#yesterday i decide to tell my mom that i think my toe is broken | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gaemkyuu · 4 years ago

Text

So...Boyfriend? Boyfriend.

Warnings: death of a loved one and grief. There is one mention to drinking a bottle of wine but all characters in the story are above the age of 21. A/N: this is based off a post @ah2113 made a little while ago! I liked the idea and decided to write a cute fluffy piece on it! Hope you like it! “Reader and Charlie are best friends and they met on JATP. Charlie and the reader are in love with each other but don’t know. The readers grandma passes away and she calls Charlie, who is in a completely different state/country, in tears about the situation. Charlie feels horrible and completely drops everything he’s doing and immediately flies out to the reader and surprises them. He is with them throughout the whole viewing and funeral and meets her entire family. Everybody mistakens him for the readers boyfriend because of how much he is doing to help and tells the reader that he is clearly in love with them.” Disclaimer: This is a FICITONAL writing piece! In no way do I claim characters in this piece act this way in real life.

Masterlist *now taking requests ;)

So...Boyfriend? Boyfriend.

Bzzz. Bzzz.

Charlie was in the middle of an interview when his phone started vibrating. Normally he kept it on airplane mode, but today he forgot. He quickly reached for his phone and saw her name pop up on the screen, losing focus for a brief moment on the interview.

“Pardon me? Could you repeat the question?” Charlie was trying so hard to focus on the interview at hand but knowing he was on the last question, made it all the more difficult to focus when he knew she was calling.

“Charlie, the fans want to know. Are you single?” he chuckled but since he was distracted, he didn’t give a really good answer.

“Kinda” he regretted it as soon as it left his mouth and the fact that he started blushing made the situation worse! Thankfully the interviewer didn’t press any further into the matter and made a casual joke about it. They quickly wrapped the interview knowing that Charlie had another one scheduled right afterwards, but he had a few minutes to make up a phone call.

Amelie had worked on set for season one of Julie as a hair and make up artist and shocked many at how talented she was for her age. She got along well with the cast and would often hang out with them on their days off, but for some reason she gravitated the most to Charlie. Everyone often teased them about the chemistry they had and how they would make a great couple but both of them would laugh at the comments and deny any feelings towards one another. They were simply nothing more but really good friends.

Or so they thought.

Amelie was head over heels for the brunette and Charlie for her. She loved his smile and enthusiasm for life. She admired his work ethic and passion for what he did. She would squash every thought about being with Charlie because he was too good for her. She liked the weirdest things and entertained people with the most random facts. She could spend hours in an art and fashion museum, when most people could only spend so much time. Amelie saw herself as weird and knew that Charlie saw her as nothing more than a friend.

The opposite was true. Charlie loved her quirkiness and nerdiness around the strangest things. He loved that she was always so modest and humble, even though she had all the right to brag at how amazing she was at her talents. He loved how she was always up for trying something new and that she had an eye for fashion, design and art, but he knew she didn’t see him as anything more than a friend. That still didn’t stop Charlie from always being there for her.

“Charlie?” her voice came out in a broken and quiet whisper. He could tell that she was crying and he instantly felt his stomach drop. A few sniffles came from the other line before the voice spoke again. “She’s gone Charlie... Grandmaman is gone...” he could hear her voice start to shake again.

“Say the word Amelie and I am there” Charlie glanced at his watch,8:55pm. He had five more minutes until the next interview with the pop culture podcast from Sydney. This meant that it was 5:00am in London, where Amelie was working on Netflix’s newest series. “Ams?”

“It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to disturb you, I just didn’t know who else to talk to...” she sniffled quietly not sure what else to say.

“What time are you leaving to get to set?” 8:57pm, he was running out of time. He saw the notification that the next interviewer had signed on to their zoom meeting.

“I gotta be on set at 7:00am so the van will be here to pick me up at 6:30am. It’s my last day on set, so there’s that” she sniffled again, feeling herself calm down with Charlie on the other line. She desperately needed him, but she couldn’t ask him that. He was doing press for season 2 of Julie and the Phantoms and he needed to be available, not off consoling his friend who was madly in love with him.

“Amelie, listen, I have to jump onto the next interview, but try to get a little more sleep and drink some water. I’ll call you as soon as I’m done. When are you flying back?” Charlie felt awful having to hang up on her when he knew she needed him.

“I’ll be on the next flight out to Vancouver. Hopefully there’s a flight this evening back to Canada. My mom’s really upset and my siblings are rushing to get home for her” Amelie took a deep breath and listened to the frustrated sigh on the other end. He was probably annoyed that she called him. “Thank you for picking up Char”

“Anything for you Ams... I’m really sorry but I have to go now... If you’re busy when I call, can you let me know when you’re at the airport?” Amelie agreed and hung up the phone, flopping on the bed and a silent stream of tears falling from her eyes again. Meanwhile, Charlie sat in his LA bedroom, head in hands frustrated that he couldn’t be there for her.

***

Amelie watched out the window as the plane landed in Vancouver. She felt an anxiousness to get off the plane and be with her mom, but she knew she had to go through security and baggage. She didn’t notice that her leg was restlessly bouncing until the nice old lady beside her placed a hand on her lap.

“Excited are we?” she smiled at her kindly and Amelie blushed, a little embarrassed. “I was once in love too. I get the feeling”

“Actually, I’m just anxious to be with my mom... My grandmother passed away yesterday and I wanna be there for her” the old lady’s smile changed to an empathetic one and she patted her knee.

“I’m sorry for your loss my dear... I lost my sister a year ago today. It is not an easy thing to grieve and I can tell that your soul feels heavy. You might want to think about sharing that load with someone” she smiled. A flight attendant interrupted their conversation letting them know that she had priority to leave the plane. The old woman then looked at Amelie and winked. “They’re letting us off the plane now honey. Thank you miss, but my daughter can grab my bags from the upper compartment, can’t she” baffled at the kindness of the old woman, Amelie dumbly nodded and stood to help her. As they made their way through the gate, an attendant was waiting for the old woman. “You can leave my bags with this gentle man” she smiled.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to do that” the old woman took her hand. “Your mother is fortunate to have you as a daughter. Now go and be with her” Amelie smiled and gave the old woman a hug, and teared up a bit remembering her own grandmother. Wiping away a tear, Amelie said thank you again and headed off to get her bags. To no surprise, getting her suitcase was a gong show because they had to share a lane with another flight. By the time she got there, tons of people waited right by the carousel for their bags, making Amelie stand in the back and tippy toe to see a glimpse of her bag. She was fortunate that a man had helped her as she squeezed her way to the front, waiting for her bag. With a deep breath, she exited the doors and dialed her mother.

“Hello? Maman? What car are you in? Oh wait! I see it!” Amelie quickly rushed outside of the door at YVR to get to her mother’s vehicle. She was able to find a flight that evening and she left right away. The flight was long, but she was able to make it home to her mother’s side in 24 hours. She trotted over to her mother’s vehicle that pulled into the loading zone, flashing their hazards on, her mother getting out of the passenger side. Amelie stopped for a moment, confused that her mother wasn’t driving the car. Her mother quickly embraced her in her arms and both of them shared a tearful hug. “Who’s driving maman?”

Charlie stepped out of the driver’s seat and took Amelie’s suitcase from her, as she stood there with her mouth open. “Surprise?” she immediately felt a sudden wave of emotion wash over her and she jumped into Charlie’s waiting arms crying as he held her tight. She felt sadness and happiness while grieving over her Grandmother and feeling elated at the sudden presence of the boy.

“How?” she sniffled and pulled away, wiping her tears.

“Charlie knew how sad you were over Grandmaman, so he texted me late last night and flew in early this morning” her mother explained. Amelie’s mother knew of her crush on the boy and always encouraged her to pursue the relationship further, but she always insisted to her mother that they would be nothing more than friends. Her mother would roll her eyes at her daughter every time she said that, knowing that the chemistry and the feelings were there, but the two were just too stubborn to admit it.

“That’s what friends are for right?”

Right. Friends.

***

After being picked up at the airport, they went straight to her mother’s house and helped her mom plan out things for the funeral. Naturally, Charlie became the chauffer, driving Amelie and her mom around the city to make various appointments with funeral directors and lawyers. Amelie’s grandmother gave birth to five children and never remarried after her husband passed away. Amelie had very little recollection of her grandfather as he passed away when she was quite young. Each of her mother’s siblings had at least three kids and each child had at least three kids, making their family huge. That didn’t include her mother’s cousins and their families, all of which would be flying in to attend the funeral in two days time.

Running around was an emotionally exhausting task, not to mention the exhaustion that came with grief. The two women were grateful that Charlie was around for them that day as Amelie’s siblings slowly started to get into town. He ordered pizza for everyone, knowing that all of her siblings would be in Vancouver in time for the funeral. Her grandmother was clear that she wanted the viewing and funeral to be combined into one day, not wanting to prolong her burial process, something that they honored. But with that request, it meant a lot had to be done.

Amelie had four siblings, all of which were older than her, making her the baby of the family. Her brother Benoit had moved to New Brunswick to live with the love of his life Maxime, and he was the second to arrive. He had work to take care of and unfortunately Maxime couldn’t get the time off. Benoit got along very well with Charlie, connecting over Dieppe and how it differed from Fredericton where Benoit lived with his partner. Her twin sisters Rachelle and Rene got into Vancouver right before dinner and actually carried the pizza inside while Charlie paid. Both sisters lived in Toronto, one training on the Olympic figure skating team and the other working in Parliament. Throughout the night, they joked about how cute Charlie was and how they were both single and didn’t mind dating someone younger. This annoyed Amelie but she wouldn’t admit that to anyone. Her third oldest brother, Theo, was the last to arrive, getting in way past dinner but before midnight. He lived in New York pursuing photography and had to finish a shoot before he could come home. Hearing this, Charlie asked him multiple questions about photography when they sat around their mother’s fireplace that night. It was nice to be able to gather as a family before the craziness of their relatives. French Canadian families were big, loud and full of personality, but Amelie knew Charlie understood this dynamic very well.

The next two days passed by in a blur with Charlie helping out wherever he could and sometimes locking himself in her mother’s office to do an interview or meeting here and there. Amelie was so grateful for him because every time she felt overwhelmed or that she was going to cry, he somehow made it to her side, comforting her and helping her be strong. Rachelle and Rene kept telling her to claim Charlie before they did, but Amelie would always insist that they were friends. But when her brothers got involved, Amelie couldn’t help but think that maybe her siblings were right. Maybe she should ask Charlie out, but how could she do that when her entire family was still dealing with the loss of her grandmother?

Just last night, Charlie sat up late into the evening comforting Amelie as she put the slideshow together on her Macbook. She could hardly look at the pictures or listen to the music without tearing up and having mini cry sessions on his shoulder, something he took in stride. It also didn’t help that she had consumed an entire bottle of wine...

In all honesty, Charlie couldn’t be more happy to be by her side at this moment. He knew how hard it was to lose a loved one, especially since he lost his grandmother before filming season one of Julie and the Phantoms. Being here for her was important to him and he wanted to show her that she could always come to him. When she passed out on his shoulder that night, he thought about how badly he wanted to be with her as he tucked her in bed. He loved how she snuggled into his shoulder as he finished up the slide show and he loved that she reached out for him and called his name in her sleep as he walked away. He kissed your forehead goodnight and hated the fact that he couldn’t just call you his.

A soft knock at the door interrupted Amelie’s day dream of her grandmother. She wiped the tears that have unexpectedly fallen from her eyes and took a deep breath. “Come in” her voice was shakier than she wanted it to be, but relief washed over her when Charlie walked in wearing a black dress shirt and tie. He smiled empathetically to her and approached her with open arms, something she gladly accepted. She inhaled his scent, burying her face in his chest, while he rested his head on top of hers.

“You ready?” Charlie held her tight as he asked this question. This would be the first and last time Amelie would be seeing her deceased grandmother.

“I should be asking you that question” she softly giggled. Charlie would be meeting all of her relatives today, including her annoying cousin Madeleine.

“You forget that I too have a big family. It’ll be fine. Plus, I’m here for you and not them” Amelie pulled away from the hug to stare him in the eyes, silently figuring whether now was a time to discuss her feelings or not. In the end, she decided against it and smiled softly at him, which he returned.

“Thank you for being here Char... It really means a lot” he chuckled and pulled her close for a second hug, something she would never tire hearing.

“Anything for you Ams. Anything.”

***

The funeral and mass went according to plan and soon enough they found themselves in the church basement with a slide show of her grandmother playing in the background, while guests visited the pastries and beverages being served. Amelie was occupied with the many questions her aunts and uncles had about her career and how she was doing, but she couldn’t help but worry about Charlie. Throughout her conversations with her relatives, she watched Charlie help out her mother with the pastries and beverages, stopping once in a while to entertain the younger cousins at the children’s table. She smiled at him gratefully for helping out so much, but grew a little nervous when her nosy aunts and uncles pulled him aside and started interviewing him. It seemed like he was handling himself fine, but Amelie felt even more confident when he made eye contact with her and winked.

“Well if it isn’t the Hollywood superstar.” Amelie could feel herself cringe at the sound of the voice. It was Madeline, Amelie’s cousin. They were the same age and same stature, but they couldn’t be more opposite. Madeline pursued modeling at a young age and still continued to do it, but for some reason, she always felt that everything was a competition. Amelie wanted to simply be cousins, but Madeline would take every opportunity to upstage her or show off to their aunts and uncles. Amelie didn’t really care, but the more she didn’t the more vicious Madeleine became. At one point in their lives, Madeleine had moved to Vancouver for more opportunities and ended up living with her family. This caused a lot of drama between the two of them, including Madeleine dating several of her exes and bringing them to family events.

“Hey Mads. Long time no see” Amelie forced herself to be nice and polite, even though she felt her cousin didn’t deserve it. Her black dress was a little too tight and a little too revealing for a funeral, but she wasn’t about to bring that up. “How have you been?”

“Oh you know, living it up in Paris, traveling all over Europe for different modeling jobs. It’s exhausting, but I’m sure you know of it” anyone could hear the sarcasm and apprehension in her voice. Her aunts awkwardly moved away, making up some excuse about visiting other family members so that they could catch up. “How does it feel to be working on a children’s show?”

“I mean, I love what I do, so I can’t complain” Amelie bit her tongue before she could say anything rude. She never understood why her cousin always felt the need to announce how much better she was over her.

“So... optimistic. What’s it feel like to settle?” she felt the blood rush to her face, starting to lose control of her emotions. This was not the place or time to have this conversation, yet Madeline persisted. She took a deep breath trying to level herself and forced a smile on her face. As she opened her mouth to reply, she felt a warm hand hug her lower back and the slight smell of cologne fill the air.

“Everything alright babe?” she blushed at the name and gesture from Charlie, who kissed the top of her head. Madeline flushed and her eyes were as wide as saucers. “Oh hi, I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m Charlie” he reached out his hand towards Madeline, keeping the other wrapped around Amelie.

“Madeline. It’s nice to meet you Charlie. You’re an actor from the show that she worked on, right? What are you doing here?” Amelie could hear the faintest trace of annoyance in her voice, and shook his hand. Charlie and Amelie looked at each other, a cocky smile on Charlie’s face and slight confusion on Amelie’s.

“I’m her boyfriend and I came to support her. I’m sure you’ve been dealing with the grief as well and I couldn’t let her go through this alone” part of what Charlie said was true, but Amelie couldn’t help but blush at the mention of boyfriend. No one had actually asked Charlie if they were dating, but a lot of relatives were beating around the bush. Apparently Charlie had said that rather loudly and some of the relatives started gossiping in a hushed voice.

“Wow Amelie. I didn’t know you had such good taste in men based on your past partners” Charlie laughed at the comment, something Madeline didn’t suspect.

“I wouldn’t say I’m good taste, but Ams if definitely a catch” he gloated and kissed her cheek, causing Amelie to blush furiously. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I actually came over because your mom needs some help” if there was one thing Amelie could count on, it would be Charlie’s ability to read a situation and get her out of it. “Shall we, my love?” she nodded and walked away from Madeline flushed and confused, but also really excited. He moved his hand from her back to her hand, softly dragging her away from the conversation.

“Boyfriend?” Amelie whispered to him, inferring the comments he made to Madeline.

“I know she ruffles your feathers, so why not ruffle hers?” Benoit interrupted Charlie, asking him if he could help put some of the tables from upstairs away. “You’re mom’s in the kitchenette, you can probably hide there for a bit. I got you a plate of pastries that I stashed in the back” she thanked him and watched him walk away with her brother. Before she could take another step, Rachelle and Rene linked arms with her on either side and rushed her into the kitchenette.

“So you’re dating now?!” Rene questioned and before Amelie could answer, Rachelle interrupted her. “When were you going to tell us this?!”

“About time” her mother scoffed, stirring another jug of fruit punch. “Okay you two, leave your sister alone to breathe for a second. Take these pitchers out to the table and find Theo. Make sure Tante Genevive hasn’t stolen him for a private photoshoot for Facebook” Amelie was grateful that her mother shooed the twins off and passed her the plate that Charlie put aside.

“Thanks Maman” her mother smiled smugly at her, moving about the kitchenette. “Please don’t say I told you so” her mother made the motion to zip her lips as she giddily made her way around the kitchen.

***

That evening, Amelie’s family stumbled through the front door of her mother’s house, everyone retiring to their rooms for a short moment of relaxation while their mother ordered take out for a late dinner. They had stayed behind to clean up with a few other relatives and put away the church tables and chairs. Charlie didn’t complain a single time and rushed to do whatever he could to help everyone out. Charlie followed Amelie up the stairs to her old bedroom and shut the door behind him as she plopped onto the bed. Part of Amelie did this was because she was tired, but the other part of her did it hopefully to avoid the conversation they were about to have. Charlie quietly sat beside her on the bed and played with her hair, something she absolutely loved.

“So, about today...” this conversation was happening whether she wanted it to or not.

“It was really nice of you to stand up for me but you didn’t have to. I have no problem telling my family it was a small misunderstanding. It should stop them from blabbering to the media” She sat up and Charlie looked incredulously at Amelie confused at what she was saying.

“Ams, I don’t think you get it” again, she interrupted him before he could continue.

“No I do, I get it. You’re an amazing friend Char and you didn’t have to risk the rumours for-” she didn’t complete the thought because Charlie’s lips were suddenly on hers and she completely melted into them. It was like this tension that she never acknowledged left her shoulders, making her feel like she was floating.

“Do you understand now?” he searched her eyes for some sort of confirmation. “I really like you Amelie and I’ve liked you for a long time, but I’ve always thought you wanted to be friends”

“I wanted to be friends?! I thought you friend zoned me first!” he gave her a look for interrupting him. “Sorry”

“Regardless of what happened, being with you here and helping you and your family throughout all of this made me want to be a part of your life so much more. I want to be more than your friend. I know this is a bad time to say this, but I don’t think I can keep pretending that I don’t want to be with you” he held her hand in his and drew nearer to her again. “I really want to be with you if you’ll have me”

She closed the gap between the two of them and kissed him this time, something which Charlie gladly accepted. The two shared a simple but passionate kiss, as if they were confessing two years of secret feelings to each other. A bang at the door startled them.

“Put your pants on! Maman wants you guys to go pick up the take out!” Benoit yelled from behind the door. The two flushed at the comment and heard the snickers and giggles from the other siblings.

“So...boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend.”

#charlie gillespie #charlie gillespie x reader #charlie gillespie fanfiction #charlie gillespie imagines

110 notes · View notes

tinisprout · 3 years ago

Text

No Doubt in Us

Chapter Seven - They'll Be Fine *written chapter below*

Fiance!Haknyeon x Fem!reader

Masterlist | Prev | Next

Synopsis: Life is great, you have your dream job, you finally got your first big break, and you are now engaged to the love of your life. Happier than you’ve ever been, you live life one day at a time. Then one day a terrible accident happens leaving you in a coma. Where you finally awake, everything is not as you remember. Amnesia takes away 3 years of your memory, forgetting your beloved Fiance. Faced with a reality that seems unreal, as your mind is stuck in a past with uncomfortable memories, your future with him is uncertain.

Send me an ask if you want to be put on the taglist for this series

Taglist:@my-summer-night @deputyjuyeon @juhaktheoneforme @sunqnew

Sorry for the late chapter I've been very busy

Word count: 3.6K

Neither of you knew who fell asleep first, let alone at what time you fell asleep. What you did know is that it wasn't enough sleep. Both of your eyes were red and heavy after waking up by your alarm. Maybe setting it to 9:30 was a mistake. You look at Haknyeon who was sitting up trying to keep his eyes open.

"You know I love you, but I blame you for this." He uses his hands to refer to both of you.

"Excuse me, if I remember correctly we both were tweeting, Diamonds aren't forever lyrics." Bickering like this with him seemed to be so far away before yesterday, but after talking with him last night you felt a lot closer, he felt like a friend.

"Ugh fine, equal blame." He smirked, enjoying this little banter. You get up from the floor hitting your face to wake you up a bit more.

"Better." You reach your hand out to him, and he takes it pulling himself up. "Alright, clean up time." You swipe your phone off the ground checking to see if there was anything new. Just in time, your phone buzzed a new message from your mom.

Mom: Hey Honey, I know we said we'd come over noonish, but your father got very excited to make something for you guys. He already bought everything, so forewarning. We'll be there in an hour give or take. See you soon.

You turn to Haknyeon showing him the message. When he looked back up at you, you asked, "Since when did my dad cook?"

"Hmm, maybe a year now?" He says almost unsure of it himself. "But that's a story for later, your dad will love to tell you. We have about an hour to get this place in order before they come." You text her an, “ok”, back.

"Okay, let's get some speed cleaning done." You both work together to fold the big comforter. "I'll bring everything back upstairs." Haknyeon nods at you.

"I'll take care of the kitchen area," he calls out to you. You felt a little bad, you left a lot of dishes there. I'll just work faster so I can do other things. The sounds of clinking dishes and shuffling feet filled the house, both doing various tasks around their home. When they were finally satisfied with their work they both went to sit down on the couch to rest.

As if cursed preventing you from resting, a knock came from the door, making you both stand up again. You check your phone, 10:53 a.m. a little over an hour from the time your mom said. You both scurry to the door. You could hear the familiar voice of your mother conversing with your father, it brought a smile to your face. It felt like it had been such a long time since you last saw them, and maybe that was the case, you weren’t sure. Still, you opened the door eagerly for them.

“Mom,” you say with a big smile on your face. You see that she is carrying bags in her arms and you take them from her, ushering her inside. “Come in.” Following behind her was your father with bags in his hands as well, “Dad.” You set the bags down and your father does the same.

Everyone except Haknyeon was crowding the entranceway. You looked at your parents, they seemed a little bit older than the image you had of them in your memories, and you felt your throat tighten. When they looked at you, they scanned you from head to toe, touching your face, lifting your arms, making sure you were really okay. Their actions make you chuckle, “I’m okay, I promise,” you say trying to reassure them. Their baby girl was really okay.

“You’re okay,” Your mother wraps you in a hug, “It’s okay, you’ll be okay, honey. I promise.” Your words being thrown back at you like that made tears prick your eyes. You brought one of your arms around your mother and your other hand reached out and tugged your father’s shirt urging him to join you two. Creating this group hug the three of you had a tearful reunion, saying I love and I miss yous to each other.

Despite how close he was to your parents he still felt like it wasn’t his place to be there in your moment, so he waited patiently by the side, smiling at the happy little family reunion. Your father pulled away looking and looked in Haknyeon’s direction while wiping away the tears forming at the corners of his eyes. “Come here, son. You’re part of this family too.” Haknyeon was shocked by your father’s words.

Regardless of how close he was to your family, this moment felt like it was too personal to be a part of, especially with how things are now, so he hesitated to come closer. You and your mother pulled away from each other and she looked to Haknyeon as well. “It’s okay, Dear. Don’t act like a stranger.” As she said that, your mother spread her arms out, welcoming him. Your parents looking at him as one of their own, Haknyeon felt overwhelmed with emotions. They looked so sincere to him and he couldn’t deny them, so he came to them as they wished.

“It must have been hard on you too.” The three embraces and Haknyeon felt a different kind of comfort compared to his friends’ comfort. This parental comforting feeling that he didn’t know he was craving. Since the whole incident, he didn’t tell his mom about a single thing, he knew she already had a lot on her plate, he didn’t want to stress her out. Tears pooled in his eyes, your parents could feel his shoulders tremble and their hearts broke.

Crying the stress away felt so much relief and gratitude for your parents. Haknyeon thanks them and everyone takes a moment to clean themselves up, wiping away the tears, this peaceful calm now over the room. You and Haknyeon both take the bags your parents brought and lead them further into the house, dropping the bags off in the kitchen. “So, Haknyeon said I should ask you guys about Dad cooking. Why is that suddenly your thing?” You ask, bringing in a topic that should be a happy conversation.

Your parents hum at the same time thinking. “It’s definitely because of Haknyeon,” your mother says while nodding her head.

“It was when we came over. You are your mother went to go get something, so you left the task of cooking to Haknyeon,” your father chimes after. You look to Haknyeon and he nods confirming your father’s answer.

“I had your dad help out a little here and there. I think he first got interested in the seasoning process.” Haknyeon smiled as he thought back on the old memory. Your father and Haknyeon recounted their first cooking experience together, many laughs filled the house. Then your mother piped up at the end of the story looking at you.

“Needless to say when we got back home, take-out needed to be ordered. Whatever scaps they salvaged was not enough to feed the four of us.”

“I was lucky your mother let me touch a stove again, let alone walk in the kitchen.” Your father passes a playful smile to your mother.

“That’s right, you’re lucky that the scraps you offered were not that bad. Now that I think about it that was Haknyeon’s doing, wasn’t it?” She teases him and your father feigns sadness.

“It hurts me that you would think that way, Dear.” This familiar banter between your parents brought a smile to your face, they were still as in love with each other as you had always seen them. Your eyes subconsciously moved to Haknyeon, a smile still holding on to your face. You didn’t expect to see Haknyeon's eyes already on you, the corner of his lips lifted, your eyes went wide. Haknyeon, as if caught doing something bad looks aways, but realizing how silly he must look, his eyes found their way back to you.

He gave you a bashful smile and you tittered at the display. The moment is broken up by your mother motions you over to her. "Well you boys can have fun cooking together again, I need to catch up with my daughter."

"Have fun, Ladies. We'll call you if we're done here before you." Your father shooed you away from the kitchen and took your spot by Haknyeon. You and your mom decided to go out to the back porch, taking a seat at the small table set up you had.

"So, honey, how have you been lately?" You sigh.

"I have been better, but I'm working on it."

"And what about you and Haknyeon?"

"It was a little difficult at first, but we decided to try and work it out. He seems really nice and he is fun to talk to, but I don't know if I can fall in love again, it's all feels so sudden.”

“That’s understandable. We love Haknyeon, but if you feel he isn’t right for you anymore, don’t be afraid to say so. We’ll be here for you no matter what.”

“I know, I think falling for someone like him would be nice, but life isn’t that easy.” Knowing how your relationship was with Haknyeon, she thought it was almost impossible that you wouldn’t come to love him again, but she kept her mouth shut. That was something you needed to figure out on your own, she didn’t want you to feel like you had to be with him, even if that’s what she hoped for.

“What about your friends how have they been fairing with this?”

“We’re good, I think. They are understanding about everything even the ones I don’t remember. They seem like good people.”

“You always had good taste in friends, if Chanhee is any indication of that.” You release a deep sigh, feeling your soul shrivel up at the thought of Chanhee. Your mother looks at you with confusion, “What happened?”

“We got into a little argument.”

“Some things just never change do they,” She chuckles. Watching the both of you grow up she witnessed some of your fights and had sometimes been the one to help you two patch things up. “You’ll be fine,” she really wasn’t worried, the two of you always found a way to make up.

“Yeah, I’ll work on it.” The conversation veers off from its current direction. The two of you talked about what you could and couldn’t remember. She told you about stories of yourself she could recall, and then some stuff about her and your father. There didn’t seem to be a big change with them and that brought comfort to you, knowing that some things were still the same as you remembered.

Meanwhile, inside the house, the two men were cooking. Your father was instructing Haknyeon on how they were going to make lunch. When the cutting proceeded, your father spoke up first.

“So, have the two of you made any decisions yet?” it was a sudden question but he could only assume he meant about the status of your relationship.

“Well it was a little complicated at first, but she said she wanted to try dating me again, so we kind of started our relationship over again.”

“You think you can make her love you again?”

“I- I’m trying to be hopeful. What she saw in me before, she can see again.”

“Personally, I don’t think you should worry that much. I’m not saying to not try and win her over, that will still take some work, but I can’t see her not falling in love with you again. Do you know how much happiness you brought her? I think you’re already set up for success, just don’t screw up.” With his last words, the knife he was using slammed into the cutting board with a loud thud, cutting through a carrot and the cut-off piece went flying.

“Please be careful,” Haknyeon says as he picks up the carrot piece and throwing it away.

“That was an accident, I was distracted.” He stops trying to cut and looks a Haknyeon. “But on the off chance that things don’t turn out good and she decides that she can’t love you, through no fault of your own, then just know whoever she picks after, I won’t like them as much as you. You’re like the son I never had.” Nothing like a little dark humor to lighten the mood.

“Thank you, Sir.” Haknyeon felt sheepish at his words, even though it wasn’t the first time he’s said something like that. Light-hearted small talk continued as the two continued prepping, besides the one mistake in the beginning the cooking process goes on without a hitch. Soon enough the house filled with a tantalizing smell. When all is done, your father goes outside to call you can your mother back for food.

When you finally come back inside with your mother you are greeted with the sight of Haknyeon contentedly setting the table for everyone with care. Your eyes lingered on him, looking at the half-smile to yourself, His smile is nice. It gives him a friendly endearing look and you didn’t notice you started smiling looking at him till your mother nudged your arm, dragging you back to reality from the daze you were in, giving you a knowing smile as she looks from you to Haknyeon and back. You turn away from her not saying anything feeling flustered at the realization of what you were doing and walk ahead of her. You could hear your mother snicker, this causes Haknyeon to look up at you then your mother and his smile grow.

“What’s so funny?” You felt your face heat up, Why did he have to look now?

“It’s nothing.” You try and hide your embarrassment with a smile and Haknyeon looks at you suspiciously before letting it go and telling you both to have a seat at the dinner table. Taking up the offer you sat and soon the table was set and everyone was seated. To your delight, the food looked, smelled, and tasted good. “My compliments to the chief,” you nod at your father approving of his cooking, and glance at Haknyeon in acknowledgment of his help.

“Careful, Honey. Don’t inflate your father’s ego too much now or he’ll start to think he’s better than me.” It’s true, it wasn’t as good as your mother’s cooking, but he had potential.

“Just you wait, I will be one day.” Your father shoots a stubborn glare at your mother, causing everyone to laugh. The meal warms you up from the inside and you stuff yourself with your first meal of the day. Thinking about that you realized two things: Haknyeon also didn’t eat before this and this is the first time you’ve had a meal with him, so you glance over at him, catching him mid-bite. If your eyes could they would have gone as big as when he opened his mouth to take a bite.

Haknyeon greedily shovels the food in his mouth and when he notices you staring, he stops mid spoon, mouth still agape. You bite on your top lip to stop yourself from laughing at the silly look he had. Sure, it was shocking to see him open his mouth like he was about to unhinge his jaw, but in its own, weird way, it’s cute and charming. Haknyeon just felt like he was embarrassing himself too much today. You mouth an apology and he pouts his lips a little, your small interaction going unnoticed by your parents as they were currently in their own world.

Lunch with your parents continues with light conversation and when everyone had their fill you started to help clean up, but your mother stops you.

“Thank you, but we got it. You and Haknyeon go take a rest for a bit we’ll be done soon.”

“You sure?” Both you and Haknyeon ask.

“Yeah, go, go.” For the second time today, you are shooed away in your own house. You went going to cross swords in helping since you felt your tiredness hit you again after eating. The two of you decided to take a seat on the couch, leaning back into the cushions and leaning your heads back. You felt this amazing comfort perfect for dozing off, you wonder if Haknyeon is feeling the same.

“It’s not just me, right? I feel so warm and sleepy now.”

“Hmm?” Way ahead of you already he was starting to doze off too and you smile.

“Sleepy?”

“Yeah…” You both can’t help but let sleep take over you despite the noise coming from the kitchen. When your parents finish cleaning up they call out to the two bodies on the couch, but neither answers. So your mother goes up to both of you and holds back a gasp. She waves your father over and the sight he is greeted to is you and Haknyeon leaning on each other.

As if unconsciously drawn to each other’s warmth, your head rests on his shoulder and his head was laying on the top of yours. Both pairs of legs lean towards each other.

“I was planning to stay here a little bit longer, but I think we should leave now.” Your mother whispers to your father. He nods and they get prepared to leave. Your mother left a note on the counter and your father decided to take a picture of the two of you, making sure to send it to Haknyeon. They leave both thinking the two of you will be just fine.

***

You stirred in your sleep state bringing yourself closer to the heat you felt beside you, but the movement brought pain to your neck and shoulders waking you up. Opening your eyes you lifted your head and felt a terrible stiffness, you realize your head was laying on Hakyneon’s shoulder. Not just that, but you were also in close proximity to each other, almost like you were cuddling. You look at Haknyeon checking if he was awake but all signs led to a no, eyes closed, as his head was leaned back on the couch in an uncomfortable-looking way, his lips parted slightly, chest rising and falling rhythmically. You admittedly feel a little weird being with him like that but it wasn’t bad, besides the pain you felt currently.

You carefully get off the couch so you don’t wake him up. You grab your phone from your pocket, checking the time, 6:48 pm. Surely your parents weren’t here still. You find the note left on the kitchen counter.

I remember you said you mentioning you were tired, so we decided we should just let you two sleep. Don’t feel bad about falling asleep on us, we had a lot of fun see you guys again. Take care.

Love Mom

You go back to Haknyeon on the couch, looking at the position of his head again. Figuring it would be better to wake him up now or else he would end up having a greater pain in his neck. Drawing closer to him you get a better look at his face, his skin was flawless, it looked even better than Chanhee’s skin. You get even closer for a better look and before you realize what you’re doing your fingers slide across his face cupping his cheek, skin just as soft as it looked. You lightly shake his face calling to him, “Haknyeon... Haknyeon, wake up.”

His eyes flutter open, a dazed look on his face, like at any moment he could go back to dreamland. His eyes focused on the visage in front of him, blurry yet he could still see the ever recognizable beauty that was you. His lips moved in an arc and he brought his hand up to your face cupping your cheek in the same way you did his. That is what brought you out of your trance and you were petrified in an instant. You felt your heart shoot up in your throat when you saw the loving gaze he directed at you while rubbing your cheek with his thumb.

This killing blow in it all is when he called you, “Hey, y/n,” with a deep husky voice that you were wholly unfamiliar with. You felt your face and neck heat up, with the intimacy of the situation. Does he realize what he is doing or is he still half asleep? You shot up from the couch not sure if you wanted to know the answer, stepping away quickly, trying to distance yourself from the state of affairs. Startled Haknyeon sits up snapping out of his daze.

“I- uh, sorry.” Haknyeon looked as confused as you were shocked.

“Did I just- I thought I was…. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” He truly thought you were just in his dream, it was such a common occurrence that he didn’t think twice.

“No, I started it. it’s my fault.” He recalled the touch of your hand, that kind of contact made it feel almost as if nothing between the both of you changed. Neither of you knew what to say at the moment, so there was a bout of silence. You opened your mouth again after thinking of something to say, asking a question straight from left field, “Can you help me? I need to apologize to Chanhee.”

Masterlist | Prev | Next

20 notes · View notes

maybeimamuppet · 4 years ago

Text

someone gets hurt

“Janis! Janis!” Cady calls, rushing up to her at the end of the school day.

“Babe, you good?” Janis asks worriedly as her girlfriend barrels into her.

Cady nods rapidly. “Yes! Principal Duvall just told me I’m the valedictorian!”

Janis gasps, wrapping her in a hug. “You are? Oh my god, baby! That’s great! I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you,” Cady giggles from in her embrace. “Are you staying to paint today?”

“Yeah, you want to come?” Janis asks, plotting in her head. Cady has worked so hard this year, she deserves to be valedictorian, arbitrary as the title is. Janis should do something.

“Always,” Cady grins, leaning up for a kiss and taking her hand to lead them to the art rooms. “How is Damian?”

“He’s fine, it’s just a sprain. Texted me earlier high off his ass on painkillers though, that was funny,” Janis chuckles. “Said there was a dragon in his mashed potatoes.”

“Janis! Don’t laugh at him, you know he has a phobia of broken bones. He’s lucky it was just a sprain. Poor guy,” Cady chides.

“He fell down the stairs! I’m allowed to laugh,” Janis defends.

They’d decided to have lunch in the auditorium today, just for fun. Damian had finished eating early and showed off some complicated choreography from his college audition cuts. He’d absolutely nailed them, but during his bows and basking in the applause of his friends, had fallen down the stairs and sprained his foot. He’d fallen into a panic attack, thinking he had broken it, and was taken to the hospital almost immediately.

“He’s your best friend! I’m gonna tell him you laughed,” Cady threatens.

Janis snorts. “You little narc. Go ahead, he laughed at me when I broke my tailbone when we went roller skating.”

“Hmph. Who are you texting?”

Janis had pulled out her phone to text Regina. She loves throwing parties and giving gifts, she might have some ideas for something Janis could do to surprise Cady.

“Uh, my mom. I actually can’t stay today, uhm... Jules is... sick. I have to go help my mom take care of her,” Janis lies through her teeth.

“Oh. Okay. Do you need me to get her anything?” Cady asks, miraculously not having noticed. She struggles reading people sometimes.

“No, don’t worry about it, baby. It’s just a cold, but she gets really whiny and stuff whenever she’s sick,” Janis explains. That’s true, at least.

“Poor thing. Tell her I hope she feels better soon. I’m going to go visit Damian,” Cady says, popping up on her tippy toes to kiss her goodbye.

