#i wanna climb vinny like a tree | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

visceravalentines · 2 years

Text

Man, I’m sorry about this one. I wanted to explore Bo’s anger, what sets it off, how it functions as both a response to his horrific childhood and as an inherent personality trait. No fluff, no smut, no x reader. Just angst. Hurt/comfort except the only comfort is the ember of a cigarette.

All You Have is Your Fire

Detailing the events that led up to Bo Sinclair’s first arrest as a young teenager.

Rating: Mature

Length: 2.8k

CW: bullying, violence involving teenagers, child abuse, arson

The first time Bo Sinclair got arrested, it was for arson, and he was thirteen.

Vincent had always had his bullies, the kids who had stood at the edge of the yard as children and asked Bo what was wrong with his brother’s face. The kids who had thrown rocks at the twins from across the street when they walked home from the grocery store. The kids who pissed on the corner of the house, shot at the cat, painted freak on the front sidewalk.

Bo had been throwing punches for his brother since he could walk.

While Vincent retreated further and further into himself, made thicker and thicker masks of wax, Bo became an explosive. No matter how many times his mama sent him to bed without supper, no matter how hard his daddy threw him against the wall, no matter how many times he sat on the edge of his twin bed next to Vinny and promised him that he’d try to be good, he couldn’t help it. The boy was born with a rage, a red-hot hand grenade lodged beside his heart, and when someone gave his brother trouble, all the discipline in the world couldn’t keep it in.

He and Vincent had gone to the woods to do what adults called playing and what newly teenaged boys called anything but playing. Vincent brought a sketchbook. Both boys had pocketknives; it was the way of things.

Bo found a good stick on the way and set about hitting things with it. He chattered to his quiet brother about baseball, about the Astros, about how he was pretty sure he could throw a pitch at least 80 miles an hour if no one broke his concentration. Vincent didn’t care a lick for baseball, but he was a good listener. Somewhere along the way, Bo decided the stick could be a bat and started picking up pebbles, tossing them up, and nailing them about half the time.

There was a particular spot the boys liked to go, close to a wide little crick that wandered through the woods. They took the longest route to get there. Vincent settled himself in a tree to sketch and Bo picked through the stones on the shore for dam-building materials.

“Wanna help me?” Bo called. “I bet we can block it up real good.”

Vincent clicked his tongue twice in the negative. The twins had established their own method of communication that didn’t require Bo’s eyes on Vincent. They only used it with each other, only when their parents weren’t around.

Bo whistled in response, a single downward note that was the equivalent of a shrug. “Suit y’self.”

The sun crept across the sky. Vincent filled a few pages with leaves, the stream, his own hands, but eventually became bored with the scenery around him. He climbed down from the tree and picked his way along the rocks downstream. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he’d know it when he found it. He shot a glance over his shoulder at Bo, who was knee-deep in the water with his jeans rolled up and hadn’t even noticed him leave. That was fine with Vincent; he wouldn’t go far, and Bo was distracting. He made his way through the brush, elbow up to guard his mask against errant branches.

Bo was the best goddamn dam builder he knew. Hands on his hips, he surveyed his work so far. He had successfully built up a wall one foot high that blocked about a quarter of the crick. It supported itself so well, he bet he could build something even bigger the same way. Maybe even a fort.

He turned to ask Vinny if he thought that together they could collect enough rocks to build a house and found the shoreline empty.

A sharp, upturned whistle like the snap of a switch caught his ears from downstream.

Bo took off like a hound dog with a scent. The water squelched in his shoes and splashed up on his mostly-dry jeans. He almost knew what he’d find when he rounded the bend, could play it out behind his eyes because it had happened before.

The three worst of the kids, boys the same age or a year older than he and Vinny, had his brother backed against a tree. Two of them, James and Jeremy, had his arms pinned. The third, a rat-faced bastard named Brandon, was in the process of peeling the mask off Vincent’s face.

Bo saw scarlet.

His pocketknife was in his hand before he’d even strung the thoughts together to get it there. A snarl burst from his lips as he ran down the ringleader, plunging the short blade towards the bully’s back.

A shout from James or Jeremy, a well-timed turn, and two layers of fall outerwear were all that kept Bo from racking up a juvenile homicide charge. The blade sliced harmlessly through Brandon’s buckskin jacket.

Brandon transformed his turn into an offensive maneuver, slamming Bo in the side of the head with his elbow. Bo stumbled, reeled, flipped the knife to face the other way in his hand.

“Leave him the fuck alone!” He charged Brandon again, feinted, went for the older boy’s stomach. Brandon caught his arm, but only just.

“Fuckin’ don’t just stand there, gettim!” he yelled at his friends.

James let go of Vincent and advanced halfheartedly on Bo. Brandon clocked Bo on the side of the head with his off hand, the smaller Sinclair boy still trying to drill the pocketknife into his gut. Bo grunted, drew his knife hand back so quickly it sliced Brandon’s palm, and landed an elbow in James’s face.

James yelped. Brandon tackled the pair of them to the ground. Bo lost his grip on the knife and it went flying into the leaves. Cursing, James wriggled out from the bottom of the pile and joined Brandon in pummeling Bo with his fists.

Bo would’ve curled up like a wounded animal and taken the beating if it weren’t for the anger. Every pound of his heart was painful, pumping a heat that burned through his veins to settle, cold and heavy, in the pit of his stomach. He felt his nose break, tasted blood on his lips, heard a ringing in his ears, and still he kicked and twisted, scratched at their faces, grabbed a fistful of James’s hair and yanked and got the wind knocked out of him for his trouble.

Brandon smashed a hand over his mouth and Bo bit his thumb so hard he felt the skin split beneath his teeth. With a yell, the bigger boy grabbed Bo’s face and slammed his head back into the ground once, twice, hard enough that Bo went limp, his vision blacking out although he knew he was conscious because he could hear Jeremy screaming.

“Get up, get up, let’s go!”

There was the scuffling of leaves, one final disembodied kick landed in his ribs, and he could hear the three boys run off, shouting and one of them sobbing.

“Vinny?” he rasped. “Vincent!”

His vision started to return as he felt his twin kneel beside him, felt his hands on his face, his chest. Vincent’s face wavered into focus against the trees, his mask distorted, the wax of his lips and chin slick with blood leaking from his nose.

“Did they – ugh – ” He sat up too fast, cradled his head in his hands. “Did they hurt you?”

Vincent shook his head.

“Don’t fuckin’ lie to me, I can see the blood on your face. C’mere.” Bo pulled his brother in closer, tongue pinched between his teeth as he tried to breathe through his mouth. He smoothed some of the wax back into place against Vincent’s cheek. “Don’t you ever fuckin’ go anywhere without me, okay? Stupid.”

Vinny clicked his tongue once.

“What’d you do to ‘im?”

Vincent held up his pocketknife. The blade was red and wet.

Bo grinned despite the pain of split lips, his mouth a horror show. “Atta boy. Help me up.”

Vincent pulled his brother to his feet. Together they kicked through the leaves in search of Bo’s knife. They didn’t find it, but they did turn up a lighter and a pack of smokes that had to be Brandon’s. Vincent picked up his sketchbook, which had been nearly demolished.

As Bo watched his brother sadly brush dirt off the cover, the rage pulsed in his chest. He flicked the lighter open in his hand. His eyes were drawn to the flame for a long moment before he snapped it closed.

“Here, gimme your knife.” Bo stashed Vincent’s pocketknife as well as the cigarettes and lighter in his jacket. “C’mon, Vinny. Let’s go home and get you cleaned up.”

The fuss at home was about what Bo expected. His mother swept Vincent upstairs, almost in tears, demanding to know what had happened. His father cornered Bo in the kitchen, hands on his hips, a cold look in his eye.

“I got a call from Jeremy Butler’s father. Says his son has a slice across his face that’s gonna need stitches. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would ya?”

Bo said nothing, sucking the blood off his lips.

“Gimme that pocketknife o’ yours.”

Bo pulled Vincent’s knife out of his pocket and handed it to his daddy. Victor flipped it open, eyed the blood on the blade. “You’re gonna end up dead in a ditch, son, and the world may well be better for it.”

Bo said nothing, saved the sting of the words for later.

“I’d teach you a lesson but it looks like someone beat me to it.” Victor slipped the knife into his pocket. “Go clean yourself up. And then get back here so I can set that broken nose.”

Bo climbed the stairs to his mother’s waiting tirade. Her words fell around him like hailstones, always the same theme: hadn’t he ruined Vincent’s life enough? Couldn’t he let a day go by without dragging his brother into trouble? Malicious, entitled little shit.

“By the looks of it, that face of yours ain’t gettin’ you the special treatment you think you deserve,” she spat.

The anger inside him had dimmed to a hot coal that flickered at her words. The warmth of it shielded him. Only a few barbs snuck their way in.

Vincent made no move to defend him. Bo couldn’t blame him. They had both learned by now it wasn’t much use putting up a fight. Ever since Lester had been born, their mama alternated favorites between him and Vincent seemingly at random, and Vincent no longer maintained a general immunity to her wrath.

That wasn’t to say she didn’t denigrate her two younger boys at every opportunity, but it was no secret which of her sons she loathed the most.

Tonight, though, Bo was unflappable. He flinched but didn’t speak as she scrubbed the blood off his face with a washcloth, taking almost no heed of his busted nose and lips. He let her brush his teeth until his gums bled, something she had not done for a long time. Although the tears sprung to his eyes when his father snapped his nose back into place, not a single one fell.

Finally, the three boys were lined up in the kitchen in their pajamas, oldest to youngest, and their mother planted a prim kiss on each of their foreheads before dismissing them to bed.

Lester’s ginger hair was in a perpetual state of disarray and he looked like a wild creature as he peered around the doorway of the twins’ bedroom. He gazed wide-eyed at the tape on the bridge of Bo’s nose, on his split lips and rapidly darkening shiner.

“Boy, you look like shit,” he whispered.

“Don’t cuss,” Bo snapped. “Go to bed.”

“Did you win?”

Bo’s eyes drifted to his coat, hanging on the back of the door. “Not yet. But I’m gonna.”

“Aww shit.” Lester grinned with the crookedest set of baby teeth in Ambrose.

Bo threw a shoe at him. “What did I fuckin’ say about cussin’?” he hissed. “Git.”

Lester scampered down the hall with a, “Goodnight!”

Turning, Bo met Vincent’s gaze in the moonlight. He didn’t need a secret language to understand what Vinny wanted to say.

“I’ll be careful. I’m not gonna tell you what I’m gonna do ‘cause I don’t want you catchin’ any shit for it. Don’t you try talkin’ me out of it.”

Vincent blinked slowly, shook his head.

Bo flung himself down on his pillow and pulled the blanket over his head. “Fuck off and go to sleep, Vinny. You always get what you want, this ain’t one of those times.”

He laid still, waiting. He listened to Vincent’s breathing become soft and even. He heard his parents bicker in the kitchen, the clinking of the liquor cabinet, the eventual shuffle of them retiring to bed. He waited even longer, until he was sure the whole house was asleep except for him.

Slipping out of bed, he was careful to step over the squeakiest floorboards. Still in his pajamas, he pulled on his boots and his coat, felt in the pocket to make sure he still had the smokes and, most importantly, the lighter.

The night was frigid, but Bo had always run hot. His breath steamed in the air, billowing in the moonlight like a ghost. It was so late that the night had heft to it, a soft nocturnal weight. Hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched up to his ears, he made his way through Ambrose to the home of Jeremy Butler.

He had put a lot of thought into which of the boys to target first. Jeremy made the most sense for a few reasons. One, he didn’t have a dog that might wake up and sound the alarm. Two, he had hit Vinny. That was good enough for Bo.

He snuck a full lap around the house when he arrived, checking to make sure no lights were on. The door to the garage was unlocked. He slipped in. In the flickering illumination of the lighter, he spied a red gas can and took it outside with him.

There was enough in the can to spill a nice half-circle around the back of the house. The smell was intoxicating. Despite his best efforts, some of it splashed on his boots. When it was done, he pulled a cigarette out of the box in his pocket, held it between his swollen lips. He had never smoked before. His mother, a chronic chain-smoker, said it was a horrid and filthy habit. It sounded right up his alley.

Bo held the flame of the lighter to the end of the cigarette until it glowed orange. He took a drag, coughed once, relished the headspin, took another. A sense of calm and control washed over him. He blew smoke into the sky, watched it spin, and dropped the lighter into the gasoline.

He hadn’t intended to stick around long, had even planned on visiting Brandon’s house next, but the flames caught his gaze and wouldn’t let it go. The way they slid up the side of the house, reaching, twisting, pulling one another hand in hand up the wall. The way the house melted, crumbled, expired beneath them. The scent of the gas and smoke and tobacco coupled with the tingle in his lungs and the pounding in his veins and it was all so fucking perfect, too fucking perfect. He was euphoric, he was untouchable.

About the time Mr. Butler kicked open the back door, hacking up a lung, dragging his family behind him, Bo was rounding the front of the house. He walked backwards down the driveway, mesmerized, heartbroken he couldn’t stay and watch the whole thing come down. He wanted another cigarette. He wanted to do it again.

It didn’t matter that he managed to successfully sneak back into his house, back into his bed. The math was so simple even Lester could’ve done it. His parents were awoken by the sheriff pounding on their door. Vincent jolted awake, sat up, looked at Bo through his mess of hair. Bo perched on the edge of his bed, barefoot, yawning, the picture of innocence clad in the smell of smoke.

His daddy threw him down the stairs. His mama shook him by the lapels. The sheriff clapped him in handcuffs, and although Bo was still angry, always angry, and maybe just a little bit afraid as they sat him in the backseat of the cruiser, more than anything, he was satisfied.

He was triumphant.

He was happy.

#i'm so sorry #maybe you liked it a little bit?#my writing #bo sinclair #vincent sinclair #lester sinclair #house of wax #bo sinclair fanfic #vincent sinclair fanfic #house of wax fanfic #how

110 notes · View notes

venicebixch · 2 years

Text

For You part 1

new series i’m starting - brother’s best friend, enemies to lovers trope. in this one Vinnie isn’t famous. just a regular college student on vacation at his friend’s family’s lake house. no real warnings in this part except for the brief mention of a parent’s death. enjoy!

“Just try to relax and enjoy your time here,” y/n’s mom says as they round the corner on the steep hillside.

Y/n lets out a small sigh and relaxes back into the car seat. They used to come here every summer but between college and her dad passing away, it’s been a few years since she’s been back and she’s not sure she’s ready for it.

She’s anxious to see some of her extended family for the first time in a while and feels hesitant about being confronted with the memories of her happy childhood, worried it’s going to bring up the feelings about the loss of her dad that she’s been trying to avoid.

After a few more turns, the cabin comes into view. Her mom pulls into the long driveway, parking next to the cars of her family members. She steps out of the car, scanning over the lot.

She’s not sure if she expected something to be different about it but she feels almost dumbfounded at the fact that the house looks exactly like it always has. The V shaped roof towers over the tall windows that line the front of it, with green trees in full bloom shading the staircase that leads to the deck and front door.

“Carry a few of those bags in, won’t you?” Her mom says. “Just to clear out some space, I’m gonna run to the store and grab some firewood for tonight. You wanna come with me?”

Y/n shakes her head no. “I just wanna get settled, if that’s okay?”

“Of course,” her mom smiles. “I’ll be back soon.”

Y/n nods, shutting the car door and opening the trunk, grabbing her own two suitcases and whatever other bags her mom brought that she can carry before shutting it again. Her mom pulls off and she starts to make her way to the stairs, struggling to keep everything in her hands as she climbs one step at a time.

As she nears the top, one bag topples over. She quickly turns, trying to catch it in time but she isn't fast enough and the bag tumbles back to the bottom of the staircase, causing her to let out a loud groan.

She stands for a moment staring down at it in apathy before the sound of an oddly familiar voice startles her. “You want help with those?” He asks.

Her head turns back toward the front door, meeting eyes with the guy standing in front of her. An arching smile spreads across his face and she instantly recognizes him.

He’s guy she hasn’t seen since high school. The guy who used to tease her relentlessly. The guy she’s sure was the one who spread the rumor her sophomore year that she has 7 toes on each foot. The guy she slowly grew to despise through the years but quickly and happily forgot about when she finally left for college. Vinnie - her brother’s best friend.

Fucking fantastic, she thinks to herself.

Of course, she’s not happy to see him again. If anything, she’s deeply annoyed because she didn’t know he would be here. She was already reluctant to come in the first place but figured it might bring her some peace to get out of town for a few weeks and get some fresh air at the family lake house. But spending the next few weeks in his presence will likely be anything but peaceful.

Her mouth stays parted slightly as she quickly looks him over. His appearance is almost unchanged from the last time she saw him. The only differences are his tattoos and his size. He’s taller now, and looks more filled out… more like a man than the 17 year old boy she remembers.

“Uh… I guess,” she says, handing him one of the smaller bags. He shakes his head no and walks down a few steps, leaning over her to grab the biggest suitcase from her other hand along with two more bags.

Without speaking again, he turns around and walks back up the few steps to the door, standing in place to hold it open as if he’s waiting for her to walk through. She glances back to the bag at the bottom of the staircase but decides to leave it and put the other ones down first.

“Thanks,” she says, flashing a small but fake smile to him.

“Mhmm,” he nods with a straight face.

She walks through the door, surprised to see an empty house aside from her brother who’s sitting on the couch in the main living room. The familiar smell of wood from the cabin fills her nose, giving her instant nostalgia and to her disbelief, she quickly becomes relaxed.

“Where is everyone Carter?” She asks her brother as she puts everything in her hands down on the floor by the door. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t answer her with his eyes glued to his phone screen. She lets out a small sigh and rolls her eyes, turning her attention back to Vinnie who’s shutting the door behind them.

“They’re down at the lake,” he says, tossing the bags in his hands down on the ground beside the rest.

“Already?” She asks.

“Yeah, we’ve been here a few hours. You’re kinda late, but that’s not unexpected coming from you,” he chuckles, standing just a little too close to her.

She looks up at him without cracking a smile, completely unamused by the fact he’s already back to teasing her as if they aren’t both grown adults now.

“Flight got delayed,” she says bluntly, stepping back to create a little distance between them. “I still have to get the bag from the ground outside.”

His eyes widen a little and he turns back toward the door. “Oh, I forgot about that one.”

He opens the door again, disappearing through the frame as he heads down the wooden stairs to pick it up himself. She purses her lips a little, taken aback by his willingness to help her. A few moments later he returns, setting the bag down by the others.

“Thanks again,” she says, bending down to grab her suitcases.

“You want help with those?” he asks, closing the door again.

She furrows her eyebrows, feeling almost annoyed now by his chivalry. “No, I think I can handle this just fine.”

Her words come out harsher than she meant for them to and she bites her lip, feeling guilty as she looks at him. He raises his arms to his chest as he’s surrendering but seems otherwise unbothered as he silently moves past her to sit on the couch by her brother.

She takes her suitcases and walks up the stairs to the small bedroom on the second floor that she always claims as her own. When she pushes the door open, she immediately let’s out an audible gasp. “Oh hell no.”

The twin sized bed she usually gets to herself has been replaced with a bunk bed and the room is scattered with someone else’s stuff. She walks in, slamming her bags on the ground and starts to examine the belongings with her eyes to try and figure out whose they are.

One look at the yellow keychain on the dresser tells her they’re Vinnie’s.

“Are you fucking serious?” She says quietly to herself, pushing her hair back from her face.

“What’s wrong?” She hears Vinnie suddenly speak behind her.

“Are you staying in here?” She asks quickly, turning to face him.

He smiles wide and laughs, getting a little bit of a thrill out of her obvious dismay. “Yeah, this is the last available bed in the house… but god, don’t look so excited.” She rolls her eyes. “You can’t sleep with Carter?”

