#and one time went to a small maple syrup shack with her

[viaticumz]

I like it when my alters share good memories with me... it is nice to piece things together from our life that actually aren’t bad

#psych is the one with some positive fall memories #it reminds her of driving up to a family friends house to ride horses on the weekend in 8th grade #it was basicallt horse therapy #she remembers the fall leaves #going to the farms #listening to the radio #being in a place where we were safe #the person who owned the horses and taught us knew we were gay/trans #and kept us safe #one of her kids turned out to be trans too!!!! #she would also take us in her truck and we would go around town and do horse chores #she got psych dunkin donuts #and one time went to a small maple syrup shack with her #and got her maple cotton candy #one of our littles also has good positive fall memories #they were a few moments of feeling safe #fall is so important to our younger members #i want to keep the positive memories going #rambles #system talk #jasper speaks #j

[jjoutermaybanks]

Electric Love || JJ Maybank x Reader

part one part two part three

summary: you’re the newest member of the pogues, a girl living with one foot in the rich life and one foot in the risky life. you fit right in with the crew, especially the charismatic, annoyingly attractive JJ. how will a drunken night of deep conversation and a dreaded summer party change your friendship forever?

word count: 5k

warnings: slight harassment

*not my gif, credit to owner*

PART TWO

You woke up the next morning on a couch.  A familiar couch, you realized, as you ran your fingers along rips and frays you’ve felt hundreds of times before.  Slowly sitting up, your head throbbed with the painful aftermath of last night’s alcoholic endeavors.  With blurry vision and a sore throat, you glanced around the living room of the Chateau, John B.’s rundown house you often found yourself in.

“Morning, princess.”  The voice belonged to JJ, who was behind the couch cooking something in the kitchen.  You craned your neck to spot him, taking in his shirtless torso and relaxed posture.  John B. leaned on the counter beside him, peering doubtfully at whatever JJ was cooking.  It smelled slightly burnt, and you wrinkled your nose.

Groaning, you pressed your hands to your eyes and rubbed away the residual drowsiness there.  “How did I get here?” you grumbled, completely spacing on how you ended up at the Chateau after the beach party.  The last thing you remembered was warming up with JJ after the swim and contemplating your feelings about him.  Everything after that was a total blank.

“You don’t remember?” John B. asked.  “The party was getting boring and most people had left, so we decided to dip.  You were so drunk we knew going home wasn’t an option, so we brought you here.  Kie and Pope are in the other room sleeping still.”

You nodded; this made sense.  You’d told your mom to expect you home late or not at all since you’d probably be sleeping over somewhere.  You only wished you hadn’t blacked out so you could enjoy the rest of the party with your friends.

Getting to your feet, you crossed the room and found a hoodie which you gladly pulled over your freezing upper body.  A crop top and shorts wasn’t the most comfortable outfit to fight a hangover, but this oversized hoodie would definitely help.

As you wandered into the kitchen, JJ turned and smirked at you.  “Wearing my hoodie, huh?  Looks good on you, Y/N.”  You gave him a small smile as you glanced into his pan, frowning at the blob-like mess you saw there.

“This is cooking to you?” you joked, taking in the random ingredients littering the counter.  A bottle of maple syrup was leaking onto the countertop and you swiped a finger across the golden brown liquid, licking your finger happily as the sweetness bloomed on your tongue.  JJ’s gaze lingered on your mouth as you cleaned off the syrup, his hand working to flip whatever was in the pan.

“Yes, in fact, it is,” he fired back, dumping the contents of the pan onto a plate.  “Feel free to enjoy Chef JJ’s world-renowned pancakes.”

Raising your eyebrows, you picked up the “pancake” with your fingers and held it in front of your face, inspecting the lopsided shape and burnt sides.  Your only response was a disbelieving expression which made JJ scoff.

“Come on, I tried.  Besides we didn’t have a waffle-maker, so I had to change my plans.”  He wiped his hands on a towel and threw it over his shoulder, hands on his hips as he pretended to scowl at you.

Tearing a piece off the pancake, you plopped it into your mouth and were surprised at the edible quality.  “You were gonna make me waffles?” you questioned, remembering vaguely how you told him about your dad’s infamous waffles last night.  JJ nodded.

“Yeah, thought it’d be good hangover food.”  His explanation was casual, and you weren’t sure what you expected.  For him to admit he made it just for you, because he wanted to show you how much he cared about you?  That he appreciated you opening up to him?  But you knew JJ, and he wasn’t the warm and fuzzy type.  Waffles were definitely just waffles to him, not symbolic of anything deeper.

Soon enough Kiara and Pope joined you all in the kitchen, and JJ cranked out enough pancakes to feed the whole lot.  It was a real Pogue breakfast, and you spent the morning laughing and chatting with your best friends.  Around noon, Kiara mentioned that she had to leave to meet her parents before the big event tonight.

“What big event?” you asked her.  The only big event you knew about was the beach party last night.

Kiara gave you a puzzled look.  “Don’t you remember?  The Midsummers party?  It’s tonight, and I have a stupid luncheon with my parents and the club committee members before they start getting ready for it.”

When she said the words Midsummers party you remembered exactly what was happening.  Your mother had told you about it weeks ago, in a fit of excitement and nervous giggles.  She’d apparently worked her butt off to get access to the exclusive club, since not being an official Kook made things difficult.  But apparently she’d kissed enough asses and pulled enough strings to score an invite for you, and she’d even gone out and bought special dresses for the occasion.  You’d been dreading it for so long you must have pushed it fully out of your mind, but now you remembered exactly how much you didn’t want to go.

Upon seeing your reaction, Kiara laughed.  “Trust me girl, I’m not excited either.  But you me and Sarah are all going, so we can make it fun.”

“And me,” John B. added with a hint of an embarrassed blush.  He wasn’t used to the perks of dating Sarah Cameron yet.  “I’m going with Sarah as a plus one.”

A lightbulb went off in your mind, and you broke into a grin.  “That’s it!  We can bring Pope and JJ as plus ones!  It’ll definitely make the night more bearable.”  Being surrounded by Kooks for a whole night was never going to be fun, but with the Pogues all there together it would be more than tolerable.

JJ looped an arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his chest.  “Aw, you want me to go as your date?  I’m touched.”  His sparkling eyes made you roll yours, and you pushed him off lightly.

“As much as I hate to admit it, you make everything better,” you told him, and his smile only widened.  “I think it’s a great idea, what do you guys think?”

Pope looked thrilled at the prospect of accompanying Kiara to a fancy party, and even she had a flush on her cheeks.  “You guys ready to go full Kook?” Kiara challenged, and Pope and JJ both pretended to salute.

“I’m ready, sergeant,” Pope joked.  “Send me into the battle zone.”

Satisfied with the morning’s accomplishments, you stated, “Okay, so let’s all meet up beforehand.  Kie, Sarah and I were gonna go to yours anyway, so should the guys meet us there too?”

“Sure thing.  Make sure to dress nice, you guys,” she said pointedly, directing her stern gaze to Pope, JJ, and John B.  John B. threw his hands up in defense.

“Trust me, Sarah’s had my outfit planned for months.”

Pope and JJ met each other’s gazes and sighed.  “Guess we have to clean up for once, dude,” JJ said gravely.  “It’s a shame I have no idea how to tie a tie, though.”

You rolled your eyes.  “I’ll do it for you, you big baby.”

JJ grinned, shooting you a naughty look.  “Any excuse to have your hands on my neck is a good excuse,” he taunted, and you shoved at his bare chest.

“Yeah yeah, whatever.  I’ve gotta go meet my mom, alright?  Be at Kiara’s 6 o’clock sharp.”  With one last threatening glare, you and Kiara strode out of the Chateau and immediately launched into a conversation about how stupid the party was going to be.

Going home was never something you looked forward to.  Your relationship with your mom was neutral at best, and when things like the Midsummers party came around it only drove a deeper wedge between the two of you.  She was a desperate social climber and you wanted nothing to do with the Kooks, so naturally you didn’t get along.  On top of that was the history with your dad, and you knew your mother had never gotten over him the way you have.

“I’m home,” you called, closing the door to your mid-sized, fairly modest new home.  It wasn’t up to Kook standard, but it was way better than the shacks that JJ and John B. lived in.  It felt weird having a foot in each world, and you often felt like you didn’t fit in anywhere.

Your mother burst out of her room and approached you with a breathless smile.  In her arms was the dress.  She’d bought it for you the second she found out you two were able to attend the party, and to say you weren’t looking forward to wearing it was an understatement.  It wasn’t ugly by any means, but you were a shorts and tee shirt kind of girl, not a prissy dress girl.

“There are heels on your bed,” your mother informed you, handing you the dress like it was a baby.  “Try it on--I made a few alterations.”  You forced a smile, not wanting to upset your mother despite your revulsion to the whole evening.  She was excited, and you didn’t want to put a damper on it.

Closing the door to your room, you examined the cursed dress.  It was the palest of blues, made out a slippery chiffon material that a light breeze would easily blow around your feet.  The neckline was a deep sweetheart and the straps were thin, and holding the dress up against you you saw how the color made you look incredibly tan.

You also noticed you still had JJ’s hoodie on, and smiled in the mirror.  It fell to your mid-thigh, almost like a dress itself, and you imagined what it would be like to wear this to the party instead.  JJ would be knocked dead for sure, and you wished you could see the look on his face when you walked in.  

What am I doing? you thought, your smile falling into a frown.  You had these recurring thoughts about JJ all the time, and you definitely knew he was more than a friend.  So why did you jokingly push him away whenever he made advances on you?  Why didn’t you just let him kiss you like you secretly wanted?

Sighing, you pulled off his sweatshirt and folded it neatly on the bed.  You’d give it back to him at Kiara’s, it would be wrong to keep it.  And you pushed all thoughts of kissing JJ out of your mind too; what you needed now was a friend, and JJ was your very best friend.  Kissing was not something best friends did.

After discarding the rest of your clothes you slipped into the dress, surprised at how light and airy the material was and the way it hugged your body.  You rejoined your mother in the living room and she zipped it up for you, stepping back to get a full view.

“Oh, sweetie,” she exclaimed, tears pricking at her eyes.  “You look beautiful.”

Your face beet red from embarrassment, you mustered a smile and turned once in the dress.  “It’s pretty, Mom,” you replied, saying it more to boost her ego than anything.

“Well, I have splendid taste,” she bragged, and you grit your teeth before disappearing back into your room to take the overly girly dress off.

The day could not go by quick enough, and after waiting for what felt like forever it was finally time to go to Kiara’s.  With your dress and makeup bag in tow, you said a quick goodbye to your mother before departing.  She made you promise to find her at the party so she could “introduce you to some friends”, which really just meant she wanted you to get in the good graces of some stuck-up Kook parents.

Getting ready at Kiara’s was just as much as fun as getting ready at Sarah’s last night.  You had good music to drown out any worries, and the three of you helped with makeup and jewelry as you awaited the guys’ arrival.

“Seriously, getting John B. to even try on dress clothes was nearly impossible,” Sarah pouted.  “I know I’m a Pogue now, but can you blame a girl for loving a little dress up?”

Kiara laughed, shaking her head.  “I just can’t imagine any of those guys in anything but ripped tank tops and board shorts.”

“Five bucks JJ shows up in just that,” you challenged, grinning in the small mirror in front of you as you swiped on some highlight.  Some subtle lip gloss, mascara, and highlight was all you decided to wear.  Kiara had woven flower crowns for the three of you and as you placed it atop your head, your transformation was complete.  You’d gone from full Pogue to full princess, with a crown to boot.  Scowling at your reflection, you stood up and fidgeted with the dress.

“I feel so stupid,” you admitted, wobbling slightly in the heels your mother had bought you.  

“Same here,” Kiara echoed, glaring down at her purple dress and smoothing the silky material over her waist.  Sarah looked like a goddess in her off-the-shoulder white dress, and smiled like she was Miss America or something.

“You both look beyond gorgeous, shut up,” she reprimanded.  “Pope and JJ are going to lose their minds.”

Biting your lip, you suppressed a smile.  Secretly you couldn’t wait to see what JJ thought of how you looked.  Would he hate it since it was so not your style?  Would he think Kiara or Sarah was way prettier and decide to flirt with them instead?  Nerves began twisting in your stomach as 6 o’clock grew closer and closer.

Finally it came, and in burst the trio of boys.  The suit that Sarah had chosen for John B. made him look slick, almost like James Bond.  His hair was just as wild as ever though, and she fretted over the brown locks as he kissed her freshly painted lips.

Pope looked suave as well, saying he had worn his special scholarship outfit.  Someone had already done his tie for him, because he was pulling at his neck and frowning.  Kiara straightened it for him and grinned, seeming to forget her annoyance at the party once Pope arrived.

JJ was the most disheveled of them all, but he managed to pull it off in the sexiest way.  A white button down was haphazardly tucked into black slacks, the sleeves pushed up his forearms.  A matching black vest was thrown over top, and what looked like a floral bow tie was hanging off of his neck, sloppily done by whoever attempted to tie it.  Despite the messiness of his appearance, he looked good.  His hair was pushed off his forehead and his hands were buried inside his pockets, almost like he was nervous.

Then his eyes landed on you, and his jaw practically hit the floor.  You blushed at his obvious ogling, feeling shy as he clearly checked you out.  You suddenly hoped the dress looked pretty and that your makeup wasn’t awful.  Under JJ’s gaze, you felt more vulnerable than ever.

“Wow” was all he managed to say, still stricken with disbelief.  “And I thought you looked hot in my hoodie.”

Tucking a lock of hair behind your ear, you smiled and took a few steps towards him.  Your hands went to the bow tie at his throat, and JJ instantly tensed at your close proximity.

“Someone really butchered this poor thing,” you told him, biting your lip as you attempted to retie it in an acceptable way.  JJ inhaled deeply, clearly trying to control himself as your fingers ghosted against his neck.

“Wanted to look good for you, babe,” he murmured into your ear, making heat spread out through your body.  Looking up at him through your lashes, you finished tying the bow and leaned back to examine your handiwork.

“You kind of look like a waiter,” you admitted, and JJ snorted.

“As if the Kooks would trust me with their precious sparkling cider,” he mocked.

You raised one eyebrow, folding your arms.  “You know, you look a lot like a Kook right now,” you chuckled, causing JJ to pretend to freak out and mess up his hair.  

“Never!  I am a Pogue for life,” he swore.  “Although, if being a Kook means I get to see you like this more often, sign me up.”

You looked down at your dress, cocking your head.  “Do I...look better like this?  Better than I do normally?”  For a second you worried that JJ liked you better all dolled up, and once you were natural and comfy again he wouldn’t find you pretty anymore.

Leaning against one forearm on the wall, JJ gave you a genuine smile.  “Of course not.  I love when you’re natural.”

Beaming at his praise, you laced your fingers through his and turned to the group.  “Are we ready to do this thing?” you voiced, feeling a little giddy about the party.  There was no way it wouldn’t be fun with this crowd.

Kiara straightened her flower crown and nodded.  “Ready.”

The party was in full swing when you all arrived.  Classical music drifted out of speakers mounted on the Island Club walls, and fancily dressed adults mingled with flutes of champagne in hand.  You spotted your mother attempting to infiltrate a large group of Kooks, and ducked out of view so she couldn’t see you.

Two familiar figures were striding by, and you scowled upon recognizing Topper and Rafe.  “Didn’t know we hired Pogues as the help,” Rafe mocked, giving JJ a sneering look.  “If I want a refill of my champagne, can I ask you to get it?”

You felt JJ brace beside you, and squeezed his hand slightly to calm him down.  He glanced over at you, and you gave him an encouraging smile.  JJ blowing up and hitting someone was not ideal, so you knew it was your job to keep his temper under control.

The Pogues dispersed as Sara dragged John B. to talk to some of her Kook friends and Kiara was roped into a large group with Pope by her side.  Now it was just you and JJ wandering through the party, and you felt extremely uncomfortable.  Kooks were giving you sidelong glances with steely, judgmental eyes.  They didn’t think you belonged there, and truthfully neither did you.  You weren’t one of them, and having JJ on your arm wasn’t helping your image either.  You weren’t ashamed of him, just very conscious of how it looked to be seen with someone like him.

“Look at that lady’s headpiece,” JJ hissed into your ear, pointing to a woman in a loud red dress and an even louder headpiece.  Sharp golden rods like spears shot out of a circle above her head, making her look like the demon sun or something.  You giggled into your hand, not wanting to alert anyone that you were making fun of guests.  JJ continued pointing out awfully dressed attendees, and you spent the next few minutes gaping at some truly dreadful outfits.

