i’m listening to a conference about fast fashion and oh my god these people are insane

Paper Dreams

John receives a prestigious invite and he’s not sure how to respond.

Many thanks to @gumnut-logic for the encouragement because I am nerves!!

*                      *                      *

The crisp white envelope was heavy in his hands as he hurried from the room. Paper was a formality, a mark of distinction that would surely draw his brothers’ unwanted attention. Letters didn’t just arrive unannounced in this era of high-speed data connections and quantum supercomputers. In fact, they didn’t arrive at all.

So, John was more than a little apprehensive when Grandma Tracy silently handed him the sealed envelope and walked away.

It took only a few short minutes to read through the contents and he sat back against the window in his room, the words whirling in his mind.

Mars Colonisation Project. Distinguished candidate. Invited to apply.

An opportunity of a lifetime.

A way to prove for once and for all that he was more than his father’s famous name.

John clutched at the letter, the paper crinkling in his grasp. He mouthed the words as he read them, over and over.

He looked up at the sound of a loud yell calling his name, hurriedly shoving the letter into the envelope and dropping it at his side. Snatching up a nearby tablet, his flushed ears were the only hint of the letter that remained when Gordon shoved open the door.

“John, dinner, hurry up.”

His brother tore out of the room before he could respond.

*                      *                      *

John slipped into his seat, mouthing an apology to Grandma Tracy as he did.

“Finally!” cried Alan. He wriggled back in his seat, staring hopefully at the food. “Grandma said we had to wait for you, you took forever!”

“Is Dad not eating?” asked Virgil. “I heard him come in.”

“He’s taking it in the study tonight,” said Grandma Tracy, shaking her head slightly. “Brains dropped by and they’re holing up together on that project of theirs.”

John glanced over at the conspicuously empty seat at the head of table. They all knew what ‘that project’ meant.

In the heady rush of excitement, he’d all but forgotten the silent expectation that accompanied his studies and extra-curriculars for the past five years. A pet project alone wouldn’t have been enough to deter him from his own ambitions, but the Thunderbirds, they offered something different, something more than the office politics of academia, squabbling over research grants.

He’d never known anything that could compete.

Until now.

“Hey,” said Virgil in a low tone, nudging him from his thoughts. “You okay?”

John pulled himself back into the present with a slight grimace.

“Fine. Just thinking about an assignment.”

Virgil nodded slowly, looking him up and down with a critical eye.

“Are you going to eat anything, or just push it around?”

John automatically lifted his fork, blinking as the peas fell back to the plate and landed in a pile of mushy, grey potatoes.

“Actually, I’m not that hungry.”

“Can I have yours?” asked Alan, already reaching over to grab at his plate.

“Not hungry, John?” asked Grandma Tracy. “You’re not coming down with something, are you?”

She examined the pinched look in his face and the nervous twist of one hand inside the other.

“No,” said John, wishing he hadn’t said anything. The last thing he wanted was any level of scrutiny. “I’m fine, Grandma, honest.”

He let Alan scrape his leftovers from his plate, realising with a pang than he’d had another growth spurt over the previous semester at his boarding school.

If he left for Mars, he’d return to a brother he’d hardly recognise.

Colonisation was a long-term project, the result of years in planning and decades of dreams. Countless people would put their life’s work into its development and they had every right to expect the same of their astronauts. The application process alone was heavily involved and would severely limit time with his family, to say nothing of the many years ahead for him on Mars if he made it all the way into space. He’d be travelling millions of miles from home, only to find himself living with a group of strangers that he couldn’t escape without logging an external environment report.

He didn’t even like sharing a bathroom at the university housing that much.

Still the piece of paper called to him.

“Can I be excused?”

Grandma Tracy nodded and he hurried from the room, not noticing her troubled look.

The warmth of the room followed him into the hallway and he shut the door firmly behind him. He thrust his hand into his pocket, searching for the reassuring touch of cool paper.

It was real.

It was real and if he let the opportunity pass by, he might regret it for the rest of his life.

Or he might be wasting his time, pinning his hopes on something that would only serve to distract him in the long run. He could only imagine what Scott would say, who’d never once taken his eye off a prize once he’d decided to aim for it.

He didn’t know what to do, didn’t know what he wanted, and found himself climbing into the cramped space under the roof that had generously called a playroom, then a study, then an attic.

He blinked as the bare bulb overhead lit the small room, filling it with old memories and dust.

His first telescope was still standing in the corner, pointing high in the sky and he lifted the edge of his T-shirt to wipe the dust away. Surrounding it, lay stacks of books that his mom had picked up from the local thrift store, that Mrs Delaney, the owner, put them aside just for him.

John walked carefully among them, tugging the small window open and staring out into the night. The stars shone bright in the clear, crisp air.

Crouching down, he peered through the eye piece, adjusting the focus with a practiced hand. The little reflector was nothing like the giant telescopes available at the college department, and he had to hold his breath to stop the stand from wobbling. But the universe was still out there, the same as it was when he was a kid, still holding an infinite number of mysteries despite the years he had spent uncovering the rules that held it together.

He looked up, eyes darting through the familiar patterns, searching for the anomaly he knew was wandering between Gemini and Taurus.

And there it was.

Mars.

A planet with so much to offer the world they lived on. Where he could work with a team of people who loved space just like him, where he could devote his life to researching astronomy from a new perspective and developing technology for interplanetary life for generations to come.

Where he could leave his mark alongside all the heroes of his childhood. Alongside his dad.

“After all, why shouldn’t I go?” he said, scowling up at Mars.

“Go where?”

John spun around with a start.

“Kayo! When did you get in?”

She shrugged, propping up her head with her hand.

“Long enough to see you come up here,” she said. “I waited for you, but then Mrs Tracy said you hadn’t eaten. Figured something was wrong.”

She looked him up and down with a piercing eye. John tried not to squirm. He’d always felt Kayo had something of a sixth sense when it came to knowing things that should have been a secret.

“Seems like I was right,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“Everything’s fine.”

“Then where are you planning on going?”

“Nowhere. I don’t think, that is…”

He flopped down and tilted his head back with a huff.

“Not right now, at any rate.”

Kayo pulled herself up onto the floor and drew the ladder upwards.

Neither spoke as the trapdoor shut with a small ‘click’.

The dust swirled in the air, dancing in the shafts of light above them.

“Is it a graduate program?”

“No.”

“An international program?”

“No.”

“A long-term space colonisation program for specially selected candidates who have already proven themselves in the fields of communications, astrophysics and astrotechnology?”

John stared at her.

She shrugged.

“It’s my job to know.”

“So, why even ask?”

“I’m trying to get you to lower your guard.”

She smiled at the dumbfounded look on his face.

“You’ve met Brains, right? He’s got some server tracker that flags your name. They asked your advisor for academic and personal references months ago.”

“Oh God,” said John, dropping his head in his ands and staring wildly at the floor. “Does Dad already know?”

Kayo shook her head.

“Dad and I do. Security details and all. But we don’t tell him that kind of stuff, you know, he’s not spying on you.”

“You’re right, that’s a real comfort,” said John, drily.

Kayo tossed her head.

“I’m just saying.”

Her eyes softened as she watched him draw his knees close to his chest.

“He doesn’t know.” She hesitated, still watching him. “Would it be all that bad if he did though?”

John huffed a little, still staring at his knees.

“International Rescue’s all we’ve ever talked about,” he said. “I didn’t think there’d be anything else I wanted. What if I let him down?”

“He’s already proud of you, John.”

“But we’ve been working towards it for so long now. This would change everything. Delay the full scope of the project for months, or years even.”

Kayo snorted.

“You really think Jeff Tracy, resident billionaire and with access to the best tech in the world, wouldn’t be able to find another genius astrotechnician and communication expert?”

John shot her a withering look.

“Okay, so maybe he’d have to find two super geniuses.”

She easily dodged the picture book he threw in her direction.

“Leave off,” he said, rolling his eyes.

Kayo spotted the slight smile though, and grinned broadly in return.

“Can I?” she asked, nodding at the space between him and the wall.

John nodded and shuffled over as best he could, trying not to topple the book stacks around them.

Kayo wriggled into the gap, and John paid her no mind.

He hadn’t thought of who would take his place because, of course, someone must. He’d been preparing for an International Rescue without him, one where his family diverted communications for a few years and focused their efforts on establishing themselves on land and sea until Alan stepped into his role on Thunderbird Five.

He hadn’t imagined an International Rescue where he wasn’t even needed.

Kayo seemed to sense the turn in his thoughts, nudging him gently to pull him from them.

“He wouldn’t trust them half as much as you, you know.”

John shrugged.

“I don’t want to disappoint him,” he said slowly, choosing his words carefully. “But I don’t want that to be the only reason I don’t go.”

He took a deep breath, and glanced back up at the slowly setting planet.

“And I want to go,” he admitted. “I do. I need to tell him.”

Kayo nodded, a sad look in her eyes. They sat in silence together, lost in their own thoughts. The bustle of the house downstairs filtered upwards. Muffled bangs and indistinct shouts of Gordon and Alan playing some ridiculous game, loud music from Virgil’s room – the kind he put on to drown out any interruption to his painting. Grandma Tracy seemed to be having some kind of one-sided conversation with herself, until John remembered, with a pang, that it was Saturday morning out in Guam and she was likely speaking to Scott at that very moment.

Kayo sighed and dropped her head on John’s shoulder.

“I’d miss you though.”

John swallowed carefully past the sudden lump in his throat.

“I’d miss you too.”

*                      *                      *

John was too old to be summoned to his father’s study, but somehow deliberately interrupting him felt worse. Nausea sat like a rock in his stomach, his voice box left in tatters as he knocked on the solid oak door.

“Who is it?”

He couldn’t reply.

His eyes flitted across the family photos that littered the hallway, landing finally on the image of his father and crewmates waving to the masses as they entered the Herschel-VI.

The photograph didn’t show the way his father was blind to the crowd, his farewell only for the woman who stood half a mile from the launchpad, proud, so proud, and sick with worry too. She held tight to her eldest son with one hand, and rested her other on the stroller she was rocking back and forth. She didn’t see the way he had wriggled out of his restraints nor how he was preparing to drop to the ground and run away, already intent on chasing after his father at three years old.

Jeff Tracy, first man on Mars, opened the door with a frown and a touch of impatience, and John knew there would be no escape this time.

“John.”

“Dad.”

His throat closed around his words and his hand closed around the letter in a fist.

Jeff looked down at the sound, and looked back at John, an assessing look in his eye. He stepped back wordlessly and John entered the severe room.

“What’s happened, son?” he asked, holding his hand out for the letter.

He smoothed down the crumpled edges as he read, his eyes leaping from phrase to phrase on the page.

“Well, it seems congratulations are in order. I assume you intend to accept?”

The knot in John’s chest loosened and he collapsed into the chair opposite Jeff.

“I intend to apply,” he corrected, staring down at the desk between them.

“John, they don’t reach out like this unless they want you onboard. They intend you to be on that shuttle, regardless of the formalities the bureaucrats put in place.”

“Yeah.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the blueprints, Brains’ small, neat handwriting annotating each design and his father’s looping comments scrawled liberally across them.

Jeff followed his line of sight and smiled.

“Five won’t be operational for a few more years, you know that. Don’t let her be what holds you back.”

“But this was always it, this is why I’m getting space rated. And the satellite network still needs to be launched, and the orbital mechanics calculated.”

“An opportunity like this doesn’t come your way twice, son.”

John stopped.

“You think I should accept. If they say yes.”

“Don’t you?”

There it was. His father’s blessing laid out in front of him, just waiting to be taken up like a pennant.

Everything they’d worked for, everything they’d sacrificed, gone. In its place, a single shining achievement, a global community on their sister planet. The first of its kind.

It had been a long time since John had allowed himself to dream his own dreams.

“Alright,” he said, a giddy rush spinning his head so that he hardly knew what he was saying. “I’m gonna do it.”

@fakeasmr

"Alright! This is it! Today, I confess my feelings for them! Oh, I can already imagine the loom they'll have. They'll be so red in the face, they're cute tail will be wagging and…a fight? Who's fighting?"

"Wha? Oh hell no! Get off my sweetheart, right now! I said, now!"

"Why yes, I am standing up for them. At least they have someone who will do that for them. Unlike you."

"Oh, you wanna fight me now? Buddy, in case you haven't noticed, I have these very sharp talons that could tear clean through your throat. So, still wanna fight me?"

"That's what I thought. Now get lost, and take your stupid friends with you."

Sigh. "Oh dear, are you okay? Is anything broken? Can you...hey, why do you look so afraid?"

"Wait! Please don't try to-"

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?! Oh, your nose is bleeding! How did you not see that wall there?"

"Sweetheart? Sweetheart?!"

Long standing silence for dramatic tension. (Even though it's just a transition.)

"Hm? Oh, you're waking up!"

"Oh, no no no! It's okay! You're okay! You-"

"Did...did you just say my name? Wait, you recognize me?"

"Yeah. We have like three classes together. We even worked together in cooking class when we made those...what were they called again?"

"Yeah, macaroons! I'm surprised you even remembered me. Most of the time I just focus on the actual cooking rather than who I'm with."

"How did I remember we made the macaroons together? Well, see, you were the exception. There was something about you that just captivated me. I was so distracted that when the bell rang and we had to go to our next class, I just kinda followed you. I almost didn't realize that the math class was my own, but seeing we had multiple classes together made my heart flutter. No pun intended." Giggle.

"Huh? You don't get the joke? Oh, right, you don't know. Well, sweetheart, I'm a harpy. A type of bird person that can enrapture the mind with melodies and lead ships astray. At least, my kind used to before monster-human relations made it easy to get food and..."

"If I'm a harpy then where are my wings? They're right...oh. Umm, this is awkward. Could you stay here for a second?"

Relieving sigh. "Much better. Those school uniforms really need to be altered so that monsters can have some breathing room."

"Sweetheart? Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Where did I get this shirt from? Oh, well there was a sale at my favorite store and…"

"This is your shirt? Hahaha! You do realize there can be more than one of a shirt, right?"

"...it was a shirt your grandma hand knitted for you that you lost about a month ago? Well, this makes things awkward."

"Hey! Wait! Don't run, please! We were having such a nice time talking, why can't we just go back to that? I didn't even get to show off my wings."

"Where are we? Well, my house, obviously. After you knocked yourself out, I brought you hear to patch you up. See? That's good!"

"Why didn't I bring you to the nurse? Why would I take you somewhere that I wouldn't get to see You? They would've sent me home after I dropped you off, and I wouldn't get to see that adorable face of yours anymore."

"Oh no, please don't start running again. Why are you so afraid of me? I saved you and took care of you, didn't I?"

"Good people don't take others' things like a...what? Did you just call me a yandere? Sweetheart, I am far from what you think I am. And, while yes, I did take this shirt, it's only because I thought you threw it out. Why else would it have been in that plastic tote of clothes in front of your house?"

"Sweetheart? Are you okay? Ah! Please don't cry! If it really means that much to you, I can sew the holes I made for my wings back up and…"

"That tote was full of clothes your mom was throwing out? So, she went out of her way to try and throw out something you deeply cared for?"

"Sweetheart, please come here. Just trust me."

"There we go. Wrapped in my arms, you can let it all out. I won't judge, I promise. Who knows, maybe your mom didn't…"

"This is something she'd do? Oh. Sweetheart, I am so sorry. A sweet little Neko like you deserves way better than that."

"Huh?! N-no, I heard you, it's just...Why do you want to cuddle?"

"It helps calm you down? Well, come on then. Let's go back over to the couch. There we go. And, voila, cuddle city. Population, us."

"Geez. Today is going nothing like what I planned. To think I was just gonna confess my feelings and...did you just hold me tighter? Wait, are you blushing? Oh my gosh, you are! Please tell me this means you like me back!"

"Ahh! I'm so happy I could die! What changed your mind?"

"Learning that I'm not a yandere? Oh, sweetheart, you were completely right in calling me one. I'd stab anyone who pulled your tail. I only left those bullies alone so I could take care of you."

"I said I'm not what you thought I was? I meant that as in, I'm not the type of yandere to lock you in my basement and keep you hidden away from the world."

"Yeah. Of course you can still see any friends of yours, female or not."

"You still like me? Well, then you won't mind falling asleep like this. Don't think you've been subtle, trying to hide those cute little yawns of yours by holding them in."

"Oh shush. You still need to rest after that beating you took. Now be a good little kitty and get some sleep. If you do, I'll give you some scritches in the morning. And believe me, you've never felt anything like scritches from a harpy's finely controlled talons."

"You want a blanket? Who needs blankets when you have my wings to keep you warm?"

"There we go. Get nice and comfy. See you later, sweetheart."

The Tattoo (Part Five)

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four - Bit 1 | Bit 2 | Bit 3 | Part Five

Thank you all so much for your wonderful support for this fic. It’s bouncing along and you guys are encouraging me so much ::hugs you all::

This fic is all @vegetacide​ ‘s fault :P

Many thanks to @scribbles97​ @i-am-chidorixblossom​ and @vegetacide​ for all the plot help and reading :D

I hope you enjoy this part :D

-o-o-o-

Virgil hated medication. Hated it with a violent passion. It messed with everything. Made him dumb, stupid and out of control. And the fog. The post-medication fog was almost as bad as whatever injury he was trying to hide from.

This time was no different. His head was full of cotton wool and it was hard to put two thoughts together.

He knew he was in the infirmary. The crinkle of plastic cotton sheets gave that away. That and the smell. Grandma kept this place clean the old-fashioned way – antiseptic and scrubbing brushes. The fact MAX, one of the most technologically advanced AIs on the planet, often helped her do the cleaning was an oxymoron, but what worked did the job as far as she was concerned.

As usual, he made the same mistake he always made in this situation and tried to move.

He couldn’t help the groan as his arm complained.

“Virg?”

Gordon.

A slow blink and the orange of his little brother’s shirt wobbled into focus. “Gords?”

“Hey, Virg. How are you feeling?”

A grunt and a few more neurons came online. Apparently, apart from some stiffness, only his arm was giving him trouble.

And his head.

Damn fog.

“Been worse.” He focussed on his brother’s face and frowned. “Are you okay?” Gordon’s eyes were red rimmed and strained, his face pale. It was so unlike his little brother’s usual demeanour, alarm bells started ringing and the fog was shoved aside as much as possible. “Gordon, talk to me.” He shoved his good arm under and pushed himself up.

Gordon reacted immediately, shooting up out of his seat and attempting to usher Virgil to lie back on the bed. “Hey, relax, Virgil. I’m f-fine.”

But his sunshine brother’s voice cracked on the last word and Gordon, the brightest ray of light amongst his brothers, WASP agent, survivor, tough as nails IR operative, had a tremble in his voice.

What the hell?

Virgil made vertical, Gordon’s hands attempting to both help and hinder. The world spun for a few long moments, but he was more worried about Gordon. “What’s wrong?”

“Damn it, Virgil, Grandma’s going to kill me if you hurt yourself.”

A breath. “I’m fine.” Focus. He threw off the covers and swung his legs around so he could sit without falling over. His arm was strapped to his bare chest.

Oh.

Ohhhh.

Shit.

Gordon was looking at him with worried eyes. “I can explain.” The words fell from his mouth.

His brother had his hand on Virgil’s good arm. “Virg, please lie down. Grandma’s angry enough already.”

“What?” Damn the fog!

And Gordon was hugging him.

Ever so gently, his arms, so much wirier but no less athletic, seemed so small to Virgil. They always had. Emphasis on the words ‘little brother’.

Virgil’s one good arm returned the embrace as best he could. “Gords, what is it?”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For everything.”

“What? Gords, I don’t have the brainpower, or the coffee, for a guessing game.” Ugh, medication meant no coffee allowed, damnit!

Gordon stepped back and despite all the aquanaut’s years of experience and full adulthood, all Virgil could see was that scared kid who had lost his remaining parent in a fireball all those years ago.

He grabbed his little brother’s arm. “Gordon, talk to me.”

Strained carnelian eyes. “Why did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Your tattoo.”

A swallow. “Because I needed to.” It had been a dark time.

There had been too many dark times.

Gordon’s eyes were focussed on Virgil’s shoulder, now swathed in bandages, likely hiding most of his tally.

“But Cass…”

Virgil’s heart froze. Pain far too recent to face. He couldn’t go there. Not yet.

No, please, not yet.

“It was Dad. And Mom. I…I wanted to acknowledge them. I needed them...with me.” How the hell did he explain it?

How did he explain the gaping holes they had left behind that he could not fill? Their ghosts haunted him in the deep of night. They hovered at the edge of his perception, taunting at being there, but when he turned, they were just as gone as they actually were.

Cass smiled at him in his dreams, his list of unfulfilled promises in her beautiful eyes.

“It helps.” A reminder of reality.

“But all those other dates?”

“A reminder. To try harder. To acknowledge their loss.”

“But-“

“It is my choice, Gordon. It does what I need it to do.”

His brother’s expression altered just a little, resignation creeping in. But then… “I have a book.” It was a whispered admission.

Blink. “What?”

Gordon straightened just a little. “I have a book. With names. Notes. What I remember about them. The ones I couldn’t help.”

Virgil’s eyes widened. “Gords…” His hand tightened around his brother’s arm.

The aquanaut looked up at him. “I do understand. Perhaps not the medium. But…yeah.” He looked away and sighed. “Dad’s pissed.”

Oh, shit.