“You know Amelia came, right?”

“So?”

“So… I’m not trying to be a third wheel in a queen sized bed with my friend and his girlfriend. That would be a little awkward.”

“And what, you’re too good for the couch or something?” She asks angrily.

He scoffs and looks at her in fake disbelief. “You would rather I sleep on the couch than in this perfectly good bed?”

She shrugs. “Yeah, actually.”

“It’s a bunk bed. We don’t even have to sleep near each other.”

“That’s not even the point. I like having a room to myself.”

“You won’t even know I’m here,” he grins. “Well, except for when I sleep. I’ve been told I’m a snorer but I can’t confirm or deny that.”

“You do snore, I’ve heard it myself,” she says, crossing her arms. “It’s disturbing to say the least.”

He chuckles again. “I guess you can always sleep on the couch if it becomes too much,” he says, sarcastically crossing his arms to match her demeanor.

“This is my family’s house.”

“And I’m the guest who you’re supposed to treat with hospitality. I knew you didn’t like me but damn, you’re being rude,” he says with a fake grimace.

“I knew I shouldn’t have even come,” she sighs, turning back toward the bed. She looks over the room again, quickly trying to think of any plan for different sleeping arrangements but comes up empty handed.

“Don’t say that. I’m glad you’re here,” he says softly.

“Oh, you are?” Her tone is sarcastic.

“Yeah. You add to the, uh…” he pauses, looking for the right word. “Ambiance.” His word choice confuses her and she turns her head back to him. “Ambiance?”

“Yeah, you keep us on our toes. I feel like at any moment you might just snap, you know? And that really adds to the whole secluded cabin in the woods experience. Very exciting.” She can’t help but laugh a little. “Yeah, I might. I guess if you’re gonna sleep in here, you better sleep with one eye open.”

He closes one eye and holds it momentarily as if he’s winking at her before smiling again. “I can do that.”

#vinnie hacker #vincent hacker #vinniehacker #vincenthacker #vinnie #vinnie fanfic #vinnie x reader #vinniehackerfanfic #vinniehackerimagines #enemies to lovers trope #fanfic

223 notes · View notes

early20sfailingplenty · 2 years

Text

A truthful gush about Vincent Sinclair while I'm on the edge of sleep.

Vincent. Vince. Vin. Vinvin. Vinny.

Angel. The coffee in my mug. My favourite line in my favourite song. Darling. The spider in the web. My love my life.

He is. Beautiful.

We all know that I fell in love with him first. I hadn't even seen HOW before I knew I loved him. That long dark hair. Those beige sweaters. The tiny waist and broad shoulders. His mask. Is lovely. But actually I wholeheartedly prefer HIS face. It's a... oh, hi honey. There you are. That's much better. Pretty man. Wamna squish in a hug so hard he grunts a little. Beautiful pretty man mwah mwah.

That kinda feeling.

I couldn't tell you why he caught my attention before I even knew his name. But he did. He's so tall, dark and dangerous, lethal, ethereal, angelic and devilish, seductive and foreboding. I'd stand in pitch darkness, one of my fears, just to show I trust him. I'd go without coffee a whole day if he asked me to. I'd die for him but braver than that, I'd live for him, too. Some days I really do; I take care of my responsibilities and of me because of him. Because I'd want a proud Vincent to come home to. He makes me feel like I'm worth it (so do his brothers). I wouldn't try half as hard as I do if I didn't think of Vincent while I exist during the days and let myself crumble alone in my room at night. He keeps me company.

His hands are masterful at the craft his momma chose for her and for him. The intended prodigy now realised potential but only in private and in all the wrong ways.

He's the darkest and most dangerous Sinclair, the deadliest, the strongest, and he looks so fucking attractive while he does it. I pull the collar of my jumper up to under my eyes every time he's on screen because I just melt in my chair and I coo and squeal and cannot function near him. When he's on screen, he's all I see. He could kill someone in front of me and I probably wouldn't notice because I'm that unobservant but also I'd only have eyes for him.

Vincent's so beautiful and I wanna do so many things with him, just to watch him. Cook with him. Write while he sculpts. Watch films together. Cuddle. I want to braid his hair and then let him braid mine (yes, I'd let him near my hair. That's meaningful). I'd stand in the dark for him. He's... I'm running out of words. The irony.

He's incredible. Seriously skilled (murder aside for a second while I make my point, that is serious skill to do what he does at all, but as fast as he does it as well, it's amazing) and I could watch him work for hours. He's strong. I want him to stomp on me. I want him to rip me to shreds with all my negative self talk (use my own words against me) and then help me to heal myself by telling me what he sees in his own words. I want to hold him when he cries, cup his beautiful unmasked face in my hands and kiss him all over til he's trembling under my touch. I wanna know how much hotter his love burns than the wax he favours, not just for me but for his brothers. I wanna climb him like a tree but find safety in his branches. Others may get his brutality but I receive the tenderness. Even if it's laced with anger or frustration as often as not.

I want to see Vincent just as he is, the pretty man. Pretty beautiful mwah mwah.

Vincent Sinclair is... the light in the dark. The coffee in the cup. The hot shower after a long day. I'm love him😭💕

#erika x vincent #erika sinclair

24 notes · View notes

virtueangel · 4 years

Text

limitless.

chapter fourteen.

wc: 2,345. original publish date: october 30, 2020.

Van Gogh wakes up with the comforter tucked around his shoulders, one arm bent underneath his pillow, his fiery red hair spilling out from his head. He blinks against the white light, rubbing his eyes into focus. He's alone in the bed, the covers on JFK's side folded over to expose his empty spot on the mattress.

"Jack?" Vincent asks. A couple seconds go by with no response. He sits up in bed, adjusting the bandages around his head. They'd come a bit loose in the night, probably from being nestled up so close to JFK. Van Gogh never knew he was such a protective sleeper -- he vaguely remembers clinging onto the taller boy, his hands wrapped around JFK's arm and his fingernails digging into his skin defensively. "Jack, where are you?"

Panic starts to build in Vincent's stomach when he doesn't get an answer. The ripping heat climbs up his neck, stealing his breath away. He rolls out of bed, throwing the covers over until the mattress is just an exposed sheet and some strewn-about pillows.

He hops down the stairs, the hardwood cool against the bottoms of his bare feet. "Jack?"

Van Gogh runs through the sitting room and then the living room, and finally through the archway to the kitchen. He lets out a sigh of relief when he sees JFK standing at the pantry.

"Oh, you're awake," John smiles.

Vincent can't help but smile back. "I didn't know you were a morning person."

JFK shrugs. "I go to bed late and wake up early. The sacrifice is that I don't get enough sleep."

Van Gogh crosses the kitchen to stand next to Kennedy, peering into the pantry from around his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

JFK stops, holding a can of tomato sauce in either hand. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm cleaning out the pantry."

"All of that stuff is expired."

"Exactly why I'm cleaning it out."

Vincent turns around and nods toward the kitchen table. The taper candles are gone, but they've been replaced by a large wicker picnic basket. "Are we going for a picnic?"

John grins. "Yes."

Van Gogh turns back to the boy. "Kennedy, don't play."

JFK shakes his head. "I'm not playing!"

"We can't have a picnic in Marshtown. Have you seen the weather?"

Kennedy laughs. "That's why we're leaving Marshtown."

Van Gogh shakes his head, folding his arms across his chest. "No. I told you, I don't want to leave!"

JFK places the cans of tomato sauce back on the shelf in the pantry. He turns to Vincent and puts a hand on either shoulder. He looks into the boy's deep brown eyes, his face relaxing. "We're just going out for the day, Vinny. I promise. We'll be back."

Vincent waits for a second before dropping his arms to his sides and softening his glare. "You promise, huh?"

John nods. "Yes. I promise."

Van Gogh sighs, thinking over the boy's proposal. He looks past JFK to the picnic basket. "You found all that food in here?"

Kennedy nods. "Yeah. It's mostly preservatives, like honey and jam. We'll need to get some bread, though."

Vincent twists his lips pensively. "Well, I guess we'll need to go back out into town for that anyway..."

JFK's face lights up with a grin. "So... yes?"

Van Gogh smiles. "Yes."

***

"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Van Gogh asks, an eyebrow raised. He and JFK are sitting side by side in the red convertible, their matching orange and white Clone High letterman jackets zipped up to their chins. The sleeves on Van Gogh's are too long, which he's grateful for right now because he can ball his hands up in the extra fabric. His fingertips are always freezing. No one has ever been able to explain why.

"Yes! I have a GPS on my phone," JFK reassures his boyfriend.

Vincent stares out the windshield. The fog has lifted now that they're out of Marshtown. The roads are made of soft black asphalt, and there are lively plants sprouting out of vibrantly green grass on either side of the street. "I thought we weren't going to use GPS for this trip."

"Yeah, but that was back when we didn't have a plan. We have one now. We're going to a grocery store, on purpose. But I won't use my phone to get us to the picnic location."

"You've already got one picked out?"

JFK laughs. "No. You overestimate my ability to plan."

Van Gogh laughs in return. "How silly of me."

Kennedy pulls into the parking lot of a Safeway before stopping the car and unbuckling.

"Wait," Vincent says, fishing his phone out of his pocket. The screen protector is surprisingly intact. "I made us a list."

Van Gogh opens his notes app and scrolls through it before landing his thumb on the grocery list. JFK peers over his shoulder, trying to read what the boy scrolled past, but Van Gogh snatches his phone away and turns his body so JFK can't see his screen. He clears his throat dramatically before reading out the list.

"One: bread. Two: orange juice. Three:-"

"Are you going to number each item?"

Vincent gives the boy a blank stare and continues. "Three: cream cheese. Four: bagels. Five:-"

"How long is your list?"

Van Gogh shushes the boy. "It'd be a lot shorter if you stopped interrupting."

Kennedy takes the phone out of Van Gogh's hand and begins scrolling through the list himself. Vincent reaches for the phone, but JFK holds him back with an arm as he reads. "Yeah, okay, this is fine. Twenty items shouldn't take us long if we split up."

Vincent's face falls. "I thought this was quality boyfriend time! Especially since you left me alone in bed this morning."

"You left me alone in bed last night! With your sneaking to the kitchen at three in the morning."

Van Gogh sighs. "Fine, then we'll call it even."

"You wanna stick together?" JFK asks, handing the phone back to Vincent.

Vincent grins. "Yes please."

Kennedy leans across the centre console to kiss the boy's forehead. "Whatever you want, Minivan."

"I still hate that nickname."

"But you don't hate me."

Van Gogh shrugs. "Maybe just a little bit," he says with a smile.

JFK pinches the boy's cheek. "That will go away, darling."

Vincent swats his hand away. "You're such a flirt!"

Kennedy grins. "I thought that was one of your reservations about me."

Van Gogh shrugs, busying himself by unbuckling his seatbelt. "Yeah, well. Evidently, it's also what sparked my interest in you."

JFK and Van Gogh get out of the car, slamming their doors behind them in unison. They walk up to the Safeway doors side by side, Vincent's hand fumbling for John's. He interlaces their fingers and Vincent smiles, previously feeling unsure about public displays of affection, especially as a gay couple. JFK's hand is warm against his, and his palm is rough, but in a comforting way. He's something tangible, something Van Gogh can hold to feel grounded.

"I'm really lucky, I think," Van Gogh says without realising he'd spoken aloud.

JFK smiles, blushing the slightest bit. "I think I'm the lucky one, Minivan."

The boys step into the grocery store, dropping hands awkwardly, overwhelmed by all the people inside. They've only been gone from Exclamation! for three days, but that's still a long time to be with only each other. Time feels skewed in Marshtown as well -- Van Gogh could swear they've been living there for a whole month already.

"Maybe we should split up. We'll get out of here a lot faster," Van Gogh suggests.

"So... you take the first ten items on the list, I'll take the last ten?" Kennedy suggests.

"Yeah... I'll send you the list so you don't have to memorise it." Van Gogh looks down at his phone, quickly sharing the note with the boy. A second later, JFK's phone chimes.

"I got it, thanks," he smiles before starting to walk away.

"Wait!" Van Gogh calls out. JFK freezes. "We should establish a meeting place."

John looks around the store, scrunching his nose up in thought. He points to the freezer aisle, right before the self-checkout counters. "How about right over there?"

Vincent follows the boy's finger. "Okay. See you in a couple minutes."

"See you in a couple minutes," JFK agrees.

***

Van Gogh and JFK sit on the grassy banks of a stream, the sun shining down on them through the trees. They've managed to find their own pocket in a forest, full of lavishly green grass and spritely flowers. They don't know where they are, but it must be far from Marshtown; April isn't winter here.

Van Gogh took the liberty of adding a few things to the shopping list, knowing JFK probably wouldn't have thought of them on his own. Now, Vincent spreads out a blue-and-white checkered picnic blanket for them to sit on. He crosses his legs and unties his shoes.

"No muddy feet on the cloth," he says simply to JFK when the boy gives him a look. Kennedy shrugs and unties his sneakers after sitting down, his sock feet clean against the blanket.

"We sure like the middle of nowhere, huh?" John says, spreading some strawberry jam on his bagel. It won't be as good toasted, but there aren't exactly any outlets around to plug a toaster into.

Van Gogh looks up from his own bagel, only half of it slathered in cream cheese. "We're making it the middle of somewhere."

"I don't know what that means."

Vincent smiles. "It means it's our world," he says, JFK's words warm on his tongue.

"What was it you said?" John says, setting his bagel down on a napkin and pouring himself a glass of orange juice. Plastic cups and napkins are also two of the items Van Gogh decided to pick off the shelves at the last minute. "'It's our rollercoaster, and we get to build the track?'"

Van Gogh nods, taking a bite of his bagel. "Mhm," he dabs at some cream cheese smeared across his lips with a napkin. "That's exactly what I said."

"I liked it. You should be an author. I'm sure thirteen-year-old girls on the internet would eat that shit up."

Vincent rolls his eyes. "I'd like to think that if I were to ever become an author, my target audience wouldn't be thirteen-year-old girls on the internet."

JFK laughs. "I'm just playing. But I really do think you could make it."

The shorter boy shrugs, avoiding eye contact by looking down at his food. "Can I have some orange juice?"

John hands the boy a plastic cup and the bottle of orange juice. He'd made sure to get the pulp-free kind, because he knows Van Gogh won't drink it otherwise.

The forest warms up quickly under the sun, and pretty soon, both boys have to take off their letterman jackets. Vincent had almost forgotten what JFK looks like in just his striped red sweater and khakis, his threadbare white tube socks disappearing into the cuffs of his pants. Kennedy had almost forgotten what Van Gogh looks like so simply, in his yellow shirt and jeans. He's wearing his navy blue windbreaker still. It's very rarely warm enough for him to take it off. The boys mostly eat in contented silence, admiring the way the rays of sun drip through the tree branches and the quiet dribbling of the creek behind them. When Vincent finishes his bagel, he wipes his mouth with a napkin and rests back on his hands, his arms extended as he looks up at the trees. JFK stops eating just to admire the boy, to smile at the way his hair falls back when his head is tilted upwards, to bask in the uncomplicated presence of him. Kennedy blows a strand of hair out of his eyes, and Vincent tilts his head forward slowly, almost as if he's returning to reality from a far-away dimension.

"Vincent," JFK breaks the silence.

"Hm?"

"I think you're pretty."

Vincent blushes and looks away. His stomach churns, and he wonders how he could possibly still feel nervous around JFK even now that they're boyfriends.

"I think you're pretty too, JFK."

"Minivan," John smiles.

Van Gogh inhales deeply, trying to steady his breath and calm his heart rate. "Johnny Boy."

"You know what's really special about calling someone your boyfriend?" He asks, leaning forward onto his hands and knees and crawling across the picnic blanket to Vincent.

"What's really special about calling someone your boyfriend?"

JFK waits until he's sitting down next to Vincent to speak again. He wraps his arms around the boy's chest from behind, pulling him in. The smaller boy positions himself between Kennedy's legs and presses his head back, listening to the boy's heartbeat. He closes his eyes, drowning himself in John's familiar scent.

"This," Kennedy whispers, his eyes closed as well. He rests his head atop the boy's, giving his hair a kiss.

"What's it like?" Vincent asks after a couple seconds, his eyes still closed. The sun burns kaleidoscopes into his cheeks, warm against his skin. "Being in love."

John takes a deep breath. "Like this."

"Does that mean...?"

"Shh..." JFK gives the boy another kiss on the head. "Don't ruin it."

"John?" Vincent asks after another second, opening his eyes now.

"Hm?"

He wriggles out of the boy's arms and turns around, sitting so they're facing each other. He slips his arms out of his navy blue windbreaker. He forces himself to look up at Kennedy now, who pulls his sweater off over his head. They sit in their t-shirts, one a soft yellow and the other a plain white, gazing at each other nervously. Vincent moves forward to kiss JFK first, his heart pounding against his ribcage.

"What is this like?" Van Gogh asks, kissing the boy harder than he ever has before.

JFK returns the kiss and lays on his back, pulling the boy down with him.

#clone high #clone high jfk #clone high van gogh #jfgogh #limitless

27 notes · View notes

queen-iduna-of-arendelle · 4 years

Text

Other World

For Agduna Week 2020, Day 6: Free Day; and Prompt: "I know this may be hard to believe, but I'm on your side."

ff.net AO3

Agnarr, 18 years old, now king of Arendelle, passed the stones with their symbols and went into the giant forest. His father always warned him, that he never should go in there. At his question why, he only said there were savages and demons, that want to kill them all.

Of course he was afraid as a kid, but now he wanted to know what was really hiding in there. And to be honest he couldn't really believe that such a beautiful forest could be dangerous...

Though at some point during his hike, he felt like he's being watched. It was only a feeling, since he couldn't see nor hear anyone. So he kept walking. It felt like he's going for hours and he still hasn't seen anyone yet. Maybe it was just a scary story his father told him...

But then suddenly something landed in front of him. Startled, he took a few steps backwards and stumbled on a thick root coming out of the ground and fell on his back.

Then a stick floated right in front of his face. Following the sticks path with his eyes, he eventually made eye contact with the most beautiful woman he's ever seen in his entire life. She may be glaring at him, but her eyes were the most beautiful blue in existence. Her hair was long and wavy and had a chocolate brown color. Her clothes looked worn out and made from...reindeer probably? “Who are you?!” She yelled at him, startling him back to reality.

“I-I'm...Agnarr. Uh, k-king of Arendelle.” He stuttered like an idiot, and held up his hands to show her he's unarmed. The girl's glare darkened, it really scared him, but it didn't make her any less beautiful.

Agnarr couldn't help but blush at her staring. Then she frowned and tilted her head. “You're the king? I was told he's way older...”

“Yeah, that was my father. H-he died. I'm his son.” Ugh stupid! Of course she'd get this much!

A few moments later, she lowered the staff and Agnarr let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. “He died...and what are you doing here? Wanna step into your fathers footsteps and try to take over the land and have control over us?”

“No! No, I...wait, what?” His father never told him that he was here. Yes, he may have told him scary stories about this place, but he thought someone else might've told him. Agnarr sat up then. “I-I didn't know anything about it! Look, I don't want to hurt you...”

At that, the woman raised her staff again, raising an eyebrow at him. “...so please don't hurt me. Listen...I know this may be hard to believe, but I'm on your side.”

“Why should I believe you?” Of course she'd ask. If that's right what she said then they're actually enemies...“Because...I'm nothing like my father. You know he...only said bad things about this place, but now that I see it...I think this is amazing. I don't wanna take any of your land or do...anything to you. I was hoping that maybe...we could be friends.”

