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hailing-stars · 3 years

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@febuwhump: day two - I can’t take this anymore

no screens for the concussed

summary

“Is he broken?” He heard Happy’s panicked question from somewhere out of sight. “He can’t be broken. We can’t return a broken kid to May.“

“Relax, Hap, Peter’s taken rougher falls than this one,” said Tony, his voice still calm, even if his eyes were panicked. “Right, kid?”

Peter’s stomach lurked, and finally, he knew how to say what he needed to say. ”Trash can.”

“What?”

“Throw up,” said Peter. “I’m gonna.”

A flight goes wrong thanks to turbulence causing Peter to take a blow to the head.

Peter gripped the straps of his overnight bag, and stared at the Stark Jet sitting on the tarmac, waiting for them to board it. It wasn’t his first time on a plane, or even on one of Tony’s, so he couldn’t explain the dread, the tight knot sitting in his stomach, wound and ready, it seemed, to snap him in half.

That morning he’d woken up anxious, with a slight nauseous feeling and an ache behind his eyes. All day the anticipation built, built and built, by no single thought in particular, though the plane gave the anxiety a target, a threat in which to spiral and to tighten.

“What’s the deal with the sunglasses?” asked Happy, once the three of them got settled on the plane.

Tony chose the seat next to Peter. “Leave the kid alone, Hap, he’s obviously learned his fashion sense from the best. Sunglasses inside will always be hip.”

“Don’t say hip,” Happy told Tony. “You’re old just like me.”

“Old and hip, right, Pete?” Tony nudged him with his elbow, and the plane moved, at least it did for Peter. One look out the window told him that they were, in fact, standing still. “You okay, kid? You look sort of pale. And disturbed, like that time you were arguing with that film critic on Twitter.”

“He wasn’t a film critic,” said Peter. “Just some guy on the internet, and he got Star Wars completely wrong. Probably didn’t even watch it.”

Tony chuckled, and pulled his cell phone from his pocket and began to scroll. Peter was thankful for the distraction, redirecting his anxious, now angry, thoughts towards the people on the internet, until Happy made a move to pull his overnight bag from his hands.

“I want to hold it,” said Peter, clutching his bag, embarrassingly aware of how similar he probably looked to a child hugging a bear.

“Okay,” said Happy, giving him a suspicious stare. “You sure you’re alright? You’ve been acting weird all day.”

“I’m fine, Happy.”

“Just making sure.” Happy backed away from where Peter and Tony sat, and sat down at the table on the opposite side of the plane. “May would kill me if you collapsed before we even got to the conference.”

“What he really means is May will make him sleep on the couch.”

“Can we please not talk about that,” said Peter, quickly, before Tony took the conversation to awkward, uncomfortable places.

Happy grumbled in Tony’s direction, before sinking into his chair and pulling headphones out from his pocket, plugging them into his phone and ultimately, pointedly sticking them in his ears.

Peter thought Happy sort of had the right idea.

Headphones were what he needed for this flight, and he needed to get to them before the plane roared to life and they shot up into the air. He unzipped all the compartments of his bag, his search becoming more and more frantic as it had started to become apparent his headphones were missing.

“Shit.” He pushed his bag off him, and when it landed to the floor, his wallet fell out of the smallest pocket.

“Kid,” said Tony. “Take a breath. What’s wrong?”

“I left my headphones at home.”

“What? Conversation with me that unbearable, huh?”

Tony smiled at him, but Peter wasn’t in the mood for jokes. He turned his attention back to the floor, where his bag still laid with the contents spilling out. He kicked at it, and Tony gripped his forearm.

“Pete?” asked Tony, his voice low and quiet, making it clear his words were just for Peter to hear. “What’s up? Something’s clearly bothering you. Something a little deeper than headphones.”

Peter sat up straighter in his chair and looked straight ahead, his thoughts racing and spinning out, about the plane, and about having to confess that he was Spider-Man and that his anxiety was getting the better of him.

“It’s not a big deal,” said Peter. “Just feeling a little anxious.”

Tony frowned at him. “About the flight? You’ve flown -”

“I know, look, I know, alright?” Peter’s words left his mouth sharper than he intended. “I’m sorry, I’m just -”

“-Anxious.”

“Yeah,” said Peter. His arm flew to grip the armrest as the plane shifted beneath them. “And I don’t have my headphones.”

“I could steal Happy’s for you.”

Peter sunk down in his chair, and gripped the armrest even tighter. “Please don’t… please don’t turn this into a big thing.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at him.

“You know, like freak out about it, and call May, and discuss it like I’m not here, and get all concerned and worried and helicoptering.”

“Doesn’t help much, does it?”

And because Peter was too stressed to lie, he told the truth. “Not really, no.”

There was silence between them, until the plane started to roll forward, and Tony pulled his laptop from his own bag, placed it on the table in front of them.

“I have just the distraction,” he told Peter. He clicked a few buttons and the titles of movies appeared on the screen, all Peter’s favorites. “Thought I’d start working my way through the list.”

“What is this?”

“Everytime you make some off the wall movie reference I have FRIDAY add it to the list, if I haven’t already seen it,” said Tony. “So, how about it? No better time to knock one of these out than a flight.”

Peter nodded, allowing just a small smile, and distracted by his tightening anxiety by the revelation that Tony actually listened to him when he talked about things. The opening credits began, and Peter could do this. He could survive this flight.

Peter couldn’t do this.

It had been fine for a few minutes, once they got up in the air, and Tony had started the movie, and it had been easy to pretend they were anywhere else.

But everything went to hell when the turbulence started.

Peter gripped his chair so tightly he was sure the armrests would be dented and broken once he let them go. He imagined outside the plane was being tossed around like a ship on an angry sea, and once or twice, he watched Tony’s reaction, knowing he didn’t have to worry if his mentor wasn’t displaying any signs of distress.

And he wasn’t. Neither was Happy.

They were tense, clearly uncomfortable, but overall, not anticipating their impending doom the way Peter imagined being violently ripped from the dark, angry clouds.

Happy looked a bit like the time May forced him to come to a Decathlon meet and sit in the uncomfortable folding chair, and Tony frowned, the way he did whenever Peter mentioned hanging out with Harry Osborne.

“We’re good, Pete,” said Tony, after a particularly nasty bump. “All normal.”

Peter nodded, too nervous to be embarrassed by his anxiety. And he would’ve been fine, would’ve gotten over his draining feeling of doom that twisted his insides, if it hadn’t been for the nauseous feeling that came with it.

He tried to ignore it. Pretended that the only thing bothering him was the plane being tossed around, but then everything went still. The turbulence stopped. And it did nothing to improve the turbulence in Peter’s stomach.

He bolted from his chair.

Peter ignored Tony yelping in surprise and yelling at him to sit back down. Yelling that things were probably about to get rocky again, and because the universe always had to spite him, because Tony Stark always had to be right, that was exactly what happened.

The plane shifted, and Peter was knocked off his feet and sent stumbling towards the left wall, where his head caught the corner of a cabinet. It was sharp, blinding pain on the top of his head, so splintering that his eyes were dizzy with stars, so disorientating that he hadn’t realized he’d fallen to the ground until there was a weight on his shoulder and Tony’s head floating in the space above him.

“God, Pete, are you okay?”

Peter mumbled his words, unable to get them out in a way that made sense.

“Is he broken?” He heard Happy’s panicked question from somewhere out of sight. “He can’t be broken. We can’t return a broken kid to May.“

“Relax, Hap, Peter’s taken rougher falls than this one,” said Tony, his voice still calm, even if his eyes were panicked. “Right, kid?”

Peter’s stomach lurked, and finally, he knew how to say what he needed to say. ”Trash can.”

“What?”

“Throw up,” said Peter. “I’m gonna.”

Happy brought a trash can to where he was laid out on the floor just in time for him to stick his head into and throw up. Once he finished, he rested his head against the plane’s carpet and shut his eyes, until he couldn’t ignore the nudging on his shoulder any longer.

“Stop, Tony, tired.”

“Yeah, well, you can’t go to sleep.”

Peter opened his eyes and stared at him. “Why?”

“Because your hair is getting crusty with blood and you probably have a concussion,” Tony told him.

“Not a doctor.”

“Nope,” said Tony. “But I have Google, and I’ve known you long enough to have had cause to look up these symptoms at least seventy-two separate times in the past.”

“Can’t be that many,” said Happy, still somewhere out of sight.

“Have you met Peter?” asked Tony. “The kid attracts accidents and illnesses so often I’m starting to think it’s another side effect of the spider bite.”

Peter groaned, as his stomach lurched a second time, and as the plane shook some more. When things went steady again, Tony got up and left him, only to return minutes later with a warm cloth he used to gently attack his hair with.

“That’s a pretty nasty cut,” said Tony.

The mention of blood was too much for Peter’s weak stomach, and he stuck his head back in the trash can and threw up some more, with the added bonus of smelling and splashing around his puke from the first time.

“Hap,” said Tony, taking the trash can away from Peter when the second round was over. “Flush this.”

“Why do I have to be the puke dumper?”

“Would you rather flush the puke or clean the blood?”

Happy marched over and took the trash can with him to the bathroom, and Tony stayed with him on the floor, gently dabbing at his head between spurts of turbulence.

“This really sucks,” said Peter. His eyes were heavy, and sleep felt just inches away, beckoning him, willing him to just shut his eyes and give in. “I hate this. I want off this plane. I can’t take it anymore.”

“You can,” said Tony. “Because you have to, so you will, and we’re almost there. Just a few more minutes.”

“Never flying again.”

“Yes you will.”

“Will not,” said Peter. “Let’s take a train next time.”

“I don’t see how that’d be any different,” said Tony. “You’d just find a way to injure yourself on that, too.”

The plane shook again, shook the inside of Peter’s head, which already felt as if it were on fire. It shook the inside of his stomach, which still felt like he still needed that trash can.

Happy, as if he could read his thoughts, reappeared with the now empty trash can. Peter took it, and gripped the edges, but thankfully, the sick feeling went away. He was left hugging the plastic container, just in case, as the plane blazed through the clouds.

They went straight to the hospital once the plane landed. After being blinded with flashlights, and put through MRI scans, the doctor agreed that he had a concussion, but a mild one that allowed them to leave the hospital and check into the hotel.

Tony kept the lights dim in the suite. He pushed him into a bed, and ordered him to stay there while he went downstairs to the lobby to buy him ridiculously overpriced gatorade, ginger ale, and crackers. Happy stayed behind, and stared at him from the armchair in the corner.

“You still remember your name, don’t you?”

Peter made a big deal about looking up at the ceiling. “Uh, umm, it starts with a P, right? Something about a park maybe…”

Happy’s alarmed expression was enough to spin the entire trip, both the flight from hell and the visit to ER, in a brighter light.

“Chill out, Happy,” said Peter, the hint of a laugh in his voice. “I’m fine.”

He still didn’t look convinced.

“It’s Peter. God, I know my name.”

“That’s not funny,” said Happy, standing from the armchair and waving an accusing finger at him, at the same time Tony walked into the room with a bag filled with sick people remedies. Happy brushed past him, and grumbled, “I’m going to bed.”

The door to the adjoining room opened and closed, and Tony dropped the bag on the bed by Peter’s feet.

“Alright, what will it be?” asked Tony. “Glacier Cherry gatorade? 7up?”

“Uhhh,” said Peter. “...I’m good.”

“You have to drink something,” said Tony. “You’re getting the gatorade. I don’t wanna find out what dramatic thing happens when spiders get dehydrated.”

“I resent that,” said Peter, but accepted the frosty, cold drink anyway, knowing Tony wouldn’t let him hear the end of it if he didn’t at least sip on it.

He worked on taking slow drinks while Tony buzzed about the room, messing around with their suitcases and putting all the sick person snacks away. Finally, he sat down on the other bed, and looked at the TV they couldn’t turn on.

“Worst conference ever,” said Peter. “I’m rating it one out of ten.”

“Wow. That’s historically bad, bud, considering it technically hasn’t started yet, and we won’t even be attending anymore.”

That had been Tony’s call. Over protective, really, like refusing to turn on the TV and taking Peter’s phone away. No screens for the concussed. It was completely unfair.

Tony had declared on the ride from the hospital to the hotel that they’d stay in and rest the next day.

“I’m sorry I ruined your trip.”

Tony laughed. “It’s a technology convention, ran by people years behind SI, Peter. We weren’t going there for me. We were going for your college application.”

“I’m sorry to my college applications, then.”

“Don’t be,” said Tony. “There’s still plenty of time for that. Other conventions. Better ones. Truth be told, just wanted the time to hang out with you and Happy.”

“Could’ve just invited us over for pizza.”

“Nah,” said Tony. “This was more fun.”

“Fun isn’t the word I’d use.”

“Pizza, huh? That mean you’re getting through your pukey phase?”

“Maybe,” said Peter. He hadn’t noticed the bad feelings in his stomach had become less pronounced, had almost disappeared completely. “Hopefully.”

“How’s the anxiety?”

“Better,” said Peter. He chuckled, despite himself, and his concussion, the way the motion hurt his head. “Don’t really know what it was about, actually.”

“Anxiety doesn’t need a reason,” said Tony. “Or at least one that’s obvious.”

That idea of randomness, that anxiety would always be around, lurking, might have really fucked him over earlier. But it was a little easier to take knowing he had Happy providing trash cans and dumping his puke, and Tony to help him through it. Two extra people in his corner on bad days, so it was alright. Everything was alright.

#febuwhump2 #febuwhump2021 #I can't this anymore #hurt Peter parker #irondad #irondad fic #my fic #concussions #vomitting #Tony and peter

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queenlua · 3 years

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hey, i started following you recently and ur bio says ur a hacker? any tips on where to start? hacking seems like a v cool/fun way to learn more abt coding and cybersecurity/infrastructure and i'd like to explore it but there's so much on the internet and like, i'm not trying to get into anything illegal. thanks!

huh, an interesting question, ty!

i can give more tailored advice if you hit me up on chat with more specifics on your background/interests.

given what you've written here, though, i'll just assume you don't have any immediate professional aspirations (e.g. you just want to learn some things, and you aren't necessarily trying to get A Cyber Security Job TM within the next three months or w/e), and that you don't know much about any specific programming/computering domain yet.

(stuff under cut because long)

first i'd probably just try to pick some interesting problem that you think you can solve with tech. this doesn't need to be a "hacking" project at first; i was just messing around with computers for ages before i did anything involving security/exploitation.

if you don't already know how to program, you should ideally pick a problem you can solve via programming. for instance: i learned a lot back in the 2000s, when play-by-post forum RPGs were in vogue. see, i'd already been messing around, building my own personal sites, first just with HTML & CSS, and later on with Javascript and PHP. and i knew the forum software everyone used (InvisionPowerBoard) was written in PHP. so when one of the admins at my RPG complained that they'd like the ability to set multiple profile pictures, i was like, "hey i'm good at programming, want me to create a mod to do that," and then i just... did. so then they asked me to program more features, and i got all the sexy nerd cred for being Forum Mod Queen, and it was a good time, i learned a lot.

(i also got to be the person who was frantically IMed at 2am because wtf the forum is down and there's an inscrutable error, what do??? basically sysadmining! also, much less sexy! still, i learned a lot!)

the key thing is that it's gotta be a problem that's interesting to you: as much as i love making dorky sites in PHP, half the fun was seeing other people using my stuff, and i think the era of forum-based RPGs has passed. but maybe you can apply some programming talents to something that you are interested in—maybe you want to make a silly Chrome extension to make people laugh, a la Cloud to Butt, or maybe you'd like to make a program that converts pixel art into cross-stitching patterns, maybe you want to just make a cool adventure game on those annoying graphing calculators they make you use in class, or make a script for some online game you play, or make something silly with Arduino (i once made a trash can that rolled toward me when i clapped my hands; it was fun, and way easier than you'd think!), whatever.

i know a lot of hacker-types who got their start doing ROM hacking for video games—replacing the character art or animations or whatever in old NES games. that's probably more relevant than the PHP websites, at least, and is probably a solid place to get started; in my experience those communities tend to be reasonably friendly to questions. pick a small thing you want to do & ask how to do it.

also, a somewhat unconventional path, but—once i knew how to program a bit of Python, i started doing goofy junk, like, "hey can i implemented NamedTuple from scratch,” which tends to lead to Python metaprogramming, which leads to surprising shit like "oh, stack frames are literally just Python objects and you can manually edit them in the interpreter to do deliberately horrendous/silly things, my god this language allows too much reflection and i'm having too much fun"... since Python is a lot of folks' first language these days, i thought i'd point that out, since i think this is a pretty accessible start to thinking about How Programs Actually Work under the hood. allison kaptur has some specific recommendations on how to poke around, if you wanna go that route.

it's reasonably likely you'll end up doing something "hackery" in the natural course of just working on stuff. for instance, while i was working on the IPB forum software mods, i became distressed to learn that everyone was using an INSECURE version of the software! no one was patching their shit!! i yelled at the admins about it, and they were like "well we haven't been hacked yet so it's not a problem," so i uh, decided to demonstrate a proof of concept? i downloaded some sketchy perl script, kicked it until it worked, logged in as the admins, and shitposted a bit before i logged out, y'know, to prove my point.

(they responded by banning me for two weeks, and did not patch their software. which, y'know, rip to them; they got hacked by an unrelated Turkish group two months later, and those dudes just straight-up deleted the whole website. i was a merciful god by comparison!)

anyway, even though downloading a perl script and just pointing it at a website isn't really "hacking" (it's the literal definition of script kiddie, heh)—the point is i was just experimenting a lot and trying a lot of stuff, which meant i was getting comfortable with thinking of software as not just some immutable relic, but something you can touch and prod in unexpected ways.

this dovetails into the next thing, which is like, just learn a lot of stuff. a boring conventional computer science degree will teach you a lot (provided you take it seriously and actually try to learn shit); alternatively, just taking the same classes as a boring conventional computer science degree, via edX or whatever free online thingy, will also teach you a lot. ("contributing to open source" also teaches you a lot but... hngh... is a whole can of worms; send a follow-up ask if you want that rant.)

here's where i should note that "hacking" is an impossibly broad category: the kind of person who knows how to fuck with website authentication tokens is very different than someone who writes a fuzzer, who is often quite different than someone who looks at the bug a fuzzer produces and actually writes a program that can exploit that bug... so what you focus on depends on what you're interested in. i imagine classes with names like "compilers," "operating systems," and "networking" will teach you a lot. but, like, idk, all knowledge is god-breathed and good for teaching. hell, i hear some universities these days have actual computer security classes? that's probably a good thing to look at, just to get a sense of what's out there, if you already know how to program.

also be comfortable with not knowing everything, but also, learn as you go. the bulk of my security knowledge came when i got kinda airdropped into a work team that basically hired me entirely on "potential" (lmao), and uh, prior to joining i only had the faintest idea what a hypervisor was? or the whole protection ring concept? or ioctls or sandboxing or threat models or, fuck, anything? i mostly just pestered people with like 800 questions and slowly built up a knowledge base, and remember being surprised & delighted when i went to a security conference a year later and could follow most of the talks, and when i wound up at a bar with a guy on the xbox security team and we compared our security models a bunch, and so on. there wasn't a magic moment when i "got it", i was just like, "okay huh this dude says he found a ring-0 exploit... what does that mean... okay i think i got that... why is that a big deal though... better ask somebody.." (also: reading an occasional dead tree book is a good idea. i owe my firstborn to Robert Love's Linux Kernel Development, as outdated as it is, and also O'Reilly's kookaburra book gave me a great overview of web programming back in the day, etc. you can learn a lot by just clicking around random blogs, but you’ll often end up with a lot of random little facts and no good mental scaffolding for holding it together; often, a decent book will give you that scaffolding.)

(also, it's pretty useful if you can find a knowledgable someone to pepper with random questions as you go. finding someone who will actively mentor you is tricky, but most working computery folks are happy to tell you things like "what you're doing is actually impossible, here's why," or "here's a tutorial someone told me was good for learning how to write a linux kernel module," or "here's my vague understanding of this concept you know nothing about," or "here's how you automate something to click on a link on a webpage," which tends to be handier than just google on its own.)

if you're reading this and you're like "ok cool but where's the part where i'm handed a computer and i gotta break in while going all hacker typer”—that's not the bulk of the work, alas! like, for sure, we do have fun pranking each other by trying dumb ways of stealing each other's passwords or whatever (once i stuck a keylogger in a dude's keyboard, fun times). but a lot of my security jobs have involved stuff like, "stare at this disassembly a long fuckin' time to figure out how the program pointer got all fucked up," or, "write a fuzzer that feeds a lot of randomized input to some C++ program, watch the program crash because C++ is a horrible language for writing software, go fix all the bugs," or "think Really Hard TM about all the settings and doohickeys this OS/GPU/whatever has, think about all the awful things someone could do with it, threat model and sandbox accordingly." occasionally i have done cool proof-of-concept hacks but honestly writing exploits can kinda be tedious, lol, so like, i'm only doing that if it's the only way i can get people to believe that Yes This Is Actually A Problem, Fix Your Code

"lua that's cool and all but i wanted, like, actual links and recommendations and stuff" okay, fair. here's some ideas:

microcorruption: very fun embedded security CTF; teaches you everything you need to know as you're doing it.

cryptopals crypto challenges: very fun little programming exercises that teach you a lot of fundamental cryptography concepts as you're going along! you can do these even as a bit of a n00b; i did them in Python for the lulz

the binary bomb lab is hilariously copied by, like, so many CS programs, lol, but for good reason. it's accessible and fun and is the first time most people get to feel like a real hacker! (requires you know a bit of C beforehand)

ctftime is a good way to see when new CTFs ("capture the flag"s; security-focused competitions) are coming up. or, sometimes CTFs post their source code, so you can continue trying them after the CTF is over. i liked Stripe's CTFs when they were going, because they focused on "web stuff", and "web stuff" was all i really knew at the time. if you're more interested in staring at disassembly, there's CTFs focused on that sort of thing too.

azeria has good ARM assembly & exploitation tutorials

also, like, lots of good talks out there; just watching defcon/cansecwest/etc talks until something piques your interest is very fun. i'd die on a battlefield for any of Christopher Domas's talks, but he assumes a lot of specific x86/OS knowledge, lol, so maybe don’t start with that. oh, Julia Evans's blog is honestly probably pretty good for just learning a lot of stuff and really beginner-friendly?

oh and wrt legality... idk, i haven't addressed it here since it hasn't come up in my own work much, tbh. if you're just getting started you're kind of unlikely to Break The Law without, y'know, realizing maybe you're doing something a bit gray-area? and you can cross that bridge when you come to it? Real Hacking TM is way more of a pain-in-the-ass than doing CTFs and such, and you'll learn way more with the latter, so who cares lol just do the fun thing

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

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Riding On

Ch 19- Everyone Loves A B-J…

Summary: It’s Frank’s birthday and the Adler-Gallagher clan enjoy a family based weekend that brings Frank several surprises along the way, whilst both him and Fliss get a gift that money simply can’t buy.

Warnings: Bad Language words, Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

A/N: LONG update here guys, and sorry, I really couldn’t resist the Trump bashing again. For what it’s worth, I cannot WAIT to write Frank’s reaction to that election when I finally get there. All together know “F**k Donal Trump!”

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding On Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 18

Well, you done done me, and you bet I felt it, I tried to be chill, but you're so hot that I melted. I fell right through the cracks, now I'm trying to get back.

Given that Alex's stay at his grandparents was a success, Fliss felt much happier about her planned surprise few nights away for Frank. She had already booked most of it in early January, having roped her parents, Mary and even Frank's colleagues into her plotting to ensure that the days she had selected- Thursday to Sunday over the second weekend in March- were booked as leave and factored into the rota at the shop without him knowing. Mary, being her usual googling genius self, helped Fliss to find the perfect place to stay in the area she had selected along with a number of activities and she’d booked the whole thing on her credit card so that Frank wouldn't see anything suspicious showing up on their bank statements. That said, despite all her secrecy, Frank could tell she was up to something. He knew her too well not to spot it. And being the impatient little shit he was, he tried everything he could to coax it out of her to no avail. She wasn't for cracking, and neither was Mary. All he kept getting told from both his girls was "wait for your birthday" which was driving him insane. He even tried to catch Fliss out mid sex one evening. He lay over her, languidly dragging his cock in and out of her at a torturously slow pace, promising her he'd let her come if she told him what she was up to. She'd simply panted out that he was an asshole and then looked up at him with those eyes, wide and bright, shining with love and as usual he'd caved. He never could resist when she looked at him like that and a few minutes later she was crying his name whilst Frank was still none the wiser as to what was actually going on. The morning of his birthday rolled around much the same as any other Saturday morning, except Mary had opted to stay home the night before instead of going to Roberta’s as they were going out for breakfast. The morning sun was warm on Frank's face as it spliced through a crack in the curtains, but that wasn't what had woken him. It was Fliss, kissing and nuzzling all around his shoulders and the back of his neck as she snuggled into him from behind, her hand snaking around his waist and dipping into his boxers.

He gave a croaky little groan as her hand wrapped around his semi-hard cock, lightly stroking him as she continued gently kissing his neck, the heat from her body radiating into his as she pressed her chest to his bare back. Frank turned his head so he was looking over his shoulder and she met him with a cheeky smirk which turned into a slow, gentle kiss, perfect for the lazy, slow strokes she was giving him.

"Happy birthday baby." She whispered, nudging his nose with hers.

“You can say that again.” He choked as her grip tightened around him.

“Happy birthday baby.” She chuckled and Frank rolled his eyes giving a huff of laughter but before he could reply Fliss had gently pushed on his shoulder, coaxing him over onto his back. She moved so she was hovering over him, kissed him again before her mouth made its way down his chest, nose and lips tracing a path down his happy trail and across his Adonis belt. With a soft moan of her name, Frank’s hand tangled in those soft, morning-tousled waves of bright, auburn hair he adored as she glanced up at him with her deep, brown eyes, the polka-dot bed covers peaked around her head. She gave another cheeky grin as her hands reached for the side of his boxers and he shifted his hips to allow her to pull them down. Her eyes locked on his she wrapped her hand round the base of his cock and gave a few further flicks of her wrist, causing him to sigh before she adjusted herself, pulled her hair over one shoulder and took him in her mouth. Frank moaned, totally blissing out as Fliss licked and sucked her way around his dick, the hand that wasn't in her hair fisted around the bed sheets as he felt his pleasure mounting the more she worked him. His hips bucked slight as she took him all the way to the back of her throat, a motion she repeated for 3 or 4 times until he was gone. With a hiss and a croak of her name Frank spilled himself down her throat, his fingers tightening around her hair as he sighed, laying back, eyes closed, chest heaving.

With a smirk Fliss pulled his boxers back up and crawled the length of his body, laying on top of him, her chest pressed to his. He smiled, his eyes still not opening as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close for a second, basking in what a fucking amazing wake-up call that had been, until the baby monitor on the nightstand suddenly emitted a loud gurgled screech signalling Alex was awake and sure enough, as they both turned to look at the screen they could see him attempting to roll over in his crib.

“It was a lot easier when he was right here.” Fliss pouted, her chin on Frank’s chest as she peeked up at him and Frank gave her a stern look.

“We’re not having that argument again, Liss.” He shook his head, “He’s 6 months old now. He can sleep in his own room.”

“I know, I know…” She sighed, pushing herself up away from Frank and climbing off the bed. He watched her go laying back on the pillow, giving a roll of his eyes at the ceiling. That had been one hell of heated discussion earlier in the week when he’d suggested it was time Alex moved into the nursery at night instead of just taking his daytime naps in there. Fliss had protested, shown him all this stuff on the internet about how it was better for kids to be in their parents rooms until they were 12 months old, which Frank and countered with articles to the contrary he had found and stated Mary had never slept in his room from the moment he’d had her. She’d gotten upset, teary, but he wasn’t caving in. He’d hated being so damned forceful with her but the fact was as much as he loved the kids he selfishly and unashamedly wanted his private space back, a space where they got to be alone with one another to allow them to be Fliss and Frank, not mom and dad. Plus he also knew the longer Alex stayed in their room the harder it was going to be to get him to settle in his own space. Eventually, after Fliss had realised this was one thing she wasn’t getting her own way with she’d given in, and spent most of the night tossing and turning, sniffing a little, and when he’d tried to cuddle her she’d told him to piss off. Frank had merely taken a deep breath and backed away, knowing full well that when she got up in the morning and saw that Alex was fine, she’d feel like an ass. And he’d been right. She’d been up at the crack of dawn, straight into the nursery and come back a few minutes later, sidling up to him and hugging him from behind whispering that she was sorry, and the entire thing had been forgotten.

