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fightevilandthengetblownup · 4 years

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The Chats That Only Happened Cause /Someone/ Was Bored And Wanted To Do Chats

Set all after the last chat from https://fightevilandthengetblownup.tumblr.com/post/187458138693

Also all set post ‘mindwipe’ and post-Whispering being removed.

#1 - Anna decides she wants to Learn How To Hunt Again... Yeaaah... Also yeah, seemingly Anna just took it upon herself to /always/ show up once she knew where to find Jo >_>

<Anna> *Anna walks over to Jo’s house, there’s snow on the ground and she’s bundled up, walking as fast as she can because the wind coming of the lake is biting. She’s breathing hard by the time she gets to that end of town her, leg with the brace aches in the cold more than the other and she realizes just how out of shape she is as she stands on the door step, knocking loudly.*

<Jo> *Jo’d been moving in and out of the house frequently, not quite sure what to do or how to take the strange actions of the returned monster, so continuing to work on her own things in a day. Its while she’s inside warming up from the cold again that she hears the knocking, going to check the door and smiling at Anna when she sees her* “Hey, what are you doin’ here? I… come inside. Through to the kitchen?”

<Anna> *Anna smiles stepping inside glad that it’s warm and she wipes her feet at the front door before moving in the direction of the kitchen.* “Hello. I was wondering if you are busy right now?” *Anna holds up a case folder that she had tucked under her arm*

<Jo> *Jo looks between the file and Anna curiously as she shuts the door behind them, double checking that she couldn’t see Grey in the lounge or kitchen before shutting the door to the hall behind them as well* “I’m free if you’ve got something for me. Coffee?”

<Anna> *Anna nods at the offer of coffee.* “Well it’s more for you.” *She pauses as she moves to sit at the kitchen table, opening the file up and spreading the papers out.* “And me to work.”

<Jo> *Jo almost drops a coffee cup as Anna adds that she was looking to be part of it too. Turning the pot on and letting a new round start, she leans back against the counter raising an eyebrow at the redhead* “You want to work a case? Together?” *Letting out a laugh, Jo rubs the back of her neck before nodding* “Okay, hit me, what is it?”

<Anna> *Anna suddenly feels like she’s back presenting papers in college and she wonders if that’s an actual memory or a fake one but she clears her throat and she pushes the clippings of a fatal wreck a state over to Jo.* "Early this summer, some kids went off a back roads, down a fairly steep hill. One was killed the others lived, ever since then around the same time of the month people have started to have wrecks on the same road and the people say that it’s a teenage boy that runs them off the road.“

<Jo> *The choice of case makes Jo raise an eyebrow, smiling to herself when she can’t help but think Anna’s picked something up much the same way she picked her own first case - though not sure how much the other remembered of her own crash* "So, you think its a haunting? I’ve heard cases like that before, sounds likely. …so what’d you want to do about it?”

<Anna> “Well here is where this one gets muddy. The boy was cremated after a close casket funeral, he was pretty torn up. And the car was towed off to a scrap yard. So either something is still on that hill or in the car.” *Anna shows Jo the obit from the paper and then the police report with the tow company listed.*

<Jo> “Definitely would be. Unless Mommy’s keeping baby hair and teeth.” *Jo nods her head, looking over the pages as she pours out their coffees and moves over to the table with the other, sliding a mug over* “Shouldn’t be too hard - find the car and torch it, sow some salt and start a controlled little fire. Should work to get it done.”

<Anna> “It’s snowing, not sure how well burning the hill is going to work and what if the car has already been scrapped out?” *Anna takes her coffee thanking Jo and pouring a healthy amount of sugar and creamer into it.*

<Jo> “Shovelling snow is a fair bit easier than digging a grave, lemme tell you that - though you’ve got a point.” *Jo sighs, scrubbing a hand over her face* “Then you figure out where the scrap bits went and cleanse them too. Talk to Mommy about if she has any of little Johnny’s things that he was really attached to..”

<Anna> “So when are we going to leave then?” *Anna nods and smiles at Jo, pleased that it seems she was right that it sounds like this wreck spawned a ghost and Jo had agreed with most of what she thought.*

<Jo> “Uh.. when did you want to? There haven’t been any deaths yet, but I’d put money on that just being from luck.” *Jo smiles back slightly as she takes a mouthful of her drink, mentally tallying up how much salt, kerosene and salt rounds she had on her already. She’d figure she had enough on hand if need be*

<Anna> “It’s not like I have anything pressing to do, so when you’re ready. The next wreck should happen sometime tomorrow also.” *Anna is feeling more confident as she drinks the rest of her coffee, glad for the warm liquid.*

<Jo> “I’d just need to let Grey know, write a note or somethin’, then we can if you want.” *Shrugging a shoulder, Jo continues to look over the pages as though she might have missed something before jumping up to grab her own journal out of her bag near the back door to confer with it*

<Anna> “You and Grey are back together?” *She’s surprised and she smiles as leans back looking at Jo, as if expecting to get all the dirt.* “I guess we have a subject to talk about in the drive up.”

<Jo> “I… yeah, we’ll talk about it in the car.” *Jo flushes slightly, standing up as she spins her journal and one of her entries from an unusual ghost case around for Anna to look over before heading over to the fridge and the small note pad there* “Just need to grab the guns and some rounds from upstairs and we can go if you want to now. Drive isn’t very far, is it?”

<Anna> “Next state over, about six hours by the looks of the maps.” *Taking the journal she looks at the entry Jo hands her and she then starts flipping through the rest of it.* “Hopefully won’t take make than a day, it seems fairly simple.”

<Jo> “Yeah it shouldn’t be too long, home in the early hours of tomorrow at the latest.” *Jo tips her head back, finishing off the rest of her drink even as it burns, as she scribbles out a note saying where she’s gone and when she expects to be back before slapping it on the front of the fridge* “If you want to pack that stuff up and head outside, I’ll run up and get things, meet you out there, limpy?” *Jo teases slightly, washing out her mug*

<Anna> *Anna gives her a look as she calls her a name.* “Sure, wouldn’t want to strain the blond brain to make sure all the research is packed.” *She says as she folds up the journal and then starts to gathering up the papers, putting them all back in neat order into the folder.*

<Jo> *Letting out a laugh, Jo grabs a few cool soda cans out of the fridge and drops them into a small bag before opening the hall door and heading upstairs to get the few other items needed, actually thinking this could be a fun case - if only to see how the new Anna deals with things*

<Anna> *Standing up she goes the hall looking around, finding an empty pack and she puts the folder and the journal in it. She didn’t think there wouldn’t be any need for much other than salt and fire she zips it up and heads outside to wait at the car.*

<Jo> *It takes a few minutes for Jo to grab her shotgun and a spare for Anna, as well as the rounds she still had made up. Pausing, she grabs two knives as well fitted with iron blades before taking her coat off the back of her bedroom door and heading outside, unlocking the car and trunk to put the things away, settling into the drivers seat* “Ready for your second first hunt, Anna?”

<Anna> “If I wasn’t I wouldn’t have decided to do this again.” *Anna gets in the car and stretches out as much as she can, she’s more ready to just get out of the city for a while and this is a good distraction from everything.* “You aren’t trying to talk me out of this, why?”

<Jo> *Jo lets out a laugh at Anna asking why she isn’t trying to stop her as she turns out towards the right roads out of town, slowly creeping up the speed as they get out further* “Why would I? If you’re sure, its your choice and I guess it’s better you’re asking for help or for me to come along with you than go by yourself. That, and enough people have tried to talk me out of it in my life I don't want to do the same to you.”

<Anna> “Wow, that’s really logical and makes a lot of sense. I thought I would hear some thing about my past or whatever.” *Smiling she relaxes and reaches for the car radio.* “I used to be good at this so I hear, so why not.”

<Jo> “Nah, you’re just talking to someone who got repeatedly asked if I was sure this is what I wanted - theres other things out there for you Jo, you could do something different, go back to school, you’re better than this, and getting yourself killed on some dusty back road, that’s where you belong..” *Jo mimicks several voices, still smiling as Anna fiddles with the radio and they get past the outskirts of town* “You were good, Anna, and not just cause of what you were. Much more logical and calm headed than I was.”

<Anna> *Anna laughs listening to Jo.* “You are going to have so much fun when you have your own kids and get that paid back to you.” *Watching the scenery go by she’s not really caring about how good she was before because she wasn’t good enough to avoid being some demons toy.*

<Jo> “Oh god, please don’t talk about kids. I think Mom’d have kittens if she knew she was getting grandbabies.” *Shaking her head, Jo frowns slightly at Anna’s choice of music but not really caring as she finally gets to build up some speed*

<Anna> *Finding a clasical station she leaves it there and she smirks at Jo* “I don’t know, maybe it’s because the idea of having a bunch of small copies of you running around might be making her have kittens.”

<Jo> “Ha ha. I didn’t run her /that/ raggard.” *Letting out a sigh, the blonde shoots the other a look before laughing* “She can keep her kittens to herself though.”

<Anna> *Anna chuckles as she watches Jo squirm.* “Why don’t you and Grey hunt together? I would think that him being a monster would be an advantage in killing other monsters.”

<Jo> “He’s… weird. About how he, uh, hunts.” *Jo flushes slightly, having considered the idea a few times - especially since the months when the shadow was reluctant to go out himself - but knew it made the other much more uncomfortable than her* “He doesn’t like me watching when he feeds, even if he does have the advantage of being able to find them easier than me.”

<Anna> “He eats them? I thought they ate people? So he doesn’t eat you?” *Anna thought they were all the same and it’s interesting to hear that they can eat other creatures.*

<Jo> “The monster equivalent of tofu, I’m guessing.” *Jo smiles slightly to herself, almost amused by Anna’s reaction before shrugging a shoulder* “Grey doesn’t want to be a monster, doesn’t want to act like one. He..doesn’t want to hurt people; so he doesn’t feed on human energy as a choice. All the others I’ve met do, though if they want a body, then they feed on demons occasionally too. And, uh, he..” *Flushing slightly, Jo presses harder on the gas before continuing to speak, almost certain she was getting as red as Anna’s hair* “He doesn’t feed off of me usually. There’s… I’ve made him a few times, and he has some control issues when there’s a lot of emotions, so there's been some slips.”

<Anna> *Feeling the car getting faster and watching Jo blush she realizes how it sounds and she blushes some too clearing her throat.* “So, not all shadows can take a human? Grey and Gray fed from a demon? What do angels have to do to take a person?”

<Jo> *Jo nods, letting out a breath before glancing out the side of her eyes at the other* “If you’re worried about you, that’s your body - one hundred per cent Anna. As for other angels.. they have to get a person to say yes to letting them. Completely by their own free choice.”

<Anna> “I’ve already had that freak out, thanks. Have you ever seen what Gray or Grey look like outside of their body?” *She snorts, conversations now are so strange sounding if she ever stops to think about them.*

<Jo> “Haven’t actually seen Gray that way, but I was on speaking terms with Grey before the split and before he ever took on a human form. And I’ve seen it a few times since then.” *Jo smiles slightly, thinking back the the fuzzy memories she has of that time, though there were times she wasn’t sure if something was a dream or real given how blurry her time in Heaven even was*

<Anna> “Before the split?” *Anna tilts her head looking at Jo curiously. She knew they shared a name but she thought hearing them spoke of like they are twins or brother that maybe they came from the same litter or hatching or however they are born.*

<Jo> “Long story short, they were originally part of one another, a deal went haywire and Grey had a part of..well they call it a Vice, but it’s kind of like angel’s have their Grace and humans have their souls.. well part of that was broken and split off and that sort of made Gray. Out of all the bits of himself that was being denied by the changes in lifestyle Grey had.” *Jo’s a little fuzzy on how it all went down herself, but she knows how much of a struggle that was to begin with for Grey, and can recall just how dreadful both were before and after the split occured* “It’s confusing to think about, honestly, but their more like good and evil twins but..less good and evil divide.”

<Anna> *Leaning back she puts a hand over her eyes and she rubs them, feeling a headache starting.* “I’m going to learn to stop asking questions one day, really I am. So they are the same person, different aspects of personality, then why does both of them like you and only one likes me? Shouldn’t..you know what, never mind. I can live with knowing this and just dealing with it.”

<Jo> “Personality clashes, Anna. That’s all. I’d say its cause Gray doesn’t hold grudges, least not when he thinks he’s earnt what he’s got.” *Jo laughs loudly at Anna saying she’d learn to stop some day from asking questions, and figures that thats the easiest, least complicated answer she could give her.* “I’d just quit while you’re ahead on the question front, Anna.”

<Anna> “I’m going to eventually run out of things that I don’t know right?” *Hitting her head on the seat rest she realizes that she just asked another question. “Have I been shot yet? Because, shoot me, we can add that to the list of things that’s happened.”

<Jo> *Jo can’t stop giggling as Anna keeps asking questions, nodding her head* “I don’t think you got shot, that’s more my department and its not often we’re on the other end of something which handles a weapon like a gun.”

<Anna> *Sighing she closes her eyes* “Wake me when we get there? I think sleeping is safer than talking right now.” *Anna slouches down in the seat further once she’s scooted it back as far as it will go so she can spread her legs out.*

<Jo> *Jo bites back a joke about Anna’s comment from earlier to speak in the car, figuring letting the other sleep a while longer was better over all before turning the music down a little. The trip is a little shorter than Anna had estimated, if only because of Jo’s speeding through some more well known areas from her own travels and as they turn off the free-way into the back road towards the township Jo leans over to hit the other awake* “Hey, wake up sleeping beauty, you’ve got a ghost to hunt.”

<Anna> *Waking up startled she looks around and then at the clock in the car, rubbing her eyes* “You drive too fast, about as smooth as Dean.” *She says barely awake as she sits up and stretches, running a hand through her hair to get the tangles out.*

<Jo> *Chuckling, the blonde shrugs her shoulder with a grin on her face* “Remember how bumpy his rides are, then? I’ve got faith in my love that she’ll stay on the road - got a mechanic in town who helps me keep her in tip-top shape.” *Watching Anna try to wake up, Jo slows down as they get near the edges of town* “Be glad you got to sleep through most of it then.”

<Anna> *Looking at Jo likes she’s talking about a conversation she’s not been a part of she just shakes her head and she looks around and then reaches for the file folder.* “The wreck happened on the other side of town by article of the wreck the news reported on, it was a popular local cut through between towns.”

<Jo> *Jo blinks blankly back at Anna’s confusion, before taking a right when she sees the road sign for the junk yard* “Figure we go to the junk yard first then? Just to be sure?” *She’s fairly certain, given that the haunting is at the location, that the road is going to be the spot, but sometimes things aren’t that straight forward*

<Anna> *Anna nods and she gets the photo of the car out.* “It’s a blue Honda Accord, lil street racer. Are we going to ask to go look at cars like that because we need a part?”

<Jo> *Parking, Jo takes a quick glance at the photo before letting out a disgusted noise* “Yeah, that’s probably best, though if you can keep whoever runs the places attention if I gesture for you to..” *She’s actually thinking Anna might have been on to something about the car being taken apart for bits and figured finding details on where they might have gone might be impossible if that did happen*

<Anna> “Just keep them distracted? Okay I think I can do that, maybe.” *Anna climbs out, she’s stiff and she leans against the car stretching out for a moment, so she doesn’t move like an old woman.* “Are you going to go check the car?”

<Jo> “Yeah, shouldn’t be too hard to find. Bobby’s got a yard like this and something like that’d probably be in the newer vehicles..” *Locking the car and moving around to the trunk, she slips her lighter into her pocket and fills a small bag with some lighter fluid and salt* “See if you can’t find out if they sold any bits too.”

<Anna> “Alright.” *Walking into the office Anna smiles at the guy there behind the desk, asking him about cars that match the one they are looking for by making up a story about looking for a part to fix her boyfriends car that she might have wrecked and she wants to get it done before he gets into town and finds out since that car is his baby and she’s sure the car is in higher rank than her in her boy friend’s life, rambling and smiling and looking as dumb as she possibly can when describing the part she needs.“

<Jo> *Jo was glad most yards worked the same, newer stock to the front, older to the back and that it wasn’t too hard to recognise the make and model for the (in her view) dreadful car they were after. Looking around to see if there was anyone else looking around or working, she sighs happily when they aren’t before climbing up and into the car to look for any blood or parts left behind. The covers of the backseat where the boy had been were missing, and she’d assume they’d been too coated in blood to bleach out - probably been burnt which worked well enough in her book. There was a section of carpet and a small bit of the roof which looked bloody, and cutting them out, Jo pockets both pieces before triple checking for any more.*

<Anna> *Anna looks out over the yard nervously as the worker there is clearly not amused by her questions and her lack of knowledge but she keeps on asking questions and then distracting him when he starts to walk out to the car to check by describing something that’s totally not the original part that she asked for.*

<Jo> *So far no ghost, and moving behind an empty shell of a car a few feet from the Accord, Jo sets the pieces on the ground and douses them in fluid and salt before lighting them. When nothing seems to happen, she stomps out the flames with her boot before heading towards the small window of the office and waving for Anna to get out as she heads back towards her car*

<Anna> *Anna watches Jo get in the car and as the yard worker goes to get his coat because she finally shut up for two seconds she ducks out of the office, walking quickly back to Jo’s car, sliding in and shutting the door.* "Did you find anything?”

<Jo> “Some blood stains but no ghosts popped up to knock me out for setting them alight, so I’d hazard a guess that’s not the case. Wasn’t even the boy’s car so he probably doesn’t have that big a connection other than dying in it.” *Jo starts the engine and pulls away just as she notices the yard worker stepping outside to look for Anna. Turning towards the road of the crash, she shoots Anna a look* “Just how painful were you for him?”

<Anna> “Well let’s just say, if you ever need parts from this place, never send me to get them.” *Anna grins as she sticks her hands infront of the heating vents.* “So are we going to try and talk to the mother now or just go investigate the road?”

<Jo> "Noted, Anna and cars don’t mix.” *Chuckling, Jo considers for a moment before turning the car towards the road* “I want to check out what this thing is. And maybe if we head out to the road the boy might show up and try to scare us off if we get near the crash site?”

<Anna> “And it’s safe because you know it’s a ghost and you aren’t going to drive off the road startled right?” *Anna tightens her seat belt and looks up to see if the car has an ‘ohshitbar’ to hold onto.* “What if we can’t find anything to burn, how do we get rid of it then?”

<Jo> “Well depends on how the other crashes say he shows up, if he messes with the wheels and controls.. that won’t be pretty. But yeah, I don’t scare easy.” *Jo slows her speed down as she approaches the area* “Or we can pull over a little before and go hunting. If we can’t find anything, then it might be a specific type of ghost, which..could be more annoying but they’re rare”

<Anna> “Alright, it would be safer than driving in and risking a wreck.” *Anna can’t help but find this fun, it’s different to the things she’s been doing at it’s keeping her mind active.* “It was about half way down the slope on the steepest part before the car came to a stop according the police report.”

<Jo> *Jo nods, driving in silence until she reaches the top of the hill and pulling off to the side of the road at Anna��s suggestion that it would be safer* “Well, lets see how we go heading down there to look for something.” *Getting out of the car and grabbing two bags with kereosene and salt, as well as the knives, shot guns and ammo as discretely as possible, Jo hands one of the bags over as she slips one of the knives in her belt loop before offering out a gun and knife to Anna* “Mind you, getting shot with these is going to hurt like a bitch, but it’s easier than a normal gunshot wound, okay?”

<Anna> *Anna takes the bag but then she looks at the gun and Jo.* “I don’t know how to use those, you really want me to walk around with a gun?” *She was looking at the snow covered leaves and just hoping that she wasn’t going to bust her ass in front of Jo.*

<Jo> “You slash with the knife if Mr. Blair Witch shows up, and the guns loaded..safety is off, so just point and trigger if he gets too close. I’ve got faith even if your mind doesn’t remember your hands will.” *Jo shrugs a shoulder, having gotten a salt round to the back a fair few years ago and not too worried about getting the same if it happens even if it did end up bruised and sore for a long while. Heading down the slope, Jo’s glad the road seems less populated - probably due to the number of crashes recently, towards where Anna suggested the crash had been, keeping her eyes out for the boy*

<Anna> *Looking at the gun she turns it on the side, trying to find where the saftey is on it, she’s not comfortable at all with it and the knife and she wonders if she can just point and let Jo shoot things as she follows behind Jo. She’s struggling to carry the bag, teh gun and hold to the trees because it’s hard to tell if she’s got solid footing with her bad leg.* “If he’s just running cars off the road do you think he’s going to come after us walking?”

<Jo> “Because, we’re coming to get rid of him and in my experience they don’t like tha- get down.” *Jo’d just crossed towards where she could see the recent skid marks of several car crashes when she notices a figure roughly ten feet back from Anna. Drawing her gun, Jo fires off a round and smiles when the boy seems to disappear* “Okay.. obviously something is here then. Did you want to look while I..?” *She waves her gun before firing another shot around the same place, cursing when the boy vanishes before hand and the round explodes against a tree*

<Anna> *Anna only ducks after the round explodes on the tree near her, her ears ringing as she looks around wildly not having seen anything.* “I..that was ..you don’t have to shoot at me!” *Scrambling to get back up she’s mostly sliding down the hill now on her ass towards the tree that was clearly scarred by the wreck, her jeans and hands soaking wet from the snow.* “Jo, near the road!” *Looking past Jo she can see the outline of a person.*

<Jo> *Jo lets out a laugh watching Anna, though the direction gets a quick response, lining up the boy in her sights as she keeps an eye on him. He’s young, that much is obvious, and seemingly not sure which of them to go after* “Anna, try looking for something, I’ll keep him off you.” *Firing another round, she’s glad to see it hits and scares him off only to end up flying backwards at an unseen push*

<Anna> *Anna watches Jo get shoved and she’s scrambling trying to get the saftey off, her hands are cold and she’s more than a little freaked but finally she gets it off and she raises the gun trying to shoot but nothing happens and she looks at it, realizing she has to cock it. When the ghost appears again she shoots in it’s general direction.* “Are you okay?”

