#my friend who photobombed with us | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

strawberrysturniolo · 4 months

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i love the whole ‘best friends who ‘accidentally’ had sex’ type of concept and it really fits chris 😭 like imagine attending the end of the summer cookout marylou and jimmy have every year, you and chris decide to have wine coolers because why not?

next thing you know….

never grow up // chris sturniolo

summary: you and your childhood best friend reunite after months apart. after a couple of drinks, secrets start spilling, leading to lust that has been put on the back burner for years part 2

Chris and I have been inseparable since the day we met. With us living on the same street growing up, we were always together. If there was a picture taken of one of us as a kid, chances are the other one was in the background trying to photobomb.

Watching Chris and his brothers make the move to LA was hard. I sat back and supported my best friend, but it sucked knowing that our fault routine of being together after school and having sleepovers was coming to an end.

It all happened so fast. One minute he was there, and the next he was gone.

The love I have for Chris is unlike anything else in the world. I love Nick, and I adore Matt, but it’s different with Chris. We connect in different ways. We trust each other differently. I’ve never had a friendship like it, and I don’t think I ever will. We always joked about being in each other's weddings. He wanted me to stand with all the groomsmen, and I told him he could stand with the girls.

We had our lives planned together, and I never thought I’d have to see us fade away from each other.

We try to talk as much as possible, but with his ridiculous sleep schedule mixed with his work life and time zones, it’s mostly scattered snapchats that keep us from forgetting what the other person looks like.

A tradition growing up was going to his house for the end of the year cookout. When we were little we would play in the pool, seeing who could collect the most shark toys and torpedoes that we launched into the bottom, and as we got older it turned into chicken fights, then us floating around the pool, asking each other questions about life.

“Do you ever think about what would happen if your husband didn’t like me?” he had asked me on a sunny day in Massachusetts when we were 16.

“Yeah,” I said, dragging my hand through the water to cool myself down. “I’d tell him to fuck himself, and if he doesn’t love my best friend like a brother, then I want no part of him. You’ll always come first.”

He gave me that classic, cheesy grin of his and then splashed a wave of water against me, knocking me from my float.

He’s not coming this year. He’s busy at work in LA. I can feel him drifting away.

As I help his parents set up some of the food trays, I hear their side door open by the kitchen. I don’t bother looking up, knowing guests have been coming and going all day. It isn’t until two arms wrap around me from behind that my eyes shoot open.

“Miss me?”

Chris.

I spin around, staring at him with my jaw dropped. I can see his mom out of the corner of my eye, smiling at us. She must have known about this. I’m sure he told his mom.

“Oh my god,” is all I can bring myself to say. My eyes start to well with tears. I haven’t seen him since last Christmas. I missed his birthday. He missed me. Our times were always off.

He squeezed me as our bodies clung to each other. “Don’t cry, you’ll make me cry, Sunny.”

Sunny. The nickname he gave me when we were little, which came from Sunshine. We were 8, swinging on a playground. He had a bad day. We played together after school and he told me whenever he feels sad, his day always gets sunnier with me around. He always was able to make me feel loved and appreciated as his friend, and as we got older, that only grew.

I know he loves me. He just needed to chase his dream. That doesn’t mean he loves me any less than he ever did.

“I missed you so much,” he says, holding me even tighter than before.

“I missed your voice.”

“I’m sorry,” he says quickly. “I need to make an effort to call you more. I’m just so-“

“Busy,” I finish for him. “I know.”

His face falls. “Yeah.”

I don’t want him to feel bad for what he’s doing. He deserves something so amazing. He’s worked so hard for it.

“You’re here now though,” I smile. “Can we just pretend like you’ve been here and you never left?”

He smiles softly, nodding. “Yeah.”

I sit by his side for hours, smiling at him as he fills everyone in on what’s he’s been up to. He’s the talk of the town. Everyone is amazed to see him and his brothers do such big things.

Everyone erupts into laughter when Chris tells his stories, and when Matt and Nick add on more anecdotes, the house is filled with pure joy and love for these boys we watched grow up.

“I’m gonna get a drink,” Chris says, excusing himself. “You want anything?” he points to me.

“Whatever you get for yourself is fine,” I nod, adding on a thank you before he leaves.

He comes back with two Pepsi cans. I notice they’re already opened, but I don’t think anything of it. Knowing Chris, I fully expect him to have drank some of mine, and that’s him trying to be funny.

My face puckers at the taste of wine in my can.

He emptied the Pepsi out and poured wine in it instead.

He smiles next to me, trying not to laugh.

A memory of us from when we were 14 comes back to me, and I know that’s what he’s trying not to laugh about.

“Chris! We can’t take their wine!”

“My parents have like 20 bottles. They never drink. These are all Christmas gifts from other people. I promise they won’t notice,” he assured me.

I watched as he poured the glasses half full. It seemed like far too much.

“Try it,” he said, nudging a glass to me. “It’s disgusting.”

I took a hesitant sip. This was fucking awful, but I found myself drinking more at the idea of the thrill. We were doing something we weren’t supposed to, which made the alcohol taste even better.

A half hour later we were both stumbling up to his bedroom, and I managed to make it to the bathroom before throwing up, almost missing his toilet.

He held my hair back and apologized for giving me alcohol. He promised he wouldn’t tell anyone we drank. And he never did.

“Doesn’t taste as bad now, huh?” he asks, snapping me out of my memory.

I roll my eyes and take another sip. He’s right.

Once everyone leaves for the night, my family stays back to help Chris’ parents clean up, and my parents were offered a plethora of leftovers.

When Chris showed up, it was a no-brainer that I would be staying here tonight, so he led me upstairs while everyone else said their goodbyes.

“Shhh,” he hushed me as my giggles flooded the hallway. I’m definitely tipsy, but I’m completely coherent. I think most of my giggles come from the fact that he’s back in Boston. I’m just giddy and happy.

“Sorry!” I apologize anyway, even though he’s not bothered by the sound of my laughter. He smiles at it. He loves it.

He lays out a pair of pajamas for me like he always used to. It’s an old shirt from our high school with his lacrosse number on it, and a pair of his boxers.

I find myself thinking about the girls he had been with that were jealous of what I had with him. Me and Chris had never even kissed, so to think he would be accused of so much more with me was ridiculous. He never failed to stand up for me though. He could have the number one girl, someone perfect for him, and he’d say goodbye to him if they said one bad thing about me.

We will always be rooting for each other no matter what.

“Tomorrow we should actually do some stuff around town,” he says as he changes into something to sleep in. “I’ve been traveling all day and I’m so fucking tired. I just want to lay in bed.” He finishes his statement and flops down on the bed, laying his head next to my thighs.

“I really missed you, Chris. A lot,” I respond, ignoring his suggestion.

He sits up next to me, looking down at me in his clothing. “I know, Sunshine. I missed you just as much. More, probably.”

I felt safe with him again, a feeling that had been lost as we spent months and months apart. I craved moments like these, where we would stay up together and laugh.

The mood in his room shifts when he says, “What ever happened with you and Aaron?”

He knows what happened. I told him before I told anyone else.

He broke up with me with no explanation, and I was left heartbroken and confused. I wanted nothing more than a hug from Chris, but 3,000 miles kept that from happening.

“We’re not talking anymore,” I remind him. I really don’t want to be talking about boys right now, but it seems that’s the topic of conversation that is interesting to him most. “Any girls that have your attention in LA?”

He shrugs. “Not really. They’re cool, some are cute, but I don’t know. I don’t think I wanna do anything with any of them.”

Chris has always been very anti-relationships, but that never stopped him from having his fair share of fun. He always made sure they were on the same page that it was just benefits, sometimes not even friends. I am curious what turns him away from exploring with girls in LA. “Why not?”

“They just don’t have what I’m looking for. I want someone who understands me and what I want, but only a few people get that,” he explains. “I don’t know. I don’t want to waste my time with someone if I know from the jump that it feels like a waste. And I think about you, and how we are, and I don’t think I’ll ever be that close with anyone else. I don’t want to be. I don’t want to think about someone ever taking your place.”

“You can set limits,” I suggest. “But don’t keep yourself from meeting people because you’re worried about me feeling replaced. I won’t ever feel that way. I just want you to be happy.”

“Well, that’s not the only reason you’re a problem in it.”

There’s an ache in my chest at the thought of me being a part of a problem in his life.

“What?”

“I just– There have been issues before… in the past… where girls have felt threatened by you,” he says, looking down at his fingers, where he picks at the dead skin nervously. “That’s not your fault by the way. It’s dumb. I just… I don’t know.”

I pull his hands away from him. “I love you, Chris.”

He smiles at me and says, “I love you too.”

Somehow, his feels different.

I check the time on my phone, putting in beside me and announcing to him, “I’m gonna go to bed.”

Just like we always did, innocently of course, I placed the softest and quickest peck to his cheek closest to me.

I did this as a kid, mostly because Chris would freak out if his mom didn’t give him a kiss goodnight. He insisted that it kept the bad dreams away, and he would ask me to do the same for him when he spent the night at my house.

So I kissed his cheek like always.

I tried to.

But Chris moved his head.

His lips graze mine. There isn’t much contact, but there’s enough for me to know that we just kissed, barely.

He knows exactly what he just did, yet he’s looking at me like he’s shocked.

I’m not drunk, but maybe this is acting as liquid courage. That’s what I tell myself when I fully grab my best friend’s cheeks and press my lips to his. He lets out a deep breath against me, holding the back of my neck and fisting a handful of my hair.

What are we doing? I’m kissing my best fucking friend. My best friend of 15 years.

I’m lost in my own head, completely out of it until I feel him lay on top of me, pinning my arms over my head with one hand as he kisses down my neck with the other.

I lift my chin, giving him more room to kiss me.

He finishes placing wet kisses to my skin, then puts his lips back on mine. His full lips overtake mine, but we form a rhythm that has my chest tightening. He kisses me slowly, but the more tongue we add to the mix, the louder it sounds.

We make out for some time. I lose all track of it. I don’t even know if I’m in reality anymore. My hips aimlessly lift up to try to find something to create friction against. I almost forgot who I was kissing until he pulled back and said, “We’re entering dangerous territory here, Sunshine.”

“What do you want to do then?”

He falls silent, and I fully expect him to lay down next to me and pretend this never happened.

He does the opposite.

“I would never be doing this if it wasn’t something I had thought about for years.”

My heart feels like it’s pounding out of my chest.

Everyone who watched us grow up together is in this house.

And he’s pinning me down to the bed kissing me in the same room we used to play in.

“Then do something about it,” I taunt.

He loves this invitation.

Going zero to one hundred, Chris sits up, pulling his shirt off and tossing it beside me. I’ve seen him shirtless a million times. Hell, I’ve seen his bare ass. This is different though. So much different.

He puts his lips back on mine as his hands slide to the bare skin under my shirt. Without a second thought, I remove it, completely forgetting that I don’t have a bra on.

His eyes focus on my body, his jaw slacked and his cheeks turning red.

“Holy shit.”

I instinctively try to cover myself somehow. He grabs my arms and pulls them back down.

“No no,” he shakes his head. “Let me admire you, pretty girl.”

He kisses me softly down my chest, flicking his tongue over my nipples before sucking them into his mouth, all while he’s rubbing his hand on my inner thigh.

I shift my hips, positioning his hand right over where I need him the most. He stares up at me in awe as I give him this sign of approval, and without wasting any time, he dives his hand into the boxers around me. His underwear. I mimic his movements, dropping my hand through the waistband of his shorts and swiping my thumb over the tip of his hardened cock. He winces at my touch, gasping out of desperation.

“Please,” he whines. “Don’t start something you can’t finish. I’m begging you.”

I yank his shorts down, having the same reaction to his dick that he did to my boobs. I lay below him in shock, mostly baffled by the fact that he’s hung, but also the fact that we’re in this situation.

When he gets nervous from my staring, he places soft kisses to my lips again, like he’s trying to put my attention elsewhere.

“Sunshine,” he pants. “I can’t… If we’re gonna do this… I can’t wait,” he breathes out. “I need you now.”

I stroke him slowly, watching his stomach heave. “Have me then.”

In an instant he has my boxers and underwear on the floor in one fluid motion, spreading my legs and laying between them.

“Can’t believe you’ve been keeping this from me,” he whispers. He touches my dripping folds carefully, then licks his finger clean. “Fuck, you’re perfect. Always have been.”

I’m in my most vulnerable state. Not only am I naked in front of a man, but this is the guy who has watched me grow up. He has seen me through every stage of life, and now he’s about to be touching me, fucking me.

“Chris,” I say his name quickly, urgently, like I’m running out of time to say anything.

He looks down at me, pausing from where he was lining himself up between my legs.

I love you.

He smiles and says, “I know,” before putting my legs over his shoulders and pushing himself inside of me.

My fist clenches a nearby pillow as my body adjusts to him stretching me out. Chris gasps out in pleasure and shock from this entire experience. He drops his face into my neck, letting me hear his soft moans as he feels me clenching, throbbing around him.

When I give him the okay, he starts thrusting into me slowly, both of us silent, letting the sound of our skin finding each other ring in our ears.

I’m having sex with my best friend.

He places a kiss on my thigh, where it rests next to his face. Then, he pushes one of my legs out, spreading me open more.

“Fuck!” I cry out, the sound quickly masked by Chris’ mouth, where he places his lips over mine again to shut me up.

“Gotta be quiet, Sunny,” he warns me. I nod, and he puts his hand over my mouth, making sure I keep the volume down.

His dick hits every spot perfectly. His body clings to mine as our orgasms are in sight. I find myself begging for him, moaning his name, something I never would have expected from us.

Chris sits up on his knees, pressing my knees to my chest as he pounds into me, his face staring down with a dominant gaze, watching his dick fill me as my cum drips around him.

“Fuckkk,” he groans. “Such a dirty girl.”

All self control leaves me when I don’t bother hesitating as I respond with, “Yours.”

He nods, speeding up his pace. His thrusts become sloppier, much sloppier. “All fucking mine,” he reminds me, then pulls himself out of my pussy and strokes himself through his orgasm, letting himself finish on my lower stomach.

He quickly gets a towel and cleans me up before he places his head on my boobs. My hands dig into his hair, running my hands through his loose curls.

“You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Sunshine, you know that?”

I smile to myself, but I also know that we completely fucked up us ever having a normal friendship after this.

My best friend and I fucked.

And he doesn’t do relationships.

“You’re my favorite,” I whisper back.

He places a kiss to my stomach, and I can feel the smile on his face when he does so.

I don’t smile. I know that with our decision tonight, we lost one side of our relationship.

We either become romantic and it gets fucked up and we lose a friendship too, or our friendship becomes awkward and crumbles because of this.

Neither of us thought about that before we got ourselves tangled up in each other, and I’m doing everything I can to forget about that fear and focus on the boy I’ve been in love with for years laying on my chest.

tag list: @secret-sturniolo @chrisloyalgf @strnilo @draculaura123 @jellybeanbby @qwertytit @55sturn @sleepysturnss @creamoncreamoncream2 @sturnvvz @swaggygirlboss123 @angelworldspost @patscorner @ducksturniolo @mattitties @luv4kozume @mbbsgf @freshloveforthefit @ripmattitude @gamermattsgf @strniololoverr @urmom2bitch @sturnitup @luvmila444 @st7rnioioss @sturniolosreads @pepsiskiess @alorsxsturn @sturniolopepsi @sturnsgasoline @sturns-posts@sstvrnioloo @strawberrymilk4k @ratatioulle @kiibichio @nickmillersn1gf @milesfordays11 @l9vesick @mattsturnzzz09 @mattnchrisworld

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acourtofswiftiesandshadowdaddies · 3 months

Text

REMEMBER…

charlie bushnell x co star!reader

warnings: smau, fluff, brown girl reader (aware this isn’t a warning but like some ppl might want to know)

summary: where you and charlie trick the world into thinking your just friends

fc: avantika (my bby)

extra info: reader is basically avantika

a/n i have like 20 million drafts but i don’t have the motivation 😭 anyway i love avantika i feel proud to be a brown girl😻 !! NOT SHIPPING THEM IRL JS A FACECLAIM !!

liked by dior.n.goodjohn, leahsavajeffries and others ynln remember when we dated 🤔 view comments

user78 …did i miss a chapter?? hearts4yn only true yn and charlie fans get it ➔ ynln 😘 iamcharliebushnell ur confusing the people ➔ ynln it’s my job to do this aryansimhadri 🤫🧏‍♀️ ➔ ynln GET OUT. walkerscobell lowkey why does charlie eat up the jacket tho ➔ ynln WHAT IVE BEEN TRYING TO TELL HIM dior.n.goodjohn who’s that hottie in the first pic 😻 ➔ ynln idk man who’s that hottie in ur pfp ➔ i.am.andrewalvarez charlie get ur girl man this comment is now deleted ynloml loved them since doafp liked by creator

liked by iamcharliebushnell, reneerapp and others ynln when u have to feed two teen boys 😓 view comments

hearts4yn WHOS THE GUY IN THE MIDDLE ➔ user64 calm down it’s prolly js one of her friends aryansimhadri wdym by the caption ➔ ynln i mean u both eat for ten men ➔ aryansimhadri it’s not my fault it was good walkerscobell the food was a bit spicy ➔ leahsavajeffries no it wasn’t ➔ iamcharliebushnell nuh uh ➔ aryansimhadri wdym it was great ➔ i.am.andrewalvarez no. ynloml not walkers whiteness coming out 😭 ➔ ynln fr

liked by ynln, iamcharliebushnell and others teenvogue read the newest article on all about YN LN’s life from the growing rumours of her supposed character in the Percy Jackson show to the whispers of her boyfriend comments are closed

liked by ynln, dior.n.goodjohn and others iamcharliebushnell when she turned me into a taylana stan view comments

ynloml yk who’s the biggest taylana stan? yn. ➔ ynln real 💯 dior.n.goodjohn i think she turned everyone into one ➔ walkerscobell she threatened me 😞 ➔ aryansimhadri i made her a laufey fan ➔ leahsavajeffries pretty sure she was a laufey fan before u ynln your welcome for blessing ur ears. ➔ iamcharliebushnell thank you?

