

“But if it isn't because of the photos, then why are you looking so serious?”

“I'm ok, Mase. I already told you.”

“Addie… Adele” he said, taking her hands on his and making her focus on him. “What happened? You know you can tell me anything.”

“I know.”

“Then why aren't you doing it?”

“It's just… I… Urgh.”

“Addie…”

“Now I'm the one having doubts, ok?”

“What?” Mason chuckled. 

“Yeah” she sighed.

“Did I pass them to you through all the fluids we've shared lately?” he smirked.

“Mason!” Adele gasped, her eyes wide.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry” he laughed. “But why are you having doubts?”

“Because now that the photos are done, it feels more real, you know? And we can't make any mistakes. Just a little one could lead to your agency finding out and…”

“That isn't going to happen, Addie. This plan is going to work, and not only because you came up with it” he smiled, letting go of one of her hands and caressing her cheek. “I've been thinking about it, and the fact that things have been going pretty smoothly since my agency released the statement about you not being pregnant, is a sign of this working out, of luck being on our side.” 

Things had been going pretty well since they had told the truth, Mason wasn't wrong about that. Though maybe the fact that they had “embellished” the story a bit, had helped.

His agency had told the press that Adele had never been pregnant and that the photos had been taken out of context just as she had asked them to do. But they had added that if she had been wearing bigger and looser clothes, it was because all the comments about her body had made her feel self-conscious and insecure about it, and that with the support of Mason, she had finally stopped caring and decided to love her body the way it was, live her life and be happy. They had made her look as a victim, people going from hating her to pitying her and feeling sorry for her, somehow turning everything that had happened into some kind of feminist message, and made Mason look like the perfect boyfriend who supported her girl and made her feel loved and special, his fans swooning just by the thought of it. 

“Addie, you said it yourself. We have to be positive and believe that this will work out.”

“We do, yes” she nodded.

“And we are together in this. You and I, but also our families and our friends. This will work out.”

“It will” she said, finally smiling.

“Good” Mason smiled back, his hand still on her cheek. “Now, why don't you finish packing while I go get changed? I really need that beer.”

“Sure. But you can't be that tired, you just posed in front of a camera” Adele teased him.

“I actually am. You should have seen the photographer, she was so bossy…”

“I thought you liked me being bossy” she laughed.

“In bed, yes. Out of it…” he smirked. “See you in a bit, ok?”

“Ok.”

“I love you, Addie” he said, kissing her forehead.

“Love you too” she replied.

[inlovewithgreta]

Jealousy — Addison Montgomery x Fem!Reader

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Synopsis: You get jealous over McSteamy’s antics and decide to take it out on Addison in more ways than one.

Warnings: Semi-public sex, praise, overstimulation, cunnilingus, fingering, etc…

Word Count: 2.7k

© Do not copy, repost, or modify any of my works.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Working at a hospital, you could never walk into work knowing what your day was going to be like. Each day was different, but your favorite days were slow days. The days where nothing major happened and all you had to do was check on patients and fill out paperwork.

Specializing in the pediatric division of Seattle Grace was always interesting to say the least. You worked with a plethora of kids who each had their own personality, and you couldn't help but love each and every one of them.

At first, your emotions became a problem with your cases, as you got too attached, but the longer you were at the job, the easier it got to control. Although, every once in a while, you found yourself slipping, and Addison had to help remind you to keep your head on your shoulders.

Although she was your boss, Addison had taken a liking to you the moment she saw you. The moment your eyes met hers for the first time, she knew you were going to be hers.

As you were finishing your rounds, a familiar high-pitched laugh brought your attention over to the Nurses' Station just down the hallway. Addison was seen speaking with a smirking Mark. Knowing their past, Addison assured you that what they had was over, but it wasn't her you didn't trust, it was him.

Mark was a player and a jokester.

And he repeatedly got on your nerves.

Ever since you started your relationship with Addison, Mark had seemed to make it his job to purposely set you off. He knew how jealous you got when he even looked in Addison's direction, let alone stood mere inches from her making her laugh.

Even you knew he was purposely trying to make you jealous, but you couldn't help it. Just the mere thought of him even laying a finger on her made your blood boil. You had a love for Addison, and although you had yet to tell her, both Mark and Addison knew and made a bet with how long it would take you to admit it.

You couldn't help but stop in your tracks and gaze at the duo talking excitedly to each other. Mark saw you over Addison's shoulder faking to distract yourself even though your eyes were glued to her back.

Your cheeks had already flushed, and when Mark purposely laid a hand on her shoulder to pull her into a hug, a tight smirk spread across his lips when his eyes landed on you. He noticed the way you instantly tensed with the slight flair of your nostrils when you huffed. It was obvious you immediately grew jealous at their contact while Addison had no idea of your presence.

He had you right where he wanted you.

Usually, Addison would catch onto his ploys, but as your presence was unknown to her, she had failed to realize what the man was actually doing.

When Mark finally pulled away from the hug, you took that as your opportunity to stride up to the Nurses' Station just beside Addison and hand one of the women behind the desk your files.

The second Addison heard your voice as you thanked the nurse, her eyes immediately darted from you over to Mark who stood with his arms crossed and a cocky smirk spread across his face.

"Addie, do you mind helping me with something?" You immediately spoke out just as Mark opened his mouth the speak.

"Of course, darling, with what?"

"You see, I've got this annoying rash. . ." You glare over at Mark, "and it is being a pain in my ass, would you help me get rid of it?" You attempt to lie, but to the two of them, it was clear what you wanted.

"What a coincidence! I have one too, just under my shirt here, maybe I should take it off and have Addie here take a look at it." Mark toys, only adding fuel to the fire he saw in your eyes.

"Mark, that's enough—" Addison goes to stop the conversation but you are quick to cut her off.

"No, Mark, go ahead and take your shirt off. I've always wondered what old man physique you had hiding under there."

"Don't tempt me with a good time, sweetheart." His smirk only grew when he noticed your eye roll. He knew you hated when he called you that, which made him say it as often as he could.

"The only sweetheart here is Addie, isn't that right, darling?" You slide a hand possessively around her waist.

Mark attempted to cut Addison's next words off with another one of his annoying lines, but you had grown tired of his antics and walked both you and Addison away from the grey-haired man who eyed the two of you walking off with a curious brow.

"Aww c'mon, Y/N, let's just hug it out!" Mark called out, eliciting a heavy eye roll from you.

"If he so lays a finger on me, I'll break it."

"I don't doubt that one bit, love. Where are we going?" Addison asked curiously, when she noticed you had led her to the more emptier part of the patient area.

"I want to show you something."

Your eyes scan every room until you walk past one that is completely empty, and nearly push Addison inside and close the door behind the two of you.

Addison's back is instantly pressed against the cold mahogany door as your hands make home upon her hips, and your lips hungrily press against hers.

Addison was quick to reciprocate the kiss, a small hum eliciting from her throat as her hands made way to your cheeks, pulling you as close to her as possible.

"What did Mark say that was so funny?" You nonchalantly asked, sending small kisses along her slim jawline.

"Is that what this is about? Mark?" Addison softly laughed. She didn't think you were being serious, which caused you to gently nip at her neck, earning a small whimper from her.

"He still wants you." You say in between kisses as you make your way back up to her soft lips.

"I don't think so—"

"You don't think he does, but I know he does." Your eyes bore straight into hers, before purposely darting to her lips as if you were about to kiss her again. To her dismay, you hovered just mere centimeters from her face, a smirk toying at your lips when she attempts to close the distance, and you having to rest a gentle finger along her lips to stop her.

"But," You continue, starting to walk the two of you towards the empty bed, "that's too bad because you are mine. And I'm going to prove it to you. . . Right. Now." Your finger leaves her lips to slide down to her chest and gently pushing her down onto the bed.

Addison already knew what to do, as she didn't say a word and immediately unbuttoned her top, revealing her royal purple laced bra that tightly held her breasts. You crawled on top of her just after she kicked her shoes off, mouth instantly making contact with her tanned skin. You nibbled and sucked along her collarbone, leaving fresh love marks that only you got the pleasure of seeing. . .

At least that's what Addison thought, until she seen what you were doing next.

You had made a small mark on her neckline that was sure to be seen by anyone who paid enough attention, and you knew exactly who that person was going to be.

"Wait, everyone is going to see that one." She mumbled.

"That's the plan, Addie."

Addison let out a sigh, knowing she would have to explain that one later. You slowly kissed down her body, eyes fixated on her bright green ones that dilated as you inched your way down her stomach.

Heat rushed through Addison's cheeks as her gaze failed to leave your own as you tucked your fingers below her waistband to pull her pink scrubs down her slender legs, revealing her matching purple panties.

"Wet for me already, I see."

Her hips jolted towards your touch, "Does that surprise you?" She breathed out.

"Not at all." You smirked, knowing exactly how she reacts to you, and you alone.

You hook your teeth under her panties to glide them down her legs and off her body.

You waste no time in spreading her thick thighs, your hands laying on the inner flesh of her thighs to keep them in place. Once her panties were off, your bring your lips to kiss a small trail up her tanned legs.

Her hand flew to yours in attempts to get you to do something, "Come on..." You could tell she was getting impatient, but you needed her to feel some frustrations like you did.

You tsked, "That's not how to get what you want, and you know that." You responded with a bite to her thigh.

Your action pulled a whimper from the redhead, knowing that you were right.

"Please..." She corrected.

You looked at her with a small smirk, you couldn't restrain yourself anymore. You wanted her just as bad as she wanted you, so you caved.

Addison writhed slightly at the coolness of your flattened tongue along her folds. Small hums elicited from the redhead at the newfound pleasure between her legs.

Her head fell back along the plush pillow, hips begging for more as they bucked forward ever so slightly. Bringing two fingers to her center only increased the numerous noises coming from Addison's red lips.

"How does this feel, love?" Your curved fingers glide at a steady pace.

"So good. . ."

Addison's hips bucked as your tongue flicked against her sensitive clit. Her chest rose and fell with each pleasurable passing second. She was at your complete mercy. Body and mind both hyper-fixating on you and only you.

"You look so beautiful like this. How did I ever get so lucky?" Feather-like kisses were placed across her skin, trailing up her body back to her rounded breasts. Your mouth attached to her nipple trapped behind the thin layer of lace covering her chest.

You knew she would finish if you had her directly in her mouth, but wanted her to last longer, building up the pressure little by little.

"More. Please." Addison couldn't help her pleas as you teased her breasts. Her freshly manicured hand roamed your locks, fingers tightly gripping the hair at your scalp.

As much as you wanted to make her wait, the fiery look in her glazed over emerald eyes were too hard to ignore. Your ears were blessed with a low moan as you added a third finger, bringing your movements to a halt as you let her adjust.

The grinding of her hips allowed you to restart your pace, your mouth kissing along her lace covered breast before moving back up to her neck, adding more love marks to the opposite side you never touched earlier.

"So close—" Addison whimpered, the feeling of your palm pressing against her clit had her legs beginning to shake. "Fuck, I'm so close." She tugged at your hair, pulling your face up to hers so her lips could connect with yours in a needy kiss.

"Let go, my sweet Addie." You encouraged against her lips.

Luck was still on your side, as your beautiful Addie came with a scream of your name, a certain someone had walked by the patient room by chance. Mark had stopped briefly as he heard the unmistakable sounds of sex, he knew them well, but was caught off guard as a familiar voice screamed your name. Once the shock wore off, he scoffed with amusement before continuing on with what he was doing before his curiosity took ahold of him.

Addison quivered as she came. Thighs attempted to close around your hand, but your body pressing flushed against hers made it impossible for them to close.

Sweet moans echoed off the bare hospital walls, your movements never faltering from her orgasm. Addison's brows knitted while she watched a smirk slowly creep along your face that was now moving back between her legs.

Her legs trembled, a small whimper eliciting from her when you replaced your fingers with your tongue. You carelessly wiped your fingers clean of her orgasm along your pants, watching her every twitch and wiggle as you never eased up on the pleasure.

"Since you wanted this so bad, let's see if we can get another one out of you, hmm?"

Your tongue lapped up her release, sliding across her folds and up to her clit, lips wrapping around the bud and adding gentle suction.

"I can't!" Addison cried out, her free hand holding a death grip along the bedsheets. Tears welled at the corner of her eyes, pleasure and overstimulation clouding her senses.

"You can, my love. You're always so good for me. Just one more. You can do it." You encouraged her.

Her head nodded frantically, the uncomfortableness of the overstimulation slowly returning back to pleasure. Hips threatened to buck against your face, expletives forcing themselves from her mouth.

She loved when you got jealous. It showed in the way you pleasured her. Your usual one and done attitude always disappearing as you attempted to show her just how good she had it with you. You were the only one who ever made her feel this way, and you knew that, but still made it a point to prove it to her each and every time.

Her thighs wrapped tightly around your head as she came for the second time. Her orgasm hit her harder this time around, cries of pleasure sounding like music to your ears.

You hummed as you lapped her up after she came, hands pulling her thighs from your head, allowing air to enter your lungs after she had temporarily cut you off.

"Oh fuck..." She brought her arm up to her face to wipe away the sweat that formed on her features from your ministrations.

You just smirked as you peppered kisses all across her body until you came face to face to her once more.

"Maybe I need to make you jealous more often."

Your smirk lessened as your features darkened slightly, "If you do, I can promise that next time won't be so enjoyable for you." You accentuated your point by pressing your knee to her overstimulated core, causing a slightly pained whimper to come from her.

"But we both know you're my good girl, and you wouldn't do such a thing, right?" You give her a pointed look.

She nodded, "Right."

A sweet smile replaced your previous look, "Excellent! Now, I'm sure someone has probably notice the top two attendings' absence in this hospital. So, it's best we get back to work."

Addison sighed, knowing you'd both have to go back to your professionalism when you returned to work. You lifted from the bed, offering your copper-haired girlfriend a hand.

You smirked to yourself when she stood, the slight quivering of her legs still very prominent from her intense orgasms. It only took a minute for you to help her redress, and run your fingers through her bedhead to calm the frizz in attempts to remove the look of sex from her.

Addison attempted to calm her breathing, feet sliding back into her work shoes. You gave her a quick peck against her forehead, taking her stray hairs between your fingers and tucking it behind her pierced ears as you looked lovingly into her eyes.

"Ready?" You questioned.

"Mhm, you go first and I'll follow after a few seconds in case of any wandering eyes."

You agreed, unlocking the door and poking your head out to look both ways, and letting out a sigh of relief at the empty hallway, completely unaware that a certain grey-haired man was waiting back at the Nurse's Station with a quizzical brow.

You took quick strides from the room, Addison following suit just a few feet behind you, attempting to tame her shaking legs. When your eyes met with Mark's, Addison was quick to turn the other way, clearing her throat and fixing her hair as she walked past the two of you.

You knew the antics that would come from Mark but you wordlessly responded to them all with a smirk, Addison found it nearly impossible to clear her dirty thoughts that wandered through her mind as she attempted to return her focus back to work for the rest of her shift.

[russellsppttemplates]

i just cannot get enough of dad!lance omg 🥹🥹 maybe something like first parents night out and them going back home early cause they miss addy 🥹

"Have I told you how gorgeous you look tonight?", Lance complimented, making you blush as you wiped your mouth after taking a sip from your glass, "a few times, yes", you said. "Just telling the truth, sweetheart. I like that colour on you", he smiled.

Chloe offered to look after Addalynn for the night so you and Lance could have a date by yourselves and enjoy some quality time together, and so far, it had been lovely. You left home early to walk along the city before making it to the restaurant, ordering your favourite dishes and actually having adult conversations for the first time in a while. You had put on one of your favourite dresses, and it seemed like your husband thought the same.

"Can I take the plates with me?", the waiter asked as he arrived to your table, noticing you and Lance had been chatting for a little bit after finishing the food, "sure, absolutely! The food was great, as always", you said as he gathered your plates, clearing up the table except your glasses.

"What is it?", you asked Lance, seeing him play with your fingers absentmindedly as he looked at you, "it's just-", he was interrupted by the waiter, "Here's the dessert menu, and we also have the drinks on the back", he handed Lance the card as you fiddled with your necklace. From the beggining of your relationship, Lance noticed that you rarely ever went out without your necklace, the gold piece with your initial, resting on your neck at practically all times, so over the years, he had gifted you a medal for you to add in, later an 'L' piece, and the most recent one, an 'A' piece for your daughter.

"Do you miss her too?", he asked, startling you since you hadn't noticed you were filling with the newest charm. Blushing at being caught, you couldn't bring yourself to lie about it, "I loved this, don't get me wrong. I think we should do this again so we can get used to not having her around for a little bit and for her, too, but I-", you said as Lance set the card down as the waiter approached you again, "can we please have four slices of cheesecake to go? I'll just pay at the front, if that's okay", he checked over with the waiter, who nodded and fixed the to go box as soon as he could.

Lance got up and grabbed your coat, helping you get dressed in it, "I know exactly how you feel. Let's go home so we can snuggle our little princess and have some dessert. Hopefully we can bribe Chloe if she had too much trouble", he winked, lacing your hands as you walked up to pay, thanking the waiter and wishing them a good night.

Arriving home, Chloe was the first to greet you and Lance, "you know you could've taken longer, I was doing just fine, you didn't gave to rush back", she reasoned, "we know, but we didn't want to be away from her much longer", Lance explained, taking off his coat and peeking at his sleeping daughter, "she's an angel, you guys, she fussed a little when I gave her the bottle, but then she fell asleep straight out".

"We have some cheesecake for you and Scotty", you said as you walked to the kitchen after kissing your daughter's head, putting the slices in a container so she could go and enjoy the sweet treat with her husband, thanking her once again for her help.

Sitting on the sofa, Lance kept staring at Addalynn as she slept peacefully, "look at her, not a care in the world, everything is just fine in Addalynn's little world, isn't it, my love?", he cooed.

(Thank you for submitting an ask 🤍)

[gorgonwrites]

bound to you, part 4

diluc x fem!reader

wc: 3, 155

author's note: alexa, play Take Me Back To Eden by Sleep Token

cw: 18+, MDNI!!! fem!reader, reader is an artist, oral (fem receiving), fingering, overstim, dacryphilia, body worship, edging, angst MAYBE if you squint, arranged marriage, tooth rotting sweetness bc diluc is a soft man and just wants to love you right

“And then I use orange here against the blue,” you made a quick swipe with your paintbrush, “See how it creates a highlight? The two colors contrast in such a way that it immediately brings your attention to this focal point.” your husband leans over your shoulder to look at the area of the canvas you were finishing. He had declined to paint with you, but he did insist on remaining in your presence for the rest of the afternoon. At first you weren’t sure you could tolerate his audience, but as time passed you both relaxed as he watched your brush dance across the canvas. 

“When did you start painting?” Diluc was directly behind you, bent over so he was speaking directly into your ear. Being so close to him sent a bolt of electricity through you, and you had to steady yourself for a moment before answering him.

“When I was small. I think I was 7 when my father bought me my first set of paints.” Remembering the day you received them made you smile. You had painted the most atrocious version of a cryo slime anyone had ever seen and paraded it around your home for days afterwards, convinced that it was the greatest thing to ever grace your family member’s eyes. 