He managed to swipe some champagne and presented you with a glass.  Pretending to curtsy, you accepted the drink and downed it in one quick sip.  JJ whistled, copying your actions and draining his glass.

“Am I gonna have to carry you home again, Y/L/N?” he asked.  “Not that I’m opposed, of course.”

“Shut up,” you retorted.  “Champagne won’t get me drunk.  I don’t think.”

He snorted.  “Yeah sure, whatever you say lightweight.”  You socked his arm and he laughed as he tried to avoid the hits, grabbing your hand to stop you from smacking him.  Closing his fingers around yours, JJ led you through the crowd and onto the makeshift dance floor.  Other couples were slow dancing to the song on the speakers, and JJ placed his hands on your hips when you found a space of your own on the floor.

“Are we seriously slow dancing?” you questioned, looping your arms around his neck and laughing.  “This is so gross.”

“Just sway to the music, Y/N.  Let your body take over.”  He closed his eyes and gripped your waist, causing warmth to seep through the skin where he touched you.  Gazing up at JJ’s face, you imagined what would happen if you actually let your body take over right now.  

Apparently your body wanted to kiss him, because you naturally leaned in close until your lips almost brushed his.  JJ realized what you were doing and fluttered his eyes open, parting his lips to meet yours.  Just when you were about to connect, someone tapped your shoulder and shattered the moment.

Grimacing, you separated from JJ and turned to see your mother frowning at you.  “Y/N,” she scolded.  “You were supposed to find me!  I want you to meet people!”

Holding onto JJ for support, you bit your lip and shrugged.  “Can’t I just stay with my friends?”

“No, I got you into this party to mingle, so that’s exactly what you’re going to do.”

Sighing, you disconnected from JJ and cast him a rueful glance.  He gave you a sad smile, regret swimming in his ocean blue eyes.  You wished you could stay with him for the whole night, but your mother began dragging you away and towards a crowd of judgmental Kooks.

For the next half hour you were stuck pretending to engage in a conversation with the most boring people on the planet.  Everything those people said made you want to roll your eyes, but you resisted for your mother’s sake.  Rafe was part of the conversation, and his eyes never left your face the whole time.

After a while when the conversation dwindled, you saw Rafe gesture for you to follow him.  Begrudgingly, you complied.  Anywhere was better than that boring group.  He walked over to a quieter part of the party, where only a few people were around.

“So,” Rafe began, looking at you up and down.  “How are you enjoying the party?”

Your smile was pinched.  You didn’t know how to act around Rafe; making a Kook mad was never a good idea, but acting nice would take all of your effort.  You chose to be humorous, and answered, “It’s wonderful, I haven’t wanted to gouge my eyes out once.”

He gave an odd chuckle at this, making you shift on your feet.  “Midsummers is particularly horrifying because of all the...what do you even call those headpieces?” he wondered, and you chuckled when he pointed to the woman you and JJ had mocked earlier.

“She could probably kill someone with that,” you stated, feeling a little awkward joking around with Rafe.  He definitely wasn’t the kind of guy you’d choose to hang around, but getting on his bad side would only make your life harder.  It was best to play along with him until he got bored and left.

Rafe looked at you closely, and you smiled to ease some of the tension you felt.  “You know, you’re pretty funny.”  You blushed at his compliment, and he continued.  “I always thought you were too good for those Pogues you hang out with,” 

“Your sister is one of those Pogues,” you pointed out, trying to joke about it.

His expression turned sour at the mention of Sarah.  “My sister is a lost cause ever since John B. manipulated her into loving him.”

You blinked, surprised at the malice in his tone.  Your smile faltered a little but you made sure to keep it up in fear of upsetting him.  When you stayed quiet, Rafe crossed his arms and smirked.  “You on the other hand have potential.”

“Potential?” you asked innocently, and something about your light tone pleased Rafe as he stepped closer to you.

“I think there’s still time to save you from the dark side,” he said lowly, suddenly raising a hand to rest on your cheek.  Before you knew what was happening, he had leaned down and pressed his lips to yours.  You were so shocked you didn’t move at first, merely held your mouth against his as he tried to deepen the kiss.  Lifting a hand to his arm, you tried to push him off but he was stronger than you.

“Don’t fight it, baby,” he murmured against your mouth, grabbing the small of your back to bring you closer to him.  Gagging, you used your other hand to push at his chest until you could tear your mouth away, breathing shakily as you separated.

As you stared incredulously up at Rafe, you spotted a familiar figure a few meters behind him.  JJ stood completely still, his expression full of shock and hurt.  Reacting immediately, you shoved Rafe off and stumbled over to him, grabbing onto JJ’s arm as you stuttered out an explanation.

“He just kissed me, I don’t--”

“It didn’t look like you were trying to stop it,” he snapped, voice cold all of a sudden.  Your eyes widened, watering at his harsh tone.

“I-I swear, I didn’t want to be talking to him, he approached me!”

“So why did I see you smiling and laughing at every word he fucking said?” JJ countered, eyes glinting with fury.  “If you wanted to mack on a Kook, you should’ve just told me.”

Your jaw dropped, and suddenly it became hard to breathe.  “JJ, I...”

“Forget it,” he muttered, pushing his hair out of his face in aggravation.  “If you wanna mack on a Kook, then so can I.”  With this, he stalked away from you and towards a cluster of pretty rich girls.  They burst into giggles when he approached them, probably excited to live out a bad-boy fantasy.  JJ was a natural charmer, and within minutes he had a particularly pretty brunette attached to him.

All of the breath was knocked out of you, and it was hard to stand up.  You didn’t know what hurt more; JJ’s refusal to believe you, his best friend, or how quickly he sidled up to that brunette Kook and was already giving her the eyes he saved for just you.  You felt sick to your stomach, and gripped your arms tightly as you wove through the throng of party-goers, desperate to find another one of your friends.

John B.’s signature tousled hair was spotted standing alone towards the edge of the crowd, sipping champagne and regarding the guests with a disgusted look on his face.  You followed his gaze and saw he was watching Sarah who was chatting up a storm with half a dozen Kook girls that giggled so loudly you could hear them across the room.

“Hey, Y/N,” John B. sighed once you approached.  “I know I’m a terrible boyfriend and should be with Sarah but...I swear to God, I can’t listen to those girls right now.”  He looked to you for approval, almost as if you would’ve disapproved.  But then he caught on to your pained expression, and immediately changed disposition.  “What happened?  Why are you crying?”

You hadn’t realized there were tears staining your cheeks, and as you went to wipe them away a choked sob escaped your lips.  “It’s JJ,” you started, bottom lip trembling as more tears threatened to come.  “He saw Rafe kiss me a-and got mad because he thought I liked it, and then h-he left to go flirt with some stupid Kook girl.”  The words were barely audible over the sound of your crying, but John B. understood you perfectly.

“Wait--Rafe kissed you?  Against your will?”  Anger had seeped into his tone, and you briefly recalled how passionately John B. reacted when his friends were in trouble.

“I-I don’t know, we were talking and I didn’t want to make him angry so I pretended to smile and laugh a-and he just kissed me.  I swear I tried to push him off, but he was so strong it probably looked like I wasn’t trying at all.”  You pressed your fists to your forehead, frustrated with yourself.  “JJ didn’t even listen to me.”

John B.’s face was grave, and he peered around the club trying to spot JJ.  Sure enough, you could both see him clear as day: he had his hands around the brunette, leaning close to her ear and whispering something that caused her to giggle.  Their closeness made you want to throw up, and you forced yourself to look away.

“Rafe is an asshole, and I swear the next time I see him I’ll make him regret ever even speaking to you,” John B. vowed, his serious tone making you laugh morosely.  All you could do was nod as you imagined JJ and that Kook getting closer and closer, maybe even falling in love.  You had to admit, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.  JJ might have said he despised the Kooks, but you knew there was a part of him that was crazy jealous.  He had to scrape by just to live, and with an abusive father thrown on top of it.  If that Kook girl could offer him a safe life of luxury, you knew he’d jump at the chance.

You also knew you could never give him what he needed.  You couldn’t protect him from his father; you could barely sustain a tolerable relationship with your mother.  And as for giving him a better life, you didn’t have that kind of money or resources.  You were the outsider, the painfully average girl that was just lucky enough to become friends with the Pogues.  JJ deserved better than you, and it was time you admit this.

“It’s okay,” you finally declared, half for John B. and half for yourself.  “JJ can do whatever he wants.  He’s not mine.”  This last part was said quietly, and you didn’t even know if John B. heard.  He’s not yours.  It was the cruel truth; as much as your feelings for JJ had grown recently, and as much as you wanted him to just kiss you already, you knew he wasn’t yours to have.  And at this rate, he never would be.

#outer banks #obx #pope outer banks #pope obx #john b #john b outer banks #john b obx #kiara outer banks #kiara obx #sarah outer banks #sarah obx #jj maybank #jj outer banks #jj obx #jj one shot #jj mayback x reader #jj smut #obx smut #outer banks smut

[saintvalentinex]

Blast from the Past

A/N: this was a paid writing commission from ____ who wanted to expand on their idea of Wendy’s mom! It was super fun to explore and I appreciate the opportunity! It goes from present day to flashbacks, flashbacks will be blended in and marked with italics.

Summary: an investigative reporter visits the town of gravity falls, oregon to look into the missing citizens. one stands out in particular.

Word Count: 3,230

My name is Eleanor Parker and I’m an investigative reporter from Portland, Oregon. I’ve been sent out to the sleepy town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, to try to connect the dots between strange happenings and the missing citizens of this town. In the entire list of names that I was given, one stood out in particular. Adeline Marie Girard, mother of 4 and wife of Dan Corduroy.

Born in the town of Gaspé, in the province of Québec, she was the youngest of 6, and the only girl. A demolitions expert by profession, a nature lover at heart, she found herself relocating to the Pacific Northwest for a job. She was friendly, confident, and a down to earth girl that got along with everyone in town. Despite all this, I know two things:

Adeline Girard was reported missing August 28th, 2006.

She was not the first, nor will she be the last.

I stepped into the diner on a foggy September morning, the smell of bacon and pancakes immediately hitting my nose. Stomach rumbling, I took myself and my files to an empty corner booth, relaxing amongst the atmosphere of mystery.

“Well it’s about time I see a new face!” I looked up from the photo of Adeline to be greeted by a kind old face, eyelid droopy and painted blue.

Susan.

“Well, I’m not staying in town long, but I’ve heard from everyone here that you’re the best waitress. So I decided to see what the fuss was all about.”

“Well that’s so kind! What can I get started for you, honey?”

I glanced over the menu and around the diner, noticing many of the same plates in front of the many different people. I felt Susan change, and I looked up. She was staring at the open file before me, right at Adeline.

“Do you know her?” My painted finger rested on her face, looking up at Susan with intent. She wouldn’t meet my eyes, but hurriedly glanced away from the photo.

“Your order?”

“Um… yeah could I please get a stack of pancakes, with blueberries instead of strawberries please. And uh… classic bacon, egg and sausage platter. Over easy. Thank you.”

Quickly scribbling, she ran to the kitchen to call the order, leaving me to Adeline’s unblinking face and the millions of notes of where she could be.

The windshield wipers looked like they were about to fly off the car in Adeline’s eyes. Her fingers were wrapped tight around the steering wheel, knuckles white with tension as she just tried to keep her focus on the road.

“It’s freezing…” Her mouth was set in a straight line, pressed together to try and keep her lips warm. The trapper hat was fixed firmly on her head, her blonde hair for once messy and out of control. Adeline reached for the heater before seeing brake lights, slamming on her own to keep from hitting the person in front of her.

Letting out a long and tired sigh, she heard her duffle bag fall from the backseat, hitting the floorboard with a dull thud. Her dynamite.

Reaching into the backseat, she kept her hand on the wheel as she fixed her bag, making sure to keep the charge in place. Quickly turning back around, she looked for any sort of road signs to find where she was located.

Oregon Border. 500 miles.

Just 500 miles to go, and then it was a new life, a new job.. a new everything. Adeline sighed to herself, tapping her fingers to the music as she enjoyed the slow crawl of the Washington freeway.

“Ma’am?” A gentle knocking on the window stirred Adeline awake, the smell of rain and pine coming through the cracked windows of her car. She looked up at the officer before her, a friendly enough looking fellow with too big of a smile.

“How can I help you?” Adeline asked with a slight crack in her voice, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“You know being pulled over asleep on the side of the road is illegal. You ain’t supposed to be doing that.”

“Oh… I’m sorry. I’m not exactly from around here and I just wanted to take a rest.”

“Where you from? Where are you headed to?”

“Québec, Canada. And I’m headed to Gravity Falls, Oregon for a job.”

The officer clapped the top of Adeline’s car, making her jump in her seat. He radioed to his partner, who got out of the passenger side of the cruiser.

“Well welcome to our town! You coulda just stopped about 5 minutes down that way and hit a motel! We can lead you that way if you need a guide and some safety in case you go back to sleep behind the wheel.”

“Uh…. no I think I’ll be fine officer….” Adeline paused, squinting to adjust to the early morning sun reflecting off his badge. “Blubs?”

“That’s my name! If you need anything just holler!” He walked back to his car, pulling his partner in before driving off ahead through the massive trees. She ignored the sinking feeling in her stomach, turning on her car and letting the engine run for a moment. Running her long fingers through her hair, she hummed to herself, getting back into a driving position to drive off.

Welcome to Gravity Falls.

The rain began almost immediately as she parked in front of the dingy diner, getting out and running through the door with a soft tinkling of the bell. Most of the counter was empty, minus a woman with a heavily painted face. The booths were another story.

Full of smiling and chattering faces, most looking up at Adeline when she walked in. She was used to all eyes being on her, but in this circumstance it felt.. different. Off. Heading to the corner of the restaurant, she took a booth to herself, putting her purse beside her.

“Well aren’t you just the prettiest flower that ever bloomed! I’m Susan, what can I get started for you?”

Adeline smiled softly at the woman before grabbing her matches out of her purse. With a cigar gently resting in between her teeth, she lit the stick on the bottom of her heel, lighting the cigar with a few puffs.

“Coffee, black. Um… do you have maple pancakes here?”

Susan kept staring at the woman before her, not quite sure what to make of this new customer.

“We have maple syrup for the pancakes?” She sounded unsure of herself, eyelid twitching a little as Adeline inhaled the rich maple smoke of her cigar.

“That’s fine. And eggs please, scrambled. No meat please.”

Susan walked away, calling out the order as the other customers chatted amongst themselves. The only person who came in here alone was that man who lived in the woods. No one really got a name from him, but they both seemed to be the same loner type.

As Susan came back with Adeline’s water, the blonde smiled up at her.

“Is there anything fun to do here? I have a demolition job here in a few days, and I was wondering of any… um… enjoyable activities?”

“Fishing! We also have downtown Gravity Falls. It’s not much but it’s something to do!”

“Thank you Ms. Susan, I appreciate the hospitality.” Adeline put out the cigar, smashing the tip of it into the cracked plastic ashtray that sat to her left. “Where’s the fishing spot?”

“Um… Lake Gravity Falls. About 5 miles from here.”

“Perfect.”

Susan and Adeline stared at each other before the younger woman quirked up an eyebrow. The waitress turned away, leaving her alone in the corner booth.

I sat in my car overlooking the lake, watching the people gathering around an older gentleman who seemed to be yelling about something. Quickly grabbing my notebook, I climbed out of my car, walking over with breakneck speed as I caught the end of his speech.

“I’m tellin’ ya! I saw a monster in the damn water!”

“Dad, you’re embarrassing me.”

What I could only assume was his son clapped his shoulder, pulling the man out of the crowd and leading him back to the bait shop by the shore of the lake. Everyone went back to their business, leaving me standing there completely out of place.

Lake Gravity Falls. One of the last places Adeline was spotted before she went missing.

I squinted my eyes, looking at the islands that seemed to sit in the middle, cliffs climbing and cutting into the sky. The boats littered the water, nature being the only noise filling my ears. Looking towards the shack, I let myself wander that way, away from the curious looks the townspeople gave me.

“Hello?” Opening the door, I listened to the staticky radio play in the corner, the smell of decaying meat filling my nose. Covering the lower half of my face, I let out a small gagging noise.

“What can I do for you?”

The man behind the counter’s face was hidden by hair and a giant hat. He was leaned against the glass top with one elbow, his body turned to face mine.

“Uh, I actually wanted to speak to your father. About his.. ravings.”

“Ah.” He spit out some dip, rubbing his bottom lip. “Let me get him. He’s out back.”

