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starlightdreaming · 1 month

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Lucifer Morningstar x Reader!

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel!

Content Warning: Angst! (neglect, arguments and No comfort(?)) yeah no lol. and LONG chapter also, your name is Luna (for the plot) at first but it goes to Y/n on like the next chapter (trust)

Synopsis: You were Lucifers best friend! You were stuck together like glue until someone else came along…

Further note: I’d like to ramble on how excited i am to release this series I have like 66 pages written down in a notebook and it’s still going! this is also my first attempt at trying to ACTUALLY write something and angst specifically! so bare with me if its not good (i tried my best) Also this series is going to be called LuluLuna! I HOPE YOU ENJOYY!! :> - ✨Lolo💫

Chapters!: Chapter 1 (you are here) •<•)b ✧ Chapter 2 ✧ Chapter 3 ✧ Chapter 4 ✧ Chapter 5

(to further improve reading I recommend listening to Øneheart! (It helped me write this))

｡･:*:･ﾟMy Luna･ﾟ:｡*:･｡

To you, he was the sun.

He had always had a smile on his face, his demeanor was always so bright and he was so full of hope and dreams.

He was such a troublemaker and that’s why you exist.

from the cosmic and star dust, a little bit of the universe was made and into the Heavens, a new being was formed, you are the first and the last of your kind, it was an accidental creation they had made while creating the universe and they tried making more after such beauty you withheld, They decided to call you ‘Luna.’ Named after the moon, because you came along after they created the moon. After many failed attempts to try and make more of your kind, they gave up and moved on, focusing more on their project of creating life.

Not knowing what to do with you, they left you with the wild child of Heaven, Lucifer. After training and teaching you the ways and laws of Heaven, they tasked you to watch over and take care of Lucifer.

Lucifer was light in your eyes, he showed you all his bright ideas and dreams, his beliefs and creations, it was all so amazing to you but was also too much as your little mind couldn’t wrap much around his ideals, it was a little overwhelming to you.

“this one is named quackers! he was my first ever duck I had ever made,” He says, showing you a duck that looks a little.. unique, “So, y’know he looks a little ehhh, uhhh… deformed- but! I promise they get a LOT better.” he smiles, giving you the duck to hold as he digs in his room full of ducks in containers and chests, you just stared at the duck before squeezing it slightly as it quacks that didn’t sound like it what it should have but it made you smile nonetheless!

“So!” Lucifer says, jumping out of his duck pile, showing you his next duck, “After him, we have count ‘quack’ula or should I say, ‘qount’ ‘quack’ula,” Lucifer puns, making you giggle a little, “I made him based off my idea of a holiday called ‘Halloween!’ and I was hoping maybe they could add that in the universe of creation they’re making!” he rambles, you looked at him with your starry eyes as you listened, not a thought behind your big ol’ eyes.

“Can I maek one?” you asked, stumbling on your new language that you were trying to adjust to, “Of course! i’ll show you!” He smiled, using his alluring magic to help you begin.

all throughout both your childhood, you had both grown together and were always together through thick and thin, when he was in trouble, you were always there by his side, when he got into arguments, you were always there to comfort him and when he was in the dark, you were always there to light his way. His dreams were always seen as dangerous but to you, you thought that was what made they them more beautiful, a splash of color on a blank slate, when no one believed in his dreams, you did. Eventually, one thing led to another, his dreams were now yours too, you added onto his dreams, setting the flame all the more significantly bigger.

in your teenage years, your friendship grew into something more… you couldn’t place your finger on it but whenever you were together it all just felt… right. When you both smile at each other, there’s just something in the air that just couldn’t be explained, it was so full and warm, a fuzzy feeling that you craved more when you both held hands in the garden you both had spent time together in everything you both did. There was a tree you both napped together under, full of stars and ducks you and Lucifer had both made over the years, created for birthdays and events of such that had taken place in Heaven, even apology gifts from when you both have argued and bickers over small nontrivial matters that were long in the past.

You both had done everything you could together as kids up to your age as a young adult, centuries or eons, you never grew apart, you both were stuck to each other like glue. Now when you both brushed fingers under that same tree, admiring the scenery and the wind that rustled the leaves in the bushes and trees, you looked at each other and there was just something in both your eyes that only you both could see, you both looked away from each other, turning slightly red, there was a feeling in your stomach, like butterflies. You didn’t know what that feeling was but he did, he knew what he was feeling and he knew what he had to do.

You both shared touches and hugs that seemingly got more clingier, more intimate, that sparkle in your eyes that you both shared together made you feel so fuzzy and light, you were overwhelmed with feelings you couldn’t understand until one day by yourself, you saw into a distance, a couple sharing the same things you had with Lucifer, hand holding and close cuddles, after watching them for a while, they shared a kiss, ‘but kisses are only shared with lovers?’ you thought and that was your ticket, you were in love with Lucifer. That further proved itself when you thought of brushing your lips against his own, your face turning completely red as you scrambled and flew away to the garden. The Garden of Eden.

“Lucifer? Lucifer!” You called out to him, wanting to tell him what you had discovered from within your own heart. “I’m over here Luna!” He answered as he waved to you, signaling for you to come over, you flew towards him and landed gracefully on your feet, “Luci, I have something to tell you-“ you say brightly before being cut off, “Just wait- I have someone you should meet!” Lucifer says before he gestures a woman to come out from hiding behind a tree, her beauty was graceful and perfect, “Oh, hello.” You say more calmly. Lucifer smiled to you, “This is Lilith,” He says as he reaches his hand out for her to take, and she did, “She’s the first woman on Earth!” He says as she waves to you, you waving back with a warm smile. “The first woman?” you ask, “meaning that they finally began divine creations on Earth??” you smiled in excitement, Lucifer nodded, still holding her hand in his, “It’s so nice to meet you Lilith, my name is Luna!” You jumped as you shook her hand enthusiastically as she smiled at you awkwardly. You completely forgot about your confession when it came to meeting a new person.

You three spent so much time together, as a trio, you were more of the energetic part of the group, Lilith the calm one and Lucifer as the air-head. It was amazing at first, to finally have a new person to share interests and ideas with, you all shared laughs together under that same tree you and Lucifer had grown with, showing Lilith your stellar abilities, making stars and sentient ones too, they all danced around you as you watch Lilith’s smile grow in awe, Lucifer also showing his ideas and dreams in which you and Lucifer grew up fully believing in, Lilith now joining the same boat as you both, you all laid on the grass as you looked at the starry night sky, pointing at constellations and lining them up for Lucifer and Lilith to see them better, You all fell asleep together under that oak tree of memories.

You awaken to see both Lucifer and Lilith were gone, you got up to find them as they giggled and laughed in a distance, you yawn and rubbed your eye, “Good morning.” you say with a groggy smile, Lucifer and Lilith were leaning towards each other before facing you, “Good morning, Luna.” Lucifer says with a smile before facing Lilith again, ‘huh, usually he says mornings with hugs,’ you thought but you shrugged it off as you joined them.

Today.. was different. Usually as the three, they included you in everything but lately, you felt like you were being excluded, when you walked from place to place, Lucifer would take you by the hand but instead of you, it was Lilith, it made you feel a pit in your stomach, not one that was pleasant at all, you were always trying to catch up to them as they ran together, watching animals from the distance and giggling together, they were sharing whispers and always ignored you when you tried talking to them in your usual energetic mood, this kept happening more and more often as you felt more and more of a burden than a friend. ‘What happened to never growing apart?’ You thought as you leaned on the oak tree that held so many memories. You looked up to see Lucifer holding Lilith as he flew in the air, throwing her up gently and catching her gracefully with adoration in his eyes, the same eyes he used to look at you with, you sigh as you watch, losing motivation to try and follow along anymore, you hugged yourself as you looked at your surroundings, the tree was surrounded with stars you made and the ducks Lucifer made, now growing with flowers that blossomed pure white lilies.

Whenever you tried to invite Lucifer to hangout, he would at first but then the entire time he would just talk about Lilith, asking if she’d like this or whatnot but sooner comes to later when you would invite him to hangout and make more silly ducks with you, he declined, he actually declined for once and that- bothered you. You were dumbfounded but you got your answer when, “I’m hanging out with Lilith today.” He says with a smile before waving you off and flying away, it was always her, he chose her and never you anymore and that made you so upset, it filled you with spite and envy but, none of that mattered since you smiled at your birthday coming around the corner, he would definitely have his attention on you then! the thought made you smile as you awaited the day, sitting under the oak tree, seeing it grow more with vines and lilies, your stars seemed to have fallen on the ground as you saw the ducks were placed on the vines, your smile falling again, you didn’t bother to pick then up as you sat alone under the tree once again, waiting for the days to come and go.

✧•✧•✧•✧•✧•✧•✧

You jumped out of bed after your alarm had went off, you were so excited you accidentally threw your alarm out the window, no one knows why you did that so don’t ask. Today was the day! It was your birthday but more importantly, Lucifer would finally spend time with you! You tidied yourself up with a smile plastered on your face before leaving your home, you waved and smiled at other people down the streets of Heaven, flying to the bakery to get you a cake you were eagerly waiting to share with Luci, after you had gotten everything you needed, you warped to the oak tree, setting down a picnic, hoping he would be away from Lilith for once, when you finished your set up, you could hear Luci and Lilith approaching with laughter, you turned to see them as Lucifer turned from looking at Lilith to see you, “woah is this for us?” Lucifer questioned before walking up to you, Lilith following, “yes, it’s for-“ you say trying to point out it was your birthday, “This is awesome Luna! Hey, wait! Lilith, have you ever tried cake?” He says, ignoring what you were trying to say, “oh..” you say rather quietly, thinking for a moment, ‘did he forget what was today..?’

When you pulled out the cake, he took it from you, you looked up to see neither of then facing you, you felt hurt from his actions but it looked like he didn’t seem to bother or care, you sat quietly as you watched him open the box, giving Lilith a piece of the cake to feed her with a spoon he used his ability to make it appear, you watched her eat it with a joyous smile as he spoke to her with such brightness, you couldn’t bare to watch this anymore, you snapped after you saw the sparkle in his eyes that showed so much love toward her, you stood up angrily with your wings stretched out, “What the fuck is wrong with you?” You cursed at him as they both looked at you with shock, “Do you even know what today is?” you say more saddened and hurt after he gave you a confused look, “uh, no? why?” Lucifer said, tilting his head, looking at you like you were going crazy.

“You’re so!- You’re such a-!” you stumbled upon words as you basked in anger, before flying away- away from both of them, crying your way back home, “Luna wait!” he shouted to you but hesitated to catch up to you because of Lilith.

Usually when you flew away from him after an argument or small bicker, he would have caught up to you and held you close but seeing as he didn’t for once, it showed how much he didn’t love you anymore, you cried as you hugged yourself that night, leaning against your door, the hurt you bottled up pouring and crashing out of you like the high tides of the oceans you had seen before on Earth.

✧•✧•✧•✧•✧•✧•✧

You awoke late in the night, your eyes felt heavy as you sat up. You looked at your surroundings and tried to process where you were, you cried yourself to sleep on the floor… on your door. that’s new.

Seeing that it was dark, meaning that you had slept the day away, Lucifer didn’t even try to come over and see if you’re okay and that hurt. You felt so lonely and neglected you just couldn’t stand it anymore, so if he wasn’t going to go to you, then you were going to go to him, you were going to make yourself feel seen.

You got up, not even bothering to tidy yourself, you immediately warped to the garden, at the oak tree and too be expected, they were there together, smiling and ogling one another, it made you sick at this point, when saw the empty box that used to be where the cake once was, you felt rage rile up within you, THIS was supposed to be YOUR day and once again, she took it away.

“So, did you talk to your friend? is she okay?” Lilith asked, “I didn’t talk to her, this happens all the time, she will be okay, she’ll be back tomorrow,” Lucifer waved the topic off, “I’ll apologize tomorrow, i’m just letting her cool off.” He says while you stood in the distance, listening to him as you wallowed in anger the more he spoke, you walked up to both him and Lilith, “Lucifer,” You say in a upset tone, “We need to talk,” you say standing in front of him, “now.” You finished while crossing your arms as he started blankly at you, “Of course, what is it?” He asks, standing up, trying to gesture his hand to help Lilith up but you slapped his hand away, glaring at him, “Alone.” You incensed, walking away to a distance.

Lucifer looked at Lilith as she nodded in understanding, letting Lucifer follow you to a far distance, after you were far enough, you turned to him with your arms crossed again, “Could you tell me what’s wrong, Luna?” Lucifer asked before you could say anything, “I’ll tell you what’s wrong,” You spoke rather aggressively, “Today was supposed to be about me! It was supposed to MY day!” “How is today yours? you don’t have any day unless- ohhh.” Lucifer trailed off, realizing it was none other than your birthday, “Luna, I-“ He tries to speak again, “Shut it,” You say unenthusiastically, “Ever since we met Lilith, it’s all been about her! you forgot about me! do I not matter to you anymore?” You rambled, “Guess so cause you didn’t even bother to remember my birthday,” you say as you waved your hands in the air, “and on top of that, you ate my fucking cake! in front of me!? great job Lucifer, you’re the universe’s greatest friend!” You snarked, gritting your teeth.

Lucifer, who had felt pity at first, began to feel upset as well, “Well, sorry,” he waved his hands back at you sarcastically, “maybe you should have told me, Instead of being such an attention seeker.” Lucifer imputed, “Attention seeker?!” You shouted fully offended, “Ever since that Lilith bitch came along, you threw me to the side! Sorry I wanted to see my friend for one fucking day, specifically- My Birthday!” You fumed. Lucifer was angry, rolling his eyes, “First of all Lilith isn’t the bitch, YOU are being a bitch right now,” He shouted, pointing at you as your face flashed from hurt to more anger, “and besides, birthdays aren’t even special,” he said crossing his arms, “So get over yourself.” He finished before beginning to walking away, “So you’re walking away just like that?!” You laughed in pain, seeing that he wasn’t going to bother fixing the problem, “What’s next? you never see me again?” You taunted.

