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lovinpelova · 1 month

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stupid | k. casparij

summary; being in a hot country doesn't do you any favours when kerstin is around, neither does having to share a bed.

🎵 power trip - j. cole

you had always forbidden yourself from even developing feelings for a teammate ever since you discovered your love for women whilst you were still in the england youth groups. you hadn't formed a crush on anyone or dated a girl on the same team as you and you planned on keeping it that way, you saw how messy it could get in the blink of an eye and didn't want to be involved no matter your age. you'd made the rule for yourself when you were fourteen and still maintain stubborn on it at the age of twenty-two whilst playing for manchester city and the england senior team.

well, apart from kerstin. she's an exception.

you thought you wanted to be her friend because you liked her accent, tattoos, style and got on well with her cat. a couple team bonding sessions later when you won bowling and hugged in celebration, you found yourself blushing and quickly scolding yourself for the butterflies that arose when her hand lingered on your waist. it didn't take long for your feelings to grow into a not-so-small crush and your teammates eventually started prodding at why you were constantly staring at the midfielder or blushing around her.

they already knew the answer, of course, they were just mean and wanted to hear you say it out loud. so you confessed after a month of teasing and had been subject to even more jokes ever since, now having figured today marked three months since your initial realisation and just to your luck, kerstin was your roommate for a two week long preseason camp in spain with your club. you had been fine so far since you weren't in your rooms for an extended period of time yet- but you knew when you headed up for sleep in a couple hours it would be difficult to keep your thoughts from racing; especially since there was only one bed.

there was a booking mistake with your room and it meant instead of having a twin bed suite or two doubles like all of your other teammates, you and kerstin were provided a single bed. not even a double bed, a single. the pair of you didn't make a big deal about it and figured one would sleep on the couch after a small argument on who does - but when you remembered there was no couch and definitely no spare mattress - you knew you were going to have to share a bed with kerstin after discovering there was no other rooms available.

so here you were, sat next to lauren hemp as you cooled down from your intense training session and watched your teammates try cut off some distance on their weekly running targets. the winger could sense you were trapped in your thoughts and after knowing you since you were fourteen, she had no doubt it was about your sleeping situation, how you were going to position yourself with kerstin right next to you was beyond your imagination. she nudged you gently with her elbow to break you out of your daydream and smiled when you returned the gesture, setting down your water bottle.

"you're probably gonna have to lie on top of each other or something. you do know that, right?"

her comment made you groan in further frustration and lie back onto the pitch, your arms covering your eyes from the sun that was blinding you.

"you mean cuddle, yeah?"

"pretty much."

the blonde laid down next to you with a sympathetic smile as she felt the stress radiating through your silence, her attention quickly being diverted as she heard footsteps headed your way.

"it won't be that bad. you're both sensible adults- and besides, something good might happen out of it!"

"what good could possibly come out of a situation like this?"

"i can feel your stress from the other side of the pitch, y/l/n."

a familiar voice broke into your conversation and you shot up just like lauren did a couple moments ago, watching the way she smiled sheepishly and quickly made her way over to the rest of your teammates. you looked up into kerstins eyes and nearly melted, the hot sun not doing you any favours when you saw how she'd rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and shorts to display her toned muscles and tattoos. immediately keeping your cool with a subtle deep breath, kerstin sat down next to you and leaned back on her hands to mirror yourself as the two of you admired the beautiful pitch you were on.

"if you want, i can share a double bed with one of the others?"

"no!"

both of you were taken back by your sudden outburst and you cleared your throat in apology as kerstin smiled widely at you, her eyebrows raised slightly as a smirk grew on her face.

kerstin wasn't stupid. neither was she deaf or blind. your teammates make secrets very hard to keep once they're out.

"i mean- no. it's fine, honestly. we're both adults and we'll figure out how we're going to go about the sleeping situation when the time comes."

"i was thinking maybe i be big spoon for the first week and then we swap? i need my share of cuddles too."

you nearly choked on your spit when you heard her, turning to see the brunette grinning at your reaction and smiling wider when she took note of the blush on your face. shoving her shoulder lightly, you stood up and waited for her to rise with you.

"like i said, we'll figure it out when the time comes."

"yes ma'am."

--------

the time had finally come.

you'd been thinking about it all day and stressing over every little thing you could do to make her uncomfortable. you were currently wiping the excess toothpaste from around your mouth and taking deep breaths as you looked in the mirror to calm yourself down, almost needing a peptalk. after deciding you were taking too long in the bathroom you headed towards the single bed and were met with kerstin sprawled across the entire mattress comfortably, her arms behind her head as she smiled teasingly.

"if that's how you always sleep, i'm sleeping on the floor."

"very funny. i need to find my charger quickly anyways, make yourself comfortable and i'll work around you."

the midfielder hopped up and began rummaging through her suitcase next to yours, taking note of how apprehensive your steps were towards the bed. she knew why you were so nervous about the whole ordeal but she also wasn't the type to make you stress even more by confronting you, so she plugged her phone on charge and watched you move about until you were comfortable, gently pulling back the covers from behind you and moving slowly once she heard your breath hitch.

you were about to share a bed with the woman you had hopelessly been crushing on for the past three months and the realisation had just hit you, feeling the bed dip behind your body as her quads brushed over your hamstrings. your body grew hotter and breathing picked up a tad, kerstin noticing and deciding she had to make you comfortable before you had a panic attack or jumped out of bed.

"can i-"

she started, her voice as hesitant as your bodies. a toned hand was hovering over your waist and if you turned to the right you would've noticed- thank god you didn't, or else you would have freaked out.

"can i touch you?"

kerstin asked gently, your mind running wild with all the other scenarios she could be asking you the exact same thing in as you nodded your head. her hand gently grabbed your hip as she pulled herself closer and the cover was now over her too, your bodies flush together with her arm wrapping around your waist to pull you even closer as your hand moved down to rest on hers that was gently tracing shapes along your stomach.

"you don't need to be so far away. it's only me."

"i just don't want to make you uncomfortable."

her chin rested itself on your shoulder for a moment as she took in your response, your breathing now slowing down whilst kerstin smiled to herself.

"you could never."

the dutchie pulled you closer and felt you relax in her arms within no time, silently wishing the moment would last forever.

--------

you woke up to your dreaded alarm ringing out annoyingly, groaning and turning your face to bury it further into your pillow as you fell back into kerstin's embrace. the midfielder chuckled lowly at your reaction to being reminded you had to wake up eventually, reaching her arm further around you to turn off your alarm but not moving to unravel herself from your touch. she tightened her grip and nuzzled her head into your neck, smiling softly when your hand reached to tangle itself in her hair and gently scratch the bottom of her neck.

the two of you were so caught up in your own bubble that she placed a kiss to your shoulder and trailed her lips upwards until they reached your pulse point, your head leaning back to let her move further before you both gasped in realisation and shot up out of bed. staring at each other breathlessly with bright red cheeks and fists clenched by your sides, you tried to rack your brain for any reasonable explanation but nothing came out, quickly gathering your training kit and pulling it on before heading down towards breakfast.

in seperate elevators.

"so... she kissed you?"

"keep it down you idiot!"

you shoved lauren towards your breakfast table and made quick work of continuing the conversation before any of your teammates could follow and eavesdrop, the winger apparently not knowing that everyone could hear her talking.

"only on the shoulder and neck."

"wha- and you just got ready in complete silence after?"

you nodded your head in confirmation as you both began digging into your breakfast, lauren obviously trying to rack her head for any explanation that could stop your thoughts from running wild.

"maybe it's just a natural thing for her to do that when she wakes up in that position, you know from her exes."

"yeah, but it still doesn't explain why she did it to me."

your conversation was cut short by esme and kiara taking their rightful places on the same table as you, a new topic arising to take your mind off that mornings antics. trying to keep your eyes off kerstin was proven very difficult to do in general, but now you could feel her staring glances and lauren would bump your leg whenever she caught her staring. it seems the winger had remembered kerstin also had friends she could tell secrets to, so she suggested you try talking to jill and mary.

after a couple moments of persuasion and arguing from yourself she called them both over anyways and stole mary for her own entertainment, giving you a look that said 'i'll ask for you' as you racked your brain on how to start the conversation with jill. the midfielder slung her arm around your shoulders and smiled down at you, walking to the pitch in a simple conversation until she dropped in the name you hadn't been able to stop thinking about for the past three months.

"so, did you and kerstin eventually figure out how to sleep last night? she was telling me about it."

you froze up momentarily with the thought of kerstin telling jill what happened on the morning on your mind, then realising they weren't close enough for the brunette to let it slip the same way she would with mary- oh god, she's definitely told mary.

"er, yeah. we had to cuddle for it to work but desperate times call for desperate measures."

"i wouldn't call cuddling kerstin a desperate measure. i know you wouldn't mind it but the woman is a good hugger."

you nudged jill at her teasing as she held her hands up in mock surrender, obviously being one of the many girls (everyone knew) that wasn't blind or deaf or dumb.

just like kerstin.

she was eyeing you up as discreetly as possible, doing the same to lauren and mary as she pondered on why you'd both suddenly taken such a huge interest in talking to her best friends. sure, you'd spoken before, but never for this long. she soon came to the conclusion that it had to be about her and lauren had to know what happened.

kerstin wasn't stupid.

--------

"y/n! do you have a sec?"

an unmissably australian accent called you over from your spot in the common room next to alex, you excused yourself and headed over to mary with a curious expression.

"am i in trouble?"

mary hadn't really ever spoken to you before, so her calling you over was a shock to your system. lauren must have said something.

"sit."

she dismissed your joke and patted the seat next to her with a soft smile, taking note of how stiff you were when you tried to make yourself comfortable.

"chick, i don't bite! relax. i just wanna talk to you about you know who."

lauren had said something.

"what about her?"

"well, lauren told me what happened this morning- and so did kerstin."

you both relaxed back into your chairs opposite each other but kept the volume of your conversation low. you knew lauren would have let it slip and kerstin wouldn't have told anyone but mary, she's not one to tell more than a couple people she trusts otherwise it spreads like wildfire and others start asking.

kerstin isn't stupid.

"how you feeling about it?"

"i'm just trying to figure out why she would do it. i mean, she only sees me as a friend, right?"

"...right."

the hesitance in mary's voice made your head shoot up in shock as she smiled sheepishly, your breath hitching in realisation. her eyes darted to your right and yours soon followed, watching as kerstin stood up abruptly with an annoyed expression, giving mary no time to apologise as she'd seemingly overheard.

"shit- kerstin wait!"

the common room was left in an uncomfortable silence that had you staring at mary in shock, lauren and jill giving each other knowing looks. it was obvious the aussie had just let a secret slip - a big secret - and kerstin was, understandably, not happy about it. the midfielder didn't need to hear the remainder of your conversation, all she needed to know was mary had hesitated to reply and you were hit with a sudden realisation, physically affecting you in a way that could be seen from across the room. the way both of you looked over to the defender meant you had to be talking about her.

kerstin wasn't stupid.

--------

"are you at least gonna let her explain?"

you asked whilst leaning against the doorframe of your bathroom, waiting for an answer from your roommate as she rummaged through her suitcase. your question made her look up and sigh in a way that had her shoulders falling heavily, watching as the midfielder sat back on her heels before standing up.

"nope."

she popped the 'p' just to make herself even more clear, the blunt response she rewarded you with indicating she wasn't in the mood to talk about anything. you hummed in reply and looked down at your feet in contemplation.

"look, i'm going down to play a couple rounds of pool with the girls. you know you're always welcome to join."

the brunette turned her head lightly to show she was interested, sitting on the edge of the bed rather awkwardly. you knew why she didn't take up the offer immediately like she usually did.

"if you want, i'll text when mary heads to bed."

the dutchie needed time to forgive and forget when it came to watching someone betray her trust, you'd known that for a while now just by judging her character.

"if you don't mind."

her quiet response was all you needed to walk over and place a hand on her shoulder, smiling softly when you felt her hand rest on top of yours.

"you're gonna have to speak to her eventually though."

kerstin wished she told you to stay and come to bed with her, truth is she was too tired to play pool in a couple hours time when she knew mary would decide on going to sleep- but if it meant she got to spend time with you she would stay up. within a couple hours you'd became the reigning champion at pool once again, potting the black more times than you could count as all the teammates that volunteered to play against you lost.

soon enough, mary said goodnight alongside the rest of the girls, leaving you downstairs with lauren and jill once again. you knew that they would want to talk about the situation so decided on keeping the silence present, texting kerstin that mary had headed up with the others and it was just the three of you that would no doubt welcome her if she came down for a couple games or some conversation. she responded in record-breaking time with confirmation that she was coming down and within minutes she arrived, taking a seat next to you that jill and lauren had so obviously left for her on purpose.

the couch was fairly small so your legs were touching and neither of you were pulling away, your friends taking note and discreetly nudging each other. they made a silent agreement to head up in a few moments with a reasonable excuse, watching as you and kerstin challenged each other to a game of pool.

"oh, you're so on."

you spoke cockily as kerstin smirked in response, clearly confident in her skills but knowing she'd never really played pool before. jill and lauren snuck upstairs without telling you, seeing you were too busy interacting with each other and this could be the moment you confessed your feelings if you were alone. a game of rock, paper, scissors determined you were breaking and you did so confidently, potting a solid as kerstin groaned and remained to the side whilst watching you think about your next shot.

"where'd those two go?"

her question broke you out of your game face as you searched around for them, discreetly rolling your eyes at their antics.

"probably got tired."

you covered for them whilst aiming your next shot and missing, kerstins mouth falling open at your form.

"how are you apparently so good at pool when my form is better than yours? i've literally never played before and even i know you're supposed to keep your elbow up!"

"if you're so good at pool show me how it's done then."

you replied sassily, expecting the brunette to take her own shot but were instead watching as she placed her cue down and walked over to your side of the table. she positioned herself behind you and put her hand behind yours on the cue, your fingers brushing.

"bend over."

the low tone she used sent shocks through your system and you had to take a deep breath whilst doing as she said, hearing a hum of approval come from her throat didn't make it any easier either. she bent down with you and her body was placed flush against yours, head almost resting on your shoulder with her hand placing itself on the table for a steady support.

"put your hand on top of mine and make sure your fingers are in the same position. that's it, just like that."

you followed her demand with ease, trying to focus on anything but her and failing miserably when mindless praise left her lips.

"which one you going for?"

"you choose."

the woman aimed for the ball you'd initially missed and shot after a moment of eyeing it up she was draining the ball into a pocket. she smiled in pride and turned her head to quietly speak.

"i have better form than you."

your head turned to hers and you were immediately taken back by the lack of distance, eyes unmissably flickering down to her lips as your breathing rates picked up in sync. kerstin moved her head towards yours slowly but surely, licking her lips in anticipation as her hand on the cue fell to your hip instinctually. her breath was fanning across your lips and you could practically taste her already; she was so close.

you both wanted this- you wanted it so badly. if you could, you would've had kerstin pick you up and take you right then and there on the pool table after carelessly moving the cue balls out of the way. her lips would be molded with yours as tongues clashed shamelessly, you would be reeling and kerstin would be claiming you as her own to take forever more with no resistance.

her other hand reached to hold your cheek intimately, both of you leaning in until lips were brushing. her mouth was practically on yours and you just were waiting for her to make the final move, close the gap.

"oh, sorry!"

a familiar scouse accent burst the bubble as you dropped your pool cue and quickly bent down to stop it from clattering, taking a deep breath whilst kerstin stepped away to a respectable distance and you both stared at the ground with bright red cheeks.

"i forgot my phone."

