#ANYWAYS THANKS FOR LETTIN ME LAY OUT ALL MY THOUGHTS I LIKE THESE KIDS A LOT | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

strawbunniiee · 3 years

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A Girl and a Ghost Ch. 3: The King’s Revenge

SOOOOO this is the part where the plot thickens :)

if anybody else wants me to tag them in these chapters so you know when they come out i will gladly do so andksnkfs

hope you enjoy! ive had tons of fun with writing these :D

dont mind me, just lettin my frendos know that this is a thing skfnkdjf

@salamifuposey @monsterbride99 aaAAA when i initially posted this i COMPLETELY forgot to do this a a a a a sorry

King Boo was furious.

How could that peasant, that foul impure abomination of a Boo do this to his beloved crown? It contained his power, it was so incredibly important to him...

And that filthy little purple haired brat! How could she so carelessly throw a rock at him like that?

He plopped his body down in a chair and marinated in his own rage for a few minutes.

After a few moments of enraged silence, he spoke.

"...I have got to get my revenge on those two. But... how will I do it?"

King Boo began to brainstorm a way to get the ghost Rabbid and his little idiot friend in hot water.

"Torture? No, no... one of them is a ghost. It wouldn't hurt him... Torture could be done with the little nuisance however. Perhaps a bit of childhood trauma will teach her not to mess with the wrong people." he thought aloud.

He spent almost fifteen whole minutes thinking of gruesome ways to get back at them, until it finally struck him.

"...Oooh, I know. I know exactly what to do now. It'll mostly affect that bloated rabbit, but I can still do some damage to his moronic pipsqueak pal."

He grinned maliciously and floated towards the doors of his manor.

"I'm about to open up some old wounds of yours, Tommy." he said to himself.

———

Meanwhile, Phantom was racing through the sky with Jawaii in his arms, panicking. He would never let King Boo lay his foul hands on her.

They were both absolutely dead silent the whole time until Jawaii opened her mouth.

"...Do you know that guy?"

Phantom halted for a moment and looked down at the young alien he held. "...Yes, I do, but I don't think I would like to go into detail at the moment. We have a very... rough history, I will say."

"Oh... I get it. It's okay, I won't pry. I understand." Jawaii said.

"Just remember that if King Boo ever tries to hurt us, I'll make sure he will regret it for the rest of his days." promised the Rabbid ghost. "I swear on it."

Phantom resumed his flight and soared down to the ground safely. He gently set her down in the grass.

"That was actually really fun! We should do that again sometime! ...without being scared off by an evil ghost, obviously. That would just make it less fun." said Jawaii.

"I'm glad you were entertained, I suppose... King Boo is quite intimidating. And rude." said Phantom.

Jawaii put her hands on her hips. "Well, yeah! I mean, he made fun of your weight! No friend of mine is getting made fun of like that!"

Phantom laughed a bit. "Oh, don't worry, I wasn't that harmed by that statement. I er, get that all the time."

She frowned. "Why do people tease you about that, that's dumb! Besides, I think you're perfect just the way you are!" She gave him a hug.

He hugged back and smiled. "Awww... thank you. I was born like this, I can't help it you see."

"You're a giant fluffy singing ghost bunny with a mustache, I have no idea how anybody could hate THAT! Cuz I don't."

"Oh, don't make me blush from all of these compliments!" said Phantom, smiling.

Jawaii jokingly grinned evilly. "Never. I'm gonna shower you in compliments 'til you DROWN!"

She cackled maniacally as she began relentlessly saying nice things about him with Phantom begging her to stop. Soon, it became a full-on flattery war to see who could out-compliment the other. They had a grand old time.

Eventually, the sun began to set.

"Oh yikes, I better get home. I had no idea we stayed out here for so long! Mom is probably having a heart attack as we speak!" said Jawaii.

Phantom was quite alarmed, his ears sprung up in worry and concern. "She's having a what?! Oh, poor child, I hope your mother is all right..."

She burst out laughing hysterically.

"Wh-what's so funny? I thought your mother was dying!"

"No, dummy! That was an exaggeration, I meant that she's probably WORRIED about me!" Jawaii continued giggling like a maniac.

"Ah. I see now... Thank you for correcting me!" Phantom joined in on the laughter.

They got themselves together after a moment.

"Oh yeah, mind if you could fly me over to my house..? We're kinda far away from home." said Jawaii.

"Of course!" Phantom replied happily.

Jawaii climbed on his back and the two flew home.

———

After flying back to town, Phantom gently set Jawaii down in front of her home.

"See you soon, my friend. I enjoyed showing you around Spooky Trails today!" said Phantom.

"Cya tomorrow Phantom! I had a good day today too!" She ran up to him and gave him one last hug.

She walked up to her door and waved goodbye to Phantom. He waved back.

"Moooom! I'm hoooome!"

Jawaii's stepmother Stella ran in.

"Oh, Jawaii! Thank goodness you're all right! I was so worried, where were you?"

"Sorry I came home late! But I spent today with a friend of mine."

Stella had a look of pleasant surprise on her face. "You made a friend? That's so wonderful! I know you haven't really ever had any friends, honey, I'm so happy to hear that you finally made one!" She smiled.

Jawaii grinned. "Yeah! I'll tell you allllll about him! He's the best."

They sat down at the dinner table with the food Stella made.

Jawaii dug into her mashed potatoes and ate it like a wild animal that had nothing to eat for the past 3 weeks.

"Honey, chew slowly. I don't want you choking!" said Stella.

"Sorry, Mom..." Jawaii said, frowning.

"It's okay. I don't want you in the hospital or anything, especially after you just made a new friend!"

"Oh, I've known him for a while, actually. We've been hanging out together a lot!" she smiled, her mouth still full of food.

"...Jawaii, sweetie, don't talk with food in your mouth.“

"Oh yeah! Sorry again Mom.."

"Anyways, that's why you've been out so much lately? I'm so happy for you, Jawaii!" Stella smiled.

Jawaii gulped down some water. "Yep! I'm glad I'm his friend too!"

They spent dinner talking about all of the fun adventures she and Phantom had gone on.

Jawaii however, conveniently left out any mention of them being in danger, she wouldn't want to worry her stepmother of course!

"Oh yeah! I meant to ask you this, but I got totally sidetracked but where's Dad? And where's Hakai?" asked Jawaii.

"Your father is out destroying planets again, and your sister is having a sleepover with some friends of hers." said Stella.

"Ohhhh. Wonder why Dad's out so late. Hope he's alright."

"I'm sure he's fine, hon."

Jawaii had another sister though, and her name was Roe. She went to a boarding school and wasn't home most of the time.

She stretched and yawned. "Hey Mom, I think I'm gonna hit the hay today."

Stella gave her a small look of surprise. "Oh! You are? Usually you're quite a night owl. Maybe you're just tired from all your little adventures with Phantom."

Jawaii smiled. "Yeah. Maybe. Anyways, g'night Mom! Love ya, don't let the bed bugs bite."

Stella gave Jawaii a hug. "Aww, good night sweetie. Love you too.”

Jawaii ran upstairs, changed into her nightgown, brushed her teeth and jumped into bed, quickly falling asleep after her long, tiring but fun day.

———

That same night, the Mushroom Kingdom was as quiet as ever when it was nighttime. The once colorful, cheerful inviting land was deathly silent, almost hauntingly so.

Princess Peach was safely tucked in her bed, sleeping peacefully.

But little did the sleeping princess know, this would not remain for long.

King Boo had finally made it to the castle after venturing there to exact his revenge. He knew how dearly Phantom loved Peach. Breaking them apart forever would be the ultimate punishment for stepping on his turf. He knew that either way, the plan would work. If Phantom didn't come to the manor, him and Peach would be separated forever. If he did, however, it would give the vengeful king the chance to trap him and Jawaii in his manor, to torture them and possibly even kill them somehow.

He knew he could kill Jawaii, that was no problem, but Phantom...? Could he possibly do it again? ...No, he's a ghost now. He can't be killed again. But the king knew that even if he couldn't die, he could still make him suffer for as long as he wanted. Possibly even for eternity.

He phased through the castle walls, not having any of the guards notice him. Then, he finally found her room. There Peach slept, defenseless, ready for the taking.

In the blink of an eye, he snatched her from her bed.

Peach immediately woke up and let out a shrill scream of horror, alerting the Toads guarding her door.

But it was too late. He had already burst out her window with her and was headed straight towards his mansion.

———

Tap, tap, tap.

Jawaii woke up very late that night to a tapping sound she heard at her window. She went over to it to find one of the Peek-A-Boos she had met in Spooky Trails, tapping away at her window.

"Hey... aren't you that kid who Phantom is friends with?"

Jawaii rubbed her eye and yawned. "Yeah. Why do you ask? And how are you at my house anyway?"

The Peek-A-Boo had a somber expression on his face. "Well... I have to tell you some... bad news."

Jawaii was horrified of what was about to come out of his mouth next. Did something terrible happen to Phantom?

"His love, Princess Peach was kidnapped by King Boo. And... Phantom is gone. He went off to go save her. Knowing King Boo, Phantom may not come back in one piece. ...The other Rabbids told me it was best to go tell you. That way, you would know where he is. You deserve to know..."

Jawaii was devastated. How could this happen?

She knew she had to save him. And if she couldn't save him... then she wouldn't let him suffer alone.

"...No. I'm not going to let this happen to him."

The Peek-A-Boo was taken aback in surprise by Jawaii's response. "...I dunno if you should go. You're only a kid. You could get seriously hu-"

"I don't care." said Jawaii.

She jumped into her closet and changed into her usual clothes, grabbed a lantern and ran out of the house and into the black, haunted forest that she met Phantom in.

#jawaiis cheesy fics #mario rabbids #mario + rabbids #mario + rabbids kingdom battle #phantom of the bwahpera #tom phan #rabbids #fanfic #fanfiction

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applejacks1552 · 4 years

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Day 7 - Theme: AU for Rogue and Gambit week 2020

(Also Day 3 - Domesticity)

Entire story can be found here:

#Rogue/Gambitweek2020 #Rogue/Remyweek2020 #Romy #Rambit #AU #Gambit #Rogue

Children of X

CHAPTER 8

The sun was seated on the horizon with morning properly underway, as the twins strategically circled Gambit out on the dusty savannah.

Becca, crouching slightly, cocked her head at Ollie moving her eyes just so, then lifted her chin to the right, communicating her intentions silently. Ollie scrunched his nose at her suggestion, shook his head no, and nodded upward to convey another meaning. Meanwhile, Remy stood stalk still between them grinning and at the ready, a blindfold tied snugly over his eyes.

Rogue and Storm sat off several yards away, resting casually on a sizable cluster of rocks located nearby the disguised entrance to the underground lair. They looked on with mild interest as the kids' “homework” commenced. The assignment for them was simple enough - steal the blindfold. Meanwhile, Remy's job was merely to evade their attempts without leaving the circle he had outlined in the dirt.

The twins rushed him together, Becca attempting a flying grab for his head, while Ollie tried to sweep his legs. Remy dodged them both, smoothly rolling to the left as the kids nearly collided in their enthusiasm.

He laughed, “Good try. But you’ll have to do better than dat.”

As they regrouped for another attempt, Rogue was engrossed with the Wakanden tablet Storm had lent her. She inserted the drive she had smuggled back from her mission and began pouring over a schematic, delighted to find she could pull it out into a 3-dimensional model with the advanced tech.

"Your next target?" Ororo inquired looking over with curiosity.

Rogue nodded, studying the model intensely with a furrowed brow, "Yeah."

Storm inspected the diagram, "Where is this exactly?"

"Just South of Chenjianping ..." Rogue answered. "Looks like a run o’ the mill factory, but it goes a lot deeper down. See?" She gestured.

Storm nodded her agreement. "How many bases will this have been now?"

Rogue was thoughtful, recounting their targets, "We hit the one in Nebraska first. Wasn't much there anymore really. Still abandoned since it was originally blown up. Same goes for the one in the Kerguelen Islands an' the theatre in Seattle, … then there was Paris … Anchorage … All the connections were already closed, though."

“All this searching … when will you know it is enough?” Storm asked in her straightforward, placid manner.

Rogue scowled slightly, “When he’s gone. And for good this time.”

“Still X-Men. Even after all this time. Forever fighting the hopeless cause.” Storm observed with bemusement, looking back to the training session.

Rogue frowned. “Ah don’t like it any better than you do, ‘Ro. But there isn’t a lot of choice in the matter."

“That was not meant as a criticism, Rogue. Just that … I’m sorry it has come to all this. As X-Men, sacrificing all that we have … I had always hoped it meant we could find some peace in our time and that our children might do the same. That they’d be the ones to live in the dream.” Storm reflected wistfully. “They’re getting quite good though.” she nodded, as Becca finally managed to glance a thwarted grab off Gambit’s shoulder while he was avoiding another kick from Ollie.

“Dat’s my girl.” Remy encouraged. “C’mon now, Ollie. Get in here. Not gonna let your old man win now, are ya?"

Rogue smiled, glancing over. “It’s kind of amazing watchin’ them grow. Seein’ what they can do. Ah see myself in them sometimes, 'Ro.” She sighed. “But yeah ... then I wonder … are we doing right by them? Was it wrong of us, bringing kids into all this? The X-Men? The Thieves Guild? Spendin’ their whole life in hiding because of who and what we are?”

“As I recall,” Storm smirked, “It was not exactly as though you and Remy planned this out. Fate made the decision for you.”

Rogue laughed, “Well … fate or not … can’t say Ah wasn’t a willing participant.”

Storm echoed her laugh with a heartier one.

They turned their attention back to the skirmish, where the kids were still losing.

Rogue whistled to them and when they looked her way, she made a twirling signal with her finger. They nodded understanding and paused a moment. She bent down to scoop something up.

"Hey! No help from de peanut gallery!" Remy objected in her general direction.

Rogue skipped a stone past his left foot with a sly smirk and when his head turned toward the movement and sound, the kids pounced on him, barely missing this time.

Rogue and Storm shared another good laugh.

"Jus' tryin' ta even out the playin' field, sugah." Rogue hooted at him in a sweet molasses taunt.

Remy recovered from his sharp roll away, shook his head and smiled his devious smile, muttering to himself, “Dis woman”.

"Seven years is it now? And with the very man some said could never settle down.” Storm observed. “Yet here you both are. And in all this time you’ve been almost entirely on the run too. Hasn't that been difficult?”

Rogue watched as the sparring continued, “Can’t say it’s always been easy or anywhere near perfect. We're apart so often ... too often, really. An' the times when we are together, sometimes it's just about gettin’ through it all an' surviving. And sure, once in a while Ah kinda have the urge to knock him unconscious for maybe an hour or two.” She smirked, “But …” she looked back over as Remy dodged another of the kids’ attempts with a fancy flip and devil-may-care laugh. “Yeah, Ah don’t know what Ah’d do without him.”

“I imagine Remy would echo those sentiments. Even now, the man is still showing off for you.” Storm pointed out.

“Pfffhh, he’s showing off for whoever happens to be watching him.” Rogue noted wryly.

The kids had finally gotten ahold of Remy by each arm, but they still couldn’t actually bring him down low enough to grab the blindfold. Laughing he pulled them over into a heap where the lesson quickly devolved into an all-out tickle war. Though as his blindfold finally fell loose in the scuffle, Remy's eyes caught Rogue’s for a moment and the same intensity was still there between them. The same intensity that there had been back on the beach and ever since their reunion - the building anticipation they were both trying to stave off and ignore.

“Thanks for pulling some strings with T’Challa.” Rogue mentioned refocusing and rifling through the data some more. “Hope that didn’t cause anything … awkward?”

“We have an understanding.” Storm explained serenely. “Maybe you’d call it an arrangement? At any rate, there are some loyalties that can never be completely severed. When you've been as close as we have ... that's forever, regardless the circumstances.”

Rogue wasn't sure exactly of her meaning, but she understood the sentiment at any rate and nodded.

“Just let us know when ya'll need to kick us out.” Rogue answered. "Don’t want to overstay our welcome. What IS this place, anyway?"

"A safe house, of sorts. Or a secret rendezvous spot." Storm answered with a conspiratorial grin. "Depending on your point of view, I suppose."

Remy came walking over to join them, calling over this shoulder, “Why don't ya'll go play for a bit, D’Accord? Let the grown-ups talk awhile."

The kids grumbled about how they WERE grown up, but skittered off anyway eagerly looking for bugs to catch.

"Awww, non. Don' tell me you ladies are over here talkin' shop." Remy groaned, noticing Rogue with the building mock-up projecting from the tablet in her hands.

"Hey now, Ororo is nearly as expert a thief as you are. Ah just wanted to run this by -" Rogue started as Gambit sidled up next to her, his fingers settling hungrily between her bare shoulder blades, and tapped the schematic decisively off.

"The key there bein' nearly." he teased. "Now let’s get back to dat later, eh? How 'bout I go dig out the bottle of champagne I stashed in the fridge and we celebrate this fine reunion wit' a proper toast?"

"Remy, it's barely 7 am." Storm observed in a droll tone.

"Sure, on Wakandan time. But on California time, de night is young an' it's jus' about bedtime for some kids." he smirked, his eyes catching Rogue's again with that same fiery gaze. "Meanin' we can finally relax, neh? Be right back."

He hopped up and slipped into the nearby hideout before either of the women could object further.

Rogue shrugged and grinned after him. "We can get back to it tomorrow. But Ah think we'll need a different strategy for this target. It's one the X-Men have never encountered before and bigger. Ah'd really like your input, ‘Ro. An' Ah know Remy will too."

"Judging by the size alone, a one man mission will not be sufficient. But then what of the children?" Storm looked at her friend with concern.

"Well they ain't comin' with, obviously." Rogue acknowledged. "But yeah, we'll need to make some arrangements. There's no way Ah'm lettin' Remy run this next one solo though. An' Ah know he'll try."

Gambit re-emerged, champagne and flutes in hand. He passed the delicate glasses to Rogue. She cringed as he put his freed fingers to the top of the bottle to lightly charge the cork. It shot into the air and dissolved in a buzzing fushia fizz of sparks.

"See? I've gotten pretty good at dis." he grinned triumphantly and took a glass from Rogue who raised an amused brow at him as he poured and offered the first glass to Storm.

She raised a hand palm out. "Thank you my friend, but I will have to pass."

"Aww c'mon, padnat. Not even one? Can't hardly toast our gracious host dis way." he said, laying on as much charm as possible while he passed the glass back to Rogue instead.

"I have my reasons, Remy LeBeau. Now if you want to be a true gentleman, there's a carafe of freshly squeezed juice in the kitchen." she admonished him a little sternly.

Gambit cocked his head at her, a little taken aback, but recovered to smoothly reply with an over-the-top, "As you wish." complete with mocking bow. He took an empty glass from Rogue and handed her the bottle, shooting her a contemplative look before retreating back to the kitchen.

Rogue glanced at Storm a little uncertainly and took a sip from her glass. Strong of principle though she was, Storm wasn't one to avoid indulging in the simple pleasures of life or to let Remy irritate her.

She was formulating something to say, when Becca slipped up onto her lap wrapping her arms around her mother's neck. Rogue reflexively pulled her baby girl in closer, setting the flute of champagne aside.

"Mama, can we go flyin'?" the little girl inquired sweetly, big eyes demanding her full attention.

Rogue pressed her forehead to her daughter's, rubbing turned-up nose to turned-up nose. "Ah dunno, sugah." She sighed.

Storm laughed with amusement. "So I see Remy has passed more than one of his skills on to the next generation?"

"Ah'll say. This one gives him a run for his money."

"Pllleeeaassee???" Becca laid on thicker and sweeter and was soon joined by a, "C'mon! Can we?" plead from Ollie.

"We're still under cover here." Rogue told them very seriously. "King T'Challa is doin' us a big favor lettin' us stay. So we can't do anything that's gonna attract too much attention."

"One moment, Anna. I think I can be of assistance." Storm interceded, hers eyes clouding over to a bright white and lifting her hands skyward. A thick fog swirled up out of thin air, then spread upward and outward to encase their entire camp in a tall hollow cylinder of cloud, hiding them from view for miles.

The kids looked around with an impressed "ooooohhhh" and ""aaawwww".

"Alright." Rogue caved, grinning at Storm as Ollie hopped up into her lap also. "But after this, it's to bed with the both of ya."

She tucked a child safely under each of her strong arms and they shot off into the sky with delighted squeals and whoops.

Storm was watching them with a satisfied and wistful smile, when Remy rejoined her. He handed her the glass of juice and took a seat, looking up to observe his family and admire Storm's handiwork.

"Thanks for dat, 'Ro. An' for everythin' else. So ... How far along are you, chére?" he asked, casually pouring himself some champagne.

Storm sipped her juice and swirled the glass thoughtfully, glancing sideways at Gambit to contemplate him, then finally answered. "A few months."

