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sapphire-writes · 11 months

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Our Last Summer (modern!HOTD)

part 3 of 10 || series masterlist || previous part || next part

pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Reader

summary: The gang comes to Luke's aid when he needs to find a new boat. You and Aemond continue to be at each other's throats.

word count: 4.9k

warnings below the cut!

warnings: sensual themes, language, drinking, smoking the devil's lettuce (general substance use warning)

note: thank you for all the love so far! I appreciate it so very much!

dividers by the lovely @firefly-graphics

The clouds cleared from the stormy previous night, leaving the sky free of clouds and the sun reflecting over the choppy surf of Blackwater Bay. You’d found sleep easily, soothed by the splashing rain against the windows of High Tide.

You’d fallen asleep in Baela’s room after binge-watching Criminal Minds together (something you first bonded over when you became roommates at university together). You don’t open your eyes yet, even though you can feel the warmth of sunlight on your face. You’re content to try to sleep a little longer until the vibrations of Baela’s phone begin next to you.

You open your eyes a smidge, peering through your lashes at the screen. Rhaena’s name and face light up Baela’s phone. A cute picture of her smiling holding a pale snake around her neck, its face pressed against hers with its pink-forked tongue tickling her cheek.

“Bae,” you murmur, nudging your friend. She groans, turning to face you, peering at her phone. Rhaena’s face disappears as the call remains unanswered.

“She probably wants to go on a run or something,” Baela mumbles, “Or try to guilt me into a family beach trip.”

Rhaena calls again and Baela lets out an irritated whine.

She slides a finger over the screen, and Rhaena appears on the screen. Her violet eyes are wide, and it looks like she has just woken up as well; a pink silk bonnet hides her silver locs.

“What d’you want?” Baela mumbles at her sister.

“Get up,” Rhaena says, in a half whisper, “Get up, get up, and get to Dragonstone!”

“Ew. No,” Baela says, scrunching her nose in distaste, “Why?”

“Dudes, you need to get over hear,” Helaena’s voice is heard offscreen. Baela’s head rises from her pillow and she grabs the phone, angling it so you can see.

“Hel there?” Baela asks, as more voices can begin to be heard in the background. You share a confused glance with Baela.

“You want some drama?” Helaena snickers, coming into the frame and squeezing her face next to Rhaena’s. Shouting echoes from the room they’re in. Baela glances at you again, with a ‘what the fuck?’ expression on her face.

“.....your fault you fucking psycho!” Luke’s voice rings, breaking as though he may be crying through his yells.

Baela’s eyes widen and she glances at you, scooting closer so you can both peer over her phone.

“Maybe if you paid better attention you wouldn’t have-” Aemond’s voice carries through the speaker, a taunting, musical quality to the words he speaks.

“What the fuck?” Baela says, muting herself, “What the fuck are they talking about?”

You can hear the arguing in the background, and see Helaena grab the phone from Rhaena, smiling at you and Baela before shoving it in her pocket. You can hear the muffled conversation.

“You’re blaming me? Seriously? You came outta fucking nowhere in that old piece of shi-” Luke chokes on the words, “That ship is fucking huge!”

“You shouldn’t have been out in the stupid little dingy anyway,” Aemond’s voice carries, and you feel your face begin to burn with anger at his condescending tone directed at Luke.

“It’s too fucking late in the season-”

“Use Vermax-

“No way my trip!” Jace’s voice barely carries through, “You’re not TOUCHING my boat-”

“Shut up!”

Baela unmutes herself then.

“Rhae!” she calls, “Hel!”

Helaena’s hand enters her pocket, and she brings the phone to her face. She motions to Rhaena as the yelling continues, moving to a different room.

“What the fuck are they talking about?” you ask when the yelling has quieted down.

“Aemond sank Luke’s boat last night,” Rhaena tells you, “It’s completely destroyed. Unsalvageable.”

Your heart drops into your stomach, lips parting in shock. Baela lets out a laugh in disbelief.

“He sunk Luke’s boat? Why would he do that?” you ask and Baela rolls her eyes.

“Please, we’re lucky he didn’t kill him,” she argues, and Helaena laughs.

“Don’t count your eggs before they’ve hatched cuz,” Hel murmurs, “It’s a bloodbath in there.”

“They’ve got another boat he can sail, don’t they?” Baela asks.

“I don’t think so,” Rhaena says, shaking her head, “Unless you’re talking about..”

“I mean…..that’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Baela interrupts. The twins are silent for a moment until Helaena speaks.

“Okay, I'm usually great at reading the room, but even I’m lost,” she says, and you laugh.

“Me too, Hel,” you tell her.

Baela sits up in bed sighing dramatically.

“Bring Jace and Luke, meet us at Hulls in an hour,” she instructs.

Rhaena agrees and you end the call. You watch Baela carefully, her expression is grim.

“What’s at Hull?” you ask curiously.

“My uncle’s boat,” she tells you, “Seasmoke.”

Turns out Hull was referring to a person rather than a place. Well, two people. Addam and Alyn Hull, two brothers who manage a boat rental service on Driftmark. When you and Baela arrive at the docks you’re greeted by a weathered sign that reads Hull Boat Rentals.

Luke, Jace, and Rhaena are there when you arrive. Luke’s eyes are red, along with his nose. He’s clearly been crying for most of the morning. Jace looks furious beside him and Rhaena smiles tentatively as you approach.

Baela pulls Luke into a hug immediately, and the younger boy wraps his arms around her.

“I’m glad you’re okay, but I’m sorry about Arrax,” Baela tells him, squeezing him tightly.

Luke mumbles his thanks and Baela releases him. She glances around the dock, looking at the boats lined up, rocking gently with each passing wave.

“I called Addam,” Rhaena tells her, “He’s still got some options, and Seasmoke too if that’s what we’re thinking.”

“I don’t know…” Luke says, eyes watery, “Maybe we can look around?”

“Of course, we can,” Jace agrees.

You’re greeted by Addam Hull a few minutes later; he’s a strapping young guy in jean cutoffs and a white tank top that’s seen better days. He’s covered in sweat and grease but that doesn’t dull the award-winning smile he’s got on his face.

“We’ve got a lot of options still,” Addam assures Luke, “Mostly our older schooners. Not many people rent for the regatta.”

Luke’s crestfallen expression remains as you view the available boats. You love how each one has its own name, its own personality really. Luke spends extra time on one called Grey Ghost but shakes his head when Addam asks if he likes it.

“I think we should look at…” Jace trails off. Luke frowns deeply, as though he was trying to avoid the situation.

“I’ve been taking good care of it,” Addam says softly to Luke.

“Okay,” Luke decided, “Let’s see it.”

Seasmoke is a massive sailboat, bigger than the ones you’ve seen so far. The hull is painted a pale silver-gray that reflects the light from the top of the water. It’s missing the mainsail, and seems to have been used for storage rather than sailing for the last several years.

Luke walks over to it, placing his hand on the hull. Barnacles have begun to take over and he runs his fingers along the rough surface.

“How long has she been out of commission?” Luke asks, and Addam shrugs.

“A while,” he tells him. Jace shares a concerned glance with Baela. Luke sighs, dropping his hand from the hull. Jace walks up next to him.

“Remember when Dad took us out for the first time? How we ended up in the Stepstones?” Jace says, smiling at his brother. Luke chuckles slightly.

“I remember you peeing your pants because he told us there were pirates that would get us,” Luke says with a smirk.

“It wasn’t funny!” Jace argues and you can’t help but laugh along with them. It's the first time Luke has smiled today. It wavers slightly as he looks at Seasmoke again.

You can’t imagine what’s going on in his head. It sounds like no one has sailed Seasmoke since Laenor left town. Even though you know there’s history there, that Rhaenyra had an affair with Harwin Strong, it sounds like Laenor was truly their dad. Luke’s eyes are melancholic, and he touches the hull again.

“Okay,” he says softly, “We’ll use Seasmoke.”

You slap the mop against the deck of the ship watching the water spread and turn brown almost immediately. Sheesh. This is going to be a lot of work. Luke sits miserably on the edge of the boat, his head hanging. Rhaena sits next to him, bumping her shoulder against his. He had hope in the beginning, but as the hours ticked by he became more frustrated with the large task at hand.

“It’s pointless,” Luke says softly, sniffling and rubbing his nose, “It’s going to take too long… it's not worth it.” He shakes his head, eyes trained on the deck.

“With our help, it’ll get done faster than you think,” Rhaena insists, “And then you can practice and everything will be fine.”

Luke shakes his head, unconvinced. “We need sails. Fuck- I don’t even think they make the kind Dad used…with that stupid…what’s it called? For the jib?” He sighs again. Rhaena glances at you and you begin to chew your lower lip.

“Whatever you need, Luke,” you tell the younger boy, “We’ve got your back.”

Even Helaena had joined to help assist Luke with prepping Seasmoke. She’d come dressed in overalls, hair pulled out of her face ready to get to work.

“I can call Iron Islands,” Jace tells him, “Place an order for the sails, they have all that shit.”

“That’s hours away,” Luke moans, placing his head in his hands, “And who knows if they have any left, it’s prime sailing season-”

“Mr. Negative!” Helaena chastises, “What don’t you understand?” She walks over to squat in front of him, placing a comforting hand on his knee, “We’ve got this Luke. You worry about driving this bad boy, we’ll worry about the rest.”

Jace smiles and then glances past you, a frown appearing on his face.

“Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he mumbles, and you follow his gaze to someone walking down the dock.

Aemond comes into view and a familiar surge of anger rushes through you as you walk down the ramp and off of Seasmoke. Aemond slows his purposeful gait when he sees you, his lip curling upwards as he comes to a halt.

“What are you doing here?” you ask, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Came to see the damage,” he says.

“Haven’t you done enough?” you snap.

“It was an accident,” Aemond insists, “Not my fault the little twerp can’t sail.”

“You’re such a prick,” you tell him, “I hurt your ego that much, you go for attempted murder?”

“Luke can swim,” Aemond says with a shrug.

“You really don’t fucking feel bad, do you?” you ask in disbelief.

“As I said, an accident,” he says, continuing to walk by you.

“Where are you going?”

“Onto the boat.”

“Well don’t!”

“Like I want to be stuck with you all day,” he retorts, “Not my choice.”

Luke looks up as you come aboard, rolling his eyes.

“The fuck you want?” he snaps.

“Mom insisted,” Aemond says, looking around the deck, “This is the one you chose?”

“It was the best option,” Rhaena says, defending Luke.

Aemond purses his lips together, a smug smile creeping onto his face. “Interesting choice is all.”

“Why’s that?” Jace asks, squeezing his hands into fists by his side. Baela moves toward him, as Aemond shrugs.

“Let’s go start cleaning out the lower deck,” she encourages, pushing him toward the entrance. Jace disappears below deck and Baela grimaces at you.

Helaena walks over to her brother, who tosses her a tube of sunscreen. “Mom told me to bring you that,” he tells her, following her to the other side of the deck.

“Am I totally ruining your summer?” she asks, pouting at you. You can tell this was not what Baela had planned. But you can’t find it in you to feel anything but sympathy for Luke. It wasn’t his fault this happened.

“Not at all,” you assure her, “I want to help!”

Baela smiles, and even Luke looks up, sparing a small, pained smile.

The days tick by and though it doesn’t feel like it, you’re making some progress. Baela and Jace spent the majority of time clearing out below deck and Aemond (to avoid more confrontation) made himself useful focusing on scraping the barnacles off of the sides of Seasmoke.

Scrubbing the starboard bow with Baela, another girl joins you later in the week. She introduces herself as Sara Snow, a childhood friend of Baela and Rhaena’s. She’s also incredibly kind enough to bring you all lunch from the Wolf’s Den, her family’s restaurant a few blocks away. She even brings Aemond something, tossing him a takeaway bag that he stains with his grease-stained hands.

He doesn’t join you on deck to each, choosing to sit by himself on the dock. Jace joined a solemn Luke below deck.

“I cannot believe he fucking did that,” Sara whispers, after hearing the whole story about what happened to Arrax, “The fucking nerve of that guy.”

“That’s Aem,” Helaena says, leaning her back against Sara’s, sunglasses sliding down the bridge of her nose. She reaches down her shirt revealing a tightly rolled joint, bringing it to her lips as she digs in her pockets looking for a lighter.

Sara opens her purse, finding one easily as Hel struggles, passing it back to her friend. Hel murmurs a thank you around the joint before lighting it.

“Has he always been like this?” you ask, unable to help yourself. Aemond Targaryen gets under your skin.

“Like what?” Hel says, coughing slightly, passing the lit joint to Baela. She takes a long drag, closing her eyes.

“Like an ass,” you clarify and Helaena chuckles.

Sara smirks, something you don’t fail to notice.

“What?” you ask and she shakes her head.

“I don’t know what happened to him, to be honest,” Sara tells you, “Back in high school, Aemond was just like this nerdy guy. Always polite, even on the verge of sweet.”

Baela nods in agreement.

“Then he goes off to college and comes back a total prick,” she says, reaching for a french fry, “I mean, he’s always been a bit of a prick but he switched it up to being a complete douche.”

“And that whole thing with Floris…” Sara says, raising her eyebrows.

“They’re not doing that anymore,” you tell them, and they all stare, “I kind of walked into the middle of their breakup.”

Sara snorts out a laugh.

“Aemond doesn’t date,” Sara clarifies, “He took a page from Aegon’s book.”

“Ew,” Rhaena says, shuddering. She shakes her head as Baela offers her the joint. Sara plucks it from her fingers, taking a drag.

“At least Aegon doesn’t shit where he eats,” Helaena defends, “He keeps his drama away from King’s Landing.”

“Remember when he was with Cece Lannister?” Sara says, still on her Aemond train of thought, “Man, that was dramatic.”

Helaena groans. “Please don’t mention Cece. Mom is still trying to regrow the rose bushes she set on fire,” she says, shaking her head.

Your eyes widen.

“She set your house on fire?”

“Just the rose bushes,” Helaena assures. Unsurprisingly, this fact doesn’t comfort you.

“You wanna know what I heard?” Sara says, handing you the joint.

You’ve smoked before, casually, throughout your time at college. You nod, encouraging Sara to continue, placing the joint between your lips and inhaling the sweet smoke.

“I heard he had an orgy with all the Baratheon girls,” Sara says, lowering her voice considerably.

Helaena slams her hands over her ears and begins screaming, you jump in surprise at the sudden high-pitched sound. You cough, the joint nearly slipping from your fingers as you double over. Rhaena’s jaw is on the floor and Baela is shaking her head violently.

“They’re sisters!” Rhaena hisses, trying to stop Helaena’s screams, “Biologically!”

“I’m just repeating what I heard!” Sara insists, covering her mouth and laughing.

“From who?”

“Qyle Martell.”

“Oh, the most reliable fucking narrator-”

“What’s going on?” Aemond calls from his spot on the dock.

Your laughter and screams stop abruptly as you all call back different versions of “nothing!” “Everything's fine!” and Helaena screaming, “You pervert!”

Aemond holds his hands out in confusion, his eyebrows furrowed. He meets your eyes and you blush, hoping he doesn’t notice as you quickly avert your gaze.

After a few more hours and a quick swim to clean the sweat and grease from the work and you slip your extra sundress over your bathing suit, ready to head out for the day.

“Dinner?” Sara asks, “We can go to the Wolf Den.”

“We’ve had that nearly every day this week,” Baela moans.

“It's summer. We eat every meal there,” Sara insists, clasping her hands on Baela’s shoulders, “Besides, Y/N hasn’t been to the Wolf Den yet! She’s got to meet Cregan!”

Sara’s been telling you all about her brother; he seems nice. You’re all tired and too hungry to disagree so you head to the Wolf Den. Aemond narrows his eyes at Helaena, who nudges him with her shoulder.

“You’re as bad as Egg,” she teases, and his eyes narrow.

“Why?” Aemond asks, a frown playing on his lips.

“I’ve heard rumors about you little bro,” she says and shudders dramatically, “Rumors a sister should not be hearing about her little brother. Ew.” Helaena sticks her tongue out, pretending to gag.

Aemond’s nose scrunches in distaste. “What do you mean?” he asks but Helaena shakes her head.

“I’m not repeating what I heard! What, am I, a gossip now?” Helaena says, feigning offense with a hand over her chest. Aemond purses his lips and continues arguing with her as they walk ahead of you.

The Wolf Den is on the mainland, and with Seasmoke in no condition to sail, you pile onto Vermax; though Aemond leaves on another side of the docks. You don’t see where he goes, but when you ask Helaena she merely shrugs.

“He’s not getting on a boat with Luke again,” she tells you, “But he’ll probably come through to the Wolf Den. Dude’s gotta eat.”

After a gentle trip across Blackwater Bay, Helaena offers to drive you all in her light blue convertible. The Wolf’s Den is cute; the outer deck is decorated with twinkling multicolored string lights. It’s right on the water, and the music can be heard from outside. Sara ushers you in and you see the appeal right away.

High ceilings, a generous amount of tables, and a dance floor in the middle of the room. Paper lanterns hang from the ceiling rafters, illuminating the room with a soft golden glow. It's warm and cozy and inviting. The bartender, a big beefy guy with a thick beard, waves at Sara. He’s wearing a Hawaiian shirt decorated with wolves wearing sunglasses, and lounging on the beach.

“Sup sis,” he says as you walk over to the bar with her, “Woah, no kids at the bar please, we’ve been through this.” Luke frowns dramatically at him. So this must be Cregan.

“Even if I’m sad?” he asks, jutting out his lower lip.

“You still 17?” Cregan asks, and Luke opens his mouth to protest, “Yeah, no. Grab that booth over there.”

Luke mumbles something under his breath, but Jace clasps a hand on his shoulder, turning him away from the bar. Rhaena goes to join them as they head to claim a booth.

“Sup Jace,” Cregan calls, and Jace glances over his shoulder. His cheeks turn a rosy shade of pink as he says hello. Sara scoots into a chair, motioning for you to sit. You do, Baela sliding next to you.

“What’re you drinking?” Cregan asks, smiling warmly at you, “I’m Cregan, by the way.” He offers his hand you take it, feeling the rough calluses as he engulfs your hand in his.

“Y/N,” you tell him, with a smile, “And umm is there something you recommend?”

Cregan releases your hand, nodding appreciatively. “The Winter Rose, if you trust me. It’s our current special.”

“I’ll do that,” you tell him.

“A risk taker, I like it,” he says, grabbing a shaker, “Ladies?”

“We’ll make it easy for you Stark, we’ll have the same,” Baela answers for herself and Sara. You look around the Wolf Den, just as Aemond walks through the door. You catch his eye briefly, before looking away, exhaling. Helaena notices, slipping off her stool to greet her brother. You can’t help but watch, noticing he’s joined by the same man from last week who he played tennis with.

As Cregan slides your drinks in front of you, Baela notices your distraction. She follows your gaze.

“Criston Cole,” she says, nodding to Aemond’s friend, “A friend of Alicent’s.” Aemond, Criston, and Helaena choose a table to sit at, on the opposite side of the room than Luke’s. It's deliberate, the choosing of sides. Even under the guise of working together on Seasmoke, the tension is palpable in the Wolf Den.

You spend most of the evening chatting and sharing drinks and food with Sara and Baela. They have the funniest stories about growing up together; spending summers between King’s Landing and Driftmark. They met with Sara and Cregan had moved to King’s Landing from Winterfell after the death of their father.

“Baela was my hero,” Sara told you, “I came to school, my first day at a new school, wearing my dire wolf slippers.” She bites her lips, “Kids started teasing me, calling me wolf girl. Baela punched 3 kids in their noses.”

“Friends ever since,” Baela says, smiling widely, before insisting you have to hit the dance floor, at least once this evening. One song turns into five, and soon you’re having the time of your life in the middle of the dance floor.

After a while, you slide up to the bar, ordering water, leaning your palms against the counter. You’re a tad tipsy, that perfect buzz where you feel incredibly warm, and your palms have started to tingle.

Cregan hands you your water, before attending to other patrons. You hold the glass against your bare sternum, relishing the feeling of the cool condensation on your skin. You dip your fingers into the cup, removing an ice cube and sliding it over your collarbone, and around the back of your neck.

“Having fun?” you’d know that snarky voice anywhere. Aemond slides up next to you, leaning against the bar. His eye tracks a drop of water that runs down your chest, before disappearing between your cleavage.

You bring the ice cube to your lips, rubbing them against it.

“Yup,” you murmur around it, not really sure why he’s making small talk with you.

The ice cube has nearly melted, so you hold it against the back of your neck once more.

“Hot?” Aemond murmurs. You glance up at him.

“What?” you ask.

“You’re hot?” he asks again, motioning to the ice cube.

“I was dancing,” you tell him.

“I saw,” he says, lip curling upwards.

“Do you have a problem with me?” you ask, the liquor giving you courage, “I’ve been nothing but nice to you-”

“You ruined a family heirloom the first day I met you,” Aemond interrupts, tapping his long fingers against the bar.

“That was an accident,” you tell him, again, but your cheeks bloom with blush regardless.

Aemond smiles at that, eye flickering over your face.

“Your flower boy ask you out yet?” Aemond asks, quickly changing the subject.

“Flower boy?” you ask, until you realize he’s referring to Will, “Why do you care?”

“I don’t,” he tells you, raising a brow, “Just curious. It gets dull around here.”

“The thrill from sinking teenage boys' boats only lasts so long, huh?” you tell him, turning to face him. Shit, he’s tall. You’re forced to look up at him through your lashes. Aemond turns slightly, leaning one hand against the bar as he smirks down at you.

“I’ll have to find something else to entertain me,” he agrees, tilting his head.

“Heard you don’t have a problem with that,” the words come out of your mouth before you can stop them. Goddamn, it. Baela once told you your mouth would be the death of you. Sometimes you just can’t seem to stop your thoughts.

“What’s that mean?” Aemond asks with a shimmer of curiosity in his eye.

“Nothing,” you tell him, shaking your head, “Stop talking to me.”

“The mouth on you,” Aemond says, shaking his head, “You’re being rather rude.”

Your jaw slacks, eyes widening. “I’m being rude? You’re the one being rude!” you tell him.

“How so?” he inquires, a puzzled expression crossing his features. You scowl at him.

“You’re just trying to be an ass,” you tell him, shaking your head, “You know, I’m a very nice person. We could have been friends.”

“You and I are not going to be friends,” Aemond says, voice lowering an octave. He looks at you intensely and you feel warmth creeping up your neck and onto your cheeks. You break away from his gaze, taking a sip of your water.

“Sara was fucking lying,” you mumble, more to yourself than to him.

Aemond brings his lower lip between his teeth. You can tell, he’s genuinely curious about what information you have on him.

“About….?” he asks.

Your cheeks are blazing with heat, but you decide to call him out.

“About you and Floris,” you say, placing your glass on the counter, “And her siblings? Sounds a little incestuous to me.”

Aemond’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. You reach for your drink again, needing something to do with your hands.

“Oh?” he says, pursing his lips. He hums slightly, gazing at you.

“I didn’t believe it,” you tell him, sipping your drink, “Four girls is a lot to handle.”

“It’s surprisingly easy when you know what you’re doing,” Aemond answers casually.

You nearly choke, but manage to compose yourself as he watches you carefully. He’s just trying to get a rise out of you. Your mind drifts to Floris, the conversation you overheard. To Cece Lannister burning rose bushes. You swallow the lump forming in your throat. You can’t help your curiosity. Aemond somehow had them wrapped around his finger.

“Yeah right,” you tell him, laughing slightly, “You’re all talk.”

You’re baiting him slightly, but you don’t care.

“You wanna find out?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

Your breath catches as he leans forward, bending slightly to your height. Aemond brings his face next to yours, you can feel the tip of his nose drag across your cheek. Instinctively, your eyes flutter shut.

“There’s a bathroom right down the hall,” he murmurs against the shell of your ear, “Give me ten minutes and I’ll show you what all that talks about.”

Holy shit.

You were not expecting that reaction.

“I’m not fucking you in the bathroom,” you hiss, pushing your hand against his chest. You can’t think with his breath against your ear.

“Wherever you want,” he tells you, grabbing your wrist. His touch is like fire, as he rubs his thumb along the smooth skin of your inner wrist. Goosebumps form on your arms and you have to suppress a slight whimper.

Girl, get it together. You’re tipsy that’s all. It's just the alcohol and a hot guy, nothing more. It doesn’t help that the last time you got laid was a one-night stand months ago that left you on read when you reached out the next day.

“Wha-what?” you ask him, eyes wide.

“Name the place,” he says, “And time. I’m very punctual.”

You blink, not believing what you’re hearing.

“You’re not serious-”

“I am though,” he says, pursing his lips, “You tell me when and where, and I’ll be there.”

You stare at him in disbelief before shaking your head.

“You don’t even like me-”

“So?”

Anger surges through you, along with a sharp sting of humiliation. Your lips turn down in a frown.

“You’re beautiful,” Aemond says, shocking you like a slap to the face, “Clearly intelligent. I don’t see why we can’t help each other out.”

“What are you even talking about?” you ask in bewilderment.

“A friends-with-benefits situation,” Aemond answers, honestly.

“You’re not even my friend! You said so yourself!” you tell him, a shaky laugh leaving your lips.

“We can change the name of the arrangement if that’s your hesitation,” Aemond assures you.