“I was a little overconfident back then, but I was humbled quickly.” you laughed, “My parents sent me to painting classes and my teacher was ruthless. The first time she told me my skills were worthless, I cried for days.” 

Diluc frowned at the thought. If anyone but him dared to bring tears to your eyes- his thoughts came to a halt. Anyone but him. You were still talking but he didn’t hear a single word, too focused on imagining tears spilling down your face with your lips wrapped around his cock. Fuck. He could feel the growing bulge in his pants, and he was in no position to readjust himself. 

“Y/n, I just remembered I have something that needs taking care of-” he began to retreat, trying to escape to the privacy of his own chambers. Your arm shot out quickly and silenced him before he could finish speaking. You reached up and cupped his cheek with your palm, holding his gaze. Diluc slowly reached up and covered your hand with his own, his bulging cock completely forgotten. 

“Are you unwell?” you asked quietly, surprised by the courage suddenly coursing through your veins. You brushed your thumb across your husband’s bottom lip, his eyes widening in response. 

“I am very well, I assure you.” he breathed. Your hands were so warm on his skin. “I have one more thing regarding the winery that requires my attention. Once you’re finished here, have Addy help you bring your things inside.” You began to pout. “This is the last thing I have to do for the next few weeks, I promise.” 

“Words mean very little to me, Diluc. How do you intend to comfort your lonely wife?” His response was a wicked smile, and he took your hand from his cheek only to hold it gently in both of his own. 

“I think you’ll find I can be very comforting if given the chance, angel.” a pang shot through your heart. He continued, “Your hands are warm today.”

“I- I haven’t used my vision to cool myself since you’ve kept me company this afternoon.” You gasped as he brought your hand to his lips, brushing them over each of your fingers. He then looked at you with a stern expression on his face. 

“Don’t do that anymore. I mean it.” Diluc wanted to know all of you, and you continuing to hide  a core part of yourself every time you were in his presence was beginning to weigh on him. 

“But the other day my hands were too cold and you withdrew from me, I was being careless, I-” you were speaking rapidly, barely louder than a whisper. You stopped suddenly when he pressed a soft kiss to the back of your hand. 

“I didn’t withdraw because your hands were cold. I withdrew because it was the first time you reached out to me and I was surprised.” He looked up at you and smiled again. “You think too much, has anyone ever told you that?” It was true that Diluc didn’t like the cold. He didn’t enjoy when snow covered the rolling hills of Mondstadt, he didn’t like cold drinks on a hot day, and he didn’t like even thinking about joining his staff as they jumped into the cold rivers that flowed down from Dragonspine. But he could deny you nothing, and if that meant overcoming this small hurdle, so be it. Your fingers suddenly felt icy in his hand, and goosebumps broke out across his skin. 

“Maybe this will be the first time I decide to do as you ask for a change.” you giggled mischievously, and Diluc rolled his eyes. You were also a brat he was learning, but he’d never say that out loud. 

You were finished for the day shortly after your husband left you. You were reeling from your exchange with him, and your arousal was almost tangible as you gathered your things. Adelinde came out to greet you, and helped you carry everything back to the manor. The two of you were in the library adjusting your painting above the mantle before you finally spoke. 

“How long has Diluc been calling you Addy?” you were curious. He’d never referred to Adelinde by the nickname in front of you before, and you found it incredibly endearing.

“So he finally let that one slip, did he?” Adelinde laughed, “He’s been saying that since the day I arrived at the manor. He was still very young, and I don’t think he could quite manage my full name at the time. Addy has stuck ever since.” The thought made you snicker. Of course he would adopt his own name for her rather than ever admitting that there was a time when he was incapable of pronouncing her name. You both continued to adjust and readjust the painting, careful not to smear any of the drying paint. 

“He worries about you, you know.” Adelinde said absently as she worked with you to finally move the canvas in place. “You’re all he has.” You looked at her, confused. 

“I didn’t think I did that much to cause him to fret over me.” Yes, you liked to push what you could and could not do, mostly because you hated the feeling of being caged like a bird. His requests were always simple things- don’t venture off of the winery grounds when he was away, no housework, no fieldwork, and no going out after the sun set each evening. 

“The young master has grown up in a difficult world, my Lady. Forgive him for being a cautious man.” you knew nothing of what Adelinde referred to. Your curiosity was eating at you though, and you wanted more information on your ever elusive husband.

“What do you mean?” 

Adelinde just sighed in response, shaking her head. If you really want to know, you have to go ask him yourself. You huffed out a breath in response, and instead turned your attention to the painting freshly mounted over the mantle. Courage, you thought to yourself. I just need ten seconds of courage. 

You paced back and forth at the foot of your bed, unable to make up your mind. You had bathed and now wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and hide from the thoughts whirling in your mind. After your interaction with Diluc earlier, your arousal had continued to grow throughout the evening and it was now almost unbearable. More than that, your curiosity was starting to spill over about your husband’s life before you married him. You needed to know every detail he was willing to share. You’d been walking around your room for ages, and the moon was high in the sky. He probably wasn’t even awake. 

I’ll go to his door, knock, and if he doesn’t answer I’ll come back and pretend it never happened. It took several times of you repeating the thought in your head before you were finally convinced to venture out into the hall. You slowly and carefully made your way through the dark to Diluc’s door, your breathing starting to quicken. You lifted your hand and lightly knocked, half hoping that it was too quiet for him to hear. After a few moments you began to turn away, relieved. Your chest tightened when you heard the lock on Diluc’s door click, and light from his room spilled into the hallway. You froze in place, immediately regretting your decision to come see him. 

You could tell from the wild expression on his face that he wasn’t expecting to see you. He was shirtless, and his hair cascaded over his shoulders. There was a hint of a flush on his chest, and you couldn’t help but wonder what he had been doing before he opened the door. Heat began to gather between your thighs at the thought.

“Y/n? Are you well?” He looked worried, pushing his hair out of his face. Grabbing your hand, he gently pulled you into his room and shut the door behind you. Your eyes raked over every inch of your husband, quickly forgetting your bubbling curiosity from earlier. 

“Very well,” you rasped. Courage, you reminded yourself. You closed the gap between your bodies, placing your hands on his bare chest. You could feel his body tense under your touch. Craning your neck, you leaned into him to whisper into his ear. “I came to remind my husband that he left his wife lonely and wanting this afternoon.” 

His hands were on you instantly. He firmly held the small of your back, pressing you closer to him. He took your chin in his other hand, forcing you to look up to him and hold his gaze. His breathing was shaky, and his eyes searched your face for any signs that you wanted him to let you go. After a few moments he was satisfied, and he spoke. 

“And what would my wife have me do to correct such a transgression?” his eyes had a feral look you had never seen before. You snaked your arms around his neck and grabbed a fist full of his hair, pulling his head back to give you access to his neck. He whined as you planted several soft kisses there before you finally answered his question. 

“Ruin me.”

Before you knew what was happening, Diluc grabbed your hips and threw you over his shoulder. Without a word he turned and quickly made his way across his chambers, tossing you onto his bed. He lifted your nightdress off of you easily, exposing your naked body to the cool night air. You reached out for him, craving his touch. He stood between your legs where you sat on the edge of his bed, and held your face in his hands. His breathing was increasingly labored, and you could feel yourself start to shake from excitement. Your face was so close to his. After what felt like an eternity, he leaned down and took your lips in a crushing kiss. 

He kissed you like he was starving. His hands continued to wander, familiarizing himself with your body inch by inch. You bit his bottom lip, making him groan.

“Do that again and see what it gets you.” You most certainly would have, but he didn’t give you the chance. He quickly moved to your neck, biting and licking his way down to your chest. You leaned back, letting your husband explore your body. He took one of your nipples into his mouth, lightly grazing his teeth over it as he rolled your other nipple between his fingers. You brought a hand up to your mouth, trying to hide the moans spilling from your lips. His hand shot up and grabbed your wrist before intertwining his fingers with yours, bringing your hand away from your face. 

“I want to hear you, angel. You can’t hide from me anymore.” He continued teasing your nipples, and slowly made his way down until he was between your thighs. He spread your legs wide, pushing your knees towards your chest. You whined, feeling hopelessly exposed with your husband's mouth inches from your pussy. Kissing your inner thighs, he began to suck and bite lightly, leaving marks that only he would ever see. 

“Tell me you want me.” Diluc’s voice was demanding. You hoisted yourself onto your elbows so you could look at him. He had completely halted his actions, waiting for your response. You fell back, covering your eyes with your hands. You were suddenly feeling shy and your voice died in the back of your throat. Your husband moved upwards slightly, reaching for your face. You peeked through your fingers at him and he took your hand in his, bringing it to his lips. He kissed each of your fingers and then your palm before turning it over to plant a final kiss just above your knuckles.

“Tell me you want me, angel. Tell me how to love you- I’ll give you anything. Everything. I’ll give you all of me.” you felt tears pricking at your eyes as his words started to overwhelm you. 

“Gods, I want you Diluc, please-” you started to cry, “Take what is yours and make me come!” As soon as the words left your lips, his mouth was on your pussy. You were impossibly wet and your juices coated his tongue. He pushed your knees back to your chest again, giving him greater access to your core. He licked a long stripe from your pussy to your clit, and taking it between his lips he began to suck gently, flicking his tongue as he did. 

“Fuck!” you sobbed as he continued his relentless attacks on your now puffy and swollen clit. You could feel yourself close to your release, reaching down and grabbing Diluc’s hair, pushing him further into you. Just as you were about to fall over the edge, he stopped. 

“Not yet, angel.” He kissed your thighs and then began to make his way back up to your neck. You whined in frustration, infuriatingly close to coming undone. He peppered your chest and neck with kisses before meeting your lips again. Tasting yourself on his tongue felt wicked. You quickly pulled away, trying to push him back down between your legs. He resisted, and when you huffed in response, he grinned ear to ear.

“You’re a cruel man, Master Diluc.” you crossed your arms, trying desperately to seem angrier than you actually were. 

“Not cruel enough, it seems.” he growled in your ear, and suddenly plunged two fingers into your pussy. You gasped at the sudden intrusion, arching your back from the pleasure. You gripped his biceps and did everything you could not to scream. He slowed his fingers for a moment to let you catch your breath. 

“Like this?” he asked, moving his fingers in and out of your pussy messily, “Or like this?” he stilled his fingers, curling them up into the spongy spot inside of you. You choked as he began to stroke your clit with his thumb, and you could feel a familiar sensation building inside of you. 

“Like that, oh- please, Diluc!” you threw your arms around his neck as he pleasured you, finding his lips as fresh tears started to fall down your cheeks. 

“Give it to me, angel. Let go.” you felt a coil snap in your core and your vision went white, screaming your husband's name as you came on his fingers. He didn’t let up, and you began to writhe under him from the overstimulation. He was a greedy man, and he wanted everything from you. You felt the coil quickly tighten again and just as you came down from your first high, you fell apart for a second time, squirting all over Diluc’s hand. His movements slowed finally, and he gently pulled his fingers out of you. He brought them up to his mouth and sucked them clean of your essence, not wasting a single drop. You were completely out of breath, still holding onto your husband tightly. You were both sweaty, and he loosened your grip so he could sit up and pull you into his lap. You realized he was still clothed from the waist down, and wanting to return the favor you reached for his pants trying to remove them. He stopped you, and when you began to pout he couldn’t help but laugh. He got up and walked into the bathroom to begin drawing a hot bath for you. 

He walked back to the bed where you were still pouting, mumbling things he couldn’t quite make out. He leaned down, his hands on either side of your hips as he rested his forehead on your shoulder. You reached up and began running your fingers through his long hair, and your mumbling quieted as you began to pepper the top of his head with soft kisses. Steadying himself, he kissed your collarbone and then looked up at you. 

“That’s enough for tonight, angel. Let me clean you up.” He helped you to your feet, but your legs were too wobbly to walk after two back to back orgasms. You begrudgingly let him carry you to your bath, and afterwards you carefully put your nightdress back on. You found him sitting by his window, an open book on his chest as he began to doze. You lightly brushed your fingers across his cheek, earning you another smile. 

“Would you like to stay with me tonight?” he asked quietly, without opening his eyes. When you didn’t answer immediately, he frowned and peeked at you in  hopes of catching your expression. You had your hands on your hips, and let out an exasperated sigh. You sat on his lap and put your elbows on his chest, resting your chin in your hands. 

“Master Diluc asking his wife to stay overnight with him in his chamber? Hell must have frozen over!” you tried to sound sarcastic, but your giggling gave you away. Diluc quickly wrapped you in his arms and bombarded you with kisses, making you laugh even more as you tried to escape his grasp. 

“If Hell is frozen over,” he continued his relentless attack, “it was most definitely your doing.” He stilled and shuddered when you placed a cold hand on the back of his neck. You smiled, satisfied.

“Yes, I want to stay with you tonight. If you’ll have me.” Diluc suddenly stood up, bringing you with him. Holding you close, he kissed your forehead and laughed in response.

“Good, because I wasn’t going to let you leave.” 

[ar-feyniel]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by dear @luthien-under-bough

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

52

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

878,730. That's insane actually now that I think about it.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

HOTD/ASOIAF, but also dabbling into "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue"

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Maternal love - Aemma-centric time-travel fix-it

Armistice - slow-burn(ish), enemies-to-lovers epic fic with human sacrifice and a lot of denial of feelings. And magic!

daughter's wrath - early marriage Daemyra, basically a "what if Rhaenyra married Daemon once her father's marriage to Alicent is announced". Brat!Nyra to its fullest.

Violet-Eyed Jealousy - my biggest claim to fame, the thing that started daddy-in-law agenda, canonverse.

Passion driven - my very first attempt at writing for this fandom and in English overall, the whole fic is shorter than some of my current one-shots lol, but it still hangs strong in top-5.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! Unless they are mean, obnoxious or demanding.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably you took everything from me because it's Daemma, canonverse, and they are doomed lol.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Tbh almost all my fics end with "they fuck and are happy", it's hard to pick just one.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I do, occasionally, and sometimes it upsets me, sometimes I just block and move on.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Mostly F/M, but also F/F and Multi. Haven't written any M/M yet, and as for kinks - well, I don't think I have any hard-nos at this point haha

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

counting tides is technically a crossover because it's heavily based on "The Odyssey" and is adapted to ASOIAF setting.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, unfortunately.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, without my permission lol. I made the mods take it down.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I plan to! With an author who I consider to be a dear friend of mine. <3

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Daemyra - and if we talk about other fandoms, I have my preferences, but Daemyra is *the* brainrot.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

the poison in my blood has your name. This fic was plagiarised and I have no idea whether I will come back to it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Characterisation, probably? I also like to believe my premises are creative.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Consistency, that's easy haha. My creativity and inspiration are too fickle.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't see the point. Whenever I encounter High Valyrian or any other language I don't speak in a fic, I just skip this part and never bother with looking for translation.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Silmarillion.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

maybe this thing was a masterpiece ('til you tore it all up) - it's an angsty modern AU that is probably my best writing ever. I cried when writing it, and every time I reread it, there is a knot in my chest. This is something I am really proud of.

no pressure tags @calenlily @grandlovescheme @awfullylongtime

[the-baddest-of-batches]

Dar'Aliit: Chapter Fifteen - Pawn (Part 2)

20 BBY Krayt Medical Bay

"Lieutenant?" Headshot pokes his head around the corner as I'm sitting there letting the medic wrap my stomach again. I wince and look up at him.

"What do you want?" I try not to roll my eyes.

Headshot closes the door behind himself and steps into the room. He holds his helmet by his side. "I'm supposed to tell you the General wants to see you. I am assuming for another...lecture."

I shift and the medic glares up at me. I sit back and let him keep working.

"Stay still," I'm warned. I look over at Headshot. "Any chance of me getting out of this one and you three handling it?"

"Well, I'm sure if I march up there and pretend to be you, I could pull it off. Actually, maybe I should send Raf, he's got the scars for it."

This time, I roll my eyes. "Nidor can tell us all apart. You're not nearly thick skinned enough to be me. And you lack charm."

Headshot presses a hand to his chest. "I'm wounded."

"See if I care." I wince when the medic finishes taping it all up. He straightens and looks me dead in the eyes.

"Do not pull those stitches or I will make you hand sew them back together."

"Fine."

With a final warning glare, I'm released. I stand up, slowly, and reach for my uniform shirt. "The bridge, again?" I ask.

"Yes and no. He wants to see you in the comm room."

The door opens before Headshot can finish and the Captain steps inside. "Headshot, get back to your station."

"Heading back to my bunk, sir." Headshot salutes. Addie takes over.

"Ignore everything he said." Addie removes his helmet and sets it on the medical table. "The General won't be seeing you, not now, and not soon. For one you're injured. For two I've handled everything on your account."

"What?" I echo. I don't remember all of my time down there, but I remember pretty clearly defying an order. Not my best moment, but I had my reasons and I'll defend them myself. "I can take the fall for my own—"

"No," the captain snaps back at me. "You have taken the fall for your actions. You nearly died down there, but you know what else? That droid of yours got some pretty good intel. He found out more than we would've ever coaxed out of a single Sep. So you did your job, Kian. But let me get something straight." Addie levels his finger at my chest. "That was a reckless move not even a rookie would pull. You're no pilot. We thought you were dead."

Addie's voice has the same raw tone I've felt in my own throat in the past. I look at my boots. "Yessir."

"I get you don't agree with the General. Hell I don't half the time, but he's still in charge."

"Why?" I burst out. "He's more reckless than I am!"

"This is war. There's no such thing as caution."

"There is good strategy."

"And he has good strategies!"

"The Jedi don't care about us!"

I can hear the echo of the words the Captain has opened his mouth to say: Because we're expendable. But even he can't say the words. They're written in the very code of our genetics, and we can't accept them. Because we're human.

I step up to Captain Addie and stick my own finger in his chest. "You know full well those pricks don't know the first thing about war. They're just playing god."

"You're downright disrespectful, Kian. You know that?" The Captain sighs.

"Yessir, I do."

"And antisocial too."

"Got my reasons."

Addie picks up his helmet. He looks at the door. "Get back to your bunk and get some rest. I almost wish I had half the guts you do. But for the record," he looks at his helmet. "I agree. The Jedi aren't soldiers, so we've gotta show them how."

"And how many more of us will die being an example?"

Addie is silent. I finish buttoning my uniform shirt and limp for the door. I should've seen it earlier. I knew I was a pawn, but I didn't understand. Now I do.

#

13 BBY Illandin

The room is dark and that's when I see it. The lightsaber igniting and cutting through the shadows.

She's here and she's just as trapped as we are. She thinks she has us cornered, why wouldn't she? The Jedi were always haughty. Being right and being good aren't always the same thing.

They were always wrong about one thing. The force they wield isn't light or dark, it's pure power. Absolute power corrupts and the Jedi are just as bad as their enemies. I hate her. I hate every being like her.

They'd be alive if it weren't for you.

The Jedi woman charges through the darkness. I fire off several rounds, the lasers lighting up the space. I'm here, Dross is here, Jay was close behind with R3 and I know Zur's in the room somewhere with Esho. And this Jedi just gave us one big bright beacon to follow her with.