"no, you're okay alex don't worry."

the defender smiled sheepishly and rushed to grab her phone, apologising once more as you waved her off with a soft smile and watched her head back upstairs. you turned to kerstin and found her already looking at you, eyes dark and wanting. her gaze sent a shiver down your spine and you had to forcefully tear your eyes away, looking to find your phone whilst mumbling about how late it was.

the elevator ride wasn't awkward, neither was getting ready for bed in the same bathroom- being in the same bed after nearly kissing though, that was another story. she was unreasonably stiff and pulling away to her side of the bed, obviously not wanting to make you uncomfortable and you weren't fighting against it, only because you didn't want to make her uncomfortable. it was the worst night's sleep you'd ever had.

but waking up in kerstin's arms the next morning wasn't something you were ever going to complain about.

it seems you'd shifted towards each other in your sleep and adjusted out of instinct, her arms were wrapped tightly around your midsection as yours were around her neck. your head on her chest and legs either side of her waist with one hand drifting towards a thigh indicated kerstin had moved you there herself to gain more comfort, her head turned away from you to let yours rest in her neck.

"morning."

a raspy voice spoke after taking a deep breath and stretching out lazily, arms pulling you closer as kerstin tucked her head further into your hair. you felt her shamelessly inhale the scent of your shampoo, resisting the urge to pull away and deciding not to when she continued to ignore the realisation that she was doing it again.

"hope you slept well."

your hand traced shapes along her back comfortingly and a shared sigh left your lips, both of you remembering you still hadn't confessed your feelings. pulling your heads away and looking into the others eyes, you made no move to back up fully as kerstin let her gaze travel to your lips once more, quickly pulling her eyes to yours again.

"are we going to talk about what happened last night?"

"not until you let mary explain."

you response was quick and put kerstins hopes down immediately, letting her relish in the moment for a couple more seconds with her eyes closed and your lips knowingly teasing the skin of her neck to persuade her into hearing mary out.

"five more minutes."

her arms tightened themselves around your waist and trapped your bodies together before you could move any further to get up. luckily you had the day off, so a lie in wouldn't be frowned upon.

--------

kerstin turned to furrow her eyebrows at you disapprovingly when you shoved her towards mary, playfully flipping you off and making her way over to a hopeful aussie. you watched the two converse for a couple minutes whilst finishing up your breakfast, smiling at the hug they shared before kerstin got up and made her way to sit with you once more, stealing the last strawberry in your fruit bowl as you smacked her hand.

"and...?"

the defender caught your suggestive drift immediately and sighed heavily as she made herself comfortable, racking her brain to remember everything that was said.

"we're cool, forgave each other- back to besties."

you smiled and nudged her shoulder with your own teasingly, both of you laughing lightly and falling into a momentary silence as kerstin took a small breath to indicate she had something else to say.

"she also said what we have is really special and she wouldn't mind being my wingwoman."

"i think you were your own wingwoman last night."

"true, alex was a bit of a cockblocker though."

you gasped and shoved kerstin teasingly, both of you laughing with bright red cheeks once recalling the events of last night.

"speaking of last night, would you maybe wanna continue what was going to happen before we got interrupted?"

"are you asking for permission to kiss me, casparij?"

the dutchie smiled shyly and shuffled closer, an awkward aura taking over her body language as she grew more nervous by the moment. you placed a hand on her cheek to tilt her head towards yours, deciding to take the lead and just go for it, your lips connecting in a soft kiss before cheers were heard around the cafeteria.

"it's about time you two got together!"

"took you long enough!"

the girls confirmed that kerstin had been blind to your pining for longer than she thought, confusion written all over her face as she realised you'd liked her for longer than she thought. when it came to mutual pining, kerstin could be stupid.

#kerstin casparij #kerstin casparij imagine #kerstin casparij x reader #kerstin casparij fanfic #kerstin casparij x you #woso community #woso imagine #woso fanfics #woso x reader #woso #man city #mcwfc #mcwfc x reader #man city women #manchester city #manchester city women #oranjeleeuwinnen

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fantastic-nonsense · 5 months

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I think people who genuinely wanted Percy to rebel against the gods and overthrow the system kind of...miss the whole point of the series

The question is not whether or not the gods deserve to rule; the books are kind of unambiguous that they don't! That the gods are generally undeserving of their children's loyalty is the one thing that Percy and Luke both agree on! But PJO is less about divine right to rule vs. ruling via consent of the governed and more about improving dysfunctional family systems. It's not about whether unfair rulers deserve to continue ruling; it's about forcing the gods to be better, fairer rulers and a better, fairer family given limited alternatives.

Because what are the alternatives, as presented to us within the scope of the original PJO series?

Option 1: allow Kronos to topple Olympus and take over. Clearly not a viable alternative for all of the reasons the books show us.

Option 2: the demigods overthrow the Olympians and rule the world themselves. Okay. How's that going to work out long-term, given demigods are mortal and cannot control or protect their parents' domains? Demigods will die out within a generation or two, so that's potentially a one-generation short-term solution, and then everyone's right back where they started. Except worse, because now the world has been out of divine balance for a century and the gods have a completely legitimate bone to pick with all demigods. Materially worse outcome.

Option 3: demigods ignore the gods and their will entirely. They integrate into the mortal world, refuse to participate in quests or talk to their parents, and pretend prophecies don't exist. Except that's clearly not a viable option, since we see that demigods usually can't safely exist in the mortal world without monsters coming after them, the gods are cruel enough to use blackmail and engage in hostage situations to get demigods to act as heroes, and prophecies have a way of coming true regardless of everyone's best attempts to circumvent them. Again: materially worse outcome.

And for Percy, for the demigods at Camp Half-Blood, for Luke and for everyone else who defected....for the most part, they don't actually have an inherent problem with the gods ruling them. They just want to be acknowledged, valued, and loved by their families, to be treated as more than a tool for their parents to wield whenever their services are needed. That was the core thesis of the demigod rebellion, which was wholly separate from Kronos' specific motivations for overthrowing the Olympians, and it's why Percy's asks at the end of TLO were what they were.

The point was always that had Percy grown up in a slightly more dysfunctional family environment...had he grown up with Frederick Chase's seemingly conditional love or May Castellan's madness instead of Sally Jackson's steady, quiet, unconditional love...he could have turned out like Luke. Like Ethan. Like the dozens of demigods who defected from camp to join Luke's cause. Percy could have turned out just as a bitter and angry and vengeful. Just as ready to tear down the system. Just as willing to betray and kill his own family for the sake of making a point.

But instead, Percy openly reprimands the gods for abandoning their families and using them as cannon fodder in their own petty disagreements. He forces them to acknowledge and claim their children. He demands that everyone who is part of the godly family be recognized and accepted, not just those related to the Twelve Olympians. He asks for those unjustly punished (like Calypso) to be set free and accepted back into the family. Because that's the point at the end of the day: not forcing bad rulers to step down, but changing an insanely dysfunctional family system that the gods and demigods are all members of into a better, safer, and more accepting environment for demigods to grow up and live in.

Overthrowing the gods wouldn't solve the problem at the heart of the series, which is the gods' shitty parenting and family management skills. It would only exacerbate the massive familial fault-lines that Kronos exploited and leave the demigods open to more godly manipulation. Which is why the series ends as it does, with Percy using his wish to tangibly improve the lives of his family instead of selfishly improving his own life (via accepting immortality/godhood) or overthrowing the gods. Because the conflict isn't about the gods as rulers. It's about the gods as parents.

PJO's core thesis is Percy, who grew up knowing unconditional familial love, looking at this whole world of children who didn't and saying "that's not fair. Gods should be better than this!" But instead of destroying them the way Luke wants to, instead of overthrowing them and putting himself on the throne, he instead challenges them to be better parents and family members. To be part of the solution instead of the problem. And Percy's demands don't solve everything, but they were necessary first steps! Without forcing the gods to acknowledge a bare minimum floor of inclusion, the cycle would simply begin all over again the next time a major conflict popped up.

So that's the problem Percy solves and how he successfully fulfills the prophecy: by believing that the gods had the capacity to change and forcing them to break the cycle of familial abandonment, he preserves Olympus and takes the first steps towards a new status quo, one that is objectively better for demigods than the one he grew up in. That's why he succeeds, and it's why Percy overthrowing the gods would have made for a much less satisfying ending than what actually happened.

#pjo #pjo meta #percy jackson #luke castellan #ethan nakamura #annabeth chase #long post #pjo tv #wow it's been awhile since I've written proper pjo meta lmfao

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harrystylesfan2686 · 3 months

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Love You, Always.

Pairing: Azriel x Reader

Summary: the years you've loved each other, and the ones you've loved him alone.

Warnings: Devlon. Mentions of domestic abuse.

A/N: inspired by Cardigan by Taylor Swift, except in this version he doesn't come back.

Masterlist

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

You place the two cups of tea in front of your father and his guest. A female so beautiful, with high cheek bones and a black lips to match her gown. She doesn't have wings and her cloths look far more elegant and richer from the clothes females in illyria were. She's surely from other place.

Your father, Lord Devlon, had instructed you to be on your best behavior today. You knew the rules of what do to when any guest comes, father had taught you even since you could remember living. Just stand back with your head down and be alert for when he requires anything from you.

And you do exactly that. Knowing that not doing would have painful punishments.

The female laughs at whatever your father had said before you came, and your father puts a hand on hers with a disgusting smirk. The lady glaces at your bowed head with an unsure expression you see in your peripheral, to which he responds,"Do not worry about her, she won't understand anything." His fingers swipping at her hand and you almost gag.

"Won't understand, my ass." You want to say but keep quiet and try to block out the teasing smirks they share. You're almost twenty one, of course you understand those revolting looks your shameless father gives females.

-☆-

You get out of the house as soon as your father gives you permission too. Gods, you hate that male, but have to endure his presence if you want to live at a little better life then the other females in your camp.

You ran and go to one place you know will bring you joy. The trianing grounds arent allowed for females to go to, so you stay far enough that no body would notice you seeing them. You look for the only person that makes you happy and doesn't treat you like worthless dolls. You see Azriel, fighting with his brothers, and let go of the breath you didn't know you were holding.

He looks so good.

The evening light making his bare chest glow. His wings flared in the show of dominance as he spars with Cassian. Rhysand watching them from the ground as Azriel expertly defeats Cassian and walks back to Rhysand with a small smile.

Your mind flashes with mammories of the last time you two were together. When father had given you particular blow that left you a line on blood down your cheek for not doing a chore. Azriel had so delicately wiped off the dried blood and took care of you, creeping into your room at night when everyone else lay alseep except you two. He kissed you all the way down your face and neck, showing you the care and love you deserve. Whispering promises of revenge for every scar on your body while loving you with everything he has.

Giggles sound behind you, breaking you moment of daydreaming. And you turn around, startled but settle down your panic when you see a group of three females talking and giggling while staring at the males training.

Thank the Mother, they aren't the very males your all staring at or father would be made. As you think about your better luck, fate seems to say 'fuck you' because just as your getting up, one of the females sees and you both freeze. The female, Nyra you remember, turns and calls the others attention, and your groan at yourself mentally.

Those females are definitely going to tell your father about your whereabouts, exposing there's too in the process which will get all of you in trouble. You were friends when you little but after growing up, when they realized who your father is and just how much power he holds in this camp, they became distent. You've had a lot of friends but never a true one.

You nod at them awkwardly and glance at Azriel once more before turning and leaving.

-☆-

You toss and turn on your so called bed in your room. Your thoughts repeatedly drift off to Nyra and her friends catching you red handed, drooling over training males. You kept glancing at your door, hoping for her or one of her friends to walk through and declare your secret.

What you hadn't excepted, however, was the flaping sound of wings filling the midnight silence. You sit up at the same time azriel lands never your window, having squeezed in his wings due to the size of your small room.

You stand and hug him, he returns the embrace in an instant, breathing in your sweet scent that drives him insane. When he tries to pull back, your hands tighten around him, shaking your head in a silent plea to hold on longer and he complies.

"Are you alright, my love?" His voice so soft and comforting as he whispers. You shake your head and remain as you are. Speaking softly, the words you say to each other, promising yourselves to the other, forever.

"I love you, Az."

"And I love you. Always."

-☆-

Even after five hundred years, you still can't seem to move on. Your thoughts always drifting back to the only person you saw your future with.

After Rhysand became high lord, the years when the trio weren't there were dreadful. Your father only seemed to have became worse. When Rhys got the news of you being promised to an illyrian from the camp, he came to get you. Knowing the history between Azriel and you, he took you to Valeris and introduced you to the inner circle. You finally met the love of your life after being separated for over a decade.

However, it did not go as you thought it would.

Azriel seemed to distanced himself from you, at first you thought maybe it was the fact that you were meeting after so long but as time went, you realized it wasn't his nerves that were the problem but his heart. You started to realize where his feelings seemed to be directed. You realized just how little he felt for you now and how much more for Mor.

You have to admit though, you love Mor. She is beautiful, confident and just amazing. What hurts, is knowing that now he does too.

You always thought the two of you were in it for life, that he was the person you're supposed to spend your life with but you were wrong. You were just kids after all. You were new to the world, exploring and trying new things. You were never supposed to be together, passion having blurred the boundaries and consequences of your actions.

Now, even after five hundred years. Azriel moved on, with different females to bed and Mor or Elain to give his heart too. But you? You're still twenty one, still living in that camp, under your fearful father's roof, still completly and utterly in love with the shadowsinger.

○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

#acotar #acotar fandom #acotar fanfiction #acotar fluff #azriel #azriel x reader #azriel x you #azriel angst #Spotify

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bonefall · 1 month

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a couple of leafstar questions! 1) is the process of selecting her to be new!skyclan’s leader changed at all by the fact that brokenstar is now firestar’s travelling buddy? 2) is billyleaf sticking around as a ship, and how will it change, if at all? 3) is leafstar going to be as… notably dumb in her reactions to everything happening so far in ASC?

The list of SkyClan changes is probably longer than the list of things that are staying the same. Cultural expansions, a very different culture, unique politics, even an alternate Warrior Code. Real fans of SkyClan want them to be completely different <3

Leafstar's not an exception. I HATE canon Leafstar. Every action they've taken with her has felt absolutely awful since Firestar's Quest so I'm just overwriting her completely.

SkyClan's Leadership

The part of Firestar's Quietus where Firestar and Brokenstar actually CHOOSE who the new leader is going to be is a bit up in the air. I have the beginning and end with the rats figured out-- but the middle has been evading me.

I know that Brokenstar prefers Sharpclaw, at first. Probably because Sharpclaw is so aggressive and dedicated to the old ways.

So it makes sense that Firestar prefers Leafdapple. She's making him realize things about his own way of ruling, parts of Clan culture he's come to accept uncritically.

She straight up blows past his thought-terminating cliches;

Firestar: "You see, Leafdapple... you can't live with a paw in both worlds."

Leafdapple: "Pardon? I don't understand what that means?"

Firestar: "It means... um... hmm ._."

In the end, she's probably chosen exactly because she's not committed to bringing back the past. SkyClan has not been the Clan of Skystar for a long time. It's the Clan of Skywatcher.

It is no longer the Clan-in-the-Canopy, it is the Clan-in-the-Stones.

I feel that the first Leader and Deputy were chosen by Firestar and Brokenstar. Though Brokenstar's mind changes over the course of Firestar's Quietus, I think they ultimately still agree that there were two "sides" of SkyClan that should live in balance.