“Okay, baby. Tell him I said hi,” Janis responds, kissing her back. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Good luck,” Cady says back.

“Thanks,” Janis chuckles.

————-

“Hi, Dame,” Cady says sadly as she knocks on the door of his hospital room.

“Hey, Cads!” Damian says.

Cady chuckles as she comes to sit by his bed. “You sound better.”

“I got, like, hella painkillers a while ago. Went on some fun daydreams,” Damian replies. “Not high anymore though.”

“Good, I don’t know if I could handle you all hopped up,” Cady giggles. “Janis said you texted her something about a dragon in your mashed potatoes while she was in math class.”

“I did? Oh god, she’s never gonna let me live that down,” Damian sighs. “Oh well.”

“I’ll make her go easy on you,” Cady says confidently, pulling out an activity book she had made during study hall. “I made this for you. I know it’s a little childish, but I figured you might want something to do.”

“Aww! Thanks, Caddy. Ooh, connect the dots,” Damian responds as he flips through it. “What’s the matter?”

Cady turns from where she’s standing, frowning as she looks out the window. His view goes across the street, looking over a coffee shop. Janis lied? She’s in the shop, sitting with... Regina George. Hm. They’re laughing at something.

“Huh? Oh, nothing, don’t worry about it,” Cady says through grit teeth, coming back to his side and trying to hide her seething jealousy. He doesn’t need that right now. “So, how long are you stuck in here?”

“I get out tonight, once they’re totally sure I’m not reacting to anything they’ve given me,” Damian replies. “I’m not going to be in school for about a week, though. I’m not supposed to walk even with crutches until then.”

“You poor thing,” Cady responds as she rolls her shoulders to get rid of the tension. “I’ll visit you as much as I can, but I just got a huge English project that’s gonna take me a while.”

Damian pats her hand comfortingly. “I get it, Cads, don’t worry about it. I have this cool book to work on.”

Cady chuckles. “I’ll send other people to come keep you company on the days I can’t. And you have Pippa in the meantime.”

Damian laughs outright at that. His french bulldog doesn’t make a great caregiver. “Thanks, little slice.”

“Anytime.”

—————

“So how was Julie?” Cady asks during her daily morning meet-up with Janis on Monday. She wants to hear what Janis has to say, now that she knows she lied.

Janis doesn’t even look up from her phone, tapping away texts to... someone. Probably Regina. “Hm? Oh, she was fine, thanks. Just needed a rest. How was Damian?”

“He was fine,” Cady huffs. Janis had lied again. Janis hums noncommittally. “He went on a quest to fight dragons with a fairy princess and took me. I was an elf. You should really come next time. He’s a wizard, you know. I’m surprised you didn’t notice before. The doctor even had an enchanted sword.”

“Good for him,” Janis replies, having taken in nothing. The bell rings then, making them both jump. “Oh shit. Have a good day, baby. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Cady responds, blinking in surprise at the quick kiss pressed to her lips before Janis runs to class. What the hell is going on with her?

Janis continues acting oddly into the next day. She’s not at lunch on Tuesday, and neither is Regina. Cady plops her tray of meatloaf on the table and sits down with a huff, startling Gretchen and Karen.

“You okay, Cady?” Gretchen asks worriedly. “You look tense.”

Cady stabs her meatloaf so hard that a few of the tines snap off her plastic fork. “Peachy. Has Regina told you guys anything? About what she’s been up to lately? Janis has been acting so weird, and I think Regina is part of it.”

“Um, no,” Karen lies. Regina had told them the plan to surprise Cady, so they actually knew everything. They had been sworn to secrecy.

“Yeah, we don’t know anything,” Gretchen piggybacks. “How has Janis been acting weird?”

“She... she lied to me,” Cady answers, realizing this may be more serious than she had originally thought. “I got chosen as valedictorian, I thought maybe we could go have dinner or something to celebrate after we visited Damian, but she said her sister was sick. But she wasn’t, Janis was in the coffee shop with Regina.”

“With Regina? Are you sure?” Karen responds. “Regina was with us Friday. And they still, like, totally aren’t friends. X emoji.”

“It was definitely Janis, at least,” Cady says sadly. “I guess it might not have been Regina. But how many other platinum blondes that wear full designer outfits would Janis know? Maybe it was before you guys hung out.”

“That is totally strange,” Gretchen responds, anxious about lying. She tries to change the subject quickly. “Has Janis done anything else weird?”

Cady takes the bait. “She wouldn’t stop texting yesterday, or this morning. I don’t know who she was talking to, but she didn’t even listen to me. I made up some story about Damian and I fighting dragons and she just said ‘good for him’.”

“Dragons? That’s so fetch,” Karen responds. “I want to meet a dragon. It’s one of my life goals, sunrise emoji.”

“Karen, sweetie, no. She said she made it up, remember? Dragons aren’t real,” Gretchen says quietly, squeezing her hand.

“That’s not fetch,” Karen huffs, going quiet.

“I know, sweetie. Anyway, I wouldn’t worry too much, Cady,” Gretchen says as she tries to comfort her girlfriend. “Janis is, like, head over heels for you. It’ll work out.”

“It better,” Cady grumbles. “Oh, hey, can you guys pop in to see Damian after school? Just for a little while, make sure he’s okay? I told him I’d have people drop by on days I couldn’t go see him.”

“Why can’t you go?” Gretchen asks, genuinely curious.

“I got this English project Friday, I have to work on it. I’m supposed to pick a career I want in the future and make a presentation about it, and it has to be five minutes long! I don’t even know what I want to do for a job,” Cady sighs.

“You can do it, Cady, you’re super smart,” Karen pipes up again. “Notebook emoji. But, like, shrug emoji, would Damian even want to see us?”

“Why wouldn’t he want to see you? He really likes you guys now. You’re not mean to him or Janis anymore, he doesn’t have anything against you guys anymore,” Cady says sadly. “You guys don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but he’d love to see you. You’re his friends.”

Of course we’ll go, we don’t have anything going on,” Gretchen responds. They need to fill him in on the plan, anyway.

“Oh, thank you,” Cady breathes with relief. “I owe you one.”

“It’s fine, Cady. Good luck with your project,” Gretchen says.

“Ugh,” Cady grumbles at the reminder, slamming her head into the table.

————-

By Wednesday afternoon, Cady is at her wits end. She hasn’t slept in two days researching for her project, and Janis still won’t pay attention to her. She’d gotten confirmation that it had been Regina with Janis at the coffee shop, so Gretchen and Karen had also lied to her face.

She heads to the art rooms after school to watch Janis paint, needing a break from her own thoughts. Even if she is a bit angry with Janis. Maybe this will patch things up.

Cady loves watching Janis paint. She loves the cute way her brow furrows and her tongue pokes out to the side whenever she tries to focus, the way every stroke of the brush seems to have a purpose. Janis can create gorgeous scenes just from her mind, as if the brush in her hand is simply an extension of her imagination. Cady loves watching a few simple sketches or swipes of her paintbrush turn to incredible works of art.

Cady’s tried to paint with her a few times, only succeeding in creating a blotchy mess of colors and a few vague shapes, but Janis always cheered her on and pointed out the things she had done well. Cady decided she likes watching Janis paint more than doing it herself, but they have painting mini-dates from time to time that they both enjoy immensely.

She opens the door quietly when she finally reaches the classroom, in hopes of surprising her girlfriend. She winds up getting the surprise herself, finding none other than Regina talking to Janis. Again. Regina is sitting haughtily on the counter, facing Cady but not looking at her. There’s a strangely excited glint in her eyes. Janis is leaning against a desk facing Regina, so her back is to Cady.

They’re awfully close together, Cady thinks as her face falls and her chest burns with envy. She thanks her lucky stars they haven’t spotted her yet, allowing her to eavesdrop for a second. She tries desperately to tamp down the voice growling ‘get away from my girlfriend’ in her head. There has to be some explanation.

Cady can’t quite pick up most of their conversation, but she does hear Regina say, “Cady’s not going to find out, Janis,” and lean closer.

That’s all she needs to hear. She feels herself let out a harsh sob, turning on her heel and running from the room. Janis whirls around just before the door slams shut behind her. “Caddy! Shit,” she calls as she breaks into a sprint after her. “Baby, please wait, let me explain!”

“What the fuck is there to explain, Janis?!” Cady yells at her, walking backwards for a second. “Just leave me alone. Go to her, I hope she makes you happy.” And with that, she turns and continues running.

“Baby, please,” Janis begs, reaching for her. Cady doesn’t turn back around.

Cady winds up running the whole mile back to her house without noticing, ignoring the worried calls of her parents as she barrels up the stairs to her bedroom, throwing her backpack off and burrowing under her covers. Her chest is starting to hurt with how hard she’s sobbing. Maybe she’s feeling her heart breaking.

How could I be so stupid with love again? Of course Janis would pick Regina over me. Regina has every American standard of beauty down pat, and a good personality now. What do I have?

She hears her phone pinging frantically, looking to see texts flooding in from Janis and Regina, both begging her to let Janis explain. She flips it to silent after sending her parents a text, letting them know to turn Janis away should she turn up at any point.

How could they do this to me? I understand why Janis chose her, but how could she be so cruel? Regina is supposed to be nicer now, how could she do this? It’s fucking Aaron all over again. I caught feelings for Janis and she snatched her away. And Janis... did she ever love me? How could she do this?

She rolls onto her side and soaks her pillow in tears, deciding she gets the decision to swear off of dating now.

Janis loses Cady as she reaches the main doors, panting with exertion. She turns to head back to the classroom to grab her bag.

“Janis, I’m so sorry, I had no idea she was there or I wouldn’t have phrased it like that,” Regina bursts out as soon as she enters, looking near tears.

“Reg, it... it’ll be fine. It has to be. I’ll go find her and try to explain again, I guess. Better to ruin the surprise than have her think I’m cheating on her,” Janis says in response, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and moving quickly back towards the door.

Regina sighs heavily. “Okay, good luck. I’ll text her too. God, she looked so... broken.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Reggie. Later,” Janis calls over her shoulder, hurrying towards the entrance to the building.

She pulls her phone from her pocket as she walks to Cady’s house, figuring that must be where she’s gone.

Jellybean: caddy that wasn’t what it looked like i promise

Jellybean: are you okay??

Jellybean: please let me explain

Jellybean: caddy you know me you know i wouldn’t do that to you please

Jellybean: baby??

Cady hasn’t answered or even read any of her messages by the time Janis is knocking on the door.

“Cady says she doesn’t want to see you,” Cady’s mother says harshly, protective of her cub.

“Mrs. Heron, please, I need to explain. She didn’t see what she thought she did,” Janis begs.

Mrs. Heron sighs. “Janis, I want to believe you, but Cady has been hurt by this Regina girl before. You need to leave, give her time. I’ll tell her you came by.”

She closes the door before Janis can get another word out. Give her time, Janis thinks as she walks to Damian’s house next, seething with anger.

Cady’s father wakes her up just before dinner, softly stroking her hair. She must have cried herself to sleep.

“Janis came by,” he says carefully. “Your mother sent her away like you asked.”

Cady immediately bursts into tears at the mention of her now ex-girlfriend. “I don’t wanna see her again. I want to switch schools.”

“Shh, binti. You’re a month away from graduation, you’re not switching schools. But you can stay home tomorrow. What happened?”

Cady cries harder. “Janis was-was talking to Regina in the art room and-and they were so close together and then Janis said something and R-Regina said that-that I wouldn’t find out about it,” she wails into his shoulder.

“Shh, ndege wangu mdogo wa wimbo. Did you hear what it was you wouldn’t find out about?” Her father hushes.

“She’s cheating on me! With Regina,” Cady sobs. “What else could it be?”

“Did you hear them say that? Or see them do anything?”

“No,” she admits shyly.

“Then you don’t know. You shouldn’t jump to conclusions, you’re going to jump into your grave one of these times,” her father chides gently. “You don’t have to today, or even anytime soon, but you should hear Janis out at some point, let her explain.”

“Fine,” Cady sniffs. “But what is she hiding? Janis tells me everything.”

“That I don’t know, binti. You take some time to think. I’ll bring up your dinner.” And with a forehead kiss, her father leaves her alone.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what?” Damian asks hastily, interrupting Janis. “Start again and slow down.”

“Caddy found me talking to Regina and now she thinks I’m cheating. She said she didn’t want to see me and won’t even read my texts,” she growls.

“Wow. That’s... out of character for her,” Damian says in shock.

“I know! I don’t know what to do, she won’t let me explain anything,” Janis huffs, terrified she might lose her girlfriend over something so stupid. “And now I’m wondering what the hell she really thinks of me. If she can’t trust me enough to know I would never cheat on her, especially with Regina fucking George, then should we even be together?”

“That’s a fair point, I guess,” Damian admits. “But that really doesn’t sound like Caddy. Something else has to be going on.”

Janis sighs, trying to get herself back under control. She can’t even figure out why she’s so angry. “Can you talk to her?”

Damian looks meaningfully at his wounded foot, but eventually can’t resist the urge to help his platonic soulmate. “I can try, I guess. Maybe convince her to hear you out. But I can’t explain what happened or get her to forgive you. You have to do that.”

“Fine,” Janis huffs. “Just make sure she’s okay.”

“She will be, Jan, don’t worry. I’ll text her, see if she can come over tomorrow,” Damian comforts.

“Thanks, D.”

————-

Cady warily checks her phone when she wakes up the next morning, surprised when she sees her most recent text is from Damian.

Big Slice: Do you wanna come hang out with me after school today?? Pippa is not performing her caregiver duties well enough

She sighs. It’s almost definitely a trap, Damian is Janis’ best friend. That thought gives her pause. If she and Janis break up for good, will she lose her friendship with Damian? And since Regina is involved, will Gretchen and Karen stop being her friends, too? If she doesn’t go talk to Damian, she might go back to being totally alone for the third time in two years.

Little Slice: Yeah, I’ll come. I’ll be over around noon. My parents made me take a mental health day.

Big Slice: 📷

Little Slice: Wait, Janis won’t be there, will she?

Big Slice: Nope just us :) She went to school and has to babysit Juju after

Little Slice: Good.

Cady hauls herself out of bed with a great deal of effort, surprised to see it’s already eleven. She trudges down the stairs still in her pajamas for breakfast, staring out the window at absolutely nothing as she munches on her cereal.

Climbing back up the stairs feels like she’s climbing Kilimanjaro again, but she manages and resists the urge to flop back into bed. She doesn’t even have the energy to brush her hair, tying it up into a knot and spraying a little extra perfume on in place of a shower.

She grabs her phone after she tugs on a sweatshirt and some leggings, texting her dad to tell him she’s going to see Damian.

Cady perks up a little on her walk over, the sun giving her some energy. She has a spare key, so lets herself into Damian’s house and heads to his bedroom.

“Hey, Cads, how are you?” Damian asks when he turns to look at her. Janis clearly told him everything, but he’s pretending not to know.

“Fine,” Cady whispers. She can feel tears burning in her eyes and knows if she tries to speak she’ll start crying. Damian doesn’t need her problems on top of his own and Janis’.

“No, you’re not,” Damian says, reaching for her. “Come tell me your troubles.”

“You have your own problems, you don’t need to hear mine,” Cady mumbles.

“Bitch, please, I live for drama. I’ve been holed up here for almost a week, give me something to do,” Damian begs.

Cady gives in to the cuddling urge, sliding in beside him and resting her head on his shoulder. She heaves a sigh to try and keep the tears at bay, to no avail.

“Did Janis tell you?” She says, choking out a sob immediately after.

Damian sits up to hold her better. “Yes, but I want to hear your side of things too.”

Cady sobs harder. “She was-was talking to-to-to Regina in the art room, and R-Regina looked... excited about something and then Janis said something to h-her and Regina said that-that I wouldn’t find out about it.”

“So what do you think they meant by that?” Damian hums sadly, rubbing her back.

“Are they t-together? Is she cheat-cheating on me?” Cady whimpers.

“Let’s work through this together, hm? You remember how Janis acted when she had a crush on you, yeah?” Damian asks, continuing when she nods. “Disaster lesbian. Has she been acting like that around Regina?”

“No,” Cady sniffles. “But-but she could be meeting her when I don’t know about it, and hiding it when-when I’m around.”

“That’s another thing. Has Janis been lying to you about where she is, or acting suspicious?” Damian asks comfortingly.

Cady is about to say no before she remembers Friday. “Yeah,” she wails. “On-on Friday, she said Juliana was sick... b-but when I was at the ho-hospital with you she w-went to that coffee sh-shop with Regina.”

“Okay, so we have one suspicious thing, I’ll admit that is weird,” Damian says, scolding Janis internally. “Has she done anything else?”

Cady sniffles as she pauses to think. “She won’t l-listen to me any-anymore. She spent all day Monday and Tuesday t-tex-texting somebody and didn’t hear anything I said, and then-then she missed lunch. She did-did yesterday, t-too.”

“That’s some bullshit,” Damian calls. “She shouldn’t be doing that, I’ll talk to her about that. Okay, so a few things. Back to our checklist. Has Janis stopped saying things like ‘I love you’ or giving you kisses and cuddles and stuff?”

“No,” Cady sobs. She misses that, so much. And it’s only been a day. “She hasn’t.”

“Has Janis ever willingly wanted to spend a long amount of time with Regina? In the entire time you’ve known them? Even now that Reggie is a decent human?” Damian asks, looking at her meaningfully.

“No,” Cady admits. “Not unless one of us is around.”

“So does it make sense for them to be together?”

“No,” she sniffles. “But what if she’s with somebody else?”

“Who would she be with?” He asks.

Cady stops to think. The only other lesbian Janis knows well is Sonja Acquino, and she had gotten a girlfriend over winter break. Girls at school still tended to avoid Janis. Unless she met someone outside of school, there’s nobody she could possibly be with. Cady spends most of her time outside of school with Janis, and Janis would’ve told her if she had met a fellow gay.

Cady processes this realization and bursts into sobs anew. “God, I’m so stupid. Is Janis mad at me?”

“No, little slice, no. Janis has been acting weird, you had every right to be suspicious. Janis isn’t mad, either. She’s frustrated that you won’t talk to her, and she’s upset that you think she would do something like that. But I think once you both take a couple days to process and regroup, you should hear her out and make her hear you out, and then you’ll be fine. You two are so fucking grossly in love, you’re gonna make it through this.”

“Thank you,” Cady sniffs. “For listening. I would’ve understood if you took her side. You’re such a good friend.”

“Thanks, Cads,” Damian chuckles. “I try. But really, I’m friends with both of you; I’m talking to you because I want to. You both have shit happening that you’re not telling the other one about; once you clear the air there won’t even be sides to this. And besides, you’re Pippa’s favorite auntie. We can’t let you get away.”

Cady gives a watery chuckle at that, wiping the tears from under her eyes. “God, I’m such a mess.”

“Bitch, you’re fine. Until, like, five minutes ago you thought you had your second major heartbreak in two years,” Damian chastises gently. “We have ice cream in the freezer, can you go get it for us please?”

“Yes,” Cady says, kissing his cheek and grabbing a tissue from the box on his dresser. “I’ll be right back.”

She hears the clacking of small claws following her down the hallway to the kitchen, turning to see the sweet little squished face of Damian’s french bulldog.

“Hi Pip,” she says in her baby voice. “How are you, puppies?” Pippa wiggles excitedly when Cady picks her up, scrambling to lick the tear tracks from her cheeks. “Oh, thank you. Have you been taking good care of Damian?”

She bursts out laughing when Damian calls “No!” from his room, apparently having overheard their conversation.

“Well that can’t be right, your little face could heal any injury,” Cady says as she sets the dog down. She opens the freezer, grabbing two pints of ice cream and some spoons from the drawer before heading back to Damian.

“Pippa would be a terrible nurse,” Damian says when she comes back. “She keeps tripping me every time I try to go to the bathroom.”

Cady giggles. “She’s doing her best, be nice. Here’s your ice cream.”

“Thank youuuuu,” Damian sings. “Now, what should we watch to get your mind off of things?”

Cady crawls back into bed next to him, helping Pippa up as she stands on her hind legs to see what they’re doing. “Have you found any new bootlegs?”

“Ooh, yeah, actually. I’ve had a lot of time to look,” Damian answers, grabbing his laptop from his nightstand and a flash drive from the drawer. “I found a really good quality one of The Lion King, do you want to watch that?”

Cady’s eyes go wide as she opens her ice cream and she nods excitedly. “I’ve just been watching videos of this monkey who’s best friends with a duck on repeat. It kept making me cry harder because they’re so cute. Your plan sounds better.”

“You are the biggest dork I know, I love you dearly,” Damian responds, bringing up the right file. “Alright, time to see some puppet elephants and shit.”

Cady cuddles into his side as the video starts, with Pippa resting protectively at their feet.

“Is Janis okay?” she asks quietly after they finish.

“Yes, she’s okay. She’ll be better after you two talk, but she’s fine,” Damian responds comfortingly. “I found one of Frozen too, do you want to watch that?”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

She stays over through dinner, watching musicals and playing card games with Damian to pass the time. He makes her promise to shower and clean her inevitably messy room when she gets home, and turn her phone back on.

She keeps her promises and heads to bed, feeling much more secure in her relationships than she did a few hours prior.

————-

Janis stays home from school on Friday, having woken up even angrier than she had the day before.

Her therapist in middle school had told her to find a constructive way to deal with anger, since she had a tendency to cause either severe property damage or accidental damage to herself with her impulse decisions. Damian had had to explain her way out of trouble several times.

So, Janis had taken up yarn crafts. She would knit or cross-stitch or crochet, finding the repetitive motions soothing. Plus, a lot of the tools were quite sharp, making her feel like she had weapons.

She’s aggressively working on embroidering new designs on her jacket right around the time she’s supposed to be in school, when none other than Damian comes barreling into her room, as if he’d felt a disturbance in the force and had come to make sure she’s okay.

“Phone,” he says immediately when he sees her face and choice of activity, hobbling over on his crutches and holding out a hand for it.

“Why?” Janis grumbles but shuts it off and hands it over regardless.

“So you don’t do something on it that you’ll regret later. Internet is permanent. You wanna go throw rocks in the pond?” He asks, as if she’s a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.

“Can you do that? You’re not even supposed to be on crutches yet,” Janis asks, raising an eyebrow at him.

“You know damn well I would saw my legs off for you, I’m fine taking a little longer to heal. Plus, I got cleared by the doctor yesterday, so yes I am supposed to be on crutches yet,” he says childishly as he sticks his tongue out at her. “Are we going or not?”

“Yeah,” Janis mumbles, throwing off her covers to go get dressed.

Luckily, Damian’s unhurt foot is the one he needs to drive, so he can still do so safely. He lets Janis play her Angory Times playlist on the way there, which is just a lot of loud, shouty songs one right after another. Damian normally hates this kind of music, but Janis can see him actively trying to be supportive and let her continue.

Fortunately for him, the pond isn’t too far away, and Janis sees him breathe a sigh of relief when he shuts the car off and the noise stops. Damian grabs his crutches from the backseat and heads off, Janis stalking after him.

She bends to pick up rocks on her way, also grabbing the ones Damian points to. His are for skipping, small and flat and smooth. Hers are just for throwing, heavy ones that will make a good splash when they’re hurtled into the water.

Once their respective collections are amassed, they stand next to one another on the shore and go at it. Janis feels her anger chipping away as she chucks her rocks like baseballs into the murky water, delighting in the splashes echoing around them.

This is part of why she loves Damian so much. He knows exactly what to do to make her feel better in any possible scenario, and is perfectly content to do something as stupid as throw rocks into a creek with her in complete silence. On a sprained foot, no less.

“Nice,” she pants when Damian gets six skips in a row with one of his.

“Thanks,” Damian huffs back. “How many fish d’you think we’ve concussed so far?”

Janis laughs at that, hurtling her last rock as hard as she can. It hurts her shoulder a little, but lands almost halfway across the pond. “I don’t think fish can live in this water, honestly.”

“You’re probably right. Feeling better?” Damian asks, skipping his last stone. Four skips isn’t bad.

“Yeah. Can we get coffee?” Janis asks, trying to catch her breath.

“Yeah. Come on.”

Once Janis has her iced coffee and Damian has his latte, they find a bench to sit on and just watch the world go by for a while.

“So, are you ready to talk about why I had to take you to go chuck rocks into the pond?” Damian asks gently.

Janis sighs. “I just... I want to know what she’s thinking. I thought she trusted me, that we trusted each other. If she can’t believe that I wouldn’t do that to the point of completely cutting me off at the first slightly suspicious thing, then do we even... have a relationship?”

Damian doesn’t say anything, just takes her hand and squeezes it to encourage her to continue.

“Like... what else is going on with her? What is she not telling me? I just-I just don’t know what she needs. I’ve never felt so disconnected from her before. I’m-I’m scared.” Janis murmurs.

Damian hums sadly. “Can I tell you something?”

“Yeah,” Janis mumbles.

“I really don’t think this is happening because Cady doesn’t trust you. I think it’s happening because she doesn’t trust herself.” Damian responds. “She was a wreck when she came over yesterday, she had obviously been crying and hadn’t showered, things like that. Her hair wasn’t even brushed. When Aaron got back with Regina she got hot and did our whole revenge party thing.”

Janis takes her turn to listen, letting him continue.

“Cady grew up with lions and shit. If she thought you were cheating on her she should’ve been angry, not sad. Just based on who she is as a person. There’s something more happening.”

Janis thinks on what he’s said for a second. “Doesn’t trust herself? What do you mean? Doesn’t trust herself not to cheat on me?”

“No, no,” Damian says hastily. He pauses, trying to figure out how to word his point. “I don’t think Cady thinks she deserves you. She doesn’t trust herself to be what you want or need.”

“Am I that bad of a girlfriend? How could she think that? Why wouldn’t she tell me she was feeling like that?” Janis asks, trying to hold back the tears burning her eyes.

“Because you might have told her she was right. You and I know you would never do that, and I think she knows that too. But her anxiety about it overrode her rationality for a while. Cady has a lot going on. And no, you’re not a terrible girlfriend. You’re a pretty good one, actually. This is your first argument, it’s understandable,” Damian comforts.

“I just... I don’t want to lose her. And this is so stupid, why can’t I just-just stop being so angry?” Janis grits out.

“I think it’s fair for you to be angry, honestly. Cady didn’t mean for it to be, but this is kind of an attack on your character. She accused you of cheating,” Damian replies, wrapping and arm around her shoulders.

“I guess. Feels shitty,” Janis mumbles, leaning to rest her head on his shoulder.

“It’s meant to. But try to think of how she’s feeling, too,” Damian says as he rests his cheek on her head. “I had to explain to her why it didn’t make sense for you to cheat, and when it finally sank in the first thing she asked was if you were angry at her. For even thinking you would do that.”

That finally gets the tears from Janis, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes as she feels any lingering anger directed at Cady fade into nothing. “God, Caddy. What do I do, Damian?”

“For now, finish your coffee. She invited you to explain tomorrow, yeah?” Damian asks. Janis nods. “Okay, so tomorrow go over and... do something. I know you didn’t technically do anything wrong, but maybe apologize for... how she took it, I guess? You were acting kind of shady. Make sure she knows you would never cheat, tell her she can trust you, stuff like that. Just take everything one step at a time.”

“Okay,” Janis sniffles. “Is-was she okay?”

“Not at first, I’ll be honest,” Damian replies. “She said she had been watching videos of this monkey and duck who are best friends to try to cheer herself up, and I had to watch two bootlegs with her to even see her smile. But once we had a chat and stuff she seemed a lot more secure. Confident. She’ll probably apologize before you even get a chance.”

Janis gives a watery chuckle at the mention of the inter-species friendship videos. “That’s my girl. Thanks for checking on her.”

“Caddy said the same things. She wanted to know if you were okay, said thanks for even thinking about her.”

“I miss her so much,” Janis sniffs.

Damian takes her hand again. “And that’s how I know this is going to work out. You’re both upset with each other, and yet all both of you can think about is making up so you can be together again.”

“I hope so.”

“I know so. Y’all are the most disgustingly loving couple I know, you both look at the other like they hung the stars. You two are going to be fine.”

“Okay. I love you,” Janis responds, wiping her tears with her sleeve.

“I love you too. You wanna go play with the birds at the pet store?” Damian asks, hauling himself back onto his crutches.

“You know me too well,” Janis replies with a small grin, following him back to his car.

————-

On Saturday, Cady tells Janis she can come over to finally have a talk. Janis decides to come in through the window for dramatic effect, nearly falling out of the tree she has to climb to do so until Cady hauls her in safely.

“What the hell, Janis? It’s pouring with rain, why didn’t you come in through the door? You could’ve broken your neck,” Cady insists like a worried mother, leaving to fetch her a towel. It’s strange, not immediately pulling her in for a kiss or hug. She doesn’t like it.

“I didn’t, though, and that’s the key,” Janis says, rubbing the towel over her hair quickly. Once that’s done she gestures for Cady to sit on her bed, sitting across from her criss-cross applesauce. She takes a breath to prepare herself, but Cady speaks before she can.

“Janis, I’m so sorry. I don’t-I don’t know what I was thinking, I should’ve known you’d never do that, especially with Regina. I hadn’t slept in two days, I was so irrational,” she bursts out rapidly.

“Hey, Caddy, shh. I’m supposed to be apologizing to you. I understand how that whole thing with Regina might have looked to you, so I’m sorry for that, first of all,” Janis says. “I’m sorry I ever made you think I would do that to you. I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you. I’m sorry I ever made you feel like you’re not enough for me. I love you. I need you to know I would never even think about cheating. It’s important we trust each other with stuff like that, from now on.”

Cady nods. “I do, I know you would never do that. I trust you, it’s just... Jesus, I don’t even know,” She sighs, burying her face in her hands.

“Cads, hey. Can I touch you?” Janis asks gently, taking her hands when Cady gives a nod and squeezing them. She hates this, it feels like they’re back at square one of their relationship. Maybe they are. “What’s going on?”

“I know Regina has worked on herself, a lot, and I hate feeling like this. But she took Aaron away right when she found out I liked him. What would’ve stopped her from doing it with you?”

“Me,” Janis insists. “I would have stopped it.”

“But what if she’s better for you?!” Cady asks pleadingly. “Regina could take care of you. She’s pretty, and nice now. She’s rich, and smart, and she can do art and stuff too. What- what do I have? I’m just some homeschooled weirdo from Kenya who doesn’t understand people and won’t shut up about math. I-I’m autistic, that’s gonna be hard to deal with sometimes, and in terms of looks I’m not anything special. I want you to have someone who makes you happy. You deserve someone like her. Someone.... someone better.”

“I don’t give a hot, crispy, Kentucky fried fuck what you think I deserve. I know what I want, and I want you. I want my Caddy, my Peanut, my Butterfly,” Janis says passionately, cupping her cheeks and looking into her eyes. “I want your pretty blue eyes and your red hair that smells like cherries and your freckles I can find constellations in. I want my math nerd who does calculus for fun and who can’t do art to save her life but tries anyway because she knows it’ll make me smile. I want my animal lover who makes friends with the squirrels in the woods and didn’t notice a deer followed her on her walk to my house, my girl who can tell me facts I never needed to know about lions and fun stories about Africa. You make me happy. I want you, baby. Nobody else.”

Cady throws herself at Janis, knocking her backwards onto the bed and locking their lips together. Janis kisses her back just as hard, gripping her waist so hard Cady can feel bruises forming. She doesn’t care. She’s flooded with relief at the familiar waxy texture of Janis’ lipstick, the comforting smell of vanilla from her soft skin and the safe feeling of being held in her arms. She pulls back for a split second to breathe before diving back in, gasping as Janis nips her lip and twines their tongues together.

When they finally pull back, Janis just cups Cady’s face to look at her, lips swollen and two-toned hair wild around her. “I’m so sorry,” Cady says, pulling back to sit again and burying herself in Janis’ shoulder when she follows. “I hated fighting, I love you, I’m sorry.”

“The only thing you have to be sorry for is not telling me you were feeling that way. This is only gonna work if we both feel okay about ourselves, and tell each other when we don’t. I’m sorry for not talking with you about this kind of thing sooner. This whole relationship needs to be based on trust and talking to each other, okay?”

Cady nods. “Okay. We both take care of each other?”

“Exactly, my girl,” Janis confirms, grinning as Cady kisses her cheeks. “But ourselves, too.”

“Have you ever felt like this? With me?” Cady asks gently.

“Of course. I wonder every day what I did to deserve you. I was so jealous the whole time you were with Aaron, and I thought you were way out of my league for a long time,” Janis responds, chuckling when Cady pulls back to look at her incredulously. “You’re so beautiful, and so smart. You were queen of the school for a good while, I thought you would at least want someone as smart as you, if not as nice and pretty. When we first got together I spent a lot of time wondering why you didn’t pick Kevin or even Regina over me.”

“Then I’m sorry too. You’re what I want, I love you. I love the way you always smell like paint, I love the one little chunk of hair that always slips into your face,” Cady says, brushing it behind Janis’ ear. “I love the way you’re so tough and strong and yet you cry over the snake food at the pet store and try to steal the dwarf hamsters every time we go. I love how you never let my feet touch the ground when we’re together, and how you seem so cold but give the warmest hugs and softest kisses. I love how you’re the only person who regularly asks for stories about Kenya and never tells me to be quiet, and how you let me ramble about math and at least pretend to be interested even though you don’t understand what I’m on about. I love that you let me call you stupid little nicknames even though it ‘goes against your image’. I love that you’re so passionate about everything, that you care so much about what’s important to you and aren’t afraid to let people know it. I. Love. You. So much. Promise me you’ll tell me if you feel that way again.”

“I promise, baby. I love you too,” Janis responds with tears in her eyes. Cady clings to her tightly, happy they seem to be okay again. They sit like that for a short while, content to be holding each other again.

“Janis?” Cady asks quietly after a moment.

“Yes, Princess?” Janis responds, opening her eyes again.

“What have you been talking with Regina about?”

Janis chuckles, kissing her cheek. “I’ve been trying to come up with something to surprise you with, to celebrate you being valedictorian. Reggie likes party planning and stuff, I thought she might have some ideas.”

“Really?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Oh my god, I’m so stupid,” Cady chuckles. Janis flicks her gently.

“Hey, no you’re not. You’re the valedictorian, for fucks sake. And I did not go about any of this correctly.”

“I didn’t either, I don’t blame you. But you don’t have to get me anything, Jayjay,” Cady mumbles sheepishly as she nuzzles back into Janis.

“I know I don’t have to, I want to,” Janis replies. “You’ve worked so hard, you deserve something.”

“What have you guys come up with?” Cady asks.

“Regina wants to throw you some kind of party, but that’s all we’ve gotten so far. I’m trying to talk her out of some sort of rager,” Janis answers.

“Oh, that sounds fun. But yeah, I don’t want anything big or crazy,” Cady says.

“What do you want? Since it’s not a surprise anymore. Might as well get your input,” Janis says in response.

Cady thinks for a while. “I dunno. Something with food. Maybe outside if it’s a nice day. I trust your judgement.”

“A dangerous choice,” Janis chuckles.

“I know,” Cady giggles. “But really. As long as it’s not anything crazy or expensive I don’t mind what you choose to do.”

“Okay. I can work with that. I love you,” Janis says.

“I love you too. I missed you,” Cady says.

“I missed you too, baby,” Janis responds. “Was torture without you.”

“We really have to do something for Damian, too,” Cady hums thoughtfully. “I would’ve totally spiraled without him.”

“God, yeah, me too,” Janis says. “You think of something to get him, we’ll give it to him on the same day we do your little bash.”

“Okay,” Cady giggles. She goes quiet for a long moment before piping up again. “Janis?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you help me with my English project?”

“Yes,” Janis laughs. “Of course.”

“Thank god.”

————-

“Hey, Cady, can we talk?” Regina stops her in the hallway on her way to study hall.

“Oh god, Regina! Sorry, you scared me. Uh, yeah, are you okay with talking in the bathroom?”

Regina grimaces, but nods. Cady follows her in.

“Regina, I’m sorry, I should never have accused you of trying to steal Janis,” Cady apologizes. “You’ve worked so much on being nicer, and it really shows, I’m sorry I ever thought you would still do something like that.”

“Whoa, Cady,” Regina says. “Um, it’s... fine. I wasn’t expecting you to apologize. I wanted to apologize, I should have been more careful with how Janis and I were meeting and stuff. I don’t know if she’s talked to you yet, but she would never cheat on you, especially with me. I think she still hates me. Please forgive Janis, none of this was her fault.”

“Gina, hey,” Cady comforts. “Janis and I talked this weekend, we’re back together. Everything is okay. We’ve all learned some very valuable lessons. I forgive you.”

“Oh thank fuck,” Regina sighs. “The universe has felt out of balance since you broke up. I was wondering what you guys were going to do to me that could be worse than the Kälteen bars.”

“I’m still sorry about those,” Cady mumbles sheepishly. “Let’s just, like... talk about stuff, in the future? Stop having to have moments like this?”

“Agreed,” Regina says. “You want to hug it out, don’t you?” Cady nods. “Fine. Thirty seconds.”

“I’ll take it,” Cady says happily. “I’ll make a hugger out of you yet.”

————-

“Jayjay!” Cady calls, leaping on Janis from behind.

“Jesus fuck! Caddy! Don’t do that,” Janis yelps as she turns around.

“Hi,” Cady says, grinning up at her. “I sowwy.”

Janis glares at her. “You’re forgiven. For a kiss.”

Cady happily obliges, reaching her arms around Janis’ neck as she leans up to kiss her sweetly. “Better?”

“For now,” Janis says, pecking her gently again. “Do you want to work on your project? I’ve been freed from planning your little shindig for the day, Regina wanted to go see Damian.”

“Aww, that’s nice of her. I definitely need your help, it’s due on Friday and I only have a couple slides,” Cady says.

“Tits. You ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Cady says, lacing their fingers together as Janis leads her to her truck.