I watched him walk towards the door before quickly catching him with a cough.

“Actually I’ll just go talk to him. I might be able to get him to give me answers if it’s just us two.”

“All you’ll get from him, lady, is his crazy. But sure, go for it.���

Letting out a gentle sigh, I guided myself out the backdoor to be greeted by the smell of a cob pipe burning. The older gentleman sat in a rocking chair, staring into the woods as his lips twitched around the stem. Smoke billowed around him, almost giving him the aura of a wise sage.

“Hello?” I called out, closing the door behind me as I saw him jump slightly in his chair.

“Well I’ll be! You’re that reporter everyone’s talkin’ about in town!”

“I…” I let myself pause, squinting slightly. I don’t remember seeing this man in town, or even relatively close to the diner. He met my gaze, not breaking it as he took another puff. I waved away the smoke, giving a soft clearing of my throat.

“Yes. Yes I am. My name is Eleanor Parker and I was wondering if I could ask a few questions about an individual?”

“I can’t guarantee a remembrance but! I sure can try!” He let out a laugh, slapping his knee. “Who we talkin’ about?”

“Adeline Girard-Corduroy. She disappeared a couple years back but we don’t have any suspect of foul play.” I opened her case file, not noticing the man’s face starting to glaze over with disassociation. “She married Dan Corduroy and has 4 children with him. I’m looking for any eyewitnesses that might have seen her a few hours before her disappearance. The last recorded person I have was a day before-“

“The agents took her.”

I felt my eyebrows furrow, looking up at the old man. He refused to make eye contact, and my fingers fidgeted with the papers.

“Agents? What agents are you talking about?”

He wouldn’t speak anymore, and I stood up, brushing off my pants.

“Well… thanks. I guess.”

He quickly grabbed my wrist, causing me to startle as he leaned forward in his chair.

“It’s not safe to be chasin’ ghosts around here, understood? Sometimes ghosts deserve to stay that way.”

Pulling my wrist away, I stared at him until he broke eye contact to look back into the trees. I didn’t want to know what he meant by that, and I didn’t want to know why he kept looking that way.

Adeline arrived at the lake, nearly empty except for a single boat treading the water. Her cigar hung from her lips, thick and treading smoke. For a moment, her green eyes sparkled as she remembered when her mother found out about her new habit. Always trying to fit in with her brothers, she said.

Holding it steady in between her lips, Adeline put her hair up into a bun, tucking it underneath her trapper hat.

“Alright, fishing it is.”

Walking to the cabin that sat beside the lake, she watched as a little boy ran out, a man with wild eyes stepping forward through the door.

“Now you get back here- Oh! Now what can I do for you on this fine afternoon?”

“Renting a fishing boat. You got one available?” Adeline held the cigar down, just in case the smell was offensive to the gentleman standing before her. He eyed her for a moment, taking in the strange choice of attire before stepping to the side.

“Please, come in. The boats are docked on the side but you can pay in here.”

She treaded carefully on the wood planks, making sure to not get her heel stuck in an eye of the wood. Pulling her wallet out along the way to the counter, she quickly pulled out a $20, handing it to the gentleman.

“For any damages caused.”

“Damages? Ma’am you haven’t even gone fishing yet!” He looked shocked to say the least, hand tight fisting the bill all the same.

“It’s just in case, Cherie.”

She strutted out, letting her cigar rest back in her mouth, walking through a cloud of smoke and out the door, going towards her car and then the boat.

The bag was resting on her knee as the other boat on the water came towards her own. She side eyed it, making sure it wasn’t anyone who was going to hit her rental or steal her catch. Whatever would be left of it that is.

“You don’t have a pole!”

The voice was aggressive in volume, but tender in tone. Adeline turned her head fully to catch the eye of the red headed man with kind amber eyes, freckles splotching his cheeks. A beard was growing in, a beanie tucked under his thigh.

“I know.”

“But…. you.. need a fishing pole?”

“Do I now.” Adeline raised an eyebrow at her future husband, a smirk growing on her lips. He could tell it wasn’t a question, but more of a genuine comment. He fiddled with his own fishing pole as he watched her take out a stick of dynamite, flicking her cigar quickly to light the fuse.

Boom.

Not only did the dynamite explode, but so did his heart.

Fish shot out of the water as Adeline laughed, landing in her boat and in his own. They locked eyes and he reached out his hand, a smile plastered on his face.

“Daniel! Daniel Corduroy! Everybody calls me Dan though!”

Adeline eyed his hand for a moment before reaching out her own.

“Adeline. Adeline Girard. No one calls me anything.”

Her eyes sparkled with mischief, and he couldn’t help himself. Dan absolutely had to make a fool of himself then and there.

“Want to go out to dinner with me?”

“So forward!” She laughed, Dan’s face going as red as his hair before she leaned over, puffing a little bit of maple smoke into his face before lighting another stick, tossing it over her shoulder. “What time?”

Months had gone by. Adeline was making money with her demolition job, her last one taking place in a week. An old church outside of town, beautiful, but an absolute mess.

As the young blonde sat next to her boyfriend, she leaned into his side, lacing her fingers through his own.

“Dan… I have a question for you.”

She stared at their interlocked hands before looking up at him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Yeah?”

“I have a job coming up here soon, and I don’t really have anything holding me back from going home. Except you.”

Dan looked at her, raising an eyebrow as he listened intently.

“Want to make this thing official? It’ll make it harder to leave… I might just ask for an official job here.”

“Are… are you asking me to marry you?”

“You’re so thick skulled! Yes! I’m asking if you’d like to marry me!”

Adeline laughed as Dan leaned in, capturing her lips in his own. Squeezing her hand tight, he nodded in agreement.

“Do you want rings? A ceremony?”

“Nothing too official… but you know that old church outside of town?”

“Of course I do. My parents got married there. Nearly everyone’s folks got married there.”

“It’s my last job. Blowing it up. Maybe… maybe we can have it there. After all, wouldn’t it be fitting? Our relationship began with a bang after all!”

Dan snorted, letting out a belly deep laugh as he looked at her.

“You’re absolutely crazy darlin’. But yes, let’s start off with a bang.”

It’s been years now since she arrived in town. Adeline settled with her new tight knit family, a young daughter heading the brood of four. Wendy. She always liked the name Wendy, and she wanted it for her daughter.

The daughter who was so much like her. The daughter with the same vibrant green eyes and tenacious attitude. She was going to be a little hell raiser and she knew it.

Adeline smiled to herself as she locked up the diner door, turning to wave to who she thought was Susan. The robed figure stared from under the streetlamp, their face completely hidden in the shadows.

“Hello?”

Before Adeline could say anything, her vision was blurred. Wrong place, wrong time.

Walking along the bustling sidewalks, I was met with curious looks from quite a few citizens. Things were strange in this town, but nothing stranger than this club that was held in reverence.

Remembering things here wasn’t a good idea, according to the man at the lake. In the last few hours I researched them. The society of the blind eye. Keepers of memories no one wanted, or who they assumed would not want them. Lapses of memory were fairly common with everyone I had spoken to so far.

But how? There’s no way of erasing memories. No logical way anyway.

I didn’t fail to notice the feeling of dread digging its way into my stomach as I crossed the threshold of the town’s history museum. I saw a shadow pass by, and ran for it, skidding against the tile as I saw it round the corner.

As my hand rested against the wall, my vision went blurry mid turn. Finding myself suddenly unable to see, I reached out, trying to find something, anything, to make this situation better.

“HELLO?!”

I didn’t find salvation. I found a pair of hands.

“Shh.”

Adeline and Eleanor moved as one now.

Strapped in the chair. Sworn to secrecy, an oath they both would not remember.

Only separated by time and one detrimental flaw in the beginning. These hands were experienced with the memory gun, those were not.

As the women stumbled out the doors and into the moonlight, blinking eyes staring out into the night, one would head back to her car, wondering and questioning why she was in this Podunk of a town to begin with. The other would fade from the lives of those she loved, found and forgotten by another who she never met.

#paid commission #my writing #gravity falls #gravity falls au #gravity falls oc #eleanor belongs to me! oc is commissioners own work with my name addition and slight flair!

[heejinnien]

A HIGHWAY WITH A LIGHT? I think it was just a real busy street not a highway nucdnducnd, i don’t really go to starbucks since it’s not popular here we have like only 2 here neidifhdjd and last time i went i got out of the starbucks to see my car wrecked :’) so a random person yeeted his car into mine and ran away :´) it was painful to see that holding my small macchiato ;-;

Ohhh i am also not a fan of sweets!!! I got a really really salty tooth hahahaha so i love crackers (perhaps might have an addiction to cheez-its, they arrived like 5 months ago in my city and I’ve been obsessed), the thing i do like are traditional dessert like Pouding Chômeur which is my fav fav fav especial when its hot and out of the oven :3

I celebrate Christmas too! Thanksgiving exis, it is present, but no one really celebrates it hahaha i never saw someone celebrate it here! I think a tradition that do go around are sugar shack april and corn roast june!

Sugar shack april : every family goes to the sugar shack at least once in this month and we eat traditional meals! Such as Tourtière, pea soup, baked beans, and lots of other stuff! And the dessert is maple syrup on snow, so we pour maple syrup on CLEAN SNOW OKAY, it hardens and we we pick it up with a stick and it’s delicious!

Corn Roast June: is more with friends, everyone kind of does it too! It’s a month where we do a lot of corn and we peel them together and enjoy our time around a fire, eating nanaimo bars and Pet de soeur (yes the typical traduction of this is sister’s farts dont ask why) for dessert! It like big parties hehehe

Voilà<3

-cndjdjdnnd idk where is the scooter emojii on this not phone of mine so imagine the emojii

it wAS A HIGHWAY I SWEAR SJKDFHGJKSD. that makes sense, not ur poor macchiato :( i hope ur okay, altho ur car obvi isn’t.

omg cheez-its, in middle school my friend used to always give me her burnt cheez-its bc she wasn’t a fan of them. oo i haven’t heard of pouding chomeur

cleAN SNOW- it’s okay i believe u, ur not the first person i’ve heard of who does that !! i’ve heard it’s v good

corn roast june :o sounds v interesting. that reminds me of these sweet corn flavored korean snacks i have skdjfhf

- ksjdfhkg that’s okay, ik it’s you, altho not ur phone, hm r u a thief

#asks #orders up anon

[drink-n-watch]

Do you know how to tell if someone’s Canadian? Wait 5 minutes and they’ll tell you! Or maybe that’s just me? Anyways, I’m Canadian so when the episode started on what was clearly a fantasy parallel for the maple syrup industry, I got super excited. Cause I’m Canadian you see. Also I love maple syrup and all the derivatives. It’s delicious! It’s also almost maple season! Basically, this week’s Somali and the Forest Spirit tried to bribe me with sweetness. And it succeeded!

After reading a comment on one of my episode posts I started thinking about my uneven appreciation of this show and I’ve come to realize something. I’m watching Somali and the Forest Spirit for the story. I appreciate the colours and beauty of the anime. The craftsmanship goes a long way to propping up weaker story moments. But for me, it was always about Golem and Somali’s journey and how they grow together. It’s why I’m here.

So it’s a bit ironic that I tend to appreciate the show more when less happens.

For instance, in this episode, Golem and Somali continue their journey and meet up again with Shizuno and Yabashira. Somali also happens to lose her first baby tooth and since neither she nor Golem know this is normal, she freaks out a bit about tit then finds out it’s all good.

That’s pretty much it. No big revelation, no exciting new characters and unsurmountable obstacles, and a considerably ranking down of the stakes from previous episodes. This was probably my favourite episode in a long time. Also the whole sugar shack thing at the beginning…

Man the environments are so pretty in this show!

Episode 9 of Somali was a bit of a return to the roots of the series. It reestablished the characters and even brought back my two favourite supporting cast members to expand a bit the context of Somali and Golem’s universe.

We were clearly reminded not only of what type of person Somali is but also that she’s a small child with all that implies. Losing baby teeth and being worried about nothing when real problems are looming. She doesn’t want to worry her father but he’s the only thing in the entire world that’s safe. He’s her whole universe and she sees him as both invincible and fragile.

We are also reminded that Golem is a doting and caring father with all that implies but ultimately not human. He has no idea about baby teeth. He’s never cooked before, even if he is apparently skilled at it. He has to discover so much of the world right alongside Somali which is tricky when you also want to protect and teach a child.

All the while, Shizu and Yaba remind us that the world may be dangerous but it’s also filled with potential friends if you just give people a chance. It’s a hodge bodge of kindness and cruelty and you just have to figure out how to make the best of it.

To me, episodes like this are the charm of the series. Relatively quiet but full of hope. Somali’s unfounded anxiety that we can appreciate with fondness as we know she’s going to be just fine and nevertheless feel exhilarated when we see it turn into glee.

There were also many beautiful moments of Golem just being a father. Deciding to keep the box for Somali’s baby teeth. An unpractical sentimental gesture that nevertheless had deep meaning for both of them. The show is deliberately restating it’s thesis and I think it’s a great move at this time.

For a couple of episodes we went off in a lot of directions and it was good to be reminded that it’s just a simple story about a father and daughter finding each other and going on a journey together. That’s all it needs to be. It’s the story I wanted to see.

The very last lines of the episode imply that Golems are in fact more utilitarian creatures and generally devoid of emotion. Golem is not being the most deadpan tsundere ever (although that’s sort of a fun way to approach the character). Rather his speech seemed to imply that meeting Somali fundamentally changed him.

Essentially what Golem said is that becoming a father is what made him a person.

I’m not a parent so I can’t fully appreciate the sentiment but I am a daughter and I found it deeply touching.

I really liked this episode of Somali and the Forest Spirit, I hope they keep the vibe going.

Somali and The Forest Spirit Episode 9 – Sugar Shack Do you know how to tell if someone's Canadian? Wait 5 minutes and they'll tell you! Or maybe that's just me?

#adventure #anime #Fantasy #found family #Somali and The Forest Spirit

[that-wimpy-cowboy-doll]

don’t you wanna save this dirty little damsel?

For the Steve Rogers 100th Birthday Celebration created by the lovely @mee2themoo :D

Pairing: Steve Rogers/Darcy Lewis

Overall Rating: Explicit

Chapter: 2 of 3 Read chapter one here or AO3

Summary:

It started with a simple question in Tony’s lab.  And it ended up in a small town strip club, where nobody recognizes four Avengers in civilian clothes sitting in the back.  Needless to say, even when he was in the ice, Steve has never had a more uncomfortable birthday. But amidst the smoke, the lights, and the skintight red, white, and blue, one Darcy Lewis is out to start some literal and figurative fireworks.

For the Steve Rogers 100th Birthday Celebration :)Title comes from Natalia Kills’s “Problem.”  Prompts included: Fireworks, Baseball, Small Town, and Red, White, and Blue.

“I thought you said you wanted some, and I quote, ‘fine quality dining.’”

Steve’s tone was one of amusement, low over the sound of clinking utensils and dull chatter at the local Denny’s.  Darcy smiled and swirled her French fries around in the small glob of ketchup on her plate before popping them into her mouth.

“Yeah.  They make a mean Bacon Gouda Burger.”  She dusted her salty fingers on her napkin, then pulled her jacket a little tighter around her.  They kept the Denny’s in the little podunk town pretty damn cold, so that when it was summertime that initial walk in the doors was refreshing, but by the time you were sitting for more than ten minutes, you needed to run outside into the heat and humidity to get your jacket out of the car.  “So level with me, Captain Steve.  Why am I here with you right now?”

“Because you agreed to come?”  She raised her eyebrows, unconvinced.  He set down his Coke.  “Fine.  I asked you to come out with me because I think you’re an interesting girl.  You had this...well, this look in your eyes.  And when I was back in that club, I got to looking at the other girls and…”  He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair.  “...they had this look in their eye like they were ashamed.  And you didn’t.”

He didn’t know what he’d expected for her to do or say in response to that, but it certainly wasn’t for her to purse her lips, raise her eyebrows, and completely break eye contact with him.

Shit.  “Did I say something wrong?”

She inhaled deeply and exhaled equally deeply, looking back up at him.

“Look, dude.  I know you’ve only been back in the world for the last, what, eight, ten years?  And in those eight-to-ten years, you’ve been shacked up in Avengers-land dealing with aliens and dictators and crazies of all shapes and sizes.”  She paused to sip from her soda.  “But, like, the whole ‘you’re different from other girls’ thing?  Went outta style a looong time ago.”  She was running her fingernails over the tabletop, brushing over the nicks and ridges.  “We all do it for our own reasons.  Just because my reasons might be different from the next girl’s doesn’t mean I’m any better than her.”

