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smusherina · 7 days

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yard work - chapter 11 (regina george x reader)

fandom: Mean Girls (all media)

pairing: Regina George x OFC/Reader

summary: You'd been in the same class as Regina George since kindergarten. You'd lived on the same street even longer. Once upon a time, when life was sandbox disputes and who got the swing first arguments, you'd even been friends. Now, in junior year of high school, you doubted she even remembered you. The same couldn't be said about you. You definitely remembered her.

chapter 1 / chapter 2 / chapter 3 / chapter 4 / chapter 5 / chapter 6 / chapter 7 / chapter 8 / chapter 9 / chapter 10 / chapter 12

Making the scrapbook was cathartic. Remembering the good times, the innocence of your childhood, was as much of a joy as it was painful. The pictures were all quite good quality since Abuela had had a film camera. Some photos had been taken with a digital camera, which had probably originally belonged to the Georges and ended up in your possession somewhere along the way.

Regina and yourself playing in the Georges' backyard and swimming in their pool, beaming smiles directed at the camera. You could almost hear the laughter. I miss when we used to be able to just have fun together like this. I guess it's a part of growing up.

Regina in a white frilly dress, carrying a small basket of flower petals, donning a crown of roses on her head. She was pouting, clearly unimpressed by the whole thing. You hadn't been at the wedding since it was a George event, but Regina's mom had been so elated her daughter had gotten to be the flower girl. I remember I was so jealous you got to go to a wedding and I couldn't. You hated it, though, which was funny. You used to leave the room whenever your mom insisted we watch the tape. I wonder if she still has it.

You sitting with Regina, hip to hip, on plastic chairs while a newlyborn Kylie slept in your laps. Regina, eyes stuck on her baby sister and a thoughtful look on her face, while you looked at the camera with a smile. She's growing up so fast. Don't think I don't know you care about her. There's gonna be a time you'll regret not spending time with her. I already feel it.

Mrs George, Abuela, Regina, Kylie in her mom's arms, and you grouped together at a parking lot. You and Regina had on little graduation gowns and had scrolls in your hands. Elementary school graduation. The summer before middle school. End of an era. I love your mom's clothes, they're so nineties. Does she still have those jeans? You should get ahold of them before somebody else does...

Remember when I sliced my hand open when we were peeling apples? That was a time for sure. I still have the scar!

You taped pictures onto the pages, wrote little things here and there, hoping the labour of your love wouldn't end up in the garbage. Or if it did, Regina would read skim through it first.

I think this album was the first time we agreed on music. Britney Spears really brought us together, huh? We even learned the choreography of Baby One More Time. Mrs George loved it. I bet there's a video of that somewhere.

Mostly the scrapbook was filled with anecdotes about your childhoods together. You did write a letter of sorts on the first page, regarding your intentions with the whole thing.

I made this for you to commemorate the good times we had. You know me regrettably well, so I think you know how I tend to hold onto things. I still have that gaudy pink Build-A-Bear you made me for Valentine's Day that one time. It's one of my most important possessions, only second to the memories we have together. You'll always be a friend to me, Reggie. If not forever, or from now on, then back then. I love you. Yours, Jorts.

You'd pretty much finished the whole thing by the end of the weekend. You spent Monday and Tuesday decorating the front cover, mostly because you purposefully put it off. You cut out letters from magazines and glued them there, painstakingly forming the words Reggie & Jorts. You'd tried to come up with something clever, but making a pun or a dumb joke felt like cheapening the whole album. A simple name made up for with fabulous decorations!

You weren't much of a painter, but you figured it'd be fitting if the album reflected its contents. It was fine if the roses you painted looked like a five-year-old did them. A good majority of the pictures featured you and Regina huddled around a crafts table, similar projects scattered all around you, young with clumsy hands but filled with artistic passion.

The album in itself was an earthy green colour, something Regina undoubtedly found ugly. The flowers brightened it up somewhat, but there was only so much ages-old acrylic paints could do. You outlined some with Sharpies. If you didn't know better, one could assume it looked like that on purpose.

You took it with you to school on Wednesday. You had it weighing your backpack down the whole day. You sweated under all your layers, and by the end of it, you were sure you were sporting some epic pit stains. Gross, but you were so nervous. You hadn't broken into anyone's locker in so long. And it was Regina George's locker.

You loitered around the hallways as they emptied out steadily, people heading home or off to extracurriculars. As you approached Regina's locker, you swallowed down your nervousness and got to work.

It wasn't hard. The combination locks were all old and weak, more of a formality than an actual barrier between one's stuff and a burglar. The lock clicked open easily and you wasted no time in stuffing your album inside.

"Hey!" Just as the resounding click of the lock going back into place came, a voice called out to you. "What are you doing with Regina's locker?"

"Uhh..." Gretchen Wieners stood at the intersection of hallways, hands on her hips and accusatory eyes burning holes in you. You made the swift decision that you did not have time for this. You booked it.

"Hey! Get back here!" Gretchen, surprisingly considering her heels, started after you. "What did you put in it? You cannot prank Regina, or- or, oh, was it a bomb?"

"It's not a bomb!" You shouted over your shoulder, sprinting towards the exit. The aggressive clacking of Gretchen's heels on the floors as she ran after you would surely haunt your nightmares. How could she even keep up with you?

"If it's not a bomb then what!" How was she closing in on you? It seemed like she was not even fazed by your little race, meanwhile, you were already winded. The exit was not that far away, but it felt like miles.

"It's Regina's business now! Ask her tomorrow at school or something!" The doors to freedom approached. "Stop chasing me!"

"Stop running!"

"No!"

You burst out and quickly hopped down the stairs, two at a time. Gretchen was still on your tail, but once she got to the top of the stairs shouted: "Karen! Tackle her!"

You hadn't even noticed Karen fucking Shetty. There was no not noticing her when the girl sprinted at you with perfect athletic form and squashed you like a linebacker.

You collided and flew into the snow. Better than the concrete of the footpath but it still hurt like a bitch.

"Get off of me!" You tried to get out from under her, but Karen was surprisingly dense. She was small but it was as if there were stones in her body instead of organs. "Fuck!"

"Keep her there, Karen, very good."

"Thanks!" Karen beamed, which was a much more common expression on her than the bloodlust she'd shown earlier.

"This has nothing to do with you." You snarled, still wriggling. "This is between Regina and me."

"Whatever's between Regina is between us," Gretchen said, all hoity-toity. "Now, tell me exactly what you put in her locker."

"A fucking photo album." You hissed, closing your eyes and clenching your jaw. What lie could you come up with? "Our families used to know each other. It's mostly pictures of her, so I just thought to... Return it."

"Oh, that's so nice!" Karen's hold loosened and you went to escape.

"Nuh-uh, not good enough." Just like that, Karen's weight slammed back down onto you. Your breath wooshed out of your lungs.

"What more do you want?" You wheezed out, getting sick and tired of this.

"Why was it in your possession?"

"I don't fucking know! It just was!"

"Hmm. And why couldn't you just give it to her?"

"You think that would've gone well, Gretchen? Seriously?" You turned your head with great effort, staring up at the girl. "Please, just let me go."

"I don't think I believe you." Gretchen squatted next to your head. "We're going back and checking it's what you say it is. And then you might be free to go."

"Fuck you." You hissed but made no move to book it when Karen hauled you up.

"That's not very nice." Karen pointed out.

"I don't want to be nice to Gretchen right now." You had no real issue with Karen, even if she had just tackled you.

"Oh, okay." You couldn't see her when she was holding your wrists behind your back, but you could imagine she was bobbing her head up and down like she was known to do.

You were walked back into the building, going mostly without a fight. Gretchen strutted along proudly as if capturing you was some great victory. Regina had trained her well. You weren't sure if that was impressive or just sad.

"Open it." Gretchen gestured once you were back at Regina's locker.

"I need my hands to do that." You helped out, smiling at Gretchen like she was stupid. Sputtering and offended, she instructed Karen to let go.

Instead of running like you should've, taking the chance you could get out if Karen didn't get a one-up on you, you obediently cracked the code again. Was it selfish that you kind of wanted others to know about you and Regina? Was it totally horrible of you to want to know it was real and have proof of that? Well, if it was, there was no helping it.

Gretchen snatched the album from the locker before you could even think to touch it. Karen sidled up to her, peering over her shoulder as she opened it.

You stood by, waiting for their judgement and looking at the ceiling. There'd been a water leak right there, based on the discolouration. Gross.

"You... You're J. J is for Jorts." Gretchen said. She sounded weird, like hollow or something. "J is for Jorts." She said again, breathy and disbelieving.

"What?" What the fuck was going on?

Karen spoke then. "She talks about J a lot. Like, a lot a lot. A whole lot." You nodded slowly as Karen went on. "J's like, her true love. It's so cute."

"J is not her true love, Karen! They are both girls." Gretchen pointed out. You had to agree. "Are they?" She looked you up and down judgementally.

"Yes. I am a girl." You said. It was true, you were female and around the age that it was acceptable to be referred to as a girl. Even so, it made you distinctly uncomfortable.

"Hmm." Gretchen didn't seem to believe you. Karen was busy cooing at the pictures of small Regina. It was sheer luck they hadn't bothered to read your writings.

"Look, can I go now? I know I'm busted, you're probably gonna confiscate the album, and Regina will never see it. Happy?"

"No. Karen, please put it back in the locker." Gretchen said, not taking her eyes off of you. Karen did as asked with a pout. "What is your relationship with Regina?" The album was back in the locker, but it hadn't been locked again.

"Nothing." And that was true. There was nothing there anymore.

"That's a lie and you know it. If you're J, then you've known each other at least since middle school. Based on the pictures, even longer."

"Who is J?" You asked in exasperation.

"Somebody who she has protected for years now. Somebody who is always better than we could ever be." Gretchen pointed between herself and Karen. "J is important to her."

"Okay, well, good for J, I guess."

"You're so infuriating." Gretchen sighed, pinching the skin between her eyes.

"You aren't the first to tell me that."

"Of course, because Regina has said that to you. Because you've known each other forever. Because you're J."

"Listen, I may look a bit butch, but I have a perfectly ordinary girl name."

"That is not the point!" She spoke fast and high-pitched. "You. It's you. You've been under our noses this entire time! Do you realize how much easier things could've been if you were around?"

"Excuse me?" Now, you were really lost.

"You're excused," Karen said cheerfully. You nodded to her in thanks.

"We could never be as good as you. It was like we were placeholders for the ultimate pretty girl she'd somehow let slip. And it's you. In a flannel and hoodie, ratty jeans, dirty shoes, no fashion sense to speak of. It's you." She said that last part with contempt.

You were reeling. Regina had talked about you to these two. Had compared them to you, cited that you were better. For years she'd done that. She'd never forgotten about you.

"Look, Gretchen, I'm sorry Regina's treated you badly." You'd lost the need to defend her, even still. Then again, even if you hadn't, there was little you could argue about with the two she'd tormented the most. "You can probably tell this is something Regina doesn't want coming out."

"What does that matter?" Gretchen asked, eyes far away and legs beginning to pace. "We could- could finally bring her down. Yes. We have J, we have everything she wants. She'll come grovelling."

You took a deep breath. You didn't feel angry, you were too tired to get angry at mean girls at this point. Besides, nobody could rile you up like Regina.

"You're wrong." You put it plainly. "What Regina's been doing to these people, to everyone around her, is wrong. But what I find despicable is how everybody is the same. I know her reasons, I can sympathise with her, but I can't say the same for you. So tell me." You paused to take a deep breath. "Why?"

"I'm not good at riddles, I'm sorry." Karen said, looking genuinely apologetic.

"It's okay, Karen, Gretchen can answer for you both."

"She deserves it." Gretchen said, steel in her tone.

"You sound just like Cady Heron and Janis 'Imi'ike. She hurt them too. What do you think ruining her life will achieve?"

"I'll be the new Regina George."

"Do you hear yourself? You still idolize her. If you're gonna be the new Regina George, it's always going to be a Regina George world. Don't you want to be Gretchen Wieners?"

"No!" She screeched. "Gretchen Wieners is lame, boring, too eager, a slut, desperate-" She took a deep breath.

"Okay." You said. "Why? Because Regina said so? Why would you believe her? She's just the same as you. Look," You pulled the album back out.

"Here we're in the Georges' pool. She would not go to the deep end. Y'know, she refused to even go in without those arm floaties for the longest time. Eventually, some boy made fun of her for them and that was the last time.

"And in this one we're driving back from summer camp. Regina was already tall enough to go without a booster seat, but I wasn't. She'd just thrown the biggest tantrum 'cause Mrs George didn't allow her to take off her seatbelt to sleep. She went out like a light, anyway.

"We're in Six Flags there. We'd just gotten those ice creams and you can see that Regina's isn't sticking to the cone all that well. Right after the shot, it just slid off. Regina was inconsolable. I offered her mine so we could share, and that seemed to be good enough for her but her dad was not having it. He threatened to take us home if she didn't stop crying right then, that it'd be all her fault that their whole family wasted money and time on this stupid trip. Eventually she calmed down and Mr George didn't have to drive us back."

You sighed. "I already tried this with Janis, in a way. I don't think Regina would appreciate me airing out her personal life like this, but... I don't know..." You closed your eyes for a moment. "I just want people to stop making things worse for her. She's been so wrong for so long, and I know I can't keep defending her, but I just don't think revenge will make her regret anything that she's done."

Karen hummed. "My auntie's been teaching me about karma. So, like, if she feels what she's made others feel, then won't that like... Fix her?"

"I don't want to hurt her." You said, resolute. "Maybe, it could be the most effective way to make her see her shortcomings. But I don't want to. I do not want to hurt her." You looked between the two. "And that's where we differ, I guess."

Gretchen didn't say anything, eyes glued to a picture from the Six Flags trip. Regina had mustard and ketchup smeared all over her face while she was holding a napkin to your lips, in the process of wiping your face.

With that, you snatched the album from her hands, deposited it back into the locker and slammed it shut. The lock clicked. Without a word, you began to talk towards the exit. Neither of them followed you or said anything to you.

You couldn't stop people from taking their revenge. You had done your best to be diplomatic. Evoking sympathy in hormonal teenagers wasn't something easily done, or maybe you were just shitty at it, but there was little else you could do. If you went ahead and retaliated, hurt them for hurting someone you cared about, the lines blurred.

You'd just be another mean girl.

Notes: Sorry for the delay! The next chapter will be the last one, unless I start rambling or something. After that, I'll do a less structured series of epilogues. Loosely related oneshots, that kinda vibe.

Also, my writing assistant stopped working in the middle of this, so if there's stupid typos I'll come fix them later.

I swear to fucking god if the taglist doesn't work I'll start breaking bones.

Taglist: @autorasexy, @wedfan2, @unadulterated-moron, @modernsapphicism , @9unknown0 , @sage-rose2000 , @massive-honkas , @nattys-swiftie , @likefirenrain , @luz-enjoyer , @dandelions4us , @natashamaximoff-69 , @alexkolax , @jareaul0ver , @here4theqts , @charleeeesworld , @natsbiggestfan1 , @brocoliisscared , @yellowwallflowers , @scarlettbitchx , @ayoungexwife , @cyberbonesworld , @syddie-reads , @screechcat , @theenglishswiftie , @gabby-duhh , @sweetmissnothing , @masterofpuppets-10 , @l1lass , @starved-mortal , @nothanksbye07 , @nenas19 , @jvuyii , @starry-night17 , @reneeswife24 , @glorioushamsterqueen , @krononan , @slug-on-bike , @rayisaknight , @chaseatlanticlover91 , @reginassweetheart , @mirage018

(this actually makes me angry. why. why doesnt it work. i type in the @ and then i type in the name and then it shows up in the lil' box and i click it but then it don't show up ;-;)

(this is cyber bullying. the cybers are bullying me.)

(anyway, if you want to be added to the taglist there is no gurantee if it'll work, but i'll add you if you want! just comment on this post :) if anybody has any ideas why it's like this, lmk!)

#mean girls #mean girls 2004 #mean girls 2024 #regina george #regina george x reader #regina george x you #regina george x oc #regina george x ofc #mean girls x reader #lesbian regina george #wlw #fic: yard work

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healinghks · 11 months

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The Guitar Pick on My Nightstand

There’s nothing left.

The front apartment door that I crashed through with you, drunk and ready to fuck you in my kitchen, is now just a door that I walk in silently by myself. The bedroom door that we burst through after a drunken Christmas Eve is now one that I open and close quickly to unravel in the privacy of my bedroom, away from a sister who just doesn’t understand.

Somehow, I’ve found a way to feel both completely numb and feel everything at once all at the same time. I feel every single part of the heartbreak in all of the most contradicting ways possible. I want to starve myself but I also want to binge eat. I want to fuck 100 guys and I want to be celibate. I want to rot in my room forever and I want to travel far away.

“It’s okay,” said my sister to me after she could hear me sobbing from the living room. “It wasn’t you.”

But that’s the problem -- it wasn’t me. It was never me. It was never going to be me.

There’s nothing left. Everything’s gone, including my dignity. I gave everything away. Every part of my body, every ounce of my love, every corner of my soul. I never let anyone close. I took a chance, got betrayed, and was left with nothing but complaints about how I didn’t love enough and I didn’t shed my armor fast enough. As if I wasn’t putting myself back together. As if I wasn’t working towards building my future. As if I wasn’t doing the best I fucking could. But it just wasn’t fast enough.

I swore to myself that I’d never beg for a man ever again in my life, yet there I stood, pleading on a porch at 1 AM for a chance. My heart was giving out and I used my last breath to ask to be chosen. After that point, all that was left of me died. A pulse couldn’t be found and the ECG flatlined. A decomposing corpse drove herself home that night and put herself into her coffin, praying that when she awoke, she’d be in a heaven where she was yours.

The corpse wasn’t worthy of honesty, wasn’t worthy of a chance, and wasn’t worthy of being heard. She wasn’t worthy of the beautiful life that could have been built.

Last summer, I fucked a guy in the backseat of a car in the parking lot of the Miami Heat stadium. He had bought me three drinks in the club. The drinks were terrible. The sex was terrible. But it was a 15 minute distraction from heartbreak. When I did get back from vacation, my ex and I decided to talk. In the interest of honesty, I told him that I slept with someone. We were already broken up, anyways, but I wanted to be honest since we were thinking about trying to repair things. He screamed at me and told me that I was “worth three drinks.”

Maybe I am worth just a few drinks. Three drinks brought my biggest heartbreaker into my bed on Christmas Eve. One drink got a man from the bar in my bed, but only after I sucked his dick in the parking lot of The Levee first. Zero drinks got a guy from Yard Bar in my bed once and afterwards, he left without even giving me a hug or kiss. Maybe I am a cheap fuck. Maybe I am meant to be fucked but never chosen. That’s exactly what went on with Jeremy, too -- fucked and flattered but not chosen in the end, to an extent that I’ve never told anyone except for my closest friends. There’s some things I’m so embarrassed about that I never even told my therapist at the risk of my feelings being invalidated.

I’ve never believed in the idea of a soulmate. I never thought that one person should be able to fulfill all of an individual’s needs. Not every person can be everything to everyone. There’s a need for different relationships in people’s lives. I’ve always believed that partnership was a choice, a commitment made between two people with a foundation built from love. I knew that soulmates weren’t exactly real, but fuck, you felt pretty close to what one would be. I never felt so connected to anyone. But maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe connections that could possibly come were more important than a connection that did exist.

Everything’s gone. All that’s left are memories, hurt, regret, and a yellow guitar pick on my nightstand.

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dontbipanicjonsa · 3 years

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A confusing clusterfuck of thoughts re: Jonsa

Or: why the fuck are Jon and Sansa so compatible if they're not canon, huh?

He saw the Wall shining like blue crystal, and his bastard brother Jon sleeping alone in a cold bed, his skin growing pale and hard as the memory of all warmth fled from him. - Bran III AGOT

So....Jon is going to lose memory of all warmth? I'm going to separate the changes brought about in post-resurrection!Jon here as changes caused by death and changes caused by Ghost. This post is only speculating about the changes caused by death i.e. loss of memory of all warmth.

More foreshadowing for that-

Chunks of coal burned in iron braziers at either end of the long room, but Jon found himself shivering. The chill was always with him here. In a few years he would forget what it felt like to be warm. - Jon III AGOT

"It was. The fort is in a sorry state, admittedly. You will restore it as best you can..." ... You'll sleep on stone, too exhausted to complain or plot, and soon you'll forget what it was like to be warm, but you might remember what it was to be a man. - Jon II ADWD

So, I did a word search for warm and memory and I found some interesting stuff. Read under the cut.

1. Home

Jon- warmth and memory of home

The memory of her laughter warmed him on the long ride north. - Jon II AGOT (thinking about Arya)

The weariness came on him suddenly... So cold, he thought, remembering the warm halls of Winterfell, where the hot waters ran through the walls like blood through a man's body. There was scant warmth to be found in Castle Black... - Jon III AGOT

...Iron Emmett was still urging on his charges in the yard. The song of steel on steel woke a hunger in Jon. It reminded him of warmer, simpler days, when he had been a boy at Winterfell matching blades with Robb under the watchful eye of Ser Rodrik Cassel. Ser Rodrik too had fallen, slain by Theon Turncloak... All my memories are poisoned. - Jon VI ADWD

The warmth took some of the ache from his muscles and made him think of Winterfell's muddy pools, steaming and bubbling in the godswood. Winterfell, he thought. Theon left it burned and broken, but I could restore it.-Jon XII ASOS

So, these are the memories of warmth he'll lose? This warmth, that he associates with Winterfell (and the Starks), is the first memory of warmth Jon has.

Dany- memory of home

The door loomed before her, the red door, so close, so close, the hall was a blur around her, the cold receding behind... and all that lived and breathed fled in terror from the shadow of her wings. She could smell home, she could see it, there, just beyond that door, green fields and great stone houses and arms to keep her warm, there. She threw open the door.

"… the dragon …" - Daenerys IX AGOT

Home? The word made her feel sad. Ser Jorah had his Bear Island, but what was home to her? A few tales, names recited as solemnly as the words of a prayer, the fading memory of a red door … was Vaes Dothrak to be her home forever? - Daenerys VI AGOT

..."What shall we talk of?"

"Home," said Dany. "Naath. Butterflies and brothers. Tell me of the things that make you happy, the things that make you giggle, all your sweetest memories. Remind me that there is still good in the world."

Missandei did her best. She was still talking when Dany finally fell to sleep, to dream queer, half-formed dreams of smoke and fire. - Daenerys VIII ADWD

Dany's idea of 'home' changes over the course of the books. In the beginning she uses home for Illyrio's house, or the house with the red door. She very clearly doesn't think of Westeros as her home. After Viserys's death however, there's a sudden shift. Now, Westeros is her long lost home that she must return to someday. It's jarring. Interestingly enough, she pretty clearly rejects the idea of Dothraki khalasars as home, and the only time she calls Meereen home is in her last chapter of ADWD where she's trying to convince herself to return there. But we know that she ultimately rejects that too, in the same chapter.

Sansa- memory of home

Snow was falling on the Eyrie.

Outside the flakes drifted down as soft and silent as memory. Was this what woke me? Already the snowfall lay thick... The sight took Sansa back to cold nights long ago, in the long summer of her childhood. - Sansa VII ASOS

Last of all came the Royces, Lord Nestor and Bronze Yohn... Though his hair was grey and his face lined, Lord Yohn still looked as though he could break most younger men like twigs in those huge gnarled hands. His seamed and solemn face brought back all of Sansa's memories of his time at Winterfell. - Alayne I AFFC

She missed Septa Mordane, and even more Jeyne Poole, her truest friend... She tried not to think of them too often, yet sometimes the memories came unbidden, and then it was hard to hold back the tears. Once in a while, Sansa even missed her sister. By now Arya was safe back in Winterfell... - Sansa II ACOK

Arya coz why not

"Let me tell you something about wolves, child. When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths.… Sansa is your sister. You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you …" - Arya II AGOT

Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell's grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan's stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow's smile. He used to mess my hair and call me "little sister," she remembered, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes. - Arya II AFFC

Again, all this (and much more) is stuff that reminds Sansa (and Arya) of home. This is, presumably, shit that Jon is gonna forget. Or maybe he'll retain the memories and only lose the emotions (warmth) associated with it?

2. Suitors or romantic/sexual partners (+Ben Plumm)

Jon

Many a night he lay with Ygritte warm beside him,... - Jon V ASOS

So, Ygritte becomes his second memory of warmth.

When he turned he saw Ygritte.

...cloaked in darkness and in memory. The light of the moon was in her hair, her red hair kissed by fire. When he saw that, Jon's heart leapt into his mouth. "Ygritte," he said.

"Lord Snow." The voice was Melisandre's.

Surprise made him recoil from her. "Lady Melisandre." He took a step backwards. "I mistook you for someone else." At night all robes are grey. - Jon VI ADWD

AT NIGHT ALL ROBES ARE GREY...yea I know, this is a well established connection between the Girl in Grey and Ygritte. Since Jon associates Ygritte with warmth so strongly, I think it's safe to assume that the Girl in Grey might play a role in warming him too (hehe).

