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smaidjor · 3 years

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i know they're losing (Chapter 1)

hi mothers and fuckers of the jury, this fic is a hot mess but so am I, please appreciate it. Also, obligatory disclaimer this is about the characters not the people, all that important stuff.

Some important notes:

1. You will probably hate Scott just a little at points. He has chronic dumb bitch syndrome and there's a whole lot of bullshit going on in his life that you don't see in this fic because it's not his pov. That being said, he's still a bit of a jerk.

2. This has a lot of lord of the rings lore. A LOT. You may be kinda confused if you're not a lord of the rings fan. It's fine, Jimmy's confused too, and all of it will be explained at some point.

3. The chapter titles are from the Last Goodbye from the Hobbit films. The general title is from I Bet on Losing Dogs by Mitski.

4. General content warnings: there is a little blood, and a little violence, and a lot of mentioned death and morbid jokes. If you don't do well with themes involving death this fic is probably not for you. There is also possibly going to be referenced emotional abuse and generally unhealthy ways to raise children, though that will be talked about much further down the line. I will also put specific cws at the start of each chapter, don't worry!

5. The alternate title for this was '10k words of flower husbands being sad'. You have been warned.

Title: i know they're losing

Chapter Title: under clouds, beneath the stars

Current Total Wordcount: 3740

Content Warning: referenced/past character death, very frank discussion of death.

Snippet:

Scott whirls to face him, robes spinning behind him. “I’m fading, alright? I’m dying, now leave me alone!”

Jimmy feels like he’s been smacked in the face, the words hitting him with all the force of a well-thrown trident. Dying? “You- what- but elves don’t die, right?”

“We do. From poison, from swords, from arrows through the throat-” Jimmy’s hands fly to the scar on his neck, the one that matches Scott’s own- “from grief.”

AO3 Link

Actual fic under the cut

Scott’s hands are cold. That’s the first sign, the chill that’s uncharacteristic of an elf.

Scott’s chest hurts. That’s the second sign, the bone-deep ache he can’t seem to quell.

Scott is weaker than normal, and that’s the third sign, the one that confirms what’s happening beyond a shadow of a doubt. He’s fading, Scott thinks as he leans against a wall, trying to stop his head from spinning. He can’t say he’s surprised, not after all he’s been through; in fact, he’s more astonished it took so long to start.

In another world, it happens like this:

Scott’s hands are cold, and Shubble notices as he shows her around the nether. It’s worrying, a bit, how icy his skin is even in the boiling dimension, but Scott’s empire has always been cold, hasn’t it?

Katherine notices how long it’s been since Scott visited her, one of his few allies, and she worries, a bit. But Scott has always been distant, hasn’t he?

No one notices or worries enough to go check on him, and Scott fades away to nothing, cold and alone in his icy empire.

What actually happens is this:

Katherine has gotten word of the demon that haunts the server, and amongst all her worry, one of her thoughts is ‘has anyone checked on Scott?’. The answer is no, and next time she has a free day, she sets out for Rivendell. It’s not a long trip, not with elytra, anyways, and soon she’s at the doors to his keep.

“I need to see Lord Smajor,” she tells the guards.

“He’s not taking visitors right now.” is the response she gets.

“It’s a vital matter to the safety of both our kingdoms.”

They let her in.

Katherine spends far too long looking around the elegantly decorated downstairs and storage area before she realizes he must be up the spiral staircase in the corner of the room. She’s never been upstairs in Scott’s house before, which makes her a little nervous, but… this is an urgent matter, so she presses on into what turns out to be a very pretty bedroom. Decorated with bookshelves aplenty and gorgeous lanterns, it practically screams Scott.

The man (elf?) himself is harder to spot. At first, Katherine’s worried he isn’t there at all, but eventually she realizes that he’s still in bed despite the fact that it’s a quarter to one, only his pale face sticking out from under the covers.

“Scott?” She asks, cautious. “Lord Smajor?”

He blinks at her tiredly. “Hi, Katherine.”

“I came to talk to you about some empires stuff, but, I mean, if this is a bad time, I can come back later…?”

“No, no, stay.” He waves at the sole chair in the room, which is near-enough to the bed. “I can muster the energy for a meeting, just don’t ask me to get up.”

Katherine takes the seat hesitantly. “I came to talk about the corruption on the server, but- are you okay? Are you sick?”

Scott laughs, a little bitter. “In a way, yes.”

“What do you mean?”

“Take my hand.”

She obeys, confused, and finds that Scott’s hands are like ice despite the warmth of the room.

“Elves don’t get sick like mortals do,” Scott says. “Nor do we die of old age. But we get...heartsickness, you might call it. We call it fading in our tongue- the cold hands are a symptom of that. Our souls are fragile, and the grief of the mortal plane can be overwhelming. If an elf is too struck by it, they fade away and die.”

She gasps a little.

“It usually happens to old elves, world-weary,” Scott continues. “Those who are tired of existence. But any elf who has experienced enough grief is at risk.”

It takes Katherine a moment to process everything, and once she does, she stares at him in horror. “You’re- fading? But doesn’t it usually happen to old elves? Wait, are you old?”

“I’m fifty-five.”

“Is that old?”

That gets a laugh out of him. “Fifty is the elven equivalent of eighteen for humans, the age of maturity.”

“Oh.” She struggles for words for a moment, settling on “How can you be so calm if you’re dying?”

“I’m tired, Katherine. The world tore me away from the people I loved, and..I’m tired of fighting it.”

Try as she might, there’s nothing she can say to that. “Is there a way to reverse fading- to fix it?”

Something pained and raw flashes through his eyes. “Technically, yes. If an elf recovers enough emotionally, it’s reversible. But whatever caused them to fade the first time can- and often does- cause it again.”

Katherine nods seriously, absorbing the information. “We’ll just have to reverse it, then.”

“That’s sweet, Katherine, but I’m dying.”

“No,” she tells him firmly. “You’re not going to die. Now come on, you can show me your empire while I fill you in on what’s happening on the rest of the continent.”

Scott stares at her for a long moment, but eventually he takes her outstretched hand. “Alright.” His hand is frozen cold in hers. “We can try.”

Katherine lets him lead her around Rivendell, pointing out the sights. He’s done an impressive job decorating, like her, and an even more impressive job at uniting the elves and building an empire from the ground up. The people of Rivendell are weary and battle-scarred, for the most part, elves who have seen too much, but the children are bright and happy, and the cyan and gold banners wave proudly in the wind.

As they walk, she also tells Scott about the demon, Xornoth. “The demon’s already visited a lot of people, I think. Gem and Shubble for sure, and Fwhip and Sausage. That’s not even mentioning the corruption that’s been spreading.”

Scott nods. “There’s corruption in Rivendell too. Likely Xornoth’s work. And given that Jimmy still has Vilya- well, I haven’t been able to do much.”

“Vilya?”

“A ring of power. My inheritance from the Noldor.”

“Why does Jimmy have it?”

He doesn’t answer that one.

Katherine leaves feeling unsettled, with more questions than answers. She has new resolve, though, and a new goal: keep Scott from fading. He’s a good friend, though they don’t know each other that well yet, but more than that, he’s a powerful ally. And Katherine can’t afford to lose allies. So while they’re both rulers and busy in their own right, she promises to visit and drag him outside at least once a week.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Scott jokes, but his laugh is weak.

Katherine vows to hold herself to it.

The plan works for three entire weeks before Katherine has a week that’s so busy there’s no way she can find the time for a trip to Rivendell. Worse than that, because Scott is so isolated, he has almost no other friends, and many of Katherine’s allies are busy too. She’s a little short of options, to be honest, which is how she finds herself on Jimmy Solidarity’s doorstep that Sunday afternoon.

“Hello?” Jimmy asks as the door swings open. Katherine can see why Lizzie calls him the sweet swamp boy- his confused head tilt is frankly adorable.

“Hi! I know we don’t talk much, but I could use a favor,” she says.

“What can I do for you?”

“I need you to visit Scott.”

Jimmy looks beyond startled. “What- I mean, he doesn’t even like me! I couldn’t possibly.”

“Please?” She wheedles. “I promised him a visitor every week, but I have meetings all week this time.”

He shakes his head, hesitantly at first and then stronger. “No, Katherine. He’d just throw me right out again. I’m his enemy, for goodness sake!”

“If he hates you so much, why do you have his ring?”

Katherine knows she’s won, watching emotions flit across his face too quickly to catch. Grief is what he settles on, and she feels a little bit bad for the ring comment when his voice comes out wobbly.

“I guess I should return that, huh? Alright, I’ll go.”

“Sorry,” she says.

Jimmy brushes it off, saying there’s no need to worry, but he fiddles with the ring on his finger all the more. It’s on his left ring finger, Katherine notes. She wonders if that truly means what it implies.

“I’ll visit him tomorrow,” Jimmy says.

“I’ll hold you to that!”

Jimmy isn’t sure why he agreed to this at all, to be honest. Scott may have given him this ring in another world, another lifetime, but that doesn’t mean Scott doesn’t hate him in this one. What other explanation is there for how all his gifts have been rejected, how cold the elf is? Jimmy would be surprised that Scott’s never tried to take his ring back if it wasn’t for how thoroughly Scott avoids him nowadays. Getting the ring back would require talking to Jimmy, something Scott has made it very clear that he doesn’t want to do. Jimmy doesn’t have another use for it, and try as he might to forget flower fields and warm hands in his, he can’t bear to throw it away. So it’s remained on his hand all this time, a painful reminder of someone who used to love him.

Jimmy tries to avoid looking at it as much as possible, every glimpse bringing back the memory of Scott gently sliding it onto his hand, a faint blush dusting his cheeks and a smile on his lips. Even the faint shimmers in the blue gem remind him of how the starlight seemed to get caught in Scott’s hair when they were out at night. The ring had been one of their most valuable possessions on 3rd Life, the rare silver band and elegant forging more than proof of that. Now, though, the ring has to be one of the least valuable things Jimmy owns; on 3rd Life, they were humble folk in little hobbit holes, their most expensive possessions being their diamond armor and swords, but here, they’re kings and lords. Scott probably has a thousand treasures more valuable in his elven empire, so Jimmy’s not sure why he’s bothering to trek all the way across the world just to return this one.

Then again, it’s not really about the ring, and never has been. It’s about the way starlight used to shine in Scott’s eyes when he smiled, his rare, soft grin that was reserved just for Jimmy, how he gave Jimmy the most valuable thing either of them owned. It’s closure, in a way, giving it back. He won’t have any debt to Scott once this ring is returned, and they can both move on like Scott so clearly wants to.

Shaking off those thoughts, Jimmy slows to a stop in front of Scott’s house. It’s grand, nothing like his old hobbit hole, but still so clearly Scott in the decoration and color schemes. Jimmy would know who built it even if he hadn’t known Scott lived in these mountains.

“I’m here to visit Scott,” he says to the guard stationed outside.

They raise an eyebrow, presumably at the familiar way he refers to Scott. “On formal business or personal?”

“Personal? Sort of? I mean, I don’t have any diplomatic reason for being here.” Truth be told, he has no reason to be here at all, really, but...the ring.

“Then Lord Smajor cannot see you.”

Jimmy grits his teeth, suddenly furious at this whole ordeal. “Then tell Lord Smajor that I need to return his ring.”

“May I see it?”

He sticks his hand out obligingly, and the guard examines the ring, surprise blooming across their face. “I did not realize my Lord had lent you Vilya! My apologies, Lord Codfather, I see the alliance between our kingdoms is stronger than I had assumed. You may pass.”

Vilya? “Thank you, gentle, uh, gentleperson!”

The guard dips their head slightly as he walks by, a gesture of respect that he doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to. He shakes off the strangeness of the interaction, though, pushing open the door to Scott’s house.

The inside is beautiful, exactly the kind of decor Scott loves...and empty. There’s no one in the spacious kitchen, the storage room, or anywhere else for that matter. Jimmy’s seconds from giving up and going home when he realizes that there are stairs up to the balcony above. That’s where he goes, finding himself in Scott’s bedroom.

Which is awkward, to say the least. It’s not like they never slept in the same room when they were married, but now that there’s this awkward, painful distance between them, Jimmy feels like he’s intruding. What’s worse is, Scott’s still in bed, laying on his side with his face tilted away from Jimmy’s awkward entrance.

“Hello, Jimmy.”

Jimmy half-jumps, not expecting that. “How’d you know it was me?”

Scott rolls over to face him, and Jimmy notes that his face is too pale for it to be natural or healthy. “Do you think I could ever forget the sound of your footsteps?” He goes on before Jimmy can answer. “What are you doing here?”

“Katherine asked me to visit, I’m not sure why, but...here I am. Say, why is she visiting every week?”

Scott’s laugh is bitter. “Katherine thinks she can save me.”

“Save you from what?” Jimmy asks, concerned despite himself.

His (ex?)husband doesn’t reply.

“Save you from what?” Jimmy presses, and gets no answer yet again.

Instead, Scott sits up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “You should go.” He stands, and immediately stumbles, Jimmy rushing to steady him on instinct. Scott’s hands are like ice when he grips Jimmy’s arm to regain his balance, taking several deep breaths, and Jimmy’s instantly struck by how wrong that feels. Scott’s hands were always warm, even on the coldest nights in 3rd life. Some elven thing, probably, that Scott didn’t want to talk about or have time to explain to a silly human like Jimmy.

“Scott, what is going on?”

The elf brushes him off again, heading for the stairs, but the regal effect is ruined by how hard he has to grip the railing.

“Scott, seriously! Answer me, are you okay? What’s happening?”

Scott whirls to face him, robes spinning behind him. “I’m fading, alright? I’m dying, now leave me alone!”

Jimmy feels like he’s been smacked in the face, the words hitting him with all the force of a well-thrown trident. Dying? “You- what- but elves don’t die, right?”

“We do. From poison, from swords, from arrows through the throat-” Jimmy’s hands fly to the scar on his neck, the one that matches Scott’s own- “from grief.” Scott turns back to the stairs. “Come on. If you’re not going to leave, I might as well show you around.”

Jimmy follows, reluctantly, trying to think of something to say that isn’t incoherent sputtering with a bit of ‘why do you hate me now’ added in. “You can’t just drop something like that on a man, you know!”

“You did ask, to be fair.”

Why oh why is he so stupid around Scott? “I guess so, but- but still, dude.”

Scott pushes open the side door, holding it for Jimmy. “Here.”

Jimmy nods and slips through the door. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

They start along the path, Scott walking far too quickly for Jimmy’s comfort given how terrible the elf’s balance is currently. He nearly has to jog to keep up, irritatingly, but at least they aren’t snapping at each other for a few precious moments.

Of course, Jimmy has to go and ruin that. “So, uh..are we going to talk about 3rd life?” He has to hear it from Scott’s own lips that he remembers, that it affected him even half as much as it’s affected Jimmy.

“No.”

“Why not? We need to talk about it some time-”

“I said no .”

“It’s literally killing you to not talk about it!”

Scott freezes, face going icy calm in the way Jimmy knows means he’s actually upset. The elf’s hands grip the fabric of his robes tight, his back going rigid. This is a bad idea, Jimmy knows.

He’s in too deep to back out now, though, the pent-up hurt of the past few months all coming out in a rush. “Tell me I’m wrong, Scott! I dare you, tell me I’m wrong! Tell me you never cared about me, tell me you didn’t bother to bury me, tell me it didn’t hurt even a little when I died! Tell me I was just stupid little Jimmy, a toy for an elf who’d live far beyond my lifespan! Tell me whatever, just tell me the truth! ”

Scott breathes out slowly, fury gradually building on his face. “Fine. You want to know what happened after you died? You want to hear about me screaming until my throat went raw? You want to know that I kissed your face and sobbed and begged you to wake up, over and over until I couldn’t speak at all? You want to live with the knowledge that Grian had to physically pull me away from your body? Is that what you want to hear, Jimmy ?”

Jimmy’s name on Scott’s lips punches all the remaining air out of him, sounding so wrong in that angry, bitter tone. Beneath all the rage, Scott sounds wrecked , and the fight leaves Jimmy’s body abruptly. “No,” he says softly. “That’s not what I want to hear, not at all. I’d rather you be happy than love me.”

Silence follows those words, only the faint sound of a waterfall in the distance there to break it.

“I buried you on the hill above our houses,” Scott says finally. “I planted a poppy over your grave.”

“Oh.”

“Grian came over the next day. I didn’t want to see anyone who wasn’t you, but I let him in because I had to. He helped me do the straps on my armor and asked me if he could do anything else to make things easier. I told him to bury me next to you.”

Jimmy swallows hard. “Did he?”

“How would I know?” Scott’s tone softens, just a little. “Grian was honorable enough, though, loyal to his allies. I like to think he did.”

“He was a good guy,” Jimmy agrees. “A little bit bloodthirsty, I guess, but good. I don’t suppose he survived any better than the rest of us, though maybe being bloodthirsty helped.”

“Maybe.”

“Can I- can I ask you why you hate me so much now? I mean, if you mourned me in third life and all.”

Scott turns away again, starting down the path a second time. He’s not looking at Jimmy when he says “I don’t hate you.”

“You don’t?” It’s a shock, honestly, given that this is the first time the two of them have really spoken since the beginning of empires. “But you burned the pufferfish-”

“I didn’t. I kept it.” Scott still won’t look at him. “I never hated you. I don’t think I’m capable of it.”

“Then why do you keep avoiding me?”

“I’ve been kind of busy dying,” Scott says dryly, and Jimmy doesn’t even realize it’s a joke until he looks over at Scott’s wry little grin.

“Scott! That’s not funny!” He scolds, aghast.

“It was a little funny.”

“No!”

Scott must hear the genuine distress in Jimmy’s voice because he drops the act. “Jimmy, I’m an elf. I won’t live far beyond you, but only because I’ll fade without you.”

“So your solution is to isolate yourself and fade now?” Jimmy demands.

“It does sound stupid when you put it like that, doesn’t it? But I lost you once, and I don’t think I could bear it again.”

Jimmy wants to argue, wants to fight him on this, but there’s nothing he can say. Instead, he puts a hand on Scott’s arm to stop him walking any further. Scott turns to look at him, seemingly startled, and Jimmy throws his arms around the elf.

Scott stiffens before slowly relaxing, arms coming up to wrap around Jimmy in return. It’s not as natural a gesture as it used to be, but it’s warm, gentle in a way Jimmy thought he’d never get again. It reminds him of the soft, starry-eyed boy who put flowers in his hair and laughed at him over a cake. Scott will never be that soft again and Jimmy will never be unscarred, but they’re here. They’re alive, that has to count for something.

Scott pulls back, his expression so achingly tender and heartbroken all at once. “I’m sorry, Jimmy.” His voice is raw, a little shaky. “I can’t. Not again.”

“But-”

He’s cut off by Scott shaking his head. “Losing you will destroy me. We dared to love, and now all we can do now is lessen the pain when it all comes crashing down.”

Jimmy’s in too much shock to speak, the ache in his heart returning tenfold as Scott turns back towards the house.

“Goodbye, Jimmy.” He sweeps away, elegant as ever, but stumbles and nearly falls as he reaches the door. Jimmy’s not there to catch him.