“Maybe I don’t want to!” Lucifer turned to you angrily, taking your words rather personally, “All you have ever been was just a fucking nuisance on my back,” he snarled, pointing angelic spears at you as he marched toward you, “so why don’t you go and fucking disappear yeah? save us both the trouble.” He says behind blinded rage, “Lilith has and will always be better than you.” he finished, adding the finishing touch to your broken heart, you looked at him with tears in your eyes, making him lose his aggressive demeanor, “Hey.. I didn’t mean that-“ he tried to explain but you pushed him down as you flew away quickly before he could process, “Luna wait! I’m sorry!” he now quickly tried to apologize, chasing after you.

‘Since it seems you meant nothing, guess that means all the memories you shared were meant nothing right? so what happens if it just all… burned. What would happen if it was all just gone??’ You thought in blind rage, flying towards the oak tree, seeing Lilith there, you pushed Lilith away from the tree, not wanting her to get her from the biggest mistake you were ever going to make, with little to no power, you used your power and blasted the tree to bits, smiling slightly with tears, all the memories and flowers, scattered everywhere, broken or burned.

“Luna! what the fuck is wrong with you?” Lucifer shouted, tending to Lilith’s aid, making sure she wasn’t hurt. “What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck do you think? If I don’t matter to you, then why bother having this?!” You pointed to the destroyed tree, “I did you a favor, say goodbye to our friendship you pathetic bastard!” You shouted, not caring Lilith was listening, Lucifer picked up Lilith before facing you, “Good, I never wanted you as a fucking friend anyway, you were only ordered to.” Lucifer stated before marching toward you, “I never want to see you again,” He snapped, “And I fucking mean it.” He says as he looked at you with pure hatred in his eyes, the eyes that used to hold so much love and adoration for you, turned into spite and detestation, his eyes made you at a loss from all the built up anger, seeing that you destroyed everything behind blind rage, you cowered in guilt but that didn’t stop Lucifer from pushing you down, “disappear from my sight, Luna.” He glared at you one last time before walking away, leaving you alone with you, yourself and the mistake you had made.

Lucifer picked up Lilith, not even batting a second glance, all you wanted was for him to look your way, just one last time.. You sat in front of the oak tree in guilt, trying to use your stellar energy to fix your mistake but to no avail, nothing worked, you cried in heartbreak and frustration, betrayal and guilt, all those years, centuries and eons, they all meant nothing now. Nothing but a burning memory. You used stars to keep the tree connected from falling apart, using every bit of power you could to make it back to what it originally used to be, with little to no experience, it took hours to fix it, you did the best you could before leaning against the tree, hoping to find comfort in it but all you felt was emptiness, Lucifer never tried to contact you again and neither had you, you didn’t want him to look at you with those eyes ever again, you couldn’t bare it.

You spent weeks, months and years in your bed, unmotivated to get out and do something, you covered your room with sentient stars, finding only comfort in the little creations you had made, they did everything for you when you couldn’t do anything for yourself, your room was just full of piles and piles of stars, they were becoming too much that you threw some out your window so you could just make more, so it was just a daily routine to make many stars and just throw them out the window and everything had consequences but you didn’t care anymore, everything just felt so hopeless now after the only friend you had, never wanted to see you again.

after repetitively doing your routine, there was a knock at your door, you grumbled to get up, weak in your legs as you stumbled to open the door, your hair a mess and clothes wrinkled, you opened your door with unenthusiastically, expecting a cherub to send you your daily mail or something but when you saw a higher up seraphim at your door, your eyes widened in shock, “Greetings daughter of the universe,” the seraphim began, “My name is Sera and this is my sister, Emily.” she says before the Emily girl bounced and waved, “Hiii, we just wanted to ask some questions!” she piqued before walking closer to you before getting something out her pocket, “are these yours?” She asks, showing you a sentient star that began bouncing around in front of you both, ‘oh shit…’ you thought, seeing as your bed-rotting seemed to have affected life outside that made THE SERAPHIMS come after you, “Oh, sorry yeah those are mine.” you try to say calmly, “did something happen?” you asked, worriedly.

Emily smiled to you, “Those stars have been wandering all around Halo city! They actually have been helping around a lot, they are really useful and we tracked them where they came from to here!” Emily chimed, Sera speaking after, “We found them quite useful and we decided to come and ask if you wanted to work with us? Your stars can help our people live more at ease and even the Heaven born.” she says leaning closer to you, “Oh!” You seemed to been shocked, “well I- I dunno, this is so sudden, I-“ you stuttered, thinking, “Don’t worry, we don’t need an answer now,” Emily comforted with a smile, “We have a lot to offer, you know,” Sera informed, “If you join us, you can become one of the higher seraphim’s because your stars would be helping our people,” she says with a comforting smile as well, “and thats what we are all about.” she finishes with caring eyes, you thought for a moment, you could use your potential to help others? and not only that, this could probably distract you from the very thing you were trying to forget, Lucifer.

“Yeah, maybe.. maybe I will take you up on that offer, Seraphim.” You smiled, “please, call me Sera.” she smiled, “And call me Emily or Emmy!” she smiled more brightly as she took your hand, “Woah, wait I haven’t showered or cleaned myself!-“ you stumbled, “Don’t worry, we’ll get that covered!” Emily says as she drags you out your house gently and soothingly, Sera teleporting you three to the sanctuary of their home, you could barely process as you frog blinked as your only reaction with shock.

Maybe this was a good thing though, a new world had awaited you for once and that alone, made you smile for once in decades.

✧•✧•✧•✧•✧•✧•✧

imma stop here cause its already WAY too long, lmk if you want pt. 2! (it motivates me to write more)

#lululuna #lucifer x reader #lucifer morningstar #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel x reader #slow burn #SO SLOW THAT IT BURNS #Spotify #hazbin hotel lucifer #hazbin lucifer #character x reader #lucifer magne #hazbin hotel angst #hazbin hotel lilith #lucifer x reader angst #PLEASE READ THIS I HAVE SO MUCH DELUSIONS TO WRITE #Luciferplsone chance im begging #lucifer morningstar x reader #im having brainrot of this man pls help

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stararch4ngelqueen · 6 months

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i saw this couple on the train and his gf fell asleep on him and she just looked at her fondly and took off his jacket to put around her and i damn near burst into fucking tears because what the actual fuck-

ANYWAY

soft!simon reading to reader about something that interests him and she just...falls asleep on him (she could be tired from work or wvr) and he just looks at her like shes the only girl in the world????? please???? i need to heal my heart rn

<3333333

This isn’t proofread, as I risked my sanity typing this out on a long car drive. I hope you like it!

Time written - 5:43 p.m

“That’s a lot of paperwork.” Your comment reaches his ears after he hands you a mug of apple clove tea, cuddled up cozy in a warm gray comforter on the couch.

“It is,” he mutters, carrying with him a thick journal half full of pages he needed to continue. Such as a man like him to bring work home, wanting to keep an eye on you as you fought this seasonal cold.

“That looks like a thousand words.”

“Probably is.”

“What’s it about?” You ask while sipping your hot beverage, tasting orange blossom honey he used to sweeten your beverage.

“Boring stuff, love.” He comments after getting comfortable beside you, clicking his pen in case he needed to use it. “Not worth your time, just drink your tea.”

“Tell me.” You insist without force, resisting the urge to peer over at his blue and black handwriting.

Simon ponders for a good while, mindlessly tapping his pen along thick paper. He figured you’d ask once he brought out this old journal when inspiration struck, but to speak of it? That was a little new.

“It’s a … manuscript,” he decides to call it with the slightest bit of hesitation. “Or a draft. Thought of writing a novel at some point.”

“Really?” Your head meets his, watching him nod slowly.

“Mhm. Mostly short stories. Not ‘bout my life, no. Just … about a boy.”

“A boy?” Your smile permeates through your words, making him sheepishly tilt his head with a nervous grin.

“A boy with a stray dog. They have an adventure in the woods, that sorta stuff.”

“Sounds cute,” you smile, finding the idea of Simon writing a story endearing. Maybe this took his mind off his work stress, our about his own personal struggles in general.

“Can I hear some of it?”

Simon’s lips flatten in thought before he sets the pet down, proceeding to flip through a few pages.

“I’ve never showed anyone this,” he peers at you. “So, don’t laugh.”

“I won’t,” you smile with a mild giddiness whilst getting more comfortable.

Simon proceeds to relay a short paragraph he had written just a couple weeks back. Back when he barely had the time to think much of this journal, but felt the ever so endearing writing urge at a late hour of the night.

He remembers you had gone to bed early that night after cooking him dinner. The snow was dense outside, covering all the piles of withered, colored leaves that had long since fallen from hibernating trees.

“Through brittle cold air and dense fogs resides a canopy made of broken trees; the roof made of crunchy leaves, the steps made of cracked stones. Upon the center of the canopy laid a small puppy, no more than seven or eight months old. It’s fur was slick, her eyes a bright blue. She sat waiting for the boy, proceeding to greet him like an old friend that had left for a long time.”

Simon pauses, realizing his cheeks had grown a bit warm. Clearing his throat a bit, he turns his attention to the next paragraph, purposely avoiding the adoring look in your eyes after reading such a creation.

“The puppy clung to his side like a burr, waddling along with no promise of food. The boy gave nothing in return, other than carrying her in his arms when her legs were too tired to continue.”

“The boy was in search of an old well, said to be in the midst of fir trees in the center of a mushroom circle. Once he finds the well, he’s told to look inside for all his desires to come true.”

“He wandered for hours and hours until he found what he sought; a broken well with dried, dead vines clinging to the rocks. The boy leans over, peering inside to an apparition of a siren staring back in the water’s reflection. She smiles, singing promises of riches and cures to all sickness he knows, for all she requires is for him to reach for her hands fifty feet down below into the cavern.”

“He desired nothing more until the puppy bit into his pant leg, the strength of her tiny, curly body bracing him back from making such a jump. To the boy, who promised not even an ounce of bread to such a minor companion, broke his blindness to the siren’s secret demise.”

“Such a small little thing opened his eyes just in time before the stones cave in, swallowing up the well without its promised child. In return for the pup’s bravery in saving his life, the boy carried her in his arms, promising a warm bed and home cooked meal all the way back home.”

A faint, heavy pressure rests along his shoulder, your slumped head nearly slipping off of his shoulder.

He’s quiet for the longest time, gazing down at the reason he enjoys coming home each day. The sweetest, most heartwarming woman he’s had the pleasure of laying his eyes on.

A chorus of angels erupted from your lungs with every word you spoke, your pretty head full of ideas and phrases that never left his mind running dry with boredom. You were a strong, incredibly beautiful woman, whom sometimes reminded him of a bouncing puppy by his side during your private moments within your own home.

Especially now, snuggled up in his arms, your affected nasals interfering with your breathing just a bit. The cold medicine did it’s job in helping you sleep, so Simon was more than content. Especially as he chose to believe your mind was affected by a cold medicine’s side effect rather than pure boredom.

Softly, he hums as he removes the still warm mug from your hands, readjusting the blanket over your shoulders.

“Told ya so, sweetheart.” He murmurs, running two rugged fingers through your hair before peering outside, frost coating the window pane as pure white snow blankets the earth just outside.

#I miss writing about this man #simon ghost x reader #ghost x y/n #ghost x you #ghost x reader #call of duty #simon riley #simon ghost riley #you’re the dog #cod simon riley #cod modern warfare ii #simon riley x female reader #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley x y/n #simon riley x you

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keystonepublishing · 5 months

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The Purim of the Philosophers by Jonathan Edelstein

Jonathan Edelstein has cropped-up in this blog for several times now, and not without good reason. I knew him from almost a decade ago on an internet forum and his stories - short and long-form - have captivated me by their depth and ingenuity.

So no surprise, I decided to bind yet another short fiction of his. After my first two binds of his work, I actually made a promise to myself to bind two more stories of Jonathan's before the year closes out.

One of them was Of Letters They Are Made, and the other is this: The Purim of the Philosophers.

Set in an alternate France where the Albigensian Crusade went unfinished, the Languedoc is its own kingdom, and the political situation is still explosive, The Purim of the Philosophers tells of a Jewish official sent by the Languedoc king to the city of Marseilles to quell tensions between the Jewish communities, all while the French north is gearing up for another war with the south...

Now, while this all sounds fascinating, I doubt I will remember all the background context in 20 years' time. That was why I decided to write a preface to explain the bewildering history of the region, balancing out the need to explain history with the constraints of a small page.

To be honest, I think there is enough historic oddness about southern France to make an original compendium, but I digress.

As with previous binds, I have a love for filling in pages with images that capture the feel and mood of the story, and this bind is no exception.

Additionally, parts of the tale is told in the form of letter correspondence between the Jewish official and his son, which I formatted using the 1475 Humanistica Cursiva font. I love the old-timiness of the letters so much that I eventually used it for multiple other things in this book, including the chapter headers and title strip.

The main body text is Alegreya, with a large drop cap of Harrington colored red to give an impression of illuminated manuscripts.

And as always with me, I added-in a comments section to preserve what people thought and discussed of this story when it was first published on alternatehistory.com.

But after all of that, I still feel like giving the background stuff of this tale more justice. So with some consultation from the author, I put-in two more sections denoting the main characters of the story and their real-life counterparts, as well as minor Jewish, French, and Occitan terms that were sprinkled throughout the book.

I have to say, it was quite an experience Googling up which terms meant what to a faith that is not really known to the general public east of India. I think I learned more about Judaism in the last 3 weeks than I ever had in the last 5 years, or even 10!

All in all, this bind was one of the more easier ones to make. I would have made this quicker if not for stuff at work and home delaying progress for a bit. I so wish I could make more than 1-2 books a month, but better to have those 1-2 books than no books at all.

#my bookbinds #bookbinding #fanbinding #jonathan edelstein #The Purim of the Philosophers #alternate history #short story

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crazyunsexycool · 1 year

Text

My little love

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x enhanced reader

Warnings: FLUFF, Charlotte being the sweet Angel she is, mentions of future children

A/N: here is a small Drabble to celebrate our favorite super soldier’s Birthday!! What better way to celebrate it that with his family.

“Mama, can we make daddy a cake?”

One simple request from your daughter a few days before Bucky’s birthday. You knew he didn’t really want to celebrate it. But how could you say no to Lottie? Maybe if the surprise came from her he’d be ok with it. You’d just keep the celebration between the team.

“Of course we can, but you can’t say anything because it’s going to be a surprise, ok?” You smile down at her.