The girl kept staring at him and even if he wanted to, he couldn't look away. “What do you think?” She asked then, looking away. Agnarr followed her gaze, but didn't see anyone. Then a strong wind hit him, but it didn't feel like a normal wind...It was like it's a thinking entity, circling him and carrying leaves with him.

“Askjell?” Then a white reindeer with black markings emerged from behind trees and bushes. It came very close and stared at him, too. Then he sniffed him, before looking back at the girl and making a few noises. “Good.” She put her staff on her back and gave him her hand. “Sorry, but you never know about Arendellians. But Vinny and Askjell say you're a good guy.”

She was smiling at him now and Agnarr sat there, frozen solid. He thought she couldn't possibly get any more beautiful, but now...At some point she tilted her head and Agnarr realized how long he's been staring at her. “S-sorry. It's okay.” He mumbled, taking her hand and letting her help him stand up.

“I'm Iduna.” She introduced herself and did it again. Was anything about her NOT beautiful? And her hand was so small and soft, but she was strong enough to pull him up. “A-Agnarr...” Then she giggled and it sounded like music to him. “I know. You already said it.” The king blushed a dark red. “Right...”

“I'll bring you to our leader.” She said than waving the reindeer over to them. “Hop on.” For a second he just stood there, not knowing what he should do.

“You do know how to ride, Your Majesty?” She asked him teasingly, her blue eyes were glinting mischievously. “O-of course!” He answered, climbing on the reindeer.

“Good.” Then she got on herself in front of him. “And to make sure you won't know the way...” She didn't finish her sentence, she just pulled the cloth around her waist off and bound it around his head, covering his eyes. It's not like he'd ever memorize the way, heck he didn't even know the way back home, but he won't fight her.

“Hold on.” She said then and to be honest, he really had no idea where to hold on to. “Uuh...” The girl sighed, before grabbing his arms, pulling him closer and wrapping them around her waist. Agnarrs blush darkened, but he was thankful that she didn't see it. They were so close now...practically pressed against each other and no room between them.

Then the reindeer moved, making him jump in surprise and holding onto her tighter. He heard her giggle and with his eyes covered and only being able to rely on other senses it sounded even more beautiful than before. And she felt so fragile in his arms, but also strong.

Her brown hair was tickling his nose and as he breathed in, he noticed the smell of the forest and flowers on her. And something different, that surely was, without any question, just herself.

Gosh, he felt like a creep, feeling and sniffing her like that...What would his mother say to this? Still, he couldn't deny that he enjoyed this. Holding this mysterious girl close to him...noticing how perfect she fit in his arms...

“Get Yelena.” She said then. Agnarr was too focused on her to notice the people around them whispering. He heard footsteps running away from them. The people where recognizing him as an Arendellian and they wondered why he's here.

Then she blindfold was pulled away from his eyes and he could see again. They were in their base. Many tents stood, Northuldra old and young stared at him. Iduna climbed off the reindeer and Agnarr followed her lead. Then an older woman approached them, she looked like she's their leader. “What's an Arendellian doing here?” She asked, glaring at him.

Before he could answer Iduna spoke up. “He said he's the new king. I know what you wanna say.” She interrupted the leader before she could even say anything. “I wouldn't have brought him here if Vinny didn't say he's good.”

The older woman raised an eyebrow. “The wind spirit itself said he's good?” Ah, so this weird wind was a spirit...he always wanted to meet one to be honest. “Yes.”

Then she came closer to him and stared at him as if she wanted to look into his soul. Just as he felt nervous under her gaze, she turned away. “We shouldn't trust another one of them. Even if he's different, we don't know that. We almost had a war with Arendelle before, we shouldn't risk another.”

“I don't want to fight you! Really! You can trust me!” Agnarr tried, really hoping to have an alliance with the Northuldra.

“Like we trusted your father?” Said Yelena then, silencing him instantly.

“What about Vinny? Are you saying he's wrong about him?” Asked Iduna then, glancing at him for a second.

“We better not risk it.” Repeated Yelena, as she left. “Bring him out of here, Iduna.”

“Yes...” She mumbled, before going the other direction. “Come.”

Agnarr did as he was told and followed the girl, together with the reindeer. Then they stopped by a tent. “Wait here.” She said, before going in. A minute later she returned with a duffel bag and a red colored shawl around her shoulders.

“What's that for?” He asked, while she attached the bag on her reindeer.

“Just a few supplies.” She replied, before climbing on the reindeer. Then she looked at him, obviously wanting him to get on, too, which he did. “Go, Askjell.” As the reindeer moved, Agnarr held onto her again.

“No blindfold this time?” He asked teasingly, and got an equally teasing look from her. “No need.” Then, before he could say anything, the reindeer began to run through the woods. And now he understood. He couldn't even see clearly when they were that fast.

Soon enough they left the woods. “Thanks for bringing me back.”

“You're welcome.” Agnarr was sure she'll leave him here, but she kept going. “Uhm...aren't you going back? I can go from here.”

“I'll bring you to Arendelle.” She said calmly, adding more to his confusion. But then he remembered the duffel bag and realized that she planned this. “But your leader said…”

“I know what Yelena said.” She interrupted him. “But I trust my friend.” As she said this, the wind spirit circled them, carrying leaves with it that eventually stuck on their clothes and hair. “And I wanna find out if he's right.” The wind followed them, as they went further south. “You don't have to follow us.” She said to the spirit, but it refused to go back.

“Looks like it wants to stay with you.” Agnarr said, amazed at how attached it was to this girl. Since she never left the woods before —as she told him— he guided her all the way back to Arendelle. Then they paused on a hill where they could see the whole kingdom. “...Wow...” She surely has never seen anything like this before, so no wonder that she was impressed.

Soon enough they entered the town and his people were confused that their king returned riding on a reindeer with a mysterious girl in front of him. He waved, smiling nervously as they kept going and crossed the bridge to get to the castles gates. The gates opened and inside he climbed off the reindeer. “Where do you want to stay?” He asked, before she could go anywhere.

“The woods of course.” She replied as if it's the most normal thing ever. Which it surely was for her.

“Uh, you can stay in the castle. I invite you. And your reindeer can stay in the stables.” Agnarr really hoped she'd say yes. He wanted to get to know her more.

“In the castle?” She asked confused and surprised.

“If you want to. You're my guest.”

Iduna took some time to think about it. “What do you think, Askjell?” The reindeer made some noises that Agnarr couldn't even try to translate. She nodded thoughtfully, as if she could understand him. “Vinny?” The wind spirit circled around her, pushing her and the reindeer towards the castle.

“Okay, okay.” Giggling, she dismounted and patted Askjell. “Do you wanna stay here or go home?” The reindeer stomped his foot and huffed. “You're sweet.” Askjell nuzzled her then. Agnarr waited patiently for an answer, since he didn't speak reindeer or wind.

Then she turned to him. “We'd like to stay. Thanks for the offer.” She said, bowing to him, the reindeer copying her.

“Great. I'm glad you're staying here. I thought if you wanna make sure your friend's right you should have a seat in the front row.” Agnarr half joked, but noticed that she might not understand it. “Anyway...I've never seen anyone talking with a reindeer and the wind. It's really amazing how you can understand them.”

“Oh, it's not as difficult as you think. They're with me since I was born.” That must've been an amazing childhood, Agnarr thought. She was out in the woods all her life, while he was mostly inside the castle, learning everything he needed to know about his kingdom, his people, culture, politics, war and so on. He really, hoped he could learn some things from her as well. “Alright. Follow me, my lady.” He said, leading the way to the stables.

But they didn't get that far because then his personal guard stomped towards him. “Agnarr!” Said boy flinched and turned to the angry man with a sheepish smile. “Where the hell have you been?! Do you have an idea how worried I was?!”

“Calm down, Destin.” He said trying to calm him. Well, Lt. Destin Mattias wasn't just his guard, he was his best friend and father figure. He was his guard since he was a little boy. “I'm okay. And I brought a visitor.” He turned to his guest. “This is Iduna and this is Askjell. They're gonna stay here for a while.”

The guard looked to the girl and her reindeer. “Oh. You're Northuldra.” He said, as he offered her a hand. Iduna obviously didn't know what to do, but she still took his hand. “Destin Mattias. Nice to meet you.”

“Same.” They shook hands, Iduna looked a little confused at this, but surely guessed that's how they greeted each other. “I didn't think you'd come back with a pretty girl.” Mattias said teasingly at the prince.

Agnarr blushed a deep red, already knowing where this talk will lead. “It wasn't really planned. But how are things with you and mother?” He quickly changed the subject and found Mattias speechless. “You better go and tell her your feelings before I'll do it.”

“Watch it, kid.” Mattias flicked his forehead. “We'll talk about this later.”

“Yes, father.” He replied, rolling his eyes and leading his guests to the stables. Mattias didn't stop them and resumed his work. “Uhm, he's my guard. Well officially. He's also my best friend and a real good father figure. He's...actually been a better father to me than my real one...”

“I see.” Was all she said, but they didn't need to talk about it right now. He could tell her about his father later.

“This is where Askjell can stay. Right next to my horse, Bjelle.” Agnarr announced, when they entered the stables. And sure enough, just like the name said, a white horse stood in the stables, looking proudly.

“She's beautiful.” Said Iduna, patting the horse's snout. Askjell probably thought so too, as he began to talk. At least Agnarr interpreted his noises like that. “Calm down, big boy.” Iduna giggled and led him into his place. “Go eat something, I'll come back as soon as I can.”

As the reindeer saw the pile of carrots, he made a really, funny sound. “Okay, I'll take my time.” She joked back and followed him inside the castle then. “Really amazing how you can understand him.” Agnarr couldn't help but compliment her again.

“Thanks.” Iduna smiled and he couldn't help but stare at her for a little while. She was just so beautiful. He couldn't believe that she's gonna stay here for...how long she wanted to stay.

“Uhm...” Looking around, he found a maid cleaning one of the many rooms. “Airin, please get Gerda. She'll find me in the painting room.”

The woman immediately stopped working and and did as she was told. “Of course Your Majesty.” She said, before leaving to get Gerda.

“You must be very tired…” He began, but she interrupted him.

“No, I'm okay.” She was looking around with wide eyes. “This place is really amazing...”

“Thank you. But when you think this is amazing...” Agnarr paused as he opened some big doors to reveal a gigantic room with lots of paintings inside. The brunette looked around in amazement. And while she stared at the paintings, Agnarr couldn't help but stare at her the whole time. Her eyes were so big, so full of wonder, they seemed to sparkle. She was so beautiful.

“How beautiful.” She said then.

“You are...” He mumbled, but when her eyes landed on him, he realized what he said and hoped she didn't hear it. “What did you say?”

“N-nothing!” The blonde replied quickly, looking away to hide his blushing face. Then a certain painting caught Iduna's attention. It was a painting of a forest. “Look at this.” Agnarr joined her side. He saw all of these paintings everyday since he was born, but he never really took the time to admire them. “Amazing how the sunrise of the first autumn weeks have been captured.”

Agnarr frowned, looking more closely at the painting. But by all means, he couldn't see what she saw. Putting a hand on his chin, he tilted his head to the side thoughtfully.

Iduna obviously saw his struggle and giggled. “Look at where the sun's coming from. The sky looks slightly pinkish and not red, definitely sunrise. There are many red and yellow leaves on the trees.” She pointed at the few colored dots between all the green. “The sqirrels gather food for the winter.” The girl pointed at the animals that Agnarr has never seen before. “Oh…”

“It kinda reminds me of home…”

“Maybe it is…” They both kept staring at the painting a bit longer, until someone entered the room. “Your Majesty.”

Agnarr turned around to see Gerda standing at the door. “Oh, Gerda. Please prepare a room for my special guest here. Somewhere near mine.”

The woman nodded. “Of course.” Then she left as fast as she arrived. Then Agnarr turned back to the brunette. “Are you hungry? I can let cook make everything you want.”

“I am hungry...But I'd like to try the things you usually eat.”

“Okay. I promise, you'll love it.” Agnarr grinned, he couldn't wait to show her everything Arendelle had to offer. He felt like a little kid, who wanted to show someone all his toys.

As they left the painting room, they met his steward. “Kai.” He called, getting the man's attention. “Tell cook to make all the best food Arendelle has to offer.”

“All of them?” Asked Kai surprised and immediately got his answer. “All of them. We need to impress our special guest.”

“Yes, sire.” Agnarr noticed a certain glint in Kai's eyes, as if he saw right though him. As if he knew this isn't just to have an ally with Northuldra, but to impress her specifically. Once Kai left, Agnarr offered her an arm. “Shall we? There's a lot more to see here.”

Iduna smiled at him and took his arm. Again, he started to blush when he felt her small hand holding onto his arm.

Next stop was the library. He wasn't sure if she liked it though. He didn't even know if she could read…But his question was answered when he saw Iduna looking around in wonder. “Wow, so many books…” She let go of his arm —he tried not to miss her warmth immediately— and took a random book from the shelf.

But then she just stared at it blankly, and tilted her head to the side in confusion. “What's wrong? You don't know how to read?” He asked, as he came to her side. To his surprise she hit him gently on his shoulder.

“I know how to read! You just don't know how to write!” Then she seemed to realize what she did. “Oh my goodness, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...”

“It's okay, really.” Actually, it was more than okay. She was the only person not treating him as 'the king' but some guy at her age. “I suppose you use other letters to write?” He asked then.

“Runes. To be exact. Very old ones. The elders want us to keep it alive. It shouldn't die out with them.” She explained, and he just couldn't stop being amazed.

“I understand. And if you want, I could teach you how to read this.”

“Really?”

“Sure. But only if you teach me how to write and read your runes.”

“Old Northuldra.” She corrected, looking at him with sparkling blue eyes.

“Exactly.” He joked, smiling brightly.

“You got yourself a deal, Your Majesty.”

“Same goes for you, my lady.” Agnarr offered her a hand, that she only stared at. “Oh, if you make a deal you shake each others hand to seal it.” He quickly explained and watched her taking his hand then.

“I see.”

After the castle tour they went to the dining room to have their big Arendellian meal. The big table was covered with food and Iduna told him she's never seen so much food in her life. And as they ate, he was happy that she also liked it, too. She tried everything and joked around that she never ate so much in her life either. Of course you couldn't, when you're living in the woods.

It wasn't usual to sit beside each other, but he thought this might be easier to explain her why they had so many different silverware and what they're for. “Are you ready for dessert?” Asked Agnarr once they're finished.

“Dessert?” She asked back, having to lean back on her chair because she's so full. And Agnarr felt the same. He usually didn't eat that much either, but Iduna distracted him so much that he didn't realize how much he's eating. “Something sweet after the meal.”

Before she could say anything a piece of chocolate cake was presented to them. “What's that?” She asked, sniffing the cake.

“That's chocolate cake.” Agnarr answered as he took a bite. “Go on, try it.”

Iduna took a little fork then and tried the cake. And he wasn't even surprised by her reaction. “Wow! This is amazing!”

Agnarr smiled when she began to wolf down the cake. “Wow!” She was really cute. After their big meal, he let Gerda bring her to her room. He really wanted to see her reaction, but sadly he had a few kingly things to take care of. But once Iduna found him she told him all about her first experiences with a big room, the bathtub and the super soft bed. How could she be so cute? Not to mentioned that the nightgown she got looked really good on her. For a moment it made him wonder if it's possible to fall in love with someone you just met. But that was crazy, right? “Iduna...what will your family say when they realize you won't come back anytime soon?”

“Oh they'll think I need time alone. I've run away before and I stayed away for days.”

To be honest Agnarr didn't know what to think of it, but as long as they won't be worried...

A week passed since then. They agreed to spent one day 'the Arendelle way' and the next 'the Northuldra way'. At his first Northuldra day she made him an outfit of reindeer skin and they spent the whole day in the woods. She taught him all the basic things to survive, to hunt and so on. And she always laughed at him when he couldn't climb the trees...

On her first Arendelle day, he got her a beautiful dress and let Gerda help her braid her hair. She even got a bit make-up and he lent her a necklace from his mother. She was beautiful in her normal clothes, but in this moment she just looked breathtaking. He taught her a few things about etiquette and let her look over his shoulder as he got to work. She actually gave him real good ideas too, when he was thinking too complicated to solve a problem.

In his next Northuldra day, they went up to the North Mountain and Iduna taught him everything he needed to know about ice fishing.

Her Arendelle day was spent in the library and he taught her how to read and write.

The following Northuldra day was also spent there, as she taught him the old Northuldra language and writing. Actually they spent the rest if the week learning the others writings. But it was fun. Agnarr knew that he was neglecting his real work as king, but he couldn't bring himself to leave her side. “Who's that?” Asked Iduna, pointing at a painting.

“Oh, that's my father. King Runeard.” He answered, joining her side by the painting.

“Huh...” The brunette tilted her head, still looking at the painting of his father. “Sorry, but I've only heard bad things about him...”

“It's okay. He...wasn't really the best person. Or father. He was a good king, though. Uh, most of the time...” He said grinning at her sheepishly and got a sympathetic smile back.

Then they were silent again. Agnarr was thinking lately...about his kind of relationship with Iduna. And what will happen when she needed to go home again. To be honest, he didn't want her to go. Ever. But going with her wasn't an option since he had a kingdom to take care of. They just...lived in different worlds. And he couldn't help but feel sad. It's like his heart's being squeezed painfully. And he felt like getting a panic attack when he only thought about having to continue without her. He just wanted more time...“So, uh...let's continue. I think I'm getting the hang out of it.” He said then, after realizing he's been staring at her for too long again.

Iduna smile became happier then and all Agnarr wanted in his life was to make her happy forever. “Let's. You're really getting better, Your Majesty.” The king rolled his eyes at that. “Stop that, please. Just call me Agnarr.” He grumbled, but still amused that they both loved to tease each other so much.

Another few days later and Iduna already felt like home in Arendelle. It was a really beautiful place. All the people where friendly and welcomed her. To be honest she could imagine to stay there. But of course she couldn't do it. She had to go home eventually. But thinking about it made her so sad...So she tried not to think about it at all and took more time.

During her stay she heard lots of stories about Agnarr's father. And apparently he wasn't a good man at all. He's only after power, even tried to take over her home. And she was really glad he didn't succeed.

She even talked with the staff and the townspeople about Agnarr, to see what they thought of him and they all agreed that he was a way better king than his father. He was taking care of the people more than Runeard ever did. Of course she talked with Mattias and his not yet girlfriend Halima. Of course being the mother and father figure they mostly had good things to tell about Agnarr.

Then one day she saw something weird. Today was supposed to be her Arendelle day and she just got ready for her next lesson, till she noticed smoke in the distance. Behind the Arendellian walls, in the forest was smoke...But it didn't look like it's burning. It looked controlled, like a campfire...“Vinny.” The wind spirit came to her immediately. “What's going on over there?”

The spirit carried around leaves to make pictures for her. And it looked like the symbol of the Northuldra...“Are you saying my family is here?” She asked, while Vinny circled her, saying yes. “W-what do they want here?” Then she spirit formed a shape that looked like a sword. Where they here to fight?

Iduna immediately ran out of her room then and towards the exit. On her way through the halls she ran against Agnarr. “Iduna? W-what's wrong?” He asked, having wrapped his arms around her to make sure she didn't fall.

“They're here!” The brunette exclaimed panicked and even if she didn't want him to let go, they had to go. Freeing herself from his grip, she kept running, hopefully in the right direction.

“Who's here?” Asked Agnarr, who's running after her.

“My family! I guess they think you kidnapped me! Vinny said they're here to fight.”

“Wait, what?!” For once it was the right direction and they ran out of the castle.

“I'm sorry! This is all my fault! I should've gone back days ago, but Arendelle is so amazing and-” Iduna couldn't finish her sentence, when she suddenly felt Agnarr grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him. And in the next second she was in his arms, being hugged tightly.