Jimmy stumbles home in a daze. It's somewhat of a miracle that no mob manages to kill him, honestly. To be so close to a resolution, to have the person he wanted most right there in his arms, and then to have all that ripped away- he can’t think of anything that could have hurt more. Even his deaths were less painful than this- at least an arrow through the throat is quicker than feeling like your heart is being ripped out through your ribs, Jimmy thinks, a little bitter. He throws Scott’s stupid ring in a pool in the swamp, watching as it sinks to the bottom of the shallow water with hardly a bubble.

Wait.

The ring.

It’s significant, somehow, according to a Rivendell guard, and more than that, it’s an excuse to see Scott again. One last chance to change his mind about the stupid plan that’s literally killing him.

Jimmy dives in without thinking, scrabbling around until his fingers close around the smooth stone and thin band. When he pulls it out, the gem glitters in the starlight even under the layers of dirt, and it looks like something special. It looks like hope.

#scott smajor #jimmy solidarity #flower husbands #uhh #empires smp #i wont tag 3rd life since its only referenced #my writing

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imagines-r-s · 3 years

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sticking it

chapter 9

a/n: idk why this chapter took so long, but here it is. for reference - in gymnastics, US Championships are the last meet before Olympic Trials, they’re a two day competition. any feedback is welcome. i’m kinda upset that this series (or at least this part) is almost done, but there is more to come with this series i promise. also had to repost bc it wasn’t showing up in the tags

taglist: @butgilinsky @barbienoturbby @sunsetholland @lovenhlboys @sortagaysortahigh @hockey-racing-fubol @oopsiedoopsie23 @iwantahockeyhimbo @dreamsndior @itsurgirlgracie @heartshapedkissxs @lwstuff @handwrittenheroes

warnings: uh, i don’t think there’s anything, but if i miss something just let me know (the jamie mentioned is jamie oleksiak, not j b*nn)

sticking it masterlist

wc: 5.8

(not my gif)

“Are you sure that you have everything?” Joel asked for the twentieth time in the past hour, “we can run back to yours if you need anything else”

“I feel like you’re just trying to get me to stay with you longer,” you said, skeptically.

“Is it working?”

“No, Bee, I have to leave at some point,” you said, putting another bag of yours in his car,”I won’t be gone long.”

“Yeah, but you’ll be closer to the Stars and that has me worried,” he said, causing you to chuckle.

“You worried about Seggy? Or Roope? Or Big Rig? Or Mi-”

“Okay, I get it.”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, I love you and only you, shawty. Besides, I can only tolerate Texas weather for so long,” you said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.

“I love you, too, shawty,” he paused,”Wait,- that was rude.”

After packing the last of your bags into the car, you made your way to the airport to meet Marcus and Michelle. Once you arrived at the airport, Joel parked the car before the two of you headed into the airport. The four of you caught up for a while before Marcus suggested giving you and Joel time to say goodbye.

“Is this how it feels when me and the guys leave for the road?” Joel asked, softly.

“Yeah,” you said, smiling sadly.

“Well, good thing I’m the one on the road all the time, I mean, I don’t like leaving you, but when I’m leaving it’s a different feeling, you know.”

“Well glad it makes you happy, buddy.”

“Did you just buddy me?” Joel asked, incredulously.

“Did I?” you asked, laughing as Joel gasped in shock.

“Wow, I see how it is. I’ll remember that.”

“Go ahead, babe. Remember it however you want,” you paused when you saw the sad look on his face, reaching to hold his face in your hands, “hey, I’m only a text away, I might not be right here, but I will answer as soon as I can and we’ll facetime as much as you want these next few days.”

Joel nodded before looking up and seeing Marcus and Michelle headed your way, “we hate to cut this short, but we have to get going pretty soon.”

“I know I asked, but do you really have to go?”

“Yeah, Bee, I really have to go.”

“You better kick ass out there or else you’re just leaving for nothing,” he said, jokingly, “but honestly, I wish you the best of luck - I know you don’t need it, but I’ll say it anyway. Make sure to tell Nicole I said good luck and please make sure to wipe that smug look off Kathryn's face. Okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” you said, wrapping your arms around him as he pressed kiss to the top of your head. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too, but if you don’t go, the only thing you’ll be missing is your flight.”

“Wow, Bee, you are so funny.”

“Well, one of us has to be the funny one in the relationship. Your mom jokes only get you so far far in life, babe,” he said, causing you to elbow him in the stomach.

“I’m leaving now. I love you and I will text you when I land,” you leaned up for a quick goodbye kiss before grabbing your carry-on bag and heading to your gate. You avoided looking back, knowing that if you did, both of you wouldn’t let the other leave.

“I think you chose a good one,” Marcus said once the three of you had sat down.

“What?” you asked, shocked.

“Joel. He seems like a good guy. He clearly cares about you and I can see that you care a lot about him, too. He clearly makes you happy,” Marcus added.

Heat rushed up your face, to which you simply looked out the window, “yeah, he’s a good guy.”

“A cute one, too,” Michelle interrupted.

“Yes, that too. But Michelle, you better lay off,” the three of you laughed as the flight attendants started to announce the safety procedures for your flight. The three of you did your own thing the rest of the flight: Marcus planning out how podium training would go, Michelle analyzing your routines, and you sleeping.

“Alright, so as soon as we land, we get luggage and go to our hotel. There is a small media event tomorrow morning before podium training, then podium training, then probably some more media. You will have the rest of the night to do whatever, I know you’ll probably go see your Dallas friends and that’s fine, just make it back in time. Then, Friday is the first day of competition, Saturday is the second day, then we have some free time Sunday,” Marcus read off to you, even with you half asleep.

“Sounds lovely,” you grumbled.

…..

“So, y/n, with your injury being a top priority, how different have practices been since you are still somewhat in recovery?” one of the journalists asked. You had stayed prepared for a multitude of questions having to do with your injury, so this question had an easy response.

“I would say, it’s definitely a totally new experience. I’ve had to tailor my focus to other aspects of this sport since the start of my recovery, whether that be drills, more conditioning, or changing up my routines. My team and I definitely have figured out what things work and what doesn’t and we continue to learn as I continue training,” you answered, swiftly.

“Now obviously, you were the highest scorer in most of your competitions, even before your injury, how has competition changed for you? And what has inspired you to train harder?” another journalist asked.

“I have to say, competition is slightly more nerve-wracking than before. I mean getting injured at a major competition definitely changes perspective for all aspects of it. I feel that I have to be more cautious when performing, whereas before I would just go with the motions. Something that’s inspired me has been that my competitors have continued training, I have a fair amount of competition - all of which are excellent athletes - which has helped motivate me a lot, but I also have an amazing support system back home who have made sure to give me that extra motivation when I need it,” you smiled.

“Now, having to deal with that support system at home, who and how have they influenced your decisions of your journey through recovery?” which was the first question that made you smile.

“Well first, a huge shoutout to my family, especially my cousin, Kevin. Without his support, I wouldn’t have ever tried to get back in the gym, he’s been there this whole time and I couldn’t be more grateful. Um, my coaches were so supportive of my comeback; my physical trainor, Adrian, who told me all the doctors were wrong and gave me the reality checks I needed; the whole Philadelphia Flyers roster and their families cheered me on the whole time, especially my boyfriend, Joel Farabee. My friends, my teammates, all of them pushed me where I needed to be,” you said, gratefully.

“Thank you for your time, y/n. We wish you the best of luck this weekend,” the main announcer said to you before you went off to podium training.

Marcus and Michelle had both told you only to warm up simplified versions of your routine, so that you could bring shock factor when you were actually performing. You had upgraded almost all of your tumbling back to where it was before injury, but no one needed to know that besides you and those in your gym. Podium training had gone very well, better than you had anticipated, so you were looking forward to how championships would go.

As you packed up your gym bag and grabbed your phone, you saw all the messages you had from the Flyers group chat you had somehow found your way to.

Bee: did you guys see that too?

Tiki Bar: if we are talking about the same thing, i think we did.

Patti Lapone: did she actually say nice things about us?

Kev: i really think the texas heat is getting to her already

G: she’s probably just feeling under the weather about competition, otherwise we might want to check if she is okay

Scotty: i think i misheard or i got hit in the head and didn’t realize it

Frosty: hell has frozen over

Bee: haha. frost. frozen. get it

Tiki Bar: beezer.

G: i’ll make you do laps if you make another frost joke

Laughing at the texts in the group chat in reaction to your interview, you simply typed up a simple response: this is what i get when i’m nice, now you know why i’m not like this all the time.

Luckily for you, you didn’t have to do any media after podium training, so you were able to leave whenever you wanted to. After checking with Marcus and Michelle, you made sure it was alright that you went off to go see Tyler and the rest of the guys. Assuming that they would be at practice, after changing out of your leo, you took the drive to the Stars practice facility.

Having come to Fort Worth so much for gymnastics and Dallas for a few hockey games, you had run into some of the Stars roster on multiple occasions. By the third time you had ran into them, and this time ran into was a very literal statement, you had exchanged social medias and most of the roster kept an eye out for any updates in your gymnastics career. During your recovery, the whole team constantly asked for updates about how you were and how gymnastics was going.

Once you parked, you quietly made your way inside - not wanting to interrupt the practice. There were a few officials walking around, but most either paid you no mind or recognized you from times before you had been here. Walking towards the rink, your eyes settled on the boys doing laps for the last part of practice. It wasn’t until most of the guys were only talking and about to get off the ice that they noticed you.

Tyler was the first to notice you, smiling and waving towards you, which caused most of the team to follow where he was looking and notice you. As the team headed to the locker room to change, you simply waited on one of the benches for them.

“I feel like you only came all this way to see my dogs,” Tyler said, making his way towards you.

“No, I would never do such a thing, I obviously came here to say hi to you,” you stood up to give him a hug.

“Mhm, whatever you say. Didn’t you have podium training today? How’d it go?”

“Well, it went pretty well actually. I did a few of my dismounts, but kept most of my landings safe just to be careful. But other than that everything went well.”

“As long as you kick ass tomorrow, I’m fine,” he said, honestly, “do you have anything else to do for the rest of the day or did you just come to say hi?”

“Well, I have no plans for the rest of the day, but I don’t want to intrude on any team plans.”

“You know you would never be intruding on anything with us, even if you are dating a Flyer,” Jamie O said from behind you.

“God, Jamie, what the fuck? Where’d you come from?”

“Your mom’s house,” he said, earning a fist bump from Tyler.

“I can’t even be upset, that was a good one,” you smiled as Jamie hugged you,”and don’t bring Joel into this.”

“My condolences.”

“Condolences? No one died?” you questioned.

“You are dating someone that plays for the Flyers,” Tyler said.

“Damn, that’s harsh,” you replied.

“Anyways, moving on. Me and a few other guys were coming over to mine for lunch and to hangout, if you want to come you are welcome to,” Tyler said to which you simply nodded.

“Is that who I think it is?” another familiar voice rang out, causing you to whip your head around to see Roope and Jake heading your way.

“Well, if you thought it was me, then you would be correct, my friend,” you retaliated.

“I’m surprised they let you in here, considering you are dating a Flyer,” Otter said, jokingly.

“Quit bringing the fact that I’m dating Bee into the conversation.”

“At least Nicole is in the safe zone,” Roope said, causing your eyes to widen, “y/n. What was that?”

“What was what?” you questioned as Roope simply narrowed his eyes.

“You did the thing.”

“What are you talking about, bestie?”

“Oh, you have a habit of your face changing when you know something that will ruin the whole perspective or something or if you know a secret that will change the entire story. Very entertaining and concerning that you didn’t know,” Tyler added.

“Um, well, didn’t expect to be psychoanalyzed by a bunch of hockey players today, but here we are.”

“Ok, I think we should head to mine and then, we can continue psychoanalyzing you,” Tyler suggested to which you all agreed. Roope, who had gotten a ride from Tyler in the morning, immediately hopped into your car as soon as you unlocked it.

“What’s up with Nicole?” he asked as soon as you started driving.

“What happened to hello? How are you?” you joked.

“Listen, I’m asking now because I don’t want to talk about this with the guys there. But what did you mean?” he said, causing you to take a deep breath. It wasn’t like Roope and Nicole were ever together, but it was always an unspoken fling of sorts, that they never made official.

“Look,-”

“Please, just tell me what’s happening,” he pleaded.

“Nicole and Nolan are sort of together,” you rushed out, causing a moment of silence to break out. You didn’t know what to expect as a reaction, considering they weren’t official and hadn’t really talked since the last time you and her were in Texas.

“Is she happy?”

“Yeah, she’s happy.”

“Okay, that’s all I care about,” he said simply, which made your heart almost break for one of your closest friends.

…..

Being able to spend time with some of your close friends that you hadn’t seen in a while was just what you needed to destress about championships. Maybe an intense game of uno with five of the most competitive people was exactly what some might call a destressor, but here you were.

Tyler threw down his cards as he stood up dramatically, “no, because there is no way that a.) she already has an uno and that b.) all of you used your draw two cards against me.”

“Don’t be upset, Ty, that’s just how the game of uno is sometimes,” you replied, hiding a laugh.

“Oh, shut up. I think you guys cheated,” Tyler accused.

“I think you just don’t know how to play uno,” Jamie mumbled.

“Oh, yeah, real funny. I think you all teamed up against me and Jake dealt that way on purpose.”

“And we all think, you just can’t accept a loss in uno,” Roope added.

“Fine, let’s settle this like men,” Tyler grabbed all the cards, attempting to shuffle them before accepting he couldn’t shuffle and handing them over to you to shuffle, “I’m watching you.”

“Oh, wow, so scared,” quickly shuffling them, doing a little bit more than usual to get Tyler off your case, you handed them back to him, “there you go.”

Another final round of uno, which ended up with you and Roope head to head as far as who would win, while Tyler had ended up with at least 15 cards to which Jamie was the first to speak up, “I think we should end here before someone gets hurt.”

“No, no, we’re fine. It’s fine. y/n, take your turn,” he said, eyes narrowing as he watched from beside you. Even if it was your last card, you dropped the draw 4, which made Tyler draw more cards.

“Damn, that sucks,” you said, hiding a laugh.

“What was that, y/n?” Tyler said.

“I said, damn, that sucks,” you repeated, watching Tyler closely as he stood up quickly once again, before practically chasing you. “Tyler, it’s just uno. Stop chasing me.”

“Oh, wow, ‘damn, that sucks’” Tyler mocked.

As the other three watched, Jamie just grabbed the bowl of popcorn as they watched their friends running around chasing each other. “I see why we don’t play uno much,” Jake said.

“Yep. Exactly. But no one listened when I advised against it,” Jamie said, taking a drink of his beer.

“Tyler, watch yourself,” you said, as he stood on the opposite side of the couch. He started running one way, as you ran the other to avoid him, but he quickly sidestepped and caught up to you. Practically throwing you over his shoulder, he made his way out to the pool, “Tyler, let’s not do anything crazy here.”

“Oh, you mean like hold a draw four card until the end of the game,” Tyler said, as he tossed you into the deep end of his pool.

“Children. Literal children,” Roope said, shaking his head, going to grab you a towel.

Rising up from the water and quickly moving the hair out of your face, you swam over to where Tyler was, “hey, can you help me out?”

“Nah, I’m not falling for that one,” he stated.

“Seriously, I won’t do anything right now, I promise,” you said, as you saw him reach his arm out to which you quickly grabbed and stood out of the pool. Walking towards Roope, who had grabbed you a towel, you turned back around to see Tyler still walking near the pool. Using this to your advantage, you ran and pushed Tyler into the pool. “Sorry, bestie,” you said, running to get the towel from Roope and running back in the house.

After getting changed into one of Tyler’s extra shirts he had lying around, you were just hanging out with the guys when a familiar contact flashed on the screen to FaceTime, Jake who was right next to you immediately noticed, “ooh, better go talk to your man, y/n.”

“Shut the literal fuck up,” you called back, standing up to go the kitchen for privacy. Answering, you noticed that Joel was at Nolan and Kevin’s apartment, “were you that lonely without me, babe?”

“No, well maybe, but I’m helping them set up for the watch party tomorrow,” Joel said, taking a seat at their kitchen island, “how’d podium training go?”

“It went really well actually, I didn’t work the 3.5 just so that way I have something over their heads, you know. But other than that, it was all good. How are things at home?”

“Well, I mean no one is dead, which is always good. Um, debated getting a dog, my mom called, I told her about you. Uh, already told you about the watch party. I don’t think anything else interesting happened,” he said, shrugging as if he hadn’t just mentioned bringing you up to his mom.

“Wait, you told your mom about me?”

“Well, she does follow me on Instagram, so after seeing the post she texted me asking and then she asked while we were on the phone. She wished you good luck, by the way. She’s also visiting here with my dad in a few weeks and I’d really love it if you would meet them,” he said, shyly.

“Uh, yeah, yeah, of course,” you rushed out, hoping you didn’t sound as nervous as you were.

“That sounded very unsure.”

“No, it’s fine. I just have never been at the spot in a relationship where I meet the parents, I’m just nervous. I don’t want to mess it up.”

“Babe, my mom already loves you, she was getting on my case about not telling her, but she already thinks very highly of you and I definitely hyped you up a little bit. You have nothing to worry about,” he reassured you, which made you smile.

“Hey, y/n/n,” Kevin yelled.

“Hey, Kev.”

“You were very nice in your interview today, it had all of us worried,” Kevin said, which caused you to roll your eyes in response.

“Hey, I can be nice sometimes.”

“On very rare occasions, yes,” Joel added.

“Whatever.” As you talked a little while longer with the guys, eventually Roope and Tyler had come in to say hi to everyone as well, which had you dying laughing as both of them gave the ‘you hurt her, we fly to Philly and hurt you’ talk that almost everyone had given him.

Telling Joel you would call him back whenever you made it back to your hotel, you stayed with the guys for another couple of hours before heading back to your hotel. Nicole had spent most of the day after podium training resting and had met you in the hotel lobby when you got back.

“So,- “ she didn’t even have to finish her sentence before you knew what she was saying.

“Roope is doing good, he said he hopes things are going well,” you said, watching as a small smile crept up her face.

“Well, good to know. Did you know KD is also staying at this hotel?”

“Well, considering this is the host hotel and most competitors are here, I am not all that shocked.”

“Yeah, but you probably didn’t know she’s legit a few rooms away from us, did ya?”

“No, guess not,” you said, “how’d you find that one out?”

“Well, let me set the scene for you. I go to get ice and then I hear her talking with, uh, whatever her name is, Callie or Carly, it starts with a C. Anyways, they were talking about you and me and how our skills have been less than recently and all this stuff about you not catching up to where you were - which I found so fucking funny because who has won gold at the past few meets? Not her. Anyways, all is fair in the sport of gymnastics, but I’m just excited to see her reaction to you doing the 3.5.”

“Damn, no pressure there, Nic.”

“Okay, but the thing is, you have the skill,” Nicole said, as you got into the elevator. “You have it down. It’s all up here, in your cranium,” she said, pointing to your head.

“Alright, let’s just go to bed now,” you said, slowly removing her hand and opening the door to your hotel room.

…..

“Hello everyone and welcome to Day One of the 2021 US Gymnastics Championships. We are very excited to see how today’s competition goes as this competition will decide who makes it onto the National Team and who will qualify for Olympic Trials,” Joel heard the announcer say as he made his way to sit with everyone in the living room.

“Did you talk to her this morning?” Claude asked from beside him.

