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janeyseymour · 1 month

Note

Hey, I was wondering if you could right a Mel x Reader fic where R gets super drunk at PECSA and ended up getting knocked up(from a rando), her and Mel not being together but flirts pretty heavily. And Mel finds her crying in the bathroom abt after finding out, and after Mel finds out why she starts distancing herself and being cold. Then maybe when R’s a few months along Barb tells Melissa off for being so rude, then fluff + whatever ending you think is best?

your wish is my command. lemme know what you think, because i lowkey loved writing this :)

as always, entirely unedited.

Unexpected

WC: ~3.55k

You’re at PECSA, and of course that redhead that you constantly flirt with is right by your side. Neither of you have mentioned anything about going out or whatever is going on between the two of you, but you quite like having her by your side.

You’ve both had quite a few drinks, and the flirting is beyond ridiculous at this point- anybody at the convention can see that the two of you are madly in love despite the fact that you aren’t in a relationship or even doing anything remotely ‘romantic’. She’s not hanging off of you, you aren’t hanging off of her… it’s just the look in both of your eyes and the smiles on your faces when you’re together.

But eventually, she calls it a night as Barb tells her it’s maybe time to head up.

“Oh, go,” you roll your eyes. “I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.”

“Are you sure, hun?” Melissa asks you, voice oddly soft considering the party still going on around you.

You nod. “I’m sure, babe. I’m probably just gonna have another drink and retire to bed myself.”

“Have a good night,” the redhead tells you as she pulls you in for a hug. She turns on her heel and heads out of the room with her work wife.

And that leaves you as the last Abbott worker at PECSA. You head up to the bar and order yourself another when a man tries to approach you. You’ve seen him at a few of the different panels and discussions, but you haven’t spoken to him and he hasn’t spoken to you (mostly because you’ve had Melissa by your side this entire weekend, not that you mind that at all). He offers to buy you a drink, and you don’t have it in you to say no.

That last drink, although you were heavily intoxicated to begin with, does you in. You end up blacking out.

The next morning, you wake up in your room naked and alone. There’s a familiar burning sensation between your legs. Fuck- you just had a one night stand… and at PECSA weekend of all places. What a fool.

But you figure nothing will come out of it. You’re on the pill, there’s a condom wrapper in the trash… you’re safe.

That was two months ago. And now, you’re sitting in the Abbott Elementary bathroom, sick as hell. You did have the leftovers that you let sit in your fridge for maybe a day too long before eating last night. After expelling the contents of your stomach from your body, you wipe your mouth and head down to the office, looking like you’ve absolutely had the life sucked out of you.

“Girl, what’s got you lookin’ like shit?” Ava asks you in her conventional Ava way.

You groan as you sit down in the chair in her office. “I think I have food poisoning. I need to go home.”

“You got emergency plans?”

“Yeah,” you sigh. “Mel knows where they’re at in my room.”

“Okay, but I can’t promise you gon’ have a competent sub. Mr. J might even have to-”

“I don’t care,” you groan as you hoist yourself up from her chair. Suddenly, you get insanely dizzy. Your vision goes dark, and you wake up with Melissa sitting on the floor next to you looking at you with more concern and love than you’ve ever seen from her.

“What happened?” you groan as you try to sit up.

“Stay down,” the redhead tells you gently. “You passed out in Ava’s office.”

“I what?” you mumble.

She just brushes a few hairs away from your face. “Here. Drink.” She holds a water bottle up to your lips and helps you take a few sips.

“Good god,” you mutter. You lay there for a few more minutes before you finally have your bearings.

“Let me drive you home,” your colleague insists.

“I’m okay,” you sigh softly. “I can just walk.” You don’t live far from the school, so it really isn’t a problem.

“I’m driving you. C’mon.”

Melissa gets you comfortable in your home before she drives back to Abbott, and she’s back at your house come the end of the work day with what she claims to be her own remedy to a stomach bug or food poisoning.

The next day, you’re feeling much better, but then at lunch, the smell of Melissa’s lunch makes you queasy and you have to excuse yourself. You don’t think you can stomach lunch with the way you’re stomach is churning. What the fuck could make you feel so shitty?

And then you remember… you should be on your period right now. But it still hasn’t come. Actually, now that you really think about it, you’re a week late.

“Fuck,” you hiss to yourself. Without thinking, you grab your wallet out of your purse and head down to the convenience store on the corner. You buy a pregnancy test and sigh. Ducking into the bathroom, you rip open the package and take the test. You sit there for a few minutes, silently praying that you aren’t with child.

But as luck would have it, five minutes later the word pregnant is staring up at you. At first, you think your eyes are playing tricks on you. How are you pregnant? You’re on the pill, the last guy you slept with was… shit- you had a one night stand during PECSA weekend. You burst into tears. Loud enough tears, that when a certain redhead comes to check on you, she can hear your sobs from the hallway outside the staff bathroom.

Concerned, she knocks frantically. “Y/N? Hun?”

You wipe the tears from your face as you try to catch your breath. “I- I’m fine.”

“No you ain’t,” she tells you, seeing right through your act. “C’mon. It’s just me. You need me to hold your hair back while you puke?”

“‘M fine,” you say again, but the crack in your voice gives you away.

She sighs loudly. “Hun, you either let me in, or I pick the lock.”

You don’t think she can pick the lock, so you don’t open the door. She counts to sixty, and then you hear the door click as the lock unlatches approximately ten seconds later. She appears in the doorway looking quite proud of herself as she slides the bobby pin back into her hair- that is until she sees the puddle that you are.

“Y/N?” she lowers her voice and softens it. “What’s wrong?”

You just hold up the test as you hang your head in shame. Her eyes go wide as you see what you’re holding up.

“You’re… When did you…?”

“PECSA weekend,” you choke out. “After you- after you left. I- I thought I was fine.”

“You had a one night stand?” she asks you, clearly bewildered and a little hurt.

You nod as the tears continue to flow down your cheeks.

“When were you going to tell me?”

“I didn’t think I had to!”

“What are you… you seriously had a one night stand?”

“I did,” and you pick up on her tone- the sharpness. “I’m allowed to do that, you know. I am single, and I don’t need you judging me.”

“I ain’t judging you. I’ve had my fair share of those, but not when I’m talking to someone!” she bites out.

“What do you mean?”

“It means I thought we had somethin’ going on here, but clearly I was wrong,” she huffs out. Before you can get anything else out, she’s gone, and you’re left on the bathroom floor crying alone.

You try to talk to her during dismissal, once you’ve collected yourself a bit more- although you haven’t collected yourself by much. As you would later realize, your hormones are very much already all over the place. But she pretty much refuses to talk to you.

You cry on the way home. Oh how you wish you could have a glass of wine to at least somewhat numb the pain you’re feeling, but now you have a child to think about. Speaking of, you should probably make an appointment with your doctor to confirm that you are pregnant, although you’re almost 100% certain that the test didn’t give you a false positive.

The next day, you take a half day. The doctor is able to confirm that you indeed are pregnant- already about eight weeks along.

You show to school the next day in bulky clothes, as if your stomach grew overnight and you feel the need to hide any sort of signs that you’re pregnant before you’re ready to tell everyone.

Melissa avoids you like the plague. And it absolutely breaks your heart. The next few weeks continue on like this.

And with your hormones and mood swings only getting worse, it becomes harder and harder to fight the big emotions that you’re feeling. So, about a week out from being able to tell everyone that you’re with child, you burst into tears when Melissa comes into the break room, grabs her lunch, and leaves without so much as glancing in your direction.

The sob that erupts from your body startles everyone in the room, and their eyes are on you immediately.

“I- I’m sorry,” you rush out as you grab your lunch and head down towards your end of the hall. Your tears don’t stop, and once you’re in the confines of your own classroom, the dam really does break. You’re reduced to pathetic whimpers and choked out sobs as you almost curse the day that you conceived this baby that you’re carrying- he or she cost you Melissa.

You hear heels making their way to your room, and there’s some stupid part of you that hopes it is the second grade teacher. It isn’t, of course. It’s Barbara instead.

“Sweetheart, what has gotten into you?” the kindergarten teacher asks as she enters your room and closes the door behind you. She makes her way to where you’re curled up in your desk chair and perches herself on your desk.

“I- I’m fine,” you try to tell her, but the tears that continually fall down your face say otherwise.

“Y/N, I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer truthfully,” she says calmly, evenly. You nod. “Are you pregnant?”

You gasp. “How do you know?”

“Sweetheart, I’ve been through it twice… I’ve had many friends who have had children. I know the signs: not being able to handle certain foods you love anymore, craving the oddest food combinations, more frequent bathroom trips… the fact that you’ve switched from espresso to tea. How far along?”

“Twelve weeks,” you whisper.

“I didn’t realize that you were seeing anyone,” she says softly.

“I’m not,” you mumble. “PECSA weekend… I blacked out after Mel left.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” she sighs quietly. “When did you find out?”

“A month ago,” you cry. “And since I told Melissa… she- she hates me!”

“She doesn’t hate you,” the kindergarten teacher tries to assure you.

You sniffle as you wipe your tears on your sleeve. “She does! She was mad!”

“Why would she be mad?”

“Because… because she said something about how she thought something was going on between the two of us, but clearly she was wrong… Barb, I- I didn’t mean to hurt her!”

The older teacher frowns at that. “Sweetheart, are you and Melissa dating?”

“No! I mean, yeah we flirted, but she also flirts with Gary to get cheaper stuff from the vending machine! And I- we were never dating… we never even talked about it, and if I had known that was going through her head… I never, ever would’ve slept with that guy.”

“Does she know that?”

“No,” you mumble as the tears begin to subside. “She left and hasn’t talked to me since.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Barbara says, slightly pitiful.

“It breaks my heart, and it’s made… it’s made me hate this baby,” you admit, and the second it comes out of your mouth, you hate yourself. You can’t believe you just said that. “I- I didn’t mean that.”

“I know you didn’t,” the kindergarten teacher assures you as she pulls you into her arms for a hug you didn’t know you needed. “I know.”

You nod silently, aggressively wiping away at the remains of your tears and relaxing into her touch. “I- I’m fine. I just… got a little emotional. This has been really hard, especially all by myself.”

“I’m sure,” Barb says softly. “If you ever need anyone to help out, you know Gerald or I will always be more than happy to assist you… now, and when the baby comes.”

You start to cry again at that- the genuine kindness radiating off of the woman. That, and while you’re more than grateful for the support, you want that support from Melissa.

“I appreciate it,” you whisper. “I really do… I just wish Melissa would’ve been more supportive… I wish she was here with me through this.”

“I’m sure she’ll come around,” the woman promises. You don’t know it, but she’s already made up in her head that she is going to be giving her work wife a piece of her mind later about this.

You just shrug as you pull away from Barbara. “I- I’ll be okay, no matter what.”

“Yes you will be, dear,” she assures you. “Yes you will.”

“Thanks for coming and checking on me,” you give her your best smile considering your emotional state. “Go enjoy your lunch, I’ll be alright.”

“You need to eat too, Y/N,” she reminds you. “Especially now that you’re eating for two.” She extends her hand out to you, and you take it gratefully.

“Can we just… not talk about what just happened… the Melissa part?” you request softly as you follow her through the halls.

She nods, and when the two of you walk in, she gives everyone a stern look when they ask if you’re okay.

You sigh softly as you settle back into your chair next to Barb. “I’m okay. Just a bit emotional lately… because I’m pregnant.”

There’s a collective gasp heard throughout the room, and then you’re bombarded with questions as they all talk over each other.

“Twelve weeks, no I do not know the gender, no I am not seeing anyone, yes I am keeping the baby, yes I will continue to work throughout my pregnancy,” you state. “And: I expect that none of you will act like I’m broken. I’m not; I’m just pregnant.”

Barbara looks at you proudly as you finish your statement and take a bite of your lunch. Then she turns and gives them all another stern look, and they’re quiet again.

“Congratulations,” Janine says sincerely, and then the rest of them are congratulating you just as genuinely and letting you know that the Abbott crew is always going to have your back and that this baby is going to have more love than you could ever imagine.

You give a sad smile. You wish this baby had Melissa’s love.

When the lunch period is over, you’re able to get through the day without another breakdown, and you’re so grateful that you get to go home and veg out on the couch for the night- no appointments, no meetings, just peace and quiet.

Meanwhile, Barbara Howard is marching her way over to Melissa Schemmenti’s house.

“Melissa Ann, you better open the damn-”

“Barb, what the hell?” the redhead whips open the door.

“What in the Earth, Wind, and Fire are you doing, just dropping Y/N like two day old bread?! She is pregnant, and alone and scared, and all she wants is you- but you decided that you’re too good for all of a sudden? Melissa, I thought you were better than this,” the kindergarten teacher goes off.

“She’s the one who went and slept around,” Melissa rolls her eyes as she walks away from the front door. “She’s the one who threw away everything we had.”

Barbara enters and sets her bag down on the plastic covered couch before she follows the second grade teacher further into the house.

“As far as Y/N was aware, the two of you weren’t together,” the older teacher purses her lips. “Because for once in your life, you weren’t direct with somebody you had feelings for.”

“I thought I was pretty damn obvious about it!”

“You flirt with Gary too! She thought it was innocent!” Barbara tells her. “All I’m saying is, all she wants right now is you. And I do hope you’ll pull your head out of her ass and be there for her- because while I can offer my own support and the rest of the Abbott group stands behind her, it doesn’t matter; she wants you.”