" ... A celebratory toast then?" Remy raised his glass slightly, but retained a sober tone.

"Perhaps in time, Remy." she answered with measured enthusiasm.

"... an' de father?" he started, trailing off before finishing the question.

"Doesn't know yet ... because I don't know for certain yet." she calmly explained.

Remy raised an eyebrow and nodded. "An' the King?"

"I'm not going to get into that now." Storm stated matter-of-factly.

"Sorry, chére. Dat things are ... complicated. Also means ya won't be joining us on dis next mission den." Remy took another long sip.

"No, I am afraid not." Storm nodded. "Can we keep this between us?"

"Sure. If dat's what you want. But Rogue's gonna wonder. Think she was hopin’ you'd come with me or her to China." he explained.

"I would not ask you to keep my secret from your own wife, Remy. But until I can tell the father of this child, it needs to stay between the three of us at least." Storm noted.

"We understan' more than most 'bout the need for discretion." Remy observed and gave her a reassuring smile. "If there's anything we can do ta help?"

"There is not. But I'm glad you are here." Storm looked skyward. "It does me good to see what this could look like ... in time."

"Not like you don' have a choice." Remy started.

"I have considered the options, my friend." She interupted. "But with so few mutants in the world, it seems wrong to deny this one a chance."

"The X-ranks be growin’ den, though maybe not in th' way ol' Chuck used ta recruit." Remy barked an ironic laugh.

Storm shot him a raised eyebrow, as Rogue suddenly lit down in their midst with two screaming kids.

"AGAIN!" they shouted in chorus.

"Nuh-uh! Nope! Ah said one ride and then ta bed." she metted out firmly.

"Awwww. Bed?! But the sun is out!" Olivier argued, collapsing bonelessly to the ground in protest, and Becca piled on a sassy and exasperated, "Yeah!" throwing her hands up at the bright sky.

"Don't try my patience." Rogue shot them a look. "It's nearly midnight in California. C'mon now. Tell Miss Munroe thank you and goodnight."

"Thank you, Auntie Ro." Rebecca shot glumly and Ollie added a "G'night." pulling himself up as Rogue herded them toward the hideout entrance.

Remy stood, but Rogue insisted, "Let me get them ta bed, sugah. It's been such a long time since Ah got to. "

"Sure, chére. You get them settled. Then mebbe … we should be hittin’ the hay too, yeah?" his eyes caught hers again.

She grinned and cocked her head at him. "Maybe."

Storm followed their exchange, adding, "I think I'll see if Illyana will take me back to the States with her for the day. I need to catch up with a few people. Then you all can have a quiet place to rest."

"Oh ... uh, if you want to, 'Ro. But don't go on our account." Rogue answered a little self-conscientiously, tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ear.

"Nonsense. I will return later." Storm insisted with a knowing grin.

"Alright. Well, goodnight then. And thanks." Rogue answered gratefully. She glanced from Storm back to Remy, who had both kids wrapped up in a bear hug.

“G’night, mes petits.”

They scampered into the hut and down below. He watched Rogue follow them, looking back over her shoulder at him once more as she disappeared from sight. Then he looked back to find Ororo watching him watching her.

He smirked a little self-consciously, “What?”

“Nothing … just … I’m glad for you. For both of you. Some things, at least, don't change.”

CHAPTER 9

The twins were settled in a room down at the end of a hallway off the central room, one meant for sleeping a small garrison it seemed. Several individual beds were vertically and horizontally stacked like stair-step shelves that jutted out from the walls in a mysterious fashion, independent of any supports, railings or ladders. The ceiling and walls were inlaid with tiny periwinkle bioluminescent lights that faintly alternated in patterns that resembled flowers then trees then stars. Becca, still hyper off the adrenaline rush from flying with Rogue, was already having a grand time of flipping and swinging amongst the many beds like a spider monkey. Ollie had made a solid, but somewhat more cautious climb to the top most bunk, standing there like king of the mountain and surveying his new dominion.

Rogue ordered them both back down to Earth and set Ollie to brushing his teeth at the basin, while she lovingly unwound Becca’s plaits and brushed out her fine, soft baby hair. It was more Remy's texture than hers, thicker and straighter than her own. It still impressed her that Remy had gotten accustomed to braiding it in her absence, though undoubtedly it was no challenge for his talented fingers. There was something unspoken between them … about the things they would carry on for each other in case there ever came a day when one of them didn’t return. Rogue found herself brushing longer than she need and stopped, giving her girl a gentle squeeze of affection. She never figured she’d be good at this … want this … miss this even.

Rogue helped the kids change into their night clothes, the simple garments already seemed worn and to be getting small on them. She would need to pick them up some new clothes soon. It was on her mind more so now than when she had left for her mission - how quickly they were growing. For mutants, growing meant getting closer to the day their powers would emerge in full. And for their children in particular, getting their full powers meant bringing them closer to the day they would be lost to their destiny. Rogue shuddered and pushed the thought from her mind. They weren’t there yet. There was still time. Time to make a difference. And time yet to enjoy all these little fleeting moments.

“What book are we reading then?” she asked, seating herself on the edge of a lower bunk.

"Here, Mama." Ollie pulled a beat-up volume from his bag and handed it to Rogue, climbing into the bunk where she sat. Becca scrambled in next to him.

"Move over!"

"I was here first!"

"Alright, alright ... no fighting or no book." Rogue threatened half-seriously.

Becca stuck her tongue out at her brother, who crossed his arms and huffed at her, but Rogue ignored them.

She turned the novel over to read the cover and chuckled to herself with a roll of her eyes, "Of course ..." then she turned to where the bookmark rested. Pulling it out, she cleared her throat and started, "Chapter 4, The Keeper of The Keys".

The twins listened with rapt interest as she described the magical giant man breaking into the isolated safe house out on a stormy sea, the way he put the human oppressors in their place, and the good news he delivered to their protagonist.

"You're a wizard, Harry." Rogue read in her best Hagrid voice and continued through the chapter as he received his letter and arguing followed and -

"Why isn't there a special school for mutants?" Becca suddenly interjected, looking at Rogue with her piercing eyes.

Olivier, though annoyed at the interruption of the story, gawked contemplatively at Rogue as well, curious for her answer.

" ... well ... there used to be ..." she started.

"But there isn't anymore?" Ollie cocked his head.

" ... sort of ... " Rogue went forward cautiously.

"You mean there IS one?!" Becca sat up with excited interest.

"No, no ... just ... there's a place that ... well, that takes care of mutant kids who don't have anyone to look after them." Rogue explained.

The twins glanced to each other and back to their Mother.

"Don't they have parents?" Ollie wondered.

"They're orphans, right?" offered Becca.

"Lots of reasons." Rogue answered calmly. "Now how about we finish-"

"Is it big? Like Hogwarts?" Becca queried on with more excitement.

Rogue grumbled to herself and massaged her forehead. "No. It's very small and very secret."

"Like Hogwarts." Ollie whispered with awe.

"It's NOT like Hogwarts." Rogue insisted. "Now do ya want ta hear the rest of this story or not?"

Ollie bit his lip, but Becca just frowned thoughtfully.

After a pause filled with silence and giving an *ahem*, Rogue began to continue on with the story again, "Why aren't you supposed to do magic-"

"But WHY is the mutant school so small?" Becca interrupted again.

Rogue sighed and put the mark back in the book, this time closing it in her lap.

Ollie whined, but Rogue reached out to touch their faces and look them in the eyes as she said gently, "Because ... there aren't a lot of us left."

"But why?" Ollie asked, his small brow now also furrowed to match his sister's.

"It's complicated, darlin'. Mostly ... it's because people didn't want to have mutants born in their families a while back and they took a medicine to stop it from happening." Rogue told them honestly.

" ... oh ..." the little boy bowed his head.

"Hey now ... see here ..." Rogue pulled her babies into her lap. "That doesn't have anything to do with us, alright? People were just scared of what they didn't understand. Maybe there aren't a lot of us anymore. But we're not alone, ok? We have each other and we have friends, people like us."

The kids nodded. They'd met a slew of fellow mutants in their many travels.

“But there aren’t any other kids.” Becca pointed out.

“Sure there are, hon. Remember Josiah? When we were on Chandilar? That place with all the tall buildings?” Rogue asked.

The twins just looked at her blankly and Rogue frowned. “Well … ah guess maybe you were too young to remember. Anyway, the point is there are plenty of other mutant kids, just like you.”

“Do they look like us?” Ollie wondered.

“No, stupid. Everybody looks different. Right, Mama?” Becca insisted triumphantly.

“Hey now, don’t be mean to your brother.” She chastised. “An’ yes, everyone looks different and has different powers. Most kids don’t even have powers ‘til they’re older. Just like we talked about.”

“Can we meet them?” Becca was intense and excited again.

“Alright, alright … time to calm down, both of ya.” Rogue shushed them. “Ah’m sure you will sometime, but Ah ain’t makin’ any promises right now. Now lie down and not another peep until Ah finish this chapter.”

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bee-kathony · 5 years

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The Oath | Ch. 9 “A Choice”

a/n: finally -- we find out where this fic gets it’s name! Thank you so much everyone for the love you’ve given this story and for being so invested, I love you all! <3

Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch. 5 | Ch. 6 | Ch. 7 | Ch. 8

Claire ended up inviting him inside and she left him sitting at the small kitchen table while she went to the bathroom. Her eyes were puffy from crying, but she felt a peace she hadn’t felt since she’d found out about the pregnancy.

Jamie knew now and the only thing she needed to do was figure out where they stood. Easy enough right?

Splashing cool water on her face and neck, Claire took a deep breath and rested her hip against the sink. It was already going better than she thought. She imagined a scenario in her head of telling Jamie about the baby and him leaving her, wanting nothing to do with them.

It’s why she had waited this long to not tell him. If she was being honest with herself, she had to admit that she might not have ever told him had they not bumped into each other. Drying her face off, she then tied her hair up into a bun on top of her head and walked back out into the kitchen. He was sitting there with a cup of tea, his eyes focused on the table and he had a very serious expression on his face.

“Don’t think too hard,” Claire smiled warmly as she took the seat next to him.

“Feeling better?” He smiled softly, whatever thoughts he’d had leaving his mind as he looked at her.

Nodding, Claire looked up at him, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry I didn’t try and find you sooner.” Might as well come out with it, lay all her cards on the table.

“Dinna fash, Sassenach,” Jamie leaned forward. “I ken ye must have had a few hard decisions to make, but I dinna begrudge ye for no’ tellin’ me. I am a stranger after all.”

“Not quite a stranger,” she smirked. “But please, Jamie…” resting her hand on his arm, she felt the strength and power coursing through his body. “Please accept my apology.”

“Aye, I will — of course.” He smiled and laid his hand over hers. She found that when he was touching her, she no longer felt nervous so she moved her hand to hold his.

“Do ye mind if I ask who else could be the father of the wee bairn?”

“No, not at all,” she shook her head. “He’s my ex — Frank Randall. I found out he was cheating on me the day before I met you.”

“Does he know?”

“No. I don’t want him to,” Claire admitted. “Does that make me a horrible person?”

Jamie moved his hand up to cup her cheek, “Nah. It only makes ye a good mother from protectin’ the bairn from that man. He cheated on ye — broke yer trust as well as yer heart. That isna a man that deserves ye.”

“But does he deserve to know he might have a child?” Claire slid her hand over her belly and she saw Jamie’s eyes drift down to it.

“I dinna ken, Sassenach. I suppose if it were me,” he smirked, “I would want to know. But I am no this Frank Randall so I canna say what he would want.”

“He always wanted a child. We were together for years and I thought we would be married someday,” Claire’s voice broke and a tear slid down her cheek. “I thought a lot of things back then.”

“Claire,” Jamie held her hand firmly, resting their joined hands on her knee. “Ye are the mother of this bairn and therefore ye decide who gets to be in the child’s life. I willna lie to ye and say I dinna want that privilege if ye see fit to allow me.”

“Oh, Jamie,” Claire smiled. “Of course I want you to be apart of our lives. However messy or confusing it may be or even if you’re not the father after all… if you want to be in my child’s life then we will have you.”

Tears brimmed the surface of Jamie’s eyes and he let his head hang. Slowly, he released Claire’s hand and moved it to rest lightly over her bump. He had missed so much already; if the child was truly his then he didn’t want to miss another moment.

“I suppose we should exchange numbers,” he laughed, leaning back to reach into his pocket to pull out his phone. “Shoulda done this on the night I met ye, Sassenach.”

“I should have just told you my name,” she smiled, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know what I was trying to even do.”

“Well ye thought ye’d never see me again and now ye tell me ye’d just had yer heart broken,” Jamie said. “Ye were protecting yourself.”

“I was,” Claire agreed and then reached for her own phone and they swapped devices, each entering their numbers.

“Now ye know how to reach me,” he handed her back her phone. “If ye ever need anythin’ and I mean anythin’ at all, please dinna hesitate to call me day or night.”

“I wouldn’t want to be too much of a bother,” Claire said shyly.

He grabbed her hand, “Tis no a bother, Claire. I suppose I still havena wrapped my head around all of this, but dinna think that I’m no happy about it, aye?”

“I can see that,” Claire smiled. It was true, Jamie had been nothing but supportive of her since he’d found out about the baby and the confusing parentage. She tried to imagine Frank in his shoes, but could only see him starting a fight and becoming angry with her that she’d withheld the truth from him. Jamie was not Frank, that much was obvious.

Jamie rose from the table, “I wish I could stay longer wi’ ye, but I’m meeting my sister and godfather for dinner.”

“Will you tell them about the baby?” Claire stood and walked with him to the door.

“Maybe no just yet. And I’ll only tell them wi’ yer permission of course,” he said.

“You can tell them,” she nodded. “I’d like to meet them one day… properly,” she laughed, recalling the time she had only heard their concerned voices.

“I’d like that too, Sassenach.” Jamie leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “Please call me if ye need me.”

“I will,” Claire smiled and then opened the door and watched him leave. She did need him and as she watched him walk away, she felt a tug on her heart. It was already complicated enough — adding in a relationship between her and Jamie was absolutely out of the question. They had enough to deal with at the moment and besides, she wasn’t sure if she could handle the heartbreak if Jamie decided this was all too much for him.

++++++

As Jamie ate dinner with his sister and Murtagh, the entire evening he kept thinking about telling them about the bairn. It would be happy news to be sure, but the circumstances were not what he had envisioned. He thought that when he would become a father, he would also have a wife. Deep down, Jamie knew that he would marry Claire if she agreed to it, but he didn’t want to rock the boat.

Of course, he knew what his sister’s reaction would be. She would hit him over the head and tell him he shouldn’t have spread his seed foolishly. Jamie knew he’d been a fool not to wear a condom that night, but he hadn’t exactly been thinking clearly either. Even now as he sat around the table with Jenny who was telling them about something her daughter Maggie had done, his thoughts drifted to Claire.

He wondered what she had done when she found out about the bairn. Had she cried of happiness or fear? Did she ever think of not keeping it? He also wondered just how much he should involve himself in her life. If she’d have him, he would be there for it all — every kick, every movement and he would be there after the bairn was born.

“Have ye somethin’ on yer mind mo bhràthair?”

Shaking his head to dispel the vision of Claire’s body under his, her belly pressing between them, he looked over to see both Jenny and Murtagh staring at him.

“Och, tis nothin’.”

“It is not nothing, Jamie. I’ve no seen ye so distracted in months,” she tsked and rose to grab the kettle, coming back and refilling all their cups.

“I ran into someone earlier today,” Jamie said with a small smile on his lips.

“A lass?” Murtagh elbowed his arm.

“Aye, a lass,” he rolled his eyes. “The same lass from the launch party a few months ago.”

“Ahhh, makes sense now.”

“What does?”

“Ye scribbled her name all over yer wee journals and things for weeks lad and dinna pretend ye didn’t try and search for her too,” Murtagh chuckled.

“Is this the same lass I saw ye take into mam’s library?”

Jamie nearly choked on his tea and it burned on the way down. “I wanted to show her our collection.”

“Hmph,” Jenny smirked. “I ken ye may have shown her some other things too.”

“How would you—“

“Ye think I dinna ken what goes on in this house?”

“I…” his cheeks turned bright red and he felt like a kid again being scolded for not doing his chores.

“Just tell me ye wore protection, Jamie and ye didna knock her up,” Jenny snorted into her tea and Jamie sat there in silence. Jenny’s mouth opened, her eyes boring into his, “James Fraser! Ye didn’t!”

“Oh lad,” Murtagh shook his head, softly laughing under his breath. “And this was the first ye’ve seen of her since?”

“Aye,” Jamie nodded, suddenly feeling ashamed of himself. “I didna ken her name and as ye kindly pointed out, I did try and look for her.”

“Ye are so irresponsible ye wee numptie,” Jenny looked at him disapprovingly. “Ye get a woman wi’ child and ye dinna even ken her name. I would ask what ye were thinkin’ but it’s clear ye were only lettin’ yer bollocks do the thinkin’. At least tell me yer goin�� to marry the lass now?”

“Marry her? I only just saw her today for the first time in nearly five months. I wasna goin’ to suddenly offer her marriage,” Jamie scoffed. “It’s a bit more complicated than that anyways.”

“Please,” Jenny rolled her eyes as she leaned forward. All Jamie wanted to do was run and hide, but he wouldn’t be able to get away from her this easy. “Enlighten yer family on why tis so complicated that ye canna marry the lass and save her baby from bein’ a bastard. Och, when Ian finds out about this he’ll bang ye over the heid.”

This was the part Jamie never intended on telling them — at least not for awhile. “Claire isna sure that I am the father.”

“Oh so she’s a whoor too,” Jenny let out a half-laugh, half-bark and Jamie rose to his feet.

“She is not a whore, Janet! I willna have ye speakin that way of the mother of my bairn!”

“The bairn might not even be yers, Jamie. I will call her a whoor because that tis what she is for layin’ wi’ multiple men and getting herself wi’ child.”

Jamie walked over to the wall, slamming his fist against the beam, trying to let his anger die down. “I’m just as much to blame, if no more so than she is. Claire has had to deal wi’ this all on her own.” It was then that Jamie noticed Murtagh had slipped out and it was just him and Jenny facing off.

“She shoulda told ye about the bairn when she first found out, how could she keep such a thing from ye?”

Jamie took a deep breath and sat back down, eyeing his sister. “We didna exchange numbers, Jenny. I ken it was a foolish thing of me to do. I’ve already beat myself up about it enough, I dinna need ye yellin’ at me.” He hung his head low, running his fingers back through his hair. “I didna force myself upon her, if ye were wonderin’ that too.”

“Och, Jamie,” Jenny laid a hand on his arm. “I never thought ye would. This whole thing is a mess, but I have faith in ye that ye’ll make it right by marryin’ the lass.”

“Jenny I can’t just—“

“Ye will lad. Mother and father would want to see the bairn raised in a proper family, ye ken that.”

“Aye, I do, but it’s complicated. Claire and I slept together one night, we were both drunk and hurting for different reasons. There may not be love between us and I willna force her to marry me if she doesna want to.”

“Then ye must learn the ways of her heart,” Jenny said and then rose from the table, leaving him sitting there with even more questions than he had before.

Did he love her?

++++++ It had been a week since Claire had bumped into Jamie and since then they hadn’t stopped messaging each other. She informed him every time she felt the baby kick and had even sent him a video one night where you could clearly see the feet of the baby pressing against her stomach.

Claire didn’t know the sex of the baby. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know until it was born. She had also always gone to her ultrasound appointments alone and Jamie had promised to go with her to the next one — perhaps they could find out together.

It was comforting to know that Jamie was there for her if she needed him.

Geillis was working a night shift which meant that Claire was at home alone. She’d just settled herself on the couch with a giant bowl of popcorn and planned to watch Pride & Prejudice when she felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

“Oh, God,” she winced, sliding her hand over her belly. Sometimes when the baby kicked her in the wrong spot, it hurt like this and normally happened only once. Claire took a deep breath and rubbed her hand over the bump, “It’s alright little melon.”

A moment later another sharp pain went through her, but this time all over her body and she gasped in pain. The bowl of popcorn fell to the floor as she doubled over, her face twisting as another pang went through her.

Her phone was on the coffee table and she managed to slide to her knees and grabbed it. Geillis wouldn’t be able to come to her, so she called the only other person she could think of.

“Sassenach, how are ye?”

“Jamie, I need help,” she said and then grunted as another pang happened.

“What’s wrong?” Claire could hear that he was moving and then she heard the jangle of car keys.

“I’m not sure, but my stomach hurts. I need you to take me to the hospital.”

“I’m on my way, do ye want me to stay on the phone until I get there?” The sound of his car turning on came through the phone and Claire tried to take another deep breath.