liked by iamcharliebushnell, aryansimhadri and others ynln not my cat photobombing the first pic 😭 view comments

ynloml THE HOLY TRINITY laufeymywife taylana + laufey 😻 user56 shes a ten but she listens to taylana and laufey ➔ iamcharliebushnell she broke my scale cos she’s too beautiful dior.n.goodjohn ur cats got good taste ➔ ynln real! ➔ iamcharliebushnell they def got it from me aryansimhadri FAV SONG FROM BEWITCHED ➔ ynln THIS IS TOO HARD UMMMM MUST BE LOVE childofhecate charlie is a certified simp 😭 ➔ i.am.andrewalvarez 💯

liked by taylorswift, sabrinacarpenter and others ynln me and the gang 🗣️ 💯 🔥 view comments

hearts4yn the most unexpected group ever??? selenagomez please send me that picture of laufey ynloml the mothers and their daughters aryansimhadri YOU HUNG OUT WITH THE LAUFEY AND DIDNT TELL ME???? ➔ ynln I GOT U A SIGNED VINYL ??? iamcharliebushnell middle pic. ➔ ynismywife he’s down bad walkerscobell no way u casually took a pic of the taylor swift oliviarodrigo 😍 ➔ ynln join us next time bby reneerapp hottest group ever leahsavajeffries CUTIESSS ➔ ynln THEY WANNA MEET UUUUUU gracieabrams 🤭 ➔ ynln yo can i have my cat back ➔ gracieabrams no. i.am.andrewalvarez help charlie won’t stop staring at his phone ➔ ynln take a pic!

liked by ynln, walkerscobell and others iamcharliebushnell she took these photos if u care view comments

pjofan WE CARE hearts4yn ADORABLE walkerscobell grandpa charlie ynln she’s rlly good at taking pics u sure she isn’t a professional??? ➔ iamcharliebushnell nah she’s an actor aryansimhadri pls save me he won’t stop talking abt her 😭 ynloml WHO ISSSS IT dior.n.goodjohn stop shes mine ➔ iamcharliebushnell whatever u say… leahsavajeffries SHIPPP

liked by meangirls, chrisbriney and others ynln u wanna do something fun? u wanna go watch the new mean girls movie view comments

iamcharliebushnell yes. walkerscobell i have a burn book. ➔ aryansimhadri ok dude what the flip leenascobell UR SO BBG ➔ ynln nuh uh you r dior.n.goodjohn AHHHHHHH ➔ ynln AHHHHHHHHHH

a/n next part will be up soon

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starsandhughes · 6 months

Text

Penalty Box Series— High School Edition: Prom

General Masterlist

y’all asked, and i delivered <3 (just way later) p.s the cringe is on purpose because who wasn't cringey in high school?

yourusername

liked by trevorzegras, colecaufield, and 577 others

yourusername BREAKING NEWS: the gang went to prom!

pic one: sexy girl is swooned by her boyfriend

pic two: two kids happily in love on their way to the dance <3

pic three: mom takes marvelous picture of her favorite child!

pic four: five loser boys refuse to take a normal picture

pic five: sexy girl makes her twin brother carry her (for the first time ever)

pic six: two losers (lexi and spencey) photobomb a picture of some hot girls

pic seven: sexy girl gets tired of her shoes

pic eight : sexy girl and her brother’s date run away from sexy girl’s boyfriend and brother because they were being annoying

pic nine: sexy girl’s sexy boyfriend goes a little crazy at the after party

thanks for a wild night, boys❤️

tagged trevorzegras, jackhughes, colecaufield, _alexturcotte, slknight35, and others

view all 47 comments

trevorzegras god i love my sexy girlfriend (forever)

yourusername god i love my sexy boyfriend (always)

jackhughes @/yourusername @/trevorzegras could you two stop calling each other sexy? i’m trying to have a good time

trevorzegras @/jackhughes you should’ve thought about that before you brought her into my life

jackhughes @/trevorzegras I JUST LEFT YOU TWO ALONE IN A RINK! I DIDN’T KNOW THIS WAS GONNA HAPPEN!

yourusername @/jackhughes you've been rooting for us since day one stop being a dick

jackhughes @/yourusername i was not rooting for you two to be nasty online!

yourusername @/jackhughes i could be saying MUCH worse and you know it

jackhughes @/yourusername *insert curse word here*

trevorzegras i’m surrounded by basket cases

colecaufield @/trevorzegras entertaining basket cases!

yourusername @/colecaufield ty best friend number two! i live to entertain

jacksdate GORGEOUS

yourusername SAYS THE GODDESS HERSELF

jacksdate let's ditch our boyfriends and get married

yourusername i like your thinking! i’ll get the rings

jackhughes @/trevorzegras i think we just got dumped

trevorzegras @/jackhughes we could get married

jackhughes @/trevorzegras hard pass

slknight35 i'm not a loser, loser!

_alexturcotte what he said

yourusername @/slknight35 @_alexturcotte you literally are?? you guys saw IT one time and took the losers club to heart

slknight35 @/yourusername that makes you beverly who is also a loser

jackhughes @/slknight35 don't flatter her. she's the pyro.

yourusername @/jackhughes patrick hockstetter???? who dies towards the beginning of the movie????

jackhughes @/yourusername exactly! when's your death scene coming?

yourusername @/jackhughes after i play with hairspray and a lighter apparently

trevorzegras @/jackhughes DON'T GIVE HER HAIRSPRAY AND A LIGHTER

_alexturcotte @/jackhughes GIVE HER HAIRSPRAY AND A LIGHTER

slknight35 @/jackhughes i fear for your safety

yourusername @/slknight35 he's fine

slknight35 @/yourusername you responding for him does not look good for you

friend1 pop off, sis!😍

yourusername staappp you're gonna make me blush!🤭

alexsdate things i learned tonight: you party HARD

yourusername thank you! it's a talent of mine!

trevorzegras @/yourusername a concerning talent

yourusername @/trevorzegras that sounds like a you problem, my love

colecaufield sissy quotes that preceded unfortunate events: "the moon wants me to swim to her"

yourusername just admit that ur lame

colecaufield my wallet got soaked!

yourusername but did you die?

colecaufield no?

yourusername then you're fine <3

_alexturcotte @/colecaufield wym? you getting shoved into a lake was the highlight of the night

colecaufield @_alexturcotte YOU DIDN'T GET SHOVED

yourusername @/colecaufield because he dove in willingly!

trevorzegras @/colecaufield somebody always gets shoved into the lake every time we're near it so i feel like this is on you, bud

jackhughes @/colecaufield 100% on you

slknight35 @/colecaufield at least it wasn't your phone!

colecaufield i'm being attacked

yourusername @/colecaufield great observation! you're so smart!

_quinnhughes now why are you lying in your caption?

yourusername i told the truth and nothing but the truth, judge quintin

_quinnhughes you frequently make jack and i carry you!

lhughes_06 and me!

jackhughes lying in court is illegal, sissy

yourusername @/jackhughes i didn't swear on a book so technically this is quinn's fault! he raised a liar

_quinnhughes @/yourusername i didn't raise you!

yourusername @_quinnhughes i see how it is... smh

_quinnhughes @/yourusername i quit, i rule you innocent

colesdate did mama hughes get any normal pics of the guys?

yourusername just one because we yelled at them

colesdate you yelled at them too? queen shit

jackhughes @/colesdate she tends to

colecaufield @/colesdate she's really good at it

slknight35 @/colesdate she's a bit crazy

_alexturcotte @/colesdate we live in constant fear

yourusername @/colesdate don't listen to them, they love me

trevorzegras @/colesdate i love her the most!

colesdate y'all are something else😂

yourusername thank you! we take pride in that

friend2 may i take your hand in marriage?

yourusername of course! but you might have to duel with trevor first

friend2 i can take him

trevorzegras @/friend2 i’ll show no mercy

yourusername @/friend2 you could take him

elblue6 i'm glad you kids had fun! you looked absolutely beautiful, sissy❤️

yourusername thank you, mom❤️

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silvermaplealder · 10 months

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I've returned home from the convention and I'm very excited to share with you guys some highlights. There were so many amazing highlights I simply cannot share them all in one post. So consider this a part 1 for now! I do want to give a massive shout out to @misslavenderlady and @ghoulgeousimmaculate for not only being absolutely amazing friends, but really hyping me up to meet Kiefer Sutherland to the point where I felt confident enough to approach him in full cosplay.

Of course I have to share with you this moment. I was so scared he'd laugh or think of me as weird or something. But the second he saw me he gave me a huge smile. He said "hey dude! You're looking good!" And I absolutely melted. I said aww, thank you, because I was just so darn nervous I couldn't say anything else. I'm so happy with how the picture came out that I've already got it framed.

I got to meet Alex Winter who I told him about how I have a cow named Marko. He signed this for me:

And then I met Billy Wirth. I told him about my cows too and he was so happy to chat cows with me! I told him how I had brown swiss and he said they're beautiful.

And then I met Jason Patric. And now- I wasn't planning on getting a selfie with him at first. It was kinda a last minute decision. But boy.. he was absolutely amazing! His son was there helping him and he saw me and made a little doodle of David to give to me (check out his awesome talent! The post-it note).

But I beg you... Look at the picture closer... everyone around us started laughing and I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't until I walked away and actually stopped to look at my phone that I realized what had happened! I was so excited and happy about it. My friend was laughing and told me how Alex jumped behind us to photobomb. It made my whole weekend honestly.

Anyway, so much other amazing things happened that I'll post about later. But for now y'all can at least see these :)

#the lost boys #lost boys #the lost boys 1987 #tlb 1987 #tlb #vampires

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starhvney · 13 days

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𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝟑 | 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟓: 𝐂𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐌𝐎𝐌𝐒

𝐂𝐖: none? very wholesome today.

𝐀/𝐍: um.. so this chapter originally was supposed to be cool moms and a dinner... but now it's just cool moms because i realized i was nearing 7k works and the dinner hadn't even started lmao. anyways enjoy this chapter it's super cute

𝐖𝐂: 6,400 +

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 ☆ 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 | 𝐀𝐎𝟑 | 𝐅𝐈𝐂 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 | 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒

ivy didn’t even glance your way as you walked into homeroom the next day, her hair covering her bruised cheek and head turned sharply away from you. a few people mentioned the slight splotch of purple against her porcelain skin, but it seemed everyone was under the impression that she had just fallen and injured herself.

you’re surprised that she didn’t try to frame you for her injury, especially since you came to school the next day with not even a red mark against your skin. you suppose she really wanted garroth to be under the impression she was a sweet girl who would never get in a fight.

oh, please.

it’s not like she had to try extra hard to do so, with how trusting and kind the school’s “prince charming” was.

to add on to your suspicions, ivy proceeded to not bother you for the rest of the week. it was something that was both relieving and incredibly anxiety-inducing. was she really done messing with you? or was she planning something else?

your thoughts are interrupted as you nearly collide with a meif’wa girl who was stationed around the corner and peeking from behind some lockers at the display in front of her. aphmau and a familiar-looking boy argued in the hall, just outside of the werewolf classroom.

the meif’wa girl turns to you, her round eyes holding a brilliant shade of gold and pale cheeks colored a lovely shade of pink. a pink that similarly matched her straight hair that framed her round cheeks and curled at the ends of her shoulders. with her perfectly groomed black tail and ears and the cute bows she used to accessorize, she looked like an adorable porcelain doll.

“excuse me!” she muffles an apology behind the hand she raised to her mouth, her voice mousey and soft.

“oh, that’s okay! i was sidetracked,” you glance back at your friend and the boy who towered over her. “um… what are you doing?”

“well, i always end up passing by those two after my classes are over, and i’m starting to think maybe they like each other without realizing.” she blinks up at you, her smile particularly cheeky and feline. “i want to see if my ship sets sail.”

“your…ship?” you trail questionably, frowning at aphmau’s peeved expression and the guy's deep frown on his scratched and bandaged face.

was this the rude classmate from werewolf studies that aphmau had mentioned before?

“yeah, wouldn’t the enemies to lovers be cute?! and he’s the new “bad boy” junior. i love playing cupid in the school,” she giggles from behind her hand.

you blink, watching as the rather scary-looking boy rolls his eyes, looking totally fed up as aphmau holds her hands on her hips.

“uhh… yeah. nice to meet you by the way,” you give her your name, politely waiting for her to respond as you slowly make your way towards the two.

“oh! it’s… nana.”

“i’ll catch you around sometime,” you wave, before quickly shuffling right up to the tense duo.

man, he is tall. his skin was a tanned olive color, with cuts and bandages littered across his face. ink-black hair hung messily in front of his equally dark eyes and thick brows.

“you ready to go home, aph?” you ask, though you kept your eyes trained directly on deep brown ones.

you recall why you thought he was familiar now, he was the one who unintentionally photobombed your first-day selfie with aphmau and bumped into her without apologizing.

she lets out an irritated huff of air, muttering a “yes” before marching down the hall before you.

you stare at the boy a second longer, before turning away and stretching out your stride to catch up to aphmau. the two of you make your way out of the doors, walking down the street in silence.

“…so?” you start, raising an eyebrow and carefully lacing your hands behind your back.

“i confronted him on why he teases me and is rude to me for no reason and he just said “i was annoying”,” she uses air quotes as she mocks his choice of words. “so i got mad and said he was a jerk and no one would want to be friends with him if he acts like that to people who are just trying to be nice.”

you roll your eyes.

“good. if you act like that all your life you’ll end up sad and alone.”

“that’s what i said!”

when you make it home, your mom is once again eagerly awaiting to tell you something, still in her work clothes as she lingers near the entryway.

“so! we happened to move closer to some other family friends that were also friends with the salomes, and we’re going to meet them all at the park tomorrow afternoon.” she announces to you as you enter the kitchen, clasping her hands together excitedly. “there’s three boys around your age, too!”

“uh, what? why am i just now finding this out?”

“oh don’t worry so much, i’m gonna be there and they’re sweet kids. at least they should be.”

you huff, “alright then.”

☆

you and your mom enter the park from a different side than when you came last time, the trees are less dense, and there’s lots of open space to run around. nearby is a pretty and intricate fountain, with a sculpture of the matron on top. you glance away from it, eyes immediately landing on aphmau and then sylvanna.

sylvanna smiles warmly, approaching mom and giving her a hug. “it’s good to see you again, girl!”

“i know! it’s so good to see you!”

aphmau and you glance at each other a bit awkwardly, crossing your arms as your mothers once again hit it off.

“and oh, mija! you look so cute today, que linda!” her mom’s warm brown eyes land on you.

“thank you-“

“yes, of course! well, why don’t you two talk while we catch up and wait for zianna? when we older ladies go jogging together you two can play with her kids!”

before you can say anything else, the two walk a short distance away, already chatting up a storm with wide eyes and…seriously intense expressions.

“uh, whose kids? what?” aphmau exasperatedly asks to no reply.

you look over to aph as she holds her hands out in annoyed confusion. her hair is held back by a red headband that matches her outfit: red sneakers along with a red square-neck tank top that was loosely tucked into a denim skirt.

you shrug at the girl, used to not being told what was happening until the last possible moment.

“uh… good to see you, i like your outfit?” you start awkwardly.

“…thank you.” she says, looking down at her attire as if she had forgotten what she wore today.

you walk over to a bench that rests under a large and twisted tree. the afternoon sun beats down on the pavement and reflects onto your faces despite taking refuge under the leaves, causing the two of you to squint at each other. the heat from the summer had finally begun to leave, thankfully, and a warm breeze rustled some of the trees, sending some more leaves onto the ground's growing collection.

aphmau sighs, leaning back as she gazes around at the park.

“ugh, at least i’m with you,” she mutters. “are we gonna have to babysit some five-year-old brats?”

“oh, no actually i don’t think-“

“hey, girlfriends!” a bright and cheery voice interrupts your conversation.

you turn to see a beautiful woman with warm green eyes and black hair tied back into a styled ponytail. she was definitely a grown woman, but her blue—and slightly revealing—jogger set and trendy gold jewelry told a different story.

“ah! wassup girl!” sylvanna calls out from behind you, both her and mom jogging up to the woman who you now assume is the third mother in this get-together.

“oh you two, it’s been too long,” the black-haired woman greets. “and you both are still lookin’ fine!”

“zianna, it’s so good to see you!”

“what’s with the slang?” you lean over and mutter to aphmau, who rolls her eyes.