“Ok.”

You sit and plan what kind of cake you should make and what color frosting you should use. Lottie had set her heart on black frosting and gold letters just like his arm. As well as a goat because it was their favorite animal. You tried not to laugh because she was so excited to do something for her dad.

~~~~~~~~

Bucky did his best to avoid his birthday ever since you had met him. This year was no different, he made sure to stay busy by training recruits, filling out papers or if he could, going on a mission. The one thing Bucky didn’t count on was the determination of his child. She had practically planned the whole thing herself. If this party wasn’t proof that she had everyone wrapped around her finger you didn’t know what was.

She convinced Nat and Steve to keep Bucky busy for the day, Sam and Vision helped with decorations, Wanda helped with the food and she even convinced Tony not to throw a party of his own. By 5:30 pm everything was set.

The team minus Nat and Steve who would arrive with Bucky were already at your new home. Since you’d decided to expand your family you moved out of the apartment in the compound into a house within the compound grounds thanks to Tony. The front door opened and everyone waited in the dining room.

“Sugar?” Bucky called out for you.

“In the dining room, handsome.”

Lottie was about to explode from the excitement. The closer the footsteps got to the room you were standing in the more shifted in place. She looked up at you with a beaming smile before she looked at the door.

“Surprise!” Everyone yelled. Bucky stood there stunned. He wasn’t sure what to do but you could see how he was starting to frown.

“Go get daddy.” You whispered to Lottie and she happily ran to him.

Her arms wrap around his leg and she looks up at him. Eyes wide and a huge smile on her face. He bends and picks her up, placing her on his hip. Lottie’s arms wrap around his neck and she kisses his cheek.

“Happy birthday daddy, do you like it?”

“It’s amazing, Doll. Did you help mama?”

She shakes her head. “Mama helped me. And so did everyone.” She explained what everyone did to help celebrate his birthday. “But mama and me made the cake. It’s your favorite.”

You saw the tears pool in his eyes as he kissed Lottie’s temple. His eyes connected with yours for a moment, then he smiled. It was genuine, charming and almost a boyish smile. He walked further into the room and for the rest of the afternoon and into the night you celebrated the birthday of the love of your life.

As the night started to wind down the party was moved to the living room where gifts were being opened. Lottie left hers for last. She held her hand behind her back but you could see the piece of paper she was holding.

“Close your eyes daddy.” She asked. When he had done what she asked she held the paper in front of her, she proudly displayed her work of art. “Open.”

“Doll, this is amazing.” He looked at the drawing she’s done. On top of the page said happy birthday in a child’s handwriting and underneath was him and you holding hands, a white cat and Lottie holding the hand of a smaller child. His eyes snapped to yours immediately. “Are you…” Bucky looked from your face to your midsection.

“Mama doesn’t have a baby in her belly. I saw him in my future dreams.” Lottie explains proudly. When trying to explain to her what visions were you and Bucky somehow ended up with that phrase and it’s what she uses all the time.

“This is the best present ever doll. I’m gonna frame it and put it in my office.”

Bucky wraps his arms around Lottie and he holds her close to his chest. Then he wraps an arm around you and pulls you into the small group hug.

“I love you both so much.”

“I love you, handsome.”

“I love you daddy.”

Taglist:

@kunaikunari

@rebekahdawkins

@cjand10

@nalny5

@sturchling

@angywritesstuff

@seitmai

@writing-for-marvel

@goldylions

@darkhairedmenrule

@little—baby—bear

@almosttoopizza

@littleseasiren

@pono-pura-vida

Series:

@buckystevelove

@vicmc624

@just-someone11

@sjsmith56

@emily-roberts

@spencerriedisagorgman

@talesofadragon

@superduckmilkshake

@samfreakingwinchester

@lfaewrites

@enchantedbarnes

@callsign-athena

#bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #fluff #my little love drabble #my little love extras #happy birthday Bucky barnes #happy birthday bucky #girl dad!bucky barnes #dad!bucky barnes #girl dad!bucky barnes x reader

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shyhandart · 3 months

Text

Commissions Open!

Thank you for your interest! Heres what you need to know:

I Will do:

Humans/Humanoids (object heads/elves/mermaids/etc)

Anthros

Ferals

Ponies

cannon x oc or self ship

fanart

complex/detailed designs

and more!

I will not do:

nsfw

rude/offensive gestures

hateful or bigoted art

Maybe:

• Gore (depends)

I maintain the right to turn down any commission for any reason

Pricing

I currently accept PayPal and Cashapp only. All prices are in USD

Full bodies:

Flat color: $50

Shaded: $65

Colored lineart: +$10

Half bodies:

Flat color: $35

Shaded: $45

Colored lineart: +$8

Busts:

Flat color: $20

Shaded: $25

Colored lineart: +$5

Each additional character is +50% of the base price*

*(except for busts, which are +75%)

If you have an idea for something not listed here, please ask!

Backgrounds

I have recently changed my tune about backgrounds. If you would like a background, let me know and i will tell you if i think im up to it. Complex backgrounds are a fee of +%50 as they take a lot of time. If you have multiple characters, the background price is calculated AFTER the price of the additional characters. It is up to me to decide what a complex background is.

Simple/abstract backgrounds remain free of charge. If i think a work would benefit from it, i will put a solid or swirly colored shape behind it and send you a version with and without the background so you can decide which you like better. You may request a basic background on your own.

TOS:

I retain the right to post your completed piece to any of my social medias to use as an example of my work and a testament to my reliability. I will credit you when I do.

All payments are non-refundable unless for some reason i am unable to finish your piece, or we get part way through the process and i feel that i am unable to do your character(s) justice.

You MAY:

Post your completed piece wherever you please WITH appropriate credit by either linking my page or simply stating my name and platform.

edit my art in regards to cropping for profile pictures, adding an overlay to fit a theme, and resizing to fit a platform better

You may NOT:

feed my hard work to ai

use it for anything NFT related

claim it as your own

remove my watermarks

use it commercially

What is the process?

It's pretty simple! Send me a dm with a photo of your character(s) and tell me what you'd like. Let me know if you need a few days to get the money, or if there's a time constraint (like if the piece is a birthday or holiday gift). If you don't have an idea for a pose, please include a brief description of their personality. If there's characters interacting, let me know their relationship to one another and their dynamic.

I will respond with a price and if you're ok with proceeding I will mock up a vague sketch so you can get an idea of what it would look like. This will be watermarked and it will not even be very recognizable as your character. That's because I have been scammed and ghosted in the past, even with a very rough and watermarked sketch.

After that you will send 100% of the payment in order for me to proceed. Please note that PayPal takes a cut of the money in taxes when you send it as a buisness purchase. Be kind and send a little extra so that i actually receive full payment for the commission.

I work on a first come first serve basis, but i may work on a piece while waiting for approval on another. I will let you know if there is someone ahead of you. Once payment is received i will message you frequently with updates and for approval. Once lineart is finalized, i will update less often in order to creater a better final reveal. Your final piece will already be glazed to fight against ai stealing my style.

Depending on my life circumstances, this whole process could take from 1-3 days up to a month. The later is very unlikely, and i will message you with updates if i feel i am taking too long.

Examples of my work:

These are simply commissions that ive done in the past! I have many more examples of personal art on my blog

top to bottom: Bunyo and Sasha who belong to @/ilikecorndogs, Honey who belongs to to @/mei, and Solace who belongs to @/sundryd

#art #digital art #mlp #commissions #open commissions #furry comissions #furry art #artists on tumblr

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topazshadowwolf · 7 months

Text

GoopTales Part 18: Chocolate?!

Hey everyone who is waiting for the next chapter of HNBD, guess what?

New GoopTales!

Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18(you are here)

AO3: Ch 1 (1-4), Ch 2 (4-8), Ch 3 (9-12), Ch 4 (13-16)

---

Cross idly kicked his feet behind him as he lay on his chest, coloring book in front of him. It was about sea life, and this page had a cool-looking shark. It had a really long tail and was called a thresher shark. According to the little bit of information on the page, it uses that tail to hunt. The picture had the animal in a dynamic pose to demonstrate how.

He was so engrossed in his coloring and thinking about how cool the shark was that he didn’t hear what was happening around him. It was when he was randomly pounced and let out a yell in fear that he knew that Horror had been creeping up on him. The slightly taller skeleton child picked him up and held Cross in a bear hug.

“Gotcha,” he chuckled as Cross squirmed.

“you’re a jerk!” Cross snapped as he was set back down. In that background, he heard Killer giggling away from where he was sitting with some Legos.

“sorry, was just bored,” Horror sighed as he patted Cross on the head.

No surprise, they all were. It had been a week since being here at Mr. Night’s castle. It was the times that Mr. Night was off doing his errands or working that were the dullest. There was a lot for Mr. Night to do. He was caring for them, for starters, and then he had all those animals he cared for. Then he had a job. When Cross asked if anyone helped him with his job, a moment of sadness appeared in the dark skeleton’s eyelight. He said he used to have help, but those who helped him could no longer assist. Cross asked if he could help, but Mr. Night patted him on the head and said ‘Maybe when you are older.’ There was such sorrow in his voice that Cross couldn’t forget how that sounded.

Dust was the only one who didn’t seem to mind these long periods of nothing to do. They had to be even longer for Dust, as he was often done with all the lessons Nightmare had for them before everyone else. So, he had to sit quietly and do something else while Mr. Night finished teaching the others. That one knew a lot of cool stuff and could do math easily.

Looking over, Cross saw Dust sitting by himself, reading a book that Nightmare had given him. After all, he had already read all the other books written for children their age. Still, he had to be lonely, too, right?

“let’s talk to dust!” Cross said.

Horror shrugged, and they walked over, Killer following along behind. Dust was as focused on the book as Cross had been on his coloring. Horror looked ready to pounce, but Cross grabbed the other’s shirt. Unlike the others, Dust seemed jumpy and nervous about new situations.

“hey, dust?” Cross asked, and Dust looked up at him, his eye lights shrinking nervously as he noticed the other two.

“yes?” Dust replied, his tone flat to hide the fear. Not wanting to scare him anymore, Cross decided to sit down. That way, the shorter of the four didn’t have to look up and feel like he was surrounded.

“i wanted to ask you something since you’re so smart!” Cross replied happily. “i wanted to know if your dad is really smart too, since you never talk about him.”

Dust looked down at his book for a moment, then back up at Cross. “i… i… uh… don’t like him, so i don’t want to talk about him.”

“you don’t like your dad?” Killer asked as he knelt by Cross. “why don’t you like him?”

Dust was quiet for a while, and Cross tilted his head, curious. “did he give you up? are you an orphan like i was before dad adopted me?”

“no…,” the other replied as his fingers idly flipped the corner of the pages. “i… my father, uh… mr. night says he was a bully and not a father… that i should just forget him.”

“whoa! really?” Killer asked.

Cross watched as Dust sat there quietly for a moment. He looked up at Cross, then Killer and Horror. “your dads taught you what a family was… right?” To that, Cross nodded. “well… he… the doctor… he never taught me the word father or family or other words or things you all know so easily. to him, i wasn’t his son. all he did was make me and then… stuff i don’t like… so…”

“wait, mr. night won’t return you to some mean bully who doesn’t think you’re his kid, right?” Horror asked, frowning.

To that, Dust shook his head. “mr. night says this is my home now.”

“good!” Killer loudly declared.

“yeah, you deserve someone nice for a dad!” Cross added. He then got an idea, “maybe mr. night can be your dad!”

“yeah! you should totally ask him to be your dad!” Killer insisted, approving of the idea.

“i don’t know… maybe?” Dust frowned. “not now… but after you all go home and it’s just us, i can ask.”

Horror moved over and sat next to Dust. “i think mr. night likes having us around and would be happy if you called him dad after we leave.”

“me too!” Killer said. “he seems so lonely and sad sometimes.

“ok,” Dust said quietly. He looked worried.

“something wrong?” Cross asked.

“well… i… don’t know what to do, so maybe i won’t,” Dust muttered.

“know what to do?” Killer asked, and Cross was confused about what Dust meant also.

Horror then wrapped an arm around Dust and picked up the shortest of them up. “enough talking, let’s play a game.”

“but dust is confused about something,” Cross protested.

“yeah? and i say the cave dragon is tired of answering questions,” Horror announced as he carried Dust from the corner he had been reading his book in.

“the cave dragon’s cave is in the kitchen,” Killer frowned.

“the cave dragon is no longer a tiny hatchling and needs more space and territory, right?” Horror asked Dust, who looked between everyone nervously. “see! he needs more… uh… experiences! learn about life and have a larger home.”

Horror stepped up on the stool by the bed and guided Dust to climb up. The smallest of them looked at everyone, looking confused. “this is…”

“your mountain home,” Horror announced with a smile.

Dust looked down for a moment, then whispered to Horror, though Cross was now close enough to hear, “what am i supposed to do now?”

Cross, ignoring the stool, climbed up on the bed. Dust and Horror watching him made his way as Cross said, “hang on, cave dragon dust!”

“look… i wanna play and will totally build a village for dusty to wreck and steal sheep from if he wants, but i’m hungry,” Killer frowned.

“hmmm… well, if we are careful, maybe nightmare won’t care if we grab some snacks from the kitchen?” Horror asked.

“he didn’t want us to leave the room…,” Dust said nervously.

“i know, but… i think he would understand. he said he wouldn’t be gone long, but it’s been a few hours,” Cross pointed out.

To that, Dust started to say something but stopped. He frowned and looked down for a moment and then shrugged.

“you two stay here; we’ll be back. that way, if he is mad, we aren’t all in trouble!” Killer announced before he grabbed Horror’s hand, and the two left the room.

Cross sat there and looked over the room from the bed as he kicked his feet over the side idly. Dust had his knees drawn up to his chest and was looking at nothing in particular, it seemed. The need to break the silence came over Cross, who was about to speak when Dust beat him to it, “what are sheep?”

“sheep?” Cross blinked as he looked at Dust, but the other just looked away. “their animals with big fluffy coats that monsters and humans raise. they cut off their fur coats to make clothes and stuff with.”

There was a pause for a moment after that, and then Cross asked, “hey, dust… what were you saying before?”

The other was quiet for a while, then looked at cross with his red eyelights. “horror was right… i don’t wanna answer any more questions.”

“oh…,” Cross replied.

“we are back!” Killer announced as he ran into the room. “we found chocolate!”

“chocolate?!” Cross grinned and slid off the bed.

