#if you saw me puking in the parking lot of the er next to the Mexican restaurant no you didn’t

[marieaqua]

Important reminder to my fellow celiac girlies, MARGARITAS CAN HAVE GLUTEN IN THEM!!!! Pls ask the restaurant you’re at about it to avoid having the day im having now

#celiacs #celiac disease #if you saw me puking in the parking lot of the er next to the Mexican restaurant no you didn’t #I was in the er parking lot bc my mom tried to take me bc of how much pain I was in #after puking I was able to tell her it was gluten not a heart attack or anything m #fuck man this hurts so much #what also sucks is I took insulin for my food than didn’t eat most of it THEN threw what I did eat up #so my family is now watching me like a hawk for low blood sugar m

[drawlfoy]

The Wonders of Ohio P.6

masterlist (catch up on parts 1-5 here!!)

request guidelines

pairing: draco x reader

request: my original idea :))

summary: y/n’s senior year was going to be great, but her British exchange student is a little weird. this is NOT a non-magic AU. draco’s still a wizard in this fsjifkszfjkd

warnings: language, fainting, bad driving, mentions of drinking and drug use

a/n: eeee this is such a fun bit to write. thank you all so much for being there for me. this is definitely one of my favorite fics i’ve written since it gives me so much creative liberty and the fact that i get feedback and readers for it...just warms my heart. if you’re reading this: thank you so, so much for sticking around. i might come around with more oneshots soon. anyways i hope you enjoy the initial descent into the real real plot. also fluff will be coming soon i promise but i wasn’t lying when i said this was slowburn

tags tags tags @gruffle1 @missmulti @cleopatera @hahaboop @accio-rogers @geeksareunique @eltanin-malfoy @war-sword @cams-lynn @itsivyberry @ayo-cowbelly @nerd-domland @yesnerdsblog @shizarianathania @evanstanfanatic @strawberriesonsummer @hariosborn @night-ving @icintliviinyiniilsiji @erisdogwood @loveissupernatural

word count: 3.4k

song recs:

a pearl -- mitski

movement -- hozier

revival -- deerhunter

Draco was crying.

Or, at least, someone was. The gasps coming from just a wall away were apparent, but Y/N could hear a voice that didn’t quite sound like Draco--which had to be a trick of the mind, because there could be no one in there but him.

She rapped on the door against her better judgement to be met with a flurry of movement--fabric rustling,  and a soft pop that echoed through the air.

“Draco? Are you alright in there?”

Y/N found herself wishing that he wouldn’t open the door. After the Homecoming ask, the last thing she wanted was to see his stupid pretty face again, but she was a good host sister. Emphasis on sister.

To her shock, the door swung open. Just a few inches, just enough for her to see the pile of black shredded paper in the middle of his room and a drained looking Draco glaring back at her.

“Can I help you?” His once pristine white shirt was gray in some places, like he had rubbed ashes on it. 

“I just thought--did you burn something?”

“No. What is it?”

She looked at him a bit closer. His eyes didn’t look red rimmed with the dead giveaway of a crying session, but they looked close. The furrow in his brow was from worry instead of his usual sternness and he kept nervously pulling down at his left sleeve. 

Draco wasn’t crying, but he was about to.

“I…” There was something deeply unsettling about seeing Draco so uncollected and fidgety--almost like seeing a fish out of water or an American conservative with an adequate understanding of class struggles.The air was charged with something yet again, so much so that Y/N could feel the hair on her arms stand up. She decided to avoid damaging his masculinity any further. “Nothing. It just smelled a little like smoke. I wanted to make sure you weren’t burning a candle or anything. You know how my mom is about that.”

He continued to stare at her.

“Would you like me to leave you alone?”

“Please.” 

Well, that was embarrassing thought Y/N as she made her way back down the hall and to her backpack. I get rejected twice in one day. Smooth.

The days following were profoundly more uncomfortable. Breakfasts became uncomfortably akin to the Silent Game and Draco stopped coming out for tea in the evenings. The drives to and from school were decorated only by occasional bits of small talks or grumbles of exams. In short, Y/N knew that she had overstepped a boundary and Draco was pulling back.

School had finally become crazy. Y/N’s life became so entrenched with letters of recommendation and 200 word supplements that the Draco shaped hole in her life was bearable. After all, she was fine before he came, and she was fine now. She’d been silly, allowing herself to fantasize about a kid with some serious trauma and family issues that clearly had personal things that handle before he thought about getting all cozy with someone who was not in the slightest compatible with him. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

oOo

If someone turned a glass of whole milk into a human, that person would be Chad. He was the poster child of an “American” boy--tall, warm blonde hair, slightly tanned skin, and cornflower blue eyes. 

But his personality? Not so much. 

“My beloved husband!” Y/N called out as she saw him speaking to her mother in the foyer while Draco glowered in the corner. She bounded down the stairs in record time, leaping into his arms as her strappy heels swung from her hands. He smelled of cotton and laundry detergent. 

“Hey nerd,” he said, swinging her around in a circle before setting her down. “Did you finish the Econ homework? I was hoping I could take a picture before I leave…”

Y/N drew back to smack him on the shoulder. “You disgust me.”

“You abuse me.”

“And I’ll do it again,” said Y/N. She had forgotten how funny he was. 

“Oh, you two,” Mrs. Y/L/N cut in, stepping between the two and pressing the boutonnière into Y/N’s hands. “Always bickering like a married couple.”

Lizzy snorted from the top of the stairs where she was struggling to stuff a light jacket into her purse. “Hot take.”

“Hold still,” commanded Y/N, holding the pin and attempting to attach it to his lapel. “I’m literally going to accidentally stab you. Cut it out.”

He made a face down at her. “Do it. You won’t.”

“Oh? I won’t?”

“Y/N,” Mrs. Y/L/N’s exasperated voice warned.

“I’ll refrain, but only because the rug we’re standing on was my Grandmother’s,” Y/N said to him, her voice dripping with sweetness. “Consider yourself lucky that you’re not on the tile.”

“I’ve never been more thankful that my late grandmother-in-law had such impeccable taste.” 

“Suck up.”

“Oh, because you’re such a rebel.”

“It’s called motivation!”

“Honey, I want a divor-”

“For Christ’s sake, stop flirting or I’m going to puke,” a cool voice cut in. The group turned to see Sylvia standing in the doorway, clad in a flowing black dress that just barely ghosted over the top of the floor. 

“You look radiant, darling,” Mrs. Y/L/N said.

“And we weren’t flirting,” said Y/N.

Sylvia sent her a little wink before walking to sit down on the couch across from Draco, who was currently perched cross legged and looking profoundly uncomfortable. 

Sylvia, Lizzy, and their dates all opted to take Lizzy’s car to the city while Chad, Y/N, and Draco took Chad’s. The plan was to drop Draco off at the school with ample time to prepare him for the uniquely traumatic experience that was ASB sanctioned after school events, and to the plan they stuck.

“Yeah, go ahead and treat me like your chauffeur, “ scoffed Chad as Y/N slid into the backseat next to Draco. The sports car was surprisingly narrow with hardly any space between them. If she wanted to, she could easily rest her thigh against his.

“It’s called being polite, dear,” said Y/N, flicking the back of his head before turning to face Draco. “You’re really gonna commit to this? Major props, but, like...you really don’t have to go to this if you don’t want to. You can even stay home. I know how to sneak you back in.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “I’m here for the American experience, right?”

“Hate to break it to you, but there is no uniform American experience. It’s all personalized, and I don’t know if you want yours to be seasoned with 14 year olds T-posing in a circle to...I don’t even know. Chad, what kind of music do they play at those places?”

“Fuck if I know. I don’t go to them either.”

“It’s fine. I told Heather I’d be there.”

“Ooookay, whatever you say,” Y/N said. 

They rode in silence for a few more beats. The wind outside was uncharacteristically strong for an early October day, and it looked like a storm was brewing. In their rush to get to the dance on time, they had neglected to take precaution against the wind and ran outside to Chad’s car without a second thought. Draco’s suit, while posh and put together, had clearly bore the brunt of this choice. His tie had become slightly rumpled and his hair mussed, a look that was all types of wrong on him.

“Draco?” she asked. He snapped to attention. “Your tie is all undone. Can I…?” Y/N motioned to his neck.

Wide-eyed and frozen, he met her with, “er...sure.” 

Y/N leaned forward, trying to think past how her thighs were just barely touching his. Her corsage (a tasteful red, thank you very much) bumped against his chest, flattening a bit. She wasn’t very familiar with ties--she’d never had to be in her past experiences--but whatever his was made of, it was expensive. The fabric felt silky and impossibly smooth in her hand as she carefully untied it.

Chad took a sharp turn into the school drop off lot, prompting Y/N to nearly topple into Draco’s chest. His arms shot out to steady her and retracted so quickly that she was left wondering if she imagined the whole ordeal. 

“So it’s true,” said Chad from the front. “Nerds do have bad upper body strength.”

“Shut up,” she responded. Her cheeks felt unbearably hot as she tried her best to focus on tightening Draco’s tie and ignore the fact that she was close enough to smell his cologne--a soft pine, she observed--and feel the shadow of his breath on her face. His hands were clasped together lap, tight enough to turn the knuckles white. 

It was an odd feeling, getting butterflies in her stomach while she was touching a boy that wasn’t her date as Chad careened towards a parking spot and pulled in so violently that Y/N almost went sprawling into Draco again. She looked up at him, getting ready to crack a joke about the absurdity of the situation or the questionable driving; instead, she found herself staring up into his eyes. 

His normally pale eyes looked darker than usual--his pupils were insanely dilated--but that was because it was dark in the car. Obviously. Out of the corner of her eye, Y/N could see his chest rising and falling with an urgency that she hadn’t noticed before.

“Do you want me to uh..fix your...your hair, too?” Y/N said, mentally cringing at how she stumbled over the sentence. To be fair, his hair was ruffled and out of place. It wasn’t like she was making an excuse to touch it or anything.

To that, Draco jerked away from her, his back brushing up against the opposite car door. “No. No, it’s ok. I’ll fix it myself.”

Y/N was sure that her face was tomato red.

“Alright buckaroo,” Chad said from the front, his nonchalant demeanor never more appreciated. “Your hot date is here. Get out of my car. We have a busy day of antiquing ahead.”

Any semblance of casualness left Draco’s body as his eyes widened. “Antiquing?”

“Yeah, remember the place I took you to right after you came here?” asked Y/N.

“Er...don’t you have anything better to do?”

“Excuse me?” She sat up straight so quickly that she felt her hair come slightly undone at the nape of her neck. “That’s rich, coming from the kid going to a school dance as a senior.” 

“It’s probably not going to even be open. It’ll be late by the time dinner’s over,” he said. 

“Since when do you care? Honestly, quit acting weird,” Y/N responded, scootching away from him as he made no effort to get out of the car. 

“I’m not--it’s--erm, nevermind, forget about it.” He cleared his throat, straightened his tie, and brushed off his lapels. “Heather must be waiting for me. Goodbye.”

After a little struggle, Draco managed to best the slightly confusing door handle of Chad’s car and was out the door. Y/N slid across the seat and out with him, shutting the door and grabbing the handle for the passenger side. 

“Y/N?” Draco’s voice called before she had the chance to fully get in and tell Chad to book it. 

“What’s up?”

He took a few steps forward, pausing just a couple feet away from her. His eyes were cast to the rain puddle ridden cement. “Promise me you won’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“I should be telling you that, king,” Y/N quipped. “Your first real American dance. If you go to any after parties, make sure to watch your drink. Don’t take any substances from strangers--or, anyone, really--”

“Y/N, he’s not a chick.” Chad, his hands still perched on the steering wheel, turned to peer out at her. “He’ll be fine. I think they have beer in Britain.”

“Well, whatever. Have Heather text me if I need to pick you up anywhere. And don’t get in any cars with someone who’s been drinking!”

“Y/N!”

“Ok, ok, I’m coming.” She slid into the car, turning one last time to say bye. Draco was already gone. “Only if I drive.”

oOo

“So Heather and Draco, huh?” 

Y/N scowled at Lizzy as she speared a piece of her salad particularly viciously. “I don’t know if it’s like that. I think he’s just being polite, or whatever. I think British people are just like that.”

“Why are we even talking about that boy?” Chad asked. “He’s got that whole Timothée Chalamet dying Victorian toddler aesthetic if Timothée was blonde and had a perpetual stick up his ass.”

“In a hot way, though,” said Lizzy, her eyebrows wiggling. Jonathan scowled at her side. “Oh, don’t be so jealous. As if I’d ever go for a kid who doesn’t even know what Snapchat is.”

“I don’t understand what Heather sees in him,” Chad continued, his fettuccine plate long forgotten. “He’s got the personality of a wet rag, and she’s so bubbly and...I don’t even know. Do you guys get what I mean?”

“Draco’s got personality,” said Y/N. 

“Not like Heather.”

“It’s not his fault he’s reserved. He’s actually really funny.”

“And that’s what I like to call rose-tinted glasses,” Chad said, gently poking her cheek. 

“Hey! I’m the one who lives with him.”

“Whatever. Let’s just call for the bill. I’m not hungry anymore.” Chad folded up his napkin, placing it on top of the tablecloth and ignoring Y/N’s protest as he got out his wallet and placed a credit card on the table. “It’s on me, guys. You know how my parents are. They’re just happy that we’re all getting together again instead of holing up in our rooms.”

“Thank god junior year is over,” Sylvia added. “That’s really kind of you. At least let me get the tip?”

As the group bickered over the payment options and flagged down the waiter, Y/N noticed her phone lighting up with a notification.

Heather, 6.48pm: Hey girly! Sorry to bug you on your night but Draco wanted to check in and ask where you guys are/what you’re planning on doing tonight.

“Who’s that?” Chad asked, looking down at the little paragraph in the gray message bubble.

“Just Heather. Draco wants to know what we’re doing. Probably because he’s realizing how sucky dances really are and is about to beg us to come pick him up.”

He snorted. “Yeah. Poor kid.”

Y/N typed out a quick “we just finished dinner and are heading to the antique place now. lmk if i need to pick him up earlier” and tucked her phone away in her purse. As much as she resented it, she couldn’t help but wish that Draco wanted to join them instead.

“Are you guys ready to beat it and hit up that antique place?” Marvin, Sylvia’s date, asked. She rolled her eyes and sent him a lazy smile.

“You sound like a dad.” 

“Off like a herd of turtles, baby,” Y/N offered, gathering her things as they made their way out the restaurant door. “Not gonna lie, this place doesn’t show up on Google Maps or anything. I think I know how to get there but none of you guys are allowed to make fun of me if I take too many wrong turns.”

“No promises,” said Chad, winking down at her and giving her shoulder a little squeeze. 

 As they walked, it became profoundly obvious that Chad and Y/N were the only two who weren’t officially an item. Lizzy and Jonathon were walking hand in hand while Sylvia and Marvin whispered in each others’ ears when they had to wait for crosswalk signals. While she had great chemistry with Chad, nothing ever felt real with him. It always felt like an act.

Perhaps the tension between them was because of that one time they kissed and never talked about it again in freshman year after a particularly nerve wracking competitive math round before she quit--something that she wasn’t exactly going to shout off the rooftops for the masses to hear. Or maybe because he pushed her away right after and said it was a mistake. 

Whatever it was, Y/N and Chad were decidedly not romantically involved. She had been shocked when he’d even bothered asking her for the night. Granted, they were always pals and it shouldn’t have been awkward, but drawing the comparisons between her and the other girls was making the evening very uncomfy. Y/N couldn’t help but pray that Chad was going to be the one to break the ice.

“Where the fuck is this place?” he finally said, much to Y/N’s glee. His grace and manners were absolutely unparalleled. “It’s cold and I’m sure it’s going to start raining again.”

“It should be just a few more blocks and then to the right,” she responded. “Sorry. It’s cool as fuck, though. I promise it’s worth it.”

“This is just her ploy to lure us all away from civilization to off us,” Sylvia said, turning around from a few feet in front of them to raise her eyebrows at Y/N. “Eliminate the competition before college apps even begin. I’m impressed, honestly.”

“Now you’ve gone and ruined it all,” she fired back. “Thanks, Vy.”

She was relieved to see that the antique store couldn’t be missed, even if she tried. The sign, a worn and friendly gold, was illuminated by large lights. The words “My Grandfather’s Attic” had never looked more welcoming as Sylvia gripped the door and ushered them inside.

The moment Y/N stepped inside, something felt...different, kind of like the hair-raising feeling she got when she was around Draco. The electricity in the air she felt with him could easily be explained away by the fact that he was, for lack of a better term, the most stunning person she’d ever seen, but perhaps she was slowly getting over him. Perhaps…

She turned to see Chad, his honey blonde hair spilling over his forehead as he focused on a basket of vintage buttons that seemed to glimmer in the light. The furrow in his brow--the same one that she’d been so familiar with after seeing him solve countless math problems--appeared as he examined the basket, turning a red button around in his fingers, soft and and sprinkled with writing calluses. 

Maybe it had been Chad all along. Maybe Draco was just a detour. 

Before she did anything she regretted, Y/N turned and made her way back into the store. The set up was the same as she remembered--interesting and foreign objects hanging from the walls, ceilings, and congregating in baskets and overflowing shelves. She didn’t even realize that she had migrated over to the opposite side of the room until she felt the solid, cool wood of the black box from her dreams pressed into her hand as she turned it over and traced the strange white sign that was etched into the front. 

“Y/N!” 

The sound snapped her out of her trance to see...Heather and Draco? He was jogging towards her despite the fact that he was wearing a full suit. Y/N made an absent note to make fun of him later. 

“Why are you--”

“Put that down!” He stopped a few paces away, his eyes darting around the store at a frantic pace. “We need to leave.”

“Why? Honestly, if you wanted me to pick you up, all you had to do was…” She had to take a breath to steady herself. Her body felt like it was filled with static. “All you had to do was ask.”

“That’s not...ok, just put it down,” he commanded. “Please. Just put the box down. We need to go home.”

“No! This is my last homecoming. I’m sorry your experience wasn’t great, but I don’t...I don’t, uh, appreciate…” The lightheadedness hit, so suddenly that she almost fell. 

“Fuck, are you okay?” Draco was right in front of her in an instant, his eyes scanning her face.

“I feel...” She took a shaky breath. “I feel...starry?”

The last thing she remembered was Draco trying to tug the box out of her grip, his other hand warm on her shoulder.

And then everything went black.

final a/n: so draco got a howler and some wack stuff happened, huh? tell me what you think. 

#draco x reader #draco imagine #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy imagine #draco x y/n #draco x oc #draco malfoy x y/n #draco malfoy x oc #draco #draco malfoy #draco lucius malfoy #draco x you #draco malfoy x you

[justjessame]

Starting Over Chapter 43

I came back to my senses hearing an argument - ok maybe that was too strong of a word.  I came back to a disagreement or a debate going on about what to do about ME.

“She’s unconscious,” Bucky’s voice sounded so tense and strained that I KNEW I had to tell him I was FINE.  I had to or he was going to do something silly like - and I felt him start to lift me.  “I should take her to the hospital.”

Sarah’s sigh was so damn loud and heavy that I had a feeling the debate had been going strong for a while.  “Brooke’s gonna be fine,” I felt warmth, softer than Bucky’s on my hand.  “Look down, Bucky, her eyes are starting to twitch.”  

And they were, because I knew I’d rather NOT go for an unscheduled trip to a Louisiana ER over a fainting for nothing more than being freaked out over the possibility that I MIGHT be pregnant.  Groaning, because I couldn’t really speak yet, damn passing out really takes it out of a girl - I could feel Bucky’s tension relax a bit.  

“Brooke?”  His lips brushed my temple and I fought to open my eyes - finally getting the damn things open so I could calm him down completely.  “Oh, thank GOD.”  He exhaled so loudly that it startled me.  Bucky Barnes LOUD.  “Are you alright?”  

“Yeah,” I croaked out, feeling like I’d love to be vertical.  “Could you help me sit up though?”  He nodded and got me up, seated on his lap since he clearly wasn’t ready to let me go just yet.  Vertigo sucks, and sitting up had my stomach feeling far TOO full.  I guess I turned a shade of green because Sam was handy with a bucket and THANK FUCK HE WAS because my head buried straight into it and - let’s just say I didn’t get to keep most of what I ate.  

I couldn’t actually HEAR the debate/argument/disagreement restart, not while I was emptying my stomach, but I knew it had restarted.  As Bucky held me, his hand on my back - rubbing soothingly - the rest of him was as tense as when I came to.  Once I felt safe to pull my head OUT of the bucket, and that GOD that moment came because EW - I begged them all to stop.

“Stop,” it got quiet, the trio above me staring down, even Bucky who was holding me still had a height advantage.  “Please.”  I was exhausted.  From stuffing food into me, passing out, and then this - “Could we just not.”  

“You’re sick,” Bucky insisted, and his always a little cooler left hand brushed my sweaty hair off of my clammy face.  “I knew something was off today.”  

“I’m fine,” I assured him.  He looked more than ready to argue, but I shook my head and managed to get both of my hands up to cup his face.  “I am, Bucky.  I just need to lie down and rest for a little bit.”  