“Doubt it.”

“Melissa, look at me,” the kindergarten teacher orders, and Melissa pulls her eyes away from the carrots she’s peeling. “Y/N left the break room crying when you came in and didn’t so much as look at her. I followed her, and she told me directly that she thinks you hate her- that she wants you to be there with her through this… that she has some not so pleasant feelings towards this baby because it made her lose you.”

“What do you mean?” the redhead teacher asks as she places a hand on her hip.

“It means that she told me… before redacting the statement, that the situation involving you has made her hate this baby.”

“She doesn’t mean that.”

“She doesn’t hate her baby, but she does hate that you aren’t talking to her… that if she knew that you two flirting was anything more than innocent, she never would’ve slept with the guy at PECSA.”

Melissa sighs. “I should go talk to her.”

“You should,” is all Barbara says back. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get home to Gerald.” She turns on her heel and leaves.

Melissa runs a hand through her red hair before glancing at the pot of water that is just beginning to boil. She turns off the stove and grabs her keys before rushing to get to your apartment.

She pulls in all too quickly, nearly hitting your car in her haste to get to you. She’s able to slip into the building thanks to another resident and books it to your apartment number. She knocks swiftly.

Inside, she can hear you groan as you pull yourself off the couch. You assume it’s just the pizza you ordered, and you open it. What’s on the other side of the door shocks you.

“Melissa?” you ask quietly.

“Hun, I’m sorry. I’ve been an-”

“What are you doing here?” you interrupt her.

“Just let me get this out,” she tells you. “I’ve been practicing this the entire way over.”

You nod and gesture for her to continue.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N. I was an ass, and you didn’t deserve the reaction I gave you. I was… I let my emotions get the best of me, and when you told me that you slept with someone else, I just got so jealous and angry because I wish it was me that you ended up with in bed instead, but I wasn’t direct enough with what I wanted, and I fucked up. I- I don’t hate you; I could never hate you. I am so, so ridiculously in love with you, and I want to be here for you in any way I can if you’ll let me- for both you and this-”

You hiccup out a sob.

“Hun, hey, why are you crying?” she stops her speech. She pulls you into her arms and holds you tightly, playing with the ends of your hair.

“I’m- I’m sorry,” you choke out. “Just really emotional lately… hormones,” you hiccup out a laugh at the last word.

“I’m so sorry I left you alone when you needed me most,” Melissa whispers. “So sorry. But if you’ll let me, I want to be here for you and the baby.”

“That’s all I want,” you tell her softly as you wipe at your tears.

“And I want to be here for you as more than someone who just flirts with you innocently,” she tells you. “I want to… we should date.”

You give her a sad smile, and she knows she’s blown it. “Mel, I-”

“That’s okay,” she says softly. “I- I get it. Not the right-”

“You still want to be with someone who’s three months pregnant?” you ask her hesitantly. “You want to deal with all of this, and then a new baby?”

“If it means I get you,” Melissa whispers.

The tears that had started to subside hit you again, and you cling to her as if your life depends on it. “Please.”

“I’m right here,” she promises you as she continues to hold you in her arms. A hand slowly makes its way down to your still relatively flat stomach. “I’m never leaving you, either of you, again.”

You smile as you lean into her. You, and this baby, will be just fine with Melissa Schemmenti by your sides.

tags (and lmk if you want to be added to the list!): @schemmentis @thesapphictimelady @marvel210 @itisdoctortoyousir @morgana-larkin @thesamesweetie @doesthatsuggestanythingtoyou @marvels—slut @gwennybriggs @megamultifandomtrashposts @nothere1111 @lemz378 @http-sam @melissaschemmentisbranzino @imaginesmultifandoms @sexysapphicshopowner @lilfartbox1

#melissa schemmenti fanfiction #melissa schemmenti #melissa schemmenti fanfic #melissa schemmenti x you #melissa schemmenti x reader #abbott elementary fanfiction #abbott elementary fanfic #abbott elementary

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cod-dump · 5 months

Note

ITS ME IM BACK TO GIVE YOU MORE TEEN GHOST

When Simon and Johnny FINALLY start dating Johnny’s dad invites them over for a bbq

Price and Johnny’s dad (I’ll give this man a name because I don’t want to keep calling him “Johnny’s dad” so I’ll just call him Noah)

So Price and Noah become friends and I mean really great friends but Nikolai doesn’t like this and thinks that Noah is trying to steal his man so he keeps giving death glares and Ava (Johnny’s mother) sees this and is like “absolutely fucking not” and so she confronts Nikolai and she’s like “you got a problem with my husband?” And she does NOT play and Nikolai isn’t going to let himself get disrespected by this 40 year old woman that’s 5’2 so he starts talking back and the it just turns into an argument

And price and Noah are the ones to break it up and Simon, Kyle, and even Farah are all hiding inside and are dying of embarrassment

Later Ava and Nikolai make up and then actually kinda become friends but they still hate each other a little so they’re frenemies

Johnny was also hiding inside with Simon but his sisters were outside cheering their mom on

(P.S at some point during the argument Ava started yelling at Nikolai in Gaelic and so Nikolai also started yelling but in Russian.)

-🫠

My names for Soap’s parents are Isaiah and Muriel but I like those!

___

A MacTavish Party (teen!Ghost au)

(warning: A lot of silliness ahead. I mean, I was really trying to see how silly I could get it. Just really trying)

(Also, random facts at the end to clarify somethings)

---

It was like the MacTavish family leapt into celebration when Simon and Johnny finally started dating.

Simon thought his dad sitting him down and giving him a more adult version of 'The Talk' was embarrassing, but Johnny's family was literally throwing a barbeque to celebrate. Johnny was on speaker phone with Simon and Kyle when his sisters had busted into his room and started singing a made-up song to congratulate Johnny on finally asking out his crush. 'Pussy No More' was the name they gave it.

It was the funniest thing Simon ever had the pleasure of hearing, and hearing Johnny die of embarrassment before hanging up so Simon and Kyle couldn't hear anymore just made it better. Clearly Johnny had the more embarrassing family and that made Simon feel at ease for some reason. Maybe because he didn't have to worry about his family doing something to make him want to bury himself alive.

The entire Price household was invited and Simon was told he could bring anyone else if he wanted. So, of course, Simon called Ale and asked him and Rudy to come along... and asked Alex to come (and totally not so he can watch him and Kyle squirm while in the presence of their father and Nik). Simon knew Johnny asked Hong-Jin and his sisters to have their boyfriends to be there so it wasn't like there weren't plenty going on to distract John from the clear weirdness between Alex and Kyle.

"I fucking hate you," Kyle muttered as they walked across the street to Johnny's house, Alex hanging way back behind everyone as if he was scared if he got too close that John would just know.

"Hate me all you want, doesn't change the fact that we're brothers and that you're stuck with me."

Kyle's glare hardens and Simon pretends he doesn't see it, John already at the door and ready to knock when it swung open and Johnny's family grabbed his arm and practically threw him inside. Simon saw Johnny further in the house, looking like he was arguing with his eldest sister, Eve.

"Come in, come in! Simon!"

Isaiah was a friendly man, but it felt like that friendliness increased tenfold the moment Johnny and him started officially dating. Simon was relieved that Isaiah liked him and hasn't been aggressive about Simon dating his son. It made him wonder if Johnny or anyone else had a word with Isaiah beforehand.

Simon was pulled into a hug and Simon could hear Johnny whining in the background, "Pa, please!"

Isaiah releases Simon and turns to look at his son, "I finally have another son and I'm not allowed to hug him!?"

Simon did take pride in the fact, out of all Johnny and his sisters' partners, he was the only one Isaiah liked enough to call his 'son'. That did put Simon in a tricky position with the boyfriends of Eve and Carol, both seemed desperate for Isaiah's approval. And here Simon was, getting hugged and having a party thrown over the fact he was (finally) dating Johnny.

John cleared his throat and offered up the casserole dish he carried over, "I know you said not to bring anything but-"

"Hey, I'm not going to complain. I know for a fact you are one hell of a cook! You could compare to my wife!"

Johnny grabs Simon's attention by taking his hand, Eve making 'oohing' noises when he did. He casted a quick glare at her before dragging Simon off through the house to the back garden. Kyle followed, then Farah, and then Alex.

"I'm so sorry about my dad... and my sister... and I'm just gonna go ahead and apologize for whatever the rest of my family do."

"It's like they're throwing a baby shower, welcoming a new kid into the family," mused Farah as they walked into the thankfully MacTavish (other than Johnny) vacant space.

"You would think! Pa yelled 'I have another son' after I told him about Simon and Eve's boyfriend almost started crying."

Simon wanted to feel bad for Jay considering him and Eve had been dating for a solid two years now, but the guy stole Simon's lunch that Johnny's gran packed for him and he hasn't forgiven him for that. It was her famous lamb stew, so no, he's not being petty! Johnny had a couple foldable tables set up near the back corner of the garden near the fence. There was enough space for Simon and his tagalongs and Johnny and Hong-Jin.

"Wait, where's Hong-Jin?" Kyle asked as he put his book down on the chair he had chosen.

"He's coming in a bit. What about Ale and Rudy?"

"Ale is working an extra shift at his aunt's shop and Rudy is... Actually, I have no idea what Rudy does when he's not with Ale."

"... Is he a hitman?"

Simon snorts out a surprised laugh at Alex's quiet question. Farah just rubbed her forehead, clearly trying to hide the fact she wanted to laugh at the sincere question.

Kyle groaned at his boyfriend's seriousness, "Alex-"

"JOHNNY!"

Everyone flinched at the unmistakable voice of Hong-Jin from the other side of the fence. The fence shakes as Hong-Jin suddenly pops up on the other side of the nearly seven foot privacy, climbing over. He clearly met to drop down once he was on the other side of the fence, but his shirt got caught when he let go, causing him to flip over before the fabric ripped and crash to the ground. Everyone just stared in silence, Johnny looking fed up with Hong-Jin as the boy laid there without moving, clearly just defeated by his failed attempt at being cool.

And, of course, Johnny's mother had stepped outside with a tablecloth to put on one of the tables when this occurred. And her reaction would suggest this wasn't the first time she's witnessed something like this.

"Honey! You could've just used the side gate!" Muriel called, not even a bit worried about the boy as he finally got off the ground.

"Fence was quicker," Hong-Jin squawked out, the air knocked out of his lungs and his words not carrying like they normally do.

Hong-Jin straightens his back, Muriel making sure he was okay before she went back inside. The moment she went inside, Hong-Jin turned to Johnny, and in a voice only low enough so anyone from inside couldn't hear him, he asked a question.

"You still a virgin?"

"HONG-JIN WHAT THE FUCK!?"

Johnny's face turned red and Simon's did too as Farah, Kyle, and Alex started laughing hysterically. Johnny lunged at Hong-Jin with the clear intent to strangle him, the boy dodging to the side while somehow keeping his composure.

"It's an honest question! Are you gonna wait 'til marriage or-?"

God, he's just like Ale.

Simon covered his face, Farah patting his shoulder while wheezing. Johnny continued trying to fight Hong-Jin, face burning bright while he cussed out his friend. The yelling summoned Isaiah, who just froze Johnny and Hong-Jin in place with just a single glance.

"Johnny! We have guests!"

John walked out beside Isaiah, "Oh, don't worry about having a filter. I've heard worse when I served."

Isaiah whipped around to look at John, "You served!?"

That sparked something and the two men started talking, walking back inside. Johnny blinks before he looks at Simon and Kyle.

"Our dads just became best friends. I just know it."

Simon snorts and Johnny would abandon his mission to kill Hong-Jin. The evening would continue on and everyone would start helping bring out food for the grill and setting up a table for all of the dishes (the cold dishes being kept inside until later). Johnny's grandmother would appear, giving Simon a firm hug before she would turn to Hong-Jin.

"Honey, my sweet! I'm so glad you came! Does your mother want some food for later?"

"Gran, we already have so many of your containers!"

"You can bring them back with more of that kimchi your mother makes," Gran said with a smile.

"I'll ask my Umma to make some more for you."

"I would love that. And I would love it more if you didn't try jumping the fence with it."

Johnny had mentioned that his grandmother and mother were best friends with Hong-Jin's own grandmother and mother. They were friends before they had even known about each other, which led to them meeting and inevitably becoming friends. He was a practical MacTavish (by Johnny's mother and grandmother's words) and Simon was somewhat nervous about joining that status.

"Who wants to bet who will get here first: Nik or Alejandro or Rudy?"

"Ale and Rudy are coming around seven... Nik will probably spawn in the driveway after work or whatever the hell he does."

"Construction."

"Hmm, still don't believe that."

Kyle snorts and Simon rolls his eyes. All attention turned towards the house as Isaiah came out and went to the grill. Knowing that the MacTavish family was filled with amazing cooks, everyone started getting excited. Food, MacTavish made. Can't get better than that! Everyone started coming outside, Johnny's sisters and their boyfriends, his parents, grandmother, and John came out with Nik.

"Nik's here... before Ale and Rudy? Pay up!"

"Fuck, there goes my ten dollars."

"Shouldn't have betted on the horniest guy we know and his perfect boyfriend who he worships to show up before Nik."

"Why did you say his name like that?"

Simon decided to step into the house to call Ale, dodging affections from Nik who clearly had the intent of embarrassing him as he did. When he returned outside, Johnny ran up to him and whispered.