“Don't say that!” He said sternly as he tightened his grip on her. “None of this is your fault!” Iduna knew he was wrong. It was her fault. She left her home without telling anyone after all. Of course they'd think something happened. “I'm...glad you stayed that long. I really enjoyed our time together...and uhm...”

Even if they had to hurry, she couldn't bring herself to interrupt their little moment. “Iduna, I...I think I'm in love with you.” Iduna's heart swelled with joy and warmth at his words. To be honest she was thinking about this, too, but always dismissed her feelings. She didn't dare hope that anything could happen between them, let alone that he might have feelings for her.

This was supposed to be an amazing and serious moment for them, but Vinny destroyed it all by carrying around flower petals and drawing a big heart in the air behind Agnarr's head.

She tried staying serious, but the playful wind spirit eventually made her laugh. At that Agnarr's face fell and shoulders dropped in disappointment, but she was quick to reassure him again. “Sorry! Sorry, but Vinny's doing funny things behind your back.” The king looked back to see the flower heart still flying in the air. He blushed a dark red, which made him look even cuter than normal.

“Agnarr...” Just as she wanted to confess her feelings, too, the wind picked up and pushed them into the stables. “Okay! Okay, we're going! Jeez!” Grumbled Iduna, angry that she didn't have the time for saying it. Well, she could always say it, but just a little 'I love you' while she made Askjell ready to go wasn't really what he deserved. But she had time for something else.

Before Agnarr could go anywhere, she grabbed his tie and pulled him down to her to give him a kiss on his cheek. His green eyes stared at her in shock and happiness —and she could swear they filled with tears, too—, before smiling from ear to ear. “I'll be right back!” She said, as she ran over to Askjell, who's been waiting for her anxiously, of course already knowing what's going on.

Once she let him out of the box, they were ready to go, but she also saw Agnarr readying his horse, too. “Y-you better stay here...” But he only held her hand.

“I'm not letting you go alone. I started it and I'll help you end it.” Iduna smiled sadly, but he was right. She squeezed his hand gently and nodded. Nodding back, he got on his horse's back and they rode as fast as they could to the camp of her tribe.

Agnarr followed her lead and she followed her spirit friend once they left Arendelle behind. Of course some guards tried to stop Agnarr from leaving but they couldn't do anything but jump out of the way. It took them a while to reach the camp. It was actually a pure incident that she noticed the smoke at all. She only let Askjell stop when they were in the middle of their camp and in one smooth motion she also dismounted.

“What are you all doing here?” Asked Iduna her tribe, even finding her parents in between the men and women. They ran to her and hugged her tightly. “Do you have an idea how worried we were?” Scolded her mother. Iduna missed them, really, but this isn't how she imagined their reunion.

“Where's Yelena?” She asked around, but everyone were only staring at her in shock, but not because of her entrance but because of her clothes. They all murmured stuff, but she did hear one of them saying ‘She's one of them now' and that she may be brainwashed. “Don't be ridiculous!” She yelled at them, silencing them.

Then a moment later Agnarr arrived, too. She didn't notice how fast Askjell was and that they almost lost each other in the woods. “There you are.” He stopped and dismounted, as well, but once every one got over their initial shock they all raised their weapons at Agnarr. But Iduna was quick to step between them. “Stop that! What are you doing?!”

“And what are you doing, Iduna?” Asked Yelena, as she approached her. “I told you not to trust Arendellians. We're here to save you.”

“I don't need anyone to save me!” Iduna yelled at everyone around. “I brought him home, just as you wanted me to. And then I stayed a few days! I stayed because I wanted it. And because Vinny suggested it. I've heard so many good things about him! I believe that he wants an alliance with us!”

But no one seemed to believe her. They all looked like she's lying, or completely mad. “Iduna, you were too young to remember what happened back then. Runeard came to us, wanting friendship. He wanted to build a dam, but it luckily didn't happen, for the water spirit and the rock giants prevented it. They knew it won't be good for us. And because of this he wanted to fight us. He despised magic more than anything and wanted to kill our whole tribe. We were lucky that the spirits made sure to lock them out of the forest at that time.”

No one told her the whole story before and after hearing all the stories of the late king it also made lots of sense that they all distrusted Agnarr. She looked at him and he was really shocked about the story. Of course he wouldn't have told his son about his failure to take over their forest.

Just when she wanted to tell them that Agnarr's different, he stepped forward to Yelena. “Yelena. Leader of the Northuldra.” He began, before going on his knee to bow before her. “I humbly apologize for the actions of my father.” Every single one of them stared at Agnarr in shock, not believing their eyes and ears. “I had no idea he did these terrible things to your people. If you want me to, I'll atone for everything he did. But I still hope that we can start anew, for I'm nothing like my father at all.” Then he looked up at her. “I do love magic. And the spirits. And your home. And Iduna.”

Iduna blushed when he actually confessed his love for her I front of the whole tribe. The others still didn't quite know what to do with all of this. But they were all surprised when Yelena poked the king's forehead with her staff. Rubbing his forehead, Agnarr looked up the their leader. “Okay, I believe you. I'm not heartless, I just want to protect my people.”

Agnarr stood up again. “I understand! I probably would've reacted the same way. Please let's start anew, with a real alliance.” He offered her a hand and after a little moment of hesitation, Yelena accepted his offer and shook his had. Agnarr grinned happily, then he turned to Iduna and looked at her with such joy, that she couldn't help but feel the same.

Then Yelena looked at her, too. “I suppose you want to stay in Arendelle?” She asked her, of course knowing exactly what she's thinking. “Yes. I love him, too.” Answered Iduna, going closer to Agnarr to wrap her arms around his arm. And when she looked up at his face, she saw tears in his eyes, but a huge grin.

“Sorry.” He sniffled and wiped them away quickly. Iduna smiled lovingly and kissed his cheek, before turning to the others. “Of course I'll always come to visit you.”

“We.” Added Agnarr. “We'll come to visit. If I may.”

“King Agnarr, consider yourself welcome in the Enchanted Forest.” Said Yelena with a smile.

“Same goes for you. Every Northuldra is welcome in Arendelle. In fact, I want to invite you all to the castle. Let's celebrate this union together!” Suggested Agnarr and looked hopefully at the tribe members.

“You won't believe what amazing food they have! We need to have a big feast.” Iduna half joked, so she was surprised when he actually agreed.

“As you wish, my princess.” Agnarr took her hand, raising it up to kiss the back of it. The brunette blushed when he called her that.

Yelena cleared her throat loudly to gain their attention. The young adults blushed embarrassed and turned to the older woman. “We accept your invitation, Your Majesty.”

“I'm really honored to have you there.” Said Agnarr, as he was pulled away by Iduna. Now that they successfully prevented a war, it might be a good time to introduce her new boyfriend to her parents.

“Agnarr, my parents. Ivvár and Elsá.” She could see how nervous he suddenly was when she introduced them.

“I-it's an honor to meet you.” Said Agnarr and bowed to them. They both knew he's king, but they treated him just like her boyfriend, which is great. Agnarr told him it's sometimes tiring that everyone just saw him as the king and that he'd appreciate if someone treated him like a normal guy. Her mother was really hyped about it and squeezed his cheeks. “You've got yourself a real cutie there, Idy.”

Iduna grinned as she saw him blushing. “I know.” Then her father stepped forward, looking not very happy. Guessing what might come, the brunette wrapped her arms around his arm and squeezed it, ready to pull him back to safety. “Papa...” She said warningly, but he ignored her.

“I know you're king” Ivvár began, glaring down at Agnarr. “but if you make my little girl sad, I'll hunt you down.” He threatened, meaning every word. Iduna saw the young king's looking very nervous and his adams apple bobbed.

“Yes, sir.” He looked back at her and suddenly seemed more confident then. “I'll do everything in my power to make her happy.” Agnarr smiled at her lovingly and she immediately returned it, completely forgetting her parents presence for a second.

Then Ivvár put a hand on the blonde's shoulder. “In that case you have my blessing.” Her father's glare completely vanished and was replaced with a pleased and smug smile. He wanted to scare Agnarr and he succeeded. Then he ruffled his hair and went to the others to help them pack their stuff. Just when she thought the embarrassment was over, her mother took his place. She cupped his face and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “I can't wait to get some grandchildren to spoil.”

“Mama!” Iduna yelled, angry and beyond embarrassed. But she ignored her, of course. “Welcome to the family, my son.” With that said, Elsá joined her husband to give them some privacy. Finally.

“Sorry about my parents...” Iduna mumbled, hiding her red face behind her hands. But Agnarr's reaction surprised her. He took her hands and grinned at her brightly.

“Are you kidding me? Your parents are great! I love them already. I'm happy to have them be a part of my family.” Jeez, did he even know what he's saying?

Blushing even more, she looked away. “D-don't say that...It sounds like a proposal...” And they weren't together for long enough to think about such things already. It's still possible that this won't work out in the future. But of course she hoped it will work out just fine. She had no idea what to do without him. Just when did she start thinking and feeling like that? It's been almost two weeks since they first met!

Agnarr didn't say anything. He just kept smiling at her and then he slowly leaned in, as if to give her a chance to escape. She didn't though and met him halfway, kissing him for real this time. It was even better than she imagined. And when did she even start imagining kissing him? But it didn't really matter right now. For now they're together and who knew what the future had in store for them?

#agduna #agduna week #agduna week 2020 #agduna 2020 #agnarr #iduna #frozen #disney #fanfics #fanfiction

9 notes · View notes

celestica-1988 · 5 years

Text

Meet Me In Los Angeles

TheDirtMickMars x Female Reader

Desclaimer: Sequel of “The sound of the wind”. Can be read without the prequel anyway

You felt your heart heavy while the plane was leaving the Hawaii.

Here you liked to think you found a very special person, someone able to understand all your weirdness.

His name was Mick Mars and he was a guitarist for a band called Mötley Crüe in Los Angeles.

You lived in the city of angels for a year and never heard of them, but you wanna meet him again so you were definitely gonna go to Sunset Strip and found him.

If he was the right one the destiny would make you meet again or so you thought.

The first week at L.A went away in a heartbeat, your manager was enthusiast of your Hawaiian works and you were in and out of galleries.

Finally the Monday after you were free to go everywhere you wanted so you went to Sunset Strip, you parked the car and felt awkward for the number of bars, locals and strip places. How could your roommate come here every weekend?

You didn’t know.

Uncertain you entered the first place on your way, it was called Whisky a Go Go and it was empty, probably it would be full at night.

You sat at a table and a bored girl came to took your ordinations.

“I would like some lemon ice tea.

Can I ask you something?” “Sure, I have nothing to do.” “Are Mötley Crüe playing here?”

“You are unlucky, sis. The guys are not playing here till next month.

But if you wanna meet them they give parties every weekend.” “Cool. Do you know the address?” She looked at you curious.

“Do you know one of them?” “Maybe.” “Who?” You were not so comfortable anymore.

“Mick.” She smiled.

“You are lucky, sis. Usually he hadn’t got much groupies.

He’s always so dark and grumpy, he looked like a vampire.” The girl served you the tea and then you left the bar with an address. You arrived in a two floored house with long terraces. On the top one a boy really tall and thin with long black hair was smoking a cigarette.

You lifted your head and he waved his hand.

“Hey!”

You screamed. “Hey to you. Do we know each other?” “No.”

“I’m Tommy.” “Y/N. Is Mick at home?” “Sure, come in!”

You walked on the stairs and the eyes of the guy widened.

“Are you okay?”

You asked worried.

“You really exist!” “Sorry?” You were confused.

“Mick came back to his vacation and kept talking about a black goth he met. Ad how she was pretty, smart and cool, but we all thought he was lying, but here you are.

Come in the house.”

He ignored the door and entered by the window, you did the same.

“Why?”

“The door? Well, we always have very loud parties and so the cops were here so often that we nailed the door and now we use the window.

In the house there were a blonde guy sleeping on the couch and another playing guitar.

“Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx.” Tommy kept walking and knocked at a door with a skull on it and a notes that say: “Drummer, never knock at this door.” “Does Mick hate you?” “Nah. He’s just a bit antisocial.” “Who is?”

Answered a grumpy voice behind the door.

“Tommy.” You heard demonic screech from the other side of the door and looked at Tommy worried.

The door opened and Mick with a baseball bat stormed out from the room.

“Can’t you even read?” “Hey, dude. There’s someone here for you.” Mick turned around with fire in the eyes, fire that stopped when he saw you.

He left the bat felt down and he hugged you tightly.

“Y/N!”

“I told you we would have seen again in Los Angeles.” “Let’s get out from this hut!”

He ignored his band mates and dragged you out.

“I was starting to think I would never saw you again.

These cunts didn’t even believe you exist.” “Tommy told me.” “Fucking teenager.” He murmured.

“I don’t understand if you like your bandmates or you hate them.”

“To be honest both, it depends from the situation. Where can we go to find a piece of Hawaii in this hell?

They told me there are beaches also there.”

You squeezed his hand.

“Mick, we don’t need beaches to have Hawaii in L.A, just hold my hand. All we need is each other.

I never thought you would be a nervous guy.” “I don’t wanna fuck up with you.

You are very special to me.” “You’re special to me too, the wind brings you to me.”

Mick smiled and held your hand even tighter.

……………………………………………………………

In the end you found a bar in the beach and you two decided it was the right place.

Now you were smiling in front of two pina colada ad a sense of deja-vu widened your smile.

“So, how is it going?

Do you sell those weird paintings?” “Believe it or not my manage went crazy about them and so the galleries, so for now I’m a quite rich artist.

All thanks to you.”

“All you have is because of your talent.” “Oh, shut up! I would never paint those shit if I didn’t meet you so let me thank you.” “Ok.” You kissed him.

“Don’t tease me. I want to kiss you and do a lot of bad things to you.”

“Maybe I could let you do all these stuff.” “What’s the deal, Y/N?” “I want to see your band in concert.”

Mick laughed.

“Fucking hell. Let me think about the next gig.

Uhm, we have one in a couple of days. You can come to my house and we bring you there with us.”

“OK. Just to know, who are your band mates?”

“Uhm. I play guitar, you already knew Tommy, our kid drummer. The blonde lazy ass is Vince, the singer and the one with the guitar is Nikki, our bassist. He also wrote most of the lyrics.

Are you in metal?” “Nope. I like reggae.” Mick grinned.

“Then expect a lot of noise.” “OK, ok. Now, would you kiss me again, mister Mars?” You two kissed again and you felt the Hawaiian magic was back.

……………………………………………………..

Two days after you were at Mick’s place at nine o’clock.

There was chaos, Mick kept screaming orders, but Tommy and Nikki made jokes on him and Vince was complaining that he couldn’t help because that would damage his voice.

It was like watching a volcano before its eruption, your boyfriend now was really about to kill his friends.

“Listen to me, cunts.

Don’t make me go down this stair or I will kick your ass so hard that you, terror twins, will need to go to the hospital. And how would you explain a boot stuck in the ass?

Vince, go down and help them or I will cut your throat.” That seemed to work, the tree guys finally started to load an old van, that was the moment you showed up and reached Mick.

“Hi, Mick.”

You said with laughter in the voice.

“Why are laughing?” “For your encouraging speech you gave them.” “Oh. Well, it’s normal. Are you ready to rock?” “Yes, baby!” You kissed and when the van was full, you two climbed down the stairs, Mick was in pain.

“The back?” “Yes, but in a while the painkiller will kick in.”

Mick sat at driver seat and you were next to him, there was an awkward silence.

He drove till a bar almost at the end of Sunset Strip, Mick parked it and the guys took their gear and entered on the back door.

For the next hour they set up the instruments and then rehearsed for a bit.

The other hour was spent in mysterious activity in the backstage in which a lot of girls were involved, luckily none of them mentioned Mick.

And then people started to fill the bar, they were loud and happy, excited. Last time you were so excited because of music was when you were lucky enough to see Bob Marley live.

And then happened.

The curtain were up, the guys were unrecognizable under a lot of make-up, hair spray, tight leather dress and high boots.

“Fuck.” You said.

Vince exchanged some words with the audience and then Tommy started to play, followed by Mick and Nikki. Your boyfriend was the one who moved less on the stage but his aggressive guitar riffs talked for him.

That was your Mick.

The loud, aggressive and sarcastic man.

There were no Hawaiian magic, you simply found the other half of you.

You lost the notion of time during the concert. You jumped and screamed like the other people in the room.

They were really a good band, they made you feel something in their music.

This was a real spell.

The last song came too soon and then the lights were out and people were leaving the room.

You ran backstage, ignored the girls, Vinnie kissing one of them and a man named Doc just to open Mick’s dressing room. He watched you in confusion.

You hugged him tight.

“You were so good, you, were so good, love.

Really, you gave me chills.”

“Thank you…” You didn’t let him finish the sentence because you kissed him with burning passion.

“Do you remember the bad things you talked about some day ago?” “Yea.”

You squeeze his hand.

“Let’s go to do bad things, mister Mars.” “I can’t wait.” You two left, but you highly doubt someone noticed, the other guys were busy with groupies.

The night was young and you couldn’t wait to spend it with Mick.

Mick, the man the wind brought to you in a faraway island.

Yea, the night was young and made for love.

19 notes · View notes

marshmallowatheart · 5 years

Text

To All The Boys I've Loved Before (Part 47)

"I love the smell of testosterone in the morning," Veronica quips when she spots Lamb taking out pictures with his flexed muscles.

Straightening up, he acts like he wasn't just striking poses. His face scrounges up, annoyed as ever when he sees one of the trouble making kids of Keith Mars, and remarks, "It's not bring your kid to work day."

"One, it's a public building," she counts on her finger. "Two, I've got a list and I'm checking it twice," she wiggles her note book of things to be done before the Christmas party that evening.

"Whatever Rudolph," he grunts dismissively and moves to leave.

Santa's the one with the list, she mentally corrects and waves him off, taunting, "Later, Grinch."

"Vehronika," she hears from behind her.

Turning around with a ready smile on her lips, she warmly greets her party planner partner, "Hi, Inga."

--vm--

"Heather, we're not supposed to be back here," Ophelia hastily whispers, eyes darting around wildly to see if anyone is looking at them.

"If you keep saying things like that then it's gonna draw attention," she whispers back, tugging her to come along.

Destination reached, Heather closes the door as quietly as she can and in hush whispers reminds, "If we wanna start our own Christmas decoration business, they've got to see the merchandise!"

Ophelia sighs, complying, knowing there's truth to her words but there's a heaviness in her gut that screams this is a bad idea.

"Quick, let me climb on you," the little blonde instructs.

"Heather!" The brunette stares, wide eyed and unwilling with her arms crossed over her chest.

Heather tilts her head and stares at her before sighing in exasperation, "Ophelia, come on!"

Caving, she snaps, "Make it quick!"

Climbing on her best friend's shoulders, Heather stretches up and places her wooden reindeer ornament made of sticks, glue and paint.

Satisfied, she asks, "Hand me another one."

Eyes wide, Ophelia stares at the box that's sitting on the counter two inches too far from her grasp and she gulps. "It's too far."

Heather looks at the box, biting her lip as she tries to estimate the distance between them and the counter. "Think you can move without me tumbling down?"

"I don't know," she quivers. "How are you gonna get down?"

"Same way I got on?"

"I don't think I can bend the same."

"Okay, just lean a bit to the shelf and I'll use it as balance."

Ophelia takes a deep breath, all their weight had been held by the fact that she was still. Her heart thumps in loud erratic beats as she moves forward.

The moment she does Heather wobbles above her, the blonde calls her to a halt as she clings to the branch of the tree to prevent them from crashing down.

"Heather," Ophelia panics, she notices the ornaments jingling along with the branches.