Sarah told him to take me back to the hotel, a nap and the air conditioning might be just what I need to sort me out.  “Go,” she pressed, assuring both of us that we hadn’t ruined the party.  “Like a little fainting and puking could ruin one of our parties.” 

Sam laughed and moved the sick bucket away.  “Trust me, this isn’t half of what this bucket’s gonna see before the end of the night.”  I cringed.  “Come on, Buck, let me help you get Brooke to the car.”  

Bucky didn’t need Sam’s help to physically get me to the car, but he was helpful in clearing the path for him.  And opening up the car for us once we got there.  Bucky insisted on buckling me in, and on checking my clamming ass skin again and trying to convince me to let him take me to the hospital or a clinic - sighing I asked him to make ONE stop.  

“A pharmacy?”  He pulled out onto the street after we’d said our goodbyes to Sam, promising him to call if we needed him.  And that we’d come by before we headed back to New York.  “What do you need?  Something for your stomach?”  

I considered whether I felt strong enough to go in and grab it myself, but honestly I was clamming and gross and a little weak still.  I could have asked Sarah - had her pick it up and have it ready and waiting for me to take before we headed home, but I hadn’t thought of it.  I’d have to tell him eventually - ESPECIALLY if it came out positive.  

“Brooke?”  He was parking in the lot of the pharmacy.  Damn small town.  “What do you need?”  

Taking a deep breath, I turned to face him and saw how concerned he looked.  “Don’t freak out, OK?”  He looked confused, but wasn’t more tense, so I went on.  “I need a pregnancy test.”  

Normally I was the blinker in our relationship.  But my request made Bucky the blinker for once.  And he stared at me and blinked. And blinked, and then squinted and opened his mouth like he wanted to ask something, but his mouth snapped shut and he blinked some more.  

“Bucky?”  He was staring at me, but I wasn’t sure he was SEEING me anymore.  “Buck?”  

“A pregnancy test?” It came out in a breath and I nodded.  “You need a pregnancy test?”  Another nod.  “OK.” He wasn’t moving, and his eyes were squinting again.  

“Bucky?”  Dear God, did I finally break him?  “Should I go in?”  

That snapped him out of it.  “No,” he blinked out of whatever fog he’d gone into with my request for a test.  “No, Brooke, I’ll go.”  He started to get out and stopped.  “Is there a certain -” he considered what word to use.  “Model I should get?”   

I shook my head.  “No, I think they all work the same.”  I had no fucking clue.  I’d never had use for them.  “Maybe more than one?”  

It was his turn to nod.  “OK.”  He started to go again, but stopped and turned back to me.  “I love you, Brooke.”  I smiled, and he leaned over to kiss me, but I stopped him.  “What?”  

“Vomit breath, Buck.”  I offered him my cheek.  “Trust me, we can wait until I brush my teeth.”  He chuckled, but kissed my cheek.  Then he went off to buy multiple pregnancy tests.

When we got back to the hotel, it took all of my powers of persuasion to talk Bucky into letting me WALK to our room.  He gave in only when I consented to letting him wrap his arm around me, in case I got another case of the fainting violets.  The bag he brought to the car from the pharmacy was a tad bigger than I’d expected for a ‘couple’ tests, and when we were in our room finally I learned why.

He tossed them out and I prayed to a higher power that I could keep my eyes in their sockets.  James Buchanan Barnes had gone into that pharmacy, asked the nearest salesperson for help, and then proceeded to BUY EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TEST THAT HE FOUND.  Every single one.  

“I wasn’t sure, and they’re all SLIGHTLY different.”  He was standing next to the bed full of tests waiting for my reaction.  

My God, how did I find him?  This amazing human being who would go to these lengths after being scared shitless in the car when I asked for ONE?  I moved closer and groaned.  Making his face drop like he’d done a horrible thing.  “NO, Bucky -” I wanted to smack myself.  “Give me one second, please?”  He nodded and I practically sprinted to the bathroom to brush my teeth and gargle away the taste of vomit.  Then I came back to where he was waiting.  “Now, where were we?” 

“I forgot about the vomit breath,” he murmured as I came closer and wrapped my arms around him.  “So I’m not the most ridiculous person you’ve ever met?”  I smiled up at him as he hugged me tighter.  

“Well, you kind of are,” he rolled his eyes.  “But I have a feeling I’m the same for you, so we’re evenly matched.”  His chuckle was well worth the sprint that got the kiss that followed.  When he pulled away, I sighed.  “The ONLY issue with this pile, Bucky Barnes, is -” I turned and he kept his arms wrapped around me.  “Which one do I try FIRST?”  

Randomly picking ONE, I read the instructions and went to the bathroom with the tiny stick to pee on it.  And then we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  

Bucky had moved the spare tests off the bed and we were snuggled on it, and I wanted to know - we had rushed so damn fast into so damn much of our relationship - how HE felt about THIS.

“Bucky?”  He hummed, his fingers were drawing those patterns on my arm that he always seemed to do when we were just holding one another.  “If I AM -” 

“If you ARE,” I could feel his smile, even though his lips weren’t against my skin for once.  “If you ARE, Brooke, then you really are the best dream I never knew to ask for.”  

“Really?”  I looked over my shoulder to see his face and he was smiling, and looking peaceful again.  “Even though it’s so soon?”  

He laughed and kissed me.  “Isn’t that how our story runs?”  The timer on my cell phone chimed and I started to get up, but he stopped me.  “Can I?”  

I bit my lip and nodded.  Another kiss and he got up, letting me sit up against the headboard to wait to see what the verdict was - was I having a mini Bucky or was I just host to a really hungry stomach bug?  

He didn’t come out right away, which freaked me out, and the longer he took the more on edge I got.  What if I was wrong?  What if I’d gotten his hopes up and then NOTHING?  Or what if we are and the reality of it just hit him and he wasn’t as happy with the reality of it as he was with the possibility?  

The toilet flushed and I nearly screamed.  Honestly?  He took a potty break?  But when he came out, his face was blank.  Nothing.  Not good or bad and I was on pins and needles.  

“Well?”  I asked, wondering if I was going to have to jump out of the damn bed and sprint the fuck across the room to the damn bathroom and find out for myself.  

He studied me and tilted his head.  “Are we hoping for a boy or a girl?” 

#bucky barnes/oc #the falcon and the winter soldier #alternate universe #fluff #Family Fluff #FLUFF AND SMUT #humor #pregnancy

[artificialqueens]

Let Me Treasure You (Branjie) - Athena2

Summary: It’s Brooke and Vanessa’s first anniversary, and Brooke has a trick (or a treasure hunt) up her sleeve…

A/N: This is a little epilogue for If You Ever Wanna Be In Love. @hi-yekaterina and I were talking, and she brought up wanting to read about the treasure hunt that doesn’t happen in that fic. I’ve had this idea for a while and after talking to her, I decided to do it! You probably need to read that fic first before you read this, just so things make sense. (The AO3 link is above, and you can read on AQ here.)

Title from Treasure by Bruno Mars because I’m cheesy and basic.

Thank you to Writ for being the best beta!!

I really hope you enjoy, and please comment if you’d like!

—

Vanessa should’ve suspected something was up when Brooke said she forgot her raincoat at the museum.

Brooke usually doesn’t forget things, first of all. The woman has a watering schedule for her plants and a color-coded calendar and remembers dinosaur names so long it’s a wonder she doesn’t choke saying them.

Second of all, it’s August, and day after day has shone with warm, golden sun. There’s not even rain in the forecast, so why does she need a raincoat?

But Brooke’s going on about how she needs it just in case, and Vanessa’s still high on the night, on the dinner and laughs and love in Brooke’s eyes. On the fact that she and Brooke have been together an entire year, a year of taking things slow and growing closer than ever. A year of sharing themselves with each other and falling deeper in love than Vanessa has ever been with anyone.

“I’ll just be a few minutes, okay?” Brooke snaps her out of her thoughts, and Vanessa realizes they’re in the museum parking lot.

“Okay.” She leans back in her seat and scrolls through pictures on her phone, pictures of Brooke sleeping with her cats and them in front of a Christmas tree and the one of them with their matching rainbow face paint at the library carnival last year, grins overtaking their faces. She’s still scrolling when the phone rings.

“Hello?” Vanessa asks in confusion, wondering what Brooke could possibly be calling for.

“I need help.” Brooke’s voice is weirdly strained.

“Help with what?”

“I–I cut myself.”

“On what? Your raincoat?” Vanessa demands, her concern clashing with annoyance. She just wants to go home, pull Brooke into her bedroom, and not sleep, and now she has to deal with this mess.

“Well, I saw a letter I must’ve missed, and my hand slipped with the letter-opener–look, there’s a lot of blood, can you help? I think I need to go to the ER.”

“I’m coming, just hang on, okay?”

Vanessa ends the call and runs, heart pounding with worry. She’s trading soft cotton sheets and Brooke’s softer skin for hard plastic chairs and puke-green ER walls tonight, apparently, but it’s Brooke, and Vanessa will take everything, the good and bad, to be with her.

She reaches Brooke’s office in less than a minute, steeling herself for what she might find–blood dripping everywhere, Brooke worried and in pain–

But the office is empty.

“Brooke?” Vanessa calls, trying to ignore the quiver in her voice. “Brooke?”

Still no answer.

Maybe Brooke went to the car? The door squeaks and Vanessa jumps in the air, all her worry replaced with fear and aggravation.

“This ain’t funny, Brooke! I’ve seen horror movies! I’m in a creepy museum at night and someone’s just waitin’ to murder me, I know it!”

Bouncing on her feet, she pulls back the door, hands out in a fighting stance in case something is waiting behind it. But it’s just a bare wall, and she lowers her arms, feeling like an idiot. Whatever trick Brooke is doing, it won’t work.

“Well, I’m going to the car, Miss Cut-Myself-With-A-Letter-Opener. You can join me if you want.”

Vanessa takes one last look around the office for any hidden murderers or ghosts that might get her on the way out. “I’m gonna get you back for this, Brooke. Just you—wait a minute …” A piece of wrinkled parchment on Brooke’s desk catches her eye, and Vanessa’s heart leaps. “Is this what I think it is? Tell me it’s what I think it is!” She doesn’t know if Brooke is listening somewhere, doesn’t care. Because when she flips over the paper—

“Yes, bitch!”

It’s a treasure map.

It all makes sense now–Brooke insisting on getting her coat, pretending to injure herself to get Vanessa in here. Even why Brooke’s been a little shifty lately, biting her lip and her voice getting squeaky whenever they talked about their anniversary. Vanessa didn’t think Brooke had it in her to keep a surprise like this–it took everything Brooke had not to blurt out what Christmas presents she bought people–and her heart rushes with warmth for Brooke as she peeks at the map.

The map is incomplete, with a dot marking Brooke’s office and a short red line curving to the rock and mineral room. Vanessa’s seen enough adventure movies to know the next part of the map is in the rock and mineral room, and she runs, sandals echoing off the stone floors. She’s a pirate now just like she was as a kid, except this map was made by Brooke instead of her mom, and the treasure waiting will be even better than plastic toys in her sandbox.

Dim lights from the glass cases bathe the sharp rocks in an eerie glow. Vanessa’s eyes fly around the room, trying to find the next map. She sees a ragged edge of paper sticking up on one of the floor displays and snatches the next part, barely stopping to admire the rare blue mineral twinkling in the case.

“Too easy,” she mutters.

The red line twists to the mammal room, where replicas of lions and tigers and elephants stare at her. It takes nearly ten frenzied minutes of searching and cursing before she finds the next part of the map by an elephant’s foot.

Brooke’s neat handwriting jumps out at her on the map.

Didn’t think they would all be as easy as the first one, did you?

There’s a little heart after it, and Vanessa rolls her eyes fondly. Let Brooke be the one searching instead and see how easy it is. Still, she’s smiling so hard her cheeks hurt, buzzing with energy and excitement so fierce she gets what people mean when they say they could spit fire. She dashes off to the Viking room, floor blurring beneath her feet.

On and on she goes, all over the museum, through the kids discovery center where they could dig for dinosaur toys at little tables of sand; through the dinosaur room itself, Brooke’s home away from home, the fossils greeting her; through the botanical room, lush with plants and flowers of all sizes and colors. She visits every section of the museum except for the bug room, because Brooke knows she hates bugs so much she throws anything in range at spiders she sees in her apartment.

Finally, she uncovers the map with one last line leading to a giant red X.

It marks the planetarium, and Vanessa runs along, huffing and puffing from the unexpected workout. She freezes once she hits the double doors, because all this time she’s just been in the hunt, collecting maps without thought. But now she’s reached the end, and she doesn’t know what’s waiting for her inside.

When she and Brooke started their whole fake dating thing last year, this treasure hunt idea was what they decided on if someone asked about their proposal. Just a story, a way to cover their bases so they didn’t get caught. Then, after things got rocky and they weren’t talking, Brooke had planned a treasure hunt to show Vanessa her true feelings, but it never happened, because Vanessa was, in A’keria’s words, a “stubborn ass.”

What version of the treasure is behind those doors?

Will Brooke be waiting there on one knee, a ring in her hand? As much as Vanessa wants that sometime in the future, it seems a little sudden. Something she’s not sure she’s ready for right now. She and Brooke have been going slow the past year, and Vanessa’s liked having that time to be with her. They haven’t even moved in together yet, though Vanessa’s been thinking about bringing that up when her lease expires this December. Can Brooke really be planning to propose this suddenly?

Vanessa doesn’t think so. Brooke likes going slow too, likes taking her time on things. This is most likely treasure scenario number two, and Brooke is using it to show Vanessa how much she loves her. All of this–the planning, the mapmaking, the secrecy–speak clearly of her love.

Heart lighter, Vanessa shoves the doors open and gasps.

A starry black sky twinkles above her, bursting with galaxies of blue and purple and silver, spiraling into reds and pinks and oranges. The whole universe is above her, and she has to hold back from reaching out a hand to touch it.

“It’s beautiful, huh?”

Vanessa looks in front of her, and there’s Brooke. A star in human form. She’s at the front of the planetarium seats, her smile blinding, the gold necklace Vanessa gave her tonight shining at her throat. Vanessa runs and throws herself into Brooke’s arms.

Brooke kisses the top of her head. “Happy anniversary.”

Vanessa pulls back and smiles at her. “This is amazing, Brooke. Seriously. Even though you had to fake injure yourself and put me in a horror movie to do it!” She swats Brooke’s arm gently, grinning when she pouts.

“Well, I had to get you inside here somehow! It seemed like the easiest thing!” Brooke shrugs with a huge grin.

“It was still mean.” Vanessa pouts. “But I love you anyway.”

Brooke blushes, actually blushes, because Vanessa loves her, and her heart fills with even more love for Brooke.

“I know feelings are easy for you,” Brooke says. “But I can’t always say mine as well as you, so I thought this would work. Because I love you so much, Vanessa.”

“I love you too, Brooke. This is perfect.”

Brooke grins. “Yeah. My friend Steve does the planetarium shows and said he could hook us up.”

Vanessa looks up to the control booth at the back of the planetarium, where Steve gives a wave before pressing something and slipping out of the booth. A smooth, slow song pours through the speakers, and Brooke extends a hand. “May I have this dance?”

“You may.” Vanessa giggles, letting Brooke pull her into the dance, swaying back and forth beneath the stars.

“You know,” Vanessa says, “for a minute I thought you were gonna propose.”

Brooke laughs, but then her face is suddenly serious, even worried. “Are you … disappointed that I didn’t?”

“No,” Vanessa says firmly. “I’m not saying I never want you to propose! I just–right now, I just wanna be with you. Marriage is a little sudden. But … someday.”

“Someday,” Brooke agrees. She pauses, a smile on her face. “It’s not a proposal, but I did want to ask you …”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I know your apartment lease is up, and I was wondering if you’d want to move in with me?”

“Yes!” Vanessa can already imagine nights cuddled up watching movies together and not having to go home after, because she already is home. Mornings waking up and making breakfast together, coming home to Brooke after a long day at the library.

“Yes,” Vanessa repeats, holding Brooke a little tighter.

Someday is someday, but that doesn’t matter right now. Because right now, they have each other, and a dance under the stars.

And Vanessa doesn’t need anything else.

#rpdr fanfiction #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #branjie #lesbian au #fluff #if you ever wanna be in love verse #athena2 #tw blood mention #concrit welcome #submission

[iamtrebleclefstories]

Everyday I Love You More - Ch.2

Ch.2 - NO DETAILS

After having drunk sex, Jo and Alex are having a baby. An actual baby. Here’s how everyone finds out.

- Multi-chapter Sequel to I’m Happy Right Here with You -

Hi guys! I am on a roll today :) this is my second upload of the day. If we're lucky, maybe we can make it 3 for 3 and I'll finish Didn't Think. Who knows?

The next morning began with more throwing up and hunching over the toilet. Jo was trying her best not to wake up Alex, but about 20 minutes into her puking fest, he walked into the bathroom and sat down next to her on the floor. Jo looked up at him, “Go back to bed. I’m fine. You can sleep for another twenty minutes.”

  “No I can’t,” Alex shook his head. “I can’t sleep knowing that you feel miserable because I messed up and forgot to wrap it up.”

  Jo let out a burst of laughter, “You’re sweet, but honestly, you don’t have to sit there while I’m puking. It’s gross.”

  “I don’t care,” Alex looked at Jo intensely. “I’m staying right here and you are going to have to deal with me hovering for the next seven months. You’re going to get sick of me, but when I said we’re doing this together and that I was gonna be here every step of the way, I meant it.”

  “If I weren’t all gross and puke-y, I’d kiss you right now.” 

  After a few minutes without the overwhelming need to vomit, Jo decided it was time to get ready. She showered and got dressed, going downstairs to eat something. Jo walked into the kitchen and searched around for something that wouldn’t make her stomach churn. Her options were limited. For a house of doctors, they didn’t really have a lot of clean, healthy breakfast options. Everything was sugary. Deciding to settle for a piece of toast and some coffee, Jo turned on the pot and waited for her cup to be done.

  She was just about to bring the mug of coffee to her lips when Alex swooped in and grabbed the coffee out her hands, “What the hell?”

  “You can’t have caffeine, you’re pregnant.” Alex stated. 

  “I can have one cup a day,” she said, snatching the coffee back from Alex. “It’s perfectly okay for me to have one cup of coffee.”

  “Hmm, well you see, I disagree,” Alex shook his head, taking the coffee out of her hands again and taking a sip. “And you’re the resident and I’m the attending, so what I say goes.”

  “Oh that’s rich,” Jo glared. “You and your position as my superior have nothing to with my uterus. Because if it did, you—and all of your years of experience over me—would’ve thought to wrap it up and we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

  “Yeah okay. That’s on me,” Alex cringed and handed the coffee back. “You can have one cup, and only one cup a day.”

  “Thank you,” she drank the coffee and finished her toast. “You ready to go?”

  “Yeah,” Alex smiled. “It’s weird... Starting today, I get to kiss you whenever, wherever I want.” 

  “I’m kind of nervous,” Jo confessed. “I don’t want people to think I’m just another resident trying to get surgeries for sex.”

  “No one’s going to think that,” Alex assured. “Most of the attendings tease me on a daily basis about how I was too chicken to say anything to you. We’re best friends. You’re not some random chick that they’re going to gossip about. You’re Jo. They’re gonna be happy about it. Trust me... Besides you don’t need to give me sex for surgeries. You’re good. Really good. That’s why people want you on their service and that’s why you get more responsibilities than the other residents. So when we get to the hospital today, let’s just do what’s natural. We don’t have to do some huge announcement. Let’s just be us.”

  Jo pinched herself, “Am I dreaming? Because I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard you be this nice to anyone ever.”

  “Shut up,” Alex scoffed.

  “That’s more like it,” Jo grinned. 

  “Let’s go.”

  They arrived to the hospital on time and exited the car. Alex grabbed a hold of Jo’s hand as they walked through the parking lot into the building. So far, they hadn’t seen anyone that would care enough about their relationship to make a big deal about it, so he saw that as a plus. They continued down the hall and entered the elevator hand-in-hand only to find Arizona Robbins already standing inside.

  Arizona smiled at them as usual before doing a double take, “Oh my God! You’re holding hands! You finally told her?”

  Knowing exactly what Arizona was referring to he responded, “Yeah. I did.”

   “Oh my goodness! I’m so happy for you guys!” Arizona beamed brightly, embracing Alex and then pulling Jo in for a quick hug as well. “Ah! Best way to start the morning. I feel like a proud mama who’s baby just grew up.”

  “Wait, what did you do?” Jo furrowed her brows.

  “I told you I love you.”

  “Hold on… Dr. Robbins knew?” Jo turned to Arizona. “You knew?”

  “Yup! He confessed it to me the night of the night of the storm in the NICU storage closet,” Arizona nodded with a large smile on her face as the elevator dinged. “Well, this is my stop. I will see you both later for rounds. Congrats you two!”

  “You were already in love with me back then?” Jo squinted at Alex. “And you didn’t say anything? We could’ve been together for months now.”

  “Wait,” Alex looked at Jo confusedly. “You wouldn’t have run if I told you I loved you?”

  “No, you dumbass,” Jo slapped his arm playfully. “Do you know how long I spent trying to get over you because I thought you only saw me as a friend? I been in love with you since the tree crashed through the living room.”