She bats a bolt aside. I curse and fire again. This time, I've got her. Even Jedi aren't invulnerable.

She roars and swings. I duck. Dross darts up behind me, but she catches him across the arm and he goes down without even a scream.

Esho lunges. She's on top of her, clobbering the woman with her fist. That is my niece, no doubt about it.

Zur fires. More shots in the air, batted aside by the lightsaber. I'm snapping my blaster back up into position to fire again when the door comes flying in from a grenade. The Jedi startles. She throws Esho off and tries to pummel her but Esho locks the woman in place so I slam a few more bolts into her and rush up to help. She breaks free as Zur fires wide. Dross is out on the floor.

"Get him!" I yell at Zur as Jay busts in guns blazing.

I turn and I'm not on my feet anymore. I slam into a crate and it smashes as my back hits the floor. The jedi runs after me. I haul up my blaster but she's too close.

Esho scrambles up. "Uncle Kian!"

"Pin her down!" I yell. The lightsaber swings and I duck, avoiding it. She brings it up for another swing.

Zur fires from across the room. The Jedi hisses as the lightsaber is knocked free and skitters out of sight. Now's our chance.

Esho lunges. She and the Jedi collapse on top of me. I swing a punch. I can't get my blaster up and Esho is struggling. The Jedi still has her arms free. A fist rams into my ribs with more force than a hand could deal. I'm gasping. She strikes again, and again, and I don't know if I can breathe. Somethings broken, but I can't let her escape.

I won't let that evil back into the world.

Hauling off, I punch back. I connect with her jaw and send her reeling back into Esho as I fumble for my blaster. I haul it up but Zur beats me to the punch, firing from across the room and delivering a laser bolt to her face. It's nasty, but effective.

Esho drops the corpse. I crawl back up to my feet.

"That's...it?" Esho asks. I look and see she's pale in the face. I nod and look down at the corpse. My lip curls tight revealing teeth.

But there's one less evil in the world. I look around and see Zur patching up Dross. Jay and R3 are alive and kicking and Esho's here beside me. I exhale, then draw my vibrosaber and swing as hard as I can. And with shaking arms, I sink the blade through the Jedi's neck with every ounce of leftover rage.

#

19 BBY Aboard the Krayt

"You get your wish, Lieutenant." Nidor stalks around the comms table. It's been two months. Two weeks suspension, otherwise known as my medical leave, and the rest grueling it out in trenches wherever the General could put me and the other Dar'Aliit members. I've watched more men die than I can stomach.

I think that was his plan.

I stare cold and dead-eyed at the hologram readout of a planet: Illandin.

"I'm sending you in alone. The Captain recommended your unique skills, and I'd be loathe not to listen to him."

As if you do any other time. I know he's trying to get rid of me. After Caeopa I imagine the General realized that any situation he puts me in, I'll disobey. He's right. But I won't nearly get myself killed doing it again.

Nidor waves his hand and one of the crew steps forward. It's our analyst. He spreads out the map. "The Chancellor issued this mission not long after you returned from Mon Calamari last week. He has placed a request for someone to attend a gambling ring on Illandin. Though the planet isn't well known for criminal activity, there are several frequent players who have been supplying Separatist trade routes."

"And you think they won't recognize me?" I look at the General.

"No," the analyst continues. "Because you will be going under an alias. You're a deserter, who's only looking for a good game. Illandin has a small but growing clone population, many of whom were discharged or went AWOL."

And no one's tracked them down and executed them? Wow. I guess the Jedi can show pity.

"As such, that will be your cover. If anyone asks too many questions," the analyst looks up at me with the most serious stare I've ever seen preceding his next sentence. "Just buy them a drink."

I chuckle. "Yessir."

"Enough," Nidor cuts in. "This mission is of utmost importance. You will be entrusted with one million republic credits. Your goal is to fleece the others of their money. I hear you're...a very good gambler."

Only when I want to be.

I stare cooly back. "Yessir."

"Good. Then I trust you'll return with that and more. Your deployment is tonight. For now you'll be outfitted with clothing to fit in and escorted to the planet. The games take place in a bar known as the Kiln."

I nod.

The General stops and waves out the analyst. The two of us remain in the room. "Know I would not be sending you if this were up to me."

I shrug. "I'll go where you command."

"Drop the act, trooper."

"Sir. Yes. Sir."

Nidor hisses through his teeth. "Remember you're as expendable as the next clone. I tried to keep you alive."

And why me? I swipe the data chip left in the holotable and pocket it. "Permission to get dressed, sir?"

Nidor snarls. "Granted."

I about face and leave. I wonder if this is how Rex felt up against Krell some days. Nidor might not be as reckless, and I haven't seen him go full crazy yet, but it's in him. It's in all of them. Their power is eating away at them.

I'm flagged down by an officer who takes me in to get fitted for civilian clothes. Then the armory. They whisk me around the ship like some sort of senator until I'm practically unrecognizable as a service man. All that remains the same is my hair and face.

They've given one pilot to take me to the surface. Guess I'm not trusted to fly alone again. R3 accompanies me, though. His crass attitude is the same as ever and that grants me mild relief. Though I can also imagine the jokes Headshot would be making around now. A small part of me misses the banter.

It's a short trip down and an even shorter goodbye. The base here is independently run by local militia. They don't even glance twice my way and I'm able to slip into the crowds. I do see familiar faces, as well as unfamiliar ones. The air here is dusty and it smells like farms but the base houses its own little town.

Up ahead I can see the bar they were talking about. The Kiln. It looks inviting. I glance back and the ship is already gone. I'm on my own, except for R3.

"You'd think he'd know better than to turn me loose now," I chuckle. I keep walking toward the bar. Bar and BBQ it says. Intriguing. Haven't seen that combo before.

"R3," I look down. "How many hours till the game?"

He beeps back an answer of twenty four hours.

You can't get moonshine on a star destroyer, but I've got a craving. I shove my hands in my pockets and follow the street.

"Let's get to know this place, shall we?"

New chapter coming soon...5/23!

Read on Wattpad

Read on AO3

[choosesbothaa]

another small where is lynn list:

@choosesboth     /     troy bolton. main muse.

@daonnacht     /     multi muse. medium activity.

@amaroed     /     nick amaro. medium activity.

@gleeleader     /     finn hudson. medium - low activity.

@princelaes     /     prince phillippe. low activity.

@crlyl     /     phillip carlyle. hiatus.

@adelaids     /   addy prentiss. still under co.

[jjacob]

all i want for christmas is you

❝ the school had started to take notice of you. lee juyeon, however, had always noticed. ❞

PAIRING ▸ lee juyeon x fem!reader (ft. best friend!lee minho)

GENRES ▸ fluff, high school au, sports au, best friends to lovers au

WARNINGS ▸ mild profanity but !! lots of !! fluff !! 

SUMMARY ▸ the bet was simple: find a date to the winter ball. the only problem was that juyeon didn’t want just any girl. he wanted you.

PLAYLIST ▸ all i want for christmas is you by mariah carey

WORD COUNT ▸ 5055 words

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ merry christmas! this is a gift for addy @honeyju​ the biggest juyeon simp ik !! ily addy i am excited/scared/not emotionally ready to read the minho one which ! btw y’all should read here bc our stories are loosely connected! also disclaimer: i know jack shit ab football but i tried

LEE JUYEON TENDED TO REGRET HALF THE THINGS HE SAID SOMETIMES. 

In eighth grade, Juyeon’s sense of humor was largely self-deprecating and consisted of saying he wanted to die at the slightest inconvenience. But, with his spectacular timing, he let the joke slip in front of a teacher once and froze up upon seeing her concerned expression. Juyeon later received a note from the counselor’s office and had to convince them that he was perfectly fine.

In tenth grade, Juyeon had grown past his phase of dark humor and moved onto high school football. He made the cut for the team the previous year, and managed to make it on the varsity team by the time he was a sophomore. In the beginning of the season, they asked who wanted to be captain the next year, and Juyeon boldly declared that he did. Thus, he was ridiculed and sentenced to pick up balls and clean up the gym after every practice from then on.

Now, as a high school junior in the varsity football team, Juyeon had screwed himself over by making a stupid bet with his best friend, Lee Minho.

Lee Minho was, in short, a conniving bastard. Juyeon never should have trusted him and gone along with his antics. The mere thought of what he had gotten himself into was enough to send his heart into overdrive.

The bet sounded simple enough: find a date to the Winter Ball.

Of course, it was easier said than done, but Juyeon was a star athlete and had girls sliding in his DMs left and right. He could easily find a date if he wanted to, and, honestly, Juyeon only needed to send a few texts and he would probably be secured for the dance. The problem was, however, that Juyeon only wanted you.

Minho was well aware of Juyeon’s pitiful, unrequited love towards you. It was probably the reason he suggested the bet; his best friend either wanted to see him miserable or see him score a chance with you. Either way, Juyeon wasn’t sure his heart was ready to shoot his shot.

Juyeon had crushed on you ever since you sat next to him in the seventh grade and let him borrow your pencil. It was such a silly start to his admiration for you, but his feelings grew stronger when the both of you actually became friends. You were so bright when you laughed, so sweet when you spoke, and so adorable when you smiled. Juyeon had never felt this way about anyone else and always got butterflies when he saw you. Juyeon was never one to chase after girls but he would find himself constantly thinking about what you were up to and having several internal dilemmas over whether he should ask you to hang out or not.

Five years later and Juyeon still harbored feelings for you. Now, they had matured into something deeper, but you still racked his brain nevertheless. It didn’t help that you had a major glow-up in high school and were probably the most beautiful person Juyeon had ever seen.

The school started to take notice of you.

Juyeon, on the other hand, had always noticed.

“Are you sure we can finish a medium before practice?” Minho asked Juyeon, setting a box of pizza on the table in front of him. “Also, I saw Y/N by the gym earlier.”

Juyeon perked up. “Y/N?”

“Yeah,” Minho replied, grabbing a slice of pepperoni pizza for himself. “You know what day it is, right?”

Minho took a bite out of his pizza, observing Juyeon with a raised brow. His best friend was on the baseball team but treating themselves to pizza had become a monthly ritual. Despite being on different teams, he was closer to Minho than his football teammates.

“Thursday?”

“And that means?”

Right.

Juyeon had formulated an elaborate plan to ask you out during the football game today, but, of course, it all depended on whether their team won or not. It would have been kind of ridiculous to propose after a loss. On the bright side, he knew he could count on the fact that you’d actually be present considering you were a cheerleader.

But what if you already had a date? You surely hadn’t mentioned it to him or posted about it on social media, so he was riding on an assumption that you haven’t been asked. That was bizarre to Juyeon, though, because you were the prettiest person he had ever seen. However, it was true that you were gradually getting popular, and that made Juyeon a touch nervous.

“I ask her out tomorrow,” Juyeon breathed out. “Am I ready for this?”

Minho scoffed lightly. “Are you ever?”

Juyeon frowned at his best friend, scrunching up his nose at his distasteful comment. “What about you? Have you gotten a date?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

Juyeon sighed. That was probably all he would get out of Lee Minho today. Once Minho set his mind on something, he carried it out diligently until the end. Juyeon honestly had no idea who he wanted to bring since Minho didn’t like talking about girls he was interested in, but he supposed it wasn’t that big of a deal as long as his best friend was happy.

It wasn’t like Juyeon was never going to hear about his friend’s endeavors. After all, he did pick up on Minho’s slow descent from an apathetic individual to a whipped ball of fluff. If Juyeon mentioned that to his best friend, however, he would probably be ridiculed for consistently being whipped for you since the seventh grade.

Juyeon nearly jumped out of his seat at the sound of his ringer going off. He scrambled to pull his phone out of his pocket, ignoring Minho’s teasing smirk at the sight of his frazzled self.

y/n: hey :) i’m gonna drop off some gingerbread cookies my mom made after practice so lmk when i can come over

Juyeon must have saved a country in a past life for this kind of luck.

juyeon: i love your mom’s cookies. you can come over whenever you’d like

y/n: how about we walk home together after practice?

juyeon: sounds good to me

Now, the pizza was starting to make his mouth water, but if you were walking home with him, Juyeon was ready to drop it and run to see you even though he loved pizza. But Juyeon loved you more than he loved pizza, and he believed that was true love.

“She made me cookies,” Juyeon announced.

“She made you cookies,” Minho repeated, leaning forward in surprise.

“Well, her mom did, but yeah.”

Minho turned his attention back to his pizza. “So this is about your mommy kink again.”

“I don’t have a fucking mommy—why would you say that?” Juyeon cried out, kicking his friend’s shin under the table.

“You don’t? Last time I checked, she was making dinner in the kitchen when I came over yesterday.”

“I’m talking about the kink!”

Yet, even a silly back-and-forth with Minho couldn’t get Juyeon down from his high over you. He was still processing the fact that you were going to walk home with him and, if Juyeon played his cards right, maybe he could get a feel of how comfortable you would be if he asked you out during the game tomorrow.

Minho snickered. “You look happy.”

Juyeon couldn’t even mask his lovesick smile and flushed cheeks. He folded his arms on the table in front of him and buried his face in them, his head spinning at the thought of you.

“Shut up, Minho.”

The only problem with you being on the cheerleading team was that you were extremely distracting.

Juyeon was the star quarterback and frankly, it was kind of pathetic that the one thing that kicked him in the ass was seeing you in the knee socks and pom-poms. It didn’t help that you were a flyer so Juyeon’s stomach pitted with anxiety whenever he saw you being thrown up and whenever he heard a scream coming from the direction of the cheerleaders.

Today was different, though. Juyeon could care less about the screams and falls from the corner of the field. All he could think about was you and how he was going to ask you out. If his plan was going to work, it was going to draw a lot of attention and be quite embarrassing if it failed.

All of his confidence got knocked down with a single sweep when he saw someone asked you to the dance.

One of the cheerleaders broke into a fit of giggles at the sight, clasping a hand over her mouth. “Oh my god!”

You were frozen stiff, an awkward smile on your face as the guy walked onto the field with a sign and about a dozen roses. Juyeon could feel his heart sinking to the ground with each step the guy took, with each second his smile grew brighter.

“Is he seriously confessing during practice?” Sohn Youngjae asked, brows furrowed as he rested his arm on Juyeon’s shoulder. “That’s real brave.”

“What’s his deal doing it here? He isn’t even on the team,” Juyeon said, coming off more bitter than he had expected.

Younghoon scoffed. “It’s a bold move. He must be confident that Y/N’s going to say yes.”

Juyeon squared his shoulders. He was conflicted with the swell of anger and deflation of you possibly being taken, but nevertheless, all he could do was watch helplessly as you were being asked out. From where they were on the field, Juyeon couldn’t hear much, but he could see your reactions quite well. The wolf-whistles and cheers were pissing him off, but he was fixed on you.

He turned to look towards Minho, who was practicing on the field adjacent to theirs. His best friend met his gaze immediately like they had some form of exclusive telepathic communication. Minho nodded towards you and raised a brow, as if nudging Juyeon to go interrupt them. That, however, was something he was far too cowardly to bring himself to do.

Your voice resounded clearer than Juyeon had expected.

“I’m really sorry,” you apologized sincerely, ducking your head and keeping your hands entwined behind you. “I’m not interested, but I do appreciate the gesture.”

Juyeon felt a weight lift off of his chest. He wasn’t sure if he should’ve felt relieved that you shot him down or nervous that you rejected an attractive, confident guy who clearly liked you. However, he soon had no time to mull over that when the guy’s reaction was getting more aggressive than crestfallen.

“Y/N, I asked you out in front of all these people,” he said with a distasteful laugh. “Are you seriously rejecting me right now?”

“Sorry, I just don’t want to go with you,” you replied firmly, voice dropping as you became more conscious of your surroundings. “I’m sorry it had to be public but you didn’t really give me a choice.”

For a split second, Juyeon wondered how he could still hear you when you were practically muttering at this point, and then he realized that he started walking to you without even realizing. His feet carried him unknowingly, hand balled at his side and eyes stony and trained on the guy.

“You could’ve just accepted it and told me later that you didn’t want to go with me,” he said with a scoff. “It’s like you enjoy humiliating others publicly.”

Your teammates rushed forward to argue and fend him off while you opened your mouth to protest, but Juyeon was faster, moving in front of you so he was head-to-head with the guy.

“She said she’s not interested,” he said with a threatening undertone, wondering where he managed to muster up the courage to be this assertive.

You were visibly shocked by Juyeon’s actions, and he couldn’t even blame you because he was equally just as surprised as you were. Yet, all he could do was glare daggers down at the other guy with steely eyes and frown until he backed off.

“Thanks,” you said softly once the guy had left.

Juyeon was flustered by all the girls giggling behind you but was amazed by how cool and collected you remained despite that. He turned to you, eyes softening and shoulders relaxing. He knew he was getting an earful about this from his teammates after practice and most definitely from Minho as well.

“No problem,” Juyeon replied, cheeks red. “He was bothering you. I couldn’t just ignore it.”

“That was really sweet of you, Juyeon.” You bit back a smile and suggested, “Meet you at the front gates after practice?”

“See you then.”

Even though Juyeon could’ve spent the rest of practice talking to you, he sprinted back as fast as he could because his cheeks were only getting redder as the cheerleaders gushed about what he did for you. He could hear their gossip and whispering even as he was running back to his team. Juyeon was positive he wouldn’t escape the embarrassment, though, because Lee Jaehyun was smirking at him when he got back.

“You’re blushing, dude.”

Juyeon shoved him.

There was a universal law that was newly decreed. It read: Lee Minho shall never text, call, or speak to Lee Juyeon whenever Y/N was around.

The reason for that being the fact that Juyeon was easily embarrassed and Minho’s texts were not helping his case. He felt it was rude enough to check his phone while he was walking with you, but every time he saw a notification flash, his eyes widened with sheer distress over Minho’s texts.

minho: like three people asked me if you and y/n are fucking bc of what you pulled during practice today

minho: wait are y’all fucking and just not telling me

minho: i knew it was sus that she was coming over to your house

juyeon: fake news!! stop making me feel shy :(

Juyeon decided he had enough Lee Minho for today and turned off his phone.

“That was honestly the coolest thing I’ve ever seen you do,” you gushed to Juyeon as you walked home with him, fingers looped around the straps of your backpack. “Way cooler than you punting footballs.”

“No need to flatter me,” Juyeon replied coolly but his shy smile and red-tipped ears said otherwise. “That guy was being unnecessarily aggressive.”

“His proposal was out of nowhere!” you exclaimed. “I don’t get what he expected me to do.”

Juyeon smiled through the pain. Lord, give me strength, he prayed to whatever divine power was out there.

“Are you not interested in having a date to the dance then?” Juyeon asked, looking down at you curiously.

You paused for a moment and Juyeon thought his heart would stop in anticipation for your answer. Come to think of it, he had never seen you go to a school dance with a date before. You were always with your friend group. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to see you stick with them, but Juyeon was hoping he could change that.

“Well,” you started, “if the right person asked me then I wouldn’t be opposed.”

Juyeon couldn’t exactly read your smile but it made him want to faint. The rest of the walk back home was spent talking about school and football, but Juyeon couldn’t get your answer to his question out of his head. He even walked past his house because his head was so full of you, resulting in you needing to stop him and tell him that they had already reached his place.