“He and Scott had a showdown like I have never seen. It’s like Dad expected Scott to look after us. Like we aren’t adults. Like it was his responsibility.” Gordon’s lips thinned. “And Grandma…hell, Virg.”

And there was the source of the strain in his brother’s eyes. Family could hurt like no other.

“Help me up.” Virgil shuffled to the edge of the bed.

“Oh, god, hell no, Virg. Grandma will have your ass.” He floundered in an attempt to stop Virgil from climbing off the bed.

“Well, apparently, she already has everyone else’s, so I’ll just add it to her collection.” His feet hit the floor and he wobbled. But a little more spine and he was fully upright, still dressed in his grubby jeans.

The remains of his shirt lay on a chair in the corner. A few unsteady steps and he grabbed it. With his arm strapped up, it would be enough to hide his shame.

“Virg, don’t do this.”

“Could you please help me with my shirt?”

His brother sighed. “Damnit, Virgil, Grandma, Dad and Scott are all going to kill me for this.”

“Not your fault.” He fumbled with flannel and the material slipped from his fingers to fall to the floor. For the love of…!

But Gordon was there. His hands picked up the shirt and draped it across Virgil’s shoulders, helping him into the one remaining sleeve and buttoning it up to hold it in place best the ruined piece of clothing could do.

“Thanks, Gordon.”

His brother was not impressed. “You can put that on my headstone.”

“This is not on you.”

“It’s not on Scott either, but that doesn’t seem to matter.”

Virgil straightened as best he could. “I’ll fix it.”

“Virg-“

A hand on his brother’s shoulder, he tipped his head down a little for emphasis, grabbing his brother’s eyes with his own. “I’ll fix it.”

Gordon still wasn’t happy, but he put his hand over Virgil’s for just a moment. “I’m coming, too. Even if all I can do is prevent you from falling on your face. I’m dead either way, anyway.”

“This is not on you.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Virgil sighed, let his hand drop and turned towards the door.

Steps a little wonky, he went looking for the rest of his family.

To kick his own share of asses.

-o-o-o-

End Part Five

Part Six

Time Travel (Supernatural)

Characters: Sam x reader, Dean x reader, Lucifer x reader

Summary: Dean has been having nightmares about Y/N dying at the hands of Lucifer. His nightmares were actually visions. Lucifer kills Y/N and zaps her to the bunker where the Winchester could see her mutilated corpse. Dean travels back in time to retrieve something he needs to defeat the Amara and he runs into Y/N.

Y/N and Dean were sleeping while Sam had been searching for a case since 11 pm the night before. Dean has been having this nightmares about Y/N dying in many different ways.

Each way worse than the previous and he always ends up in tears when he wakes. Y/N wakes when she feels Dean's chest starting to convulse.

She looks at him and sees his eyes pressed shut as sweat dampens his shirt. "Dean," she says as she sit up. She rubs his chest and he wakes up with a gasp. He pushes himself so he is sitting upright against the headboard.

"Hey, it's okay," Y/N comforts when she sees tears rolling down his face. "Dean, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

She wipes the tears from his cheeks and he leans into her touch. She pulls him in for a hug and he squeezes her body tightly. He buries his face into her neck as he cries and she ran her hand over the back of his head. "You b-bled out. S-someone shot you and-"

"It's alright, Dean. It's not real," "What if it is and it hasn't happened yet?" "We don't know that for sure to be worried about it. We already have enough on our plate to worry about this." "Of course I'm worried, Y/N. I'm not going to lose you."

"Exactly, you're not going to lose me. It's just nightmares." "Nightmares stem from something that either has happened or will happen," "Dean," Y/N says as she holds his face in her hands.

She presses a warm, loving kiss on his lips before pecking his forehead. "Come on, let's take a shower to ease our nerves, okay?" He nods slowly and Y/N pull him out of bed to head for the showers.

Things have been getting worse with Lucifer roaming the Earth. All the leads they found ran cold within days. Y/N got a call from her family saying that Grandma was in the hospital.

She packed five days worth of clothes in her bag and Dean was worried about her leaving on her own. "I'll be fine, Dean. If it makes it easier for you, I'll call you every hour on the hour. Sounds good?"

"Yeah, alright," he says skeptically. "Baby, I'll be okay. I promise," she states before pecking his lips. He pulls her back by her hips and presses her back against his chest. She looks straight up at him because of the 10 inch difference in height.

He presses a series of kisses on her lips and cups her hips with his large hands. "There's nothing to be worried about." Skepticsm laced his eyes and he hesitantly lets go of her. She takes off her necklace with her mother's ring around it and placed it in Dean's hand.

"No, I can't accept this." "It's a sign of good faith," she says as she closed his hand around the necklace. She takes her bag to the garage and takes one of the cars to drive back to her hometown. "What was that about?" Sam asks Dean.

"Nothing, I just have a bad feeling about her going on her own," "Dean, the first time we met, she put both of us on our ass. She is more than capable of taking care of herself."

"I've been having nightmares about Lucifer killing her, and it feels so real like its.." "And you feel like its going to happen in real life." Sam finishes and Dean nods as he stares down at her necklace in his hands.

Days have passed and Y/N was picking up some snacks in Cleveland, Ohio when she heard people screaming. She drops her snacks and rushes out the store. She runs straight into Lucifer snapping a poor man's neck.

"Lucifier!" Y/N calls as she takes out her angel blade. "Ah, well look who it is. Dean's best girl." Lucifier taunts. "You're far from home, honey." "So are you," she snaps. "Ooo, I've always liked you and that pretty little mouth of yours."

"Bite me," she threatens as she tightens her grip on the blade. "That can be arranged." With a flick of a wrist, the blade is yanked out of her hand and she is pressed against the wall.

He picks of the blade and trails it along her clavicle. She says a small incantation that causes her tattoo on her side to glow. The tattoo had the ability to blast anyone away, but Lucifier wasn't just anyone.

"That tickles," he states and Y/N closed her eyes. She knew what was coming. She was just sorry that she couldn't say goodbye to Dean. Lucifier reached in and tore Y/N's heart from her chest. Within seconds she was dead and fell to the floor.

He stares down at her corpse and debated whether he should leave her there or send her to the Winchesters. He throughly enjoys watching the Winchesters suffer so he zaps her to the bunker.

She lands right on their studying table but they were out going to a grocery run. They came back and walked down the stairs to see her laying motionless on the table.

"Baby?" Dean says as he runs over to her. His eyes frantically dart all over her body, unsure of where to focus. But they finally focus on the gaping hole in her chest where her heart used to be.

"Oh my God, no," he lifts her upper body into his arms and rest her head on his shoulder. "Damn it!" He screams into her neck. Sam slowly sits in the chair and holds his face in his hands as tried to hold in his sobs.

Months later and the wounds are still fresh for them. The Darkness was released and in search for Chuck. Chuck finally resurfaced and Sam and Dean took him back to their bunker.

They needed Joseph's staff to harness it's power and use it against Amara. Sam figured out that Joseph's staff was in the bunker in before the Rowena took it. They needed to back to 2012 to retrieve it.

They prepared themselves before Chuck zapped his Dean to 2012. The bunker was quiet except for it's normal creaks. "Damn it, Dean. What did tell about leaving your shoes in the hallway! I almost broke my neck!" Y/N snaps and Dean's heart sunk.

He followed the sound of her voice to his room. She threw his shoes in the corner with a huff. She turns around and sends Dean a glare. "If I would have died from tripping over those shoes, I would come back to haunt y- are you okay?" She asks as she sees Dean's puffy eyes.

"Alright, it's not that big of a deal. It's just shoes." Dean rushes into her arms and nearly knocked her over. "I miss you," he whimpers. "I missed you too. You were gone for almost a week on that hunting trip," "No, that's not what I mean," he says as he pulls away from her.

"Y/N, I'm from the future and i--" Y/N claps a hand over his mouth and pushes him on to the bed. She straddles his waist and drapes her body over his. "Do not say another word." A soft sigh leaves her lips before she drops her hand from his mouth.

"I die in the future, don't I?" She asks. He nods and holds the side of her face. "Well at least I know what I'll die for," she says with a soft chuckle. She holds Dean's hand and presses a kiss on his palm. He sits up and takes her in his arms. He inhales the faint scent of vanilla bean from her lotion and perfume.

"I love you," Dean says. "And I love you." Y/N says as she runs her hands through his gelled hair. "What are you here for, Dean?" "Doesn't matter. I'm not leaving this bed." His voice is muffled from her chest.

"I'm so sorry baby," he croaks and Y/N rubs his back. "There's nothing to be sorry about," "Lucifer, he--" "Ah, ah, ah, don't say anything that will change the future, Dean." Y/N scolds.

"I'm sorry. I just miss talking to you about things and you being mad at me and.. damn it," "Alright, how about this. For the next minute or so, we lay here together." "Okay,"

She readjusts herself to lay on his chest and he caressed the back of her neck and they didn't move from that spot until an hour later. She helps him find the staff and she kissed him goodbye before he left.

Chuck zaps Dean back to his time and Dean felt worse after he saw Y/N. It only reminded him how much he missed her. Chuck went off to take a shower and Sam put the staff in the vault. "You okay, Dean?" "I saw her. Y/N, I saw her." "H-how is she doing?"

"She yelled at me because I left my shoes in the hallway and she tripped over them," Dean says with a small smile. "Yeah, she was always fiesty. There's a high chance she was cussing people out in the womb." Sam says, making them both chuckle.

"I miss her, man." Dean says as he links his hands behind his neck. He could still smell her on his shirt. "I miss her too," Sam says. "Wait, do you think he could..?" Sam adds. "Do what? Bring her back?" "Yeah, I mean, he's God right? He can bring anyone back." "Well, there's only one way to find out."

Surprises

Chapter 11 a day early because I couldn’t resist. A bit of a longer one this is too:)

Thank you @bryaxisthefaceofnightmares for checking this over for me😘

Full Masterlist.

Previous Chapter.

Surprises Masterlist.

I had no gif for this one because I don’t want to give things away😏

Chapter 11

—————

Cassian thought that today was going to be a quiet day with his brothers...until the girls came back with arms full of bags and a long story about each item they had bought.

He was wrong, so very wrong.

After the girls had disappeared out of the door, they had spent the first hour on cleaning up so their mother wouldn’t have to do anything when she got back from her shift at the hospital. People used to bully him often at being adopted, throwing words such as ‘bastard’ and ‘orphan’ at him, but he didn’t care. This was the best home he’d ever had, and no amount of verbal abuse would make him resent it. Ever.

It was now mid-afternoon and the girls still hadn’t come back when they were usually done by lunch, so he and his brothers decided to watch a movie, and Cassian smirked as he listened to Rhys and Az grumbling since it was his turn to pick.

“Cass, we’ve watched Mission Impossible so many times already. Can’t we watch something else?” Azriel groaned.

“It’s my turn to choose and this is what we’re watching.”

Rhys just threw a handful of popcorn at him, which he ate one by one, and relaxed in the chair as he accepted his fate.

Thirty minutes later, there was a muffled bang of the front door before feet were stomping down the stairs to the basement. He turned his head away from the TV in time to see Nesta turn the corner.

“Hey sweet-“

He stopped talking once he got a look at the murderous rage written across her face.

“You’re a dead man.”

She said it with such calmness that it actually gave Cassian chills, but she wasn’t looking at him nor Rhys - who had once been on the receiving end of her anger when she had caught him in a very compromising position with Feyre. No, this time that anger was directed at Azriel, and when he turned to look at his brother, he stood staring back - his face as white as a sheet. Before he could question her about what was wrong, his girlfriend had crossed the room, landed a right hook to his brother’s face, and had pinned him against the wall within the next second.

He moved fast then, hooking an arm around Nesta’s waist to pull her back against him and out of reach of Az, while Rhys fussed over their wounded brother.

“Nes, sweetheart, you need to calm down and use your words.”

She had stopped struggling when she realised he wasn’t letting go, but she was still tense in his arms and he flinched when she dug her nails into his forearm as she began to speak.

“He and Elain only started dating around a month ago, so I want him to explain to me how my sister is about four and a half months pregnant.”

He stilled at that and watched as Rhys turned to look at Nesta full of shock - as if he didn’t believe her at all.  Azriel’s expression was full of guilt as he tried and failed to explain.

“I- We just-,” a sigh, as if he was accepting defeat. “How do you know? I- it happened at that party we threw here. The two of us were drunk and we left to go to my room when I noticed how uncomfortable she was when Cass started a game of spin the bottle. We were going to tell everyone, but we just weren’t ready.”

Fuck, it was true. His brother had knocked up the sweetest girl in existence.

“Elain was in one of the fitting rooms trying on things Feyre picked when she collapsed. She wasn’t responding and she was unconscious by the time we got the door open and I had to call an ambulance.”

Azriel was on his feet faster than a speeding bullet, scarred hands shaking as he struggled to breathe.

“Is she alright? Are they alright?” He was near sobbing as he asked.

Nesta just stared blank faced at him and both he and Rhys flinched when Az, someone that had never raised his voice in anger, shouted;

“Fucking tell me, Nesta!”

“She collapsed from dehydration, so they’ve got her hooked up to an IV to get some fluids into her.”

“What about the baby?” Az asked. His voice was soft and shaky. Cassian had never seen his brother so scared, not even when he turned up at the door bloody and burnt all  those years ago.

“The baby is fine.”

He felt his heart ache slightly then when Azriel really did start sobbing, one hand clutching Rhys’ shoulder and the other  covering his face. It all sunk in fully at the sight and despite the tension in the room, he grinned.

“Lainy is having a baby? I’m going to be an Uncle?”

His girlfriend turned in his arms and stared at him for a moment before closing her eyes and grimacing.

Not good.

“Not if my Father has anything to do with it. He’s on his way to the hospital and if he’s off the rails again...this will not end well.”

Really, really not good.

oOoOo

Elain had barely spoken since she had woken up in the hospital to the sound of Nesta’s angry voice and Feyre’s soothing tones.

She blinked slowly trying to open her eyes, and was met with bright lights that had her squinting. Nesta was shouting but she didn’t know who or what she was shouting at.

“What the fuck do you mean she’s pregnant?”

Oh shit, shit, shit.

Feyre’s voice was soft as she tried to calm their sister down but it didn’t seem to be working from what she could tell.

“Nes calm down and let him speak.”

The doctor was visible now and, despite how bored he sounded, she could tell that he was slightly scared of Nesta. Who wouldn’t be when faced with the person everyone called the ‘she devil’?

“I’m sorry Miss. Archeron, but your sister really is pregnant. About four months and a few weeks along, actually.”

Nesta was already storming out of the room when she finally made her mouth work.

“Fey? I di-...I was going to tell you.”

Her sister was by her side in an instant, cradling her face between her palms.

“Shh, it’s alright El. She’ll come around but, uh, Dad is on his way.”

No, no, no.

“But he’ll-...he’s going to make me-“

“Elain, listen to me. You and Azriel have clearly made a decision. I will not let him take that from you. None of us will.”

She sobbed in her sister's arms then, sobbed until her voice was hoarse and she fell asleep from exhaustion.

Now she was sitting in her hospital bed waiting for a nurse to come in to take her for an ultrasound. They wanted to double check that everything with the baby was fine, so as much as she wanted to get out of the place, she would stay. For her baby, she would do everything that was necessary. Feyre was sitting in the chair on the other side of the room reading a magazine, and Elain was just about to ask if she could have a glass of water when there was a light knock at the door and a nurse walked in with her head down.

“Now Mis- wait Archeron? Elain?”

Elain’s head snapped up to see Rhys’ mother, Azriel and Cassian’s adoptive mother, Elysia, wide-eyed and gaping slightly in the doorway. As soon as she realised it really was who was written down, she rushed over to the bed, her ‘mom mode’ dial turned right up, fretting over her and lifting a hand to cup one side of her face.

“Gods, Elain, I had no idea you were here. If I had known I’d have come right away. This says you’re pregnant, is that, is it true?"

“Yes.” 

She said it as a whisper, knowing what question would come next and  silently bracing herself for the woman’s next reaction.

“Who’s the father? Is it Lucien?”

This is going to be fun.

“No ma’am, it’s not. The father is Azriel.”

She expected to see anger and disappointment on Elysia’s face, but instead she saw shock and surprise. It looked like she had no idea that Elain and Az were together, but there was a smile on her face as she spoke again.

 “I’m going to be a Grandma? And what’s all of this ‘ma’am’ business? How many times do I have to tell you girls to call me Lys?”

All she could do was smile warily and nod, and then the next thing she knew, she was brought into a bone crushing hug.

“I haven’t had a chance to have a real conversation with the boys in weeks with all of the overtime and extra shifts, I had no idea you were together. I’m going to be right here every step of the way now though, although I do wish you’d waited a while longer.”

“I’m sorry, Lys.”

“Nonsense. Now, let me get that ultrasound done, yes? Once they realise what I am to you they won’t let me do another, but you’ll be waiting forever for another nurse.”

While Elysia fiddled around with the machine, Feyre came over with a grin and helped her adjust her shirt ready. Before she had the horribly cold gel squeezed onto her abdomen, Elysia asked her one final question that Elain had no idea would scare her so much, but make her so incredibly excited all at once.

“Before we start, would you like to know the gender of your baby?”

Yes, yes she would.

oOoOo

It had been half an hour since Feyre had phoned Nesta to say they were on the way home, the Archeron’s home, and Azriel had run straight to his car, eager to meet them there. The others had followed, because of course they would. Nesta had told him that his mother knew now, as she had ended up being Elain’s nurse, and that their father had never turned up at the hospital. His brothers were almost vibrating with energy, obviously hoping to witness the scolding he would surely soon receive from their mother.

He was now pacing in front of the steps to the house, waiting for his mother’s familiar car to pull into the driveway and by the time he did see it, he was surprised he hadn’t burned a hole into the floor. As soon as Elain had stepped out of the car and began walking towards the house, he was running and he didn’t stop until he’d reached her and lifted her into his arms.

“Gods, you scared me so fucking much Ellie. You’re not leaving my sight again.”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He put her back onto her feet, but didn’t let go of her, keeping her tucked into his chest. He kissed all over her face before reluctantly pulling back and linking their hands together.

“But, you’re alright now though? Everything’s okay?”

“Yes, I’m alright, I promise.”

He didn’t want to ask the next question, but he had to. He had to know or he’d drive himself mad with worry.

“And the baby?”

Elain smiled at him then. That wide and beautifully bright smile that made him feel as if his legs would give out under him.

“Yes, she’s fine too.”

She. A girl.

He was going to have a girl, a beautiful little girl. He cried then, in front of everyone, lifting Elain back into his arms as he breathed out three little words that he hadn’t realised he’d felt until that moment.

“I love you. God, I love you.”

Azriel heard the catch in her breath before she crashed her mouth into his. It was hard and rough before he slowed it down, making it gentler. Their families were watching, but, in that moment, he didn’t care. He parted her lips with his as he tangled a hand in her hair, swallowing her moan as he ran his tongue across the roof of her mouth. She bit his lip and pulled before letting go and he felt the words as she spoke them... making it feel so much more intimate.

“I love you too.”

He tucked her face into the crook of his neck and then looked over her shoulder to see his mother with tears in her eyes, grinning widely at them both. Just as he was about to smile back, the sound of a car engine stopped him, and they all turned to see a car speeding into the drive, watching as it almost swerved into a wall. It pulled to a screeching stop, and then the girls’ father was stumbling out of the driver’s door, clearly drunk as he swayed from side to side with a half empty beer bottle in his hand. When he caught sight of Elain in Azriel’s arms, his face turned murderous.

And then he was coming at them, and Az only had a second to push Elain behind him before her father pulled back his arm with the bottle in his hand.

—————

*peeks from my hidey hole* I want you all to remember that I love you😬 Let me know if you want to be removed/added to the tags💙

Tags: @starlitfangirl @starsauroras @drunken-starz @myfriendscallmeraba @thesirenwashere @empress-sei @elrielllll @stars-falling @cirieael @verifiefangirl @theshadowsinger-and-thefawn @fancyclodpaintercookie @acourtofterrasenandvelaris @silver-flames @queen-of-glass @bamchickawowow @empress-ofbloodshed @sleeping-and-books @b00kworm @kvi-arts @rhysandhlcor @tswaney17 @awkward-avocado-s @judexcardanxgreenbriar @junkiejosten10 @mu-si-ca-l @agem10 @harmonyindark245 @slightly-sane-fangirl @tanaquilpriscilla

The Bravery of the Tracy

So I dipped my toe into the angst sandbox a little while ago...and nearly broke it off in the process.

I started my first and only fic to date (A Taste of the Tracy) at the start of lockdown, and my intention was (and still is) to keep it as humorous as possible. Unfortunately, I’ve found myself shifting between genres a bit more as the chapter count nears the big five zero landmark.   

My absolute favourite to write is (and always will be) Gordon, however I find John appealing in a scary kind of way. Appealing because I feel he’s much more multifaceted than what we see in the series, but scary because I find his identity hard to ascertain. He straddles both the older and younger camps, yet belongs to neither. The plight of every middle child.

I wanted to challenge this, and ol’ musey was up for it. I published this chapter a while ago, but recently re-read it and tightened a few things up. It’s well outside my comfort zone of Gordon and humour, but casting John as the heroic big brother was very satisfying, especially when considering his place in the Tracy age hierarchy. He may not be as old/experienced as Scotty and da Virg, but he’s just as much of a big bro to my boi and Alan as One and Two are. Maybe even better...*ducks flying chair and scurries back to Gordon’s corner*

P.S. This is chapter thirty two out of forty six. Gordon rescues a stray mutt in chapter twenty seven and names her Celery. She makes a brief appearance at the end.