As Killer and Cross opened the bag together, Dust watched, and Horror reentered the room. Horror grabbed some chocolate and joined Dust on the bed while Cross and Killer dug in. Chocolate… blessed chocolate! Cross grinned as he enjoyed the flavor with a big smile.

Looking over, he watched Dust investigate the chocolate piece Horror gave him. That is something Dust does when he hasn’t eaten something before. Now that Dust said his ‘dad’ was mean, it made sense why he hadn’t eaten so many things before. That was most likely why Mr. Night told him to take it slow with things he is unsure about and see what his magic tells him. Dust then put it in his mouth, and Cross saw his eye lights brighten.

“let’s make the chocolate loot and stuff for us and the cave dragon to find!” Killer announced.

“yeah!” Cross agreed and he worked with Killer to make a lego village of simple block houses to hid the chocolate in.

---

That took longer than expected. Nightmare leaned against the wall of his room as he tried to calm down. The truce with Dream seemed to have only angered others. Those others have learned to add positivity to their magic-made weapons. Who would have thought a simple shopping trip would have been interrupted by mercenaries out for him?

They notice his followers have been missing…

And Nightmare had been gone for too long.

With a sigh, Nightmare had to accept that at least he had some of his errands done and wouldl have to try another neutral AU later to go shopping. Regardless, their positive tainted weapons aren’t as powerful as Dream’s attacks, and the wounds were nearly healed.

He had to check on the boys.

Luckily, they were close, and he opened the door to their bedroom… to find them curled up on the floor. Nightmare would be worried if it were not for the bag of chocolate kisses, previously unopened and now empty, laying in the middle of them. “You all have belly aches?” Nightmare asked as he entered the room. The boys flinched except Dust, who looked utterly sick.

“it was soooo good,” Cross whined.

“It would have been better if you ate them in moderation,” Nightmare frowned as he grabbed some of the wrappers.

“what’s moderation mean?” Killer groaned.

“It means smaller amounts of things, for example, a few chocolates so you can enjoy them and not get sick,” Nightmare replied as a tendril started to tickle the immobile child.

Killer whined and swatted the limb away, “doooon’t, i’m gonna spew.”

…

As mad as he should be… he was just happy he was able to return home to them.

---

#UTMV #GoopTales #dadmare #nightmare!sans #killer!sans #cross!sans #horror!sans #dust!sans #badster #kids make bad choices sometimes #kids are bored #I need to try drawing 'cave dragon' dust #Poor papa noot

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bratshaws · 2 years

Text

goodness gracious 26. brb x oc

a/n: guys this chapter is 23 pages long, this is literally the longest chapter I've written in my LIFE!!! i hope you guys like it, because it's my favorite it really is. <333

check out the fic's playlist made by the sweet @wiipes !!

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

warnings: fluff uwu JUST FLUF GDI ILL DIE OF FLUFFF!!!!

chapters:

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/25

(pls let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!!)

taglist: @mirandastuckinthe80s @roosterschanelslut @wiipes @lcahwriter @shrimping-for-all @gretagerwigsmuse @frenchtoastix

@lizzie-rdj @fanboyluvr @atarmychick007 @comebacktoearthpls

@peachiicherries @mak-32 @lizziespidiepridie @roosterswifey @ollyoxenfrees @piceous21 @sqrlgrl22

“Okay so, let’s go back one more time, ready?” he nods, “Okay, go.”

“Whatever I do, I should not in any way shape or form think that your uncle Elia’s toupe is fake hair, in fact I should compliment the obvious mismatched color from his mustache. If I hear the word cazzo thrown in my direction I should check the person’s expression to see if they are talking bad about me or not. I will be spoken to in Italian, so my words should either be ‘si’, ‘no’ or ‘forse’, then laugh because they won’t be too confused that way.”

Beatrice smiled, adding a checkmark on her note app for each instruction she wrote down to help Rooster when meeting her family, while leaning back on the seat. They were on their way to the hotel, her stomach still squirmed with nerves upon seeing all her relatives in one place, but she was also extremely happy.

Rooster loved her. And that was more than enough to give her comfort. She knew it’d be complicated at first, it’ll be the first time her close -and distant family - will meet Bradley, he will be looked at like and questioned about who he is. They might even ask the origins of his last name since it’s clearly not Italian or Spanish.

“That sounds good.” she says, locking her phone to set it on her lap, inhaling a deep breath “I think we are okay for now.” he takes one of his hands away from the wheel to grab hers, interlacing their fingers together with a reassuring squeeze.

“We’ll be fine.” he says, still holding her hand with his eyes on the road, “We will just do our best to enjoy it, okay?” He sees her nodding on his peripheral, smiling before bringing her hand to his lips so he could smack a kiss on the back, “That’s my girl.”

While it was a nice sentiment, she could feel her stomach dropping even more when she saw the large hotel appearing into view. She sighed quietly, pushing herself deeper into the seat while clenching his hand in hers, her leg bouncing with nerves the closer they got. They followed Leo’s advice by coming around lunchtime, knowing they’ll be too busy being loud to notice them arriving, hopefully no one would wander around the lobby when they checked in.

The hotel was huge, an U shaped building with brick walls and a Mediterranean esque aesthetic with beiges and reds. Pine trees as big as the hotel itself adorned the entrance, the whole area reminded Beatrice of the villas her nonna would describe to her when she was younger, back in Sicily.

There was a valet outside who’d take the blue Bronco to a safe parking spot, Rooster hesitantly gave the young man the keys, watching his car be driven off to the hotel’s hidden parking area. She stood beside him, the two of them holding their respective bags of clothes watching the truck disappear from their vision, “It’ll be okay.” she tells him, “You’ll see it tomorrow.”

Rooster sighs, “I’ll still miss it though, I love that car.”

“I know,Roos.” she holds his hand after a while, clenching it for courage, “Well…I guess we should get inside.” her head turns to the large oak doors with engraved leaves, biting her lower lip, “Before I decide to run away after the valet and get the car back.” Beatrice closes her eyes, breathing in and out repeatedly for a couple seconds, before she forces her legs to move. Rooster still has his hand on hers as she leads them inside, the oak doors opening automatically for the two, exposing the lobby for their curious eyes.

The inside was so spacious, following the same Mediterranean aesthetic as the outside, dark colors and marble columns with lavish couches and a tail piano in the left corner. The tiles below their feet formed the figure of an angel holding a harp, surrounded by clouds and a light blue background.

After a few seconds admiring their surroundings, they approached the front desk only to find there was no one there. They look around, trying to find anyone, before Rooster presses the little bell on the counter twice, standing beside Bea with his other hand on her waist. A figure is seen hurrying over from beyond their line of vision, stopping by the other side only to fix their suit and hair, “I apologize,” the man says, clearing his throat, “I hope neither of you waited for too long.”

“No, we just got here.” Bea says, “We are here for the wedding.”

The poor man seemed to give her the most terrified look she’s ever seen, but he just cleared his throat once more, typing something on his computer, “Of course, yes, most of the guests are here…they are…quite a bunch.” if Beatrice focused hard enough she was sure she’d hear her relatives' loud voices coming from the dining area of the hotel “I’ll just need your names.” Beatrice almost felt bad when she told the man, who seemed to be shaky and nervous while typing, looking behind himself to grab a keycard, “There you go. Room 312. Would you like to have your bags taken?”

“No, we don’t have a lot of stuff.”

The poor man sighed in relief, she had a feeling a lot of her relatives brought more stuff than the hotel staff was expecting, “Of course, have a nice stay!”

Beatrice looked down at the keycard then back to Rooster, who just nodded for the two to march towards the elevators. While nearing it, Beatrice heard the voices getting louder and louder, the elevator had a direct hallway that led to the dining area. The glass doors were closed, but not even the frosty texture of the glass could hide the sheer amount of people inside.

She furrowed her eyebrows with worry, looking back at the elevator’s number going down with her lip being chewed on. God she hoped no one would be inside, no one she knew at least. When the doors opened she let out a heavy sigh of relief seeing it was empty, “Oh, thank God.” she said to herself, stepping in with Bradley and leaning against the mirror wall as the doors closed.

He hugs her to his chest, pressing a kiss to her scalp “You okay?”

“I’m nervous as fuck.” she confesses,hugging his waist while pressing her face to his chest, “But…as long as we manage to get in our room, without interruptions we will be fine.” She lifts her head to see the numbers go up until they stop on the third and last floor, peeking her head out once the doors part, Rooster doing the same right above her head, “Okay, we can go.” she says quietly, “Hopefully I won’t share the floors with some people.”

“Are these people the cousins you told me about?”

“Yes, the very ones.” she skims her eyes over every door to check the number, “Adriana,Melinda and Cristina, ugh, I can’t stand them. I know it sounds messed up, but they are the worst, just the worst! No one from my family likes them, we just endure their presence because it’s just…I don’t know, I guess expected.” she stops when she sees the 312 in bronze letters against the door “We’re here.”

She pushes the keycard against the sensor, the red light turns green and she pushes the door open, “Woah…” her aunt really didn’t mess around. Unlike the rest of the hotel, the room had a bit of a modern flair to it, with lighter colors that made the room appear even more spacious than it was.

A queen sized bed with cream colored covers adorned with florentine flowers was tucked on the left side of the room against the wall, the glass shade lamps that were on top of the white side tables close to the bed had tiny flowers on them. The same lamp stood on the opposite corner albeit bigger, next to a desk with a comfortable looking chair and a large dresser. Close to the desk was a round top glass door, large as the room itself that led to a small balcony and on the other wall was a window that followed the same shape.

Rooster whistled low, dropping his duffel bag to the wooden floor to check the balcony doors, opening it to step outside, “Damn, Bea, check the view!” he calls, which promptly makes his girlfriend walk closer to him. They could see the pool area of the hotel, which thankfully had none of her relatives swimming in, but past beyond the pool, where the stone floor became grass they could see the vineyards. It went long past where the eyes could see, but there was a clearing where they both could see a large house.

“That’s where the ceremony will happen.” she points to the clearing past the vineyards, “And the party if I am not wrong. I mean, the whole bottom part of the hotel will be used as the party.” she looked down back where the pool was, seeing glass doors that directed right to it, movement seen from the inside. The dining room was there. Beatrice inhales deeply,rubbing her hands together when she feels the nerves return, so she decides to walk back inside.

Rooster takes his eyes away from the miles of grapevines to look back at Beatrice, who sat down on the bed with her head in her hands. He pushes himself off from the black railing, removing his sunglasses as he enters the room, “Hey.” he calls softly, making the brunette look up at him with worried eyes, “It’ll be okay.” she didn't reply, she furrowed her eyebrows only to look down at her hands clenched between her thighs.

He sits down next to her with a sigh, touching his shoulder with hers gently, “Babe, look at me,” she doesn’t, so he cups her chin to turn her face his way, “Bea, it’ll be okay, we’ll be fine.” he couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t nervous himself but he wouldn’t allow his fears to disturb Bea even more, “Don’t you want to let your brother know we’re here?”

“Oh.” she completely forgot, “Oh,I did say I’d do that didn’t I?” he nods, watching her pull out her phone and stare at the screen for a few seconds, the message app open as she stares at it, “What if my dad is nearby when he gets the message? He will blurt it out immediately.” She sends him a look, but Rooster just smiles then nods his head for her to go on.

Bea (12:44)

Leo, we’re here. Do not open this if dad’s nearby!Please.

Her brother’s reply shows up in seconds.

Leo (12:44)

I’m honored you trust me so much. Relax, he’s talking to cousin Lorenzo right now. What room are you guys in?

Bea (12:45)

312. We just got here.

Leo(12:45)

Oh boy, just three rooms down from the Bitch Trio! Lucky you! I’ll meet you guys in a bit, Cyn is taking Bibi on a walk.

Bea (12:46)

Are you serious?? They are on my floor?

Leo (12:47)

Oh they sure are, but they are down in the dining area right now, so you guys will be okay for a while. I’ll let you know when I come up.

Beatrice dropped the phone on her lap, glaring at the little device with a fury it'd definitely melt if she could. She sighs heavily, falling back on the bed with the phone being tossed onto the pillow as she stares up at the ceiling with her jaw clenched, “He’s coming over in a few.” she says, rubbing her face with both hands, pressing her fingers against her eyes with a groan, “I can’t believe they are on my floor.”

Rooster lies down next to her after kicking his shoes off, pulling one of her hands off her eyes, “Your cousins?” she nods, back to glowering at the white colored ceiling, her lips curled down into a scowl he’s never seen her wear before, “What are the chances they’ll bother us?”

“Once they see you?” she sends him a look “Huge.”

Rooster chuckles at her intonation, not being able to help himself, “We’ll be able to take care of them. You’ll see.”

“Yeah…I guess.” she sighs, rolling to her side to bury her face on his neck, which makes him wrap his arms around her, tucking her close to him. She inhales his cologne so she calms herself down, trying to bury the thoughts of her annoying cousins with that scent, with his scent and his warmth and his love.She smiled against his chest, enjoying the sound of the winds outside and the brush of the pine trees against the higher parts of the hotel walls, her relatives’ voices becoming less and less prominent as time went by.

Their reverie however was ceased when there were knocks on their door, Beatrice’s head shooting up immediately. She grabbed her phone to check if Leonardo sent her a message but there was nothing…oh no. What if it wasn't Leonardo behind the door? Her father maybe? Guillermo??

“Bea,I’d like for you to open the door before you-know-who sees me??”

Leo. Oh thank God.

She hurried out of the bed, Rooster sitting up and fixing himself so he’d look decent in front of her brother. Beatrice unlocked the door, her brother giving her a look with his eyes wide, “I’m sorry, you didn’t message me.” She stepped back so he could enter, noticing he was holding a plastic bag in his hands.

“Dad was hovering by when I was about to, I just got out before he asked me things.” he set the plastic bag on the desk, “Got you guys some snacks, if you don’t want to eat it you can put it in the mini freezer.” Leonardo looked up at Bradley when he got closer, giving the pilot a short smile, “So, thrown in the eye of the hurricane huh?”

Rooster smiles wryly, “I’ve been in worse situations.” he says, leaning his lower back against the desk with his hands in his pockets as Beatrice approaches the two, opening the bag to check inside, “I’ll be fine.”

Leonardo arched his eyebrows, “Damn, I wish I had that confidence when talking to my family.” he chuckles, running his fingers through his hair, pulling it into a ponytail by using the elastic band on his wrist “Well, I just wanted to let you guys know that everything will start around six, Bea will have to get down there around five thirty since she’s one of the bridesmaids, so I’ll guide you through Mordor in the meantime.”