Leafstar, committed to fairness, abides this. Until Sharpclaw ultimately betrays her for The Kin. (Repeat link from above but if your eyes just popped out of your head it explains everything about how PROFOUNDLY differently I'm approaching The Kin lmaoo)

I hadn't planned explicitly for the deputy system to work a bit differently here, BUT it does also feel in line for Leafstar to decide it on a whim after regrouping. Surrounded by the remnants of her Clan, deputy having just turned half of their warriors against them, SkyClan's protector oak ripping itself off the cliffside and destroying their camp, she jumps up on top of a rock like, "Ok team, that sure was a doozy. Let's try to pick a better deputy this time 8)"

It feels better that deputies are popularly "elected," or at the very least nominated by the Clan. Might make for a nice climactic moment in a rework of Hawkwing's Journey.

Is Billyleaf sticking around?

Yes! But it's actually a bit different.

First of all, Leafstar is actually in a constellation with Billystorm and Echosong, the Cleric. Leafstar is mates with Billystorm and a partner of Echosong. Echosong is not romantically involved with Billystorm. SkyClan actually split off from the main Clans before the Cleric's Vow was codified by Larkstripe's strike. They don't have the same taboo against Clerics having mates or raising kittens.

Billystorm is also a massive himbo now lmao, I'm not a huge fan of him in-canon. I'm still reworking stuff here though-- I'm planning to change SkyClan and the Stranger into Sol's Game, a darker story diving into Sol, the Entity, and Harry, the vessel it courts.

But it's been a while and I need to revamp my old drafts, so that's on the backburner for now.

Is Leafstar going to remain an idiot?

absolutely not. christ. I Don't Rewrite Arcs Until They Are Done but if I ever produce something as brainless as "An entire society believes that a child is lying because her accused murderer says he heard her mother snoring evil manipulation plans in her sleep" then explode me to bits with 10000 pounds of nitroglycerin

instead of just having her and everyone else be dumb, it's an easy enough small change to just have Splashstar already be in power and show the beginning of his reign having gone smoothly. Everyone's desperate for RiverClan to have a leader again. Have Leafstar's bias be against ShadowClan specifically, because Heartstar's nephew Juniperclaw mass-poisoned her entire Clan.

Even before then, too. I don't like how the Erins seem to treat Leafstar as this "unreasonable" character who's usually some shade of wrong. I don't like how she just has to accept that Sharpclaw was undermining her for her own good in SkyClan's Destiny. I don't like how Dodge dragged SkyClan into his stupid conflict. Or how she went back to the Gorge after Juniperclaw's poisoning, only to be herded back by the noble Clan cats when a sudden flood makes their old home unsafe for some reason.

I don't like how she only seems to get a "win" when she's accepting or asserting that the Clans have the perfect way of life and she should resemble it more-- see the opening of AVoS, where it's strongly implied that Daylight Warriors being unable to fight to defend the camp at night was how The Kin was able to throw everyone out, and thus the practice has been abolished since then. I think these conflicts are frustrating in the way they're written and presented.

So quite frankly I'm tossing a lot of it. First and foremost, SkyClan's primary conflicts should be trying to keep its unique cultural identity. Secondary conflicts should be based around its political interactions with the other Clans at the lake, particularly ShadowClan and ThunderClan, which it shares borders with.

BB!Leafstar's personality is that she's assertive, fair, and polite. In my head I lovingly imagine her always speaking in the tone of a corporate manager trying to keep control of her team as the office goes up in flames around her. While she always tries to consider all perspectives and stay approachable to all her warriors, she's often misinterpreted as being passive-aggressive or not genuine.

In a nutshell: I am personally making sure she's not the sort of dumb she is in canon. I have a vision for this version of SkyClan.

#better bones au #BB!SkyClan #BB!Leafstar

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p0ssywhippedcream · 11 months

Note

Happy ticket time my lovely!!! May I just request a jason grace fluff?? Like seeing him after a long quest and just falling asleep cuddling xox

First TT post after hiatus!! more to come soon :)))

Three weeks, you'd been missing Jason. Three weeks, he'd been on a quest that wasn't even his, it was little Amy Mason's quest that he volunteered to go on. Of course he would, he was Jason and to let a ten-year-old fight alone when he could help was never an option.

You missed him everyday. When the clouds held the sun, when you met another's blue eyes, when you washed your face at night. Your lovely boyfriend was everywhere when he wasn't even here at all.

You'd gone to bed last night with tears in your eyes, a prayer on your tongue for his safety and fluttering hope in your heart. You curled up with the stuffed animal he gave you for your one year and sniffled yourself to sleep.

"Y/n..." Someone was saying so quietly you almost ignored it until it came again, a little more desperate, "Y/n.."

Blinking awake, your cabin was completely dark except for the glow of your alarm clock which told you it was the early hours of the morning.

"Baby.." A cold hand is on your cheek as you sit up, meeting big, blue eyes. Just like Jason's, your heart remembers and aches. You sleepily trace the boy's strong jaw, soft blonde locks and puffy pink lips in confusion.

Then you met his eyes again, and it is Jason! Jason is here and back and on your bed and you're crashing into him with a hug. He chuckles and rubs your back as you squeeze the I missed you right out of his lungs.

"Hey, hey.." He breathes into your hair, placing gentle kisses in your bedhead until your head lifts enough that they can be placed on your lips instead. It's all soft and sweet, your mouth moving against his chapped lips. His sweaty hands are moving from your cheeks to your nape to hold you still.

As you pull away, you rest your forehead against his and share gasps of air. "I missed you so much," You tell him, the words right on his lips as they fall out of yours.

"I missed you too," He whispers back, tracing little clouds into your arms with calloused fingers.

"Will you two shut up? We get it, you love each other." Your sibling hisses from the top bunk and the two of you collapse into poorly hushed giggles. You'd forgotten anyone else existed or mattered for a second, a feeling you'd become accustomed to in Jason's absence.

He's soon slipping his shoes off and climbing into your bed together, rolling his eyes when you pretend to care about camp rules and warn him.

You're both exhausted, adrenaline wearing off as you exchange I love yous and breathy kisses in the soft, barely there light of 𝟮:𝟬𝟯 𝗮𝗺 as you entangle yourself in bruised limbs.

Jason wraps his arms around your torso and pulls your body so your legs are draped across him as you begin to drift back to dreams.

"I love you so much." You respond with soft snores and he chuckles, kissing your forehead as sleep comes to take him too.

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euphoricfilter · 1 year

Note

hi hi 💓 it's me again from the previous drabble ask hehe* but ah !!! i just thought of another prompt for the drabble game (if it's okay ofc).

"she's tiny and you know that". hybrid au with maybe hinting at ot7 but mainly focused on any members of ur choice?

okay okay now i'm done lol. thanks again in advance if possible to do ☺️ !

fireworks and shooting stars:

pairing: ot7 ~ bunny hybrid! jungkook focus x bunny hybrid! reader

genre: fluff || non-idol au || poly au || hybrid au ||

summary: bunnies aren't supposed to climb trees, and it seems you and jungkook find that out the hard way.

word count: 1.2k

tags/ warnings: fluff, bunny hybrid! jungkook + bunny hybrid! reader, best boyfriend hoseok, jungkook and the m/c just being two love bunnies

notes: of course it's okay!! sorry you had to wait a little while!!

drabble masterlist

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Camping had become an annual tradition, where none of you knew the origin. A tradition you’d kept since probably the start of your relationship; maybe before.

A week away during that transition period between summer and autumn, where the sun peeks between clouds of an afternoon, caressing honeyed skin until the night air becomes a little more bitter, where thick blankets are pulled out the back of the car as you all sit with fire-warm toes and plastic cups of hot chocolate and coffee.

Yoongi liked to squat by the fire, turning meat that Jin hands out on paper plates. Taehyung would hop between each of the boys, snagging little pieces of food off their plates when they’d be talking to someone else, or rummaging around the back of the car for marshmallows—you and him playing chubby bunnies in the back seat, only for Namjoon to find the two of you on his scavenge for more firewood.

You and Jungkook always ran off a little further into the fields as the other’s set up base when you first arrive, kicking rocks on the border of the forest, daring wander a little further into the blanket of trees with interlaced fingers. Bunny ears twitching at the rustle of bushes, soft giggles overshadowing natural fear as you chase after a butterfly, your bunny boyfriend hot on your tail.

Your Jungkook had always been a little bit of a daredevil, much to the dismay of your other boyfriends. Because more often than not you’d follow in his footsteps; issue being that your build wasn’t all thick muscle and broad shoulders like he was, a problem when you’d get yourselves into a little bit of trouble.

It had always been like that, always you and Jungkook. Years before you’d expanded your little duo; nights spent huddled around a shitty fire that barely heated up your apartment. A dingy little place that really neither of you could afford with school fees chewing at your feet and bills to pay. The rotting mattress on the floor was far from the burrow you both dreamed of, and decent meals had become few and far.

Even now, with your little family of eight instead of just two, there had always been the unspoken rule that no matter how much you both loved the other six, what the two of you had was always going to be the brightest star in a constellation of many.

And maybe it had become natural instinct to simply follow Jungkook, because you trusted him with your whole life—except when you got stuck in trees too tall for you to hop down from.

“She’s tiny and you know that” Hoseok tuts, watching one of your bunny ears twitch at the sound of his voice, “No more silly dares. Bunnies aren’t meant to hang in trees, how did you expect her to get down?”

“Sorry, hyung” Jungkook frowns, hybrid ears flattening against his skull, sad pout on his pretty lips as he watches your legs dangle from the branch.

Hoseok wasn’t mad, not really. Would have found the whole situation a little bit funny if you weren’t on the verge of tears, “Come on, sweetness. I’ll catch you”

“What if you drop me?” you sniffle, wobbling a little which sets Jungkook into a frenzy; arms raised to catch you if you tip backwards.

“I’d never let you fall, I promise”

“Promise?”

Jungkook’s foot thumps against the grass, “I promise too” he beams, and you frown.

“You’re the one that got me up here” you tell him, no true resentment in your voice. And his nose scrunches up in that way that has your heart pattering against your ribcage, foot following its lead, though no ground to face the impact.

You ease yourself off the branch a little, fingers digging into soggy bark as Hoseok wraps his arms around your legs. Jungkook’s hands hold your hips as you fall a little further into Hobi’s arms, the human gently placing your feet back onto the ground; sleeve of his sweater patting your damp cheeks.

“Come on now, Jimin wants to do some fireworks before dinner” Hoseok’s fingers skim over the base of your bunny ears.

You and Jungkook fall in step behind Hoseok, pinkies curled together in the pocket of Jungkook’s hoodie.

His body gravitates a little closer to yours, bicep nudging your shoulder, “Sorry for getting you stuck”

You snigger, “It’s fine, I liked sitting up there with you. It’s just getting down is scary” you admit, “I’m not mad if that’s what you’re worried about”

“Swear?”

You hum, “Swear” you slip you pinkie from his, instead choosing to lace your fingers together. Jungkook bites his lip, a lame attempt to cover his smile.

“Come on, you two!” Jin calls the both of you over as Hoseok sits back down, “We’re doing fireworks”

You tug Jungkook to sit with you on the hood of the car, “Bunny?” he murmurs, both of you watching Jimin stick a firework into the ground.

You make a noise in the back of your throat, letting him know you’re listening, head falling onto his shoulder.

“Thank you”

You perk up at that, “What for?” you tuck his hair behind his ear.

“Just being here, I guess” he shrugs, “I was thinking…”

“Yeah?” you urge him, the both of you flinching at the initial pop of the fireworks.

“You have so many people that love you now, maybe love you the right way and you just—and somehow you’re still with me”

You cup his cheek, “You love me the right way”

Jungkook shakes his head, gesturing to the other guys as they laugh at Jimin running from the next set of fireworks he sets alight, “I’m not perfect like them”

“I’m not perfect, neither are they” you smile, “No one is. But please, always remember that no matter how many people love the both of us in this life, no matter what happens it will always be me and you. Okay? Not saying that anything will—but on the tiny chance it doesn’t work out with them, we’ll always have one another, I don’t see a future without you Kook, so please don’t bring yourself down when you’ve done a pretty good job at loving me so far”

Jungkook nods, and you wonder if the tears that balance on his waterline will glaze his cheeks, “I really love you” he confesses, and you wet your bottom lip.

“I’m in love with you” you say and Jungkook laughs.

“I’m very much in love with you too” he holds both your cheeks, hybrid ears twitching at the bang.

The fireworks look like shiny specks of stardust in his eyes before both of you are leaning in for a kiss; sweet and soft, nothing rushed because you had a lifetime to explore one another, forever to stay side by side.

Delicate fingertips brush over pink cheeks, a million unspoken words left unsaid, mutual understanding weaving into both your hearts as you mould yourselves into one another—both knowing that what you had was as pretty as fireworks and shooting stars and other fascinating things that light up dark skies on gloomy nights.

You loved the others, truly you did, but Jungkook would always hold a special place in your heart; forever imbedded into your very being.

🌟 thank you for reading!! feedback is always welcome

permanent taglist: @m1sss1mp @supernoonanyc

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thenextdawn-backup · 1 year

Text

If This Isn’t Love

Word count: 4.5K

Summary: request here

Warnings: angst, blood, hospital stay, coma, school shooting

Pairing: Vada Cavell X Fem!Reader

———

You and Vada have been together since the school year started, and you had known each other for overall three years. And it was safe to say that she was your comfort person. Best friend and girlfriend all in one, she was YOUR person, your soulmate, everything you could ever wish for. You’d do everything together, go to the movies, spend nights out camping, at each other’s houses, all of it. You two were never seen apart from each other. You were in the same classes even, every day sitting next to each other, doing school projects together. You were the loudest in class, and it was easy to see the two of you even in detention. You never went to detention, anyways.

Today in class science teacher was illustrating a new project, and you were already smiling at Vada knowing you’d do it together, as the teacher gave the rules. “Everyone is free to choose their partner. Except the two of you” she pointed at you and Vada. “Vada’s with Mia, (Y/N)’s with Quinton” you sighed and looked over at Vada who was surprisingly smiling at Mia. They didn’t even know each other, but recently it was pretty clear that Mia had a crush on your girlfriend. Did you care? No, because you knew that she was loyal to you, and in some ways, you have never been more wrong in your entire life. For the first period of time ever since working on the project, everything was fine, Vada always coming to your place, answering your texts and acting all lovey dovey with you, both at school and at home.

But then things started going downhill… Vada was seen in school more with Mia than with you, and you had to admit you were indeed jealous. Maybe it wasn’t intentional, but Mia was stealing your girlfriend from you and Vada herself wasn’t realizing it. You had tried hanging out with them, but for most of the time Vada would ignore you, and tend to her new friend instead of even talking to you. And it started hurting a lot when even after the project had been turned it, they kept spending time together. Hell, she even stopped coming to your place, walking to school with Mia instead of you. You tried different ways of getting her to spend time with you but none of it was working. Today though, the film you and Vada had been waiting for over a year came out and you immediately bought tickets, knowing that she’ll definitely come with you.

You drove to school that morning like every day and when you arrived you immediately searched for Vada, who had obviously arrived with Mia. You ran over to them “babe!” You said and watched her turn around to face you, flashing you a smile. “Scream 6 came out today! We’re going together, right?” You asked hopeful, just wanting to spend time with your girlfriend. You two hadn’t spent time together in nearly a month. She looked back at Mia and the smile fell from her face “uh I’m going with Mia actually…” she said and looked at you, the smile falling from your face as well as you looked down. She truly was replacing you, was she? “But… you promised me we’d go together…” you said looking at her. She looked at you, probably feeling sorry, you didn’t know. “I know, but Mia’s already bought the tickets…” she said. Of course she had. The rich Mia always had money for whatever she wanted and she even had lots of friends! Couldn’t she go with someone else? You only had Vada… “but I also bought tickets already…” you said in a lower voice of tone, but she was already walking away, mouthing an ‘I’m sorry’ from afar.