Steve could feel the blood filling his face.  God I’m a fucking idiot.  But she was still sitting there, though looking thoroughly unimpressed, picking at her cheeseburger and her French fries.

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to...I didn’t mean to be insensitive.”  He pushed a lump of syrupy pancake across his plate, listening to the small screech his fork made across the porcelain.  “But you asked why I wanted you to come out with me.  And I guess the best way I can put it is that I liked how you talked to me and I liked how you seemed so confident.  And I’m not always that way.”  This seemed to soften her, judging by the gentle smile that rose to her lips when he said this.  “So why did you agree to come out with me?”

The gentle smile turned brighter, easing some of the tension in Steve’s chest.  He realized he’d been holding his breath, and exhaled softly through his nose.

“Well, for one thing, you’re pretty hot, and I’d be an idiot to say no to a date with Captain America.”  She grinned.  “And I’ll admit, part of me is wondering if I can’t double-cross you into going to my baby brother’s baseball game with me tonight so we can watch the fireworks after and make sure he doesn’t get into any nonsense.  But, honestly, you seem very sweet.  And I guess I wanna get to know Steve, not Cap.”  She took a big bite of her burger, and some of the juice from the meat dripped onto her plate.  “Plus, a burger with you kicks the shit out of stripping any day, to be honest.”

He smiled back at her, finally letting himself ease into his seat.  He took a bite of the pancakes, now long soggy from soaking in maple syrup on his plate.

“A burger with you kicks the shit out of sitting in a strip club any day.  Now, about that baseball game…”

*****

It had been a long while since he’d smelled freshly cut grass and the crisp dirt of a baseball diamond.  In fact, the last time he’d smelled a baseball diamond had been before the serum, when he’d wheezed his way up to the Dodgers stadium with Bucky after school and whiffing the field had brought him into a coughing fit under the bleachers.  Bucky’d made off with a strawberry blonde in a skirt that was a little tight around the hips for three innings, and Steve had watched Al Lopez fire an out at a stolen second base over the best corn dog he’d ever had.

This time, though, Darcy had pulled a couple of camping chairs out of the trunk of her little sedan and had propped them up on the other side of the third base line, just outside left field.  Most of the people in the bleachers were decked in the stars and stripes, and the boys on the field wore star-spangled stirrups in celebration of the holiday.  The air was still fairly thick with East Coast humidity, and the sky had begun to glow golden as the sun started going down.  As the boys entered inning four, Steve was starting to think that Tony had done him a favor.

“So would it be a douchebag move to ask you why you do the whole club thing?  Even if it’s out of curiosity?”  He tilted his sunglasses to dim the glare glinting off one of the stadium lights.  Darcy edged her chair closer to his, letting her arm brush comfortably against him.

“Because I grew up here, and every teacher I’ve ever had, almost every adult I’ve ever known never wanted to take me seriously.”  She leaned forward, slipping her hair into a ponytail at the top of her head.  “I did fine in school, but they always told me I wasn’t really smart enough to make up for my smart mouth.”  She plucked a Gatorade out of the cooler at her side and handed it to Steve before grabbing one for herself.  “I went off to college for a bit, got my B.A. in sociology, shacked up with my parents for a bit...then when I moved out I thought people’d finally take me seriously.”

“But they didn’t?”

“Nope.”  She let the p pop satisfyingly at the end of her lips.  “My folks kicked Taylor out not long after, so he’s been living with me for the last year and a half.”  Steve opened his mouth to voice some kind of sympathy, but she shook her head, meeting his eyes through her own pair of shades.  “No, don’t be sorry.  He’s my best friend and he’s way better off with me than he was with them.”

“I’m glad you’ve got each other, then.”

“Soon as he graduates next year, we’re getting the hell out of this dumbass town.”  She breathed it out in a sigh, fingering a loose strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail.  Without thinking, Steve reached over to tuck it behind her ear.  Darcy glanced up at him, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Any idea where you want to go?”  He didn’t move his hand.

“Far from here.”  Her voice had turned soft.  Her lips were so close, so pink, and the curve of her Cupid’s bow so gentle that Steve was beginning to think that if he leaned over just a hint, if he caught them against his just so, they might just cast a spell on him, and she might just own him forever.  “Steve, I’m - ”

“THATABABY, LEWIS!” screamed out the coach at the third base line, jumping up and down, and around the bases flew a tall, gangly teenage boy, his helmet bouncing with every step.  He’d rounded second and slid into third by the time the center fielder was able to return the ball to the infield.  Darcy had leapt to her feet and was clapping furiously, then cupped her hands around her mouth and screamed for him.

“Yeah, Taylor!” she cheered, flashing him a thumbs up when he turned to face her from third base.  He flashed her the same, and in that brief moment that Steve had been able to catch a glimpse of him, he could count the freckles on the kid’s face, he could see the chip in the kid’s third tooth from the middle, but nothing shone more from Taylor Lewis than how excited he was to see his big sister.

Steve couldn’t help the smile that clung to his lips as he clapped along.  When Darcy scooted her chair closer to him again, settling into it and into the arm that had somehow found its way around her, she couldn’t help smiling either.

The game ended in the seventh inning with a score of 4-0 to the Rangers, Taylor’s team.  After the obligatory coaches’ talk in the outfield, the boys cleaned up and Taylor came bounding from the dugout grinning from ear to ear.

“Holy shit.  Holy shit, Darce, how’d you line this up?”  He reached for Steve’s hand immediately, grasped it firmly and shook hard.  “Great to meet you, Mr. Steve, I’d call you Mr. Rogers, but, you know, he’s a whole ‘nother ballpark.”

“You’re babbling, Tay.  And watch the language around my friends, okay?”  She elbowed him playfully in the side before reaching around for a hug, unfazed by the dirt caking his jersey.

“Captain America is your friend?” he asked incredulously, looking from one to the other, and though Steve had almost doubted it was possible, smiled even bigger.  “No way, I gotta tell Jamie - ”

“Tay,” Darcy chided, folding her arms over her chest.  “Nobody knows he’s down here.  Give the guy a break, I’m sure he doesn’t want to sign autographs and take pictures with everyone on his birthday.”

“It’s your birthday?  Dude, happy birthday!  How old are you in, like, people time?  ‘Cause you’ve got one of those faces, you know?  Where you might be, like twenty-nine, but you could also be, like thirty-five, and it probably doesn’t make that much of a difference as you get older, plus you’re like, super-serumed up, and - ”  He reached out, as if his hand was moving of its own accord, and let his fingertips brush against Steve’s chest, and for an amusing moment Steve was reminded of the way that Peggy had done the same thing about seventy years ago, and suddenly it made sense as to why he and Darcy had a strained relationship with their parents.  “ - gosh, man, it’s so great to meet you.”

“Great to meet you, too, Taylor.  That was a nice triple out there, by the way.  You’ve got a good swing.”

Taylor’s face lit up, and it was as though Babe Ruth himself had clapped him on the shoulder and said the words to him.  He shook Steve’s hand again before blushing furiously, looking back and forth between him and Darcy.

“Hey, uh, kiddo, look who’s here.”  Darcy nudged him again, then pointed to a cream-colored truck that was pulling into the dirt parking lot, shiny red rims rolling through the dust.  If it was possible, Taylor’s smile grew even brighter, and as though he totally forgot about Steve, he patted Darcy on the back and bolted for the truck, tossing his batbag into the back and hopping into the passenger seat.

“Who’s that?”  Steve nodded at the pickup, folding his arms over his chest.

“His boyfriend.”  A hand had popped out of the driver’s window, wagging at Darcy, who waved back.  “Jamie’s a good kid.  I’m glad they’ve got each other out here.  I’d kick his ass for not coming out for Taylor’s game earlier, but he works a lot.”

“So young?”

Darcy shrugged, combing her fingers through her hair.  “Got a kid sister and his mom’s sick.  He takes care of ‘em.  Like I said, he’s a good kid.”  The last curve of the sun had finally descended below the horizon, and the brilliant gold of the sky was fading into deep crimson, then purple.  Darcy plopped back into her chair, pulled a thick blanket out of her tote bag, and slung it across her shoulders.  “Come sit with me.”

He took his place beside her, letting her drape the blanket around the both of them, huddling closer to share heat.  Which Steve was sure he wasn’t short on, considering how close she was, the lavender in her hair drifting toward him.

His arm was around her again, and he wasn’t sure what possessed him to say it, but then he was telling her, “You know, this is the best birthday I’ve had in a really long time.”  In a voice softer than he’d used in a long time.  The kind of voice he used to reserve for Peggy…

“I’m glad I could be part of it,” she mumbled, leaning so that the side of her head pressed to his shoulder.  “I’m gonna need to kiss a lot of ass for playing hooky, but it’s been worth it.”  Her voice was soft, too, the words tumbling out of her mouth like a song that Steve had never heard.

“Maybe I could come around here more often.  I could take you for some more fine quality dining.”  She’d let her hand wander to his forearm, and her fingers were circling a spot on his wrist, and Steve was certain the goosebumps that sprouted up there had nothing to do with the slowly cooling night.

“I’d like that.  I’d really like that.”

They sat in comfortable silence as the chirping of the cicadas rose in the distance.  Darcy would turn every so often to glance over her shoulder at the cream-colored truck, and each time would nestle closer to Steve’s side afterward.  Not long after the sky turned inky black, dotted with clusters of stars and galaxies, the park officials started setting off fireworks.  Bursts of red exploded in the sky, then white, shimmering off into oblivion when they burned out.  The sparks blew every color of the rainbow, but Steve was finding it more and more difficult to concentrate on the sky.  It was like gravity itself had pulled Darcy to his side, and gravity itself was pulling his face toward hers.

He kissed her under a shower of purple, funnily enough, and her lips were even softer than he’d imagined.  As the night grew darker and the sparks above them grew brighter, Steve held Darcy close, feeling her fingers thread through his hair, his own hands gently cradling the curve of her neck.

And as the sky lit up red, white, and blue, Steve was thinking that maybe, just maybe, he’d have to thank Tony when he got back.

#darcy lewis x steve rogers #wintershieldshock #steve rogers 100th birthday #steve rogers #fanfic #happy 4th of july #darcy lewis

[sevralships]

“Reunion”

(Shoutout to @handleonthescandal for conceptualizing fem!dippin’, an AU where the Pines triplets consist of Fem!Dip, Mabel, and Tyrone. When I recently had the good fortune to spend some time with @dddippinsauce and @equilateral-asshat outside of cyberspace, it was hard to keep the dynamic far from our minds. This fic is dedicated to the two of them ‘cause they’re the bestest chicken nuggets around).

It’s been nearly ten years since the Pines triplets were all together in Gravity Falls for any length of time. They are finally all together, for only a weekend, and Mabel finds herself tempted to pick up right where they left off. Angst, fluff, smut. TW incest. Fem!Dippin Pinecest. NSFW. 11,200 words (ooh what a nice round number!)

Fic below cut, enjoy!

Reunion

Mabel took a break from shoveling bites of syrup-soaked pancake into her mouth to get another look at Dip and Ty. It’d been much too long since they’d all been together like this to let the moment go uncherished, and besides, it was probably wise to give herself a chance to actually chew her food. Next to her, Dipper was happily having a sip of tea, her hands curled gratefully around the warmth of the mug. Mabel had always loved catching Dip in little moments of serenity like this one, serenity being something her high-strung sis too seldom found. Mabel chewed her mouthful of pancakes thoughtfully and looked across the table at Ty. He held a slice of turkey bacon at the ready (having long since agreed to her insistence that they all give up pork as a courtesy to Waddles), his own plate of pancakes mostly emptied. Mabel wasn’t the least bit surprised to find Ty looking at her already, his grateful expression a mirror of her own happiness in sharing such a simple pleasure with her favorite trips.

“Ah!” Dipper gave a small, slightly dramatized sigh of satisfaction as she set down her mug, and Mabel watched Ty’s gaze slide lovingly to their sister. His already sentimental expression gave way to a small goofy smile, “What?” she challenged, her lips curling into a half-smile.

Ty’s smile widened and Mabel’s heart lifted as it always did when Ty smiled that way, “It just feels really great to be home.” He said simply, gesturing to the interior of Greasy’s Diner with the piece of turkey bacon before popping it into his mouth. Glancing around the diner, Mabel couldn’t help but agree. Not a thing had changed in here in the last… was it really going on ten years? The world outside kept changing and demanding different things of them, but Gravity Falls remained eerily and comfortingly the same.

Dip lifted her mug of tea, “Hear, hear!” Mabel lifted her hot cocoa in agreement.

“What the hey does Lazy Susan do to make these pancakes so good?” Mabel asked around another bite, as if the question had not been posed between the three of them thousands of times over the years.

“I’m telling you,” Dip said with a conspiratorial look, “Blood magic. It’s the only force powerful enough to explain this.”

Ty snorted, “You will carry that theory to your grave, won’t you, Dip? I’m telling you,” he said, as he had many times, “She fries them in bacon fat instead of butter.”

“Nooo,” Mabel complained stubbornly, covering her ears with her hands, “It can’t be pork fat, I already gave up bacon, don’t take pancakes from me too!”

“How else would you explain these deliciously crisp edges?” Ty asked, holding up a corner of pancake speared on his fork.

“Blood magic,” Dip replied without missing a beat, “No bacon fat alone could produce such a sinfully tasty pancake.”

Ty snickered, popping the bite of crispy pancake edge into his mouth, “Whether it’s blood magic or bacon fat, I just hope she keeps doing what she’s doing.” He closed his eyes, making a show of reveling in the taste of the pancake, “I don’t want to live in a world without these freaking pancakes.”

“I take it they don’t have pancakes like this outside Gravity Falls?” Dipper said conversationally, already knowing the answer.

“Heck no,” Mabel said, “In Florida most people call them flapjacks and they’re tasty enough but they’re nowhere near ‘sinful’.” There were some things Mabel liked about living in the Sunshine State, not least of all the animals she worked with at a zoo there, but there was no getting used to some of it. She quite liked the word ‘flapjacks’, but they didn’t taste like home.

“The pancakes at the Griddle Houses near me are passable at best,” Ty agreed, the look in his eye implying that he was running through every pancake he’d had since moving to New York, “I don’t think blood magic fits into the franchise policy.”

Dip cupped a hand to her ear, “Do I hear some doubt in your long-held bacon grease theory?”

“Not even a little,” Ty scoffed, “But it’d take more than bacon fat to kick a Griddle House pancake up to Lazy Susan quality.”

Dipper shrugged concedingly and the triplets fell back into a comfortable silence, as they tucked into what remained of their breakfast-for-dinner. Mabel and Ty had both arrived, from Florida and New York respectively, in the mid-afternoon, hungry from traveling and craving the comfort food of their youth. Mabel and Ty each eagerly cleaned their plates, leaving barely a drop of maple syrup behind, but Dipper asked for a take-away box for about half of what she’d ordered. Of course, Dipper could have Greasy’s signature pancakes whenever she wanted, unlike her sibs, having ended up living in Gravity Falls full time.

Not that it came as any surprise that she was the one to wind up here. On the contrary, Mabel thought it would have been stranger to imagine Dipper settling anywhere else. While Mabel and Ty’s respective goals had carried them far and away from the comfort of Gravity Falls and Piedmont, Dipper’s path towards investigating the supernatural had rarely wavered. Mabel had always admired Dipper’s surety and dedication to this one goal, her own wide range of interests and skills leading her down one dead end after another before she had landed on animal care. Ty had struggled similarly with artistic and career attempts, too many of which had been flops. Mabel’s heart gave a twinge, sympathizing with her brother’s rocky path and the deep self-doubt that went with it. Not that Dipper had been dealt an easy hand by any means. It was almost as if being a precocious kid guaranteed you for dissatisfying young adulthood, and Dip was no exception. She did, however, at the very least, have the good fortune of living in Gravity Falls.

The damp autumn evening met them with a refreshing gust as they left the cozy, stuffy warmth of the diner, “Autummmnnn!” Mabel sing-songed, with a little twirl on the leaf-strewn sidewalk, and pulled a deep breath of the clean Oregon air through her nose, letting it out in a satisfied sigh, “Ya don’t find air like that in Florida.”

“Isn’t the air in Florida, like, seventy percent swamp?” Ty asked, wrapping an arm around Mabel’s shoulders.

“Eighty percent, bro.” Mabel said, hugging his waist.

“I dunno,” Dip said, holding out a hand to feel the light, cool drizzle, “Oregon’s swampy air levels are at at least a fifty today, maybe we should have taken the car after all.”