                                                            -x-

John hated water.

It was wet, got everywhere and was frequently a lot dirtier than it looked.

It was also incredibly dangerous.

Hence the redhead’s displeasure when Lady Penelope sent him and his brothers the coordinates for Sydney Harbour, along with instructions to rendezvous with her and Kayo aboard FAB 2 for a private cruise.

It had taken the combined efforts of both Virgil and Gordon to manhandle John into Thunderbird Two, plus the assistance of Alan to secure him into a seat. It was only after Scott broke out some tranquiliser pills that John felt calm enough to stop puffing into the paper bag Gordon had handed him.

John’s fear of water was well justified. His aversion wasn’t the result of a lack of skill; like the rest of his brothers, he was a strong swimmer. Granted, he hadn’t enjoyed the swimming lessons their dad had forced them to take when they were young as much as Scott and Virgil had, but drop him in a body of water and he’d be quite capable of getting himself out safely.

It was the fear of one of his brothers drowning that fuelled John’s aquaphobia. The fear of looking away for a second, only to turn back and see one of them floating face-down. John swore he lost half his bodyweight in sweat every time Thunderbird Four was deployed.

The redhead’s fear hadn’t been born inside the four walls of his head. He’d had the misfortune of very nearly losing not one, but two of his brothers to the murky depths of aquatic oblivion.

It had been the middle of the summer holidays, and the entire Tracy clan had been enjoying a brief vacation at their mother’s ranch in Arizona. Jeff had been away at a NASA conference in Glasgow and Sally had been visiting some old friends in Phoenix. As the eldest and therefore the most responsible, Scott had been left in charge of the house and his brothers.

It had been a hot and sweaty day. Tempers had escalated alongside the thermometer and Scott had quickly found himself with four irritable younger siblings on his hands.

“I need an ice cream!” Virgil panted, fanning himself desperately with the hem of his shirt, “It’s too hot!”

Gordon, who had already shed most of his clothing and was padding around in just his shorts, pouted and gazed out the window, “I want to go swimming! Why can’t you take us swimming, Scotty?”

“I wanna go swimming too!” Alan cried, sipping angrily from a glass of juice, “You just don’t want us to have any fun because granny left you in charge!”

Scott sighed and dragged his hands across his face. He had a bunch of reading to catch up on before the new semester started in three weeks and copious interruptions from his brothers had already thrown him way off schedule.

John was also busying himself with schoolwork, however not quite on Scott’s level. While the eldest was reading for a degree in aeronautical engineering, John was preparing to graduate high school one year ahead of his peers.

Virgil was sailing through the first year of a degree in aerospace engineering, however wasn’t as preoccupied with studying as Scott and John were. As far as he was concerned, the summer vacation was for resting and spending time with family.

Gordon was in his second year of middle school and had zero intention of completing any of the homework his teachers had set him for the three month break. Stacks of untouched maths and history worksheets lay untouched in his schoolbag back on Tracy Island, along with the remains of a sandwich that had been in there for goodness knows how long.

Being in the middle of elementary school, Alan had bounded through what little homework he’d been assigned with some help from Scott. The youngest seemed unable (or unwilling) to understand why his brothers spent so much time on schoolwork when they were on holiday. Wouldn’t they much rather play video games and watch TV with him?

“Scotty!” Gordon whined, snatching the book on astrodynamics his brother’s nose was buried in and throwing it onto the floor, “Take us swimming! Take us swimming! Take us swimming!”

“Swimming! Swimming! Swimming!” Alan chanted, stamping his foot in time with Gordon’s pleas.

Scott groaned loudly and turned pathetically towards Virgil, his sapphire eyes wide and despairing, “Virg, could you take them outside and spray them with the hose? I haven’t got time to take them to the local pool.”

Virgil gave a sympathetic shake of his head, “Sorry bro, but I’ve got to be at the train station to meet Grandma in just over an hour.”

“John?” Scott tried, desperately switching his gaze to the redhead.

John remained silent for a few seconds, mulling over his options. He’d have to slap on at least three layers of sunscreen to stop himself from burning to a crisp, however schoolwork was getting dull and the weather was gorgeous…

“Fine,” John capitulated, wincing when Gordon and Alan screamed in elation, “But only for an hour.”

“Oh, thank you! Thank you!” Scott gushed, seizing the redhead around his waist and yanking him in for an awkward hug, “You are my favourite person in the whole world right now.”

John merely grunted and reached for the sunscreen.

It was the middle of the day by the time John, Gordon and Alan arrived at their local swimming hole. Gordon had insisted that they go to the old flooded quarry on the perimeter of the ranch’s land, arguing that the local pool would be too busy.

John hadn’t objected. Any plan that didn’t involve crowds got his instant approval.

The sun’s rays beat down on their heads and John cringed as he felt a bead of sweat run down his neck. After separately tackling both Gordon and Alan and smearing an appropriate amount of sunscreen across their wriggling bodies, the redhead dumped himself in the shade of an ironwood tree and returned to his essay on hydrostatics.

Gordon and Alan busied themselves over the next twenty minutes with swimming and cannonballing off every rock they could reach. Tuning out the excited screams and energetic splashing, John channelled all of his attention into the paragraph on Pascal’s law he was in the middle of writing.

It wasn’t until the splashing ceased that John glanced up, only to see the quarry empty and the water’s surface perfectly still.  

Panic coursed through the redhead as he scrambled to his feet and ran down to the bank, hoping desperately to catch a glimpse of Gordon’s bright green trunks or Alan’s blond head beneath the surface.

After being thwarted by the poor visibility of the water, John switched his focus to scouring the nearby rock formations, silently praying that his brothers were engaged in an impromptu game of hide and seek.

A lone bubble breaking the pond’s surface dashed that plan in a second.

John had never thought of himself as particularly brave, but the boldness with which he threw himself into the quarry would have stunned even Scott.

Without waiting for his eyes to adjust after crashing through the surface, John frantically swooped down towards the bottom of the pond, his long legs making short work of the journey. Panic turned to dread when the redhead realised that the water was a lot deeper than he’d originally thought.

The sight that met John’s turquoise eyes when he reached the bottom would go on to haunt him for the rest of his life.

Gordon’s leg was ensnared by a submerged section of wire, most likely from a discarded piece of machinery. Alan was tugging on his brother’s arm in an attempt to free him, however was expelling an alarming number of bubbles, a sure sign that he was seconds from falling unconscious.

Reacting purely on instinct, John seized Alan’s arm in a steel grip and began to drag the youngest towards the surface. He glanced down briefly to motion to Gordon that he’d be right back and instantly wished he hadn’t.

The look of despair in Gordon’s eyes as he watched John disappear with only Alan in tow was an image the redhead would take to his grave. It was the raw panic of an older sibling who’d been left to die so that the parent could save its helpless younger sibling.

It was a look of anguished rejection.

After surfacing and dumping a coughing Alan onto the first rock he could find, John dove back down only to find Gordon limp and unresponsive.

It took the redhead’s strategic mind only thirty seconds to disentangle his brother’s leg from the wire trapping it. Chillingly, he knew from his rescue training that it only took twenty for an exhausted child to drown.

The ascent with Gordon was much harder than with Alan, but John knew his own fatigue was mostly to blame. His lungs burned and the strain of propelling two bodies up to the surface was killing his legs.

Alan was sat on the rock John had left him on. He was white from cold and had several nasty looking cuts on his hands, no doubt from trying to remove the wire, however seemed otherwise stable.

Gordon was blue and unresponsive. John could feel a scream of dread building inside his lungs as he lay his brother down on the shore and began performing rescue breaths.

In the background, Alan started to cry.

“Come on you idiot!” John screamed as he surfaced for air, slapping Gordon across the face before starting a series of chest compressions, “Breathe! Breathe!”

Gordon didn’t stir.

John felt white hot anger crash over him like a tsunami. His previous fatigue long forgotten, he resumed the rescue breaths and chest compressions, barely flinching when Gordon’s sternum cracked under the pressure from his palms.

After one more gut-wrenching minute of CPR, Gordon exploded back to life. John felt himself sag as his brother violently vomited up the water he’d inhaled, his torso spasming in panic.

“He’s okay!” Alan cried, his cheeks red and tear stained, “You saved him!”

John barely heard his youngest brother, his vision blurring as the adrenalin wore off and shock began to set in. In the distance, he could just about make out the forms of Scott and Virgil sprinting in their direction, their yells fading to white noise as John’s drenched head hit the ground.

Two seconds later, his world went black.

                                                            -x-

“We’ll all wear lifejackets, so try not to panic too much,” Scott soothed as John planted himself like a mule in the doorway of Thunderbird Two, “FAB 2 also has a state of the art drowning detection system, so we’ll be as safe as if we were on dry land.”

John scowled and refused to budge. Scott hadn’t seen that air bubble. Or Gordon’s face when he thought he’d been left to a watery grave.

“C’mon John,” Virgil waded in behind Scott, “We’ve all had a rough week. Don’t you think you deserve a little pampering?”

John’s face flushed red, but he still refused to move. He felt a sudden affinity for cats and their aversion to water. Screw the joke about him being a ginger giraffe, he was most definitely a ginger tabby.

“Ten seconds,” Scott sighed, raising his eyebrows in impatience, “I’m giving you ten seconds to move and let us pass, otherwise I’m locking you below deck with Celery.”

John’s eyes widened accusingly, “You brought the dog along?”

“Of course,” Gordon responded, motioning to a yellow pet carrier that was stashed in the back corner of the cockpit, “I couldn’t leave her back home with just Grandma and Brains for company. She might get blown up. Or be made to sample Grandma’s new liver casserole.”

John scowled, suddenly aware of his nose twitching in irritation.

It didn’t matter. Dog or no dog, he wasn’t about to willingly let any of his brothers near water that wasn’t contained in either a shower or a bathtub.

Ten minutes later, the redhead found himself imprisoned beneath the swanky deck of FAB 2 while the others cast off. Celery sat obediently at his feet, gazing up with the same expression of ardent worship she used on Gordon.

Next to Celery, Sherbert yapped loudly, thrilled at finally having another doggy friend to play with. The tiny pug launched himself at Celery’s face, disturbing a large plume of fur when his claws playfully caught the mutt under her chin.

John groaned before sneezing loudly.

A Fun Camping Story, I guess.

“Were going camping!” Father yelled excitedly. “Whatever, I’m only going if i get to take Tammy with.” My sister said. Chelsea can be annoying sometimes, but since she is so relatable to Mean Girls I’m fine with being around her because it makes me laugh. “If Chelsea gets to bring Tammy, I want to bring Jason.” I said to dad. “That fat nerd, no way!” Chelsea said angrily. “Leave him alone Chelsea, its only fair.” Mom said in a calming voice. Chelsea looked at me and stuck her tongue out. Jason is kind of fat and a nerd but he is the only kid that would be my friend. Chelsea is 16, and i’m 14, which makes us two years apart, and even dad and mom think m more mature than her. I can’t help but feel that they love her more than me though, unless shes blackmailing them to buy her whatever she wants. “We are leaving in two hours so call your friend now, before you forget.” Mom said. I walked up stairs to my room. I packed a couple t-shirts, a pocket knife, a jacket, shorts, socks, a small hatchet, some rope to practice my knots,underwear, a garbage bag, a shovel and a pair of hiking boots. I picked up my phone and called Jason. “Hey Mike! Whats up?” Jason said. I could here everything going on in the background. “Do you have any plans this week?” I asked. “ Ya, I’m going to my grandmas in like an hour to spend the rest of the week.Why?. Jason questioned. “No reason, well i have to go, bye.” I hung up the phone before he could say anything else. I walked downstairs with my blue suitcase and put it next to the front door. I saw Tammy’s mom’s car pull up the drive way. The car was a white sedan. Tammy walked out of the car, and walked back to the trunk. She set all her pink baggage down and slammed the trunk. As her mom pulled out of the driveway she walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. I stared out the window and watched her sit there and wait. Tammy was the same age as Chelsea, she had blonde hair, silver like eyes, she was wearing supper short khakis and a pink crop top cut t-shirt. Chelsea came down the stairs “Pervert, your getting your drool all over the window!” Chelsea said in disgust. Chelsea opened the door for Tammy. “OMG you look amazing, what is that a new skirt?” Tammy said. “Ya, I bought it at Kohl's.” Chelsea answered. I walked away as they blabbered on up the stairs. Bummed out that my only friend couldn’t make it, I through myself on the couch and watched the white swirly wave like  ceiling move. About thirty minutes have passed, my phone starts to ring. I take my phone out of my pocket and read that it was Jason calling, i pressed the green answer button. “Hey Mike, so my grandma had something come up and she wont be able to pick me up yet,do you still want to hangout?” Jason asked. “Sure, oh and i didn’t tell what i was doing but I’m going camping for the week...do you want to come with?” I asked. “That sounds way better, so sure let me just tell my grandma and I will be on my way, I already have my bags packed so i will be there in a couple of minutes.” Jason answered. “Alright see you then. bye.” I hung up the phone. I jumped off the couch and ran to the door in excitement. Waiting like a dog at the door, I see Jason run across the street to the front door. I opened the door before he even got a chance to take a breath, he jumped back scared but realized it was me. “Jeez, Mike you scared me.” Jason said while still catching his breath, he took out his inhaler and breathed in. “Sorry about that, i just got excited.” I replied apologetically.  As Jason walked inside i shut the door behind him. He set his bags next to mine and walked over and sat on the couch. As I was going to go sit next to him dad and mom came into the living room “Are you guys ready? because we are leaving now.” Dad said enthusiastically. “Yes, Mr Anderson!” Jason replied happily. dad looked at me. “And how about you?” “Yes, dad, everything is packed.” I talked in a lazy like voice. “Alrighty then, go get your sister Mike, we will put your stuff in the car.” I got up with a grown and walked up the stairs. I opened my sisters room and saw Chelsea and Tammy frenching each other. “Ewww gross, so your  a lesbian now?” I asked “No Mike, we are just practicing just in case there is some other hot male campers there.” Chelsea and Tammy both looked at each other and giggled. “Well were leaving now.” I walked downstairs and out the door and to the car. The only reason why we could bring so many people is because of our mini-van it has a navy green color to it. Jason had already claimed his seat in the very back with all our bags, mom went into the back to lift up the middle seat, where i will sit, then Tammy would have no choice but to sit on the right or left side of me. Then the worst most possible outcome happened, dad and mom sat in the back blocking all points of escape. I had forgot Chelsea had just gotten her permit. Chelsea and Tammy finally came out of the front door, they handed dad their bags and he through them in the back by Jason. Oh great, now I’m stuck by dad and mom, and Jason can go through our bags, hopefully he doesn’t. We drove the for the next 4 hours until we finally got there, we had to stop so many times because everyone had different bathroom schedules. At one of the stops i managed to switch spots with dad. Once we finally got to the parking lot, we took all of our bags out, then we had to literally hike to our cabin because its so far away. Thankfully, it was kind of remote there. There were no showers, and our cabin only had a toilet and a sink. Once we got in we found our rooms, me and Jason had to sleep in the living room because there were only two room cabins open. Dad should have booked a place early so we could have had a bigger cabin, but i didn’t mind it. “We’re gonna go out and explore the place for a little bit, we will be back later.” Chelsea said. “Bring your brother and his friend to.” Mom said. “No, why?” Chelsea said. “Because i said so, now go and leave me and your father alone for a couple of hours, bye love you guys.”Mom said cheerfully. Chelsea made a moan of disgust “Whatever, lets go.” She demanded. Me and Jason got up and followed them out the door. As we got closer to the main camping site where a giant lodge was and a park next to it where other kids were playing, me and Jason decided to go to the park, “ We are gonna go to the park, see you in a little bit.” I said to Chelsea. “I hope not.” She whispered to Tammy but loud enough to make sure i heard it. As me and Jason walked up to the park, two kids ran up to us and asked “Do you want to play tag with us?” It was two twins that looked identical to the ones from the Shinning movie. “Sure!” I said to them. I was just trying to make Jason tired for later. I can’t wait, I’m so excited. “Why are you smiling so big?” Jason asked. I just looked at him then ran over to the kids playing tag, he followed behind me. “Hey Chelsea,” Tammy said, “Do you see that guy over their, he looks kind of hot.” “Eww he definitely is not” Chelsea said in disgust. “Well, I’m going to go talk to him.” Tammy said excitedly. “Whatever, you whore.” Chelsea said in a jealous voice. Tammy walked towards the guy. Chelsea watched as they flirted up a storm. Tammy came back running towards Chelsea all happy like as if she had won the lottery. “He wants to meet up by the lake later.” Tammy said while do a little happy dance. “Good for you, I hope you get an STD.” Chelsea said furiously and walked away. Chelsea walked inside the giant lodge and ran to the bathroom as she started crying. Tammy trying not to be ugly for when she meets up with the new guy named David she just talked to went to go prepare at the cabin. I saw Chelsea run into the lodge crying, so i ran in after to see if she was okay, completely forgetting about Jason. As I walked into the women's bathroom, i could hear Chelsea crying loudly, “Are you okay?” I asked her. “Why are you in the women's bathroom Mike, your such a pervert.” She said why trying to hold in tears. “I saw you fight with Tammy, what was that about, a guy?” I asked “NO, I’M CRYING BECAUSE I THOUGHT SHE WAS INTO ME!” she yelled and started crying even louder. Damn, I do not want to get mixed into this and ruin my plans with Jason. I walked out of the bathroom hearing behind me, “YOUR SUCH A DICK MIKE!” As it got dark, me and Jason started to head back to the cabin, we saw Tammy all dressed up, heading towards the small lake a few minutes away from the cabin. We didn’t bother to ask what she was doing, so we just ignored each other. We walked to the cabin and we heard moaning coming from it, “Stay out here,” i whispered. I’m gonna sneak in and grab my bag.” “Why?” Jason asked. “Because were gonna go to the lake and watch Tammy.” I smiled. I sneaked inside and heard the moaning coming from the parents room. “Gross.” I said to myself. I grabbed my bag and ran out the door. We started heading into the direction that Tammy was walking in before. As we got farther and farther into the woods i turned around and told Jason to take a break for a minute. “ I’m gonna go pee.” Jason said “Alright, don’t get lost.” I said back. Jason started walking off the path, I put on gloves and tore a couple holes in the garbage bag so i would get my clothes stained from the mud and stuff, then I grabbed out my hatchet,tied my rope around two trees to see if he would end up tripping over it for later, picked up a small rock, and followed Jason. Once he stopped i waited behind a bush for the perfect moment to scare him. As he zipped his shorts up he turned around and started to walk back to where we stopped. i threw the rock i grabbed to scare Jason a little. It hit a tree making a little dink! sound. “Who’s there!” Jason turned at yelled towards where i through the rock. I leaped out of the bush with my hatchet “BOO!” i yelled as loud as i can. He started bolting towards where we were before, and just as i predicted, he tripped over the rope and sprained his ankle. “This isn’t funny!” Jason yelled. “I ran at him with a murderous grin to scare him more. I jumped over the rope, took my hatchet and swung as hard as i can into Jason's chest. I put my foot on his chest and pulled the hatchet out. He touched his wound and put his hands to his face. “HELP, SOMEBODY HELP!!!!!”  As he struggled to move, i grabbed my pocket knife out of my bag, then turned around to see Jason crawling down the path leaving a trail of blood behind him. I walked up to him, stomped on his back, then grabbed his hair up to show his now vulnerable neck. “Time to die piggy!” I said in a gruesome excited voice. I stabbed him in the jugular and then slice all the way across his neck. I dropped his head, Jason put his hands across his next to hold in the blood. I grabbed the shovel out of the bag and started to dig a hole. I was to tired to make it deep, so just dragged his body and threw everything i used in the hole i dug then covered it with twigs. As I started walking down the path i remembered that Tammy was going by the lake with a guy. I started running towards the lake to see some action. As i got there i saw them all ready putting their clothes on, but someone else was watching them. He started running towards the guy with an ax? Then really fast swung the ax chopping half way through his head then swung it again, but this time it went right through cutting the whole head off. Blood sprayed all over Tammy’s face she started running to the woods screaming. The guy with the ax chased after her. I chased after them trying to make sure the ax guy doesn’t see me. All of a sudden i heard a “CLAMPING” sound and more screaming of pain coming from Tammy. I finally caught up to them when i saw Tammy on the ground trying to pull open what seems to be a bear trap biting at her right leg. I heard the person with the ax say to Tammy  “ If you wanted it off so badly then why didn’t you ask?” His voice sounded familiar but i couldn’t tell. The person with the ax swung at Tammy's leg until it fully came off. Tammy turned on to her chest and started pulling herself away but the person with the ax started swing it at her back. Each time it hit her back her screaming would get louder then she would go back to crying for help. Once she stopped crying, the person mocked her, then walked casually away as if nothing had just happened. Once the person was out of sight. I walked up to Tammy’s body one last time before i started back to the cabin. I got there as the same time as Chelsea did. “Where have you been?” I asked Chelsea, as if she was the one who killed that guy and Tammy out of jealousy. “I’ve been in that bathroom at the lodge since you left it why?” I looked at her in disbelief. “Whatever.” I said to mock her. We walked into the cabin and i noticed that the moaning hadn’t stopped. I went up stairs and knocked real loud on the door “Mom, Dad can you stop!” I yelled. “It’s disgusting.” But nothing happened. i tried again even louder but nothing. I opened the door and saw Mom’s half naked body and the bed covered in blood. There was a tape playing on repeat. I walked over and turned it off. “Dad just got...back...” Chelsea's speech started to slow down as she saw Mom covered in blood laying there lifeless. I looked at  Chelsea, her face in shock. Then all of a sudden an ax swung at the top of her head cutting her face off. She walked backwards and fell off the edge of the railing with a big thud as her body hit the floor of the cabin. The guy with the ax moved in-front of the door way. Still in shock, I heard the person say “Hey Mike, like father like son am i right?” He asked, making me fall into a deeper state of shock only to be broken as he charged at me and hit me on the side of my head making me fall unconscious. I woke up in a hospital next to my dad waiting for me to finally wake up. “Oh my gosh you are okay!” He yelled and ran over to give me a hug. “What happened?” I asked. “ I was picking up dinner when i got a call saying you were in the hospital.” Dad said. “Do you remember anything?” “No I replied.”That’s good. That’s very good.” He whispered to himself. “Why am i handcuffed to the bed?” I asked dad. “And why are there cops outside my room?” A lady came in answering the question “You have been charged with killing your mother,sister, Tammy Daryl, David Honester, and Jason McNeil. “NOOOO!” I screamed and started crying as everything from that night filled my head.