“If you’re looking for a fuckbuddy, call Floris,” you tell him.

“That door is closed,” he tells you and you blink in disbelief. He’s speaking so clinically, in such a detached manner.

Jesus Christ, who hurt this guy?

“Well then take your pick of the other Baratheon girls!” you encourage, “I’m not interested!”

“You keep telling yourself that,” he says, smirking, “You know where to find me.”

You hurry away from the bar, and back onto the dancefloor with Baela, Sara, Helaena, and Rhaena. They greet you with open arms and pull you into a dance. You glance back at the bar where Aemond still stands, watching you as he leans against the bar.

You meet his eye, feeling warmth pool in your lower belly. No fucking way. Not this prick. You’re not that down bad for a summer fling. And plus, you have options! Will Tyrell seems like a nice guy! And Driftmark is a big island. So is King’s Landing. Anyone can be your summer fling.

Anyone but him.

note: is it.....getting warm in here? just me? okay bye hehe

as always, likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated but never expected

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s3thwrit3sstuff · 1 year

Text

❝ beautiful (darling) ❞

Amanda Young (Saw) —

She would do anything to ensure that you are happy and healthy.

Even if it means she has to stare you down with her arms crossed and her brow arched as you meekly confess that you'd forgotten to fulfil your daily needs.

Your girlfriend knows how damaging it is to be looked at with disgust by close-minded individuals - as an ex-addict and ex-convict she knows how dark your mind can become when the world seemingly turns its back on you. She may not understand the struggle you face as a trans person but she is SO proud of you for having made it this far.

If you deny these words of admiration, she will cup your face and repeat them.

Resist more and she will whisper praises on your skin as she trails kisses anywhere she can. She loves you, she will not give you room to degrade the person she loves.

Oh! Amanda adores wearing matching pieces with you. She's not interested in full-on "couple outfits" (if you beg, maybe she'll relent...maybe) but matching earrings, necklaces, rings? She loves it. It soothes her possessive side.

Speaking of her possessiveness, she's not a jealous person...at least that is what she tells herself.

Amanda won't ever turn her anger on you when someone shows interest in you, she knows it isn't your fault that someone doesn't understand what "taken" means.

However, this does little to stop her from placing her chin on your shoulder, wrapping her arms around your waist and nuzzling your neck as she regards the "threat" with an unimpressed look.

"Whose this, baby?" "Oh, this is-" she gasps and you look as she points out something in the distance. "Look at that! Come on, looks fun!"

Please reassure her though, she acts tough but she is just a person underneath all that bloodshed.

Your girlfriend loves to embrace you, Little Spoon or Big Spoon matters not.

All-in-all, she is unapologetically touching you any chance she gets.

If someone is an asshole to you, you frankly start worrying about what dirt Amanda is going to find out about them and use against them in their game. You don't need to worry about her sketching new torture devices, disappearing in the middle of the night, or that suspicious duffel bag she comes back with that makes a loud CLANK! sound when she places it on the floor. No, really, don't worry.

When you see the asshole's face and name appear on the news because of their gruesome death, you simply continue to channel surf while Amanda chews on her lower lip, tucked under your arm and looking so smug.

If your cologne starts running out faster you look to your girlfriend - she quite literally smells like the evidence but she will deny, deny, deny.

Self-defense lessons. No questions asked, no rebuttal or refute. She will be more at peace knowing you can protect yourself.

If you decide to help her by "participating" in a game with other people, her eyes will be glued to the camera feed. She is pacing as thousands of "what if's" run through her mind. They dissipate as you turn your head to a hidden camera and smile at her before you continue your performance of distress and anxiety. She falls deeper in love with you (expect the most passionate kiss of your life - no, she won't care if you're covered in blood).

[CHEST BINDING] Amanda reminds you to take a break, and stretch your back and even offers to massage you. She will splurge on a better-quality binder when yours starts looking worse for wear.

[T-SHOTS, NEEDLES, ADDICTION implied] She won't be present while you administer the shot, she will prepare band-aids, praises and kisses once you're done.

[SELF-HARM mentioned] If you struggle with self-harm, she won't start asking "how's" or "why's". Unlike her mentor, she knows how tough this can be, she won't punish or mock you for it. She will help you through it, every step of the way.

Brahms Heelshire (The Boy) —

This boy is more perceptive than most give him credit for.

"(Y/N), feeling more darling today?" "...Yeah, wait, how'd you-"

He categorizes sliding around the gender spectrum as "pretty" (fem), "darling" (gn), and "handsome" (masc). You usually don't even have to tell him about how you're presenting/feeling today, he gets it right.

Your boyfriend is a brat but he isn't a useless brat. Contrary to popular belief, he can cook (snacks) and take care of himself just fine. He just leans on you more because...he's a brat.

This is hyper-specific, but Brahms knows how frustrating it feels to look into a mirror and see someone that isn't...you.

So he makes you a mask. It's how he copes and he figured it could help you too. If you like them he'd be more than happy to make you more.

Arts and craft master! Did you see his room? He probably kept himself busy with all sorts of hobbies, so he definitely enjoys handmaking your gifts.

Oh, how he loves to be held by you. He enjoys being enveloped completely, it makes him feel so small and safe.

Loves everything about you. Your voice makes the thoughts in his head quiet to a whisper - the power you have on this man.

So he does not understand why some people are abhorrent when they talk to you.

Yes, the two of you are more or less left alone in the Heelshire Manor/estate. Malcolm occasionally drops by with groceries only to scurry off after some mild-mannered conversation because he doesn't want the ghost of a child to chase him off. But, there's only so much you can do to maintain such a grand building and its surrounding land.

So, you have to call some help once in a while to uphold the maintenance. Most of the time, the local hire are sweet, they enjoy helping you since they're usually served cold drinks and snacks after. The handful of assholes, however, are...assholes.

Brahms seethes as he grits his teeth so hard his jaw aches, you glance at the wall he hides behind as you faintly hear his breathing but just got the interaction over and done with.

Unlike the other slashers in this list, he is at the most disadvantage when it comes to enacting justice but by god, he will try. For you? He'd do anything.

You let out a noise of confusion when Brahms murmurs about you going to the local art supply shop to get him something. "You want me to go to town?" he nods, his curls tickling your neck and shoulder. As you attempt to turn to face him, Brahms lets out a whine - high and pouty. "I've been good!" you sigh, patting his arm that was around your waist. "Alright, Brahmsy, alright".

Unbeknownst to you, Brahms had messaged the transphobic asshole whilst pretending to be you and told them something had happened to whatever it was they worked on while they were here. He'd given you an alibi, people saw you in town after all so he was prepared to have a "talk" with the repairman.

He also does not worry much about you going to the art supply shop as the woman who owns it is a kind old lady whom he sometimes makes you send his crafts - under the guise that you made them, of course.

You returned home with new art supplies in your hand, at ease and humming from the pleasant walk from the gates to the manor.

Brahms stands over a dead body on the back patio, his mask covered in blood splatters as he held an antique ashtray in his hand.

"(Y/N)!" he cheers, walking over the man's barely-there skull before he embraces you.

He'd kill for you but the mess is yours to clean. Your boyfriend isn't perfect.

He'll make you something sweet to drink while you hose down the gore, does that help? Okay, okay, fine, he'll bury the body too.

[CHEST BINDING] He knows when your body has had enough. No, he does not know the appropriate time frame you are supposed to have whilst wearing a binder - he just knows your body so well he knows when it's done for the day. He'll run you a hot bath to help your muscles relax.

[T-SHOTS, NEEDLES, BURN SCARS] His arts and crafts hobbies practically made him have surgeon's hands. So if you need him to, he'll administer the shot and it won't hurt, just a pinch he promises. As someone who had to go through a few medical procedures due to his burns, he stays by your side when you have to go through anything remotely medical. By the way, despite how hard it is to get testosterone when you live in the middle of nowhere, don't worry, the Heelshire funds will last Brahms and you ten lifetimes. Enjoy it, it's all for you.

Corey Cunningham (Halloween Ends) —

Corey "Babe, wear my jacket you'll look so handsome" Cunningham.

Oh, how this man dotes over you.

If you open his Notes app, you'll find an entire folder dedicated to you. Inside, your boyfriend has written down every date idea you confessed to wanting (even the TikTok links you'd sent regarding the topic), your favourite and least favourite food (your allergies are bolded and if you're on medication, that is also listed) and other things you weren't even aware he remembered much less keep note off.

It's okay if he doesn't wear a helmet but please wear yours.

Loves, loves, loves going on motorcycle rides with you. Your weight pressed against his, your laughter ringing in his ears, the wind in his hair, your arms wrapped around him, the scenery blurring past - he feels like the two of you are young gods. Eternal and immortal, just like his love for you.

Star-gazing dates! Climbing on rooftops of abandoned buildings to have private moments where you both feel like the only people in the world!

He would have been considered a "Golden Retriever" boyfriend but after his character development, he has turned into a "German Shepherd" boyfriend.

Honestly, he'd love to see anyone try to disrespect you. Their words fizzle out on their tongues when he stands behind you with his eyes so dark they resembled mirrors - just dark pools that only reflect the sorry cunt's expression back at them. They didn't know it just yet but they had just signed their death warrants.

Speaking of his eyes - please remind him to keep eye lubricant on him all the time. He stares at people like an owl, they dry out. Doesn't help that he rides his motorcycle without a helmet. Oh! And pretty please remind him to actually keep track of when he needs to buy new contact lenses, he somehow always disregards his eye health. You're basically the only thing keeping them alive - his optician thanks you.

If you tell him you like the way his jacket looks, how the rings on his fingers give you "gender envy", how good his cologne smells, how his jeans cutting makes him look more masculine - baby, just take it.

Referring to the first point - but yeah, dude, just wear his things if you want, he loves it. If you're not his size, then you best be ready to have him buy and alter things for you.

"You'd look cute wearing my work uniform" You pause from whatever it is you're doing and look at your boyfriend as he works on his motorcycle in your garage, "o...kay...?"

Maybe he just has a thing for you wearing his things...

His bloodlust fluctuates, sometimes he's feeling particularly bloodthirsty and sometimes not so much. What is constant though is the gifts he brings back. Does it count as trophies? Robbery? No idea! But the way your eyes light up when he gives you something makes his heart race.

[CHEST BINDING] This man did his research. He keeps an eye on your breathing when you're wearing a binder, gently reminding you to make sure you did so safely.

[T-SHOTS, NEEDLES] He holds you and will even offer to administer it. He talks while he does so - just to keep your mind off the needle and he places a kiss over your band-aid every time.

Michael Myers (Halloween (1978 - 1982)) —

As predicted, he stares. Sorry, not sorry. That's just how he communicates, through vibes.

In all seriousness though, Michael does "speak" but it's limited to how his eyes narrow, surprisingly sassy eye-rolls, infamous head tilts, sighs, grunts, growls and occasionally...a huff of laughter.

If you attempt to teach him how to sign, he will pick and choose when to use it but your boyfriend keeps himself easy to read for your sake.

Stalking is his love language. Do not attempt to spot him when he doesn't want to be spotted because you won't. He secretly enjoys seeing you pout when you try though, you look so determined.

Your boyfriend won't negotiate on moving so you're going to have to renovate and fix up his childhood home to make it livable- this will be hard as Michael will be hiding in the basement but thankfully, whoever he did kill he managed to make it look like an accident. It made the whole process take longer than it was supposed to though, you sulked by sleeping at a motel and vehemently locking the windows and doors.

He appreciates you, just shows it quietly. The Shape makes sure your windows are locked, doors too, don't want any sickos breaking in. That's his job.

He'll hunt for you too. You coaxed him to stop killing rats to eat them and kudos to you he doesn't eat them anymore. Rats are just as scared of him as most of Haddonfield. If you don't know how to skin and prepare an animal carcass...well, you better start learning.

Oh, by the way, nobody messes with you. Not even the most insufferable, limp-dicked, conservative in Haddonfield and he annoys everyone! But nah, he's tight-lipped when it comes to you.

Everyone who had ever been rude to you...well...they pop up a few weeks later in various states of fucked up.

Your boyfriend does not understand gender conformity, at all. You will catch him wearing a sleeping kaftan around the house, completely at ease with himself. If you paint his nails, he doesn't fuss about the colour. If you decide to dress more feminine one day he'll just look at you and hum in approval - the same reaction if you dress more masculine.

The guy is called The Shape of Haddonfield, truly a frightening but surprisingly gender-neutral title.

So, do not fret, if anybody dares say anything they will rue the day they were born.

[CHEST BINDING] Ah, he makes it known when you've had enough. Michael will simply stand in front of you and point to his chest, a prompt for you to tell him what time you wore it. Then, he'll just stand and stare until you make a move to take it off. Yes, he has scared the shit out of you by popping out of nowhere whilst you were doing chores outside the house - no, he denies ever huffing a breath of amusement (a laugh in Michael's vocabulary) when you blurb out random exclamations and drop whatever it is you were holding.

[T-SHOTS, NEEDLES] He won't administer it. Michael doesn't even like to imagine stabbing you so why would he? So what if it's a needle, he simply refuses to do so. He will instead offer support by placing a hand on your shoulder or knee and if he somehow lost track of time while he was out, he'll return with your favourite snacks (he steals them obviously).

Michael Myers (2007 - 2009) —

Staring but with more...feeling.

Mainly non-verbal but makes communicating easier by signing to you and occasionally whispering.

He is an open book to you in general though so you honestly have no idea why people find him so scary.

Yeah, you have a biased view but how could you not be when your boyfriend showers you with love any chance he gets.

Another arts and crafts lover, his face warms up when you gift him art supplies despite being "expressionless".

He isn't much of a fan of being touched anywhere near his neck or wrists so be wary of that. When he's about to touch you he makes it known by hovering his hand over you. You will need to reassure him he doesn't need to ask for permission every time but he does it anyways.

Aware of his size and strength, finds himself pleased with it despite how hard it is to stalk because he can keep you safe.

Oh, anyone with a shrimp-sized brain is going to have a rough night if they decide to be a dick to you. He will snap their spine over his knee and watch them try to crawl away like the pathetic worm they are.

Your boyfriend is willing to move away from his home once his vengeance is fulfilled.

Roadtrip? Roadtrip!

He is a homebody, if you believe it or not. Michael decorates your home with his artwork and has a good eye for aesthetics.

He wants to dress his beautiful lover (you) if you give him the chance.

Like OG!Michael, he doesn't completely understand why people take gender roles so seriously. Seriously, he can't wrap his mind around it. He honestly finds it all toxic - considering his parents and his sister's shitty boyfriends...why wouldn't he?

He wants you to play with his hair, please play with his hair. He will pass out the minute you do. Big on cuddles, being a Little Spoon is a state of mind not size so please Big Spoon him.

Another stalker, let's just conclude that any variation of Michael Myers just do it because they can. He likes keeping tabs on you is all. When you're working, he tries to keep busy but he just misses you...so don't mind him if you notice him in your peripheral vision whilst working.

[CHEST BINDING] He is good at counting down the minutes in his head. It happens when you're stuck in a mental institution and spend it in partial isolation. So, when he spots you putting on a binder for the day, he starts counting down. Yes, it is accurate and yes, he would prefer if you did take it off once he finishes his countdown - you could seriously hurt your body!

[T-SHOTS, NEEDLES] Curls up behind you, stroking the upper parts of your thighs as he watches you set everything up. He begins humming as you prepare the needle which makes you smile every time.

Billy Looomis & Stu Macher (Scream (1996)) —

Oh boy, it's never a dull day with these two as your boyfriends.

"Black Cat" boyfriend, Billy Loomis and "Doberman" boyfriend, Stu Macher.

Will not elaborate...defeats the purpose of this entire thing if I don't though so fine -

Billy is calm, not calmer than Stu because that's actually quite an easy category to best him in. Billy is calm. He keeps the balance of your relationship. But he is a menace himself.

He stalks and slithers into your room when he pleases, holds you against him when he feels like it - which, by the way, does not mean he'll be mean if you lean against him or touch him, he just won't reciprocate but it is still welcomed. He also has a habit of pushing against your palm when you run your fingers through his hair or stroke his face. See? Black Cat boyfriend.

If you catch him in a bad mood, he can be snarky but Stu came up with the idea of ending every "bitch fight" with an "I love you". It helped a lot.

Your Doberman boyfriend holds you any chance he gets. It's one of the only ways he keeps still. Billy and you have to pin him down between the two of you to have a peaceful cuddle.

Stu is also much more protective/possessive than the two of you combine. His lovers are his alone. He will smile all teeth and gums and make people feel at ease but Stu is one scary man when he notices someone taking an interest in either of you. Billy and you have felt shivers of fear and anticipation down his spine when you see the gears in Stu's brain switch from "Stu" to "Ghostface".

Oh, oh, how sharp their smiles would be if a transphobe fucked around because they will make them find out. Not because they want you to get verbally abused or harassed! God, no!

They want you to watch them murder them. They will ask you to choose how to end them, how to play with them and what pieces should be found last.

Pieces of clothing are always shared, with how often everyone sleeps over it was inevitable. Accessories as well, hell, Stu managed to lose his body wash twice and he's been to both of your houses - it wasn't there either! Stu just buys things in bulk at this point.

Billy is really good at cutting and styling hair. If you ask, he will help you with yours - regardless of what style you want. If your hair texture is different from his own he will research about it to the best of his abilities.

Kisses with them are so messy. They always want to share and always at the same damn time - you get dizzy just trying to keep up in the mess of lips, teeth and tongue.

Stu throws parties, loves showing you off and Billy is there to whisk you upstairs if you get overwhelmed.

Both Ghostfaces have called you before. They tease you with lines like, "You got a boyfriend, handsome?" or "Damn, beautiful, your boyfriends get you all to themselves? Lucky boys"

[CHEST BINDING] "(Y/N)! How long have you been wearing your binder?" Stu calls from his kitchen, returning with a bowl of popcorn once you answered while you lay across Billy's front on the couch. "Been a while, right?" Billy said, a hand coming to rest on your back "Need a break?" Stu makes a noise of agreement as he lifts your legs and places them on his lap. "Want me to help, baby?" Stu asks.

[T-SHOTS, NEEDLES] Billy helps you with administering the shot while Stu holds you, sometimes switching around. Stu has accidentally stabbed himself with the needle - he apologized profusely as Billy tells him he's contaminated the entire thing (you roll your eyes fondly at your boyfriends, Ghostface looks anything but scary when the two of them are squabbling on the bathroom floor).

Beauregard "Bo" Sinclair (House of Wax) —

I need to get this off my chest, Bo thinks hats are a staple of masculinity...close second are suits and ties, and cars come in third.

He gifts you hats. His favourite was the cowboy hat a victim no longer needed. While placing it on your head he made an obligatory sex joke, it was right there you can't possibly expect him not to.

Bo prefers for you not to make yourself known to victims, he knows you can handle yourself, he just worries.

That and he gets pissed when someone flirts with you. He gets even more pissed when they outright disrespect your identity and labels you as "weird".

He won't even pretend to feel sorry when Vincent questions where their bodies are while Lester grimaces when he sees their state.

If you're someone with long hair please be aware that Bo's eyes will shift to your wrists every so often if there are hairbands around them once he spots it. Anything that is too "snug" around your wrist will make Bo feel uneasy, he will ask you to take it off in an uncharacteristically soft tone that soon turns snappy if you attempt to prod.

When you see the marks on your boyfriend's wrists and/or find his baby seat you'll understand why.

Though he's a hardass to his brothers, he feels so much relief in knowing they love and trusts you just as much as he does.

Touchy - PDA hardly bothers him so why should he hold himself back when you're his darling lover.

Likes to tuck his hand in the back pocket of your pants (he pinches when he's feeling playful).

He rambles about cars. One night, as he was working on repairing a car, he rambles and slows to a stop when he feels as though he was talking too much but when you reassure him that you're listening and interested...his cheeks turn red.

Bo cooks. Not frequently, certainly not his usual task either, but if everyone else is busy/tired he rolls his sleeves and makes a classic and feel-good Southern meal.

[CHEST BINDING] Bo finds himself worrying. The heat and humidity probably don't help your case. He tries to convince you to wear tank tops or simply just your binder during hot days. Sometimes he even gruffs out you don't need to wear it at all as there's no one else around and the people that are there are the Sinclairs who know you. He won't push you but reminds you to keep yourself hydrated and not to push it.

[T-SHOTS, NEEDLES] Bo asks if you need help, won't intrude if you say no but he does squeeze in an extra kiss once you're done.

Vincent Sinclair (House of Wax) —

Vincent Sinclair gives me "White Cat" vibes. So regal looking, so calm and so adamant about not being needy when in fact...he is.

Your boyfriend is an artist. You are his muse. Tale as old as time but why fix what's not broken?

Nonverbal and uses sign language or simple gestures to communicate. He is a bit self-conscious of his laughter but oh how you love hearing it. It makes him squirm every time you stare at him with nothing but love in his eyes.

Refuses to have you interact with the victims. He makes sure you stay in his room, safe and sound.

Brat.

He was basically the favourite twin - he can be bratty even if he tries to deny it.

If you say "no" to him he genuinely gets wide-eyed and makes a whining noise. What do you mean you didn't want to stay in his basement to accompany him while he worked? So what if it's sweltering hot out and the basement feels like Hell on earth! Spend time with him!

Baby talk always makes him burst into fits of giggles - you could be as unfunny as a heart attack but the minute you start speaking in baby talk he loses it.

He got anxious at the thought of his brothers not liking you. There's no reason why they would dislike you but he just worries. They love you though and he is so relieved that you get along so well.

Feel free to "paint" his wax figures. If his mask is starting to get uncomfortable or he just felt like he wanted to make a new one, you're free to go crazy on his old one.

Your boyfriend complains about wax clumping his hair. You now make it a habit to either tie it up, using a claw clip to hold it back, or braiding his hair before he toils away in the basement.

Genuinely loves spending time with you, even if you're just chilling adjacently from each other. He made a designated (Y/N) space in the basement where you can do pretty much anything in peace with Vincent nearby.

The victim said what about you? There's no way he will immortalize a transphobe in this town. He burns them alive after he paralyses them from the neck down, relishing in their screams as they turn into nothing but ash.

You notice his hearing is unbalanced/muffled on one side of his face and how he seems as though he anticipates touch all the time on that side. You make sure you're always approaching him on his "good" side - he is eternally thankful.

Total cuddle bug when you two are alone, prefers being the Big Spoon as he tucks his head at the crown of your head. He snores sometimes if he's really tired.

[CHEST BINDING] Vincent educated himself on this topic. Honestly, like Bo, he worries if you overexert yourself with the heat and at one point discusses with you if you'd rather have your chest permanently flat/smaller. He'd need proper equipment but he'd do anything to ensure you're safe and content.

[T-SHOTS, NEEDLES] Parks himself in front of you and holds his hand out. Stares at you while you blink owlishly at him. His eye squishes into a crescent shape as he smiles once you hand over the needle to him. Let him take care of you, you're his darling muse!

Lester Sinclair (House of Wax) —

He's the chaotic "Pitbull" boyfriend!

This sweet lad actually has trouble accepting help. It makes him uncomfortable if he thinks about it too deeply. He just found himself in scenarios where his usefulness was always at the forefront of why he was wanted, it's hard to get out of that mindset.

He loves you for helping him though, just have no idea how to articulate it properly. All blushes, stutters and squirms.

Your boyfriend gets excited when new victims come around, eager to loot through their things. Especially when someone has a similar style as you!

He gets self-conscious of how he smells because of the things he works with so he also loots tons of cologne and body sprays - you two basically have a goddamn Baths & Body Works on your bathroom vanity.

You two make a game of it, changing your scents for the day and deciding if it was shit or decent. Jonesy's vote is heavily influential.

Date nights are heavenly. Lester uses his nicer truck for outings. You two grab a bite and try to find new places to experiment since Ambrose is a ghost town and you two need to experience more than just death. Afterwards, he finds a lookout point and you three (yes, Jonesy follows) pile out to the back and curl up with the radio playing some cheesy country love songs.

If Jonesy is dropped off at the twin's place, the PG ratings climb the ladder.

Lester doesn't consider himself a violent man. He doubts he even wants to be if he is completely honest. But when someone flirts with you he feels this unbridled rage rise to his chest and down to his fist.

He spits at their feet as he tugs you away, his dominant arm already springing up in preparation for a punch when he feels them grab at his shoulder.

Grins when you scold him afterwards at home, nursing his bruised cheek.

If he's busy, Jonesy follows you to do chores!

By the way, that dog and your boyfriend always seem to know when some dick-for-brains are near you and steer you away. Will avoid confrontation when necessary.

Not above telling on the victims that shouted insults your way. Baby brother privilege!

His brothers adore you! So they find no trouble in slaughtering someone who dared spoke badly of you and upsetting Lester.

[CHEST BINDING] Lester is pretty observant of your cues. Quietly reminds you of how long you've been wearing your binder and offers to work out all the kinks in your back. He reads about it! Vincent helped him out as well. Lester peppers kisses all over your back once he's done, making sure you're practically melted against the bed once he's done.

[T-SHOTS, NEEDLES] He has slight hand tremors, minuscule but it worsens when he focuses on not twitching so he watches you as you do your thing, ruffling your hair and asking if you'd like anything to eat.