"It's okay, it's okay. Nothing fell," she soothingly says, trying to calm the girl beneath her down. "I'm gonna climb onto this shelf, okay? Then you can hand me the ornaments."

Taking in a deep breath, Ophelia lets out, "okay."

Stumbling to keep herself steady, in two spastic steps, Ophelia reaches the shelf. Heather latches her hand onto the wooden shelf, readying herself to climb it and Ophelia tries her best to help her.

They both breath in relief when Heather gets a stable balance on the shelf.

"For the record, this is a really bad idea," Ophelia says as she hands over one ornament at a time.

"We're already doing it, Felia, a little too late for regrets."

Within minutes, Heather places the final touches and starts to climb her way down with Ophelia trying to help her.

She wobbles, losing her footing on the way down. Ophelia gasps, holding the blonde as tightly as she can while Heather murmurs the repeated reassurances of I’m okay only to freeze at the sound of the cart - the cart that just so happened to be the wheels of the Christmas tree - crashing into the door.

They stare, paralysed and numb, when the lone angel on the top of the tree falls to the ground, shattering it into unholy pieces of porcelain.

"Son of a nutcracker."

--vm--

The community hall is dawned in traditional colours of red, green and white. Veronica's dressed in black with a cheerful Christmas hat as she settles the closed boxes of cookies on the table. She counts to make sure that she's brought batches of the different types of cookies that she's made and she lingers on the fruit cake cookies, her finger tracing the label.

"What cookie are you making that needs raisins?" Meg asks, brows furrowed, unable to think of a time they'd ever used raisins in their recipes.

As naturally as she can, Veronica answers, "Fruit cake."

"Fruit cake cookies? Ronica, no one's gonna want to eat that."

She can't blame Meg for saying that, she had the same thought when he'd mentioned it to her. It doesn't matter if no one else eats it, as long as he does. "I know someone who will."

"Someone?" Meg pipes, eyes glowing with intrigue as she looks expectantly at her sister.

"Logan," Heather chips, giddy grin on her lips as she snatches a few raisins to nibble on.

"Shut up," Veronica snipes, decidedly ignoring both of her sister's coos and teasing as she carefully reads the worn out writing from the old cookie recipe she'd gotten from Logan's mom.

"Lights are a-go," Leo calls from up the ladder, snapping her from her daze. She looks up at him and he gives her a quick thumps up.

"Thanks, deputy," Veronica shouts through the noise of the community hall. "You'll make a fine little helper yet!"

Veronica looks at her notepad, checking various tasks off her list when she bumps into her little sister, wide eyes and crooked smile that could only mean trouble.

Veronica narrows her eyes at her and asks, "Why are you smiling like that?"

"What are you talking about? This is the way I always smile," Heather says, fast and unconvincing as she tries to hold her smile.

"Heather Mars," she emphasizes, warningly.

"Oh, do you hear that?" Heather makes a show of cupping her ear. "It's the sound of Christmas. Gotta go, byeee." Heather skedaddles, grabbing Ophelia's hand and running off.

Veronica's eyes widen considerably as she turns to the middle school church choir, loudly singing a rendition of Deck the Halls. "Why are you singing? There's no one here."

"You're here," Lauren - a girl she remembers from Heather's class - says, staring at her pointedly.

"I meant guests," Veronica sighs, not wanting to deal with a choir of kids. "You kids are here way too early," she mumbles underneath her breath, shaking her head. "Inga! Help, please!" She calls out loud and hears the 'yes, Vehronika' come from the distance.

--vm--

"We just gotta get a new one," Heather suggests, optimistic and bright with no reason to be. "Without anyone figuring out we broke the first one.”

Full on panic mode activated, Ophelia paces back and forth with her hands to her head. "We're eleven! How are we gonna get to a store? We don't have transport, we don't have money, and Veronica is gonna kill us. We ruined Christmas!”

"You're spiralling! Look, we'll just make one and everything will be okay because we're kids and our crafts are cute."

"How are we gonna make an angel? There's no time for paper mache to dry."

"We improvise, Felia! We didn't get an A in Arts and Crafts for nothing."

--vm--

"Hey, Veronica."

"Deputy Sacks," Veronica smiles. "You ready to get your ho-ho-ho-ing on?"

He gives her a sheepish smile with flash of guilt shimmering in his eyes. "Yeah, about that."

Veronica's smile falls and her eyes grow wide in panic as he tells her that he has a date and can't be Santa tonight.

--vm--

Veronica pulls out her puppy dog eyes and head tilt. "Leo, please."

"Veronica," he sighs, giving her a helpless look.

"Every time there's a Christmas party without a Santa, an angel loses its wings."

"Come on, you know that's not true," he swallows, trying to look away from her pleading gaze.

She pouts. "The kids need you, Leo!"

"Alright, alright," he sighs once again. "Gimme that."

She eagerly thrusts it towards him, wiping away tears that don't exist as she praises, "You're a real St. Nick, Leo, the sheriff of Christmas."

--vm--

"Ho, ho, ho, to me," Wallace grins, snatching a cookie to eat.

"Fennel!" Veronica gasps as she appears from behind him. "Stealing cookies?"

"I’ve been good,” he playfully defends. “I deserve cookies."

She chuckles, shaking her head. “I sent a whole box to your house."

"But these are here and I'm tired after carrying all those presents."

“Got 'em all?” She asks, bright and hopeful, it’s one of the last thing on her list.

“You know it,” he grins, pridefully biting on his cookie.

She matches his grin, "Santa ain’t got nothin’ on you.”

--vm--

"Why are you wearing a Santa's costume?" Veronica stares at Vinnie with an unhinged look of grossed out.

He gawks at her, pointing at her with his white gloved finger. "You told me you didn't have a Santa!"

"It wasn't an invitation!" She defends; she was stuck taking care of mishap after mishap (deliveries gone wrong, criminals that stole her little helpers away, dates that stole her Santa away) and so she'd called Vinnie to tell him that she couldn't come into work (and now somehow she's got herself two Santas). "You just conveniently had a Santa suit just laying around?"

He looks at her as though she's ridiculous to think otherwise, remarking with a simple, "Doy."

--vm--

"Oh! These are just adorable," Inga gushes, flipping through the photographs Meg's showing her. "Oh! Backup looks like an angel, he belongs on the cover of a Christmas card."

Heather perks up, nudging Ophelia to pay attention, silently whispering that she's got an idea.

Meg beams, "He is so cute! Oh! How are Trixie and Bud?"

"Trixie just had puppies. There's only one left."

Heather grins slow and wide, whipping around and nears the talking duo. "Can I see those?"

"You've already seen them," Meg tells her, smiling as Inga shuffles to get pictures of the new borns.

"Can't I see them again?" Heather pouts. "I mean, isn't that the reason pictures even exist."

Meg's brows furrow, warily eyeing her sister but lets her take the pictures and skip away.

Inga hands Meg her lot of puppy pictures which causes the college girl to gasp with awe. "They are so cute!"

The old woman smiles warmly, then her eyes catch a boy coming towards them, looking straight at Meg. "You have a visitor," Inga says, giggling as she comments about how it's not just the puppies that are cute.

Meg doesn't hide her smile as she indulges Inga with an exaggerated oh, stop it before turning around. "Hey," Meg softly smiles in greeting. "You're here early.

Hamilton smiles back, dimples peeking out and he shrugs with his hands in his pocket. "Just felt like seeing you."

--vm--

The very last thing on Veronica's list is the Christmas tree. All they had to do was move it from the backroom to the hall which Hamilton had happily volunteered to help her do. Once that was done, it was Meg's turn to host and she was done with her duties.

Only, once they got to the backroom, the Christmas tree had been missing an angel.

Storming out of the room, Veronica finds Heather and grits, "Where is the angel statue?"

Heather's eyes widen and then she let's out a breath, with a face of righteousness. "Well, I found that the depiction of an angel has been devastatingly in accurate so I corrected it. Backup is a true angel, don't you think?"

After many failed attempts at trying to create an angel to replace the one on top of the tree, Heather had given up. She'd decided to use an easy peasy star. But then, the idea to use Backup's picture hit her like a lightning bolt when she'd heard Inga describe him as an angel.

It was perfect because everyone loved Backup and there was nothing more pure and top of the tree worthy (she could at least sell the story to her father).

So she'd picked the cutest one (it felt like Sophie's choice) and clipped it on top of the tree. Wallace helped (she's no snitch though).

"Heather," Veronica stares at her, upset and unbudging.

"Is that disagreement, I hear? Because let me tell you that's a sure way for me to win #1 spot on his list."

Fed up, she asks, "What'd you do with the angel?"

"I told you -"

"Heather!"

"Okay, it broke!" She confesses. "I swear it was an accident and I tried replacing it but that didn't work out and this was the best I could do but I stand by the undeniable fact that Backup is indeed an angel."

Veronica lets out a heavy sigh, trying with all her might to let go of her anger. "It's fine. It's fine," she grits, turning away from her sister and walking out the door.

--vm--

"Vehronika?" Inga calls. "Is this cookies for the table?" She asks, holding up the fruit cake cookies.

"Uh, yeah," she bites her lip. "Let me take it."

Inga hands over the box with the smile and Veronica takes it graciously. Her fingertips tap at the box as she stares at the door. She should leave them open them up to the public but she doesn't want to just yet. There's no denying that she's made it for him. She wants him to eat it. She just doesn't know where he is yet. So she tucks the box under her arm for safe keeping.

"Dude, all I'm saying that is Spike and Buffy belong together," she hears the loud voice of one Dick Casablancas.

Her mouth curves in a smile and she turns around, easily spotting the tall blond coming towards her accompanied by her red hair streaked friend.

"And I'm just stating that she loves Angel," comes Mac's rebuttal.

Veronica's eyes move past them, searching the crowd for Logan but he never comes.

"Veronica, Spike or Angel?" Mac asks, coming to a halt in front of the petite blonde.

Unblinking at the question, she looks between them and asks, "Where's Logan?"

Dick shrugs, trying to stifle his giggles as he prompts, "Why? You want what's left of him?"

"Dick," Mac nudges him, shooting him a disapproving glance.

"Alright, alright, man. I don't know. Maybe he was hungry. Or burning," he cracks up, giggling to himself.

Mac smacks his shoulder while Veronica rolls her eyes, unimpressed.

Then there's a sinking realization she has that Logan might not be coming at all; she keeps her eye on the door just in case.

--vm--

The middle scholars stand on the podium, Heather and Ophelia have joined them, slotting themselves in the middle row dawned in their themed coloured gowns.

Meg stands in front of them, microphone in hand as she thanks everyone for attending and goes on to say, "Grandpa Mars used to say, ‘the heart knows what it wants even when the head doesn’t." She paused for a moment looking directly at Veronica, giving her a pointed smile before turning her gaze to the rest of the room.

"And Christmas is the true celebration of the heart. It's love, it's family, it's togetherness. It's magic in its purest form. Today, to express that magic we have Neptune Middle School's Choir to sing the Christmas classic All I Want For Christmas is You," Meg ends, awarding an applause from the crowd.

Veronica leans closer to her dad and whispers, "Did grandpa really say that?"

Keith shrugs, eyes on the stage as the girls take over the microphone and start to sing. "Sound advice, don't you think?"

She bites back a smile and remarks, "You mean, don't I feel?"

His gaze moves from the stage onto her and he questions, "What do you feel?"

Her brows shoot, her lips pursed in presumed thought and she quips, "All I want for Christmas is a pony?"

--vm--

She can't deny that every time someone came through the door, she was hoping it'd be Logan. She'd kept his box of cookies sealed away, unable to let it be in the line of consumption when the person she'd made it for hadn't even tasted it yet.

That's how she finds herself standing in front of the Echolls' door. She lets out a breath and presses the bell, standing awkwardly as she stares at the closed door.

She considers pressing the bell again and then has thoughts about what if he doesn't want to see her? What if he isn't home?

Just before she loses her nerve, she gives the bell another ring. It takes two minutes - longest minutes of her life - before the door opens revealing Logan in all his bed hair, groggy eyes and bare chested glory.

She blows out a breath, eyes flickering down to his chest and abs as he adjusts to the light of the outside.

"You didn't come to the party," she says, airy and questioning - she wonders if he hears the disappointment she felt every time she didn’t see him today.

He stares at her, head to toe, taking in the fact that she's really in front of him. "You wanted space," comes his soft and sleep hazed voice. "After what happened, Heather wasn't gonna let you have that if I was there."

Her eyes stay on him as she tries to focus but her eyes can't help straying to his naked chest. Taking a breath, she pushes the box in her hands towards him. "I made you fruit cake cookies.”

His face slowly breaks into a smile as his fingers graze over hers in acceptance of the box. "You did?"

Eyes locked on his, her lips curl into a smile and she reminds, "You said you liked them."

"I do," he doesn't hide the hope springing into his entire being. "Do you wanna come in?"

She nods, stepping forward her eyes flicker up the door way. "Is that mistletoe?"

Logan follows her line of sight and looks up, squinting his eyes to clear his vision. "I think it's Holly."

She bites her lip, tilting her head as she gives him a pointed look. "I'm pretty sure it's mistletoe."

He refocuses on her, eyes bright with understanding and a wide grin comes over his face. "Then it must be."

He leans into her, softly letting his lips cover hers until she grabs a hold of his face and deepens their kiss, sucking on his upper lip and pulling his face closer to hers. Their noses clash and she feels herself falling desperately into him but she doesn’t care, she just doesn’t want to stop kissing him.

"You know you don't need a reason to kiss me," he whispers over her lips, smile unfading. "I'm yours to kiss whenever."

Dazed, she lightly nods. Her fingers hold onto his face and she kisses him again. He draws her into him, box of cookies in one hand and the other on her waist as he kicks the door shut.

He leaves the cookies on the first surface he finds and continues to kiss her. She climbs onto him, fuelled by the kiss and her burning need for him. He swirls them around, holding tightly onto her as he kisses her back, tongue slipping into her mouth, hugging her tightly to his chest.

Breaking away, he smiles, chuckling into her mouth accompanied by soft languid kisses, feeling her solid body with both his hands. "I missed you," he says, spinning her around.

She laughs, relieved and happy in his arms. Her fingers caressing his face, her blue eyes steadily on his, a smile of wonderment on her face as she says, "I love you."

He grins, wide and bright, spinning around in his living room as they kiss in soft, gentle pecks. "I love you too."

"I am pretty lovable," she remarks offhandedly, her hands holding onto his bicep as they fall onto the couch.

"You are," he kisses her. "You are, you are," he peppers her neck with kisses, letting her fall onto her back.

She giggles, pulling him over her and kissing him senseless as her hands run along his naked back.

"You've officially made this the best Christmas ever," he murmurs into her skin, her eyes close, revelling in the sensations he's bringing to her.

"It's not Christmas yet," she playfully tells him, her warm breath hitting his cheek before she kisses along his jaw and up to his earlobe.

He aches into her, holding the back of her neck in his palm, he moves them upwards, bringing her onto his lap. "I don't see how anything could beat having you in my arms again."

"Challenge accepted," she whispers, grinning and nose touching as she dives in to kiss him on his lips.

He meets her mouth, eager to kiss her as much as possible, his hands go to her backside, bringing her closer into him and she moans, hovering above him, palms on his jaw and her hips lining with his.

Her eyes open, looking into his, their lips barely touching and their breathes mixing.

He wasn't expecting her when he'd opened the door, he's unbelievably happy that it was her.

Her fingers slide down his chest and she kisses his neck, laying butterfly kisses and teeth grazing his bare skin, biting and sucking while his hand tangles in her hair and he groans, holding her tight against him before pulling her away.

She stares at him quizzing as he tries to catch his breath. "Didn't that feel good?"

"Of course it did," he breathes out, trying to regain his sense and holding her waist down onto him. "So good. Just dizzy. Jugular, bobcat," he explains, exhaling a light chuckle and tucking her hair behind her ear. "God, it felt so good," he assures, caressing her hands. "But kinda need the blood to keep circulating to my brain if I wanna keep up with you."

"Oh," she softly lets out, small smile on her lips.

He grins, hands moving to her thighs. "There's lots of other places you can bite."

"Yeah?" She grins, fingers sprawled against his abs.

He hums, kissing her nose. "If you have time?"

"We have all the time," she kisses him on the mouth. "I'm not going anywhere."

His head cocks to the side and he looks at her with surprise, "Does that mean no curfew?"

She straightens up a bit and shakes her head. "Oh, no, sheriff's terms and conditions still apply. I just meant, you know, in general."

He nods, wide smile as he kisses her, again and again. He never tires of kissing Veronica Mars. "I'm so glad you're here."

She licks her lips, staring into his eyes with unbridled love and tells him, "So am I."

7 notes · View notes

thelibraryatgatsbys · 3 years

Text

Here we have a story that I started recently.

I'm probably not going to finish it. It's called Sonic Boom, and I don't know why I started it, it never really made me happy to write.

(also, since it's unedited, it has "elephants" in it to mark where I wanted to change something/wanted to summarize something and come back to go into detail later)

Elephant: make it so the aliens wanted to kind of keep their visit on the down low, so they could just come, have fun, and not arouse a government after them.

Soleil checked her compass again, making sure she was still headed due east. The valley outside of town was overgrown, filled with tumbled over, half rotted logs from the old building projects long since abandoned. It held a charm in the daylight, but it was just spooky at night, in the mist.

She had been to this place often, but in foggy conditions a compass never hurt anyone. She clambered up onto one of the logs, plotting her path up the steep incline, before beginning. Sometimes she had to jump from log to log, sometimes scramble up wet dirt and leaves, and sometimes edge along creaking branches until the top of the hill came into view.

It could almost be counted as a cliff, but not quite.

Sitting in the pine needles at the edge, she looked into the valley below her, where the usual Saturday crowd gathered around the big tree.

Every kid, 10 through 20 knew about this place. It was miraculous this place was safe for ten year olds, most teen hangouts weren't, but there was something about this place that kept people kind. People looked out for each other in here.

She trotted down the hill towards the huge oak tree with a campfire a few feet from the base, repositioning her backpack. The clearing was fenced with thick blackberry and pieces of discarded wood and plastic from town. A few picnic tables and benches littered the clearing, with two fire pits. The oak tree held half a dozen treehouses, two of which had roofs and could act like houses in a pinch.

She waved to one of the kids at the fire, who saved back.

"Hey, Sully!" The kid said.

"What's up Vinny?"

"Not much is up with me, but Ed needs to see you. He told me to tell you when I saw you."

She frowned. When Ed wanted you, there was normally something wrong.

"Well, I'll see you round, then, Vinny. Take care."

Vinny saluted, grinning.

Into the many tree houses, she climbed towards the one at the top, the most elaborate one, the common haunt of her good friend Edward, the scientist.

He kept track of it all. If there was something you needed to know, from cryptozoology to history to aesthetics to Mario Kart strategies, he knew it. And he had a good bit of it recorded in his diaries. What a weirdo. She loved him.

Inside, she found him staring intently out his telescope.

"What's up, Eddie?"

He looked up, nervous.

"Well, come see for yourself."

She shrugged, stealing around piles of books.

Looking in the telescope, she didn't immediately see something wrong but then it caught her eye. A bright green spot in the center of Orion's belt.

"What does it mean?" She asked?

"Well, it doesn't mean iminent doom, don't worry, but... I can't say I know exactly what it is."

"So like...."

"It's not an asteroid or something that's going to strike the earth. It's getting closer to us, but it's slowing down at a rate that if it hit Earth at all, it wouldn't hurt us."

"Well that's good. Do you have any theories?"

"Well, yeah, but it's kinda dumb."

She crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.

"No it isn't. You figured this out before any of the nasa people did, your idea about what it is isn't dumb."

Ed rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, it kinda seems like.. A ship."

"Like, aliens?"