… one hears queer talk of dragons."

"Would that we had one here. A dragon might warm things up a bit."

"My lord jests. You will forgive me if I do not laugh. We Braavosi are descended from those who fled Valyria and the wroth of its dragonlords. We do not jape of dragons." - Jon IX ADWD

Yikes.

Dany

"If my queen commands," he (Jorah) said, curt and cold.

Dany was warm enough for both of them. "She does," she said. "She commands...

When he was gone, Dany threw herself down on her pillows beside her dragons. She had not meant to be so sharp with Ser Jorah, but his endless suspicion had finally woken her dragon. - Daenerys IV ASOS

So, here the warmth is because of anger (woken the dragon).

Dany could feel the warmth of his fingers. He was warm in Qarth as well, she recalled, until the day he had no more use for me. She rose to her feet. "Come," she said, and Xaro followed her through the pillars... - Daenerys III ADWD

She remembered Ben's face the last time she had seen it. It was a warm face, a face I trusted... Even the dragons had been fond of old Brown Ben, who liked to boast that he had a drop of dragon blood himself. Three treasons will you know. Once for gold and once for blood and once for love. Was Plumm the third treason, or the second? And what did that make Ser Jorah, her gruff old bear? Would she never have a friend that she could trust?- Daenerys VI ADWD

This is twice that Dany associates warmth with people who use/betray her.

"You're hurt," she gasped.

"This?" Daario touched his temple. "A crossbowman tried to put a quarrel through my eye, but I outrode it. I was hurrying home to my queen, to bask in the warmth of her smile." He shook his sleeve, spattering red droplets. - Daenerys VI ADWD

Dawn always came too soon.

...If only she had the power, she would have made their nights go on forever, but the best that she could do was stay awake to try and savor every last sweet moment before daybreak turned them into no more than fading memories....

Dany wrapped her arms around her captain and pressed herself against his back. She drank in the scent of him, savoring the warmth of his flesh, the feel of his skin against her own. Remember, she told herself. Remember how he felt. - Daenerys VII ADWD

Ok, I forgot how smitten Dany was with Daario. It would be cute if Daario wasn't so horrifying. Girl has some seriously questionable taste.

Interestingly, the phrase 'fading memory' is used four times in the text (as far as I can find) and three of those times are in Daenerys's POV. One is in the above quote, where she's commanding herself to remember her time with Daario before her marriage to Hizdahr, and the other time is while thinking about the red door. Both these are memories that are important to her, that connect her to the hopeful/little/not-dark girl she once was.

Sansa

Gently, he spoke of Braavos, and met a wall of sullen courtesy as icy and unyielding as the Wall he had walked once in the north. - Tyrion VIII ASOS

"I am composing a new song, you should know. A song so sweet and sad it will melt even your frozen heart. 'The Roadside Rose,' I mean to call it. About a baseborn girl so beautiful she bewitched every man who laid eyes upon her." - Sansa VII ASOS

"Alayne." Her aunt's singer stood over her. "Sweet Alayne. I am Marillion. I saw you come in from the rain. The night is chill and wet. Let me warm you." - Sansa VI ASOS

You must be very cold. Let me warm you, Sansa. Take off those gloves, give me your hands." - Sansa VII ASOS

Yea no. Sansa has not had a good experience with people offering to warm her (unfreeze her? melt her?)

Looks like in TWOW there's going to be two people in desperate need of some warming.

It's pretty neat actually. Jon associates memories of warmth with two things primarily: Winterfell/the Starks, and Ygritte. Sansa is both a Stark, and a much (much) improved Ygritte.

Sansa's iciness-wall-armour is a form of protection that she employs against predatory men. The only person who can melt her frozen heart...is someone who is not predatory. Someone who cares for her. Jon.

It fits perfectly. They fit perfectly.

#actually jonsa #jonsa #jonsa meta #book jonsa

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writefightandflightclub · 3 years

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Trial by Fire (Part 1/3) Santiago “Pope” Garcia x GN reader

Summary: You’re finally introducing your new boyfriend to The Boys. It must be intimidating for your guy because, hello? Not only are they literally lethal, as well as infeasibly handsome, but they’re hella protective of you to boot. They want the best for you so, naturally, they make your guy run the gauntlet the whole evening. Santiago, though? Well. Given that he is secretly in love with you? Let’s just say he doesn’t handle the situation very well at all.

Genre / tropes: angst, friends to lovers, love confession.

Author’s note: I wasn’t planning on writing this (in fact I’m writing the opposite, where “Santi has a new girlfriend and you don’t take it well” as a series, loosely based around the 7 deadly sins); but, in the meatime, I wrote this to get back into the swing of things after a lil break. It’s just a quick one, but there will be a second and final part, if you want it! Let me know!

Word count: somehow, 4.4k.

Warnings: language, angst, best friends arguing, Santi being an asshole.

Rating: T

The boys aren’t being as awful as you had anticipated, at least. For the most part, they’re actually being pretty friendly, and although they’ve transitioned into grilling Dean about every aspect of his life, they are at least listening intently and smiling at his answers. All except for one fucker, of course; and, naturally, surprising no-one, the fucker misbehaving is one (1) Santiago “Pope” Garcia.

The group - the boys, yourself, and Dean- are huddled comfortably around the blazing warmth of the fire pit in Frankie’s yard. The dancing, oranged flames cut through the dark and cold of the crisp night, as you sit upwind of the smoke on scattered, mis-matched camp chairs.

Whilst the others are evidently enjoying the evening -faces painted with smiles, body language open and leaning-in to chat to Dean- that fucker Santi is leaning back in his chair, his jaw twitching in seeming aggravation, his arms folded, and his intense eyes needling your beau. In this dim light, with the firelight licking over the sharp planes of his face, he looks every bit like a trained killer about to leap out of the shadows and garotte someone. Well… a very petulant trained killer. His call sign should have been Mr. Grumpy Pants, you think idly.

What’s up with him this time?! you wonder.

He gets these moods sometimes. And, when it strikes him, he can be a little bit hostile - despite the fact he’s a puppy underneath it all. You had hoped that for once, maybe he would suck it up, and yet, your hopes had been in vain, it seems.

Every time Dean speaks, or touches you, or even laughs at another of the guys’ stories, Santi’s expression sinks further and further through layers of distaste; and, by this point, he’s eyeing Dean as though he’s a war criminal the squad have been sent to take-out. You half expect him to leap up and take down Frankie any second for fraternizing with “the enemy”, if you’re honest.

Truth be told, you’ve had just about enough of this. Your friend had better buck his ideas up, sharpish, or he’d be reminded very swiftly that you were Delta Force too.

For now, trying to ignore the bastard, you look back at Dean, and the sight of him in animated conversation with your buddies causes at least some of your aggravation to fall away. Things have been going well between you and Dean, even if you do say so yourself. Originally from Michigan, he now worked as a lecturer at a nearby music school. He was also a banjo musician in a bluegrass / synth power-pop mash-up of a band, which (sort of) explained his retro-inspired mop of brown hair and his thick dark moustache - majestic enough to rival Frankie’s. True, he wasn’t your usual type, but he was honest, and sweet and kind... Plus, he’d never killed anyone with his bare hands, which was rather refreshing too, if you were honest.

Safe to say, so far, things were working out. So well, in fact, that you’d recently met his parents for the first time while they were in town. So well, in fact, that -after keeping him purposefully away from the boys for as long as you feasibly could- you’d now brought him to meet your family. That’s what this squad was to you, after all. Your family.

Remembering sporadic moments from the past few months together, you smile gently as you listen to Dean talk. You watch him seamlessly integrate some tailored conversation starters you’d fed him ahead of time, and you gently squeeze his thigh in an act of reassurance and appreciation. He is feeling the pressure, you can tell, although he is handling it well. To be fair, you think, who wouldn’t feel the pressure? You’d been nervous enough to meet his parents, but this? A bunch of Delta Force guys and an MMA champion? This squad was lethal; literally -you’ve lost track of your combined kill count, though Will probably hasn’t, you are sure.

Aside from that though, most of all, they are your family. You need them to like Dean and vice versa, and you know that isn’t necessarily a given. You are a tight-knit group, with little hope of outsiders grasping the full extent of your decade’s old in-jokes, or the intense camaraderie instilled by facing a hail of bullets together. Plus, as the baby of the group, they were protective as all hell of you.

It came from a good place, you knew: they wanted what was best for you. But, there was a reason you’d delayed this meeting... It’s not as though they were threatening or anything. They didn’t do the whole “if you hurt our buddy, I’ll kill you” thing, for example (at least, not while you were present – you couldn’t vouch for what happened when you were out of earshot). However, after introducing a succession of boyfriends to them over the years, the squad had developed a well-rehearsed system for sizing-up your new squeeze. In the past, not all of your squeezes had made it through the gauntlet. It was a trial by fire, to be sure, and you were pleased that Dean has not yet been burned.

Of course, whilst the boys’ approval didn’t mean everything to you, you couldn’t deny it was important; perhaps especially this time, with this guy. And, out of all of the group, Santi’s approval meant the most to you. Always had. Probably because Santi meant the most to you, full stop. You simply couldn’t imagine having someone in your life that didn’t get on with your best friend. And, so, you are not overly thrilled at the reception Santi is giving Dean right now. The reception he had been giving him all evening, in fact. And the more you dwell on it, the more an anger bubbles forth from you. Even though you try to push it down, and focus on Dean, that fucker in the corner of your eye sends you.

“What’s wrong with you tonight, Garcia?” you blurt out, a little louder than intended, causing the amiable chat and giggles to stall, all eyes turning to you - then, in turn, following the direction of your fiery gaze over to Santi, who shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

Now, he leans forward. Looks back at you with a rare venom in his eyes. With a smug curl of his mouth, he dips to pick up his beer from the floor and takes a swig - buying himself some time. Trying to brush you off. Still, your gaze does not relent as he rests his elbows on his thighs, bridging his fingers together in the space between, thumbs sticking in the air.

Now, he engages, and he looks directly at Dean, his eyes sweeping dismissively over the entirety of his form. Now, he speaks, his voice filled with far more bitterness than the situation merits. “Nothing at all. I’m fucking peachy. So, Dean. You play the motherfuckin’ banjo?” he offers, and yet, it sounds far more like an accusation than a question.

What the fuck is up with him?

Wilting a little beneath Santi’s stare, as the ex-operative squints his eyes in his direction, Dean casts a helpless, sideward glance at you from his place in the circle, and yet, you are so stupefied by anger that you can do little to help.

“I think what my dear friend means to say -” Frankie dips in valiantly, smacking Santi pointedly on the thigh, likely hoping to smack some sense into him too “- is why don’t you tell us more about your music, Dean?”

Frankie’s eyes and smile are soft when he looks at you, surreptitiously exchanging a pointed look -what’s up with that pendejo?- and you are grateful that at least some of the evident tension is diffused when he picks up the slack in the conversation.

Santi and his mood swings be damned, and, feeling bolstered, Dean continues on.

“Actually, it’s going pretty frickin’ well with the band. It’s a side-gig to my lecturing job, but we’re planning a tour during summer vacation. The States -east coast- and Western Europe for now. Maybe headlining a couple of small festivals, if that pans out, who knows.” Dean relates, humbly.

“That’s great, man,” Will chips in, helping Frankie get things back on track. “We’ll have to come down to a gig soon, hear you play.”

“Actually, we have something to tell you about the tour, don’t we, babe?” Dean says bashfully, and he looks at you expectantly, waiting for you to pick-up the thread. You’d talked about it before coming today, and it had seemed like a great idea at the time, but suddenly, now that the announcement is imminent, your mouth is dry - as if filled with cotton. Still, you force a smile, and you’re not sure why, but you look anywhere else but at Santi as your lips form the words. “Yeah – kinda big news, fellas. I’m going to join Dean on the Europe leg of the tour. I’ll be leaving you losers behind for a few months.”

Dean’s face cracks into a smile and he reaches for your hand, looking made-up at the prospect. Still, while you will yourself to be fully present in the moment, you find yourself focussed on looking anywhere but at Santi, sure that his stare must be boring into the side of your head. You hadn’t told him yet. Unfortunately, at Santi is where just about everyone else ends up looking, as the fucker abruptly pushes his camp chair back and stands, storming indoors before anyone can hope to fathom it.

You exchange glances with Frankie, Will, and Benny, with Benny thankfully stepping-in this time to distract Dean from the obvious, and asking him which stops you two will be making, and which sights you plan to see.

“Look, man, don’t mind that tool. Got any sightseeing plans?”

What is Santi’s problem? Why can’t he give Dean a chance? Yes, you’ve made some mistakes in the past- been hurt, and Santi had helped you pick up the pieces -every time- but you had a good feeling about Dean. A really good feeling. Can’t he see that too?

Frankie throws a concerned glance back towards the house and motions as if to stand, but you beat him to it, wanting to get to the bottom of this. “I’ll go,” you insist, motioning for Frankie to stay put, and with a quick promise to Dean that you’ll be back soon (and a silent plea to your boys to take care of him in your absence), you do just that, walk-jogging across the grass.

When you step inside to the kitchen, you find Santi stood, hunched over the counter, his palms clasping the surface tight enough that his knuckles pale, and his head hung low, his shoulders rising and falling as he takes in exaggerated breaths.

“Well?” you ask pointedly, with zero tolerance for his bullshit. “What’s going on with you? Wanna explain why you’re being an ass to my boyfriend?” you challenge to the back of him, and he instantly whips around at the sound of your voice.

“I’m being an ass?” he asks indignantly, his eyebrows shooting towards the top of his head.

“Yes. In a nutshell. Yes,” you hiss, any other interpretation feeling impossible. You fold your arms and purse your lips, making it plainly evident that you are waiting for some explanation. And, oh boy, it had better be good.

Instead of explaining though, Santi simply huffs out breath, gesturing angrily out of the window. “That guy, really? That’s the guy you’re gonna go all in for? Go to fucking Europe for?”

That guy, you mouth silently, completely stupefied for a moment. You’re not sure exactly what your so-called friend is insinuating, but you are clear that you don’t like it one bit.

“What is your fucking problem?” you ask, punctuating your words with motions of your hands, as if you are trying to strangle the air in-between you in lieu of his neck. “Dean’s a catch. He’s hot, he’s sweet, he’s a nice guy. He’s there for me. He takes care of me.”

“Like I don’t take care of you?!” Santi exclaims, his voice rising and abrasive; and then, immediately after the words tumble forth from his lips, he steps back imperceptibly, as if startled by his own outburst, his hand rasping over the stubble on his chin.

“What in the...? This isn’t about you, you ass!” you bite back, face scrunching up in confusion. Your fingers come to your temples as you grow increasingly lost-off and perplexed, and seemingly, your riposte only makes Santi double down on whatever the hell he is complaining about.

“Who’s the one who’s always been there for you, hmm? Who picks up the pieces every time you make yet another dumb shitty choice with another shitty guy?” he rambles, gesturing his hand towards you dismissively.

You step back from him this time, just a little, tears spiking instantaneously in your eyes at such an unnecessarily cruel blow. He’s right, in a sense: you had always relied on Santi to heal you, not to hurt you - and yet here he was dealing these painful, incoherent blows out of nowhere.

“Shit, Garcia. If it’s that much trouble to be there for me don’t bother next time,” you snap, your voice breaking as the swell of anger and hurt and adrenalin sends tears spilling over your cheeks. “Don’t worry though, I don’t think I’ll need you again. In fact, I have a feeling this guy might stick. So, maybe? Maybe you should think about the fact that the only shitty guy around here is you.”

“You really think he’s good enough for you, hmm? He’s really who you want to end up with?”

You listen, aghast, as his tirade keeps coming. However, as Santi’s voice breaks with emotion part-way through his second question, you can’t explain it, but you feel an intolerable sadness in the pit of you. Even though you’re not sure what’s causing all this, what you’re barrelling toward, you want to thrust this sadness away from you. Push him away from you. You want to push away the knot in your stomach for fear that if you tug at that thread, you might arrive at an answer to his question.

Exasperated, overwhelmed, you roughly paw tears from your cheeks, not knowing where all of these feelings are coming from, in either direction. “Fuck, I... I don’t understand what this is. I don’t get it!” you say, waving your hands, palms-up, through the air. “Is this some macho bullshit? Have I pissed you off somehow?”

At that, the wave of Santi’s anger crests and breaks; as you wonder if you annoyed him. Then, as suddenly as his anger came it is waning, his eyes pooling with rare tears now. With a huff of breath he tears off his damn cap, tossing it aside to run a hand through his grizzled hair.

“No. No,” he backtracks a little, palms up in surrender. “You haven’t... I.... I just...” He pinches his lips in-between his teeth and looks up at the ceiling as his words trail off, perhaps trying to steady his voice before continuing. Or, perhaps he has nothing else to say to you. Perhaps he’s said enough.

You examine him. Still pissed as all hell, but worried now too, and ultimately, your love for your best friend slightly edging-out the anger. It’s rare that anything affects him like this, and you can’t help the sudden rush of concern.

Cresting too, you exhale a tightly held breath into the now silent, taut space between you, and your body sags - just a little. You chew over your words a moment, but when your voice comes back the volume is lower, your tone softer - and, although it cannot be considered friendly, by any stretch, it’s the best you can do right now.

“You know what,” you offer, generously, wrapping your arms around your own middle, stroking your forearms with your own fingertips. “I’m giving you a pass. You don’t even want to give Dean a chance? Then just leave, Santi. Just go. I’ll give the guys some bullshit excuse that doesn’t leave you looking like a total ass, because I’m not a dick to my friends. So just go, okay?” You pump your eyebrow at him indignantly and await a response, your manner stiff and unyielding.

Santi closes his eyes and knits his brow together, something like regret finally passing over his face and he shuffles guiltily from foot-to-foot.

You puff out air through your teeth and shake your head, as you observe this Delta Force hero; the bravest man you know in many ways, but still too cowardly to tell it like it is. To admit that he’s in the wrong. You are afraid to say that even as his gaze comes back to you, misty-eyed, you have little sympathy for his plight. You are sure it is of his own doing. You are almost as sure that he won’t open-up.

“You know,” you begin, breaking from your position and gathering up a fresh cooler of beers from the fridge, turned away from him as you speak. “I brought Dean to meet my family. Do you understand that? I didn’t have parents and siblings for him to meet. I have you guys. You’re my family.”

Still nothing. Nothing but silence greets you. Nothing but a pained expression on his face, his brows drown together and the artificial light of the kitchen highlighting the harsh planes of his face as you look over your shoulder at him, waiting for some reaction. Some admission of guilt. None comes. He simply slots his hands into his jean pockets, looking sheepish.

“So,” you continue, greeted with a brick wall, “fuck knows why you don’t want me to be happy, but I am. I’m happy with him. Thanks a ton for shitting all over that.”

You don’t even bother to look towards him this time, instead placing the last of the clinking, condensation-adorned bottles into the carrier, resigned to head back out without him, and without any apology.

“I’m sorry,” he finally says, and your head whips towards him in surprise.

He looks it - sorry. He looks apologetic. Deeply so. He looks sorry for this, for every way he’s ever slighted you, for every time he’s hurt you, even in ways and moments you never knew about. He looks sorry down to the pit of him, and it catches you off-guard when you see it freely offered there in his eyes.

Even so, this is a stubborn man. There’s an apology, but there’s no explanation. Nothing to explain his behaviour. So, even though it seems genuine, it also doesn’t seem like enough.

It doesn’t appease you, and yet, all you can bring yourself to do is sigh deeply.

You know Santi better than anyone, but there’s always been a part of him that has seemed out of reach, even to you. You’re not sure -never have been- whether to be scared or excited by those unknown parts of him. Not sure whether the impasse hints at buried secrets too dark and deep to bear, or whether it hints of a possibility of something more. Something deeper or something better you could have together, if only he would let you in. You don’t know, and you never have, but all you are sure of is that you have constantly teetered on the edge of that abyss, too much left unknown to know all of him, however much you may have wished to. He’s entitled to his secrets, of course, but you hate how they hurt him.

With a little sympathy now, you examine his watery eyes, and when your voice comes back this time, it is softer and slower than you intended. More tired than you expected.

“You know, Dean wants to be with me. And he tells me so.” You casually dip down to pick-up the cooler handle, eyes still fixed on your best friend. “He might not be Delta Force… he might be a banjo player from Michigan… but even he’s brave enough for that.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Santi says, bristling all over again, his hand rasping angrily over his stubbled jaw, and yet, you decline him an explanation. Instead, keeping your own secrets now, holding back, you head towards the door, beers in hand.

Still, you turn back to him. You might be angry, but you still care for him -more than you could say.

“If you figure out what’s up with you, let me know, and I’ll be there for you. Whatever you’ve got going on, you know that, right? But this? This isn’t okay, Garcia. You might think that I make dumb choices -you ass, by the way- but I’ve watched you hit self-destruct so many times instead of dealing with your feelings. Maybe you should look at your own life, huh, instead of shitting all over me for trying to be happy? Shit, at least I fucking try.”

His eyes shift from side to side in the room, the muscles in his jaw twitching, chin jutting forward, and his thumbs locked in his belt loops. He can’t quite bring himself to meet your gaze; at least not until you are disappearing through the threshold; until it’s almost too late. Why can’t he ever manage anything unless it’s too late?

“Wait!” he pleads, but you cut him off, before he can speak. Even though, truth be told, you’re not sure he would muster anything to say at all, even if you gave him a chance. He’s so used to holding back.

“No,” you say firmly. “Forget it, I’m done. I still love you- you’re my best friend. But, fuck, just go home, and get out of my sight, Santiago. I’m so pissed with you right now.”

And so, you turn away, and when his words finally do come, they are spoken to the back of your head. They are spoken without you ever seeing his lips move, and you wonder if he ever said them at all, or if this might be some cruel trick of the night. Some witching hour spell. That is, until you turn towards him and you see the words painted clearly on his face too.

“Fuck it. I’m in love with you.”

I’m in love with you.

Why can’t he ever manage anything unless it’s too late?

You’re not sure what reaction he was expecting, but you almost choke on the sudden lump in your throat. You feel a taste of bile rising-up into your mouth. An intense, resurgent anger fills you, which near makes the room spin, and makes your hands and your legs tremble.

Even if a hidden, unconscious part of you has been waiting, hoping for these words all these years, when they finally come all you can feel is... royally pissed off.

“Oh. No. No. No,” you repeat, words gradually increasing in volume, looking at Santi as if he has mortally wounded you, rather than offered that confession. “You do not get to do this to me.”

You see a hard swallow bob down his throat, a near-instant regret on his face, and your heart pounds in your chest as you reel with the implications of his words.

The coward. The fucking asshole. He waited until now? All the times things had gone to shit, and he waited until you were happy?

“All the times...” you accuse, your tone as bitter as the taste in your mouth, the metallic tang of blood as you feel a rushing in your ears. “All the fucking times. All the chances, Santi, and you do this now?” you continue, your finger sawing through the air, wagging accusations at him, even as your voice wavers, as your hands notceably tremble. “No. Fuck you, Garcia. Fuck you.”

You want to cry, or scream, but you are too angry. So angry, that it eclipses anything else which might come to light. So angry that you almost come full circle again, beginning to stabilise out at eerily calm.

Santi looks down at the floor, and exhales air, chuckling disbelievingly to himself, then lightly nodding his head, lips pressed tightly together. His feet shift agitatedly below him as he brings his endlessly familiar eyes back up to meet yours. This time when he looks at you, it hurts. You remember bullet wounds, and you swear that was nothing compared to this.

“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say to me, hmm? Fuck you, Garcia?”

“What the fuck were you expecting?” you say, launching your words before you realise the implications of them. Yes, you know fine well that your boyfriend is sitting outside, likely wondering where you have got to. But, if you had the wherewithall to have thought about it, you would know exactly what Santi was expecting, despite all of that. You would know that a part of him must be expecting, hoping, that when he told you, you might reciprocate. That you might love him back.

And, would that be so outside of the realms of possibility? Would it be so hard to imagine that the deep, magnetic, and unshakeable friendship you shared could be something else? Something more? That you could tip over the edge you had long been teetering on? Maybe it could, or maybe it could have, but right now, you can’t see past the flashbang he has just dropped over your life, and it is clouding your vision.

You were happy. You are happy. Fuck him for doing this now.

Why would you fall into the unknown for him, if you never knew whether he would catch you? If you never knew whether ruin or safety awaited you if you let yourself tip? He always held back.

What the fuck were you expecting?

Your words linger in the space between you, and in lieu of any other lifeline, realisation dawns on Santi’s face. Realisation that, although he jumped, you are not intending to catch him either. But how could you catch him, with your arms already full?