791 notes · View notes

echobx · 27 days

Text

soulmates 4 - jj maybank x fem!reader

summary: y/n has to face her ex and gets to know JJ better

warnings: smut thoughts, angst-ish, screaming, threatening, JJ being JJ, pranking, indication of smut

word count: 2.5k

author's note: this was fun to write and i hope you enjoy it

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

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“You must be JJ,” your mother's voice came to your ears, and you broke apart, not knowing how long you had just stood there kissing him. “I'm very sorry,” he apologized, but she just brushed it off. “Don't worry, my husband was way worse,” she laughed. “Still is,” she corrected herself, and you had the feeling that he had told her to say it. “I hope you like tacos,” she smiled at him. “I really don't want to intrude,” JJ said, and you suddenly felt very insecure, no, he felt insecure. “Nonsense, you're part of the family now,” your mom kept trying to pull him in, but he was too scared in a way. “Mom,” you looked at her and shook your head. “I mean, you don't have to, but you are always welcome, that's what I meant,” she spoke slowly while focusing on you. “I'm going to start cooking now,” she announced and turned to walk over into the kitchen. ‘Thank you,’ JJ smiled at you. ‘You don't have to stay, I know it's a lot,’ you admitted, but you couldn't shake the need of wanting to kiss him again, and he blushed a little over it. You turned to walk towards your room, his hand fast in yours, but he was still unsure; not because he didn't want to, but because your parents were so different from any he had ever met.

“This is my room,” you whispered as you walked inside. The small lavender colored room had just enough space for your bed, a desk, and the closet. You watched him take it all in, his ring adorned fingers running over the pictures that you had standing on your desk before turning around to smile at you. “Cozy,” he said sat down on your bed. JJ held out his arms, and you stepped over and in between his legs, his arms wrapped around you, his head leaning against your stomach as you let your hands run through his hair. ‘I want to show you something, but it's not going to be pretty,’ he thought, and you agreed to wanting to know anyway. ‘I trust you to not run away. I never told all of this to anyone,” he explained and you nodded. ‘I don't like running,’ you tried to lighten the mood, and he chuckled against your belly. The memories he showed you were painful to say the least, all of them were of his dad hurting him in more ways than you would have ever imagined, but then you watched him as he helped him leave. And the things he showed you changed. They got happier, no longer painful but just neutral in your eyes, but to him, they were the happiest memories he had with his dad; sharing beers, working on cars, teaching him how to ride a bike. “JJ-” you hushed rather speechless over everything, but he wasn't done yet. He showed you how he had taught himself to surf, how he learned stealing and lying until he was better at it than you would've ever imagined anyone being. His first time meeting John B, and every single time the two of them had done something incredibly stupid and gotten away with it. He showed you his first kiss with a Touron and even his first time, with a girl way older than him. Then the rush of endorphins upon seeing you for the first time, but the very last thing he decided to show you was the very faint picture of a beautiful blonde woman. “That's my life,” he whispered and looked up at you.

You were completely speechless, and if you knew how he had done it you would've shown him your life too, but you truly didn't know how. “You don't have to show me,” he whispered and hugged you tighter. But you really wanted to, you felt like you owed it to him. With your eyes screwed shut you tried to summon a particular memory, the one when your parents had explained the soulmate concept to you. You had been eleven at the time, with your first little crush and your parents had found it the right moment to tell you about love and about why they were so lucky to have each other, and you. Then you thought about your first kiss and how horrible it had felt, until you slipped away again. It felt like you lost control of your mind, but your memories kept playing. He found the first memory you had, playing in the mud with your old dog. He then moved on, skimming over a few, staying longer some other time until he found himself realizing how empty you had felt just two days before. “I'm sorry,” he gasped and let go of you, not just physically, but mentally. “How did you do that?” you asked, you didn't want to seem scared, but the fact that he had so easily taken over and controlled your whole being, was still scary. “I don't know,” he said, and you knew it was the truth.

“Bean!” your mom yelled, and you snapped around, she never yelled, she despised it, actually. JJ shook his head as you wanted to leave your room, he placed himself in front of you and walked out. “You know, it really doesn't make any sense, why him? Why did it have to be him of all people?” You could hear Kelce's voice coming from the living area. “We don't have a say in it. You are a smart young man, you know that,” your mom spoke slowly, she was scared. “Kelce, what are you doing?” JJ asked but didn't let you look past him. “You stole my girlfriend,” he laughed hysterically. “I didn't,” JJ said and lifted his hands. “She made the decision. I didn't tell her to do anything.” “I really regret not finishing you off last year,” Kelce said and my mom gasped. “She will never forgive you if you do this,” JJ breathed heavily, he tried not to show you how scared he was, but it didn't help much. ‘Go back into your room, please,’ he begged you, but you didn't listen to him, not even when you heard Kelce cock the gun he was apparently pointing at JJ. ‘I’m not leaving!’ “If I can't have her you can't have her either,” Kelce screamed.

“Fine, but don't do this here. We can go outside,” JJ tried to convince him, but you couldn't tell if it worked or not. ‘Remember what I showed you earlier? You just have to get behind him. No one will get hurt, trust me,’ JJ told you and stepped forward, walking towards the door and stepping outside as Kelce followed him, but as soon as you took a step forward he snapped around. “Stay right there, I don't want to hurt you,” he said and pointed the gun back at JJ, but his eyes stayed fixed on you. “You are hurting me already. You hurt me when you came in here and threatened my mom. You hurt me when you decided to not let me go. I know what you did to him, the pain you caused, how your hands closed around his neck, draining the air from my lungs,” you spoke quietly, tears falling down your cheeks. “No,” he shook his head. “I think it's worse that I know what it's like to kiss you dude,” JJ huffed and Kelce pressed the barrel of the gun into his back. You felt like hitting JJ over the head for his comment but then again Kelce was so overwhelmed with his anger that he didn't pay any attention to you anymore, but especially he hadn't looked into the direction of your mom a single time since starting to walk towards the door. He didn't even notice her sneaking up from behind him and hitting him over the head with a pan. Kelce fell to the ground with a loud thud, and you jumped forward and kicked the gun from his hand.

“See, worked like a charm,” JJ smirked and turned around. “I'm calling the police,” your mom cried out, but JJ shook his head. “Better idea,” he mumbled and checked the boy's pulse. “I don't think you want to be witnessing any of it though,” JJ mumbled and turned to your mom. ‘Tell her to leave. She can take the gun to Shoupe, the Sheriff, just say you found it somewhere,’ JJ told you while pulling out his phone. “Mom, you have to take the gun to the police station, I'll make sure that he's safe. Please, mom,” you told her and she nodded while eyeing JJ. She got a plastic bag from a drawer in the kitchen, and you put the gun inside, without putting any fingerprints on it. Then she left, and you hoped that your dad wouldn't be back until you had taken care of Kelce.

“What's the plan?” you asked JJ who turned around with a mischievous smile on his face. “Do you really want to know?” he asked, and you raised your eyebrow at him. ‘Pretending like I'm not going to find out either way. Now tell me what to do,’ you glared at him. “You know, I'm very glad that you didn't- You know,” he mumbled and started checking Kelce’s pockets for his phone. “Bingo,” he exclaimed and pulled the phone out and unlocked it by holding it to the unconscious boy's face. “What if I had? At least I didn't fuck my best friend and lie to her about my feelings,” you snapped at him. “I didn't lie,” he whispered and kept emptying the boy's pockets, collecting everything on the kitchen island. “I just didn't know what love was. The same bullshit that caused this.” He gestured at the knocked out Kelce lying on the floor or your home. Everything was so over the top and completely unbelievable that you couldn't help but laugh hysterically. “Fuck!” you screamed because it was so surreal that you had never felt more alive than at that moment. “He's so bad at kissing,” you laughed and fell down next to him.

“Good, he's still dressed, I don't like when you get ahead of yourself,” John B said, and you looked up at him. “What are we doing?” you ask and John B and JJ shared a knowing glance. “Let him out at the beach, but put his clothes in his car and drive it somewhere else,” John B explained quickly. “I wonder,” you mumbled and tried to figure out if waking up naked or wearing lingerie was worse. “That's evil,” JJ noted with a smirk. “Do you have one to spare?” You nodded and got up, walking into your room where you picked out a Hello Kitty T-string and then walked back outside, presenting it to the two boys. “Shit,” John B hissed before he burst out laughing.

JJ pulled you into him and kissed you longingly. His tongue filled your mouth and teased you, making you crave for more while continuously telling you how much he loved you. “I love you,” he whispered as you broke apart. “Love you more,” you replied with a light giggle, showing him the idea of letting him eat you out as you pulled on his hair. His eyes widened and he gulped. “We should really get to work,” he pressed out, and you stepped away, putting all of Kelce's belongings into a bag, without stopping your little daydream. “JJ, concentrate!” John B yelled at him, and you had to giggle. The boy's eyes fell on you, and he gave you a sharp look. “We have to be done before he wakes up. Whatever you are doing, please stop.” ‘Don’t stop,’ JJ begged, but you knew you had to. He wasn't strong enough to concentrate on what you had to do while your mind showed him so many things he dreamed of doing to you. “I think the problem isn't what I'm thinking about, just that, he can't do two things at once,” you giggled and smiled at John B. ‘Why are you so mean to me?’ JJ complained to you.

You let your head play your favorite song as John B drove you in the Twinkie towards the Boneyard. The three of you had debated whether Maze wouldn't be a better idea, but you didn't want to risk any kids being flashed in the morning when they came to surf. You laid him down on the dry sand, far enough from the sea to make sure he wouldn't run the risk of drowning. Then you helped JJ strip Kelce and put the very tiny underwear on him. “I didn't think it would be that small,” you wondered while taking the picture and posting it on Kelce's Instagram account with the title “I'm a pretty little girl.” “I'm so glad that I'm not on your bad side, princess,” JJ mused and kissed your cheek as he watched you hit post.

“You guys are diabolical,” John B laughed as he looked at his phone. “Oh, the best part is that no one can prove that it was us,” you smiled at him. “We just have to park his car somewhere conceivable,” JJ mumbled. “Like his favorite bar?” you asked and he nodded. “Remind me to never cross you,” John B laughed and stopped at your home. “I should take care of the car,” JJ said while getting out. “No, your fingerprints would be too obvious. Mine won't even be noticed,” you said and pulled the keys out of your pocket. “Besides, me dropping off the car will also not raise that much suspicion if anyone sees me.” “She's right,” John B agreed with you, but JJ didn't like the idea of letting you go off on your own, too scared that something might happen.

You got into the car and placed every single thing that Kelce had had in his pockets where it belonged. Neatly folding his clothes and laying them down on the passenger seat before driving off. It wasn't far from your home, and the bar didn't have too many customers that night. You put the keys under the sun visor and walked back home without anyone seeing you.

“I don't even care what you did, just promise me that this won't be a reoccurring thing.” You could hear your mom talk to JJ. “Done,” you said while walking inside and smiling at them. Your dad immediately hugged you. “Don't scare me like that again. It's really hard to stay focused on work like that.” “I don't think he'll ever dare to even look at me again,” you admitted and JJ couldn't stop himself from grinning. “It's not funny. I could've seriously injured him,” your mom cried out. ‘I’ve survived worse,’ JJ thought, and his eyes darted back at you. “You didn't though, you saved us, mom,” you said and hugged her. ‘I should be on the lookout, not that she tries to use that pan on me one day,’ JJ joked. ‘Will John B keep our secret?’ you asked, and he nodded as soon as you looked at him. ‘Deny, deny, deny, baby,’ he smirked. “Pizza?” he asked, and your parents looked at him perplexed. “It's the least I can do.”

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please don't copy and/or post my work onto other platforms! ~e©ho

part 5

#jj maybank #obx #my writing #outer banks #jj maybank x reader #obx fanfiction #jj maybank x you #jj maybank fanfiction #jj maybank fanfic #~fanfiction #posting ahead of schedule bc I'm scared to hit post limit on main

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mazzymoonlight · 1 year

Text

Are There Still Beautiful Things?

summary: inspired by taylor’s “seven”, follow JJ and reader through snapshots of their lives together.

warnings: mentions of the death of a parent, mentions of excessive drinking, mentions of abuse

word count: 9.9k

a/n: hellooo & welcome to my first fic :) some of this had been previously posted in parts, but after evaluation i realized this needed to be heavily edited & worked better in this format. this fic has a special place in my heart, so i hope you enjoy reading as much as i enjoyed writing it. (p.s, happy obx 3 eve!)

SEVEN

please, picture me in the trees, i hit my peak at seven feet, in the swing over the creek, i was too scared to jump in but i, i was high in the sky with pennsylvania under me … are there still beautiful things?

JJ Maybank thinks the last time he was truly, truly happy was when he was seven. At such a young age, anything seemed possible. The sky was the limit and the ocean was their backyard. He had his mother and his father, and even though it leaked sometimes, a roof over his head.

And he had his friends, his favorite people in the world. John B, who he had been sat next to on the first day of second grade and was now inseparable from, and y/n, the girl whose mother was his mother’s best friend, who he had known his whole life.

It was always the three of them, getting into trouble together and spending nearly every moment with each other. You rarely saw one of them without at least one other, and even at such a young age, it was clear they had a bond some people spent a lifetime searching for. They were lucky, and people liked to tell them that.

In their younger days, one of the moms (or more often, both of them together) would often take the trio around. Watching at the beach while they learned to surf, the parks while they played until red in the face, treating them to dinners at the local establishments, or ice cream on those extra hot and intolerable days.

But their favorite was camping in the backyard. They would set up a tent and a bonfire, and roast s’mores and stare at the stars.

JJ’s mom had a particular affinity for the mystery that hung above them and would spend hours teaching the kids everything she knew. She loved the moon, she would tell them everything she knew. She liked to talk about the phases and what they meant, what kind of full moons they were in store for soon.

But Saturn was her favorite, she would talk about any chance she could.

Did you know it’s actually a big ball of gas? That it would float in water?

The ring is made up of ice and dirt and bits.

It’s windy up there.

It takes twenty-nine earth years to revolve around the sun.

Time must move slowly up there.

And they let her talk too. And they listened to every word. They listened to the tales and myths and theories of space until they couldn’t fight the sleep back, and their eyes of wonder became sleepy, slowly blinking at the woman in front of them.

“Goodnight,” She’d say to the three of them, and then she would lean in close to JJ, and leave a kiss on his little forehead.

“I love you to the moon and to Saturn.” he would fall into sleep with a smile on his face.

Nights like that were always beautiful. Memories like that were beautiful.

JJ couldn’t help but wonder; without them, was there any beauty at all left in the world?

FOURTEEN

sweet tea in the summer, cross my heart won’t tell no other, and though i can’t recall your face, i still got love for you your braids like a pattern love you to the moon and to saturn, passed down like folk songs … the love last so long.

The summer they were fourteen, JJ’s life changed. His mother passed, and he was never the same after it. It seemed like the entirety of the outer banks was aware of the light that had been lost.

y/n and her parents were right alongside Luke and JJ. None of them knew what was in store without her. Filled with anger, sadness, regret, and guilt, they all knew that she had so much more to give. Life was not kind, life was not fair, and although they all knew it, they never thought that they would get a reminder quite like this.

JJ stood in between his two best friends, y/n’s hand in his, she was struggling too, but she was holding back. She knew she had to be strong for JJ, she had lost someone special, but he lost his mother, and that was something that he would never get back, something that could never be replaced.

That night y/n stays with JJ, and they end up outside the same way they used to, but without a bonfire tonight. Tonight they stare in silence at the night sky, both thinking about all the things JJ’s mom had told them about the stars and planets above.

“I keep thinking she’s on Saturn,” y/n says, suddenly, the thought slipping out before she can think about stopping herself.

“What?”

“I keep thinking about Saturn, how much she loved it.” She clarifies, “And I keep thinking how happy she must be to finally see it.”

There’s more she wants to say, but figures it’s nothing that JJ hasn’t already heard. What can she say, really? When she catches his smile, the first she’s seen in weeks, she leaves it at that. She’s said all she needs to.

“Yea,” he said, wiping a stray tear. “I bet she is. I like that thought.”

And he meant it. The thought of his mom, an angel on her favorite planet, he didn’t think there was any other explanation.

FIFTEEN

JJ’s fifteenth birthday creeps up, and y/n had worked extra to get him a special present. She had seen it in one of the windows of the fancy boutiques on figure eight and immediately ran in to look at it, begging the store owner to hold it for her after seeing the price on the tag. It had to be JJ’s, she knew it the moment she saw it.

So two weeks later she returned with money collected from babysitting and delivering groceries, the proudest smile on her face. Bringing it home and exchanging the chain for a longer silver one before wrapping it up neatly.

Everyone gathers at the Maybank home on the day of. John B and his father, y/n and her parents, and Pope and Kiara, who the trio had recently befriended.

Luke had even put in a little effort, putting up some simple birthday decorations he had bought from the dollar tree. It wasn’t very much, but all JJ cared about was that everyone he loved was there with him. JJ was happy, but there was a lurking sadness in the back of his head. This was his first birthday without his mom. There was an empty space that would never be filled, no matter how hard he tried. And he was trying very hard.

Despite the weight of loss, it was one of the best days JJ’s had in a long time. Luke had set up a slip-n-slide for the kids, really just a tarp with some water and some dish soap but the kids didn’t care. He grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and even stocked up on more sodas than they needed. y/n had made a cake and John B helped her decorate it. It was sloppy, but it was theirs, for JJ.

y/n had waited until later to give JJ his present. She found him still sitting at the outside table with his hand on his chin, looking up into space like he always did.

“There you are.” She says, siding into the seat next to him. She follows his gaze up toward the night sky.

“Looking for Saturn?” she asks.

“Always am.” He answers sadly despite the small smile on his lips.

She doesn’t say anything, only matches his sad smile with one of her own, and holds out the box shyly.

“Happy birthday Jay.”

He takes it gently, looking at her with a look neither of them can register yet. He leans into her a bit, nudging her softly before tearing at the paper.

When he opens the box his smile drops, and suddenly it feels like he can’t breathe, he feels caught off guard as his emotions blindside him. He had no clue what to expect but this certainly wasn’t it.

y/n sees his reaction and it feels like a gut punch. Why had she gotten him that?

She felt so certain it belonged with JJ but seeing him look so upset now she just felt stupid.

“JJ, I’m sorry, I can bring it back, I just thought … if you don’t like it I’ll take it back.” She tries to explain herself and reaches for the box, but he jerks away from her when she tries to take it back.

She freezes, confused now. He doesn’t catch her reaction, still looking at the necklace in his hands.

“I think I’m forgetting her.” He finally says, voice barely above a whisper, like he was scared to say it. Like this was the first time he was admitting it to himself.

“I’m scared y/n, it’s only been a year, and every day I’m scared I’ve lost another piece of her, what if I’m forgetting her?” And then he’s crying before he can stop himself, sobbing almost.

He clutches the box to his chest like he’s scared to let it go, like letting it go would be the end of the world for the second time.

y/n pulls him in, a few tears of her own falling, thinking of all the things she would do and the things she would trade to take away his pain.

“JJ… you’re not going to forget her, okay, I promise you. All you’re doing is healing, trying to learn to live a normal life without your mom, something that no child should ever have to do. You have so many memories of her, you have so many stories and pictures. You're a piece of her. When you’re older you’ll pass the stories on, and people who never got to know her will know her. And when you're older, older, you’ll tell your kids about their grandmother, the woman who was as strong as a hurricane and soft as a butterfly all in one. You won’t forget her JJ, you can’t when you’re part of her.”

She talks him down, and once he subsides he sees the truth in her words, he trusts her so he trusts what she’s saying wholeheartedly.

“You promise me, y/n?”

She holds him tighter

“Cross my heart JJ.”

“Okay,” He says, sitting up from her.

“Okay?” she questions, wiping the last few tears from his face “because you don’t have to be.”

“I know, but I will be.”

She smiles at that, she knew he would be, even if he didn’t fully believe it, he was the strongest person she knew.

She nods towards the necklace “so you like it then?”

He nods. “I think this is the best present I’ll ever get.” And finally pulls the chain out of the box, staring at the clip confused as he tries to figure it out himself.

y/n laughs, making a motion for him to come closer.

“Here, I’ll do it for you.”

She undoes the clasp and wraps it around his neck, closing it again before adjusting, the charm settling just above his heart.

Her fingers linger on the charm, smiling at the memory, the meaning of it.

“Now you have your own Saturn, always with you.”

His hand closes on hers.

You are my Saturn y/n, he thinks.

But instead, he wraps her in a hug, “wanna camp out tonight? I’ll get John B to come back, the three of us like old times.”

She nods in his arms.

“Always.”

That night the three of them all felt like things had gone back to normal, even just for the night both John B and y/n were glad that JJ could feel some type of relief, even if it was fleeting. They knew in the morning things would go back to the way they were, and JJ would struggle a little bit more than the average person, but if they could just give him a couple of hours, it was worth it.

And finally, when they’ve retired to bed and settled in their sleeping bags, JJ and y/n had the same thought running through their minds as they fell asleep.

I love you to the moon and to Saturn.

And JJ swears he felt something press against his forehead that night, exactly like old times.

SIXTEEN

and i’ve been meaning to tell you, i think your house is haunted, your dad is always mad and that must be why, and i think you should come live with me and we can be pirates … then you won’t have to cry, or hide in the closet and just like a folk song, our love will be passed on

The summer they were sixteen was one they had been dreaming about what felt like their whole lives. Finally old enough to roam freely, exploring all the nooks and crannies unsupervised. The trio had now officially graduated to a group of five, and now they took on the world with Pope and Kiara by their sides.

It should have been a dream. Granted, most of the time it was, but there were nightmares constantly lurking in the corner. JJ didn’t want to admit it, but he was pretty sure he had finally lost his father.

Luke Maybank was never the same after his wife died, but for a while, he at least attempted for JJ. He tried, he really did, to be there, and be something for JJ. But he was losing himself, and in the past year, he was slipping further and further away, turning into someone that even y/n’s parents, who had known him for so long, didn’t recognize.

The drinking was getting out of control, and the hitting started not too long after. When he was sober, he was sorry, but eventually, it became a rare occasion to find Luke Maybank sober

So JJ’s normal became sneaking around his own house, avoiding the last of his family, seeing how many family dinners at y/n’s he could get invited to each week, and saving everything he could from his oddball jobs to get out as soon as possible.

He didn’t like to talk about it, in fact, he never did. He let the pogues think whatever they wanted to and never gave them a real answer when they asked. As far as he was concerned, they didn’t need to be concerned about him, he’d be leaving soon anyways.

But y/n knew. She watched like she always did, she was observant. She watched his eyes get that faraway look whenever he rattled off his latest excuse and the way his smile would fall when he thought no one was looking. She watched him and knew he was hurting more than he would let on.

She had gone to his house to find him but only found Luke instead, and what she saw scared her. She did not recognize the stumbling drunk man looking back at her. And he didn’t recognize her either. The girl he had watched grow up next to JJ, the girl he had roasted countless marshmallows for when she was scared of getting too close to the fire. The girl he made pancakes for in the mornings and the girl he lit fireworks for on the fourth of July. None of the memories registered, he had run her off his property like a stranger had just trespassed.

It was when y/n knew that for the second time, JJ’s life had changed. The knowledge tormented her for weeks. She hated the small piece of her that still felt sympathy for Luke, he was a broken man with plenty of reason to be. She was holding out hope, that something good would happen to JJ.

But when JJ showed up with a black eye one afternoon, blaming it on a group of kooks, she knew she had to say something. She spilled half-truths to her parents, although she suspected they picked up on the unspoken story from the tears in her eyes.

“I’m just - I’m worried about him. I just have this feeling that things have been, I don’t know … harder than normal lately.”

Her parents had sensed the shift too, all her confession had done was confirm the suspicion. Her mother told her then that JJ was always welcome in the home, and her father told her he would try to talk to Luke the next day.

And that worked for a little bit, JJ had visibly perked up and for a minute things seemed like they were back to normal, and y/n was waiting for the right to tell him what she knew but it seemed Luke had beat her to it.

She had been waiting for him at the beach, but her smile immediately turned to worry when she saw him storming up toward her.

“What the fuck y/n?” was the first thing out of his mouth, and now instead of worried she was panicked realizing his anger was directed towards her.

“JJ, what-” But before she can get anything else out he’s talking again.

“What did you do? What did your dad do? What’s with all these cryptic messages of watching us and threatening to take me away? I mean what the fuck, what does that even mean? Take me away? Away from what, my home? My father, my only family I have left? How could you do this to me?”

Her face pales immediately, her head shaking.

“JJ, that is not what happened, that’s not what he meant -”

“So then it’s true, he did come by?”

“Yes but he didn’t threaten your dad JJ, he -”

“You know what y/n, I don’t care. I just came to tell you to stay out of it. I don’t know what you think you know, but my dad and I are fine. We don’t all have a picture-perfect family to go home to at the end of the day.”

His words stung, leaving her nearly speechless. “That’s- that’s not fair JJ. You are family.” She chokes out, but he was already walking away.

“What if it was me?” She calls out, frustrated.

He stops, and she keeps going. “If I were you, and my dad was putting his hands on me. If I started showing up with marks and bruises, wouldn’t you do anything to protect me?”

“I don’t need you to protect me y/n.” And that’s the last thing he says to her before walking away.

JJ’s not around for the next couple of weeks, and it drives y/n up the wall not knowing where he was, or what he was up to.