“Yes… please.” Closing her eyes, Claire laid her head back on the seat of the couch and took three deep breaths as she listened to Jamie’s voice. He was telling her about his day, trying to distract her from thinking of the pain and for the most part it was working.

Thankfully he arrived shortly after and was there at her side, sliding his arms under her legs as he carried her out of her house and down to his car.

“It’ll be alright,” he said in assurance and buckled her in.

On the drive to the hospital, Jamie’s hand never left hers and she squeezed it every time another sharp pang hit. She’d never been so grateful to have him here.

Within an hour, Claire was sitting in a hospital bed listening to the doctor tell her that there was nothing wrong and most likely the baby just got itself into an odd position. She sighed and laid her head back against the pillow, letting the stress and worry seep out of her body. “Silly little bean,” she whispered.

Jamie laughed from beside her and she opened her eyes to see him looking down at her. “Sorry, I didna mean to laugh.”

“It’s okay,” she smiled and reached for his hand and pulled it to rest over her stomach.

“Sassenach,” Jamie’s voice trembled and he bent to his knees. “I dinna know what I’d do if somethin’ happened to ye and the bairn. I couldn’t bear it.”

“Well we’re both alright, Jamie. Don’t let your mind go there,” Claire smiled warmly.

She saw something shift in him then and his hand moved to cover her entire belly as if he could protect what it was holding inside with just his touch.

“Claire, I want to promise ye somethin’. I want to promise to ye that I will be here for ye and this bairn. I vow to protect ye from any harm and God willing I will protect this bairn too.” He moved his other hand to cup her cheek, “It doesna matter who the father is, Sassenach. If ye say ye need me, I’m yours. And if the wee one decides he or she doesna want me in their life then I’ll step back. I dinna want to ever be a burden to ye.”

Claire was silent, tears filling her eyes as she listened to him make her these promises. Jamie then reached for her hand and laid it on top of his over her stomach. “I make this oath to ye and the bairn, Claire. And it is my duty to uphold it as long as I should live. My word is my promise and I swear to never break it.”

“I know you won’t,” she finally spoke and then pulled his head into the crook of her neck and embraced him. However he felt towards her, Claire knew that he would love this child with his whole heart. She also knew that if she allowed herself… she could grow to love him too. In fact, she knew she had already begun to love Jamie when she first met him — only after the baby did she close off her heart so that she wouldn’t be hurt again.

Jamie Fraser was in her life now, whether she loved him or not… she knew he would never leave them.

Chapter 10: Revelations

#the oath #outlander fanfic #jamie x claire #chapter 9 #already wow #jamie fraser #claire fraser #outlander fanfiction #a choice

319 notes · View notes

k-renne · 5 years

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A VERY MERRY CLYDE CHRISTMAS

SUMMARY: Clyde is alone on Christmas Eve, reminiscing about the love he lost and what could’ve been. How great it would’ve been, but maybe this year luck is on his side

WARNING: smut, enough clyde angst to make Dani yell

tags: @oh-adam, @dreamboatdriver, @thecurlycaptain, @thepilotanon, @cas-backwards-tie, @adamsnackdriver

It was Christmas Eve and the bar was empty, leaving Clyde alone to his thoughts. He should’ve listened to Earl and closed the bar, he had been wiping the same spot of counter for the last five minutes trying to keep himself busy. If he knew it would’ve been this slow he would’ve brought a book. But, it wasn’t like he had any other place to be. Jimmy was on some fancy date with Sylvia and Mellie out with her new boyfriend. Clyde, single as ever, was left to his bar. The question was, just how had he let it get to this point?

Sure, his heart was broken from a girl years ago-but that was his fault anyways and he should’ve gotten over that by now. Still, his heart could never really let go. It was one thing he knew about himself, just like the curse when he got an idea of something in his mind, Clyde couldn’t let it go. Just like you.

Being alone on Christmas Eve made a man think, especially about all his regrets. Clyde thought especially of you, the girl one day he thought he was gonna marry. God you were so beautiful, even just in high school he was starstruck by you. He was your best friend, and he was in love.

It didn’t help that last minute your date for senior prom ditched you for another girl, and that you didn’t go and hung out with Clyde instead. He remembers that night so vividly, taking the truck out with a blanket and some beers he smuggled, listening to the radio and looking up at the stars with you.

“Ya know Clyde, I think you’re the only boy I’ll ever need.” You tell him.

He couldn’t believe some of the words that came out of your mouth that night, thankful for the night sky to hide his blush. And, how speechless he was by you. How your words made him feel bold enough to grab your hand in his. He almost said I love you that night, in so many different moments. But he bit his tongue, and he regrets it. He still feels those words in his mouth, sometimes it makes each swallow hurt. Knowing you were still out there, never hearing how he truly felt about you.

It went even further than hand holding that night, when you told him you wanted to lose your virginity prom night and though at that point you still considered Clyde a friend, you told Clyde, “I’d rather lose it with my best friend, than a complete stranger.”

He would’ve been insane to say no to that, and though his first time was awkward and embarrassing, with you it was beautiful. The stars reflecting in your eyes, moon making your skin glow like an angel. Wrapping you up in the blankets he brought, your head laying right next to his on some pillows. It was all so...poetic, like the love stories he’d hide from Jimmy, that it still made Clyde teary eyed to this day.

Clyde blinked back tears and sniffled, frowning at the little wet circle that landed on the bar counter. Damn, he really was acting like a fool. Getting himself all worked up about a past love, one he knew that left Boone County and never turned back. You were probably married by now to some lucky bastard, enjoying Christmas Eve with your family while he was stuck bartending alone.

It really wasn’t what he had imagined for himself at this point. He was hoping to have a wife (that just so happened to be you) by this point, maybe a kid and a baby on the way. His own little family, but even just you would’ve made him happy enough. As painful as it would be, he missed his best friend. And if he only could call you that, it would be more than enough for Clyde Logan.

Clyde shook his head, trying to break himself out of his lonely thoughts. He decided to close the bar early tonight, go home and lose himself to a book or just go to bed early and sleep it off. Course, his plans were foiled when a car drove up. Just when he was about to turn off the lights to the sign. He sighed, hoping maybe it was just someone asking for directions.

He got back behind the counter, manning his post. He was watching the door, wondering if it’d be a stranger or a familiar face coming inside. He didn’t recognize the car.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for a Clyde Logan? I was told he works here.” You politely ask the bartender, dark locks falling over his face.

Clyde lifts his face up, surprised to hear your voice again. He can’t help but blush seeing you, all dolled up for some holiday dinner. If anything, you were even more beautiful now, looking so much more like a woman than the girl he once played in the sandbox with.

“Oh-you are Clyde,” You almost gasp, so surprised that the lanky teen you remembered was now a man. It was pretty obvious that you were checking out, but you couldn’t help but notice how much he had filled out, your eyes softening at the prosthetic...Jimmy had warned you about that. Still, he looked so good, with his scruff and long hair, shoulders broad and strong. It made you bite your lip, worse you could feel him looking at you too and it made you feel warm inside. A part of you was worried about what he’d think of how much you had changed, as he still had such a look of surprise on his face.

“I wasn’t...I wasn’t expectin’ ya, I never thought I’d see you again.” Clyde looked down, voice thick with emotion.

“Clyde Logan! Despite what happened last time I left, it does not erase my entire childhood spent with you. Ugh this is just what frustrates me about ya-you just never see…” You pause seeing the way Clyde is looking at you, bottom lip trembling and eyes watery. “Oh come here dammit, give me a hug.” You open your arms to him.

Clyde practically runs into your arms, hugging you with everything he had and without any shame of his prosthetic brushing against you. “I missed ya so much,” He said against your ear. He felt so warm that you never wanted to leave his arms, Clyde’s hug bringing back a whole bunch of feelings you thought you had moved on.

When you break away he can’t help but ask, “Why-why did you come?”

“Because, I don’t know. I called Jimmy to ask how you were doing, I don’t know why but I just had you in my mind for some reason and when he told me you were at the bar all alone-” You inhaled sharply, trying not to cry. “Oh I just couldn’t let ya spend your Christmas Eve like that Clyde, so I came here.”

Clyde’s cheeks grew hot, his breath getting raggedy as you looked at him like that, eyes filled with so much concern. Even now you cared about him, even after he went and scared you away-said all those awful things. “Oh lord, I don’t deserve you.” He shook his head.

“I hate when you talk like that you know, feeling all sorry for yourself. Clyde, you’re a wonderful man and I can’t believe after all these years you still don’t see it.” You put your hands on your hips. “Still don’t see why it’s ridiculous why you’re all here alone.”

Clyde takes a step closer to you, his hand fidgeting nervously with his pocket. “It’s my fault,” He confesses brokenly. In a way he was apologizing, because he knew it was the truth. You were perfect, always were. He just had to go and find a way to mess it up.

“It’s not!” You say defensively.

Clyde deflects the conversation, “I still don’t understand why ya came all the way down here, from whatever big city ya were livin’ in, just to see me. Ya must have someone waitin’ for ya at home-now it don’t make no sense for ya to come all this way to see me-” You cut him off with a pointed look.

It was your turn to take a step closer, and you were so close that you had to look up at him. “I came here, because even after all these years I still wanna run right back to you. I-I regret so much, I wish I would’ve…” You stop, trying to collect yourself as you begin to tear up.

“Sweetheart, now hold on, just relax.” Clyde soothed you, big brown eyes full of worried at your clear distress. His hand rubbed up and down your arm, trying to calm you.

“I just gotta say it, I regret lettin’ ya get away from me Clyde Logan.” You declare. You feel your heart in your throat, chest heaving as emotions overcome you. Tears fall down your cheeks, and you make no effort to stop them.

“What?” Clyde asks.

“You hear me!”

“No no no, ya got it all wrong sweetheart. I’m the one who regrets letting you get way, not the other way around. I never told ya how much I love ya and it’s the biggest regret of my life.” Clyde looked into your eyes, gripping your shoulder in his hand.

“What?” You shook your head in disbelief.

Clyde’s gaze changes suddenly, realizing something. “This mean ya don’t have no husband, no boyfriend?”

“No, I do not.” You glare at him.

“Hmm, maybe I should fix that.” He contemplates, back to softly caressing your arm.

“Clyde,” You look away smiling, feeling shy and flustered all of a sudden.

He gets this dreamy look on his face, and laughs. “What do ya think of the sound of Mrs. Logan, that sound nice darlin’?”

“Clyde!” You smack his arm. He had no right to be sweet talking you like this out of nowhere.

“Hey I mean it.” He said softly, tilting your chin to look at him. “Mrs. Logan…” He teased, snickering at your flustered squeak.

“I don’t understand you sometimes, all sorry one moment and the next you’re talking about marriage! Of all things, take me out on a real date first mister.” You poke his chest.

“I’m sorry I can’t help it sweetheart, you’re the girl of my dreams I ain’t playin’ around. And I’ll take ya out on a date first, but it is Christmas Eve and I’d like to spend it with you if you’ll let me.”

“When did you get so charming?” You groan, hiding your embarrassed face in his chest.

Clyde laughs some more, his hand sliding to run over your back. He holds you in his arms again, “That mean I can charm ya all the way home with me? Steal ya away to spend Christmas with the Logan’s?” He teases you playfully, though partially serious.

“Oh my god I’m never gonna hear the end of it from Jimmy.” You grumble against Clyde’s chest. You lift your face up to look at him, “I’d love to spend Christmas with you Clyde, I couldn’t think of anything better.”

Clyde holds his heart dramatically, pouting. “You’re too kind sweetheart.” He continues to search your face, eyes growing dark. His voice is heady as he speaks, “But darlin’, I’m afraid if I take ya home my intentions won’t be so innocent. It’s gonna be hard for me to resist givin’ ya some lovin’ - so if you’d like me to take ya out on a few dates first maybe I should take ya home.” He admits, a guilty look on his face.

“No, I want ya to take me to your bed, I’m curious if you’ve learned some new moves since last time.” You tease him, grinning.

Clyde growls, “Sweetheart you’ll be the death of me. Ya better believe I got some things to show ya.” He grabs you, lifting you over his shoulders easily.

“Clyde!”

“Well I can’t carry ya like my wife just yet sweetheart, but I am gonna carry ya.” Clyde held you over his shoulder, his hand sliding to squeeze your ass and humming in delight.

Clyde even carried you from his car to the trailer, not letting you down till you passed the threshold. And then once he did he swooped you back in his arms, pressing a searing kiss against your lips. “Mmm baby you’re as sweet as I remember.” Clyde murmured against your lips. He kissed you and kissed you, until he led you all the way to his bed. It was smaller than what you would’ve expected for such a big man, and the tissues nearby made you smirk.

“Clyde, what are those for? I didn’t think ya had any allergies,” You teased him, hand resting against over his racing heart.

Clyde choked on his own spit, cheeks turning bright red. “Oh-that? Uh, well ya see I got some books there and sometimes they make me sad so I got ‘em for just in case.”

“Ya know I don’t believe that at all right?” You laughed, rubbing your hand over his chest.

Clyde pouted, “Well a man has got needs!” He said defensively.

“Relax big bear, all I’m saying is you shouldn’t need those there anymore.” You lean up to kiss him.

He huffed at that, “You’re damn right.” He licked his lips slowly, eyes flickering up and down over your face. “I think I’m gonna give myself a little present sweetheart.” He smirked down at you.

Clyde turned you around in his arms, fumbling with the zipper on the back of your dress. He was feeling so exciting to get his hands on you it was making him nervous, but when you looked back at him with a soft sweet smile on your face, he knew this is exactly where he was meant to be. He shuddered as more skin was exposed to him in the zippers path, unclasping your bra and taking off your panties along with your dress.

His hand was back at your backside, soft bare flesh in his hand building a fire inside him for you. He placed a careful kiss against your shoulder, before taking off his prosthetic and placing it on the nightstand. “Ah, you’re even prettier than I remember darlin’, it’s unfair.” He shook his head, eyes greedily raking over your nude form.

He hooked his left arm behind your waist, pulling you close to him with it so he could kiss you again. “Your beard tickles Clyde,” You commented.

“What, ya don’t like it?” He fretted.

“No, it’s sorta nice.” You brought your hand up to run over it, and Clyde leaned into your touch. “That feels nice too baby.” He nuzzled your hand.

He looked at you again, eyes soft and longing. His hand slid up to cup a breast, his touch so gentle as his thumb rolled over your nipple, just marvelling at how it hardened with his touch. He lowered his head to kiss between them, taking his sweet time peppering kisses over every inch of your skin. “So nice,” He’d comment, pressing the hardness in his jeans against your thigh.

And you touched him return, a hand sneaking underneath his shirt to feel him, the muscles tensing with your touch. Clyde whined and stopped kissing your breasts when your hand ran over his belly, “Why ya gotta go and touch there?”

“Because I like every part of you handsome, nice and soft.” You kissed his chin.

Clyde panted, eyes closing shut in pleasure. He was way too sensitive there, he didn’t know why. But your touch was eating him alive, “Stop that now,” He said firmly, hand wrapping around your wrist.

Instead of stopping you squeezing his lil tummy in your hand, which made him growl. “Alright, alright I’ve let ya have your fun. S’my turn now.” He started manhandling you in all sorts of ways, getting you set on his bed. And it felt good, his strong grip, much more confident than the last time. The way his hand settled in between your thighs, squeezing them softly before nudging them apart. His hand was so big part of it got coated in your wetness, and you felt flustered at how needy it must appear for you to already be like that for him.

Yet it only spurred on Clyde, when he felt your slick against his hand he couldn’t help but take it against his lips for a taste. “Fuckin’ hell, ah cannot believe how sweet ya taste. Cannot believe I never did this.” His chest is heaving, a wild look in his eyes as he settles to his knees.

Oh and he sure had learned some moves, you didn’t know how he had become so giften in oral, but you were so grateful. His tongue was not shy in maneuvering between your folds, flicking up and down, placing his tongue flat over you and giving a rough lick. He was kissing you too, over your clit and occasionally on your thighs. “Ah just wanna eat ya all night, mmm I love this pussy.” Clyde moaned.

He was so genuinely into the act, that’s what drove you craziest of all. His moans vibrating against you, letting his beard get coated in your wetness as he nudged your clit with his nose, his tongue twisting and turning inside you. It was so filthy it should be illegal, his hot mouth over your cunt and his drool combining with your slick.

“Still so tight sweetheart, gonna have to get ya ready for me,” He said, as his first finger glided inside you. Yes, you remembered just how girthy Clyde was. Tomorrow morning you’d be thankful for all this preparation. When he inserted a second finger you bucked your hips, curling them inside you and rubbing your sweet spot as he slid them in and out.

You were crying out his name and it was music to his ears, but suddenly out of nowhere he had to stop. “”M’so sorry sweetheart, was gonna make ya cum first but I need ya now,” He told ya. Which was when you saw just how desperately he was rocking his hips against the mattress, a wet spot in his jeans from all the precum.

“I’m on the pill Clyde, and I trust ya.” You told him. Clyde grunted at that, taking off his belt as fast as he could. The man could not wait to sink himself inside of your bare pussy, just feel your walls squeeze him. He still remembered last time you felt so nice with a condom on, he couldn’t imagine what it’d feel like without one, and cumming inside you-fuck he needed you now.

Clyde was climbing on top of you, barely fitting on the mattress as he pinned you down with his hips. “I-I don’t think I’m gonna last very long.” He warned you, voice tight.

You nodded, “That’s just fine Clyde, ya got me pretty close back there.”

Clyde gave you one final quick kiss before he pressed the head of his cock against your entrance, already letting out a string of curses just from your radiating heat. He squeezes his eyes tight as he slid all the way in, you lightly rock your hips and he stops that right away, his hand pressing you down to the bed. “N-no, I need a minute. Ah you’re pussy is squeezin’ me so tight, and nice. I wanna cum.”

You give him the time, softly playing with his fluffy hair as he pants above you. Maybe you should’ve prepared yourself more mentally for what was gonna come next, the first gentle thrust was a joke compared to the way Clyde started jackhammering you after. “Ah I’m sorry, bein’ so rough on ya-I just can’t, can’t stop it.” He apologized sweetly, starting to work up a sweat.

You were surprised how much you liked him fucking you like that, like an animal, ravaging you till there was nothing left. It made it feel so much longer than it was. Each thrust, the weight of it slowing time. You keened and moaned for him, weakly trying to meet his hips until they gave out and you submitted to him.

“Baby ya feel so good, I’m gonna-I gotta cum in your sweet pussy. Fill it up with my love.” He gripped your hip, sweat dripping down his hair and his chest.

“Oh yes-ah I’m cumming now Clyde, you can love me however you’d like.” You pant, letting out little moans between words as you lose control.

Clyde doesn’t try to make it last after that, a few uneven thrusts are all he needs for his cum to splash inside you, a few hot spurts that you encourage with sweet words.

He rolls onto his side after, his cock covered in slick and cum as he pulls out of you. He lets out a funny sort of noise when he watches his cum drip out, his brows furrowing and his lips parted. He presses his nose against your neck, just inhaling and trying to catch his breath after the high of making love to you. His arm weighs heavy across your abdomen, but in a way that comforts you.

As soon as he comes back to his senses, Clyde begins to kiss your neck softly, nuzzle and suck on your skin. “I feel like...you’re some type of Christmas miracle.” He murmurs.

“I am not Clyde,” You turn to look at him with a smile, shaking your head at this silly man.

“Ya are! I mean it, no way otherwise I’d have ya here right now like this.”

“Maybe, I just liked you a lot more than you thought.” You poke his nose.

“No that’s not it.” But he can’t help but smile at your words, grabbing the finger that poked him to bite it playfully.

“I wonder what Jimmy’s gonna have to say about all this,” You muse.

Clyde just laughs. “Probably that it’s about time, that I can finally stop acting like a damn fool over you. Joke’s on him, that part isn’t gonna stop. I’m still gonna go on and on about ya while I’m at work.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” You smile knowingly.

“Merry Christmas sweetheart.” Clyde says to you as he notices it’s past midnight, heart filled with the holly jolly spirit and all sorts of loving feelings for you.

“Merry Christmas Clyde Logan.”

Next year, Clyde hoped he’d be calling you his wife. He had no plans of screwing things up this time.

#clyde logan x reader #clyde logan #filth

207 notes · View notes

eliniei · 5 years

Text

Those Hard Days - Chapter 15

Summary: Rae’s brother always made sure she was tough as nails. But when her father flips her world upside down, will she find that there’s a limit on how strong she can be?