“Y/N! It’s so good to see you!” Juyeon’s mom chirped with a good-natured smile. “How has your mom been?”

Juyeon’s eyes widened upon the realization that they never stopped by at your place first to get the cookies. He opened his mouth to interject but you went on to answer.

“She’s been great, Mrs. Lee,” you replied, smiling just as big, and pulled out a box of cookies from your bag. “She wanted me to give these to you.”

“That’s so sweet! Give her my thanks,” his mom replied and opened the door wider once she accepted the cookies. “Come in for some tea, will you?”

Juyeon was practically frozen at the doorway while you were taking off your shoes and walking inside. If you had the cookies with you this entire time, then why didn’t you just give them to him to take home himself? Unless you were worried about the courtesy, it was a bit out of your way to take the time to walk home with Juyeon to deliver them.

“Juyeon, what are you doing out there?” his mom asked. “Come inside. It’s cold.”

“Right.”

Having you over at his house wasn’t exactly the sparkly fantasy that Juyeon thought it would be.

He was getting quite jealous of your mom hogging all of your attention. It wasn’t like you and Juyeon drifted apart during high school, so he wasn’t sure why his mom had to pull you away from him and have her own conversation with you. The worst part was that Juyeon couldn’t even join in on the conversation. He had no idea what they were even talking about.

That is, until his mom brought up the dance.

“Do you have a date, Y/N?” Juyeon’s mom asked.

“I don’t,” she replied. “I usually just go with my friends.”

“You’re so pretty, though,” Mrs. Lee tutted. “I’m sure someone must’ve asked you out.”

“Actually, someone asked me today,” you said. There was a moment of silence as you looked over at Juyeon while his gaze bore into yours. For a moment, you were struggling for what to say, mouthing words that weren’t being processed. Juyeon rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly once you regained your composure. “Juyeon actually helped me out.”

Mrs. Lee straightened up. “My son did?” She looked amused as she turned to Juyeon.

“Yeah,” you answered, grinning. “He was really cool.”

Juyeon blushed darkly once their eyes were on him. “W-what? I couldn’t ignore it. I wasn’t even doing that much. I was just helping out. You know, being a decent person,” he rambled and stood up. “Anyways, isn’t it getting late? Mom, Y/N has to go home soon and it’s gonna be pitch black outside if you keep her here.”

“Oh, you’re right.” Mrs. Lee frowned as she peered out the window. “Juyeon, you walk her home then.”

“What?” he sputtered out, looking between you and his mom before he caved, muttering, “I’ll go get my jacket.”

After an exchange of goodbyes, you had stepped out of the house and waited while Juyeon was slipping his shoes on. There was a moment of struggle where he had tied his laces too tight and couldn’t get the shoe on but he managed to slip it on after a few seconds of internal screaming. Juyeon zipped up his jacket the moment he stepped outside, the brisk coldness making his goosebumps rise.

“You really don’t have to walk me back,” you told Juyeon. “It’s cold outside.”

“It’s really late,” Juyeon replied, rubbing his hands together in hopes that the friction would provide some heat. “You shouldn’t be walking home by yourself, and I really don’t mind.”

“Thanks,” you mumbled, ducking your face. “For this, for what you did during practice—everything.”

Juyeon was glad that you weren’t looking at him because his mouth was opening and closing over and over again like a fish. He was also thankful for the fact that he could blame the dust of pink across his cheeks on the cold winter bite. Unfortunately, you lived close by so Juyeon didn’t have time to come up with a cool response and he didn’t want to leave things like this. There was a good vibe going on and he was upset that he couldn’t act upon it; when it came to you, Lee Juyeon was a coward.

“Um, we’re here so…” Juyeon trailed off when he turned to you, sort of thrown off by how beautiful you looked with your windswept hair and flushed cheeks. Dazed, he reached forward and moved a strand of your hair out of your face. “It’s good I walked you home and you’re not like, lost or… something—I’ll shut up now.”

You laughed, and it was an octave higher as if you were rattled from him touching your hair. “Ah, yes, a few streets down can be a harrowing trek.”

Juyeon laughed with you before his eyes settled on you. Your hands were crossed, rubbing your arms that were prickled with goosebumps. A wave of guilt washed through Juyeon and led him to strip his jacket off immediately. He ignored the piercing chill and put his jacket around your shoulders, making sure they covered your bare arms.

“My house is right here,” you argued. “You’re going to be cold.”

“Keep it on. I have something to tell you after the game,” Juyeon said firmly. It was his second burst of courage for you today and he was a little too amped up for his own good. “If you don’t like it then give me back my jacket tomorrow.”

Before you could respond, Juyeon turned on his heel and bolted home, the biggest grin across his face because he was head-over-heels for you.

Juyeon had never been so nervous in his life.

The game was underway, Juyeon’s leg bouncing as he eyeballed the scoreboard. His team was strong in the first two quarters, cutting it close by the third, but now they were neck-to-neck. They had ended with a tie and now they decided to go into overtime for the sake of choosing a winner for the game. It was a sudden death round so whoever scored first would win the game. Juyeon, however, found it difficult to concentrate.

Especially with Lee Minho breathing down his back.

“Are you ready?” his best friend asked.

“Yes—well, no, but I don’t really have a choice.”

“That’s true.”

“I already made the sign and told the team and everything,” Juyeon whined. “I really screwed myself over, Minho.”

Minho pushed at the back of his head. “Dude, I’m talking about the game.”

“Oh, that—that’s fine,” Juyeon stammered. “Fifteen minutes—we just have to win, and then I have to ask out the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

“You could chicken out,” Minho suggested, “but that also comes with me never letting you live it down.”

“You see, I kind of already implied that I’m going to tell her something important.”

“You did?” Minho’s voice was somewhere between shocked and impressed.

“Shit, I gotta go,” Juyeon muttered, pushing himself off the bench. “Keep the poster safe for me!”

“Good luck, champ!”

Juyeon, sweaty and bangs sticking to his forehead, had to ignore every distraction and think about winning the game before his stomach threw itself into a pool of anxiety over asking you out. He got in a huddle with his team in the remaining fifteen seconds they had before they had to get in formation and lowered the facemask of his helmet. It was up to this one last play to determine whether they would win the game or not.

“Just like we practiced, alright?” Juyeon told them. “Double-wing power pass. We get them to bite thinking it’s a run play and then open up a passing lane.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Jaehyun cheered, and the rest of them put in their mouth guards and lowered their facemasks.

Juyeon took a shaky breath as he got in formation at the line of scrimmage. His heart was racing but he wasn’t sure it was about the game. Nevertheless, he steeled his nerves and held his ground. The whistle blew and the crowd was silent, observing the tension on the field carefully.

“Silver-80! Silver-80! Hut! Hut! Hike!” Juyeon yelled, and the center, Sangyeon, snapped the ball to him.

Juyeon faked a handoff to Jaehyun, the fullback, and spun around, rolling to his right. Changmin sped up in front of Juyeon to defend him. A smile tugged at Juyeon’s lips. Their plan was working just as he intended, but there was a problem: they couldn’t open up a passing lane for the running backs like he thought they would. The play was too rushed, so it wasn’t ever a guarantee.

So Juyeon had to do what he would normally deem crazy.

He spun at the sight of the other team coming to tackle him and skirted around the field, belting down the field. He dodged past another linebacker that tried to body him. His primary motivation was that he didn’t want a concussion before he confessed to you, but he assumed it was okay to admit that to himself as long as he didn’t throw the game.

Juyeon felt a hand grab him but he pushed forward, running across the goal line and into the end zone. He threw the ball down and cried out in joy as he scored a touchdown. The whistle blew and the scoreboard flipped. They won.

He did it.

Juyeon’s team ran to him, cheering at the top of their lungs. He was lifted up on Jaehyun and Younghoon’s shoulders, grinning happily before his heart sunk back down. The cheerleaders ran to the field, cheering and tossing their pom poms up. The crowd was roaring. Juyeon was realizing that he had to do the scariest thing that a heterosexual teenage boy ever had to experience.

“Jaehyun, Jaehyun,” Juyeon tapped his shoulder quickly. “We have no time. I have to do it now.”

“Oh shit.”

Jaehyun and Younghoon dropped Juyeon onto the turf. Juyeon winced at the sudden impact, gathering himself back to his feet and hoping you didn’t witness that. Jaehyun gave him a half-assed apology and pushed him forward to run and get his poster and flowers from Minho. Jaehyun then grabbed Changmin by the shoulders, urging him to go to the announcer’s booth.

Juyeon sprinted over to Minho, waving his hands dramatically. “Give, give, give,” he demanded amongst all the cheering.

Minho didn’t waste any time and pushed the poster and bouquet into Juyeon’s hands. “Break a leg, tiger.”

“Trust me, I nearly did.”

Juyeon jogged back onto the field, cheeks hot and head a little dizzy for what was about to come. He didn’t even tell his mom he was going to ask you out and she had to watch her son ask his best friend out to the dance. This was probably going to be a moment of utter humiliation but once Juyeon saw you in your high ponytail with a bright smile on your face, all that fear faded away and it was just you and him.

More importantly, you were wearing his jacket over your uniform and Juyeon felt like he was going to combust from the cuteness.

“Guys, guys,” Jaehyun called to the team. “Surround Juyeon. Make sure Y/N doesn’t see him.”

Juyeon’s heart was beating a hundred miles per second. He was glad he was running on the adrenaline from winning the game because otherwise, he would be cowering in fear and sweating buckets right now.

“Everyone, listen up!” Changmin spoke over the intercom. “First of all, the football team scored a major dub today—ow! Sunwoo, cut it out—alright, I’ll get to it!” Changmin broke from the mic and started bickering with Sunwoo.

There was a pause, and Juyeon was surprised to hear Minho’s voice fill the speakers, “Anyways, my buddy and our star quarterback, Juyeon, has something to say for a special someone.”

The crowd fell silent, a couple cheers and wolf-whistles as it was pretty obvious that a confession was about to happen.

“This is so fucking fluffy,” Sunwoo mumbled.

“Shut up, Sunwoo,” Juyeon replied, nudging him with his elbow.

The football team moved out of the way so that they weren’t huddled around Juyeon anymore. Juyeon’s breath caught in his throat as he walked forward to the middle of the field, holding up his sign, reading: Will you be my sunshine?

“Y/N,” he called out loudly, “honestly this confession is long overdue, but will you go to Winter Ball with me tonight and be my sunshine?”

The crowd started cheering and whistling again, and Juyeon wanted to die. She hadn’t even given him her answer yet and everyone was acting like she had agreed and they eloped. The cheerleaders pushed Y/N forward and she approached Juyeon, looking like a deer in headlights.

Juyeon took another shaky breath and continued, “I’ve been in love with you for so long so it would be an honor if I could take you to the dance,” he said and his voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m sorry if this is uncomfortable for you.”

You bit your lip but that wasn’t enough to contain the happiness that showed on your face. You zipped up Juyeon’s jacket and threw yourself into his arms. Everyone practically exploded but Juyeon was sure his heartbeat was louder. He wrapped his arms around you and buried his face into your shoulder.

Was this what people called a Christmas miracle?

“Oh shit!” Changmin screamed over the intercom. (“Shut up, they’re having a moment,” Minho’s faint voice was picked up in the background).

“Oh my god, you just made me the happiest man alive,” he mumbled.

You pulled back and reached forward to move his damp bangs off of his forehead. “Took you long enough.”

“Wait, did you—did you like me?” Juyeon choked out.

You laughed and cupped his face in your hands. There was a shaky inhale and exhale of breaths when his lips brushed against yours, and Juyeon closed the distance, kissing you like he was starved of your touch. His hold tightened on you as you melted into him, and then you both pulled away, smiling and dazed and lovesick.

You giggled. “Does that answer your question?”

“Yes,” he breathed out, grinning as he brushed his nose against yours.

Juyeon could care less about all the presents and holiday cheer because he had you and you were all he wanted.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

For Vampire Chris! What if he and Jake went to a museum and came across some of Tooley's paintings? And Chris has a panic attack! We would finally get some Jake comfort. And maybe Chris would reveal more horrible things that Tooley had done to him.

CW: Discussion of death, blood, vampire whumpee, caretaker and whumpee

The sun sets early in the winter, and it's the only reason they can make this work.

Chris is barely awake even so, sipping from a coffee cup Jake filled with the contents of one of his blood packs, hoping he doesn't trip and spill and lead to Jake having some very awkward, panicked explanations to make to anyone nearby.

He'd slept in the truck Jake borrowed from Nat most of the way over here, curled in the passenger seat. He looks for all the world like any high schooler who stayed up too late the night before, dragged out by his family, forced to go learn when all he wants is rest.

Chris is draped in a hooded sweatshirt pulled on over his head, hair mussed from sleeping in the closet in the little nest-bed he made for himself in there. It sticks out like stray from beneath the hood he's pulled up, coppery strands occasionally covering his eyes and making him shove them out of the way with a snort that has no right to be as adorable as it is, considering the monster who makes the sound.

Not a monster, no. Not really.

Or his monster, anyway, the same way his mother is his mother. Jake is starting to understand the little vampire - more than three times his own age - has chosen him for family now.

The sweater he wears is kind of a joke, actually. Jake bought it weeks ago from a website that puts the covers of books on clothes, and it's an old cover image from Dracula.

Jake thought it was funny, anyway. Nat was less amused. Chris only smiled and said something about being happy the hairy palms thing isn't true.

The air is chilly, and Jake shivers a little as they head in from the parking lot across a small sidewalk next to a park and toward the museum itself, but of course Chris doesn't even notice. He seems to be enjoying it, the way it blows around his hair as they make their way slowly up the steps and past the row of Grecian-style columns that mark the entrance.

Jake has to visit for one of his classes, an extra-credit something-or-other, and Chris had asked to go along with him.

Jake had been hesitant, but seeing the way the vampire's green eyes sparkle as he moves around in public like any other person, well... he feels like he made the right choice to bring him along now.

"Finish up your drink, you can't take anything in once we pay and get past the lobby," Jake says, and Chris nods, gulping the last of the blood as fast as he can as they push through wide double-doors. Jake tries not to imagine how it must feel, swallowing thick congealing cooled blood. Someone's life, someone's heartbeat, down your throat...

Really, is he that much different? Jake has eaten a dozen cows' worth of beef in his life.

Does Chris see them all as just livestock? He doesn't act like it, but then, there are people who treat pigs or cows like pets and not like food...

His stomach flips a little and he forces himself to look around, up at the chandelier at the high ceiling, the heavy wooden desk they have to walk to off to the side to get their tickets. To stop trying to understand if Chris is a sort of stray they've adopted, or if he's a higher-level predator living with prey.

Once Chris drops the cup into a trash can, Jake throwing a couple wadded-up tissues on top so no one can accidentally see the smear of red around the edge of the lid, they buy their tickets, and wind their way through and past the little velvet ropes that mark off the entrance.

The museum opens before them into a grand hall, with paintings the size of two-story buildings on either side, permanent installations in the museum. Commissioned for its opening, sometime back in the 70's.

Jake picks up a brochure so they know which way to go - LGBTQ+ Art in Pre-War America is the temporary exhibit he's here to see, traveling work that is usually housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

"Oh, nice, it's on the first floor. Looks like you go through a couple of 'specialty' rooms, just showing off stuff from the in-house collection. Sounds cool, right?"

Chris, looking from side to side at the gigantic paintings that hang on the walls in the opening hall, hums softly, a tuneless constant sound. He doesn't answer Jake's question. He hums often, and Jake barely notices any longer, but there's something edged to it, now. As if just being around the paintings is making him nervous.

"Okay, little man, let's go over here." He touches Chris's arm, lightly, through the thick fabric of his sweater. The vampire looks over at him, smiling with his lips pressed together to hide his teeth from any potential prying eyes.

He follows easily, but he sticks closer to Jake than he normally does, and his eyes are constantly roving. They move through an exhibit of Pre-Colombian pottery first, on their way to the room in the back where the temporary showcase is.

Jake watches Chris's fingers twitch with the urge to touch, to learn by feeling the bumps and ridges in the ancient clay, and how he holds back as best he can. His urge to lift the clear protective plastic boxes right off the pottery so he can get at it is nearly physically painful.

Jake pretends not to see it when Chris's fingers trail along a column, settling for the white-painted rectangle the pottery is balanced on, taking in the rough texture smoothed by the matte paint.

"Did you ever meet anyone like you that was old enough to have made stuff like this?" Jake asks, stopping in front of a water jug in the shape of a man playing a flute with a dog at his feet. The dog wears a carved smile marked with disturbingly human-looking teeth. The paint it must have been covered in is worn by time, leaving the reddish-brown of the clay behind, with the faintest streaks of white still in the crevices.

"No," Chris replies, tilting his head, making direct eye contact with the statue in a way he never quite can do with any real person. Not comfortably, anyway. Jake has seen him force it and shudder afterwards, overwhelmed. When he'd asked about it, Chris had said he never liked looking at anyone's eyes, even before, when he was alive. It's too much, was all he would say. It's always too much. "None, um, none of us live that long."

"Why not?" They're alone in the room. It's the only reason Jake feels safe asking.

Chris's tongue runs over the sharpening bumps of his growing-in fangs, pressing against them, easing the itch and the ache of their return. After a second, he pulls a plastic bat on a cord from inside his sweater and puts the bat into his mouth, chewing on it idly, jaw working. "I, I, I don't know. That's just what what what my, my, my pack told me."

"I thought vampires lived in covens."

"No." Chris doesn't elaborate on this one. He can be weirdly secretive about how he lived before he came to Nat's, before he was pulled out of a basement, a living drug for a wealthy asshole.

Secretive, or just forgetting whatever wasn't essential.

He moves away to another pedestal, a shard broken off of a larger vessel, marked with a deep white and intense black angular design. He hums again, and Jake takes the hint and leaves him alone.

They spend several more minutes looking over the pottery before they head through a second room full of what must just be the favorite pieces of museum employees, as there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason, and each little card with the name of the piece and its maker has a paper next to it with a note on why each employee loves this piece in particular. Chris lingers around older things, a woven tapestry from medieval England, landscapes from the 19th century. He stares for a while at a painting called The Country Path by Joseph Poole Addy, a pale watercolor of winter trees with bare branches breaking the line of sky and a woman bundled in a coat carrying a basket down an equally colorless road.

Chris's humming getting louder, and he rocks a little, forward and back, his eyes moving again and again through the lines of the painting.

Jake wonders what it is about this one specifically that catches Chris like that, and when the vampire finally moves on he checks the employee's statement. Joseph Poole Addy, Irish painter in the 19th and 20th centuries, blah blah, something something countryside... Jake frowns, and glances over at Chris, who isn't looking back. He's moved on to something else.

Jake decides to ask him later.

They make it to the exhibit they're here to see, and Jake whistles under his breath as he enters. There are vibrant, saturated paintings lining the walls, a couple of large sculptures on the floor that still are taller than he is, a few smaller ones on pedestals. The work is mostly figurative, although there's some early abstraction there, a hint of the contemporary push to take even figurative work out of simply being an echo of a real life thing.