She spends time with the pogues, but she’s never fully there at any time, part of her mind was constantly on JJ. She finally broke one day and told the pogues to please go find JJ and make him go out on the boat with them. They tried to argue with her but she told them that she was pretty sure that if he didn’t blow off some steam soon, he was going to start getting into trouble, and it wouldn’t be good for him.

She gave them space for a few days, and just assumed that they had picked up JJ and got him out of the house for a bit, so she nearly lost it when the pogues finally confessed that they hadn’t seen or heard from JJ since they had been tasked to go find him.

“Are you sure he’s not at the house?” she asked “Sometimes he just won’t come out, or if you ran into Luke then -”

“He wasn’t there, and we didn’t see Luke either. We checked inside.” Pope answers.

She could feel herself panicking.

“Why did you say something sooner?” She stressed, looking mostly at John B.

He looks down, away from her gaze. “You know how he is y/n… and you were already worried enough. We thought he’d turn up soon, he always does.”

She shakes her head, “maybe, but haven’t you noticed that when he does there’s always a new bruise?”

The three of them exchange looks while she closes her eyes, taking a breath and trying to think for a moment.

“Okay, why don’t you guys go check some of our beach spots maybe? There are a few places I can look and just keep me updated if you find him and I’ll let you guys know too.”

They part ways and y/n knows she’s going back to check the house first. Even if he had left, he was never gone from the house long, there was too much to leave behind.

She parks a little way down from the house, she hadn’t been back since the day Luke had yelled at her and if she was being honest she was still a bit scared. She crept up to the house carefully, freezing she hears shouting, the noise becoming clear once the door swings open.

“Boy, I tell ya, that’s just about the funniest thing I think I’ve heard you say.” y/n hears him laughing maniacally.

“You’re not going anywhere, you won’t leave her, you know you won’t. You’re stuck here, just like me.”

Luke stumbles off towards a trail and y/n waits until he’s out of sight before dashing into the house, finding it still and quiet. She wonders for a moment if Luke had been talking to himself the whole time, not finding it entirely impossible considering how drunk he seemed.

And then y/n is suddenly realizing that the last time she had been in this house was JJ’s fifthteenth birthday, and she was suddenly very aware of how empty it felt. It had lost the warmness and comfort it once held, feeling more like a ghost town than a home now. She felt out of place, which was something she never, ever thought she would feel in the Maybank home.

She notices a slightly open closet door at the end of the hallway, and she swore she could hear sniffling, muffled cries like someone tucked away and hiding in there.

“JJ?” she called out, and when it suddenly went silent again, she knew, rushing over to the door and opening it delicately.

And there JJ was, curled up in himself, knees up to his chest and a photograph in his hand. She knew exactly what photo he was looking at, and she immediately dropped next to him. She didn’t know what to do, she didn’t want to scare him, but looking at him broke her heart.

So instead she starts talking.

“I remember that day.” She says. “That was one of the fourth of July parties, we were all there, even John B and his dad. And this was the year the full moon lined up with the holiday, and your mom was so excited, she talked about it all day and got us excited too. Our dads bought way too many fireworks like they always did. And we ended the night with s’mores, of course, because it wouldn’t be one of our nights without them. You always were so messy. There she is again, cleaning you up.”

JJ falls into her then, and y/n catches him like she always does, and always will. She has tears too, staring at the picture of an innocent JJ, a smile plastered on his face, stacked s’more in hand, staring up at his mom who he loved so much, with no idea he was going to lose her in the next few years. And there was his mom too, beautiful as always, her own s'more in one hand and the other attempting to wipe the sticky marshmallow from his mouth, laughing because she knows it’s useless. But she was his mother, so she would try regardless.

She wraps him up in her arms, her grasp firm so he knows she’s there but not tight enough to hurt him.

“I know why you won’t leave. I know why you won’t leave him, why you always come back. You’re holding on to that last piece of normal. It’s okay, it’s okay to hold on, but not when it’s hurting you like this. This house is full of memories, but it’s haunted and full of pain too. I would never ask you to leave what you know, but please just come with me for tonight, maybe a few days at most.”

JJ has always trusted y/n, so even now, when he was upset and jumbled with emotions he trusts her.

She lifts them both up gently. “Let’s get some spare clothes, okay? I can pack them for you if you want.”

They both walk into his room but he makes no effort to pack. Instead, he picks up another photograph that was sitting on his dresser before sitting at the end of the bed. Without saying anything else she grabs one of his duffle bags, and starts putting in a few extra shirts and shorts, and even grabs a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt just in case. When she’s finished he’s still staring at the photo like he’s in some kind of trance.

She throws the bag over her shoulder and reaches her hand out to JJ. That seems to break him out of his state a little, standing up and pocketing the photographs. He takes her hand and they walk out of the house together, out to her car.

She pulls into her driveway, and they walk into the house together and up to her room.

“Why don’t you shower and change?” She can tell he’s still dazed, and she’s hoping a shower will relax him.

While he showers she makes her way back downstairs, her parents are out of town for the next few days, so she figures she’ll cross that bridge when she gets there. She does, however, text the pogues, realizing just how long it had been since they all began looking for JJ. She keeps it simple and just lets them know that he’s okay and with her for now.

And then, she makes two sandwiches, one for herself and one for JJ, because she knew he wouldn’t eat if he thinks she had made something especially for him. When she walks back up the stairs into her room, JJ is already out of the shower and changed. He looks up when she walks in and she lifts up the plates of sandwiches slightly.

“Eat with me?” she asks.

They sit and eat the sandwiches in silence, and when they’re both finished she runs the plates back down before returning with two classes of water.

“Okay,” she says after a few sips. “Just try to get some rest, okay? I’m going to shower, but I’ll be quick.”

Long after the shower turns on, JJ is still hesitating and realizing how stupid their fight was. All that he knows is that he missed y/n, and now he was here with her, everything felt like maybe it would all be okay.

He had just made it under the covers when the water shut off, and a few minutes later y/n came out, not hesitating to lay down in the bed beside JJ. It didn’t matter that they had been fighting, or not speaking, or had not seen each other in the past few weeks. They would always be there when it was needed.

“I’m sorry y/n,” he says suddenly. She had thought he had fallen asleep.

She shakes her head, even though he can’t see her.

“It’s okay.”

He rolls over, and now they’re both on their back, staring blankly at the ceiling as if staring long enough would make it disappear and show them the night sky just on the other side of it.

“But it’s not.” He starts, “You were just trying to protect me. And this whole thing has been so stupid - I’ve been so stupid. I didn’t like that, us fighting, us not talking. It just feels like … a storm sometimes. In my head, and it scares me when I’m not in control.”

His hand finds hers in the dark, “I know you were just trying to protect me. I was just mad at myself because I feel like it’s my job to protect you, and I wasn’t doing that.”

She squeezes his hand. “Maybe it’s not okay…” she starts, “but just know I understand, and that I’m always going to be here.”

She looks at him then, reaching up and finding his chin, turning it gently.

“And we protect each other, okay?” There’s a desperation in her voice that he picks up on. One that he understands, deeply.

He gives her wrist a soft squeeze, “okay.”

Then he’s curling into her, and she lets him. It’s silent for another moment before y/n breaks it this time.

“JJ?” she says quietly.

He’s barely awake but he still answers her with a tired “Mhm?”

She hesitates, “to the moon and to Saturn.” She backs out, but the unspoken meaning is still there.

He smiles.

“You are my Saturn.

EIGHTEEN

please, picture me in the weeds, before i learned civility, i used to scream ferociously … any time i wanted

y/n blinks and suddenly it’s graduation. She’s never been happier, a swirl of excitement and pride all in one stirring in her stomach. For herself and everyone but mostly for JJ. Things had been okay enough, but no one could deny the hand JJ had been dealt. He faced it every day, the sideway looks and the backhanded comments and the flat-out insults. But he had done it, proved them all wrong.

Luke had even made it to the ceremony, sitting tucked away in the back as he watched his son walk the stage, and afterward y/n eyes them as they had a conversation before finally parting ways.

JJ runs over to the rest of the group, scooping up y/n and spinning her around, cheering and causing a scene.

“We did it, we’re done!” He’s yelling, “we’re free!”

They continue to chat for a while and joke around, taking photos until the parents are all satisfied before parting ways with plans to meet back up at the beach later in the night.

JJ goes home with y/n and her parents, where there’s a small celebration set up for the pair. They eat cake and flip through old scrapbooks and photo albums. He’s happy, but there’s a sting in his chest, wishing his mom was there.

He imagines briefly, what it would have been like had his dad never changed, if he would have been there in the living room with them, or if he would have had his own afternoon planned. He decides not to dwell on it, instead, he wraps his arms around her from behind on the couch. He focuses on her, and her parents, the photo album of past memories. He understands he’s still lucky.

It gets later, and before JJ and y/n leave for the beach her parents call them into the kitchen again, they have something for JJ. He blushes at the statement, although he tries to hide it. He’s handed a small box and is shocked when he sees a silver key sitting inside.

“We hope we aren’t overstepping,” your mom starts, “really, it’s a bit overdue but we just thought - we just want you to know you’re welcome here anytime.”

Her father places a firm hand on his shoulder when he sees JJ getting choked up, “just if you ever need anything. Hell, if you ever just want to come bother us. You know you’re family.”

He laughs a bit, trying to lighten the mood, shaking his head, “Aw man, now you guys got me all emotional.”

Then he looks up at her father, “thank you, really.” And then he turns to her mother too, and she pulls him into a hug that he gladly accepts. “This means a lot to me, really… I don’t … I don’t know what I would’ve done without you guys. Where I’d be… just, thank you.” He tells her.

“You don’t need to thank us, honey. We’ll always be here to take care of you.”

The moment passes, he pulls away, clearing his throat in an attempt to hide his emotional state and he turns to y/n. “Alright, soaps over.” He announces, “you ready to go?”

They make their way to the beach, talking about summer along the way. JJ keeps listing all the things he wants everyone to do together before it’s time to part for school.

They find a spot on the beach, sitting and talking about how strange it is to be done with high school, and the future. Everyone is leaving, even John B. But JJ and y/n decided to stay close to home, not ready to leave yet.

“After college,” he says, “that’s when it’ll be time to go.”

“You would leave Outer Banks?” She asks, slightly shocked.

“Yea.” He says, confused as to why she was so shocked at his statement

“I’ve always said that, why the face?” He questions.

She looks down, realizing that he was right, he had always said that. She never thought about it in detail, never pressed him on it. Maybe she thought all this time that he never really meant it. Everyone always says they want to leave their hometown but how often did they really?

“nothing it’s just, something I heard Luke say once.”

She catches the way his face drops and she tries to backtrack

“No, no, it was nothing bad I promise. I heard him say ‘you know you won’t leave her’ and I don’t know, it’s just the only thing I’d ever agree on with Luke. That you wouldn’t leave your mom behind, and I understand that. You could build something better, be something better.”

He has a pained look on his face, his hand reaching up to the Saturn around his neck.

“Did you mean what you said, about me being a part of my mom?”

She rests a hand on his shoulder, “of course I did JJ. Everyone knows. You’re the best parts of her.”

“Then it won’t matter where I go. She’ll always be with me.”

Then the look on his face turns into a smirk.

“Besides,” he starts, “it wasn’t my mom he was talking about.”

y/n pulls her arm back from JJ’s, retreating into her own space.

“Oh.” She says simply, starting to wonder who would keep him tied here.

The only other girl he really had in his life was Kiara, and they had been awfully close this past year. She had even gifted him a locket for his seventeenth birthday and it now sat right next to his Saturn charm. It took everything in her not to ask what it was, her curiosity was killing her but she respected his privacy more. But truthfully, y/n couldn’t blame JJ even if she wanted to. Kiara was special, she wouldn’t want to leave her either. She didn’t want to leave any of them.

And then y/n started to realize that she always thought it would be her and JJ. Whenever she imagined the future, JJ was there too. She was realizing that maybe it was selfish of her to just assume he’d always be there. She knew he had dreams of his own, and who was to say that she was involved in any of them?

“Hey now,” he starts when he notices the change in her demeanor, grabbing at her face and pushing at the corner of her lips, playfully trying to force a smile.

“Why’s my y/n so sad?” He says with a pout, putting on a dramatic voice like he’s talking to a hurt child.

She pushed his hands away, trying to look annoyed but failing miserably, not being able to control the smile that follows her laugh.

“Well I’m sorry, my best friend just dropped a bomb that he has some mystery woman he’d follow to the ends of the earth. I guess I’m just a piece of moldy bread to you now, huh? I’ve been replaced.”

She overplays her sadness, saying it dramatically, but truthfully deep down a part of her is hurting at the thought.

His hands have moved to the side of her face.

“Come on now y/n, you’re supposed to be the smart one.”

She places her own hands on his, turning her head to the side slightly in question.

“Oh my god y/n,” he laughs, “are you going to make me say it?”

She remains silent, her face reflecting her deeper confusion, wondering what he was on about. She honestly felt like she had missed something, feeling like he had moved on to a whole new topic all together.

“It’s you, you big dummy!” He exclaims, shaking her a bit to emphasize his point.

Suddenly y/n is shocked and embarrassed, moving her head down, trying to hide from JJ’s gaze.

He laughs again and pulls her in, “I would never leave you y/n. You’re stuck with me.”

She doesn’t reply, but she doesn’t need to, instead, she lets him tuck her into his chest. Her eyes land on that locket of his, and she can’t stop her fingers from playing with the charm.

Then suddenly his hand is running up her arm and grabbing hers.

“Why don’t you just ask already?” He says and she immediately freezes. “I know you want to know.”

She still doesn’t say anything but she shrugs her shoulders a bit. Yes, y/n was dying to know what was in the locket but part of her also felt it was an unspoken line that she shouldn’t cross. It was Kiara that had given it to him, so it was probably something that meant a lot to the two of them, and she didn’t want to pry at their relationship.

Of course, he would tell her if she asked but she never let herself.

“Just open it y/n.”

She looks up at him, still hesitant. But the look on his face reassures her, so she pinches open the locket and immediately smiles when she sees the photo inside. That photo from that fourth of July all those years ago, sitting with his mom on the banket, marshmallow all over his face. She can’t help the bittersweet tears that prick at her eyes, thinking about all that JJ had accomplished, and wishing more than anything that his mother had been there to see it.

Then silently JJ reaches up and opens the locket the rest of the way, and when y/n sees the photo on the other side it feels like all the air has been sucked out of her. It’s a photo of him and her from when they were little, looking like it’s from the same night. There they were, standing next to each other with wide eyes and beaming smiles, sparklers in hand. Trails of light surrounded the sparklers, the children unable to keep them still.

And that was when y/n knew. She knew that it would always be the two of them, somehow and someway. She knew that she would go wherever he wanted or needed to go at the drop of a hat and that he too would follow her without hesitation. And most of all she knew she was lucky. She knew how lucky she was to have someone like JJ in her life.

She closes the locket with tears in her eyes, and rests her palm on his chest, feeling his heart beat wildly. When she finally looks up she sees him tearing up too. She reaches up and wraps her arms around him, holding onto him tightly and he does the same.

“I love you JJ.”

He squeezes her tighter for a moment.

“I love you too y/n.”

And maybe the words meant more to both of them. It seemed like over the years that the lines between loving platonically and loving romantically had blurred. Best friends, soulmates, twin flames, they were always something to each other. But the one thing that they did know was that they had time. They had so much time to figure it out and neither were in a rush to figure it out. What they were now was good, who were they to question it?

TWENTY-TWO

sweet tea in the summer, cross my heart won’t tell no other, and though i can’t recall your face i still got love for you, pack your dolls and a sweater, we’ll move to india forever … passed down like folk songs our love last so long

It’s Friday night and the Fourth of July. y/n has been cleaning the apartment all day, needing everything to be perfect. Everyone lived busy lives now, but they were coming tonight to celebrate. She even decorated. A few balloons tied to chairs and red, white, and blue streamers hanging from the doorway.

She hears the front door opening but doesn’t look up from the counter she was wiping down.

“Are you still cleaning? It’s just the pogues y/n, relax.”

“I know,” She says, folding the last blanket and placing it on the edge of the couch “I just want it to be nice. It’s all going to be so different soon.”

There’s a beat of silence and a bittersweet tension hanging in the air.

“Why are you home so late?” She asks, changing the subject quickly.

He lifts the grocery bag in his hand, “beer” he says simply.

She rolls her eyes. “JJ, we have plenty of beer.”

She starts walking towards the kitchen and JJ trails behind her, pulling the pack of beer out of the bag.

“Oh y/n, you can never have too much beer.” He places the pack in the fridge and then starts taking out a few more items.

“Plus, we can’t do the fourth without our favorite.”

She smiles at the contents on the counter, “how could I forget the s’mores?”

JJ turns back to her and puts his hands on her shoulders.

“Because you’re in overdrive, and stressing yourself out. Go take a nap before they get here. You’ve been up all day and I know you had a late night, you’re tired.”

“No, I was going to make some snacks and -” She protests.

“You don’t need to make anything, Kie said she’s bringing dinner from The Wreck.”

“Well, what about the fireworks?”

“John B has it covered”

“What about -”

JJ cuts her off again, “everything is done y/n, we’re ready for tonight. Go rest.”

She pulls him in, wrapping her arms around him.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

She looks up at him, admiring him for a moment. It was something she caught herself doing often, and if he noticed he never commented on it.

College had been kind to JJ. Once he got a handle on it he thrived in the freedom of it. They were coming up on a year since graduation, and JJ had since shed his childlike habits. He was still himself, the light of the party and loud and still sometimes impulsive but underneath it all, he was a man now. It was evident in the way he carried himself now, broader and more confident. He took his life seriously and was happy to do so.

She smiles up at him, “I’ll take a nap if you come with me.” And when she looks at him with those eyes of hers, JJ simply cannot resist.

“Okay, come on.”

They walk over to the couch, JJ picks up the blanket and unravels it before laying down.

“JJ! I just folded that.” She says, slightly irritated but laying down nearly on top of him anyways.

He only rolls his eyes at the comment, dropping the blanket over them and wrapping his arms around her, y/n melting into him as soon as he does.

Minutes of silence pass, and JJ thinks she’s fallen asleep until she speaks up.

“Are we sure about this?”

“y/n, we’ve spent months talking about this. I promise you we’re doing the right thing, okay?”

She sighs, knowing deep down that he was right, so she lets herself relax and catch up on the much-needed sleep.

-------

Hours later and the night has finally begun. They’re all sitting in the living room, chatting. JJ and y/n exchange a look, and they know it’s time.

“Alright guys, we have something to tell you all.” Her smile is spreading, but she still turns to JJ for reassurance. He takes her hand in his and the pair turn back to the group.

“We’re moving.” They both spit out at the same time.

The other four drop their mouths in shock, it wasn’t the news they thought they were getting, but it was still enough of a bomb to catch them completely off guard.

But the speechless shock only lasts a brief moment before they start bombarding the pair with questions.

“Okay, okay!” y/n shouts, trying to calm all the voices talking over each other.

“San Francisco, California. That’s where we’re going. I got a job offer and JJ found a few places hiring where he can teach surfing lessons.”

Kiara and Sarah are nearly jumping from excitement, pulling her into a hug.

“y/n, that’s amazing!”

“Congrats, baby!”

“When do you have to be there?”

y/n’s smile drops and she pulls away.

“Well, that's the thing…” She starts, glancing towards JJ again, and that’s when he steps in.

“Our lease for here is up at the end of this month anyway …”

“You’re moving across the country in less than a month?”

“We didn’t think it was going to move this fast but things just seemed to line up that way…”

...

After the excitement and explanation, they’ve migrated into two separate groups, the boys still lingering in the living room.

“So that’s not the announcement we thought we were getting tonight,” Pope says, nudging JJ.

JJ looks at him confused, “what do you mean?” He asks.

“He means,” John starts, sitting up, “when are you gonna ask y/n to marry you?”

JJ nearly chokes on his drink at that, even spitting a bit of it out.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” He asks, “we’re not even dating.”

The other two glance at each other for a moment before back at him.

“What?”

“What?” The other two echo back, just as confused.

“And I thought two of my best friends moving across the country was going to be the biggest news of the night,” John says, taking a swig from his beer.

“What have you two been doing the past five years then?” Pope asks.

“We’re just … She’s my best friend, you guys know that.”

“But aren’t you guys more than that?” John asks. “You know, you could have told us you’ve been dating since high school and we’d believe it. You really aren’t together?”

JJ shakes his head, trying to explain what he doesn’t fully understand himself.

“No, not like that. We’re just… we’re JJ and y/n. Like we’ve always been.”

The other two share a small laugh.

“What?” The blonde asks.

“It was never JJ and y/n,” Pope answers. “It was always jjandy/n.”

“Have you guys really never?” He pries. “... At all? Anything? This whole time? Have you talked about it ever?” Pope continues as JJ shakes his head.

“No… we haven’t, we’ve never had to. I just know I’m always going to have her, and she’s always going to have me. We’ve never questioned or talked about how or in what way.”

“But what are you going to do if she meets someone? If you meet someone? Will you move out? Do you two even know how to function without the other?” Pope spits the questions out at a rapid-fire, genuinely curious.

“Of course, we can function without each other, we aren’t codependent.” JJ sighs, taking a breath, “I don’t know what’s going to happen if we meet people, we’ve never had that problem. She’s never mentioned guys past a hook up so I don’t know.”

“And what about you? What if you meet a girl?”

“I don’t know! Good god, what’s with the third degree?”

“You’ve seriously never thought about the future?” John presses.

“Not in, that sense I guess.”

“Okay, here, close your eyes. Don’t give me that look, come on just close them.”

JJ rolls his eyes but does as he’s asked.

“Okay, now, imagine yourself five, maybe even ten years from now. What do you see?”

“I don’t know… I just - I just see y/n.”

…

In the kitchen, Kiara and Sarah are giving y/n a similarly hard time, although it seems to be phasing her a little less.

“You know we totally thought the two of you were going to tell us that you were finally engaged, right?”

y/n rolls her eyes at Sarah, jumping up onto the counter to sit, “I’ve told you guys, we aren’t even dating. I don’t know where you keep getting that.”

“Still?” Sarah nearly shouts, “You guys still aren’t dating?”

“Ha!” Kiara cuts in before y/n can reply, “You owe me ten bucks.”

“Oh, so you guys are betting on us now?”

“Sarah’s betting.” Kiara says, “I’m making a profit.”

The other two are still standing, leaning against the counter inches away from y/n.

“What have the two of you been doing this whole time?” Sarah starts asking. “I thought for sure after we graduated college the two of you would finally get together.”

“They’re their own thing, Sarah, I keep trying to tell you.”

“But you guys are basically together, aren’t you? Is it just a ‘we don’t want to put a label on it’ thing?” Sarah presses.

“No, we aren’t together romantically at all. As I’ve said, I don’t know why it’s so shocking to everyone whenever I remind you.”

“But do you want to be?” Kiara asks, shifting the tone of the conversation a bit.

“I don’t know.” She says quietly, thinking it over.

“I mean, Sarah is right you guys have been together for, well your whole lives really. You guys are moving across the country together. The two of you are pretty much starting your lives together. What if he brings someone home? What if you meet someone?”

y/n just shrugs, starting to feel the tingling of emotions.

“To be honest with you, I don’t like to think about it. I mean I’ve dated here and there, and I know JJ has too but it never became anything serious for either of us.”

That day on the beach all those years ago had been enough to hold her over. The thought of always being together in some way, but now that they were getting older and a new part of life was starting, would that hold true?

“I just know I want him in my life.” She continues, “I mean, I think part of me always did think that maybe we’d end up together but… I don’t know I just, I guess I just want to make sure we’re together because we want to be, not because we’re all we’ve ever known. Sometimes I get scared that we’re holding each other back, that there’s something or someone we’re missing out on.”

She looks back up at the two girls, shaking her head at her emotions that seem to be building up.

“But most of all I just want him to be happy you know? I need to be prepared if it’s not with me. I guess I don’t know. I don’t even know what I’m saying.”

Sarah places a hand on y/n’s shoulder comfortingly.

“No, we get it. I think a lot of this is just anxiety from the move, from this big life change coming up. I can tell you, the one thing that’s never going to change is you and JJ. You guys are absolutely not holding each other back. Trust me, one of us would have said something if we were worried.”

“You can’t see it from the outside.” Kiara jumps in. “It’s not always bad to have someone like you have JJ. Never once have either of you held each other back. You’ve always brought out the best in him and he’s always brought out the best in you.”

“You really think so?” She asks, looking between the both of them.

They both nod, pulling the girl into a group hug best they can, just as the boys are walking back in from the living room.

“Hey!” JJ immediately shouts, walking over to the three girls. “Which one of you made my y/n cry?”

Sarah wordlessly moves from her side and next to Kiara, making space next to y/n for JJ to slide into, sending a look to Kiara at the words my y/n while doing so.

“Kiara was telling me a story about work.” y/n says quickly. “You know how I get about the turtles.”

“Oh yes,” He says, lifting a hand and wiping away the few tears, “that would explain it.”

“What about you boys?” She asks, nodding at Pope and John as well, “What were you all gossiping about, huh?”

“John was telling me all about the fireworks he brought. You ready to go light ‘em up?”

She jumps down from the counter excitedly.