Hope you liked my story. This is my first one and i plan on writing more. Have a nice day :D

(For the hc's) Seth keeps a Journel to try and be like Patton, but literally almost never writes in it

Firstly I thank you so much that you were kind enough to write all the asks again. Here's your hc, enjoy yourself ❤️ Sorry it's not long

Oh and ease remember it's my first hc I've ever wrote so don't expect it to be ideal.

12 year old Seth chased upstairs like a shadow and bursted into the attic tightly pressing something tucked under his shirt. Once again he quickly made sure no one (especially his sister) suddenly wouldn't come here until he was done. After making sure he will be alone the dark haired boy closed the door quietly and made his way to his messy bed. On his way he grabbed one of his pens and pulled out from under his shirt a middle sized peculiar journal, sitting on the bed. It was covered with some skin alike material and had thick yellowish cards. He found it somewhere in Newel and Doren's stuff when he was there a couple days ago.

A couple minutes ago Seth came up with a great idea, he would start writing a journal. But another thing, nobody, and I mean nobody could know, he wouldn't hear the end of it. He opened the old note book and thought about what to write. He didn't know actually how to start it, no way he was gonna write some cheesy and all mishy-mushy stuff like: "Dear Diary". No, it had to be something way more entertaining than that. He closed the gap between the pen and journal and started improvising, he doesn't expect much because he surely wasn't a writer.

"I thought, why not?

Hi, my name's Seth Sorenson and I'm a Shadow Charmer. On regular days I go to school and try to concentrate on learning (at least that's what I say), then I go home, bicker with my sister and just daily basis things. And although I'm not Patton Burgess I guess my life isn't less exciting sometimes. Hear me out..."

Seth started with something like this, he felt kind of proud and smiled a little starting to write down anything what came to his mind. Just then he heard footsteps on the stairs and quickly shoved the journal under his bed and hided the pen. After a second the door flew open showing no-one else but Warren Burgess himself.

"Your Grandmother sent me here for you, dinners ready" The man said with a smile. Warren was dressed casually, some black sweatpants, a white T-shirt and some sports shoes. Seth looked up at him.

"Be down in a minute" Seth replied getting up.

Warren nodded - See you in a minute then - And then he made his way back down to the hall.

Making sure that Warren has no intention in turning back the boy grabbed the journal and quickly hid it in the closet where nobody really looked in. When he made sure that nobody will find it he guided his steps to the others downstairs.

**************

Seth's Grandma decided that it's time he threw out all the clothes that doesn't fit on him anymore. He really grew over the past almost year, he started as a not so tall boy and now is taller than most. So you had to agree that it was time to actually throw the clothes away even tho Seth was internally complaining and literally throwing all the to small clothes on the floor.

'Kendra didn't even grow too much'

He almost laught at that thought. At the same time he pulled at a particular shirt making something fall to the ground. Seth instinctively he catched it mid air before the thing reached the ground. He looked at it with furrowed brows, remembering what it is, he opened it.

"I thought why not

Hi my name's Seth Sorenson..."

He was actually surprised that... It's still there? It didn't have legs. Seth didn't know. He looked at the journal and smiled because he never continued writing it even tho it had more than ten filled pages. He quickly put it back not wanting to throw it away and left the room with the clothes.

When he came back he added a couple things to the journal.

*****************

At age 15 Seth totally forgot about the journal except for one day when he was actually searching for some more fancy clothes. Over the past years Seth grows up a little bit more, his shaggy dark hair was now ear length and skin really just a little bit more tanned than before. He also had a very slim with athletic muscles. But although, he never changed much in personality, he was more mature but still had the confident air around him and in his posture and words, and still had the mischief sparkling in his eyes. The thought of Seth's Journal was actually really random. He grabbed the note book and opened it. He didn't even remember it. Maybe it's time to do something he always wanted. He ran downstairs and into the garden.

He greeted everyone downstairs including Knox, Tess, Tanu and Vanessa.

Everyone changed in these past years, no Kendra didn't grow at which Seth and Knox still laughed about, but she was more curvy than the last time and trimmed her hair a little bit. Knox grew taller but was still shorter than Seth and except that he didn't really change. Tess grew tall and let her hair grow past her shoulders. Now she had bangs. Although she was older she still sometimes dressed in fairy dresses when she was sure nobody was looking. Well she never checks good. And then, nobody else really changed.

Seth walked to the doors.

"And where do you think you are going young man?" The fifteen year old heard a familiar voice, he turned around and saw grandpa.

"To the garden"

"Why, it's only 7AM you never go out this early"

The diary wasn't the actual reason why he firstly woke up so early in the morning but something else. He shrugged with a smile.

"I'm back in a minute"

He said chasing out.

"That boy will never change"

He heard Grandpa mutter under his nose. He was sure he could even hear a small smile on his lips before Stan disapeared in the house. Seth kneeled in a place further from the house and started burying the book. He actually did it with his powers, he trained himself after Ronodin kidnapped him and he actually found out some new cool powers. When he sighed a little hole he threw the book into the hole and buried it.

"All done"

He said to himself before he turned back home to change.

That all are questions that can be taken in different ways. But I'm curious to what you are thinking.

Where do you think Seth is going?

What was written down in the journal?

Who do you think found it?

And why did he bury it?

Cursed Object

(all true stories, just with characters swapped in for people)

It starts on July 3rd, 2007. Delia is inlisting all of Red’s friends, their parents, Ash, and the Oaks into helping clean out her garage and finally throw away junk from her late husband since he was a fucking Packrat. At this point she enlisted like half of pallet Town in the beginning. The sun was setting and they can finally see most of the garage flooring. Everyone was chugging drinks and eating several boxes of pizza Blue’s mom had ordered because no one was cooking that night. Everything was fine...

Until Red, at the ripe old age of 7, came ambling out of the garage with a large plastic bat that was a horrid Orange color.

“Mama?” Red yelled across the yard to his mom who was talking to Blue’s Grandma, easily getting Delia’s and half the people’s attention as well, “what’s this?” Raising the plastic bat into the setting rays it flashed an even brighter disgusting orange.

“I don’t know, sweetie.” Delia sighed before waving her eldest away. Eyeing Blue who was cooking over 4 year old Ash and Gary who was six months younger.

“That’s a Wiffleball bat, my boy.” Professor Oak scared the living daylights out of Red by landing a hand on his skinny shoulder. “Your father was great at baseball and Wiffleball was his first sport. He wanted to play with you and Ash when you two had gotten older but never found the time with his job.”

“Ah.” Red muttered lamely before ducking out of Oaks grip and trotting over to his friends. Green had his baby brother in his grip that was eyeing the bat. Red gave the bigger end to the boy, allowing him to feel the surprisingly soft playable plastic, and pulling it away soon after when he tried to put his mouth on it. Luckily he didn’t fuss, turning back to his teething ring instead while eyeing at Blue who still cradled Red’s own brother.

“You know,” Green started, that greedy look in his eyes shining brightly and caused a sinking feeling to form in Reds gut, “Wiffleball and baseball sound pretty lame and boring. I would be embarrassed if my dad made me play baseball.” He spat.

Next thing any adult knew Red had Instinctively swung the large plastic bat as hard has he could in his sitting position next to Green directly into the boys face. Causing Green to drop Gary and for both boys to start wailing. Gary because he bonked his face directly into the dry, hot summer ground, and Green because his nose was now bleeding.

“At least my mom didn’t leave me by choice.” He spat before making eye contact with Blue who looked at him with wide eyes and then at Ash who started tearing up from the yelling.

“Alfred Johnston Ketchum!” Delia screeched across the yard. Making everyone, who was in shock because passive, soft spoken, and loving Red had just down that, jump at the women’s sudden scream of rage.

Red immediately let go of the bat and immediately looked between Green, his hands, and then to his mom before repeating.

———

The next time the bat was taken out of the garage, and Delia had sworn to the police that she had torn the thing up in front of all the rest of adults after the kids were sent home, was next month. Red and Green made their truce yet again for the fifth time since the end of July.

They were playing some kind of ball game out in the back of Greens Grandpa’s lab. Gary and Ash were at some kind of baby appointment so the kids were put under Oaks watch... though he isn’t really doing a lot of kid sitting when he’s staring at the TV half dead basically from the heat.

Red had gone home, while Blue went to hers and Green went down to the Professors basement, to try and find a bat. When he got into his garage, sitting right in the middle of the concrete floor, was the Wiffleball bat. Shrugging he leaped down the two steps and scooped the bat up before charging, much to his mistake, across town and back to the Oak Labs. Both Blue and Green couldn’t find a better bat at their place so they used the one Red brought.

They only lasted an hour until the sun peaked at its hottest and the parents weren’t back yet either. Probably having lunch or grocery shopping since they are in Veridian.

“I’m hot!” Blue complained. Dragging her feet and pulling at her dress. Red chose not to comment at the pit stains that were growing where her dress was pressed between her armpits. “Can’t we go inside?”

“And listen to Grandpa snore the entire time?” Green asked, Shaking his head, “absolutely not. We can’t even change the channel or else he’ll get super mad when he wakes up.” A loud snore echoed from the open window into the living room and made all three kids flinch a little. Lousy old man. “Let’s just continue on playing.”

He tossed the ball to Blue, who had the orange bat that looked even worse out in the sun, who tried to swing it but was to slow.

“I’m tired!” She threw the bat down. Tears pricking her eyes as she continued to stomp her feet like it was supposed to intimidate Red and Green besides being annoying. ”tired, hot, and hungry!”

“Oh stop being a pansy!” Green snarled. Red could only nod his head and murmur and verbal agreement with Green.

“I’m not a pansy!” Blue shouted before stomping off and into the porch. Twirling around and sinking down onto a shaded step. Crossing her arms and pointing while glaring holes into Greens head.

Reds best friend turned to him and pointed behind his back at Blue, “girls are always so weak against guys, that’s why they stay at home and take care of the babies and chores while we men do the real work.”

Next thing Red knew Green had almost fallen into him. Blue standing behind him with the Wiffleball bat raised and an angry rabid look into her eyes. Before Red could do anything to try and placate both or just one of them. Blue descended upon Green.

Hit after hit, Blue didn’t stop. A look Red had only seen in one of those horror movies on the killers face on hers. His little feet carried him into the hose before nearly barreling into Grandpa Oak who started awake with a shout.

“It’s Blue and Green,” Red panted, “their fighting and Blues trying to draw blood.”

“Fucking Arceus-“ Oak struggles to get up from the rocking recliner.

“Grandpa! Make Blue stop!” Green shouted from the backyard. Pokémon from big to small had come out fo their hidy-holes to see what was happening.

“Make me yourself coward!” Blue shouted back before a particular loud Thwak! Was heard.

“Grandpa!”

“What happened to men being stronger then girls!? Where’s your logic now you wet-willy bug-sucker!”

That had ended with the parents rushing home, police called by a bitchy neighbor named Mr. Hickiby, and an ER lady stitching the side of Greens forehead in an ambulance that was also called because Mr. Hickiby had exaggerated every detail over the call.

All three were so grounded.

———

The Wiffleball bat popped up once more around 2010, August 18 to be exact. No one knew where Ash had gotten ahold of it since the three had set fire to the bat last year. but soon he was charging out of the front entry way with Houndoom hot on his heels, speedy little fucker Ash is, and came speeding past Red who was walking home and Berliner straight for Champion Lance who was walking a bit behind Red to enjoy the view of the country side of Kanto.

Lance has bugged Red to show him his home town, not like there’s a lot to see in little ol’Pallet Town besides fields and farms and more fields. Now that Red was an equal to Lance and also technically Lance’s boss since he’s apart of the aka to Elite Four he had wanted to get to know more fo the soft spoken boy.

The Champion wasn’t expecting him to have such a terror of a little brother.

Ash had planted his feet down and slid in the loose gravel. Sliding by and swinging the Wiffleball bat as much as he could into Lance’s groin. Making the much older man double down and the force swung little Ash aroudn to where the bag had hit Lance’s ass with the same amount of force. This causes Lance to sink to his knees with a high picked whine.

Soul the Houndoom, Red and Ash’s mother’s Pokémon, barreled into Ash and bit into the loose part of a shirt and continued to tug the little seven year old back to the house.

Red had yelled at Ash without any words before turning to Lance. Not knowing what to do. All the while trying to ignore Green and Blue who chased Ash and Soul out of the house and are fucking loosing it behind the two in the grass.

Ash shouted that he was in the right because the strange weirdly dressed man, who must be higher then a kite, looked like he was gonna mug Red. That had sent Green and Blue deeper into hysteria while Red tried not to let his anger get the best of him.

———

The bat didn’t make a resurface until December 12 of 2012. Ash was nine and Red was twelve. His ass had just gotten dragged down from Mount. Silver by Green, Blue, two kids named Gold and Crystal, and then his hidden affair brother named Silver a year ago and Red was having his first Christmas with his family after two years.

Red was sleeping off a cold and Ash had just coe charging into the living room. Livid and holding the same plastic orange bat from Green and Blues memory.

“What’cha got there bud?” Gold, a fucking year older then Ash himself, asked.

“Someone,” Ash was already nearly yelling as he glare sweeper through the room, thankfully Delia had left to go last minute Christmas shopping and left everyone to watch Ash, “destroyed my snowman with this!” He shock the bat in the air before letting it fa back down by his side, “and not the hole in its stomach is bright red!”

Blue scrambled up from her slouched position on the one person seat to look out the window at Ash’s actually destroyed and fake bloodied snowman with a large red hole in the middle and red flakes everywhere. “Well damn,” she muttered, “He’s right.”

“Well I know it’s no one in here.” Green didn’t look up from his phone. Texting Lance about his orientation of being Viridian’s new gym leader after Red had knocked that greasy Mankey Giovanni down.

The others muttered their agreement, which was a mistake, and Ash raised the bat to grip it with two hands and yelled “Red you big meanie! You killed my snowman!” And then went charging up the stairs to Reds room.

The other kids were left speechless and in shock before there was a familiar loud Thwak! Noise and then a angry shout before Ash’s scream of terror then the two brothers charging down the stairs.

Ash was only saved by certain death by the hands of Red because Red was only in a shirt and some shorts and also obviously still very sick.

———

It was September 30th, 2015, and Silver had gotten his hands on it this time around. No one really stopped him as he had pinned Gomd down and had beatened him over the head continuously for four minutes before throwing the Wiffleball bat down and storming into the house. Hiding himself in Ash’s unused room, who was in Orange Isles at the time, to scream wordlessly.

Red and Green just dipped their coffee while Blue stomped forward for her own piece.

Storms

————————————————-

“What is that?”

Normally Dagur never interrupted Boynut when he told one of his humorous anecdotes. Hiccup’s friend could be rambling and nonsensical at times, but he liked the rider’s voice.

He’d made an exception this time however, pointing at the strip of skin across his stomach that Tuff’s shirt was showing. He’d stretched his arms out wide, trying to convey just how big around the boar in his story had been.

Tuff stopped mid-sentence, realizing, and hurriedly dropped his arms, adjusting the shirt so it covered him. He wasn’t wearing his usual tunic and belt today, just a loose blue shirt and his leggings.

The Twins and Fishlegs had been assembling their winter gear from Berk and had returned to the Edge just an hour ago, far later than they were due to arrive.

Their arrival had been oddly tense and weird - Fishlegs had immediately apologized for their lateness before Astrid could demand what happened, saying that he’d been stuck choosing which books and how much ink and parchment to take. Ruff had been the very image of calm before a storm, hand on her brother’s arm, and Tuff had simply looked exhausted.

He was more animated now, with some food and warm mead inside him, and to all appearances it had just been the long ride that explained his earlier solemn mood. However, the glimpse of skin Dagur had just seen was dark and mottled. Something was wrong.

“What? Is it the color?” Tuff asked, redirecting. “I know, it doesn’t look as good on me as green. My tunic got covered with dragon slobber.”

It was a lie. The others did not appear to pick up on it, giving sympathetic groans. Snotlout commiserated by bringing up how badly Monstrous Nightmare drool stained in comparison to the drool of other dragons.

“Guys, come on, it’s not a competition,” Hiccup sighed.

“Shut up, Hiccup,” the others retorted amiably in unison. Hiccup grumbled but leaned back in his chair, scratching Toothless under the chin.

Fishlegs countered by reminding everyone that Gronckle saliva actually burned holes in things, and as things started to heat up in the dragon slobber fandom, Dagur caught sight of Tuff slinking back toward the kitchen area of the Clubhouse.

He excused himself after a moment and went into the kitchen, casually getting himself a mug to pour mead out of a barrel. Tuff wasn’t making himself any food or drink, just lurking in a dark corner. He startled when he saw Dagur but held still and said nothing, clearly hoping he went unnoticed.

It was a far cry from how friendly the boy usually acted, enough that Dagur set down his mead without drinking any and turned to face him. “You okay, Tuff?”

Tuff looked like he was ready to jump out of his skin. “I’m fine,” he almost snapped, arms crossed over his chest. “Everything is fine.”

It was clearly not.

When Dagur reached out to put a calming hand on his shoulder he flinched.

Tuff didn’t ever flinch from contact - not even from him.

Shocked, Dagur didn’t take back his hand, instead pulling him close into a worried bear hug, though gentler than the breath stealing squeezes he often inflicted on his ‘little brother’. Tuff froze tensely but didn’t jerk away or protest.

“What’s wrong?” Dagur asked firmly.

“Nothing,” came the muffled reply, though Tuff was starting to tremble. Eventually he leaned in, hiding his face against Dagur’s shoulder and returning the embrace.

“There he is,” Dagur teased gently, feeling some relief. “Where’d you go, Boynut?”

“Sorry,” Tuff sniffled. “Not trying to be a jerk, I just - I got in a bad fight. At home.”

He hadn’t been a jerk, but Dagur’s main concern was what he’d said after that. He let Tuff go, allowing him to pull back if he wanted. Tuff did, though he stayed close. “At home? Someone from home hurt you?”

Tuffnut faltered, then walked it back, sounding frantic. “I didn’t say I was hurt. It was just a bad fight. Dad said some words and Ruff stood up for me, then he said something about her and I threw a mug at him. Hard.”

Dagur remembered the red and darkening purples he’d seen across the boy’s stomach. “So you hit him with a mug and he whaled on you?”

“No. I missed him completely and it shattered. But it was his favorite mug that grandma got him.” Tuff sounded both proud and horrified at his transgression. Dagur put his hands on Tuff’s shoulders gently. He winced but this time leaned toward Dagur instead of flinching.

“What happened after the mug broke?”

Tuff bit his lip, going pale. “He got up.”

It was all Tuff could seem to say and perhaps all he needed to.

Dagur put an arm around his shoulders. “Okay. So when you guys visit Berk again for a holiday, could I come with you?  I’ve been thinking, I’ve never met everyone’s parents. Next time I think I’ll tag along to your home and meet the Thorstons.”

Tuff looked up at him, considering that. “Well, our mom would like you. She said we actually have some Berserker blood in our family. She didn’t tell me who though.”

“Really? I’m not surprised, you two definitely have some Berserker traits. Your insane bravery for one. And your amazing traps, remember when you booby trapped the whole island after we kidnapped Ruff?”

A fond grin appeared on Tuff’s face. “I do. You talk about it a lot, especially when you’ve been drinking. I think one time you may have cried.”

Dagur burst into embarrassed laughter. “Right. That was a lot of mead.” He pulled Tuff a bit closer. “Not gonna lie, I’m glad I’m on your side now, so I don’t have your destructive genius aimed at me.”

“What makes you think you’re safe from that?” Tuff snickered but he was grinning as he said it and finally relaxed. He leaned into Dagur, shoulder and side pressing against his. “So I’m taking you home to meet my parents next month when the storms let up? Is that what we’re doing?” Tuff’s tone was playfully sultry.

“Yep,” Dagur said, face turning a bit red but going with it. “Gotta let them know my intentions toward their son.”

That sent Tuff into a blushing fit but he soldiered on. “You’re going to ask Papa for my hand?”