“Yeah, usual pre-comp anxieties. Nolan talked to her and Nicole to give the usual pep talk and then we talked for a while on their way to the arena,” Joel answered, looking back to the TV to see you prepping for bars, “she said podium training went well, but Kathryn was talking shit, so all I know is she better kick her ass.”

“You know she will, it happens everytime. She gets in her head and still does amazing, just a casual Tuesday,” Scott added.

“It’s not Tuesday?” Travis questioned.

“Yes, I know,” Scott said, confusing everyone.

“Alright, moving on,” Joel reiterated.

“And starting on bars, we have y/n y/l/n. Now if you remember, less than a year ago, y/n was injured at another competition doing a beam dismount that she might be competing in today’s competition. She is definitely one to watch as she has a reputation of scoring high in these meets, before and after her return. Her teammate, Nicole Carter, will be following up.”

Joel watched as you stepped away from the chalk box to start your routine, he watched intently as you jumped from the springboard to reach the high bar. He watched intently as you went through your routine. Release skills. Giants. Pirouettes. More release skills. More giants. Dismount. Stuck landing.

“A great start to Day 1 for y/n, who seems pretty proud of how that routine went,” the announcer said, “rotation two will be beam, where we might see that 3.5 twist, which is currently in the process of being named by Kathryn Davis, who was the first to compete it at a major competition. Now the question everyone is wondering is will we see this skill from y/n today?”

“She’s doing it. Fucking dumbass,” Joel grumbled at the announcer.

“Damn, Beezer, tell them how you really feel,” Travis replied, as everyone else laughed at Joel’s behavior before watching Nicole compete. Nicole’s routine ended with a stuck landing, the camera following her as she made her way off the platform and hugged you before the two of you did your secret handshake.

Knowing the next event was beam, Joel waited as other competitors did their routines as you were warming up. He knew this moment would make or break how the rest of the meet went and with this only being your second event, it needed to go well.

Everyone watched anxiously as you saluted the judges, shaking your hands out before you reached to mount the beam. You took a deep breath before actually starting your routine. Starting the beginning choreography, you kept your movements sharp and clean. All the skills in your routine were sharp - doing this so if the dismount didn’t go well, it hopefully wouldn’t affect your score too much.

Joel had memorized your routines, knowing you were approaching your dismount, he saw your movements become slightly hesitant. Watching as you did a quick pivot on the beam to prep for the dismount, he watched you take a deep breath.

“C’mon, babe. You got it,” he said, and by whatever power was listening he watched your lips twitch up to a smile as you started your dismount. Going for the round-off and starting the twists, you did the three and a half twists, opening up to find your landing, and stuck your dismount. Joel’s smile grew even more when he saw how happy you were with your routine.

The rest of Day 1 of Championships went well for both you and Nicole; the two of you ending in the first and place spot in all around, with Kathryn following close behind. After the competition, both of you had your media conferences before you made your way back to the hotel. As both of you checked your phone, you saw the multiple notifications from various social medias.

“Dude, did you see what Ryanne posted?” Nicole asked, a look on her face that you couldn’t easily recognize.

“No, hold on,” you opened Instagram to see she had tagged you in multiple posts on her instagram story: starting off with a picture of all the guys wearing a jersey with your and Nicole’s name on it, a picture of all the guys watching warms ups intently, a video of Joel and Travis debating the name of a skill from Nicole’s routine (Travis was right), a video of Joel watching you do your beam routine and cheering you on right as you go for your dismount, and then a video of everyone cheering as you and Nicole as they announced the end of day 1.

…..

After falling asleep with Joel on FaceTime, you woke up to your 6am alarm to get ready for Day 2 of championship, Joel - who had told you he would wake up with you - was still sound asleep. Getting you and Nicole an apple from the lobby, you talked to a few of your competitors and a few fans before heading back to yours and Nicole’s room.

“Wake up, bitch, it’s Day 2 of Championships,” you said, jumping to lay next to Nicole on her bed.

“Leave me to die here, I don’t want to go. USAG can suck a homeless man’s dick,” she mumbled into the pillow.

“That’s truly something, wait til the media teams hear about that one,” you joked, only to get a glare sent your way.

“You know what? You can suck on one, too,” she responded, pulling the blanket over her head.

“Well at least, there's less competition,” to which she quickly peaked out of the blanket.

“Oh, you wish. We’re neck and neck this time, so we’ll see who gets bragging rights.”

“Well if you don’t get out of bed, then we’ll never know,” you said, to which she only sent a glare your way.

“Do we really have to get up and compete today? Do you think we could petition to reschedule?”

“I mean, I’m sure if we talked to people, we’d get a lot of signatures, but I don’t think it would go over well,” you said, grabbing your garment bag that held your leo for today, “I’m going to go get ready because I know if we end up talking to Joel and Nolan first, we won’t be ready in time.”

After you got ready, both you and Nicole got your pep talk from Nolan and Bee. On the way to the arena, both of you got a bunch of good luck messages - not just from your friends and family, but also from teammates and even some from most of the Stars roster. You had a feeling in your gut that today would be a good day.

…..

“Alright folks, Day 2 of Championships have been off to a great start and are about to come to a close. With Nicole Carter in first with a 57.605 All-Around score and Kathryn Davis in second with a 57.1, Cassie Riley in third with a 56.2, it comes down to the final rotations. y/n y/l/n is one of the last to go on floor today, who will need a score of at least a 13.5 to get first,” the announcer said.

“And compared to her average score, this will be easily attainable. If she scores at least a 14.5, she’ll be first overall for both days of competition. She already has a for sure spot at Trials, even when you don’t consider scores. As long as she is able to hit all elements of this routine, she’ll be fine,” another announcer said.

“Ok, you’re good, you just have to hit this routine and there’s no doubt you’ll make it to where you want to be. Deep breaths, Twinkle Toes,” Marcus said.

Walking up the platform to get up to the floor, you took your spot at the edge of the floor, ready to salute the judge, and get the last meet of championships out of the way. After anxiously waiting, the judge finally saluted. Entering the floor with a determined walk, you took your spot waiting for the familiar sound of your floor music to ring out.

That familiar feeling of doing the sport you loved, once again, rushed through your veins. Block everything out and complete the routine, that’s all you had to do. Going to your starting pose, the music started. Going through the familiar motions of your routine, you stuck your first tumbling pass. Then came the leaps and jump sequence and all that was in between, with the additional three tumbling passes.

You didn’t give yourself a chance to overthink about your routine, you knew that it wouldn’t benefit you in any way, but as you stepped off the floor you knew that you did what you could. As soon as you made it back to where Marcus and Nicole were sitting, you waited to see what your score was.

Joel and everyone watching at home watched as you sat down to see what your score was. He had this dopey grin gracing his features from the amount of pride he felt in that moment. He didn’t care what your score was, he knew you had put whatever you could out on the mat. He listened to Travis for a moment until the announcer started up again for scores and awards, “and y/n y/l/n pulled through with the score that she needed, a 14.9 on floor. She placed first in All-Around, Carter following right behind, and Davis in third. If all goes this well at trials, I’d say we have a lot of good representation for the Olympic Games.”

…..

After the meet and countless amount of interviews both you and Nicole were extremely worn out and had both passed out on the flight back. As you and Nicole stepped out of the terminal, you were met with the familiar faces of your friends and family. You smiled as you saw Bee for the first time in a few days and despite how tired you were, you couldn’t stop yourself from running to him.

He immediately caught you and did the cliche spin (the one you swore you would never do) before pulling you into a regular hug, “I’m so proud of you, babe. You have no idea.”

“Thank you. I surprisingly missed you,” you joked, laughing harder when Joel pulled you away slightly to catch a glimpse of your face.

“Wow, aren’t I glad I was blessed with such a nice girlfriend? It’s crazy.”

“Absolutely insane.”

“Preposterous.”

“Can the two of you shut the fuck up?” Kevin asked, coming over to give you a hug, “you did good out there, y/n/n. You also kept all your bones intact, I’m proud.”

“Shut the fuck up, Kev.”

“Okay, aside from you getting onto Kev and Bee, I missed you, too,” Karly said from beside Travis.

“I kinda did, too. You did amazing though, y/n/n. I’m proud,” Travis said.

“Thank you, thank you. All in a hard day's work,” you said, shrugging.

“Dude, you might want to go back to Beezer, he looks like a lost puppy watching you talk to us,” Travis pointed out, nodding in Joel’s direction who smiled when you caught his eye.

“Yeah, not a shocking development,” you said, before walking back in Joel’s direction, “hey, Bee.”

“Hey, honey,” he said, wrapping his arms around you again, “you ready to go home?”

“Yeah, of course,” you leaned up to kiss his cheek.

“Ew, guys. Get a room,” Kevin called out, fake gagging.

#joel farabee #joel farabee x reader #joel farabee imagines #joel farabee x gymnast!reader #nhl imagines #nhl imagine #hockey imagines

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mcwriting · 3 years

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The Marriage Project (11)

I'm baaaaack :) Sorry it's been so long y'all but I'm finally on break so hopefully I can push out more content soon! Pls enjoy!

Masterlist

Word Count: 2130

Warnings: little bit of language, mild mentions of alcohol

% approximately the last weekend of October/first week of November %

Sunday, you went wedding dress shopping.

Kinda.

It was for homecoming court. Your school had a tradition where the ladies in the running for queen wore white wedding dresses, so your mom and you went out in search of one.

You’d already gotten your dress for the actual dance weeks prior, so you started at the same store.

It didn’t take long for you to stumble upon one you liked, a slim a-line that accentuated your muscles and curves. There was a draped neckline and a somewhat low back. The entire dress had a grecian feel with the small silver accents dusted across it.

The second you put it on you fell in love, so you made the purchase and set off for shoes, easily finding a pair of heels that would put you at a similar level with Tom.

The next day, you made your way to class for another round of praise and congratulations for the tournament that weekend. The trophy was already sitting in the school display case, the plaque yet to be made with your school’s name and the year.

It was spirit week, so everyone was dressed in clothes that fit the day’s theme.

All morning, people were coming up and asking you about the tournament and homecoming, many of them pledging to vote for you.

Things felt nice.

You and Tom didn’t talk much throughout the morning, but exchanged a few jabs and laughs here and there.

Later, you sat around the lunch table with your girlfriends as usual, this time discussing the homecoming nominations.

“Y/n, there’s literally no way you won’t be queen. I’ve talked to a ton of people and all of them are saying they’re gonna vote for you,” one of them said.

“Aw shucks, you’re making me blush. Obviously I’d like to win queen, but we’ll see. It’s whatever. If Harrison wins king I’ll drop out.”

“As if. No one even likes him. I’m pretty sure he was voted in as a meme. Everyone knows Tom is gonna win,” Alexis stated. “And if Tom wins, you’ll win too with everyone thinking you’re together.”

“Hmm. I honestly hope Tuwaine gets the vote. He’s so sweet and totally deserves it.”

“I think we all know you’d prefer Tom as your royal counterpart,” one friend suggested, causing you to roll your eyes.

“How many times do I have to tell you guys! Nothing is going on! On another note, though, I got my white dress,” you mentioned, trying to steer the conversation away.

“Really? Let us see!” Caroline exclaimed.

“Ah, ah, ah. I’m saving it as a surprise for Friday. The only person who’s seen it is my mom, and it’s staying that way until the parade.”

You continued talking about the upcoming festivities and your excitement for the week, and the announcement of who would be crowned queen Friday at the pep rally.

That afternoon, you went to study hall with Alexis. Now that you were between sports, you had a free period to go do art, work out, or just “study,” so you chose the latter as a way to take a breather from everything that had been going on.

“So tell me everything about Johnny’s this weekend. Loved the costumes,” you started as you plopped down at two desks in the very back of the room.

“Not much to report. We mostly just hung out but I heard one dude had to go get his stomach pumped or something after the cops got there. We dipped out before it was busted because it was obvious they were coming. Now how was your weekend, since we’re finally alone?”

You thought about how much you’d actually tell her, especially considering that you hadn’t told her really anything about yours and Tom’s interactions in past weeks.

“Pretty good. It was mostly just volleyball.”

“Oh yeah? What all went down with Tom? Anna told me you seemed pretty close.”

Your face burned.

“We hugged after winning the tournament. Not a big deal. Oh and we maybe kinda pretended to be a couple Friday night.”

“What? You didn’t think to lead with that?!”

“It was for like a minute while we went up the elevator. This drunk couple was harassing us so we just played along for a little bit. Whatever,” you shrugged.

“Did you do anything couple-y? Don’t tell me you guys kissed.”

You tried not to cringe before somewhat telling a lie.

“I kissed him on the cheek and he put his arm around me. I swear it was nothing serious, Lex.”

“Hm. I still think you’ve gotta be hiding something, but I just don’t know what. And I’m gonna get to the bottom of it.”

Good luck with that. I’m not about to crack yet.

Spirit week continued with people coming up to let you know their votes had been cast for you. The voting ended Thursday so that votes could be counted before the pep rally.

When Friday did hit, you woke up early and tucked your volleyball jersey into some jeans and tossed on your letter jacket, as the day’s theme was school colors and jerseys.

You popped on some mascara and lip gloss, then headed to school, becoming more nervous as you got closer.

The pep rally would be right after lunch, but almost everyone was so excited for the weekend festivities that teachers basically gave everyone a free day so that the students in charge of the event could continue their planning and the athletes could prepare for the rally.

The pep rally was mostly for the football game, but they were also going to recognize the volleyball team’s accomplishments, so you prepared for that and the whole homecoming court thing.

In home ec, Mrs. Flynn let those that needed to help set up for the pep rally eat your lunches in class and then leave early.

You and Tom finished about the same time and went to your lockers to grab your things.

“Ready to win?” Tom asked as you walked towards the gym.

“Nope. You?”

“Yeah, actually. Maybe it’s just because I love winning so much.”

You gave him a little shove as you continued walking. Tom had his jersey on without the pads, so it fit big on him. You admired the way it draped over his thin, toned frame.

A bit later and the pep rally had begun with the dance team doing their routine, then came athlete recognitions.

They started with the volleyball team, calling you all out to the basketball court to wave as everyone cheered. After you all, the cheer squad hyped everyone up for the football team to come out.

You stood in a corner of the gym with Zendaya, as they would be announcing the homecoming court next. You both talked a little bit, but things were somewhat awkward.

Finally came the time to announce the winners. As with nominations, things went in order from freshman to senior, eventually reaching the king and queen announcement. The six of you stepped out onto the basketball court, the pit in your stomach bigger than before.

“Alright ladies and gentlemen, I know that this is the moment you have all been waiting so patiently for!” Mrs. Johnson looked around the bleachers at the cheering students, holding up her paper with everyone’s positions.

“We’re going to start with our third place, the duke and duchess of homecoming! May I have a drumroll please!”

Everyone stomped their feet and clapped.

“This year’s duke is Mr. Harrison Osterfield, and the duchess is Daisy Ridley!”

Cheers went up, not completely enthusiastic for the pair. You felt a little bit of satisfaction knowing the people you liked least had gotten third place.

“Now for our runners up, the prince and princess!” She paused for effect. “Tuwaine Barrett and Zendaya Coleman!”

More cheers rang out than before. Your jaw dropped as you looked at Tom.

“And that means that your senior king and queen are Tom Holland and y/n y/l/n! Congratulations to all of you. Can’t wait to see you at the parade, game, and dance!” Mrs. Johnson called out, dismissing everyone back to class.

Someone came and placed the crown on your head and slipped a silver sash which read “homecoming queen” over your body. You couldn’t help but slap a hand over your mouth.

“What did I tell you! I knew you’d win!” Tom exclaimed, holding out his hands. You so badly wanted to hug him, but decided not to in front of the whole school, at least not until tomorrow night.

Your friends rushed up and congratulated you, fawning over the crown and sash and laughing. Before you left, you had to return the two items to a teacher so you would have them for later that night.

As you left school that afternoon, you felt like you were floating on air.

You were back at the school later that evening, the game just over a couple hours away. There were families lining the street prepared to watch the parade make its way down.

Since leaving the school before, you’d put your hair in loose curls and done a full face of makeup. You tossed on some sweats and zipped up your varsity jacket, taking your dress and shoes along in the car to change there.

You waited until the last minute to slip on the outfit, causing people to fawn over you when you stepped outside to see everyone who was waiting.

Someone pinned the crown to your head and helped you slip on the sash, then led you to the convertible where Tom was waiting. You’d get to ride around sitting on the back waving like you’d always dreamed of doing.

Your heels clacked on the sidewalk as you confidently stepped. Sure, you didn’t wear heels much, but you sure knew how to work them.

It felt like slow motion when Tom turned around and you saw each other for the first time. He was wearing slacks and a sport coat and his curls were perfectly placed around his own crown. You both gasped a little.

“Y/n! You look… you look like-”

“Let me guess. A princess?” you smirked, raising a brow.

“I was gonna say queen.”

You rolled your eyes and chuckled, giving him a little shove. He helped you climb into the back of the car, and someone went to hand you his letter jacket.

“What’s this for?” you asked.

“Usually if it’s cold the queen wears her partners’ letterman over her shoulders if he has one.”

You thought about it. It was pretty chilly, after all.

“You don’t have to wear mine, y/n. Did you bring yours?” Tom asked, making you smile.

“Yeah, actually. I did. Would someone mind going and grabbing it from my stuff? It’s just inside.”

One girl ran and brought it back in a few minutes, and Tom helped drape it over just your shoulders.

“That’s more like it,” he said, giving you a smile as he fixed the neck.

A few minutes later, the cars and floats began moving and families cheered as you passed, waving with a smile on your face.

You and Tom talked to each other quietly as you looked around both sides of the street. When you reached the end, someone had you pose for a couple pictures in the daylight before the football players headed off to get ready for the game.

This was not only homecoming, but senior night, so they all wanted to be on their A-game.

Different people came up to congratulate you and you took pictures with friends, family, and even a few little kids. You were talking with the girls when you felt a hand on your shoulder.

You turned around to find the Holland family, including Nikki’s parents and a woman you assumed to be Dominic’s mom.

“Well I sure am glad to see that people have some decent sense around here,” Grandma said, giving you a warm smile. You gave her a hug then greeted the rest of the family.

“You look beautiful, dear. Congratulations,” said Nikki as she gave you a squeeze.

“Oh, y/n, this is my mother,” Dom explained, gesturing to another elderly woman.

“Just call me Nana, dear. I’ve heard a lot about you.” You smiled as she held your hands in hers.

“Thank you! Tom’s told me about you, too.”

Nikki shot some pictures of you with their family. It felt weird to be in their photos without Tom, but also comfortable, like you’d known them your whole life. You had to hold back a laugh when you took one kissing Paddy’s cheek and making him blush.

Eventually your parents also came over and talked to them, and everyone made their ways to the stadium.

A/N: omg it's been way too long since I updated TMP! I just wanted to pre-warn that next chapter will have the heaviest themes of this story. It will have adequate warnings but I want to make everyone aware!

Thanks for reading!

Send a message or ask if you’d like to be added to my permanent or series taglists so I can verify you’ve been added!