Janis flops onto Cady’s bed when they arrive, reaching for her laptop to see what Cady has so far. She bursts out laughing when she sees the only slide Cady’s made.

“What’s so funny?” Cady asks. She’d been pretty sleep deprived by the time she actually got around to putting it together, but thought she had done a pretty good job.

“Did you proofread this at all?” Janis says in between fits of laughter.

“I hadn’t slept in two days at the time, but yes,” Cady replies, almost offended.

“Baby, this just says ‘I’m so tired. Please god let me sleep.’ over and over with a bunch of typos,” Janis says breathlessly, wiping tears of laughter from under her eyes.

“Oh. Oops,” Cady replies. Apparently she’s made less progress than she had thought.

“Next time, pace yourself. You need to sleep, Butterfly,” Janis says, reaching for her. Cady comes to sit on her lap.

“So, what career do you want to do this project on? It’s supposed to be what you want to do when you grow up, right?” Janis asks, holding her close.

“Yeah,” Cady mumbles. “But... I don’t know what I want to do.”

“Oh, baby, that’s okay. I don’t know either,” Janis comforts. “Do you have any ideas of jobs you want?”

“My parents want me to go into zoology, like them,” Cady replies. “And I’ve been... wondering if I should go into medicine. Like Rhys wanted to. Since he couldn’t himself.”

“But what do you want to do?” Janis asks. “I think it’s great that you’re considering medicine for your brother, but if it’s not what you really want then you shouldn’t force yourself into it.”

“I kind of want to teach math,” Cady mumbles shyly. “Like, to college or high school kids. Maybe get my PhD in math and stuff. I think math is fun, I want to help other people have fun with it too.”

“You would be such a good teacher, baby,” Janis comforts, kissing her cheek. “You should absolutely do that if it’s what you want. You’ll be successful enough to make your parents happy, and be doing something you’re interested in. That’s a great fit for you.”

Cady looks more than a little relieved at that, but realizes something. “I’d feel guilty though. I promised I’d become a doctor for Rhys when he died. I just... don’t really want to anymore. I don’t think I’d be very good at it.”

“Butterfly, Rhys would want you to be happy with whatever you choose to do. You already honor him every day just by existing. You’re so smart, and kind, and beautiful. I know you’re already making him proud, you don’t owe him anything else,” Janis reminds her. She never met Rhys, but from everything she’s heard about him she just made a true statement.

“Thank you, Jayjay. I guess if I did get my PhD I’d technically be a doctor,” Cady jokes. “I’ll decide later, I have a couple years.”

“That you do. Unfortunately, becoming a math teacher doesn’t make for a very interesting project, though, so maybe pick a fake career and we’ll look into that,” Janis says.

“I did actually want to be a zoologist when I was really little, we could do that,” Cady says.

“Sounds like a plan,” Janis replies as she kisses her cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Cady responds. “Can we just make out instead?”

“Tempting,” Janis says. “You get one minute of kissing for every half hour.”

“Fine.”

————-

“Hey, Cady, can you go to the mall with us after school today?” Gretchen asks, flanked by Karen.

“Yeah,” Cady responds. “Is this related at all to-“

“No!” Karen insists before she can finish.

“Karen, sweetie, she knows she’s having some kind of party. She just doesn’t know what’s happening specifically,” Gretchen says quietly.

“Oh yeah,” Karen says. “Then yes. They’re going shopping for supplies today and told us to distract you. Confetti emoji.”

“Ah,” Cady giggles. “Yeah, I can go. I’ll meet you guys by the main doors after school?”

“Caucasian thumbs up!” Karen responds, pulling Gretchen away.

“Yeah, we’ll be there!”

“Okay, Sarkisian, what’s this wonderful idea you’ve had?” Regina asks.

“A picnic!” Janis says excitedly. “She wants something with food and something outside. We’ll have a picnic in the park.”

“That... actually doesn’t sound terrible,” Regina says. “So what do we need?”

“A big-ass blanket,” Janis responds as they enter a party store. “And food. And Caddy loves balloons, but we should get those on the day.”

“Who’s gonna make the food, Jan?” Regina asks.

“Jules can, she loves to cook. She’s been wanting to practice stuff anyway,” Janis responds, looking at their selections of plates.

“How is she?” Regina asks quietly. She hasn’t seen Juliana since she and Janis were twelve.

“She’s good,” Janis answers. “Tall as shit, little evil genius. She’s super smart and sarcastic and stuff. She’s big into writing now, too. How’s Kylie been?”

“I... She... I’m...” Regina stutters. “She’s a good kid, but she’s turning into a little version of me. I’m trying to stop her before she gets to where I was.”

Janis hums sadly. “Well, at least you’re a better role model for her now. And you’re both getting the help you need. Kylie was the sweetest little thing last time I saw her, I don’t think she can get to your level.”

“I hope not,” Regina mumbles. “Cady likes yellow, right? We could do white and yellow, that would be cute.”

Janis gets the sense they’re done talking about their families for a reason, now. “Yeah, yellow is her favorite. We could go buy some white sheets from somewhere for cheap and then do yellow plates and shit.”

“Done. I’m buying,” Regina says, grabbing several packs of plates and napkins.

“No! She’s my girlfriend,” Janis protests. “I’m paying.”

“Jan, just let me have this.”

“Fine. ‘S your money,” Janis grumbles.

“Thank you.”

“Hmph.”

Cady, unfortunately, has study hall as her last class of the day in the English wing, so she has to rush to meet Gretchen and Karen by the entrance to the school.

She’s so excited to be spending time with them that she almost runs past them, managing to slow down just before she barrels into Gretchen.

“Hi, sorry,” she says breathlessly. “Who’s driving?”

“I will,” Gretchen offers. Riding with other drivers tends to make her anxious.

“I call shotgun!” Karen calls, already heading to the car. That leaves Cady in the back, which she doesn’t mind.

They put their backpacks in the trunk and hop in, Karen dancing along in her seat to the radio. Cady texts Damian on the ride there, since he had an appointment to check on his foot today. He’d been back in school starting that week, but was still stuck on crutches.

Little Slice: How was the doctor????

Big Slice: Good! I don’t have to use crutches anymore, I just have to wear a boot and go easy on it

Big Slice: No dancing for a while :(

Little Slice: Aw :((( You’ll be back to dancing soon though!!

Little Slice: And yay no more crutches!!!!!!!!!

Big Slice: Yeah now Pippa can’t trip me lmao

Big Slice: Wait aren’t you at the mall??

Little Slice: Yeah, we just got here. I just wanted to check on you 📷

Big Slice: Aw, thanks Cads

Big Slice: Go have fun I’m all good

Little Slice: Okay. Love you 🥰

Big Slice: Love you too, go eat pretzels 🥨

Little Slice: 📷🥨

She chuckles and shuts her phone off, following after her friends into the mall. “Are you guys wanting anything in particular or are we just here for fun?”

“Both!” Karen cheers. “We should totally buy you an outfit for your party. But I also want frozen yogurt.”

“Oh, I didn’t bring any money,” Cady remembers. “But you guys should have fun, I’ll just hang around.”

“No, it’s our treat. We haven’t paid anything for your party,” Gretchen says.

“You guys don’t have to do that,” Cady mumbles. She’s slightly embarrassed by all the attention she’s been getting lately.

“Money bag emoji, let us buy you stuff, Cady. We’re both pretty rich,” Karen says.

“Yeah, come on. Frozen yogurt and one outfit from, like, Forever 21 or something isn’t that expensive anyway, Cades,” Gretchen adds.

“Okay, fine,” Cady begrudgingly agrees. “Let’s do yogurt first, I’m hungry.”

Karen takes both their hands and hauls them towards her favorite shop.

Once they’re sufficiently full of yogurt and toppings, they head to find an outfit for Cady. Gretchen wanders off for a second, leaving Karen and Cady to browse some racks. She comes back with a beautiful white sundress, patterned with yellow flowers.

She shyly approaches Cady, offering the dress. “What do you think of this?”

“Oh, Gretch, this is so pretty! Let me go try it on, it’s beautiful,” Cady squeals, rushing towards the changing rooms. It’s a soft cotton, with a pretty tight bodice and a skirt that flares at her waist, and ends just above her knees. Gretchen seems to have remembered her sizes from their plastic days, the dress fits perfectly.

She opens the curtain to go show her friends, both of them clapping happily and squealing as she spins around. It’s different than it was when they went shopping last year. She can tell their reactions are genuine, rather than just trying to appease her.

“What do you think?” Gretchen asks shyly.

“Gretch, it’s perfect. It’s so soft,” Cady says, looking at herself in the mirror. It has short sleeves, so she might get a little chilly, but she can steal a jacket from Janis. “And, I can wear it to graduation too. It’s beautiful.”

“Oh, good,” Gretchen breathes. She’s working on not needing quite so much external validation, but it’s a slow process.

“You look hot,” Karen adds, making Cady laugh.

“Thanks,” She says, kicking up a heel. “Do you guys want to come over? Watch a movie or something?”

“Totally, that would be fetch,” Gretchen says.

“I’m so glad you still say fetch,” Cady giggles. “Let’s go!”

—————-

A few days later, Janis is typing the final few slides of Cady’s project as her girlfriend lays in her lap and dictates.

“And... you’re done,” Janis says as she enters the last few words. “Now we just need to proofread it and cite your sources.”

“Mmh,” Cady whines. “I hate citing stuff.”

“I hate it too,” Janis says, leaning down to kiss her gently. Cady rests a hand on the back of her head, keeping her close and kissing her back. Janis gives in for a second, before she resists and pulls back. “Stop trying to seduce me into letting you slack off, Peanut.”

“Fine,” Cady huffs as she sits up, still in Janis’ lap as she enters all her sources. “There.”

Janis turns her around to face her. “Good job, baby.”

“Thank you for helping me,” Cady says contently as she nuzzles into her. “I love you.”

“I love you too. So much,” Janis hums. “Have you thought of anything to get for Damian, by the way?”

“A couple things,” Cady says. “He mentioned something when you guys were telling me about Phillip last year, um... an... uh-“

“Edible arrangement?” Janis asks with a chuckle, remembering the story.

“Yeah! What are those?” Cady asks.

“They’re like flower bouquets but they’re made of fruit, so you can eat them,” Janis replies.

“Oh. We could make one of those? Does he like them?”

“That would be cute,” Janis says. “He likes fruit a lot, I don’t see why he wouldn’t like one. They can’t be too hard to make.”

“Don’t say that, you’ll jinx us,” Cady jokes. “We should decorate a little vase to put it in, too.”

“Sounds like a plan, Butterfly,” Janis says. “Are you excited for Sunday?” She and Regina had finally gathered everything they would need, and decided to have the picnic on Sunday so Juliana would have Saturday to prep the food, with the assistance of Regina and their moms.

“Yes! I can’t wait to see what you guys came up with,” Cady says happily. “I know it’ll be perfect.”

“Good,” Janis says as she leans in to kiss her. “I love you.”

“I love you more,” Cady teases.

“No way. I love you most.”

“Well... I love you... moster.” Cady stumbles, making them both laugh.

“Okay, fine, you win for today,” Janis chuckles.

“Ha! I win,” Cady says. “My prize is cuddles.”

“I can live with that.”

——————-

Sunday finally rolls around, and Janis is shaking with excitement. She’d spent the day before with Cady, putting together Damian’s thank you gift while Regina and Juliana spent the day cooking at her house.

She and Cady had both wound up absolutely covered in paint from trying to decorate the vase they had picked, and painted a Broadway stage on. Once they had scrubbed most of it off, they decided to start prepping the fruit, neither of them quite understanding how to turn a cantaloupe into a flower. Eventually they got the hang of it, putting together a rather lovely arrangement. Damian would like it, at least.

Cady had mischievously decided to chuck a melon ball at Janis once they had finished putting everything together, so Janis had thrown a grape back. Eventually every piece of the extra fruit they had had been thrown at someone, and they had a delicious mess to clean up.

Her jacket had also gone missing, which was slightly concerning. She had planned on wearing it to the picnic as well, but is wearing a backup since it never turned up.

“Janny. Breathe,” Juliana demands. as Janis is frantically running around trying to make sure everything is in place. They’d bought cheap white sheets and stitched them together to make a massive blanket, which is spread over the soft grass, and bought yellow balloons which are weighing the blanket down at the corners.

Juliana had truly gone all out, prepping almost all of Cady’s favorite foods. All sorts of sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries, a cheese board, pink lemonade, and even an adorable froggy cake.

“Okay,” Janis says as she teases a deep breath. “You really did a great job, kid, this stuff looks great.”

Julie beams up at her as Janis pulls her into a hug. “Thanks, Janny.”

“Yeah, Jan, chill. Everything’s fine, just wait for your girl,” Regina says, adjusting a bunch of balloons.

“Okay.”

She doesn’t have to wait long, as Damian shows up about ten minutes later with her blindfolded girlfriend in tow. So that’s where her jacket had gone.

He leads Cady to a good place, where she can see the whole spread, before he unties her blindfold.

Cady gasps excitedly, taking everything in for a split second before she runs to jump into Janis’ arms. Janis spins her around as Cady giggles happily, grinning down at her. She pulls Janis down into a kiss as soon as she’s on her feet again, wrapping her arms around her neck and pressing the lips together sweetly.

“Janis, this is beautiful, I love it,” she says as soon as they break apart. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, baby,” Janis says quietly, leaning down to kiss her again. They only remember they’re not alone when everyone starts making gagging noises, Juliana somehow already on Damian’s back. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Cady whispers, giving her one more peck before going to thank Regina and Julie. Regina begrudgingly accepts a hug, and Julie grins happily as Cady wraps her in a tight hug and kisses her cheek. Once that’s been handled she looks around a little more, smiling widely. “Should we give Damian his thing now?”

“Sure,” Janis says, heading to grab it as Damian does a lazy waltz with her sister. He only has to wear the boot for a few more weeks, luckily. “Dame!”

“What? Aww!” He squeals when they hold out his homemade fruit bouquet. “This is so cute.”

“It’s a thank you present, for telling us we were both being idiots but in a nice way,” Janis replies. “Neither of us want to think about what would’ve happened if you hadn’t been there to talk us down.”

“Aww. I should become a marriage counselor, if I get this kind of stuff every time,” Damian says, eating one of the melon flowers. He gasps with exaggerated drama as they both lean in to smooch one of his cheeks at the same time, pressing a hand over his heart.

“Thanks, Damian,” Cady giggles.

“You’re welcome. When do we get to eat?” Damian asks, cradling his bouquet.

“Once everyone else shows up,” Regina answers, coming over to join their conversation. “Speak of the devil.”

Cady peeks around Damian to see who else has arrived, going to greet the Mathletes, along with Karen and Gretchen with a hug.

She spends the picnic chatting with everyone, but also spends a lot of it stuck close to Janis. She’s either hugging her, in her lap, or holding her hand throughout the whole thing. It’s cute.

Cady and Janis stay behind after everyone else goes home to clean up, deciding to have a moment to themselves first. The sun went down a while ago, so they cuddle up on the blanket and look at the stars.

“I love you,” Cady says quietly after a while, rolling on top of Janis.

“I love you too,” Janis responds as she pulls her down into a kiss. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you,” Cady whispers, ghosting the words over Janis’ lips. “Today was perfect.”

“I’m glad,” Janis says. “Now kiss me.”

Cady obliges, cupping her face to kiss her as Janis rests her hands on her waist. Janis flicks her tongue at the seam of her lips, moaning quietly when Cady lets her in and their tongues meet.

They both know they should get to work soon, but for now their responsibilities are allowed to fade into the background. The picnic was wonderful, but not quite worth almost losing one another.

They lose the world in each other, tasting the universe on each other’s lips as the stars twinkle just for them above their heads.

All is well.

hope you enjoyed! this was a prompt fill for Hayeena and Aubrey_Plaza_Stole_HappiestSeason on ao3.

also, translation for the Swahili: ndege wangu mdogo wa wimbo: my little songbird. I have no idea if its accurate, I don't speak Swahili.

requests are still open! please leave them either here, on my ao3 or on my wattpad. all are the same handle, maybeimamuppet.

lots of love,

ezzy

#cadnis #paint by numbers #space safari #cady heron x janis sarkisian #cady x janis #cady heron #janis sarkisian #damian hubbard #regina george #gretchen wieners #karen smith #mean girls #mean girls musical #mean girls broadway

25 notes · View notes

undergroundkid · 4 years ago

Text

11. If I can have you I can do anything

What was supposed to be a sweet release, turned into obstinate mania.

However soothing Hyungwon’s affirmations were, there was no denying; your ego grew bigger than you let yourself realize. He might kiss your stained hands, hazed your thoughts, and erased doubts for a moment, but after toe-curling ecstasy, you were left with a bitter truth.

I am a bad person.

When you got off your new-proclaimed throne it didn’t hit you right away. Your wobbly legs barely held you up, hair stuck to your face, the muscles groaned in exasperation and hummed with delight simultaneously. Probably too many sensations still occupied your body and mind; so of course, it had to be Chae’s words that put you back in reality.

- This is your sin – he said, half-laying on the bed with an open shirt and sweat-kissed skin. Then he added with a small laugh:- Pride, Miss Y/N.

How this man could take you to the highest peak of pleasure and then throw you off straight into a freezing stream of maliciousness was beyond you. But he did it, time after time, always leaving you shocked when you should already learn.

Few days passed without sign of any of the apartment’s guests. Such a restful way should give you some peace when you could focus on your job in quiet. No sudden meetings, no suspicious events, no unprofessional situations with clients – just how it worked before.

It did work before you were aware of yourself. In the past, you didn’t have to ponder on your actions, because you always believed them to be the best you could do. Now the seed of the doubt was sowed, uncertainty always behind your back questioning your true motives.

It was tiring; you wished to be a silly doe once again.

You worked slower, not so actively pursuing your guests' attention. If your manager noticed, she didn’t mention it, simply burying you in paperwork. Or maybe she didn’t want to? Maybe she’s also like me? Perhaps we’re all egocentric creatures, pretending to care, only for our own advantage, without any selflessness?

- Child, you’re spacing out again. Everything’s alright?

Or perhaps not – there may be people with personal interest, like your mother. She looked at you intently, her hands moving uneasily; she must be worried.

- Oh, yes – the answer came out automatically:- Yes, I’m okay.

As you furrowed your brows, concerned why you won’t simply voice out your thoughts, your mom managed to drop her troubles. Your short reply sufficiently good to go her own merry way.

- Good! Hurry up sweetheart or you will be late to the hotel!

You nodded, empty inside once again. Only one purpose: work.

Chae told you there was greatness in evil. How could you not believe him, swept by powerful affirmations? Such a beautiful face of his will convince anyone. Sour veracity flowing from pretty lips, drowning you in his ideals.

- It does feel good, doesn’t it? – he took a rich grip of your thighs, not urging you, just enjoying the heat of your flesh. You looked at him with a small smile, relishing in the way his manhood slid sweetly along your slick walls. No hurry, only the delectation of erotic closeness, fulness again.. having him below you, the stunning man that downgraded you.

His hands moved to your backside, coercing you to move up his shaft. Betraying his lust like this, instinctual pressure to chase the climax made you tilt your head back with a chuckle.

You sat down fully, gripping him tight with inner muscles. Delighted by male’s hiss, you placed your hands on his sweated arms comfortably.

- You tell me – you responded, voice calm as you rose and sink down again; his broken sigh already an answer, but you couldn't help yourself and had to ask:- Does it feel good, Mr Chae?

It definitely did.

At that moment, you ate his words easily. Driven by his praises, easy acceptance of your dark side, you really felt like a goddess. But that was it, just a moment; the person changing into the receptionist’s uniform wasn’t a deity anymore. Not a scared doe either – just a fool, more angered by the idea of being arrogant shrew than the fact she jumped at another’s client's dick.

The discomposure after the encounter with Hyungwon fell short of the one with Mr. Changkyun. Shame ate you alive then, now just warmed up your ears and moistened the hands. The morals? Fitfully unstable.

- Y/N, I left the shift report on the desk, take a look – your colleague chirped at the exit in a typical pink-collar worker’s voice:- There were some complaints to take care of, I know you will do your best! See you next time!

Placing the responsibilities on me over and over; you had to bite your tongue to stop the thoughts. Where do they come from? Am I always presumptuous like this?

- Uh, Miss Y/N?

- Sorry, what’s up?

- The report? – young intern handed you papers, deciding to summarize it anyway:- Guests from the third floor claimed there’s loud music coming from somewhere.

- Music?

- Ah, it’s stated here – she pointed to the last paragraph. If the hotel has musicians or any other vocalists under their roof, the curfew doesn’t work? However skilled, 3 AM piano performance isn’t appreciated.

- Probably someone’s played the CD too loud.. can we even find out who was it?

- Oh hey, something’s wrong? – Yoonho cut in, emerging from behind the corner; your eyes met briefly before he focused on the apprentice. He didn’t stay in your company for long since your silly argument – if you could call it an argument at all. Funny boy, obvious to the suddenly high-pitched voice of the girl between you.

- Loud music? I didn’t hear anything yesterday and I stayed until midnight?

Huh, so he does avoid me.

- Well.. what.. what can we do? Should we stay tonight longer too? – her voice toned down with uncertainty.

- Ah, it doesn’t make sense.. you want to sit at the stairs and pretend to just chill out?

- Probably best if we check it out personally? I mean.. maybe we will hear this wonderful piano serenade room 322 wrote about?

You cringed your nose involuntarily, third-wheeling the awful teenage romance drama. Why the heck she’s so obsessed with him was unclear. He was sweet but way too childish.. proper good-looking at the best, especially among the clients here.

- You said piano? – porter chuckled with annoyance:- Oh, no worries then, your supervisor will solve this puzzle.

Did I say childish?

Yoonho looked at you with an upturned nose. He reminded you of an offended kid; still cute, but definitely testing his limits. Who the hell he thinks he is, little shit-

This is your sin, Miss Y/N.

Wait, why am I getting angry already? It’s nothing for the God’s sake..

Pride.

Oh no, I am better than this, better than you, him and everybody here-

- That’s true – you smiled your best service’s worker smile, taking younger acquaintance by surprise:- I think I can take care of it.

You could hear the song on the second floor already; it felt like you were the only one, the other guests not paying any attention to you or elegant tones vibrating in the air. It was a different melody than before, accompanied by a graceful male’s voice, singing the song in a language unknown to you.

The source of the complaint was found in the emergency staircase: the duet of an old piano and young man.

- Looks like we’re meeting again, Miss – the gentleman welcomed, changing the tempo of his song to more relaxing. His white sweater matched the room perfectly; with the new line of chords, he gave off a cozy aura.

- Mr. Yoo – you bowed:- I was looking for you. Did you decide to wander here last night perhaps?

- Is that a proper question from a young lady? – he shifted on a small bench, offering you a seat. You took it without hesitation, feeling at ease in his presence. The effect of his music, harmonic vocals, and polite behavior was soothing for your soul. Exactly what you needed after the vortex of the last events.

- We had a complaint about the noise, sir. You should finish the concert before 10 PM for everybody’s comfort.

- I see.. my apologies – he slouched a bit, big glasses sliding down his nose. He stopped playing to adjust them:- I thought it wasn’t a big deal. There’s a lot of loud singing at the night here.

Frowning was enough to make him explain.

- Intense, melodic .. and greatly feminine.

You could see the rising panic in your face from the reflection in Kihyun’s lenses; he just smiled, a little, almost with adoration.

- It was very beautiful – he assured, calming you down instantly. Soothing came naturally to him – surely he meant your latest stunts, yet his short affirmation was enough to put discomfort for later. No judging, maybe even a bit of understanding. Now you could simply enjoy his appeasing company.

His fingers started waltzing lazily on aged piano keys, filling the silence.

- It made me lonely – Mr. Yoo admitted:- Music makes me feel less miserable.

- I see.. hotel is full of people, but it doesn’t matter. I am sorry to hear this, sir.

A simple nod was the only answer. Seeing the man who until now provided nothing but comfort for you in sorrow mood was upsetting. He deserved better.

You lightly brushed your shoulder against his to lighten up the mood.

- I am here now, sir. With you.

He chuckled.

- That’s what I was hoping for.

Tiny tingling danced under your ribs for a few seconds. Letting it warm you up, then quelling it out habit – you shouldn’t let the simple compliments captivate you. Why you still held to the old manners you were taught? You didn’t exactly follow them lately. Quit the act already.

- Your presence.. conciliate me – hushed words, spoke with caution:- It did last time and so do now. I am afraid I will need it more.

- I.. can help, sir. Please call reception next time, we can talk?

Kihyun laughed, shaking his head with amusement.

- Dear Miss Y/N.. this solitude is a bottomless pit, unfortunately..

His hand came to your jawline, following the path behind your ear. He touched the delicate skin with eyes full of wonder.

- It will never be enough – he stated, then added with a sigh:- I am gluttonous like this.

Nobody wants to be lonely, after all – it’s human nature. He found out your dirty secrets and might want to take his own piece of this cake, hiding it under lame excuses.. but why would he do that? How can you suspect the most courteous man in this hotel? Always polite to you, adding some smarty remarks to keep you on your toes. No pushing your boundaries though – he acknowledged your actions without any criticism.

Maybe he is just alone, wishing for someone to heal the emptiness. What’s wrong with looking for affection anyway? It’s what led you to previous encounters, too. You were touch-starved. Both Changkyun and Hyungwon made you aware of it, appeased the basic hunger, then left you to hunt for yourself.

The doe became huntress, so you closed the gap between you and Yoo with an urgent kiss. He melted with pleasure, almost as if he was waiting for your move.

- So am I – you agreed, clenching his white sweater:- I am greedy, too, sir.

- Oh I can tell – he whispered with a snicker, staring at your moving hands.

The kisses became heated quickly. You were torn between admiring his foggy glasses and reddened lips. The gentleman was focused on chasing your mouth though, arms encircling your frame to close any possible space between you two. His soft touch contrast to your previous lovers, both Im and Chae more fervently urgent. Even your ex-boyfriend, your first.. however considerate he was of your virginity, his inexperience was clear. You didn’t blame him; he was a sweetheart, head over heels in love with you.. at some point at least.

Nonetheless, you couldn’t help but contemplate if he ever loved you for real. Maybe it was a stupid young crush and you stayed together out of habit, playing it safe. It looked like he wanted another type of partner inferring from his social media. No point in complaining now, you were both adults, going their own path.. his more of a party animal, yours.. well. Boring, uneventful, and stable until now; even so, still regretful.

Kihyun’s approach unlike anyone was making you feel treasured as if he was waiting a lifetime for a chance to have this moment. Hyungwon set you on a pedestal, that’s true, but he did it with mendacity, leaving you more mentally confused than before. The male beside you handled you with utter care, gracing you with a love-struck smile. You answered with a grin before you could catch yourself. What a lovely man, worthy of the best, yet he was with you and it seemed to make him the happiest.

Maybe I can honestly bring him joy, maybe I.. maybe I am not as bad as I thought of myself.

Your hands trembled, which didn’t go unnoticed by your partner. He instantly shifted to meet your eyes properly, observing your face for any kind of discomfort. His concern practically startling, given how unused you were to that level of care. Nobody paid attention to your feelings much, obvious hardship dismissed even by your own mother.

This man did on the other hand. He worried about trivial troubled gesture, despite the hollowness of his heart.

I can help; I can be virtuous, whatever Chae implied. You felt he can be wrong this strong for the first time since his arrival.

- Something’s wrong, dear?

You shook your head dismissively.

- No – you answered, grazing male’s legs briefly:- Actually, quite the opposite.

He tried to ask again, however, was silenced with a quick kiss – to stop him from questioning and to provide a distraction from sneaking hands down his trousers, towards a recognizable bulge. He moaned straight into your mouth, such a pure noise you thought of it as your new favorite sound. You needed more of this dissolute melody then and there.

Driven by a desire to take care of your sweet lover, you slid between his legs on your knees.

- Ah, Miss Y/N – blush prominent on cheeks, he still tried to play it cool:- Don’t you favor me way too much?

You shushed him, massaging his crotch that was now your eye-level. He weakly tried to pry your hands with some gentle words, something among the lines of ladies first, although it didn’t stop you.

- Mr. Yoo – unzipping his pants, freeing him from briefs and still you didn’t shy away from his heated gaze:- I want to hear you sing more..

You had your goal now. Clear purpose helping you redeem yourself.

- Please, play the piano and sing – you requested, kissing the head of his erected member. He answered you with a shaky breath, which determined he needed a moment to collect himself. Cute.

The moment he started the new tune, your tongue glided along salty skin. He faltered for a few seconds, picking up the tempo with trouble.

It made you smile; it made you powerful, once again, but at your own rules.

When Kihyun decided to sing, you swallowed him as much as you could. The vocals broke into a loud whine, fueling you to go even deeper, faster, wilder.

You could give him a piece of heaven, sneak peek into oblivion. It was possible without looking for own gain or offensive commentary. Just two people searching for the warmth of intimacy. He chanted foreign words above you out of breath, still harmonic as always and you sensed both your climaxes coming; his primal, your spiritual.

Cure the loneliness out of the pure heart. I don’t want anything, after all; just feel better.

Is that nothing? Or am I seeking for my own benefit?

The piano stuttered, chords losing original pace, throwing the song into chaos. Yoo’s voice slowed down to sinful groans with infrequent lyrics. He was close, exhalation hasty just like the thoughts coming through your head.

Am I proving Chae’s word wrong?

The piano stopped abruptly, some keys pressed together with a smash of Kihyun’s arm. He hid between his elbows and your head, uttering an uncommonly bashful cry. Bitter substance filled your mouth along with an even more savage realization.

You gulped down his cum, stunned enough to not care for typical male’s taste. Tucking him back into pants, mental nausea grew stronger every passing second. You hoped to bolt before facing him, however difficult it might be.

Pointless as expected, when your rose back again he embraced your hips with wobbly palms.

- Not so quick, Miss – sweated from orgasm, not any less handsome:- Let me return the favor.

Favor? It wasn’t a favor. Only a confirmation; you were corrupt as Hyungwon said you were. Determined to convince him you can be good simply because you couldn’t stand the insult. Too proud to admit the truth over again. Not able to accept the accusation so much it made you blow the first willing guy. Extra violation on your naughty list.

- You don’t have to – there was no use to drag the show anymore, so you opted to give up before you could regret it all even more. Kihyun opened his mouth to protest with what could be another wise-ass reply, but you beat him to it:

- We are all lonely in our pleasure in the end.

thank you for reading

< previous

next >

#shangri-la fc #my writing #monsta x fanfic #monsta x imagines #monsta x reader #hyungwon x reader #hyungwon imagine #kihyun x reader #kihyun imagine #monsta x smut #oops oh well #long post

20 notes · View notes

i-am-a-bad-influence-writes · 4 years ago

Text

Boys are made to be men. Part 4 - The cow dance

Series Masterlist - Bucky Masterlist - Full Masterlist

Summary: Things are different outside the city. When Bucky moves out of the city to live closer to his father’s best friend, Steve, he meets a peculiar girl from a strange family. She’s loved by everyone in the village and like him, she’s missing a limb. And, to Bucky’s surprise, she’s determined to make him part of her life.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word count: 2897

Warning: This chapter contains a panic attack.

Author’s note: I am not disabled and I couldn’t ever imagine what it’s like. If you have anything to not about that aspect of the story, please send me a message so I can fix possible mistakes or misunderstandings in upcoming chapters. Also, let me know if you want to be tagged in future updates.

The smell of beautiful flowers surrounds you as you gather Peggy’s favorite flowers, just as Steve requested. She enjoys pinks and reds together, with white to blend it together. As gently as you can, you lay them on your workspace and start to work on a bouquet. A bouquet you make almost every week. ‘Y/n, are you still taking the kids to the cow dance tomorrow?‘ You peek up from your work at the bouquet. Your eyes meet Steve’s, who looks hopeful and happy. Happy like he always is. ‘Oh, yes, of course,‘ you smile meekly at him, continuing to work on the bouquet Steve requested for Peggy like he does every week. It’s adorable really. The two are still so in love. You adore it but you can’t treasure it as much as you had last Monday. ‘Did you invite Bucky?‘ You feel like someone just stepped on your toes as pain shoots through her body. You try to ignore it but Steve can see. He always sees. ‘No, but I’m sure Sam is dragging him along. Those two get along great,‘ you give him another smile as you peek up at him for a mere second. You are uncomfortable as you take a deep breath. ‘I haven’t really seen him after Monday.‘ ‘Now that you say that, neither have I.‘ Steve seems worried at that fact, but you can tell he’s trying to hide it. He seems lost in thought, getting nervous somehow. ‘I got your bouquet,‘ you say to pull him out of his thoughts. ‘What happened between the two of you?‘

A loud pang comes from an old pickup carrying things away from the market. A second ago, you were walking down the street with Bucky. Now, you’re alone. Her eyes dart to the ground where Bucky has tried to take shelter, look extremely terrified. You kneel next to him, gently putting your hand on his shoulder. ‘Bucky, it was a car. You’re fine,‘ you lull to him, ‘please look at me.‘ His fearful eyes look up at you. There are movies of memories playing behind them, in his brain, on repeat. ‘But I- It’s not- It’s not safe,‘ he stutters, trembling as he speaks. You see tears forming in his eyes, beads of sweat on his forehead. ‘You’re good Bucky, listen to the sound of my voice,‘ you hum to him, helping him sit up on the pavement, ‘you’re in the village. A car made a loud sound. You’re good.’ And as if it’s nothing, he snaps back into it. He looks around in a frenzy. ‘Wha-‘ ‘You’re good,‘ you repeat to him, ‘it’s fine.‘ You put your hands on his shoulders and look into his eyes, searching for the fear you just saw. It seems mostly gone. A smile pulls back on your face as you pull him into your arms. ‘You’re good,‘ you repeat again.

‘Nothing really,‘ You tell Steve, ‘we had lunch, walked around a bit, and then we went home.‘ ‘Something tells me you’re not telling the full story,‘ Steve says and crosses his arms. You know that look on his face. It’s firm and fatherly. It’s a “tell me what you’re keeping from me young lady“ kind of look. ‘I don’t want to speak for him,‘ you tell him with a shrug as you try to look indifferent about the whole ordeal, ‘he wouldn’t want me to.‘ ‘Y/n, I don’t know what happened but he normally goes to talk to me,‘ Steve tells you, ‘he didn’t come to me and you look like shit-‘ ‘Language.‘ ‘I’m sorry but it’s true,‘ he states, slamming his hands on your workstation, ‘he doesn’t tell anyone when he’s unwell.‘ ‘Look, I’ll go by his house today to see if he wants to talk,‘ you tell him reluctantly, ‘if he doesn’t want to, I’ll come right over to yours.‘ ‘You better keep that promise,‘ Steve tells you as he puts down the money for the bouquet. You watch as he walks away and feel yourself crumble with every step he takes outside. Bucky doesn’t want to talk to you. He didn’t want to talk to you Tuesday, he didn’t want to talk to you Wednesday, and he didn’t want to talk to you yesterday. You tried. You really did.