A thud on the bed jolted Frank from his thoughts and he looked down to see Thor had hopped up on the foot of the bed and he flopped down, his head on the peak that Frank’s feet were making.

“Oh, it’s like that is it buddy?” he asked and the dog merely looked at him before giving a contented sigh, his tail thumping on the bed. Then his head perked up as the door to their room pushed open again and his tail grew even more frantic as Fliss entered with Alex in her arms. She placed him down on the duvet and climbed into bed again, both watching as their baby promptly rolled from his back onto his tummy, his head raising to look at Frank as he gave a loud gurgle, grinning up at his daddy.

Frank gave a huff of laughter as he sat up against the headboard and hooked his hands under Alex’s arm pits, standing him up on his thighs. Gently he moved his hand so the baby could grab onto his fingers and Alex stood, looking around the room as Frank helped him stay in place.

“Mum thinks he’ll be crawling soon.” Fliss smiled as she lay back, watching the two of them “I mean he’s already sitting up and bum shuffling on the floor so…”

“God help us…or more to the point God help Thor!” Frank snorted as Alex gave a loud shriek as he spotted the dog led on the bed. Thor once more thumped his tail but made no effort to move. At that point, Alex’s legs gave a little wobble and he plopped down onto the soft duvet, sitting up and grabbing at the pattern on the cover before he looked up, grinning once more at Frank.

“He’s always so happy.” Fliss beamed at the baby who waggled his arms excitedly as Frank once more helped him stand up.

“He does nothing but sleep, eat, drink and mess in his diaper.” Frank shrugged “What’s there to be miserable about?!” Fliss snorted as Frank cocked his head and studied his son. “His hair is definitely going darker.” He mused.

“I know.” Fliss smiled “I’m glad his eyes aren’t though.”

“Glad?” Frank turned to her. “How come?”

“Because they’re just like yours.”

Frank smiled as Fliss leaned over and kissed him softly. They spent a little more time in bed, watching Alex’s various attempts to shuffle over the top of the bed towards the german shepherd at the bottom, before they heard Mary’s door open. She headed into the bathroom first before she knocked on their door and when Frank told her to come in she dive bombed on the bed singing Happy Birthday and demanding that he get up to open his gifts.

It was only since being with Fliss that Frank had really had Birthday or Christmas presents to open since he had left Boston. Granted, Roberta had normally gotten him a little something from her and also Mary but now it was different. And not that he was materialistic but he loved the fact he felt a little spoilt. He sat on the couch and unwrapped each one in turn to reveal a couple of new shirts, a pair of sneakers and a framed photo of the four of them which had been taken by Bill at the last Competition Mary had been in. She was sat on Monty in her full show gear, rosette attached to the pony's bridle as Alex perched in front of her, held safely in place by Fliss's hands. Frank stood at the other side of the pony, his arm round Mary all of them beaming at the camera. "Thanks guys, I love it all." Frank looked up smiling, before he paused as Fliss handed him an envelope "More?"

She nodded from where she sat on the floor with Alex who was stood on shaky legs, hanging on to her fingers just as he’d done with his dad earlier. Frank looked at her suspiciously before he slipped his finger under the flap and tore it open. He pulled out the piece of paper, which was a flight itinerary and his eyes widened as he looked at the destination. "We're going to Vermont?" He looked at Fliss and she grinned, giving a nod. "3 nights, next Thursday to Sunday, just the 2 of us" She informed him as Frank quickly scanned the details, his eyes flicking back to hers as he registered the fact they were going to be alone "Nice little cabin in the Moscow area of Stowe and I booked us a few things to do..." "Please tell me one of those things is the Ben and Jerry's tour!" Frank groaned as and Fliss gave a chuckle.

“Well you know what they say…” she looked at Frank whose eyes flicked back to the printed itinerary before they raised once more to hers, questioningly. She grinned and licked her lips “Everyone loves a BJ.”

Frank gave a snort, followed by a little sigh of delight looking back at the piece of paper in his hand, his eyes shining with happiness as he took it all in. “Lissy, this is amazing." He beamed "Thank you." "Wait..." Mary suddenly piped up "You're going to Ben and Jerry's?" "Yeah." Fliss nodded.

"So not fair." She rolled her eyes "I wanna go."

“Tough.” Frank shot back “It’s my birthday not yours.”

“Well can we go for my birthday?” Mary asked.

“No.”

“That’s so mean Frank.” She whined.

“Go call someone who cares.” He looked at her. She narrowed her eyes and then held her hand out.

“Give me your phone then.” She demanded and Fliss laughed.

“Yeah? And who you gonna call?” Frank eyed her “Ghostbusters?”

Marry grinned “Nope. Poppa Bill. He’ll kick your ass.”

“Oh please!” Frank snorted “I’m not scared of Bill.” He shrugged “I could take him down.”

Mary pondered for a second before she looked at him, a positively wicked smirk crossing her face “Fine, I’ll call Uncle Steeby then. I know you’re scared of him.”

“No I’m not.” Frank scoffed and Mary snorted

“Whatever Frank, you’re only lying to yourself.” She said, standing up “Imma go get dressed. When we going for breakfast?”

“Soon as we’re ready.” Fliss smiled and Mary skipped out of the room, humming something to herself, Fred and Thor both following her as she went.

“You’re a liar.” Fliss looked at Frank.

“What?” he asked, picking Alex up and settling him on his knee.

“Saying you’re not scared of Steeby.”

“I’m not.” Frank shook his head, before his face rearranged into a little smile “I’m petrified of him.”

****

Just over an hour or so later they were settled in a booth at Keke's Breakfast cafe on Gulfport. Mary announced loudly that she didn’t need to see the menu, telling their server that she wanted her favourite, the apple and cinnamon waffles with a side of bacon. Frank rolled his eyes at her hyper nature, a soft smile on his face as she chatted away to the teenager who entertained her ramblings with the patience of a saint whilst he and Fliss gave the menu a cursory glance before they too opted for their standard order. Frank took the large French toast combo with his eggs over easy as always, whereas Fliss chose the raspberry stuffed French toast. They also ordered a side of plain pancakes for Alex, the baby now at the stage of holding various food items in his little hand and gumming them half to death with his few teeth. It kept him quiet and entertained whilst they ate, even if more of it did end up round his face and in his hair than his mouth.

Their food didn’t take long, Frank filling the 15 minute or so wait gently teasing Mary about a boy she had mentioned from school, causing her to narrow her eyes at him, protesting that they were just friends. When Fliss then pointed out that was how her and Frank started off she paused, pulled a face and then informed them that their accusations were both baseless and gross, causing Frank to laugh and lean back in his seat, taking a large drink of his coffee.

Their food arrived and Fliss cut up the pancakes, handing a large piece of one to Alex as they all tucked in, eating with gusto, a happy silence falling over the table which Mary broke a few moments later.

“Can we grill tonight?” she asked, her mouthful of food. Frank looked at her, where she was sat on the bench opposite him, next to Fliss. He shook his head “What?” she asked.

“Seriously, it’s breakfast time and you’re asking about what we’re eating tonight?”

Mary shrugged “You need to be more organised, Frank.”

Fliss gave a snort as Frank looked from Mary to her “Seriously, I’m 39 getting sassed by a soon to be 10 year old.”

“39…” Fliss sniggered and Frank nudged her under the table with his foot.

“So can we or not?” Mary demanded.

“Jeeez.” Frank rolled his eyes, picking up his coffee “It’s my birthday, don’t I get a say in what we do?”

“I’ve actually booked us a table somewhere.” Fliss spoke, cutting across the argument. “Thought it might be nice for us all to go out.”

“Where?” Mary turned to her.

“1200 Chophouse.”

Frank let out a groan of delight at the same time Mary punched the air “Seriously?”

Fliss nodded “It was going to be a surprise. Mum, Dad, Steve, Sian and the kids are coming. Oh, and Roberta.” She turned to Mary “So when we get back you need to ride then bath Monty and load the wagon ready for tomorrow. The table is booked for 6:30 so we can feed Alex before we go. He should be happy enough in the chair.”

Mary nodded “Am I on the 1pm class?”

Fliss shook her head “No, I told Joanne to take you off. I’ll teach you later once the class is done ok?”

Mary grinned “I like it best when we do that.”

Fliss smiled at her and then turned to Alex who had enthusiastically banged his fist on the little plastic tray of the high-chair. “You ok baby?” he grinned at her then let out a loud shriek. “Ok, hang on…” She tore another pancake in half and then handed it to him where he shoved it in his mouth straight away. She watched him for a second then looked at Frank “He’s got your appetite.”

“He’s a growing boy.” Frank shrugged.

“What’s your excuse?” Fliss teased and Frank swallowed the last of his breakfast and leaned back against the bench, arm resting along the back of it as he drank his coffee.

“I burn a lot of energy.” He said after little deliberation, shooting her a wink.

About half an hour later they finished their breakfast and headed home, Mary and Fliss both changing into their riding gear and heading over to the yard for the afternoon. Fliss was apologising to Frank about not spending the full day with him but he chuckled, assuring her that he some peace and quiet and one-to-one time with his boy was celebration enough, earning him a soft nip on his arm in retaliation. He spent the afternoon in between making sure Alex was happy and settled enough flicking through trash TV, drinking beer and scouting the internet for a couple of boat parts some of which were needed and others, like a surround sound digital entertainment system complete with satellite TV, were not. Nevertheless, he marked the catalogue number down along with the stuff he actually did need so he could see how much cheaper it would be when he ran it all through the system at work.

At just gone 5 Fliss and Mary came back through the door, Thor hot on their heels, Fliss face bright red and Mary’s streaked with tears.

“What…” Frank stood up and Fliss held her hand up, telling him to stop. He did as he was told, observing with a frown as Mary kicked off her boots and gave a sniff.

“Fliss, I didn’t…”

“I’ve nothing more to say on the issue.” Fliss cut her off.

“But…”

“No buts Mary.” Fliss shook her head “What you said was really mean and I won’t tolerate it ok?”

“Kay…” She sniffed again.

“The horse world is full of nasty bitches.” Fliss looked at her. “I don’t want you becoming one. You know, you’ve done spectacularly well for your first ever season and now and you’ve pretty much just ruined it for yourself because frankly I’m not sure letting you go tomorrow is appropriate given your behaviour.”

“I’m sorry…please, Fliss. I can’t miss the last show!”

“Enough!” Fliss voice rose and Mary shut her mouth hastily. “No more. Now go get showered and changed, we’re late, we need to leave in an hour.” Fliss spoke with a finality to her voice which Mary clearly picked up on as she didn’t argue or plead anymore. Instead she simply wiped her face and headed through the room to the hall, eyes focussed on the floor as she walked. When she shut the door behind her to the hallway, Frank turned to Fliss, his expression puzzled.

“Ok, what’s going on?”

Fliss groaned, heading to the fridge “She was practicing over a few jumps and couldn’t quite get Monty to make the turn on the last one right, he kept tripping or knocking the pole down so she started to get frustrated. And it didn’t help that Sally was stood watching. Mary carried on getting really annoyed and distracted, and basically screamed at Sally saying that she was putting her off and then called her an asshole and told her to leave because no one on the yard liked her.”

Frank arched an eyebrow “She said that?” Fliss nodded and he groaned “Jesus.”

“And then Sally’s mother started.” Fliss sighed heavily, shutting the fridge door and cracking open the bottle of water she’d retrieved. “She was accusing Mary of being a spoilt brat and a spiteful little witch so then I ended up arguing with her, you know, pointing out that they’re kids and they say stuff, and that Sally is no angel as she has an acid tongue too…not that that excuses what Mary said.” She took a long drink of water “The upshot is her mother served her notice and they’re leaving next weekend.”

“So you lost clients?” Frank folded his arms, shaking his head in frustration, “Because of Mary’s mouth?”

“2 boarders.” Fliss shrugged “I’m not too bothered about that side of it, I have a waiting list so I can fill them straight away, I just don’t want Sandybrook getting a reputation, you know? Livery Yards can be horrible places and I work so hard to nip any bitching and bad feelings in the bud before they can spiral.”

“Did Mary apologise?”

“Oh yeah.” Fliss swallowed some more water. “I tore strips off her. As soon as she said it I told her to get straight off Monty, put him away and we were done. I made her apologise in front of everyone who’d been watching and then told her I’m not sure if I’m gonna take her tomorrow. I also told her if it wasn’t for the fact it was your birthday and we had no one to babysit, she wouldn’t be going anywhere tonight either.” She paused and bit the inside of her lip and looked at Frank “Was that too much? I mean…”

“No, absolutely not.” Frank shook his head “And besides, even if I thought it was harsh, which I don’t, I’d never undermine you anyway.”

“Thing is Frank, I really want her to go tomorrow.” Fliss rolled her eyes, “She’s worked so hard and she’s not a bad kid. It feels such a shame to let all her hard work and practice go to waste.”

“Well you didn’t say she couldn’t go for sure, just that you were debating whether or not to allow it.” Frank shrugged “So, let’s see how she goes tonight when we’re out. Then we can decide.”

Fliss nodded “Okay.”

“Honey, don’t think on it.” Frank cocked his head to one side, the look on Fliss’ face betraying the internal conflict she was feeling “You did the right thing.”

“I know, I know but doesn’t stop me feeling shitty about it Frank.” Fliss sighed as Frank walked towards her “I hate having to tell her off. She’s a good kid most of the time and I know deep down she didn’t mean to be so cruel.”

“Well, we all say things at times we don’t mean. I’ve told her that a few times myself.” Frank smiled, wrapping his arms around Fliss.

“It was frustration more than anything.” Fliss melted into his arms and Frank gave a hum of agreement. “Frustration at not being perfect at something.” He said wisely “Monty isn’t an equation or a problem she can work out with maths or logic.” He shrugged “Maybe it will do her some good to learn a little humility.” He dropped a kiss to her head. “Now, no offence but you stink of horses and we have 50 minutes until we need to leave. Go grab your shower, I’ll feed Alex and then get ready. Won’t take me long.”

Fliss chuckled and pulled back, looking up at him, narrowing her eyes “You’re not wearing one of those shirts are you?”

“It’s my birthday.” Frank shrugged “Surely I can wear what I want?”

Fliss rolled her eyes “Whatever.”

“I thought you liked them?”

“They’re hideous”

“But endearing.” He dropped another kiss to her lips “At least that’s what you say.”

She chuckled “I’m only teasing, I kinda like you in them.” She kissed him again and then pulled away, giving a little jump as Frank slapped her ass as she turned around to walk away. She tossed him a look over her shoulder which he met with an innocent one of his own before she walked into the hall, heading up the stairs.

20 minutes or so later, complete with Alex who had enthusiastically wolfed down a generous helping of Fliss’ home-made cauliflower, broccoli and cheese puree, whilst simultaneously smearing it all over his face, he headed up the stairs and into their bedroom. Fliss was wrapped in a robe, finishing off straightening her once hair and she gave a smile as Alex grinned at her.

“He really likes that stuff you made him.” Frank smiled and looked down at his son as he gabbled away in his arms. “I’ll get him cleaned and dressed before I take a shower.”

“I got his outfit ready.” Fliss smiled “It’s on the changing mat.”

“Don’t you trust my fashion sense?” Frank teased and she grinned.

“Your fashion sense is exactly why I picked it.”

“Rude.”

“Trust me, when you see it…you’ll understand.” She smirked.

“Okay…” Frank pulled a confused face before he dropped a kiss to her cheek and turned to head across the hall to the bathroom. 5 minutes later he’d managed to give Alex a quick bath to clean him up and after a little wrestle as the baby really was becoming a wriggle worm, he finally got him wrapped him in his little bear towel with the hood pulled over his light brown hair. Emerging from the family bathroom he made his way towards the nursery, pausing as he heard a little sniffle coming from Mary’s room. Taking a deep breath he moved towards that door instead and gently knocked.

“Stack?” he asked, and when she didn’t tell him to either ‘go away’ or ‘wait a second’ he reached with one hand to open the door and pushed it gently inwards. Mary was sat on the huge bean bag which was situated underneath her raised cabin bed, a book on her lap, her hair damp from the shower. She was dressed in a smart denim skirt which was printed with little white stars and a red plaid top with lace trim down either side of the column of buttons and round the collar. “That new?” he asked having not seen the top before.

“Fliss bought it me last week in Target” she said quietly, wiping her eyes. “I liked it so she said I could have it as I’d done well with Monty”

“Well, you got good taste.” he smiled “Take after me.”

At that she gave him a scathing look and he chuckled a little as Alex let out a little gurgle, his arms outstretched. Mary held her arms out for him so Frank crossed the spacious room and handed the baby over. Alex grinned and made a grab for Mary’s hair, making her smile as Frank sat on the floor in front of them both, his back leaning against the ladders that led up to her bunk.

“You gonna shout at me as well?” she asked after a little pause and Frank inhaled deeply.

“No.” he shook his head, letting his breath out slowly “I think Fliss said everything that needed to be said. I’ve nothing more to add really.”

“Are you mad?”

“No, just disappointed Mary.” he said honestly “I thought I’d taught you better than that.”

Mary looked down, her shoulders slumped “I didn’t mean it. I was just angry. Sally makes me mad.”

“You make me mad sometimes but I don’t say nasty things.” Frank sighed, “Well, I hope I don’t.”

As he spoke those words his mind strayed back a few years to the incident in his apartment when he’d stood on the lego bricks. It seemed like a life time ago, Mary had been so little compared to the girl that sat before him now.

“Hey, look at me.” he said gently and she raised her eyes to his. “Did you mean it when you said sorry?”

Mary nodded “Yeah, I did. But her mom started calling me names and she was so mad at Fliss. Fliss told her to shut up in the end but then she told me off too.”

“Well, that’s because Fliss…” Frank paused, swallowing a little as the words formed in his mind “Well, Fliss is your mom and she loves you, so she’s gonna defend you. That doesn’t mean she agrees with what you did or that what you did was justifiable.”

“I know.” Mary’s voice was quiet “Is she mad? Sally’s mom said they were leaving.”

“Yes they are but…” Frank shook his head “No, she’s not mad. Perhaps a little disappointed in you too, but you know the rules, no one stays mad in this house. We say our piece, we apologise, we move on. And we try to be better in future.”

It wasn’t quite a flat out lie, whilst he and Fliss could argue and stay pissed at each other for days, where Mary (and in the future no doubt Alex) was concerned it was a different story.

“Do you think she’ll let me go tomorrow?”

“Depends on how you behave tonight.” Frank shrugged, moving his legs as he made to stand “I honestly don’t know.”

Mary took a deep breath and Frank pushed himself to his feet with a slight groan as his knees clicked. Fuck this getting older shit.

“Will she dry my hair for me?” Mary looked at Frank.

“Go and ask.” Frank replied simply, taking Alex off her. She followed him out of her room and made her way over to their room, knocking on the door. He paused in the doorway of the nursery, watching as she pushed it open timidly and he saw Fliss look up from where she’d been doing her make up.

“Lissy…” she said quietly “Please could you do my hair for me?”

“Course I will.” Liss smiled, beckoning her in. “Come on.” As she stood up so Mary could sit at the stool she caught Frank’s eye and he gave her a wink before he turned into their son’s room and made his way over to the changing unit at the right hand side. As soon as he saw the outfit he gave a loud laugh and shook his head taking in the tiny little yellow palm printed Hawaiian shirt, almost identical to the one he owned, and jeans.

“You’re momma thinks she’s so funny.” he snorted, dropping a kiss to Alex’s head as he lay him back on the mat. “And to be fair, as far as jokes go, that one’s pretty good.”

*****

The managed to depart just 10 minutes after their aimed for time and arrived at the restaurant 5 minutes or so late, but all things considered that wasn’t a huge issue. They walked in, Frank pushing Alex’s buggy as Fliss gave them the reservation name.

“Ah, yes, Mrs Adler, the rest of your party are in the bar area. If you head through I’ll let your server know you’re all here and she’ll come show you to the table.”

“Thanks.” Fliss smiled, and the 4 of them headed to the left. Mary spotted Steve and the twins first and gave a little yell, running over towards them, Frank, Fliss and Alex following.

“Mrs Adler, huh?” Frank teased, his voice low as he leaned down to speak into Fliss’ ear, the warmth that had flooded his chest at hearing the guy essentially calling Fliss his wife evident in his eyes which were bright with love.

Fliss gave a shrug, grinning as she turned her head to look at him. “I just gave Adler as the name for the table, he just assumed.”

“Well, you will be soon enough.” He smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

He expected some sarcastic response about how there was still time for her to change her mind but none came. Instead she merely beamed at him, her hand gently reaching up to cup his cheek “Can’t wait Sailor.” She bit her lip and Frank could do nothing but smile back like a complete love struck idiot, his forehead pressing to hers as he kissed the tip of her nose.

“Get a room!” Steve bellowed over the bar area and Fliss merely turned her head to look at him, raising her middle finger.

“Felicity Rose Gallagher!” Verity scalded “Stop being so uncouth. I brought you up better than that.”

Fliss rolled her eyes “Dad didn’t”

Bill scrunched his face up and shrugged “Touche Titch.” He chuckled as he reached out for Frank, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a manly hug “Happy birthday, Son.”

“Thanks Bill.” Frank smiled, turning to Steve next who did the same before he then greeted Sian, Verity and Roberta with hugs and kisses to the cheek before he ruffled Charlie and Joel’s hair as they came over and hugged him round his waist. “You two grown since last week?” he asked, looking at the 2 boys whose heads were both now almost level with his ribcage.

“Feels like it.” Sian mumbled “Mind you, not like their father is a small man is it?”

Steve opened his mouth, grinning to make a dirty comment no doubt about his size so to speak but instead he gave a yelp as Verity reached up and slapped the back of his head “Don’t even think about it Steven.” She pointed at him.

“Mum…” he wailed as Frank chuckled, moving to the bar after checking if anyone else needed a drink.

“This is on us tonight.” Bill pushed up next to him, waving his hand at the bar tender “Yeah, on the tab for table 20, thanks…”

“Bill, there’s no need.” Frank began the usual protest whenever either of his future in-laws insisted on paying but as normal Bill shook his head.

“I know but we want to.” He shrugged “I mean what’s the world coming to when I can’t treat my kids to dinner huh?”

Frank sighed a little and smiled “Thanks.”

Bill nodded as Frank placed his order- a pilsner for him, lemonade for Mary and a tonic water for Fliss who had said she would drive home. They’d debated getting a cab but as she had assumed she would be up early in the morning to drive to the Competition and said she’d prefer to drive. Now that was all hanging in the balance due to Mary’s earlier behaviour, or lack of more to the point.

Shortly after they were shown to their table, Mary taking a seat next to the twins in between Verity and Bill. When both Steve and Frank began to tell them to sit where they could keep an eye on them, Verity scoffed and waved them away, her arm dropping round Mary.

“My pudding can sit next to me if she wants.” She pouted and Frank rolled his eyes before shooting Mary a look.

“First sign of any nonsense…”

“I know.” She cast her eyes down before she looked at him. “Please can I have my Tablet?”

Frank looked at Fliss and she nodded, reaching into the bag under the stroller for it and handing it over.

“Volume down.” Frank instructed as he passed it round and she took it with a thanks. The three kids huddled round it as Mary turned it on, no doubt looking at their latest Minecraft game or whatever the hell it was the three of them seemed to spend half their lives connected to one another over the internet for. Whilst Frank was conscious most people might consider this lazy parenting, he saw it as being no different to them having a toy or colouring book at the table and so left them to it, as they began to chatter amongst themselves, only being interrupted when they were asked to pick what they wanted to eat. Once the orders were placed and another round of drinks appeared, Frank was handed 3 gift bags over the table, blushing slightly as he took them with thanks. Bill and Verity had bought him a bottle of 15 year Barrell Craft Spirits Bourbon and a new pair of Ray Bans after his had met a sticky end when Alex had pulled them off his face and then dropped them onto the floor where Fliss had accidentally stood on them, cracking the lens. Fully aware of how expensive both those items were he thanks them, whilst reprimanding them once more for spending too much money on them to which Verity hushed him and Bill merely rolled his eyes giving a shrug. Roberta had gotten him a new tool belt for him to use when working on the boat which he was really pleased with. As he showed it to Fliss she cheekily quipped in a quiet voice that he could finally get rid of the spanner in his pocket which had made Sian choke on her drink when she overheard. Steve pat her on her back as she sorted herself out, and then Frank reached into the final bag from Steve, Sian and the boys. He thanked them for the 6 pack of Sam Adams, which could sometimes be hard to find in the stores in Florida, nodded in appreciation at the new Patriots Jersey they’d gotten him with ADLER arched over the back, and reached in to pull the last item out, which was a blue baseball cap.

“What the…” he scoffed and looked at Steve who had broken into a huge guffaw of laughter at the look of disgust on Franks face. Bill and Verity also started to chuckle and as Fliss reached out to turn it towards her she snorted as Roberta slapped the top of the table in utter hysterics as the white letters MAGA stood out clear against the dark navy.

“That was his idea, not mine.” Sian protested as Frank looked down, shaking his head at the joke before he spotted the small writing under the larger letters. “Make the Asshole Gone Again.” He read, and at that he gave a loud laugh. “Wonder if I’ll get away with wearing it for work?”

"I thought you said you were voting Trump?" Roberta’s voice was serious and Frank shook his head, taking a swig from his beer, as she gave him a cheeky grin.

"Don't start him off again, please Roberta!" Fliss groaned "I had to stop him putting his foot through the TV last night when they showed that Jordan Klepper vs Trump Supporters section on the Daily Show."

"He’s an ass clown." Frank replied and Steve laughed.

“Suppose being a Democrat is part and parcel of coming from Mass, huh Frank?”

“What, like being Anti-Tory is part and parcel of being from Merseyside?” Frank shot back and Steve gave a grin, raising his glass in his direction.

“Correct!” Steve nodded enthusiastically.

“Damned Tories…” Bill shook his head. “Johnson doesn’t know his arse from his elbow.”

“You know, I seriously think you should be IQ tested before you're allowed to vote.” Fliss shrugged and Roberta leaned forward.

“Yeah but, how can you test what ain’t there?"

Everyone at the table laughed as Frank reached for his beer. "Actually, if you think about it, it’s pretty simple." he swallowed a mouthful of his drink and looked at Roberta "One question- are you voting Trump? If they answer yes then they clearly have the IQ of a goldfish, right to vote denied."

The table laughed again and it wasn’t long then until their starters arrived and the chatter slowed as everyone tucked in, Fliss taking a minute or so to settle Alex who had woken up with perfect timing as ever.

“You want me to sort him?” Frank lay a hand on her thigh and she shook her head, handing the baby a teething ring.

“No, I got it.” She smiled, “Besides he’s good now.”

Frank gave her knee a squeeze and then glanced across the table where Bill was looking at Mary.

“So, you all set for your last competition tomorrow?” he asked and Frank let out a little groan.

“I err…” Mary’s eyes fell down towards her food “I don’t know if I’m going.”

“Why not?” Verity asked.

Frank looked at Fliss, who had been about to open her mouth and gently shook his head. He wanted Mary to be the one to explain, she was the one that had misbehaved after all.

“Because I was naughty.” She shrugged “So Fliss and Frank said they don’t know if I can go.”

Verity and Bill looked at one another before they both glanced over the table at Frank and Fliss. Fliss raised her eyebrows a little as Frank reached for his drink.

“Oh, well, I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson.” Verity looked at Mary and she nodded again, her eyes still on her plate, brimming with tears.

“It all depends on tonight.” Frank spoke softly “Good behaviour over dinner and we’ll think about it.”

“Really?” Mary asked, looking up and he nodded.

“Really.”

“What did you do?” Charlie asked.

“Never you mind.” Sian cut him off, looking at him.

“It doesn’t matter what Mary did.” Fliss stated simply “It was dealt with and that’s that. No need to talk about it anymore.”

“But…”

“Charlie, stop.” Steve said sternly. Charlie narrowed his eyes at his dad and Steve pointed his fork at him “Carry on mate, see where that attitude gets you.”

Threat received and understood, Charlie went back to eating and the talk struck up once more about Frank and Fliss’ trip to Vermont the weekend after. The more they talked about it, the more Frank found himself getting excited. 3 nights alone with Fliss in a cabin in the middle of what he was hoping would be a decent covering of snow sounded like his idea of heaven.