Story tag list: @jackiehollanderr, @one-big-fangirl, @l0lmk, @primadonnasdream, @bookworm06, @thenoddingbunny-blog, @agentnataliahofferson, @spider-babe, @stxfxniexreads, @justafangirlduh, @supraveng

#the marriage project #tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland x you #tom holland x y/n #tom holland imagine #tom holland au #tom holland series #tom holland fic

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thekrazykeke · 3 years

Text

title: just keep breathing

fandom(s): fallen hero rebirth/retribution

pairing(s): wei chen x sidestep. ricardo ortega x sidestep. wei chen x ricardo ortega x sidestep. ricardo ortega x wei chen.

playlist/song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMkz9JF7teY

rating: t+

summary: maybe it’s not about fixing what’s broken. maybe it’s about starting over and creating something better.

warning(s): pre poly relationship, comfort food, pining, mild spoilers for the alpha build, angst and hurt/comfort.

Listen.

I played Fallen Hero Rebirth and rated it a solid 9, and the story initially left me crying my eyeballs out but mildly confused, wanting to understand things. So I replayed and replayed and replayed. I picked up things and the clues started fitting together. I paid for the Retribution alpha build and I’m still crying my eyeballs out at night over it but I wanted resolution. I wanted to give (one of) my character(s) a light at the end of the tunnel.

So this is what it is. Or an attempt at it because FHR is really quite dark and not for the faint hearted. Those warning tags are not for show.

Sidestep’s name is Tyndall Bowman in this one.

It happens on a Sunday. The last weekend before a new month started, technically.

Ortega frequently visits Chen’s apartment and brings food, lightly ribbing the other man for his lackluster kitchen space. Chen’s routine response becoming less and less exasperated each time.

You think that he not so secretly fears that you’ll both starve or subsist off canned food and cheap takeout. ...Which probably isn’t a far off assumption, considering the implication day one of your temporary living situation.

It could be considered sweet, if it wasn’t so very funny. (You had to get your kicks somewhere).

Your legs are still broken.

Progress is frustratingly slow.

You’d tried to move to a schedule of crutches-only by the second week out of sheer boredom and the flat look Chen had leveled in your direction caused you to nix that idea stat.

There’s a tension between Chen and you now.

Not to say that there rarely isn’t tension, but that’s usually due to an aftermath of an argument. Now? Now, you’re aware of him. Aware of him in a way that you’d only been aware of Ortega.

Fucking hell.

Someone’s knee brushes lightly against yours, breaking you out of your reverie. You glance to the left and catch sight of Ricardo watching you with soft, worried eyes. Chen also watching, but less obvious in his concern, features more stoic, controlled. The three of you are in the living room, they are siting on the couch, you’re in your wheelchair.

They probably asked you something and you were zoned out.

The lie is on the tip of your tongue, “I’m fine,” you mumble and grip your bowl which has half melted blueberry swirl ice cream and salted caramel cheesecake. Sweets are your kryptonite but Ricardo has pulled out your top favorites...

“You’re fine?” Ricardo scoffs, his tone skeptic.

A muscle jumped in your jaw. “Yep, just fine,” you reply, using your spoon to scoop up some ice cream, take a bite and enjoy the flavor. Refusing to give an inch and let him win.

The two of you had played this game many times, too many actually, and it usually ends with you being the one to fall for the prodding, and then you get angry, lash out.

Walk away. Only this time you can’t.

Another scoff. “Typical. You do this every time, you know.” There’s a surprising amount of bitterness in Ricardo’s voice now.

“Ricardo,” Chen starts to interject, the strain clear in his voice. “Tyndall. Stop.”

It’s too late though.

Placing down the bowl on the nearest surface, freeing up your hands, you clench then unclench your fingers, trying to avoid cracking your knuckles. “And what about you, then huh, Saint Ortega?” The sneer on your face is ugly. “You’re always on about me being honest with my feelings and talking, but the truth of it is, you’re just like me, or worse!”

Ortega looks dumbfounded. As if he can’t believe you’d dare to throw the truth in his face like this, so obviously. He recovers quicker than you’d like, much to your annoyance, though. “...Maybe so,” he acknowledges, his voice softer. Enough to lull a more gullible individual into complacency or just anyone not paying attention. You know better. “That’s a topic we can revisit in a moment. I’m more curious about how long the two of you expect me to play the idiot here.”

Unwillingly, your eyes dart to Chen’s, then away.

Not focusing on any particular point in the room. Does Ortega know that you’re Mastermind? Since when, and did Chen tell him? Or is he bluffing right now and he doesn’t know? Is he talking about something totally different than what you’re thinking about?

Quick! Think up an appropriate answer and throw him off the trail!

“....I don’t....know what you mean.”

That’s not what you should say!!

Chen sighs deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looks pretty much done with the both of you right now, not that you can blame him. “Be clearer, the two of you have a propensity for telling half truths which leads to the majority of these absurd arguments.”

Ricardo winced and you feel the sting from that particular burn as well.

“In response to your statement, though, no one is expecting you to play the fool.” He looks a little nervous, guilty. “ I... We’ve kissed.” There’s a pinch to his brow, the tips of his ears turning pink. “That wasn’t an example of being a good friend to you, kissing Tyndall and murkying the waters further when I knew the two of you were...” There’s a pause as he tries to find a word for what you and Ortega shared before you and he tentatively stopped antagonizing each other and bonded over Spoon.

You snorted, lips twisting into a wry smile, “The phrasing of that sentence makes it sound as if I found it a chore to kiss you or something.” Chen cuts you an admonishing look which you temporarily ignore as you turn to glance at Ortega who’d been watching the byplay between you and Chen with an unreadable expression. For the nth time, you wish you could read his mind, and at the same time, you’re grateful that you can’t.

“...He’s right though. It was an epically shitty thing to do, kissing your oldest friend, who’s probably had a crush on you since he’s met you, while we were kissing. Totally and unnecessarily complicated.”

He just looked at the two of you for a moment. Then Ricardo sighed heavily, running a hand over his face, wearily. “Esto es un desastre.”

You say nothing, staying quiet because honestly, you agree. This is a mess, and it was poorly handled, on all sides. You’d already spilled the beans about Chen having a crush Ortega before it got to this point because you sincerely thought the conversation should have come up properly over seven years ago, your ‘death’ should have been a nonfactor.

They likely would’ve been a couple already if they weren’t such obtuse idiots.

“Okay... okay...” Ricardo seems to have come to a conclusion. He nods resolutely, turning all his considerably intense focus onto Chen who seems taken aback by it. Leaning forward into the other man’s space, slow enough that it’d be easy to shove him back, but of course Chen doesn’t. Ricardo’s hand went to the nape of his neck, lightly urging Chen forward, the other man obeying that silent request, and in the span of a breath, they’re kissing.

Your don’t avert your gaze, as much as you want to.

This is a private thing, you shouldn’t look, shouldn’t stare like a pervert.

‘Isn’t this what you knew would happen?’ Of course, your brain isn’t nice.

This is what you wanted right, for them to get their act together.

Humans falling in love with each other is normal and acceptable. (Although your education depicted of men and women falling in love, primarily). It happens all the time.

Such emotion is a luxury a Re-Gene cannot afford, nor can they sincerely feel it, that’s what you were taught on the Farm. So resistant to the idea of going back to being treated as an unfeeling thing, your re-education had been particularly brutal.

“Whatever horrible thing your mind is telling you, it isn’t true.”

Once again caught off guard, lost in thought, you’re unprepared for Ricardo to kiss you. He tastes faintly of blueberry swirl ice cream and sweet tea, and maybe it’s your imagination, but maybe even a little bit like Chen. It’s that stray thought that has you jerk your head, trying to turn away from him. “W...what the hell, asshole?”

He snorted. “You know you sound really cute when you curse.”

Baring your teeth, you snap, “Tomber d'une falaise!” Although the idiot clearly didn’t know what you said in French, basically telling him to fall off a cliff, it didn’t stop him from dramatically clutching at his chest, as if he’d been stabbed in the heart; he could probably guess it was at least an insult.

“Stop teasing him, Ricardo.” Chen admonished. Ricardo mock pouted. “I mean it. Can’t you see that he’s overwhelmed?”

“I am not overwhelmed!”, you vehemently protest.

“Out of your depth then,” Chen countered and before you could complain that it was pretty much the same thing, only with differing meanings, he continued on, “What our resident idiot is clumsily trying to show instead of explain, is that he wants both of us.”

“If you want a threesome, fine. It’ll have to wait, as I’m a bit physically impaired at the moment.” You’re almost surprised by the bitterness in your voice.

Chen stared at you for a brief moment and then he braced both hands on either side of your wheelchair. Heart slowly turning over in your chest, oddly feeling as if you’re caught in the gaze of a hunter, you stubbornly keep eye contact for a second or two, but can’t maintain it for long. That doesn’t stop him from murmuring in your right ear, “Stop being so stubborn. Stop lying. You want this. To be in a relationship with both of us.” A brief pause. “Correct?”

Fucking hell...

Swallowing thickly, wondering the logistics of how that would work out. Wondering if you were about to once again make a horrible mistake. Then again, since you’d come back to Los Diablos, since Ortega found you again, that’s all you’ve been doing so far, haven’t you. Making mistake after mistake after mistake.

“Yes.”

As Chen’s left hand buried itself in your curls, taking control, tilting your head back, idly you wondered if the next time you hit the ground, if it’d hurt less. This is after a freefall into madness, it feels like, and twice as foolish. Yet you surrender, and you stop thinking, enjoy the kiss.

#fallen hero rebirth #tyndall bowman #fallen hero retribution #wei chen #fallen hero rebirth imagine #ricardo ortega #fallen hero rebirth fanfic #tyndall bowman x wei chen #fallen hero retribution imagine #tyndall bowman x ricardo ortega #fhr #fallen hero retribution fanfic #wei chen x ricardo ortega #fhr imagine #misc fics #thekrazykeke

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missjanjie · 3 years

Text

Better Than Revenge | (2/?)

Title: Better Than Revenge Summary: Karma Inc.’s business structure is simple - clients hire them when they’ve been grievously wronged and they send one of their revenge mercenaries to right them. As painstaking as their efforts to remain ethical may be, that may be tested when former detective, Rosé, enlists the squad to pick up where she couldn’t on a much higher scale, with potentially greater consequences. Word Count: ~2.6k (this chapter) | ~5.3k (total) Relationship(s): Rosnali (Rosé/Denali Foxx), Jankie (Jackie Cox/Jan Sport), Halldoll (Nicky Doll/Jaida Essence Hall), Gimone (Gigi Goode/Symone), Gottlux (Gottmik/Olivia Lux) Rating: T

TW for this chapter: implied domestic abuse, attempted sexual coercion of a minor, deadnaming/transphobia

Read on AO3 | Ko-Fi

Chapter Summary: Rosé learns Nicky, Jan, and Mik's revenge origin stories

Milwaukee, WI - 2007

“I think my parents are starting to get suspicious,” Jaida quietly confessed, her gaze downcast to the floor while Nicky sat behind her, braiding her hair.

Nicky frowned, her brows furrowed as she tied off the braid she’d put Jaida’s hair in with a hair elastic. “What is making you say that?” she asked, moving so she was facing the other girl and taking her hands into her own.

She shrugged, fumbling with the hem of her shirt until Nicky’s grasp stilled them. “Just feels like they’re snooping around more, suddenly real interested in my life. And you know they’re always acting weird whenever we’re at my house together. Last time they made us keep the door open, remember?”

“I had assumed that was an American thing,” she confessed. She had only moved to the states a couple of months ago, at the start of her and Jaida’s junior year of high school, and she was still learning how to differentiate cultural differences from people behaving unusually to her specifically.

“You think everything you don’t understand is an American thing,” Jaida rolled her eyes with a fond smile, “though I guess you’re right most of the time,” she conceded.

Nicky shrugged it off, redirecting back to the topic at hand. “But you’re worried they’re going to find out about us and poop will hit the ceiling.”

“Shit will hit the fan,” she corrected, then sighed. “I mean, think about it — my mom’s a Sunday school teacher and my dad’s the son of a preacher, they take ‘traditional family values’ very seriously. And I don’t know how things are in France but there’s nothing traditional about this,” she explained, gesturing between the two of them.

She frowned, her brows knitting together. “But we are happy together, surely once we graduate, we can—”

“It’s not that simple, Nicky!” Jaida tossed her head back and groaned. “I love you, but in a place like this, sometimes love just ain’t enough.”

And maybe it was denial, or maybe it was blind optimism, but Nicky had refused to take that answer lying down. She fought for Jaida and fought even harder to keep the relationship away from her disapproving parents. For a while, it seemed to be working, they had their beautiful, fleeting moments that let them believe that everything would be okay.

It was the first day back after spring break and Nicky immediately noticed a change in her girlfriend. It was like the life and light had been drained from her like she was only present physically. And despite the warm weather, she was dressed for late fall. She rushed towards her, taking her hand. “Ma chérie, what’s wrong? You look so unwell.”

Jaida hesitated before pulling her hand away. “I can’t hang around you anymore,” she replied. “Though I’m not gonna see anyone around here for a while starting real soon,” she mumbled.

“What do you mean?”

“My parents found out, Nicky,” she choked out, forcing back a sob, “and they were mad, I ain’t never seen them so mad. They’re sending me to military school… well, they gave me a choice between that and conversion therapy… seemed like the better option.”

Nicky bit down on her quivering lip. “But you can find me when you are done, right?” She reached out to her again, but Jaida backed away to step out of her grasp.

“I can’t. Besides, you won’t want me anyway, I won’t be the same person.”

She tried to grab for her once more, desperate to keep her, looking at her with watery, pleading eyes. “Jaida, I can’t—”

“Please,” she sniffled, “don’t make this harder than it’s already gonna be.”

And perhaps Nicky should have let it go, accepted losing her first love, and moving on with her life. Sure, she would eventually. She would move around for school, for work, meeting many beautiful women along the way, but none of that happened until she made sure Jaida’s parents experienced at least a fraction of the hurt they had caused the both of them.

Her plan had been elaborate and convoluted and would require a heavy amount of stealth work and computer literacy to pull off. But as it turned out, her plan of convincing the two parents that the other was cheating on them was quite easy when her snooping unearthed the fact that both of them already were. All she needed to do was bring it to light.

Present Day

“When you think about it,” Nicky mused, “I did them a favor. There are worse ways they could’ve found out than having an envelope full of proof dropped off at your workplace. At least no one made a scene… as far as I know, at least.”

“Does Jaida know?” Rosé asked. “Now that you guys have reconnected, have you caught her up to speed? Because it seems like something you should tell her.”

Nicky winced and looked away. “It… has not come up yet,” she murmured. “There is no easy way to inform someone that you were the catalyst in their parent’s divorce. Unless you have a way, in which case, feel free to share with the class.”

She shrugged, putting her hands up in surrender. “I got nothing, but my point remains. It’s gonna bite you in the ass badly if you wait too long to say anything.” When Nicky shrugged it off, she decided to move on. “What about you, Bubbles?” she asked, looking towards Jan, “what sort of scathing revenge does someone as bouncy as you come up with?”

Jan pressed her lips into a fine line, holding back what was either a smile or a grimace. “Well, this also happened in high school, an all-girl Catholic school, of course…”

Old Bridge, NJ - 2009

Jan was nothing if not brave. Coming out in tenth grade, especially considering the environment she was in, was a choice that couldn’t be taken lightly. While she had the support of her family and closest friends, the school environment had been a different story.

“Janice, could you stay back for a moment?” her math teacher, a conventionally attractive man in his early thirties, prompted as the final bell rang.

With math being her weakest subject, Jan was instantly concerned and nodded. “Of course, sir. Is something wrong?” she asked as she walked over to his desk.

“I think something is very wrong,” he replied as he got up. “Janice, I am highly concerned with your mental wellbeing.” He stopped in front of her, cupping her face with both hands. “You’re such a bright, beautiful girl. It would be such a shame for you to throw that away because you’ve chosen to shun God and live in sin.”

Jan felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach and her throat tighten. This was inevitable, but that didn’t make it any easier to bear. She started shaking her head. “N-No, I’m… I’m not, I—”

“Shh…” he pressed his thumb to her lips to quiet her, then swiped it across her bottom lip. “Part of being a good Christian is overcoming temptation. And that’s what you want, isn’t it? Isn’t it what your parents want for you?” His hands move to her shoulders, squeezing them gently. “God gave you this body to lay with a man, you just need to be put in the right direction before it’s too late. I could help you, I could save you.”

Jan felt sick to her stomach. She hated every moment of the interaction; she hated the feeling of his hands on her, the way he was leering at her body, undressing her with his eyes. But at the same time, it was hard to lean into that hate, because he did pick on every insecurity she had in regards to her faith. But her sense of self won out and she was able to free herself of his grasp and run out of the room as fast as her legs would take her.

Any shame or guilt she might have felt was quickly replaced by anger and a desire to stop the man that tried to rob her of her innocence from harming anyone else. But she was still cautious, she knew there was a risk of retaliation if she spoke out alone, that was when her plan formed.

She created a fake Facebook account of a fifteen-year-old girl who was ‘planning on transferring to her school’. That was why she messaged the teacher, and after a few days of exchanging messages, ‘Samantha’ had agreed to meet up with him, the conversation in no uncertain terms making his intent clear.

Now, the obvious path from there would have been to go to the police, but that wasn’t good enough for Jan. Instead, she went to her godfather, who had promised he’d always help her ‘by any means necessary’. So, it was neither the police nor ‘Samantha’ that met the teacher at the park. Instead, it was two burly men who drove home a rough lesson that he was to turn himself in the next day, lest he face even worse consequences. He’d been given a flash drive with a copy of the whole exchange and was told he had exactly twenty-four hours and that the police would be expecting him.

Of course, those details weren’t in the subsequent news story of the teacher’s arrest. The conviction, however, was disappointing to Jan, as it was only two years and a thousand dollar fine, as well as losing his teaching license and having to register as an offender.

Present Day

“But rest assured, people are keeping an eye on him these days. You know, should he ever try and act up,” Jan explained with a shrug.

Rosé’s mouth was hanging open by the time Jan had finished her story. “So, you put a hit out on a pedo. I mean, shit, color me impressed,” she chuckled softly, then quickly followed up with, “I’m so sorry any of that happened to you, though. I’ve had people in my life try to weaponize religion against me after I came out. It’s never an easy pill to swallow.” She then looked at the group curiously. “Are you all…”

“Mik’s pan but yeah, the rest of us are gay,” Gigi confirmed with a nod. “At first, I thought that’d be the only thing we all have in common, but here we are now.”

“Chosen family is super important,” Mik agreed, “you never know who you can’t trust in your bloodline.”

Rosé quirked her brow. “That what happened to you?”

Scottsdale, AZ - 2015

Mik had been sitting across from his parents in dead silence for the past five minutes. There was no easy way to break it, let alone a correct one. On the coffee table in front of them were printed pictures of screenshots from his private Twitter account, where he presented himself as his true identity, but the precautions he took weren’t enough.

“Kady, sweetheart, I’m sure Uncle Joe brought this to our attention with your best interest at heart,” his mother said in as sweet of a voice as she could muster, which only served to sound fake to her son.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh please, don’t give me that. If it was ‘concern’ he would’ve told you privately. He sent it to the family group chat then told you that, and I quote, ‘your daughter thinks she’s a tranny’,” he struggled to keep his tone even, but he knew he needed to coddle his parents’ feelings if he wanted a chance of being taken seriously.