“that must be where my mom learned it from, it’s been nonstop with her, too.”

suddenly the cheery voice is closer.

“oh! and look at you two! you two became so beautiful, like little dolls! lookin’ just like your pretty mamas! you all are going to have so much fun together!”

“oh, um thank you, it’s nice to meet you-“ you start.

“it’s nice to meet you! wait… you ‘all’? great. so we’re babysitting multiple brats.”

you turn to glance at aphmau warily. now why would you say that…

“well, i wouldn’t exactly call us brats.” a familiar deep and smooth voice causes you to jump as you spin back around towards the source.

garroth stands tall as usual, today wearing a dark teal carhartt jacket over a white tee and some loose tan cargo pants and white sneakers to pair. his fluffy hair is tucked under a baseball hat with the pdh emblem and a small captain embroidered along the side. behind him were two slightly shorter boys, their faces filled with a tad more youth based on the baby fat that still clung to their cheeks.

one had a lovely shade of chocolatey brown hair and shared the same warm green eyes as their mother. he had a kind, friendly face, one of childish friendliness and openness that hadn’t been squandered by teenage years.

the other was… starkly different from the others. straight, dark black hair covered the right side of his face, hiding the rest of the rather cute freckles that splayed across his cheeks and nose. his strikingly icy blue eyes and pale—almost nearly translucent looking—skin contrasted against the rest of his dark outfit and features. he looked the least athletic out of the other two, his loose hoodie swallowing and hiding what looked like a thin and gangly frame underneath.

“wha- i- garroth?” aphmau stutters out, her jaw dropping in complete shock. “what are you doing here?”

“huh. so you’re the other kids. that’s funny.” i smile. “who would’ve thought our moms were friends?”

“i… oh…” aphmau finally catches on, her thin eyebrows raising in surprise.

an annoyed sigh comes from the black-haired kid, who you can now safely assume is garroth’s brother. “so, these are the brats we have to babysit?”

you wrinkle your nose and narrow your eyes at his complaint. well, aren’t you just a ball of sunshine?

“babysit?” you echo.

he doesn't seem older than you. in fact it would be safe to assume he was younger considering the higher, nasally, middle-schooler voice he had.

“hey, not-alone buddy!” the other brother cheeses in aphmau’s direction, baby cheeks squishing against his smile and crinkling his eyes.

“mom, are you kidding me? these guys also go to my school!” aphmau looks back at her mother.

“oh, how did we not talk about that?” your mom giggles, the other ladies laughing along with her.

“i had no idea your boys went to the same school as my daughter!”

“oh, samesies! that’s so adorable!” zianna cheers. as she smiles i can see where that brown-haired boy got his energetic grin from.

“i guess that means we have a lot to catch up on. ready for our jog?”

“yep! ok, kids, have fun together!” zianna turns to the emo brother. “remember, zuzu, i want you to try at least one sport with your brothers and new friends while you’re here at the park! we need to toughen you up, but not so much that you aren’t so tough for mommy kisses!”

under the black hair, you can see his pale skin turn to a bright red in embarrassment.

“mom! stop embarrassing me!” he complains. his voice has a slight whine to it.

“i love you too, zuzu! you kids play nice!” she airily smiles and waves, already beginning to walk backward from us, to which your and aphmau’s moms follow.

“be good! text me if there’s an emergency!” your mom waves to you, seemingly excited about the meetup despite being much more mellow than the other two women.

you smile and wave to her before holding a thumbs up. “kay!”

“do you still listen to beyoncé, zianna?”

“are you kidding me? i brought this portable speaker so we could listen to her while we run! it’s gonna be the bomb dot com!”

“word, yo!”

…

and they’re gone.

“oh wow.” the youngest boy sighs.

“can mom get any more embarrassing?”

“hm. so that’s where my mom learned to talk like that. i see.” aphmau says, raising her eyebrows and narrowing her eyes in accusation.

“uhh, i’m pretty sure your mom rubbed off on our mom.” garroth pipes in.

“more than likely they both rubbed off on each other and it just started escalating.”

“hey, garroth!” you finally greet, gathering your bearings and waving to the tall boy.

his eyebrows raise and his eyes soften to the look of an adorable puppy dog. he gives a small smile, back waving at you and chirping your name in greeting. you turn to look at garroth’s brothers.

“ah, i haven’t met you two yet,” you introduce yourself. “it’s nice to meet you two.”

“yeah, whatever. now we’re stuck in this stupid park in the stupid sun.” the dark-haired boy slinks away from you with his hands shoved in his pockets.

you have to stop your jaw from dropping in bewilderment. is this boy really garroth’s little brother? there’s no way they share an ounce of dna.

“hey baby brother, where are you going?” garroth questions, his lips dropping into a disappointed frown as he follows the scrawny boy.

“i’m going to sit under a tree. on my phone. and as isolated from you four as possible.”

you glance at the other brother, who offers a sheepish smile.

“i’m vylad, it’s nice to meet you too… sorry about zane.”

you shrug your shoulders awkwardly.

“um… it’s no problem. nice to meet you, vylad-“

“nope! come on now, you heard mom. we need to get you into a sport.”

“i’m not doing it.”

garroth and—as vylad kindly introduced for you—zane have begun to talk a bit more heatedly from the tree zane decided to stubbornly plop himself under.

“yes, you are.”

“why should i?”

garroth looks down in contemplation, before looking up at zane with an almost mischievous expression.

“because if you don’t, i’ll hug you in front of the entire school every chance i get. for the rest of the year.”

you three spectators snicker in amusement as zane looks down in annoyance.

“…i hate you, garroth.”

oh.

“aww, zane! you should just tell your brother you love him.” aphmau laughs, a bit nervously at that.

“shut up you girl-woman-thing!”

“girl-woman-thing?” you deadpan, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.

“uhh… so, vylad! pick a sport.” aphmau quickly recovers.

“easy! soccer!”

garroth has walked back to us. he’s smiling, but the corners of his mouth turn into something that looks more dejected.

“are you sure? i was thinking base-“

“oh my gosh! i love soccer, vylad!” aphmau gasps.

“really? you should’ve said something when you were talking about it with laurance. you should try out for the team,” garroth starts tugging off his jacket, tossing it onto the nearby bench.

“i played a lot of soccer as a kid, so i wanted to try something new. like track, maybe. i still really love soccer, though!” she looks back to where the parking lot is. “i actually have a soccer ball in my mom’s car, i’ll go get it.”

“okay, i know a perfect spot in the park to play on!” vylad agrees, excitedly beginning to walk down the sidewalk. “it’s further down this way.”

you nod, glancing over at aphmau. she waves you on along with the brothers, already walking off to the parked cars.

“alright! you guys go, and i’ll meet you there, okay?”

you split off from her, following the boys down the pavement before remembering garroth’s teal carhartt still on the bench.

“oh!”

you spin back around jogging and retrieving the jacket before catching up to garroth. it’s heavier than expected, and you jokingly pretend to use it as a dumbbell before handing it off to him.

“i threw a baseball in my pocket and my phone is in there, so thanks,” he sheepishly accepts it, tucking it over the crook of his elbow.

“while aphmau and your brothers play soccer—“

zane sighs in annoyance from behind you.

“—do you want to play catch? i’ll probably drop it more than i actually catch it, but…”

garroth chuckles, reaching up to softly facepalm in amusement.

“sure, i’ll throw softly.”

you clap your hands quietly, turning to the younger boy that you had finally caught up to.

“so, vylad, right? are you in aphmau’s class or something?” you inquire, wondering where the edge lord behind you fits into the equation.

“yep! i transferred from o’khasis prep cause the commute was too far, and i got to move up a grade cause i had pretty good grades.”

“oh! that’s cool,” you glance back at garroth. “i thought i heard that o’khasis accent.”

garroth’s eyes widen for a split moment as the tips of his ears begin to redden. vylad giggles a bit, finally stopping in front of a pretty field with freshly trimmed and thick grass. conveniently, it also has two goals set up on either side for community use.

“yeah, zane and i actually got homeschooled for a bit and didn’t catch on to the accent, so garroth is mainly the one who still kinda has it from when we lived there.”

you hum in understanding, glancing back at the boy who was readjusting his hat and scratching the nape of his neck.

“i didn’t know i still had one.”

“it’s nice.”

you’d almost forgotten that the emo kid was there until he sighed again, looking around for a shady spot to retreat to. before he could walk away, garroth yanks him back by the hoodie, pulling him into a forced side hug. zane makes a noise of discomfort, a sound mixed with annoyance and disgust.

“no, you’re gonna play with vylad and aphmau.”

zane glares over at the brown-haired brother who has wandered a little off into the field. he holds out a thumbs up, smiling as he squints through the sun's rays.

“why don’t you actually say something nice to her?” garroth pinches zane’s shoulder.

shockingly light blue eyes glare at you through straight, dark lashes, narrowing at you in pure annoyance.

“hi,” he tensely greets, jaw immediately clenching.

“hi…” you awkwardly return, before pointing towards your cheeks. “um, i like your freckles…?”

the boy’s nose wrinkles, seemingly not liking the cute undertones your compliment implied. despite the look of refusal and defiance that he gives you, his whole face begins to grow pink.

“okay?” he snarkily responds, looking at you like you had just said the sky was green.

“go with vylad,” garroth groans, releasing him and lightly pushing him forward, causing him to stumble out into the grassy field.

he catches his footing, shooting a sharp glare back to garroth and flashing him with his middle finger, black rings and nails contrasting against the pale skin. garroth shrugs at him, completely unphased.

“i’m sorry about him, he’s uh… going through,” he gestures at the boy in black now skulking over to vylad who was jumping around like a goofball. “uh, whatever that is.”

you shake your head with a dry laugh, shrugging your shoulders.

“it’s fine, it’s not your fault.”

he sighs, frowning at his younger brothers.

“yeah well…” he begins, trailing off before shaking his head. “never mind.”

“i got it!” you hear aphmau announce, her small footsteps bounding up to you and stomping to a stop right next to you, soccer ball in her hands. “you playing?”

“we’re not that good at soccer, so we were gonna let you and vylad teach zane while we play catch over here,” garroth pulls out the baseball from his pocket… and then reaches into the hidden inner lining of his jacket and pulls out two baseball gloves.

how did he hide those in there?

aphmau blinks, before shrugging and excitedly running off into the field with a chirpy, “okay then!”

garroth smiles at you before looking down at the two gloves, handing you the slightly smaller and much more worn one.

“this one was from when i was younger. it’ll fit you better and it's worn in already, so it’ll be easier to catch.”

“oh, thanks.”

he nods, tossing up the ball in his hand and catching it as he paces a little distance away from you. he lightly spins the baseball between his fingers before nodding at you to get ready. you lift the glove up, feeling a bit nervous as the broad-shouldered baseball captain stands in front of you.

“what position do you play, garroth?”

“pitcher.”

he throws the ball your way. it’s still dauntingly fast, and your whole face unwillingly flinches as the ball smacks against the glove. you can tell he barely put any force into it, too, which makes you feel bad for anyone who has to bat up against him.

“i can tell,” you meekly respond, holding the ball between your first two fingers and your thumb.

“sorry…i thought i threw that soft,” garroth smiles, a small entertained laugh leaving his lips.

you shake your head sheepishly, throwing the ball back and watching as it satisfyingly lands in garroth’s glove.

“not bad,” he throws the ball back, a bit slower this time. “how do you like phoenix drop so far?”

“uhhh—“ you think of your recent detention and put a little more force into your throw. “it’s okay.”

“just okay?”

“well, it’s school. and i guess there’s a few good people who have made it better so far.”

you deadpan back at him when he doesn’t throw back the ball, instead humming and readjusting his cap while looking at you expectantly

“yes, you’re one of them.”

he grins cheekily, tossing the ball back in satisfaction.

“cool.”

“i can run.” you hear zane protest, and you turn to look at the group. aphmau is slowly backing up, arms crossed as she watches him glare at his polar opposite brother.

“…really?”

“away from you.”

you glance back at garroth before both of you silently agree to walk closer. you both pause near aphmau, who is picking at her nails.

“sorry… i knew you were excited to play soccer,” garroth apologizes for his brother’s behavior once again, glaring over at the boy’s attitude.

“it’s,” she sighs. “fine. at least he’s giving it a chance? he always seems so lonely in class.”

garroth shrugs, looking on at his brothers with a complex of emotions on his face.

“yeah, but he likes to be alone, so i try to respect it. he’s my little brother, so it’s not like i can parent him out of being that way, even if i try.”

you watch his side profile as he stares at his younger brothers. he looked so fond of them… but strangely distant.

“no! i don’t want to play with you vylad!”

“fine…” vylad sighs, his tone dejected. “then garroth can kick to you.”

“hell no!”

“what’s going on?” garroth walks forward, aphmau and i trailing behind.

“zane being emo,” vylad shoots a glare at his peeved brother. “he doesn’t want me or you to kick the ball to him.”

“it’s stupid.”

“you just don’t want garroth or i to show you up.”

“shut up.”

“i’ll kick with you, zane,” aphmau pipes up, nervously stepping forward.

zane looks at her for a moment before bursting out in laughter.

“you? you couldn’t kick the ball to me from where you are right now with those twinkle-toe-looking short-ass kid legs.”

you hate that the corner of your mouth twitches in amusement.

“zane,” garroth says, his tone threateningly even and deep as he shoots an irritated glare at the boy. “that’s rude.”

aphmau walks forward, grabbing the ball from vylad. she sets out on the ground before kicking the ball right by zane’s shoulders and into the goal’s net.

“you're supposed to block it, by the way.”

“that was just a practice run.”

vylad walks towards you and garroth, though his eyes are trained on his older brother’s, his excitement from before now turned into a disappointed frown. garroth’s hand claps onto vylad’s shoulder, patting the younger boy assuredly with a sigh.

thwack!

your attention is suddenly pulled back to the mood-killer of the day, only to find him crumpled on the ground with his hand to his face. garroth, who saw the whole thing, doubles over in silent laughter and uses vylad to keep him upright.

“damn,” vylad says, before joining garroth in his giggles.

“oh… my… i’m so sorry!” aphmau apologizes frantically, her hand slapping over her mouth.

you sigh, jogging towards zane as a strange feeling of pity fills your stomach. he sits himself up, hands still on his head when you reach your hand out for him to take. he flinches when he realizes you’ve walked up to him, his lip curling and hands winding back like he was getting ready to slap it away.

“just take the hand, dude.”

a second passes before his bony hand slaps onto yours, digging uncomfortably into your skin as you help him get back on his feet.

“you good?”

he glares off at his brothers, eyes pricked with tears no doubt from getting hit square in the face. his pale skin was irritated and splotched red, his only exposed eye beginning to swell.

“yeah, it just stings,” he trudges ahead of you and off the field, sitting on a nearby bench.

“i have to say, i wasn’t expecting you to catch the ball with your face!” garroth laughs at the younger boy.

“shut up, garroth!”

aphmau catches up, stopping in front of zane with a petrified look on her face.

“oh my gosh, zane, i am so so so so sorry!” she rambles, hands coming up to cover her mouth.

“you did that on purpose.”

“no, i swear i didn’t! i’m just not good at aiming!”

“you could’ve told me that before you fully sent the ball hurling towards my head.”

“i’m so sorry. are you okay?”

“i’m fine.”

“yeah, his other eye got messed up from—“ vylad starts, before getting cut off by a warning look from zane.

you happen to glance over at garroth, who has a deep frown on his face. he notices your stare, and immediately his expression shifts back to his normal passiveness.

“well, this definitely calls for a break. i’m glad you at least tried it out, zane.”

zane rolls his eyes, only to make a small groaning sound and hold his head.

“whatever.”

you look around, noticing a bathroom building that had a vending machine outside of it. without saying anything you jog off towards it, leaving behind your group. reaching in your pocket, you snag some cash you had taken with you, sliding it into the machine and pressing down on the water button.

quickly, you grab the water and jog back, seeing that the moms have returned from their run.

“oh, he’ll be fine, he has two brothers, and zane’s been through much worse.”

you wave to your mom, before holding the water bottle out near the boy’s face.

“here. it’ll help with the swelling.”

“well, aren’t you just a sweetheart! you should take notes from her, zuzu.” zianna gushes, coming up to you and cupping one of your cheeks adorably in her hand.

zane sighs, holding the water bottle up to the side of his face, letting the cold condensation soothe the sensitive skin.

“thanks,” he grumbles and you nod in response, waving off the gesture like it was nothing.

“oh-em-gee, this is totes deja vu! remember that time that aphmau did this exact same thing to zane when the kids were playing dodgeball in the old neighborhood?”

“that’s totes right!”

“yes, i remember! they were all the cutest little kids back then!”

you glance back at aphmau and the three boys, who look just as confused as you feel. as you lock eyes with aphmau, something clicks, and you remember the childhood photograph on her wall.

slowly, your jaw drops, eyes widening in realization.

“huh?” she questions, looking concerned by your sudden expression.

“the picture!”

she blinks, before her head whips back to garroth and then to the other two.

“the picture!”

“what picture? we just met you guys?” vylad looks between you two and the women giggling behind you, amused by the whole situation. “what are you talking about, mom?”

she breaks out into more giggles.

“oh, don’t tell me you don’t remember each other?”

sylvanna catches her breath from her own amusement, placing a hand on her chest.