Bradley sends a look to Beatrice, smiling at the reference and figuring out where Beatrice got some of her interests from, “Sounds good. Should I meet you or will you come here?”

“Eh, I’ll come here, you will be seen either way.” Leonardo shrugs, crossing his tattooed arms over his chest, “Just don’t freak out, everyone’s eyes will be on you and I don’t want to scare you,” he turns to Bea then, holding up a hand, ‘But dad already knows.”

Beatrice blinks, “What? How??”

“He went to the parking lot to check something and saw Bradley’s car. You know dad is good at identifying vehicles, it’s the only one he hasn’t connected to a friend or a family member.” He offers his sister a weak shrug and Bea sighs heavily, dropping her head forward, “He just walked in with no reaction, if that helps.”

“It…does a little I guess.” she murmurs, mirroring Rooster’s pose by pressing her lower back against the desk, crossing her arms under her bust, “And the others are already here yeah?” Leo nods, “...did you see Gui?”

“How can someone not see Guillermo? That behemoth could be seen from orbit.” her older brother says with a roll of his eyes, “He’s here, he’s just hovering around like a ghost and using the shadows in his favor. He probably already knows you are here too.” but Leonardo sends a look to both of them after looking down at his watch, “Listen I gotta go, Bibi is going to nap soon and I’ll have to be around in case she wakes up…so I’ll come back later.”

Beatrice thanks her brother, walking to open the door for him as Rooster follows close by. She’s surprised to see Leo offer his hand to Rooster in a ‘bro’ handshake as he’d like to call it, not being able to hold back her smile when her boyfriend shook it with the two men bumping together in a hug before Leonardo stepped back onto the hallway.

He looked around for a second, then sent the two a double thumbs up and a small smile, then walked out of view. Beatrice closed the door with a dull slam, pressing her forehead against the wood for a few seconds, “Okay.” she whispers, pushing herself back to look at Bradley, “Okay, we have a plan.”

Rooster wraps his arms around her shoulder to tuck her against his side, dropping his head to kiss her scalp, “We do, we’ll be fine.” he whispers, “Now, what do you want to do until then?”

Beatrice blinks slowly, breathing in deeply, “Honestly…I think a nap could work, after we set our clothes up.” she says, yesterday’s activities and her anxiety this morning tired her out a bit, her body begging for at least a short rest.

He chuckled, “Sure gorgeous.” the two of them walking to their respective bags to pull out the formal outfits they’d wear. He took a glimpse of her dress, a beautiful color that’d look great on her skin as she hung it by the dresser. She took a few seconds admiring his own outfit, a gray two piece suit with a peach colored shirt - amazingly not Hawaiian - with thin white stripes on it.

She couldn’t help but stare, “I thought you only had Hawaiian shirts.” she says with genuine surprise, making him toss his head back in a ‘hah!’ as he sets his shoes right under the hanging outfit,”I’m serious, I had no idea you had other types.”

“I’m a man of many surprises.”

“And many Hawaiian shirts.”

Rooster narrows his eyes playfully, placing his big hand over her face, “Sleep.” he says, her laugh sputtering against his palm, before she hugs him tightly. She yawns softly, with him following close behind,deciding they should finally take their nap since they were done fixing their outfits.

He turns the two of them to the large bed, massive really, bigger than their own combined, watching as she just fell face first on the mattress. Climbing right behind her, he sighed softly when his head touched the comfortable pillow. It didn’t smell like lavender, unfortunately, but it was nice.

“Hey,” he heard her say, her hair tangled in front of her eyes, but her smile was bright, “I love you.”

He’d never get tired of hearing that from her, never. Rooster’s gaze softened, his big hand cupping her cheek, “I love you too, pretty girl.” she made a happy noise, scooting closer to him so her chin was tucked against his chest, wrapping her arms around his torso the best she could while his own held her waist.

He didn’t know how long it took for his own eyes to flutter shut but the rise and fall of Beatrice’s ribs and her even breathing lulled him to a peaceful slumber. They slept for a while, neither of them dreamed but also neither of them let go of one another, even when changing positions they’d be touching the other. His hand on her back when she slept on her stomach, or her arm draped over his hips as he moved to his side.

She had set an alarm for them in case they overslept, which they did, waking up startled when the alarm rang loudly. Bea groaned, turning it off and checking the time, “We should start getting ready, do you want to go first?” she asks, to which Rooster yawns but nods, sitting up on the bed with a grunt, stretching his arms up to the ceiling pushing himself upwards.

Beatrice yawns a bit more, rubbing her eyes with her palm heel, looking over her shoulder as Rooster disappear behind the bathroom door, “Bea!We got a bathtub!” comes his excited, and awake, shout from the closed bathroom. She chuckles, neither of them entered the bathroom when they got there considering they had a bathroom break at a gas station minutes away from the hotel.

“Yeah?” she calls, standing up from the bed to open her bag, picking her makeup and toiletries from the inside.

“Yeah!” his head pokes out of the bathroom door, “It’s huge. I think you could fit like seven people in it.” he was exaggerating of course, but it was pretty big, disappearing back inside “And a nice shower too!”

She hears the water running, shaking her head fondly at how stoked he sounded from the inside of the bathroom. While waiting for her turn, she couldn’t help but tense up when she heard three known voices walking down the hall, the cackling and nasal tones being easy to figure out immediately. The voices got louder, approaching her door and she thought for a moment they’d knock on it, but thankfully they did not.

However she did hear her name being said, then another round of cackling followed, a cackling that got fainter and fainter as they walked away. Beatrice bit her lower lip hard, the triplets were always spoiled little brats, daughters of her aunt Regina who succumbed to their every whim. They always complained about something, someone, somewhere, they lived for gossip and adored pointing other people’s flaws only to add a ‘just saying’ at the end to make it seem there wasn’t anything wrong with it. Being less than charming to her and her brothers’ partners.

They were also thirsty bitches who couldn’t fucking handle a new man into the family, they’d immediately try and figure more about him. They did that when her sisters’ husbands entered the family. She chuckled at the memory of Marina pulling them to the side and pinning them down with her eyes, her sister was always the more hot headed of all of them, snarling down at her cousins to “get the fuck away from her man” or else she’d make sure that their freshly bought teeth would be down their throats.

The triplets stopped messing with Derek, but then started complaining about how Marina was taking too long to have a child of her own to their mother. Which then evolved into a full blown argument between her father and his youngest sister, who didn’t seem to understand why he’d be so upset. She remembered how her dad drove them all home early that night, but he got back on talking with aunt Regina when the week was over.

Blood is thicker than water after all.

They did try the same with Aaron, to which Sabrina clearly wasn’t happy with. Her sister, instead of dealing with the triplets, went to their mother and let her know - in the calmest voice possible - that they were acting oddly around Aaron. Once again, obviously, her aunt took the triplets’ side and brushed it off as them just joking around. Ever since then everyone just chose to ignore them the best they could…but Beatrice wasn’t sure she’d be able to do it.

Bradley was her boyfriend, the man she loved and she was going to defend him if needed be. She’d just…warn her aunt in case anything happened. Hopefully it wouldn’t get to that.

She looked up when the bathroom door opened and he stepped out, now the suit was on his body and he looked so nice. He fixed the shoulders of the coat with a shrug, running his hands down the peach colored fabric of his shirt - the first few buttons undone and showing the golden skin and just a bit of his chest hair - then patting his pants. He met her wandering gaze with a grin, “So?” he holds the jacket open, “How do I look?”

Beatrice blinked, sitting on her knees as a slow smile formed on her face “You look amazing.” she then remembered something he said on Halloween night “You really do look great in a suit.”

Rooster’s cheek dimpled in a cheeky grin, dropping the coat so it’d flap down his torso, “I do don’t I?” he repeats, coming closer to her with the grace of a big cat, almost crawling on top of Beatrice, “I clean up very well.”

She smiles, pressing her lips to his in a quick smack, “You do.” she rolls off the bed however, grabbing her makeup bag,toiletries and the dress, rushing to the bathroom, “I’ll go get ready, if Leo shows up you can go, I’ll lock the room.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah,I’ll take a while to get ready, Roos.” she says while putting her things on the sink, wow that was a big bathtub, before walking out to kiss his lips. He hums happily, tugging her closer to himself, his cologne invading her nose as a smile formed over her lips, “I’ll see you downstairs, okay?” she says once they break apart.

The corner of his mouth lifts in a little smirk, “Okay.” he holds her hand for a second, hesitating on letting go until she was already inside the bathroom. He dropped his arm to his side, watching the door close and lock, before he heaved out a breath. He walked to the balcony, leaning his weight over the railing to check the outside.

It was nearing nighttime now, the structure in the distance lighting up as he saw groups of people walking out of the hotel. That’s a whole lot of people, Beatrice wasn’t kidding when she said her family was big. Rooster inhaled deeply, closing his eyes to give himself a pep talk.

He’d be fine. He just had to be himself and not mess up.

The knock on the door makes him look over his shoulder, walking back into the room after closing the balcony’s doors. He pressed the keycard to the little sensor, unlocking the door and opening it to reveal Leonardo outside. His attire wasn’t that different from Rooster’s: a light colored suit with a patterned shirt, but this one had tiny guitars on it and was a dark blue color, “Hey, you ready?”

“Yeah, as ready as I could be.” he replies, setting the keycard on the desk where Bea could find it, stepping out on the hallway as the door locks automatically. He huffs a breath, seeing people coming out of the rooms on the far end of the hall, fixing his suit jacket one more time, “Okay.”

“Alright, follow me.” but instead of going to the elevators, Leonardo takes him to the flight of stairs on the opposite side, “ The elevators will be packed, this is a lot faster amazingly.” he explains, the two men going down the steps where Rooster hears the constant talking coming from the floors below. Some others had the same idea of Leo, going down the stairs and staring when Bradley walked past them, muttering to themselves.

Reaching the lobby, he sees the whole bulk of Beatrice’s family going out through the sliding doors that led to the pool. Some of them followed the social casual suggestion Beatrice's aunt gave them, while others looked like they were ready to go to the opera or to a fancy ball. He tried to keep his eyes on Leonardo, but he couldn't help the fleeting looks he’d send to the people around him, even meeting some of the guest’s eyes since they were already staring at him.

“Alright, now we walk through the vineyards.” Leo points ahead, “There’s a few pathways that lead to the clearing. We just gotta choose the one that looks empty.” Beatrice’s brother looks over his shoulder when he sees the Bitch Trio is in the crowd already, “Pick up the step.”

Bradley doesn’t even question, he does as Leonardo says without looking back. He has never entered a vineyard before and he’s amazed at the trelices surrounding him when they enter the path with less people. The grapes were full and ripe, going from rich maroon to deep purple, some smaller than the others, but the smell was incredible.

Since they were the only ones in this path, Bradley chose to ask Leonardo a few things, “Can I ask you something?” Leo hums, much like Beatrice does “What does your aunt do, exactly? Bea never told me.”

“Ah well.” he chuckles and gestures to the vineyard around them, “This.” Bradley furrows his eyebrows “She owns this vineyard. And the hotel.”

“...no way.”

“Oh way,” Leonardo laughs, “Well, her and uncle Sebastian own the winery.While our cousins Luna and David take care of the hotel. They had this place for years, they first had the winery -which is where we are going to have the celebration - and then built the hotel.”

Bradley looks back at the large U shaped hotel with amazement, “But, Bea said your aunt is a bit of a uh–”

“Hippie? Flower child? A free spirit? A witch?” Leonardo adds, still laughing, “She is, but she’s also an amazing businesswoman. She knows more about money than anyone else in the family, she built this from scratch and no one really believed it’d work.” The winery gets bigger the closer they get to it, the voices getting louder as well, “But now she’s won I don’t know how many prizes worldwide by having good quality wine at a low price.”

They stepped out of the vineyard onto the clearing, where people were taking their seats on their respective chairs. There were so many people he thought he got dizzy from looking so much. The white carpet runner stood out from the grassy ground, creating an aisle that led to large trees in the distance with branches that conjoined almost as if it was a hug. There were fairy lights hanging from the branches and on the wooden poles that surrounded the seating area, colorful flower arrangements adorning the back chairs.

“Come on, you are sitting with us.” Leonardo says, walking around the chairs towards the third line. Rooster looked up briefly, meeting the eyes of some of the guests, but especially a man with graying black hair who stopped fixing his tie to stare him down. Leonardo looked in the same direction, “Ah, yeah, that’s our dad. He’s walking our aunt down the aisle so don’t worry about it too much.”

Rooster tried to fight back the chill going down his spine when he met Beatrice’s father's unreadable gaze, but the older man just moved his head away to go back to chatting with the relatives around him. Leonardo stopped at a row, where a blonde woman seated by the final chairs smiled at them, “Finally.” she stood up to her feet, lifting the ends of her light green dress, “Took you guys long enough.”

“We had to take the scenic route.” Leonardo looks back at Bradley, “My wife Cynthia.”

“Hi, it’s so nice to finally meet you!” Cynthia smiles, shaking his hand, “Bibi told us so much about you.”

Rooster chuckles, “Oh, she did huh?” He drops his hand after Cynthia is done shaking it, following the couple through the line of chairs to sit down next to Leonardo and his wife, trying to not look behind himself but definitely feeling eyes on the back of his head already. Since the three of them are on the inner side of the group of chairs, Brad had a good view of his surroundings.

More people seated to his left, the one closest to him was a man in his mid forties with the same characteristics of both Beatrice and Leonardo. Light green eyes moved his way, the stubble on the man’s cheeks seemed to sharpen his already high cheekbones, “Ah, finally we meet.” his voice is deeper than Leonardo’s but there’s no malice in it, “You are Bea’s boyfriend are you not?” Rooster nods, the other man’s large hand coming into view, “Michael, the best brother. Nice to meet you.”

Rooster shakes his hand firmly, giving him a smile, “Bradley,nice to meet you too.”

Michael’s hair was wavy but shared the same chestnut color and length with Leonardo’s, part of his hair held up in a half bun with some graying by the temples, his suit a dark blue with a white and yellow floral shirt underneath. There was a tattoo on his throat, apparently a dragon and Bradley noticed his nose was deformed, like when you get beaten on the face several times alongside a scar that cut diagonally on the right eyebrow touching his upper eyelid.