  “You have?” Alex was shocked.

  “Yeah,” Jo nodded. “Really, I’ve loved you since before then, but I didn’t realize it until I was standing in your living room that night, thinking about how I always choose bad guys and how you’re the best guy I’ve ever met.”

  Alex squeezed her hand, “I really didn’t know. If I did, I would’ve said something sooner.”

  The elevator dinged again, signaling it was their turn to get off the elevator. Walking out hand in hand, Jo paused, “When did you realize you were falling in love with me?”

  “The day we illegally helped the kid in from the ride along in the closed down ER. Meredith kept pushing me to ask you out and said something about how you’re a badass—”

  “Meredith Grey said that about me?” Jo exclaimed.

  Alex nodded as they approached one of the conference rooms and pulled her inside to finish their conversation, “Yeah. She thought you’d be good for me. I kept telling her no, that there was nothing between us and that were just friends. But then you pulled me into the storage closet and had my favorite powder-sugar donuts. Then it was like something shifted. I saw you bite into one and you had powdered-sugar all over your face, and I knew that was it. That I had fallen for you.”

  Jo—who’d started crying—wiped the straggling tears and let out a laugh, “I’m sorry. It’s the hormones.”

  “And here I thought you were trying to snag another surgery from me,” Alex teased. “Alright, we both have to go before we’re late. I’ll see you for rounds.”

  “Okay,” Jo replied and kissed Alex sweetly before watching him walk out the conference room. She took a moment to collect herself and walk over to the residents’ lounge to get ready for the day.

  Unbeknownst to either of them, the kiss Jo and Alex shared had been witnessed by none other than Leah Murphy. Her jawed dropped and she bolted towards the residents’ lounge to tell everyone before Jo arrived. Leah ran into the lounge, “You guys will never believe what I just saw!”

  Ben, Stephanie, Shane, and a few other residents turned around to look at her. Shane made a face, “Did something happen?”

 “Oh, something happened alright,” Leah grinned. “I just saw Jo and Karev kissing in a conference room.”

  “Woah,” Ben’s eyes widened. “That’s definitely something.”

  “No way!” Stephanie jumped up from the bench. “They’re together? Why wouldn’t she tell me?”

  “Are you sure you saw Jo and Karev?” Shane asked.

  “Yes, I’m positive it was them! I ran over here as soon as I saw it to tell you guys.”

  “Saw what?” Jo asked as she walked in. She noticed everyone was staring at her. “What? Do I have something on my face?’

  “You had Alex Karev all over your face about two minutes ago,” Stephanie snarked.

  Jo froze, “Damn. Word really gets around fast.”

  “Hold on, so its true?” Ben asked. “You two are actually together? Finally?”

  Jo smiled shyly, “Yes.”

  “Oh my God!” Stephanie laughed. “How did this happen?”

  Jo thought back to the circumstances that brought her and Alex together. Deciding to skip over most of the story she took a deep breath, “He told me he loved me, and I said it back.”

  “That’s it? That’s all we’re getting?” Leah questioned.

 “That’s it for now,” Jo grinned. “I’ll keep the details to myself for a little while longer. Don’t worry though, I will tell you all eventually.”

  “That’s great Jo,” Shane smiled. “We’ve all been waiting for it to happen for a while.”

  “Really?” Jo asked. “I thought you guys were just teasing.”

  “Oh, Jo," Stephanie shook her head. “Sweetheart, everyone knew you two were going to end up together. We were just waiting for you guys to catch up to the rest of us.”

  While the residents were trying to get information out of Jo, Alex had walked into the attendings’ lounge. He walked up to the coffee pot as he did every morning and began to pour himself a cup, whistling to himself. Alex heard the room go quiet and turned around to see his friends staring at him.

  “What?” Alex scowled. "Stop staring. I’m just getting some coffee. I haven’t been here long enough to have annoyed anyone or be blamed for something not working. So, just tell me why hell everyone is being weird.”

  “Dude. You were whistling," Jackson pointed out.

  “No, I wasn’t,” Alex made a face.

  “Uh, yes you were," April confirmed. “You came in here with a smile on your face and swing in your step, then you started whistling.”

  “Yeah, it’s weird and unnatural coming from you,” Callie squinted. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing is going on,” Alex shook his head. “Is it so hard to believe that maybe I’m just happy or in a good mood today?”

  “You? In a good mood,” Meredith laughed. “I don’t think I have ever seen you this… giddy before. What’s really happening?”

  “You know, one time Mark and I caught Bailey humming in the elevator looking all happy and minutes later, Ben Warren got on the elevator after Bailey left humming the same exact song,” Derek told. “I say, Alex is in love.”

  “With who? The girl he brought some from the bar last week? Or an intern? Or one of his patients’ moms? Or the sub-I’s that come and shadow for a week in the hospital?” Callie teased.

  “Shut up,” Alex glared.

  “Cristina! You’re being awfully quiet. Why aren’t you making fun of Karev with us today?” Jackson asked.

  Cristina—who had been doing her best to keep her mouth shut—exchanged a look with Alex. From her spot on the couch, Meredith gasped, “You do know something! You have to tell us because he never will.”

  Cristina looked at Alex once again before allowing a giant grin to grace her face, “Alex finally got his head out of his ass and he and Wilson are together now.”

  The room erupted into cheers and Alex rolled his eyes, “Okay everybody, calm down. It’s not that big a deal. Yes, we’re together. So, what?”

  “You can’t just leave it at that? How did it happen?” Meredith questioned.

  Alex shrugged, “I told her I love her, and she said it back.”

  “You actually confessed your love to her?” Jackson widened his eyes.

  “Yes,” Alex nodded.

  “Aw! That’s so cute,” April squealed. “I can’t believe it. Big bad Karev told a girl that he loves her.”

  “Congratulations, Karev,” Derek smiled and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Wilson is good for you.”

  “Is this why you stole her off my service?” Callie asked. “Because we were having a great time before you came along and stole her back from me. She was into it. We work well together. But now you’ve got her slumming it in peds.”

  “I didn’t put her on my service because she’s my girlfriend,” Alex defended. “I put her on my service because she’s my favorite resident. And don’t say that’s not allowed, because you all have had your favorites. Besides, she likes peds and she’s good with kids and parents.”

  “More like she likes the peds instructor,” Cristina muttered.

  “Shut up.”

  Meredith who had been quiet for a while finally spoke, “It was that day with the kid in the ER wasn’t it? That was the day your feelings changed. You actually thought about what I said to you.”

  “Yeah,” Alex nodded shyly.

  “I knew it,” Meredith smiled brightly. “Tell Wilson that we’re sorry it took us so long to finally bully you into admitting it.”

 Alex huffed a laugh, “Tell her yourself.”

  “I think I will,” Meredith replied.

#jolex #jolex fanfic

[lawandorderforevercsi]

Love and Family

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: Miami Anthony Zuiker and CBS do.

Author's Note: Drabble style of my other favorite pair.

Genre: General

Rating: K+

Birthday

From the moment that Horatio got that call that Natalia was ready and in pain, he told Calleigh that she would be in charge for at least a few days. Calleigh knew why and mouthed, "Congrats."

Horatio then rushed out of the crime lab and into his hummer and headed to the hospital. Natalia had contacted him, saying she was in labor. When he arrived at their home. She was already standing outside with her hospital stay bag.

Horatio got out of the car and helped his wife into the car. He then jumped back into the driver's side of the car, took off for the hospital. While he was driving, he was asking, "How far are the contractions?"

Natalia replied, "Right now, five and…ow, ow. ow!"

A contraction hit and she began breathing in and out.

Horatio said, "We are almost there, my love. Hang in there."

They reached the hospital ER and parked in the closest spot to the door with the sirens. Everything was a blur after a nurse came by with a wheelchair for Natalia.

Hours later, they had a new birthday to celebrate and a newborn to love and cherish for the rest of their lives, their little girl Erin Marika Caine.

Family

It has finally happened their family had gone from six down to two. Horatio and Natalia's children have all moved out and on to the next chapter of their lives.

Erin, who followed in Natalia's footsteps and studied BioChem in college, was well on her way to becoming a doctor. Nathan, like his big brother before him joined the military. Only instead of the Army, Nathan joined the Navy. Then there were the babies of the family, Nicholas, and Sophia. Nicholas was in California attending one of the best colleges on the West Coast for engineering, while his twin sister is doing volunteer work before starting her first year at UNC.

Of the four of them, their brightest star was Erin. When Erin heard more about who her guardian angel was, she wanted to know all about her. Horatio had told her as much as he could before Eric told her more. It was this way Erin had grown very close with her Uncle Eric. When she started high school she had on a necklace with a locket that had Marisol's photo in. It became her good luck charm.

Grumble

This was not how Horatio or Natalia pictured they would spend their day off. The original plan was to take the kids to the park for a picnic and let them play at the playground to run off their seemingly excess energy. However, as they had everything ready to go and were one foot out the door when the thunder sounded, and then the clouds opened up, it began pouring rain, and just like that, their plans changed.

Horatio and Natalia grumbled. They went inside and closed the door. No sooner were Erin and her younger brother on the ground, the tykes took their own shoes off and took off running, making a lot of noise. Horatio and Natalia looking at each other and agreeing nonverbally it was going to be a long day as they were now stuck with two exuberant kids.

Thankfully the electrical sockets had been covered before Erin began to crawl. However, that was only one less worry.

Soon they heard sounds coming from the bedroom and the bathroom. Horatio and Natalia shook their heads and quickly went to the locations. When they got there, Natalia saw that Erin had called in the books she and her brother shared and promptly got to work to get the books placed back. On the other hand, Horatio had seen Nathan literally buried himself under what looked like two rolls of toilet paper.

As Horatio worked to get his son out of the mess, he wondered, what is it with toddlers and toilet paper?

No sooner was the mess cleaned up when the kids began giggling mischievously and took off running, causing both Natalia and Horatio to groan loudly. They took off and followed the little stinkers— that was how it played out for the rest of the time: Erin and Nathan then made a mess of all the toys they had received so far. Then they led mom and dad on a wild goose chase. The worst of it was when both got into the pots and pans, made a lot of noise, and gave Horatio and Natalia significant headaches.

Several hours later, both he and Natalia had finally gotten the little goofballs to bed. Now they too were getting ready for bed; the squirts had been mischief makers all day long even they were tuckered out. Horatio sat in bed after having freshened up. One thing went through his head, boy if this is a preview of how they would be when they are older, Natalia and I have our work cut out for us.

-x-

Once the kids were asleep, Natalia had joined Horatio. Once Horatio turned the lamp off, he wrapped his arms around her. Once their heads hit the bed, both were out like a light.

Kiss

It had been a long day at the lab, and all Horatio wanted to do was to hold his gorgeous and sexy girlfriend, Natalia. While he is grateful for the time he had with Marisol, he knows it was Marisol who had helped lead him to Natalia.

When he got home and opened the door, he saw that her back was to him. So he silently closed the door and then slipped out of his shoes before he quietly snuck up to her and then wrapped his arms around her waist and began to kiss her neck.

Natalia was stirring the sauce for dinner when she felt a pair of strong arms around her waist. She smiled and wrapped her hands, and his arms leaned into this hug.

After turning the heat down to a simmer, Natalia turned around and said, "Long day at the lab, handsome?"

Horatio leaned and gave Natalia a peck on the lips, then leaned his forehead against hers and said, "You have no idea, my love."

Natalia said, "How about we go upstairs and have a little bit of fun?"

There would be time for food later. It was time for Horatio to get what needed…love.

Lethargic [Natalia's POV]

Today sucked. The past few days, I have been so lethargic. All the foods that I love to eat made me queasy. The smell of caffeine also made me nauseous. So, for now, I only drink herbal and green tea. The worst of all, any little smell would set me off. And it did. When we checked out the photos of a crime, somehow, the blood on the images triggered my nausea, and I covered my mouth and took off for the restroom.

The next time thing I knew, I heard a gentle Southern voice call me, "Talia? Are you ok, sweetie?"

After I finished puking what little food I had in me, I felt a bit better but felt a little weak. I replied, "I am ok."

But when I tried to stand up and head to wash my hands, I faltered, and Calleigh caught me before I fell.

Calleigh said, "Whoa. Looks like you need to sit down."

Calleigh helped me out, and after I got my hands washed, she said straight out, "Talia, I noticed you have not been eating. Have you thought about the fact you may be pregnant?"

It only occurred to me that it may be the case. I have not been regular like I usually am. I am bloated, cranky, and have been having light spotting.

One positive pregnancy test and a confirmation from her ObGyn was the confirmation I needed. Horatio and I expect our second child and little Erin to be a big sister and have either a baby sister or baby brother.

Lonely and Universe

Natalia had always felt lonely when it came to her love life. She had plenty of guys who wanted to date her, and she had plenty of dates, but none worked out. Of course, her marriage to Nick was a complete failure. She felt like the universe was mocking her.

However, she didn't realize she wouldn't be lonely for much longer.

Treasure

As he watched Natalia feed their newborn daughter, Horatio couldn't help but be in awe.

One thing is for sure, Horatio would always treasure what he had with Natalia. Their loss of a spouse (or ex-spouse) brought them together. While his circumstance was drastically different from Natalia's, the grief was the same. He knows that he will protect her with everything he in power to do so.

A/N 2: Thanks for reading Love and Family. As always reviews are appreciated!

#csi: miami #Eva LaRue #Natalia Boa Vista #David Caruso #Horatio Caine

[thetriggeredhappy]

idk if you've done 31. speedingbullet before but oh man, that would be such a wholesome blessing ♡

missed the festival in town this year unfortunately bc travel reasons, time to live vicariously through these fictional 60s/70s gays again. (warnings for sappy, mentions of vomit in goof contexts, mentions of weed because im a creature, food)

31.) “Can I kiss you?”

One of these days, he’d figure out how to get Sniper out of his shell. He was sure of it.

He’d tried just about everything he could think of. He’d invited Sniper to the movies, to tag along to help with a shopping run, out to eat at three kinds of restaurants for lunch and two for dinner. Hell, he’d ended up roping Sniper into a double date, himself set up with a fiery-tempered girl who’d dumped a drink on his head and then written her number on his arm, Sniper with the tag-along friend who apparently needed to get out more. The date hadn’t gotten much of anywhere, the girl and him half-arguing the whole time and Sniper and the other girl staring at their plates and hardly even chiming in when invited. It had taken a bit of pestering to get Sniper to go out again after that.

He dragged Sniper to team meals, to bars, to clubs, to casinos. To a museum, to the farmer’s market, to a flea market. And each and every time he brought Sniper somewhere, the man ended up pacing along beside Scout, hands in his pockets, quietly chiding him when he got argumentative with civilians and quietly laughing at him when his bad luck had him making a fool of himself.

He just wouldn’t open up. Scout told him story after story, showed him all his own interests, presented every kind of joke he could think of, and the guy wouldn’t budge. Wouldn’t start telling his own jokes, wouldn’t start telling his own stories. Wouldn’t commentate on the things around them unless directly asked, and never once suggested where they should go next.

If Scout didn’t like a challenge so much, he would’ve ripped his own damn hair out.

The fair was his last resort. If he couldn’t get Sniper to open up somehow with the excitement and variety and overall greatness of an entire fair, then he was denouncing the man as a robot who did not feel things or have real emotions and turning him over to Engie for further study.

This was the middle day of the fair, meaning it was straight up bustling. Every stand had at least two people at it, and all the food booths had lines, and all the rides had even longer lines, and the number of teenagers stood around with each other was downright astronomical. This was a big fair, too, one of those harvest-type once-a-year nothing-else-ever-happens-in-this-state festivals that people would come from all over the place to go to. Engie had a lot to say on those kinds of things, and in fact had been the one to suggest Scout go check it out after hearing about it from some other old person when he was out doing some work-related supply run stuff.

Scout was most excited, as he often was, by the food.

The first thing they did once they got in the place was beeline to the first booth, some caramel corn thing, to get a small bag of it. Sniper commented lightly on his restraint. The second was to go to the next booth, which sold cotton candy. They got one cone to split between them. The third was to go to the next booth, which was one of those fair-specific food trucks. Sniper was starting to catch on.

“Aren’t these… well, the same sorts of food you can just find in a city somewhere?” Sniper asked, voice lowered so that only Scout could hear him.

Scout put on his best expression of complete shock and offense. “What! No, it’s totally different! The hell you talkin’ about? Fair food is awesome!”

“I mean… I’m not so sure, mate,” Sniper said carefully, glancing over the colorfully-painted sign.

“I—okay, hold on,” Scout instructed, and turned to pay as he was handed his latest portion of food, the Bucket ‘O Fries. “I mean, c’mon, check this out! It’s a bucket of french fries, what’s to dislike?”

Sniper looked at him blankly as they walked away from the food truck. Scout breathed in and began to elaborate.

“I mean, okay, the quality of the fries? Not great. I’ll admit, they’re fuckin’ shit, garbage oil sticks, and they’re also just straight up delicious. They’re the best trash. They’re the truck stop diner bacon of french fries. They’re tasty nightmares. I’m literally gonna like, sweat oil and salt after eating these, and it’s absolutely worth it. You can’t get this specific brand of perfect awfulness anywhere but at a fair. And, and? It’s in a bucket. That’s hilarious. Food in a bucket is awesome. Like, it’s maybe the closest a food place can get to calling its customers animals without making them eat from a trough, and I’m all about it. And you get to keep the bucket. Like, I just have a little plastic trash-lookin’ bucket now. What part of this isn’t objectively the greatest?”

Sniper considered the question. “Well, don’t imagine you’ll be able to eat all those,” he said after thinking about it for a moment. “So, not ideal.”

“Dude, don’t even worry about that. Best part of a carnival like this? They’ve got all this horrible garbage food, and like thirty feet away—“ He stopped in his tracks, and Sniper stopped as well, following his line of sight. “—They have spinny rides that’ll make you puke.”

Sniper was still. Scout watched him, waiting for a reaction. “Rides make you throw up?” he asked after a second.

“If I eat a whole fuckin’ bucket of french fries before I get on, then hell yeah they do,” Scout said cheerfully.

Sniper considered that, or maybe just stared at the ride and all of the screaming and hollering people aboard it.

“How many foods come in a bucket, y’think?” Sniper asked.

“Uh, you got fries,” Scout said, lifting his Bucket ‘O Fries to demonstrate his point. “You got fried chicken. I went to this place once with chicken tenders in a bucket with fries.”

“So just a combination of the first two,” Sniper said.

“Oh my god, what? Dude, no way, fried chicken and chicken tenders are wildly different, you kiddin’ me?” Scout gasped. “Barely the same food group!”

Sniper shifted his feet, still watching the ride. “How’re they different?”

“Don’t even get me started, man,” Scout warned.

“Do you even know the food groups?” Sniper asked next, voice flat in a way that Scout had learned meant Sniper was joking.

“Sniper, as a connoisseur of absolute garbage, you insult me,” Scout deadpanned back. “Let’s take some laps of the games and stuff before we go on the rides, I gotta have time to appreciate these fries before they’re being sent into a trash can.”

Sniper shrugged in agreement, following Scout as he started off towards some of the games.

Scout blew a good twenty dollars on the bottle ring toss game, pleased to hear Sniper chiming in every time he made a particularly bad throw. The next booth over had Scout making a repeat performance with the cane ring toss game, except he did manage to win himself exactly one prize, a sticky hand which only ended up directly in his pocket due to the look of immediate dismay on Sniper’s face when he saw Scout wielding it.

“Hey, if there’s one of those shooting games here, think you’d wanna play it? Show up some people?” Scout asked.

Sniper shook his head. “Mate, even out here in civvies,” he started, plucking at the shoulder of Scout’s civilian t-shirt and the chest of his own choice of clothing, a green-grey button-up, “I imagine an Australian washing out the place and a Boston bloke cheering him on would earn enough looks to get us recognized. Especially since you’ve still got the hat and I’ve the glasses.” He tapped first the bill of Scout’s hat, then the side of his own shades.

“Then we fake some accents,” Scout said cheerfully.

Sniper raised an eyebrow, which Scout had long learned was the closest thing to emoting that Sniper managed most of the time. “As if you know how to fake accents,” Sniper said, a note of disbelief showing through.

“What, you think I don’t?” Scout challenged, bumping elbows with him partially by accident as they needed to squeeze between two gaggles of people.

“Do one, then,” Sniper said simply.

Scout cleared his throat, raising his chin. “Oi, look ‘ere, mind tellin’ me where you might find a hotel ‘round ‘ere?” Scout said in an approximation of a lighthearted British accent.

Sniper stared at him. “The hell’d you learn to do that? That was damn well spot on,” Sniper said, both eyebrows raised now.

Scout kept grinning, ducking ahead for a second to squeeze between two intersecting lines of people. When Sniper caught back up he started explaining. “Me an’ one’a my brothers spent these two summers pullin’ this scam,” he started to explain. “We’d pretend to be tourists in town for tour group stuff, sneak into tour groups around the middle’a the day with these old busted cameras he got off people and fake accents so people thought we were from somewhere else, get into buffets for tour-specific stuff and eat for free and leave again,” he explained. “First summer we did it for like two months straight with different tours, second summer we only made it a month in before we had to cut it out.”