"There's a cake with 'pre-married' on it that Eve brought. I am so sorry-"

After dying from the description of the cake, the barbeque went off smoothly. Isaiah and John were attached at the hip at the grill, talking like they were old friends while Nik silently watched them from the food table. Simon was trying to stick with Kyle and Farah but they followed Alex when he got grabbed by Hong-Jin and now they were... dancing? They were doing something inside the house in the living room that appeared to be dancing. So Simon stuck with Johnny who soon was snatched by his mother and grandmother into the house straight to the kitchen.

Which left Simon, alone at the table because he was too nervous about following Johnny into the kitchen and definitely didn't want to join whatever madness the others were doing in the living room. He was debating on joining Nik where he was when Jay and Carol's boyfriend (was it Oliver?) walked over to him and sat down. Simon tensed up, having not spent any alone time with the two like... ever.

Jay was twenty-two and Oliver was nineteen, so they were old. And considering how Carol was, Oliver was weird.

"So, finally said 'fuck it' and got with a MacTavish," Jay started, speaking in a low voice like he might summon one of Johnny's family by mentioning their surname.

Oliver grunts, "Already the favorite, too..."

Jay grins, "How'd you cheat the system?"

"Maybe it's because his dad's military. Look at them, Isaiah could kiss him!"

Oliver said that in a particular louder tone than what Jay had been speaking in, clearly with no shame or fear. Coincidentally, Nik's rather blank staring had hardened and he looked less than friendly by this point. Simon blinked when he noticed, unable to recall the last time he ever had seen Nik make that face.

Eve walks over to them and Simon relaxes as she grabs Jay by the ear, "You! Stop tormenting my little brother!"

Simon always did like Eve.

"Babe- AH!"

Jay gets up and moves away from Simon, ear trapped in Eve's hold but he made no attempt to free it. Oliver blinked when Eve snapped her gaze on him, standing quickly and leaving towards the grill where Carol was talking with her dad.

"Go inside, Si. Think Johnny could use some saving from Ma and Gran."

Simon snorts before he stands and quickly makes his way inside. The moment Simon passed by the kitchen and Johnny saw him, he immediately started trying to get away from his mother and grandmother. Both women were speaking in Gaelic, sounding very loving yet sad. Maybe reminiscing memories.

"Ma- Gran-"

"Can I see my boyfriend?"

It was like using that word flipped a switch, Muriel and Emery gasp before they started cooing. Using the 'B' word seemed to strike them in the heart, freeing Johnny from their hold and letting him leave with Simon. Johnny was blushing, grinning as they walked into the hall.

"What?" Simon asked while matching his infectious smile.

"You called me your boyfriend."

"Is that not what you are?"

Johnny's smile widens, stepping closer to Simon. Simon felt his heart beat fast with how close Johnny was getting. But he didn't back away, he even leaned forward. The honking of a horn out front of the house made them snap out of their daze, blinking in surprise at the sudden, very loud and familiar noise.

"Simon! Lamejandro is here!"

Johnny couldn't help but laugh, having not heard Farah's 'affectionate' nickname for Alejandro before. Simon ran out of the house, finding Alejandro and Rudy getting out of Alejandro's car. Simon was quick to smack Alejandro's shoulder, the boy gasping in a feigned hurt as he clutched the box of drinks to his chest.

“How dare you!?”

"Told you to not honk the horn," Rudy said bluntly as he walked past Alejandro, patting Simon's shoulder as he goes by, “Congrats on getting a man, finally.”

Alejandro wheezes as Simon bites his tongue. This was going to be a long night, he just knows. They head back inside and Farah looks at Alejandro from her place on the living room floor, Hong-Jin beside her. Alejandro froze when they made eye contact, Hong-Jin looking at Farah as if he was waiting for her to make the first move on how to proceed.

“Can you dance, Lamejandro?”

Rudy quickly grabbed the drinks from Alejandro when it looked like the boy was going to either drop them or throw them to the floor.

“Oh? Can I dance?”

“That was the question, are you deaf?”

Simon snickers and leads Rudy to the dining room where a lot of drinks and utensils were being kept, “She’s going to bury him alive.”

“I’ll help her.”

Simon looks at Rudy, “I thought he was the ‘love of your life’?”

Rudy just looked at Simon while he placed the box down, “You know just as well as I that Ale’s ego needs to come down several hundred notches. If nothing is done it’s going to pop.”

Simon laughs as Johnny walks into the dining room. Rudy turns and looks at him, Johnny freezing in place. That’s what happens when you’re effortlessly gorgeous, you freeze people in their tracks… also Rudy could be terrifying. Johnny would’ve remained frozen there if Simon didn’t motion him to come over. Rudy showed mercy and looked away, allowing Johnny to walk over.

Of course, something had to happen. Though things were weird, it was expected. But Simon was really hoping nothing bad would happen, or anything negative. He expected too much considering so many interesting people (adults and children) were shoved into the same place. Andy, the youngest of Johnny’s sisters, ran in. She spotted him and Simon and pointed to the door she just ran from. Simon’s blood ran cold when he heard a steady rise of voices, an unmistakable argument.

“Ma’s ‘bout to fight that weird guy with the sunglasses!”

WHAT-

Simon was out the door, Johnny right behind him, before Andy could say any more. And there they were, Nik and Muriel MacTavish, yelling at each other in their respective mother languages. Simon picked up on most of what Nik was saying, which made him cringe. He didn’t understand anything Johnny’s mom was saying but judging by her family’s faces… it probably was on par with Nik’s obscenities.

Johnny’s grandmother came over and ushered Simon and Johnny inside, Andy slipping around them to join her sisters in cheering for their mother while their boyfriends watched in awed silence. The last thing Simon saw before being pushed inside was his dad getting in front Nik and pushing him back while Isaiah just came over and scooped up his wife and moved her away.

“Oh- Go sit with your friends. I’ll handle this.”

The look in Gran’s eyes made it impossible for Simon to doubt her. She went back out the door and it closed a little harder than what was necessary, Gaelic being muttered under her breath, and Simon staring at it in horror. Johnny silently grabbed his hand as they heard the yelling suddenly stop, both of them walking back to the living room rather quickly. Everyone greeted them with staring, wide eyes and not a single one of them daring to say anything.

Simon tugged Johnny along and they sat down on the couch where Alex was. Alex stared at them, eyes flickering to Kyle who was on the floor (maybe doing some strange alien dance before everything happened) as if to ask him how to proceed. The only thing keeping Alejandro from saying something was Rudy’s firm hold on his bicep. And Hong-Jin just looked too in shock to say anything.

So Farah said something.

“What the fuck is going on out there?”

“Nik-“

“Was fighting with my mom…”

Everyone became horrified.

“… well, so much for a wedding-“

Hong-Jin was smacked and Simon was flooded with fucking embarrassment over everything he just witnessed. Of course Nik would some how get into a fight with Johnny’s lovely mother! Of course he would-

Kyle ended up going to spy out the dining room window to see if he could learn anything. Simon was just replaying the image of Nik and Muriel yelling at each other, red faced and the clear fact that everything was escalating. Simon couldn’t recall ever seeing Nik like that… and it disturbed him. He was always so calm, silent in anger but always kept his head level. The most he ever had was a blank expression, a twitching eye and a tone in his voice. Not that.

“Si,” Farah said, Simon turning look at her.

She seemed to know what he was thinking and just reached over and placed her hand on his knee. Simon feels Johnny lean against him and he breathes out. God, something just had to happen…

Alex stood and went to go check on Kyle after a few minutes of uneasy silence. Simon and Johnny just leaned against each other, Farah sitting next to Simon and Hong-Jin, Alejandro, and Rudy sat on the floor. No one knew what to say, none of them expecting something like this to happen, not when everyone was so excited and happy. It just came out of nowhere. Everything was too quiet from the adults and Johnny’s sisters and their boyfriends, and Kyle hasn’t returned with any news.

The silence ticked on and it became too much for Simon. Alejandro noticed and cleared his throat.

“So… I was gonna wait until later to be a smartass but-!” Alejandro jumped up, “I think I’ll give it to you now. Be right back.”

Alejandro leaves, Simon hearing the front door opening and closing. Rudy just sighed, obviously knowing what Alejandro was getting.

“He thought it would be funny…”

“Thought what would be funny?”

“Matching tombstones,” Hong-Jin joked and Johnny snickered in response.

Farah rolled her eyes, “Bit expensive for a joke.”

Rudy grins, “You have no idea what Ale is willing to do for a joke. He will dip into his college savings his dad set up to accomplish one if he has to.”

Simon laughs knowing it was true. Alejandro loved a good, elaborate joke or prank. He could believe him misusing the money his dad saved up for him for a joke… but only if it would be hysterical. He’s not that eager to dance with death.

Alejandro returns, a rather small box in his hands. The smirk on his face made Simon groan, pre-annoyed by whatever was in that box. Johnny was staring hard at it, like he was trying to look through the box to see what was in it.

“Ale… I’m going to kill you.”

Johnny leans over to look in the box after Simon finally spoke after a moment of silence, “Wha- No-“

Alejandro starts laughing, proud of himself clearly, as Simon takes out a fucking collar. Hong-Jin starts cackling, Farah covering her mouth and snorting at the sight. Rudy just sighed, though he was definitely amused by his boyfriend’s antics. Simon drops the collar back into the box before he hands it off to Johnny. Simon stands and Alejandro jumps away, his laughter becoming more erratic as Simon tries to grab him.

After minute Simon managed to Alejandro, and that’s when Kyle and Alex returned from the dining room.

“Hey, I think-,” Kyle stopped talking when he entered the room, Alex bumping into his back as a result.

Simon releases Alejandro after Kyle stares at him for a good five seconds, of course judging him.

“So- Uh, find out anything?”

More judging staring before Kyle finally says something, “I think they resolved whatever that was. They were talking but whatever they were talking about made Johnny’s sisters get bored.”

Johnny snorts, “Oh yea, they’ve made up.”

The rest of that evening was rather tame. There was no more fighting or shouting matches, just smooth sailing. Whatever Gran did worked because now Nik and Muriel were rubbing shoulders, probably being even more friendly than what John and Isaiah were. Simon was glad whatever that was was now over, he was still mortified by the whole thing.

“At least they’re friends now��” Johnny murmured as he sat next to Simon in the corner.

“I was scared they were going to throw punches,” Simon mutters back.

“My ma would win.”

Simon snorts, the image of a man Nik’s size getting taken down by Johnny’s tiny mother was rather hilarious, “I’d pay to see that.”

Eve had pulled out lawn darts and Simon had a feeling it would be safer to sit in the corner away from Alejandro. Rudy was standing behind him, trying to get him to not fuck around because he might hurt someone. Hong-Jin was no help because he was daring him to launch the dart at a bottle balanced on a fence post.

“Ale, no-“

“ALE-“

Of course Alejandro had to throw it. He cannot refuse a dare, his ego wouldn’t allow it.

“What did you do with the box?”

“I- SHIT-“

Johnny jumps up and runs into the house. The last thing they needed was someone finding a box with collar with Simon’s name on it. That would really be the icing on the cake.

___

Fun Fact/pieces of information for the fic!:

'Honey' is Johnny's gran and mom's nickname for Hong-Jin cuz they think he's a very sweet boy :) (Johnny called him ‘Honey’ once and got slapped because he wasn’t allowed to use it)

Eve is Johnny's eldest sister, she is in college and is twenty-one. Carol is eighteen. Andy is sixteen (she torments Johnny the most out of the sisters because of how close in age they are)

Johnny's dad is around 6'7-6'8 while his mom is barely 5'3

Rudy is trans, still working on fleshing out his story in the au. Hopefully some more things with Rudy to help build up his background in the future!

Isaiah is described to be ‘oblivious’ and scattered brained. It’s just undiagnosed ADHD (where do think Johnny got it from?)

Jay and Oliver are decent guys, they're just a version of weird Simon isn't too familiar with. They're kind of jealous Isaiah jumped on liking Simon so much so quick but they don't care too much considering they're still liked and a part of the family

I have two sets of names for Soap's family. One set is used for when Soap has a good relationship with them in the au/fic and the other set is for when they aren't on good terms! (though I haven't had a chance to use the other set of names yet)

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livwritesstuff · 2 months

Text

So Steve obviously loves Valentine’s Day.

This didn’t ever come as a surprise to Eddie, and in the years between when they started dating and when their kids were born, it was something that never changed.

When Steve walked in the door fresh off the afternoon carpool route with their three daughters in tow and said, “Dude – I swear to god this has gotta be the best Valentine’s Day ever,” Eddie wasn’t exactly taken aback, more just unsure what could have happened so early in the day that had him this confident that V-Day of 2012 would be the best one ever.

“Why?” Eddie asked suspiciously.

“When I dropped off Ava, David invited me over to watch the basketball game,” he replies, still with a massive grin on his face even as their daughters dump their backpacks and jackets and shoes all over the ground instead of hanging them up like they should be doing.

Eddie made a face – David, one of their neighbors and an unfortunate addition to the elementary school carpool circuit, is notably a total fucking loser.

He’s also obsessed with Steve (and not even in a gay way, which Eddie could at least understand – no, it’s in this weird, loser, ex-jock who peaked in high school kind of way).

“I know, right? I’m pretty sure he’s that fucking desperate for something to do tonight that isn’t his wife,” Steve continued.

“What’s wrong with his wife?”

“Ed, believe it or not, it gets even better.”