And, so, he slowly nods his head once again, his eyes beading with glassy tears and his hand grazing over his chin in a self-soothing gesture. Wordlessly, he sets his jaw and he abruptly replaces his baseball cap on his head, padding a few steps forward to stand opposite you, sucking all of the breath from your lungs. This time, when he looks at you, you see all of your past, but you still can’t see beyond that. The abyss still scares you too much.

Like this, facing each other down, eye-to-eye, the silence in the room grows sharp as a knife, refined to a point. So, when Santi abruptly turns to leave in a sharp, determined trajectory, without so much as looking at you, it is as if he has dragged the blade across your skin in an equally swift motion. As if he has left you open and bleeding-out, having delivered a mortal wound with the act of his exit. You’ve felt like this on the battelfield before, and in life, yet he was always there for you. Always there to patch you. To pick up the pieces.

Instead of screaming open-mouthed for help, this time, you simply watch him go, and now you are the wordless one, mustering nothing but a gasped inhale of breath before your vision blurs with tears - as you watch his hazy form disappear along the hall and out of your sight.

“Santi,” you call pathetically, your voice small and weak and teary, barely making it past your throat, and he doesn’t hear you. He doesn’t hear you but even if he had, you’re not sure anymore if he would have stopped.

When Santi slams the front door behind him, you shudder with it in its frame, your hand coming to your chest as if to hold your heart inside your opened-up ribs, and you close your eyes against the jarring sound, tears spilling down your cheeks, your face screwing-up into a shined, contorted grimace.

Entirely lost, now alone, you bizarrely wish for the room to be filled with anger again, instead of the intolerable sadness - which all too suddenly takes hold of you as your emotions crest and break. It is all you can do to stumble forward a few paces and hunch over the countertop, finding yourself in the exact position you had discovered Santi in. You stand, bracing yourself with your arms, fingers clutching the edge of the worktop, and your head slumped forward, tears freely spilling out of you as your chest heaves.

You wonder whether he’d held himself in this same position because he had felt an intolerable sadness too. An intolerable sadness at seeing you happy.

Suddenly you could understand it.

That fucker. Santiago “Pope” Garcia.

I’m in love with you.

The words echo in your mind, but this time, if you’re honest, you’re not wholly sure if they’re his, or yours.

PART TWO IS HERE

#santiago pope garcia x reader #santiago pope garcia #santiago garcia x reader #triple frontier #triple frontier x reader #triple frontier fanfic

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nashibirne · 3 years

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Long, Slow Kisses - Inspector Cavill 5

Guess who's back again? It's Inspector Cavill and his girlfriend! I thought you might enjoy another smutty chapter of their lovestory. (You can find the Inspector Cavill series, parts 1 - 4 on my masterlist.)

I got inspired by the song "Long, Slow Kisses" by Jeff Bates (see end of post for spotify link). I used quotes from the lyrics in the fic, they are written in italics.

Pairing: Henry Cavill x female reader, y/n

Warnings: RPF but AU (Henry Cavill is an inspector at Scotland Yard), song fic (kinda), fluff, smut, sex, oral sex (m and f receiving), deep throat, unprotected sex, 18+, NSFW

Unbeta'ed! English is not my mother tongue!

Credits: I know nothing about Henry Cavill, this is pure fiction. Pics for the moodboard are from Pinterest.

Taglist: (let me know if you want to be added or removed) @hell1129-blog @lunedelorient @inlovewithhisblueeyes @mis-lil-red @willkatfanfromasia @omgkatinka @summersong69 @agniavateira @legendarywizarddetective @taebfada @xxxkatxo @kebabgirl67 @artandotherdelights

Summary:

Imagine...You and Inspector Cavill are a couple. It's been two years now and somehow everyday life has pushed romance and passion back a little. The same old treadmill day after day has damped down the fire of being newly in love. The spark is still there but in the last months it had been buried under a lot of work and all kinds of duties.

~~~~

It was Saturday morning and Henry had to go to the office again for paperwork though he had promised he would spend the day with his girlfriend y/n.

"Really, Henry? Again? You promised it. You're not working on a case, why do you have to go?"

"Darling, I'm really sorry but I have to do my paperwork. You saw the pile on my desk yesterday. It's growing taller than me, I will never be able to work through it without some extra hours." He gave her an apologetic smile.

"You promised it, Hen." She repeated with sad eyes. The disappointment in her voice was killing him.

"We'll just take a rain check on this. We can go to the park and have the picnic tomorrow, okay?"

Henry kissed her on the cheek before asking her again. "Okay, princess?"

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Do I have a choice?"

Henry smiled and grabbed his jacket before opening the door. "Thanks, y/n. Love you." He was already on the steps in front of the house when he heard her.

"You know, Henry. Sometimes I feel like I'm not the most important thing in your life anymore." Her soft words were followed by a deep sigh and she closed the door before Henry was able to give her an answer.

All the way to work Henry just couldn't stop thinking about her words. It broke his heart to hear her say them because she definitely was the most important thing in his life. She was now and she was always going to be. He loved her more than words could express but obviously she doubted that. He was almost at the headquarter when he made a u-turn and headed back home.

She was in the kitchen, doing the dishes, when she heard the key turn in the lock of the front door.

"Henry? Is that you?" Y/n dried her hands with a towel and went to the hall where Henry stood with a lopsided smile on his pretty lips. "What's wrong, Darling? Are you sick?" She asked him.

"Naw, I ain't sick, it's just this morning, when you told me, you didn't feel like you were the most important thing in my life anymore, well that broke my heart. So, I had to turn around and come back and tell you what I'm gonna do about it."

She looked at him with a frown, confusion written all over her face. When Henry gave her a wink she stepped closer and placed her hands on his chest. She looked him in the eyes with a smile.

"That's so sweet, honey. And so surprising, but I'm curious now...what are you gonna do about it?" She returned the wink.

He cupped her face with his big hands and gave her a quick, tender kiss.

"I'm gonna light the bedroom candles, take the phone out of the wall. We can lay around and talk for hours or maybe we won't talk at all. I'm gonna resurrect the love that slipped away from us and the man you've been missin', startin' with some long, slow kisses."

She took a deep breath and smirked, biting her lip.

"Well, that sounds promising. So what are you waiting for."

Henry chuckled and pulled her close. Long, slow kisses followed, just like he'd promised. Y/n almost melted in his arms, it just felt so good, so hot, so sensual. Henry deepened the kiss and she got all wet just by the way he let his tongue roam around in her mouth. Henry's hands were all over her body, stroking her ass and her breasts which made her moan.

Hearing her desire turned him on so much he shortly considered taking her right there in the hall but he remembered his promise. He pulled away, out of breath, his eyes dark with lust.

"You like that, baby?" He looked at her with a lewd smile.

"You know I do."

"Then let's continue upstairs."

And before y/n knew what was happening he had swept her off her feet and thrown her over his shoulder.

"Henry?" she shrieked. "Put me down, I'm too heavy!"

"Don't be silly, hon." He laughed and took the stairs to the first floor so easily as if she was light as a feather. His strength never ceased to amaze her.

He put her down in front of their bedroom and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Just gimme a second, okay? Oh, and throw this away." He gave her his mobile. "Not literally of course."

"Sure." She grinned and Henry went to the bedroom, closing the door behind him. Y/N looked around and decided to hide the phone inside the laundry closet between the towels.

Just when she was done the door flew open and Henry made an inviting gesture. "Come in."

The room was bathed in dimness, only lit by her bedside lamp. Henry had thrown one of her light summer shawls over it, a crimson red one, and so the illumination created an illusion of sundown. Some candles were flickering on the window ledge making the romantic atmosphere perfect. Henry was standing beside the bed smiling at her with a hint of shyness. He usually wasn't a man of great gestures and he seemed to be unsure if y/n liked the scenario he'd created.

"Darling." She whispered amazed. "This is wonderful."

"So you like it?"

"Of course." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "It's so romantic."

"I was hoping you'd say that. I think we've neglected this part of our relationship a little in the last months."

"That's true." She sighed, sounding a little sad.

"I'm gonna make it up to you today, my love."

She gave him an encouraging nod and Henry continued with telling her what he had on his mind.

"I just want to let you know how ashamed I am for making you feel that way Darlin', I'm so sorry. I guess I've just been spendin' too much on making a living and way too little on making love. But if you can just find it in your heart to forgive me, girl, I swear from this moment on you'll always know where you stand with me. 'Cause what really matters most is you and me this close, feeling no distance, sharing some long, slow kisses"

Y/n looked at him with wide eyes and it was obvious that she was touched by his words.

"Oh my god, Henry. This is the sweetest I've ever heard. But it's not all your fault, we've both been so busy lately…"

"I know, but today it's my turn to show you how much I still care about you. How much you mean to me. And I don't just want to fuck you, I'm going to make love to you, alright? Will you let me love you, princess?"

"I'm all yours, Buzz." He smirked when he heard the nickname and pulled her close. They kissed again and it was the most sensual foreplay - slow, erotic, sexy.

"Let me undress you." Henry's voice was smooth and soft. He took a step away and started to unbutton her shirt. She wanted to help him but he grabbed her wrists gently.

"No, babe. Let me take care of you. All you have to do is to relax and to enjoy this."

She looked him in the eyes and nodded.

Henry slowly stripped off every single piece of clothing from her body until she was completely naked. He admired her body, smiling at her. "Sometimes I forget how very beautiful you are, darling." She returned his smile and batted her eye lashes suddenly a little self-conscious.

"Lay down." He patted on the mattress and y/n stretched out her body on the bed. She enjoyed watching Henry stripping off his clothes too and when he was naked he laid down beside her. A shiver ran through her body and Henry looked at her with a worried frown. "Are you cold, love?"

"No, darling, just shaking with anticipation."

"Good." He grinned and placed a sweet little kiss on her shoulder. "Why don't you close your eyes."

"Okay."

From this moment on all she could do was feel. She felt Henry's mouth on her lips and after a while he started to kiss every part of her body. Her neck, where he concentrated on the sensitive spot behind her ear which made her moan, her collarbone and her shoulders. He stroked her tits tenderly, kissing the tender flesh, licking and sucking her hard nipples.

"Oohhh…." She let out a deep sigh, her breath was going fast already. Henry continued to take care of her breasts, kneading them with his strong hands, just like he knew y/n liked it best.

She whimpered when his mouth left her nipple but when she felt his soft lips showering her belly with hot kisses she uttered a sexy groan, showing him how much she enjoyed his actions.

Henry climbed between her legs, spreading them wide enough to fit in with his body. He was kissing her lower abdomen now, his hands reaching out for her tits, giving them a quick little squeeze before he placed his hands on her thighs. He stroked her legs slowly, kissing her right above her pubic area.

"God...Henry…this is torture…" She was a panting mess already and Henry was so hard it almost hurt. "Do you want me to stop?" He whispered against her pussy, blowing softly against her clit.

"No. Please...don't stop."

Henry kissed her sweet spot before he licked through her folds a few times. "I love your juices. You taste so sweet, so pure, like dew, like nectar...and you are so damn wet, my love."

He straightened up to take a look at her and to give his dick a few strokes. A moan escaped his lips and y/n opened her eyes. She stared at his massive manhood with hungry eyes, licking her lips. "Stuff my mouth with this big cock, baby. I need to taste you."

Henry let out a growl full of arousal. "You want it down your throat?"

"Yes." Y/n moved her body and let her head hang down from the edge of the bed. It was her favorite position for deep throat, perfect for taking his length all the way down. Henry climbed off the bed and stood in front of her. His heavy cock was hovering over her head. He took it in his hands, giving it another few strokes and then he penetrated her mouth slowly, carefully.

They had done this before many times and he knew exactly what he was doing. Y/n loved having him balls deep in her mouth but she liked it slow, not rough. He never mouth fucked her, there was no need to. The way her throat closed tightly around the his dick, the feeling of her tongue pressing against his shaft, licking him, was enough to make him so incredibly horny, sometimes it even was enough to push him over the edge. But he didn't want to come in her throat today. He looked at her, how she sucked on him, playing with her own nipples and he started to move slowly, thrusting his hips carefully with tiny motions a few times. Y/n groaned, grabbing him by his thighs, obviously enjoying this.

He wanted to take her so badly, wanted to drag her down from the bed, take her in his arms, shove her against the wall and rail her into oblivion, her legs wrapped around his waist, her back pressed against the rough surface but he wanted to stand by his promise. Today he wouldn't simply fuck her, he would love her, show his affection. He pulled his cock out of her mouth slowly and climbed back on the bed.

"I need you inside of me, Henry. I need to feel you close." Y/n begged in a dark, needy voice.

He was back between her legs in an instant and kissed her before he let his dick glide into her wet, hot pussy. He took his time, letting her feel every inch. When he was completely inside of her they moaned and moved in unison for a pretty long time, their motions slow and intense, giving them the feeling of intimacy and total closeness. This was love making, this was passion, this was devotion. They looked each other in the eyes for the entire time, whispering sweet words, exchanging soft moans and little smiles. After a while Henry grabbed her ass and pulled her on his thighs to penetrate her even deeper. She lifted her hips eagerly and while he started to thrust, shoving his cock deep inside of her, she started to stimulate her clit simultaneously. It was such a turn on for Henry to watch her pleasure herself, he picked up speed, desperately wanting to fill her tight cunt with his cum.

Her moans turned into shrieks, his groans into animalistic grunts. They were rocking their hips, panting breathlessly, their bodies glistening with sweat.

"I'm close baby." Her voice was hoarse.

"Then come for me princess...come...."

"Fuck." Her pussy clenched around him and she cried out loud, enjoying her orgasm, rocking her hips, her legs shivering.

"Y/n…." Henry grabbed her hips and now he allowed himself to fuck her. He went fast, took her deep and hard before he came too. As usual he let out a long husky sigh, throwing back his head, thrusting his hips till his climax was over.

He pulled out slowly, plopped down beside her and took her in his strong arms.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too, princess. More than anything in the world."

"I know, Henry." She turned to him and kissed him tenderly. "And if I ever doubt it again, just show me...like you did today."

#Spotify #henry cavill #cavillry #henry cavill fandom #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill smut #henry cavill x reader #inspector cavill

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skiesofthesketchy · 4 years

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Unsend {1}

JJ Maybank x reader

Summary: You accidentally sent your nude to your friend lol.

AN: Hi! Ummm... I wrote this. Idk lemme know if you like it and if you’d like to read a part 2!! Me.. over here obsessed with JJ baby. Ok thanks for reading love you :)

Warnings: lots of swearing, somewhat explicit descriptions, a smidge of blackmail...

Word count: 2.9k

Part 2: Send It

***

It was one of those days where you weren’t feeling particularly great about yourself. Nothing specific was the cause of such feelings, but today you just felt... bleh.

Your rattiest pair of sweatpants adorned your legs and you wore an extra large shirt on top. Your hair was pulled into something that sort of resembled a bun, your face was covered in a mud mask, which looked and smelled gross, but the packaging said it would make your skin soft. You usually didn’t mind your appearance, especially when you’re just lounging around at home, but today you didn’t feel pretty.

Pretty is not the most important thing in the world. Still, it felt nice to feel pretty.

This led you to go through some of your old photos. It always made you happier to look back on some of the amazing memories you’d made. Scrolling through your camera roll on your phone, you found pictures from instances you had totally forgotten about. Your heart melted when you clicked on one of you and your friends.

It was the first day of summer, and your squad spent the entire day surfing before hanging out at the Chateau afterwards. John B. and JJ had grilled up some burgers while you helped Pope make a fire in the yard. Kiara had been the designated DJ of the night, which was her excuse for not helping with dinner. You all sat in camping chairs and hammocks as you ate and listened to music, talking and laughing about anything that came up.

It was a pure moment, and you smiled at the photo. You had insisted on taking a picture to commemorate the amazing day, the first day of a wild summer ahead of you. You had set your phone on the porch with a timer, and yelled at everyone to quickly pose. They were already standing in somewhat of a formation, and as you ran to them to get ready for the picture, JJ grabbed you by the waist and spun you around so that he was holding you with your back against his chest.

“Say pogues for life!” Kiara shouted, and you all huddled closer together in a group hug, JJ smooshing his cheek against yours with arms around your waist as you all screamed at the top of your lungs, “Pogues for life!”

You saved the photo to favorites, the sight of it making you feel better already. Before scrolling again, you zoomed in on your face, your cheek squished against JJ’s, and it made you blush. Any time he held you close, it made your skin heat up and your insides turn to mush.

Sighing, you kept scrolling, and were surprised to find a handful of scandalous pictures you had taken. You remember this day too, and you were feeling extra great about yourself then. So great that you had decided to snap a few nudes. You hadn’t sent them to anyone, but figured it was nice to have a few photos of you looking sexy. You blushed as you looked through these, wondering if you’d ever have the courage to actually send them to someone someday.

Your screen still displayed one of your nudes when you got a text from Kie. For some unknown reason, your phone spazzed out and the screen froze. “Come on,” you mumbled, pressing on the screen and the home button several times. You tapped repeatedly on the screen, annoyed that nothing was happening. Then it seemed to have started working again, because it lit up and you were suddenly watching your photo being sent to someone.

“Oh my fucking god.” Your eyes widened. “What the fuck did I just do!?”

Panic surged throughout your whole body. Your phone seemed to be working just fine now, but did you actually just send your nude to somebody?! You rushed to your messaging app, and the first name at the top of the screen was none other than JJ Maybank.

“No!” you yelled. You clicked on his name and sure enough, your naked body was in the chat, underneath it, the word, ‘Delivered.’

You threw your phone onto the bed. “This cannot be happening to me right now.” ‘Shit, shit, shit,’ was all that was running through your head on a loop as you tried to think of what to do.

‘Maybe he hasn’t seen it yet,’ you thought. You quickly picked up your phone again and called JJ, praying he would pick up. You needed to tell him NOT to open his messages. To delete the whole chat right now before he sees the picture.

He didn’t answer, and you huffed, dialing his number again. You had to get a hold of him. If there’s any chance he hasn’t seen it yet, you were going to make sure he never does. You don’t know how you’d live with the humiliation.

The call once again went to voicemail, and you were on your feet in seconds. You still had hope, thinking if he wasn’t answering your calls, he didn’t even have his phone on him, which means he couldn’t have seen the picture yet.

You slid on some shoes and grabbed your backpack, not even bothering to look in the mirror before running out of your house. You knew JJ would be at the Chateau, and it was only a fifteen minute walk from your house. You figured you could make it in five if you ran.

Then you were sprinting down the streets like a mad woman, your face still painted with the brown mud mask, which was starting to melt off as it mixed with your sweat. You didn’t even care. You just needed to get to JJ’s phone before he did.

“I’m gon’ take a shower,” John B. muttered to JJ. JJ didn’t respond as he grabbed a beer from the fridge. He found his phone resting on the couch as he sat down, taking a swig of Coors. He scrolled through the few notifications he had, the boy furrowing his brows when he saw two missed calls from you and a text.

He didn’t think anything of it when he clicked on your text message, but what he saw had him spitting out his beer all over his lap and the coffee table.

Your face wasn’t in the shot, but JJ knew it was you without a doubt. You were completely naked and laid across your bed. The frame showed from your collarbones down to your thighs, one of your legs propped up lazily, showing all of your most private parts.

JJ was stunned. He wasn’t thinking about why you had sent him this photo out of the blue. He was left ogling the picture in utter disbelief. Your tits were on full display, your nipples hardened into peaks, your skin looking flawless. JJ couldn’t help the grunt that escaped him when he zoomed in on your pussy. He had only dreamed of seeing you this way, but never in a million years thought that he actually would. Naughty thoughts started to swirl in his head when he heard the sound of rapid footsteps just outside.

It was you, panting wildly and your mind still racing. “JJ?” you yelled as you bounded up the porch steps. JJ quickly tucked his phone away on instinct, as if he already knew he shouldn’t have been looking at that photo.

You barged into the front door and stopped in your tracks when you found JJ standing in the living room. He chuckled as he looked you up and down. You were a complete mess, and it was plainly obvious that you had just been running for your life. “Y/N?” he asked.

“Where’s your phone?” You didn’t have time to explain, and you didn’t want to. You just needed to delete the photo without JJ knowing, and then you could forget this ever happened.

JJ decided to play dumb. He found the current state you were in more than amusing, and he thought about how his day has already gotten so much better. “Uh, I don’t know. Why?”

“Come on, J, where is it?”

“I said I don’t have it. What’s this about?” He had an idea of why you ran in demanding his phone, but he wanted to watch you squirm as you tried to explain it. He wasn’t going to let you know he had seen your nude just yet.

“Nothing, I just need it, okay?” You started frantically looking around, throwing pillows and blankets onto the floor. “Where is it?” you grumbled. You still looked like a crazy person, and JJ was enjoying the scene in front of him way too much.

“I’ll help you look if you tell me why you need it.” The man was smirking, which pissed you off but you were too busy panicking to care right now.

“I’ll just call it,” you said, before taking your phone out to call him. JJ took another swig of his beer as he watched you, totally unhinged. He knew he was about to be caught in his lie, but he was excited for it. This whole situation excited him.

His ringtone started blaring from his pocket and you looked at him in disbelief. “JJ, seriously? Gimme your damn phone.” You were now standing in front of him, still quivering with nerves but putting on an angry face for him.

“No,” he smiled, looking more like the devil than the JJ you know and love.

“I swear to god, JJ, I will murder you.” You reached for his pockets, but he had already slipped the phone out and held it above his head, out of your reach.

“Just tell me why you need it so badly!” He laughed as you jumped and yanked on his arm trying to get his phone. He easily kept it away from you, but you were putting in an admirable amount of effort.

“None of your business!” you yelled childishly, hitting him in the chest as you continued to reach for the phone.

“My phone, my business.” You shouted in anguish and jumped on him, making you both crash onto the couch with you practically laying on top of him. Being in this position with your friend would’ve made you embarrassed, but you had too much adrenaline pumping through your veins to care.

Your hands finally grabbed hold of the phone but he snatched it away from you and tucked it into the front of his pants. You looked at him again baffled. “Go on, take it,” he said. You wanted to slap the smirk right off his face.

“Don’t think I won't.”

“I hope you do, sweetheart.” His eyes burned into you in a challenging stare, his face only inches from yours. You knew he was just having the time of his life right now, teasing the shit out of you. You held his gaze, wishing you could burn a hole right through him.

“Fine. You win,” you sighed. It was a bluff. You weren’t going to actually stick your hand down his pants! You sat back in defeat, but that’s when you realized the position you were in. You were straddling JJ, your top half leaning over him and his stupid, cocky face right under you. Heat rose to your cheeks as you hurried to get off of him.

“Seriously JJ. I accidentally sent you something that you’re not supposed to see.” You decided to come clean, the embarrassment of the situation too much for you to handle any longer. You just needed to get this over with.

He sat up, deciding to come clean as well. “Oh, are you talking about the nudie?” he asked.

Your eyes widened until they were bulging out of your head. “You saw it?!” you screamed. This was your worst nightmare, accidentally sending a naked photo to someone. Of course it had to randomly be sent to JJ. You knew he would never let you live this down. You were right, this is utterly humiliating.

“Come on,” JJ laughed, still enjoying every second of this. “Don’t be embarrassed!”

“Of course I’m embarrassed, JJ!” you yelled at him. “You weren’t supposed to see that. It was an accident!”

“It’s nothing to get so worked up about. It’s a great picture, and I’ll cherish it forever.” The gleam in his eye had your stomach twisting in knots.

“Like hell you will. Fucking delete it.”

“You sent it to me. It’s mine now,” he smiled wickedly.

“JJ,” you warned, glaring at him. He didn’t take you seriously though, mud still on your face in patches.

“Y/N...” he teased.

The scolding approach wasn’t going to work, and you sighed. “Please JJ? Can’t you see how humiliating this is for me?”

“It shouldn't be. You’re hot as fuck and you should be flaunting it.” Your cheeks burned at his words and the butterflies you knew oh so well were set loose in your stomach. The butterflies that only seemed to appear when you’re with JJ.

“What? That-- that’s not the point,” you stuttered. “I don’t want a naked picture of me to be on your phone!”

“But I do,” he argued.

“JJ!” You didn’t let your mind drift to why he wanted the photo and only focused on getting the picture deleted. “You’re being a dick!”

“Fine, I’ll delete it,” he said after laughing at your pissed off expression, then standing up and retrieving the phone from his crotch. “On one condition.”

You hit him repeatedly in the chest, overrun by anger once again. “So you’re gonna blackmail me now? Are you fucking kidding me?”

He laughed, not affected at all by your assault. “I’m not above blackmail, sweetheart. Do you want to hear my condition or not?”

You crossed your arms over your chest with a huff. “Fine. What is it?”

He smirked, coming closer to you. As scary and seductive as he looked right now, you held your ground, eyes meeting his devilish stare.

“I’ll delete the pic if I get to see the real thing.”

“What?!” Your mind was spinning once again as heat rushed to your cheeks. “You-- You’re not serious!”

“Dead serious, Y/N.” He was shameless. Despite his attraction and feelings towards you, he knew you were off limits. No pogue on pogue macking was the rule. But today’s series of events had him thinking perhaps you weren’t as out of reach as he thought.

If you agreed to his condition, it would be the best day of his life. If not, he knew he’d have to deal with you hating him for a while until he finally made it up to you, but this was a risk he was willing to take.

You shook your head, turning away from him to hide your embarrassment. You didn’t understand why he would actually suggest such a thing. Was he really going to treat you like every other touron he picked up? Or did he like you? You couldn’t fathom the latter actually being true.

“That’ll never happen, JJ.”

He ignored the pain in his chest that was struck by your words. “Then I guess I’m the proud owner of one of your nudes,” he smiled.

“Come on, JJ. This isn’t funny.”

“I think it’s funny.”

“Well it’s not!” You eyed the phone in his hands and decided to take a chance. You pushed the man as hard as you could and when he crashed to the couch, you lunged for it.

“Ha!” you yelled, grinning ear to ear with his phone in your hands.

“Hey, give that back!” JJ got up, but you bolted out of the house, JJ running after you.

As you tried not to stumble over your own feet, you unlocked his phone and clicked on your message. “You better not delete it!” he yelled after you, catching up fast. Despite how serious you thought this situation was, it really wasn’t too big of a deal. He was laughing as he chased you, and you cheered in triumph when you finally managed to delete the photo.

‘Crisis averted,’ you thought. Except now you had to deal with the knowledge that JJ actually saw a naked photo of you. You were still embarrassed, but at least now there’s no evidence of this ever actually happening.

“Aw, come on,” JJ chuckled as he finally caught up to you. “I didn’t even have a chance to jerk off to it yet.”

“JJ!” You hit him in the chest. You didn’t think you could take much more of his teasing. Not today.

“Don’t worry. I’ll find a way to get my hands on it again someday,” he smirked. You rolled your eyes and started stalking away, ready to just go home now. He only laughed as he watched you retreat.

“Wait, Y/N!”

You turned around to find him behind you, looking as handsome as ever. “What?”

“It was sexy,” he said bluntly, as if his words didn’t just light your insides on fire. “You’re sexy.” He winked at you, then casually sauntered off back to the house, leaving you in a confused daze.

“Fuck you!” you yelled after him before running off into the direction of your house. ‘At least that’s over with,’ you thought, but you knew JJ was only going to continue teasing and flirting with you now that he saw how riled up you had become. How you were going to handle that, you didn’t know, but for some crazy reason, you smiled at the thought.

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part 2??

#jj maybank #outer banks #obx #rudy pankow #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank fic #jj maybank imagine #outer banks imagine #outer banks fic

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innovativestruggles · 3 years

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SouGou theories, thoughts and speculations based on canonical evidence

Alright, I know I am so epically late to the party just like I was with Haikyuu and TsukiYachi but I am here now and I am so sad that a lot of the SouGou shippers have...disappeared...

Regardless, I still want to put forward my own thoughts and speculations on these two because they have given me brainrot over the past few weeks.

So much like the earlier post I did with TsukiYachi, this one will be similar, except I am basing everything on the anime as I have not read the light novel (tbh light novels aren’t really my thing so...). Just to reiterate, when I make any speculations and theories, they are always based on canonical evidence, and of course my own interpretation. I put forward solid evidence so people can see where I am coming from and what I am yapping on about. People are free to draw their own conclusions of what they see in canon, so just because I have a theory with evidence, it does not invalidate another person’s theory of the same evidence...if that makes sense?

Every time I watch a new anime, I always come in with a very neutral mindset. I have a fascination with relationships (hence my ship heavy blog) so I ship characters based on their level of chemistry and compatibility.

Because I am so fashionably late to the party, a lot of the speculations below have been discussed by other SouGou fans. Essentially when I read some of their posts, they pretty much validated what I saw. So I want to credit all those SouGou stans who did the hard yard first on their speculations of these two. This post may already have what was speculated, but it’s nice to have it all in one big post. I will of course add my own thoughts and interpretations as well. So, happy reading!

WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG POST

Gou’s Relationship with Other Characters

Sousuke did not make his debut until Season 2, so for all of Season 1, the focus was on Gou and the other characters. To be honest, nothing stood out to me in terms of shipping potential with Gou in Season 1. I do not go into watching anime with the intention of shipping characters - the shipping just automatically occurs when two characters have good chemistry. So with Gou in Season 1, all I saw was a manager being incredibly supportive, friendly, strong willed and determined to see her friends through the swimming club. You may have read my other post on Free! and toxic masculinity, but I did mention in there that what I loved most about Free! was the friendship and the emotional vulnerability. Because Gou is a side character, we never get to see too much of her and how she would develop as a character outside her obsession with muscles. But as viewers, we get the gist of her sweet personality.

Kyoto Animation

Before I dive into the speculations, I want to point out something with KyoAni. For starters, this studio is known for its amazing adaptational works of manga and light novels. When it comes to anime that does not purely focus on romance, they are so so so good with romantic undertones. As much as I do enjoy romance anime, I enjoy ones with subtle undertones of romance even more. I have watched a large portion of anime from KyoAni and I can definitely come to the above conclusion. Although Free! is not a romance genre, there is very subtle light teasing of potential developments between certain characters. Like I mentioned in my Free! post on toxic masculinity, I will disregard that just because the male characters are hugging, crying and showing vulnerable emotions to each other, it does not necessarily mean that there is a romantic development. The very subtle undertones of romance I could see is mostly between Gou, Sousuke and Momo (I will explain more later). So what I am trying to point out in this paragraph is that Free! does have minute traces of romance, because based on what other anime KyoAni produced, there are similarities in how they portray romantic undertones.

SouGou Initial Meeting

The initial meeting did not particularly stand out to me until I watched more scenes and interactions between SouGou later on in the series. What I noticed was the level of admiration Gou has for Sousuke. Again, this was not apparent when I watched the initial meeting scene on its own. I had to see a culmination of scenes between them to realise.

Oh gosh just look at how happy she is seeing Sousuke. If you go back and watch this scene again, she legit just shoved Momo out the way and ran to Sousuke. Lmao poor Momo!

Also....

Momo still staring at SouGou the whole time...

Momo getting pissy lololol (and super jelly)

Gou just looking so happy staring after Sousuke...ughh my heart....

Middle School

Just something I picked up. When Rin transferred to Iwatobi during middle school, it sounded like Gou did not go with him. So she stayed behind in the same middle school together with Sousuke after Rin left. See below.

Because Gou is one year younger than Sousuke, the scene above just sounded like he stopped talking to her when he left for Tokyo when he was a first year high school student and she a third year middle school student...and then the below scene confirmed when and the reason...

In the above scene, Sousuke explained that he hurt his shoulder in the summer of his first year of high school, and then he heard from Gou that Rin was visiting Japan at the time, so I am guessing SouGou must have stopped talking to each other around that time when Sousuke injured his shoulder. The injury was most likely why he stopped talking to her because he knew the consequences...that if Rin found out through Gou... then yeah... so to him it was better to cut off contact with both siblings...omg my heart...my poor baby Sousuke...

Anyways, point is they were definitely still talking when Rin went to Iwatobi and then later Australia. So I wonder how close they were to each other...? They do sound very close...wonder if they walked to and from school together...omfg my heart hurts again...aaaahhhhhhh

Childhood Friends

This trope is so cute and I really like the whole ‘he is my brother’s best friend’ kind of thing. Because we all know how overprotective Rin is of Gou and if there is anyone who is good enough for her, Rin would definitely think it be Sousuke.

LOOK AT HOW PRECIOUS THEY ARE OMG. Love this official artwork of all three of them. And Sousuke has such a sweet gentle expression when he is looking at Gou...

Best part also is that subtle teasing of these two. Anime is always about camera work and specific panels as well, so it just looked like to me that they really wanted to emphasise this scene between SouGou. The snow, the Christmas tree, the childhood friends - all in one frame.

Indirect Moments

These are the moments that started me on the SouGou ship!

Gou sees Sousuke at the train station right after he has been brooding about his shoulder injury

Gou sees Sousuke at the hospital