“Why?”

“His ex-girlfriend apparently got a job as a tour guide. That was, uh, the second time I ended up in custody that summer.”

“Hooligan,” Sniper murmured in a way that made Scout unsure if he was being made fun of, scolded, or congratulated.

They ended up at the ball toss at some point, which Scout did end up knocking out of the park a few times until the attendant told him to please move along already, reasoning that they already had a frankly ludicrous number of stuffed animals. Indeed, Sniper was carrying three large ones, and Scout had another one in the arm not carrying assorted food.

“I’m namin’ this guy Cotton Candy,” Scout said matter-of-factly, hefting the blue-pink-and-white rabbit up higher as it started to slip from his grip. “And I’m naming that guy Fry Bucket.”

“Which one?” Sniper asked, glancing between the three stuffed animals in his hand.

“That one,” Scout said, bumping a the yellow-and-purple-and-white-and-black slightly-suspicious-looking cat with his elbow. “Because the colors are bright like the bucket.”

“What about the other two?” Sniper asked.

“Eh, they’re yours, up to you.”

Sniper didn’t speak for a moment, just shifting the stuffed animals a bit. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I don’t got a use for four of these guys,” Scout shrugged. “Already I’m thinkin’ about whether Pyro’s gonna want Fry Bucket or Cotton Candy more.”

“What’s that second name about?” Sniper asked. “Is that a brand?”

“…What?”

“Cotton candy.” Sniper’s accent wrapped around the words strangely. “That a specific kind? The, er, blue-pink stuff?”

“…Of cotton candy?” Scout asked slowly.

“Yeah. It’s fairy floss, so is cotton candy then just a certain—“

“It’s fuckin’ what?” Scout asked, eyes lighting up.

Sniper paused for a few seconds. “…You people made up your own name for somethin’ again, haven’t you?” Sniper asked, sighing.

“Fairy floss? Okay, let’s talk about this. Let’s talk about that name.”

“No, we already did this with the bonnet and hood thing, and the… prawn and shrimp thing. So you people call it cotton candy. Noted. Moving on.”

“So like, the tiny winged girls, fuckin’—so goddamn Tinkerbell, she brushes her teeth, right? And she’s gotta be thorough. Ain’t gonna get no gum disease here in fuckin’ Neverland, no way, no adults here so no dentists so that’d go pretty bad. So she’s gotta floss, right? And she uses a goddamn cloud-lookin’ pillowy thing? It’s fairy floss?”

“I didn’t invent all of Australian slang,” Sniper interjected. “You can’t judge me for my country’s choice in naming things. I can’t help it.”

“It’s cotton candy, man! It’s cotton, like outta some kinda pillow, made with sugar. I don’t get why you would call it somethin’ else.”

“Apparently Ireland and those blokes up there split the difference, called it candy floss,” Sniper added in before Scout could get too carried away.

“It’s still not floss! Couldn’t pick a different one? Called it, what, fairy cotton?”

Sniper’s lip twitched up for a moment. “I’m nearly sure that’s some sort of code word for hooch, mate.”

“What the fuck is hooch? Are you speaking English? Am I in fuckin’ wonderland right now?” Scout asked, downright baffled.

“Hooch. Marijuana, cannabis. Mate, you said you grew up in the city, the hell you mean you don’t know what hooch is?”

“Who the fuck calls it hooch?! Man, I knew that Australia was weird, but seriously, it’s gotta be crazy down there,” Scout laughed.

They continued to wander the fairgrounds for awhile longer, and while Sniper was a bit more talkative than usual, Scout couldn’t be sure it wasn’t his imagination and his quietly trying to prompt Sniper into saying more. Eventually Scout could tell that the fairground was nearing closing time, crowd thinning alongside the various booths starting to close up shop and haul things away and lock stuff up for the night.

“I don’t think we’re gonna get around to that eating a ton of food and throwing up thing,” Scout said, a little bit put out.

“Sounds…” Sniper started to say, and stopped again quickly.

Scout waited. “What? What were you gonna say?”

Sniper hesitated. “I was going to say that it… sounds a bit juvenile, don’t you think?” he said slowly. “Not quite as fun as an adult.”

Scout considered that for a few seconds. “…Yeah. Maybe,” he conceded. “Haven’t done that since I was a teen. Might not be as great anymore.”

Sniper hummed. Scout kept talking, as he was used to.

“I mean, back then stuff was also pretty weird all the time,” he said, fidgeting with the handle on the fry bucket. “There was school, then practice, then I’d go home and have stuff with my brothers goin’ on all the time, some kinda shenanigans to pull. Now it’s just work, then I go do chores, then I’m all tired and don’t wanna do nothin’ except go to sleep, then I go to sleep and it’s the next day and I got work again. If I don’t got chores or whatever it’s fine, but man. When did I get all boring, y’know?”

“I don’t think you’re boring,” Sniper said quietly.

Scout looked at him, but couldn’t quite catch his expression the way he was holding the stuffed animals. “Huh? What’d you say?” he asked, fully aware but giving Sniper a chance to take that back or spin it into a joke the way just about everyone did.

“I don’t… I don’t think you’re boring,” Sniper said again, a bit louder now. “You’re interesting. You’ve got big opinions on just about everything, a million stories, a bunch of secret talents that only ever happen to come up at odd times. And you’ve got a lot of jokes. You’re…”

He trailed for a moment as they passed a small group of teens, chattering and laughing among themselves.

“You’re funny. You’re interesting,” Sniper said simply. “Not boring.”

Scout didn’t fight the smile that pulled at his face. “Well, look who’s gotten sweet all of a sudden,” he marveled aloud. Sniper readjusted the stuffed animals he was holding, bringing them closer to his face. “Well, speakin’ of sweet, want some more fairy floss before that place over there closes?”

Sniper nodded somewhere behind the layers of fluff and foam.

Their last stop was out towards the edge of the fairgrounds, the big ferris wheel they had set up. It was the tallest thing at the fair, no contest, and while it definitely wasn’t the biggest ferris wheel Scout had ever seen, or even been on, it was still surprisingly nice.

“Imagine that’s the sort that they need to break down to transport, rather than just keeping it on a trailer,” Sniper said almost offhandedly, following Scout’s line of sight.

“You know stuff about ferris wheels?” Scout asked, blinking.

Sniper shrugged. “Needed to for a job. Just the basics.”

“Huh. Cool.” Scout continued to look at the wheel. “Hey, I know sometimes they don’t shut those off at night, to like, promote the fair. Think they’ve still got an attendant working?”

“Probably not,” Sniper said, glancing around at the line of closed tents and booths around them.

“Wanna just hop on board?”

Sniper looked at him with a slight head tilt. “Why would we do that?”

Scout grinned. “Hey, we aren’t plannin’ on coming back here tomorrow, might as well make a grand exit and get kicked out,” he reasoned.

Sniper’s head tilted slightly further, almost disapproving. “We’d get arrested. The boss would be furious.”

“Assuming they call the cops and the cops get here before we’re gone. What’re they gonna do, be mad? Call our parents? Give us a stern lecture?” He elbowed Sniper. “Come on, let’s live a little!”

And then Scout was off, headed towards the wheel.

“I didn’t agree to this, technically,” Sniper said, hurrying to follow, voice slightly raised.

“But you’re gonna do it anyways!” Scout chimed.

Sniper did not argue that point.

The security was foolproof. A padlock and chain on a gate that was three feet high and had horizontal bars, as well as another lock on the control panel lever. Scout, known for his ability to jump vertically to well over his standing height, was quiet simply unequipped for such a challenge.

Sniper did have to hand over the stuffed animals before he could hop the gate, but soon Scout was placing Fry Bucket on lever duty and the other three nearby to stand guard, then he and Sniper were clambering into one of the cars and headed up.

It was going fairly slowly, to be fair. It took a solid minute for them to get only a bit above halfway up, and it spun them up backwards, meaning most of the view was obscured.

“Other wheels I went on usually spun the other way,” Scout commented lightly, kicking his feet up despite the slightly awkward angle. “Kept stopping to let people on and off, too. Way smaller, though.”

Sniper hummed. Silence fell.

Not long after they’d reached the apex and started heading back down again, Sniper sighed quietly. “I’m sorry if I got sharp with you,” he apologized, very serious. “I just… crowds aren’t much good to me. Too much noise, too much action. People too close. Gets me on edge.”

Scout was suddenly treated with the memory of just about every outing he’d gone so far as to take Sniper on, almost all of which involved crowds. “What?” he asked, taken aback. He pulled his feet down, sitting up. “Really? Dude, why didn’t you say nothin’? I’ve been takin’ you out to real bustlin’ places for like, two months!”

Sniper made a listless gesture. “Didn’t want to ruin your fun just because I’m a worrywart,” he replied, even quieter now. “And I doubt you’ve got many places you know that don’t involve whole masses of people. It’s your whole element.”

Scout couldn’t really argue with that. “Well, then I would’ve been letting you pick where we hang out,” he said stubbornly.

Sniper’s eyebrows drew together. “What? I thought you just wanted someone to bring with you when you went out,” Sniper said, clearly confused.

Scout blinked. “Dude, no. I’ve just been tryin’ to find a place you’d like to hang out in, see if I could get you to talk about anything. You’re always all quiet, I figured it was because you’re bored.”

“Of course not. Opposite, really. Gets overwhelming, I try my best to shut my mouth and pay attention.”

Scout needed a minute to loop his head around that. “Oh. Huh.” They reached the bottom of the wheel, but neither moved to get up, and they just continued on their steady path up again. “I… shit. Dude, I had no idea. I thought you were just hard to please.”

Sniper shook his head. “No. The places are always nice—this is nice—but I just…”

He trailed off. Scout waited for him to sort through his words.

“I just prefer… things like this,” he decided on. “Instead of noises and movement and close quarters and a hundred food smells.”

Scout’s mind went ahead and dealt with that one for a good minute. “Close quarters,” he repeated. “So this isn’t good either?”

“With other people, other folks,” Sniper clarified. “I’m fine with closed spaces.”

“Well, I’m other folks,” Scout said.

Sniper looked away, off to one side. “Not really,” he said, words almost lost to a breeze that decided to blow by just then. “You’re just Scout. I’m fine with you.”

Quiet again.

They made it to the top of the ride again, and Scout found himself relaxing a little bit. He tilted his head back.

“Can’t see the stars out here so good,” Scout said, looking up at the sky.

“Light pollution,” Sniper murmured in agreement, looking up as well. “I can hardly see any at all.”

“You’ve still got your shades on,” Scout half-laughed.

Sniper reached a hand up as if to push his glasses up his nose, and just kept his hand there on them for a few seconds.

“C’mon, not so many stars, by they’re still good ones,” Scout urged.

Sniper hesitated for a moment before he pulled the shades off, folding them, hanging them on his shirt. His gaze fell down below for a moment, then up to the sky. He had pretty eyes. There were some wrinkles around them, the kind of thing that meant Sniper either laughed a lot, or spent a lot of time in the sun, or a mixture of both. Scout realized he’d probably have his own pretty soon with his lifestyle. He found a lot of things funny.

Sniper briefly glanced at Scout out of the corner of his eye, then back away again.

“You’re staring,” Sniper said quietly, gaze falling to the tents and stands as they started on the inward down curve.

Scout looked away, also out at the area they’d just been in. Only a few places still had lights around them. The area was mostly dark, the tent blockings around them lit mainly by the gently changing lights on their ferris wheel. “You should take your shades off more,” Scout said.

Sniper shifted. “I use ‘em at work,” he replied. “They help me shoot.”

“You weren’t at work today, or any of the other times we went and did stuff,” Scout replied, tipping his head against the back of the seat, rolling his head to look at Sniper. Tiredness was creeping up on him, not in a cranky way, just in a lazy way.

“Why would I take ‘em off?” Sniper asked, not looking at him.

“So I can know where you’re lookin’,” Scout shrugged. “And because you look good, and they hide your face.”

Sniper’s eyes fell to his own knees, which he gripped in both hands. “Maybe that’s the point,” he said, voice rumbling against the lowest volume he could manage.

Scout kept looking at him, then back up at the sky as they made it to the upper half.

“Scout, I have a question,” Sniper said, eyes locked downward.

“Mm,” Scout hummed.

Sniper took a breath, exhaled. Looked over at Scout, made eye contact, maybe for the first time without the barrier of tinted, reflective lenses in the way. “Can I kiss you?”

Scout wasn’t sure what his expression was in the following several moments of silence, but it made Sniper tense, paling under the colorful lights, visibly sinking at roughly the same speed as the car they were in as they passed the apex.

“I’m sorry, I just—“ he started to stammer, backtracking as Scout did his best to mentally try and sort out the can of worms that was just opened. “I thought, we—ferris wheel, you sayin’ that I’m, I’m good looking, and—“

Scout saw the way he was fidgeting, fiddling, hands no longer able to be stuffed in his pockets to prevent it.

“—and you won those stuffed animals for me s’well, and you’ve been taking me to dinner, tryin’ to make me laugh, and—“

He couldn’t quite look at Scout, and maybe he could never quite look at Scout, and maybe that’s why he never took his sunglasses off. Maybe that’d why he kept his hat’s brim low. Maybe that’s why he held things up near his face.

“—and I just assumed, I, I’m sorry, I’m godawful at picking up the clues on that sort of thing, and maybe I just imagined things, I—“

“Do you wanna?”

Sniper’s rambling stammered to a halt. He didn’t look at Scout. “What?”

“Hey. Look at me.” It took a minute, but he did, tipping his head up first, eyes following a second later. Crow’s feet. “Do you wanna kiss me?”

Sniper managed the tiniest of nods.

“Out loud,” Scout added, voice level.

Sniper took a breath. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like to,” he said.

Scout tilted his head up for a second. They were headed back up and over again. Stars.

“Yeah,” Scout decided. “You can, if you want.”

Sniper had to take a second to process that. But then, slowly, he placed his hand on Scout’s shoulder. He second-guessed himself, hand moving instead to rest on Scout’s cheek, tilting his face only on accident, and then Sniper was kissing him.

It felt nice. Scout reached up slowly so as to keep from scaring Sniper away, an arm wrapping up around his shoulders.

By the time they pulled away, they were at the bottom of the wheel again. Sniper managed to smile at him, so visibly relieved and contented that it almost left Scout reeling, the sudden input of reaction making his head spin.

“You taste like fries,” Sniper informed him quietly.

Scout laughed.

#sniperscout #speeding bullet #my fanfiction #shut up me #my writing #tf2 #team fortress 2 #im sleeby this probably has errors but shrug

[crue-sixx]

Hungry Like A Wolf

Title: Hungry Like A Wolf

Author: tiddly-winx

Fandom: The Dirt (Motley Crue Movie)

Summary: The reader is bitten by a big dog, but she's in for more than just an infection.

Warnings: Swearing, Blood, Gore, Sickness, Smut. Animal Death, Werewolves

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was Halloween, the band's favorite holiday.  You guys went all out, decorating the apartment, making your costumes with whatever you could find and throwing them together last minute.  Of course you stocked up on candy-both for you all to eat and to pass out to the kids in the building.  You and your boyfriend Tommy were handing out the candy, and when the trick-or-treating hours had concluded, the real tricks would start.

Nikki had bought five dozen eggs a month ago and let them rot, planning on having you all throw the putrid stink bombs at adult passerby who happened to be roaming around.  You all had it planned out-two on the left, two on the right and one sitting in a tree or on the roof.  You were with Tommy on the right, Mick and Vince to the left and Nikki up high.  You bombarded a few groups of teenagers who were bullying younger kids for their candy.  The little bastards deserved it. 

The stink exploded on impact, causing the pizza faced boys to gag and scatter.  "That's what you get for bein' mean to little kids, assholes!" Nikki shouted from up top.  The teenagers all cursed and vowed revenge, but you all knew it was an empty threat. 

When all the eggs were spent, you kissed Tommy on the cheek and said "Go on back to our room, Babe" you said winking "I gotta go pick something up for your treat tonight" he grinned, knowing full well that he was getting a special sex session tonight.

"Why didn't you just have it delivered or pick it up earlier?" he whined, not wanting to wait for his Halloween Treat.

"Because" you eyed them all "Most of you guys like to try and ransack my drawers for my underwear" except for Mick, they all nervously laughed and glanced down.  "And I didn't want the surprise to be spoiled" you wrapped your arms around his neck and kissed him tenderly.  He of course returned the gesture with aplomb.

"Hurry back, Y/N" he said, not wanting to let you go but he had to.

"I will, Tommy" you blew him a kiss, to which he caught it and sent it back.  Nikki and Vince made mock gagging gestures and Tommy laughed at that.

You were on your way to the shop that was open late tonight when you had to cross the park to make a short cut.  It was like Central Park in New York, but considerably smaller.  You could see your destination just on the other side when you heard a rustling in the bushes.  You turned and saw a rather large dog, you didn't think anything of it and tried to go on your way, but a supernatural force pulled you back to stare into it's eyes.

Your heart rate slowed down and you entered a dreamlike state.  The dog's eyes were yellow and looking at you like you were it's next meal.  You were in a trance, the creature having reared up and walking on two legs like a human.  You knew you should have been terrified and run off, but the power keeping you there made that impossible.

You could smell and feel it's hot steamy rank breath as it exhaled on you.  It's fangs were dripping with saliva and you could see it's mouth twisting into an ugly snarl.  It then howled and lunged at you, knocking you over.  The sudden movement snapped you out of the trance and you screamed for help.  The thing clamping down on your arms with its jaws and scratching at your belly with claws so sharp it could cut diamonds.

It would have killed you if someone hadn't blown it's brains out just as it was going in for the kill.  Your neck was exposed and it was about to bleed you dry when you heard a crack of thunder and then a pink misty cloud of blood and brain matter splattered the white rose bushes, painting them a brilliant red.  The shooter stepped forward, a young teen boy right after him. "What should we do about 'er Pa?" asked the boy in a nervous tone.

"Let's put 'er outta 'er misery" the older man cocked the shotgun and pointed it at you.

You had tears running down your face as you tried to speak "Please no..." when you heard more people coming your way with flashlights.

"Damn it!" the older man cursed "Grab the beast boy and hightail it outta here!"  The son did as his father bade, and they left you to bleed.  It wasn't long however when a group of police officers came to your aid and radioed for an ambulance. 

In your blood loss induced state of delirium, you asked "Why did they paint the roses red?  They're gonna lose their heads..." before you finally passed out.

Back at the apartment, they were all getting worried.  They knew where the sex shop was-they all frequented it for condoms and various other sex novelties.  It didn't take two hours to get there and back.  Tommy was pacing around in circles cracking his knuckles."Where the fuck is she?" he felt the worry puke coming on.

"Relax" Nikki tried to reassure him "Maybe there's a long line at the check out counter or something..."

Then the phone blared.  An ominous pressure filled the room as they all stared at it.  When the phone rights at two in the morning, nothing good ever happens.  Tommy picked it up and said "Y/N?"

"No" an unfamiliar voice answered "Is this Tommy Lee?"

"Yeah" he had to steady himself on the table.  From the expression on his face, they all knew it couldn't be good.  They waited in uncomfortable anticipation for more information "Who're you?"

"I am Doctor Finkle from L.A. General.  Do you know a woman by the name of Y/N L/N?"

"Yeah she's my girlfriend" his voice cracked "Is she okay?"

"I cannot say exactly" the sound of papers shuffling "from the police report, it states that she was attacked by a large animal in the park and was just bought into our operating room for emergency surgery.  Please get here as quick as you can..." it sounded like you didn't have much time left, and Tommy bolted for the door without even hanging up the phone or putting shoes on.  The rest of the guys followed him and he filled them in on the way in the car.

When they finally got there, Tommy ran in, knocking over a nurse with a cart full of medicine.  "Y/N L/N!" he wheezed, out of breath "Is she still in surgery?!"

The receptionist typed in your name and your status was stated next to it "Yes, she is.  The O.R. is on the fourth floor.  Please fill out a visitors-" he wouldn't let her finish, him sprinting to the elevator and pressing the buttons repeatedly.  His rational mind knew that pressing the same buttons over and over again wouldn't make the damn thing go faster, but his emotional side was nervously twitching.

"Come on, damn thing..." the others caught up to him as the doors opened and he went in, repeating the previous motions of button mashing the fourth floor button.

A passing orderly was unfortunate enough to be within reaching distance of Tommy's arms.  He grabbed the poor unsuspecting young man and shook him violently "Y/N L/N!  Where is she?!  Where's the fuckin' doctor?!"

Dr. Finkle heard the voice he had spoken to fifteen minutes ago and came out in scrubs, fresh from surgery "Mr. Lee?"

Tommy's head snapped to him and he said "Dr. Finkle?!"

"Yes, that's me.  If you'll stop terrorizing my orderly I can fill you in on your lady friend's condition" Tommy let the trembling man go, offering him an apologetic look.  "The consultation room is this way" he motioned with his hand to a small room that could only fit two maybe three people.