“The best brother?” Leonardo’s voice comes from behind Rooster, “Since when?”

“I am the best looking one.” Michael says with a smile, “So therefore, I’m the best brother. Don’t listen to him, he knows nothing.” he says, the back of his hand hitting Rooster on the chest in what he could assume was a casual bump,but the pilot held back a cough at the impact. Michael, like Guillermo, was taller than he was and clearly bigger than he was too.

He was used to being one of the tallest in the room, he is a bit unsure how to react with having someone else tower over him. Especially when he saw a massive body moving to the second row of chairs that made him tense up, his eyes meeting Guillermo’s as he stepped aside to let a shorter woman and a group of teenagers walk in first - his family no doubt. They stared at each other for a while and to his surprise, Guillermo nodded in his direction as a greeting which made Bradley repeat the motion.

It wasn’t a handshake, but it was a start.

Michael watched with interest, “I think I saw a smile,” he begins, “Or he’s constipated. Either way, not bad.” he smirks, leaning back onto his chair with his legs crossed by the ankle. Rooster laughed quietly, relaxing his shoulders just a bit and in turn making the other brother chuckle, “Nervous huh?”

“I’m only human.”

“Yeah…you drink?”

Rooster looks back at Michael who had his arms crossed over his broad chest, “I do, yeah.”

“Ever had grappa?” the pilot shakes his head negatively, making a smile spread over Michael’s mouth, “Ohoho, nice. You’ll drink a lot of it tonight.”

Amazingly, talking with Michael and Leonardo wasn’t bad, they were actually helping him loosen up a little. Even if he sometimes could feel Guillermo’s eyes on him from his own seat, he wasn’t as tense as before. He dragged his eyes to the groom, Sebastian, a man much shorter than everyone else with a receding red haired hairline and freckles, skinny as a twig. Michael told him that his aunt Martha and Sebastian were married on paper ever since 1981 and they decided to have this ceremony after they both turned sixty-five.

That was the age that Bea’s father shared with his twin sister. Now, he was a bit far from Bradley but there was no way he’d consider the man to be older than fifty, especially with that amount of hair. He wondered if it was like Mav who looked the same as he remembered when he was much younger.

Time passed fast, enough for them to rise and watch as the flower girls walked in. He had no idea who the first two were, but he knew Bianca. With her poofy light blue dress and the flower crown on her head, she looked like a little pixie without wings. Unlike the first two girls who seemed almost shy, Bianca was twirling and tossing flower petals in the air, grabbing a handful and letting it go with a loud ‘Ya!’.

Cynthia was filming her daughter with a smile, while Leonardo looked extremely proud, “Hi mommy! Hi daddy!’ she says as she walks past them, waving happily “Hi uncle Mikey! Hi Prince Rooster!” Bradley’s cheeks heat up, the eyes return to him when she says hello but he couldn’t help but smile, returning her wave with one of his own. He did straighten up when he saw the bridesmaids approaching alongside the groomsmen.

The groomsmen went in first, a mix and match of younger and older gentlemen wearing white shirts with green suspenders, a large pink flower on their breast pocket. But the bridesmaids, that was a completely different story. The dresses were all shades of peach or light yellow with bell sleeves, a low cut that dipped down to the sternum and slits on both sides of their thighs - but not high enough to be scandalous.

On top of every bridesmaid’s head were flower crowns, the flower shades went from dark wine colored to mustard yellow, tiny white flowers with dark green leaves mixed in between them. But he wasn’t really caring much about the outfits, unless it was Beatrice wearing. “Holy shit.” was his quiet response when he saw the brunette walk by. She sent a look his way when she heard his voice and smiled sweetly, the make up she was wearing was nothing fancy so it showed the red of her cheeks.

His head turned, following her until she walked up with the other bridesmaids, her short haired sister sending a look towards him before she neared closer to Beatrice’s ear. His girlfriend just blushed harder, giving her older sister a subtle whack on the arm with the back of her hand.

Rooster swears he tried to look back to where the bride was, he did, but his eyes kept going back to Beatrice looking even more stunning than she already was. He should probably thank her aunt for choosing the dress, his eyes dropping to the slit on both thighs and to the low cut that showed her cleavage. When he turned his eyes back to her aunt, he was surprised to see her giving him a look with a little smile, then shaking her brother’s arm as they walked down the aisle.

He doesn’t know what that meant, that little shake, but he couldn’t help but feel like Bea’s aunt was trying to help it out with her dad. Beatrice’s father turned his eyes briefly from the aisle to where Bradley stood, his light brown eyes appearing darker behind his glasses lenses, but he showed no reaction.

When they sat down and the ceremony began, he felt a tiny hand touch his. He looked to his right, seeing Bianca was seated on Leonardo’s lap and was reaching for his hand. Rooster blinked with a smile, turning his palm up for her to see. Bianca smiled, the little fist she had hidden behind her back appeared and she placed a blue colored stone on it “For you.” she whispered, “It’s magical.”

Rooster looked down at the round stone, chuckling quietly, “Thank you,I’ll keep it safe.” His response was enough for the five years old to grin and swing her legs on her father’s lap, busying herself with a flower petal that got stuck on the tulle fabric of her dress, clearly not caring about the ceremony nor the priest talking.

He slipped the stone inside his breast pocket, leaning back on his seat with his eyes already on Beatrice. She turned her gaze to the crowd from her seat next to the other bridesmaids, trying to hold back her smile when she saw him looking already, biting her lower lip to change her focus back to the bride and groom. Michael noticed the exchange but said nothing, just pursed his lips with a smile of his own, leaning back on his seat with his elbow over the chair’s top rail.

The ceremony was beautiful and honestly very charming to watch. The crowd clapped and cheered when the couple finally kissed, Bea’s aunt picking her husband from the floor since she was much taller than he was but he didn’t seem to care. As she puts him down, she tells the crowd to walk up to the winery where the party would happen, disappearing with her husband on the opposite side to change out of her long white dress.

Rooster and the others stood up, walking out of the chairs to where they could step on grass, waiting for the bridesmaids to come down. Beatrice smiled brightly when she got closer, “Hi,” she says, removing the flower crown from her head and fixing her hair, “How was it?”

“It was really nice,” he says, plucking a tiny leaf sticking to her forehead, flicking it aside, “You look beautiful.”

Beatrice’s cheeks flushed once more, but she smiled while taking his hand. Both her brothers were looking their way, with Bianca wriggling on Leonardo’s arms “I wanna go with auntie!” she announces, letting out a triumphant squeal when Leonardo finally puts her down. She rushed over, shoes no longer on her feet, latching her hand to Beatrice’s free one.

“Okay,” Leonardo says, “I’m hurt but I’ll live. We should go to the party, get our seats.”

Leonardo and Cynthia walk ahead, with Michael leisurely following behind with his hands in his pockets. Meanwhile, Beatrice, Rooster and Bianca follow the three out of the clearing and onto a stony path that led to the winery. The fairy lights continued as they walked up, the wooden poles now adorned with the same flowers from the bridesmaids crowns at the bottom.

The winery itself wasn’t huge, but followed the same Villa aesthetics from before with reds and beiges as well as pine trees like the hotel. The stony path turned into a large patio with several tables, a stage on the further corner where a DJ was setting up the playlist for the night as waiters walked by. Each table had the same flower arrangement, a bottle of wine and a glass bottle of water, the mustard-maroon color theme continued on the tablecloth and napkins.

Bianca tugged at her aunt with as much force as a five year old could drag both a twenty nine years old woman and a thirty six years old man, which wasn’t a lot, trying to get to their table. She gave up after a while, allowing her aunt to take her instead, picking her up and placing her on the soft chair, with her niece squealing happily.

Beatrice looked up at Rooster when he pulled the chair for her, “Thank you,Roos.” He just smiles, watching her sit down before he does the same next to her. Michael sits on Rooster’s right while Leonardo and Cynthia sit to Bea’s, next to where their daughter was. With most of the guests already seated, all they had to do now was wait.

But Bea’s eyes stopped at her father, who was not too far from them, talking to her uncles Roberto and Elia. She still wasn’t able to figure out a reaction out of him, but she did see how he’d move his gaze to their table every once in a while. She gave him a small smile, even if her insides churned with nerves, surprising herself when he smiled back for a millisecond.

She moved her gaze around, seeing her sisters on another table and then the Bitch Trio who was already looking their way. The three women were clearly staring at Bradley, trying to get some type of eye contact from the pilot but without success. Beatrice’s body warmed with fury, her hand immediately clasping around his under the table, interlacing their fingers together. Rooster was talking to Michael but he immediately squeezed her hand, rubbing the pad of his thumb against her knuckles.

Beatrice’s shoulders relaxed, her eyes lifting to meet the triplets in a silent warning. She hadn’t moved her gaze away until they did, rolling their eyes and laughing to each other. The brunette bit her lower lip hard, holding back a curse she’d thrown their way, choosing to instead take a large gulp of water so she wouldn’t let it past her lips.

As the night went by, Beatrice couldn’t help but smile when she noticed how her brothers were getting along with Rooster. Sure, neither of them were part of the Navy or any sort of military, but their personalities just worked surprisingly well. They were all sharing weird stories of their own childhoods, even if Bradley wasn’t specific with his own, of their own troublemaking years.

She brought the wine glass to her lips with a smile, watching Michael gesture wildly with his own glass as he recalled the time they all went to Sicily and they were stuck on the cable car over Mt.Etna for fifteen minutes, with Leonardo thinking they’d all die, “Little Bitty was probably five at the time.”

Rooster furrowed his eyebrows, “Little bitty?”

“Yeah, that’s Beatrice’s nickname.” Leonardo smiles, “We’ve been calling her that since she was born.”

Bradley turned his head to face her, “You never told me that it was your nickname.” Beatrice just shrugs with a tiny smile on her face, “It’s really cute.”

Bea rolled her eyes, cutting a piece of the roasted vegetables in her plate, bringing it up to her mouth, “She was a tiny baby,” Michael explains, even if his eyes somber a little, “So our dad thought it’d be fitting to call her that.”

Rooster noticed how the three siblings shared a sad glance with one another, but it was soon covered up by smiles as Michael recalled some other story from their childhood. They continue their chat without issues, but Michael’s light green eyes looked over his shoulder to where he could hear the cacophony of Italian coming from behind, “Come on, you gotta meet our cousins.” he tells Bradley after chugging the last drops of wine and standing to his feet, “Come on Leo, you too.”

Rooster sent Beatrice a look, but she just nodded with a smile. “I’ll be right back.” he says, pecking her lips quickly, doing that for the first time since they got to the wedding party. He fixed himself the best he could before walking with Michael and Leonardo to a group of men laughing amongst each other.

Cynthia,Beatrice and Bianca were left alone, with his brother’s wife sending her sister in law a look,”He’s crazy for you.” she begins, “You should’ve seen the way he was looking at you when you were with Martha.”

“I’m crazy for him too, Cyn,” she confesses with a smile, “I just want people to like him, you know? He’s so wonderful.”

“Well, the boys like him already.” Cynthia says, nodding in the direction of the group of men not too far from where they sat “I think that’s a good start.”

And indeed it was a good start.

One of Beatrice’s Italian cousins, an aviator for the Italian Navy called Umberto, took great interest in Rooster’s own experience. And Rooster was happy to share some information with him, the two men immediately getting along with their stories of deployment. Umberto’s thick Italian accent didn’t deter the chatting, the other male cousins joining in soon after.

“I feel weird standing here,” Michael says when the two aviators are in deep conversation, but he’s grinning, “It’s like watching the popular kids talk.”

“Yeah,” Leonardo chuckles, watching Rooster and Umberto share a laugh at something that clearly was Navy related, “I mean, it’s still cool, right?” he looks back to where their little sister sat, sipping on her wine, “She looks happy.”

Michael turns his gaze to Beatrice as well, with a little smile, “She does. He isn’t a bad guy. I like him.”

“She’s worried Guillermo or dad won’t like him.” Michael rolls his eyes, digging his hands in his dark blue pants pockets “I mean, you know how they are.”

“Fuck’s sake, she’s almost thirty.” Michael hisses quietly to his younger brother, looking to where Guillermo was seated with his wife, “They keep doing this shit, she’s just going to back away from them more and more. Guillermo isn’t dad, and dad isn’t going to bring back younger Beatrice into this life…I know why he does it, but he should really give her a chance to live her life.”

“Yeah,I know.”

Michael tsks, “Enough chit chatting!” he swings his arm over Bradley’s shoulders, breaking the conversation between him and Umberto, “My dear cousins, did you know Bradley never had grappa?” The men surrounding them gasped and then laughed, some of them even clapping their hands “I think he needs to try at least once.”

It’s another cousin, Bruno, that runs towards the bar and grabs a bottle of grappa from the bartender before the man could stop him, alongside shot glasses before he rushes back, “Drink!”

The commotion from the male cousins calls Guillermo’s attention, who stands up from his table to walk silently towards the group. He shouldn’t be surprised they are all in a circle drinking grappa, nor that it was Bruno who held the bottle refilling everyone’s glass. His eyes move to Bradley who is laughing and tossing the shot back while making a face.

Another presence stands besides him, he looks down to see his father close by, “Go back to your seat, Guillermo.” his oldest son furrows his eyebrows, “They are drinking, you do not drink, there’s no reason for you to stay.”

“But, papá–” his father just gives him a look that shuts him up, the larger man frowning but backing away to his seat. Rafael takes his son’s place, his suit jacket no longer on his shoulders, his light blue dress shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he got closer,casually, with his hands in his pockets.

His nephews and sons were already ruffling Bradley’s hair and laughing with him, which made a little smile form on his face. He clears his throat once, the laughing dies down immediately, the group of over ten men get immediately quiet, “I hate to break the fun,” he pulls one of his hands out of his pockets, “But I’d like to speak with Bradley. Alone.”

Michael who still had his arm around Bradley’s shoulders slowly backs away, Leonardo gives the pilot a weak smile and an even weaker thumbs up. Bradley looks up to where Beatrice’s father was, fixing his suit and his hair. The cousins parted like the Red Sea for Rafael to pass through, giving Bradley a nod back towards the vineyards, “Walk with me, Bradley.”

“Yes, sir.” he says without missing a beat, the honorific making Rafael look at him with amusement as the younger man follows him away from the party and towards the vineyards. They walk for a few minutes until they are distant enough, the wind making the thick mane of black hair on Rafael’s head move periodically.