Chris looks at a sculpture, his head cocked so far to the side it looks almost birdlike, not quite human. Jake thinks his own neck would ache for days if he tried to do that. "Must've been, um, later," He mumbles to himself.

Jake files that away in his mental list of things to talk to Chris about later.

He walks slowly along the line of paintings. The whole point of being here is that he's supposed to pick a specific piece and write a short essay about it and the artist who made it, prove he saw it in person.

The class itself is about how to encourage better outcomes for healthcare in marginalized populations - but if she's giving out extra-credit for looking at queer art, well, Jake is happy to spend an hour in a museum.

After his dismal performance on the last test, he could use whatever credit he can get. Besides, the exhibit is actually kind of cool with that in mind. Every one of these artists was in some way outside of the sort of het ideal, and Jake smiles a little as he catches the heaviness of a look between two men seated across a table from one another, looks over the clasped hands of women, sitting with everything from shoulder to hip touching, who are listed as 'friends visiting the riverbank'.

Art that celebrates, hidden in plain sight. Art that rebels by sliding details in under the surface where only those looking for them will find them.

Each piece has another little paper, although this just has details about the artist and their work, what they were known for. He can use it as a jumping-off point for his paper, anyway.

"You, you, you finished her," Chris whispers, standing in front of a sculpture of a woman with her head thrown back as if in uproarious laughter, a woman with curls expertly carved so that her hair seems to have been there before the stone it's made of somehow. "I wonder if she, um, if if if she saw it."

"What'd you say, Chris?" Jake blinks, pulled out of his own internal reverie.

"Nothing," Chris responds, and walks slowly around the statue. The woman's smile is a shining light in the room. No one could carve like that without being at least a little in love with the subject.

Jake wanders away and then comes to an abrupt stop before a large painting, probably taller than Chris is. The background is near-total darkness with only a suggestion of stone, a single beam of light shining down to illuminate the central figure.

A naked boy clothed only in scraps of torn cloth that only emphasize his nakedness everywhere else is crouched in terror. His knees are bent and his feet are on the floor, one hand holding his weight with fingers slightly curled, his spine bent and arched as if he is caught in the midst of turning to look up to find the direction of the light. His other hand is thrown out, as if trying to ward off an attack.

He bleeds from a dozen or more places, the blood curving perfectly around his form, giving it extra weight and heft that makes it seem like he'll step out of the canvas, grab Jake, and shake him.

Jake's heart starts to race as he stares.

There are bones littering the ground around the thin, wasted boy, not bleached but sort of yellowed, marked with little notches as if cut with a knife. There might still be bits of skin attached to some of them, a hint of muscle. The detail makes Jake sick, but his panic, that comes from something else entirely. Just behind the panicked boy there is a body, as if just fallen, the eyes still open in the final terrified throes of death. The body's fingers are still dug into the dirt floor as if the dead man had been trying to pull himself somewhere, to escape.

A skull watches with eerie cheer from one corner of the painting, a few teeth missing and knocked out from its garish grin.

Barely visible, a thin wash of grayish-white, there is a pale, gnarled hand near the bottom reaching out from the background as if to grab the boy's ankle and drag him into the darkness.

Count Ugolino's Last Son, oils, 1932, reads the little plaque beside the painting. Its faint brassy shine glints in the carefully calibrated light. Edward Tooley, 1907 - 1936.

Jake swallows, but the lump in his throat doesn't budge, and he swallows again. And again. He can't take his eyes off the boy's painted hair, a dirtied copper, strawberry-blond badly in need of a wash. The wide green eyes with their terror writ large and clear, painted with lovingly perfect detail.

The boy in the painting is the perfect identical twin of the vampire who is still staring at the sculpture on the other side of the room. The fear in his face is so expertly done as to seem more photographic than painted in oil. The blood that drips to the ground follows his anatomy with absolute perfection. The bones are not bleached by they so often are in paintings, no, these...

These...

Jake holds his phone up and takes a photo, and then another of the little plaque.

"Chris." His voice cracks and Jake clears his throat. His heart is still pounding. "Chris, come look at this."

"Yes, Jake," Chris answers, sounding a little faint, and then he seems to simply appear at Jake's elbow, the teenage boy who has seen two world wars and a half-dozen smaller, stupider ones.

He goes still at Jake's side when he looks up. Jake looks over, just slightly, glancing sidelong to see a look of something like... wistfulness on the vampire boy's face.

"Tooley," He breathes. His hand goes up, and out, and he would have touched the canvas if Jake hadn't reached out and grabbed on to stop him. Chris jumps a little and turns to meet Jake's gaze. His eyes are pink-tinged in the whites, as if he's holding back tears. "Is, is, is he famous?"

"I guess. He's... he's here, isn't he?"

"He always wanted to, um, to to to to be famous." Chris's eyes move over the details, but it's not with surprise, it's with easy familiarity. He's seen this painting before.

He's been this painting before.

"That's you, isn't it?" Jake asks in a hushed voice. "Like, that was really you."

Chris looks away again, a faint flush in his cheeks. He's full enough of blood for it to happen, and you'd never know he isn't alive if you didn't already. "Yes," He whispers, and wipes at the corner of his eye with one hand. "That, that, that's me."

"Were you his model?" Jake blinks, looking back over the painted twin of the vampire beside him. The fear in the boy's face, woven in with a kind of awful resignation. It's all so perfectly rendered.

"Yes. Sort, um. Sort of. He, he, he kept me in a room." Chris exhales, slowly, and his eyes shift over to the paper with the little bit of biographical information on it. Edward Tooley's early works focused on landscapes or retreads of common historical subjects, only to find greater excellence and focus when he began to paint, again and again, the same figure - a representation of the darkness of the human soul - he stated appeared to him and demanded to be portrayed... art historians believe Tooley was driven by the demons of the Great War that had taken his family from him one by one to seek out uncomfortable subjects that force viewers to see the damage humans do to one another...

Chris's nose wrinkles as he reads, his lips moving slightly with the words as he takes them in. "I never did that. Never, um, wanted to be painted. Also, um this, um. He was... wasn't... he wasn't... wasn't like the paper says."

Jake looks over, reads it himself. Gregarious, sociable, popular with the libertine art crowd... he frowns. "What part is wrong?"

"This." Chris points, this at least he can safely make contact with, and presses the pad of his finger under a sentence that reads took inspiration from the ugly side of the city hidden under its shining lights. "He, he, he he didn't care about anyone in the city. He thought everyone who, who who who who-who wasn't him was, um, was stupid."

"What did he care about?" Jake imagines telling his professor that instead of an essay, he's going to bring in a vampire who literally knew one of the artists in person. How she might react.

Probably call the cops and report an unsecured vampire loose on the streets. But maybe she'd listen to what Chris had to say first.

"Blood," Chris says, softly. His voice is getting lower and lower, until it's barely more than a whisper. "Pain. Fear. Being... being the the the the last person who, who saw someone. He, he, he, he liked to lay them out and paint them, liked me to, to, to... arrange them for him."

Jake's eyes go unwillingly back to the dead body behind the scared boy in the painting. The grasping fingers, the open eyes that look sightless, lifeless, at nothing at all. When he looks, he can see - more suggestion than made clear - that the body's throat is torn open, as if by an animal's teeth.

Now, only now that he's looking for it, does he realize there is the slightest hint of red tears on the cheeks of the painted boy, a sheen of pink on his teeth where he begs for mercy from the grasping singular hand coming out of the dark.

His stomach flips again. "Chris, are you saying-"

"His, his, his name was Ben." Chris nods at the dead body in the painting. "I asked. Before..." He gestures, a little vaguely. "That."

Jake feels a sudden, wild urge to look up missing persons cases from New York City in 1932. See if there's anyone named Ben on there. He knows without having to do so that there definitely will be.

"What happened to him... after?"

"I don't know. I, I, I was never let out when Tooley was gone. I... wonder how, how, how many of me there are." Chris looks up at the echo of his own face, his head tilting again. His lips tremble, just a little, and then part to show the hint of white teeth wet with pinkish saliva. "On walls, in houses, in... in places like, um. Like this. How many there are... is, is, is, is that what I still look like?"

Jake clears his throat again, looks down at his feet. This feels, suddenly, like he's walked in on someone looking down at his own dead body in a funeral home. Interrupting a moment so immensely private it shouldn't even exist.

"Yeah," he says, a little gruffly. "Yeah, that's it. More or less. Except I hope I scare you less than that. Also you wear a lot more clothes with us."

Chris laughs - it's a huff of sound, barely-there. Then he turns away from himself. "We, we, we can't see ourselves, in mirrors," He says, and he's got the little plastic bat back in his hand, rubbing his thumb over the carved silicone. "But I have mirrors everywhere. On these walls."

He goes suddenly terribly still. He isn't breathing.

He doesn't have to, but the realization that he isn't even pretending is a jolt of awareness of exactly how dead Chris is. He leaves the exhibit, and Jake is left to scramble after him, struggling to catch up to someone he should be able to easily outrun.

He breaks into a flat run when they get outside the double-doors, jumps the steps three at a time with grace, and runs across the grass and towards the stand of trees halfway across the park. Even Jake, who works out four days a week, is breathing hard and has a hitch in his rib by the time he catches up.

He finds Chris curled up under a tree in the evening dark, the stars starting to twinkle overhead as the sun finally allows them a clear night sky to shine in.

Jake drops to his knees, ignoring the damp that seeps into his jeans from soil that still hasn't dried since yesterday's rains, and he leans over, putting a warm hand to either side of the vampire's face.

Chris looks up, his eyes glinting like a cat's briefly in the dark, and there are trails down his cheeks, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl that is anything but angry.

No, this is grief.

This is loss.

Jake knows the feeling.

"Talk to me," Jake says softly. "Tell me what it was like, what it's been like for you. Tell me about the life you've lived before I knew you."

"It, it, it hurt," Chris whispers, and his own hands cover Jake's. They're the same temperature as the air around them, and Jake shivers a little. It's almost a chill. "Every time. I, I, I try not to kill, Jake, I try so hard, but but but he would keep me so hungry and I couldn't-... stop..."

Jake thinks about the robbers Chris killed - for him, to save him from them - and how he'd locked himself in the closet afterward. Had he cried like this, over taking lives even when in defense?

"The museum thing said this guy Tooley died in 1936. He was only, what, twenty-nine? Did... did you-"

"Yes." Chris's voice is thick but it's not quite with regret. "I was hungry. He, he he he he didn't bring food. I was so hungry... then I was, um, was alone for a while... then, then, then, then then then I was taken for, for, for the, um, the trade, for my v-venom, and..."

"Got it. I got it, Chris. It's okay," Jake says, softly. "It's going to be okay. You're with us, now. And we'll never, ever make you hurt someone that way. We'll never make you go hungry. We'll never hurt you or use you."

Chris ducks his head, rocking forward until it knocks into Jake's shoulder, and Jake slides his arms around the vampire's shoulders, listening to his soft, muffled sobs, wondering how red his shirt will be stained by the time the vampire's tears have been cried out.

The same mouth that tore out the throat of a dead body that lays in a painting on the wall is so close to his neck it would take less than an inch for him to bite down. Even without fangs, he could lock his jaw and break the skin.

The same dangerous monster that has killed likely dozens to stay alive, the same stalking predator that has been the last sight of far too many, cries in his arms. Just a teenage boy who has been lonely, and terrified, and hurt for too long.

A teenager... and a monster that hunts prey after dark. Jake tightens his arms around Chris, holds him tighter.

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter how long he's been alive, not really.

He's just Chris.

That matters more.

-

@mylifeisonthebookshelf @insaneinthepaingame @keeper-of-all-the-random-things @burtlederp @finder-of-rings @newandfiguringitout @astrobly @endless-whump @pretty-face-breaker @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @doveotions @boxboysandotherwhump @oops-its-whump @cubeswhump @whump-tr0pes @downriver914 @whumptywhumpdump @whumpiary @orchidscript @nonsensical-whump @outofangband @what-a-whump

[whadd-up-babie]

✨🥺🥰 Sykkunos Sister 🥰🥺✨

Part One

Author's Note: Fuck time lines. I don't care if time lines don't add up. I mean on any other occasion I would care but right now at this exact moment in time, I couldn't fucking care less.

Word-count: 4k

Warnings: idk

~~~

You walked into your new apartment, your two roommates and life long friends by your side.

You smiled and turned to the two, “You see this ladies?” You said with a satisfied smirk on your face, “All of our hard work finally paid off.”

“I can’t believe we’re actually here.” Addie said with stars in her eyes. “A couple of years late maybe, but still here in L.A”

You chuckled “I can't believe we wanted to move here as soon as we got out of highschool.”

“Yeah imagine how horrible that could've gone?” Your other friend Selena spoke up.

You visibly shuddered at the thought of how bad that could've been. You felt a buzz in your back pocket and looked down at your jeans.

“Me and Selena are gonna check out this place before we start bringing the boxes in.” Addie told you as her and Selena walked off.

You nodded your head as you pulled out your phone from your jeans. It was a text message from one of your brothers' roommates.

Toast Are you in L.A yet?

You Yeah, I just walked into my new apartment

You quickly typed out and hit send. You’ve been in contact with your brothers’ friends for a while now. You haven’t seen Thomas, or Sykkuno, in years and you wanted to surprise him during one of his streams.

He was streaming Proximity Chat Among Us with; Toast, Lily, Poki, Rae, Ludwig, Dream, Brooke, Jacksepticeye and Corpse. You were a fan of all of them.

You lived a couple blocks away from your brother and his friends which was very convenient for you, considering as the younger of the both of you it is your duty to be the most annoying human being possible. So random pop ups at his home would be much much easier.

Toast I told the lobby that I ordered delivery so they expect an interruption

You Ooooh big brain moment

Toast But I did actually order pizza, it’s pick-up so can you do me a favor and pick it up on your way

You I revoke my “big brain moment”

Toast sent you the address for the pizza parlor and the OfflineTV house.

“I’m gonna go surprise Thomas.” You called out into your apartment, “I promise I'll be back to help unload the stuff.”

“You better, considering you're the strongest one here.” Selena responded.

You chuckled and walked out of the door and into the hallway that led to the exit of your new home.

Your apartment only had two floors, you were lucky enough to score the bottom floor. It was two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The three of you slept in the smaller guest room. You had bought two bunk beds from Ikea that you planned on placing in that room.

In the master room was where everything Important was. Selena wanted to be a streamer, so her gaming set-up was in that room. Selena wasn't one of those well known streamers but she had a following. Addie wanted to be a model, so the majority of her clothes were in the master bedroom closet, whilst you and Selena shared the smaller closest in your shared room.

You on the other hand wanted to make music. All of your instruments were in the master bedroom. You owned an electric keyboard, a guitar, a bass guitar, a cello, and you just started learning how to play the ukulele.

The room set up plan was simple. You had two desks on opposite sides of the room. Selena would get the wall with the window if she ever planned on using more natural light. Selena's desk would hold her gaming set-up, she currently had two monitors, but she's saving up to buy a third.

Your desk had the latest IMac, it was a moving away gift from your family, everyone pitched in. You had an inexpensive but high quality microphone to record vocals.

In between the two desks you had a futon and coffee table gifted to you guys by Addie's grandma. Noise cancellation foam pads would coat the walls.

But you haven’t done any of that stuff yet considering everything was still in the U-Haul truck.

You walked out of the apartment whilst typing the address to your brothers home in your Waze app, you added the pizza parlor in as a stop.

You got into your SUV and started the car. You connected your phone to the bluetooth and shuffled one of your Spotify playlist.

White Tee by CORPSE began to blast through your speakers. You bopped to the rhythm and began to lip sync the lyrics.

~~~

It took you 30 minutes to collect the pizza and drive to your brothers house. You stood outside the door with the pizza balanced in your hand as you attempted to ring the doorbell.

You texted Toast beforehand so you hoped he was prepared and wouldn’t make you wait outside. You didn’t like being outside, it meant that people could see you. And you didn’t like that.

You stood outside for a couple of seconds before Toast finally opened the door.

“Finally!” You exclaimed as you pushed past him to enter his home.

“Welcome.” He said sarcastically.

“Where’s my brother's room!?” You asked excitedly.

Toast pointed you towards the direction of Sykkunos’ room and you went running.

You stood outside of his door all giddy and happy, apparently they were playing proximity chat among us. So if Sykkuno was next to anyone in- game they would surely hear you, as well as the rest of the offlinetv house.

You took a deep breath and shouldered the door open.

“I’VE GOT A PIZZA DELIVERY FOR THE BESTEST BIG BROTHER IN THE ENTIRETY OF THE WORLD!” You all but shouted, scaring him off of his chair.

He turned to look at you and his face of fear quickly morphed into one of pure happiness.

“I call him Thomas but apparently his stage name is Sykkuno. I wonder where he got that from.” You said, this time more calmly.

“Y/N!” Sykkuno said happily. He quickly got himself off the floor and tackled you in a hug.

“You know I would hug you back but like… I’m holding a pretty big pizza.” You told him. The smile on your face was so big it began to hurt your cheeks.

Sykkuno brought his hands to your shoulder and held you at arm's length. He looked you up and down.

“You’ve really grown.” He told you.

“Yeah.” You agreed, nodding your head, “You still look like a ten year old.” You said jokingly.

You laughed and he joined in. You placed the pizza down, and he led you towards his set up.

“We’re gonna need another chair.” He said looking around.

“No we don’t,” You said plopping down into his chair.

He gave you a weird look.

“I’m the guest.” You said waving your hand.

He didn’t say anything, he just looked you dead in the eyes. Right into your soul.

You felt a shiver run down your spine.

“I don’t like it when you do that.” You said as you stood from his chair.

“I only ever do it to you.” He said as he walked by you to reclaim his chair.

“That’s why I don’t like it.” You grumbled.

A couple of minutes later you got your own chair, they were even nice enough to give you a water bottle. You sat next to Sykkuno with one of his earbuds in your ear so you could hear what was happening in his game.

So far you’ve run into Rae, Poki, Toast and Lily and you told all of them about your relation to Sykkuno though Toast and Lily already knew.

Sykkuno passed by Jack and you were about to scream in the mic, but someone reported a body.

“Well now I’m disappointed.” You mumbled to yourself.

“The body was i-“

“What! Toast is dead!” You said shocked, “We were just with him.”

There was a moment of silence within the game.

“Who’s that?” Jack asked.

“Yeah,” The other players muttered in agreement.

“That’s my sister, Y/N.” Sykkuno said.

A gasp could be heard from almost everyone

“Sister!” Ludwig shouted over the gasps, “Sykkuno you didn’t tell me you had a sister. I thought we were best friends.”

“I’m not really his sister.” You told them.

“Yeah she’s my foster sister.” Sykkuno explained.

“When I was younger Sykkunos' family was my foster family, until I was adopted by a lovely couple in Chicago.” You said.

“We haven’t seen each other since her adoption.” Sykkuno continued.

“And that was. What? 10-ish years ago?” You finished turning to Sykkuno.

“Yeah around that time.” He answered.

You brought your water bottle up to your lips and began to drink.

“Well it’s great to meet you Y/N!” Brooke said excitingly.