Tommy went in and sat with him while Mick, Vince and Nikki watched from the waiting room trying to read their lips.  Dr, Finkle looked haggard, he had been working all day on idiotic drunkards who had gotten themselves into ridiculous situations.  Most of them were minor injuries, cuts and scrapes that the patients INSISTED were broken bones.  But this woman was the real deal, her blood tests showed no alcohol or any other substances in her system.  She was just a poor soul in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"How is she, Doc?" Tommy's voice cracked, on the verge of tears.

"She's stable" the doctor answered.  Tommy breathed a sigh of relief.  "She lost a lot of blood, but we were able to stop the bleeding and replace what she lost.  She'll be alright, she just needs a few days in here to recover and to make sure she didn't get any diseases of whatever animal attacked her" he took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes.

"What's the damage?" Tommy wanted to be ready for what he was going to see.

"She has extensive bite marks on her arms-most likely defensive wounds-some deep.  She also has claw marks on her chest and abdomen, but those are superficial.  They're not much concern at this time."

Tommy swallowed hard and asked "When can I see her?"

"In about ten minutes.  She's being settled into her room right now.  The anesthesia may last longer than that, but that's to be expected" he took off his glasses and added off the record "you can stay as long as you want.  I recon that you'll be the first person she wants to see when she wakes up..."

"Thanks Doc" he was very appreciative and shook his hand "For taking care of my girl..."

"She's in room 509 on the recovery floor" the doctor added.  She should be settled by the time you get up there" they then parted ways, Tommy grateful for the man who saved his lover's life.

The others got up when they saw him come out, the waiting game being too much for them "How is she?"

"She'll live" Tommy said flatly "Go on back to the apartment, I'll stay with her" they looked at each other uneasily and agreed.

"Do you want us to get you anything before we go?" Mick asked, being uncharacteristically empathetic.

"Nah, I'm good.  I'll just have the shitty coffee and snacks to hold me over" he tried to smile, but it was very weak and unconvincing.  They reluctantly left but they knew he needed alone time with his girl.

You were still in your drugged sleep when he came in.  He thought he'd mentally prepared himself for what he might see, but he was wrong.  Most of your upper body was bandaged up like a mummy, but your head was still visible.  He let out a few whimpers before breaking down like a lost child.  "Y/N...Baby..." he took your hand and held it.  "I'm so sorry...I never should have let you go alone..."

You were starting to wake up then, saying "Don't beat yourself up, Tommy" he jumped, startled at your quick recovery.

"Y/N!" he was both happy and perplexed "How are you awake so soon?!"

"I heard you crying and thought I'd wake my lazy ass up and see what's going on" you smiled at him, still groggy from the drugs.  He was just so happy that you were okay, that he leaned down and gave you the sweetest, softest kiss he ever did.

"I love you" he confessed through his sobs, snot dripping down his face.

"I love you too, Tommy" you reached up to try and clean his face, but you were seeing triple and couldn't tell which Tommy to wipe.

"I got it, Babe" he laughed and wiped his face.

All the tests came back negative for any animal borne diseases, and you were clear to go back to the apartment.  Tommy was there by your side all the while, the guys bringing him clothes and toiletries so he could be clean.  He hated being able to smell himself and it was nasty.

The guys had a small party when you came home, just the five of you and a little welcome home cake.  You thanked them and had a few beers, Tommy leading you away from them to make love to you in a proper fashion.  He gingerly touched your scars and kissed them, You tried to shy away from his touching them but he insisted "They're a part of you now, and I love everything about you..."

"Tommy..." you sighed a ragged breath of carnal desire.  "Fuck me..."

"Don't gotta tell me twice"  you were already so wet from just him touching you that he didn't need to do anything like oral or fingering.  He was rock hard too, so he just slid inside easily.  He let out a gasp of pleasure and commented "Oh fuck baby you're tighter than usual..."

"Well, I have been out of practice for a week" you whispered into his neck before kissing it.  You then felt a strange savage second nature begin to wash over you.  You smelled his blood pumping through his veins.  You wanted him.  His flesh.  His meat.  You were able to push the urge down and he continued to fuck you.

"Jesus Fuckin' Christ" he moaned into your mouth "You feel hotter too..."  he grunted loudly "my dick's on fire...fuck" he had you against the wall, holding onto you tightly.  You turned your ass to him.

"Do me from behind Babe" you groaned and dug your nails into the plaster.  He happily obliged, liking this new angle.  You could hear his balls slapping against your ass gently, serving to draw the both of you closer to your climax.

"Oh God" Tommy gasped, bucking his hips wildly "I'm gonna fuckin' cum..." you quickly pulled away from him and took him into your mouth, deep throating him as he pumped his seed down your gullet.  He held your head in place, his own falling back in exhausted pleasure.

After you had swallowed his semen, you looked up at him and said "Was that hot for you baby?"

"So fuckin' hot Y/N" he was panting "I could feel your nose against my stomach..." he gulped hard "I love it when we try new stuff in the bedroom..." he picked you up and kissed you tenderly.  He was spent, but you hadn't finished.  You didn't care about that, you had your man with you and that's all that mattered.

The next morning, you smelled the sweet aroma of frying meat.  It lulled you out of bed and into the kitchen where Tommy was making breakfast.  "Mornin'!" he greeted, but you didn't answer.  You smelled the raw bacon on the counter and couldn't take your eyes off it.  Your mouth began to water, just the thought of tasting fresh meat driving you mad with ravenous hunger.

You scooped up the raw meat and tore into it like a wild animal, your teeth making it easier to shred than before.  Tommy watched you in amazed horror, then put a hand on your shoulder to stop you from eating raw meat.  You snarled at him, your eyes full of pure rage at having your meal interrupted. "The fuck you want?!" your voice wasn't just your own, but a deep throated. rolling growl.  You were so pissed that he'd interrupt your meal like that!  You imagined ripping out his esophagus and making his intestines your meal but you realized how fucked up that was and calmed down.

He was actually scared to respond at first but he said "Dude, you're eating raw meat...that's got bacteria in it..."

"Erm...right..." you put down the raw meat and looked down "sorry..."

He gave you a strange look, but let it go.

Things went back to normal for a few weeks, then exactly one month after the attack you fell ill.  First, you were burning up and sweating buckets.  Then the vomiting when you had nothing in your stomach.  Everyone thought it was just the flu and they stayed clear of you, Tommy bringing you soup and some crackers.

Then your insides started burning, and the vomiting turned more violent.  It was when you saw blood in the toilet that you started to panic.  "Tommy!  I need-" a new round of blood vomit came but this one actually hurt.  It was then your skin started to itch-like tiny bugs were crawling all over the surface.  You started scratching.

Tommy had heard you call for him, and when he came in the bathroom, he saw you clawing at your arms "Y/N, what the fuck?!" he grabbed a towel "You're bleeding!"

"I'm just so itchy..." you brushed him off and continued to scratch, drawing more blood from your body.

"Fuckin' stop!" Tommy grabbed both your hands to keep you from doing more damage.

"Tommy what the fuck's going on in there?!" Nikki shouted.

He didn't have time to answer, you had stood up, whipped your head back and headbutted him, breaking his nose.  Nikki and Vince burst through the door when they saw the carnage.  They stared speechless, Tommy knocked out on the floor and you bloody with your muscle meat on display.  "T-Bone!" Nikki went to his fallen friend, and you had thrown up blood all over him.

You were then on the ground twitching.  They thought you were having a seizure and Tommy was trying to help you, but then they saw your features begin to change.  Your bones began to break on their own, your skin tore away from your frame, the largest organ of the body unable to contain the new growth.  In it's place, coarse fur and animal skin grew.  Your nose elongated into a snout, fangs protruding  where your teeth once were.

Nikki and Vince didn't wait around to see what was happening next, instead grabbing Tommy and dragging him out of the apartment and hauling ass out of there.  You-or whatever version of you that was followed them down the hallway on all fours.  "Holy shit!" Tommy had woken up and was staring a behemoth of a dog in the face.

The thing had leapt up, ready to completely devour them all when a soft whistling was heard, then a yelp from the animal and then the thing skidded across the floor.  They looked up and saw Mick with a hunting rifle, but a tranquilizer dart in the animal's thigh.  "What the fuck was that?" Tommy asked.

Nikki and Vince looked at each other, unsure to what to say.  They knew what they had saw and weren't on anything that would make them see that.  Mick spoke up and said "That's Y/N.  She's a werewolf" as easily as saying "Pass the fuckin' potatoes".

"What the fuck?" Nikki whispered.

"How do you know?" Tommy looked at Mick.

"Shut up and watch, Drummer" he said, and you started shrinking back to normal size.

"H-how is this possible?" Tommy stumbled back, his broken nose the least of his worries.

"It was on Halloween when she was attacked.  A few of my buddies heard about werewolf activity in the area and decided to check it out" he pulled the dart from your thigh, you giving a small yelp of pain as he did so.

"How do you know all this shit?"  Vince questioned "Werewolves and all that crap are just myths!"

Mick took a long while to respond, but when he did "There are things that go bump in the night, boys.  I'm one of the ones who bump back" he grabbed you by your foot and began to drag you across the floor.

Tommy got up and shouted "Hey!  Where you takin' her?!"

"To a place where she can turn and not hurt anybody" he took you down the stairs, being careful not to smack your head against them.

"You're not takin' my girl anywhere without me!" Tommy grabbed a hold of his arm, but Mick gave his signature glare and he backed off.

"You really want to be around the thing who just tried to eat you?" he asked sarcastically.

"She's not a 'thing' Mick!  She's my girlfriend!"

"Get that nose looked at first, then I'll come back and take you to her.  I promise..."

Tommy let him go, Nikki and Vince having been shell shocked into silence.  After he got cleaned up, Tommy waited for Mick to come back,  When he did, he kept his word and took him to the police station.  "Mick why the fuck are we here?"

"To see Y/N" he gave an unfamiliar hand gesture to a guard and he let them in a secret passage.  At the end of the passage, there was a group of fortified cells with all sorts of giant dogs in them of varying colors and ferocity.  Then at the very end, they saw you in your human form, still knocked out from the drugs.

"What did you shoot her with?" Tommy asked, caressing your face.

"Wolfsbane" Mick answered "It reverses the transformation and makes them sleep it off.  Too much will kill them though" he slipped a freshly dead goat into your cell, to which Tommy gagged.

"How do you know about this Mick?  I mean really?"

"My family have been monster hunters for generations"  he washed his hands of the blood "Going all the way back to Abraham Van Helsing and Dracula" he loaded his shotgun with a round of silver bullets and waited.

"Hey, what are you doin'?" Tommy protested.

"If she wakes up and turns again, then there's no hope for her.  I'm going to put her out of her misery" he cocked the gun.

You woke up a few hours later, still your normal self.  You were confused about your new surroundings.  "Good!  You're awake and you!" Mick smiled warmly.

"What happened?" you asked "Why am I in this dank cell?"

They had explained what happened, you not believing them until you talked to Vince and Nikki, then seeing the damage of the bathroom for yourself.  You certainly didn't want to die or kill anyone, but you couldn't resist the transformation.  "What do I have to do?"

"Keep track of the lunar cycle and lock yourself up in the cells when the full moon comes around" Mick answered "eat all the raw meat you can get to control the hunger."

You looked at Tommy and started to cry.  "Baby what's wrong?" he hugged you close to him.

"I tried to kill you guys" you sobbed into his shirt "I can't be around normal people anymore!"

"Are you breaking up with me?" Tommy whispered quietly.

"No, but I understand if you want to break up with me..."

"Babe, the thought never crossed my mind" he pet your hair.

"You sure?"

"Of course!  If I wanted to leave, I'd be gone by now!" he smiled down at you.  "We just got to get used to the new you..." he grinned into a kiss.  You remembered how great the sex was the last time you did it with him, and that seemed to quell the beast inside you for a moment, but you knew that at any time, your inner wolf could strike and you counted on Mick to put that silver bullet in you before you could harm anyone.

#motley crue #mötley crüe #the dirt #tommy lee #mick mars #nikki sixx #vince neil #motley crue imagine #mötley crüe imagine #tommy lee imagine #submission #not mine

[cefstickles]

A Ticklish Soulmate AU - Part 1

So not exactly a fic, but a crap ton of head cannons! What if there was a soulmate AU that if you tickled yourself you were actually tickling your soulmate? Its where soulmates are bound by the fact that when they tickle themselves they are actually tickling their soulmate! It’s really cute and fluffy! I have head cannons for each pair! I’ll make this into two parts because...my goodness this got long real quick! hope you enjoy!

Prinxiety

-Roman was the one who started it. He longed to make his soulmate laugh, so when he first found out about soulmates, you better believe he was tickling himself all day long. And years after too!

-Virgil on the other side of it, was always teased because of it. But not when he was in high school. In fact, many people envied him because he got tickled quite often which meant his soulmate was looking hard for him.

-It took Virge awhile, but finally got the guts to tickle Roman back. Roman cried of happiness that day, and they did their best to communicate through the tickles they were giving to each other. 

-It took a bit, but they finally figured out each other’s tickle spots. Virgil loves his neck and back tickles, whereas Roman is really only ticklish on his feet and in his armpits.

-They finally met when Virgil was in college and Roman a graduate student. Roman has an odd habit of tickling his soulmate while he’s rehearsing for plays, and it just so happens Virgil was in the crowd watching their dress rehearsal. While Roman slipped a couple pokes into his neck while he was doing some hand gestures around the facial area, Virgil squealed because he wasn’t expecting it and everyone turned to look at him. Roman almost lost his balanced because like “Is it him?”

-He just had to scrape another finger at his neck, and Virgil tried to muffle another squeal.

-Roman could barely could contain his excitement. Immediately after practice was over, he saw Virgil skedaddle quickly out of the theater and ran after him. Roman was much faster than Virge, and with tickling on his side, finally caught him from behind and gave him some back kisses to soothe his new anxious friend’s worries.

-Virgil backs away and is quite skittish at first, but he slightly wiggles a couple fingers in his armpits, it sends Roman to the floor giggling.

-They both couldn’t believe they found each other, but they are so glad they did.

Logicality

-”You can’t tickle yourself, because you are tickling your soulmate instead!” At least, that’s what teachers told him. Told Logan.

-Logan didn’t really believe in all of that. He had started studying it when he was a child, but since he had tried to contact his soulmate but received no response he gave up rather quickly.

-It wasn’t until his sophomore year of high school that he began to feel his soulmate’s tickling. Unfortunately for him, it started as he was giving a class speech and his voice fluctuated as he did his best not to giggle through the whole thing.

-Afterwards, he drove himself home and tried to sort himself out, though the consistent tickling was driving him up the wall. Litterally, he couldn’t stop the giggles from flowing out of his mouth.

-It wasn’t unpleasant he decided, but deduced the next course of action would be to tickle his soulmate back.

-It took awhile for Logan to get used to tickling his soulmate, because there was no one around but just him. He even used verbal teasing one time, but his older brother Emile Picani listened in and couldn’t stop cooing at him for the next couple of months.

-He discovered, with a system of x’s for not ticklish and o’s for very ticklish, which tickle spots were his soulmates favorite. Logan found it endearing that his soulmate loved his tummy tickled and hoped that one day he could tickle it in real life. In return, he shared his tickle spots, which happened to be his sides and hips.

-That day wouldn’t come until much much much later. Logan was twenty-three and out of college already working in one the highest achieving Chemistry Corporations in the world. He wasn’t a CEO, but a supervisor with an upstanding rank above many people.

-It was then he met Patton. A twenty-five-year-old Nurse who happened to work at the hospital which one of his closest friends (*cough* Virgil) was taken to because of a pre-planned operation. He was there to see that everything went through correctly.

-Patton was the one who tried to keep Logan (And Roman) out of the room while the doctor’s were operating. Through the push pull argument, Logan accidentally jabbed Patton in the stomach and the squeak that fell out of Patton’s mouth had the whole room outside of the operation in shock.

-At first Logan thought nothing of it, but it came back later that week to haunt him. He drove to that same hospital and got to a place where he was able to watch Patton from afar. Reluctantly, he tickled his tummy in the way he usually did wanting to see just how Patton reacted if he truly was his roommate.

-He was adorable. Just letting himself laugh and squeal silently to himself. He could even see the little squeak jumps Patton would do as Logan stuck a finger in his bellybutton.

-Logan finally confronted him after his shift was over and Patton was a little skeptical. But it was quickly made clear to him who the man was in front of him. Patton got so happy, but I mean he had to return the favor. Can you imagine it? Two fully grown men standing in a parking lot, tickling themselves silly? Three days earlier Logan would have scoffed at the idea.

-After some exchanging of information, the reason Patton hadn’t tickled him until high school was because the lad was touch starved, sheltered, and was never told about soulmates. It wasn’t until he finally went to public school his senior year of highschool did he finally understand and wanted to find who his soulmate was.

-It was an odd sight to see a popular CEO with a nurse, but they looked happy and thats all that ever really mattered to them.

Analogical

-Virgil and his family were evicted from their home when he was 10. There was a fight between his parents not long afterwards, and he ran away because he couldn’t stand all the yelling. After being homeless for three months, that’s when he felt his first tickle. It wasn’t strong, but a light soothing touch. Almost the type one could fall asleep too.

-It stopped him from his daily pity cry and made him look around at what he already had. And for awhile its what he held onto. It was his source of comfort and hope. Sadly, it never occurred to him that he probably should have returned it.

-Unknowing of soulmates, the tickle faded over time and he stopped feeling it. He was sad, but the loss of the tickle had pushed him to find work. He did jobs where he could, gathered up money to help himself eat. Eventually he knew he was going to have to go to school to better understand the world.

-Unlike the other two pairs I’ve talked about, Virgil and Logan met at an early age. Logan had given up on contacting his soulmate and had accepted the fact that he didn’t have one.

-They were in the same 8th grade class for almost a whole year, when Logan was put on the spot to be Virgil’s science tutor. There they discovered they actually had a lot more in common than they thought and began to hangout outside of school.

-When Logan found out Virgil was homeless, he quickly adopted him--er moreso demanded his parents (Patton and Roman) that they adopt him--and did his best to make him feel at home. Virgil pretty much didn’t have a choice in the matter, but didn’t really mind. It was nice to be off the streets and in a warm bed again.

-One time while doing one of their deep midnight talks, the subject of soulmates came up. Virgil had never heard of them so Logan explained what it was. He finished his thought with “I tried to contact--er tickle--my soulmate long ago, but I didn’t feel a response. So, I don’t think I have one.”

-And Virgil’s eyes widen. That tickle was my soulmate trying to contact me?! He began to feel quite sad because “What if his soulmate feels like Logan does and thinks they don’t have one!”

-Of course the thought comes to him while Logan is in the bathroom as he begins to tickle his soulmate(Logan). Yeah toothpaste got all over the bathroom mirror, but on the bright side Logan was whooping for joy. He came out laughing and hugging Virgil, super excited that he felt from his soulmate with toothpaste all over his face mind you.

-It got Virgil excited too, and the two just had to have an epic pillow fight to try to burn off their sudden excitement. Until Roman came from downstairs to put their pillow skills both to shame and remind them that “bed time was three hours ago you little rascals! Face the tickle monster!”

-Yeah the two ‘brothers’ were extremely dense for the next year and a half. It was Virgil who actually found out first that they were soulmates. He was wondering why Logan would giggle every time he poked his own side. It was adorable, he thought and would often do it, until it dawned on him. His best friend was his soulmate.

-He got so nervous over this fact that he puked in his freshman history class because he couldn’t handle the information...ironically. He was sent to the nurse’s office while Logan had his free period, in which he helped around the school faculty. Of course Logan had to be helping the nurse that day.

-During that time, Virgil could barely speak so he knew that if he wanted to tell Logan he would have to show him. Logan was tending to his fever, when Virgil poked his own side, watching Logan jump adorably. He did it again and again until Logan looked at Virgil dead in the eyes and the message was clear.

-Logan was dumbfounded too, and the two couldn’t speak the entire car ride home. Even at dinner they didn’t have any words. The night was just filled with silence, save for the small talk Roman and Patton were trying to make downstairs.

-Logan couldn’t stand it anymore. After a half hour of laying in bed wide awake, he went to his soulmate’s bed room to find him crying. Crawling into bed with him, and cuddling Virgil from behind.

-They don’t need to speak. They don’t even need to make eye contact.

-A poke for reassurance is all they would ever need from that moment forward.

Those that wanted to be on my taglist: @violetmcl @shadowkittycat97 (Let me know if you want to be on my taglist!)

#thomassanders #thomas sanders #sanderssides #sanders sides #logan sanders #logic sanders #roman sanders #princey sanders #patton sanders #morality sanders #virgil sanders #anxiety sanders #ticklish soulmates AU #prinxiety #logicality #analogical #tw tickling #tw tickles #cefs headcannons

[stdennard]

And here’s chapter 2 of that Mass Effect/Witchlands fic

As with chapter one, this unedited, pure first draft. Also not accurate to ME. So...who knows what the eff is in here.

Lieutenant Aidan Harris did not want to be here.

In fact, given the choice of anywhere in all of the galaxy to land, he’d take war-torn Tuchanka over the Citadel. Or toxic Bataria. Hell, he’d taken the god-damned Outer Reaches with no fuel and no life over the Citadel, looming just ahead.

“You gonna puke?”

At Joker’s voice, Aidan frowned. Then glared at the pilot in his console seat.

“Spectre’s don’t puke.”