“And he’s going to say yes and offer to pay for the wedding, right before he passes out in my Berserker chokehold,” Dagur said matter-of-factly, and Tuff wheezed, covering his face and almost beet red.

“Okay,” he managed to squeak through his fingers. “Awesome.”

He was comfortably leaning against Dagur, who took the opportunity to wrap an arm around him again. Tuff relaxed, taking his hands away from his face and allowing the touch without further comment.

For a few moments neither of them spoke, realizing their exchange might have a little more weight to it than either of them had given thought to.

“They say arnica’s good for bruises,” Dagur suggested finally. “I’ve got some salve in my bags - I use it on Shattermaster’s wing every morning. He’s been recovering quickly. You want some?”

Tuff nodded, uncharacteristically quiet and still blushing.

Dagur released him from the embrace and led him to Fishy’s hut where he was staying for the storm period. Tuffnut remained at his side the whole way there, close enough to almost trip him, like a puppy underfoot. It was adorable.

Once inside, he picked up his bag, rummaging around for the tin of salve and hoping he didn’t leave it all the way back at the stable. He heard Tuff sit down on the pallet of blankets and furs that Fishlegs had laid out for his Berserker guest.

“Is he taking good care of you? Fishlegs?”

“Yeah, he’s a good host. We’re morning meditation buddies, and he makes some really good herbal tea. Very cleansing.” His hand found the right shape and he pulled the salve out triumphantly, tossing the rucksack back into the corner.

Tuff had laid down across the pallet, looking thoughtfully up at the ceiling, his legs crossed. “Okay. Well, if he wasn’t a good host, I was going to tell you he keeps all the snacks his mom sends him in the upper left cabinet behind some books.”

Dagur snorted, amused he’d just told him anyway. He sat down on the bed, opening the tin. “I can help you put some on if you’d like me to.”

The blond rider looked at him a moment and then nodded, sitting up to take off his shirt. Dagur at once realized the reason why he had worn the shirt loose without a belt - this wasn’t just a few bruises. Wide swaths of dark red and purple wrapped around his ribs and shoulders. His back was the biggest mess of stripes, and Dagur could see older scars - from past ‘fights’ - faded beneath. Dagur swallowed.

“What did he use on you?” he asked neutrally, scooping some salve out and sitting behind Tuff to spread it across the inflamed skin. Inside him something was boiling over with dark rage but he kept his voice and his movements calm for Tuff’s sake.

“The strap for his shaving razor,” Tuff muttered. “He got the drop on me so it was easier to just hold still. If I lay still it’s over faster.” He furrowed his brow, looking angry at himself for saying that aloud. “Sorry -“

“It’s okay.”

“I sound pathetic,” Tuff argued.

“You do not. Getting hurt by family is way worse than getting hurt by strangers, because it’s not supposed to happen.” Dagur moved his hair aside, draping it forward over his shoulders so he could get the hand-sized bruise on the back of his neck. He rubbed the salve gently across it, listening carefully to make sure he wasn’t hurting him.

“Everyone gets punished by their dad once in a while,” Tuff dismissed. “I’m a trouble-maker, I get extra.”

That sentiment bothered him. Tuff shouldn’t be accepting this sort of treatment, no matter what he’d done. “I made a lot of trouble. Would it have been okay if my dad had beaten the crap out of me?” Dagur asked pointedly.

Tuff’s shoulders stiffened under his hand. “No! It wouldn’t ...” Stricken, he looked anxiously back at him over his shoulder. “Oswald didn’t ever, did he?”

“No. He didn’t,” Dagur answered quietly. “He would talk to me and make me understand what I did wrong, and I would either feel ashamed or I wouldn’t. But he never beat me.”

The worst thing Oswald had ever done was disappear, but that was a different kind hurt. He hadn’t meant to never come back, hadn’t meant for Dagur to feel like an unlovable monster whose own father didn’t want to be near him anymore.

Tuff’s dad though? That man had definitely meant to hurt him.

And judging by the blond’s sagging shoulders and look of quiet devastation, he was starting to accept that it wasn’t normal.

Dagur spread the salve everywhere he saw discoloration, then coaxed Tuff to turn around so he could get his chest and arms. He said nothing about the tear tracks on the rider’s cheeks, but they made him want to pay Berk a little visit before the storms landed and unleash some thunder and lightning of his own.

Tuff leaned into his touch as Dagur‘s fingers traced over his skin. One hand went up to move his hair again, intending to drape his braids across his back so he could get to his collarbone but it got lost and cupped his face instead.

Hitching, Tuff nuzzled his palm and kissed it and that was honestly all he needed.

Dagur capped the salve and tossed it aside on the bed, gathering Tuff against him and kissing him firmly.

The trickster kissed back enthusiastically, his long limbs wrapping around him tightly. When they came up for air, Tuff clung to him still, nuzzling his throat. He was shaking. Murmuring in concern, Dagur hugged him closer.

“You aren’t going to have to face him alone again,” he promised, kissing Tuff’s forehead. “Neither you or Ruff.” He kissed along the bridge of Tuff’s nose, caressing his face. “I’ll put the terror of Dagur into him.”

Tuff melted against him, grey eyes soft. “You don’t have to, you know. He’s got lots of mugs. Maybe one of these days, I’ll actually nail him with one.”

“Tuff,” Dagur sighed with exasperated affection. He cupped the rider’s face and kissed him. Later would be a talk about thinking better of himself.

For now, they were in his bed and together, while outside the storm-winds began to howl.

Clear|t.h.

Chapter 2: Seashells

pairing: surfer!tom x reader

word count: 4.1k

warnings: cars

summary: Collecting seashells & making new friends 

series masterlist

first chapter

next chapter>

special thanks to @whatmakesmehappyy for being my amazing editor, love you girl

Hi, thanks for reading this! Seriously thanks, tell me what you think, if you’d like to see something happen, if you like y/n and Tom’s relationship. idk 

Drowning is a common fear among people and y/n wasn’t an exception. However, she was the kind to overcome her fears, or just blatantly ignore them. It worked.

She had woken up early to go for a swim. She was hesitant at first, she hadn’t been near the ocean since the incident, not that it actually had to do with anything, but it was a reminder of that summer. However, she knew it would help.

She also picked up her art supplies in hopes of getting some inspiration.

But she didn’t want anybody to know so when her grandpa caught her sneaking out, she was shocked. He understood, so he threw her his old Jeep keys. He was sitting on the kitchen as she was trying to get out, a cup of coffee on his right hand and the morning paper on the left hand.

“Go to your secret place,” he said. “Your sister would see you if you swim right outside, besides, the water is clearer there.”

She didn’t answer, just smiled and gave him a thumbs up. He knew her. He was the only one who seemed to understand.

He understood why she was the way she was. He understood why she had drowned in sorrow, because he had as well. He knew what it was losing someone you loved. For him, it was his wife. For y/n it was Matt... and grandma.

So he understood why she shielded herself.

Y/n was driving, playing music, and singing along to it. She did it when she was alone. Nobody needed to know.

The trees were passing, the sun was coming out and she rolled down the windows to get the freshest air. She smiled.

Y/n knew that most people thought she didn’t smile, she knew people were worried for her. But she didn’t give anything away because she didn’t want to care for anyone. The more she cared, the more it hurt when they left.

Her secret place was a somewhere she discovered when she was younger with her grandma. It was a beach nobody visited and it looked like paradise. With green trees, palms and the bluest of waters, it was calm and quiet. The sand was covered by seashells which only reminded her of the pretty memories when times were simpler. She picked some up, she’d used them later.

She was hesitant, about the water. There was a certain fear, because she knew that she was drowning, not physically, but emotionally.

However, the moment she was stepping into the blue waves, she felt relieved, as if the water was pulling back every negative feeling. It felt nice.

The foam beneath her was tempting, so she decided to step in and instantly felt relaxed. For the first time in a while the world didn’t seem like that bad of a place. This was her place. She didn’t have to worry about her sister looking ashamed or her mother who always looked at her with sorrow.

For a moment she was happy. And she didn’t care about the rest of the world. She stayed there for a while and bathed and washed away all her sorrow.

Her art supplies had come with no results, but she had decided to call it a day. Besides, she needed to go back for lunch before her mother and sister realized she had snuck out.

They made a big deal out of everything. She was tired of that. She had healed. She had changed, of course, but y/n had healed. However, she was constantly fighting against her family because they seemed to be the ones not over it.

She got dry and hopped into the blue Jeep. She drummed her fingers against the wheel and then started the car, it took her a few times but eventually, it started.

There was no issue as she was getting to the road until the car decided to simply stop working. The car slowed down and it felt like the breaks had a mind of their own. The noises it was making scared her.  She had barely even left the hidden beach.

Y/n cursed but kept trying to go.  She decided to left the car rest for a second and pulled off to the side of the road. She turned it off and left the engine cool. When she went to start the car again nothing happened.  The car just stopped completely and smoke started to come out of the front. Y/n cursed again. She hopped out of the Jeep and opened up the bonnet and smoke blew into her face.“This is perfect.”Y/n called her grandfather as she tried to wave the smoke out of her face with her hand, coughing a bit.

“Oh, yes, that happens often,” her grandpa warned.

“Couldn’t have given me a heads up?” Y/n complained.

“I forgot, uh, well, there’s a card in the car, it’s got the mechanic’s number.”

She called them and they would send a car, and told her that her grandpa had called too. She hopped into the car to wait. It was weird. In a way, she felt at home, and in another, she felt like a stranger. She was a stranger, to herself at least. She needed to give herself another opportunity.

She didn’t want to admit it to anyone, but she was tired of herself, too. She was open to a new possibility. She knew she needed to get out of that hole she had so carefully dug. Baby steps, baby steps. She didn’t want to date right away, she just wanted to make some friends.

But not from this town, She knew how it would go. The guys there had been so keen on trying to date her and she knew they were assholes. She didn’t need any of that, and besides, it would be such a cliche. She didn’t want to fall into one.

A tow truck arrived and pulled over in front of her. She picked up her stuff and realized her outfit was slightly wet like her hair, she hoped it wouldn’t look too bad.

Her hair was dripping wet as she watched the man hop out and she realized that her bad luck was just getting worse.

The guy from the day before was making his way over to the Jeep, he had a white t-shirt, jeans and, even if y/n didn’t want to admit it, he looked incredibly handsome. Y/n squinted as she hid under her arms, laying on the wheel.

He walked over to the window with some tools and knocked. Y/n took a deep breath as she turned to him and she noticed an amused look on his face. He laughed as he stepped back and ran a hand through his hair.

She opened the door.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he snickered. “Why, hello y/n.”

“Tim.” Y/n said.

“Close, Tom,” he reminded her as he winked.

“Sorry, the shirt confused me.”

“Looks good? Well, I’m here, at your service.”

“You... you’re... oh god.”

“Yeah, I work there, fix cars, you’re James’ granddaughter?” Tom asked.

“I am.”

“Huh, never would’ve thought, he’s really happy, and then you’re...you,” Tom pointed out. He pointed to her outfit. “Went for a swim?”

“No, I just like to be wet all the time,” she answered sarcastically.

“Kinky,” Tom teased, causing her to open her mouth with indignation and to push him. Tom laughed. “Hey! You played yourself there. I’m kidding.”

“You’re a pig.”

“I’m a man,” Tom gave in. “Now, let’s see, what did you do to the car?”

“I did nothing, smoke just started to come out,” y/n defended herself.

“Hm,” Tom tsked. He walked over to the bonnet and started to check it out.

“Is it that bad?”

“Well, smoke doesn’t mean good,” Tom informed her. She frowned as she crossed her arms watching him.

“Can you fix it?” She asked him.

“Of course, darling,” Tom laughed. “Only if I get a smile,” he grinned at her. She raised her eyebrow. “Maybe not.”

Y/n rolled her eyes. He tinkered around under the bonnet but more smoke started to come out.

“This... looks bad, I need to take it to the shop,” he commented. She cursed under her breath. “Now, cmon I’ll help you out,” Tom said laughing as he hooked the Jeep.

Y/n watched him hop into the truck and she stayed there in the middle of the road.

“Well,” he called her out. “You coming?”

She hesitated, but eventually got her stuff out of the Jeep and into his car. He laughed. Seemed like he didn’t know to do anything but mock her. She carefully hugged her art supplies and the now full bag of seashells.

“So, were you planning to paint the sand?” Tom asked looking over at the supplies. She chuckled.

“It needed a little colour,” she joked.

“Did you paint anything?” He asked.

“Nope.”

“You’re not really a talker, are you?” Tom inquired. She didn’t say anything so he took that as an answer. “So, what are the seashells for? A necklace? Some kind of craft?”

“Throw them at your pretty face.”

“You’re quite the charmer, aren’t you?” Tom giggled. “I have some if you’d like them, seashells. Well, and pretty faces too.”

“I’m good.”

“You know, art... uh, art is the way our soul speaks,” Tom tried to make even more conversation. She turned to the window, brushing her hair back. “What does your soul want to say?”

“It wants you to stop trying.”

“Ah, c’mon, you can’t fool me with that act, deep down I know you’re all an act too, if I’m a cliche, you’re a bigger one.”

“Really?” She faked interest.

“I mean, judging from your wet hair, the types of shells you’ve got, you went to the blue valley, you know, the hidden beach, didn’t you?”

“And that makes me a cliche?” She stated with little interest. He did manage to draw a small smile out of her, though.

“Of course, a mysterious girl who’s dying to reveal herself. It’s like an ugly duckling trying to transform into a swan.”

“I’m ugly now, wow,” she chuckled.

“I mean, you technically are, right now, but if I squint my eyes, you’re good looking,” he joked, she flicked him. “I’ll be your Prince Charming.”

“The ugly duckling doesn’t have a Prince Charming,” she pointed out.

“In our story it does,” he winked at her. “And by the way, you shouldn’t be alone in Blue Valley, the waves are bigger there,” he warned her. “Call me up if you need some company.”

“I am perfectly capable of swimming,” she sassed. “Besides, I thought nobody knew about that place, I didn’t even know it had a name.”

“It doesn’t, I named it, and you’re right, nobody knows about it,” Tom conceited. “I mean, just a few people but nobody really likes it because it’s too quiet.”

“I like quiet.”

“Hence why you don’t like me,” Tom laughed.

“Ding, we’ve got a winner,” Y/n laughed.

“D’ya know your sister, Joanne is going out today with my mate Haz?”

Y/n wasn’t surprised her sister was dying to go out. She’d date anyone.

“Blue eyes fella?” Y/n asked.

“Yep,” Tom continued. “How about a double date?”

“I’ll pass.” Y/n looked out the window but then started to explore her collected seashells. Tom turned on some music and he was humming along.

Y/n noticed his music taste wasn’t as different as hers, but she decided not to point it out. The brown-haired boy wasn’t that bad, after all.

They arrived to the shop, and y/n watched him walk up to his coworkers, high fiving some and talking to others. He approached another woman who was older, she smiled at him. Tom explained to her what had happened to her car and then she gave him a pat on the back.

Tom was sweet to the old lady, the arrogant, annoying guy from before was gone. He talked to a man who seemed to be his boss and the old lady thanked them both, and Tom blushed as she gave him a tip. Y/n smiled at that, but she cleared her throat as soon as he approached her again.

“So, okay, from what I could see,” Tom said. “It looks like I can have it fixed by tomorrow.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, uh, I don’t know how much it’ll cost, however, I can give you a discount if you give me a smile,” Tom joked, y/n crossed her arms. “No discount then, damn, are you drowning in money?”

Y/n rolled her eyes, and a tinge of red invaded her cheeks as a small smile appeared.

“Whoop, there it is, then you’ll have a discount, smart girl,” Tom chuckled. “Now, I need you to fill this form out.”

Y/n did as ordered. “Thanks, well, now I’ll… call my grandpa or-”

“Y/L/N, now I know your last name, mine is Holland, by the way. And before you say you don’t care, you might as well know because I’m the one fixing your car,” Tom suggested as he glanced down over at her name on the form she handed back to him. “I know where your grandpa lives, so I can give you a ride there, or we could go out for lunch, it’s almost my break.”

Y/n turned around, already walking to the exit. “I told you, don’t try to be friends with me.”

“Good thing I’m not trying to be your friend, I asked you out,” Tom pointed out before following her.

“Ugh, don’t you have any other girls to bother? I’m sure one of them is dying to go out with you.” Y/n kept walking. “Go and take off your shirt at the beach, they’ll pop like daisies in spring.”

“But I don’t want a date with them, I want one with you.” Tom insisted. “Look, I know no is no, but hey-”

“Why me?” Y/n stopped. “Give me a reason.”

“Because you’re mysterious, I like that.” Tom shrugged. “Let’s see what we can unveil from here.”

“Oh god, don’t try to pull the card from before, not the whole: oh let’s see how the ugly duckling turns into a swan.”

“Ah, cmon,” Tom placed his hands on his hips. “You’re not a swan.”

“I know, I’m a goose.” Y/n smirked as she continued walking. Tom snickered.

“Why don’t you wanna go out with me? I’m a duck.”

“Because I don’t want to be stuck with someone who follows the stereotype, besides, this is not a movie. If you think that by hanging out with me you’ll make me realize that you’re not that bad after all, it won’t happen, this isn’t a movie, darling.”

“And we’re already starting with the pet names,” Tom clapped his hands.”But this is not a movie, you’re right, I’m not that awful, I’m just not what you expected.”

“No, you’re worse. Please, you have your two guys following you around all the time, you constantly take off your shirt, and you probably have a girlfriend with a hot body.”

“Wrong, she’s not my girlfriend, that’s my ex.”

“Well, I’m sorry, I just… don’t think I’m the right person to date you, that’s it.” Y/N shrugged. “You’re attractive, you’re a surfer, I’m just… nothing that could possibly appeal to you, we’re like night and day, never together.”

“Opposites attract,” Tom continued. “Ah, c'mon please, let’s do it like the movie then.”

“This isn’t a movie,” Y/n was already out the place.

“But it’s our story.”

“Why do you keep trying?” Y/n laughed.

“I don’t know, I don’t wanna see you all alone, you seem like you need a good time.”

“So you’re asking me out out of pity, that’s a great start.”

“Fine then, I won’t ask you out,” Tom said still following her.

“Good.” Y/n smirked but then frowned as she realized he was with her. “Why are you still walking with me?”

“I said I wouldn’t ask you out, I’m going to stick as your friend, and I’ll give you a ride, that’s what friends do.”

Y/n frowned as she watched him get back on his truck, but she felt warm. She smiled, again. Genuinely smiled.

The ride was quiet-ish. Tom kept singing along to the songs on the radio, and y/n was listening to him eagerly. She didn’t want to admit it just yet, but she kind of liked him, in a way which she wouldn’t mind having him around. Of course, that was going to be a secret she’d keep for herself.

“So, you’re a mechanic,” y/n commented. Tom smiled.

“You’re trying to make conversation, that’s nice,” Tom pointed out.

“Might as well if I’ll have you around,” Y/n defended herself.

“Yeah, well, it’s Jared’s dad workshop, and it’s good money. It’s good for a summer job,” Tom said. “Funnily enough, I don’t like cars.”

“I’m hungry,” she said, without really thinking about the consequences.

“Is that an invitation for lunch?” Tom asked, a wide smirk on his face.

“No, it was a comment.” Y/n frowned, glancing over at him. “Don’t read much into it.”

Tom chuckled. “You know, you keep resisting, but you’ll see,” Tom continued, just as he pulled in front of the house. “But if you’re hungry, I know this place.”

“In your dreams,” y/n opened the door and glanced down at him. A loud noise was heard from the inside of the house. Someone had screamed. It was Joanne fighting with her mother. Y/n wrinkled her nose, as she heard them yelling to each other about Joanne complaining about y/n, apparently, their mother wanted Joanne to give up on the date and spend time with her sister. Their yelling wasn’t pretty, so Tom and y/n just stayed there quietly.

“Now that I think about it, lunch sounds like a great idea,” y/n said and Tom nodded quickly, just as eager as her to escape from the yelling. He drove off without either of them knowing that y/n’s grandpa had seen them leave. He gave them a huge grin.

They arrived at a burger place near the beach. It wasn’t a place somebody went if they were on a diet, but it was comfort food and that’s what y/n needed.  They walked over to the counter and each ordered a burger.

As they were waiting, Tom nudged her. “Tell me about yourself.”

“I’m quiet,” y/n said and shrugged.

“I’ve noticed that,” Tom frowned.

“Well, then, what do you want to know? I’m not interesting,” she confessed. “You’re a talker, why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

“Oh, well, I’m Tom, 22. I surf but you already knew that. I work at a mechanical workshop, uh, well, I don’t know,” Tom shrugged. “I’m a big mystery like you are, just in my own way.”

“Are you, now?” Y/n laughed, as their number was called and they grabbed their food.

Tom threw a chip into his mouth as he winked at her as they sat.

“So, tell me how did you find the Blue Valley?” Tom asked her.

“With my grandma, when I was younger,” y/n said. “Thought I was special for knowing about it.”

“You are,” Tom grinned. “I like it in there, I surf there sometimes.”

“Of course you do,” Y/n chuckled.

They could watch the beach from there, and every now and then both of them would turn to the water.

“What?” He frowned clumsily.

“I don’t know, seems you’re not what I thought,” Y/n shrugged.

The place was simple, it was built with wood and barely painted, the menus were very rustic, and an old ceiling fan was hanging but did nothing to stop the heat from coming in.