And yet here you are again. Friday afternoon, after your shift, passing past Bucky’s house. For a second, you want to walk past but you promised Steve. You promised and you can never go back on a promise you made to the captain. With a sigh and a hesitant step, you walk up to his front door and press the doorbell, silently hoping he won’t go mad from the sound. His blinds have been closed since Monday and no one truly knows what he’s up to as he has no job and he has only seen Sam once or twice. So there’s no one to check up on him. After you first ring, there is no stir in the house. You sigh, reluctant to ring again but you do it nonetheless. After all, Steve asked her to check up on him. So you press the doorbell again, longer this time. Finally, you hear footsteps inside. You hear them come closer and the door opens. ‘Steve, I told you I’m not going to- Oh. Y/n.‘ You look him up and down quickly. He looks tired, stressed, annoyed. There’s not much of his handsome stature left. His beard is out of control, the bags under his eyes could hold melons, and his stature looks broken. ‘Hi Bucky.‘ There’s a slight smile on your face, a painful one. ‘It wasn’t Steve who kept ringing your doorbell.‘ He takes a second to realize what you just told him. ‘Oh, okay. Ehm.‘ ‘Can I come in?‘ ‘It’s kind of a mess,‘ he says, trying to make up excuses but you’re not taking them. ‘I don’t mind.‘ ‘I do.‘ ‘Then tell me I can’t come inside.‘ It’s like they’ve both taken a deep breath, holding it until one of you faints or gives up. Bucky knows he can’t win. He’s tired and upset while you look ready to fight. ‘Fine,‘ he grumbles and opens the door further, not waiting for you to walk inside as he walks over to the living room. You step inside and have a look around. The whole place looks like an Ikea showroom. Everything is black and white, it doesn’t feel homey at all. There’s nothing here that looks comfortable. It reminds you of a hospital. That’s how black, white, and sterile the whole place looks. And yet, it looks a mess. There’s nothing really messy but it just is a mess. It feels like a mess. ‘Why did you run from me Bucky?‘ ‘I didn’t run.‘ ‘Bucky, please.‘ ‘Y/n, I’m broken,‘ he yells at you, ‘you got to see that in person. Why aren’t YOU running from ME?‘ ‘You’re not the only one who’s broken Bucky,‘ you tell him, trying hard not to raise your voice at him, ‘running doesn’t fix anything.‘ ‘So you’d rather befriend me and sit by my side every time I duck onto the concrete because a firework went off?‘ ‘Yes, yes I would. Because it won’t be like that forever.‘ ‘How do you know?‘ There’s venom in his voice. It’s clear to you that he never let anyone in after his accident. To make a point, you sit down on his couch, lifts your pant leg, and take off your leg, putting it on his coffee table. ‘You think this just happened out of nowhere? You think I’ve got a dad that’s not related to me because my life was all sunshine and happiness? No! I lost my dad to cancer and my mom in a car accident. Do you know what it’s like to see your mother bleed out in front of you?‘ Bucky is in shock. He doesn’t know what to do with himself. The living room feels so much bigger than it normally is. ‘I- I didn’t know.‘ You take a deep breath to calm yourself down and put your leg back on. ‘Bucky, I get that we’ve only known each other for a few days and I don’t expect you to open up to me but at least give me a chance to get to know you,‘ you ask him getting back on your feet, ‘because I honestly really like you.‘ He doesn’t say a word. He can’t. He just watches you walk towards the door. ‘Cow dance starts at eight tomorrow. I’m leaving at a quarter to eight with the kids. If you want to join, you know where to find me.‘

7:30 am Saturday. Bucky sits on the couch in his living room sipping on a cup of coffee. He stares at the white, wooden coffee table that used to be perfectly white. Now, there’s a deep scratch on it made by Y/n’s leg. Yesterday, he had felt a bit pissed off by the scratch but today is different. That scratch tells a story and he should see it as a reminder to be better. Today is just the first day of trying but trying started well. He did have nightmares but at least he woke up on time. At least he had breakfast. At least dressing himself went without a hitch. Outside he hears kids happily playing in the street. He should go outside. His coffee is cold anyway. He puts his coffee cup in the sink and heads outside, grabbing his leather jacket as he steps through the door. There are about ten children and a few parents, as well as Steve and Peggy who are sitting on their porch as per usual. He sees you sit on the grass with two or three children. ‘Good morning Bucky,’ Steve calls over to him, ‘you decided to join us?’ Bucky walks over to the two. ‘Yeah, thought it’d be the right move,’ he tells the two, leaning against their fencing. ‘How are you doing?’ ‘Not great,’ he admits, ‘but Y/n convinced me to come.’ Peggy grins. ‘That’s nice,’ she says, ‘well you better hurry up and join her. The kids are bugging her to go earlier.’ Bucky nods to them as a means of saying bye and walks to the next house where you are sitting in the grass. ‘Good morning.’ You look up at him and smile brightly. ‘Good morning.’ He sits down next to you, looking at the book in your hands. It’s a children’s book with colorful pictures. There are two children sitting with you in the grass while the others are running around. ‘Who are we waiting for?’ The door to the house behind you opens and out walk Tony, Peter, and a woman that Bucky does not recognize. ‘We’re waiting for them,’ you smile and get on your feet. Bucky follows. ‘Pepper, this is Bucky. Bucky, this is Pepper. My dad’s girlfriend.’ ‘Nice to meet you miss,’ Bucky says with a smile and shakes her hand. ‘Nice to meet you too Bucky.’ The woman has a warm smile and a powerful look about her. ‘Morgan, you ready?’ The girl who was sitting next to Y/n gets up with the biggest smile and takes Pepper’s hand. ‘Everyone, grab your buddy, we’re leaving,’ you shout at the children on the street. Morgan grabs your hand and pulls it slightly. ‘What’s up Morgan?’ ‘Who is Peter’s buddy?’ Peter sees the interaction and walks over. ‘Morgan, do you want to be my buddy? Tony can be your mom’s buddy,’ Peter tells the girl. ‘But you’re always Thalia’s buddy,’ Morgan frowns. ‘I can be Y/n’s buddy,’ Bucky offers, ‘if that’s okay with you.’ Morgan looks Bucky up and down. He had never imagined he could feel so judged by a child. ‘You’ll do.’ Morgan grabs Peter’s hand and pulls him with her. Bucky and you stare at each other with your jaws on the floor. It takes a few seconds before you burst into laughter. ‘She is opinionated.’ You laugh and takes Bucky’s hand. You turn to the kids and holds up your hands. ‘Everyone ready?’ The group yells yes. ‘Everyone follow Peter and Morgan. Bucky and me will walk in the back.’ Slowly but surely, the group starts moving. The parents mostly stay with their children so it doesn’t take long for Bucky and you to fall behind. ‘I honestly thought you wouldn’t come,’ you admit to him, ‘but I’m glad you did.’ Bucky can’t keep the smile from his face. ‘Me too.’ Without really realizing it, his thumb starts to gently stroke the back of your hand. ‘Can you promise me that you’ll try to talk to me or Steve when something like this happens again?’ ‘Do you believe me if I say that I’ll try?’ You look up at him, meeting his eyes. There’s this hurt in them but there’s something else. You don’t quite know what it is but you know he means it. ‘I do,’ you smile at him. ‘Then I’ll try. And I do apologize for shutting you out. I shouldn’t have done that.’ ‘I’ll only accept your apology if you show me your art.’ You do a little skip in front of him to stop him from walking while You’re still holding hands. ‘Yes ma’am,’ he says with a smile. He watches as this devilish grin appears on your face. He doesn’t know what is about to come but he does know that it’ll leave him with more sinfull thoughts infesting his mind. ‘Good boy.’ You press a chaste kiss to his cheek and continue to drag him back in line with the children. His mouth falls open as he tags along. What are you doing with his head?

The group gets to the field and dispurses. Children that came with their parents go with them, children that came alone stay with you. The kids climb onto the wooden fences and lean over, chatting excitedly with each other. ‘So what can I expect,’ Bucky asks you. ‘Cows.’ You give Bucky a cocky look. ‘Cows acting crazy.’ ‘Y/n! Bucky!’ You turn around and see the group from the bar coming up to them. Hugs and handshakes are exchanged, as well as greetings and friendly words about everyone’s appearance. ‘Bucky, I haven’t seen you around in a minute,’ Sam cheers at Bucky, giving him a tight hug that Bucky did not expect. ‘Ah, you know,’ Bucky smiles, patting Sam’s shoulder, ‘I don’t have a job so I don’t go out much.’ ‘Let me know if you need something to do,’ Sam tells him, ‘I work down at the town hall. We always have things to do.’ Bucky shoots a quick glance at you. ‘I might come around,’ Bucky tells him. ‘Good, good, we’ll see you two at Crocker’s Folly after this, right?’ ‘Yeah, of course.’ You smiles at him. ‘Just gotta get the kids back.’ ‘For sure, you need help?’ ‘Nah, I’ve got Peter and I’m sure I can guilt Bucky into helping.’ ‘Excuse me?’ Bucky stands next to you and Sam but he’s getting completely ignored by both. ‘I’m sure you can. I’m just glad you’ve got a new target,’ Sam says to her but his eyes are on Bucky, ‘ey Bucknasty, you good with kids?’ It feels like a stab in his heart for a second. This is not the moment. ‘Y-yeah, I’m fine,’ he meekly smiles. You notice right away. ‘Sam, could you watch the kids for a second, I think I lost my keys on the way here,’ you lie to Sam and drag Bucky away from the group, just behind a bush she stops. ‘Are you okay?’ ‘I will be,’ ‘Bucky takes a deep breath, ‘just not now.’ You nod and take his hand in yours again. ‘Just not now,’ you agrees, ‘let me know when you’re ready to go back.’ Touching your hand feels like heaven. It takes a lot of the stress away. It keeps him grounded. The cheering of the children gets louder. ‘We should get back.’ ‘We should,’ you repeat with childlike excitement. You, once again, drag him along. He follows you, feeling a kind of rush. For a second, he feels like a teenager following his crush to somewhere secret. It’s exciting and new. You stand behind the children as the cows start running outside. They buck, sprint, play. It’s a truly wonderful display of fun. It’s almost as if they’re playing games. Playing tag, hide and seek, duck duck goose. It’s exhilarating and exciting. It’s like seeing hope in front of you. Like the winter snow is melting away under the golden sun. Bucky understands while the whole village comes to watch. He understands why you have never missed a year of seeing this. He understands why even the ones who don’t seem to care for it show up. Faith has brought him here, has brought him you. Now it’s up to him to take this chance and make the change. Time for him to look at the brighter side of life, as hard as that might be. And as you start leaning against him, he feels at peace for the first time in months. His arm drapes over your shoulder and you put your arms around his waist. He smiles. Yes, this is fine.

Tag list: @nickkie1129 @healy-facedown

13 notes · View notes

fangirl-imagines · 5 years ago

Text

Home Again//2019!Eddie Kaspbrak x Daughter!Reader

A/N: Requested by @thoughtfullyyoungduck, I hope this was close to what you wanted.

Warnings: Verbal berating of the reader and a brief but graphic scene of violence against the reader

Prompt: Ever since your mom left when you were five it had just been you and your dad. You were each other’s only family. But when he brings you back to his hometown of Derry you decide it’s time to meet your grandmother.

The house your father grew up inside in Derry, Maine didn’t look like it had been touched much since the 1980s. Most of Derry still felt small and quiet like the rest of the world forgotten it. As you drove through town to your hotel yesterday your dad kept shaking his head and remarking on how everything still looked the same. You knew he’d be furious if he found out you came here but you couldn’t help yourself.

You had never met your grandparents before and your dad never talked about his childhood. Could he really expect you to pass up the opportunity to ask questions he never answered? This morning he said he had to go meet some of his old friends, the ones you had met last night at dinner, and he explicitly told you to stay in the hotel room. You rolled your eyes thinking about it. Your dad had always been overprotective. Maybe it was because he was just an anxious person? Always on you about being home before dark and getting your flue shot. Maybe it was because your mom left when you were five and it was just the two of you? You knew it was hard on him trying to take care of both of you all the time all by himself. Or maybe it was just because he worked nights so often and he worried about you being home alone? Either way it was always getting on your nerves. You’d long gotten use to sneaking out when your dad was gone, and sneaking out of the hotel was easy.

The old Kaspbrak house looked like most other houses on the street. It was small and white with a decent porch. The only real difference was that the lawn was shaggy and in desperate need of a mowing and the curtains were all drawn, keeping the light out of the house. If it wasn’t for the station wagon in the driveway you would have thought there was no one home. You took a deep breath before starting up the walk and climbing the stairs. You hesitated before bringing your hand down on the door in two quick knocks.Glancing behind your shoulder you took in the empty street. It was a Sunday morning but there was no one in the streets, no children playing or dad’s mowing the lawn.

“Who are you?”

You jumped and whirled back around, coming face to face with a much larger old woman. You couldn’t help but gasp at the sight. She wasn’t much taller than you, her hair was dark brown with grey roots showing, and there were prominent wrinkles around her eyes, the same shade of brown as yours and your dad’s. Sonia Kapbrak looked you up and down with distance, studying you closely. You cleared your throat and took a small step back.

“I’m, uh, are you Sonia Kaspbrak?”

“I am.” She crossed her arms in front of her.

“Well, my name is Y/N Kaspbrak. My father is Eddie Kaspbrak. I’m your granddaughter.”

You don't know what kind of reaction you were expecting, but Sonia staring you down through squinted eyes that hid in her full face and made them look black in appearance was not it. She stared at you hard, looking you over from head to toe as if sizing you up. It made you shift nervously from foot to foot in your spot. Was she like this when your dad was a kid? Your entire life your dad had always looked happy to see you when you came home from school or walked into the kitchen in the morning, he always smiled at you warmly. Even when he was mad at you, you never got a look like this one. But now you could picture him as a little kid getting in trouble and getting stared down on this same porch. What was she looking for?! You folded your arms across your middle and fought back a flinch when Sonia smiled at you.

"Oh, really? My Eddie Bear is a father?! I'd be surprised he never told me except he never calls me at all anymore. You raise them up as best you can, and then they run off and leave you, never to call, never showing any gratitude!" She threw her hands up in the air then shook her head. "Please, why don't you come inside?"

You opened your mouth to decline, suddenly not too sure about this whole thing but Sonia looked at you expectantly and the words died in your mouth. Wordlessly you stepped into the house and were surprised to find the darkness that had surrounded the house had moved inside as well. Sonia didn’t seem bothered by it though as she didn’t move to turn on any lights when she led you to the living room. The blinds were cracked in the living room, allowing dim rays of light to enter the room and work with the old boxed, bunny eared TV to shine enough light to make the room dim but light enough to see.

“Go on, have a seat.”

You sat down stiffly on the edge of the sofa, so far that you were almost falling off.

“Would you like a drink? I have sodas or bottled water? You can’t drink the stuff from the tap anymore. Too much lead and chemicals in it.”

“Oh, no I’m fine, thank you.”

Sonia nodded and sat down in her recliner next to the couch and smiled at you. A flash of red caught your eye. You glanced over at one of the windows and caught a glimpse of a red balloon floating by. You narrowed your eyes as you watched it go.

“So, Y/N, you’re my granddaughter?”

You turned back to Sonia and nodded, forcing a smile. “I have so many questions for you! My dad doesn’t talk about Derry very much.”

Sonia hummed, “Well I’m not surprised. Eddie bear hasn’t so much as called since he left me here. I suppose he’s done alright for himself though?” She looked at you strangely, sizing you up again. “Tell me, what’s your mother like?”

You swallowed hard, “I’m afraid I don’t know much.” You cleared your throat. “She left us when I was five. We haven’t kept in touch.”

You could practically see Sonia’s ears perk up. “Really?” She laughed humorlessly, “Well, I guess I can see why.”

Your jaw dropped. “Ex-, Excuse me?”

“Well obviously it couldn’t be my Eddie’s fault she left so it must have been your fault.”

“You don’t-”

“Of course I know dear!” she shook her head, “I knew when you stepped on my porch. Look at you? Your filthy just like your mother, holding my Eddie back, keeping him anchored with a child to take care of on his own? You should be ashamed.”

A cold dread filled your stomach and gripped your body. You had heard these words before, your own brain screamed them at you in your bed at night like a flashing sign. Somehow Sonia was on the same wavelength as you.

“Why are you saying these things?” You choked out, willing away your tears.

“Because it’s the truth isn’t it? All alone with a child to take care of, how could you do anything but hold your father back! Just think of all the things he could do if he wasn’t stuck taking care of you.” Sonia shook her head pityingly, “I suppose that’s what he gets for leaving me all alone here though. A disappointment of a daughter like you.”

You shook your head at her, “I think I should go now.”

“Oh, dear, you’re not going anywhere.”

You stared at Sonia, eye brows furrowed. Sonia smiled. You jumped up from the couch and raced for the door faster than you had ever moved in your life. You didn’t expect Sonia to be able to move fast enough to grab you but she did. She grabbed you by your hair and pulled you back into the room, tossing you to the floor. She smiled down at you, rows and rows of sharp, pointed teeth showing.

You screamed and ear splitting scream, crawling back on your hands until your back hit the wall. Sonia smiled wider and rushed towards you. Your foot connected with her face with a sickening crack as her head shot back. You watched in horror as she slowly righted her head and snapped it back into place. You screamed and screamed when Sonia crouched down in front of you, grabbing your hand as you tried to shove her away. She brought your hand closer to her mouth before-

“Y/N!”

You and Sonia’s eyes both flicked back to the front door that you could hear your name being screamed and the front door shaking as someone tried to knock it down. Sonia turned back to you and smiled through thin, yellow eyes that made you flinch. Her grin widened, showing off every one of her sharp teeth, and with a shake of her head she let go of your hand and stalked backwards from you before disappearing into the kitchen.

You stared at the spot where she had disappeared through in horror when the front door was kicked in and your father, Richie, and Mike all came running into the room, Beverly, Ben, and Bill trailing behind.

“Y/N?! Y/N, baby, oh my God!” Your dad rushed to your side and dropped to his knees in front of you. He grabbed your face in his hands and pulled your gaze from the kitchen door to look at him. “Y/N? Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!”

You continued to stare at him, shock and horror still playing on your face as he ran his hands from your face to your wrist, checking for broken bones. He looked so worried as he checked you over that Sonia’s words rang through your head again. “Just think of all the things he could do if he wasn’t stuck taking care of you?”

A sob escaped your throat, “Dad?”

He paused and looked from your wrist where Sonia had squeezed up to your face. He saw your bottom lip tremble and felt his racing heart break. “Oh, baby.” He pulled you to him and hugged you tight. As soon as he did this you began to cry against his shoulder, clutching his jacket in your fist. “It can’t hurt you anymore Y/N. I’m right here, I’m not going to let it hurt you again.” He squeezed you tighter and kissed your forehead.

“Dad, she-, it-, it’s teeth...”

Eddie swallowed back the memory of those teeth inching in on his at the Nesboit house. He realized you had been in that same position and felt sick. He pulled back to look you in the eyes and nodded.

“I know. I’m sorry Y/N, I never should have brought you back here with me.”

“It’s gone Eddie, we better get her out of here.” Richie spoke softly, placing his hand on Eddie’s shoulder and squeezed reassuringly.

Eddie looked up at him and nodded. Carefully he helped you to your feet and led you out of the house, his arm wrapped around your shoulder protectively.

555 notes · View notes

aaronhart93-archive · 4 years ago

Text

lunch ll jaycee & aaron

Discord thread featuring: Aaron & @jayceelynd

Mentions: @romanbeckett @alison-haynes @davieslandon

When: Monday, July 6, 2020

Description: Aaron and Jaycee make up

Trigger Warnings: none

Aaron.

Aaron literally could not believe that Jaycee that had asked him to meet for lunch, but he certainly wasn't going to say no. Jaycee had been his friend for so long, and not being able to take her everyday really fucking sucked. He knew that it was his fault though. He nearly stopped caring about what he was doing to Jaycee by getting together with Roman. He knew it was wrong and he was determined to make up for it. He didn't know how, but he knew he needed to. Seeing Jaycee's face again, prompted Aaron to grin so wide and pulled her in for one of the biggest hugs he'd ever given. And Aaron was a great hugger. "Thank you so much for suggesting this." He said before Destiny hopped from her chair to give her Auntie Jaycee a big hug around her long legs. "as you can see you've been missed by all." he said with a chuckle.

Jaycee.

It had truly broken her heart what Roman and Aaron had done, the way it was done. It was as if her feelings didn’t even matter. As if her side by Roman all that time was easily replaced. So fast, and so quick. When she saw him, her eyes lit up with a smile, tears filling ready to spill as she snuggled her face into his neck. Jaycee held onto him tightly, and laughed as she silently cried when Des hugged her legs. “I missed you both too, so much.” She choked out. Jaycee never wished how alone she felt on anyone. Not even her worst possible enemy, she was just that kind of person. Levi hid behind Jaycee as he watched Des with a crooked little smirk like his dad. Her breath hiccuping as she laughed at both of the kids joining the hug. Truthfully she didn’t want to pull away but they did need to feed the kids at least. Allowing herself to melt into his hug before she pulled back, patting at her eyes. Mouthing sorry about choking up. “I really am thankful you agreed to lunch.” Kissing his cheek before she bent down and picked up Des and spun her, both of them laughing. “Destiny this is Levi, Levi say Hi to Destiny.” She pronounces Destinys name slowly and he simply just said Hi. Looking up from the kids she laughed scrunching her nose. Jaycee loved her niece more than words could form. She had always looked at her as if she was truly her blood, and would hurt anyone that hurt her.

Aaron.

Aaron had been extremely lonely since him and Roman had broken up. It wasn't until he stopped spending everyday with Roman that he realized how many people he had lost when he got together with Roman. It made him think that maybe the choice that they had made to take a break might have been a good idea. Between Jaycee, Landon, and Alison he had fought and lost too many people. Aaron watched her with pleading eyes as she started tearing up. "Jayc.." he began as they hugged. God, he missed her hugs. He could stay like that all day. He hated seeing her cry, but he was a little happy that she was so glad to see him. Aaron's eyes drifted down to the toddler hiding behind the model. "Hi, Levi. I'm Aaron. Destiny's dad." he grinned, waving down to him. Aaron missed seeing her so much; he really had taken her friendship for granted. He especially missed see her with Destiny. He knew that Jaycee loved Destiny just as much as if she were her blood niece. He pulled his friend in for one more quick hug before he told her daughter to sit down next to him.

Jaycee.

Levi did this little backwards wave, waving at himself as he waved at Aaron the locked his big blue eyes back to Jaycee, reaching for her. Hugging him back one last time, she picked Levi up and sat him in the booster seat and fastened him in, handing him his sippy cup. “I kinda want potato soup, like a loaded backed potato soup, with Cajun chicken salad.” She hummed as she looked over at Des and made a silly face at her, laughing at Des’ silly face. “She always wins at these faces..” she sighed dramatically, bringing laughter from the two little ones. “He looks like his daddy, doesn’t he?” She asked Aaron with a smile, and shine to her hazel eyes. Looking over at him she gave him an assuring smile as she placed her pointer finger to her dimple in her chin, winking. Their own little friendship shake so to speak. It was her throwing a white flag at being mad at him or Roman. “I know you’re going to say I don’t owe you an apology but I do for the way I acted. I’m not saying it wasn’t deserved, or that I shouldn’t be hurt or mad. But I am sorry for how I made anyone feel. I can never take back anything I’ve said. I’m sorry.” She said softly as she finished her speech she caught Levi’s flying cup, only to laugh. “Keeping us on our toes.” She nuzzled her nose to the little boys, causing him to grab her face. Looking over the kid menu she decided on getting him a grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup with dinosaur shaped noodles. “What are you two gonna get?” She asked as she closed her menu, taking a drink of her iced water.July 7, 2020

Aaron.

Aaron's kid was continuously standing on the booth and putting practically her entire torso over the table to color, and Aaron was continuously reminding her to sit down and that that was fine behavior at home, but in public he was asking her to sit down. She would listen to him for about 2 minutes before standing back up on her feet again to hover over the table. Aaron tempted her to sit down the promise of a cookie for dessert which finally may have worked. "She's the best at them isn't she?" he mused, giving his daughter a tiny poke in the stomach as he laughed along with them. The businessman brought his attention over to the little boy sitting across from them. His eyes traced over the toddler's facial features, placing which ones looked like his father's. "Yeah." he nodded. Although he hadn't seen Lane in a while, the resemblance was obvious. The corners of his lips turned up into a little smile when he felt her finger on his chin. He reached out pressed down on her dimple lightly. A wave of relief rushed over him. He had had all of this stressed built up about how he made Jaycee feel and how mad she was it him. It was nice to feel forgiven; especially since it seemed like the whole world hated him. "Thank you." he grabbed her hand and gave it a light squeeze. "I totally deserved it, and I'm so so sorry Jaycee. I wish this was different." He really had just put Jaycee on the back burner after they had gotten back from Europe. He had nearly given up on their friendship, and that wasn't fair. He needed to fight for her. His eyes widened as he jumped up a little bit when the toddler dropped his cup. "Those things never end, except when they're older they insisted on having a big kid cup which make even bigger spills." he said with a tiny laugh. "I dunno...What do you want, baby?" he turned to his daughter to show her the options she had for lunch. "Chicken fingers." she demanded, without even looking at the menu. "That was easy." he laughed. "This shrimp bisque sounds amazing for me. And a chicken caeser salad sounds good too because I'm basic." he mused.

Jaycee.

Squeezing his hand back, holding onto it longer than needed. She really missed her best friend. She was definitely in her loneliest state for the past few weeks. If it wasn’t for Lane, she probably would have done something dangerously stupid. Holding onto hope all can be okay again, someone to have movie nights with. Playing games with Destiny and just getting shit faced while picking on one another. “Oh I just can’t wait for the bigger messes.” She snorted out in laughter. Looking over at Levi, her eyes shined with love for the boy she’s barely known for long. But she knew off him and watched from a car as Lane raised him. Playing with his curls. “Yeah it’ll be stressful, but.” She looked over at Aaron. “When they’re grown we’ll miss it.” Smiling softly as she blushed, feeling like an idiot. “Oh, now I want a chicken with bacon, almonds and lots of avocado.” She hummed. “Should I get him chicken nuggets or a grilled cheese..” her brows furrowed. She was so new at this and needed help from her friend. Giving Aaron a pleading look of if she was doing this kid thing right. He knew she had a fear of being a shitty mom, because of her monster of a mother.

Aaron.

Aaron returned the squeeze. Ha hated not being there for her when she needed him most, and he especially hated that he was apart of her hurt. He wanted to put all of that behind them and he wised so desperately that she could. He was so thankful that he had Jaycee in his life; that she loved his daughter with all of her heart. Having a friend love you is one things, but having one that loves your kid just as much as their own is something very unique. He couldn't let go of that. "I can't even think about Destiny growing up. It makes me dizzy just thinking about it." he shook his head. "I mean, it feels like yesterday that Ali was telling me she was pregnant. I was so scared and now I can't imagine my life without her." It was true that Destiny made him really fucking soft. Aaron smiled when she asked him for advice. "Just ask him." he told her, knowing how important it was to make sure that kids knew about personal choice and autonomy. "He's 2 so I think he's older enough to know what he likes and what he doesn't." He lowered his voice. "If not, just get both and I'll eat the rest." he mused.

Jaycee.

Jaycee was helping Levi color on his picture, writing his name down and smiled down at him. “I don’t want him to grow too fast either. It’s crazy.” She looked up at Aaron with a smile. “She’s not allowed to grow up, we’ve had these conversations on our tea time dates. And she said I can’t help it! I tried to stop growing..” she laughed softly as blew a kiss at Destiny. “Levi do you want grilled cheese or chicken nuggets?” She asked him pointing at the pictures of the food as she named them. “Ticken” she yelled all proud of himself causing her to scrunch her nose at his cuteness. “Inside voices remember” she said softly. “Listen I know you had your heart set on helping him eat what he didn’t but the boy has spoken.” She teased Aaron, thinking of throwing her paper straw wrapper at him but didn’t cause what kind of aunt would teach her niece bad behavior. The waitress came and Levi wanted out of his booster seat to be in Jaycee’s arms. Of course she held him as his little head rested on her shoulder. “Is he falling asleep?” She asked Aaron because all the sudden the boy got warm and she’s figured out with time that he gets warm as he’s drifting off. “Levi, you wanna eat?” She asked soothingly and nothing. Making a silly face at Des and Aaron. “Well looks like daddy is gonna eat chicken nuggets after all” she joked as she put Levi in the stroller, Aaron had brought for them. Jaycee was thankful that she had the strength to put everything aside, and move on with their lives. Hopefully as if it never happened one day. There was so much she wanted to share with him, but was scared with everything that’s happened. Gently she swooped one of the curls out of the little boys face as he napped. “I think I’d be lost if his dad wasn’t here.. Ya know?” Looking up at Aaron with a soft smirk. “It’s crazy and scary all in one right now. But I’m taking each day as it comes. That’s all I can do, right”.

Aaron.

Aaron looked at the boy, then at Jaycee. It was clear that she already had love for him. That was Jaycee though. She had so much love for other people around her. It was something Aaron admired about her. "I keep telling her being an adult is no fun, but she doesn't want to believe me." he shrugged. "She gets everything handed to her on a silver platter and still continues to grow on me."he mused, poking her in the stomach gently causing her to go into a fit of laughter. Aaron chuckled. "Hey, the little man's got to eat." he joked. The way that kid said "chicken" was too damn cute. Aaron ordered for himself and his daughter before peering over at the little man across from him, heavy eye lids falling. "Yep. Kid's knocked. That was fast." he laughed. Aaron was happy that he and Jaycee were talking like they normally would again. He missed this. He missed Jaycee in his life. "Listen, I thought that the first time Ali went on tour after we had Des. She was still so young and I didn't think I could do it alone. But I did it, and it was so empowering knowing that I could take care of a whole other tiny human being like that. I mean... I had to have been 22...23 maybe. I grew up really fast when I had her. But honestly, you have that paternal bone. I didn't and had to learn it as I went. It comes naturally for you though." he told her. "Honest."July 10, 2020

Jaycee.

”Did we listen to our parents?” Tilting her head with a shit eating grin on her face, followed by the look of come on now, we’re not that old! “She gets her stubbornness from you and Ali. You more so!” She teased him, not able to not laugh. Looking down at Levi sleeping peacefully and hummed, wishing she was holding him still. Jaycee loved holding sleeping babies so much, she missed the snuggles of Destiny as a tiny baby. “I feel like she’s grown in a blink, man.” She shook her head, playing with her glass of water. Jaycee truly missed this normalcy with her best friend, they had been through too much to not be in one another’s lives. “I think you did awesome, you hardly needed my help. I observed trust me!” She chuckled softly. “Thank you, I wish I was in his life sooner. Like I missed so much, but I don’t know.. He just. I love him.” She shrugged with a soft smile. “Like with my princess..” she made a silly face at Destiny to play with her. “I would never not treat her as my blood, I loved her the second you introduced us. I feel that for him too.” She nodded her head, as if agreeing with herself in some way. “I can’t wait to be a mom now, and that scares me. I have always been so scared to be like my mom if I had a daughter. I refused to even think of being a mom. Now as time has passed and I’ve watched this angel grow and how happy she makes you. I want that, and I believe I can be better than my mom, ya know?”July 11, 2020

Aaron.

Oh, god. They never listened to their parents. Always sneaking off and getting into some kind of trouble when they were kids. "If Des is gonna take after her father, then she won't listen to me at all." she said, looking over at his blonde-haired kid who was more interested in her drawing than the conversation. "Yeah we're both pretty hard headed, but hopefully that'll make her a little badass." he mused. He truly hoped that one day his daughter would grow up to be able to control a room like her parents. "I know, you better cherish these terrible twos," he said as he pointed to the sleeping toddler, "because they honestly aren't so bad coming out of it." he told her. "Thanks, I think I did pretty good too." he sang. Aaron smiled lightly at Jaycee when she told him that she loved that toddler. Jaycee was so full of love; people should consider themselves lucky to be loved by her because she loved so hard. The businessman shook his head. "You're nothing like your mom, J." he promised her. "You're going to be a great mom." he gave her a reassuring smile. "By the way, I brought you your birthday present." He said, as he grabbed the gift bag from under the double stroller and slid it across the table to her. "It's that bag you wanted in Paris and another thing I just bought for you recently." With he breakup, he had been doing a little too much retail therapy.July 18, 2020

Jaycee.

”See what these two don’t realize is we have technology on our side.” She laughed as she took a drink. God they would have been dead if their parents had use of technology like they do now. Jaycee knew her niece was destined to do amazing things with her life. She has so many people that love her and want to see her thrive. And if Levi is like his daddy, she knows he’ll be okay too. “I mean if I get stressed over tantrums. I end up laughing about it later. So far, he hasn’t had that many. Thank god. And you should feel like you have, because you definitely have, Aaron.” Knocking on the wood as to not jinx herself. “In the end I just want them to happy, safe and healthy.” Jaycee ran the back of her fingers over the sleeping boys chubby cheeks. “I want to be a mom so bad, always have..” she said almost absent mindedly, clearing her throat as she looked at the gift back. “Aaron..” she closed her eyes remembering what she told him to do with the bag.. “I don’t deserve anything. I was really rude.. This.” Waving at their table. “Is enough, for me.” Opening the present she smiled at the purse and tried it on, it was so pretty and just what she envisioned. Noticing something else in the gift back she grabbed it and looked up at him while opening it slowly. “Aaron..” she said slowly, laughing faintly. Her jaw dropping, then closing. “It’s beautiful..” she got up and hugged him tightly. “Thank you both for the gifts..” After their hug she sat back down just in time for their food to be brought out, and like clock work Levi woke up, reaching for her. “Her, little buddy” she cooed as she got him settled in her lap and helped him eat, while trying to eat her food as well.July 19, 2020

Aaron.

Aaron snorted. "God, it's like that Black Mirror episode when the mom puts a chip in daughter so that she can see and hear everything she does." He joked. "I'm pretty sure the daughter ended up killing her mom at the end of that show. In all honesty, I can't blame her; that was wack." He chuckled to himself, then shook his head. "Yeah, they are really annoying at the time but when it's all over and done with and you have some time to yourself or when they start being cute again, you forgive them quickly and try to be understanding." He nodded, then glanced briefly over at his kid. He blue eyes fell to Jaycee and the toddler as she mused about having a baby. He knew she wanted one, and she knew chances of having one of her own were slim. Which broke his heart because he knew it broke hers. He still had faith she was going to find someway to be a mom. "No, you deserve it. But I'm happy that you're happy with this." He gave her a comforting smile. "You're welcome. I'm glad you like them." He grinned to himself, then stood up to hug her tightly. Aaron thanked the server when they brought out the food and started cutting up his kid's food for her and told her several times that she needed to wait for her food to cool down for a couple more seconds before she put a hot fry in her mouth.

Jaycee.

Jaycees head fell back as she laughed at his statements of how whack that situation is. “I can’t with you..!” She continued to giggle, sighing as she finally stopped laughing. A few short chuckles here and there. “Oh, I can’t stay mad at them. Neither of these two could ever make me not love them. Even if someone gets sassy and adult like.” She looked over at her niece who was still in her own world, smirking. “This one, is gonna have so many after him too and ugh. I have stressed over Des, and now Levi. Lord, imma need Xanax or something.” She joked easily, but it was the truth. She hated the idea of Des growing older, but loved watching her grow. Oh the confusion of loving a child. And now add in Lanes boy. “How could I not love him, he’s beautiful, and so sweet.” She did have a bit of sadness behind her eyes with the cards she’d been dealt, but he dulled the ache. Letting the food cool she put Levi in his seat and opened the box again and took it out trying to get it on. Jaycee chewed on her tongue while having a struggle. Sighing, she laughed and smiled at her friend sweetly. “Will you help me?” She asked as she held her tiny wrist out with the bracelet dangling.July 21, 2020

Aaron.

Just the sound of his friend's laugh made his grin even wider. He shook his head when they finally stopped laughing. "Listen, she likes to think she's grown, and had no idea that she's gonna want to be a kid again when she actually is grown." He mused. Aaron shook his head once again. "You won't need Xanax, Jayc. You're gonna do just fine, promise." He reassured his friend. Aaron smiled, pleased that she wanted to put the piece of jewelry on now. He put the bracelet around her wrist and clasped the chain together, thick fingers fumbling to get the hook through the tiny hole. "There. Beautiful." He mused when he finally was able to get it around her slim wrist. He picked his fork back up and continued with his food, checking in with Des to make sure that she was doing okay and encouraging her to take a few more bites of food when she insisted that she was done. "Thanks for suggesting this." He smiled.July 22, 2020

Jaycee.

”I know if I could go back I would at certain times of course..” she smiled and helped Levi with his drink, while Aaron struggled to get her bracelet on. “It’s really pretty, thank you..” she said softly, with a soft smile as she looked at it. Grabbing her fork she took a small bite, and chewed really slow. “I just missed my best friend.. And even if I can’t ever forgive you for what you did, I’m gonna try..” she looked into his blue eyes. Of course she was still hurt and hated what they both selfishly did. It was bad enough certain people that were her friends encouraged if. Clearing her throat, finding herself giggling at how this little guy was ogling over Destiny. “Someone so has a crush, he keeps trying to wink.” She looked at Destiny with a soft wink, leading Levi to try to wink, only for him to close both eyes. “This is so good, there’s almonds in this salad, and the flavors with the avocado and dressing.. Wanna try a bite.” She totally wasn’t offering so she could try some of Aaron’s, I mean that’d be rude right. But, if he offered she’d gladly oblige. “You know those fried onions you put on like green bean casserole? I accidentally put those in my salad the other day, but oh my god! It was so full of flavor. Gotta try it.!” She stayed as she pointed her fork at him, giggling.

Aaron.

"I missed you too, Jaycee." Jaycee was such a forgiving and loving person; even if she never fully forgave him he knew that their friendship wouldn't be over. Aaron was fucking happy to have his best friend back too. He was really struggling without her. Aaron looked at the five year old who tried and failed to wink back at the woman. The bar owner let out a short cackle. His attention turned to her salad, and he stabbed several pieces her food with her fork. "Everything is better with almonds and onions." He mused. "Here..." He said, pushing his salad towards the petite woman, giving her the go ahead to try some of his food. This was like old times. Plus an extra kid this time. Things were changing though. Aaron never thought he'd be in this position before with anyone, much less Jaycee; his best friend since as long as he could remember. Aaron was a parent, and now Jaycee was nearly a parent to Levi. He thought about when they were kids themselves; how simpler things were back then and how he never imagined the pair would end up here. This was a good start though, and the weight he had on his shoulders about how he treated Jaycee was starting to come off his shoulder. He just hoped she would forgive him eventually and he was willing to give her as much time as she possibly needed.

#discord #jaycee

2 notes · View notes

let-it-raines · 5 years ago

Text

Rising from the Ashes (19/21)

When her husband died, Emma wasn’t sure that she could ever move on. He left her with a broken heart and a baby who was only three-months old. It’s enough to take most people down, to make them not want to keep going, but Emma Swan isn’t most people. She’s stronger than she has any right to be.

And after years of heartache, she’s found ways to move on…one of those being in Neal’s best friend, Killian Jones.

As she’s always known, however, things are more complicated than they ever seem to be.

Rating: Mature

A/N: I really do love you guys. I swear ❤️

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

Tumblr: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19

Tag list: @ultraluckycatnd @jamif @artistic-writer @cs-forlife @qualitycoffeethings @resident-of-storybrooke @captainsjedi @captswanis4vr @teamhook @ekr032-blog-blog @mayquita @bmbbcs4evr @wellhellotragic @kmomof4 @jennjenn615 @onceuponaprincessworld @shady-swan-jones @snow-into-ash @andiirivera @mariakov81 @shireness-says @kristi555 @facesiousbutton82 @superchocovian @jonirobinson64 @snowbellewells @blowmiakisscolin @thejollyroger-writer @tiganasummertree

-/-

“Mom?”

“Mom!” Henry yells, tugging on the hem of her t-shirt until she looks down at him and at the cowlick that’s working its way to ridiculous levels at the back of his head.

“Yeah, kid?”

“I called your name, like, five hundred times, and you didn’t hear me. Are you going to be like Grandma and not be able to hear sometimes?”

She shakes her head from side to side, trying to drown out all of her thoughts as she focuses all of her attention on Henry. She has to focus her attention on him. She simply has to. “No, I’m not going to be like Grandma. I can still hear you. I was just distracted.”

“By what?”

Well that’s a loaded question, but she is too tired and too confused to be able to even begin to start addressing it to an eight-year-old, especially when she’s about to spend her entire day doing just that with several people who she really hopes are older than eight. That would be something else if there were child federal agents.