“we lived in the same neighborhood when you guys were all so tiny. you played with each other every week!”

“oh, girl. i was so devastated when the two of you moved away!” zianna frowns at the memory.

the five of you teenagers gawk at the information, jaws hanging open in shock.

“you know, i actually do vaguely remember. aphmau wore that red dress all the time,” garroth glances at you. “and i remember playing t-ball with you.”

you furrow your eyebrows, trying to recall the memory and getting a few glimpses of your childhood.

“oh yeah…”

“well, they were pretty little, so it’s no wonder they don’t really remember,” your mom laughs, glancing at you. “you were such a worried and cautious kid even when you were little. you cried more when the boys or aphmau did when they got hurt, trying to make sure they were okay.”

“yes, i remember that! she’d come running back to the house asking for bandaids that weren’t even for her all the time, the little medic. seems like that hasn’t changed.”

“this is so cute! i had no idea you guys didn’t remember each other! we should have dinner over at my place tonight so we can all catch up!” zianna squeals, grabbing onto sylvanna and your mom in excitement.

“that sounds wonderful! we’ll head home to wash up and i’ll bring a dish or something.”

“same here, we’ll be there!” your mom smiles.

“ooh, please bring those quesadillas, sylvanna,” zianna butchers the pronunciation, before turning to your mom. “and you should totes bring that yummy guac you used to make!”

“it’s que-sa-di-yas, zianna,” sylvanna playfully rolls her eyes.

“it’s delicious to me!” she claps her hands with a laugh.

“alright, we’ll see you later this evening then.”

“bye, girlfriends! let’s go boys, you’ve got some cleaning to do.”

you turn and wave to your—freshly reunited?—childhood friends, who seem equally as bewildered.

“uh, i guess we’ll talk later,” garroth waves back, robotically turning to walk with his energetic mother as the cogs still turn in his brain.

“see ya…?”

you and aphmau trail behind your moms, who are excitedly planning to drive together to the ro’meave home later.

“this is crazy. we became friends with them again without even knowing.”

“yeah…small world i guess.”

☆

“do i have to wear a dress?”

“yes, it’s a small dinner party and we need to look presentable,” your mom answers, turning to make sure your dad also kept his word on dressing decently. “plus, the ro’meaves are super rich…”

“what was that?”

“nothing! besides, it’s not like it’s a super fancy dress, you look so cute! do you have the guac bowl?”

“yes…”

she nods, ushering you and your dad out of the house and speed walking down the sidewalk. you both deadpan at each other, your dad scratching through his beard with a sigh.

“alright, if it makes your mom happy.”

you shrug, “and me.”

“that’s good enough for me, i guess.”

aphmau’s house smells good, the scent of chicken and beef quesadillas wafting through the air.

“oh mija, aphmau and one of her little friends from school are out back picking some hot peppers for the salsa, why don’t you go join them!” sylvanna points towards the back door, before leaning towards you. “and make sure there’s no flirting or funny business.”

you nod with a knowing smile, holding back a laugh at her insistent stare.

“okay, i’ll give you an update when i return, captain.”

you slip out of the sliding glass doors as the adults start to talk, looking around before spotting a garden to your left. you step off the deck, following a pretty mosaic stone trail to the intricate, fenced-in veggies and flowers. after stepping into the gate, you admire all the terra-cotta and talavera pots, as well as a lime and orange tree in the mix. everything seemed almost overgrown, but so carefully groomed and placed that you could tell it was well cared for.

“hey guys,” you greet, spotting aphmau in a cute red dress and headband, as well as that white-haired kid from your first day. “oh, and hey travis! good to see you again.”

his eyes widen, before he shoots a brace-filled smile your way, earnestly greeting you with a call of your name.

“good to see you too! so you’re going to vylad’s house, huh? that’s crazy.”

“i know, right? none of us remembered each other at all.”

“yeah, super weird,” aphmau shakes her head analyzing the jalapeños she picked in her hand.

“i think it’s super cool! you have a little connection to someone you didn’t even know was there.”

you smile at him. “yeah, that’s a nice way of putting it.”

“yeah, garroth is almost unrecognizable from the childhood photos,” aphmau trails.

“stop drooling,” travis deadpans at the girl, laughing as she flusteredly panics in response.

“i’m not!”

“you totally were. but hey, i don’t blame you! lots of girls have a crush on him.”

“no kidding,” you monotone, an image of ivy’s twisted face popping into your mind.

“i do not have a crush on him,” she defends, though the red on her cheeks betray her.

“uh-huh, sure,” travis drawls out sarcastically, turning to laugh with you when aphmau hisses at him to stop again.

he puts his hands up in defense, backing up when he’s threatened with a jalapeño to the face. the two of you let your giggles fiddle out, before travis seemingly remembered something important, his lips flattening into a serious line.

“hey, i heard you two were with gene and his gang a while ago… is that true?”

“oh, i mean we did “meet them”, i guess. but we didn’t really talk to them.”

“oh, okay. good. i was kinda worried.”

“where did you hear that?” aphmau stutters, dusting off her clothes as she stands back up, seemingly satisfied with her selection of peppers.

“dante told me. he said gene mentioned it or something. he didn’t say anything bad, but he was talking about you two,” he reaches up to fiddle with a strand of his hair by his ear, lost in his thoughts for a moment. “i just… know they’re not the best influences, so i wanted to check on you guys. dante really looks up to gene, but i don’t think he knows the kind of stuff he gets up to.”

“thanks, travis. that’s really nice of you.”

he nervously laughs, shrugging his shoulders.

“i mean yeah. i haven’t gotten to know you that well but aphmau’s my not-alone-buddy, so if you guys are good friends i’d like to look out for you, too.”

your chest feels warm as you smile at him.

“thanks. i’ll look out for you, too.”

“oh! that reminds me travis, how’s theatre club?”

“ooh, you joined?”

“yeah, i did!” travis stutters, eyes lighting up. “it’s going really great. hey, you know the girl with blue hair that hit me in the face on the first day?”

“katelyn?”

“uh, yeah! she stops by and visits the club sometimes…” his cheeks grow to a warm shade of red.

“sounds like you have a crush, travis.”

“wha—no, i mean—!” he sputters, scratching the back of his neck. “i mean she is really cute… but she has a boyfriend already.”

you blink. katelyn has a boyfriend?

“really? who?”

“his name is jeffory. goldwyn is his last name, i think. he’s a really good-looking senior so i don’t even have a chance.” he sighs.

you hum in pity and understanding for the boy, recalling the tall, smiley, and handsome upperclassman who had stopped by volleyball practice a few times. he had pretty eyes and brown hair, and he seemed super friendly and charming from the few times you said hello. now that you think about it, he did really only hang around katelyn when he did come by the gym.

“so i’m not even gonna try anything. she is really pretty, though.”

“maybe one day,” you halfheartedly encourage with a shrug of your shoulders. “uh… not wishing on her to break up with him or anything—“

travis laughs, face brightening again from the small dejected pout that had begun to form on his lips.

“hey!” sylvanna calls from the porch, her projected voice startling the three of you. “what’s taking you three so long?! we have to get going soon! dios mío…”

“coming, mom!” aphmau calls giving you two a look before shuffling out of the garden with her peppers in hand. “guess we lost track of time.”

“yeah, better not make your mom mad,” travis mutters, quickly falling behind the girl before leaning over to whisper to you. “she kinda scares me.”

you laugh at him, stepping through the sliding doors into the house. dad quickly scopes out the boy, making himself known by very firmly grasping his shoulder and reaching out to shake his hand. you watch as travis’s soul nearly leaves his body, face paling at the gruff-looking man in front of him.

“how’re you doin’ kid? what’s your name?”

“uh—hello sir,” travis stutters, quickly shaking his hand. “it’s travis.”

your dad pauses, squinting down at him uncertainly.

“what’s your last name?”

“va—valkrum… sir?”

“huh. you terry’s boy?”

“you know my dad?”

“yeah. we were old buddies a while back when you were just about to here in height,” dad gestures to his knees with his hand. “i thought you looked familiar.”

you glance over at sylvanna and mom, who are staring at each other with shocked looks on their faces.

“well, nice to meet you, son. you need a ride home?”

travis freezes with his mouth open, trying to muster up words.

“if it’s not out of your way, that would be nice.”

he nods, before leaving the poor boy be—as he was almost quaking in place. when your dad is out of earshot he leans over to you again, face still pale.

“your dad scares me more.”

©starhvney, 2024. please do not steal or repost my works as your own

tag list: @orinlin @pain-in-the-ashe @youmake1mistake @thenyxsky

#aphmau mystreet #mystreet x reader #mystreet #aphmau #x reader #phoenix drop high #aphmau pdh #pdh #reader insert #fem reader

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moog-enthusiast · 10 months

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photobomb offers a combination of many wonderful tropes that i enjoy. it combines childhood friends to lovers and enemies to lovers, (though enemies is used very loosely, keep in mind). they were each others first friends, and then first enemies, and in my mind at least- first to reconcile with one another. they’re both lonely people who care deeply about their relationships, and both particularly insecure in them despite having different outlooks- with aubrey being more angry outwardly, and basils meek anxious running away.

aubrey loved cutesy cheerful things growing up, and likely still does as a teen, even if she tries to cover it up! basil likes to share his interest with others, and aubrey likes the attention and the help, and it bounces off of each other.

Basils “softness” can help Aubrey feel safe enough to let her own softness and emotion deep through too. Aubrey’s tough outlook on the other hand, is beneficial to basil as well, being that she could be an excellent help to getting basil to stand up for himself and get a little more confidence to say no and stand off.

they also have matching color-schemes which is just very cute to me…

even in headspace it’s obvious how much they cared for each other. in realworld too, basil was the first person aubrey looked for after the incident. basil was her comfort person, and she wanted him to be the first to join her again. if it weren’t for the miscommunications and basils savior complex surrounding sunny, then i have no doubt they’d be leaning on each other throughout those four years!

when things get rough, the bullying isn’t truly from aubrey herself either. she still cares about basil, and while she does wrongly act as a bystander, she never approaches basil, and tries to leave him alone via distancing herself. basil broke that distance to try and talk to her again out of his own desperation, only to be met by the pushback of the hooligans, trying to get him away from aubrey knowing she was pissed at him.

after the lake incident—(which was an accident) — she immediately feels guilty for acting on a whim, and feels even worse in neutral endings!

tl;dr —> they lov each other

#omori #omori basil #omori aubrey #omori photobomb #photobomb omori #this could be read as platonic if you want it to i guess #i like them romantically but this can be seen either way #point is they are very important to each other!#omori analysis #look they’re so special to me ok

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astrologicalsstuff · 1 year

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12th house synastry oh my lord…

I’m not going to say that it’s doomed because it’s far from that this can make for some really successful marriages but it definitely takes work. All 12th house synastry is like surrendering, you have to be okay with undefined answers, with sacrifice and with humility. The house person definitely feels it more but that’s not without saying the planet person doesn’t feel it. This is the house of Pisces so boundaries (or lack thereof) are at play here. 12th house synastry is like, I don’t know where you end and I begin. This person could make you want to give them everything and anything like their happiness is your happiness if you can’t handle that thought you will struggle. This is “the one that got away” or “until next time scenario. Stellium are like everything in the world is pulling us together while keeping us apart. It’s all about timing but the time is never right. This person wil show you parts of yourself you thought you forgot or even suppressed. They know you without noticing it sometimes. They know exactly what to say to trigger you. Water signs work best here because it is all about nurturing the subconscious. Scorpio is probably very intense unless you have planets Nataly.

Story time:

The first guy I ever got with had cancer 12th house and I had 3 planets in his 12th🫣. To top it off the planets were sun mars and Jupiter all fire😭😭😭. When I met him he walked in like a movie scene and I just knew he was going to be significant to me. I have never felt this way with anyone else it was one of the slow-mo hair blowing in the wind moments truly unreal. We spent the day together even went to go see a movie (12th house nature) he introduced me to drugs(12th house fantasy nature) We didn’t see eachother for 6 months because we had no mutuals and then one of my friends came to town wanted to hangout with some random guy who we knew from highschool and when he left us he met up with some friends who were nearby and I saw him again. We kept running into each-other never got his contact info but ran into eachother anywhere and everywhere. Eventually I got his info and we began to see eachother but we never dated. He had two houses both next door to my closest friends in high school (this was so crazy because I went home with one of those friends that first night meeting him and thought to myself: he could be anywhere in the world, and he was probably next door) everything felt fated in some way but I think I was just delusional. I’m still confused about it tbh. I definitely had feelings for him but felt like I couldn’t tell him for some reason. Looking back at it I think things would’ve been better if I did but he just made me so nervous. We never dated but he was all of my firsts and I used to be able to feel whenever he got with smone else and it would come out later that he was getting with other people. (We were never exclusive and I asked for that) but things just kept getting harder and I felt like I couldn’t talk to him at all. He was more than comforting and kind and sensitive to my needs but he started apologizing all the time for things I didn’t care about and I responded in ways I cannot even begin to understand. Honestly 12th house synastry is so much confusion. He ghosted me tho after a year and before he left he said he wanted to be friends and continue fucking. Whatever the fuck that means because that’s kinda what we were doing anyway and then disappeared. He deleted all social media, and it was like he never existed. Honestly I talk about how much he fucked me up but I really do think he taught me a lot of good lessons as well. we were on and off a lot for that year, but something always brought us back together and it was always something super random. One time I was hanging out with a random guy and he was sending snapchats to people and I skated behind him to photobomb and he sent it and I saw the bitmoji and knew it was him. And he texted me again after that. I went from having no mutuals with this guy to every single person tying back to him. One time we ended and I went to a fair I went to every year since I was a kid and my friend met up with her friend there and her friend was friends with his entire friend group he was basically unavoidable. Dreams are also a big part of 12th house synastry. I haven’t stopped dreaming about him even when I have other partners sometimes he’ll be in my dreams. I ran into him again though a couple months ago and I still couldn’t talk to him but I know that encounter had to be fate because I really didn’t want to go to that show that night and everyone kept telling me for weeks to go but I wanted to do something else I lost my ID the NIGHT before so all the things I wanted to go to I couldn’t, and two hours before the show my friend cancelled on me and insisted I use her tickets to go to the show I was so set on not going to but I had nothing better to do and she didn’t want to waste her money. SO I WENT AND WAITED OUTSIDE FOR ANOTHER FRIEND AND HE FUCKING WALKED BY. After three years of radio silence we’re adults now so I figured he’d be away at college or something. 12 house in synastry is the good the bad and the ugly. despite how undeniably toxic that relationship was and how much he hurt me I wish nothing but the best for him.

#12th house #synastry #astrology #astro observations #mars #jupiter #sun #astroblr

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omormoment · 1 year

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Can you tell me about your photobomb headcanons?

Uh oh sorry for answering it really late! But well here's some of my headcanon!

- When they were little, Basil and Aubrey are touchy. They like to hold hands, Basil braiding her hair, hugs and nuzzles with each other. They openly compliment and admire each others.

- Basil has a crush on Aubrey first when they were younger. But he didn't say anything. The crush mellows out during the 4 years before the events of the game. You know, because the trauma and conflicts and all that jazz. The crush came back a few months after they mended their friendship. Aubrey started to like him during the same time he started to like her again.

- When they were just friends, Aubrey moved in with Basil when he gave her the offer. She took Grandma's room. On some occasion they would fall asleep on the couch together. They started to casually make contacts with each other.

- Aubrey is the one who made sure Basil starts eating properly when he forgot to eat. Even more effective if she's the one who cook because then Basil won't be able to refuse, afraid of hurting her feelings when in fact she would not be offended. Just want him to eat.

- Basil loves to flirt with her using puns

- Basil is definitely the small spoon

- Aubrey getting Basil matching clothes so they can match

- Aubrey likes to listen to Basil reading a book to her. Could lull her to sleep.

- Basil actually has an album full of pictures of Aubrey

- Listening to sad songs together

#omori photobomb #anon ask

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sjofn-lofnsdottr · 10 months

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Duck

Intention: short post

Reality: we will find out

This is Duck. He is secretly important.

When I was first doing gpose things, all those years ago, I realized something I enjoyed was having my minion photobomb what I was doing. Originally for Dusk, it was usually tiny Estinien.

And that was all well and good, but at some point Dusk came into possession of the Ugly Duckling minion. I thought he was cute, so started running around with him out instead, sometimes. This had an inadvertent result: people looking at my pictures of Dusk LOVED the duck.

Not that I blamed them, mind you. He's very cute, and seems happy to be here.

At first, he was just. You know. Around? While Dusk was doing whatever dopey-ass thing Dusk gets up to. But whenever I posted a picture of Dusk that didn't have the duck somewhere in the frame, people would ask me where he was. The duck had started to become expected.

The worst was when I was taking pictures of the ShB relics to show people who didn't want to just look it up their damn selves. I'd be putting in work to make the weapon the focus, but if the duck wasn't there, WHERE IS THE DUCK.

"Fine," I thought, "If people want the duck, I guess I'll actually pay attention to what he's doing in the picture."

This was not enough, somehow. Now people wanted to know his name. I pondered this, I really did, and I realized: This duck is not Dusk's pet. Or at least, Dusk doesn't think of him that way. So Dusk only calls him Duck, and refers to him as a friend.