“Ah, no, don’t get your hopes up, I could still disappoint you,” Tom winked at her before sipping his drink.

“I’m sure you will,” Y/n commented as she smiled. She didn’t know what had gotten into her, she wasn’t used to smiling that much.

“The seashells, why were you picking them up?” Tom asked. “Not judging, I do it too.”

“They’re pretty,” Y/n chuckled. “I don’t know, I’ve been collecting them since I was little.”

“Ha, that happens to me too, when I was a kid I liked picking them up and seems like the custom never wore off.”

“It’s automatic, right?” She asked as he laughed.

“It really is,” He smiled watching her take a bite. “You like the burger?”

“It’s good,” Y/n shrugged. “Not the best one I’ve had.”

“C’mon, it’s good.”

“I know some better ones,” Y/n chuckled. “Back in London”

“You study in London? I wanted to go there,” Tom answered.  

“Where do you study?” She asked.

“Here, local uni, mechanical engineering,” Tom looked down.

“I thought you didn’t like that,” Y/n asked.

“M’life’s complicated, I have four brothers, you know the rest, besides I can stay here and surf,” Tom said, unwilling to continue with the subject.

“You wouldn’t leave, then?” She asked him. He pursed his lips as he shrugged.

“There’s never really been a reason for me to do so,” He slouched. “What ‘bout you?” He said before taking a bite.

“Business.” Y/n’s answer was short, and it was an explanation she didn’t want to give. “I wanted to study art, though.”

“Why didn’t you then?”

“I’m a painter who can’t paint, I lost my inspiration,” Y/n shrugged. Tom nodded, not pushing the conversation. He glanced down as Y/n bit her lip. “Thought the seashells could help.”

“Oh, I’ll give you the ones I have then, maybe they’ll help,” Tom grinned. “Maybe when I come to drop them off we can then go to the carnival?”

“You’re very clever,” y/n laughed, he smirked.

“I mean, your poor sister wants to go out, from what I’ve heard, she won’t go to her date unless you go out too, so why not help her?”

Y/n rolled her eyes. “We’ll see, but it won’t be a date.”

“Absolutely not,” Tom raised his hands. “Promise.”

Before she could continue any kind of conversation, a girl entered the joint. She had her brunette hair pulled up in a perfectly messy bun. She had a skirt and no top on in order to show off her nice pink bikini. Y/n felt self-conscious as she sat up.

“Tommy,” the girl greeted. Tom clenched his jaw and didn’t look up to her.

“Lex.” His voice had turned dry. She leaned over to kiss his cheek.

Y/n took a deep breath as all her confidence suddenly washed away. The girl side-eyed her.

“Hi,” Lex greeted y/n, “I’m Alexa.”

“Y/n,” She answered.

“Oh, so you’re Tommy’s new-right,” Alexa chuckled. Y/n clenched her jaw.

“Lex, don’t you have anywhere else to be?” Tom rolled his eyes.

“Of course, sorry, sorry,” Lex chuckled as her hands were all over Tom’s back and chest. “Just came here to say hello,” she grinned as she placed a kiss on his neck.

Tom squirmed and shrugged her off. “Alexa.”

“Hey, are we doing anything tonight, then?” Alexa asked Tom. “I cleared up my schedule.

“Actually no, y/n and I were planning on going to the carnival,” Tom raised an  eyebrow to his ex-girlfriend. “Weren’t you and Marcus going to do anything?” His voice was now venomous.

“To the carnival?” Alexa asked for confirmation.

“Well, we were just talking about it, nothing stipulated,” Y/n added, Tom glanced over.

“I’ll leave you guys alone, then,” The brunette chirped.

Y/n chuckled as she rolled her eyes. “No, don’t worry I was about to leave,” Y/n said, standing up. “I was done with my burger anyway.”

Tom shook his head. “No, please-”

“Ah, that’s great!” Lex was quick to sit down on y/n’s abandoned chair. “Bye, sweetie!”

Tom stood up. “Hey, no, I’ll give you a ride-”

“No worries, I’m not too far from here,” Y/n smiled. “And you can have fun with brunette Barbie here.”

“Wait, uh y/n,” Tom was trying to say something, but he knew there wasn’t much left to say.

Y/n turned around and left, feeling her stomach burning up inside. She knew she had her stuff in Tom’s car but her pride was bigger, she needed to leave right away. Besides, it was nothing really important, just her art supplies and those stupid seashells.

series masterlist

masterlist

first chapter

next chapter>

wanna be tagged?

tag list @exoticeggos @nextkaratekid @multifandom-fangirl4 @fortheloveofmcu @flashcal @iwillalwaysbevictorious @thekidsofneibolt @quicksoldier @totallyreadyforthis s @quacksonqueen @yoinksholland @lovelyh0lland @typicaltrashbagg @supernatural-trash-lover @assumeimapenguin @americaswritings  @nano-hero @paradoxparker @its-livelovelife e @its-tchalla @butwhyduh @strangerthingsluv v @leena-xoxo @toms-darling  @ivyohmy  @greenarrowhead @softboyparkerr @tom-hollands-eyelash @jtorressuck @clairesrainbow  @desirableprey @fairydustparker @newlove-neweverything @ymeradonnadx @underoosmarvel @patdandtop @its-the-unknownspidey  @savethebabyseals @hermionedeservesbetterthanron @quitetommy y @tomhaz @wronglanemendes  @itsvianny @marvelousxtsh @arya-di-angelo @jake-and-amy-are-married  @starlightfound @tiredfeels @thespiderdweeb  @kill-the-stereo  @thequeensardine @originalpinkpowerranger @anxiousdesignerdancerbandlover @kindadefinitely-fucked @happywolves81 @kaciidubs  @nedthegay @skylar-mendes  @emma-worthington @tomsmelanin @elefthavraam @sentimentalquackson @savannah0111 @vibhati123

i dare you (to never let me go)

pairing: jungkook x jimin               jungkook x taehyung (subplot)

summary:  and after all that had passed, jungkook would always be pulled back to jimin. he didn’t know why, maybe it was fate (or maybe it was his 9-year-old daughter).

chapter: 2/?

a/n: this story (along with some others) is also available on ao3 (user: we_are_bulletproof)

+

5 YEARS LATER

    “Daddy, it’s almost my birthday, why can’t you just give it to me now?” Mina said, exasperated. She glared at her father as he got ready for work. Jungkook finished buttoning up his shirt and tucked it in from the back.

    “Sweetheart, you ask every year,” Jungkook said in his I’m-a-reasonable-parent-I-swear voice, “and I say no every year. You know the rules. No birthday, no letter.”

    He fiddled with his tie one last time and gave himself a once-over before picking up his briefcase and turning around. Mina stood on his mattress, arms folded across her chest in defiance.

    “You’re the worst,” Mina wrinkled her nose in distaste and let herself fall onto the bed, bouncing from the impact a couple of times before jumping onto the floor. Jungkook mentally mourned the loss of his perfectly made bed.

    “Oh, most definitely,” Jungkook said, nodding sagely and exiting his room with Mina in his wake. “But… would the worst take his daughter out to Cheesy Cheesecakes a whole day before her birthday? Probably not. There go my plans for tonight, I guess.”

    Mina’s slow trudge down the stairs suddenly came to a stop. Jungkook looked over his shoulder to find her pointing an accusatory finger at him, “That’s emotional blackmail.”

    Jungkook blew out a breath of disbelief and fixed his cuffs nonchalantly, “So is calling me, and I quote, ‘the worst’, just so you can guilt me into giving you your letter early. Do you really think I can be bought that easily?”

    Mina paused for a moment while Jungkook flicked his eyes to the clock to make sure he wasn’t running late. She slowly followed him to the kitchen and climbed up the counter to sit on it.

    “Father dear,” she started, batting her eyelashes innocently, “you know I didn’t really mean that.”

    Jungkook snorted while rinsing his apple and then took a bite, barely stopping himself from cursing when some of the juice squirted onto his shirt.

    “Anyways,” Jungkook waved the apple around Mina for emphasis, “Since you’re not up for it, might as well take my other daughter.”

    Mina’s eyebrows narrowed in suspicion, “You don’t have another daughter.” Jungkook tutted while shaking his head and took another large bite of the apple.

    “Oh, but I do. Her name is Jimin and she has pretty brown eyes and she would never, ever think of opening up her birthday presents a day early.”

    “My name is Jimin!”

    “I thought your name was Mina?” Jungkook scratched his head, pretending to be confused and threw his apple core out. Mina hopped off the counter (almost making Jungkook scream because that’s a high drop) and sighed, loud and dramatic.

    “Daddy, do we really have to go over this again? You always called me Min or Min-ah or Minnie or something that wasn’t Jimin so I told you to just call me Mina, which is a prettier name than Jimin anyways!”

    Jungkook’s eyes softened and he smiled, “Okay, okay, I get it. I’ll take you after I get home, deal?”

    Mina grinned triumphantly and she practically pushed Jungkook out the door, “Deal! Hurry up and go to work so that you can come home!”

    “Alright. Hey, SLUG K!” Jungkook barely managed to remind Mina before she shut the door. He heard a muffled “SLUG K!” from inside and, once he’d heard Mina turn the lock, Jungkook left.

    This whole single parent thing, it wasn’t easy. Especially when he had to leave Mina alone at home. Granted, it was usually only for a few minutes before his Mom arrived and took care of her until she left to go to school, but still, a guy worried. SLUG K had originated from Stay Locked Until Grandma Knocks, just a way for to remind Mina to stay safe.

    Sometimes, he wished Mina would just stay in bed like a normal kid until she was woken up to get ready for school, but then his mornings wouldn’t be so entertaining. Besides, she’d told him that she liked watching him get ready and pretending to be his assistant. He’d had a good laugh at that.

    “Assistant?” He’d told her, “Please, you’re going to be the Boss.”

    It seemed like just yesterday Mina was crawling on the floor towards him, and now here she was, dancer extraordinaire in the 3rd grade, already making him so proud at such a young age and – no, he was not  going to cry on the bus.

    “…so I told you to just call me Mina, which is a prettier name than Jimin anyways!”

    It had been Jungkook’s fault, the changing of names. After Taehyung passed, Jungkook couldn’t stop hearing his last request over and over again, constantly. He found it harder and harder to say his daughter’s name, and eventually when Mina was 6 years old, she’d asked him to just stop calling her that altogether (not that he did often).

    There hadn’t been a legal name change involved though, so Jungkook had grown accustomed to the many “your daughter calls herself something completely different than her legal name, is this normal and do we need to fix it” phone calls from her teachers. Those were always fun to answer. Yeah, because Jungkook just loved to be subtly told he wasn’t being a responsible parent.

    Jungkook got off at his stop and straightened his tie, clearing his head of any thoughts. Today, he’d have to be especially focused if he wanted to make it back in time to treat his daughter.

    God, the joys of being an architect.

-

    Mina sat on the swings and lazily kicked herself back and forth a couple of times before coming to a slow swing. Her Grandma, Hyejung, was sitting on a nearby park bench, looking up from her book every so often to ensure that Mina was alive and well. She watched as Mina waved to get her attention and nodded when her granddaughter pointed to one of the nearby structures and started walking there. It was a cute little thing, a small picnic table perfect for kids Mina’s age sheltered by a blue roof. There weren’t any walls, just 4 poles to keep it upright so Hyejung had no trouble looking in.

    Hyejung checked her phone for any texts from Jungkook and sighed when the saw the time. He was an hour late. Sometimes, she wondered if he needed to have the image of a clock imprinted onto his retina. He always ran late for the most important events. Hyejung put her phone down beside her and had just started chapter 4 of her book when she heard footsteps fast approaching. She snapped her book shut and swiveled her head towards the noise, rolling her eyes when she saw it was Jungkook. The boy was running towards her at full speed with what seemed to be a bouquet of roses and a box of some kind. She shook her head in disbelief and stood up, waiting until Jungkook had reached her.

    “Is… she… upset?” Jungkook asked between breaths, doubled over and breathing heavy. Hyejung slapped her son’s back, making him jump upright. “Mom!”

    “What do you think? Of course she’s upset. Go to her. Now.” Hyejung sat back down on the bench and observed Jungkook approach Mina cautiously, she let out a chuckle despite herself. Some things never changed.

    Mina was practically boring holes into the table with her intense gaze. Jungkook felt a chill run down his spine but he cleared the throat and put on a brave face, nonetheless. He started with the box of chocolates, rattling it in front of Mina’s nose only for her to turn her head the other way. Jungkook coughed uncomfortably and placed the box on the table, bringing out his bouquet of roses instead. Mina took one look and scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Jungkook sighed heavily and threw the bouquet onto the table as well. He maneuvered himself into the little structure and tucked his long legs into the picnic table somehow.

    “So, I was a little late-”

    “A little?!”

    “Okay, I was an hour late,” Jungkook admitted sheepishly, “But only because I couldn’t leave!” Mr. Monkey didn’t let me go and when he did, I stopped to pick up all these gifts-”

    “None of which I vibed with, by the way.”

    Jungkook stifled a laugh despite himself. Teaching his daughter what “vibe” meant had been the only good parenting choice he’d ever made. He quickly composed his expression when Mina stared at him accusingly.

    “Okay but hear me out. I got you something really special!” Jungkook fished for something inside of his blazer and pulled out a black snapback with MINA printed on top in bright, neon yellow letters. “You vibe with this, right?”

    Mina tried staying grumpy, but Jungkook could tell from the shine in her eyes that she was about to burst from excitement. He slowly waved the snapback in front of her face, chanting her name until she finally broke out into a smile and grabbed it, shoving it onto her head.

    “You’re forgiven! Mr. Monkey should get fired!” Jungkook grinned and pulled the snapback down over Mina’s eyes, delighted to find that it fit perfectly.

    Mr. Monkey was Jungkook’s boss. Or, the unfortunate name Mina had given him when Jungkook had brought her in to his firm once for take-your-kid-to-work day. She’d heard him singing as they passed by his office and had asked with her innocent 6-year-old face if monkeys were allowed to be kept inside the building. Jungkook had pulled Mina away as quickly as possible, trying not to collapse from holding in his laughter.

    Mina was rambling about how she couldn’t believe Jungkook had gotten her the hat and how she’d been asking for ages and I can finally twin with my friends in hip-hop class! until Jungkook interrupted her with a laugh.

    “Alright, alright, not that I heard a thank you  or anything-” this prompted Mina to lean over and peck Jungkook’s cheek in thanks, “-but you’re welcome. Now get up, little Jeon. Cheesy Cheesecakes awaits!”

    Jungkook somehow got out of the picnic table without losing any limbs and was busy dusting himself off when he heard a soft, “Little Jeon-Kim” from behind him. Jungkook did a mental face-palm and chastised himself for being so stupid. He squatted down to look at Mina, who was still sitting on the bench, a lot more somber than before.

    “Of course, baby,” Jungkook said softly, pulling her closer to him to give her a kiss on her forehead. “How could I ever forget? You’re just as much Kim as you are Jeon.” He stood up and took Mina’s hand in his own.

    “Come on, Grandma’s waiting.”

    Jungkook felt awful, to say the least. It was one day before her birthday, one day before the letter. Of course she’d be feeling a little more sentimental, of course she didn’t want to hear her dad practically claim that, for a moment, he’d forgotten about his husband. Stupid, stupid, Jungkook. It had just slipped out, but that didn’t excuse the reaction it had incited.

    Feels strange to get used to being without you, Taehyung, he thought, who would’ve thought I was capable of that?

    Mina seemed to have lost some of the spring in her step and when they reached Hyejung, she surprised him by saying, “Let’s go home. I don’t feel like going to Cheesy Cheesecakes.”

    Something withered even further inside of Jungkook. Hyejung frowned, “Mina, you’ve been looking forward to this all day.”

    “Mom, it’s fine. We’ll go tomorrow, okay?” Jungkook swiped at her nose affectionately and relaxed when she giggled. Hyejung nodded and relieved Jungkook of the chocolate and flowers.

    “I’ll just assume my lovely son has not completely forgotten me and decided to buy me these out of the blue,” Hyejung looked pointedly at Jungkook, to which he just shrugged and replied, “Hey, whatever helps you sleep at night.”

    Jungkook stepped out of the way when his mother tried swatting him with the flowers, an impish grin on his face.

    “You’re lucky you’re cute, Jeon Jungkook,” Hyejung warned, looking extremely non-threatening with her glasses slipping down her nose.

    “No, he’s lucky I’m cute,” Mina chimed in happily, shrieking when Jungkook went in to tickle her. Hyejung smiled and bid them both goodbye, promising to be at their place early tomorrow for Mina’s birthday. Jungkook waited until she was out of his line of sight to lift Mina up onto the bench and offer his back to her.

    “Daddy’s Back, now open for service,” Jungkook stated professionally. Mina hopped on and pinched Jungkook’s cheeks with her fingers. “As always, navigation will be operated by the pulling of the cheek. Keep your arms and legs on the ride at all times and enjoy!”

    Mina yelled with glee as Jungkook started jogging towards their house which, fortunately for Jungkook’s legs, wasn’t too far.

-

    “Okay, teeth?”

    Mina clicked her teeth together as she showed Jungkook.

    “A little small, but clean,” Jungkook said, poking Mina in the belly. She poked him back and handed him her toothbrush, sitting on the toilet lid while staring at her feet.

    “Daddy, I want to paint my nails. Can I practice on you first so that I can do it on myself later?” Mina wriggled her toes, looking at them as if they were the most interesting things in the world. Jungkook propped Mina’s toothbrush in its holder and wiped the counter carefully so that no water remained.

    “Sure,” he replied, tapping her head to signal he was about to turn the lights off. She walked out of the washroom and leaned against the wall. “Although, if you want, I can just paint them for you.”

    Mina slipped her hand into Jungkook’s as he closed the door and headed to her room, “You know how to paint nails? But you’re a boy!”

    “So I can’t have nice nails?” Jungkook put a hand to his chest dramatically, “I’m truly hurt, Ms. Mina.”

    The pair of them entered Mina’s room and Jungkook immediately sank into the large beanbag chair, flipping the desk lamp on as Mina climbed into his lap. It was routine at this point, reading to her every night before bed. But tonight, she stopped Jungkook before he could reach for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and just lay her head on his chest instead. Before Jungkook could ask if she wanted to read something else (like Naruto, which he’d been wanting to re-read for a while now), she spoke.

    “Was it because of Daddy?” Mina asked, voice still exuding energy. Jungkook stroked her hair, thinking back to another time. Another Jimin. No, it hadn’t been Taehyung who taught him how to paint his nails.

    “A friend taught me, a long time ago. Your Daddy refused to let me paint his nails, something about having to work in a lab and blah blah blah.”

    Mina looked up at Jungkook and rolled her eyes, “You always talk about him as if he was the worst.”

    “Oh, he definitely was,” Jungkook stated factually, “hair too soft, eyes too kind, brain too hard-wired for logic, heart too big, He didn’t want any tattoos or piercings, and he could never figure out the meanings behind my paintings. He was definitely the worst. I mean, can you believe I married a Chemistry professor?”

    “What’s a Keh-miss-tree? It doesn’t make any sense for it to be a type of tree… is it a school thing?”

    Jungkook held Mina’s head as he let out a soft light so as not to jostle it. “You’re right, it’s not a tree, sweetheart. C-h-e-m-i-s-t-r-y. It’s a branch – no, that’s misleading – a part of Science that you’ll learn more about in High School. In fact, Tae tutored me quite often in Chemistry during my first year of University. He was just 2 years older than me but he was nearly done his Master’s degree. This is going to make me look so inferior but, when we graduated from University, Taehyung had his PhD and I only had my Bachelor’s. He was a smart kid. Like I said, the worst.”

    “I like it when you talk about him,” Mina said in a small voice. Her breathing was growing steadier and Jungkook could see that she’d closed her eyes. “Sometimes I miss him even though I only have some fuzzy memories of him. He was the one who picked me, right? When I was adopted?” Jungkook hummed in affirmation.

    “He’d love to see me now,” Mina mumbled into Jungkook’s shirt.

    Oh, he would. Mina had grown into such a wonderful little girl. He was only 29, and yet he had so much to be thankful for already. Occasionally, he’d curse the universe for taking away one of the biggest sources of happiness in his life, but he knew that he’d lucked out in the end. It was hard watching Mina take so many firsts without Taehyung around to celebrate with. Mina’s first steps had been witnessed by Taehyung, but not her first dance performance, or the first time she won an award at school, or the first time she brought home a Father’s Day card.

    But Jungkook had been there, and for Mina, thankfully, it was enough.

    Jungkook carefully reached for a blanket and threw it over the two of them, not confident enough to put Mina in bed without waking her up.

    His mom called him sometimes, telling him how Mina would benefit from a second parent. Maybe a woman, this time. How their family could feel a lot more whole that way. But it was all half-hearted, because Hyejung knew Jungkook could never want that. Not a completely new relationship, not now. Besides, he’d always told her, Mina did have the presence of Taehyung in her life, in a way that even Jungkook didn’t.

    Mina had Taehyung’s letters.

+

Chapter 199

Amber

"What are you the most afraid of?" Chris asks.

We were just sitting on the balcony in Dubai chilling. Enjoying the beautiful view. The flight was ridiculous. Half way through and it had me wondering why the hell we wasted a whole day of fucking to come here. But when I arrived here everything was answered. Never have I ever just up and left to go on a date halfway across the world. It's beautiful.

"Like in the dark?"