“Oh, hogwash, Dipdot!” Mabel exclaimed, giving the bill of Dipper’s cap a playful flick, “You got your handy-dandy hat, a little spritz like this got nothin’ on you!”

And she was right, for most of the walk. There were very few people out on account of the overcast sky and steady drizzle, and the triplets walked along, hand-in-hand, feeling almost as though they’d gone back in time to one of the summers of their childhood. The leaves were halfway turned, the reds and oranges vivid against the still brilliantly white sky. Everything was dewy and glossed from the mist, giving the world a clean, fresh look. As they walked, they reminisced about adventures with their Grunks, forays into the supernatural wilds of the Falls, and Mabel, delighted by the novelty of the season after a few years in the static heat of the south, pointed out signs of autumn all around them. It was when she pointed out the flock of geese, honking and flying in a symmetrical chevron above, that she noticed the sky had darkened considerably from a luminous overcast white to a threatening soot grey. She said nothing to Dipper or Ty, in hopes that ignoring the portentous sky might convince it to let them reach the Shack before the rain. Surprisingly, this tactic failed and a few minutes later the heavy clouds opened up, pouring cold water down in sheets.

Dipper gave a surprised shriek, the same one she’d made when they were kids and one of her mischeivous triplets would slip an ice cube down the back of her shirt. Ty laughed at the sound, and pulling his sisters along by their hands, broke into a run. Home wasn’t far off by that point and the trips ran the rest of the way, clumsy and laughing, until three sets of feet splashed through the muddy puddles of the parking lot and stamped up the two steps into the welcome shelter of the Shack porch. The rain drummed on the wooden awning that shielded them and the triplets panted with the exertion, exchanging amused looks at each other’s bedraggled appearances, all of them drenched to the bone.

Dipper unlocked the door as quickly as she could, and they stumbled inside. Dipper put leftovers in the fridge, wet shoes squelching, whiler Ty and Mabel eagerly kicked off their own soaked shoes and shucked off socks, “Co-oo-ooold!” Mabel whined, wasting no time in peeling off her purple leggings and sequined beige sweater, and kneeling to rummage through her suitcase in search of dry clothes.

“One of the downsides to the whole season thing,” Ty pointed out and something in his tone caught Mabel’s attention as strange. She glanced at him, finding his cheeks pink and his eyes all but glued to her lace-trimmed lilac chevron-printed undies. She forced her eyes back to the jumbled contents of her suitcase, surprised to uncover a long-neglected jumble of thoughts. After all these years of telling herself that all of that business was in the past, she’d somehow neglected to consider that it might be hard for her trips to forget it once in a while. She blindly grabbed a clean pair of leggings and a shirt from her suitcase and scampered into the bathroom to change. After impatiently slipping into the dry clothes, Mabel stared down her reflection, absently trying to make sense of her mass of unruly wet curls and wishing the flush away from her own cheeks.

That wasn’t what you thought it was, she told herself, staring into her own brown eyes in the mirror, It’s just been a long time since you got into your skivvies like that and you did it without warning. You’re reading too much into it, Mabes. Plenty of people would get weird when confronted with their sister’s nearly naked caboose. Ignoring the fluttering of her own heart should be easy enough, she’d been pushing these thoughts aside for a long time now. No way was she going to squander this short, precious visit with Ty and Dipper getting them all tangled in that nonsense again.

After a few more stern words with herself, Mabel emerged from the bathroom to find Dipper making up the futon that now sat in the living room where Grunkle Stan’s yellow chair used to be. The chair now held a place of honor in the cozy reading nook Dipper had made for herself in the basement, festooned in string lights in a way that surely made Grunkle Stan groan every time he was in town. Despite getting on in years, he and Grunkle Ford were still out sailing the seven seas, determined to squeeze as much fraternity and adventure into their twilight years as humanly possible. Mabel was sorry she wouldn’t get to see them while she was in town, but pleased as punch to know her uncles were making the most of their time together.

She walked over to the futon and grabbed the nearest corner of the fitted sheet, tucking it under the mattress while Dipper did the same to the opposite side. Dipper had changed too, her wet hair wound into its customary braid over her shoulder, her wet jeans and hoodie traded for black yoga pants and a slightly oversized Mystery Shack tee shirt, the old green question mark design from before Mabel had helped to re-brand the Shack during her ill-fated attempt to beef up her graphic design resume. Without prompting, Mabel helped Dip to spread out a sheet and the big knitted blanket she’d painstakingly made for her a few years prior, “Getting caught in the rain is nothing a little cuddling can’t fix.” Dipper said, by way of explanation.

“Such wisdom,” Mabel said, fluffing a couple of the pile of pillows Dipper had scrounged up, “We don’t call you the smart one for nothing.”

“P’shaww,” Dip rolled her eyes, climbing under the covers, “Smart one, my ass. I’m just the most anxious and it keeps me motivated, you know that.”

“Anxiety and brilliance are not mutually exclusive, my dude,” Mabel pointed out, fishing the fleecey polka-dot slipper-socks Dip had given her out from under the futon, “You know--”

“FLOP!” Tyrone announced, as he did in fact flop heavily into the middle of the futon beside Dip. She giggled, and Mabel grinned along. There was simply no resisting Ty’s infectiously sweet and silly antics and she was relieved to see no sign that he might have been distressed by their little moment a moment before. Ty wrestled the blankets out from underneath himself, inviting more giggling from his sisters, before finally getting settled. He rested his head on Dip’s shoulder and she gave his tousled wet hair an affectionate kiss, as Mabel climbed into the futon. She already felt warmer, as if the sight of her two favorite people snuggled up and safe could warm her body as well as her heart. Ty wasted no time in looping his arm around Mabel’s waist and pulling her against his side.

As ever, Ty radiated body heat, and Mabel wrapped her arm around him, her fingers lacing with Dip’s, her body nesting into his side as naturally as if it were designed to fit there. In a way maybe it was, she liked to think they’d all been cuddle buddies since before they were even born. She purred happily against him, squeezing Dipper’s cold fingers, and stating contentedly, “Mmmmm, warmssss…”

“Tyrone Pines, Warms Specialist, at your service.” Ty joked, with a little salute.

“You’re the best at what you do, Mr. Pines.” Dipper assured Ty, her voice not quite sardonic enough to disguise that she absolutely meant it as she nuzzled the top of his head.

“I second that.” Mabel said, burrowing her face into the warmth of Ty’s shoulder. She breathed deep and was comforted to find he smelled exactly the same as he always had. The earthy-sweet smell of his skin was heightened by the lingering dampness from the rain and Mabel risked letting herself sink into the smell. Where her arm was hooked over the comforting squish of Ty’s tummy, her hand rested in Dipper’s, as natural as anything, and Dipper’s thumb stroked her knuckles in the same pattern it had back then.

Back when they were dumb, silly, hapless kids, their hormones raging and their vocabularies not remotely up to the task of describing the tangle of their feelings. She had made a point of putting it out of her mind as much as she could, but Mabel found she still remembered that summer with a startling clarity. It was like a well-loved movie, nearly memorized, that she could watch in her mind as if it were projected on a screen in front of her. It was the summer after their senior year of high school, when the wind through the trees had seemed to whisper ‘freedom’. The seemingly endless drudgery of K-12 schooling had in fact ended, and there was a giddiness to that alone, that the thing that had governed every day of their lives for so long had been defeated. They had all gotten into different colleges, but their minds were not on the more taxing academics in their future, or the looming day when they’d no longer be sleeping under the same roof. No, that summer had been about fun, plain and simple. Fun in all its forms, cryptid-seeking adventures around the town, getting drunk on the Shack roof, concerts, and parties, and long lazy days in bed together. In retrospect, it had been a last hurrah of their childhood together, but none of them had seen it that way then. They’d been seventeen and invincible and looking for fun around every corner.

The first time one of their drinking sessions on the roof had given way to playfully kissing each other, they had all giggled and blushed at how ludicrous and risque it was. They had acted like it was for the thrill, the taboo of it, and Mabel had not voiced the confusion running wild inside her liquor-soaked head. After that day, things shifted, imperceptibly at first. The triplets had never been shy around each other, but Mabel remembered how suddenly they were seeking excuses to touch, excuses to take off their clothes, excuses to act unlike siblings. She could see in cinematic exactness the way the dappled sun through the trees had illuminated Dipper’s eyes as she’d coyly slipped out of her bathing suit while they were swimming in an isolated little cove in Gravity Falls lake. She could feel as if it were happening that very moment the way Tyrone’s lips had felt on her neck and ear at some party where no one knew they had the same last name.

It had been fun, gloriously fun, and delightfully dangerous. Dangerous in a way that turned her stomach to look back on, petrified at the thought of how reckless and stupid they’d been. And more than anything, it had been fleeting. As the end of summer closed in, they’d tried to talk about it a few times without much success. Mabel remembered trying to tell them she was in love with them multiple times, always chickening out, terrified that what sprang from love in her was no more than teenage abandon in them. Ty had poorly explained something to do with hormones at one point, and Dipper had tried to explain her desire to not be as ruled by her anxiety (something that would soon after prove impossible with her rigorous college workload), but when the time came to ship off to their separate colleges, they said goodbye with a million unspoken explanations hanging between them. And for the first time, they spent their birthday in three different states, further apart than ever in the wake of getting closer than three siblings probably ever should have been.

Mabel realized Ty was snoring, and opened her eyes slowly, as if worried that even opening her eyes might disturb him. At some point, Dipper had scooted down in the bed and was tucked under Ty’s opposite arm and her face was directly in front of Mabel’s. The sun had set but there was still a light on in the kitchen so Mabel could dimly see her siblings’ sleeping features. Dipper’s face was uncharacteristically relaxed, the crease that almost always existed between her eyebrows smoothed away by the reprieve of sleep. She was breathing softly, her lips slightly parted, and for a second, Mabel seriously considered kissing her before reprimanding herself for the thought. Neither Ty nor Dipper had ever mentioned the events of that summer since, and Mabel generally took that as answer enough as to whether they had been motivated by the same feelings of love as she had been. Besides, even if they had been, it didn’t matter. It was a long time ago, and it wasn’t like it was something they could pursue, least of all now from three opposite corners of the continent. Ty stirred slightly in his sleep, his grip on both his sisters tightening, pulling them in closer. Mabel’s heart swelled happily, and she let her eyes fall shut again, nuzzling nearer to her triplets and reminding herself as sleep took hold that this was already more than enough cause to be thankful.

The soft music of the rain pattering on the roof and gurgling in the rain gutters, the occasional rumble of thunder, permeated Mabel’s dreams so that waking up was a slow hazy affair. She was perfectly warm, floating in a soft space that sounded like rain and deep breathing, smelled like peaches and cedar and home. She was vaguely aware of the small happy murmur she made as she wiggled deeper into this foggy happy place. The warmth around her responded with a sleepy sigh, and nestled their bodies closer together. It dawned on her that those were arms around her, that against her shoulder was a chin, and against her back was a chest, and against her backside was--

Well, now she was awake. She blinked a couple times, trying to rid the blurriness of sleep from her eyes. A familiar view of half of the Mystery Shack living room greeted her, her arms curled around Tyrone’s forearm, one hand laced loosely with his. It was hard to tell what time it was, the diffused, pale, rainy day light could have been morning or afternoon. Judging by the slow deep breaths that fell warm across her cheek and ear, Ty was still sound asleep. She couldn’t hear any stirring from the other side of the bed and assumed Dipper was still asleep as well. She’d be perfectly happy to keep on sleeping herself. Just in case she’d imagined the startling presence, Mabel gave her hips a small tentative wiggle, greeted immediately by the now unmistakable feeling of Ty’s morning wood pressed right up against her rear end.

She could feel the heat rise in her cheeks, and, for that matter, between her legs. She squeezed her eyes shut, telling herself insistently, it’s involuntary! It’s just morning wood, it doesn’t mean anything! She was pretty sure it was normal for a guy to get an erection in the morning like this, especially if he happened to be pressed against a girl’s butt. Much as she told herself that it had nothing to do with her, the familiar ache between her thighs did not waver. Hating herself for it, she moved her hips slightly again, all of her attention focused on the way he felt. He made a soft appreciative rumble that cut to Mabel’s core, simultaneously wetting her panties and filling her tummy with squirming guilt.

Reluctantly, she severed that forbidden point of contact with him, repositioning herself so that she was lying on her back. She rested her right cheek on the pillow to look at him and was surprised when his eyes met hers. His dark, heavy-lidded gaze was like a magnet, soulful and open. He wet his lips as they stared into each other’s eyes and Mabel had the sense she was looking right inside him. There was longing there that nothing could refute, a desire that ran infinitely deeper than an involuntary physical response. Their still-linked hands rested on Mabel’s belly beneath the blankets and Ty’s thumb slowly stroked the thin fabric of her tank top. Mabel’s breath caught at the innocent touch and she saw the corners of Ty’s mouth twitch towards a smirk.

The quiet intensity of the moment was broken as Dipper stirred. She’d apparently been facing away from Ty but rolled over now to wrap her arms around Ty in a sleepy, enthusiastic bear hug. She made a playful ‘eeeh’ as she squeezed him and nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. Both he and Mabel burst into wide grins, and Ty turned his head to place a kiss on Dipper’s temple that turned into a loud raspberry. Giggles erupted from Dipper as she tried to wriggle away, her hoarse morning voice protesting, “Noo, in a moment of weakness!”

A tangle of tickling and raspberries ensued before the triplets settled down again, giggles quieting as they sank gratefully back into a horizontal group hug. Dipper didn’t sound much like she meant it when she said, “We should prooobably get up.”

“Or,” Mabel suggested, “We could stay right here forev’s.”

“Hm, an interesting proposal,” Ty said, nodding thoughtfully, “Go on.”

“Well, first of all, we already have the bed all warmed up,” she pointed out, lifting one leg slightly to gesture at the blankets, “It would conserve energy to just keep using these warms than to make new warms.”

Dipper laughed, “Not sure that’s what energy conservation is, but you have my attention.”

“So, what I propose is this.” Mabel went on in a mock-formal tone, “As opposed to going out where it is cold and wet, we stay in here, where it is warm and dry.”

“Furthermore,” Ty jumped in, “In here there are cuddles, and TV, and snacks.”

“Sold,” Dipper said decisively, snuggling her face into Tyrone’s neck, bopping his chest lightly as if with a gavel. Mabel’s heart overflowed to see Dipper this relaxed and silly, a side of her she rarely got to see with their relationship dependent on texts and phone calls. Not that any of the triplets maintained walls between them, but there were just some moments you couldn’t quite have over the phone.

After a couple more minutes of snuggling, Ty gave a dramatic sigh, “Alas, I must leave the comforts of bed.”

“But the warms!” Mabel protested, as Ty disentangled himself from his sisters’ limbs.

“Will have to wait till after I’m done peeing.” He said, giving the bed a last longing look before disappearing around the corner and heading upstairs.

Not willing to risk a moment of cuddle deprivation, Mabel and Dipper closed the gap between them that Ty had filled, enclosing each other in a familiar hug. They’d always been close to the same size, and their arms fit around each other with a pleasant symmetry, their leg placement and head placement complementary. Mabel had always found it strange, on the occasions when she had snuggled with people other than Dipper and Ty, how hard it could sometimes be to maneuver. Where it had always seemed like falling effortlessly into place for the triplets, with others it could range anywhere from tangling awkwardly to feeling like you were trying to squash square pegs into round holes. Dipper nestled her head onto Mabel’s shoulder, “I’m so glad you guys are here.”

“Me, too, sis,” Mabel agreed, kissing the top of Dipper’s head before resting her cheek against her hair, “Like Ty said, it’s really good to be home.”

Dipper nodded against Mabel, squeezing her a little, “Well, it feels a lot more like home with you here,” she paused slightly, choosing her words, “Especially since Soos and Melody have been spending so much time in Portland lately, and tourist season is over again… you’d be surprised how lonely the Shack can get.”

Mabel had to admit she’d never really considered it, but she’d never spent any time here alone. For her, the Shack (and Gravity Falls as a whole) had always been such a safe haven. When she was here, she was with her friends, and her Grunkles, and most importantly her triplets, and that had always made it seem like home. In the summer, the place bustled with tourists, Soos’ kids and their playmates always underfoot. But she tried to imagine what it was like for Dipper, here all year long, through the long harsh winters when the Shack was closed and there were no tourists. Through Soos’ family’s ever more frequent visits back to Melody’s family in Portland. Through the summers when reminders of their shared childhood were around every corner, but her siblings themselves were rarely if ever there, “Aw, Dipdot,” Mabel cooed, suddenly feeling guilty for all the times she’d thought to herself that Dipper had the best circumstances of the three of them, “I didn’t know.”