“Tell me,” Eddie demanded, finally getting that Steve’s got a whole-ass story for him.

“I’m going to, man, holy shit,” Steve shook his head as he stepped over the mess their kids left behind (because one of them would be corralling them all back downstairs to deal with their shit like they’re supposed to)

So Eddie listens as Steve launches into a retelling of the conversation he apparently had with David, who, predictably, acted like a total fucking loser about how Steve actually wanted to spend time with his family on Valentine’s Day.

“What does this have to do with his wife?” Eddie asked when Steve reached a stopping point, “Other than how incredibly sad it is for her.”

“Right – so get this. David ended up telling me that his wife is going out tonight with Chris, and I figured he meant Chris, like Christine, Liam’s mom, because I know they’re friends, but it’s not. It’s Chris, the divorced dad on the PTA, and apparently they hang out all the time.”

Eddie’s eyes widened as he pieced together what Steve was implying.

“No fucking way.”

“Right?!? And, look, you know I think cheating is wrong, but…I dunno, I really hope she has a fantastic Valentine’s Day.”

#idk idk something about middle-aged Steve knowing all the hot goss in their suburban town #this doesn’t really count as a valentine’s day post lol maybe i’ll fathom something else up later #steddie #liv’s steddie dads verse #steddie dads #steve harrington #eddie munson #also this is inspired by a tiktok - will link if i can track it down #rereading this there are a *lot* of F-Bombs srry if that’s not your vibe #i feel like they’re at that stage in parenthood where they know their kids know the words #so what’s the point in hiding it anymore?#judgy-steve my beloved

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seneon · 10 months

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me when i remember i can send mashle requests 🙏🏻 bless your soul, sen 🫶🏻 so, since i’m lwky sick how about rayne, lance, orter (and or anyone else you want) taking care of sick reader? they had to find out you were feeling unwell from someone else too 😗

CARE ──── ft. rayne ames, lance crown and orter mádl.

about. hcs of the boys taking care of their sick s/o | gn! reader.

notes. ava you're such a W for this ily bro 🔥 anyway, keep the mashle requests coming i love everyone who requests for them.

RAYNE AMES

— honestly, bro's so worried for you the moment a classmate rushed to his class to tell him abt you. you're also a second year, just different classes from rayne for today. so he excused himself and rushed right to you.

— there at the infirmary, you sat down on the bed, your weakened state piercing rayne's heart. he went to embrace you in a hug and reassure you that everything is going to be ok. then he helped you to your dorm to rest.

— what intrigued everyone the most was how he traded places with your dorm mate for a few days just because he wanted to look after you while you're sick. during those moments, he looked after you. your food, temperature, symptoms, etc. he was there the whole time, even if he went for some certain classes that he wouldn't want to miss. but most of the time, he skipped those classes.

— rayne made sure everything was perfectly to your preferences. and you've been pretty obedient with the medicine too, which you didn't want rayne to worry about anymore further considering how he's skipping classes just to look after and accompany you. so you try your hardest to get well soon.

— he probably prayed to God for your health to get better soon. and when his prayers were heard, rayne is overjoyed and kept thanking God and you for doing such a great job in hanging tight to go through it all.

LANCE CROWN

— it was lemon who informed him about your health. of course, he would keep his calm composure but on the inside, he's really worried and panicking. lance thinks it was his fault for going too hard on you during your sparring session since it was pretty much him using his gravitational magic to defeat you so it most probably caused your dizzy mind and body.

— the type to pay you visits with his other friends, since they're always with him. but he does it alone, he apologises so much and ends up crying then sleeping by the bed.

— your sickness wasn't that serious, it was just a mild fever. so all you needed was rest, medicine, and some of lance's comforting words. he tells you about what happened during school everyday, updating you about his day then listening to yours.

— lance notes down your classes' lessons and notes and gives them to you after the day or during free time. there's some certain lessons that you didn't share with lance and he would go all the way to ask your classmates or self study to write notes for you.

— after you were discharged from the school's hospital, lance helped you slowly recover from school as much as he could. he was gentle with your recovery and wouldn't want anyone or anything to hurt you so he's ALWAYS with you to serve as your temporary guard. he protects you for a whole full week, like a dad.

ORTER MÁDL

— unlike rayne or lance, he doesn't show that he concerns. but deep down, he cares, and he doesn't. orter is like a two way kinda person, which is a bit complicating. so you won't know if he actually cares or not, since he didn't really reacted when the doctor told him about you.

— but, he tries his hardest to make time to visit you at the hospital since he's a busy man as divine visionary. once he found out that the hospital you were admitted in gives shitty low-class treatment, he immediately demanded for you to be transferred to the best hospital in the country.

— orter manages to get other divine visionaries to sub for his missions and duties so he could be with you and help look after you. the simple feeling and thought of you being alone in a big hospital gives him an unsettling worry so he decides to be there for you.

— he's the smart type of guy, so he does everything logically. if you don't want to take your meds, he'd just drink it, hold it using it tongue, kiss you and force you you to swallow it by covering your nose. pretty comical actually, how'd he tries showing you care but ends up screwing some of it up.

— it's ok tho, he's probably just feeling a bit of like a tsundere. he denies your teasing but ends up getting flustered. that would actually help you a lot in your recovery as your gloomy days spent in the hospital was filled with orter's entertainment until you were discharged, all healthy thus giving orter so many kisses which he would awkwardly return one on your lip.

#⋆ ❨ writing ❩ ֢֢֢ ۟#mashle #mashle hcs #rayne ames #rayne ames x reader #lance crown #lance crown x reader #orter madl #orter mádl x reader #mashle imagines #mashle x reader #mashle: magic and muscles #mashle fluff #★ avava

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wordstome · 5 months

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What are the dads’ favorite bonding activities with their kids? 🥺

hello friend!!

Price: I like to imagine Price's girls are engaged in all sorts of extracurricular activities from ballet to the school play. I think his favorite bonding activity with them would be taking them out to eat after a recital or a performance. Just his little ladies and some good old greasy spoon diner food: what else could a man want? And you know that when the girls grow up, those nights are going to be some of their fondest childhood memories.

Ghost: Caden is a parallel play kind of kid. He's quietly doing his little crayon drawings next to Simon watching a tv show. I could also see them bonding when Simon takes Caden out to run errands with him, groceries and stuff. Caden gets a bit of socialization, and Simon is there if he gets overwhelmed and needs a bit of comfort. It really brings them together: the kid knows that no matter how distant his dad can be, he can always rely on Simon.

Soap: JOCK ALERT. His favorite bonding activity is taking his kids to the park. Impromptu soccer games, roleplaying on the playground equipment, buying them ice cream on a hot summer day. When Elodie's older, she stops going, preferring to hang out with friends or do her own thing. But I can see wayyyy in the future when she's an adult, she'll have a lot of nostalgia for those days and will love going on walks with her dad.

Gaz: Kyle is a planned activities kind of man, a very take the kids to Disney World and make lifetime memories sorta guy. Every summer the family gets an airbnb by the lake, and every winter they're off at a ski lodge. (Here's to that delicious, delicious dual income household.) Violet and Elliott are always the kids blowing into the first day of class full of stories about all the fun stuff they got up to over the summer.

König: Dress-up. Come on, you knew this was coming. He's so girldad. Ava can't keep her hands out of her dad's luscious locks, and loves making him paper crowns because of his callsign (he definitely speaks German with her at home so she knows what it means). He also buys Ava those big plastic playsets that are a grocery checkout or a little kitchen and roleplays little scenarios with her. Ava's a militant chef, by the way. She would make a great line cook.

Horangi: Concerts with his daughter, Ryujin. Probably a few raves, as well. Ryujin's a punk rock and indie scene kinda gal, but she'll listen to anything, and has a few favorite kpop groups whose concerts she's dragged Hong-jin to. He's a diehard Once (fan of the girl group Twice) himself. They've also definitely gotten a few tattoos/piercings together, which would be an odd thing to do with your dad if Ryujin's dad were not so cool.

Keegan: Same as Johnny, except instead of taking his kids to safe parks and soccer fields, he takes them into the woods. Camping, fishing, teaching them a bunch of useful skills. It's such a "things your divorced dad does with you when he doesn't know what else to do for the weekend you're staying with him" activity, but Jason and Cecelia have never had someone do those things with them before, so they're having a good time. Other than that, laser tag and airsoft is a big one. Keegan was hesitant to get them into stuff like that, but they've always been curious about his military career and things just sort of escalated from there. I saw this tiktok of a cosplayer in a Logan mask captioned "when you're playing airsoft with your 15-year spec ops dad" and it's the cosplayer plastering themselves against a wall in terror: that's Keegan's kids. He's not going to hold back when he plays, and they don't want him to.

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inksandpensblog · 1 year

Text

I owe a big thank-you to @nostalgiajesterz for taking on my request, I never could've done this myself. Here's their commission page!

#ava hangman #animator vs animation #ava shorts #animator vs animation shorts #avm shorts #animation vs minecraft shorts #Crane #for those who need an explanation: I headcanon that Crane (the hanged man) uses his gallows like a mobility aid #in the sense that he literally can't move independently unless he's wearing the noose #ava enthusiasts #art by nostalgiajesterz #premise and dialogue by me #love what you did with the framing of the dialogue boxes ^_^

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piratekane · 1 year

Text

She’s bone-tired, aches in places she didn’t know could ache and muscles stretched out in a way they haven’t been for a long time. Since her physical therapy, at least. The rock climbing a few weeks ago certainly hadn’t helped, but there was no way she was going to stay with her feet rooted to the floor. Not when she could climb up 15 feet and hang there like Spider-man. Better than Spider-man.

Suck it, Tom Holland.

She paid for it later, though, and spent the next day letting her body remember how to stretch, going through yoga poses and washing her breakfast down with ibuprofen.

It was worth it, still, to see the look on Bea’s friend’s faces. Mary was impressed, clapping her on the shoulder when she got to the bottom and telling Camila - who made it up the wall the fastest - that she had competition. Even Lilith regarded her with a level of approval that Ava ate up. She’s going to make Lilith like her. Or at least smile politely, even if it is with all her teeth.

But it was Bea’s face that made it even better.

She hasn’t known Bea long - she’s known others longer, including that one cafeteria lady who always saves her a side of mac and cheese because Ava said one time that it was her favorite - but she already knows that a big part of her wants to impress Bea. She can’t quite put it into words. There’s something about Bea that makes Ava want to show off. Maybe it’s because one thing she’s learned about Beatrice is that her smiles are fleeting. Ava wants to collect every one of them.

She’ll have a lot of opportunities, now that Bea is her friend and her roommate.

“Where do you want this one?” Beatrice asks from the doorway. She’s holding a paper box with tons of smiley faces drawn on it in a thick-tipped permanent marker. There’s a method to her packing madness, but Ava is big enough to admit that she has no idea what’s in this particular box.

“Here is fine.” She shifts in the computer chair Bea got her, a slight pinch in her back.

Bea looks down at the last few inches of floor where Ava points and frowns. “How will you get out?”

Ava lifts her legs, wiggling her socked toes. “I’ll jump. Have you jumped on this bed? Is it a solid bed for jumping?”

“Jumped on the…” Beatrice blinks at her. “No, Ava. I haven’t jumped on the bed.”

Ava shrugs. “You’re missing out. My dorm room was not good jumping material. When’s the last time you jumped on a bed?”

“Nev-never.”

Her mouth drops open. “Never?” She immediately frowns. Beatrice wasn’t kidding when she told her that her life hadn’t been normal kid stuff and her parents were hardly around. They had that in common: a girl who lived in an orphanage and a girl who grew up alone. It makes her a little sad for Bea. “We have to fix this.”

“I am not jumping on the bed,” Bea says firmly.

Ava shrugs. Today is not the day, and tomorrow won’t be either, but soon. She stands and stretches her arms above her head, immediately dropping them so that her shirt doesn’t ride up any higher. Bea seems like the kind of girl who appreciates a little modesty. Ava can do that. Or, she can try really hard to do that.

“I am officially all moved in.” She grins, surveying her kingdom. There’s a desk in one corner, left behind by Bea’s roommate who went to study abroad and didn’t come back. A nightstand by the bed has her lamp and her hat on it. She’ll have to hang her clothes, fill the dresser, find a few posters to put up on the walls. But it’s hers. “So, roomie, what’s next?”

Bea looks around, clasping her hands behind her. “I believe those are all your things.”

“Except for the kitchen stuff.”

“Yes.” There’s a faint smile on Bea’s face and Ava feels a thrill, knowing she put it there. “How could I forget your… hot dog maker.”

“Not sure. It’s fire engine red.” But she looks around too. “I think we’re done. Now we can get ready for movie night!”

A proper end to moving day. Movie night with an Ava-curated predetermined list, tons of drinks and movie theater popcorn and Bea’s friends. She had hesitantly suggested it to Bea a few days ago. She’d never done a movie night and her College Experiences bucket list clearly had it marked as item #8. But Bea had said yes almost immediately, and Ava went to work, making a list of options in between packing and classes and meals with Bea and her friends.

They’re going to be my friends, she decides. That’s on her bucket list too.

Now she just needed them to get here. The minutes have been dragging on as she’s waited as patiently as possible. But time didn’t seem to be cooperating. It’s doing its best to drag its heels. Ava wants to grab it by the neck and shake it.

Bea seems to notice that. “They’ll be here soon.” She says it very patiently, like she already knows Ava does terrible with waiting. And Ava likes that. She likes that Bea is paying attention to her enough to notice these things.