Dinner passed with no more talk of misbehaving children and at just gone 9pm they finished desert and Frank sat back, the waistband of his jeans feeling a hell of a lot tighter than they had when he arrived.

“Think I’m having a food baby.” Fliss groaned besides him and he turned to her, raising his eyebrows.

“As long as it’s not a real one.”

She snorted into her lemonade, shaking her head “Oh no…”

“You not fancy another?” Sian, who had heard the exchanged asked and Fliss looked at her, hesitating a little.

“Not at the moment, no.”

“Well that’s a step up from the ‘Oh,Christ no’ you spluttered last time the subject was raised” Frank teased and she nudged him with her elbow as Steve sniggered.

“You can shut up as well!” Fliss glared at him

“Ah come on Titch, another baby in the family would be great.”

“Well you have another, if you want one so bad!”

“We are.” Sian spoke and at that the table fell silent. All eyes turned to her, Verity and Bill exchanging a glance with one another as Fliss looked from Sian, to Steve who leaned back in his chair, arm falling round his wife’s shoulder, a smug smirk on his handsome face.

“No, are you…really?” Verity’s hand fell to the hollow of her throat as Sian blushed a little, nodding.

“We found out last week.” Sian smiled, looking at Steve “We wanted to get you all together and…”

The table fell silent before there was a sudden flurry of excited voices and the scraping of chairs as everyone stood up to hug one another and offer congratulations.

“What’s going on?” Joel piped up and Steve smiled as he sat back down having just received a huge bro hug from Frank.

“We just told everyone about the baby.” He smiled and the twin’s faces fell into identical expressions of understanding.

“What baby?” Mary asked.

“The one Aunty Sian’s gonna have.” Frank looked at her.

“You having a baby?” Mary looked across the table.

“We sure are.” Steve beamed.

“That’s so cool!” Mary grinned.

“So, when are you due?” Fliss asked and Sian smiled.

“Middle of October.” She said “So I’m gonna be huge at your wedding.”

“Especially if its twins again.” Mary chipped in and Frank turned to look at her, before he bit his lip and glanced back up at Steve who’d paled a little.

“You know it is a possibility…” Roberta grinned “Happened to a friend o’ma sister’s. Two sets of twins.”

“Oh, just think Bill!” Verity beamed “Another two grandkids…”

“Mum, shut up!” Steve groaned as the table laughed.

Not long after the happy news, everyone agreed that it was time to be heading home. After another mini argument between Bill, Steve, Roberta and Frank about the check, which Steve and Frank both lost, the party all gathered their things and headed out to the parking lot.

“Roberta, you need a lift?” Fran asked but before she could answer Verity shook her head.

“She’s coming back to ours. We have a bottle of Rioja to crack open.”

Bill let out a dramatic sigh “Can I come sleep in your guest place-ow!” he yelled as Roberta reached up and slapped him round the back of the head.

With a snort Frank clipped Alex into the baby seat and after another goodbye to everyone they headed home arriving just before 10.

“Did you have a nice night?” Fliss asked Frank as they walked up towards the door and Frank nodded, dropping a kiss to her head.

“It was fantastic, the whole day has been great. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Shame your mom couldn’t make it.”

“Well she’s still getting over that virus but I was thinking. Maybe near Mary’s birthday we could head up to Mass? We haven’t been since…” he trailed off and Fliss instantly understood why, the last time they’d been in Boston had been when Mary had been taken ill and John had attacked Fliss.

“I think that’s a great idea.” Fliss said as Frank unlocked the door. “It’s a short enough flight for Alex and it would be nice to go.”

Frank smiled as they all stepped inside and Thor came charging out of the kitchen to greet them all.

“Do I have to go to bed or can I watch TV?” Mary asked, looking up “It is Saturday…”

“Well, I would say yes but we have an early start tomorrow.” Fliss looked at Frank and he instantly understood.He rolled his eye softly before giving a concessive nod and Fliss continued “I mean that is if we wanna get to the show on time.”

“I can go?” Mary’s head whipped to look at them both and Fliss nodded.

“Yes, you can go.”

“Oh my god thank you, thank you!” Mary shot over to hug her, her arms wrapping round Fliss’ waist “I’ll behave, I promise.”

“I know.” Fliss dropped a kiss to her head. “Now skoot, we’re gonna be up at 6.”

Mary hugged her again, then turned to Frank who swung her up with a groan “Stop growing will ya?”

“I’ll try!” she giggled, squishing his cheeks between her hands. “Love you dad.”

Dad.

Frank felt his stomach twist, and he glanced at Fliss whose hand had flown to her mouth, her eyes wide. She hastily swallowed, recovering herself, her eyes glassing over as she shifted Alex’s car seat in her arms before she turned to place it on the coffee table.

“I love you too.” Frank cleared his throat, as he dropped Mary to the floor “Go on, I’ll come tuck you in in five.”

She skipped off up the stairs, Fred hot on her heels and as soon as her door shut Frank turned to Fliss.

“You ok?” she asked and he nodded, his eyes full of unshed tears as he sank down onto the arm of the couch. “How do you feel?”

“I don’t know.” He replied softly, and he truly didn’t. “Shocked, a little. I guess, that even despite the adoption I never…well, I never anticipated that because she’s not actually mine and…”

His face screwed up a little, and Fliss stepped in between his legs her arms wrapping around his broad shoulders. He pressed his face into her chest, his arms curling around her waist as she gently stroked one hand through his hair and down his neck.

“Of course she’s yours.” She whispered, dropping a kiss to his head. “I keep telling you this. In every single way possible bar biologically, she’s your daughter Frank. We got the paper work to prove it.” At that he spluttered a little laugh and Fliss pulled back to look at him, her hands cupping his face as she wiped away a single tear that had fallen down his cheek.

“We just never talked about it.” He shrugged a little lamely and Fliss smiled.

“Somethings you just can’t prepare for, no matter how much philosophy or logic you try and apply.” Her brown eyes locked onto his “This was just, well, it was a natural thing. I can’t explain it any better than that. The question is, did it feel uncomfortable?”

“No.” Frank answered honestly as he shook his head, taking a deep breath, his lip quivering. “And that’s what shocked me the most. I always thought I’d hate it but…”

“But you didn’t?”

“No.”

“And are you gonna be okay if she keeps calling you dad?”

He nodded and Fliss gently bent down to kiss him softly, before pulling away “Then roll with it. Like Dad did with me. You know, if you wanted to you speak to him then I’m sure he’d-“

“I already did.” Frank shrugged a little. “Months ago, just after we’d moved in here and we’d decided to adopt her. He told me about how you’d made that wish at your birthday and…” Frank took a deep breath “And I know Mary’s always said she wishes I was her dad and I guess, well if I’m honest there’s always been this part of me that wishes I was, despite Diane.”

“Diane would be happy, I’m sure.” Fliss looked at him “Frankie, I know this is probably gonna sound so shit, but, well there’s a reason she came to you to…well to do what she did, because she trusted you with her daughter. And you’ve done her proud baby, so proud.”

Frank felt the burning in his nose as he scrunched his face up in an attempt to stem the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him and once more Fliss wrapped her arms around him, gently rubbing between his shoulder blades. “What do I do now?” he whispered “How do I react?”

“You don’t “Fliss replied, kissing his head “You take a minute, then you go upstairs and tuck her in as usual. Don’t make a big thing about it or she’ll start to worry. Chances are she hasn’t even realised she’s said it.”

“And if she has?”

“Well then be honest. Tell her its okay.” She felt Frank nod and then she stepped back, her hands on his shoulders. “You good?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” He stood up, wiping his face. He took a deep breath and glanced down at Fliss and smiled, “I love you.”

“Love you too.” She smiled “Now go on, I’ll check the doors and be up with you in a second.”

Frank climbed the stairs, taking a deep breath before he knocked gently and walked into Mary’s room. She was already in bed, Fred curled by her feet and as Frank crossed the room he almost tripped over her discarded clothes.

“Seriously?” Frank pointed them as they lay on the bedroom floor. “Wardrobe, not floordrobe Stack!”

“Oops.” Mary grimaced and Frank rolled his eyes, picking the items up, tossing them onto the bean bag under the bed.

“If they’re clean put them away, if not put them in your laundry hamper.” He instructed, leaning against the rails of her bed.

“Sorry, I’ll do it tomorrow.” Mary shuffled onto her side to look at him. “Did you have a good birthday?”

“The best.” Frank smiled honestly “Got to spend it with all my favourite people. And you.” Mary shoved him gently and he laughed, “Joking, joking!” he smiled, brushing her hair back off her face “You know you’re my best girl.”

“What about Fliss?” Mary narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“She’s my best woman.” Frank answered easily. Mary looked at him before she smiled, accepting his explanation. “You excited about tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” Mary nodded “And nervous.”

“Nothing to be nervous about.” Frank shook his head “Just go out there and enjoy it. You’ve done so well for a first season, Fliss was saying that earlier. We’re proud of you sweetheart.”

“Thanks.” She grinned “Hey, Frank?”

“Yeah?”

“You know what I said before...downstairs?”

Frank took a deep breath “I do.”

“Did it bother you?”

“Not one bit.” He smiled and Mary grinned.

“Good, because I think I’d like to say it more going forward.” She reached out, her fingers fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. “Unless you annoy me. And then you can be Frank again.”

Frank chuckled “Sounds like a deal, Stack”

“Okay, you can go now. I need to sleep.” Mary snuggled down into the covers and Frank smiled, pulling them up round her chin, dropping a kiss to her head.

“Night”

“Night.”

He turned to leave the room, throwing a last glance over his shoulder before he closed the door behind him.

***** “Mary, are you paying attention?” Fliss looked at her as she sat astride Monty, grinning ear to ear.

“Yeah, sorry.” She turned her head, “I’m just so happy!”

“I know honey!” Fliss chuckled, “And you did so well in your other two classes and yes we’re gonna celebrate that later but focus on this one now, yeah? You’ve gone clear so all you need to do is get round the jump off. You remember the order?”

“Erm…” Mary spun in the saddle looking round “Yeah its two, six, nine, double back to twelve, across to five and then you send him quickly down the line to finish at eight.”

“Good.” Fliss smiled “Remember, let Monty find his way. Don’t mess too much and if you think you can make that sharp turn after nine and cut through instead of round four then do it. If not, take the safe route and aim for clear.”

“Ok, yeah, got it.”

“Glad you did.” Frank mumbled, gently pushing Alex’s buggy to and fro as the baby dozed “’Coz that all sounded like a different language to me.”

“That’s because you don’t get it, Dad.” Mary turned to look at him.

“You’re right, I don’t.” Frank agreed

“You would do if you spent more time watching me instead of faffing with the boat in the garage.” Mary shrugged. At her words Frank narrowed his eyes and turned to Fliss who was biting her lip, a faint flush on her cheeks.

“Don’t look at me!”

“Oh, I’m lookin’ at you Cowgirl, because no one else I know uses the word faff.” He arched an eyebrow. “Well apart from your mom, dad, Steve and Sian…damned British slang!”

Fliss snorted “Ok, busted. But that’s not exactly what I said.”

“Well what was?” he dropped his voice a little and Fliss started to laugh.

“I just said to Jo when she commented she hadn’t seen you in a while that you were busy with the other woman in your life aka the boat.”

Frank rolled his eyes. “Hey, that engine was giving me trouble.”

“I’m sure it was.”

“And you weren’t complaining about me faffing too much when you were up there with me a few weeks back.” Frank dropped his head as he spoke into her ear and smirked as Fliss shivered at the feel of his bearded cheek scratching slightly at her neck.

“Well that situation benefitted me.” She muttered back, her eyes hidden behind her shades as she kept her face turned towards the ring, watching the first of the ten kids through to the jump off go.

“Very selfish of you Miss Gallagher.”

“Well when it comes to you I don’t like sharing.”

Frank gave a chuckle and pressed a kiss to her cheek “No worries on that count, I’m all yours baby.”

She smiled, and then winced as the competitor in the ring misjudged the turn between two jumps and the pony slammed on, sending her flying over its neck. Frank swallowed as Mary turned to look at Fliss her eyes wide.

“Why did she undercut that turn then?”

Fliss shook her head “If she’d have hugged tighter to the corner she might have made it but as it was she only got a two stride run up.” She bit her lip then frowned “Don’t you do that!”

“I wasn’t gonna!” Mary snorted, rolling her eyes.

“Good.” Fliss nodded “Like I said, you can make your time up between nine and twelve and then five and eight, if you need to.”

Frank groaned “Why couldn’t you pick a nice safe hobby…like swimming or something?”

Mary looked at him reproachfully “Frank, I could already swim.”

“Yeah but…”

“And Swimming can be dangerous, people drown.”

“Not if they’re supervised.”

“And besides, if I hadn’t wanted to go horse riding, you’d have never met Fliss.” Mary looked at him, fixing him with a maddening smug look because she knew that was the absolute ace card.

“Okay, you got me there.” Frank grumbled “Smart ass.”

Fliss chuckled as the three of them turned their attention to the ring and eventually after the other nine riders had finished, Mary’s name and number was called having been pulled last in the random order draw.

“Good luck.” Fliss smiled as she walked Mary to the gate of the arena before she set off, trotting Monty around the outside of the arena before the buzzer sounded. And then she was off. Frank hated this bit, and always found himself torn between desperately wanting to watch and also wanting to look the other way. He normally settled for a combination of the two, watching for a second, looking away, glancing back…but this time he found himself watching Fliss. Her face was set in utter concentration as she watched Mary’s round, her head tilting left to right, her hand making a pulling motion as she was willing Mary to slow Monty down and then suddenly she perked up completely, her lips curling upwards.

“She’s cut the corner, she’s gone for it.” She whispered and Frank’s eyes snapped back to the arena to see Mary clear the second to last jump and Monty picked up the pace. “Not too fast.” Fliss muttered “Pull him up, just take a check, a little one. Oh, shit!”

At Fliss’ last words Monty took off, clipping the pole with his front feet. It rolled in the cups and Frank held his breath before it rocked a little too far and fell to the floor. There was a collective sigh of disappointment around the ring from the spectators and then applause rang out as Mary crossed the finish line and turned to see the pole on the floor. She hung her head a little, shaking it before she trotted out and stopped by Fliss and Frank.

“Hey…” Fliss beamed at her “That was really unlucky. He only just clipped it.”

“It rolled?” Mary grimaced and Fliss wrinkled her nose as they set off back to the wagon.

“Fraid so.”

“Bummer.” Mary shook her head.

“What?” Frank asked, utterly puzzled.

“It means that the pole simply rolled off, it wasn’t taken straight down with the knock.” Fliss explained “Believe me, It’s the most annoying thing in the world.”

“But it’s the same result.” Frank looked at them both and Mary groaned exasperatedly.

“Don’t talk about stuff you don’t understand!”

“That’s me told.” Frank scoffed as she jumped off Monty and proceeded to remove her hat.

“Can we go see who won?” She turned to Fliss who had just taken Monty’s saddle off.

“Sure, let’s get him loaded up and then we’ll go.”

Once Monty was back on board, the ramp shut they headed back down to the Arena, Fliss pushing Alex’s buggy as Mary slipped her hand into Frank’s. They arrived back just in time to see the placings.

“Oh, that’s cool.” Mary shrugged “Saffy won the class.”

“You know her?” Fliss frowned.

“Only from when we were waiting in line before.” Mary shrugged “She seemed nice. I wonder who’s won it overall.”

“We’ll check online later.” Fliss said, before she grinned “You know, I’d kinda like to know who won the Junior Rider class for the season. Any idea Frank?”

“Oh, some blonde kid with an attitude problem.” He shrugged as Mary looked up at him, her eyebrows arched, hands on her hips.

“Well everyone says I act like you so any attitude I do have…” she drew a circle in the air with her index finger of the hand that wasn’t holding his before pointing at him “…is one hundred percent your fault.”

Fliss spluttered out a laugh as Frank blinked, looking at Mary then to Fliss. “I…wow.” was all he could bring himself to say.

The three of them politely applauded as the top six riders took a lap of honour before the winner took her own and as she emerged from the ring Mary let go of Frank’s hand and stepped forward.

“Well done.” She smiled at the girl who sat atop a chestnut pony and Frank watched, the pride in his chest almost stopping his breathing. He felt Fliss slide an arm round his waist and he moved, dropping his own over her shoulders as she leaned up to kiss his cheek.

“Thanks Mary!” the girl grinned “You were so unlucky with your last pole.”

“I did my best.” Mary shrugged “That’s what my mom and dad say matters the most.”

Frank felt Fliss stiffen a little besides him “Did she…”

“Yeah…”he whispered, dropping a kiss to her head.

Fliss took a shaky breath and hastily blinked back the tears as Mary turned back towards them “Hey, can I go get a drink with Saffy from their van? I’ll be like 10 minutes?”

“Erm…” Fliss wiped her face and looked at the woman next to Saffy who smiled and nodded.

“It’s fine.” She beamed “Fliss isn’t it? You run Sandybrook?”

“Yeah.” Fliss smiled.

“I’m Jenny, Saf’s mom. And we’re just parked right there.” The woman spoke “I wouldn’t mind a chat with you actually about a horse I have. He needs backing and you came recommended.”

“Sure, just…” Fliss looked at Frank and he gave a grin

“I’ll set off back with him.” he nodded to Alex who was fast asleep. “See you at home, take as long as you need.”

“You sure?”

“Course.” Frank gave her a kiss before he called to Mary “Hey Stack, I’m gonna go.” She turned and ran towards him, hugging him tight as his hand dropped to the back of her head. “I’m proud of you.” He said softly and she beamed.

“Thanks Dad.”

He gave her another hug before he turned and took the brake off the stroller, turning it round. As he made his way back towards where his truck was park he tossed a glance over his shoulder to see Fliss now in a full on laugh at something the woman called Jenny had said, head tipped back, shoulders shaking, her pretty profile simply radiating happiness.

And right there, Frank knew there couldn’t possibly be ANY man in the world who felt the sheer contentment and love that he did right then.

***** Chapter 20

#riding on #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #frank adler x original female character #gifted #gifted fan fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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alwaysmychoices · 4 years

Text

Contamination

Here is my Chapter 10 rewrite. I hope I did it justice.

Synopsis: When Charlie makes a chilling discovery about Senator Farrugia’s illness, lives are put at risk...

Chapter 16 of the “With and Without” series

Previous Series: “A Weekend with Dr. Ramsey”

Pairing: Dr. Ethan Ramsey x MC (Charlotte “Charlie” Greene)

Words: 4.7k

Rating: T (language)

That morning, the sun was bright. The world was good, and Charlie was happy.

Ethan woke her with a kiss and an offer of coffee, but she refused and bought a steaming cup from the coffee shop a block from the hospital. Before her shift began, she cozied up in Kyra’s hospital room, and together, they laughed like they didn’t fear it would be the last time.

“So, what did you get up to last night?” Kyra asked, eyeing Charlie’s latte with envy, “And if you tell me you watched Netflix from your bed, you need a better life.”

“I actually didn’t go home last night,” Charlie admitted cheekily, and to her delight, Kyra reacted with scandalized enthusiasm.

“You’re kidding?” Kyra leaned closer, eager for every little detail, “You have to tell me everything.”

Charlie would have – even who it was with – but she didn’t get the opportunity. Her gossip stood no chance against Bryce’s authority.

“It’s time,” he announced, knocking on the door belatedly with a solemn stare. He was smiling, but it was more resolved than happy. He was ready for surgery, not goodbye.

Charlie promised herself not to cry, so she hid her flash of concern in the act of straightening her white coat. Her eyes were sad as she took Kyra in, but she refused to say a word. Kyra was ready, and Charlie didn’t feel right adding any crack in her armor. She loved her friend enough to take a deep breath, smile, and hug her good luck.

“Give me all the sordid details tonight,” Kyra demanded.

“Every single one,” Charlie affirmed, “Even the parts you don’t want to know.”

This made Kyra laugh, and that was enough for Charlie to feel compelled to keep her promise.

As Charlie walked out of the hospital room, she came to Bryce’s side, and in all seriousness, she said, “Take care of her, Lahela.”

“If I mess up, the only person that will hate me more than you would be me,” Bryce gave a single, concerned glance in Kyra’s direction. It was the only one he allowed himself for the day, and once it was over, he assumed his bravado by adding, “Besides, look at me. I don’t even know how to make a mistake.”

Charlie rolled her eyes, but she felt safer with Kyra in his care. She wished them both a bit of final good luck and a goodbye, and then she walked out.

And as she walked away, despite everything, she felt light – like everything would be okay, like this story had a happy ending.

It was the last time she would feel that way for a long time.

Charlie started her shift with rounds and scheduled her patients so that she could squeeze in time to check on Kyra’s surgery from the observation room. She wasn’t even thinking of Senator Farrugia when Danny approached her.

There wasn’t much to think about. After Charlie discovered his lead poisoning, her most difficult patient was finally off the agenda. Instead of bothering the diagnostics team with questions or observations, he stayed in his hospital room, making calls, taking interviews, and answering emails. He was so busy trying to monopolize the publicity that his difficulty manifested in his refusal to follow his treatment plan if it didn’t suit his schedule for the day. Listening to him work made Charlie’s stomach churn. Every day he stayed in Edenbrook was another day that he exposed a new, corrupt facet to his personality. More than once, Charlie and Ethan stood outside his door, wondering if stealing him from Mass Kenmore was worth it.

“Charlie?” Danny approached her, a test result in his hand, “I have the results from Senator Farrugia’s paint samples. You marked them as urgent.”

Charlie briefly abandoned her charts to accept the results, but when she read them, her face twisted with confusion.

“Are you sure these are the right results?” Charlie asked distractedly, reading the paper over and over again as if it would change the contents.

“I double-checked,” Danny affirmed, wearing a matching look of bewilderment, “They’re right… I don’t know how, but those paint samples tested negative.”

That wasn’t the answer Charlie wanted, but she trusted Danny too much to doubt him.

If it wasn’t the paint, what could be poisoning Senator Farrugia?

Charlie thanked Danny. With a heavy sigh, she collected her charts and walked to the diagnostic’s office for further research.

So much for her break…

Charlie didn’t know where to start, so when she logged on to the computer, she ran a general search for the senator. She flagged anything about trips or notable habits, looking for any clue of contamination. Most of this information had already been studied during their preliminary search, but at that time, they weren’t looking for lead. Even under the new lens, she was able to throw out most of the news stories.

The further she went, the less clear it became.

Senator Farrugia lived in a new, high-end condo in D.C. The area had no reported lead problem, and the building was too new for lead paint or lead pipes. She had already called up all of his regular haunts in the capital, and none had any helpful information. His life in Massachusetts was limited to his office, his home, and the farmer’s market he frequented for publicity. None were insightful.

She searched the internet until Farrugia’s name had the title Mayor preceding it.

Charlie stumbled on a story from a decade earlier, when 3 died from lead pipes poisoning the water supply. She made a note to test his pipes in his home, and she clicked on the article for more information.

That was when she saw the photo of 13-year-old Jonathan Perry. The young boy was smiling for his school picture, all braces and excitement. He was the youngest victim of the lead poisoning, and there was something eerily similar about his pale skin and thin features. And the name…

Perry.

Like Travis.

On a hunch, Charlie googled Jonathan Perry. There wasn’t much to find – his old social media page, which was full of messages of condolences after his death, a news story about his middle school soccer team’s victory at state, and an obituary. She clicked on the sparse obituary. In lieu of flowers, the family requested donations for the local children’s hospital. They also used the same school photo as the newspaper article used.

Charlie skimmed the article, making an effort to remain doubtful.

But she knew.

She knew before she even read the last sentence.

“Jonathan Perry is survived by his parents – Deborah and Samuel Perry – and an older brother, Travis.”

Charlie’s blood ran cold, and she read the sentence again.

The second the thought – the horrible, terrible suspicion – crept in, Charlie jumped up and rushed to the senator’s room.

Charlie spent years reliving these moments. All in all, it was ten minutes at most, but they were replayed so many times that each second was accounted for. Charlie found every “what if” until they each tortured her.

What if she hadn’t rushed in? What if she had waited? What if she called Ethan and asked him what to do?

What if she just let Senator Farrugia die?

Would her friends still be alive?

Would she still be haunted?

But on that day, at that moment, she had none of those thoughts.

She just needed to get to Travis before something terrible happened.

Outside of Senator Farrugia’s hospital room, she found Bobby Gunderson, the security guard, talking with Raf about his upcoming move to Brazil. They were happy. They wouldn’t be once she spoke to them.

“Have you seen the senator’s assistant? Travis?” Charlie interrupted their conversation frantically. She looked between them both for a reply, though Bobby was really the only one who knew Travis. He had been assigned to Senator Farrugia off and on for the last week, and his dislike for the senator was matched by his disinterest in Travis. He never laughed at Bobby’s jokes, and Bobby took that as a sign of flawed character.

Bobby, understandably, was the one to answer Charlie. He looked startled by her, and she began to wonder if her anxiety was visible.

How could it not be?

She was on her way to confront an attempted murderer. She wasn’t prepared for this. She was terrified of being too late but also facing him at all.

“He’s inside with the senator,” Bobby replied, hoping that he would get an explanation in return. She didn’t immediately offer one.

“The weasel-looking guy? He was acting weird,” Raf chimed in, equally concerned by Charlie’s strange demeanor. He knew her well enough to know that he had never seen her like this.

He’s inside.

Charlie’s heart rate accelerated. The blissful morning turned sour, and every passing second felt more serious, the consequences direr. The stakes were higher now. Charlie felt young and inexperienced as she tried to do all the right things.

Nothing prepared her for this. She suspected a man of poisoning her patient. This was a man she had known for weeks, one that she had commiserated with over long nights working on Farrugia’s case. He seemed friendly and helpful. Now, he was dangerous. And he was on the other side of the door, potentially close to another murder attempt.

The moment she heard that Travis was inside, she started walking to the door. Panic clouded her vision until all she saw was Travis and the senator and that door. Turning to Bobby, she said, “Bobby, we need to call the police for a suspected poisoning and attempted murder of a public official.”

Bobby’s face dropped, and wordlessly, he joined her as they barreled for Senator Farrugia’s door. He radioed the call in immediately.

As Charlie twisted the handle, she didn’t notice Raf walk in with them. For a long time, she wondered if she would have stopped him if she would have noticed, but she likely wouldn’t have. And even if she had told him to stay away, he wouldn’t have listened.

The hospital room was calm and quiet, save for Ed Farrugia’s typing on his keyboard. Danny was at the end of the bed, perusing Ed’s chart and making notes in the top corner. Travis was closer to the senator, standing right next to Ed’s bed as he fished through a backpack Charlie had never seen before.

Once the door opened, Charlie’s anxious energy flooded the room, and all three looked to the group in surprise. Everyone was looking at them, but Travis’s eyes stayed on Charlie.

“Dr. Greene?” Danny asked, confusion evident in his voice.

“What’s going on?” Farrugia echoed, pausing his typing.

Charlie didn’t look to either of them because she never dropped Travis’s stare. She watched realization dawn on him, and his brown eyes filled with understanding. He almost seemed to revel in it, like he wanted to stop hiding. Like a curtain falling to reveal the light, cruelty was exposed, and it made Charlie shiver.

At that moment, she had no doubts about Travis.

She knew he was guilty, and she knew he was dangerous.

“Mr. Perry, we would like to speak to you. If you come with us, we can resolve this quickly,” Bobby’s voice was authoritative now. It was a little intimidating, even. Travis didn’t flinch.

“Dr. Greene, are you sure?” he was still looking at Charlie.

She felt disgusted by his attention. He made the question seem intimate, like they were in on some big secret. Never had her name sounded so vile.

“Officer Gunderson asked you to step away from the senator, Travis,” Charlie was firm and her gaze resolved. Travis’s face hardened.

“Why?” Ed asked incredulously. He didn’t like being kept in the dark, and he certainly didn’t like the tension in the room. He had a virtual interview in fifteen minutes, and he didn’t need the distraction.

Travis knew that he had been discovered, so with unreserved harshness, he turned to his long-time boss and answered, “Probably because I’ve been poisoning you.”

As angry as he looked, Travis seemed relieved with his admission. Ed gasped and instinctively jolted away from his aide as he mumbled a weak, “W… what?”

Bobby moved towards Travis just as Ed decided to get away from him. While the senator scrambled out of his bed and hurried towards the door, Bobby held out his hand, expecting to apprehend the young man as he said, “Alright, come with me…”

Travis didn’t even look at Bobby. All he saw was Farrugia running for the door.