“Oh, I’m okay,” Dipper insisted, eager to make light of her feelings to keep Mabel from worrying, “I love living in Gravity Falls. I just…” she looked up and met Mabel’s eyes and Mabel was startled to feel her heart speed up at the sad longing look in Dipper’s eyes, “I just want to make the most of having you and Ty here.” Just then they heard Ty’s steps thumping down the stairs and he came back into the room, Mabel’s mind off-balance, trying to make sense of the look she’d just seen in her sister’s eyes. It wasn’t altogether unlike the way Ty had looked at her upon waking.

“D’aww,” Ty said as he grabbed Dipper’s laptop and cord where they were lying on the old dinosaur skull that had long served as an end-table, “You two look so warm and comfy,” he flipped up the corner of the covers and joined them, his tone turning mischievous, “Perfect for warming my feets!” Mabel yelped as Ty’s ice-cold feet touched hers, slipping between her knees to nestle in the warm pocket between her legs and Dipper’s.

Dipper plucked her computer from Ty, leaning partway out of the futon bed to plug it in before opening it and pulling up webflix. They didn’t have to say as much, Ty grabbing the laptop had clearly communicated to both of them what he had in mind. There was fairly little discussion before they settled on something to watch and settled into each other’s arms for the afternoon.

Mabel’s thoughts kept straying from the plot of the movie they had on and carding cautiously through the feelings she hadn’t expected to still hang so heavy in her thoughts. It had been so long and so much had happened in the intervening years, she had been sure it wouldn’t be an issue. Sure, it sometimes cropped up in her mind when she was lying in bed trying to sleep, or when she couldn’t find anything to listen to on the radio in the car, but that didn’t mean she still felt it. But now, here she was, sandwiched between them with her feelings running amok. Being with them again, being in the Shack again, it made sense that it wasn’t too far from her mind, but what she really wanted to know was what was happening in their minds. She’d never really found out back then, and she sighed, accepting that she probably wouldn’t now and would just always wonder if the way they had looked at her had just been a trick of the light.

The afternoon slid by, and they said fairly little apart from on and off running commentary on the movies they were watching. Ty’s stomach started to grumble first, with Dipper joining in close behind. When Mabel’s chimed in, enough was enough and Dipper paused the laptop, “Alright, that’s it, it’s time for food.”

It took a good five minutes to tear themselves from the coziness of the bed and Mabel shivered. The Shack was drafty and her tank top wasn’t really warm enough outside of the blankets. As they walked into the kitchen, Ty must have noticed the way she was hugging herself because he draped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder, “Warms specialist protects.” he murmured in a sweet, joking tone. She leaned her cheek against his, his stubble tickling slightly as his warmth diffused into her.

In the kitchen, a flurry of food prep began. As usual, Mabel opted to whip up a batch of cookies, settling on snickerdoodles at Ty’s insistence. He was already well along in making some sauce and pasta, while at the opposite counter, Dipper was obsessively arranging a cheese plate, slicing various cheeses and filling small bowls with crackers and olives and anything she found in the fridge and cabinets that seemed suitable. Dipper was softly narrating what she was doing in a silly song, a habit she’d picked up from Grunkle Stan in the periods when he and Ford returned to the Shack between adventures. Ty and Mabel exchanged an amused look as Mabel took another tray of cookies from the oven, listening to the ‘song’ Dipper was singing, “Fillin’ up a plate with cheese, fillin’ up a plate with cheese, want some crackers with that cheeeese? No, sir, I just want the cheese.”

“No, sir, I just want the cheese,” Ty chimed in, bopping his head to the repetitive melody, “No, sir, I just want the cheese.”

“Taking cookies off a sheet,” Mabel added, as she scooped the steaming cookies onto a plate with a plastic spatula, “Have a cookie, if you please.”

Ty’s hand was on the plate at light speed, plucking a cookie from the pile, “All the cookies are for me, all the cookies are for me, all the-- ow! Ow! Hot!” Ty sputtered, upon biting the cookie.

“Oh, no, you okay, bro?” Dipper asked, she and Mabel both darting to his side at once to make sure he was alright.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he waved them off affectionately, blowing on the cookie before taking another bite, “Mmmm, good thing I didn’t burn my tongue too much to taste.”

“Instant karma, you cookie-hoarder.” Mabel said, swatting his shoulder lightly with the spatula.

“No clue what you’re talking about.” Ty said, as Mabel put the last tray of cookie dough in the oven, and he grabbed another cookie from the plate. He gave her a cheeky smile, chewing a big mouthful of cookies as she closed the oven door and turned around. She couldn’t help but grin back at him. Just about no one could match her silliness the way that Ty could.

The triplets managed to carry their three bowls of pasta, towering plate of cookies, and over-burdened tray of cheese back to the futon in one trip, cans of Pitt Cola tucked under their arms. They piled back into bed, tucking the blankets up as high as they could get them to stay, and dove happily into their impromptu feast while resuming the dumb movie they’d been watching. Mabel had been too distracted by her own thoughts to take in most of the first half of the movie, but now that she was playing closer attention, she easily slipped into the rhythm of riffing with Dip and Ty.

Sometime after their food was set aside, apart from the occasional grape or olive from the cheese plate munched on, Ty’s hand slipped into Mabel’s beneath the covers, giving a comforting squeeze. She let her head fall against his shoulder and Dip, noticing the cuddles being initiated, laid her head in Mabel’s lap. Mabel’s free hand stroked Dipper’s hair, about two thirds of which had slipped out of her braid since the previous night. Mabel felt the warm fuzzy feelings her trips always brought out in her begin blossoming in her chest and softly said, “I love you guys so much.”

“We love you too, goober.” Ty said, kissing the top of Mabel’s head.

“We love you so so much.” Dip said, reaching up to give the hand that was petting her hair a squeeze.

It was already nearing sunset and Dipper adjusted her head in Mabel’s lap to gaze out the window as the dim rainy day grew dimmer, “Time’s going too fast,” she observed a little solemnly, “Three days sounded like more when we were planning.”

“Hushh,” Ty said sympathetically, reaching over to take Dip’s hand, “I know.”

“I just don’t want you to go yet,” Dip said, “It’s too soon.”

“We still have tonight, Dipdot,” Mabel reminded, trying to sound more optimistic than she felt. In truth, the deadline was weighing on her mind as well, “And aaaall day tomorrow, and tomorrow night.”

“Even a little bit of Monday morning.” Ty added.

Mabel could feel Dipper’s sad smile against her leg and felt a fierce push to kiss her sadness away, “I know, I shouldn’t be wasting our time together worrying about how we don’t have enough time together.”

“I don’t think we could ever have enough time together.” Ty said wistfully, and his sisters nodded in agreement, “C’mere, we gotta hug it out.” He held out his arms and Dipper crawled up to snuggle against his free shoulder, while Mabel ducked under his arm. They laid their heads against his chest, and as Mabel placed her hand absently on his thigh to pull herself closer, she could swear she heard his heartbeat speed up. She glanced up at him and this time there was no mistaking the pink tinge to his cheeks. Mabel’s attention was drawn away when she heard Dipper sniffle, a sniffle she’d be able to pick out even in a loud crowded place, the sniffle that belied Dipper losing hold of the reins of something that had been bothering her all day. Ty knew the sound as well as she did and immediately cradled Dipper’s head closer to him, tucking his chin atop her head and cooing soothingly, “Oh, honey, no,” he said, gently, “You’re okay. Just let it out.”

“I’m sorry,” Dipper choked, wiping the tears from her cheeks impatiently, “I’m being so stupid.”

“No, you’re not,” Mabel said, reaching across Ty to rub Dip’s shoulder, “It’s totally understandable. We feel the time passing, too.”

“This is such a dumb way for me to make you spend it though!” Dipper insisted, “We should all be cuddling and having a g-good time! Not managing my dumb emotions…”

“‘Scuse you, Dippinsauce,” Mabel said gesturing vaguely to them, “But we are cuddling!”

“And we are having a good time,” Ty said, giving Dipper a squeeze, “How could we have anything but a good time with our favorite sister?”

“Exactomundo,” Mabel nodded decisively, tucking Dipper’s bangs back from her face, “Tyroni’s got it right. I’m just happy that for once I’m actually here to help make you feel better when you’ve got sads.”

Dipper nodded against Tyrone’s chest, before half climbing into his lap to snuggle closer. Mabel wrapped her arms around them both in a group hug, tucking her face against them as Dipper’s tears gradually slowed. She could feel the wetness of Dip’s tears against her, and adjusted her head slightly so that she could kiss her sister’s reddened cheek. It must have surprised her, because her breath caught slightly which made Mabel smile and kiss her again. She stroked Dipper’s hair away from her face and was surprised to feel Ty press his lips tenderly to her own forehead. She gave him an inquisitive look, noting the blush again upon his cheeks, “What was that for?”

“Being such a good sister,” he said, lightly cupping her cheek for a second. She was about to lean into the touch but he removed his hand, “You take good care of us.”

“D’aww, you big softieee,” Mabel teased, a slightly bashful smile on her lips, “We take good care of each other.”

“Just take the compliment, Mabes,” Dip said, bloodshot eyes peering up at her, “I’m grateful for it, too.”

“You guyssss,” Mabel protested, surprised to feel the tears rising in her own eyes so suddenly, “Why do we live so f-far apa-art?”

At the sound of her voice breaking, Ty tugged her close against his chest, “Oh, man, you guys are gonna make me cry. Get over here.” With surprising efficacy, Ty rearranged them, maneuvering them so that they were lying down again, with Mabel in the middle. Dipper wrapped her arms around Mabel’s waist from behind her, while Ty resumed holding her to his chest, where she let herself cry freely. She wondered in the back of her mind whether this was the right moment, the best chance she’d have to tell them how she felt, but it was no use either way as the tears were coming too heavily for her to have spoken about anything. Let them believe I’m just crying about saying goodbye soon, she thought, It’s still true and it’ll save us all a lot of heartache.

After her tears slowed to a stop, she just lay there nestled between them. She would have been content, were it not for the confession hiding under her tongue. After some time, she gave into the weariness and sleep overtook her.

The hand resting on her hip was warm, so warm it was like it was on fire, burning a hole in her clothes. It must have, she reasoned, because now it seemed that it was on her skin, the fingers curling, indulging the hand’s desire to feel more of her. She was unsurprised to find the hand belonged to Ty, facing her in bed, his tousled hair falling across his brow. That look was in his eyes again, the aching softness she’d seen before. So lost was she in the inviting liquid depths of his brown eyes, she was almost surprised when they closed as his lips met hers. Small explosions went off in her mouth, dancing down through her body, leaving in their wake little magnets that drifted towards him inexorably. Her body met his, not exploding so much as melting. Even as she was kissing him, her hands running up his arms to grip his shoulders, she was also outside of them, watching how naturally they fit together.

Even with this double vantage point, the impossibly gentle lips that found her shoulder still came as a complete surprise. They moved from the round of the joint in, trailing ethereal kisses along the crest and dip of her shoulder sending exquisite tremors to her core. As a hand rose with infinite care to brush aside her hair from her neck, she knew without the faintest shadow of a doubt that it was Dipper behind her. Who else in the universe could handle her so decisively, yet with such care that it could be mistaken for caution? As Dipper’s soft lips found the base of Mabel’s throat, she knew it could not be caution she sensed, but reverence.

She watched their bodies from above while feeling them from within, marveled at the way their bodies were clothed and unclothed at once. She watched her own hand leave Ty’s shoulder to lay lightly but hungrily on the smoothness of Dipper’s thigh. Dipper pressed closer at the touch, her hips flush against Mabel’s behind. It was that touch that awakened Mabel to her own insistence. All this softness and delicacy had lit a fire in her core, and she wasn’t sure how long her own hips had been moving, eager to draw them both nearer and stoke the fire hotter.  Each time her hips moved forward, she could feel Ty’s tantalizing hardness against her, as if through clothed and not clothed at once. That sometime-sense of cloth only tempted her more, eager to really feel him with nothing in between. As her hips pivoted between them, Dipper’s hand traced much too lightly over her hip. She was distantly aware, maybe informed by seeing from the outside, of how her back arched,  how she whimpered into Ty’s unceasing kisses as Dipper teased. The tips of her fingers just ghosted towards the junction of Mabel’s thighs, making the most maddeningly delicate contact with her yearning flesh. Her hips strained more needfully, chasing the whisper of Dipper’s touch along with the heat and hardness that belied Ty’s own need.

Ty’s hand moved from her hip, starting fires all along her side as it glided up her waist, across her ribs, coming to rest in the valley between her breasts. Dipper’s fingers connected with the seat of Mabel’s hunger as Ty’s palm set fire to her heart and she felt blinded by need. Need was all that remained, need to feel them, need to protect them, need to never leave them, need to lead them in this dance until they shuddered with exquisite torment as she did now. The need was too great, much too great.

For a second, Mabel did not comprehend that she had wakened, nor at all that she’d been dreaming in the first place. After all, she could still feel Dipper behind her and Ty before her. She could still feel Ty’s erection straining towards her, her hips dancing hungrily between the two of them. The fire of need still burned in her so hot that she thought she might break. Ty was no longer kissing her, she realized, and it hit her like a slap in the face. When did he stop? She wondered, her mind sluggish, Why did he stop? She opened her eyes, hoping for some elucidation and it hit her like a bucket of ice water poured over her heat.

Ty was asleep, his face only inches from hers on the pillow. His expression was slack, his lips parted slightly as his breath came slow and deep. His eyes were closed, the eyelids flickering slightly along to some dream no doubt purer than her own. The arousal that had burned clean and bright in her gut only an instant before turned suddenly to stinking shame, spitting and bubbling like pitch. Her hips froze, her heart raced unevenly. Tears prickled her eyes and she scrambled out of the tangle of her siblings’ limbs. She couldn’t be around them right now, their guard down, their sleeping faces innocent and calm, their trust so deeply misplaced in her. Mabel managed to make it into the bathroom before the tears overwhelmed her. She shut the door with one hand while covering her mouth with the other. She couldn’t let them hear her, she couldn’t let them know. They had moved on, they had never felt this in the first place. She was the sick one, the one who had felt more than she was meant to, who felt it still as much as she tried not to.

And she was even worse than she’d thought. Humiliation and guilt swelled in her anew at the thought of the way she’d been grinding against them, the way her body had been so eager to use them for her own pleasure while they slept. She sank to the floor, one arm hugging her knees while the other hand still muffled the sound of her sobs. Much as she loved them and they loved her, maybe it had been a mistake to come here in the first place. It was too much. Too much temptation, too much risk that she would lose one of the people she loved most. If one of them had woken, how confused, how betrayed, how used they may have felt. Her heart broke at the very thought of making either of them feel anything but safe.

She cried until her tears were spent and her butt was asleep from sitting on the floor. She pulled herself up shakily and reluctantly met her eyes in the mirror. She looked frightful, her face red and blotchy, her eyes bloodshot, her hair a stormcloud of frizz. Mabel stiffly washed her face with cold water, so cold it made her hands ache, but it felt refreshing to the heat of her inflamed face. She dried her face and blew her nose, and impatiently dragged a brush through her hair until it looked a little more manageable. She brushed her teeth, prolonging her time hiding from her triplets.

When she finally emerged from the bathroom, the sun was coming up and birds were singing. She looked out at the Mystery Shack lawn, carpeted in fallen leaves. The forest blocked the horizon from her view so she couldn’t properly see the sunrise, but she could see the sky pink and mauve above the tops of the trees. The day dawned serene and crisp, the world cleansed and enlivened by yesterday’s rain, but within her a storm raged on. Bracing herself, she turned away from the window to look back at the futon. Dipper and Ty had closed the gap between them that Mabel had left, facing each other with Dipper’s head under Ty’s chin and their hands clasped together loosely between their chests. Her heart ached with love for them and a big part of her wanted to climb back into their loving arms, but she couldn’t. Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back, instead walking into the kitchen to busy her hands and hopefully her mind.

Dipper and Ty would wake to the smell of food wafting from the kitchen. It was unlike Mabel to wake up earliest, but she knew they wouldn’t question it if she claimed it had been to make them breakfast. That was the kind of nice thing she did, wasn’t it? She was feeling so out of sorts that she wasn’t even sure. She made eggs and chicken sausages she found in the freezer, she made a fruit salad from the couple fruits she found in the kitchen, meticulously cutting strawberries into roses the way she had learned in her very brief stint as a baker’s apprentice. She was buttering toast when Dipper dragged her feet into the kitchen, “Mornin’, chef of the future,” she said, her voice hoarse from sleeping. She yawned, “I see you’ve been busy.”

“Couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d make myself useful.” Mabel replied, unable to meet Dipper’s eyes as she filled the electric kettle and turned it on. Mabel hadn’t noticed it before, but it was definitely something Dipper had gotten for the Shack.

“Everything okay?” Dip asked, sensing something in Mabel’s tone.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Mabel responded automatically, pretending the toast buttering required all her attention, “Just a, uh, bit of a headache.”

“Aw, well, hopefully food will help,” Dip observed, but Mabel could practically hear the wheels turning in her sister’s head, trying to suss out what was actually wrong, “We didn’t really eat like normal humans yesterday and maybe you just have low blood sugar.”

“Yeah, that’s probably it.” Mabel said, knowing full well that that wasn’t it.

“I…” Dipper started shakily, running a hand through her hair, “Have a bit of a headache myself.” she finished weakly, taking a mug from the cabinet and dropping a teabag in it. Mabel looked at her out of the corner of her eye as Dipper turned the kettle off just shy of a full boil and poured the water into her mug. She hadn’t noticed at first, but Dipper did look a little rough around the edges. She stirred a little bit of sugar into her tea, set in on the kitchen table, and said simply, “I’ll go get Ty up.” and left the room.

Mabel stood in the middle of the kitchen for a second, a slice of toast in one hand and butter knife in the other, unable to move. She heard the groan of Ty stretching in the next room, the muffle of some words passed between her siblings, Dipper’s laugh. I don’t deserve them, the guilt told her. Stiffly, she began setting food on the table, grabbing paper towels and silverware, salt and pepper. She continued bustling around after Dipper and Ty had seated themselves at the table, thinking of more things they might need and frankly, scared to have to look either of them in the eye.

“Hey, Mabes,” Ty said, “Why don’t you hit the pause button and eat something?”

“Okay.” Mabel said, carrying two jars of jam to the table and setting them down by the plate of toast and lowering herself into her chair. She doled food onto her plate automatically, thinking she wouldn’t be able to stomach a bite of it, but was surprised to find just how famished she was when she started eating. Maybe Dipper’s right, she thought against her better judgment, and low blood sugar is most of the problem.

The triplets had spent enough time together over their lives that it was natural for silences to sometimes fall between them. Most of the time those silences were comfortable, sometimes even comforting. It was very seldom that they felt awkward or strained, but the one that fell as they ate their breakfast was tense. Mabel tried to keep her focus on her food, but once the minimum of her hunger was sated the food turned to ash in her mouth and she found herself just moving bits of sausage and egg around her plate with her fork. She glanced around the table at her siblings, found Dipper staring into her tea and Ty smiling wryly to himself.

He laughed suddenly, dropping his fork, getting the attention of both his sisters, “Remember the summer before college?” he asked casually, making Mabel’s breath catch in her throat, “When we’d just laze around and make out all day? I had, like, the most random dream about that last night.”

Dipper put her tea mug back down, and Mabel could swear her sister’s hand was shaking. She realized her own hand was shaking, her fork rattling slightly against her plate. Is he serious? She wondered, how could he be saying this offhand, like it’s normal conversation? She found herself wishing she could be as brave, so it surprised her to hear her own voice, “I had a similar dream.”

“You did?” Ty asked, his eyes searching Mabel’s, giving away his doubt, his hope, and she could have sworn, his desire.

“Y-yeah,” Dipper chimed in shakily, before Mabel could respond, “I… actually, I did too.”

Silence dragged on at the table for a few seconds, but this one felt much different than the last. Ty was the first to break it again, “I… that’s not what I expected you guys to say. Wow, okay.” he ran his hand through his hair, “I was all ready to apologize and for you to be upset but now, I…”

“That summer has been on my mind a lot.” Mabel admitted softly, her heart pounding, “I… didn’t think you guys thought about it.”

“Are you kidding me?” Dipper said, turning to look straight into Mabel’s eyes, her gaze insistent, “I live here! Under the same roof where I… where we…” Mabel laid her hand on Dipper’s where it rested on the table between them.

“Sometimes it feels like that was the last time anything made sense.” Ty admitted, “I-I know it didn’t, but compared to the rest.”

“It was the last time we were all together for more than a week,” Mabel said, her voice growing a little solemn, “I didn’t think that summer was ever going to end.”

They looked around at each other for a minute before silently agreeing, all standing up nearly in unison to clear the table. This was not a conversation to be had without hugs, and they all knew it. Upon returning to the living room, they all hesitated for a moment before climbing into the bed, as if they hadn’t spent the last two days barely leaving it. Mabel forced herself to get into it first, lying a little stiffly on her back. Ty and Dipper followed suit on either side of her, although they were all careful not to let their bodies actually touch.

“I didn’t think that summer was going to end,” Dipper said in a measured tone, and took a deep breath, “And I really didn’t want it to.”

“Me neither.” Ty and Mabel said at exactly the same time.

“I wish I’d known how to talk about it back then,” Ty continued, and Mabel hated the sound of the regret in his voice, “I couldn’t say to you two what I couldn’t even admit to myself.”

“What do you mean?” Mabel asked, her heart was fluttering eagerly at the implication, thinking of the things she herself had been unable to say back then.

Ty sighed heavily, running his hand down his face, and Mabel’s heart lurched at the sight of the tears standing in his eyes, “I… god, I remember saying some just dumb shit about hormones and sexual need,” he scoffed, “As if it was ever about getting my dick wet. But I was an idiot, and that was so much easier than admitting how… that it was…” he took a deep breath and held it for a second, before managing to whisper, “That I love you.”

Mabel didn’t realize how close she’d been to tears herself until she heard her own relieved sob. Each of her triplets tentatively put a hand on her shoulder and she could feel Ty gearing up to apologize and she couldn’t let that happen, “I love you too!” she practically wailed, “I love you both and I did then and I do now!’

Their arms closed in around her and she could feel their tears mingling with her own, could hear the soft hitch of Dipper’s crying as she said, “I love you both too, I love you both too.” They held each other and cried for a few minutes of disbelief before Dipper said with a half-laugh, “We’re so duuuuumb.”

Ty laughed too, but Mabel just smiled, “Seriously, I mean,” Ty impatiently wiped the tears from his face, “We talk about everything, why did we never talk about this.”

“I never ever ever would have thought it’d go like this,” Mabel said, her voice still thick with sobs, “You don’t really ever assume your siblings are in love with you too.”

“Well, turns out we are?” Dipper said, a little incredulous and maybe a little giddy, she lightly turned Mabel’s chin towards her and kissed her. God, was it better than she remembered. Probably better than it had ever been, she’d never kissed her knowing that her love was returned.

“We definitely are,” Ty said into her ear, before kissing her cheek, “By some twisted miracle.”

No sooner had Mabel’s lips parted from Dipper’s than she turned her head so that they met Ty’s, still hovering by her cheek. The same explosive unity that had bloomed in her kiss with Dipper filled her anew. She could hear Dipper’s smile at seeing it. A moment later, she knew exactly how Dipper had as she watched Ty kiss Dipper. She had seen them kiss before, sure, about a decade ago and without the heady knowledge that they were all of them in love. They went on that way for some time, passing the same kiss back and forth between them, eyes bright and tears drying on their cheeks.

Mabel and Dipper were kissing again, the very tips of their tongues exploring just past each other’s lips, when Ty said absently, “Sooo about those dreams we had…” They broke their kiss to look at him, to see what it was he was getting at. He was twisting a lock of Mabel’s hair between his fingers and his eyes glinted playfully when they met hers, “What exactly was I doing in your dream?”

Mabel’s mouth grew dry as she considered the question, drawing to mind again each luscious detail of the dream in question, “Well, uhh,” she cleared her throat, feeling her face growing hotter, “You were kissing me, mostly,” Ty nodded, a smile quirking up one corner of his mouth, “And… and you had your hand on me.”

“On you where exactly?” he teased, as Dipper tucked Mabel’s hair behind her ear and kissed it gently, sending a small thrill through her.

“Um, my hip at first…”

“Here?” Ty asked solicitously, laying his palm flat on the hip nearer to him, making her squirm slightly. He smiled, “Funny, it was like that in my dream, too. I was kissing you and slowly,” he did it as he described it, “Moved my hand from here up to here.” His hand came to rest over her heart, between her breasts just as it had in her dream.

“Wait, really?” Dipper asked, curiously, “You did that to Mabes in my dream, too.”

“Your dream was about me doing stuff to Mabes?” Ty teased, his hand resting warm and heavy on Mabel’s chest. She wondered if he could feel the way her heart was battering against her ribs.

“No, no! It was all three of us!” Dipper corrected, flushing, “I was behind her, s-sort of spooning her, while you two were kissing and you did that thing with your hand and uhh…” Ty raised an eyebrow and Mabel gulped, “And I was reaching around her to… uh…”

“Wait… seriously?” Ty asked, and his voice was intrigued and a little husky, “This… is gonna sound crazy, but I think we all had pretty much the same dream.”

“Your dream was like that too?” Mabel asked, and it was Ty’s turn to flush. He nodded. There was a long moment of consideration, of indecision. This revelation hung mysteriously between them as they each tried to shake some sense out of all dreaming the same thing. As much as they would have loved to claim otherwise, always having been drawn to the supernatural, the triplets had long since debunked any possibility of psychic connection between them. Sure, they were pros at reading each other, but no more than anyone would be after so many years together. What were they supposed to do with this information, that this love and desire was not a curse to bear in silence, but something with which they’d all been living? The question was a complicated one, but the answer seemed simple enough, “This is stupid!” Mabel blurted out, grabbing the front of Ty’s shirt and pulling him down into a kiss. He was too stunned for a second, but quickly remembered how to kiss back. Without prompting, Dipper was scooting closer, her hands running over the both of them as she nuzzled and kissed the side of Mabel’s face, her neck, her ear. Her lips just below Mabel’s ear elicited a soft gasp that disappeared on Ty’s tongue. Dipper moved down her neck towards her shoulder and Mabel couldn’t stand it, breaking her kiss with Ty to capture Dipper’s lips again. Mabel turned onto her side to better kiss Dipper, and realized that her hips had begun swaying not unlike in her dream. Her thighs and Dipper’s rubbed against each other with insistent delicacy as Mabel’s hand found Dipper’s waist. New heat surged through her veins as Ty sidled up behind her, pressing himself flush against her, his erection unmistakable against her ass.

Thought gave way to pure sensation, and Mabel lost herself in the sweetness of not holding back. Though frenzied desire simmered not far below the surface, all three of them were content to take it slow, marveling at the peace and freedom of being together. Showing love without restraint and each challenging themselves to create more pleasure and greater oneness. There was no awkwardness, no standing on ceremony, as garment by garment they shed their clothes, no room for such barriers in as sacred a moment as this. They fell into a natural rhythm, one so innate it was hard to believe they’d never followed it like this before. There was no jealousy, no competing, just joy at sharing and creating such joy.

They spent hours a blissful tangle of bodies. Mabel intermittently had an instant of self-awareness, gratitude so immense that she thought she might burst. Once while her fingers moved eagerly in the wet depths of Dipper’s heat, her mouth glued to Dipper’s breast. Above her head, Dipper and Ty were locked in a searing kiss and Ty’s hips grinded against her back. Once again, in the moment Ty finally entered her, guided by Dipper’s hands as she nibbled at his ear. And again, and again, these unbearably bright moments of need and pleasure and closeness.

She had no idea how long it went on like that, before their frenzy cooled and they fell gratefully back into gentle kisses and soft caresses. Dipper was the first to cry, but Mabel and Ty were not close behind. They were not tears of sadness, quite the opposite, they were tears of relief. There was fear and uncertainty and sorrow not far from any of their minds, but in this moment they were locked together in a thankful prayer. When their tears passed, they slept. Not on purpose and not all at once, each drifting off for a couple minutes or hours before surfacing again. Barely a word passed between them, no word able to say the things they felt compelled to say with kisses, and looks, and fingertips traced lightly over skin.

The sunrise brought with it welcome light, gradually diluting the darkness and making it possible to see each other more clearly than they had throughout the night. But it also brought with it the most unwelcome of responsibilities. Tears welled in Mabel’s eyes again, and she did not need to explain to either of them the reason. Though time had ceased to exist to them, lost in the ecstasy of each other all night, it returned now with all the dread of a death sentence. In just a few hours, they’d have to say goodbye again and go back to the agony of being hundreds of miles apart.

Ty was the first to tear himself from the bed, while his sisters tearfully dozed in each other’s arms. He came back fully dressed and sat at the edge of the bed, looking down at them with eyes full of sadness. Dipper sat up, crawling still naked into Ty’s lap to kiss his forehead and wrap her arms around his shoulders. He cleared his throat shakily and said, “Can we… this time, can we talk about this?”

“Of course.” Dipper said and Mabel nodded, “Not talking about it all this time was a really bad move.”

“I love you both,” Ty said, his voice breaking slightly, “But I don’t know what we’re supposed to do here.”

“Me… me, neither.” Mabel admitted, pulling her fingers through her tangled hair, “I… I want this, but I don’t know how it fits into life.” She crawled over to them, laying her cheek on Ty’s shoulder, “We can’t just rush into this or whatever.”

“Mabel Pines wants a plan,” Dipper joked, “That’s how you know this is serious.” They chuckled lightly, the levity and companionship a pillar of normalcy in the mire, “But she’s right. I think we have some big stuff to figure out and they’re not the kind of decisions we should make lightly.”

Ty nodded and sniffled, reluctantly agreeing, “So we still have to leave.”

“Well, I’m not going to make you,” Dipper said, stroking his hair soothingly, “But I think, yeah.”

“At least for now,” Mabel said, and took a shaky breath, “I dunno what’s gonna happen, but can we please all promise we’re not going to go this long before seeing each other again?”

Ty squeezed them both closer as they all agreed, “No way,” he said, “Home is where you two are and good luck keeping me away for long.”

“Like we’d ever want to.” Dip said, sweetly kissing Ty’s temple. She laughed humorlessly to herself, “What a mess we’ve found ourselves in.”

“And there’s no one I’d rather face it with.” Mabel said decisively, thinking of the many challenges they’d faced together over the years. Every muscle in her body was telling her not to get on a plane and leave them, but she realized that every beat of her heart knew she could never truly leave them, even if they parted. She clung to that knowledge, and held them tight, comforting herself that no goodbye between them could ever keep them apart.

#Pinecest #Pinescest #fem!dippin #Tyrone Pines #double!dippin #sevralfics

[tombaragwanath]

138 Haiku for Ahm-Ree-Kah

Said Whitman one time: “America: that great poem.” The greatest, even.

In this tradition, let me present most humbly a Whitman’s sampler.

Only with fewer Cashew Clusters™ and slightly more facetiousness.

Los Angeles

Who has ever seen such strong light hitting green hills? And highways, highways.

A smiling man in a green and white food truck hands me three tacos.

Golden, delicious, they go well with the soda people keep on hand.

Big Sur

Mountains roll sharply into angry green-white surf. Bridges span chasms.

Where did Kerouac sleep, as a local? Was it in this log cabin?

Likely not. This spot is muddy, expensive, and less than fully Zen.

Cannery Row

Rattlesnakes, dusty- eyed and serene, fill my thoughts of this dream-like place.

In reality, Mac & co have moved on. The hotel looks nice, though.

Steinbeck and Ricketts: dudes sharing their many loves. Got to commend that.

I think I buy this book for people because it is short and punchy.

In that it punches the reader in the heart with warm contemplations.

Look, just go buy a copy for yourself. Hell, send me your damn address.

San Francisco

Orange steel stretches impossibly across churn and wash of green salt.

How could you not love the city of Al Ginsberg? Rain falls in warm streets.

I run up to the big red radio tower. A glorious view.

This one other dude was running close behind me. I felt I knew him.

Amtrak: San Francisco to Chicago

The furnishings may be dated, but the burgers? Salty. Prepared weekly.

Who cares? This train goes through snowy mountains, deserts, and seven (eight?) states.

The viewing car is full of folks taking it in with icy cold drinks.

Everyone wants to talk at lunch. Wrestling, birds, democracy, Trump.

Good thing every one of these passengers is well over sixty.

Plenty of time to gather esoteric facts for polite strangers.

There’s a kindness, a lulling passivity of wheels over tracks.

We share a “roomette”. Lordy, to be paid to come up with product names.

Seventy hours on the train. I could have stayed on no problem at all.

Chicago

Where can we find Jeff Tweedy? I guess I thought he would just be around.