A chorus of “nice to meet you” entered your ear, but a very distinct “what up baby” caused you to spit your water back into its bottle.

“What’s wrong?” Sykkuno asked as he looked towards you.

“That did something to my stomach.” Was all you said.

“The water?” Sykkuno questioned further.

You felt your face heat up.

“Yeah.” You said nodding your head. “It’s totally the water. It couldn’t possibly be for any other reason.” You said bring your hand up to hide your smirk with your knuckles.

You turned your head and saw the chat exploding with the word SIMP in all caps.

~~~

You were at Sykkunos house a couple of days after that incident. He was streaming Proximity Chat Among Us with the same lobby again. They were playing in Polus.

Corpse was telling the lobby about his day when you thought to yourself, “I wanna wake up to the sound of your voice.”

You scrunched up your eyebrows wondering why it got quiet all of a sudden before Sykkuno bursted into fits of laughter as well as the rest of the lobby.

It finally dawned on you that you said that out loud. Your eyes widened and your face began to heat up.

“That sounded so suggestive, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know I was speaking out loud.” You began to laugh with the rest of the group and Corpse joined in quickly after.

The game started and you were all calmed down.

“I still can’t believe I said that out loud.” You announced to the group. A few giggles left their mouths as well as your own.

“No but just imagine waking up at 7 am to Choke me like you hate me but you love me! Every single fucking day.” You said before bursting into laughter, the lobby joining in soon after.

Sykkuno was doing his tasks in O2 before he announced to his stream he had to use the bathroom.

“I’ll watch the game for you but I won’t play because… I don’t want to.” You told him as he muted his discord and got up from his chair.

“That’s fine.” He said and left the room.

You turned to his chat. They started bombarding you with questions.

“What’s your Instagram.” You read aloud.

“Oooh shameless plug, follow me on all of my socials @y/n, also subscribe to my YouTube channel “Y/N L/N” I make music…sometimes.” You answered.

“Do you simp for Corpse.” You read another.

You pursed your lips. “I’m not gonna answer that question, but I will confidently admit that I simp for Rae and Poki.” As you finished that statement, Corpses avatar walked into the room.

You reached over to Sykkunos Keyboard and un-muted his mic.

“Hey Corpse!” You chirped.

“Hey Y/N.” He replied. “Where’s Sykkuno?” He asked you.

“What, am I not good enough?” You asked with mock offense

He chuckled before speaking up. “No, I was just wondering.”

“He’s in the bathroom.” You answered. “I’m all by my little old self. Minus the stream of course.” You turned to smile at Sykkunos camera before focusing your attention on the game.

“Would you like some company?” He asked.

“I would love some company, thank you Corpse.”

He brought his Avatar to stand by Sykkunos.

“How’s your day?” He asked.

“Not very fun.” You answered thinking back to what happened this morning. “We were finishing building the second bunk bed, but I dropped one of the heavier parts on my foot, so that hurts.”

“Oh that sucks.” He stated.

“I know. How’s your day?” You asked him.

“Very uneventful, just writing some potential lyrics and stuff.” He said.

“Oh yeah you write your own music.” You responded. “How did I forget that.” You mumbled to yourself.

“What do you like to do for fun?” He questioned.

“Oh I make music, or do covers. Depends on how lazy I’m feeling.” You told him.

“You make music?” He asked. You could hear the shock in his voice.

You hummed in response. “Yeah I dabble in music production. I write a nice chunk of the music, but I have some other musical friends help me with other stuff. It’s not enough for me to be noticed by the big producers or record labels though.”

“You think you could show me some of your stuff?”

“Yeah!” You said excitedly. “Do you want me to send it through Discord, Insta or Twitter.” You said as you fished your phone out of your back pocket.

“Do discord.” He told you.

“Got it.” You pulled up your discord app as Sykkuno got back from the bathroom.

You already friended the lobby Sykkuno was playing in after your first meeting.

Sykkuno got back in his chair. “Alright I’m back.”

“I unmuted your mic by the way.” You told Sykkuno, your eyes glued to your phone. You had to send Corpse the perfect snippet. So far all your options were shit.

“Oh hey, Corpse!” Sykkuno said once he got situated.

“Hi Sykkuno.” Corpse replied, “I was just talking to Y/N, she’s great company.” He complimented you.

“I am good company,” You said looking up from your phone, “I wish my roommates thought that.” You muttered to yourself, apparently louder than you thought because Corpse began to chuckle.

You smirked slightly. The sound of Corpses’ laugh caused a blush to spread to your cheeks.

“Shouldn’t you two finish your tasks.” You coughed up, trying to hide your blush. “I mean you’ve wasted enough time already.”

“Does anyone ever do their tasks when they play proximity?” Sykkuno asked.

“Exactly.” Corpse agreed.

“I’m a very work oriented person so I probably would.” You told them. You finally found the perfect audio file to send Corpse.

“I hope he likes it.” You thought to yourself. You sent Corpse the file the same time a body was reported.

“I found Luds’ body in decontamination.” Rae said.

“Sykkuno and Corpse did nothing in o2 practically the whole round.” You told the lobby. The lobby has gotten used to you speaking up while they played.

“I was keeping a new friend company that's not exactly nothing.” Corpse said, trying to defend himself.

“It meant nothing to me.” You said, you were quiet for a few seconds before you spoke up again, “I’m sorry! That was mean! I didn’t mean it! Thank you for disregarding your tasks just to keep me company!”

The lobby broke out into laughter while you continued spewing out apologies.

~~~

The game ended quickly, turns out Poki and Rae were the imposters. You decided then to make your departure.

“I should probably head home.” You told the lobby, “The only food the girls know how to cook is pizza rolls, pizza bagels and ramen. And we promised each other we would start eating healthy.” You got up from your chair as the lobby was saying their goodbyes.

You exited Sykkunos room and walked towards the exit. You ran into Michael and Lily and said goodbye to them on your way out.

You reached your car and pulled out your phone, checking for notifications. You usually stay off your phone whenever you watch your brothers’ stream so you never know what's happening.

It turns out you had 10 missed calls from Selena, and over 100+ messages of her asking you to answer the phone.

You quickly got into your car and called your roommate.

The phone only rang twice before she answered.

“YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT I JUST DID FOR YOU!” She screamed into the phone.

You brought your hand away from your ear and cringed at how loud she was being.

“That’s fun.” You muttered to yourself. You put your phone down in one of the cup holders and put it on speaker.

“What did you do exactly.” You asked aloud as you put your key into the ignition.

“So you remember that cute guy we ran into-” She began but you interrupted.

“NO!” You shouted. “I am not in the mood to go on dates. We are here in L.A to focus on our careers. I don’t have time for dating.”

Selena was quiet for a few moments before she spoke up.

“Okay, but if you meet him and start catching feelings but it's too late, just know it's not my fault.” She said before she hung up.

You sighed to yourself. You were not ready to go out on dates. Especially not after your last relationship.

You drove in silence for the majority of the way home until you got a discord notification on your phone. You waited until you reached a stop light to look at it. Apparently it was from Corpse.

CORPSE I loved the vocals I honestly wasn't expecting this type of music from you

You quickly typed out a reply while still paying attention to the road ahead of you.

You Thanks! I just thought you would like that type of sound so I decided to send that one

You hit send right as the lights turns green. You placed your phone back into the cupholder and began to drive. You got another discord notification, you assumed it was Corpse.

“He can wait 5 minutes.” You thought to yourself. Corpse may have peaked your interests but that doesn't mean you were willing to get into a car crash for him.

You quickly pulled into your apartment complex and ran into your home, phone in hand. You had gotten 3 discord notifications whilst you were driving. You quickly sat down on your couch in the living room and propped your feet onto the coffee table.

CORPSE I like how this is mixed and produced You have a great tone throughout the song Would you want to collab sometime?

You felt your heart leap into your throat.

“This couldn't possibly be happening.” You thought to yourself.

Corpse was very relevant in the music industry, he had told you during one of the Among Us games that many labels were reaching out to him. This collaboration with Corpse could make you a star!

You A collab with one of the most trending people in the world? Count me in!

CORPSE Great! we can meet up whenever you want to work out some lyrics

You smiled to yourself thinking of how many doors this could open for you. This could make or break your career.

“Holy shit.” You mumbled under your breath.

“Me and Corpse are making a song together!” You thought to yourself.

“What kind of Wattpad fanfic is this?” You said out loud as Selena and Addie came out of the Master Bedroom.

“Oooh what about Wattpad fanfics?” Selena asked, as she headed towards the kitchen.

“My life is a Wattpad fanfic.” You told her. You furrowed your eyebrows in thought, “Is this my existential crisis?”

“What?” Addie asked, very confused as she sat down on the arm of the sofa.

“What am I rambling about.” You turned to your roommates. “You’ll never believe what I just scored.” You told them excitedly.

“What?” Selena asked as she exited the kitchen a bag of chips in her hands.

“I’m going to do a collaboration with Mr. Corpse Husband himself.” You said proudly.

“No way!” Selena shouted, dropping her bag of chips on the floor. “You lucky bitch.” She said.

“You guys have only known one another for like 3 days.” Addie said.

“We’re making a song, not getting married.” You told her.

“Yet.” Selena said with a smirk.

“I’m going to bed.” You told them as you stood up from the couch.

“What!?” They said in unison.

“But it’s like 8 o'clock.” Addie finished.

“I know but I’m not in the mood to put up with the both of you.” You said as you left the living room.

“I only said one thing!” Selena complained.

“One too much.” You told her.

You walked down the hall and entered your shared room. You sat down at the foot of your bed and sighed.

“This is not at all what I expected when I told mom I was moving to Cali.” You threw yourself backwards.

“How are we gonna go about this?” You asked yourself. Were you and corpse gonna work together in person, were you gonna work over a discord call? You haven’t seen his face, you’re not sure if he’s seen yours yet. All these thoughts came and went inside your brain, it was starting to give you a headache.

You grabbed your pillow and brought it down on your face. You made a noise somewhere in between a groan and a whine when you heard you got another discord notification from your phone.

You reached around for your phone until you finally grabbed it and brought it up to your face. It was another message from Corpse.

CORPSE For making the song I was thinking maybe you could come over to my apartment because I remember how you once told the lobby that your roommates are very loud

YOU They are very loud And thank you for the invitation, I was just starting to wonder how we were gonna work together

CORPSE Here’s my address and number Wanna meet up on Sunday 3 o’clock?

“Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.” You thought to yourself, You’re pretty sure you don't have any plans that day. You typed out a quick reply before turning off your phone and going to sleep.

~~~

It was Sunday 12 o’clock you left your house with a nice hot cup of joe in your hands. Corpse lived 2 hours away so you wanted to leave early to hopefully grab some breakfast.

The night prior you placed your guitar in the back of your car, knowing you wouldn't remember to do it the morning of.

You got into your car and pulled out of your apartment complex. It was a long drive filled with random songs. You pulled into the first McDonalds you saw and ordered your usual.

When you were back on the road you had about 30 minutes before you would arrive at Corpse’s house. Which meant, using the power of mental math, you would get there 30 minutes early.

You grabbed your phone out of your bag keeping your eyes on the road. You opened up your contact list and scrolled through looking for Corpse. You found his name and gave him a call. You put your phone on speaker and put it into your cup holder. The phone rang about eight times before he answered.

“Hello.” He answered, his voice was deeper than usual.

“Did you just wake up?” You asked as you turned off the highway.

“Yeah, I got a good… 35 minutes.” He told you with a chuckle.

“Make yourself some breakfast. I should be there in about 30 minutes.” You told him with a smirk.

“Yes ma’am” He told you before he hung up.

“This is gonna be a long day.” You muttered to yourself.

~~~

Sykkunos Sisters Master list

Story Snippets/Master list

Taglist:

I couldn’t tag some people, if you are one of those people message me so we can hopefully tag you successfully. If you want to switch lists just ask :)

All Corpse fics:

@carlosoliveriaownsmyass, @cookiewhoree, @zunmie, @phriendophphrogs,  @i-love-stamps-blog, @cupidsloverr, @cassie12435, @fivedicksinatrenchcoat, @mythicalamphitrite, @wiseflamingoqueen, @cherry-piee, @mono-has-a-gun, @ilovepizzaandimhot, @rambling-rabbit, @thecanterburywitch, @daisiesandmarvel, @brooklyn22, @and-claudia, @captainbuckyy

Sykkunos Sisters:

@punnypuppylove, @emsies-dream, @bbecc-a, @soft4kei, @penflop

[txemrn]

hiya 👋🏼 before anything, hope you’re doing well!!

i just finished ch8 and oh my god jenny the bar is already so low for her after what she did with aditya and what she’s been saying about mc and sam but she just manages to go lower with that idea of setting sam and addison up on a date

LIKE GIRL STOP absolutely screaming, crying, and throwing up in here 😫

Hey, anon!

You are so sweet! I am doing well--I hope you are doing the same!

Whew, what a chapter, right? I, for one, am VERY grateful this drama finally came out because the past few chapters have been very... dare I say, boring.

How friggin ridiculous was Jenny's idea? Does Sam need to figure out his feelings? Absolutely. He's been purposely shoving his feelings down, I think, for the sake of MC by saying the dumbest, most heartless shit EVER ("I've already mourned her..."). Or maybe he doesn't want to deal with having a heart that is torn between two loves. Even MC has been given him opportunities to chat about it, and he's all, "I love you! Now lets boink!" (Okay, so he's never said "boink"... go with me here LOL)

But, you know what will solve the problem? Let's just put the temptation out there and have them be alone for an extended period of time (if they haven't already... I digress). *shakes head* I think it's important for Sam to take the time to evaluate himself and what this means having Addi back. It is a confusing situation, and even MC is trying to evaluate her own feelings about Addi and how she should feel if Sam were to have his wife back in his life and the boys' life. It would hurt like hell, no doubt, but we gotta acknowledge this disaster of a VERY unfortunate situation. We need to pause this whole wedding nonsense... We need therapy (does Naya do that too?).

BUT A DATE? A FUCKING DATE? With his one great love? That is a wonderful idea... I hope they kiss... damnit, Jenny...

What did you think about Sofia's conversation with MC?

[zoominag]

1850-1899

This is part of a series in which I am posting clips of my larger project by decade as I finish them. For more about this project, or to ask me to include your doll or OC, check out my pinned post.

Previous posts:

17th century

1700-1739

1740-1769

1770-1799

1800-1849

The OCs in this post that are mine are Charlotte and Jane, Rachel and Abigail, and Hannah and Delia (they're in pairs because I did the Best Friends series based on @americangirlstar's suggestions, and in the process created a Best Friend for each of my own characters). Héloise and Aoife belong to @autistickirstenlarson, Violette belongs to @getintothesun, and Charlotte belongs to @gardner-n-pardner.

While putting together previous installations I became aware that I have the birth dates wrong for several of the canon characters. I'm planning a redo for the canon character set, eventually, so please do let me know if I'm wrong about anyone. I might already know, but since I have pretty severe dyscalculia as well as ADHD it's not bad to have the info available in multiple places.

I also feel that I should repeat the statement I made before that I had a hard time finding accurate, non-exoticizing references for Kaya, Speaking Rain, and Singing Bird's wardrobes without embarking on a level of research way beyond the scope of this project. If someone is reading this who has familiarity with and access to visual references for 19th century Nimiipuu, Salish, and Dakota/Lakota clothing, and the time and patience to help me understand them, I would be very interested in learning.

1850s

Héloise Cormier: 96-99 Kaya'aton'my: 95-99 Speaking Rain: 95-99 Felicity Merriman: 85-94 Elizabeth Cole: 85-94 Rachel Gabay: 70-79 Abigail Schorr: 70-79 Lydia Livingston: 51-60 Caroline Abbott: 49-58 Clara Montoya: 38-47 Josefina Montoya: 36-45 Hannah Kane: 26-35 Delia Freedman: 26-35 Violette Metoyer: 26-35 Aoife Callaghan: 14-23 Cecile Rey: 8-17 Marie-Grace Gardner: 8-17 Kirsten Larson: 6-15 Singing Bird: 6-15 Charlotte Devereux: 1-10 Addy Walker: 0-5 Sarah Moore: 0-5

Charlotte is a fun and interesting character: I made small edits to some of the base poses I use to accommodate her cane, and larger edits to others. I looked up some photos and videos of children with juvenile arthritis, which Charlotte has, to help get it right. Some of the outfits in Charlotte's collection were repeats, so I picked out a few more outfits from the same period that seem like they fit Charlotte's frilly, floral aesthetic. Meanwhile, this decade, Addy and Sarah are both born into slavery, Héloise, Kaya, and Speaking Rain say goodbye, Cecile and Marie-Grace begin wearing full-length, grown-up dresses, and Clara Montoya, ever sensible, tries out a Bloomer suit but finds that it doesn't make her work enough easier to offset the teasing and doesn't make any more of them.

1860s

Felicity Merriman: 95-99 Elizabeth Cole: 95-99 Rachel Gabay: 80-89 Abigail Schorr: 80-89 Lydia Livingston: 61-70 Caroline Abbott: 59-68 Clara Montoya: 48-57 Josefina Montoya: 46-55 Hannah Kane: 36-45 Delia Freedman: 36-45 Violette Metoyer: 36-45 Aoife Callaghan: 24-33 Cecile Rey: 18-27 Marie-Grace Gardner: 18-27 Kirsten Larson: 16-25 Singing Bird: 16-25 Charlotte Devereux: 11-20 Addy Walker: 6-15 Sarah Moore: 6-15 He-Mei Hsieh: 0-4 Florence Coburn: 0-4 Lucy Morgan: 0-4

He-Mei is a placeholder name that probably isn't right for her character. It's a Mandarin name, and she should have a name in Cantonese. Unfortunately I just don't know enough to be able to pick one out without help, so if someone seeing this who speaks Cantonese has a great idea, I'd love to hear it. Ironically, although AG has never made either a Chinese or significantly Disabled Historical doll, He-Mei and Florence owe the most to existing AG characters out of all my OCs. Maybe it's their dedication to getting into trouble.

1870s

Rachel Gabay: 90-99 Abigail Schorr: 90-99 Lydia Livingston: 71-80 Caroline Abbott: 69-78 Clara Montoya: 58-67 Josefina Montoya: 56-65 Hannah Kane: 46-55 Delia Freedman: 46-55 Violette Metoyer: 46-55 Aoife Callaghan: 34-43 Cecile Rey: 28-37 Marie-Grace Gardner: 28-37 Kirsten Larson: 26-35 Singing Bird: 26-35 Charlotte Devereux: 21-30 Addy Walker: 16-25 Sarah Moore: 16-25 He-Mei Hsieh: 5-14 Florence Coburn: 5-14 Lucy Morgan: 5-14 Gertrude Levy: 0-4 Mabel Kaplan: 0-4 Medha/Mahtab: 0-2

The First Bustle Era, with its big, poofy, drapey bustles, shrinks down into a tight, structured column shape. Florence's chair is based on historical examples: it has two large wheels that she can push in the front and one small wheel in the back. It's heavy and difficult for her to push as a kid, and when He-Mei pushes it she can't always see where they are going. I feel like Addy's school suit, in particular, translates well into these stiffer and more structured styles, and Caroline's Christmas dress isn't bad either. Another one that worked out well is Cécile's parlor outfit.