"Huh?" Chris snaps.

I laugh. "Bae."

He hits my chin up. "You ignoring me? You didn't hear what the fuck I said?"

"You my bestie though."

"You full of shit. You know how many bitches down there want to listen to me talk about feelings and shit? Let me go ask them."

I nod. "Go bruh man."

He reaches over to me again. I laugh moving out of his way. Chris plays too much. He leans all the way over pulling me to him by arm thats furthest away from him. Little bitch. I couldn't stop laughing even though he hurt my arm. He mad. So serious.

"Stop!" I snap.

"You know how many girls I hear that from?"

"Oh. You sick."

He fake. He lets me go. "Shut up."

I grab his shirt. "Let's get naked."

"No." He knocks his shirt out of my hand.

"Christopher. You piece of shit. Look at this bruise."

Chris smacks it. "You too fucking dark for bruises."

I throw my whole body at him. "I'm too fucking dark to be your damn girlfriend."

"Oh we breaking up? Imma call you all kinda hoes on Instagram." he takes out his phone.

"Tell the world you love me."

"My bullshit ass fans deserve more than that. You think I love you? Bullshit."

I frown then smack his phone out his hand. "You said that too real. Take it back."

He frowns reaching for his phone. "Wait stop. Let me see."

"See what?"

"Let me get my phone."

I sit up and cross my arm. "Okay you way too serious. Too fucking fast."

He doesn't say nothing as he does something on his phone. I snatch it out of his hand while he was texting. It had to be something serious and he wasn't telling me about it. He was texting Trey in the middle of asking where he get something from. There was no picture.

"What was it?"

"Nothing."

I suck my teeth. "I will throw your fucking phone."

He reaches for me. "You better fucking not."

"Tell me what it was."

"You playing the jealous roll now? I thought you was better than that. You know how many bitches done threw my phone. Old. Be original. Everything in the clouds now a days. I won't lose shit." he shrugs. "Drop it in the ocean."

I throw it at him. "I can find out what it is."

"Then why ask Amber?"

"You bitch." I say dropping the phone and standing up.

I go inside of the room to find my phone. Bitch. I pour myself some liquor instead. He not about to mess up my trip to Dubai with his bullshit. I hop on top of the counter then turn the music up. Shit I will go ride some fucking camels by my damn self.

"Aye, Bae, Trey mad that we in Dubai."

"Mmh."

Chris laughs really loud. "Your fucking wife is a fucking slut. She done fuck the whole population of inbreds in South Carolina. Lane not your son."

"You fucking bald ass Aladdin wanna be. Nigga your girl dry ass fucking all Dubai desert land."

"You sound like a hating ass bitch if I ever heard one."

I sip on my drink. "I really have to hear your conversation?"

"Shut up, Amber." Trey says. "Online looking like a fucking baby."

"Did you call her a babydoll? You pervert. Don't talk to my girl."

"She talking to all the niggas on her damn Instagram fan list. Why the fuck can't I talk to her?"

Chris just laughs. "Cammie fucking all your friends."

"You saying you fucked my wife?" Trey says serious all of a sudden.

"Oh so we just friends now? Fuck it then. Thought you was my brother."

"What the... Huh? No."

Cammie was now heard in the background. "Who you talking about me too? I told you to stop fucking playing like that."

"But Chris the one..."

"Oh fucking Chris. Okay Tremaine."

I laugh. What the hell they got going on? I would yell out to her but I'm fucking over her right now.

"Bye." Chris says tossing his phone. "All shit aside. Trey sent me a picture of us at the airport in Dubai. I sent it to you before I deleted it."

"Whatever Chris."

He walks over to me taking my phone out of his pocket.

"Really Chris? Why do you have my phone?"

"Look." He says handing it to me. "Now you mad for what?"

I roll my eyes then smack my phone on the ground. He stomps on it then grabs me suddenly. I gasp dropping my cup on the ground. I'm glad it didn't shatter. Chris throws me on the couch. I don't feel like playing. He plays too much. Had me thinking something else. I know Trey and Chris like to hide shit. Sometimes I hate that I know so much.

"You mad cause you wrong." I don't say nothing to him. "Okay. You want me to tell the world I love you? I will."

I let him talk to himself. He jumps on the couch.

"Stop!" He yells then bites me. "Talk to me. Stop playing."

I push his head back still serious. I only have a few more seconds before I can't be serious. He starts nibbling on my shoulder. Fuck. He kisses my lips. I can fuck him and not talk to him. He gets off the couch really quick.

"Just looking for my phone." he says walking away on the phone.

"You so..." I sigh. He stupid.

"Snapchat! I love you, Amber." he drops the phone. "Oops. I guess it didn't send."

He takes his shirt off then he picks the phone up. I reckon he takes a picture of himself. I get off the couch to get my phone. Hold up. There was a picture online already of us in Dubai? There's no fucking way people saw us. I didn't see anyone as we were coming from the airport. I swear it be a surprise to me. When you least expect a picture.

"Bae." Chris says grabbing me. "Sorry, talk to me. You making me crazy."

"Okay, Chris."

He kisses my neck. "Love you."

  Cammie

"He did his stupid show already. We about to get ready to go to the airport." I tell April.

"Did you have fun last night?"

I suck my teeth. "Nope. It was a horrible party. We ended up having more fun eating dinner with my cousin and that Cole guy. I miss my baby so much. Let me see him again."

"Cammie, I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping with me when you get here." April says holding the camera to sleeping Caden and Lane.

"We haven't done that in a while."

"Yeah I know."

I smile. "After I snuggle with my men. Look at them. Lane look little compared to his brother now. They about the same size."

"Caden wants Lane to know that he not a slow league."

"Hey, sexy lady." Trey says walking up behind me. "Tell Jayla to stop being mad at me."

April rolls her eyes. "You take her to that stupid party. My surprise was better than your whole night."

"It was though." I say moving away from Trey.

"Jayla, I'm sorry. It was a joke that fit at the time." Trey begs. "Please."

I ignore him. "I didn't want to leave the hotel this morning. I was stuck in my mixed emotions. I wanted my babies and that hotel room. Ma, I don't remember telling you about my history with that hotel."

"Lane, baby." April says. She moves around. "What's the matter, hm?"

"Where Mommy?" he looks around sad.

I cover my mouth. I'm about to start crying. My baby wake up out of his sleep to see me but I'm not there. I can't deal with his sweet butt.

"Mommy coming. Look she on the phone."

"Hey, Baby."

Lane stares at me mad. He doesn't say nothing he just crawls back on the bed and hugs Caden. Oh my baby. He closes his eyes back. I start crying. I couldn't help it. He mad at me cause I'm not there. I thought he wanted to be at his grandma house. Now he acting like I made him go there. I feel like shit.

"Ma, we will see you when we land. Damn." Trey says taking my phone.

"Okay, Tremaine." April says. "See you in a few Cammie."

I try to wipe my eyes. Trey always making me feel worst for missing my babies. He puts my phone in his pocket then he looks at me. I turn away from him. He sucks because he takes this too easy. He comes back in front of me. He holds out his arms. I start crying again and step up just a bit. He comes the rest of the way.

"We on the same now."

"You act like I..."

He stops me. "I don't act like nothing. Stop."

"You say that like I'm stupid for missing them."

"Don't tell me how I feel." he says rubbing my back. "Stop crying so we can go. We not going into public with you crying."

I try to move away from him. "Why does it matter?"

He holds me close. "Jayla, I hate seeing you cry. You know that. You were doing so good. We almost went the whole time without crying. Look at this."

"I just want to go."

"Look." Trey says again.

I stand back looking at him. He had something in his hand. I open his hand out. It was a small elephant. I smile at it. It's a clear keychain elephant with a hole on the side of it. I press it then gasp. It's a locket with Lane and Caden inside. Why would he give me this. He takes out another one. I take it from him. It had me in it. He takes it back putting it in his pocket like I would try to steal it.

"Why would you give me this?" I say about to cry.

"Cause." he says grabbing my hand. "Man up and come on. Damn, Baby, you got me in my feelings. Stop."

I grab his shirt. He stops letting me hug him from behind. He sighs. We hadn't walked out of the office building yet. Omar walks up talking to Trey. Someone frabs my hand. I look up. It's Omar. He oulls me forward which is very awkward cause Trey was in front of me so I wasn't going anywhere. He laughs letting my hand go. I let Trey go then stand next to him with my hand on my hips staring at Omar. He laughs more than he opens the door guiding us out. I fold my arms. I still want to know why he touched my arm. I follow Trey through the door and to the car. Someone moves quickly to the left of me catching my eye. Oh my gosh. People are annoying. It was a guy taking pictures. I quickly get in the car.

"Tremaine." I cry when we get in the car.

"Jayla." he snaps. "Stop acting like we aren't going to get the boys. Come on."

I pull away from him. "Tremaine."

He holds his arm out. "No?"

"Thank you for my elephant."

"Where is it?" he asks grabbing my hand. "Let me hold it until you put it on your keys or something."

I give it to him. I dont see why I need him to carry it when I can. He suddenly snatches me over to him by my arm. I scoot over to him then hug his side. It will just be an hour until I see my babies. Then I won't have to leave them. Oh April wants to go shopping.

"What do you have to do tomorrow?"

"Miami." he says.

I sigh. "Then what?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"What's in Miami?"

He kisses me then says, "Not you."

I chuckle. "You not taking me with you anymore?"

"No. I'm not taking you nowhere. You don't know how to act."

"But Tremaine..."

He looks at my face. "What you wanna go to Miami with me?"

I shrug. "I don't know. If I can save this milk."

"You can on the plane. Your heavy pump in that bag back there. There is a refrigerator on the jet."

"I don't know. It depends on how Lane acts."

He sucks his teeth. "We leaving this up to your spoiled ass son. I want you with me. What does that mean to you?"

"It was my idea."

"But I like the damn idea. You leading me on."

I giggle. "Are you going to whine and have a fit if I don't go?"

He pushes me away from him. "I sure as fuck will. You think about they gonna handle it. How am I gonna handle it?"

"Stop bitching." I say hugging him. "You grown enough to understand."

"He just gonna bring his ass to Miami. I'm the damn daddy. I get my way cause it's my fucking household." he nods.

"Okay, Daddy Temaine."

He chuckles. "Damn right."

I laugh. "Don't be that daddy. This is my house. You do what the fuck I say when you under my roof. I'm the daddy you the son."

"That's how you make sure they know the damn order of things."

"Tremaine?"

He touches my face. "Yes, Love."

I smile. "I forgot now."

"Damn, making you forget everything. You too easy."

"Is Lamar getting on the plane?"

"Who?"

I point to Omar. "That guy."

"No."

"Good." I say rubbing his lower stomach.

He looks down at his lap then smiles. "Why?"

"You'll see."

"Hmm." he says moving in his seat a bit.

His Part

This is another IRRelief fic this time using @hodgehegposts​ ‘s prompt ‘One of the brothers being ticklish’. I’ve already posted the first part of this, but I have posted it now in full. Thank you to those of you who read it incomplete. I had tried so hard to complete it in one session, but had to call it quits because of work.

Timeline: Shortly after Jeff’s disappearance, Kermadec AU, but it is not even mentioned, so completely standalone. It just uses the boys ages from that universe. Younger!Tracys

Spoilers & Warnings: None, really, 4714 words, edited very quickly at lunch at work, so apologies for anything I missed.

-o-o-o-

It started off as a mild annoyance.

Scott had fallen asleep at his father’s desk. Too much paperwork, most of which he was learning on the fly. Board members doubting his ability to take over from his father and juggle International Rescue. Virgil would kick his ass if he found out. John probably already knew. 

Both elder brothers were doing their best to help. Virgil was taking on as much International Rescue as was humanly possible. John was juggling Tracy Industries almost as much as Scott while handling day-to-day IR.

His father’s shoes were massive to fill.

And he left a gaping hole in Scott’s heart.

Waking up with an imprint of his own knuckles on the side of his face and a massive crick in his neck wasn’t the best. Staring at the glow of the twelve reports still awaiting review did nothing to improve his mood.

Briefly wondering how he had managed to sleep what appeared to be at least an hour with no disturbance, he remembered that Virgil was still on the other side of the planet, John was likely busy with that same situation and the two youngest were in bed. Grandma had returned to Kansas to finalise some of Dad’s personal matters.

Scott groaned and let his head fall onto his arms again.

He was so tired.

Something tickled his neck.

Absently, he swiped at it and ended up hitting himself in the head.

A few things between his ears rattled loose.

The tickle climbed down his spine and found his ribcage.

Scott’s eyes widened and he jumped out of the chair, sending it spinning across the floor.

What the-?

It was under his shirt.

There followed a most undignified, full-bodied dance across the comms room as he attempted to get whatever it was out of his shirt.

It didn’t hurt, but it tickled like crazy. He was caught between screaming and uncontrolled giggling.

In the end, he resorted to ripping his shirt off and flinging it across the room.

The tickling stopped.

And was replaced with goose pimples as the pre-dawn breeze wafted across his skin. Scott found himself bare chested and breathing heavily.

He wasn’t afraid of bugs, but that was…strange. He eyed his shirt as if it was going to jump up and bite him.

Of course, that was the moment Gordon wandered through on his way to his morning training. The fish stood at the top of the stairs for a full ten seconds staring at his topless eldest brother standing in the middle of the room, lit only by the blue light of holo-projector on the desk.

“Interesting look there, Scott.”

Scott spared him a glare before grabbing the shirt off the floor. “Lights.”

The comms room lit up. Scott drew some satisfaction as Gordon cringed from the sudden brightness. Fortunately, the little fish scuttled off to his pool and left Scott alone without another annoying word.

There was no bug in or on his shirt. After examining it, he had no choice but to throw it back on, or continue to invite comments from the waking peanut gallery.

The sudden appearance of John on the central projector and the distant roar of the return of Thunderbird Two flicked all thoughts of bugs from his mind as the new day started even before the sun made an appearance.

-o-o-o-

Virgil was exhausted but he didn’t have time to sleep. He did give himself a few moments to sit in the kitchen, worship his bucket of coffee and stare out at Mateo as the sun rose over it. It was only blinding if he focussed on it and he didn’t have the energy to do that.

Two needed repair and she needed it now.

His last rescue had involved a volcano and she had far too many particulates in her filters. They would all need replacing before he felt comfortable taking her out again. 

After that he needed to see to Alan and help him set up for the morning’s classes. He quite enjoyed helping his littlest brother, but he enjoyed it much more when he hadn’t been up all night.

But first coffee.

So warm. So inviting.

He closed his eyes as sipped the blessed liquid that was going to give him the energy to get through the rest of the day.

He nearly dropped the mug as something tickled him under his upraised arm.

He saved the mug, but didn’t manage to stifle the high-pitched squawk.

The coffee was deposited carefully, but Virgil was out of his seat and grabbing at his clothing in an energetic frenzy.

There may have been one or two more high pitched squeaks as red flannel was rubbed and scrubbed at frantically. 

Out of desperation, Virgil tore off both his shirt and his grey undershirt and threw them on the floor. He resisted the urge to stamp on them.

It was his favourite shirt.

“Virg?”

He looked up to find Gordon, fresh from the pool, standing in the doorway staring at him.

“You okay?”

If Virgil flushed red, he wasn’t going to acknowledge it. “Bug in my shirt.”

“Really.”

“Really.” Frowning his grabbed his shirt from off the floor, eyeing it suspiciously. Screw it, he sat down shirtless in front of his coffee and resumed staring out the window.

Gordon walked past him to the stairs, frowning and shooting him the oddest looks.

Virgil ignored him.

-o-o-o-

Scott made it through to lunch and finally dug up the answers the factory manager in Oklahoma had been begging him for. He had also managed to answer the lawyers, read and sign a pile of holographic documents and have a long-delayed meeting with the Japanese CEO. At least John had been able to help with translation. To be honest, it had just been a relief to have a brother to talk to.

Surrounded by family.

Too damned busy.

The last task for the morning was a parent-teacher conversation with Gordon’s curriculum manager. Scott had suspicions that there was a little too much Olympic training happening versus school work. It was a fine balance that had to be maintained. Gordon was a good student, if a little out of the ordinary…but then what Tracy wasn’t? At least two were diagnosed geniuses, and the other three focussed on their goals to the point of blindness, himself included.

His short Air Force career flickered through his mind and he shunted it away.

He was where he needed to be. Fate saw to that.

Scott stepped into the sunken lounge and briefly wondered if he was going to be allowed to leave this room today at any point. 

A resigned sigh and he his comms. “Gordon, time for the meeting.”

“FAB. Be there in two.”

Gordon was true to his word and appeared almost immediately, loud shirt and shorts as eye blasting as usual.

Scott reached out dropped a hand on his little brother’s shoulder. At sixteen, already Gordon’s accomplishments required a cabinet to hold all the trophies. With the loss of their father, Gordon had stumbled with the rest of them, but he was regaining his feet fast. He had to. This was his chance. The 2056 Olympics waited for no excuses.

This time it started on his wrist.

The faintest of tickles.

It was a tickle, not an itch. It played with nerve endings just like someone had their finger gently brushing across the surface of his skin.

It travelled up his arm as he snatched his hand away from his brother.

It was in his shirt again.

There were words as he once again found himself grabbing at his shirt.

“Scott, what?”

He was vaguely aware of the concerned expression on his brother’s face, but he was too busy trying not to giggle or scream.

His shirt ended up on the floor again.

Gordon stared at him a full five seconds, his face caught between incredulity, worry and hysterical laughter. Being Gordon, the laughter won out.

Scott ignored him and poked his shirt with his foot.

Of course, that was the moment John flickered in to advise that the curriculum manager was ready for the meeting. Scott had to admit that somewhere in the back of his wasted brain, there was something quite funny about the expression on the space monitor’s face.

Gordon, of course, had tears running down his face and was useless.

Scott had a lot of experience keeping his composure. He needed it all at the moment. “John, could you please ask Ms Smithson to hold for a moment, I need to grab a shirt.”

John bit his lip, obviously holding something back. But, ever the professional, he didn’t say anything but, “FAB,” before blinking out.

Scott picked up his shirt with two fingers and made a beeline for his bedroom.

At least he got a moment outside of the comms room.

-o-o-o-

A new shirt found, Scott made it through the interview. Turned out Gordon had been really working hard and with a small adjustment to his curriculum, he should be able to manage both his training and his graduation with only a small delay. Scott was satisfied that it would be the best for the athlete at this time.

The grin on Gordon’s face made it extra worthwhile.

Scott turned back to the desk after the meeting, but the list of messages awaiting his attention just hurt to look at.

Screw it. He deserved food, another room and maybe even some brotherly conversation. A quick check on Virgil’s location placed him, as expected, in the hangars. The engineer had not been happy that his ‘bird had suffered during last night’s rescue. Virgil was as bad as he was. His brother hadn’t slept, International Rescue his highest priority.

Scott sighed. How could they be expected to go ahead like this?

Lunch. Food. He struggled to focus his mind. Had he had breakfast? He couldn’t remember.

An elevator ride and he walked out into the cool underground caverns that housed the great green behemoth that was the love of his brother’s life.

It wasn’t hard to locate that brother. The profanity was extreme for Virgil and it had Scott quickening his step around the great plane. He found him harnessed and hanging in front of Two’s starboard intake. The swearing was moving into European languages, never a good sign.

Scott shouted up at the dangling engineer. “Virgil?!”

“What?!” A spanner fell and hit the concrete two metres in front of Scott. Despite himself, he jumped.

Virgil stared down at him owlishly for a whole handful of seconds. “Sorry.” It was muttered, honest, but grudging.

“Can you come down?”

“Why?”

“It’s lunch time.”

“I’m not hungry. I’ve got to get this done. I’ve got to replace part of the filter housing.”

“Well, I am hungry and you haven’t slept. Come down.”

“I’m fine! This can’t wait!”

“Damnit, Virgil, get down here now!”

The glare that hit him from above was dark and fuelled from the bottom of a desperate coffee pot. Scott had no doubt of that.

But one more muttered expletive and his brother rappelled down to the concrete floor. Dressed in flannel with his maintenance harness secured over ratty jeans, Virgil was covered in dust and grime.

Didn’t dull his fury though.

The fact he was so angry, so out of character for the generally calm and quiet engineer was more than enough proof that his brother needed rest.

“What do you want, Scott. I have to fix my ‘bird otherwise she can’t fly and we can’t answer the next call.”

“I’m having some serious doubts we can answer the next call anyway. Look at yourself, Virgil. You’re exhausted.”

“Kettle, pot, Scott.”

“Exactly! Eat lunch with me.”

Those dark brows wrinkled even further, brown eyes making that subtle switch between engineer and concerned brother.

Scott supposed he should have expected this. Maybe he was asking for it, hiding from a decision he knew he was going have to make. 

Offering himself up as a sacrifice in order for Virgil to make the decision for him.

He was so goddamned tired.

This time the tickle started on his calf, just above his right sock.

He wriggled, frowning, shifting his feet.

It climbed up his leg and he let out a squawk somewhere between a giggle and a profane word that would have had Grandma washing his mouth out with soap.

“Scott?”

It was running around and around his thigh. Scott cracked and grabbed at his leg, spinning on the spot as Virgil reached for him.

Whatever it was, it was fast. Up and down his leg as if anticipated his attempts to grab it through his jeans.

“Scott, what is…oh, shit!”

The eldest Tracy spun to find Virgil hanging upside down in his harness grabbing at his shirt.