Those cake stand towers are right outside our hotel. Black against blue sky.

The freezing wind lifts from Lake Michigan like a swift kick in the teeth.

The lines in the grey city stay sharp as night falls over the water.

In the donut shop a young kid clutches pastry tight in his fingers.

If we lived here I’d likely revert back to him. They were that damn good.

“Fire Cakes”. Hell of a name for sugar, pastry, cream. Better than DD.

Detroit

I keep a lookout for ambiguous danger, but I need not fret.

Once shrines to commerce, now dusty car garages. I guess it happens.

Some dude is buying up city blocks and hiring his own police force.

How do locals feel? Is the cash grab members-only? Who is invited?

Our Uber driver has a kind face. He tutors math on Monday nights.

He drives us to Grosse Pointe. “Old-school rich Detroiters.” He knows a few souls.

A bored waiter feeds us some gourmet duck fried rice. We talk past closing.

New York City (Vol. 1)

Hello again, dear friend. I see your street vendors are still hustling dosas.

We walk in Central Park under light snow. Who keeps knitting dog sweaters?

Bowling, falafel, Animal Collective, beers. Sleepy subway home.

Montreal

We walk a mastiff cross named Mischa. The sidewalk salt hurts her paw pads.

The temperature? Negative butthole degrees. Still kids play hockey.

Poutine, coffee, sleep. When wearing two coats just isn’t enough.

Boston

A guy selling ham sandwiches knows about home. “Mate! Bro!”, he exclaims.

We walk the brick lane of Paul Revere’s freedom trail to get cannoli.

Can one highway off- ramp cleave itself into four? In Boston, it might.

Brattleboro, Vt.

Sweet land of Bernie! Syrup, pie, cider, pecans. Anarchist bookstores.

We find a brewery serving solely sour brews with faux-Catholic names.

“The Angry Bishop.” “Cardinal’s Peach Party Ale.” You get the idea.

Who knew a maple latte could actually be good? Fuck Starbucks™.

Our dear friends have a small human baby! We read Hairy MacLary.

Boston (again)

So much brotherhood present tonight at the men’s candlestick bowling.

They let Dianny rent shoes, but keep an eye out for any girl stuff.

Philadelphia

City of the Roots! Of Federal Fried Chicken! Of Kurt Vile’s soft drawl!

Isaiah Zagar. His name is colour, movement; a poem in itself.

We visit all the historical stuff. Highlight? Hot cheese steaks. No shame.

Washington D.C.

We stand hemmed in with a million other people. And yet, no ruckus.

Except the ruckus of a giant yarn uterus. That’s dedication.

On the bus homeward passengers doze against each other, smiling, spent.

Baltimore

Four-storey spiral shark tank. Kindly swim clockwise, or you’ll be gnawed at.

Aquarium, then Shake Shack™. Penguins, tortoises, wee sloth family.

They have these fishes that aim spit at bugs, knocking them into the stream.

Our Uber driver is a chicken connoisseur. He suggests Popeye’s.

Our burgers make him peckish. We offer to share. He laughs. He’s all good.

We spend the morning with Bloody Marys and some crab cake Benedict.

And the afternoon sharing cheesecake, fudge blocks, and enjoying Face / Off.

Blue Ridge Parkway

It is my birthday. And our anniversary. Waffle House™ it is.

Two lovely old chaps man the lonely tourism centre. It’s winter.

We’re likely the sole visitors for the day. They seem just fine with that.

The long drive rewards us with thick stands of fir trees dripping with winter.

A recreated length of train tracks shows us where commerce once began.

Are the bears sleeping? Unclear. Better keep any Snyder’s™ in the car.

We come upon an abandoned farm house. Trees grow clear through the iron roof.

Grizzled red cattle stand in the shade of an old leaning wooden barn.

Dianny takes a bunch of photos. I prepare myself for locals.

The parkway sometimes seems to run itself purely into the blue sky.

The precise hue of the blue hills evades capture   in these meagre words.

Suffice to tell you: the breath quickens, the heart swells, and everything stops.

Asheville

We wind up stopping in Asheville. They have a sweet pinball museum.

Murakami would thoroughly lose his shit with the range of machines.

We eat salty fried green tomatoes, cheese grits, and Madras chilli fries.

Nashville

Yo La Tengo are fans of Prince’s Hot Chicken. Take their word for it.

Did you ever eat chicken so hot you had to avoid touching…parts?

Trust me, dearest friends. Do not mess about with these rocks of pure hellspice.

The old Drake Hotel. “Stay where the stars stay!” In the seventies, perhaps.

We meet a couple from Carolina outside the Bluebird Café.

They have one ticket between them. She goes in. He peers through the glass door.

We continue to eat the kind of barbeque one might brag about.

Charleston

A sign outside a bar proclaims the presence of Bill Murray. Cheap trick.

Doesn’t stop us from pulling off the road in a cloud of gravel dust.

What a pair of chumps. We practice our lines in case he needs two more friends.

An anti-climax, but we still enjoy foaming ale (and more pinball).

Our BNB host has framed pictures of Xena, Warrior Princess.

She is thrilled to hear where we’re from. Less thrilled to hear we don’t know Lucy.

Savannah

Tickets for Moonlight. Two other people in the cinema. Both leave.

More great barbeque. Cornbread, sticky ribs, collards. One meal for the day.

St. Augustine

A diamond-shaped stone fortress keeps the harbour safe from the English hordes.

Portly volunteers fire the neutered guns hourly just to scare tourists.

Orlando

Okay, we did it. We went to Universal™. We have few regrets.

Di got to pretend to be a wizard for a time. Wand included.

Turns out Butter Beer is a kind of ginger fizz with marshmallow foam.

My younger stomach was far better at dealing with roller coasters.

Still, I ride them all. Because I am a tightwad. And also, reals tough.

Two days of this stuff is enough for me to crave a quiet darkened room.

Miami

Will Smith was correct. Miami certainly does bring the heat, for real.

We sneak in to some hotel lounge chairs and disguise ourselves as ballers.

No one is convinced, but the waiters humour us. I get lobster burnt.

I get to practice my toddler-grade español with real life toddlers.

Donde es Tomas? El es aqui! El es muy fuerte, y tonto!

Es peligroso para tocar los…raccoons...  (I don’t know “raccoons”).

New Orleans

There is a riot of big band horns lifting through the hot fragrant air.

Carry your open drink anywhere you like, friend. Just be nice, or leave.

We rent bicycles and spend long warm afternoons avoiding pot holes.

A boisterous young dude yells to us through a broken window as we pass.

Stay off Bourbon Street. It’s like Courtenay Place, but somehow even worse.

We stumble upon an impossibly raucous Mardi Gras parade.

One float shows paper mache Putin gleefully rogering Donald.

Another Donald is roped above a sharp-toothed  sarlacc vagina.

Elsewhere, Donalds endure a colourful range of brutal torture.

All of the craft stores must have sold out of his shade of neon orange.

The vile bloat of his maniac features seems a popular float choice.

Just not popular enough for the popular vote. Can’t help myself.

Our cab driver is most delighted to hear us use the term “had beef”.

He tells us he has always wanted to travel to Australia.

New York City (Vol. 2)

NYC round two! It’s so nice to be back in your cathedral streets.

We create habits: Morning run, bagel, coffee, then museums.

A couple of films, a trip to Katz’s deli for pastrami on rye.

An afternoon in Bushwick, fossicking about in the vintage aisles.

Time is running out in a nice way. Three months is likely sufficient.

Last day. JFK. John Mayer sings with great breath in duty-free aisles.

A table of young Russians pick hot pineapple from pizza slices.

Soon I will not speak the language. I think I was alright at charades.

Thank you, Ahm-Ree-Kah. Your people have been a trip. All the best with Trump.

[tranquildr3ams]

2017 continues to fly by! The whirlwind of crazy is a ton of fun but it is getting a tad hectic. Gaming, writing, editing and still lots of behind the scenes stuff. I feel like a lot of it is the residual work from the busy month of March with the course and weekend away for Comicon. However, the gear is turned on now because as it gets warmer, I’m gearing up to train and go out for more frequent runs and hopefully go for a 5K run. Not too confident about a 10K yet. Aside from that, I need to step up the game for hopefully giving the Grade 10 piano exam a last hurrah. I wish I could pick up my courage and share some of that journey but I’ve come to terms that I’m a little too self-conscious to do it. Plus, I’m pretty sure that I’m ready for the most part in general, except all that gets affected by how much confidence I have in myself and I just don’t want to get shut down by all those horrible people that pop up to hate which is obviously not so much in the blogosphere as if I put it on Youtube. Way too much to justify that choice but still, that is my reasoning, rational or not.

Moving on.. Let’s get the recap going!

 Hanging Out with Friends

For those of you who missed it, I went out for a Sugar Shack thing with my girl friends. It was pretty cool. We don’t get every year like some people do  but this experience was much more pleasant that the previous one that we had. You can get the full details HERE.

The Friday after, I went out with my best friend who I haven’t seen for a few months. Growing up, grown up responsibilities, career and life changes all factored into this. Although we did text once in a while, we still had a lot of catching up to do. It was great to hang out with her as always. Its nice to know that there’s always the best friends in your life that are comfortable to be with no matter how long we haven’t seen or talked. Its a pretty awesome feeling. We had our dinner at La Cage which is a sports bar. We grabbed some drinks and ate some alright food.

New Furniture & Decor

I’ve been having an indoor plant issue because of the whole cat eating plant situation, a lot of plants had to all stick around the fenced bay window area. Its starting to get really crowded. When I took a trip to IKEA to pick up a replacement table for the basement that broke, I saw this beautiful bamboo plant stand and since its tall and small platforms, it means that I can fit plants and my cat can’t access it as well, plus it fit well with the orchids which she really doesn’t care much for. It was a bit of a hassle to put together but its done and working out great! Not to mention this spot in the house genuinely gets no sun but lots of light so it works for the orchid temperaments.

Of course, the final two pictures are also framed. My husband surprised me with these frames for my birthday and now they are sitting on top of my office so that whenever I doubt myself, i just looking up and it’ll remind me to keep moving forward. Most of all, its really because I love these art so much. Obviously, I do, or else I wouldn’t have bought it but so pretty. We just have one more wall to decorate in the office now. I suggested for my husband to pick up something at the Montreal Comiccon when we go this year (hopefully he will come with me).

Advanced Screening & Movies

The review is already up for Unforgettable and I mentioned it briefly, but I saw this movie in advanced screening and the experience was fantastic. You can find the review HERE.

As this post goes up, the theatre broke down on Friday  night because of power outage and I ended up having my tickets refunded for The Fate of the Furious, however, fret not (at least more for myself), we are heading out to see it tonight (this post should go up Sunday). I’m pretty stoked. I know its over the top and the series is starting to spiral a tad downwards towards some really absurd phase but I still like them a lot for exactly the reasons that it might not work for others. Regardless, the review should be up next week some time.

Next Cook-off Gathering & Belated Birthday Gift

Its the long weekend as this post goes up! Last night, we had our second Battle of Ingredients dinner party thing. As I mentioned before, it was a maple syrup theme. If you missed the first one, you can find it here. As I said in there, this is a work in progress so the structure is not always a battle among us but rather a battle of how to use the ingredient and so this one is a collab effort to put together a full course meal in our own way. My husband and thanks to our friend who brought his little portable retro console over, had a blast of nostalgia and lots of fun. As for the food, the post will be up in the coming week. We have decided to make this a monthly event so should be fun.

My friend also gave me a DIY belated birthday gift. I love My Neighbor Totoro and she made a little jar or glass holder for it and its adorable. It actually matches perfectly with my new art on my wall and she didn’t even know about my new stuff.

Cute Kitty Pic

Upcoming:

New Segment: All About Adaptations (for real this time)

Reviews (Movies, Books, etc)

What have you been up to? How has your Easter been?

My Weekly Adventures #41

2017 continues to fly by! The whirlwind of crazy is a ton of fun but it is getting a tad hectic.

My Weekly Adventures #41 2017 continues to fly by! The whirlwind of crazy is a ton of fun but it is getting a tad hectic.

#Adventures #Decor #Friends #Furniture #Gathering #Kitty #movie #postaday #screening #Sugar Shack

[tranquildr3ams]

2017 continues to fly by! The whirlwind of crazy is a ton of fun but it is getting a tad hectic. Gaming, writing, editing and still lots of behind the scenes stuff. I feel like a lot of it is the residual work from the busy month of March with the course and weekend away for Comicon. However, the gear is turned on now because as it gets warmer, I’m gearing up to train and go out for more frequent runs and hopefully go for a 5K run. Not too confident about a 10K yet. Aside from that, I need to step up the game for hopefully giving the Grade 10 piano exam a last hurrah. I wish I could pick up my courage and share some of that journey but I’ve come to terms that I’m a little too self-conscious to do it. Plus, I’m pretty sure that I’m ready for the most part in general, except all that gets affected by how much confidence I have in myself and I just don’t want to get shut down by all those horrible people that pop up to hate which is obviously not so much in the blogosphere as if I put it on Youtube. Way too much to justify that choice but still, that is my reasoning, rational or not.

Moving on.. Let’s get the recap going!

 Hanging Out with Friends

For those of you who missed it, I went out for a Sugar Shack thing with my girl friends. It was pretty cool. We don’t get every year like some people do  but this experience was much more pleasant that the previous one that we had. You can get the full details HERE.

The Friday after, I went out with my best friend who I haven’t seen for a few months. Growing up, grown up responsibilities, career and life changes all factored into this. Although we did text once in a while, we still had a lot of catching up to do. It was great to hang out with her as always. Its nice to know that there’s always the best friends in your life that are comfortable to be with no matter how long we haven’t seen or talked. Its a pretty awesome feeling. We had our dinner at La Cage which is a sports bar. We grabbed some drinks and ate some alright food.

New Furniture & Decor

I’ve been having an indoor plant issue because of the whole cat eating plant situation, a lot of plants had to all stick around the fenced bay window area. Its starting to get really crowded. When I took a trip to IKEA to pick up a replacement table for the basement that broke, I saw this beautiful bamboo plant stand and since its tall and small platforms, it means that I can fit plants and my cat can’t access it as well, plus it fit well with the orchids which she really doesn’t care much for. It was a bit of a hassle to put together but its done and working out great! Not to mention this spot in the house genuinely gets no sun but lots of light so it works for the orchid temperaments.

Of course, the final two pictures are also framed. My husband surprised me with these frames for my birthday and now they are sitting on top of my office so that whenever I doubt myself, i just looking up and it’ll remind me to keep moving forward. Most of all, its really because I love these art so much. Obviously, I do, or else I wouldn’t have bought it but so pretty. We just have one more wall to decorate in the office now. I suggested for my husband to pick up something at the Montreal Comiccon when we go this year (hopefully he will come with me).

Advanced Screening & Movies

The review is already up for Unforgettable and I mentioned it briefly, but I saw this movie in advanced screening and the experience was fantastic. You can find the review HERE.

As this post goes up, the theatre broke down on Friday  night because of power outage and I ended up having my tickets refunded for The Fate of the Furious, however, fret not (at least more for myself), we are heading out to see it tonight (this post should go up Sunday). I’m pretty stoked. I know its over the top and the series is starting to spiral a tad downwards towards some really absurd phase but I still like them a lot for exactly the reasons that it might not work for others. Regardless, the review should be up next week some time.

Next Cook-off Gathering & Belated Birthday Gift

Its the long weekend as this post goes up! Last night, we had our second Battle of Ingredients dinner party thing. As I mentioned before, it was a maple syrup theme. If you missed the first one, you can find it here. As I said in there, this is a work in progress so the structure is not always a battle among us but rather a battle of how to use the ingredient and so this one is a collab effort to put together a full course meal in our own way. My husband and thanks to our friend who brought his little portable retro console over, had a blast of nostalgia and lots of fun. As for the food, the post will be up in the coming week. We have decided to make this a monthly event so should be fun.

My friend also gave me a DIY belated birthday gift. I love My Neighbor Totoro and she made a little jar or glass holder for it and its adorable. It actually matches perfectly with my new art on my wall and she didn’t even know about my new stuff.

Cute Kitty Pic

Upcoming:

New Segment: All About Adaptations (for real this time)

Reviews (Movies, Books, etc)

What have you been up to? How has your Easter been?

My Weekly Adventures #41 2017 continues to fly by! The whirlwind of crazy is a ton of fun but it is getting a tad hectic.

#Adventures #Decor #Friends #Furniture #Gathering #Kitty #movie #postaday #screening #Sugar Shack