Bea’s going to be a great roommate. Ava wants to be just as good. She looks around her room, satisfied. She can unpack later - there’s enough space to get from the bed to the door and Bea insisted she make the bed first, almost like she knew that Ava was going to stack everything in insurmountable piles and try her best to get around them.

See? she thinks. She knows me already.

She’s about to say that, to tell Bea that she’s already killing this ‘best roommate’ contest that Bea doesn’t know they’re having, when someone knocks on the door. Once, twice, three times.

Ava does jump on the bed this time, beating Beatrice to the door and pulling it open to find Camila on the other side.

Ava beams. “Movie night!”

“Is the whole movie about… biking?” Lilith makes it seem like a swear word.

Ava grins, shoves a handful of popcorn into her mouth, and says, “id bub nimnasts.” Everyone turns to her. She swallows and smiles more sheepishly this time. “It’s about gymnastics.”

Lilith heaves a long-suffering sound. “Gymnastics.” It’s really a testament to her disdain for everyday things, that everything that comes out of her mouth sounds like she’s spitting it from between her teeth. But then the running biker rips off her helmet and it’s Missy Peregrym and even Lilith seems interested.

Ava gets it. She does. This is peak Missy Peregrym. And it only gets better. She stops watching the movie when Missy Peregrym’s character, Haley, finds her way back to the gym and on Vanessa Lengies’ character, Joanne’s, last nerve and starts watching the room instead. Onscreen, Haley pretends to be on the phone while Joanne stomps her foot angrily, and Mary snorts, lips curled up in a smile, and that’s when Ava knows this is a good choice.

She wants to impress them so badly. It consumes her. Partly because she thinks they’re really cool, even Lilith. And partly because she thinks Bea is amazing and these people agree. Sister Frances always told her to stop wasting her time and do everyone the favor of aligning herself with the right people. Ava is pretty sure she was saying it to get rid of her, to go out and be someone else’s problem, but Ava thinks she found the right people all the same.

“Isn’t that the guy from Twilight?” Camila asks, abandoning her popcorn. Ava meets Bea’s eyes and smiles. Bea shakes her head fondly at Camila and Ava wonders when she’ll get the same look. Someday, she thinks. She looks back at Camila, leaning forward in her seat on the bean bag chair she wrestled through their front door earlier. “He’s the cute one, I think. The other one kind of freaked me out. I don’t think he ever blinked.”

Their front door. Ava’s heart beats a little harder.

Ava could go into detail about Twilight - it was basically contraband at the orphanage. But they’re in the middle of a movie. And she thinks Lilith might actually throw a soda at her. She doesn’t think Bea would appreciate the mess. So that’s a Camila-and-Ava conversation for later.

“Yikes. Ice baths.” Shannon shudders. “I used to do those in high school, during the season. Need a wake up call? Submerge yourself in a metal tub of ice cubes.” She points her entire soda towards the screen. “Though, I never looked like that doing it.”

Mary snakes her arm across the back of Shannon’s shoulder. “No, you didn’t.”

Ava slaps her hand over her mouth to keep in her laugh but Shannon rolls her eyes and elbows Mary gently. “You’re right. I looked better.”

“Damn right you did.” Mary meets Ava’s eye and smirks. It feels like a secret between them. That swelling feeling in her chest reaches a crescendo.

She shoves another handful of popcorn into her mouth and spares a glance at Bea, finding that Bea is already looking back at her. She inhales, nearly choking on a kernel. Bea sits forward, worry on her face, but Ava holds up a hand, stopping her. She swallows a few times, washes down what she can with her soda, and takes a deep breath.

“Do you like it?” Ava whispers, aware that she can be too loud sometimes.

Bea has to lean closer to hear her. “It’s entertaining.”

Ava’s eyes narrow. She doesn’t know what that word means to Bea yet. Sometimes entertaining means not good, and sometimes it means the best thing I’ve watched in my whole life. She’s still learning to read her.

“Good,” Bea fills in. Ava exhales in relief. “Gymnastics takes a considerable amount of skill.”

“You could do it,” Ava says confidently. She nods when Bea goes to argue with her. “I saw you rock climbing. And all the martial arts you talk about? I bet you could beat Nastia Liukin.”

Bea’s cheeks might redden but Ava can’t tell in the dim light. “Actual Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin? I doubt that.”

Ava shrugs. “Guess we’ll have to call her and find out. But my money's on you.”

Lilith shushes them, glaring. Ava puts one hand up in surrender and grins at Bea when Lilith turns back to the movie. She pushes the popcorn back to Bea and waits expectantly. Bea is much more graceful than Ava, picking out a few pieces delicately. Ava doesn’t offer the same grace; she shoves her hand in and grabs as much as she can.

“Wait, her mom cheated on her dad with her coach?” Lilith doesn’t pull her eyes away from the screen, but scoffs. “Pathetic.”

Camila claps when it ends, grinning. Ava matches her smile, looking around excitedly.

She pats herself on the shoulder mentally, though her hand itches to do it physically. She made a good choice, a strong start. She stands up, twists her back side to side so she can stretch it out, and grins. “Who wants more popcorn?”

She waits until a quiet moment, after everyone has been settled into movie and Bea has finished what Ava is sure to be the first of many comments on the historical validity of The Mummy before she says:

“This movie was my bisexual awakening.”

There’s a cough and sputter from her left where Beatrice is sitting. She thinks about reaching out and giving her a friendly whack on the back, to clear out whatever has gotten stuck in her windpipe, but Mary laughs so loudly, Ava just ends up grinning instead.

Lilith eyes her critically. “Brendan Fraser isn’t the worst you could do, I suppose.”

It’s a glowing compliment coming from Lilith. Ava files it away for the next time she inevitably says something that isn’t.

Camila leans her head back, staring at Ava upside down. “Rachel Weisz is my ‘if I had to pick a girl’.”

“Fraser is not the guy I’d pick,” Mary says firmly. “I’m more of an Usher kind of girl.”

Shannon shrugs. “I think I’d take Mummy-Fraser over Tarzan-Fraser. The long hair is… Eh.”

The TV flickers, brightening the room as Rick O’Connell crosses the screen with a torch in his hand. Ava turns expectantly to Bea. “What about you?”

“What about-” Bea’s voice is slightly squeaky, if Ava had to put a word to it. Almost as if she doesn’t know where to break the syllables. “This movie was not my bisexual awakening,” she finally says.

“Well, of course not.” Ava reaches over and does touch Bea this time, patting her knee gently. “I assume you’d be too focused on the truth of all this history stuff to even focus on either of them.” She smiles warmly. “Am I right?”

Everyone seems to be looking at the two of them. Ava feels the room tip a little. She’s suddenly worried she said the wrong thing. She just thought, with Mary and Shannon clearly dating, that it’d be okay to say something like that. They seem to be open enough, not shying away from each other. But maybe she shouldn’t have. Or maybe it’s the movie choice. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Antonio Banderas also had something good going on.

Bea stares and Ava starts to count the seconds as they stretch.

“I’m not—” Bea begins haltingly, then stops.

A tendril of panic curls around Ava’s chest. She just assumed. Sure, Bea never explicitly said she liked girls, but Ava isn’t usually wrong about this kind of stuff. Maybe she did get it wrong. Or maybe she just said it too loud. She has a tendency to barrel head first into things without thinking.

Bea clears her throat. “I suppose…” Her eyes dart over Ava’s shoulder to where Mary and Shannon are. Ava looks, smiling a little, still confused. “I suppose… Rachel Weisz is someone a person might find appealing.”

“Attractive,” Ava corrects, slightly relieved that she didn’t read Bea incorrectly. “And good choice.” She nods in total agreement. Bea’s taste is up there.

She shoves her hand into the candy bowl that’s replaced the popcorn. M&Ms in this bowl, but Bea has Junior Mints. She looks up, mouth full, and finds Bea still staring back at her. An M&M falls out of her mouth and lands in her hand. She feels her face flush and she quickly tosses it back in.

Lilith’s face is twisted in disgust. There goes that good favor. But Mary and Shannon are looking at her too, and Ava gets a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“I’m sorry,” she says slowly. “I think I said something wrong.” Even though she has no clue what that might be. Her worry that she’s made Bea uncomfortable by talking about her sexuality rises again in her head.

There’s quiet for a moment before Bea says, “No.” She reaches forward like she’s trying to get Ava to understand something but her hand hovers over Ava’s, the one with a small chocolate smudge on it, and she pulls it back into her own lap. “You don’t mind?”

“Mind…” Ava blinks, looks back again. Mary is staring at her and there’s a slight edge she hasn’t seen before. “That you like Rachel Weisz?” No one says yes or no and she’s still so confused. “I totally don’t mind, if that’s what you think. Like I said.” She points both of her thumbs back at herself and tries to smile in a way she knows is charming. “Awakening.”

Bea’s face is pinched, though. Ava has the strongest urge to press her hands to it and smooth it out. Mary clears her throat and Bea’s face does it all on its own.

“I mean, I’d still be okay with it if you liked Patricia Velasquez better,” Ava admits. “The gold costume was…” She whistles low and reaches out a hand, nudging Bea in the shoulder. Bea sways away and back in again stiffly, but she seems to be breathing out.

Ava exhales. She looks back over her shoulder and Mary is still looking at her but she’s smiling too, nodding once at her. Whatever test that was, she knows she passed it. And honestly, Bea can’t go wrong with either choice. And if she is into someone like Patricia Velasquez, Ava knows a girl in her Humanities class who can pull off that same kind of eyeliner.

She offers Bea the bowl of M&Ms silently, gesturing for the Junior Mints. Bea hands it over slowly, her eyes still searching Ava’s face. She hopes Bea finds whatever she’s looking for. Because she wants to show Bea that she’s someone to trust, that Bea made a good decision, and that moving in was something that was going to be great.

She smiles encouragingly and Bea smiles back, ducking her head slightly. Ava turns back to the TV screen, silently passing Camila the bowl of Junior Mints in return for the Skittles.

“Actually,” Bea says quietly, almost as if she’s only talking to Ava. “Did you know that Medjay, the Pharoh’s bodyguards in the movie, actually refers to people from the land of Medja. It was believed to be located in Nubia, near the Second Nile Cataract.”

Ava abandons the screen, turning to Bea now. “How do you know this stuff?”

Bea shrugs a shoulder. “I like knowing things.”

“We’re finding a trivia night and going out,” Ava decides. Lilith shushes her and she ignores it. “The brains between you, Shannon, and Camila, plus my good looks, Mary’s brawn, and the whole… scary thing Lilith has going on, we’ll clean up.”

Bea smiles fully this time. A pillow hits Ava in the side of the head but it doesn’t stop her from smiling back at Bea before snatching the pillow off the floor and holding onto it until Lilith wrestles it out of her hands ten minutes later.

They’ve moved onto pizza by the time Atlantis queues up on the TV. Six different boxes sit open on the breakfast bar, greasy plates on the floor and coffee table. Ava rests a hand on her stomach, her whole body stretched out and her socked feet dangerously close to a mushroom sliding around in a puddle of grease. She peers down. Bea’s plate is full of mushrooms, picked out from the other toppings.

Huh. No mushrooms. Maybe Bea does have a flaw.

“I dated a guy who looked like Milo once,” Camila offers. “Soft spoken, too.” She squints, looking into the middle distance. “I think his name was Ted.”

“Ted.” Mary wrinkles her nose. “There was a Ted in my Women’s Safety class freshman year. Thought it was an easy A and he’d get to feel up a few girls.” She scoffs. “He sure felt my fist in his stomach.”

Ava lifts an arm in solidarity, her whole body weighed down with hot dough and spicy tomato sauce. “I beat up someone once. When I was 6. He broke my ant farm.” She gets a sudden burst of energy as damp anger flows through her. She sits up. “I was the one who got in trouble though, the little jerk.”

Lilith pushes a piece of half-eaten veggie pizza towards Ava. Ava’s stomach protests, but the mushrooms are just that good, so she takes it and polishes off the rest of it. Lilith is warming up to her and Ava revels in it. It’s all part of her master plan to win Lilith over, one small step at a time.

With the understanding, of course, that she’s going to go backwards more than she goes forward. But she can tell how much Lilith means to Beatrice and she can play the long game. It’ll be a good exercise in patience.

“What about you, Beatrice? Beat a lot of people up? I know you can, like, kill a man with your bare hands.”

Lilith snorts. “Beatrice would never.”

Ava grins. “So you would?”

“No,” Bea says loudly over Lilith opening her mouth. “Our training is for self-defense. I have never found any reason to escalate a fight outside of tournaments and educational exercises.” She sees Ava’s eyes tracking the table and nudges the plate of mushroom slices towards her. She thinks she sees Bea’s nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Okay, but, if someone like Helga Sinclair - a total babe, by the way - came charging at you, you wouldn’t fight her?” Ava points at the screen where Helga is lifting boxes up, just to show off her muscles. Her mind gets stuck for a minute. They’re impressive arms. But then, Bea’s arms kind of look the same, now that she thinks about it. Helga has more of a Lilith-attitude, though.

Bea blinks. “She’s a cartoon character.”

“But if she was real,” Ava stresses. “Are you just too proud to tell me you’d wipe the floor with her pretty, 2-dimensional face?” She looks at Shannon. “Is she always this modest?”

Shannon snorts softly. “Yeah, Beatrice never really sells herself well.”