Rafael stops in front of Bradley, his hands no longer in his pockets as his arms are crossed over his chest, then turns around, “So,” he begins,”How do you like the party?”

“It’s very nice, sir.” he says, “I am enjoying it a lot

.”

Rafael hums, dropping his head to look at his shoes then back up, “Good, good. I am glad you are…but that’s not why I brought you here and I think you know that.” Rooster inhaled sharply but nodded his head, “...I want to know what your intentions are with my daughter.” He said firmly, the glasses he wore hiding his eyes from Bradley’s view since they were far away from light that wasn’t the moon.

Rooster licked his lips, the taste of grappa still lingers, but he’s sober enough to answer, “I want to make her happy, Mr.Schiavoni.” He says honestly, watching the older man’s shoulders tense up, “She means a lot to me.”

“She means a lot to me too, ragazzo.” he says with his arms still crossed, “More than you could ever imagine.” Rooster clenched his jaw, feeling the subtle threat underneath Beatrice’s father’s words as the two stood in front of each other with the party music pumping in the distance.

“I know, sir.” Bradley says in a quiet voice, “I’d never hurt her.”

“Her other boyfriend said the same thing.” Rafael spits it out with venom, his nostril curling with disgust, “You are an aviator, no? You get deployed, you are sent away from my tesoro. How will I be sure you won’t hurt her the same way? Hm?”

Rooster’s eyebrows crinkled in offense, his fists clenched by his sides as he tried to come up with a reply that wouldn’t unnerve the older man. If he messed up with her dad, he doesn’t think only her cousins’ support would help him out. “I don’t have any reason to do that. No matter if I was deployed or not.” her father just looks at him with his eyes narrowed, “She didn’t deserve what she went through.”

“No. She did not.” Rafael says with a heavy toned voice, placing his hands on his hips as he looks up at the moon, “You met her at this bar she works with, this…Hard Deck, did you think she was an easy catch?” Bradley’s head recoils in surprise, his eyes widening, “Because she was a new girl there?’

“I did not think she was an easy catch, Mr. Schiavoni. I didn’t see Beatrice as a catch, she’s not an object to be caught.” he couldn’t help but grit out the words, anger bubbling inside of him, “I thought she was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” woman, not girl, words that definitely made Rafael’s body freeze up, “...I am not a guy that sleeps around, Mr.Schiavoni, I don’t flirt with people, my relationships were short lived and never felt as strongly as I feel for Beatrice.” he pauses, “I love her, Mr.Schiavoni.”

Her father snaps his head in his direction, “Do not be ridiculous, it’s been three months you’ve been together.”

“I’m not lying about my feelings.” Bradley says without breaking eye contact, “I love her. If you want to believe it or not, that’s on you. But I’d never lie about that.”

Rafael keeps on staring, his chest heaving with nerves after Rooster’s words. He looks down at his shoes for a couple seconds, curling his lips into his mouth as he shuts his eyes with a sigh. Rooster stays where he was, digging his hands inside his pockets as he looks up at the winery, letting out a quiet breath to calm himself, looking at the older man when he chuckles, “It is funny,” Rafael begins, rubbing his forehead with the tips of his fingers “Because my sister said the same thing…that you loved her and she loved you and I should just accept it. But it’s not easy.”

Rooster stays silent as he continues “Do you know why her nickname is Little Bitty?” the pilot shakes his head negatively, “When my wife got pregnant with Beatrice we were both in our forties. She was a welcome surprise, but the doctors were worried…she was born at seven months old. God, we were so scared, there were so many tubes– I’ve never been so scared in my life watching her in that incubator…” he then smiles fondly, “I remember, one day, that Little Bitty Pretty One by Thurston Harris started playing over the speakers and like a miracle, I saw her react and move…she spent two months in that incubator before we took her home.”

Now Rooster could understand the overprotectiveness around Beatrice, the refusal to see her as a grown woman. It was fear of what happened twenty nine years ago. He wouldn’t know if he wouldn’t be the same if it was his own child, “I had no idea.” he says, approaching the older man, looking towards the vineyards that went for miles. They watched the leaves move with the soft breeze in silence before Rafael spoke again.

“When she looks at you, her eyes shine,” the older man says with his eyes on the horizon, “I haven’t seen her like that in years.”

Bradley’s cheeks heat up, but he smiles, “She shines alright. She’s like a star.” he murmurs, not seeing how Rafael’s gaze softened when he turned to look at the young pilot. Maybe his sister was right, maybe he should give this ragazzo a chance.

“She does.” Rafael says, “And if you know that, then…you can’t be all that bad.” Rooster faces the other man, who claps Bradley on the shoulder twice. “I appreciate your honesty, ragazzo…and well, welcome.”

Rooster could barely believe it, he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in relief, looking at the man with wide eyes, “Thank you, Mr.Schiavoni.”

“No, no you can call me Rafael.” he chuckles, “Mr.Schiavoni was my father….now, before we go back, Beatrice told me you could play the piano?”

“Why did you let him and dad go?!”

Leonardo and Michael recoiled in surprise when they got back to the table, Beatrice had seen the whole endeavor between her father and Brad before they walked away from the party. She’s been bubbling with nerves ever since then, Marina and Sabrina sitting down next to her when they noticed their little sister’s expression. “What did you suggest we did?” Michael exclaimed, shrugging “Held him back?”

Beatrice groaned, “They’ve been gone for ten minutes already,” she whispers, pressing her palm heels to her forehead, “I’m going after them, there has to–”

But Sabrina holds her arm,”No, let’s go to a bathroom break,” she nods to Marina so she’d come along, the three of them leading Beatrice to inside the winery. Her sisters on each side of her, dragged her to the bathroom and Marina closed the door behind them.

“Okay, okay,breathe Bea,” Sabrina said, wetting her hands to rub her cool palms on her neck, cupping her little sister’s neck as she closed her eyes, “It’s okay, hey, it’s okay.”

“Dad is going to scare him off.” she murmured in a quiet voice as Marina stood by her other side, “I don’t want to lose him. I love him.” The two oldest sisters shared a knowing look, with Marina gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Obviously,” Marina chuckled, “If that wasn’t clear enough already.” but her little sister just sighed, dropping her forehead on Sabrina’s chest, hugging her oldest sister who rubbed her back soothingly, “We will fight dad for you,sis. You look too happy to allow dad’s overprotectiveness to prevent it.”

Beatrice made a noise against Sabrina’s chest, but she relaxed, lifting her head with her eyes shining but no tears coming out, “Thanks guys, I–” the bathroom door opened, the sisters looking in the direction thinking it was a random guest. But alas, it wasn’t just a random guest.

“Why, Bea! Why are you here alone?” the triplets, they must’ve sniffed Beatrice’s distress and trotted right behind. Adriana closed the door, while Melinda and Cristina walked closer, their red painted lips appearing creepier.

“She’s not alone, you fucking bimbo.” Marina snaps, to which Sabrina sends her a look to be quiet.

Melinda giggled, “Tell us something dear little cousin,” she coos, twirling a strand of hair, “That handsome guy you were with? What 's his name?”

“Is he available?” Adriana asks, popping her head from Melinda’s left.

“Does he have brothers?” Cristina asks, appearing on her sister’s right side.

Beatrice stared at them with wide eyes. Normally, she wouldn’t bother…but she promised herself she’d defend Bradley. And she was already nervous because of her dad talking to him, so it all tumbled together into one single feeling: rage. “Are you guys serious?” she asks in one single breath, seeing the triplets smile to each other in pure glee, “Are you guys fucking serious? Are you stupid?” that made the smiles drop, “No, I’m serious, are you stupid?”

Sabrina’s slack jawed expression turned to Marina’s, who looked just as shocked.

“Why are you guys asking if my boyfriend is single? Did you not see us kissing? Did you not see us coming together?” she gave no chance for her cousins to reply, “I-I just don’t get you guys! No, he’s not available, no he has no siblings and I will NOT tell you his name! Are you all so fucking pathetic you can’t find a guy by yourselves and try to get the ones with wives or girlfriends already?”

Marina covered her mouth with a hand to hold back her surprised laughter, “And when you can’t handle things thrown your way you run and tell mommy? What the fuck! You guys are forty years old! You aren’t kids anymore! Download Tinder, go on a hike, visit a café! I don’t know! Anything else!! He’s my boyfriend, he isn’t interested,” she exhales finally, dropping her arm to her sides, “And you know what else? No one likes you three, no one! We just invite you because you are family. So maybe you should get an attitude check before doing anything else!!!”

The triplets, and her own sisters, stared at Beatrice in pure shock as the brunette panted quietly, trying to calm her wildly beating heart. The triplets looked completely destroyed and humiliated, choosing to scurry out of the bathroom in silence instead of delivering a snotty comeback. Beatrice sighed, jumping under her skin when a pair of arms hugged her around the shoulders, “You were amazing!!” Marina shouts, bouncing in place with how excited she was “Bea, that was fucking incredible!!”

“It really was Bea,” Sabrina added with a grin, enveloping her sister in another hug, “You were great!”

“...t-thanks…I just, I couldn’t let them talk about Brad like that.” she replies, hugging her older sisters’ arms, “He’s my boyfriend.”

“Yes he is.” Marina says.

“And I won’t give him up.”

“No, you won’t,” Sabrina adds with a grin.

With a sudden jolt of bravery, Beatrice lifts her head, “I’m going to talk to dad, he’s not going to do anything to take Bradley from me!” her sisters let her go so she could yank the bathroom door open, walking out towards the hallway that led to the patio. The three women were on their way over when Beatrice frowned, hearing a melody? “What’s that?”

Sabrina tilts her head to hear better, “Maybe dad’s on the piano.” she suggests, “You know aunt Martha would suggest him to.” but Beatrice recognized the rhythm and the closer she got, she could understand that there were people singing.

Too much love drives a man insane!

Her eyes widened, speeding up her step with her sisters rushing behind her.

You broke my will, but what a thrill!

When Beatrice finally reached the patio she thought she was hallucinating. There was someone on the huge piano that was brought from the lobby and was set right in the middle of the dance floor, most if not all her family members surrounding it. Beatrice felt the air leave her lung when she saw Bradley there, looking like a dream come true with his peach colored shirt and no suit jacket in sight, playing the piano just like he did at the Hard Deck.

“Goodness gracious great balls of fire!” The whole patio vibrated with everyone singing along with Bradley. Everyone, every single person was singing along with him. She watched in amazement, he was in his element and she shouldn’t be surprised at how wide his smile was or how he was bopping his head to the beat of the song. But she was surprised when she saw her father right next to the piano, singing along just as loudly.

What was happening? Did she step through a portal and ended up in a parallel universe? There were people dancing, the triplets however remained seated at their table completely alone. She walked forward, avoiding getting an elbow to the face until there was no one else separating her and Bradley.

She made no moves of getting closer beyond that, she just watched with a smile forming when he noticed her there. His fingers moved quickly over the keys, “I laughed at love ‘cause I thought it was funny,” he sings making direct eye contact with her, “You came along and you moved me honey!I’ve changed my mind, this love is fine! Goodness gracious great balls of fire!”

Beatrice’s smile now was full and bright, her cheeks reddening, she loved him immensely. God, she couldn’t believe how much she loved him. She looked around to see her whole family going along and singing and being happy and– she couldn’t help the soft laugh that went past her lips. Marina and Sabrina joined by her side, their voices adding to the chorus of people.

And Beatrice accompanied her sisters while singing along. The look of pure joy on Bradley’s face when he saw her singing could light this whole area if he so wished. He won over not only Beatrice’s cousins, but her father and now her whole family. He was having the best night of his life!

When he finished the song he was sweating like a sinner in church, but he was laughing, letting out a sound of surprise when a group of arms engulfed him in a hug and messed his hair up. Beatrice’s male cousins congratulated him, her oldest relatives hugged him and complimented his talent with kisses on both of his cheeks.

Then Rafael brought him into a hug, clapping his hand on his back, “Well done, ragazzo,” his voice said, “Well done.” Bradley pulls back from the hug, only to turn around and have Beatrice launch herself towards him. He quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, smiling into the kiss, the group around them hollering and cheering as the kiss deepened and he lifted Beatrice even higher.

She pulls back, cupping his cheeks, “I love you.” she whispers, her eyes shining just like stars.”I love you so much.”

“I love you too gorgeous,” he says back, slowly lowering her to the floor, “A whole lot.” He looks back to see the piano being rolled away from the dance floor, the DJ setting the playlist again. Since everyone had gotten up to watch his performance, they were too fired up to sit back down. September started playing, erupting another round of cheers from the guests as he looked down at Beatrice, “So,” he held out his hand, “Shall we cut this rug together?”

Beatrice smiled, interlacing her fingers with his, “I’d love to.”

They danced for a while, song after song they stayed there, twirling and dipping and just having an absolute blast in a celebration Beatrice was almost sure it’d lead to failure.

Never was she so glad she was wrong.

When the guests started to go back to the hotel, Beatrice thought it was a good idea if they did too, since the dance floor was getting empty as the night went by. She hugged her parents tightly, thanking her father for giving Brad a chance, then her siblings - Guillermo even apologized to her!- and then her aunt. Who hugged her close, kissing her cheek and then hugging Bradley, cupping his cheeks to press a gentle kiss to his forehead, “You are a light, my boy. Never stop shining.” she tells him, making Bradley’s eyes glaze over with surprised tears but he nods with a shaky smile.

They walk back through the grapevines, Rooster spinning her a few times as they walk down the path, bringing her close to him to kiss her temple soundly and enjoying how her melodic laughter echoed around the vineyard. The hotel had some quiet chatter from the guests that were still in the lobby, but overall the large hotel was very quiet.

They enter the elevator, her back to his front as they wait to reach their floor, “Mmm,” she smiles when she feels his lips on her shoulder, “That was fun, right?”

“It was a lot of fun.” he grins, kissing her jawline, “Your family is great. Your cousin Umberto is really cool.”

“Oh my God, you met Umberto! I completely forgot he’d come too,” she pauses, “Not that he’s forgettable, it's just that he’s very busy.” They step out once the elevator doors open, Beatrice pulling out the keycard from a hidden pocket in her dress, “But I’m glad you had fun.”

“I did.”

“Are you tired?”

Rooster chuckled softly, running a hand through his hair, “A little, why?”

The door unlocked, but Beatrice leaned against it, giving him a innocent shrug, “Well, you know,” she says slowly opening the door, throwing a look over her shoulder, “It’s just cause there’s this huge bathtub,” she tosses the keycard on the desk, Bradley following her inside with his eyes unmoving, “And I wanted to try it so bad.”