“Oh, really?” The younger man’s eyebrows shot high as he eased, edged, and inched the SR-1 ship into the Citadel’s flight space. Never had Aidan known anyone—except for Joker—who could carry on a conversation and manually park at the same time. “What about that time on New Years Eve…when was it? 2185?”

“Wasn’t me.”

“Oh, so it was a different Aidan Harris who drank an entire handle of tequila, and then spent the next day vomiting in the barracks.”

“Definitely a different Aidan Harris.” Aidan’s lips ticked slightly upward.

“Ah, there’s the toothless smirk I know so well.” Joker grinned, tugging his cap into place. “Gotta say, Lieutenant, no one makes a smile look as unappealing as you do.”

“Spectre’s don’t smile.” Aidan turned away from the windshield. “If you need me, I’ll be suiting up in the armory.”

“Aye, sir. See ya.”

The instant Aidan ducked out of the cockpit, what remained of his “smirk” instantly vanished. The truth was, he did feel like puking. It had been six years since he’d last been at the Citadel. Six years since he’d been named Spectre and given the right to do whatever it was the Council needed.

And it had been two years since he’d given all of that up. The Council might not officially know yet, but Aidan had no doubt that Commander Anderson suspected. After all, he’d been the one to train Aidan, first in basic. Then through N7. Anderson had also been the one to nominate Aidan for Spectre-status. He knew Aidan better than most, and as overbearing and bleeding heart as the commander could be, Aidan still definitely Anderson better than most.

Which was this dread had taken up permanent, heavy residence in his stomach. Aidan could lie through his teeth to almost anyone, expression unchanging. But Anderson…

Aidan reached the armory, the doors automatically whispering open at his approach. A voice skated out. The doctor’s, low and almost inflectionless in that way she had. It made the hair on the back of his neck prick up.

She was so quiet. Two weeks of travel with her, and Aidan learned more about her than he’d ever wanted to know. How she took her coffee. How that one hair, too short to be pulled back, drove her mad. How she talked in her sleep, words incomprehensible and breathy, yet there to fill the darkness all the same.

And how, whenever she looked at him, she never flinched. Nor reacted at all.

Only one other person had ever been able to hold Aidan’s stare that long. And Aidan was about to see him again.

The doctor turned at Aidan’s approach. Her shore-suit was wrinkled, bunching at her shoulder. The urge to straighten it tickled in Aidan’s fingers. Instead, he glared pointedly at the offending spot before dropping to one knee before Delilah.

Through the plate glass of her mask, her chin was tipped down. As always. Her jaw worked side to side.

“You ready to go ashore, Dee?”

She nodded, almost imperceptible inside the suit.

“A few things you need to know, okay?” Aidan waited for another nod before continuing, “You’re going to see a lot of people. More than you’ve probably ever seen before in your life, and it’ll be loud. And hot. And there won’t be a lot of room to even move in some places.”

“You should carry her.” The doctor stepped closer. Her combat boots squeaked on the grated floor. “It’ll be easier to get wherever we’re going if you’re holding her. She likes you more.”

How strange, Aidan thought, offering one of his tight-lipped “smirks” to the child. No one had ever liked him more.

Isabeau wasn’t finished though. “And,” she began, dragging out the word as if unsure how to proceed.

Which Aidan understood. They never knew what might set off Delilah’s biotics.

“And,” Isabeau finished, slipping into human English, “if anything happens, you can control her better than I can.”

Aidan’s lips pressed tight. He pushed to his feet and met the doctor’s hazel eyes. “Nothing is going to happen,” he said in English. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”

Her nostrils flared ever so slightly. A face Aidan knew well. The sign of an argument to come.

It was all they’d done since leaving Eden Prime. Argue over little things—how best to drive the Mako, how best to clean a Black Widow, how best to coax Delilah into eating.

They’d argued over big things too. And this was one of them: what waited ahead? Why had Aidan been sent to retrieve Isabeau in the first place? And what would the Alliance do to her once they realized she had touched the Prothean beacon?

Which was exactly what she said now: “I beg your pardon, Lieutenant, but you’re not the one who sees Prothean visions every time he goes to sleep.”

So calm, so inflectionless. Even when arguing.

“And I beg your pardon, Doc.” He matched her tone, her cadence. Their words might never aligned, but their voices always did. “But you weren’t supposed to step in. If you’d let me handle the beacon as were my orders—”

“Lieutenant.” Joker’s voice echoed into the armory. “We got trouble.”`

Delilah flinched nearby, catching Aidan’s eyes as her er biotics flared behind her mask. Aidan’s own biotics flared in response.

“Yeah, Joker?” he called, forcing his tight smile to spread into a real one directed at Dee.

“They’ve flagged the Normandy. We’ve got clearance to land, but it’s like a goddamned pinball machine. They’re swatting us from one docking station to the next.”

“What does that mean?” Aidan looked away from the child, unable to keep his attempted grin intact. He found the doc, staring up at the comm speaker with arms tense at her side and her nose wiggling.

A surprising display of stress for Isabeau.

It annoyed him. Made his shoulders turn hot because—once more—she had nothing to worry about. He was the Spectre who’d screwed up. He was the one who’d left this place on bad terms two years ago.

And you’re the one about to rejoin to the enemy.

He swatted that thought aside. Though not before the dread could take deeper root somewhere in the region of his intestines.

“It means,” Joker said, “that wherever they end up parking us, you’re gonna want to be ready for a welcome party—op! Here we go. We’ve got clearance, and yep. From the chatter on the comm, it sounds like you’ve got quite the parade lined up outside.”

“Shit.” Aidan’s biotics flared hotter. He twisted away from Dee, but too late. The child saw; her own biotics ratcheted up.

And the lockers in the armory started to shake.

Aidan pretended not to notice. He didn’t have much choice. He still had to dress, and more importantly, he had to get his story straight.

The keypad on his locker dinged at his approach. The rattling door swung wide. Behind him, Isabeau was offering soothing words to Delilah—or attempting to at least. Her emotionless voice was working against her.

Aidan unfastened his armor with practiced ease. Under normal circumstances, he’d have done this alone. Fifteen years of changing in front of soldiers hadn’t erased his modesty. Not when the men and women around him always spotted the scars.

Then asked about them.

But the doc had already seen his scars, and the doc had already pretended not to notice.

“Come on now, Delilah,” Isabeau murmured. “It’ll be all right. I promise it will. And Aidan promises too.”

I absolutely do not. A welcoming party was a bad sign. It meant they didn’t trust him to make his way through the Citadel alone.

Aidan grabbed a shore-suit off the top locker shelf—the metal shaking less, he noted—and shimmied in. Less than a minute, he was dressed exactly like Isabeau, only his suit had more bars on the sleeve and he added a holstered gun to his waist.

“No gun.”

Aidan cringed and glanced at the nearest camera, gleaming nearby. “Were you watching me dress, Joker?”

“Ew. No. You’re not my type, Harris. I just happened to check in when you put on your weapons—and I repeat: no gun. The message coming through is that ‘Harris will submit himself quietly.’” Joker imitated Anderson’s voice as he said that.

Imitated a little too well.

Aidan’s chest clinched. He swore before slamming the gun back into the locker.

Then the doc swore too, in an uncharacteristic display of emotion, and when Aidan swiveled about to face her, even her biotics were sparkling now.

“What do we do?” she asked flatly.

Aidan hesitated, holding Isabeau’s golden gaze. Delilah had dropped to a squat on the floor. The lockers still shivered like chimes.

“We follow the original plan,” Aidan said at last. “And I suppose I will submit myself quietly.”

#truthwitch #windwitch #bloodwitch #sightwitch #Witchlanders #witchlands #susan dennard #mass effect #this shit is weird #why did i write this #i wish i could remember writing this #i also wish i had written more

[boreothegoldfinch]

chapter 10 paragraph xvii

Going down in the cage elevator we were suddenly encased in stillness: grinding of gears, creaking of pulleys. Outside, the weather had cleared. “Come on,” Boris said to me— nervously glancing up the street—he had his phone out of his coat pocket —“let’s cross, come on—” “What,” I said—we just had the light, if we hurried—“are you calling 911?” “No no,” said Boris distractedly, wiping his nose, looking around, “I don��t want to stand here waiting for the car, I’m calling him to pick us up other side of the park. We’ll walk across. Sometimes some of these kids push shots that are a little too big,” he said, when he saw me looking anxiously back in the direction of the townhouse. “Don’t worry. He’ll be fine.” “He didn’t look fine.” “No, but he was breathing and Horst has Narcan. That’ll bring him right out of it. Like magic, have you ever seen it? Throws you right in withdrawal. You feel like shit, but you live.” “They should take him to the ER.” “Why?” said Boris reasonably. “What will the emergency people do? Give Narcan, that’s what. Horst can give it to him quicker than they can. And yes— he will come to puking himself and feeling like stabbed through the head, but better there than in ambulance, BOOM, shirt cut open, mask jammed down on him, peoples slapping his face to wake him, laws involved, everyone very harsh and judgmental—believe me, Narcan, very very violent experience, you feel bad enough when you come round without being in hospital, bright lights and everyone very disapproving and hostile, treating you like shit, ‘drug addict,’ ‘overdose,’ all these nasty looks, maybe not letting you go home when you want, psych ward maybe, social worker marching in to give you the big ‘So Much to Live For’ talk and maybe on top of it all, nice visit from the cops—Hang on,” he said, “one moment please,” and started talking in Ukrainian on the phone. Darkness. Under the foggy corona of the street lamps, park benches slick with rain, drip drip drip, trees sodden and black. Sopping footpaths deep with leaves, a few solitary office workers hurrying home. Boris—head down, hands thrust in pockets, staring at the ground—had got off his call and was muttering to himself. “Sorry, what?” I said, looking at him sideways. Boris compressed his lips, tossed his head. “Ulrika,” he said darkly. “That bitch. That was her that answered the door.” I wiped my brow. I felt jittery and sick and had broken out in a cold sweat. “How do you know these people?” Boris shrugged. “Horst?” he said, kicking up a shower of leaves. “We know each other from years back. I know Myriam through him—I am grateful to him for introducing us.” “And—?” “What?” “On the floor back there?” “Him? That fell?” Boris made his old who knows? face. “They’ll take care of him, don’t worry. It happens. They’re always fine. Really,” he said, in a more earnest tone.

“Because—listen, listen,” he said, digging me in the side with his elbow. “Horst has these kids hanging around a lot—changes a lot, always a new crowd—college age, high school age. Rich kids mostly, trust fund, who might want to trade him some art or a painting they took maybe from their family? They know to come to him. Because—” tossing his head, tossing the hair from his eyes—“Horst himself, when he was a kid, you know —long time ago, nineteen eighties—he went for one year, or two, to one of these fancy-boy schools around here where they make you wear the jacket. Some place not too far away. He showed me it once, in a cab. Anyway—” he sniffed—“boy on the floor? He is not some poor boy from the street. And they will not let something happen to him. Let’s hope he learns his lesson. Many of them do. He will never be so sick in his life after he gets that shot of Narcan. Besides, Candy’s a nurse and she’ll look after him when he comes to. Candy? The brunette?” he said, digging me in the ribs again when I didn’t answer. “Did you see her?” He chortled. “Like—?” He reached down and drew a fingertip above his kneecap to simulate the line of her boots. “She’s terrific. God, if I could get her away from that Niall guy, the Irish, I would. We went out to Coney Island one day, just the two of us, and I never had such a good time. She likes to knit sweaters, can you imagine that?” he said, looking at me slyly from the corner of his eye. “Woman like that—would you think she is woman who enjoys to knit sweaters? But she does! Offered to make me one! She was serious, too! ‘Boris, I will knit you a sweater any time you like. Just tell me what color and I will do it!’ ” He was trying to cheer me up but I still felt too shaken to talk. For a while we both walked with heads down and there was no noise except the two of us clicking along the park path in darkness, our footsteps seeming to echo forever and beyond the city night enormous around us, car horns and sirens sounding like they were coming from half a mile away. “Well,” said Boris presently, throwing me another sideways glance, “at least I’ve got it figured out now, eh?” “What?” I said, startled. My mind was still on the boy and my own near misses: blacking out in the bathroom upstairs at Hobie’s, head bloody where I’d hit it on the edge of the sink; waking up on the kitchen floor at Carole Lombard’s with Carole shaking me and screaming, lucky it was four minutes, I was calling 911 if you didn’t come to in five. “Pretty sure of it. It was Sascha took the picture.” “Who?” Boris glowered. “Ulrika’s brother, funny enough,” he said, folding his arms across his narrow chest. “And two boots make a pair, if you know what I mean. Sascha and Horst are pretty tight—Horst will never hear anything against him—well. Hard not to like Sascha—everyone does—he is friendlier than Ulrika, but our personalities never came together. Horst was straight as string, they all say, till he fell in with those two. Studying philosophy… set to go into running the dad’s company… and here you see him now. That said, I never thought Sascha would go against Horst, not in one hundred years. You followed all that in there?” “No.” “Well, Horst thinks Sascha’s word is gold but I am not so sure. And I do not think the picture is in Ireland, either. Even Niall, the Irish, does not think it. I hate that she is back, Ulrika—I can’t say plainly what I think. Because—” hands deep in pockets—“I’m a little surprised Sascha would dare this, and I dare not say it to Horst, but I think no other explanation—I think whole bad deal, arrest, blow-up with the cops, all that, was excuse for Sascha to make off with painting. Horst has dozens of people living off him—he is far too gentle and trusting—mild in his soul, you know, believes the best of people—well, he can let Sascha and Ulrika steal from him, fine, but I will not let them steal from me.” “Mmn.” I hadn’t seen very much of Horst but he hadn’t seemed particularly mild in his soul to me. Boris scowled, kicking at the puddles. “Only problem, though? Sascha’s guy? The one he

set me up with? Real name—? No clue. He called himself ‘Terry’ which was not right—I don’t use my own name either but ‘Terry,’ Canadian, give me a fucking break! He was from Czech Republic, no more ‘Terry White’ than I am! I think he is street criminal—fresh out of jail— know-nothing, uneducated—plain brute. I think Sascha picked him up somewhere, to use for shill, and gave him cut in exchange for throwing the deal—peanuts kind of cut, probably. But I know what ‘Terry’ looks like and I know he has connections in Antwerp and I am going to call my boy Cherry and get him on it.” “Cherry?” “Yes—is my boy Victor’s kliytchka, we call him that because his nose is red, but also because his Russian name, Vitya, is close to Russian word for cherry. Also, there is famous soap opera in Russia, Winter Cherry—well, hard to explain. I tease Vitya about this programme, it makes him very annoyed. Anyhow—Cherry knows everyone, everything, hears all the inside talk. Two weeks before it happens—you hear it all from Cherry. So no need to worry about your bird, all right? I am pretty sure we will sort it all out.”

“What do you mean, ‘sort it out’—?” Boris made an exasperated noise. “Because this is closed circle, you understand? Horst is right on the money about that. No one is going to buy this painting. Impossible to sell. But—black market, barter currency? Can be traded back and forth forever! Valuable, portable. Hotel rooms—going back and forth. Drugs, arms, girls, cash—whatever you like.” “Girls?” “Girls, boys, what have you. Look look,” he said, holding up a hand, “I am not involved in anything like that. I was too close to being sold myself as a boy—these snakes are all over Ukraine, or used to be, every corner and railway station, and I can tell you if you are young and unhappy enough it seems like good deal. Normal-seeming guy promises restaurant job in London or some such, supplies air ticket and passport—ha. Next thing you know you are waking up chained by the wrist in some basement. Would never be involved with any such. It is wrong. But it happens. And once painting is out of my hands, and Horst’s—who knows what it is being traded for? This group holds it, that group holds it. Point being—” upheld forefinger—“your picture is not going to disappear in collection of oligarch art freak. It is too too famous. No one wants to buy it. Why would they? What can they do with it? Nothing. Unless cops find it—and they have not found it, this we know—” “I want the cops to find it.” “Well—” Boris rubbed his nose briskly—“yes, all very noble. But for now, what I do know is that it will move, and only move in relatively small network. And Victor Cherry is great friend, and owes me big. So, cheer up!” he said, grasping my arm. “Don’t look so white and ill! And we will talk soon again, I promise.”

#boreo #the goldfinch #the goldfinch donna tart #donna tart #boris pavlikovsky #theodore decker #theo decker #boris x theo #theo x boris #finn wolfhard #ansel elgort #oakes fegley #aneurin barnard #the goldfinch book #book #books #quote #quotes #lgbtq #lgbtqia #lgbtqia+ #lgbt #gay #gay ship #gay ships #otp #mlm #the goldfinch quotes #the goldfinch quote #boreo quotes

[tirstyspngirl]

Demonic Overdose

Febuwhump Day 7: Poisoning

Fandom: Supernatural

TW: Non-consensual Drug Use

Word Count: 1255

Tags: Hurt Sam Winchester, protective Dean Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, demonic possession, non-consensual drug use

Dean stepped from the shadows once he heard the angry roar. Whoever the Demon was, they weren’t very smart. Dean had set several different devil’s traps around the warehouse. Some on the floor, some on the lower ceilings areas. This dumbass had walked into the first one. And it wasn’t even super well hidden.

As Dean stepped from out of his hiding spot, the demons’ head whipped around to face him. The demon grinned maliciously and Dean shivered. It was eerie seeing his normally kind and empathetic brother’s face with such a cold and viscous grin.

“Hey, Dean. I think I have something of yours. You want it back?”

“Get out of him you son of a bitch.”

“But why? I’m having so much fun. This meatsuit is impeccable. The muscles are nice and toned. I can reach the top shelf anywhere I go. I think I might stay.”

“No you won't, you dick.” Dean said as he pulled John’s journal up to read the exorcism.

“Oh! I almost forgot. One thing before you start.” Before Dean could even react, the demon pulled a small bottle from Sam’s jacket. He popped it open and dumped the entire bottle in his mouth.

“What was that?” Dean demanded

The only response he received was another malevolent smirk.

“Tell me!”

“Now why would I do that? It takes away all the fun.”

“You son of a bitch, I hope you rot in hell.” Dean growled. Dean spat out the exorcism as fast as he could without mangling the words. The second the black smoke finished pouring out of Sam’s mouth, Sam collapsed to the ground.

“Sammy!” Dean screamed as he ran towards his brother. “Hey, little brother. Are you with me?”

Sam gave no movement at Dean’s words. Dean shook him, but there was no response. He tried grinding his knuckles into Sam’s sternum and still received no response. Dean double checked that Sam still had a pulse and was relieved to feel one, weak as it was. Sam’s breathing was far too slow and shallow to be adequate. He turned Sam towards him until he laid on his side and stuck his fingers down Sam’s throat. Sam gagged but didn’t puke, so Dean tried again, slightly increasing the pressure at the back of Sam’s throat. Finally, Sam puked. Several half digested white pills came tumbling out with some stomach acid.

Dean realized then that he was out of his league. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly dialed 911. The operator stayed on the line with him as he waited for the ambulance to arrive. The warehouse was on the outskirts of the city meaning it would take a little bit longer for them to arrive. Dean was thankful they weren’t out in the damn boonies.

Dean kept a hand pressed to his brother’s neck, trying not to panic as long as he still felt the thump of Sam’s heart. Finally, Dean heard sirens in the distance. He’d never been so thankful for that sound in his life. Usually they avoided those sirens like the plague, but today Dean was happy to hear them.

The medics came rushing in and quickly took control of the situation. Dean explained what had happened, sans demon of course, as they assessed him. Dean just watched as they placed a mask over Sam’s mouth and squeezed air into his lungs for him. They set up an IV and pushed some sort of medication that brought Sam to a little more awareness. As soon as Sam was semi-conscious, they loaded him onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. Dean followed behind in the Impala. He wanted to be in the back of the bus with Sam, but they were gonna need a quick escape from the hospital, so Baby needed to be there with them.

At the ER, the doctors asked Dean countless questions, many that Dean didn’t even know, like what Sam took and where he got the meds from. Of course he also had to fill out the insurance info. Dean tried to get them to release him, but the doctor insisted he be kept for observation. They needed to question Sam once he was awake more and determine whether or not a psych hold was in order.

Dean was permitted to sit with his brother once he’d been admitted and settled into his room. He didn’t relax until he saw Sam shifting and his eyes fluttered open. Dean felt a wave of relief pass over him and most of his tension melted away.

“Heya Sammy. How’re you feeling little brother?”

“Like I got run over by a truck.”

“I’m sure. The doc will probably be in soon. She wants to get your story. She wants to place you in a psych hold, so choose your words wisely. As soon as things settle for tonight we’ll break out, ok?”

Sam nodded in response and searched his brain for the best story that would sound believable and keep him off the hold. Dean was gonna struggle to get him out if he was locked up in the psych ward. Before he could settle on the best option, there was a knock at the door and a tall blonde woman in a white coat walked into the room.

Sam decided in that instant to go with what most possessions victims experienced, blackout. He explained to the doctor that he had absolutely no recollection of the past 2 nights and pleaded with her that he had absolutely no desire to off himself. Luckily she bought it enough to not impose a psych hold, but she did put in an order for a psychologist to visit in the morning before he could be released. Sam agreed to the terms, only because they planned on leaving during the night, but she didn’t need to know that. Dean prepped the car, moving as close as possible now that the parking lot was less empty and brought in extra clothes for Sam to change into.