“Yes, let’s go!” She says, grabbing the large plate that contained chocolate and graham crackers in one hand and a large bag of marshmallows and skewers in the other.

The rest of them follow the pair out, watching as JJ takes the plate from y/n so she doesn’t have her hands full.

“Okay,” Sarah says, “I’d put money on a year from now.”

“Oh my god, Sarah,” Kiara says, giving her a playful shove.

The rest of the night is good, y/n makes sure to take a moment to let it sink in, all their smiles and all their laughs.

They set off fireworks, and sparklers, throw poppers at each other’s feet, watch the boys run from one another with roman candles in hand, and JJ and y/n eat their weight in s’mores. The night runs longer than intended, especially since the girls decided to bring the alcohol back out.

Finally, long after the night has settled and everyone has lingered for as long as they can, the group starts to say goodbye to each other. Dishes and trash are brought back inside, excess fireworks and belongings collected, and goodbyes dragged out until JJ and y/n are left in their apartment.

y/n lets out a long sigh, feeling the night and the drinks and the reality of them leaving catch up to her. It felt a lot more real now that they had told their closest friends.

JJ notices her lingering by the door and tugs her gently on the arm.

“Hey, you wanna sleep with me tonight?”

She nods silently, a grateful smile on her lips.

“Go change and meet me in there, okay?”

She moves a little bit slower than usual, weighed down by exhaustion, doing the bare minimum to get ready for bed, simply changing her clothes and brushing her teeth lazily before pulling her hair up and walking to JJ’s room.

He’s just climbing into bed and she follows without hesitation, curling into him. She thinks about how easy it is with JJ, or maybe natural is the better word. Everything just is with him.

He notices the way she’s holding his hand tightly and to her chest.

“Hey,” he starts softly, “you know if … if you’re second guessing this whole move, just say it and we’ll stay. Or… just tell me and I’ll stay.”

“No,” she says quickly, holding him even tighter now. “It’s not that…” She pauses, trying to gather her words and her courage.

“It’s just, you know that I love you, right? But do you know that I love you?”

JJ thinks he can’t breathe and worries for a second that his heart beating as fast as it is can’t be healthy. He wonders for a moment if he’s already fallen asleep and if this is all just a dream.

Because this is the moment he’s been waiting for his whole life.

“I’m starting my life with you. Moving all the way across the country… away from our home, our family, and our best friends. But the thing is, as hard as I know it’s going to be … I don’t care. Because I’ll be with you, JJ. I’ll have you. I don’t want anything else. Anyone else. I never have.”

It’s more of a confirmation than anything else.

There’s a moment of silence, and she holds her breath. Then another, while JJ tries to find his words. His mind races, processing her precious words. Pieces of their life together flash through his mind.

He’s crying before he can stop himself, overwhelmed.

“Just… come here.” He says desperately, pulling her in and locking her into his hold.

“You’re going to make me cry.” She says, muffled in his chest.

If it was anyone else, maybe the tears would be alarming. She would’ve read the situation differently, and taken it as a rejection.

But it was JJ. And tonight is more of a confirmation than a confession.

He pulls her even closer, tightens his grip in hopes of emphasizing his words, and just how much he means it.

“I never told you outright, but you had to have known, right?… that it was always going to be you? I’ve never been good with my words but I hope I’ve shown you. I hope you’ve felt it this whole time. How important you are to me. How much I love you.”

She escapes his grip, pulling away only so she can see his face.

“I have never felt anything but loved by you JJ.”

And then JJ blacks out he thinks. Or maybe it was just a mind-numbing rush of adrenaline. Or maybe it was natural instinct that had been lying dormant this whole time, just waiting for the right moment.

Because one second he was staring at her glossy eyes, and the next his lips had found hers.

Finally.

It’s soft and slightly desperate, dizzying and intoxicating.

A sensation that both of them had been the feeling they had simply been waiting for their whole lives.

They only break away to relieve the burning in their lungs.

“Say it,” she begs softly, a little out of breath and a little drunk on JJ.

His mind is in a haze, a smile still adorning his lips as he tries to get back to hers. “I love you.”

“No,” She says, pulling on him to get as close as possible, “the other one. Tell me again.”

He doesn’t even hesitate, knowing what she means in an instant.

“You’re my Saturn, y/n.”

She smiles into his chest, “again.”

His hand finds her cheek, guiding her face to look up at him.

“You are my Saturn.”

“Never stop saying it?”

He kisses her again, then pulls her back into his side, tucking her into the spot that she’s always belonged in.

“Never.”

#jj maybank #jj maybank oneshot #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank x you #jj maybank angst #outer banks oneshot #obx fanfiction #outer banks fic #jj maybank fanfiction #jj maybank fic #jj maybank x y/n #outer banks netflix #outer banks fanfiction #obx 3 #obx season 3 #outer banks season 3 #songfic #taylor swift seven

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greynatomy · 8 months

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call ups and disappointment

kristie mewis x reader

Last world cup fic! I actually completed something from my inbox! Good job, me!

Also, how do people come up with good titles cause I am horrible at those and writing endings. Very different.

Let me know what you think!

-grey

(Strawberry Kisses has been stuck in my head)

———

You’re currently in bed, not having gotten up yet, surfing through all of your subscriptions to see what show or movie catches your eye.

Your girlfriend still in your shared bathroom getting ready to do nothing with you. It’s both of your day offs and what better way to spend it than doing nothing with the one that you love.

“Did you find something interesting?” Kristie says, joining you back in bed.

“Lucifer? We haven’t watched the new season.”

“Yeah I’m down.”

You click on the show and cuddle into her, your head resting on her stomach. Halfway through the episode, a phone rings. Kristie picks both phone up.

“It’s Vlatko.” She says, handing you your phone.

“Hey, coach. What’s up? Uh huh. Yeah. Of course. Thank you. See you soon, bye.”

“What was it.”

“Guess who’s going to the world cup baby? This girl!” You point both your thumbs towards yourself.

“OHMYGOD! Baby! I’m so proud of you.” You wrap your arms around her waist, lifting her up and spinning her around. Seconds later, Kristie’s phone rings.

“It’s Vlatko!”

“Answer it!”

“Hey, coach. Yeah. Oh, of course. I can’t wait. Bye.” Kristie hangs up and turns to you. “Guess who’s joining you at the world cup? This girl!” She says, copying your earlier actions.

“I’m so proud of you!” You grab the sides of her face and pull her into a very passionate kiss.

“I’m proud of us. We get to go to the world cup together!”

“Yeah baby!”

———

The world cup was tough. It’s not going as we planned. We’ve got four stars over our crest, wanting to make it five, but everything that go wrong is going wrong.

The plays aren’t working, people aren’t connecting, the head coach is making stupid decisions on who should play. This isn’t going as we want it to go and we disappointed our country once we’ve been eliminated.

You were on your knees, bent over ti the grass, devastated by the elimination. You don’t realize someone sat down next to you until a hand fins itself on your back.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“You did the best your could.” Kristie pulls you into her for a tight embrace.

“Yeah.”

“We got another in four years. Lots of room for improvement.”

“Yeah. Thank you.” You pull her onto your lap, her legs going around your waist. “I love you.”

“Not possible cause if I remember correctly m, I love you more.”

#woso x reader #uswnt x reader #woso imagines #uswnt #woso #uswnt imagines #greynatomy #kristie mewis #kristie mewis imagines #kristie mewis x reader

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nexility-sims · 5 months

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𝐍𝐎. 𝟐 ❛ 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐦𝐚 ❜ | VARIOUS LOCATIONS, DECEMBER 1990

❧ 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 / 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭.

❛ Leonor lay awake most of the night, but her mother visited the dream permitted by a fitful couple hours of sleep. This dream, hazy and running with color, was not quite a nightmare. Still, fear seized Leonor’s body—not as she is, but as she was. Safya lounged on the sand and watched while she called for her. ' Mama. Mama. Mama! ' The day was sunny and serene. Gently, the water moved around Leonor’s shoulders. Waves crashed inaudibly. The dream silenced everything except the sea breeze, her jackrabbiting heartbeat, and the child’s voice she did not recognize but understood to be her own. She wasn't afraid of going underwater. What she feared was how her mother’s unchanging and unseeing smile lingered even as she sank beneath the surface. Leonor awoke, her cheeks dry but salted, to cry again.

𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 & 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭 ↓

❧ i've had a version of this drafted for months, but i revised it this week because i finally dreamt of my grandma. it was bittersweet. in a way, the fact that my past self envisioned this scene was prescient ... revisiting it now helped me. ♥️

Dreams had power in Uspana. Like caves, they possessed a thinness that allowed one to perceive, to touch, the underworld. Dreams took on a special power in death's aftermath. They carried messages. Relatives waited, mad with grief, to be visited in them by the lost. Some such dreams were fantastical journeys. Some were nightmares. Others meandered through ambiguity. Worse than any nightmare was no dream at all—to be abandoned, as it were. Leonor’s death dream came to her before her mother’s funeral. She could acknowledge it was a blessing to be contacted so soon, but the message was unclear. Through the haze that dreams became as they turned to memories, she recalled her mother’s indifference. It made her heart ache. Safya would have given her life for any of her children; they all believed that without reservation. Yet, had she not sat on the beach, massaging sunscreen into her skin, gazing out as her firstborn succumbed to a watery death?

Leonor squeezed her eyes shut as confusion burst into pain.

Mama had dreamed of drowning.

Mama had died in the water, struggling and spluttering and suffocating.

How would her mother, whose good faith was bottomless, have interpreted the dream? The better question was what she would have wanted to say. This was what Leonor contemplated as she held herself and shook with sobs. Although her dream self felt only abandonment and fear, she had gone to bed already caught in that undertow. The initial glimpse of her mother’s face gripped her heart, and in the dream she wanted to only watch her. Safya’s travel painting set was at her side. On her hand, she wore the first of several rings Rodrigo bought her. This one had been her favorite. Mateo played in the sand nearby, and Safya leapt to her feet periodically to slather him with her sunscreen. Gil was unborn, but he was there, too.

The details were like colors on a canvas, coming together as the portrait of a day Leonor remembered well. She recalled waving to her mother from the water. How adult she had felt, having been allowed to swim out so far by herself ! Safya usually denied the request. That day, she told her in no uncertain terms: “I trust you, but be safe.” Then Leonor was running, feet flying so fast that her heels barely sunk into the sand, arms out like a seagull's wings, laughing like mad, into the frothing surf.

“Mama. Mama. Mama!” she soon shouted with triumphant impatience.

Safya’s grin had been wide and toothy and anything but indifferent.

TRANSCRIPT:

[L] Mama?

[L] Mama! Please …

[L] Mama—!

[L] Mama!

{Sobbing}

#ts4 story #ts4 royalty #sims 4 story #sims 4 royalty #ts4 royal legacy #ts4 royal family #royal sims #sims 4 royal story #sims 4 royal legacy #1992.story.post #1992.ep01 #1992.a1

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ashisgreedy · 8 months

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Garreth's Gareer AU HCs

Written By @finalgirllx and @greedyforgarreth simultaneously.

Headcannon's of Garreth Weasley in different careers!

(These start out serious but we became delirious over time writing this. They devolve into… well, you will see.)

This was not edited. Cheers!

Baker

"Weasley's Confections"

He comes home smelling like sugar every day

He always has flour or frosting in his hair

He'd always bring home a sweet for you

He'd write your names on the little sweets

He's always brainstorming new cake-decorating ideas

He'd always try out new flavor combinations, leading to a very messy kitchen!

He has his own frosting line

during the holidays he has you come and assist him in helping customers in his little shop

During Christmas, you and he dress up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus to decorate cookies with kids

He holds a cake-baking class every once in a while for the community

Chef

He’s a personal caterer, with a small team

He puts on a little show as he cooks for small parties

He has signature dishes he makes that are unique to his catering business

He definitely has a roster of corny jokes for the occasion

His favorite clients are small bachelorette parties and groups of older ladies because he loves how energetic they are and they laugh at his corny jokes.

Unbuttons his chefs coat throughout the evening for bachelorette parties

“I'm having a pasta-tively great time”

He would have a volunteer come up for silly demonstrations - how to crack an egg

He hosts his own booth at food festivals to help market is personal business

Zookeeper

Robert Irwin vibes - Always educating people on animals

He loves helping with the petting zoos!

Passionate about preservation of the species and holds educational classes for nearby schools.

His favorite animal would be an iguana

He definitely gives away stuffed animals from the gift shop!

Wears a khaki uniform at all times in the zoo

When he’s not in that - he’s in animal patterns and Hawaiian shirts.

As a side hobby, he surfs to raise money for ocean animals

He’d definitely buy environmentally friendly items at all times

Airline pilot

Mile high club a million times

Has dated all the stewardesses

Has a mask kink.

Falls asleep almost immediately after the plane takes off

“GARRETH! THE PLANE HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER!”

Yoga Instructor

Holds instructional classes for business people during their lunch hour.

He’s insanely flexible, and shows it off

Knows his butt gets a lot of attendees

He wears silly headbands

Specializes in Hot Yoga classes

Would have the corniest playlist

His best friend Leander is the Zumba instructor

He also teaches the occasional water aerobics

Takes his yoga knowledge into the bedroom

Wedding planner (morally corrupt)

Really pays attention to the needs of the fiancees…wink

Makes sure to attach his personal cell phone..wink

“Does he know what colors you’d like for the wedding? Or does he not listen to you as well as I could…” wink

Turns cake tasting erotic, feeding the fiancee a cake bite in front of her fiance… wink

He helps put the garter on the bride, slowly… wink

He offers you private dance lessons before the big day…wink

Ruins your dress before the husband gets the chance…wink

Shows you the ring he would have gotten for you instead (It’s much better).

Actually listens to you (unlike your fiance)...wink

Firefighter

You met when he carried you out of a burning building..sexily

He saves your kitten and gives it an oxygen mask until it’s lively again.

He pushes you out of the way of a falling burning ceiling

He lets you wear his helmet to calm you down. (He tells you how silly you look and it helps)

He single-handedly prevented a train collision and explosion in the center of the city

Sexy arms, covered in soot, and he takes off his jacket and you lick him up

He’s the one that carries the massive axe that busts through walls.

"Is this the firehouse? Because you've got me feeling the heat."

Him sliding down the pole during an emergency *Eyes emoji*

Massage therapist

His massages take ages because he makes sure to work out EVERY knot you have before you get off his table.

“Oh my dear, you sure are a little tense, aren’t you? Let’s fix that.”

Love the hot rocks, “ooh, a little hot” whenever he uses them

He gives all kinds of facials for his dedicated clients

If you get really, really horny during the massage, he says he’ll give you a “happy ending” but really it's just a clap of his hands and a smile.

He plays “Happy” by Pharell Williams at the end of every massage

Sometimes he’ll offer a bonus technique where he steps on the client

His spa music is just hip hop and rap songs turned into gentle melodies.

Detective

The clue is in your panties~

If you’re a threesome, he and the other suggest “split up and look for clues” aka your holes.

When he’s feeling goofy he’ll bring a magnifying glass to your pussy. “I don’t need this, I already know where the clit is!”

The hat stays on during sex.

Handcuffs. Nuff said.

He makes the outline of a body on the floor with painters tape and fucks you in that position.

He asks you questions during sex like “Where were you at 11:34 PM Monday evening?” “Do you have an alibi?” “What crimes have you committed?” “Can you please state your full name and contact information?” “Your childhood street address?”

He makes you hold his badge up to him during sex.

He smokes his cigar after.

Lifeguard

Diving into that… wink.

Speedos all day, every day.

He is super happy to carry a whistle with him all day.

He would’ve saved Ash that one time.

He wouldn’t have let finalgirllx fall into that lake on her bike.

He smells like coconut from the sunscreen

Sand *everywhere* “Got some sandy buttcheeks there!”

When he runs, his pecs bounce.

Really enjoys the maritime accuracy of Spongebob Squarepants

Very proud of his CPR certification.

Driving instructor

Bends you over the seat and fucks you to make sure the leather of the seat cushion is durable.

Makes you sit on his lap and it causes the horn to honk. He doesn’t mind <3

“I wanna ride.”

Pretends to honk the horn, but really he’s just squeezing your breasts.

Fingers you while you parallel park to make sure you really know what you're doing.

“Red means stop, green means go.” But this is your safe word instead.

Is very passionate about turn signals and will yell at you if you forget to use it. Drivers safety biotch

"Do you believe in love at first drive, or should I take you for another spin?"

Kindergarten teacher

Fucks all the single moms.

He is excellent with kids and really enjoys providing them a foundation for a bright future ahead of them.

Has a breaking and entering kink.

His favorite craft to do with the children is making flowers out of tissue paper. He loves seeing the look on the parent's faces when they gift it.

Has a mask kink.

“Baby Shark” is banned from the classroom.

Enjoys macaroni art.

He has a talking stick that he’s very strict about using.

Loves having the students draw him and he puts every single one on the walls of the classroom.

Meteorologist

There are lots of memes of him online.

“It’ll be wet out this evening, and I’m not just talking about you, ladies.” Gets fired immediately

Becomes an at home meteorologist that says suggestive things about the news on his lives.

More popular than any news station in the entire world.

Part times as a camboy. Uses the same channel.

Sticks his ass out a bit when he points to the green screen. That he somehow has one at his house.

Instagram polls asking what he should wear during his next live.

“It’s gonna be cold, ladies! Don’t wear your bras!” …wink

His camboy name is “Weather Boy” and he makes people call him that professionally as well.

The front of his business card is for meteorology and the back is his camboy persona.

Musician

Very good with his fingers.

The Weasley Wigouts - his band name!

Picks a new genre for every album, he likes to switch it up. Makes for some very confusing tours.

Tongue piercing.

Has a tramp stamp tattoo on his lower back of Professor Sharp.

Got his start on Soundcloud.

Calls his fangirls his “Weasley Sluts!”

Orders Subway for lunch for the band every day.

Grew his hair out longer so he can headbang with it, even during soft songs.

Manbun Garreth era!

Science teacher

Really looks up to Bill Nye.

Wears a lab coat everywhere.

Always flirts with the math teachers.

Loves the volcano experiments more than anything.

He gets wayyyy too hyped about the science fair. “It’s next week! Don’t forget!” and the students groan.

Always has granola bars and hot chocolate stocked in case any student is hungry.

Never sends any of his students to detention. He takes them aside and just says “Come on, man…”

When teaching a chapter on biology and reproduction, he yells at the students to “AVERT YOUR EYES!” and dramatically covers his own.

"What did the biologist wear to impress their date? Designer genes!"

Has a tattoo on his chest that says “The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.”

Voice over artist

Gets his start in English dubs of hentai.

He has a small role as an NPC in Hogwarts Legacy. Guess who!

Loves voice acting for the Elder Scrolls series.

Will do raps for his fans on live, as much as 15 songs.

Can sing and has a small youtube video with cover songs he loves.

His most popular cover is of “Sugar, We’re Going Down,” by Fall Out Boy.

Treats BookTok to sexy ASMR from time to time.

Florist

Knows all the meanings to all the flowers in his shop.

Wants to fuck you on a flower bed.

Really loves blue flowers (I don’t know the names of flowers).

He obsesses over flower arrangements and makes them look perfect!

Always has dirt on his face and under his nails.

"If kisses were petals, I'd give you a garden."

Has a mask kink.

Will arrange all of the flowers for his own wedding.

Loves to roleplay as Ghostface with his partner.

Always smells fantastic.

Likes to put a flower behind his ear when he’s working.

#garreth weasley #hogwarts legacy #Do we apologize? no #we were in a google doc and just went to town lol!#we were completely sober making this if you can believe it 💀

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cevansbrat0007 · 1 year

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The Green Light: Teaser

Summary: Teaser. Andy is over the moon when you finally get the green light to be intimate again after the birth of your babies. But how do you explain to him that you're not quite comfortable with your post-pregnancy body just yet?

Warnings: Smut, Husband Andy Barber, Daddy Kink, Insecure Reader, Post-Pregnancy Body, Discussions of Intimacy, Cursing, Minors DNI

A/N: Full story coming soon! Prompt courtesy of an anonymous reader. Part of my ongoing Growing Pains Series. Warnings subject to change. All mistakes are my own. Please let me know your thoughts!

___

You wait to check your phone until after your appointment is over and you're safely back in your car.

2 Missed Calls - Andy Bear

3 New Texts - Andy Bear

Andy Bear: Hey, baby girl. How’d the appointment go? Did we get the all clear?

Andy Bear: Can you answer your phone, please? I want to hear your sweet voice when you tell me the good news.

Andy Bear: C'mon! You’ve got me dancing on pins and needles right now. Call me.

You shake your head and then dial your man. He answers on the second ring.

“There you are, sweetness! I was starting to get worried there for a moment.” The genuine concern in his voice has you playfully rolling your eyes.

“Relax, Andy. Sometimes these appointments can take a while. It doesn’t mean anything is wrong, Dr. Wilson is just being thorough.” You check your appearance in the rearview mirror, noting that the bags under your eyes seem to look better than they have in days. “That’s part of the reason he’s been my OBGYN for so long, because he’s good at what he does.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. He’s great.” You know he's not being dismissive on purpose, it’s just that he’s chomping at the bit to hear one key piece of information. “How’s your little body? Did we get the green light?”

Ahh, and there it was. Sometimes Andrew Barber was like a dog with a fucking bone. And only your husband would refer to your body as being “little” when you were still walking around sporting maternity wear.

“I’ve been cleared for all physical activity. Which means I can finally start working out again and –”

“Fuck, yeah we did!” He cheers into the receiver, loud enough to make you wince. “Alright, baby girl, that settles it. BiBi and KitCat are going to my sister’s for a sleepover and the twins will stay at grandma’s. Meanwhile, I’m gonna leave the office early to pick us up some dinner. How about we celebrate with some surf and turf?”

“Oh my god, Andrew! We are not leaving our two newborns at your mother’s house for the night. That’s too much!”

“What if she already said yes?” You have no doubt that your unrepentant husband is smiling hard enough to crack a tooth right about now.

“You didn’t.” Your head drops to the steering wheel with a light thunk.

“Oh, I did.” The sound of an eager chuckle spills across the other line. “Ma and Bill are happy to keep Rory and Junior. She said you left them with enough formula and diapers to get ‘em through and that she, and I quote, would be positively heartbroken if you deprived her of time with her precious new grandchildren.”

“Andy…I don’t know…” As tempting as the thought of a night of uninterrupted slumber was, you were on the fence about being away from your precious babies for that long.

RoRo needed to be rocked to sleep, while A.J. needed you to pat his little tush and bounce him just so. And they both needed approximately 1,375 kisses every five minutes, otherwise they got fussy.

“You must really want a good night’s sleep, huh, Big Man?”

“Baby, when I get my hands on you, I promise that sleeping will be the last thing on both of our minds. Now, I’ve gotta run. But I’ll see you home around 4:00pm.”

“Andy…”

How did you tell your husband that you weren’t really feeling your post-pregnancy body right now? You’d even taken to changing in the bathroom lately. Thankfully he hadn’t seemed to notice that increasingly bad habit of yours…

At least not yet. But it was only a matter of time.

“Hush, sweetness. You just let Daddy take care of everything, okay? I’ve been dreaming of this day for almost two months now, and I plan to take my time loving all over every inch of your delectable body. And what’s more, you’re going to let me.” You can practically feel your nipples pebbling beneath the fabric of your shirt.

God, how did he always manage to sound so sexy when he was telling you what to do? Handsome ass buttface!

“I’ve gotta head into this meeting, but in the meantime, get some rest. You’re gonna need it.”

“Yeah, okay, sure.” You respond with a resigned sigh. “I…I guess I’ll see you when you get home then.”

“Damn right. Can’t wait to lose myself between those luscious thighs.” Andy rasps with a slightly roughened edge to his tone. “It’s been way too long since I’ve had a taste…”

Oh good God…and it had been way too long since you had to deal with beard burn. At this point, you’d almost forgotten about what it felt like.

“Bye, Andy Bear.”

"Goodbye, little love.”

END TEASER

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dozing-marshmallow · 9 months

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A BURNING STAR- Chris McLean x Reader

The beginning

Success was a funny thing. Are people born to it or do they make it themselves? Do they burn from the pressure to blow up when least expected or are they sealed under the skin, like of a woman, who walks down the pavement like the normal?

Lightning bolt earrings and pink silk scarf, it had been another wonderful day for (Y/N) at the studio. Though it did cut into some of her studying time as a nineteen year old, nothing threaded life in her veins faster than tying her salmon shoelaces to head out for a morning of singing. Summer was especially motivating, every step surfing like a symphony, where she’d hoped that year she’d find a bigger reason to separate her curtains further.

Passing by the usual shops and crossing the correct roads, a ringing noise builds its way into (Y/N)’s ears, which was not part of everyday. She pauses, not sensing pain, merely strangeness. A make belief she first had was that it came from her place of work, however discovered it to be way up ahead. Naturally, she skipped towards it and clocked what it was- a guitar and...singing. Where was it coming from though? The by passers around her weren’t fazed at all, was she the only one that could hear it? Distant, but longing...

It wouldn’t hurt to get a closer listen, right? Aw what the heck, she had nothing better to do anyway.

So she went, crossing the unusual roads and passing by uncertain shops, finding herself in an alley where the ringing had diverted absolutely into a higher volume of outside music and synchronised voices. She was very close. One more turn and she would practically find the source.