“I’m sure it just caught him by surprise,” his father offered.

Mik groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Even if he did, he wasn’t treating it like a fun piece of gossip, he hunted down my private account and outed me to humiliate me, and it would mean a lot if you guys had my back on this.”

This brought another wave of silence upon his parents. He couldn’t get a clear read on them, but they seemed stressed, confused, and most painfully, they seemed sad. His mother slowly picked her head back up. “Kady, I—”

“My name is Mik.”

“Listen, honey, you’re going to have to give us some time to adjust,” his dad tried to ease the tension, “you’re still our child, but this isn’t an easy thing to process, your mother especially is mourning the loss of her daughter.”

Mik felt his chest tighten in anger and hurt. “But I’m not—” he got up, shaking his head. “Right, fine,” he mumbled and escaped to the sanctuary of his bedroom. Left alone with his thoughts, the anger he had towards his parents dissipated and the rage shifted solely onto his uncle. After all, this was his fault. He was the one that robbed him of the opportunity to come out on his terms, and with the active intent to cause harm.

The anger didn’t go away over the following weeks. Instead, it built up, it festered inside of him as the summer after high school began. He had downloaded Grindr out of casual curiosity, and it was only a matter of minutes before a profile caught his eye. “No fucking way,” he grinned.

Of course, it was Joe, Mik realized how much of a cliche it was, but that didn’t change the fact that his bigoted uncle that tried to ruin his familial relationships was soliciting male escorts on a gay dating app. The opportunity for revenge essentially fell into his lap. He made a fake account and exchanged messages with him, just enough to get the evidence he needed.

The last step was simple, he dropped the screenshots into the same group text without any comment and removed himself from the group chat right after. He didn’t need to see the chaos unfold, Uncle Joe’s absence from the next family gathering was all he needed.

Present Day

“Just to be clear,” Mik added as he finished the story, “I’m against outing people, for the most part, obviously it should be something done on your terms. But shit, sometimes it’s gotta be an eye for an eye, you know?”

“Wait, I have a question,” Jan chimed in, “is he out now? Do y’all even talk to him anymore?”

He shook his head. “He moved to Alabama, I guess he wanted to go somewhere to double-down on the bigotry. No idea what happened after that. But, you know, good fucking riddance.”

“Amen to that,” Rosé agreed. “I don’t know how you guys have figured out that line of deciding what’s morally sound and what’s ethical enough. It seems to work, but it seems hard.”

“Jackie helped a lot with that,” Jan told her, her face lighting up and her smile broadening as she continued, “she has this pragmatic take on these things while still understanding that there’s so much ambiguity and morally gray areas. She’s honestly the smartest person I’ve ever met.”

Rosé nodded as she listened. “I’m glad you guys have someone like that on your team. How long have you two been dating?”

Jan turned bright red, worsened by the way the rest of the group laughed. “Oh, um, we’re not dating. She and I are… very close friends,” she explained.

“Ah,” the corners of her lips tugged into a smirk, “you’re just fucking, got it,” she observed, causing another eruption of laughter from the others, much to Jan’s chagrin. Once it died down, she redirected her attention to the half of the group that had yet to recall their stories. “Alright, who’s next?”

#halldoll #jankie #rpdr rpf

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clean-bands-dirty-stories · 4 years

Text

Forget Me Not ~ R.C.

A/n: I really love the diversity of requests on this page y’all are so good to me. I did assume a female reader, so let me know if you want a male/nonbinary request instead! I love the idea of this prompt going a totally different way lol. Also, super sorry I took so long writing it :( Hope it was worth the wait!

Request: “Could you write something where Randall gets dusted by the reader to forget about you and protect him from the order and how he reacts when he finds out?...” by 💙 anon

Word Count: 4600+

MASTERLIST

"You want me to what?"

Alyssa took a deep breath. It was apparent that it caused her just as much pain to say as it did Y/n to hear. "The Grand Magus," She said with great stress, making sure it was clear that this had been Vera's decision and not hers. "Wants us to dust the wolves to make them forget. Everything." I went to argue with her so she rushed to add, "She thinks that they can't be controlled and therefore they're dangerous." Alyssa grabbed Y/n's shoulder, her desperation clear. The only person that would understand her struggle was the girl in front of her. If Y/n wasn't on her side Alyssa was going to lose her mind. "If you don't, they are going to kill them. All of them."

Y/n covered her mouth with her hand, trying to process. After a moment she moved it so she could speak, but only to her throat, as if pantomiming choking herself. "I have to make Randall forget me?"

Alyssa swallowed hard. "You've got the easiest access to him, and if you do what they say then you'll gain Vera's trust. I..." She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose for a second. When she moved her hand away and looked back at Y/n, there were tears in her eyes. "Listen, I need a friend in this and so will you. I know you care about Randall as much as I care about Jack and we will be the only two in the whole Order that will understand how the other feels. Please, do this for me. For - for you, even."

Shaking her head, Y/n stepped away. Alyssa seemed defeated until Y/n spoke. "I do it for Randall, like I do everything. If I was doing something for myself... I'd do something stupid."

There was a solemness to Alyssa's nod. She had won and gotten Y/n on her side. But at what cost?

Not long after their conversation, Y/n was on a trail to destroy the one thing that meant most to her for the sake of the man she loved. Randall and her had been dating for a while now. They'd met before either of them were part of the Knights or the Order and had started dating pretty soon after their instant chemistry took off without a hitch. When Alyssa had dragged Y/n to some beaten down cabin or house or whatever in the middle of the woods, Y/n hadn't known what to expect until she opened the door and came face to face with Vera Stone, who was supposed to be dead, and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend who was apparently her enemy. It had all been down hill from there, though it hadn't seemed to be for a second there. Randall and her had talked and figured out a system. They'd make it work. They had a plan.

Now it didn't matter.

"Hey there," Randall greeted brightly, grinning from ear to ear.

Y/n was a terrible liar but tried to seem as happy to see him as he was her. She was always glad to reunite with him, but what it meant to meet up with him now... For the first time she wanted to run far away from him and never come back. Maybe then she wouldn't have to do this. But that was, of course, a lie. If she didn't someone else would, and she might get dusted herself when she finally did return. She needed to grow up and just do what had to be done. Until she could figure out a better option, she'd rather him forget her than be dead. "Hey." She didn't stop walking when she saw him, moving right into his arms. He was a little surprised but was always down for a hug.

As had been mentioned before, Y/n was a bad liar, and even more so to Randall who knew her very well and could always tell when something was bothering her. So even though he loved hugs, he was also concerned by the way she was clinging to him. He pulled her back, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "What's wrong?" His eyes searched hers, trying to find the problem so he could fix it.

God she was going to miss him. He wasn't just her boyfriend, he was her best friend. How could she just...? No, she would do it. She HAD to do it. "Nothing." She steeled herself, pulling her thoughts together forcefully. This wasn't the worst option. At least if he forgot her, he'd be alive. And he wouldn't hurt either. He wouldn't know to miss her. This was a mercy. This was better than what she would be getting. There was no time for self pity though, she had to focus on helping him. Saving him. She relaxed a little and he seemed to believe her a bit more. "I just missed you."

"We saw each other yesterday," he reminded, his smile growing a little more teasing.

She felt her heart swell. "Well, how am I supposed to ever be okay with being away from the best boyfriend ever? Every second apart is actual torture."

Randall scooped her up against her, kissing her on the cheek. "My adorable, cheesy girlfriend. What would I do without you?"

Y/n felt a pang in her chest. "You'll never know." That, at least, was the truth. She stepped away, turning to the bar. She'd come to the Den since that's where he'd been, studying. Jack had left just before she'd gotten there to meet with Alyssa. Lilith and Hamish were still here though, so Y/n had to either wait for them to get called out or somehow get Randall away. "Want to do something today?" She needed to get this over with. Like a band-aid. Fast.

"Sure, I-"

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," Lilith said as she pointed to the door out they were blocking. "I was thinking about going for a run. I can't focus on homework after having a rough time sleeping. I think it would help to get my blood going." They both nodded at her and parted, letting her pass.

"Anyway," Randall sighed, stepping closer to his girlfriend again. "Where do you want to-?"

"Pardon me," Hamish mumbled as he brushed between the couple, pushing them apart again. "I need a drink." He looked tired, but wasn't it early to be drinking? And didn't he have homework? And class?

They let him go anyway. It wasn't their job to judge his life choices.

A thought did occur to Y/n then though. "...Or we could stay here." She chuckled.

He shook his head. "I can tell you, they definitely left because this place gets really stuffy after a while. We were all about ready to clock in a break. How about a walk instead?" Y/n agreed and he reached out, intertwining their fingers before pushing the door open and heading outside, tugging her gently after him. "You had a class this morning, didn't you?" He asked as a way to start conversation.

She nodded. "Yeah." She shrugged, already knowing what he was going to ask. "It was fine. My professor seemed to be irritated today but I know it wasn't my fault so no stress." She chuckled softly and he smiled. It was known that most of her professors were often irritated with her since she struggled to pay attention in class in a way they found mattered. She knew all the material and got fantastic grades, but spent most of her time staring out the window so they'd try to write her off, just for her to pull through anyway. She'd been accused of cheating even a few times, but she never did so it had fallen short.

They began to circle the house in their little walk, not wanting to go too far and chance running into someone else, but also wanting to get some distance from the place Randall didn't want to be right now. Y/n pulled ahead, turning around so she was walking backwards. He slowed down so she didn't have to walk so fast. "You sure it wasn't you? I swear you always press the right button, even if you're trying to be good."

Y/n rolled her eyes. "I'm sure. Even Mrs. Tynn has stopped her side comments. They're over it. I'm not cheating, I'm learning in my own way, and they don't have enough energy to be wasting it on me all the time." He nodded, recognizing that as fact. Most professors didn't waste energy on students if they didn't feel they had to. Y/n tilted their path, taking them closer and closer to the woods and further away from the Den. It would be best if he was away from it when he forgot, so he wouldn't come back and go searching. "How about you?"

"Thank god I don't have class today," Randall groaned, rolling his eyes. "I was so happy when my teachers all told me I'd have no classes on Saturday." Y/n chuckled, remembering how all last year he'd been whining and moaning and complaining about having class on Saturday. He didn't mind Sunday, and if he had the day off on Friday it bothered him less, but there was something about having Saturdays free that he fed off of. Y/n only had the one morning class, so they usually spent it together.

I guess that wasn't an option anymore.

Y/n wrapped her fingers around the bag in her pocket. It was super small. Smaller than what she'd thought. "Randall," she wondered aloud. He hummed, letting her know he was listening. "Do you ever do something that you regret, but you know you have to do?"

At that he scoffed. "I guess. Not really, for the most part, but I have before." Y/n thought back to when must have been around the time Randall had first joined. He was nervous and jumpy, obviously guilt ridden. The first few times he'd killed people had been obvious in hindsight. He wouldn't let Y/n touch him, and had almost broken up with her because he said he wasn't good enough for her. Then, after a while, he'd seemed to calm and adjust. Y/n wondered if that's what he had in mind when she said things you had to do, but didn't want to. Last time she'd checked, he was plenty fine with it now. He even enjoyed it, having to be reeled in by Jack and occasionally Hamish, and being disappointed when he was.

It came out without her wanting it to. "What if you had to kill me?" He stopped dead and she slowed, leaving a lot of space between them. He suddenly felt incredibly far away and she hated it. "I don't mean to make you anxious - I haven't done anything. I just mean, your job is to kill people in the Order right? You enjoy doing it. It's what fuels you every day. Well, goddamnit, I'm in the Order."

He shifted uncomfortably. "I thought we talked about this."

"I-" She bit her lip, looking away from him. "You guys kill kids our age. Kids who are most of the time just doing what they're told so they can be apart of something they enjoy. Something they worked their asses off to keep being apart of. Something that makes them special." She looked back at him. "What if the day comes that I'm asked to do something and you're told to stop me, and we have to kill each other? Would you do it?"

"Would you?" It was accusing and it made Y/n take another step away, horrified at what must have been going through his head.

"NO!" She felt anger rise inside of her. "I'd give everything to protect you, Randall. But what I do doesn't require me to kill you, does it?"

He seemed to have too many thoughts. The easy going mood from a second ago was gone. "Well I can't just quit like you can."

Immediately Y/n's anger exploded and he looked away, ashamed. He knew how much magic meant to her. How she had spent years feeling like an outsider until she'd learned magic and it had given her a purpose. Somewhere to belong, where things made sense. "If I quit, I would lose everything. Including you. I wouldn't know you were a wolf anymore, and with all that sneaking around... I mean our secrets almost ripped us apart before. You want it to happen again?"

"No," he snapped. His voice sounded raw though, and stress lines were beginning to deepen as the thought of me forgetting him made him feel terrible. Y/n knew, because she had been thinking about it nonstop since Alyssa had told her what Vera had ordered.

Y/n turned around, puling the bag out of her pocket. She stared at it, her eyes watering. She blinked it away, looking straight ahead and setting her jaw. "I love you, Randall. Despite what you think about the Order and what you do and our parts in this world that was supposed to make us enemies. I love you."

Randall sighed behind her, his footsteps sounding as he moved closer. She reached into the bag, pulling out a handful of dust. "I love you too. I'm sorry I just... I don't want to lose you."

"Neither do I," Y/n whispered. His hand reached out to touch her shoulder. The second it landed, she spun around, throwing the dust in his face. He collapsed right there and she felt her heart shatter. She slipped the now empty bag in her pocket, staring at him. He suddenly woke up, gasping, eyes flying open as he looked around, obviously confused. She rushed to him, offering a hand to help him up. "Oh my god are you okay?"

"Y- yeah." He blinked, shaking his head, and then took her hand as she helped him up. She let herself hold as long as he would let her, reasoning that he would need to be stabilized but knowing it was really because this was probably the last time she'd ever touch him again. "Where am I?"

"You looked like you were going on a walk and you just collapsed." She slipped out her phone with some quick thinking. "I was taking pictures."

That's when his eyes landed on her. He made the same expression he had the first time he'd seen her, if with a little more confusion now. "Why?"

"I enjoy the beauty of nature," she slowly offered, a spike a fear running through her as she wondered if it hadn't worked.

He seemed to chuckle though, his hand that she'd been holding now holding her hand instead. "All you have to do to see art is look in the mirror."

Despite herself, she blushed. "Well thank you." She pulled her arm away, stepping back. It was time to stay goodbye. "Make sure you get back to school safely, why don't you? Wouldn't want a pretty face like yours to get messed up with another fall."

His eye slight up and she internally cursed herself. STOP FLIRTING WITH HIM! "You know, it's customary for the knight in shining armor to escort the princess back to safety."

"You do know that you're the princess in this situation," she reminded, a smile growing.

"I am," he confirmed rather proudly. "And since you're my knight in shining armor, how about I buy you dinner? As a thank you."

She almost said yes. Almost. She remembered what she'd just said. How keeping secrets ruined relationships. And how could she have a relationship with him when there was so much he'd forgotten? It would be unfair to her, and even more so to him. She didn't get to keep being happy when she'd taken away from him the exact thing she'd gotten mad at him for suggesting she leave. The Order was for Y/n what the Knights were for Randall. Even if it was to save his life, she had a lot to answer for. So she panicked, and said the first thing that came into her mind instead. "I... have a boyfriend." Her face scrunched. What an odd thing to say when just moments before she'd flirted with him. "Sorry. I..." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm happy with him."

He backed off immediately. "I get it, no worries. Thanks anyway."

Nodding, she walked away. Her fingers death gripped her phone as she stared at the ground as she walked. The only thought she could muster was: You shouldn't be thanking me.

Y/n had been struggling to keep herself together, but at the very least she'd had the freedom to be away from any reminders of Randall when she was doing Order stuff.

Now they were here too.

"Y/n, right?"

The girl turned to face the person talking to her and had to steel herself so she wouldn't cry. "Yeah." Her voice came out in a rasp and she cleared her throat. He kept looking at her like he was trying to understand. She couldn't understand what was so interesting to him, but his look made her want to combust into flames. Randall's gaze usually made her feel warm, but not it was like someone had turned the temperature up a hundred degrees. It was unbearably painful.

"I was just wondering if you could help me with something."

She moved away as he went to step closer, shrinking into herself. "Please ask someone else."

That seemed to confuse him. "But-"

"She gave you an order, Neophyte," Alyssa said calmly. Her hands were behind her back and she was giving Randall a warning look. It wasn't angry like she'd been with Jack when he'd first joined. It was almost... panicked. Y/n could understand. Alyssa of all people knew how weak Y/n's self control was when it came to Randall, and if she burst into tears just because he'd talked to her it would have set off a lot of questions.

Randall seemed pissed. "Fine." He turned around and left and Y/n almost became a puddle from how hard she'd melted in relief.

Y/n turned to Alyssa. "I- I can't do this anymore, Lys. Please just- maybe I should just quit. And forget. I haven't been helping you at all with the dust and it's getting so complicated and I- I- I can't lie to him anymore." Her eyes were watering and she'd begun to hyperventilate.

"You can't forget," Alyssa rushed, her eyes wide with panic.

"Why not?" Y/n demanded. "It's been six months of me sitting here and trying to deal with the fact that I made him forget everything that mattered to him, including me. And for what? It didn't work, and they're going to kill him anyway!"

Suddenly Y/n's brain shut down.

They were going to kill Randall.

Tears were streaming as she leaned against the wall behind her, soft sobs emitting from her as she tried to muffle them with her hand. Her chest constricted and she doubled over, covering her face. Alyssa tried to touch her and shrunk away, a shiver running down her spine as her body coiled so tightly it hurt. "Y/n please-"

In response, the girl on the floor shook her head frantically before her body began to vibrate. She was having a breakdown. It had been the worst six months of her life and Y/n had a soft heart. She didn't hurt people. She didn't betray people who she cared about - people who trusted her. She was a good person through and through. She handled everything to the best of her ability, guided by a strong conscious. Everything she was doing now went against that driving force that demanded she do what was right. Nothing made sense anymore, and she couldn't handle feeling lost on top of feeling both guilty and alone. They were all emotions she couldn't handle. She wasn't built to deal with it.

It was as if Alyssa could sense the exact moment she could no longer help Y/n. The blonde spun around, running. In the distance she was yelling something but Y/n didn't care. Not until two people came back, one kneeling in front of her and reaching out, concerned. Y/n made a mental note not to break down in the temple again. What were they going to do? Help her? No, the Order would be much more eager to just wiper her memory. On second thought, that might not be so bad.

"Y/n, please talk to me." Her head snapped up to lock eyes with Randall of all people. "Wh-" She shook her head. "No," she moaned, putting her head back between her legs. "Don't help me."

He sighed. "Y/n I know." Just like that Y/n was still, her eyes wide as she slowly looked not at Randall, but at Alyssa. The blonde shrunk away in surprised fear at the look of murder on Y/n's face.

"You... told him?"

"They remembered," Alyssa rushed to explain as she twisted her hand around her wrist nervously. "Their healing was just helping them get used to the dust, like someone adjusting to a drug. I had to do something, I-"

Y/n shot to her feet, rushing at Alyssa. Randall caught her by some miracle. She didn't even process him though. "He's going to die now!"

"What?" Randall snapped.