1880s

Lydia Livingston: 81-90 Caroline Abbott: 79-88 Clara Montoya: 68-77 Josefina Montoya: 66-75 Hannah Kane: 56-65 Delia Freedman: 56-65 Violette Metoyer: 56-65 Aoife Callaghan: 44-53 Cecile Rey: 38-47 Marie-Grace Gardner: 38-47 Kirsten Larson: 36-45 Singing Bird: 36-45 Charlotte Devereux: 31-40 Addy Walker: 26-35 Sarah Moore: 26-35 He-Mei Hsieh: 15-24 Florence Coburn: 15-24 Lucy Morgan: 15-24 Gertrude Levy: 5-14 Mabel Kaplan: 5-14 Medha/Mahtab: 3-12 Diya/Nasreen: 0-9 Harriet Shapiro: 0-4 Matilda Greene: 0-4

There's a lot still undecided about the sisters I originally called Diya and Medha but then considered renaming to Nasreen and Mahtab, depending on what kind of backstory would work best for them. Unfortunately, I know more about clothing history than I do about historical waves of immigration. I still think these characters have a good dynamic with each other and I love how their outfits turned out, but I probably won't be fleshing them out much unless I happen to learn a lot more about their potential backgrounds. For the time being, I'm leaving them in the project but I'm focusing more on characters I don't need to do a lot of original research to develop.

The Second Bustle Era is far more stiff and structured than the first, with heavier fabrics and narrower lines. Even the older girls are wearing bustles, while the younger girls often have large bows at the backs of their dresses in imitation of the bustled silhouette. This project first saw a bustled style in the 1680s, they were most famous in the 1880s, and even today we see them now and then on bridal or red carpet gowns.

1890s

Lydia Livingston: 91-99 Caroline Abbott: 89-98 Clara Montoya: 78-87 Josefina Montoya: 76-85 Hannah Kane: 66-75 Delia Freedman: 66-75 Violette Metoyer: 66-75 Aoife Callaghan: 54-63 Cecile Rey: 48-57 Marie-Grace Gardner: 48-57 Kirsten Larson: 46-55 Singing Bird: 46-55 Charlotte Devereux: 41-50 Addy Walker: 36-45 Sarah Moore: 36-45 He-Mei Hsieh: 25-34 Florence Coburn: 25-34 Lucy Morgan: 25-34 Gertrude Levy: 15-24 Mabel Kaplan: 15-24 Medha/Mahtab: 13-22 Diya/Nasreen: 10-19 Harriet Shapiro: 5-14 Matilda Greene: 5-14 Samantha Parkington: 0-4 Nellie O'Malley: 0-4

The final decade of the 19th century has us saying goodbye to Caroline and Lydia, and hello to Samantha and Nellie. Although it's less dramatic than the first and second bustle eras or even the period between them, this period is surprisingly fun to draw. And it's nice to be ending the century with their wintery formalwear. Happy new year!

As always, to get your historical doll or OC included in this project, HERE'S THE LINK. Obviously if your doll is from earlier than the 20th century they'll have to wait for the next round of drawings, but you're welcome to put them in the form and I'll include them in the next round, which will otherwise focus on the siblings of canon characters.

[dr-addieramsey]

Movie Night

Book : Open Heart - Post book 3 (A few weeks after they said their ' I love you's ')

Pairing : Ethan Ramsey X F!MC(Adelaide Nicholson)

Category : Fluff

Rating : Teen+

Summary : It' s just a simple movie night with zero plot....

A/N : This is my first fic so I'm sorry if it turns out to be trashy. English is not my first language so I'm sorry for any mistakes........

It was Friday night and Ethan was sitting in his living room, a medical journal in his one hand and a glass of scotch in another. His apartment was quiet and he was really grateful for the silence. It had been a hectic week. Being the Chief of Medicine was not an easy job and all he really wanted to do was enjoy his night and the next day off. Jenner was sitting by his feet.

Although he was really enjoying the silence a part of him wished that his girlfriend was there with him. Girlfriend. Although the term seemed juvenile he still couldn't believe he got to call her his. The beautiful Head of Diagnostics always soothed his mind and felt like home. He had no idea how she did that but he was grateful that he had her in his life. Ever since he had told her a few weeks back that he loved her and she - to his relief - had said those words back they both were over-the-moon happy.

This week although she had been really busy. The Diagnostics team had a really tough case assigned to them two days back and being the head of the team she had the responsibility to solve it as soon as possible before the patient got worse. On top of that she also had to review resumes and select a new member for the team. After Ethan left the team there was one spot on the team which needed to be filled. This meant extra work for her. Ethan had offered to help her with the interviews but everyone she just said "You already have so much on your plate being the chief of medicine and anyways it's the part of the job so I have to do it. Right?" He was proud of her as her mentor and boyfriend.

But tonight he just wished she could be with him. Although he had seen her in the evening before leaving the hospital he really missed her. His train of thought was interrupted by his phone that started buzzing. He looked at the caller ID and saw Tobias' name. He was in no mood to pickup the call yet he hit the 'accept call' option.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ethan! We just diagnosed the case we got two days back and we were about to go for some drinks to Donahue's. You wanna come?"

"Is Addie with you?" If she was with them and going for drinks, Ethan would go there no matter how strongly he wanted to avoid drunk interns and idiots who wanted to talk to him.

"No. We asked her to come with us but she said she had paperwork to complete. Last I saw her she was in the office. Now, answer my question. You're coming or not?"

"Thanks for asking but I'd rather sit at home and enjoy the peace of my apartment. You enjoy. Congratulations on the solve. Bye." Ethan immediately end the call before Tobias could say another word. He placed his phone on the table and picked up his journal. His phone started buzzing again. This time he picked it up without checking who it was expecting it to be Tobias again.

"Tobias I told you I don't want to go!"

"You should really stop treating him like that babe." Addie said in her melodious voice. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips when he heard her voice at the other side of the line.

"Addie! Sorry I thought it was Tobias again. So, are you still at the hospital?"

"Nope! I just left. I was really missing you. What are you doing?"

"Reading a medical journal, drinking scotch and missing you."

"Yeah? You're missing me?"

"Ofcourse..." Before Ethan could finish his sentence he was interrupted by the doorbell.

"Just a second, love. There is someone at the door." He started moving towards the door."Who could be there so late?" he muttered to himself. As soon as he opened the door he was delighted to see who was at the door. Adelaide stood at the door. She looked exhausted yet beautiful. A smile made its way on her face when she saw him.

"Hi!"

"Hello, baby!" He immediately pulled her in for a kiss. Both of them let a contended sigh when the broke the kiss. Jenner came to the door wiggling his tail. She scratched him behind his ear a few times. She took of her shoes and and coat. He immediately guided her in the living room towards the couch.

"You want something to eat or drink?"

"Yes please! Can you order some pizza or maybe make some popcorn? I would like to watch a movie with you after I take a shower, only if you want to ofcourse."

"Okay, I'll make popcorn and order pizza. You go take a shower."

She made her way to the bedroom and Ethan headed to the kitchen to make popcorn

~15 minutes later ~

Ethan was on the couch ready with blankets and popcorn. Pizza had arrived a few minutes back. Everything was set up.

Adelaide walked out of the bedroom. She was wearing his black hoodie and she had her blonde hair braided. How does she manage to look beautiful in everything, he thought to himself. She smelled lilies and vanilla because of her body wash. He loved spending his nights with her in his arms.

She snuggled next to him on the couch, her head on his chest. His arm immediately went around her shoulders as if it was second nature. Everything felt right.

"So rom-com or horror?" she asked him

"What the hell is rom-com Rookie?"

"Oh my god, Ethan you are ancient. Rom-com means romantic comedy!" She started laughing and he swore it was one of his favourite sounds.

"You're not subjecting me to that kind of stuff. Let's watch horror."

"Okay! But fair warning, I scream a lot. Your ears may start to bleed. Also save me if in have a heart attack."

"Nothing will happen to you. I'll protect you." he said laughing.

"Okay Mr. Knight in shining Armor. I'm starting the movie now."

~Half-way into the movie~

Addie was practically sitting in Ethan's lap by now. Everytime she suspected a horror scene coming up she closed her eyes and buried her head in his shoulder. She was screaming at the actors to not go in that direction or to ignore the sounds and Ethan couldn't control his laughter. As much as he would've enjoyed to just sit in silence and cuddle he couldn't say he wasn't enjoying this.

"NO! NO! NO! DON'T GO THERE YOU FOOL! HE WILL KILL YOU! OH MY GOD, ETHAN HE IS GOING TO DIE!"

"Scream a little louder and maybe he'll listen to you Rookie. Don't worry as I said I'll protect you." Ethan said laughing loudly this time. The next thing that Ethan's mind registered was a bunch of popcorn hitting his face.

"First you protect yourself!" He was not the type of person to start food fights while watching movies, but she brought out a side of him that he didn't know he had. He also picked a few popcorn and threw them at her. She filled her hands with popcorn and got up from the couch. Ethan aslo took the bowl.

"You sir, have started a fight." She threw more popcorn at him. He reacted immediately throwing popcorn at her.

"Ethan stop! It'll get stuck in my hair!"

"You're the one who started it Rookie." He got up and wrapped his arms around her. They both were looking in each other's eyes. Blue and green met and both were filled with adoration.

"I love you, Addie"

"I love you too, Ethan"

Their lips met in a kiss. It was soft and gentle at first and then it grew passionate. Their mouths danced together. She put her hands on his chest and he put his and on the small of his back. They broke the kiss and looked into each other's eyes filled with desire.

"I think we have had enough of the movie. I have better ideas."

"Well I never say no to 'better ideas.' "

He lifted her and she started giggling. He carried her to the bedroom and shut the door.

~The next morning~

Ethan woke up when the sunshine entered the room. He moved his hand to the other side of the bed and it was cold. He groaned and got up. He started looking for Addie around the apartment.

When Ethan entered the kitchen he saw some pancakes and a cup of coffee on the table. It looked like it was freshly made. He smiled when he saw the sight. He moved towards the table he saw a note beside the plate. He picked it up and started reading.

Good morning,

I had to leave early for my shift. I made you breakfast. I'll come back in the evening. I'll have my break 10 a.m. Call me if you're free. Enjoy your day off. I'll miss you all day long. Love you.

Addie❤️

P.S. : I gave Jenner his food

Ethan was filled with love for this woman. He considered himself the luckiest man in the universe and promised to never let her go.

I know it was wierd 😂. Again I'm sorry for any mistakes.......

@openheartfanfics

[lovers-in-japan-reign-of-love]

hey! Do you think you could do a one shot with either chris evans or seb stan about their daughter becoming pregnant as a teen and how they deal with that? xx

Notes: I’d like to thank @lunaticbarnes for the request!! I hope you enjoy it.

I don’t know any of the gifs/pictures used.

Warnings: Unplanned pregnancy, anxiety, confrontation (maybe), mentions of sex, abortion (mentioned), bad writing, spelling errors (probably), ambiguous ending???

Word Count: 1,866

Masterlist: Click Here & Here

Positive. Positive. Positive. Positive. Positive.

You look at the five pregnancy tests in front of you, at the double-lines confirming — shouting — that you’re pregnant. At fifteen.

You feel your stomach lurch and bile rise in your throat. Holding a hand firmly to your mouth, you stumble away from the counter, away from those tests, and hurry to the toilet. Even though the distance between the bathroom counter and the toilet isn’t very long, you barely make it to the toilet before you start vomiting. And it’s probably the most intense vomiting session you’ve ever had.

Once you finish, and you’re no longer dry heaving, you lean back on your knees. You’re trying to catch your breath, brushing sweaty hair from your face. You close your eyes for a moment, and that’s when it hits you, the reality of your situation. You’re fifteen and pregnant. You’re no longer with the baby’s father. If you decide to keep the baby, you’ll be a single mother. Is that something you want? Do you have what it takes to raise a child on your own? Do you even want the child? Not at fifteen. Maybe not ever. You don’t know. But you need to give yourself time to figure it out. You need to set up an appointment, you need to consider your options.

You need to make sure your parents don’t find out.

A knock on the bathroom door snaps you out of your thoughts.

“Y/N, you okay in there?” Sebastian, your father. You didn’t realize he’d come home. You didn’t hear anything, at least not over the sounds of you puking your guts out.

Another knock.

“I’m fine, dad,” you call, your voice dry and raspy. You can’t help but wince. “I’m not feeling too good.”

“You need anything?” You can hear the concern in his voice.

“I’ll be fine thanks.”

You listen to his retreating footsteps before letting out a soft groan. You’re so screwed.

——

In the days since you took the pregnancy tests, you tried to pretend everything was normal. School, homework, spending time with friends, splitting time between your mother’s home and your father’s — you really tried. You had to. Even half-assing your attempt at normalcy would be enough to stop your emotions from crushing you.

But you also knew keeping it a secret from everyone would be impossible. It’d be bound to slip eventually, and that’s what happened when you visited your mother’s one weekend. Your mother and stepfather had gone shopping earlier that afternoon, and that left you and your stepsister, Adelaide, alone in the house. You had a good relationship with Adelaide, the two of you viewing each other more as friends than stepsisters. It’s that friendship, that deep trust, that made you comfortable enough to tell her.

“Are you serious?” Adelaide exclaims. She looks genuinely shocked, eyes wide and face pale. “You can’t be serious.”

“I took five pregnancy tests, they all came back positive.” You wrap your arms around yourself, feeling exposed under Adelaide’s shocked gaze. “Look, you can’t tell my mom or Tyler about this, okay?” You look at her pleadingly. “I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do yet, so if you could just... not say anything...”

“I won’t,” Adelaide says. “It’ll be our little secret.”

You run a hand through your hair. “I don’t know what to do,” you sigh. “This is all so confusing.”

Adelaide walks over and places a comforting hand on your shoulder, squeezing it gently. “We’ll figure something out,” she says. “Don’t worry too much, okay?”

You nod. “Thanks, Addy.”

Adelaide removes her hand and gives a half-hearted shrug. “We’ve had each other’s backs since we were little,” she said. “This is nothing.”

“Except it’s not ‘nothing’,” you state. “I’m pregnant. If I have this baby, I’ll be a single mother, and everything will be complicated. If I have an abortion, then I’ll just...” You let out a long sigh. “I don’t know,” you murmur. “I’m overthinking aren’t I?”

Adelaide nods. “You are,” she says, “and that’s okay. Do you have an appointment set up?”

“An appointment?” you stammer.

“For an ultrasound.” Adelaide gives you a pointed look. “Maybe even a check up.”

“Right,” you sputter. “You’re right.”

——

Adelaide had scheduled an appointment with a local Planned Parenthood for the end of the week. She texted you all the information and where to meet her on the day of the appointment, and you sent about half a dozen texts expressing your gratitude and how you’ll forever be indebted to her.

From: Adelaide 👀

yeah yeah just focus on your cover story

Sent: May 9, 6:09

And you did. You worked on making a convincing cover story, and you prayed to God your father bought it. So far he hasn’t suspected anything, much to your relief. For the time being, that’s one less thing for you to worry about.

——

The day of your appointment couldn’t have come faster. While you were excited to go, you also felt nervous. What if something goes wrong? You can’t help but wonder — worry — that something will go horribly wrong and you’re not ready to deal with that.

But you need to stay calm, you can’t give yourself away. You’ve done such a good job at hiding your pregnancy, you can’t risk blowing your cover.

“So you and Adelaide are going out?” your father asks. There’s a tone in his voice that makes your skin crawl; it almost sounds like suspicion.

“Yeah.” You try for your most convincing smile. “Mom and Tyler said it’s okay, I was just running it by you.”

“Is this something I should be concerned about?”

A chill runs up your spine. “No, we’re just hanging out,” you reply. “She wanted to get some early birthday shopping done for Tyler, and then we’ll be heading back here.”

The response is convincing enough, and you can see the wheels turning in your father’s head. You can see him mulling over your words before nodding. Sebastian has a good relationship with your stepfather; he always has. Your parents split when you were three, the two of them agreeing they were better off as friends than a couple. They never married, so going to court over you — or anything else for that matter — was out of the question. They developed their own co-parenting technique, and it’s worked ever since. Once Tyler came into the equation, your father was more than supportive. Hell, your mother invited him (your father) to the wedding! Sebastian accepted Tyler, and when he found out about Adelaide, he accepted her too. All he wants is his family to be happy.

“You guys be careful, okay?” he presses. “Your mother said Adelaide got her license recently, I don’t want you guys being reckless.”

“We’ll be okay,” you say, a wave of relief washing over you. “If something goes wrong, I’ll let you know.”

While you knew that wasn’t necessarily a good response, it was the best you could come up with. And judging by the look of debatable acceptance on your father’s face, you took it as your que to leave.

——

You and Adelaide agreed to meet a block from your father’s home. The meeting point would be outside a small café, where you’d both walk to the Planned Parenthood facility.

Your heart is pounding painfully against your ribs and your nerves are going haywire. Even after all the time that’s passed, you still don’t know what to do. Do you keep the baby? Do you abort it? Maybe adoption is something you could try... but then you’d have to explain it to your parents and that would end in a disaster. You’re only fifteen for Christ’s sake. They still treat you like you’re little, like you’re incapable of doing anything except being their sweet little girl.

Now you’re they’re sweet little girl with a baby on the way.

Once you made it to the café, you let out a shaky breath. No sign of Adelaide, but she’ll show up soon. Hopefully.

You anxiously shift where you stand, nervously watching people come and go, bicyclists, cars, buses and trucks speed by. It’s a normal day for everyone else.

You swallow thickly, trying to push down the emotions that threatened to overflow. Tears were filling your eyes anyway, and you did everything in your power to wipe them away before they fell. But they just kept coming.

“Y/N!” It’s Adelaide, and you quickly wipe the tears from your eyes before she sees. Once she approaches you, she gives a small, somewhat embarrassed smile. “Sorry,” she exclaims, “dad wanted me to do some cleaning before I left, and...” Her smile drops when she sees your face. “Have you been crying?” she asks. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

You shake your head. “I’m just a little anxious,” you sigh. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Adelaide’s brows furrow. She knows you’re feeling overwhelmed, but she didn’t think it’d be this bad. “Have you made a decision yet?” she asks, the two of you headed in the direction of the Planned Parenthood.

“No.” Your voice is thick with emotions, your eyes refilling with tears. “I don’t know what to do, and it’s scaring the shit out of me.”

“You don’t have to do this by yourself, Y/N,” Adelaide responds. “I’m here, and maybe whoever you see today can give you some advice on what to do.”

You nod.

——

The appointment went... decent. The ultrasound, the exam, you couldn’t complain. It flew by with no issues and you were grateful. But afterward, once everything was finished, you sit waiting for the doctor, waiting for the results of your exam. Adelaide stayed with you, holding your hand and supporting you the best she could.

“Do you think everything will be okay?” you ask.

Adelaide nods. “Everything will be fine,” she states. “If there’s an issue, I’m sure they’d tell you.”

You let out a trembling sigh. “Yeah you’re probably right.”