But she didn’t want that. It sounds like...a boy band, in the middle of a song. Their young baritones enhanced melodiously by a bass and a hitting drum set. Bar lines meant for a rhythmic dream girl, she’d feel not only flustered, but guilty if they found a stranger getting nosey and messed up their performance because of it. Oh, the awkwardness.

Hence why, she peered around the grimy wall as discreetly as she could, and what does she know, it’s exactly as she thought.

I stand against the wall, waiting for you to ask me to dance, my heart is in your hands!

It was quite a thing to come across on a typical day of travelling home. There were four of them, one that proved her attention to bass and another proving the presence of a set of drums true, with the other two being the core singers. Whether it was an instrument, a microphone or a drumstick they held in their hand, all of them had stage presence in a place that lacked quite technically that, with a choreography that flowed very smoothly with the tempo. Even the sun was amazed that the quartet was pulling off a song in a dodgy passageway where anything of nature could happen, through its selected support to fall its gold upon them, ethereal, magical. And while the judgement of the golden yolk that hanged above them was justified, (Y/N) couldn’t help but center her attention around one of the singers, the one with black hair and a clean face...only because he...was also wearing something plaid, a flannel, red too, alike her dress, her nice cozy dress. As he finishes his note, he brings his view down from the sky and presumably reopens his eyes where he freestyles around for this segment, the very man she had been gazing at catches sight of her hem that naturally pulls him into making eye contact with her.

Oh, uh...! Dang it! Just what I...! Before the warmth of exposure took full effect, she snapped the trance and quickly walked off as though she hadn’t come the particular way to feed her curiosity. She didn’t remember the route being this long...

That vaporised to the least of her concerns when a moving silhouette of a tower dashed towards her from the side. Needless to say, when the light spontaneously disappeared, her mind flashed the worst possible thing to sight, may have jumped or ga-

“My bad,” The thing had spoken.

Huh? She turned around and visibly gasped:

It was that singer?,“Didn’t mean to scare ya, my fault for not making myself known earlier.” He advanced, ironically owning a speaking voice shyer than his consuming shadow sprawling on the ground.

(Y/N) remains silent to take in his figure, now that she was watching from a closer distance. His messy black hair mahogany in the sunlight, ripped grey jeans that were a bit too big for his ankles, right arm used to bear a transducer behind his head, stumbling in continuation,“I...noticed you watching our performance...and I wanted to hear what you thought about it. (This is also my first time meeting a fan!). Sorry, if this was sudden.” The second to last part was mainly for himself, but she’s glad it was external.

Makes it easier to clear up the misunderstanding,“Oh, no... I’m the one that should be sorry. I could have distracted you. I...was just curious.” She had never been more thankful for sunshine,”The music was really nice, so I wanted to check out where it was coming from. I didn’t mean to look for that long.”

But the male wasn’t insulted,”Ohh, I know where you’re coming from. Don’t worry, I wasn’t distracted,” He stops to look at her,“...I know it’s not conventional, having a guy talk to you in a place like this, but if you don’t have anything else to do... Want to talk for a little bit?”

Though he was well built and looked marginally older than her, (Y/N) didn’t have any alarms swirling in her stomach; the sun did flow well on his red, a shade of rose rather than blood.

“Uh...” she hastily looks to the side, not realising that alternative shortcut from whence he came upon her first arrival,“Sure!”

“Really? Alright then!” He was acceptive of both choices?,“And don’t worry about the others coming in on us, they all go home the other way.”

“G-Gotcha!” Isn’t it wonderful that he who she laid eyes on was he who came for her?

Nothing like a sunny afternoon with a singing stranger surrounded by brick walls dried with graffiti.

“So, do you always come here for rehearsals?” She asked, sitting up next to him on the recycling bin, closing the lid beforehand.

“Nah. We kinda did just start, so we haven’t done this kind of practice in a public setting like this before. Normally, we’d go to one of our garages.” His silver ear piercing aligned similarly to his teeth.

“Makes sense. What’s the name of this band?”

“We’re Fametown!” His response great with energy.

“Okay Fametown. What kind of genre do you make? Love songs?” She teasingly presumed.

His hand immediately slaps onto the side of his neck, sheepishly confirming it. Aw, who knew! “It may sound cliche, but with the talent of all the other guys in the band, we’ll get a record deal sooner or later!”

That’s the spirit of a fellow singer she likes to hear! The more belief you have in yourself, the sooner you’ll reach your goal!... Albeit, to (Y/N)’s disappointment, the other supposed singer in the alley didn’t reciprocate her enthusiasm,“Actually about that...” he begins, shifting closer to her in means to whisper as though he wanted nobody else to hear,”Don’t tell my other bandmates about this...but I’m actually not all that big about singing.”

“Really?” She blinks. With a voice like that, it was hard to believe he lacked passion.

He nods,”It sounds deceiving, but... I just... I really want to be famous. And singing to me is one way where I can be guaranteed fame, even if, I’m not sure if it’s what I like.”

I see. She had to hold in her sigh. Just when she thought she found an opportunity to connect and befriend another musically inclined soul. At least he was honest with himself,“Then...maybe, if it’s not what you like, you should quit. You can get famous by doing anything nowadays, especially if you love it.”

“Quit?” He repeated, as though it was a bleak suggestion. Man, he wasn’t giving (Y/N) a lot to work with,”But... I want to give it more time to see if it’ll grow onto me. If not, then I totally will.”

What does this man like otherwise?

He looks away with sparkles in his dark eyes,“I’d love to get into acting again...maybe even start my own show!”

“You acted before?” She smiles, interested. Had she accidentally stumbled upon a hidden celebrity?

With that asked, he blew up with excitement,“Uh huh!” He rapidly nods at the same speed as his enjoyment in the conversation,”You know that talking cats movie from about a year ago? I played a huge role in that one!” Almost as though it wasn’t often.

Maybe (Y/N) knew why after hearing his description,“Really?” He wasn’t talking about that movie, was he-

“Yeah, one of many! You know CATostrophes?”

...Yep. He was talking about that movie. The one everyone kept making fun of back in tenth grade... She decided to keep that part to herself.

“Ohhhh! It was you who made that! Wow!” Her false smile slowly returning sincere. Sure, it was terrible- so terrible, it’s funny,“Who knew I’d get to meet the...star of that movie?” Hidden was a lot more appropriate.

“And who knew I’d get to meet such a beauty after my rehearsal?“ He winked, causing her to playfully roll her eyes,“I plan on getting into another, maybe a sports movie!”

“A sports movie?” She repeated in puzzlement, not realising how much correlation there was,”I guess boys like their sports... Are you in any clubs?”

“Back when I was in high school. Are you?” He rapidly redirects the question as though it was a topic he wanted to avoid.

“Just coaching for singing.” She hummed dully. It was only fair.

“Oh, right... How long you been singing for?”

For some reason, she wasn’t expecting him to ask an organic question, so it was relieving that the instinct was false,“Since I was younger, like thirteen.”

“Oh wow... Yeah, you for sure are more passionate than I am...” he sways his feet back and forth,“Did you need to pay for coaching?”

What kind of question is that? Still, she answered calmly,“Normally, you’d need to pay about two hundred dollars monthly, but because my high school provided it as an option, it was free until I left, where my teacher was kind enough to reduce it to fifty dollars.”

“Impressive...” he commented, genuinely intrigued.

How come? Didn’t he go to at least one voice coaching lesson before joining this band?

He was reeled from his admiration,“Not really... Unless bandmates count.”

“Mm,” She’d give the benefit of the doubt,“Relying on the feedback of your bandmates isn’t necessarily advisable for constructive criticism. But you know what, there are lots of singers from around the world that are self taught, like uh...Elvis Presley.”

“Elvis Presley is a generous comparison...” he added, in a way that spoke incomplete attention, not long after he checks his watch,“I better get going now.” he leaps off the bin,“Does the lady want to exchange landline numbers? No pressure, I enjoyed the conversation.”

“Sure! You seem like a pretty good guuuy...” she dragged out as though trying to recall what his name was. When connected the dots, the man face palms.

“Oh, how forgetful am I! I’m Chris. Chris McLean.”

Has a nice ring to it,“(Y/N) (L/N),” she smiled.

“(Y/N) (L/N)?!” He suddenly jumped back in disbelief,“You’re...that singer (Y/N) (L/N)?”

“Surprised?” She didn’t think it was a big deal.

“O-Of course... I lis- Would it really be okay to get your number...?” Aww!

She isn’t that light!,“Why wouldn’t it!” She fishes out a paper from her handbag to give him, seeming that the contact of it cured him of his shock.

Now over the plot twist, he quickly scans over it and grins at her as a result,“You...just had it on your person?”

She vertically waves her hand,“Oh please! I always carry my landline number on me in case I happen to find a groovy man with a voice as hot as the sun! Nah, I wrote it beforehand.”

“Soooo you were planning on giving it to me way before I asked?” He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

“Don’t get the wrong idea.” She firmly averred.

He gives a light chuckle, then extracted a receipt and a pen from his interior pocket. He looks around for a surface to write it on and ended up leaning over the bin. Two steps ahead in memory.

“Have you given your landline number to a girl before, by any chance?” She smirked as he scribbled it down. From this angle, his attire suited the bricks perfectly.

“Sure I have! To chicks from high school, chicks from the streets...” Straightening his posture, he gives the crimped complete paper to her in exchange,”Call me soon alright?”

“Desperate?” Her smirk not fading. Did he say that to all the others?

“No! Not at all. Just...let me know when you get back home.”

“Sure will.” She made sure he watched her slip it into her purse.

And she did and had herself, twirling the wire and kicking feet in the air, marking meet ups with him on her neglected calendar and lyrics in their flesh. Her house had never felt so empty while her hand was the furthest thing from that. She never would’ve guessed that this relationship she composed with a dreaming guy from an alley would get serious, but despite all these dates and growing intimacy, she never let the case of being another simple chick from the street in his eyes fade from her mind. But their frequent visits and very little mention of other girl names, soon morphed into a question of What made her so special?

“Double doubles are my favourite!” The musician exclaimed, having a jolly sip. Here, they were much more civilised, with napkins on their laps and paying lunch. (Y/N) wasn’t wearing a dress this time around, rather baggy jeans, similar to what Chris had on.

“Meh, soy lattes are way better.” The former one claimed with less spirit, drinking from said preference while sitting in front of her.

“So! You left your band?” She put out in reminder, twirling her fork around her spaghetti.

“Yep, and it was for the best. You should’ve seen how ticked off they were! I mean, I gave it my best shot and that’s how they react? Unbelievable!” He scoffed, gesticulating with knife in hand,“Whatever, I don’t care about them anymore. I’ll find new people, way more awesome than them. And that starts off with a new dream.”

By this time, he had hair prickling all over the lower half of his face and took sensible measures with the hair on his head; gel was never let out of his cabinets again.

“Yeah! Like the badminton movie you landed! And you got the lead role? Doooope!”

“I hope you can be the first one to see it!” He points excitedly.

“Aw, I absolutely will!” Red coloured her cheeks,“You should come around soon you know.”

“Heck yeah I will!” He chimed, slipping a forkful of food into his mouth,”After I’m done filming, there’ll be plenty of time for us to hang out... I still can’t believe I’m talking to someone as cool as you.”

“Aw, give yourself more credit, Chris! You were the one that took the chance to start talking to me.” Her eyes gleamed in its beautiful (E/C),“Could we go to the ice cream palor first? It’ll be so fun!”

“Who am I to reject that? Unless I don’t feel like it that day.”

Only makes sense! It’s his movie they’ll be celebrating after all. He lets her know she has a coffee stain on the corner of her lip, and she’s warm, not from humiliation, but from the enrapture. The pink, purple aura of this diner really did fit with what was starting to sweeten the air- their desserts, of course!

Not only that, (Y/N) would realise, finding herself cooing, a year or so later, to the same ambitious man, tugging onto his collars one day,“You’re as handsome as ever... That stubble looks great on you.”

“What doesn’t!” He twitted, before kissing the tip of her nose.

Chris was now investing time in his show, alongside the adoption of a signature necklace tied around his flawless neck- meanwhile, (Y/N) had finished college and debated on whether university had her best interest or not; she was already doing well with music, and whatever money she would have had was mostly reserved for the apartment they rented together anyhow. Call it a wild decision, to move in with a guy she met in an alley and hasn’t known him for the same amount of time it takes one to be a sixth grader to graduating as a senior, but who cares! It was bound to happen, finding their primary strength relying on that neither of them had ever met one like the other before. It was only a matter of time before her honeysuckle chorus was made real.

“Alright!” He cleared his throat, finger pointing upwards,”Today marks the day of the pilot episode of my cooking show, Keep it Plain with Chris McLean!”

“What dish did you make for it?” She had faith it would be mind blowing, something she hadn’t heard bef-

“White rice!”

“Just that?” ...She didn’t think he meant it literally.

“Before you go all judge-y, hear me out!” Now that he stopped singing, his voice was at liberty all the more,“I have to start off basic and simple, then I can make my way towards more complicated dishes, like lasagna and poutine!”

She’s a bit doubtful of his way of thinking, but didn’t want it to get in the way of her ability to support him,”Alright! Just...please be careful. I did have to pull strings with the company to make this possible, so if this fails, it also looks bad on me.”

“You worry too much, baby! Just leave it to me, I know what I’m doing!”

...

“A show about watching paint dry would be more entertaining than this.”

“Worst twenty minutes of my life!”

“Did he already run out of ideas to make WHITE RICE?”

“Desperation at its finest.”

“If that’s what he chose to make for the first episode, I don’t even want to know what he’ll make next. Hot water? Peeled potatoes?”

“It was okay, nothing too particularly exciting, but something my grandpa liked.”

“Even my mom with dementia knows how to cook better rice than this weirdo.”

“I just know someone got food poisoning listening to this.”

“He didn’t even mention seasoning... Yeah, I wouldn’t ever let this guy come into my kitchen, eh?”

“You know the show is doomed when your sister that wants to be a chef turns the tv off whenever this comes on.”

“Sorry man, but this really wasn’t a good way to introduce your show.”

“Honestly, reading all of these reviews on one hand makes me relieved that I’m not the only one who thought this show was embarrassing for McLean, but on the other hand, I feel bad for him.”

“He’d be better off as a commentator because what was this recipe?”

“Just stay an actor, no one wants to see you cook.”

“Man makes dish everyone and their babies know how to make! Yay!”

It hadn’t even been a month since his first episode aired. Shame graced on one harder than a swinging bat. Switching her sight back and forth between the letter and Chris’ reaction, (Y/N) saw the love he had for his show burn. The paper gradually twitched in his hands as more time passed where they should’ve by now reached the final nail in the coffin on how the show would permanently be removed from the network’s listing. He had never seemed so close to tears.

People can be so horrible.

“Chris...don’t listen-“

“It’s fine.” He bitterly interrupts, scrunching the acidic letter up into a sphere,”They just don’t know true art. None of them do. An artist is never understood in their era.”

“Hey... You’re not okay. Let’s go outside, to the park, okay? I’ll grab a few things we’ll need.”

“Whatever!” Without warning, he yelled, hurling the ball of humiliation to the floor with (Y/N) watching from a frightened frame,”It’s just like how people reacted to my first film! Nothing was ever good enough! I am so done with them! What in the name of television standards do they want? I’ve tried everything! Everything!” He was dangerously close to ripping his hair out.

Lord! She didn’t expect him to suddenly lash out! She needed a minute to recollect her senses.

Once regained, (Y/N) carefully rubbed his back,“That’s why, we’re going to take a break from people.”

A sulking man and a thoughtful woman. For a sunshine day like this, (Y/N) was surprised there wasn’t a lot of families outside especially from the area they lived in. Though, it was probably because it was a working weekday, so she didn’t really pay mind to how empty it was, aside from the ordinary dog walkers.

“You think I’m some sort of kid?” Chris murmured, trailing behind.

That got her attention,“What makes you say that?” he gestured gloomily behind her- the unused climbing frame, set of swings and roundabout that had lived there longer than they had was all the answer she needed,”Huh? You think I chose this park so you can go on the monkey swings? I mean, we can if you want to. Though we’ll have to do it before we eat.” She wiggles her finger,”Can’t have you feeling sick!”

“I’m good... Let’s just find a spot already.” He proposed morose, hands still stuffed in his pockets, obvious that the sunshine hadn’t brightened his mood yet.

“Hm... How about you pick it, dear?”

He seemed taken aback, but soon accepted the idea by taking a hand out to pinpoint one, near a hill, absent of sheltering trees. Not a typical spot, you could remark, but it was the spot he chose in the land of countless spaces and that was enough for her to beam and approach while watching him slowly come out from under the raincloud.

She set the blanket down and followed him to the ground.

“How did you have all this ready?” He asks, watching her take out a different variety from her basket to the blanket.

“I went shopping yesterday. I was hoping this could’ve been a celebration of your new show... But you know what, let’s still make that happen, while add it on as a way to cheer you up.” She takes out a bottle filled with red liquid,”I noticed you’ve been drinking tomato juice a lot more recently. So I made special note to buy that. Don’t drink anything right from the bottle, I brought cups.”

“Thank you, (Y/N)...” he lets out, watching his finger stroke the body of the bottle,”Y’know, I feel like I barely pay attention to you anymore.”

“Don’t feel that way.” She didn’t want him to be in an even worse state,“Sure, it’s...true. But you’re not doing it on purpose. You had a script to memorise, and you were the host.”

“I know that...but seeing how people are reacting to it, maybe I’m not fit to be on TV, so I feel like I wasted time even bothering when I coulda just been with you.”

A frown collapsed on her lips,“If you really don’t feel like hosting again because you don’t think it’s what you’re made for, I’m in full support of that, not because of a few negative comments. You’ll get those no matter what you do, in any business. Don’t let other people decide what you can and can’t do.”

“But that’s the thing, I need other people’s opinions, don’t I, (Y/N)?” Whether he intended it or not, his interpretation addressed like ice,”I need people to watch me, to have their eyes on me, to give me the worthy name. I need people to praise my work, to praise me. I need the world to go to the stars.”

“Oh Chris...” she responds, rocking her head to him. Besides from occasional pauses of tomato juice, Chris hadn’t touched any of the food,”You can’t make everyone happy. And maybe there were more people that liked your show than you think, but the radio station only decided to include the negative parts in the letter. Besides, you did achieve some of that reputation, didn’t you? Like from your badminton movie you did?”

“A big mediocrity that could’ve gone a lot better...” he was quick to counteract,“The storyline, the setting, the other themes... No wonder why you don’t hear people begging for a sequel like Child’s Play…” he grouches, relying the weight of his ponderous face on his knees,“I’m hopeless. Absolutely hopeless. Is there any point bothering anymore, (Y/N)? Maybe I’m not meant to be famous...”

“My love…don’t say that.” She couldn’t eat after hearing that. Was that really how he thought? The clouds won’t go away easily, will they?,“I think you might just need to breathe…and accept the outcome of your cooking show. All the successful people you admire was in your position once...even I was. They pour their time and heart into something, but still witness it not getting as popular as they wanted.” She scooted closer to him,“Tell me, do you have a passion for cooking?”

He gives a thoughtful glance,“Well... I guess I’m okay at it, but it’s not something I can imagine doing for the rest of my life.”

Figures! She knew from that pace he didn’t,“Now, let me ask you. If it’s not what you’re passionate about, why did you start a show on it?”

“I guess... It just seemed easy. Truth is, I still don’t know what it is I exactly want to do, so I figured if singing or acting wasn’t my feel, I could try hosting. And cooking shows seemed good enough to suck up for... I didn’t think people would see through the pretend if I had thought more about the joy of being famous rather than...” He trailed off, appearing to ingest the messy thought process behind it...

There. She sits up, after leaving a gentle kiss on his cheek,“See? That was the root of your failure. There was nothing wrong with your charisma nor you in general, Chris, but don’t undermine your audience- they can tell if you’re doing something that doesn’t come natural to you. There’s the bigger absence of soul, and we all know what atmosphere a dead body sets. Hearing that you didn’t like it to begin with, I’m honestly happy that it failed. Imagine if it blew up and you were stuck doing it for months, years, just for reputation sake? Why make a misery out of your life when you can be famous for something you love instead?” She takes a munch of her sandwich,”In other words, yes, there is a point bothering. Remember what I said? You can be famous by doing anything. There’s no point wasting it on something that just happened to be convenient. You just have to reflect, hosting, what kind of show do you want to host? Acting, what genre do you want to star in?”

Chris doesn’t respond right away. For a second, (Y/N)’s stomach drops as though she had said the wrong thing- taking sight of the expression knitted on his face, however, she found that it wasn’t the case of searching for a verbal answer to give her- but an answer to himself. In spite of his eyes already being the darkest colour possible, a wide range of heavy thoughts had glimmered from his strange brain in them, taking her word of reflection to the next level extremely.

For what felt like an hour of listening to the wind whistling and strands of hair dancing, the epiphany (Y/N) casted on him was alas put to rest as Chris drops his body onto her lap, groaning,“I’ll think more about it later... Right now, I...think I really just need to take my mind of it.” Guess he realised he had tried exploring so many methods at once, he had forgotten to use himself as the starting point.

Warmly, she locates her accepting arms around him,“Hang in there, baby. Your time will come along.”

After that, Chris got a lot more attention. Better attention, from other actors, singers, producers. He never told her what he did that led to it. Whether he used (Y/N)’s connections or found some of his own, it worked, and now, smiling had never been more permanent on his face.

A pink balloon to her wrist, (Y/N) hopped in circles on their carpet. Even their Venus flytrap was greener for happiness was alive and well, evident by Chris’ current calls for his sweetheart one day, the ecstatic voice followed by rushing footsteps, the more it repeated, the closer it would seem he’s gotten to her, racing with a grand smile carved in his face. Before the woman at urgent request could verbalise, he gripped onto her waist to swing her off her feet out of this pure excitement,”I got it, I got it, I got it! I got the job!”

Who could not have smiled at such an act?! This along with what he said was definitely a time of good news!

“Woooo! Where, Chris, where?!” She laughed with him as he put her back down.

“Hosting! I’m going to be hosting a brand new reality tv show!” He announced, hand to chest, the words flying out faster than he can think them.

Oh my God.

Her eyes widened.

This really was a miracle.

“Oh my God!” she squealed recklessly loud, her go to tighten her arms around him,”That’s incredible Chris! Oh I’m so proud of you!” No wonder why he was so happy! He was going to have a second chance at one of the best positions in the industry!

“Thank you, (Y/N)! This is totally going to be my breakthrough! No way I’ll get fired now! And...” his voice tones down for a crucial confession,“I want you to be part of it.”

“Huh, me? Meeee? Lil old me?” she had caught her own wide smile, letting go of him.

“Uh, yes! I can’t have you in the shadows when there’s the whole world to shine for!” He explained as though it was obvious.

“Ohhh I don’t know...” the beloved lady puts a considering finger on the side of her face,“I won’t be as good as you with being on live television, and... Well, I want you to be the centre of it all, not me by accident.”

“Ohohoho...” he laughs, lightly squeezing her face,“Don’t worry, you for sure won’t be stealing my spotlight. Come on... It’ll mean the world to me! And it’ll be my way of saying thank you for believing in me. Pleaaaaaaaaase?” He grasped his hands together in front of his face.

“Hmm...” What was really stopping her? She had the confidence for it and she’d get to really celebrate Chris’ success on landing such a good job by being a part of it,”Alright! If it’s for you, then absolutely! How should I apply?”

“Apply?” The soon to be host with the most repeated, confusion narrowing his beautiful features, before cracking up at such inquiry,”I already signed you up! It was actually the producers’ idea to get someone like you on the show!” He puts his hands forwards, cracking knuckles, no going back,”Prepare for showbiz Y/N, cuz we’re in for the ride of fame!”

#tdi #tdi x reader #td chris #td chris mclean x reader #chris mclean #chris mclean x reader #total drama island chris #total drama island #total drama #total drama chris mclean

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mythicamagic · 10 months

Text

Purple tremors: a Xiaolumi fanfic (Genshin Impact) ~ Chapter one ~

Summary: Xiao's expression shuttered, before his fingers curled to clasp her hand equally tight. He stepped in close as if to hide her inside his shadow.

"Give your body over to me. The wind will take you. Nothing will hurt you while we travel."

Aka: Xiao finds an injured Lumine on a beach in Liyue after her encounter with the Raiden Shogun.

---

AN: I've been playing Genshin for two months so I haven't completed every main quest yet- hopefully I don't make too many lore mistakes (go easy on me!) I just really love this ship's potential.

Rated M for some mild suggestive themes. Read on Ao3 - here.

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There is a beach she likes to walk across in Liyue. Intimate and hushed like a lover’s rendezvous point, it lies South-East of Wangshu Inn; perfect for a quick glide from the inn's Waypoint if one felt like letting the wind comb through their hair.

Tonight she took off her heels and wandered barefoot over the white sands of Yaoguang Shoal. It slumbered quiet and undisturbed at night. Whatever Hilichurls or enemies that usually prowled the shores were absent or sleeping at the foot of the cliffs, posing no threat.

Closing weary eyes, Lumine tilted her chin up to the cool, gentle fingers of a sea breeze. It ruffled her hair playfully, briefly inspiring a half smile when it reminded her of Venti. Mondstadt and all its residents felt so very far away right then. Even as she walked in Liyue, her mind was back in Inuzuma.