“We’re going to fix that,” Ava decides. Bea opens her mouth but Ava shakes her head. “It’s decided. Operation Beatrice is a Badass henceforth commences tonight, on this Saturday, in Apartment 3B. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Order.”

Bea’s mouth opens and closes a few times. “That’s not at all how that goes.”

“What a ridiculous thing to say,” Lilith mutters.

“It was kind of sweet,” Camila says kindly. “I think Beatrice needs a personal cheerleader.”

“Seems like Ava is up for the job,” Mary says. Her eyes are on Beatrice, a small smirk on her face. “I say go for it.”

Ava beams. “That’s four votes yes.”

Shannon hums. “I didn’t vote.”

“My vote counts twice,” Ava says without even looking at her. She goes to say something else, but Atlantis comes into view and she forgets what she was going to say, staring in wonder as Milo sees the lost city for the first time.

She watched this movie a lot when she was in the orphanage. Sister Frances was fond of donations and didn’t usually splurge on new things; a handful of DVDs, including Atlantis, were the last thing that showed up that wasn’t already in pieces by the time it got to them. Osmosis Jones was the other one, but one of the older boys broke it when he thought Osmosis Jones was living inside his body.

Atlantis always caught her attention, though. The idea that there was a secret world out there where anything was possible? It was all she dreamed about as a kid, confined to a bed and locked away under Sister Frances’ crow-like eyes. She imagined she was Milo, on the hunt for the one thing that would make her life make sense. Sure, she never found her Atlantis, but Milo did. And she could live through that.

Her eyes stray to Bea. She’s caught herself doing that all night - constantly tuned into Bea, wondering what she’s thinking or if she likes Ava’s choices or if she’s regretting agreeing to this new living situation. She thinks everyone is warming up to her and it makes her grin. Friends. Friends she can hang out with and do movie nights and trivia nights and lunch dates like the one she has scheduled with Camila on Monday between her morning and afternoon classes.

And all thanks to the person who is quickly becoming her favorite person. Bea is her Princess Kira, showing her a whole new world. She frowns. Wrong movie. But then she shrugs; the point still stands.

“Well, you eat enough for two people,” Mary says, pulling Ava’s attention back in. She sounds impressed, though. “I’ve never seen anyone put away what you have in the last few hours.”

Ava grins and pats her stomach. “There’s still room in this ol’ thing. Just you wait.”

Mary shakes her head, a smile on her face. “Okay, baby girl. Whatever you say.”

A rush of affection swells in her chest. No one has ever called her ‘baby girl’ before. Or said it with a smile like Mary’s, like it’s some secret between the two of them. She holds onto it. She wants to wear it again. She wonders what Bea will call her, what her nickname will be.

“None of you seem to understand what a movie night is, do you?” Lilith cuts in. She has her arms crossed over her chest, eyes narrowed. “It means watching a movie, not talking through it.”

“I didn’t realize you liked this movie so much,” Mary says lightly. “If we knew it was your favorite-”

“Not my favorite,” Lilith sniffs.

“-we would have quieted down,” she finishes. “You heard her, ladies, no talking through Lilith’s favorite movie.”

Mary, unlike Ava, catches the pillow Lilith throws and chucks it right back, hitting her right in the face. Ava gasps but the sound is swallowed up by the growl of disbelief from Lilith, the weary groan from Beatrice, Shannon tutting, and Camila clapping her hands together lightly.

It takes considerable effort, and they have to rewind twice, missing the mark both times and just giving up, but now Ava can put an X across the “bloodshed” square on her “how to be friends with girls” bingo card.

Lilith pouts for the next twenty minutes, Mary gloats, and Ava eats two more pieces of pizza, chewing happily.

“You’ll like this one,” Ava promises Bea as she loads the DVD unseen into the player. “It’s Shakespeare.”

A soccer ball bounces across the screen and the look of confusion on Bea’s face deepens. Ava holds out a hand, anticipating a question.

“Just wait, okay? This is pop culture history.”

Bea looks skeptical. “It really is,” Ava insists. “It takes Shakespeare and modernizes it. Think 10 Things I Hate About You. Think Romeo + Juliet. This is a cinematic marvel.”

“Sit down,” Shannon says without any bite. “We’ve liked the other ones so far.”

“Speak for yourself,” Lilith mutters. She scowls, but closes her mouth when Camila looks at her.

Ava doesn’t let it bother her. She swears she saw Lilith crying at the end of Atlantis. But Shannon’s words give her enough courage to take her seat again and watch Bea’s face, eager to see her reaction. She doesn’t have to wait long.

“I love this movie!”

“Not this one.”

Ava looks between Shannon and Mary. They look at each other.

Shannon blinks first. “You don’t like this movie?”

“I want to strangle her boyfriend every time he’s on screen.” Mary scowls, like she’s imagining his throat under her hand. “And Channing Tatum is just…”

“He’s a baby in this movie.”

“He’s not a good actor in this movie.”

Camila raises her hand weakly. “I like him in Magic Mike.” She balks at everyone’s sudden frown. Ava shakes her head. “My freshman year roommate was, like, obsessed with him. Actually, I think her mom was. And it just sort of… trickled down.”

Ava reaches out and pats her head gently. “I’m so sorry. That sounds terrible.”

Camila shrugs. “We traded off. Horror movies for me-”

“Horibble movies for her,” Mary finishes.

Shannon shrugs. “Well, I like this movie. Though, Olivia and Viola should have ended up together.”

That, Ava can get behind. She nods furiously. “Best chemistry, definitely.” She reaches for her bowl of ice cream - she has a scoop of every flavor they got at the grocery store. She digs into it, lifting her spoon to her mouth before she pauses, speaking first. “Do you think Amanda Bynes really knows how to play soccer?”

“No,” echoes around her.

She shrugs. “Didn’t think so.”

They turn their attention back to the movie, ignoring the comments Lilith makes critiquing Sebastian’s girlfriend and Marcus the creep and the principal - who she says reminds her of her tutor. The one you made cry? Bea asks. Lilith grins with all her teeth.

Ava soaks it in like the sun on a beach. She catalogues the way Bea laughs at the pizza shop scene, the way she repeats the ug-lay as if it’s some foreign word she’s learning for the first time. She wonders if she’ll ever hear Bea say it out loud. Maybe she’ll wear something really loud - a word she picked up from Chanel - and see what the reaction is. She watches the way Mary and Shannon whisper to each other, soft murmurs over Olivia and Viola-Sebasatian arguing about cutting open a frog. Even Lilith makes a noise that sounds like a short laugh when Duke shoves a tampon up his nose. Camila mouths the words along with the characters, body jerking a little as if she’s the one playing soccer on the screen.

If 12-year-old Ava could see her now. If 17-year-old Ava could see her now. She wouldn’t believe it. She’d think her whole world extended only as far as the four walls of that orphanage. But it doesn’t. It’s bigger and brighter and filled with the coolest people she’s ever met.

Amanda Bynes flashes the soccer team and Ava laughs and laughs until Bea is smiling and shaking her head - that look, the one Ava saw Bea give Camila, that slight hint of fondness, is aimed directly at her.

The Illyria soccer team wins against Cornwall and Ava feels like she’s won something too.

She barely hears the door click shut as Lilith closes it behind her, the last one to leave.

Ava had watched Camila wrestle her bean bag back out into the hallway, smiling too brightly for someone still up at two-thirty in the morning before she slumped back down on the couch, her energy spent. Mary patted the top of her head with a heavy hand, smoothing it out with a smile, and Shannon had squeezed her shoulder gently in a goodbye before they followed Camila. Lilith had stayed, helping to pick up a few things and talking quietly with Bea. Quiet enough that Ava couldn’t hear it - and too tired to tune into.

The popcorn and the candy and the pizza and the ice cream were catching up to her, making her a little nauseous and a lot full. She slumped down further on the couch and watched Lilith move through the apartment like she knew all its corners. She couldn’t wait until she could do the same.

Bea closes the refrigerator now and turns to Ava, smiling. “Did you have fun?”

“Best night ever.” It’s not a lie. This has kicked ‘First Night out with Chanel’ off the top of her list without a care in the world. “Did you?”

“I had a very nice time. We haven’t done that in a long time.” Bea drifts closer. She sits on the edge of the couch, hovering a little above the cushion.

“Monthly movie nights, then.” A thought crosses her mind and she pouts. “Hey, we forgot National Treasure.”

Bea laughs breathlessly. “I think four movies in one night is more than enough, Ava. There will be more nights for movies. We can watch it another time.”

Ava nods decisively. “Monthly movie nights. We have all the time in the world.”

“We do,” Bea says, and it feels a little bit like they’ll have this forever.

Ava reaches behind her, groping at the back of the couch until she finds the corner of the blanket she’s searching for. She pulls it down over her head.

She thinks she hears Bea laugh, soft and melodic. But she could be imagining it, a holdover from her being hyper-aware of each time she did during movie night. She curls into it and smiles into the arm of the couch. She doesn’t know how she started sliding down, but it’s comfortable here.

“Ava,” Beatrice says gently. “You have a bed.”

Ava pulls the blanket off her head and throws it onto her legs. She squirms, trying to get it to settle over her body. “But this is so comfortable. Where did you find this couch?”

“Shannon picked it out. I’ll ask her the next time I talk to her.”

“I’ve always wanted a couch like this,” she admits. “Big, comfy. Just for us.” Her eyes flutter closed and the room goes hazy before her vision goes dark. “I’m going to sleep here.” She wiggles again. The blanket tangles around her waist.

Bea is quiet for a moment. “Come on. I have something for you.”

Her eyes open quickly, rolling off the couch and onto her feet. “What is it?”

Bea looks nervous but crosses the room to her bedroom, slipping in through the closed door. Ava hears some things moving and then Bea is in the living room again, hands clasped behind her back. She’s holding something.

“It’s- Now that I have it, I’m not sure it-” Bea takes a deep breath and smiles tightly. “I got you something. A sort of housewarming present.”

Ava grins. “I love presents. What is it?”

There’s still an undercurrent of nervousness in the way Bea uncharacteristically shifts. “Hold out your hands. And close your eyes.”

Ava immediately slams her eyes closed and thrusts her hands out. The air feels still but not uncomfortable. Silences with Bea don’t feel weird, which is crazy. So she doesn’t mind the wait as Bea obviously works up the courage to put something in her hands. After a long moment, she feels something soft and nearly weightless drop into her cupped palms.

Bea clears her throat. “You can open your eyes.”

Ava does. She blinks. A long, thin, soft stuffed animal with a white belly and tiger stripes stares back at her. She’s confused for a moment before the pieces slot into her place in her mind. “Is this… Is this Hobbes? From Calvin and Hobbes?

Bea’s cheeks are just the slightest hint of pink. She clears her throat again. “I’m sorry if this is overstepping.”

“It’s really not,” Ava rushes out. Her heart is too big in her chest. Her eyes start to burn a little, hot beads forming in the corners. “How did you-”

“The internet is more than just Wikipedia and Reddit.” Bea’s hands are tucked back behind her again. “But after our conversation…”

Their conversation.

The one where Ava told Bea everything: her accident and the grueling years of work, the orphanage, years spent in the libraries reading everything she could get her hands on. She told her about the Peanuts comics she liked and how one of the older kids had called her Linus because she carried around a blue blanket for a few years. She told Bea about the hours she would spend reading the Calvin and Hobbes comic collections and pretending she could join them on their adventures: riding in a wagon, bubble bath statues, exploring the forest, sledding, waiting for the school bus.

She told Bea she always wanted a Hobbes stuffed animal to take with her on her own adventures, just as soon as she could go and have them. She’d never admitted that to anyone else, not even Diego, the little boy she shared a room with. But something about Bea made it easy to talk about these kinds of things, Maybe it was the way she listened. She didn’t judge, she didn’t laugh.

Ava knows that’s going to be a problem. She’s going to end up telling Bea everything all the time.

And when Bea is ready to talk more about herself, about what her parents were like and how they were never around, Ava is going to be ready to listen.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she says quietly.

Bea’s voice is just as quiet. “I wanted to. You deserve to go on adventures.”

She breathes in slowly. “Today was an adventure. The best kind. And I know there’s going to be a million more.” She hugs Hobbes to her chest. “Because now I have someone. Two someones.” She smiles softly at Bea. “Hobbes. And you.”

Bea’s cheeks pinken just a hint more. She opens her mouth like she’s going to say something, but closes it again. Ava doesn’t want to say anything either, afraid to break this precarious moment. So she just looks at Hobbes, her Hobbes, and feels her chest swell with affection for this new friend she’s found.

‘Thank you,” she whispers. Bea doesn’t whisper back, but Ava doesn't think she needs to. She places Hobbes carefully on the couch. She strokes down his soft belly, fingers lingering before she turns to Bea. “I’m going to hug you. Brace yourself.”

She sees Bea physically prepare for it, watches the muscles under her thin cotton shirt tense. And she laughs, inwardly, that Bea seems to ready herself, as if Ava is going to knock her down. But she doesn’t blame her. Ava crashes into her, arms tight around her middle, trapping Bea’s arms against her sides. She feels Bea struggle for a moment before she frees her arms. Hands hover above her back before Bea pats her gently. Ava grins into the soft skin of Bea's arm.

“I think we’re going to be best friends,” she says quietly in the space between them.