A gentle knock on the door makes you flinch, your eyes snapping to the door as you watch it open. An older woman, with graying dark hair and a kind face, comes in and looks at you and Adelaide.

“Hi,” she says. “Y/N?” You nod, she gives a warm smile, closes the door and sits across from you. “Ultrasound went well. Exam looks good.” She hands you a picture of the ultrasound, and you feel a whirlwind of emotions inside you. It made you feel even more conflicted. You give her a tight smile, but you don’t comment on what she’s said so far. “Why don’t you tell me why you’re here today,” she suggests, giving you an encouraging look.

“I... I don’t know what to do.” You look down, shame washing over you. “I don’t know how to deal with this.”

“Would you like me to tell you your options?”

You nod. Of course you have an idea on what some of those options are, having a professional tell you in greater detail would help you significantly.

And maybe, after you’ve made your decision, and once you feel ready, you can tell the rest of your family.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

@treasure-that-is-what-you-are

[twoshotsofspencie]

Wasteland - The Bough of A Willow Tree

Wasteland

Almost twenty-two years ago, Haley Brooks and Aaron Hotchner had their first child. They weren’t ready to become parents, so they put her up for adoption. Weeks before her twenty-second birthday, Callie Moore graduates from the FBI Academy at Quantico only to return home to a grieving sister and two open adoption records. Or, the one where Callie has been following the BAU since witnessing a murder as a child. Turns out, she’s not only a recent graduate of the FBI Academy, but Aaron Hotchner’s firstborn.

Warnings are ever-changing to adapt to the story as it’s written but as a general rule, 18+ only

Warnings: spoilers in general ; seasons 6 ; mentions of death

Moodboard for this chapter here.

A/N: I struggled with this chapter, it's mostly filler but *shrugs*.

3. Wasteland: The Bough of A Willow Tree - Callie prepares for a family dinner with the Hotchners.

“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind” -Bruce Lee

The door was heavier than Callie remembered. Maybe it wasn’t the door. Maybe it was the emotional exhaustion from the events of the last two weeks, or the fact that she hadn’t slept in twenty-eight hours. It slammed shut behind her. She threw her bag and backpack on the couch, her suitcase sat behind the couch. Callie found herself grateful that she could only afford a studio apartment. The idea of opening any more doors seemed to directly correlate with death in her mind.

She sat down on the edge of her bed and kicked her shoes off before turning the bedside lamp on. Callie sat her phone and badge down on the nightstand next to the lamp, then opened the drawer and put her gun in it before shutting it. She stood up to change clothes when her phone rang. “Moore, here,” She put her phone in speaker mode and set it back down on the nightstand as she changed into something less constricting than the corduroy pants and three layers she wore under her overcoat.

“Callie, it’s Aaron. Do you have any plans tomorrow?” Callie smiled and sat down on the bed again.

“Tomorrow is my day off, so other than unpacking, no.” She found herself asking “Any particular reason why?”

“How would you feel about dinner? My place. Jack and Jessica will be there. The rest of the team, too.” She heard a thin layer of nervousness hiding in his voice. It mirrored her own nervousness, surely. She wasn’t sure what to expect from showing up at her birth parents' apartment. When she found out that her birth mother, Haley, was dead, the nervousness seemed to amplify.

“I- Sure,” Callie wrestled with her response. She knew what he meant, but she didn’t know how to word a response. “Sounds great.”

“Does six sound good?” She nodded before remembering he couldn’t see her.

“Yes.” She struggled with what to say next. “I just got in from Baltimore. I had to set Addy up with a friend from school since neither one of our names were on the lease. I start at the DC Field Office on Monday.” She could hear his expression shift, but he didn’t say anything. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay,” Hotch said in response.

“Bye, Aaron.” Callie smiled

“Goodnight, Callie.” Click. Callie stood up and walked to the bathroom to finish getting ready for bed. She found herself thankful for the door being open.

----

The next day, she found herself sitting on the floor in front of the white combination clothing rack that had become her closet, sorting the last of her clothes into drawers, among shelves, and onto the tiered rack. Callie couldn’t figure out what to wear. It was cliché and she hated it, but it was the truth. What do you wear to your first dinner with your birth father and his coworkers and your aunt and brother. The stress of it should have kept her awake the previous night, but exhaustion outweighed everything else for once. She stood up, checking the time. It took a little under an hour from her apartment to his, so she’d need to leave at five to be safe. It was almost four now, leaving her about an hour. She’d gotten ready in less time, she just needed to pick something to wear.

An hour and forty-five minutes later, she found herself in front of her father’s apartment. She felt out of place, standing there instead of knocking. She rubbed her knuckles on the outside of her thighs, the rough fabric of her coat scratching along her skin. Callie had decided on black tights under a pleated black skirt, her heeled black boots, a white button-up, and her tan tweed blazer. She didn’t feel comfortable going anywhere without a coat yet. Callie hadn’t yet gotten used to her FBI-issued glock, and concealing the shape of it made her feel less scrutinized. She lifted her hand to knock and a voice startled her out of her head. “You know, I’m not entirely sure, but I think standing creepily outside of someone’s apartment is considered loitering by law.” Callie looked to the source, seeing a tall, muscular man standing down the hall from her.

“You know, technically there are no official definitions of loitering for law enforcement, more like generalized guidelines.” A significantly slimmer man appeared from behind him, countering the larger man.

“However, according to the Oxford Dictionary, it means ‘to stand or wait around idly or with no apparent purpose’. And my purpose was to knock on this door, so technically, not loitering.” She raised her hand to knock, but the door flew open before she even touched it.

“I thought I heard-” The woman who opened the door abruptly stopped speaking when she realized Callie was standing in front of the door. “You must be Callie! I’m Penelope. Garcia. I work with Hotch. I’m a hugger.” Penelope pulled Callie into a hug, noticing the two familiar faces that had been conversing with Callie. “Hey! So do they!” Callie cursed herself silently, turning around to face the men. She recognized them both now that Penelope had given her a hint. The larger man held a hand out.

“SSA De-” He started.

“-Derek Morgan. I know both of your names, actually.” She shook Derek’s hand, feeling a little sheep for reciting the dictionary to him. She pointed to the second man. “And you’re Dr. Spencer Reid. Aaron said you aren’t a fan of handshakes.”

“Did he? What else did Hotch say?” Derek asked, laughing a little. Penelope put an arm around Callie and turned her around.

“How about we go inside. You really shouldn’t encourage him.” Callie found herself laughing a little. This was going to be an interesting night.

Taglist: @infinite-tides

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[rrickgrrimes8]

Normality is Death

Chapter Thirteen ~ Philippians 1:29

masterlist

"C'mon baby lets go back to our room," Lori said to Jacey, Carl already holding her hand. Jacey nodded following a part of her family down the halls. 

"What's happening, mom?" Carl asked as he watched Lori go to the air vent feeling no air come out, "Mom? Something wrong?" 

Jacey watched her apprehensive mother, "Uh, nothing. It's just... just the air conditioning stopped." 

Lights went out soon after that too which agitated Lori more as did the disappearance of her husband. Sitting at the foot of her parents' bed, she watched as she left the room to talk to Doctor Jenner as he passed quickly. "What's wrong, Jacey?" She heard Addie call to her. 

"Please leave me alone," her hands found their ways to her ears once again seeking to block out any noise. 

"Jacey? You're scaring me... what's wrong?" Addie called to her again, causing her to look up only to see her younger brother worried, "What's wrong, Jacey?" 

"Uh... nothing, squirt. I'm fine," She stuttered, paralyzed by her shock, "Where's mom?" 

"Went after that Doctor. Sent me back to get you," Carl smiled, still perturbed, "You coming?" 

"Yep, Let's go, squirt."

The two younger Grimes' entered the hysterical room, passing their frightful mother on the way out, "Mom what's happening?" Lori didn't respond though, as she continued to run down the corridor and back to the room. Jacey caught wind of Jenner's words about how the French were the last ones to hold out. Well, that was until the fuel ran out. It sunk in deep with the child, there was no cure and there never will be - everything is gone.

Jacey, grabbing the hand of her brother, ran into the room eyeing the now sealed doors. "No. Did you just lock us in?" Glenn panicked, "He just locked us in!" Carl held her hand tighter, the loud noises and consternation becoming at once too much for him. Jacey saw Edwin take a seat at his desk and begin to talk to a camera. 

Bold lettering violated her eyes as the screen switched to black with the red-lettered words of '30 minutes to decontamination'. "Carl! Jacey!" she heard her mom bellow, quickly finding them. Dropping her bags, she wrapped her arms around the two children, kissing both of their heads. 

Daryl endeavoured over to the man in a fit of rage, yelling at him something Jacey couldn't quite catch but was quickly stopped by Shane. She watched as her father pleaded with the stubborn man to open the door, to which he refused. "What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick yelled to the man after he had ignored him the first time. 

"Come on!" Daryl encouraged threatening him with a glass bottle. 

"You know what this place is?!" He snapped, "We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" Jenner stops to breathe slowly, "In the event of a catastrophic power failure - in a terrorist attack, for example - H.I.T are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out." 

"H.I.T's?" Rick asked. 

"VI, define," he ordered. 

"H.I.T's - high impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist," VI continued but Jacey just blocked it out. They were going to die. They were all going to die. Rick walks over to his family joining in on their hug, mortified by the news. Jacey, however, felt okay, fine really. It didn't bother her that she was about to die - her death never seemed to scare her. What did bother her though was that her family would die too. Carl was too young to die she thought to herself. 

"It sets the air on fire. No pain," Jenner told them after VI had finished, "an end to sorrow, grief... regret. Everything." Jacey smiled through her tears, she was almost looking forward to it as dark as that sounded but she just wanted some peace, a rest. She watched as many grew angry - and in Daryl's case - violent with the doctor. 

Shane and T-dog stayed by the door throwing any and everything they had at it, but none of it making a dent. "You should've left well enough alone... it would have been so much easier," Jenner lent back in his chair, unbothered by the chaos he had created. 

"Easier for who?" Lori spat, clearly angry with the man's decision yet still a great amount of sadness in her words, knowing her children were about to die when they're lives really had just begun. 

"All of you. You know what's out there. A short brutal life and agonizing death," Jacey understood this and observed as he looked to her, "The people you lost, what was their names?" 

"Mitch and Addie," she replied not entirely sure on how he knew, while Rick looked to the man threateningly not wanting her daughter to have any part in his manipulation. 

"And you? Your sister?" he asked now to Andrea, the following was a quiet 'Amy'. "Addie, Mitch and Amy," He looked between Andrea and the girl, "You know what this does. You've seen it. Is that what you really want for your wife, daughter and son?" 

Now looking at Rick. "I don't want this," He almost cried emphatically. 

"Can't make a dent," Shane shouted to Rick, alarmed. 

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher," Jenner said almost comedically. 

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl screamed, making his way over to the doctor, axe ready. Dale, Rick and Shane come together once more to hold Daryl and his clear anger issues back, "Daryl! Daryl!" 

T-dog soon wrestled the weapon off of him as Jenner continued to Rick, "You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." Lori's face drops at his words, while Jacey detaches herself from her mother and brother, planting herself on one of the many identical tables. 

"What? You really said that? After all your big talk?" Shane expectorated, almost betrayed at the doctor's words. 

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" He justified to Lori. 

"There is no hope. There never was." 

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here but somebody somewhere-" 

"What part of 'everything is gone' do you not understand?" the younger girl interrupted her father, earning an approving nod from Andrea but a pained look from her family. 

"Listen to your daughter," Jenner advised, "She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." 

"This isn't right. You can't keep us here," Carol cried, "my daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." 

"Wouldnt it be kinder, more compassionate just to hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run out?" Carol still cries as she holds her daughter, but Jacqui nods her head slightly. 

Much like what happened with Daryl, Shane came to the doctor pointing a shotgun right at his face, but this time Rick intervened, "Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way! Open that door, or I'm going to blow your head off. Do you hear me?" Jenner remained emotionless as the officer continued to aim for his head. 

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here, " Rick reminded him. Instead, in a fit of anger, Shane begins to shoot at the computer screens randomly, everyone cowering away from the shots. "We all die, Shane!" he reminded before struggling to get the gun away from him, "Are you done now? Are you done?" 

"Yeah, I guess we all are," Shane disputed. 

"I think you're lying," Rick said to Edwin, "You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path, why?" 

"It doesn't matter," Jenner sheepishly said. 

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?" 

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise," he proceeded to point towards the screen, "To her. My wife." 

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori questioned sympathetically.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Jenner paused, looking to Daryl, who continued to use his axe against the door no matter how useless it was, "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was Einstein. Me? I'm just... Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me." Jacey sighed, feeling the pain of his loss substantially. 

Rick pleaded once more, "Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's... that's all we want a choice... a chance." 

"You let us keep trying as long as we can," Lori added. 

Jenner moves over to the desk picking up what looked like a security pad and said, "I told topside's locked down. I can't open those." 

Seconds later, the doors open and everyone begins to rush out of them, "There's your chance. Take it" 

"I'm grateful," Rick smiled, lifting his hand for him to shake. 

"The day will come when you won't be," Jenner said before shaking Rick's hand and whispering something in his ear. 

"You can't go, you know that, right?" Addie says, her voice kinder now, which Jacey was more grateful for. 

"I know. I want to be with you again," Jacey looked to the girl reluctantly, hoping that the walker won't appear again. 

Addie's face - her normal one - came into view, blooming a big smile on the younger girls face, "And you will, love. I'm never going to leave you again, I promise." 

"I love you, Addie." 

"I lov-" Addie's voice was interrupted by a male one "Jacey, c'mon, angel, grab your things. Let's go." 

Jacey shook her head at the man she realised to be her father, "I-I'm not coming." Rick stopped, hoping his ears were deceiving him but then looked at her tear-covered face and realised. 

"No, you're not, baby. Let's go," Lori shouted from behind Rick. 

"Lori just go. Get the others out of here," he ordered his wife, "We're right behind you." The rest of the group stampeded out of the room, Lori and Carl lingering for a short minute, hoping Rick will be able to convince her to join them. 

"Tell him you're sorry, Jace," Addie whispered, holding her hand. 

"I'm sorry but I-I can't." 

"Yes you can, Jacey, please. You're not thinking straight," Rick prayed that she'd see reason and join them, but his heart stopped when she shook her head. 

"I can't anymore, dad. I'm so tired." Jacey looked around the room, seeing that not only Jenner was still here but so was Jacqui and Andrea. 

An arm snaked over her shoulder, squeezing it gently, an arm, belonging to Mitchell, "Tell him to leave, babydoll, and then you'll be with us forever."

 She smiled at his words and then returned her eyes to her father's blue ones, "You have to leave. I want to stay with them." 

"I'm not leaving you here, angel," He cried, tightly holding the sides of her face. 

"Addie was only 16, dad, Mitch was 25. We had children in our camp. I-I should've died with them. I don't deserve to live when they had to die." 

"Listen to me, Jace, you survived for a reason, okay? You don't have to agree with me, but whoever is up there, whatever is in charge made it so you weren't there. So you wouldn't die. They wouldn't want you to die here and now. Your story is not over yet. I won't allow it," Rick wailed, heavier than earlier as he watched his daughter looked to her left and right as if looking at people that weren't there, "Your death isn't going to bring them back." 

"I can't leave them, daddy," She paused, "I already hurt them enough." 

"Who are you talking about, angel?" his voice breaking slightly. 

"Addie and Mitchell," Jacey told him as if it was obvious, "I can't leave them alone again." 

"Addie and Mitchell are dead, baby. They're not here anymore," the man pleaded with his deluded daughter. 

"No," she argued, squeezing her eyes shut, "shut up. You're lying, they're here with me now, they want me to stay. She promised me she wouldn't leave again," Jacey cried, looking at Addie and Mitchell, slowly seeing them morph into their walker forms, "Oh god. No, not again, please, not again. They're going to hurt me, daddy. They're going to hurt me like I hurt them." 

"Hey baby, look at me, only me, okay?" he stopped her from looking to where he assumed she saw them, "No one's gonna hurt you. Addie and Mitchell are gone. They can't hurt you, alright? Now we've got to go, angel, before it's too late." Jacey wanted to nod, to go with him, but the grip that Addie and Mitchell had on her tightened, making her let out a small cry. 

At once, they both turned into their undead self's clawing at her skin instead of holding it, "You can't leave, Jacey. Not when you did this to us." 

"No! Shut up! Leave me alone! I want to live! I don't want to die!" Rick watched the girl breakdown her hands beginning to claw away at any visible skin. The man grabbed her hands, stopping the movement before looking over to the timer seeing it hit the 5-minute mark. 

"I'm sorry, Jacey. I'm so sorry baby," Jacey heard him cry before feeling him move away from her. 

"Jacey, look at me, sweetheart," A kind, shaky voice begged of her. Jacey turned to meet their eyes, seeing a crying Jacqui, "You gotta go, darling, please."

"I can't, Jacqui. I can't keep going on like this," She paused, "I'm not strong enough."

"Yes you are, child. You are one of the strongest people I have ever met, don't ever trick yourself into thinking you're not," Jacqui apprised the younger girl.

"I'm not as strong as you think, Jacqui. Nowhere even close."

"That's where your wrong, sweetheart. You've got a lot of heart and if do say so myself a lot of balls," She smiled at her, "You're gonna survive this world, I'm sure of it." Jacqui stops speaking as she looked at the girl, aware of the mental state, "Look, sweetie, I'm not gonna force you outta that door, as much as I'd like too. I don't want you to die today, Jacey, but it seems like it's going that way so let me tell you something, okay?" Jacey nodded, "And you gotta promise me the moment you understand it you'll leave, you'll survive," she nodded once more, "Philippians 1:29; For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake." Jacey stayed silent not quite comprehending the meaning of the passage. 

"I don't understand, I don't get it, Jacqui," She cried into her palms.

"That's okay, sweetie, just breathe..." Jacqui refrained, "It means your pain has a purpose, whatever that purpose may be." 

"Do you understand now?" 

Jacey shook her head sadly, "That's okay, take your rest. I will see you once more in another life." Jacey watched as the older woman rejoined Jenner at his computer and observed as she wished that their conversation had gone another way and in some way Jenner also did.

"You have to stay Jace. You said you understood that. Everything will be better if you do," Addie warned, "If you go you will kill every single one of them out there. Do you want that? Do you want them dead? Your dad? Your mom? Carl?" Jacey shook her head manically, her mind flashing unforgiving images of their bodies eaten and unmoving, "So stay with me, my love. Stay, and I'll love you forever." 

Jacey nodded at her before muttering, "I'll love you forever too," causing Addie to smile. Jacey began to move closer to the dark-skinned girl, her face returning back to her natural one. 

"I wanna kiss you, Jace," Addie parted her lips inching towards Jace's. 

"Me too," She replied, shyness shrouding her confidence. 

But before their lips could touch, the masculine voice returned, "I'm sorry, Jacey," following a sharp twinge in her neck. Immediately, she felt a rush of dizziness hit her, Addie and Mitchell disappearing shortly afterwards, "no." She fell off her chair and into a pair of muscular arms, "I'm sorry, angel." 

"Addie," she cried before the darkness took over her.