In a wild panic, Travis reached inside of his bag to retrieve a black canister, and he brandished it as a weapon, pointing it to each and every person in the room as he demanded, “STOP!”

Everyone obeyed.

They had never seen a canister like that, but the way Travis held it commanded fear and trepidation. It appeared sinister, even from across the room.

Travis looked at them all but mainly Ed as he screamed, “Stand back! I mean it!”

Farrugia, who had almost escaped before Travis’s threat, took one cautious step in the direction of his aide. He didn’t come too close because he wanted the option to run. With his hands up in a pleading gesture, Farrugia urged Travis, “Travis… think about what you’re doing. Please…”

“Think about what I’m doing?” Travis repeated with disbelief, “What do you think I’ve been doing for all these years? From the moment we met, I’ve only been thinking of this.”

Travis waved the canister in Ed’s direction, eyes growing hard as his finger curled around the trigger.

“Travis!” Charlie interrupted, startling him just enough that his grip on the trigger lessened.

She couldn’t hear her thoughts for her heartbeat. She hardly remembered how to speak, let alone what to say. Her eyes kept drifting back to the canister, which was still dangerously aimed in her direction. She felt it watch her, like it was preparing for something horrid.

She felt everyone watch her.

And as Travis granted her his attention, the pressure prickled at her skin.

“This won’t bring your brother back,” Charlie said gently.

“You think I don’t know that?” Travis scoffed, “I will never get my brother back. I’ve lived with that since I was fifteen, and that knowledge destroyed my family. It destroyed my parents, and it destroyed me.”

His finger was back on the trigger, his hand shaking with the concentration needed to keep from pulling it. One slip and they would all find out what made Travis so confident in his weapon.

“Travis, let’s talk about this,” Charlie begged, refusing to look at the canister and instead looking for some sliver of humanity left in her opponent. If she could just find the right words, she could end this.

She could save everyone in this room.

She truly believed she could. Charlie believed in the world. She believed that tragedy and pain had an end. She believed that happy endings could be found if you worked hard enough.

She believed she would walk out of that room traumatized but otherwise unscathed.

She was wrong.

“No,” Travis refused, almost laughing at her, “There’s nothing to talk about. If I leave this room, I’m going to jail, which will be the end of it. And Dr. Greene, you don’t know the details of this story, but I’ll tell you how it ends. Ed Farrugia doesn’t survive.”

Travis surveyed the hospital room. He eyed Farrugia, who was just waiting to be out of his line of sight so he could run. Then, he looked to the four bystanders who had wandered into his plan.

“It’s unfortunate that four others will have to die as well,” Travis mused.

“It doesn’t have to end this way,” Charlie was shaking. Something was breaking inside of her. Maybe it was hope that they could leave this room, or perhaps it was faith in all that was good in the world. She begged for his humanity, but it felt too distant. “Please, you don’t want to hurt us. You don’t even know us. Travis, we have nothing to do with this. And you know you’ll regret it. Please.”

Travis offered a sympathetic shake of the head, “Charlie, you didn’t have to do this. You could have let him die. You know who he is. You know what he does. You know that his policies kill people. Don’t you see that you’re complicit? Not just in what I’m doing but in what he does!” Travis frowned in disgust, “You could have stayed quiet!”

“I couldn’t do that,” Charlie managed, fear gripping her so tight that even small words were shaky and uncontrolled.

She had lost control of herself. She had lost him, too.

Travis shrugged, “I hope your conscience is enough for you, then.”

Everyone knew they were in a final hour, that whatever was coming was so close that it breathed down their neck.

That was why Bobby stepped forward.

“Dr. Greene is right,” Bobby asserted, “Come with me before anyone gets hurt.”

And this was what Charlie lived a thousand times over – until she recounted the sound of Bobby’s step on the linoleum towards Travis and the inhale of Rafael to her side as he held his breath. It was never any less painful to experience the moment before it all unraveled. At best, it was numb. Today though, it was blisteringly agonizing.

Bobby reached for Travis, but his grip wasn’t strong enough. Travis pulled free, and without a thought or a word, he pulled the trigger on the canister. An aerosol gas released in a puff in Bobby’s face. There was a horrible, aching strangling sound as Bobby fell to his knees. He coughed violently, choking on the gas and his own breath. He gargled and thrashed in pain until he was on his back.

Charlie moved towards Bobby, but Danny made it there first. Instinctively, he pressed his fingers to Danny’s artery in his neck. An oily sheen covered Bobby and spread to Danny’s hands.

“Charlie, he’s going into cardiac arrest!” Danny yelled, already beginning the chest compressions.

They didn’t have time, and they didn’t have the equipment. Charlie belatedly realized that she was screaming into the hall for equipment, but she never finished the sentence. She was running to Bobby when she came face to face with Travis, who wielded the canister in her direction. She froze, the words dying on her lips.

“At least I’m not the only one with blood on my hands,” Travis sneered, and he began to pull the trigger.

In the split second before the gas was released, Charlie couldn’t move. There wasn’t time to run, not that she really thought to. Her vision was clouded with tears, but she could see the barrel pointed at her. And for it was worth, she accepted her fate.

She didn’t want to die, but she knew she would.

And for her last thought, she wished she had told Ethan that she loved him.

It wasn’t her last thought, though.

“Ahh!” Charlie cried as she was shoved to the side. She fell to the floor in an uncoordinated heap, and she looked up just in time to see Raf tackle Travis to the ground. They landed with a heavy thud, and Raf scrambled for the canister.

What followed was blind panic.

Gas filled the room as they fought for the canister. It spilled out of their grasp, and spinning in the middle of the room, it coated everyone but Charlie with a layer of oil. Charlie coughed as it infiltrated her lungs, burning and stabbing as it went.

Danny frantically tried to resuscitate Bobby as Raf fought to subdue Travis. Charlie, coughing through the mist, caught Farrugia sprint out of the room and heard Travis scream in response. The scream was guttural and garbled, and it was the worst noise she had ever heard.

Clambering to sit up, Charlie looked around the chaos and tried to find the place to help, but she couldn’t. She was startled still, watching as everything fell apart.

“What was that?” Raf demanded, slamming Travis against the wall.

“I don’t know!” Travis pulled free, only to vomit into the trashcan. Raf raged until he was consumed with a cough.

Danny’s efforts to save Bobby grew weak as both Bobby’s situation grew worse and Danny’s strength gave out. Danny pulled his hands away, examining them, and he breathlessly expressed his horror, “My… my hands are covered… I’m-I’m covered.”

Charlie shielded her eyes from the sight, tears streaming down her face as she hid from the terror and distress of her dear friend.

Her gaze landed on the door, and she knew what she had to do. Crawling on the linoleum, Charlie’s back was to the plight, but she felt it every second. It consumed her. It cemented her and demanded everything until she could give nothing. She couldn’t feel it now. She engrossed herself with her mission and shoved her trauma and her pain and her fear and her guilt out of her mind.

Charlie reached the door just as Ethan could be seen in the window. He walked towards the room with the innocence of a man who didn’t yet know that the world was ending.

Charlie wanted to run to him. She wanted him to save her.

But instead, she slammed the door closed.

Ethan’s confusion settled into surprise and concern, and with each step, he felt it mount. By the time he reached the door, he was terrified. He watched Charlie’s face – stained red from tears and eyes bloodshot. She shook, and he saw her ragged breath as she struggled against a burning cough.

And he pulled on the door handle, but she was holding it shut.

His Charlie.

His Charlie is not okay.

He pulled on the door harder, demanding to be let inside. He had no reasonable thought, only a visceral instinct to protect her and save her from whatever horrors were inside.

“What is going on?” Ethan pulled even harder, but she focused all of her strength in holding that damn door shut, “Let me in, Charlie!”

“Shut down the wing,” Charlie ignored the pain in his eyes. She ignored the way he stared. She ignored that he loved her, and she pretended she didn’t love him to spare herself.

If she opened the gates now, she didn’t know what would come out, and she didn’t know if she could do what needed to be done.

“Charlotte!” he jiggled the handle desperately, banging his hand on the wooden door like it might give way if he tried hard enough.

“Travis has tried to kill the senator with an unknown gas. We have no idea what it is, but Farrugia escaped,” Charlie felt empty as she tried to stay calm. Calm meant ignoring everything, yet she cried. She hesitated, and she almost cracked. She almost fell into the pit and lost herself in the sorrow as she said, “Bobby went into cardiac arrest after getting a blast of it to his face. Danny and Raf have been sprayed with it, and I breathed it in.”

Ethan stopped jiggling the handle, his hand slack.

He didn’t want to understand.

He wanted to break the fucking door down.

“We can’t risk it getting out of this room,” Charlie hadn’t lessened her grip on the door handle. She wasn’t sure if she could. She was bonded to her station. It was all she could do to maintain control.

It was all she could do to try and save someone.

Because the someone didn’t get to be her, or Bobby, or Danny, or Raf.

But it could be Ethan. It could be anyone on this hall.

She had blood on her hands, but it stained less if she could help someone else.

Ethan’s world slipped through his fingers, but he watched her instead. Everything – nor rather nothing… it was gone.

And he ached. He burned. He suffered.

He couldn’t remember kissing her in bed this morning and slipping her out of his apartment before his dad woke. He couldn’t remember making dinner with her or wandering Boston with Charlie on his arm and Jenner on a leash.

He only saw her now. Crying. Sick. And pushing him away.

“You’re right,” Ethan whispered breathlessly and helplessly.

He was broken, and she couldn’t look.

A sob was building in her chest – a body-wracking, heartbreaking, life-changing sob. She swallowed it and fought the air to keep breathing.

In the room, Danny and Travis were vomiting. Raf comforted Danny and glared at Travis. Bobby, perfectly still, was alone now.

Charlie found an air vent, and in it, she found her next distraction. With her back still turned to Ethan, she pointed to the vent and said, “Raf, I need your help to seal that!”

She opened every cupboard until she found plastic and tape, and Raf found a pair of scissors for her to cut it to size. Raf offered her a boost, and he lifted her up to tape it off. Once he let her down, she came face to face with him, and to her surprise, she wanted to scream at him.

She couldn’t believe how fucking irresponsible he had been! What the fuck did he think he was doing endangering himself like that? Why did he have to save her? Why?

But Danny was wheezing, and Charlie didn’t yell at Raf.

Charlie fell to Danny’s side as he leaned back against the hospital bed. His face was ashen white, and every breath was labored and pained. He tried to speak, but the effort was too hard. He only managed to say, “I… I don’t feel…” He paused, and his head fell back.

“It’s okay, Danny,” she whispered and took his pulse. It was weak and slow.

A lump formed in Charlie’s throat, and she squeezed Danny’s hand as she repeated, “It’s okay, Danny.” He weekly squeezed her back.

Charlie had to look away. When she eyed Bobby, she was on the edge of collapse. She felt everything and nothing, and one felt dangerously close to consuming her. Yet, hesitantly, she crawled in his direction.

Before she even touched him, she knew she wouldn’t find a pulse.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t heartbroken when it wasn’t there.

Raf followed her, and after a diligent attempt to find Bobby’s pulse, he grimaced.

They sat in silence, too many words to say to even begin speaking. The finality and grief were palpable.

They hadn’t saved Bobby, and they never would.

Charlie covered her mouth with her hand, holding her breath until the world might make sense again. It never did, and she exhaled in defeat.

Her limbs felt heavy, like a thousand atrocities now sat on them.

She was convinced that the world would never seem the same.

And she wanted to cry, but she didn’t. She couldn’t yet. Maybe not ever.

“Did you get much on you?” Raf asked finally, his eyes still on Bobby.

“Not much,” Charlie answered. She didn’t ask about Raf because she knew he was covered. He was relieved she didn’t mention it.

Charlie looked back to the window, where Ethan was on the phone. Behind him, she could see patients and employees evacuate, and she tentatively met his gaze. Face twisted with sorrow, Charlie nodded solemnly in Bobby’s direction.

Ethan understood, and it knocked the wind of out him.

Bobby was a good man. A colleague and a friend.

And he had been exposed to the same thing Charlie had.

His rookie. His Charlie. No.

Ethan pulled the phone away from his ear, and approaching the glass, he announced that the CDC was on their way.

“You’ll be okay, Charlie,” he promised, and trying not to panic, he affirmed, “All three of you. You’ll be alright.”

He said it because it had to be true.

It had to be.

He couldn’t lose Charlie, not like this. She couldn’t leave him when he’d just found her. This kind of thing doesn’t happen. And it doesn’t happen to her. It doesn’t!

And it won’t. And it won’t hurt her!

Anyone else but her.

He didn’t care if it was the senator. He was sad if it was a colleague. He was pained if it was a friend.

But it wasn’t her.

He didn’t know how to breathe. He didn’t know how to talk. He knew how to work, and he knew he needed to save her. That had to be enough.

His darling, wonderful Charlie.

He told her that she would be alright because it had to be true.

But Charlie didn’t believe him.

note: I probably should have spent more time working on this chapter, but it came out in one emotional sitting so I decided to share it.

tag list:

@honeyandsunfl0wers @jens-diamondchoices @desmaranj @octobereighth @flyawayboo @fanficnewbie @togetherwearerapture @perriewinklenerdie @noboundariesplease @paulfwesley @x-kyne-x @caroldxnvxrs @paisleylovergirl

@chasingrobbie @soft-for-drake @choicesyouplayandmore @crazy-loca-blog @playchoicesheaux @senseofduties @queencarb @save-the-sky @openheart12 @omg-its-vixen @odetomars @rookieoh @drakewalker04 @mysecretlifeofdaydreams @delaytheinevitable

@hopefulmoonobject @malvolari-take-my-soul @nomadics-stuff @the-pale-goddess @schnitzelbutterfingers @trappedinfandoms @heauxplesslydevoted @lilyvalentine @mvalentine @elwetritsche75 @jessirosebud @lion-ess24 @calibuckley @canknot @wonderwithrobin @jooous @eramsey28 @binny1985 @canigetanawwjunk @padfoot15 @ermidc @beastlyinstrument @shanzay44 @dulceghernandez @starrystarrytrouble @lucy-268 @kaavyaethanramsey

@nerdydinosaursweets @blossomanarchy @openheartthot @thegreentwin @akshara16 @aestheticartsx @maurine07 @mysticaurathings @stateofgracious @rookie-ramsey @endless-courtesan @parkerattano

#open heart #ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x mc #choices #choices stories you play #open heart 2 #angst

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

Text

Riding On

Ch 19- Everyone Loves A B-J…

Warnings: Bad Language words, Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

Thanks to my wonderful gals @icanfeelastormbrewing and @southerngracela who let me bounce a few ideas off for this...

Chapter Song: I’m Yours- Jason Mraz

Series Masterlist // WIYPT Masterlist

Well, you done done me, and you bet I felt it, I tried to be chill, but you're so hot that I melted. I fell right through the cracks, now I'm trying to get back.

"Happy birthday baby." She whispered, nudging his nose with hers.

“You can say that again.” He choked as her grip tightened around him.

“It was a lot easier when he was right here.” Fliss pouted, her chin on Frank’s chest as she peeked up at him and Frank gave her a stern look.

“We’re not having that argument again, Liss.” He shook his head, “He’s 6 months old now. He can sleep in his own room.”

A thud on the bed jolted Frank from his thoughts and he looked down to see Thor had hopped up on the foot of the bed and he flopped down, his head on the peak that Frank’s feet were making.

“Mum thinks he’ll be crawling soon.” Fliss smiled as she lay back, watching the two of them “I mean he’s already sitting up and bum shuffling on the floor so…”

“He’s always so happy.” Fliss beamed at the baby who waggled his arms excitedly as Frank once more helped him stand up.

“I know.” Fliss smiled “I’m glad his eyes aren’t though.”

“Glad?” Frank turned to her. “How come?”

“Because they’re just like yours.”

"So not fair." She rolled her eyes "I wanna go."

“Tough.” Frank shot back “It’s my birthday not yours.”

“Well can we go for my birthday?” Mary asked.

“No.”

“That’s so mean Frank.” She whined.

“Go call someone who cares.” He looked at her. She narrowed her eyes and then held her hand out.

“Give me your phone then.” She demanded and Fliss laughed.

“Yeah? And who you gonna call?” Frank eyed her “Ghostbusters?”

Marry grinned “Nope. Poppa Bill. He’ll kick your ass.”

“Oh please!” Frank snorted “I’m not scared of Bill.” He shrugged “I could take him down.”

Mary pondered for a second before she looked at him, a positively wicked smirk crossing her face “Fine, I’ll call Uncle Steeby then. I know you’re scared of him.”

“No I’m not.” Frank scoffed and Mary snorted

“Whatever Frank, you’re only lying to yourself.” She said, standing up “Imma go get dressed. When we going for breakfast?”

“Soon as we’re ready.” Fliss smiled and Mary skipped out of the room, humming something to herself, Fred and Thor both following her as she went.

“You’re a liar.” Fliss looked at Frank.

“What?” he asked, picking Alex up and settling him on his knee.

“Saying you’re not scared of Steeby.”

“I’m not.” Frank shook his head, before his face rearranged into a little smile “I’m petrified of him.”

****

“Can we grill tonight?” she asked, her mouthful of food. Frank looked at her, where she was sat on the bench opposite him, next to Fliss. He shook his head “What?” she asked.

“Seriously, it’s breakfast time and you’re asking about what we’re eating tonight?”

Mary shrugged “You need to be more organised, Frank.”

Fliss gave a snort as Frank looked from Mary to her “Seriously, I’m 39 getting sassed by a soon to be 10 year old.”

“39…” Fliss sniggered and Frank nudged her under the table with his foot.

“So can we or not?” Mary demanded.

“Jeeez.” Frank rolled his eyes, picking up his coffee “It’s my birthday, don’t I get a say in what we do?”

“I’ve actually booked us a table somewhere.” Fliss spoke, cutting across the argument. “Thought it might be nice for us all to go out.”

“Where?” Mary turned to her.

“1200 Chophouse.”

Frank let out a groan of delight at the same time Mary punched the air “Seriously?”

Mary nodded “Am I on the 1pm class?”

Fliss shook her head “No, I told Joanne to take you off. I’ll teach you later once the class is done ok?”

Mary grinned “I like it best when we do that.”

“He’s a growing boy.” Frank shrugged.

“What’s your excuse?” Fliss teased and Frank swallowed the last of his breakfast and leaned back against the bench, arm resting along the back of it as he drank his coffee.

“I burn a lot of energy.” He said after little deliberation, shooting her a wink.

At just gone 5 Fliss and Mary came back through the door, Thor hot on their heels, Fliss face bright red and Mary’s streaked with tears.

“What…” Frank stood up and Fliss held her hand up, telling him to stop. He did as he was told, observing with a frown as Mary kicked off her boots and gave a sniff.

“Fliss, I didn’t…”

“I’ve nothing more to say on the issue.” Fliss cut her off.

“But…”

“No buts Mary.” Fliss shook her head “What you said was really mean and I won’t tolerate it ok?”

“Kay…” She sniffed again.

“I’m sorry…please, Fliss. I can’t miss the last show!”

“Ok, what’s going on?”

Frank arched an eyebrow “She said that?” Fliss nodded and he groaned “Jesus.”

“So you lost clients?” Frank folded his arms, shaking his head in frustration, “Because of Mary’s mouth?”

“Did Mary apologise?”

“No, absolutely not.” Frank shook his head “And besides, even if I thought it was harsh, which I don’t, I’d never undermine you anyway.”

Fliss nodded “Okay.”

“Honey, don’t think on it.” Frank cocked his head to one side, the look on Fliss’ face betraying the internal conflict she was feeling “You did the right thing.”

“Well, we all say things at times we don’t mean. I’ve told her that a few times myself.” Frank smiled, wrapping his arms around Fliss.

Fliss chuckled and pulled back, looking up at him, narrowing her eyes “You’re not wearing one of those shirts are you?”

“It’s my birthday.” Frank shrugged “Surely I can wear what I want?”

Fliss rolled her eyes “Whatever.”

“I thought you liked them?”

“They’re hideous”

“But endearing.” He dropped another kiss to her lips “At least that’s what you say.”

“He really likes that stuff you made him.” Frank smiled and looked down at his son as he gabbled away in his arms. “I’ll get him cleaned and dressed before I take a shower.”

“I got his outfit ready.” Fliss smiled “It’s on the changing mat.”

“Don’t you trust my fashion sense?” Frank teased and she grinned.

“Your fashion sense is exactly why I picked it.”

“Rude.”

“Trust me, when you see it…you’ll understand.” She smirked.

“Fliss bought it me last week in Target” she said quietly, wiping her eyes. “I liked it so she said I could have it as I’d done well with Monty”

“Well, you got good taste.” he smiled “Take after me.”

“You gonna shout at me as well?” she asked after a little pause and Frank inhaled deeply.

“No.” he shook his head, letting his breath out slowly “I think Fliss said everything that needed to be said. I’ve nothing more to add really.”

“Are you mad?”

“No, just disappointed Mary.” he said honestly “I thought I’d taught you better than that.”

Mary looked down, her shoulders slumped “I didn’t mean it. I was just angry. Sally makes me mad.”

“You make me mad sometimes but I don’t say nasty things.” Frank sighed, “Well, I hope I don’t.”

“Hey, look at me.” he said gently and she raised her eyes to his. “Did you mean it when you said sorry?”

Mary nodded “Yeah, I did. But her mom started calling me names and she was so mad at Fliss. Fliss told her to shut up in the end but then she told me off too.”

“I know.” Mary’s voice was quiet “Is she mad? Sally’s mom said they were leaving.”

It wasn’t quite a flat out lie, whilst he and Fliss could argue and stay pissed at each other for days, where Mary (and in the future no doubt Alex) was concerned it was a different story.

“Do you think she’ll let me go tomorrow?”

“Depends on how you behave tonight.” Frank shrugged, moving his legs as he made to stand “I honestly don’t know.”

Mary took a deep breath and Frank pushed himself to his feet with a slight groan as his knees clicked. Fuck this getting older shit.

“Will she dry my hair for me?” Mary looked at Frank.

“Lissy…” she said quietly “Please could you do my hair for me?”

“You’re momma thinks she’s so funny.” he snorted, dropping a kiss to Alex’s head as he lay him back on the mat. “And to be fair, as far as jokes go, that one’s pretty good.”

*****

“Ah, yes, Mrs Adler, the rest of your party are in the bar area. If you head through I’ll let your server know you’re all here and she’ll come show you to the table.”

“Thanks.” Fliss smiled, and the 4 of them headed to the left. Mary spotted Steve and the twins first and gave a little yell, running over towards them, Frank, Fliss and Alex following.

Fliss gave a shrug, grinning as she turned her head to look at him. “I just gave Adler as the name for the table, he just assumed.”

“Well, you will be soon enough.” He smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

“Get a room!” Steve bellowed over the bar area and Fliss merely turned her head to look at him, raising her middle finger.

“Felicity Rose Gallagher!” Verity scalded “Stop being so uncouth. I brought you up better than that.”

Fliss rolled her eyes “Dad didn’t”

Bill scrunched his face up and shrugged “Touche Titch.” He chuckled as he reached out for Frank, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a manly hug “Happy birthday, Son.”

“Feels like it.” Sian mumbled “Mind you, not like their father is a small man is it?”

“Mum…” he wailed as Frank chuckled, moving to the bar after checking if anyone else needed a drink.

“This is on us tonight.” Bill pushed up next to him, waving his hand at the bar tender “Yeah, on the tab for table 20, thanks…”

“Bill, there’s no need.” Frank began the usual protest whenever either of his future in-laws insisted on paying but as normal Bill shook his head.

“I know but we want to.” He shrugged “I mean what’s the world coming to when I can’t treat my kids to dinner huh?”

Frank sighed a little and smiled “Thanks.”

“My pudding can sit next to me if she wants.” She pouted and Frank rolled his eyes before shooting Mary a look.

“First sign of any nonsense…”

“I know.” She cast her eyes down before she looked at him. “Please can I have my Tablet?”

Frank looked at Fliss and she nodded, reaching into the bag under the stroller for it and handing it over.

"I thought you said you were voting Trump?" Roberta’s voice was serious and Frank shook his head, taking a swig from his beer, as she gave him a cheeky grin.

"He’s an ass clown." Frank replied and Steve laughed.

“Suppose being a Democrat is part and parcel of coming from Mass, huh Frank?”

“What, like being Anti-Tory is part and parcel of being from Merseyside?” Frank shot back and Steve gave a grin, raising his glass in his direction.

“Correct!” Steve nodded enthusiastically.

“Damned Tories…” Bill shook his head. “Johnson doesn’t know his arse from his elbow.”

“You know, I seriously think you should be IQ tested before you're allowed to vote.” Fliss shrugged and Roberta leaned forward.

“Yeah but, how can you test what ain’t there?"

“You want me to sort him?” Frank lay a hand on her thigh and she shook her head, handing the baby a teething ring.

“No, I got it.” She smiled, “Besides he’s good now.”

Frank gave her knee a squeeze and then glanced across the table where Bill was looking at Mary.

“So, you all set for your last competition tomorrow?” he asked and Frank let out a little groan.

“I err…” Mary’s eyes fell down towards her food “I don’t know if I’m going.”

“Why not?” Verity asked.

Frank looked at Fliss, who had been about to open her mouth and gently shook his head. He wanted Mary to be the one to explain, she was the one that had misbehaved after all.

“Because I was naughty.” She shrugged “So Fliss and Frank said they don’t know if I can go.”

Verity and Bill looked at one another before they both glanced over the table at Frank and Fliss. Fliss raised her eyebrows a little as Frank reached for his drink.

“Oh, well, I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson.” Verity looked at Mary and she nodded again, her eyes still on her plate, brimming with tears.

“It all depends on tonight.” Frank spoke softly “Good behaviour over dinner and we’ll think about it.”

“Really?” Mary asked, looking up and he nodded.

“Really.”

“What did you do?” Charlie asked.

“Never you mind.” Sian cut him off, looking at him.

“It doesn’t matter what Mary did.” Fliss stated simply “It was dealt with and that’s that. No need to talk about it anymore.”

“But…”

“Charlie, stop.” Steve said sternly. Charlie narrowed his eyes at his dad and Steve pointed his fork at him “Carry on mate, see where that attitude gets you.”

“Think I’m having a food baby.” Fliss groaned besides him and he turned to her, raising his eyebrows.

“As long as it’s not a real one.”

She snorted into her lemonade, shaking her head “Oh no…”

“You not fancy another?” Sian, who had heard the exchanged asked and Fliss looked at her, hesitating a little.

“Not at the moment, no.”

“Well that’s a step up from the ‘Oh,Christ no’ you spluttered last time the subject was raised” Frank teased and she nudged him with her elbow as Steve sniggered.

“You can shut up as well!” Fliss glared at him

“Ah come on Titch, another baby in the family would be great.”

“Well you have another, if you want one so bad!”

“No, are you…really?” Verity’s hand fell to the hollow of her throat as Sian blushed a little, nodding.

“We found out last week.” Sian smiled, looking at Steve “We wanted to get you all together and…”

The table fell silent before there was a sudden flurry of excited voices and the scraping of chairs as everyone stood up to hug one another and offer congratulations.

“What’s going on?” Joel piped up and Steve smiled as he sat back down having just received a huge bro hug from Frank.

“We just told everyone about the baby.” He smiled and the twin’s faces fell into identical expressions of understanding.

“What baby?” Mary asked.

“The one Aunty Sian’s gonna have.” Frank looked at her.

“You having a baby?” Mary looked across the table.

“We sure are.” Steve beamed.

“That’s so cool!” Mary grinned.

“So, when are you due?” Fliss asked and Sian smiled.

“Middle of October.” She said “So I’m gonna be huge at your wedding.”

“Especially if its twins again.” Mary chipped in and Frank turned to look at her, before he bit his lip and glanced back up at Steve who’d paled a little.

“You know it is a possibility…” Roberta grinned “Happened to a friend o’ma sister’s. Two sets of twins.”

“Oh, just think Bill!” Verity beamed “Another two grandkids…”

“Mum, shut up!” Steve groaned as the table laughed.

“Roberta, you need a lift?” Fran asked but before she could answer Verity shook her head.

“She’s coming back to ours. We have a bottle of Rioja to crack open.”

Bill let out a dramatic sigh “Can I come sleep in your guest place-ow!” he yelled as Roberta reached up and slapped him round the back of the head.

With a snort Frank clipped Alex into the baby seat and after another goodbye to everyone they headed home arriving just before 10.