What I really really liked about these scenes is that every single time Sousuke was having a down moment, or a vulnerable moment in relation to his shoulder injury, Gou happened to be there and witness it. It may be coincidental that she always happen to be in a place and time when Sousuke wasn’t feeling great. I was initially wondering why she never approached him in the moment and then you look at Sousuke’s pissy face and that’s probably why lmao. Regardless, Gou probably knew his state of mind, and hence decided to leave him to it. The look she gave him was more out of curiosity rather than concern but because the anime never went into detail about what she was thinking at the time, it’s hard to tell. Most important thing is that Gou was there during his vulnerable moments, before anyone knew of his shoulder injury...

Jelly Momo

Ngl, I absolutely love Momo, not only because he’s a hilarious character but because Sousuke always unintentionally cockblocks him when it comes to Gou. I just find it so funny. The poor thing. And Gou just has absolutely zero interest in him....

The thing is, Momo knows that Sousuke constantly gets in the way...it has happened several times already and I think he is also beginning to realise that Gou is probably quite fond of Sousuke, hence his very vocal comment about paying attention to him. i just love it how the anime framed it like this because you know it’s a running gag going on between all three.

Also, the look on Sousuke’s face in that above scene...you can’t see it but if you go back and watch it, and it’s only a split second when Momo moves his head, it’s absolutely hilarious. He legit has a “wtf” look on his face 😂

Just going to put this above scene here where Momo gets dragged away. Poor thing. I think at this point, Gou is catching on to something with Sousuke...

After Momo bombarded Gou with his hilarious hobbies, these two just ended up alone together ❤️

Season 3′s ending credits depict a lot of parallels between characters as well as some level of competitiveness between them. So maybe it is just a coincidence here but Sousuke and Momo together probably continues to depict the hilarious running gag between them and Gou. LOL!

Gou’s Concern

No really, when Sousuke walked out and decided to swim with his shoulder injury, the concerned look on Gou’s face. This was the first time in the whole entire series (season 3 included) where Gou showed this much concern...my heart.

When there are problems in the Iwatobi swim club related to a character, a lot of the issues and concerns revolved around the other characters helping each other (Gou would be excluded). She is just a supporting character that does not get a lot screen time. Aside from her managerial duties, we don’t see too much of her during important/significant moments for a main character - unless she is interacting with Rin in some way. So her very minimal “interactions” with Sousuke during his vulnerable moments are considered somewhat significant (even if she just saw him walking by) because they are more symbolic than anything.

Off Screen Interactions

Okay, the amount of times Sousuke talked about Gou...they clearly talk a lot off screen and whether that be through text messages, phone calls or meeting up, I believe they are a combo of all three. I have several reasons to believe that they do hang out together quite a bit.

1. The amount of times Gou keeps bumping into Sousuke randomly (ngl the times the audience sees is probably only a fraction to what actually goes on behind the scenes)

2. In the later episodes, they have been seen walking home together.

3. Some of the things Sousuke said to Rin about Gou would warrant more of a face to face conversation rather than something through text message. I mean unless they talk on the phone (that would be so fucking adorable aaaaahhhhhh)

4. In the CD drama, they have been shown to hang out just the two of them over mediocre stuff so I am sure that would have met up and talked more about other more deeper things with each other

Gou obviously confided in Sousuke how lonely she felt because her older bro was neglecting her

LOOK AT THE AMOUNT OF TIMES HE TALKED ABOUT HER! That obviously indicated they do interact quite some bit off screen. Judging from the things they talked about, it sounded like she was filling him in with what’s going on in her life..and you know just every day stuff... I love it! They are so casual and so comfy with each other <33333333

Platinum Abs

Not counting the fact that I almost choked on my drink when I saw this for the first time, but I was curious to see what Gou thought of them. So I waited....and waited...and waited...and it never came, despite the fact that she was in his presence multiple times when he was looking like this....

And I came across several older posts that pointed this out and it totally validated what I felt as well. Gou, the muscle obsessive freak has not spoken a word about Sousuke’s nationally ranked swimmer’s perfect body. WILL YOU JUST LOOK AT THEM? HE’S FUCKING MASSIVE!! Like..all over....holy shit just look at those guns...like damn fine man.... anyways... so Gou, why have we not heard a single word from you about them? To her, they are probably the best of all the characters in the series ...

And my guess is... Sousuke is most likely special to her. She does not see him as merely an object of muscles (much like she does with the other characters including her own bro) but something more. And whether that is consciously or unconsciously, the outcome is still the same. Because when someone means a lot to you and if you like someone in that way, you are less likely to see them as an object of some fantasy...

The OVA

Yo not gonna leave this one out and if there is anything that really pushed this ship further, it was definitely the OVA.

Sousuke is so pedantic about what people call him (unless you are Nagisa...which he has almost no words for ...). So the only one who can add “kun” to his name is Gou <333333

I’m not going to delve too deeply into this as

1. It is self explanatory

2. A lot of people have already discussed this topic

But, overprotective Sousuke being a sweet guy and lending Gou his jacket is something out of a shojo manga. Even more shojo is that he;

1. Did it himself and not just giving the jacket to her

2. Got overly pissed off at Ai for drenching Gou

3. COULDN’T LOOK AT GOU WHEN HE GAVE HER THE JACKET....like the whole time....ksfklafkhgdshgjdsh

Sousuke isn’t very good with expressing himself, so this scene, out of his own sheer awkwardness, really played into the intimate nature of this potential ship. I’ll explain more later...

P. S. LOOK AT HOW ENORMOUS THE JACKET LOOKS ON GOU...she so schmol (and Sousuke is just massive...). Legit they look like a couple on a date...

Sunset Meeting

Ngl when I first started watching Season 3, this scene came out so unexpectedly I had to replay it just so it would process in my mind that it happened. But aside from the fact that it was framed in a shojo manga kinda way i.e. Gou running towards Sousuke, then walking together in the sunset and then talking about deep and meaningful stuff...you get the drift...I absolutely loved it how Gou was the very first person Sousuke told about his surgery’s success. Omg..swimming and the success of the surgery just meant so much to him and he was already telling Gou about it...

Everything about the particular scene was so so intimate. The scenery, the conversation, the tone of voice, the colours used......everything! Just look at how happy Gou is....

And damn they walked home together ... my heart cannot take it anymore aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh

Running Gag

I did notice this trend going on but it didn’t cross my mind until I read a post that it was like a thing between SouGou. Honestly it is so so cute! Gou has this excited pitched, giggle-ish, admiration-like tone every single time she calls out and runs to him. It’s so sweet. You actually never hear it ever when she talks or calls out to any other characters in the series, so Sousuke is indeed very special to her <3

Also...something about Sousuke walking alone and Gou either noticing him or running to him...

Gou and Momo’s Mistaken Date vs. Gou and Sousuke’s Mistaken Date

In Part 4 of the Free Take Your Marks movie, Rin walks by a burger shop and noticed Momo and Gou sitting together and having lunch. He mistakenly thought they were going out on a date, and before the rest of the Iwatobi team could come to the table after order their food, Rin gets a call from Sousuke telling him that he cannot find his way. So Rin dashes off to save Sousuke still with the misunderstanding. The episode is absolutely hilarious on Rin’s part.

Then in the CD drama, there is a story titled “Sousuke and Gou’s secret date.” Of course it is a case of ‘mistaken identity’ but as I stated earlier, these two would hang out with each other to discuss superficial things, so I am certain that they do hang out with each other on occasions to talk about other more deep and meaningful things as well. Considering the things Sousuke has been telling Rin about Gou, you can make an educated guess that SouGou do have their alone times quite a bit off screen.

Anyways, so this is the part where I believe Free has its subtle romantic undertones. I mentioned in my toxic masculinity post that when the male characters were being vulnerable, hugged or cried, that it does not necessarily mean they are gay, or that there would be any romantic development between the characters. You could say the same with SouGou as well, however, the difference lies in how the anime framed it, and the biggest tip that pushed from just a friendship kind of thing to a teasing of a potential romantic thing is the “secret date” part and the running gag between Gou, Sousuke and Momo. We know Momo clearly has romantic interest in Gou, and the interesting thing is...Sousuke being placed in between Gou and Momo numerous times throughout the anime to signify that there is a potential triangle going on. Does this make sense? It is the nuances as a viewer that you can pick up, and it is even more so if you can understand Japanese. I sometimes switch the subtitles off and really just watch what they say and it’s a completely different view. Hard to explain...but that is the vibe I get.

Extras

I just had to put this scene in. JUST LOOK AT GOU LOOKING AT SOUSUKE OMG. She totally loves him <3 YOU CAN’T TELL ME OTHERWISE!!!

I always love me some official artwork of these two, and disregarding the fact that there are four other guys around and Nagisa just being the little helper he is, SouGou wrestling is something I just need to have in my life <3 I just love the light subtle tease between these two. Thank you KyoAni! And them holding hands... I’m ded...

Sousuke’s Feelings

This is purely interpretation based on what I have seen so far and of course when I am writing a full post like this about SouGou, it does help piece the puzzle together a little more. Tbvh, I strongly believe that Sousuke has repressed feelings for Gou. My reasoning is quite complex. Sousuke is a bit of a difficult character. He is aloof, serious and can be standoffish. He is not good with expressing his emotions and feelings, yet he does questionable things if he thinks it is for the best for those he cares about. Obviously noticeable when he lied to Rin about his shoulder injury, and of course completely stopped talking to Rin and Gou after being injured. But he deeply cares for those around him, and will go out of his way to help, even if it is to the detriment of his own welfare.

Sosuke hanging out with Gou and talking to her and being around her is already an aspect of his kindness, that he would do this to anyone he cares about. But what I meant about repressed feelings for Gou was more evident in the OVA, and I think that is where the slight nuances come into play. Sousuke is overprotective of Gou and he most likely sees her as a little sister, considering he grew up with her alongside his best friend. But I think when it comes down to more intimate moments i.e. giving Gou his jacket and just not being able to look at her, I think that small nuance does give a small insight into Sousuke’s feelings for Gou. It may be minute but it’s there, and the way the anime framed that scene, it evoked a host of response from the viewers. That in itself is enough for viewers to make a determination as to what Sousuke might be feeling towards Gou at the time ... and it was probably more than a platonic kind of way...

Just to let you know that Sousuke most likely would not act on these feelings because of who he is as a person. And if there is any possibility that things could go awry between him and Rin that concerns Gou, Sousuke would not put their friendship in jeopardy. So if there was ever a way that Sousuke’s repressed feelings for Gou could surface, it would be if Gou initiates.

Gou’s Feelings

If you read through this entire damn thesis so far I think you could see that Gou’s feelings for Sousuke is a lot more overt. She is so incredibly fond of Sousuke and it is just the way she behaves around him, speaks to him and looks at him. It sends a different vibe comparatively to when she interacts with any of the other male characters. Because Gou is a side character, as viewers we don’t get to see much of her, her development or her thoughts and feelings, especially in relation to Sousuke.

Concluding Thoughts

What an incredibly long post. I didn’t realise how long it was until I scrolled back up. But really, this was so fun to write. I enjoy writing about side characters and the little hints that anime and manga give us as viewers. This is the best thing about storytelling, that is so much more than what you see before you.

The great thing about SouGou is the incredibly compatibility they have with each other. They have a lot of the common tropes found in anime that sets them up for a future pairing. I mean,, Free is not a romance genre so there wouldn’t be any emphasis placed on how one character feels about another in a romantic sense. So the anime has placed some gentle teasing in the background with its frame (usually what you see in shojo manga for example), official artworks, and CD dramas. It’s a very subtle undertone that the viewers would have to dig through and pick up out of the mass of fanservice and the storylines of the main characters. Yet this is the reason why I love KyoAni because of its numerous layers of stories and undertone!

In my opinion, if there was ever any pairing that comes out of Free, it would definitely be SouGou - it’s because the way the anime (and probably the light novel as well) set them up and emphasised on important aspects of their relationship without going into detail about it.

I gotta say, the reason why I love these two so much is because they remind me so much of TsukiYachi pairing from Haikyuu. There are parallels between the characters and I think I just enjoy shipping ones with that level of complexity and compatibility - the whole opposites attract kinda thing (and the height difference).

So what do you think? Are there any SouGou stans out there left? I’m keen to see what the 2021 Free movie will entail for these two and the potential release of Season 4 (most likely in 2022).

Fingers crossed for some excitement!

Also...I had to crop this <3

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mldrgrl · 3 years

Text

Broken things 3/24

by: mldrgrl Rating: varies by chapter, rated R overall See Chapter 1 for summary and notes

Melvin is out the door as soon as Mulder is in eyesight of the ranch house. He can see the older man step out onto the porch and then stand a little taller and pull the tails of his vest taut.

“Am I wrong, or does my nose detect the makings of noon dinner on the stove?” Mulder calls.

“With the size of that nose, you’re probably smelling what’s cooking in Fort Worth,” Melvin answers back.

Mulder chuckles and brings Blondie to a stop in front of the house. He motions for Katherine’s bag and then takes her hand while she gathers her skirts and brings her leg over the side of the horse. He holds her about the waist to help her down and she pitches forward slightly and ends up pressed close to him. He eases her to her feet and keeps his arm around her for maybe a bit too long, but it feels nice to him to have her there.

“Who’s this marvelous young lady you brung to us?” Melvin asks, and the moment is broken.

“She’s called Katherine,” Mulder answers. “Send Trevor on out to put up Blondie, I’d like to bring our guest in and introduce her. Set another plate for dinner.”

“Trevor,” Melvin calls over his shoulder. He takes a small hop down from the porch and reaches for Katherine’s hand. “Melvin Frohike at your service. Welcome to Broke In, lovely lady.”

“The name of the ranch,” Mulder explains to Katherine. “Alright, settle down, old man. You act as though you haven’t seen a pretty woman before.” He kicks Melvin lightly in the seat of his pants just as the young ranch hand that he had requested be sent out appears on the porch with a napkin tucked into his shirt. “Trevor, excuse me for interrupting your dinner, could you please put Blondie up?”

“Yes, Sir.” The boy takes the lead from Mulder and takes the horse away.

“Alright, come in, come in,” Mulder says.

Melvin scurries down the dogtrot ahead of Mulder and Katherine. “You boys make yourselves presentable, we got a lady in the house,” he calls.

There’s a scraping of chairs and utensils. Richard and Jimmy jump to their feet, wiping their mouths on their napkins. Jesse stays sitting, slurping from his bowl until he looks up and then jumps up as well, spilling stew on the table and dribbling on his chin.

Mulder removes his hat as they move down the broad hall and hangs it on a peg just outside the door of the dining area. He hangs Katherine’s sack there beside his hat and guides her into the room ahead of him.

“Boys,” he says. “This is Katherine. She’ll be joining us for dinner and then accompanying me into town. Katherine, that blonde beanpole over there to the left is Richard, and then we have Jimmy beside him and the creature without any table manners is his brother Jesse.”

“Ma’am,” they all murmur.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Katherine answers.

“Go ahead and sit yourself here,” Mulder says, pulling out the chair at the head of the table for her. After she sits, the rest of the men do as well, glancing at her and each other as though they’re searching for the proper etiquette to resume their meal. Melvin is already ladling out a bowl of stew for her and he passes it to her along with a spoon and a napkin.

“Some lemonade, Madam?” Melvin asks. “We got cold tea or coffee too if’n you have druthers.”

“The lemonade would be fine, thank you.”

As Mulder dishes out his own dinner, he observes there’s a slight tremor in Katherine’s hand when she picks up her spoon. He also notices that her breathing is slightly labored, coming short and fast from parted lips. It hadn’t occurred to him before, but with nothing in that sod house, this might be her first meal in some time.

“Melvin, do you think we might still have a tin of soda crackers in one of those cupboards?” he asks.

“I reckon we sure might.” The little man hops up from the table and begins to search the cabinets. He returns triumphant with a tin which he hands off to Mulder. Mulder opens it and then passes it across the table to Katherine.

“Stew might be a little heavy for this time of day unless you’ve been laboring,” Mulder says. “The crackers will soak up the broth nicely though.”

“Thank you,” she answers, with a nod, taking the tin from him.

Normally, the boys rush through noon dinner, eager to get back to their chores and the horses, but they eat slowly. Jesse even attempts to hold a spoon, which Mulder has never seen him do before. Trevor returns and has to squeeze his way into a place at the bench seating beside Richard and Jimmy. Melvin dominates the conversation with business chatter, giving Mulder a run down on what some of the horses have been up to all morning.

One by one, Jesse, Richard, Jimmy, and then finally Trevor excuse themselves to continue their work. Each man brings his bowl and cup to a wash basin near the stove and they nod politely to Katherine before they leave. Mulder asks Trevor to please hitch up the Tilbury to go into town shortly. Melvin gets up to start cleaning dishes and Katherine quickly rises as well.

“I can help,” she says.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Melvin answers, waving his napkin at her. “You are our guest of honor, my dear, and you won’t lift a finger.”

“Don’t you worry about him,” Mulder says, wiping his mouth before he rises from his seat. “Let me show you the place before we leave.”

She looks to Melvin. “If you’re sure I can’t help.”

“You go on with Mulder.”

“Well, now, you’ve seen our kitchen and dining area, let’s come back through the dogtrot and I’ll show you the rooms.”

“The dogtrot?”

“That’s what we call this open hall here. We keep the front door open most days and the back door as well. It’s good for circulation. In case you hadn’t noticed, it can reach the same temperature as hellfire out here on the coldest summer day. This helps with the heat.”

“That’s quite clever.”

“I thought so as well. Now this first door on the left is where I sleep. And this one here to the right will be yours, if you decide to stay on.”

“Mine?”

“It’s a guest room right now. Occasionally there’s a need for people that travel through for business dealings with me to have a place to stay.”

“I can’t take that, then. I could easily just take a bit of space in the kitchen. If I stay on, that is.”

“You will do no such thing.” Mulder opens the door to the room. “It’s not much but the necessities right now but you can make it up however you like.”

Sensing a protest coming, Mulder moves them on to the last room, across from the kitchen and dining area. He has saved the best for last in the hopes of impressing her. He pauses with his hand on the knob.

“This is the washroom,” he says.

↭

She’s feeling overwhelmed. Mulder has just shown her a room, in the house, which holds a copper and wooden bathing tub and an indoor pump and stove for heating water. He tries to explain a system of pipes and wells and how they work, but he gives up and tells her he actually doesn’t have a clue how it really operates, just that it does. The boys, he says, don’t trust it, and prefer to go into town for a Saturday night bath and shave. Not only that, in the back of the room there’s a closet which is really a privy. She’s never seen anything like it.

After they leave the washroom, the tour of the ranch continues out of the back door. A rather large water tower stands some yards away. To the east of the main house is a bunkhouse the ranch hands share and to the west of the house is a barn, stables, and a corral. She’s surprised to learn that there are more than just horses kept here. In fact there are chickens, two cows, several hogs and a handful of suckling pigs, some sheep, two goats, and a black and white herding dog called Queenie.

“We call her that because she thinks she runs the place,” Mulder says.

“Mulder!” Richard calls from the barn door. “Trevor says you want the carriage hitched up. You want the hackney since Faithful Jenny needs to break in the new shoe?”

“That’s fine,” Mulder tells him. Richard tips his hat in acknowledgment and disappears back into the barn.

“How many horses do you have here?” Katherine asks.

“Right now, fifteen. Six of them should be leaving us by the month’s end and then I’ll be bringing back more to replace them.”

“What do you do with them?”

“Take care of the ones that need taking care of. For the others, break them, train them up. Sell them. Board them at times.”

“I can see why you prefer the land I was on. Why you’d want it.”

“You can?”

“It’s flatter. More prairie grass. And full access to the creek.”

“All true.”

Richard and Trevor interrupt the conversation by bringing the carriage out with a horse the color of mahogany and a black mane. All four of the horse’s legs are snow white and it has a white diamond just above the nose. She almost gasps it’s such a breathtaking creature.

“That’s the most beautiful horse I’ve ever seen,” she says.

“You like her?”

“She’s so...majestic.”

“That is precisely why she earned the name Lady. Let’s go get your bag and then we’ll head on into town.”

He insists she borrow a leather valise to use instead of her burlap sack and she transfers her meager possessions into the case. He carries the bag for her out to the carriage and ties it to a shelf just under the seat. He helps her up and once she’s settled, he and Richard unfold an accordion top to shade them from the sun.

The carriage rides a little smoother than a wagon. It bounces a bit and moves fast. She’s only been to town one time and she’s unfamiliar with the road. The land is so vast and it all looks the same. She can’t believe she had been considering walking to Fort Worth. She would never make it if she tried.

“You know all there is to know about me,” Mulder says. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

“I’m sure I don’t know all that there is.”

“Everything important, I would say.”

Her palms begin to sweat and she hides her hands in the folds of her skirt. If she tells him everything about herself, he might change his mind about everything. He might not be so kind to her. She doesn’t feel right about deceiving such a nice man, but there are things she must withhold for now. At least until she’s absolutely certain he would not look at her differently or think less of her.

“I’m not very interesting,” she says.

“You said you’re from Virginia. Whereabouts?”

“Norfolk.”

“What’s your family name?”

She hesitates for a beat to decide if it’s too much. “O’Brien,” she finally answers. It’s a half-truth. The O’Brien are her mother’s people.

“Irish? Did your people immigrate from the famine?”

“I don’t know.”

“Brothers or sisters?”

“I told you before, there’s no one.”

“Yes, you did tell me.”

He doesn’t ask her any more questions and she feels a bit ashamed of herself for rebuffing him. She takes a few surreptitious glances at him to see if he might be affronted, but he appears to be passively concentrating on driving the carriage.

“Would you like to try?” he asks.

“Try what?”

“Driving the carriage.”

“This carriage?”

He laughs. “I don’t see another out here. You can’t do any damage, here, take the lines.”

“Oh, no, I…”

“Sure you can.” He pulls the carriage to a stop and then passes the lines over to her. “You’re driving from the right, so with your left hand, just lay the strap down over your index finger and hold it down with your thumb.”

“Alright.” She does as he asks and then looks to him for further instruction.

“And now slide this strap between the third and fourth fingers of your right hand, like so.”

“Like this?”

“Perfect. I’m going to slide the whip into the grip of your right hand here and you’ll keep it angled with the natural tilt of your wrist. Now, you just tickle Lady’s back lightly and tell her to walk.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. This road is pretty straight so there shouldn’t be any worries. If she acts up, I’m right here. And if your arms tire, let me know.”

“Alright.” Her heart quickens a bit so she can feel it thump against her chest and she sits up straighter in the seat.

“Keep the lines slack as well, just like you’re doing now.”

“Okay.” She turns her wrist a little so that the tassel that dangles from the end of the whip lightly touches the horse’s back. “Lady, walk now, please.”

Mulder laughs and she smiles broadly when the horse starts to walk forward. Her grip on the lines feels awkward and unnatural and it takes more effort than she thought it would to keep them slack and light. Her back and shoulders are soon sore, but she does not want to give up the control that quickly. Maybe ten minutes pass before she tires to the point that her arms grow heavy.

“I think I need to stop now,” she says.

“Put a bit of pressure on the lines, very slowly.”

“Whoa,” she says, but the horse does not stop.

“Whoa, Lady,” Mulder calls, and he covers Katherine’s hands with his own, adding the appropriate amount of pressure to bring her to a stop.

His hands linger and her heart quickens again. She wants more of something in that moment that she can’t understand or describe. She imagines turning her palms up to him and letting her fingers slide into his. She imagines pressing a little closer to him and resting her head on his shoulder. She imagines him putting his arm around her. She imagines a peace that she’s never even experienced before.

His hands move off of hers and she gives him control of the lines and sits back, rubbing her hands over each other to work out a little of the soreness in her wrists. He starts the carriage forward again and announces that they should be in town shortly.

#i wrote this #broken things #chapter 3 #au #msr

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puckbuddies · 3 years

Text

The bucket list (part 1)

Tyson Jost x reader

6454 words

Thanks to @justjosty for helping me figure out the idea and to @canadianheaters for being my biggest fan always ❤

AN: so back in the day when I was still in the Avengers fandom, I read this fic about doing a bucket list and my fic is inspired by that one. I tried really hard to find it but I think the account deactivated :(. Anyway enjoy

This was it. The start of the most boring summer vacation of your life. And all thanks to your dear best friend who had decided that staying in Calgary for an internship was more important than coming home with you. This was the first year ever you would have to spend the summer without Ava and you really weren’t looking forward to it. Ever since five years old you guys had been inseparable. Living in the same street, taking up hobbies together, going to the same school and eventually the same university and yet, this was the end.

You were just being dramatic, it was most definitely not the end. Still, standing in Kelowna International Airport by yourself, it kind of felt like it was.

It was just a month until you would see Ava again but that was the longest you’d ever been apart and you hoped it wouldn’t put a strain on your friendship. To be quite honest, you already missed her.

You were happy to see your parents of course and wrapping them up in a hug in the middle of the airport made you forget about Ava for a second. You hadn’t seen them since the middle of march and you knew that being home would help you relax regardless of your company.

Ava didn’t leave your mind for long though, just like she didn’t pretty much the whole flight home and you knew exactly why she didn’t. You could still recall the conversation you both had about a week before.

~~ “But it’s going to be so boring without you.” you whined while dramatically flopping down onto the sofa.

“Find someone to make it fun then. You know, this is the perfect opportunity for a steamy holiday romance.”

“Who wants a holiday romance when you could have New girl marathons in your comfiest pajamas?”

“Y/n, I’m sorry. You know I want to go home too but this is really important for my future.”

“I get that and I fully support you. I just wish it didn’t mean I had to spend a month inside my room.”

“Stop being dramatic. You can still do fun things, you don’t need me for that. Maybe you’ll do cool stuff this summer without me holding you back.”

“Yeah like learning to paddle board.”

It was kind of an inside joke between you two. You loved the water while Ava was not that big of a fan. Whenever you had an argument on holiday, you joked that you would leave her to go paddle board and the discussion would be forgotten after the laughter it pulled out of you both.

“Oh my god you totally should! See there’s lots of things to do.”

You were quiet after that. It was actually not a bad idea. This summer would be the perfect time to do all the water related things that Ava didn’t want to do. But then again, you didn’t know how fun it would be to do it by yourself.

A gasp pulled you out of your thoughts and it startled you so much that you almost fell of the sofa you were lying on.

“I just had the literal best idea ever! You should make a bucket list with all the cool things you’re going to do this summer. That way you won’t have any time to miss me.”

You thought about it. And then you quickly decided to disagree with her proposal.

“No thank you.”

“I could help you make it.” ~~

And by that she meant I could make it for you and you have no say in it whatsoever. After a lot of disagreeing and a quick argument, you figured you had to go along with it. You’d known Ava long enough to know that she wasn’t going to change her mind on this.

And so on that faithful Wednesday afternoon, Y/n’s summer bucket list was created.

Number 1. Go to the annual blacklight party

Number 2. Learn how to paddle board

Number 3. Wear the dress (you know the one)

Number 4. Karaoke in public

Number 5. Eat five different kinds of fish

Number 6. Go cliff jumping

Number 7. Volunteer somewhere

Number 8. Climb a tree

Number 9. Spend at least 100 dollars while shopping (treat yourself)

Number 10. Relearn how to play guitar

Number 11. Adopt a dog

Number 12. Find best friend the best souvenir ever ;)

Number 13. Lay in a flower field for one hour (to feel like the main character)

There was a lot that was wrong with the list. You had absolutely no desire to sing karaoke in public and adopting a dog seemed pretty unrealistic in such a short time frame. There was no way you could take it back to Calgary with you after summer and leaving it with your parents was no option.

To say the list was in the back of your mind was an understatement. It was the main focus of your thoughts the majority of the time. While it was meant to make your summer more fun, the stress that you were getting out of it was not worth it in the slightest.

The first week, you ignored the list completely. You still had a whole month to complete it and your main priority was family. Your parents had thrown you a welcome home party with all of your family that had left you in a state of happiness for a couple of days after and you had no desire to dull that feeling. Still, you couldn’t quite forget about it for some reason.

When you opened the document for the first time the beginning of the second week, you were still as unsure about it as you had been in the beginning. There were some things you were willing to start on but the majority of the items would still be left unticked.

You started practicing guitar that week, having found your old one in the garage. Slowly but surely you were getting the hang of it again and you were quite enjoying it even if it meant that you had to keep your nails short. What you didn’t miss was the way your fingers hurt every time you touched something after having played for a while. All in all, not as hard as you had imagined it to be and you were happy that you did it.

Number 10. Relearn how to play guitar ✓

The end of the second week of summer vacation came with the faithful blacklight party. The Kelowna annual blacklight party was probably the main event of the summer for anyone ages 17 to 27. It was an event you usually went to with Ava. You always had the most fun getting ready together. This year however, that was not in the cards and you had to get ready by yourself.

You had texted a couple of your high school friends to see if they wanted to meet you there. Some of them agreed and you set up a time and place to meet up. The fact that you wouldn’t be arriving solo calmed your nerves a little bit, but you hadn’t seen these people in three years and you had no idea how the vibes were going to be. Deciding that a little alcohol wouldn’t hurt you, you poured yourself a shot right before you had to leave.

You had to admit, you looked good. Not that you were trying to pull tonight but with the way you looked, you felt like you could.

Checking one last time to see if you had everything you need, you made your way to where you had agreed to meet up. While you walked, you took the time to breathe in the fresh air. Walking at night was not something you enjoyed doing in Calgary for obvious reasons. Here, you could see more of the stars and you were reminded of how much you liked just being under the night sky.