"No one is going to die." Alyssa huffed, her voice tight. "We will figure this out. But- Y/n I need your help."

Y/n grunted, twisting her body to slam her foot on top of Randall's. He yelped and flew back from her and she closed the distance between her and the Alyssa. "You got me into this whole mess. You brought Vera to the Den and that's how she found out about the wolves. You convinced me to agree, and then continued to convince me to stay. Because you needed a friend and if they found out, they'd die. Now you've gone behind my back and made some alliance with them and you want my help again?"

Alyssa let out a sharp breath, her body shuddering. "I'm just trying to figure this out, Y/n. I know how hard this all is I'm sorry I just- I'm trying to keep them alive, and if they didn't get answers it was going to make everything so much worse."

"Then why didn't you tell me they remembered?" Y/n demanded. "What did you tell Randall when he asked who I was or why I did what I did? Do you even know why? Did you take away my opportunity to explain it to him myself, without other people muddling up what really happened? Fuck you Alyssa." She spun around to run off but was stopped dead as her eyes locked with Randall's.

"You... were the one who dusted me?" Alyssa's help had aided in returning memories much more quickly, and in bigger chunks, but for each of the wolves it had worked differently. For Hamish, it had been from when they'd lost their memories and backward. For Jack, it had been returned to him all at once. For Lilith, it had come very quickly in tiny tidbits. For Randall, it was in huge chunks but very slowly. As Y/n revealed she had been the one to do it, he got his first bad memory of the girl. The day she'd taken his memory.

Y/n was stunned. "You... didn't know?"

Alyssa cleared her throat. "I.. think I should go." She dipped around them and raced out before either could stop her. Not that they cared much to.

"Randall, please-"

"She didn't tell me anything," Randall told her. His voice wasn't malicious as she expected, but it was hard. She wasn't sure what that meant. Was he mad? Sad? Scared? Secretly planning some violent revenge? "That's why I came up to you. I thought... I know we were together before, but I don't know everything. Every time I saw you I got more, but... not everything. Alyssa says that in two or three days all of our memories will be back again. I thought talking to you might unlock if we weren't together anymore, or where we'd left off... I guess it wasn't great."

Y/n couldn't find the words. "I can't even think of how to apologize to you. Just, please understand that I did it so they wouldn't kill you. I figured you living out your life without me would be safer for you, if anything. You'd be happy. And you were happy. I know how hard it was, and what it cost. It cost being a wolf, and that was something special. Like magic is to me. And I... I can't imagine what it would be like to realize your best friend doesn't even care about you. I was so mad when I found out. But if I had done anything, I would have forgotten you too. And- and sometimes I wanted to, but I thought that I should hurt. Because I made you hurt. I-" She cringed away, flinching away from her as he met her gaze again. "I'm so sorry Randall."

His jaw worked as he let this new information roll around in his head. "I'm angry," he realized. Y/n's head fell forward in shame. "But... not at you, I don't think." She stared at the ground in shocked, too scared to look at his face again and see he was being sarcastic, or cruel. "I'm mad at the Order. I'm mad they forced you to do this. Honestly, I think I would have done the same. I can't imagine having to choose your life or your magic. I don't blame you- you made the right choice. If you hadn't, you'd have forgotten and I could just as well be dead."

Now Y/n did look up. "You... forgive me?"

After a second, he shook his head. "There's nothing to forgive you for. I got the good memories first, Y/n. I got the cuddling and the crying when I stepped on bugs, and the stressing about tests together, and watching you get decked because someone was nasty to me. Back when we were still pretending to be just friends and I flirted with someone to see if you'd get jealous. To see if you liked me. And it was a guy, and this older woman was really nasty to me. You stood up for me, and when her husband reacted poorly and you were on the floor.... god I was so lucky those police officers were nearby because I almost shifted right then and there." He smiled a little. "You love me, and I love you. And you were faced with a bad choice and an even worse choice. I'm just so glad that I can come back to you, rather than having to go through even more shit to get you to remember to." He sighed, shaking his head again. "I've been through so much, Y/n. We- both have, actually. This world of our is shit, and it's really hard to deal with alone. Can we just get passed this and be happy? You make being happy so much easier."

Y/n beamed. "Of course Randall."

They shared their first kiss in six months, and it was a relief to both of them. It was also a promise. A promise that no matter what, it was always them. They were together, through thick and thin. It was Y/n and Randall and it would always be Y/n and Randall. No matter what to get between them in the future, they'd figure it out and stick together. Because fuck everything else if they lost what they had. Love was more powerful than any magic. More important too.

#randall carpio #the order #the knights of saint christopher imagine #the knights of the order of the hermedic blue rose #the knights of saint chrisptoher #the knights of saint christopher x reader #randall carpio x reader #randall carpio imagine #the order x reader #the order imagine #female reader

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daddyissuesingreen · 3 years

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Chicken Tendies *Song Series Part 1 (Peter Parker x GN! Reader)

Gif creds:

Song: Chicken Tendies by Clinton Kane

Genre: Kinda sad with some fluff

Summary: Peter blipped, you didn’t, when he comes back he reminisces on your past relationship.

Warnings: I don’t think there are any really.

Word Count: 732

A/N: This is the first part of my song series, I don’t know how many I am going to do, or how long this series will go on for, but as long as I keep getting inspired by songs, people request them, and you guys enjoy them, I will keep doing them. So far, I have 9 parts total, including this one. This part is in Peter’s POV.

“I saw someone who looks just like you

In the back seat, with her hand out the sunroof

I swear it was the dress that I gave you

And I wonder, is your favorite color still blue?”

I blipped and she didn’t, the love of my life, Y/N.

We imagined our lives after high school together, I wanted to marry them. They were my everything, and now she is living their life without me.

They were my home, with them, I never felt lonely.

The other day I saw them again, the first time in years for them, but just a few days later for me.

They were riding in the backseat of a car with some of our old friends, with their hands out the sunroof. I wondered what it would be like to hold them, or what if I never got to hold them again. I could even swear they were wearing the hoodie I gave them the last time I saw them before the blip, I wonder if it's still her favorite.

They look so happy, that is all I wanted for them, even if it is without me.

“You're full of love and wild and free

Chasing every dream and possibility

You're more than I could ever be…”

Y/N was the first person I told when I became Spider-Man, they still loved me.

Before Ned was my technical guy, Y/N helped me, they were always down to help me fight criminals, even if most of the time they stood there with a bat just in case I needed back up.

Y/N dreamt of being my sidekick, we would have called them “Tiny Spider.”

When they were set on something, there was no changing their mind, they started training to be stronger and use more than a bat.

They were stronger than I ever could be, I bet they still are, they never let something push them down, and if something did, they always got right back up.

I got my abilities from a spider, but them? They are a natural born here, something I could never be.

“I hope he treats you better than I ever could

'Cause you deserve the world times two, and our simple Sunday afternoons

I hope he's home for you, even though I had to lose you

You define who fills your heart, even if I'm not the one you choose”

I saw Y/N again today, they were with their new significant other.

I know this because I saw them kiss them the way they used to kiss me. Full of passion and power.

I really hope they are getting treated the way they deserve, they are royalty, they deserve the world and all it has to offer.

They better be getting that from their significant other.

Y/N better be getting their Sunday afternoon dates they always adored.

I would always take them to the park and we would have a picnic and then take a walk round the park.

We would always end the date with me pushing them on the swing, adoring their laugh, it was music to my ear, the most beautiful sound I have ever heard.

Y/N was my home, I hope that their significant other is their home, I hope they are getting all of their heart’s desires.

Their heart was one of gold, I hope it still is, I could not imagine them any different.

Y/N could turn anyone who had troubles and acted out good without even meaning to.

Their attitude and personality was infectious, there was no way to come home from spending any amount of time with them and not feel like you have been bettered by them.

Being with Y/N means you have to be good too, there is no chance you would be caught with them if you weren’t a good person, Y/N defines a good person, with them in your heart, you will never be bad again.

There are so many things to remember about Y/N, their favorite food; chicken tendies, blue being their favorite color, the Sunday afternoon dates, their laugh, but oh, the Sunday afternoons? Those are my favorite.

No...that’s a lie.

My favorite thing about Y/N? Them. They are perfect, more than I could ever be, I love them and always will, they’re my favorite.

#marvel #spiderman #peter parker #peter parker x reader #tom holland #tom holland x reader #fanfic #imagine

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twothumbsandnostakeincanon · 4 years

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guess who remembered that “Once Upon a December” goes fuckin HARD

and now wants a modern Anastasia AU.��

Like let’s say Claudia’s dementia caused her to forget the sheriff instead of Stiles. One day she’s suddenly convinced that she and her son are being held captive by a strange man, so she takes Stiles and runs. Her paranoia causes her to leave behind her phone and any identifying information, out of the fear that it will be used to track her.

Stiles is young enough that he doesn’t understand what’s happening, just happy to be with his mom. He’s young enough that he barely knows his own phone number. He’s young enough that when Claudia crashes the car and goes flying through the windshield, the trauma destroys any memory that could help the police find his father.

Stiles winds up in a group home. A few foster families tried to take him in, but with ADHD and a generally odd personality, he’s never quite “a good fit.” Every time he gets sent back, it breaks him a little more. The social workers tell him that it’ll work out someday, that everyone belongs to a family somewhere, they just have to find them.

This statement gets twirled around in Stiles’ mind. He does belong to a family. Memories of his dad are fuzzy, but he knows he had one before his mom died. The memories are coated in a warm feeling of comfort and love- he wants it back. He has to find his dad. As soon as he turns 18 and he’s free from state care, he’s going to find his dad.

Enter Peter.

Peter has a... history of finding people. After the fire, he was the one who found Cora. He found the Argents, too. And after that, he found a distantly related pack to take in Derek and Laura when they decided they couldn’t stay with him.

However, he’s also “found” lost paintings, and rare copies of books, and other easily forged things. He’s gotta make a living somehow, and Cora doesn’t object to it. He doesn’t care about anyone else’s opinion.

He meets Stiles in a Starbucks. Well, actually, Peter catches Stiles slipping Peter’s wallet back into Peter’s pocket in a Starbucks. Stiles is already holding the hot coffee he bought with it. Peter is just slightly more impressed than mad.

“At least I returned it,” Stiles objects, sipping his quadruple shot latte. “I could have just kept it and used it to pay for an Uber.”

“How ethical of you,” Peter says dryly.

“Yeah, Uber isn’t a sustainable model and they treat their drivers pretty terribly, I don’t like to support that.” He takes another sip.

Peter isn’t sure if he wants to punch him or kiss him. Though, the longer they sit across from each other and chat, the more he leans toward kissing.

And actually... the longer he looks at him, the more... familiar he looks. Not his exact face, but...

A quick google in the bathroom pulls up the face of Claudia Stilinski and her son Mieczysław from a missing poster twelve years ago. Peter’s never had a good eye for aging up kids, but the boy in Starbucks looks remarkably like Claudia. And he’s about the right age...

And the sheriff never stopped offering a reward of a million dollars.

Peter’s not stupid enough to think the kid is actually the Stilinski boy. Things like that just don’t happen in real life. He knows the statistics. It’s why he was so desperate to find Cora before the first 24 hours was up.

But he knows the sheriff is still heartbroken. And the boy out there carried enough verbal armor to ensure that he was desperate for something. After a few mentions of foster care, Peter could guess what. If both of them were looking for the same thing, there was no reason they couldn’t find it in each other.

And no reason Peter couldn’t pad his bank account by a solid mil.

It will take some extra maneuvering, though. The DNA test for starters. Luckily, he knows someone who works in the hospital lab.

“Cora, sweetie, I have a favor to ask.”

“I’m not letting you borrow my Valentino sweater.”

“I'm already wearing it, but that’s not actually why I’m calling.”

When he tells her his idea, she’s more reluctant than he is.

“So you’re basically... forging a person,” she says, skeptical. “I don’t know, Peter. Fencing fake art is one thing...”

“They’re both looking for family, Cora. We can give them that.” And here’s the thing: Peter’s not just using that as an excuse. He genuinely believes it. He doesn’t know where he’d be if he didn’t have a family in Cora. And he knows that if he suddenly found out that she wasn’t actually his biological niece, it wouldn’t change anything about their relationship, because she would still be the person who makes scones with him on Sundays and critiques modernist poetry with emojis.

Eventually, he gets Cora on board, and convinces Stiles that he might actually be the long lost Stilinski child. It takes time to talk him into it, though. For as desperate as Stiles is to find his father, he’s also terribly gunshy after the failed foster homes.

As they talk, Peter drops information about Mieczysław that the sheriff has said in interviews. Siltes latches on to every piece of information like it’s the key to unlocking eternal life.

“Mieczysław’s favorite candy was Reese’s? My favorite candy is Reese’s.”

“Mieczysław had an outie belly button? I have an outie belly button.”

There are actually an uncanny amount of commonalities. Peter thinks it’s convenient.

(He doesn’t think anything else about it)

Finally, Peter introduces them. It goes amazingly. They fall into a father/son dynamic immediately, joking and comparing the few memories they share. Mostly the ones that Peter’s told Stiles about. There are a couple that he doesn’t remember, but he figures Stiles probably did some extra research. He’s thorough that way.

The sheriff, tearful with thanks and absolutely sure that this could be no one but his son, hugs Peter and transfers the money in gratitude.

Stiles and the sheriff start having family dinners and spending their days off catching up. They spend a lot of time together.

A Lot™ of time.

So much time that Peter doesn’t really get to see Stiles much anymore.

He’s not jealous or anything. He’s just starting to wonder if maybe he was wrong. Maybe he should tell them that they’re not really related. That might be, what’s the word, “right”? Yeah, it might be the “right” thing to do. But it’s totally not because he’s jealous.

Then Cora bring him the DNA test.

“Hey. Those are the results.”

Peter checks them over briefly, and despite his misgivings says, “Yeah, that looks good. Thanks Cora, the money’s in your account.”

“No, dipshit, those are the results. The actual results. Stiles is Mieczysław. He’s the missing kid. I mean missing eighteen year old.”

It turns out real life really does work like that sometimes. Sometimes, the boy gets to go home.

And, Peter finds out when Stiles asks him on a date the next night, sometimes he gets the boy too.

#GLOWING DIM AS AN EMBERRRRRRR #THINGS MY HEART #USED TO KNOW #things it yearns to rememberrrrrrrrrrr #it's so fucken good my dudes #car accident tw #steter #this blog needs a tag for my bullshit #anastasia au

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cloveroctobers · 4 years

Text

GARY RENNELL —

IG info/bio | @/rennellnotreynolds | 300k followers | currently havin a midlife crisis at thee moment so cheers! 🍻🏋🏼‍♂️🤨

23 (24) years old

Born & raised in Chatham, England there’s no other place like it to him. Sure when he went on holiday to the villa, it was quite nice but nothing ever beats home. He genuinely believes that he’s meant to be in this place since it’s all he’s ever known & doesn’t think he’ll live anywhere else

Raised by his nan & is an only child. Was at risk of being placed in foster care until his paternal nan came forth to raise him

His father and nan did not have the best relationship due to the way he chose to live his life and Gary was kept away from his nan until he was about 10 years of age

Does not like to talk about his birth parents due to the trauma, which is why he feels like his nan is his everything. His savior and why she means so much to him

His nan once told him that he favors his mother, Gail. He never had the chance to really know her, but was aware that she was very unhappy with herself &, “chose to be with the stars” just before his 5th birthday

That’s one of the reasons why he finds himself always looking up at the stars, usually when he’s drunk out at the docks by himself, he’ll try to talk to his mom, to know her better

I feel like he’s either a cancer or a Libra?

Update: Cancer sun + libra moon + Taurus rising

Went to uni for a semester and thought about architecture as a profession but ultimately felt like uni was NOT for him and eventually juggled around with jobs until he landed into the crane operator field which he found himself to be great at

For as long as he and his nan can remember, he always loved playing with cars, ships, building Legos, (I’m American idk if this is a thing there too or it’s something different/similar so my apologies lol) and putting things together. He never cared for reading instructions, Gary’s a hands on type of guy/learner and it’s how he best communicates

He likes heights, so this job wasn’t an issue it was just getting through the program for 2-3 years that was a pain in his ass but he was determined + knew this was what he was good at and stuck with it.

It was tiring working 40 sometimes over 40 hrs a week but he’s passionate about his work so he’d never dare change it

Due to this job being a lot physically, he would use muscle cream to help his pain or pay to see a masseuse whenever he could or wasn’t being cheap about it + often buys epsom salt to bathe in 3 or so times a week

Total penny pincher! I can see him being so, his dad told him all about how to hold onto what he’s got and always look for a bargain but with a gambler for a father, you can only imagine how that worked in his favor

Lives with his nan and doesn’t see an issue with it. His mates definitely tease him about it but know how much the woman means to him but still think it’s a major c*ck block for him but it’s a two for one package deal and anyone who doesn’t understand that doesn’t deserve him

Will probably still live in her house once IF she p*sses

Nan is a big fan of wallpaper and has one room in the flat that has squeaky plastic covering most of her furniture ( she loves furniture shopping) & only takes it off once her lady friends come over with consists of a huge cleaning routine which Gary secretly hates but pushes through it while she plays some old tunes on her jukebox

He finds himself singing those exact songs when he’s getting ready for work and actually enjoys them...but don’t ever tell his mates that!

His nan taught him basic household care & he finds himself scolding his mates for not knowing how to wash their underwear & always taking it to their mum’s or having their girlfriends do it for them

Loves washing clothes on a Sunday in the backyard + hanging them on the clothes line. His nan doesn’t believe in washer machines & makes her own detergent

He’s always down for a rooftop hangout, whether drunk or not. To be up almost as high as the stars is such a feeling or hang out with his mates laughing it up

Occasionally smokes cigarettes when he’s really stressed, he’s not proud of the nasty habit and tries his hardest to hide it from his nan & Lottie but they both know

Is in a on and off again relationship with Lottie. She’s met his nan, they both like each other. And that makes Gary extremely happy

Gary is the laid back one out of the two and Lottie is firey and needs constant reminding from Gary that he wants to be with her whereas Gary feels like that’s something she should already know and he’s told her a couple of times before, he’s sure of it. He doesn’t get why she doesn’t get that

Which results in arguments. Lottie chose to live in England for half of the year and goes back to Australia for the other half. Nan encouraged Lottie to live with the two of them until she decided to get her own place in England, or rather the two of them together. Nan doesn’t believe Gary will leave in fear of her being lonely, which she’s not! By all means, nan keeps busy! But Lottie desperately wants to have her own space with Gary away from nan, even tho she adores the spunky lady.

When they don’t see eye to eye she does what she does best and leaves, which is exhausting to Gary

They’ll go days without speaking until the other cracks. At first it would be Gary but since it’s been a year into their relationship, he’s gotten used to it and let’s her come back to him when she’s ready

He cares for Lottie, he really does. And wants this to work but he just wishes they could be more secure in their relationship.

Was a f*ckboy way back when from 18-20 and rarely there’s his old flings who show up just to cause drama knowing that Gary’s got a new girl in his life that LIVES with him, which Gary dreads that this small town knows his business. He hates confrontation but there’s one thing about Lottie, she’s never going to bite her tongue. So whenever those girls do try it with not only her but Gary she goes off.