“Did you have a nice night?” Fliss asked Frank as they walked up towards the door and Frank nodded, dropping a kiss to her head.

“It was fantastic, the whole day has been great. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Shame your mom couldn’t make it.”

“I think that’s a great idea.” Fliss said as Frank unlocked the door. “It’s a short enough flight for Alex and it would be nice to go.”

Frank smiled as they all stepped inside and Thor came charging out of the kitchen to greet them all.

“Do I have to go to bed or can I watch TV?” Mary asked, looking up “It is Saturday…”

“I can go?” Mary’s head whipped to look at them both and Fliss nodded.

“Yes, you can go.”

“Oh my god thank you, thank you!” Mary shot over to hug her, her arms wrapping round Fliss’ waist “I’ll behave, I promise.”

“I know.” Fliss dropped a kiss to her head. “Now skoot, we’re gonna be up at 6.”

Mary hugged her again, then turned to Frank who swung her up with a groan “Stop growing will ya?”

“I’ll try!” she giggled, squishing his cheeks between her hands. “Love you dad.”

Dad.

“I love you too.” Frank cleared his throat, as he dropped Mary to the floor “Go on, I’ll come tuck you in in five.”

She skipped off up the stairs, Fred hot on her heels and as soon as her door shut Frank turned to Fliss.

“You ok?” she asked and he nodded, his eyes full of unshed tears as he sank down onto the arm of the couch. “How do you feel?”

“We just never talked about it.” He shrugged a little lamely and Fliss smiled.

“No.” Frank answered honestly as he shook his head, taking a deep breath, his lip quivering. “And that’s what shocked me the most. I always thought I’d hate it but…”

“But you didn’t?”

“No.”

“And are you gonna be okay if she keeps calling you dad?”

He nodded and Fliss gently bent down to kiss him softly, before pulling away “Then roll with it. Like Dad did with me. You know, if you wanted to you speak to him then I’m sure he’d-“

“And if she has?”

“Well then be honest. Tell her its okay.” She felt Frank nod and then she stepped back, her hands on his shoulders. “You good?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” He stood up, wiping his face. He took a deep breath and glanced down at Fliss and smiled, “I love you.”

“Love you too.” She smiled “Now go on, I’ll check the doors and be up with you in a second.”

“Seriously?” Frank pointed them as they lay on the bedroom floor. “Wardrobe, not floordrobe Stack!”

“Oops.” Mary grimaced and Frank rolled his eyes, picking the items up, tossing them onto the bean bag under the bed.

“If they’re clean put them away, if not put them in your laundry hamper.” He instructed, leaning against the rails of her bed.

“Sorry, I’ll do it tomorrow.” Mary shuffled onto her side to look at him. “Did you have a good birthday?”

“What about Fliss?” Mary narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“She’s my best woman.” Frank answered easily. Mary looked at him before she smiled, accepting his explanation. “You excited about tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” Mary nodded “And nervous.”

“Nothing to be nervous about.” Frank shook his head “Just go out there and enjoy it. You’ve done so well for a first season, Fliss was saying that earlier. We’re proud of you sweetheart.”

“Thanks.” She grinned “Hey, Frank?”

“Yeah?”

“You know what I said before...downstairs?”

Frank took a deep breath “I do.”

“Did it bother you?”

“Not one bit.” He smiled and Mary grinned.

“Good, because I think I’d like to say it more going forward.” She reached out, her fingers fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. “Unless you annoy me. And then you can be Frank again.”

Frank chuckled “Sounds like a deal, Stack”

“Okay, you can go now. I need to sleep.” Mary snuggled down into the covers and Frank smiled, pulling them up round her chin, dropping a kiss to her head.

“Night”

“Night.”

He turned to leave the room, throwing a last glance over his shoulder before he closed the door behind him.

***** “Mary, are you paying attention?” Fliss looked at her as she sat astride Monty, grinning ear to ear.

“Yeah, sorry.” She turned her head, “I’m just so happy!”

“Erm…” Mary spun in the saddle looking round “Yeah its two, six, nine, double back to twelve, across to five and then you send him quickly down the line to finish at eight.”

“Ok, yeah, got it.”

“Glad you did.” Frank mumbled, gently pushing Alex’s buggy to and fro as the baby dozed “’Coz that all sounded like a different language to me.”

“That’s because you don’t get it, Dad.” Mary turned to look at him.

“You’re right, I don’t.” Frank agreed

“Don’t look at me!”

“Oh, I’m lookin’ at you Cowgirl, because no one else I know uses the word faff.” He arched an eyebrow. “Well apart from your mom, dad, Steve and Sian…damned British slang!”

Fliss snorted “Ok, busted. But that’s not exactly what I said.”

“Well what was?” he dropped his voice a little and Fliss started to laugh.

“I just said to Jo when she commented she hadn’t seen you in a while that you were busy with the other woman in your life aka the boat.”

Frank rolled his eyes. “Hey, that engine was giving me trouble.”

“I’m sure it was.”

“Very selfish of you Miss Gallagher.”

“Well when it comes to you I don’t like sharing.”

Frank gave a chuckle and pressed a kiss to her cheek “No worries on that count, I’m all yours baby.”

“Why did she undercut that turn then?”

Fliss shook her head “If she’d have hugged tighter to the corner she might have made it but as it was she only got a two stride run up.” She bit her lip then frowned “Don’t you do that!”

“I wasn’t gonna!” Mary snorted, rolling her eyes.

“Good.” Fliss nodded “Like I said, you can make your time up between nine and twelve and then five and eight, if you need to.”

Frank groaned “Why couldn’t you pick a nice safe hobby…like swimming or something?”

Mary looked at him reproachfully “Frank, I could already swim.”

“Yeah but…”

“And Swimming can be dangerous, people drown.”

“Not if they’re supervised.”

“And besides, if I hadn’t wanted to go horse riding, you’d have never met Fliss.” Mary looked at him, fixing him with a maddening smug look because she knew that was the absolute ace card.

“Okay, you got me there.” Frank grumbled “Smart ass.”

“Hey…” Fliss beamed at her “That was really unlucky. He only just clipped it.”

“It rolled?” Mary grimaced and Fliss wrinkled her nose as they set off back to the wagon.

“Fraid so.”

“Bummer.” Mary shook her head.

“What?” Frank asked, utterly puzzled.

“It means that the pole simply rolled off, it wasn’t taken straight down with the knock.” Fliss explained “Believe me, It’s the most annoying thing in the world.”

“But it’s the same result.” Frank looked at them both and Mary groaned exasperatedly.

“Don’t talk about stuff you don’t understand!”

“That’s me told.” Frank scoffed as she jumped off Monty and proceeded to remove her hat.

“Can we go see who won?” She turned to Fliss who had just taken Monty’s saddle off.

“Sure, let’s get him loaded up and then we’ll go.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” Mary shrugged “Saffy won the class.”

“You know her?” Fliss frowned.

“Only from when we were waiting in line before.” Mary shrugged “She seemed nice. I wonder who’s won it overall.”

“We’ll check online later.” Fliss said, before she grinned “You know, I’d kinda like to know who won the Junior Rider class for the season. Any idea Frank?”

“Oh, some blonde kid with an attitude problem.” He shrugged as Mary looked up at him, her eyebrows arched, hands on her hips.

Fliss spluttered out a laugh as Frank blinked, looking at Mary then to Fliss. “I…wow.” was all he could bring himself to say.

The three of them politely applauded as the top six riders took a lap of honour before the winner took her own and as she emerged from the ring Mary let go of Frank’s hand and stepped forward.

“Thanks Mary!” the girl grinned “You were so unlucky with your last pole.”

“I did my best.” Mary shrugged “That’s what my mom and dad say matters the most.”

Frank felt Fliss stiffen a little besides him “Did she…”

“Yeah…”he whispered, dropping a kiss to her head.

Fliss took a shaky breath and hastily blinked back the tears as Mary turned back towards them “Hey, can I go get a drink with Saffy from their van? I’ll be like 10 minutes?”

“Erm…” Fliss wiped her face and looked at the woman next to Saffy who smiled and nodded.

“It’s fine.” She beamed “Fliss isn’t it? You run Sandybrook?”

“Yeah.” Fliss smiled.

“I’m Jenny, Saf’s mom. And we’re just parked right there.” The woman spoke “I wouldn’t mind a chat with you actually about a horse I have. He needs backing and you came recommended.”

“Sure, just…” Fliss looked at Frank and he gave a grin

“I’ll set off back with him.” he nodded to Alex who was fast asleep. “See you at home, take as long as you need.”

“You sure?”

“Thanks Dad.”

And right there, Frank knew there couldn’t possibly be ANY man in the world who felt the sheer contentment and love that he did.

#riding on #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #gifted #gifted fan fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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dragonrajafanfiction · 3 years

Text

The Cassell Cynics Part 4

Hana lay on her bed, her mind echoing with Nathan’s words.

“I can look at you, Hana… and I can tell you flat out. If you meet a real dragon? You’re dead. “

@hectab

Those words. They shook her. How could he be so certain? She trained hard, she studied hard. Her A-ranked skill allowed her to increase her strength, speed and stamina. At its highest level, an extreme amount of energy can be expended in 30 seconds, enough for her to lift heavy objects, punch through solid brick. For those 30 seconds, she could be the most powerful person in the entire world!

But none of that was enough?

She pushed herself off the pillow and got up to look at her phone. Nathan said that dragons as people saw them were just physical manifestations of something called an ‘Eldrich Abomination’. But she wasn’t sure what that was.

A quick google search told her that an Eldritch Abomination was a horrific monster, often of otherwordly origin, that inspired terror and broke the sanity of those that witnessed them. These monsters often have ties to the Cthulhu Mythos created by H. P. Lovecraft.

What the internet search described sounded accurate. Dragons were certainly ‘otherworldly’ and horrific. And they certainly could inspire a great terror. But that last one. She brought her knees to her chest.

Nathan said that when he saw a dragon in his 3E exam he felt a great hopelessness -- a hopelessness so great that he gave up in the middle of his exam.

What did he see?

The question tormented her all night. She got up early and ran back to Nathan’s dorm building. She texted Guderian.

“My apologies. I wasn’t able to complete my assignment last night. I will try again today.��

She looked up at the window that was still open. She sniffed the air but didn’t smell Marijuana. “Ugh... he doesn’t go to class. Of course he would sleep in.” She muttered.

Her phone dinged. “Did you find out anything new?” Guderian asked.

She frowned slightly. She didn’t want to lie to her professors. “I’m not ready to turn in my report yet. I need more time.”

A group of guys came out of the building yawning and chatting with each other. They didn’t notice her there. More and more people came out walking. It was several minutes before someone stopped. “Are you waiting for someone?”

“Yes. Don’t worry.” Hana had already texted her professors saying she was on ‘special assignment’ and would turn in her assignments by email when she got the chance.

She waited and waited and the sun climbed up into the sky. It was about 11:30 in the morning when a paper airplane flew out from Nathan’s window, fluttered slowly before landing on the ground.

Hana picked it up and unfolded it.

“GO AWAY”

The text was in bright red font with a crude drawing of a middle finger.

Hana huffed in shock and indignation! “Nathan! Come down or I’m coming up there!”

“Buzz off!” Came his voice on the wind.

Hana walked up to the façade of the building. She wasn’t someone who gave up this easily and she happened to be very proficient at bouldering! She leaped up and grabbed onto the fancy outer wall and started to climb up to the second floor! Nathan was in the kitchen fixing some eggs and as soon as he saw her climbing through his open window, hurried out with a frying pan! “No! Get out! Get out of my room!”

Hana ducked the frying pan while rolling. “Not until you tell me what you saw!”

“What I saw? What are you talking about?”

Hana struck a two fingered karate pose and grinned. “What we talked about last night.”

Nathan brandished the frying pan but his look turned to one of confusion. “What did I say?”

Hana sighed. “Don’t you remember? You said if I ever faced a dragon, I would die?”

“Uh...” He suddenly sniffed the air. “My eggs!” He rushed back into the kitchen and turned off the heat.

Hana relaxed out of her karate stance and watched him as he tried to salvage his breakfast when it was clearly closer to noon. “You don’t remember what we talked about?”

“No! I was stoned! You saw how much weed I smoked. You shouldn’t pay attention to me when I'm like that. I’ll say random things that don’t make sense.”

Hana stood puzzled. “But...”

“Look, don’t... don’t tell anyone about the crazy talk I get into when I’m under the influence okay? They’ll have me committed.” He pulled some salt from his bare cupboards.

“Seriously? It was all just... drugs?”

Nathan’s eyes shifted from left to right. “I don’t know what you’re referring to by ‘it’.... so probably.”

“Ugh...” She rested her palm against her forehead. “I can’t believe it.”

“So if that will be all, you can go back the way you came...” He shooed her away.

“Right. Well... have a nice life.” Hana turned on her heel and walked away feeling foolish. “You really are an idiot C-rank.”

“Thank you! And I will!” Nathan bit into his toughened eggs and watched her leave. Once she was gone he let out a soft sigh of relief.

Hana walked away and texted Guderian. “Well, looks like I was mistaken. He’s just a C-ranker. There’s nothing special about him at all.”

“Unfortunate... then I’m afraid he won’t be able to stay here.”

Hana stopped in her tracks. “What do you mean? You’re expelling him?”

“He partially answered the 6th question on the exam. So we thought we could accept him as a C rank until we could better evaluate him. But since your assessment says he is really not up to our requirements he’ll have to be expelled.”

“I thought you would keep him on like Fingel!” She texted frantically.

“Fingel is a special case. Not everyone can be like him.”

Hana’s heart dropped. She didn’t think her careless snarky text would have this level of consequences.

“When will he be kicked out?”

Guderian responded. “Effective immediately.”

“Wait. Don’t do that yet.”

“There’s really no reason to delay. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“I don’t think he’ll make it out there. I mean, what if he goes crazy from the brainwashing or what if his parents disown him?”

“That’s not really our concern. It’s just regrettable that we’ll not be able to refund his tuition.”

Hana turned and ran back and climbed back up the façade. Already disciplinary committee members were rolling up on their black motor bikes and racing into the building.

But Nathan had shut his window. She banged on the window for what felt like forever and Nathan came out from the back of the apartment and looked at her furiously until he saw the frantic expression on her face. Then he turned to the door, just as the disciplinary members burst in!

“No!” Hana could only watch as they surrounded him. Nathan just raised his hands and gave her a sad smile before being goaded outside the apartment.

It was faster going down the face of the building than taking the elevator or the stairs. She met them as they were hauling him out. “Nathan. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. This was... going to happen anyway. It was nice knowing you.” His hands were cuffed behind his back.

“No, this was my fault. I told them you were C-ranked.”

“I am C-ranked.” He laughed, hanging his head, his messy hair hiding his eyes.

“You’re not...”

“Have fun being a hero.” Nathan was roughly yanked onto the motorcycle, sitting between two officers.

“But you said I would die...”

Nathan turned to her with sad eyes. He pulled the smile. “Have fun.”

#Dragon Raja

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fizzingwizard · 4 years

Text

Digimon Adventure: Ep 19!

Wow! That certainly was an Episode!! It was pretty fun from start to finish, though nothing mind-blowing, but it was definitely the ending that made me gasp. Not wholly unexpected to an old turnip like me, but promising lots of fun (and angst!).

Picture of the week: MIKO, THE TRUE STAR OF THE SERIES!!

no for serious are the writers reading my reviews? they keep giving me what I want. within reason I guess. They seem to have an extremely limited budget as usual x’D

but Miko is still adorbs

ok I’m really looking forward to recapping this one so let’s get to it!

So last week I thought the kids sans Taichi and Yamato were abducted by Devimon, but apparently that either isn’t the case, or it was, but then Devimon decided it’s best just to dump the kids back on Earth and hold on to their partners. Because that’s the current situation. While concerning that the kids are separated from their partners, it’s probably best this way, since Devimon appears to be sending Gesomon(?) and Parrotmon(?)

to the human world, if I remember right. It’s hard to remember what happened in the first fifteen seconds kay So when the kids find their partners it will probably be in the human world and they can fight back.

Meanwhile Taichi and Yamato are alone and very Confuse

Taichi tries frantically to contact Koushirou. The others too... but especially Koushirou.

Finally he gets him!! He’s so happy!! My Taishiro heart flutters!

But I was fully expecting it to be a trap. When I saw this still here, my first thought was “Devimon’s forcing him to tell Taichi a lie by threatening him with a gun!!”

of course thats not whats happening. Koushirou is relatively fine and there are no guns (yet). What’s happened is the other kids have been sent back to the human world for reals this time!

This show is not even bothering to hide its Taiyama angle.

They spend the entire episode giving each other Significant Looks like this. The entire episode.

Now where’s Jou through all of this, you ask?

He went to talk to the police. He’s shocked they don’t believe his story about monster attacks and the world ending (well, at least Tokyo ending). I freaking love how taaaaall Jou is. Though it makes Koushirou look like a bean x’D

Jou = beansprout / Koushirou = bean

Koushirou has a much easier time dealing with the news that the police don’t believe them. He’s a denizen of the Internet. He knows how people’s minds work. And he has tons of chat logs to prove it.

People are chatting and spreading gossip and disbelief and complaints, but my favorite is the comment that just says “It’s a flood of fake news” xP

The home team runs into Mama Yagami! Who Sora literally calls Mama Yagami! x’D I mean I know that’s how kids generally refer to their friends’ parents but I still lol’d.

So un... Jou is almost as tall as Mama Yagami. LMAO. I’m gonna assume she’s short. Jou might indeed be quite tall for his age but Sora and Mimi are pretty close to Mama Yagami’s height too. I guess we haven’t seen Taichi standing next to his mom yet! With his hair he’s probably taller than her.

So Mama Yagami is HILARIOUS and I’m so glad that’s a continuing thing in the reboot! She was already that way in 99 Adventure, but we’re just seeing a lot of it now - like every time she’s around. (And we didn’t see it in Tri so I missed that.) Basically she seems like a basketcase. Not a totally irresponsible one, more like just... generally the carefree go with the flow type. Which is not bad. She just also seems a bit, uh, ditzy?? I think Taichi probably grew to be so serious by necessity. Dad’s busy with work and someone’s gotta make sure mom doesn’t leave the house without her keys!

The way Sora just stares at Hikari like “explain??” after Mama Yagami thrusts Miko at her and runs off to get her car with a big smile as if they hadn’t all nearly died recently... bahahaha.

also I love how she doesn’t even bother asking her son’s good friend if she knows where he is after not seeing or hearing from him for three full days

^The face of a boy shouldering the weight of nuclear family life and all its batshitness

Taichi and Yamato determine their priority is find the Holy Digimon. I wish they were a little more concerned with what happened to their friends’ partners, but I guess this is the only goal with solid clues. Anyway before they can do anything they are attacked by Bulbmon Looks like subtitlers went with Valvemon which also works, who looks like a Lego monster creation by an eight year old (and probably is).

He has the Domo face. Grrraaah

Domo is NHK mascot by the way. bahahaha

Next these guys come swarming out of Valvemon. (And if we didn’t already get it, apparently Digimon can construct other Digimon as we’ve seen before.) Nothing is quite as freaky as gas masks. They are commanded by Minotaurmon/Mintaromon whatever.

They too have the aim of Stormtroopers though so our heroes will be fine...

... probably...

... then Leomon finally shows up!! Yay! He looks good! All beefy and scarred and sounding exactly like Zaraki Kenpachi. Uhh. Is it the same VA?? Nothing comes up in the Google search so maybe not but it sure sounds like him. (Minotaurmon and Ogremon also sound like Leomon... while it’s normal for VAs in kids shows to voice multiple characters esp minor ones, it literally sounds like Zaraki Kenpachi is the voice of all the characters in this episode besides the main ones. And Mama Yagami of course because that would be weird.)

Leomon may look cool, but his ride... and his friends... uh, less cool x’D I want to strangle that ostrich thing with its own scarf somehow it inspires violent emotion in me

In the smallest, most shocked voice, Yamato says, “Leomon...?” It’s honestly kind of adorable. He’s clearly remembering what Neemon said about Leomon leading the resistance way back when.

Leomon helps them escape. Taichi very considerately and cutely helps Agumon aboard the fashion disaster ostrich emu thing.

Yamato also considerately helps his partner but rather less cutely xD

Leomon takes them to his hideout and gives them your standard fare of weird-looking Digi fruit. He then proceeds to tell them about Devimon and that he is trying to infiltrate Valvemon yadda yadda.

Taichi is freaking ADORABLE, immediately concerned that by saving their asses, Leomon’s battle plans have been ruined. Leomon waves that aside though. Yamato is equally adorabibble when he asks after Neemon and gets told that they made it to Leomon safely.

Leomon plans to try to get into Valvemon again because he knows Devimon’s put something related to the holy Digimon in there. Taichi is determined to join in. He doesn’t have much of an argument as it why they should be allowed when they just got their butts kicked so easily, but he has a trick up his sleeve: the Burning Eyes of Fiery Passion.

Not to be outdone, Yamato shoots off his Icy Eyes of Cold Determination.

Faced with this twin assault, Leomon has to give in. Ahh, I remember last week when we saw the trailer for this ep and I naively thought Leomon would train them like Piximon did in 99 Adventure. Nope. They’ve just met and they’re already spy buddies.

Okay, okay, yeah Leomon does seem to have some knowledge of the “Chosen Children” and that’s his real motivation. Still.

They break into Valvemon and we get the excellent invention of Agumon riding on Garurumon. I assume because of Garurumon’s advantageous speed. That seems to be recurring thing in this show.

Idk I just capped this because he’s so darn cute

I don’t know why I capped this one though.

They enter some sort of central space where Leomon tells them something relevant to the holy Digimon is being kept. (Lol I already forgot the details of what he said.) There are two protectors, Minotaurmon and Bullmon. Leomon tells the kids to take Bullmon while he faces down Minotaurmon. These guys might have been somewhat intimidating if we hadn’t already got Perfect level evolutions mastered, not to mention the occasional Jogress :P Sooo I didn’t feel too worried.

... uh, never mind x’D Taichi what are you doing

Yamato saves his idiot butt and almost gets in a bind himself. Once again I’m just wondering why they are sticking at Adult level. Whatever. They win of course

Leomon uses his Fist of the Beast King to maim Minotaurmon. His brilliant one-liner? “I have more than one first.”

Bully: *punches you*

You: ow

Bully: *smirk* I have more than one fist.

You: That’s funny, I only have one, but it’s made of titanium *You punch the bully straight through the stratosphere* Quality over quantity!!!!

*cough*

Our heroes approach the secret compartment supposedly holding something to do with the holy Digimon... Yamato gets a look inside and gets the black shadow of true terror over his eyes

becaue floating inside like some kind of Weapon X experiment is... Takeru!!!

Hold on while I put in my ear plugs. Okay, ready, screech all you want now.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

So... okay. First of all, baby Takeru is sooooooo cute <3 I had two predictions about what happened to Takeru last week. Either he ended up in the digital world and was now on his own, or he got abducted by Devimon. I thought the former was more likely, but in hindsight, it should have been obvious that it was the second. This show misses a lot of points where I feel like they could have developed some relationships or thrown in some drama, but it never passes up a chance for Yamato angst.

So yeah, this is pretty much gonna destroy Yamato xD Not only is the baby brother he wanted to protect no longer at home where he can easily protect him, he’s now in the digital world and in the enemy’s clutches.

I BETTER SEE REALLY TRAUMATIZED YAMATO NEXT WEEK. Of course, I expect him to be cool-headed enough to try to save Takeru, but I will be very disappoint if this goes off with no break downs at all. Takeru is always Yamato’s number one priority!

Super exciteddddd

So I give this ep 7.5/10. The .5 is pretty much for ending with a killer cliffhanger. My one real complaint about this ep is how highly plot-based everything is - we finally got the team all together only to split them up, and on top of that, once split up, we don’t even get all that many character moments between Taichi and Yamato. As I said, they give each other lots of Signifcant Looks, but man cannot live on bread alone. However this is par for the course for this show and I know I should stop mentioning it every week because I doubt it’s changing. We will get the big shockers when we get them and not a moment before.

I just want Yamato to cry in front of Taichi and make him all uncomfortable x’D That’s what made 99 Adventure so great bahahaha

Some cool bits from next week’s trailer:

Surprise surprise, Angemon is the holy Digimon! Or one of, anyway. And he is indeed trapped. This makes the “Angemon is Devimon” theory less likely. Let’s not forget that our heroes’ Digimon partners were evidently a band of powerful warriors in the past, but they’ve forgotten much of it. I won’t be surprised if the result of that war played a part in Angemon’s abduction.

Next week they’ll have to fight to save Takeru from being drained, I guess.

And then!! Digi egg! Excite. Also I only just noticed that his hate says TK!!!

Takeruuu <3 My first fav when I was 10. Though my heart has belonged to Taichi for many long years, I still have a special spot in it for Takeru only <3 Even if he does dress like a celery stick

#digimon adventure 2020 #digimon adventure:#digimon adventure reboot #digi spoilers #digimon #fizz watches digimon 2020 #i made edits lets see if they save for once...

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boymeetsweevil · 4 years

Text

MBD - 04

Grouping: Reader x Yoongi

Word Count: <8k

Summary: Three lessons to be learned: 1) don’t read the comments. Ever. 2) Baking will never let you down. 3) Don’t tease Yoongi.

Warnings/Themes: Angst?? Heavy doses of body image and related unhealthy behaviors, low self-esteem, cyberbullying? May be triggering for some. Some suggestive content. A jealous Yoongi.

part 0, part 1, part 2, part 3

A few more days pass through your break from work. Yoongi stayed with you the morning after coming back from the club to help you nurse your hangover, but he’d been in the dorms and studio since then. This left you with extra time on your hands.

In that time, you visited your best friend and your cousin who both lived deeper in the city, a mere hour’s ride from your apartment in the outskirts. You also got ahead on some work despite the fact that your boss gave you strict warnings about fully enjoying the break after seeing how hard you worked on the project for the quarter. But eventually you ran out work you could do and had nothing left but Netflix and the internet.

As it turns out, being alone with the internet ends up being a horrible set of circumstances. Curiosity and boredom get the best of you, and you find yourself breaking a cardinal rule.

You google Yoongi to see what pops up and get recent news about him being spotted with a lady friend. You know better, but optimism pulls you in and you’re opening up one of the articles. Apparently a fan that snuck into the VIP booth snapped a picture of you dancing with him at the club you went to a few days prior. Yoongi looks handsome with his bare face half obscured by his mask and a soft expression as he looks at you. But you let out a raspy gasp at your picture.

The only good thing about the photo is that your face is turned away from the camera, leaving your identity barely undiscovered. But your neck is coated with sweat, gleaming under the club lights. In the picture, the dance-move you’re doing is frozen, awkward and contorted, your body looks all wrong. With the powerful camera flash, you can see all the spots on your clothes where sweat had accumulated, all the spots where your amateur makeup skills failed. There’s no grace, no elegance, no dignity afforded to you in the photo. It’s not the first time you’ve seen of yourself in a random pap site or careless photos. But it’s by far the worst one you’ve seen.

Like a magnet is drawing you there, even though your stomach already feels like shards of ice are forming inside it, you break a second cardinal rule. You read the comments.

It’s amazing that she feels comfortable looking like that when there’s a literal GOD standing next to her. I could never do that. I wouldn’t even leave the house

Why is something like this allowed when there are much prettier girls to pick from?

I don’t think Yoongi would be stupid enough to date this girl, the picture probably just makes it look like they’re together when they’re obvi not

actually I think this is the same girl in that ##0524 photo. Look (image01) same hairstyle and earrings. I think she just turned into a blimp...

Guys plz be nice u don’t know this person. Maybe she has a really great personality

so? This is what she gets for trying too hard to cling to Yoongi

Yo it’s prolly cuz she’s rich. You see those leggings? I didn’t even think they made them in that size but they’re from that brand IU wears. And they’re like $250 :0

She wasn’t even that pretty before this but now I REALLY don’t get it. Yoongi~~ there are skinnier girls who would suit u better

Load 675 more...

You slam your laptop shut before fumbling for your phone. Breathing levelly, you’re the picture of eerie calm with the exception of the way your hands tremble. You pull up your text messages to text your best friend when you stop yourself. While the company knows that you’re dating, you’re not allowed to disclose any information about Yoongi or the relationship to any third parties. To the public he’s still single despite his dating clause having expired long before you even met. And there’s no way to explain what you’re going through to your friend without bringing up your secret boyfriend’s stardom.