You arrived at your destination a couple of minutes later and were warmly greeted. Seeing these people again felt weird but also strangely familiar. You spend a big part of your life seeing them every day so you assumed it was only normal to feel like that.

You did one more shot before you made your way to the party. Excitement was creeping up through your nerves as you remembered how much you loved the annual blacklight party. It had always been the figurative start of the summer for you as the actual start of summer was spend at your desk dying from studying too much and sleeping too little.

You made a silent promise to yourself that you were going to enjoy yourself. Even if the company wasn’t necessarily who you’d prefer to have by your side, you were going to have fun dammit.

Arriving at the place, there was a lot more people than the year before. You almost immediately noticed how much more crowded it was.

Your friends didn’t seem to mind this as they promptly dragged you to the bar, not that you were complaining. After that you made your way to the pool to catch up. There were some people splashing around and a couple heavily making out but other than that, it was the least populated area. It gave you an opportunity to talk a little bit about what everyone had been up to since graduating.

You had to admit your attention wasn’t completely there -you blamed the shots- but you were genuinely interested in what they had to say. It was kind of sad that you’d been home for two weeks without texting them. Sure, there were some people from high school that you never wanted to see again but most of them were alright. Most of them were studying too and shared your pain there. You made a promise to at least hang out one other time while you were all still here for the summer.

After a while, your group started to disperse. Some people had disappeared some time ago to get more drinks but had never returned, others were planning on beer pong somewhere in the yard.

But you didn’t want to go play drinking games, you wanted to dance. So far, you had stayed outside and you felt like you had put on your favorite white dress for nothing. there were so many people inside that no one would notice you were alone and you wanted to take advantage of that. And so you said goodbye to your friends before you made your way to the dancefloor.

The air was noticeably thinner inside, most likely as a result of the young adults all dancing in an area way too small for comfort. Before actually joining them, you made a quick detour too the bar to get what you told yourself was your last drink of the night but even you weren’t sure if you actually believed that.

It was more difficult than you anticipated to get in between everyone. You could feel beer being spilled down your back and you cringed at the feeling of it running down. You make a mental note to put your shirt in the wash before you laid on your bed when you got home.

Once you got to an open spot – open was relative, you were still touching at least two other people – you started regretting your decision to go dancing alone. It seemed like everyone had someone else but you.

But it was too late now. You had fought hard for this spot and you weren’t giving it up. Dancing felt kind of uneasy at first but that soon got better as you noticed no one was paying attention to you.

You felt great. There was nothing in your mind apart from the lyrics to the song that was playing and you felt yourself relax. This was exactly what you needed to destress yourself.

Your arms were swaying all around you as you got lost in the music. When you opened your eyes again, you made eye contact with a guy a few feet away from you. Giving him a quick once-over, you concluded that he was pretty attractive. You gave him a look that invited him over to dance with you and waited for him to come over.

You didn’t need to wait long as the guy was enthusiastically making his way to you. Up close, you got to see more of his features but the one thing that stood out was his incredibly curly hair. it was bouncing along to every movement he made.

He introduced himself as Tyson and followed it up with an incredibly cheesy pick up line that you could only laugh at. He was very cute but you had no intention of this going somewhere. all you wanted at this moment was to dance.

Dancing with Tyson was fun because you invited him to dance with you. What you didn’t enjoy was the looks people were giving you as you were swaying your hips to the music. Especially this one guy that was not even trying to disguise the fact that he was looking at your ass.

Your body felt sticky and it got too hot all of a sudden. It seemed like Tyson could feel the shift in your mood. He observed you for a second only to conclude that you not having a good time anymore.

“Do you want to go outside for a second?”

You nodded in response. Making your way outside was a lot easier when you had Tyson pulling you behind him. He was taller and bigger than you and had no problem bumping into people to find a path. You kept your head down as to not attract anymore attention from creeps.

Once outside, you wasted no time taking a deep breath of fresh air. You didn’t notice it then, but there was barely any oxygen inside and it made you dizzy when you were walking out. It could’ve been the alcohol as well. Deciding to not take any chances, you plopped yourself down on the ground so you could lean your head against the wall.

You didn’t notice Tyson had left until he held a fresh bottle of water in front of your face. You thanked him quickly before taking the biggest sip of your life.

It was quiet for a while. Tyson had taken a seat next to you and you were currently trying to clean up your shoes to the best of your ability even though you knew that getting them clean again was impossible.

“So why are you at this party all by yourself?” Tyson spoke into the silence.

“Blame Ava, she left me here alone for a whole month. And then she’s forcing me to go to this party even though I really don’t like being on my own and she knows that. I have other friends but I lost them some time ago.” You were rambling. In a different circumstance, you would’ve held yourself back but you were tipsy and really needed to let your frustrations out. Complaining to a stranger at a party seemed a great idea for the time being.

“How is she forcing you if she’s not even here?”

“Because I promised her I’d do this stupid bucket list we made and I can’t break a promise. Even if she did leave me here.”

You leaned your head back against the wall in frustration. Why you had ever agreed to this, you had no idea. It seemed like fun at first but the reality of it soon caught up to you. You weren’t spontaneous or adventurous and you really fucking hated fish.

“What kind of bucket list?”

“How many kinds of bucket lists do you know?”

“A sex bucket list?”

“No!” Your answer came fast and a bit louder than you expected. Fortunately for you, the people around you were too caught up in drinking and dancing to pay attention to you.

“It’s more like a summer bucket list. I have a month to complete it. Well, technically 2 weeks now because I put it off too long.”

“Can I see the list?”

He looked at you with genuine curiosity. Deciding that you didn’t really have anything to lose, you reached for your phone in your back pocket and pulled up the list.

Tyson looked at it for a few minutes while you stared straight ahead. You could just say fuck it and not do it. But then Ava would be really disappointed in you. You knew she didn’t make it to annoy you, but more so to bring you out of your shell.

“Why is climbing a tree on here?”

“There’s this tree behind my house that I’ve always been too scared to climb because I fell out of it.”

“So you’ve not climbed a tree since that moment?” he said with a teasing smirk.

“It’s a childhood trauma leave me alone.”

Your tone was slightly snappy which caused Tyson to erupt into laughter. You knew it wasn’t serious but you still didn’t appreciate the fact that he was laughing at you. At nine years old, almost breaking your arm was a big deal and you felt justified in staying away from trees since that day.

“Have you ever been skinny dipping?”

“No?”

“I think you should put skinny dipping on the list. Ooh and quad bike driving, that’s always fun.”

“Excuse me who’s list is this?”

“It’s ours now, I’m helping you remember?”

“When have you ever said that?”

“It seems like fun. Besides you can’t go singing karaoke on your own, that’s just sad.”

As much as you tried to refuse his help, Tyson didn’t give up. For some reason unbeknownst to you, he really wanted in on the list. You could keep arguing with him or you could just agree. So that’s what you did. But only because you were 90% sure that Tyson would not remember your conversation in the morning.

After giving him your number you decided that you had enough of this party. While it had been fun, you drank a little too much and the only things that were going to make you feel better tomorrow were water and your bed.

Saying goodbye to Tyson was not as easy as you thought it would be. He only let you go after reminding you four times that he was going to call you the next day. Each time you just rolled your eyes and affirmed his statement, knowing full well that he wouldn’t. It would surprise you if he was out of bed by noon by the amount of drinks he had consumed.

Eventually, you did make it home and nothing could separate you from your bed. Even if your social battery had run out a couple hours ago, you were kind of glad you went to the party. The last thing you did before tapping out, was send Ava some pictures of your night as proof that you actually went.

Number 1. Go to the annual blacklight party ✓

The next morning, you were woken up by your phone going off. You groaned at the noise and the headache it brought with it. You were angry with yourself for setting up an alarm after a night out when you had nothing planned. Until you saw that it was not an alarm.

An unknown number was calling you and you groaned even harder at this. Why would someone, someone you didn’t know at that, ever call you. You barely ever used your phone, it’s primary use being social media. Anyone you spend any amount of time with would be able to tell you were the worst text responder ever.

Deciding you were not in the mood for talking, you hung up. The person would have to wait until after you found painkillers and some coffee.

Only you weren’t so lucky. Almost immediately after you hung up, your phone went off again. You got a bit worried when you saw it was the same number calling you. What if it was an emergency. You has no idea why anyone would put you as an emergency contact but you still picked up just in case.

“Hello?” was all you said. Your tone was laced with worry that you could hear even over the hoarseness. You should’ve went to look for water first.

“Oh you picked up, I almost thought you were ignoring me.”

It took you a minute to recognize the voice and when you did, you closed your eyes in annoyance. How the hell did Tyson sound so chipper when you felt like your throat was a desert. He’d had way more drinks than you had.

The groan you let out caused Tyson to start laughing just like he did last night. Somehow the sound of his laugh made your conversation come back to your mind.

“Tyson” you all but whined, “Can we just forget about it please? I’m really not in the mood for it today.”

“Will you be in the mood tomorrow?”

“I’ll be in the mood never.”

“Oh come on, it’s not even that bad. There’s no time like the present!”

The fact that he was so happy about this was a mystery to you. But then again, this would sound like a fun idea if half of the things on the list weren’t designed specifically to taunt you.

It wasn’t all bad. You’d been wanting to volunteer somewhere for the longest time, you just hadn’t found the time for it and you would love to adopt a dog. You could still remember you begging your parents for a dog every single day when you were young. They kept insisting that a pet didn’t fit in the family and thus you had abandoned that idea a long time ago. There was no way they were going to let you adopt one even now.

“Just let me make myself at least a little presentable and then I’ll be ready to go.”

All you got in return was a cheer too loud for your hungover self and it made you throw the phone on your bed. The last thing you heard before you hung up was Tyson asking you to text him your address.

You were going to do that. After you had your coffee. Pulling yourself out of bed was way harder than it should have been. Normally you were pretty good with your alcohol but you assumed the month of sobriety while you were studying for your exams had something to do with it.

After thanking the heavens your parents weren’t home to witness you in this state, finding the nearest painkillers and quickly taking a shower, you were finally ready to face Tyson. You had a passing moment of stress while you thought about the fact you were going to send him your address. He was still a stranger after all. still, somehow you felt like you could trust him.

So you sent him your address accompanied by an invitation to your house in thirty minutes. If you thought you were lucky for your parents not being home to see your hangover, you just got a whole lot luckier now. If they saw you with a boy in the house, they were never going to let you hear the end of it.

True to his promise, Tyson arrived at your house exactly thirty minutes after you send him the text. You didn’t know if it was planned or if it was just a coincidence, but you were impressed.

“So where do you want to start?” he asked almost immediately when you arrived in the kitchen. You knew there was no need for small talk but you didn’t expect him to just go for it straight away.

“I was thinking we could do something easy first. You know, to get into it.”

“So tree then?”

“I told you that’s not easy.” You said it with a laugh and Tyson giggled right with you.

“You’re going to have to do it someday and we’re already at your house. I’m curious about this enormous tree that you have in your backyard.”

“The only reason I told you that story is because I was convinced you were too drunk to remember it in the morning. The fact that you do still remember is killing my vibe right now.”

You were surprised at how easy it was to go along with his teasing. From the first moment, you could already tell that Tyson was a very friendly person and it was plain to see that he could get anyone to talk to him. Still, you were known to be a little cold when you first met new people so the fact that you felt comfortable around him meant something.

“Nah I wasn’t drunk. I can handle my alcohol. Unlike you apparently.”

Your expression turned into one of fake offense at his words. He was right of course, but he didn’t need to say it.

“I let you into my house for what? To get bullied? You should know that I’m in reach of the cookbooks and I will not hesitate to hit you.”

“Okay Okay I’m sorry please don’t hit me.” He knew you weren’t being serious, the smile on his face was a good indication of that.

“Do you really want to do the tree today? I need to work up to that one.”

“So what do you suggest?”

You stayed quiet.

“Tree it is then.” he said, the smirk on his face noticeable even if you weren’t looking at him. You could tell by his voice that he was really enjoying this situation.

Without saying much else, you went to put on your shoes and moved in the direction of your backyard. The tree in question was situated in a field behind your house. Looking at it now, you wouldn’t say it was a particularly large tree, but there were still nerves bubbling inside of you.

Sighing loudly and a bit too dramatically to show Tyson that you really weren��t happy, you took a while to study the tree. There were a few low hanging branches that you could use to push yourself up on. The leaves at the top constructed your view.

“I just go for it?”

You were nervous. And your voice showed that. It was at that moment that Tyson realized you were legitimately scared.

“Do you want me to do it first? To test if the branches are safe?”

“No I think I want to do it now. I don’t need to know exactly how high this tree is.”

“Well good luck.”

And with that you were off. After giving your phone to Tyson to take a picture of you in the tree, you took your first cautious steps forward. Figuring the best way to do it was to not think about it too much, you placed your left foot on the lowest branch you could find.

Before long, you were already a third of the way to the top and it was alright. You felt your nerves turning into excitement. Wondering why you had been afraid all those years, you let your confidence take over and looked down at Tyson.

“Long how high I am.”

“Yes you are. Can you go a little farther so I can take a picture?”

Your newfound confidence allowed you to go even faster than before and you got to the top in record time. If people saw you right now, they’d believe you did this for a hobby.

When you got to the top, you quickly posed for a picture. Ava would not believe the smile on your face.

But then came the hard part. Getting down. It’s not that you were scared of heights, but you didn’t need to be reminded that there was about 4 meters of nothing between you and the ground. The confidence you had climbing up, dwindled slightly.

While you made your way back to the ground, albeit a lot slower, Tyson shouted words of encouragement at you. You could faintly hear them in the background but were to focused to make out any specific words.

You swore the moment your feet made contact with the ground was the best moment of your life and you let out a little shout of excitement to go along with your thoughts. That was your fault for putting this off for literal years.

“You did it!”

“I did it! Oh my god that’s crazy. I’m so proud of myself.”

Without thinking about it, you pulled Tyson into a hug. It didn’t last long as you separated from him to continue jumping around for a little bit. In the corner of your eye, you could see Tyson laughing at you but you didn’t have it in you to care.

“Look at all the energy you have, we could go cliff jumping right now.”

“Yeah no, I’ll need at least a day to calm down my heart rate enough to do anything else.”

You were ready to go inside again and take a nap. You felt like you had just ran a marathon and you didn’t know if it was because of the adrenaline or your hangover.

As you got inside the first thing you did was text Ava the picture Tyson had taken. Turns out, he took a whole collection of photos. There were at least 20 pictures all taken at different times and you got higher in the tree as the pictures progressed. At the end of the series, there was a video. You were slightly scared to open it as you had no idea what to expect.

The image was the same as the picture. It was just you climbing the tree. Only it was accompanied by Tyson speaking over it like he was presenting a nature documentary. The video was really blurry as he was all the way zoomed in on you and it ended with a shot of his own face filling up the camera.

You burst out laughing at this. Tyson didn’t even need to see your phone to know what had caused your laughter and a smile took over his face.

“What is this Tyson.” Your words were barely intelligible as that were spoken in between breaths.

Tyson just shrugged in response. You decided to sent both a picture and the video to Ava. She wanted you to have fun and this video was proof that you had.

You waited for a little bit to see if she would respond and when she didn’t, you opened up the list again to see if there was anything else you could do.

Most of the items took a bit of planning to pull off and you were not in the mood to actually go out. This left number 13 as your only option.

“Are you allergic to grass Tyson?” you asked seemingly out of the blue.

Tyson was looking at his own phone and didn’t immediately register what you had asked him. He thought about it for a while and eventually shook his head no.

“Then how would you feel about lying in a field for an hour?”

“I’d rather go quad driving but I mean yeah let’s do it.”

You rolled your eyes at this. There was no way you were going to break your arms on a quad bike. Still Tyson didn’t let go of the idea. The whole way to the field was spend bickering about if you would of would not go quad driving and skinny dipping. His argument was that as it was now a joined list, he should have some say in the activities. You just questioned why he wanted to go skinny dipping so bad.

After a short walk, you did arrive at the field in question. You picked this one because if was filled with pretty flowers in seemingly every colour and would make for the best picture. A picture that you would be taking this time, not Tyson. You couldn’t say you enjoyed his photography skills as much as you enjoyed his company.

“Are you ready?” you asked Tyson.

Instead of answering you, he walked a little further into the field and lay down on his back. You decided to do the same thing only a little more graceful. While Tyson basically threw himself on the ground, you sat down first. Before you put your head down, you set your alarm to go off in exactly one hour.

After about 3 minutes of laying in the field in dead silence, you still didn’t really feel like a main character. You let out a deep sigh at alert Tyson that you were bored.

“Are we allowed to talk?”

You turned to face him.

“I think so yes.”

“Okay good because I don’t think I could lay here bored for an hour.”

“Same.”

And after that it was quiet again. It occurred to you that you hadn’t really talked to Tyson. You had no idea how to strike up a conversation. Every time you guys had talked, there had always been a reason, but now laying in the field you would have to fill the silence with small talk and that was not your forte.

Instead you busied yourself with watching Tyson. He was more attractive now then he was under the lights at the party but he still had his curly hair.

“Are you going to cut your hair?” it was the only thing you could come up with that wasn’t hey how has your summer been so far?

“Are you saying I should?”

He said it in a teasing way and you were glad he didn’t take it the wrong way. Looking back, it definitely couldn’t been taken as an insult.

“No. I like it. it’s just something.”

“Wow that doesn’t sound good at all.”

“No stop I didn’t mean it like that, I actually like it.”

But it was too late. Tyson was already laughing too hard to hear what you just said. You wanted to reach out and run your fingers through his curls but decided that that would be really weird so you kept your hands to your sides and just laughed along with him.

When you’d both calmed down, silence overcame you again. This time though, it wasn’t uncomfortable. You didn’t feel the pressure of trying to fill a void like you did the fist time.

“We should talk about our schedule for the list.”

It was a good idea. You had another 12 days to complete all of it and that didn’t leave you much room to rest. Tyson told you he had to go to the gym basically every morning and laughed once again at your shocked expression. I’ll show you my muscles when we go swimming don’t worry. Though it was clearly meant as a joke, his statement still made you blush.

You decided that you would take the next day off to just relax and would move on from there. You also agreed to volunteer at the local animal adoption centre where you would take a look at the dogs. Even if actually adopting one would most likely out of the question.

After that, the conversation moved beyond the list. You learned that Tyson lived in Denver and was just here for a couple of weeks with his friends. Friends who apparently were very excited to meet you after learning that you met at the party.

You didn’t know if you were flattered or scared that they already knew who you were but you didn’t give it much thought figuring that you would meet them eventually.

You were just about to ask another question when Tyson gasped beside you. thinking there was a bug or something you whipped your head to the side only to find Tyson looking at the sky in wonder.

“You scared me.”

“Dude look! It’s a bird.”

“Birds fly in the sky?”

“No dummy, it a cloud in the shape of a bird.”

You whispered a rude under your breath before turning to look in the direction he was pointing. Right above you was indeed a fluffy bird cloud.

“There’s a heart next to it.”

“Oh, I didn’t see that before. That’s cute.”

You went back and forth like that for a while. The shapes were slowly becoming less and less recognizable. As time went on Tyson was just shouting every word that came into his head while you were dying laughing next to him.

You were laughing so hard that you almost didn’t hear your alarm going off. But you did. And it brought you back to reality.

“That was an hour?” Tyson asked.

“Yeah it seemed way less.”

“Well I don’t know about you but I definitely feel like a main character.”

“You already were a main character you dork, you play sports professionally.”

“I thank you.”

He held out his hands for you to take and pulled you up without much effort. Walking back to your house was filled with more jokes and Tyson acting ridiculous. You kind of wished you picked a spot further from your house so you could spend more time with him but you knew that you still had two weeks with him.

As you approached your house you didn’t really know what to say anymore. You had no idea how you should go about saying goodbye, not knowing if he was a hugger or not.

It seemed like Tyson had the same problem. You were just standing across each other in your driveway without saying anything. Figuring you needed to at least say something before you let him walk away, you took a breath and began.

“Tyson?”

He lifted up his head to look up at you with questioning eyes, not saying anything to give you the room to speak.

“Um thank you, for helping me. I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed spending time in a field by myself so thanks.”

“It’s no problem really, I enjoyed today.”

The way he said it, you could tell that he really meant it and it made you happy. Even though he invited himself into your little adventure, you still wanted him to have a good time.

As you said goodbye to Tyson one last time and went back inside, the ping of your phone caught your attention. Your screen lit up with a text from Ava.

Getting a hot boyfriend was not on the bucket list ma’am ;)

Number 8. Climb a tree ✓

Number 13. Lay in a flower field for one hour (to feel like the main character) ✓

#Tyson jost #Tyson #Tyson jost imagine #Nhl imagine #Things I write #Tyson jost x reader #Colorado avalanche imagine

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thegreenwolf · 3 years

Photo

Betting on the Ponies (originally posted at my blog at https://thegreenwolf.com/betting-on-the-ponies/)

(Above: Breyer Classic Arabian Stallion made over into a winged unicorn with real wings from a barnyard mix rooster I raised for meat.)

If you’ve been paying attention to my social media or my shop links at all, you may have noticed that I haven’t really been posting much in the way of new hide and bone art for the past year or so. It’s not that I’ve stopped; I still make some fun things for my Patrons on Patreon every month, and I make some bone, tooth and claw jewelry on Etsy to order. But ever since events dried up, I haven’t been regularly making new batches of costume pieces or other Vulture Culture art. My usual M.O. was to make all sorts of new things for an upcoming event, and then once the weekend was done and I was home, post whatever hadn’t sold on Etsy. And since there haven’t been events…well…I’ve just found myself doing other things.

Some of that is because I’ve had to scramble to make up for the lost income; events were a pretty big chunk of my “pay”, and losing them meant having to tighten the belt. I also lost several other income streams thanks to the pandemic making it unsafe to be around groups of people, which didn’t help. So I had to rely on what was left, along with adopting a few new sources of bits and bobs of cash here and there.

And, honestly, I’ve needed a bit of a break. I’ve been making hide and bone art for over two decades now, and while I love it, any artist eventually wants to explore different media for a while. Sure, I’ve stretched my Vulture wings in new directions, going from costume pieces and ritual tools to assemblages and the Tarot of Bones. But ever since the Tarot came out, I’ve been feeling….not really burned out, but a little creatively wrung out, at least. I’ve really appreciated my Patrons and Etsy customers who have helped me keep a hand in that particular medium, while also allowing me to head off in other directions, too.

Which is to say that if you have been paying attention to the aforementioned social media and shops, you may have also noticed that I’ve been increasing the number of customized Breyer model horses and other animals I’ve made over the past couple of years. This might seem like a heck of a departure from skulls, bones, and other dead things. But in a way it’s really me getting back to long-neglected roots.

(One of my favorite customs I’ve done on one of my favorite molds, the Breyer semi-rearing mustang. )

See, I was a horse girl when I was a kid. Or, rather, I was a wannabe horse girl. I never got to lease or own a horse, and even now in my early 40s I’m still about the greenest rider you’ll find. (Seriously, I need one of those kid-proof horses that’s seen it all, done it all, and is probably more trail-smart than I am.) But I was obsessed with horses from a young age. It started with my very first My Little Pony that I got Christmas morning, 1983 (Applejack, if you must know), and then exploded further with a book on how to draw horses and my first Breyer model (Black Beauty 1991 on the Morganglanz mold) in my preteens. Horse actually took over for Gray Wolf for a few years as my primary animal spirit during my teens, so we have a very long history indeed.

And since I couldn’t have a real horse, I ended up collecting model horses, mostly Breyers with a few old Hartlands for variety. I had over 100 at the peak of my collecting, but I had to sell them all in my early twenties when I was between jobs. In hindsight it was probably for the best because having less stuff made it easier to get through the period of my life where I was moving about once a year, but I do miss that collection.

Back then I did my part to add to the artistic end of the model horse hobby, mostly with badly blended acrylic paint jobs and terrifying mohair manes and tails. But it made me happy, and that was the most important thing. Even though I only knew a couple other collectors in my little rural area, and my only real connection to the hobby was through the quarterly Just About Horses magazine Breyer put out, my collecting really made me happy in the same way that my first fur scraps and bones would catch my interest a few years later.

2020….well, it sucked. We all know that. Pandemic, political stress, financial roller coasters and more made it a really tough year for anyone who wasn’t wealthy enough to hide away and weather it all. And many of us found ourselves with more time at home, in need of distractions and solace. It ended up being a time where many people rediscovered their love of childhood hobbies. I’m one of those people. I’ve been slowly edging my way back in for the past few years, starting with repainting a few old Breyer models found at thrift stores, and then gaining momentum as I found that not only was I much better at customizing these models than I used to be, but I was having fun without the pressure to make a living off of it. (Yes, I love my hide and bone art, but when an art form is your bread and butter, it changes your relationship to it. But that’s a post for another time…)

So 2020 saw me really ramp up my customization efforts. I had to stop for a few months in summer and fall when I moved to a spifftacular new living space on the farm I’ve been working on the past few years (with, by the way, THE best studio space EVER!) but as the days shortened I found myself making more dedicated time to repainting and otherwise customizing models. I even started keeping a few of the models I’d bought to customize that were in better condition to create a small, but slowly growing original finish collection, and that really helped me feel like I was back in the (not actually a) saddle.*

That’s why a well-established artist of organic, pagan-influenced arts made from fur and leather and bone and feather suddenly started painting all these secondhand plastic ponies. It’s giving me that deep injection of childhood nostalgia balanced with adult skill and perspective, and it’s offered me a much-needed break from the exhausting schedule I’ve been living the past decade or so. Because suddenly, even with the time spent rearranging my income opportunities to make sure I could stay afloat, I found myself with a little time that hadn’t been scheduled to death, and when I thought about what I wanted to do with that time, I gravitated toward one of the few creative outlets in my life that was purely for fun.**

(Yes, this IS fan art of “The Last Unicorn”! I used a Breyer Stablemate rearing Arabian for the unicorn, and a Breyer Spanish fighting bull for the Red Bull. A LOT of fun to make this particular project.)

In a way having all my events canceled was one of the best things that happened to me, because it made me slow the fuck down. I no longer had several weekends a year where I had to spend weeks beforehand making art and otherwise preparing to be away from all my farm responsibilities for 4-7 days at a time, with all the packing and moving and setup and vending and teaching and teardown and going home and unpacking and exhaustion that goes with each event. I realized just how much each one was taking out of me, especially as I’ve gotten older. And I also recognized how much pressure I had been putting on myself to ALWAYS MAKE MORE STUFF FOR ETSY EVERY WEEK OR ELSE.

So the model horses are really sort of a symbol of the childhood joy I’ve managed to recapture, wresting time and energy back from my workaholic tendencies. I’ve even been thinking about what my professional life is going to look like once the pandemic eases up enough to allow events again, and whether I’ll put the same amount of time toward vending and and teaching at conventions and festivals as I used to. (There are a few favorites that I’m not going to miss for anything, so don’t worry about me dropping out entirely.) But for the first time in a very long time, I’m relearning to prioritize myself, and figuring out that maybe I don’t have to go hell-bent for leather every week, every year, in order to keep the bills paid and the critters fed.

And maybe, just maybe, it’s okay for this dead-critter-artist, pagan-nonfic-author, teacher-vendor-farmer, to indulge herself with something fun, and bet on the ponies to help her get through the tough times.

(P.S. Amid everything going on, I am back to working steadily on my next book, which I mentioned in this blog post almost a year ago. As a recap, its working title is Coyote’s Journey: Deeper Work With the Major Arcana, and it’s a deep dive into that section of the tarot using pathworkings with the animals I assigned to the major arcana of the Tarot of Bones. It’s not just a Tarot of Bones book, though; it’s a good way to get a new, nature-based angle on the majors in general, as well as hopefully gain a better understanding of yourself. My goal is to have it out later this year, self-pub of course, and at the rate I’m going it may end up being my longest book! Stay tuned, and if you want to get excerpts of the work-in-progress, become my Patron for as little as $1/month!)

*At the height of my “horse girl” phase, I had a really beat-up pony saddle I’d bought for ten bucks at a yard sale, and got a cheap saddle stand for it and put it in my room. And yes, I occasionally sat on it and pretended I was riding an actual horse. Hey, it made me happy at the time, and it was the closest I was ever going to get apart from a trail ride every few years.