You wanted to see how far she would go ignoring you. Was she even realizing how much she was hurting you? Surely she wasn’t, being too distracted to even remember your birthday. That’s right, she forgot about your birthday. She would always write you a long ass happy birthday text and take you flowers to school, but this time, she didn’t even look your way or give you a kiss. You were turning 18 and she didn’t remember. She used to give you so many attentions… yet she didn’t acknowledge you the whole morning, not the whole evening… you just texted her before dinner time.

You: hey babe, it’s my birthday today, Do you want to come at my place for dinner? My parents bought cake. I miss you.

Seen at 6.56 pm

You had now come to the conclusion that she just didn’t care anymore. Your parents even asked you why she wasn’t there for your birthday, and you simply told them she was sick. You didn’t want them feel pity towards you because your girlfriend was ignoring you. You needed to put an end to this situation. The next morning in school you stormed through the parking lot looking for Vada, when you found her of course she was with Mia but you took her from her arm and yanked her away. “(Y/N) what the hell? Let me go!” She said and you let her go since you had arrived somewhere quieter. “why are you ignoring me?” You asked her with tears in your eyes, she seemed confused. “What are you talking about?” She asked and you chuckled, rolling your eyes. “You seriously haven’t realized? It’s been almost two months, Vada. Two months of you ignoring me ever since you got to know Mia, you never come to my house anymore, you never text me, you never talk to me in class” you said, a few tears leaving your eyes.

“(Y/N), I don’t-“ you quickly interrupted her. “Shut up! Now you’re gonna listen to me. “Last year you promised me we’d go watch scream 6 together. Yet you go with the first chick you meet because “oh she already bought the ticket” but I had already bought them as well, yet you chose to go with her instead of going with your girlfriend. Yesterday it was my birthday, Vada. You didn’t text me a happy birthday, you didn’t kiss me, you didn’t even look at me! And when I texted you yesterday to come have dinner at my place, you left me on seen! All because you were probably with Mia and I’m sure I’m right!” You said by now crying. However she seemed insensitive to how you felt. “Yeah, I might have forgotten about your birthday, and I didn’t reply to you because I felt guilty! I didn’t know what to do…” she looked down, then reflecting on your words. “Are you Jealous?” She asked you, almost using a provocative tone of voice.

“Yes, I’m jealous Vada. And I have every right to be! You fucking replaced me with her” you said, and she shook her head in disbelief. “I can have all the friends I want and you won’t neglect me that” she said, not believing that you would do such thing to her. “I never fucking said that you can’t have friends! Jesus Vada do you hear yourself? You can’t even realize… you need to check your priorities because the last time I remembered you told me that you would never ever ignore me to be with your friends every day of every week of every month yet here you were. I never wanted much, just for you to spend a couple days with me and to remember my fucking birthday, yet you couldn’t even do that. I guess she’s more important” you teased, she didn’t care much anyway. “I will do whatever I want with my friends and my relationship” she really dared to say that. “A relationship means respect and control, and the fact that you can’t do any says a lot. Go be with Mia” you said wiping your eyes as you walked away and to class.

Useless to say that you didn’t talk to her from then on, and she didn’t change her way of acting around you. She kept being with Mia, and she didn’t even try to apologize to you. That day you were in the corridor as you left class for your usual 15-minutes-long stroll in the corridors during history class. You hated history, yet in this occasion you wished you had loved it more. You were walking exactly in the corridor when you found yourself standing in front of a guy with a rifle, the gun pointed at you. “Dude, put the gun down” you whispered, voice shaking as you raised your hands and tried stepping backwards. “Or what?” He said, a sadistic smile on his face. “If people hear or see you they’ll call the police and arrest you” he smirked and loaded the gun. You tried running away then, but it was useless as he shot you not one, not two, but three times, hitting your leg, your stomach and your left shoulder as you fell face down to the floor.

You didn’t really acknowledge what was happening from then on, but you heard and saw people running away, other being shot as you crawled to sit up against the lockers, screaming out in pain when you did as you cried and tried to catch your breath, but with each breath, your wounds hurt and bled out more. You could only put pressure on two of them and you went for the one on your stomach and the other on your shoulder, but your strength was slipping away from you, color draining from your face as those 6 minutes felt like eternity. A loud ringing noise echoed through your ears and your vision started to get blurry. You could hear police sirens from afar even if you weren’t sure, but just as you were about to fall asleep, You screamed in pain once again when you felt someone put pressure on your stomach and shoulder wounds. your eyes shot back open revealing Vada hovering over you, pressing hard on your wounds.

“I know it hurts, I’m sorry” she said and you you looked at her with eyes wide open, grunting in pain as you couldn’t even find it in yourself to speak. You looked at her, trying to breath but it was getting too much, the pain for you too much to bare. You were now lying down on the floor but you managed to raise your head up, and saw you were in a pool of your own blood. She applied even more pressure as you screamed even louder in pain, grasping her arm and squeezing it tightly from the pain. “I’m so sorry babe… you’ll be okay, you’ll be okay. I promise you” she said, to which you tried nodding. She’d caress your cheeks to comfort you, but right now she couldn’t because she was trying to stop the bleeding of both wounds on your upper body, the one on your shoulder being extremely close to your heart, you didn’t know how you were still alive.

Vada was crying too, and you were just noticing it. She was crying a lot, maybe both from shock and finding you like this. But she wasn’t bloody, she wasn’t hurt. You were just glad she was safe and this relief was enough to wash away each ounce of adrenaline you had left in your body. You fell asleep. “No! No no no don’t do this to me (Y/N)! Don’t you fucking dare!” She said and panicked, rushing her bloody hands through her hair. “HELP! PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP!” Vada yelled as she cried desperately, hands now shaking you to wake you up but it was useless, you seemed to be gone. Paramedics came over to the two of you and Vada didn’t want to move from you, but Mia pulled her back, hugging her trying to comfort her friend as Vada cried, screaming desperately as she crumbled to her knees. She couldn’t loose you, she had yet to make it up to you and she didn’t want to see you die with the regret of having made you feel like shit because of a new friend she made.

You were immediately rushed urgently to the hospital where you had a surgery to take the bullets out of your leg, Stomach and shoulder. Your leg was fine except for the scar it would have, you had some internal damage in your stomach which couldn’t yet be fixed, the bullet had gone too deep down because of the pressure that was applied to it and it caused a huge internal bleeding which was hard to stop. And the bullet in your shoulder had damaged the Aorta, luckily not in a fatal spot, so you were fine, considering. However your organs were damaged badly and doctors had to put you in a coma. In the meantime Vada had gone home, washed and changed clothes and rushed to the hospital. She asked where your room was and she paced in front of it while waiting for you to get back to surgery. She was still crying, being scared, anxious, all of the bad emotions she could feel. She waited hours in front of your room, and when they brought you back she sighed of relief.

“How is she?” She asked the doctor. “She’s fine now, but still not out of danger. The bullet in her shoulder damaged the aorta, the one in her stomach went too deep down and cut through other organs, there was a big internal bleeding…” he said, Vada interrupted him “I put pressure on her stomach- is it my fault? Did I do this to her?” She asked nervously, she was scared to have done this to you, she couldn’t bare it if she ended up hurting you this bad. “No, no. The bullet going deeper down was inevitable, putting pressure was the best thing you could do. If you didn’t she would have bled out more. You did the right thing kid” the doctor tried reassuring her, and it worked a little bit. “We had to put her in a coma. We can do that much to fix the damage on her organs but the rest is up to her. We don’t know when she’ll wake up.”

Vada was then let in the room. When she was in and she saw you, she let out a shaky breath as tears made their way up to her eyes again. She began crying uncontrollably as she sat on the chair next to your bed, holding your hand as she laid her head on the mattress, just crying and sniffling. “I-I’m sorry (Y/N). I’m so sorry I love you so much. I want to make it up to you please come back to me, please please please-“ she sobbed out and stayed in your room for a while. Your parents were out of town for work, and she was all you had. For weeks, she was all you had. She would come see you every day, she would comb your hair, talk to you, tell you how her days had been and even read you your favorite book, but there was always a hint of sadness in her voice, and her eyes were always swollen and full of tears.

Two months had passed by now, and you had started loosing weight. You had tubes in your mouth to breath and you were being fed by another tube going through your nose down to your stomach your body was slowly recovering, yet you never gave any sign of consciousness or whatsoever. Your parents after coming back home were in your hospital room daily, they brought Vada her meals, and god was she destroyed. She had ran out of things to tell you, however you could feel her there. She always held your hand and looked at you, sometimes laying in bed with you. “Hey darling. How are you?” Your mother asked Vada, coming into the room. Vada was laying her head on your bed, but sat back up when your mom talked to her. “Hi mrs (L/N)… I’m fine- considering…” she said, eyes still bloodshot, like the past two months. She had never stopped crying ever since.

“Vada…” your mother sat down next to her. “It’s okay to be sad. But now she’s almost completely healed up and we just need to wait for her to wake up. Her breathing has stabilized so she’s fine… you should go home and be with your family” she suggested, rubbing the younger girl’s back. “I don’t want to… I need to be here when she wakes up, I need to make it up to her…” obviously she had told your mother about everything that had happened before the shooting, figuring out that you probably didn’t tell her. Tears made their way to Vada’s eyes again as your mother pulled her in for a hug, where she broke down and only cried more. She didn’t go home though, she couldn’t even bring herself to stand up and leave your room. No, she needed to be with you when you woke up.

Two more weeks passed and your vitals were fully back to normal. It was now matter of days before you woke up and Vada was still coming to the hospital every day. It was 3 am and Vada was “sleeping” by your side. She was wide awake, too anxious that you’d wake up and she’d be asleep, so she played with your hair and held your hand. “When you wake up you absolutely need to take a shower. You really stink dude” she said with a sad giggle, but then she felt you squeeze her hand. That made her stop playing with your hair, and she saw you slightly open your eyes. “Holy shit!” She sat up and jumped off the bed, opening the door to your room. “Doctors! She woke up, she did it!” Vada shouted happily, she was so glad to see you alive and well. You couldn’t take your eyes off of her, her having been your safe place for these two months. However you couldn’t jet speak due to the tubes in your mouth, which the doctors came to remove and soon, you were alone with her.

You smiled at her and slightly raised your hand to wave at her. “Hey” you whispered, throat sore from not having talked in so long. The brunette burst out crying and immediately came towards you, hugging you tightly. Your wounds were all healed up, so it was safe. It took you a while to raise your arm and hug her back. And you let her stay there and hug you and cry until she wanted, which was about 10 minutes. She gripped your shirt, which was truly a hospital gown, pulling you in closer as she cried. When she calmed down she slightly pulled back to look at you. “H-how-“ you coughed slightly, your throat being really sore. Vada took the cup of water with the straw and held it for you to drink “how long have I been out?” You asked, your voice almost in a whisper. Vada smiled, god it was so good seeing you awake. “Almost three months”

You just nodded. It was a lot to take in, to you it just felt like a long deep sleep that went by quickly, though thinking on it, you just had to think about all the times you heard Vada’s voice even if it was distant. “And you’ve been here the whole time?” You asked, she nodded slightly and took a hold of your hand. “Yes.. I couldn’t leave you here alone. I’ve come here every day, I’ve slept here, studied here, talked to you, read to you. I couldn’t leave you alone… I had to make it up to you” you smiled weakly at what she said, you had “slept” for the past three months, but your body was constantly fighting, so you never really rested. Though the last sentence made you look away. “How’s Mia?” The smile fell from Vada’s face as well. “(Y/N), I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for how I made you feel… I never realized I made you feel like shit until I almost lost you and I will never, Never do that again… please forgive me…” she begged, she was still holding your hand, and she brought it up to her face as she leaned her cheek in it.

You slightly caressed her cheek with your thumb, god had you missed this. “Hey… I forgave you the moment you told me you’ve been here every day. I never told you you couldn’t have any friends, but maybe, you just have to practice splitting your time so that we both have time with you” you said with a small smile, she nodded eagerly. “I’ll do that. I promise you” she said with tears in her eyes as she gulped back a sob. You nodded in response. “She’s a good friend. I’ll never ask you to leave her behind.” The doctors let you rest the whole day, and the next day with theirs and Vada’s help you stood back on your feet. Your legs were pretty weak, especially the one you were shot at, and with a lot of effort and a lot of help, you managed to take a few steps. Eventually, at least your arms were strong enough so you could hold yourself up on crutches, and with a lot of convincing, you went back to school.

You were scared shitless, to say the least. But Vada was there comforting you, and surprisingly enough, so was Mia. Ever since you woke up you decided to invite her to your hospital room and get to know her, she was indeed a sweet girl and she even apologized to you for always “stealing” Vada from you and you reassured her telling her it was okay. You walked inside the place with your heart racing, memories of that day clouding your mind and Vada saw you were panicking, “it’s okay, the place is safe. There’s guards checking us and our bags every day. No one can come hurt you ever again” she said and placed her hand on your shoulder as you slowly walked in school. The corridors were surprisingly empty, and when you walked in the exact corridor you had been shot at, you stopped in your tracks, staring at those lockers you had bled out on.

You still had the trauma, being in a coma you never had the time to process what had happened and now it was all hitting you like a truck. Your breath quickened, tears pooling in your eyes as Vada’s gentle hand took you back to reality. “You’re okay” she said whispering, hand on your cheek as you nodded and took a deep breath, using the crutches to follow the two girls in front of you, as they took you to the GYM. As soon as you walked in you people jumped out as a surprise, everyone: students, teachers, even the principal and your parents. All accompanied by a huge sign reading “welcome back”. “What’s all this?” You asked, turning to Vada and Mia. “You’re the only one that was shot and survived. The school has raised a campaign in your honor, everyone from the school has been paying for your cures” Vada started, and useless to say you were shocked. You never expected this much awareness to be raised for you.

“Was this your idea?” You asked Vada, but she smiled at you. “It was mine actually” Mia said, and you turned to look at her, and saw how she scratched her neck nervously. “My dads have a lot of money, and when I told them about your situation they wasted no time in starting this found-raising campaign. You needed it and if there’s one thing my parents always taught me is to help who’s in need. Plus, Vada needed you. I care about her and I couldn’t just see her and you in pain” she said and looked away. You slowly walked over and hugged her, she never expected you to but she hugged you back tightly, sighing of relief “thank you. You saved my life” you felt her smile and then you pulled back, Vada helping you to sit down as people came to you and talked to you, happy to see you alive and well, wishing you a happy recovery, teachers as well. Then when Vada was distracted you got up and walked over to a microphone that had been set up in the gym. “Is this thing on?” You said, scaring everyone. Clearly it was on “sorry” you apologized and everyone giggled.

“First of all I want to thank everyone for the surprise and for the money to the campaign, I really, really never expected this and I can never thank you enough. Then I would like to pay honor to our dead classmates..” you took a deep breath. This was still a fresh, delicate topic for you, but you felt that this had to be said. “I have been in a coma for two months and a half, and all that I could think of was “why me? Why did I have to be shot?” And then I also thought that I should have been grateful to be alive because I did it, and others didn’t..” tears made their way to your eyes, and Vada walked over, holding your hand to reassure you. “And now I’m here and I think, “out of all people, why did I have to survive?” But then I reply to this question, thinking that these boys and girls who died in here, they died somehow protecting us, and I feel guilty because no such thing should have ever happened to any of us. We are humans and we are just kids, none of this is fair. We have families, we have boyfriends and girlfriends…”

You squeezed Vada’s hand and briefly turned to look at her as you did “and there are also people who care about you that much to start a campaign for you, for this I would like to thank Mia Reed. Thank you for Saving my life” everyone applauded to her as you continue “and then I would like to thank Vada.. she’s been at my side ever since I was shot. She barely left the hospital, she took care of me, talked to me, read to me. Not once did she leave me alone and if this isn’t love I don’t know what is” you said and turned to look at her again. “I Love you so much Vada.” You said and pulled her in for a kiss, one you both have been craving for long now. Everyone in the gym applauded as both of you soon pulled back, foreheads touching each other’s.