So who can you turn to, you wonder. You can’t tell your friends. You can’t tell your mother either. As much as you love her, she’d spill the secret in minutes out of well-meaning pride. And there’s no way you can tell Yoongi.

Taking a deep breath in through your nose, you hold it for as long as you can before shoving a pillow over your face and screaming. All that’s left to show for the few minutes you spend screaming is the fact that you feel about 1% better and your now-hoarse voice. But the relief doesn’t last. The relief leaves room for heat to rise on your skin. Annoyance fills all your empty spaces. You catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and feel more anger.

Maybe you just aren’t working hard enough and people can just see that. Maybe you just aren’t being productive, you haven’t earned your spot yet. You hop off the bed and look around the room, almost frantic in your search for something to work on and actually improve.

Start with a deep clean, you tell yourself.

Two days later when Yoongi comes over, you’re still in the process of purging your tiny apartment.

“What’s all this,” he kicks gently at the garbage bags full of clothes littering the walkway to your bedroom. You jump at the sound of his voice, having forgotten that he mentioned coming over.

“I’m just doing some tidying up. I started with towel folding videos on YouTube and ended up realizing I have a hoarding problem.”

“I don’t think having dust bunnies under your bed counts as hoarding, but okay.” He searches for some space on your bed to sit in. The duvet’s surface is also covered in a mixture of old clothes and little knick knacks you’ve had since before you graduated college. “I didn’t realize you had so many clothes.”

You watch him pick up a spaghetti string top that you hadn’t gotten around to sorting yet. He gestures towards the two trash bags full of clothes on the floor.

“Put it in that one,” you point to the one furthest from the bed.

“Is this the donate pile?” He folds the shirt almost neatly and places it on the top of the other items with a sympathetic pat.

“Uh, no.”

“Then what is it? Looks like you already have everything you’re keeping,” he peers into your stocked closet.

“That’s actually the...inspiration pile,” you explain quietly.

“What?”

“It’s the stuff I'm gonna keep as motivation for me to lose weight.”

“Oh,” you’re surprised to see what looks like faint disappointment in Yoongi’s eyes as your words register. “I mean...makes sense.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I mean that’s one route you could take.”

“Is there another route?” You turn to face him fully from your spot on the ground with a confused smile. The shoes you were organizing lay unattended.

“Well, you could not lose the weight,” he shrugs.

You avert your gaze to the ceiling, as if the true meaning of his words will be scribed there. It sounds as though he’s suggesting you don’t try to get back down to where you were before the huge project your boss assigned you, but you figure that can’t be it.

“I just mean that you could donate these,” he points at the clothes in the inspiration pile. “Some of them look like they’re brand new—I’ve never even seen you in them. And you could just get some new clothes.”

“You mean like ones that fit me now?”

“Or like before.” He shrugs. “Your style was nice, I don’t know why you changed it.”

“It changed because nothing I had before fits now. So I have to wear this other stuff.” You’re talking about the shapeless sweaters and the monotonous greyscale pants.

“You don’t have to.”

He makes a valid point, but it’s a small one. Besides, there’s something else you’re digging for. “So you really think I should buy bigger clothes?”

“Yes,” he says, like it’s so simple.

“Okay...but these clothes are supposed to be there to motivate me to lose the weight. If I just get a new wardrobe, that’ll mean the motivation is gone.”

“Okay,” he draws out the syllables while waiting to hear what your point is.

“That means I’ll stay like this.”

“What do you mean ‘like this’? What’s wrong with that?”

Your fists clench at your side as you think back to the photos of you in the club. And the comments from the netizens all saying roughly the same thing. With the puzzled way he stands there and looks at you, you feel another wave of frustration rise up. Did he really not see what was happening? Was he really going to make you say it?

“Hey,” he peers down at the veins rearing against the skin of your hands. “I mean it. What’s wrong?”

He gets up like the discussion is about to go somewhere but his phone ringing loudly with the little jingle reserved for one of his producer buddies stops the conversation in its tracks. You take this as a moment to shoo him out your place before your head explodes. Yoongi looks conflicted, he truly does. Still, he answers the call dutifully and gives a few affirmative words to assure that he is going to be at the studio soon and is ready to work. The call is short, but the mood is still tense like an angry, trapped breath.

“I have, like, 5 more minutes before I have to go—”

“You know what? Never mind. You’re clearly busy with studio stuff and I’m...busy too.”

With steely eyes, you take the clothes he was trying to help you with and add them to your own pile. He picks up the few things he brought with him in his brief visit and eyes you like he wants to say more. His gaze lingers over the sides of your face like a regretful touch and you turn to the side to shrug it off.

Another beep from his phone shatters the gossamer thin atmosphere further. He sighs and pulls his phone back out before hunching his shoulders.

“Can I use your laptop to check my email really quickly before I go? They just sent me a file and I can’t open it on my—”

“Yeah, yeah, just take it with you. I don’t need it,” you cut him off and wave a hand in the direction of your computer.

He looks almost upset when he gathers your laptop in his arms with the rest of his things, but doesn’t push the issue any further. The air is too tight for anything, even a genuine goodbye. Your throat is sore with oncoming angry tears and you just want him out.

The door shuts behind him softly, in place of the usual goodbye kiss. You wait until you know he’s gone let it all out.

*** Yoongi opens your laptop when he’s in the back of the car taking him to the studio. It takes him a minute to remember your password, but he logs on with minimal difficulty and the last thing you were looking at pops up obediently.

The rest of your break from work passes without a visit from Yoongi again. It’s not a coincidence. It’s because you turned your phone off for 48 hours and even after you turn it back on, you mute all other notifications and only look at it to check your work email and tell your friends that you’re ‘unplugging for a bit’.

In that time, you get all your clothes sorted. You burn through an entire fitness-based podcast series. You declutter your whole apartment. But there’s still an unpleasant buzzing under your skin that doesn’t go away. Even with the reintroduction of at-home cardio and the shady water fast you did that promised a lifted mood and a loss of 2 pounds.

Then you’re home from work one day, and you find yourself pacing all around the rooms of your place. You’re fed up with bottling things up, but you don’t know what to do with this knowledge. Yes, it’s nice to realize that everything you’d been chasing wasn’t worth the torture you put yourself through, but you can’t seem to get any further. So you try baking. And when that doesn’t put you at ease immediately, you break down and call Yoongi.

Yoongi picks up immediately. Part of you is surprised because he’s been working on new mixtape stuff and when that happens he’s usually unreachable. But another part of you isn’t surprised because, to him, you dropped off the face of the earth after a near-argument and he’s still technically on break from promotions for a little while longer. There’s no reason not to be answering the phone. In spite of all this, his tone is a tentative mix of concern and relief that has you blinking in confusion before curtly telling him you wanted to talk at your place.

He arrives in a defensive cocoon of layers and squared off features. Only one of the two he sheds at the coat rack by your front door before going to find you in the kitchen, just finishing shoving dozens of muffins into the oven.

“Hey,” he says after clearing his throat to make his presence known.

“Hey.” You turn around and remove the oven mitts you’re wearing. “We need to talk about some things.”

“I know,” he chuckles humorlessly. “I saw that shit on your computer.”

Your brow furrows in thought as you recall the last thing you used your laptop for. Recollection comes eventually. Briefly you wonder if Yoongi read past the top comments. If he gave into the urge to comb through every single one to satisfy morbid curiosity. You nod.

“It definitely has to do with that.”

“Fuck what those people are saying. You don’t need to change or to—to keep an inspiration pile.”

At that, you groan. Your fingers tap on the countertop impatiently. “Can you please stop saying stuff like that?”

“What? That you’re perfect the way you are?” He spits.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not true.”

“Why wouldn’t it be true?”

Frustrated tears well up in the corners of your eyes because while you get that this isn’t an issue he’d ever have to worry about, part of you still don’t understand how he doesn’t get it. He’s trying so hard to be a good, romantic boyfriend that he doesn’t even see how much he misses. It’s supposed to be comforting, you’re sure, but it only infuriates you.

“Because I don’t fucking match you like this!”

He jumps at the sound of your raised voice, eyes wide. “Match me? What the hell?”

“You heard me,” you mumble.

“Yeah, I fucking heard you, but it still doesn’t make any sense. You’re not signed to some stupid contract, you’re not mandated to do anything with your body.”

“Haven’t I, though? I signed that fucking non-disclosure agreement after all. And I get a fucking angry call from your PR agents every time I show up in your pap photos, even though my face is never in them.” At this point you’re pacing again. This time it’s in tight circles in front of your fridge. “You said it yourself, you saw those awful comments. You saw how mad people get when I don’t show myself in just the right way. Those fans ripped me apart, Yoongi.” Your voice cracks and you curse yourself for being an angry crier. Crossing your arms around yourself, you try your best to beat back the tears.

“So you’re going to let a few fans tell you how to feel?”

“A few fans?” You’re close to laughter. “Try six hundred comments on one photo. Six hundred comments about the person who isn’t even the celebrity. And then multiply that by the number of times someone’s caught me at an unflattering angle or when I was bloating or when I started gaining weight back for real. Do the fucking math, Yoongi.”

That shuts him down instantly. Immediately worry replaces the incredulity. “I—how many times has this happened? Is this not the first time?”

You sigh at his ignorance. “No, but this is first time I was dumb enough to read the comments.”

“Why didn’t you say anything the first time something like this happened?” Yoongi’s face is full of distraught guilt. It’s hard for you to look at.

“What do you want me to say? Did you really want to hear me say all this stuff about some of your fans? These are people that love you. And you love them.”

“I love you, too. You know that,” he whispers, voice raw with emotion.

You can only sigh again because you do know. He does love you. He loves you perhaps too much. At this point, it seems like he’s so infatuated with you that he can’t fathom that people would have issues with you. But he’s also so in love with his career that you don’t have the heart to show him the things you’re facing. The dissonance would be too much to add to his already-full plate. And knowing Yoongi, he might do something stupid and get himself in trouble with his own fans. You’d hate to be the cause of something like that in his career.

The oven beeps and you use that as an excuse to escape the way his eyes shine as he contemplates just how much he wasn’t aware of until now.

He leans on the doorframe to watch you pull out the muffins from the oven and drop them unceremoniously onto the stovetop. The muffins are perfectly golden-brown and give off a warm, sweet scent that fills the kitchen quickly. You stand silent with your back to him, shoulders rising with the careful breaths you’re forcing yourself to take.

“Do you still love me,” his voice is small when it floats over to you.

“Ughh,” you claw at your face with your oven mitts. “Of course I do. I wouldn’t have asked you over if I didn’t. But...you have to understand that this is hard for me.”

“And what is ‘this’?

You turn and lean back against the counter, gesturing vaguely with a gloved hand. “This idol thing.” He tilts his head, not understanding. “I just mean that you have this amazing image because you’re out in the spotlight and I don’t want to sully that for you by...not looking like I should.”

“Why do you care about what other people think so much?”

“That’s so easy for you to say when people love you and you look like that. It’s different for regular people.” Your voice cracks once more as the shine lighting up your eyes breaks and runs down your cheeks. “It’s different because I’m already not deserving of you in their eyes. I can’t be regular and not look perfect.”

His hard demeanor softens at the sound of your sniffles and he comes to pull you into his chest, smoothing over your back. “Baby, there’s nothing wrong with the way you look.”

“I know that,” you sob. “I know that there’s nothing wrong with me, but you’ve seen what people say on those stupid forums. No amount of self-confidence could protect anyone from that shit.”

“Can I ask you something,” he says softly after a few aching moments of listening to you try to rein in your breathing.

“Y-yeah.”

“Who are the most important people in your life?”

“Huh?” You look up at him with watery lashes and he wonders how you could ever find fault with what you see in the mirror.

“Whose opinion matters to you most?”

“I don’t know,” you rub wet cheeks against the fabric of his top and think. “My boss since he pays me, obviously. And coworkers, I guess. My friends, definitely. My family, although they’re pretty easy to ignore.” He snorts. “A-and you,” you add on at the end hastily.

He gives you a sad smile when you look up at him. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“I mean...doesn’t how you feel matter? You just listed a bunch of other people.”

“Of course what I feel matters,” you say suddenly. You push back from him to clear your head. The tears have stopped flowing, though your cheeks are still wet. “I just can’t go through the world only ever hearing or caring about what I think. But I like myself, Yoongi.”

He nods seriously.

“Even if it doesn’t seem like it because I’m shy sometimes, or quiet. I like myself. But it still hurts to have people tell me they think I shouldn’t. I’m not the type of person who doesn’t react when people attempt to hurt me. That’s the part that hurts the most, I think. Knowing that it was their goal all along.”

“I get that. Or,” He purses his lips, “I think I do. I want to get it, anyway.”

You give him a weak smile because he’s cute, even in moments like this.

He squeezes your hand before bringing it to his lips. It’s not quite a kiss, just him brushing his lips against your skin while he talks. “But I still want to be there for you. And I hate that I could only guess when you were hurting.”

“I should have told you, but I was embarrassed.”

“Why would you be embarrassed?” He moves back to pull up a chair at your dining room table. His gaze is genuine and engaged as he looks to you for an answer.

“I’ve been dieting since the company approved us dating privately. This is the first time I’ve been...normal around you. I was worried you’d have this epiphany. That I’m not who you thought I was.”

“Do you remember the first night we met,” he asks all of the sudden.

“Yeah? You came to visit me at work and freaked my supervisor out. She still has that napkin you autographed.”

“That’s not the first night we met,” he shakes his head and chuckles. “We first met at my party. The one your cousin brought you to.”

“Oh, god. I hardly remember that, I was so drunk. I think I blocked it out.”

“You looked like this back then,” he smiles softly at you, memories of that night settling over the surroundings as they play out in front of him.

“Yeah, I know,” you nod softly, eyes averted.

“And you were so pretty that night too.” His gaze turns slightly salacious. “In that little shiny dress you wore—what ever happened to that?”

“You’re dumb,” you shove him with a simpering smile. He merely grins before pulling you slightly closer towards where he’s seated at the kitchen table.

“You still have it?”

“Oh my god, leave me alone.”

He leans into your space, making you duck your head to hide the way your cheeks flare up at his personal attention. Seeing you like this makes something coil in his belly. In due time, he thinks as he backs off. In due time, he’ll really give it to you. But in the meantime he behaves and doesn’t do anything more than intertwine your fingers together.

“I’m donating the clothes from the inspiration bag,” you mumble into his hair.

He pulls back and is careful to keep his face neutral. “Yeah?”

“I did a lot of thinking. And I realized that I don’t think I can say I really like myself if I keep forcing myself into this...mold.”

His brows furrow, lips pouting prettily as he focuses on following your train of thought. “So, what does that mean now?”

“So, this is me. For a long time probably, unless something major happens. I’m telling you so it can sink in. This is your out.”

“Okay,” he stands up from his chair slowly. Large, warm hands come to cup your face tenderly. “And this is me telling you I don’t want an out.”

“Okay,” you breathe out a sigh of relief so deep you don’t know where it came from.

“Glad that much is worked out,” he says before planting a sweet kiss on your cheek. “Hey.”

“What?”

“Can I have a muffin?”

You roll your eyes but go and get a plate from the cabinet. He watches you carefully as you hesitate at the oven before gingerly putting two muffins on the plate. When you return to the table, you mumble something about just wanting to see if they came out good and he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he takes a bite of one of your rare instances of culinary genius. He lets out a moan that makes your eyes widen and you take a bite before nodding to yourself.

“Just open a bakery already,” he says with a semi-full mouth and reaches out with grabby hands until you get the message to leave your chair. He pulls you into his lap and you try not to feel too self-conscious as you settle your thighs on top of his own. His hand lands on top of your lap casually, large hands splaying out on top to squeeze affectionately at the softness he finds there.

You worry you’re cutting off the blood supply to his legs but he sits happily with you in his lap and even kicks a little rhythm out while finishing his muffin. You get up and he snags the untouched part of your muffin before pulling his phone out of his pocket.

There’s a stream of messages in the group chat asking about his whereabouts and what he wants to do tonight. He answers that he’s with you and the other members all complain about how long it’s been since you visited them. Jungkook even tells Yoongi to bring you over to his place since they’re having a small kickback with just themselves and your post-break workload is still light. He purses his lips and asks for a raincheck, not wanting to push you into being on just yet.

***

A few days pass and the messages get more and more annoying as the other members whine about not having seen neither Yoongi nor you in far too long. So during one of the last days of their break, while he’s trying to dictate a cookie recipe to you, he breaks down at the 13th ping from his phone in a short period.

“Do you want to come hang out with me and the guys tonight?”

Normally if you’re invited over, you jump at the chance because you love getting out of your apartment and you like seeing Yoongi in his element with the people he’s closest to. But you don’t jump on the invitation now because it’s been so long since you last saw the guys and you know that you looked different then.

“I don’t know,” you fold toasted almonds into the cookie dough.

“Why not?”

“You know why,” you sigh. “And as nice as they are, I don’t really want to deal with the ‘did you do something with your hair’ or ‘wow you look so different’ comments.”

“They’re not gonna say that, they’re not total assholes. Look, if anyone says or does anything stupid, I’ll rip them a new one and take you back here.”

You purse your lips while you think it over. “And then will you stay the night?”

“If something stupid happens, I’ll cancel my studio appointment and stay over,” he smiles at you, eyes crinkling. “I’ll tell them we’re on our way now.”

“I can’t leave now,” your hands flutter up as you go from 0 to 60. “I’m a mess, I need to—”

“It’s just the guys. There’s literally no one there worth impressing. I would know.”

“Fine,” you groan. “Just let me change. I’m covered in flour.”

In your room, you find yourself unsure of what to put on. You no longer have any of the clothes you used to wear when you needed to feel like you objectively looked good. But you do have the gorgeous leggings Yoongi gifted you. You switch out your current shirt for a cleaner one and slip on a pair you’ve become obsessed with.

Yoongi punches in the code to the front door of Jungkook’s apartment while you hold the tin of cookies you made. Your fingers slip against the container due to having grown a bit clammy on the ride over. It took a heinous amount of time to wrap them in a way that would keep them warm all during the ride across the city. And now you’re nervous despite the fact that Yoongi sensed it in the car and hurled reassurance after reassurance at you.

But when Namjoon pulls the door open and greets both of you with a smile and a hug and no weird looks, you let out a tiny sigh of relief.

The guys crowd around you after Yoongi announces that you baked. Hoseok mumbles to himself about Yoongi hiding you purposefully so he could hoard your baking and takes two cookies for good measure. Jungkook says thank you politely before splitting one with Jimin. Taehyung takes two for himself and Namjoon and tells you ‘welcome back’. While the rest of the members snack, you count off the remaining sweets in the container and realize you didn’t give any to Jin.

The oldest member is standing in the hallway, drinking from a glass of water and scrolling through his phone when you find him. He must not have gotten the memo that you arrived, so you make your presence known by softly clearing your throat.

“Long time no see,” you smile at Jin.

He peers at you over the rim of his glass for a few long beats and you work to keep your smile natural. You can’t help but worry that he’s looking at the way you’ve has changed since he last saw you, chiseling away at the outside to see the familiar you he knows underneath.

“I guess it has been,” he finally says when he drains his glass. He leans back to rest his back on the wall. “Whatcha got there?”

“Oh, um, they’re just some cookies I made today. Yoongi had been bugging me about making them and I gave some to the others. I just thought I’d see if you wanted any.”

“I’ve always liked your baking.” He reaches out and plucks a cookie from the tin. A second later half of the cookie is gone. He chews thoughtfully.

“This is a new recipe, so I don’t know if it’s as good as it could be. I haven’t had much time for experimenting in the kitchen with work up until now so they might be—”

“I can only imagine how good they were when they first came out of the oven,” he finishes the rest and cuts your rambling off.

You stand there, oddly nervous, while he chews. When he finishes, he watches you fiddle with the lid so the cookies don’t get stale.

“Something’s changed about you,” Jin says finally, his eyes moving from your hair to your toes. You nearly drop the tin in your fumbling, and cringe from both the comment and your clumsiness.

“Yeah, I... gained some weight recently,” you blurt out in the hopes that it’ll be less uncomfortable if you’re the one to say it. But it’s not.

“Hmm,” Jin’s eyes rove over you more thoroughly, making you stand ramrod straight. “I don’t think that’s it. It’s something else, I think.”

“Oh. Well I don’t know, then.”

“What’s going on,” Yoongi’s voice creeps into the mix.

When you turn your head, you’re greeted with the sight of Yoongi in the doorway. He looks comfortably settled against the doorframe, like he’s been there for a while. His gaze isn’t directed at you, but at Jin, you realize. A quick glance back shows that they’re both looking at one another.

“Nothing. We were just talking.” Jin shrugs before walking over to you. A hand on the small of your back brings you with him and up to Yoongi.

Yoongi fixes Jin with a narrowed stare. “The guys were wondering where you both were. They want to play a game together.”

“We were here. No need to worry about us.”

“Well, why don’t you go in and tell them that? I’m gonna speak with my girlfriend.”

Jin gives him an amused smile before giving you a two-fingered captain’s salute and heading to the living room. It might have seemed dorky if anyone had done it, but you marvel over how cool he makes the gesture look. Yoongi turns to you then and takes in your distant expression.

“He didn’t say or do anything to make you uncomfortable, did he? Jin sometimes is a total asshole.”

“No, he—well, he said I looked different.”

“Do you want me to beat him up,” he steps forward to rest his hands on your shoulders. “Because I can, just say the word.”

“It’s really okay. He said it wasn’t just the weight. That it was something else.”

Yoongi’s lips thin as he tries to look for some other message in your words. “I don’t know what the hell that means.”

“It probably didn’t mean anything bad. Just let it go.”

Yoongi nods but takes both your hands in his to kiss them. You lead the way to the living room, feeling a little more like you can handle the night. There’s not much space with all seven members and you. You end up seated away from Yoongi, on the couch between Jungkook and Jin.

Somehow you get roped into playing some Mario game with two teams. You don’t know anything about video games, but you listen to Jungkook’s instructions carefully when you get one of the controllers because he’s one of your teammates. You’re not very good, though. Jin, your team captain, eventually has to maneuver his hands over yours so your character does the right thing.

“You sure you didn’t change your makeup style or something,” Jin asks during one of the rounds where you’re supposed to be playing against Hoseok.

The question takes you by surprise and you turn toward the sound of his voice only to realize just how close he is when he’s acting as a gaming coach of sorts.

“Uh, no. Why?”

“Dunno,” he doesn’t look at you while he converses with you. He’s watching the screen with a hawk-like focus. “You just look prettier than I remember.”

You stutter around nothing, not sure what to say. In the end you settle for saying nothing, though you do spare Yoongi a glance. His gaze must have already been directed at you because you make eye contact immediately. Knowing that he’s probably just making sure you’re having an okay time, you give him a thumbs up and attempt to make Kirby spin on the large screen in front of you.

The night stays that same level of odd. No one else does anything out of the ordinary, barring Jin. He’s strangely attentive even after you get the hang of playing enough to take full control of the controller. After that point, he still slings an arm across the back of the couch, which makes full contact with your shoulders because of how tightly packed you all are on the couch. And when he wants your attention, he makes a habit of brushing his hand down your arm and sometimes leaving it there.

You figure you just don’t spend enough time with Jin to get used to him. But you’ve seen enough interactions between him and the younger members to know how touchy-feely they are with each other. Maybe you’re just enough of an extension of Yoongi to be included in that touching. So you try your hardest not to question it. It’s just nice to know you've been accepted that much and you start to lean into the touch like you would with your own friends.

Soon enough you’re taking part in the high fives that melt into hand holding when you score a goal.

‘Quite a feat for a beginner’, Jin tells you.

Yoongi watches from across the room as your face lights up once again from Jin’s praise. You look like you’re having wholesome fun and the urge to interrupt that is what kills him. But what kills him more is the way Jin’s thumb strokes gently against the curve of your flank as he gestures to something on the screen while Jungkook takes a turn with the controller.

He didn’t think he was the jealous type, but when Taehyung orders pizza one painful hour later, Yoongi’s come to the realization that he’s much more selfish than he knew. Jin whines until you let him feed you a bite of the pepperoni pizza on his plate, knowing you’re too nice to say no. You think this is run of the mill behavior, but even Jimin raises his eyebrows at the display before peering at Yoongi’s furious profile.

The last straw, though, is when Jin wipes a trickle of grease from the corner of your mouth and waits until you’ve turned your head to say something to Jungkook before sucking the residue off. At that, Yoongi stands up abruptly, nearly toppling over the empty box that was near his knees.

“It’s getting late,” he answers the curious stares watching him trudge over to you. “We should head out now if we still want to get back to your place at a decent hour.”

“Oh,” your eyes are wide, “You don’t have to. I know you wanted to do your thing in the studio tomorrow. I should be fine on my own,” you hint back to the promise he made to stay over if the night was a bust.

“I changed my plans already, so I’ll go later in the week. Come on, let’s call a car and go.”

“I can drive you guys. I brought my car,” Jin offers suddenly. His arm is back to resting behind your shoulders. And because his fingers are close enough to graze your shoulder, they do.

“You really don’t have to,” Yoongi bites out. His stare is potent with silent accusation.

“Yoongi, why not? Jin’s place is across the bridge from mine. It actually makes some sense, and I was getting kinda tired. If we wait for a car, I might not be able to get up early enough to go to that brunch spot you mentioned.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jin claps his hands with finality and gets up from the couch before extending his hand out to you. Much to Yoongi’s chagrin, you take his hand like it’s a genuine gesture of chivalry.

Jin somehow manages to get you to sit up in the passenger’s seat with him, leaving Yoongi to fume in the backseat. Occasionally Jin’s eyes will meet his in the rear view mirror and they’ll crinkle with impish amusement before returning to caressing your silhouette.

“So,” Jin says once he gets on the freeway. “Is our Yoongi treating you good?”

You laugh because you don’t see the game at play. “Of course he is. He’s the best boyfriend I could have asked for.” Yoongi’s resolve softens momentarily at your sincere tone. “I love him, even when he gets weird like tonight.” That comment has Jin cackling.

“You know,” he says once his laughter dwindles down, “I actually had the flu the day of Yoongi’s party. The day you guys met.”

“That explains why I didn’t actually see you there. I remember everyone else being there, though.” You gaze wistfully out the window. “I was too shy to talk to any of you guys then.”

“That’s okay. If I had been there, I would have talked to you.”

“That would have been a fun night, I bet.”

“Yeah,” he makes sure Yoongi’s looking in the rearview mirror. “Who knows how close we’d be today if I hadn’t gotten sick.”

Yoongi’s cheek nearly bleeds with force of his teeth gnawing on the inside. If he could, he’d reach forward and throttle Jin. But he’s driving so that’s not an option.

The torture doesn’t last much longer because about 10 minutes later you’re directing Jin to the parking garage of your apartment complex. The goodbyes are annoyingly drawn out and Jin manages to invite himself to brunch the next morning. All the while, Yoongi stands behind you, dying to get inside and away from the eldest member.

Finally, the door gets slammed shut before Jin can say something stupid about seeing you both tomorrow. Yoongi gives the door a smug look and then turns to catch a flash of your eyebrows raised in amusement. His eyes narrow and he approaches you slowly as you shrug off your layers in an almost too mundane way.

“What’s so funny,” he drawls. He attempts to peer at your face only for you to keep whipping it away every time he gets too close.

“Nothing,” you turn and give him your back while you smooth over your already made bed. “It’s just interesting watching you with Jin. I never really get to see you guys together.”

“What’s interesting about it?”

Yoongi starts unbuttoning his own outer layers with painstaking care, giving you ample time to twitch under the weight of his gaze. You fight to keep a smile from sneaking onto your face, but it’s too hard and you let your lips turn up in a little grin. He can’t see it, but he can hear it in your voice.

“You’re just cute when you’re mad.”

A muscle in Yoongi’s jaw jumps.

“You noticed that I was mad, huh?” He shirks off his jacket roughly, sulking in his subtle way. Luckily—or perhaps not luckily—you’ve come to recognize it well.

“I did.” Your voice is high and steady as you remove your sweater, leaving you in a soft and worn t-shirt. “I’ll admit it was entertaining. A little bit.”

“Is that so?” He hums.

“I mean, I don't know what you were mad about. But I could tell it wasn’t about something serious.”

He merely nods and watches you fidget. You peer at him through the side of your eye and see him meticulously undoing the clasp of his watch. From the way he moves slowly through the process of undressing for bed, you can tell something’s coming.

“Let me ask you something, then.”

“O-okay.”