<Jo> “Just look for something!” *Jo shouts back as she sits up with a groan, fingers going for her ammunition to refill her shot gun as the boy vanishes and reappears again towards the road* “I’ve got this.”

<Anna> *Anna gets to her feet, wincing as she rushes through the underbrush, looking around and then she spots a piece of red material. Scrambing to get it she’s shouting at Jo that she found it, a baseball cap with blood on it when she feels something shove her the moment she grabs it.*

<Jo> *She was looking around for where the boy’d vanished to when Anna shouts, spinning around to catch sight of her going down from the ghost on her back. Swearing, Jo aims another shot at the ghost’s back, firing quickly and mentally crossing her fingers that Anna wouldn’t get hit as she approaches* “C'mon Anna, hurry up and torch the fucker.”

<Anna> *The shot explodes close to her and she curls up covering her head, hearing Jo screaming at her and she fumbles for the pack, trying to get it open and she’s got the salt out, dumping it over the hat but as she’s reaching for the lighter fluid the pack is thrown away and she screams as she looks up at the bloody boy standing there, his face crushed in.*

<Jo> *Seeing Anna get pulled away, Jo slips and slides her way across to the hat Anna’d lost hold of before flicking her lighter and dumping it ontop of the frabric, hoping it’d catch alight without the lighter fluid - smiling as the tag at the back catches fire and the rest follows suit, turning to see if the ghost would burn up*

<Anna> *The ghost makes an awful sound as it goes up in flames and she turns looking at Jo with wide eyes, she’s sweating like she’s just ran a marathon in summer and fact Jo is smiling is bewildering.* “He’s gone?”

<Jo> “Dead gone.” *Jo grins widely as she moves over to help Anna up, bag back on her back and knife back in her pocket* “Not too hard for your first hunt, was it?”

<Anna> “It’s not as hard I guess as having to dig the grave up.” *Anna takes the hand up and she makes her way to her pack, she’s going to be so sore from this but she feels like she did something at least this time.* “Hardest thing now is getting back up this hill I guess.”

<Jo> “Nah, you stay here. I’ll go get the car and we’ll head home.” *Jo sets down her gun and bag with Anna before heading back up the hill, tossing the knife into the backseat when she gets there before driving slowly down the hill to where the other was standing, more than ready to head back home now that the dusk was falling and getting cooler again* “I’ll drop you home, okay?”

<Anna> *Throwing the stuff in the trunk she happily climbs in and she nods* “Sure, home sounds good. I’m sure you and Grey have a lot of making up to do and I think I have a date with a hot bath.” *Now that the adrenaline is wearing off she’s feeling exactly how cold she is and every little scratch and bruise. Closing her eyes she drifts off again on the way back.*

#2 - Another where Anna was bothering Jo about wanting to hunt. And at the end Anna yet again asks about Grey vs Gray... (Jo was always going to answer the same way as she does, but also embarrassed about answering correctly)

<Jo> *Jo’d startted to make three different lists of hunts, some for herself, the list on the fridge for Grey and a smaller list of hunts she thinks that Anna might possibly be interested and capable of coming along on. The struggles of her leg damage hadn’t escaped the blonde’s notice, but she figured that that wouldn’t stop her from going on any if she was actually interested. Heading to the other’s

<Jo> apartment, Jo knocks once sharply, waiting outside rather than heading straight in like she used to as she is glad to be out of the cold outdoors as she waits*

<Anna> *Anna is napping when she hears the knock, the trash can is full of tissues and she’s down to using a roll of toilet paper now as everyhing that’s been backed up has starting to come out with teh cold breaking up. Getting up she shivers not sure if the apartment is cold or if she still has chills, with the blanket wrapped up around her she makes her way to the door and opens it up.* “Hey Jo.”

<Jo> “Hey… you alright?” *Jo’s eyebrow shoots up when Anna answers the door wrapped up in blankets even as the warmth of the apartment basically hits her in the face. Moving inside and shutting the door behind her, the hunter smirks to herself seeing the piles of tissues* “I’m going to guess not too good?”

<Anna> *Blowing her nose she goes back to the bed and sits down on it and curls up on it.* “I’m fine, it’s better now, should be over it in a couple of days. How have you been?”

<Jo> “Mostly alright. Better than you at least.” *Jo smiles to herself, grabbing the back of one of the chairs at the kitchen table and dragging it across to the bed before flopping down in it. Resting her ankles on the edge of the bed, she smirks slightly at the other* “Well then, I should come back in a couple of days then. I have some things you might like.”

<Anna> “You have cupcakes?” *Anna grins and as she pulls the blankets up around ehr more and she looks at Jo expectingly.* “Or is this about the hunt? Going to tell me what I need to do better?”

<Jo> “Not on me I don’t. I’ll remember to bring some next time I’m over if Grey doesn’t steal them all..” *Laughing, Jo shakes her head and digs in the pocket of her winter coat before tossing a small notepad towards Anna* “I actually started keeping a list of hunts I thought you might be interested in joining me on. Mostly ghosts at present..”

<Anna> *Anna comes out of the mound of blankets enough to pick up the notebook looking over it before looking at Jo with a stupid grin on her face.* “Really? So you’re willing to go with me again? Or take me hunting with you again?”

<Jo> “Yeah, I am. For the things I think you’d like or be up to, definitely.” *Jo smiles back at Anna, leaning back on her chair legs, stretching* “If you want to work with me, yeah.”

<Anna> *Anna nods and she looks over the notebook.* “I do, I had fun, in a weird, this could kill me sort of way. I did something though and it felt good to not just be the one on the sidelines or needing to be saved.”

<Jo> “I know exactly what you mean.” *She nods her head, finding her balance easily.* “Well, I’m happy to work with you, Anna.”

<Anna> “Was it like before? When we worked together?” *Anna watches Jo balance and she looks to see if Jo falls back she’s clear of busting her head on the table. She doesn’t say anything but there’s a vague memory from a nightmare she had a couple of nights ago about a rawhead.*

<Jo> “Sorta?” *Shrugging, Jo runs a hand through her hair as she tries to think about the differences between the past hunts and the most recent* “Never were that good with a gun, actually. So I figure we might need to work on that on and off hunts; but yeah it was near. We used to work well together when we weren’t fighting over who was doing what..”

<Anna> *Anna nods and she puts teh note book down and she blows her nose, throwing the tissue at the can.* “Can we find a hunt some place warm?” *She looks sheepish about the gun suggestion, not really liking this part of hunting, she’s just not comfortable with them and they’re loud.*

<Jo> *Rocking back with her heels, Jo watches Anna with a laugh as she blows her nose* “We could, yeah. I’ve got a few friends down south as is so I’ll see if they know anything. That, or we’ll try not to be out of houses instead.” *Snickering, she pushes back a little far as she imagines Anna trying to relearn shooting and lets out a shriek as she falls back*

<Anna> *Anna’s head jerks up as Jo shrieks and she watches the blond woman’s arms pinwheel as she tries to stop the backwards decent but it doesn’t help and Jo lands on her back.* “Graceful. Are you alright?” *She’s trying to not laugh but she’s failing.*

<Jo> *Jo blinks in silence for a few seconds before laughing loudly* “I’m good, I’m good.” *Pushing herself back up, she sets the chair back up again, leaning against it as she rubs her lower back* “Grace is your department, not mine.”

<Anna> “Then we both fail in it.” *Anna laughs, coughing as she does and she sniffs wiping her nose.* “At least you can can get Grey to kiss your booboos. Tell him the chair was possesed and tried to eat you.”

<Jo> “Yeah, I don’t know about that.” *Jo shakes her head, flushing slightly as she continues to rub at her back before standing up straight* “Did you need another toilet roll?”

<Anna> “I’m good, I think. Did you want me to research these hunts you have wrote down?” *Anna grins at Jo’s blushing, enjoying being on the otherside of it for once.* “You might want to get Grey to ice that down for you, a bruise there isn’t going to feel good later.”

<Jo> “If you could, that’d probably be good. I’ve only just been able to pick a pattern for some hauntings so I’m not sure who yet..” *Noticing the other’s grin, Jo ducks her head and shakes it again* “It’ll be alright, I wouldn’t want to bother him with it, Anna.”

<Anna> *Anna just nods and she puts the notepad on the table beside her, getting up to get her laptop so she can research while under her blanket mound.* “When do you want to go on the hunt Jo? Soon as I have the research done?”

<Jo> “Whenever you’re better or the researchs been done, yeah.” *Jo smiles slightly, sitting down gingerly*

<Anna> “Need a pillow?” *Anna teases as she watches Jo ease herself down in the chair. She was still sore from the hunt and it showed but at least it was from a hunt and not a falling chair.*

<Jo> *She waves off the offer, shaking her head* “Nah, I’m good.” *Rubbing the back of her neck, Jo squints at the look on Anna’s face, trying not to smile at the teasing*

<Anna> *Anna laughs at Jo’s look and she opens up her laptop booting it up.* “So, are you wanting something harder than last time? And possibly easier than the chair?”

<Jo> “I’d think something harder than the chair might be far out of my level..” *Jo jokes along, shaking her head* “Take your time though, like I say - we’ll go when you’re healthy again, nothing worse than hunting with a cold honestly. But yeah, most seem to be more active ghosts; figure we’ll work our way into some of the things which require more tangling..”

<Anna> “More active? Like haunted house?” *Anna has started files for each case on her laptop and she tosses Jo her notebook back after copying all of the information.* “Do they all like to do the whole grab and toss like the last one?”

<Jo> *Tucking the list back away, Jo shakes her head* “Yes and no on the haunted house. Most ghosts /do/ haunt houses; but that ghost was relatively new. Most ghosts have decades to learn all the tricks. And yeah, the tossing is a regular thing. Some have a lot worse habits though; some can even jump you.”

<Anna> *Anna looks up, confused look on her face.* “Jump you? Like demons or the monsters? Why would a ghost want to do that?”

<Jo> “Well… you know what ghosts /are/, right? Like, how some people end up as ghosts while others pass on and either go to Hell and become demons or go to Heaven, right?” *Jo leans forward, resting her arms across her knees as she looks back at the other*

<Anna> “People that don’t move on, I know that much Jo.” *Anna nods but she never thought about them doing more than just throwing you around or killing people.* “I know some have a goal or some are sort of stuck.”

<Jo> *Jo shakes her head, smiling slightly* “Most aren’t staying because they’re stuck or have a goal. They just don’t pass on, and then they become angry. Or they’re already angry and that’s why they don’t move on..” *Shifting slightly, she begins toying with the end of her hair as she watches Anna* “But some when they become mad, they want to do more than toss and shove and kill through normal ways. Sometimes they latch onto people like them, kindred spirits almost, and take over them and control like a demon or monster. Other times they just want to get out or get control of something too.”

<Anna> *Anna nods listening, taking it in* “I wonder what happens to them since they missed their chance to go upstairs or downstairs. They are just souls at that point.”

<Jo> “Well, what would you do if you couldn’t communicate with anyone you loved; watched them mourn and miss you; maybe one day forget you? Eventually leave where you were trapped for eternity, or worse, watch them die there too..” *Jo shrugs a shoulder as she speaks, pulling at a split end* “Eventually you get depressed, then angry, and then you want to make other’s hurt like you too..”

<Anna> “I was just wondering if we destroy them totally since they don’t move on and we burn them is all.” *Anna yawns closing her laptop as she looks at Jo.* “You were dead, what was it like?”

<Jo> “I don’t know what happens to them…they disappear? Most wouldn’t go to Heaven if they had the option of passing on..” *She looks surprised when Anna asks her what dying was like, dropping her hands between her knees as she thinks what to say* “I..what do you mean? It hurt, I died, I don’t remember the between time from here to Heaven. Most of that’s a fuzz now, but it was pretty… standard life, memories.. stuff.”

<Anna> “So you know you were dead but you don’t remember it? It’s like you just woke up alive again?” *Anna tilts her head looking at Jo curious now.* “What made you go back to hunting if that’s what killed you?”

<Jo> “Remember bits, I remember how I died but not chosing to pass on or stay around; guess cause I got cremated fully, salt and all, I didn’t really have anything to tie me anyway. And I remember what Heaven /is/ but not much of my time there..” *Jo pulls a face slightly, flushing as she tries to remember most of it and comes up with a lot of blanks* “I’m a hunter…”

<Anna> *Anna just lays back and thinks about it.* “I know we knew each other, hunted before but how did we meet?” *She knew how her and Gray met but she wasn’t sure other than she and Jo knew each other on how they met and what made them hunt together.*

<Jo> *Rubbing at her neck, the blonde woman stares at the other even as she flops backwards, thinking about it* “I think we met when I was still dead. One of the perks of being an angel, I guess, is being able to travese both Heaven and Earth.. Its the only answer I can think of, because I knew we were hunting together when I came back to life. You… you used up a fair bit of what Grace you had left to help me back then..” *Jo keeps back what she remembers about the first while back on Earth, that the whole original problems with Crowley so far as Anna was concerned came from her entanglement with the demon..*

<Anna> *Anna watches Jo thinking back, getting lost in thought. The idea of knowing her in heaven and not here first is a strange idea but she’s slowly understand that strange is her normal now. Looking back Jo’s still lost in though and she smirks asking casually wondering if Jo will answer.* “Who’s better in bed, Grey or Gray?”

<Jo> *Jo’s not paying attention when Anna speaks, the question not really registering until she’s answered* “Dunno, Gr-. …I…wait, what? Why are you asking that?!” *She flushes as brightly as Anna’s hair, blinking at her in shock, glad she cut herself off quickly enough*

<Anna> *Laughing she lays there watching Jo turn red, she’s not sure why she’s asking but at the time it sounded like a good idea and she raises a brow.* “What was that Jo? You sort of stopped midsentence?”

<Jo> “I… I don’t even know what you’d count as better!” *Jo bites down on her lip, feeling her blush get slightly deeper as she tries not to laugh alng too*

<Anna> “Better, you know, who you liked more.” *Anna yawns as she laughs before blowing her nose and she pulls the covers up more, she felt wiped out but seeing Jo’s expression is worth it.*

<Jo> *Shaking her head, Jo leans back before hissing slightly and sitting upright instead* “Given I wasn’t bleeding or tied to anything and get very well taken care of; I’d say Grey…” *Pulling her hair back from her face, she stands up to go check on Anna’s radiator*

<Anna> *Anna laughs watching Jo lean back on her sore tailbone and then confess to Grey. She takes pity on her and she just yawns again as Jo gets up to mess with something. She’s going to say something but she’s forgotten what it was and she just blinks slowly before falling asleep*

<Jo> *Jo was half expecting a further inquisition, not sure she wanted to give any more explanations of things given the awkwardness around at the moment; but when she can’t make the room any warmer, she turns around to see the other asleep on the bed. Shaking her head, Jo goes to set a glass of water and some flu tablets on the bedside before heading home*

#3 - More of the Same

<Jo> *Jo figured Anna’d had enough time to recover, at least enough for some practice outside of town. Rocking up at the redhead’s door, she tucks her scarf into her jacket as she knocks on the door, leaving the rest of her things in the car*

<Anna> *Anna looks up from her laptop hearing the knock. She’s dressed in sweat pants and a few different layers of shirts, she’s starting to understand why the rent is cheap, the heating barely works so she’s been infront of her oven with the door down all morning. Opening up she smiles seeing Jo.* “Hey.”

<Jo> “You up for some target practice?” *Jo asks happily, looking a little too interested in the idea of going out to shoot things*

<Anna> “Sure, let me get my coat.” *Anna grins seeing Jo looking like a kid that’s about to go to the toy store and she grabs her coat and keys off the back of the chair.* “So, by shooting you mean guns right?”

<Jo> “Yep, I figured we’d get some practice in before the next hunt.” *Jo heads out to the car, starting the heater as she guns the engine waiting for Anna to lock up and get in* “Theres some out of the way fields outside of town we can use”

<Anna> *Locking up she gets inside the car, holding her hands up to the heater.* “You know, I could just be in charge of throwing the lighter. You could do all the shooting. It’s loud.”

<Jo> “What happens if I get knocked out? Or pinned down? Or we get seperated?” *Jo teases back, pulling out and heading towards the edge of the city* “You get used to it, and you need to learn how to do it.”

<Anna> “Just don’t get knocked out, pinned or seperated.” *Anna smirks making it sound so simple and she sits back relaxing as Jo drives. “It’s mostly just shotguns right?”

<Jo> *Letting out a laugh, Jo shakes her head as the car builds up speed and they angle towards one of the less used routes out of the city limits* “I guess you can get away with just shotguns, but one day I’ll get you good with handguns and stuff too”

<Anna> “You’re just asking to get shot aren’t you? It’s not like I’m ever going to hunt anythign that needs silver rounds, I doubt I could move well enough for that kind of hunt.” *Anna sits up and grabs the ohshitbar as Jo speeds up turning off the main road.*

<Jo> “That… well, at least you know you wouldn’t. Guess we’ll just stick with the shotguns.” *Jo smirks to herself watching the other’s grip on the handle and steps down harder for a few seconds before slowing down again*

<Anna> *Reaching out she grabs the dash and she cringes* “You know to teach me to use a gun I have to live to make it to the shooting range!”

<Jo> *Laughing again, she slows down further until she’s going much slower than she normally would but probably closer to what Anna would be comfortable with* “Yeah, okay, okay. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

<Anna> “Who taught you to drive?” *Anna grins relaxing as they go further out into a snow covered area that is away from the city.* “And did your driving instructer survive?”

<Jo> “Well, the main ones survived past my learning how to do it at least.” *Jo jokes slightly, though her mirth is slightly lessened before shaking it off* “They were better than yours at least.” *They reach the turn off for Jo’s chosen spot, mostly just the land far from the popular road areas and far enough away from any houses that no one would get there and interupt*

<Anna> “I can drive, safely, without breaking the laws and sanely thank you very much.” *Anna smirks as she feels the road get rougher, clearly having left the paved part and she reaches down zipping up her coat as the snow starts to fall again.*

<Jo> *Pulling over and parking behind a row of trees, Jo warms her hands over the heater for a few moments before shutting off the engine and leaning into the backseat to grab her bag* “Yeah yeah, you ready to learn something today?”

<Anna> “First aid for a gun shot wound?” *Anna teases as she gets out, pulling the hood of her coat up over her hair and she grins to Jo as she looks around the area Jo’s found.*

<Jo> “You’ll only have to learn that if you hit my sweetheart.” *Jo pats the roof of the car in explanation before shifting the bag up on her shoulder and reaching out to grab the other woman’s wrist as she steers them to walk along the tree line until their further away from the car and towards a rundown old stone wall.*

<Anna> *Anna raises a brow as Jo implies that she might accidently shoot the car, she doesn’t tell Jo the car is safer than the person because no way is she walking out of this place.* “So why Duluth? What was it about this place that we decided on?”

<Jo> *Shrugging, Jo sets down the bag, reaching in and pulling out two pairs of worn, fingerless wool gloves - holding a pair out as she pulls on the other* “The bar. I used to work there before my old home burnt down and my mom came and found me. I figured you wanted somewhere stable, I wanted somewhere hunters knew to go..it worked out.”

<Anna> *Taking the gloves she puts them on nodding, it made sense and she rubs her hands together as a wind blows across the open area.* “They didn’t have hunter bars in say, Hawaii?”

<Jo> “I wouldn’t know, haven’t left the mainland before.” *Jo lets out a laugh as she fumbles about in the bag before pulling out a few brightly coloured pieces of fabric and plastic of different sizes and visibility* “It was somewhere I knew would be safe.”

<Anna> “Safe, doesn’t really sound like any place is safe from monsters or demons really, I guess there are places less dangerous than others.” *Anna watches Jo and looks around in the bag, noting the different kinds of ammo and the two shot guns.*

<Jo> *Shrugging, not really having any defense to that, Jo grabs the pieces and goes and sets them at varying levels and patterns along the wall. She used to go target practicing with Ash where they’d use his leftover beer cans each time he finished one, but she doubted Anna could fire straight or she could drive straight if they went that way. Coming back, she offers one of the shot guns to Anna as well as a handful of salt rounds* “First things first - the ones you’re going to be after most. Try the yellow targets..”

<Anna> *Anna takes the rounds and the shotgun and sort of looks at Jo and then between the items. Hitting the targets didn’t sound that hard but first she had to figure out how to get the ammo in the gun. Pocketing the rounds she shifts her weight onto her good leg as she starts looking the gun over, trying to figure it out.* “So, maybe you should show me how to load the gun first?”

<Jo> *Jo tries not to snicker as she watches the other, nodding when Anna finally asks for the guidance, amused that it didn’t come straight away. Using the other gun, she checks the safety on the side before leaning the barrel against her thigh as she gently slips one round against the loading flap and pressing until the click of the shells rim moving past the magazine catch. Doing the same with another two rounds, Jo then pumps once to load and points the end of the barrel towards the ground away from the both of them, much slower than she normally would and then looks at the other* “And /then/ try the yellow targets..”

<Anna> *Anna watches Jo and she then takes her own gun pointing it away and she attempts to do what Jo did by checking the saftey and fumbling with it till she finally cracks it open so she can load it. Once the ammo is in she snaps it back and she holds it away from her before turning to the targets. * “Yellow targets..” *Looking down the barrel at the sights she cringes as she squeezes teh trigger.*

<Jo> *It takes biting down on her lip to not react to Anna’s fumbling through the steps, though she didn’t have to help before Anna had it loaded which surprised her a little. When Anna cringes and fires, Jo tilts her head when she sees the round explode a few inches away from the largest yellow target.* “Good first try..” *Setting her own gun down carefully, Jo moves over to reach around and reposition the other’s stance, pointing the gun again* “Try to put your feet in the way you want to shoot, to start at least. Now…try like this, and don’t flinch.” *She presses against Anna’s finger, as the gun’s lined up, waiting for the other to pull the trigger*

<Anna> *The sound is loud and that’s what Anna doesn’t like, she jumps and looks to see where she hit as she hears Jo say good try. Jo helps her and she bites her lip as Jo stands beside her, pulling her arms up, pushing her legs out to a more steady position. The not cringing part might be hard as she squeezes the trigger again, feeling the kick not as bad this time.*

<Jo> *This time it hits the edge of the plastic, cracking one side of it.* “Hey, you got a hit. Try again.” *Jo steps back, crossing her arms as she stands back to watch* “And /don’t/ flinch!”