Before I started using anamnesis/ktsis sometimes, Duck was a tremendous pain in the ass to pose. This pose, which should've been simple, took me like 20 minutes to get Duck to STAND IN THE RIGHT GODDAMN PLACE long enough for me to get into gpose, even using /handover to get him to move. And then I-don't-know-how-long to get his head pointed in the way I wanted.

(Ignore Dusk's hair. It was a Phase.)

Duck is, I think, probably an auspice. Dusk has no idea, of course, he just ... thinks Duck does as Duck pleases, and doesn't question how he gets to where he does. Standing there in the middle of a battlefield? He'll keep himself safe, surely. He's on the First? Well, good, it's nice to see another friendly face. The edge of the universe? Seems normal, would be stranger if he wasn't there, to be honest.

So yeah, get used to seeing Duck. He's happy to be included.

#ffxiv #gpose #let me tell you about my characters #just duck #I cannot stress enough how upset people get when he isn't visible

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acacia-may · 1 year

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AUBREY DYNAMICS OUT OF CONTEXT POLL: PART 2

Hello once again, friends. Thank you so much for participating in my Aubrey Dynamics Out-Of-Context Poll, and many congratulations to the winner of the first poll, Aubrey & Basil (Photobomb)!! Aren't they so cute? I love them!! 🥺💕 To keep things fair in the original poll, I tried to choose images that looked similar/were from the same point in the storyline; however, as it has been pointed out to me that other pictures (which I could not consider due to them being so dissimilar) might have better showcased the dynamics of the runner-up relationships (Sunburn & Kelbrey) I have made the executive decision to run a Part 2 of this poll using those pictures. 😅

So please friends, one last time, help me settle this by taking a look at these (official in-game Omori art) pictures and voting on which dynamic you like best based on the pictures alone. Since I personally feel incredibly torn between these two dynamics especially, I'm so curious to see how and/or if perceptions change based on these new photos... I can't wait to hear what you all think, especially those of you who are unfamiliar with Omori. Though once again, if this poll happens to find its way to someone who is familiar with these Omori dynamics then please, by all means, make full use of your inside knowledge and vote for your favorite too! 😊

Note: The creator of this poll can't decide--please choose for me. Thank you very much for helping me out! 🥰

#thank you so much for voting!! 🥰#please feel free to share if you are so inclined 😁#just for kicks & giggles #also for my sister who questioned my photo choices #omori ships #omori sunburn #omori sunbrey #omori baseball #omori kelbrey #sunbrey #kelbrey #cries in *both* sunbrey and kelbrey #i can't decide #they're both so good #my polls

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lollytea · 2 years

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I know you like the idea of Grom King Gus so, how do you think Mat would react? Like, obviously, at this point, he's seen Gus defeat much scarier things than Grom so it's not like he's actually worried. But at the same time, this totally ruined his plans!

(Also, how cute would Gus look in the Grom tiara? He'd look so good)

You think King is doing the commentary alone this time or is someone else stepping in to do the commentary for Gus?

Oooooh the HCs this ask filled my head with.

Okay okay so let's just assume that by the time this grom takes place, Gus is 14. This makes Matt 15 and by this point he has a terrible crush on Gus but hasn't actually realized it yet.

(Hunter: I'm gonna tell him.

Amity: Don't you dare.)

ANYWAY I don't think Matt really cares about grom all that much. At least not in the way other kids seem to care about it. He's excited for an opportunity to have the whole student body (and teachers) all in the gym together so he can wreak some havoc. Pranks, photobombing, usual Mattholomule business. And also he's usually pretty hyped to see the Grometheus battle.

But yeah pranks are the main allure of the evening. It hasn't even occured to him to ask anybody, as he just automatically assumes he'll be rejected. Doesn't bother him much cuz there's nobody he's even interested in. (Sure, okay.) He did try to talk Gus into being his partner in crime this year but unfortunately the little dork likes his MC job way too much. If Matt was disappointed by this, he didn't let himself think about it too much.

So yeah when Gus is declared Grom King, nothing about Matt's plans really change as Gus was unavailable in the first place. But no I do think he would worry about Gus. At least a little. Grometheus seems like a formidable opponent to even the strongest witches so even the likes of Willow are afraid of him. That being said, Grometheus has been beaten before and he'll be beaten again. So Matt knows Gus can subdue him for another year. But it's still a little anxiety inducing for everyone, Gus included.

Gus sometimes does this thing where he magnifies the smaller problems so he doesn't get overwhelmed by the big one. So most of his feelings over being Grom King is focusing on how disappointed he is that he can't be the MC this year. And it's made even worse when he learns who's gonna replace him.

"Since when are you interested in being the Master of Ceremonies?!" Gus demands.

Mattholomule shrugs. "I get to be the center of attention for a while. I get a microphone and everyone in the gym has to listen to me run my mouth. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Plus you really don't expect poor widdle King to fly solo, do you?"

Truthfully, King had approached Mattholomule and asked. I like to believe that the two get along pretty well and King didn't want to host the event with a stranger.

Gus's eyes narrow and he immediately jumps to the worst possible conclusion of MC!Matt. Like "You're gonna use this position to make fun of me during the battle, aren't you?"

Matt only responds with a shit eating grin and a vague "Hmmm. Would I do that?"

"Yes you would! You totally would!!"

We must acknowledge that Matt is a bit of a bitch. Is it a shitty move to spend the next few days sowing seeds of paranoia within your best friend cuz he keeps thinking about all the ways you could publicly embarrass him in front of the whole school? Yeah it is.

However Matt isn't all that good at being a good supportive friend and comforting Gus during his time of need. He's definitely been forced to try every now and again, but his attempts are always awkward. This is really the only way he knows how to "help."

Gus has been so busy these last few days running up to Mattholomule between classes, blowing up his scroll with messages and showing up on his doorstep all to lay out the ground rules on what he is not allowed to say.

("And don't you dare call me a squirt, I mean it, Matt. And-and I know that Grometheus is gonna show everybody some of my dumber fears like clowns and stuff. Now I told you why those things scare me in confidence, so I don't need you blabbing about it to the whole school. Mattholomule....stop smirking at me like that. Mattholomule, what are you planning? I'm fucking serious. Promise me you won't be a jerk. Promise...")

Essentially, in keeping Gus in a state of annoyance at Matt, he hasn't had a chance think about the battle itself and spiral over it. Matt, in his assholish little way, is keeping Gus's mind off the big whopping nerve wracking thing by distracting him with little nerve wracking things.

Plus maybe he likes getting so much of Gus's attention. But he's not gonna think about that.

Anyway, by the time the Grometheus duel finally comes, Gus is resigned to the fact that Matt is gonna embarrass him a bit. Like he knows he's not awful enough to spill every one of his secrets in front of everybody but he's a massive bitch so Gus knows he's gonna do something. And at this point, as he's standing in the arena, waiting for the Fear Bringer itself to awaken, he's accepted his fate. Okay Matt, do your worst. He's just gonna have to get this battle over with fast so it doesn't last too long. Oh...actually he should probably focus on that battle, right now, huh? Oh. Oh holy shit he's about to fight Grometheus. Holy shit HOLY SHIT.

A strike of terror overcomes Gus's body as the reality of the situation catches up to him and all thoughts of Mattholomule fly out of his brain (took him long enough.)

And then, as the creature begins sluggishly slinking out of the shadows, still not fully awake, and Gus draws himself to his full height, knees shaking, but desperately trying to pscyhe himself up for blood and gore, that loud, obnoxious voice rings out over everything.

"Well folks, looks like it's rise and shine for our buddy, Grometheus and he's ready to spread fear. Unfortunately for him, he's about to come face-to-face with our very own Augustus Porter. I'm sure we all know Gus. Tell us a little about the man of the hour, King.

"You know him! You love him! Gus the illusion master! The speed demon of the Emerald Entrails! Founder and President of the Human Appreciation Society!"

"And all around dork, lets not forget that part. But here's the kicker, folks. Augustus Porter happens to be one of the most powerful witches Hexside has ever known. I feel kinda bad for Grometheus. Poor sucker has no idea what he's up against."

Gus cannot see Mattholomule from where he's currently standing but he hopes he can see him. He wants him to see the bright smile that splits Gus's face. He wants him to know that Gus can see right through him. He feels a bit silly for constantly being tricked into forgetting but Mattholomule is a softie and Gus knows it.

Gus is grinning ear-to-ear as he plunges into the fight. As the battle rages on, illusion against illusion, Matt and King keep up with rapid-fire commentary. There is never a moment that implies Mattholomule feels anything but ferocious support for Gus.

And then...with one final resort, Gus lifts the pendant that hangs around his neck and history is made.

It's all a blur. Mattholomule could hardly recall the details of what happened in that moment if you asked. Maybe it was simply too unbelievable to fully process.

The deafening crowd flatlines into silence.

Gus raises his head and looks upward, as though lost and confused, and the electric blue glow dims from his eyes. He is as shocked as anyone.

Grometheus the Fear Bringer, who tormented the Boiling Isles for centuries, has been defeated.

No...Grometheus the Fear Bringer has been slain. Destroyed by the wave of horror Augustus Porter had inflicted on it.

It's over.

Not a soul in the crowd can speak a word, nor can the MCs.

Heartbeats can be heard.

Until finally, Mattholomule, his hands trembling as he grips his mic, says breathlessly "Let's....let's give it up for Gus..."

Grometheus the Fear Bringer had been killed by Gus, making him...

"Gus the Fear Bringer..." The reverent words unintentionally tumble out of Mattholomule's mouth. An observation not meant to be spoken aloud, but the title fills the silence with the power of a microphone.

One two three seconds...

And the crowd goes absolutely fucking insane.

Gus the Fear Bringer.

Anyway I think Grom King Gus dressed like a star, standing on the dance floor under all those glittering lights, surrounded by friends and fans alike, wearing that beautiful tiara and smiling like that very well might have given Matt his "Oh." moment. Maybe.

I also like to believe that, similarly to how the school became obsessed with Willow once she began to really bloom, Grom was a turning point for Gus's popularity. All of a sudden, Hexside was overrun by Gus fever. People wanted to be his friend, they wanted his autograph, plenty even had crushes on him.

If Matt hadn't fully accepted what he was feeling yet, he might have just taken his jealousy and molded it into something he could understand. Basically he just rolls his eyes at the whole school crushing on Gus. I mean, really?? Gus?? Gus is a dork, get some taste.

My brother in Christ, YOU get some taste!!

#gustholomule

75 notes · View notes

slothgiirl · 2 years

Text

a rose by any other name part xiii

11k. druig x reincarnating reader.

prev. /// next.

London 2024

Nathan frowns as Sprite takes on an adult form. “Seriously?”

“I’m trying to get laid.”

“Oh yeah,” he rolls his eyes, “because that’ll work.” She kicks his shin.

Your brother filled out during the past year, no longer lanky limbs. He has your dad’s high cheekbones though he’s pasty from having spent all of last year in New Asgard and his long hair proves he went native.

You check your messages for the millionth time.

“Happy birthday Dane,” Nathan gives Sersi’s long time boyfriend a loaf of gross healthy Norwegian bread that the Asgardians also like making. His obsession with alien archeology paid off.

“Thank you! How was your trip?”

After the snap, a car swerved into your parents' honda civic. A freak accident. You were all Nathan had even as you spent days sitting under the showerhead remembering so many lives. You scratched at your skin, trying to peel away the layers and get back to you. You. Whoever that even was. What were you?

At least Sersi and Sprite had the excuse of being aliens. You were just a freak. You weren’t Thor.

“Great. The salmon up there really gives Hawai’i a run for its money.”

“No way.”

Sprite doesn’t even flirt with anyone, just holds her glass and watches Dane and Nathan and you can see her getting angrier by the second.

You make your way to her as Sersi does the rounds with Dane’s friends. She was always careful to not get too close.

You were like two thousand years old. It was just your body that wasn’t. Fuck. Trying to rationalize your past always gives you a migraine.

Sersi has a black and white photograph, the ones people had to stay still for minutes for it to work right, of you and her in Paris during the 70s. The 1870s. Nathan had it as his lock screen.

“You wanna go get nando’s instead?” Your brother had told you he wanted to go when he was back in the UK. Everyone here thought it was adorable that Sersi brought her kid sister everywhere. But when it was just the four of you, Sprite didn’t have to pretend she was a teenager when she was older than the English language.

“Naw,” she shakes her head, the movement odd when carried out by the illusion she was wearing, “I kinda wanna see Dane’s stupid face when she shoots him down again.”

“We can kick Sersi out and give her no choice?”

Sprite snorts. “You’d never.”

“Maybe I’m not as nice as I look.” You brush imaginary dirt from your shoulder.

One of Dane’s friends from uni, also your alma mater, hits on Nathan and you gag. It was so weird to think of anyone finding your brother who you’d seen eating his own boogers when he was five as attractive, let alone flirting with him.

Sprite frowns. “Obviously or you’d have told Druig.”

You wince.

She had you there.

There was a letter in your sock drawer. You’d written out a lot. Then crossed it all out and instead wrote something much more to the point, then thrown that away. Finally, you’d settled on a picture of you and Sersi on a river cruise for new years. Sprite had photobombed. Nathan’s finger was in the bottom corner. But you had struggled for the words so you never sent it.

It was a lot.

Reuniting with Druig would force you to confront the reality of your situation, the big M question you’ve been avoiding. How would the use of your magic this go-a-round impact your ability to reincarnate? You didn’t want to tell Druig. You didn’t want him to think that you didn’t want this, you and him in whatever space you were able to carve out for yourselves. You didn’t want to burden him with the knowledge of some freak spell, but you knew you would have to talk about it.

“Drink,” Nathan offers Sprite his cocktail. Your brother loved a good margarita.

“I can get my own drink,” she snaps. “I’m not five.” Then stalks away before Nathan can reply.

She was always touchy about her unchanging appearance.

You check your messages again. Lizzy still hadn’t responded. She was living in a mental health residential clinic Nathan was paying for. Tracking down alien relics paid the big bucks.

The transition from being ash to being alive, the world having moved on for five long years, had been rough for your sister.

You were the same age as her.

Her things had been thrown out in the chaos.

It was weird.

You didn’t know how to make her understand you were just happy to have her back. You’d outlived everyone, always.

Somewhere you probably had descendants.

“Have you ever heard about the golden apples,” Nathan asks you.

“Like from Percy Jackson?”

Nathan grins, and you know he’s about to make fun of you, “didn’t you live through the trojan war.”

“Fuck off.”

“And you have magic! If anyone should know this stuff it’s you.”

You grumble, “say that a little louder I don’t think they heard you in Tokyo.”

***

You glared jealousy at Sprite and Nathan sharing headphones to watch some in-flight movie while you were suffering sitting between Sersi and Ikaris. You couldn’t even watch a Mission Impossible movie because your headphones were bluetooth and the plane only had the aux plug in. So there you were, while Ikaris kept stealing looks at Sersi like he was a Youtuber about to launch into a ten minute apology video and Sersi scrolled through her eBooks. Her seatbelt was already on.

Why couldn’t your seat be with Sprite and your brother?

“Should’ve flown there and saved us these last minute flight prices,” you try to joke, looking at Ikaris who had never warmed up to you in nearly two thousand years.

Sersi blushes. “It wasn’t too bad. Nothing I can’t afford,” glancing at Ikaris before adding. “I had a lot of time off saved up.”

“Maybe if you’d gone with us to Spain,” you point out, “Barcelona was great. Ate way too much ice cream.”

“The V&A-”

You snort. Classic Sersi, turning down a vacation to spend a week going through a new exhibition. What a nerd. “So,” you address Ikaris, “what have you been up to in the last five hundred years?”

“Um.” He swallows, clearly not expecting the question though given the circumstances, he really fucking should. Maybe he doesn’t owe you an explanation but he does owe Sersi one.

Fuck, you should’ve sent this in to The Cut. Ask Polly.

“I’ll go first,” you start, “Travelled around Europe with Sersi. Surprisingly didn’t die from all the lead around then but apparently missed out on the Radium craze. Stayed with Thena and Gilgamesh for a bit. Was a nurse in World War 2, not that anyone ever remember’s India’s part or that front. What about you?”

Ikaris rolls his eyes. “I have continued my mission.” His gaze flickers to Sersi, “our mission.”

“How many thousand years and you haven’t changed, haven’t grown.”

Sersi puts her hand on your arm. Let it go.

“There are deviants. I have a duty to Arishem.”

“But not to humanity?” You scoff, “call the Avengers. Let Antman or the Wasp handle it.”

Ikaris scowls.

Sersi sighs.

“Miss,” the flight attendant asks Sprite, “I need you to have your seat upright at the moment.”

Sprite glances at Nathan with a pointed look, “I’m eight thousand years old.”

“All the same,” the woman doesn’t even blink, “your seat needs to be upright.”

“Told you,” Nathan snipes back.

Sersi rests her head in her hands.

It was only a nine hour plane ride, a two hour connection, followed by a three hour drive, until you reached Ajak. Fuck.

***

Ikaris digs the grave by himself. Twin rivers of tears run down his cheeks.

Sprite and Sersi sit on the steps of Ajak’s house, comforting each other. You feel like an outsider. You didn’t know Eternals could die. For so long she has been a constant. No matter how much the face of the world changed, the Eternals remained the same.