“I love you too baby. So much.”

#jenna ortega #jenna ortega x y/n #jenna ortega x you #jenna ortega x reader #jenna ortega x fem!reader #vada cavell #wednesday #wednesday x y/n #wednesday x you #wednesday x reader #wednesday adams #wednesday adams x reader #wednesday addams #wednesday addams x y/n #wednesday addams x you #wednesday addams x reader

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freetobeeyouandme · 1 month

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Chapter 8: The Road Goes Ever On And On

Chapter 8 of my Byler Fantasy Isekai AU is up on Ao3 now! The party goes camping as they try to find El's sister.

Tags: M, Graphic Descriptions of Violence, Fantasy AU, Canon Typical Violence, Canon Typical Horror, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn

Summary:

Mike Wheeler hates High School, so when he almost dies and falls through a portal to another world, he’s not going to complain. Especially not when that world does not only have swords and magic but seems to work exactly according to the rules of his favorite tabletop role-playing game. But his euphoria might be short lived because the party of adventurers he falls in with turns out to be the target of an evil god and the fate of the world might rest on their shoulders. So, exactly like his games of D&D. Except the wanna-be Paladin soon realizes that being a hero is much harder in real life than it is in-game. - Or, Mike gets isekai’d into a world where D&D is real.

An excerpt and taglist below the cut:

Excerpt:

El takes over dabbing at her still bleeding nose from Mike before long, staying silent as they watch her, stunned at her announcement. The rest of their party joins them before anyone has time to come to terms with El’s news. Lucas relays it to those of them that had missed it, but no further words are exchanged about it for now.

The others continue acting like El’s bleeding nose is a normal occurrence, so while Mike hangs back, watching her with careful eyes, he has to accept that El is in no immediate danger – or need of his assistance.

They briefly check in about what they’d accomplished in town and then set off earlier than planned, none of them willing to waste light by having an early dinner. Mike finds himself looking back at Loch Nora longingly as they do, its inns and taverns promising warm food and comfortable beds, but he understands why they’re not taking that risk. As they trek another hour or so through the wilderness he almost wishes himself back at the Laboratories, though. He is looking forward to the day that they defeat One and a semblance of normal returns to his life – although what normal looks like for him in this world, he has yet to find out.

As darkness sets, Will and El summon lights to guide their way, but even so it quickly becomes too dark to continue. So, they stumble along the woods until the next clearing and then finally make camp. Max and the three elves head out to collect firewood since they’re the only ones with Darkvision, while the rest of them do what they can to get camp ready by the light Will has summoned.

Mike finds himself next to Mrs. Byers preparing food to roast over the fire. With his mother doing most of the cooking, his skills in that respect amount to being barely able to scramble some eggs, but under Will’s mother’s watchful eye he successfully strings up pieces of meat and veggies and sets them aside to marinate while they wait for the fire to get started.

Beyond her instructions and corrections the two of them work mostly in silence, which Mike isn’t too unhappy about. He never quite knows what to say to adults, and that only seems to go doubly for dragonborn women from strange fantasy worlds. With his mother’s friends he at least knows how to bring up the weather or answer their questions about school and if he has plans for college. He can’t begin to fathom a topic that might sustain a conversation between him and Will’s mother. Are goblins as much of a threat here than they are in D&D? and How much death and destruction do you think One will wreak before we stop him, do you think? both don’t really seem appropriate.

Like his mother’s friends, though, Mrs. Byers seems to dislike the awkward silence that ensues and so eventually she does try to talk to him. She hands him more of the meat she’d cut up and asks: “How are you holding up?”

The look she gives him is concerned and Mike straightens up, sticking out his chin, without deciding to. He doesn’t like that she thinks he can’t deal with the situation just because he’s new. Smiling grimly he says: “Probably as well as everyone else.”

Mrs. Byers’ face softens. She holds up her hand as if she considers putting it on his shoulder and then seems to decide against it – which, considering the meat juices on her fingers, Mike isn’t too upset about.

“You’re allowed to not be okay, though,” she says. “The rest of us have been dealing with One and the Circle for a while now. But you didn’t sign up for this.”

And Mike appreciates the concern at the same time it makes his skin boil. He hates the insinuation that he’s somehow different than the rest in this regard. “Well, the idea that monsters exist isn’t so strange to me. I used to play games where you fight them all the time, so this is fine. And I’m not the one who almost died at One’s hands, so you should be asking Max and El that more than me. I’m not sure he even knows I exist.”

Mrs. Byers doesn’t immediately respond, watching him finish another stick of meat and veggies with a strange expression. Finally she says, quietly: “You’re very brave, Mike.”

Mike feels his cheeks heat up at the strange compliment paired with the look he still can’t decipher, so he’s glad when Dustin comes over, gestures at the middle of their small camp and asks: “Hey, Wheeler, wanna help me prep a fire pit?”

“On it.” He gives Mrs. Byers an awkward smile and follows the Artificer to dig a very appreciated hole.

Lucas returns first, and with his arm full of dry branches they manage to get a fire going – kindled with magic, of course. Mike and Dustin return to Mrs. Byers to get the food, but thankfully she says nothing more and so Mike can almost forget about their conversation as Dustin and Lucas chatter around him.

Unofficial Tag List (aka you interacted with my posts about this fic, please tell me if you want me to not tag you in the future (or want to be added)): @smalltownwheeler @wheelerpilled @wrong-energy @foodiewithdahoodie @doggo9 @gardenfairie @beelikesbyler @beverlysclown @yickarus @sourdough-el @hessolivagant @hesquietoday @oldfashionedmorphine @total-serene560 @bylersrise @hawkinsunderground @longtallglasses @generalstorecashier @snixx @camel-casing @bylersbear01 @turningsoft @casatoan @maru-chu @mid13s @goldentrunks

#byler #will byers #mike wheeler #stranger things #cleradin #byler fanfic #kingslayer fic

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legendofzoodles · 2 years

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LU thought for the day:

Wild, Sky, Legend and Wolfie are the chain’s parkour team

Wild is the only one of the chain who has a designated jump button in his game, he can sprint, he has spiderman tier climbing skills and can use Sheikah Slate runes to manipulate his surroundings to make travelling easier. On top of having an adventurous spirit I believe he’d have a fun time trying to get from point A to B in the most creative if reckless way possible:

Four: [staring down the ravine] It’s too deep. Any ideas on how we can get across?

Wild: [smiles and walks off to cut down a tree]

Four: We can’t use that trunk as a bridge, it’s not long enough.

Four: How did you turn it yellow? What rune are you using?

Four: Hey! Stop hitting it with your sword; you’ll dull the blade!

Four: Wait...what’s that ticking noise?

Wild: [grabs Four and chaos ensues]

Sky can sprint, flip and lightly parkour in his own game- sure he gets winded pretty easily but that doesn’t negate his stellar technique. He probably doesn’t take risks, but is confident enough in his skills to pull of some impressive moves If any of the members like Wild and Hyrule saw him pull off a sweet walk kick then they’d for sure pester him to teach them that move:

Sky: Why can’t we just go in through the entrance? If we ask nicely and explain that we’re with Wild they’ll have to let us in.

Wars: This is the only way. Our statuses don’t make us an exception to their rules and neither of us can convincingly pretend to be a ‘vai’. Now, can you catapult me to the wall?

Sky: What if I throw you at a bad angle or what if you don’t stick the landing? Lemme just...

Wars: I know it’s a risk but-

Sky: [casually sprints up wall, grabs the edge and pulls himself up in one fluid motion]

Wars: Woah.

Wars: You’ve got to teach me that! Though for now can you help me up?

Sky: [collapses on top of the wall] Hang on I need to catch my breath- er, check that the coast is clear.

Wars:

Legend has the pegasus boots. He may not bother too much about being creative like Wild or technical like Sky, but he has the second highest jump after wolfie thanks to that item, so being able to keep up with those two he’d join in with whatever stunts they try.

Twilight’s got some impressive agility in human form, just look at some of the hidden skills if you want proof. But wolfie’s on another level. Twilight wouldn’t join their shenanigans in human form anyway, only doing so as wolfie to keep an eye on them. Plus wolfie’s crazy good jumping ability would come in handy:

[chain are trying to sneak into a large monster camp fortified by a tall but fragile wooden wall defence, at night]

Time: Alright wonder trio, any ideas?

Sky: Nope, too high.

Wild: [kicking the rotting wood as the base] It’s still wet from last night’s storm, I can’t climb this.

Legend: Couldn’t we just use our hook shots?

Wars: It doesn’t look structurally sound enough to deal with that kind of force. If we all fire the whole wall could come crashing down and alert the camp to our presence.

Wind: [getting out his anchor rope] I could use this?

Legend: Can you throw that far?

Wind: [pulling a face] Yes!

Wars: But you’d need to pull us up to take the pressure off the walls' edge. Could you do that?

Wind: ...no, you do it then.

[suddenly two steel chains belonging to dual clawshots descend from above]

Hyrule: Have we been spotted?!

Four: [looking up] No, isn’t that...

Wars: [whisper-shouting] Rancher?! How’d you get up there?

Twilight: Leap of faith.

Wars: ...What?

Time: [notices Twi’s shadow crystal around his neck and smirks] Alright captain, we’re going first.

Hyrule: [glancing at his power bracelet] He’s gonna pull them both up at once...?