"Yeah. I think that thing is aliens."

"That is so, so cool. You think they're coming here?"

"Well they're on a direct tragectory course for earth. Probably."

(ELEPHANT: this story is gonna be tough cuz it's the 'independant kids doing their own thing but with their parents' support 2000s era w/ whole computer labs and stuff outta bedrooms. Y'know, the stuff you never did cuz you were busy being feral in the woods. It'll take some effort to make this feel natural)

"Alright, so we might meet aliens in a while. How long till they get here?"

"This is the first night I've observed them, so I'll have to take some more calculations. But, given the rate of size increase based on tonight's observations alone, I'd say... Maybe a week."

Soleil smiled, pushing the hair out of her face.

"A week. Gonna maybe meet aliens in a week. That is so cool, Ed. You're so cool."

"Uhh, well, th-thank you! You're cool too!"

Two days later, Soleil got a call from Ed smack dab in the middle of telephone hour. She was on the phone with Darby, who was

discussing the dance from last week, the nerd con coming up, some new kittens, etc. She was expecting a call from Rin in a couple minutes, and was working on a mutual coding project over a chat

room on some server on her computer when the line in the dining room rang. Nobody ever called the dining room phone unless it was important, and nobody ever answered the dining room phone buy

her. Darby was wrapping up anyway, so she said a giggly goodbye and hung up, heading curiously to the dining room.

On the other end, Ed's voice was excited.

"We were right! We were right, it's allens!"

"Yo, that's amazing! How can you tell?"

"W-well, they talked to me."

She stared at the roof, dumbfounded.

"Well," He continued, "not to me specifically, but to the people of earth. And since I'm the only one listening, I heard jt! They said they came in peace."

"Pfft well I should hope so. Do they have a mission or something?"

"That's why I'm calling you. They wanna know stuff about earth.

They're landing to observe earth for a while. We're video calling tonight, and I wanted you to be there. Come to my house at 7:45, there'll be a few other kids there, but not many. Some trusted fellow

scientists. Will you come?"

"Oh yeahl I wouldn't miss it for the world. I'll wear some nice clothes."

"Thanks Sully, I can't wait to see you there."

The call ended, and she did a little happy dance. Aliens. Real aliens.

And a nerd party. She didn't know which one was better.

That evening, she walked through the suburb towards the DeLorean house in a light blue skirt with puffy sleeves and jeans with flowers emproidered on them.

A few of the nerds were standing out in the yard, with capri suns, discussing nerd things.

Ed opened the door when she knocked, ushering her in with a smile.

"Thanks again for coming, Sully, this is going to be great."

"You know it."

They hung out for about half an hour until 7:40 rolled around, when they and the assembly of kid scientists moved to Ed's room.

He turned on the TV, messing with the large computer and keyboard beside it, until the screen buzzed to life.

They waited in an eager silence for the clock to strike 7:45.

Suddenly, the fuzz on the screen cleared, showing the insides of a ship.

The aliens were adorable. They looked mammalian, and their body looked like a cross between a meercat and a swan, with a smart head sitting atop am elegantly curved neck. Their bodies long but compact, with two pairs of both arms and legs, with tufts of dull orange fur over the elbows, knees, knuckle, chest, ears, and a tuft on the tail. They had no nose other than two slits, and their eyes were big, red, trusting and inquisitive. (ELEPHANT: LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTION OF THE ALIEI wasNS BETTER, MAYBE REWORK IT)

"Greetings, human, we meet face to face at last." The one facing them directly said, his voice like helium. He sounded as though he were very excited, but was trying to hide it to be professional.

"Greetings, my friend. My name is Edward DeLorian, and these are my friends/colleagues."

"I am Hilarion, and these are my classmates. We have been sent from our home planet for our first unchaperoned school trip, and we request permission to visit Earth."

"Are you sure Earth is the safest place to visit?"

"Indeed. Extensive tests on our world's show that there is nothing there capable of harming us."

Soleil muttered, "wow," under her breath, before Edward continued."

"I don't know if I can give you permission, I'm not in charge."

"Well it's your planet, right? According to our laws, any lawful citizen of the planet that has not committed major criminal activity and harbors no ill will against the chancellor may give an alien permission to land. Is that the way it is there?"

The humans muttered to each other, trying to decide how to answer. Finally, Soleil spoke.

"Since it's rare we get alien visitors, we don't have a real rule about how they should land. But the way you have described things leads me to believe it would be perfectly fine for you to land here. Is there an adult that you can contact and vouch for you if something does go wrong?"

"Indeed, we can contact any of our parents at any time."

"Excellent. I'll allow mr. Edward to continue discussing from here."

Ed mouthed "thank you" to Sully before continuing.

"A-ah yes, you'll need a place to land, right?"

"Yes. We'd like to meet you, so we request permission to land near your current location."

"Granted. There is a large abandoned field that should be big enough."

"Hmm, ok, we're locked onto your location now and... Alright, yes, I see the field you mean. That will work splendidly. At our current rate of acceleration, we will arrive in five earth days roughly."

"Ok, that sounds just fine. Is there anything we can assist you with?"

"At this moment, no. I must thank you, Edward and company, for being so helpful with this. We look forward to meeting you soon."

The scientists smiled and nodded, remaining professional until the call ended, when they all screamed in excitement.

A similar thing happened aboard the spaceship. As soon as the call ended, the fluffy creatures lept from their seats, buzzing around the room, making excited, happy chittering noises.

Hilarion and his littermate, Gi, danced around each other.

They were going to meet real live humans in five days.

"How was your day, sweetie?" Soleil's mom asked as she set a plate of mashed potatoes on the table.

Sully scooped up an eye raising amount of mashed potatoes, with a bit of chicken and steamed vegetables to go with it.

"It was good. Like I said yesterday, we talked to Aliens, and they're coming earth to learn stuff. As long as it's ok, the scientists and I are going to camp out behind the baseball park for the next four to five days so we can make sure we welcome them to earth. Is it ok if I do that?"

"Of course, kiddo, you pack a mean punch, I bet you'll be fine."

Her mother whirled, giving her father "the look."

Dad looked up from his book.

"What I mean she does."

" What your father means is yes, you may. As long as you are with other people that we've met and there's a phone somewhere around, you can stay out in the field."

"Aww, thanks mama! Hey, would you two like to come with us?"

Her mother looked at her, considering.

"Out in... The brush. For several days. To see... Aliens."

"Well, maybe you could just tag along with me the night they show up. That way you don't have to spend so much time outdoors."

Her mother nodded, looking at her father, who smiled and nodded as well.

"We'll be there, kiddo." Her dad said.

The next day, Soleil stood, hands in pockets, in front of a brownstone house in the city. She was in need of the services of the occupant's son. This was the Rodger household, where the ever mysterious Rabbit lived. Rabbit, who's read name was probably Chad but never told anyone, was a 17 year old working from home, in the possession of a truck, which Soleil hoped to aquire the services of.

It was always hot in the city, so she took her hands out of her pockets. She wore a neon yellow tank top with an elephant on it, and some cargo shorts, and was still too hot. She put up with a flannel around her waist, since it would be cold that evening. The summer light filtered in from between the buildings and trees, in a beautiful way that only summer could manage.

Inside, she heard someone stomping down the stairs, and the door opened.

And again, there was about no way his real name wasn't Chad. Baggy pants, orange t-shirt over a white long sleeved shirt, perfect, bleached blond hair, and the most amazing sunglasses ever. Something straight out of star trek.

"W'sah little dude?"

"Quite a bit, actually, but it's somewhat confidential. Are you still offering taxi services?"

"'course."

"How much would it be to privately taxi say, a dozen ner- erh, scientists to and from the suburb for four days?"

"'bout a hundred bucks, I guess. Them lil scientists planning a mad scientist con someplace?"

"That'd be fun. We should do that someday, but for now, until you're on board with the project, I can't spill a word."

Rabbit considered.

"Done. For a big project, I take 25% up front."

"Naturally."

She fished the money out of her flannel pocket, handing it over.

"Meet me in an hour at the DeLorean household. That's 1503 Duck Street."

"Sure thing, lil dude. The truck's got seating for 8, if we're trynna keep the law."

"Oh, certainly. "

On schedule, Rabbit turned up on the front steps an hour later, as the gaggle of 10-14 year olds with camping gear prepared to pile into the truck bed, which was converted into a miniature seating area that could hold 6 people with plenty of footspace. They decided to go six at a time, saving cab space for more camping gear.

Two trips, a long winded explanation of the project, and dozens of bad jokes later, Ed and one other scientist, a black haired girl named Daisy, were trying to make a fire at the chosen campground. The mobile lab was set up nicely behind them, and Soleil pulled a cooler out of the back of the truck, putting it beside the fire pit.

They were tucked in between a big oak tree and the tall net that kept stray baseballs in the ballpark next door, with town just barely visible. The grass in most of the field was tall and unkempt, but under the trees it was almost nonexistent.

Soleil watched them struggle with the fire for a couple of minutes, before offering assistance.

Rabbit walked over to the now burning fire, hands in pockets.

"So, dudes, you need any like... Adult supervision up in here? Cuz... I'm not busy, and this sounds super fun, so like. I. Could stay here if you want."

Soleil looked up, sly.

"How much?"

"Well I guess this time it can be free, I mean... Major scientist bivouacs can be exempt."

She glanced at Ed, who was smiling.

"Of course you can stay."

And so the group settled in for the night. Rabbit produced an electric guitar, realizing too late to save face that he couldn't use it without, well... *Electricity*.

(ELEPHANT: they agree on location and time, and then the humans recruit an older kid with a truck to drive them around and get stuff set up. Sully invites her parents, and they agree to come. Edward invites his parents, and they say they wish they could come, but there is s shallow spot in the fabric of reality and they need to be on guard against it. A scene where him and his dad have a small heart to heart about how his parents love him and respect his work, but need to work on other stuff. Good messages, y'know.

The night before the aliens arrive, the scientists, Sully, a few other kids, Sully's parents, and the truck boys, are in the field, and have a sleepover. The aliens *should* appear tomorrow night, but there's no perfect guarantee, so someone is guarding their little camp 24/7 for the next couple days.

But the aliens arrive right on schedule, at night on Saturday.

Last line is "what should we do first?")

#discarded writing #abandoned wip

0 notes

ilovemesomevincentprice · 1 year

Text

The long legs of Mr. Vincent Price

130 notes · View notes

the-adorable-vinnie-dakota · 7 years

Text

Mr Block’s Christmas Carol chapter 2

Chapter 2: Bah Humbug!

Mr Nicholas ‘Nibbles’ Block is really sour in this...and he’s super mean. Bless the kindly people who still stick with this lost man despite the scrooginess.

Christmas trees! Christmas trees for sale!"

"Come and get your roast bird fresh from the oven!"

"Christmas shopping is a blast! Better go now before it all runs out!"

The curly ebony haired man grunted in disgust and frustratingly dragged himself to the window, opening it up hastily. As he did, the snow that collected above the window shook and fell right on the man's head. He let out a shriek of rage and jerked his head to see above where birds chirped and flew out from the roof, going over the cheery town and perching on another roof belonging to a much nicer owner.

It is that time of the year again. Nothing but the worst of the worst of times for the financially rich but bitter miser Nicholas H Block; The Town's moneylender and also the richest one of them all. The aggressive black sheep in a flock of white - It'd probably be very okay to say that he's not a sheep but a predator in sheep's clothing.

The bulky crimson wearing man smirked at the sight before taking a heavy breath, icy emerald eyes scanning the town from below with sheer spite.

Outside, almost all these buildings are dressed up and tinselled for the season. The smell of roast ham among others scented the air while sleigh bells Now decorating the straps holding horses to carriages rang to the tune of that old jolly song.

And of course, on a wonderful snowy afternoon like this, everyone is extra cheery. Adults are chatting happily, storekeepers are putting up great discounts (making the man grimace in disgust) and children were running about playing in the snow with parents keeping their close eye on them.

A pair of merry looking men, one plumpish and tan in complexion and the other quite tall and fair, happened to stop right in front of Nicholas' building as did two teenagers - A girl with dark and blue tipped hair and a blonde haired plump boy. The men looked up at the window and grinned at the sight of Nicholas peering out. Somehow they have failed to notice his seething…

"Ah hello Mr Block! It sure is a pleasant Christmas Eve today isn't it?" Greeted the tall man with a raise of his hat. Nicholas rolled his eyes and huffed. "Balthazar and Vinnie. Them old buzzers.." He muttered and rudely spoke out to the four. "What do you want?" He barked from the window, causing a few others to jump and stare.

Balthazar recoiled in stung silence and elbowed his plump companion Vinnie, who remained cheery despite the rude treatment. "Aw we don't wanna cause you any trouble Mr B," He assured brightly. "Balth and I just wanted to let you know that you're invited to our Christmas Eve party tonight! Tonight's gonna be a blast, because you know, I'm doing the cooking tonight and it's gonna be great!"

Vinnie paused for the bespectacled teenage girl whispered something in his ear with her male friend nodding along. The man blinked in realization and returned to Nicholas. "Oh and also, Mr Block, Kris and Wally here are wondering if you could hand over a bit of donations for a charity they're collecting for."

He put on a friendly smile and gestured to the teens who nodded warily at the grouchy looking man. "All proceeds I believe are going to a family whose kid is ill and needed help. They've been working a good few days now and so far Milo's family has been getting on well a bit."

"I see," Came the response in blunt tone.

The silence and period of Nicholas making no movement to go downstairs and donate made the four, particularly Balthazar and the teenagers, shift uncomfortably until Vinnie decided to break up the silence. "Oh I suppose you haven't decided yet. But don't worry! Kris and Wally are still gonna be around for round the clock collecting of donations so you can't miss them in case you change your mind!"

He didn't see Kris and Wally exchange looks of fear and warily try to avoid Nicholas' piercing glare.

Balthazar did however and Nicholas saw him appear to have a word with Vinnie about leaving, to which he agreed to much to relief. "Well.. Balth and I better be on our way now. We still have more guests to invite so we'll just see each other and talk tonight!" Vinnie waved up at Nicholas once more. "Merry Christmas Mr B!"

With that, Vinnie grinned with laughter and went to boast about his own cooking; With Balthazar rolling his eyes amusingly and giving his husband a peck on the cheek as they disappeared downtown - Albeit uneasily in Balthazar's case now and once they're fully out of Nicholas' range, is when he opened up.

"I don't understand Vinnie. Mr Block never turns up for our parties so why do we ah, keep inviting him?"

Vinnie stopped and tilted his head at his love, shrugging slightly. "Because it's what Heinz and Francis would have wanted, Balthy. He's their best friend, and heck he loves Christmas!"

"Mr Block loves Christmas?! Why that's preposterous! Look it's been years and he never even turns up for one party!"

"I know. But hey it's their pal Mr Block, what are you gonna do?"

The two continued to talk more to themselves while Kris and Wally who were the last to go, went their own way (they've never wanted to stick around the nasty guy too long) which made Nicholas sigh in relief. He's much happy now that the visitors are gone. Just the way he liked it.

"Merry Christmas Mr B! They said!" Nicholas replayed the words in an over honeyed tone of voice before shaking with disgust. "Bah Humbug!" He slammed the windows shut and trudged downstairs, obviously paying no mind to the crowd that stiffened and whispered amongst themselves from all that. To him, Christmas is nothing but rubbish. Pure, good for nothing, time wasting rubbish. Why people celebrate such ridiculous occasion? He'll never know…

"Mr Block sir?" A timid male voice followed by the knocking of his home's door and entrance to the stairs going down sounded. Nicholas growled in annoyance and trudged to the door, opening it stiffly. "What is it Martin?" His greeting to the worker came out as a prolonged growl.

The man with the short, dark brown cowlick cowered slightly at his boss's coldness. In his decades of working under Nicholas' lending company, today was not the first Christmas Eve where Martin had to ask for the day off he needed to be with his family for the occasion.

Every year, every day on the twenty-fourth, it was the same period of tenseness and fear as he would climb up the staircase that led to Nicholas in his place above to make his request. It became so yearly that Martin pretty much became entrusted with the task of requesting for a day off not just for himself but for his co-workers as well.

Most of the Co-workers Martin had known are couples or individual spouses who have had families to go home to. The others on the other hand... Likely just wanted to get out of this icy tomb and get toasty near some fireplaces. This, Martin knew to last for quite a while. The life of worker in Block's lending house is indeed that plain cold and miserable. It's a wonder that there are still even some standing on such ground.

"I've come to ask for another day leave this Christmas Eve, Mr Block, me and some of the others." Martin carefully said each word as slowly and calmly as possible. "Brick and Savannah need to go see their kids tonight and as for Charlotte and Tiana, I don't know what they're up to but they have places to go they said."

No point keeping him here. Nicholas nodded absentmindedly with a grunt. Martin may not have been his best worker, but where's the fun in having no spite? He reached into his coat to pull out an envelope, handing it over to the worker.

"Alright. You can go, Martin.” The man lit up slightly at the envelope contained in his hands. “But I'll have you know that because of your leave, your pay's cut down to half." Martin's face fell at the words ending with Nicholas' smirk. "And double time is expected from you the week right after the twenty-fifth. So I'll see you then." He dismissed the worker flatly.

Martin's heart tore to two. Decreased pay is one thing but double time right after the holidays is another; Meaning little time with his family on what's supposed to be the post-period of Christmas. The time for families to spend together until work had to resume. He sighed. But at least he's getting the two big days off which is far better than no days off at all. Right?

"Thank you so much Mr Block, you have no idea how much this means to me,"

The big man simply flicked his hand. "Yeah yeah sure. Don't start the sentimental sap and just get your rump out of here. And also, tell your co-workers they have to ask me personally for their leave. If they don't, then it's too bad for them so make sure they come to me in the future. Got it?"

Martin nodded with his hand on the doorknob. "Of course Mr Block," He politely agreed before closing the door, Nicholas sourly looking on with an eye roll of discontent. Workers. He thought in annoyance and went to do his own business.

Later that darkening evening, Nicholas did his last rounds of checking the offices after all his workers, who have sadly not been granted leaves for not asking personally, have went home. When all's done, bed was the first and final destination and Nicholas already got himself dressed in the plain nightgown with the bed cap slapped on - The hat's fluffy tassel flopping limply at the back of his head.

By now, most of the stores outside are closed and locked up for Christmas Eve. Just like houses that lined the town, albeit being warmly lit up and sprouting dinner flavoured smoke from the chimneys. Inside most houses, families are having a great time. Laughing, eating Christmas Eve dinner and most importantly, having a good time with each other.

Unfortunately, very few houses have little to no festive dinners as one would expect. One dark house sitting across Nicholas' in particular, is mainly because the family living there is poor, with a certain husband who painfully had to ask for his Christmas leave and is granted with the leave; And what's left their pay after a very big deduction.

But still, that house's dark is more lit compared to Nicholas' when it came to Christmas cheer. As a matter of fact, it would be very alright to say that out of all the houses during a time like this, it is the Block Lending Company and Nicholas' home that is the darkest of them all. Just like their sole owner's heart that never had it's Christmas cheer in years...

Nicholas gave a last distasteful glare at the window before heavily setting himself on the edge of the bed, only for a misty white figure sitting at a chair on the corner to catch his eye. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. His eyes are not deceiving him. On the chair there is indeed a white figure 'sitting' before him.

The man stared and never took his gaze off the thing - Until he realized that it's starting to develop a more humanoid like shape; A fairly muscular, blonde man with the facial wrinkles of age and his wrists and ankles are lagging down from heavy chains that linked to iron balls, the kind of objects used to hold prisoners in cells.

"What the heck?" Nicholas muttered in shock. How did he get in here? He stood up and is about to demand, only to gain a good look at the man's face and immediately recall the traits that told him one sentence; This man is no stranger, for it is no one other than his former business partner, Tobias Trollhammer, who once lived the same wealthy path as Nicholas.