Only they haven’t. So many cracks have shown behind their alien facade since they split. Thena had become ill. Ikaris had all but disappeared, and inside of everything Sersi had grown.

They could change just like humans did, just like you did. And they could die.

You bite your lip, thinking of Ajak.

It had been in Mexico when you had last seen her, lived with her. Her dark eyes reflected the awful human sacrifices that the Aztecs had carried out like many other cultures throughout history. Ajak’s unblinking gaze: you wondered how such a sweet woman could be so cold to an entire planet.

And here you were.

You look up at the scenery. It was peaceful here in rural Montana, far from any city.

Your eyes were wet with tears for a woman who’d let you die before.

“Did you know here,” Nathan asks, shadowing you, giving the others space to mourn.

“Not very well,” you chuckle, “I mean, we lived together, but no, I didn’t really know her.” It sounded shitty.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you,” your brother looks at the horizon, “I’m going to move Lizzy to New Asgard.”

Oh.

You feel blindsided.

Your sister wouldn’t even talk to you.

“Is that a good idea?” She was not the only person to live in a residential facility for those affected by the Snap. It was traumatic enough for you, and you didn’t even get Snapped.

People had collected the ashes and taken them to doctors, hoping. . .

“Her therapist thinks so. And Lizzy doesn’t want to stag in Canada.” Nathan rubs the back of his neck.

“Are you okay with that,” you have to ask. “You're young. It doesn’t have to be your responsibility. You should be able to date and move in and not have to look after Lizzy-”

“I want to. . .and I’m not,” Nathan does air quotes, “building a family.”

“You never know.”

“I do know,” he tells you, meeting your gaze. “I’m not interested in the nuclear family thing.”

You blink.

“I’m ace. Look it’s not a big deal but I wanted to let you know, and that you can always move to New Asgard with us.”

You swallow. The idea of your siblings living in New Asgard, would they be in the path of would-be Thanos’? There seemed to be a new catastrophe everyday and now Deviants too. Maybe you should call the Government. They could get in touch with Captain Marvel, right?

“I have a job.” It sounds weak even to your ears.

“I know. No pressure. Seriously. Just, visit, call, zoom?”

“Yeah. I will.” You remember all the voicemails you’ve left Lizzy.

Did she even want to see you?

Before you leave, you run your fingers over the freshly dug grave, soil upturned, and watch as flowers bloom over Ajak’s grave. Blue and yellow wildflowers.

****

You say goodbye to Nathan at the airport, dreading the three separate flights you need to take to reach Kingo. It’s Sprite that hugs him the hardest, punching his arm, and grinning, “two for flinching,” like a particularly annoying aunt to her favorite nephew.

You hadn’t told him about the possibility of the world ending, again. What good would that do? Everyone on the planet lived with existential PTSD, Spiderman destroying the London Eye didn’t help.

You sit next to Ikaris in business class and spring for purchasing headphones. Best ten pounds you’ve ever spent. Sersi hadn’t thought twice about sitting with Sprite.

Neither Ikaris nor you make another attempt at small talk.

It’s not until your layover in Doha that you stretch your legs.

“You didn’t tell him about the whole new Celestial did you,” Sprite asks you while you wait for a McDonald’s meal. Your internal clock is messed up. It could be breakfast or dinner.

“No,” you sigh. “I feel like-okay telling someone would freak them out but maybe telling New Asgard? They have ships? People could be saved, they could call in backup. We, you don’t have to do this alone.”

Sprite sighs. “I-I thought one day we’d finish and I could, maybe back on Olympia there might be a way for me to change. . .and now-we can’t just,” she looks down at her shoes, “I spent nearly ten thousand years protecting this planet and now we’re just supposed to let it die. That’s not what I signed up for.” She laughs darkly, “not that I signed up for anything apparently.”

You wrap an arm around her shoulder, “You’ll have time to talk this through with a therapist after.”

She looks up at you, “someone’s counting their chickens before they hatched.”

“Very punny.”

“Thanks.” Sprite adds, “I told my D&D group I’d be gone. They were worried.”

“That's what friends do.”

“I’ve never been able to stick around in one place for long,” she muses, “not after. . .I’d tried and people got really burn the witch quick.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault. You didn’t make me like this.”

You grab food for Sersi and Ikaris too.

***

Kingo introduces yet another Auntie he’s older than. You’ve lost track, looking through your messages: trying to get work off your back, replying to your brother, seeing your sister still hasn’t responded. The world’s going to end in days. You should be with them? What were you even going to do to stop this?

Not for the first time you want to call the Wakandan Embassy. Maybe their technology could help?

But even Sersi was on board with bearing the responsibility on her own.

And Kingo-

He’s supposed to be saying goodbye, but that involves introducing everyone in Karun’s family. They keep spawning. You think they must’ve called people over. One of the old men is definitely the neighbor. Karun’s wife quickly gets food going: wanting to send her husband and Kingo off with snacks. It’s a lot.

You doubt Arishem had this in mind when he created Kingo.

“Ah and that is Kush,” Karun excitedly gabs, “he is studying for his entrance exams. We are very proud of him!”

“I miss when you could just make things up and people believed them,” Kingo sighs, “now you need accreditation.”

Sersi frowns, “well, yes-otherwise you get quack doctors and pseudoscience. There’s enough of that within academia to start with.”

“We can’t all inherit our father’s media company,” you point out. Karun had signed pictures with Kingo Sr. It was a photograph of the entire cast for some folk tale musical.

“Hit me up for a job. Make nepotism work for you,” Kingo grabs you by the hand. “What’ve you been up to? Wait-do you know,” he narrows his eyes, scrutinizing you.

“Too late for that,” Sprite says bitterly. Being around Kingo was putting her in a mood.

“Oh. Thank god. Keeping secrets, smh. Am I right?”

“Well you obviously told Karun,” Sersi says.

“And apparently the whole family,” Ikaris adds, holding up a photograph of a teenage Karun and Kingo. “Do they all know?”

“Eh. It’s not a big deal. Once we got over the vampire and evil jinn theories we really bonded. You should watch 30 hours in Mumbai. A real tear jerker. Almost as good as Dangal,” Kingo explains, before calling out to someone in Marathi.

You barely retained any Hindi.

Some memories, some lives, were clearer than others. You could still picture the waterways of Tenochtitlan, but India was a blur.

“So they know,” Sprite finishes.

Karun’s wife, Seema, comes out with lunch boxes, all filled with freshly made food. They’re all labeled. There’s more than enough to get you all through the plane ride to Australia: to Thena and Gilgamesh.

And then there’s more goodbyes all over again as she fixes Karun’s lapels.

Kingo puts the food in the car.

“I don’t think we can all fit,” Sprite frowns.

“We can split a cab,” you offer.

“We fit, don’t worry,” Kingo says before squishing four people into the back of his car. It was an absurdly tight fit. Sprite sat on the edge of the seat, your knees jammed against Sersi.

“We should’ve split a cab,” Sprite grumbles.

***

Sersi breaks the news again. And again.

No Olympia.

Their entire life was a lie.

You wonder how this kind of world altering news will impact Thena’s mental health. Her grasp on reality was fucked. This couldn’t help.

You understood, looking up at the night sky.

Time had stood still at Thena and Gilgamesh’s homestead. There were stars you had not seen since Airdrie. The London smog was not nearly as bad as it had been at the turn of the last century, the tail end of the Victorian era. But here even the Milky way was visible to the naked eye like it had been centuries past.

Learning the truth of Arishem’s mission was watching Tony Stark fall out of the wormhole all over again. It was learning about aliens, that there were empires grander and more powerful with their eyes on Earth. The Hulk, Thor: it had never stopped after New York. The attacks, the threats had kept coming from people and the stars.

Nothing had ever been the same.

There was Alien insurance that could be added to houses like Volcano Insurance.

Mutants went viral on Tiktok.

But everytime a Thanos level event happened, you and the rest of humanity remembered how vulnerable the little blue dot called Earth really was.

This was their wormhole.

“Can I join you,” Sprite asks, sitting down on the packed earth with you.

“Yeah.”

“It’s nice out here.”

“Relaxing.”

Sprite laughs, “we should’ve taken a quiet country vacation instead.” She inhales deeply. “There’s dolphin’s off Scotland.”

“Next time,” you lay your head on her shoulder.

“You sound so sure,” your old friend mutters, “a celestial. A fucking Celestial.”

“They can’t be that bad-”

“What did Druig tell you about Arishem?”

“Honestly,” you offer, pulling away, “not much.”

“To call them gods isn’t an exaggeration. It’s not like with us, people worshiping something they don’t understand. They’re gods. The whole life, death and universe shabang.” Sprite closes her eyes, the tired expression on her pixie features at odds with her age. The trepidation in her eyes reminded you of the British Indian soldiers on leave. Eyes that contained all the horrors of war; Sprite who had seen more horrors than had ever been put to historical record.

You’d been sacrificed once.

“I should’ve-I should have tried more, built-I could’ve had what Kingo does! Family. Real family. Not a bunch of losers Arishem stuck on the same ship.”

You try to comfort her. “Family, are people you love not necessarily always get along with. Or even like all the time.”

Sprite intertwines her fingers with you. “I’m glad you shot an arrow at me.”

“I was shooting a deer.”

“Way to ruin the moment,” she snipes, both of you bursting into laughter.

***

Kingo’s private plane was a game changer.

“Please tell me this is some green lofty Stark tech so I don’t have to feel bad about the CO2 emissions,” you ask the Southeast Asian in appearance Eternal.

“Yeah! Nothing but the best for Kingo Jr. or Is it Kingo the fourth now?”

Sprite rolls her eyes.

“Guys,” Kingo points out, jumping from topic to topic, “should Thena have a knife on the plane?”

“It’s fine,” Thena doesn’t look up from her wood whittling.

“She said it’s fine,” Gilgamesh echoes, sitting down next to you and leaning his seat back.

You trust Gilgamesh’s judgement on this.

“Um,” Kingo continues to look worried.

Karun hands him a drink.

You were used to Kingo being surrounded by friends. He’d always known merchants and butchers, haggling with a smile and actually managing to get fresher produce. Haggling is an art. Karun and his kin were just the latest in a long line of people that Kingo had built friendships with.

It was Kingo more than any of them that had taken to being human like a fish to water.

“You mentioned the deviants could speak now,” Gilgamesh asks Sersi, looking pensive.

“What does it matter,” Ikaris cuts in, “They’re deviants. We have a job to do.”

“Oh right,” Sprite says sourly, “our mission. Because that’s going well.”

“Sprite,” Ikaris chidded as if he had any authority.

You busied yourself with the contents of Kingo’s mini fridge. There were masala lays and bottles of beer. You play with the inflight tv, wondering if Kingo had anything other than his own movies.

“Sersi,” Gilgamesh recenters the conversation.

“Yes, um,” she nods, “He-they,” cleary she wasn’t sure what pronouns to use and only Sersi would be worrying about pronouns when dealing with deviants for the first time in milena, “tried to speak before attacking.” She purses her lips, “about Arishem. I don’t know.”

“Then they have the capacity for higher thought,” Gilgamesh ponders, “are more than predators following their nature.”

“What are you saying,” Kingo asks carefully.

You frown, “that still means they chose to attack us in London. They could’ve remained in hiding.”

“Do you think,” Sersi says slowly, “that they sense Tiamut’s birth?”

“If we are all children of Arishem,” Thena trails off, her pencil stilling. What must she feel now, learning that the illness in her mind wasn’t delusional hallucinations but memories of other worlds? She was holding herself together admirably. You thought this must be hardest for her.

Learning the truth did not stop her flashbacks from occuring like a glitch in the matrix.

“Does it matter.” Ikaris clicks his jaw.

“Yes,” Gilgamesh argues, “if they are sentient beings then we should try to. . .we shoukd hear them out. Everything we thought we knew was wrong. What if we are wrong about them. Clearly, they evolved.”

Sprite stands, “did you forget they killed Ajak!” Tears shine in her eyes. The wound still fresh.

You wonder what Ajak woukd have done if she lived. Would she have told them about Tiamut? Would the Eternal leader have let the Earth die? You hoped not. But you had never been close, you could not guess at her feelings for humanity, her loyalty to the mission might have won out.

It didn’t matter.

Ajak was gone.

You’d never know what she would have done if she had lived:

“Sersi,” Gilgamesh says, “perhaps they can be reasoned with. From their point of view, we have hunted them to near extinction. Should we not try to do things differently-better than we have? We can’t afford to fight the deviants and stop Tiamut at the same time.” His arguement was well put.

You’d never faced deviants before.

“Arishem created the deviants for a reason,” Ikaris states, “just as we have a purpose.”

“Oh and I suppose that makes it right,” you point out, “and if Arishem told you to let Thanos kill half the universe that makes it alright!”

“You’re human. I don’t expect you to understand.”

Kingo defends you, “hey! It’s her planet we’re talking about here.”

“And billions of people,” Sersi collapses into the seat, her expression that of a deep rooted depression.

Thena places her hand over Karun’s camera lens.

“They. Killed. Ajak.” Sprite slams a steak knife into the coffee table you were all gathered around.

“Ajak knew,” Thena adds quietly.

The woman had left behind so many questions.

You think of the iridescent alien creatures that had smacked Ikaris aside with ease. Sersi’s abilites had only bought seconds. They had made you feel so small. What were a few magic tricks against alien creatures that could take on an Eternal?

The images of the Battle of New York fill your thoughts again. Everything had changed after that.

“And she knew it was the right path,” Ikaris again argues, “that’s why she was the leader.”

“You’re talking about the destruction of an entire planet,” Sersi points out, hurt in her eyes as she regards her former lover.

“And billions of new worlds.”

“He has a point,” Kingo points out, “I don’t like it, but who are we to decide which lives matter more?”

You roll your eyes, “um, the lives currently existing obviously! Those new worlds are theoretical, they don’t even exist yet. If Tiamut has waited 5 billions years already, can’t they wait another 5 billion for the sun to die? You can have planet earth then.”

“It’s the way of things,” Ikaris once again argues, “destruction so that new life may begin.”

Kingo shakes his head, but says nothing, looking tormented at having to bear the responsability of Earth, of Tiamut.

“You haven’t seen worlds die,” Thena notes, her gaze lost to her memories.

Gilgamesh squeezes her shoulder in sympathy.

It was the same arguement, recycled, as time ran out for your planet.

***

Mexico was both exactly how you remembered it and incredibly changed.

Kingo’s plane landed in Mexico City, the sprawling metropolis was akin to most cities in the world. But once you left the city behind, you saw traces of what life had been like at the turn of the century. People still hung their laundry up to dry and the closer you got to the mountains Druig had made his home in, the less development there was. You wondered how much was Druig’s doing and how much of it was just a result of how remote this cerro still was with its dirt road.

“You two have been here before,” Kingo asks you and Sersi. “Right?” You’ve made a stop at an Oxxo to grab snacks and refuel.

“In the 1800s,” Sersi answers. You split some pecan pies with her.

You look up at the mountains surrounding you. It was hot and humid in the worst of ways. “I was buried here last time, no,” you scrunch your nose, “the time before that with Sersi.” You were pretty sure it had been in the 1800s. “I died somewhere in Bangladesh I think?” There was so much to remember.

Humans lacked the capacity to live as long as you have. You didn’t have space to remember everything.

“That’s ghoulish,” Kingo frowns in that humorous way of his. He’s always been charismatic.

“I don’t really think about it. . .” It was rare for you to come across your grave. Different places, centuries later, this was the only one you knew the location of. Now you weren’t sure how to feel about your bones rotting in the earth. Was there even anything left?

Sersi squeezes your hand.

“Why haven’t you talked to Druig,” Sprite asks, nosy as always as she nicks your drink without thought. You were used to Sprite and Sersi. You’d missed Kingo in your past lives.

You shrug, biting into the thin pastry. It was always fun to try snacks in different countries. You just wish all this travel wasn’t done under the cloud of another impending apocalypse.

Sprite jabs her elbow into your side, “Come on. Spit it out.”

“Fuck, that hurt,” you complain, covering your mouth with your hand.

“So?”

Kingo also leans in.

You roll your eyes, “seriously?”

“Well now I wanna know,” Kingo nods.

“Eh,” you look down at your shoes. It was a bit weird where you did want to vent but also didn’t want to tell them because it would get back to Druig in the form of Kingo saying shit. They were your family. “I don’t know. I guess I wanted to finish Uni and then there was the whole Snap and. . .it honestly seems a little fake even though I can remember everything.” You couldn’t have dragged your baby brother to your husband’s commune.

Kingo pats your shoulder, “that’s. . .”

Karun shoves the camera in your face.

“Really,” you take a step back.

“It makes for good drama.”

“Karun worked on Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro.”

“So why are you working for this one,” you ask Karun. There was no way being a valet was this man’s dream.

“There is so many places and things to learn when working with Kingo,” Karun smiles kindly, “like all of you! What do you see when you die?”

You cringe.

“Don’t answer that,” Sprite pulls you away.

Back to the car.

“Give me my soda back,” you tell her even as you grab it. It was hot and already sweat ran down your back.