**Yes, I do sell my customs. But I don’t make them on a schedule, I take commissions VERY sparingly, and I’m getting to stretch some new creative muscles, especially in the realms of sculpting and painting, so this is primarily for my enjoyment. The sales are just a side benefit.

(My ode to the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a Breyer deer repainted to resemble the Columbian black-tailed deer that frequent the farm I live on, along with hand-sculpted Amanita muscaria mushrooms, real and fake moss, and real lichens from fallen branches.)

#Breyer #model horses #vulture culture #artwork #artist

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livingcorner · 3 years

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12+ Ways to Make $1000 a Month from Your Garden (Year Round!)

They say when you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. Well, I love my garden and given a choice I’d be out there amongst my garden beds day and night. There’s a big difference between gardening and farming though, and while I love my garden I’m not cut out for the life of a farmer.

While bringing in a full-time gardening income is a bit tricky, making a side income from your garden is easier than you’d think.

You're reading: 12+ Ways to Make $1000 a Month from Your Garden (Year Round!)

Most people see gardening as a seasonal endeavor, that starts in the spring and ends in the fall, coming and going each year. Up here in Vermont, our summer growing season is only a sad 100 days or so, and if I confined my efforts to those short months it wouldn’t make for much of a side hustle. I think it’s important to find a way to earn a consistent side income, so I’m providing options for every month of the year (even in a cold climate like ours).

Beyond that, our land is mostly forested, which means the definition of “garden” is a bit loose. We grow mushrooms in the shady spots and tap maple trees in season. We also forage the wild bounty that nature’s garden has provided, meaning that we don’t have to limit our “gardening” to a small tilled section of the yard.

Even if you’re lacking space in a small suburban lot, expanding outside of the traditional garden into local parks, or taking your garden indoors with salad sprouts, closet mushrooms, and seedling trays will allow you to make use of the space you have year-round.

Here are a few options to earn a substantial side income from your garden every season of the year, with ideas for both city and country folk.

(Be sure to check local laws and restrictions before you start with anything, as those vary widely from place to place.)

Winter Garden Income

While you’d think winter would be the slow season for backyard garden income, believe it or not, it’s actually the best time for making money from your garden. You’re generally less busy with planting and weeding, but everyone is stuck inside dreaming of the garden bounty to come.

Indoor Salad Gardening

January is when everyone’s making new years resolutions to live healthier and eat more salads, but it’s a pretty rough time for gardening in most places. If right around the end of the year you plan ahead with an indoor salad gardening setup, you’ll be in the perfect position to market microgreens and sprouts when they’re in high demand.

Local farms around here sell winter micro greens CSA’s and unlike summer shares where they net less than a dollar on a head of lettuce, winter greens command high prices. A small bag of specialty microgreens runs $12 to 15 each. And I really mean a small bag, maybe 3 cups of at most.

The trick is to grow high-quality, specialty greens that get people excited when the grocery store options are minimal. The book Year Round Indoor Salad Gardening is a great resource to get started, and covers all you’d need to know to grow your own greens. At that point, the problem is scaling up and marketing.

Start a Small Backyard Seed Company

You may think you need to be some kind of multi-national to sell seeds, but in reality, customers are looking toward sustainably grown seed for specialty heirloom varieties these days. It doesn’t get much more sustainable than a backyard garden, and buying seed locally ensures that you’ll get varieties perfectly suited to a particular growing region.

Choosing the right crops is key to generating a good income selling seeds. Tomato seed, for example, is very easy to save and a single tomato often has enough seed to supply a dozen seed packets. The flowers are self-contained, and it actually takes work for plant breeders to hybridize a variety, which means they’ll come true to variety even with many different types grown in the same garden.

Most importantly, people get really excited about tomatoes. Ever wonder why 1/3 of any seed catalog seems to be tomato seed? With all that love for tomatoes, customers are liable to drop $5 for a locally grown packet of seeds for a really great variety.

While tomatoes are really easy, there are many varieties that aren’t much harder. You need to know a bit about seed saving, not only harvesting and cleaning the seed, but about how pollination and selection works by variety. Some varieties require a minimum population size to avoid inbreeding in the long term, and all that’s important to know before you get started.

Seed to Seed is generally recognized as the most encyclopedic book on seed saving, covering just about every variety you can imagine. It has great breadth to get you started, but not a whole lot of depth.

The Seed Garden is hands down my favorite seed saving book. It’s well written and covers varieties in great depth. It’s authored by The Seed Savers Exchange which does great work in the field of preserving heirloom varieties.

The Complete Guide to Seed Saving has a lot of stellar reviews, and it’s the next one I’m going to add to my gardening library.

Even in a small town environment here in Rural Vermont, there are about a dozen local seed companies. High Mowing Seed started out really small just down the road from us, and now they’re a big national brand. Milkweed Medicinals sells specialty seed that’s hard to find, and they now sell in all the local coops.

Find your niche and there’s a great income to be made with homegrown seed.

Selling Cuttings

Even easier than saving seed, selling cuttings is an easy way to make a healthy income from your established plants in the winter months. There are a number of varieties, like grapes for example, that need to be cut back or pruned in the winter. Those cuttings are perfect for starting new plants and many gardeners are willing to pay good money for tiny pieces of your established crops.

I just bought 30 elderberry cuttings from Norms Farms at $4 each to propagate at home. Elderberries grow readily from cuttings, and it’s an economical way for me to get a huge bed of them started. Elderberry plants from a nursery cost about $30 each, so I’m happy with the transaction and the seller just made $120 off a tiny box of trimmings.

There are a number of plants that grow well from hardwood cuttings, some like black currants, are as simple as snipping off a tip and sticking it into the ground. Others require a bit more attention and prep work to the cuttings, but they’re still beginner level.

Scion wood, or cuttings from apple trees to be grafted onto rootstock, is similarly lucrative. All you need is a couple of established apple trees of known varieties and you can harvest cuttings for sale.

Usually, each cutting is only a few inches long, so shipping them isn’t a big issue. There’s a marketplace on the seed savers exchange website, and a scion wood cutting sells for about $4 each.

Start by learning a thing or two about plant propagation, first so that you can establish your own cutting beds, and then so you can educate customers on how easy it is to grow plants from cuttings. Try reading Practical Woody Plant Propagation for Nursery Growers to get you started.

Read more: Why Does My Garden Hose Keep Bursting? | GardenAxis.com

A handful of elderberry cuttings that sell for $4 each.

Growing Mushrooms Indoors

Learning to grow mushrooms is a bit different than most standard garden crops, so this one will take some studying for even seasoned gardeners. Still, there’s the potential to grow large crops from a small indoor space year-round.

The book Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation describes in detail how to set up a back closet, extra nook or spare bathroom to grow mushrooms with minimal time investment (2 hours a week).

He has a great breakdown of costs, inputs, and yields…but in summary, you can make about $100 per week from a small setup that takes up a 4’x4′ footprint. The system scales easily, with minimal extra time investment, meaning you only need slightly more space to increase that to a grand per month.

The best part, they can grow in recycled 5-gallon buckets picked up from restaurants, and they consume waste products like spent coffee grounds, that you can often pick up for free.

If you have access to outdoor space and hardwood logs, growing shiitake mushrooms is also a great place to start for beginners, but outdoors, harvests would be in the warmer months rather than winter.

I don’t know about you, but when I had an office job my co-workers would have loved to buy fresh mushrooms to take home for a fancy Friday night meal.

Spring Garden Income

Spring is when everyone’s mind is dead set on their own gardens, and it’s a great time to capitalize on the surge in interest in all things green.

Selling Dandelions (and other wild weeds)

While countless suburbanites are spraying their lawns trying to eradicate the dandelions, more savvy gardeners are realizing that one person’s weed is another’s delicacy. Dandelions are edible root to shoot, and better yet, they’re also highly medicinal.

Dandelion root tincture sells for about $12 per ounce, and it only takes a root or two per ounce. The spring greens are highly sought after by local food coops, where they sell for $4-5 per bundle. Not bad for a pile of weeds.

Beyond dandelions, there’s all manner of early spring green “weeds” that can command high prices if you know how to identify, harvest and process them. Chickweed is incredibly invasive, but also delicious, and chickweed tincture has plenty of medicinal uses too.

There’s nothing like making a bit of side income from weeding your garden early in the spring. You’ve got to do it anyway, might as well make it pay.

Dandelion roots harvested for homemade tincture.

Growing Spring Ephemerals

An ephemeral is a crop that has a very short season, and it may only be around for a few weeks before the plants go dormant (or unharvestable) for a full year. Ramps, or wild leeks, are a slow-growing ephemeral that’s only around for a few weeks in the spring, but during that time they’re in high demand by both home cooks and fancy chefs. Knowing where to find a good wild patch is hard, but they’re actually remarkably easy to naturalize in your own backyard.

Growing ramps from seeds just requires the right conditions. Moist soil, under the shade of deciduous trees. The more leaf cover the better.

You’re not growing anything else in that much shade, so growing your own ramps is a great way to earn top dollar from an otherwise unproductive patch of land. This is a long-term venture though, as leeks are slow-growing, and they’ll require about 5-7 years before your first harvest, but after that, a well-tended and sustainably harvested patch can last indefinitely.

Fiddleheads are another crop that’s generally wild foraged, but it’s remarkably easy to cultivate. They can actually be pretty invasive, and I spent a long time weeding them out of my garden so I could grow anything else. I just dug them up and tossed them into a heap, and they kept on growing and spreading from there as if nothing happened.

Fiddleheads can be really productive, and they sell for about $20 a pound here in Vermont where they’re common. You might get even better prices somewhere they’re more scarce.

Since they’re productive, fern heads can be pickled to extend their season, so you can market the bumper crop a bit longer.

My daughter holding a harvest of fiddleheads and ramps.

Selling Spring Seedlings

Selling spring veggie seedlings is an obvious choice. Tomato seeds cost about a tenth of a cent each, but a healthy started plant can easily sell for $5. Sure, there’s the cost for potting soil and pots, but the profit margin is still huge on seedling sales.

The trick is, you’re investing your time and energy into starting plants off right, so others don’t have to. This is one of the most lucrative ways to make money from your garden if you invest in the right equipment and can master the process.

A greenhouse, even a small backyard model, is essential for producing seedlings early enough in the season. As for resources to get you started, The New Seed Starter’s Handbook covers everything in detail, including troubleshooting guides if your plants aren’t performing.

Beyond the income from selling seedlings, you’ll also save a boatload by starting your own seeds instead of purchasing starts. That’s one of those penny saved is a penny earned propositions, and any seedlings you don’t sell can just go right into your own garden.

Take a look at the local market this spring, and see if there are any gaps. Do all the tomato seedlings sell out quickly, or is the market flooded? If there’s plenty of other vendors, consider growing something niche like medicinal herbs.

Start a Backyard Nursery

Similar to growing out your own veggie seedlings, starting your own backyard nursery extends the income beyond the busy spring season. If you’re growing perennials, you don’t have to worry about any unsold plants at the end of the year. Just tuck them in for the winter and try to sell them next year.

Propagating plants from cuttings is remarkably easy, and all it takes is a bit of time and patience. Those elderberry cuttings that sold for $4 each (above) as trimmings will sell for $25 to $30 as full-sized potted bushes in a few years. Just the patience, time and space required to grow out the plants pays back in dividends later.

This is actually a big part of our retirement plan, and we’re putting in perennials throughout our land to serve as cutting sources later when we open our nursery. In the meantime, they’re beautiful, and most are edibles like elderberries, so we’re harvesting the fruit for our table while we patiently bide our time to retirement.

Backyard plant nurseries don’t require that much space, as potted plants can be stored fairly close together.

Summer Garden Income

Summer is peak growing season and it’s a great time to earn income from what you’re growing at home. The big farms and CSA operations have the lettuce market cornered, but backyard gardeners can break into the market by offering really novel crops. Start by focusing on high-dollar items and unique crops that get people’s attention.

High Dollar Specialty Crops

You’re never going to compete with the 100 acre organic CSA down the road on most generic crops, but those big operations cant grow everything. They can grow a lot of the staples most families use every day, but backyard gardeners can grow small amounts of truly specialty crops that demand high prices. Here are a few good options:

Husk Cherries – Also known as ground cherries, these plants produce huge crops of sweet pineapple/strawberry flavored fruit. They grow on plants similar to tomatoes, and each bright orange fruit is wrapped in a papery husk. Just one taste and you’ll want more.

Before we were growing our own, I’d buy them for $5 a pint…now I know that each plant can produce more than a gallon of fruit even with neglect. If you hand out samples, these will sell themselves. It also helps if you give people creative ways to use them.

Cucamelons – Also known as mouse melons, these tiny little grape-sized cucumbers taste like a cross between a cucumber and lime. They’re really wonderful fresh out of hand, and they make great pickles or mixed drinks. The cuteness factor means that these sell for about $5 per half-pint.

Berry Pick Your Own

To complement our backyard nursery retirement plans, we’re also planning a pick your own operation. This requires more space than most of the other ideas on this list, but after the initial setup, labor is pretty minimal.

A while back I calculated the rate of return on a raspberry pick your own, and you’d need about 250-row feet to produce $1000 worth of raspberries. For us on 30 acres, that’s a drop in the bucket, but that may be more space than you can devote to any one crop.

Strawberries are similar, in that a plant generally yields about a pound of fruit in a season, and requires 1-row foot. At $4 per pound, you’d need the same amount of row feet as raspberries. The benefit there is, strawberry rows are much more closely spaced so this may be more practical for some.

Read more: 37 Garden Border Ideas To Dress Up Your Landscape Edging

Garden Tours, Tea Times & Classes

Though it’s not my cup of tea, garden tours and country tea times are a good option for flower gardeners. A local nurseryman around here makes a good side income hosting tea time in his home garden, and runs an annual tour of his extensive plantings, along with specialty days for big blooms (like daffodils). Our gardens are more down-to-earth and “homestead” than they are attractive, but many people’s are just the opposite.

All it takes is a few tables, a decent scone recipe, and a few good teapots, and you’re ready to run a weekly afternoon tea time in the garden. Add in tours and maybe a few gardening classes and you’ve got yourself a ready source of income from your own beautiful backyard.

Medicinal Herbs

With the increasing demand for more alternative remedies, there’s never been a better time to grow medicine in your backyard. Locally grown herbs are still hard to find in most areas, but plenty of people are looking for them.

Many medicinal herbs are perennials, which means you plant them once and you can harvest them for years. And the same compounds that make the plants medicinal also make them resistant to deer and insects, which means less maintenance than garden veggies. For the most part, they’re perennial, persistent and more importantly…profitable.

There’s a high demand for medicinal tinctures since they’re ready to use, and our local coop has half an aisle dedicated to them. Tinctures sell for $8 to $12 an ounce, but they only cost about $1 to $2 an ounce, even if you’re buying in the herbs rather than growing them.

Add in another $1 for the tincture bottle, and you’re still making a pretty sizable profit per bottle. Choosing crops that are common and in high demand, like echinacea tincture can help you break into the market.

As you’re just getting started, I’d recommend Backyard Medicine as a way to dip your toe into harvesting and making your own herbal remedies, especially from wild crops. If you’re considering growing herbs for profit I’d highly recommend The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: The Ultimate Guide to Producing High-Quality Herbs on a Market Scale. It’s written by farmers that grow just a few towns over from us, and they’ve inspired a lot of people to take up growing medicine for the market.

The Herbal Academy of New England also has a course designed specifically for herbal entrepreneurs. The course walks you through the basics of creating your own brand identity, marketing, sourcing herbal ingredients, manufacturing herbal remedies and creating a business plan around herbs and herbal remedies.

Fall Garden Income

The end of the garden season, fall is generally when the crops come in. In my mind though, it’s one of the more challenging times to make income as a small producer.

There are a lot of products on the market, and it’s hard to stand out. With the holidays right around the corner though, marketing yourself as a niche producer of really unique homegrown gifts can work to your advantage.

Honey & Bee Products

Gardeners need bees and bees need gardeners! Raising honey bees is a great way to support pollinator communities, but with all the challenges that face hives these days, it’s best to be educated before you start. There’s a really great book called Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture that covers just about everything you need to know to keep your bees healthy naturally.

In a good year, with our short Vermont growing seasons, bees can produce as much as 100lbs of honey for harvest. The current bulk price at our coop, meaning bring your own container nothing fancy…is $7 per pound. Pre-packaged just in mason jars, honey goes for $10-12 per pound, and considerably more in specialty gift packaging.

Add in things like bee pollen or propolis for medicinal use, or comb honey, and you have yet more high-dollar items to market.

Honey, especially locally sustainably raised honey is in high demand just about everywhere. People are realizing that bees are important to our environment, and many will be happy to pay for local honey just knowing that it means supporting someone who is stewarding such an important resource in their neighborhood.

Apples, Cider and Cider Press Rentals

My doctor has a small apple share side hustle that she runs with her sister, selling harvest shares to neighbors in her spare time. They have a few full-sized apple trees, and each one produces around 100 to 120 pounds of apples per year. These days, conventionally grown supermarket apples are about $3 per pound…and locally grown apples fetch a premium above that.

She sells shares ahead of time and then divides the harvest as each tree comes to bear. Distributing them to shareholders every week or two as each variety ripens over the season.

We have other neighbors who sell fresh cider that they press from their trees, at $12 per gallon. Last year we pressed nearly 80 gallons from our trees, most of which went into hard cider and homemade cider syrup (like maple syrup), but we easily could have sold it instead. Instead of selling our cider, we have a different strategy for earning our income during apple season.

We invested in an efficient double-barrel cider press, with the thought that we can rent it out to other small apple producers. People with one or two trees in their backyard love the novelty of pressing their own cider, and around these parts a press rents for about $50 for the afternoon. Over the course of the season that can really add up…

Year-Round Garden Income

Beyond different things you can do seasonally to earn a few thousand a couple of months a year, there are things you can do year-round to earn a steady income related to your garden.

Garden Blogging

I know, making income from blogging seems too good to be true, but writing about diy, gardening, and self-sufficiency is now my full-time job. Within 6 months of starting this blog, I started making an extra $1000 a month. After 9 months of writing, I was able to quit my day job, and now at 18 months in I bring in more each month than any job I’ve ever had.

The best part? All I do is write about what we’re already doing here in our daily lives, and I spend my days playing in the garden and out foraging in the woods with my kids.

I was inspired to take the leap into blogging when I read the book Make Money Blogging at Any Level by my blogger friend, Victoria at A Modern Homestead. She outlines in detail how to earn a substantial income, even from a very small blog.

She was able to retire her husband and supports her family exclusively with her blog. If you’re considering blogging as a source of income it’s worth the investment. It’s $27 for the book, and I made that back in my first week with my blog following her tips.

She also has a much more comprehensive blogging e-course that takes you through everything you need to know to launch your own profitable blog. It’s a bit more of an investment, but it’s the perfect way for a beginner to learn everything they need to know to launch their blog fast and start earning money.

Garden Micro-Influencer

Making money on Instagram is all the rage these days, and you’d be surprised how many companies are willing to send you free products just for a promise that you’ll post at least 1 picture of it to Instagram with honest feedback. Once you have even a small following, companies will pay you for your time reviewing it (and you still get to keep it for free…)

Looking for a little inspiration? You can always follow along on my Instagram for ideas…

Hopefully, this helps inspire you to turn your gardening passion into a meaningful side hustle. If you have any other ideas, let me know in the comments below.

More Income Inspiration

How to Make a Full-Time Income Off-Grid

8 Ways to Make an Extra $1000 a Month on a Small Homestead

Making Money with Small Scale Maple Sugaring

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/12-ways-to-make-1000-a-month-from-your-garden-year-round/

#livingcornernews

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sevenstarsinning · 4 years

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Summary: Raditz loses his mate when Planet Vegeta is destroyed and finds himself working alongside Prince Vegeta. When he comes to Earth to recruit his brother, he’s dealt another devastating blow when Goku refuses to join and leaves him near death. He’s found by a human and attempts to adapt to life on Earth.

Chapter 1 is here

Chapter 2

The smell of wet grass and dirt filled your nostrils when you awoke. Before you opened your eyes, you knew the sun was beaming overhead. Judging by the layer of sweat on your forehead, it was going to be a hot one.

Your clothes stuck uncomfortably to your body as you turned over to your back, groaning the whole way. Along with the nausea, your entire body ached from sleeping on the hard ground all night.

"Human, who are you and why did you sleep on me last night?" A large silhouette stepped up next to you, nearly blocking out the sun entirely.

"Thought you were just a vivid dream." As the events of the previous night flooded your brain, you realized how many unanswered questions there were regarding the handsome stranger.

"Wait... how are you standing? You were pretty much dying a few hours ago."

He bent down and grabbed your wrist, bringing you to your feet without much finesse.

"Hangover!" You shouted when you came face to face with his wide chest. A cold sweat broke out all over and before you could so much as turn your head away, you vomited all over the front of him.

"What the hell is wrong with you, human? That smells horrible," he growled, stepping back to get away from the odor but, of course, it followed him. He tugged at his armor and tried to wrestle it over his head but his face went pale before he could get it off.

"Spicy," you panted while you pulled your shirt over your head to wipe your mouth, "bar food, man... it's good going down but it fucking sucks coming back up."

He bent over and dry heaved a couple of times before his stomach emptied what little still remained. He groaned and clutched his ribs before pulling his cracked armor off the rest of the way. One side of it was almost completely gone and the rest was barely hanging together.

The two of you fell silent when you stopped and finally got a good look at one another. The only thing that covered him looked like some kind of spandex wrestling attire that left little to the imagination.

You stood a few yards away in a black bikini top from your visit to the community pool next to the bar the day before and your favorite pair of jeans, perfectly worn in and comfortable.

"As far as morning after looks go, this is not my finest. Self medicating hangover is not a good look on me," you said, breaking the intense silence between you.

"Who are you?" He asked again, completely unamused.

"Dude, you were dying in the field right next to my house dressed like you just left an anime convention. You tell me who you are first."

"I don't take orders from weak little humans," he snarled, offended you would even attempt to tell him what to do.

"I don't see any weak little humans," you shot back, unfazed by the difference in size between you. He had to be well over a foot taller and built like a tank.

He took in a sharp breath to come back with another insult but all that came out was a groan as he clutched his ribs and dropped to his knees.

You approached with caution as he tried to catch his breath. Each time he inhaled, the pain seemed to intensify. Even on his knees he was close to being at eye level with you.

"Do you need a doctor or... " you trailed off, unsure how to help him.

It was clear he wasn't from Earth which wasn't all that surprising or disconcerting living on the outskirts of West City. It seemed to be a hotspot for strange activity and visitors from the cosmos.

"No doctors," he growled.

"So, what, I'm supposed to just leave you here to die slowly? Not my style, big guy. Come on, my house is right over there." You took a step forward and offered your hand.

He tilted his head up to meet your gaze. The friendly smile you displayed took him by surprise. He expected some amount of fear from his less than welcoming first impression, but there wasn't any.

"I don't need help from a human," he grumbled as he began to stand.

"That's too bad, you're getting it anyway." You grabbed his arm to help him stay balanced and hoisted it over your shoulder. The second he let the full weight of his massive arm rest on you, it felt like you were sinking into the ground.

"Jesus fuck... how are you so goddamn big?"

"How are you so tiny?" He grunted, shifting to take a little weight off of you. All you could do was help keep him steady, anything beyond that was out of the question.

"I haven't been home in a couple of days so the house is probably a mess," you said, ignoring his question.

The small patch of woods near your house offered a short reprieve from the sun's intensity. You had never been more thankful for the end of summer. The sweltering hot days were miserable and difficult to enjoy because it was too uncomfortable to do much of anything.

You came to an abrupt stop when your house came into view. The front half looked fine, not a brick out of place. The back half had been reduced to crumbling walls and bits of rubble.

When your eyes settled on the pod sitting in what used to be your bedroom, you slowly turned your gaze to the stranger at your side.

"What's your name?" You asked, calm on the surface but inside your blood was boiling.

"Raditz, why?" He answered with a little more attitude than you could let slide.

"I'm assuming that's yours, Raditz?" You pointed to the small round ship surrounded by chunks of your walls and roof. Imagining him folding his massive body into the pod would’ve made you laugh if not for the anger over your house.

"Yes."

"And where you're from, I'm assuming you're well versed in galactic travel?"

"Yes, human. What are you getting at?" He sighed and clutched his ribs, not at all bothered by the fact that his pod decimated your house.

"This area is like 90% cow pasture, how the actual fuck did you crash land on my house?!" You shouted, loud enough for your voice to echo.

"How dare you raise your voice-"

"Oh fuck no, you're not pulling that high and mighty bullshit with me," you interrupted, hands shaking from the overwhelming anger.

"Do you have a death wish? I've killed beings bigger and far scarier than you for much less," he shouted back despite the pain he knew it would cause.

"You destroyed my house, you gigantic asshole!" You stared up at him, not the least bit intimidated.

"I'm warning you, human, your life means nothing to me and I won't hesitate to end it," he growled back.

"Is that supposed to scare me? Dude, this is Earth, like half of us wish for death every fucking day!"

Raditz opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out while he processed what you said.

Your chest heaved with a long, drawn out sigh. Without another word, you headed towards what was left of the house. The inside was a complete wreck even in the front half of the house. The impact of the pod hitting the back half of the house shifted everything and left the floor covered with valuables from your shelves and TV stand. The only thing left unscathed was the furniture.

Glass from broken picture frames crunched under your shoes as you navigated the living room to grab the first aid kit from the small closet across from the bathroom.

"Sit." You pointed to the couch when Raditz appeared in the doorway.

He hesitated for a moment, looking around at the chaos his ship caused. After crossing the threshold, he moved gingerly towards the couch and sat down next to you.

With the first aid kit laid out on the coffee table, you shuffled through to find disinfectant wipes, bandages, and whatever else you might need to get him patched up.

He slowly pulled his ripped up black spandex top over his head and sat back on the couch, shifting to find the most comfortable position. His whole left side was one massive bruise with cuts and dried blood smeared across it. The cuts on the rest of his body had long since stopped bleeding but still needed to be cleaned.

"I'm guessing you have a broken rib or two?" You finally turned to look at him. The anger and annoyance that marred his chiseled features just minutes before was replaced with curiosity.

He nodded and moved his arm out of the way to give you access to his battered side.

"How do you take care of broken bones where you're from?" You pulled a disinfectant wipe from a small foil packet and unfolded it.

"Medical machines," he answered. Right when you pressed the wipe to the cuts on his abs, he hissed.

"Keep talking, what's a medical machine on your planet?" You continued, hoping to keep him distracted from the discomfort.

"A pod... " he winced and took a deep breath, "full of a healing liquid... it can heal us from any wound as long as we're still breathing."

You placed a bandage over one of the deeper cuts and moved onto the next. "I wish we had something like that here. How long does it take?"

"Dammit, woman," he grunted when you added a little pressure to his ribs to clean another long gash.

"Depends on the wound," he said through gritted teeth, "minutes up to a few hours."

"And I'm guessing you don't have one in the pod that destroyed my house?" You raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.

"Obviously not. What do you have on this pathetic planet that can heal me quickly? I have more important things to do than sit here and answer your questions," he bit back.

You pressed against his ribs out of spite and got an anguished groan out of him. Before you could return to cleaning the last of his cuts, he grabbed your arm to stop you.

"I could snap your wrist with one hand."

"Yeah? If you really wanted to, you would've just done it," you challenged. It was a gamble to keep pushing back but you ran out of fucks to give long ago.

A few seconds of silence passed between you and he finally released his grip.

His curiosity returned when you focused on patching him up as if he didn't just threaten bodily harm. The way you were able to be simultaneously angry and caring towards him wasn't something he expected from a human.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I don't want a rotting corpse in the field next to my house," you answered without a second thought, "you're also not leaving until you fix the chaos your pod caused."

"I owe you nothing, human-"

"You're also kinda cute but that's not going to last long if you keep being a dick," you continued, turning your attention to his arm.

He jerked it away and growled when a sharp pain shot through his body.

"Feel like a big man now?" You chided before pulling his arm back into your lap.

"How do you expect me to fix this? I'm a warrior, not a builder."

You raised an eyebrow and said the first thing that came to mind. In retrospect, it was probably the worst thing you could've said but you were incapable of keeping your mouth shut.

"Maybe you'll be a better builder since you clearly suck at the whole warrior thing."