“Is Jin still your favorite?”

“Are you kidding?”

You have to stop hunting for pajamas at your dresser and turn to him to see if he’s in fact kidding. But he looks dangerously serious, and you have to fight to keep your eyes from rolling.

“That’s what this is about? All this sulky Yoongi is because of that?”

“Just answer the question,” he shrugs his shoulders lightly.

Supposedly he’s calm and collected and not jealous, but his eyes are sharp as they zero in on you. Easily, he pushes himself off the wall he was leaning on. The steps he takes toward you are measured and slow. You still find yourself holding your breath as he comes to sit benignly on the bed across from you. It’s something he does sometimes when you’re getting dressed or undressed. Because ‘he likes the view’, he usually says. But tonight it makes you grab the first thing that you find out of your pajama drawer so you’re not leaving your back vulnerable.

“Of course he’s not my favorite anymore. I haven’t felt that way since before we got together.”

“I was just wondering.”

“Yoongi,” you sigh and pull the old t-shirt off to replace it with a sleep shirt. “When you asked me who my favorite was half a year ago I didn’t realize you were flirting with me. And I didn’t really know much about the group either.”

He nods like he thinks what you’ve said is completely reasonable and you stuff your legs through some of your yoga pants roughly. When you finish, you’re still standing defensively on the other side of the room. He looks up at you and beckons you over without a word. You feel compelled to move forward. Unsure of what would happen if you didn’t humor him.

When you’re finally approaching the V of his parted legs, he motions for you to sit next to him on the bed. You do.

“You know,” he begins slowly, “You looked like you were having a great time tonight.”

“Oh,” you blink. “Yeah, I was having fun. Even though it took a while for me to win a round. And even then I think Hoseok might have let me win.”

“Was Jin a good teacher?”

“Yeah, he was a good teacher.”

“I bet he was. He had a good student. He looked like he was enjoying himself.”

“Maybe,” you tap your finger on your chin pensively. “It didn’t seem like he hated having to show me how to play.”

“No, trust me, he was enjoying it.” Yoongi’s tone dips audibly, and you stop yourself when you realize what he’s implying.

“God, Yoongi, stop it. It wasn’t like that. He was just being nice.”

“I’ve known Jin a long time. I know what he looks like when he’s flirting. It started as soon as you walked through the door.”

“That’s crazy,” you mumble. But then you think of all the lingering touches and glances again and it clicks. “He...he was probably just trying to rile you up. Jin likes to mess with people sometimes. You’re always saying that.”

Yoongi pins you with an odd look. It’s partly amused, partly pitying. Then it turns cold. “You know, Jin’s been sweet on you since I first introduced you. The first night you met, he told me he used to date someone who looked a bit like you when he was younger, before debuting.”

“Oh my god,” you whisper again.

“You really didn’t know?” Yoongi leans in so the words practically brush against the skin of your cheek. “He was shoving himself all over you the whole night and you didn’t notice?”

You shake your head, at a loss for words. His hand finds its way to your opposite arm, pulling you closer to him.

“Hmm,” he hums in acknowledgment.

Then Yoongi’s lips are pressing gently to the skin of your neck. There’s a hint of something in the kisses that makes them feel a bit too heated to be chaste. At first you think it’s gratitude, but when you turn your head to meet his lips with your own, it’s clear that it’s not just that. His tongue snakes in between your lips, and you let it happen as you turn the evening’s events over in your memory.

“Yoongi,” you whisper between kisses.

“Hmm?” His large hands are splayed low over the swell of your back, a pinky finger just barely dipping under the waistband of your pants.

“I think I did know.”

“Huh?”

“I think as soon as he said that thing in the car—about being in your place—I knew he wasn’t just being friendly anymore.”

“Yeah?” he mumbles against your lips.

Taking you by surprise, he pushes deeper into your mouth until he’s stealing your breath. His lips are plush but insistent. And you’re conflicted. But suddenly he’s pulling away with a damp mouth and a firm grasp on your hip.

“You knew and made me sit through all that and then invited him to brunch in front of me?” He nips at your lax mouth. “That’s not very nice.”

“I know,” you sigh.

“Don’t you think you should be punished, then?” When you pull away looking like he’s grown a second head, he shrugs mildly and like he didn’t just threaten to take you over his knee. “Or not. Your choice.”

#bangtan bookclub #networkbangtan #yoonginetwork #hyunglinenetwork #btswriters #yoongi imagines #yoongi scenarios #yoongi fanfic #bangtan scenarios #bangtan imagines #bangtan fanfic #bts scenarios #bts imagines #bts fanfic

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lovemybluebully · 5 years

Text

Is This a Joke?

Ugh! I'm late AGAIN getting a holiday fic up, but I spent a bit of time on it so I'm gonna post it anyways. Hope you'll still enjoy it! I wanted to get it up at least before the new year started, and it’s 11:30PM here so I managed to pull it off! YAY!! Happy New Year everyone!! And of course it's a tickle fic because, yeah, I can't help myself. XD Summary: It's Venom's first Christmas, and he and Eddie agree to exchange gifts for the holiday. Eddie can't resist having some fun with the idea at his buddy's expense, but then Venom decides to have a little fun of his own. M/M Tickle Fic

Word Count: 3,290

Just like every other holiday that came up, Eddie had to explain everything there was to know about Christmas to his symbiote companion; the origin, what it stood for, the religious customs and traditions that came with it. Everything.

Venom was definitely the curious type, and predictably flooded Eddie with questions about every little thing they came across when walking through the city. Finally Eddie had ended up introducing Venom to the internet and the Google search engine where every answer he desired could be easily found. Though the one concept that Venom had become particularly excited about was the exchanging of gifts. After Eddie had explained how it worked Venom was eager to get in on the action and find something special for his human friend. They agreed to take a day separated from the other so that they could keep their gifts a surprise. Venom had actually took on another host temporarily in order to purchase something without being detected. Later when they had reconnected and Venom was back inside of Eddie's body it wasn't long before he was pestering the man about what he may have gotten for him. "What did you get us, Eddie? Is it something delicious? Can we eat it? Hmm? Tell us tell us tell us!" Each word was enunciated with ticklish pokes into Eddie's sides, making the reporter giggle and smack at the playful symbiote tentacles with his hands. "I caahaan't tell you, asshole! Heehehehee, it's a surprise!" If Venom wanted to he could easily obtain the answer, but he wasn't trying that hard to get Eddie to spill the beans. He was actually moved that his host wanted to surprise him with something, and had vowed not to probe inside his mind for the week so that the secret wouldn't be spoiled.

Still he couldn't help but wonder and daydream about what it might be. In fact the alien had been so lost in his thoughts that he'd been a lot quieter than usual for the past few days; something Eddie took notice of as he chuckled to himself.

"What?"

"You. Still trying to figure out what I got for you, huh?"

"We like surprises, Eddie, but the anticipation is killing us!"

"Don't worry, it's Christmas Eve so you'll find out tomorrow."

Venom smiled in the most giddy way that Eddie had ever seen, and it was definitely funny to see the monstrous alien in this type of light. Eddie laughed and scratched the symbiote head under the chin as he nodded towards the few presents placed underneath the small tree in his apartment. "In the morning those'll all be yours, buddy." ............................................................ "Eddie......"

"Eddie!"

"............EDDIE!" As he opened his eyes Eddie unsuccessfully stifled his laughter when he found Venom grinning into his face with a fluffy Santa hat on his head. It really tickled him to see that Venom had embraced the Christmas spirit like this.

"Get up, Eddie! Get up! It's Christmas morning!"

"Is it? I had no idea. Well I doubt Santa left anything for a couple losers like us," the man smirked as he sat up and stretched out his arms before rubbing his hands over his tired face. "Screw that fat guy. I know Eddie didn't forget us," Venom smiled, pulling on his host's arm to hoist him out of the bed.

"Alright I'm up, I'm up," Eddie smiled as he slid out from underneath his warm blankets and allowed Venom to drag him over to their Christmas tree. The symbiote was acting just like a little kid would on this holiday morning. Shifting into his humanoid form, Venom crouched on the floor anxiously as he watched Eddie select a present from all the others. "Here," the journalist handed him the large package, "Open this one first."

Not wasting any time, Venom quickly used his claws to tear away the wrapping paper as he revealed a big box of assorted chocolates. His eyes lit up when he saw what it was as a bit of drool began to seep from his mouth.

"Thank you, Eddie! We can't wait to try some!"

He had already started to open up the box, but Eddie held out a hand to stop him.

"Why don't we wait until we've had breakfast first, ok buddy?"

"Ok, Eddie," Venom pouted a little as he reluctantly agreed. He perked up though when Eddie handed him another gift.

"Alright, now this one. I think this'll come in handy for you," his mouth twitched as if he were trying to hold back a smile, but Venom didn't seem to notice since all his focus was on the package in his hands. "This is heavier than the last one. Is it more chocolates?!" The symbiote asked excitedly as Eddie put a hand over his own mouth to hide his smirk and simply nodded. "Maybe. Open it and see."

A few seconds later the wrapping paper was shredded and Venom was left staring dumbfounded at the box in front of him. "...........What. Is. This?" "You can't tell? It's an electric toothbrush. We gotta keep those teeth of yours all squeaky clean with all that chocolate you're eating, don't we?" His attempt at keeping a straight face was beginning to fail as he watched his friend's eyes narrow in annoyance. "Is this some kind of joke?" Venom growled as he ripped the toothbrush from it's packaging and switched it on, staring at it with contempt as it began to buzz and vibrate. "What's wrong? Don't you like it?" Eddie couldn't stop himself and had fallen over laughing now, which was the wrong thing to do because Venom was quick to pounce on him. The symbiote wasn't angry about his host's practical joke, though he did have revenge on his mind. Strong tendrils wrapped around the reporter's arms and stretched them over his head with Eddie still laughing too much to object.

"Eddie wants to laugh, hm? Well we'll give him something to really laugh about." Eddie's giggles turned more frantic and hysterical when a mass of tendrils started to tickle up and down his sides, expertly honing in on the weakest spots. Having just gotten out of bed his only attire was a worn-in t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants, which left him pretty vulnerable for such an attack; he was doomed.

"Okaahaay! Okaahaahay, it wahahas a baahaad idee-heeheeheea!" Eddie giggled madly as he made pathetic attempts to squirm away, knowing there was no escape and that he'd might as well save his energy. "I think you knew we'd react this way. Sounds to us like you were asking for it, weren't you?"

"Nohoho! I'd nehehehever! I haa-hate beheeheeing tihihickled!"

Venom could see in his mind that Eddie didn't truly mean that, and that his thoughts were nothing but gleeful delight. Despite his words, Eddie was enjoying this fooling around and so Venom saw no reason to back off just yet.

"Well that's a shame, Eddie, because that's what I got you for Christmas.....lots and lots of tickles!" The tickling on his ribcage intensified as Eddie threw his head back in howling laughter, though continued to jokingly provoke his alien buddy.

"Ehehahahahaa! Wehehell thaahaat's a shihihitty presehehent! I hohope you g-got a gihift receipt!"

"It's non-returnable. Too bad for you. You'll just have to accept my present," Venom chuckled while one of his tendrils picked up the electric toothbrush so he could examine it more closely as he pressed the switch to turn it on. He then noticed how Eddie's t-shirt had bunched up from all his thrashing to reveal part of his belly. Now he had a very evil idea. "Hmmm, I think I know a good use for this....," Venom grinned as he applied the whirling toothbrush to Eddie's stomach, receiving an explosive reaction.

"Naahahaahah! Thaahaahaat's nohot whahahat thaat's fohohohor!"

Eddie squealed and vainly tried to roll to the side as the brush drew slow circles over his belly with the circumference of every stroke getting smaller and smaller until the vibrating head of the toothbrush dipped into his navel. "Shit shihihihit! Stohahahahahop! No no, waaahahahat are yoo-hoou doing?! Ahahhahaha!" The reported squeezed his eyes shut as he laughed his head off through the overwhelming feelings of the brush traveling up his sensitive side.

"But Eddie, we need to make sure you're squeaky clean. Every nook and cranny needs our attention," Venom teased while he swept the toothbrush slowly between the spaces of each rib as Eddie cackled and jerked his body like a beached fish.

He hated when Venom found ways to use his own words against him.

"You pretentious asshohohole! Oh fuhuhuck! Holy fuck, not there!! No please, dont don't doh-OHOHAHAHAHAAHAAHAA!!" Eddie squirmed with all his might, straining to pull his arms free and wishing he could sink down into the floor and disappear as the unorthodox torture device swirled deep into the crater of his left armpit.

"Stahahahap it!! Noooahahahahahaa!! Gehehet outta my pihihihit!!"

"Ok ok, we will get out of your pit," the alien said as the brush shut off and was removed from the tender area. Venom's smirk should've told Eddie that this wasn't over, but the man was being a bit naive and had started to relax. "Besides, you have another one!"

Eddie was still too busy trying to catch his breath to protest, but the panic in his eyes said it all as the toothbrush came alive again and whirled around under his right arm this time.

"Aaahahahah!! Hahahahahaha-nooooo!! Fuhuhuhucker!! Yoohoohoooou suhuhuhuck!!"

"On the contrary we do not 'suck', but we can do this...."

The long tongue flowed out and began to drag repeatedly over Eddie's bare belly, coaxing the tears from his eyes as he laughed insanely and kicked his feet against the ground. It slowly licked up his side, pushing his t-shirt up until it was right back into his other armpit to enthusiastically lap at the sensitive skin.

"Baahahahaah quihihihihit iiiiit!! B-Bad symbiote! Baahaad symbiote!! No lihihihicking!! Yoo-hou sick fuhuhuck!! Thaahaat's naahaasty-eehehehehee!!" "We forgot what a little bitch you could be, Eddie. Of course we know how to make you really cry like a baby," the symbiote's teeth gleamed as he grinned as wide as possible and began moving down Eddie's legs, wrapping them together with his black goo in the process to keep him from kicking out.

The seemingly disembodied head was now facing the bare soles of his host that were madly twitching as Eddie tried to free himself. "What have we here?" Venom grinned evilly and drew out a high-pitched squeal as his tongue licked up the bottom of a lethally ticklish foot, "Ohh so many nerves in such a small area. Maybe we can scrub them all away?" Eddie's eyes widened as he heard the buzzing sound of the toothbrush being activated once again. "No wait, just wait a minute! I said waaAAHAAHAAHAHAHA!!"

The feeling of the stiff bristles twirling around in the sensitive lengths of his arches made Eddie nearly hit the roof. His mouth opened wide as he laughed at the top of his lungs with his entire body thrashing in vain to break free of the gooey restraints. "Staahahaahaahaahahahap Vehehehehenom!! Thaahaahaat's the wohohohorst spohahahahaaat!!"

"Oh Eddie, you say that no matter where you're tickled," Venom smirked as he spread apart the man's toes one by one so the brush could work it's spinning magic on the extremely tender spaces, making Eddie screech like a little kid. "AHEEHEEHEEHAHAhahahaaha!! I t-taahaake it baahaahaaack!! TH-THAAHAAHAAAT'S the wohorst spooooooot!!" "Like we haven't heard that before." As he continued to zig zag the brush all across the bottom of one foot he then began to teasingly flick his tongue on the squirming sole of the other foot to double poor Eddie's torment. "HOHOLY SHIHIHIHIIIIT!! GAAHAHAHAAHAH!! I-I SAHAHAHAHAID NO-HO LICKIIIHEEHEEHEEENG!!" "Yes, you did. But when have we ever listened to you?" Venom's grin grew as his tongue stroked beneath the pads of the wriggling toes; the slight roughness of the dexterous muscle causing an extreme tickling sensation that Eddie couldn't stand. "AHAHAHAHA EHEEHEHAHAHAHAHA!! ENOHOHOHOUGH!! PLEEHEEHEEASE!! OKAAHAAY!! THE TOOHOOHOOTHBRU-BRUHUHUSH WAHAS N-NOHAHAHOT YOHOUR REEHEEHEAL PREHEHESENT!"

Venom withdrew his tongue for the moment to look curiously at his friend, though the toothbrush continued it's reign of terror. "What does that mean 'not our real present'?"

"Ihihit wahahas a johohohohoke!! I woohoohoo...!! I wouldn't do-hoo thaahaahaahaaat to yahahaha!!"

All tickling finally stopped and Eddie tried to compose himself through his residual giggles as the alien looked back at him in wonder.

"So you did get us something else?"

The symbiote's smile grew. He hadn't been truly upset at thinking the gag gift was his real present, but he was glad to know that Eddie had taken this more seriously than he originally thought. "Venom it's your first Christmas, of course I got ya something that matters. Just please....for the love of GOD, get that thing away from my feet," he laughed nervously as he nodded down at the toothbrush that was still buzzing away within inches of his cringing toes.

With the flick of a tentacle the toothbrush was shut off while at the same time gently releasing Eddie from his bonds. As he sat up he saw that Venom had shifted into his humanoid form as the alien handed over the hygienic device in good gesture to the blushing man. "Well that really backfired on me, didn't it?" Eddie laughed as he threw the toothbrush as hard as he could at the wall so that it exploded into several pieces of broken satisfaction upon impact, "Now just gimme a second here..." He then crawled over to the tree and reached into the very back behind his recliner chair and pulled out a box that Venom hadn't noticed before. Brushing the pine needles off that had fallen onto him in the process he turned and handed the package to his friend. "Here's your real present, dude. Don't think you'll end up tickle torturing me after this one," Eddie chuckled as Venom narrowed his eyes teasingly and took the box from his hands. "We will see, won't we?" Immediately he began to rip open the wrapping paper until it was all removed before cutting open the tape holding the box closed. Inside was tissue paper and more tissue paper as he dug to the bottom to find what Eddie had wrapped so meticulously. There he saw that it was some kind of framed document as Venom curiously pulled it out of the box and began to read. After absorbing the words he then looked up at Eddie with astonishment in his eyes as the man gave a small smile and nodded. "Yeah. I'm serious, buddy."

Venom then looked back at the frame and began to read it out-loud. "This is to certify that Venom has been formally adopted into the Brock family by Eddie Brock, and has agreed to hold and keep safe this symbiote forever in a loving home. He is entitled to all the rights and privileges there is as......a brother," Venom choked the last part out and Eddie saw something in his eyes that he had never seen before. "Just wanted you to know that you've always got a family with me, Venom. I mean, the papers aren't official obviously 'cause I don't think they allow you to adopt anything other than another human, but I thought you'd still appreciate it and...."

Eddie was cut off as Venom grabbed him into a tight hug, nearly smothering him as he held him against his chest.

"Th-Thank you, Eddie! Thank you! This means so much to us! We will love Eddie forever, and protect him with our very life! He is our brother, and we will never let anything bad happen to him ever again!"

Eddie laughed gently as he reassuringly patted him on the back. "I love you too, man. You know as crazy as it may sound, besides Anne, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." "We will always have your back, Eddie. You will never feel alone again. If you're cold we will keep you warm. If you're hurt we will heal you. If you're sad we will make you laugh. You won't have to worry about a thing, Eddie! We'll take care of you!"

He lifted the man off the floor in his excitement as he gave enthusiastic licks to his face, making Eddie giggle as he strained his neck and tried to push him away.

"Heeheehe, dude, that tickles! Okaahaay, I get it! You're welcome! You're welcome!!"

Reluctantly Venom set him down, though he was unable to wipe the sharp-toothed grin from his face. After a moment Eddie cleared his throat as he then glanced over at their Christmas tree. "So uhh...," the reporter nodded to the last package underneath the tree, "That for me?"

Venom suddenly lost his grin as he looked over at the crudely wrapped gift. He knew Eddie wouldn't judge his wrapping technique being that it was his first time attempting such a thing, but for some reason he still stared at it with guilt.

"Yes, but..."

"But what?" Venom picked up the small package and held it away from him. "No, just forget it. It's stupid in comparison to what you've just given us."

"Ahh c'mon, Venom. Whatever it is I'm sure I'll love it."

Venom hesitated for a few long moments before finally handing it over to him, and then changing back into his serpent form in his anxious state. Eddie chuckled lightly as he tried to make sense of the excessive amount of tape covering the wrapping paper before finally pulling out a pocket knife and slicing away. Venom fidgeted and watched nervously during the whole process.

Finally Eddie got through the wrapping paper and reached the box, opening it as he peeked inside. He smirked as he reached in and pulled out a ceramic coffee mug, turning it over and glancing at the inscription on the side.

"World's Best Human Host," he smiled as he read it outloud, "You actually had them make this for me?"

Venom nodded apprehensively, though perking up at seeing that Eddie showed no signs of disappointment.

"I love it, man."

Venom's grin instantly returned upon hearing those words. "You...You do?" "Yeah, I really do. This is the best gift I've gotten in a long time, and I'm gonna use it every morning from now on. See? I'm gonna put it right here where everyone can see it," he said as he walked over and placed it on the counter next to his coffee maker.

Venom beamed happily, knowing that Eddie liked it, and put it where it could be shown off to everyone. He quickly crawled over, making Eddie giggle as he slithered up around his body until he was splayed across his shoulders. He adoringly rubbed his head against Eddie's, making a purring noise in the process.

"Thanks, Eddie. We're so happy right now."

"Me too, buddy. I love both the gifts you've given me."

Venom paused and his head craned around to look Eddie directly in the face as he cocked it to the side in confusion.

"Both? But...we only gave you the one thing."

Eddie chuckled and shook his head, knowing full well that the symbiote had no idea what he was talking about. "You gave me a lot more than that, Venom. You gave me your friendship at a time in my life when I needed it most, and I'll never forget that. I meant what I said, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." He pulled Venom's head against his in a warm embrace as he stroked underneath his chin, making the symbiote alien glow with affection. "Same here, Eddie. Same here."<3

#ticklefic #ticklish!eddie #venom #eddie brock #symbiote #fluff #friendship #bromance #tickling #tickle #tickle fic #my writing #christmas

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themagiciansreccenter · 5 years

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Author Spotlight: @kaci3po

Every week we interview a writer from The Magicians fandom. If you would like to be interviewed or you want to nominate a writer, get in touch via our ask box.

First things first, tell us a little about yourself.

By day I'm a health insurance claims processor and by night I'm a fanfic writer who has probably been in fandom longer than most people on this website have been alive. I have terrible taste in music and share my home with two dogs and five cats.

How long have you been writing for?

I've been writing fanfiction since 2005, but I've been writing in general since before Kindergarten. I was always a writer. Fanfic just helped me figure out where I was interested in aiming my efforts.

What inspired you to start writing for The Magicians?

I read the books years ago and liked them well enough until the last one. Julia and Alice were my favorite characters so when the show was announced, I put off watching it because I was convinced they would never do either of those characters justice. I eventually caved and binged it on Netflix and I'm really glad I did. The show is an entirely different beast than the books, and to be honest the show is way more in my wheelhouse. Watching 3x05 and then not having it addressed for the rest of the season left me really frustrated but I've always believed in writing the stories you want to see in the world so I dusted off my keyboard and got to work.

Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write? What it is about them that makes them your favourite?

Quentin is my favorite POV to write from. That voice comes pretty naturally to me. And I like writing him because I can identify with a lot of his issues and choices. But Eliot is my favorite to write from an outside POV because he has a very specific voice that you can have a lot of fun with. You can put some fairly outrageous things in his mouth and have it still be in-character, because that's the sort of guy he is. Even though I think I end up writing more drama than comedy, the latter is definitely my favorite to do and Eliot is such a great source for both.

Do you have a preference for a particular season/point in time to write about?

3x05 and 4x05. I'm not someone who comes up with great plots for fics. I admire people who can do that, but that's not the sort of writing I'm good at. What I like doing is "fix-it" or "fill-in-the-blank" type stuff. I like being given a situation and then figuring out how characters I already know would react to that circumstance. 3x05 and 4x05 are perfect for me because they showed just enough to leave the door wide open for speculation.

Are you working on anything right now? Care to give us an idea about it?

I'm toying with the idea of writing Margo's reaction if/when she ever finds out the full story about the mosaic timeline and the Conversation they had when they remembered. I find it interesting that until that moment, Margo was the person who had seen Eliot at his worst and still loved him, but she has no idea (as far as we know) about this new memory that Eliot himself considers his darkest and most shameful. Their friendship is one of the most important things on the show to me, so I am very curious about how she'll react to Eliot keeping all of that a secret if/when she eventually finds out.

How long is your “to do list”?

Not very long. Like I said, I'm not the sort of writer who comes up with tons of plots she'd love to write. I just ask questions based on canon and explore the answers.

What is your favourite fic that you’ve written for The Magicians? Why?

Probably 'all these young bodies turn,' which I did not realize was a title someone else had already used for a Queliot fic when I posted it so great minds, I guess. I liked writing that one because it let me explore the trope of quests demanding sacrifices and the fact that Quentin was very aware of that fact. I like the way the show twists and turns tropes on their heads and I liked getting to do that too, in my own small way.

Many writers have a fic that they are passionate about that doesn’t get the reception from the fandom that they hoped for. Do you have a fic you would like more people to read and appreciate?

Not really. Everyone's been super nice and supportive of my work in this fandom, probably more so than my writing actually warrants. I'm that person who (a lot like Quentin, actually) is sort of always surprised people like my work and want me around. Blindsided by it, to be honest.

What is your writing process like? Do you have any traditions or superstitions that you like to stick to when you’re writing?

I honestly don't have a process or rituals. I've never been the kind of person who likes writing from outlines or notes. I just sit at the keyboard and keep asking myself, "Okay...and what comes next?" I'm just as surprised by what comes out of my brain as the next person.

Do you write while the seasons are airing or do you prefer to wait for hiatus? How does the ongoing development of the canon influence and inspire your writing process?

I like to write while the episodes are airing, if possible. If I wait, I lose the inspiration and frantic drive to fix and fill in blanks. Once the entire season is out, it feels to me like it's been chiseled in stone and that's not as much fun for me to play with. Writing while the episodes are airing allows for interesting moments where your predictions turn out to be completely wrong but the canon spins you off in a new direction you never would've thought of.

What has been the most challenging fic for you to write?

"5 Times Quentin and Eliot Had to Have Uncomfortable but Necessary Conversations and 1 Time They Didn't Need to Talk at All." I honestly don't know why but writing that fic was like pulling teeth. I rewrote huge portions of it constantly and I'm still not fully satisfied with it.

Are there any themes or tropes that you like particularly like to explore in your writing?

I don't know that I've really gotten to explore this yet in The Magicians fandom, although after 4x05 I think I might, but my all-time favorite trope is the character who swears up and down they don't want to be in love and can't help falling anyway. Most of my all-time favorite couples fit into this trope and now with the reveal that Eliot rejected Quentin's interest in him, I can't wait to see them actually together once he gets his body back and decides to be brave.

Are there any writers that inspire your work? Fanfiction or otherwise?

Seanan McGuire is my biggest writing inspiration. If I could write half as well as she does, I'd be happy.

What are you currently reading? Fanfiction or otherwise?

The "Home For Wayward Children" series by Seanan McGuire is my latest obsession and I'm also listening to the audio book of "Anger is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro. Fanfiction-wise, I'm just devouring every post-4x05 fic AO3 has to offer.

What is the most valuable piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?

This is a tough call because I've had some great mentors over the years, but the most helpful thing I've ever been told is to read everything I write out loud. It probably looks silly when I do it, but I do full-on dramatic readings complete with different voices and actually acting the parts of everything I write. I don't post it until I've done a complete read through with no complaints. Not only does this help you catch any grammar or spelling mistakes, but the biggest thing it does is help you make your dialogue more natural. I'm trained in scriptwriting, not prose, and in that genre all you really have to tell your story with is dialogue, so it's important to me that mine sounds like people really talk. I don't post something until I can read it out loud and think, "Yeah, that's how those characters actually speak."

Are there any words or phrases you worry about over using in your work?

I use ellipses way more than anyone probably should and I'm overly fond of pulling up sentences short with punctuation that's not grammatically correct but makes you read it in the exact cadence I want you to.

What was the first fanfic that you wrote? Do you still have access to it?

I don't remember what my first actually was about, but it was in the Friends fandom and probably Monica/Chandler. I don't have access to it anymore, and I tried googling around to see if it was still out there on the internet somewhere, but it doesn't seem to be. That's probably for the best because I'm sure it was absolutely awful.

Self-edit or Beta?

Self-edit. In a perfect world, I'd have stuff beta'd but it's been years since I had someone I trusted to do that. These days I just go over it with a fine-toothed comb and hope for the best.

Comments or Kudos/Reblogs or Likes?