“You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah,” you nod. It had never been that you didn’t want to see Druig. . .you just wanted to take care of some other stuff first. Sort the mess of memories in your head as much as you could. Time, you had wanted time to figure yourself out first.

It wasn’t fair.

To either of you.

It never had been.

Shakespeare couldn’t have imagined a better tragedy.

***

You’d honestly forgotten how creepy this place could be. You didn’t want to sound judgemental, or dimish each villagers life and their autonomy, only you couldn’t let go of the idea that they couldn’t consent to Druig’s whole mind control as a deus ex machina when it was all they had ever known. Over two hundred years later, and you still hadn’t come around on this.

Neither had anyone else.

“Can I film you sir,” Karun asks someone.

You search the man’s face for familiar features. You’d likely known this man’s ancestors. He might even be Cualtzin’s great something.

You swallow, suddenly wishing you had talked to Druig before. You wanted to do this in private, to have a change to see him before everyone by yourself, and maybe guilt also wormed its way into your thoughts. Would he be hurt you didn’t seek him out? You’d known for years.

You wanted a proper reunion without the impending birth of a celestial hanging over everything.

Sersi intertwines her finger with yours.

You only hoped your sister would come around. You needed to talk to her before-

Sprite asks a man, “Hey, estamos buscando a Druig. Donde esta?”

“De que conoces a Druig?”

“Somos,” Sprite thinks on it, “amigos de la universidad.”

Their eyes grow gold.

Definitely creepy.

Druig steps out of the community center. Though the way this place ran, everything was communal. That was one thing you’d liked about this place, how close knot everyone was. And the food.

Your heart lurches in your chest when you see him, the same dark hair, cheeky smile with those mischievous eyes. Any doubt of the validity of your feelings, of your memories, faded away because this was real, he was here in the flesh. Like learning to ride a bike, you slipped back into the habit of being in love.

“I miss you all,” are Druig’s first words to the Eternals after centuries in a warm tone that was a complete turn from his schism from the rest of his companions.

Your fingers tighten around Sersi’s hand.

It’s obvious when he spots you.

Caught off guard as his eyes widen, whatever he was about to say is forgotten. “My lady-” Druig always has the brightest smile.

“Druig,” you rush forward.

It’s without throught. You just need him at that moment.

And he needs you.

Druig cups your face in his hand, resting his forehead against yours.

You stare into his eyes, feeling amazed that you were able to spend another lifetime with the man you loved. The only man for you. In his gaze, the history and love shared between you echoed back.

“You’re getting this? Please tell me you're getting this,” Kingo’s terrible stage whisper breaks your trance.

“I am Sir. Do not worry.”

And you remember why you were here with the rest of the Eternals.

“What’s wrong,” Druig frowns.

You didn’t want to tell him any of it. You wish you could shield him from the news of Ajak and Tiamut, from learning that his entire existence was a farce, but you couldn’t. The Eternals needed him. Earth needed him.

Pepper Potts would understand how you felt at this moment.

“You should sit down.”

***

Sersi explains the finer details, filling in the truth with the astral projects she’s had with Arishem shince Ajak died.

You observe how he takes the news, sitting next to him. The muscles of his arm shift under your hand. There’s no easy way to break the news of the Emergence.

Nothing would matter if the Earth was destroyed.

You knew he’d help.

But it was easy for you to read the vitriol in his face. You could practically hear him think back on every event they had watched impassively as innocents died, trusting Ajak’s judgement that they were doing the right thing to ensure humanity entered an age of enlightenment, only to learn it had been a lie.

Druig had a temper.

When he’d finally snapped, the Eternals had disbanded, because of him they’d gone their separate ways.

“You’ve given me a lot of bad news in one go, Sersi,” he finally states, bitterness lacing his light tone.

This was not going to go well.

“Will you help us,” Sersi asks, barely finishing before her phone rings.

Druig clenches his jaw.

You squeeze his arm in support. You were here for him, for however long that was. Again, you think of your siblings; of Sarah who sent you something off your amazon wishlist on your birthday even though you guys barely talked anymore; the Indian place that gave you two orders of rice for your curry order for free. All these people. . .

Druig stands. “Do you all remember Tenochtitlan? Beautiful. The canals. Tlatelolco.” He pauses in front of Gilgamesh and Thena, looking genuinely happy to see them again, “It was the last place we all lived together.” For them alone he had left this place for a decade.

“I protected these people for twenty generations now. From the outside world and from themselves,” he saunters over to Kingo and Karun, bitter in his gloating. “Your kind my friend, you will be responsible for your own extinction one day. Don’t you think.”

You sigh when Karun earnestly answers Druig’s rhetorical question.

This was not going to end well.

Druig possess Karun.

Kingo immediately surges to protect his friend, “Oh no you didn’t.”

Covering your face with your hand, you sigh, letting your head fall as they talk about streaming views when the world is about to end.

It gets worse when Ikaris tries to leave.

“Druig this is serious,” Sersi tries.

“I’ll tell you what’s serious. I’ve just been told I’ve been sent on a suicide mission for the past 7,000 years and that my entire existance was a lie. So excuse me for not giving a shit about your plan right now.”

Yeah, he was not taking this well.

You knew from the moments of travel where no one could do anything but stew in the truth that everyone was feeling torn, but Sersi and the rest were trudging through to fix the situation before they had their existential crisis.

Druig slams the door when he leaves.

Thena gives you a long look.

You’d never been able to read her.

“I’ll. . .go talk to him,” you tell them, feeling incredibly awkward.

Spite, being her usual self, asks you like she had hundreds of years ago, “him? Really?”

You roll your eyes and chase after him.

“How long have you known,” Druig says coldly.

He stands on the edge of the treeline. You know where this pathway leads. The graveyard.

Kingo was right, it was strange to think you were both here and buried here.

“Not long after Thanos,” you answer honestly. You didn’t want to do this now. Not about the magic, not about the time, or Thanos or any of it. Not when-

You’d seen people turn to ash.

Running into the flat corridor and people just. . .gone.

He turns to you. “You didn’t come,” his voice was small.

You reach for his hands, “I had to take care of my brother,” you explain, “and then. . .my head was a mess. I remembered bits and pieces but not in the right order.”

“I’m not mad. . “ he says softly, looking up through his fringe at you.

“I didn’t think you would be. . .I just needed time and was psyching myself out and now this-”

Druig’s fingers tighten around yours, “The Emergence.”

“You have to try,” you plead with him, “isn’t it what you’ve always wanted. To do something instead of sitting by?” Here you were, begging for the future of humanity. You’d never felt that difference between you and your husband more.

“My love,” he sighs, “even if I could. . .this is not just any mind I would have to control.”

“So you won’t,” you frown, voice wavering. Your eyes burn with unshed tears.

Ikaris you’d expect.

Even Kingo and Sprite’s hesitance made sense.

But Druig-

“That’s not what I said,” Druig says slowly. “We could take the Domo-”

“You once told me,” you say as you gaze into his eyes, “that you wanted to be buried here. On Earth. That you were as much of this Earth as I am.” Your lips tremble, your words hanging in the air.

“And I do,” he utters with a turbulent sea of emotions on his face, “But I am a selfish man, my lady. I want more time. For us.”

Tears fall from your eyes. “There might be more,” your smile is small, “we might pull this off. And if not, I wouldn’t change a thing. How lucky are we to have had lifetimes?”

Druig smiles, looking as handsome as he had in Australia, before leaning in to kiss you.

You meet him halfway.

There’s no rush.

A steady passion that never wavered, Druig kissed you like he had a thousand times before, like he might a thousand times more.

You wouldn’t give into the anxiety.

This was not the last time: they’d pull it off. You trusted that your patchwork family would save the world.

Just look at what the Avengers had managed to do.

You wrap your hands around his neck, placing a kiss against his cheek, “I missed you.”

Druig hugs you against his chest, “Sure, as if Sersi hasn’t replaced me,” he jokes and you know it’ll be okay.

You hope.

“Speaking of Sersi,” you say, “I should go let her know to get going, while you take care of things here.”

“One last thing,” he tells you.

“Yeah?”

Druig kisses you again.

You laugh against his plush lips.

“Sersi,” you spot her and Ikaris talking. Like any best friend, you immediately want to plant yourself as a shield between her and her ex.

They look alright, for the moment.

But you saw first hand how lonely she was when you found each other.

And you’d never liked Ikaris.

“Hey,” she waves you over.

Ikaris sulks, and you know he’s going to say something annoying once more.

A metallic screech fills the air.

You look up, instinctively trying to find the source. In the blink of an eye, a deviant snatches Ikaris into the air.

Sersi screams. “IKARIS!”

Fuck.

You look around wildly. There was nothing sturdy to hide in. Just huts and trees that they could rip to shreds. Your heart pounds in your ears.

For once you wish you knew fancy spells like Doctor Strange.

“Señora, esta bien,” a voice calls from the fog as you hover around Sersi.

What were you supposed to do?

“Watch out! Clear the camp!” Sersi yells.

It’s chaos as more deviants appear. Their bodies are exposed muscle, vines wrapped around to form animalistic creatures. In one you saw sabertooth tigers.

Fuck.

You clench your fists.

“Sersi,” you scream when a deviant lunges at her.

It’s too late.

A deviant comes barreling towards her.

“Get back,” Kingo yells, shooting fireballs at the thing, “it’s an ambush.”

Sprite grabs you, “come on!”

It’s chaos as people run into the forest. You’re not even sure it’s safe with these deviants popping up everywhere.

“Sprite, get Karun to safety!”

You don’t even see what happens, running with Sersi, running amongst the crowd.

Your eyes scan but there’s nowhere to hide.

“This way,”’she takes over, showing the streak of leadership Ajak must have seen in her, “quickly,” her first priority was ensuring the safety of these people.

It’s world war 2 all over again.

People running, attacks coming randomly. All you could do was hope your luck held out. (You hadn’t been snaped.)

“Get inside,” Sersi urges you.

“I’m not leaving you.”

She wants to argue but she also knows there’s no time. Her hands press against the wood, transforming it into metal.

She doesn't finish.

“Sersi!” The scream dies in your throat when the deviant tosses her body aside like she’s a paper doll.

You don’t have time to see if she’s okay. Your scream attracts the deviant’s attention. Blue and green and awful you hold up your hands, praying for something to happen. You didn’t understand magic.

Maybe you didn’t have to.

Without knowing, you’d made yourself reincarnate.

You act, raising your hands, aiming at the deviant and knowing something would happen. It would.

It does.

Light flares out of your hands. You feel the pull of magic from you, your teeth aching like you’ve got a brain freeze. The light blinds the deviant for seconds, sending it reeling back.

It shakes its head, disoriented.

You don’t know what else to do.

Sersi clambers out of the remains of a hut.

There’s nothing around you to use as a weapon, not really.

You scramble back, wanting to put distance between the creature and you. They certainly didn’t seem sentient. You cannot blame a predator for its nature.

Shots ring out.

You flinch.

The villagers line up, controlled, aiming their guns at the deviant. Buckshots ring out as they surround the deviant.

Your eyes widen in concert.

While the bullets ripped into the deviant’s iridescent hide, the alien creature grew annoyed. They weren’t putting it down.

It’s tail throws people aside.

You inhale sharply.

Unlike Sersi, they didn’t get back up.

Druig runs in, engaging the creature, weaving around and shooting it at close range.

It rears, angered.

Sersi spurs into action. She weaponizes a tree, her ability slowly turning a ring of bark into water, as Druig and his villagers keep the creature in place.

The magic is there, at your fingertips, it just needed a form to take, a spell to wield it properly. You flex your fingers.

Your breaths were sharp and shallow, adrenaline racing.

The tree, frozen into ice, traps the creature, and in a classical dysfunctional family way, Sersi and Druig argue as the deviant begins to shake the tree off himself.

Fuck.

You act, planting your foot forward, knees bent. Muscle memory took over, hundreds of years of experience, you see the ice. While Sersi and Druig argue about the villagers, your hands once more glow softly, a color between sunset and rust.

The ice moves with your will. The motion is fluid even as the weight of the branch slams into you. You grit your teeth. Your knees bend with the effort, more weight lifting than wand waving.

A branch breaks off and spears the deviant through the eye.

It happens in seconds.

You pant with exertion.

“How did you-”

The shock breaks Druig’s hold over their minds.

“Is that really important right now,” you run over to Sersi, looking her over.

“I’m okay,” she says quickly. “The others-” She looks further into the village where Kingo’s ability blasts through trees and the deviant: she doesn’t hesitate to run over.

“Head to the river,” Druig commands the villagers. They listen, trusting the man who had led them peacefully for generations. In some ways, they were better off than Wakanda, the front of Thanos’ war on earth, better off than London when Spiderman decided to go rogue.

You take a deep breath, concentrating.

“Right,” you run after her, stumbling after a step.

Druig catches you. “Careful,” he says, sounding grave.

Maybe it had taken more out of you than you’d thought. You think back to what Hoa had told you. What effect would using magic in this cycle have? Would you even reincarnate? Did it matter if they couldn’t stop the Emergence?

“I need to,” your legs shake.

“You’ve done enough,” Druig says gently.

It’s lucky timing. Ikaris flies in, slamming into the final deviant attacking the village.

This one proves its sentient intelligence, cleverly pinning Ikris face down.

Sersi runs at it with a spear.

Your husband tries to take aim but it’s too close to Sersi. It’s the same problem Kingo runs into.

You watch as Sersi and the deviant both fall into the well, disappearing beneath the surface.

“Sersi!” Ikaris runs, ready to play the white knight, tortured by duty.

The surface explodes.

An ungly mangled tree grows, the bark merged with the deviant in a disturbing form of mummification. You’d seen this on an episode of Hannibal.

But Sersi is alright.

“Sersi,” Ikaris hugs the stunned woman.

“Where’s Thena,” you look around. Gilgamesh was missing too.

Ikaris pulls away from Sersi, looking into the treeline.

You have a bad feeling.

***

You watch the pyre burn.

For hundreds of years you believed them to be invincible. Now you sat watching as Gilgamesh’s body burned to ashes. You hadn’t wiped the tears away. They’d dried on your cheeks long ago.

Exhaustion clung to your body. The magic trick had taken so much out of you. It was like running a marathon with no training, you were surprised to be awake. How could you sleep when Gilgamesh was-

Sprite rests her head against your shoulder.

You sit with her in the dirt.

Thena cuts a lonely figure, stark white in the dark of the night. A pale ghost. It had always been Thena and Gilgamesh.

In a small voice, Sprite mutters, “what if Arishem kills us all for trying to. . .”

You have no answers for her.

***

A Ramada Inn was the closest place near Phastos.

Sprite lays on your bed as you call your brother, “she said she doesn’t want to talk to you,” Nathan sighs.

You close your eyes, swallowing back the tide of emotion. Gilgamesh was dead. It still felt surreal. How could he die? How could any of them die? “Tell her I love her.”

Nathan pauses, static crackling over the phone call. “How serious is it? Tell me the truth?”

He’d been alone in Canada to identify your parents' bodies. An unlucky casualty of the snap. A car’s driver blew away into ashes and veered into their car.

“Just,” you clench your jaw. What was the point in telling them when they couldn’t stop this? Should you tell them? Try and save a little of humanity so that even if Sersi’s plan failed someone would survive. “tell her I love her, and to call me. Please.”

“So it’s bad.”

“Yeah.”

Sprite leans next to you, “don’t worry kid, we got this.”

Your brother replies, “tell her I’m taller.”

“Tell him-”

You laugh, “yeah. Sure,” they were such siblings. The way Sprite looked at him. . .having family outside the Eternals for once. It was good for her. Being accepted as the unaging crotchety old woman she really was. “I love you too.”

“Me too,” Spite adds, wrapping her arms around your shoulders. She hadn’t left your side since the funeral. Which was annoying because you could see Druig and Sersi discussing whatever plan she’d hatched and didn’t even know. . .you wanted more time with him, to settle back into being Druig&You.

On the plant things had been. . .it was the shittiest of reunions. Terrible timing.

You lean into her, “did you hear her?”

“Yeah. I heard,” your brother chuckles. “You two should stop by. It’s nice out here.”

“We will.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.” You wait for him to hang up. How much time was left?

You’d never wanted to be a superhero. The Earth came too close to the brink of destruction: so many close calls, one of these days it wouldn't be saved. Right?

“Hello Sprite,” Druig walks in still clad in linen, “goodbye Sprite.”

“Have you ever tried not being a dickhead.” She’d been pricklier than usual since Ajak’s death.

“That’s childish,” he replies, sinking down to her level.

You roll your eyes, laying back on the bed. All you could do was sit and wait around for Sersi to convince Phastos. You didn’t think sending Ikaris was the right idea.

“At least I don’t have to possess people to have friends!” She storms off.

“Really,” you ask him pointedly.

“She started it,” he shrugs, dumping out a bag on the bed.

You turn onto your stomach: looking the clothes over. Denim, a black shirt, a worn leather jacket, and boots that were not handmade. He’d gone thrifting. You found the thought amusing.

“How are you?” Druig takes a seat on the bed, looking you over.

“Fine. I was fine by the time we took off. A bottle of coke does wonders.” The sugar had helped. And so had the nap while Kingo drove back to Mexico City.

“You’re using magic?”