Has she lost her mind?

Running on fumes is exactly what’s happening to her, and she knows that it’s not going to be much longer until she is no longer running at all.

“Grown up stuff,” she hums, knowing that it’s a cop out but not caring as she takes a sip of her coffee, surprised by the fact that it’s cold. Didn’t she just make this pot five minutes ago? Her cup should be warm. Has it been longer than that? How long has she been standing in the kitchen zoned out? Is she even really awake? “What do you need, Henry?”

“I want to call my dad.”

Her cup falls from her hands, fingers loosening around the handle until she hears the crash of glass against wooden floor and the feel of tepid coffee moving over her bare feet, the slightest of stings echoing throughout her skin. She watches it happen as if it’s in slow motion, and it’s not until she hears Henry’s yelp that she realizes she just dropped her glass coffee mug on her son, the glass shards hitting him.

“Don’t move,” she shouts, holding her hands in front of her as she watches Henry’s bottom lip quiver and tears gather in his eyes. Ah, fuck. “Just…don’t move.”

She takes a step away from the broken glass and scoops Henry up from underneath his armpits. He’s far too big for her to be picking up, but she still can. And she doesn’t want him to get more cuts on his feet when she can already see some. She is the worst mother in the world. How could she do this?

“I-it hurts,” he whimpers, wiping at his nose while she gets the small pieces of glass out of his skin, guilt settling heavy in her stomach even though she knows it was an accident. An accident. She has to keep telling herself that it’s an accident because it was. Things happen. Accidents happen. That’s all this is. He’s simply in a little shock.

“I’m so, so sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to hurt you. It was an accident. I’m sorry.”

“I know. It just hurts.”

“I know, I know,” she soothes, glad he hasn’t fallen into some kind of full on meltdown as she gets one last piece of glass away from his leg. None of the cuts are deep enough to need stitches or result in any lasting damage, but she absolutely cannot believe that she just did that. “There. They’re all gone, kid. Stick your feet in the sink so we can wash them. They’re kind of stinky.”

“And bloody.”

“That too,” she laughs, if only because Henry’s face has suddenly turned from a quivering mess into some kind of focused fascination on his blood.

Great. She’s got a kid obsessed with blood. Maybe that means he’ll be a doctor or something and not turn out like his…she can’t go there yet. If she fully accepts it more than she did last night – or really this morning – it makes it real. And if it’s real…she can’t handle that right now. Later, she’ll handle it all later.

She flips the handle at the base of the faucet, running her hand under it to make sure it’s cold water before placing Henry’s feet in the basin and washing them off, thankful that she managed to do the dishes at some point yesterday. She barely even remembers anything about yesterday right now.

“So can I call my dad?” Henry asks again, and she feels her entire body go cold, any warmth she had left completely evaporating.

“Why do you want to call your dad?”

“I had a dream last night that there were dinosaurs where he lived, and I wanted to ask him if some of them escaped from the Smithsonian. Like in that movie.”

This child is the light of her life. He and Ada are just…everything.

And he loves his dad…he loves Neal so much that she can feel her intestines twisting and breaking down. She can feel the heaviness in her heart and all her limbs, and it is taking every ounce of strength that has settled itself deep in her bones over the years for her to keep from breaking down right here. She thought that she was done crying over Neal, that he couldn’t keep hurting her, whether he meant to or not, but here he is continuously surprising her.

Yesterday he got angry that Henry had Killian, that she was with Killian, and she didn’t understand it. She especially doesn’t understand it now when she knows that he apparently never gave two shits about them in the past.

Because he abandoned them.

He could have come home, and he didn’t.

Did he ever really love her? Was any of her marriage real? Why would he have married her if it wasn’t?

Does he love Henry now? God, she hopes that he loves Henry now. No matter what he’s done she needs some part of him to love Henry even if he does not deserve Henry. He doesn’t…she has no idea how to feel about anything. She can’t decide between curling into a ball on the couch and hiding away from the world for awhile or punching Neal in the face and demanding answers that she doesn’t think he’ll ever give her.

How does she even go about this?

She thought her ex-husband coming back from the dead would be the most complicated thing to happen to her.

It’s not.

Her ex-husband being some kind of criminal mastermind who is most likely going to jail is the most complicated thing to ever happen to her because she has to explain that to a kid who looks up to Neal as the hero that they always told him Neal was.

Even heroes fall.

Sometimes heroes aren’t heroes after all. Sometimes they wear the costume, but behind the mask are dark eyes full of deceit and hatred but that are seen as bright and cheerful and worthy of trust without any question.

She should have asked more questions. She should have asked better ones.

And maybe her kryptonite for her superpower with lies fails a little when she’s trusting someone she loves.

How could she have been so stupid? How could she have known?

“Emma, what the bloody hell is happening here?”

“You’re not supposed to use that word.”

“Aye, lad,” Killian confirms as she watches him step further into the kitchen with Ada in his arms, their daughter grabbing at his ears as he tentatively steps toward the sink, his eyes wide and full of concern. “I know. I’m sorry. What seems to have happened that you’ve got your feet in the sink?”

“Momma dropped her coffee, and the glass got stuck in my feet.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” Henry sighs, sticking his feet in the air and splattering water over the countertop, “it stings a little. Do we have any cool band-aids? Am I going to get a scar?”

“Yes to the band-aids, no to the scar.” Killian steps over the shattered cup and toward her, his hand ghosting over her arm until he’s looking into her eyes, pupils moving all over her face. “You have cuts on your feet, love. I’m going to…I’ll take care of Henry if you take Ada and stop moving around in here without shoes on.”

“I’m fine.”

His lips press together and curl downward, but he doesn’t say anything, simply nodding his head up and down and handing Ada to her. “Alright, lad, do you want Spiderman or Ninja Turtles? I know both are your favorite.”

She listens to the rest of their conversation as she takes Ada and sits down at the kitchen table, cringing a little with each step she takes. Shit, she must have a piece of glass in the sole of her foot.

“Mama.”

“Hi, sweetheart, hi,” she hums, placing Ada on the table and holding onto her leg, tapping her fingers against her leg. She turns one in less than a month, and Emma still can’t believe it. “Can you give me just a few moments to deal with this? I know you can’t, but a girl can hope.”

“Mama,” she repeats, clapping her hand down on Emma’s while she picks up her foot and looks at the glass ledged between her toes.

“One minute, Ada bug.” Tugging at the glass, she pulls it out, having to carefully maneuver when it snags on skin, a red gush of flood following it. “Shit.”

“You’re not supposed to say that word either,” Henry so helpfully adds.

“Pay attention to your father,” she mumbles back, having to bite her tongue to keep from cursing out her eight-year-old.

Once she gets the glass out and sees that there are no other pieces lodged in her skin, she stands and grabs Ada, picking her up and making her way to clean her own wound and wrap gauze around the balls of her feet and her toes. This entire morning is a bit of a mess, a bit of a disaster really (a whole ass disaster if she’s honest with herself), but this will most likely be the calmest part of her entire day. She’s gotten no sleep, her mind never turning off even when she and Killian laid in silence for hours this morning. At one point she had needed to turn her brain off, to get out of her own head, and she’d desperately kissed him until he made her forget, thrusting in and out of her and stealing her breath with the way his lips moved across her skin. And she did forget for at least a little while as pleasure curled between her thighs and heat spread across every inch of her flesh. It was exhilarating, intoxicating, and for those few minutes, she didn’t have to think about the brokenness in her heart over everything that she’d learned about Neal.

And everything she’s going to learn today.

She and Henry eventually get all cleaned up, as well as the broken glass and spilled coffee being removed from the floor, and after Killian makes Henry some scrambled eggs and toast and Emma forces Ada to eat some sweet potatoes, they move the kids to the living room and wait for Ruby to show up so that she and Killian can go down to the station. Her leg never stops moving, bouncing up and down off of the bandaged balls of her feet, and she props Ada on her knee because Emma’s nerves might as well work to make someone happy. And Ada definitely still gets the giggles from being bounced up and down.

What she would give for the innocence of a child.

“Hello, Jones clan,” Ruby announces when she walks in the house, easily opening the door since Killian left it unlocked. “Auntie Ruby is here, and I can guarantee my favorite munchkins are going to have more fun with me than with their parents.”

“Ruby,” Henry shouts, getting up from the couch and running toward her, holding his hand up so that they can do whatever kind of secret high five they’ve got going on this week. She doesn’t know how in the world that they come up with it in the five minutes that Ruby sees Henry every day when he comes by after school. “What are we going to do? Did you bring your paints? Can we go to your house so I can paint on the wall?”

“I like your enthusiasm, but we are staying here today. But I have been told by a very reliable source that ice cream is in your future today.”

“Yeah?”

“Absolutely.”

“Hey, Rubes,” she greets, getting up from the couch and leaving Ada on the cushions so that she can pull Ruby in for a hug. “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“Well, I didn’t have a date last night, so you guys got lucky while I did not.” She chuckles before pulling back, smiling at Ruby. “You look like crap, Emma. What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you later, okay?”

She raises a brow. “Tomorrow?”

“Soon.”

“We need to go, Swan,” Killian tells her as she watches him lean down to kiss Ada’s cheek, murmuring something that she can’t hear before he walks over to where she’s standing and rests his hand on her lower back. “Thanks for watching them, Ruby.”

“Like I said, I’d do anything for Emma. And you two look terrible, so I hope this is some kind of spa retreat you’re going on and lying about.”

She wishes.

It’s only a fifteen minute drive to the precinct, but her leg stays bouncing the entire time. She doesn’t know how Killian is calm enough to drive, but he effortlessly moves them through traffic, taking the detours around the downtown farmer’s markets until they’re pulling into a parking garage that is as gray and dreary as her mood.

Hell, it might even be brighter than her mood.

When Killian turns the engine off, all of the sounds of the car muting, she closes her eyes and inhales, her stomach attempting to settle itself. Killian doesn’t say anything, doesn’t encourage her to speak, but she feels the heavy, solid weight of his hand on her thigh through her leggingsand it causes a sob to catch in her throat. But she won’t let that one pass through her lips. Not now.

She has to be stronger than that.

In silence she opens her eyes and reaches for the handle on the door, pulling it and pushing it open after she unbuckles her seatbelt. She knows that Killian is following behind her, can feel his presence, but she takes it upon herself to walk down the stairwell with her eyes never leaving the ground until she crosses the bridge over into the building.

The moment she sees David when they walk into the precinct, her steps tick up a pace until she’s got her arms wrapped around his middle and his hand cradling the back of her head, pulling it closer to rest on his shoulder. He’s warm and smells like the spice of his cologne that he’s been wearing since she met him when she was fifteen. David has never liked change, and she finds an odd amount of comfort in that today.

“You okay?” he whispers into her ear, pressing his forearm a little harder against her back.

“No,” she admits honestly. There is no part of her that is okay, and there’s no point in lying to David. He knows more about her life than even she does right now, and he’s probably about to watch her have her heart ripped out of her chest. “I’m not.”

“You will be,” he promises, patting her head.

She nods her head and pulls back, taking a deep breath and straightening her back before fixing her ponytail, tightening it so that it rises on her head. “So where do we go? Who am I meeting?”

“Ah, that would be me,” a man with an Irish accent greets, holding his hand up with a shy smile on his face. He’s more handsome than she thought he would be, not that she really thought too much about it. She figured she’d be meeting with a man in his sixties with graying hair, not someone who can’t be older than forty with curly brown hair and a beard that kind of reminds her of Killian’s. “Agent Graham Humbert.”

“Emma Swan,” she says as she takes his hand. “And this is – ”

“We’ve met,” Killian grits as she turns to the side to look at him and the clench in his jaw. “Hello, Agent Humbert.”

“Hello, Mr. Jones.” Graham nods at him before looking back at David. “Do you two want any coffee or water before I take you into the conference room? We’ll be in there for awhile.”

“Coffee. All of the coffee that you have.”

“I’ll get it,” David offers, pressing his lips together before walking off to where she knows is their break down.

Agent Humbert tells them to follow them to the elevators, and they move up four floors before getting off and wandering down hallways she’s never been in before. Granted, she doesn’t spend too much time here, only coming when she’s getting lunch with David or dropping something off, and instead of focusing on how nervous she is, how her legs feel a little wobbly, she focuses on the sleek gray walls with few decorations, only framed certifications and one picture of the lighthouse resting just outside a conference room.

“So you’re a high school guidance counselor?” Agent Humbert asks as he holds open the door to the room, all of the blinds on the windows closed to the point where she’s starting to feel claustrophobic.

“I am.”

“My mum is an English teacher at a high school back home. I had her during my last year, and she mortified me nearly every single day.”

She laughs at that, but says nothing else, sitting down in an empty chair and scooting into the long table.

“Our son’s teacher is his aunt,” Killian fills in for her, pushing her chair in the rest of the way before he takes his own seat next to her. “I’m sure it’s not quite the same as having your mum be your teacher when you’re eighteen, but I know he gets frustrated over her assigning him homework.”

“This is David’s wife, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

She watches as Agent Humbert takes his seat across from the two of them, and it’s only then that she notices the boxes of files he has stacked behind him. For some reason, out of everything that is making her nervous and angry and terrified out of her mind, it’s those that really get to her. This is real. This is happening. This is…this is really happening.

Holy shit.

Killian’s hand finds hers underneath the table, and even though her hand feels a little lax, Killian twines their fingers together and squeezes before running his thumb back and forth over her knuckles. It’s warm and soothing and altogether comforting, but she cannot focus on anything but the blind that is slightly bent behind Detective Humbert’s head.

She wants to go back to yesterday morning where Ada and Henry were having simultaneous meltdowns. That was so much better than this.

“Miss Swan – ”

“Emma,” she corrects, “please call me Emma.”

He smiles. “You may call me Graham as well. We may as well get to know each other.”

“Don’t you already know everything there is to know about me?”

Killian’s thumb taps against her, and her eyes dart to the side to look at him. He’s smiling the slightest bit, and surprisingly that helps calm the rolls of nausea making their way through her.

Graham laughs a bit too, but she can tell that he feels awkward around the two of them. It makes sense. She kind of just called him out on the fact that the government has been spying on their family.

Again, holy shit.

“No, no I don’t,” he answers with a soft smile as he twists around and grabs a tablet off the top of the box. “I assume Mr. Jones told you most of what’s going on, including that we’ve been surveying your ex-husband as a part of protocol for any criminal of war as they readjust to life as a regular member of society.”

“He did.”

The door opens behind them, and she twists her head around to see David walking into the room with a tray of coffee all poured into to-go containers. He hands her the drink first, and she immediately takes a sip, needing the caffeine. Bless David Nolan for knowing how she takes her coffee so that it isn’t some sludge.

“And you know that we’ve found suspicious activity, yeah?”

“Do I know that Neal is a fucking liar, yeah? Yeah, I know that.”

“Emma,” David scolds, sitting down next to Graham. “Detective Humbert is just doing his job.”

“My life is falling apart, David, so excuse me if I’m not perfectly polite in every way. I’m not a freaking Disney character.”

Her eyes squeeze close at the same time that Killian’s hand squeezes hers. She doesn’t know what she’s going to do if he lets go.

“It’s okay,” Graham soothes, smiling at her before looking down at something on the tablet. “I can’t understand what you’re going through, but I understand that there are emotions behind it. I’m fully prepared to get yelled at many times today. Your partner did the same yesterday. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such creative cursing.”

She has to look at Killian then, has to look at the dark circles under his eyes and the lines covering his face that seem a little more prominent than usual. For a few minutes last night she took the time to check on how he was doing, to make sure that he was okay, because she knows just how much he’s been beating himself up over all of this. She knows. For weeks she thought it was something else, she thought that he was working on a proposal or something. How could she have continuously been so blind to things that were happening under her nose? A part of her understands not knowing that Neal had other loyalties, but another part tells her that she should have known. She knows him better than anyone does, at least she thought she did, and she should have known something was up.

With Killian…she has no reasoning or excuses. There is no plausible reason for her to have not realized that he was struggling with something far bigger than she ever could have imagined.

She was so damn stupid for thinking that he was okay.

She was so damn selfish for spending all of that time thinking that he didn’t want to marry her because he thought that she was too much and not enough all at once when Killian has never made her feel anything but just right.

Last night he walked into the home that they share with secrets that he knew would break her down, and he still managed to do that, to say the words, to try to calmly explain things to her when she was losing her mind. She gulps and blinks for a moment to calm herself before moving their hands from her thigh and bring them to her mouth so that she can brush her lips against his wrist, a silent thank you for taking all of this on.

From now on, though, they have to talk about things. They are not carrying these burdens alone.

“Just…can you go ahead and talk to me about everything? You don’t have to beat around the bush. I can handle it.”

Graham nods before reaching behind him and handing David a file of paper and returning to his tablet. “So we had a protocol to follow Sergeant Cassidy because he fit the profile for someone who had been tortured and brainwashed, possibly for terroristic threats. He was so well adjusted when he returned home, all of his psychological profiles being passed with flying colors, and all of his scars seemed to be aged and healed, not fresh ones. None of that really means anything, but we have discovered a pattern in the past for prisoners of war that make things like that be a warning sign.”

“For terrorism?”

“Yes, but we don’t think Sergeant Cassidy is carrying out some kind of terroristic plot to destroy the government or kill our leaders. But that is part of the reason therapy was strongly encouraged, especially by a therapist that the government recommended, but as soon as Neal was finished with his mandated sessions, he stopped going altogether.”

“When was that?”

“December.”

She thought he went every week. He’s…he hasn’t been going in four months.

“So where did he go?”

“We’re not sure entirely. Killian said that several times he saw Neal getting into a car or not going to his appointments or his support groups. That was a bloody risky move, by the way.”

“Keep going,” Killian demands, his voice gruff as he’s obviously not in the mood to talk about anything that he did to help this. Neal is his friend too, and it all stems back to her not even knowing how in the world he had the strength to keep himself together.

“What this all basically boils down to,” Graham continues while David flips a page in his folder, writing down notes, “is that we’re after Robert Gold, Sergeant Cassidy’s father. I’ve only been involved recently since this now involves the United States, so I don’t have the full extent of experience like some of my colleagues overseas.”

“Then why aren’t they talking to us?”

“Because the things they know they cannot tell you, and I tend to get assigned to explaining things to family and questioning them for international affairs since the bureau thinks that my dual citizenship makes me seem worldly or something.”

That sounds like a load of crap, but Killian gets things like that happening to him all of the time because he used to live in England.

“Emma,” David sighs, finally speaking, “when you and Neal were dating, what did he tell you about his father?”

She turns to David, happy to be talking to a familiar face, happy to be talking to her brother. She needs him as much as she needs Killian right now, and a part of her can’t believe he’s allowed to be in this room. None of this makes any sense, but she’s kind of given up on the hope that things will. Insanity is her new normal.

“That he was dead, that his mom was dead,” she explains, taking a sip of her coffee. “He grew up as an orphan, and I believed him because I mostly did too, you know? I felt like that made him understand me in a way that a lot of people can’t, so I had absolutely no idea that his dad was alive. I can’t give you any information about that because I know nothing about it. But…Robert Gold, that’s his name? And he’s an engineer?”

“His name is Robert Gold, yes. He’s sixty years old, from London, and he owns Aurum Engineering. He’s been suspected of illegal arms manufacturing and trafficking for a little over two decades, but the trails are always covered expertly. It’s…there were no flaws until Neal Gold was hired as a project manager in the company. Paper trails started to appear so that we could track where shipments of weapons were being delivered, and last October, they started showing up in Maine. It took awhile for the connection to be made, as I was unaware of the case happening in England, but once it was, it was pretty easy to tie together.”

“I get…” she sighs, throwing her head back and sinking a little further into her chair so that her neck rests against the cushions of it. “I get that Neal’s dad is apparently alive, which is batshit crazy, and that the two of them are apparently making money off of selling weapons to criminals, which is also batshit crazy, but I need someone to explain to me how in the world Neal went from being deployed and captured by Al-Qaeda to living with his dad in London to being rescued and moved home. None of that makes any fucking sense.”

She reluctantly releases Killian’s hand and pushes back from her chair, standing to her feet and pacing back and forth over the gray carpet. She can’t look at any of the people in this room anymore. She can’t even look at Killian because right now she feels like looking at him will only break her down instead of building her up. This is so damn much to take in, and even though she hasn’t slept in over twenty-four hours, she cannot sit down to listen to this. She needs to know how and why Neal left her, and even though she knows that Graham can’t really give her those answers, she wants them.

She needs them.

“The people Robert Gold sells his weapons to, his main source of income comes from criminal and terrorist organizations, including the one that captured Sergeant Cassidy. We don’t know for sure, especially because this isn’t our main focus, but we believe that Sergeant Cassidy most likely told his captors who his father was in some desperate attempt to escape. A man who was a prisoner at the same time as him, August Booth, told us that one day they were in the cell together and the next that Sergeant Cassidy was gone. He’d assumed that Sergeant Cassidy was dead, but then he showed back up years later looking as healthy as he did when they were captured.”

“Neal,” she mumbles under her breath, watching the white of her sneakers move against the ugly gray carpet. “Call him Neal instead of Sergeant Cassidy. You’re ripping apart our lives. You can call us by our first names.”

“Neal then,” Graham agrees. “We’re assuming that his father paid for his release, and that’s why Neal started living in England under his birth name. We were kind of hoping you could help tell us why he’d stage being captured again only to be rescued so he could come home.”

Her pacing stops, and she digs her heels into the carpet, wishing that she could burrow a hole in the floor and escape all of this. Her legs feel heavy enough. She should be able to fall right through the floor, but realistically she knows that she cannot. When she looks up, David is staring at her, his eyes widened, and she has to look away and back to the floor. She can handle this if she’s looking at the floor and focusing on the pulls in the carpet.

“I don’t know,” she answers honestly, the words steadier than she thought they would be even though she can hear the tremble in her own voice. “I don’t fucking know, okay? I don’t know anything. All I knew was that my husband died, and I was left alone with our baby. It took me years to even come close to being okay with that, to moving on, and even with that, I still had all of this lingering guilt, you know? I felt like I wasn’t allowed to be happy again. And then I was. I had this great life, and then Neal shows up alive which was…wonderful. But apparently, he’s a lying jackass who left me and our son, but no, no I don’t know why he would fake another capture and rescue and come back into our lives just to do all of this. I can give you nothing.”

Her lungs gasp for air when she’s finished talking, and as her chest keeps heaving, she settles back down in her chair, folding her arms over each other and resting her face against her forearms on the table. A hand finds her back, rubbing in circles, and she refuses to look up as she keeps speaking.

“I don’t know,” she continues. “I don’t know anything. I don’t know anything about Neal leaving me, abandoning me. I don’t know anything about him coming back because he sure as hell didn’t come back for me. And if he did, he obviously didn’t do any research on me because he would have seen that I had a baby with another man, which he seemed to be very surprised at. But who knows? That could have been a lie too.” She groans, leaning back in her chair and running her hands through her hair as she stares Graham down. “I was an idiot and didn’t see any of the signs, any of the clues. Why would I ever suspect anything? To me, Neal is my sometimes asshole ex who I thought was my friend. I didn’t see the things Killian or David saw. I didn’t see any of it. But my question is, out of everything since you apparently don’t know anything, is why the hell haven’t you arrested him yet? You say you have all of this evidence, but he’s still living in Washington DC working for the fucking government, and you guys haven’t done a damn thing about it.”

Graham simply nods his head, his lips staying in a firm line. He really must be used to upset people yelling at him.

“We don’t want to alert his father to anything since, really, we don’t care about Neal. We mostly care about Mr. Gold. Neal will undoubtedly be arrested and go to prison, but we’d be willing to work with him to give us information on his father. His jail sentence would be at a minimum for his crimes, and one day he could reenter society, be a part of your family again.”

“Like hell he will,” Killian growls, slamming his hand down on the table. “You barely said any of this yesterday. You’re telling me that he has lied to the federal government, to all of us, and has helped actual terrorists, and you say as long as he helps you get dear old dad in jail, he can be free in a few years with a pat on the back and a free invitation to come back into my son’s life.”

“It’s how the law works.”

“It’s fucking bullshit.”

“Killian – ”

“No, Swan,” he stops, looking down at her while his upper lips snarls, white teeth showing. “I have killed myself over this, over trying to protect our family, and now I’m told that they only want Neal’s dad.”

“We discussed that yesterday. You knew that.”

“I thought you wanted them both. That’s the impression that I was under. I’m being dragged through the mud, my girlfriend is being dragged through the mud, and it’s for what? So we can essentially help Neal go free on a shortened sentence?”

“Isn’t that what you’d want? So you can all be a family again one day?”

Killian cackles, actually cackles, and she wonders if she sounded as crazy, as mad, as she did earlier. She’s never heard him like this, never heard his laugh as twisted as this, and her skin breaks out in gooseflesh. This is all too much, and she’s still so damn confused about everything.

“The man is a criminal who left his son and his wife and lied about all of it. He doesn’t deserve any part of them. He doesn’t deserve to be let off for his crimes simply because his father is the mastermind behind it all. He doesn’t – I don’t want him back in my life, in my son’s life, and I’m sure that Emma doesn’t either.”

Killian looks over at her, his eyes widened with rage, and she nods her head in agreement. “For all of mankind or whatever, I would definitely like an arms manufacturer who sells weapons to terrorists and criminals to be arrested and charged and for all of that to stop. For me personally, I think if Neal was a part of this, he deserves his due too. It breaks my heart for Henry, for me, and I don’t want our son around someone who could cause him harm, even if I don’t think that Neal would do anything to hurt Henry. But Neal works for the State Department dealing with arms control. Obviously he’s not innocent. He could be hurting a hell of a lot of people, and you’re going to let him go…just like that.”

“We thought this was what the two of you would want for your son.”

“Have you, Detective Humbert, ever been betrayed by the person you loved most in the world? You ever had everything taken away from you and had your world altered forever? Had everything you thought you knew ended up being a lie? No? You haven’t? I didn’t think so. But I have. That happened to me, and there’s not going to be some tearful, heartfelt family moment where I forgive him.”

“He’ll do his time,” Graham sighs as she tries to catch her breath after her rant, but it doesn’t bring her any comfort.

Nothing for the rest of the day does.

She and Killian spend the next five hours talking to Graham and David. It’s mostly Graham, but David pipes in every now and then. She thinks that maybe Graham expects her to feel better talking everything through, making it all be coherent, but little by little she can tell that she’s only really there because they need more information from her. But she doesn’t know. She can’t answer any of their questions about Neal because she doesn’t know any of the answers.

She doesn’t know anything. Not anymore.

No part of her life makes sense.

She can’t…this is really happening. How the hell is she going to tell Henry? Does she really even have to?

Every part of her body is numb, all of the sensations dulled as a low buzz rings in her ears, and even though she knows they leave the building, that she hugs David and shakes Detective Humbert’s hand, she doesn’t really recall. All she knows is that right now she’s sitting with Killian in the parking lot of a Whole Foods and staring at people walking in and out of the building because she told him that she wasn’t ready to go home yet.

The warmth of his right hand covers her left, their fingers intertwined, and she feels the rough pad of his thumb moving over her knuckles once more. It’s soothing like earlier, and it makes her stomach twist a little less inside as she messes with the pendant around her neck. Laughter bubbles within her, working its way up her throat and past her lips, and the sound almost seems unrecognizable as it makes its way through the air and settles between she and Killian. His thumb stops moving against hers for a brief moment before starting up again all while her chest heaves in laughter.

She’s lost her mind.

“Would you care to enlighten me to what’s happening in that mind of yours? I’m afraid I missed the joke.”

“I – I…it’s,” she sniffles, leaning her head back against the headrest while her eyes squeeze closed. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Why do you think that?”

She twists her head to the side to look at Killian and his soft smile and quirked brow. She loves him so damn much and doesn’t understand how in the world she got lucky enough to have such a partner in life when she wasn’t ever supposed to have such good things in her life. Not like Killian and her kids and her family. Not like this.

“Can I – can I share something ridiculous with you?”

He nods his head, his lips still curved into a smile even though she can see how stressed he is from the heaviness of his eyes. “You can share anything with me.”

God. It’s just not fair sometimes. He is such a damn good man.

“This whole time, these weeks that you’ve been secretive, I…this is dumb, okay? And literally the last thing I should be focusing on, but this whole time I thought you were being weird about things because you were going to propose. Like, how self-centered am I for not noticing that you were going through so much and for thinking that it was all about me? How many times did I blatantly ignore your suffering and make it about us getting married when that doesn’t even matter right now?”

Killian’s face doesn’t change, his smile never faltering, but he does bring their hands to his mouth and brush his lips across her knuckles while his eyes close, unfairly long lashes landing against his cheek. “Emma, my love, I have loved several women in my life, but I have never loved anyone in the way that I love you. You are – you are my everything,” he promises, opening his eyes and reaching his free hand over to her to rest his thumb against her cheek while her stomach twists inside. But in a good way this time. “I know that’s what you’ve been thinking, and darling, I’m glad for it. You deserved to be thinking happy things, hopeful things, instead of being in the pits of despair like I was. You’re not selfish. You’re human, and you were happy. That’s what I was trying to do…keep you happy.”

“I want you to be happy too.”

“Aye, and I am. I mean, not necessarily today but overall. I’ve got this great life. I have all of these people who love me, and I have these two kids who make my life worth living even when they’re being pains in my ass. And I have you, the woman who makes me laugh and the woman who I very much intend on marrying once our lives aren’t quite so hectic.”

“Is that every going to happen?”

“I have faith that it will, yeah,” he nods before leaning in to softly brush his lips over hers, nothing but the barest of touches that still means the absolute world to her. “You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known, and even though I have trouble accepting this for myself, I want you to know that everything you feel is valid, love. You were in the dark about a lot of things, but that’s not going to happen anymore. We’ve been through too much not to be open with each other.”

She nods her head in response, resting her forehead to Killian’s as his nose bumps hers. “I hate him for making me learn to love him again only for him to do this to us.”

“Me too.”

For the next hour she and Killian sit in that parking lot doing little more than exchanging a few words every so often, some of them deep, others playful, most of them solemn, but eventually she agrees that she’s ready to go home and hug their children and maybe not think about all of the heaviness that’s surrounding them. All she wants is to eat some junk food and sit with her family as they watch a movie in the darkness of the living room. She wants that comfort, and the thought of it makes her feel infinitely better as Killian pulls into the driveway and puts the car in park, squeezing her hand one more time before she steps out.

“Mom,” Henry squeals when she walks in the door, running up to her and pointing behind him, “look, my dad’s here.”

The words don’t register before the sight of him standing in the living room with Ada on his hip does, and suddenly she can focus on nothing but his arm wrapped around her daughter’s waist.

“Hey, Ems,” Neal smiles.

And her stomach drops.

#rising from the ashes #cs fic #cs ff #captain swan fic

111 notes · View notes

thdorkmagnet · 5 years ago

Text

For the First Time in Forever (Star is Anna AU)

Summary: A series of one-shots and multi-chapters proving why Star Butterfly should be considered a Disney Princess, as Star and company take over the roles of all your favorite Disney Princess characters! (Starco inevitable)

Check out my other stuff on Fanfiction!

Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters are owned by Daron Nefcy and Disney. Frozen belongs to Disney. All rights go to their respective owners.

"Meteora!" Star yelled into the blizzard, her voice quivering as her body shook from the freezing chill. She slowly trudged her way through snow bank after snow bank, while the heavy, numbing wind tried it's best to freeze her in place. Still she pushed her shaking form on, trying to focus on finding her sister, instead of the biting chill that had frozen everything from her toes to her face. "Meteora! Meteora, where are you?!" She screamed, her breath fogged and her breathing labored, every step heavier than the last. She ran her hands up and down her arms trying to create some form of warmth but never with any success. It didn't help that she hadn't changed before foolishly deciding to face the elements on a long trek through the countryside meaning she was still wearing her regular sea green dress, purple and orange leggings, and purple boots, none of which had equipped her for the cold weather, only the thin velvet cape she had been given provided her any sort of warmth, but even it did very little against the freezing wind.

"Ugh, look I'm sorry okay!" Star tried again, quickly losing patience with her sister and her very problematic powers. "I shouldn't have said those things! But you were being difficult!" At her raised tone, another chill jumped down her spine, making her body shake even more. "I mean," she quickly backtracked. "We both made mistakes so maybe please come out so we can talk about this?"

There was no response and Star merely shivered and began muttering under her breath, "Stupid snow. Stupid Meteora. If she had just told me about her powers instead of exploding out of nowhere than none of this would be happening. But noooo she just had to lock herself away and keep secrets from me." Star sighed, hurt crossing her face for a second, before she tripped over a branch hidden in the snow and fell flat on her face. She quickly sat up, yelling to the sky, "Ugh why did it have to snow?!"

How had her day turned around like this? Today was supposed to be amazing, today was supposed to be special but not like this, it was supposed to be the best day of her life. Instead it had turned into one of the worst and it was all because of her sister's secret. The blond picked herself back up, her body now covered in snow as she continued through the blizzard, her body shuddering more and more with every step as she thought back over the events that had led her to here.

…

For about as long as Star could remember she had been alone.

Sure for the first several years of her childhood she had had her sister to keep her company and play with. Meteora was always so much fun and she could recall all their good times together like they were yesterday. Even though Star was a few years younger than her, Meteora was always so nice and helpful to her needs, playing with her and being there for her whenever she needed her and Star cherished those memories more than anything. She could still remember waking her sister up in the middle of the nigh to drag her outside and build a snowman for no reason other than she wanted to and her sister willingly complying, smiling and giggling along with her as they stayed up into the late hours of the night.

Until one day, Meteora locked herself in her room and never came out. At first, Star thought she was just sick and after a week of waiting for her to get better and asking her parents as many questions about what was wrong with her as possible (only to ever receive a vague answer), she realized that her sister wasn't ill, she just didn't to leave her room for some reason.

That was when Star had changed tactics and had began a daily ritual of knocking on her door and begging her to come outside and play with her, listing every activity she could think of to get her to agree, only to either be ignored or turned away. But Star was not one to quit so easily, she stayed persistent hoping to spark some kind of reaction out of her other than rejection, and as her boredom and loneliness grew, so did her desperation and determination. Still nothing worked and so Star spent most of her days laying around the castle trying to entertain herself and fight the losing battle against her greatest nemesis: boredom.

On top of that, she wasn't even allowed to leave the castle, the gates which once stayed open were now closed and sealed tight. Her mother and father were always busy, the few servants they kept in the castle kept to themselves mostly, and Meteora... well she was just a lost cause.

And it stayed like this for years and years until Star was convinced that this was just the way it was, this was just her life. She stopped knocking on her sister's door, most of the time avoiding her wing of the castle altogether, because as much as she tried not to let it bother her, it hurt every time she knocked and received no answer other than a short, “Go away, Star!”

In fact the very last time she had knocked on her sister's door at all was the day of her parent's funeral.

They had announced that they were leaving on a trip and would be gone for two weeks. Star had been sad to see them go, but was used to being alone by now so it didn't really bug her that much that they wouldn't be there at the castle. She could still remember giving them each a tight hug and saying brightly, “See you in two weeks, guys!”

It was a few nights later when she received the news that her parent's ship had sunk. She had been devastated, her entire world shattering around her as she struggled to cope with the loss of her beloved mom and dad. And in her lowest moment imaginable, feeling empty and broken and so lost she felt a massive weight on her chest that seemed to be pressing down on her making it difficult to breathe, she had gone to the only person she had left: her sister Meteora. She knocked only once, fighting back tears as she begged one last time for her to come out, telling her how much she needed her and how she was there for her and to please not shut her out and just let her in. But when she received no answer Star had just collapsed against the door, crying and weeping, no longer able to hold back the pain and sorrow she felt coming to her in waves. But as she wept she could almost swear she heard soft sobbing from the other side of the door, and there was nothing she could do about it.

A few more years passed until at last Meteora was 18, finally old enough to take the throne. Star (now 15 years old herself) was ecstatic about her sister's coronation day. Cause with that day promised the thing she had been dreaming about for so many years... the gates would open. And with them would come a flood people, not just from town but from their surrounding kingdoms and after the ceremony there would even be a ball to celebrate their new ruler's rise to the throne.

Star had been giddy, telling her favorite paintings (so she talked to pictures on the wall, so what?) all about her plans for the big day. Her imagination ran wild as she envisioned every possible dream scenario she could cook up, most of them ending with her falling in love with a handsome stranger. And as the days ticked by at their ever slow pace, Star's eagerness only grew.

Finally, the day arrived and Star had been up bright and early, energetically bouncing around the castle as the servants rushed to get ready around her. She couldn't keep her enthusiasm contained, especially as she heard the order being called out for the gates to be opened. She had raced outside, waving to the large crowd of guests as they passed, standing on the railing of the bridge leading to the castle and walking along it as she took in every smiling and excited face that passed. The only face she hadn't seen smiling, in fact, was a little man (who she later learned was named Duke Ludo of Weaseltown or something like that) he instead just had a dark and a little unnerving look on his face as he entered into the castle, surrounded by at least three guards.

But Star hadn't taken much stock of the man, her focus and attention on all the new sights and smells the village had to offer as she quickly rushed around, trying to see as much of it all as she could. She had just been running down by the harbor when she had suddenly crashed into the front of a horse, causing her to stumble back and land in an empty rowboat, sitting on the edge of the dock. “Hey, watch where your going you jerk!” Star shouted up at whoever she had just crashed to in annoyance, only to feel her cheeks light up with a blush as she saw a young man with spiky, salmon colored hair and a fancy white suit, climb down off his horse and quickly race over to check on her.

“Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, are you alright?” he asked, offering her a hand up, but as he did the boat tilted, beginning to fall over the edge and he quickly tightened her grip on her hand, yanking her off the boat as it hit the sea below. The blond landed against his chest, before looking up at the pair of gorgeous red eyes he had, lost for words for a second, even as he pushed her away, now holding her at arm's length. “Well that was a real close one,” he joked, chuckling awkwardly to try and diffuse the uncomfortable tension that had formed. Star however, was incapable of responding, stumbling around for words that seemed to be lost on her at the moment. She ended up only babbling out incoherent nonsense that caused the boy to raise an eyebrow at her weird behavior. “Uhhh, do you need me to get you a doctor or something, cause your kinda not making any sense?” he hesitantly asked.