Although he's not as bitter and distasteful to Christmas like his partner is, Tobias is very haughty and with his selfishness, is no different from Nicholas as he too refuses to share a single ounce of wealth with the needy. It wouldn't come as a surprise if it turned out that no one's remembered him until now - What good has he ever done that's worth remembering?

"I don't understand..." Nicholas felt all questioning hostility melt away. Tobias, or at least, his chained spirit, flashed Nicholas a weak grin of greeting when the man approached closer. "How - You've been dead for almost six years! Why are you here and not wherever all people go and rest in peace?!" He let out a giddy laugh. "Oh Toby it's been too long! I missed ya old pal!"

Tobias shrugged at the comment, with a bit difficulty from the chains. "Well I've lived better back when we're still the pair of people living like kings," He chuckled bitterly. "Man those were the days...!" He frowned and shook his head. "No, I shouldn't be thinking of that anymore." His voice reduced to a mutter full of regret. "That life has only brought me down and I can't believe I'm stupid enough to not realize, it's a life to forget" He quickly raised his head to look at Nicholas seriously. "And you should forget it too my friend!" Tobias' tone rose. "You must change. Don't be like me and change while you must!"

Nicholas blinked. "Change?" He lowered a brow. "I don't get you Tobias."

The man in chains shook slightly and sighed painfully while looking at his limbs bound to chains. "This is tough to explain… Nick, earlier you asked why I was here, didn't you?" Nicholas nodded in response. "Well, I'm here because I need to warn you about something!" His voice grew shaky with dread. "You must listen to me, or else you'll end up like me too!" In his movements, the chains seemed to clink against each other and pull down Tobias with every leap of rising movement.

It was only now when Nicholas noticed that and he frowned. "I'll end up like you? What happened to you, exactly?" He found himself staring at the heavy looking metal around his former's wrists and ankles. "And why do you have those chains? They make you look like a prisoner - No offense,"

At this, Tobias closed his eyes mournfully and fixated them on Nicholas. "Nicholas my friend, heed me when I say this but.. Ever since I died, I never got to rest in peace, because of the terrible ways I've lived back when I was alive!" Nicholas stiffened when Tobias struggled to raise his wrist that's cuffed with the heavy chain. "These, they held me back. It's said that these chains, represent my bad ways and they've held me back from peace all this time. I wasted my whole life before - And now I'm paying the price, with my own sins placed against me!"

Nicholas had never looked so disturbed in absorbing such info his entire life. But that disturbance quickly disappeared when Tobias continued. "I don't want you to go through what I did. That's why I have to warn you while you're still here with that chance." He looked about the room briefly before gazing back at Nicholas with seriousness.

"Later on tonight, you will be visited by a man of three different forms." He sighed wearily. "You know you're lucky he's wanted to help you. I know I never got this chance before I died…" He closed his eyes. "Merry Christmas, Nicholas." Tobias' voice became a whisper and he vanished into thin air, with Nicholas staring at where he disappeared in shock.

"What was that all about?"

#milo murphy's law #merrymurphyweek #mr block #vinnie dakota #balthazar cavendish #mml kris #mml wally #tobias trollhammer

6 notes · View notes

themurphyzone · 7 years

Text

The New Pistachio Seller

Sequel to Meet the Dads! Again, using @dooffan‘s OC Matilda. Oneshot.

Balthazar was acting strangely again. “Matilda! Shouldn’t you be taking a nap right now? What are you doing all the way out here?” He shoved a paper in a drawer on the pistachio stand, twiddling his thumbs as his eyes darted all over the place.

Matilda pouted. “I can see you from my window. It’s not that far and naptime is at 2. What are you doing?”

“Certainly not working on any papers to change someone’s life for the better,” Vinnie laughed. “Totally not. Ow!” He clutched his foot in pain. “You didn’t have to stomp on my foot!”

Balthazar cleared his throat. “Well, maybe if you didn’t reveal important information willy-nilly. It’s supposed to be a surprise.”

“I wanna see!” Matilda exclaimed. “Who’s it for?”

“Um, it’s for my...dear mother. Yes, the poor girl has been terribly ill. Moving her to um, home care requires proper paperwork,” Balthazar stammered, not meeting her eyes.

Vinnie nodded, perhaps a bit too fast. “Yeah, she’s really sick.”

“I hope she feels better then,” Matilda said. “How about I make a card? And I’ll draw a bunch of hearts on it too! My hearts don’t look as pretty as Tiana’s, but they actually look like hearts now!”

Balthazar stiffened, folding his hands behind his back. “Splendid idea, but it would be a waste to spend such a lovely day inside.”

“I know!” Vinnie exclaimed. “Why don’t you help us sell pistachios? It’s kind of a slow day. First rule of business is location, which we’re completely breaking right now because Balthy was super insistent on the corner of Marsh Drive and Povenmire Road.”

Balthazar crossed his arms. “I was not ‘super insistent’, as you so eloquently phrased it. I merely wanted a change of scenery.”

“You wanted to switch from a park to across the street from a construction site?” Vinnie asked.

Matilda giggled. “You have weird tastes. And yeah, I wanna help sell pistachios! How do I do it?”

“Well, for starters you need to know where everything is,” Balthazar said. “Pistachios, spices, bags, and broiler. Simple enough.”

He stepped out to let Matilda look through all the materials. De-shelled green nuts laid in a heap inside a refrigerated compartment, just waiting to be sold. She reached out to run her hands through them, but Vinnie bumped her hands away with a glove box.

“They’re really strict about health codes for handling food around these parts,” Vinnie said. “At least this isn’t the time where a beloved ice cream company finally shut down and our colleagues had to deal with a mob of rioting Texans.”

“You cannot deny that Abadeen getting slathered by those barbecue blasters was hilarious though,” Balthazar smirked. “He deserved it for stealing my jasmine tea packets.”

Matilda slipped on the gloves, which were incredibly loose on her hands and made strange, rubbery noises when she flexed her fingers. Then she giggled as she played with the pistachios, forming a mountain on one side and destroying it.

“This is fun!” she laughed as she attempted to trace a circle in the pistachios.

“Don’t spill them now,” Balthazar said, keeping an eye out for people with binoculars. While his back was turned, Matilda and Vinnie dug their hands into the compartment and stuffed their cheeks with as many pistachios as possible.

Matilda swallowed her mouthful with some difficulty. Her partner in crime spat a pistachio out of his mouth, hitting Balthazar’s back. The material was thick enough that he didn’t feel it. Vinnie spat a few more in quick succession, but he still didn’t react. He snuck up on Balthazar, prepared to hock one at his ear, but suddenly Balthazar sidestepped. In one graceful movement, Balthazar moved behind Vinnie and pushed down on his cheeks, forcing Vinnie to cough up all the projectiles in his mouth.

“Guess who’s doing the laundry this weekend?” Balthazar said, dusting his hands off his coat. “Matilda, you are hereby banned from pistachio handling until further notice.”

“Aw,” Matilda sighed. She discarded the gloves, throwing them into the bin.

Vinnie rubbed his face. “You didn’t have to be so rough.”

“You didn’t have to influence Matilda,” Balthazar retorted.

“Touche,” Vinnie muttered.

“It’s lunch hour, so people should be breaking from their busy schedules now,” Balthazar said. “We need to be noticeable.” His eyes fell on Matilda. “How good are you with people, Matilda?”

Matilda thought for a moment. “I got in trouble for not sharing Ducky Momo last week.”

“Fair enough,” Balthazar nodded, pointing to a group of construction workers that had exited the site. “Do you see those workers? We might be able to make fifteen bucks tops off them. But we need to get their attention somehow.”

“I could scream real loud,” Matilda suggested. “They taught us to scream if anyone tried to lure us in a car with puppies and candy.”

Balthazar ruffled her hair, and she giggled. “Yes, but I don’t want them to think we’re kidnapping you. Kids nowadays seem to scream if they’re doing something enjoyable. You need to make those screams sound, ah, how do you describe it, Dakota?”

“Fun. You don’t know what fun is. That explains so much,” Vinnie said, shaking his head. “Do I need to play you that song again?”

“No, for my sanity’s sake, do not play that ridiculous song,” Balthazar said. “So try to sound like you’re having fun then.”

Matilda looked around, looking for something to have fun with. The pistachios were out. She left Ducky Momo on her bed. All the other toys she normally played with were in a chest and could not leave the room. Her eyes flickered to Balthazar’s odd hat, and she wondered what she’d how she’d look with it. Wait, that was it!

Matilda threw her arms around Balthazar’s waist and climbed up. “Come on!” she grunted. “Up!” She tried to push herself off the ground, and her foot hit Balthazar’s kneecap.

“Ow, young lady! If you want to be a monkey, some warning would be appreciated! Or even better, we could go find a tree with some low-hanging branches!” Balthazar yelped. He gently pushed her away, but she latched on even tighter than before.

“I think she wants to sit on your shoulders,” Vinnie said. “I’m gonna help her up.”

“Don’t you dare-”

“Too late.”

Matilda wobbled slightly as Vinnie placed her on his partner’s shoulders. Balthazar held her knees to help steady her. “If you kick me, you’re off,” he warned. She made sure to keep her legs still.

Balthazar paced the length of the sidewalk, getting used to the feel of a child on his shoulders. It was strange for Matilda to be up so high. From her new vantage point, she was taller than Vinnie! Matilda played with the strap around the band, then put the hat on her head.

“Why do you have two pairs of glasses?” Matilda asked, tilting her head up so she could see more than just the inside of the hat.

“Those are night vision goggles. They help me see in the dark,” Balthazar explained. “Be careful with them.”

“Okay,” Matilda said. She waved to the construction workers, catching their attention. They returned the gesture happily, then laughed when she switched to pulling silly faces at them.

It worked! They were interested in the pistachios! Vinnie handed the bags over so quickly that Matilda lost count. Balthazar winked at her. “Well done, Matilda!”

Matilda’s chest puffed out proudly. “See? My plan worked!”

“You’ve got a way with people, Matilda,” Vinnie said, patting her back. “Pays to actually look happy too. Balthazar here doesn’t seem to understand that glaring at passersby never works.”

Balthazar scoffed. “I don’t glare. It’s a professional look.”

“So, can I give Matilda a piggyback ride now?” Vinnie asked.

Matilda frowned. “I can see a lot better here than on you.”

“She likes me better,” Balthazar boasted.

#dakavendish #milo murphy's law #fanfiction #oc

7 notes · View notes

every-thing-is-an-illusion · 7 years

Text

7-6-11

6 years ago. you became mine, but mine is such a loosely used term as you were never mine. Yes we hugged, we kissed, we shared memories, holidays and fucked. Talked about a future with kids and more. You're ex was always there so you never were fully mine, but I was fully yours.

It goes back to when we both cheated on our significant others, the way i turned when u went to give me a kiss on the cheek for being such a good friend when you shouldn’t have been kissing me at all. Was i wrong for tempting? trying to tear you away from someone who didn’t give u what you needed. most likely.

then that was the “kids” night at eve ultra lounge. Form party, you finally single and it was the perfect night out, not that I had many. The kiss we shared made my world spin, i remember it clear as day and nothing has ever been like that.

we had problems, many problems, but I just wanted to make you happy. No matter what you use to hear, I never cheated on you. I feel more for you each day. to the point where its been 5 years of actually talking and u still come to my head in waves. your brother has grown up, and you're a completely different person. but let me get back to the story.

We went to college together. It was wrong of me to but such an emotional dependence on you. I know now it was the BPD, and you were whats considered a favorite person. I remember bringing you food when you were sick at work. when you fell out of my bed that one night and hit ur hip on the chair. How we slept together like a little couple everynight no matter what busy work we had in the day. I had our two hours of talking about our day, netflix, and holding you. I didn’t care if i barely saw you. Seeing u as the first thing i woke up to and last was more than enough.

I keep thinking back and thinking what I could have done differently, Maybe believe vinny, or try harder, or not get into a fight with your father that one night. Now I sit here, 5 years after we broke up, with still a strong hold on you in my heart. Maybe Im crazy for still caring. Maybe I really loved you.

I’ve loved after you but it was different. I haven’t given myself fully to another person except you. I compare everything to how u made me feel. You were the one that got away, I always tell people its the others loss and to move on and I know im a hypocrite. Maybe it was the fact that you were all I had. My support system. U knew my relations with my foster family kept getting worse. no other means of support. and when I lost you, I felt like I lost everything.

you didn’t believe I tried to kill myself after it and that was wrong of me to even try to do honestly. I remember laying my head down after taking half a bottle of sleeping meds to wake up grogy and having to go to new memeber education for ZBT. The nights I drank until i passed out in order to keep myself from thining about you, sleeping without you. Not to mention being throw out of my foster family house that summer right after.

I remember telling my brothers I stood up there in the house for work, but its not like I had anywhere else to go. The distance helped. We didn’t have the time to make many memories in platts, but we could have. oh we could have.

Timehop will show me pictures of us and it breaks me. Then moving back here. and seeing you 3 days into the school year. I was taking a grammar test for a tutor position and i didn’t even have to turn around....as soon as I heard that voice I knew and i was like. please no. 3-4 years and I still wasnt ready to see you again but sure enough it was you. That split second we locked eyes, destroyed me. My concentration gone, everything gone,

I wondered if you ever recognized me. Those scars werent there on my arms the last you saw me. I was a different person then and now. I remember I left before u did and I wanted to wait outside the door, but it wasnt right to do so. Ended up waiting outside under a tree just to get another glance at you. wrote my poem “earthquakes” to describe that overload of emotions. I never saw u again that day.

Untill later on in the semester, listening to hands like houses, the band you showed me. I caught a second at your face but knew it was you leaving the building. I messaged you, as if somehow you would wanna talk to me. just to be turned away but after all i left a bitter taste in your mouth the last time you interacted with me. I wrote pages upon pages of reasons why we could work and how I loved you but you chose someone else. Your first love because you felt it was your fault and you could fix it. I hope you had your closure cuz i never felt like I had mine. Saw you with him again, as if we were nothing. And now your not even with him, but you had that second chance. I wish I had mine.

The truth is thou. If you had an ounce of feelings for me, anything in your heart. You would of replied, reached out, something. Something like I did. You had everychance to see if there was anything left. I remember prom vacation in wildwood. How we fought because all you wanted to do was fuck and I wanted to enjoy the beach and make memories with you. I remember thanksgiving and meeting your little grandmother but also fucking u on the table before dinner. we were wild and free and just so full of life. Your brought the best out of me and I wanted so much to see you grow.

Your becoming a vet now, I wish I knew how that changed from journalist and working with the peace core. I hope you didn’t settle cuz u had every right to achieve your dreams. Honestly I wonder what the fuck happened to our pet turtles. always trying to climb on each other to escape the cage and then disburst when we came into the room. Your giant elephant i bought you, or the lady and the tramp dolls. All I have left is emails and pictures. I hate I threw it all away after we broke up.

The truth is thou. 5 years later and Im over here writing this, something you most likely wont ever see. something u wont even know about. You go to sleep not knowing I still feel this way. Even if you did, it wouldn’t change anything. because u don’t. Your happy now. thats all that matters. Im trying to be to, but i havne;t been fully happy since you.

of course, as i go to post this, its 11:47. the time I asked you out, the time I would call you every night to wish u goodnight before I said it to u as u laid next to me. Our time. a stupid man made minute that u gave purpose. is it stupid of me to still hold significance to this day? 7/6/11 its my pinn for my card and my friend even goes, seriously, u and kims date? still. as if it was crazy. maybe I am crazy. after all, you were the first person to call my psychotic and you knew every part of me, so maybe I am. maybe Im alot of things, but I wish I was still yours...

#personal #7611 #beyoutiful #one that got away

2 notes · View notes

pippiessweathogs · 6 years

Text

Welcome Back Kotter fanfiction: From Juan to Susie: A Mixtape

Part three: Hot Child in the City

The young Sweathogs were gathered in the court yard of the middle school. Their eighth grade year had been in for a couple months, and nothing exciting had happened yet. Juan even boasted that he had yet to be sent to the principal’s office, claiming it was a new record for him.

As the four of them messed around with each other, they heard some sort of commotion from the other side of the court yard. The four young men wasted no time before heading over to see what the commotion was. It turned out, someone had spotted a moving truck. Suspicions began to rise among the young teenage students who had run to the fence, trying to catch a glimpse of where the truck was headed. They all knew that, if it was this close to the middle school, then the people were moving into the neighborhood. And this provided the strong possibility of a new student joining their ranks.

“Hey!” Juan went up to the fence. “You guys wanna check it out?” He followed the moving van down the road with his eyes.

“And skip school?” Arnold asked “Little Juan do you know it’s wrong to skip school?”

“Shut it, Arnold ya goody goody.” Juan looked at Arnold. “You gotta live outside the rules for once. Do something bad.”

“Right.” Vinnie stepped forward, smiling as he looked through the chain-link fence. “Besides, these people might have kids our age. Maybe even girls.”

Freddie smiled, also joining them at the fence. “Yeah. We owe it to them to check them out. Be friendly and say hi there. Welcome to the neighborhood.”

The three of them looked at each other, matching devilish smiles on their faces. They then began climbing the fence. Arnold tried protesting but his curiosity won out. He joined them, although not too well, in climbing the fence. Vinnie came back over the fence to help Arnold through his climbing struggles.

“Come on, Arnold.” He said

“Yeah, let’s split while we can.” Freddie said.

Juan, who was already ahead of them, stopped and turned to face them. “Come on come on! While we still have a good view of the truck!”

They all followed him as he headed down the sidewalk. They followed the moving truck, keeping a safe distance where they wouldn’t be noticed. The truck drove a few blocks away from the middle school and then turned into a small neighborhood. It parked in front of a house with a “sold” sign out front. There were a few trees and hedge bushes in the yard next door, where they hid while spying. Juan decided to get a better view by climbing up into the nearest tree. There were a few branches that stretched out over the next yard, which were perfect for spying on the newcomers. He stretched out on a branch and leaned forward far enough to get a good view of the truck.

A car pulled up behind the truck. Juan watched as the family got out of the car. Much to his pleasure, two teenage girls were among the family. Then he saw her. A strange feeling came over him and music entered his mind. It wasn’t a familiar tune, and there were no words to it, but the music and melody seemed perfect as he watched the girl.

“Whoa…” He smiled to himself

The music in his mind seemed to cause everything below to slow down and move in tempo with this mystery music. Juan watched, leaning in further as the girl moved away from the car. Everything about her seemed magical to his fourteen year old mind. Her hair flowed to its own breeze. Her outfit perfectly hugged her still developing young frame. She seemed to carry herself with a confidence that he had only seen in older girls. She seemed cool, and unique, and yet completely down to earth.

He leaned in further, ignoring the fact that the branch had started to weaken. He blocked out the voices of his friends as they called out in loud whispers for him to get out of the tree. The music in his mind and the view of the girl were the only things he could focus on. Suddenly, the branch snapped, causing him to drop to the ground. Luckily for him, the fall wasn’t too far. But it was still a painful landing.

“Ah!” He cried out.

The girl ran over to him. “Are you alright?”

He looked up at her and smiled. “Yeah. The ground broke my fall.” He cringed a little as he sat up.

“You sure? You seem hurt.”

“I’m fine. Nothing I can’t shake off.”

As he stood up, his friends ran over to join him. They frantically pulled him away, calling him an idiot and all kinds of unkind names. He brushed dirt off his clothes and glanced at the girl.

“Are you coming, Juan?” Vinnie asked as they headed down the sidewalk.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Juan waved him off. “Don’t you see that girl?”

“Which one?” Freddie asked “There were two of them.”