Warnings: Rape/Non-con (non-graphic, fade-to-black), child abuse, underage drinking, underage smoking, drug use, violence, major character death

A/N: Really, I couldn’t help myself posting this chapter in the same day as the previous. It’s a good place to stop for the week :P

AO3: here Fanfiction.net: here

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Chapter 15 - Brave

Twenty minutes later, Rae sat on the Curtis’s couch wearing a camisole and a baggy pair of pajama pants, borrowed from Sodapop. She hugged her knees to her chest and avoided Curly’s eyes. He was sitting in the chair across from the couch, watching her in silence, chewing on the inside of his mouth. Ponyboy had dragged himself in a few minutes before, yawning, after making sure Johnny got home safe, and dropped into bed. Darry was already asleep, but Soda had volunteered to make them some hot chocolate.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" he asked, rubbing his temples.

"Well, Curly, I wasn’t sure,” she told him.

“And you’re sure now?”

“Well it sure sounded like her voice-”

“So you don’t know for sure?”

“It’s still…fuzzy.” He sighed, loudly, through his nose. “I’m...I’m pretty sure, Curly.”

“Alright, fine. You’re prob’ly right.”

“Why she would do this?”

"Who the hell knows. The older she gets the more out of control she is," Curly said, rolling his eyes. “Not like mom’s doin’ shit to straighten her out.” Soda came into the room, holding two mugs of steaming liquid and they both snapped their jaws shut. He handed one to each of them.

"Drink up. I'm goin’ to bed. Make sure to wash those when you’re done," Soda ordered and made for the room he shared with Pony. Rae took a sip from her mug and set it on the table next to the couch.

"I think she’s been doin’ more than just grass," Curly admitted, once he’d heard the door close, and set his hot chocolate down as well. “She was prob’ly pretty blitzed. Heroin. She tries to hide it, but most of the time it’s pretty damn obvious. Brumly’s been pushin’ it for a while now and she’s been gettin’ real friendly with-”

"Yeah, what a great excuse to beat the shit outta someone," she muttered, cutting him off. "If your mom ain’t gonna do shit, maybe you an’ Tim should put a leash on that girl yourselves.”

"Hey, she’s still my sister," Curly hissed, annoyance lacing his words.

"Yeah, and she hit me hard enough to knock me out and almost broke my fuckin’ nose!" Rae let her legs go and her feet slid to the floor. Her back bristled as she sat up. “She can’t be allowed to just do what she wants, Curly. She’s fourteen and she’s high on heroin? One of these days she’ll fuck with the wrong person and she’ll end up dead!” Frustration boiled up inside of her- and even maybe a little jealousy. Curly was gripping the arms of the chair, tightly.

“Don’t ya think I know that? Who d’ya think’s been turning her in so she’ll get sent to rehab?” His voice wobbled a little. After all these years, she’d never seen Curly cry before. Realization struck her.

Of course. Why wouldn’t he defend his sister? She’d defend Dally to her dying breath.

The fight instantly left her and she mentally kicked herself for feeling the way that she did. Rae leaned her head against the back of the couch and took a deep breath to calm herself down. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as she stared up at the ceiling. She was getting real tired of these God damn mood swings. “I’m sorry. I just wish I knew why.”

“You’re right, okay?” he started and sighed. “You’re right. Maybe we should’a kept more an eye on her instead of lettin’ her run wild. Maybe we’ve given her too much freedom, knowin’ what she was doin’ with it.” She heard him stand up and move over to her. He sat down on the cushion beside her. She lifted her head and he stretched his arm out to lay across her shoulders.

“I ain’t feelin’ like myself, Curly,” Rae sighed, leaning into his body. “Ever since…” She trailed off, not knowing how to continue. He nodded, knowingly. “I don’t know. I’m so mad all the time. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

“You’ve been through a lot in the past few weeks,” he reminded her.

“I know, but…” She heaved a sigh. “You don’t hate me, do you?”

"I don’t think I could ever hate ya," he said and kissed the top of her head. She blinked the tears from her eyes and sat up to face him. His crooked smile appeared and she leaned in, pressing her forehead against his. Curly threaded his fingers in her hair and Rae felt a chill run up her spine. He grasped the back of her head and brought her lips against his. She closed her eyes and kissed him back, excitement running through her veins.

He gently laid her back on the couch, only disconnecting their lips for a few short breaths. She let it happen, feeling the exhilaration all the way in her fingertips. She grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him harder.

Before long, though, Rae felt his hands wander down to the tie of her pants. She felt a tug, the string trying to be undone. The heat turned to ice in a second and her stomach soured. She turned her head away from his mouth. He started leaving a trail of small kisses down her exposed neck, not sensing her discomfort. Her hands started to shake, her breath becoming short.

“Curly?”

“Hm?”

“Curly, please-.” She pushed against his chest.

Instantly, he was up, looking down at her, eyes wide with worry and fear.

"I-I don’t think I can-," she stuttered. The look he gave her-

"I'm- I’m sorry," he breathed. She sat up, slowly. "I'm-"

"It’s okay,” she told him. “You stopped. It’s fine. I just-”

"But I shouldn’t have even-"

"Don’t worry." She put a shaky hand on top of his and took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. “Just not yet.” He nodded, turning his hand and tightening his fingers around hers. She gave him a small smile.

"I’d-I’d better get home. Tim’ll be wantin’ his truck back and I gotta go all the way back to the school to get it." He reached out and stroked her cheek with his thumb, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. He leaned in and kissed her carefully, like she was a porcelain doll that might break if handled roughly. At this point, maybe she was. “Goodnight.”

"Be careful," Rae whispered when their lips separated.

“Always am.” He got up and went for the door, looking thoughtful and upset. Her heart squeezed at the sight of his face. He paused just outside and gave someone outside a solemn nod, then rushed down the steps and into the dark. A few seconds later, Dally walked in, watching Curly leave, over his shoulder. He turned to Rae.

"Hey, kid," he said. Rae smiled, softly.

"Hey, Dal." He slipped his jacket off and laid it over the arm of the chair. She offered him the seat Curly had just been sitting in. Her brother dropped down onto the couch.

“Did ya’ll have a good time tonight?” She shrugged.

“It was alright. Pretty fun until some drunk asshole knocked me over and ripped my dress.”

“Soc?”

“Who else would get away with pullin’ that shit in public?”

“Good point,” Dally conceded. They were both quiet for a few seconds. “So anyway- I’m real proud of ya.”

"Proud?" Rae asked, turning to him. “For what?”

"Most broads wouldn’t say no." Rae looked over to the large front window.

“Were you outside the whole time?” she asked, cheeks turning to fire.

“Not the whole time.” She groaned and covered her eyes with her hands. He smirked. She fell over into his lap.

“Ohhh,” she groaned. “That’s so embarrassing!” He moved her hands and looked down at her.

“It was real brave.”

“Thanks, Dally,” she said, smiling up at him. Then he flicked her on the forehead hard enough that her skull made a thunk. “Ow!”

“Just don’t let it go to your head.” She scoffed, but examined his face closer.

“You look tired.”

“That ain’t very nice. And I just went outta my way to-”

"I know it’s my fault, isn’t it?" she concluded. Her brother frowned. “I know it is.”

"What makes ya think that?" he asked, looking down at her.

"You’re always stuck lookin’ after me,” she answered. “Instead of doin’ the things ya wanna do.”

"Don’t you ever think that," Dally ordered, his voice sharp. “I can’t say it ain’t hard at times-but kid, if I didn’t wanna look after ya, I wouldn’t.” He shrugged. “Besides, I can still look after ya- and do plenty of things I want.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a large wad of cash. “Speakin’ of, I made a killin’ at the rodeo tonight.” Rae sat up and watched him flip through the bills, counting them quicker than she could.

“Damn,” she squeaked. When he was finished, he put the money back into his pocket.

“Anyway, it’s late. Get to bed,” he said with a nod in the direction of the free bedroom down the hall.

“What about you?” she asked her brother as she made to stand up.

“I’ll take the couch.”

“Why? It ain’t like we never slept in the same bed before.”

“Go to bed,” he ordered, firmly.

“Fine,” Rae pouted, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. She’d always loved when they were kids- camping in each other’s rooms, the comfort she felt when he was next to her. It was really something she could use right about now...

She padded across the living room and headed for Soda’s abandoned room. Across the hall, she could hear his snoring through the closed door of Ponyboy’s bedroom. With a sigh, she went to the empty room and dropped into the bed.

Rae turned on to one side and clutched the quilt tightly around her body. Exhaustion flooded her body as she relaxed, and she closed her eyes, thinking back to when she and her brother were younger.

Rae and Dally sat on the floor in the front room of their New York home. Her big brother had a busted lip, drying trails of blood dripping down his chin, and a dangerous look on his face. Their mother knelt down in front of them and reached out to clean his face with her handkerchief, but jumped at the loud yell that came from outside the open door. She dropped the cloth on the floor.

"Let’s go, woman!” Rae could see her mother’s hand trembling.

"I’m sorry," she whispered and stood up, smoothing the wrinkles in her skirt. “Please, Dallas, take care of your sister.” He nodded. Their mother smiled, sadly, and then went to meet their father outside. This was their usual exchange.

The two siblings sat perfectly still until the car roared to life and pulled away from the curb. Dally wiped his chin with the sleeve of his shirt and looked at Rae.

"Okay?” he asked.

"Okay,” she answered, lip starting to quiver. She was lucky- she’d escaped the wrath of her father’s fists, but only because Dally had taken it all for her. She saw her brother’s fists clench. Tears formed in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whimpered.

"What are big brothers for? I promised mom I’d always take care of you." He helped her to her feet. "Come on." He lead her to her room and put her to bed. She refused to let go of his hand, though, so he climbed in with her. They pulled the blanket over their heads and he told her ghost stories until Rae’s eyes started to droop and she curled up next to him, soaking in the comfort of his presence. Her small body stopped quivering and soon enough, she felt sleep overcome her.

Rae felt movement in the bed behind her. She cracked open her eyes but the room was dark, except for the light of the streetlamp barely filtering in through the blinds. She laid still and felt a body lay down next to hers.

"I'm sorry for not keepin’ my promise,” she heard Dally murmur. She wondered if he was thinking of the same night, or if he even knew she was awake. She pressed her back against his. Warmth spread over her- warmth and safety. Rae felt him relax against her and she listened until her brother’s breathing evened out. With a smile, she closed her eyes and let herself doze off again.

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familysides · 6 years

Text

A New Friend Approaches

((Yo yo yo! Spacey here! Big shout out to @sanders-trash-4ever for helping me so much with this! Please head the warnings! This chapter depicts a flash back, and an abusive scene! I won’t be upset if you can’t read it, take care of yourselves!!! Also! Drayke is the dragon witch and the section in the middle that is all italics is the flash back))

Warnings: Child abuse, depictions of child abuse, flash backs, bullying, swearing, yelling, fighting

Words: 1813

Patton did not enjoy school. Now, he wasn’t one to say he ‘hated’ anything, but he was getting pretty close to using the h-word when it came to school. He was a freshmen, which wasn’t too fun, and most people didn’t exactly enjoy his sunny disposition, which was also okay! He didn’t need people to like him, but he would appreciate if they wouldn’t be so mean because of it!

In middle school it had been easier to hide getting picked on. Roman only saw him when he picked him up, but now he saw him everyday in the halls. He knew he could just join his brother and not have to worry about it, but that felt so invasive. Roman didn’t get much of a life outside of him and their younger brothers, so it felt awfully mean to take away his only time free of them.

He almost wished he could be more like Roman. Roman had several friends from the theatre department who had been his friend since middle school! Patton just didn’t have the easiest time making long term friends with people. He did what he could whenever anyone asked, but after that they were done. He couldn’t blame them, he couldn’t exactly hang out much or have people over without stressing Roman out, so he tended to just not. It was easier, everything he did that kept him from home or brought more people home made it more difficult on Ro.

Which is why he hated that he was stuck in mandatory after school tutoring.

Not only did he feel dumb, but it meant Roman had to come back to school after picking up Virgil and Logan, which wasn’t fair to any of them. It usually took Roman until four to come get him, which was fine! He didn’t mind waiting, but since tutoring ended at three-thirty, his bullies had plenty of time to tease and taunt him. Patton could handle that, their words weren’t anything he hadn’t heard before, but sometimes they wouldn’t attack him and that’s when he couldn’t handle it.

“God your just as stupid as your brother,” one of the juniors snapped, “Don’t even know when someone is insulting you.”

Patton tried the best he could, but he couldn’t stop the anger rising in his chest. No one insulted Roman! Roman was an amazing;y smart person who did a lot for everyone he met! He jumped from the bench he was sitting on and glared at the taller boy in front of him, “I don’t care if you’re mean to me, but don’t you dare be mean to my brother you-you witch!”

He could feel his rage growing as his outburst was met with laughter from the older kids around him, before the ring leader raised his hand and Patton was suddenly thrown into the past.

Virgil was standing in front of their dad, tiny fist clenched with Logan right behind him. Patton desperately wanted to run out there, but fear kept his feet rooted in place. He was fighting against everything in him he could, while silently begging for Virgil to just shut up and for Roman to please just get home.

“Logan’s just little leave him alone! You’re just mad ‘cause he’s smarter than you!” Virgil screeched with all the power his small eleven year old body could muster.

Everything froze when their dad started laughing, quietly at first before erupting into a massive roar. Patton rushed forward, feet finally un-frozen, and scooped Logan up as their dad’s eyes were closed. Just as he was about to grab Virgil’s hand, their dad stopped and everything froze again. Only to come alive when Patton felt their dad’s hand on his wrist yanking him forward.

“Did you teach him how to joke? I know you used to like those stupid puns,” their dad mused, before pulling on Patton’s arm again, “Well?”

Patton bit back a whimper, gaze focused on the hand locked around his wrist, “I-I-”

“Spit it out!”

A yelp escaped Patton’s throat as his dad yanked his arm up, causing him to drop Logan, “Sor-sorry! I-I guess I did-”

Another cry escaped his throat as their dad tightened his hold and hoisted him up so he was stuck on his tiptoes and staring him the eyes.

“I don’t want to see any of you for the rest of the night got it? And don’t think I won’t be telling Roman how you couldn’t handle watching your helpless baby brothers for twenty minutes.”

With that, he dropped Patton’s wrist, allowing him to crumple on the floor by his little brothers, before he stormed away towards the living room, not sparing a glance back at his crying son who could only think of the kind man he used to be.

Remy couldn’t believe what he was seeing, a group of kids were surrounding the cute flighty kid from his math class who was laying on the ground and- was he crying?! Oh no, this was not going to be a thing at all. He’d go get a teacher and- Wait. Did Drayke just kick him?! Crushes aside, Remy was not going to let this go on for another second. Besides, teachers were next to useless at this school.

“Hey!” He yelled, adjusting his shades and sauntering forward, “Don’t know if you guys care but there’s a teacher headed this way and frankly y’all look a bit guilty of putting the biggest teacher’s pet on the ground. Don’t think I’d stick around if I were y’all.”

He watched, feigning uninterested as Drayke’s cronies booked it around the side of the school, leaving just him and the asshole who started it all.

“I’m not as stupid as them,” Drayke spit, throwing his thumb back to gesture to his ‘friends,’ “I know the teachers never come over here, not matter what.”

“Next time you might wanna tell that to your buds, ‘cause right now this is reminding me a lot of a highschool cliche,” Remy went on, trying to ignore the boy whimpering by his feet, “Bully gets taken down a peg by the much more handsome protagonist, that’d be me by the way, who then kicks the bullies ass for fun!”

Drayke snorted, rolling his eyes, “You used to be my friend, but now it’s like you think you’re so much better than me.”

“Oh sweetheart, that’s cause I am better than you,” Remy laughed, before booping Drayke on the nose, “Shouldn’t you be lettin’ your ‘crew’ know how you bested me by now?”

A growl rumbled from Drayke’s throat, reminding Remy of a dragon, before he turned around and stalked off, no doubt thinking of how to make this whole encounter seem like he won.

Remy shook his head before turning to see two big brown eyes staring up at him. Shit.

“Oh uh, glad you’re awake.”

Smooth Remy! Now all you have to do is actually shove your foot into your mouth.

“You stopped them,” Remy watched in horror as Patton’s bottom lip began to wobble and fresh tears fell from his eyes, “You helped me.”

“Um, yeah?”Shit, no, don’t make him feel bad like it’s obvious you’d help! “I mean, Drayke’s a real piece of work, and not one you’d find in a museum.”

Patton’s hand shoots up to cover his mouth as he giggles, and Remy can’t help but notice how his entire face lights up at the lame joke.

“Wow,” Patton grins, rubbing at the tears making their way down his face, “You came up with that with ease-el!”

“Was… was that another pun?”

“Uh huh, sorry it was a bit sketchy! I’m not sure I framed it right,” Patton’s smile grew even wider as Remy began to chuckle.

“You just got beaten up, probably forced into a flash back, and here you are making jokes. I can’t even top that,” He went on, crouching down beside the lower-classman, “Honestly, where have you been all my life? I need some sunshine.”

Remy smirked as a blush covered the other boy’s face and he pulled his knees up to his chest, “I mean, if I can make you laugh after you saved me I think it’s the least I can do.”

“Hey, hun, look at me. I look great, so it shouldn’t be hard to for just a second,” Another lame joke, rewarded with a small smile from Patton as he turned his head, “There yah go, now listen. I helped you because I wanted to. I’ve honestly wanted to talk to you for a while, but I never could find a reason that didn’t seem weird, so in reality I should be thanking you for not making me actually have to work up the courage to talk to you.”

“You-I- you wanted to talk to me?!” Patton squeaked, face turning beet red.

God, how much cuter could this dude be?

“Of course! Look at you! You’re nice and funny, and god people are so mean to you and girl let me tell you, you do not deserve it, but you take it anyway. Hell, I’d say I admire you for everything you do and I bet I don’t even know the half of what you go through.”

Now, normally, Remy is pretty good at predicting what’s gonna happen when he talks. He thought that after this little speech Patton may be a little creeped out, but he’d still say thank you and offer him another million dollar smile because he’s a gentleman god dammit, but no. Instead, Remy ends up with this freshman practically tackling him into a hug.

“Hey! Not that I am not loving this, like seriously you give amazing hugs, but take it easy. I don’t want you getting hurt anymore today.”

“Sor-Sorry,” Patton sniffled as he pulled away, causing Remy to wince internally, he didn’t mean to make him cry again! “It’s just been a bit since someone who wasn’t my brothers complimented me. I didn’t realize how much I needed a friend.”

“Well, I hope you don’t mind cause you’re stuck with me now,” Remy vows, throwing an arm around Patton, “Sucks if you do cause I’m like a parasite.”

“Don’t call yourself a parasite! You’re much cuter than a parasite!” Protested Patton, lightly swatting Remy on the arm, much to his amusement.

“Okay, okay, but um,” Remy coughed, nodding his head to the front circle where cars were showing up to pick up their kids, “Do you know that angry guy stalking towards us? Cause if not we may need to book it.”

“Oh! No that’s just Roman! He’s my brother,” Patton grinned, lifting his hand and waving, leaving Remy to wonder in mild horror about how he had managed to get a crush on Roman Sanders’ little brother and not realize it. No way was he gonna survive Sophomore year at this rate.

#tw child abuse #tw flash bakcs #tw swearing #tw fighting #tw yelling #tw bullies #sanders sides #brothers au #roman sanders #patton sanders #Remy Sanders #sleep sanders #story

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iwatchedhockeyonce · 6 years

Text

Lonely Onlies

When Bitty, curled up in his arms, has finally calmed down, Jack allows his surprise to show itself. He’s heard Bitty talk about his mother, his family. Hell, Jack’s met Mrs. Bittle. Jack wants to ask Bits why he hadn’t told her anything at all about being gay, or at least not being straight, but -

“I get it, bud. I really do,” Jack says instead.

Bitty’s laugh is muffled by Jack’s chest, though it sounds more strung out than actually happy. “But your parents...?” When he looks up, his face is dry but his eyes are red.

Despite it all, his mussed hair brings a small smile to Jack’s face. “You don’t have any siblings,” he explains: it’s a fact, not a question. At Bitty’s confused nod, he adds, “We don’t have any siblings.”

Bitty reaches up to pat at Jack’s hair, his voice on the cute side of patronizing. “Yes honey, I’m glad you’ve been paying attention.”

Jack leans back to put distance between him and the little chirping menace in his arms, huffing out a laugh through his nose. Of course, this only incentivizes Bitty.

“No, no!” Jack, with one arm behind him, scrambles further back on the bed; he uses his other arm as a buffer. Bitty pounces. Their wrestling match doesn’t last long, and Jack’s hair doesn’t make it out neatly parted.

Now laying back against the headboard, he pulls Bitty back to him. “No, really, listen.” He says, “It was kind of the same thing, before I got drafted into Q.”

Jack stops out of habit, unused to monologuing and half-thinking that sufficed as explanation. According to the fond-but-tired tilt to Bitty’s head, it wasn’t. Jack continues, left hand absently drawing circles into Bitty’s shoulder.