Star finally got a hold of herself as she stumbled out, “Oh, n-no-no, I'm fine.”

“Well, I-I'm really sorry for running into you back there, I didn't see you,” the boy apologized, shooting her a very remorseful look.

“Oh that,” Star said, before scoffing and waving a hand in the air, trying to shrug off the whole situation. “Don't worry about it. I've taken way worse. I'm totally good. In fact, I'm better than good, I'm...” she paused to sigh dreamily. “...great even.”

The boy merely smiled in return before saying, “Well that's cool to hear, my name is Prince Tom of the Southern Isles.” He bowed and Star did a loose curtsey in reply.

“Star Butterfly,” she said simply, but Tom quickly gasped.

“The princess?” he exclaimed, before dropping down onto one knee in respect. “Your Majesty, I'm sorry for not recognizing you sooner.”

“Oh, no, no, you don't have to do that,” Star assured the prince, grabbing his arm and helping him stand. “Just Star is fine. You don't have to be formal around me.”

“Okay then, how about I just call you Starship from now on,” he said in an almost flirty tone and Star quickly blushed.

“You can call me whatever you want,” she said shyly, folding her hand behind her back.

“Great then, I guess I'll see you later at the coronation,” the boy said and Star nodded dumbly.

“Yeah, guess you will,” she sighed, still lost in his eyes.

“Cool.”

And with that, the two had departed, leaving Star in a lovesick daze. The next time she had seen him was at the coronation, though he had looked annoyed from his seat in the front row, since he had two people asleep next to him, using each shoulder as an arm rest and drooling on him the whole time. He seemed about ready to shove them off when Star had caught his eye and a smile had crossed his face as he waved to her, which she returned eagerly.

Meteora had been a bit tense, Star remembered thinking, as she stood next at the front of the large room. A choir was singing their national anthem while the young woman looked liked she might puke at any moment. Star had just chocked it up to anxiety though, after all she did shut herself off from the world, so clearly being around people must make her uncomfortable... even if one of those people was her own sister. She had even noticed her sister's hands shaking as she took the scepter and the small orb (which was always used for the coronation for some reason) into her hands. She had stood still as a statue as the priest went into his whole speech in their native tongue about crowning her and whatnot before the crown was placed on her head and the crowd began clapping and cheering for their new queen. Star wasn't a bit surprised as her sister almost threw the objects back onto their sacred pillow and slipped her gloves back on with a relieved sigh. She did always have this weird thing about dirt.

After that, things continued to go smoothly as the crowd quickly emptied into the ballroom, where a cheerful and pleasant party began. As soon as Star had entered, she had been swept away by a guard who decided it was a great idea to position her right next to her sister and for a minute the two just stood awkwardly next to each other struggling to find something to say. Meteora kept rubbing a hand up and down her arm and didn't even seem to want to look her way, while Star just had her arms wrapped around herself. “Uh hey,” she had finally tried, figuring she could at least take the initiative and try and strike up a conversation with her sister. “Sooo, haven't seen you in a while...” Understatement of the year. “You been... good.”

Meteora nodded, a small smile dancing on her lips. “Yeah, I'm fine,” she said just as awkwardly as Star.

“Well you look good,” Star blurted out. “You look like a real queen.”

“Yeah I guess so, don't really feel much like it yet,” Meteora replied, her body seeming to relax some the more they talked which encouraged Star to move a teensy bit closer.

“Come on, your gonna do a great job at it,” Star encouraged her.

“Thanks,” her sister replied with a bright grin.

Star looked out at all the other party-goers and sighed in awe, “Woooww this is sooo cool! Can you believe we're at a real party?”

Meteora chuckled slightly and said, “Not really. Though didn't we throw a party way back in the day?”

“Oh yeah,” Star said with a grin, the memory resurfacing in her mind, though it felt a bit fuzzy, like she was having trouble holding onto it. That tended to happen a lot though whenever she thought about the old days. “It was for your birthday, right?”

Meteora was now openly laughing, a mischievous glint in her eye as she recalled the incident. “Yeah, and we ended up trashing the entire dining room because you snuck an entire heard of pigs inside.”

The two sisters shared a laugh for a moment, Star had felt her spirits rising, as a connection that she had thought had long since severed began to regrow. It felt like real progress toward rekindling their friendship. After all she wasn't running off and slamming the door shut in her face, she was actually talking to her and she felt like they were getting along. Too bad she ended up messing it all up with the very next sentence. “Man I miss those days, it's been forever since we just hung out.”

Meteora's smile dropped in an instant, the same guarded look that Star hated seeing on her replacing her pleasant grin. “Well, things are different now, it can't go back to the way things used to be,” she said her voice full of emotion that she seemed to be struggling to choke down.

“Why not?” Star asked as innocently as she could but this seemed to push Meteora over the edge as she she turned away from her sister and retorted sharply, “Because I said so.”

The blond's eyes filled with tears as she quickly excused herself in a hushed tone, walking through the crowded ballroom as she tried to put as much distance between herself and Meteora as she could. But she had been stopped by Duke Ludo who gave her what she guessed was supposed to be a smooth smile. “Milady, would you do me the honor of sharing your first dance with me?” He bowed low in front of her and Star quickly wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand as she declined him softly, “Um, no thank you, I-I can't-”

“Well why not?” Ludo insisted, looking annoyed at her refusal.

Before Star could open her mouth to try and come up with an excuse, she felt a hand land on her side and a presence appear behind her. “Because she promised her first dance to me,” Tom's voice spoke up and Star looked over her shoulder at him with surprise. He winked at her, which made her whole face blush, but she did smile back.

She turned back around to face Ludo and, playing along, shrugged and told him, “Sorry, but a promise is a promise.”

Ludo just grumbled something under his breath and stormed away, rejected. The moment he was out of earshot, Star sighed before giving Tom a deeply grateful smile. “Thanks, I didn't know what I was gonna do about him.”

“Don't mention it,” Tom said, grabbing her arm and twirling her around to face him. “Just give me that dance you owe me and we'll call it even.”

Star giggled, but complied, saying teasingly, “Well if I must.” She placed a hand on his shoulder and the other locked with his own as they moved smoothly across the dance floor. “Gotta say that was pretty noble of you Tom, coming to my rescue like that.”

“Well that is what us princes do,” he said smoothly.

Star leaned in a little closer as she asked, “You mostly did it just to annoy that Ludo guy though, didn't you?”

Tom smiled mischievously over at the small man, watching them with a death glare, before admitting, “It didn't hurt anything.”

Star laughed as the two moved in perfect sync around the ballroom.

Star and Tom pretty much hit it off after that, escaping from the hustle and bustle of the party and moving onto a quiet balcony to talk. And that's exactly what the two did, chatting and sharing their past life experiences with each other. He was quick to ask the question that almost everyone had which was about the pure white streak she had in her hair and Star was quick to explain to him that she had been born with it and that it was really no big deal. She never got why so many people focused on that, she didn't think it was really that weird.

Soon the hours began to fly by as they talked more and more and Star found out that Tom was surprisingly relatable. He too had had some bad experiences with his siblings in the past and considering he had 13 of them, boy did he have some stories to share. Eventually the two grew tired of talking and so they instead started sneaking into restricted areas of the castle and running from the guards just for the heck of it and Star found herself having a blast with the boy. Probably the most fun she had had in years.

Which why when he had caught her off guard as the two sat on the roof of the castle, just staring up at the stars, and he suddenly asked, “Okay am I crazy or do we just seem right for each other?” her instant reply had been, “Heck yeah we do.” She sighed leaning her head against his shoulder making him blush, “This has been one of the best nights of my life. I wish it would never end.”

Tom paused for a moment, looking deep in thought, while Star just enjoyed cuddling against the handsome prince. “What if... it didn't have to?” he finally said and Star instantly sat up, staring at him wide-eyed.

“Huh? Wh-What do you mean?” she asked, giving him a confused but hopeful look. She was desperate, she didn't want to be alone anymore, this night had only proved to her how starved she was for human affection of any kind and she wasn't really sure she could go back now that she had had a taste of what her life could be like. If Tom was offering her a solution then she would take it, whatever it was.

“Well, and this is probably a pretty insane idea,” he began hesitantly, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly. “But it wouldn't have to end if... we got married.”

Star was stunned, her body freezing up and refusing to move as she just stared at him blankly, her mind incapable of coming up with a reply. Tom watched her reaction closely and cringed, believing he had just made a huge mistake. “Oh man, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.”

“YES!” Star screamed a second later, tackling him with a tight hug that nearly caused them both to slip off and plummet to their death, but luckily Tom was able to hold them steady for a moment.

“You mean it, you really want to,” Tom said in surprise.

“Yes, yes, a thousand times yes,” Star squealed with delight. “Let's do it, let's get married! Oh my gosh this is gonna be so great!”

“You can't get married.” That was the first thing Meteora had said when Star and Tom had gone to her asking for her blessing, giving them a deadpanned stare and speaking in a firm, no nonsense voice that left no room for arguments.

Still Star felt her whole world crumbling at this declaration as she said in shock, “What, why not?”

“Oh I don't know maybe because you know literally just met him today and know nothing about him,” Meteora hissed back, looking beyond annoyed at her sister's actions.

“I know more about him than I do you!” Star argued, her tone beginning to raise some. Meteora's face seemed to soften for a second, a hurt look appearing on her face, before she hardened it with the rest of her features.

“Well that may be but I am still your queen and you still have to do as I say,” Meteora said sharply, struggling to keep her anger down and in check.

“Not if your rule makes no sense, admit it you just want to take away my one chance at happiness because you want me to be miserable like you!” Star shouted, her frustration reaching an all-time high.

“Um, so should I go and let you two work this out or-” Tom asked awkwardly, starting to slowly inch away from the two sister's quarrel but Star latched an arm onto him and pulled him back to her side.

“No way, you are my future husband, anything she wants to say to me she can say to you too,” Star said stubbornly.

“Greeaaattt,” Tom slowly said, trying to keep a supportive smile on his lips despite the intense discomfort he was feeling.

“He is not your future husband because you aren't getting married to him!” Meteora shouted.

“Yes I am!”

“No, Star you aren't.” And with that Meteora turned her back on her sister saying to one of the guards. “The party is over, close the gates.”

“What, no?!” Star screamed in terror as she watched her sister walking away. No, no this couldn't be happening. This was supposed to be her happily ever after, but her sister was about to take that away from her. She couldn't let this happen. She had to stop this, she couldn't take another year alone.

And so without thinking, Star lunged forward, ripping one of the gloves from Meteora's hand, her older sister turning around to stare at her with a look ranging from shock to terror. “Give me back my glove,” Meteora said desperately and Star felt her stomach twist with guilt. But she wasn't backing down yet, she had her attention again, she needed to use this.

“No, not until you listen to me,” Star argued quickly, hiding the glove behind her back even as her sister tried to lunge forward to snatch it back. At the point they had attracted an audience but Star didn't care, she was going to say her piece and nothing was going to stop her. “You have treated me like this my whole life and I want to know why? Why do you always shove me aside? Why do you lock me out and never listen to me? Don't you see how miserable I am here? Why are you trying to take away the one good thing that I have had in years?”

Her sister was shaking her head, growling under her breath and Star didn't even notice the temperature around them dropping, all she saw was the her sister looked close to snapping and still she pushed her more. She wanted to get a reaction out of her, she had to know the reason why... no matter what. “Why Meteora?! Why can't you just let me be happy for once?!” Star yelled at the top of her lungs, tears starting to surface in her eyes.

“If you aren't happy, then why don't you just... leave!” Meteora screamed, throwing her arm out. But a cold force followed this action, a biting wind knocked Star and several others down as thick shards of ice appeared around the young queen's body. She took a step back, her eyes wide with a level of fear Star had never seen on any human being in her life, but the blond was too dazed by what she was seeing to say anything, her body frozen as a collective gasp fell through the audience. Star took a quick look around at the other members of the crowd, everyone looking at their ruler with shock and horror, Tom was stunned into silence as well, his eyes darting from the ice to Meteora and then over to Star as if silently asking her if she knew what was going on.

But then there was a shout from the crowd as Duke Ludo suddenly yelled, “Magic! She has dark magic! She's a monster!” He stabbed an accusing finger in the queen's direction and she stumbled back even more, her breathing erratic and her eyes jumping around the room in terror.

“I-I, no! No it's not like that!” Meteora panickingly cried. “I'm not a monster, I'm not!” But then for a brief instant she locked eyes with Star and the blond was able to read her expression for the first ever and what she saw was guilt, fear, and loneliness, so much packed into one short exchange that it took Star's breath away.

Meteora seemed to panic even more as she spotted Star, saying under her breath with tear-streaked eyes, “I'm sorry.” She then turned on her heels and throwing the doors open, ran from the castle, from the judging eyes... from Star. Somehow, Star got control of her limbs back as she hopped to her feet and chased after her sister, shouting after her, “Meteora wait! Stop! Come back!”

But her sister didn't listen as she raced through the courtyard, freezing everything she came across, causing the crowd of people to scream in terror and cower from her, which only seemed to make the place grow colder. Star panted as she tried to keep up with her sister but it was hard to do as the ground beneath her turned to ice, making her slip and slide across the courtyard, while Meteora seemed to have no trouble running.

Eventually Meteora reached the fjord, Star a short ways behind her, still begging and pleading with her to come back so they could talk it out. But her older sister no longer seemed to feel like listening as she gave one last glance back, Star once again seeing the fear and decision in Meteora's eyes, before she took a step forward into the water which froze on contact with her foot. The blond gave one last burst of speed in hopes of reaching her sister in time, but then Meteora took off in a run across the lake, the water being incased in a layer of ice as she did. Star was so paralyzed in shock by this her foot accidentally slipped, sending her crashing to the ground.

From there, the blond could only watch helplessly as her sister cleared the distance of the lake in less than a minute, before running into the treeline across the shore, disappearing from Star's sight and life for what the girl feared might be forever. For a moment, all she could do was stare ahead blankly, shivering as the temperature seemed to drop more and more around her. She felt lost and alone and it was everything she could do to keep the tears out of her eyes. But then she felt a warm hand on her shoulder, pulling her back to reality and comforting her and she turned to see Tom staring down at her, concern pinching his eyebrows. “You okay?” he asked, slowly helping her to her feet, but all the blond could do was nod numbly.

He began to lead her back toward the castle, his arms resting around her, trying to provide her heat she was sorely deprived of right now. The two walked in silence for a moment, before the young prince asked, “D-Did you know?”

“No,” Star replied, her voice cracking as the true weight of that word hit her. She hadn't known her own sister was magic. How could she not know that? How could Meteora have never told her? She suddenly understood why her sister had been guarded and closed off all those years, she wasn't trying to push Star away, she was trying to keep her from learning the truth. But why? Why had she kept it from her for so long? Did her own sister really not trust her enough to tell her such a huge secret?

The next several minutes passed by in a haze for Star, unable to get the image of Meteora's frightened face out of her head, while Tom tried to settle down the crowd, who were almost in a panic over the dropping temperature and the now frozen lake that surrounded their home. And Ludo was not helping the situation as he began freaking out the most out of everyone, screaming his head off about how they were all going to die and that the monster who did this needed to be stopped. Finally, Tom decided to take matters into his own hands, stepping over to him with a firm look, and snapped out, “Hey would you knock that off! You're making things worse!”

Ludo opened his mouth to respond only to spot Star next to him and he quickly screamed out, “Ahh, get her away from me! She probably has black magic just like her sister.”

“No I don't, I'm completely normal,” the girl said, hands on her hips.

“Oh yeah, well how do we know for sure you aren't a monster like your sister?” Ludo asked, with a suspicious glare on his face.

Star felt an anger bubble up in her chest, unable to keep herself from shouting, “Stop calling her that! My sister is not a monster!”

The small man hid behind the safety of his guards at the girl's raised tone, before saying, “Oh yeah, than how do you explain her almost killing me back there?”

Tom rolled his eyes. “You slipped on some ice,” he snapped, shooting him a doubting look.

“Yeah, well I still could have been seriously injured,” Ludo grumbled in annoyance, before whining out, “I think I got a concussion and it really hurts!”

“Oh brother,” Tom mumbled under his breath, resiting the urge to roll his eyes again.

“I think we should send a search party out there to hunt that traitor down and dispose of her!” Ludo suggested.

Star let out a loud huff, before declaring loudly, “No one is going to hurt Meteora! Look, I know things look bad but this wasn't her fault. It's-It's mine.” The girl hung her head guiltily at this. “She never would have lashed out like that if I hadn't provoked her.”

Tom put a hand on the girl's shoulder, saying, “Star, you didn't know.”

“No, but I'm still the one who made her mad,” the blond royal said, shaking her head once. She took in a deep breath before adding in a confident tone, “So, I'm the one who's going after her.”

“What?!” both Tom and Ludo said as one, with varying levels of concern and surprise. “Star, you don't have to do that,” the prince added.

“Would you rather I send Mr. Paranoid over there,” the blond said, pointing a finger over to Ludo.

“Hey!” the small duke shouted.

“Good point,” Tom grumbled in annoyance, before his face softened, looking deep into her eyes as he asked, “But are you sure you're up for this, I mean it could be really dangerous.”

“It may be,” Star agreed, but the determination and resolve in her face and tone never wavered once. “But I still have to try. I'm the only one who Meteora's gonna listen to, if I find her I can convince her to undo her magic.”

Tom didn't look convinced but he didn't voice any doubts he seemed to be having about Star's sister. Instead, he only sighed and asked softly, “And you're sure there's no way I can talk you out of staying?”

Star shook her head, grabbing the cape offered to her by one of the servants and hastily throwing it on. She took in a deep breath before saying firmly, “No. I need to clean up my mess, Tom, and...” Star's brain momentarily flashed to that look of fear in her sister's eyes and she held back a shudder. “.... and I need to talk to Meteora again, finally figure out why she's been keeping secrets from me all these years.”

Tom nodded in understanding, giving her a comforting smile before he declared brightly, “Then I'm coming with you!”

“No,” Star said, gripping his hands tightly between her own. “I need you here, looking after the kingdom while I'm gone. Someone needs to be here to keep everyone from freaking out and causing a riot.” Both teens gaze slowly shifted to Ludo, who crossed his arms defensively in front of his chest. “What?!” he snapped out.

Tom let out an annoyed sigh, before grumbling childishly, “Okay, fine. I'll stay.”

Star smiled at her finance, saying sweetly, “Thanks Tom. I knew I could count on you.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I know you're right and all but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it,” he grumbled out, refusing to meet her eyes for a moment, as he pouted.

“I'll be back soon,” the blond said, giving his hands one final squeeze before letting go and raising her voice enough so that everyone could hear her. “While I'm gone I'm leaving Prince Tom in charge. Everyone try and stay warm and dry until I get back with the queen.”

With that she took a deep breath and started on her journey, only to be pulled back by Tom who said in a scolding tone, “Okay well if you're going, then at least take my horse.” One of his servants handed him the reigns which he then passed to Star. The girl gave him an eager grin, before climbing up onto the horse, saying, “Thank Tom, this'll make it much easier.”

“Hey, be safe, okay?” the boy asked, giving her another concerned look.

Star gave him a soothing smile, reassuring him, “I'll be fine. She's my sister, she's not gonna hurt me.”

“I hope you're right,” came Tom's anxious reply and the air around the two grew uncomfortable for a moment as they both tried not to think of the damage Meteora had already done.

But Star swallowed this doubt, shouting triumphantly, “Okay then, let's get going boy!” A few seconds passed of the girl just grinning confidently, while nothing happened, until finally the girl glared down at the horse. “Come on, boy! Move! I don't have all day!”

“Star?” came Tom's skeptical voice and the blond gave him a sheepish look. “Do you... know how to ride a horse?”

Star scoffed, saying with a slight chuckle, “How hard could it be?”

Tom and his horse, Hampton, shared a look, before the prince said, “Okay, well first of all, you gotta flick the reigns to make him move.”

“Ohhhh, got it,” the girl said and raised her hands to do just that.

“Wait, wait,” Tom said, putting a hand over hers to keep her from moving just yet. “If you're gonna go out there at least let me at tell you the basics.” The young prince cleared his throat before giving her the basic rundown of the rules he knew but Star soon grew bored and her eyes glazed over, leaning against the horse with a tired expression as she tuned out his lecture. “And if you do all that you probably won't die. Got all that, Star?” Tom asked once he was done and the girl only cast him a small sideways glance.

“Hmm, oh yeah,” she said distantly and Tom let out long sigh, knowing she in fact, hadn't heard anything he had said for the last several minutes. He quickly cast Hampton a dangerous look, knowing how wild and hard he could be to control sometimes, before hissing in a warning tone, “If anything bad happens to her, I'm blaming you.” Star overheard this, but decided to ignore it in favor of actually getting somewhere...that day.

Finally, Star had lost all patience as she quickly told her finance, “Okay thanks for the tips, Tom!” before flicking the reigns down with all her might, shouting, “Okay boy, onward to Meteora!” Hampton reared up on his back legs, letting out a loud ninny before trotting forward, several people having to dodge out of the way to avoid being trampled, as the horse and its rider galloped out of the castle and into the unknown world that awaited them, Star confident that she and her sister would be back within the day.

But that confidence had been short-lived, as Meteora seemed to have just vanished into thin air, the only sign left of her being the snowdrifts and intense wind that Hampton fought his way through. Star regularly called out for her sister, hoping she would hear her and come back, but either she had gotten way ahead of her somehow or she was ignoring her and neither was a particularly great option in Star's opinion. And things had only gotten worse from there, as a loud noised spooked Hampton, making him rear back and Star slipped from his saddle, landing harshly in the snow. “Hey!” she screamed in annoyance. But Tom's horse paid her no mind, turning and galloping away at full speed, happy to finally be fear to explore the wilds once more. “Come back here!” the blond shouted, already beginning to shake in the cold, the snow that had caught her landing now trying to turn her bloodstream to ice. “You can't just leave me here!”

She let out a loud huff of annoyance, before pressing onward, quitting no longer an option for her now.

…

Which led back to her current predicament, wandering around lost in a blizzard, miserable and freezing cold with only a small, very thin jacket providing her any form of warmth. To say she was in low spirits at this point was an understatement, any semblance of hope was being diminished with every passing second, as if the biting wind was forcefully ripping it away from her to be devoured. The girl's body was beginning to grow numb and every step was more and more difficult to make, her labored breath coming out in short, foggy gasps. She tried to will herself forward, as she forced her frozen limbs to continuing trudging ahead though the waist-deep snow.

But the truth of her dire situation was starting to catch up with her, filling her with numb indifference, if she didn't find some heat soon she wasn't going to make it. “G-Great, dying in a b-blizzard,” she growled under her breath, felling her withering hope continuing to drain from her sore and shivering body. “Just yet a-another thing to add to my list of t-terrible t-things that have happened to m-me today.” She let out a frustrated huff, ignoring the chattering in her teeth (which grew worse with every struggled sentence) as she continued to rant to herself, “S-She just had to h-have s-s-secret ice powers, d-didn't she? S-She couldn't have been b-blessed with something more practical l-like, oh I don't k-know maybe like powers that don't end up f-freezing over our entire kingdom! Like magic that makes s-sandy beaches or cute little n-narwhals or sh-shoot rainbows into the sky. Now those would have been a g-good p-power to have, literally anything would be b-b-better than this.” She let out a long sigh, before asking the universe, “C-Could today g-get any w-worse?”

Barely a second passed, before she got her answer, as she heard a loud crack below her and she looked down to see that she had unknowingly been standing on a large patch of ice, which apparently was not holding up under her weight, jagged incisions slicing their way through the thin layer of ice beneath her shaking feet. Realizing the ground beneath her was literally about to break, she just stared forward blankly, letting out a very annoyed, “Great,” before she was submerged in the freezing cold water.

Star's body instantly went numb (what wasn't already) the moment she fell beneath the waves and she nearly gasped as the further drop in temperature took her breath away. She tried to will her arms and legs into motion, hoping she could swim back toward the surface, but for some odd reason she couldn't, her limbs had become dead weight, refusing to move an inch as the dreadful cold filled her very being, a feeling of familiarity accompanying it, leaving her stunned and confused, since she was fairly sure she had never experienced anything like this before. The fight left her quickly, as a sudden overwhelming exhaustion took hold, willing her to close her eyes and just give in. So she obeyed, feeling her body slowly sinking downward, hoping to find a release from all this cold in the safety of her dreams. Maybe... her tired mind thought, as everything began fading to black. Things will be better when I wake up.

Just before the inky blackness could consume her, she felt something wrap around her abdomen. And to her shock, whatever it was felt...warm. She reveled in the feeling it brought her, nearly snapping her awake right there as her entire being fought to reach out and grab as much of this heat and warmth up as she could. But her limbs remained heavy, lifeless bricks and so all she could do was wait, as she felt herself being slowly lifted back up toward the surface, her body losing the fight to stay away as she fell into unconsciousness, the last thought in her sluggish mind before she was swallowed up by the black being her wonderment over what exactly it was that was holding onto her that could make her feel so... safe.

…

Star came back to consciousness slowly, fighting past the fog that consumed her mind, as she came back into awareness. The first thing she noticed was that she felt oddly warm, which was a huge surprise since the last thing she remembered was wandering around lost in a blizzard, slowly freezing to death. Wait, was she dead? Was this heaven? It felt kinda like it, since her body felt safe and comfortable in whatever place she had ended up. Which begged the question, where was she anyway? What had happened to her out there?

As she pondered these questions, letting them turn over and over again in her mind as she tried to recall the last thing that happened to her, she picked up muted voices talking nearby. This also came as a surprise and she strained to try and hear them, hoping they would provide her with answers, but it took a few moments before the fog cleared up enough for her to process what they were saying.

“So what you just found her like this, wondering around in some snowstorm?” a voice asked.

“Yeah pretty much, she fell into some ice, I had to pull her out before she could drown,” a different voice said.

“Geez, she'd have to be crazier than you Marco, to be out in this weather,” the first said, sarcastically.

Star heard a low growl, which she identified as coming from the second voice, who seemed very displeased with his friend's comment. “Yeah well, it's a good thing I was, otherwise she might have died out there,” he added, with just the slightest hint of annoyance.

“So what do you think she's doing out here?” a third voice spoke up, sounding more nasally than the other two.

“The bigger question is, how much do you think she's gonna pay us?” the first voice said, matter-of-factly.

“Ferguson!” the second one snapped.

“What? I mean you have eyes, we know who she is,” the first piped up defensively. “I'll bet she'll pay us all handsomely for saving her life when she comes to.”

“Is that really all you can think about right now... money?” the second voice scolded.

“Hey I'm a businessman, what can I say.”

“Your terrible, Ferguson,” the third said, bitterly.

“Hey you were thinking it too, Al, and you know it!”

Star tried to peek open her eyes to better understand the situation, only to hiss in pain as a bright light instantly attacked her pupils and she rolled over with a groan.

“Hey, I think she's waking up,” the first voice said, while the other two gasped.

Star tried once again to force her heavy eyelids open, this time succedding since the light was not nearly as intense as before and she blinked a few times as she took in her surroundings. She was in some small shop it seemed, the place cozy and quaint, filled with cute little trinkets of all shapes and types. The room was lit in a soft glow coming from the roaring fireplace, which Star had been placed next to, her body covered in soft furs and coats that had been piled on top of her for extra heat. The blond looked over at the three boys who were watching her with various levels of worry and skepticism. Two of them were standing behind a counter top, one lanky, one thin, while the third leaned against it, watching her closely and something about him made Star pause and observe him closer.

He looked about her age and height, though some of his features were hard to make out since his body was covered with snow and frost. He had brown hair and quizzical brown eyes, which seemed to be searching her for something, making her cheeks heat up with a blush. His eyebrows were pinched together in worry and the concerned frown on his face showed kindness Star could see creeping behind those chocolate orbs. He was wearing a thick red coat and matching pants with black boots that had a cute looking point on the end and black gloves. He had on a black hat and a brown bandana which currently hung loosely around his neck. The blond thought she spotted a little mole under his left eye but it was hard to tell with the snow on his face. Speaking of which, from the amount of snow that coated him Star would have thought he had just scaled an entire mountain by himself, twice, and his entire face was still slightly pink from the chill outside. He was also soaking wet, his clothes clinging to him at odd angles and his spiky hair, lying flat beneath his hat. If she had to take a guess she would say he was the one who had saved her.

For a moment the two just stared each other down, never once breaking eye contact as they seemed to be summing each other up silently, the only sound coming from the crackling fire and the muted roar of the blizzard outside. Finally, the boy cleared his throat and asked, “Are you okay?”

Star nodded, ignoring the slight dizziness that followed the motion. “Yeah, I'm fine.” She did another quick survey of the shop as she asked, “Where am I anyways?”

“Oh where are my manners?” the chubby one quickly exclaimed. “Welcome to Ferguson's-”

“-And Alfonso's-” the skinny teen added, before they both finished as one, “-Outlet Shop! Where all your needs are found!”

“That's still a terrible tagline,” the other boy added and his friends scowled at him.

“Shut it, Marco,” Ferguson grumbled.

“How did I get here?” Star asked, rubbing her head, still a bit fuzzy on the details.

“I brought you here,” the brown-haired boy who was apparently called Marco, clarified. He blushed slightly as he added hesitantly, “After I saved you from the ice, that is.”

“Oh that was you!” Star exclaimed in surprise, the memory finally flooding back to her.

“Uhhh, yeah,” the boy said shyly, tenderly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Tell her how you had to give her mouth to mouth to keep her from drowning, Marco?” Ferguson coyly suggested and the boy in question shot his chubby friend a death glare.

Star froze up in shock, a hand slowly rising to her lips and her cheeks heating up in a blush. Had this total stranger really kissed her to save her life?

Marco seeing the startled look on the girl's face, quickly exclaimed, “I-I didn't have to do that, I swear! You were still breathing just... really cold.”

Star breathed a sigh of relief, feeling her cheeks return to their normal temperature, though strangely enough it felt a bit forced coming from her lips. Okay that was weird, she should totally be relieved since she was engaged and all. But she pushed these thoughts aside as she gave her savior a grateful smile, pushing off the pile of blankets as she said brightly, “Well thank you so much! Without you I'd probably be a princess popsicle by now!”

The boy returned the grin, saying, “No problem, I've actually run into those situations once or twice myself.”

“Oh yeah like the time you got your feet frozen in that block of ice,” Alfonso pitched in, he and Ferguson laughing at the memory.

“Oh yeah, I remember that,” Marco said, before chuckling himself and soon Star was too, finding their hearty, cheerful laughter contagious even if she didn't quite understand what it was about.

But suddenly, Marco stopped, his eyes widening as he whispered in an intense tone, “Sometimes in my nightmares, I can still feel the cold emptiness trying to consume my soul.”

The three all gave Marco bizarre, frightened looks, Star even muttering out in confusion, “What?” The boy's face returned to normal in a flash, the bright smile lighting up his face once more as if nothing had even happened. “Not important.”

“Uhhh, riggght,” Star hesitantly replied, not sure what else to say, what did you say to a person after they tell you something like that? “Um, I'm Star by the way,” she finally said, offering him her hand.

He eagerly took it, shaking it softly, as he said politely, “Yeah, I know who you are, Your Highness. It's an honor to meet you.”

“Can you please just call me Star,” she groaned, practically begging the boy. “I hate people being so formal with me.”

“Right of course,” the boy said with a small nod. “My names Marco Diaz.”

“Well thanks Marco, for the save back there. I owe you one,” she said, still not breaking hand or eye contact, trying to ignore how her hand tingled in his touch or how deep, vast, and beautiful his eyes were, or the now rapid beating in her heart as she tried to get a hold of herself. What was she thinking, he was still just a total stranger, how come being around him felt so... right? This was a totally different feeling than she had even had with Tom.

“Well, you know, you could always pay us for our services,” Ferguson pitched in, breaking Star out of her confusing thoughts, as she watched Alfonso roughly elbow him in the arm with a scowling glare.

“Ignore him,” Marco said, rolling his eyes while shooting his friend's a scolding look. “So, what are you doing out here in the middle of a snowstorm, Star? Seems kinda unsafe to be out and about right now,” the boy asked.

Kinda like you were, Star thought but didn't voice this out loud, as she simply answered, “Actually, I'm out here looking for-”

“The best deals, this side of Mewni has to offer!” Ferguson suddenly exclaimed a wide smile on his face, as all eyes fell on him once again.

“Oh no,” Marco groaned, face-palming. He felt bad for the blond royal who was fixing to have to endure one of Ferguson's business pitches. There was no way to stop him now either, once he got that look on his face no power on this Earth could make him quit until he was done. Or somebody bought something. Or both.

“Uhhh,” Star began in confusion, shooting Marco a helpless look who only shrugged, silently relaying her to just 'go with it'.

“Maybe you would be interested in purchasing something from our big summer blowout?!" the eager Ferguson continued, holding up a container of sunscreen for Star to see.

The blond shook her head, raising a hand in a polite gesture as she tried, "Um, no thank you. I was more wondering if any of you have seen my-"

"Or maybe you'd like to see something from our rare collection of bear statues, oooohhh!" Ferguson interrupted again, holding one of the miniature statues out for her to see. Star looked over it quickly before asking, “Um, why does it have a horn on the top of its head?”

Ferguson brought it back up to his own face, before saying with an unceasing smile, “Oh my mistake.” Then he turned over his shoulder, asking his colleague in a harsh tone that made both Star and Marco jump, “Hey Alfonso! What did I say about giving me defective statues?!”

“Oh no, that's okay, really,” Star said, waving a hand in the air to try and get him to stop, hoping not to make a big deal out of it and get out of this as quickly as possible. But that hope was dashed as is it seemed Ferguson was insistent on correcting this “mistake”.

“It's not defective,” Alfonso argued, adjusting the glasses on his face with a knowing look. “I'm telling you, I saw one of those bearicorns out in the woods.”

“Stop trying to push your crackpot theories onto our customers!” Ferguson shouted in a scolding tone.

“But it's true!”

“Um, guys, y'know its fine,” Star said, trying to gain the attention back on her but to no avail.

“Yeah right, oh and also this whole blizzard is being caused by an angry spirit right?” Ferguson said mockingly, rolling his eyes.

Wellll, Star thought in her head. Not quite. Just one overemotional teenager.

“I'm telling you, this blizzard isn't normal, it's magic!” Al screamed from the other room.

“No, it's not!” Ferg shouted back. “Geez, you just believe whatever you hear, don't you?”

“Um, excuse me, could you please just give me some informa-”

“Well maybe you should be more open minded!”

“And maybe you should stop reading too much into everything you hear!”

Star quickly losing patience as the fight seemed to be nearing no end anytime soon, slammed her hands down on the counter top and shouted, “Guys, could someone please just tell me if you've seen my sister!”

The three boys froze in shock, before Marco spoke up, asking in concern, “Your sister? You mean the queen?”

“Yeah,” Star said in depression. She took a deep breath before quickly blurting out the whole story, “See turns out my sister has ice magic which I never knew about and she got upset after we had an argument and she ended up freezing the entire kingdom in ice before running off to who knows where. And now I have to find her before the everyone in the kingdom dies of frostbite or whatever, but I have no clue where she went!”

The girl took a few deep breaths trying to regain her air flow, while looking between each of the shocked faces around her, all three boys staring at her wide-eyed, Marco softly mumbling, “Wow, I did not... expect that.”

An awkward silence filled the room for a moment, until Alfonso shattered the uncomfortable tension, as he gave his chubby friend a superior look, shouting, “Ha, told you!”

“Not now, Al!” Ferguson snapped in a scolding tone.

“Well, good luck with that, Star,” Marco said, giving her a kind smile. “I'm sure you'll work it out, somehow.”

“Yeah, I hope so,” the girl whispered under her breath, looking unsure.

The boy paused before saying, “Um, hey if it makes you feel better, I think I know which way she went.”

“You do?!” Star screamed, her eyes shining with intrigue and her smile incapable of growing any wider as she grabbed the boy tightly by the front of his jacket, leaning in close till their faces were practically touching.

The boy's cheeks instantly turned red at the close contact. He wasn't really used to being this near girls, or anyone really, and he began to feel sweat dripping down his face as he did his best to keep his cool. But he couldn't stop from stuttering out his reply, somehow managing to keep his voice from cracking, “Uh yeah, I think she went up the north mountain, the storm seems to be coming from that direction, so you might want to look there.”

“Awww, thank you so much!” Star squealed, surprising the boy with a hug, his body going stiff and tense as she did, but the blond didn't notice as she quickly ran for the door. “Now I can finally find Meteora and bring her home!” she proclaimed, throwing the door open as freezing cold air hit her full force, blowing her hair back as sharp wind cut into her under-dressed form. A shudder ran through her, before she slammed the door shut with an annoyed groan. She leaned back against the wooden frame, her arms crossed huffily in front of her chest as she muttered, “Oh right, the blizzard.”

“Well if you are in need of some supplies, I do happen to have some clothes for you to wear out there,” Ferguson suddenly pitched in, drawing both Star and Marco's attention onto him as he pulled out some soft, thick fabric and fancy black boots from behind the counter. He set them down on the tabletop, wagging his eyebrows at the girl as he said, “And since you need them so badly I'm even willing to go down on price some, just for you.”

“Wow, thanks!” Star exclaimed, racing over to examine them closely. “They're just what I needed!”

“I thought you would say that,” Ferguson said, a mischievous smile tugging at his lips. Marco frowned at the trader, a suspicious eyebrow raising as he began to suspect foul play was being used against the naïve princess. “Which is why I'm giving them to you for the low, low price of $300.”

Star gasped, saying in wonder, “That is low.”