They waited until the night nurse was doing his rounds. As soon as he finished checking on Sam, Dean helped him dress hastily and transferred him into a wheelchair. Sam fought against it, but Dean convinced him that it would work best if they could get out fast, and Sam was still a little unsteady on his feet. Dean peeked out the door and waited for the nurse to enter another patient’s room, and booked down the hall and into the elevator. As soon as Sam was safely loaded into the Impala, they flew out of the parking lot, and straight to the motel. Dean made Sam stay in the car as he quickly packed up the motel and they were on the road in less than 10 minutes.

“I’ll start looking for a case for us once we get to the next city.”

“No way Sammy. We’re taking a break dude.”

“What? No. I’m fine Dean.”

“Sam, stop. You literally almost died from overdose, dude. No way are we hunting for at least a week. You are gonna rest. If that means I have to chain you to the bed, then I will.”

Sam opened up his mouth to argue, but once glance at Dean’s face and he wisely chose to shut up. Sam was no match for a big brother in mother hen mode over a sick or injured little brother. Sam smiled at the thought. He didn’t know what he’d do without his protective big brother.

#febuwhump #febuwhumpday7

[kimtaehyungrykim]

Doctor I Need You: Prolouge

Prologue / Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / to be determined

*Please note that I am not a doctor of any kind.*

*I also apologize for any kind of typos*

Synopsis: It’s your second year being the Head Cardiothoracic surgeon at Serenity Hospital and you’re luck this year sucked. The rivalry between Heartstone Medical Center and Serenity Hospital has been going on for decades. Now they’ve decided to combine the 2 hospitals together making Heartstone Serenity Hospital. Even with the merger the doctors despise each other, they don’t want to work with the other side. When one day a train accident happens, the ER overflows with patients, you have no choice but to work with the attending Trauma surgeon of Heartstone, Dr. Lee Taeyong.

Rating: M

Genre: fluff, smut, angst, idk the whole series covers the whole lot of genres

Characters (and their roles) : can you sense my multi-fandom?

Serenity Hospital

You (Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery)

Dr. Kim Jisoo (Head of General Surgery)

Dr. Kim Seokjin (Jin) (Attending Anesthesiologist)

Park Jinyoung (Nurse)

Sohn Shownu (Scrub Nurse)

Dr. Jeon Wonwoo (5th year Surgical Resident)

Heartstone Medical Center

Dr. Lee Taeyong (Head of Trauma Surgery)

Dr. Nakamoto Yuta (5th year Surgical Resident)

Dr. Kim Taeyeon (Attending Neurosurgeon)

Bae Irene (Scrub Nurse)

Dr. Kim Xiumin (Head of Pediatric surgery)

Dr. Park Leeteuk (Chief of Surgery)

Song(s) to play while reading:

I’m Fine Thank You - Ladies Code

Exodus - Exo

Today was another slow day at Serenity Hospital. It was lunchtime, you sat with your fellow doctors. Not one peep came out of your mouths because none of you knew what to say. Tomorrow, Serenity Hospital and Heartstone Medical Center will merge together to become Heartstone Serenity Hospital. The rivalry between Heartstone and Serenity has been going on for about 8 decades now.

The idea of even being in the same operating room of the doctors of Heartstone makes you gag. But the worst, at least half of the doctors and nurses will be fired to make room for the merger. Today is the day where you find out if you’ll stay in or be cut off.

Dr. Wonwoo broke the silence, “How many residents do you think they’ll keep?”

“Stop worrying Wonwoo, you’ll be fine,” Jisoo assured.

Just then, Jinyoung came running to table. He took a moment to catch his breath, “I heard that most of the attending surgeons will stay but they’re firing half of the nurses and residents.”

“Fuck…” Wonwoo muttered under his breath.

“Who’s dumbass idea was it to merge the 2 hospitals who hate each other together?” Jin asked, “I refuse to work with those hotshots.”

“Agreed.” We all said in unison.

We began eating in silent, feeling uneasy about who might be staying and who might leave.

Sohn Shownu came running in the cafeteria out of breath, “They posted the list! They posted the list!”

Every doctor and nurse ran out of the cafeteria to the medical board looking at the list of doctors and nurses that were staying. Running as fast as you can, you reached the medical board first and scanned the list for your name. The list couldn’t have more than 25 names, after scanning through 10 names, you sighed of relief after seeing ‘Dr. y/l/n y/n - Cardiothoracics’.

You’re relief didn’t last long when all the other doctors and nurses rammed into you trying to find their names as well.

After a couple of minutes every doctor and nurse has seen the list. There were tears of joy and sadness everywhere. You started looking for your friends. You found Jin and Jisoo right away after the sight of both of them awkwardly dancing and celebrating they were on the list. Jinyoung and Shownu were found embracing each other. God these kids are so weird.

Strolling down the hallway you finally found Wonwoo, crying.

“I thought I saw your name on the list,” You were confused.

“I saw my name but it’s strange,” Wonwoo sniffled in confusement, “I don’t understand why so many exceptional residents were cut off and I, an average 5th year resident made it. Somehow I feel as if I don’t deserve it.”