Legend: Show off.

~~~

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Masterlist

9th place in the LU character design ranking

Character analysis posts:

Hero of the Sky, Hero of Time, Hero of Twilight, Hero of the Wild, Hero of Warriors

#linked universe #lu #linkeduniverse #lu sky #lu twilight #lu time #lu wolfie #lu warriors #lu legend #lu four #lu hyrule #lu wild #lu wind #linked universe fanfiction #Lu fanfiction #linked universe fanfic #parkour bros

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needfantasticstories · 5 months

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Attempt number 2653929284 at writing fluff:

(AO3 Link at the bottom)

Four woke up with a startle.

He’d been dreaming of apples. Not the bland ones they sold in castle town markets, or the sweeter ones in the countryside, but the mouth-watering, rupee-red gems from Legend’s orchard; the kind Wild had turned into a pie unlike any they’d ever had before.

He was about to take a bite out of one such apple when his teeth snapped together, waking him.

His stomach growled as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. They’d camped in an autumn forest crisp with warm red and yellow leaves, but the air had a chill bite come nightfall. Four had slept near the fire, luckily, while most of the others huddled around Sky, who’d had a rough day.

Saying goodbye to Sun had nearly broken the poor man, but the portal waited and she put on a brave show for him, though it was obvious to all how it broke her heart too. But the Surface team needed her.

But nothing prepared them for Red Terror’s anguish at his soulmate leaving him again.

Four looked around, and spied Epona nosing through the autumn leaves with a “sh sh sh” of her nose.

Everyone was asleep except Wild, perched in a branch to keep better watch over the hill nearby. He didn’t look surprised to see four awake.

“Hungry?”

“Must be,” he laughed and rubbed his stomach, hoping it had finished complaining.

“Here,” Wild leapt down and pulled something from his pouch.

Four stifled a small laugh. Apples. Six of them.

Wild returned to his perch.

Four ate two apples, and watched Epona.

The horse continued to nuzzle the leaves, pushing them around more aggressively. They crackled and shushed loudly.

Time and Warrior began to stir. Sky flinched from a stick snapping under her hoof. Hyrule startled too, and sat up, then just as quickly looked around and went back to sleep.

Four had to do it, Twilight’s rules notwithstanding. Red thrilled with delight, vio in fascination and reason, blue with playful spite and green with purpose.

He approached the heavy horse lightly but within her sight. Her ears perked up with interest. He grabbed the brush Twilight had left on the log nearby, climbed atop the log, and held out an apple.

She stomped over and took it carefully from his hand. He smiled and stroked her nose.

He felt especially small before her. Her legs were taller than him. His own steed, a petite but swift gelding from his father, was hardly bigger than a pony. Father had joked about getting him a greyhound to ride before they both admitted he would not get any taller.

Epona stood even taller than his father’s stallion.

Might as well brush her too, since we’re here, Vio thought. The rest of him readily agreed. He gave her three more apples. Twilight didn’t need to know…

A crackling of leaves. He peered around her chest, and found Warrior approaching from the other side, apple in hand.

“Good girl,” he whispered, not seeing Four.

“I’ll keep your secret if you keep mine.”

Warrior peered around Epona and smiled. “Only if you include Wild. I think he’s in on it.”

A third voice spoke. “Oh, I see I’m not the first.”

Sky held a bag of oats and two endura carrots.

No one dared tell Twilight about the little breech of his rules against spoiling Epona. Not even Time, who watched from his bedroll with a grin as the three fed and brushed her down. Not Legend or Hyrule or Wind either, who fed her the next night.

They all missed someone, Twilight thought as he watched from the woods.

Only Four discovered the truth, when he saw Twilight pack up the brush without using it and saddled Epona without feeding her first, who the real mastermind was.

“Good girl,” he told her.

Sneaking Apples (673 words) by SkipBreaker Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Four & Warriors (Linked Universe), Four & Sky (Linked Universe), Twilight & Wild (Linked Universe), Four & Twilight (Linked Universe), Four & Wild (Linked Universe) Characters: Four (Linked Universe), Warriors (Linked Universe), Sky (Linked Universe), Wild (Linked Universe), Twilight (Linked Universe), Time (Linked Universe), Epona (Legend of Zelda) Summary: A difficult farewell is made better with a secret apple plot. (My attempt at “tooth-rotting fluff,” as the kids say. One-shot short. Might make a collection someday.)

#linked universe twilight #linked universe wild #linked universe fanfic #linked universe #linked universe sky #linked universe fluff #skipwrites

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jokenotfunny · 2 years

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“we’re going to summer camp bitches!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

chapter 1 of my stranger things summer camp horror story

eddie x fem!reader (reader is canonically hot and everyone loves her i don’t make the rules 🙇🏾‍♀️)

except yes i do.

future warnings : suggestive language , cursing , blood and gore , heavy flirting , eddie being down bad 🫤, reader being hot , steve being hot , robin being hot , eddie being hot, nancy being hot , look everyone’s just hot okay? and i can’t think of anymore rn 🤨

a/n: i’m so excited for this story, but until then please send me asks and requests ! the writers block rn is so real 😾 and the only reason i was able to finish this is because of that nice anon i got about my writing earlier 😭. i literally make headcannons for my reader inserts personalities and stuff, i just don’t post them because i think everyone’ll hate them

a/n : also i like how i said this was a sneak peak, it’s literally the majority of the first chapter, because i don’t know when to stop 😭

hawkins, indiana | monday , june 23, 1986 | 12:48 p.m.

"why…is it so damn hot today?" robin asked, nobody in particular as she continued staring blankly into the sky, from her layed-out position on the lawn chair she occupied.

"don't know…ask god or something." eddie mumbled from the chair next to her, lying in the same position but lying onhis stomach with his bare back facing the sky, and his eyes closed.

the silence had once again taken over until the soft snores of steve caused the two, to slowly look on the left side of robin, where he layed in his own chair as well, shades on and curled up on his side, facing them.

"how can he sleep so calmly in this heat?" robin asked incredulously.

"no idea…ask god or something." eddie mumbled again, flipping over onto his back to stare at the sky as well, betore deciding it was too bright and flipping back over onto his stomach again.

"why do you keep saying that, are you high?" robin asked curiously.

"because, robin. it's too hot to say anything else, and no." he replied, looking to his now left, at the forth member of their little group who had also not said anything since this little conversation started.

"oh my god.….robin. i think the sun killed nancy…." eddie trailed off, reaching his arm over to lazily rest his hand on her bare shoulder, from where he was laying.

“what?” robin asked, slightly sitting up to look over eddie, and at nancy who was laid in a similar position as robin but with her arms crossed over her stomach and her head now lolled to the side, from eddie’s slight shaking of her shoulder.

“my fuckin’ gosh, the heat killed her, rob!” eddie exclaimed, quietly. (how that’s possible i have no idea)

before eddie and robin could go into any further type of panic though, nancy started to groan before, slowly opening her eyes and sitting up, looking over at the two confusedly.

“who died?” nancy asked, trying to remember where she was, before she remembered that she’s the one who suggested that the four lounge around steve’s pool, for the early summer afternoon, before their usual fifth member joined them for the day.

“you did.” both of them said simultaneously, now calmed down, before going back to their previous positions.

“oh.” nancy said boredly, before getting up, and starting to head back inside of steve’s house.

“where you going, nance?” robin asked confusedly.

“yeah, come back here and burn with the rest of us!” eddie slurred deliriously.

“i’ll be right back, i’m just going to get us some more drinks!” she called out from the distance , before the door shut behind her though, she heard steve’s voice say-

“someone said drinks?” he asked excitedly, before his voice trailed off towards the end, signaling that he fell back to sleep.

chuckling to herself at her friends antics, she made her way towards steve’s kitchen before, hearing movement from within it, and quiet humming. as she rounded the corner, she was met with the sight of you, taking four cokes out of steve’s fridge, then trying to balance them in your arms.

the sound of someone walking into the room alerted you, and you turned quickly, only to see nancy, coming into the kitchen.

“oh, hey nance! i love your bathing suit!” you exclaimed smiling enthusiastically at her. “i was just about to come bring these out to you guys.”

“thanks. and here i’ll carry two.” she said taking them from you before you dropped them.

“thanks” you said as you two started to walk back outside towards steve’s backyard

as you slightly walked in front of her, nancy was able to look over your outfit, remembering where you had just came from.

“so! how was aerobics with your mom?” she asked you, remembering how on the phone the previous night, you had told her that your mom was back in town for the week, and wanted to have a mother-daughter day, before catching up with her own friends. as nancy continued admiring looking over your outfit.

you had on a maroon leotard, that accentuated your curves perfectly, with mustard yellow stockings underneath, and a bandeau top to match them. (pretty much imagine that one outfit that lisa wore at the end of weird science, but with the colors listed above 😭)

“oh! it was good, i hardly broke a sweat this time! thank the lord.” you replied jokingly, nudging her arm. “you, robin, and i should go to a class one day, i think you two would really like it, plus you guys would look so good in the outfits! i could even try to get max, el and erica to-” you inquired, slightly trailing off towards the end, before tilting your head and looking over at the pool confusedly.

“yeah maybe…they were barely concious two seconds ago?!” she said confusedly, as you two stopped at the sight before you.

two of the three previously, sluggish bodies that occupied the side of steve’s pool, were now stood on the side of it laughing hysterically, as steve had just finished yelling at them, then angrily marched out of the pool and began chasing them around, trying to whip them with his (now) wet towel.

as you and nancy began laughing to each other and continuing your conversation, robin had noticed the two of you.

“wow. eddie don’t cream your pants or anything, buttt your “darling” is here and-“ she cut herself off with a whistle.

as eddie and steve stopped goofing off and looked over to see what she was talking about, eddie groaned, covering his face and dramatically dropping himself down, sinking back into his chair.

“jesus christ. why is she so fine?” he groaned, clutching over his heart.

“have you seen her mother? i guess it just runs in the family, man.” robin answered flippantly.

“okay first of all, eddie do not pitch a tent next to my pool, and two, would you two stop thirsting over my friend?” steve asked.

“umm i’m her best friend, dingus.” robin replied.

“no, we literally grew up together, i’m her best friend. and she lives right next door! do you know how many of her family photos i’m in?” steve defended and bragged.

“doesn’t matter, kiddos! because i’m her favorite! she calls me “baby”and everything!” eddie swooned, jokingly closing his hands together and batting his eyes.

before the three could continue going back and forth, you and nancy finally got to them.

“hey guys!” you said excitedly to the three. “i’d hug you guys, but i’m sure you’re all really hot.” you explained, handing steve and robin their drinks.

“i’ll actually take that hu-“ eddie smirked, before being cut off

“shut up eddie.” robin and steve groaned simultaneously.

“y/n has something to tell us.” nancy chimed in, handing a can to eddie, before sitting back in her seat.

“so…you know how we talked about how we like, never get to do normal teenagey things?” you asked them walking back and forth in front of each of their chairs, once you got their attention.

they all let out simultaneous hums of agreement, as they waited for her to get to her point.

“well…. we’re going to summer camp bitches!” you whooped excitedly, waiting for them to do the same.

“…what 😐?” they all said at the same time.

(nancy:🧍🏾‍♀️robin: 😧 eddie: 😐 steve: 🤨)

“…further explanation please?” steve asked, making you pout in annoyance.

“yeah.. i mean not to burst your overly excited bubble or anything, but aren’t we all too old for summer camp?” robin asked.

“well yeahhhh.” you said obviously, pulling the flyer out of your shirt, handing it to nancy. “that’s why we’ll be camp counselors!” you said excitedly once again waiting for them to get excited as well.

as you spent about 20 more minutes trying to get them to agree, they finally started to relent.

“okay, well what about work?” steve added.

“i already talked to keith already, and he said it was fine, he actually even said that you’ll still get paid, when i asked!” you said gingerly, making steve and robin look at each other and shrug, before agreeing.

“that’s sounds cool! did you tell the kids about it?” nancy asked, after she finished reading the paper, and handing it back to you.

“yeah, i just need to ask their parents, but that should go fine!” you said nonchalantly.

“why, you?” eddie asked.

“they told me that their parents are more likely to hear me out, for some reason.” you said, shrugging your shoulders.

“because the parents love her so much.” steve rolled his eyes, waving his hands sarcastically.

“ignore him, he’s just mad that he’s not the “OG babysitter”. ” robin joked.

as they began to go back and forth, you rambled out.

“alsoialreadysignedusupandwekindaneedtostartpackinglikeyesterdaysowecanleavefridaynight!” you rambled all in one breath before quickly trying to make your escape before they put together what you said.

( for those not trying to decipher that, she said “also i already signed us up and we kinda need to start packing like yesterday, so we can leave friday night! )

unfortunately robin put it together fairly quickly, what with her being a rambler herself. “woah, what? when did you have time to sign us all up?” she asked, getting up and holding you by the shoulders.

“two days ago.” you grimaced, as they all groaned your name. “i got the confirmation letter today! i was going to ask you guys yesterday, but i was too busy! and then before my mom and i left for aerobics this morning, the letter was already in my mailbox!” you defended yourself.

“okay, so wait..if you just got the letter this morning, when did you have time to talk to keith, about us taking off?” steve asked, gesturing between him and robin.

“ummm like right before i came over here.” you said, shrugging.

“..so after your aerobics class?” robin asked, realizing something.

“…yyyeah?” you said confusedly.

“and he just….didn’t care that we’d be gone for, what? a month?” steve asked looking at robin knowingly.

“and he even agreed to give us paid time off?” robin added.

“hey y/n, where did you see keith, anyway?” nancy asked grimacing.

“at family video! i stopped by before i came here to ask for you guys. it was practically empty in there too, so we were able to talk in private!”

“were you wearing that?” robin got to the point everyone was trying to make, gesturing to your outfit.

“yeah.” you said obviously. “why, what’s with the 3rd degree guys?” you asked, crossing your arms.

“baby, i think you accidentally seduced keith into giving our friends here, paid time off.” eddie sighed into his hands.

“…oh…” you froze, remembering that he was kind of quick to do what you wanted. “well it worked so-“ you shrugged. “and i mean, any of us could of done that honestly, maybe except steve, but you know..” you joked.

“why is it always make fun of steve day, huh? you know what you all need to leave anyways, go pack so we can be ready for friday!” he jokingly stormed off, to go back into his house.

“we love you, steve!” you called after him, giggling as he flipped you off.

“anyways! he’s right, you guys get to packing! i have some parents to start convincing!” you winked, running ahead of them, to the entrance of steve’s fence, quickly ushering them out as they passed you, and went to their respective cars.

you ran back to your house, as you changed clothes, you were mentally making a list of which parents it’d be easiest to hardest to convince.

~ easiest - hardest to convince ❥~

1. claudia henderson (dustin’s mom)

2. karen wheeler (mike’s mom)

3. sue & charles sinclair (lucas and erica’s parents)

4. ms. mayfield (max’s mom)

5. joyce byers (will’s mom)

5. hopper (el’s dad)

“alrighty then! wish me luck!” you said to yourself, before making your way out of the house.

a/n: i’m so excited for this story, but until then please send me asks and requests ! the writers block rn is so real 😾 and the only reason i was able to finish this is because of that nice anon i got about my writing earlier 😭. i literally make headcannons for my reader inserts personalities, and relationships with other characters and stuff.

a/n: also i can’t think of what to call this reader 😭 i usually give her a nickname or something but i can’t think of one, i’m thinking “darling” right now. if you guys have ideas let me know !

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x poc reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #❥#stranger things 4 #stranger things #eddie munson x black!reader

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antiquitea · 29 days

Text

𝐖𝐈𝐏 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘.

tagged by @swifty-fox who shared some of little beasts and kingdom for a kiss, which both currently live in my head rent free 😍

just sharing my masters of the air wips because if i shared any more than that my tumblr might implode on itself.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲

The door to the diner opened and Gale looked up from his pile of discarded single serve creamers, stacked inelegantly on top of one another, some nested in others like a haphazard and poorly made nesting doll. It was a younger couple, Gale tracked them as perhaps being on their first date. They both look nervous, but for different reasons. The boy, hoping that he was making a good first impression, the girl, fussing with her hair which Gale could only assume was done in a style that she wasn’t accustomed to.

So intent was he on paying attention to the teenage couple on their first date, navigating all the unwritten rules and social mores of courting, that he didn’t notice John slip into the booth across from him.

Gale didn’t give him the satisfaction of being startled.

𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐝

John moved toward the bathroom, and stood in the doorway for a moment, letting out an appreciative sigh. In the large, claw-foot bathtub was Gale, submerged in the water and naked with the exception of his tags resting against his chest, book in one hand and a bottle of Coca Cola in the other. His blonde hair was damp, loose, not carefully styled as it normally was, pieces of it stuck to his damp forehead. His skin was almost red from how hot the water was, steam rising in tendrils from the bathtub, the steady rise and fall of his chest betraying the thundering of his heart behind his rib cage that John knew was there.

Though he had clearly taken the time to paint the image of a man nonchalant and spontaneous, John had no doubt in his mind that this was carefully crafted, specifically for him to walk in on.

𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 (soulmate au)