“Before I remembered. . .it just came to me. Not that I know anything,” you close your eyes, trying to remember what exactly you’d told him. “It’s not like-I’m not trying to be the Scarlet Witch here, I just wanted to help.”

“I know.” He rubs your back gently.

You bite your lip. “I don’t know what this means for,” you gesture at yourself, “but can we just handle one thing at a time?”

“Do you want to know magic?”

You sit up. “Technically I have been using magic,” you wink at him, wishing things could be lighter. Gilgamesh was dead. You’d never run into the kitchen and see him covered in flour again.

He chuckles, blue eyes sparkling.

You take his hands. “I don’t hate it. But I’d rather see you again.” They’d save the world. You were manifesting it.

“You shouldn’t have to choose.”

“Don’t be stupid,” you tell him, running your thumb over his knuckles. He had changed. 7,000 years on earth had affected him. How could it not. Druig had lived through so much. You’d changed too. You were greater than the sum of your parts, no longer the simple slave girl in Athens, or the textile worker from Ghana. You’d grown. “I love you. The rest is just stuff to figure out.”

He smiles, “my beautiful lady, you have a way with words.”

You blush. “Shut up. I’ve been a lot of things but never a poet.”

Druig laughs, toppling you over into the bed. He presses his body against yours. Hand on your side, he kisses your mouth with his soft lips. “Is this okay?”

You dig your fingers into his shoulder blades. This wonderful man. You’d missed this. Missed him. You could not have imagined him in all your youthful fantasies. Druig was so much more. Hard headed with an empathetic soul: how could you not want him? Love was waking up everyday and choosing him, always and forever.

“Come here,” you kiss his jaw tenderly.

There was nothing sweeter than reuniting with your lover.

***

“So this is The Domo,” you gaze around, trying to take everything in. Makkari has become an even worse horder in the past few centuries. Living as long as they did meant a lot of keepsakes. And Makkari is of a sentimental nature, attaching past memories to emerald tablets and gold incan figurines.

Her collection in The Domo is priceless, a complete record of the last 7,000 years of humanity’s history. Her love letter to humanity.

Karun is having a similar wow moment, as he films the interior of the ship.

Druig nudges your shoulder with his own, “my beautiful, beautiful lady,” he offers you a simple beaded necklace. Each bead is hand carved and strung on a gold cord.

It takes a second for the memory to come, but you remember. Thebes.

He’s never asked your age in any life. You’ve only now noticed his simple joy at being able to spend however many years you could together.

You’d freeze yourself in this moment if you could and spare Druig another death, another cycle.

“You kept it,” you say in amazement.

“There’s more around here,” amusement in his features. Who could find anything in Makkari’s clutter?

“Druig.” You melt. More than two thousand years later and he could still surprise you in the ways he loved you.

He slips his hand into the back pocket of your jeans, squeezing your ass.

Heat rises to your cheeks as you fumble to wrap the necklace around your neck, the ancient clasp easier to work than modern ones. It was only hours ago that Druig had squeezed your bare ass, urging you to ride him harder.

“Really,” Phastos groans, “in my lab?”

“Yeah,” Kingo piles on, “was the plane not enough?”

Considering the world might end, you don’t really care. Neither does Druig.

Shamelessly, he ignores their comments. “Phastos, I need to be able to control the mind of a celestial.”

“Okay. Get ready for it.” Phastos turns on his lab, holographic blueprints detailing the mechanics of the plan to stop the Emergence.

“Bracelets? You made us bracelets?”

You take in the image of a celestial for the first time. There was always more to the universe. Why couldn’t it be something good? Like the Asgardians.

Druig presses a kiss to your shoulder.

You push away the negative thoughts.

Manifesting. Right. You could do that. Think positively. Manifest a million more days. Had Druig tried Greggs? The world would be saved and you’d take him to Ireland again. He’d meet your siblings. You’d fix things with Lizzy.

“So here’s a little Celestial 101,” Phastos says, and proceeds to speak absolute gibberish. It flies right over your head.

Druig shifts. He rests an arm around your shoulders as Phastos finishes with his bracelet machine energy thing. The Unimind.

Ignoring Kingo’s late capitalist desire to turn everything into a profitable brand, she asks, So suppose Druig can, say put Tiamut to sleep-then what? Her hand remains in the air, asking her question, curious as to what the next part of the plan was. Tiamut wouldn’t sleep forever. Druig was going to buy time.

“We find humans a new home on another planet,” Sersi says cryptically. Which yeah. Was not a solution.

Your people had only built a long distance spacecraft once, for five people.

“Are we building them a big ship too? Take a pair of each animal,” Sprite pokes holes into her non plan.

“You know what’s never saved the world,” Phastos says annoyed, “your sarcasm.”

“Space colonization could take decades.”

“It could happen quickly with our help.”

“Do we have that time,” you point out. “How long would Tiamut remain asleep for?”

“I don’t-” Phastos looks at Druig for an answer which your lover doesn’t have. It wasn’t like he’d put a celestial to sleep before.

“What if we accidentally end up killing Tiamut,” Kingo brings up. “We could be responsible for billions of lives not being created across the universe. Not to mention the death of a Celestial. All bad.”

You shake your head in disbelief, “how could you value potential lives over people alive right now! Who’d die. Remember. We have to take that chance.” Tiamut’s life was worth the billions of people, the billions of lifeforms on your planet.

“Who are we to decide that!” Kingo rubs his forehead in agitation, “what if by stopping the natural cycle of the universe we cause something worse? Throwing nature out of balance always ends badly. Global warming anyone?”

You frown.

“Can we not work with nature sir,” Karun asks, camera rolling, “ask Mr. Tiamut to wait until we can live somewhere else?”

“Both of you are too close to the situation to think objectively,” Sprite cuts in, “we have to do what's right for the universe.”

You arch a brow, “seriously? This is all any of you know! That makes you biased too.”

“How would we even know what’s right,” Phastos says dejectedly. “We barely found out what we are? Not a great track record here.”

“Ajak chose Sersi to be the leader. Sersi should decide,” Ikaris puts in his two cents.

You look at your old friend, heart lodged in your throat. You already knew Druig would risk it. It was just a matter of getting everyone on board.

Phastos' plan requires everyone to wear a bracelet.

There’s an anime friendship joke there somewhere.

“I-”

“So even you’re having doubts,” Sprite throws her hands up in the air. “This wouldn’t happen if Ajak was here.” She stalks off.

“Sprite,” Ikaris calls after her. When she doesn’t come back, he follows.

“Let her blow off some steam,” Kingo follows Ikaris out of The Domo.

“Great,” Phastos utters, powering down the holograms, “glad to see we can still work together.”

“Make the bracelets,” Sersi nods. “Just in case.”

“How many,” Druig pauses, “of us would we need to power your,” he gestures at Phastos futuristic printer.

“I don’t know.” Phastos admits. “A lot of this is guesswork and approximation. I don’t know the limits of your ability, or how that translates to a Celestial. There’s no time to measure averages of built up cosmic energy.”

You swallow, pulling away to let them talk it out while Sersi chases after the others. Whatever was decided, it would be together.

It would be okay.

You knew them well.

Karun asks you shyly, “Kingo tells me you reincarnate.”

“It’s a party trick.” You felt as stressed as everyone else.

“So karma and-”

“Magic.” You answer the question he was about to ask. “I don’t, it’s not the Hindu gods. It’s some spell I accidentally cast and now,” you shrug.

“Oh.” He nods. “Well, the answer lies not in aliens or magic.” Karun smiles kindly. “That is why we aim for moksha. Though I think this could only be my second or third life at most.”

You can’t help but smile. “How is your family?”

“Good. They know I do important work with Kingo. Cinema, movies, it is now how we pass things on. I remember the first time I saw Kuch Lich Hota Hai!”

“I’ll have to watch it some time.”

It was easy to see why someone as easy going as Kingo had hit it off with Karun.

“I’m close to figuring it out,” Phastos calls out.

You look up just in time to see Ikaris shoot lasers at the inventor.

Everyone stands in stunned silence.

“Ikaris,” Kingo calls out, “what are you doing?” He looks at Phastos’ prone body.

“I’ve let this go on long enough,” Ikaris stalks further into the room. He reminds you of a sleek predator, of facing the deviant back in Mexico. And now you’re stuck in close quarters with him.

You weren’t stupid.

You couldn’t hold out against Ikaris.

You were all going to die.

“Don’t hurt him,” Sersi rushes to Phastos’ side, helping him up.

His shoulder smokes where the lasers made contact. The fabric is blacked. But Ikaris hadn’t hit him for long enough to truly hurt him. It was lucky they were built so durably.

“He lied to us,” Sersi stares Ikaris down, tears in her eyes. “He already knew about the emergence.” She’d made her peace with being abandoned, but to be betrayed by someone she once loved, someone who remained as dear as family to her-

“No he didn’t,” Kingo denies.

“Ajak told me everything when we left Babylon.”

“What?”

You suck in a breath. “That long.”

They’d all changed, grown to love humanity because they’d thought they were here to protect the Earth. But Ikaris, your heart hurts for him. He’d always been distant and remote. No wonder.

He’d purposely kept his distance. It would be easier to carry out his mission, Arishem’s mission, that way, without attachment.

“You were never going to let her stop the Emergence.”

“No.” Ikaris looks around at his team, “I only wanted to protect you from the deviants.”

“If Ajak wanted you to take her place, why did she choose me?” There’s a hard edge to Sersi’s voice. “

Ikaris says nothing.

Druig puts it together first. “He killed her.”

Spite turns away from Ikaris, unable to stand the sight of him.

You can’t believe it. Ajak and Ikaris. He’d trusted her above all others. For so long, Ikaris was the faithful follower. The Eternal Ajak relied on.

For him to kill her-

He’d always been a good soldier.

“I had to.”

“She loved you.”

Ikaris flinches. “Did she?” His eyes fill with tears. “Do you think it was easy to know the truth? To know that one day all this would end.” He glances at you. Meets everyone's eyes, searching, beseeching. He was so far gone. “To keep on lying to you.”

“If we gave humanity the choice, how many of them would be willing to die so that billions more could be born?”

“I suppose that’s easy to say when you’re not the one dying,” you retort coldly.

You’d never wished Ajak dead.

“Is this why you’re willing to kill,” Phastos asks furiously, “You are so pathetic.”

“I’m an Eternal Phastos. I exist for Arishem. As do you. That’s who you are.”

Phastos steps forward, unafraid to confront Ikaris. “I wouldn’t change a single thing about who I am, born or made. But I do not exist for Arishem. I exist for my family.”

“You are making the same mistake Ajak did.”

Makkarish wooshes in, rapidly motioning while she beamed with pride, I found Tiamut. The fastest Eternal was apparently the last one to find things out.

Ikaris’ eyes glow.

“No,” Kingo knocks the speedster out of the way. Blood seeps out of his shoulder, more viscous than human blood. He clutches his shoulder, “get out of here.”

Makkaris flees.

Ikaris stalks forward.

Kingo powers up. “You. Do. Not. Turn. Against. Your. Family.” His fireball grows, “Gilgamesh died because of you.”

“You will not succeed against me. And I will kill every one of you if I have to.” Having made his threat clear, he leaves.

Spite wails, collapsing onto her knees.

“What is this,” Thena glances around the wreckage of their family. Of your family.

Ikaris had once saved your life.

You didn’t understand the man. You never would.

“I-” Sprite looks at everyone. “I can’t. I know he killed,” she sobs then, “Ajak, but I can’t hurt-I can’t hurt my family.” A sheen passes over her fingers and she disappears.

“Sprite-” Sersi reaches out to the spot where she had been just seconds before.

Makkari runs in. She holds her hands up, before turning her palms down into fists. What happened? Where did Sprite go?

“I don’t know,” Kingo shakes his head. “Away. I-we’re no match for Ikaris.”

“Don’t say that Sir.”

“He really fooled us didn’t he,” he says sadly. Kingo looks over at Karun, “you should go be with your family.”

“Sir.”

“They need you. Whatever happens.”

“Kingo,” Sersi says carefully.

He shakes his head, “even with my help. . .we need a plan B.” He looks over at you. “I love the people of this planet, and even if I can’t save everyone, I can still save a few.”

New Asgard.

The Avengers.

This was bigger than you.

You nod, understanding him. “Okay.”

“We need you,” Sersi pleads.

“And fight my brother,” Kingo recoils.

“My lady,” Druig says carefully.

“Don’t-” you shake your head. No goodbyes. This wasn’t a goodbye. “It doesn’t matter because you’ll stop the Emergence.” You’ve never been more scared.

Serving as an army nurse had been a cakewalk compared to the end of everything.

He lifts his chin playfully, “anything for you my lady.”

You stifle tears. Instead you smile.

And leave with Kingo and Karun.

***

You cry saying goodbye to Karun.

“It has been an honor Sir,” he bows to Kingo.

Tears wet the Eternal’s cheeks. “No, it has been my honor. Not everyone would try to kill a vampire. Twice.”

They share a laugh.

In 3 hours he would be home. In 3 hours, there might not even be a planet left.

You call your brother from the plane, unable to stop crying. Ajak. Ikaris. Everything was falling apart and you could only hope the rest of them made it, that they could put Tiamut to sleep.

You wonder where Sprite is.

He doesn’t answer.

You call again.

And again.

You feel time slipping through your fingers. “How long do you think we have,” you ask Kingo. It was such a nice day outside. The skies were clear as you flew over Eurasia.

You wipe tears from your eyes, dialling your sister instead.

Please pick up, you begged the universe.

“I don’t know,” Kingo sighs, resting his head against the seat. “Really wish I’d kept in touch with Thor now. . .” He cracks a smile. “Maybe I should’ve gone with Karun too.”

“You don’t think-” Lizzy picks up. Her voice changed from the last time you had properly talked to her, a uni student, your older sister, full of life and bad advice.

“Hello,” her voice is groggy, “is that? Why are you calling?” Your sister sounds exhausted and monotone. The Snap had taken its toll on her. She’d missed out on years.

“Lizzy,” your voice is fragile. She’d actually answered you. She never did. You didn’t know why. Maybe there wasn’t a reason. But she’d pulled away so much. “How are you?”

“It’s four in the morning.”

“Oh. Did I wake you?”

“No.”

“Rough night?”

“No,” she sighs. “Can’t sleep.”

“Have you tried melatonin gummies?”

“Yes. They don’t help.”

“I’m sorry,” you apologize. For everything, that the world was ending, for whatever you’d done to her. You were tremendously sorry it had been her and not you. You should’ve been Snapped away.

“You didn’t do anything.”

“How’s New Asgard,” you ask instead.

“Cold.”

“Colder than Canada?”

“About the same,” her voice drifts. “Not that it matters.” Your childhood house had long ago been sold.

“Do you like it there at least?”

“Does it matter?”

You bite your lip, “of course it does.”

Lizzy doesn’t respond.

Kingo motions with his hand to get on with it, but you can’t. You can’t tell your sister who turned to ashes that the world is about to crack open, killing everyone. You can’t force her to live through another doomsday. You won’t be the one to put that on her shoulders.

It’s static.

Neither of you speak.

“Hey,” Lizzy says worriedly, “do you know if Norway gets earthquakes?”

“Why,” your heart sinks.

“Because the earth won’t stop shaking.”

“What!” Oh no.

“I have to go.”

“Lizzy, wait-”

“B-”

“Iloveyou,” you manage before the line goes dead. The world was ending and you were on a private plane.

Kingo takes your hand. “They never really leave you, do they?”

“No.”

“I’ve been lucky to meet so many cool and amazing people. I think of them, from time to time.”

You look over at Kingo, “you love this planet.”

“It’s my home.” He smiles, thinking back fondly of the milena he’d spent here, eyes wet.

“We’re lucky to have you-and all your bollywood dance scenes.”

He laughs as the plane shakes with turbulence and you don’t know if it’s the wind or the Emergence. It wasn’t a terrible way to die, here with a friend.

Squeezing your hand, Kingo adds, “you think you’ll be reincarnated as a Lumia?”

You roll your eyes as the plane shakes.

“Or Kree? Can’t forget about-”

“Not helping.” You frown. "Do you think there's more out there? More wolrds with Eternals and deviants?" More eternals who didn't know the truth?

Space had become so much more tangible since The Avengers. Since the Guardians. You looked up at the stars and wondered.

"Probably," Kingo nods, unconcerned.

But you were concerned. You'd had choice taken from you before due to societal norms, due to your position as a slave, as a woman. Didn't those worlds deserve the truth too? Didn't the Eternals deserve more than to carry out Arishem's wishes for millions of years, their minds wiped away like they were nothing better than a phone defaulted to factory settings? Wasn't Thena proof that more lingered inspite of Arishem's meddling?

"Let's survive this first."

You nod, "can't exactly weather this storm in a bunker." There had been no safe place from Thanos' Snap.

Kingo chuckles. “Thank you.”

“Yeah well,” you smile softly, “it’s not so bad, being your friend.”

notes: there will be an epilogue bc this chapter got SO long. sprite is so jealous of nathan growing up its insane but also its like the first time shes had humans who know what she is and accept her. reader going w kingo was really an excuse to bow out of the fight ngl. it might've gone the same was as the movie, mb not.

#a rose by any other name #druig x y/n #druig x reader #druig x you #me trying to finish all my wips challenge #rewatched the movie and ah i love eternals sm

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