<Anna> *Anna fumbles with the gun again, struggling to open it without grabbing the hot part of the barrel to reload it as Jo steps back and she mouths quietly “And don’t flinch” as Jo says it.* “Easy for you to say.”

<Jo> “Hey, stop.” *Jo steps back towards her pre-loaded gun, checking the safety again before offering it to Anna* “I’ll do the loading on the hot ones; you just work on getting your shots.” *She takes the half packed one off of Anna as she steps back* “It’s not hard to do either. Try breathing out as you take the shot”

<Anna> *Taking the fresh gun Anna looks down at her feet, getting back in the position Jo showed her and she raises her arms up, pushing her shoulders back as she aims. Breathing out slowly Anna tries to not flinch as she shoots again.*

<Jo> *The shot is closer to the centre, enough that if it werfe a ghost they would have vanished for a time. Smiling, Jo nods her head as she reloads the gun in her hands* “Good work, Anna. …try the red cloth on the end next.”

<Anna> *Anna looks down the wall, the cloth is moving and she frowns as she moves to get a better angel on it. She takes her time aiming again, carefully lining up and as she breathes out again firing the second cartridge but the wind picks up and she totally misses the red cloth*

<Jo> *Jo’s got her eye on the cloth, watching it flutter and as it falls down slightly she can tell the winds about to gust when she hears the gun fire. Letting out a laugh, the blonde offers the newly filled gun as she watches Anna’s reaction* “At least you didn’t flinch that time?”

<Anna> *Anna huffs at Jo and takes the other gun, her fingers that are exposed feel cold and she aims again, thinking she’ll have it when the wind moves the cloth again making her miss.* “Oh for fu..” *She stops mid swear as she looks at Jo like she’s supposed to make the wind stop.*

<Jo> *Laughing again, Jo reloads quickly before letting out a sigh* “Okay, watch me.” *She twists her body and feet towards the target, raising and lining up her sights as she focusses. Breathing slowly, she stands stock still for a long moment watching the changes of the wind and how the fabric waves; until suddenly firing and catching the end of it* “Just…take your time, okay?”

<Anna> *Watching Jo, she can’t help but huff at how easy Jo makes this all look and she wonders how good she was before with this stuff. Anna takes the gun and she waits, trying to time the wind so it’s not working against her as she squeezes off another shot, barely catching the end of teh cloth.* “I kinda got it.”

<Jo> *Jo smiles watching the other woman, before nodding and smiling wider when it catches as well* “Kinda is good enough sometimes, just a bit of salt’ll stop a ghost.” *She waves her hand for the other woman’s gun* “C'mon, into the car to warm up a bit and we’ll start again in a few minutes..”

<Anna> *Anna hands over the gun and she rubs her arms, feeling them ache from firing the gun. The idea of getting warm sounds good, going for a second round doesn’t sound so good and she looks at Jo.* “I can shoot, we don’t have to do a round two do we?”

<Jo> *Laughing, Jo tosses the keys to the other, resting the guns down gently before following into the car and rubbing her fingers together in front of the heater* “A few more, yeah.”

<Anna> *Anna grumbles as she cranks the car and turns the heater up to high* “So how like accurate do I have to be on hunts?”

<Jo> “The times you’ve hit each you’d be pretty alright. ..Advantage if you decide to stick to spirits is it doesn’t require quite so much accuracy.” *Jo continues to smile at the others grumbling, cheeks flushing bright red as the change from cold to heated air hits her face*

<Anna> “My arms hurt, I just got over being sore from the hunt.” *She knows she sounds whiney but Jo’s clearly enjoying this more than her even though she’s having some fun, mostly annoying Jo.*

<Jo> “Uh huh. Well, you want to do this - constant soreness is something you’ll get used to.” *She can’t stop the smirk at Anna’s almost whinging tone as Jo continues to move her fingers - the cold weather getting to the breaks from not long ago in a small ache she hopes will be this winter only*

<Anna> “No wonder you move like an old person sometimes.” *Anna slouches down in the chair turning the heat onto the feet setting and she stretches.* “Speaking of old, how long do like monsters live?”

<Jo> “Ha, ha. ..Depends on the monster..” *Jo continues to rub at her few recent injuries, twisting her ankle and glad that none of the areas that hurt last year hurt this year* “Though I get the feeling you didn’t mean in /general/.”

<Anna> *Anna shrugs, just wondering as she turns the engine off.* “The wind isn’t blowing as much, maybe now I can hit the damn red one.* *Climbing out of the car she can feel the cold make her legs ache that had just been under the heater.*

<Jo> "Try to reload straight off this time.” *Jo stays in the cab for a few moments, hoping out and traipsing along after the other once she sees her standing ready to shoot. Seeing the red fabric not moving at all and hanging limply, she can’t stop the small smirk before she chimes out as Anna goes to fire* “I think the boys are around two hundred and fifty..”

<Anna> “Talk about robbing the cradle..” *Anna tries to not think to hard about the age difference and she takes aim with the reloaded shotgun, breathing out she fires and without the wind she hits one side of the red cloth*

<Jo> “The other Anna was older, so she was sort of robbing the nest. Though glad someone else is, mentally, younger with me.” *Jo snickers, watching and grinning widely when Anna hits the cloth without the movement* “Try for the blue plastic this time.”

<Anna> “What do you mean mentally younger?” *Anna looks back glaring at Jo some and she grumbles about bossy old hunters as she reloads the shotgun before looking at the blue targets, they are the furthest away and her first shot is wide, missing totally*

<Jo> *Smiling as she watches the other miss, Jo offers the other gun like before as she shrugs* “I mean that someone doesn’t have over the number of years they look a memories too finally.”

<Anna> *Not sure if Jo is insulting her or not she just ignores her and fires, barely hitting the blue target.* “So, moving and far away, means basically I’m not hitting it.”

<Jo> “Yeah, pretty much.” *Jo watches on, absent mindedly reloads the other gun as she waits* “It just takes practice..”

<Anna> “Practice..well, I can hit the wall at least. I could be missing that totally and the targets.” *Anna grins some looking back at Jo pointing out the bright side of her being a bad shot.*

<Jo> “True, but you could also be hitting the targets.” *Jo teases back, smirking slightly before shifting her weight as she rolls her ankle* “Least you’re still not jumping.”

<Anna> “Maybe I need a bigger target, go take a jog down the field.” *Anna jokes as she sets the gun down rubbing her hands back and forth trying to get some feeling back in fingers.*

<Jo> *Jo frowns slightly before shrugging and setting the gun she has next to Anna’s feet* “That’s a good idea.” *Stealing herself, she runs back to the car and grabs one of the blankets from the car and wraps it around herself before jogging out* “Go ahead, give it a whirl!” *As she shouts, Jo spins herself, letting out a laugh as her blanket, jacket, scarf and hair fly out around her*

<Anna> *Anna just stares at Jo and she shakes her head.* “I am not going to attempt to shoot you! My luck something would happen and I would kill you even though it’s just salt and then not only would I be going to jail I would have a pissed off monster at me that already doesn’t like me!”

<Jo> *Laughing, Jo waves at Anna as she gets near the wall, hopping up on it and grinning like a child as she starts to move along the top* “Oh c'mon, I only brought salt with me, I’m not going to die, and if I do you can tell Grey I was askin’ for it! Just shoot, Anna”

<Anna> “No! I am not shooting you!” *Anna stares at Jo and she fights with the gun to get it back open to take the shells out, forgetting to put the saftey back on.* “I think the cold has shrunk your brain if you think this is a good idea!” *Anna is yelling down at Jo when the gun goes off and she screams in surprise when the sound of glass is heard breaking when the salt rounds hit the car*

<Jo> *Jo’s opening her mouth to shout back when she hears the sound of the gun followed by the glass shattering, spinning around too fast to look and falls over the back of the wall. Without a seconds hesitance, she pops back up looking across the distance towards the shocked other woman and then on to her ‘sweetheart’ and lets out an inhuman noise as she flings herself over the wall towards the car*

<Anna> *Anna carefully places the gun on the ground and she backs away as Jo makes a scream that doesn’t sound like anything a human should be able to make. She wants to ask if Jo’s okay from falling but the way Jo is running she’s guessing she is and wonders if she should use Jo’s distraction to put distance between them.* “I..well..it’s just a car right? A little paint, new window, good as new.”

<Jo> *She’s not even aware that she’s basically growling as she sprints past the other to the car to look over the damage, fingers shaking as she looked over the car and getting louder at Anna’s comment* “YOU SHOT MY FUCKING CAR!”

<Anna> “I didn’t mean too, it just happened. Calm down Jo, you were fine with me shooting you and it’s not like you can’t fix the car.” *Anna holds her hands up in a calming manner like when you’re trying to pacify an angry child.*

<Jo> “You shot my fucking car!” *Jo screams again, staring at the broken window before spinning around on the other woman* “I told you to shoot me! Not the car!”

<Anna> “I didn’t mean too! And look at this way, now you have a good reason to repaint it and get rid of that ugly blue color!” *Anna’s trying really hard to not laugh as she watches Jo come apart over the car.* “At least I didn’t hit the engine?”

<Jo> *Letting out a strangled noise, Jo tugs at her hair before stalking over to pick up the guns, leaving the targets behind as she shoves them and the blanket into her backseat* “Get in, we’re done for today.” *Settling into the front seat, she pulls her scarf up over her nose and mouth, fumbling in the glove box for some sunglasses*

<Anna> “Um the one side is still loaded Jo and I don’t know if the safety is on, not sure you want it going off in the car.” *Anna points out Jo is clearly pissed at her and she goes over, opening her door, raking the glass out of her seat onto the ground.* “I didn’t mean too, you know.”

<Jo> *Hissing, Jo reaches into the back and shoves the door open, standing half in and half out of the car she turns towards the wall and fires the gun towards one of the targets now further away and hitting straight through the still floating red target. Shoving the gun into the back again, Jo starts the car as she slams the door, waiting for Anna*

<Anna> *Biting her lip hard she meekly shuts the door, not saying anything else to Jo as she slouches down feeling a few pieces of glass she missed under her legs and ass. It’s going to be a cold ride back but she isn’t going to dare complain.*

<Jo> *The slight slush under the wheels sprays up behind them as Jo pulls back onto the roads and puts her foot down, feeling the wind sting against her cheeks and hair despite the protections she’d put on. After a few miles, she turns towards Anna and nods her head to the glove compartment* “Theres more glasses in there, you could use the fuckin’ blanket too.”

<Anna> *Anna is holding on for dear life wondering about her chances of making it by walking back to town as Jo drives like she has a demon after her and she’s just nods as Jo screams above the sound of the wind coming into the car.* “I’ll be okay till we get back to my place.”

<Jo> *Nodding, Jo continues to grumble under her breath quietly as they finally get back into town, her fingers feeling like ice on the steering wheel as she slows down as she gets closer to Anna’s apartment. Pulling over out front, Jo lets out a sigh as she reaches out to touch the broken glass before looking across at the other woman* “We won’t be able to go until I’ve got this fixed, but I’ll let you know when we go.”

<Anna> *Anna’s teeth are chattering and her face feels raw as she nods, getting out and walking stiffly to her apartment. She’s got a date with the shower and then her bed and blankets.* “Sorry..really didn’t mean too ya know, shoot the car.”

<Jo> *Jo nods, leaning through the front window as Anna gets out and heads inside* “I know. I’ll see you later, Anna..” *Shivering, she turns away and heads back towards home - already planning to thaw out in the shower and in front of the tv*

#4 - Might have put this one up already, Grey won’t be happy cause Jo bakes for others...

<Jo> *missed that LOL*

<Anna> Soooooo

<Jo> ooooooo..?

<Anna> “Can I drive the car?”

<Jo> “No!”

<Anna> *Sigh*

<Jo> LOL

<Anna> =P

<Anna> “Jo”

<Jo> “…It rhymes with my name, and starts with an ‘n’.”

<Anna> “nacho?”

<Jo> “…You suck. You suck so so bad.”

<Anna> *Anna grins*

<Jo> “Not gonna happen.”

<Anna> “So we don’t ever go out for Mexican?”

<Jo> “God, can you just… Just go make friends with Grey or call up your guy or something. Annoy someone else too!”

<Anna> *Anna looks innocently at Jo.* “What am I doing to annoy you? I’m just asking questions, how am I supposed to know that we don’t go out for Mexican.”

<Jo> “Fuckin’ God and Mother help me.” *Jo rubs the bridge of her nose* “What were you going to ask /other/ than that you can drive then?”

<Anna> “If you wanted to go out for coffee.”

<Anna> “And not Mexican it seems.”

<Jo> “So long as theres some cake included..”

<Anna> *Anna laughs quietly*

<Jo> “I like sweets, alright. Shut up.”

<Anna> *Anna ticks off on her fingers* “Sweets, no nachos, no driving for me..”

<Jo> “Sounds about right”

<Anna> “I can see how you and Gray are alike, he says I’m also annoying.”

<Jo> “Yeah, but I’m sure he means it much more affectionately than I do.”

<Anna> “No not really, he sounded about as annoyed as you do.”

<Jo> “Yeah, but he /always/ sounds annoyed. …Mostly.”

<Anna> “Not always but when I’m teasing him like I am you right now, he does.”

<Jo> “That’s because you suck.”

<Anna> *Anna smiles* “I don’t remember, do I?”

<Jo> “Oh no, I think you know pretty well right now.” *Jo shakes her head, rubbing the back of her neck with a laugh*

<Anna> *Anna just smiles staring at Jo*

<Jo> “Coffee, cake. No car.”

<Anna> “I can drive while you eat your cake.”

<Jo> “/No!/”

<Anna> *Giggles*

<Jo> “You touch my sweetheart, I’ll touch yours.” *Jo teases back, sticking out her tongue*

<Anna> “But I don’t have a sweetheart.”

<Jo> “Gah! I will go, buy you something, make you enjoy it and it become important to you and /then/ touch it!”

<Anna> “That sounds dirty.”

<Jo> *Jo raises an eyebrow* “That’s really not dirty by my standards, angelcake.”

<Anna> “Clearly I have higher standards than you.”

<Jo> “/Clearly/.”

<Anna> “Jo.”

<Jo> “…What?”

<Anna> “Are we going for cake and coffee or are we going to stand about talking about touching things.”

<Jo> “…Fine, we’ll go for coffee and cake. You’re going to have to walk though.” *Jo shrugs a shoulder, fiddling with her jacket buttons*

<Anna> “Why do I have to walk?”

<Jo> “Well, someone blasted a shot gun round through my car window and they’re not being exactly quick at getting it fixed.”

<Anna> “Oh well, I have coffee here, I’ll just stay in where it’s warm.”

<Jo> “…You don’t have cake do you?”

<Anna> “Yes, I make pancakes sometimes.”

<Jo> “Fine, I’ll just bring some stuff around 'nd make my own.”

<Anna> “Alright but I don’t have fire insurance.”

<Jo> “Ah ha, I’m good in a kitchen. You can ask anyone. Except my mom. I’ll be around soonish then.”

<Anna> “The door will be unlocked.”

<Jo> *Jo hangs up and stuffs a few things into a plastic bag before heading out, glad to have already thrown on her jacket and scarf thinking they were going somewhere else. It takes a while to walk, but when she gets there she just heads in and straight towards the fridge* “Please tell me you have better than my coffee at least. I ran out of filters yesterday.”

<Anna> *Anna has the heat up for Jo as she comes in and makes a bit of a face as Jo tracks snow across the floor.* “I have some stuff from the local coffee shop down the road and I have some of that necter sweetner instead of sugar.”

<Jo> “Anything better than instant is good with me. Though that’s awesome.” *Jo kicks her shoes back towards the door as she pulls her coat and scarf off, throwing them over the back of one of the small chairs after digging out Anna’s milk, eggs and butter* “You got any particular allergies to anythin’, Anna?”

<Anna> “No, not that I know off. Do you? Is there anything I should not buy when we are out together?” *Anna takes a mop and quickly cleans up the floor before throwing a towel infront of the door to block the draft coming under it.*

<Jo> *Jo bites down a smirk at Anna’s cleaning as she unpacks her own mmixing bowls, meausring jugs and other utensils, before starting to measure out from eggs and butter before pausing* “Where’s the flour? And no I don’t, I’ll eat basically anything. The more meat the better. Or sugar. One or other.”

<Anna> *Anna chokes as is Jo makes a comment about eating meat and sort of blushes.* “I’m sure, you do and flour is to your left, top of the cabinet in the white container.”

<Jo> “…What? What the heck were you just thinking?” *Jo gives Anna’s flush a curious glance, though her lips quirk up in the hint of a smirk as she’s certain she could guess. Turning to grab the container, struggling for a second to grab it out before spinning back around to continue adding vanilla essence and a mixing up some buttermilk before mixing together, feeling about in her bag for something*

<Anna> “I wasn’t thinking anything..” *Anna leans back against the counter not being used as she watches Jo with a bit of a raised brow.* “You are far more domestic than I would have pictured you.”

<Jo> “Uh huh, then what was the blush about, Anna dear?” *Smirking still, Jo gets the limes she was after out, quickly grating the rinds into the mix* “In pretty much this one and only way.” *Finishing the batter, she grabs four spoons out of the cutlery drawer before offering two out to Anna as she gets the baking tray and cupcake liners ready* “Help me with this?”

<Anna> *Anna shakes her head* “I’m not blushing about anything!” *Taking the cupcake liners she turns around starting to seperate them out and lay them out in rows.* “So did you learn this from your mom? Did she bake for all the other hunters?”

<Jo> “Mhmm, you sure Anna? You /sure/?” *Chuckling, Jo quickly squeezes and mixes in one of the limes’ juice to the batter before begining to spoon in to the liners, leaving two of the spoons for Anna to join in* “Mom cooked for them all, but I’m not the greatest chef about the place. I always had a sweet tooth so she showed me the ropes as a kid and I’d bake while she made more substantial things.”

<Anna> “I’m totally sure. You’re the one talking about how you like your meat.” *Anna smirks as she dips a finger in the bowl quickly, tasting the batter as Jo measures it out in the cups.* “I’ve never met your mother right?” Did d she know about us?“

<Jo> "Oh that’s what that was about? Well, I am a fan of a nice piece'a meat..” *Smiling, Jo whacks the others fingers when she goes for another taste, topping up each of the cupcakes until the batter was gone other than the remainder around the edges of the bowl. Pushing it and the spoons across to Anna, Jo sprinkles a tiny bit of salt on top of each cupcake before slipping them into the oven, and sucks her fingers off* “You have actually, though she’s spending most of her time down with Bobby these days. She knew, she didn’t really approve but she doesn’t approve of a lot of things.”

<Anna> *Anna yelps as Jo whacks her fingers but then takes the bowl, licking the spoon as she shakes her head.* “Well as long as you keep your meat out of the cupcakes we are good.” *Putting the spoon the sink she runs a finger around teh bowl.* “So your mother and Bobby are a couple?”

<Jo> *Snickering, Jo turns to Anna’s cupboards and grabs another bowl for her to start the frosting* “I don’t think I would ever try to mix my two favourite things like that. …I..don’t know? Sure? They’re my mom and Bobby. They’ll let me know if anything turns serious; so I’m expecting a call any day now.” *She laughs, smiling as she mixes some butter with the icing sugar before grabbing out the bottle of tequilla from her bag*

<Anna> *Anna raises a brow as Jo get the tequilla out of the bag obviously intending it to go into the icing.* “So then your totally cool with the idea of your mom and Bobby..ya know..doing it.” *Turning around she turns on the water and begins washing the bowls so that there isn’t anything piline up.* “I guess that’s cool that you would like your step dad if they ever get married.”

<Jo> *Measuring out a little more than she thinks the reciepe quite calls for, Jo continues to beat and mix the mix as she turns to watch the other, pulling a slightly face and pausing for a sip of the drink for herself* “I’d rather not /think/ about it, but.. Bobby’s a good guy. He’s always treated me and Mom well and its not like I couldn’t have seen it comin’ eventually.”

<Anna> *Anna laughs watching Jo take a drink as she talks about marriage and step dads.* “Well still it’s good that she’s happy. How would Bobby feel about having Grey as a step son-in-law with him being a monster and all?”

<Jo> *Jo almost drops the bowl, her grip slipping for a second and catching it only at the last second as she spins back around to face the other way as she starts whisking again at double the speed* “I just want Mom to be happy, she deserves it these days…” *She studiously avoids commenting on the other’s question, flushing brightly*

<Anna> *Anna raises a brow as she dries her hands off from washing the dishes, Jo’s usually not clumsy and she sort of smirks.* “Everyone should be, I’m sore Bobby and Grey will get a long well.”

<Jo> *Setting the bowl down, Jo takes another mouthful from the tequilla bottle, hissing slightly at the taste more than the burn* “First time they met Bobby shot Grey. Course, first time my Mom met Grey she also shot /at/ him. ….Mom’d have the same issue as Bobby, probably more, about what Grey was - Bobby…was..well, he’d be a bit of a hypocrite to be angry about me bein’ with one.” *Shrugging, Jo starts to mix up the icing again, getting the mix slowly but surely more light and fluffy* “Though I don’t think they’d be ending up with any son-in-law’s at any point.”