Comments always make me happy and I obsessively read the tags on reblogs, but it doesn't bother me if someone doesn't take the time to do that. People have busy lives and sometimes you can really like something without having more to say about it other than, "This was good." So a like or kudos is fine by me.

Smut, Fluff or Angst?

Smut, then fluff. I don't really like writing angst. Fandom is my escape from the real world so I'd rather focus on happy stuff if I can.

Quick & Dirty or Slow Burn?

Quick and dirty as a writer, slow burn as a reader. I like to "get in quick, hit hard, and get out" as a writer. The fewer words I can convey something in, the better. But given the choice as a reader, I'll take a 100k+ slow burn any day. It's always so satisfying when you get to the end.

Favourite season?

Season Three

Favourite Episode?

4x05 and 3x05 are the obligatory answers, but I also absolutely loved the bank heist episode.

Favourite book?

The Magicians

Three favourite words?

Fuck, callipygian, & widdershins.

Want to be interviewed for our author spotlight? Get in touch here.

#the magicians #the magicians rec center #author spotlight #author spotlight: kaci3po

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dnkaus · 6 years

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Fateful Visions | Ch. 6 Hidden Jealousy

Namjoon x Reader (OC)

Summary: Idol Namjoon meets a grad student, Maya, but he experiences strange visions each time their eyes meet and they touch one another. Fate plays a magnetic role, & keeps bringing them together. Are these visions a sign that they should stay away or stay together?

Genre: Angst, Fluff (eventually)

Previous Part: Chapter Five Next Part: Chapter Seven

End of 2017

It was near the end of the year, over a month after AMAs incident when Maya found out that her grant that she had applied for was approved. This was the same grant that she had told BTS about back when she went to meet them at their Wings concert. The grant would now fund her to go to Korea and study Korean fiction and cultural history for an entire year, just like she wanted. They would pay for her housing and school, as well as her living expenses. This was truly a dream come true.

Maya left for Korea immediately after her winter semester ended in Arkansas, because Korean colleges started much sooner than American colleges. This meant she needed to be in Korea at the beginning on January. To Maya, this was going to be a whole new adventure as she didn’t really know anyone in Korea, unless you count the ever-famous BTS. However, after the AMAs incident and Namjoon’s apology, the group had barely shown their faces in public and even Taehyung stopped contacting Maya. It was sad for Maya to see how much the incident had affected them, but she assumed this was just how celebrity life worked.

Maya landed in Seoul 2 days before New Years Eve’ and settled into her new apartment. She had found this apartment on Google, and had mainly focused on how close it was to her new college. She wanted a place that was close enough to the college so that she could just walk there. The new apartment, in her opinion, was perfect because it was not only located close to her college, it was also located near lots of convenience stores, which made it perfect since her cooking skills were subpar at best. She knew she would be living off of ramen and kimbap everyday.

The next 2 days were spent setting up the place. She had to figure out the transportation system so she could go shopping. She had to set up her internet and electricity. She had to make sure she was properly enrolled in all her new classes and was ready to start the new semester. She had to do all that before New Years’ eve as she knew everything would be closed on New Years.

By the time, New Years eve arrived she was mostly settled. She had a new bed and a couch and some basic appliances. Just the bare essentials that would allow her to survive. Except in all of the chaos, she never went grocery shopping, which meant she would starve for the night unless one of the convenience stores near her were open, since most places would be closed.

Maya’s apartment was on the second floor of the building, so she came downstairs and started walking towards the convenience store where she had eaten lunch the day before. She liked that convenience store because the cashier was a really sweet old lady, who was the first person that didn’t judge her based on her skin color.

It was true. Ever since she stepped in Korea, every where she went, people gave her weird looks, as if they had never seen a dark skinned person. Maya had expected that this would happen, but it was astonishing how often it would happen to her. Maya had experienced similar things in America, as she was a minority, but she didn’t give much attention to it. She never thought of herself as any different from everyone else. She was just Maya. However, being in Korea reminded her more of her dark skin color than ever before. In Korea, she was not just Maya. She was Maya, the darker skinned foreigner. To find that sweet lady at the convenience store was no less than a blessing for Maya.

Maya walked hastily towards the convenience store to see if the lights of the stores were on. When she got there she let out a sigh of relief, when she saw the lights were indeed on. She quickly walked inside and bowed at the sweet lady.

“Hi, ma’am!” She said while bowing.

“Oh, you are here again? What are you doing here on New Year's Eve?” the sweet lady said.

“I just landed in Korea a few days ago, so I don’t really have many friends here yet, so I decided to have a date with ramen instead” Maya laughed as she grabbed ramen and started putting it in the microwave that was available at the store.

“Well, you are not the only one….seems like all the young people have forgotten what the word fun means anymore. ” the lady replied.

A man that was sitting with his food near the windows of the store suddenly began speaking “Ms. Kang, I told you, it’s not that I don’t have friends, but actually I just wanted some time to myself since I am always working.”

“You and your celebrity friends always intrigue me. You could be eating at any expensive place in Seoul and here you are with your cup of ramen.” Ms. Kang responded.

“Ms. Kang, everything is closed tonight, so you are literally my last hope.” he responded.

By this time Maya was finished warming up her ramen and so she came to sit down at the tables where the other man was sitting. He turned towards her as she put down her cup.

Maya was shocked as she saw his face. She had never in a million years thought she would just casually run into this man at a convenience store, and yet here she was sitting only 2 chairs away from him. The man was none other than EXO’s leader, Kim Junmyeon, A.K.A Suho. Maya immediately got off her seat as she made eye contact with him. She wasn’t sure whether she should even sit there or not. This could not be happening. This must be a dream. It couldn’t be him. It was probably someone that looked like him. Maya knew of EXO even before she knew of BTS. She wasn’t a huge EXO-L, but ever since getting into BTS, she also listened to a lot of EXO songs. But seeing the leader of EXO at the convenience store was far from what she would ever imagine. She kept staring at him like she had seen a ghost, that was until Ms. Kang interrupted her thought by coming up to her and putting a jar of kimchi next to her cup of ramen.

“Here, try this. I made this at home so it’s probably better than the stuff you kids eat at the store,” Ms. Kang said as she put the jar on the table. Maya wanted to say thank you but she was still too much in shock about who was sitting only a few feet away from her. Was this a dream? If so, this was the strangest one she had had until now. That definitely can’t be Junmyeon, right?

“Oh, and don’t forget to give some to Junmyeon, otherwise he might start a riot.” Ms. Kang continued and began laughing. Junmyeon. This was Junmyeon. This was EXO’s leader, Junmyeon. Maya’s brain began to spin.

“Is everything okay?” Junmyeon asked. Maya hadn’t realized she was staring at him the entire time and she was now just awkwardly standing there with her ramen and the jar of kimchi.

Maya didn’t initially respond, until she realized he was asking her a question. “uh...yeah...I am...I am okay. I am great. Thank you” Maya shyly replied and hesitantly sitting back down in her seat. She sat there wondering whether she should stay there or not.

Maya slowly picked up her chopsticks tried to open her packaging around them so that she could start eating, but her hands were shaking so much that she dropped them. Of course, as all great stories go, the chopsticks just happened to land near Junmyeon’s feet. How convenient.

Before Maya could get off her chair and grab another pair, Junmyeon bent down and picked up the chopsticks and handed her the ones she dropped.

“Here you go. They are still unopened, so you can still use them,” he said politely and gave her a smile.

Maya gulped. She couldn’t think straight at all at this point. “Uh...thanks,” she muttered before going back to her seat, again.

“So, are you gonna use the kimchi, because I would like the jar, if you don’t want any…” Junmyeon asked after a few minutes of silence. At this point Maya was just eating and was in her own thoughts.

“Huh?” Maya said as she hadn’t really heard what Junmyeon said.

“Oh...the kimchi...can you pass me the jar?” Junmyeon asked again.

Maya became frazzled. “Oh...oh my gosh...I am so sorry! Yes! Of course…” Maya said frantically passing him the jar.

Junmyeon laughed. “You know who I am, don’t you?” he suddenly asked while he put some kimchi in his ramen.

Maya’s heart began beating faster as she heard his words. “Well, yes...uh...you are Junmyeon....leader of EXO. I am sorry, I just didn’t know I would be running into you here tonight.” Maya responded.

“It’s okay. Relax. Most of us idols don’t bite,” Junmyeon casually responded. Maya couldn’t help but laugh, at her own luck.

“I know…” she said smiling, thinking back to BTS and the entire lake house trip. The time spent there had left her with some really fond memories. She wished she could go back to those moments, even though for BTS, those moments were probably their lowest point.

Junmyeon thought it was a weird response, but he assumed the woman in front of him had probably met other idols before, considering the location of the convenience store. Yes, as fate would have it, Maya had picked an apartment in the same area where many of the idols had their dorms and unlike common beliefs, idols ate a lot at convenience stores and other common places. They just made sure to go at night, when there would be less people. For Junmyeon, New Years’ Eve was his day of freedom. He could freely walk around in this part of Seoul, because everyone would be out partying.

Seeing Junmyeon’s friendly nature, Maya began to feel less intimidated. Junmyeon also carried that authoritative tone to their voices, when they spoke. What was with her and these boy group leaders? She thought.

Maya continued to eat and surprisingly her and Junmyeon had a really nice conversation over their dinner. Maya told him about how she just moved to Seoul and how she is studying Korean culture and Korean fiction. She also told him about how she is originally from L.A. and moved to Arkansas for graduate school. Junmyeon was a great listener and so he listened to all of the information Maya told him. In return, he also told her about EXO, and how they are currently on break for the holidays and how his members are all out partying, but he decided to stay home. He also told her about how he comes here often because this is the only convenience store in the area, where he doesn’t really need to hide himself since he doesn’t run into a lot of fans. In fact, along with Junmyeon there were many other idols that would come in here for a quick dinner or lunch. It was their sanctuary away from the glamourous world.

As they completed their meals and paid for their food, it was time to bid their goodbyes. “It was nice meeting you, Maya-shi” Junmyeon said slightly bowing.

“Oh, it's really nice to meet you too, Junmyeon-shi. I feel like I must have saved a few countries in my past life to get the opportunity to run into you like this.” Maya laughed.

“Ah, this is only your 3rd day in Korea. I am sure we’ll meet again. I come here at least once a week,” Junmyeon replied.

“Oh really? Well, I guess I will see you again then.” Maya responded back.

“Sounds good.”

Junmyeon was right. Maya did end up running into Junmyeon again at the same store. In fact, she ran into him much more often than she had thought. Those coincidences turned into routine, where Maya and Junmyeon would essentially meet for dinner almost twice or three times a week, if Junmyeon didn’t have any schedules. They initially would sit at least 2 chairs apart at the table in the store, but then it became 1 chair apart, and eventually they begin sitting next to each other.

Their friendship blossomed as the new year began and Maya began her new journey at her new college. She would complain to Junmyeon about her day and in return he would tell her about the new show he was working on. Maya also made another new friend at the convenience store through Junmyeon, a female medical student named Han Bi. The duo turned turned into a trio as Han Bi, Maya and Junmyeon would now all meet up to eat dinner together. However, since Han Bi was a med student, she often spent her nights at the library studying so sometimes it would just be Junmyeon and Maya.

Meanwhile, BTS was busy trying to recover from the incident and had began focusing all of their energy into their new music and their collaborations that were on-going with American and Korean artists. By the end of December, it seemed that the public had moved on from the news, at least for now. However, BTS remained quiet for a few more weeks just in case. In the middle of January, BTS resurfaced again for the Seoul Music Awards. They gave another amazing performance and even ended up winning another daesang.

Maya had watched the award show, and was intrigued that not only had she met BTS, she had now also met Junmyeon. Seeing BTS against EXO for the award categories felt weird. A feeling she had not felt before when BTS had won other awards. She knew she would hear from Junmyeon about the loss the next time they had dinner together, and she already began to wonder what she would say to make him feel better.

On the other hand, ever since the incident, Namjoon had began working even harder in producing songs so that he wouldn’t think about other things. He worked so much, that at times the members even worried about his health. He would trap himself in his studio and would skip meals. Once he almost fainted during the practice and had to be taken to the doctor’s.

The night after Seoul Music awards, Namjoon had decided to go get something to eat after a long day at his studio. He was tired and didn’t really feel like eating anything at the dorms. Recently BTS had moved into new dorms, which were located right around where other idols lived. He would often go out to the restaurants nearby when he didn’t want to be at the dorms. That night, he was just craving kimbap, so he decided to go to the convenience store that was located right down the block from the dorms. He was walking right towards the store when he saw a familiar figure sitting by the store window. He paused before crossing the street, as he began to realize who it was. Maya. Maya was sitting in the convenience store that he was planning to go to.

Namjoon stood there for a while, just observing. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Was Maya really in Korea? How come no one told him? In December, Maya actually had told Taehyung she was coming to Seoul for a year, and he had texted her back at the beginning of January saying that they should meet up. However, Taehyung became busy with their schedules, so he never informed the other members that Maya was in the same city as them.

Now, Namjoon was directly looking at the woman he had only seen in America sitting and eating ramen at a convenience store only a block from where he lived. Was she stalking him? Namjoon’s eyes shifted to the person sitting next to her, and that person surprised him even more. She was eating dinner with Junmyeon. Was he seeing things correctly? Was Maya really eating with Junmyeon from EXO? What in the freaking world was going on? How many idols did this random girl know? Namjoon decided he would go eat somewhere else, as he wasn’t sure he wanted to face her yet.

As he walked away from the convenience store, various thoughts took over him. He figured if Maya was indeed in Seoul, it was none of his business. It’s not like she was really his friend, right? She just helped them a few times, but that didn’t mean he should expect her to notify him that she was in the city. Was he angry? No, he had no right to be angry. He didn’t know why, he just felt strange around Maya. To Namjoon, Maya was an enigma.

Namjoon ended up eating at another convenience store that night and pretended he hadn’t seen Maya with Junmyeon. He had forgotten about the incident and managed to avoid them until 3 weeks later, when he decided to go to the same convenience store again, and saw both Maya and Junmyeon again at the place. Again, they were eating together and were enjoying a soju too. Maya seemed happy. Junmyeon also had a smile on his face. Namjoon saw Maya casually hit Junmyeon’s shoulder, and was laughing hysterically. He must have said something funny. Namjoon tried to remember when was the last time he had seen Maya laugh like that? Ah, it was the night of the campfire at the lake house. Namjoon again stood there across the street observing them. Who was the real stalker? Maya or him? Namjoon thought to himself. He didn’t know why he was standing there, he just did. Then he suddenly had a weird thought: Wait, were these two dating? Nah, that’s absurd. But then again, why else were they meeting so often? Namjoon was confused by Junmyeon and Maya’s relationship. Yet, he wasn’t sure why it mattered to him anyways.

Namjoon debated whether he should go in or whether he should just walk away. He then began walking towards it, except he noticed that Maya and Junmyeon were both coming outside. Namjoon stopped in his tracks as they came outside and began waving goodbye to each other. Namjoon quickly put on his face mask and his hood so he wouldn’t be recognized. However, Maya and Junmyeon were in their own little world as they started heading their own ways after saying goodbye. Namjoon stood there a bit longer, watching as Maya began walking in the opposite direction than Junmyeon. She pulled out her headphones from her bag and started connecting them to her phone. Namjoon also started walking away from the convenience store and away from the direction that Maya was heading.

Another man came out of a dark alley that Maya passed on her way home. Maya was untangling her headphone cords and didn’t notice as the man was behind her. However, after a few feet she did notice the footsteps behind her so she decided to look. The man gave her a scary glare which made Maya walk faster. Her heart was beating fast. She then suddenly remembered that she had felt this way before. She remembered her heart feeling like this and the fear that she was feeling in that moment. She started walking faster, almost running. The man continued following, and Maya began to run. He was running after her. She was running faster. She was running as fast as she could, she felt like she was going to explode. She suddenly remembered the scene, she knew that there would eventually be someone who would grab her from one of the other alleys. She panicked was that person the same man that was following her? Is this how she dies? She was sprinting at this point, tears spilling from her eyes. She was trying to press 119 on her phone, but her fingers were trembling. She knew someone would eventually grab her hand, but she didn’t know which alley, so she had no choice but to keep running. Maya’s intuition was right. Someone did reach out and grab her hand and pull her into a narrow alley between 2 buildings. But, who was it?

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nightfoliage · 7 years

Text

Fic - The Google

Pairing: Stanford Pines/Stanley Pines - Stancest

Prompt: First thing that Ford searches when he discovers google.

Summary: The first four times Ford encounters google, plus the first time he uses it.

Tags and Warnings: Incest, Twincest, DDnMD, Ford is an arrogant jerk inside his brain, but outwardly pretty neutral to others, Pines family, “The Internet”, and sappy grunkles at the end.

Author’s Note: Author’s Note: Woohoo~ This was written for the 2017 Stancest Scavenger Hunt~ This was one of the lowest point prompts on the list, but I really liked it and decided to go for it anyway. (I was inspired by a lot of the prompts.) And this is edited! If you've somehow read my messy initial submission, this is has now been looked over.

Word Count: ~2300

Posted: 10/10/2017

Read here on ao3 or below:

Dipper

Even after the infinity sided die debacle, Ford and Dipper still enjoy a rousing game of Dungeons, Dungeons, and more Dungeons.

Right now they’re going through a custom campaign, one that Dipper has designed. Dipper says it’s a combination of a few campaigns mostly from SSRaughly’s Dreadnought series, a series that had been old even when Ford was playing. There’s everything from the Goblin Ruler, the Singing Sword, the Pond of Age, combined with some of their newer ones such as the Evil Mask.

Although Ford doesn’t recognize all the new bells and whistles, he can still enjoy the intellectual game with his grand nephew.

That is, until they have a fight about the rules.

“I know that you’re used to playing with the 1.3 version of the game Grunkle Ford, but the new 5.6 edition has been tested to be the best out all of the versions,” Dipper tries to explain patiently. Ford tries not to roll his eyes, he may be a few generations older, but that doesn’t mean he is old.

“Now Dipper, that version may have tested well with everyone, but we’re not just anyone, are we? We don’t need the rule leveling or game play balancing that these newer versions have,” Ford replies calmly.

Dipper frowns, but considers his grunkles words.

“In fact,” Ford continues, “Why don’t we makes some house rules? That’ll suit us more than one edition of rules.”

Dipper lights up. “That’s a great idea, Great Uncle Ford! Let me google all the editions so we can compile our own edition!” And before Ford can ask what a ‘google’ has to do with their conversation, Dipper whips out his phone and furiously taps at the screen.

Ford stares as Dipper becomes in his phone. Ford moves over so he can look over Dipper’s shoulder to see Dipper scroll through screen after screen of information on the editions of Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons.

“Fascinating, I didn’t realize that Earth had reached this level of technology,” Ford says.

“Huh?” Dipper looks up. “Oh yeah, this is a device that allows people to search through the Internet, um, a virtual database that everyone can connect to.”

Ford nods along with the explanation. He had used such devices in other dimensions, but when he had left earth, these sorts of technology were barely concepts. They were ideas he wasn’t too sure would come to fruition in his lifetime. And now even kids are able to have these devices. Remarkable.

“Why don’t you show me some more of this Internet by looking up those rule sets, my boy.”

Dipper smiles and enthusiastically goes back to ‘the Internet.’

Ford lets Dipper get absorbed in the task and he starts reading the rules to 5.6 edition. Although he’s interested in ‘the Internet,’ he doesn’t think it will help him in his fight against Bill. Ford has all the tools he needs right in the Shack.

-000-

Soos

It's late in the afternoon when Ford stumbles upon Soos underneath the sink. Ford can admit that this is his fault, he's tired, hungry, and he let himself relax in the familiar surroundings. And it’s difficult to miss a person of Soos’ size. It isn't the boy's fault when Ford trips over the handyman legs.

Luckily, Ford is able to catch himself before falling on his face.

“Mr.Pines!” Sos slides out from under the sink as Ford rubs his bleary eyes. “Are you alright?”

“I'm fine, Soos,” Ford says, trying to keep the tiredness out of his voice. “But a cup of coffee wouldn't go amiss.”

“No problemo,” Soos says and abandons the sink to start up Ford’s request.

Ford plops into a chair at the kitchen table. He had stayed up the whole night gathering resources for his plans. Soon a mug is placed in front of his nose. If it wasn’t for that cup, he might have dozed off sitting upright. He tries not to chug the beverage too fast.

Coffee delivered, Soos goes back to the sink. He stares at the plumbing and scratches his head.

Ford feels much more charitable after the cup and decides to offer his help.

“Anything I can do to help? I'm quite handy when I need to be,” he says, then chuckles at his own joke.

Puns? He's more tired than he thought, he could use another cup of coffee.

“Don't worry, Mr.Pines. You just get some rest. After all, Soos is on the job!” He exclaims cheerfully. Then he pulls out his phone and starts tapping at the screen again.

It takes a moment for Ford to figure out what Soos was doing.

Ah, Soos is using the Internet to look up how to do this task. Handy indeed.

“Looking up the problem?” Ford asks.

“Yup,” Soos confirms. “I find it easiest to google videos.” He flashes the screen in Ford's direction. Ford can catch the image of a competent looking plumber and a sink.

Fords not sure why he's surprised, but he is very surprised. Not only did this Earth have the capacity for information sharing, but sharing information on different platforms such as video? Astounding.

“I'll have this fixed in a jiffy,” Soos declares before going back under the sink.

Ford goes to refill his coffee. He’s not needed here and he should go back to the basement to continue his work. However, he decides to stay and finish the pot of coffee.

When Soos realizes that Ford had stayed, he starts narrating his actions along with the video.

-000-

Wendy

Ford is not sure how it happens, but he finds himself alone with Wendy one day. One moment he's engrossed in his calculations, the next there's an incessant noise that's disturbing his concentration. He looks up to see that Wendy is is tapping away at her phone.

“Hey,” She says, with all the nonchalance only a teenager her age could produce. Wendy doesn't even look up.

“Why, hello there Wendy,” he replies.

The girl only nods in acknowledgment.

For some reason the gesture rankles his nerves. There's something about being ignored that doesn't sit right with Ford.

Ford tries to concentrate on something else, she’s just a teenager after all. He glances down at the phone and realizes the pattern of sounds and her typing most likely means she's communicating with someone, or several someone's.

“So, who are you talking to Wendy?” Ford asks, trying to make conversation.

Wendy doesn't look up, continues to tap, but is swift to answer: “Oh, you know, just texting my friends, updating my facepage, checking out the local gossip-”

As Wendy continues to chatter, Ford’s eyebrows rise with each word. He knows with the current level of technology it's possible to accomplish quite a bit on such a device, but he feels Wendy’s level of multitasking is one of the highest he's seen in any dimension.

“-I'm checking on my brothers, checking up on my dad, making sure that Mystery Shack social media is doing well-”

Wendy stops when she realizes that Ford isn't participating in the conversation.

“Aw man, did I dump too much on you? I'm sure if you google, wait, I'm sure you could ask Dipper or Mabel to explain things to you…” Wendy says, slower this time.

Ford shakes his head. “I'm enjoying the conversation, Wendy. Why don't you keep talking, it's nice to have some noise in the background.”

Wendy stares and Fords thinks over his last words when Wendy shrugs. She starts her line of thought again.

“Anyways, as I was saying, right now our group is trying to do one last big thing before school registration and we were thinking about-”

Ford makes a soft noise of agreement and lets her voice wash over him. He manages to tune her out as white noise and goes about his calculations. Honestly, her voice is a nice reminder of one of the things he’s trying to save. He wants to be able to save everyone so that the worst of their worries is what their last plans are for the summer.

-000-

Mabel

With Bill defeated all Ford can think about is spending time with his family.

Mabel, especially. He should have spent more time with her when he had the chance. Now he only has a few days left. After that he’ll have to wait a whole year to see her again.

He drums up the courage to talk to her during dinner.

“Mabel?”

Most of the conversation around the table quiets, as his grand niece turns to looks at him.

“Yes, Grunkle Ford?” She says, sweet and innocent, with sparkling eyes. He melts and is so glad that they defeated Bill.

“I was thinking…” he’s wracking his brain now, trying to figure out what to say. He should have planned ahead, “that we should do something together.”

Stan gives an approving nod and Dipper beams.

Ford, however, only has eyes for Mabel.

“Hmm,” she taps at her chin. “Well, what do you want to do?”

“Uh-” he frantically tries to think of something they could enjoy together. HE glances at the rest of the table- Stan is miming dancing? And singing? He looks back to meet Mabel’s expectant eyes. Ford takes another glance and sees Dipper ah- painting perhaps, and then a sport, either golfing or baseball, he’s really not too sure at this point. Mabel continues to look at him and doesn’t pay any attention to the rest of the table.

And now Ford knows he’s allowed the silence to stretch too long so he says the first thing that makes sense:

“I want to do whatever you want to do, Mabel.”

And that's the crux of the matter isn't it. Ford has been- selfish. Monopolizing Dippers time, being unfair to Stan, ignoring Mabel, he wants to make up for everything. If it means dressing up in tutus, having tea parties talking about boys, whatever it is that almost teen girls like to do, he's willing to do it.

“Well, how about we figure it out together,” Mabel shrugs. “We can google something.”

Ford mentally gives himself a pat on the back. He didn’t think he would be rejected, but he had been worried. Yes, this is exactly what he is aiming for.

“I would truly enjoy that, Mabel,” Ford says honestly. “You can also teach me how to use these new fangled things kids call phones nowadays.”

Mabel gasps dramatically. “Grunkle Ford! You've never used a cell phone before?”

“Nope.” Not an earth one, anyways.

“You know,” Stan drawls and shoots Ford a wink “Back in our day, we didn't each have our own phone. We had to share a line with the whole house and it wasn't cordless.”

“Grunkle Staaaan,” Dipper says, rolling his eyes. “Not another ‘back in my day.’”

“But Dipper! There have been so many changes and innovations! Why, back in my day, we couldn’t computers in our pockets. They were as big as a room and you were happy if it could add numbers together,” Ford says with a big grin.

Mabel laughs, “That’s so cray-cray, Grunkle Ford.”

“It’s true,” Ford says, “It’s why I’ll need you to teach me everything.”

Mabel’s laughs turns into an embarrassed giggle. She runs her hands through her hair and says, “Sure I can show you, but teach you?”

“Mabel, Ford’s actually exaggerating. We were actually born before computers existed,” Stan says seriously.

“You guys are so old,” Dipper says.

Mabel gasps and smacks her brother in the should, but she’s dissolved into another fit of laughter. Ford protests with a smile on his face, while Stan agrees with the boy and says that’s exactly why Dipper should grab him another soda.

Dipper grumbles, but grabs his grunkle the drink.

Mabel seems to cheer up considerably after that and spends the rest of the night showing Ford her phone. She makes sure to have him memorize the multiple communicating features and apps she likes. Ford promises to download all the same apps so they can talk and play.

The kids spend the whole night showing their grunkles their most favorite aspects and features of having a phone.

At one point Ford and Stan look at each other and smile. It looks like they’ll have to get smartphones soon.

-000-

+Stan

After Dipper and Mabel leave Gravity Falls, Stan and Ford decide to do the same. They both need a fresh start and their sailing trip is their perfect opportunity. They fly as close as they can to the anomaly, gather their supplies, and get a boat. They set off and find themselves sailing away from land only days after Dipper and Mabel have left Gravity Falls.

Ford digs into his pocket and pulls out his brand new smart phone. It’s part of their most recent acquisitions and Ford’s feeling a little sentimental. He wants the first thing he does with the phone to be special. He snaps a picture of the shoreline to send to the kids later.

Ford hears the sound of a camera shutter.

He turns.

“Stan.”

There’s his brother, only a few feet away, pointing his own phone in Ford’s direction.

“Something wrong, Ford?” Stan says with a suspicious grin. He’s tapping away at the screen without even looking. When he finally looks down, he sniggers.

“Now what are you laughing at?” Ford goes over and manages to get a peek of the screen.

It’s a picture of himself, looking happy and content with the ocean as a background. It’s flattering, but it still makes him flustered.

Stan continues to snicker over the photo.

Ford rolls his eyes. He marches over to Stan and pulls him close for a kiss then snaps a photo for good measure. While his brother is blustering he googles how to use the photo as the background for his phone.

Ford keeps this picture as the background on his phone. Almost a year passes, when he replaces it with a picture of his family in Gravity Falls.

#stancest #tw incest #nightfoliage #nightfoliagefic

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