John learned of soulmates from his mama when he was young. He straddled that line between boyhood and manhood, thinking that love was gross, but also desperately infatuated with Dottie Clements at school. He sat at the dinner table, helping her peel potatoes, asking questions about her and his dad growing up as a thinly veiled way to learn more about love. Mama Egan was no fool, she knew her boy had a schoolyard crush.

“There’s something bigger than all of us out there, Johnny,” she murmured, peeling her sixth potato while John was still only his second. “One great love for every person on earth.”

“So Daddy is your great love, Mama?”

Mama Egan was silent.

John learned of soulmates from his mama when he was a boy. He learned from living life that not everyone was lucky enough to meet theirs.

𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 (1980s summer au)

“Johnny!”

John Egan had ignored the shouts from his mother to come inside for the last time evidently. Her voice turned into something shrill that he could hear even down by the lake, where he could normally escape all manner of ruckus that came from the cottage. It wasn’t that noisy, he supposed. But it was difficult to get a moment of peace and quiet when his whole family - his ma and dad, his sister, and himself - were all crammed into the small two bedroom space.

When they were kids, John and his sister, Billie, would bunk together in one room, at first sharing the one bed, John then eventually sleeping on the floor when he “got too long,” as his dad put it. But when one is suddenly seventeen, and the other is fourteen, bunking together isn’t on the table anymore, no matter what Ma said. John would just as soon take the couch, which he was too long to fit on comfortably anymore, in the living room, or grab a tent and camp out under the stars if the weather was nice enough.

“Johnny Egan!”

The last name was included now, it was getting serious.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

no pressure tags: @hederasgarden, @imjess-themess, @wildbornsiren, @magneticghouls, and anyone else who would like to share!

#antiquitea.txt #antiquitea.tag

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pjoxreader · 1 year

Note

Hey, could you write something for Reyna? There's so little content and you're an amazing writer.

Maybe about how on the Argo II Reyna and the reader have had a secret relationship, and the crew finds out. Except they haven't even been hiding it this whole time. Like when they thought Reyna liked Jason and Percy, she really didn't.

And if you feel like it, something about Nico learning to accept himself after seeing queer relationships. Please and thank you :)) 🙏

((Thank you for the request! I'm only on the House of Hades so I don't know Reyna that well yet but I hope this is ok! I was already spoiled on Nico and Piper's sexuality but please be careful and check what book I'm on in the masterlist in the future! I hope you enjoy! 💕))

Reyna Secret Dating + Nico Accepting Himself

Reyna Ramírez-Arellano

-You two weren’t one to flaunt your relationship. You never saw the need too. You both knew that you cared for each other and that wasn’t something the world needed to know.

-Maybe because both monsters, demi-gods and gods alike could find out and use it against you. But it was better to be safe than sorry. That didn’t mean you didn’t enjoy the moments of peace with her.

-The two of you stayed in the Argo ll falling asleep in each other's arms after a rough battle. You didn’t expect Leo to come knocking loudly on the door and burst in. “Hey! The meeting is- wait what?” he looks between you two for an explanation

-Reyna was not having it this early in the morning glaring daggers at Leo. “If you don’t get out I’ll shove you out myself.” she says sternly. Leo puts his hands up in surrender and backs out as if staring down a bear, closing the door with that.

-You were all gathered up for the morning meeting while Leo kept looking at the two of you. “So… When were you going to tell us?” Annabeth asks from the head of the table. You raise a brow at that in confusion “We never hid it?”

-”What? But you guys don’t like… Hold hands or even kiss!” Piper asks in confusion. You raise a brow and look over at Reyna who just shrugs. “We’ve held hands and kissed before. We just don’t make a habit of doing it in front of people.”

-Needless to say everyone was pretty shocked by the news but they were at least happy for you both.

Nico Di Angelo

-Being out wasn’t easy. Even though his friends supported him he still struggled with his own thoughts and memories. He was from the 1930’s after all where being gay was well… Unheard of to put it lightly.

-He was torn from his thoughts when Piper put a gentle hand on his shoulder with a sheepish smile. “Are you doing alright?” Nico normally hid his emotions but… Piper was like him, she had a girlfriend. If anyone could relate it’d be her.

-”I… It’s been hard.” Nico admits softly. He wasn’t used to opening up but Piper sits down beside him, watching the sunset over Camp Half-Blood. She seems to take a moment to form her thoughts and words.

-”I’m sure. I couldn’t imagine how you’re feeling knowing how things were in the past but… Things arent’ the same anymore.” Piper says looking over at Nico now with a kind smile on her face.

-”We have a community, even a celebration. I think you’d love going to a pride festival.” That does get Nico’s attention as he perks up in curiosity at that. “A pride festival?” he asks softly.

-Piper nods happily “An entire festival for people like us, where we can all group up and just be ourselves without worrying what people think. Where we can form up as a community and celebrate being ourselves.” Nico looks at Piper mostly to see if she was joking, but seeing she was serious he hesitantly nods. “I… I want to go.” Piper grins happily at that and ruffles his hair, much to Nico’s annoyance “Perfect! We’ll go to the next one together!”

-He may never be able to get over the hesitance he felt but he was glad he had friends and a community to be there for him. He hoped his sister was proud.

~Masterlist & Rules~

Like my writing? Please consider sending me a Ko-fi! ☕

#pjo x reader #pjo x reader fluff #pjo #hoo #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #fluff #pjo fluff #reyna ramirez arellano #reyna x reader

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smgsecretsanta · 4 months

Text

A gift from @galaxyzone to @qusok!!!!

Text under the cut

A/N: I really liked the request for a summer camp fanfic, so I thought I would give that a go! Just a disclaimer that I haven’t written fanfiction in years, but I am very confident in my writing ability, so I hope you enjoy it! Also, this story is essentially a Summer Camp AU and is not tied to the canon game, as the characters are all about the same ages (except Charlie) instead of there being like a 6-year age gap between Erin and Kate, for instance. In this story, Jamie & Erin are 14 while Kate & Mark are 16. I also may have incorporated some of my headcanons about the characters, as well as some headcanons I’ve seen from other people because I liked them! Oh, I also have included a little easter egg referencing The Quarry if anyone happens to catch it. It’s very subtle but let me know if you find it! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy it! <3

Jamie always hated these things. The stupid orientations on the first day of camp where the adults go over the rules & regulations, give sleeping arrangements, discuss the “itinerary” of activities instead of actually doing said activities, talk about the code of conduct, etc, etc. It was already hard enough for any teenager to sit still for a prolonged period of time and listen attentively while monotone adults droned on and on, let alone a teenager who already has difficulties with attention regulation such as Jamie. As the counselor moved on to talking about how meals would work, Jamie huffed and slouched even lower in her chair.

As she scanned the room, she recognized only 2 familiar faces. One was a man, one of the counselors, who was sitting up at the front with the other counselors, flipping through a stack of papers. Charlie was the director of activities, which Jamie considered a joke since she was pretty sure the man would lose his own head if it wasn’t already screwed on. Actually, Jamie questioned if it was even screwed on tight enough, or possibly even a little too tight. That would explain his constant stress responses to every little hiccup he encounters. The other face Jamie recognized belonged to a boy, another camper whom Jamie knew from both her previous 2 years at camp. He was wearing a well-loved gray hoodie and had his favorite camera strapped around his neck. During their first year at camp together, Jamie and Mark didn’t know each other too well. Jamie was extroverted and liked socializing and getting into trouble with the other kids, whereas Mark was more introverted and preferred keeping to himself and his camera. However, all of the kids that Jamie had hung out with during her first year did not attend camp the following year, leaving Jamie to make new friends. One of the only faces she recognized was Mark’s, so she decided to adopt him as her designated introvert, as many extroverts like to do. Even though they were different, the two of them got along pretty well and Jamie was happy to see that he was back.

Just then, the girl sitting next to Mark leaned over and whispered something to him. She had auburn hair and was wearing a beanie that looked almost as well-loved as Mark’s hoodie. Jamie didn’t recognize her. Was she someone Mark knew from school? Jamie shrugged and resumed slouching in her chair. She bent her head back, looking up at the ceiling, and heaved a sigh. These stupid things always dragged on.

After the orientation finally ended, Jamie quickly found her cabin and was surprised to already find another girl inside. She didn’t notice Jamie come in, she had her back turned towards the door and was rummaging inside her bag.

“Hey,” Jamie gently greeted the girl to get her attention.

“Oh!” The girl spun around, holding something in her hand. She greeted Jamie back with a small wave, “Hi.”

The girl was wearing a yellow t-shirt over a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of headphones around her neck.

“I’m Jamie,” Jamie stuck her hand out for the girl to shake.

“Erin,” The girl replied as she softly took Jamie’s hand and gave it a gentle shake.

“It’s nice to meet you, Erin.”

“You too,” Erin gave Jamie a soft smile.

Their hands lingered a little longer than normal, still awkwardly and slowly shaking for a good couple of seconds before Jamie chuckled and retracted her hand.

“What were you looking for in your bag? You forget something?”

“Oh, no, I was looking for this,” Erin held up a blue inhaler. “There’s probably a lot of dust and stuff at camp, so I wanted to make sure it was accessible, because the last time I had an attack and didn’t have it on me, it was— well,” She stopped herself short. “I’m sorry, that’s probably too much information, i-it just helps me breathe.”

“You’re good,” Jamie gave a small, amused chuckle. “I don’t mind, I like learning things about people. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t care.”

“Oh, well that’s a relief,” Erin plopped down on her chosen bed as Jamie set her bag on the other bed and started to unpack. “I’m just so used to people getting annoyed with me for sharing too much.”

“Those people are lame,” Jamie said in such a blunt tone that caught Erin off-guard, but in a good way. She wasn’t used to other people immediately having her back in such a confident manner like the one Jamie exudes.

“Yeah,” Erin giggled. “I guess so.”

“Go ahead, say it.”

“Say what?”

“Say, ‘those people are lame.’ It’ll make you feel good, promise.”

“…Will it?”

“As someone who’s been saying it practically my whole life, yes. I guarantee.”

“O-okay… Those people are lame?”

Jamie stopped rummaging in her bag and turned to Erin.

“Mmm, no. Like you mean it.”

“But what if I don’t mean it?”

“Come onn, just say it.”

“Okay, those people are lame…”

“Louder.”

Erin looked around, unsure of herself, as she was a much more quiet and reserved person than Jamie was. It would appear that Jamie had found her designated adopted introvert for the summer.

“I won’t judge you,” Jamie encouraged her. “In fact, I’ll think you’re pretty cool. Go ahead, let it out.”

“Alright… Those people are lame.”

“One more time.”

“Those people are lame!”

Jamie chuckled, “Pretty good, does that feel better?”

“A little,” Erin admitted with a sheepish smile, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Good! Sometimes you gotta let that stuff out instead of letting it bottle up, y’know?” Jamie finished unpacking most of her stuff before she turned back towards Erin. “You wanna go look around?”

Erin looked up at her, “Don’t you still have to finish unpacking?”

“Eh, that stuff can wait, I wanna go see everything. Wanna join me? It’ll be fun!”

Erin, wanting Jamie to continue to think she was cool, shrugged and placed aside the book that she had gotten out.

“Sure, I suppose. Where are we going?”

“Anywhere! I wanna see what kind of activities they have set up.”

Jamie headed for the cabin door and Erin followed after her, inhaler in her pocket and headphones still around her neck.

At another section of the camp, Mark sat on a bench and pointed his camera at a small family of ducks floating in the lake across from him. As one of the ducks popped back up from the water and shook its head, Mark clicked his camera and took a couple of quick photos. After a short succession of shots, he took the camera away from his eye and reviewed them, determining which ones to keep. As he clicked through them, the auburn-haired girl strolled up to him.

“Get anything good?” She asked him.

“Just some trees and ducks,” He turned the camera screen to show her his favorite from the bunch, which was a snap of the duck shaking off the water.

“Looks good! Is that a new camera?”

“My mom got it for me for my birthday. She gave it to me a little early so I could have it at camp.”

“That was sweet. How is your mom?”

“She’s good. She says hi.”

“Ah, well, tell her I say hi back! You know… when you get back home, of course…” She trailed off before letting out a sigh as she sat next to him. Mark chuckled and turned towards her.

“For sure. You all unpacked?” He shut his camera off and put it back in his camera bag.

“Yup! Ah, so, Mark… I—”

“I’m really glad you could come along this summer, Kate. It’s a lot of fun and I’m pretty excited to finally share it with you.”

Kate gave him a soft smile, “Me too, Mark. I’m really happy we get to have a fun summer together. There’s just, um…” Kate looked at her hands, picking at the skin around her fingernails.

“Who knows, maybe if you enjoy it just as much as I do, we can come back next year and be counselors or something.”

“I thought you had to be eighteen to be a counselor.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re probably right. I just assumed that because sixteen was the cutoff for campers, that meant that seventeen was the eligible age for counselors. Although maybe there’s a junior counselor option? I don’t know, it was just a thought.”

Kate gave him another warm smile, “Well, you should definitely look into it, I think that would be really great for you. Maybe you could teach these kids about photography!”

“You think I could?”

“I don’t see why not. You’re a really good photographer, Mark.”

Mark couldn’t help but blush a little. “Thanks, Kate. Maybe you could teach them about journalism or something!”

Kate smiled at him again, although this time it was more of a sad smile. He was so excited and she was so happy to see him thinking about the future, especially since the Mark she’s used to usually just lets life happen. How was she supposed to tell him about her mother’s new job and about how it would take her away from him?

“Mark, I have to tell you about something—”

“Hey, Mark!” Kate was cut off by Jamie, who was waving and walking up to them with Erin at her side.

“Hey, Jamie, good to see you again!” Mark stood up and caught Jamie slightly off-guard with a hug.

“Oh, hey, yeah, you too!” She patted his back before they let go.

Mark, realizing he had to make introductions, awkwardly gestured to Kate, “This is Kate, we go to school together. She’s that friend I told you about last year.” He then turned to Kate and gestured towards Jamie, “Kate, this is Jamie, she was my friend last year at camp.”

Kate stood up and shook Jamie’s hand, “Nice to meet you, Jamie.”

“You too. Mark told me a lot about you last year. In fact, sometimes it seemed like he wouldn’t shut up about you.”

Kate looked at Mark, who opened his mouth to object, clearly blushing. “Really?”

“I— I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t shut up about you, that’s… an over-exaggeration, I just had a lot to say about… school, and… stuff…”

“Uh huh,” Kate smirked before turning back to Jamie. “Well he told me a good bit about you too, he said he had a lot of fun last year.” Kate then turned to Erin, “What’s your name?”

“I’m Erin.” Erin awkwardly lifted her hand, unsure of whether or not she should hold it out for Kate to shake. When Kate extended her own hand, Erin clumsily took it and gave it a small shake. “I’m just… Jamie’s roommate. Or, uh, cabinmate,” she said before she awkwardly folded her arms just so she could have somewhere to put her hands, which she was suddenly overly conscious of.

“I’m taking her around, showing her all of my favorite spots, telling her which places to stay away from, et cetera,” Jamie jumped in, taking the attention and pressure off of Erin.

“Did you show her the waterfall?” Mark asked.

Kate echoed, “Waterfall?”

“There’s this little lake that we all used to go swimming in, and above it there’s this stream that has a mini waterfall flowing into it.”

“I haven’t gotten that far yet,” Jamie answered. “I was actually heading that way now when I saw you guys. You… wanna join us?”

“Sure! Kate, you wanna go?”

Kate hesitated. She knew that she shouldn’t put off what she needed to tell him, but she also knew that she technically had all summer. She figured it was best to not dump it on him right away, so she said, “Sure, that sounds like fun.”

“Alrighty, campers, let’s goo!” Jamie started leading the way, Erin right behind her, and Mark and Kate behind Erin.

When the four of them made it to the waterfall, they laughed and talked about everything they thought of, simply having fun getting to know each other. They splashed around in the water a bit, but Mark was resistant to getting his favorite hoodie wet while Erin was protective of her headphones, not wanting them to get ruined. They hung out for about an hour or so before a counselor came looking for them.

Later that night, after dinner, Kate knocked on Mark’s cabin door just as he was finishing getting unpacked. Because the doors had mesh windows on them, Mark could see Kate standing outside under the glow of the lantern that was mounted on the outside wall.

“Come in, Kate!” Mark called to Kate, and she opened the door to let herself in. Mark was organizing his camera bag for what Kate could only guess was maybe the fiftieth time since they got to camp that day. Mark’s roommate was sitting on his own bed on the farther side of the cabin, listening intently to something on his phone with earbuds in his ears. “Hey,” Mark greeted Kate, “What’s up?”

“Hey, Mark, do you have a minute?”

“Luckily I just finished unpacking, so yeah! Why?”

Kate shrugged, “Wanna go on a walk? It’s really nice out tonight.”

“Sure,” Mark finished crewing a lens on his camera. “Should I bring my camera?”

“I don’t know how good the lighting is here at nighttime.”

Mark looked down at his camera, contemplating what Kate said. “Good point,” he said as he put his camera back in its bag and zipped it shut. “Okay, let’s go!” Mark grabbed his gray hoodie and wrapped it around himself, zipping it up, before following Kate towards the door. Before leaving, Mark turned to his roommate and said, “I’ll be back, man.”

His roommate gave him a small thumbs up as an acknowledgment before Mark followed Kate outside and let the door swing close behind them.

“Where to, m’lady?” Mark asked Kate, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Anywhere, really, I just thought it’d be nice to look at the stars. It’s so much easier to see them here than back in the city.”