<Anna> “Too bad, I was just thinking that with all the shootings as first meetings we could do a double shotgun themed wedding. It would be cute and I’ve helped with other weddings at my parent’s church so I could organize it.” *Anna reaches over trying to get a taste of the icing as she watches Jo.*

<Jo> “I.. …Last time this ever got mentioned, it was well known I’d be the one with a shotgun on them, and I don’t think that’s the greatest…idea. Things are just..” *Jo sighs, not stopping Anna from stealing a taste before squeezing in some of the lime juice and sprinkling in a fair two pinches of salt* “Things aren’t exactly normal, right now.”

<Anna> “Things not being normal is an understatement but as long as things have a chance to become normal then there is hope.” *Anna smiles at Jo as she takes a glass and pours herself a shot of the alcohol.* “I think it would be worth it just to see you all dressed up like a girl for once anyway.”

<Jo> “Well, I have plans. Hopefully..” *Jo pulls a face at Anna, taking the bottle back and swigging a mouthful before setting it back down again* “Next time, I’m going to wear a dress over here. Get your girly fantasies of seeing me all pretty for you out of the way.”

<Anna> *Anna snorts* “You don’t have too make a special effort on my part.” *She wonders if Jo’s going to be sober by the time the cupcakes get done.* “So besides baking and shooting things what else do you do?”

<Jo> *Measuring out a small cup of the liqiud, Jo sets it to the side as she starts to mix up the icing again carefully folding in some of the lime rind but keeps a quarter of it untouched* “Oh no no, much easier for me to wow you with my feminine charms without going through all the trouble of organising a wedding. …I mostly do research, help out other hunters, keep tabs on the bar. Work on making new weapons and such if I’m bored, build some things sometimes, work on my car and watch tv or movies mostly.”

<Anna> “Wow, you really are a tomboy.” *Anna chuckles as she steals another taste of the icing, licking it off her fingers.* “We could go out shopping at some point, there are a couple of malls it looks like or maybe catch a movie. I’m not sure how good I would be at building weapons.”

<Jo> “At least you’re not callin’ me butch.” *Jo laughs, watching Anna before just holding the whisk out to the other woman instead as the timer on her phone goes off and she checks the cupcakes, smiling when they’re the right amount of springy to the touch* “Neither of those sound like a bad idea. Except for the weapon work, I’m not letting you near my workspace. But a movie or shopping could be fun.”

<Anna> *Taking the whisk she happily takes care of the icing as she smirks at Jo, watching the blond woman happily cook away.* “Just don’t park the car next to it and I’m sure everything would be fine.” *Steping out of Jo’s reach she turns to wash the whisk once the icing is gone.*

<Jo> *Jo makes a sharp noise at the joke, shooting the other a dirty look as she begins to brush a small amount of the alcohol over the top of each of the cupcakes until the cup she’d set to the side was empty* “Like I say, shopping or a movie. Probably much less dangerous for /everyone/.” *Smirking back at the other, Jo leans against the counter setting another alarm for when she can start icing*

<Anna> “It was just one shot and I didn’t even hurt the car that bad, it was a flesh wound.” *Anna teases her more and she grabs another drink, the tequila burning going down.* “Let me guess if we go shopping, we have to go to the gun store after the shoe store right?”

<Jo> “I guess I’m going to go ahead and paint it black with just a /hint/ of red next time then?” *Jo snickers back, continuously pressing at the top of one of the cupcakes before going to start making up her typical DIY piping bags* “Nah, I have a guy I go to for most of mine, or at least the ones I care about. Make most of my own salt rounds and order the silver and iron from him; so no gun stores necessary. …Might need to go to the comic shop or game store though, I’m trying to understand what the hell Harry goes on about more.”

<Anna> “Oh! I found the gun I want, I bet you could modify it. I was looking online and there’s one that’s pink with Hello Kitty on it and another that’s purple with a unicorn.” *Anna is saying this with a totally straight face as she watches Jo make her own piping bags, remembering her mother doing the same.* “Harry once spent a whole afternoon explaining the mechanics of a game, not sure what it was.*

<Jo> *Jo blinks back at Anna, face twisting into a horrified and disgusted look as she tries to invision that such a thing exists before shaking her head* "Ah ha, no. But yeah, Harry’s strange. And Grey used to play a lot of video games though..I don’t know, I haven’t spotted him doing it recently but I figure its easier to learn in advance.” *Setting down the bag, she starts to cut the lime with rind into little wedges for decorating*

<Anna> *Anna bursts out into laughter at Jo’s expression as she describes the guns she saw online and she spares Jo the girly looking protection gear she saw as well.* “Those two seem like they would get a long really well, Harry really likes his games and comic books, he once spent a whole shift giving me a lecture of Marvel vs DC.”

<Jo> “Trust me, they do. Swear its like watching two teenagers, except they have very stupid thoughts that Spiderman and Iron Man are better than Batman.” *She can’t help but snicker to herself, knowing exactly what that lecture sounds like after several rounds of it with the geeky researcher. Feeling the top of the cupcakes again, she decides to just ignore her timer and start piping out icing*

<Anna> “Oh lord you are one of them too.” *Anna grins as she tries to make a grab for the first cupcake Jo finishes.* “How did Harry get into this life, he seems so far removed from someone who would be a hunter.” *Pausing she looks at Jo.* “He is human right?”

<Jo> “You thought any differently?” *Jo lets out a laugh, giggling to herself as she smacks Anna’s hand before studding the top of the icing swirl with a small slice of lime and then handing it over* “Harry’s definitely human. He and his friends were always into ghosts and they…did, you know those reality ghost hunting tv shows? They were doing one. But..online and not really popular.”

<Anna> “And just when I thought he couldn’t get any more of a geek.” *Anna takes the lime off that Jo put on there and sets it aside as she peels the paper off the cupcake and takes a bit. It’s really good even though she’s surpised how much it tastes like the drink.* “This is good Jo!”

<Jo> “Yeah well, he didn’t really appreciate my calling him and his friends hackjobs the first time we talked, but he’s actually pretty good at this stuff. Guess it sort of appeals to the geeky side, right?” *Smiling at the other’s reaction, Jo continues to make up the rest, putting a sliver of lime rind on some while wedges on others and sprinkling a small bit of salt ontop each* “Yeah? Well, I have had a lot of practice. Should have asked what you like first but..I had the stuff for these ones.”

<Anna> *Anna doesn’t say anything else till the cupcake is gone and she’s licking her fingers.* “Next time strawberry maybe?” *She’s relaxed and she’s really enjoyed just hanging out with Jo lately, it’s nice to have a friend again.* “Oh maybe chocolate with cherries and rum.”

<Jo> *Scrunching up the baking paper piping bag as she finishes, Jo smiles back at Anna as she tosses the sheet in the trash before picking up a cupcake herself* “I could do that. I’ve been trying to make a cherry cola rum one but haven’t quite got the right amount of cherry to cola yet. Though chocolate would probably be easier, actually.”

<Anna> “Oh chocolate and strawberries, that would be so good.” *Anna thinks the colo and cherries sounds good too.* “I’ll help you test out any thing you want to try, you can use my kitchen anytime. If you ever get out of hunting, you should open a bakery.”

<Jo> “I think you and Grey are going to be fighting over my baking now.” *Laughing, Jo makes her way through her cupcake, holding the wedge of lime in one hand as she licks up the icing before squeezing the juice over the top of the cake and eating the rest* “We’ll if we do go shopping, can always come back and try out some things after. …A bakery? That’s..a funny mental image, Anna, gotta admit.”

<Anna> “I think you could do an amazing business, do it after hours, serve these with the drink they match. And Grey can bite me, I call dibs on anything you bake.” *Anna takes the lime wedge and squeezes it onto the cake part before biting into it.*

<Jo> “Next thing you know, Harry’ll hustle in and try to get me to make themed cupcakes for things like new movies or DnD stuff.” *She chokes on a laugh at Anna saying Grey can bite her, coughing as she takes a mouthful of her own cake as she has the mental image* “I think he might have already, but you’re welcome to battle it out. Or I’ll just make seperate batches for each of you!”

<Anna> *Anna’s head snaps up as Jo says Grey already has and she has a look of panic on ehr face.* “Wait, please tell me that we haven’t he..Grey, your Grey and I ..oh my God I am the town bicycle. Did Harry and I? I thought it was just you and Gray, my Gray..” *Anna reaches for whats left in the bottle.*

<Jo> *Jo stares back at Anna before collapsing into laughing again, holding out a hand* “No! No no no! I meant he already called dibs! You’ve only been with me and your monster, and Dean but I didn’t know back then.” *She shakes her head, trying not to flush as she tries to think about any of what Anna suggested*

<Anna> “Oh thank heavens..I..just I am not like that!” *Anna blushes as Jo is laughing at her and she thinks this is karma for the car.* “You could have just said that he called dibs..”

<Jo> *Jo shrugs, still laughing to herself before her phone goes off. Looking at it confusedly and realising it was a call from a different hunter, she steals another cupcake and packs up her things - still joking with Anna and promising they’ll work out another day to hang out soon - Jo heads off towards the bar to make sure the book needed was ready for the other before heading home again*

#yay chatlogs

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hennessystevens-udaku · 5 years

Text

My Bloody Valentine

A little twisted Love Day fic for my favorite rebel @thereturnofbadazz!

“I wonder how many lovers are gonna die today,” Aly’Sha said with sneer as she watched the news.

“What yo lil psycho ass talking about, Sha Sha,” Erik asked with a smirk.

“Yeah, it’s Valentine’s Day. Why you talking about folks dying?” Kimora chirped from the other side of the living room.

“It’s also Purge Day,” Aly’Sha responds casually.

“You mean poor man elimination day,” Angel says, cradling the twins closer. Now that she was older, she didn’t see the point of violence as a means of “cleansing” the country of its sins.

“Yeah that shit’s stupid,” Erik agreed, flipping the station. “Just another tactic white folks use to eradicate black folks. Alright ladies, if y’all don’t mind, me and Mama got a date,” Erik says with a sly grin in Hennessy’s direction.

“Actually baby, I was thinking maybe you could spend the day with another wife. You’ve spent the last 16 Valentine’s Days with me, spoil someone else,” she says not looking up from her MacBook. She was in the process of scouting out new locations for her dispensary and wasn’t exactly in the mood to break concentration. Before Erik could ask which of his wives would be the lucky lady this year, Ryley stormed into the house, chest rising and falling quickly with anger.

“What’s the matter, Princess?” he asked from his relaxed position on the couch.

“Them white bitches down the street keep fuckin with me. I’m trying to be nice and keep it cute since I’m a princess now and shit, but they about to make Ryley Badazz come out of retirement!” Erik chuckled at her, loving how sexy she got when she was angry.

“Calm down, Ry Ry. Tell Daddy what happened.” He listened intently, blood boiling as she explained how the Becky’s with the stringy hair had egged her car, slashed her tires, and had been overall mocking her for the past week.

“Calm down baby. You’re a princess, don’t lower your standards for peasants.”

“That’s cute and all, but look at what they spray painted on the house.” Erik’s smirk quickly faded to a menacing mug when he saw the words ‘Killmonger’s a bitch’ spray painted in bright red paint on the northern wall of The Kompound. Without another word, he made his way downstairs to his arsenal with Ryley hot on his heels.

“How about we show them white bitches who run shit,” he called over his shoulder.

“What you mean, Daka?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well it’s Valentine’s Day and it’s also Purge Day, so how about for our date we show them why they shouldn’t fuck with the Stevens-Udaku household?” Ryley’s face twisted into a devilish grin as she gazed upon the various weapons.

Wanna play, Candy Girl?” he asked as he handed her the Swarovski studded M-16.

“Let’s play, Daddy.”

“Y’all sure y’all don’t wanna get in on the action?” Erik asked the remaining wives as he prepared for the night’s festivities.

“This is Ryley’s night, why you inviting other people?” Henny scolded from her relaxed position between Charlie’s plush thighs. They had all agreed to watch the events from the body cameras Shuri had installed on his and Ryley’s protective armor, Angel not wanting to engage in the sport because she didn’t see the point of senseless violence.

“You right, Mama,” Erik replied solemnly, looking over at Ryley. “My bad, Princess.”

“It’s cool, Fathead. Now let’s go murder some white bitches,” she says with a laugh. She was all dolled up in a pink and black bejeweled bodysuit with a pink tutu and thigh high Louboutin Frenchissima boots. On her head, she donned a pink headdress that matched her bodysuit, each piece made out of vibranium to keep her safe. Not like anyone would dare try to harm a Princess of Wakanda.

“Damn you look good enough to eat, Ry Ry,” Erik said as he admired her attire.

“Later, Daka. We got business to handle first.” The announcement sounded as the pair finished adjusting their masks.

This is not a test. This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the Annual Purge sanctioned by the U.S. Government. Weapons of class 4 and lower have been authorized for use during the Purge. All other weapons are restricted. Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity from the Purge and shall not be harmed. Commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Police, fire, and emergency medical services will be unavailable until tomorrow morning at 7 a.m., when The Purge concludes. Blessed be our New Founding Fathers and America, a nation reborn. May God be with you all.

At the sound of the alarm, Erik and Ryley made their way outside to his blacked out Lamborghini Aventador with butterfly doors. For aesthetic effect, he blasted the psycho version of I Got 5 On It as he maneuvered the car down the street.

“Which house baby?”

“That one, that last one on the right.”

“Sha Sha, do your thing, baby.”

In an instant, the target house went completely dark and all of their protective armor was disabled, leaving them completely exposed to the outside world.

“How did you even do that?” Kimora asked Aly’Sha, whose face was buried in her iPhone.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t really want the answer to,” Hennessy answered for her.

“You ready, Ry Ry?”

“Let’s go.”

The pair exited the vehicle and slowly crept to the bay window that displayed the living room. The owners of the dwelling could be seen crowded around one another, a desperate attempt to protect themselves. Idiots.

“Sha Sha, do the thing.”

With another press of a button, the living room began to fill with tear gas, forcing the occupants of the house to run off in different directions, unintentionally aiding the pair in their sadistic plan.

“Time to go hunting,” Erik says as he kicked the door in.

“Aye, Vita,” Bast called out quizzically to Big Sis meandering in her lab. “Why you not upstairs watching Erik and Ry Ry turn up on the Beckys?”

Vita had a theatrical setup with a projector and surround sound. It was as if she converted her space into a miniature IMAX theater.

“Because, I have some unfinished business that's about to play out on this computer screen,” she explained leaning back in her seat, gathering her snacks, getting comfortable.

“What unfinished business?”

“Did I ever tell you the story of how I came to own Amazon?”

“Since when did you own Amazo-”

“See, what had happened was…”

He bowed before me, kneeling with great shame and humility. Once a proud, vain man now driven to begging. It's his own fault you know, this present state of duress. Often times when you wish to destroy your enemy you don't have to pull the trigger yourself, you only have to had them the gun and watch them blow their own brains out.

What made him a target, you ask? They were the vices he frequently indulged himself in; greed, lust, hubris, all of which led him to being an easy mark.

What were the bullets I used? His disgruntled employees, his gullible mistress, his betrayed wife, his disloyal business associates. Each pawn having been strategically used for my benefit and mine alone.

What pulled the trigger? He dared to insult me as if I were anything less than greatness. He'd the nerve to belittle my life's work as if I weren't a force to be reckoned with. I had just finished a masterful presentation of my future plans for my then budding tech company and as everyone else showered me with my well deserved praise he thought it humorous to describe my exemplary business model as “cute”. I could not let such a slight get away with impunity, a lesson needed to be taught.

Shortly after his billion dollar divorce when his liaisons with another woman were “mysteriously” leaked he tried to push his already exhausted workers even further which led to an international strike, that lasted for several months due to strikers being funded by an “anonymous” donor that helped them pay their bills at home and even finance ad campaigns to expose the heinous labor practices of the company, causing a severe decline in business. With sales and online traffic on the decline stocks careened further into the economic abyss leaving investors dissatisfied. Receiving inside information from an “unknown” source, they collectively decided to relocate their interests into another expedition… Mine.

That's right, my “cute” little business became a worldwide conglomerate seemingly overnight. And he could have shared in that wealth had he not crossed me. Now I, Davita Roberson, tower over him as he's become a hollow shell of his former self, selling what remains of his share in his dying company for pennies of what it used to be. Both his ex wife and former flame have found new loves that I helped introduced them to, his former workers are living more fulfilled lives under my employ, and I've blackballed all of those crooked investors because they couldn't be trusted.

Jeff will have to live out the remainder of his life buried in debt and regret, but who cares. The moment he affronted me was the instant he sealed his fate…

“And that's what happened,” Vita concluded.

With a roll of her eyes Bast couldn't help but ask,“You righteously decided to pull a massive company takeover because he called your business cute?”

“He was being passive aggressive. By calling my business plan “cute” he was downplaying it as if I were some child. He was belittling me and underestimated my capabilities. So bitch had it comin!”

“Aight aight, so what does that have to do with this little personal movie night you got going?”

“Well, Bezos couldn't stand being broke so he sold his body for a Purge Feast. He was right back to living his old lifestyle only on someone else's dime.”

“OK? That sounds amazing, what's the catch and what is a Purge Feast? Is he about to be gangbanged, what?”

“He's about to be eaten.”

“WHAT?”

“When a person donates their body to a Purge Feast they are provided a lavish lifestyle, they have to be disease free, drug free, given massages to ensure their tenderness and are put on a supremely exquisite diet of delicacies so that they're meat is undeniably sweet. Jeff has been fattened, and now is the time for the slaughter.”

“Ooooooh shit scoot over, bitch!”

The two women watched as Bezos was guided onto a giant chopping block placed on a stage. He was stripped bare naked then instructed to lay face down on the human sized cutting board. The executioner came into view wielding a great axe with a long blade, sharp enough to split hairs. The massive weapon was hoisted into the air then brought down upon the back of the former CEO’s neck. A clean cut, in only one swipe the head was severed and the blood gushed forth like the intense orgasm of a woman. The executioner continued to dissect the body as a flock of chef's assistants scurried to pick up the pieces while avoiding the swings. Once completed, the good was quickly prepared and presented to a dinner party that catered to the adventurous elites of society. As the soiree carried on, Davita took a bite of her own snacks, inhaling deeply, savoring the moment.

“Mmmm, delicious.”

“My bloody valentine, sweet comic Valentine. You make me smile with my heart,” Erik’s deep voice sang from the body cam. Charlie, Kimora, Hennessy, and Aly’Sha watched with glee as their husband dismembered one of the sisters, impaling her on the banister of the grand staircase of the foyer. So far, the pair had murdered three of the six members of the family and were searching for the patriarchs of the family. They passed the young boy’s severed head and the second sister’s torso on the way upstairs. They found the mother and father huddled in their shared bedroom, the mother clutching a bible to her chest.

“Why white people always turn to God when they about to die?” Erik inquired, more rhetorically than anything.

“P-Please don’t hurt us. We’ll give you anything you want,” the woman attempted to bargain.

“Bitch I’m a Prince, I don’t need ya money. I’m just here to give your family a lesson in respect. Now, I’ll only ask this once, where’s Penelope?”

“What do you want with my daughter?” the father asked with a little too much bass in his voice. Erik fired a warning shot to his right thigh before answering.

“I ask the questions here, Bob, but if you must know, the little bitch vandalized my property and harassed my wife. She just wants an apology, right Ry Ry?”

“Yes Daddy,” Ryley said with mock sincerity.

“She’s downstairs, under the staircase.”

“Say less,” Ryley said, skipping downstairs to the girl’s hiding place. She growled with anger when she discovered the spot was empty.

“That bitch lying, Daddy!” Another set warning shots went off upstairs, this time striking the mother in the ribs and the father in the shoulder.

“See, I was tryna be nice about this. I’m already gone kill y’all, don’t expedite the process. Where the fuck is she?”

“I’m right here you black bastard!” Suddenly the entire room exploded in flames as Penelope appeared with a flamethrower. When the flames dispersed, Erik stood completely unharmed with a twisted grin on his face.

“You really though you did some shit, huh?” Penelope’s face twisted in horror as she watched Ryley appear behind her with a metal baseball bat, a weapon she’d gotten from the younger boy’s room. With one hard hit to the head, Penelope was out. Erik and Ryley the drug the bodies downstairs, tying them up in the center of the living room.

“We are gonna purge today, purge today, purge today. We are gonna purge today and burn this bitch down,” Ryley sang gleefully as they exited the house.

“Sha Sha, cue the fireworks.”

In an instant the entire house exploded, lighting up the entire neighborhood like the 4th of July. As a means to commemorate the night, the couple made love on the hood of the Lamborghini, the screams of the dying family serving as their background music.

“Wow. That was hot,” Charlie said as Erik emptied himself onto Ryley’s bloodsoaked face.

“Literally,” Hennessy said in agreement. Suddenly, Ryley’s voice could be heard from the cam.

“Happy Purge Day, sluts!”

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

TAGS: @itsangeludaku @hearteyes-for-killmonger @poosypoosy @vikkidc @panthergoddessbast @blackpantherismyish @dameshaemonique @sydneebleu @amethyst1993 @blowmymbackout @trevantesbrat @thadelightfulone @princessstevens @princesskillmonger @killmongersgurl @tgigoldie @supersizemeplz @wawakanda-btch @bidibidibombaclaat @calitexastrillgoddess @thehomierobbstark @mareethequeen @iamrheaspeaks @forbeautyandlife @inlovewithmakeupcomicsanimelove

#the kompound #my shit #wifey fics #ryley badazz #ryley the rebel #killmonger fic

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dontshootmespence · 6 years

Text

Broken Homes Fix Broken Hearts

A/N: Will @veroinnumera and I ever stop being mean to our Juliet? Maybe soon.

Chapter 29

How long had it been since the door had slammed close on her relationship with her mother? For good. She wasn’t sure, but Derek’s arms felt heavy around her body. Their heartbeats and breathing were in sync, and she had no tears left to cry. They had dried in their rivers on her face. She still felt the same, but nothing else came.

For a moment, she just sat there - not crying, not talking, just breathing, staring off into the distance and hoping that if she closed her eyes to the world, when she opened them again this would’ve all been a dream.