“There’s a draft for minor league hockey. Minor leagues in Quebec are called Q. And, uhm, draft’s are always stressful.” Jack laughs awkwardly. He sure was the man to be saying that. “That’s when my parents went for help. I got pills. Duh, I mean.” He furrows his brows, lets out a sigh. “They helped. But my parents were still so... worried. They didn’t have anything else to focus on, you know? I don’t have any siblings.

“I didn’t want to give them any more reasons to worry. It’s tough, thinking you’re their only kid. Like, if you have an older brother who's doing fine, well, your parents already have that success under their belt. So if you screw up, it doesn’t matter as much. But when it’s just you, all their hopes are just kind of pinned on...” The arm around Bitty’s shoulders tightens, while Jack’s free hand gestures to the air. “And they’d already booked appointments and picked up my prescriptions... What else could they do to help? And... when it got really bad, I was just worried they’d end up taking me off the ice entirely. So I didn’t say anything.”

Bitty leans up to place a little kiss on Jack’s face - though the hinge of Jack’s jaw is the farthest he can reach from where he’s cuddled up. “The first time something really bad happened,” Bitty starts, then stops. It’s difficult looking at Jack right now, and not just because of the awkward angle of his neck. Bitty opts to stare off at the corner of the room. “Uh, well, not really bad, just. It’s like they can see it on you, right? Even as little kids, they just knew I was -” Bitty shrugs his shoulders. ‘Different’ sounds like a cop-out. ‘Effeminate’ and ‘gay’ sounds too mature, too clinical for this particular childhood memory. ‘Off’ makes it sound like Bitty’s ashamed. He isn’t.

“The first time they really got into bullying me. Not just names. Like, pushing my face into the ground - I ran home cryin’. I told Coach. He never let it go. Well, I mean, obviously he did, but it took him so long, and I was so embarrassed and -” Bitty lets out a breath. “He seemed really torn up about it too. His little boy, gettin’ shoved around - lettin’ himself get shoved around. I think that’s why I held out doing football for as long as I did. I just. I thought he wanted somebody else for a son for a long, long time, and sometimes, I’m still not sure?” Bitty’s voice lifts at this. He wipes at his face. “I think if he could have another kid, he would. I’m not exactly what either of them were bettin’ on.” Gosh, he can’t even pronounce his G’s right when he gets like this, of course they’d want somebody a little more collected -

Jack’s other arm comes around to fully cocoon Bitty. He plants a kiss on the top of Bitty’s head before resting his chin there. They sit there for a while, still and quiet and gentle. Bitty manages to fight back another onslaught of tears, but it leaves the space behind his eyes feeling tight and achy.

“To be fair,” Jack says after a time, “I wasn’t betting on you either. But I’m so, so lucky you happened anyways.”

Bitty spoke too soon; his second batch of tears make an appearance despite all his best efforts, but at least they come with a smile.

(I have too many fluffy Zimbits scenes in my head, so I’ve been throwing them all here. Thanks for reading!)

#zimbits #eric bittle #jack zimmerman #jack zimmermann #omgcp #xanthifer writes #mine #sorry for any typos its almost midnight #lmaoo

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boogiewrites · 6 years

Text

Before & After Ch. 7

Before & After Ch. 7 - Losing It.

Characters: Jim Hopper x Reader

Summary: Becoming increasingly aware of your growing feelings, you find yourself reacting in the strangest possible way to feeling so connected to Hopper.

Words: 4400+

Warnings: Angst, a sprinkle of fluff, a touch of smut. Descriptions of non-tangible things. Is that a warning? Language, mentions of drinking, past abuse, painful memories, mental illness, physical injury, loss, paranormal aspects, mentions of death.

All other chapters on my Masterlist.

Here are the tagged folks, if you’d like to be added or removed, just leave a reply and I’ll see it! Any positive feedback or messages are appreciated. Thanks!

@whatmakesmebeme-tblr @sleepylunarwolfh @elevenofmages @alahmorah@norcula @undiscl0sed-desir3s @atari-writes @jobean12-blog@missharleenquinzel-blog@kiwiphroot@ashphoenix105 @ambeazyyy@riotguuuurl @warriorqueen1991 @misbehaving-f0r-days @divadinag @wefracturedmotivation @flamehairedwritings @earinafae @beltzboys2015-blog @gettinjoyful @lucifer-in-leather @nerdysuperchick @kathrinebutterlover @dragongirl420 @fangirlinginspace @xxdragonagequeenxx @the-bitch-gotham-deserves @hopperholland @lil-tea-cup @darthnerd25 @davidkharbours

“You force open your eyes and remember that there is a large, warm human in your bed with you. You forget your annoyance about being woken up when you feel him breathing on your neck. He's leaning over you, pulling you closer. A throb flows through you as he moves your limp body with one hand on your hip, and you're reminded of the night before. “

You're dreaming of a park you don't recognize. You move through the grass, looking around, kids are laughing, parents are finding brief moments of respite on their individual benches around the playground equipment. It's a happy scene. You decide to approach a small girl sitting on the grass, her dress ballooned out around her, her big blue eyes sparkle up at you with a smile as you reach down for her.

You let out a noise of rebuttal as you're pulled out of sleep and back into your body. You feel slightly disoriented, the dizziness reminds you that you drank last night. Maybe you should just accept you're to that age where you couldn't get away with hard liquor this often with zero consequences. As your body aches as you regain consciousness, you remember the fight from the night before and wonder if that's going to cause its usual literal headache. You force open your eyes and remember that there is a large, warm human in your bed with you. You forget your annoyance about being woken up when you feel him breathing on your neck. He's leaning over you, pulling you closer. A throb flows through you as he moves your limp body with one hand on your hip, and you're reminded of the night before. You groan from parts of you being particularly tender as you wake, and partially because his lips are moving on your skin. You stretch and he loosens his grip on you. You yawn and rub under your eyes, adjusting them on his face.

"I let you sleep in." you whine, your eyes shutting as you yawn.

"After last night how am I supposed to keep my hands off of you?" his voice is deep and rough, he hasn't been awake long. You rest your arm on him, humming with a look of agreement. He lovingly rubs your hips and over all the places he'd hit last night.

"Keep doin' that." you murmur, petting the hand that was rubbing over your body. He digs his fingers into the muscles a little harder, you let out a small, not intentionally sexual moan.

"Doesn't hurt?" he asks, planting a kiss somewhere in your hair. You shake your head and make a noise to indicate that it doesn't.

"No, just sore." you look up at him sleepily, "This helps." you raise your chin for a kiss and he doesn't hesitate to answer. His hands seem to work a heavy sigh out of your body. You relax against him, his mouth moves languidly against you, his big hands working down to your thighs. You wonder what it would take to get to stay right here like this forever. Another throb pulses between your legs, making you ache and tense from the strain of the night before. You let out a small, pained moan.

"What hurts, baby?" he kisses along your jaw, his hands back on your ass.

"Well, if you must know," your eyebrows raise as you start to grin, "You kissin' on me is turning me on," you explain a bit breathier than you meant to. "And certain parts of me are sore from last night so everytime you do something that turns me on it hurts a little." your voice is just a touch whiney. He stops kissing you but leaves his mouth on you.

"I can stop." you feel him say against your throat. You sigh out a noise of contentment and shake your head, he starts kissing you again before you even respond.

"I'd tell ya to stop if I wanted ya to Jim," you say low, moving into his touch. You hum happily as he kisses your collarbone. "You say you wanna take care of me so I was lettin' you." you explain, your fingertips running up and down his flexing forearm.

"Maybe you did learn something last night." he lets out a low laugh, kissing a line between your breasts.

"Last night was...yeah, " you let out a goofy snort of a laugh, feeling slightly ridiculous at how much you'd enjoyed the night before. "Last night was great." you run your fingers through his hair, looking down at him. A mischievous grin is revealed as he raises his head up to face you, his arm snaking around behind your back. "Well, that latter part of the evening anyway." you add in a low and teasing tone. The hurt you'd felt so intensely the night before was just a memory for now.

"I know you were really upset last night, " he reaches up to run his hand through your hair, "and not that I support that kind of behavior," he smirks at you, "But I'm proud of you for defending yourself." he kisses your forehead. "No matter how angry it makes me, it's good to know you can." your chin pushes into your chest, you might've blushed at his praise. You smile down at him, openly swooning at his words. He shrugs, deflecting the praise.

"A year ago you wouldn't have been able to admit that." you drop your voice to draw him to you, you ask for another kiss with your sultry stare. He nods, knowing you're right. "Guess you should've tried fucking a therapist instead of just talking to one." you start to release a small laugh and you're cut off by the deep rumble that erupts from Jim. His chest contracting and shaking the both of you like you were riding out waves on the water. You watch him laugh, the crows feet around the corners of his eyes, the folds around his mouth and nose deepening with his cheeks rounding out, making his eyes almost disappear under his heavy brow. You bite your lip and watch him catch his breath, he rubs his hand over his face, beaming down at you.

"Can't argue with the results." he scrunches his nose in amusement at you as he leans in closer. "You have to admit taking on a drunk grown man on your own is impressive, sweetheart." He grabs your hand with the wounded knuckles, his thumb grazing over them. "Not the smartest idea, but...".

"It was stupid," you admit, raising your eyebrows, "But it's not the first time I've broken a guys nose..." you chew the inside of your cheek in thought, your fingers idly running over the soft hair on his chest.

"I'd believe that." he laughs against your sternum, he rests his face against your body as his arms tighten around you. He starts kissing at the bottom of your rib cage. His lips trecking across the expanse of your chest.

"I had an expectation of bein' tough when I was growin' up." you sigh, watching him. "I didn't want them to hurt me so I learned how to hurt them instead." your hand rubs his shoulder as he moves across you.

"Smart girl." he coos against your skin, pecking up to your neck. You smile and close your eyes. You let out a small moan as you exhale, his mouth and hands distracting you from the negative thoughts. His hand reaches back down to your hips, earning a grunt of appreciation from you. This continues on for several minutes. Laying together, lazily kissing while his hand kneads your butt reminded you of how close you felt to him now. As you exchanged breaths from each other's bodies through your moving lips, you wonder how you ever lived without someone making you feel this way.

"How much to have you do this all day?" you groan. "Reminds me of when you used to help me stretch." you murmur with a fondness for the memories.

"Yeah that was never awkward, was it?" he chuckles, his hand moving to the back of your knee, raising your leg. You let out an amused huff.

"Thinking back I'm thoroughly impressed by your ability to not get hard while doing some of those positions." you move to accommodate your leg being stretched. He moves between your legs, holding them straight, your ankles on his shoulders.

"Who says I didn't?" he kisses your ankles through a throaty laugh. He takes one of your ankles, pushing it towards you. Once you'd been strong enough to stretch on your own you'd made him stop helping you because you were constantly reminded of how dependent you were on other people, and you had issues with that.

"I might recruit you to help me stretch again." you groan as his hand runs down your calf, bringing your knee closer to your head. "I think it'll be much more fun this time around." he leans in to kiss you as he follows the stretch of your leg.

"I couldn't push this far back the last time I did this for you," he kisses the inside of your knee, he repeats this action with the other leg, you groan, thoroughly enjoying yourself. "I usually have to be inside you to hear that one." he teases, leaning in to give you small pecks as his hand moves over the inseam of your leg. You land a smack on his chest in response to his words. He then sits back on his knees. "And one of my personal favorites..." he lets your knees bend, then pushes them out and apart. You let out a low groan that turns into a chuckle as he stretches the ache out of your most tender parts.

"Yeah I like this one." you rush out before another groan escapes you. You try to relax. He's obviously distracted as he looks down at you, spread open and presented, your knees pushed back towards the bed. The look alone in his eyes is enough to turn you on. He slowly releases his grip on one leg, sliding his hand down your inner thigh, his thumb grazes over your clit, your knees want to close together at his touch. "Mmmmph, Jim." you whine, your hips shift in response.

"You know what saying my name like that does to me, baby." he stares down at you with hunger in his eyes. He strokes up against your hood again. You let out a small gasp, which upon exhale turns into a moan as he repeats the action. He licks his lips and continues infrequent strokes against your most sensitive parts.

You greedily take in the sight of him with your eyes. His brow is knitted, focused. His tongue peaks out of his mouth, you notice his chest rising and falling. You bite your lip as your eyes trail lower, and you see his cock twitching, coming to life against his thigh as he hums, running his thumb over your wet center. You wonder what specifically he's thinking with that look in his eyes. You throb at the thought, your hands moving to your breasts.

He leans down to lick up your slit, quickly targeting your clit with his mouth, sucking you in. He groans, transitioning into open mouth kisses against the sensitive bud. You're distracted by the site of his tongue working against you outside of his mouth. You don't even see him move his hand so he can fill you with his fingers. "Jim..." your voice is quiet, with its signature twang. You reach down to run your fingers through his messy hair. He's on the verge of working another loud moan out of you when the sudden noise of the phone ringing on your nightstand startles you out of the trance he'd worked you into.

You both still, his eyes glare in the direction of the sound. You continue to live in the few seconds between the first and second ring in denial. You groan loudly and reluctantly remove your fingers from his hair. You frown and motion with your head for him to move so you can roll to reach the phone on your nightstand.

"Yeah?" You answer, you didn't care how shitty your tone was, you felt whoever was on the other end of this call deserved it for disrupting you. And you were right.

"Hey, Brandi, Chief there?" you hear Callahan's voice and you place the phone receiver against your chest and let out a shout of frustration. "Yeah, just a sec." you mumble quickly, holding the phone back to Jim who had slid behind you, hand wiping off his beard. You stay laying on your side while he takes the call. Lots of hums of agreement and disagreement coming from him.

"It's still the weekend she can't even take it in until tomorrow anyway," he explains, his tone annoyed, you could tell why he had been electing to not use many words to carry on this conversation. "Fine. No, it's," he takes a sharp intake of breath, "Fuck. It's fine, Cal just...ugh...I'll be there." he shakes his head and easily reaches over your body, his arms long enough to stretch and roughly hang up the phone.

"Well I could hear about how that went." you say defeated.

"Yeah," he sighs, moving to sit up on the edge of the bed. You roll towards him, moving to your knees and kissing his shoulders before he had a chance to remove himself completely from the bed.

"I just have to sign some bullshit papers, " he rests his hand on yours, settled on his shoulder. You manage to get in another kiss to the back of his neck before he stands. Leaning down to kiss you softly on the lips, he says in a gruff voice, "I'll be back soon, I promise." he kisses you again to delay the inevitable.

"It's okay, Hop. Just go and get back to me." you smile sympathetically. No reason to get mad about it, you're sure he'll make it up to you later.

He grabs his clothes off the chair in the corner of your room, hops around the room, tugging his jeans and multitasking, his tongue jutted out just so in concentration. He kisses you one last time for good measure.

"Soon." he promises again before turning smoothly and leaving your bedroom.

You hear his feet stomp against the wood floors, the pitch changing the closer he got to the front door. You hear the lock click and eventually his vehicle leave. Since you're already out from under the covers you decide to get up.

Your feet hit the cold floor and your knee gives as you step away from the bed. You easily catch yourself with your hand on the dresser but shoot a scolding look to your leg while you shake it anyway. Guess he really had knocked you around a bit more than you realized. You take another step and stumble again, your shoulder hitting the door frame.

"What the hell, Brandi?" you ask aloud to yourself, resting your back against the door to ease the whooshing sound of your heart in your ears. You don't move for a moment. The dizzy spell passed quickly, you decide you'll double your allergy medicine this morning. You pull on actual pants, it was too cold not to. You rub your hands as you put on coffee, and go through your morning routine. You don't feel that great, you add some generic painkillers to your other usual handful of pills to take the edge off.

You decide to pick up a bit while you have the time, you're sorting through Jim's clothes, you figure you might as well wash some of his stuff for him. You thought it'd be a sweet gesture. You're picking through his pockets and lay their contents on top of your dryer and after you push the start button, you scoop the items into your hands to lay on your dresser. You didn't know if he needed any of these pieces of paper with his hurried scrawl all over them. You do find something that doesn't seem to fit in. It's a blue hair tie, which seems...incredibly suspicious? You scoff aloud to yourself that the very thought would even cross your mind. You hold it up to the window to illuminate it and study it as you walk towards the big windows by the door. You find yourself oddly compelled by this seemingly random object.

"Why do you feel so..." you squint and shake your head, your vision focuses so intensely you feel dizzy. "...familiar?" you whisper aloud, your hip bumps up against the back of the couch, you barely notice. It's like you've seen this before but where? You're surprised when you feel your elbow hit the back of the couch as well, you notice your hands have hit the floor, you think you might hear the rumble of the Blazer, but it might as be the ringing in your ears and the sudden headache you feel. Your vision starts to tunnel and you pass out unexpectedly. ----------- It's like you're in a room full of giant, brightly colored movie screens, spread out everywhere you can see like a kaleidoscope, changing and transforming. Each amorphous blob moves continuously. You move your limbs and as you push through the rippling surfaces of these scenes playing, you can almost feel them. Like they're a ghost. A ghost of an idea, maybe. Like when you get distracted and a thought suddenly leaves your brain and your dig through your mind for a moment to try to find it. That's what you could best equate it to. You hear a loud voice, you move towards the sound, you find the same young girl you saw in your dream this morning. You push your hands up against the almost tangible surface of the pulsing, amoeba-like object. It resembled a squishy snow globe. Your fingers break through the thin skin of the scene, a barrier between you and it. You thrust yourself against it, and find yourself back in the park again. You can't control what you're doing or seeing but you run up the little girl, scooping her up. You can smell the candy on her breath, see her tiny teeth when she laughs loudly while you tickle her. You put her down and she runs from you but you quickly give chase, her pigtails bounce as she runs from you, giggling. That's when you notice it. The hair tie. You have the urge to look at your hands, where the hair tie should've been but you can't move. After a few rounds of the capturing and running, the little girl starts to make a funny noise. The screen starts to get blurry and it feels like you're losing focus. You see a woman run up to the little girl you both try to comfort her as she looks around scared. You double over, a sharp pain in your gut suddenly as you watch the scene unfold before you. You try to shut your eyes, you try so hard because the longer you watch the more it hurts. You finally thrash your way out, everything starts to go dark around you, but you don't exactly feel afraid. ------------------------------ When you wake up you're so groggy. Trying to open your eyes was like pulling yourself through molasses in the dead of winter. You blink them open eventually, after a hard fight. You're surrounded by bright fluorescent lights that burn. You whine and try to cover your eyes. Large hands pull your own away from your face, as your pupils slowly adjust.

"Brandi, baby, you there?" you know it's Jim the moment his voice hits your ears. You force a small moan up your throat, but it doesn't make it out of your mouth, but it's enough for Jim to know you can hear him. You try with eventual success to focus on him. You hear the steady beeping of machinery. Specifically hospital monitors. You groan loudly and try to look around, still squinting.

"Hate. Hospitals." you manage to say. You look at Jim and he half-heartedly smiles. He reaches up to move your hair away from your face. You've apparently gained enough consciousness to notice the blue hair tie around his wrist. Your eyes open wide and you hear the heart monitors start beeping very fast, you look back to Jim's face, now confused and scared.

"It's me, Brandi." he shushes you, assuming you don't recognize him. "It's me baby, It's Jim." he whispers, his face close to yours, holding your arms down as they tried to reach out and grab his arm. He assumed you were trying to hit him, you didn't blame him for that. You shake your head back and forth.

"No." you blurt out. He narrows his eyes, this was hurting him, you could tell.

"Yes, my country mouse, it is. It's your Hop. I'm not hurting you, you're safe." he presses his lips against your forehead, trying to ground you.

"Your arm." you manage to form, your brain function slowly improving. He releases his grip on you, he looks at his arms, confused. His hands still hover over you in case you lash out again.

"What is it, baby? I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm sorry. I can't let you hurt yourself though." he hurriedly explains.

"The hair tie, Hop." you get out, your head falling back, you're exhausted and your head throbs.

"Is that why you passed out? You found it and thought it was another woman's?" He had gone with what his detective skills had concurred when he found you passed out on your floor with it in your hand. Although you felt a bit insulted that he thought you were as fragile to faint over the possible idea he would cheat on you, you understood his deduction.

"No." you whisper, letting him know that wasn't the case. "What was that?" you ask, not entirely making sense to him since he didn't know what you'd just experienced.

"You're not making sense, baby. Just rest. We can talk later, they gave you a lot of medicine, you should just sleep." he kisses your hair, petting the side of your face as you close your eyes.

"The girl, Hop. I keep seeing her." you rasp out, your head hurts so bad, you want to cry.

You feel him go still against you. "Wh-what?" he asks hesitantly.

"Why are you wearing that?" you raise your head and look directly at the hair tie on his wrist.