She doesn’t break away from the hug until her arms start to ache. Then she steps back, giving Bea a hesitant smile before she ducks around her, headed to her new bedroom with Hobbies in her hands. With a soft goodnight, she lets Bea have a moment to herself. She seems like the type of person who needs to recover from a hug, but Ava will take care of that.

She’s a very good hugger. And they have time.

#warrior nun #avatrice #ava silva #sister beatrice #forever roommates #this was supposed to be a movie night FICLET #okay listen #this got SO FAR out of hand i cannot even begin to tell you what happened #everyone say thank you kay thank you kay #because she pushed for this and now you get to read if you'd like to #and she spent her time looking it over so she deserves extra thanks #also shout out to dren who opened a floodgate that i didn't realize needed to be let loose #is there a word limit to posts?#apparently not #for those counting along at home it's 6k #i can rest now

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xoxoskai · 8 months

Text

ELIAVA HEADCANNONS

May 2024 is too far, and the delusion preservation is imperative.

Eli listens to classical music just for Ava.

Ava sometimes sneaks into the library at the King's mansion just to swipe a book or two that she may have seen Eli reading. Other times, she bribes Creighton.

Eli is practically adopted by Silver the moment Elsa reveals his little crush (privately, of course) on her daughter. It does not stop Cole from throwing jabs at him whenever he comes over to hang out with Aunt Silver and to spy on his girl.

During their childhood, they've been locked together by their friends/siblings/cousins in the same room/closet plenty of times.

As a sign of rebellion against her parents, Ava once dyes her entire hair pink. The mortification hits her soon after and she refuses to talk to anyone until one text, one silent drive to the salon later she's sharing her snickers bar with Eli as a form of thanks.

Eli always leaves an anonymous bouquet of pink roses (her favorite) for Ava before her recitals in her dressing room. It's the only sign that he attends her recitals at all (Eli has attended every single one of them).

Whenever Eli goes AWOL, only Ava knows he's hiding in the library in a dark nook that has space behind the shelf just enough for two people. Sometimes, she joins him. Other times, she lays her head against his shoulder as he reads in the quiet.

All the teasing garnered from her friends due to Eli's attention suddenly stops one day. Becomes more...cautious.

Eli swears he had nothing to do with it and that he would never threaten them (he's lying, he nearly makes Remi cry).

Ava, like her mom, also writes journals where a lot of pages have Eli's name written, circled, crossed and scribbled out.

For prom, RES hosts a masquerade theme but every single boy in the school is terrified to ask Ava to prom. Glyndon decides to go without a date as well and Cecily flies in to join them. Both friends pretend not to notice Ava dancing with a masked stranger on the dancefloor at midnight.

Eli never stays longer than five minutes at any of Ava's birthdays/sometimes she never finds him at all, but she always finds his gifts in her room.

Ava has a jersey with Eli's number on it that Cole secretly swipes out of her closet to burn but gets caught by Silver.

Ariella is Eli's partner-in-crime.

After Eli leaves for University, Ava shows up at the King's mansion under the pretense of hanging out with Elsa but it's just to sneak into Eli's room and look at all his awards and trophies longingly she does not miss him.

When they finally start dating, they are met with long-suffering sighs, "finally"'s and "took you guys forever."

Ava drops little hints of herself wherever she can find a place for it. Scrunchie on his gearshift. Perfume bottle on his desk. "Accidental" kiss mark on his collar. Her ring on a chain around his neck.

Ava makes Eli watch all the chick-flicks she can because she's appalled when she finds out he hasn't watched Mean Girls.

"BOo, yoU wHoRE" - Remi says, sitting next to Cecy, Glyn, Annika and Ava wearing a facemask matching theirs.

The moment Cole opens the door to see his daughter and King's spawn standing together, hand-in-hand, the first thing he says is "No"

And it's final, too. No amount of convincing from both Silver and Ava seems to work.

When he finally comes around and they all sit down for dinner, they have a "Daddy, can you pass the salt?" moment after which Eli is chased out of the house by Cole and his gün.

Eli sneaks in thru the balcony into Ava's room anyway. Both Ariella and Silver know and choose not to tell Cole.

Eli's only saving grace with Cole is that Eli would kilI for his daughter or die trying and Cole wouldn't want any man willing to give anything lesser for his Ava.

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

Part two?

#eli king #ava nash #eliava #royaleliteseries #legacy of gods #cole nash #silver queens #ruthless empire #rina kent

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punk4ndisorderly · 7 months

Text

dreamboat

jack hughes x fictional character

intro | part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | epilogue

part 4 -suddenly

Ava couldn't be there. She felt ridiculous, embarrassed, ashamed even, being the center of attention in this situation. Never in her life would she have thought she'd have someone fighting for her honor. Well, not really fighting, it was one punch, and Ethan was out.

Trevor and Cole ran from their room when they heard the loud thud in the living room, the stunned looks on their faces matching everyone else's.

Jack was breathing heavily through his nose, his chest puffed. No one had ever seen him that mad outside of the rink. Hell, even in the rink, he had never looked that furious.

Dylan and Mark begrudgingly helped Ethan up, taking him to the kitchen to get some ice. The rest of the boys looked on, but no one said a word.

"Next time you should think if going out with the most beautiful girl in the world is more embarrassing than going out with a black eye before you open your fucking mouth." Jack spat, right as Quinn and Luke hastily came down the stairs.

"Jack, stop talking, please." Ava begged, unshed tears in her eyes. "Don't drag this on. I feel humiliated enough as it is." she nearly whispered.

"What the hell is going on?" the eldest Hughes raised his voice, looking between the two of them before scanning the room. "Why are you dipshits hanging around?" he continued. "If you're not involved in whatever this is, I suggest you move this party to your rooms."

The young men Luke had invited to stay over left one by one, the air thick with tension over the events of the last couple of minutes. Trevor and Cole refused to follow, clearly wanting an explanation as to why their friend looked like he was milliseconds away from blowing a fuse.

Quinn turned to his brother, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Jack."

"I've dealt with it."

"I don't care." the Canucks' captain stated dryly. "Speak."

"Quinny, please." Ava intervened. "It was stupid."

His eyes softened when he turned to face the girl he took care of like a little sister.

"Yeah, okay. You're not talking, fine." he gave in. "But you're apologizing to Eddy." Quinn pointed at his sibling. "This is not how grown men deal with shit."

"I don't care." Jack shrugged. "I'm not apologizing. He should be the one apologizing."

"You can't just say shit like that and not explain yourself. That's my teammate. He's a friend. If he did something I need to know." Luke spoke up, towering over him.

"Yeah, man, I need to know if I'm kicking this kid's ass or not." Trevor prompted, raising his eyebrows.

"Forget it." he sighed, turning his back to them. "I don't want you here when I wake up." he added menacingly as he walked past the kitchen and out the sliding doors into the backyard.

"Oh you did not just leave me here to deal with this..." Ava mumbled under her breath, stalking behind him as quick as she could.

Finding him sat on the dock, his feet dipped in the water, the brunette didn't bother with small talk.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"Sorry, I just couldn't not say something if they kept on pushing." he spoke softly, still facing the large body of water.

"We'll discuss that later, I meant what the hell were you thinking when you socked Ethan? Are you insane?"

"Coop, what he said..." Jack began, turning to her.

"I've heard it thousands of times before. It's hurtful, yes, but I can get my point across with words, I always have. You can't go out punching every guy who says nasty things about me."

"As a matter of fact, I can." he stated. "Give me names."

Ava let out a chuckle, releasing some of the tension accumulated inside her. His eyes scanned her face cautiously, the moonlight illuminating it in a totally different way than the sunlight did, and he wanted to learn all about the part of her that could only be seen in it.

"I'm a big girl. Literally and figuratively. This is not your weight to take on..."

"Yes it is, Ava."

She groaned loudly, looking up at the sky.

"I don't want you to get into any trouble for me... And the thing is... I don't get it, Jack. Why are you like this? Why do you do this? Why was there steam coming out of your ears?"

"God, Coop, you cannot be serious." the Devils' player scoffed, getting up to leave.

"Jack!" the brunette huffed, raising to her full height. "What did I say?"

"Isn't it obvious by now?" he retorted.

"Clearly not! There is no reason why -"

"I love you, Ava!" Jack blurted out, holding his arms out. "That's why. I can't help it if I get protective and want to punch the shit out of men who treat you like shit! I can't help getting jealous either! It's something I have to deal with, I know. it would be a lot easier if I didn't care this much, but I do."

His longtime friend, the one he compared everyone else to, stood there, shocked. He could tell she was replaying his words in her head. Deciding if she was going to believe him or not.

"I... We're... Jack, we're never even playing in the same league. You can't just..."

"Stop bullshitting me. I know guys like Ethan legitimize this belief you have deep inside that you're inferior to any other woman because you have a different body type but trust me when I say there is no one else who has ever made me feel like you do. No one I'd rather tell my deepest, darkest fears and secrets to. No one makes me laugh like you do. No one gets me as flustered as you do and they are certainly not in any of my most unholy thoughts, looking exactly like you do. You drive me insane, Cooper. Just the way you are."

A/N: last part!! now on to the social media epilogue 🫢 hope you enjoyed this one!!!

#jack hughes x oc #jack hughes x fictional character #jack hughes x chubby!reader #jack hughes x ava cooper #jack hughes fanfiction #dreamboat jack hughes #jack hughes #trevor zegras #hockey #hockey boys #quinn hughes #alex turcotte #luke hughes

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population9973 · 18 days

Text

secret - luke danes

luke danes x fem!reader

summary: lorelai oversteps and luke reveals your relationship

warnings: secret relationship, reader is younger than luke but no specific age is given, tiny bit of angst perhaps?

word count: 1.4k

“coffee?” luke asked, and you pushed your mug towards him with a smile.

“thanks.”

you were sitting at a table at luke’s diner when you overheard lorelai and rory talking about him,

the man oblivious as he went to fetch their order.

“do you think he’s dated anyone since rachel? lorelai said to her daughter in a hushed voice.

“I don’t know,” rory shrugged. “where would he meet anyone? he’s either here or in his apartment.”

“maybe he has a secret life. maybe he’s got a little chippy stowed away in mount pilot,” lorelai suggested, and rory laughed through her nose. “well we’ll know eventually.”

“i think he’s a bachelor for life.”

“and i think there’s someone for everyone,” the younger gilmore disagreed, before they began talking about music.

you tuned out the rest of their conversation, as it no longer pertained to your boyfriend. you and luke had been dating for about three months, and by some miracle had managed to keep it a secret; not an easy task in stars hollow. you couldn’t change the channel on the television in this town without someone finding out about it.

you were keeping the relationship hidden while it was new, since you were new to town and you were also a bit younger than luke. you had only moved here a little under six months ago; you didn’t need the added attention of a relationship while you were still settling into town, and luke respected that.

once the gilmore girls left, you went over to the counter to get another coffee to go, and luke smiled as he turned around and noticed it was you.

“hey, another coffee?” he asked.

“to go please,” you nodded, and he handed it to you, exchanging it for the mug you’d had. “call me later?” you whispered, though the diner was pretty empty, and he nodded, before you walked out of the store.

•

it was a few days later, and you were walking into the diner to grab a bite to eat. you put your headphones on but didn’t turn on your walkman so you could still hear as you walked inside and sat in the corner, luke holding up a finger to let you know he would be with you in a minute. you heard the door open and watched lorelai walk in and sit at the counter across from luke. you felt guilty for eavesdropping, but soon realized what the conversation was about and decided it did (slightly) pertain to you.

“hey, good party yesterday,” he greeted her, and you remembered him mentioning last night that he’d gone to help her fix something at a party her club was hosting.

“yeah, not bad”, she agreed with a smile.

“i like the new look it was very high class substitute teacher.”

“exactly what i was going for.”

“coffee?” he asked.

“oh, to go,” she answered, and luke switched the mug he’d placed in front of her for a paper cup. “hey luke, i feel a little weird even mentioning this to you-“ she began.

“what?”

“well yesterday i saw you talking to ava you know she’s in my booster club?”

“yeah i know who she is,” he replied, and you wondered what she was getting at.

“so anyhow, i saw you guys talking alone and it seemed kind of private and she mentioned earlier that you didn’t make her you know - gag,” she emphasized the word before continuing. “so I just figured you guys were making some sort of plans to hang out and see the thing is i just think it would be a little weird if you started dating a chilton mom.” you sat dumbfounded on the other side of the diner and luke raised his eyebrows slightly as she rambled on. “i know i have no right to say anything to you, but it’s just if you did date her - well i’m in the booster club with her which means i’ll hear things and i don’t know it’s just- i’d like to keep that chilton life separate from my stars hollow life so if there’s anyway that you could not date her, that would be really great,” she finished with a smile and a tap of her fingers on the counter top.

you sat in disbelief in your seat, still not daring to look their way as you wondered if it might have been better to not listen to the conversation after all.

“boy i tell you, you’ve got nerve,” he replied, sounding less than impressed with her speech.

“okay, uh w-“ she stuttered. “well i know this is your private business-“

“it is my private business.”

“you don’t see any validity to my side at all?” she asked.

“i am a grown man. you cannot tell me who to date to date,” he insisted.

“i’m not telling you who to date, i’m telling you who not to date,” she argued.

“you can’t tell me that either!”

“look-“ she began but he interrupted her.

“i will date who i like and if that screws with your plans, then i’m sorry - and if you don’t wanna hear things then don’t listen.”

“but-“

“if you don’t like it, you can just deal with it!” he said, and you weren’t sure you had ever heard him use that tone before.