Standing up felt like she had cement in her shoes.

“Juliet, I-” Derek started. He wanted to make this all disappear for her.

She spun around, ready to snap and then stopped herself. “I can’t, Derek. Just…”

When Derek decided to confront Alana, he assumed this is how it would end - with Juliet getting her heart broken. Alana’s facade was transparent as hell to everyone that wasn’t clouded by familial ties. He also wasn’t surprised that Juliet was now trying to keep him at arm’s length. Who wanted to have their heart shattered more after going through something like that?

But he wouldn’t hurt her. He wouldn’t do anything to harm a hair on her head. It didn’t matter though; he could see in her eyes she was still scared. “I’m here,” he said softly.

Turning her back toward the stairs, she slipped her hand lazily over the banister. “I know. I just...can’t talk right now. I can’t.”

-----

It’s not like she hadn’t felt like this before, but she hadn’t wanted to be here again, and yet here she was, walking through the motions and hoping that somehow, someway things might start to make sense again.

The last time she felt this way was after she tried to kill herself. It wasn’t the same situation, but somehow...it kind of was. A little piece of her had vanished. With her mother in and out of her life so frequently, there was a part of her heart that hoped that one day things would change - she would have that relationship with Alana.

For one brief month, she had it.

And then Alana ripped it away.

It was as if the last year and change had all been for nothing. She’d taken so many steps forward, and now it felt like she’d had all her pieces sent back to the start in a game of Sorry! And while Juliet knew that dealing with mental health issues wasn’t a linear process, having a set back like this felt so fucking terrible.

And of course, Derek had been a saint the entire time. And she hated him more for it.

Juliet barely spoke to him unless it was important and yet there he was every morning when she rolled over in bed, looking at her with those kind, dark eyes, telling her that he loved her. No matter how much she ignored him or lashed out, he stayed.

It just wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that he got to hurt her like this, by being the perfect boyfriend.

First he’d been right about her piece of trash mother and now he was walking around the house like some Mother-fucking-Teresa.

It should have made her feel good. But all it did was make Juliet feel worthless. He was so together and she didn’t even have a clue where to start piecing herself back together.

Besides Derek, the two people she knew that had stitched their lives back together over and over again were Spencer and Emily. Maybe she needed to talk to one of them. Juliet knew that feeling the way she was feeling about Derek - begrudging him for being so calm and collected in this shitstorm - it wasn’t right.

Objectively, Derek Morgan was the best thing that had ever happened to her, and she couldn’t lose him because her brain was twisting up the wires in an attempt to unravel them.

Spencer was wonderful, but somehow talking about her relationship with Derek seemed out of the question, but Emily would know what to do. At least she’d listen if nothing else.

J: Hey. Can we get together for coffee and talk? I need to vent.

E: Where and when?

-----

45 minutes later they were sitting in the corner at Java Jive.

“And it’s just so confusing, Em! I’m pissed off at him for not protecting me from my mother but then I also explicitly told him my relationship with her was none of his business so technically he did what I asked him to. But now I’m upset he listened to me. But I should want him to listen to me, right? And it’s good that he does, it’s healthy and shows he respects me as a person. But I also want him to just take care of me. And then when he tries to it frustrates me. What I’m trying to say is that I want what I want but I also don’t want what I want and I definitely don’t want what I don’t what, unless I do want it, you know?”

Emily just stared at Juliet in awe for a second. It felt like she had been talking for a solid two minutes - without breathing. It was fine. She was a fantastic listener. It was just physically astounding. “Are you done with your train of thought? I don’t want to interrupt if you need to get more out.”

“I think so. Honestly I started this train of thought the second my mother left and it hasn’t stopped. So you’d be doing me a favor by interrupting.” Juliet sighed rolling her eyes.

If anyone knew about not being able to identify their feelings after a tragedy, it was Emily Prentiss. “Well, I happen to be well-versed in dealing with fuckery. We need to get your true and honest feelings about everything so I propose a little game.” Juliet looked a bit apprehensive, but she nodded for her to continue. “I want you to clear your mind. Close your eyes. I mean right here. Close your eyes and focus on one sound.”

For about two minutes, Emily sat there waiting until it looked like Juliet might be receptive. “Answer without hesitation, okay?”

“Okay,” she muttered.

“Are you mad at Derek?”

“Yes, but I don’t like myself for it.”

“Are you mad at your mother?”

“Mad doesn’t cover it.”

“Good, good.” Progress. “Do you hate Derek?”

“No! God no.”

Also good. Derek was one of Emily’s best friends so that would kind of suck. “Do you hate your mother?”

“Big time.”

“Would you ever give your mother a chance at a relationship with you again?”

“When hell freezes over. And if that does happen, then still no.”

Ah, she knew the feeling well. “Do you still want to be with Derek?” She asked, her voice softening.

Juliet just nodded. “I love him, Em. I want him for as long as he’ll have me.”

“He’ll have you forever,” Emily replied. She could see without a shadow of a doubt that Morgan was in love. “I think you have your answer. You’re going to need to work through what happened with your mother, but you don’t have to do it alone. And it doesn’t seem like you want to.”

-----

“Somehow I get the feeling you aren’t as excited about dark matter as you sounded on the phone.” Spencer frowned, taking back a book from Derek who hadn’t gotten past the title page.

“I’m sorry kid. I just needed to get out of the house.” He sighed heavily.

Spencer’s eyebrows quirked. “You didn’t have to pretend to like dark matter to come over.”

“I know. I know. I’m an idiot.”

“You aren’t an idiot. You have a fairly high IQ. What makes you say you’re an idiot when it’s blatantly inaccurate?”

Derek couldn’t help but laugh into his hands. “Kid, I don’t mean it literally. I mean, I do, but not like that.”

“How then?”

Reid always took things painfully literally. “I mean when it comes to Juliet. Her mother broke her heart and of course she’s going to need time to heal from that. But I’m there, and I feel like I’m doing all the right things and she’s barely spoken to me. And then that makes me angry. But I shouldn’t feel angry! She’s the one who got her heart broken, not me. And then I feel guilty! What I mean to say is that for all the intelligence I do have, I have no idea how to handle my own girlfriend’s feelings.”

“I’m supposed to help, right? That wasn’t rhetorical?” Spencer clarified.

In spite of it all, Derek found himself laughing. “Yeah, Reid. If you can.”

“Oh. I definitely can’t.”

“Then how can you help?”

“I said I can’t. That doesn’t mean philosophy can’t.” His friend explained, straightening the collar of his sweater-vest.

Derek huffed, his lips turning upward into a smile. “You have some philosophical quote that can help me?”

“Possibly. I find them helpful. And at the very least if it doesn’t solve the problem, you’ve become better for it.”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a little odd?”

“Yes, at least several hundred times,” Spencer nodded.

“Okay kid, lay the Socrates on me.” Derek chuckled.

“It’s the Dalai Lama actually. He said ‘love is the absence of judgement.’’

The kid looked pleased with himself.

“How is that supposed to help me?” Derek asked honestly.

Reid sat back against his chair and smiled. “It’s supposed to help because that doesn’t just mean not judging Juliet for her emotions after all this. It’s natural. But the thing is yours are too. You need to stop being so hard on yourself for the feelings this whole situation has brought up. They’re complicated, but they’re human. Do you love her?”

“With every fiber of my body, kid.”

“And do you think she still loves you? Despite the fact that you haven’t spoken for the past few days?”

Derek took a deep cleansing breath. “Yeah, I do.”

“Then that’s it,” Reid replied. “Next time you speak, tell her that you have a lot of feelings about this too. That you want to talk about them, but only when she’s ready. And that you’ll get through it together. If you love her and she loves you, then that’s where you need to start.”

“I’m gonna hug you now, okay?”

“Okay.”

-----

In trying to give the other time to get home, they managed to show up at the front door at the exact same moment.

“Hi.”

“Hey. Can we talk?”

She nodded, opening the door. “I’d like that. I’d really like that.”

@witchythorn @crimeshowtrash @literallyprentissstwin @jazz91121 @tommyhollandd @spencer-puppies-and-stuff @fl0werb0nes18 @stunudo @spencerthepipecleaner @theofficeofsupremegenius @ultrarebelheart @lookwhatyoumademequeue @lukeassmanalvez @mentallydatingspencerreid @nobravery @criminal-anatomy @matthew-gray-reidler @remember-me-forever-silent-angel @original-criminal-fanfics @lovelukealvez @stories-you-wont-hear @speedreiding @marvelfanlife @butsomeofusarelookingatthestars @wonderboygenius @naturallytom @imagines-for-criminal-minds @acespence @sweater-vest-reid @criminalmindskeepsmealive @spenncerreiid @sam-carter-in-training @parker-hopper @spencerwreid @ssahotchner @profiler-in-training @were-skye @trollitis @heyboywonder @ficrecswithcassie @janiedreams88@gingeraleandcontemplation @cynbx @fortheloveofspencerreid @tippy06 @cleocc @bestillmystuckyheart @ssaunitchief @xxm3xxj @xocriminal-minds-imaginesxo

#derek morgan #derek morgan x oc #derek morgan x juliet hunter lewis #derek morgan fanfiction #derek morgan fanfic #derek morgan fic #dontshootmespence #veroinnumera #broken homes fix broken hearts

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fanficsareruiningme · 6 years

Text

When She Was There

Excerpt: “It seemed that the three years you had been gone hadn’t left you vacant from your neighbor’s memories. And although everyone remembered you, you couldn’t place the dark car that trailed behind the two of you as you jogged. It turned down a side road when you looked back at it and, even though it was out of sight, the hairs on the back of your neck didn’t lie flat. But it was gone, so you decided not to tell Yugyeom, despite the uneasy feeling that had settled in your stomach.”

Summary: Y/N is an up and coming model who is going through some hardships in her personal life. With someone close to her dying, she must travel with her ex-bodyguard and stay on good terms even when the past nags at her. What happens when she gets too close after a surprising lie? And is she actually safe even with a bodyguard?

A/N: Hearts are there to show time breaks

❤

“No.” Pausing, you cocked your head to the side, wondering if you had heard correctly.

“I’m sorry, sir, but did you say no?”

“Yes. I did. Your bodyguard is out of the country and I’m afraid we have no one to go with you to protect you. I’m terribly sorry, but I can’t allow you to go knowing you could be in danger.” Frustration bubbled up in your chest, leaving you ready to scream about how unfair it was that you couldn’t go see your dying grandmother. But, you managed to hold back, biting the inside of your lip as you nodded and stood from your chair. Just as you placed your hand on the doorknob to leave, your boss called out to you.

“Ms. Y/L/N, I’m sorry, but could I have a few more moments of your time?” Turning back around, you retraced your steps to the chair. “It seems I was too quick to dismiss your request. I do, in fact, have one person who could fill the role of your bodyguard while you’re away. I overlooked him due to the fact that he was supposed to attend a gala- never mind, I’m sure you have no interest in that. I apologize. If you so wish, you may go with our head of security. The two of you would be flying overnight to your destination and can take as long as needed, with the exception that that time does not exceed five weeks.”

Quickly, you accepted the offer, thanking him multiple times until he subtly dismissed you.

❤

Having spent most of the night packing, wringing your hands, unpacking and repacking, you weren’t surprised when you arrived at the airport later that same night nearly dead on your feet. You should have napped, but all you could do was worry. As soon as you arrived, an unnecessary hour before you were supposed to, you texted your manager to get details.

She quickly informed you that you would be escorted by Kim Yugyeom, the head of security at the company you worked under. Of course, she gave you a brief description of what he looked like, but you didn’t need it; You already knew him, although a couple of years had lapsed in the time since you had last seen him.

He wasn’t due to arrive for a while, so you allowed your self to drift off in your memories of him.

*When you had first entered the company, you had found it difficult to transition. You came from a moderate income household where you lived with your grandmother and an old tabby cat that seemed to live longer than any of your neighbors stayed. When you weren’t in school, you were helping her with chores. So you had gone from a simple routine to a loud, busy lifestyle over night.

Suddenly, you had a strict schedule, diet and work out times. By the time you made it back to your dorm, you collapsed onto your twin bed in the room you shared with three other girls.

You had been in the company for four months when someone set fire to your dorm. The police suspected a girl who had been sending threats to the company after she was rejected, but they didn’t have any evidence, so she wasn’t arrested. It was then that it was decided all models would have their own personal body guard.

You had been assigned Kim Yugyeom and you had gotten along with him- at first.

The problems began right before your first big photo shoot was released. It was your last session and Yugyeom had stepped out to make a call. You hadn’t even noticed until you were getting a touch up on your makeup. You could see the crew standing behind you through the mirror, gesturing towards you and snickering. They were far enough away that you couldn’t hear what they were saying, but you had a feeling you didn’t want to know anyway. Watching them made you uneasy and as you turned to tell Yugyeom, you realized he wasn’t there. You also realized you were in a room full of men, except for your stylist and makeup artist.

“I’ll be right back. I need to use the restroom.” She nodded absently, so you slipped from the chair and into the hallway.

Wondering the hallways, frustrated, you felt your stomach sink as a pair of footsteps followed you around every corner. Soon, you came to a dead end. Your heartbeat kicked as you spun around. Your exit was blocked by one of the men who had been heckling you. You tried to squeeze past, but instead found yourself pressed to the wall, his hands on your hips.

He leaned forward, lips ghosting over yours and a scream lodged itself in your throat. You whipped your head to the side just in time. His overly moist lips made landed on your cheek and his hand flew up to grip your chin. He turned your face to his and just as he leaned back in, Yugyeom called out for you.

The man backed off, reaching up to press a finger to his lips. “Better keep this between us. Unless you want something to happen to your friend out there.” He let go of you, taking several step back while his eyes stayed glued to you.

Yugyeom called out again and you scurried towards the sound of his voice. “What are you doing over here?” You murmured about a bathroom, keeping your eyes on his shoes. Your face burned with shame and embarrassment. A man who was nearly ten years older than you had touched you. You weren’t even legal. The thought made you want to curl into yourself and cry. As you gathered the courage to look up, the man walked by. He had a self satisfied smile painted over his features and you averted your eyes to Yugyeom, who was glancing between you and the man. Long after the man was gone, the two of you stood silently in the corridor, him staring intently at you while you stared just as intently at the ground.

“Come on.” He led you back to the room and stood to the side as you finished the shoot. As soon as it was over, you were by his side, ready to go home.

This seemed to concern him, “You don’t want to look at the picture?” You whispered about being tired. Just then, a roar of loud laughter sounded from behind you and tears began to gather in your eyes. Bowing your head, you led the way to the door, Yugyeom trailing behind. By the time you got to the car, it was like something had clicked in his brain and his whole demeanor changed. He was cold towards you, answering any questions curtly.

He thought you were dirty, degraded. The thought made you want to throw up. Because it was true. At 18, you were no longer innocent.

It had taken a long time for you to move on, to change the way you thought of yourself, but you did. The only one you couldn’t convince was Yugyeom. He was frigid, completely ignoring you if he felt that he didn’t have to answer. There was times where he acted like he did before the incident and you began to think you were finally repairing the rift that had split open between you, but then he’d suddenly shut down. This continued for nearly a year until he was promoted and in that time, you began to resent him.*

Of course, not all your memories of him were bad.

*He had been a great friend.

On bad days, the days you wanted to quit and go home or when you got yelled at for making a mistake, he was there to make sure you were okay. You could talk to him, or as more often than not- not. You could just sit there in silence, side by side as you stared at the wall.

Other times, he made sure you left your dorm.

One of the fondest memories you had of him was when he had shown up on your day off. The other girls were already gone, to photo shoots or whatever they had to do. You were still in bed, dressed in the clothes you had had on the day before from a mini shoot. You didn’t hear him unlock the front door, trapeze through your destroyed living room or curse loudly when he kicked the end of your bed. Actually, he had told you (complained excessively whenever you annoyed him or there was a pause in the conversation) that it had taken him ten minutes to wake you up. When he did manage to get you up, he had ordered you to dress comfortably and clunked his way back through the living room.

When you had finished changing, you found him staring into your fridge with his jaw on the floor.

“Are you okay?” You asked as you saddled up next to him.

“Absolutely not! Have you seen your fridge? It’s practically empty. How do you live like this? There’s no meat, no bread, no junk food. What do you even eat?” He turned to look at you, a less than pleased expression painted on his face.

“Well, we have high protein food, things with little or no calories and fruits. That’s mostly it, but we do have other things. Actually, I need to go to the store. It’s my turn to restock. We have to stay skinny- yes, no matter how much you don’t like it,” you headed him off as soon as you saw his jaw muscle jump. He had been nagging you to eat more. “We even do cleanses and stuff like that. Wheat grass, strawberry and lemon waters, stuff like that. Not so different from yours. Only difference is you can binge eat junk without consequences. Did you come over just to discuss what’s in my fridge?”

His eyes lit up. “No, I didn’t. You finally have a day off, so I knew you’d spend it locked up in here sleeping. As the amazing person I am, I came to force you to do something. You always complain that you don’t do anything other than work, so I’m going to make sure you have fun.” With that, he grabbed your wrist and the grocery list on the door and dragged you out of the dorm, despite your weak protests.

The two of you hopped on a bus to the store. During the ride, he made commentary on the other people on the bus as though he was a sports announcer. By the time you stepped of the bus, you were practically crying and he was rubbing his arm from where you had repeatedly punched him when he made a particularly loud joke. As soon as you reached the nearly empty store, he hopped into a cart.

“Yugyeom, what are you doing? You’re going to get us kicked out!” You whispered furiously as he turned to smile at you.

“Oh, hush. Push the cart. We’re not going to get in trouble, you big baby.” Exasperatedly, you pushed the cart down a aisle way. You must have been quite the sight; a small girl shoving along a cart that overflowed with a nearly grown man’s limbs. You could barely get it to move. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for you to get everything you needed and you checked out. The elderly woman who rung you up smiled fondly at you as Yugyeom tried to pull himself out. Instead, he face planted and embarrassedly ushered you from the store as you cackled.

Then, you dropped off the bags at your dorm and you were off again.

It seemed that Yugyeom’s idea of making you do things wasn’t as bad as you had thought it would be. He took you to an art museum, then a history one. Next was lunch, where he forced you to order something greasy. After that, you wondered around a used item store until the owner kicked you out to close. By then, the two of you realized you had missed the last bus, so you had to walk back to your dorm. Of course, somehow, that turned out amazing too. The sun was setting as you reached the Han River. You walked along it, avoiding joggers, couples and tourists.

The sight of the pink sky reflecting on the waters surface caused a tidal wave of guilt to wash over your stomach. You had taken up his entire day off so selfishly, not giving a second thought to the fact that he might have had better ways to spend it. You should have been more insistent on leaving earlier. Next to you, Yugyeom stopped to look out over the water. You backtracked to him.

“Do you know how to skip a rock?” He asked, turning his head to look at you.

“Yeah. There was a small pond near where we lived. I taught myself when I saw a group of kids doing it one day. I also taught my older brother. He never really was one for anything physical or outdoor-sy, but he did have a talent for skimming.” You smiled at the thought, missing the way Yugyeom stared at you silently. It wasn’t often that you talked about your home or family, so when you did, he made a point to listen intently without interrupting.

When you stopped speaking, he grabbed your hand and led you off the path to the water side. He stooped down and grabbed a handful of rocks, offering some to you. The two of you skipped rocks until you could no longer see the rocks on the water’s surface and were counting skips by listening for the splashes. After that, he walked you back to your dorm and bid you goodbye with a hair tousle and the promise of seeing you early the next morning.

That wasn’t the only time he sabotaged your days off and as bad as you felt for keeping him from his life, you couldn’t help the rush of excitement you felt when the front door swung open. You felt equally as stupid when he didn’t come for you and you were sat on the couch, bright and early, fully dressed.

You snapped out of you thoughts when someone plopped down in the chair next to yours. Sitting up, you glanced at the person next to you. There was no denying that you knew him; Yugyeom looked almost exactly the same. He had lost some of his baby fat that was replaced with hard muscle, his hair was blonde and he had grown a lot, but you could still tell it was him. For a second, you thought he was going to treat you coldly, but that was wiped away when he smiled at you.

“Hi, Y/N. Its been a while.” You smiled back, turning your body to face him.

“Yeah, it has. Like three years now? How have you been? I heard you got promoted to head of security last year.” You made small talk for a while until they called for boarding to begin and you were on the plane, his cologne drifting over to you from his spot next to you. It was the same one he had worn for years, the one you had bought him after telling him you couldn’t stand his preferred one.

“Okay, so I know this might be a sensitive topic, but I have no idea where or why we’re going.”

You hesitated, dropping your eyes to your lap before glancing back up. He was watching you waiting for an answer.

“It’s my grandma. She’s really sick. Well, she’s been sick for a long time, but recently it has gotten worse. Her doctor told her she wouldn’t make it to the end of the month. She was diagnosed the year before I came to Seoul, but she never told me what it was. Actually, she’s the reason I became a model. All of her friends were richer and liked to rub things in. My grandma wanted to be able to say “Look there! That’s my granddaughter. Yes, she is very successful.” I like to think I lived up to her expectations. I haven’t seen her since she dropped me off at the train station. I don’t remember what her smile looks like, not that she smiled a lot before I left. I just wish I had tried harder to go see her. It seemed every time I tried there was a new photo shoot, or a diet, or I was flying out of the country.“

You fell silent, worrying your hands in your lap. He didn’t say anything for a while. When he finally spoke, he was so quiet that you almost didn’t hear him.

“I think she’s proud of you, too.” Those simple words sent a fire spreading across your chest, but not a bad kind. It was more of like a comforting, reassuring one that was there to keep you going rather than to burn everything down.

❤

As soon as you stepped into the house, you were pulled into a rib busting hug by your younger cousin. “Y/N! I can’t believe you came and you brought someone with you.”

“Hey. I’ll tell you about that later. Where’s grandma?”

“In her room. She’s been very tired lately.” Nodding, you started down the hall to her room, pausing outside her door when Yugyeom followed close behind.