“Babe, I’m not against it but,-- well, your family is all around us.” he comments, following the line of her thigh that came out of the slit, his line of thought being muddled.

“I mean, yeah,” she whispers, tossing him a flirty look over the shoulder yet again, “But these walls?” she knocked on it, the soft sound of her knuckles hitting the brick was dull but present, “Very sturdy…and sound proof.”

He was already kicking off his shoes and pulling his shirt over his head as Beatrice squealed, rushing inside the bathroom, “Remember me to thank your aunt, over and over before we go.”

#bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x oc #top gun maverick #bradley bradshaw x reader

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eldragon-x · 1 year

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An attempt at a backstory/character analysis of Bill Cipher

I'm kinda into Gravity Falls again lately, Bill has been living in my head rent free for ages, and I've been thinking a lot about the extra-canonical content around him so I decided it'd be fun to speculate around that!

This post doesn't even include everything I originally wanted to talk about because it was already a long and very speculative mess, but I hope it's enjoyable regardless.

Also credits to this post by weirdmageddon here, this pile of information defenetly made my life easier.

Okay let’s just start with the Axolotl Poem from the book “Dipper and Mabel and the Time Pirates’ Treasure”:

For the purpose of this analysis I’ll be focusing on this part, since it’s easily the most interesting and revealing bit of the poem:

Saw his own dimension burn. Misses home and can’t return. Says he’s happy. He’s a liar. Blame the arson for the fire.

Bill’s birth-dimension and why it was destroyed

This is actually something that is referenced in the show! Bill describes his original dimension as dull, boring and restrictive. He claims that he freed it by destroying it and that he’s granting our known dimension a similar freedom through Weirdmageddon.

But we can dig deeper. In Journal 3, Ford wrote an entry about a dimension called Exwhylia which he encountered during his time in the multiverse. I'll add text under all references to J3 to make things easier to read.

(My quest to defeat Bill led me to a strange world that I mistakenly believed to be his birthplace. / “Above” being a direction they know nothing about and does not exist.

A. an upper-class circle B. a lowly triangle C. a building off in the distance D. a leaf 5 inches from your face I believe Bill came from a similar world that was mysteriously destroyed. But how?)

On top of that, back in 2015, Alex Hirsch hosted a Reddit AMA where he would answer questions as Bill which gives us another piece of information:

Edwin Abbott Abbott is the author of the novella “Flatland” which was published in 1884. I’m going to hold myself back from rambling about this book because this is a post about the funny Mr. Peanut Triangle and not Flatland, we just need some bits of it for this post.

Flatland is about a two-dimensional world of the same name which is inhabited by people who are simple shapes. The amount of sides a resident in Flatland has determines their social class. The more sides, the higher up the ladder.

Due to its two-dimensionality, Flatland’s inhabitants normally can’t comprehend up or down, yet some have discovered three-dimensionality. But it’s such a taboo in their world that anyone who knows of it is locked away at best and killed at worst. The upper-class circles are the only ones allowed to know about it without consequences and withhold this information.

Similarly, though by far not as forbidden, are colors. Color isn’t naturally-occuring in Flatland but it can be created and used to be a whole thing until its use was banned and limited to those more privileged.

At one point, the protagonist himself describes Flatland as dull in relation to the lack of color.

While the two pages about Exwhylia obviously can’t give as much insight as Flatland, both have a few differences, and it’s kept vague exactly how similar Bill’s dimension was to either of these worlds (“came from a similar world”, “has a decent idea”), we can get a pretty good picture of it based on these pieces.

A small, strict, dull world where the higher-ups keep away anything that could provide enrichment or a wider perspective from the general public.

I’m sure many people would hate that. I’m sure someone like Bill (who, as an equilateral triangle, would’ve been part of the middle class and no way in hell easy access to color or 3D knowledge) would especially hate that.

I think there’s more to this though. Let’s talk about Bill’s powers.

We know little to nothing about when or how he received them, but the Axolotl Poem implies it was before he destroyed his dimension as he’d need outstanding abilities in order to burn a whole dimension down while also not getting himself killed in the process.

Here we see Bill talk about his newly-gained and expanded powers with the occurrence of Weirdmageddon. Seeing that this leads into his dialogue about his old home dimension (shown earlier in this section), the line “I wasn’t always this way” suggests he wasn’t just born with his power or anything like that.

The way he compares this to his new powers could mean he might’ve even started out with relatively little power that just grew after he left his dimension. For all we know he could’ve burned it down while only possessing the necessary abilities to burn things in large scale and escape his dimension, having learned of higher dimensions through other means and gaining omniscience at a later point.

Still, this isn't my main argument for Bill’s choice to destroy his world being a gradual process that involved several factors. His family is.

We don’t have much information about Bill’s family. The best there is is this bit from Journal 3,

(Apparently, his thirst for power caused him to destroy his home dimension - including his parents)

possibly this bit from Sock Opera? Partially because Bill kinda projects onto Mabel but more on that later.

and this statement by Hirsch from the NYCC 2015:

Q: “I was thinking if Bill has a brother, or is he working with someone?” A: “If you think Grunkle Stan’s relationship with his family is bad, Bill’s is worse.”

Now you can read a lot into this especially with the comparison to Stan and the question being about a potential brother of Bill’s.

Stan was kicked out by his parents, never saw them again, and had a lot of conflict with his brother (which gets resolved by the end of the show). Does this mean Bill had bad parents and conflict with a sibling, especially considering Sock Opera? Maybe!

But I definitely consider it likely that this comparison really serves to further establish Stan and Bill as foil characters with parallels. I won’t go into it here but here’s a great post about it!

But let’s finally get to the point. Bill has a bad relationship with his family and the Oracle mentions his parents in relation to him destroying his dimension. You know what this makes me think of? This statement by Hirsch from an interview:

I know it says here “over thousands of years” and the examples used are probably very childish because a kid asked the question but I can’t help but think this reflects Bill’s attitude even in his earlier life. He doesn’t always get his way, he holds onto this pettiness, it festers the poor relationship with his parents, at some point he learns of an unrestricted world that has been withheld from him, he gets wildly destructive powers and next thing you know the multiverse is doomed.

The Nightmare Realm and Escapism

So, Bill sees a lot of himself in Mabel and projects onto her. It’s very outright in Bill’s page in “Dipper’s and Mabel’s Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun”:

As well as in the DVD Commentary of Sock Opera:

“Bill genuinely believes that Mabel’s kinda like him. He sees Mabel as a chaos agent. Like, Mabel has got a little bit of a seed of anarchy in her, she’s a little bit selfish, she likes to have fun at whatever cost. And Bill is all those things times a billion. So he thinks when he lays it all out for her like: ‘How about instead of being lame, you do something fun! And crush whoever you want in the process!’. He thinks that’s gonna go over. And he’s not wrong in seeing that side in Mabel but Mabel is a better person than Bill Cipher.”

And when you look at how Bill thinks Mabel is like him, how the poem mentions him - a fun and delightful character - lying about being happy, and how he hates rules and holds these little grudges while Mabel learns to face difficulties despite wanting to hide from them, and learns to grow up and move on… it paints an interesting picture.

This post comparing Mabel Land and the Nightmare Realm is kinda similar to what I imagine, but let me make my own case.

(...my old “Muse” is actually one of the most feared beings in the entire multiverse. Bill took over the Nightmare Realm as a hideout for him and his cronies, but because this place is lawless, without any consistent physics or rules, it is eventually fated to self-destruct. This is why Bill seeks a new, more stable dimension to take over and a foolish mind willing to let him in.

Bill’s universe is not exactly a dimension, but rather a boiling, shifting intergalactic foam between dimensions - a lawless, unstable crawl space between worlds that only the strangest and most unknowable beings call home.)

So, at some point after destroying his original home dimension Bill got some buddies and they willingly entered this foam dimension and took over it. The Journal also mentions that the realm acts as a gateway to other worlds and has wormholes that lead to other dimensions. And we know there’s ways not just in but also out of the Nightmare Realm because Ford left it through a wormhole and the Lost Legends comic book has an alien truck driver who helps Stan and Ford get around the multiverse from the Nightmare Realm.

But something’s weird because in Weirdmageddon, Bill says that he’s been trapped in the Nightmare Realm, despite all this.

And it definitely gives him restrictions since before Weirdmageddon, there was no connection between the realm and our known dimension and Bill could only interact with our dimension through the Mindscape. But in theory he should still be able to go to other worlds unless he specifically is genuinely trapped there. But we get no indication of how or why that would be, and why would he willingly enter a space that would trap him in the first place?

Y’know, maybe these restrictions are exactly what makes him feel like he’s “trapped”. Because there still are limitations. But I also think Bill just doesn’t want to leave the Nightmare Realm (behind).

Think about it, Bill made the realm his home after destroying the 2nd dimension. Maybe at this point there was already a lingering regret. But he finds this lawless realm of endless possibilities where he can party forever which is like the antithesis of his old home at just the right time. It’s everything he could want! Maybe destroying his home was all worth it and he never has to think about it again!

So yeah, Bill could theoretically leave the Nightmare Realm to avoid being caught in its decay. But why would he? What other dimension could possibly satisfy him and offer more? Instead he looks for a dimension to merge with the Nightmare Realm so it can keep existing. And hey, he’d kinda be helping the people in that dimension by doing this because maybe they’d realize how limited their existence is just like he once did! Tho it's uh. questionable how much he cares about that part.

I mean he goes so far to risk tearing down all of existence alongside the realm and himself just for the chance to keep it around.

Anyway the fact that he found this dimension that offered him everything he always wanted at just the right time inspired him to create Mabel Land

But unlike Bill who tried to keep the Nightmare Realm stable no matter what, Mabel leaves Mabel Land and is the one to destroy it because she has accepted that she’ll face hardships, unlike Bill who continues to look for distractions from his problems.

Also this is unrelated to the whole escapism thing but I really want to mention in this section that another reason Bill wants to cause Weirdmageddon is likely not just to keep the Nightmare Realm going, but also simply because it juiced up his powers. Y'know considering the Oralce said Bill destroyed his dimension out of a thirst for power and he wants more power because something something breaking limitations. I know this is obvious stuff but I feel the need to keep this post somehow grounded on solid canon, especially with what I'm about to make up.

Nihilism

Okay I’m going to wildly speculate here and probably look at Bill’s mindset through a more human lens than intended but just bear with me for a moment. I think at some point Bill grew nihilistic as a way to distance himself from his unhappiness and further avoid dealing with it.

What mainly kicked off this train of thought was this here from the AMA.

On the surface this just reads as Bill being a god who is above the concept of reality as we know it and understands things differently ect. ect. but with the context of “Says he’s happy. He’s a liar.” it’s like… that tells something about him.

There’s also these pieces from the AMA which give the impression of Bill being above mortals and the concept of love and whatever but from a human lens I’m just seeing some miserable guy going “love isn’t real and life has no meaningful purpose”.

Also something about him in the show saying things like “reality is an illusion” and “meaning has no meaning”.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think a lot of this is just straight up Bill being a chaos God who has an abstract perspective on things. God knows he genuinely sees himself above mortals.

But I just think it’s interesting to think about this in the context of there being something underlying here. Or maybe I’m just lost in the sauce of overanalyzing Bill Cipher’s mysterious backstory and psyche hell if I know.

Footnote about the whole escapism and denial thing: I feel like you can vaguely draw a parallel with McGucket here. He tried to just forget about everything but ultimately finds closure by rediscovering and coming to terms with his past and all.

Control

Just something interesting that occurred to me while writing this whole thing. It was kinda odd to me that Bill “took over” the lawless Nightmare Realm and is even described as “The King of Nightmares” by Ford in Journal 3. Bill also tells the residents of Gravity Falls that they can call him their “new Lord and Master” as he tries to turn the dimension into a world without rules with Weirdmageddon.

And it’s also weird how, despite how terrible the 2nd Dimension was and how much it clashes with someone like him, he still misses it after all this time.

I just think there seems to be an irony about Bill being a chaos god who finds comfort and kinship in the strange, unusual and incomprehensible while at the same time desiring control and craving familiarity.

Conclusion/Summary

Bill grew up with restrictions in his life, be it little things within his personal relationships or on a greater scale within society and the universe as a whole. Once he had the chance to escape these restrictions, he did so by burning down his home dimension and everyone in it but ended up living with regret over this. He made the Nightmare Realm his own home because it offered both the freedom he wanted and the distractions he sought from his unhappiness. The Nightmare Realm was dying but instead of leaving it, Bill was dedicated to merging it with a more stable dimension. Mainly to keep it existing and push the limitations of his own power, but also hoping that other beings would realize just how small their world was.

Additionally, Bill’s perceived superiority over mortals and indifference towards a lot of things might’ve possibly started out as a nihilistic mindset that he adopted to disconnect himself from his regrets. And despite the chaos about him, he wants to have control and yearns for familiarity.

I think I just want to close this post by saying it’s fascinating how such a delightfully cruel villain lives such a miserable and bleak existence. I’m going to tattoo the Axolotl Poem onto my brain.

#gf #bill tag #gravity falls #bill cipher #analysis #<- this post may be a mess but I put time and effort in there and you will look at it

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