Lumine watched with a kind of detached awareness as surf climbed up to tease her toes, eventually swallowing her ankles in cool rolling waters with each new push and pull of the tide.

Her fingers shook, and she curled them into loose, trembling fists, tightening a thin shawl around her shoulders that Thoma had given her. The sea looked so tranquil at night, kissed with tender moonlight. She envied its calm and serenity.

Paimon had been left behind at Komore Teahouse, taking a much-needed rest. Lumine absorbed the heavy silence left in her wake. Sometimes the floating spitfire's constant presence could feel a little exhausting, but most of the time Lumine was eternally grateful for her chatter. Because without Paimon everything stopped. The ceaseless unending quiet and nothingness threatened to pull her in with the force of a yawning void.

Aether…

Another twinge, this time like needles in her shoulder- bit deep. Lumine hissed out a tight breath, touching her tender arm. The skin felt raw and fragile, as if it could split open at the slightest scrape. She could handle pain if it meant being one step closer to finding her brother, but lately…it had all felt exceedingly hopeless. A goal constantly out of reach. She was becoming fatigued by straining for it.

Her lips thinned and bent down at the sides. Soon they trembled. Her hand began shaking again, fingers jolting from tiny spasms. Lumine wasn't sure she could command them to lie still this time. The ringing in her ears was only just beginning to subside.

"It's unusual to find you alone."

Sucking in a sharp breath, Lumine turned. She hadn't sensed anyone in the area, but that wouldn't do much good when trying to locate-

"Xiao," she murmured, taken aback.

He stood a little ways away on the beach, arms folded. Something hard was in his eyes, the luminous yellow flicking over her face quickly, as if concerned.

Lumine faced the ocean once more, hoping to hide her expression. "What are you doing here? It's late."

"Adepti don't require the same amount of sleep mortals do," his curt, even tone reached her ears. As she listened, she picked up on the soft crunch of footfalls upon the sand. "If you're going to chide someone about staying out late, I can think of a better candidate. You look as though you need rest far more than I do."

"Hm, is that your way of telling me I look awful?" she quipped.

"No, never."

When Lumine glanced at him next, she found him closer than expected. His gaze was direct and serious, until he seemed to realise how the fervor in his words might be taken.

"That is to say- you seem tired. More than tired, honestly," he uttered, stepping closer. "Are you alright?"

They were side by side now, a respectable distance between their arms. Lumines skin cried out for contact despite the pain it would probably bring.

There are a thousand things Lumine wants to say. She's surprised he's here and wants to ask about it. Xiao never approached her first. She always called him, and he'd respond. A request and an acceptance. Always- without fail, he’d appear, no matter how busy he may be. It was in those moments she felt his kindness most keenly.

"More than tired sounds pretty accurate for what I'm feeling right now." She forced a smile, pretending to watch the ocean's horizon with her full attention. The silence felt so loud as she waited for him to speak, wanting it. Wanting the soft, solemn cadence of his voice.

"…I might not be the best at conversation," he muttered, a faint rumble in his tone that belied his awkwardness. "But if you want to talk I will listen."

She didn't miss a beat. "I'm fine."

Xiao just stared at her, that intense air about him softening with each passing moment. His brows pulled together briefly, before he sighed. "Lying to an adeptus. I'm sure there must be some kind of karmic punishment for that."

Lumine’s lips pressed into a thin line. Her eyes stung. Everything ached. "Karmic punishment? I think the Archons can dish out punishment personally rather than waiting for karma to do their bidding."

She could feel his ageless attention settling on her again. "Is this about the Raiden Shogun?"

Lumine couldn't hide her flinch. She turned to face him fully, unable to hide her reaction. How did he know? She’d mentioned she’d be heading for Inuzuma but that was the last time they’d spoken.

Xiao watched her pensively for a moment longer before gesturing to her shoulders. Something firm and hard entered his usually calm tone.

"You're trembling. Show me your wounds, Lumine. Now."

"I'm f-"

"Enough," he growled, their faces inches away now. Xiao's lashes were dark yet tinged with teal, just like his hair. Lumine started as he grabbed her by the shawl. "I never took you for a fool that would ignore their own condition if they were injured."

"Xiao, hey-!"

She'd wanted to stop him, had grabbed his arm too late. Her shoulders sang with relief against the cool night air in contrast to Xiao's sharp inhale. The shawl pooled at her ankles.

His own hands trembled the longer he gazed at the damage painting her back with multiple branching marks. Lightning burns wrapped around her bare shoulders, the unique pattern of skin lesions feathered into tree-like splinters that shot down her spine, hinting at the true level of damage her flesh had endured. The red, angry marks disappeared under her backless dress.

The shore began to blur, becoming a murky mix of blended colours as Lumines eyes stung. Hot droplets ran down her cheeks- only to be halted by rough material.

Xiao shifted his fingers, wiping the tears away with rough, awkward scrubs. Lumine blinked, her heart constricting at the gesture.

He looked grim, yet understanding. There was nothing damning inside those eyes despite the punishment he administered to foes. There was only acceptance. For these reasons, Lumine was eternally thankful no one else had found her in such a state. She stifled a sob, bowing her head and trying not to lose it.

"Come with me," Xiao muttered. His hand was offered more gently this time. "I don't know what happened and won't insist you tell me. Still, the fact remains: you need those wounds taken care of," gloved fingers softly nudged hers. "You can admire the views of Liyue some other time. Come."

At his third gentle prompt to take his hand, Lumine internally mused that Xiao had never acted so insistent before. Really though, he needn't have worried about dressing up the offer.

Lumine would always accept his hand.

She took it, cradling it tightly between both of her own like a lifeline.

His expression shuttered, before his fingers curled to clasp her hand equally tight. He stepped in close as if to hide her inside his shadow.

"Give your body over to me. The wind will take you. Nothing will hurt you while we travel."

Xiao was obviously not considering the fact that Lumine had put herself through pain just getting to the beach from Inuzuma’s waypoint, and so fully accepted the idea of experience more just to get to a safe place. She bit her lip briefly, finally inclining her head and admitting defeat. “Alright,” she murmured quietly.

Gusts of gentle winds swept blonde hair back from her face. The air currents gradually picked up into strong gales beneath her feet, lifting her body. Lumine felt herself be cushioned, spirited along via the currents and bursts of air- carrying her right across the waters like a skipping stone until they strengthened, lifting her to new heights above jagged stones. Xiao was a constant presence at her side, occasionally brandishing his spear to guide the winds, but mostly following with quick bursts of speed mid-air. Adeptus energy wrapped around her like a tender embrace.

True to his word, Xiao ensured she didn’t feel an ounce of discomfort. It wasn't long before she glimpsed the tall outline of Wangshu Inn looming closer.

Instead of dropping her off as expected in her guest room that Verr Goldet had picked out for her and Paimon once upon a time, Xiao lifted a hand and unglamoured a previously hidden floor at the inn. Lumine watched with wide eyes as he stepped down onto the highest floor’s balcony, weakening the winds buffering her body to stay afloat until she eventually lowered completely- falling right into his waiting arms. Lumine stiffened, but not for the reasons he likely thought.

“We’re almost there, hang on,” Xiao muttered, guilt passing briefly over his face as he carried her further into the unknown floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck and marvelled at the foreign feeling. She wasn’t used to being carried by anyone. The sense of closeness that body heat provided made her hunger for something inexplicable. She didn’t know what she was feeling: only that she suddenly didn’t want to let go. Feathery strands of dark hair tickled her arms as they tightened, looped around his neck. Lumine looked around to busy herself, spotting a bed and several shelves of books as they moved into a private room. Shattered spears lined up against a wall, discarded.

“I’ve never seen your room before,” she observed a few scattered things lying around, as if he’d been in the middle of sharpening his weapon. “It’s messier than expected for the vigilant yaksha.”

Xiao scoffed. “Why am I not surprised that snooping is your main priority in this situation?”

Despite his words, she glimpsed his lips twitch at the corners.

Lumine let herself be placed onto the soft surface of his bed. Xiao pulled away slightly, and reluctantly, she let her arms naturally fall away- hissing soon after at the white-hot sting of agony the shifting muscles evoked.

Xiao’s brows pulled together. His gloved hand caught her chin, tilting it up so that their gazes met. “This next part isn’t free from risks, but if you do exactly as I say, I can help,” he said, something in his solemn expression faltering- exposing a glimpse of true worry. “Do you trust me?”

She gave a faint nod. There was no hesitation. “With my life.”

“Good. Undress.”

----

TBC

#genshin impact #genshin impact xiao #xiaolumi #lumine genshin impact

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obxone · 1 year

Text

Marmoris (Chapter Four)

Edited-ish. ~1.5k words

Master Page

Kiara’s gaze catches yours after you both step outside into the parking lot. Another afternoon shift is complete, which gives you the early evening hours free to do as you please. The urge to go home, slip into comfy sweats, and pick a good romcom feels like the right thing to do.

“Where are you headed?” She asks.

“Home.”

She tips her head to the side, confusion on her face. “Not the beach party?”

“God no,” you huff with a shake of your head. The thought of spending the evening and into the night with all the kooks, while they get drunk and try to hit on one another, is not as appealing as it used to be. Besides, you were avoiding a certain kook. You fidget with your nails as you hide your face from Kiara’s view. The embarrassment of the schoolboy crush he has for you flaming your face. “Kelce has a crush, and as much as the kook population would love it, I’m not interested, so I’m steering clear until he gets over it.”

She cracks a smile at that. “Why not tell Kelce you aren’t interested?”

“I have.”

“Ah.”

“Yep,” you pop the p as you step off the curb next to your car. “Guess the dead boyfriend grace period is up in his mind.” You deadpan, and her lips part in surprise for a moment.

“I didn’t even realize.”

You shrug before redirecting the conversation. “What about you?”

“I think I might go surfing.”

You smile, she loved surfing.

“Want to come?”

“Kie,” you start as you lean against your car. “I don’t surf. I have no clue how to surf other than a few failed attempts when Kasey and I first started dating, and he insisted on teaching me.”

“I can teach you.” She shrugs. “And that way I’m not alone.”

“Where are the Pogues?”

“I don’t know.”

You smile at her. Being friends again felt nice, and her asking to spend time with you felt even better. “Okay but promise this does not get back to my dad. He’d freak out.”

She frowns then, her dark gaze flickering to your temple. The end of your scar is visible, and you try to be subtle as you reach up to cover the marred skin.

“No one, but us will know.”

“All right,” you grin. “Meet at the beach in thirty? I need to change and make sure they aren’t going to be looking for me.”

“Yep!” She grins. “You’ll need a board, right?”

“Please!” You call, and she gives you a thumbs-up before you split to go your separate ways.

After trading your work clothes for a bikini and checking that no one is looking for you, you head for the favored surfing spot. The drive is short, music filling the car, and the summer air filtering in through the open windows and sunroof. The late afternoon sun feels good against your skin, and you cannot help but truly smile for the first time in what feels like ages.

The trill of phone ringing has you fishing it out of your bag and answering it after seeing Sarah’s name on the screen.

“Hello?”

“Where are you?”

“Driving to the beach to meet Kiara.”

She is quiet for a moment. “Did you guys make up or something?”

“Something,” you respond. You will respect their differences and allow them to make up on their own if that is what they want. “Where are you?”

“At the party. Are you not coming?”

“I said I wasn’t.”

You can tell she is frowning without even needing to be there.

“I haven’t seen you in days.”

“Not my fault, Sis.”

She huffs, and you can picture her pacing away from the party. The faint thrum of music tells you it is already a steady crowd of kooks and maybe some tourists.

“Did you guys go out to Mase?”

“No, we stayed closer to home this time. Which is why you should come!”

“I’m not coming, Sarah,” you sigh, turning onto the road that led to the parking lot of the beach spot. “I’m going… surfing.”

“You’re joking.”

“Nope.” You keep your voice neutral in hopes she will not overreact and potentially spill the secret.

“You are the weirdest sibling ever.”

“You know you love me.” You quip back, and she laughs, which makes you smile. “This stays a secret, promise? Dad would flip if he found out.”

“Promise. I’m not telling. I think it’s great. You need to live again.”

“Thanks, Sarah.” You cannot help but smile now. “See you tonight at home?”

“Sure. Have fun!”

“You too!” You end the call as you turn into the lot. A wider smile spreads across your face. It is going to be a great day.

Kiara is waiting for you in the parking lot. Her long legs swing back and forth as she sits in the back of the Xterra. She smiles as soon as she spots you pulling in. A wave is directed your way before she hops down and starts to pull the straps from the boards secured to the roof of the truck.

“Wait for me,” you whine once you are out of the car and jogging over. “It’s the least I can do.”

You reach for the end of the board as she climbs up higher to get a better hold while you help her lower it. You grab the other one next before she locks the truck, and you both grasp the board.

You smile, relishing the moment of being friends again. “Kiara…”

“Yeah?” She sticks her board in the sand before peeling her tank top off.

“Thanks for being my friend again.”

She smiles, but you do not miss the haunted look behind that smile. “I’m glad we talked. I blamed you for too much of what happened when you were trying to recover and piece yourself back together.”

You smile weakly, Kasey’s face flashing through your mind.

“How has that been?” She asks, her voice softer while she pauses removing her shorts to stare at you. “It’s been just over a year.”

“Thirteen months.” You smile sadly. “It was extremely difficult at first. I almost did not want to be here anymore because of it. I struggled with why I lived, and he didn’t.”

She frowns but lets you continue to talk through the thoughts filling your head.

“The ache never goes away, not really, you just learn to live with it.” You offer, meeting her gaze and trying to fight the burn of tears at the same time. “I miss him. I miss him every day. But I know he would not want me to be in this cage. He’d be so angry if he knew how much I was being shielded.”

“Do you want to be shielded?”

“No,” you whisper. “I want to be free again, but I’m scared at the same time. Getting the job at The Wreck is my first step.”

“This will be your second,” she offers.

“It will be,” you agree. “But I’m so scared. I’m scared to get hurt again.”

Kiara crosses the small distance between you and pulls you into her arms. You hug her back, only realizing the tears have broken free when you see the wet mark they have left on her shoulder.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” you whisper, taking a step back, and wiping at your eyes.

“Hey, no, it’s okay,” she coos as she rubs your shoulder. “Friends are meant to be a shoulder to cry on.”

You smile weakly, drying the last of your tears. “I'm sure the pogues love the idea of you making friends with a kook again."

She laughs, but rolls her shoulders. "They don't care."

You giving her a disbelieving look.

"Okay," she looks away, lips pressing together in a tight line for a moment. "JJ cares."

"Not surprising. I'm sure he told you that we had a run in and it was not pleasant."

"He did."

You frown, looking at your feet. "I was not kind."

"He was not either from what I heard."

A sad smile tugs are your lips. "I just wish he'd realize some of us do not care about this stupid classist bullshit."

"He will eventually."

"Fingers crossed," you mutter, not believe for a second that he would. "We should surf. Being in the ocean fixes everything.”

She grins and nods in agreement before you finish removing your clothes. Once you are down to your favorite green bikini, you grab your board and follow her to the water. You both paddle out, bright smiles on your faces now as the cold water laps at your legs while you straddle your boards.

“How far have your lessons gone?”

“I stood up once but fell after a few seconds.”

She giggles, and you roll your eyes dramatically, making her laugh.

“Alright, I’ll catch one, you watch me, and then you can try, and I’ll see what we are working with.” “Sounds good to me.”

(Chapter Five)

#outer banks #obx #jj maybank #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank x you #obx jj maybank #jj maybank x kook!reader #jj maybank obx #outer banks jj maybank #jj maybank x y/n

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stories-and-chaos · 19 days

Text

Tarnished pt 25

[Helluva Boss AU where Blitzø’s childhood theft from Stolas’ palace is discovered and major consequences ensue for everyone involved.]

[Part 25/?? Word count 1793 Cw: language, addiction]

—————

Present day

Shortly after Dina’s rescue, the logistics of three adult demons living in a one bedroom apartment reared its head. Blitzø could (and did) stay with Stolas but the apartment was still too small. Millie had offered to let one of the girls couch surf, but the Hellhounds didn’t want to be separated again. Blitzø started looking at a bigger place when the issue became moot, if only for a short time.

Dina started showing signs of withdrawal from whatever drugs she’d been using. Twitching, irritable, and unable to eat much. During a lucid period, she confided in her sister. She’d been using more heavily in the short time between spotting Loona and the rescue.

Anyone in need of detox had to be handled with care. Hellhounds especially; they came equipped with their own weaponry. Depending how much they were craving, a Hound coming off of a high could be terrifyingly fast and vicious. Add on years of trauma and it was a bad situation.

Years of experience dodging Hounds and more street scuffles than he could count helped Blitzø avoid the worst of his new daughter’s attacks. Long enough that Loona could grab the scruff of her sister’s neck. Just like with mortal canines, it made Dina relax. The following few minutes were tense as Loona didn’t dare let go until it seemed the worst passed.

Eventually, the smaller girl said, “Loona? You can let go now.” Loona carefully released her hand, ready to grab again. But Dina just slumped to the floor, frustration all over her face. “Fucking hell! I tried so hard not to get hooked, then I fuck up and look what happened!”

Blitzø crouched in front of her. Her fists were pressed against her eyes but he made no move to touch her. A few days had shown everyone her aversion to touch and how she reacted. “Dina, you did what you could to survive. You can’t predict the future.” He paused thoughtfully as she peeked out a bit. “Well, Stolas can, but mostly for realm shaking shit and big fuck off apocalypses. Anyway, ‘s not your fault,” he said firmly.

“And we don’t need Stolas’ fancy ass book to see we need to get you help. I know you girls don’t wanna be apart right now, but if we keep this up we won’t have any furniture to move to a new apartment.” As it was they were down two dining chairs, a side table, five horse pillows and a cowboy devilduckie. “We found a good rehab in Sloth. There’s extended stay for visitors nearby,” he added, before Loona could try to launch herself at him. “Get you checked in, get you through the worst of the detox, and hopefully I’ll have a new apartment lined up for all three of us when you’re ready to check out.”

Dina took a look around the mess her latest rampage had made. At least most of it was shredded pillow stuffing, but it could have been parts of Loona or Blitzø. She agreed to rehab, so long as Loona would be nearby. “Definitely,” Loona said instantly. “A bit more practice and I can portal to I.M.P. for the workday even.”

“But you’ve got your license, Loonie. I’ll loan you the van.”

“Fuck no! I’m not driving that rolling accident all the way to Sloth and back even once! And every day means it’ll probably break down at every Ring in between!” She leveled a glare at the imp. “Speaking of, you better not be planning on driving us there in it.”

“I’m not going to rehab if you wanna use the van,” Dina added. “If I’m doing this, I want to get there in one piece Dad.”

Well shit, Blitzø realized what he was up against with two daughters. They’re gonna outvote me whenever they want huh? He realized that Via would probably join in too, meaning he and Stolas were screwed. He grumbled as he pulled out his phone. “Fine. Will Stolas’ car be sufficient for you ladies?”

“That would be perfect,” Loona replied with equal sarcasm. She packed up enough for a few days. If she was making portals between Rings, getting fresh clothes and what not would be fairly simple. Dina didn’t have much at all yet so she was ready to go long before the car arrived.

The rehab center got Dina into the detox ward as soon as they had her checked in. Meanwhile Loona and Blitzø got a room for her at the extended visitors housing across the street. Dina was allowed her phone and knowing that the other sibling was across the street was calming for both of them.

Blitzø went back to Pride once the girls were settled. He still had to find that new apartment. It took just over a week for Dina to be cleared from detox and move to the general wards. She was also cleared for visitors and Loona was spending most of her off hours with her. Most of Dina’s therapy and group sessions coincided with the general workday; allowing Loona time to portal to Pride and back regularly.

The small Hellhound worked hard on her recovery. She had the unexpected chance to rebuild her life and she wasn’t going to let it slip away. Her drug abuse mostly stemmed from the trauma she’d endured working for Slicker; the main doctor recommended she continue to see a therapist after being released. They also discussed her continued attendance in group therapy sessions.

After six weeks in rehab, Dina was able to go home. Blitzø had rented a two bedroom in Imp City. It wasn’t anything fancy and didn’t look much different than the last one. It did have a slightly bigger main room and the imp took advantage of that to have a pull out mattress couch. Two bedrooms meant Loona and Dina didn’t have to share, which was the main reason for the move.

Dina’s biweekly group sessions were still in Sloth, and Loona created portals for her. Dina was debating if she wanted to study magick as well, but felt her recovery came first. Most days her sister would wait until the session was over; she killed time on her phone in the lobby.

She’d been scrolling through Sinstigram when she heard “Barb Buckzo” hissed by an imp at the check in counter. Her ears twitched at Blitzø’s last name. Looking up from her phone, she saw a female imp berating the sleepy baphomet at the desk. In profile, she looked like her dad’s double. The only differences were feminine curves, the mostly black horns, and lack of scarring.

The woman continued. “Jesus H. Christ, I’ve been coming here for months! Is your memory that shitty you can’t recognize me if I’m here on a different fucking day than usual?” The baphomet continued to blink at her, the gears in his brain slowly turning. “Beezlebub’s tits, I was just here yesterday afternoon you moron. Can you just search my name to check me-“

“Oooooooohhhhhhh, you’re the after lunch girl!” the receptionist finally said. His eyes lit up in recognition before the veil of confusion reappeared. “But it’s morning, you’re not supposed to be around until…after lunch!”

“Yes, you annoying little twat stain, I’m usually here ‘after lunch.’ But the schedule fucking changed because my therapist had her little crotch goblin and now I’m in this group, dealing with reeaaaaaaally incompetent staff members who can’t even handle a patient showing up at a different fucking time of day!” She grabbed the scheduling sheet and jabbed a claw at the relevant entry.

“Oooooooooohhhhh, there you are! Okay I’ll get you all checked in and you’ll be angry morning girl until Dr. Hypna gets back.”

“Holy fucking shit, whatever gets this goddamn appointment going.” She stalked over to the waiting area and noticed Loona. “The fuck are you looking at bitch?” Loona looked the woman up and down before shrugging with the best disinterested expression she could manage. As she went back to her phone she heard “That’s what I fucking thought,” from the imp.

She quickly texted Dina.

Fucking hell, there’s an imp here that’s gotta be related to Dad. She looks and sounds sooooo much like him it’s bizarre as dick.

Srsly? Thought he was pretty unique. Pics?

Can’t, looks like she’s in your group tho. Going back now, should see her soon, don’t freak out

Damn you weren’t kidding! Did someone copy pasta Dad?! Starting group, talk after

Loona did her best to stay calm but she couldn’t help her tail swishing in agitation. Blitzø didn’t talk much about his biological family. She knew they existed and that he hadn’t seen any of them since his sperm donor left him with the Goetia. So finding his female doppelgänger in Sloth was not something the hound ever expected.

After the group ended for the day, the girls had to try extra hard not to look at Barb. The imp tossed the sisters a glare before sauntering off; they headed in another direction. Loona didn’t want to advertise her magickal capabilities all over Hell, so they found a quiet nook between buildings for her to make a portal.

It led them directly into their new living room. It had all the horse kitsch from the old living room with an added shelf for Blitzø’s collection of My Teeny Horsie figurines.

After the portal closed, the girls immediately started talking about the imp woman, stumbling over each other’s sentences. “Holy shit, she’s like his twin, I think she is his twin, she say anything? She mentioned a brother once, fucking Hell, the fuck do we do?” They compared notes but didn’t have much to go off of.

Blitzø arrived that evening with take out for the three of them. “So how’d your days go ladies?” he said around a mouthful of burger.

“Not bad,” Dina said with feigned nonchalance. “Had some new group members; one of the other docs is on maternity leave so they shuffled patients around.”

“Chilled in the waiting room, still working on Stolas’ latest reading assignment.” Loona exchanged a glance with Dina. A round of unspoken communication made of gestures ended with the taller Hound asking, “Hey Blitzø, whatever happened to your imp family? From the circus?”

“Wha, huh?” He swallowed a fry. “Fuck, wish I knew. The whole circus ran off in the night. Heard years later it burned down. My old friend Fizzarolli survived. Dunno what happened to my mom or my twin sister Barb. Don’t care what happened to my dad. Christ on a stick Loonie, why’d you wanna know?”

The Hellhounds shared another look and nodded. Dina answered, “I think your sister is in my therapy group.”

—————

<<First <Prev Next>

#helluva fanfiction #helluva boss #helluva blitzo #helluva au #helluva loona #blitzø #blitzo #barbie wire #loona

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bella-goths-wife · 11 months

Text

Lost daughter au texts

None of this is canon unfortunately I just got bored 😭

Threes a crowd

Faith: are we still on for a date night tonight?

James: no way, tonight’s my night with her

Faith: no way! You had time with her last week

James: she was unconscious for a whole day last week?!

Faith: your point?

James: why do you have to be around so much

Faith: because if I wasn’t you would have killed my girlfriend

James: *my girlfriend

Faith: stop being homophonic James 😒

James: I AM NOT HOMOPHONIC

James: WE ALL KNOW I CARRY THE PROUD TITLE OF BI WIFE ENERGY

Y/n: hey guys, I can’t go with either of you tonight I have plans

Y/n: sorry, love you both. See you tomorrow ❤️

James: who are you going out with?