“What are you doing?” You asked scornfully.

“Your family is looking at me like they’re going to eat me. You’re not leaving me alone with them.” He was right. You could see all three of your cousins peering down the hallway at him, wearing various expressions that said the same thing; if they got him alone, he was a goner.

“Fine. Just be quiet.” He nodded, stepping into the room behind you.

“Hey, grandma.” You said gently, sitting on the bedside chair. The sight of her lying weakly in the bed made you heart squeeze. It contrasted so much with every memory that you had of her that you almost didn’t believe it was your grandma in the bad. Here eyes opened slowly, drifting to you.

“Hello, flower. It’s so good to see you.” Her voice was breathy, but somehow still managed to fill the room with a warmth only she could emit. “Oh, and who’s this?” She was squinting at Yugyeom, who stood at attention behind your shoulder. Her eyes held a bright twinkle when they turned back to you.

“Oh, sorry. This is Yugyeom, my-” Before you could finish, she gasped, hand flaying up to catch your.

“You’re married!” You nearly choked, eyes flying to where her fingers were twisting your ring. It was a simple band with a small diamond. Your right knuckle had swollen, so you had absently slid it on your left hand. Before you could deny it, she began to gush. “This is wonderful. I should have known with the way the two of you bickered at the door- the way your grandfather and I used too. And you’re such a lovely couple. No, not lovely. Exquisite!” She smiled, eyelids drooping from excitement.

“Thank you, ma’am. We’re going to step out so you can sleep now, but it was nice meeting you.” You turned to stare incredulously at Yugyeom, who had placed his hand s on your shoulders when he began to speak. He pulled you up from your chair and guided you from the room.

As soon as you deemed it safe, you wrenched yourself from his grip and whipped around angrily. “Kim Yug-” Once again, you were interrupted, this time by his hand covering your mouth. As you contemplated biting his hand, he nodded to the door.

Pulling in a deep breath, you spun around on your heel and marched to the door. Yugyeom trailed behind you, gently closing the door behind himself.

“Okay. Before you yell at me, let me explain.” He raised his hands in defense as you huffed, knowing that you preferred to skip straight to the yelling. “You said on the way here that you hadn’t seen her smile since she got sick right? I saw that smile and I also saw your face when it appeared. I know we’re not really friends and we don’t really know each other, but I don’t want to see you cry. We both know you would have if you’d have had to explain to her that we’re not actually married. I’m sorry if I crossed a line, but you looked distressed.”

Sighing, you ran a hand through your hair. On one side, you were lying, plain and simple. But on the other hand, your grandmother was happy and proud. You also knew that you couldn’t be the one to take that away from her, especially with her being as sick as she is. So, you pulled your eyes away from the ground to look at Yugyeom, who was staring anxiously at you. He looked almost like a little kid waiting for his mom to tell him if he could have a cookie, his lip caught between his teeth with wide eyes. You would have found it endearing if you weren’t still ever so slightly angry at him for putting you in this situation.

“Fine, but we can’t tell my cousins. They have mouths bigger than the ocean.”

He nodded, the tension in his shoulder dropping away. “Cool with me. That means they’ll back off and I won’t die on this trip. I also won’t have to put in for hazard pay because I got grouped by some overly excited women.”

You snickered. “Yeah, I’d go ahead and prepare to be grouped. Just stay close to me. They won’t do it if we’re in the same room. And speaking of same rooms, we’re married. That means they’ll expect us to share a room and a bed. And they’re going to be ready to see some couple-y things, so break out your romantic side, Kim. You’re going to need it.”

Smiling, he reached out a hand. You placed your hand in yours, his fingers curling around of your own. His hand was warm, but not sweaty. “Oh, get ready to be wooed. By the time this trip is over, you’re going to want to marry me. Let’s go so you can introduce me to your cousins, Sugar pie.” You cringed, watching in disgust as he cackled. “No? How about honey buns? Sweetheart? No?” You shook your head vigorously, wondering if his previous girlfriends had had to deal with the same thing.

“You’re right. We do need to go inside. I can see my cousins pressed against the window over your shoulder.” It was true; they were trying so hard to eavesdrop that their breath was fogging the glass.

“Okay, one more question. How much skin ship is too much?” His cheeks were dusted a light pink and his grip on your hand tightened as he spoke, but he kept eye contact with you. The question caught you off guard as you’d never had an actual relationship before and none of your friends had either.

“Um, if it makes you uncomfortable, don’t do it. I don’t really have any experience with dating. I’m very busy, so I never really put much effort into it.” The thought made you laugh and Yugyeom looked at you as though you were insane. “Sorry, it’s just- I went from never having a boyfriend, never being asked out and never even being kissed to suddenly being married.”

“What? You’ve never been kissed? But, you’re… huh.” You waited for him to continue his sentence, but he just stood there quietly, his hand clamped around yours. The two of you remained that way as a black car rolled past slowly.

“Seriously, I think we should go inside. If they lean on that window anymore, it’ll break.” He agreed, walking slower to stay next to you. His long legs moved lazily towards the house and for a second, you agreed with your grandmother; The two of you would have made an exquisite couple.

“Hey, if we’re married, shouldn’t you have a ring, too?” He side eyed you, a smile spreading slowly across his face. He reached into the neck of his shirt and pulled a necklace out. On the chain was a ring, a simple golden band that had a couple of dings and scratches.

“It was my great grandfather’s. He gave it to my mother because she was so strong headed that he was sure she would be the one to propose to my father. He was wrong. My dad beat her to it by 2 days apparently. She gave it to me.” He slipped it off the necklace and onto his ring finger, careful not to let your hand go for even a second.

“Your mom sounds amazing.” He smiled again, turning his head to look down at you.“Yeah, she is. She’d love you.” Before you could respond, he opened the door and pulled you inside. Your cousins stood oh so casually in the kitchen, acting as though they hadn’t just had their faces pressed to the glass in curiosity. “Y/N, you didn’t tell us you were in a relationship! When did this happen?” Your oldest cousin, Eun, pounced on you as soon as she saw your hand in Yugyeom’s.

“Uh,” You glanced sideways at him. He nodded encouragingly, waiting for you to answer. “Well, we’ve known each other since I moved to Seoul. We worked together. Actually, he was my first body guard when I moved until he was promoted to security expert for the company. We stayed in touch and eventually, I asked him out. He’s very shy. But he was the one who asked me to marry him, so I guess we both did the work.” His hand shook in yours as he tried not to laugh. You were also struggling not to burst into laughter, but you hid it well with a wide smile as you turned to look up at Yugyeom.

Your cousins gasped, flying forward to look at the ring on your finger. They seemed a little disappointed with how small it was. It was clear that they expected more from you because you were a model, but you liked your ring. You had gotten it as a self treatment after the incident. Actually, Yugyeom had gone with you and had been the one who pointed it out.“You got married? Why didn’t you invite us? How big was the wedding?”

Yugyeom jumped in, “We decided to elope. The only ones there were us and our two witnesses.”

“And who were they?” You smirked up at him, teasing him for his lack of detail.

“Uh, I’m not entirely sure. I was too busy staring at my beautiful bride.” He gave you a sappy smile, wiggling his eyebrows. Your cousins sighed as though what he said was the most romantic thing they had ever heard. It would have been for you too, if you didn’t know that what he said was a lie.

“Okay, so what’s for dinner?” You asked, watching the way they scrambled back like you had suggested you were going to cook.

Hye grinned at you and said, “Don’t worry about it. We’ll whip something up. Did she tell you about the time she nearly burned down the house trying to figure out how to work the old stove?” She smiled maliciously when he shook his head. Motioning to the kitchen table, she sat down. He followed suit, pulling you along. By the time the two of you made it to the table, all the seats were taken. Smirking at you, he sat down, then tugged at your hand. You flew forward until he caught you by the waist and spun you around. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you down to sit on his lap. You could feel the blood rushing to your cheeks, warmth spreading through you as his chest pressed to your back.

As you sat there, trying to control your body temperature, your cousins took turns telling your cooking horror stories. He seemed to be enjoying the, his whole body shaking as he laughed. Occasionally, he’d bury his face against your shoulder, snorting into the fabric after a particularly funny and embarrassing tale. Mercifully, Hye declared the three of them had to start dinner.

After they got up, Yugyeom leaned forward and whispered, “I’m so glad I never let you cook.” His warm breath sent shivers through your body, the tips of your ears and neck turning red again.

Turning your head to where he had rested his chin on your shoulder, you whispered back defensively, “Hey, I’ve gotten a lot better! I take cooking classes now. And they over exaggerated! I didn’t burn all my hair off. I just singed a bit at the bottom and had to get a trim. It was barely noticeable.” He just hummed in agreement, nodding as he cut his eyes to you. The smirk he flashed you made you want to clip him on the back of his head. Instead, you got up- or at least, tried to. As soon as Yugyeom felt you move, he tightened his grip on you and shifted, assuming you were trying to get comfortable.

“We need to go get our bags from the car and get settled in.” He nodded, hands sliding down your sides to grip your hips. Heaving you into the air, he set you on your feet, which had been dangling embarrassingly far from the ground. You retrieved your bags in silence, broken only when Yugyeom muttered a ‘watch out’ and pressed you against the car when another came down the road. You led him back into the house and to your childhood room, where the two of you would be sleeping during your stay.

It was exactly how you remembered it; dusk pink walls, white curtains, a queen bed pushed against the far wall. Next to it, right in front of the window was a white desk, the top overflowing with notebooks, stray papers and shriveled flowers.

“Is this your old room?” You nodded, throwing your bag onto the bed. Dust flew up, filtering through the air to settle back in place. The only thing in the room that wasn’t dusty was the old rocking chair in the corner. Yugyeom stood next to you, head swiveling as he took everything in as well. “Is that you?” He was pointing to the other wall. It was covered in old photos that were peeling away from the wall. The one he was pointing to was of you, one of your favorites.

“Yeah. I used to dance. Not hip hop or anything. Classical, modern, tumbling. I won second place and at first I was so disappointed. But then my grandma and brother came down the aisle way, smiling as though I had won the world and everything was okay. They bought me that turntable as a surprise. I stopped dancing the year after.” The turntable was next to the bed, an old shelf holding your favorite vinyls.

“Does this still work?” He ran a finger along the edge, glancing over his shoulder to look at you.

“Uh, I have no idea. I haven’t used it since I moved.” You crossed the room, reaching up to grab one of the vinyls. You put it on and listened for a second. It took a second, but the sound came out just as clearly as if you had bought it yesterday.

“Do you still dance?”

“No, not really.” He turned to look at you, waiting for you continue. “I don’t really have time anymore. I loved it, though. My brother used to let me stand on his shoes while I practiced waltzing. He couldn’t dance, but that was fine. I made up for it. I miss dancing.” The two of you stood there, listening to the music. Before you knew it, Yugyeom had reached over and pulled you towards him. Grabbing your other hand, he held it in position.

“I have no idea what I’m doing. I never was one for these kinds of dances. You’ll have to teach me. Besides, didn’t you say I’d have to woo you?” He smiled down at you, watching as you ducked your head. It seemed everything he did made you blush. Reaching down with your other hand, you readjusted his grip on your waist and placed it on his shoulder.

“Okay, follow my lead. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3… Good. Now a bit faster.” You led him through the steps, ignoring the creak of the door opening to peek up at him. He was intently watching the way your feet moved between and around his. The song came to an end and someone cleared their throat from the doorway. You tried to pull away, but he held tight to your hand.

“Dinner’s ready.” Eun smirked at you from where she was leaning against the doorway. She turned around and the two of you followed her, your hand warm in his hold. You soon found yourself on his lap again, listening to stories of your grandma. You couldn’t help the smile that crossed your face. Maybe things weren’t all bad.

❤

You were, of course, wrong.

The rest of the night went smoothly. You had spent a couple of hours on your grandma’s bedside, reading to her and talking to her until your own eyes grew heavy. You and Yugyeom had settled down into the bed after shaking out the covers and sheets. You had fallen asleep fairly quickly, but Yugyeom stayed up a bit later to read. You woke up the next morning early, just as Yugyeom’s alarm went off. He groaned, rolling over to bury his face into your pillow. Reaching over him, you turned the shrill sound off. Wiping your eyes, you sat up. Yugyeom curled further onto his side, moving his head from your pillow to your lap as you tried to get out of the bed.

“Yugyeom, wake up. I gotta get up.” He whined, pushing into your stomach. You shoved at his shoulder, a squeak leaving you as he gripped your thighs and yanked you down so that you were lying on the bed. He whined again, throwing his legs over yours as he rolled over onto you. Wrapping his arms around your waist, he turned to press his nose along your neck.

“No… You’re warm and cuddly. Don’t go.” He pouted, something you felt rather than saw. Sighing, you wiggled under him.

“Yugyeom, we both have to get up. There’s a reason you had an alarm set for this early. What do you need to do?” Squeezing tighter, he shook his head.

“Nope. I’m stronger than you and if I want to stay in bed, you’re just gonna have to stay here with me.” He sounded smug, confident in the fact that he was bigger and stronger than you. Sighing, you wrapped your arms around his waist, feeling the way he snuggled closer to you sleepily. It took everything in you not to bust out laughing right there. After calming yourself down a bit, you made your move. As quickly as possible, you rocked to one side, then used the momentum of Yugyeom’s body to roll him over. In the process, you broke the hold he had on your waist and ended up straddling him. He stared up at you, mouth open as you stuck your tongue out at him. Leaning down, you let your face hover above his.

“The next time you claim to be stronger than someone you might want to have proof. Now, make sure you’re up by the time I get out of the bathroom. That should give you time to, ahem, calm down.” Sitting up, you waited for a fast comeback like ”Maybe I don’t want to calm down” or something similar, but instead, he continued to stare up at you. Deciding that the amount of time you had spent on top of him was inappropriate, you swung yourself off the bed, grabbed some work out clothes and headed to the bathroom.

Once you were in, you shut and locked the door behind you. Pressing your back to the door, you rubbed your hands over your face. The quiet rustling of clothes told you Yugyeom was up. Moving quickly, you pulled on your work out clothes, washed your face, and brushed your teeth. Pulling your hair back into a ponytail, you sighed, wondering how you had ended up straddling your fake husband in your grandmother’s house. It wasn’t what you had expected to be doing at 6 am and you really weren’t expecting the race of your heart when he looked up at you as your thighs sat on either side of his waist. The small ring on your finger burned, reminding you that everything he said and did was a lie, even in private.

Opening the door, you found yourself face to face- well, face to chest with Yugyeom, who dramatically huffed and gripped your hand. Dragging you to the kitchen, he whined, “Finally! Took you long enough.” You had thought the two of you would be the only ones awake, but Eun sat at the kitchen table, sipping coffee.

Wrinkling her nose as you came in, she asked, “Are you one of those couples who do those cute, couple-y work outs?”

Yugyeom grinned, watching as you leaned down to pull on your running shoes. “Yep. Beating her is good motivation.”

You snorted, “Oh, please. You wish you could beat me.” Standing, you smirked at him as he stepped closer, causing you to have to tilt your head back to see his smug face.

“Is that a challenge?”

“We can make it one.” You couldn’t help the competitive feeling from welling up in your stomach. That was one of you fatal flaws; you never were one to back down from a challenge.

“Okay, loser makes breakfast. Winner gets…”

“Kiss!” Eun whisper-shouted from the table, breaking both of you from your staring contest as you turned to look at her. You had actually forgot that she was in the room.

“Yeah. A kiss. That’s a great idea.” This time he was the one smirking at you. Shifting uncomfortably, you gulped. You knew you should back down, but there was a part of you that wanted to win, to beat him at something.

“Okay. You’re on.” He didn’t move, staring down at you as you quirked an eyebrow at him. “You gonna move or are you gonna stand there all day staring?” Smiling, he turned and trotted to the front door.

“So how far are we going to go?” He asked as the two of you stretched on the front lawn.

“I normally do 2 miles and then 2 miles back.” He nodded and the two of you lapsed into silence.

The two of you jogged the entire four miles, neither of you talking. At least, not to each other. Occasionally, you’d pass someone on the street and they’d call out to you. It seemed that the three years you had been gone hadn’t left you vacant from your neighbors’ memories. And although everyone remembered you, you couldn’t place the dark car that trailed behind the two of you as you jogged. It turned down a side road when you looked back at it and, even though it was out of sight, the hairs on the back of your neck didn’t lay flat. But it was gone, so you decided not to tell Yugyeom, despite the uneasy feeling that had settled in your stomach. By the time you arrived back at the house, you had barely began to break a sweat.

“I don’t think either of us lost. Who’s going to make breakfast?”

“We both will.” He opened the door and waited for you to walk in before following. Eun, Hye, and Jinho sat at the table, each of them staring at their phones. They looked up as you came in, eyebrows quirked. “Neither of us lost, so we’re both going to make breakfast.”

“After I shower. I didn’t last night and I feel gross.” Toeing your shoes off, you reached up to pull you hair from its ponytail. Heading down the hall, you listened to Yugyeom’s footsteps follow you to the bedroom. Gathering a pair of pajama shorts and a pull over sweater, you turned to find Yugyeom directly behind you. He stepped forward, all traces of his playful smile gone, and leaned forward to place his hands on either sides of the desk behind you. The edge of the desk dug into your lower back as you tipped your head back to meet his stare. “Hello, Yugyeom. Do you need something?”

“Yeah. I said neither of us lost, not neither of us won. We still get the reward.” Another step put his feet between yours and his thigh rubbing against the inside of yours. The tips of your ears burned, spreading down your neck to disappear under your shirt. It took you a second to find your voice, but when you spoke it came out stronger than you were expecting.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you only agreed to that to convince Eun we’re married. Now move. I wasn’t kidding when I said I feel gross.” He didn’t say anything, eyes searching your face. Finally, he leaned down until you could feel his breath fan out over your face. You knew he couldn’t feel yours. You had stopped breathing a while ago. He bypassed your face and pressed his nose against your neck. It made you think back to earlier in the morning, when he had done the same thing in his more than half asleep state. This felt completely different, from the way his body was rubbing against yours to the way his lips pressed to your neck as he pulled in a deep breath.

“You smell fine to me. Like flowers and fresh cut grass. You sure know a lot of people who like to cut they’re grass at 6:30 in the morning. Not what I want to talk about right now, though.”

You spoke up when he didn’t continue. “What do you want to talk about?” He dragged the tip of his nose along the curve of you neck to your ear, your eyes drifting closed. You had to fight to keep your head from falling, but lost the same war with your mouth as his lips pressed a ghost like kiss to the skin under your ear.

“I don’t.” He pushed closer, something you had thought wouldn’t be possible. The air crackled with tension as neither of you moved or spoke. The only thing that broke the silence was Yugyeom snorting out a laugh. You weren’t expecting it, especially when his head fell to your shoulder and his body shook with laughter against yours. He was laughing at you. You could feel the embarrassment welling up in your stomach. He had led you on, done all those things and now he was laughing at you. He was going to pull back, look you in the face, make fun of you and you were probably going to cry. Actually, you were sure you could feel tears gathering in your eyes as he managed to control his laughter.

“This was not where we should have done this. The man who lives across the street is losing his mind and I think he just went inside to get his wife. I can’t breathe. I’m sorry. We’ll have to finish this later. I can’t focus on anything other than the way his face scrunched. He’s gonna press charges.” His ramblings launched him into another round of laughter and had you scrambling to look over your shoulder. Yugyeom was right; the man who lived across the street, who you had known since you were four, had gone inside to get his wife and they were both shouting at you and Yugyeom from their lawn. They were shouting very different things, but both made you want to crawl into bed and never come back out. To say that you were embarrassed that someone you had known for nearly 20 years had caught you pinned to a desk while you waited for him to make a move was an understatement.

Groaning, you dropped your head, turning to bury it in Yugyeom’s shoulder so that you didn’t have to face him. He had gotten control of himself and leaned back to look at you. “Ugh, that’s so embarrassing. I’m never going to be able to look either of them in the eye.” Or you, for that matter.

“I can’t believe she’s on her front lawn, shouting at you to get some because she can’t. This is hilarious, but not the best timing. I wasn’t kidding. Once I can control my face, we’re going to continue this discussion.” He pulled back farther, the warmth of his body lingering against you. He smiled at you, one that seemed charming, but held something predatory behind it. Turning on his heel, he left you pressed to the desk and headed down the hall to the living room. You took a second to collect yourself. You listened to Eun and Jinho talking to Yugyeom while your heartbeat slowed to a somewhat acceptable pace. You couldn’t believe you had let that happen. Shaking the thoughts of the encounter from your head as best as you could, you picked up your clothes from where you had dropped them and slipped into the bathroom.

When you finished, you slid down the hallway in your socks, towel drying your hair. Yugyeom looked up as you came in, the look that flashed through his eyes making you glad you had taken a boiling shower. You didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing you blush for the hundredth time that day. It was barely 8 am, but you were exhausted.

“Ugh, finally! Now you can make breakfast.” Hye exclaimed as you entered the room. You rolled your eyes at her, knowing she’d probably already eaten. Yugyeom stood from his chair and made his way to where you were standing. You stood there for a second before he smirked and placed his hands on you shoulders. Spinning you around, he led you into the kitchen. Neither of you spoke while you cooked, except to argue about how to do certain things. Mostly, you agreed, so you spent the time listening to the food cook and the small radio on the windowsill. The five of you ate, then migrated to the living room.

It was around that time that everything came crashing down around you.

Eun had excused herself a while ago to check on your grandmother, who was napping after breakfast. She came back, sniffling. When she pulled her eyes away from the ground, they were ready and glossy. Immediately, your stomach dropped and tears gathered in your own eyes. No one need her to say the words; you all knew that she was gone.

The next few hours were a blur of phone calls, planning and crying. The funeral was planned, everything paid for and someone was coming to pack the things that went to other people. The rest would be donated if it wasn’t claimed.