Gary is protective too so when those messy girls start shit at the pub, he’s instantly trying to get Lottie away from the issue. Then there’s drinks flying and slap fights happening + hair pulling & they’re getting kicked out of the club/pub or even cops called on them.

“This blows. I thought you said you were trying to be better than this, Lottie.” “Me? What about those slags?! They attack not only me but your character too!” Which adds to a list of the reasons they fight.

Nonetheless they do have their fun moments together, getting drunk by the docks, getting random tattoos, hanging with his friends & their significant others, + going to the theatre

Lottie still thinks this town is very slow-pace, sleepy, cloudy and hardly has sun— which is okay to her some days but other day’s it can be dreadful and much different from her fast-pace life but she finds the little things like spending time with Gary to encourage her to stay

Gary likes playing games when he has his free time, like fortnite, red dead redemption, Final fantasy, & SUPER SMASH BROS & almost always plays with Ibrahim who informs him about new games which makes Lottie want to slam her head against the wall since that can take hours

Keeps in touch with all of the boys in villa and makes sure they have zoom meetings as much as they can because he cares about those boys. Noah tries to schedule them but usually it’s happens at random which annoys him but he gets over it. Gary spent month(s) with them. They’re basically his extended family & that’s saying a lot since he views his home to a high standard and has friends here but they’re nothing like his villa brother’s

Also into woodwork. He didn’t think he’d enjoy it but he likes to do it more when the weather gets crisp and he battles with that over cigarettes to ease his worries in life, then goes and have his daily dose of tea

Finally stopped dying his hair that awful yellow and stuck with it. Marisol was the first to see it, after an accidental FaceTime call which was supposed to be just a regular phone call but whatever? They’d all eventually see it if he EVER decided to post to his IG stories!

She compliments him in Spanish yanking her glasses off leaving him highly confused, “is that good?” “If Lottie doesn’t sit on your— which leaves Gary very wide eyed opposed to his raised brows but Marisol is cut off by Graham clearing his throat

Lottie does indeed like it & shows him how much and later asks his option on what color she should dye her hair next. 3 out of the 13 look the exact same to Gary. But he helps her dye her hair which comes out patchy but there’s no way in hell she’s letting anyone else touch her hair. She’s been doing this all on her own for some time now. Gary’s lucky she even allowed him to help her! So she dyes it back to blonde, all of it, and waits a few weeks to dye it all blue

Gary’s definitely into old boy bands especially LFO & serenades, “girl on tv” to Lottie all the time, likes 98 degrees, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Boys II men, & Dru Hill

As for modern day music, he LOVES to work out to tame impala which never makes sense to his mates but he usually works out the next day after getting shit-faced, he’s also in love with lizzo’s music, laundry day, brockhampton, & rina sawayama

Anthem = mac demarco, “Salad Days”

Celeb crush? Julia Roberts, Salma Hayek, Anne-Marie, Leona Lewis, & Noah Cyrus

#litg #litg s2 #litg2 #litg gary #litg lottie #litg headcanon #litg headcanons #litg au

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larryfanficwriter98 · 4 years

Text

Chapter Nine

"So what have you wanted to do in all your time in Orlando?" Louis asked as Harry drove out of his driveway

"Go to Sea World." Harry said immediately

"Well then let’s go to Sea World. Do we need to turn back and get swim trunks?"

"Nah. We can get wet suits in a gift shop. Part of the experience." Louis agreed as he took Harry’s hand and laced their fingers together then laid their locked hands on his lap. Louis messed with the radio until he was content with the station.

"You've never been to Sea World?"

"No. Like I said my ex only wanted to go to Universal. We never went to Disney, the zoo, Miami, we only ever stayed here for Universal. It's why the house is so close to the theme park."

"But you hate roller coasters."

"I don't hate them, I dislike them. I hate the first row seats to be exact. If I'm in the middle or the back then I'm good, I can't be dangled hundreds of feet above the ground with just a lap bar as protection.

"Well, I promise if we ever go on a coaster we'll get the back or middle seat and you can hold my hand."

"Deal." The drive to Sea World was quick and after Harry found a parking spot they got out holding hands immediately afterward. Louis had taken one of Harry’s many pairs of sunglasses from his middle console and pulled his phone. He huddled close to Harry as they walked through the parking lot and aimed the camera towards them. Harry grinned and Louis finally took the picture once nothing was giving away their location.

"Our first picture together." Harry said kissing his cheek

"We were distracted and busy yesterday." Louis said as he typed out "Happy Valentine's Day" on the picture then shared it to his story.

Louis was in charge of making sure they took pictures together. He didn't post anymore and didn't plan to until they left for the day. At first, fans seemed to be too nervous and unsure to approach them, but eventually, they did approach for a quick photo with Harry and he asked them to wait to post it until the end of the day which they agreed to. They walked around the park, going to each animal exhibit and watch a few shows before Louis finally convinced Harry to go on a few roller coasters with the promise of holding his hand the entire time.

***

After spending the day at Sea World and stopping at the shops so Harry can buy ingredients for their meal.

"Stay in here. I don't want you to see what I'm buying." Harry said

"What. That's not fair." Louis said even as he took the keys from Harry

"I'll be out in ten minutes." Harry kissed his cheek then climbed out of the car. Louis huffed but opened the glove compartment finding a CD booklet. He grabbed it unzipping it to go through his collection finding the classics of course then a few kid tunes for Lux that Harry told him about. Harry even had his own CDs which gave Louis a horribly brilliant idea as he gently pulled out the cd and pushed it into the player. He waited until he saw Harry coming out of the store before he pressed play. He slowly turned it up higher until Harry looked up and glared at Louis shaking his head. Louis laughed and turned it up higher until Harry was inside the car and turned it completely off as he pushed a bouquet of tulips into his chest.

"You are no longer allowed in my car alone." Harry said placing the bags in the back seat.

"Why the flowers?" Louis asked grinning as he smelled the white, pink, and red tulips wrapped in brown paper.

"Because it's Valentine's Day and I haven't gotten you flowers today yet." Harry said looking at him, "I can still get us into a fancy restaurant."

"No, I prefer to spend Valentine's Day inside. My last Valentine's Day I went out with..actually, I think my ex from Uni. Well, it was terrible. The worst experience of my life."

"Please tell me." Harry said grinning as he pulled out of the parking spot.

"To start it off our reservations got switched for someone else, so we had to wait an hour to eat. Then they ran out of the cheaper wine options so we got a more expensive bottle. Mind you we are in uni and work part-time in cafes and stuff like that. I had money, but not my partner at the time. So the wine was more expensive than I think he was comfortable with which is fine. Then it ended up being the chief's choice so we didn't even get to pick our meal and it ended up being five courses for dinner then two plates of dessert. Come to the bill my partner's card got declined which fine, I didn't mind paying and I offered to pay before we came. So he got embarrassed. Which is stupid. Then he asked to pay for half, at half price the total came just below what would have been our normal meal total that night. Well, it got declined again so I just told the waitress to put it on mine and it wasn't a big deal. He stormed out of the restaurant and drove off making me walk back to my flat with the lads in below zero London. I broke up with him, I made sure he knew it wasn't because of the card, but because he acted like a child."

"Well, my card won't get declined." Louis rolled his eyes laughing

"I wouldn't care if it did. I just don’t like going out on this day because of that experience. I'd much rather we have a nice quiet dinner that you make for me and we cuddle and watch a movie."

"Sounds perfect. I promise not to take you out on Valentine's Day unless I ask first and you agree to it. I'll gladly cook for you any special occasion we have together." Harry said kissing his hand

"You are taking me to Disney while I'm here right? I promised my sisters I would get them something from Universal and Disney."

"Of course. I haven't been there yet so I'm excited. I've already started planning it. It probably won’t be until before you leave though as I will have Friday and Saturday completely free."

"Sounds good. Then Sunday we lay in bed all day."

"Exactly."

***

Louis was instructed to go to the living room, bedroom, or in-home theater to set up their movie night while Harry cooked. So after scoping out the options he settled for the in-home theater. He made up the bed that was in the middle of the back row since it was the largest and the perfect spot in front of the large TV. Flipping through the movies he decided on 50 First Dated because Adam Sandler was never a bad choice. He left the room and headed to the kitchen practically moaning when the smell hit his nose.

"Whatever it is, it smells delicious." Louis said stepping up behind Harry to rest his chin on his shoulder as his hands slid from his waist around his front holding his stomach.

"Its pork chop in creamy Irish whiskey sauce, a side of potatoes au gratin, and a side of shell mac and cheese."

"You had me at pork." Louis told him as he kissed his neck, Harry leaned back into him as he stirred something on the stove. Louis wasn't paying much attention as he laid his cheek on Harry's shoulder and held him gently.

"Well, I'm glad I had you at pork. I almost made baled avocado, but I remembered you didn't like it."

"Fucking hate Avocados." Louis said grinning as he felt Harry chuckle in his arms

"So what are we watching?"

"The king of comedy. Adam Sandler 50 First Dates because Adam Sandler is never a bad choice."

"Sounds good. Now go away while I finish up."

"Fine. I shall go change into date night clothes that have somehow become a requirement."

"It's a date, Louis. Our first date." Louis rolled his eyes affectionately as he headed up the stairs into Harry's room. Luckily he had planned for date night when he was packing so he had a few nicer shirts and pants in his luggage.

He pulled out his light grey tweed pants that hugged his hips, ass, and thighs sinfully. He then pulled on a white button-up and went to the bathroom to style his hair back from his usual front swept style. He kept the bit of stubble, but trimmed it and put a tiny bit of cologne on before he brushed his teeth then checked himself in the full-length mirror on Harry's closet door. He made sure to get a few pictures to send to Liam, Zayn, and Niall for approval which he got within seconds. After that, he left the room altogether and headed down to the kitchen. Harry was pulling down plates and looked at him briefly only to do a double-take, his eyes staying where the pants hugged his thighs.

"Harry." Louis said gently grinning as he rested his elbows on the counter, Harry's eyes widen and he looked at lost as he kept looking at the curvature of his ass and the material hugging his thighs. Louis jumped eyes widening when Harry dropped the glass plates and only seconds later had Louis on the countertop with his hands-on Louis' thighs.

"I approve of these trousers. Like very much approve. I will buy you 50 more pairs if you promise to wear them all the time. Every single day. For the rest of our lives." Louis laughed shaking his head

"Can't do that love." Harry pouted, "you broke your plates."

"I don't care I have more precious china right here." Harry said causing Louis to laugh covering his mouth with his hand, "look at them...they're so pretty." Harry said squeezing his thighs again

"Go away. Go get dressed and I will clean your mess up." Louis said pushing Harry away

"Fine, but don't you dare ruin those trousers." Harry said before he was running upstairs.

Louis cleaned up the glass, making sure to get in every corner tiny pieces could hide in before he got down two more plates. He set them on the counter and went to go set the table for them. Harry's table was the type of table you could add or take away pieces to make it longer or shorter. Harry had already made it square table and two chairs across from each other with a candle in the middle of the table runner. Louis smelled the candle smelling a gentle floral scent, not overpowering by any means which was good. He made the plates putting a pork chop on each plate with a good amount sided on each plate as well before it set them on the table. Louis grabbed the silverware and placed them on the napkins then opened the bottle of wine that was out and poured them both a glass. By then Harry could be heard coming down the stairs so he corked the bottle of wine and set it in the fridge.

"Lou... I was supposed to serve you." Louis grinned as he turned out to look at his boyfriend who promptly took his breath away. Louis walked up to him staring at the sinfully fitted grey plaid pants hugging...everything from the hips down. His black button-up and jacket to match his pants were fitted across his shoulders perfectly. His long hair curly and falling just past his shoulders and his cologne smelled heavenly as Louis buried his nose in Harry’s neck breathing in deeply.

"We need a couple of pictures in your mirror before we stain our clothes with food."

"Agreed. Come on, but we have to be quick, or else the food will get cold."

Louis laughed as they hurried up the stairs and into the bedroom. Harry handed him the first phone they found which happened to be Harry’s. Louis opened the camera as they stood in front of the mirror together. Their bodies faced each other, Harry's large hand settled on the dip of Louis' back and the other one went into his pocket. Louis' arm wrapped around Harry's neck as they looked at the mirror.

"We look so good together." Harry mumbled against his temple, Louis grinned looking up at him.

"You’re incredibly cheesy." Louis told him before he pulled Harry down for a kiss feeling both of his hands go to his back to pull him closer. "Come on we have enough photos now let's go eat because I am starving."

"Perfect." Louis tossed Harry's phone om the bed beside Louis' phone and they headed downstairs holding hands.

Harry dimmed the dining room lights as Louis lit the candle. They sat across from each other and dug into the deliciously hot food making small talk that they hadn't been able to share over the phone. Louis told Harry more about the daycare and the kids and Harry told him more of the band members and his family. They learned new things about each other as well, small, but meaningful things.

After the dinner, Harry grabbed the cold chocolate-covered fruit plate and they headed to the in-home cinema cuddling on the bed as they watched 50 First Dates. Harry and Louis feeding each other different chocolate covered fruits and kissing a lot, neither of them actually watching the movie after the first thirty minutes. They fell asleep in the cinema with Louis cuddled up into Harry's chest.

#Larry Stylinson #larry fanfiction #larry fic #larry stylinson fanfiction #New Chapter #archive of our own #Wattpad

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amidst-thestcrs · 3 years

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8 Facts about my Muse(s).

Tagged by: Someone at Summer’s old blog 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ Tagging: @feralspace-bitch / @speck-of-stardust, @fightan0therday, @tr0ubled-s0uls, @starrys0nder, @hiemaleyes, @implausiblynaive, @defactomatriarch, and anyone else interested!! (You guys totally don’t have to do this if you don’t want to either ofc!) 😌👌❤❤

Morti

1) Despite having “freedom” while living with Gary, Morti actually missed out on quite a bit of typical things that other kids genuinely experience around her age. This doesn’t really bother her until other people start making her feel like it’s a problem though. Gary always had a convenient excuse for everything: they didn’t have enough money to afford cable so they only had a dvd player; most of his family had either died or lived far away so they didn’t ever visit extended family; they lived too far away from signal towers to get wifi so they didn’t have internet; etc.. Due to this, I imagine she missed out on quite a lot of normal things and probably hasn’t even done something as simple as been in a car before.

2) Morti responds well to kindness and doesn’t comprehend mean or abrupt people as she doesn’t understand why someone would be that.

3) Her favorite animal is a frog! She adores frogs so much and used to adore the little pond by their house when she lived with Gary. He actually caught one for Morti as a pet which she still has and named Henry! It’s her most prized possession and best friend. ❤

4) I think if Morti wasn’t able to form a strong bond with the Smith family when/if she goes back home, Morti would 100% be willing to go back and live with Gary again if that ever became an option, even despite all the lies.

5) Despite living with Gary for most of her life, Morti was still a “Morty” underneath it all as she’s always had a fascination with space even as a kid. She owned many astronomy books and even Gary brought her home a telescope for her that she used all the time to see the stars at night.

6) Morti has no memory of the Smith family whatsoever. She doesn’t remember any of them and will always feel bad for this especially since she feels like she’s probably supposed to remember them.

7) I think she puts up with the name Morti cause she doesn’t think anyone really cares enough to call her otherwise, but if given the choice, Morti would much rather go by the name September/Ember as it’s the name she’s used to and the one that feels most like her to her.

8) The Ricks have given Morti a card to stick in her pocket when she goes off on her own in the citadel. It’s basically just a little business card of sorts that she’s suppose to hand out and get back that literally says, “Hi, I’m an identity confused Morticia/Morty (not September/Ember or any other weird shit she says) from dimension C-323. I’m not lost or abandoned, I’m just annoying but they’re looking for my Rick so don’t take me. Okay, now fuck off. Scram!”. As you can tell, she did not write this note herself.

Rick

1) Rick’s been alone most of his life. After his parents died in the crash, he never really had any friends and was never able to marry so no other family either. Really since they died he’s been on his own.

2) In truth, I imagine Doofus Rick really wanted/wants a family like how all the other Ricks have, but it just never happened for him. The Diane (or other versions of Rick’s ex-wife) in his universe just wasn’t interested in him and honestly just felt like he was beneath her-- something she actually admitted to his face when they were in college and he tried to ask her out. Mostly any other time he tried to ask someone out since has had the same result anyways.

3) Medical science has always been more his area of expertise than other kinds of science which is the main reason why he was able to cure cancer in his dimension among other forms of awful diseases. I think he’s well known in his universe as medical genius and hero, but really he just considers himself just a regular person, nothing special.

4) He probably owns way more books than he’ll ever read in his life, most old science books and such.

5) My Rick never got a Morty like in the tv show, I imagine he tried once and the council laughed in his face. Due to this, he instead simply tries his best to help any other Morty in need that he can.

6) Rick occasionally volunteers at the Morty Daycare Center when he has free time.

7) If it wasn’t for his lack of time, Rick would most likely get a pet to help out with how lonely his life can be at times but I think he genuinely worries about not being home a lot to be able to take care of it. If he was home more, I could totally see him getting a rescue from a shelter somewhere, but he doesn’t want to burden an animal with lack of human interaction.

8) Rick’s not as stupid as everyone believes him to be, he’s actually fairly smart and can hold conversations really well. The thing with him is just mainly anxiety that makes him extremely awkward. If he didn’t worry so much about what others thought of him he’d probably have the confidence of a regular Rick but still way nicer than a typical Rick.

Summer

1) It’s common knowledge to everyone at this point that Beth turned into an absolute disaster of a mother after Jerry died which is the main reason why Summer and Beth have such an explosive and abusive relationship. Pretty much everyone in their neighborhood, their extended family, and at Summer’s school knew about the bad blood between those two but everyone just stays quiet about it tbh, even after Summer started showing up to school with bruises. Everyone assumes these two have always hated each other, but something that isn’t really known by others is that Summer actually loved Beth a lot when she was very little despite the abuse her mother constantly took out on her. She was young and trusted the only adult in her life even if she didn’t love her back, this is something Beth sometimes brings up in arguments to either annoy Summer or in attempts to guilt trip her. Usually it’s something along the lines of “I remember when you used to love me! You thought the world of me back then!”.

2) One sure-fire way to get Summer to shut up/get under her skin is to tell her she’s exactly like her mother or even looks like her. Summer wants absolutely nothing to do with Beth and even though the two of them are very similar in looks, she does not want to be associated in any way to her mom. She heard Beth say too many times that the two of them were way too similar that even the notation of that coming from someone else, especially someone Summer considers close, will immediately struck her silent and it will bother her immensely.

3) Summer absolutely loves astrology and knows a lot on the different zodiac signs. She’ll sometimes even guess someone’s zodiac before even knowing it and will even point it out all the time just to mess with people-- for example: “That’s such a Gemini thing to do too, you really are one, huh?”.

4) Although Summer’s attitude is a big reason why it’s hard to get close to her, that’s not the main reason why. It’s actually Summer’s trust issues that prevent her from having close relationships with people outside of her inner circle. Summer is very particular about who she trusts and lets into her life. Her trust is very hard to earn and very easy to lose. If she feels her trust has been broken, she’s very quick to immediately discontinue a friendship/relationship with someone and back away. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.” as the saying goes. Now with that said, it is possible to gain Summer’s trust back again depending on the person, but just know it’s gonna be ten times harder to gain back the second time than it already was the first time. So good luck!