“okay! i’ll just deal with it!,” she replied.

“good.”

“i just thought that if something was going to affect our friendship in some way that you might care about that because if the situation was reversed then i would care about that but that’s me! so go ahead date her!” she said, standing up, obviously offended. “marry her! make her mrs.backwards baseball cap - live happily ever after. see if i care!” lorelai flapped her arm around as she began walking out of the diner. “and by the way, I wasn’t asking her out,” luke informed her. “i was giving her directions for the quickest way back to hartford. it was very romantic. i said you take a right at deerfield and you catch the I-5 and you take it south. oh man, hot stuff!” he explained.

“that is so typical of you!”

“what?” he said, and you could recognize by his voice that he was rolling his eyes.

“that is not the quickest way back to hartford. everybody knows that you take main to cherry to linwood and then grab the 11. everybody knows that luke - everybody apparently but you!” she said, and her voice wavered as if she was getting emotional.

“and just for the record, not that it’s any of your business at all, i’m seeing someone. don’t worry she’s not one of the snobs in your chilton club so you won’t have to hear about it!”

you were glad you didn’t have a coffee yet or you probably would spat it out in surprise, and you wished more than anything that you had been able to see the look or lorelais face. you had nothing against her, but you did agree she had severely overstepped here.

“well that’s great! i’m so happy for you!” she spat angrily, and stormed out of the diner. thankfully there hadn’t been many people inside eating to hear the conversation, or luke’s confession of having a girlfriend. you decided you weren’t as concerned with people finding out anymore. you were happy with luke and that’s what was most important.

“hey,” luke greeted quietly as he appeared next to your table with a mug and coffee pot.

“hey,” you smiled up at him.

“how much did you hear?” he asked sheepishly, pouring you drink.

“all of it,” you admitted. “i’m sorry.”

“you don’t have to apologize. i’m sorry i told her without asking i just-“

“hey,” you put your hand on his softly. “i’m not mad. i guess the cats kinda out of the bag though.”

“no one knows it’s you,” he pointed out.

“it’s a small town - how long do you think it’ll take them to figure it out?” you laughed.

“yeah i guess so.”

“so, this chilton mom-“ you teased.

“don’t start,” he rolled his eyes, but smiled. “you’re really okay with people knowing about us?” he asked, and you nodded.

“yeah, i am,” you decided. “are you?”

“yeah, i guess i am,” he agreed, and you smiled.

“good.”

“good,” you beamed, and luke walked back behind the counter. you thought he had gone back to work, but he returned with another mug of coffee and sat down across from you.

“mind if i join you?” he teased, and you were surprised.

“are you…taking a break?”

“yeah,” he agreed.

“you? luke danes? are taking a break-“

“shut up before i change my mind?” he said playfully and you smiled, sipping your coffee.

“deal.”

#gilmore girls #gilmore girls aesthetic #luke danes #scott patterson #gilmore girls fic #luke danes fic #luke danes imagine #luke danes x reader #luke gilmore girls #scott patterson fic

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cookiesupplier · 28 days

Text

Every Rose Has Its Thorns - Part Thirty-Six

pairing: Ricky Olson x ofc x Chris 'Motionless' Cerulli

warnings/tropes: slow burn, soulmates, strangers to enemies to lovers, betrayal, angst, fluff, smut, language, online bullying, panic attacks, stalking, mental health issues.

summary: In a world where soulmates inexplicably receive a tattoo that will match that of their soulmate the moment they turn eighteen years old, being famous and covered in very visible tattoos can make finding your true soulmate a questionable fate. For everyone involved.

author’s note: Unbeta'd, readers beware as always lol.

To read from the beginning, check out the Masterlist Here!

tags: @tearfallpixie @cncohshit @jordynyingling0219 @faceless-mirror @nyxthedestroyerofworlds @wild-child-7747 @witchyweeb34 @black-damask1999 @jilliemiw86 @ilovesamkiszka @lyschko666 @lacktoesandtoddlerants @bngurngheart @collapsedglasshouses @laurpartyprogram @sunsshinesunny @malerieee @talialovesmiw @shilohrosechicken @thatchickwiththecamera @tamtam-elizabeth

Tag List is Open, please let me know if you would like to be added to it or in general.

“Ava, can we talk?”

“Of course.”

Talia swallowed when Ava accepted immediately, even though it was already so late, she knew Ava would agree. She’d known the moment she’d asked her, especially because it was so late. Of course, she already knew with how worried Ava had been ever since she’d had her melt down with Ricky. Ever since she’d told her that she’s always be here to talk if she’d need her, and now here she was, finally asking, just, almost in the middle of the night practically. Hopefully Vinny would forgive her later when Ava returned to him irate and ranting. Talia had a feeling that was exactly how this was going to go down, considering what she needed to talk to her about, that was a definite possibility. Talia didn’t think this was going to be an easy conversation to have between the two of them, not when she knew she’d be lying to her best friend for years. Not to mention the fact she’d been lying to her while they’d also been living together for all this time, they were practically sisters.

When Talia seemed to pause next, her breath caught in her throat, considering how to go about this. She knew she needed to do this, she was determined to do this, just not sure how she was going to get the words out without Ava hating her; Ava took the reins of the conversation.

“Come on, let's go make some coffee.”

Nodding her head slightly, tilting it towards the way she’d come from the kitchen area, and Talia smiled slightly at the suggestion, amused though considering what it would mean, they were up late enough.

“Decaf, hopefully.”

The wry smile that came from Ava,

“I don’t know, we could always turn it into a movie marathon if we need to, girls night hang out. Like old times. Ditching the boys.”

Talia laughed as she stepped in pace beside Ava, the other nudging her arm beside her as she teased the memory as she spoke, grinning with her. It was a good moment of nostalgia, but it would remain to be seen if Ava would even want to talk to her after she heard what Talia had to say to her tonight.

Walking into the kitchen, Talia went towards the fancy coffee machine. The same one that she’d learned that Ricky had bought for Vinny after he’d gotten frustrated that the man had never been able to make a decent cup of coffee. Now, in saying that, Talia couldn’t really argue that the machine did its job perfectly. She hadn’t had one bad cup of coffee since she had been staying here, even if she had started going out to get her coffee of the afternoon. She’d been going out more to see Chris, then necessarily her need for caffeine. Well, at first it had just been to give Ava and Vinny space, but then if had been to meet with Chris.

Sighing softly, she closed her eyes at the tingle thinking about those afternoons. She was starting to think her damn tattoo was feeding from her imagination, that it was getting worse now that she even knew Chris was an option, well, no, that sounded crass. No, it was since he kissed her. It was almost as if that kiss had ripped open something with her tattoo, opened up the bond between them, a connection. Was that possible? Acting on it, was that what was forming this bond, was that what was making it real?

Did she want it to be real? If her bond with Chris became real, what would happen to her one with Ricky?

She’d never heard of a person having two soulmates.

She shivered slightly at the thought.

Not the time Talia, not the time. Right now, she needed to focus on Ava. Focus on here, on now, not to let herself get distracted.

She continued to make the coffee, and of course she knew just how Ava liked her coffee, half strength, skim, extra sweet. Finishing up both the cups, she brought them over to Ava, choosing to sit at the table, it was just easy staying in here with their coffees than moving around the house. Sighing, Talia sat in the chair, the very same table she’d had this similar conversation with Ricky and Chris the other day. Her hands wrapped around her hot mug of coffee, fingers heated against the porcelain cup, it was a refreshing feeling.

“This is something I should have talked to you about a long time ago, but, truthfully, I haven’t talked about this to anyone, I haven’t said a word about this to anyone until I had my meltdown. I explained to Ricky, and Chris, and now it's only fair, I finally explain to you the truth.” Her fingertips were mindlessly drawing patterns on the outside of her cup before she lifted the mug to her lips, trying to give her mind a short break. Taking a breath, just needing a moment to gather herself.

“Do you remember when I moved in with you, after my prolonged trip to Europe that year?”

Ava nodded quietly, and the fact that she was so quiet, told Talia she knew what was coming was so much more than just a simple confession.

“I wasn’t in Europe.”

Explaining everything after that, was so much more difficult this time around. Sitting there with Ava, was like being right back there in the past, in those moments. All those years ago when she was being ripped open by her family, by those doctors, when it felt like her whole existence was brought into question just because her family thought they knew better than her.

She was in tears, a complete mess as she explained everything about the intervention, the institute, the way she convinced the doctors, how she’d gotten out. Moved in with Ava and moved on and left it all behind. Just pushed herself to forget about it.

Ava was also in tears as she hugged her, squeezing her for dear life, desperate to know how she couldn’t have told her.

By the time Talia had calmed down, and she had managed to soothe down Ava, she knew she couldn’t stop there with her explanations. There was so much more now, even if the rest was far more recent. So much that she’d been keeping inside for fear that she’d affect Ava’s bond with Vinny. Telling her about how she’d been feeling about ever since they’d met the boys, how Ricky had been making her feel from the start. Sure, in the beginning, it wasn’t likely surprising, but as she continued with the way her tattoo had been impacting her, what had happened at the party, like predicted, Ava wanted to kill Ricky for what he’d done. Talia shut her down cold before she continued, telling her to just listen, and let her finish.

She continued, and told her everything.

The party, her afternoon coffees with Chris, there were things that Ava of course knew in the course of events. Such as what happened with the live stream, with Grace, how it all had changed so much because it had gotten her and Ricky actually talking. The kitchen she knew some of, she had told her some, the discovery of the marks effects, then, her complete freak-out. That leading to her confession to Ricky, and Chris…

That, was when Ava stopped her, confused, why she was pulling Chris into this…

It was then that Talia paused, she wasn’t sure how much more she could tell Ava, how much more she had the right to tell her, because anything more, and it meant betraying Chris’ trust. Yes, she was Vinny’s soulmate, and Talia knew that she would likely know the truth of his soulmate bond, that his soulmate had died, but it wasn’t her place to tell her.

“Chris knows a lot to do with soulmates, and he’s helping us look into this soulmate bond, and… oh… no, no I can’t hide things from you again. There is more, but it’s not for me to tell you, because it's not just about me anymore.”

“Right, Ricky too.”

Ava still didn’t sound happy about the man, and Talia understood, for her, being mad at him was fresh, Talia had been dealing with this for weeks. Honestly, realising she wasn’t going insane, allowed her to give Ricky the benefit of the doubt, and just a little forgiveness. Not to mention, the caring he was showing her, the kindness he’d shown her in the last few days meant more to her than she could convey to Ava right now, it seems. All she could manage to tell her, was how much he seemed to have changed, how much he had been helping her. That everything felt different between them since Grace had been attacking them, that it felt like he had finally been opening up. She asked, but no, he didn’t seem to be opening up to their bond, and Talia told her she was okay with that, she respected that. Ricky had every right to protect himself after what that woman did to him. Reminding her with a smirk what she called her, soulmate stealing harpy.

Talia would do everything she could to protect him from her, even from others trying to force him to do things their way. Just the way he had done for her.

“And Chris.”

“Wait, Chris?!”

Talia smiled at the look of confusion on Ava’s face at her question, she chuckled as she finished off the last of her mug of coffee,

“Yea, I know, a little confusing, and if I could tell you everything, I would, maybe in time. I promise, I’m telling you everything I can. I won’t keep any big life changing secrets from you again, Ava.”

She sighed. She felt better, knowing that she’d gotten so much off her chest. This had gone so much better than she thought it would, she had honestly thought that Ava would be angry at her for not telling her all those years ago.

Chris stared at his computer screen, last night after dinner, he’d posted in the message boards about his situation about his changing soulmate mark, just as he told Ricky and Talia he would. This time he didn’t do so anonymously, no, this time he wanted to be able to be alerted directly, and not just from every message on the board like he had last time.

He’d been active on his board for years, ever since he’d gotten out of his inpatient treatment and joined the community, wanting to have a connection with other people in his situation without them knowing who he was. No one on the message board knew the account was him, he’d never shared personal information, he’d never shared images of his tattoo either, when it was black or white. That way, even if someone tried to match any information up to any of the band’s fan sites, they’d have no luck. Not that any of the sites had ever managed to nail down just what his soulmate tattoo was, just guesses over the years. He was completely anonymous on the board, just how he wanted to be.

So far, the message had gotten nothing back. Well, no, there had been plenty of discussion around his message. All of it, however, was nothing but pure confusion, and none of it involved anyone else that had heard anything even remotely connected to anyone experiencing anything similar to what Chris was.

This was getting him nowhere, and he was nervous as hell. When more and more people were suggesting that something could be wrong, something could be affecting his body and he could be ill. That his skin under the tattoo for one could be changing the colour, and he should see a colour. Just now, a woman sent a simple message:

Have you considered cancer?

Nope. What the hell, nope.

Okay, he hadn’t told them the whole story including Ricky and Talia’s involvement not wanting to pull them into the board information, and didn’t want to include the sensations, but come on!

No, he was taking a step back from this avenue of questioning immediately.

Sure, it had been less than twelve hours, but this was too much. No, he was going to call one of his friends in research, and see what they said instead. They might have something better than, it could be cancer.

Dividers by @saradika-graphics

#motionless in white #miw #ricky olson #ricky olson fanfiction #original female character #soulmates #fanfiction #miw band #soulmate au #ricky olson fanfic #chris motionless #chris cerulli #chris cerulli fanfic #fic: every rose has its thorns

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