“Dr. Jeon Wonwoo, don’t you ever say that about yourself again. The world is going to knock you around plenty. You don’t need to be doing it to yourself,” You scolded him.

~~~~~~~~ The Next Day ~~~~~~~~~

Your pager woke you up in after getting 2 hours of sleep in the on call room. Today’s the day the merger’s finally happening. As you got out of bed, you took a look at the page you got, Jisoo paged you to come to the front of the hospital.

When you got there, the sight made you almost vomit. Construction workers were adding “Heartstone” to the hospital sign.

“Oh god, I’m gonna puke,” You gagged.

Jinyoung grabbed your shoulders, “It doesn’t stop here,” he turns you around to the sight of Hearstone doctors and nurses.

“I have to perform surgery with these asses?” You were livid.

“Also did you see the new Chief of surgery?” Jisoo asked, “the true definition of Mr. Pretentious”

“It also seems I have another competitor for Chief Resident too, someone named Nakamoto Yuta?” Wonwoo scoffed.

“I heard there’s another scrub nurse as well. I liked it when I was the favorite scrub nurse.” Shownu pouted.

Dr. Kim Seokjin came up to us, “What the hell are you guys doing? Yes those Heartstone doctors think they own this place but we have patients to serve. If you guys think you’re better doctors than them, then go and treat your patients.”

We all left and went to the ward. Jin is a person we all pick on because he’s so useless, but he sure is a damn good doctor.

Walking into the ER you decided to treat a little girl named Haru. You always liked treating kids.

You greeted her parent, “Hello guys I’m Dr. y/l/n y/n. So what does your child need today?”

“Oh we told that doctor over there already, she’s been having these pains on her back,” Her mother informed you.

“You already told a doctor?” You asked.

“Yeah that’s me,” it was a man’s voice, not one you recognized which could only mean one thing. You turned around to see a doctor from Heartstone. “Your daughter is just experiencing some growing pains, perfectly normal at her age”

“Thank you doctor,” Haru’s father shook the doctor’s hand. You scoffed at the doctor, he looked at you and just scoffed back, you went to find another patient.

Both of you seem to be in a race seeing who can treat more patients. Every time you treated a patient you walked passed him and you both glared into each other’s eyes. Every time he treated a patient he walked past you and very discreetly coughed the number of patients he treated. What an asshole.

After a couple of hours the ER was near empty and the remaining patients were in the process of being treated.

You both were on opposite sides of the room, he glared at you. You could feel the hatred in his eyes, of course none of the Heartstone doctors wanted this merger too. He started walking towards you, when he reached you he went and stood by your side. Both of you stood there in silence with this indescribable tension between you.

He was the first to talk, “So doctor, how many did you get to treat today?”

“10” You hesitantly responded.

The doctor turned his body and came closer to you, too close. You turned around as well and found yourselves in a staring contest, you wanted to scold yourself for thinking that this doctor was so good looking. He then proceed to show a cocky smirk before his mouth came towards your ear.

He whispered, “12. Sorry doctor, I guess you just weren’t fast enough.” You lightly pushed him away.

“Are all Heartstone doctors douchebags like you?’ You cocked a smirk back at him.

“You shouldn’t call me names doctor,” The man looks down at your nametag, “y/n, we might work together soon.”

“I’d rather set myself on fire doctor,” You looked at his name tag, “Taeyong”

Before he could fire back with some sarcastic comment, the ER doors opened with force. Paramedics were rushing in with injured people.

“There was a train crash, multiple casualties and injuries.” One of the paramedics informed you. Doctors came rushing into the ER claiming a person to treat.

Dr. Lee Taeyong seems to be giving orders to the doctors, he’s probably a trauma surgeon. Each doctor seems to be getting into pairs for 1 patient. The Heartstone doctors and Serenity doctors still keeping clear of each other. You looked around and found a patient you were kind of eager to treat, an object through her chest. You ran to the bed and claimed the patient, at the same time you saw him grab it too. Shit. Lee Taeyong grabbed this patient too.

Both of you stared at each other again, waiting for the other person to let go and find another patient until the woman started flatlining. You didn’t care anymore, even though you so desperately don’t want to work with Heartstone doctors, especially this one, you are still a doctor, an exceptional one at that. Taeyong probably had the same thought, you both started wheeling the woman to OR room 3.

#this is my first post and fanfic #please don't hate this I tried my best #lee taeyong #taeyong #taeyong smut #taeyong fluff #taeyong angst #nct 127 #nct u #nct scenarios #nct angst #nct fluff #nct smut #nct 127 scenarios #nct 127 fluff #nct 127 angst #nct 127 smut #nct u scenarios #nct u fluff #nct u smut #nct u angst #nakamoto yuta #moon taeil #haechan #doyoung #winwin #jaehyun #johnny seo #mark lee #nct fanfic

[josiesjournal]

01/05/2020 - 22:58

The start of 2020 has been both eventful and painful thus far for many different reasons, but if anything, I know it’s the universe showing me that good things are coming.

New Year’s Eve itself was amazing to say the least. Keelan and I spent most of the night at his parents’ house playing card games, until about 11:45 - you could kinda tell from the look on everyone’s faces that it was well past bedtime, but me, wanting to bring out my inner party animal because it’s all I’ve known how to do the past couple New Years, I decided to take one of my marijuana gummies just before we were leaving; I had this epiphany right before we got in the car and I whispered in Keelan’s ear ‘I want to go for a drive with you.’

He was willing, but curious. ‘Okay, where do you want to go?’

‘The clock tower.’

At this point in time, the drugs have fully taken over and I’m high as a kite, but Keelan listens to me and drives downtown to park in front of the clock tower. As we’re getting out of the car, the clock is playing a tune before it strikes midnight, but not it’s normal song that you would hear throughout the day - I’m not sure if it was playing the song to welcome the new year or the new decade, but with the snow blowing around us as I stared up at the clock tower, it was one of the most magical experiences I’ve ever had, and the most magical New Year’s kiss for sure too.

A few days later, I’m at work and I’m doing a renewal for a client’s policy. I recognize the name and remember that this guy’s wife has a Mini Cooper - didn’t think anything of it at first until I realized that the Mini’s plates had been cancelled, with new plates on a 2019 Volkswagen. At this point in time, I’m too excited to handle anything, and had to wait until I was done my full time job and part time job on top of that in order to take a drive by this Mini. On my local Volkswagen dealership’s ad, it mentions that it’s red (even though they have basic google search pictures of a dark blue one) and an automatic, which really got me down at first but hey, it’s a Mini. I have to do a drive by anyways, why not? I find this car in the far corner of VW’s second lot, and I’m mystified by this thing as I’m getting out of my car. 2016 Mini Cooper with a white panoramic roof, and.. what’s this? 6 speed manual? At this point in time, I’m convinced that I have to at least test drive this thing - I don’t necessarily have to buy it, but I have to drive it. Why not take it for a few donuts in a parking lot in the snow, just to see how it handles in the winter?

The next day (Friday) I call VW and book the test drive for this car for about noon on Saturday, without telling them I had plans to take it home for the weekend to show Keelan, considering he’s never seen a Mini up close before, let alone been in a Mini at all. Saturday sounds great - it’s my day off and I don’t have anything else planned other than laundry and gym, both of which can wait. Mini tales full priority right now.

But when your manager at your part time job calls you on Saturday and offers an extra 7 hour shift that would cut in on your Mini test drive - can you really say no? I agree to work the shift and call VW to cancel my test drive, guy agrees with me says we’ll see how next Friday looks, provided the Mini is still there. I get to work, and I had woken up with pain in my back earlier in the morning, which was concerning to me since I already had a bladder infection - untreated and not officially diagnosed, but after some quick internet research, I was at least 98% sure. As I work my shift, the pain in my back starts radiating up to the front left side of my abdomen and is practically unbearable at the point where my second coworker shows up, and my managers offers to let me go home as soon as she’s had her lunch break. I’m a little reluctant, as I hate to be a pain in her ass by doing that, and I’d also hate to miss out on making extra money, but I caved pretty easily and agreed to go home.

As I’m leaving the mall with a new bottle of Advil and some snacks for me to have at home, a truck with some familiar decals catches my eye as I’m leaving, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s a CP truck. Mild war flashbacks, but I’ve already convinced myself it isn’t him. So I’m walking alongside this truck on the sidewalk, it stops to let people cross and I decide to cross safely behind the truck to get to my own car. The truck goes to the lot over from mine, and as I’m struggling to get in my car with how stupid the remote start is for locking me out then shutting my vehicle off as soon as I open the door, I decide to just take a glance. Just a glance. It’ll be fine.

Welp, wouldn’t you know it folks, it was not fine.

It’s him.

I immediately look away and start fumbling with my keys, desperate to get in my car at this point in time. I’m so ready to get out of this parking lot. I manage to get into my car just as he parks the truck, and as he’s walking across the other parking lot, I’m backing out of my parking space and I’m fucking gone. I stop in a different parking lot briefly to dial Megan’s number, but I’m shaking so bad that I can hardly type it out. For that being the first time I had actually seen my ex since we broke up, I felt.. angry. Even just looking at the man was frustrating and left this feeling in my chest that I couldn’t even describe. I thought about what our interaction would’ve been like if he had seen me working in the mall, at the place where he usually gets his t-shirts, and I was so thankful to have dodged that bullet.

So I have Megan on the phone at this point, because who else do you call when you have all these thoughts running through your head after seeing your ex for the first time since your breakup in July? I take her on wonderful adventures with me to my own house to pack clothes so that I can spend the night at Keelan’s, and I take her on my drive all the way to Kimberley. Our conversation ended once I got there, and my pain had subsided since leaving my part time job, but now that I was at Keelan’s house, my pain was a 100x worse. Keelan came home from work not even 5 minutes after I had gotten there, and I had been keeping him up to date on the whole situation so once he got there and saw me writhing and crying on the couch in pain, he convinced me it was time to go to the hospital. Gave me two extra strength tylonel and popped me in the car to go to town.

As we’re driving there, my pain starts to subside again. We go sit down to eat, since my pain is practically non-existent at this point, and end up going to Home Depot to look at bath faucets, which we had been talking about for a while now. All of that and my pain still wasn’t evident, so we went back to my place for a bit, because I knew that the pain would come back eventually, and when it did, I’d be ready and willing to go to the hospital at that point. We ended up having a nap that was maybe only 30mins long, and I wake up to the same pain, plus nausea on top of it now. Off to the hospital we go.

As I’m standing in the ER line waiting to be seen, I can hardly stand and I’m ready to puke. Keelan’s there being the strong supportive pillar he is, and for actually having someone here for the first time for my 4th hospital trip in 5 months, I’m so happy he’s here. Within 10mins, the nurse brings me in and writes down everything I’ve been feeling and experiencing, then sends me away to collect my own urine sample, which I knew they were going to do at some point, but despite that, I had just emptied my bladder before we had left the house. Side note - do you know how hard it is to pee when it hurts every single time, and when you’re fighting back the urge to vomit, on top of more pain?

I bring back the urine sample and get registered at the front desk, wrist tag and all. Keelan and I sit down in the waiting room, which is the busiest I’ve seen it in my last couple trips. Give it maybe an hour or two and my name is called to go into the ER, and within 15 minutes of sitting down on a hospital bed, there’s a doctor in my room explaining how he’s going to write me a prescription for antibiotics for my bladder infection, which is all fine and dandy, but he mentions nothing of the pain I’m feeling. Maybe the nurse hadn’t noted it, which is understandable, but it’s also the whole reason why I’m here, so I pipe up and say something and he tries telling me that my pain is the pain associated with my bladder infection, which I know is very evidently not. He then tells me it’s probably some unrelated constipation and writes me a second prespcrition for laxatives. Great. I leave the ER to go to the pharmacy in the hospital, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s nearly 10pm, so this pharmacy, along with every single one in the city, is closed, which means I get to suffer through my pain for a solid 12 more hours. Double great. We go home to Kimberley and go to bed relatively late, but I’m up at least three times throughout the night, tossing and turning with this pain, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in, which is nearly impossible at this point. I’ve got Keelan awake by 8:30am, which is when I’m ready to go get my prescriptions, but quickly found out that the only pharmacy in Kimberley is closed until 11am, so back into Cranbrook we go. I pick up my prescriptions, and the liquid inside the bottle, which is apparently my laxative, is daunting, but once I get home and actually take it, it tastes surprisingly good. I’m thinking ‘okay, this should hit me in about two or three hours and then I’ll be good to go’ but little do I know, laxative takes at least 48 hours to actually starting working. Triple great.

Best news of the day was that I got a couple of snuggles in with Mew during nap time; something about female cats with females, I swear she always knows when I’m feeling down.

Bottom line, there’s been some shitty starts to 2020 for sure (no pun intended..) but there’s always potential for things to start looking up, and lately, I’ve had Keelan to thank for his amazing positive attitude keeping me afloat. The man’s willingness to take care of me was like nothing I’ve ever seen in a partner before and I don’t know how to express how thankful I am for him and everything he does, despite telling him over and over and over and over the past couple days. Every day I find something new about Keelan that makes me fall in love with him a little bit more, and despite feeling like I know him like the back of my hand, he always has something else up his sleeve to surprise me with.

So here’s to you, my love, and our fresh start to 2020. I truly wouldn’t want anyone else by my side to start the new year and the new decade with.

[5hfanfiction]

One step closer: chapter 2

Camila’s eyelids unstuck, providing her the ability to see again. She found herself situated in a stranger’s car, driven down some street. For a brief moment, Camila was caught up by a storm of panic. Then she glanced to her left, saw a woman firmly gripping onto the steering wheel. Sickness soon came to her.

“Stop the car, please,” she murmured just loud enough for the woman to hear.

“Uh, you’re awake,” the woman let out a puff of relief, “you blacked out for like five minutes. We’re almost at the hospital.”

“Please, I think I’m… I feel sick.”

“Oh. Oh! I, um, I can’t really pull over anywhere here. But hold up,” the woman reached behind her seat, her hand furiously grabbed everything there was until she found what she was looking for. “Take this. I’m sure Andy won’t mind, he’ll understand.”

Camila didn’t take a second glance at whatever object the woman handed her for the sickness won over her gut and she couldn’t hold back any longer. Just when Camila finished, the car parked. The woman walked over to her door and helped her out. They walked to the reception’s desk, “excuse me, I sort of bumped my car into this girl. She might have a concussion.”

“Follow me,” the nurse from behind the desk walked them to a section of tiny rooms where curtain were a thin substitute for walls. There they sat Camila on the bed. Then she was handed an emesis basin for when she felt sick again.

“A doctor will shortly be with you,” the nurse left.

Camila felt a little awkward with the woman who hit her still being around. Didn’t these people, who hit pedestrians, just called an ambulance and forgot about it the next day? Or even if they took the injured specimen to the ER, didn’t they just drop them off and continued minding their own business? It’s not that Camila wasn’t glad she wasn’t by herself, but being with a stranger made her want to rather be alone. She rather wanted Shawn to be there with her. It was a moment when his goofiness came in handy. But he wasn’t there. He barely was there when he was actually with her, physically.

“I’m sorry,” the woman broke the silence.

“Have you hit a person before?”

“No.”

“I heard you kept saying, ’oh, not again’,” Camila smirked, knowing she had caught the woman lying.

“Okay, two times,” the woman rolled her eyes playfully and shrugged.

“Including or excluding me?”

The woman hesitated for a second, “fine, excluding you.”

Camila smiled. Sure it wasn’t something one simply smiles at, not right after it happened at least. Maybe in a few days, “hope your boyfriend won’t be mad.”

“My boyfriend?” The woman scowled her face confused.

“That I puked into his box.”

The woman shook her head softly with a giggle, “sweetheart that was a litter box. Andy is a cat.”

Camila realized how wrong she was jumping into conclusions, “was it-”

“It was empty. I bought it for his birthday actually.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“No worries, we’re even now.”

“I doubt getting hit by a car and puking into a cat’s new litter box could be put in the same category.”

“Let’s not forget it’s a birthday litter box, besides, if I want to be correct you jumped on the road, so.”

“Are you seriously blaming me for this?”

“You did enter the roadway.”

“There were a bunch of bikers passing me.”

“Well, I guess getting hit by a car is much better than getting hit by a bike, sure.”

Their conversation was interrupted by an older doctor.

“Evening. I’m doctor Hernandez, what are the symptoms?”

“I think I had a concussion. I blacked out for a few minutes, then I threw up.”

“What exactly did happen?”

“She hit me with her car.”

The doctor gave the woman a judging look.

“In my defense, she jumped in front of it.”

“I see,” he turned back to Camila, “follow my hand with your eyes without turning your head, please,” Camila followed without any issues his hand. The doctor then light a tiny light into Camila’s each eye.

“Experiencing any sore?”

“My right wrist hurts a little, but nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“We’ll make an x-ray just to make sure there’s no fracture. Your friend here can come with us or wait here.”

“We’re not friends, I really just bumped her with my car,” the woman admits in what kind of relation she and Camila are or actually are not, “but I’ll just wait here.”

Camila was unsure how to feel about the whole situation, while her dizziness mixed into it. She wished to call Shawn, but she suddenly realized she left her phone at home. Camila knew his number by heart, but then what would had he done? Would he come rushing to the ER to pick her up to take her home and take care of her? Or would he just ask how is she doing and leave it at that? Because they would eventually meet the next day and if there was something wrong, Camila wouldn’t had been able to call him, right? Not telling him about it felt wrong though.

Camila is walked back to the examination room, where the woman, whose name Camila still doesn’t know, is still waiting. She’s sitting on the side of the bed with one leg swinging back and forth. When she spotted Camila approaching, she raised swiftly.

“Everything seems fine with the wrist. Drink a lot, rest, I’ll prescribe some painkillers for the headache which may kick in later.”

He disappeared again.

“What now?” Camila had a rush of melancholy fill her. She knew she was supposed to be somewhere and where she was then was not the place. She wanted to stand up and run away.

“I’m Lauren.”

“I’m sorry?” Camila is ripped out of her flow of thoughts.

“I said my name’s Lauren.”

“Camila.”

“Mind grabbing something to eat before I take you home?”

Was it a good idea? This woman, Lauren, hit her. She could had seriously injured Camila. Was it not weird to go grab food after this as though nothing happened? Or maybe it was a way Lauren wanted to make it up to Camila. And frankly at that moment there was nobody else who cared for her. But did Lauren actually care or was it only her way of cleaning her conscience? Guess there’s no other way to find out than cautiously walking down this path of possible new acquaintanceship.

Camila just smiled.

*

*

The whole diner was a bright neon glow in the night. Camila was sure if there was an astronaut in space, right above them, he could spot the place and use it as a guide back down to Earth.

It had a 90’s vibe, except the music that played wasn’t worth a penny. There were those booths with leather seats and pastel colors. They sat in one of those. It was pretty crowded which, taking the fact that it was a small bypass restaurant, seemed to Camila as unusual.

“I was actually on my way to get food.”

“Then you must’ve been destined to end up here, because whatever you’re gonna order it’s going to be the best meal you’ve ever had in your life.”

“Even fries?”

“The fries especially,” Lauren smirked.

Camila and her renewed hunger searched through the menu, but found it quite difficult to pick something. The waitress soon came over to them, to take their order.

“Good evening ladies! Hey Lauren. What can I get you?”

Lauren saw Camila was still indecisive, so she spoke first, “I’d like an extra veggie burger with falafel, fried mushrooms, extra fries, and a tiny slice of that homemade apple pie. And a glass of water.”

Camila was in awe of how much food had Lauren just ordered. Though she was as much hungry, “I’ll have the same,” she said out-of-scape.

“Nice place,” Camila couldn’t stop looking around. The place had something magical, something sentimental gripping her by the mind. She imagined she was in a 90’s movie. Her day was sort of out-of-a-movie. She supposed it could had ended worse, but here she was, alive and fine.

“It is indeed. Now tell me, who is Camila?”

“Can I be honest with you?”

Camila wasn’t sure if discussing her personal life with a stranger was a good idea, an idea worth even considering, but then Lauren was a stranger who’s going to be history tomorrow morning. She was sure they would say goodbye at the end of that day and never meet again. There was no harm in being dead honest with a stranger. Definitely not with Lauren, who seemed to be a correct and humble person.

“I wouldn’t ask you otherwise.”

“She’s a miserable girl.”

“How so?” Lauren scowled her face, probably did not expect that being the kind of description Camila would’d given away.

“She’s broke. Yeah. She has the last twenty dollars in her purse and it’s only the 17th of the month. She’s also struggling to save a relationship she’s not sure is worth the energy saving, since her boyfriend might be cheating on her.”

“Hold up. Might be cheating? He’s either cheating or not, there’s no inbetween, honey.”

“I have this photo of him kissing-or-what this other girl and I don’t know. I didn’t have the opportunity to ask him about it yet. We were supposed to go on a date tonight, but he cancelled.”

“I’d say I’m sorry about it, but if he is cheating, you’re better off without him.”

“But I love him.”

“But do you trust him?”

Camila hesitated. Did she? Those photos flashed in front of her eyes again. They weren’t even of a bad quality. She was perfectly able to identify him on them. And she could’ve sworn she had seen that woman, he’s kissing, before.

“See,” Lauren continued, “the complexity of a relationship is built by so many layers. And trust is one of the basic ones. Don’t lose your vision just because all you ever hear about two people in a relationship is that they are in love.”

Before Camila could give Lauren whatever argument she had up her sleeve, although deep down she knew would be too weak, the waitress arrived with their order.

There was much more food on her plate than she expected.

“Uh, I’m starving,” Lauren emphasized her degree of hunger and dove into her food.

Camila realized she’s not familiar with every taste she has on her plate. Camila cut a piece off the tiny, doughnut shaped, fried things she had lying next to her burger. She couldn’t describe the taste, but her taste buds for sure did have a fiesta.

“I see you’ve gotten to the falafel right away. Judging by your face you’d not eaten it before.”

“What exactly is it made of?”

“Chickpeas. Sometimes they add fava beans too.”

“Interesting,” Camila concluded while stuffing her mouth some more fiesta.

They soon finished eating, while Camila every now and then lost track of time and when she returned into her physical body, she thought Lauren would be shaking and talking to her to snap her out of her daydreaming. It wasn’t really polite, but Camila couldn’t help it. She was distracted by what Lauren said about trust and whatsoever, plus she couldn’t stop making up scenarios of Shawn and that woman doing all the nasty stuff.

“Can I bring you something else?” The waitress is the one snapping Camila out of her own mind.

“Camila?”

“No, I’m good, thank you.”

“Me too.”

The waitress cleaned the table, leaving only their half-empty glasses in front of them.

“I’ll go use the restroom. Be right back,” Lauren left for a few minutes, came back with a huge grin.

“What is it?” Camila asked confused.

“It’s full moon tomorrow.”

“So? Are you going to turn into a werewolf?”

“No, but if you like to look at the stars and the moon and you’re free tomorrow evening, you should consider coming with me.”

“Where exactly are you asking me to go?”

“There’s this independent organization, a group of people who every month when it’s full moon, go to a different location, take their telescopes. Not too many people know about them, but they actually do let the public use their gear and they tell stories and stuff.”

For a second Camila got all excited, because she loved looking at the moon. It was a nice opportunity, but she doubted she was going to be able to make it. She was going on a dinner with Shawn and his family tomorrow. If everything went right, maybe she and Shawn would have an enjoyable evening, kind of a reunion.

Still it was nice of Lauren to suggest something like that. If Camila wasn’t in a relationship, she’d think Lauren was asking her on a date. Wait, was she though? Would she even though she knew Camila was dating somebody? Taking into consideration that Camila’s relationship was actually on the verge of decay, maybe yes.

“I don’t know. I’ll probably be busy.”

“Okay. But here’s my number,” Lauren grabbed a pen out of her backpack and wrote some digits down on a napkin, “if you changed your mind.”

With a smile she pushed it to Camila, who not wanting to seem rude, took it, folded it and slipped into the back pocket of her jeans.

“We should get going now, what do you say?”

“Mm-hmm,” Camila agreed. A sudden wave of tiredness came over her, “let’s pay first, though.”

“It’s fine. I’ve paid already.”

“What?” Camila was outraged, she hated when people paid for her stuff, her food especially, “I didn’t tell you I was broke to get you pay for my food.”

“Slow down. That’s not why I paid for it. I didn’t make that kind of picture of you in my head.”

“Then let me pay for my damn food.”

“Hey,” Lauren shook her head while smiling, “I only paid for your food so you have a reason to meet me and pay for my food next time.”

Slick, Camila thought. Still though. But she moved on from the topic. Guess she was meeting Lauren again, maybe sooner than she thought.

Lauren drove Camila to her apartment. It was what could’ve been midnight or so. Camila couldn’t wait to get home, see if her phone hadn’t blown up by messages from Shawn. She was still supposed to get some scoop on where to meet him tomorrow. Well, technically, today.

“Thank you for the evening, I mean, for the food.”

“Thank you for jumping in front of my car.”

“Can we not do this again?”

“I’ll let it go. Are you feeling okay though? Do you not need me to walk you home?”

“I’m good, but thanks.”

“See you around then.”

Before Camila shut the car door behind her, she turned around for one more comment, “uh, tell your cat I’m sorry about his litter and happy birthday.”

“I’m sure will.”

If she was able, she would had sprinted upstairs. Quickly, she unlocked the door and let herself inside. As she was expecting, her phone was resting on the bed. Surprisingly, for Camila’s disappointment, there were no missed calls or texts from Shawn or anybody for that matter. Suddenly a grey cloud of melancholy shaded her feelings.

She wanted to know what’s up with him. He might’d been just sleeping. Or maybe he was doing something completely different. With that woman. And what was she supposed to call that feeling inside of her? Jealousy? Yes, but based on those photos, it was sort of reasonable. Or was it?

Camila dialed his number but it went straight to voicemail, “hey Shawn. Um, I just, I wanted to let you know I had this accident. A car hit me a little. Nothing serious! I’m okay. I just, I wanted to talk to you. But I guess you’re asleep, so. See you tomorrow then. Love ya.”

After she hung up, Camila remembered Lauren talking about love and those words I love you lost their meaning for her.

  *

*

  Camila woke up to her phone buzzing. She didn’t remember falling asleep at all. She was still in her clothes from the night before. Without checking who’s calling, she answers the phone, just to make the buzzing stop, “hello?” Her voice cracks a little.

“Camila? Finally,” Shawn’s worried voice echoes through the silence of her apartment, “I listened to you voicemail. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m all good. Don’t worry.”

“What happened?”

“I uh, it was my fault too, a car bumped into me,” Camila finally admitted she was as much responsible for what happened as Lauren was.

“Where are you now? You in a hospital? Should I come get you?” His concern and will to help gave Camila hope. Hope that he still feels some kind of way about her.

“No, actually,” Camila was going to tell Shawn about the kind of turn her last evening took, but she traced off and decided not to, “I’m home, don’t worry babe.”

“Okay. Are you feeling up to to that family meeting? Or would you rather rest today?”

“I want to go, I’m fine, really,” Camila and resting were two things as far from each other as a fish from skateboarding. She had a class today she almost forgot about, so she was definitely not going to rest today.

“I’ll pick you up around 10 then. Is that okay?”

“Certainly.”

“Good. See you then.”

Shawn’s helpfulness almost made Camila forget about the photos. She was still going to confront him later today. Not right away, but eventually she was going to.

*

*

  Except Shawn, his brothers and father were in a suit, all business men looking. Camila was wearing a sundress, let her hair loosely down. She wasn’t particularly nervous about meeting most of Shawn’s family, she was sure if there was something wrong, Shawn would defend her. If there was a situation needing his defense. Shawn was acting casual, he brought his usual, goofy self. Camila was still looking for the perfect timing to when ask him about the photos she received the day before.

His brothers seemed alright, his father more superficial, superior, snobbish even. She could tell when he looked at her, he was thinking of how much her and Shawn are a non-match. Then he deserves better than Camila. He didn’t have to say it out loud, Camila could read it from his glances. But did she care? Not really. It’s Shawn who’s dating her, not his father. If Camila made Shawn happy then nothing else mattered. But then, did she make him happy anymore? That was the thing which bugged Camila the most. What if she wasn’t good enough for him anymore? She could sense he’d lost that little spark for her. Even though he did seem to care about her, it was different. She was willing to do anything to make it work out, to make it work like it used to between them. And she needed to let this fact Shawn know. There was no mountain Camila wouldn’t had climbed for him, no sea she wouldn’t had crossed.

“I can’t have those leeches suck on my neck anytime I get close to something less usual in the field than they are used to,” Mr. Mendes’ complained about some business inspectors he’d been having at his office more and more often. Whether his business methods were worth a doubt or not wasn’t Camila’s decision or judgement to make, but the way Mr. Mendes spoke, his body language gave off the vibe of the possibility his hands might’d not been that clean.

“I can get you the number of that Boston Bulldog lawyer. He could make them completely get lost,” Luca, his eldest brother stepped in to help out.

“Ugh, let’s talk about something else, let’s not ruin this early lunch,” Mr. Mendes looked at Camila who was somehow unable to force even a bite of ravioli down her throat. She wasn’t sure if it was the whole bunch of food she ate last midnight or her nerves of asking Shawn to talk, so she can ask about those photos.

Camila’s elbow was nudged by Shawn. She must’d zoned out again. Quickly she looked up from her plate just to be met with all the eyes of the table set on her, “pardon me, I’ve had this tiny accident last night and I’m still a little out.”

“Accident? Do you need a lawyer?” The first thing Shawn’s dad thought of was a lawyer. Given Camila’s state of health, how she came off as just okay to people around her, Mr. Mendes really thought the thing Camila needed to be asked was if she needed a lawyer. Not sure what world he lived in, but where Camila came from, people didn’t go to court for every tiny pinch of cheek.

“Dad,” Shawn raised a brow. He noticeable, too, had enough of his father.

“I’m good, but I appreciate it.”

“Shawn says you’re dancing. You also do private sessions?” Kevin asked.

“Kevin!” Shawn raised his voice to shut his brother up. Camila wasn’t going to take any more of Shawn’s family’s hungry looks and words.

“I mean if you’re into ballet, I can show you the basics,” she answered his question cockily.

“Ballet?” He pronounced offended, “that’s too girly.”

“Wow, Shawn never told me how old-fashioned and close minded his brother was,” stroke back Camila while she kept a straight bitch face. Kevin almost choked on his wine. In fact, nobody sitting at their table knew how to respond to that. It must had come as a shock. Besides, what could make a better first impression than emphasizing your ability to spot out assholes?

“You’ll have to excuse me now. I have a class of girly ballet to get to,” Camila removed the napkin off her thighs. She raised from her seat and loosely tossed the crumbled napkin on it. Shawn stood up too. Followed her out of the restaurant.

“Camila, wait.”

“We need to talk,” her mouth spat the words out before her mind could had considered if it was the time for them to be out there or not.”

“I’m sorry about them. Don’t take anything of what they’ve said seriously. This is kind of the reason we don’t do sunday dinners with my family.”

Camila needed to be gone, fast, “Shawn I don’t care about your family. What I do care about on the contrary is us.”

“Us?”

A woman was trying to enter the building but they were standing in his way, “excuse me,” so Shawn held the door for her, which gave Camila an opportunity to chicken out of the situation, for she could feel her insides gotten too tight. She wasn’t ready to confront him. Not on the street. She wasn’t ready to fight. Frankly, they never had a big fight before. Small arguments yes, but this was different.

“Wait, please,” he caught up, which didn’t make Camila happy. He made her turn around to face him and the second their eyes locked tears found their way to the corners of her eyes. She took a deep breath for it was no time for crying. “What’s going on? Did something happen? You know you can tell me.”

Her lips disconnected, but no sounds came. She took another deep breath, “I need to go. I can’t be late. We’ll talk later.”

“Camila! Is it my family?” Shawn yelled across the street, Camila could hear him scream even when she had entered the metro station. He seemed to care about Camila. Maybe those photos were fake. And he’s really in love with her. And if she showed him the photos, he’d think she was too dramatic and jealous and childish. Maybe he would get mad that Camila didn’t trust him. She did though… or did she? She remembered what Lauren, the stranger hitting her with their car, told her last night. Camila tried to name all those other layers which made up the relationship between two people. Then her mind popped the thought, that maybe Shawn was being concerned about her and her issue she wasn’t willing to discuss with him, because he was indeed cheating. And wanted to know if Camila knew, if she did know something.

She shook her head. It wasn’t an option, Shawn cheating on her. He was her goof ball, who always knew how to make her smile. Who could come up with any solution to whatever problem she had. And he loved her, she knew that.

  *

*

  “I can’t believe they let the rookies apply. We couldn’t apply for any play when we were them last year. Why can they now?” Melissa complained about this year’s christmas play applications, while getting done the pre-class stretching.

“I’ve heard the dean’s nephew is among them, so,” Aliah shared some scoop. She noticed Camila not really being present. “Hey,” she was able to grab Camila’s attention.

Camila faked a smile, “hey.”

“Everything good?”

Camila was going for the yeah, sure, but then she popped a “nope.”

“Wanna talk? Let’s grab a coffee after practice.”

“Okay,” Camila wasn’t going to talk about the thoughts bugging her concerning Shawn. She was a big girl, she could figure it out herself.

“Ladies,” their professor asked everyone to finish stretching, it was time to start class, “Let’s do a two reps of the moves from two days. You better remember them, if not… you don’t want to find out what happens if you don’t. Chop, chop,” she skipped to the side of the hall, watched the girls trying to chase themselves across the floor, fiercely throwing their bodies into the air, all while perfectly scoring the placements of their limbs. In the background played one of the professor’s favourite compositions.

Camila was surprised she didn’t mess up any of the moves for she wasn’t able to get completely her mind into it. At one point, when she was high in the air, like a lightning struck through her mind to go and call Lauren. But she shook it off.

After the class was over, after taking a cold shower, Aliah dragged her and her friend Normani, who was a senior student, to get coffee and “chat”.  

They were sitting by the window, Camila found the life on the other side of the window more interesting than the conversation she was listening to.

“And I told him he was insane, but he still drove seven hours and we get to spend the whole week together,” Normani talked about how much her boyfriend is whipped. How sweet, Camila thought. She was wondering if Shawn would do something like that. Drive even through the whole state to be closer to her, to be with her.

“What about you, Camila? You’re still with Shawn, right?” Aliah asked. Still? How long has it been? Only a year.

“Yeah, we’re still rollin’,” she giggled nervously. She wasn’t going to spill tea on how she has the suspicion he’s cheating. The three weren’t that close friends to be talking about something like that.

“He from here?”

“Yes, born New Yorker.”

“So, I heard there are ten spots for the Christmas play, are you going to try out?” Normani turned the conversation back to something school related. Camila was bored. She went back to studying the happening on the street. There was nothing interesting happening. People rushing to get to their business, every now and then a yellow car stopped, somebody got in, somebody got out.

Wow, Camila’s eyes caught a figure on the other side of the street and she couldn’t let her sight release them. She wasn’t sure if she was seeing right, but she had to make sure.

“Excuse me, I’ve gotta go, I just remembered,” but she never finished her excuse of storming out.

She ran across the road, luckily no car scored a bump into her. Subtly, she started walking a few feet from a blondie who was engaged in talking to some another woman. Camila could had sworn the blonde woman was the same one who was in the pictures with Shawn. She wasn’t sure where she was headed with following her, but she didn’t have any other idea.

When she got to crossing a narrow alley road, she heard the motor of a motorbike coming from the alley. She supposed she was going to be able to get to the pavement before the motorbike got to the main road, but how wrong she was.

The vehicle stopped what not even an inch from her. Camila swiftly jumped back.

“Watch out, dude! Can you not see there’s people crossing?”

The driver stopped the motor, then took off their gloves.

Camila was outraged, “are you at least gonna apologize? You could’ve hit me?!”

The driver’s helmet came off and for Camila’s surprise it was a familiar face, the one she’d for a brief second thought of earlier.

A huge grin formed on Lauren’s face, “hey, you. Need a ride?”

“Are you doing this on purpose?”

“What?”

Camila just motioned at the motorbike.

“Again, you’re in my way, honey,” Lauren winked, which for some reason made Camila blush, even embarrassed.

“I was busy, um,” Camila traced off, not wanting to say out loud she was stalking the potential lover of her boyfriend.

“Anyway, are you free tonight?”

“Um…”

“Or have you already forgotten about my suggestion of star and moon hunting?”

“No, definitely not! I just,” Camila was browsing among a whole two page list of excuses why she “wasn’t feeling like going”, but all of them sounded too generated. But in all honesty, she couldn’t name one good reason why she couldn’t go out with Lauren. Maybe talking to Shawn was one, but she could’d already seen her starting the talk, then changing her mind half-way and ending up having sex with him instead of communication.

“Nevermind. Maybe next time, then?” Lauren already drew a conclusion, since Camila took ages to speak up. Lauren started putting her gloves back on.

Camila reached out, rested her hand on Lauren’s, “do you happen to have an extra helmet?”

#UPDATE #series #AU #slash #camren #based on song #angst drama #submission #One step closer