"It's...it was Sara's." he blinks and looks away from you. You knew who Sara was, he'd mentioned her, told you what happened on one of your more late nights full of deep conversations and booze. “It was her birthday, “he inhales sharply, “...last month so I, uh...took it out.” his lips now in a tight line.

"She wore it?" you asked, your vision blurred, you whimpered and reached up to touch your head.

"Yeah, I- I kept it after she died." he swallows hard. The last thing he expected after this today was having to talk about losing his little girl while he was once again feeling the possibility of losing you. He shakes his head to snap out of it. "I used to wear it a lot more, years ago." he elaborates. "You've probably seen it before." he tries to pull his focus to the current girl in his life who he could still possibly help.

"I saw her wearing it." you look up at him. His face is confused, he was sure he'd never shown you photos of her. He figured that he would have some point in the future if you kept getting along this well.

"You've never seen her, Brandi." he calmly explains.

"I saw her." you whine, your head keeps pounding, the heart rate monitor beeps increase.

"I don't know what you're talking about, sweetheart, you've been passed out, you don't even know what she looks like." he pets your hair, heavily sighing.

"I do." you say, your eyes opening again. His mouth tenses, he's starting to wonder if the doctors should run more tests. "She had pigtails." you say, his eyes widen but don't match yours. "Am I right?" you ask, squinting at him.

"Most little girls do, Brandi, just relax, please." he pleads.

"Blonde hair." you say, your eyelids heavy. "Really light blonde hair..." you whisper, "a blue dress and pigtails in the park. That hair tie was in her hair." you say low and choppy. "Big blue eyes just like her daddy's..." you whisper, you want to cry, it makes your face go numb with pain.

He swallows to keep his tears in his eyes. "How-?" his voice is so weak, high pitched, he doesn't know where to begin with telling you actually sounded right. "How can you know that?" he whispers.

"I told you, I saw her, " you take a very deep breath, it was like your brain was trying to reboot. "I dreamed her and I saw her just now."

"Just now? You've been unconscious, sweetheart." he clears his throat to control himself.

Your eyes go wide with a terrifying and completely irrational possibility. "Hop.." you grab his arm. He stares intently at you. "Did you...pick her up and chase her a lot? You'd act like you were eating her belly up and you'd lift her up in your arms?" you hate to bring up the memory but you knew this was important.

"Yeah," he clears his throat again, you reach out to touch his face, a few tears fall from his eyes. If you could've cried you would have, the urge made the pain grow. "Yeah we did that a lot..." he sighs, then realizes you shouldn't know this either, "Why? How?" his exhaustion is obvious in his voice now.

"I saw her through your eyes, Hop." you knew that didn't make any sense whatsoever. "It was like I was living your memory." you hear a high pitched ringing in your ears, you place your hand back over your forehead.

"I don't know how to respond to that," he admits, shoulders slumping. "That makes no sense to me baby, I'm sorry." he takes your hand into his, holding it up to his lips, pressing a kiss to your clammy skin.

You wince and look up at him. "Believe me, Hop. I know."

All other chapters on my Masterlist.

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novantinuum · 6 years

Text

the time we lost, the time we mended (Chapter 4)

AO3

Rating: T

Words: ~ 3600

Story Summary: Before the summer of 2012, Ford and Fiddleford never thought they’d get the opportunity to see each other again. Now… they have a second chance. A chance to rekindle the love they once shared, reconnect a family once lost, and to mend old wounds. But as they’ll quickly discover, fixing the mistakes of the past doesn’t always come easy. Nor is it always possible. RP to fic.

A Fiddauthor reunion story written by @the-ill-doctor and I! This chapter features Stan and Fidds bonding over cooking, the ol’ McGucket family gravy recipe, and scrapbook-ortunities. Also, Ford can’t deny it any longer- he definitely still has a crush...

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Fiddleford crept across the hardwood floor at a sloth’s tempo, gently testing the corners of each board for extreme creaks and whines before pressing his full weight upon them. The little alarm clock resting on the dresser in the parlor Stanford let him sleep in read eight o’ four when he left. Since he didn’t know how late or early anyone in this here Shack slept in normally, he figured he should stay as quiet as he could. The last thing he wanted to do was give any of the fellas living here an unexpected spook.

He yawned deeply, quickly slamming his hands over his mouth when he realized how unintentionally loud he was being. Dagnabbit, he wanted his surprise breakfast to be a surprise to the family, not announced to the whole world before he could cook it! Muttering to himself, he hurried his pace, luckily managing to avoid the brunt of the squeaky boards as he entered the kitchen. He then set about rummaging through the shelves and drawers to see if they had all the right ingredients for omelets, or maybe biscuits and gravy. Definitely biscuits and gravy, he decided, since Stan didn’t seem to have any veggies he could toss in an omelet.

Hopefully he could remember his ma’s recipe in full this time...

Fidds heard heavy footsteps approaching, and a brash yawn. He turned and froze like a spooked deer intercepted by headlights on the backroads, standing on a chair in mid-reach for a baking sheet on the top of the shelf. Stanley stood in the doorway of the kitchen in his underwear and a tank top.

“Oh,” he said flatly, drinking in the scene before him. “Good mornin’, possum breath. Need help cooking anything?”

“M-mornin’, Stanley,” he said, and nervously tugged at his beard. He climbed down from the counter. Honestly, he still wasn’t sure how to act around Ford’s brother, considering how stand-offish he’d acted towards him in the past. “I- I’m fine, I just wanted to surprise y’all with some grub to thank you for lettin’ me stay here!”

“Well, no need to thank me,” Stan mumbled almost imperceptibly. “It’s Ford’s house, after all. But... eh, you’re welcome I guess.”

Fiddleford could practically sense the cool metallic intensity of that man’s eyes boring through the back of his head as he continued searching about the kitchen, trawling for ingredients. He scratched at his arm. Constant surveillance made him feel kinda itchy.

“Uh, hey? If you’re making biscuits, then how ‘bout I make some bacon?” Stan spoke up then.

He grinned wide, flashing what teeth he had left. “Sure! Can’t have biscuits and gravy without ‘em! Now let's see, after flour I need... uh-" His brows sank, growing pensive as he desperately tried to sort through recently recalled memory. "Come on, Fiddleford, you should know this..."

Wordlessly, Stan pulled the correct ingredients off the shelves and placed them on the counter for him. He then got out a frying pan for himself, for bacon duty.

"Oh, thank ya’," he said, walking over to the counter to observe the ingredients. "Although-" He placed his hand on his mouth and leered at the food Stan set up for him. "There's somethin' missin', I just know it! Mcgucket, Mcgucket... The Mcgucket Family Secret Gravy Recipe!" He opened the fridge, and found a half used can of brown meat. "I can't believe I almost forgot this! My ma would have my hide if I messed up her gravy!"

“You’re rememberin’ more and more every day, aren’tcha?” Stan asked suddenly, glancing towards him as he watched the bacon beginning to sizzle. “After all that mind wiping cult stuff got taken down…”

Fiddleford nodded amicably, amid measuring flour and baking powder into his bowl. "Some days I get a ton o' them back and other days it's very slow." He looked up at the other man, smiling sincerely. "It's tricky piecin' a lot of them back, especially the ones about your brother. But I'm just happy I finally remember who I am!”

"That's, uh... that's real great," he said with a weak laugh, attention drifting away to the bacon again.

His smile faltered. Part of him wondered what was going on in Stanley’s mind right now, but the other part of him feared gathering the nerve to ask. It probably ain’t his business anyways.

Within a few minutes, he’d mixed everything together and formed the biscuits between his hands on the baking sheet. As he waited for the oven to heat up, he began to hum an old silly song he recalled his pa used to sing while strummin’ on the guitar... Oh, grandma’s in the cellar, and boy don’t you smell her cookin’ biscuits on that darn ol’ dirty stove? In her eye there’s a matter that keeps drippin’ in the batter, and she whistles as a- *SNIFF*- runs down her nose! His ma despised it, if he remembered correctly. He carefully edged the sheet into the oven, and pretty soon the sweet aroma of his cooking began to waft throughout the shack.

"Ya know, I used ta’ make this all the time for your brother,” he mentioned offhand.

"Is that so?" Stan said, raising a brow. "Well, good on ya'. Some days I think Ford would've starved to death if there weren’t someone there ta' feed him. I swear, it’s like he’s too distracted to eat half the time."

"You’re tellin’ me!" Fiddleford laughed. "I literally had to wrangle him into a chair and tie him down to get him to eat whenever finals came around!"

The other man’s face lit up, and he let out a loud bark of laughter- genuine, this time. "Yeah, that sounds like 'im, that nerd," he said, laying the cooked bacon on a plate. "Hey... it, uh- sounds like your memory's returning better then you thought. You said you had trouble remembering stuff about Ford, but... that's two memories right after another."

Fiddleford's amused chuckling died down as he stopped to think for a moment. "You’re right,” he murmured, eyes widening into saucers. He stared up at Stanley with probably the calmest expression he's ever given him. "Thank ya’!"

"For what? You're the one remembering everything, all I did was talk to ya'..."

"Well, talking to ya’ really helped." Fiddleford replied, still smiling. "It's hard rememberin’ on your own."

At that moment, the two heard footsteps approaching from around the corner, and muffled voices. It sounded like Ford and Dipper, cheerily talking about some supernatural creature they’d both encountered in the woods. Stan froze at the sound, and Fidds was sure that man was mentally hyperfixating on every last detail of his last not-so-friendly interaction with his brother the night before.

Ford poked his head into the kitchen first, drinking in the sight of the home cooking occurring. He inhaled deeply, likely having followed his nose to the kitchen. "Good morning, Fiddleford. Stanley." Can I talk with you outside? he mouthed at his brother.

Stan nodded nervously, ducking out of the kitchen with him.

"Mornin', Dipper!" Fiddleford said.

"Morning, McGucket." Dipper shuffled toward the breakfast table. “I, uh- I see you're making breakfast?”

"Yep, biscuits and gravy!" Fiddleford scooped up a heaping spoonful and offered it to Dipper. "Wanna taste? I promise it’ll be the best dang gravy you’ve ever tasted!" he said with a wink.

Dipper seemed hesitant, which he didn’t blame him for— the kid saw him cooking roadkill on a spit a few days ago, after all!— but it seemed the smell was too alluring. Walking over, he took the offered sample and gave it a shot. The moment his lips closed around the spoon, his eyes widened, and he promptly licked the utensil clean. Fidds beamed.

"Heh heh, guess that means I made it right!"

The boy stayed at the counter next to him after that, watching him finish cooking the gravy. "So Mr. McGucket, you and Great Uncle Ford were roommates in college, right?"

"Yes, siree we were!" Fiddleford replied.

"What was he like?"

Fiddleford paused from his cooking, considering the question seriously. "Honestly? I love that man, but he was an absolute pain in the tush to bunk with!"

Stanley tensed as he walked into the hall with his brother, already getting flashbacks of the first argument they had here. As with every other interaction with Ford lately, nothing good could come out of this. He crossed his arms pensively. "Whatdy'a want?"

Ford sighed, pressing fingers to his temple. He seemed to almost deflate in his presence, oddly enough. "Stanley? Let me be frank with you."

Nevertheless, Uh-oh was all that could run through Stan's mind.

"I was-" Ford continued, forcing himself to look Stan in the eye. "I might have acted a little harsh towards you last night, and..."

"You think??" Stan burst out suddenly, residual anger from last night's encounter boiling over. "You were 'bout ta’ kick me out before the summer ended! Before my time, before I was ready, and exactly like what Dad did all those years ago!"

Ford stiffened at the comparison to their father, and continued. "I'm aware of that. Or at least, I was helped to become aware of that, and..." Another weary sigh. Where was he going with this? "There's no reason for me to treat you this way,” he said finally. “I'm- I'm not kicking you out. Obviously, you're free to leave if you ever wish to, but it would be unfair of me to uproot you from this place."

Stan stopped, and blinked. Dumbfounded. Did he just-? Did those words seriously come out of Ford's mouth? It wasn’t exactly an apology, but...

"So you're... you're letting me stay?" he said, mouth agape. "I don't have to leave after the summer?"

"No, you don't have to leave," Ford confirmed, a gentle smile crossing his face. "This has been your home for far longer than it's been mine, after all. I'd still like to talk about your Mystery Shack at a later date, and determine what compromises if any we could come to on that front, , but-"

Without any warning, Stan rushed forward and wrapped his arms tightly around his brother. Ford nearly stumbled back in surprise, at first not sure how to respond to this at all. But eventually, his hands stopped awkwardly floating midair and settled on Stan's back, tightly returning his embrace. They might still have a lot more to hash out- issues from their past to unpack- but for the moment they were simply happy to share in the kind of sibling affection neither had experienced in over forty years.

Meanwhile, Fiddleford continued to share embarrassing stories about his college years with Stanford, Dipper seeming wholly engrossed with each tale.

"Wow, so you two really didn't get expelled for setting the lab on fire?" he asked.

"Nope!" Fiddleford replied as he started to set the food on the table. "And luckily, too, the last thing we needed was to get kicked out of school. But boy howdy, were they not easy on us with the community service!"

“Are you giving me up, Fiddleford?” Ford asked suddenly, peaking around the corner of the doorway with a wry smile on his lips.

Fiddleford let out a surprised yelp. "H-howdy, Ford!" he said, grinning sheepishly. "Just sharin' some of our tamer days."

"Really? That's tame?" Dipper asked.

"My boy, setting a university laboratory on fire is child's play. Just wait until you hear about the time we almost accidentally released an alien superbug into all of greater Gravity Falls!" He walked over to his old friend, grinning mercilessly. "Fiddleford and I had all sorts of misadventures, back in the day..."

Fiddleford leaned his cheek against his arm, giggling at the memory. "Most of them were ‘coz someone liked to poke his nose into other critters’ business," he said, playfully nudging him in the stomach. "Yer’ just lucky we were able to synthesize that antidote, or else the town wouldn't be here anymore!"

Ford could feel the blood rushing to the capillaries near the surface of his face at the sudden physical affection, and while it left him with a sort of light, jittery sensation in his core he couldn’t necessarily attach a bad connotation to, he also felt a tinge of embarrassment that Dipper was there to see his reaction. He hadn’t gotten the chance to properly explore and catalogue his increasingly muddled thoughts on the matter yet. He’d far prefer to do that in private than in front of family, yes...

"Yeah, I fear we nearly destroyed the town on a number of occasions in those days," he replied to Fidds.

"Don't stop fearing yet," Stan butt in suddenly, returning to the kitchen. "Now that you're back in this dimension again, you've got plenty more years of potential destruction to cause!"

Ford frowned, picking at the stray threads on his jacket. Something about the way Stan phrased this brought the rift to mind, the rift he'd securely enclosed just this morning.

Mabel sleepily shuffled behind Stan, clutching onto a stuffed unicorn. "Mornin'," she yawned before climbing into one of the kitchen chairs.

"Mornin', pumpkin," Stan said, and gave her hair a nice big ruffle. He turned to the rest of the group, all loitering in the kitchen and surrounded by food. "Hey, we gonna eat, or what? This all smells delicious! Whoever cooked it must be a culinary genius... especially the fella who cooked that bacon!" He laughed boisterously at his own not-that-funny joke, and Ford promptly rolled his eyes.

"Do you need help taking any of these plates to the table, Fiddleford?" he asked, grateful for the change of topic from before.

"If y’all don't mind givin' me a hand. I'm hoping y’all like the food! Been a while since I've properly cooked anything."

"Tasted amazing to me!" Dipper smiled while helping a sleepy Mabel up to migrate.

Stan and Ford each grabbed a dish and carried them to the table in the living room. Ford carefully placed his at the center, and promptly returned to the kitchen to find some plates. Stan on the other hand, sat directly down, strategically positioning himself in the chair right in front of the bacon. "Hey, uh, kids," he began. "Just so ya' know, the Shack won't be open today. Maybe not for the next few days, who knows. But anyways, until this pigsty is fixed up, you two little gremlins are off the hook, okay? Go play with your friends, or in the woods, or whatever it is ya' do when I'm not lookin'."

"Really?" Mabel asked with a sleepy smile as she climbed into the seat beside him.

"Yeah, what's the catch?" Dipper asked, skeptical of his intentions as always.

Stan frowned deeply, more for show and dramatics than any true expression of disgruntlement. “The catch is, do it before I take advantage of Gravity Falls’ lax child labor laws and put you two to work on somethin’ else! Now, who wants bacon?”

“I’d like a strip or two,” Ford said eagerly, just returning to the table with plates and silverware for the five of them. He set the plates down and let the kids pass them out. “I don’t think I’ve eaten bacon for over thirty years. There’s not anything quite like it, out there in the midst of the multiverse...”

"I'll have a slice!" Dipper replied.

"Me too!" Mabel added.

Fiddleford walked in and set his gravy pot on the table. "It's been a long time since I've seen any bacon smellin’ this good,” he commented as he took his seat. "I wanna thank you again for helping me out with the cookin', Stanley."

“Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome, or whatever,” he said, brushing off his thanks with a flourish of his hand. Ford shot him one of those looks, but said nothing. Stan dished out the bacon to everyone, grabbing four slices for himself, and soon everyone began digging in.

Fiddleford noisily gobbled down his share of biscuits. To him, this was the most luxurious meal he'd eaten in months. After polishing off his first, he realized he’d spilled crumbs all over his beard, but he was so caught up in enjoying his food that he couldn’t bring himself to truly care. Meanwhile, Dipper practically drowned his poor biscuits in the gravy, and with food in her stomach Mabel was finally beginning to wake up.

Stanley worked away at his own plate quietly for a moment, too hungry to provide much in the way of conversation. As he ate, he glanced from Dipper, to Mabel… to Fiddleford, and sitting next to him— after all these years— his brother.

“Heh,” he muttered suddenly. “Y’know, now that I think of it, it’s funny…”

The four of them paused, Fiddleford mid-chew, when Stan spoke up.

"What is, Grunkle Stan?" Mabel asked.

“This… well, it’s dumb, but once I got ta’ thinkin’ about it, this is the first real meal I’ve shared with Ford in over forty years,” Stan said breathlessly, staring off into the distance, not quite meeting anyone’s eyes.

Ford dropped his fork against his plate, brows furrowing as he counted the years, calculated and double checked his claim. “You- my word, you’re right,” he said, eyes widening as he contemplated the truth behind this statement. Even yesterday— his first evening back— they hadn’t crossed paths much, since he’d dedicated nearly all of that time to constructing a containment field for the rift in the basement.

Mabel let out a loud and dramatic gasp at Stan's realization. "And it's the first time Grunkle Ford has eaten with me and Dipper period, meaning-" She shot up from her seat, all the vim and vigor Ford remembered from early this morning returning in a flash. "Be right back!" With no explanation, she rushed out of the living room, excitedly stomping up the stairs. Before anyone could truly comment on her outburst she returned with her polaroid camera.

"SCRAPBOOK-ORTUNITY!" she announced, holding the camera with lens facing her, the entire family in the frame behind her. When the camera flashed Stan was in the middle of picking his nose, and Ford was eighty percent certain he blinked. The greyed scientist began to laugh heartily at Mabel’s happy antics.

“You remind me of my Ma,” he said through laughter. “She was always taking pictures of Stanley and I, and mostly when we weren’t prepared for them.” He took another bite of his biscuit. A stray bit of gravy dribbled from his lip.

Mabel giggled and shook the polaroid when it came out of the camera. "I never miss a scrapbook-ortunity!"

“Mabel,” Dipper whined, “I was chewing when you took that picture!”

“It’s candid photography, that’s kinda the point, duh!”

Fiddleford gave his finger a lick, and reached towards Ford’s face. "Ford, ya’ got a little somethin' on yer chin..."

Ford blushed a deep scarlet as Fiddleford dabbed the gravy off his chin and the corner of his lips, his eyes blowing wide. He suddenly felt clammy, almost itchy as he felt the rest of the room stare at him… He knew for a fact they all saw the way his ears and cheeks flushed like some lovesick fool at Fidds’ touch, and his heart pounded at the thought of having to explain this to his own family when he hadn’t even taken time to fully consider these feelings himself. Not for the first time, he felt achingly like an alien— perhaps even an imposter— in his home, that is, if he could even claim it as such.

Mabel slammed her hands over her mouth and excitedly wiggled in her seat. She began to repeatedly nudge her brother's side, much to his annoyance.

When Fiddleford finished, he gave Ford a shy smile and leaned back in his chair. "Sorry, old habit from the old days," he said, blushing as well.

“Sheesh, if you two want to leave the room for a sec or somethin,’” Stan said snarkily, “then don’t let me stop ya’.”

Ford roughly set his cup down on the table. ”Stanley. That’s enough,” he hissed. “We will not be discussing this at the breakfast table.”

The kids flinched from Ford's sudden outburst.