In the midst of the movement, you blocked everything out, dialing numbers and taking care of your grandmother’s estate. You called the lawyers, aunts, uncles and cousins. Never once did you pause, choosing instead to do even the tiniest of tasks like wiping down counters or stacking papers. You knew if you sat down, you weren’t going to stop the influx of emotions from overflowing. Finally, the sun was setting and everyone knew. Your cousins had piled up on the couch, tears pouring down their faces. Yugyeom sat on the chair opposite them, staring solemnly at the floor. He looked up when you walked in, but you kept your eyes down, choosing instead to troop down the hall to your room.

There you sat on the edge of your bed, head in your hands as you let the whirlwind of emotions overtake you. Tears spilled hotly over your cheeks and you struggled to pull in a breath. Your quiet, broken sobs masked the sound of Yugyeom’s footsteps, but you weren’t surprised when he was kneeling in front of you. He sat there for a while, just silently leaning his forehead against your knee as you cried.

Eventually, the tears stopped coming and you were left to paw at your itchy eyes.

“Hey,” Yugyeom whispered, rising from his no doubt uncomfortable position, “let’s go to sleep.” With that, he pulled you into a standing position and tugged you to the top of the bed. The two of you settled in, his arms wrapping around you naturally as though they always had. It didn’t take long for you to fall asleep. You were exhausted, a headache raged behind your eyes and your chest was tight.

You weren’t destined to get much sleep; your dreams ran rampant with your grandmother and Yugyeom, both of them just beyond your reach. By the time you got to them, they were transparent and when you reached out to touch them, your hand only found air. Waking up by yourself did nothing to qualm your fears.

❤

The next few days blurred together in a mush of tissues, crying and people. People overflowed the house, food overflowing the fridge and quiet whispers overflowed everywhere. Every time you turned around, there was another person who was sorry, another pie, another hand on your shoulder to comfort you. That was what you did. Comfort anyone who broke down. You had only allowed yourself that one night to grieve and then you had thrown yourself into helping everyone else.

Yugyeom was never too far away, trailing quietly behind you like a shadow. You supposed that was his job; to follow and protect. That was another thing you had yet to allow yourself to think about. As soon as you got back to Seoul, he was going to disappear.

Now, standing at the terminal waiting for your ride, you glanced over at him. He was busy on his phone. Just like he was stuck to you, his phone was stuck to his hand. You were beginning to wonder if you had ever seen him without it.

A honk tore your eyes from him to the sleek white car in front of you. Your company’s label was plastered on the side. Sliding into the back seat, you pulled your own phone from your jacket pocket. You had several texts from friends in Seoul, wanting to know where you were, if you were free Friday for their party. The answer was no and you doubted you ever would be. Partying was the life style of a model. They helped boost popularity and increase contacts, but more than anything, you hated them. Drunk people, sloppily trying to stay upright while maintaining a drink. You were looking forward to crawling into your bed and sleeping the rest of your life away.

It didn’t take long for you to arrive at your apartment. Bidding both Yugyeom and the driver, you noticed you got a more enthusiastic reply from the man behind the wheel than Yugyeom. He was too invested in his phone to even look up until you had slammed the door and were halfway to your doorman, who nodded politely and pulled open the door.

You fell into a routine as soon as you went back to work.

Wake up, get ready for work, go to work, come home, work out, shower, go to bed. Repeat for the next 5 months until your pattern was interrupted by a forced day off.

It was on this day off that everything changed.

You were in a pair of shorts and a tee, hair held back by a bandana. You were nearly finished deep cleaning your entire apartment when the door bell rang. This was one of the times that you cursed not having a peek hole. Not only could you not see who was at the door, but you had no idea who it could have been. You didn’t give your address to any of your friends.

Throwing open the door you were met with a bouquet of beautiful flowers, more specifically, your favorites, and a bright smile.

“I came to collect that reward.”

A scream of terror clung to your throat as his hands wrapped around it, slamming your door behind him as he shoved you back into your apartment.

#yugyeom #got7 yugyeom #got7 yugyeom fic #got7 fic #got7 yugyeom x reader #yugibear #fanficsareruiningme fic #my fic

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steam-powered · 6 years

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Home Sweet Home

The winds took her right to the rocky shores of Kul’Tiras, not a single cloud in the sky the entire trip. Despite her exhaustion, the sight of her home appearing on the horizon filled the young engineer with an indescribable feeling.

Everything was just as she’d left it.

The old shipwreck just off the southern shore, the Porter’s sheep herd still grazing up on what the locals called the Dread Cliff. She remembered jumping off that bluff as a kid, nearly cracking her head open on the rocks a time or two. Her father would scold her for being so reckless with her life, the same man who taught her how to build explosive barrels and firepots.

The memories brought a smile to her lips as she sailed around the Tiragarde coast towards Boralus. This wasn’t her first time coming home after months out at sea, but after everything she’d been through, she wasn’t sure she’d ever set eyes on it again.

Getting to her feet, she maneuvered the small ship around an outcropping of rocks and into the strait as the city came into view. The great capital of Kul’tiras, but to her, it was just home.

The docks were as busy as she remembered, cargo being loaded and unloaded, fisherman tossing their catch to workers below to be transported to the stalls, men dangling from ropes scraping barnacles off the sides of the ships. The smell was never too pleasant, but you got use to it.

Furling the sails, she let the current take her in towards the south side of the docks, grabbing an oar to push against the dock and keep the boat from smacking into the beams. The gates to the city loomed ahead of her and just beyond that was her father’s workshop, a place she hadn’t set foot in for seven months.

Crossing the boat, she struggled to pull the lever to lower the anchor, rust having taken its toll on the small vessel. With the sound of metal scraping against metal and a ‘clink’, the chain slowly unravel itself, finally lowering down into the water. Exhaling a breath, the engineer took hold of the rope running along the Shipjack’s haul to tie it off, eager to get within the gates before they closed at sunset.

A tall, stout man with a grizzled and bearded visage that has weathered many summers and many storms approached the small vessel. He held a gnarled staff carved of petrified wood with an ornate, elaborate design of abyssal nature forged of metal that has been exposed to just as many years as the man whose hands desperately remain clasped around it's length.

The Tidesage raised the rod higher into the air and heralded the redheaded engineer over towards him.

Placing a boot on the edge of ship, she pulled on the ropes, ensuring they were tied off and secure before she grabbed her pack and used them to pull herself up on the docks. “Can I ‘elp you?” She wracked her brain to remember if she knew the man, but nothing came to mind.

A harsh, yet forcibly soft-spoken voice emits from the man. "You. No, no. You do not need to be here, child. They have told your story already and they will listen to no other version. You need to leave here and go back to wherever the seas delivered you from."

Lexi gave the old timer a polite smile, her brows creased “I think you’ve ‘ot me confused with someone else. This is my ‘ome. My father’s workshop is just through those ‘ates.”

"Do not go home, child. They have eyes and ears that still remain, that still seek." His pale, tired eyes strained with a narrowed gaze towards her, attempting his best to acquire some closer look at something she perhaps had no inclination to possessing. "No, no. No. You must come with me before you leave. You bear a mark of the sea, a mark of the abyss. It must be cleansed, it must be washed from you. Come, come."

She called out to him as he turned to lead her off, all trace of her smile now gone. “Sir, I’m goin’ ‘ome.” She said it as firmly as she could, hoping to get the message across without upsetting the poor old man. His words left an uneasy pit in her stomach that ate away at her excitement of being back home, but she wasn’t about to let some paranoid ramblings stop her.

A heavy sigh spilled over his parched lips, "Fine, if you feel you must. Then you must. But take this with you on your journeys and carry this blessing upon your shoulders." Hobbling forward, he pulled a sheathed dagger from his cloak and pressed it into her hands before clasping her biceps.

“Sir-” He didn’t let her finish, cutting her off with a few drawn-out lines of some muddled language she couldn’t make out through his mutterings. The wind picked up, sweeping her hair back over her shoulders and filling her with even more unease.

He pulled away just as she’d decided she’d had enough, making no mention as to what he’d just done, instead he points to the dagger. “You keep that safe, it’s forged from storm silver. Yeah, the same used on those prized Kul’Tiran fleet vessels.” Looking down at the dagger clasped in her hands, she pulls the blade free of its sheath. It was extremely lightweight and pristine, void of any smirch, smudge, or sign of corrosion, beautifully crafted.

“Thank you but.. Why? Do I know you?” Sheathing the dagger, she looks back up to the old man in confusion, not too sure what make of him. He was probably just some old kook who’d lost his marbles a few years back, but she appreciated his gift nonetheless.

“Do as you feel you must, but leave come first light. No exceptions. I will watch over your boat until then.”

Her mouth opens and closes a few times, but she decided to just nod and walk away, not wishing to upset him. She did however glance back to see him settling himself down by one of the dock’s beams beside the Shipjack.

Leave? She’d just gotten back.

Making her way through the gates, she set off into a jog towards the workshop, her bag of food and belongings draped over one shoulder. She stopped right outside and stared up at the place. It was a simple shop, nothing really special about it, but there was a lopsided sign hanging outside the front door with her father’s scribbled handwriting etched into the wood that read ‘O’Rourke’s’. She’d meant to fix it before she left, but just never got around to it.

Stepping slowly across the deserted brick road, she spent the next few minutes digging around for the key she’d buried in the plant by the door. Nails now caked with dirt, she was finally able to remove the iron lock and step inside, hit immediately with a strong, musty smell. The roof must’ve been leaking again.

Every bookshelf, every workbench, every tool she passed was another memory of her and her father that tightened her chest and squeezed at her heart, but all she could think was ‘home sweet home’ as she set about dusting everything off.

#Journal #Co-written with Desmond Slade #Sorry it's so long!#Hope you enjoy!

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writing-radionoises · 6 years

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❝ GET A LOAD OF THIS MONSTER ! ❞

Irony is something common in this world. For example, you best friend, Craig, is a ghost, and his husband, Tweek, is a witch. Actually, he's more of a ghost hunter. Wendy is a fallen angel, and her girlfriend, Bebe, is a succubus. Cartman is a demon, and his ex-girlfriend is a nymph. You find that ironic because Heidi was the calmest, sweetest, forest nymph in existence. All she wanted was someone to care for her the way Mother Nature had once. However, after Cartman, she became rather chaotic an aggressive. She doesn't trust men anymore, which is why when you go to see her, you keep your female form. You don't see much of him, but you know that Token is an angel while Clyde is a fairy. You can kind of see how they got attached to each other, but no relationship could also fit quite as well as Stan and Kyle's. Tweek and Craig was pretty close to a perfect relationship, outside of the irony of it. Stan is one of Satan's twins, keeper of Hellhounds. So, as expected, he's a rather powerful person an to be feared. Kyle, on the other hand, has telekinesis. You like to call him Carrie, in reference to the popular book. Not ot mention how similar the two seem at times. The ginger has always had trouble with anger. Seeing that you've introduced all your friends into this story, it might be a wise idea to throw yourself into the mix. Your name is Kenny McCormick, you're a succubus. Before the reader assumes anything, you do have morals. You have a little girl at home, she's not biologically yours, but you like to call her your own. Karen, that's her name. She was dumped off due to being half angel and half demon, no creature wanted her but you. And you make sure she knows that. You cherish Karen constantly, yoru free time goes into loving her and doing things with her. It's not her fault she was born this way. She has found some interest in some of your other friends' siblings and such. Craig's little living sister, Tricia, is one of her best friends. Kyle's brother, Ike, is the same way. Tricia has always been highly involved in your world, more than her own. You've expected this, considering that she lost her brother at such a young age and, until recently, had never actually seen his ghost form. However, that does not stop Craig from being overprotective of her. Ike is Kyle's adopted brother, is the son of a demon and a human, though was raised by a witch for most of his life. Thus, Ike is someone who visits hell on weekends and every other Christmas while also possessing the talent of witchcraft since he was two. Now days, at age thirteen, Ike is raised by Kyle's mother, a simple human. He practices witchcraft on his own. Speaking of ages, Karen's birthday was a couple days ago. That's mainly why you're aware of all the current events in your friends circle, as all of you gather every time one of you turns thirteen, eighteen, or thirty. Significant ages for creatures like your own. Most of you weren't met to live past fifteen. It's easy to say that you have had a tiring and worrisome week. For one, it was the first event Craig had actually revealed himself to everyone at. Since Tricia turned thirteen a couple months ago, he decided it was probably time to stop hiding himself. He isn't a pleasant sight to wake up to first in the morning, though it sure was a surprise for Tricia to find out that, yes, while Craig was nineteen, he still had the body of an eleven year old. It was also quite a mess when you had to shove Bebe in the closet when she tried to give the kids Sex ED. It explains why you're here in the bar, now. You just wanna get laid, or maybe find some friends. Whatever cleanses your mind of worrying. While Tweek and Craig were watching the kids during their sleepover, you couldn't help but worry. Most mythical creatures don't survive after thirteen. Especially cross breeds. That's when a very sober blond sits beside you and tilts their head to the side. Their eyes are a light blue, and you can just barely see hints of a sunflower tattoo on their shoulder. They wore a light blue sweater, like their eyes, and a white skirt that fell to their knees. "What's a pretty gal like you doing in here?" They ask, very clearly confused. "Could ask you the same thing," you responded, taking a sip from your cup. It takes you a moment to register that they referred to you as female, as you quickly glance down at your outfit and nod to yourself. Right form. They roll their eyes, a slight smile on their face, "Well, I'm Marjorine, but most people call me Butters. Came out here to find a witch, I think his name was Tweek . . . ? My parents said I'm sick, hehe . . ." You smile back, realizing that they meant no harm, "I'm Mackenzie, but call me Kenny. I know Tweek, he's busy tonight. Mind me asking for your pronouns? And why they say your sick?" Marjorine stares for a moment before snapping back to reality and nodding, "Oh, uh, well . . . Gender neutral, I guess. They say I'm sick because I'm genderfluid . . ." Your smile quickly turns upside down as you pat them gently. It seems your aura has drawn this one to you. You always get the insecure ones, it seems. "I may seem a bit quick to judge, but . . . Wanna come to my place? Get it on?" You question, an eyebrow raised and a smirk on your lips. You've done this one too many times. They freeze for a moment, staring up at you in both confusion and slight fear, "I-I'm sorry, what?" "Sex. I want you to fuck me," you clarify voice raised back up to a normal tone instead of a seductive whisper. "No." The stern answer that comes out of their mouth surprises you, confusing you before you proceed to convince. "Aww, come on. I can be anything you want. I can male," with a snap of your fingers, your long blond hair is cut short, and your jawline sharp. "I can be a masculine female," snap. "I can a feminine male." snap. "I can even be all of the above, or neither." Snap. Your form changes to whatever you say. Brunette. Noirette. Ginger. Tattoos. No tattoos. Piercings. Anything and everything the blond wants. Yet, they still shake their head. "You be what you wanna be, fella. It's wrong for me to tell you how to present," Marjorine answered, reaching to pull something on their shoulder, only to discover it wasn't there. Your mind draws a blank as you half mindedly snap your fingers and return to your female form. You've never dealt with someone who said no. "What's the problem? Got a girlfriend or a wife to worry about? They won't find out~" You continue to try and persuade, yet Marjorine shakes their head once again. "Sorry, I'm not interested," they smiled cheerfully, "Sex isn't something I want to experience yet. I'd like to get to know you, though." Your brain shuts down, deciding that maybe it wasn't worth the trouble as you continue talking to them, "Fine, fine. What do you want to know?" "You're a succubus, aren't you? Kyle told me something about how people up here aren't normal. He wanted me to find a witch named Tweek an that his husband would be able to help me . . ." Marjorine said, beginning to ramble before shutting themselves up. You nod along with the phrases, "Yeah, there's only a couple humans up here. They're mainly hippies trying to get away from society," you say with a snicker of laughter. "What kind of creatures are up here?" They question, leaning over the bar as their curious blue eyes pour into your violet ones. You begin to ramble on about everyone you've met up here in the small mountain town of South Park. You mainly talk about Kyle and his powers, how he threw you through a wall in rage one time, and how he met Stan. It quickly turns into you talking about Stan and his twin brother, Damien, as the two sons of Satan. You talk about Tweek and Craig, about how they knew each other since kindergarten when Craig died very suddenly and Tweek took on his mother's place as the family witch. You don't mention how Craig died or Tweek's dad. You felt sickened to even mention his mom, even though she had nothing to do with all the drama between the Tweaks an Tuckers. You change the subject to Tricia, Ike, and Karen. You talk about how they're the only surviving mythical children up here so far, about how Karen is practically your daughter and how protective Craig can get over the three. Marjorine listens intently to all you have to say, they say they met Kyle in middle school, before he snapped and moved away from the big city to conceal his powers. They used to be close to Cartman before they figured out how much he was manipulating them. You two talk for hours on end before you decide you need to get home, and offer to take Marjorine with you to see Tweek and Craig since they were babysitting at his house. You take Marjorine home, where Kyle welcomes them from the house next door using the name Butters. They talk for a bit and marjorine mentions they'd rather go by that name than Butters, the ginger apologies and you head inside. Tweek sits in the living room, doodling something while you head upstairs to check on your dark angel. Ike, Tricia, and Karen lay on the mattress on the floor, covered in blankets an plushies with a flashlight on next to Karen's side of the bed. Craig isn't far from the bed, sitting in a chair and playing with one of the baby dolls Tricia brought. Hearing you open the door, he blindly looks around for the source of the sound with his empty and bloody sockets. You tap on the door and his blank gaze meets your bright one. "K . . . Kenny?" He questions, voice raspy and dry. You nod, forgetting he can't see such an action and adding on, "Yeah, it's me. Is Karen okay?" He cracks a weak smile, the moonlight reflecting off of the glass pieces in his neck, "Better than ever."

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veganvan916-blog · 6 years

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The Longest Year of My Damn Life

This has been the longest year of my damn life! Well... Not really but kind of! You see the year has been extremely informative and educational. It has also been tumultuous and rewarding.May 17, 2018 marked my 1 year anniversary in this vegan world and let me tell you, this shit is amazing. Side bar- The word vegan gets so much negativity attached to it, so I have started using the term “Earthly Eater” meaning that I eat what comes from the Earth. From now on I will refer to vegan as Earthly Eating. Okay! Good...

I have learned quite a bit of things over the past year and I know that I will only learn a ton more as the years go by. In this blog I will take you through some of the most important things that I have learned over the past 367 days and give you an insight to what this “Earthly Eating” can do for you. I will break it down into sections and explain so that I can clearly paint a picture of what I learned as well as sprinkle knowledge onto someone who may be at the precipice of jumping into this Earthly life. I hope that these words find everyone who reads this well and sheds some light on to your lives. Let’s start with one of the main things that I have learned...

START SLOW

Not as in slowly ween yourself off the meat and dairy,however, if you need to do that, DO IT. But start slow as in, know that it is okay to eat processed foods at first. Know that you are NOT perfect and there may be a time where you eat something in this stage that upon further review, contains milk. Yes, you will forget to read the label EVERYTIME, but you will learn to. You will forget to eat before you go out or pack a snack for after your outting, but you will learn to. All of these things will help you find your way in the world of earthly eating.

UNCERTAINTY HAPPENS

If you are uncertain, IT’S NORMAL! Not 1 person has jumped into this earthly lifestyle with all the answers. Example.You may be asking, can I have marshmallows or gummy bears? No because of gelatin. What is gelatin? Pork fat! It’s not listed on the packages in bold lettering like milk or eggs. I didn’t know at first, but they MUST list milk and eggs on the bottom and in BOLD if they are used in the making of that food item. They also have to list other stuff like soy and nuts because of they are a part of the 7 deadly allergens, EGGS, TREE NUTS, PEANUTS, SHELLFISH, FISH, WHEAT & SOY. So ALWAYS READ THE INGREDIENTS and when in doubt put that shit back

FINE TUNING HAPPENS

On its own, it happens, as long as you stay the course. You will learn things like which foods are processed and which are not. You will learn how to cook foods that you never thought you would even try... What you know about fennel or rhubarb. A funny thing happens when you actually dive into earthly eating without restrictions or limitations. You stop being lazy and start getting back to the basics. You start cooking again. Y’all remember what that is right? Pots, pans, seasonings you know shit like that. Not only that. You start challenging yourself and the cooking becomes FUN. You find new things to cook and develop in the kitchen. Now, that boring recipe for rice and beans becomes a curried garbanzo dish over cilantro rice, or instead of getting canned beans you get dry beans and go through the labor of letting them soak rinsing them and then finding out that, shit, if I add smoked paprika and a bay leaf to this it gives it a way better flavor than the canned beans. You get ideas in your head like, if I take these 2 bean types combine and mash them with some spelt flour, instead of regular flour, and seasonings I can make gluten free burgers! You start to fall in love with what you can do for yourself and your family in the kitchen and it is no longer cooking but it is an adventure.

MENTAL CLARITY HAPPENS

At some point in your journey, if you are actually doing it and removing processed foods and other “bad vegan” foods from your diet, your brain opens up to a different level of ascension . For myself, this happened 7 months into my lifelong marathon. Once I removed the loads of processed crap from my life, I started to recognize something changing. Okay, I can’t lie… Potato chips have been the hardest to get rid of…. Damn chips! I started to see things that were happening around me in a light that I had never experienced before and it was BEAUTIFUL. I stopped using derogatory words to address myself and my friends, and started using uplifting and inspiring ones. I started to notice how, everyone knows this exists we just never fully pay attention to it and don’t understand that we are being affected, I started to notice how the media was DIRECTLY attacking the minds of our children, using beautiful colors and jingly ass jingles to shape and mold our youth into yearning for whatever product they were selling and or guiding them to whatever specific outcome they were seeking and it made me sick. I have children, and when I hear my son sing a jingle that has nothing to do with childhood, I CRINGE. You know, “When steak is really this good, you show it in slow mo”. Not saying that earthly eating puts up some magical shield against these jingles, just saying that I was clearly seeing the brainwashing and it sickened me. Instead of laughing at my kid for singing whatever jingle, I looked at myself and knew I had to do more to shape and mold his mind. I had to make the promise to myself that I was going to do everything I possibly could to combat the onslaught of brain washy ass uppercuts that they were throwing to make sure my children can formulate their own opinions.