5) Summer started smoking at the age of fourteen due to it being an appetite suppressant. Since Beth spent most, if not all, of her unemployment check on alcohol, there wasn’t really ever food in the house for them to eat, at least not food that was safe to consume. On the rare times they did have groceries, Beth would sometimes hide food when she was drunk then forget where she put it, eventually leading to it going molded. However instead of throwing any expired food away, she’d always save it and then serve it to herself and Summer at a later date. Due to this, Summer often had a lot of food poisoning growing up and got most of her meals from school or a friend’s house. Smoking helped her not feel hungry on times when food wasn’t available to her so she actually was a much heavier smoker as a teenager compared to now. Being out on her own now, Summer has cut back quite a bit, going from about a pack or so a day to smoking maybe four cigarettes a day. She doesn’t really smoke in her house much either, always goes outside when she wants to have a smoke.

6) Despite not being religious in the slightest, Summer went to church with Tricia ( @tr0ubled-s0uls ) on the occasional Sunday just to cause drama with her friend. The two of them would often talk/giggle really loud, take turns “coughing” while not-so-subtly stating “God’s not real”, and in general doing whatever to interrupt church service. The two of them would often find a way to leave early to go smoke out in the parking lot or bathrooms and would get breakfast after service. The main reason they’d do this is because Tricia’s dad often times forced her to attend his church services as he was a pastor. Needless to say, Tricia’s dad did not like Summer, for more reasons than just one.

7) Summer still visits Jerry’s grave from time to time and leaves fresh flowers on his tombstone. She’ll never admit it cause she thinks it sounds stupid, but sometimes she just vents to his graves or talks to him like he’s actually there even though she doesn’t believe in ghosts.

8) Speaking of which, Jerry is the one who actually named Summer! The only reason why she knows this is primarily because of her grandparents, but also because she has a vague memory of him proudly boosting about that when she was little. The reason why he named her was because shortly after Summer’s birth, the doctors asked Beth to hold her and feed her in attempts of bonding with her child but she wanted nothing to do with her. Instead Jerry did these things for Summer and when asked what she wanted to name her child she claimed she didn’t care. This in turn left the responsibility on Jerry in which he chose the name Summer because she was born during the summertime and he thought “Summer Elise Smith” sounded beautiful.

#Queue #Dash Games #Morti Headcanons #Doofus Rick Headcanons #Summer Headcanons #save #tw: alchohol mention #tw: abuse mention #tw: kidnap mention #tw: unhealthy coping mechanism

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blessedarethebinarybreakers · 4 years

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Is it wrong that some days I don't want to attend church? Like some days my depression gets bad or I'm just so emotionally/physically exhausted that I just don't have the energy to get out of bed. My parents always get mad at me when I ask them if I can just stay home and they always tell me "Well you have to go cause that's life", it's even worse now because of the quarantine. It's not that I don't want to go to church, it's just that some days I feel like I can't.

This got long so TL;DR: it’s not wrong at all. Depression is rough, and if there are days when it’s all you can do to make it to the next day, that is enough. Okay, onto the long answer.

______

Let me start by saying that in this time of quarantine, please do not go to physical church!! God prioritizes life -- you doing what you can to keep yourself and others safe is the priority. When able to muster up the energy, worship from home instead (the link leads to a masterpost of churches with online services during this time).

Now on to your actual question about whether it’s wrong to not want to attend church / not have the energy for it -- I super feel you. When your mental health is struggling, going to church can feel like a monumental task.

I actually just posted a video about executive dysfunction (with captions), which is something that folks like us who have depression (as well as autistic folks, people with ADHD, schizophrenia, alzheimer’s, and more) often deal with.

For me, getting through all the steps required to get myself to church often takes way more spoons than I have on a Sunday....Like, I gotta:

be clean, put on suitable clothes, and make sure I’ve eaten enough to not get faint during the service;

have all my homework done if possible, or i’ll just be thinking of that the whole time;

make sure I have everything with me that I’ll need for church;

muster up the mental energy it takes me to drive;

muster up the social energy for interacting with everyone at church;

prepare myself for potential misgendering (cries), which sometimes i know i Just Can’t Handle;

prepare myself for physical contact and loud noises which as an autistic person is really draining;

drive all the way there....

It takes so. many. spoons!!

So I actually do not make it to church every week. In fact, ever since moving, it’s been more like once every five weeks cuz I still haven’t found a church here I like, and it takes ridiculous energy to put myself through visiting new churches!

___________

Do I sometimes feel really guilty about this? Yeah. I have a tendency to beat myself up over things that are sometimes beyond my control, instead of treating myself with the love I would extend to someone else in my situation.

But I believe that God understands and has great compassion for those of us who have a mental illness, or a disability, or who otherwise struggle with getting to church.

As I said above, God prioritizes life -- and sometimes, going to church does not nurture life.

If the only church environment one has available to them is discriminatory, for instance, so that going there means sitting through a storm of hate and slander against their gender or race or disability or sexuality or class, etc. -- then that church will not nourish life.

If you feel pressured, shamed, or forced into attending church, so that you feel an attack against your free will, that does not nourish life.

And if you force yourself to church and compromise your health to do so -- that does not nourish life.

For me, just dragging myself to church when I don’t actually feel up to it is dangerous to my health. Let’s say I force myself to get ready and drive to the church building, but don’t actually have the emotional energy for the things like misgendering and physical contact I listed above. I’ve done it before! And what happens is this: I have to leave early and go collapse in my car and cry, and can barely drive home safely. And then my energy reserves are in the negative for at least a day. And often I get lost in a pit of bitterness or self hate and my mind goes to dangerous places.....So. Yeah. It’s dangerous to my own life and the lives of others (since I drive) to try to force myself to church. I do not believe God wants that.

Yes, worship is vital to Christian life! Community is vital! And in an ideal world we’d all be able to worship in community. But we don’t currently live in that ideal world, and it’s okay to admit that, and to acknowledge your own limits, and to respect your own health.

___________

Now, there are things you might be able to do to help you store up that energy you need for church -- but none of them are magic fixes! And some of them may not work for you! But they’re possibilities; I invite you to brainstorm more:

Find a church you truly love, and that respects you. It sounds like you live with your parents, so this may not be a possibility for you right now, but my hope for you is that if you don’t already have it, one day you’ll find a church home that you get super excited to go be with! And that is full of people who understand your needs and limitations, and works with you to make worship as accessible as possible.

Get involved. One thing that helps motivate me to actually get up and go is if I participate in the service in some way, like being a reader or communion server -- cuz then I gotta go! so it sorta kicks my brain into gear and gets me out the door. (This is helpful for executive dysfunction, it might not be as helpful with depression.)

Try online church for those times you just can’t get to church. For me, being in quarantine has actually increased my attendance because there are so many fewer steps for going to church! I don’t even have to be dressed or fed or clean, I don’t have to drive, I don’t have to prepare for interactions....I just have to get on my computer at the right time. So for me, online church has been a beautiful blessing. It’s totally okay if you have a different experience with it though.

Do what you can to minimize the energy you have to expend right before and after church. Save up some spoons! Maybe that means getting work done Friday that you otherwise may have put off for Saturday evening, so that you can have some energy left over for Sunday morning.

_________

Sorry this is so long, but I hope at least some of it speaks to you. Be kind to yourself, anon. You are so deeply loved by the God who knows what you’re going through. <3

#depression #mental illness and health #executive dysfunction #church tag #essays #Anonymous

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spiltscribbles · 4 years

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211 please! Any ship!

Notes: Thank you bubby! This actually helped me get out a slump lol, i really really hope you enjoy this fluffy mess and I would love to hear your thoughts!

A Reblog saves a life! | Send Me A Prompt

Annabeth is a fully fledged adult now, honest.

She subscribes to the New Yorker, listens to podcasts in the morning while getting ready for her crummy, right out of college internship in one of the most prestigious architecture firms in the city. She votes even in the primaries and remembers to reload her metro card before it’s out and has even got a God forsaken schedule that she relies on like a lifeline.

All this to say, Annabeth had really once thunk that becoming an adult meant your life turns stale and your days become monotonous. But that was before she began boarding with three literal definitions of spitfires in a Bushwick apartment way too small for four girls, and way to run down for the countless prank wars waged between them and the boys across the way.

Annabeth tries telling Piper this one Thursday afternoon while she’s loading her Nerf gun with the water balloons that Rachel’s preparing with such precision that it kinda terrifies Annabeth shitless, if she’s being frank.

“’s too late to surrender now Chase!” Piper bellows, cocking and then setting down the toy gun in a neat row for the next to be prepared. “It’s about honor now.”

“Honor?” Annabeth repeats in a voice that’s flat enough to cut.

“They’ve won the last two rounds Annabeth,” Rachel tells her, point blank as she ties the next water balloon to be passed off, alabaster skin freckled with paint like always when she comes back from one of her classes. “They’re getting too big headed over this.”

“Yesterday Leo offered to buy me a latte! The little fuck.”

Annabeth’s fair brows knit together, totally confused to Piper’s sudden flash of anger, but reckons that it would be impossible to understand the perceived slight even if she asked Piper to explain.

“You guys are off your rockers,” Annabeth informs them instead, flickers her gaze over to Hazel for some support from someone who is actually sane. She in turn only shrugs, endeared looking as she returns to her sketches.

“Et tu Brute?”

“it’s fun,” Hazel says in her southern drawl, which Annabeth once thought was sweet because it reminded her of venturing outdoors in the Virginia foothills when she was a tot. Though now Annabeth has decided that the accent is actually a ploy to make her sound welcoming for her pray before she killed them off. Knows it for a fact that she’s done it with that friend who visits enough that he’s practically living with the guys too, which obviously means he was roped into all this ridiculousness.

“You’re either with us or against us baby doll,” Piper winks Annabeth’s way, starts a new round of ammunition with Rachel. “This one’s for Mama Fisher in the stars!”

“Insane! Fucking insane! Annabeth repeats emphatically before storming out there apartment to grab the mail, suddenly feels accosted with unwelcome nerves when she steps into the elevator only to be met face to face with one of the aforementioned boys across the hall, the objectively good looking, but impossibly kind one. All ebony locks and crooked grins and eyes the color of sea glass.

Oh fuck.

“Annabeth,” he crows, positively gleeful sounding, which only makes it so her cheeks begin to redden, and her chest contracts.

“Percy, hey how’s it been.”

“Fine,” he says with a one armed shrug, begins scratching the back of his head sheepishly. And God fucking damn it, he doesn’t also get to be cute! That’s not fair! “You headed to work?”

“oh, ah yeah, I mean just for some overtime. We got commissioned for this new thing in Germany of all places, and they kinda need all hands on deck.”

He whistles, low and impressed.

“Why do I get the sense that they’d crumble without you?” He asks with a quirked brow.

“Because flattery is a great way to make friends,” Annabeth smirks, strolls out towards the back row of mail slots to get the inevitable pack of bills and adverts that’s waiting for them.

“Oy, I take offense to that Annabeth,” he sniffs, leans against the wall besides her, one leg crossed over the other, effortless in the whole CW pretty boy with a mysterious past shtick he’s got working for him. An even more hilarious thought on account to Annabeth knowing how his ma sends him a basket of homemade, blue cookies every Sunday afternoon, and that he spends most of his free time protesting for action against climate change with his best friend from literal childhood, a scruffy, adorable dork named Grover.

“Is that right?” She snorts as she shuffles through the letters, tosses away the offer for a free garden gnome from some Lady named Aunty Em, crams a coupon for a free panty from Victoria’s Secret into her bra, and texts the group chat for Rachel to pick up a letter from her dad and Hazel one from her older brother.

“Course,” Percy sulks, big eyes glittering a thousand shades of green that it kinda takes Annabeth’s breath away. “I thought we’ve been friends, at least for a while now.”

“You know what they say about assuming Perseus,” Annabeth snorts, hip checking him as she makes the track down to the nearest subway stop, at least a five minute walk. She totally is not utterly elated over the fact that he’s still walking besides her, dimpling down like there were no where else he’d rather be.

“You know I didn’t even think you could allude to curse words,” Percy guffaws, impossibly bright and impossibly real. “I thought you were too prim and proper for that sorta behavior.”

“Shut up seaweed brains,” Annabeth laughs, can’t help the smile that breaks her face in half whenever he’s around.

“No deadass Chase!” he defends, emphatic. “I even bet Jason that you were related to like Grace Kelly or some shit, that it’s like illegal in your familial bylines to present yourself as anything other than perfect in public.”

“You are such a pain in the ass.”

“Oh my God! You did it again! It’s like it’s Christmas!”

Faux aggrieved, Annabeth rolls back her head in exasperation, eyes alone definitely not enough to emote the proper level of feeling.

“Hey don’t blame me,” Percy raises his hands in concession. “You’re the one who refuses to have fun, like you were a forty year old lawyer.”

Annabeth hikes up her brows, affronted.

“i have fun!”

“Right,” Percy snorts. “I’m sorry babe but Friday night board games don’t count.”

“Those are fun Percy!” Annabeth argues.

“You wouldn’t know fun if it hit you in the face!” Percy insists, stopping outside the stairwell.

“And what? Pelleting one another with water balloons like we were Freshman’s in college again, that’s fun to you I suppose?” Annabeth charges, glare firmly set and weight slung to her left hip.

“Why yes Grandma, it is,” Percy tells her, words hugged in a playful cadence that really could entice anyone to commit a felony with him. The bastard.

“You are a prick,” Annabeth informs him waspishly.

“And you don’t always gotta be so stressed. I mean I respect the hustle Chase, but you’re allowed to just chill once in a while, let down your hair and all.”

“You couldn’t handle that,” she sniffs, pulls out her card to swipe. “If I actually tried me and the girls would ruin you fools.”

“Is that right?”

“Wipe the floor with you,” Annabeth assures.

“Well then, looking forwards to the challenge Chase,” Percy beams, softly tugs on her high pony before walking back to the apartments. It feels like a legion of butterflies are swarming down deep in Annabeth’s stomach over the small contact alone.

“Damn you Percy Jackson.”

“Remind me again why you’re helping? Hazel asks for the third time that Saturday morning as the four sum are crowded around the makeshift map Annabeth had sketched out for them to follow, fully determined now.

“Shh,” Piper swats at her arm, as if physically trying to shoo the question away. “Annabeth we don’t care as long as you explain the plan just one more time.”

“Slower,” Rachel tacks on, gnawing on her thumb nail nervously.

“Right, well just listen closer ladies, this is a one and done deal, okay?” She’s met by a chorus of nods before she repeats her game strategy, one where each girl takes one of the four main hotspots around the building, skulking in the shadows until the predicted guy ends up there, surprised and defenseless when met by the water balloons of doom.

“I’ve already casually told both Jason and Leo that my parents were throwing us a brunch up state, so they don’t even know that we’re here.”

“God Annabeth if I didn’t think it would ruin our friendship I’d kiss you right now,” Piper sighs dreamily.

“Focus that pretty little head McLean,” Annabeth instructs, elbowing her side caustically. “You’re position is by the gym, Jason always goes there Saturday afternoons cause he thinks it makes it alright for him to get plastered that night.”

“You’re fucking a nerd,” Rachel tells Piper and both Annabeth and Hazel can’t help but nod along.

“No judgment zone!” Piper demands petulantly.

“Whatever,” Annabeth waves her off. “Hazel you’ll be in the front, waiting for Frank to come visit, and Rachel you’ll be waiting in the garden area where Leo comes to build one of his freaky gadgets.”

“Totally, you can count on me babe.”

“And what about you Annabeth?” Hazel asks.

“I’ve got Jackson,” Annabeth tells her, tone mock grave as she cocks her own toy weapon determinedly.

“So sexy,” Piper marvels.

Their building rents out a corner on the bottom level to a small bistro with friendly smiles and tasty enough brew that it keeps them coming back. It’s where Annabeth and Percy had first met when he had moved in with the others nearly six months ago. It’s also the first place Annabeth heard his laughter, and where Percy listened when she went on a tirade about her crazy parents and their crazy expectations and how sometimes she just needed space away from all of it. It’s where Percy told her that his mother is the most important person in his world and how he thought he never cared what his father thought of him until he had to make a decision on what he’d major in, and of course he followed in Poseidon’s footsteps. It’s where they stayed up late trading stories about their complicated childhoods and dreams for their futures and the place that Annabeth knew for sure that if she let herself, she really could fall for Percy. For the candor in his brilliant eyes. For the pretty smile he sports for the sake of his loved ones over himself, and for the conviction in his beliefs.

Annabeth tries not thinking of any of that when she crouches down deeper in the dark nook behind one of the decorative plants as Percy gets up from his table, tossing out his latte and shouldering his work bag.

It’s now or never.

The moment Percy steps through the threshold Annabeth pounces up and aims. What she doesn’t expect is for him to keel over to block her, and instead of hitting his insanely chiseled pecks, the water balloon hits straight in his face. Close enough and hard enough that the water suddenly darkens to red, mixing with the blood pouring out his nose.

“Holy shit!” Percy cries, pinching his nostrils shut.

“Oh my God!” Annabeth yells, frantically grabs for a pile of napkins from the counter besides her— toppling over a mess of straws and sugar packets in her wake— and then dashes over to press them into his grasp. “I’m so so sorry! I didn’t in my wildest dreams imagine that would happen! I swear!”

Annabeth expects at least for Percy to bemoan the injury, but instead she’s answered by a frankly terrifying boom of cackles.

“Percy? Have you cracked? Did I knock your brains out permanently?”

“When you said you’d ruin us, I didn’t think you’d literally cause physical harm Chase,” Percy retorts, still fighting down bubbles of laughter.

“You’re manic,” she pouts, long suffering.

“And you’re terrifying.”

“Bet it works for you though,” she preens, can’t help but be boastful over the way a blush touches the tops of his cheeks.

“Talk about adding harm to humiliation,” Percy grouces.

“Poor baby,” Annabeth mock croons, thinks that today actually might turn out pretty amazing.

She brings him upstairs to properly clean off the blood from his face and to come up with the conditions with at least a temporary truce, definitely not so she can finally trade a totally thrilling snog with him in privacy.

“You drive a hard bargain Chase,” Percy tells her, settling into the sofa as Annabeth unfolds her game of monopoly for them, having proclaimed that it’s a perfect time for her to prove how much fun board games can be.

“Oh hush,” she cuffs him on the back of the head playfully. “You’re just mad I won.”

“More like you committed battery,” Percy contends, pouting moodily, is only consoled when Annabeth leans forwards to kiss him again.

“You looked pretty bleeding— Oh God! Did I just say that out loud?”

Percy dissolves into a peals of laughter once more, and Annabeth tries her damndest to melt into a puddle right on spot.

“I can’t believe I’m so into such a maniac,” Percy tells her, eyes and smile glittering.

“SO rude,” Annabeth sniffs, arms crossed against her chest.

“But accurate Chase.”

Annabeth doesn’t bother to argue anymore because Percy’s already slanted their lips against one another again, and he’s doing this insane thing with his tongue that it makes her toes curl.

Yeah, today turned out amazing indeed.

#Percy jackson #pjo #annabeth chase #percabeth #bellonnabelle #thanks so much my love #ily #i wrote this too quick and it's probs crap #i just got so excited i finally had an idea for something for the first time in a bit #SPILT INK

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