Mark followed Kate’s gaze up towards the sky, where he could indeed see more stars than he had ever seen back in Chicago. “Think you can recognize any constellations?”

Kate chuckled, “No, I’m not really familiar with any constellations.”

“You’re not?”

“No, not really. What makes you think I am?” Her tone wasn’t snappy at all, she was genuinely curious as to why he thought that about her.

Mark shrugged, “I dunno, I just thought since you’re into crystals, that you would be into all of that kind of stuff.” Mark gave her a sheepish smile, which Kate returned.

“Nah, not really my thing. I do like astrology and studying the zodiac signs, but I’m not really a constellations girl.”

Mark let out a chuckle and said, “Fair enough.”

The two of them walked in silence a bit longer, appreciating the night sky and the sounds of the crickets around them. They eventually made it to a little hiking trail that led away from the main camp. As they started walking down the trail, Kate looked at Mark, who was still admiring the night sky. Kate smiled to herself. She was going to miss this big dork a lot.

“Mark, I kinda have to tell you something.”

Mark looked back to Kate. “What’s up?”

“Well, firstly, nothing is wrong,” Kate reassured, not realizing how strange of a statement that was to start off with until Mark gave her a weird look.

“O-okay? Is everything ok?”

Kate was suddenly very aware of the cool breeze that was blowing through the trees around them.

“Y-yeah,” Kate let out a shiver. “Everything is f-fine.”

Mark, noticing Kate shivering, immediately unzipped his jacket and, without saying anything, removed it from himself and wrapped it around Kate’s shoulders. She gave him a sweet, grateful look before graciously taking it and putting her arms through the sleeves. What was she ever going to do without this big meatball? Once Kate had the hoodie on, Mark wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him so she could share his body warmth. Kate had always been one of those people who got cold pretty easily, and Mark was always more than happy to warm her up.

“What did you wanna talk about?” He asked.

“S-so,” Kate let out one last shiver before relaxing into his embrace. “You know how I told you my mom was looking for a new job?”

“Yeah, she wanted better pay and a better work environment, right?”

“Right… Yeah, so… She, uh, she found one.”

“Oh yeah? That’s great!” Mark smiled at Kate, who still looked nervous, which seemed strange to Mark considering the good news she just shared. “So how come you don’t seem happy?”

“The job is in Georgia.”

Mark stopped walking and loosened his embrace on Kate.

“What?”

“The job is located in Georgia, which means… We have to move,” Kate gave him a sad look. Mark dropped his arm and turned to face Kate fully.

“You’re moving?” Mark searched Kate’s face, looking for some type of indicator that there was hopefully some good news to balance out the idea of them having to split up. “When?”

“At the end of the summer. When we get back home, I basically have to start packing right away. Our flight is August 28th.”

Mark felt like someone had just jabbed a needle through his chest.

“So…” He started, trying to wrap his head around what he was hearing. “What does this mean, then? For us?”

“It, well… It means we have to break up,” Kate’s voice hitched as she said that. She hated the idea of them having to break up, but she hated the idea of a long-distance relationship just as much. “I’ve never done long-distance before, and to be honest, I don’t think I could handle it. I just think it would be even more painful than just being friends, which I don’t wanna do either, I want to be with you, I just… I don’t have a choice. Not until I’m an adult with my own job and can stand on my own feet.”

“You have a job.”

“I mean a real job, one that pays an actual living wage.”

Mark looked down at the ground, not wanting her to see the pain on his face. Mark was one of those people who hated the feeling of sadness so much that he would rather feel anything else, even if it was anger. To him, it was easier to be angry than it was to be sad. It was like an unhealthy coping mechanism designed to suppress his feelings rather than regulate them.

“Is this why you came to camp with me this year? Because you felt bad that you’ll have to leave me?”

“No, Mark, I wanted us to have a good summer before I have to go! I didn’t want to dump it on you right before we leave, which is also why I thought I should tell you now instead of at the end of summer. That way, I figured we could just focus on having a good time before, y’know…” Kate trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought.

“Kate, how am I supposed to have a good time when I know that it’s going to end when we go back home?”

“Because we can make the most of it, you know, knowing that it’s… our last few months together. We can go all out— water balloon fights, hiking, scavenger hunts, swimming, all that stuff!”

“But knowing that you’re going to leave doesn’t make me wanna do that stuff, it makes me just want to reverse time or find a way to keep you here. Or, well— not keep you here, at camp, but I mean— like, keep you in Chicago. With me.”

Kate gave him another sad look, not entirely knowing what to say. It wasn’t her choice to leave him, she very much wanted the opposite, but her mom needed this new job to better make ends meet.

“I’m sorry, Mark, I wish I had a choice. You know how much my mom needs this job.”

Mark sighed, feeling his anger wash away as soon as he looked into her eyes. From just one glance, he could instantly tell just how much this was tearing her apart. That was the thing about Kate’s eyes— they always did the best job at portraying her inner thoughts and feelings, even more so than her words sometimes. That was one reason she often wore sunglasses when she could— they allowed her to be mysterious whenever she was around people she didn’t fully feel comfortable letting in. Mark, however, was not someone she felt the need to keep a guard up around.

“I’m sorry, too,” Mark took Kate’s hands. “You’re right, I know that, and I know you don’t have a choice, I just…” Mark sighed again. “Tell me there’s a chance that it’s not goodbye forever?”

“Oh, definitely not, you know I couldn’t do that,” Kate pulled her right hand free and used it to cup Mark’s face.

Mark looked back down at the ground, feeling slightly overpowered by the emotion glistening in Kate’s eyes, afraid that he would fully break if he were to continue looking into them; but it was too late. A tear started rolling down his cheek, which Kate promptly wiped away upon feeling it reach her fingertips.

“Hey,” Kate said softly. “We still have all summer before we have to worry about it. Let’s have fun, okay? I want you to show me everything you love here, like Jamie was doing with Erin. I want to see all your favorite spots, I want to do your favorite activities, I want to do dumb, reckless teenager stuff before we have to deal with boring, shitty adult stuff. Can we please do that?”

Mark nodded, “Yeah, of course.”

Wanting to ease the tension a little, Kate joked, “Good, because I’m really looking forward to crushing your ass in a water balloon fight.”

Mark chuckled. “You wish,” he said.

“Is that a challenge? Alright, buster, well we’ll just see who crushes who then, won’t we?” Kate gave him a playful kiss, which Mark quickly melted into, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer. The two of them deepened the kiss, not wanting to let each other go. They could have stayed like that for hours if it weren’t for their need to break for air. When they finally parted lips, they kept their faces close together and leaned their foreheads together. They held that position for a good minute or so, feeling more connected than they ever had before. Neither of them was sure what they would do without the other, but they both figured they would put that thought off for as long as possible. For now, they just wanted to be present together, keeping company in each other’s warm embrace.

Back at the cabins, Jamie and Erin were chilling in their respective beds. Erin was reading a book, while Jamie played with a baseball, bored out of her mind. She suddenly looked over at Erin, who was still wearing her headphones around her neck.

“I’m bored,” Jamie said, getting Erin’s attention. “Do you wanna do something?”

Erin, sensing that Jamie wanted her full attention, placed a bookmark in her novel. “Like what?” She asked.

Jamie pondered before suggesting, “I kinda wanna go back to that lake. You feel like swimming?”

“Oh, uh, I don’t know. I’m not much of a swimmer.”

“Do you know how?”

“I do, I just… don’t do it very often.”

“Well, why not do it now? Did you pack a swimsuit?”

Erin wasn’t sure why, but she felt herself blushing at the question. Erin wasn’t the most comfortable person in swimming attire, especially not around someone she just met, and especially not around someone as intriguing and alluring as Jamie was.

“I-I, well, I— I mean, I did, but—” Erin stuttered.

“Okay!” Jamie popped off her bed. “Then let’s go!”

“Oh, uh, r-right now?”

“Yes, silly, that’s why I asked if you wanted to do something,” Jamie said in a light-hearted tone to let Erin know she was joking and not actually making fun of her.

“Oh, o-okay, sure!” Always the people-pleaser, Erin put her book aside and got up to get her swimsuit.

Jamie took a quick moment as she observed Erin rummaging through her bag. There was something adorable and charming about Erin’s awkwardness that Jamie couldn’t really explain. Jamie had been aware of her attraction to girls for a while now, but this attraction was especially interesting to Jamie because Erin wasn’t typically her type. She was used to being attracted by the girls who exuded even more confidence than Jamie did, but there was something about Erin’s soft and caring nature that Jamie couldn’t help but be drawn in by. Though Erin likely saw herself as an open book, she was somewhat of a mystery to Jamie, who couldn’t wait to learn more about her.

Once the girls both had their swimsuits on underneath their camp clothes, they started on their way back to the lake. They walked in silence for a few minutes, appreciating the nighttime ambiance, before Jamie noticed that Erin still had her headphones around her neck even though they were going to go swimming.

“Hey, can I ask you about something?” Jamie asked.

“Sure.”

“What are those headphones for? The ones you’re always wearing?”

“Oh,” Erin blushed as she looked down at said headphones, not even realizing she was still wearing them. “I guess I just get so used to having them on me, sometimes I forget to take them off when I don’t need them.”

“Have you ever fallen asleep with them on?”

“No…” Erin chuckled before a realization hit her. “Wait, yes…”

Now Jamie chuckled. “Yes?”

“Yeah, I forgot that one time I— well, it’s kind of embarrassing…” Erin trailed off.

“You can tell me,” Jamie reassured, “I won’t judge you. Trust me, I’ve heard plenty of crazy stuff from plenty of people, nothing really fazes me anymore.” Jamie and Erin both chuckled.

“Well, sometimes I use them for noise canceling. You know, to drone out overwhelming noise?”

“Yeah, lots of people like noise-canceling headphones.”

“Right, and, well… One night I heard… some people arguing and it just got to be a little too much for me, so I put them on and curled up in my bed, trying to ignore it, and I… eventually just fell asleep,” Erin let out a sheepish chuckle, not sure if she was sounding dumb or crazy or both.

“Ah, I’m sorry those people were arguing so much,” Jamie frowned.

“It’s okay, I’m used to it.”

From Erin’s demeanor and tone of voice, Jamie could sense that the arguing wasn’t just annoying neighbors, but likely possibly coming from somewhere within the same house that she had been in. Not wanting her to feel uncomfortable, Jamie changed the subject.

“So, what do you wanna do when you grow up?”

“Me? Oh, I don’t know…” Erin pondered the question before replying, “Well, I like doing sound editing.”

“What does that entail?”

“Sound editing? Well, it’s kind of like how movie editors choose certain sound effects for their scene, or how they’ll balance their channels so that the music doesn’t overpower the dialogue or vice versa. I’ve been doing it for a little while by making edits and things, but I’m just getting into doing it for shows. This past year, I helped with the sound design for a show that the theatre department put on at my school. It was really fun, and they said they’re always in need of more tech people, because, y’know, most kids want to do acting, so I said that sounded great, and…” Erin suddenly realized she was probably rambling. Feeling self-conscious, she quickly finished her thought, “Anyway, yeah, sound design! I like it,” she let out another sheepish chuckle.

“That sounds like a lot of fun,” Jamie smiled at her genuinely, allowing Erin to relax the tension she hadn’t realized she was holding. “I’m glad you’ve already found something you’re so passionate about, not everybody has something like that.”

“What about you?”

“Nah, not really. I kinda like art but I have no idea what I’d do with it, you know?”

“Well,” Erin started, “I think the thing about art, is you can do anything you want with it, really. What kind of art do you like?”

“I dunno… I like colors.”

“Have you thought about technical theatre at all? Maybe you could do lighting design. They use colors all the time, depending on the mood and atmosphere of the scene.”

“I hadn’t really thought about that, no. Maybe I’ll look into it,” Jamie smiled at Erin, who returned the smile.

When they finally reached the lake, Jamie stood up on a rock that looked much too slippery to Erin.

“Careful, Jamie!”

Jamie chuckled, “I’m fine, don’t worry.” She looked at Erin, who looked even more captivating under the moonlight shining through the trees. “You know, you’re cute when you worry about my well-being like that.”

“I just don’t want you to—” Erin cut herself off, realizing what Jamie had just said. “Wait, cute?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Jamie said, not backing down from her very true observation regarding Erin’s adorableness.

Erin’s cheeks suddenly felt very hot. “I— I don’t—” Erin stuttered, hoping that it was too dark for Jamie to see just how red her face had turned. “I don’t know what you’re—” Unsure of what to do with her body, Erin awkwardly shifted her feet, accidentally stepping on one of the wet rocks. “Oh!”

Erin suddenly slipped and stumbled forwards, into Jamie’s readied arms.

“Whoa! You okay there?” Jamie chuckled as she helped Erin get reoriented on her feet.

“Oh, y-yeah, thanks…” Erin started blushing even more, which she hadn’t even thought was possible. “Can I ask you something now?”

“Of course,” Jamie replied as she sat down on one of the drier rocks. Erin slowly followed suit, making sure to check that the rock was dry before sitting on it. When she was seated, she let out a small huff.

“How are you so…” Erin trailed, searching for the right word.

“Awesome?”

“Cool. I mean, like— chill.”

“You mean how am I so confident?”

“Y-yeah, I— guess that’s the word I was looking for.” Erin smiled sheepishly.

Jamie shrugged, “I don’t know, I guess I just learned how to fake it really well.”

“You mean, you… don’t actually feel confident?”

“Well, no, I do— but I didn’t always. I guess my dad kinda helped me with that. He’s an actor, so I guess it kind of runs in the family… even though I’m adopted,” Jamie cocked an eyebrow, realizing how silly it sounded for her to have inherited something from someone she wasn’t biologically related to. It was the first time that day that Erin had noticed Jamie double-guessing something she said, which made her seem a lot more relatable than she originally did.

Erin smiled at her. “That still makes sense, though, if he taught you.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Jamie returned the smile.

They both made direct eye contact for the first time that day and instantly found themselves looking into each other’s eyes for longer than anticipated. Neither of them could quite place their finger on just what exactly was so intriguing to them about the other person, but they were both experiencing the same butterflies and racing heartbeat. They weren’t sure what gravitational force was at play when they found themselves slowly leaning in, suddenly much closer to each other.

Jamie broke the silence, “Am I crazy, or do you feel something too?”

“I-I don’t know, I mean… I feel— something, I just— it’s new to me,” Erin admitted, having little to no experience with crushes or the like.

Jamie smiled at her. “It’s new to everyone at some point. I can help show you if you want,” Jamie said, not wanting Erin to feel pressured.

Erin blushed again. The idea sounded so daunting to Erin, but in a completely amazing and incredibly tempting way. She had never received this type of attention before and she wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Not knowing how to respond, Erin simply nodded.

“Okay, only if you’re sure though,” Jamie reassured.

“Y-yeah, sure, I’m sure,” Erin stuttered, causing Jamie to emit a small chuckle.

Jamie looked back into Erin’s eyes, ensuring that she was good, before finally closing the gap and tenderly touching her lips to Erin’s. Erin quickly leaned into it, giving Jamie the greenlight to deepen the kiss on her end as well. Her hands swiftly moved to Erin’s face, placing each palm on a — still very red — cheek. Erin placed her hands on Jamie’s upper arms, not completely sure about what to do with them. The two of them both leaned into the kiss more, but Erin must have leaned in a little too far because she suddenly slipped off the rock she was sitting on and plopped onto the ground, breaking the kiss and catching Jamie off-guard.

“Oof,” Erin grunted as she dropped to the ground.

“Oh, are you okay?” Jamie asked with a hint of amusement in her tone.

“Ugh, yeah… I should have figured that would happen to me,” Erin said, chuckling at her own misfortune. Jamie joined in her giggling, slipping off of her rock and joining Erin on the ground.

“Maybe we can try again later, when we’re in a drier environment,” Jamie suggested.

Erin perked back up. “Y-yeah, that would be— great. Maybe there’ll be fewer rocks, too,” she joked, and the two of them giggled some more.

“Well,” Jamie said, leaning back on her hands and looking up at the night sky, “Maybe for now, we can just admire the stars and listen to the crickets.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Erin smiled as she joined Jamie in looking at the sky. “It’s so beautiful here. You can’t see the stars anywhere near this well back in the city.”

Jamie looked at her. “What city are you from?”

“Chicago.”

“Dude, no way, that’s where I’m from too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! We should definitely keep in touch after camp is over. If you want to, of course.”

Erin giggled, “Yeah, I think I’d love to.”

The two of them smiled at each other, both even more excited for the summer they were about to have than they originally were. After a moment, they turned their gazes back to the clear night sky.

Jamie pointed up at something she saw. “Is that a shooting star?”

Erin looked at where she was pointing and squinted before giggling. “No, I think that’s just a plane.”

“Oh,” Jamie said, disappointed, as she put her hand back down on the ground behind her. “Can’t believe I was just about to make a wish on a plane,” Jamie joked, earning an even heartier giggle from Erin, which of course made Jamie smile.

The two of them sat in quiet for a moment before Erin asked, “So, uh… Were we going to go swimming? I mean, like, did you still want to?”

‘Yeah, for sure, I mean… if you want to,” Jamie looked at Erin, who returned the gaze.

Erin shrugged, “I dunno, I mean… I’m pretty good just looking at the stars, but I don’t know about you.”

Jamie smiled. “I’m good with that too.”

Erin smiled back at her. “Cool,” she said before catching Jamie’s eye.

They both leaned in and shared another gentle kiss before pulling back, Erin feeling her cheeks get flushed once again. After a moment, they both gazed back up at the twinkling stars and sat there for a good while, simply enjoying each other’s company and the atmosphere around them.

#smg secret santa #supermassive games #the devil in me #kate wilder #mark nestor #markate #erin keenan #jamie tiergan #jerin

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