Faith: answer the question honey

James: she’s leaving us on seen, did we fuck up?

Faith: I’ll make an apology cake, you pick up some flowers and meet me back at the cave by midnight

James: on it!

The family group chat

(Y/n added star)

(Dwayne removed star)

(Y/n added star)

(Marko removed star)

Y/n: can you stop, she’s part of the family too

Star: thank you honey, I just wanted you to all know that I have to cancel our dinner plans tonight

Star: I have to take laddie out instead

Y/n: ….

(Y/n removed star)

Paul: damn, someone’s bitter 😰

Paul: you can hang out with your old man if you want kid 😎

Y/n: I’d rather swallow glass then hangout with you again 😒

Paul: no need to be rude brat 😒

Marko: we could always hang out honey?

Y/n: it’s fine dad, I’ll figure something out

My favourite brother

Y/n: are you gonna be okay tonight?

Laddie: aren’t you coming? 🥺

Y/n: sorry buddy, mom wants it to be just you to tonight

Laddie: pleaseeeee

Y/n: I can’t kiddo, sorry

Laddie: 🥺🥺🥺

Y/n: fine

Y/n: I’ll meet up with the two of you at the boardwalk later

My second family ❤️

Y/n: is it okay if I come over for dinner tonight mrs Emerson?

Lucy: of course dear, and please call me Lucy

Sam: damn don’t you have a family of your own

Lucy: Sam!

Grandpa: you can come over any time you want sweetheart

Sam: don’t invite her in, she’ll never leave!

Grandpa: good, she can stay and you can leave 😒

Y/n: wow, your own grandpa likes me better than you

Y/n: how does that feel Sam?

Sam: shut up

Sam: bring a comic over when you come over tonight

Y/n: will do

Froggy bros 🐸

Y/n: I’m coming to your store tonight

Edgar: does this mean that you’ve finally accepted your fate to kill your vampire overlords and join us

Y/n: actually I just wanted to you to hold onto a comic for me

Edgar: oh, nevermind then 😅

Alan: I told you man, it just doesn’t sound natural in conversation

Y/n: see you later tonight

Alan: see you later, future bloodsucker

idiotic boyfriend ❤️

James: have we upset you?

James: please answer

Y/n: I just need to be alone for a bit

Y/n: I feel a little crowded and I want a little time for myself

James: I’m sorry baby

James: I love you and call me if you need me

James: don’t stay out too late, surf nazis are on the prowl ❤️

Mortal enemies ☠️

James: she’s going out at night, you know the drill

Faith: stalk her

James: no, follow her to make sure she’s safe

Faith: sound better, I’m in

Faith: who is she hanging out with?

James: we’ll find out

David and his goons

David: has anyone seen our child? She’s not in her room

Marko: I thought Paul was meant to be with her?

Paul: I may have gotten distracted

Dwayne: where are you?

Paul: at that hot girl’s apartment

Dwayne: 🤦

Paul: I’m sorry!

Marko: we’ll go looking on the board walk

Dwayne: you and David ask James and faith to see if they know anything

———————————————————————

You groan as you groggily lift you head up at the sound of your phone ringing. You pull yourself up from the comfy bed and look at the screen to find David calling

The ringing stops as soon as you reach the phone and your greeted with a horrifying sight

(12 missed calls from David)

(13 messages from David)

(11 missed calls from Dwayne)

(9 messages from Dwayne)

(27 missed calls from marko)

(21 messages from marko)

(3 missed calls from Paul)

(2 messages from Paul)

(45 missed calls from my angel girl ❤️)

(15 messages from my angel girl ❤️)

(52 missed calls from my idiotic boyfriend ❤️)

(42 messages from my idiotic boyfriend)

You groan as a throbbing headache begins to form. You look around the room and find many empty beer cans and bottles of vodka surrounding the bed.

“You all good?” Michael groaned from the makeshift bed he made for himself on the floor. You jump slightly at his voice

“Why am i in your bed?” You questioned confused “why are you on the floor

“You insisted that we party last night so we went to rhythm kitchen, and it got too much to handle I guess” Michael answered as he rubbed his eyes “and I’m on the floor because not only would your boyfriend kill me, but your fathers would also brutally murder me if they found out we spent the night with me in my bed”

“They know we’re not like that” you reassured with a pat the shoulder “your like a brother”

“I know but I didn’t want you to wake up scared” he reasoned “I know you get anxious when people are in the bed with you sometimes”

“Well I’m not now” you pat the other side of his bed “let’s watch YouTube together until I can sneak out”

Michael shrugged and joined you with on the bed while also maintaining a distance from you. That’s when you heard two other sets of groans.

“Why is it so bright” Edgar winced and covered his eyes as he rose from the foot of the bed

“Close the curtains” Alan whined out as he jumped onto the end of the bed, Edgar quickly joining him. This effectively squished you all together

“When the hell did you two get here?” Michael whisper yelled

“We joined you two after you both fell over and knocked our comic book display down” Alan said calmly

“Not cool bro” Edgar piped up

You just got yourself comfortable when you all heard a knock on the door. Lucy opened it and let herself in before cooing at you all

“You just look so cute” she exclaimed excitedly “I’ve gotta get a picture”

“Mom” Michael groaned in embarrassment

“Oh okay” Lucy sighed “when your ready, I’ve got breakfast waiting for you all downstairs”

“How did you know they were here?” Michael questioned confused

“Your a loud drunk” Lucy laughed before exiting

Sam entered and looked at you all with disgust as you leaned your head on Michael and watched a YouTube deep dive on vampires.

Sam stayed staring at you for a few seconds before you motioned to him

“Wanna join?” You asked with a grin

Sam rolled his eyes before crawling on the bed and barging his way through until he felt comfortable.

It was like five siblings all enjoying each others company without staying anything. Eventually the rest got up to get breakfast

“You coming?” Sam asked annoyed

“One second, I need to message my dad” you explain as you pull your phone back into your hands

The family group chat

Y/n: stayed at Emerson’s last night after bar, be home tonight. Love you ❤️

Marko is typing

David is typing

Paul is typing

Dwayne is typing

You simply shut your phone off and hop off the bed to join the rest for breakfast. Not caring what anyone else says, you wanted to enjoy the peace for a little longer

I have no clue what this is but it’s not canon unfortunately, I just got really bored

Hope you enjoyed

Love ya ❤️

#slashers x reader #lost boys x reader #lost boys x child reader #platonic lost boys x reader #yandere lost boys x reader #poly lost boys x reader #yandere lost boys #dad lost boys #the lost boys #lost boy x reader

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sabyfangirl16 · 11 months

Text

Chapter 1: Surfing

Somewhere in East Malaysia, on a beautiful beach where the Tortuga was parked only a few meters away from the water, the Kratt brothers were having a blast fearlessly riding huge, wild waves on their surfboards; an activity not for the faint of heart.

"Coming through!" Chris cheered, pulling off a successful bottom turn, getting ahead of his brother.

"Oh no, you don't!" Martin enthusiastically let out, getting ready for a frontside snap. "Check this out!" He reached the lip of the wave before pivoting on his fins and snapping back down the face to continue riding.

"Not bad, not bad," Chris praised with a rather sarcastic tone, then went to attempt the same movement with great confidence.

Inside the Tortuga, the brothers could be seen surfing like the mad adventurers that they were by Aviva and Koki on the big screen, both girls laughing at their competitive nature.

"They sure seem to be having fun," Aviva let out a soft laugh.

"You said it," Koki giggled in turn.

Outside, Jimmy was relaxing on his longchair with his sunglasses on and a glass of pineapple juice in hand, enjoying the quietude and peaceful atmosphere. "Ah, nothing like a day on the beach!" He stretched, having a good view of the brothers' surfing competition.

After a couple more surfing tricks, Chris and Martin decided to jump off their surfboards, letting them get pushed back on shore by the waves, and go for a swim instead. Underwater, the brothers quickly put their swimming masks on before contemplating the sea world; their surroundings were a combination of algae, seagrass, sargassum, polyps... And in addition to all the creatures in there, it was a beautiful sight to see.

In the distance, Chris' eyes caught a particular sea creature that he and his brother have been wanting to get a close look at for a while. "Martin look!" He pointed right at an oval-shaped figure swimming in the distance.

They both swam closer and closer, until realizing that it was none other than-

"A sea turtle!" They both exclaimed simultaneously. "A green sea turtle to be exact," Chris said with precision.

"I can see that," Martin rolled his eyes, but couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face from excitement.

"And it's a male, you can tell bacause he has a concave plastron," Chris swam underneath the sea turtle, who didn't care much about the brothers' presence in the first place, pointing his finger at the mentioned body part.

"Oh yeah, you're right!" Martin smiled, getting a closer look at their new friend. "And I love his greenish shell," he complimented. Then he put a finger under his chin, becoming pensive. "Your shell is emerald green, so I'll call you... Emerald!" he beamed, as if having a lightbulb moment.

"Emerald?" Chris raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, I like it."

"Thanks!"

The brothers watched their newfound aquatic friend swimming away, undisturbed, seeming at peace. Just then, Martin's creaturepod started ringing; he answered the call.

"Oh, hey Koki!" Martin waved, Chris tilting his head. "You should check out this awesome sea turtle we foun-" He was cut off.

"Guys, get outta there quick!" Koki let out panically, a fearful look on her face, the brothers giving her questioning looks. "What's wrong, Koki?" Chris asked.

Throughout their conversation, Jimmy was still looking out on the ocean when, suddenly, he noticed something strange. He took off his sunglasses and squinted his eyes to have a better look at what it was, but it wasn't long before he let out one of his famous girl screams, dropping his sunglasses and glass of juice, eyes wide from panic. Quickly, he took out his ceaturepod with clumsy hands and called the brothers, just the moment Koki was about to tell them exactly what was going on.

"Chris. Martin. There's a huge wave coming your way! And I mean HUGE!" he shrieked, Koki only nodding her head, both crewmates looking genuinely petrified.

Chris and Martin exchanged scared expressions, before swimming back up to the surface...where they could see a HUGE WAVE coming right at them!

"Swim for it, bro!" Chris yelled out as he and his brother started swimming away, but their efforts were vain, as the enormous wave caught up to them, swallowing them in a matter of seconds.

From the Tortuga, the crew watched as the brothers disappeared from sight on the big screen. "NO!" They all let out at once.

"Where are they?" Jimmy asked with a scared tone.

"I don't know, I don't see them!" Aviva said worriedly.

"Look, it's Chris!" Koki pointed at the screen, where Chris' head could be seen popping out of the water. He caught his breath before scanning his surroundings, expecting to find his brother by his side, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Martin?" He called out... Still nothing.

"Martin, it's not funny!" He tried yet again but to no avail. His stomach dropped as a horrible thought crept into his mind.

Without a moment to spare, he dove back into the water, not caring that he no longer had his mask on, having lost it back there. There, not too far, he could see a familiar figure floating in the water, motionless...

Martin!

Next chapter

#wild kratts #kratt brothers #chris kratt #martin kratt #aviva corcovado #koki #jimmy z #gaston gourmand #wk fanfic #hurt/comfort #adventure #Afraid of a Little Swim?#fandom #fangirl power!

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celestiall0tus · 6 months

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Miraculous Salvation - Chapter 15 - Bored

Beginning || Previous || Next

Tikki stared blankly at the TV screen. She huffed and turned it off, bored of the color vomit and repetitive songs. She floated around the house. Juleka and Adrien were still gone, leaving her with Luka. She checked on him, but he was in the same spot as he always was. She growled as she flew over and removed his earbuds. He blinked and looked at her.

“Is everything alright?” Luka asked.

“I’m bored!”

“What happened to the show I put on for you?”

“What part of bored do you not understand?”

“Well, what do you want to do?”

Tikki grinned. “I want to go out.”

“Why don’t you then?”

Tikki deadpanned. “It’s more fun with a companion, i.e. you!”

“Do I have to?”

Tikki’s eye twitched as her grin turned manic. She hovered above Luka’s work and glared at him.

“That’s funny, really. You know, I could go out on my own. Perhaps I’ll leave you here in a creative stupor, unable to make your mediocre, subpar, works that not even a scam artist would use. That would make it even better.”

Luka let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. Let’s go.”

Tikki cheered. She flew away from the desk and transformed into a human teen girl with tan skin and black hair pinned up in massive curly pigtails tied together with red ribbons that stood up like antennae. She wore a short, red halter dress with a black section around her chest and dots that lined her under bust, waist, and hem of the skirt. Black gloves with a single red ring at the top of them covered both hands. She had on a pair of red platform dress shoes and black crew socks with a red ring at the top. She looked back at Luka with bright purple eyes.

“C’mon, let’s go! We have a whole city to cause trouble in.”

Luka rushed after Tikki as she galloped out. He caught up with her as they reached the ramp to the streets.

“Hold up, I have questions,” Luka said.

“Then you can ask while we walk. Just don’t expect the answers you want,” Tikki warned.

“How are you able to look like this? Human, I mean.”

Tikki giggled. “You sure you want to tackle this subject out here? Who knows who’s listening.”

“Do you care?”

“No, but as long as you don’t mind. We aren’t as limited as you might think. There’s a lot that we can do. So much that this is just a mere fraction of our powers.”

Luka hummed. He watched as the crowd they surfed through parted ways before Tikki as she danced and jumped about. They shot her glances before they looked at him. He flinched under their judgement glances.

“Can’t you act a little normal?” Luka asked.

“Geez, you’re such a stiff. I wish you were more like Juleka. At least she knows how to live. Oh! Why don’t we go find her?”

Luka huffed and messaged Juleka. “I know how to live, just so you know.”

Tikki giggled. “You’re funny.”

“I’m serious.”

Tikki laughed. “See? Hilarious.”

Luka looked at his phone. Juleka responded immediately, saying that they were heading to a nearby café with Marc to chat and unwind.

“Juleka’s nearby at a café.”

Tikki stopped and heel turned, facing Luka. “Café? As in sugary sweets and all that good stuff?”

“Yes?”

Tikki beamed. “You are now my map. Let’s go!”

Tikki scooped up Luka and held him over her head. Luka protested as he flailed about, but she kept her hold on him. He attempted to argue, but she ignored him as she asked for directions. He gave them as he felt all eyes on them. His face flushed as embarrassment encumbered him. He didn’t like this feeling. He didn’t like all eyes on him like this. He shut his eyes tight, wanting it all to end.

“We’re here! We’re here!” Tikki cheered.

Tikki dropped Luka on his butt and ran inside. Luka took several deep breaths before he stood. He felt lingering eyes on him as he headed inside. He cringed seeing Tikki dancing around the others with all eyes on her. He stepped back to retreat, but she charged towards him, pulling him over to the display cases. He frowned as he felt all eyes on him again.

“How’d you get him out of his room?” Juleka asked.

“Huh? Oh. I’ll tell you, but you need to do something for me,” Tikki said.

“Which treat do you want?” Juleka asked.

Tikki grinned. She let go of Luka and took Juleka’s as they browsed the pastries. Adrien and Marc approached Luka. Luka looked at them, then looked away with a slight blush.

“Why are you dressed like that?” Luka asked.

Marc looked away while Adrien shrugged.

“Is there a problem?” Adrien asked.

Luka didn’t answer. He could feel eyes on them as he heard the whispers surely directed towards them.

“It is a little… uncomfortable,” Marc whispered.

“What is?” Adrien asked.

Marc’s eyes darted to the patrons. Adrien glanced over and raised a brow.

“Don’t like the attention?”

Luka and Marc shook their heads. Adrien frowned, then smiled. He opened his mouth to speak, but Tikki tackled Luka.

“Man, you’ll never be a star if you don’t get over that, Luka. Granted you need to make better pieces than whatever you want to call those half-baked compositions,” Tikki remarked.

Luka flinched and stared at the ground.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Adrien pointed out.

“The truth often isn’t, but someone had to say it,” Tikki countered.

“You could have said it nicer,” Adrien spat.

“Oh. Someone’s getting spicy. What’s caught your tail, Kitten? Did I say something about the piece of cardboard that offended you? Tell me, Kitten, is there something I would love to know?” Tikki mused.

“Just that you can say the truth in a nicer way that doesn’t hurt someone’s feelings. Luka is just starting out, but he will get better. And with the endless work he puts in, he’ll succeed. But not with your nasty remarks.”

A small smile tugged at Luka as his heart beat faster and his mood lifted. He stole a glance at Adrien, then looked back at the ground when Tikki looked at him.

Tikki hummed. “That’s cute and all, but I don’t believe in sugar coating things like that. Your kind may prefer it, but the way we see it, it’s just another form of deception. And I know someone here would agree with me.”

Tikki looked over at Marc. He flinched at her gaze. She smiled seeing an invisible fox kwami floating around him. Her smile twisted into a malicious smirk, then a big grin.

“Awe! Look at you! Aren’t you the most adorable boy I’ve ever seen!” Tikki cooed. She bounded over and lifted Marc up.

Marc’s breath caught as he heard the new whispers of the patrons. They questioned what Tikki said. They wondered if he was really a boy, questioned his mental state, and gossiped how could a young man be comfortable wearing girl’s clothes in public. A few laid the blame for the group he was with, saying the girls likely forced him to wear such clothes. The barest of whispers slipped through that remarked how he must have been born wrong, how his mother must have wanted a girl and forced him into such attire and sneered that he must be one of the “queers.”

“P-p-please put me down,” Marc begged.

“Awe, do I do have to? You’re just so cute! Like a lovely little doll to dress up in the prettiest of clothes. Would you like that? I bet you would,” Tikki remarked.

Adrien grabbed Tikki’s shoulder. “Put him down!”

Tikki glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes wide and her pupils constricted. “Did you just give me an order?”

Adrien opened his mouth, but Juleka stepped in the way. She held out Tikki’s coffee and bag of snacks.

“He was suggesting you put him down because your order is ready,” Juleka said.

Tikki smirked and dropped Marc on his butt. She took the items and leaned in close to Juleka. “You better chase after him.”

Juleka furrowed her brow when Marc took off running with Adrien chasing after him. She started after the boys when Rose grabbed Juleka’s arm.

“Trust Adrien to help Marc. And, Tikki, why don’t you go see Marinette?”

Tikki perked up. “Oh, of course! I should check on my darling pet. Where is she?”

“Le Grand Paris. From there you should be able to find out what room she’s in,” Rose answered.

Tikki cupped Rose’s face. “Excellent. You’ll get a little reward later, little bunny. Come along, Luka!”

Tikki dragged Luka behind her as they headed for Le Grand Paris. She didn’t release him until they were outside Marinette’s room.

Luka winced hearing Marinette, Alya, and Bridgette’s voices inside. They sounded like they were having an important conversation and he and Tikki shouldn’t get involved. Tikki created a key and unlocked the door. She barged in with Luka right behind.

Marinette and Bridgette looked up in surprise while Alya remained neutral. Bridgette scurried and put a blanket around Marinette, who wore a yellow and black fuzzy bra with yellow striped black short shorts. Luka blushed and immediately looked away, covering his face. Bridgette wrapped Marinette up, then stood between her and Tikki.

“What do you want?” Bridgette demanded.

Tikki waved her off dismissingly as she placed Luka on the couch. “What else? I wanted to come see darling Pet. Am I not allowed to see my little favorite pet?”

“Then go see your cat,” Bridgette hissed.

“Oh, if only I could. I can only imagine the strain he’s enduring being trapped on that girl’s body. So, I came to see you. After all, you did have a nasty run in with the spider,” Tikki remarked.

Marinette looked away.

“I mean, what are you going to do, pet? You’re going to be incredibly weak now. You certainly are lucky to have one person still devoted to you. You know what’d happen if you didn’t, right?”

Marinette remained silent.

“So, what are you going to do, Pet? You can’t stay like this. Not after being on a high for so long.”

“I don’t care,” Marinette whispered.

“About what, dear Pet? Do tell.”

Marinette glanced at Luka, then sighed. “I’m not going to ruin other people’s lives just to feel powerful again. I won’t have them all devoted to just me. I’ll make do with my fans and Alya.”

“Oh, but that’ll never be enough. If you’re not careful, you’ll go through withdraw symptoms. A dangerous thing for a concept like yourself. It’s like expecting Delight to be surrounded by anger or sorrow, or even Sorrow to be surrounded by joy. I wonder how long before you snap. How many will you bind to you just to satisfy your need for devotion? How far will you go to secure them?” Tikki questioned.

“What are you going on about?” Luka asked.

“That’s right, you don’t know. Well, Pet, this is your chance. Who do you want to tell him?”

Marinette grumbled. She placed her right foot on the couch and moved the blanket away. On the inside of her thigh was a large gold ring tattoo with a bee and cherry blossoms flowers in the hoop.

“I’m the avatar of devotion,” Marinette whispered.

“Ding, ding! Correct. And you know what that means, right? No? Well, little Pet here is drawn to all manner of devotion, as is her concept. She lives for the bonds of loyalty produced by love, respect, and everything in between. It’s what gives her strength. At least until the mean old spider comes along and destroys those bonds. What do you think happens at that point?” Tikki explained.

“It doesn’t-!” Marinette started.

“She loses herself. First, it’s her body, then her mind. Once her mind is gone, deprived of the nourishment it needs, she snaps. And when she snaps, oh boy! No one is safe from her. She’ll take what and who she wants, forcing them to be utterly devoted to her. I do wonder who she’ll take.”

“I would never-!” Marinette attempted.

“Oh, what if you put the black cat holder under your spell? I dunno how the girl swings, but it’d be incredible to see the cat that tried to kill the bee fall madly for her prey. Or perhaps you’d like that hunky blonde that tried to kill Luka? I imagine you could use some arm candy, Pet. Oh, or you’ll reel back in that defiant little cat who thinks it can boss me around,” Tikki mused.

“Enough! Why does it have to be in that kind of way? You know there are different kinds of bonds that come from devotion!” Marinette roared, the air filling with an angry buzzing.

“And do you know that yourself?” Tikki countered.

Marinette pursed her lips, remaining silent.

“Maybe you should listen to Creation, Cousin? We can’t afford the luxuries of hesitation. We hesitate and our enemy wins. I mean, for fuck’s sake, you saw the spider! She has her fucking avatar form. Neither you nor Alya have that yet and are completely vulnerable. Even I can’t protect from the shit she did today. What if she does it again? I can’t protect you if she does!” Bridgette screamed.

“I don’t want any repeats like what I did with you,” Marinette yelled back.

“You certainly will if you go into withdraw. What then? How many people will it take to sate your appetite? How many lives will you ruin then?”

“That’s not going to happen,” Marinette argued.

“Yeah? How? Why don’t you tell me that? Because, at this point, all I see is we wouldn’t be in this mess if you fucking listened to me in the first place. You need people devoted to you. You need to be around other people devoted to each other. If you don’t do this, then you will snap and see your own fears fulfilled.”

“Bridgette is right,” Alya said.

“But-!” Marinette started.

“You need your strength. As we all do. We are facing avatars with more to be on the way. We cannot afford such luxuries anymore,” Alya stated.

“Fucking… fine! Since you two seem to know-it-all, where should I even start?” Marinette demanded.

“I have a suggestion,” Tikki said.

“Yeah? What would that be?” Marinette asked.

Tikki pulled Luka off the sofa and held him up.

“Uh, I don’t know about this,” Luka said.

“Listen, listen. This is a fantastic idea. You’ll have your first friend,” Tikki cooed.

“I have friends,” Luka argued.

“Your sister has friends. Now this is your chance,” Tikki pointed out.

“Fine, but only if this is what Marinette wants too,” Luka said.

“Is this what you want, Pet? Another friend you can count on to be your pillar?” Tikki pushed.

Marinette considered, then placed a hand over her heart. A golden light shone from her heart as threads emerged from it. She spun them around Luka’s heart, that shared the same glow. The threads and the glow vanished. Tikki put him down as he held a hand over his heart.

Luka didn’t feel any different. Even when looking at Marinette, there wasn’t anything too special. He did feel as if he was looking at an old friend that he trusted completely, but nothing else.

“So, what now?” Luka asked.

“Now she should do the same with me,” Bridgette said.

“I already told you, no,” Marinette spat.

Tikki moved away as Marinette and Bridgette got into another argument. She watched Luka step in and attempt to play mediator while she approached Alya. Alya looked at Tikki and altered the area directly around them.

“You wish to speak with me, Creation?” Alya asked.

“Yes, indeed. I need to punish a little certain feline. He got a little saucy with me earlier, thinking he could order me around,” Tikki said.

“How does it involve me?”

“Easy. Let him be seen. Let the enemy find him,” Tikki ordered.

“But I made a promise to protect him,” Alya argued.

Tikki smiled. She grabbed Alya’s face and squeezed it. Alya gasped and clawed at Tikki’s hand.

“Now, what were you saying?”

Alya nodded and dismissed her powers on Adrien.

Tikki released Alya. “See? Was that so hard?”

Tikki moved out of the area before Alya could answer. She tapped Luka’s shoulder. “I’m bored. Can I play on your phone?”

Luka sighed and handed over his phone.

Tikki gleefully took it and trotted over to the bed. She laid on her stomach and opened Luka’s social media. She grinned as she waited for the show to begin.

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #au #alternate universe #miraculous au #mlb fanfic #fanfiction writer #fanfiction #fanfic #salvation au #salvation #tikki #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire #bridgette cheng

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