A tingle went down your spine when he turned his murderous glare to you. It wasn't the dying part that filled you with fear, it was the infinite number of ways he could go about it that made your life flash before your eyes.

#raditz x reader #raditz x female reader #raditz #dbz #dbz fic #let you go fic #supremeleadershitlord #7ss raditz

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lemonlushff-iy · 4 years

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Read parts 1-4 here

One Last Ride - Part Five

Kagome drove down the long, winding dirt path to her mother's house, the events of the day playing over and over again in her head. She had so many questions for her mother, starting with "what the hell was going on?", followed by "why is Inuyasha helping out around the ranch?".

As her childhood home came into view, she felt the familiar bitter sweetness of nostalgia wash over her. This was the home she had grown up in. This house was the background for most of her childhood memories…both good and bad.

The wooden rocking chairs were still out on the porch. She had spent hours there as a child with her grandfather, listening to his stories about her father as a child. It's where she had plucked her fingers raw as his leathery hands covered hers, teaching her to play his guitar.

The front yard was cleaner now. It still had a soccer ball near the side, but the bikes were gone. Stored in the shed around back, like they were supposed to be. She supposed her brother drove to school now instead of biking the long distance.

She used to hate biking to school too. Only she didn't…Because Inuyasha would stop by first and go with her. He would race with her...letting her win almost every single time, because they both knew that he could pedal a lot faster.

Their fathers had taught them how to ride the bike at the same time...on this very long, winding road. Inuyasha would put on a brave face whenever he fell and skinned himself, but her father would swoop in, look at his wounds, and give him a hug. Her father would call him a champ when he stood back up, ready to keep going.

That's the kind of man her father was.

The kind of man who would wake up at four in the morning to take her fishing and just listen to her talk about all of her problems, no matter how big or small they were. He'd listen to her complain and vent over school work, excitedly talk about the latest article she was working on for the school paper, and confess her ideas for that newest short story.

It was their special time together. Where they could just be and bond...Where he had told her that he believed in her dreams. Where he told her that she was a talented writer and should keep pursuing it. Where he had told her that he was happy she was happy with Inuyasha...but if he hurt her, he wouldn't hesitate to break out his shotgun.

She had groaned at that...but having his blessing? For all if it?

It had meant the world to her.

Now...the rocking chairs stood empty, and the fishing rods lay coated in dust.

A light had been extinguished in her heart with each of their passing...and it had taken a long time to find a small flashlight for the void within.

She put her car into park, coming around to the trunk to pop it and remove her suitcase as the door to the house opened.

"Kagome!" her younger brother, Souta, called as he ran over to her, leaping into her arms so suddenly she had to drop the suitcase to catch him. "Trust fall!" he yelled as she staggered backwards from the force, the car catching her in her back. If it hadn't been there, she would have landed on her ass, but she didn't care.

"Souta," she laughed, her heart feeling a bit lighter. This was why she had come home. For him. For his graduation.

"Hey sis," he grinned, his eyes happily dancing before he bent over and tucked his head under her chin, squeezing the air out of her lungs.

"S-Sout-ta...C-can't...breathe…"

"That's ok."

"S-Souta!"

"Alright," he grumbled, pulling away from her and she gasped for air, bending over to rest her hands on her knees. "I'm so glad you made it! We were a bit worried that you wouldn't when your flight got delayed...and then we heard your car broke down…"

"I wasn't going to let that stop me! It's your big day buddy...I couldn't miss that," she grinned, righting herself and grabbing him around the shoulders to muss up his hair. "God...I think you grew another inch since Christmas...would you stop growing already? You're already taller than me."

"Just trying to catch up to Inuy-ah...LeBron James. You know. So I can have a better shot at the NBA," he smiled weakly.

"You can say his name, Souta," she replied, pulling away to push her hair behind her ears as he picked up her suitcase. "He's a good man. Not Voldemort...we don't have to pretend he doesn't exist, ok?"

"Are we pretending that Zach doesn't exist?" he asked, leading her into the house.

"Yes. Yes we are," she laughed, closing the door. It smelled like home...or at least of her mother's fried chicken. And if that wasn't home, she wasn't sure what was.

"Oh! My Sweet Baby Girl!" She heard her mother's sweet, melodic timbre instantly washed away any lingering pain from her hellish day. It was all worth it. The delayed flight. The broken down car. The horrible dinner. All of it was worth it so that she could be here. With her family.

She'd brave it all again just for this.

Her mother swept her up into her arms, rocking her from side to side, and she inhaled deeply. Underneath the scent of fried chicken she smelled of her, and of the fancy rose scented perfume she only wore on special occasions.

"Hi Mama," she sighed, pulling away to look closely at her mother. She was the same, but not. She was a bit thinner than she remembered her being...her cheeks only slightly more sunken in than she recalled as being "normal" for her mother. She wore concealer, under her eyes...something she normally avoided doing. Perhaps it was to hide the dark circles she was certain was under it? Her hair, while still short and wavy, was a bit frizzier than she remembered it being as well. Sure it was summer and all, but her mother had always taken pride in her hair.

If Inuyasha hadn't already tipped her off that something might be wrong here, she would have known the second she saw her mother.

"Let me get a look at you! Oh it's been too long, Kagome!" Her mother sighed, holding her out at an arm's length as she examined her. "Good! You're eating well."

"Mother! Did you just call me fat?"

"I said nothing of the sort - I'm just glad living in California hasn't gotten to you yet and I don't have a twig daughter."

God! Everyone and their hatred of California!

"I'm fine Mama," she growsed. "Maybe a little tired and emotionally worn down from dinner...but I'm fine."

"Yeah how'd that go?" Souta called, running down the stairs from her room. He sounded like a bull in a china cabinet, with the way his feet pounded on each step. "I was shocked when Mama told me. Of all the places for your car to break down…"

"Trust me - I know," she replied rolling her eyes as she followed her mother and brother into the kitchen. "It was...well, I would have liked it if it had gone better, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse. Inuyasha helped me fix the car up as soon as dinner was over."

"Did you two talk about anything?" her mother pried lightly, placing an open tupperware of chocolate chip cookies in the center of the table.

She snorted and plucked a cookie out from the pile within, taking a bite and asking, "about what specifically?"

"I don't know, anything noteworthy," she shrugged, reaching into the refrigerator and pulling out the milk, pouring it into two glasses.

"She's asking if you and Inuyasha talked about...things," her brother helpfully supplied.

"We talked about a bunch of things."

"Such as?" her mother tried again, placing the milk in front of them and crossing her arms on the table.

"Such as my favorite color," she replied dryly, taking a sip from her milk.

"No...really..." her mother said, cocking her head to the side.

"Really," Kagome confirmed, taking another bite from her cookie. "He asked me what it was. He wasn't sure if it was still green. Shouldn't we be talking about something more exciting than my run in with Inuyasha? Like Souta's graduation?"

"I dunno sis," he teased. "You've been avoiding him for seven years. This feels pretty exciting to me…"

She threw her cookie at him.

"The two of you! We're fine. Everything's fine. Can we just...move on from him?" she groaned, and they reluctantly changed the conversation to Souta's graduation plans.

The ceremony was the day after next, and Souta had requested that they go to Ottwell's, one of only two diners in town, afterwards followed by bowling. Apparently he had plans with some friends that night, so he was graciously gracing them with his presence in the afternoon.

After that, they spent the next two hours talking about everything and nothing. Kagome filled them in on how work at the magazine and was going, and confirmed that no...she hadn't seriously started dating anyone new yet. She had set up Tinder on her phone again though.

Buyo her cat was fine. A little older and more crotchety, but her roommate Ayame was looking after him while she was gone. She had met Ayame in college and the two had become fast friends, supporting each other on all of life's ups and downs on the west coast.

Souta, she was surprised to hear, had decided to delay attending a college for a year. When she had pressed him on why, he had simply shrugged and told her that he wasn't sure what he wanted to do beyond this...and if there even was something he wanted to do beyond this. Besides. It's not like it ever hurt anyone to take a year off. He would use the time to help around the ranch and do some soul searching.

She would have liked to argue with him, but she couldn't. It was important that he forge his own path, and if this was what he needed to do…well...she might not like it, but she could support it. Just as they had when she left home for UCLA.

When he began to fake yawn to excuse himself to go to sleep, but really play video games in his room, Kagome stood up and snapped the lid back onto the tupperware of cookies.

"You know, I had been hoping that perhaps you had patched things up with Inuyasha," her mother began casually, watching her daughter wash her hands in the kitchen sink.

Kagome could sense her mother had been waiting until he was out of earshot before starting this conversation, and she sighed.

"Mama…"

"He didn't want to upset you, but Souta would really like it if Inuyasha would join us. The bond he shares with him...you know he's always been like an older brother to him."

"And you're both asking me for permission to invite him along?" she smiled wryly, coming to slump down in a chair at the kitchen table again.

"He's not. He didn't want to hurt you...but he's mentioned it in passing, quite a bit. I am, though. It would mean the world to him, Sweetheart."

Kagome worried her fingers and bit the inside of her lip, her chest slightly pained that they were afraid to invite him along because it would upset her. She knew that the two had always shared a special bond. Inuyasha was the older brother Souta had never had...and he was the brother Inuyasha had always wished he had.

It hurt that her family didn't believe in her ability to keep it together with him for one day for her brother's sake...yet what reason did they have to believe that they could?

Every single time she had ever come in, they had carefully asked just once if she planned to see him. And every time her answer had been no.

She avoided him like the plague.

But...if today was any indication, fate really was forcing him back into her life.

Besides. Souta deserved to have his male role model there. Their grandfather and father died when he was so young...Inuyasha was all he had to look up to. She couldn't take that from him.

"He should be there. We can be civil for an afternoon, if today was any indication," she finally whispered, and her mother reached out to take her hangs, giving them a light squeeze.

"Thank you Sweetie," she grinned warmly. "Why don't you tell him in the morning? It will make his day and I don't think he'd be able to go to sleep now if we told him."

"Sounds good," she nodded. "I...Mama...I want to ask you something. About something Inuyasha said earlier."

Her mother instantly froze and her back straightened. She was apprehensive.

"Oh? What did he say?"

"He implied that things aren't going so well here. That he's been helping out around here a lot? At least enough to know I was dating Zach, and that's not exactly a casual conversation topic…"

Her mother's eyes flashed with slight agitation before she schooled her expression again into casual nonchalance.

"Nothing is wrong, Sweetie. He's offered to help out, and I appreciate his assistance."

"But why did he offer? Mama...come on. You can tell me. I know something is going on. The Takahashi's have a large enough ranch that Inuyasha wouldn't offer help unless there was a good reason...And you look stressed, Mama. You aren't eating right...getting enough sleep...your hair is a mess…"

"Kagome Higurashi, you bite your tongue! I raised you better than to insult your mother!"

"I'm not insulting you, I'm trying to figure out what is going on! Please Mama...I'm not a child. You can confide in me. What's going on here?"

Her mother gave her a long, hard look before sighing and rising to her feet, retrieving two of her father's whisky glasses and a bottle of Jim Beam. She deftly poured two fingers worth into each glass, adding a few ice cubes before setting the drinks down on the old, wooden table.

She sat down, picking up one of the glasses and giving the amber liquid a swirl, trying to chill it a bit faster before taking a sip.

"Kagome...the ranch isn't doing so well. We haven't been for the last year."

"What?" she gasped, pulling her glass closer to her and gripping it tightly between white-knuckled fingers. "What happened?"

"It was just...one thing after another. First we had a rodent infestation in the feed...then Bullseye died of old age, and Bill got sick...we only had Benny left," her mother began, shaking her head as she began to list their tragedies. Bullseye, Bill, and Benny were all of their bulls. And if they were only down to one breeding male, that would make breeding seasons difficult and affect profits. The rodent infestation would have killed off most of their feed...and both replacing the feed and their bulls was expensive.

"Then we had a bout of coyote attacks picking off the calves," her mother continued. "Money got so tight that I had to make some hard decisions. I had to let go of Matthew, Jim, and Kenny. They've found work elsewhere, but it's been hard maintaining this place without their help and with the loan shark breathing down our neck—"

"—Loan shark?!" She squealed. "You went to a loan shark?"

"Kagome, Honey, I was desperate. It's expensive replacing all of that feed...and I was only able to replace one of the bulls to try and keep us going, but it hasn't been digging us out of the hole yet," her mother sighed, taking another long swig from her glass. "The mortgage was due and I didn't have the money, so I did the only thing I could."

Kagome took a few, deep gulps of her drink and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Oh my God," she whispered, leaning forward onto the table. How could her mother have kept this from her? She could have helped! Would have helped! She would have sent back some of her paycheck, would have looked for alternative solutions that didn't involve turning to a loan shark...She would have...she would have done something!

"We will be fine, Sweetheart," her mother soothed, taking another sip from her glass. "Things will be tight, but we've made due before. We will again. I'm...I'm thankful to Inuyasha, though. If it weren't for him...I don't know how we'd be doing if it weren't for him."

"I'm confused. You let go of Matthew, Jim, and Kenny, and hired Inuyasha?"

Her mother shot her a sad smile, tilting her head to the side.

"We didn't hire him, Kagome. He's just been doing. Showed up one day before dawn and had already fed the livestock and collected all the eggs before I even had breakfast made. I insisted on giving him something for his time, but he didn't want anything other than…" She trailed off and closed her eyes sighing.

"Other than what?" Kagome swallowed.

"Other than the occasional update on how you're doing. I think...I think a part of him still loves you, Sweetie."

She couldn't have stopped the bitter laugh from bubbling out of her throat even if she had tried to.

Him? Still in love with her?

Hardly.

Though he had kissed her…She could still feel his lips pressed against hers...

But that was a goodbye.

Wasn't it?

Yes. It was. And she wasn't going to start thinking differently. It would be a mistake if she did.

Sure they had a few moments of...comradery? Civility? Nostalgia? But it wasn't anything more than that. There was enough hostility and thinly veiled barbs to be construed as something more than two people trying to get along for the evening.

"I think you're sorely mistaken, Mama."

Her mother gave her a knowing look, but didn't say more on the subject. "Regardless," she continued, "he's been coming by every morning, helping for as long as he can until he has to go back home and work for his father. I've been making him breakfast, so there's a chance you'll run into him again before Souta's graduation."

Perfect.

There really wasn't any hiding this trip, huh?

"Well...thanks for letting me know," she sighed. "At least I have a head's up this time, right?"

____________________

Had a rough morning (my dog tripped my coming down the stairs and I have a sprained ankle now) so I said FUCK IT and am posting early. I’ll still have stuff for white day.

Wall of tags! Let me know if you want in or out!

(If you get tagged in this post after requesting tags, it’s because that’s how I’m keeping track of them. If you requested a tag and aren’t there, I might not have seen it so please ask again!)

@clearwillow, @keichanz, @dangerouspompadour, @nartista, @kaze-ranna, @superpixie42, @sticky-llama-perfection, @pinkpigeonstudio, @mcornilliac, @itzatakahashi, @zelink-inukag, @juliatheanimelover7, @csim28, @smmahamazing, @the-lucky-ones311, @cyncyn981, @animemomma96, @ayari17, @underwater0phelia, @sailorbabydoll92, @l-taisho29, @clearwillow, @animelove1313, @littlemissinukag

#inuyasha #inukag #inuyasha fanfic #inuyasha fanfiction #inuyashafanfic #DAMNIT CARRA #western #rancer #cattle rancher #clearwillow #lemonlushff #one last ride

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lovemesomesurveys · 3 years

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“how the hell does a broken heart learn to mend itself?”

Would you ever like to own your own gym? No.

Do you listen to Christina Perri? If so, do you like her music? Jar of Hearts and A Thousand Years are a few of my favorites of hers. Oh, and Human. <<< Yeah, I liked those as well. I think those are the only ones I’m familiar with of hers. I haven’t listened to her music in a long time.

When was the last time you went to Wal-Mart? Back in March before the quarantine/lockdown and shit really hit the fan.

Which is worse: Runny nose or stuffy nose? Both are very annoying, but feeling like you can’t breathe is definitely the worst.

Do you hate how people are quick to judge? i think we all have that tendency, some more than others. It can be an issue when you let that judgment form your whole opinion about a person without even knowing them. Except in extreme cases of course when it a quick judgment could be useful, like if you’re feeling uncomfortable or someone appears to be sketchy.

Has anyone ever made you feel small? Yes.

Would you rather give your food to a homeless shelter or money to charity? Food to a homeless shelter would be more direct and immediate. When you donate money to a charity you don’t really know when or how it gets used, exactly. And it can take time to be sorted out and distributed. That being said, of course donating to charities is good and important and will help in the long run. I’m just saying, donating food to a homeless shelter would be something they could use immediately and benefit them directly. Does any of this make sense?

Can you tell when your best friend is lying? I think I’m typically pretty good at that.

Would you pay extra money for make up just to make you look prettier? Ha, all the makeup in the world didn’t make a difference for me. Still ugly. I stopped even bothering with it.

Do you like to look at license plates to see where people are from? I don’t pay much attention to that.

Are you more hungry or tired right now? I’m both. My sleep schedule continues to be weird. I fell asleep around 230AM until about 4AM and then fell asleep again shortly after that until like 7:45AM. Now it’s 8:46AM and here I am. Like wtf? And lately I’ve been having a bit more of an appetite, so I’ve been feeling hungrier earlier than usual and actually eating more than just dinner and my late bowl of ramen. My body is such a mess.

Do you follow your head or heart more? It’s a battle.

On a scale 1-10 how much do you like my surveys? I’m assuming the same person has made the last few I’ve done with this same kind of format, in which case they’ve been fine.

Do you think you deserve more than what you have? I don’t think I deserve anything.

Would you ever spend $2,000 on a dress? I can’t imagine ever spending that much on a dress. I don’t plan on getting married, but even if I did I’d find something a lot less expensive.

“Reach out to you, touch my hand”

Have you ever made fresh dough? No.

When you were little, did you used to make cookies with your mom? Yeah.

Has anyone ever said "Say it, don't spray it" to you? lol yeah, when I was a kid.

What is your least favorite type of person? Arrogant, cocky, close minded people.

True or False : Superman is your favorite super hero. False.

Have you ever drank Silk milk? Yeah. Well, I don’t drink it directly (or any kind of milk for that matter, ew), but I use soy in coffee drinks, cereal, or to dunk cookies or brownies or something. I tend to use vanilla almond milk more often, though.

What color is your camera? I use the camera on my phone, which is a coral iPhone XR.

When you create a survey, do you usually make the title lyrics? I don’t create surveys.

Do you play Cityville, Farmville or Frontierville on Facebook? Nope. Never got into any of those.

Do you tend to complain when its to hot out? Ugh, yes. I’m miserable when it’s hot and everyone knows it lol.

Flip flops or tennis shoes? Tennis shoes. I never wear flip flops or any kind of sandal or open toed shoe.

Do you like your fingernails long or short? They’re always barely there cause I’ve had this horrible habit all my life. Well, with the exception of the very few times I managed to stop and let them grow a decent length. Never lasted long, though.

Have you made anyone laugh today? I haven’t interacted with anyone yet today.

Would you like to go to South America? Sure.

Have you ever read Time magazine? I think so.

“Tonight we’re going to dance on the edge of the Hollywood sign”

Do you use the gel, spray or powdered deodorant? I think it’s called a solid.

Do you own a pearl necklace? No. I used to, but it broke.

Do you know anyone named Julie? No.

What's your favorite candle scent? I love the autumn scented ones.

Does anyone you know own a motorcycle? Yes.

How many different languages can you say “hello” in? Just a few. I don’t feel like thinking about how many different ones right now.

Do you like Train’s music? Yeah.

Have you ever accidentally clicked on an ad on the side of your screen? Yeah, back in the day when ads were annoying and popped up all the time. I haven’t had that issue in years.

Do you like dark or light pop/soda better? My favorite sodas are Coke and Dr. Pepper, which happen to be dark.

Have you ever been told you were a good dance? No.

Do you own one of those small, battery powered fans? I do.

When you sleep, do you like it complete silence or do you like sound? I need some sound and light, hence why I sleep with the TV on. I have it completely quiet or dark.

Was it cloudy today or clear sky? It’s supposed to be clear skies. Do you like the show Seinfiled or Friends? I never got into either one.

Would you rather have bad breath or body odor? Ew.

“I’m gonna sleep in my Snuggie tonight.”

Have you ever ridden in a hot air balloon? Noooo. I never would.

Do you hate it when people get obsessed with their boyfriend/girlfriend? I had friends who obsessively talked about their significant others and it did get quite annoying, not gonna lie.

Have you ever been to Nevada? Yes.

Are you dating the boy/girl of your dreams? I’m single.

Do you watch Glee? No, I never got into it.

Do you like coffee? I love coffee. Duh.

Do you like applesauce? Yeah. Wow, I don’t recall the last time I had any, though.

When was the last time you had a nightmare? It’s been awhile, thankfully.

Have you ever had a manicure? Once. It was for my 8th grade promotion.

Do you like graphic tees? Ha, my whole wardrobe is graphic tees. And leggings.

Are you the type of person who is always yelling? Not at all.

Do you like Willow or Jaden Smith better? I don’t have any feelings about either one.

Is anything making you mad right now? No.

Name one thing you've NEVER done but want to: Go to Hawaii.

Ever seen the movie Shark Tale? I know of it, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.

“No matter what, I’ll never stop loving you”

Do you like Italian food? I love it.

Which would you rather have: drama or no friends? I have no friends now and I’m honestly okay with it.

Do you own a black necklace? No.

Would you rather have white & crooked teeth or straight teeth that are yellow? How ‘bout straight and white teeth.

How many notifications do you have on Facebook right now? Zero.

Do you smile or laugh more? Uhh I don’t know.

Have you ever tried Nutella? Yes, and I don’t like it. <<< Saaame. I don’t get the hype.

What age did you stop watching Spongebob? I was never really into it, I just caught some episodes because my younger brother loved it as a kid.

Have you ever seen the show Boy Meets World? Yeah, I’ve seen the entire series numerous times. It’ll always be a favorite.

Have you received bad news within the past week? No.

What's your favorite color of highlighter? Yellow or orange is fine.

Do you celebrate the 4th of July? I mean, we go outside to my front yard and watch fireworks lol that’s about it.

Are you better at Math or Social Studies? Social studies. Math and I were always enemies.

Do you like the name Lindsey? Sure.

Do you have a teacher that your close to? Not anymore, but yeah I had a couple.

“We’ll go down just like Titanic”

When you eat, do you always use a napkin? Yes.

On a scale 1-10 how much do you like hot dogs? It’s one of those weird things that I have to be in the mood for, which is very, very rare. It’s not something I ever crave. I haven’t even had one in years. Although, a Costco hotdog is pretty delicious.

Have you ever been on a cruise ship? Nope.

Is your phone a flip, sliding or touch? It’s a touch-screen - most phones are nowadays. <<<

Are you okay right now? I don’t feel well.

Do you own a blue dress? No.

When you look at the person you like, does it seem like its only you two? I don’t currently like anyone in that way.

Do you like pizza crust with cheese in it? It’s good, but it’s not something I tend to get.

Do you like copy paper or lined paper better? Lined paper.

Are you listening to music? Nope.

Have you ever gone swimming in the moonlight? Nope.

Is it AM or PM right now? It’s AM.

Who is your cell phone carrier? Verizon.

Do you hate public speaking? Haaaaaate. So glad I don’t have to do speeches or presentations for school anymore. It never got any easier, it was always super anxiety inducing and dreadful for me.

Have you ever been in a band? No.

“We can go to the alligator sky”

Are you more of a follower or leader? I definitely don’t see myself as a leader.

Would you rather: write a 10 page short story or do public speaking? The 10 page paper.

Did you eat any type of fruit today? No. It’s been awhile since I’ve had any fruit. :X

Do you enjoy bowling? Nah.

Do you like the smell of rain? Yesss.

Have you ever seen or been in quicksand? No.

Do you want to get married in a church or somewhere else? I don’t want to get married.

Have you ever played hard to get? No. I’m just hard to want.

Do you go to the fair during the summer? No.

Are more mean or nice? I’m not a mean person.

Do you go tanning? I don’t ever “go” tanning, but it happens when I go to the beach.

Can you speak Spanish? Not fluently, but yes.

Is it hard for your to compliment people? Only because I’m just shy and awkward.

Are you a goodie goodie or a bad person? I was always the goodie-goodie.

Would you rather visit Chicago or New York City? New York City.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

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royalcordelia · 4 years

Text

Whoever You Become (1/1)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to @plutolittleplanetwithabigheart !! I’m your secret santas this year (along with the help of my best friend @hecksinki). Even though I wasn’t your santa for long, I could tell you’re a kindred spirit because of your taste in things. I hope you have had a fantastic day. Here’s a short little story to warm your heart. Alexis drew some art for it and is going to post it soon!

Summary: Delphine doesn’t want to see her favorite uncle leave after his wedding.

~*~

Even in the middle of summer when the hot air made her new dress stick to her legs, Delphine thought Aunt Anne looked like a blizzard. Her tiny legs kicked excitedly as she watched the white fabric of Anne’s dress swirl around her as Uncle Gil twirled his new bride away from him. The effect happened again as Anne spun back toward her new husband, the lace of her dress like ocean waves at her ankles. When the bride rested her head on Uncle Gil’s shoulder, the golden sunlight found her hair in a way that appeared right out of a fairytale.

Suddenly, Delly felt a stormy cloud sweep over her heart. Once the wedding was over, Uncle Gil would be gone for a month with Aunt Anne for their - her lips twisted as she tries to remember the word - sunnymoon? It was unfair, she decided. If Aunt Anne got to go on a sunnymoon trip with Uncle Gil, why couldn’t she? It wasn’t like she had to go to school, it was the middle of July!

She glanced at Papa when he took the seat next to her and wiggled her knee.

“Why the gloomy face?” he asked compassionately. Delphine sighed, a sprig of hair blowing away from her face. Papa always knew when something was wrong.

“You said that once Uncle Gil’s sunnymoon is over-”

“Honeymoon, sweetheart.”

“- Okay, once his honeymoon is over, that Uncle Gil will be moving to live with Saint Mary.”

Bash chuckled, sparing a smile at Anne and Gil as they took the last steps of their dance.

“Uncle Gilby is moving with Aunt Anne to live in Glen St. Mary so that he can be a doctor to all the sick people there. It’s the name of a place, though. Saint Mary won’t actually be there.”

Delly couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Papa always said the name Mary with such tenderness and love that she had to be important. Now Uncle Gil wouldn’t even be living with Saint Mary! What was even the point of him moving out, then?

Once the dance was over, Delly watched a crowd of people come around Uncle Gil and her cheeks turned green with envy. It was only a matter of time before Uncle Gil left Avonlea forever, but all these people she didn’t recognize were wasting their valuable time together! She missed the way it had been last fall, when Uncle Gil walked with her through this orchard and picked the sweetest apples he could find to give to her. She ate so many her stomach hurt, but he eased the pain away by rubbing her back with a soft touch.

Why did he have to go?

“I want to dance with Uncle Gil, too!” Delly cried. Bash jumped at the declaration, startling as thick tears started to pool in the corner of her lashes.

Not many people heard her outburst, but Anne did. She glanced over her shoulder, away from the genial well wishers she was talking with, and caught Delly’s watery eyes. With an understanding smile, she placed her hand on Gilbert’s shoulder and turned him to face the little girl. Her lip trembled when he scrunched his brows together in confusion.

Excusing himself, Gilbert crossed the yard, but Delly sprung out of her chair and met him halfway. He scooped her up into his arms and held her tight to him. She buried her face into his shoulder, aware that people were watching her cry.

“What’s wrong, honeybee?” he asked gently, stroking her soft hair.

“Do you really have to move so far away?”

Gilbert pulled Delphine back and waited until she stopped avoiding his eyes before saying, “Sweetheart, Aunt Anne and I are only going to be forty minutes away. We won’t be far away, at all.”

“Wait, really?” Delly sniffled. Her uncle nodded.

“I know it’s going to be different with me not living at home, but now you can come and explore a brand new house. Aunt Anne picked one with a creek in the backyard.” He held her with one arm, and used his free hand to wipe away the salty tears on her cheeks. “You said wanted to dance?”

Delly buried her face into his neck.

“I don’t know how to,” she admitted. A gasp escaped her lips when Uncle Gil dipped her before setting her down. She peered down in confusion when he set her feet directly on top of his.

“That’s what uncles were made for,” he replied. Her balance was a little unsteady, but Uncle Gil grabbed placed a hand around her back to hold her up, clasping the other one in a princely fashion. Carefully, he began to move his feet under hers to the rhythm of the waltz playing. Astounded at the thrill of flying across the dance space, Delly grinned up at Gilbert. “See, you’re a natural!”

“Am I really?”

“Of course!” To prove his point, he took her by the waist and lifted her into the air, spinning her around. Delphine’s laughter filled the air like sweet birdsong, the tears of moments ago completely forgotten.

“Do you think I could be a professional dancer like you?” she asked, her toothy grin melting Gilbert at his core.

“I’m no professional, but I think you could definitely become the best dancer Avonlea has ever seen,” he answered as the last notes of the song rang out. She stepped off of his shoes, eyes glinting when he kneeled before her. His calloused hand found the side of her soft face with a gentle caress. “Delphine, you can be whatever you want to be, no matter what anyone tells you. And I will be right there beside you, because I love you very much. Remember that.”

Without warning, Delly threw her arms around Gilbert’s shoulders and squeezed him as tightly as her eight-year-old strength would allow.

“I love you most,” she swore, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Heart at ease and entirely filled to the brim with love, Delphine peeked over his shoulder and smiled. “Can I dance with Aunt Anne, now? She’s so pretty.”

“Don’t I know it!” Gilbert agreed. He gave one last kiss on her knuckles before sending her bustling after Anne.

As Delphine mimicked the dance position he had shown her moments ago, Gilbert couldn’t help but see visions of the life before them. In the years to come, he’d make such a warm home out of House of Dreams that Delphine wouldn’t feel out of place when she visited. She’d play with his children, share their table, and love them with the fury of her passionate heart. She’d grow tall enough to climb his trees and skip rocks in the creek.

One day, the roles would be reversed, and it would be her wedding day. He would take her in his arms and tell her that he was proud of the woman she became, whoever that was. Until then, he’d cherish these moments of the sweetness of her youth when her eyes were filled with wonderment and her heart was full of dreams.

#anne with an e #anne of green gables #shirbert #delphine lacroix #shirbert ff #annesecretsanta

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