“You know the one I mean. The small, cute one.”

Vinnie glanced back at the two girls. “Yeah. She’s cute. Hey maybe we’ll see her in school tomorrow.”

“I hope we see both of them in the school tomorrow.” Arnold said, staring at the girls.

“Speaking of school, we better head back.” Vinnie said. “Come on.”

“Sure.” Juan looked back at the girl one last time as they walked away. “Hey guys, you ever hear music in your head when you see cute girls?”

“I think we better get Juan to the nurse when we get back to school.” Freddie said. “He landed pretty hard when that branch broke.”

“Yeah good thinkin’.” Vinnie replied.

“No I’m serious! I heard this music while I was watchin’ that girl. And everything seemed to slow down, y’know. Everything moved with the music.”

Vinnie looked at Freddie. “Now I know we should get him to the nurse. He’s losin’ it.”

“I am not!”

“Did Juan even have it to begin with?” Arnold asked

Freddie laughed, complementing him on the nice rank. He then held his hands out to Arnold for a low five, only to pull them away before Arnold could make contact.

He laughed, looking at Vinnie. “Falls for it every time.”

They continued waking back to the school with Juan still trying to protest that there wasn’t anything wrong with him, and that he really did hear music when he saw the girl. They simply laughed it off and let him continue to believe it.

…

The Sweathogs were in Gabe’s classroom, looking out the window. They were pressed against the glass, really trying to see what was happening outside. As they did this, they made crude remarks and sexual gestures. It was then when Gabe entered the room. At first he stood there, looking at his students. He then cleared his throat, causing them to jump. The boys slowly turned to sheepishly face their teacher.

“Now could someone tell me why I see a group of my students looking out my classroom window when they should be in their other classes?”

“Oh Mr. Kotter.” Vinnie said. “We didn’t hear you come in. See we was, we was, Juan help me out.”

“Ah, yeah, yeah, we was bird watchin’.” Epstein said

“Bird watching.” Gabe said skeptically, “In my classroom.”

“Yeah.” Freddie said “See, uh, Mr. Kah-tare this is one of our extracurricular activities. We have to study birds as we see them. And write down the information. We just happened to see some rare birds out yo’ window.”

“Birds outside my window?” Gabe asked “This I have to see. But wait! You said you have to write stuff down as you’re studying the birds. But neither one of you has anything to write with.”

“That was Arnold’s job.” Vinnie said. “Hey Horshack you forgot the pencils and notebooks again! You promised you’d bring them!”

“Oh no!” Horshack exclaimed, overdramatically. “Now how will we study the birds? Vinnie! I’m sorry Vinnie! Will you forgive me?”

“Ok. But just this once. Don’t do it again.”

Gabe walked over to the window and looked out. “Ah ha! Interesting birds. Looks just like the girls’ gym class.”

“Oh no way!” Vinnie turned to the window excited. “See Mr. Kotter, we was busy talking to you that we didn’t see the birds fly away!”

“Or maybe you guys were too busy watching the girls’ gym class that you forgot you had classes of your own to attend.” Gabe said

“You ain’t gonna rat us out, are you?” Epstein asked

“Me? Rat you out?” Gabe laughed “No don’t worry. I’ll just write notes for your teachers saying you were in a meeting with me. You boys carry on with what you were doing. I’ll just sit at my desk grading papers.” He waked to his desk and sat down. “Hey if I was your age I would have been right there with you. Watching birds.”

“Hey that’s cool, Mr. Kotter.” Vinnie said “Hey you know we’re not really watching birds right?”

“Yes, Vinnie. Go on, watch the girls.”

Epstein laughed a little “Hey thanks for not rattin’ us out.”

The boys turned back to the window and resumed watching the girls. Epstein grinned to himself over a particular girl in his view. His eyes were drawn to his girlfriend, Cutie Pie, watching her every move in her gym uniform. As he watched her, he began to hear music. He heard this song before, pretty much every time he saw Cutie Pie from a distance. Only this time it was different. This time there were words. Words that he had never heard before, but had made the music even more perfect.

Hearing the words in the song, suddenly didn’t seem right to him. He stiffened a little and frowned.

“Tell me I ain’t the only one hearing that music right now.”

“No, it’s really playing.” Freddie said “Arnold just put a record on.”

Vinnie laughed. “Wow-how-how! This song is the perfect one for right now. Makes seeing those girls workout in their little uniforms so much hotter.”

Epstein managed to pull his eyes off his girlfriend in the courtyard. Still frowning a bit, he moved over to the record player.

“This a new song?” He asked

“Yeah. Wally the Wow just got a copy of it last week.” Freddie replied.

“Wait.” Epstein said, a little stunned. “I swear I heard it before.” He began staring at the record player, confused.

Horshack walked over to Epstein and tried getting his attention. “YOO HOO!” He waved his hand in front of Epstein’s face. “EARTH TO JUAN!”

Epstein looked up. “What? What’s going on?”

“We should ask you the same thing.” Vinnie said, moving closer to him. “What’s the matter with you? Staring at a record player when there’s perfectly good chicks to stare at outside. And one of them is your girlfriend.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Epstein waved him off. “This song. I swear I’ve heard it before.” He suddenly realized and his jaw dropped. “This is the song! The song I hear in my head every time I see Cutie Pie! It was this song I heard in my head when we was spyin’ on Cutie Pie’s family as they moved in! Only it didn’t have the words then, just the music. I told you guys then but you didn’t believe me.”

“Man yo’ crazy.”” Freddie said

“I remember that.” Vinnie looked at Freddie. “Come to think about it, we never did take him to see the nurse.”

Epstein ignored this and he walked over to Gabe’s desk. “You believe me, right Mr. Kotter? You believe I heard this song in my head back then, right? I mean I can’t be the only one who hears music every time a pretty girl comes around.”

Gabe looked at the other three boys. “I think you should take him to the nurse.”

“Aw come on!�� Epstein exclaimed “I ain’t crazy.”

“I believe you Juan.” Horshack sad, innocently.

“You do?”

“Yeah. I hear music when I see pretty girls too. Only not years before everybody else can hear it.”

Epstein waved him off. “I know where I’m at. I guess I’m the only one like this so I’ll just keep it t myself.”

He walked back over to the window. When he looked outside at the girls, he grinned and relaxed as he saw his girlfriend.

“Hey Epstein.” Vinnie placed a hand on Epstein’s back. “We may not hear music in our heads like you do. But, we can at least admit you got a cute girlfriend.”

“Yeah…” Freddie said. “We’re still wonderin’ how someone like you managed to score someone like her.”

Epstein shrugged. “Just lucky I guess.” He grinned, focusing on his girlfriend. “Real lucky.”

…

The song ended and Epstein stopped the tape. Cutie Pie sat there, looking stunned. She looked at him and then shook her head in disbelief.

“I just… wow.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You mean you hear this song every time you see me? And you even heard it almost four years ago the first time you saw me?”

“Yeah that’s right.”

“But this song came out just this year. I love you, Juan. But you’re full of shit.”

“Maybe. I mean, I’ve been full of shit on many occasions. But this ain’t one of them. So this is one of my many secrets.”

“Don’t tell me you wrote this song and sold it to Nick Gilder. And it took him all this time to finally release it.”

“You think I would be livin’ here if I did that? I can’t write songs. But I got in writing is excuse notes.” He shook his head. “Nah, nah, listen. I ain’t ever told nobody this, well because people would think I’m crazy. I can predict songs. Sometimes months, sometimes years in advance.”

She looked at him skeptically. “Really? Now I’ve heard everything. Or maybe you’re just full of shit.”

“I ain’t!” He laughed “Ok maybe not everything. I did sorta predict this song. I swear if I had the ability to write music o play an instrument, I would be a millionaire.”

“Ok. Ok I believe you. But just on this song.”

“Thank you. And, ah, let’s just keep this between us. There’s a reason I don’t talk about the music in my head.”

“Right.” She grinned and then kissed him. “So what’s the next song?”

“Oh it’s one of yours. Since I put the song I hear any time I see you, I decided to also put the one that reminds you the most of me.” He laughed.

“And how would you know what song that is?”

“You told me. You said how you think I kinda look like the singer of Mungo Jerry.”

“Right. Ok, Juan. Play the song.”

He grinned and then pressed play. As the song started, he moved in closer and kissed her.

#welcome back kotter #WBK fanfiction #fanfiction #From Juan to Susie

0 notes

rutisup-blog · 6 years

Text

Castle Rock Tanning Club #2

“He shot me down…bang bang…I hit the ground bang bang…my baby let me down.”

Kill Bill just started. Uma Thurman is beating the shit out of some black chick. I’m just sippin’ some Fat Tire. Mike, Joel, Ken, and some other dude are here. Other dude just broke me off a piece of Toblerone. “Now that’s a fine piece of ass…looks just like Larissa’s ass” said one of them during a scene of Uma Thurman wearing tight jeans. A discussion breaks out about Larissa being a masseuse.

“He’s not gay, he just eats his corn the long way”. says one of them. These dirty old men just don’t stop with the jokes. So, where was I with that my castle rock adventure…

* * *

I set my alarm for 10:15…I’m of the philosophy of trying to get to brunch at a reasonable hour. It’s hard to tell what time it is when you don’t have windows in your room. I woke up several times, as per usual. Partly due to drinking last night, and partly from having two roommates.

I throw on some sweats and a black and white palm tree shirt—one of like six shirts in my inventory here. Time to saunter down for brunch. I don’t even have flip-flops here. I had a little preview of brunch around midnight when they started serving midrats brunch. I was sitting at a table talking to some sous-chef who mentions she’s from Russia in every conversation.

The table we sat at was round, wooden, and full of galley chow. I saw she had a polaroid photo of some guy tucked into her clear gel iPhone case. The other girl at the table had a pink clear water bottle full of water—or what appears to be otherwise. It turns out that it’s just vodka. There’s also a polaroid of someone I carry, it’s just in the ID Pouch of my wallet. “He’s down at Pole” she says.

Enough midrats…back to real brunch. It’s 10:45 and I’m sitting at a table with my friends–basically just a bunch of fuckin’ dudes. There’s gotta be like eight of us all around one of those big wooden tables. Cheeses of every kind were out–per usual–and fresh berries—unusual. Got damn, were there ever a lot of fresh berries available at brunch. After I ate my fill I decided it would be tasty to make a berry margarita in my HydroFlask. I mix some fresh strawberries and raspberries, margarita mix, and that god awful Jose Cuervo together in my HydroFlask with some ice. Surprisingly, it tastes good

It’s another Castle Rock day with the Castle Rock Tanning Club (CRTC). Joel, Tim, and I are going out there per usual to do some snowboarding. Some other people raise an interest over brunch, and we recruit some people to slide down on their lunch trays in lieu of skis or snowboards.

People come and go from our busy table, but we agree to “Meet up at the hand-wash at 12:00”. It’s about 11:20 now, and I call it quits on brunch. I get ready, putting on my snow pants and packing my backpack full of goodies: four PBRs, a HydroFlask full of Berryrita, and a flask of tequila. I grab a to-go paper bowl full of French toast for the road. It takes me longer than you would think to get all of that together, and I’m hustling to get a move on.

We make it out the gate around 13:00, late as per usual. There’s a balloon launch planned for today at 20:00. We check-out of the station at the firehouse with less trouble than our first attempt and then head off down the road towards Castle Rock. We’ve got to walk up the hill and out of town again. “Let’s see if we can get a ride, we’re walking past shuttles anyways” says Tim. He runs inside as we pass Building 140, the building shared by shuttles and the post office. A minute later Tim bursts out of the building. “Load up!” he says. Sick, it worked—we’re getting a ride up that treacherous hill.

The Ford E-250 lumbers up the hill as we pass three people on fat tire bikes. “I bet Bernie’s involved” I say as we creep up on them slowly powering up the hill. Upon closer inspection I see a dude with white Oakleys on pumping away—Bernie. Called it.

Onwards. We get dropped off at the trailhead. We march onwards through the snow—much more manageable and packed down from last week. Tim found an NRK-9 strap for me to fashion as a board sling, so I’m not dragging my snowboard in the snow this time. Joel slips on a little ice, we all have some conversation. It’s a two hour hike up to the rock.

“Who’s the lone ranger, walking back” I say as we see a pale man walking our way. “Man, Is that Vinnie? He walks like him”. says Tim. As we get closer to each other we realize, shit, that’s Velcro Vinnie! We ask him what the heck he is doing alone, and the conversation goes as follows:

“Oh are you supposed to bring someone?” “Did you even do a footplan?” “Nah”.

We ask him to come up to the rock with us, but he wants to get back for Sunday massage / self-massage class. Sayanora.

Icebridge DC-3 Basler

The first apple passes us by, but we stop at the second one for a little rest and chill-sesh. I crack a cold one and Joel opens a bottle of Scrumpy. I get the speaker going, we drag the chair outside into the snow. It’s a beautiful day in Antarctica, a balmy 30 degrees Fahrenheit. I shed my jacket and hang out in my cover-alls and t-shirt–It was pretty sweet out here. We pop the hatch in the apple and Tim uses a snowboard to prop the door open. We wave hello at everyone going past us.

Onwards. We close up the apple and head up to castle rock. We slog up the hill and up to the rock. We mount it and hang out a little on the ridge, our chill spot from the inaugural discovery expedition. About 15 minutes go by and we see Justin–from brunch–coming down off the top of the rock. “Hey! What’s up dude, wanna come up again with us?” says Tim. “Yeah, sure”.

Ropes have been set in the rock, leading us up to the top. We get up there about 5 minutes later, finding our promised land awaiting. There’s no one else up here, just lots of rock. There’s a nice flat clearing with some nearly black volcanic rocks. It’s huge up here, you could have a whole camp site here. We set up shop, laying our bags down. Shirts pop off, suns out guns out. It’s nice and warm. There’s a flight coming in at 16:00, so we hang out. Drinks are flowing. We all lay down on our clothes—our own makeshift blankets. Justin brought his own blanket but I just didn’t have the cargo space.

We hear a plane coming in for a landing. It’s NASA’s Icebridge DC3 Basler. It’s painted red white and blue, making it stand out. I grab my camera and snap some photos of the landing. It’s pretty neat.

Groups of people come and go from the top of the rock. “We don’t bite!” yells Tim at them. One guy was even wearing a big red. Meanwhile, we’re here topless. They look disturbed by our presence. At the edge of the rock we find a little ridge area we can hang out it that blocks the wind. Heck yeah. We end up migrating over there, piece by piece. It’s a beautiful thing. Meanwhile, all these people that are on the other end of the rock kind of stay up in that windy area, afraid to come down to us at the clearing.

“This is the firehouse announcing an uncontrolled landing. FROZEN11 will be landing at 1635.” Nice, looks like we got a little airshow. Uncontrolled landing sounds scary, but that just means that there’s no air-traffic controllers working right now. There was supposed to be some LC-130 Hercules landing today, this must be one of them. We take some photos posing in front of the beautiful mountains—the Royal Society range and Mt. Discovery–taking advantage of this beautiful day.

Brrrraaaappppppppp. We can hear the throaty sounds of a plane coming in over the sea ice. It’s that LC130, greenish with a red stripe on the tail. The Air National Guard flies those. It photographs beautifully, foregrounding the Royal Society Range.

30 minutes later and the same thing again–another LC-130. This time I grab the binoculars and track its landing—it looks even cooler, those binoculars much more powerful than my 55-250 lens. Watching a giant plane land on skis like that never gets old. I think it’s the only large aircraft that has skis for its landing gear.

LC-130 coming in for a landing. It’s got 5000 pounds of package mail for us.

The LC-130 joins two other LC-130s, two DC3 Baslers, and a Twin Otter.

I’m at that perfect buzz, just enjoying the beautiful weather. We’re getting ready to head out now, unsure if we should wait for the balloon launch at 20:00.

The fog gets thicker minute by minute back over the sea ice. It’s starting to come up over the top. The visibility that way has dropped to almost zero. It’s a good time to leave. We pack up our HQ and head back over the top of Castle Rock, to the rope routes down the rock. There’s a couple of people that have just come up—a little late for the party. They’re laying prone looking out into the fog as we depart the rock. Strange.

We climb down, feelin’ pretty tired. We strap into our snowboards and skis. Joel is having trouble with his bindings again. It’s kind of funny to watch, he’s kind of at his wits end with these cheap gear-issue alpine skis.

It’s way clearer than last weekend. Out over the permanent ice shelf it’s clear as day—a wall of fog behind us, now spilling over castle rock. I ride down, looking back at the stark beauty of fog flowing over Castle Rock, like cream over coffee, or dry ice and ice cream like they used to serve at Moxie’s.

Antarctic fog

It’s a nice minute-long ride down the mountain and then it flattens out. It’s what I would call the equivalent of a ‘green’ run in California. It’s not so fun after, hiking uphill until we can get to the next slope. We get over the ridge, and see the beautiful long run down to the ‘Kiwi Ski Hill’ and where the ‘green apple’ warm-up hut is. We peer over at the Long Distance Balloon Facility (LDB) to see if the balloon is launching. It kind of seems like it could be, so we walk out of the boundary zone and to this rock ridge overlooking the ice shelf. There’s some Pisten Bully tracks, so we figure it must be fairly safe.

Nothing is really happening down at LDB upon closer inspection. We strap in and get going down the mountain. It’s pretty fun…as far as McMurdo snowboarding goes. I slalom down the hill between the flags–having a ball. And then we hit the bottom and that’s over. Hours of hiking for just those two little runs. Still, worth it. I would rate the second run a ‘blue’ or even ‘bluegreen’ on the California scale.

We rest a bit in the green apple (ol’ granny smith), hanging out before our long walk back. It’s about four miles back to base from here. About 1.5 – 2 miles until the main road. We see some shuttles drive by—damn it. They look so close, but they’re still another 30 minutes of walking. Long gone by the time we get there.

More walking, and then we finally are nearly at the main road. A slow ‘delta’ heads out the opposite direction we need to go. I get on the radio:

“Shuttleops, Castle Rock Rec Group”. “Shuttles, go ahead”. “Can we get a ride from the snow road?” “uhhh..well we got a delta coming back from Willy in about half an hour, you can grab that…”.

Dang. So we walk another mile, walking past Scott Base and the pressure ridges. We see a dot off into the distance–that’s the Delta we saw earlier on its way back. We hang out atop some Concrete barriers and try to check out LDB again. Hard to tell what’s going on. Looks like a balloon or something is on the ground. Eventually the Delta drives by. The driver keeps driving. “Shuttle Delta” I say on the radio, and she stops–this lady is in a hurry.

We climb up those rough, metal, drop-down stairs into the passenger compartment. A delta has big fat tires that are nearly five feet tall and really puffy, it’s got like 8 of em, and the driver cab is separated from the back. We climb in, strapping into the bench style leather seats lining the sides. These things are bumpy as all hell and go about 7 MPH up the hill.

A grouchy National Guardman is the sole passenger, looking grumpy behind his Oakleys that they had to stop and pick us up. It strains up and over the hill, and half an hour later we’re back at McMurdo–starving. We drop our shit off and then stop by the galley.

I grab a tray, plate, knife and fork and start walking up to the food line.

“Dude, don’t we have to check back in?” “What time is it?” “22:57”. “Shit.”

Visions of salty search & rescue team members and firefighters paged for no reason enter my mind. I just leave my tray with my plate on it by the food line in the galley, abandoning it on some ledge. We hustle back to the firehouse to check in, and when I go back to the galley my stuff is still there—oooh yeah baby. Nothing like chowing down on some food after a long day. We get news that they rescheduled the balloon launch to another day–perfect.

And I went straight to bed after that.

Castle Rock Tanning Club #2 was originally published on RUT-IS-UP

#Castle Rock #McMurdo Station

0 notes