Marco just face-palmed as the girl reached into her purse and began to pull out a wad of cash. But Marco couldn't stand to see the blond conned so easily as he leaned over and placed a hand on hers, stopping her from pulling out the cash. The blond gave him a confused expression, but he ignored the stunning blue staring at him as he said, “Wait, wait, wait. You can't charge her for that. That's way overpriced.”

“It is?” the girl gasped, her eyes shining with so much innocence that it made Marco's heart leap into his throat and he struggled to swallow down the lump.

“Come on, Marco,” Ferguson said in a low tone, his eyes begging. “She's rich, she can afford it and it would reallly help the business out.”

“I don't care,” the boy said firmly, his hand unknowingly squeezing over Star's own, making the princess's face turn bright red. “We're all in hard times right now, but trying to manipulate people isn't the way to go about it.”

“Ugh, fine,” Ferguson groaned, grumpily crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Will that be all?”

Star opened his mouth to answer but Marco quickly cut in, saying, “Well actually if she's going to go up there, she's gonna need some more supplies. Some rope, a grappling hook, fresh drinking water. Maybe some matches so she can light a fire, oh and a first aid kit, those are always handy to have-”

The blond watched the boy mystified as he listed off the long list of supplies that Star herself hadn't even thought to bring. She had been ready to climb up the mountain without thinking but this boy seemed intent on making sure she was well prepared for such a journey. “Wow, Marco you really know your stuff,” Star commented, impressed with his superior knowledge.

The boy blushed slightly as he said shyly, “Yeah, well I've been climbing mountains since I was a kid. I'm an ice trader after all.” His voice got very soft at the end as if he was almost ashamed to admit to her what his job was.

“Oh wow, really,” Star blurted out without thinking and the boy flinched at her negative tone. Star felt a guilty wave wash over her, as she scrambled to correct her mistake, stammering, “N-no, no, no! I mean that's fine, I just- y'know, after what my sister did you're probably not- you just- I-” she sucked in a deep breath, steeling her nerves as she tried again, this time sounding much more sure of herself, “I'm sorry. I'm the reason Meteora did all of this. And now you're job is in danger because of me.”

“Mine isn't doing too hot right now, either,” Ferguson pointed out, but Alfonso just elbowed him once in the arm, whispering quietly, “Shh, let them have this.”

Star studied the boy's face for a moment, as he gave her a confused look, unsure how to react to the girl's confession and her heart went out to him. He had already done so much for her and she felt a deep gratitude to him, saving her from the ice, giving her directions, keeping her from stupidly spending too much on some clothes. He seemed so nice and trustworthy and Star hated the idea of him suffering because of her stupid mistake. She wanted to help him and she felt a deep resolve tighten in her chest as she said confidently, “I promise I'm gonna fix this. I'm gonna bring back summer, no matter what it takes.”

Marcos' gaze softened as a smile lit up his face. “Thank, Star,” he said, his voice cracking some against his will and she could tell by the uncertainty in his eyes that he wasn't used to using this word all too often. But he gave her a questioning frown as he asked, “But, uh, sorry if this seems rude but do you even know how to climb a mountain?”

Star scoffed, saying for the second time that day, “How hard could it be?”

The ice trader cringed, worry flooding his features as he said softly, “Pretty hard.”

“Oh, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it,” she said, simply, keeping a wide smile on her face.

“Um, right,” the boy said, giving her a forced smile, the concern never leaving his eyes.

Star didn't seem to notice this though, as she set the cash down on the counter, saying, “So I guess I'll just go get changed and I'll be on my way,” She scooped up her purchased supplies, heading for the small changing room at the back of the shop, the three boys watching her go. The moment she was out of earshot Alfonso quickly said, “So she's gonna die, right?”

“Hey, you heard her, there's no stopping her now,” the chubby teen pointed out. “Besides she might be able to pull it off.”

“Did you forget Marco brought her in here half-frozen, she clearly had no idea what she's doing?” Alfonso argued.

“Well it's not our place to tell her she can't.”

As the boy continued their argument, Marco just listened quietly, his eyes never leaving the wooden door Star had disappeared behind. He couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that he needed to go with her. She clearly needed the help, her inexperience in almost every area imaginable as clear as day and her confidence and head-strong nature was only going to get her into trouble. There were an unspeakable number of dangers that she would have to overcome in order to complete such a trip and the idea of her having face all of these alone made Marco sick to his stomach.

Especially after she had seemed so genuinely concerned for him, promising to secure his job for him and that was something he really hadn't expected. Most people didn't even notice him and they certainly didn't offer to help him or compliment him, even his two friends Ferg and Al, only paid him any mind because he helped deliver them a steady string of ice to trade.

But not Star, Star was different from the others and now she needed him. And even though he knew he had only just met her, he felt a connection beginning to form followed by a growing and overpowering urge to help and protect her.

And, just as he was coming to a decision, the door swung open and Star stepped out, every brain cell in Marco's head frying at once, bringing him to a screeching halt. Her hair had been braided into twin pigtails and she had changed out of her already cute dress into something just as undeniably adorable... mossibly moreso. She now had on a long-sleeved blue and black winter dress with light blue leggings and black winter boots, her outfit complete with an absolutely precious purple cape. If she had been pretty before now she was downright gorgeous and the boy felt his heartbeat pounding in his chest the longer he looked at her. If fact it was so loud he began to fear she would be able to hear it and he swallowed, trying to will it back to a normal rhythm. “So how do I look?” Star asked him with a smile.

Marco, thrown off guard by this, began trying to form a comprehensible sentence, choking out a squeaky, “You look... amazing.” The boy wanted to slap himself for sounding like a total moron, but Star just smiled and surprised him with another warm hug, as she said, “Thank Marco! You've been a great help!”

As she released the now paralyzed boy from her grasp, she turned to Ferguson and Alfonso and said, “And thanks for the supplies guys! I really appreciate it!”

“No problem, princess,” Ferguson said, with a wave of his hand. “Just maybe try and spread the word about our humble little shop when you get back with your sister.”

Star giggled, saying sweetly, “I will.”

She started toward the door then and Marco, finally recovering from the dazed state the blond's hug had left him in, quickly turned on his heels and grabbed a hold of her hand, blurting, “Wait!”

Star gave him a puzzled look, asking, “What's wrong, Marco?”

“I want to come too,” he said quickly and the girl's eyes widened in surprise.

“Wait, really?” Star asked, looking genuinely caught off guard by this. That was definitely unexpected.

“Well yeah, I can't just let you go out there alone,” Marco explained, his eyes somehow full of both concern for her safety and a fond warmness that Star couldn't quite place. “No offense but if you go up there alone you're only gonna end up getting yourself killed. I on the other hand have been climbing mountains my whole life. You need my help.”

Star's face lit up with joy for a second but she quickly got a hold of herself, shaking her head and saying in a halfhearted tone, “No, no, Marco. I can't ask you to do that. This is my problem, not yours.”

“Yeah well, maybe I want it to be my problem, too,” he said firmly, his voice leaving no room for argument.

The blond bit her lip, whispering under her breath, “I don't know.”

“Please Star. It wouldn't feel right, letting you do this on your own. Let me help you.”

Star stared into his begging eyes for a moment, feeling his intense desire and need to come with, and she felt a smile slowly spreading on her face as she reconsidered his offer. He did seem so sincere and had already proven himself trustworthy in her eyes, maybe she should let him come with. She didn't really know what she was doing and having him to guide her would be a lot easier than her stumbling around in the snow all alone like she'd been doing. Beside, if she was being honest with herself, she wanted him to be there with her. She didn't know why but she was intrigued by this boy and found herself seeking his company and companionship, for reasons beyond her level of comprehension. And the longer she stared into his stunning chocolate brown orbs, the more sure she was that he should come with.

Which was why Star found herself nodding and saying, “Alright, Marco. You know what, let's do it.”

Marco's face seemed to brighten at that, his voice full of hope and joy as he asked, “Really?”

“Yep, with the two of us working together, nothing will be able to stop us,” the girl said confidently.

The boy laughed, which for some reason sounded like music to Star. “I don't know about that,” he muttered sheepishly. “But we'll definitely stand a better chance if we work as a team.”

“Heck yeah, we will,” the girl said, putting an arm around his shoulder as she drew him closer to her, causing his face to instantly flush. She turned back to Ferguson and Alfonso, walking backwards with Marco out the door as she said in a determined tone, “Keep those ice cubes and fans ready boys cause summer is gonna be back before you know it!”

The two boys waited until the little door to their shop closed, before sharing a look, Alfonso simply asking, “So they're both gonna die, right?”

…

“Okay well, if we're going after your sister,” Marco began as he led Star over to the barn next to the outlet shop. “we might as well ride in style.”

The blond gave him a curious look, asking giddily, “You got something in mind?” She elbowed him with a playful wink, while Marco just gave her a little smirk in response.

“You'll see,” he hinted mischievously.

“Ooohh mysterious,” she said excitedly, her eyes now shimmering with anticipation.

As the two finally reached the door to the barn, Marco quickly threw the doors open with a flourish, saying, “Star, I'd like to introduce you to my traveling companion and best friend-”

“Ahhhh!” the blond screamed in excitement, not even letting the boy finish as she spotted the reindeer gently munching on some soft hay, and her hands flew to her cheeks, squeezing them tight. “Oh my gosh, you have a pet reindeer!”

“Uh yeah,” Marco said hesitantly, a little startled by the girl's reaction. She acted as if she had never seen one before. Still he recovered enough to say, “Her name's Nachos!”

The girl zipped forward, quickly engulfing the shocked reindeer in a tight hug as she shouted in pure joy, “Oh I love her! She's adorable!” As Star pulled out of the hug, she began to gently scratch underneath Nacho's chin, making the reindeer practically purr in response to her touch. “Who's a good girl?” Star cooed. “You are. Yes you are!”

Marco smiled softly as he leaned against the door frame, finding this crazy blond girl quite endearing. Most people never reacted this way to Nachos, but then again Star wasn't most people. In his opinion... she was better. And it seemed Nachos agreed as she began licking the blond royal, who only giggled in response while still petting her. “Hey Marco look, she likes me!” Star said, looking over at him with twinkling eyes that perfectly matched her namesake and the boy felt his heartbeat pick up some in pace.

“Would you like to feed her?” he asked and Star gasped in delight.

“Can I?” she asked, hopefully.

“Yeah sure,” he said, pulling out a small bag from the saddle and tossing it over to the blond. “Here you feed her these, while I get everything ready.”

Star nodded in reply, before quickly untying the thick rope holding the bag closed, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she did. Nachos took this opportunity to gaze over at Marco, her gentle eyes silently questioning what exactly was going on and the boy patted her head, before explaining to his pet, “Star needs us to take her up the North Mountain to find her sister. Think you're up for it!” Nachos looked over at the giddy girl before turning back to Marco, nodding her head with a small grunt. “That's my girl,” he said with another quick pat.

Star, finally got the bag open and her joy only seemed to increase as she skipped over to the two, holding up one of the tasty treats up to the reindeer's lips. “Here you go Nachos, a nice juicy carrot for you!” she exclaimed, before giggling as it quickly vanished from her hand and down the hungry creature's throat. “Wow, you must be hungry, huh,” she said, giving Nachos a loving pet. “Well don't worry there's plenty more where that came from!”

The next several minutes passed by as Star fed Marco's Reindeer, while the boy worked to get everything together, going through their assortment of supplies, double-checking to make sure they had everything, before tying them all down securely to the sled. He then took the harness and attached them onto the reindeer, before triple-checking his work. It was important to be prepared, after all. Finally, they were ready to go, Marco nodding in approval of his work, before turning to his blond companion. “Okay Star, we're ready to go,” he said, wiping the sweat off his brow.

“Alright!” the girl exclaimed, quickly hopping into the sleigh. But it seemed her enthusiasm was making it impossible for her to hold still as she practically bounced in her seat. “Let's go!”

Marco just laughed at the girl's childish antics, before climbing in the seat next to her. “Well you heard her, Nachos,” he said over to his pet, before giving the reigns a little flick. “Let's move.”

Nachos made a grunt in response, before quickly racing forward, barreling her way out of the barn as they started their journey through the snowy landscape. Star looked around her, starry-eyed at every sight she saw for a few minutes, before her eyes landed on the towering structure up ahead, looking dark and foreboding as it hovered in the distance. “Is that... the North Mountain?” she asked, concern in her voice for the first time in a while and Marco felt his heart ache at the strained tone. It sounded so wrong coming from Star.

“Yep,” he replied, in the most pleasant tone he could, but he couldn't quite keep the grim somberness out of his tone. “We got a long way to go.”

Star frowned, slouching some in her seat, as the sudden weight of the task fell on her at once. Everyone was counting on her, she couldn't let them down. She had to succeed. For her sake, for her people's sake, for Tom's sake, for Marco's sake, for... Meteora's sake. She felt a cold chill run up her spine as the image of her sister's distressed face entered her mind. What was she going to say when she saw her again? What could she say? They had barely spoken in years, how was she supposed to reconnect with her now after everything that had happened?

“Are you okay?” Marco's voice asked, cutting through Star's depressing thoughts as she slowly turned to him with a thin smile. “Yeah, just a little cold is all.”

The boy stared at her for a few seconds and the blond felt his quizzical gaze digging into her skin, making her squirm in her seat. And the longer he looked the more paranoid the princess became, afraid she had upset him by complaining to him five seconds into their trip. After all, he was only there out of the kindness of his own heart and they wouldn't even be out there if it wasn't for her, she had no right to-

Star's thoughts were cut off once again, as she felt something soft fall over her shoulder. The girl blinked, as she found herself now sharing a blanket with Marco, the boy giving her a soft, comforting smile that made her heart bounce around in her chest. “Is that any better?” he asked, his cheeks slightly tinged pink, and the girl felt her throat close up, human speech incapable of escaping her lips for the moment. So she just settled for a quick nod.

Then to her greater surprise, he wrapped an arm around her waist bringing Star in closer to him, until their sides were touching. “Here, you'll stay even warmer if we stick close together.” He seemed to suddenly become flustered by this decision though, as he quickly stuttered out, “But uh, y'know, If you don't want to that's okay too.” He began to nervously scratch at his cheek and Star had to hold back the rising giggle over how adorable he looked at that moment.

“No, it's okay, I don't mind,” she reassured him, causing a bright smile to light up his face.

The girl settled into a comfortable position, leaning as close to Marco as her body could allow, staring ahead at their destination, while the boy just focused on the task of holding the reigns steady. However, he couldn't quite keep his eyes still as he occasionally glanced over to his passenger, a nervous, but pleasant energy beginning to settle over the two. Suddenly, the sky seemed to light up with color as the two stared up at the aurora borealis in wonder, Star whispering under her breath, “Whoa, it's so beautiful.”

“Yeah it is,” Marco agreed.

After a few more moments of silence, Star's gaze returned to the North Mountain, where her sister was waiting for her. She felt her heart clench as she remembered back many, many years ago when her and Meteora had stayed up all night to watch the dazzling array of colors. It was a fond memory, one that Star realized she had almost forgotten completely, but she was glad to be reminded of it after all these years. And as she sat there in the sleigh, leaning against the strong, comforting form of Marco and guided by a thousand bright flashes of color and light, the blond felt a determination beginning to build within her chest once more. Her previous doubts and worries exited her mind and were forgotten, as she came to a new conclusion. She would find a way to fix this... to fix them. She would get her sister back, no matter what it took.

Just wait, Meteora. I'm coming for you.

#Star vs #Star vs AU #My Writing #Star is a Disney Princess #Star is Anna #Starco #Tomstar

2 notes · View notes

yallreddieforthis · 6 years ago

Text

My Summer From Hell: A Tale of Friendship

Fandom: It (2017)

Pairing: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier (minor mentions of Richie’s crush on Eddie)

Rating: T (for language)

Words: 2.9k

Movie canon-compliant. Also posted on AO3. This is that summer experience essay Richie warned us about.

“Richie Tozier?”

Richie takes a reluctant break from the sick-ass game of MASH: The Wonder Years Edition he’s playing by himself in his algebra notebook to look up at his teacher, who is waving a blue note and glaring expectantly at him.

Blue note. That means Neil wants to see him. Damn, only five days into the school year! New—actually, not a new record. Richie feels like he and the principal should be on a first-name basis by now; Richie’s in his office a lot. He rarely gets punished because most of the things he does toe the line of punishable offenses magnificently—he usually just gets told to stop doing whatever it is he’s doing and then gets sent back to class. If he was down there getting detention every other day, he’d understand what the problem was. But alas, Neil shot down the suggestion of being called Neil right away. So they can only be on a first-name basis in Richie’s head. Too bad.

The Math and Science building is as far away from the Administration building as you can get without leaving Derry Junior High, and Richie takes his time during the walk to Neil’s office, stopping outside the computer lab until Eddie catches sight of him through the window. He makes a gesture that causes Eddie to give him a surreptitious middle finger, hidden from his teacher by the monitor, but his cheeks also bloom cherry red, so Richie counts it as a win because it’s the cutest goddamn thing he’s seen all day. It feels like every other day now Richie’s being hit in the face with how adorable Eddie really is. He’s torn between wanting to pinch his cheeks and kiss him on the mouth, and frankly he’s mostly still straddling the fence on that issue only because he doesn’t want to deal with the answer.

In contrast to having a pretty good idea deep down what direction things are headed in regarding his general feelings about Eddie, Richie has not the slightest clue why he’s being called to the principal’s office the Friday after school started. None of the things he’s done should have been discovered yet. It makes no sense.

Bill is in the computer lab too, and Richie can’t see him from where he’s sitting, so he heads over to the staircase at the end of the hall. Pausing to make sure no teachers are lurking around to give him shit for it, he sits down at the top of the railing and slides down. Actually, he slides about a fourth of the way down before falling off and sort of rolling the rest of the way, but no one saw that so it still counts as a success.

He walks past the yard to watch Stan and Ben running the mile in P.E. Stan is fucking booking it, and Richie dawdles long enough to figure out that he’s a lap ahead of everyone else. Running away from Bowers for a few years will do that to ya. Well, at least it will if you’re Stan. Richie still can’t run an 8 minute mile, so his P.E. grade has stagnated at a B-.

Richie stops in the middle of the hallway in the Language Arts Building, glancing into Mr. Tremblay’s French 1 class. Bev was planning on taking that this year, and she’d be in there if she hadn’t moved to Portland. Sometimes—and Richie hates thinking about this because there’s no use in dwelling on it—but sometimes he really wants to kick himself for not getting to know her sooner. She’s the best bro he’s ever had that’s a girl, and it just really sucks ass that they only got to hang out for like one summer.

Before he even realizes it, he’s walking into the front office. Bertha glances up at Richie through her horn-rimmed reading glasses.

“Mr. Tozier! What’d you do this time?” she asks brightly. Ah, Bertha. She and Richie have a rapport. Richie might go so far as to say she even likes him, at least a little. He’s made her laugh at least seven times, and once in sixth grade she told him he had a real gift after he showed her his best Rick Moranis impression. She doesn't bullshit him, and he doesn’t bullshit her. Well, not very much at least.

“I have no idea,” he tells her honestly, resting his elbows on her desk, which is decorated with a rubber band ball, a Hoberman sphere, several pictures of her nieces and nephews, and the biggest Hershey’s Kiss Richie has ever seen in his entire life. Seriously, it’s almost as big as his goddamn face. Apparently, she got it on a trip to New York, and she’s had it at least as long as Richie has known her. He has never wanted to eat a thing so badly in his entire life, regardless of how old it is. It’s a fucking Hershey’s Kiss. Do those things even go bad? Either way, it’s Richie’s number one goal to take a big fucking bite out of that thing before he culminates at the end of the year. He’s a thousand percent sure it will taste like sweet victory.

“Neil?” Bertha calls over her shoulder. “Did you send for Richie Tozier?”

Neil’s voice floats back through the open door behind Bertha. “Oh, yes. Thanks, send him on back.”

Neil’s desk always starts the year looking pristine, and by the last day of school it is filled with stacks of pure chaos. Richie admires him for trying again at the beginning of each year. It’s like how his mom buys him a binder for each class and book covers and sets up an organizational system for his homework and notes despite knowing that it won’t last a month. It’s nice of her to try, but Richie is pretty sure they both go into it with the understanding that it’s kind of a hail Mary situation.

So right now Neil’s just got like three pictures of his wife, a snowglobe with GREETINGS FROM ST. PAUL written on the base, and a manageable-looking stack of papers in file folders. Godspeed, sir.

“Mr. Tozier,” Neil says by way of greeting, “please have a seat.”

“How was your summer, Ne—Principal McCormack?” Richie asks, plopping down into the chair directly opposite Neil.

Neil’s eyebrows raise. “Not as interesting as yours, based on what I heard from Ms. Pfarrer this afternoon,” he says, reaching into his desk and pulling out two pieces of lined paper stapled together. “Care to explain?”

He places it directly in front of Richie. Richie peers at it. The top right corner reads: Richie Tozier, English 8A, Period 4, September 3, 1989. It wasn’t stapled when he handed it in, he’d just sort of folded the corners over together and hoped for the best, but Ms. Pfarrer must have gone ahead and stapled it for him.

“That would be yesterday’s English homework.”

“Correct,” says Neil. “I want you to read this entire essay out loud to me, and then I’m going to ask you some questions. Okay?”

Richie’s not sure if the questions are about the contents of the essay, or if Neil just can’t read his handwriting. Then again, that sounds like a Ms. Pfarrer problem; he’s not sure why she’d bring it to the principal if she just couldn’t read it. Normally she just hands it back to him and tells him to rewrite it when that happens, or at least that’s what she did last year. If his teachers have suddenly decided to send him to the principal every time he turns in an illegible assignment, it’s going to be a very long year.

But whatever.

My Summer From Hell: A Tale of Friendship

If you had asked me at the end of last year what the worst thing about my summer would probably be, I would have bet a hundred bucks it was going to be the trip I took down to Augusta to see my grandma two weeks ago, which sucked. All we did was watch Matlock all week and she made me get a really shi bad haircut, just like last year. It’s going to take me months to grow it out. But compared to what went down in July and the beginning of August, eating soup at Grandma Dottie’s house was NOTHING.

You know how kids just disappear off the face of the earth all the time here in Derry? If you didn’t, that’s a fun fact from me to you that I learned from my new friend Ben (he’s in your 5th period class). Well, while we were looking for my other friend Bill’s missing brother, we found out where they all went.

Underneath our feet, down in the sewers, there lives a killer clown. That’s right, you heard it here first. Like John Wayne Gacy, but 100000x worse because it’s for sure not human. Sometimes It’s a clown, sometimes not. Depends. On what? I have no idea. It was usually a clown when I saw it but one time it started turning into maybe a werewolf. It can turn into anything it wants and it eats kids.

Anyway, It almost killed all of us on the fourth of July. We Bill decided to go try and fight It at the creepy ass house on Neibolt street, and that was an absolute shit show disaster. Ask Ben to show you the sick scar on his stomach if you don’t believe me. Eddie fell through a giant hole in the floor and broke his arm. I got mad at Bill for bringing us all there and he punched me in the face, and then I didn’t talk to him for a month.

Then It dragged Beverly Marsh into its nasty sewer lair and we all went down the grossest well in Derry to get her back. Henry Bowers followed us because he just has to ruin everything, even things that are already the worst. There’s this giant cistern that has a huge pile of broken toys and crap and the clown lives in there. There were hundreds of dead kids floating in the air.

It’s a long story but I beat the shit crap out of It with a baseball bat and we fought it back. We swore to each other that we’d all come to fight It again if it returns. Anyway, the moral of this summer is that you can achieve anything if you work together and also that there is no way Henry Bowers could have caused an explosion during the 1800’s. I want to see him go to jail for taking a dump in my backpack for sure, and I guess for killing Belch, Vic and his dad too, but I know for a fact that he didn’t kill Georgie Denbrough or Betty Ripsom or Ed Corcoran. This town is just cursed.

Richie looks up brightly at Neil when he finishes reading. Neil takes a deep breath and rubs his temples with his fingers.

“I’m not sure you understood what the assignment was, Richie,” he says. “This is an inventive—and deeply disturbing—story, but this was supposed to be about what you actually did over the summer, not—”

“Yeah,” says Richie. “It is. I mean, I didn’t think Ms. Pfarrer was going to actually read them all. But—”

“This was a nonfiction assignment though.”

Neil’s being real slow on the uptake. Maybe his brain is still on summer break.

“Yeah,” says Richie, nodding. “As in, this is what actually happened to me. Here’s where we swore we’d come back and fight again when we’re old. If It comes back.” Richie holds out his left hand so Neil can see the freshly healed scar.

“Ouch,” Neil winces. “How did you get that?”

Richie rolls his eyes. “I cut it on glass. On purpose. Go get the others—they’ll tell you. Eddie Kaspbrak, Stanley Uris, Bill Den—”

“Please stop with the games,” says Neil. “Just—I’ve had a long week. We all have. Ms. Pfarrer wanted me to look into sending you to the school psychologist. I know you like to, you know, do what you do, but this is taking it too far.”

“Why would I lie to you about this?” Richie asks. He puts both elbows on the desk and leans forward. “Seriously. Why?”

“Attention-seeking behavior is common after the kind of trauma we’ve all experienced over the past year,” Neil says. Super patient, like he’s quoting a textbook and speaking to a preschooler. “I know what happened with Henry was a surprise to—”

“Wait, wait wait,” Richie interrupts. “You think I wrote this to get attention?”

Neil sighs and throws up his hands. “I can’t think of any other reason. If there is one, I’d love for you to give me some insight.”

Honestly? How fucking dare he. It strikes Richie in that moment how goddamn unfair this is. They had to do this with everyone—from explaining those nasty bites on Stan’s face to Eddie being grounded for the rest of the summer, to knowing exactly why there were so many more bodies in the sewer than missing kids from this past year and no one believing them…

“How about this for insight? ” Richie says. “I’ve been through too much trauma this year to come up with another bullshit story that all you adults will eat up. None of you care what actually happened; you just want me to tell you something that means you don’t have to do anything about it. Well, you’re gonna have to come up with your own lie to tell yourself. I’m not doing it for you.”

Neil is gaping. But Richie keeps going.

“I thought it was Bowers before this summer and honestly, I wish I’d been right. And it’s not like I’m sorry that he’s getting all this shit pinned on him even though he didn’t do it. My life is a million times easier without him around—he can get strung up by his ballsack for all I care.”

“Richie, there’s a mountain of evidence against—”

“I don’t give a shit about evidence,” says Richie. “I know what I saw. I know what happened. I know, and Bill knows, and Stan knows, and Bev… What do you care though? You’ll probably be dead anyway by the time It comes back.”

“Is that supposed to be some kind of threat?” Principal McCormack asks. His face has gone hard and stony like Richie’s never seen before; like Richie has crossed a real line this time. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows there’s going to be nasty consequences for this, but he can’t find it in himself to give a shit.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if it was,” Richie mutters. “Just… Fuck it. Send me to the school shrink or whatever. Give me detention; flunk my essay. None of this shit matters anyway.”

“You can bet you’re getting all three of those things,” says Principal McCormack with a mirthless chuckle. “And I’m not sure what’s gotten into you this year, but I feel like—”

“Do I sound like the grownups in Charlie Brown when I talk?” Richie demands. “Seriously, am I making like, actual words to you? Or are you just hearing wah wah wah when I—”

“I’m calling your parents,” Principal McCormack says over him. “Is something going on at home?”

Richie feels blood pounding through his veins. Like it could melt his skin. He looks Principal McCormack dead in the eye, reaches for his essay and tears it to shreds, standing slowly.

“In the end,” he says, his voice shaking and frustrated tears threatening to overpower him, “it’s not going to make any difference if you don’t believe me. We’ll come back, all of us. Me and Eddie. Ben, Beverly, Mike. Bill. Stan. What you think doesn’t change that.”

And as suddenly as it came, the anger evaporates. Just...poof. Gone. It clears, and there’s fucking gobsmacked Principal McCormack sitting there like a lump, staring at Richie. Maybe he heard the individual words, but one thing Richie know for sure: he still doesn’t get it. And he never will. And not just him; Ms. Pfarrer. Even Bertha, whether she thinks Richie is gifted or not. And his parents…

There’s a sick loneliness that kind of creeps in to fill up where his anger was, colder than a January wind. Every time his dad comforted him as a kid, when he’d check under the bed and in the closet for monsters, was a lie. When his mom told him he’d be safe sleeping in their bed. That nothing was coming to get him. That they’d never let him get hurt. Lies, all of it. And it’s not like the adults in his life are lying to him on accident. The truth is right there in front of their stupid fucking faces and they just refuse to look at it.

The chill settles into a stony sort of resolution. Richie has stared the truth in the face and didn’t flinch. Even getting suspended is fucking nothing compared to… Whatever. He’s getting detention anyway. Might as well make it memorable. He turns on his heel and walks out of the office.

“If you’re still alive in 2016,” Richie calls over his shoulder, “I’ll hit you up at your nursing home and let you know I was right all along.”

#It (2017)#richie tozier #Stephen King's IT

47 notes · View notes

kaorei-endgame · 6 years ago

Note

Ranking of Resident Evil save room themes?

I got my first latte of the season, it’s chilly enough to wear pants indoors, #Streamtober started yesterday. LET’S DO THIS, NICK. >:O

youtube

17. Resident Evil 6 Chapter Ends, All Characters: Back to the cabbage patch. None of you are valid, with your Netflix Original knock-off of some ABC knock-off of 24-ass soundtrack. Go suck a giraffe’s dick with an Ada clone, Jake Muller.

youtube

16. Resident Evil, Deadly Silence: What is this Resident Evil for Babiez? Nintendogz+ResidentEvilz? Imagine listening to this on the crappy DS speakers. Wasn’t there something creepy about Jill’s costume in this game, like you could tear pieces of it off, or am I just conjuring fall memories and combining them with how they went out of the way to add boob bounce to the REmake 15 years after the fact, and now Jill’s boobs on PS4 undulate languidly beneath her shirt like a pair of Dragon Quest Slimes yearning to be free. This track: aural despair, unleavened. A way to quickly induce nausea in dogs who have eaten chocolate or raisins.

youtube

15. Resident Evil 6, Ada Chapter End: Well, okay, this one is all right. The first fifteen seconds feel like a HiFi version of a track from those Playstation 1 top-down shooters where you played a murder clown or a pyro guy escaping a space prison where you were held for crimes you definitely DID commit. The little background jog kicks in soon after and look, I’m a soft sell for ululation, what can I say.** But it just all just serves to stir memories like embers finally gone to smolder beneath the fireplace ash, stoking them after all these years, reminding me what a weird psycho they turned Ada into in this game. I like reflecting on how people got so mad about there not being co-op in Ada’s campaign that Capcom patched in a partner but his name is like “TeamMate” or “Buddy” and he has no lines of dialogue and is never addressed in the story in any way and thus is either a figment of Ada’s imagination or he’s a real dude who’s just pretty quiet and ultimately drowned on that sub? Well, I guess life’s tough if you’re the (potentially imagination) friend of an ex-spy turned pod person.

**(i contacted my musician friend, Kylie, who confirmed that ululation was the term i was thinking of, lest i second guess myself. at the same time, i’ll post her text here lest i misrepresent her words “Yeah, ululate as a technical term is vibrato using the tongue, so that would be wrong, but ululate as a descriptor refers to a sound that has a very pronounced waver between tones to it.” cool! i’ve often wondered if that’s the most accurate way to describe it. thanks Kylie!! :D)

youtube

14. Resident Evil Revelations 2: Claire gets the best costumes probably across the whole series and yet it feels like she’s gotten the least love of all the main cast. I never really got it, she looks good in denim, whether jacket or pant, and her Revelations 2 blazer does her all the favors. But now they’re remaking RE2 and they turned her face into this weird porcelain Precious Moments dol—MY BELOVED DAUGHTER. MY MOIRA. I SWEAR I’LL FIND YOU. FOR THE SAKE OF JBLL I WILL AVENGE YOU AND THE OTHER ONE.

youtube

13. Resident Evil 0: What’s with all the shivery whiney stuff. Like your younger sibling running nails down the chalkboard of your spine, like how the speed run of this game hinges on juggling an evasive bat with 5 out of the 6 flame rounds on hand, so try. Neither relaxing nor scary. Do I hear something like a bongo in the distance? That is the clarion call of Becky Chamber’s goose booty coming home to roost.

youtube

12. Resident Evil 7: I had a dream last night about this game. If you have phobias about glass and/or mouths and/or wasp genitals, I would skip this paragraph. I was in the house where you have to run away from the mom with the disgusting wasp hive vagina. Also—unrelated and yet somehow related, as dreams always are—I had opened a beer bottle in such a way that the stem broke. I had decided to drink it anyway and now, as I progressed through the house, I found that there seemed to be endless small slivers of glass in my mouth that I had to repeatedly spit out lest they cut me. When I woke up, my jaw was clenched to the point of soreness. Welcome to the family, I guess. Otherwise this save room music reminds me of the game itself: mostly dull and barely there.

youtube

11. Resident Evil Revelations: Item Box Music, only Save Room Adjcanet. Can’t disassociate this from the “swish-swish-swish-SHUCK” sound effects of navigating menus to equip Charge Shot 2 to my Shotgun. Not as pleasing or as integrated into my bone marrow as the Resident Evil 3 equivalent, but I have probably played this game through thirteen or fourteen times at this point. Life is short and yet the strings of fate tug us the directions they will.

youtube

10. Resident Evil 5: Again, this is menu music. No save rooms at all in this game. Anyway I have no inherent memory of this song because I’m sure I’ve talked over it while upgrading my M92FS to 100 bullet capacity 110% of the times I’ve played this game. Exempted from higher echelon of rankings on these technicalities, but still A POOR PERFORMANCE INDEED for Not The Best Resident Evil Yet Paradoxically The One That’s Given Me The Most Joy In My life.

youtube

9. Resident Evil, Dead Aim

: Wow I almost can’t believe I don’t remember this despite playing this game enough to write a speedrun guide for it. Well, that was the style at the time. As was a bloated zombie corpse boss, I suppose (long before Left 4 Dead, those copy cats), whose weak spot was its exposed brain which, halfway through the fight when you’d done enough damage, would pop out and dance a sprightly jig on its brainstem every time you shot it. With the whisper of wind and rain and single intermittent synth I feel like I’m living in a cyberpunk future and not a game whose protagonist’s “””cajun””” accent is as questionable as its presentation of the antagonist’s gender.

youtube

8. Resident Evil, Umbrella Chronicles

: Hey now, weird bit of the creepy-freaky bass here kind of does put you in a certain headspace, but it’s not the headspace i remember of this game, which was basically unplayable in co-op for the final 3rd because a failed QTE would result in a hunter slicing away half your health. Good for an Into the Breach playlist to keep you focused on the action and stop you from trying to play it while also binging a Netflix show about werewolves that you didn’t really like anyway, and splitting your attention between visual mediums is just getting Good Pilots Killed.

youtube

7. Resident Evil 2: Ominous. Maybe TOO Ominous at points. Aren’t save rooms about being safe? I guess we could argue that because the save room reflects the lacuna of safety BING BONG piano is the Try Hard version of video game music asking “you scurred yet?” Perhaps a novice mistake from a first-time director who would go on to do so many great things (well, RE2 among them, no lie). In a way, this fits with Rookie Cop Leon S. Kennedy, and anyway it’s so over the top I’m kind of okay with it. Most innervating when first heard on your way to equip a cowgirl costume for fast-firing six-shooter action. Guns suck, and cowboys too, but both are okay if we experience them in the abstract sense. This is what culture teaches us. Fan the trigger.

youtube

6. Resident Evil 4: A surprisingly gentle one, considering the series turn towards action from which it would never recover. I am transported to the early minutes of a horror movie where the audience knows something the protagonist doesn’t about the terror that’s about to befall them while they blithely pick up a desiccated nudie mag in an old shed on a haunted property they inherited from their estranged uncle, more focused on the “ballistics” before them than the axe murderer crouched in the shadows of disused farm equipment behind.

youtube

5. Resident Evil 3, Nemesis: More languid riff on 2. Strings get you shivery, and no more than a single BONG per two measures proves that save room music is as much about the notes you DON’T play. Two bongs to scare, but one bong to keep you on your toes, disallowing you from getting *too* relaxed by the soothing bleeps and bloops as you combine the 3 Gunpowder As you just found to make sure you have enough ammo to pistol-juke the so-called unkillable Nemesis. You’re not coward, but that doesn’t make you brave. Discretion is the better part of valor, they say, but that’s not taking into account that non-discretiony valor rewards you directly with a faster-firing pistol with critical headshots. :3

youtube

4. Resident Evil 1, Vanilla: Gentle, plucky strings make you question your memory, more familiar with later revisions than you are this one. How often was I in this place? Or does its primacy belie its immediacy? If I went to the strange, pointless closet around the corner from this medicine save room, would I find a broken shotgun I expect there, a round of magnum ammo, or simply the ghost of discarded aspirations masking as memories. I recall a time when it felt like time was enough, but then again, this was back when anything sub-three hours would get you the infinite rocket launcher, regardless of how many First Aid Sprays you used.

youtube

3. Resident Evil 1, REmake: High fidelity version of RE1’s gentle strings remind you of simpler times when your worst fears were zombies resurrecting into scarier, faster zombies with claws. What we wouldn’t give to go back to those days, and maybe tell ourselves not to take out so much student debt. Listening to this sends a pulse of gentle energy through my shoulder blades that makes me think “relaxation,” though I’m not sure my body understands the meaning of the word. A respite in trying eras, there is no association with the tension of shaving 15 minutes off your time to be competitive. “Safe Heaven,” they call it; a theme for a place that is not our own, but should be.

youtube

2. Resident Evil 1, Director’s Cut: Wow I did not expect music box chimes and tones stirs something ancestral in my blood. I’ve played the Director’s Cut far more times than the original RE1 and this is like coming home to a big house where I enjoyed an idyllic childhood, but I now know every box is filled with the creepy knife doll from Onimusha. Though these senations are foreign to me, something about them inspires a thirst for a homeland I never knew.

youtube

1. Resident Evil Code Veronica: The absolute chillest. In life, paths may wind, but the ultimate The strings are tickling your spine. You’re so relaxed you feel like oiling your ponytail, and you could even take a nap in Steve Burnside’s arms without reflexively gagging. When you hear this, you are at peace, and the world seems like a place that can be kind. Truly, the Code is Veronica.

and don’t forget to vote in our poll on whether or not we’re playing Claire A or Leon A tonight!