POSITIVITY HAPPENS

Not sure when it happened or why, but I got happy. I mean I got really happy. I started listening to motivational speeches and joyful jams, that’s literally the playlist I have on my music app. I started to smile more and enjoy the moment. I started to STOP complaining. I took a deeper look inside myself and decided that I would no longer let the small things bother me. I became filled with joy and with each passing day the joy that I had intensified. I stopped entertaining complaints, and whenever someone came to me with them, I would do one of two things, I would say “ok well, what are you going to do about this situation” or I just wouldn’t respond. I started to see something amazing happen. Other people around me were starting to catch the joy that was oozing out of me, and people were letting me know it. They would come up to me and say, Ian I don’t know what changed but you have been super happy on social media and in person and it is contagious. Not only that. Positive things started to happen for myself as well. I had been wanting to start my cooking business, as well as start spreading positivity about this life, and just like that, I did. One day I just started doing things and I haven’t looked back since. Because I have been focusing on the positive and removing negative thoughts, great things like meeting new people with a mutual interest in helping each other has happened I have had complete strangers reach out to me and tell me that they love my energy, I mean I truly changed my ways and I was all the more better for it.

HEALTH HAPPENS

I was pre diabetic, had high blood pressure and ached EVERYWHERE! Well……… Notice I said was! Yeah, that’s right, WAS. Since becoming an Earthly Eater, the aforementioned issues are null and void. I noticed that I was able to work out now and I felt completely different than before. I also noticed that after the workout, instead of being completely gassed and wiped out, now I was actually good. Don’t get me wrong now, I can tell that I have worked out, but the aches and pain from all the inflammation that I had was gone now and the sheer exhaustion had left with it. My health completely turned around and I was all the more better for it.

LIFE HAPPENS

The biggest and greatest take away from this is that LIFE HAPPENS. When you eat the way we were designed to eat, Life truly happens. I have lost weight, gained some back from drinking but that’s a different story. I have improved my health; I have cleansed my soul and gained a joy that was unknown to me. I have gained a higher level or thought and education. I have seen a light shine in others because of how bright the light shinned in me. All of this is life & all of this is love. In reading this I hope that you all will take away 2 things.

Number 1… Eat Earthly damnit lol

Number 2 and more importantly, because I know that even after me telling you that this has been the best decision of my life a bunch of y’all are going to go eat a damn steak, hell some of y’all are reading this with some form of animal product on your plate or in your hand, put down the drumstick man lol.

No seriously number 2, Be the love that you want to see. What I mean by that is, if you are someone who wants to see a better world, then be that “better”. If you are someone that sees mass shootings, unlawful police killings, crimes against children or any other atrocity and it makes you sick to your stomach. If you see these things and it makes you say NO! This isn’t right and it must change! If this is you, then I need you to BE THAT CHANGE.I want you to approach each day and opportunity with positivity. When the bullshit comes your way, sidestep it and get right back in your positive lane. I want you to remain in your positive space because I can guarantee you this. If the sun shines on you long enough, you can’t help but to warm up! This means, be that sun and shine your light on others so that they can’t help but to warm up. Be the love you want to see. Stay positive, smile, laugh and love life. After all… as far as we all know. You only get one. Till the next time… PEACE!

Ladies & Gentlemen I appreciate your attention and I appreciate your time. The fact that you took time to read this is extremely humbling and I want you to know that you are appreciated.

Please subscribe and follow my journey through this Earthly life on YouTube where you will be able to find weekly recipe videos, tips and updates.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5pwEWkm0qsPOzqU0pKHxPA

#myveganlife #vegan #myveganstory #oneyearanniversary #oneyearvegan

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drinkupthesunrise · 6 years

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Hi! Wedge has a notebook with rather good pen sketches of everything (he makes them seldom in minutes between battles and duties). Luke occasionally finds it (sorry for mistakes and grammar, it's not my native language). And thank you for your so beautiful fics!

Hello!! This is a delightful prompt and should have been a lovely happy fic to write; it instead delved into drawing-as-a-coping-mechanism for mental health issues. and Luke being supportive. So, I hope you like that? (Also, not kidding about the mental health issues, please tread carefully) (also on ao3)

Wedgeisn’tsure quite where he picked up the habit. He was always known forscribbling in things, over things, doing anything he could to keephis hands busy. When he’d decided that he wanted to be anarchitect, it had turned into a useful study, observing people fromlife, places, things.

Sohe keeps a notebook of flimsi and a real ink-pen in the pocket of hisflightsuit at all times, and he doodles in it when he can. It keepshis hands busy in meetings, at least, when he finds it difficult tostay concentrating and listen no matter how hard he tries. Beforelong, he’sbuilt up a book of sketches of the upper brass, everyone who comes tobrief them. He knows the way their ships are built from observingthem, putting pen to paper and marking out lines and shadows wherethe seams of metal fit, finding a way to represent them cleanly.

“How’dyou get away with it?” Hobbie Klivian whispers sharply, when Wedgepulls the notebook out during a briefing and balances it on his kneeto try and capture Jan Dodonna’s serious face.

They’dtold him to stop once, and Wedge had spent a week in briefings beinga constant figit, leg bouncing up and down restlessly, the sound ofhis boot hitting the floor echoing through the briefing room. He’dnot taken in a single word they’d said. A near-miss with twofighters later, and everyone had agreed to rescind the restriction.

LetWedge keep his coping mechanisms, because when they work, they makehim one of the finest pilots the Rebellion has seen yet.

“I’mjust that good,” Wedge replies, like if he says it it will be afact.

There’sa boy in this briefing with the most radiant golden hair and stunningvibrant blue eyes, and Wedge’s fingers are itching to draw him. Butthe black ink in his pen would never do this boy justice, and themood in the briefing room is electric enough that Wedge is pulled toattention.

Everyoneknows this is the big one. This is where the Rebellion with stand orfall, and the weight is born on the shoulders of starfighter pilots,on single-man craft. They are the underdogs, and apparently thesolution to beating the Empire’sgreatest weapon is to put a proton torpedo down an exhaust port.

Wedgemanages to get the gist of the briefing, but the boy besides him isdistracting. Wedge finds himself using his eyes to trace the boy’sfeatures, wondering if he can commit them to memory well enough toget the boy down later. It’s never the same as drawing from life,but Wedge isn’t sure he’ll ever be able to capture this boyanyway.

Hesparkles with something more.

Inhis grief, Wedge tries to draw everyone who flew that day. He pullsthe pictures from his mind, desperately trying to get it down beforehe forgets how Biggs’mouth used to curve as he smiled, how Piggy’s cheeks wobbled, howDreis’s eyes were strong and worn after years of service. He tearsholes in the paper of his notebook where he tries to get the ink downtoo quick, drawing too fast to try and get these things out of hishead, the faces of the twenty-one pilots who went to their deathsthat fateful day.

Hedoesn’tdraw in meetings any more. The distraction doesn’t work like itused to; now, when he draws, he gets lost in it, lost in his grief.Instead, he dedicates himself to using every ounce of his brain powerto keep his concentration on what’s in front of him, to keep theghosts from bleeding in at the edges of his memory. Luke takes tositting as close to Wedge as he can manage, his entire body lined upby Wedge’s side, giving Wedge something to focus on. He’ll stilltap his hands over anything he can get – he starts making sure hebrings caf to the meetings just so he can play with the mug, drum hisfingers over the sides of it.

Narradrags him aside one day, having noticed Wedge’snervous habits. He asks Wedge if he’s fit to fly. Wedge says he is,without hesitation. Narra gives him a look of complete disbelief,hauls him into the sims for three hours until Wedge vapes him fourtimes in a row.

Heunderstands Narra’sconcern, but flying is the only thing he’s ever done where thereisn’t something eating at the back of his brain. It’sinstinctive. His ship feels like an extension of himself, and hismind is clear, and he can see what he needs to do with a clarity heisn’t blessed with anywhere else in his life.

Hefeels free, up there amongst the stars.

Hisbrain is definitely wired a little differently, he knows that now. Hehas to have a full medical work-up every three months, and see acounsellor every one to retain his flight clearance. He’sconstantly on the edge of having it revoked, of being told that hecan’t fly anymore. If there wasn’t a war on, Wedge doubts he’dbe allowed to fly. He doesn’t tell anyone about it. It’s just whohe is.

Whenthey give Skywalker a squadron, he asks Wedge to be his second.Immediately, the panic starts eating away at Wedge’sbones, but he chokes out a yes. Because he can do this. He standsalongside Luke and Narra in that first briefing that they give, handsbehind his back, a thumb stroking the palm of the other, and suddenlyknows that he can.

It’sa lot easier to give a briefing than to listen to one.

Lukeis a brilliant CO who hasn’tthe first clue how to do all the behind the scenes work a squadronrequires; Wedge can do it all but only when he’s reminded andpresented with a list of exactly what needs doing. They findthemselves without the requisite parts, supplies and weapons a coupleof times in those first few months, before they work it out betweenthem.

Wedgepicks up drawing again, though now it’soften as he files datawork, allowing himself five minutes every timehe completes a new task to put a few more lines down. Luke becomeshis favourite subject, often because he’s the only person in theroom when Wedge gets out his pen these days. If he notices Wedgescribbling away, he doesn’t say anything. Luke’s good at that, atknowing when to intervene and when to keep his head out of otherpeople’s business. He’s inexhaustible sunshine, but he knows thatnot everyone wants that all the time.

Wedgelearns Luke, in that time, learns the curl of his hair, the curve ofhis nose, the dimple on his chin. The hollows of his cheeks as theycome into sharp lines as he grows a little older. He’sa pleasure to draw, in every way.

Wedgecatches himself staring. No one else does; Wedge has a reputation fora focused gaze, for holding his eyes on something too long, andeveryone lets it pass on him where they wouldn’tnecessary let it on anyone else. But he’s drawn to Luke, the softsmile he always has on his face, specially for Wedge at the end of along day.

Wedgeprobably shouldn’tbe surprised that one day he can’t quite clamp his impulsivenessdown quickly enough. Kissing Luke is like clear skies after rain,cleansing and beautiful and oh so right.

Lukekisses back.

Everythingis fine until it isn’t.

Eventually,something always breaks. That’sthe reality of life. Wedge can count the fractures in his life,retrospectively, awareness of them only coming after the fact.

Thisone creeps up on him. He stops sleeping properly, waking up in fitsand starts during the night and then wide awake before his alarm goesoff. That goes unnoticed because everyone else is doing it too. Hedevelops a fit of short temper, but again, half the Rebellion isrunning on a hair trigger, and Wedge is fineas long as he only talks to his squadron and certain members of HighCommand. He’sback to fidgeting, and his pen strokes never land quite the way hewants them too, and the shots he fires don’t either, and his X-Wingfeels clunky in his hands, directionless and aimless.

Thewar isn’tgoing well. It’s turned everything upside down, every person thisway and that. Any semblance of a routine has been thrown out oforder.

Andwith it goes the rest of Wedge’ssanity.

Notthat anyone realises that until they find him, tearing apart hisX-Wing, shredding wires with his bare hands as he tries to dig deeperinto it to fix a single switch that won’tlight up properly. In his frustration, he’s torn away half thecabling that makes his dashboard work in the process, smashed a pieceof glass, and bent several tools out of shape.

He’scursing up a storm and he’s practically vibrating with excessenergy as he tears things apart, pulling out to look for a tool,finding one, smashing it repeatedly into the box before deciding it’ssatisfactory, and returning with it. Luke, Hobbie and Tycho watch,wondering who spirited their friend away in the night and replacedhim with the half-version of himself. “Wedge, are you alright?”Luke asks.

“I’mfine,” Wedge forces out, in perfectly level tones, almost soundinglike himself only he clearly isn’t.

“Wedge,do you want to come out of there? Whatever’s going on one of themechanics can fix it,” Hobbie says. Concern spreads all over hisface; he knows that there’s history with Wedge, something thatmeans commanding officers have a tendency to watch him like a hawk,but he’s never been sure what. But Wedge is clearly not alright. Hedoesn’t respond to Hobbie at all. Hobbie draws back, letting Lukeapproach Wedge, and tells Tycho to go for medical help. This isbeyond them.

“Wedge.”Luke crouches besides him. “Come on. Lets go get breakfast – haveyou had breakfast?”

“Idon’t want breakfast, I want this to work—”Abroken sob enters Wedge’svoice, and Luke puts an arm around Wedge, wanting to help soothe hisfriend, a man he cares for more than that. Wedge throws Luke off,violently, not caring about what hurt he does. Luke furrows his brow.“It doesn’t, and I need it to, cause I can’t fly without it—”Luke doesn’t mention the fact that Wedge’s X-Wing was fit forservice the last time he saw it, and very much is not now. “Whywon’t it work?”

Wedgecollapses into violent, heaving sobs. Luke, wary of how his touch hadbeen taken earlier, is cautious in how he moves, but this time whenhe wraps an arm around Wedge, Wedge falls into the embrace. Luke justholds him, and then slowly removes the tools from his hand, fingersgrazing over all the little cuts Wedge has given himself in his pathto destruction.

Hemanages to help Wedge up. A tall women in her forties with a medicalinsignia on her uniform is standing beside Tycho, her arms crossed.When Wedge looks up at her, he sighs. “Iknow,” he says, before she can say anything. He’s two days offhis standing appointment with her, when all this would have come outeventually.

Sheshakes her head. “Myoffice, now. Skywalker, which of you is Skywalker?” Luke raises hishand, and she nods, like she’s not at all surprised. “You too.”

Wedge’scounsellor, who’s name is Dr Elan Monri, has a two-one-bee droidwaiting in her office to clean up all the damage that he’s managedto do to himself. It cleans the cuts on his hands, and bandages theworst ones. Luke sits close to him, still not really understandingwhat’s going on, whilst Dr Monri hauls a reasonably thick flimsifile out of a locked cabinet.

“Wedge,are you back with us?” Dr Monri asks, her voice perfectly calm andlevel. Her chair is pulled out in front of her desk. Luke and Wedgeshare a sofa that runs along one wall of her office. Wedge nods.“First things first; I’m revoking your flight clearance.”

“Ifigured.” Wedge is surprisingly accepting of that fact; given whatLuke saw, he thought for sure his friend would rail against it. “AmI off active duty as well?”

“Notyet. A repeat of an incident like this morning’s, and it will beconsidered.”

“Excuseme—” Luke butts in. He thinks he probably shouldn’t, but he’sconfused about this entire situation. “Look, Wedge, sorry, this isawkward, but as your CO I have to know – when can he have hisflight clearance back?”

“Whenhe’s gone four weeks incident-free, and not a moment before,” DrMonri replies. “And I’ve signed off on it. I suspect we arelooking at six-to-eight weeks. Wedge?”

“Thatsounds about right.” He sighs. “Sorry Luke. It’s for everyone’ssafety.” Wedge is fidgeting with his hands again, picking at hisnails, and Elan picks a piece of flimsi and a stylus off her desk andhands it to him, and then gives him a book to lean on. He glances atLuke and then starts putting marks to paper.

It’sabundantly clear that he’s drawing Luke, and Luke just looks onmystified. “Actually, Luke – I do need to speak to you, but wouldit be possible for you to swing by later? I think Wedge and I need totalk first.”

“Yeah,sure.” Luke stands up. He clasps a hand on Wedge’s shoulder.“Stay safe, okay. I’ll see you later.”

Wedgedraws on, barely cognisant of Luke’spresence. As Luke leaves, door falling closed behind him, he hears DrMonri say, “Are you sure you don’t want to take that medicaldischarge?”

Wedgemight not be able to fly, but that doesn’tstop him from being an active participant in every other part ofsquadron life. Dr Monri had explained to Luke that the most importantthing he can do is to keep a routine for Wedge, make sure he sleepsand eats properly, so Luke attempts to keep the squadron on schedulefor the first time in its life.

It’ssurprisingly hard, but easier after the first week, when everyone’sgetting on board and used to it; drills at oh-eight-hundred hours,patrol from twelve-hundred to eighteen-hundred. It won’t lastforever; the life of a fighter pilot is unpredictable at best. ButLuke watches Wedge closely these days, and he seems better for it.

Wedgeis still not the best at taking care of himself, so Luke findshimself dragging his friend out of their shared office when he findsWedge still in there working, long past the time they’dagreed everyone should stop.

“Haveyou eaten?” Luke asks, well aware he’s sounding like a mother henbut not trusting for a second that Wedge has. A shake of the headconfirms Luke’s suspicions. “To the mess hall with you, then.”

“No,”Wedge says, and Luke stops. “Urgh. Sorry. No, food is okay, but Ican’t face the place.” He scrubs a hand over his face. “Fuck.I’m sorry Luke.”

“Hey.”Luke leans over to take Wedge’s hand, pull it away from where he’sdangerously close to tearing his own hair out. “I’ll go getsomething for you. And you can eat in our quarters. How about that?Sound manageable?”

Wedgeconsiders it for a moment. “Yeah.I can do that. If you would do that for me.”

Lukereally doesn’tmind; he hates seeing Wedge like this, and will happily do anythinghe can to help Wedge out. Dr Monri had made it quite clear that therewas no miracle cure, no amount of therapy or medication that wouldever make Wedge ‘normal’, that he’d always be managing thisthing, but there was a lot they could all do to help mitigate hissymptoms.

Sohe fetches some food, and returns to find Wedge sitting on his bed,cross-legged, a notebook on his knee and a pen in hand. Wedge flickshis eyes up when the door opens, and drops the pen and moves thenotebook to take the tray off Luke. Luke settles down beside hisfriend. He picks up the discarded notebook. “Mindif I have a look?” he asks.

“Goahead.”

Lukeopens the book. He’sseen Wedge drawing a lot, it’s something he does – a copingmechanism, Luke now understands. But he had no idea that Wedge wasactually any good. Luke’s own likeness stares back at him,bright-eyed and intense; on another page, Hobbie, Wes and Tycho jumpout at him. There’s technical drawings of X-Wings and Y-Wings andA-Wings, helmet designs that Luke recognises. A page of just hands inmotion. And Luke. More of Luke. From every angle, in about everyoutfit Luke owns. “You’re good,” Luke gasps. “Really good. DoI really look like that?” He finds himself resting on a portrait ofhim, with a soft smile, that Wedge seems to have taken a little moretime over than some of the other sketches in this book.

“Tome, you do.” Wedge uses his fork to gesture at his footlocker.“There’s more in there, if you want to look. This is just themost recent.”

Lukefinds half a dozen notebooks stashed there. He lifts them out andcarefully flicks through them. It’spossible to date them just from the faces that appear in them, peoplewho are long dead. He has to stifle a sob when Biggs turns up; ittakes Wedge a few tries, but he manages to capture Biggs’s wrysmile with a deftness that makes Luke ache for the loss of Biggs. Andthen Luke shows up again, again and again and again, Wedge clearlydetermined to work out his face, how to try and capture his spirit.

“Youdraw me a lot,” Luke comments.

WhenWedge doesn’treply, Luke lifts his eyes and finds Wedge blushing.

“Ilike it,” Luke says. “Though I still think you might have takenliberties with how pretty I am.”

“Notat all.”

Lukeleans across and kisses Wedge. It’shardly the first time he’s done that. But this time it’s backedup with quiet desire, and a want for more,because this beautiful man is battling so much and still, stilldoesn’tknow how wonderful he is.

Wedgegets his flight clearance back seven weeks and two days after hisincident in the hangar.

Luketakes him out, just the pair of them in their X-Wings, to check thatWedge’sflying skills are up to scratch; it’s pretty clear that they are,but Luke has them stay out for the full length of their allottedtime, playing around and having fun under the guise of testing everypart of Wedge’s flying skill.

He’smindful of how Wedge said that flying helps, that it clears his brainand for those moments, it feels like he’s normal.

Whenthey return, Wedge is exuberant with joy and twirls Luke around in anembrace, whilst the rest of the squadron converge and envelop themboth in a group hug, glad to have Wedge back.

They’reall better about managing Wedge, these days. It’s a collectiveeffort, one that Luke spearheads but is backed up by the rest ofRogue Flight. Wedge’s bad days are spotted and dealt with beforethey blow up to become issues. He’s still antsy sometimes, butTycho will tug him off to the gym to run laps, or Wes will take himfor target practice. When his brain won’t stop replaying hismistakes, Hobbie will sit with him and talk about the good old times,when they were just kids trying to do what they could for theRebellion.

AndLuke? Luke is besides Wedge in all things, these days.

Thatmeans giving him space sometimes, and picking him up and refusing tolet him wallow at others. Luke learns Wedge’shiding places, and how to tuck in there with him and just hold himwhilst Wedge watches the world go by. He’ll drag Wedge away fromhis work and back to bed, redirect Wedge’s intensity onto pleasingLuke and then echoing it back up at him.

Itturns out that sex is a good way to break Wedge out of his worstmoments, and that works for both of them.

Lukeholds Wedge as they fall asleep, comforted by each other. Wedgeusually wakes first, and Luke becomes accustomed to waking to thescratching of Wedge’spen, Wedge finding a new angle to draw Luke from, another piece ofhim that he hasn’t studied in detail.

(There’san entire separate notebook that isn’t fit for public consumptionthese days.)

Hestill has bad days; he’llalways have bad days. But he works through them. He’s got people toturn too, knows how to fight, and when he needs to just step awayfrom it all.

Whenthe war is over, maybe he’llhave a chance to live a normal life. The cost of freedom for thegalaxy, though, is a price Wedge thinks is worth paying. He’llsoldier on through the bad times. One day, it’ll be worth it.

#wedge antilles #luke skywalker #swfic #myfic #ficlet #star wars #otp: constellations of the things we left unsaid #this was almost cathartic to write which sounds weird #but it was #it'll be okay wedge #i think?#Anonymous

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