The tickle in Scott’s leg took the opportunity to breach his waist band and play with his navel.

Buttons flew across the hangar as Scott tore the shirt from his body. 

There was nothing on his belly.

Virgil squawked and writhed, still upside down.

The tickle appeared back in Scott’s pants, this time behind his left knee. He didn’t hesitate, shedding his shoes, he shucked his pants and tossed them aside.

Finally, finally the ticklish feeling stopped. But Scott was left in his black short briefs and socks.

And damn it was cold in the hangars.

Virgil was still writhing upside down, unable to shed clothing due to his harness. “Goddamnit, Scott, help.” There was the sound of ripping flannel as heavy lifting muscles resorted to force.

Scott grabbed at his brother’s harness and wrapping an arm around those broad shoulders, released the safety line. Virgil weight was considerable, but Scott stabilised him enough for the engineer to get his feet beneath him. A fumble with the harness buckles and the support fell to the concrete with a clink of its metal links.

Torn flannel followed.

Two layers of shirt stripped, Virgil suddenly took a deep breath and dropped his hands to his knees, letting his head drop. “It’s stopped.”

Both brothers heaved in air for a moment.

“What the hell was that?” Virgil looked up at Scott.

“I have no idea. Third time this morning.”

“Second.” Virgil’s voice was all breath.

“Happened before?”

Virgil nodded. “Over coffee.” A frown. “Gordon came in afterwards. This isn’t a new prank is it?”

Scott stared at his brother for a moment. “Gordon was there both times this morning.”

Virgil’s shoulders dropped. “I’m going to kill him.”

“He’s not here now.” Scott looked around before hesitantly poking his shirt enough to activate his comms. “Thunderbird Five, could you give me a location on Gordon?”

“Scott? You okay?”

“I will be once I find Gordon.”

“He’s on the pool deck, apparently studying. The meeting went well?”

Scott frowned. “Yes, a few small changes will make room for his training. Gordon was very happy with the plan.” Could explain the studying.

“That’s great news.”

“Yes, it is.” He wondered how happy John would be if he could see him standing in his underwear next to a shirtless Virgil.

“Are you sure you are okay?”

Perhaps his brother didn’t need to see. “I’ll let you know after I’ve spoken to Gordon.”

“Okay. Remember fratricide is not an option.”

“Don’t spoil it for me.”

-o-o-o-

A clean pair of pants and two shirts later they found Gordon exactly where John said he would be. The sixteen-year-old was camped out on a pool lounger with a portable holoprojector, his tablet and even a print book open beside him.

“Gordon?” The strawberry blond head remained focussed on the tablet. 

“Gordon!”

Scott jumped. Hell, Virgil could yell when he needed to.

Gordon looked up calmly. “Virg? Something wrong?” Scott watched his little brother take in their state of undress. Neither of them had shoes on or had done up their shirts, just in case. “What are you guys doing?”

“What do you think?” He stepped down onto the pool deck, gesturing to his open shirt. “This is on you, and you know it.”

A blink. “Know what?”

Beside Scott, Virgil lost it. God, a tired Virgil was a cranky Virgil. “What did you put in our clothes?”

“Er, nothing?” Gordon appeared to realise he was tackling the family bear in a fury, a rare, but never good thing. He put down his tablet and stood up, backing away a little. “Now, Virg, I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“You’re kidding me.”

Another step back. “Uh, no. I really have no idea what you are talking about.” Pleading eyes darted to Scott.

If Scott wasn’t so tired, he might have found the whole reversal of roles between himself and Virgil somewhat ironic. As things were, he reached out and gently wrapped his hand around Virgil’s arm.

His hand only made it part way around one bulging bicep. When the hell had that happened? He tugged gently. “Virg…”

That resulted in a pair of furious brown targeting him. “What?! He could have caused a serious accident. What if it happened while I was up in the intakes? Whatever the hell he did, it was dangerous.”

Okay, so Virgil had a point.

Gordon held up his hands. “Honest, guys, I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“So, you know nothing about an…irritant in our clothing?” Scott stared him down.

“Uh, no?”

He held his little brother’s expression a moment longer. It would likely have been even longer, but Gordon suddenly frowned.

And grabbed at his pants. “What the hell?”

Both Scott and Virgil stared as Gordon started dancing around the pool deck tearing at his clothes. His squawk turned into a giggle as he squirmed. “Omigod, stop!” The giggle became a laugh and Scott found himself holding back from joining in. Beside him Virgil snorted before running in to help their struggling little brother.

He needn’t have bothered. Gordon gave out an exaggerated laugh before throwing himself in the pool.

The sudden silence was almost shocking.

“Gordon!” Virgil stood on the side of the pool staring down at his brother under the water. Two strides and Scott was beside him as Gordon resurfaced, hair in his face, gasping and shirtless.

“Oh my god, that was hilarious!” He coughed out another laugh and threw his shirt onto the deck. “I want to know how you did that.” Gordon grinned up at them.

“We didn’t do it.” Virgil’s voice was sharp.

“Wha-? You’re kidding?” 

Scott shook his head as Gordon levered himself out of the pool.

“Then who? And how?” The swimmer shook the water out of his hair and coated his brothers in the process. At Virgil’s snarl, Gordon’s grin was unrepentant. 

Well, when he looked at it that way, there were only two possible choices and this was not a Brains concept in the slightest.

It was Gordon who said it first. “Alan? Where are you? That was so cool! You gotta show me how you did it!”

Scott didn’t expect an answer. He expected to have to hunt his little brother down like he had Gordon, oh, so many times. So, he was surprised when Alan slunk out of the kitchen with some kind of remote in his hands.

“Alan?” Virgil’s voice spoke of the shock Scott was attempting to process in his head. Alan was a good student. Precocious and bright, but far from the prankster his brother was.

Gordon bounced over to his little brother. “That was so cool! How did you do it?”

“Nanobots.”

“Nanobots.” The word fell from Virgil’s mouth. “You used medical technology for a prank?” 

Scott reached out and grabbed Virgil’s arm again. “Alan, explain yourself.”

The boy’s shoulders dropped. “Failed experiment for school.”

Scott blinked. “What?” None of this was making sense.

And suddenly he was shot with a pair of anguished eyes. “I only wanted to make you laugh!”

Scott stared.

The bicep under his hand wilted.

“Allie?” Gordon’s voice was curious, but soft.

Those blue eyes shifted to the fish. “They don’t smile anymore, much less laugh. So, I thought a little medical intervention might help.” And those hurting eyes flickered to Virgil.

The sound that issued from the engineer was heartbreaking.

While Scott’s brain was uncharacteristically caught in freefall, Gordon presented a parachute. “You made ticklebots?!” His amber eyes were wide with amazement.

As always, Gordon’s joy was infectious and Alan relaxed just a little, a small smile curving his lips. “Yeah, kinda.”

Gordon bounded over and grabbed his brother in a massive hug. “I am so proud!”

Scott let go of Virgil and took several of the steps between himself and his little eleven-year-old brother.

Gordon continued to gush, asking a range of technical questions with such enthusiasm that the small corner of Scott’s mind that was still functioning alerted him that this could be a bad thing for his future sanity.

But right now, he was fixated by those blue eyes, so reflective of his own that were staring up at him.

“Alan?”

Gordon stopped his babbling, but took up a defensive position beside his little brother. Something inside Scott bent and broke just a little.

But his focus was on Alan.

Those blue eyes looked down, breaking contact. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to see you laugh.”

“So, you tried to tickle us?”

Defiance shot those eyes back up. “Well, I wasn’t going to drug you, was I? Nothing else was working! You and Virgil are just so sad and busy and John is never here anymore and…and…no one laughs anymore!” A frown. Those eyes flickered past Scott and crumpled. “And you’re crying again.”

Scott turned and found Virgil struggling with his emotions, a tear running down his face. Aw, shit.

Alan turned away and took a retreating step, but a blur of red flannel and the youngest was swept up in desperate hug. “I’m sorry, Allie.”

A muffled “’s’not your fault.” But Alan was clinging to his brother like a life raft.

Scott blinked several times. The thought that his genius little brother had to resort to technology out of desperation to see a smile hurt somewhere deep down where he had buried his own tears.

An amber gaze saved him from drowning. Gordon stood on the other side of Virgil and Alan, his shoulders straightening. “So, Allie, can I borrow your bots?”

With that single sentence, the moment snapped with a chorused “No!” from the both eldest. Virgil tumbled backwards in his haste to stand up.

Gordon feigned innocence. “Why not? I have my own experiment to perform. You know, for mental health reasons.”

“No, Gordon.” Scott’s tone was full commander, but the fish just grinned up at him. Hell, he was caught wondering if Gordon would ever obey him.

“Gordon.” Virgil’s voice had that deep grumble of warning.

The fish shrugged and relented. “Eh, your loss. It was going to be brilliant.”

“Sure.” Scott’s tone dripped sarcasm.

“But!” Gordon grinned. “Allie wins the trophy for the concept and invention!” He wrapped an arm around his little brother’s shoulders. “I am so proud.”

Alan smiled up at the fish with appreciation.

Scott held out his hand and those shoulders dropped, the smile disappearing.

“Alan.”

More the reluctant and pouting tween he was, his little brother handed over the remote. Scott glanced at it before handing it off immediately to Virgil. The engineer would be able to make more sense of it than he ever would.

Scott held out an arm and blue eyes stared up at him for just a split second before dashing into the hug the eldest was desperate to give him. Both arms wrapped around Alan and he buried his face in blond hair. “I’m sorry, Allie.”

“’S not your fault.”

“Doesn’t matter. I will try to do better.”

“’S not your fault.”

A glance in Virgil’s direction only to find the big man fighting back tears again. Even Gordon’s expression was a little broken…until he realised Scott was looking at him, then the goofiest of grins split his face and he crossed his eyes.

The laugh that fell from Scott’s lips was almost strangled by a sob.

The devilry that suddenly appeared on that face overrode every other thought with mild fear.

Gordon didn’t disappoint. Sliding up behind a teary Virgil, he darted in and tickled their bear of a brother.

Virgil squawked and wriggle danced out of reach.

Scott couldn’t help it. 

He laughed again.

“C’mere, Virgie, I wanna ticklebot you!” Gordon exaggerated tickling fingers at his brother before jumping into what became a hilarious chase around the pool.

Scott couldn’t help but grin even more.

Alan outright laughed.

And something lifted just a little from Scott’s chest.

“Thank you, Allie.”

Surprised blue shot up at him.

“You’re right. We need to laugh more.”

Virgil ended up in the pool.

Gordon jumped in after him.

And Scott hugged his littlest brother so much closer.

-o-o-o-

The afternoon relaxed into together time. Phones rang but were ignored. John was dragged down from orbit. The barbecue was lugged out, food found and cooked for dinner and a comfortable feeling that had been absent since their father had been lost, found its way onto the Island.

Gordon cherished it.

Virgil continued to be a touch emotional during the entire time, grabbing random brothers and attempting to smother them with his arms. Scott was quieter, but even Gordon noticed he was far from Alan at any point that entire afternoon and evening. John was quietly puzzled about the whole thing until he suddenly grabbed at his shirt and jumped and jiggled about.

“Oh, so that’s how it works.” Virgil was staring down at the remote control in his hand, poking at it.

John let out a squawk and fell onto the couch writhing.

His shirt was thrown off moments later.

“Hey, Alan, how do you turn them off?”

Therein followed some discussion on Alan and Virgil’s part, followed by Scott and his two cents when he felt it appropriate.

John started yelling at them after a very short period of time, still writhing on the sofa.

Gordon thought it was absolutely hilarious and had trouble keeping his feet while laughing.

All in all, it was a fantastic afternoon and evening.

Scott fell asleep on the couch with his arm wrapped around a snoozing Alan five minutes into the movie Gordon had chosen. Virgil lasted another five minutes before caving into a faceplant on one of the cushions. His snores made it difficult to hear the movie, but the remaining three brothers cared not a whit. By the time John joined them in the land of the exhausted, the movie was little more than soundscape.

But Gordon wouldn’t have it any other way.

This was something that they had been missing for so long. Gordon sat there fake watching the movie and honestly holding back a few tears at the thought. Alan was right. They needed more laughter. His big brothers, John included, were shouldering so much now their father was no longer with them, and yes, his thoughts stumbled on that acknowledgement. God, he missed his dad. But they all had to do their part.

If there was something Gordon wanted to do, it was bring back the laughter. If it took itching powder and dye, if it took silly hats and fake tattoos, if it took everything he had, he would see his brothers happy.

They all had to do their part.

And he would make this his.

-o-o-o-

FIN.

Man i could only imagine how quickly the mafia boys would come to Onas aid, someone brakes into her home and steal lot of shit n leaves her in a jam? The boys instantly go kill the man and then make sure their girl lives comfortably. Someone begins to harass her at work or somethin? they make sure the person regrets even being alive. Man i love them

Connor’s phone vibrating on his nightstand wakes him from his deep slumber. He lifts his head from the pillow, hair mussed in all directions, and looks at if as if it personally offended him. It kinda did, he was having a rather nice dream involving sweet smiles, soft curly white hair, and the voice of an angel saying sweet nothings to his ear.

Groaning he picked it up from the nightstand and blinked to see the caller ID.

Ona Boix 

Oh.

OH.

He answered at the speed of light, his sleep deprived brain cells waking up instantly.

“This is Connor.”

He heard sobbing noises on the other side of the line, heavy breaths in between.

“Connor? Connor--” a strong wail came out after. More crying.

“Fuck! Fuck, Ona where are you? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he spurred in action, almost kicking down his brother’s door. 

Richard woke up with a knife on his hand, ready to murder the intruder. But he saw his brother and his worried expression, phone glued to his ear, and dropped it. He heard whimpering noises coming from the device.

“Okay, okay breathe. I’m with Richard, we are coming okay? We are on our way.” Richard heard more distressed noises, making out a please somewhere in the middle. He recognised that voice and he did not like that at all. “We are coming to you, okay?” Richard heard more affirmative noises and the call ended.

He asked no questions, not yet. Richard threw over his head the first t-shirt he found and some pants, looking for his socks and shoes. Connor ran back to his room to get dressed too, leaving the door between their rooms open. Once dressed and hair semi decent, they ran to the garage. As soon as Connor closed the door, Richard made the engine roar and speed up to Ona’s place. It was late, not much traffic, and honestly? Right now they didn’t give a single fuck about getting a speeding ticket. Something happened to Ona, that was a top tier priority.

Richard came to a screeching halt, parking just right in front of Ona’s apartment building. Closing the car, they both looked up to Ona’s windows, seeing the light on. Richard shouldered the front door open and Connor passed through it, racing up the stairs to her floor. Once there his heart stopped.

The door was broken, and from what he could see, the whole apartment was upside down. He came in, worry chilling his guts.

“Ona?” he called out, cautiously. He heard a sob and ran to it without thinking it twice. He found her curled on the floor at the feet of her bed. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying, tear tracks visible on her cheeks, being refreshed again and again. That sent him a pang through his entire body. He never wanted to see Ona like this ever again.

Connor knelt next to her, gently caressing her face and kissing her head as he coaxed her into his arms. He looked around the bedroom, seeing all the drawers and closets open and their insides spilled on the floor. Richard found them and knelt on the other side of Ona, touching her shoulder.

“Are you hurt?” 

“N-No, no I’m okay.” she sniffled, taking her wet face from Connor’s chest to look at Richard. “I just-- I came home, and, and found the door broken and open and-- “another sob, ”it’s gone, my things are gone, my TV, my switch, my belongings, even my grandma’s necklace-- “more heavy breathing,” I went to visit my parents for the weekend and when I came home tonight I saw this and I panicked, because, because I don’t have much and now it’s gone and I don’t know what to do. I won’t ever have anything back and-- joder!” she buried her face in her hands, another wave of crying taking over her.

The brothers looked at each other and nodded. Connor stood up, phone in hand. Richard took Ona to his arms and made her sit on her bed while he let her cry herself out, softly kissing the crown of her head.

“We will see what we can do, okay? But for now I need you to stay here with me and help me pack, just for a couple of days, alright?

“W-what?”

“C’mon, we are going to take you somewhere safe. Connor and I will take care of this.” He gently coaxed her to stand up and rummage around the thrown pieces of fabric. They found a suitcase on the other side of the room and opened it on top of the bed. They filled it with what Ona could salvage and closed it. He took the bag she used for the weekend and deposited next to the closed suitcase.

Connor was on living room talking to the phone. He was already moving strings to find out who was the fucker who did this. They were going to pay dearly for it. The house was a mess, they took their sweet time taking it apart and stealing everything of worth. They knew Ona didn’t make that much, that this was a small place and she really didn’t have much of an option, but it infuriated them anyways.

Richard and Ona came to the living room just as Connor was ending his phone call, having a lead. Ona looked around with a heavy heart, not wanting to think how was she going to get back on her feet after this. Maybe she could ask for extra hours, filling for someone who wanted some early vacation days, or she could ask for an early payment, or-- Gods, what would she do now?

Connor took her out of her dark thoughts by gently taking her hands.

“Let’s go. We will sort this in the morning, okay? Now you need to rest, we will take care of it”

“Please I don’t want to be a burden. I can go back to my parents for a while, I’m sure they won’t mind.”

Richard took the suitcase and her back from her hands, already marching down the stairs to the car, ignoring Ona’s protests. Connor made her step out of her ruined apartment and closed the door, making her march down the stairs with his arm securely holding her close to him. Once on the street, Richard was already waiting for them with the door open and the engine on, a worried expression on his face. Connor got her in and kissed her hand as he went to the copilot’s seat. Richard drove back to the mansion in absolute silence. Connor fiddled with the radio, asking Ona if she wanted something in particular. She shrugged her shoulders, settling for whatever they preferred. The radio put on an old song, surely Father would know it by name and year.

Ona did have half a mind to look around and be completely taken aback. It was huge, well cared for and it yelled money everywhere she looked. She felt out of place. 

They took her inside, the maids already prepared a room for her next to the brothers. Her suitcase and bag were already there, the clothes gone from them and a note that they took it to the laundry room. Oh. There was a very beautiful and expensive-looking pajama waiting for her on the bed, slippers on the floor. The brothers left her to get changed, patiently waiting outside as two guard dogs. She timidly opened the door to let them know she was finished, some droplets of water still clinging to her strands. She let them in, Richard closing the door. Connor took her by the hand and made her lie down on the bed, him following after discarding his shoes and socks. Richard did the same, getting on her other side. She found herself sandwiched between the brothers, safe, their arms around her, Richard being the big spoon while Connor rested her against his chest. Ona fell asleep in a restless sleep, still too agitated by the prior events. 

She woke up in a warm and secure cocoon provided by the brothers, not having left her side all night. It truly was a sight to see them with their hair mussed and out of place, having it always perfectly styled. As well as not wearing their expensive suits but plain t-shirts and jeans. Connor even had his mouth slightly open. Her giggle woke them up, Richard tightening his arms and pressing himself closer to her, while Connor snuggled closer. She could get used to wake up like this, if someone asked her.

They found who did it, caught them like street rats and strapped them to chairs. 

Most of her possessions were retrieved, her switch neatly secured inside her protection case with all the games. Saves too. They even managed to find her grandmother’s necklace, secure in a new jewellery box. All was stored inside a van, ready to be taken to her new apartment Ona still didn’t know of. It was in a very secure neighbourhood, an attic with a beautiful view of the city and a big and sunny terrace ready to be filled with Ona’s plants rescued from her flat. 

Richard and Connor smiled at the men’s whimpers, the tape muffling it.

“You thought you could get away with this, scum?” Connor stepped to the light, his smile sending chills over the thieves bodies. “You really thought you could steal in our territory, harm our beloved citizens, get away with it and feast on the dirty money like pigs?”

One of them whimpered, surely trying to plea for mercy. It was useless. Mercy was not something they gave.

“Not only you harmed our citizens, but one in particular. One we hold very, very dear to our hearts.”

Richard came into the light too, having his suit jacked discarded and neatly folded over a chair. He was rolling up the sleeves of his black turtleneck, his eyes drilling frozen holes on each of the thieves.

“And that has to be punished, don’t you think?” he looked at his brother with his eyebrows raised in a mocking question. 

“Of course, my dear brother. Filthy thieves must pay for their sins. To set an example.”

Twin smiles looked back at the thieves. They trashed and screamed, crying for their lives as Richard approached them while Connor took a chair to enjoy the gruesome show.

His brother was ruthless but had the patience of a saint. He made sure they suffered for every tear and sob their beloved sunshine spilled. For every frown, every second her heart hurt. It was slow, painful, maddening.

Connor whistled in awe.

“Brother, I think this is your best work.” He looked at what formerly were the thieves bodies, now a bloody mess.

“This is what they get for hurting her. The only tears I wish to see falling from her eyes are tears of joy.” 

“Indeed. Let the boys clean up, we gotta go.” he turned on his heel on a second thought, ”But you should clean yourself first, I doubt she will appreciate you being covered in blood.”

Richard looked down at himself and his ruined clothes. He clicked his tongue. Oh well.

“Thank God I brought spare clothes.”

“I got clean wipes somewhere. I knew you would make a mess”

Richard snorted.

“Always prepared, huh?”

“You offend me, Richard” Connor put a hand on his heart in mock disbelief.

Richard let out a short laugh, a rare thing to be heard and his brother was grateful to be blessed by it.

“C’mon, let’s go”