#resident evil #save rooms #survival horror

7 notes · View notes

feelingsdusk-writes · 6 years ago

Text

Count to five, do it again

Chapter 4

There's something about soaring high, high, high, that makes Stiles' anxiety issues seem smaller. It may have something to do with how single-mindedly he throws himself into the task of pushing himself higher and higher, he knows, but he really doesn't care about the mechanics. He cares that his mind empties of every thought as he goes up and down, gaining momentum the more impulse he adds to the action. Sometimes when the split second of anti-gravity that he experiences when he's at the highest point isn't enough, he jumps. And nothing matters in those few seconds of weightlessness.

Today is one of those days. Things keep happening and he can't control them. It's frustrating and disheartening. But this he can control. He can control how high and how fast he goes, he can stop the swing if he wants. He can jump.

He soars through the air and, for few seconds, it's like heaven. He hasn't a care in the world, nothing matters. Then the ground is there and he rolls to avoid getting hurt. Because he chooses to. It's his choice, because he controls what he does here. Just like he chooses to lay on the ground for a moment while his heart rate slows down. Just like he can choose if wants to do this again, again and again.

"You can't do that," a girl says.

Stiles blinks, surprised, and rises to look at the newcomer. She's wearing a pretty pink and white dress with matching mary-janes. There's dirt all over them. Her dark hair is in two very high pigtails with ties that have sparkly hearts attached to them, and it's matted and dirty. Her knees and hands are skinned almost raw.

"You can't do that," the girl repeats, frowning. There's a wild quality to her eyes that gives Stiles chills.

Stiles shudders. He wants to ask what happened to her, if she's alone like Stiles was before. "Why?" he finds himself asking instead.

"Mom says it's dangerous," she states as if her mom's word is law for everyone, not just her. "You can't do that or you'll be punished."

Stiles rises from the ground carefully. "But I'm a grown up, I can do it."

"You can't. Mom said no," she snaps irritatedly. She hasn't moved from her spot since she arrived. Her dress billows gently with the wind. "You can't."

"I'm big, I can do whatever I want."

"You're a liar. You'll get punished for that too."

"Look, I-"

"Uncle!" she calls to her right. "Stiles is lying again!"

"Wha- How do you know my name?!" Stiles splutters frightened.

"UNCLE!" she calls again, but louder.

Stiles takes a step back and then another. He bumps into something and his heart jumps into his throat. He turns around slowly and then he screams, terrified. He tries to run away but the beast catches him around his waist. He screams, screams and screams.

"Stop shouting, Stiles," the girl sighs, annoyed, moving near to grab the beast's free hand. "If you don't want to get punished, you shouldn't have broken the rules." Then she ignores Stiles altogether to talk to the beast. "Uncle Peter, may I have some ice cream? I stayed on the slide."

"Not before lunch, or your mom will kill me, Ally," the beast growls and she pouts.

Then Peter proceeds to set him in the kiddie swing, the one Stiles shouldn't be able to fit into. He wiggles confused and the beast, no, the man, smiles amused and pats his head fondly. Peter starts pushing at the swing gently as Ally hops onto the one beside them.

Stiles looks down at his Batman onesie and then he starts crying.

---

"Hey!"

Stiles wakes with a sharp intake of air. His wild eyes sweep the room, darting from Thomas, who's still gripping his shoulder, to the concerned looking Donna and the still unconscious Marion. He's shaking and he doesn't know why. Whatever dream he was having must have been really bad because he feels rattled to the core.

"You ok, man?" Thomas asks, letting go of his shoulder and getting him a glass of water at Donna's urging.

"Yeah," he waves him off, trying to stop breathing harshly. His heart is still thundering in his chest and he's jittery with nerves. He takes a sip of the water to focus his attention on something else, and then another. "Just peachy."

"You kept calling a Peter," Thomas tells him as he goes back to his seat.

"Peter?" Stiles frowns. He was talking in his sleep? That means he was definitely dreaming then. But he doesn't know any Peter... Well, except for Peter Parker, but he doubts he was dreaming about Spiderman in this situation. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, man."

Stiles takes a deep breath, holds it in for a few seconds, and then lets it out slowly. Well, whatever, it's just a dream. He has more important things to care about right now.

"How's Marion?" he asks Donna.

"She's disoriented but that's normal under these circumstances. But I'm no neurologist, so I can't be one hundred percent sure. I'll do another test today to check if there's still no swelling, but other than that, there's nothing else that can be done but wait and let her rest."

"So what do we do?" Thomas asks, taking the words out of Stiles' mouth. "We have to remain as a group, but if she's out, that leaves us in odd numbers."

"I wouldn't advise moving her," Donna says frowning. "And I'm the only one with enough medical knowledge to notice if something goes wrong, so I have to remain where she is."

Silence reigns for a moment. They can't leave Marion alone and go as a group of three. They can't leave Donna alone with Marion either. And making either Thomas or Stiles go check the wall alone with an unknown threat out there that may or may not have hurt Marion is a no-go too. But they can't remain idle either, because they don't know if there's some kind of time limit set. Unless...

"Is there any room here that can be locked and opened from the inside?" He'd suggest the police station, but Donna said they shouldn't move Marion. If they had cars this would be different, but they don't, so it's a moot point. "Or at least some place that can be barricaded well?"

Donna mulls over it for a few minutes before answering. "The psych ward on the fifth floor. It's designed to contain dangerous patients so it can be locked and unlocked from the reception there. I can add some desks to add more security too." She nods decided. "That should work. If she's moved on a gurney there won't be any problem."

"Fifth floor?" Stiles mutters, frowning.

"And I would have to brave the outside, of course. So much for equality," Thomas scowls.

Stiles looks at him, incredulous. "Well, unless you can cram..." he trails off looking at Donna expectantly.

"Twenty years," she provides helpfully.

"... twenty years of medical knowledge in the next five to ten minutes, it's the most logical way to divide the tasks here."

"Hah!" he sneers, looking at Stiles from head to toe and obviously finding him lacking. "Like you'll do anything if something happens."

"Fuck you, dude," Stiles spits out incensed. He's so damn tired his hands are shaking. He won't take this shit. Even at his worst he's never let Jackson walk over him, he sure as hell is not letting this asshole do it either. "Yeah, I'm scrawny and you're jacked, so what? If you want to focus on that, what does it say about you that I'm not bitching about going outside and you are, huh?"

"The fuck did you say? Bitching?!"

"Alright, that's enough!" Donna snaps.

"Yeah, it is!" Stiles shouts. "He wants to stay here hiding? Ok, let him do that. See if I care. He'll only get us killed anyways. I'll go check the wall alone. You be careful Donna, ok?"

"Now see here, you little shit!"

Stiles tunes him out as he starts dismantling the barricade. As far as barricades go, it's a poor one, but it's not like they had more to work with yesterday. It takes him five minutes to free the door and Thomas still hasn't shut up.

"You keep spewing words there," he snaps at Thomas, "but you're still making no move to come out. Huh, interesting." Thomas' mouth shuts with a click and Stiles sneers. "Donna, if something happens, if you have to move..."

"Stiles, I don't think you going alone... We can wait until Marion can move to..."

"No, we can't."

She sighs. "I'll call you if something happens."

"And I'll do the same."

And then he leaves through the door without looking back.

---

The last time Stiles was this angry was after his dad had that scare. He tried to sneak in a burger and then played it off when caught. It made Stiles lose it. In one split second, the terror he felt back then came back like a horrifying echo. He screamed and screamed, letting out the type of furious words that one never even remembers afterwards.

His dad apologized and stayed on the straight and narrow for nearly a year. Then he started with chicken fast food and escalated from there. Stiles stopped speaking to him for a little over a week, too angry for words again. His dad continued eating what he wanted, he was just sneakier about it. It made Stiles so mad that his dad joked about it with the other deputies... But being mad wasn't helping whatsoever, so Stiles called defeat and began packing him homemade lunches.

Just like then, being angry now will gain him nothing. Being angry will distract him. Being angry will make him overlook things. Being angry may very well kill him. And no, that's not happening. Stiles doesn't want to die because he was stupid and let himself be too angry to pay attention. He's not getting himself killed by whatever is prowling around Beacon Hills. Thomas is obviously a useless idiot and a jackass and that's all there is to it.

So he breathes in, counting to five, and then out, counting again. He breathes until his hands stop shaking and until he stops clenching his jaw reflexively.

He leaves the hospital.

---

It's so creepy. So, so damn creepy.

The hair on his arms is standing on end and he keeps shivering. His eyes dart around continuously and it's nerve-wracking. The sky is still dark but there's no wind, so there's no sounds but the ones that Stiles produces. It's oppressive and now that he's actively trying to avoid making any noise, his steps echo, his breathing is too harsh, and the rustle of his clothes is too loud.

The further he gets from the hospital, the more nervous he feels, which is ironic, because he hates the place with every fiber of his being. But being in the open like this makes him feel vulnerable and he hates it too. It itches like a bad rash and it makes him feel ansty, irritable and twitchy.

(He misses his routine so, so bad.)

Stiles abhors feeling weak. His therapist used to say that he wasn't, that Stiles challenged his own limits again and again. That even if he was having a bad day, he always strived to get better, little thing by little thing. That made him feel strong, as if he was a warrior like the ones in his games. Sometimes they weren't strong enough either and he did some grinding until they got stronger, and then he was able to succeed in the quest. For Stiles, at first his feat was getting out of bed, then it was doing his homework, and so on and so on. Sometimes it was just something little like doing his breathing exercises when he felt like he couldn't, sometimes it was searching for a good recipe when he didn't even want to eat. Big or small, Stiles always tried and gave it his best... whatever that was at that precise moment. And he felt strong for it. Messed up and with a lot of holes in his armor, but still strong.

And then Stiles woke in a ghost town and now it feels as if he's back to square one. Anxious, twitchy, tipping into the out of control territory continuously and forced to do damage control again and again. Granted, these are exceptional circumstances... but still. It's not always about the grand gesture with Stiles. Small things count too. Small things are important.

He can't help being anxious, he knows. Hell, he obviously can't know how Marion is handling things, but Donna and Thomas... Well, maybe he shouldn't include Thomas. Thomas is obviously being overcome by the situation and he's not handling it well. (On top of being a natural jackass, of course.) But Donna is the perfect example. She's level-headed and obviously used to circumstances with high tension levels, but she's anxious too. And if someone like Donna is anxious, how could Stiles not be?

It's a circle. If he gets anxious about being anxious, he gets more anxious, and then he gets more anxious about being more anxious, which gets him even more anxious about being more anxious... And so on, and so on, and so on.

He looks to the left to check an alley and misses a trash can. He slams into it and the sound it makes reverberates through the street. His throat constricts and he becomes paralyzed. His eyes look around wildly for a moment before he can finally force his legs to move. He dives into the alley and in between two huge garbage containers.

He waits with bated breath, his whole body shaking from nerves. He strains his ears, trying to listen if someone has shown up, but his heart is beating so loudly in them that he can't hear a thing.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. He hadn't even checked the alley thoroughly before he dived in. What if...? What if...? Ok, ok, Stiles, let's be rational, he thinks. Unless whatever is prowling Beacon Hills likes to play with its food, if it was already in the alley, it would have attacked in the past few minutes that he's been hiding like a terrified mouse. Breathe in, breathe out.

In.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Out.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

In.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Out.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

The roaring in his ears quiets and he can hear again. He rubs his hands and stands up to peek out. His heart is in his throat, but he's a warrior. Being strong or brave doesn't mean not being anxious or frightened. He takes a deep breath and then lets it out slowly. He steps out from in between the containers and starts putting one foot after the other. His hands start shaking and he tightens them into fists.

He can do this. It's not about not being anxious, it's about not letting his anxiety have the upper hand. He may have problems and struggle with things, but he's strong. His dad is out there and Stiles will find him.

He peeks out of the alley and finds nothing.

"Holy fuck," he mutters leaning on the wall because his legs feel like jelly. "Holy fuck."

He eyes his shaky hands and then looks around again. He needs some kind of weapon. He wishes he had found at least a taser at the station, he'd certainly feel better about going alone. He takes a deep breath to steady himself. There's a sports shop down the street. He doesn't have a gun or a taser, so he'll have to make do with a baseball bat.

---

Baseball bat in hand and a new bike, he reaches the wall. Yesterday he started about ten minutes down from his current location. If he chooses to go in the same direction, eventually he'll reach the part he's already checked... and where he found Marion.

Stiles hesitates.

He should avoid that part until they can go as a group... But at the same time, going by bike will make the process of checking the wall shorter if he goes really fast, so, unless something happens, he'll eventually reach that part today. And he'd rather look at it when there's still light, that's for sure.

Mind made up, he gets on the bike and starts riding. He can't help but wince at the sound the tires make as they roll and roll. He keeps trying to look both at the wall and at his surroundings, but at this speed, he knows he's missing things. It's a sacrifice he needs to make, but he's not happy about it.

He makes it to where he started yesterday and he keeps on. Wall, wall and wall for the next fifteen minutes. No entrance, just like yesterday. He sees the bike he had to abandon ahead and he can't help but tense. He slows down as he reaches it, his heart constricting in his chest.

He stops and looks around nervously. The pink bike is slumped against the wall and the blood has gone rusty red, but it's still there painting the concrete in a deformed circle. There's a trail of droplets and stained steps that end at the spot where she collapsed, coming from who knows where.

Stiles bites his lip and takes in a shaky breath. He leans the bike against the wall and starts following the trail. He tightens his grip on the bat and readies himself to slam it against anything that comes near. It doesn't take him long to find the source. There are two cars crashed, front to front, on a street nearby. Stiles can tell which is Marion's because of the blood on the wheel. The other car is empty, no traces of blood in it... or of the person that was driving it.

Stiles looks around and debates calling out to see if someone comes. He checks the car carefully and looks around, but there's no sign of anyone being there. He thinks about leaving a note to where they are holing up, but decides against it too. Beacon Hills is small, they'll end up crossing paths eventually and he can't afford to call attention to himself.

He leaves the crash site and carefully goes back to his bike. He mounts it and starts riding again. He mulls over what he's found as he keeps an eye out. Wall, to the left, other buildings and streets to the right. No exit so far.

Now it's obvious that Marion got hurt in the crash, not attacked like they feared. In hindsight, it makes sense with the type of wound that she has, but given the circumstances, it's normal that they were wary. Donna probably suspected it, Stiles is sure, but didn't want to leave anything out, just in case. But what does that mean? Does it mean that the walls are for something else? That there's no monster out there? Or that they've simply not crossed paths with what they're keeping in? What if it's a sickness or some kind of virus? Stiles scoffs. That's ridiculous. His dad said he'd bring Stiles back. He wouldn't have said that if it was a virus. Hell, he would have told Stiles, right?

Unless they are working on an antidote and he didn't want to make Stiles panic...

Ok, no, that's stupid. Why would he have left Stiles behind then? He wouldn't. No matter what, his dad wouldn't leave him behind. He's sure of that. He is.

Besides, what's the deal with the destroyed buildings? What was it for? It just doesn't make sense! But then again, nothing makes sense. Everyone except for four people (that they know of) just up and left in the night. Stiles had taken a pill that night to help him sleep, but what about the rest? Why didn't they notice anything?

He keeps riding, tense and nervous. Wall, wall, more wall, and more wall. Still no exit. Fire station, bowling alley, cinema to the right. Wall, wall and more wall to the left. No exit, no exit, no exit.

And this wall? What the hell?! Stiles doesn't know much about building things, but he's smart enough to know that a project this big cannot be done in just one night. But then again, what if it wasn't? What if Stiles just didn't notice? He's spent his summer so far hiding at home or at the station, not wanting to be outside at all. What if he missed it? And Donna is a nurse. Nurses work long hours. Stiles remembers Mrs. McCall's rule about not making any noise whenever she finished a string of night shifts... And Thomas, well, it's Thomas. He noticed something was wrong four hours into his shift, and only because his co-worker didn't show up.

He rides and rides. Wall, wall and more wall. No exit. He checks his watch and blinks, surprised. He's been going at this for three hours already and nothing. He's halfway done too. He sighs and then pushes himself more. His body is going to kill him when he's done, but he needs to get it out of the way. They can't decide what to do without having all the facts straight.

He rides some more.

---

Two hours later he runs into a problem: the preserve. The wall goes around it. He obviously needs to keep going, but there's no way he can do it on the bike. Which means it will take him hours and hours to accomplish that, and there's no way he can do it when it's dark. Because dark it will get right in the middle of it, he's sure.

Stiles curses mentally. He'll go around the preserve and finish checking the wall until his starting point. Tomorrow he'll brave the preserve. At this point, he's sure that he won't find an exit there, but leaving it unchecked is out of the question. He sighs dejected and gets going.

(Part of him sighs, relieved, because there's something about the preserve that's giving him the chills.)

Stiles makes it to his starting point with little fanfare. His sharp anxiety from the beginning has dulled after so many hours of nothing happening. He's still alert, but by now he has become desensitized.

He starts to make his way back to the hospital. Donna said they'd be on the fifth floor and she hasn't called to say otherwise. If Stiles wasn't thrilled to sleep in an examination room, he's even less happy about going to the psych ward. He wishes he could go home. It doesn't matter that it's empty, because it's his. He'd even prefer his dad's very uncomfortable office chair... But that's obviously not something he can do. They have to stay together.

Stiles frowns. Now that he thinks of the station, he hasn't checked it or a TV since yesterday. He hasn't called his dad either. He takes out his phone and bites his lip. He checks the call log and it's been over twenty-four hours since he called last.

He looks around hesitantly and spots a coffee shop nearby. He checked it on his third day. It was full of rubble but you could step inside if he recalls well. But he's checked at least ten coffee shops since this whole thing started so he can't be sure. In any case, it will be better than speaking outside if the call does connect.

He leaves the bike at the front and goes inside. It's not full of rubble, so this isn't the one that he remembered, obviously, but hey, lucky. He gets to sit on an actual chair rather than on rocks, so he's glad to be wrong.

He eyes his phone and takes a deep fortifying breath. He dials each number one by one and then waits. It rings and rings and then goes straight to voicemail. He tries again. Again. And again. Voicemail, voicemail, voicemail.

Stiles rubs his eyes tiredly and breathes.

"Fuck," he curses.

"Swear-jar," a voice says.

"FUCK!" Stiles screams, scrambling up and turning around, his heart in his throat.

"Swear-jar," she says again.

There's a little girl by the counter. She's wearing a pretty jean dress with a pink shirt under it and matching mary-janes. There's dirt all over them and her face. Her dark hair is in two braids with ties that have sparkly stars attached to them. Her knees and hands are skinned.

"Mommy said to not move when I'm lost so she can find me, but I don't think she can find me here." Her lip starts wobbling. "I want mommy."

Well, fuck, Stiles thinks.

🌙 Previous | Next 🌟

#Count to five do it again #teen wolf fics #my writing #teen wolf #steter

1 note · View note

unfolded73 · 7 years ago

Text

This Graceful Path (19/19)

Wow, what a bittersweet day, to be posting the last chapter of this fic. Thanks to everyone who read along - your tags and comments were so gratifying!

Summary: Emma has just moved in with Mary Margaret and started working as a deputy in the Storybrooke sheriff’s department when she meets Killian Jones, the town’s introverted harbormaster. When a prominent Storybrooke resident is found murdered, Emma tries to juggle solving the case with new friendships, parenthood, and romance. A Season 1 Cursed!Killian AU.

Rating: Explicit per CSBB guidelines (violence, sex); more of an M on unfolded73’s scale. The sex, when we get there, is not extremely graphic in nature. Same with the violence.

Content Warning: This fic contains two major character deaths, one canon and one not. (You’re already past them.) Sexual content in this chapter!

Total word count: ~ 75,000

Acknowledgements: Thank you to @j-philly-b for betaing this monstrosity. Thank you to @caprelloidea for all of the read-throughs and cheerleading; not sure I could have written it without your excitement early on. Thank you to @teruel-a-witch for the original prompt on tumblr which sparked this fic. Thank you to @pompeiiablaze for the wonderful art which accompanies Chapters 3, 9, and 16. Thanks to the CSBB mods ( @sambethe in particular, who had to look at my check-ins) for your support and for enduring my neuroses.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 – AO3 Link

Chapter 19

Emma moved the last of the stack of file folders from her desk to the banker’s box, putting the lid on top.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” she said, hefting the box into her arms to carry it to storage. “The Gold murder case, closed due to lack of evidence.”

David snorted. “Lack of evidence?”

“Well, it was either that or write down that he was killed with a magical dagger which turned to dust when a big evil cloud was confined to Pandora’s box. I know this town isn’t on the map, but just in case somehow the state of Maine ever discovers we exist, I’d rather not have that in writing. Or the fact that the killer wasn’t in his right mind due to a magical curse.”

“Fair enough.”

Emma carried the box into a storage room and put on as high a shelf as she could reach, standing on her tip-toes. “Goodbye, Dark One,” she murmured, turning off the lights and closing the door.

“Speaking of the big evil cloud,” David said as she came back, “how is our resident pirate captain?”

Emma grimaced. “Avoiding me, I think.”

“Why?”

“Guilt? Self-loathing? Take your pick.” She plopped down in a chair across from David’s desk. “I thought I’d gotten through to him the other morning, but then he fell asleep, and since then he’s not returning my calls or texts. Ruby said he stopped by for takeout yesterday, though, so I know he’s not dead.”

“Fell asleep?” David asked in with an affected nonchalance. “So you two are back to…”

Emma groaned. “We just slept, not that it’s any of your business.”

He looked suitably chastened.

The door to the station opened. “Hello!” Mary Margaret called. “Lunch is served!” She came in bearing a picnic basket.

“You really didn’t have to do this, Mom.”

Mary Margaret waved her hand. “Nonsense. I’ve got the day off from school, and my two favorite people need to eat.” She started unpacking several plastic containers onto David’s desk as he dutifully moved his paperwork out of the way to accommodate her.

“Can I ask you guys something?” Emma said after they’d eaten a small fraction of the food Mary Margaret had brought, which was enough to feed the proverbial army.

“Of course, sweetie,” Mary Margaret responded.

“After the sleeping curse was broken, when you knew it was true love between you… what did that mean, exactly? Like, did Dad automatically propose, just because some weird exploding rainbow wind thing said you were meant to be?”

David grinned, looking at Mary Margaret with that look he got sometimes. “I mean, it wasn’t long after that I proposed. But I already knew I loved her, so I didn’t need true love’s kiss to tell me that I’d met the love of my life.”

“Yeah, I felt the same way,” Mary Margaret said with a smile, leaning over and kissing her father.

“And you didn’t feel pressured to, I don’t know, live up to destiny? And what about now? Do you think it means you’ll always be compatible? Do you think you’re divorce-proof?”

“Emma, where’s all this coming from?” Mary Margaret asked, and then her expression shifted. “It wasn’t the spell.”

“What?” David asked.

“You didn’t get the darkness out of Killian with a spell. I should have known; Regina isn’t really the type to minimize her own accomplishments. You kissed Killian and it broke the curse. That’s why you’re asking all these questions about true love. Oh, Emma—”

Emma shot up out of her chair, uncomfortable. “Don’t, I can’t… I don’t wanna talk about this.”

“But why not?” Mary Margaret asked. “It’s exciting! True love—”

“With a pirate—”

“Oh, big deal, this isn’t the Enchanted Forest, David. And they might have fallen in love while he was cursed — doubly cursed, actually — but now all the curses are broken and they’re free to be together.” Her beaming smile almost made Emma smile in return.

Fallen in love, Emma thought. She hadn’t imagined those words applied to herself since she was a teenager. She wasn’t even sure she knew what being in love was supposed to feel like.

Her father sighed heavily. “Go find him. Get him to talk to you. I can handle things here for the rest of the day.” He began helping Mary Margaret to pack up the leftovers of their lunch. “But for the record, I’m still not sure I approve of this.”

Emma grabbed her coat. “Thanks, Dad.”

She found Killian in his apartment again, although this time he wasn’t drinking; he was cleaning: mopping the kitchen floor, to be precise. “This place got into quite a state over the last few months,” he explained as he led her into the apartment. He looked much healthier than he had… well, ever, or at least for as long as she’d known him.

“If you say so.” She stood nervously next to him, her hands shoved in her pockets. “I’m sorry to show up uninvited; I was trying to give you the space you needed, but—”

“No, I’m glad you came over.” His cheeks were tinged with pink. “I’ve almost called you half a hundred times over the last few days.”

“Why didn’t you?” she asked.

“Cowardice.” He indicated that she should sit down, and the two of them faced each other across the expanse of his sofa. “The more time that went by, the more I realized how badly I wanted to see you. And the more I wanted to see you, the more I began to convince myself that you had probably decided that the last thing you needed in your life was an old pirate like me.”

“Do you know what I thought of you before the curse was broken?” she asked.

“I shudder to think.”

“I thought you drank too much, for one.”

“True, and I intend to work on that.”

“I thought you were easy to talk to, at least once I got to know you, and that you were a kind person who seemed to genuinely care about my son,” she went on. “And I thought you were really hot.”

He laughed. “Well, that last part’s true. And it’s true that I care for Henry. The rest…”

“Now I know that you’re someone else, that you’re… Captain Hook, which is crazy, but no crazier than my parents being Snow White and Prince Charming. You’ve got an ugly past, but you’re also still the same kind, easy-to-talk-to person who I like spending time with. Aren’t you?”

His expression was filled with longing. “I hope that I am.”

“Then can we start there and move forward? Forget what’s in the past, forget this true love thing because it’s way too much pressure for me, and just… be together and see what happens?” She looked down at her hands, which she rubbed restlessly against her jeans. “I’m not like my parents; I’m not someone who can leap in with both feet. I’ve got too many scars for that. But I can be here. With you. That’s what I can do.”

He moved closer to her on the sofa, ducking his head to catch her glance and draw it upward. “When I remembered who I was, one of the first things I felt was an overwhelming guilt for forgetting Milah. It was losing her, the first real love of my life, that drove me for so long. I always assumed it would drive me forever. I assumed that love wasn’t in the cards for me, not anymore. When I realized that I had allowed myself to develop feelings for you, I wanted to deny it. I wanted to pretend that it was all because of the curse. And the darkness inside me fed that belief. Now I know it did that because it knew that together, we were capable of destroying the darkness forever.

“But I would see you, and even with the darkness whispering in my ear, even with all my denials that I could never love again, I knew deep down that it wasn’t true. That my feelings for you were real. That I did… that I do love you, Emma.

“I still don’t think that I’m worthy of you. I don’t think I deserve you. But I want to redeem myself. I want to try to make up for the bad things I’ve done and be worthy of your regard. Of your love. I want that more than I’ve ever wanted anything, even my revenge against Rumpelstiltskin. I don’t care about destiny or true love, I don’t need any of that. I just need you, Emma Swan.”

She launched herself toward him across the remaining gap between them on the sofa, capturing his mouth and hoping that her acceptance of his words was communicated by her kiss. She’d spent so much of her life alone, always betrayed by those who claimed to care for her. But then Henry found her and brought her to Storybrooke, and since then her life had been filled with people who stayed and who didn’t abandon her: her parents, her son, her friends, and this man. So Emma closed her eyes, and in her imagination she jumped, hoping this time for a graceful path to the ground.

Killian pulled her onto his lap and she went willingly, slinging a leg over his and sinking down, their lips meeting over and over, his tongue devastating as it explored her mouth. She felt his arms wrap around her, his hand and hook pressing on her back, and then just as suddenly he let go with his left arm, his body jerking slightly under hers. Emma looked at him, confused, as he rested his hook on the sofa.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I didn’t mean to…” He lifted his hook. “Touch you with this.”

Emma contemplated it, reaching over and grasping the hook and bringing his arm between them. “It’s been a part of you for a long, long time, hasn’t it?”

“Aye, much longer than I had a hand there,” he said softly, his voice raspy. “But if it bothers you—”

“It doesn’t.” She traced the shape of it with a finger. “It’s pretty. It’s kind of sexy, actually.”

Killian raised his eyebrow, a grin blooming over his features. “Yeah?”

She nodded. “There are other prosthetics you may want to look into, this being the modern world and all, some of which might be more functional. I can help you. But if you want to stick with the hook, that’s fine with me.” She pressed her lips to it, making his breath hitch.

He sat forward suddenly, kissing her hard, his hand weaving into her hair while she continued to hold his other arm between them. “So should I leave it on in bed, then?” he asked seductively.

She could have responded in the same teasing tone, but it was important that she make him understand something. “Sometimes, sure; I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t find that hot.” She squirmed a little bit at even the thought of the smooth metal against her skin. “But I wasn’t afraid of what’s underneath before, and I’m still not. Okay?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Okay.”

“Speaking of bed,” Emma said as she kissed him again, “we should go there. Now.”

“Gods, yes,” he muttered, and she wasn’t sure if two people had ever moved (or undressed) so quickly before.

“Next time,” he said as he unbuckled one of the straps that held his brace on. “I don’t want anything separating my skin from yours right now.”

Emma nodded as she unfastened her bra. She really couldn’t have agreed more.

The sheets were crisp and clean, changed as part of his efforts to tidy up his apartment, she imagined. They got into bed, facing each other on their sides, filled with anticipation as they studied each other’s faces. Killian rested his hand on her hip, and Emma reached down and turned his arm over, tracing her fingers up and down his tattoo.

“I’m sorry that you must see another woman’s name on my arm, love.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I don’t care about that.”

He frowned. “You don’t?”

“She was a hugely important part of who you are, or you wouldn’t have mourned her for so long.” Just as she had with the hook, she brought his arm to her mouth and kissed the red heart of the tattoo. “Besides, I’ll always see the dagger here and remember that we defeated the Dark One, together.”

Killian closed the gap between their bodies, pressing against her with chest and legs and hips as he kissed her again. They writhed against each other for several long minutes, his mouth wet and seeking purchase on her neck and shoulder. Emma scraped her nails through his wiry chest hair, delighting in the way it made him groan and rut his hips against her, his erection rubbing against her skin as he sought any kind of friction. It suddenly hit her how long it had been since the one night they had been together, and how desperately she wanted him.

She was so keyed up that when Killian finally touched her between her legs, she thought she might come on the spot. He seemed content to stroke her slowly, spreading her wetness over her sensitive flesh, but she felt like if he didn’t get inside her soon, she might die.

So she told him so.

“I don’t think you’ll die, Swan,” he teased, his fingers maintaining a steady rhythm that had her trembling with how good it felt.

“I will,” she said, her eyes squeezing shut.

He chuckled, and she decided it was time to turn the tables. Pushing on his shoulder, she forced him onto his back. With a smirk of her own, she rose up on her hands and knees, nosing through his chest hair and down the trail of hair in the center of his stomach as she made her way toward his cock. She drew the tip of him into her mouth, swirling around with her tongue and listening with satisfaction to his choked gasps. Opening wide, she lowered herself and took him deep.

“Emma, gods,” he groaned as she set up a rhythm. “Please, love… I can’t…”

She released him with an obscene, wet pop. “What?”

Killian levered himself up, shifting to sit back against the headboard of the bed. He took her hand and to pull her toward him, and Emma detoured to grab a condom from his bedside drawer before straddling his legs. She rolled the condom on before sliding forward, gripping his shoulders and grinding against him. “This what you wanted?” she asked.

He swore under his breath, his control fraying. “Let me… I need…”

She was just as desperate and didn’t waste any more time raising up on her knees and taking him inside on a slow slide. His arms folded around her, his hand clutching at her back as she started to move, a slow roll of her hips that allowed him to slide out the barest inch before burying himself fully in her again. Their kisses were sloppy, his mouth wide open and tongue lapping as they moved in shallow thrusts together. The position wasn’t giving Emma what she needed to come, but she didn’t mind, wanting to prolong the experience and enjoying the way they could hold each other close. His mouth moved down her neck to her collarbone, teeth dragging against skin, as Emma kissed the beads of sweat from his forehead. Their earlier desperation dissolved into something more tender as they explored each other with hands and lips, small movements where they were still joined keeping their arousal on a slow burn in the background.

Finally, he rolled her onto her back, a move with some amount of finesse, but not enough for him to stay inside her. Killian hovered over her, his hand gripping her thigh and pulling it over his hip to spread her open so he could slide into her again, both of them groaning at the sensation. His thrusts were long and deep now, speeding up as the flames between them suddenly flared higher. Every push inside brought his pelvis where she needed it, every drag out eliciting sparks of sensation radiating through her body. She was on the edge again in no time, her fingernails scraping against his skin as she cried out, not holding anything back. Her pleasure peaked and he fucked her through it, everything bright and pulsing and perfect. Opening her eyes in time to see his orgasm hit, she watched the way he gritted his teeth and tightened every muscle, his voice a raspy, pained groan.

Emma lay splayed out on the bed, her chest heaving as Killian got up to throw away the condom. She drifted, floating on a sea of happy contentment until he returned, moving her arm out of the way to make room for himself next to her in the bed.

“Don’t let me fall asleep,” she mumbled. “I’ll be worthless the rest of the day.”

His fingers trailed down between her breasts, palm settling on her belly with a warm, comforting weight. “What would you like to do then, love? I’m at your service.”

She grinned at that. “Maybe go for a walk on the beach?”

He hummed, leaning over to kiss her. “That sounds lovely.”

“Then have sex again?” she said, arching an eyebrow.

With a chuckle, he nodded. “Then I can make us some dinner.”

“And we can watch some TV?”

“Or just go back to bed,” he murmured, his nose brushing against her cheek.

“Yeah, or that.” She was still smiling; couldn’t stop smiling if she tried. “Sounds perfect.”

“Aye, love. Perfect.”

~*~

“Now,” Killian said once the small sailboat was untethered. “Henry and I are going to man the sails; your job will be to steer.”

Emma looked at him with wide eyes. “I don’t know how to steer.”

“You can do it, Mom!” Henry said cheerfully, his eyes bright with excitement, his hair tousled by the wind.

“It’s easy,” Kilian said, tapping his hook on the handle of the rudder. “This is the rudder. Sit right there,” he said, and directed her to grab the handle. “Hold it straight like that, unless I tell you to turn to port or starboard.”

“And that is?”

“Port is left, starboard is right,” Henry told her, clearly proud to show off his knowledge.

“Why don’t you just say left and right, then?” she grumbled.

There was enough breeze to get a good wind under his sails, and Killian was able to take them out far enough into the bay that Storybrooke felt distant; unimportant, even. The wind was cool enough to bring spots of color to Emma’s cheeks, but not so cold that any of them were uncomfortable. The sun was high in the sky, making the water sparkle like jewels.

Every day, Killian thought of Rumpelstiltskin. As much as Emma seemed to have accepted that Rumpelstiltskin’s death was the price they had to pay to defeat the darkness, Killian knew that what had been in his heart that day wasn’t any kind of noble cause — it was revenge. Maybe he would have killed the man if he’d been in his right mind and maybe he wouldn’t have, and the fact that he didn’t know the answer haunted him. What he did know was that he still had a long way to go before he’d truly redeemed himself for what he’d done. For now, though, he allowed himself to feel a small measure of peace and freedom. The burden of his quest for redemption would still be there when they returned to shore.

Once they were far enough out, he dropped the sails and secured them, guiding Henry and letting him do some of the work under close supervision. With the boat now bobbing in the water, he went over to sit next to Emma. “You can relax, love,” he said, prying her fingers off the rudder and interlacing them with his own.

Emma smiled, her shoulders lowering. “Sorry; I don’t have any experience with boats.” She looked around, turning her face up to the sun and closing her eyes. “It’s nice out here, though. Peaceful.”

“Exactly my thoughts. I figured you would probably enjoy some peace and quiet after the last few days.”

She hummed, leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder. “Yeah.” Emma had finally found an apartment, not too far from his own, and she and Henry had been quite busy in the evening unpacking boxes and shopping for essentials that she hadn’t needed while living with her parents. Between that and her duties as Sheriff and her magic lessons with Regina, she’d been busy, to say the least. And he had to admit, as much as he genuinely loved spending time with Emma’s son, he was also looking forward to his upcoming week with Regina, when he and Emma could properly christen her new bed.

Henry dashed from one side of the sailboat to the other, pointing out a dolphin fin in the distance or a pelican gliding overhead while he and Emma sat, holding hands and soaking in the calm as small waves lapping against the side of the craft. Killian focused on the way Emma’s fingers felt in between his own, his thumb absently stroking the soft skin on the top of her hand.

With a deep sigh, Emma picked her head up, turning to look at him. “Thank you for this. Really.”

Killian leaned over, kissing her softly on the lips. “It’s my pleasure, love.”

“Eww, you promised you wouldn’t do that,” Henry called.

“I’m a pirate, lad; I’m a scurvy dog with no honor,” Killian responded as Emma laughed.

“Come on, you scurvy dogs,” she said, placing a smacking kiss on Killian’s cheek. “We should probably get back so we can have some dinner.”

“Can I steer on the way back?” Henry asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Of course you can.” He raised the mainsail, instructing Emma how to tie it off, his hook trailing up and down the thin material of her shirt as he did so. She shivered, giving him a look that said she would get him back for his teasing later. He grinned wickedly back at her as if to say, I’m looking forward to it.

He turned the sail to catch the wind and the boat picked up speed, skimming across the water, carrying them toward the shore. Toward home.

END

#csbb #cs ff #captain swan ff #cs smut #this graceful path fic #my fic

122 notes · View notes