“Wow, okay, okay,” Stan muttered, recoiling a little. “Hit a nerve there...”

"Stanford, there's no reason to get so upset, he was only teasin'." Fiddleford said, trying to diffuse the tension.

“I-I…”

Ford looked back and forth, from the kids— who were staring at him with slight apprehension— to Stan— who looked much like a kicked puppy— and finally to Fidds. Fiddleford. The man he knew deep down he’d never gotten over, never stopped loving, not even after thirty plus years, and the man who was currently gazing at him with such a gentleness in his eyes even despite his rough outburst. His palms sweat as he clasped them together, nervously threading his fingers between each other. Before his mind could catch up with his body, he found himself bolting through the door between the house and the gift shop.

Stan stared at the chair he left empty for a moment, trying to figure out where he’d gone wrong. He was only teasing. Surely Ford didn’t think he would judge him if he did have an old crush on Fiddleford, if his prediction was in fact accurate? “You, uh,” he began lamely, glancing towards Fiddleford. “You might wanna go after him before he locks himself away in the basement for the rest of the day.”

"Yeah, uh..." Fiddleford stood up. "E-Excuse me fellas."

#gravity falls #fiddleford mcgucket #stanford pines #fiddauthor #gravity falls fanfiction #stanley pines #mabel pines #dipper pines #my writing stuff #fiddauthor rp goodness

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thelastspeecher · 7 years

Note

46. Borrower Au Please and thank you

46. “I thought you were dead!”

Send me a number and characters and I’ll write a drabble!

“So, this is how I got here,”Stan said, showing Fiddleford an entrance to a small tunnel in the wall nearthe microwave. “Follow me, and I’ll takeya to your family.”

“I want Stanford to come with,”Fiddleford said abruptly. Stansighed.

“He can’t come, he’s too big.”

“Yeah!” Daisy chimed in.

“Are you sure, Fiddleford?”Stanford asked. Fiddleford nodded. “I’m honored.”

“Yeah, well, you can’t come,Sixer. Unless you’ve got a shrink rayor- you have a shrink ray, don’t you?” Stan said. Ford grinned. “Fantastic,” Stan muttered.

A few minutes later, Fiddlefordhelped Ford get to his feet on the counter. Ford looked around in interest. Daisy frowned at him.

“Who are you?” she askedboldly. Ford smiled nervously.

“I’m your uncle.”

“No.”

“I- what?”

“You’re big, not aBorrower. Can’t be uncle,” Daisysaid.

“Not big now,” Danny saidquietly.

“That is correct, I am your sizeat the moment,” Ford said. “And anyways,your father isn’t a Borrower either. Atleast, he wasn’t born one.”

“Like I said, stuff happenssometimes,” Stan said. Ford scowled.

“I want a proper explanation,Stanley.”

“It can wait, Stanford,”Fiddleford said. “I- I really want tosee my fam’ly again.”

“Yeah, come on, I’ll show ya theway,” Stan said. He grabbed Danny andDaisy’s hands. “Remember, girls, stickclose.”

“Yes, daddy,” Danny and Daisysaid together. Stan stepped into thetunnel and set off. Fiddleford and Fordfollowed. Ford cleared his throat.

“So, Stanley, you have twodaughters?”

“Yep,” Stan replied. “Danny and Daisy. Twins.”

“How old are they?”

“Three!” Daisy cheered. Stan nodded.

“That’s right, Daisy. You’re three years old.”

“When- when did this happen?”

“When did I become afather? Three years ago, Ford. Pay attention.”

“I think he was referrin’ to ya gettin’in a relationship what led to the girls comin’ into the world,” Fiddlefordsuggested. “I’m curious ‘bout thatmyself. I want to know what my fam’ly’sbeen up to.��

“About seven years ago, Angieand I met. Started datin’ a year later,got married two years after that.” Fordfrowned, mentally laying out the timeline.

“Wait, did you even get marriedbefore the girls…came about?” Ford asked.

“Barely,” Stan muttered. Fiddleford’s jaw dropped.

“Was Banjey pregnant when ya gotmarried?”

“No. That happened a couple weeks into the marriage. Look, Fiddleford, Stanford, can we not talkabout this in front of my kids?”

“Yeah!” Danny saidaggressively. She wrinkled hernose. “It’s weird.”

“All right, we’ll stop talkin’ ‘boutit,” Fiddleford said. Ford looked at hisfriend. Fiddleford’s hands were shaking.

“Are you all right?” Ford askedquietly. Fiddleford nodded.

“Yes, just a bit nervous, isall. It’s been so long since I’ve seen ‘em. I- I must’ve missed so much. I mean, my baby sister’s got her own babies.”

“It will be fine, Fiddleford,”Ford said. Fiddleford smiledweakly. They came to a fork in thetunnel.

“Which way do we go next, girls?”Stan asked his daughters. Danny andDaisy frowned thoughtfully.

“Do you not remember the way?”Ford asked, crossing his arms. Stanrolled his eyes.

“Duh. I’m just teachin’ ‘em how to find their way ‘roundthis place. Gotta start ‘em young.”

“That way!” Danny said, pointingto the part of the tunnel that split off to the left.

“Good work, princess. We’re almost home,” Stan said, ruffling Danny’shair. Danny giggled. Fiddleford’s nervous smile became more genuine.

“Goodness, they both have Banjey’ssweet lil laugh, don’t they?”

“Yeah,” Stan said. “They’ve got her laugh, her smile, her goodlooks-”

“Mama says we’re cute ‘causeyou,” Danny interrupted. Stanchuckled.

“Okay, truce. You two are cute ‘cause of both of us.”

“Remarkable,” Ford muttered,shaking his head. Stan looked back atFord.

“What? How cute my kids are?”

“How good a parent you are,”Ford said. Stan’s relaxed expression waswiped away by a sour glare.

“Gee, thanks, Sixer,” Stangrumbled, looking away. After about fiveminutes of uneasy silence, the small group arrived at a door. “Go on in, girls,” Stan said, nudgingthem. Daisy darted forward and openedthe door, then ducked inside, closely followed by her twin.

“Speak of the devil! There ya are, sweetlings!” a voice said. Fiddleford’s eyes widened.

“Lute,” Fiddlefordwhispered.

“I told ya. Everyone’s here,” Stan said. He walked inside. Fiddleford and Ford hovered awkwardly at thedoorway.

“It’s ‘bout time ya got here!”Lute scolded. “We were about to sendsomeone out to find y’all!”

“Nope, we’re back,” Stansaid. “But speakin’ of findin’ people…” He looked back at the door and gestured forFiddleford and Ford to come in. Fiddleford hesitantly walked in. Lute gasped.

“Fidds?”

“Howdy, lil brother,” Fiddlefordsaid weakly.

“Holy- you- how-” Lutestammered.

“It’s a long story,” Fiddlefordsaid. Lute ran his hands through hishair.

“I’ll bet it is. Danny, Daisy, go get yer relatives, okay? Tell ‘em Fidds is home.” The girls nodded and ran off, almostcolliding with someone entering the room.

“There’s my babies,” the femaleBorrower cooed, scooping Danny up before she could escape. “Did yer daddy take ya on an adventure?”

“Mama, we have job to do,” Dannyprotested, squirming in her mother’s arms.

“Oh? And what job would that be?”

“Lute wanted to send ‘em off tospread news that I’m back, Banjey,” Fiddleford said. “Or, I guess yer goin’ by ‘Angie’ now.” Angie’s head jerked up. She stared at Fiddleford.

“Fidds?” she whispered. Fiddleford nodded. Danny managed to successfully wriggle free ofAngie’s grasp; she darted out of the room. “Fidds!” Angie rushed forward,tackling her older brother in an intense hug. “I- I thought you were dead!”

“We all did,” Lute said, joiningin on the hug. Fiddleford let out asmall sob.

“My baby siblin’s. I’m so sorry I was gone fer so long.”

“Well, we ain’t lettin’ ya getloose again,” Lute said firmly.

“Yup. You just got to stay here, in this hug,forever,” Angie said. Fiddlefordchuckled weakly.

“The more things change, themore they stay the same,” Fiddleford said. Angie and Lute broke off the hug. “Oh, look at the two of ya. Allgrown up,” Fiddleford whispered. “Lasttime I saw ya, neither of ya were even seventeen. Now yer real adults, with- with significantothers and kidlets.”

“Not me,” Lute saidproudly. Angie rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, Lute’s perfectlycomfortable bein’ the fun uncle. All theenjoyable parts of children bein’ ‘round, none of the responsibility.”

“Yup.”

“Even for a Borrower, your wifeis small, Stanley,” Ford said idly. Angie and Lute whipped their heads around to stare at Ford. “Oh. Hello.”

“Who are you?” Lute asked.

“I’m Fiddleford’s associate,Stanford Pines.”

“He helped me get here,”Fiddleford added.

“Ya found another Borrower,wherever it was ya ended up at?” Angie asked.

“I’m not a Borrower,” Fordsaid. Angie and Lute groaned.

“Not this again.”

“Hey, I wasn’t lyin’!” Stanprotested. Ford frowned at Stan. “When I first showed up at the McGuckets’place, they thought I was lyin’ or crazy, since I said I was human, not aBorrower,” Stan explained. “I thoughtthey believed me by now.”

“We do,” Angie said. Lute made a “so-so” gesture with hishand. “It’s just pretty stretched odds,fer there to be two humans what are Borrower-sized.”

“I used a shrink ray,” Fordsaid.

“So you weren’t enchanted likeStan was?” Lute asked. Ford blinked.

“I wasn’t enchanted, no. Stan, you were enchanted?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“By the way, before one of thegirls brings it up, turns out that the human that helped Fiddleford out is mytwin brother,” Stan said. Angie rubbedher face, exasperated. Lute frowned.

“How does somethin’ like thateven happen?” Lute asked. Stan shrugged.

“Beats me.”

“If you want, we can explain howwe found you,” Ford said.

“I meant, like, in the grandscheme of things,” Lute said. “It’s…mightyodd.”

“All of this is odd,” Stan said. Ford nodded.

“For once, I have to agree.”

#jklasdfnasd yet another subpar thing to come out of this prompt meme #sorry folks idk what's been going on with me lately #the writing spark it's. it's struggling to stay lit #but some of this is still decent tho so #borrower au #stanley pines #stanford pines #fiddleford mcgucket #Danica Pines #daisy pines #lute mcgucket #angie mcgucket #my writing #ficlet #writing meme #ask #anonymous #Stangie Family

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queen-scribbles · 7 years

Text

Five More Minutes

@pillarspromptsweekly Fill 9: To the Rescue.

Tavi cursed as snow dropped down the back of her boot for the fifth time in the past hour. “Why is it always the same fuckin’ boot?!” she groused under her breath as her right sock got just a little wetter. Again.

“I told you to lace your boots tighter,” Sagani said from behind her. An amused smile tugged her lips as Tavi’s scowl deepened. “C’mon, Tav, I did warn you.”

“Not helping,” Tavi growled. “I was makin’ sure I didn’t cut off blood flow an’ tryin’ to account for my fuckin’ socks.”

Sagani shrugged as the wind whipped at her hair. “It was your choice, Tav, all I’m sayin’.”

Unable to come up with a better reply, Tavi just rolled her eyes and kept walking. The faster they got down the damn mountain, the faster it wouldn’t be an issue. Stalwart lay hours behind them, and if the weather didn’t get too bad, they could probably make it to the bottom by night.

As if summoned by her wishing for the opposite, the wind picked up again, throwing snow in their faces. One especially strong gust unbalanced her and sent her teetering toward a snowdrift. Oh, shit, seriously-

“Careful!” Aloth’s hand closed around her arm and he pulled her back upright.

“Thanks,” Tavi smiled breathlessly, linking her hand with his once she had her balance back. “I swear the weather has it in for me.”

“And what makes you think that?”

“Aside from tryin’ to knock me into the fuckin’ snow? It waited until I figured out an estimate on travel time to reach the bottom that was dependent on good weather, and then it started doin’ this shit.” She reached over and flicked chunky snowflakes out of his hair. “Guess Ondra’s pissed at me.”

Aloth chuckled. “Well, you did just survive drowning by the skin of your teeth and return the Eyeless to Abydon, thus undoing what was probably centuries worth of effort on her part.”

Tavi snorted. “Still. Tryin’ to knock me in a snowbank? That shit’s fuckin’ petty.”

Aloth opened his mouth to reply, but she shushed him, frowing at the snowy expanse to their right. “Didja hear that?”

“What?” he asked in a whisper, as she was clearly still listening for something.

“Sounded like a kid,” Tavi muttered, tightening her grip on his hand as she leaned toward the elusive sound.

“We’re hours from the nearest civilization,” Aloth frowned, expression deepening when he heard the next soft wail. “It’s probably just wind through the rocks.”

“That would make more sense...”

“You still want to go look, don’t you?” he said knowingly. When she nodded, he squeezed her hand. “I’ll come with you.”

Tavi shook her head. “Those snowdrifts are gonna be waist-high at least on us. No reason for both of us to get soaked, especially on what’s likely a wild goose chase.” She looked back at the rest of the party. “Kana! Come help me with something for a minute!”

“What do you need?” Kana asked cheerfully as he approached.

“Listen,” Tavi instructed, waiting until she saw recognition dawn in his eyes. “I wanna go see what that is. Just in case it’s something more than wind through rocks. An’ since you’re the biggest, I figure you’ll have the easiest time walkin’ off the beaten path with me.”

“Of course,” Kana nodded gamely. “Let’s be off.”

Tavi grinned at his enthusiasm, giving Aloth a quick kiss on the cheek as she released his hand. “Be right back.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” she heard Aloth mutter as she and Kana headed off in the rough direction of the lingering sound.

>O<

They walked for almost half an hour in silence, both trying to pinpoint the cry, before Kana sighed.

“I don’t see anything but rocks and snow, Tavi,” he admitted. “And I find it hard to believe a chld’s lungs could be this strong, especially out in the cold.”

Tavi nodded reluctantly. “You’re right, and it was probably just wind through rocks like Aloth said anyway.” She huffed a breath, watched it cloud the air. “Can we just go five more minutes before we turn back? To be safe?”

“Whatever you want,” Kana said, shooting her a curious look as he picked up her tone. “May I ask why this is so important to you?”

“That’s fair,” Tavi muttered, then sighed again. “When I was, oh.... fifteen, I think, my brother got lost in the woods. He was about six. Took two days for one of the search groups my father organized to find him. They’d... talked about turning back and decided to go five more minutes. We were five minutes from never findin’ him. Five minutes from him likely dyin’ out there. If they hadn’t pushed on, hadn’t gone far enough to hear him singin’ to himself....” She shook her head as she pushed through a deep drift of snow. “So now I’m extra paranoid about checkin’ thoroughly.”

“I can understand that,” Kana nodded. He cocked his head, listening. “Ah! I do believe I’ve found our culprit.” He pointed off to their left, at a tall rock spine pierced with a trio of holes. When the wind blew through, their varying sizes combined to create an all-too-folklike cry. “See, just rocks.”

Tavi’s shoulders sagged slightly in relief, only to re-hunch at a blast of snowy air. “Thank Hylea. Aloth was right. I really didn’t want it to be a lost kid. We woulda had to take ‘em back to Stalwart, an’ that would be a pain.”

Kana chuckled as he turned around. “At least it’s safe to turn back now.”

She laughed. “Y’don’t hafta hint, Kana. We can go.”

The two of them started retracing the path they’d made getting where they were. An occasional gust of wind pushed Tavi sideways, and she’d have to course-correct back to the track behind Kana. Most of the time it was only a step or two’s deviation, but one particularly nasty blast shoved her a good five steps to her right in an attempt to keep her balance.

It didn’t work. Mostly because her last step crunched down on ice over air buried under three feet of snow rather than rock.

“Motherfuc-!” It came out as part yelp, part growl while she was still pitching forward.

“Tavi!” She heard Kana yell her name, the crunch of his boots through the snow, felt his fingers brush hers as she fell, but it was too late.

He head bounced off the side of the crevasse and stars flashed across her vision. She hit both sides several times on her way down, finally landing hard on one shoulder. It gave with a pop that hurt almost enough to make her cry out. She probably would have anyway, if her landing didn’t also conk her head against the ground hard enough to knock her senseless.

>O<

She came to in the almost-dark of a fifteen foot deep crevasse, with no idea how long she’d been unconscious. Before she even tried sitting up, Tavi wiggled her toes inside her boots, and then her fingers. They all worked with no hesitation, except for her left hand. She sat up slowly, not putting any weight on that arm.

“Hylea’s fuckin’ tits,” she groaned, sucking in a pained breath between her teeth. Focusing on the narrow strip of light above her made her head pound like an Engwithan war drum. “Kana?!”

There was no answer from above, just her own whimper echoing back to her as her ribs protested the deep breath.

“Gods...” Breathing hard, she shifted position so she could sit leaning against the wall. She gingerly felt at her left shoulder, gritting her teeth against another whimper. “Nnngh...”

That’s fuckin’ dislocated, she confirmed mentally, using her right hand to rest her left arm across her lap. I really hope Kana’s gone because he went to the others for help...

The truth of the matter was, even with the high likelihood she was right, there was no way to know how long Kana had been gone. And no way of marking time other than sitting there and counting the seconds, which was a thoroughly unappealing thought. So Tavi settled in to wait, inventorying her injuries to pass the time and stay awake.

>O<

Fortunately, aside from the dislocated shoulder, a couple bruised ribs, and a nice goose egg above her left ear, there didn’t seem to be anything serious. And fifteen feet of rock overhead did offer a good bit of protection from the elements. Even more fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long before she heard someone calling her name, muted and distant thanks to the wind.

“Still here!” she hollered back, loudly as she dared with her ribs aching at deep breaths.

“Tavi?!” That was definitely closer, and definitely not Kana.

“I’m fine, city slicker!” Tavi called up. Relatively speaking... She gritted her teeth as she stood. “Just want fuckin’ out of here!”

There was a note of amused relief in Aloth’s voice as he called back, “Understandable. We’re working on it.”

“Don’t s’ppose we have any rope left, do we?” she suggested. That would be too easy...

“Unfortunately, no,” Aloth said regretfully, his silhouette visible as he leaned over the crevasse. “The last one broke after the Battery tower.”

“Don’t you dare be sorry about that, Corfiser!” Tavi hollered, indignant and not caring if it hurt her ribs. “This is fuckin’ leagues better than lettin’ anyone-” you especially, her mind whispered- “plummet to their deaths. I’m fine, I swear.”

“What are you considering fine, Tavi?”

Dammit. He knows me too fuckin’ well. “Oh, y’know... scrapes, bumps, bruises, dislocated shoulder...”

“Tavi!!” He sounded offended on her behalf that she was downplaying her on injuries.

“I’ve had worse and you know it!” she pointed out.

“Don’t remind me!” Aloth called down.

A smaller silhouette appeared next to his and Sagani chipped in, “Y’know, we can just kick him down there if you’d rather have a conversation at a normal volume level, Tav.”

Tavi laughed and then yelped. “Rather you got me up, ‘Gani.”

“We’re working on it,” Sagani promised. “Give us five more minutes.”

“Okay.” Tavi leaned her head back against the rock and muttered to herself, “Literal minutes, or metaphorical ones?”

Growing up, whenever she or her brothers had asked for five more minutes to play or read whatever, they almost never literally meant five minutes. They were hoping their mother would lose track of time and they would get ten or fifteen.

>O<

“Five more minutes,” Khellin begged, eyes on paw prints that spiraled out into the woods.

“Five more minutes,” Casius pleaded, sprawled sideways in a chair with a book propped against his knees.

“Five more minutes,” Malachi said, flopped on his back with the neighbors’ cat curled up on his stomach as he hummed to himself.

“Five more minutes,” Tavi wheedled, perched precariously halfway up a tree.

“Oh, fine,” conceded Mom with a smile, time and time again, invariably giving her children far more than they asked for.

>O<

“Tavi? Are you alright?” There was a note of concern in Aloth’s voice and she realized how long she’d been quiet.

“Still fine, Aloth,” she reassured, the ache in her chest fading with the memories. “Just thinkin’.”

“You must have hit your head rather hard...” he teased.

Tavi growled even as she grinned. “I’ll hit your head, city slicker.”

“I’ll let you,” he said, low enough she wasn’t sure she was supposed to hear it.

“Aloth, I swear I’m fine!” she promised. “I’m not bleedin’ to death, I don’t have any grievous injuries, Hylea, the only reason I haven’t fixed my shoulder myself is ‘cause it’s a damn sight easier with help.”

“I’ll still feel better when we get you out of there...”

“I know, city slicker. Me, too. Shit, you think I like it down here? First of all, it’s still cold. Second, it’s hard and un-fuckin’-comfortable, and third, I’m away from you.” And I cannot believe I fuckin’ said that out loud...

“However will you survive?” Aloth deadpanned, most of the nerves gone from his voice.

“We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?” Tavi retorted. “In all seriousness, Aloth, I’m not sleepy or anything, so you don’t hafta keep talkin’ to me.”

“Maybe not for your sake...” he said with a shaky, sheepish laugh. “But perhaps I need the reminder.”

“Well, then in the interest of not distactin’ the planners, let’s just sit here. Whenever you get nervous just call my name and I promise I’ll answer.” Hylea’s tits, she hated being stuck down here. She hated not being able to do anything, she hated that she couldn’t reach Aloth to squeeze his hand or give him a hug. Of course, if you could we wouldn’t be in a situation where he was worryin’ about you, would we?

“That... will have to do,” Aloth conceded reluctantly. And so they did for the remainder of the five minutes.

Finally Sagani popped her head back over the edge, knocking down small clumps of snow as she did, and called, “Okay, I think we worked something out. We tied the rope that broke in the Battery back together with about six different knots-”

“We still have that?!” Tavi asked incredulously as she got to her feet.

“C’mon, Watcher, you know I’m a hoarder.” The teasing note was clear in Hiravias’ voice, even distorted by the wind.

“This is the first time I’ve wanted to kiss you for it, though,” she retorted.

“Pass,” he chuckled. “You can kiss Aloth instead.”

“Deal!” Tavi laughed. “Sorry, ‘Gani. You can finish now.”

“Just that I think the rope should hold your weight long enough to get you out,” Sagani concluded. “This isn’t that deep, an’ it’s a pretty straight shot.”

“Worth a try,” Tavi concurred. “Just tie a loop in the end you lower down. I only have one workin’ arm right now, so I ain’t gonna be able to climb it. You’ll hafta pull me out.”

“Got it. Just a second.” Sagani disappeared from view for a minute, then her head popped back over the edge. “Okay, ready?”

“More than,” Tavi called back. She looked away from the brightly lit crack so her eyes would be adjusted when the rope reached her level and waited. A few seconds later she heard the quiet but distinctive smack of rope against rock and picked out the pale brown line against the dark grey rock backdrop. As promised, the end was tied in a big enough loop to fit over her head. Tavi settled it around her waist--hopefully low enough it wouldn’t bother her ribs--and gave it a tug with her good hand. “Ready!”

In response, the rope went taut and she started moving upward, using her feet to keep from hitting the walls. When she was within arm’s reach of the edge, Tavi let go of the rope and grapped rock instead. Almost immediately, a large hand closed around her wrist and Kana pulled her the rest of the way out and set her on her feet.

“Tavi!” Aloth winced when she turned to look at him, which she barely caught as her eyes adjusted to the change in light.

“What?” she frowned. He reached over and brushed his fingers just above her eyebrow. They came away sticky with mostly-dry blood. “Pretty sure that’s nothin’ serious,” she said reassuringly, reaching up to push her hair back so he could see. “You know how head wounds are. They bleed like fuckin’ crazy.”

“Clearly,” he said dryly, even as his finger found the small cut along her hairline. “This one’s covered nearly a third of your face.”

“Well, guess we better get me cleaned up,” Tavi said glibly. “So I don’t look like a nightmare.” She reached down and scooped up a handful of snow--almost losing her balance in the process--to rub against the bloody part of her face.

“Here,” Aloth offered. He wiped the mess off her face with his sleeve, despite her protests, and gave her a tentative kiss on the cheek.

“And now I know nothin’ in my face is broken,” she joked. “Can we fix my fuckin’ shoulder?”

“Actually...” Sagani hesitated briefly. “If you think you can stand it just a little longer, Keya’s been settin’ up camp in a cave we found back near the path. If you can wait ‘til we get there, we can take off some layers, which should make things easier. Also, there’s food.”

“Ooh, one of my favorite sentences. I think I can manage.”

>O<

In the end she only made it five minutes before all the stubbornness in the world couldn’t keep her going and Kana had to carry her the rest of the way.

Keya had done quite a good job setting up camp for the time she’d had. She arched an eyebrow at seeing Tavi carried in. “What have you done to yourself now, Watcher?”

“First of all, I didn’t do this to myself,” Tavi protested as Kana set her down. “Second, it’s not as bad as it looks. Just pop my shoulder back in an’ I’ll be fuckin’ fine.”

Keya didn’t look entirely convinced, so Tavi just started trying to undo the fastening on her coat one-handed.

“Let me help,” Aloth offered quietly as the others scattered to tend their own business. His fingers deftly separated the toggles and loops.

“Thanks,” Tavi whispered, fighting the urge to lean against him in her exhaustion, since it would make his task harder. “And since you’re bein’ nice, I won’t make a crack about finally reachin’ a point in our relationship where you’re undressin’ me.”

He smirked rather than blush, and briefly leaned his forehead against hers. “You’re better than such low-hanging fruit, anyway.”

Tavi snorted, shrugging out of the coat with her good shoulder as the last fastener parted. “City slicker, I’m all about the fuckin’ low-hangin’ fruit. It’s like you don’t know me at al-”

He kissed her. Tavi felt her own pleased hum answered by his as she reached to cup his jaw with her good hand.

I take it back, something inside her smirked. He knows me really fuckin’ well. Aloth grazed her bad shoulder as he moved to copy her action, and Tavi broke the kiss with a yelp.

“Gods, Tavi, I’m sorry,” he said in consternation.

“S’alright,” she managed, resting her head against his shoulder briefly. “It’s a good reminder I should get that fixed before we make out, anyway.”

“Very true.” Aloth helped her the rst of the way out of her coat, gingerly around the dislocated joint, and then repeated the process with the heavier of the two shirts she wore. He sat next to her and held her hand while Keya popped her shoulder back into joint. Let her squeeze --encouraged it, really-- until Tavi was worried she’d break bone or something.

>O<

Once Tavi as all put back together, they sat by the fire, loosely wrapped in a shared blanket, and watched Sagani and Hiravias prepare dinner.

“I’m sorry we didn’t make all the progress you wanted today,” Aloth murmured, thumb rubbing the back of her hand.

“It’s okay,” Tavi replied, giving his hand a much gentler squeeze than she had earlier. “Caves are good for our relationship.”

He laughed quietly, nodding concession of the point. “They have been something of a good luck charm for us, haven’t they?” He turned slightly to kiss her on the temple. “And shouldn’t you be lying down? I seem to recall Keya telling you to rest.”

“This is restful,” Tavi countered, snuggling closer.

“Tavi. You know what she meant.”

“Fine. Five more minutes?” she cajoled, tilting her chin up for a kiss.

Aloth sighed, smiling slightly as he caved to both the spoken request and the unspoken. “Five more minutes.”

Neither of them were terribly surprised when that stretched to twenty.

#queens fic #pillars prompts weekly #pillars of eternity #otp: third time's the charm #tavi illani #aloth corfiser #i love them so much #obligatory reminder keya's a hired orlan paladin #she's more focused on healy stuff than pallegina

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alykazamfanfiction · 7 years

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Stolen Hearts in the City of Thieves Chap. One

The city of Dennish looked as it always did, filthy and riddled with thieves, vandals, and other sorts of criminals. Gajeel and Juvia, entered through a dilapidated city gate; deciding to make a stop at the bandit city upon the dragonslayer's request. The two phantoms wandered the rainy markets and residential streets until they arrived at the tavern they usually stop at when first entering town.

When Gajeel pushed open the door and entered the dark ale house the familiar stench of stale beer, soggy wood, and watered down liquor attacked his nose causing a displeased snarl to manifest on his face and a growl to rumble from his lips. The patrons sitting at the tables, the wooden surfaces molding and sticky with layers of lost booze, turned their eyes to the source of dull light and sound and froze in fear realizing they were looking at the infamous Black Steel Gajeel and his quiet comrade, one of the powerful Element Four of Phantom Lord known to many as the Rain Woman.

The nightmare of Dennish had returned home.

The bar and all its patrons were silent as death for too long, Gajeel became annoyed with the humming of rapid heartbeats around the dingy room and shouted from the entrance, “The hell are y'all lookin' at!?”

The violent growl in his voice jolted everyone out of their stupors and the bar filled itself again with whispers of money trails and coveted information. The dragonslayer's heavy boots thumped on the old beer soaked floor that creaked under his hard steps as he walked over to the bar, the aqueous femme fatale following quietly behind him. Her seemingly timid presence, a front for the elemental force she could control and wreck havoc with.

“Two pints of tha usual garbage ya serve 'round here,” Gajeel slammed his fist on the bar, the iron studs on his fingerless gloves, reflecting the orange flames from the lantern hanging above, matched the ones embedded in his forearms, ears and face. The thick fabric stained brown with foreign blood from the last mission. Gajeel Redfox was known to all present for his strength and his abuse of said strength to get his point across. To challenge the tall, well built ruffian was a death wish nobody dared to have granted and all requests were obliged. Gajeel had come home, even if he would rather be at the guild miles away, he found he missed the cowering drunks and charlatans making way for him wherever he went.

Two steins of ale were pushed to the two phantoms and as the ebony haired brute placed the hop heavy liquid to his lips he stopped as something caught his eye. At the back end corner of the bar a small figure sat shrouded in a tattered brown cloak. On the bar before the child, sat an empty shot glass and a single tarot card. At least Gajeel thought this patron was a child, there was no way on Earthland a full grown person could be that small.

“Hmph,” he scoffed into his mug as he took a large drink, “so you're lettin' kids drink in here now?” The barkeep shrugged as he wiped the surface of the bar knowing it would never shine. Gajeel stared at the mysterious small person and he recalled when he and his old partner in crime Mash used to sneak into pubs much like this to pick-pocket the old drunkards who were foolish enough to fall asleep in their glasses of ale or whiskey. Maybe the kid was down on his luck; the dragonslayer could understand that.

Gajeel downed the rest of his stein and slammed it on the bar. Seeing as Juvia had not finished hers he grabbed that as well and gulped the bitter beverage much to his friends dismay, but the roll of her eyes and the shaking of her head told him she didn't mind, especially with the small smile that curled from her typical frown. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stood up from his stool, the sound of the tall chair scooting on the wooden floor seemed to die short from the source, killed by the hum of criminals talking, arguing or downright fighting without and ounce of subtlety.

“Well I know I sure as hell ain't gettin' pick-pocketed while I'm in town. C'mon, Juvia, lets get outta here.” After throwing some jewels on the bar, Gajeel and his quiet partner left the dark tavern, bringing in some overcast light from the rainy day outside as they opened the door to leave.

In the dark corner of the bar, the cloaked patron with her card and her empty glass sat still as stone before raising a dainty pale hand up with her index finger pointing up to signal the barkeep to fill her glass once more of the house liquor she has previously gulped down. Her nerves never failed her, no matter how many times she had done missions like this one, no matter how many petty thefts she had done as a child in the Magnolia marketplace, her nerves would almost get the better of her moments before the job. Almost.

Golden eyes, hidden under unruly light blue bangs, peered down at the tarot card on the bar. The card baring a portrait of a beautiful brunette with long, wavy hair, her slender yet shapely upper body covered with a small bikini top. At the bottom of the card was a banner that simply read 'Cana'. She downed the fiery shot that burned the whole way down her throat and picked up the tarot card in front of her and held it close.

“Cana, I need you to answer me,” she whispered softly to herself and the card.

The young woman stared at the card, her features still obscured by her hood and the surrounding darkness. Within a few seconds the portrait of the brunette opened her violet eyes and smiled.

“Hey there, little Lev,” the woman on the card began to speak, “how's that codex retrieval mission coming along?”

“Alright, I guess,” the hooded girl replied to the talking card in her hand, “It's just been a long time since I've done a mission like this. I was hoping you'd do a reading for me. Just to keep my possibilities known.”

“Sure thing, I have my cards in my hand right now. Just let me lay them out.” The card fell silent for a moment before the portrait's face changed from its usual smile to one of concern.

“Mmm,” the card began, “My cards are telling me that you'll take the codex, but some obstacles will come your way. You'll be saved by a spirit holding two red stones...”

The card's portrait became grim with what she said next, “However, the price for saving your life...will be your heart. Levy, you're not making strange deals with devils are you?”

“What?! No!”

“Alright,” she sighed. “I feel like my reading wasn't as much of the pep-talk as you were hoping for.” Cana's worry for her friend reflected through the card. “Please, Lev, be careful on this mission. 'Kay?”

“Of course, no spirits will be stealing my heart today. Besides most prophecy magic is symbolic anyways, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about.” the petite woman made sure to speak with an air of confidence to assure her friend through the card.

The brunette on the card smiled, her bluff was successful, “Alright, Lev, good luck and be careful!”

“I will. Thanks, Cana.”

The woman on the card's eyes closed and seemed to lose the magic that made it so animated moments ago. The girl placed the card away in a pocket within her cloak and stood up and, with the most subtly she could muster, glanced at one of the tables at the other side of the tavern.

She took a deep breath, 'That codex isn't about to steal itself,' she thought as she began moving though the bar unnoticed and silent as still air.

~~**~~

Gajeel and Juvia had been walking down the stone paved street outside of the bar they just left. The walk was wet from the rain Juvia could never undo around her, and quiet due to the fact that the two were never fond of small talk. The dragonslayer stomped through the wet streets with his hands in his back pockets; his comrade walking beside him with the grace and aura of a queen.

Suddenly a familiar scent was caught in Gajeel's nose as he heard the rapid splashes of footsteps behind them. Someone was clearly running out of fear for their life. Before he could turn around, the person on the run collided with him with a force that surprisingly almost knocked the massive man off of his feet. As he bared his teeth to berate the fool who ran into him, he was caught off guard by who it was that had bumped into him. And everything seemed to slow down as the adrenaline hit his veins.

It was that kid from the bar! A girl no less; her hood had fallen from her head, revealing a wavy head of hair such a shade of blue that Gajeel had sworn to Ankhseram that a piece of the sky had fallen through the rain clouds above.

When their eyes met it was as if the world stopped turning, and judging by her honey brown gaze he was not alone in the strange feeling.

The Iron Dragon noticed that she was holding onto something tight to her chest with both arms as she continued to run past them in the downpour. 'Damn it all she was a thief, stupid kid!' Gajeel thought as he heard the hollers of a group of ruffians following from behind shouting 'thief' and 'don't let her get away' as they ran after her. He saw her trip over her own feet, as she caught herself her cloak flew up revealing thick womanly legs and a round, firm posterior as she turned down a street Gajeel knew was a dead end.

“Gajeel, it's the child from the bar!” Juvia cried out as the men pursuing the young woman had also turned down the same dead end street.

Dread sank in Gajeel's chest. The laws of Dennish were as backwards and cruel as it's denizens. Punishing a child for theft was typically a beating, but a woman caught stealing was left to their accusers' judgment. Gajeel Redfox was a lot of things: ruthless, destructive, cruel even, but he was by no means the type to allow something unthinkable to happen to someone trying their best to survive. He was no monster.

Gajeel started to run the the street ahead after the girl and the group of men after her.

“Gajeel! What are you doing!?” The woman in blue shouted as she began to sprint behind her friend.

“That ain't no kid, Juvia! No kid has legs and a fine ass like that! She's a full grown woman and if those bastards get their hands on her, she's in serious trouble! Now c'mon!”

The sky haired woman halted to a stop at the dead end she ran herself into. She had read the laws of the city before taking the mission and was aware of the consequences she could face if the men after her were to realize she was not a lowly child. One of the possible punishments would be a fate worse than death in her opinion. She prayed to the First Master that her small stature would fool everyone and she would get by with the beating of her life. However that ruse was shattered when she overheard someone shouting about how a “fine ass” like hers belongs to no child during her attempt to escape.

“Well, now that we have ya cornered,” a gruff voice that sounded as sleazy as the man who spoke. “Give us back what you stole and we won't kill ya after we have our...compensation for yer meddling”

The emphasis of the word 'compensation' implied everything the young thief dreaded. She held onto the codex in her arms tighter to her chest as she took in her surroundings and measured up her adversaries. This codex was integral to the research of a lost part of Fioran history before the Dragon King Festival and for the sake of knowledge and her body she was going to fight with everything she had.

There were four of them and they appeared to not be mages. She could use her magic to her advantage, she just needed to grab her light pen in her cloak pocket. Before she was able to finish her thought on how to deal with her assailants two of them were thrown into the brick walls of the alley by a massive blast of water while the man who was telling her about their plans of punishment was struck in the head by a large iron pillar. As the three fell to the ground unconscious and limp the last man standing turned around slowly to see that he was standing before a hulking man who towered over him dressed in black with long unruly hair to match. His iron studs on his skin glistened on his forearms despite the lack of sun, and those eyes that burned a fiery blood red stared at him in a way that made the cad suddenly feel weak and pitiful. The woman beside behemoth eyed him with similar threatening eyes that were ready for battle and lacked mercy.

The last thug was quivering with fear as he looked at his fallen friends, no longer caring to stay he ran haphazardly out of the alleyway. Running into and falling over the barrels of garbage and rain water that were full on the count of the current downpour, adding humiliation to his cowardice.

The small thief stood in awe at her saviors. Before she could offer her thanks the tall brooding man began to scold her as he walked up and pointed a finger at her chest.

“You idiot!” He began to shout, “Tha hell were ya thinkin!? Don'chya know the laws 'round here!?”

“As a matter of fact, I do!”

“'N' ya still thought stealin' whatever tha hell it is ya got from those morons was a good idea?” Gajeel placed his fists on his hips trying to look past her arms to see what she was holding onto for dear life. “Say, what tha hell did ya snatch from 'em anyways?” He asked with a forced aura of indifference, he would be lying if he said he was unimpressed. The shrimp had guts!

The girl blushed as her eyes looked away sheepishly while loosening the grip on her prize. Gajeel would be lying a second time if he said that look was unbecoming of her. He was unsure if he was simply that impressed with her moxie, but he could not help but admire everything about her. She revealed the ancient codex, strange symbols adorned the worn leather cover that Gajeel could not read.

“A book!?” He huffed in a gruff voice.

“A book,” the thief replied curtly as she could see the menacing man try not to smile and failing terribly. And he did something that she did not think he was able to do judging by his dark appearance.

He laughed!

Not just a casual chuckle, but a boisterous roar. It was not only loud but downright odd! A strange “gihi” sound echoed in the alley while he reached down and ruffled her light blue locks roughly.

“Ya hear that, Juvia? Tha shrimp here is crazier than I am!” He turned his head to look over at Juvia who was rolling over one of the unconscious ruffians with her booted foot making sure that the body was still breathing. He turned back to the young woman in front of him who stared up with an irritated glare, her cheeks slightly puffed and her lips puckered, even her snarl was something Gajeel could not put his finger on, but he liked it. He liked her.

“Tell ya what, girlie, those morons are prolly gonna come after ya again ta try ta get that back. So why don'chya come 'n' hang with us fer a while. Have a few drinks.” Gajeel waved his right arm to signal her to tag along. A guild mark was visible on the shoulder. It looked like an eye with horns and a devil's tail. No doubt about it, it was Phantom Lord's Devil's Eye insignia worn by all members. Not just a mage guild, but the rival guild of her own guild, Fairy Tail. He was right about everything, she ought to tag along with them, for now at least. She would in the meantime keep her guild ties to herself to avoid making an already rocky mission into a disaster, but she could not help but wonder what her guild mates would think of this?

She ran past the defeated bandits to catch up to the Phantoms ahead of her, deciding a proper introduction should at least be attempted.

“So if you two are going to be my rag-tag escorts can I at least know your names?” she asked between breaths as she reached her new companions and adjusted her pace so as to keep up with them. “I know your guild mark, you two are from Phantom Lord!”

As she ended her sentence, her new comrades stopped mid-step and turned around to meet her knowing eyes. The blunette could not read their expression on their faces and began to regret her previous words until the stoic woman stepped forward to extend her hand to the thief as she introduced herself formally.

“I am Juvia Lockser of the Great Sea, a member of the Element Four, our guild's flagship team. My dear friend is Gajeel Redfox the Iron Dragon. Juvia also wishes to know madame's name.” The water mage greeted with a smile that seemed to make the rainfall suddenly feel warm.

Surprised by Juvia's warm and polite speech, the thief pondered for a moment while returning the smile in the downpour around them. She hoped they would not recognize her name for fear of the outcome upon learning they had just rescued a member of their rival guild. She was also concerned about the chance they would eventually find out during their time together.

“My name is Levy. Levy McGarden. It is a pleasure to meet you both!” The small mage answered her new friend as she reached out to connect with Juvia's hand in introduction. Throwing caution to the wind and taking the risky gamble, knowing that life is not worth living if one does not take a chance every once in a while.

#gajevy #Gajeel X Levy #Gajeel Redfox #fuckyeahgajevy #Levy McGarden #fairy tail

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